178 - A Torrent Unable to be Contained

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“So, is that it?" Qin Yun asked. "You're just going to stay here and wait for someone else in the event I fail?"

“What else do you expect me to do?” the old man shrugged. “I may possess my creator’s personality, but I can’t disobey my programming. I can only do what I was created for.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Why should it? Everyone has their own place in the world. This is merely mine."

“I have to admit, this doesn’t sound like us. I imagine this is your programming speaking.”

“I suppose," the hologram replied. Yet somehow, its eyes narrowed for what seemed like a fraction of a second, but it was already too late.

Qin Yun extended his hand toward the black sphere floating near the ceiling—the same one casting the illusion of this old man before his eyes. From his opened palm, a bolt of lightning shot out, crackling as it pierced through space, sending shock waves as well as a thunderous roar that would have deafened any other living being—were any of them possibly present.

Taken aback, the sophisticated AI possessing the memories and emotions of his creator barely had time to react. It tried to erect a second barrier over the one constantly surrounding the black sphere, yet it didn’t arrive in time.

Despite the artificial intelligence's high computational power, it took less than a few milliseconds for the bolt of lightning to strike, way before the second barrier could fully envelop the sphere.

The semi-formed barrier collapsed instantly, while the one behind it managed to repel most of the energy it had been struck with, dispersing it throughout the atmosphere. Smaller arcs of lightning sparked from the collision and were attracted to the nearby black stone wall and ceiling if only to naturally discharge the massive amount of potential energy.

However, not all of it could be diverted. What Qin Yun had struck the object with was much more than the barrier was designed to handle. Some of it remained, burrowing past the barrier, striking the sphere's surface, frying some of its circuitry, yet the damage was minimal. The barrier remained but with much-lowered intensity.

The hologram looked at Qin Yun with confusion at first, but then anger quickly superseded anything else. He raised his ethereal hand decisively toward Qin Yun as if to order a strike, but Qin Yun had been faster and even more decisive. His other hand was also raised, aimed at the same floating ball.

Another lightning bolt streamed out of his flesh, rendering the world apart. It was strangely similar to Heavenly Tribulation but was obviously but a shadow of what the world could create. However, this was more than enough to break the sphere's now flimsy defences. They collapsed at once, and the sphere fell to the ground as smoke poured out from its interior.

Its black exterior had somehow become even darker in places, while others glowed with a fiery incandescence. The peculiar metal it was made of began to melt in places, uncovering what was beneath as it slowly drained away.

The core of this sphere was just as Qin Yun expected, if not even more sublime. It was a marvel of engineering, easily rivalling some of the most advanced technological empires Qin Yun had ever laid eyes on. So much was packed into such a small container that Qin Yun could barely believe his eyes.

I thought this was just a transmitter for the AI's computational power—something like a receiver—but this is it, isn't it? This thing is all of it. Everything this AI is, including all the data and copy of its creator's brain, is contained within this small package no bigger than a baseball... Magnificent!

Qin Yun felt his heart ache at the sight of the damaged sphere. It could no longer float, and the barrier surrounding it had collapsed. The hologram remained, if only barely. It flashed in and out of existence, stuttering as if a primitive television unable to lock onto a signal.

And yet, it remained, with the depiction of the old man looking less than pleased. Still, Qin Yun expected to see unadulterated rage, a volcano on the cusp of erupting, yet all he saw was a calmest that chilled him to the bone. The old man seemed as if he had resigned himself, knowing he had lost, yet Qin Yun couldn't possibly know what else he could have in his sleeve, so he remained on his guard. He had no intentions of underestimating this man's means.

As such, he stepped forward and swiftly struck the force field protecting the black box. Surprisingly, the old man showed no signs of trying to interfere. He remained utterly still as he watched while Qin Yun struck with all his might, infusing all his strength into this one blow.

A lotus appeared above his head. It was mostly grey with a slight hint of brown. Most of the tribulation strength that streamed out of the sub-space had already been used to bring down the floating sphere.

It had raged for a long time, never receding even when he spoke at lengths. If anything, the pressure only mounted, as did the barrier the sphere had created around his core. Both were in a carefully balanced equilibrium so perfect that Qin Yun only needed to make the barrier waver—if only slightly—and it would destabilize before collapsing entirely.

All this time, even during Qin Yun's lengthy conversation with that man, he had endeavoured to break that barrier. To not get detected by the countless sensors that were undoubtedly monitoring him, Qin Yun needed time, so he humoured the man for so long, letting him speak at length despite the man being the very definition of untrustworthy.

And it had paid off.

