Chapter 185: War Reparations

A perfectly good battle, thanks to Lin Bai's mix of bluffing and intimidation, ended in such a muddled fashion that the players looked at each other, feeling a sense of unreality.

"It just ended like this?" 【Da Luo Jin Xian】 said.

"What else did you want? For Shopkeeper Lin to turn them all into Puppets?" 【Madman】 complained with dissatisfaction, "If all the NPCs become Shopkeeper Lin's Puppets, we won't have a game to play! The protagonists of the battlefield should have been us, not Shopkeeper Lin; we play games to have fun. But look at us?

We flew for a day and a night sitting on Suspension Talismans, and our greatest joy was helping Shopkeeper Lin recite a few tongue twisters.

We were trapped inside the Sky Curtain and didn't even touch the edge of the evil spirits; they were all finished off by Shopkeeper Lin's lightning. How is this any different from the spectators outside?"

The players were speechless for a moment.

After a long while, 【Longxi】 said: "Shopkeeper Lin forming the Justice Alliance is about integrating the NPCs, right! Perhaps the game officials want us to witness the growth history of a boss; those guys subdued by Shopkeeper Lin will all become elite bosses on the path to defeating Lin Bai in the future."

"Growth history my foot. This method of integration has endless hidden dangers; these elite bosses are probably even more hateful of Lin Bai than we are, and who knows when they'll stab him in the back," 【Silver】 said.

"Shopkeeper Lin is practically begging them to stab him in the back!" 【Madman】 said, "That way, he'll have an excuse to take action again."

"What if they stab him in the back secretly?" 【Silver】 asked.

"Does it matter?" 【Madman】 glanced at him and said, "Given our Shopkeeper Lin's character, even if no one stabbed him, he'd stab himself just to go out and stir up trouble. Shopkeeper Lin is having a much wilder time than we are."

The players fell silent, each of them deeply agreeing.

"Shopkeeper Lin didn't annex those sects, so how are we supposed to learn their Skills?" 【Xiaoshan Hu】 asked.

"Didn't you hear Shopkeeper Lin talk about information sharing and mutual exchange?" 【Madman】 said, "Just wait, we'll get to learn those sects' Skills. Shopkeeper Lin is bent on becoming the Heavenly Dao; he doesn't care about the Skills of the sects he annexed at all."

"Shopkeeper Lin's conduct is that of a total villain; why would he come from the Righteous Sect? And he even named the alliance the Justice Alliance!" 【Da Luo Jin Xian】 said, "How ironic!"

"Zhiyi Sect," 【I Am Not A Small Account】 corrected him solemnly, "If you remove that horizontal stroke from the character 'Zheng' (Righteous), it's no longer 'Righteous'. It's just read as Justice Sect."

As he spoke.

He sighed, "If only we could be as lawless and reckless as Shopkeeper Lin."

"Let's wait until our levels go up first!" 【Madman】 said with a bitter smile, "The enemies Shopkeeper Lin provokes are too high-level. If he were fighting the City Guard, we might still be able to help..."

【Congratulations on turning the tide in a desperate situation once again; Reward: 30 Agility (Already issued)】

【Sect Reputation: Initiate or participate in an event in the name of your sect and take the top spot among sects of the same level; Reward: See Through (Already issued)】

【Sect Leader's Prestige: A sect needs development, and a good leader is indispensable. Enhance your reputation so that petty people dare not covet the Justice Sect because of your name; Reward: Main Hall (Inside the Main Hall, all your attributes are doubled)】

【... Group Combat (Completed); Reward: Ten Blank Cards (Already issued)】

【Combat is a necessary process for a Card Master's growth. Please take your cards to participate in more battles and cultivate your rapport with the card characters; Reward: Ten Silver-Edged Cards】

A series of prompts echoed in his mind, signaling that the crisis had been averted.

Lin Bai set his heart at ease. Carrying two Nascent Soul bodyguards and holding the Cupid's Bow, he leisurely Wind Rode to the front of Xin Shang and the others, cupping his hands with a smile: "Greetings, Sect Leaders."

Xin Shang and the others were as if facing a great enemy. Glancing at the bow in Lin Bai's hand, they cupped their hands in return: "Greetings, Sect Leader Lin, greetings, Daoxu Zhenren."

"Idiots," Daoxu scolded without restraint, his mouth curled in undisguised Zhaofeng. It was obvious Lin Bai was using him as a tool, so it would be strange if he had a good temper.

