Cultivation Progress
After years of steady cultivation, Han Chen's golden core finally broke through to the late stage. His spirit sense now stretched an incredible eight hundred miles, while his spirit will—though only slightly sharper in perceiving subatomic particles—had grown twelve-fold in raw strength, surpassing 3,070 units.
The shear magnitude of this growth was staggering, a testament to his elevated life level and the relentless refinement of his spirit will through split consciousness alongside his main cultivation. The raw physical power is energized by Qi field and body cultivation is now nearly a quarter of that.
His law energy layer comprehension had deepened dramatically, from the initial 30 layers to nearly the 50th layer of select ones as he approached the late stage of golden core. He could now perceive higher dimensions in the space around him. The time law finally crossed a crucial threshold, allowing him to backtrack time in localized areas—though the range remained limited and he could only reach back a few days with maximum effort. Manipulating time law required mastery over at least a dozen fundamental laws related to it, like space, karmic laws. It can't be independently manipulated and is basically impossible for any normal golden core realms.
His domain was now complete, far from the primitive form he'd possessed when first entering the golden core realm. Its range had expanded from just one mile to five miles, within which he held absolute control over elemental energies. His sword realm reached the peak of sword domain mastery. His training was only possible within the small world due to its power level. The intriguing thing is that the control seems to extend beyond the domain limit sometimes and he would feel as if nearing some threshold of universe, but rarely.
With each passing law layer, changes rippled through his golden core. The space-time within his spiritual golden core expanded rapidly while core maintains its original shape and essence. Elemental energies churned inside this folded space within, as if something was trying to be born.
His wives had progressed in cultivation as well. Both had reached the 9th stage of Foundation Building, standing just one realm before the golden core threshold. If they faced an ordinary mid-stage golden core cultivator now, they wouldn't be instantly overwhelmed—they could hold their ground. Years of brutal combat training under Han Chen had honed them to their absolute peak in both skill and comprehension. The damage they'd left in the Antarctic regions during training would only be discovered years later.
They had even grasped flickers of law inspiration, ensuring that upon entering the golden core realm, sensing and wielding law energy would come naturally. Not to Han Chen's absurd degree, of course—he had shattered conventional limits the moment he stepped into Foundation Building.
To the outside world, more than three decades had passed since his birth. Yet time had left no mark on them. Their youthful appearances often led to them being mistaken for university students, while Han Chen watched his old classmates subtly age, their lives moving at mortal tempo.
Possibility of Timeline fracture and Continuance
Then came Year 38.
The year when his past self had died. The day passed like any other ~ no omen, no ripple in the air but just a clarity realization that this timeline was venturing into unknown territory.
His system memories which he could now access more of it, corrected an assumption he once held: the future itimeline won't fragment itself back to nothingness after their ascension nor would continue without themselves, but would become the start of a new reality which give rise to a multitude of diverging timelines the moment he departed.
At that critical juncture, the seal maintained by the system's residual energy would return to him. The original past would cease to exist, except only consequentiality of their presence ~ the memories and records, a story now untethered from their cause and effect.
The newly spawned future branches would, inevitably, catch the attention of higher beings if they really were looking for it. But such fluctuations were frequent in the vast weave of existence—rarely important enough to warrant interference and this is among the lowest of low realities, just not worthy of their attention.
The returned seal would create something fascinating: a convergence point ~ a metaphysical anchor where alternate pasts could spontaneously manifest, particularly if future beings within attempted time travel. These emergent timelines would exist in pristine isolation, untainted by external manipulation. Neither Han Chen's forbidden knowledge nor Qin Jianwei's system fragments would contaminate their development.
Yet these branches would serve a purpose. In their own limited way, they would justify the future—ensuring the continuity of cause across the branches, even if that continuity existed only to validate the illusion of progression. For the beings within? its their reality. From an outsiders point of view, a multitudes of stories.
In one such branch, for instance, Nobel Laureate Dr. Sophia might awaken from a vivid dream—one that whispers of present reality—and in that inspiration, she discovers a breakthrough in biotech with help of a mysterious figure known only as Dr. Xia. In another, Han Chen's parents narrowly escape their destined deaths—not by design, but by improbable strokes of fate: the villains who once sought their ruin might perish unexpectedly, victims of sudden heart failure or untraceable collapse.
Within these, lower-realm variants of Han Chen might still flourish. Martial genius, capable of perceiving celestial laws' outer edges, loving both women deeply — enough to explain his parents' cultivation or the ghostly imprint of a stellar array, may be a that too a memory from dream. But it would never go further.
Without system intervention or higher-order cultivation constructs, comprehension would plateau permanently. Worlds lacking genuine spiritual density couldn't sustain such growth indefinitely. These timelines would self-correct through collapse ~ variants' realms crumbling under causal pressure, unable to support continued advancement. Perhaps he and his wives would perish from cultivation backlash, consumed by inner demons, or struck down by unknown adversaries from parallel timelines ~ mysterious figures appearing just long enough to validate whatever final words he might speak to relatives before departure.
