Chapter 131: The Desire to Kill Is Rising

Under the anticipation of the livestream viewers, Lu Xing sank deeper and deeper under the influence of Bliss Power.

When the mental contamination reached a certain threshold, a Challenger Prompt rang out in Lu Xing's mind:

【Challenger Prompt: Severe mental contamination detected. Protection system automatically activated.】

Along with the prompt, the dazed look in Lu Xing's eyes receded like the tide, and his gaze gradually regained clarity.

The triggered purification system quickly forced the Bliss Power out of his body, preventing him from falling into the endless abyss of desire.

The scene before Lu Xing's eyes also changed at this moment.

Countless breathtaking figures once again dissolved into pink mist and scattered. Looking around, the only ones present were other alien figures still lost in their fantasies.

Lu Xing's perspective also affected the viewing screen of the melon-eating crowd in the livestream.

They wailed one after another:

"What about the next part? The next part of the plot just ended like that?"

"Gone in a snap, so fast. The happiness vanished in an instant, my excited mood settled along with it, and I just felt bland and tasteless."

"Where's the promised happy battle? It just ended like this. Being left hanging is really uncomfortable."

"Where are the succubi? Where did my succubi go? I don't agree, I want to keep loading the lost scene."

……

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

Just now, he had felt as if his body was continuously falling, wrapped in an intense sense of pleasure.

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

Recalling the foolish thing he had almost done, he felt extremely embarrassed inside.

Most importantly, there were still a large number of melon-eating spectators watching in the livestream.

If he did anything out of line and some busybody player screenshotted it and turned it into a meme, he would be completely socially dead in this game.

The previous series of memes had already made him a laughingstock, and adding this incident, he'd never be able to hold his head up on the forum for the rest of his life.

Thinking that he was still being jokingly called the most cowardly version by forum players, he couldn't help but feel annoyed.

He regretted his original decision; he never should have explored toward the Wind Wave Pool.

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

Ignoring the still-wailing barrage, Lu Xing raised his head to look at the golden great door at the end of the scene.

Driven by curiosity, he walked straight toward the Door of Greed.

"Guide, what's inside this great door?" Lu Xing turned his head curiously to look at the floating, following guide orb.

【Mirror of Greed. Everything in the scene is like a mirror of your inner heart, reflecting the things you desire to obtain, but all of it is false illusion. Yet in the eyes of living beings controlled by Bliss Power, it is a real scene, where one can obtain real experiences and feedback in every scene.】

"Can I hold out?"

Lu Xing's face showed worry; clearly he was not confident in his own self-control.

Hearing these words, the guide avatar's face revealed a look of contempt:

【Bro, if you can't handle it, just bail. You've got system protection and you're still this cowardly? If you can't take it, you can completely log out. This is an open scene, come and go as you please, no one's stopping you.】

"I'll go, so what if I'm going! Who's the coward!"

The word "coward" was a sore spot for Lu Xing. He immediately gritted his teeth and walked toward the golden great door at the end of the scene.

Both sides of the road ahead were densely covered with purple thorns, tall and twisted, as if woven from nightmares. Every branch emitted a faint purple glow, like the whispers of demons, and was especially conspicuous.

Passing through the thorn road and stepping onto the heavenly ladder, he arrived before the golden great door and stood still.

After taking a deep breath, he passed through the thorny great door.

The scene presented before his eyes was shrouded in purple mist, and Lu Xing's gaze once again grew dazed.

As the purple mist slowly dissipated.

What appeared before Lu Xing's eyes was not a treasure mountain piled with heavenly materials and earthly treasures, nor jewels carpeting the ground.

Ahead lay a vast golden plain.

Morning sunlight pierced the thin mist and fell on the stone-built walls. Birds flitted through the courtyard, giving clear chirps. A breeze came, and golden wheat waves rose in spreading ripples. The busy, joyful laughter of villagers wove together into a harmonious symphony.

The world in Lu Xing's eyes changed rapidly.

The setting sun fell, cooking smoke rose curlingly, warm hearth fires were lit within the estate, and the warmth of family permeated the air.

