Chapter 15: Digestion of Computational Power

Chapter 1397: Digestion of Computational Power

Looking at the scene before him—one white and one black, one derivative and one deceptive—two completely opposing streams of Divine-Sense Computational power devouring, resisting, and yet merging within his sea of consciousness, Mo Hua felt an indescribable sense of awe.

The pitch-black Strange Dao Thought Power was used by his Martial Uncle to kill him.

The white Heavenly Secret Thought Power was used by his Master to save him.

In a certain sense, these two kinds of Thought Power were completely mutually exclusive.

Moreover, both of these thought powers were composed of highly advanced "computational power."

Under normal circumstances, these two fundamentally different types of computational power followed entirely different—even inverse—algorithmic logics, and could not possibly be fused together.

Mo Hua had once attempted to use both Deceptive Algorithm and Derivative Algorithm simultaneously, using the former to amplify the latter.

But that was only an application at the level of “technique.” And in truth, it wasn’t really “simultaneous use,” but rather relying on powerful divine sense to first split off Strange Thought, then activate the Derivative Algorithm... there was a clear sequence involved.

But his Martial Uncle and Master had integrated computational power directly into Divine-Sense Thought Power.

This was a more profound application of the power of laws, something Mo Hua could not yet fully comprehend.

However, based on his keen perception and speculation, under this kind of application, Deceptive Algorithm and Derivative Algorithm no longer seemed to be mere algorithms but rather methods for constructing Divine Sense Thought power itself.

At this level, Deceptive Algorithm and Derivative Algorithm would be completely contradictory.

Even his exceptionally talented Master and the unfathomably profound Martial Uncle, though both from the same lineage, had each only mastered one of the Heavenly-Secret algorithms.

Previously, Mo Hua hadn't understood why his Master and Martial Uncle had each learned only one algorithm.

He never believed his own talent or comprehension surpassed theirs.

If he could learn something, it wasn't necessarily beyond the reach of his Master or Martial Uncle.

Now it seemed that, at the elementary "technique" stage, it was possible to learn a bit of both algorithms and mix them in application.

But once one reached a higher realm, where algorithms generated Divine Sense Thought Power...

the mutually exclusive nature of Deceptive Algorithm and Derivative Algorithm meant that the Strange Thought power and Heavenly-Secret power they respectively produced would inevitably clash upon contact, devouring and analyzing each other in a life-or-death struggle.

Either Derivative Algorithm would annihilate Deceptive Algorithm, or Deceptive Algorithm would decompose Derivative Algorithm.

Therefore, whether it was his Master, Martial Uncle, or even the predecessors of his Master's lineage throughout the generations, each had only specialized in one algorithm and could only cultivate that single algorithm to its ultimate level.

This was the only plausible explanation Mo Hua could arrive at after coming into contact with cultivation knowledge related to "Laws."

And the state within Mo Hua’s sea of consciousness, where two algorithms generated Thought Powers that both devoured and coexisted with each other, was clearly an extreme anomaly.

The reason for this “coexistence,” aside from Mo Hua’s own uniqueness, had an even more crucial factor:

A certain power had forcibly fused them together.

That power was the Laws of the Heavenly Dao.

It was the “Heavenly Dao Seal” that Mo Hua had swallowed into his divine sense when, during Core Formation, he had transformed into a “Taotie” in defiance of the Heavenly Dao’s suppression.

This sealing power of the Heavenly Dao, after being swallowed by Mo Hua, had remained “idle”. 

It wasn't until his Martial Uncle and his Master clashed, leaving residual power from both their Divine Thoughts in his Sea of Consciousness, that it came into play.

The power of the Heavenly Dao drew both the derivative and deceptive computational powers together, resulting in this contradictory yet fused state.

“Deceptive Algorithmic computational power, Derivative Algorithmic computational power, Heavenly Dao Laws...”

This was the root cause of the chaos in his Sea of Consciousness, analyzed and deduced by Mo Hua based on the current situation.

And this situation was not only unexpected to Mo Hua himself but even his Martial Uncle, and perhaps even his Master, likely hadn’t foreseen it.

Under normal circumstances, when the Strange Dao and Heavenly Secret clashed, regardless of who was stronger, one side’s power would be completely erased.

There would never be a state where both residual forces coexisted.

