Chapter 434: One Slash 999

Unlike the new generation of players who were suppressed by Lin Bai and never got to enjoy the game from start to finish, the old generation of Celestial players once slaughtered an entire world.

They possessed rich gaming experience. Knowing full well that the world below was filled with living people, they did not hold back when they struck.

Killing, destroying cities, breaking into sects, seizing resources...

After all, compared to killing Lin Bai, destroying a world was much easier, and it could likewise increase Contribution Points.

The more than thirty Disciples of Lin Bai in the lower realm had been granted the Phoenix Seeks Phoenix, but this Skill was helpless when facing Celestials who had no gender.

Although they possessed Divinity, the time was too short; even with the *Justice Weekly* helping to promote them, their accumulation of Faith was still insufficient, and their weak Divinity could only protect themselves; they could not stop the siege of swarming Celestials.

Moreover, because of the rules of the Xianxia World, the levels of the Celestials exceeded the world's limits; once they took action, it was bound to be accompanied by Heavenly Tribulation.

Sheets upon sheets of lightning fell; the Celestials were thick-skinned and could endure for a long time in the Heavenly Tribulation, but the ordinary populace and Cultivators could not withstand it!

Most crucially, the number of Celestials was too high.

Realizing they could not stop the Celestials and not wanting to be caught in the Heavenly Tribulation for over eighty days, all the Disciples escaped to the Real World via the Magpie Bridge before the Heavenly Tribulation descended.

Lin Bai's split soul took the initiative to stay behind.

When the Celestials surged down with the Heavenly Tribulation, the split soul's domain spread out, and the Earth-Deficiency Technique swallowed the Spiritual Power of the Celestials within the lightning like a whale, protecting dozens of towns by its own strength.

However, the Celestials could use the newly added teleportation arrays within the cities; in the haste, the split soul was constrained by the Heavenly Tribulation and could not possibly protect the entire world.

Some split souls that Lin Bai could not control in time were caught off guard and also fell under the Heavenly Tribulation.

In less than half an hour, the Xianxia World had been thoroughly washed over by the Heavenly Tribulation, and the heads Lin Bai had scattered across various places were destroyed in countless numbers.

What the players had once only imagined but never done was easily accomplished by the Celestials.

There were countless casualties among the people, and the sound of wailing could be heard everywhere.

Meng Tianwang Dian.

Lin Bai's face was as dark as water.

The Game Company had not started from the Real World, but instead turned the Celestials back into players; this was something he truly had not expected.

All his hard work had been destroyed overnight.

It was fortunate that he had farmed quite a few quests beforehand, otherwise, with the Celestials causing such a mess and the world being destroyed, he wouldn't be able to get any rewards at all.

Meng Tian Wang and the others had already explained the situation to Lin Bai.

Everyone looked at the livid Alliance Leader, and one by one, they remained silent.

The gods of the Shenmo Dalu were likewise in a heavy mood.

Except for the Earth Goddess and the Lord of the Abyss, the other gods relied on Faith Power; the sudden slaughter targeting civilians was enough to cause their Divinity to weaken significantly, and whenever they encountered similar events, they were incomparably glad that Lin Bai had sealed them into cards, locking their peak strength.

But now was not the time to be glad; no one could calmly watch the world they once protected be destroyed.

Xu Longyun was streaming with tears, somewhat at a loss: "Husband, the subjects of the Taiyi Kingdom, my father and the others..."

"I protected a batch, and sent a batch to the Real World via the Magpie Bridge; your father is in the capital of the Taiyi Kingdom, he should be safe." Lin Bai comforted Xu Longyun, paused for a moment, and said, "As for those who died, once the threat of the Celestials is resolved, I will resurrect them using Butterfly Transformation..."

Butterfly Transformation?

Xu Longyun's expression became increasingly bitter.

Butterfly Transformation could save Cultivators; they understood cultivation, and if placed in a location with dense Spirit Qi, they could stabilize their demon bodies and undergo Form Manifestation again.

But ordinary people had never come into contact with cultivation; a butterfly's life is limited, and once turned into a butterfly, how many days could they live?

