Chapter 316: Save the world, then save yourself!

Good!

Since Lin Liu wanted to know what he should know, Zhao Si naturally wouldn't hide it from him.

After briefly organizing his language, Zhao Si, while thinking, began to explain to Lin Liu the general storyline of chapter three and various useful information, as well as his evidence-based guess about the current world background:

"Xue Xuan is the protagonist of the previous chapter's plot; he was born in the primordial world that has already fallen into the degenerate age of the Dharma."

"The Primordial world was transformed from the primordial chaos by Pangu, who was born within it…… Chaos is 【non‑being】, Pangu is 【being】…… The Primordial world has spiritual qi; spiritual qi can be cultivated for immortality, from the deathless True Immortal to the sage who harmonizes with heaven and earth and ascends to Pangu's status……"

"The Primordial world has eight sages: the Dao Ancestor Hongjun, Taiqing, Shangqing…… and Minghe…… Among them, Minghe is the creator of the Asura clan, and Xue Xuan is an Asura; thus, although they are father and son, their relationship is extremely poor……"

"The Primordial world was ultimately destroyed by Xue Xuan's hand, and thus 【being】 perished…… Without the anchor of 【being】, the Eternal Primordial could not stably exist, so it could only rely on Xue Xuan's protagonist identity as an anchor……"

"Now it is chapter four; Xue Xuan has lost his protagonist identity, and the Eternal Primordial can no longer stably exist……"

"And the so‑called disaster must stem from this: you are the protagonist, yet you do not exist in the Eternal Primordial; instead, you exist in this dream world……"

"As for this dream world, I personally suspect it is the work of a sage, but I'm not certain; it could also be someone else…… The reason and purpose of his dreaming are currently unclear……"

"And your way to clear the game should be to leave the dream, return to the Eternal Primordial, and take over Xue Xuan's anchor function……"

……

【All kinds of information from 'another self' left you dazed for half a day, unable to digest it, because it was too vast and too strange and wondrous…… you couldn't understand many of the concepts, only able to stare blankly……】

【This feels like listening to a fantastically novel mythological story; every setting that deviates from your worldview makes you feel like you're sleepwalking…… The key is, according to 'another self,' this strange worldview is the true one, while your own worldview is mistaken and false……】

【In short, you're completely bewildered.】

【Truly doubting life!】

【……】

【After a long while, you finally reluctantly accepted this strange worldview: no matter how abstract, how fake, how like a third‑rate novel setting, you could only believe it was true.】

【There's only one reason: it's what 'another self' said! You can disbelieve your parents, you can disbelieve the monkey, you can even disbelieve yourself, but you absolutely cannot disbelieve 'another self'.】

【Even if he claims humans are born immortal, even if he claims the world is round‑heaven and square‑earth…… if your experience conflicts with his, the mistake must be yours……】

【"So if I want to clear the game, I must break the dream?"】

【If you've thought about it: the way to clear the game is known—it's to break the dream, and breaking the dream is simple: just find that person, then tell them about the existence of 'another self,' and it will work.】

【Because 'another self' is just like an alarm clock; as soon as that person becomes aware of its existence, they'll be jolted awake by the alarm!】

【Once he awakens, you can then leave this place, return to the true Eternal Primordial, and thus achieve clearance.】

【But…… the plan is good, yet the first step runs into trouble when putting it into practice!】

【First, you don't know who the dreamer is, so you're forced to cast a wide net, telling everyone in the world about the 'alarm clock'…… This brute‑force method will surely succeed, but the problem is it's very hard to carry out.】

【Because in the dream, to others, waking up looks like death—for example, the Heavenly Emperor's case: the Heavenly Emperor was clearly awakened from the dream by 'another self,' but in the eyes of the gods, he seemed to have been harmed by your dark arts…… and thus you were finally sent to the God‑Slaying Platform.】

【If you really used the 'alarm clock' to wake people en masse, others would naturally be terrified; as long as you dare to do this, it will surely provoke a worldwide uprising—even the monkey and his ilk would rebel, forcing you to repeat the scene of being sent to the God‑Slaying Platform……】

【Clearly your intention is good, but because the method appears overly brutal, it's easily misunderstood by everyone, which truly vexes you.】

【Ding! You decide to keep asking 'another self' for strategies, requesting that he devise an executable plan so that everyone can follow you to awaken from the dream; when that happens, everyone will live in the Eternal Primordial, and naturally there will be no more suffering of this world—how wonderful would that be?】

【You choose: (?) Please answer freely!】

"Again you ask me? Zhao Si raised his eyebrows: 'Let everyone wake up from the dream like Xue Xuan? That's right—since we can't find the dreamer, we'll use the brute‑force method; that will definitely find them.'"

