Ink-Clad Creator

On the second floor of Qixia Pavilion, Li Xian pushed open the wooden window.

Peach Blossom Pool at dusk resembled a gradually changing ribbon—golden reflections of lights in the foreground, and pale purple twilight cast by the dome-shaped fluorescent stones in the distance. The outlines of the seven islands appeared and disappeared in the thin mist. He recognized them from memory: Liuzhu, Caixia, Qihuang, Yingyue, Sangzi, and further away, Tingyun Island and Xiexing Island, shrouded in clouds and mist.

"The layout of this place is extraordinary." The Dark Knight hovered by the window, his optical lens slowly scanning. "The seven islands' positions subtly correspond to the Big Dipper, and the water flow shows signs of artificial modification. How could people three hundred years ago possess such planning abilities?"

"Perhaps..." Superman's energy was depleted, and his voice was somewhat broken, "Their ancestors...had contact with a more advanced civilization..."

Li Xian's heart stirred. The stone carvings, Morse code, metal spiders, and this perfect man-made ecosystem in the canyon—it certainly didn't seem like the work of a simple ancient hermit.

[Analyzing environmental energy flow.] The administrator's voice rang out, [A weak energy network has been detected between the seven islands. The core node is between Phoenix Island and Star-Picking Island. Prioritize exploration.]

"Let's solve the drone's energy problem first," Li said in a low voice. "Without your reconnaissance and support, we can't move an inch here."

Just then, footsteps came from downstairs.

Xiao Lingshan returned, followed by someone—not Peng Shutao, but a girl about the same age as Xiao Lingshan. She wore a pale yellow dress, her long hair was braided and hung down in front of her chest, her eyes were bright and sparkling, and she exuded a lively spirit.

"This is Peng Shitao, the second daughter of the Peng clan chief, a wood-type talent," Xiao Lingshan introduced. "We met her at Qinfang Pavilion."

"Greetings, Young Master Li!" Peng Shitao smiled, revealing two dimples. "Sister Lingshan told me that you came from outside the mountains, and that you have these talking mechanical birds! They're so interesting!"

Li Xian nodded politely, but wondered to himself – wasn't Xiao Lingshan going to see Peng Shutao?

"Sister Shutao was called away by Father to discuss the Peach Blossom Festival," Peng Shitao explained, seemingly noticing his question. "She asked me to bring some things over first."

As she spoke, she took out three pink crystals, each about the size of a walnut, from her small cloth bag. A halo of light flowed within the crystals, as if they had captured a small patch of sunset.

"Peach wood heart crystal," Peng Shitao placed the crystal on the table, "Although it can't compare to the quality of crystals from thousand-year-old trees, it should be enough to replenish the energy of your mechanical birds. This is my sister's idea—she said that since Sister Lingshan is of the same wood element, she's practically one of us."

Superman swiftly flew above the crystal, indicator lights flashing wildly: "Stable bio-energy source detected! Purity 87%! Compatibility... Analyzing... Excellent compatibility! Direct conversion possible!"

"Really?" Daya spun around excitedly. "How do I use it? How do I use it?"

"Just stick it on your energy interface." Peng Shitao demonstrated, pressing a crystal into a groove on the belly of the Superman machine. The crystal emitted a soft pink light, which seeped into the machine like flowing water.

Superman's indicator light visibly lit up, and his voice regained its energy: "Energy level recovering... 15%... 30%... Awesome!"

"Miss Shitao, this gift is too generous," Li Xian said solemnly.

"It's not heavy at all." Peng Shitao waved her hand, but her eyes glanced at the small pine tree around Xiao Lingshan's waist. "Actually... I have something to ask of you."

As expected. Li Xian and Xiao Lingshan exchanged a glance.

"Speaking."

Peng Shitao bit her lip, then suddenly lowered her voice: "Sister Lingshan, that little pine tree of yours... I can sense that it's special. It's not ordinary spirit wood, right?"

Xiao Lingshan did not answer immediately.

"I meant no harm," Peng Shitao quickly added, "It's just... our wood-based cultivation in Peach Blossom Village has been stuck at a bottleneck for three hundred years. We can sense peach trees and borrow their energy, but we can never create a 'living' energy body like we can with water-based cultivation."

She stretched out her hand, and a pale green halo appeared in her palm. Within the halo, there were faint shadowy images of peach branches, but they flickered and disappeared after a few seconds.

