116: Chapter 116 Heaven's Dao is a Clumsy Programmer, I Can't Tolerate This Bug
Tianhe Academy, Dean's Office (also Captain's Quarters).
As the 'Return to Home' cannon shell flew away, the entire Southern Wasteland tectonic plate shifted backward by three inches under the immense recoil. Although there was an inertia compensation System, the vibration from that single shot still managed to knock over the teacup on Li Mo's desk.
"Tsk, the shock absorption System needs further optimization." Li Mo wiped the desk while opening the highest permission function he had just unlocked—the [Heavenly Dao Editing Room].
Buzz—The scene before him instantly transformed. Li Mo found himself no longer in the Scripture Pavilion but in a purely white, virtual space. This space had no clouds or mist, no Immortal Qi, only... scattered waste paper everywhere, and dense, red-glowing error codes (Bugs) floating in the air.
In the center of the space floated a massive, golden sphere (the Heavenly Dao Main Body). However, at this moment, this sphere looked extremely wronged. It was like a primary school student who had made a mistake, shrinking into a corner because it was riddled with various patches and ran with extreme lag.
[System Prompt: Welcome to the Bottom Logic Editing Area.] [Current System Version: Pangu OS 1.0 (Internal Test Version).] [Operating Status: Extremely laggy, accompanied by massive memory leaks (Spiritual Qi loss).]
"Good heavens." Li Mo casually grabbed a floating line of code, glanced at it, and nearly laughed in anger. "Who wrote this code? An infinite loop?" "'If a Cultivator acts against Heaven, a Heavenly Tribulation will descend to smite them dead' ... This logic is wrong!" "Cultivators are batteries. If you smash the battery, where will this ship get its power?"
Li Mo pushed up his glasses; his occupational hazard (having been a programmer in his past life) flared up. This wasn't the Heavenly Dao; this was clearly a mountain of legacy code that had been running for billions of years. No wonder Cultivation was so hard, and no wonder Qi Deviation happened at the slightest provocation. It turned out the System optimization was just too poor!
"The brush, quickly." Li Mo extended a hand.
The spring and autumn brush that had been with him for a long time appeared in his hand. But this time, it was no longer an ordinary brush; it had transformed into the [Administrator's Cursor].
"Since I am the Captain, this operating System must follow my rules." Li Mo walked up to the trembling golden sphere and flashed a kind smile. "Don't be afraid, I won't drop the database and run away." "I'm just giving you a... version upgrade."
...
The outside world, Tianhe Academy Plaza.
Although that last shot felt great, life had to go on. It was currently lunchtime.
A third-year student from the Civil Engineering Department—Zhang Tiezhu (formerly a fierce bandit from Black Wind Stockade)—was sitting on the track of a Demon Pig Tank, eating his boxed lunch. He had performed excellently in the previous 'Western Desert Air Conditioning Installation' and 'North Sea Glass Wiping' operations, accumulating a large amount of academic credits (Spiritual Qi). His internal Spiritual Power had now reached the critical point of Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.
Suddenly—Rumble—The sky instantly darkened. A terrifying pressure locked onto Zhang Tiezhu. Dark clouds gathered, and lightning snakes danced wildly.
"Holy crap! Heavenly Tribulation?!" Zhang Tiezhu dropped his boxed lunch. "I'm done for! I didn't prepare a lightning rod! I didn't buy Director Lei's brand Faraday Cage either!" The surrounding students scattered in fright. "Run! Someone is forming a Core! The Lightning Tribulation is coming!" "Get further away! Be careful not to be turned into ash!"
In the traditional understanding of the Cultivation World, the Heavenly Tribulation was the Ghost Gate Pass. Nine out of ten Cultivators attempting Core Formation were struck dead, and the remaining one was half-crippled.
Zhang Tiezhu closed his eyes in despair, raising the entrenching shovel in his hand, preparing to resist head-on. "Come on! I'll be a good man again in eighteen years!"
Crack! A purple bolt of lightning tore through the firmament, carrying an aura of destruction, and struck down precisely.
