Chapter 157: Returning Heart

Currently.

Lin Bai had sealed 18 Golden Core True Persons with cards.

Among them, Qingyu, Qingshan, and Huaxi Furen were sealed with Silver-Edged Cards, while the remaining 15 were sealed with one-time-use Blank Cards.

It could be said that at this moment, Lin Bai alone was enough to start a small-scale war in the Cultivation World.

The one-time-use Blank Cards were consumables; whether they possessed intelligence was irrelevant to them, and they were not worth investing an Enlightenment Pill into.

Regarding the remaining three Silver-Edged Cards, Lin Bai pondered for a moment and chose Huaxi Furen as the experimental subject.

Firstly, her strength was low, making her easy to control; secondly, her strength was low, so if a problem really arose, he wouldn't feel bad about destroying her.

Ignoring the few players, Lin Bai released Huaxi Furen, walked up to her, and stuffed an Enlightenment Pill into her mouth.

Xiaobai and the players turned to look at Lin Bai's strange operation, not understanding what he was doing.

A moment.

Huaxi Furen, whose gaze had been dull, blinked her eyes, her pupils gradually focusing and locking onto Lin Bai's face, then a look of terror appeared on her face as she abruptly took a step back: "It's you?"

"It is me." Lin Bai looked at her curiously and decisively terminated the Great Language System's task; although boasting was his talent, boasting could also affect communication, and Lin Bai understood the way of trade-offs best.

Looking at Huaxi Furen's performance, it was clear she had recovered all her intelligence and memories, rather than having gained the ability to learn like a newborn.

This situation was much better.

The existence of the card character Huaxi Furen remained in Lin Bai's mind; it had not disappeared because she recovered her intelligence.

The options remained the three of attack, guard, and retreat; likewise, no other options had appeared.

Clearly.

Although the subsidiary products of the two systems would influence each other, they would not affect basic operations.

Lin Bai now had several hundred years of Internal Energy and shared the Spiritual Power and Skills of Qingyu and Huaxi Furen, so handling a Huaxi Furen was easy.

However, for the sake of safety, the moment Huaxi Furen recovered her intelligence, he still issued a guard command to her, while simultaneously holding the Blank Card that sealed Huaxi Furen in his palm.

Huaxi Furen looked at Lin Bai, then suddenly turned around, shooting into the sky like an arrow released from a bow, flying toward the night.

She knew she was no match for Lin Bai; the moment she sobered up, her only thought was to flee.

But she had barely flown ten meters.

Lin Bai unfurled the card in his hand, and a massive suction force arrived; with a cry of surprise, Huaxi Furen was involuntarily pulled back into the card.

Immediately after, she was released by Lin Bai again.

Huaxi Furen looked at the Blank Card in Lin Bai's hand in terror, her whole body trembling: "You... what did you do to me?"

"You recovered all your memories, didn't you?" Lin Bai did not answer her question, but asked instead, "Including the memory of me taking you to fight against Huilong Temple?"

Once these words were spoken.

Huaxi Furen's expression changed drastically; she flipped her palm, and over a dozen ice cones floated in the air above it.

Yet, looking at Lin Bai, her face flushed red, but she was stubbornly unable to launch the ice cones.

Like a person filled with contradictions, her expression was painful and conflicted; she gave up on the ice cones and looked at Lin Bai in astonishment: "You... why am I unable to attack you?"

As expected.

In the guard state, a card character cannot attack oneself.

Lin Bai's heart settled for the most part, and he smiled slightly: "Because your life was given by me; I placed a restriction on your Soul."

"You turned me into a Puppet?" Huaxi Furen asked with a trembling voice.

"Something like that!" Lin Bai glanced at her, then pointed at the muddled Qingyu Daozhang beside them, "To be precise, the one looking like that is a Puppet. After I turned you into a Puppet, I re-endowed you with intelligence; theoretically speaking, I gave you a new life, so it wouldn't be wrong for you to call me Father..."

Huaxi Furen did not hear a single word of what Lin Bai said afterward.

After seeing Qingyu Daozhang, her heart shifted entirely to him; walking to Qingyu's side, Huaxi Furen reached out to touch his face, two lines of clear tears falling down her cheeks, and whispered: "Qingyu, I never thought there would be a man who would risk his life for me, nor did I ever think a Daoist partner would appear in my life..."

Uh!

Truly worthy of the Red Thread of the Matchmaker!

The sobered Huaxi was conquered by love at the very first moment.

Lin Bai remained silent.

Longxi and the others watched, stunned: "It really is 'words follow the law'; the power of the rules forcibly arranged them together; there is no better explanation than this."

"... Qingyu, you are too foolish. You shouldn't have stayed for me; you clearly had a better future." Huaxi Furen gently embraced Qingyu, pressed her face against his chest, and sobbed in a low voice, "Why? Why is Heaven so unfair, letting us two suffer such hardships before meeting each other..."