Moreover, there were those innocent children; they had no lovers, I fear they wouldn't even have the chance for Butterfly Transformation...

But she also knew that in the current situation, Butterfly Transformation was the only method that could remedy this!

The situation had clearly stabilized, yet who could have imagined that the Game Company would be so shameless as to directly restore the player status of the Celestials!

"Knowing they were all ordinary people, they still laid hands on them." Xu Longyun's eyes turned red, her teeth gritted, "The Celestials are too hateful, every single Celestial deserves to die; Husband, you cannot spare them."

Meng Tian Wang and the others were sandwiched among the crowd, hanging their heads, not daring to look directly at the angry people.

In all fairness.

What the Celestials did this time was truly excessive.

But this matter was completely unavoidable; as long as a portion of the Celestials took action, the rest could not possibly negotiate peacefully with Lin Bai.

It didn't even require the Celestials to act first; if the Game Company arranged for people to stir up the rhythm, the situation would be uncontrollable. The Game Company could delete and alter people's memories, planting anti-Lin Bai concepts into their thoughts; it couldn't be easier.

Lin Bai scanned all the gods released from the cards and said in a deep voice: "The Xianxia World is full of Heavenly Tribulations everywhere; you cannot withstand them. Return to the Gods and Demons World to clear out the Celestials. Do not hold back; kill as many as you can. I will arrange for split souls and Disciples to assist you..."

"Yes, Alliance Leader." The gods replied.

"Go, all of you!" Lin Bai waved his hand, and the gods stepped onto the Magpie Bridge, returning to the Shenmo Dalu.

In the blink of an eye.

Meng Tianwang Dian was left with only Lin Bai, his women, and the Nine Heavenly Kings.

"Alliance Leader, can you return the Jade Ruyi to us?" Meng Tian Wang asked tentatively, "We also want to contribute to this disaster."

During these days, they hadn't had the opportunity to kill players or seize Divine Artifacts; instead, they had relied on their high levels to practice some ordinary Skills, but these Skills of theirs could not play much of a role in this catastrophe.

"I don't need you; just notify me in time if the Game Company makes any moves." Lin Bai glanced at them and said calmly. The Game Company could clear the memories of Celestial players; Meng Tian Wang and the others could defect at any time. One accident was enough; he did not hope for a second.

Lin Bai took out the replicated Jade Ruyi and handed it to Xu Longyun, then handed the Holy Sword to Jiang Qingqin, and the Scepter to the little white fox, instructing: "The catastrophe came too suddenly; I am afraid there might be some accident where I cannot look after you. Take these Law Sacred Artifacts for self-defense..."

"Mm." The women nodded.

Lin Bai then respectively granted them the Magpie Bridge, the Wedding Domain, and the Earth-Deficiency Technique.

The three Skills could be used for both offense and defense.

Moreover, the Earth-Deficiency Technique could suppress the vast majority of Celestials and continuously strengthen oneself; theoretically, even if the three were separated from him, they would be able to protect themselves relying on these items and Skills.

The Xianxia World became a Lightning Cage.

The Heavenly Tribulations triggered by the Celestials were comparable in scale to the time the Shengji Sect trapped Lin Bai, and they were blooming almost everywhere.

Even Lin Bai's true body was unwilling to enter the Real World; his current strength had long since ceased to fear Heavenly Tribulation.

But once caught in the lightning tribulation, one must hold out for eighty-one days.

He cannot afford the time.

The Celestials cannot afford it either, but they can rely on resurrection to return to the Immortal World.

The Celestials whose Spiritual Power was drained by the Earth-Deficiency Technique of the avatar, and who died in the lightning tribulation, were quickly resurrected from the Mother Body in the Immortal World.

They checked the equipment snatched from the players one by one, beaming with joy.

Unlike in the Real World, where a new generation of players loses everything on their body upon death, the Game Company has completely abandoned all shame; after Celestial players die, they only lose levels, not equipment.

These players who obtained the equipment looked at their own rankings and Contribution Points, then excitedly turned around and rushed back into the teleportation array to go cause destruction in the relatively safer Shenmo Dalu...

