Chapter 205

Really... things remain but people have changed.

Zhao Si couldn't help but sigh:

Who would have imagined that on the road to sainthood, Hong Yun was left stranded halfway, Di Jun ended up battered and bruised, and Jin Bing fared even worse, disappearing without a trace?

On the contrary, Minghe Lao Zu, who had merely been a Dao follower for two seasons, managed to turn the impossible into possible, ultimately succeeding in 'eating chicken' (winning), and could even stand toe-to-toe with the Hongjun Heavenly Dao...

Flipping casually to Jin Bing's chapter, I saw that the Golden Heaven Emperor from the previous chapter was still diligently handling state affairs, and Zhao Si felt a strange sense that the world had changed.

However, although Zhao Si was surprised that there were still sages in the Primordial Wasteland, and even more surprised that Minghe could become a sage, these two are not the focus right now.

The point is why these two are fighting, and whether their battle has anything to do with the Primordial Wasteland's current dire state...

Based on the current evidence, it can be shown that the Primordial Wasteland's cannibalistic food chain is fundamentally linked to Minghe, and indeed he himself orchestrated it.

So theoretically, Minghe should be the ultimate boss of this chapter; the protagonist must defeat him to clear the stage, thereby ending the Age of Dharma Decline and finally saving the Primordial Wasteland. If they fail, the Primordial Wasteland will perish and the protagonist won't survive.

Having obtained a lot of key information, Zhao Si began to rework his overall strategy for clearing the game:

In this regard, the Hongjun Heavenly Dao can also serve as evidence, for because Minghe nailed it in the starry sky, the Heavenly Dao's karmic system lost control, causing chaos across the world, with the strong bullying the weak at will.

The Age of Dharma Decline plus worldwide chaos... To solve this problem, we need to rescue the Hongjun Heavenly Dao!

Even the Hongjun Heavenly Dao itself is trying to signal Zhao Si, painstakingly restoring some spiritual energy, just to hint: if it can free itself, it can save the Primordial Wasteland's Age of Dharma Decline.

Thus, Minghe is the villain and the Hongjun Heavenly Dao is the hero.

But...

But the game's nature is to subvert expectations; facts and speculation could easily be the opposite—what if Minghe is actually the hero and the Hongjun Heavenly Dao the villain?

To be honest, Zhao Si doesn't dare hastily distinguish friend from foe, even though all the information indicates Minghe is the villain; as an experienced player, he certainly can't jump to conclusions too early:

All we can say is that, at present, the likelihood of Minghe being the villain is greater than that of the Hongjun Heavenly Dao... So although we'll tentatively set him as the boss for now, we still need to continually seek evidence to question this strategy, and if we uncover an abnormal truth, we must promptly and decisively adjust our course.

And while Zhao Si was carefully pondering the crux of the matter, a cluster of bloody red light burst forth from the phone screen!

Judging by its shape, it is roughly a crude humanoid blood clot, with a faint bloody aura swirling around it.

Without a doubt, this is the gold coin spewed out by Minghe, one of his 480 million Blood God Sons!

Seeing this appear, Zhao Si instinctively took two steps back:

After all, it is a sage's item; although not a primordial-level grand prize, it is still considered an incarnation of Minghe, and each Blood God Son represents a life, so the risk is not entirely absent—there's no telling if Minghe might cross over through it!

【Player, don't worry; this Blood God Son has already been attacked by Primordial Wasteland power, so Minghe's incarnation method no longer exists, meaning there's no need to worry about him crossing over via it.】

That's good...

After receiving the system's assurance, Zhao Si breathed a sigh of relief and then stepped forward to grab the Blood God Son.

As soon as the Blood God Son entered his hand, its functions flooded Zhao Si's mind:

As the system said, the Blood God Son's resurrection ability has been obliterated by Primordial Wasteland power; now it only retains the function of imprinting a 'Thought Steel Seal' on others—by implanting its descendant Blood God Sons into someone, one can achieve a 'half possession' effect on them.

