Warhammer Cultivation: Cultivating the Tao Te Ching in the 40K Universe

The hand clad in the golden power gauntlet gently rested on Hector's shoulder. The coldness of the metal and the warmth of the palm mingled simultaneously.

"God is the least willing to admit that he is 'sick'."

Having said that, he didn't linger any longer, transforming into a golden streak of light and instantly disappearing outside the "dojo".

The entire Wenxinzhai was once again quiet.

Hector stood there quietly, and he could clearly feel that the three threads of fate between himself and these three Primarchs, who represented different futures of the Empire, were completely intertwined.

There was no joy on his face. Only a deeper sense of burden.

He knew that although he had "won" for the time being.

But he, too, brought more, and perhaps more danger, to himself and the entire "Intercepting Sect Academy"—

......

The immense will of the three Primarchs, powerful enough to distort reality, receded like a tide, and the entire Wenxinzhai seemed to awaken from a suffocating nightmare, letting out a long sigh of relief.

The strange flowers and plants that had been distorted by the storm of laws slowly regained their harmonious balance under the soothing influence of Hector's life-giving energy.

The entire confrontation, along with every clash of laws and philosophies, was faithfully reported by the silent, golden-mountain-like Imperial Guard instructor Marcus Aurelius to the throne located deep beneath Terra through a probe connected to the Emperor's palace.

Terra, deep beneath the Imperial Palace, is a place where pure order and protective power flow like a nebula.

A pair of tightly closed golden eyes slowly opened a crack.

Those eyes bear all of humanity's pain and hope; their opening is nothing short of a sleeping supernova awakening in silence.

There was no anger, no joy in his eyes, only an absolute and cold calm, like the universe itself.

For him, even a little attention is an immense privilege.

He "saw" it.

He watched as his powerful yet distinctly different sons staged a childish and obsessive farce in that garden filled with exotic wisdom.

And, that "variable"...

......

The will that seemed to appear out of nowhere made Macardo stand solemnly.

"The Jiejiao Academy is expanding its enrollment."

"No longer limited to the wild psionicists of the Black Ships, but from the mortal auxiliary forces of all legions, from the descendants of the oldest nobles of Terra, and even from the low-ranking mechano-monks on Mars who have not yet been bound by dogma—select the seeds with the most steadfast minds and the purest souls."

“Send them to the Taoist academy to accelerate the verification of this 'path'…”

This decree was nothing short of a psionic tsunami sweeping through the highest echelons of the empire!

It's not just a simple expansion of recruitment; it's a declaration to the entire Empire, to all Primarchs, Legions, and factions, of an undeniable fact—

The “way of silence” brought by mortals will no longer be just an experiment for regents and emperors.

If Nicaea's pronouncements were the breaking of the soil, and the establishment of the Academy was the sprouting of new shoots, then now, everyone finally sees Hector, grown into a great tree, a tree about to extend its roots to all psionic units of the Empire...

Chapter 181 Mars Opposes

The emperor's will, like the most fundamental law in the universe, is unstoppable once it is invoked.

The decree, imbued with absolute order and unquestionable authority, transformed into a high-priority encrypted data stream within a few Terra standard hours, spreading like lightning throughout the Empire's vast and complex bureaucratic and military systems.

The news exploded like a supernova in a stagnant pool, instantly stirring up an unprecedented and monstrous wave in the upper echelons of the empire!

Those power structures that had long been accustomed to slowly moving forward in the quagmire of rules and inertia were shaken to the brink of collapse by this decree.

Countless speculations and rumors began to spread like a virus through those cold corridors adorned with eagle emblems.

"Have you heard? That mysterious 'Intercepting Sect Academy,' a thought 'special zone' personally protected by the Regent, is actually going to expand its enrollment?"

"It's more than just an expansion! His Majesty the Emperor himself has issued a decree to select 'seeds' from among us, the legion's auxiliary troops who have achieved numerous victories! My God, this is practically like choosing the 'alpha wolf' from a pack of the most loyal sheepdogs!"

"Is this a blessing or a new purge?"

However, in this storm of confusion and speculation, the first and only one to dare to openly stand up and raise the strongest objection to the Emperor's "gift" was neither any of the Space Marine legions that doubted psionic power, nor the ancient nobles of Terra who saw "change" as a threat.

Instead... it's Mars.

That other heart of the empire, shrouded in endless red sand, that sanctuary of reason built of steel, gears, and binary hymns.

Mars, Olympus Mons, the Temple of All Machines.

General Kelbo Hall, whose lower body had long been completely replaced by machinery, was immersed in a silver coolant life support tank.

