Chapter 238: The Chaotic Situation Begins to Emerge

If Lin Bai had merely conquered one Beast Taming Studio, it would not be considered a remarkable feat.

Although the individual strength of the Beast Taming Studio is powerful, it cannot compare to the three-sect coalition of the Chaoyuan Sword Sect, but the presence of Bu Bei and two prodigies from the Heavenly Sword Sect made it different.

Bu Bei is known as the number one person in the Transformation Realm and possesses a record of killing those in the Void Refinement Realm across levels.

To become a prodigy of the Heavenly Sword Sect, one must have at least the cultivation of the Transformation Realm; as the key objects of cultivation for their sects, prodigies often master many unique killing moves and possess powerful Dharma Treasures.

Added to the Cangming Sword Immortal, it was equivalent to four Transformation Realm experts fighting Lin Bai, and furthermore, the combat power of Bu Bei and the prodigies far exceeded that of others in the same Transformation Realm.

And the result?

The Cangming Sword Immortal was captured, Bu Bei fled, Jian Shi abandoned the injured Jian Shijiu and fled alone, while Lin Bai remained unscathed.

Although *Justice Weekly* described the several Transformation Realm experts as despicable villains who only knew how to ambush, the restored facts also proved that the several Transformation Realm experts had merely gathered together by coincidence and had no connection to one another.

But the result was there for all to see.

The Righteous Seven Sects were indeed locked in internal strife, refusing to save those in danger, and even resorting to betrayal and abandonment...

Any defense was pale and powerless in the face of facts; they could not wash themselves clean even if they wanted to.

Looking purely at the description in *Justice Weekly*, the Righteous Seven Sects had rotted to the core; with such a group of people controlling the Cultivation World, it would be a disservice to the title of "immortal cultivator" not to overthrow them.

The public's perception of the Righteous Seven Sects plummeted to the extreme in an instant.

Bu Bei and Jian Shi had grievances they could not voice; firstly, the Righteous Seven Sects had no official channel to speak out, and secondly, they had truly run away and had not even drawn their Swords against Lin Bai once.

They knew that fleeing at that time was the best choice, but this was something one could do but not say...

As for blackening Lin Bai's name against their conscience, neither of them could do it; after all, how many pairs of eyes were watching at the time!

Had they known it would come to this, they might as well have fought Lin Bai to the death back then!

Outside Zhen City.

Bu Bei's eyes were bloodshot as he poured wine into his mouth fiercely; beside him lay a large expanse of fallen trees.

Having cultivated his heart in the mortal world for three hundred years, he had thought his mental fortitude had been tempered to be incomparably strong, but after being toyed with by Lin Bai like this, he realized that everything he had encountered before was child's play.

What heartbreak?

What inability to break through to the Void Refinement Realm for a lifetime!

Compared to Lin Bai, it was nothing at all...

He and Lin Bai had not even formally met, yet with one casual article, Lin Bai had nailed him to a pillar of shame, pressing down on him so hard he could not catch his breath, with no way to turn things around.

Even if he killed Lin Bai in the future, this shame would be hard to wash away; the title of "Bu Bei" was effectively ruined.

"Demonic evil, if not killed, the world will surely fall into chaos." Bu Bei cursed through gritted teeth; the beautiful shadow that had lingered in his heart for three hundred years had long been replaced by Lin Bai.

Jian Shi's situation was no better than Bu Bei's; he had always been one to devise strategies and act only after careful planning, never expecting that a moment of carelessness would turn him into the shame of the Heavenly Sword Sect and a weakness for Lin Bai to attack the sect.

Ever since he obtained the title of Jian Shi, he had been humble in speech, but in his heart, he had never looked down upon anyone in the world.

He had warned Jian Shijiu that since Lin Bai was wanted by the Righteous and Evil Path Kill Order, he must have extraordinary qualities, but in reality, he had not taken Lin Bai seriously either, thinking of using him as a stepping stone to kill him and become famous throughout the world in one stroke.

