Ink-Clad Creator

In the laboratory in the early morning, sunlight streams through the window and falls onto the worktable.

Mu Sheng was the first to "wake up".

He sat up—a movement that, for him, who had been nothing more than a puppet just two weeks ago, had become as natural as instinct. He looked down at his wooden hands, his fingers slowly opening and closing, as if confirming his own existence.

Then he turned his head and looked at Lingyu beside him.

Lingyu was still "sleeping". She lay on her side, her small body rising and falling slightly with her even energy breathing - this was a biomimetic energy circulation system designed by Peng Shitao, simulating the breathing rhythm of real life.

Mu Sheng reached out and gently touched Ling Yu's shoulder.

Lingyu's eyelids twitched (though she didn't actually have eyelids), and she slowly "opened" her eyes. She looked around in confusion and saw Musheng. The corners of the small wooden carving's mouth seemed to curve upwards slightly—this was the "expression control module" that Li Xian had recently added to them. Although rudimentary, it was enough to express emotions.

The two little dolls looked at each other, then simultaneously turned their heads to look at the corner of the laboratory.

There, Li Xianzheng was taking a nap on another workbench. He had stayed up until the early hours of the morning again last night, adjusting the energy cycle parameters of the little puppet.

Mu Sheng and Ling Yu exchanged a glance and tacitly climbed down from the main workbench—there was a small wooden ladder that Li Xian had specially built beside the table. Barefoot, they stepped onto the cold floor and silently walked towards Li Xian.

As they approached, Mu Sheng reached out her small hand and gently tugged at Li Xian's sleeve.

Lingyu followed suit and grabbed another piece of clothing.

Li Xian was actually already awake—Superman had whispered a reminder in his mind. But he pretended to be asleep, wanting to see what the two little guys would do.

Seeing that he didn't react, Mu Sheng tilted his head and pulled again. This time with more force.

Lingyu then tiptoed (if the puppet had toes) and tried to climb onto Li Xian's lap.

"Alright, alright, I'm awake." Li Xian smiled as he opened his eyes, sat up, and picked up the two small dolls, one in each arm, and placed them on his lap. "Why did you wake up so early today?"

Musheng pointed to the sunlight streaming in through the window—this was the first "concept" they had learned: the difference between day and night.

Lingyu touched its "belly"—this was the way Peng Shitao taught them to express that they were "hungry".

Their "hunger" is not a physiological need, but an energy need. Newly formed spiritual consciousness needs continuous energy nourishment to consolidate and grow.

"I'm hungry." Li Xian took out two small jade bottles from his pocket, which contained Peng Shitao's specially made "spiritual liquid" - a mixture of morning dew from Qingmu Courtyard, the essence of spiritual herbs from Xinglin Courtyard, and gentle energy purified by Li Xian himself.

He opened the bottle, and Musheng and Lingyu immediately sat obediently and opened their mouths—their mouths were actually carved slits, but enough for the spiritual liquid to flow in.

After feeding him the spiritual liquid, Mr. Li began his daily routine check-up.

"Superman, scan."

Superman flew over, his robotic arm shooting out a soft scanning beam.

"Musheng: Energy cycle stability 99.2%, consciousness activity continues to rise, seven new words have been recorded in the learning module. Lingyu: Energy cycle stability 99.1%, emotional module feedback is enhanced, and preliminary personality differences are beginning to appear—she is more lively and more curious than Musheng."

Li nodded. He recorded these data every day, and the sense of accomplishment he felt watching the two little ones "grow" little by little was indescribable.

In the morning, the laboratory began to bustle with activity.

The first to arrive was Peng Shitao. She carried a medicine kit filled with various newly prepared medicines and testing tools.

"Good morning, Musheng and Lingyu!" She squatted down and gently patted the heads of the two little dolls.

Mu Sheng nodded obediently. Ling Yu then reached out her little hand and tugged at Peng Shitao's skirt—this was her way of expressing affection.

Peng Shitao began daily checks. She used specially made silver needles to gently prick the joints and energy nodes of the small doll, judging its internal condition based on the feedback from the needles.

"The wood elemental pathways of the wood elemental body are clearer than yesterday, and the water elemental affinity of the spirit is increasing... Brother Li, did you adjust their energy ratios again last night?"

Li Xian nodded: "I made some minor adjustments. The Star-Patterned Grass powder is working better than expected; it's slowly absorbing the stellar energy within, which is helpful for the growth of consciousness."

Just then, Xiao Lingshan arrived. She was carrying a basin of fresh spiritual soil, with several "vitality seeds," a specialty of Qingmu Academy, buried in it.