Time accelerated continuously, the four seasons alternating.

In spring, the plain was full of blooming flowers; in summer, the plain glittered with brilliant stars; in autumn, the plain offered its harvest; in winter, the plain was blanketed in white snow.

In his mind also rang the kindly laughter of an old man:

"Welcome, adventurer. Live here together with us, share food, exchange stories, till the land side by side. May this stretch of journey spent here bring you warmth and wonder."

The scene before his eyes was precisely a stop Lu Xing had longed to reach during his adventure.

He walked forward uncontrollably, sat surrounded by countless children, and told stories of his travels.

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

"I set out from the Imperial Tomb Mountains shrouded in evil light, crossed plains covered in yellow sand, stepped into ancient forests with tangled roots, explored ancient forest ruins, walked through dark swamps where death and shadow intertwined, constantly seeking the unknown… I have seen fierce sea beasts lurking deep in harbors, seen stone giants built from rubble, and seen cyber cities wreathed in thin mist… and finally I arrived here…."

As he told the adventure stories, the scene images wove and pieced together in Lu Xing's mind.

He had never felt as fulfilled as he did now.

The Door of Greed scene's damage to Lu Xing was far stronger than that of the Door of Lust, for what it presented was precisely the goal he had pursued his whole life.

Here, he was every inch a successful adventurer.

He had witnessed bizarre and wondrous world scenes, and had left stories of his own in those scenes, but after every wonderful moment he never lingered, instead continuing onward with anticipation for the unknown scenes in the farther distance.

During the storytelling, the children gathered around Lu Xing looked at him with admiring gazes, as if seeds of becoming adventurers had been planted in their hearts.

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

And he also decided to set out once more, 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 alone, received a warm invitation.

Wearing adventurer's garb, carrying a pack on his back and a grey hat on his head, an exquisitely beautiful figure astride a flying dragon extended her right hand toward him, revealing a captivating smile:

"My dear adventurer, in this mysterious and magnificent Hao Han Shi Jie, your solitude moves me. I sincerely invite you to join us, to set out on this wondrous journey — together we shall explore the resplendent starry skies above Butterfly Prairie, the mysterious silhouette of Moonlit Canyon, the silver beaches of the Bright Moon Bay, the Omniscient Library that houses endless knowledge… We shall also ride flying dragons to conquer one Gaoshan after another, forests, snowfields, leaving our names behind in those lands. A heart-pounding adventure awaits us."

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

"Hehe."

He let out a laugh without thinking.

But just then, the Illusion before his eyes began to warp.

The golden plains, the lovely children, the beautiful adventurer captain… the mirror that reflected the desires of his heart was instantly covered in cracks, then shattered with a deafening crash.

What lay before his eyes now was nothing but countless alien figures wearing greedy, lecherous smiles.

The self-activated power of purification crushed every fantasy within Lu Xing's mind, and along with it swept away all of Lu Xing's inner perception of these beautiful things.

It was as if nothing had ever happened, leaving not the slightest trace within Lu Xing's heart.

To Lu Xing, it felt like he had merely had a dream — as if the self in the dream had sunk into endless bliss, but upon waking everything dissolved, and he could not even recall what had happened.

This was the might of the power of purification.

To safeguard the player's mental health, every activation of the power of purification would sweep away all hidden dangers and restore the player's mental state.

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

He still remembered the scenes from the Gate of Depravity clearly, but he could no longer muster even the slightest feeling for the exquisitely beautiful figure within them.

Yet in the Greed scene, he discovered that he had lost every memory of the images entirely.

Faced with the question, the Guide's avatar replied with a lazy expression:

【These images were all obsessions for you. Keeping them would only affect your mental state. To protect your mental health, the images were erased along with them.】

"So what exactly did I encounter?"

【Traveling everywhere to look at scenery — in my view it's all very boring. It's hard to understand why these scenes would be the stuff of your dreams, and even harder to understand why it would take complete purification to protect your mental health. But if you want to know the specifics, you can watch the livestream replay — all the scenes are recorded in it. Those images won't affect you, though.】

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

He had many pursuits in life, but there was only one path he dreamed of — that of becoming a great adventurer.

