Chapter 694 – Hongjun's Decisiveness
Without Pan Mei and Pangu's intervention, Nian made a quick work of the player's faction structures.
Aside from Pan Mei who had logged out, the remaining beta testers were annihilated. Only a few who hadn't gotten back into the game survived this ordeal.
Even after everything in the player's plane was wiped out, this player's faction wasn't defeated yet. Until Pan Mei was killed, the players could still come back and rebuild their towns.
Thus, Hiiro, who was the cause of this mess, got to continue playing the game. However, he, too, had a life. He soon logged out of the game and returned to reality in Divine Theocracy Earth.
…
Meanwhile, Sun Crow was vexed. He didn't know if he should return to the Heavenly Dao Plane or visit Miaomiao.
He didn't dare show his face to Miaomiao. After all, he knew that Miaomiao had learned about his deeds and the fate of Ju Shoufen, Jia Wenhe, and their colleagues. Moreover, Miaomiao's sons also died at Sun Crow's hands.
'He is a big boy now. I'm sure that he read my karma and knew about their death. Heck, even if Mao Miaomiao is stupid, Mu-Nyang might have already told him everything. I can't go to that side!'
Being intimidated, Sun Crow swallowed his shame and returned to Hongjun's side.
As Sun Crow entered Hongjun's plane, he discovered that many deities and sages had been gathering and stood in a queue.
Curious, Sun Crow approached them. As he was from a monster family, he talked to Qiongqi Sage.
"S-Senior? What's going on here?"
The white tiger with a snake tail and two wings turned around. Upon seeing the featherless crow, he burst into laughter.
"BAHAHAHAHA! What the hell is wrong with you, damn crow?! You look like a boiled chicken!"
"Er, erm, not too loud, please."
It was too late. Everybody turned around and noticed the featherless crow.
The sages smirked while the deities cackled. Even the most stoic Buddha Sage averted his face and pretended to cough.
Hongjun, who had been sitting on a bundle of a sentient yin-yang cloud, glanced at the crow. He lightly exhaled and explained.
"Sun Crow. We're deciding who will get the Silver Qi."
The naked bird flapped his KFC hot wings, pleasantly surprised, "Who's getting the Silver Qi, senior?"
"Any volunteer who is willing to sacrifice their lives for others will get the Silver Qi."
"W-What?!"
Sun Crow never wanted to die for others. As he was afraid of death, he looked over the imminent benefit of getting the pearl of Silver Qi. He shook his head.
"I'm sorry. Not me!"
Everybody snickered. Hongjun calmly disregarded Sun Crow and reminded everybody.
"Only pseudo sages are eligible for my Silver Qi. No weak deity is qualified since the Silver Qi supply is limited."
"O-Oh."
Sun Crow lowered his head in disappointment.
…
Meanwhile, Jieyin and Jian Xian's expressions turned dark.
Earlier today, after Hiiro had threatened to invade their plane, Hongjun sent a decree and ordered his men to capture Jieyin.
Behind them, a refined handsome young man in black robes pressed on Jieyin's head with his glowing purple hand. This unrestrained sage had been draining his colleague's Connate Qi and disabling the latter's abilities.
He was Zhunti, one of six Hongjun's disciples along with Jieyin, Houtu, Jade Sage, All-Heaven Sage, and Virtuous Sage.
Next to Zhunti, Jade Sage also emitted the aura of an unrestrained sage! He also suppressed Jian Xian and Jieyin with his new power.
Originally, Jade Sage was just a regular sage. However, his surviving colleague had just sacrificed himself to promote Jade Sage's strength!
Even though Houtu blundered and lost contact with their faction, they regained another unrestrained sage. And now, they planned to create a new Great Dao Sage by sacrificing Jieyin!
Zhunti sneered at his old friend, "The moment you decide to hide Silver Qi for yourself, you're done."
Jieyin lowered his head, ignoring the taunt. Although he had already eaten a pearl of Silver Qi, he wasn't sure if Hongjun could extract it from his soul.
Hongjun turned away from Sun Crow and stared at Jieyin. He snapped his fingers and pulled all items that Jieyin had been collecting.
Boxes of Silver Qi and Entity Ore came out!
Hongjun lightly snorted, "You are too greedy, Jieyin. Had you shared these pearls with me, I could have made you a great dao sage."
"Since when have you found out?" Jieyin bit his lower lips.
"I can read your mind. As soon as you looked into my eyes, I already noticed what you've been doing."
"I see. So we are nothing but your pawns."
"Wrong. I always treat you like my real child, Jieyin. You were the chosen one. Why are you thinking that I mistreated you?"
"That because you never shared your treasures with me! Whenever I found treasures, you always confiscated everything and shared them with those worthless deities!" Jieyin pointed at the crowd of deities and pseudo sages.
Hongjun paused. He opened his mouth and was about to say something. However, after reading Jieyin's mind, he discarded the idea.
Currently, Jieyin's mind was tainted with greed, anger, and pride. His ego hindered him from discovering the Great Dao. And now, with this setback, it might take forever for Jieyin to discover the right path for himself.
Since Jieyin had no chance in this life, it was better to kill him and give the chance to another unrestrained sage, such as Zhunti.
Hongjun waved his hand. Jieyin and Zhunti were pulled to the altar.
Jieyin grudgingly glared at Zhunti and Hongjun.
"I'll never forgive you for this. You're ruining my future!"
"You did this upon yourself by being dishonest. As soon as you allow yourself to be corrupted with desire, your chance of enlightenment is gone. Get some rest and try again after the grand reset."
Hongjun lightly sighed, and Jieyin's body evaporated to nothingness. However, his red soul remained, and they shuttled toward the sky.
