Chapter 288: A Complete and Total Victory

"Do not be deluded by him. If we do not join forces, we will eventually be picked off one by one. What does it matter if you join the Justice Alliance? The sect's main army will arrive in a few days; how will you conduct yourselves then?" Qiu Liang was frantic, yet he still retained a shred of reason, attempting to win over allies at the final moment.

Zuo Lan and Cen Qing's eyes flickered, and they dared not look at Qiu Liang. They hadn't helped Wen Ba just now, and now that they had finally found a glimmer of survival, did they look like fools who would rebel with him again?

"Elder Qiu, you are wrong. It cannot be denied that I, Lin, sometimes act a bit excessively, but that is only toward enemies. I have never treated those who join the Alliance poorly; in fact, they rarely even go to the battlefield." Lin Bai looked up at the sky, where Wen Ba's 'Moon Chase' had already reached its end and was entangled with Ye Song and the other two. He casually tossed a rope over to lend them a hand, then said to Qiu Liang, "Secondly, times change. Do you think that after this battle, the Seven Righteous Sects or the Demonic Five Sects will still march against the Justice Alliance as scheduled?"

"..." Looking at the clearly wavering Zuo Lan and Cen Qing, Qiu Liang held his breath in his chest. He looked around; his own Void Refinement Realm experts were all bound in the air by ropes, having long since laid flat and accepted their fate. Although Wen Ba was still struggling, facing the siege of three Great Vehicle Realm experts, his fall was only a matter of time. Of the former Ten Sects Allied Army, some had surrendered and some had died; now, he was the only one left opposing Lin Bai.

Not even half an hour had passed!

All those plans—the surprise attack on the little white fox, taking her hostage, exchanging for the Transformation Pill formula—had all become a joke the moment they encountered Lin Bai...

Looking at the eager-to-try Lin Bai and then at the battered Wen Ba in the sky, Qiu Liang let out a long sigh and closed his eyes: "Come, do not torture this old man anymore. Turn me into a Puppet! Alliance Leader Lin, I only ask one thing: after I am turned into a Puppet, please allow me to retain my consciousness..."

Lin Bai was speechless.

Not even putting up a fight?

Just lying flat like that?

War God System, you saw that, right? It's not that I don't want to fight; it's just that the enemy is too pathetic and doesn't give me a chance!

To subdue the enemy without fighting—I must have reached the highest realm of warfare!

Looking at the despairing Qiu Liang, Lin Bai flicked out a Silver Card.

A silver light enveloped Qiu Liang, and he was easily taken into the card without the slightest resistance—even more easily than when he had subdued Xiao Yu before.

Releasing Qiu Liang again, Lin Bai now possessed the power of two Great Vehicle Realm experts.

When he turned to look at Zuo Lan and Cen Qing again, the two immediately plastered smiles on their faces, cupped their hands, and said, "Zuo Lan (Cen Qing) is willing to join the Justice Alliance and be at the Alliance Leader's beck and call."

What is dignity?

Is dignity really more important than preserving one's freedom and life?

"Then why aren't you going up to help hack at Wen Ba!" Lin Bai smiled at them and pointed toward the sky.

The two were jolted, flying upward simultaneously, fearing that Ye Song and Xiao Yu would misunderstand. As they flew, they shouted, "Brother Ye, we have come to assist you."

"Wen Ba, die!"

Watching several Great Vehicle Realm experts besiege Wen Ba, Lin Bai remembered the ongoing War God System mission and, bringing his two Puppets along, joined the dogpile without hesitation.

Is participation what matters most?

Who says you can't demonstrate the bravery of a War God while dogpiling?

Who decreed that a War God must constantly put himself in danger...

They hadn't even really fought yet, and the enemies had all become his own people!

Is this the power of the Fazhe Zhidao?

Lin Bai's unprecedented style of combat left the one hundred thousand Zhenbei Army unable to wrap their heads around it. Recalling their previous indignation, everyone felt deeply ashamed.

Fine!

Their worries were superfluous; no, they themselves were superfluous.

Almost everyone was secretly complaining to themselves: if you were this badass, you should have said so earlier! If you had said so earlier, they wouldn't have had to worry, the relationship wouldn't have become so stiff, and there would have been no need to mobilize the masses to evacuate the people of Zhen City...