"This is the limit of what I can do—to briefly manifest the form of wood-type energy. But Sister Shutao is different." Peng Shitao's eyes revealed envy. "She is a water-type talent. Last year, by the cold pool on Yingyue Island, she successfully condensed a drop of 'living water.' Although it only lasted for ten breaths, that drop of water truly had a sense of life; it would roll in her palm..."

Li Xian was deeply shaken. Condensing a living energy body—wasn't this exactly the experiment Boltzmann's brain was conducting?

"Didn't your ancestors leave behind any related methods?" Xiao Lingshan asked.

"There's a legend," Peng Shitao nodded, "saying that three hundred years ago, a 'wise being from beyond the heavens' descended and taught our ancestors to build this paradise, leaving behind the basic principles of energy utilization. But the specific methods... have been lost in the transmission over the generations. All we know is that we need to synchronize our spiritual intentions, life energy, and some kind of 'cosmic string vibration' in order to make inanimate energy generate 'spirituality'."

Cosmic string vibration.

These four words made Li Xian's pupils shrink slightly. Among the intelligent knowledge Boltzmann's brain had instilled in him, there were indeed fragments about string theory—the theory that the most basic unit of matter is a one-dimensional vibrating "string," and that different vibration modes produce different particles.

"So you want to..." Xiao Lingshan asked softly.

"I would like to ask Sister Lingshan to teach me," Peng Shitao said sincerely. "Your little pine tree is the most 'spiritual' energy body I have ever sensed. If we can understand its principles, perhaps our wood-based cultivation in Peach Blossom Village can break through its bottleneck."

Xiao Lingshan remained silent for a moment, then looked at Li Xian.

Li Xian understood what she meant—the secret of the little pine tree involved Boltzmann's brain, the administrators, and too many things that couldn't be revealed.

"Miss Shitao," he began, "if we can help you break through your bottleneck, in exchange, could you tell us the complete principles of the Peach Blossom Village energy system? Including... how to charge special energy bodies?"

Peng Shitao's eyes lit up: "You have a solution?"

"It's worth a try," Li said, "but not now. I need to prepare some things, and I also need a quiet, energetic place."

"The Cold Pool of Reflecting Moon Island!" Peng Shitao blurted out, "That's where the water energy is purest, and the wood energy is also nourished and active by the water. I'll take you there tomorrow morning!"

After the agreement was reached, Peng Shitao left happily. Before leaving, she remembered something and turned back to say, "By the way, the rules for the Peach Blossom Festival will be announced on Rainbow Cloud Island tomorrow. If Young Master Li is interested, you can go and take a look—I heard that quite a few impressive people have come this year."

After she had walked away, Xiao Lingshan asked softly, "Are you really going to try creating an energy body?"

"I have to try." Li Xian smiled wryly, pointing to his forehead. "The task given by the management doesn't have much time left. And..."

He looked out the window. Dusk had fallen, and lanterns floated on the lake, their twinkling lights reflecting off the starlight simulated by the fluorescent stones in the dome of the lake. Faint sounds of string and wind instruments drifted from several islands, as if rehearsing for the festival three days later.

"I've always felt that this Peach Blossom Village holds some secret. That 'extraterrestrial sage' is very likely connected to Boltzmann's brain. If I could master the method of creating pure energy bodies, I could not only power the drones, but perhaps also..." He paused, "find leverage against the administrators."

Xiao Lingshan stared at him for a long time before finally nodding: "I'll help you."

Late at night.

Xiao Lingshan was resting in the next room, while the drones entered low-power standby mode after recharging. Li Xian sat alone by the window, his consciousness sinking into that dark red space.

The energy monitor shows: 31.

It only increased slightly. There's still a long way to go to reach the target of 80.

"You have a plan." The manager's voice rang out.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll go to Moon Reflection Island to try and create a pure energy body of 'Holy Water'," Li Xian answered in his mind. "If I succeed, not only will I be able to replenish the drone's energy, but I might also find a way to quickly increase its energy value."

[Wise advice. But a word of caution: creating a living energy body requires precise energy manipulation and spiritual resonance. With your current level of control, the probability of failure is 73%.]

"Therefore, we need Xiao Lingshan's help. Her wood-type spiritual medium nature can stabilize the flow of energy."

The manager remained silent for a few seconds.

That girl...you've developed an emotional dependence on her. That's a weakness.

Li Xian did not deny it. He looked out the window at the river lanterns floating on the lake, their warm yellow lights shining persistently in the darkness.

"Emotions may affect computational efficiency," he said, "but they can also provide answers that computation cannot obtain. Boltzmann's brain chose me precisely because I still retain human 'irrationality,' right?"

