Chapter 121: Lin Bai's Advantage is Fading

"What if the evil sects continue to intercept people halfway?" Peng Ze asked.

"We have retreated time and again; if they are still not satisfied, we will have no choice but to settle this with our own hands," Lin Bai said. "But by then, we will hold the moral high ground and can raise the banner of justice to strike against them."

"And the third point?" Qingming Daozhang asked.

"The third is to let the Heavenly Descended understand the unique characteristics of your respective sects, so they can choose the sect they like," Lin Bai said. "For example, the Spirit Tool Pavilion excels at Weapon Refinement, so they can bring out their prized Dharma Treasures to attract the Heavenly Descended; Medicine King Valley produces an abundance of pills, so they can use pills to attract those Heavenly Descended who love Pill Refinement; Hundred Flowers Valley specializes in beauty and body-shaping techniques, which might just attract female Heavenly Descended..."

"I thought it would be some brilliant idea," Zhao Ang sneered. "It's just some ordinary strategy; doesn't it still require us to each show off our power..."

"Not power, but characteristics," Lin Bai smiled. "There are so many Heavenly Descended, and they won't arrive all at once. Brother Zhao, would you really perform a set of sword moves every time you see a Heavenly Descended?"

【Resentment from Zhao Ang; +1+1+1】

"Brother Lin, what should we do then?" Jiang Qingqin asked.

"Only the Heavenly Descended understand the Heavenly Descended," Lin Bai smiled. "The core members of the Beggar Sect are all Heavenly Descended. You just need to clear the road between Basic City and Qian City, and lure the evil sects into Qian City to recruit apprentices. Leave the rest to the Beggar Sect to plan. I believe you have all seen the advertisements for Mu Ming Milk. The people of the Beggar Sect are not interested in the infighting of the Xianxia World, but they are quite proficient in the way of business.

Letting them arrange the Heavenly Descended's choice of sects will ensure that the characteristics of the sects behind you are highlighted, without causing you too much fatigue, and it will also ensure that each sect recruits the disciples they desire..."

……

"A job fair!" 【Madman】 said.

"An agency," 【Bitter Gourd Vine】 said.

"A new advertising business," 【Gugao Laoren】 said.

"Is there money to be made again?" The players quickly realized the new business opportunity and began discussing it excitedly in the team channel.

……

"Damn! Shopkeeper Lin is taking the initiative to solicit business; the Beggar Sect is going down the road of making money and never looking back."

"One step ahead, always ahead; that's probably the Beggar Sect."

"Can the brothers in the four novice villages under Qian City have some backbone? Don't go to Shopkeeper Lin's job fair, and let Shopkeeper Lin take a fall."

"Unlikely. Shopkeeper Lin is taking the high-level route. Didn't you see him convince the major sects first? If you want to cultivate, you can't bypass the Beggar Sect."

"Why do you only see Shopkeeper Lin making money, and not the good things he's doing for the vast number of players?"

"He opened up the road from the novice villages to the high-level cities. Once this plan succeeds, it will allow players to avoid wasting time in the novice villages and go straight into the process of choosing a profession."

"He lured the evil sects into Qian City, which allows players to autonomously choose the profession they like, so they won't be as passive as they are now—either being kidnapped into an evil sect or having no choice but to join a righteous sect. Shopkeeper Lin has done a good deed."

"Yeah! I just thought of that too. The players in Qian City and the four novice villages below are in luck."

"I really hope Zhen City can also adopt Shopkeeper Lin's strategy. The Skills learned in the novice villages are truly useless; it's a complete waste of time."

"It was Jiamu City that took the lead because of Lin Bai, and now it's Qian City. Wherever Shopkeeper Lin goes, he brings prosperity; he is the true Heavenly Mandate Person."