Seeing that the overall situation was settled, He Qin and the others discussed the content of the next issue of *Justice Weekly* with the players.

"Should we report it truthfully?" Ma Changcheng asked.

"Of course we report it truthfully. Alliance Leader Lin defeated the Ten Sects Allied Army single-handedly in under half an hour—is there anything that could better spread the prestige of our Justice Alliance?" 【Baiyin】 said.

"The rest is fine, but shouldn't we slightly beautify the Alliance Leader's 'Binding Immortal'? If those binding methods get out, I fear it might damage the Alliance Leader's reputation," He Qin said.

"Shopkeeper Lin isn't afraid, so why should we be?" 【Baiyin】 argued, "We must publicize it exactly like this. Only then will those guys from the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects who care about their image not dare to easily stir up trouble, and only then can we settle down and develop..."

The victory in the war solidified the status of the Beggar Sect.

But the one thousand Cultivators who died on the cooking competition stage earlier had sounded an alarm for the players, making them realize they had to improve their own strength.

Otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to withstand a sneak attack.

Now that the Justice Alliance had Great Vehicle Realm experts joining, it meant they had access to more profound techniques to cultivate.

Therefore, the Justice Alliance players hoped for stability more than ever, and the prerequisite for stability was deterrence. They didn't mind making Shopkeeper Lin's new Skill, 'Binding Immortal', sound even more lewd...

"Our worries were completely unnecessary. Lin Bai is the Game Company's favorite son; the Seven Righteous Sects couldn't possibly wipe him out, and neither could we," 【Haiqunzhima】 communicated with colleagues via bullet comments.

"The Fazhe Zhidao is too unreasonable," 【Yuanjianzhiying】 said. "Following the current trend, not only can the Seven Righteous Sects do nothing to Lin Bai, but even the players who have grown up won't be able to do anything to him."

"Zhaofeng, a binding technique that ignores distance, the ability to escape at any time via the Magpie Bridge, carrying Great Vehicle Realm Puppet bodyguards, and a map-wide attack that can kill a group with one shout—to what extent must a player grow to be able to take him down?" 【Shanzhanzhilang】 said.

"What's even more terrifying is that Lin Bai is growing at every moment. You never know what kind of Fazhe he will comprehend next!" 【Minjiezhibao】 said.

"Why must we insist on being enemies with Lin Bai? Perhaps the Game Company created Lin Bai for the purpose of pushing the plot and maintaining order in the game world," 【Zhenshanzhihu】 said. "With a powerful NPC like Lin Bai around, even the most chaotic players wouldn't dare to act recklessly, right!"

"Unless it's a plot-mandated death, Lin Bai absolutely cannot die," 【Jiaoshizhigun】 said.

"Stop plotting against Lin Bai. Let's watch Lin Bai's strategy toward the Seven Righteous Sects and develop in secret while things are stable!" 【Yuanjianzhiying】 said. "What the Group needs to do is establish our own influence in this world; it doesn't necessarily have to be through war. What we excel at is economics. Having the industries in the game feed back into reality is what we should be doing next."

"Only Fazhe can counter Fazhe. While letting the Group's players learn Skills, we should set aside some time to study the Justice Sect's Fazhe Zhidao," 【Zhenshanzhihu】 said. "For the sake of balance, the game officials won't let Lin Bai and his Justice Alliance dominate alone."

"Boss Ying, do you think the Heavenly Dao Sect will continue to fight Lin Bai?" 【Huashuideyu】 suddenly asked.

"Before they find a way to crack Lin Bai's Fazhe, the offensives of the Seven Righteous Sects and the Demonic Five Sects will likely come to a halt," 【Yuanjianzhiying】 said. "This is our chance to rise. Old Ma, once the situation stabilizes, find a way to connect with Lin Bai. We need to hedge our bets..."

The Blood Sect and Poison Sect, who were on their way to the Capital of the Taiyi Kingdom, slammed on the brakes in time.

Ancestor Chilian and Song Yaoqing looked at each other, their faces looking extremely ugly.

They had launched a surprise attack on the Beggar Sect headquarters and forced the Justice Alliance into a desperate situation, which had made them smug, thinking Lin Bai was nothing special.