The expressions of the few changed slightly.

"Don't mind a Puppet," Lin Bai smiled and said nonchalantly, "He is just jealous of your freedom."

"Lin Bai!" Daoxu shouted in anger.

"Daoxu, do you want to fall in love?" Lin Bai looked at the dazed Pei Yanzong on the side and said leisurely, "Pei Yanzong is the one who gave his life for you. Lovers eventually getting married is a beautiful thing, and I am very happy to help fulfill such a wish."

"You..." Daoxu widened his eyes, opened his mouth, and swallowed all his unwillingness back down.

The disgust brought by the Resistance Arrow was gradually suppressed by fear. Daoxu sighed dejectedly and closed his eyes in pain; perhaps it was time to be a silent Puppet, as it would save him some torment.

Xin Shang and the others cast a sympathetic glance at Daoxu and dared not act rashly anymore. Lin Bai was a madman; compared to Daoxu and Pei Yanzong, at least they still had their freedom!

"Sect Leaders, please," Lin Bai looked at Xin Shang and the others again and smiled, "This is not the place to talk. Let's go to Qian City, have the Beggar Sect prepare some food and wine, and sit down to discuss this slowly. Come to think of it, the disciples of my protective sect are still being detained by you!"

"Won?" Listening to the real-time report of the battle outside the city from the Heavenly Descended, Guo Yuan felt it was somewhat unbelievable. He picked up his teacup, took a light sip, and murmured, "Justice Alliance? What exactly does Lin Bai want to do? He is walking a dead end! Could it be that the Justice Sect really has the confidence to confront the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects?"

Previously.

For intelligence gathering, Guo Yuan relied on the Dark Guard, but when he realized how convenient and timely information transmission was among the players, he kept pace with the times by selecting a group of people from among the players to establish a new department dedicated to espionage.

The appearance of the Heavenly Descended had subtly changed many things, forcing people to adapt to their rhythm and utilize their characteristics.

"City Lord, no matter what Shopkeeper Lin wants to do, I think the City Lord's Mansion should get a piece of the action. After all, since Shopkeeper Lin entered the world, he has never truly been defeated, and the cultivation sects that have opposed him have not fared well..."

The one speaking was a player named 【Military Advisor】.

At this moment.

He controlled the largest intelligence organization in Qian City—Wenfeng Pavilion.

To win them over, the City Lord provided the players of Wenfeng Pavilion with a large number of cultivation techniques and various pills to help them increase their levels.

Not many players joined the City Lord's Mansion, but none of the players who entered Wenfeng Pavilion regretted it.

The resources of the City Lord's Mansion were too abundant.

Moreover, without more players sharing the resources, they were uniquely blessed, and their levels were skyrocketing.

This feeling of secretly enjoying themselves was clearly different from the Beggar Sect players, who were overshadowed by Shopkeeper Lin's aura.

This was the true hidden profession.

The players of Wenfeng Pavilion even reached a tacit understanding: do not stream, do not show off their superiority to the outside world, until they finally grasped power in the empire and shocked everyone.

Facts proved it.

The Taiyi Kingdom stood tall among so many cultivation sects not just because of the protection of the Seven Righteous Sects.

From Guo Yuan's words, they also inferred that the Taiyi Kingdom did not want to coexist with the cultivation sects; it had always been plotting to break the shackles of the cultivation sects, remove those uncontrollable privileged classes, and truly return power to the state.

Therefore, a battle between the Taiyi Kingdom and the cultivation sects would happen sooner or later.

The arrival of the Heavenly Descended was the opportunity for the Taiyi Kingdom to break the cultivation sects.

They were waiting for this opportunity; who said that being an official meant you couldn't have fun playing a game?

……

Before returning to Qian City, Lin Bai, in front of everyone, used Blank Cards to record many Cultivators who had been struck down by his Palm Thunder in the Sky Curtain, turning them into his own Puppets to make up for his previous losses.

Xin Shang and the others dared to be angry but dared not speak.

Because when collecting the Puppets, Lin Bai established the first rule of the Justice Alliance:

In future battles, the victor has the right to demand that the defeated party who initiated the war compensate for the losses suffered during the war.

War reparations are intended to protect the weak, and if promoted, can effectively prevent Provocations initiated under any pretext and maintain peace in the Cultivation World.

(End of chapter)