Chapter 155: Players Are All Overthinkers

Because of Lin Bai.

The Beggar Sect had pulled away from all other players.

And judging by the development of events, this gap would only continue to grow.

While other players who entered the game felt sour in their hearts, they had to seriously consider what the correct way to play the game was, and how to deal with the increasingly powerful Beggar Sect in the future.

With an NPC like Lin Bai, who feared the world wouldn't be chaotic enough, developing step-by-step and encountering the Beggar Sect would, nine times out of ten, result in them being pinned to the ground and rubbed into the dirt.

After all.

Everyone knew.

War and plunder were the fastest ways to accumulate wealth, and the Beggar Sect, under Lin Bai's leadership, was sprinting down this path.

……

The Shanlu Group decided to snipe at the Beggar Sect from the sidelines;

Other players who had made a name for themselves in towns adjacent to He Gan Cheng decided to wait until they had learned more Skills and contacted more players and sects to confront the Beggar Sect head-on;

Some players decided to work hard to develop their own forces, hoping to snatch Lin Bai away from the Beggar Sect in the future;

Other players were worried that the Beggar Sect disciples were too uninhibited, eventually affecting the NPCs' attitude toward them, ……

In short.

Players all had their own ideas.

But at this stage, things were not decided by the players.

Except for large Groups like Shanlu, which could use their financial and material resources to control an entire novice village as a base, just like Lin Bai;

Most players were still scattered soldiers, low in level, and not strong in individual power. Even if they were lucky enough to be selected in advance by a cultivation sect, they had no say, let alone the ability to influence the decisions of NPCs.

The most critical point was that the NPCs in other secondary cities did not have a troublemaker like Lin Bai pushing them to grow.

Most sects, whether righteous or evil, were still following the original rules, still arguing endlessly over the ownership of the Heavenly Descended, and had no time to care about outside matters.

The sudden Advent of players left the entire world in a state of bewilderment.

The original balance was broken.

Everyone in the world was struggling to cope with this change, looking for a future in the chaos, making longer-term plans, and searching for a new equilibrium point in the chaos.

The conservative performance of the NPCs made it impossible for players in other towns to learn from Lin Bai even if they wanted to.

Of course.

There was one more point.

More than 100,000 players were distributed across more than 70 novice villages, and these novice villages were not even in the same country.

The mountains were high and the emperor was far away.

There were more players who wanted to contact Lin Bai but couldn't.

Everything Lin Bai and the Beggar Sect disciples did served only as a reference and a lesson for them.

It was very likely that it even had the opposite effect.

After all, the Beggar Sect players were demonstrating to the many NPCs through their own actions what it meant to be uncontrollable……

……

The Blood Shadow Sect and the other four evil sects were the first to experience the uncontrollability of the players;

Huilong Temple was the second;

The third was Hundred Flowers Valley.

……

Jiang Yuru looked at the Beggar Sect disciples who had come to her door to propose conditions, her face showing anger.

Since when did these ordinary people dare to threaten a Golden Core True Person?

But at the thought of Lin Bai's cruelty, she had to suppress the anger in her heart.

She couldn't understand why Lin Bai, who was acting so arrogant today, had been so humble, polite, and gentle as jade, calling her "Junior Aunt" to her face back then.

Lin Bai's things weren't so easy to take?

What things?

Words following the Dao?

Such a super technique leaked so casually—who the hell knew if it was real?

Were they really going to use this to threaten her?

"Jiang Xianzi, we have delivered Shopkeeper Lin's words. What is your decision?" Gugao Laoren asked with a smile. "As long as you say 'no,' we will leave immediately and will never make things difficult for Jiang Xianzi. After all, Fairy Qingqin and our Shopkeeper Lin have a deep relationship; we cannot make things difficult for Hundred Flowers Valley."

Coming to the door to threaten, and you call this not making things difficult?

Jiang Yuru's eyebrows twitched: "May I have some time to consider?"

