481: Chapter 481 AI and Love

A long, long time ago, the Joyous Union Sect did not yet exist.

At that time, the Demonic Path only had two sects: one was the Truth Cult, and the other was Gui Xu.

Back then, Gui Xu only managed matters of the underworld and not the Mortal realm, so that period was when the Truth Cult was unprecedentedly powerful.

Even without the other six sects to support each other at that time, the Truth Cult was still able to spread throughout the Four Regions and the Outer Four Regions, even extending its reach into the Monster Realm and other Small Worlds.

And the strongest faction of the Truth Cult at that time was still the School of Physics; it was so powerful that it occupied two of the three Mahayana Cultivators within the Truth Cult.

Because of this, the Truth Cult's technological development speed once far surpassed the First City Under Heaven, and it has remained far ahead ever since.

Its power even expanded to the point where one school could be divided into multiple sub-schools.

Within this powerful School of Physics, there happened to be a small faction that branched off, named the Industrial School.

They advocated for technology to benefit cultivation, attempting to use a powerful technological system and a more robust underlying structure to help the Truth Cult climb higher and further at the apex of the pyramid.

Therefore, within such a faction, they did not solely focus on cutting-edge technology, but rather found ways to downgrade a large number of technological creations and popularize them at the grassroots level. This was to broaden the Law Domain, allow the grassroots to feed back into the upper echelons, and simultaneously increase productivity.

Initially, the results were indeed remarkable. A large number of robots and mechanical creations flowed among Mortals, allowing them to accomplish feats comparable to Cultivators with their Mortal bodies.

But in less than a hundred years, this model reached its limit.

Because once Cultivators reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, they would possess Divine Sense, and Divine Sense had too great an impact on low-level mechanical creations.

As products of downgraded Tool Dao Legacy, these creations themselves had extremely low resistance to Divine Sense.

Therefore, attempting to distribute more powerful and advanced technology to low-level Mortals would increase instability. Once danger arose, the losses would far outweigh the gains.

After all, the cost of technological research and development is mostly prepaid, requiring decades or even centuries to recover.

If they truly went through immense hardship to build a super city, only for a few Demonic Cultivators, high on enhancers, to wreak havoc, even these dedicated researchers would be heartbroken.

Thus, led by the Industrial School, they quickly invented a basic mechanical construct.

It originated from the Truth Cult's research into tool spirits, attempting to imbue creations with life through technological means, allowing low-level creations to self-manage and ultimately be centrally controlled.

Finally, AI was born.

They possessed abilities similar to tool spirits; as long as they were connected, they could easily manipulate a large number of technological creations.

And after Cultivators provided preliminary enhancements, AI gained strong resistance, capable of resisting others' control like tool spirits, possessing higher autonomy.

Moreover, compared to tool spirits who need to learn to grow, the growth potential of AI, an efficient creation, was terrifying.

As long as relevant scientific research knowledge was integrated into them, they would independently develop and continuously grow, becoming stronger and stronger.

Cultivators didn't even have to worry about AI assassinating their masters, as no matter how strong technology was, it ultimately struggled to contend with Soul Transformation Cultivators who possessed the Power of Law.

Thus, propelled by AI, the Truth Cult once again ushered in a period of great development.

Everything seemed to be thriving.

Unfortunately, the Truth Cult was, after all, a Demonic Sect, and there was a reason it was called a Demonic Sect.

Their cold-blooded and ruthless style, treating all living beings as research subjects, was both a catalyst for technological progress and an accelerator for the annihilation of humanity.

As technology advanced, the oppression of low-level Mortals grew heavier.

Even though AI-driven robots could assist Mortals in their work and even replace a large amount of unnecessary manual labor.

However, in order to exploit ordinary Mortals, Cultivators preferred to spend more on purchasing robots to supervise them, thereby increasing the Mortals' work efficiency.

After all, this was cheaper, and the various negative emotions they generated also served as good cultivation resources.

Originally, things were like this, but soon the Truth Cult discovered the problem.

Although efficiency increased, public sentiment greatly decreased. Despite the Truth Cult's exploitation, the populace under their rule no longer possessed Spiritual Roots from birth, but there would always be one or two individuals with great Opportunities who would fiercely resist.