But in the blink of an eye, they had been slapped in the face.

In less than half an hour, the ten-sect allied army, with seven Great Vehicle Realm experts—not a single person or beast had escaped...

Is Lin Bai simply playing the pig to eat the tiger?

One must know.

Lin Bai previously only displayed the cultivation of the Spirit Transformation Realm; even if he deceived Wuwang and Zhou Zu, he relied not on strength, but on trickery. And the highest cultivation within the so-called Zhenbei Army is merely the Void Refinement Realm.

Crossing realms is like a natural chasm; shouldn't the normal outcome be seven Great Vehicle Realm cultivators ruthlessly crushing the so-called Justice Alliance?

The situation reversed in an instant; no matter how you look at it, it is not normal!

"Trash," Ancestor Chilian couldn't help but curse, "A bunch of old fogies who have lived for thousands of years combined, easily manipulated by a mere brat. It's shameful; I am ashamed to be associated with them..."

"Stop cursing, Brother Chilian, let's think about what we should do!" Song Yaoqing glanced at him and shook his head, saying, "They were forced by the sect. We, however, took the initiative to provoke the Justice Alliance and even uprooted Lin Bai's branch. Lin Bai should hate us the most!"

"..." Ancestor Chilian fell silent. He raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, his emotions somewhat out of control, "You tell me what we should do? A group of Great Vehicle Realm cultivators couldn't beat Lin Bai. Now Lin Bai has Great Vehicle Realm Puppets, his own cultivation has reached the Great Vehicle Realm, and he has a few useless fellows helping him. His Fazhe Zhidao is also elusive. If the two of us encounter the Justice Alliance, we are just serving ourselves up on a platter. We have offended Lin Bai even more; we won't even have a chance to surrender. You tell me, what should we do?"

"How about we return to the sect!" Song Yaoqing gritted his teeth, "The Justice Alliance has already gained momentum; the situation is no longer something we can handle."

Ancestor Chilian was just about to nod.

Suddenly.

The player acting as the messenger arrived before the two of them, gave them a look of sympathy, and then said, "Two ancestors, news has come from the sect saying that we must intercept all cultivators coming out of the Taiyi Kingdom capital. Do not let them spread out, saying that if the Magpie Bridge is allowed to spread, the Justice Alliance will truly become impossible to deal with."

"..." Ancestor Chilian.

"..." Song Yaoqing.

The two looked at each other.

Ancestor Chilian sneered: "This is clearly forcing us onto a dead end. The Justice Alliance has nearly ten thousand people, and there are at least a thousand pairs of lovers. The Taiyi Kingdom capital leads in all directions, and the Taiyi Kingdom is assisting the Justice Alliance; they can send people to confuse our vision at will. With just these few dozen of us, how could we possibly stop so many people?"

Song Yaoqing sighed dejectedly: "We have been treated as abandoned pawns."

Ancestor Chilian asked the player: "Did the sect say how to deal with Lin Bai next?"

The player shook his head.

Ancestor Chilian laughed out of extreme anger: "Sure enough, that bunch of idiots doesn't know what to do either! Lin Bai is a hedgehog, and those guys in the sect are just a bunch of dogs; they are stronger than Lin Bai in name, yet not one of them can deal with him."

Song Yaoqing glanced at Ancestor Chilian and said, "Brother Chilian, that Disciple of yours looks quite clever; why not summon him to ask for a plan."

Ancestor Chilian glared at him and said, "If I had the ability to summon a Heavenly Descended at any time, I wouldn't be in such a dilemma here."

Offline.

【Gugao Laoren】, who is now 【Yigaorendan】, was watching the Beggar Sect's livestream, his brows tightly furrowed, with no intention of logging on at all.

He looked at Wen Ba, who was sealed by a card, suddenly sighed, and shook his head: "Unsolvable! Such a BUG that destroys game balance is definitely not a product of the official developers. However, can the game officials really sit still and watch him wreak havoc on the game world? It's not normal, too not normal..."

After thinking quietly for a moment, 【Gugao Laoren】 sighed again and said: "Lao Mi, oh Lao Mi, you've escaped another disaster. What virtue or ability do you have to be so cared for by Lin Bai! A guy who got lucky, I don't believe that with my wisdom, I still can't take you down?"