To witness the unknown, to record the unknown, to experience the customs and culture of different lands, and to gain a deep appreciation of the philosophy of life.

As for beauty, power, and other material desires — they were all secondary.

This was clearly also why he could not tear himself away in this scene; the degree of contamination was more severe than in the previous one.

【If the Palace of Bliss were set as a willpower-challenge level, you would spend a period lost in the previous Depravity scene, but in the end you would briefly break free. Yet in this level's Greed scene, you would fall completely, degenerate and sink from that point on, unable to take a single step forward.】

"Am I really that pathetic?" Lu Xing scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed.

【Please watch the VCR.】

The Guide did not explain further, raising a hand to summon a screen of light.

The screen showed the changes in Lu Xing's expression after he entered the Gate of Greed.

Upon first entering the scene, his expression was dazed, his eyes seeming to have lost focus, gazing emptily into the distance, lost in some distant and ethereal train of thought. His eyelids were half-lowered, the world beneath them becoming blurred and soft, the corners of his mouth still bearing a faint, barely perceptible smile — a smile that held a touch of Tao Zui, a touch of yearning, as if gently embraced by a beautiful dream, unwilling to wake.

Gradually, that dazedness was replaced by a strange stupor. His gaze began to scatter, losing its former liveliness and brilliance, as if his soul were being slowly drawn out by some invisible force, leaving only an empty shell. During this, his eyelids trembled slightly, but the emotional stimulus could not register on his face.

The faint smile at the corner of his mouth also froze at this moment, becoming neither joy nor sorrow, as if a walking corpse.

In the end, this stuporous state was broken by an abrupt, lecherous chuckle:

"Hehe."

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

In the livestream chat tucked into the upper-left corner of his view, the barrage was all mocking his expression — there was even a freshly minted "Explorer Tao Zui Series" meme.

Freed from the Illusion, Lu Xing looked up toward the third great door at the far end of the scene.

After a brief hesitation, he resolutely broke into a run back along the path he had come.

Before long, he passed through the Gate of Greed and the Gate of Depravity in succession, returning to the Heaven Stairs.

Then, without pausing, he arrived at the spatial spirit-runes, which instantly erupted with resplendent light, teleporting him out.

The teleportation proceeded without the slightest obstruction.

This was also the Blissfolk's open-access setting for the Palace of Bliss's space.

All living beings could come and go freely.

But all living beings corrupted by the power of bliss found it difficult to shake off the Palace of Bliss's control.

Every scene within would push the entrant's pleasure threshold to its absolute limit, causing those who emerged to fall into endless emptiness and agony. The scenes of the Palace of Bliss clung to the mind like a curse, impossible to break free of.

Even more terrifying was that the already-twisted mental consciousness would alter the corrupted being's perception of the outside world.

In their eyes, reality became a false Illusion, and they instinctively believed the scenes within the Palace of Bliss to be the true beauty.

This was also why those beings who briefly escaped the Palace of Bliss would ultimately step back into the abyss of their own accord.

Without the protection of the purification rules, Lu Xing too would have fallen into a similar degeneracy.

The Palace of Bliss's scenes could easily shatter a being's pleasure threshold, making it difficult for them to experience pleasure and satisfaction through normal physical and psychological activities, leaving them ever more dependent on the Palace of Bliss to seek pleasure and satisfaction — a vicious cycle.

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

One can think of an individual being's pleasure threshold as a meticulously designed inner dam, regulating that being's emotions and experience of pleasure.

This dam possessed a reasonable mechanism for storing and releasing water, ensuring that the being's sense of pleasure neither overflowed nor ran dry.

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

Just as the words left behind by the High Priest stated:

Stimulation beyond the senses, a degeneracy from which there is no escape!

The willpower of ordinary beings alone could never resist the corruption of the power of rules; in the end, they would inevitably degenerate completely within that corruption.

