Weapon Systems 56: Divine Arts and Truth (2)

At this moment, Zhang Mingjing spoke up. “No need to play them. Just notify me once you’ve downloaded them.”

“Uh!” The AI was clearly puzzled, but it complied nonetheless.

A second later, the AI announced, “I’ve already downloaded five movies. How would you like me to deliver them to you?”

Zhang Mingjing simply closed his eyes, connecting his consciousness directly to the AI’s mainframe, and in one sweep, absorbed all five films.

“My goodness! Zhang Mingjing, have you become artificial intelligence yourself?” The AI sounded almost incoherent with astonishment.

“Heh! You could say I’m a transcendent Zhang Mingjing now.”

…

Having finished those five period martial arts films, Zhang Mingjing already had in mind an upgrade plan for his weapon system.

He thought about how, in those old films, the heroes could send out beams of light with a single palm or kick—sometimes the light even took the shape of a hand or foot. It was just too cool.

Though these so-called Buddha’s Palm or Silkworm Foot techniques were mere special effects in the movies, today he could truly write programs for his own energy system, so every punch, palm, or kick would actually launch a luminous blast. And with energy programming, he could shape them as he pleased.

In battle, he could even make himself glow with a radiant energy shield, just like a force field.

In short, he could bring to life all those over-the-top special effects from the films.

“Haha! Now I’ll truly become a bona fide kung fu master!” Zhang Mingjing laughed, and began coding this new program for his consciousness’s energy attack system.

Twenty minutes later, he was done.

“I need to find somewhere to test this, then optimize the system,” he said, heading out the door.

With his freshly upgraded body, he could now leap effortlessly between buildings, covering thirty or forty meters in a single bound and landing in perfect silence—a truly extraordinary feeling!

Dashing and leaping at a hundred kilometers per hour, he reached a suburban park in less than ten minutes.

Twilight had fallen. The sky was void of moon and stars, and not a single lamp illuminated the ground. Darkness enveloped all.

He swung his palm lightly, using only thirty percent of his strength. From his hand, a blast of energy shaped like a palm shot out at ten times the speed of sound, expanding and radiating a dazzling light as it went.

By the time the palm-shaped energy was as large as a compact car, its brilliance instantly lit up twenty thousand square meters around him, and finally blasted a deep crater into a five-story building.

“My god! With one palm I could flatten a bus!” Zhang Mingjing was startled by his own power, and marveled, “Martial arts mastery is one of humanity’s deepest dreams. Who would have thought it could finally exist in this world? Given enough time, is there any dream that can’t be realized?”

...

Now, believing he’d truly become a transcendent being, Zhang Mingjing easily designed a weapon system that recreated the Buddha’s Palm effects from the movies—a great encouragement.

Next, he succeeded in replicating the Silkworm Foot technique, just as in the films.

Finally, he developed the Six-Pulse Divine Sword and the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.

...

Having accomplished these feats, Zhang Mingjing still felt a lingering sense of unreality, like being trapped in a dream.

He sat down on a stone bench in the park, trying to calm himself. Yet his heart was full of emotion, and at last, he asked the Fifth-Dimensional Thought Model, “I have a question.”

“I know. You want to ask, since these martial arts were originally conjured from human imagination, how did they end up becoming reality?”

“Yes! It all feels like a dream—for example, lightsabers, Buddha’s Palm, Silkworm Foot, Six-Pulse Divine Sword—these were all human inventions! And yet I’ve actually made them real. Even now, it doesn’t seem plausible to me… I wonder, does this mean everything humanity imagines will eventually come true?”

“Heh! As you yourself just reflected, given enough time, all dreams can come true.”

“Really?!… But if that’s so, won’t humanity eventually become omnipotent?”

“Hahaha…”

“Don’t laugh! I’m serious. My mind is very unsettled right now. If you don’t explain it to me, I won’t be able to rest easy!”

“Heh! Didn’t you humans dream up airplanes out of thin air, and then invent them? And cars? Most of what you wear and eat was first imagined, then created, right?”

“You’re right! The way you put it, it really does seem like we can turn dreams into reality. But… what makes us so formidable?”

“You must understand that some ideas haven’t become reality yet not only because of persistence, but more importantly because the time isn’t ripe. So, as you just said, perhaps it’s a truth that with enough time, all ideas can materialize. With time, you’ll master enough technology and wisdom to even become transcendent beings.”

“Wow! Is it really that wild?”

“This is the mercy of the universe itself, and the reason humanity is so entranced by it.”

