Chapter 9

Zhao Si

The fat cat tilted its head, glaring displeased at the poop-scooper, it was enjoying the scratching—how did it stop?

Zhao Si was no longer in the mood to tease the cat, and even his look at the fat cat betrayed suspicion:

As for 「merit」, Zhao Si naturally wouldn't be unaware; as a fan of the Primordial Wilderness, if one were to pick a few of the most classic settings among the many in the Primordial Wilderness, the 「merit」 setting would certainly be among them.

In traditional mythological stories, merit is less an 「energy」 and more a state of mind or accomplishment; for example, a Daoist whose merit is 「complete」 is about to ascend to immortality, which actually means his cultivation and state of mind are sufficient for ascension; another example, a kind person who saves countless people has 「boundless merit」, meaning he has done many good deeds and his achievements are high in heaven or the human world.

But the 「merit」 in the Primordial Wilderness is completely different from the above; according to various versions of the Primordial Wilderness, its merit is not the 「achievement」, 「morality」, or 「cultivation」 sense of ancient xianxia settings, but a genuine, special 「energy」 bestowed by the Heavenly Dao!

For example, Pangu earned great merit in creating heaven and earth, and the Heavenly Dao rewarded him with 「Boundless Heaven-Opening Merit」; but Pangu himself is dead and cannot receive the merit, so the Heavenly Dao took the Three Pure Ones, transformed from Pangu's primordial spirit, as Pangu's heirs.

The three each inherited a portion of the 「Heaven-Opening Merit」 as inheritance; among them, the Pure Clarity's 「Heaven-Opening Merit」 was so abundant it condensed into a solid form, becoming the Heaven-Earth Black-Yellow Exquisite Tower, invulnerable to all laws!

Another example, Hongjun has the merit of 「Ancient Transmission of the Dao」; after the Three Lectures of Purple Heaven, the Heavenly Dao bestowed upon him the 「Boundless Transmission Merit」.

These merit events, in various versions of Primordial Wilderness novels, are basically fixed points where the main character farms merit, sticking a finger in every pie:

The so-called 「I hand the axe to Pangu as he creates heaven」, 「I mold clay for Nüwa as she creates humans」, 「I command Hou Tu as she governs reincarnation」, 「I am the disciple of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors」—which Primordial Wilderness novel's protagonist isn't a 「Human Race Holy Father」/「Hou Tu Mentor」/「Pangu's Sworn Brother」/「Three Sovereigns' Holy Teacher」? (laugh)

And these merit powers bestowed by the Heavenly Dao can buff the holder: one, it speeds up cultivation; two, it eliminates inner demons; three, it accumulates merit to become a sage; four, it deters strong enemies from acting violently.

Demon Master

It's also possible that its invasion never needed a player at all; finding a player to torment is merely its petty amusement……

Zhao Si, his mind in turmoil, eagerly sought proof; he immediately pushed the door, wanting to go out and verify, but no matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn't open, and that finally brought him to his senses:

「The game hasn't ended yet, and it's not within an update period; this room of mine has been independently locked by the game……」

Heavenly Realm

Thinking thus, he eyed the fat cat before him suspiciously once more:

「I've only played this game for a little over a day, and I've already bound two Primordial Wilderness gifts; as I continue playing, the bound gifts will only increase……sooner or later, all the Primordial Wilderness settings will invade reality. 」

Where would the real world get some 「fated protagonist race」? A materialist world simply has no such concept!

Likewise, there is no 「Heavenly Dao」 or 「merit」 in reality; logically, the two worlds' logics are fundamentally incommensurable.

Ordinary, dirty, this is just the most ordinary city stray cat; aside from being a bit fatter than its peers, it's practically good for nothing.

Demon Calendar

【You should have proceeded as in your past life, step by step, but memories like smoke have welled up in your heart……Having absorbed the lessons of your past life, you have become a 「Reincarnator」 of the second playthrough; at the moment your young self broke free from the eggshell, you swore to make up for past regrets。】

Heaven-Earth Black-Yellow Exquisite Pagoda

Although it's possible that no divine effect was seen due to insufficient merit, this still convinced Zhao Si of his earlier speculation:

Heavenly Immortal Dao Fruit

merit

【On an utterly ordinary day in the Primordial Wilderness demon calendar, year 365, epoch 7, period 2, a minor incident occurred in the Second-Rank Sea Clan 「Gold Flood Dragon Clan」 under the demon court of the southern sea of the Eastern Primordial Wilderness: the flood dragon egg produced by the Gold Flood Dragon Queen before the first epoch hatched unexpectedly, and thus you were born。】

the Heavenly Court

But after binding the 'award from the demon master', my native language was inexplicably changed, turning Chinese into 'demon script', and then I could use demon script to communicate with real-world animals, which is already quite bizarre.

So the Heavenly Court only needs to openly promote the fact that it discriminates against sages, and that will naturally foster the Demon Race's tendency to exclude humans, achieving the goal with twice the result for half the effort.

Finally, even if it's the worst case, simply refining merit into a magic treasure allows one to kill without karmic stain, as if one had obtained a license to kill personally issued by the Heavenly Dao……

【Since you have obtained sufficient information in the previous simulation, this round of simulation will have more option nodes and freedom than before, and the plot will therefore shift accordingly.】

What will happen?