This time, the manager did not refute it.

As the night deepened, Li Xian suddenly heard a very faint sound coming from downstairs—not the sound of wind blowing through peach branches, but a kind of regular, metallic friction-like sound.

He quietly got up and went to the window to look down.

In the waterside backyard of Qixia Pavilion, several figures in white were moving swiftly along the lakeshore. Their steps were as light as cats, and their white robes were almost invisible in the night. The middle-aged woman at the head of the group stopped and looked up towards Qihuang Island; her profile was exceptionally clear in the moonlight.

Li Xian's breath hitched.

That face... did indeed bear a striking resemblance to Xiao Lingshan. Especially the contours of her eyebrows and eyes, only with the added cold, stern lines etched by time.

The middle-aged woman seemed to notice the gaze and suddenly turned her head to look at the second floor of Qixia Pavilion!

Li Xian quickly retreated into the shadows.

A few seconds later, the figures in white disappeared into the depths of the peach grove like ghosts.

"Linghan Palace..." Li Xian murmured.

The next morning, Peach Blossom Village was shrouded in a pale pink morning mist.

Peng Shitao arrived at Qixia Pavilion early, bringing two sets of villagers' clothes: "Change into these, so you won't stand out too much on the island."

Li Xian and Xiao Lingshan changed into light blue cloth clothes and hid the drone in the package they brought—although Peng Shitao had already seen it, letting it fly openly would still attract unnecessary onlookers.

The small boat carrying the three of them headed towards Yingyue Island. Shen Qing was rowing; he seemed preoccupied today and spoke much less.

"Brother Shen Qing, what's wrong?" Peng Shitao asked.

"It's nothing." Shen Qing shook his head, but hesitated for a moment before whispering, "Last night, while patrolling, I saw several people in white near Tingyun Island... acting suspiciously. The clan leader has already increased manpower, but with the Peach Blossom Festival approaching, we really can't spare too many people to investigate."

It was Linghan Palace again. Li Xian and Xiao Lingshan exchanged a glance.

Yingyue Island is shaped like a crescent moon, with a cold pool at its heart. The pool's water is crystal clear, and a faint white mist floats on its surface. Several ancient peach trees grow by the pool, their trunks strong and their petals not the common pink, but an almost transparent jade white.

"These are 'Jade Peaches of the Cold Pool'," Peng Shitao explained. "They only bloom once every three hundred years, and the last time they bloomed was when my grandfather was young. Their heartwood crystals are of the highest quality, but no one is willing to use them."

Xiao Lingshan walked to a jade peach tree and gently stroked its trunk. She closed her eyes, and after a moment whispered, "It's asleep... but it can sense my resonance."

The branches of the jade peach tree moved swiftly without wind, and a few petals drifted down and landed in her palm.

Peng Shitao's eyes lit up as she looked at it.

Li Xian walked to the edge of the icy pool and squatted down. He put his hand into the water—a bone-chilling cold instantly assaulted him, but what surprised him even more was the extremely pure energy flowing within the water. It wasn't Xuan Qi, nor ordinary life energy, but something more fundamental, closer to the "primordial state."

[Vacuum zero-point energy fluctuation detected.] The administrator's voice carried an unusual fluctuation. [This icy pool... is an artificially created energy well. Principle: Extracting quantum fluctuation energy from the spacetime background through a special geological structure. That 'extraterrestrial sage' has definitely reached the level of a Level Two civilization.]

Vacuum zero-point energy? Quantum fluctuations? Although Li Xian did not fully understand, he realized one thing—this cold pool was a treasure trove.

"Let's begin." He took a deep breath and looked at Xiao Lingshan. "I need you to help me stabilize the energy flow."

Xiao Lingshan nodded and sat down cross-legged opposite him. The sapling, held in her palm, had regained some of its luster.

Peng Shitao stepped aside and watched nervously.

Li Xian closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the ocean of knowledge Boltzmann's brain was flooding him with. Fragments of information about string theory, quantum field theory, and energy topology twinkled in his mind like stars. He tried to capture those fragments and piece them together into a feasible solution.

Step 1: Sensing the energy string.

He hovered his hand above the surface of the icy pool, his mind highly focused. With the help of the administrator, his perception was amplified to the microscopic level—he "saw" it. He saw countless vibrating "strings" in the water, trembling like musical instruments, each frequency corresponding to a different energy attribute.

Step 2: Select the frequency.

