Exploring Immortality Cultivation-Chapter 1067 - 150: Divine Plague · Virus

Perhaps it's because they share the same mathematics and logic that the development trajectories of the Divine Plague Curse Technique on Shenzhou and Earth initially overlapped to such a high degree, almost identical.

On Earth, the first case of a computer virus causing widespread destruction emerged in 1988. The creator wasn't some great mathematician or a pioneer in the field of computing, but merely a graduate student. His initial intention was merely to conduct an experiment, planning to let a self-replicating program slowly "worm" its way from one computer to another without any malicious intention to destroy any computer network.

However, this terrifying program, comprised of only ninety-nine lines of code, destroyed the entire network of the United States at the time, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. That student simply typed the last line of code and then went to have dinner. By the time he sat back in front of his computer, the situation had become untenable.

This was still during the "dial-up" internet speed of 1988.

The program with those ninety-nine lines of code contained very little, just "self-replication" and "transmission". It had no additional functions—which is exactly why even its creator couldn't control it.

But precisely because it was simple and uncontrollable, its power was terrifying. The brevity represented by the "ninety-nine lines of code" allowed its replication speed to far exceed the creator's imagination. After its terrifying replication ability occupied all the computer's resources, the computer was no better than a piece of trash.

Other than that, the virus had no other function. No one could implant more into those ninety-nine lines of code, the creator couldn't control them, couldn't open any backdoors with them, couldn't steal any information, nor could they specify them to destroy particular data without affecting the entire network, indiscriminately attacking both friend and foe. The overly simple code also made them very easy to be detected and eliminated by later antivirus programs.

In this respect, the original "worm" is no match for the various computer viruses of the twenty-first century. The initial "worm" was basically harmless to twenty-first-century computers.

It was something focused solely on destruction.

And the initial Divine Plague Curse Technique of Shenzhou was similar. When Feng Luoyi initially researched calculators, he was referring to souls and thought processes. When considering the differences in logical operations between calculators and human thinking, he once had such a conception—if the human mind is essentially a kind of logical operation, with no essential difference from a calculator's logical operation, then is there a force that can thoroughly destroy the human mind, just like breaking the Calculator Road Rank?

Purely using the concepts of Yin and Yang, Feng Luoyi wrote the initial Divine Plague Curse Technique.

Wang Qi still doesn't know if Feng Luoyi ever used that spell. However, judging from Elder Feng's attitude of sealing up all materials and barely mentioning it in front of others, he probably used it and realized he couldn't control this terrible power.

After all, the human mind is the human mind, and you cannot simply evolve an "antivirus software".

This is also why the initial Divine Plague Curse Technique had the greatest destructive potential.

You can't install "antivirus software" on the human mind, and when the innate "firewall" of the mind is inadequate, such direct and unchanging destructive spell can have a tremendous effect.

When Wang Qi mentioned this, Xu Xueqing asked a question: "Daoist Fellow Wang, since the initial Divine Plague Curse Technique is not indestructible, is there a way for ordinary people to deal with it?"

Wang Qi scratched his face: "At least at my Realm, I can't think of a way to deal with it. The stronger your soul, the faster your thoughts turn, the quicker the Divine Plague Curse Technique replicates itself within your soul. Under this premise, you basically have no way to reverse engineer this spell. Even if your consciousness can be a bit faster, you still can't parse the algorithm in time to counter it. Even if you are familiar with the Divine Plague Curse Technique and can parse it in time—are you sure your Mental State is truly strong enough to withstand the attack of both the Divine Plague Curse Technique and the Anti-Divine Plague Curse?"

Xu Xueqing's eyes flashed: "So, as long as one understands the Divine Plague Curse Technique enough, there is still a method to unravel it?"

Wang Qi shook his head: "Naive, too naive. What I spoke of was merely the initial Divine Plague Curse Technique."

The simpler the Divine Plague Curse Technique, the faster it naturally replicates. Under the same hardware conditions, the time required for nine hundred ninety lines of code to replicate once will naturally be longer than ninety-nine lines. This is also one of the reasons simple viruses spread quickly and have strong destructive power.

And this virus's evolutionary form has many variations.

On Earth before the twenty-first century, the international antivirus companies generally used a virus detection technology called "signature scanning." Its Core was extracting virus signatures from virus bodies to form a virus signature database. Antivirus software would then compare every file or program on a user's computer with the signatures in the database to determine if the target was infected by a virus.

The first-generation direct, unadorned viruses were simply defenseless against this technology.

However, the inventor of this technology became arrogant, boasting that their technology could deal with all computer viruses, which caused dissatisfaction among peers, soon prompting the development of a counter-technology. Identifying a virus through "signature" is merely due to the uniqueness of the virus's "signature." If there is a virus that can constantly change its signature, antivirus software naturally would be helpless.