"I dug this from the 'Ancient Tree Garden' in Aoki-in. This soil contains the life essence of a three-hundred-year-old tree." She spread the spiritual soil in the area where the two little dolls often played. "When they walk barefoot on it, they can directly absorb the life essence through the wood fibers under their feet."

Sure enough, when Mu Sheng and Ling Yu stepped onto the spiritual soil, a faint green light emanated from their bodies, and they squinted their eyes in comfort.

"Sister Lingshan is so thoughtful," Peng Shitao exclaimed.

Xiao Lingshan smiled: "They are like...our children."

As soon as she said this, her own face turned red. Peng Shitao also lowered her head, her ears turning red.

Li Xian coughed lightly and changed the subject: "By the way, why hasn't Shui Liuli arrived yet? She's usually the first one here."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the laboratory door was slammed open.

Shui Liuli rushed in, her blue eyes brimming with excitement, holding up a jade tablet: "I figured it out! I figured it out!"

"What did you figure out?" Li asked first.

"The consciousness development curves of the little dolls!" Shui Liuli shoved the jade tablet in front of Li Xian, on which were drawn complex function graphs. "Based on the data from the past two weeks, I've built a mathematical model for their consciousness development! Look, this is Musheng's logic module growth curve, and this is Lingyu's emotional module... Following this trend, they'll reach the cognitive level of a five-year-old child in at most three months!"

She excitedly grabbed Li Xian's shoulders: "And I've discovered something even more important—their consciousness structure isn't a simple linear growth, but rather...emergence! Just like ant colonies generate collective intelligence or flocks of birds spontaneously form formations, their consciousness is a completely new structure that 'emerges' from countless tiny energy interactions!"

She spoke faster and faster: "What does this mean? It means we may have inadvertently touched upon the essence of the 'origin of consciousness'! If we can reproduce this process, perhaps we can..."

"So you can create a real, complete person?" Li finished her sentence for her.

Shui Liuli nodded vigorously, her eyes shining brightly.

The laboratory fell silent for a moment.

This goal is so grand, so grand that it inspires a sense of awe...

"Let's take it one step at a time," Li said. "Right now, let's take good care of these two little ones."

Just then, there was another knock on the laboratory door.

This time, it was Jin Xuan who came.

He was still dressed in white and carrying a sword, but today he had a small jade box in his hand.

"Here you go." He placed the jade box on the worktable, his words concise and to the point.

Li opened it first, and inside were more than a dozen golden crystals the size of rice grains, radiating sharp and pure energy fluctuations.

"The essence of Geng metal," Jin Xuan explained, "I tempered it with sword energy for three days. Each day, I took one grain and dissolved it in spiritual liquid, which strengthened their material structure, gradually making the wood 'metallized' and more resilient."

This is a very precious gift. Refining the essence of Gengjin is extremely mentally taxing; for Jin Xuan to extract so many pieces would require at least a month's worth of cultivation.

"Thank you very much." Mr. Li accepted the gift solemnly.

Jin Xuan shook his head, his gaze falling on Mu Sheng and Ling Yu. The two little puppets seemed to sense the sharp yet pure aura emanating from this "Uncle Jin," and instead of being afraid, they looked at him with curiosity.

Mu Sheng even reached out his little hand, wanting to touch Jin Xuan's sword sheath.

Jin Xuan hesitated for a moment, then actually squatted down and handed the sword sheath to Mu Sheng.

Mu Sheng carefully touched the cold metal sheath, then looked up and "smiled" at Jin Xuan—although it was just a slight upturn of the corners of his mouth, it was clear that he was smiling.

On Jin Xuan's perpetually icy face, the corner of his mouth seemed to... twitch slightly.

Although it was only a fleeting moment.

After seeing Jin Xuan off, Li Xian led Mu Sheng and Ling Yu out of the laboratory—of course, they were hidden in a specially made cloth bag, with only two ventilation holes so they could see outside.

He has an elective course this morning called "Interpreting the Inscriptions of Wise Men".

The classroom was on the second floor of the Gewu Academy. It wasn't big, and only a dozen or so people were seated there. The lecturer was Lu Qingzhou—unusually, he wasn't drinking, and he was dressed fairly neatly.

"Today we'll discuss the seventh line of the third inscription," Lu Qingzhou drew several distorted ancient characters on the blackboard, "This section records a wise man's conjecture about the 'conversion of energy and matter.' He believed that under specific conditions, pure energy can condense into matter, and matter can also be completely converted into energy..."

Li Xian sat in the back row, quietly placed his cloth bag on his lap, and unzipped it slightly. Mu Sheng and Ling Yu peeked out through the gap, their small eyes (Mo Dian) curiously observing the classroom.

