Chapter 131: The Desire for Slaughter Is Rising

Amid the livestream viewers' anticipation, Lu Xing sank deeper under the influence of the Bliss Power.

When the mental contamination reached a certain critical point, a Challenger Alert sounded in Lu Xing's mind:

[Challenger Alert: Severe mental contamination detected; Protection System automatically activated.]

As the alert tone rang out, the bewilderment in Lu Xing's eyes receded like a withdrawing Black Tide, his gaze gradually returning to clarity.

The triggered Purification System rapidly forced the Bliss Power out of his body, preventing him from plunging into an abyss of endless desire.

The scene within Lu Xing's vision also changed at this moment.

Countless breathtaking figures dissolved back into pink mist and vanished; looking around, only other alien figures remained, still immersed in their fantasies.

Lu Xing's perspective also affected the viewing screen for the gawking crowd in the livestream room.

They immediately began to wail:

"What happens next? Is the plot just ending like this?"

"It happened in a flash, so fast; the joy vanished instantly, my excitement subsided with it, leaving me feeling utterly bland."

"We were promised a grand battle of bliss, and it ends here? Being left hanging like this is truly unbearable."

"Where are the succubi? Why did my succubi disappear? I object! I demand the lost scenes be reloaded!"

Coming back to his senses, Lu Xing wore a blank expression.

Just moments ago, he had felt as though his body was constantly falling, overwhelmed by an intense sense of pleasure.

But after the game alert sounded, he suddenly came to his senses, realizing that everything just now had been a false illusion.

Recalling the foolish acts he had nearly committed, he felt extremely embarrassed.

Most importantly, a large crowd of onlookers in the livestream room had been watching.

If he had committed any outrageous acts, mischievous players would have screenshot them to make memes, and he would be completely socially dead in this game.

The series of memes from before had already made him a laughingstock; adding this incident, he would never be able to hold his head up in the forums again.

Thinking about how forum players still mockingly called him the "most cowardly of the version," he couldn't help but feel frustrated.

He regretted it deeply; he should never have explored in the direction of Fengbo Tan.

"If only the Colorful Mist Coast region had opened earlier."

Ignoring the still-wailing danmu, Lu Xing looked up at the golden gate at the end of the scene.

Filled with curiosity, he walked straight toward the Gate of Greed.

"Guide, what lies behind this gate?" Lu Xing turned his head curiously to look at the hovering guiding water sphere.

[The Mirror of Greed: Everything in this scene is like a mirror to your heart, reflecting only what you desire to obtain. However, all of this is a false illusion; yet in the eyes of beings controlled by Bliss Power, it appears as a real scene, allowing one to gain genuine experiences and feedback within every scenario.]

"Can I withstand it?"

Lu Xing's Iron Face showed worry; clearly, he lacked confidence in his own self-control.

Hearing this, the Guide's avatar displayed a look of contempt on its Iron Face:

[Bro, if you can't handle it, just leave. With the system protection active, you're still acting this cowardly? If you can't play, you can just quit. This is an open scene; leave whenever you want, no one will stop you.]

"I'm going, I'm going! Who's being cowardly!"

At the word "cowardly," Lu Xing reacted sensitively; immediately gritting his teeth, he walked toward the golden gate at the end of the scene.

Both sides of the path ahead were densely packed with purple thorns, tall and twisted, as if woven from nightmares; every branch emitted a faint purple glow, whispering like demons, strikingly conspicuous.

Passing through the thorn-lined path and stepping onto the celestial ladder, he arrived before the golden gate and stopped.

Taking a deep breath, he passed through the thorn gate.

The scene presented before him was shrouded in purple mist, and Lu Xing's eyes once again became bewildered.

As the purple mist slowly dispersed,

what appeared before Lu Xing was not a treasure mountain piled with heavenly materials and earthly treasures, nor was there jewelry covering the ground.

Ahead lay a vast golden plain.

Morning sunlight pierced through the thin mist, casting rays upon stone walls; birds darted through the courtyard, emitting crisp chirps; a gentle breeze blew, causing golden wheat waves to rise in layers of swaying ripples; the busy, joyful laughter of villagers intertwined into a harmonious symphony.

The world in Lu Xing's eyes changed rapidly.

The setting sun descended, cooking smoke curled upward, warm hearth fires ignited within the manor, and the warmth of family permeated the air.

Time accelerated continuously, the seasons cycling through.

