Chapter 368: Unity of Man and Heaven and Pre-Battle Breakthrough

Initial Secret Room.

Lying on the ground, Chen Ran suddenly opened his eyes. The memories from the last two doors were instilled into his mind at this moment.

Regret, remorse, extreme remorse.

Slap!

The sound of a slap rang out, but it came from Lin Xuan's side.

Qiu Yinong also had a sullen face.

The Big Gold Tooth lit a Cigarette, taking drags intermittently, his expression slightly irritable.

"Hahahaha..."

Hearty laughter rang out. Shu Renjun pointed at the four people and laughed uproariously, laughing so hard that tears were about to flow out, displaying the utmost mockery.

"Oh, right, there's no evidence!"

"It seems that Hell has invisibly assimilated you all, making you lose your True Self."

"Rumor has it that there is another kind of Heart Cultivation method in Hell called Unity of Man and Heaven. Could this be the so-called Unity of Man and Heaven?"

In the classic works of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, there are all expositions on the Unity of Man and Heaven.

Here, naturally it refers to the Confucian concept of 【Social Harmony】.

Put simply, in ancient times, as long as you were a person, you couldn't escape the constraints of Confucianism's numerous rules and regulations.

For example, the Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues.

Ministers, children, and wives must absolutely obey rulers, fathers, and husbands.

By the same logic, in Hell.

If you wanted to survive, you also had to absolutely obey Hell and the certain rules and order of the Instances.

For example, Lin Xuan was a Gambling Dog. Did he dare to bet just now? He didn't dare!

Simply because he knew that if he didn't bet, he could definitely clear the instance, meaning 100% survival; if he bet, there was only a 50% chance of survival.

Even though, based on deduction, he was already extremely certain that the Youth was Killer A.

This was the Confucian 【Social Harmony】 concept influencing him.

He had to follow this kind of ideology. Otherwise, perhaps he could kill Shu Renjun this time, but could he kill Zhang Renjun next time? Could he kill Wang Renjun the time after that?

As long as he dared to jump out of this framework, there would always be a time he would lose the bet, and sooner or later he would die.

Put simply, a special kind of 【Ideology】 existed in Hell. This ideology imperceptibly influenced players, assimilated players, and tamed players!

This special ideology was...

Unity of Man and Heaven!

If you didn't follow Unity of Man and Heaven, then sooner or later you would die.

If you followed Unity of Man and Heaven, then you could survive, but merely survive, living under the constraint of various rules and regulations.

Put simply, you have a system, and the system issues you a task to forcibly kiss the school belle. If you don't forcibly kiss her, you will be obliterated.

If you don't comply, you will die.

If you do comply, you are...

The system's Puppet!

The Unity of Man and Heaven ideology is just like a task-issuing system. You must follow the Unity of Man and Heaven ideology, otherwise you will die, but if you do follow it, you will become a Puppet of this ideology.

But the problem is, you are a person, a living, breathing person, a person with flesh and blood and thoughts.

Not a Puppet controlled by a system!

Therefore, the Unity of Man and Heaven ideology has its good and bad sides. The good side lies in being able to better integrate into the environmental rules and order. The bad side lies in that you are no longer the 'you' who does whatever you want; you are bound by various rules and regulations into a Puppet.

Thus, the birth of the Unity of Man and Heaven Heart Cultivation method was bound to appear.

It was just that the players who cultivated the Unity of Man and Heaven Heart Cultivation method were very few, almost nonexistent.

The reason was also very simple...

It wasn't conducive to the rule of those in high positions.

This kind of rule by the two alliances required the players' obedience, not resistance.

This was also the reason why Wan Feng didn't mention Unity of Man and Heaven much to Chen Ran.

Cultivating the Unity of Man and Heaven Heart Cultivation would undoubtedly violate the rules and order that already existed in the entirety of Hell. If you wanted to challenge the rules and order built by countless players over thousands of years in Hell, then you would be the public enemy of the vast majority of players in the entirety of Hell.

It's like if you time-traveled back to ancient times and advocated the ideology that everyone is equal. From the imperial court down to the wealthy gentry, they would all swallow you alive, simply because the ideology you propagandized would violate their most fundamental interests and rule.

In terms of Skills, although Chen Ran and the two leaders had never met or conversed, the three had very tacitly reached a certain balance.

You pretend my Skill doesn't exist, and I won't use it in the 18th Level.

But this was merely a balance reached between the three of them. However, if you insist on courting death, violating the interests of all classes in the entirety of Hell and getting sniped by them infinitely, then that is your problem. It has nothing to do with us, and you deserve to die.

None of them were fools. As for wanting to kill Two Birds With One Stone and then using the Skill to deter players of other classes? How could that be possible?

To use an analogy: an enemy captive can only be exchanged for one of our captives, but you want to exchange one of your captives for all the captives?

How could there be such a good thing in this world? It means there's nothing to talk about, and you can only fight it out.