"There's no time!" Gugao Laoren shook his head. "We are on our way to take over Huilong Temple. If we go late, I'm afraid we will be blamed by Shopkeeper Lin."

"You are so certain that Lin Bai can take down Huilong Temple?" Jiang Yuru couldn't help but ask. "Daoxu Zhenren is a Nascent Soul expert after all..."

"Jiang Xianzi, we trust Shopkeeper Lin," Gugao Laoren laughed. "You also know that we are new here and are very unfamiliar with the various realms of Golden Core and Nascent Soul. However, Shopkeeper Lin repelling hundreds of Golden Cores with his own strength is probably rare in the Cultivation World! Besides, aren't you even a little curious about the outcome between Shopkeeper Lin and Huilong Temple, Jiang Xianzi?"

"Not curious at all," Jiang Yuru said with a dark face.

"Jiang Xianzi," Gugao Laoren shook his head and smiled. "Worldly affairs are fickle; some things cannot be avoided just because you don't want them. As an Elder of the Beggar Sect, I really don't want to see the day when Fairy Qingqin and Shopkeeper Lin turn against each other! They are a match made in heaven. I forgot to tell Jiang Xianzi just now that I have already promised Jinshe Langjun of Hundred Flowers Valley to join our advertising alliance. In the future, at any Beggar Sect event, the Heavenly Descended of Hundred Flowers Valley can interact with the Beggar Sect in a friendly manner."

"You..." Jiang Yuru's eyes widened, her chest heaving, angry to the extreme.

"Jiang Xianzi, times have changed. Once the results are out, it will be too late to place your bets. You have also seen that Shopkeeper Lin is a person who acts without regard for consequences. Speaking of which, we are just the messengers; the one who truly makes the decisions is Shopkeeper Lin..."

In order to complete the task assigned by Lin Bai, Gugao Laoren was also giving it his all, using both threats and enticements, and even going so far as to disparage the true founder of the Beggar Sect.

……

That's right!

The one who truly makes the decisions is Lin Bai!

Thinking of Lin Bai's consistently tough style, Jiang Yuru's pupils suddenly constricted, and she felt an inexplicable panic. She took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Fine, I agree to lend you the Hundred Flower Shuttle. But the Hundred Flower Shuttle can only carry three hundred people at a time. Your Beggar Sect has many people, so you will have to find other ways."

It worked!

Gugao Laoren let out a soft breath, stood up, cupped his hands toward Jiang Yuru, and smiled, "Three hundred is three hundred. Please, Fairy, prepare it as soon as possible. I will go talk to the Chaoyuan Sword Sect and the others to see if I can get them to help as well. After all, all righteous sects under heaven are one family; we will have to deal with the five great evil sects together in the future!"

"..." Jiang Yuru was choked for words.

In an instant, infinite resentment toward Lin Bai erupted, and she regretted not returning to the sect early like Tong Cha and the others.

How good it would have been to dump the matter on Jiang Qingqin and let her take the blame!

She shouldn't have held onto any wishful thinking regarding Lin Bai!

Now that Jiang Qingqin was in seclusion to break through to the Golden Core, it was too late for her to leave!

Leaving the encampment of the Hundred Flowers Valley, Gugao Laoren used various reasons to persuade the Medicine King Valley and three other sects, getting them to provide tools for transporting the Beggar Sect disciples.

The reason it went so smoothly was that most of the credit went to the players who had joined the other three sects.

Gugao Laoren revealed his trump card, personally promising that once Lin Bai took down Huilong Temple in the future, finished dealing with the five great evil sects, and turned around to attack the Medicine King Valley and other sects to achieve the unification of the sects under Qian City.

All players could unconditionally join the Beggar Sect, and then, everyone would expand outward together...

Having witnessed Lin Bai's great display of power, the players in Qian City had long regretted their initial choices. Moreover, for this group of highly curious players, who wouldn't be willing to follow Lin Bai to watch the fun at Huilong Temple!