Without me.

You met him, and being slashed to death by his Sword would have already been the best outcome.

"Ahem!"

Lin Bai coughed lightly, interrupting Huaxi Furen, who was showing off her affection as if no one else were present, "I can let him recover his intelligence as well."

Huaxi Furen jolted, turning abruptly toward Lin Bai, an expression of disbelief appearing on her face: "Really?"

Immediately after, she reacted, looking at Lin Bai, then at Qingyu Daozhang, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes: "Shopkeeper Lin, help him recover his intelligence; I am willing to do anything for you!"

Lin Bai shook his head and issued an attack command to her.

The next instant.

Huaxi Furen's eyes widened abruptly, and she involuntarily launched an ice cone attack at the large tree beside them.

In the blink of an eye.

The tree, as thick as two people's embrace, was riddled with holes by her ice cones.

Huaxi Furen looked at Lin Bai in horror, yet she could not stop the ice cones continuously shooting from her hand: "You... what did you do to me?"

"I just said it; your life was given by me, and I placed a restriction on your Soul." Lin Bai smiled and stood beside her, "Therefore, whether you are willing or not, you will do anything for me. Any conditions you negotiate with me are meaningless. You should recognize a fact: whether or not your intelligence is recovered depends on me, not you. If I wanted to, I could even make you kill Qingyu..."

"No, don't!" Huaxi Furen shook her head desperately.

The ice cones fired uncontrollably until the large tree swayed precariously, emitting a creaking sound, and gradually tilted...

【From Huaxi Furen: terror, anger, despair; +1+1+1】

Feeling the various Negative Emotion provided by Huaxi Furen, Lin Bai sighed: "I think I understand why the consciousness of those sealed in cards must be destroyed. Being unable to control one's own body while in a conscious state is too terrifying."

【From Huaxi Furen: resentment; +1+1+1】

Everything is caused by you, what the hell are you feeling sentimental about!

You really think it's terrifying?

Why did you still make me recover my consciousness?

Huaxi Furen looked at Lin Bai, unable to say a word, but her trembling body and angry eyes still accurately expressed her inner thoughts.

She was an expert of an evil sect, and for the sake of cultivation, she had also laid hands on ordinary people.

She did not care about the opinions of those worldly ants.

But compared to what Lin Bai had done, she felt she was as weak as an infant.

This guy in front of her who looked as gentle as jade was the true demon, rotten from the inside out!

"What do you want?" Huaxi Furen asked.

Lin Bai looked at her: "What I just said was my own feeling, what about you? What are your true thoughts? Do you like being a carefree Puppet like Qingyu, or being a living person who can perceive the world, has their own joys and sorrows, but is occasionally restricted in their actions?"

Carefree?

Huaxi Furen turned her head to look at the blank-faced Qingyu.

Occasionally restricted in actions?

She looked again at the tree that had been almost broken by her own ice spikes...

The tree very effectively set off Huaxi Furen's sorrowful mood; the riddled trunk could not support the massive canopy and collapsed with a boom, the huge sound startling countless night birds into flight...

Having been baptized by the Sword Rain of Huilong Temple, Lin Bai could already turn a blind eye to these small disturbances; he stepped back nonchalantly, dodging the scattered dirt: "Xiaohua, what do you say?"

Xiaohua?

Huaxi Furen shuddered violently, turned to Lin Bai, looked at his half-smiling eyes, and stammered: "Naturally, it is better to recover one's consciousness. If possible, who would want to be a Puppet without thought?"

"Just as I thought, so I helped you recover your consciousness. How could I not know that helping you recover your consciousness would bring me many troubles and bring more uncertainty to things..." Lin Bai sighed, looked up at the starry sky, and said with empathy, "Xiaohua, in this world, who isn't living in pain, and who isn't a Puppet?"

F***!

Huaxi Furen cursed silently.

If she could attack Lin Bai, her ice spikes would have already riddled him with holes.

This guy is just too much!

Does he really think saying this can make her empathize?

If our positions were swapped, and you still maintained this mindset, then I would admire you...

"Killing the heart by attacking the spirit!" Longxi said, "Back then, in Jiamu City, he tricked me exactly like this; next, he's going to set conditions..."

"Don't you think what Shopkeeper Lin said is very philosophical?" Golden Immortal said, "All living beings suffer!"

"Philosophical my ass, he is just engaging in mental control. After using the card to enslave Lady Huaxi, he wants to completely conquer her mentally." Xiashanhu said, "The planner who created Shopkeeper Lin is too awesome. This personality, this brain, this rigorous logical thinking—even in the Real World, it would be enough to crush a large group of people."