In spring, the plain bloomed with hundreds of flowers; in summer, the plain sparkled with brilliant stars; in autumn, the plain reaped its gifts; in winter, the plain was covered in white snow.

In his mind, the kind laughter of an old man also rang out:

"Welcome, adventurer. Live here with us, share food, exchange stories, and cultivate together. We hope this journey spent here will bring you warmth and wonder."

The scene before his eyes was exactly the destination Lu Xing had longed to reach during his adventuring journey.

Uncontrollably, he walked forward, sitting among countless children to tell stories of his travels.

And the scenes from these adventure stories were generated under the stimulation of the Bliss Power.

"I departed from the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range shrouded in evil light, crossed plains covered in yellow sand, stepped into the tangled ancient forests, explored ancient forest ruins, walked through dark swamps interwoven with death and shadow, constantly seeking the unknown... I have seen vicious sea beasts lurking in the depths of harbors, seen stone giants constructed from gravel, and even seen cyber-cities surrounded by thin mist... Finally, I arrived here..."

As he recounted his adventure stories, the scene images wove and assembled within Lu Xing's mind.

He had never felt such satisfaction as he did now.

The lethality of the Gate of Greed scene toward Lu Xing was far stronger than that of the Gate of Lust; what it presented was precisely the goal he had pursued all his life.

Here, he had seemingly become a successful adventurer.

He had witnessed bizarre and grotesque world scenes and left his own stories in those places, but after each magnificent episode, he would not linger where he stood; instead, carrying expectations for unknown scenes farther away, he would continue his journey.

As he told his stories, the children surrounding Lu Xing all looked at him with eyes full of admiration, as if planting the seed of becoming adventurers in their own hearts.

Within mere seconds, Lu Xing had already experienced spring, summer, autumn, and winter here.

And he decided to set out once again, heading toward the next unknown location.

On the day of departure, he encountered a group of adventurers who, like him, yearned for the unknown.

Lu Xing, who had always explored in solitude, received an enthusiastic invitation.

Carrying a backpack, dressed in adventurer attire, wearing a gray hat, a stunning figure riding a flying dragon extended her right hand toward him, revealing a charming smile:

"My dear adventurer, in this mysterious and magnificent vast world, your loneliness moves me. I sincerely invite you to join us, embark on this magical journey, and together explore the brilliant starry skies of the Butterfly Grasslands, the mysterious contours of the Bright Moon Canyon, the silver beaches of the Bright Bay, and the Omniscient Library that collects endless knowledge... We will also ride flying dragons to conquer mountain after mountain, forest after forest, and snowfield after snowfield, leaving our names there. A heart-pounding adventure awaits us."

At this moment, Lu Xing extended his right hand, the corners of his mouth curling upward, his heart soaring with longing at the woman's description.

"Hehe."

He unconsciously let out a laugh.

But just then, the illusion before his eyes distorted.

The golden plain, the lovely children, the beautiful female adventure captain... the mirror reflecting his inner desires instantly became covered in cracks, then shattered with a crash.

All that appeared before his eyes were countless alien figures grinning greedily.

The automatically activated Purification Power shattered all illusions in Lu Xing's mind, taking with it Lu Xing's inner perception of all this beauty.

Everything seemed as if it had never happened, leaving not a single trace in Lu Xing's heart.

To Lu Xing, it felt as though he had dreamt a dream; it seemed that in the dream, he had fallen into endless pleasure, but upon waking, everything vanished, and he could not even recall what had happened at the time.

This was the power of the Purification Power.

To ensure the mental health of players, every activation of the Purification Power removes all hidden dangers, repairing the player's mental state.

"Guide, what just happened?" Lu Xing asked, somewhat puzzled.

He still clearly remembered the scenes within the Gate of Lust, except he no longer felt the slightest emotion toward the breathtaking figures in those scenes.

But in the Greed scene, he discovered he had actually lost all memory images.

Facing his inquiry, the Guide's avatar spoke with a lazy expression:

[These images are obsessions for you; keeping them would only affect your mental state. To ensure your mental health, the images were erased along with them.]

"So what exactly did I experience?"

[Traveling everywhere to see scenery seems very boring to me; I find it hard to understand why these scenes would be your heart's desire. What's even harder to understand is that complete purification was needed to protect your mental health. However, if you want to know the specifics, you can watch the livestream recording; the scene images inside are all recorded, though those images won't affect you.]