However—Just as the lightning was about to touch the crown of Zhang Tiezhu's head—there was no explosion. The lightning, which was originally incomparably ferocious, suddenly... curved in mid-air. Not only did it curve, but it also automatically split, transforming into two tentacle-like plugs. One plug gently attached itself to Zhang Tiezhu's Dantian, and the other attached itself to his Baihui acupoint.
[Beep—] [Low Power Device Detected (Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator).] [Fast Charging Protocol Handshaked.] [System Upgrade (Core Formation) in Progress...]
"Huh?" Zhang Tiezhu was stunned. He didn't feel pain. Not only was he not in pain, but he felt a pleasant tingling sensation throughout his body. An extremely pure, perfectly refined lightning-attribute spiritual fluid was pouring into his body through those two 'plugs' at a frantic rate.
Hiss hiss hiss—It was just like a mobile phone plugged into a 200W super fast charger. Zhang Tiezhu felt his Dantian expanding and solidifying at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Golden Core, which originally required a near-death experience to condense, formed with a 'ding' sound in just three seconds. And it was... a Nine-Patterned Golden Core (Full Power State).
[Beep! Charging Complete.] [Congratulations to User 'Zhang Tiezhu' for upgrading to Golden Core Stage (v3.0).] [Please schedule your next charge (Nascent Soul Tribulation) in advance.]
The lightning dissipated. Those two lightning plugs even thoughtfully smoothed Zhang Tiezhu's wind-blown hair before reluctantly retracting into the clouds.
The sky cleared. Sunlight shone on Zhang Tiezhu's stunned face. He touched his undamaged skin and felt the surging power within his body. "I... I reached Golden Core just like that?" "What about the promised near-death experience? What about the Heart Demon Tribulation?"
The entire scene was dead silent. The jaws of the thousands of surrounding teachers and students had dropped to the floor. What the heck was that Tribulation? That was clearly an official cheat code!
...
Scripture Pavilion, Second Floor.
Li Mo watched the surveillance feed and snapped his fingers with satisfaction. "Now this is more like it." "The essence of the Lightning Tribulation is energy transmission. The previous 'brute force infusion' (direct striking) had a transmission loss rate of up to 90% and easily damaged the receiving end (killing people)."
"Now, changing it to the [Type-C Fast Charging Protocol] reduces the loss rate to 1% and even fixes latent injuries in the Cultivator's body."
He turned to look at the golden sphere (the Heavenly Dao), which had already been drastically altered by him. The Heavenly Dao was no longer trembling but appeared extremely... excited. Because it discovered that as Zhang Tiezhu successfully advanced, the feedback energy (System Computing Power) it recovered had actually increased significantly! It turned out that by being kinder to Cultivators, it could become stronger itself!
[Heavenly Dao Favorability: + MAX (It wants to call you Daddy).] [System Announcement: Cultivation World Version Updated to 2.0.] [Update Log:]
Canceled 'Death Tribulation,' replaced with 'Welfare Fast Charge.'
Canceled 'Heart Demon Tribulation,' replaced with 'Online Psychological Counseling' (played by the Tentacle Monster acting as a caring big sister).
Cultivation speed increased by 300%.
Li Mo closed his notebook. "Very good." "The battery charging issue is resolved." "Next, I need to solve... the crew's food problem."
He glanced at the star chart. Although they were currently in 'interstellar navigation,' the Cultivation World was ultimately a closed System with limited resources. To support long-distance travel, relying solely on the current Spiritual Qi circulation was insufficient. They absolutely had to... farm. And they had to farm interstellar crops.
Li Mo directed his gaze toward the North Sea they had just conquered. The water quality there (though a bit salty) was actually rich in minerals. And he happened to have a bag of seeds he had previously 'looted' from the Abyssal Lord (the brick).
[Abyssal Void Vine (Edible Modified Version).] [Trait: Can grow in a vacuum, yielding fruit that tastes like beef and is rich in spiritual power.]
"Director Xiao! Director Lei!" Li Mo picked up the broadcast microphone. "Stop watching the excitement over there." "Take your people and head to the North Sea." "We are going to set up a [Marine Ranch]." "Whether we can eat meat on future interstellar journeys depends on this one move!"