What he was looking for was the frequency corresponding to life energy. It was a warm, orderly vibrational pattern with a tendency to grow. In a multitude of chaotic vibrations, it was like identifying the trajectory of a single raindrop in a downpour.

[Left-handed 27.3 Hz band.] The administrator provides precise coordinates.

Li Xian's spiritual tendrils reached towards that frequency band. The instant he made contact, he felt a strange resonance—as if his life frequency had synchronized with those strings.

Step 3: Extraction and shaping.

This is the most difficult step. He needs to "fish out" energy strings with specific vibrations from the ocean of vacuum zero-point energy and weave them into a stable structure.

Xiao Lingshan made her move at that moment.

Her wood-based spiritual medium nature naturally possesses the characteristics of "soothing" and "guiding" energy. The small pine tree emitted a soft green light, which, like a net, gently supported the energy strings that Li Xian extracted, preventing them from dissipating.

Cold sweat beaded on Li Xian's forehead. This required an extremely high level of mental control; every second felt like walking a tightrope.

The energy strings gradually gathered, forming a pale blue dot of light above his palm. The dot of light slowly rotated, absorbing the moisture overflowing from the icy pool.

Step 4: Infuse with "spirituality".

This is the most esoteric part of Boltzmann's knowledge of the brain—how to enable inanimate energy to generate a self-sustaining "spiritual cycle." The answer is surprisingly: inject an ordered information structure, allowing it to guide the energy body's self-organization like the DNA of a living organism.

Li Xian constructed a very simple information loop in his consciousness: absorption, transformation, and maintenance. He "encoded" this information into a specific string vibration pattern and injected it into light spots.

The light suddenly shone brightly!

Then, it began to change. The pale blue gradually turned into a crystal-clear water color, and its shape elongated and condensed from a point of light, eventually forming a thumb-sized droplet of water suspended in the air.

The water droplet was as clear as crystal, with fine silver threads flowing inside. It rolled slowly, trembling slightly above Li Xian's palm, as if it had come to life.

[Success.] The administrator's voice carried a rare hint of satisfaction. [Primary Active Energy Body—Prototype of 'Holy Water'. Stability Assessment: 87%.]

Li opened his eyes and stared at the drop of water floating in his palm, feeling somewhat dazed.

He did it.

"Oh my god..." Peng Shitao covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes, "It really...it really happened..."

Xiao Lingshan also let out a long sigh of relief, and the light from the little pine tree dimmed—she had also expended a lot of energy.

Just then, applause came from the peach grove on the opposite bank of the cold pool.

Two young men walked out side by side. They looked about 80% alike, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, but their temperaments were very different: one wore blue and had a cold expression; the other wore green and had a carefree smile.

"Wonderful." The young man in blue spoke, his voice clear and bright. "I never imagined that a visitor from outside the mountains could recreate the 'condensation of water into spirit' recorded by our ancestors."

The young man in green walked straight up and curiously examined the drop of "holy water": "Brother, how did you do that? Teach me! I've tried for three years and haven't succeeded!"

Peng Shitao hurriedly introduced: "These are Shen Aonan and Shen Jiaonan, Sister Shutao's childhood sweethearts. Brother Aonan is a water element, and Brother Jiaonan is a wood element—just like me."

Shen Aonan's gaze swept over Li Xian and Xiao Lingshan, finally settling on the drop of holy water. A complex look flashed in his eyes: "According to the ancestral records, those who can condense a living energy body are the 'chosen ones,' qualified to enter the ancient altar of Star-Picking Island. This young master Li... may I speak with you in private?"

A faint alarm bell rang in Li Xian's mind.

He put away the holy water—the drop obediently landed in his palm, transforming into a cool energy that flowed into his body. The energy monitor's value jumped: 35.

The growth isn't much, but this is just the beginning.

"Regarding the ancient altar," Li Xian asked cautiously, "what's there?"

Shen Aonan and Shen Jiaonan exchanged a glance.

Finally, Shen Jiaonan said with a grin, "It holds Peach Blossom Village's greatest secret—and its greatest danger. In the past three hundred years, no more than three people have survived the altar."

He paused, his smile fading slightly:

"And the top prize in this year's Peach Blossom Festival is an opportunity to enter the Star-Picking Island Altar."

"Right now, there are already three groups of people eyeing that spot."

"Are you going to get involved?"

A morning breeze swept across the cold pond, causing the jade peach petals to flutter down.

Li Xian looked at Xiao Lingshan, then at the slightly warm pine tree in his arms, and then at the dark red countdown in his consciousness space.

Remaining time: 8 days 11 hours

He had no choice.