Chapter 273: Alliance Crisis

Civil use?

Watching Lin Bai explain the efficacy of the Magpie Bridge to the crowd, Xu Longyun looked up at Lin Bai and sighed inwardly; her warning about the danger earlier had been in vain.

"Wonderful! Such a divine ability should be able to resolve the Justice Alliance's predicament of being unable to protect its territory; whoever dares to violate our borders shall be driven away immediately," Zhao Tulong laughed.

"Exactly. With the Magpie Bridge, we can strike whoever we want and run after snatching resources. By then, if the Alliance Leader uses the Love Arrow to capture more puppets, the annihilation of the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects will be just around the corner," Shen Kuang, also a radical, added. "By planting lovers in various places, the Magpie Bridge can bring our previous guerrilla tactics to their absolute limit."

"Alliance Leader, we must strike," Ma Changcheng said. "Ever since the Great Vehicle Realm experts besieged us, no one has been optimistic about the Justice Alliance's prospects. The Justice Alliance hasn't had new members join for many days. Now with the Magpie Bridge, the Justice Alliance can recruit new members again, and it will be much more convenient when collecting Patent Law fees..."

The emotions of all the Justice Alliance members were stirred up, and they clamored noisily about using the Magpie Bridge to go out and stir up trouble.

Unlike Xu Longyun, they had full confidence in Lin Bai.

What is civil use?

Such a powerful Skill should, of course, be used for war.

The more people tied to the Justice Alliance's warships, the safer they would be.

Listening to the crowd's arrogant language, Xu Longyun's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, and she couldn't help but rebuke: "Sect Leaders, have you ever thought that once you use the Magpie Bridge to stir up trouble, if the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects unite to annihilate the Justice Alliance, how will you respond? Do you expect the Alliance Leader to run around putting out fires alone to protect you all?"

One sentence.

It suppressed all the aggressive momentum for war.

Ge Feiyun glanced at Xu Longyun and protested in a low voice: "County Princess, with the Heavenly Descended here now, there are almost no secrets in the world. From the moment the Magpie Bridge appeared, it couldn't be hidden. Even if we use the Magpie Bridge for civil purposes, the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects will still come to attack us; they will not allow the Magpie Bridge to exist."

"..." Xu Longyun froze for a moment and subconsciously scanned the players in the meeting hall.

The players had been whispering, discussing the changes the Magpie Bridge brought to the world and the countermeasures of the consortium players.

Seeing Xu Longyun look over, 【Baiyin】 hurriedly explained: "County Princess, we have a sense of proportion. Confidential matters will not be spread outside; after all, we are also members of the Justice Alliance."

"However, we also believe that war should be the priority," 【Fengzi Nan】 laughed. "Transporting troops while ignoring distance can completely catch everyone off guard; war is fundamentally a competition of speed. Moreover, the Justice Alliance is already an enemy of the world; if we don't present a posture of fighting to the death, the situation will inevitably become increasingly difficult."

"Lao Feng is right; we must use the Magpie Bridge to force the Taiyi Kingdom to take our side," 【Huangye Lang】 said. "Instead of waiting for the situation to stabilize before going to negotiate with others."

"If they don't provide help in times of crisis, what do we need them for once we are stable?" 【Diyi Sword Immortal】 said. "Once we finish off the Seven Righteous Sects, the Alliance Leader could even become Emperor directly; who would still care about a tiny Taiyi Kingdom?"

The players' opinions were unanimous.

The consortium's strategy was already clear: drag the conflict between the Justice Alliance and the Seven Righteous Sects into the late game.

But by then, the Justice Alliance players would inevitably suffer; they did not have the financial resources to compete with the consortium, so they had to ensure the Justice Alliance's early-game advantage.

Letting the Justice Alliance strike out in the early stages to conquer more territory and sects was the most advantageous for them.

"You have no idea what you are talking about!" Xu Longyun interrupted the players and rebuked, "The Justice Alliance currently has no strength to become an enemy of the world..."

*Cough! *

Lin Bai coughed, interrupting the noisy crowd, and said: "Everyone's words have merit, but I believe that no matter the time, the Justice Alliance must not establish a hegemonic image. Since we have said that cultivation should enter the lives of the common people, we must walk among them.

If the Magpie Bridge is laid out as a network, it can make the circulation of goods more timely. At that time, merchants will no longer have to worry about goods being robbed by bandits during transport, and the freshness of the goods can also be guaranteed. The common people will not have to spend their whole lives in one corner; with money and leisure, they can travel and see the world. This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people, and we must do it.

The *Heavenly Dao Journal* says I promote the Law of Cultivation for my own selfish gain; we can use the Magpie Bridge to break their slander against us and let the world see who is truly the selfish and self-interested one.