Specifically, everyone becomes your brainless fan; whatever you say is taken as truth, no matter how absurd, they accept it without objection, even to the point of self-harm.

This ability is certainly powerful and strange, but for Zhao Si it's become a useless rib:

First, Zhao Si has no use for it; second, the heaven-defying items he possesses—such as the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, Golden Crow Fire, and Primordial Wasteland power—are all far stronger than the Blood God Son.

"It's tasteless to eat, a pity to discard."

Zhao Si let out a sigh.

Then he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked:

"What about my Primordial Wasteland power? Why isn't it being returned to me?"

【The system determines that Primordial Wasteland power still has uses ahead, so it will remain in the game for now; its usage count has been refreshed, and it will automatically be given to the protagonist in the next simulation round… If the player needs it, they can also return it at any time.】

"Is that so..."

Upon hearing that, Zhao Si recalled that the Golden Crow Fire in the previous chapter had repeatedly been returned as a settlement reward; although this caused the Golden Crow Fire to continuously upgrade into a primordial-level gift, it undoubtedly reduced his overall gains.

The system could learn from this lesson, which would also benefit it...

"Alright, let's jump straight into the next round!"

Anyway, idling is idling; clearly pushing forward in the map is more meaningful, so after some thought, Zhao Si chose to continue the simulation.

【You have chosen to continue the game…】

【Ding! Since you gathered sufficient information in the previous simulation round, this round will have a certain offset from the last; please keep it under control…】

【Returned to the initial node…】

【……Some year, some meeting, some fortune, you were born in a poor little mountain village in the Western Wasteland; due to extreme poverty, even as the eldest son you couldn't enjoy many privileges from childhood.】

【The Western Wasteland is inherently barren, and with constant natural disasters year after year, civilians' lives become even harder—lack of food and clothing is just the beginning; moreover, some demonic path practitioners run amok, leaving villages utterly desolate and cities littered with corpses, a sight too horrible to behold!】

【Heavenly disasters and human calamities run rampant, while the court is filled with corrupt officials in fine robes—disaster relief never arrives, taxes are collected swiftly, corruption and graft abound, the court's medicines…】

【When you were three years old, a seven-colored little bird suddenly flew out of your body and perched on your shoulder; you stared blankly at this miraculous bird, as memories of past lives surged like smoke… You came to understand your previous incarnations, knowing that in a former life you died after uncovering a heaven-shaking secret, and your heart filled with mixed emotions.】

【Having regained your memories, you first apologized to your past life's Jingxin Daoren: you had clearly said you would bring him back to the Western Wasteland to start a business at the save point, but instead you directly rebooted into the womb—this is tantamount to standing him up……】

【But it's fine; even though you've rebooted to the present, you can still find the current Jingxin Daoren—you just need to rekindle the friendship, and in this life you might even avoid several thousand years of detours compared to your previous life!】

【You secretly made a resolution: in this life you will absolutely not go to Central Province or the Immortal Realm—the map is too vast, traveling just wastes time pointlessly, and besides, the Immortal Realm is a scam; an experienced person like you certainly won't fall for it again.】

【However, you still feel shocked and bewildered by the two colossal starry‑sky entities you last encountered in your past life: you can tell their status is not ordinary, yet you cannot determine who they are……】

【Adding to those detours from your past life's ledger, you feel lost about your strategy for this life, unsure of where to go.】

【Thus, you thought of 'another self'……】

【Gold coins! Gold coins! One Primordial Wasteland power isn't enough—give me more! We need strategy, we need gifts—everything useful!】

【Ding! Faced with your various confusions and hesitations, you choose: (please enter strategy), (please place a gift)】

"Good, good, good, finally no more acting!"

Seeing this kid show up demanding to burst out gold coins, Zhao Si's mouth twitched, but he had no objection—after all, this chapter's difficulty is plainly high; the bosses of the previous two chapters were merely near‑sages, whereas this chapter's boss could very well be a true sage!