His brass breathing mask rose and fell with his breath, which came out like a broken bellows. Only his human eyes still burned with an inextinguishable flame called "vigilance".

Before him, a massive black crystal monitoring screen was silently playing a top-secret "heretic" video from the "Silent Forge." In the video, the sage Arkan was using the "One Core," filled with "harmony" and "balance," to transform an abandoned ancient forge into a living "miracle" capable of "self-repair" and "self-evolution."

He looked at the perfect "data tapestry," and at the "dust viruses" that had accumulated over centuries, which melted away silently like snow under the blazing sun in the face of harmonious resonance.

His heart, frozen by fear after the painful lesson of the "silicon crystal disaster," unexpectedly stirred with a yearning that belonged to a "solution seeker."

But he forcibly suppressed this longing, along with the "unknown" behind it that was enough to shake his millennia-old faith.

He knew it was beautiful. But it was precisely because it was so beautiful that it was all the more...dangerous.

Just then, a top-level red notification from Terra cut into his absolutely independent private sanctuary.

When the four characters "Jiejiao Daoyuan" are presented alongside terms like "large-scale," "mortal auxiliary army," and "Dao Xin trial"—all terms brimming with uncertainty and illogicality—

Kelbo's heart, which had just begun to waver, was completely ignited at this moment!

That wasn't longing, but anger! An absolutely cold anger stemming from the desecration of faith!

"What nonsense!"

His massive mechanical hand, constructed of steel and gears, clenched suddenly, producing a teeth-grinding "creak"! His cold, electronic voice, for the first time, became shrill with extreme rage!

"Idealism?! Philosophy?! Taoism?!"

"This is the most vicious blasphemy against the God of All Machines, against that eternally operating 'materialist' truth, which is full of absolute logic and mathematical beauty!"

He could not tolerate it! He could not tolerate that the "heretic algorithm" that caused the "logical anomaly," after being forcibly "confined" to Mars, was now, under the Emperor's personal instruction, spreading its "source of thought" to the entire Empire in a larger and more uncontrollable way on Terra!

This is nothing short of a plague of ideas!

He, Kelbo Hall, as the most loyal guardian of the Magisterium and the sole survivor of the "Silicon Crystal Catastrophe," has the responsibility and the obligation to nip this plague in the bud before it spreads completely!

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately mobilized all resources and used Mars' most powerful logic engine, spending several standard days to write a "letter of advice" that was tens of thousands of words long and filled with cold data and rigorous logic.

In that report, he did not directly attack the "heretical" nature of the "Intercepting Sect Academy," because that would be tantamount to directly challenging the authority of the emperor and the regency.

He used a more sophisticated and "scientific" method.

He approached the issue from the perspective of "logical risk," elaborating on the so-called "way of silence." Its core lies in the individual's "introspection" and "self-awareness." The so-called objective judgment system still lacks multi-directional supervision similar to "double-blind control," and cannot be considered a perfect, quantifiable, and supervised "objective" standard.

Using over three thousand different sociological and psychological models, he deduced a chilling conclusion: without any external "logic" constraints, an individual with great power has a greater than 73.4% chance of developing a "self-deification" of "egocentrism" through "introspection"!

"Self-deification" is the most convenient, yet most deadly, first step towards chaos and corruption!

"...In conclusion," Kelber concluded his report with a tone of deep concern and compassion, writing down his ultimate and true purpose: "For the long-term stability of the Empire, and to prevent an even larger-scale 'thought control crisis,' I, Kelber Hall, in the name of the Mars Forging General, humbly request His Majesty the Emperor to reconsider the expansion plan of the 'Intercepting Cult Academy.' And I request that my Mechanicus Church lead this 'thought reformation' project for all psionicists in the Empire!"

"We will replace those 'metaphysics' filled with ambiguity and uncertainty with the 'binary hymn' of the God of Myriad Machines, which is full of absolute logic and mathematical beauty! We will replace that ethereal 'Dao Heart' with 'data shackles' that can be quantified!"

"We will forge for the Empire an absolutely loyal, absolutely obedient force, whose every thought is calculated by our logic engine to be the most perfect..."

"—The Legion of Psionicists!"

A letter of advice filled with "goodwill" and "loyalty".

A struggle for dominance over "Tao" and "Iron".

Chapter 182 Psionic Political Department

The ten-thousand-word "letter of advice," which embodied the highest wisdom and deepest fears of the Martian conservatives, was presented to Terra through top-secret channels and placed before the Imperial Regent, Macado.

The second-in-command of the empire, who had lived for thousands of years, wore a rare, playful and pleased smile on his wrinkled face, which resembled an ancient map.

He didn't immediately read the cold data and rigorous logic in the report.