"That's only for this time. Players have already figured out Shopkeeper Lin's methods and tricks. In this closed beta, there are many players entering, and many are organized by large Groups. Organized players and unorganized players cannot be mentioned in the same breath. As far as I know, many financial groups are already throwing money into the novice villages, acquiring martial arts halls and skill venues like those for carpenters and Blacksmiths."

"No need to say 'as far as I know,' it's true. The Shanlu Group is the lucky one in this test; they have rounded up nearly two hundred accounts this time. All two hundred accounts entered Yinmucheng. In one day, through a money offensive, they bought all the martial arts halls and used that to control all the novice players in Yinmucheng, forming a super large guild."

"Compared to the Shanlu Group, the few people Shopkeeper Lin has in Qian City are already far from enough."

"With enough people, learning skills at the same time, and clear division of labor, it's too easy to open up the road from the novice villages to the high-level cities. So, who develops faster is really hard to say."

"Other large Groups are doing the same. However, they aren't as lucky as the Shanlu Group and don't have as many accounts under their command, but throwing large amounts of money is enough to make the NPCs in the novice villages fall."

"That's the only bad thing about intelligent NPCs; they really can be knocked dizzy by money..."

"Isn't that the same trick Shopkeeper Lin is using?"

"Shopkeeper Lin is an NPC after all. No matter how far he goes, there will come a day when he is pushed over. But what about the large Groups? Who will push them over?"

"Pay-to-win is invincible. By using money to squeeze the living space of ordinary players, they are much more shameless than Shopkeeper Lin."

"+1"

"+1"

"Being suppressed by capitalists in reality, I really don't want to work for them after entering the game. I suddenly don't want to play this game anymore."

"Yeah! A perfectly good Xianxia game, forcibly turned into a pay-to-win game by them. My expectations have dropped all of a sudden."

"Don't be so pessimistic. The Groups are also relying on money to win over novice players, right? They aren't making you work for them for a lifetime. They can only control the novice villages; do they want to control higher cities too? Once you reach a high-level city, just ditch them and play on your own!"

"Besides, do you think the Heavenly Descended grouping up won't cause a backlash from the native NPCs? Whether it's the state or the sects, they are all afraid of the situation where the tail becomes too big to wag, right?"

"Groups entering the game has both pros and cons. Let's see how they handle it."

"The game is becoming more and more like the modern world invading the Xianxia World."

"Didn't Shopkeeper Lin say it? The Heavenly Descended mean catastrophe, and he was sent out by the righteous sects to respond to the catastrophe..."

"I thought it was a faction confrontation between the righteous and evil sects, but I didn't expect it to be a civilization confrontation between two worlds. The planners are awesome."

"Wrong, it's a confrontation between humans and intelligent AI. If humans lose, they might face a catastrophe and be ruled by intelligent AI. I've said it before, this game, which aims for realism, is the Game Company's final test for intelligent AI."

"You're getting more and more into conspiracy theories. Is it that hard to just play a game cleanly?"

"Anything is possible. After all, the West has the Shenmo Dalu, and the game has already covered the whole world. I wouldn't be surprised if one day, everyone who enters a Game Capsule can never log out again."

"Damn, don't scare people! It's hard enough to find a game that can replace sleep and extend life, and you've ruined it with your conspiracy theories. You are a sinner of the world."

"If there's a problem with the game, how could the state let it go on the market? Those large Groups have eyes and ears everywhere behind them. If there were a conspiracy, would they still drill into it and invest money?"

……

"Shopkeeper Lin, allow us to go back and consider this," Qingming Daozhang stood up. "This is a major matter, and it is not for us to decide. Once everyone has discussed and reached a result, we will give Shopkeeper Lin an answer."

"As it should be," Lin Bai smiled and cupped his hands at them. "Please walk slowly, everyone. I will not see you out."

"Shopkeeper Lin is too polite," Qingming Daozhang said.

The moment the few left, a notification of mission completion appeared in Lin Bai's mind: 【Big Brother's Business Crisis (Completed); Reward: Luck 30 (Distributed)】

(End of this chapter)