The Magpie Bridge is not only for people's livelihoods; it can also be opened to cultivation sects to accelerate the rate of exchange between them. If we do this and the Seven Righteous Sects still want to cause destruction, not only will we not agree, but I fear the common people of the world will not agree either. Justice resides in the hearts of the people; at that time, when we use the Magpie Bridge to defend against enemies, no one will be able to say anything..."

"The Alliance Leader is wise," He Qin and the others said in unison.

"However, the Magpie Bridge cannot be abused. The Justice Alliance needs to operate, the Law needs to be promoted, and money is needed everywhere. We must formulate fees for using the Magpie Bridge. How much it costs to ferry people, how much to carry goods, and how much for cultivation practitioners must all be listed in advance. After all, the two ends of the Magpie Bridge can only operate if there are lovers; only by letting lovers taste the sweetness will people be more diligent in comprehending the Law of Cultivation.

Later, Xiaoyun and the Heavenly Descended will discuss how to collect fees. Xiaoyun, contact the Zhenguo Duke Mansion and have the Taiyi Kingdom send people to assist in supervising the use of the Magpie Bridge. This is an unprecedented opportunity; logistics and transportation are enough to make a country take off rapidly, and the Zhenguo Duke will not fail to see that," Lin Bai smiled and continued, "The Law of Cultivation is taken from the people and used for the people. The Justice Alliance and the Law must not be demonized."

"Yes." Lin Bai had made his decision, and Xu Longyun naturally would not oppose it again. Lin Bai disclosing the details of the Magpie Bridge's use first and rooting it among the people was not necessarily a bad strategy.

"Baiyin, Sect Leader He, you two calculate later how many lovers in the alliance are practicing the Law of Cultivation; the first batch of Bridge Guardians will be selected from within the alliance. The Magpie Bridge Guardians are highly likely to suffer assassination attempts from the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects; rashly using ordinary people to manage the Magpie Bridge is likely to cause panic." Lin Bai thought for a moment and looked at Xu Longyun again, "Xiaoyun, what method do you usually use to contact the Zhenguo Duke?"

"I usually don't contact him," Xu Longyun looked at Lin Bai and said, "Currently, the fastest method is still through the Heavenly Descended. However, I have the Linglong Bead; if I encounter danger, I can be teleported directly back to the Zhenguo Duke Mansion."

Lin Bai pondered for a moment and said: "Let's do this: leave the matter of the Magpie Bridge fees to the Heavenly Descended to formulate. You return to the Zhenguo Duke Mansion, and I will follow using the Magpie Bridge. The Magpie Bridge is of great importance; it will be more sincere if I negotiate with the Zhenguo Duke in person."

Xu Longyun was startled, gave Lin Bai a strange look, and nodded: "Okay!"

Lin Bai was just about to ask if anyone had anything else to add when, suddenly, a message popped up in his mind: 【Your eldest brother has suffered unprecedented heavy damage; please provide support in time; Reward: 100 Luck】

Lin Bai's expression changed. What the hell?

Another crisis?

Just at this moment.

A player named 【Dalong】 from outside the meeting hall burst in. Without greeting 【Baiyin】 and the others, he hurriedly said to Lin Bai: "Alliance Leader, it's a disaster! The Beggar Sect disciples left behind in Qian City and Jiamu City were attacked by people from the Poison Sect and the Blood Sect. All the Beggar Sect disciples were wiped out in an instant; anyone who logs on will be killed. We have completely lost contact with Qian City and Jiamu City, and the *Justice Weekly*'s Color Printer has also fallen into their hands..."

The situation was urgent.

【Dalong】 had unconsciously used player-exclusive vocabulary like "logs on," but with the Beggar Sect headquarters destroyed, no one cared about one or two small errors in his speech.

The meeting hall instantly exploded into chaos.

"Too bullying."

"How dare they?"

"Alliance Leader, send troops. If we don't hurt them, the Justice Alliance will always be in a passive state."

The crowd was indignant.

【Baiyin】 and several other players also changed their expressions.

"Finally, an NPC has made a move against players," 【Baiyin】 said worriedly. "Once this precedent is set, the lives of all Justice Alliance players will not be easy."

"Yeah, the players' levels are too low; even if they launch a sneak attack, we can't defend against it," 【Fengzi Nan】 said. "If they are determined to strike us, Shopkeeper Lin won't be able to protect us at all."

"I didn't expect this day to come so soon," 【Longxi】 said. "The people of the Demonic Five Sects have finally wised up. As long as they are determined to eliminate the Justice Alliance players, they won't be able to receive advertisements or level up. The players around Shopkeeper Lin will fall apart, and without anyone to promote *Justice Weekly* and *Heavenly Dao Review*, there will be no external mouthpiece, and the Justice Alliance will be crippled."