Yet with a casual strike, Lin Bai shattered his companion Sword—Tianchen—and also shattered his Jianxin, leaving him trapped in a quagmire from which he could not extricate himself.

Only then did Jian Shi understand why Lin Bai was on the Righteous and Evil Path Kill Order.

Lin Bai's Fazhe Zhidao and martial power were only one aspect; his ability to shake the world's major events with a wave of his hand and rattle the foundations built by the Righteous and Evil Paths over tens of thousands of years was the root cause.

He and Lin Bai were not opponents of the same caliber; neither were Jian Yi or those veteran prodigies. Lin Bai's opponent had always been his sect—no, all the sects in the world.

Luo Xue of Illusion Valley flipped through the new issue of *Justice Weekly* and remained silent for a long time.

"Luo Tianjiao, what should we do?" the Valley Master of Illusion Valley asked, at a loss.

It was only two days from the Beast Taming Studio to Illusion Valley; the Heavenly Sword Sect's prodigies and Bu Bei had been beaten to a pulp by Lin Bai. Their sect only had one prodigy sitting in command, and if they encountered Lin Bai, they would likely be crushed before they could even make a ripple.

Most crucially, they had taken the initiative to provoke Lin Bai, which was no different from actively seeking death!

"Wait for me to consult the sect, and help me find a Heavenly Descended," Luo Xue looked at her and forced herself to remain calm.

After the incident at the Beast Taming Studio spread, the Righteous Seven Sects were actually somewhat overwhelmed.

It had to be said.

Lin Bai was too capable of causing trouble.

Moreover, the influence of *Justice Weekly* was far more troublesome than they had imagined.

Originally.

The big shots of the Righteous Seven Sects and the Demonic Five Sects had focused more on the world behind the Heavenly Descended.

After all.

The fact that an entire world of people were all Baimaicutong, Undying and Indestructible, and could invade their world at will, spoke for itself regarding what lay behind them.

It was not just countries like the Taiyi Kingdom that had received the Oracle.

The Righteous Seven Sects and the Demonic Five Sects, representing the world's highest combat power, had likewise received the Oracle, forbidding them from intervening in the lives of the Heavenly Descended on a large scale during their early growth period, and even more so forbidding the use of force to suppress the Heavenly Descended on a large scale; otherwise, they would surely be punished.

Therefore.

During the few months since the players' Advent, they could only observe silently and probe cautiously, not daring to take large-scale actions against the Heavenly Descended.

It was not until Lin Bai and his Justice Sect appeared, integrating players on a large scale and wantonly destroying the rules they had set, that they realized something was wrong.

The Fazhe Zhidao proposed by Lin Bai completely subverted the existing cultivation rules and formed its own system.

Most crucially, the Justice Sect was also unknown, and no one could find any trace of information regarding it.

Lin Bai was just like the Heavenly Descended, as if he had popped out of thin air, but the things he displayed clearly told the world that there was indeed a massive Justice Sect behind him.

The Heavenly Descended were protected by the Oracle and could not be touched for the time being, but Lin Bai was not. At this time of chaos caused by the Heavenly Descended, the Justice Sect was using the name of "responding to the tribulation" to wantonly carve up their cake.

If this can be tolerated, what cannot?

The Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects consulted with one another and promulgated the Zhengxie Zhushaling.

Initially, their purpose in promulgating the Zhengxie Zhushaling was not purely to finish off Lin Bai.

After all.

Lin Bai appeared to be jumping around happily, but his range of activity was limited only to a few small Basic Cities, and the strength he displayed was at most the Spirit Transformation stage.

The Spirit Transformation stage might count as an expert in the sects surrounding the Basic Cities, but to the Seven Righteous Sects with their tens of thousands of years of foundation, it was simply not worth looking at.

