Chapter 745: The Skewed Opening of the 2nd Discussion

When the final decision was made, I even gathered all the High Tier Array Cultivators in the Sect, regardless of whether they were from our department. Every single one was invited! That’s how we decided on the topic!

Martial Uncle, you’ve also closely examined the Celestial Universe’s Daoist Skills, so you should understand. The Dao of our two realms, aside from their combat-oriented Quantum Magic Technology, are not just from completely different systems—they’re not even the same concept.

The disciples have truly done our best to get this far! If we had known earlier that Junior Brother Zhang was so knowledgeable about the Outer Realm Array Dao, wouldn’t we have called him in for consultation beforehand?

I’m not trying to shift the blame, but all these problems are entirely because those Demons from the Celestial Universe Federation deliberately hid half the content in their Magic Books. There was nothing I could do. My life is so hard!”

Zhang Deming could actually understand. After all, besides Quantum Energy Technology, technology and Techniques were truly things from two different worlds. They even started from different directions.

Their fundamental concepts were different. It was already quite impressive that the Array Department could achieve a preliminary understanding.

It was like in his previous life, asking a scientist to research magic without anyone to guide them and without any core, fundamental Cultivation Techniques. Under such conditions, even a genius of the highest order would be completely baffled.

No, forget asking a scientist to study magic. It would be like asking someone from the United States to learn classical Chinese. They would be utterly confused and completely lost.

In such a situation, it was already quite an achievement that they had determined the general direction and even gotten some parts of it right.

······

While the few of them were talking, down below, a brief silence followed the words of Sect Leader Dang Jun’an. The topic of this discourse was clearly skewed toward a very specific specialty.

Therefore, the one who began the discourse was not a Supreme Elder, but Fang Lei, the representative of the Fang Family’s new generation and the one most likely to achieve the Three Talents realm. As Zhang Deming and the others were speaking, Fang Lei’s opening statement was already nearing its end.

······

Listening to Fang Jixiang’s whining, Dang Xiangjun glanced down below with a slight frown and said, “Now is not the time to assign blame. Hurry up and think of a remedy. If our opening argument goes awry and we don’t even get the foundation right, how can we even discuss Rune Life later? We’ll have no chance at all.”

At these words, Fang Jixiang looked completely lost. He couldn’t think of any good solutions either. He hesitated before saying, “Perhaps… I could go down there and give it a try later?”

“Do you understand the Dao of big data? Do you know how to link the concepts of storage and calculation?” Dang Xiangjun retorted.

Fang Jixiang froze, then honestly shook his head. “The systems are completely different to begin with, and we don’t have the most fundamental, underlying principles. I only have a partial understanding at best.”

Dang Xiangjun shook his head and turned to look at Zhang Deming.

Zhang Deming froze. ‘Don’t tell me he wants…’

Dang Xiangjun looked at Zhang Deming, and Zhang Deming looked back at Dang Xiangjun. The two locked eyes, each with a different expression.

Zhang Deming understood the meaning in the other’s eyes, but if Dang Xiangjun expected him to volunteer his help, he was thinking too much. Under the current circumstances, he couldn’t do that, because this was an enormous favor!

If he were to speak up on his own, it wouldn’t be strategic maneuvering; it would be sheer stupidity. Didn’t he see how even Fang Jixiang was deliberately not mentioning his name? That’s because he knew there was a world of difference between Dang Xiangjun bringing it up and him suggesting it.

After a long moment, just as Fang Lei was about to finish his opening statement, Dang Xiangjun finally spoke with a sigh of resignation. “Nephew Zhang, I can see that you are very knowledgeable about the Outer Realm Daoist Skill. You also seem to have a great understanding of how to guide the disciples’ discourse and enlighten them.”

“Why don’t you go down and give it a try? After all, the Sect has prepared for this discourse for a long time. We cannot afford any mistakes.”

Zhang Deming paused for a moment upon hearing this, then replied without any hesitation, “I can give it a try, but I can’t guarantee the outcome. I don’t actually know much about the Celestial Universe Federation’s Technology Dao. The only thing I have some insight into is their code-based network Array Dao.”

Fang Jixiang breathed a slight sigh of relief. If this conference truly ended up a disaster, his Array Department would be the ones to suffer the most severe consequences.

“Just do your best. In any case, the matter of Rune Life was a bit of a pipe dream to begin with. The Sect’s main goal for this event is simply to get a starting point, so we’re no longer at a complete standstill like we are now. We can take things slowly after that,” Dang Xiangjun said.

Just then, Fang Lei, who was down below, finished his opening statement. Everyone looked down as Fang Jixiang and Fang Qing’s figures quietly vanished from the Floating Island, returning to the main control room.

······

Meanwhile, in the Celestial Universe Federation’s Floating Island area, after Sect Leader Dang Jun’an announced the topic, the faces of several high-level Federation officials lit up with joy.

Yuu Guang looked at Shang Tingjie and said, “Captain, is the Celestial Spirit Sect really being so ‘benevolent’? Helping us start a discourse?”

Shang Tingjie frowned and shook his head. “I’m not sure what they’re trying to do, but it’s definitely not to help us start a discourse. There is no ‘modesty’ in diplomacy. You should understand that.”

Hearing this, the group fell into a brief silence, quietly watching Fang Lei take the stage and begin his discourse.

As Fang Lei began to speak and lay out his argument, Yuu Guang’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know why, but something feels off about this.”

Shang Tingjie, however, began to smile. “I think I know why. They want to discuss software—the foundations of artificial intelligence—but their Array Dao only has ‘storage,’ not ‘calculation.’ Their ‘calculation’ relies on the Array Cultivators’ own Brain Calculation to control things.”

“So even though they clearly want to discuss the fundamentals, they’ve ended up addressing one of our needs, helping us shore up our weakness in ‘storage and retrieval,’ while failing to steal our ‘calculation’ methods.”

Yuu Guang’s eyes lit up. “Right, that’s it! No wonder it felt so off. It has the distinct feel of them trying to guide the conversation to steal our techniques. Their goal is so blatant it’s barely hidden. But the direction they’ve taken is just handing us technology. How could a bizarre discourse like that feel right?”