"You don't even need everyone to hear the 'alarm clock'; the dreamer is likely among the divine cultivators, and the dream's master, in his own dream, enjoys some cultivation privileges…… As long as the alarm awakens all cultivators and true gods, you'll basically have found the dreamer."

"Once the dream's subject awakens, everyone else will also break free from the dream and go to the Eternal Primordial……"

Hmm, after clearing the game it's another big, perfect dumpling‑ending!

Zhao Si happily pondered the main plot, and a feasible plan was quickly devised:

"To awaken everyone, we must first awaken the divine cultivators; and to awaken the divine cultivators, we must first awaken the heavenly gods, otherwise they'll become obstacles blocking the plan……"

"The gods obviously wouldn't readily trust Lin Liu, so we can only use force!"

"Therefore, the strategic direction should be to first gather all available forces, join together to crush the Heavenly Court, and compel the gods to listen to the alarm and awaken."

"If the dreamer isn't among the gods, we'll then act against the divine cultivators and rouse them as well."

"If that still fails, we'll rouse the ordinary people too…… step by step, as long as our side holds absolute superiority in the upper echelons, no one can hinder us!"

"Once everyone awakens, the dream will be broken!"

"That's the strategy I gave him! 【Ding! Strategy transmitted……"

……

【You've once again received the strategy aided by 'another self'; after digesting it, you can't help but praise it highly!】

【Indeed, it's a good, executable plan—let's do it!】

【……】

【You quickly gathered the seven loyal standard‑bearers, including the monkey, and briefly mentioned to them the matter of what's real and what's false in the world.】

【The seven all looked blank‑faced, at one point suspecting you had a brain problem……】

【But your prestige is ultimately high; although they weren't fully convinced, they were still willing to follow your orders.】

【General! Please give the order!】

【Good!】

【You slapped your hand and solemnly issued the first‑stage order: take down the Heavenly Court!】

【However, the Heavenly Court is mighty; with just a few of you, it's really hard to shake this colossus, so to deal with the heavenly gods you also need enough true gods.】

【What's needed to become a god is abundant incense; incense is still scarce, essentially because your realm has too few people, so to gain more incense you must continue to serve all beings sincerely, thereby increasing the population.】

【From this day onward, you, who were already swamped, became even more diligent……】

【……】

【Year after year after year.】

【With the efforts of you eight, the originally barbaric East Victory Divine Continent and North Kuru Continent developed like a rocket, practically changing every year, and the already prosperous South Jambu Continent became even more prosperous!】

【In governance, you are efficient and incorruptible; once corruption is found, the offender is immediately executed and replaced.】

In agricultural development, you continuously research high-yield crops and advanced farming techniques, producing more grain to feed a larger population.

Of course, you weren't just raising a group of human-shaped incense-producing machines; therefore, while increasing grain output, you also spread education as much as possible, ensuring everyone could grasp basic knowledge and achieve well-rounded development.

Under such excellent cultivation, it's hard for the average quality not to improve!

Thus, with the support of the high-quality populace, the city's myriad trades flourished ever more, and productivity grew increasingly advanced……

A positive cycle formed just like that!

People develop productivity, which in turn gives rise to more high-quality population, and the high-quality population further develops productivity……

Gradually, you found your role diminishing: aside from a few tasks that must be done with divine power, ordinary people could mostly complete various jobs on their own, and often do them even better than you!

Thus, the role of divine-path power gradually shifted from supporting societal development to leading it; most of the time you only needed to guide the head and solve a technical difficulty, and ordinary people could then develop independently……

Faced with this unexpected change, you considered it a good thing, because your workload decreased and your freely disposable free time increased.

From the endless toil of beast-of-burden life, you gradually liberated yourselves!

Moreover, as the time you needed to expend divine power dwindled and the population kept growing, the speed at which you accumulated incense divine power also grew ever faster……

Just five years later, Houzi and the other six divine-path cultivators successively broke through to the Realm of True God!

Upon hearing this, the Venus Star Lord again brought the Heavenly Emperor's edict down to the mortal realm, wishing to invite the Seven Gods to heaven and confer official titles.

But since you had already made up your mind to launch an offensive against the Heavenly Court in the future, the Seven Gods naturally could not agree to go to heaven.

Thus they all refused!

The Venus Star Lord looked bewildered, truly not understanding why they all refused to go to heaven, but since they were unwilling, he could not force them, so he had no choice but to leave……

When you saw him leave, you merely gave a slight smile, then turned your head to look at Houzi and the others.

"Everyone!"

Under the joint expectant gaze of the seven pairs of eyes, you smiled.

"From today onward, we are the new Heavenly Court! However, unlike the old Heavenly Court that ignored worldly affairs, our new Heavenly Court will serve the common people!"

"We will make everyone awaken! We will rescue everyone from this suffering-filled illusory dream! When we rescue everyone, we will also have rescued ourselves!"

"Friends, let us encourage each other!"

……

(End of Chapter)