191: The oriole behind the scenes

"Old Potato and the others left?"

When Midnight Gao Sou received the news, he was completely stunned.

He dismissed the other players, went alone to his Immortal Cave for secluded cultivation, sat on a futon, and sighed.

Although it hadn't reached the point of brothers turning against each other, it still made Midnight Gao Sou very sad.

Old Potato, in pursuit of a Breakthrough and Opportunity, had led his people to the Western Great Desert.

But Midnight Gao Sou would not go.

The Great Jiang Dynasty was on the verge of collapse; all the citizens of Great Jiang would become nourishment for the evil Cultivators. This was an immeasurable Opportunity, capable of fostering one Immortal Foundation evil Cultivator after another.

As the Sect Master of the Great Love Sect, Midnight Gao Sou absolutely could not leave with Old Potato.

It was precisely because he knew this that Old Potato hadn't mentioned the Great Desert to Midnight Gao Sou beforehand, fearing he would be put in a difficult position.

"..."

Midnight Gao Sou felt a lump in his throat. He thought back to when the Xuanhuan World first opened, when a few players gathered together. Their Realm wasn't high, and they didn't manage many people, but the game was pure joy, creating many entertaining moments.

Thinking of this, Midnight Gao Sou couldn't help but send a message to the Mage:

"Mage, do you think when we play Xuanhuan World, we can still distinguish between the game and reality?"

"Game choices and identities are just for the game, they don't affect our real-life friendships?"

On the other side, the Mage received the message and was momentarily stunned.

What the hell, what did Midnight Gao Sou mean by asking this?

Did he already know I was going to make a move on the Great Love Sect and overthrow his rule?

The Mage was dazed for a long time, pondering, then carefully replied:

"I think, playing games is definitely different from reality."

"Killing brothers in the game is just for fun. Even backstabbing, slandering, or even mocking brothers is just role-playing within the game."

"Anyway, I think no matter how excessive one's actions are in the game, it doesn't affect real-life friendships."

Midnight Gao Sou saw the reply and first nodded, but then felt something was odd.

When the Mage said these things, it felt like he had an ulterior motive?

Was he mocking him for ostracizing Old Potato and being unwilling to provide Foundation Establishment resources?

Midnight Gao Sou pondered for a moment, then still sent a message:

"Indeed, playing games is all about role-playing."

"In-game characters and real-life characters are completely different and cannot be generalized."

The two of them, each with their own thoughts, were completely on different wavelengths, but ultimately reached the same conclusion:

The game is the game, reality is reality.

Whatever one does in the game is role-playing, an immersive experience.

Being utterly evil in the game doesn't mean one can't be a good person in reality.

Backstabbing a brother in the game doesn't mean turning against a brother in reality.

After reaching a consensus, both Midnight Gao Sou and the Mage breathed a sigh of relief... In a secluded mountain peak, golden rays of light flickered, then quickly converged to a single point, finally dissipating.

The Mage rose from his Buddhist Qi meditation, looking forward.

The Bald Monk stood before him, sitting cross-legged, toying with his prayer beads, muttering profound-sounding words.

The Mage looked further into the distance; he could vaguely see a vast, white aura continuously gathering towards the Imperial City from all directions of Great Jiang.

He knew this was the aura of Great Jiang's impending downfall.

Thanks to the special cultivation methods of Buddhist Cultivator, he could perceive the national destiny Qi and sense the changes in the Great Jiang Dynasty.

At this moment, the Bald Monk spoke:

"The Imperial Dynasty collapses, all beings suffer. This is a good Opportunity to enlighten all beings. If you wish to advance further, your Karma lies here."

The Mage was somewhat speechless; this monk always spoke mysteriously, never in plain language.

He translated it simply: the Great Jiang Dynasty was about to collapse, many Mortals and Cultivators were desperate, and at this time, coming out to say he wanted to enlighten them to become monks would increase the number of those who accepted, thus giving the Mage a way to achieve a Breakthrough.

After all, Breakthroughs in the Buddhist Cultivator system were all related to enlightenment. The more Mortals and Cultivators enlightened, the higher the probability and upper limit of Breakthroughs.

At this moment, the Bald Monk said again:

"Furthermore, if you can enlighten all the evil Cultivators of the Great Love Sect, that would be a great Karma, a great Opportunity. Perhaps you could even leap to become a Vajra."

The Mage was stunned, then gave a bitter smile: "Then I'd probably be torn to shreds by everyone first."

Buddhist Cultivator and evil Cultivators were still different. If he enlightened someone, the traces left would accompany their Soul, directly forcing the other party to create a new account, starting their reincarnation points from scratch, and possibly even having other effects.

Enlightening the entire Great Love Sect would mean completely making enemies with the largest player group.

The Mage had considered it but had not yet made up his mind.

When Mingshui Heaven fell earlier, he went in to investigate, observing the various attitudes of the players. He found that their targeting of evil Cultivators was actually an in-game targeting, a hierarchy of disdain for game professions, and did not involve real-life personal attacks.

Few people believed that Midnight Gao Sou and these evil Cultivators were also utterly evil in reality and needed to be punished by law.

However, affecting the Soul was equivalent to directly destroying someone's account, forcing others to spend money to buy a new account, which was quite different from what evil Cultivators did.

"Master, let's wait for the Great Love Sect to explode on its own."

The Mage thought for a moment and ultimately decided to remain inactive for now.

This was his initial plan: wait for the Great Love Sect to collapse on its own, with internal conflicts constantly erupting and Midnight Gao Sou, the Sect Master, constantly being questioned. Then he would descend as a savior, gain a wave of goodwill, and slowly make his move.

"It's good that you have a plan."

The Bald Monk nodded, still sitting cross-legged, toying with his prayer beads. The golden Buddha light was very faint but pure, containing infinite power.

The Mage finally couldn't resist asking the question that concerned him:

"Master, you said you want to establish a Buddhist kingdom in Great Jiang, to transform this place into a Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. But the Great Jiang Empress is about to achieve a Nascent Soul Breakthrough. If she succeeds, won't all our efforts turn to dust?"

The Bald Monk's hand movements finally stopped. He pondered for a moment, then slowly began to speak:

"She will not succeed."

"The Great Jiang Empress is indeed a genius, and her national destiny methods are excellent. However, her Golden Core is only of the sixth-grade."

"Her Innate foundation is insufficient, and her Acquired efforts are powerless."

"She wants to gather the Qi of conquest, the Qi of recuperation, the Qi of decline, and the Qi of national demise, using national destiny to forcibly achieve a Nascent Soul Breakthrough, to change her fate against the Heaven-Defying. But how difficult is that?"

"She will not succeed."

The Mage hesitated, then continued to ask:

"Since she desires the Qi of national demise, should we intervene to stop her and allow Great Jiang to continue existing, thus making her chances of success even lower?"

The Bald Monk shook his head:

"No. The Qi of national demise is not dangerous. But if she gets the chance to obtain the Qi of revival, then she might truly be able to change her fate against the Heaven-Defying."

"Heshui Prefecture, Duan Kong Cave, and Qingling Sect—these three factions haven't moved, also understanding this point. No one can guarantee that the Empress is truly in secluded cultivation for a Breakthrough."

The Mage nodded, watching the constantly gathering national destiny Qi.

He knew very well that the Great Love Sect was currently the protagonist, rampaging through the Great Jiang Dynasty.

Heshui Prefecture was eyeing them covetously from the side, seemingly also plotting something.

But these two small Buddhist Cultivator were the true mantises stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind them.