"The Magpie Bridge came at just the right time," 【Kugua Teng】 secretly glanced at Lin Bai and said. "This time, Shopkeeper Lin will have to fight whether he wants to or not. NPCs don't actually lose much by killing players, but once they start assassinations against He Qin and the others, NPCs are one less for every one that dies. I'm afraid the Justice Alliance will fall apart by then. There are indeed smart people among the NPCs. It's worthy of being the game that pursues reality the most; NPCs will have infighting and won't just watch Lin Bai dominate alone."

"I wonder how the consortium will respond? If the Justice Alliance is gone, it will be even harder for players to develop..."

……

What the players could think of, He Qin and the others could naturally think of as well.

With the Poison Sect and Blood Sect taking action against the Heavenly Descended of the Justice Alliance, the next turn would likely be theirs.

It didn't matter if the Heavenly Descended died once or twice, but they only had one life!

The Justice Alliance's defense of Zhen City was almost zero; once the people from the Seven Righteous Sects and Demonic Five Sects were determined to infiltrate, let alone the Great Vehicle Realm, even a Spirit Transformation Realm expert could kill them as easily as chopping melons and vegetables...

Panic spread in an instant, and everyone in the council chamber looked at Lin Bai, waiting for him to make the decision.

……

Lin Bai heard the players' private messages and couldn't help but fall into silence.

No wonder the system gave such a prompt; the Poison Sect and Blood Sect chose to take action against the players and adopted the method of corpse-camping, which could completely kill the players until they dared not log in.

To continue playing the game, the players only had one choice left: leave the Beggar Sect and join other sects.

If the Beggar Sect was gone, his big brother's career would naturally be gone too.

Moreover, this matter affected more than just the Beggar Sect in Qian City; if not handled well, the other sects would follow suit, and the players in Zhen City wouldn't be able to hold on either.

He didn't expect that even after tormenting Wuwang Chanshi and Zhou Zu like that, he still couldn't scare them; it seemed his methods were still too merciful...

But for him to go and shake the Great Vehicle Realm head-on, he lacked the strength!

He needed a Void Refinement Realm expert as a ladder to be able to use the Golden Card to seal a Great Vehicle Realm expert...

"Alliance Leader, the Poison Sect and Blood Sect are bullying us too much; please make a decision soon." Ma Changcheng's voice woke Lin Bai up.

In the council chamber, more than half of the surrendered natives were in a state of anxiety, especially the sect leaders who joined later, such as those from Fengling Temple and Tianlong Sword Sect; they had just joined the Justice Alliance and hadn't tasted any benefits yet when they encountered a life-and-death crisis, each of them looking as gray-faced as if their own fathers had died.

"Proceed according to the original plan." Lin Bai pondered for a moment, looked around at everyone, and said, "Select those who are in love and prepare the Magpie Bridge. Huangye Lang, your 'Heavenly Dao Review' editorial department will temporarily take on the 'Justice Weekly' as well; make the matter of the Magpie Bridge widely known and publicize it. By the way, remember to state clearly in the publication that the Poison Sect and Blood Sect attacked without declaring war, bullied the small with the big, and took action against my Beggar Sect disciples; the Magpie Bridge will be permanently disabled for them."

"Yes." 【Huangye Lang】 said.

"Alliance Leader, are we just going to warn them so ineffectively?" Xin Shang asked.

"Otherwise what? It took us seven full days to travel from the Chaoyuan Sword Sect to Zhen City, and another seven days to return to Qian City; the opportunity would have long passed." Lin Bai glanced at him and said coldly, "Although the Justice Alliance is kind to others, it is not something anyone can bully. First, find those who are in love and send them to various places secretly, then set up the Magpie Bridge; we can advance to attack and retreat to defend, and not a single one will be able to escape."

Lin Bai's calmness infected everyone, and the noisy council chamber returned to peace once again.

"Get the Justice Alliance's intelligence department moving; do not let any movements of the Seven Righteous Sects and Demonic Five Sects go unnoticed." Lin Bai continued to instruct, "We cannot take care of the outer towns for the time being; Zhen City is now our base camp and cannot be lost."

"Yes." Everyone replied in unison.

Lin Bai looked at Wan Qifeng of the Spirit Tool Pavilion and Sun Tong of the Lianbao Pavilion, and tossed the Blacksmith Six-Piece Set in front of them.

Wan Qifeng and Sun Tong were confused.