After leaving the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss, Lu Xing sprinted toward the Newbie Village of the Colorful Mist Coast.

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

Lu Xing's encounter in the Palace of Ultimate Bliss sparked heated discussion on the forum.

Many players expressed their desire to head to the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss to test their willpower.

After the livestream footage was constantly circulated, the priority of the hidden scene in the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss in the players' minds instantly shot up.

Compared to that, pleasing the Old Gods seemed not so important anymore.

After all, pleasing the Old Gods was just working a job, but the Ultimate Bliss Clan offered happiness.

Regardless of gender, one could obtain unimaginable pleasure within the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss; in the players' eyes, this was simply free happiness.

Just as players were discussing the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss, a player posted a thread with a different viewpoint, attracting a large number of players to join the discussion.

【After watching the explorer's livestream clips, I suddenly had an idea:】

OP: Great Force Creates Miracles

Content:

I watched the livestream video and am still unsatisfied, but I noticed everyone is discussing the happiness of the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss.

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

For example, helping those lost souls go to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss.

What can be confirmed is that those guys, without the protection of our player system, have completely lost their way and fallen, unable to break free from this extreme happiness; their consciousness has twisted into something akin to evil demons.

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

Shouldn't we go in and slaughter them indiscriminately?

Just now, watching the explorer's livestream, I noticed that the analysis content revealed many alien creatures with high hunting levels.

In my opinion, this is nothing but free Shou Shou Jili and Evolution Points; after entering, we wouldn't need difficult battles and could easily complete the super-deliverance on the spot.

Does this count as doing good deeds and receiving rewards?

Comment Section:

Word Ma Ya: Hahaha, what a unique train of thought. Hearing you say that, it's completely feasible. Killing from the Gate of Evil Desire all the way to the Gate of Sloth... how much Shou Shou Jili would that produce? No, I'm setting off right now; the desire for slaughter is rising.

Crimson Power: Genius! Everyone is discussing how their white moonlight will manifest in the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss scene, yet you are thinking about raising your blade and striking. Indeed, no love will make your sword faster. I think this plan is completely feasible; screw happiness, I want to kill my fill.

You Are So High and Mighty: Feasible, must be feasible. Brothers, form a party and add me; let's go in and slaughter indiscriminately. Putting aside pleasing the Old Gods for now, I just want to go to the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss to save the sentient beings and send these lost children to the true Western Heaven of Ultimate Bliss.

Human Emperor: Wait, guys, can you let me go in and fall into depravity for a while before killing? Don't rush; I haven't had my happiness yet. Don't cause trouble!!!

Thousand Mountains Melody: qvq Brothers, please don't be so cruel. My white moonlight passed away from a genetic disease a few years ago. I want to go to the Palace of Ultimate Bliss to see them one last time, just one look. Can you wait until I'm done with my white moonlights before you start killing? I'm afraid you'll destroy the scene.

Night Is Coming replied to Thousand Mountains Melody: Too many keywords. "Them"? "Done"? Little sister, your thoughts are too complex; you have obviously been corrupted by the Ultimate Bliss Clan. The situation is very serious.

The thread posted by the player Great Force Creates Miracles provided other players with an alternative way to access the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss.

Soon, players organized slaughter squads, traveled through the teleportation gate to the Colorful Mist Coast region, and headed straight for the location of the Palace of Ultimate Bliss.

Although the map did not mark clear coordinates leading to the Palace of Ultimate Bliss.

One could still roughly judge it through the changes in the map fog.

The area explored and opened up by Lu Xing appeared on the map as a long, thin path, with the end obviously being the location of the Great Hall of Ultimate Bliss.

As long as they could enter the Palace of Ultimate Bliss, they could unlock a different kind of happiness, a process comparable to filling a sack with money.

As for how the Ultimate Bliss Clan would feel, the players simply didn't care.

To quote a player on the forum:

Shou Shou Jili doesn't matter; we just want to help the lost sentient beings attain liberation. Screw the Ultimate Bliss Clan.

(End of Chapter)