Yet Mo Hua, like a madman, had swallowed a fragment of Heavenly Dao sealing power and stored it in his sea of consciousness… No one, no matter how hard they racked their brains, could have guessed such a thing.

This utterly unexpected and absurd situation had led to the current state.

The Strange Daoist, Mister Zhuang, and the Heavenly Dao's sanctions... three forces had merged into one.

And this caused Mo Hua great distress.

The levels and dimensions of these three forces far exceeded his own cultivation realm. Their simultaneous presence within his sea of consciousness subjected it to immense pressure, preventing it from functioning normally.

“Do I have to completely digest these three forces—the Strange Dao Deceptive Algorithm, the Derivative Algorithm, and the Heavenly Dao—for my sea of consciousness to return to normal?”

Mo Hua’s brows gradually furrowed.

But how was he supposed to digest them?

Was this even something he could digest right now?

He tried using his Divine Sense Thought to communicate with his Martial Uncle’s Strange Thought, only to find it profoundly eerie and unfathomably mysterious.

Though it appeared to be just a single strand, internally it split into countless pitch-black threads, as if millions of "paramecia" were crawling within.

This was no ordinary Deceptive Algorithmic computational power, it was likely close to his Martial Uncle’s Original Thought Power.

At the very least, it was a portion split from his true self, meant to contaminate and “transform” him.

Let alone “digesting” it, this itself was a massive danger.

Mo Hua frowned. “Could this become my Martial Uncle’s ‘anchor’? Could he track me through this Strange Thought and hunt me down?”

Mo Hua's heart skipped a beat, and he felt a surge of fear. After pondering for a moment, he slowly shook his head.

This Strange Thought computational power was currently restrained by Heavenly Secret computational power and Heavenly Dao Laws, trapped in a cyclical stalemate.

For now, it seemed to lack the capacity to contaminate him.

Moreover, he was currently in Kun Province, immeasurably far from the Great Wilderness.

His Martial Uncle’s true body had to remain within the Strange Dao Grand Formation, presiding over it. He likely had no time to personally hunt him down.

Even if he did send someone, it would likely be other Strange Dao clones, not his true self.

That reduced the threat considerably.

And as long as Mo Hua could digest this strand of Strange Thought computational power before Martial Uncle caught him, effectively "destroying the evidence," Martial Uncle would lose this anchor, making it far more difficult to track him down.

All he needed to do was stay cautious, keep a low profile, and avoid giving Martial Uncle any opportunity to catch him.

Mo Hua nodded slightly to himself.

Even when facing Martial Uncle, he needed to be bold yet meticulous, avoiding hesitation.

But the problem remained... How was he supposed to digest this Strange Thought?

Mo Hua glanced again at the Strange Thought computational power. Just as single glance at the sinister threads within the Thought Power, resembling countless black paramecia worms, sent shivers down his spine.

Could this thing really be “digested”?

If he consumed it, wouldn’t something go wrong?

If he did, would he become a miniature version of the “Strange Daoist”?

Mo Hua wasn't entirely sure, but he felt it wasn't impossible.

He then turned to the other white strand of Heavenly Secret Thought Power.

This had been left behind by his Master. Mo Hua felt a warmth within it—it was something deeply familiar and nostalgic.

His Master had treated him very well, and this Heavenly Secret Thought Power existed to protect him, completely open and without defenses against him.

With just a glance, Mo Hua could see that this Thought Power contained an extremely profound Heavenly-Secret computational power.

Completely opposite to Deceptive Algorithmic computational power, this force was pure white, utterly clean, with almost no impurities, nor any stray thoughts.  It was singular and refined to the extreme.

This kind of purity, like a blank sheet of paper, seemed capable of instantly reflecting the most fundamental state of all things in the world.

It was the complete opposite of his Martial Uncle—the Strange Daoist’s Strange Thought Power.

Mo Hua tried to comprehend it... but still found that it didn’t work.

Even though what his master left behind held no defenses against him as a disciple, Mo Hua simply couldn’t understand it.

There were no incantations, no methods, no insights, no text or explanations—just pure, unadulterated Thought-Power. Even for Mo Hua, it felt vague and elusive, impossible to grasp.

More troublesome still, this was clearly his master’s true “Thought-Power”—a force above Feathered Ascension, at a higher realm, with an extremely orthodox inheritance.

Mo Hua, who had never systematically studied the “Heavenly Secret Derivative Algorithm,” naturally couldn't comprehend it.