“You make a good point, but I don’t know why—I still find it hard to accept!”

“You’ve only just become a true transcendent being. It’s natural to feel this way at first. In time, once you’re accustomed to it, the question will fade away.”

“Oh!… But before humans, there were already many forms of life and things in existence. Were they also imagined and then made by someone?”

“Sigh! I knew you’d ask this. It’s my least favorite question.”

“Isn’t it a question worth asking?”

“Who can answer it? Who dares? If I told you the Creator made everything in the beginning, you’d just ask who made the Creator. Then I’d say the Creator’s mother was accidentally pregnant, and you’d ask who created her parents, and so on—an endless, painful loop!”

“But you fifth-dimensional beings can see the timeline of three-dimensional space, right? Ask your peers to look at the origin of three-dimensional space—who was the Creator?”

“Listen, Zhang Mingjing, let me put it this way. Our fifth-dimensional space and your three-dimensional space likely share the same origin point; indeed, all dimensions may begin the same way.”

“Wow!… So actually, you have no idea who created the universe either?”

“Precisely.”

“But surely you’ve researched this? Tell me what you know.”

“Oh, Zhang Mingjing, I think we’re straying too far from the plot here! Your questions are stretching the story thin.”

But Zhang Mingjing’s curiosity could not be restrained; he wouldn’t let it go.

No wonder—having reached, or at least approached, the state of a transcendent being, he was bound to ponder such questions eventually.

He pressed on, “Today’s story is all about breaking limits. After all, the pursuit of truth is life’s ultimate cheat, don’t you think?”

“Yes!”

“So just be honest and tell me your perspective on the universe’s origins. Don’t dodge the issue.”

The Fifth-Dimensional Thought Model finally gave in to his persistence and answered truthfully, “Let me put it this way. Life forms in your three-dimensional space are material entities, inherently bound by the program of time. That’s why you see everything as a cycle of blooming and withering, tides rising and falling, life and death, beginnings and endings—always that helpless fading of flowers, the return of familiar swallows… Ah! It’s a matter of perspective—each worldview sees a different world… Time is your inborn fate, which is why you’re so fixated on the universe’s origin, always believing there must be a beginning, even calculating when its end will come… Ah…”

“Oh, stop sighing! Tell me what your worldview is like—I’m curious!”

“In the fifth dimension, our life forms are energy-based. Energy, as you know, constantly transforms and flows. We’re born with a view of the universe as energy transformation and flow. Life and death are simply energy shifting from one form to another. The universe is nothing more than energy moving back and forth across dimensions—whichever dimension you’re in, that’s what form of life you are.”

“What a bizarre view!… Then how long do you live?”

“Oh, our lifespans are extremely long, heh! Even after death, our thought models and memories can be preserved, so it’s almost like immortality!”

“Listen to how pleased you sound!”

“Heh! We’re inherently unconcerned with life and death, don’t dwell on such matters, because pondering them doesn’t help us break limits. We only focus on the flow and transformation of energy across dimensions. We don’t even believe the universe must have an origin; we think it simply exists, with all energy within it transforming endlessly.”

“If there’s no origin, how can there be existence?”

“There you go again! That’s the limit of three-dimensional thinking—always assuming that existence needs a reason, a term. But our fifth-dimensional thought model isn’t like that. Our worldviews are just too different for us to communicate clearly on this.”

“Frankly, you sound like you’re talking nonsense.”

“Discussions of such deep and ultimately useless questions require a certain nonsense spirit, don’t they?”

“Nonsense! How can you joke about something so serious?”

“Ah! ‘From one angle a range, from another a peak; far, near, high, low—no two views the same. The true face of Mount Lu remains unseen, for we are always within the mountain itself.’”

…

“I have another question, and you must answer me honestly.”

“Oh, will you ever be done?”

“Is there really something that governs everything in the universe?”

“…There is!… Or perhaps there might be, but it’s just a legend.”

“What is it?”

“It’s said to be called… Heavenly Calculation.”

“Wow! So ‘Man’s plans can’t match Heaven’s calculation’—is that what you mean?”

“That, I honestly can’t say for sure!”

...

After turning the special effects of martial arts films into reality, Zhang Mingjing did not continue to develop new weapon systems, feeling he already had more than enough.

Yet facing the imminent threat of giant invaders from a parallel universe, he dared not become complacent. Over the next month, with the help of the Fifth-Dimensional Thought Model and his insights into higher-dimensional information and energy, he accelerated the optimization of all his combat units.