By slowly accumulating his sword intent near the barrier, leaving it diffused enough so that it couldn't be detected, and then unleashing it all at once, Qin Yun had taken this program by surprise and had managed to achieve at least one of his goals. By disabling the floating sphere, the AI's control over this manor should have been reduced considerably, allowing Qin Yun much more control over the situation.

Obviously, accumulating that much sword intent without being discovered and leaving it diffused took much time and concentration. This was why he let the man talk at length without offering much in return. The slightest slip in concentration could have had disastrous effects, such as being discovered, or worse, it could have formed too early, striking the barrier before it was fully formed, only to be repelled back into Qin Yun's body, causing something akin to self-mutilation.

Everything was a gamble, yet it had paid off—but was it really so?

Qin Yun’s lotus flared with power. Dark grey veins appeared on his skin, and he had to clench his teeth to not scream, the pain being so intense, almost as if he had been run through the heart by a sword. Without its counterpart, the corruption filling his lotus ran wild. While it empowered him—just as any form of qi would—the backlash was barely something his flesh could contain.

Change was the corruption's very nature. Everything it touched would be transformed into something unrecognizable. Qin Yun believed there were rules for those changes, but as for what they were, he hadn't been able to observe the corruption long enough to form a hypothesis.

All he knew was that, despite being able to absorb the corruption into his lotus and use it as strength, he had yet to gain control over it. It needed to be under the constant supervision of his tribulation qi to even be barely stable. But now that his tribulation qi had been expended, there was nothing to keep the corruption’s reins, preventing it from running wild.

Therefore, he only had one choice: if it couldn't be contained, he only had to expel it—and expel it, he did.

A grey mist sprouted from his skin and began swirling around his arm. Despite being the one to create it, even Qin Yun couldn't help but shudder at the sight. This thin grey mist, barely larger than one of his arms, felt much more deadly than the massive flock of grey crows he had encountered during his last escapade outside the manor's barrier.

It felt as if death itself—yet, not quite.

Qin Yun didn’t feel the termination of life from this grey fog—for this wasn’t what this fog embodied at all—but a change no living beings, deep down in their cores, would be willing to undergo. This was a primal fear that meant the death of what they were, becoming something else entirely. As every living being possessed a sense of self-preservation, this feeling was something no living being could overcome.

Somehow, despite not being what one would typically refer to as living, even the flickering hologram of an old man showed signs of disgust and dread at the mere presence of what was now swirling around Qin Yun’s forearm and fist.

Less than a moment later, Qin Yun’s knuckles impacted the barrier surrounding the hovering black storage. Qin Yun didn’t expect much, maybe just ripples on the shimmering surface, propagating outwards, and certainly not being able to break through, for not even the mass of corruption outside could claim as such, but even that was denied to him.

His fist simply stopped.

There was no crash, no loud sound, not even a wave of compressed air radiating away. The world was still and deathly silent as Qin Yun faced reality: this barrier wouldn't budge no matter what he tried. He didn't even believe his sword intent would be sharp enough to slice it in two, despite knowing for a fact it could pierce through the veil of this world.

This barrier was stronger than reality itself!

“I must say, I didn’t expect that,” Qin Yun said awkwardly, reigning in his clenched fist.

His skin had burst, spilling out blackened blood filled with impurity. By letting the corruption flow freely through his meridians, they had begun to change, becoming something he didn't recognize.

Thankfully, the change was minor, and with the advent of the tribulation still residing within the sub-space flooding back into his core, keeping the rampaging corruption in check, the throbbing he felt within his flesh slowly subsided, returning to an uneasy calm.

Still, he knew this wasn't something he could use at will, especially within this corrupted plane. Sooner or later, the sub-space—no matter how plentiful—would run out of qi, and the corruption would run wild. He would need to ration his qi as best he could until he returned to the world above, or failing that, he needed to find an alternate source to acquire the Heavenly Qi he needed.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Qin Yun said as he turned to face the fading image of the old man.

Surprisingly, the man's shock and anger had faded to nothing. All that remained was an uncanny quiet acceptance which, for some reason, couldn't help but give Qin Yun chills. He would have much preferred to be berated or even attacked, but this tolerance of what he had done unprovoked left a bad taste in his mouth. The two felt too similar for Qin Yun, leaving him dissatisfied.

“What’s there to say?” the man shrugged.

“You could at least ask why...”

"Why bother? Would that change anything? Besides, I've existed for long enough. Perhaps it's time I've been laid to rest."

The two looked at each other in silence, the ethereal image slowly flickering out of existence, but before disappearing altogether, the old man left behind one last ominous sentence.

“I hope you won’t regret your choice here, for if you were to fail, you wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences.”

With that said, the image faded to nothing, leaving behind Qin Yun, with slightly narrowed eyes, as he watched the black orb, now lying on the ground, disintegrate into dust, leaving nothing behind.

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