However, Lin Bai's avatar was held back within the lightning tribulation.

Lin Bai could indeed choose to abandon the avatar, but once he gave it up, not a single one of the commoners he had worked so hard to protect would survive.

Lin Bai did not have deep feelings for the people of the Xianxia World, but he would not watch them die either.

Fortunately, the Spiritual Power that the Earth-Deficiency Technique absorbed from the Celestials was all fused into the avatar's body, causing the avatar's realm to be instantly piled high; coupled with the special domain of the divinity, it was not afraid of the heavenly lightning striking from above and was enough to help them hold out for eighty-one days.

Moreover, after the Celestials were wiped out, Feng Qiu Huang could protect the men who survived under the lightning tribulation, and the avatar would only need to protect the women, so it would not consume too much of Lin Bai's focus...

With the War God Body stationed in the Real World, Lin Bai naturally knew the movements of the real-world players and also knew their intentions.

However, at this time, the entry of real-world players into the game world was just adding to the chaos.

Their levels were too low; after entering the game, even if they signed in and obtained one or two Divine Artifacts, they would eventually benefit the Celestials and would not be of any help to the war situation.

Furthermore, who knows what they would do after entering the game?

The War God Body immediately issued a statement through the game forum and "Justice Weekly," strictly forbidding any players from entering the game world, otherwise they would be pulled into the Justice Alliance's permanent blacklist.

The statement only deterred the players for a moment before it became ineffective.

Because the Game Company immediately followed up by releasing a new game update: "Are you tired of leveling up at a snail's pace? The Game Company is complying with public opinion; log in and receive a Divine Artifact, one slash 999, one slash 999..."

Seeing this announcement, Lin Bai knew that the players could no longer be held back.

From the initial creation of a realistic game, to logging in and receiving benefits, and now to this sense of a trashy browser game, the Game Company had completely lost all shame and was going all out to turn all his efforts into bubbles...

"Master, what should we do?" Tu Yan looked at the new announcement from the Game Company and the boiling game forum, feeling lost and bewildered.

"Ignore them. Everyone enter the game, kill whoever you encounter, and use every means to improve yourselves." The War God Body was expressionless as he bestowed the Earth-Deficiency Technique upon everyone. "One slash 999 again; as long as they still can't beat you, absorb all their Spiritual Power into yourselves, and let all the players become your nutrients. As long as your strength is high enough, they will have no chance to land that slash..."

Lin Bai was right.

The Xianxia World was filled with lightning everywhere; players would die the moment they entered, so they certainly could not land the first slash.

And so.

A large number of players poured into the Shenmo Dalu all at once and, just like the Celestials, began a frenzied slaughter.

The players hated the Celestials, but their levels were too low to be the Celestials' match, so they had no choice but to aim their targets at the commoners who were inferior to them, first raising their own levels.

Once they started this, the instantly soaring levels stimulated their hormones, and they could no longer stop themselves.

Of course.

The crazy players were still in the minority; most people in the Real World watched the two worlds that looked like hell through live streams and restrained their desires, not daring to enter the game at all. They were terrified by the madness of the Game Company.

Many people on the game forum denounced the inhumanity of the Game Company and called for the players who had entered the game to quit, leaving the battlefield to Lin Bai and not falling into the Game Company's trap, but it had little effect...

And so.

They turned to pray for Lin Bai, praying that he would win the final victory in this war.

Lin Bai led Xu Longyun and the others out of the Meng Tianwang Dian.

The Meng Du Cheng was empty, without a single Celestial.

The Celestials all knew Lin Bai was here; after awakening their consciousness, they immediately fled the Meng Du Cheng through the teleportation array, and they did not even dare to choose this place as a Resurrection Point.

The players within the Immortal World had long been slaughtered by the Celestials, and all the Magpie Bridges had been severed.

This did not stump Lin Bai; he shared the Divinity and Skills of the Earth Goddess, and wherever there was land, he could deploy troops at will.

Using his Divinity to encircle Xu Longyun and the others, Lin Bai used Teleportation to arrive at the Feng Du Cheng.