Now, with Gugao Laoren's tempting promise, they were even less worried about the consequences.

The NPCs didn't know, but they were crystal clear about Lin Bai's methods.

To tell the truth, Lin Bai's performance was increasingly like a plot NPC; plot NPCs don't die until they complete their mission!

No matter which way you look at it, at the current stage, following Lin Bai is the only way to play the game more enjoyably.

Compared to Lin Bai, the NPCs of the other sects were too pedantic and too slow!

And so.

Under Gugao Laoren's glib talk, the original undercover agents became completely useless, because all the players who joined other sects had become undercover agents.

When Zhao Ang and a few other guys who couldn't make decisions encountered the Heavenly Descended forcing their hand, they had to contact their sects to ask for countermeasures, and they had to rely on the players to pass the messages.

And now, all the Heavenly Descended had become undercover agents.

When passing messages, they naturally distorted the true meaning of the sects, and in a few words, they fooled the NPCs left behind in Qian City into a daze.

That noon.

One thousand disciples of the Beggar Sect, along with five hundred disciples scraped together from the other four sects, boarded the flying transport Dharma Treasures provided by the four major sects and set off in a grand procession toward Huilong Temple.

City Lord's Mansion.

Watching the large group of Beggar Sect disciples fly away from Qian City, Guo Yuan stroked his beard and smiled, saying to the scholar beside him, "Zhao, only now do I know what it means for a dragon to enter the sea!"

"Lin Bai is indeed an unprecedented... heaven-gifted talent!" the scholar sighed.

"Heaven-gifted talent?" Guo Yuan glanced at him with a smile, "A troublemaker would be more fitting!"

"..." The scholar gave an awkward smile and stopped speaking.

"Whatever he is, as long as it is truly as he said, and his actions can really lure the Heavenly Descended away, it is a great service to the state." Guo Yuan laughed, "Have someone copy Lin Bai's recent actions and send them to the Yunyang County Princess in Jiamu City. I feel that our Yunyang County Princess's thoughts on Lin Bai may not be limited to the level of utilization. I might as well give him a push from behind..."

"Yes, City Lord." The scholar looked at the City Lord in surprise, nodded, and bowed as he retreated.

While a crowd of players was swindling and bluffing in Qian City to get to Huilong Temple.

Lin Bai and the few players on the Suspension Talisman were leisurely heading toward Huilong Temple, eavesdropping on the players' private chats along the way, watching the rapidly growing number of fans in the background, chatting with the little fox intermittently, and grinding the number of truth-telling tasks; nothing could delay the tasks.

However.

Players cannot endure loneliness; traveling with a big BOSS like Lin Bai, if they don't dig out some explosive news from his mouth, they always feel a bit at a loss.

Longxi chuckled and tried to get close to Lin Bai: "Shopkeeper Lin, do you still remember me?"

Lin Bai glanced at him: "I remember, you were tricked by me like a fool at the time."

He paused and added a finishing blow, "Just as stupid as your master Qingfeng. That foolish Daoist could have stayed in Jiamu City honestly for a year or two and earned at least a fortune. He ruined it all by his own doing!"

"..."

Longxi's face stiffened, and he silently provided a wave of resentment to Lin Bai.

The live broadcast screen was filled with barrage comments like "666," "blind," "missed a fortune," "having eyes but not recognizing a jade inlay," "Shopkeeper Lin is right," and "worshipping Qingfeng instead of a great god," all mocking Longxi. In just one question to get close, Longxi's reputation was catching up to Deng Li Buduo.

Some people were already calling the two of them "Long the Fool and Deng the Miserable."

Of course.

There were also quite a few asking him to take the initiative to reveal how he was deceived by Lin Bai.

Lin Bai was the biggest internet celebrity NPC in the Xianxia World, and the audience was full of interest in everything he had done. The "Collection of Heavenly Defects" that Deng Li Buduo had brought out had long since spread in the Real World, yet no one had been able to fill in a lyric that satisfied everyone.