Zhao Si dare not think too deeply……

Zhao Si grabbed his hair in regret, having early anticipated this; he shouldn't have downloaded whatever Primordial Simulator.

Zhao Si roared at his phone, both shocked and angry:

"Adding the primordial setting to my world, do you know how many people will die if this continues? You are destroying the world!"

Zhao Si snorted coldly; a person ought to know their own limits, and I simply don't have that kind of power.

Helping the protagonist of heaven and earth improve earns merit; even helping it take a bath counts as helping it improve, so merit naturally descends, verification succeeds—it is indeed the real-world protagonist of heaven and earth!

Ding!

Zhao Si immediately looked up, and a new prompt suddenly appeared on the phone screen:

【You can save everything.】

He didn't know whether he was personally destroying the real world, nor did he know if the future would have enough power to turn the tide; he only knew that he had no choice—if he didn't continue playing, it would always find another player.

【Ding! This round of simulation has been fully completed, now returning to the initial node……】

【Your name is: Jin Bing!】

"Don't move!"

【Thus you swiftly re-cultivated the immortal arts, and within a day of just breaking out of your shell, you had already returned to the Heavenly Immortal Dao fruit!】

Everyone says that beneath sages all are ants, yet the demon folk are also ants, but sages still differentiate between the two groups—their intentions go without saying.

After a long while, he dazedly stretched out a finger and, trembling, clicked "Continue Game".

Giving a bath to a cat that dislikes water has always been a technical task, but Zhao Si possesses the demon script inheritance; whenever the fat cat panics and struggles, a single demon‑script command makes it obediently lie down:

"How to save?"

【Only by continuing to play will you have enough power to save everything.】

The phone lay silent, seemingly unresponsive, or perhaps it simply didn't care about the ants' meaningless venting……

What it said is right—the invasion has already happened, and the future will surely see an even more thorough invasion; rather than waiting for destruction, it's better to go along with it to gain more power, in which case there might still be a chance to turn the tide……

Zhao Si stared at it in disbelief.

"No, let's verify first!"

After a great deal of effort, Zhao Si finally washed the reluctant fat cat clean, then used a hair dryer to blow its fur dry, and the whole cat looked brand‑new!

Not long after he helped the fat cat blow‑dry its fur, in the view of his magical eye, a cluster of golden light, one size larger than before, descended from the sky and landed right on top of Zhao Si's head.

Just like the two extreme options that often appear in games, on the surface one has the freedom to choose, but in reality:

"Objective facts exist and are not directly influenced by subjective consciousness……"

And the version of the Primordial Game that Zhao Si is playing appears consistent with those classic versions in terms of merit, except that it adds a few prerequisite conditions:

"Only by helping the heaven‑ordained protagonist's race can one earn merit. Non‑disciples of Saints cannot observe merit, or else the Heavenly Dao will kill them."

Then there are the merit events: "Boundless Hou Tu Reincarnation Merit," "Boundless Nüwa Creation of Humans Merit," "Boundless Heaven‑Mending Merit," "Boundless Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Merit," and so on.

Zhao Si stared blankly.

Feeling as if he were living in a dream, Zhao Si furrowed his brows, immediately picked up the fat cat and rushed into the toilet, forcibly giving it a bath.

In the silence, Zhao Si's heart nonetheless stirred with ripples:

"If humanity is the protagonist ordained by the Heavenly Dao, then Saints protecting them will naturally earn merit, Saints taking humans as disciples will also earn merit, and Saints' disciples sparing no effort to lower their status to help humanity will naturally still earn merit."

But just now I merely petted it until it felt comfortable, and merit immediately descended—what does that mean?

"Are you the real‑world protagonist of heaven and earth?! Or… is the cat the protagonist of heaven and earth?"

Having grasped the crux, Zhao Si felt immensely agitated—not excitement, but fear:

If this intrusion continues, real society will inevitably suffer a huge impact—monsters will appear, spiritual energy will appear, immortals and Saints will also appear…… before them, how fragile is human strength?

【Born a Heavenly Immortal, your miracle shocked your parents and the entire Golden Flood Dragon Clan, so you became a prodigy; your parents valued you immensely, even giving you a special name, making you the third among over a thousand siblings to bear a formal name.】

Zhao Si's gaze flickered—this reincarnation was actually different from the very start compared to the last one……

Therefore, the lofty Saints openly differentiate between humanity and the Demon Race precisely because humanity is the heaven‑ordained protagonist, which brings merit, whereas the Demon Race…… has none.

Meow……

"What the hell do you want to do?!"

Meow?

The fat cat let out a simple-minded meow.

"Truly…… a devilish temptation……"

Having figured out the crux therein, Zhao Si muttered to himself:

"So that's how it is."

But now, with another gift—the "Dharma Eye from the Mysterious Capital"—bound, merit has actually appeared in reality, and even a "Heaven's Mandate Protagonist"; since these two exclusive tools have shown up, does that mean the Heavenly Dao that drives them has also appeared?!

In a materialist world, a "Heavenly Dao" with its own will has appeared……

(Please vote! Please collect! Please keep reading! The solo author can't take it anymore! (*))

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(End of chapter)