With such difficulty, not giving aid is tantamount to sending someone to their death.

"Speaking of strategy... the ultimate goal is definitely to end the Dharma-ending era, to save the primordial wilderness."

But certainly one cannot just shout like that right away; food must be eaten bite by bite, road must be walked step by step…… Since that's the case, then at the outset we should first put a stop to the chaos of the Primordial Wilderness, we must both achieve peace in mortal society and eradicate the man-eating practices of the righteous and demonic paths in the Four Wastelands.

Next, it's to solve the mystery of why the mythic era ended—the fate of the Heavenly Court, the end of the witches and demons, the disappearance of the Six Sages…… In short, we must first fully clarify all these past events that have occurred, until we solve the mystery of why Ming He became a sage and why he ended up fighting the Hongjun Heavenly Dao to this extent.

Finally, think of a way to help the Hongjun Heavenly Dao eliminate Ming He, to rescue and end the Declining Age of the Dharma…… However, the distinction between friend and foe still needs further discernment; we cannot rule out the possibility that their positions are opposed. As for the specifics, let him consider and handle them himself.

As for the gift……

Zhao Si hesitated, looking at the Blood God Son in his hand that hadn't warmed up yet:

This game has always been predetermined; this time it just gave him a new gift, and the protagonist side is calling for aid…… that eighty percent likely should be on it.

Furthermore, even if this level's final boss isn't Ming He, Ming He is definitely an important NPC relevant to the plot's direction; if the protagonist has his Blood God Son in hand, it's very likely to trigger an encounter in the plot.

Once the reasoning is clear, Zhao Si no longer hesitates, directly placing the Blood God Son he just obtained onto the phone screen.

【Ding! Strategic aid successful!】

【Ding! Gift aid successful!】

【You seek aid from the existence in the void, and the only response is another self!】

【A lump of humanoid filthy blood appears out of nowhere in your hand; you have no time to react, and the filthy blood merges into your body, the process utterly smooth.】

【At the same time, the manual for using the filthy blood, as well as the future strategies provided by 'another self', also flood into your mind……】

【After a moment, you slowly awaken, one side shocked that those two are actually the sage Ming He Old Ancestor and the Hongjun Heavenly Dao, the other side involuntarily using the macro strategy as a blueprint, beginning to deduce the detailed strategy you will use next.】

【The battle and secrets of the two sages are certainly not something you currently have the qualifications to touch; solving the mystery of the mythic era's demise is also still premature.】

【But pacifying the turmoil in the mortal realms, and stopping the oppression of the mortal Four Wastelands by the righteous and demonic paths of the cultivation world, is something that can be started right now……】

【Having made a decision in mind, you immediately begin to re-cultivate using the innate spiritual energy provided by the power of the Primordial Wilderness.】

【With the foundation of past life experience, this time you only used a single day and achieved the True Immortal realm!】

【Afterwards, you, at three years old, secretly found the blessed land from your past life that killed your parents and younger brother……】

【Facing this blessed land from your past life that you wiped out a clan with a single slap, you feel many emotions for a moment…… but this trip of yours is not to exterminate the clan, but to…… find free Pals!】

【Without saying another word, you erupt with True Immortal power amidst the bewildered and fearful gazes of tens of thousands of cultivators, and you coldly announce.】

【"I am the reincarnation of the Heavenly Emperor of Xuandu; today I descend into the mortal world, I have come to orderly purify the Immortal Way and rebuild the Heavenly Court. From now on, you shall be my subjects; you must not continue the man-eating heretical path—violators shall be executed on the spot!"】

【"Now, come one by one to receive my purification; those who are purified will have their past sins erased in one stroke—otherwise, they will be executed on the spot without pardon!"】

【After that tirade of nonsense, you calmly pull out the Blood God Son, preparing to perform "purification" on this bunch of people staring at each other……】

……

(End of chapter)