197: Public opinion fermented, and everyone called for his arrest

Midnight Gao Sou did not respond.

He hovered in mid-air, looking towards the Sanshui Sect Spirit Peak. The thunderstorm was growing more intense, occasionally sparking flames, and coupled with the increasingly dense fog, it was becoming difficult for Mortals to survive here.

As for Cultivators, the spiritual energy here was so chaotic that it obstructed the circulation of Cultivation Techniques. Forcibly cultivating would also lead to considerable repercussions, even risking death.

Under these circumstances, the Great Love Sect players were unwilling to stay long. They hastily plundered the resources and left the Spirit Peak, rushing outwards.

Midnight Gao Sou watched the changes at Sanshui Sect with a heavy heart.

This place should have become their Great Love Sect's new base, their new main peak.

“Alas.”

Midnight Gao Sou shook his head, his heart wavering, but in the end, he did not do much, only ordering the Great Love Sect to evacuate and not to remain at Sanshui Sect.

When the post-war meeting was held, Midnight Gao Sou specifically emphasized:

“The Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty no longer has Golden Core combat power to protect it, and even the Immortal Foundation combat power is harboring ulterior motives, unable to form a united front, thus posing no threat to our Great Love Sect.

“Sanshui Sect is indeed a good place, a treasure trove for Cultivation, and it might even support a Golden Core Sect. However, such places are certainly not unique in Great Jiang Imperial City; they can be found again.

“We do not need to continue wasting time at Sanshui Sect, nor do we need to waste resources.

“Now, knowing when to stop is enough.”

Midnight Gao Sou sat at the head of the long table, with Foundation Establishment Cultivators seated on both sides.

After Midnight Gao Sou finished speaking, an Immortal Foundation player finally spoke up:

“We can withdraw from Sanshui Sect at any time, and there are no sunk costs involved. We have already acquired enough resources.

“But Gao Sou, can you truly let this matter go?”

Midnight Gao Sou frowned: “What do I have to let go of? The matter of Sanshui Sect is over. Although Ye Chun and his remnants left, we also took many resources. All things considered, we gained more; this was a great victory.”

At this moment, the only Great Love Sect Cultivator with a Magic Treasure, Jiang Yezi, spoke up:

“Gao Sou, we are all friends. If you can’t swallow this Qi, we will all support you. There’s no need to worry about us.”

Midnight Gao Sou’s frown deepened. He said a few casual words and then dismissed the meeting.

After everyone had left, he logged back onto the video website, and sure enough, videos about him kneeling and begging for mercy had intensified.

Initially, they were just simple playback videos.

These were uploaded by ordinary players, without background music, editing, or other captions or special effects. They were relatively objective.

Even if they genuinely slandered him, Midnight Gao Sou, because of this, he would endure it.

But soon, streamers had edited their videos, and so videos of streamers reacting were uploaded.

Midnight Gao Sou now clicked on a streamer’s video.

This was a typical reaction video, with the main screen showing the video and a moderately sized streamer in the bottom right corner.

Initially, he, Midnight Gao Sou, and Wang Long were in a fierce battle, and the streamer just watched quietly.

When Midnight Gao Sou began to beg for mercy, the streamer directly stood up with an exaggerated movement, then pointed a finger at Midnight Gao Sou, shouting even more dramatically:

“What? Midnight Gao Sou surrendered? He is the Great Love Sect Sect Master, with so many players under him. Even us Qi Refining cannon fodder haven’t surrendered; we’re still fighting to the death. He, an Immortal Foundation, surrendered? What kind of person is this?!”

With just this one sentence, the reaction was instantly maximized, immediately stirring the audience’s emotions.

Then, when Midnight Gao Sou knelt, the streamer cried out even more exaggeratedly, wildly rubbing his hands over his head and dramatically covering his mouth.

“Kneeling? He actually knelt?

“Is this the Great Love Sect Sect Master? An Immortal Foundation expert? The number one player with tens of millions in sponsorship?

“He actually knelt and begged for mercy?

“This is not only Midnight Gao Sou’s face, but also the entire Great Love Sect’s face, and even the face of all our players!”

The streamer’s body language, expressions, and tone were all exaggerated to an unnatural degree.

Yet, the players watching the video fell for it, their emotions instantly stirred, and they flooded the screen with bullet comments:

“Damn it, I’m also from Great Love Sect. This time, it’s truly utterly shameful.”

“Kneeling to Wang Long? Damn it, Wang Long is just trash thrown out by Seiya. Our Sect Master actually knelt to him?”

“Laughable. A few days ago, someone was still praising Great Love Sect as being on par with professional clubs, but a Wang Long who was eliminated to the second-tier can hang and beat our Sect Master?”

“I’m leaving Great Love Sect today. I can’t stay here anymore!”

Watching video after video, reading comment after comment, Midnight Gao Sou’s face grew increasingly grim.

He even saw that, as time passed, more and more elaborately produced meme videos began to appear.

Their spread also rapidly increased, and more and more people learned that he, Midnight Gao Sou, had knelt to Wang Long and begged for mercy.

To be fair, this matter was quite coincidental.

If Wang Long were still the ace of Xing Shi Club, then Midnight Gao Sou kneeling would be understandable. It’s normal not to be able to defeat a professional ace, and players could understand that.

However, Wang Long had only recently been expelled by Seiya and relegated to the second-tier Thunder Team, viewed by many as a loser after intense competition among professional players.

And Midnight Gao Sou, whether he liked it or not, was largely elevated by players as the number one outside of professionals, representing countless players.

Coupled with the special game mode of the Xuanhuan World, which prevented professional players’ advantages from consistently manifesting, many ordinary players began to demystify professionals, even believing that player representatives like Midnight Gao Sou far surpassed professional players, often engaging in verbal battles on forums.

Under these circumstances, Midnight Gao Sou kneeling and surrendering to Wang Long directly caused many players to break down.

And the mess at Sanshui Sect was directly linked to player interests.

These various factors combined caused Midnight Gao Sou’s reputation to plummet rapidly, as if he had become a rat crossing the street, hated by everyone.

He silently watched video after video, scrolling through post after post.

Midnight Gao Sou quickly realized that to salvage his reputation, he had to do two things:

First, directly defeat Wang Long to prove that he had been enduring hardships, that it was out of necessity. This would directly reverse public opinion.

Second, restore the spiritual energy of Sanshui Sect, making it a Cultivation treasure trove again, and win over players with benefits, allowing public opinion to continue to grow.

As Midnight Gao Sou was contemplating.

Star Fiend Daoist’s voice sounded in his mind:

“Actually, there’s a very simple way to make you recognized by all Extraterrestrial Demons.”

Midnight Gao Sou raised an eyebrow: “What way?”

“Breakthrough to Golden Core. In the Cultivation World, the strong are respected. Here, seniority and age do not matter; only Cultivation level does.

“As long as you can Breakthrough to Golden Core, those who dislike you, oppose you, or even hate you, will all become your most loyal supporters.”

Midnight Gao Sou pondered for a moment: “But if I were to Breakthrough to Golden Core, many people would die.”