Therefore, in front of the red line that is the Unity of Man and Heaven Heart Cultivation, Chen Ran was no fundamentally different from ordinary players; touching it meant death.

The Unity of Man and Heaven Heart Cultivation was bound to be born in theory, but in reality, it would definitely be regarded as heresy by all classes.

…

Clearly, in the previous Plot Simulation, all five of them were influenced by Unity of Man and Heaven.

The four people didn't dare to bet.

Shu Renjun knew the four people didn't dare to bet.

Thus came the moment where he waited for a period of time after dealing with the people outside.

If, among the four people, one person had cultivated Unity of Man and Heaven, Shu Renjun would definitely have died.

Unfortunately, none of them had.

They couldn't possibly have it either. So Shu Renjun's seemingly death-courting action was actually confirming in advance that he 100% wouldn't die.

But, it might be helpful to think about it. If Chen Ran's group of four were players who had just arrived in Hell today, would Shu Renjun still dare to court death like he did just now?

He wouldn't dare!

Haven't you heard that A Flurry of Random Punches Kills an Old Master?

A Newbie who came to Hell on the first day wouldn't care if it was 50% or 99%. As long as there was a chance to kill a formidable opponent like you, they might just dare to take a massive gamble.

It's just like how on your first day as a soldier you might dare to scold the squad leader, but if you've been a soldier for two and a half years, would you still dare to scold the squad leader?

This is also the reason why, the more knowledge one learns, the more timid one becomes.

The fundamental reason is that you are bound by the concept of 【Social Harmony】; you know the consequences of an ordinary man's rage.

Human nature is inherently evil.

Kindness is brought out by constraint.

To return to the main topic.

Shu Renjun was obviously Heart-killing, but it was very strange. Since they were all players with Heart Cultivation, this set of Heart-killing was useless against them.

Yet why did he still do it?

The four people couldn't figure it out.

Perhaps, fundamentally, he hoped that someone could be like him when he was alive...

Jumping out of a certain framework.

At this moment, although Shu Renjun was displaying the utmost mockery, he was sorrowful in his heart.

'Ah, Hell, look at what kind of players you have manufactured!'

'They have lost their hot-bloodedness, lost their pursuit, lost the courage to go all out, turning into extremely rational monsters one by one!'

'When I was alive, I pursued breaking free from the Shackles of my heart. After death, I pursue breaking free from the Shackles of Hell's vicious mechanisms. If I obtain the Unity of Man and Heaven Heart Cultivation method, I will definitely make Hell change its sky!'

However, when he raised his head, he saw a pair of clear eyes. In these eyes, he didn't see the numbness of a Puppet, nor did he see the chaos of being swayed by ideologies and judgments.

Just pure clarity.

Shu Renjun was taken aback, his expression becoming somewhat strange, yet also relieved.

'Chen Ran, huh...'

'It seems everyone has been deceived by this guy. But thinking about it, it makes sense. A person possessing the ideology of the School of Military Momentum will always set an Ultimate goal for themselves in advance when facing a war.'

'What is his Ultimate goal?'

'Perhaps only he knows. No matter how others instill ideologies into him, they cannot sway his initial determination.'

Shu Renjun narrowed his eyes, staring directly into those clear eyes. He clearly knew that if he used Distance-Free Technique on the other party right now, perhaps he could sway the direction of what came next.

But he just quietly stared at those eyes, those eyes devoid of impurities.

Chen Ran thought he would use Distance-Free Technique, but he didn't. This was not a good omen.

'Either the other party is so powerful that he disdains using this kind of underhanded sneak attack.'

'Or his Mental State...'

'Is currently undergoing a change!'

"Chen Ran, when I was alive, I actually really wanted to be a good person, loved by classmates, liked by Teachers, doted on by parents. But I found that when I was alive, not everything would develop according to my expectations. They have different experiences and values. If your performance is slightly unsatisfactory to them, they will feel that you are violating their wishes..."

Shu Renjun suddenly said some inexplicable words that were completely unrelated to the Infighting.

But the next moment, under everyone's shocked gazes, Shu Renjun sat on the ground, slowly closed his eyes, and began to have an epiphany...

'Fuck!'

'Holy shit!'

'Shit!'

'What the hell!'

The four people's eyes widened, looking as if they had seen a ghost.

This Instance is fucking about to have its final showdown, and you're having a temporary breakthrough in Mental State right here? Are you still letting people play the game?

Immediately after, they exchanged a glance, all birthing a kind of Shameless idea.

They very much wanted to wake him up from his noise.

But, they gave up. Shu Renjun was not a fool; he must be having his epiphany within the Distance-Free Technique, shielding himself from outside interference.

Chen Ran silently took a drag of his cigarette.

'The nemesis of the Supreme Perfect Enlightenment Heart Cultivation seems to be... The Highest Goodness is Like Water.'

'If I didn't guess wrong, my excited state of feverishly typing code should be a special manifestation of The Highest Goodness is Like Water.'

'Perhaps this is a trump card.'