Everybody looked up and tried to see where Jieyin's soul went. Unfortunately, they couldn't see further than ten star systems away.
Only Hongjun managed to locate Jieyin's true soul. He also noticed a certain cat, he pulled Jieyin's red soul to his pocket dantian.
'Mu-Nyang.'
Hongjun pondered, calculating the future that Mu-Nyang had envisioned.
'Ugh.'
Unfortunately, it was impossible to see through Mu-Nyang's karma with his current cultivation and understanding of Great Dao. His cultivation base was a tier lower than the ceiling of the cultivation universe.
Still, Hongjun was happy. As he could see the goal right in front of him, he was willing to spend another quadrillion years cultivating and figuring out the secrets of the Dao. Eventually, he would reach Mu-Nyang and Pangu levels.
But when he fantasized about himself after reaching the top, Hongjun began to doubt.
What would he do after that?
Would that be the end of cultivation life?
Was there any higher rank than the Creator?
Hongjun bit the tip of his tongue to snap out of the thought train. Had he continued to fantasize, he could have developed and heart demon.
Meanwhile, Zhunti's cultivation base was upgraded to great dao sage. However, he didn't have the calculation power, foresight, and abilities of a great dao sage. Instead, he had the raw power output of the cultivation base.
For Zhunti and others, this strength was enough to ensure their safety. Now, they had another great dao sage to fight against Nian and the mysterious player.
"Next!"
Hongjun reset the altar and called for others to use it. He turned to other sages, who might want power.
While the crowd hesitated if they should volunteer or sacrifice themselves, Zhunti suddenly suggested an idea.
Zhunti gazed at Eve, whom he had yearned for.
Although a sage like Zhunti had long given up worldly desire, he wanted to try something that he had never done before after living for billions of years.
Zhunti wanted a dao companion!
He had been eyeing Houtu before. Unfortunately, she went missing. Now, the only good candidate here was Eve, who was the best-looking pseudo sage among all female deity populations.
"Master. How about we select someone with great potential and promote them?"
Hongjun was curious. He read Zhunti's thoughts and discovered his ulterior motive right away.
The great sage was disappointed in his disciple, but Eve was indeed a great candidate. She had a long life experience, and she shared the bloodline of Pangu, who had created all prototype war droids with his flesh and blood, which made her future promising.
Looking at Eve, Hongjun thought of Devil, Lilith, and Adam. The trio was so close to advancing to the sage realm on their own, but they were always suppressed by his disciples.
Gaea and Uranus also didn't make it. Otherwise, Hongjun would have raised them as new sages.
Since they only had one prototype war droid on their side, Hongjun decided to use her.
"Eve," Hongjun gazed at her. "If I make you a great dao sage, will you be loyal to me and Zhunti?"
Eve was overjoyed. She quickly knelt and kowtowed to both of them.
"I'm willing! I'll be forever your loyal subject!"
Jade Emperor narrowed his eyes while Jade Sage frowned. Both of them also planned to make Eve their concubine, but Zhunti used his status to take her first.
Both of them reluctantly gave up on Eve. They only hoped that they could score a better woman than her.
But while everyone was jealous of Zhunti and Eve, Hongjun made another decisive move. He pointed at 10 deities among the crowd, who had been hiding behind others.
Before the crowd could say anything or obtain the pearl of Silver Qi, Hongjun killed them all!
10 deities vanished, just like that!
But in exchange, Eve's cultivation base advanced from the pseudo sage realm to a sage.
That wasn't the end. Hongjun reset the altar. Then, he pulled a monster sage and killed him.
Again, Eve's strength rose to the unrestrained sage realm!
The sequence was so fast that nobody got enough time to react. Eve was also as shocked as the spectators.
But Hongjun didn't stop. He slapped Eve's back and used the exclusive power of a great dao sage to correct Eve's foundation. Within a few seconds, a billion years of Hongjun's Great Dao knowledge entered her mind and became one with her.
Blood dripped from Eve's nostrils as her brain was damaged. She collapsed.
Zhunti supported the newly trained unrestrained sage. He also bowed at Hongjun.
But the great dao sage was ruthless. He turned to the remaining sages and deities.
"W-Wait!"
Nobody got enough time to react. Even Buddha Sage was astonished by Hongjun's decisiveness.
Hongjun finally revealed a sinister smile.
"I'd rather have a few trustworthy great dao sages than useless deities. You all can die and become the stepping stones for our Heavenly Dao Universe!"
"YOU!!"
Hongjun proceeded to capture the two remaining fiend sages. He sacrificed one to promote another. Then, he reset the altar and sacrificed the newly promoted unrestrained sage to upgrade Eve!
Just like that, Eve became a great dao sage while she was still unconscious!
After he was done promoting Eve, he took the Silver Qi pearls that he had confiscated from Jieyin. Then, he gave them to Zhunti and Eve.
"You two eat those. I also had mine."
He turned to the crowd next. Hongjun proceeded to make a new declaration.
"Only those who had sworn allegiance to me will be promoted! As for the non-believers, be honored that you will become a stepping stone for the others!"
Hongjun created a bubble in front of him. Instantly, everybody, including Buddha Sage, OG-Buddha, Sun Wukong, Kunwu, Qin Shi Huang, Jian Xian, Hades, Jade Emperor, and many deities were sealed inside.
Aside from Hongjun, Zhunti, Jade Sage, and Eve, no one remained on Heavenly Dao's plane!
Within one day, Hongjun cleaned up his faction. He now turned toward the portal.
'In a few days, the promised event will take place, and 100 representatives from our side will be selected. I'll just simply prepare 100 great dao sages, and we will trample on Mao Miaomiao and the players!'
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