Even now, such encrypted viruses are not easy to detect and eliminate.

In the subsequent development of the Divine Plague Curse Technique, Wang Qi also adopted this approach. The nature of the Divine Plague Curse Technique he developed was constantly changing, making it impossible for anyone to counteract it—no matter how many times someone fights against the Divine Plague Curse Technique, even if force could work wonders, eventually they would be worn down by the constantly changing Divine Plague Curse Technique.

Even Immortals can only drink bitterly after being afflicted.

After roughly understanding Wang Qi's description of "change," Xu Xueqing was once again shocked.

This spell would be fatal even to her if she were afflicted.

If it's face-to-face combat, perhaps she could kill Wang Qi with one strike, but Wang Qi has the means to drag her into mutual destruction!

Seeing Xu Xueqing roughly understood his meaning, Wang Qi nodded. However, his goal was not to scare Xu Xueqing, so he continued to describe his next steps.

Actually, the Divine Plague Curse Technique is not absolutely invincible. If there is a vast difference in the level of power between both sides, then no matter how ingenious the Divine Plague Curse Technique is, it cannot be injected out of thin air. A powerful mana cycle, along with the essence of Unity of My Method, is a natural "firewall."

Wang Qi can target a Divine Separation Stage Cultivator with mana tens of times his own, but if faced with the Holy Emperor Venerable whose mana is tens of thousands of times his, it would be impossible to succeed.

Moreover, Wang Qi's real method is not focused on destruction.

His subsequent Divine Plague Curse Technique includes many things. What he seeks is not destruction, but turning all the other cultivators on Spirit Phoenix Island into his strength.

Mana takeover, thought theft, computing unit transformation, networking...

During his exposition, Wang Qi laid bare his intentions. Xu Xueqing also gradually understood Wang Qi's plan.

He's weaving a large net, the ultimate goal of which is to trap the Holy Emperor Venerable.

After finishing his exposition, Wang Qi said, "Although you are our partner, Elder Xu, but according to the rules of the Immortal Alliance, the destructive Divine Plague Curse Technique can only be used by myself and cannot be handed over to you. So, I can only demonstrate to you the use of the Divine Plague Curse Technique in person, which is 'Consciousness Transmission' and 'Mana Takeover' these two items..."

Xu Xueqing shook her head, "No need. On this point, I still believe in you."

"Believe..."

"I roughly understand, so naturally I can understand your plan." Xu Xueqing sighed, "If someone told me a few years ago that a Core Formation Cultivator plans to use a year to lay out a trap to kill a Mahayana Cultivator, and I believed this... I would definitely first knock out that disciple who deviated then treat their brain. Then... I really do believe you. Golden Core battles Mahayana."

Wang Qi tapped his head, "Do you feel that either you or I have deviated now?"

Xu Xueqing shook her head, her expression complex, "If there really is something that's gone astray, I fear it's this world itself..."

— Such power has emerged! Golden Core battles Mahayana!

Xu Xueqing stretched out her hand, holding a Jade Slip and a key: "This is my personal True Intent Inheritance, and the key to the place where the Immortal Hong Long-Chun Dao's inheritance is located. The Ten Directions Ruyi Hundred Transformations Thousand Illusions Profound Enlightening Wordless Heavenly Book Page, I can think of a way, but I can't help with Xi Yongquan and Ji Tangdi's personal inheritance."

"Can't you think of a way?"

"To induce them to deviate and then take advantage of that? That's wishful thinking." Xu Xueqing emphasized, "If such a thing really happens, they would probably report me to the Holy Emperor Venerable immediately, saying I harmed a fellow cultivator."

"Cultivation exchange then?"

"That's not possible either. Wouldn't you touch upon the core when exchanging cultivation techniques?"

Wang Qi nodded, "It always involves the core."

Xu Xueqing choked for a moment, and said, "On Spirit Phoenix Island, randomly asking such questions is a sign of malicious intent. So even I cannot casually obtain other people's cultivation techniques."

Wang Qi pondered for a while, "You should know what those people are cultivating, right?"

Amused, Xu Xueqing nodded, "For over two thousand years, even those Unification Stage Cultivators sometimes sought me out. They came to me for medical help, so naturally, I left records. I also understand some fragments of their cultivation techniques."

Wang Qi mused for a moment, "Alright then. I must observe the Cultivation Technique of the Ten Directions Ruyi Hundred Transformations Thousand Illusions Profound Enlightening Wordless Heavenly Book Page at least once. Besides this, all the other materials you've accumulated must give me a copy."

If nothing else works, he has a Plan B.

After all, he is the inheritor of Luofu Xuanqing Palace, holding the legacy of such a bandit sect, why should he worry about cultivation techniques?