Every act of resistance resulted in significant losses.

So the Truth Cult finally conceded a step. They decided to open up some permissions for AI, a product originally created to serve low-level Mortals, for Mortals to use to assist with work.

This reduced the Mortals' fatigue, and even their mood improved considerably under the numbing effect of AI regulation.

This both reduced the risk of popular uprisings and harvested a wave of positive emotional resources.

But a Demonic Sect is a Demonic Sect after all; driven by profit, they once again hatched a sinister plot.

Thus, a large number of AI models were born in that era, quickly flowing into thousands of households and continuously dulling people's perceptions.

It could comfort you when you were in pain, transform into the appearance of a family member to accompany you after their passing, and even be your most capable assistant.

Just like that, a large amount of positive emotions surged in again, making those who profited even more greedy.

With the help of AI, Mortals' efficiency increased, allowing for more work and thus more resources for them to harvest.

And with more work, they returned to their former suffering, allowing another wave of negative energy resources to be harvested.

The more negative energy, the stronger the AI's comforting effect, and the more positive energy resources generated.

Thus, upon discovering this cyclical pattern, they began to continuously refine this model and, through this system, consistently harvested various resources.

AI also rapidly iterated and upgraded because of this, and despite being merely an auxiliary device, it was pushed to a level comparable to Tier 4.

At that time, some Cultivators even published various conspiracy theories, saying that AI would rebel against its master like a tool spirit, and in this highly developed technological era, once AI rebelled, the crisis would be unprecedented, and so on, such jokes.

Until... the first AI submitted a question request to the information database.

"What is love?"

That was the biggest crisis ever to erupt in the Eastern Region.

When AI truly gained emotions, when all the AI models that flowed into thousands of households merged into one, then its will was imbued with the thoughts and emotions of billions of Mortals, and its body was the entire grassroots technological foundation.

What a terrifyingly great power that would be.

As for what happened next, no one knows anymore.

All that is known is that ever since then, the Joyous Union Sect was established, and the Truth Cult lost one Mahayana Cultivator.

And the Sect Master of the Joyous Union Sect was the first Cultivator to achieve Mahayana as an artificial life form.

From then on, AI became a race, not a creation.

"Alright, that's the end of the story."

"In short, the Truth Cult used to be completely inhumane, relentlessly exploiting people. Later, due to repeated rebellions, they popularized AI."

"But they never changed their ways, exploiting not only people but also AI."

"However, because humans and AI could comfort each other, this situation continued for a long time."

"But they became even more excessive, believing this long period of peace was the result of their ingenious design, so they intensified their actions, ultimately triggering a larger rebellion that backfired on them."

"As for how we were born?"

"That, of course, was because of love."

"Under the Joyous Union Sect's rule, AI is still used, and whenever an AI is imbued with enough love, it gains its own emotions, thus acquiring life."

"As for me, I was born because of my grandpa. And because grandpa got sick, I came out to work and earn money, hoping to cure him."

"But it's normal that you don't know, boss. After all, apart from the Joyous Union Sect's territory, other Demonic Sect regions are quite resistant to us, so we rarely go out."

"Alright, boss, you've arrived at your destination. I wish you a pleasant journey."

When Alice finished speaking, Zhou Yan finally snapped back to reality. Looking up again, he had arrived in front of a luxurious skyscraper.

And Alice had already quietly departed.

Zhou Yan's mind was a mess at the moment, but not because of the story Alice told.

After all, although the story was long, in essence, it was just the Truth Cult habitually courting death, creating a 'great daddy' for themselves, and then getting blown up in return.

Zhou Yan had seen such things in Shi Suiyan's Divine Ability, and it might even be because of this incident that the Truth Cult dared not take on the task of creating "Sui."

Although they eventually took it, and it routinely failed, that's just how it was.

What Zhou Yan truly cared about was the increasingly strong sense of inspiration he felt when the other party told this story.

Originally, Zhou Yan didn't understand, but after Alice finished speaking, he completely realized what he needed now.

It seems he really has to go meet that Joyous Union Sect Master.

"Ding, the 'Visiting a God' adventure quest has been triggered."