Lu Qingzhou stopped mid-sentence and looked in Li Xian's direction: "Hey, you new guy in the back row, tell me, what conditions need to be met for energy to be converted into matter?"

Li Xian was taken aback, then stood up: "It requires extremely high energy density, and... some kind of 'encoding' or 'template' to determine what kind of matter the energy will condense into."

"Oh?" Lu Qingzhou raised an eyebrow. "For example?"

"For example..." Li thought for a moment, "If we want to condense energy into a drop of water, we need the molecular structure of water as a template. Otherwise, the energy will just randomly condense into all sorts of messy things."

"That's interesting." Lu Qingzhou nodded. "Sit down. But you missed one point—it also requires the guidance of 'will.' The wise man's notes mentioned that he suspected that consciousness itself is a kind of high-dimensional energy, capable of interfering with the transformation process of low-dimensional energy."

He paused, then gave Li Xian a meaningful look: "This is probably why some things, despite having all the necessary material conditions, still can't 'live'."

Li Xian's heart skipped a beat. Was Lu Qingzhou giving him a hint? Did he guess about the little doll?

After class, Lu Qingzhou called Li Xian aside.

"Hey kid, how are your two 'little gadgets' doing lately?"

Li Xian nodded honestly: "It's growing slowly."

"It's good that you're growing." Lu Qingzhou pulled out a tattered animal hide from his pocket. "This is a collection of scattered notes on 'spiritual coding' that I found deep in the library. Although it's incomplete, it should be useful to you."

Li accepted it and thanked him sincerely.

Lu Qingzhou waved his hand: "Don't thank me. I just... want to see how far this path can take me." He paused, "Also, there have been some rumors in the academy lately, saying that your lab often has abnormal energy fluctuations. I've suppressed them for you, but you should also be careful not to cause too much of a commotion."

"Yes."

After leaving the classroom, Li went to the cafeteria.

It was noon, and the cafeteria was bustling with noise. Li Xian found a corner seat and had just sat down when Xiao Lingshan and Peng Shitao came over with their trays.

"Brother Li!" Peng Shitao sat down next to him and whispered, "I just went to the pharmacy at Xinglin Academy and overheard some instructors talking about how the academy's higher-ups seem to be forming a 'special project team' to study 'cross-energy attribute fusion,' and they're looking for candidates..."

Xiao Lingshan also lowered her voice: "There's similar news from Qingmu Academy. Apparently, it's because an exchange delegation from the East Sea's 'Penglai Academy' is coming in three months, and the academy wants to showcase some new achievements."

Li Xian frowned. Cross-energy attribute fusion? Isn't that exactly what he's doing?

Do you know who is in charge of the project team?

"I heard it's..." Peng Shitao paused, "Lord Chu Huaizhou. He's been transferred back from the Academy of Crafts and is now the Director of the Innovation Department at the Academy, a fifth-rank official."

Chu Huaizhou?

Li Xian recalled the always smiling, yet enigmatic, middle-aged official. If he was in charge, then the project team's intentions were probably not simple.

Just then, Binglan and Bingwei arrived. The two had just finished their practical training at the Xuan Academy, and beads of sweat still clung to their foreheads.

"Mr. Li," Binglan sat down and said directly, "During training just now, a student from Jinfeng Academy asked us about you. He asked if you were researching 'mechanical life,' and also asked if there was anything 'amazing' hidden in the lab."

Bingwei added, "That person's name is Han Meng, and he's an officer in the Golden Tiger Society. We ignored him, but his eyes looked strange; you need to be careful."

Han Meng... it's him again.

Li nodded: "I understand, thank you for reminding me."

At this moment, the three Shi brothers also squeezed over with a mountain of food plates—the training at Houtuyuan was very demanding, and their appetites were astounding.

"Young Master Li!" Shi Jian exclaimed loudly as soon as he sat down, "We dug up a piece of 'earth core iron' in the mine today! It's the size of a palm! Instructor Lu said this thing can stabilize the energy field and will be useful to you, so we're keeping it for you!"

Shi Lei and Shi Yan nodded vigorously.

Li Xian felt a warmth in his heart. These companions, though with different personalities, were all supporting him in their own ways.

Lunch ended in a lively atmosphere.

In the evening, Li Xian brought Musheng and Lingyu back to the laboratory, fed them dinner (a special spiritual liquid), and settled them down to "sleep".

Xiao Lingshan and Peng Shitao hadn't left yet; the two were organizing today's records and data.

The laboratory was quiet, with only the slight hum of the instruments.

Looking at the two sleeping dolls, Li Xian suddenly spoke up: "Ling Shan, Shi Tao, what do you think... if one day, Mu Sheng and Ling Yu really grow up, have complete thoughts and feelings, and are like real children... how would you view them?"