Longxi, of course, wouldn't expose himself, and asked unwillingly: "Shopkeeper Lin, you were testing me at the time, right!"

Poor child!

In normal times, I would definitely comfort you, ensure your heart is filled with joy, and make you loyal to me from then on.

But now, these questions you are asking are not at the right time!

Lin Bai looked at him with pity: "No, I was just using you at the time."

Longxi froze, his heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition arose.

Was Lin Bai discriminating against him?

Because of his IQ?

Could it be that he chose the wrong path of betrayal?

He gave a sheepish smile: "Shopkeeper Lin, you have such great ability, I am just a small person, what could I possibly have that you could use?"

"I only found you at the time, you were just unlucky!" Lin Bai looked at him and said.

"..." Longxi was stunned, wanting to cry but having no tears.

"Old Long, stop dwelling on this, the more you ask, the sadder you'll be." Xiashan Hu comforted Longxi, "You were in the first batch of beta testers; is it highly probable that Shopkeeper Lin was testing the Undying Body of players on you?"

"Why didn't he take action himself?" Longxi asked back, unwilling to give up.

"A twisted sense of humor, perhaps!" Daluo Golden Immortal said, "Haven't you realized it yet? Shopkeeper Lin likes to torture people; this might just be his setting."

"..." Longxi wanted to cry but had no tears, "I suspect Lin Bai just looks down on me. I will definitely be specifically targeted by him in the Beggar Sect in the future. I'm starting to regret betraying Huilong Temple."

"Regret my foot. Even if you didn't regret it, Huilong Temple is no match for Shopkeeper Lin!" Tie Tou Xian cast a sidelong glance at Longxi, "I actually think being targeted by Shopkeeper Lin is a good thing. Think about it, how miserably Deng Li Buduo was tormented by Shopkeeper Lin back then, and look at him now? The only personal disciple of the Justice Sect, how many players envy him!"

"That makes sense!" Longxi's eyes suddenly lit up, and his resentment toward Lin Bai instantly transformed into Positive Emotion.

Damn it!

You guys can actually spin it this way?

Listening to their private chat, Lin Bai was full of surprise; he was completely convinced by the thought processes of the players. Sure enough, one cannot use normal logic to infer their words and actions.

"Deep love leads to harsh discipline!" Daluo Golden Immortal comforted him, "Shopkeeper Lin's actions cannot be inferred by common sense."

"..." Lin Bai was speechless for a moment, Belly-Defamation, *I'm just doing a quest, okay? I'm not a psychopath like you lot! *

"Then I'll try again!" Longxi's Spirit was greatly boosted; he coughed lightly and bravely asked Lin Bai, "Shopkeeper Lin, I previously joined Huilong Temple, then betrayed Huilong Temple to join the Beggar Sect, and I have also spoken disrespectfully of you before. Will you deliberately target me?"

"No." Lin Bai looked at him and said.

"When you tortured Deng Li Buduo back then, was it because you favored him?" Longxi asked again.

"No, it was because he was the only one around me at the time, and I was more familiar with him." Lin Bai thought for a moment and gave an absolutely truthful answer.

It was precisely this kind of tsundere answer that pursued the truth that boosted Longxi's confidence. Sure enough, Shopkeeper Lin viewed them all differently; he just wouldn't admit it verbally!

"Asking nothing but useless things." Daluo Golden Immortal rolled his eyes at Longxi and asked with a fawning smile: "Shopkeeper Lin, you made Daoist Qingyu fall madly in love with Lady Huaxi with just one sentence; is that 'Word-Follows-Law'?"

"No, there has never been any 'Word-Follows-Law'; I was just tricking you all." Lin Bai told the truth.

He had already realized that no matter what he said, this group of players would definitely imagine the most reasonable answer and then believe it firmly.

Therefore.

Farming truth quests on them, there was no need to fear leaking anything at all!

(End of this chapter)