"I have always suspected that this game is a real world." Tie Tou Xian said, "Everyone is flesh and blood; is there really a server that can support such massive calculations?"

"No, this is just a game." Golden Immortal looked at Lin Bai and shook his head, "Did you hear anything from Shopkeeper Lin's last sentence?"

"What?" Longxi asked.

"He said who isn't a Puppet?" Golden Immortal paused, "Do you think there is a possibility that Shopkeeper Lin realized he is an NPC, or a piece of code, with his fate controlled by someone behind the scenes, and that's why he had the realization that he is also a Puppet?"

"..." Several players were stunned at the same time.

"Holy crap, that makes sense!" Tie Tou Xian said, "A game character realizing they are a game character—that's a bit creepy. He must be resisting his fate!"

"Do you think he isn't resisting?" Golden Immortal said, "Everyone thinks Lin Bai is pushing the game's progress, but from another perspective, isn't Lin Bai also destroying the game's balance? Almost all game events he gets involved with end up in chaos."

"Thinking about it is terrifying." Longxi looked at Lin Bai, "Old Luo, I think you should post this viewpoint on the forum; it would definitely attract a huge crowd of fans..."

I have never been a game character from the start!

Furthermore.

I have never accepted my fate!

Lin Bai glanced sideways at the few players chatting privately, noncommittal about their remarks.

His musings about Puppets were nothing more than directed at the system on his body!

As more and more of the system's powerful functions were revealed, Lin Bai had become somewhat infatuated with the powerful strength the system brought him.

He had to constantly remind himself so as not to lose his way.

The sweeter the bait, the more terrifying the trap hidden behind it might be!

Of course.

The prerequisite for everything is to survive first!

Sorting out his thoughts, Lin Bai continued: "Xiaohua, your choice is correct. Actually, thinking from another angle, being sealed in a card is not without its benefits. No matter how badly you are injured, as long as I take you back into the card, you will slowly recover. Although it is unlikely your strength will improve, from another aspect, you have indirectly achieved immortality."

Huaxi Furen's mouth twitched; she really couldn't listen to this shameless rhetoric anymore: "What if you die?"

"If I die, you will still live inside the card." Lin Bai said shamelessly, "And no one will ever be able to hurt you again."

"..." Huaxi Furen could no longer endure it, "Lin Bai, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Xiaohua." Lin Bai said.

"Don't call me Xiaohua." Huaxi Furen said.

"Xiaoxi." Lin Bai glanced at her, changed the address casually, and pretending not to see Lady Huaxi's face trembling with anger, he continued, "I want you to help me. I am the World Walker of the Righteous Sect; although my cultivation is profound and my abilities are extraordinary, I am ultimately just one person. A single tree cannot make a forest, and a single thread cannot make a line. There are too many things waiting for me to do, but I truly cannot be in two places at once!"

Too many things?

It's too many enemies, right!

Huaxi Furen engaged in some Belly-Defamation, then said, "And then?"

"I want you to help me teach the skills to the disciples of the Beggar Sect," Lin Bai looked at Huaxi Furen sincerely, "In return, I will give you the greatest degree of freedom. Unless you are severely injured, I will try my best not to recall you into the cards, allowing you to live like normal people, to re-experience this colorful world, and to enjoy beautiful love."

As he spoke.

He turned his head and glanced at the wooden, dazed Qing Yu Daozhang.

Huaxi Furen followed Lin Bai's gaze and asked with a trembling voice, "Is this true?"

"Otherwise?" Lin Bai smiled.

"But by using this method to collect the techniques of all the sects in the world, you will eventually become a public enemy of the world; no one will let you off," Huaxi Furen said after a moment of silence.

"As long as I am strong enough, everyone will help me sincerely, just like you," Lin Bai smiled indifferently.

Driven by a massive pile of system pressures behind him, he had already walked further and further down the path of being a public enemy of the world, unable to turn back.

There is no shore if one turns back.

Turning back is hell!

Therefore.

Just walk this path until the end; the way forward is the only path to survival...

"Do I have a choice?" Huaxi Furen revealed a bitter smile and looked at Qingyu, "Help him recover his consciousness as well; I will persuade him for you."

"Xiaoxi, in the future, when my strength is strong enough to suppress the world, if you are still alive, perhaps I will consider setting you free."

Lin Bai looked at Huaxi Furen and solemnly stated his promise.

In this world, Lin Bai had no attachments.

In his eyes, there was not much difference between villains and righteous sects; everything he did was merely to live better.

If it were possible, and if he had the ability, he truly would not mind restoring their freedom.

He was not a born demon, after all; he also had a heart of mercy...

Of course, what made Lin Bai feel most comfortable was the feeling of not having to tell the truth in every sentence; it was just so damn good!

The Great Language System really makes one love and hate it at the same time!

(End of this chapter)