Hearing the Guide's explanation, Lu Xing had already thought of one possibility.

He had many pursuits in life, but there was only one road he yearned for above all: to become a great adventurer.

To witness the unknown, record the unknown, experience the local customs of different regions, and comprehend the philosophy of life.

As for beauty, power, and other material desires, those were secondary.

This was clearly the reason he could not extricate himself in this scene; the degree of contamination he suffered was even more severe than in the previous scene.

[If the Hall of Bliss is set as a willpower challenge stage, you would be obsessed with the previous Lust scene for a period but would eventually briefly extricate yourself from it; however, in this Greed stage, you would fall completely, degenerate and sink, unable to take another step forward.]

"I'm not that terrible, am I?" Lu Xing scratched his head, slightly embarrassed.

[Please view the VCR.]

The Guide offered no further explanation, raising a hand to summon a light screen.

The screen displayed the changes in Lu Xing's expression after entering the Gate of Greed.

Upon first entering the scene, his expression was bewildered, his eyes seemingly out of focus, gazing emptily into the distance, lost in some distant and ethereal thought; his eyelids hung half-lowered, the world beneath them becoming blurred and soft, while a faint, barely noticeable smile hung on the corner of his mouth—a smile hiding traces of intoxication and longing, as if gently embraced by a beautiful dream, unwilling to wake.

Gradually, this bewilderment was replaced by an inexplicable stupor; his gaze began to scatter, losing its former vitality and brilliance, as if his soul was being slowly drawn away by some invisible force, leaving behind only an empty shell; during this, his eyelids trembled slightly, yet the stimulation of emotion failed to reflect on his Iron Face.

That smile on the corner of his mouth also froze at this moment, becoming neither joy nor sorrow, like a living corpse.

Finally, this state of stupor was abruptly broken by a foolish laugh:

"Hehe."

Seeing this, Lu Xing felt so embarrassed he wanted to dig out a castle with his toes.

In the livestream room positioned in the upper-left corner of his vision, the danmu was also mocking his expression, and there were even freshly made "Explorer Intoxication Series" memes.

Freed from the illusion, Lu Xing looked up at the third gate at the end of the scene.

After a brief hesitation, he decisively broke into a sprint, rushing back along the path he had come.

Before long, he passed successively through the Gate of Greed and the Gate of Evil Desire, returning to the Heavenly Ladder.

Immediately afterward, without stopping, he arrived at the Spatial Spirit Pattern; instantly, the Spatial Spirit Pattern erupted with brilliant light, teleporting him away.

The teleportation process encountered not the slightest obstruction.

This was also the open setting established by the Jile Clan for the space within the Jile Main Hall.

All living beings could enter and exit at will.

However, all living beings corrupted by the power of Jile found it difficult to break free from the control of the Jile Main Hall.

Every scene inside would push the happiness threshold of anyone who entered beyond its limits, causing those who left to fall into endless emptiness and agony; the scenes of the Jile Palace wrapped around their minds like a curse, impossible to escape.

Even more terrifying was that their already twisted spiritual consciousness would cause living beings influenced by the power of Jile to perceive the outside world differently.

In their eyes, reality became a false illusion, and they subconsciously believed that the scenes within the Jile Palace were the true beauty.

This was also the reason why those living beings who could briefly escape the Jile Palace would ultimately voluntarily step back into the abyss.

Without the protection of the Purification Rules, Lu Xing would have fallen into a similar corruption.

The scenes of the Jile Main Hall could easily shatter a living being's happiness threshold, making it difficult for them to experience joy and satisfaction through normal physiological and psychological activities again; they would only become more dependent on the Jile Main Hall to seek joy and satisfaction, forming a vicious cycle.

This process of spiritual corrosion could not be repaired by any means.

One could understand an individual living being's happiness threshold as a carefully designed inner dam, regulating their emotions and experiences of joy.

This dam possessed reasonable mechanisms for storing and releasing water, ensuring that an individual living being's sense of happiness was neither too flooded nor too dried up.

But the scenes of the Jile Palace completely destroyed the structure of this dam; floodwaters surged out, and unless protected by the power of rules, there was no possibility of repair.

Just as the High Priest had left behind that sentence:

Stimuli surpassing the senses, a fall from which one cannot escape!

Relying solely on the willpower of ordinary living beings was fundamentally insufficient to resist the corruption of the power of rules; ultimately, they were bound to fall completely amidst the corruption.