Suddenly.

【Gugao Laoren】 froze and muttered: "Lao Mi... Big Brother? Could it be that Lao Mi has some special significance to Lin Bai? Lao Mi... Flaw... Law... Law..."

【Gugao Laoren】's eyes lit up. He hurriedly logged on, ran excitedly to Ancestor Chilian, and said: "Master, I've figured it out. To deal with Lin Bai, we must start with his Fazhe Zhidao."

Ancestor Chilian looked at his disciple: "Nonsense, of course I know we need to start with the Law, but besides him, who else in the world understands the Law?"

"Master, the world may not understand it, but it can be destroyed," 【Yigaorendan】 said. "The reason Lin Bai is strong is that he relies on his Fazhe Zhidao. If we follow along and practice the Law, we are led by his rhythm and always fall behind him. But what if we destroy his Fazhe Zhidao at the root!"

"He creates Flaws, we create perfection; he advocates the Love Dao, we break up couples; he wants to hold a cooking competition, we ruin his cooking skills... Whatever he advocates, we oppose. Over time, the Law will lose the soil it needs to survive. Either Lin Bai's cultivation will make no further progress, or his cultivation will regress significantly. Either way, it is beneficial to us..."

Song Yaoqing said: "What's the use of saying all this? We have been arranged by the sect to intercept lovers outside the Taiyi Kingdom capital to prevent the Magpie Bridge from spreading. Lin Bai can kill his way to us at any moment; where would we have the opportunity to ruin his Fazhe Zhidao? According to what you said, ruining his Law of Cultivation is not something the two of us can accomplish."

"Master, pointlessly confronting Lin Bai is equivalent to giving Lin Bai helpers," 【Yigaorendan】 laughed. "Tell my method to the sect, and we will withdraw immediately. The people in the sect are not stupid; they will understand that there is no benefit in keeping us here. Dealing with Lin Bai is not a one-day task. We are already powerless to stop the spread of the Magpie Bridge; it would be better to devote ourselves entirely to countering Lin Bai's Fazhe Zhidao."

The player acting as the messenger on the side looked at 【Yigaorendan】 in astonishment and silently transmitted the information out.

【... Personally participated in battle (Completed); Reward: Aptitude 30 (Distributed)】

【... A natural villain; next, do something that attracts worldwide attention, making more people in the world tremble at the mention of your name (Completed); Reward: Near-Death Counter-Kill (Distributed)】

【You have completed a small step as a villain; please continue to advance on the path of the villain and do a greater and more magnificent feat to shock the world; Reward: Loyalty (You can see the loyalty of your subordinates)】

【... Fight for a way to survive for yourself (Completed); Reward: Flash (Distributed)】

The moment Wen Ba was sealed into the card.

Ding, ding, ding.

Several dialogue boxes popped up in Lin Bai's mind.

He had reaped three powerful rewards.

Having obtained the long-awaited Flash meant that he and his Justice Alliance had finally walked out of the current predicament; his bravery had finally intimidated the enemy, and he had gained a firm foothold in this world.

It hasn't been easy!

Lin Bai sighed with emotion and looked around at the several Great Vehicle Realm cultivators with dejected expressions, smiling slightly: "Why are you crying with long faces? Joining the Justice Alliance is your honor and a new starting point in your lives; you should be happy."

"Now, the Justice Alliance has won a victory, and with new members joining, the alliance is becoming even more powerful. This Alliance Leader is happy in his heart, so I will take this opportunity to show off my skills at the unfinished cooking competition, letting the world realize the power of the Way of Cooking. It will also bring the cooking competition to a perfect conclusion..."

Recommending a book: Chang Feng's "Knife Tip"

Zhou Sen, an ordinary patrol officer at the Nangang Police Station of the Manchukuo Harbin Police Department, wakes up one day to find his life suddenly becoming treacherous. Screening, suspicion, a new identity, a new mission, maneuvering between the Japanese and puppet military, police, and special agencies, overcoming difficulties and obstacles, completing one incredible task after another, and growing into a communist revolutionary fighter with firm Faith!

He is a dancer on the tip of a knife! And even more so, a soul-snatching King of Hell.

(End of this chapter)