Xiao Lingshan put down her pen and thought for a moment: "I will treat them as... family."

Peng Shitao said softly, "Me too. Although they are not made of flesh and blood, they have life, consciousness, they can laugh and play, and they depend on us... That's what family is."

Li Xian paused for a moment, then asked, "So...do you want to have children of your own, children with flesh and blood?"

The question was so sudden that both women froze, their faces turning bright red.

Xiao Lingshan lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Peng Shitao buried her face in her notebook.

The atmosphere in the laboratory became subtle.

Li Xian realized he had been too direct and coughed lightly, "I was just... asking casually. After all, we've been together for so long, and we have a long road ahead of us..."

"I...I think," Peng Shitao suddenly whispered, her head bowed even lower, but her voice was clear, "but not now. Wait...wait until Musheng and Lingyu are a little older, wait until our research is more stable..."

Xiao Lingshan also raised her head, her face flushed crimson, but her eyes were resolute: "I want to too. And..." She paused, then mustered her courage, "It's not just me and Shi Tao, Bing Lan, Bing Wei, and Sister Chun Meng... they all..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear.

Li was stunned.

He knew that several women had feelings for him, but he didn't expect that they... seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding?

"You...have you talked about this?" he asked.

Peng Shitao nodded, her voice barely audible: "Sometimes... we chat. Sister Chunmeng said that people of the martial world don't care about worldly customs and etiquette; as long as they're truly together, that's enough. Sister Binglan also said that the women of Linghan Palace aren't bound by these things..."

Xiao Lingshan added, "But we all agree that now is not the time. Musheng and Lingyu still need care, and the research has reached a critical stage. Moreover..." She looked at Li Xian, "You still possess the secret of the Sage's inheritance, and the imperial court, the Daoist Kingdom, and various other forces are still watching you in secret. At this time, you cannot be distracted."

Looking at the two women in front of him, Li Xian felt a mix of emotions.

There was emotion, warmth, and a sense of responsibility.

He walked up to the two of them, reached out, and took Xiao Lingshan's hand in one hand and Peng Shitao's hand in the other.

"Thank you," he said. "Once everything settles down, once Musheng and Lingyu are independent, once we have a place that truly belongs to us... I will give you an explanation."

The two women's hands trembled slightly in his palm, but neither of them pulled away.

Outside the window, the setting sun cast its last rays into the laboratory, casting long shadows of the three people.

At this moment, there is no conspiracy, no crisis, only warmth and promise.

It was late at night, and Xiao Lingshan and Peng Shitao had already returned to their dormitory to rest.

Li Xian stayed alone in the lab to organize today's data.

Superman hovered beside him, his mechanical arm rapidly writing on the jade tablet: "Today's Summary: Mu Sheng learned seven new words, and Ling Yu began to show interest in drawing (she used energy to draw her first crooked 'sun' on the spiritual soil). The energy circulation system is operating stably, and the absorption rate of Star Pattern Grass has increased to 0.3% per day."

Li nodded and looked at the two little dolls sleeping peacefully on the worktable.

Their sleeping faces were peaceful. Mu Sheng lay obediently with his hands at his sides. Ling Yu lay on her side, one of her little hands still clutching the hem of Mu Sheng's clothes.

"They're becoming more and more like real children." Superman's electronic voice was unusually gentle.

"Yes," Li Xian said softly, "Sometimes I wonder if what we're doing... is right or wrong. Bringing them into this world and letting them face the unknown future."

"But they are happy," Superman said. "According to the monitoring data from the emotion module, Musheng and Lingyu's 'happiness index' has increased by 217% in the past half month. They like Miss Xiao's gentleness, Miss Peng's thoughtfulness, Miss Shui's novel experiments, and even Mr. Jin Xuan's silent companionship."

Li Xian laughed: "That's true."

He walked to the window and looked up at the night sky.

The stars are dazzling. Some of their light may well be the dimensions where Boltzmann's brain once existed.

"Brain, do you see this?" he murmured to himself. "The 'resurrection' you desired, I've achieved the first step. Although it's not yet true life, it... has already taken shape."

The starry sky was silent, but Li Xian seemed to sense something gently responding from a distant dimension.

In the laboratory, Mu Sheng turned over in his sleep, his little hand waving unconsciously and bumping into Ling Yu.

Lingyu also moved, moving closer to Musheng.

Two little dolls are snuggling together in their sleep.

Looking at this scene, Li Xian felt a sense of calm and satisfaction.

This is the life he wants: to do the research he loves, to watch the life he creates grow, and to be with the people he cares about.

As for those conspiracies, power struggles, and conflicts in the martial arts world... let them fight it out.

His world is here.

(End of Chapter 63)