After leaving the Jile Main Hall, Lu Xing sprinted madly in the direction of the Colorful Mist Coast Novice Village.

He felt that continuing to explore would be too embarrassing; who knew what kind of stupid emoticon might emerge in the third scene.

Lu Xing's ordeal in the Jile Palace sparked heated discussion on the forum.

Many players expressed their intention to go to the Jile Main Hall to test their own willpower.

After the live broadcast footage was continuously spread, the priority of the hidden scenes of the Jile Main Hall in the players' minds instantly skyrocketed.

Compared to this, pleasing the Ancient Gods seemed not so important anymore.

After all, pleasing the Ancient Gods was just working a job, but what the Jile Clan gave was happiness.

Regardless of gender, everyone could obtain unimaginable pleasure within the Jile Main Hall; in the players' eyes, this was simply free happiness.

Just as players were engaging in heated discussion about the Jile Main Hall, one player posted a different perspective, attracting a large number of players to participate in the discussion.

[After watching the edited live broadcast footage of the explorer, I suddenly had an idea:]

OP: Da Li Chu Qi Ji

Content:

I watched the live video; it left me wanting more, but I noticed everyone is discussing the happiness of the Jile Main Hall.

What I want to say is, can we players obtain a different kind of happiness within the Jile Main Hall?

For instance, helping those lost souls depart to the Western Paradise.

What is certain is that those guys, lacking the protection of our player system, have become completely lost and corrupted, unable to break free from this extreme happiness; one could say their consciousness has already twisted into existence akin to demons.

At this point, their desire to attack is weak, their lethality is low; they are simply little lambs without the strength to bind a chicken.

If we go in, won't we just kill recklessly?

Just now, watching the explorer's live stream, I noticed many high-level hunting grade alien living beings appeared in the analysis content.

In my view, isn't this just free sacrificial power and evolution points? After entering, there's no need for difficult combat; one can easily perform superordination right on the spot.

Does this count as doing a good deed while getting rewarded?

Comment Section:

Word Ma Ya: Hahaha, what a unique train of thought; hearing you say that, it seems entirely feasible. Killing all the way from the Gate of Evil Desire to the Gate of Sloth... how much sacrificial power would that produce?... No way, I'm setting off right now; the desire to kill is rising.

Crimson Power: A genius! Everyone else is discussing how their white moonlight will manifest in the Jile Palace scenes, yet you are thinking of raising the knife and striking. Indeed, no love will make your sword strike faster. I think this plan is entirely feasible; screw happiness, I want to kill to my heart's content.

You Qing Gao Le Bu Qi: Feasible, it must be feasible. Brothers, form a team and count me in; let's go in and kill indiscriminately. Let's put pleasing the Ancient Gods aside for now; right now, I just want to go to the Jile Main Hall to save the common people and send these lost children to the true Western Paradise.

Ren Zu Da Di: Wait, bro, can you wait for me to go in and get corrupted for a while before killing? Don't rush, I haven't experienced happiness yet, don't stir up trouble!!!

Qian Shan Yue Zhang: Qvq, big brothers, I beg you, don't be so cruel. My white moonlight passed away a few years ago due to a genetic disease; I want to go to the Jile Palace to see them one last time, just one glance. Can you wait until I'm done with my white moonlights before killing? I'm afraid you'll destroy the scenes.

Hei Ye Jiang Zhi replying to Qian Shan Yue Zhang: Too many keywords. "Them"? "Done"? Little sister, your thoughts are too complex; clearly, you have already been corrupted by the Jile Clan. The situation is very serious.

The post published by the player Da Li Chu Qi Ji provided other players with an alternative way to approach the Jile Main Hall.

Soon, players organized killing squads, passing through the teleportation gate to arrive in the Colorful Mist Coast region, heading straight for the location of the Jile Palace.

Although the map did not mark clear coordinates leading to the Jile Palace.

One could roughly determine it by observing the changes in the map fog.

The area Lu Xing explored and opened up appeared on the map as a slender path, the end of which was obviously the location of the Jile Main Hall.

As long as they could enter the Jile Divine Hall, they could unlock a different kind of happiness; the process would be comparable to stuffing money into sacks.

As for what the Jile Clan would think, the players didn't care at all.

To quote a certain player on the forum:

Sacrificial power isn't important; we just want to help living beings who have lost their way attain liberation. Screw the Jile Clan.

(End of Chapter)