Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 409 - 53: Xiang Shan’s Worries

Chapter 409: Chapter 53: Xiang Shan’s Worries

Babbitt chatted with Xiang Shan for a few moments before they agreed on a time for their next meeting, then he left on his own.

Xiang Shan also got away from Babbitt to contact the Hero from the Chaotic Blade Sect he had met, expressing his desire to just observe.

Babbitt readily agreed to this request. According to him, such Jianghu disputes typically delight both parties to have a third-party witness. A Great Hero like Hero Noname who could converse with the Instant Explosion Solo-Kill King would definitely be welcomed by them.

Xiang Shan was slightly worried.

After Babbitt departed, Eight appeared again in Xiang Shan’s vision.

"I must remind you that such Jianghu activities are positively regarded by the people of Jianghu," Eight said. "This is the closest to ’actual combat’ experience that those just starting out in Jianghu could undergo. Except for not resulting in death, these Jianghu sparrings are very similar to real combat. The information about their opponents is not transparent to the participants — this is fundamentally different from the practice within Sects with familiar partners feeding each other moves."

’I am familiar with my opponent, and my opponent is familiar with me’ kind of sparring with external strength moves is different from the ’I am not familiar with my opponent, and I am not sure if the opponent is familiar with me’ kind of sparring. Even the same person involved could end up with ’the strategic choices in these two scenarios being completely different’ results.

An Arena Fighter has none of these troubles.

Apart from those just starting out, all Arena Fighters have left behind many combat records.

And these records will certainly be studied by their opponents.

The Arena Fighter’s next scheduled opponent will also study his past combat records.

Both sides engage in combat knowing each other’s preferences.

—However, this cannot be said absolutely. There are some Arena Fighters who are not keen on studying their opponents’ techniques, strategies, or styles. But this does not mean they embody the noble spirit of traditional Martial Artists. They are either too lazy to think and research or too arrogant to bother understanding their opponents. Of course, they could be both stupid and arrogant.

A Hero must understand the difference in these engagements.

Furthermore, these Jianghu disputes also involve interests; they are not simply Sect sparrings where it ’does not matter if you lose’ situations.

This also helps newly initiated Heroes to shift their mindset.

Native nodded.

In fact, under this situation, what "Eight" said was actually content that Xiang Shan’s brain had extracted from the lingering memories of the Eighth Martial God, and then it was brought forth and absorbed by Xiang Shan’s consciousness in this form.

The things "Eight" understood, "Native" would grasp as well.

They were essentially the same person.

Eight continued, "This is also a form of academic exchange. Heroes need to understand the overall development of Martial Arts in the entire Jianghu in this manner."

Since Martial Arts consist largely of non-declarative memories, they cannot be entirely measured through language.

Humanity has also developed a science specifically for studying Martial Arts.

But the academic system for external strength also needs to be validated through practice.

Fist theories constructed at a theoretical height only prove their usability after being tested in combat.

"It just feels a bit sentimental," Native sighed. "I am a bit worried. The current Jianghu is really... unfamiliar to you and even more so to me. I am not sure if it is just ’discomfort’... I am truly worried, what if this triggers unnecessary disputes? What if overnight grudges arise?"

"But in Seven’s era, there wasn’t a single Sect... no, there was only one Sect that did not make a move in the entire Jianghu," Eight said. "Apart from Zhu Xinyu’s ’Turing Lineage,’ all known Sects responded."

Actually, Eight meant to say "all Sects." But the legend of the Seventh Martial God stated that "Turing" had never appeared nor had any Internal masters who stood alongside the Seventh Martial God claimed to be a disciple of "Turing."

"Eight" was sad about this fact.

Xiang Shan was sad about this fact.

Combined with the limited interaction between the Eighth Martial God and Zhu Xinyu...

It was feared that she truly detested the Martial Gods.

But in the world of Jianghu, "Turing Lineage" belonged to the intangible legends, a genuinely hidden Sect. They did not belong to the "known Sects."

Native then nodded.

But he still felt uneasy, "The story always goes like fighting the lesser leads to the more significant, the disputes between Sects might escalate inadvertently, and then they intensify each other... What was it called again? ’The chain of hatred’? Perhaps it didn’t exist during Seven’s time. But what about now?"

If the Sect system formed between the eras of the Fourth Martial God and the Sixth Martial God, then during the Seventh Martial God’s time, the Sects indeed might not have had enough time to accumulate hatred.

But now it’s hard to say.

Three years ago, when Xiang Shan first heard about the "Sect" system, he was worried about this.

And now, having learned about this traditional Jianghu sparring, he could not stop thinking about it.

Eight sat opposite Native, "Worried about this? I think it’s unnecessary. You dare to say your mindset is young with how you are? Isn’t this just the mindset of an old man unwilling to face new things?"

"Eh? Did you just find out today that we are three hundred years old?" Xiang Shan pondered for a moment, then sighed, "I still feel that at this time, everyone should sit down, each submit a report, advocating for their demands on the spoils of war..."

Speaking of which, how did Heroes handle such matters during the "Righteous War" period?

It should have been... Heroes with objections to the distribution of spoils of war would submit reports, detailing their need for specific items, and then discuss the distribution of spoils under the supervision of a third party trusted by both sides or vote within their own small team.

"Ah... speaking of which, I actually want to create an AI to then train it to arbitrate various application reasons..."

At this moment, another conversation emerged in his mind.

—Why bother with all this complication... I think we could establish a dedicated agency.

—Think it over, brother. I still hope that we can avoid establishing a center of power... our goal is to overthrow the Tyrant, reclaim the authorities he has stolen, and then return them to a government chosen by the people. I don’t want us to become the new government. What I need is that old mature thing from the past.

—Many people feel maybe we are more suitable than that old bunch of bureaucrats...

—Don’t joke about this.

Xiang Shan still remembered that anger.

—It was the first thing I told Xinyu when I met her decades ago. The world is not someone’s canvas to paint at will, including us. The world can recover; it still holds the hope of ’restoring the old views,’ so we must prioritize this!