"Two sect leaders, using the Blacksmith Six-Piece Set together can increase the success rate of weapon refinement by sixty percent. You two should do nothing for these few days and focus entirely on refining weapons within Zhen City, striving to upgrade the famous Dharma Treasures within the Justice Alliance by several levels. The Poison Sect and Blood Sect have set a good precedent, and I fear others will imitate them in the future; since it is difficult to improve the strength of the alliance members, we shall borrow external forces."

Increase the success rate of weapon refinement by sixty percent?

Lin Bai's introduction of the Blacksmith Six-Piece Set gave Wan Qifeng and the other a shock; at their level, an increase of sixty percent was not much different from an increase of ninety percent.

To use such a Divine Artifact to destroy other people's Dharma Treasures on the battlefield was simply a waste of heaven's gifts!

However.

Now was not the time to complain about Lin Bai, so Wan Qifeng and Sun Tong cupped their hands simultaneously: "Subordinates accept the order."

After thinking for a moment.

Lin Bai tossed out the Eight Trigrams Alchemy Furnace rewarded by the system and looked at Ma Changcheng of Medicine King Valley: "Sect Leader Ma, I am not very proficient in the art of pills. This Alchemy Furnace can only improve the quality of pills by ten percent; it is not as good as the Blacksmith Six-Piece Set, so you can just make do with it for now!"

Gulp!

Ma Changcheng swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his gaze toward the Bagua Furnace full of heat; it wasn't increasing the success rate by ten percent, but increasing the quality by ten percent!

Such a Divine Artifact, how could you look down on it?

Do you even understand Pill Refinement!

Ma Changcheng suppressed the excitement in his heart and looked at Lin Bai: "Alliance Leader, this subordinate will definitely do his utmost these days to refine more and better pills."

"To actually give props to NPCs instead of players, Shopkeeper Lin is really something." 【Baiyin】 watched the several Divine Artifacts Lin Bai tossed out, drooling with envy.

"Who told the players not to be capable!" 【Madman】 said, "Shopkeeper Lin has quite a few good things in his hands; we must hurry up our cultivation and cannot let the natives snatch all the props!"

【Huangye Lang】 swallowed a mouthful of saliva and looked at Lin Bai, wanting to speak but hesitating; back then, Lin Bai promised him a Transformation Pill as a reward after he managed the 'Heavenly Dao Review' well, but it hadn't been fulfilled yet!

He was thinking about whether to ask Lin Bai for it in a while.

"Alliance Leader, what about Lao Mi and the others?" 【Baiyin】 asked.

"If they can endure it, let them wait for me in your world for a few days. If they cannot, let them surrender to the Blood Sect and Poison Sect." Lin Bai said, "However, once they surrender to the Poison Sect and Blood Sect, they cannot return empty-handed; each person must bring back something from other sects. The Beggar Sect does not need trash."

"Yes." 【Baiyin】 replied, and immediately turned to send a private message to the players beside him: "Lao Mi and the others are finished. Now, all NPCs know that players can pass information to each other; even if they really go to defect to the Poison Sect and Blood Sect, they will not be trusted, and nine times out of ten, they will be killed. Shopkeeper Lin will have the Magpie Bridge ready in at least ten days; no one can endure not logging in for ten days..."

Lin Bai heard 【Baiyin】's private message, but he had no way to help, even though 【Lao Mi】 represented Luck.

But he couldn't build the Magpie Bridge over there, and even if he wanted to save 【Lao Mi】, he couldn't do it; he couldn't just abandon the mess in Zhen City and go to challenge the Poison and Blood Sects with a great fanfare!

If 【Lao Mi】 really couldn't hold on, he might have to change his big brother; he hoped the Chief Supporting Role System had a project for changing big brothers!

It's just that he didn't know if the accumulated Luck would still be there once he changed his big brother?

"Master, what about the cooking competition? Are we still holding it?" Xu Longyun approached Lin Bai and asked in a low voice.

"Hold it, the cooking competition cannot be abandoned halfway." Lin Bai looked at Xu Longyun and said affirmatively.

"Are we still going back to the Zhenguo Duke Mansion?" Xu Longyun asked again, her face feeling slightly hot when she said this.

Lin Bai going to the Zhenguo Duke Mansion gave her a strange feeling of bringing a son-in-law home.

"Of course we are going. The Poison Sect and Blood Sect are just small matters; the Magpie Bridge is the future of the Justice Alliance, and the sooner it is laid, the better." Lin Bai's eyes lit up and he said.

He suddenly thought of a way to save 【Lao Mi】—deterrence.

The Zhenguo Duke Mansion was tens of thousands of miles away from Zhen City; if such a large and long Magpie Bridge were laid over there, it might be able to scare away the Blood and Poison Sects in Qian City, and in that way, the Beggar Sect players like 【Lao Mi】 waiting in Qian City would naturally be able to log in and resume normal activities.

(End of this chapter)