Taking the Heavenly Sword Sect alone, with a batch every ten years, thirty heaven-gifted talents—excluding those who had fallen or those stuck in bottlenecks with no progress in their cultivation—the number of Cultivators they had accumulated was a behemoth.

The reason for promulgating the Zhengxie Zhushaling was more directed at the Heavenly Descended.

And with a suitable excuse, they could dispatch a large number of elite Disciples into the mortal world to make contact with the Heavenly Descended early, interfere with their actions, and incidentally investigate the bottom line of the Justice Alliance.

In order to let Lin Bai jump around for a while longer, they even only sent out heaven-gifted Disciples with strength comparable to Lin Bai, and they only showed a perfunctory attitude toward the pleas for help from the sects around Qian City.

Who would have thought that Lin Bai would unite with the Heavenly Descended, creating such a huge commotion that it completely caught the Seven Righteous Sects off guard.

If he were allowed to keep jumping, not to mention how much territory they would lose, the face lost by Lin Bai alone would take an unknown amount of time to recover.

Furthermore.

After countries like the Taiyi Kingdom and Taichu Kingdom realized that the Justice Alliance might overturn their rule over the Cultivation World, they actually became restless, wanting to engage in some small movements in the dark.

The Heavenly Descended, the Justice Alliance, and countries like Taiyi, with several forces uniting, could very likely trigger a catastrophe in the current age, causing irreparable damage to the Cultivation World.

After all, the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects were never of one mind, and even among the Seven Righteous Sects, there were occasional disputes due to rankings!

This time.

The Beast Taming Sect secretly played tricks, intending to swindle Lin Bai's Transformation Pill, which was a perfect example that had already aroused the vigilance of sects like the Heavenly Dao Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Therefore.

After the incident at the Beast Taming Pavilion.

The Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects quickly adjusted their strategy, directly bypassing the Spirit Transformation realm, with experts at the Great Vehicle Stage directly leading experts at the Void Refinement Realm to set out, deciding to extinguish Lin Bai and his Justice Alliance in the cradle as quickly as possible; once the troublemaking forces were extinguished, they could free up their hands to properly study how to deal with the Heavenly Descended.

At least in name, every sect and faction set out under the banner of eliminating Lin Bai and the Justice Alliance...

Of course.

Knowing that they could not prohibit the spread of *Justice Weekly*, in order not to let Lin Bai and his Justice Alliance cause greater panic.

The Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects successively published their own periodicals through the Heavenly Descended to convey their thoughts to the outside world.

The Heavenly Dao Sect's *Heavenly Dao Xing*, the Heavenly Sword Sect's *Sword Sect*, the Weapon Refinement Sect's *Qiwetian*, the Shengji Sect's *Shengkan*, and so on.

Once these periodicals were released, the periodicals previously published by subordinate sects scattered across various places were quickly banned, and they uniformly issued the periodicals of their own sect masters.

For periodicals like *Heavenly Dao Xing*, the lead articles focused on rectifying names, using a large amount of space to recount the origins of the Heavenly Dao Sect, as well as the roles they played in several great righteous-demonic wars...

Among them, there was no lack of mentions of establishing Basic Cities, protecting human civilization from extinction, limiting the growth of Demon Beasts, and so on;

Of course.

While promoting their own positive image, they did not forget to smear the Justice Alliance and its policies.

For example:

"Where was the Justice Alliance when the Seven Righteous Sects were silently guarding the human world for ten thousand years?"

"Who exactly is disrupting social stability?"

"What is the truth covered up by the Seven Righteous Sects?"

"If a catastrophe arises, who will be the ones to suffer?"

"The murderer who provokes war in the name of peace."

"Is it the Dao, or a demonic art that brings chaos to the human world?"

Article after article was also written by players, tit-for-tat with *Justice Weekly*, and released simultaneously.

The common folk were unprecedentedly lively.

It must be said.

Everything has two sides; the thoughts of the bottom-level commoners are the easiest to be swayed, and besides, what the Seven Righteous Sects have done for ten thousand years is also a fact.