He simply stood up slowly from behind the rustic wooden table, walked to the huge crystal window, and looked down at the enormous palace below, a symbol of the pinnacle of human power, which was rising from the ground.

“Interesting…” he murmured to himself, his aged voice carrying the composure of a chess player, as if he had foreseen a brilliant move that was both unexpected and perfectly logical. “Kelbo… my most stubborn and loyal old friend, have you finally… become restless?”

He knew that Kelbo's "dissent" did not stem from greed for power, but from fear.

That was the instinctive fear of everything "unknown" and "out of control" that was ingrained in my soul after witnessing the "silicon crystal disaster" firsthand.

That is why his "dissent" appears so sincere and so powerful.

“My lord,” the Imperial Guard centurion, who had been as silent as a statue, finally spoke, “should I personally travel to Mars and ‘explain’ His Majesty’s will to the Forging General?”

The so-called "explanation" implicitly carries the threat of force, which is self-evident.

However, Makado slowly shook his head.

“No, my friend.” His ancient eyes, which seemed to have seen through the long river of time, gleamed with the unique brilliance of a chess player. “Why refuse? Kelber’s concerns are not unfounded, and his ‘request’ is full of constructive ideas.”

"He sent me the most perfect one, and the one that surprised everyone the most..."

He slowly turned around, his ancient face bearing a wise and slightly cunning smile, and issued an order to the bewildered centurion of the Imperial Guard, an order that would once again shake the entire empire.

"Pass on my orders."

"—Agreed, all of General Kelbo Hall's requests."

When Macardo's reply traveled back to Mars through equally classified channels and reached General Kelbo, the conservative leader who had just been preparing to mobilize his faction, his heart, now replaced by cold logic...

At this moment, unable to comprehend the information before them, they were "crashed" for several seconds.

"...Agree?" His cold, electronic voice was filled with disbelief and confusion.

He had considered countless possibilities: Terra's silence and indifference, or a more forceful decree to suppress him, or even the possibility of sending a member of the Imperial Guard to "remind" him who the true master of the empire was.

But he never imagined it would end like this.

Agree? The imperial regent, who always held power firmly in his hands, would so easily agree to his Martian request, which was full of the idea of ​​"decentralization"?

This doesn't make sense! This must be a trap!

However, before his wary mind could recover from the immense shock and doubt, Macardo's second order, imbued with "goodwill" and a spirit of "cooperation," followed closely behind.

"—By the name of the Regent of the Empire, the One Who Holds the Seal, I hereby make the final ruling!"

"Effective immediately, a new research institution will be established in Terra, jointly formed by the 'Intercepting Cult Academy' and the Martian Mechanicus!"

"Its duty is to explore and establish a completely new psionic ideology system that can perfectly integrate the 'Way of Silence' with the 'Logic of Mechanics' for the Empire!"

"This organization will be directly responsible to the Imperial Regent! It will replace the original 'Nicaea Code Compilation Committee' and will be jointly headed by the Dean of the Intercepting Church and General Kelbo, the Casting General."

Makado's aged voice, seemingly carrying a faint smile, slowly uttered that new name, full of irony and harmony, through the cold communicator.

"Its name is the 'Imperial Psionic Political Department'!"

Kelbo fell completely silent.

At this moment, his ever-running logic engine finally understood the true intention behind Macardo's move.

This is not consent, but a politically astute "binding"!

Makado did not refuse him, but instead forcibly dragged him and the entire conservative faction of Mars onto the "Intercepting Sect Academy," a pirate ship full of unknowns and variables!

He bound Hector Kane’s dangerous “heart” “way” to his own solid “material” “iron” with a decree of “cooperation and win-win”!

He will become the "co-director" of this new institution, possessing the power to jointly oversee and review all of Hector's theories.

However, he must also bear joint responsibility for the "achievements" of this organization!

If the "Intercepting Sect Academy" succeeds, it will be a great achievement for the Mechanical God Cult under the wise leadership of the Regent.

If the "Intercepting Sect Academy" fails, it could even trigger another disaster of "ideological chaos"...

Therefore, Kelbo Hall, this "co-director" and "overseer," will inevitably become the first "sinner" to be brought to trial!

This is a conspiracy.

He had no way out and could only grit his teeth and walk onto the card table that had been prepared for him.

When Macado's final verdict was delivered to Hector, the "Master of the Way," who had just won a resounding victory in the game of Terran power, wore a helpless and knowing bitter smile on his handsome face.

"As expected... no wonder he's an old fox who's lived for who knows how many thousands of years." He muttered to himself as he downed the cup of tea that had long since gone cold.

He knew that Makado did not distrust him.