As for the final strand: The “Heavenly Dao Law”…

Mo Hua glanced at it and could only sigh.

At the time, he had been too enraged and had lost his rationality, which was why he swallowed that Law in one gulp.

But that didn’t mean the Heavenly Dao Law could be easily understood or digested by him.

In other words, all three forces were beyond his ability to handle.

Either too dangerous, too complex, too profound, too mysterious, or of immense origin… or all of the above.

Mo Hua frowned deeply, realizing he had encountered a major problem again.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, there were now three “big bosses.”

If he didn’t resolve the entanglement of these three forces—one Derivative, one Deceptive, and one Law—then the chaos in his Sea of Consciousness could never be fundamentally cured.

And for him, issues in the Sea of Consciousness were the most fundamental issues of all.

Fortunately, Mo Hua had many methods in the Divine Dao.

After thinking carefully for a long time, he finally came up with a solution: the Taotie Law.

As everyone knows, Taotie can devour endlessly, capable of consuming all things in heaven and earth.

But eating is only the surface. The core reason lies in its powerful “digestion” ability.

No matter what it consumes, it can rapidly digest it and turn it into its own power.

Previously, through comprehending a series of Taotie formations, Mo Hua had already grasped part of the application of the Taotie Law.

At present, the only thing he could do was to rely on the Taotie “Law” within his instincts and attempt to completely digest the Heavenly Dao Law, and the two forces of Derivative and Deceptive attached to it.

Of course, the application of Laws was far from simple.

Using the Law of the ferocious beast Taotie to digest the computational powers of his Master and Martial Uncle was obviously extremely difficult.

Not only would this gradually deepen the Taotie nature within him, but it would also severely test Mo Hua's understanding of the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm and the Heavenly Secret Derivative Algorithm.

What made it even more challenging was that he couldn't afford to make mistakes. He had to constantly maintain the balance between the Deceptive Algorithm and the Derivative Algorithm.

The moment he miscalculated and broke the balance, causing the Deceptive Algorithmic computation to spiral out of control and allowing the Strange Thought to rampage through his Sea of Consciousness, the consequences would be disastrous.

Mo Hua sighed.

But in this situation, he had no choice. No one could help him resolve the problems within his own Sea of Consciousness.

First, this matter involved his Martial Uncle and his Master, it absolutely could not be exposed.

Second, it involved two supreme Heavenly Secret algorithms—one derivative and one deceptive. Aside from Mo Hua himself, no one else possessed the ability to help him.

In the end, at the level of divine sense, if he lacked the ability to save himself, then no one could save him either.

“…Let’s try”

Mo Hua calmed his mind, sat within his Sea of Consciousness, and imagined himself as the ancient ferocious beast Taotie, using this to awaken its primal instincts.

Before long, a faint but ominous aura began to emanate from his Divine Sense Thought.

On his Divine-Sense body, half-blue and half-black Taotie patterns appeared, as though he had transformed into a humanoid Taotie.

Then Mo Hua opened his eyes.

Within them flickered ferocious Taotie patterns, while faint laws flowed at the depths of his gaze.

As the Taotie Law circulated, the black-and-white Taiji patterns formed by the derivative and deceptive algorithms in Mo Hua's vision underwent a distinct transformation.

As though peeled layer by layer by some unseen force, they started to dissolve.

This was the manifestation of Taotie’s ability to digest the power of Laws.

However, Mo Hua was still human, not a true Taotie, and his understanding of Laws was still shallow.

Whether it was his Martial Uncle’s Strange Thought, his Master’s Heavenly Secret Thought Power, or the Heavenly Dao Law itself—none of them were things he could truly digest at his current level.

Thus, this “peeling” and dissolution of Laws only scratched the surface, progressing extremely slowly.

At the same time, the process consumed a massive amount of divine sense.

Before long, Mo Hua’s divine sense was exhausted.

Still not fully recovered, he didn’t dare overexert himself. He could only stop for now, then obediently return to meditation to restore his divine sense.

Once it was replenished, he would continue his “Taotie Transformation,” using the Eyes of Taotie to glimpse the mysteries of the derivative and deceptive algorithms.

This process was long, obscure, and tedious, testing his patience greatly.

Fortunately, it inherently contained the analysis and comprehension of Laws, which for Mo Hua was an extremely novel and wondrous experience.

He quickly found enjoyment in it and became deeply immersed.