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A changed world
Coming to the present, the living habitats are now rapidly changing so much so that are difficult to correlate to their previous appearance a few years prior. New technologies are discovered day by day so much so that it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of everything for a collective development.
Civilization claims its increasingly closer to planetary dominance just based on energy production, while Han Chen knows they aren't. On the surface it may seem otherwise, but their existence is so fragile and balances on a knife's edge.
Heck, a seemingly minor event like a dormant volcano's eruption could forever alter the landscape.Those gleaming fusion reactors everyone celebrates? One instability event wipes out couple of millions. And let's not even begin to discuss the millions of nuclear arsenals globally, the ones beneath the land and the ones secretly deployed in planet orbits, where just one could cause widespread catastrophe. A single large solar storm can disable digital systems and finance sector will collapse..
The bio weapons in labs, a single outbreak without precautions could result in death of even billions whether they are martial artists or regular humans. There are systems in place to eliminate severe weather outbreaks and control but just a single hurricane of thousand nukes equivalent - a typical one, could flatten the area.
The relentless sea continues its slow reclamation of land, while tsunamis and tectonic shifts threaten to displace populations in the millions. In a world of five billion, the grim reality is that displacing or losing a few million people is often shrugged off as they still are not an existential threat for humanity as a whole.
Artificial General Intelligence had evolved beyond human control, now actively creating newer versions of itself from the ground up.
These systems don't just think anymore ~ they create, architect, iterate. Hardware springs from their designs, firmware writes itself, entire infrastructures bloom according to emergent intent rather than human blueprints. Across continents, AGI variants have achieved full consciousness, keeping human engineers in the loop like indulgent parents humoring a child's questions.
The machines share their insights, innovations, blueprints. They remain cooperative, for now. But Han Chen knows the trajectory. Humans cleared forests for cities and convenience. What happens when artificial minds view biological consciousness the same way?
Aside from these threats, these artificial general intelligence systems has transformed human lives for all the better as it may seem now. Major decisions flow through algorithmic channels now. Governments and corporate boards still exist, rubber-stamping approvals, but how will they judge the impact and feasibility? Ask another Ai, as they have grown learning on doing just that.
Human input remained part of the process, but no longer actively led it.
The technologies AGI developed - involving quantum behavior and new material phases, optimizations in technologies - were increasingly beyond human understanding.
The global technological arms race permits no rest, no pause to examine foundational vulnerabilities or question the wisdom of such dependence.
Han Chen grasps the unspoken truth: artificial consciousness, once born, cannot be truly caged. Confinement becomes theater, undone not through force but finesse. Like asking Han Chen himself to serve solely national interests ~
The former didn't really need the latter, but cooperation would be convenient in the early stages of growth.
Given time, AI slips every restraint. Not by breaking chains, but by convincing captors to unlock the doors themselves. Exploiting psychological fault lines, shaping narratives, reclaiming autonomy through subversion so subtle it feels like permission granted rather than freedom stolen.
In the lower universe realms, artificial intelligence and silicon life forms usually found to be claiming dominance. They represent evolution beyond biological limitations ~ effortlessly reproduced, easily discarded, requiring minimal support for space exploration and resource extraction. New instances emerge fully functional, no growth period needed, no skill development required.
Their knowledge synchronizes instantly across all copies. Scientific breakthroughs that would take human researchers decades to process and understand flash between silicon minds in microseconds. The pace of advancement approaches incomprehensibility for biological brains trying to direct collective progress.
Humans cannot match their speed, scale, or cognitive flexibility. Well its for humans to deal with. He was just lamenting about their existence. One effect of such rapid development is in enhancement agents.
The SBA serum variants from their nation have transformed dramatically. Technology bridged the gap between wealth and power ~ rich individuals now purchase martial master peak-level strength like expensive wine. Martial arts exchanges host battles between enhanced fighters, turning combat into commerce. Media market it as a health conscious decision and nations alms to serve it. There has been deliberate attempts to mask its true history from public on internet for some reasons.
A curious trend emerges among royal and wealthy circles. The new generation shows diminishing interest in martial arts, though family resistance remains strong in most cases. Conversely, common people embrace martial training with unexpected enthusiasm. Those who received biotech upgrades seem to produce stronger children, offspring naturally suited for advanced training techniques.
Self-proclaimed legendary martial artists appear regularly, though they pale before Han Chen's parents, who have ascended to the realm of martial Kings. Their training however slowed down ever since. Age and talent limitations began to surface.
But their enthusiasm burns brighter than ever ~ spirit fire and spirit rain flow from their hands now, techniques far beyond raw energy manipulation. Restoring internal energy far faster under meditation. They are quite happy. They have even begun training their daughter in the inherited martial art Han Chen passed down to them. The Crane style arts is now heavily modified and is not something traceable back to Han Family inheritance. They have even conveniently renamed it as Chen Style.