The Feng Du Cheng was bustling with Celestials; some were passing through the teleportation array to go to other continents, while others had been killed in the Shenmo Dalu and returned, having been resurrected. They were excitedly discussing their gains in the lower realm and their respective rankings...

Looking at those Celestials, Lin Bai immediately activated the Jade Ruyi, trapping the Celestials of an entire city into a dreamscape.

Immediately following that, the Dark Domain, the Zhou Tian Star Array, and other domains were all fully deployed, shrouding everyone.

The Light of Dead Silence and Weakness sapped their attributes.

Rampaging lightning, Star Light Slashes, and Heavenly Fire and Earth Fire rolled toward the Celestials in the dreamscape from every angle; many Celestials were torn into fragments by these powerful moves before they could even react.

Lin Bai's realm was too high; slaughtering them was truly no different from chopping melons and vegetables.

"It's Lin Bai."

"Run, get into the teleportation array."

"Why is my Spiritual Power disappearing so fast?"

"Damn it, why does he have so many Skills? I can't even find a blind spot..."

Lin Bai was like a killing machine, slaughtering all the Celestials with a dark face.

The Celestials were all high-level and possessed the ability to resurrect; talking nonsense to them was useless. Only by killing them down to level zero could they perhaps be restrained. The dreamscape happened to have this ability, though it was unknown if it would work on Celestials...

At this moment, Lin Bai was in a very bad mood. The Game Company had even come up with "one slash 999"; he didn't know what other underhanded tricks they might have...

Unable to resolve the true enemy and dealing with this chaotic world alone, Lin Bai truly felt somewhat powerless. He couldn't possibly keep tangling with the Game Company forever, could he?

Suddenly, a new idea surged into his mind.

Lin Bai stopped his killing moves like lightning and thunder, turned his head, and instructed Xiaoyun and the others: "Xiaoyun, you all don't need to act. Later, when I exit the dream, I will trap them with the Dark Domain, and you will use the Earth-Deficiency Technique to swallow their Spiritual Power. Raise your own realms as much as possible; raise them as high as you can. I don't believe this world has no upper limit. Let's strive to crash through this world with our strength..."

"Understood." Xiaoyun and the others nodded.

Subsequently,

Lin Bai exited the dream, ignored the corpses of the Celestials on the ground, and expanded the Dark Domain, once again shrouding the Celestials within it.

Xiaoyun and the others used the Earth-Deficiency Technique simultaneously.

Consequently, the Celestials' Spiritual Power disappeared even faster.

……

"Not good, my Spiritual Power."

"It's Lin Bai."

"Run quickly!"

"When did they die?"

……

The Celestials, who had lost their memories, fell into another bout of panic.

Very quickly, they discovered a terrifying fact: without dying, their Spiritual Power was vanishing, and their levels were constantly dropping.

Furthermore.

The lower they dropped, the faster the speed.

"I've dropped from the Platinum realm to the Gold realm; what kind of ghost Skill is this?"

"Quickly, kill me."

"Kill me."

"Let me go out to level up, train my level back, and then kill Lin Bai..."

……

Realizing that if this continued, their levels would likely be wiped to zero, the Celestials who reacted in time quickly began to slaughter each other.

But as soon as the suicides began, the Celestials found themselves involuntarily striking the Moon-Running pose, flying toward the sky. With Lin Bai present, how could it be easy to commit suicide?

Watching the Celestials whose Spiritual Power was being subjected to Extraction while in the Moon-Running pose, Lin Bai thought of the Great Deficiency Technique he had just obtained.

The description of the Great Deficiency Technique was indeed to diminish the surplus and replenish the deficiency.

Thus, Lin Bai aimed at one of the Celestials and activated the Skill.

No matter how chaotic the situation was, one still had to figure out how to use the Skill.

The moment the Skill was activated.

A prompt came from Lin Bai's mind: "Please designate the 'surplus' and 'deficiency' target parties."

Lin Bai was stunned for a moment, turned his head to look at Xiaoyun, and said: "Xiaoyun, I know how to save those people who died."

(End of this chapter)