During the day, aside from studying formations with his Little Senior Sister, whenever he had time, he would meditate, sink his divine sense into his Sea of Consciousness, transform into Taotie, and digest the Heavenly Secret thought-power.

At night, he would even forgo sleep entirely, focusing on resolving the issues in his Sea of Consciousness.

As time passed, Mo Hua’s understanding of the Taotie Laws, especially the Law of “digestion,” grew deeper and deeper.

His "digestive power," akin to that of the Taotie, also grew stronger, allowing him to grasp more and more insights from the Derivative and Deceptive Algorithms.

Finally, one day, as Mo Hua neglected food and sleep, immersed in the myriad transformations of Law analysis, the Taotie patterns in his eyes suddenly flashed, radiating intense light.

Correspondingly, the various Laws before him began to change.

The Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm and Heavenly Secret Derivative Algorithm suddenly manifested in a more subtle form within his vision.

Because the Heavenly Dao Law had forcibly sealed the Heavenly Secret and the Strange Dao Thought-Powers together, a delicate transformation had occurred.

Taking advantage of this, Mo Hua seemed to glimpse the more fundamental logic within both the Heavenly Secret Derivative Algorithm and the Heavenly Secret Deceptive Algorithm.

All things in heaven and earth evolve into one.

And that one qi of heaven and earth differentiates into the myriad.

The Derivative Algorithm transforms the myriad into one, perceiving the essence of all things.

The Deceptive Algorithm differentiates one into myriad, manifesting the countless phenomena of existence.

The Derivative Algorithm and the Deceptive Algorithm seemed like two expressions of the same algorithm—one forward, one reverse; one following, one opposing.

The moment this thought arose, Mo Hua felt his mind tremble, and everything before him suddenly became clear.

The black and white streams of computational power seemed to merge into one, uniting and resonating with his consciousness.

Mo Hua realized that this was both his digestion of the Laws as a Taotie and the wondrous resonance of his Divine Sense with those Laws.

With a single thought from Mo Hua, a wisp of black qi and a wisp of white qi within his Sea of Consciousness began to flow slowly under his control, harmonious and without conflict.

This meant that his Divine-Sense could now actively guide a portion of both Strange Dao and Heavenly Secret Thought-Power.

Though he could not explain why, Mo Hua could feel that he had crossed a certain threshold of Heavenly Secret algorithms, stepping into a domain no one had ever walked before.

Joy rose in his heart.

But after the joy, he frowned, realizing he had celebrated a bit too early.

He could indeed “guide” the two kinds of Thought-Power, allowing the Deceptive Algorithm and Derivative Algorithm to reach a certain balance.

But this was only “guidance”—merely achieving an initial synchronization of computational power with the Thought-Power left behind by his Martial Uncle and Master.

He was still far from truly digesting and fully integrating them.

He had stepped into a brand-new threshold, but it was only that: a single step past the threshold…

What followed would require massive amounts of Derivative and Deceptive computations, and through Taotie, continuous analysis, digestion, and even assimilation of Thought-Power. Only through this immense computational process could the two algorithms ultimately merge.

And only then could he “devour” the black and white thought-powers left behind by his Master and Martial Uncle in synchronized harmony.

Just thinking about it made it clear, this was not something that could be achieved overnight.

But if that was the case, what about his Sea of Consciousness?

If the conflict between the two Thought-Powers within the Heavenly Dao seal was not resolved, would his Sea of Consciousness remain in this constant state of “chaos”?

If it remained unresolved, would his Sea of Consciousness have to bear this “load” everyday?

Then how was he supposed to cultivate?

And what about his Divine-Sense realm?

Mo Hua couldn’t help but scratch his head.

As he scratched, a sudden spark of inspiration struck him, he realized he had forgotten something:

The Dao Stele!

Since the Dao Stele could store “Calamity Lightning,” didn't that mean it could also store Strange Dao, Heavenly Secret, and even the Heavenly Dao power?

It was currently the Hour of Chou (1 a.m. – 3 a.m.); the timing was perfect. After a moment’s thought, Mo Hua willed it, summoning the Dao Stele.

At the very center of his empty Sea of Consciousness, as an ancient aura circulated, a broken stele slowly emerged once more.

...

Author’s note: "The setting/worldbuilding details are really hard to write, so this came a bit late, sorry for the delay

(End of Chapter)