For a time.

The rhetoric among the common folk split into several factions.

Some supported Lin Bai and his Justice Alliance, believing that they were indeed overthrowing the corrupt Cultivation World and bringing new hope to the human world;

Some supported the Seven Righteous Sects, believing that Lin Bai had triggered world chaos for his own selfish interests, and if a war were to break out, it would be the commoners who suffered;

Others believed that both sides were wrong and that they should sit down and talk, solve the problem peacefully, and come up with a suitable solution;

Still others felt that the world needed a war, and only war could advance social progress, thereby producing more policies beneficial to the commoners; just like now, they felt that the high and mighty Cultivation World was very close to them, which was something that could never have happened in the past;

The periodicals from the Demonic Five Sects told of their grievances over the past ten thousand years, as well as the smearing and suppression they had received from the Seven Righteous Sects.

More of it was about how the use of cultivation techniques depends on the person; a Sword can kill, and the Blood Dao can also kill; one cannot believe that the Sword is righteous just because the Sword kills more beautifully than Blood, as the Blood Dao can also save people once cultivated well...

The Demonic Five Sects did not want to debate with *Justice Weekly*; they were not the protagonists of the world, but the emergence of public opinion allowed them to see an opportunity to break free from the suppression of the Seven Righteous Sects and turn the tables.

Therefore.

The periodicals issued by several evil sects were more about taking the opportunity to whitewash themselves.

In summary.

With many different opinions, the rhetoric in the world was finally no longer just Lin Bai's one-sided story.

The Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects also did not forget to appease those sects trembling under the iron hooves of the Justice Alliance; through their own authoritative periodicals, they informed everyone.

Before the experts of the sects arrived, those sects that had been coerced into joining the Justice Alliance would be forgiven for their past actions and would not be held accountable.

After all.

Once speed reaches a certain limit, it cannot get much faster.

A Great Vehicle Stage expert might possess movement techniques that crush lower-level cultivators during battle,

but for long-distance travel, a Great Vehicle Stage expert is not much faster than the Spirit Transformation realm; they also require time and cannot arrive in an instant.

Otherwise.

Great Vehicle Stage experts could do whatever they pleased in this world.

Legal surrender can both appease those sects below that cannot defeat Lin Bai, preventing them from panicking due to being forced to join the Justice Alliance, and ultimately make them serve Lin Bai with unwavering Loyalty.

It can also plant a nail in Lin Bai's Justice Alliance, making it impossible for him to distinguish whether the members joining the Justice Alliance are sincere or fake...

And in the war of public opinion, the most sought-after are still the players; the advertising industry is finally no longer dominated solely by the Beggar Sect, and with a towering tree to lean on, they finally possess a voice.

At this moment.

All the players finally found the game's balance.

Although it is only one aspect of public opinion, it is at least a good start.

More lucky ones were directly connected to the headquarters of the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects, beginning key cultivation.

The Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects possess enough resources; usually, it takes them about ten years to cultivate a prodigy at the Spirit Transformation realm.

But cultivating a Heavenly Descended might only take a few months, or one or two years.

They have no choice but to do so.

The affair of the Beast Taming Sect served as a reminder to everyone: there are those who perhaps do not wish to see Lin Bai die; if the massive resources in his hands can be obtained, they can still change the current landscape of the Cultivation World...

Lin Bai's growth speed is too fast, and risking the lives of prodigies to send them up is somewhat not cost-effective.

After all, prodigies are cultivated by their sects and possess sufficient Loyalty to their sects.

But for the pseudo-prodigies among the Heavenly Descended who are fast-tracked, aside from their strength, these people basically have no feelings for the sect.

In the event that the resources of the Justice Sect trigger a world war and it reaches an uncontrollable point, the cultivated Heavenly Descended will be the expendables in the war.

Everyone is guarding against the emergence of unexpected situations...

(End of this chapter)