Chapter 286 - - 284 Strike first to gain the upper hand_1

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Duge ignored Luo Fan and steered the topic back to Sheng Wenhua, “The Three Pure Hall’s techniques, synthesized from the strengths of various families, have they left behind any esoteric manuals or the like?”

Following the usual story patterns, defeated heroes often leave behind a large fortune or secret manuals, waiting for their descendants or those fated individuals who accidentally discover these manuals to rise again, inherit their mantle, and once more cause a storm in the cultivation world.

“I don’t know about that,” said Zhang Ziqing, “It’s a very ancient matter now, and the legends that have been passed down in our sect are just that many.

But over a thousand years have passed, and the Dao cultivation world has been at peace. Even the last person who went into seclusion hasn’t stirred up trouble, so it’s very likely that no useful secret manuals were left behind.”

“I’ve heard my master analyze the reasons,” Xie Zhong said, “The cultivation techniques of the various sects have been handed down for thousands of years and verified by countless people. Following the proper steps in cultivation, there’s basically no chance for errors, but the forced integration of the strengths of all families by Sheng Wenhua and others, hastily combined in just a few years, inevitably has many flaws.

Cultivation is never a trivial matter, one wrong step can lead to total failure. It’s very likely that those who practiced the Three Pure Hall techniques ultimately all ended up crippled, and thus it’s normal that the techniques did not spread.”

Crippled, huh?

Duge pondered.

Qing Song seemed to think of something and quickly explained, “Little Junior Brother, I didn’t mean to harm you. The task Sheng Wenhua failed at, you may not necessarily fail. After all, you just said yourself, the Heavenly Demon has an extraordinary ability to recover.

Even if there’s a conflict between techniques, you can recover in an instant, and if you practice the wrong technique, you can adjust it at any time. If there’s anyone in this world who can synthesize the strengths of various families, it has to be you, Little Junior Brother.”

“Big Brother Qing Song, I didn’t blame you,” Duge said with a smile, “Actually, even if you hadn’t mentioned it, I was planning on doing just that. It’s not for myself, but for all the brothers who have placed their trust in me.

My only goal is to eliminate the Heavenly Demons from the world. But if I can deduce a technique that integrates the strengths of various families, that would be a true benefit to everyone.

I value loyalty the most. We are all friends here, and it wouldn’t be right for me to leave and let everyone have worked in vain, only to be punished by their sects later on.

If possible, after unifying the cultivation world, I would prefer my own friends to be in charge…”

The crowd was moved.

“Brother Cheng is being too polite,” said Xie Zhong, “In a moment, I will share the Maoshan Heart Method with Brother Cheng. With your talent, Brother Cheng, you’ll probably master the Maoshan Heart Method in just one day…”

He didn’t finish his sentence.

His phone rang.

Xie Zhong took out his phone and immediately frowned, then he showed the phone screen to Duge, “Brother Cheng, we have a problem.”

Duge glanced at the screen, which displayed a message: “Hold Cheng Yu, agents from the government agency will arrive soon.”

“Brother Cheng,” Zhang Ziqing frowned, his instincts sharp, “There’s trouble with the government agency.”

The government agency is a national entity, responsible for overseeing various cultivation sects, similar to the Supervisory Academy from the last alien battlefield.

But in this world, the government agency’s members comprise the nation’s cultivation departments and elite members planted by various sects, serving as both oversight and self-regulation.

Duge looked at the message, were they coming to arrest him?

Such a quick response!

Soon he realized, this simulation field was rife with people ready to flip tables.

Examinees ranking lower may not necessarily seek the main storyline, and it’s more advantageous for them to use extraordinary measures to eliminate other examinees.

After all.

It’s been less than three days since the start, and apart from him, an outlier, all examinees are still in the stage of boosting their attributes, not yet a match for the natives.

In such a situation, the government agency’s people most likely found an examinee with a keyword like “scouting,” or even further, the government agency might have been infiltrated or controlled by examinees.

Keywords like “charm,” “befuddle,” “control,” could achieve this, not to mention someone awakening an unreasonable skill or two!

And certain unreasonable skills can control others across ranks.

No matter the scenario, the enemy will choose to strike first,

and he, the prime target as the top-ranked Heavenly Demon, is naturally a priority to be eliminated.

To confirm his thoughts, Duge took out his phone and logged into the social media platform Weibo.

As expected, his account had already been locked, unable to perform any operation.

The latest message was an apology letter, “I did not mean to offend anyone, all I did was to coordinate with the film crew’s promotion, it was a misunderstanding, and if this has caused any mental distress to everyone, I hereby offer my sincerest apologies.”

The accompanying picture was a promotional photo from the film crew, the film titled “Flow,” complete with director, producer, lead actors, and supporting actors.

A full-frontal assault!

Even the key words for “reduction” were employed.

What a pity.

The enemies are not familiar with how the internet operates.

How could a controversy stirred up by a celebrity be dismissed with just an apology or two?

Moreover.

The post he made really hit a nerve for many people, the ‘Breaking Defense’ ridicule had solidly drawn their ire…

In any case, up to this point, not even a little bit of his attributes had dropped.

However.

Duge felt somewhat fortunate; he had chosen the right person to possess, and, acting decisively, he had searched for keywords earlier than others and commenced his cultivation without hesitation.

Otherwise.

Randomly possessing someone.

This combination of assaults might have truly been unbearable.

Modern society features fast communication and transportation, which is said to benefit the students, but it also has a clear downside: without developed defenses, once targeted, there’s no escape.

Having one’s own tactics used against oneself, Duge was still somewhat uncomfortable.

A step slow, always lagging, not giving anyone a chance to breathe—no wonder the accustomed-to-lurking Alien Warriors couldn’t cope.

…

The simulation in the training grounds also served as a wake-up call for Duge.

The chaos of the Alien Battlefield three months later was likely to resemble the tumult of the training grounds—if one did not gain an advantage at the start, there might not be a later.

Two keywords might not guarantee safety.

After all.

The distribution of keywords was too random; who knew if one might end up with some useless keyword, like Chen Ziyong, whose confession, without any renown, simply couldn’t take off.

Looking closer, what Chen Ziyong had accomplished was already quite good.

“Brother Cheng, my video has also been blocked,” Chen Ziyong took out his cell phone and said, “The Supervisory Academy must be under Heavenly Demon’s control.”

“The Supervisory Academy is under the control of the Heavenly Demon?” Luo Fan finally reacted and exclaimed in surprise.

“What else? When have you ever seen the folks from the Supervisory Academy reacting so swiftly?” Zhang Ziqing said, “Brother Cheng caused such a stir this morning by merely applying some simple pressure. It makes no sense for them to come and apprehend us directly in the evening. The Heavenly Demon is more rampant than we thought!”

“Brother Cheng, what should we do?” Shi Dashan asked, “Should we avoid them? The people from the Supervisory Academy are elites from various sects. Their cultivation levels are far above ours, and usually, they do not notify us before carrying out missions. This time they sent a message to Xie Zhong, obviously because they know about your combat strength. That is to say, our side’s battle situation has already been made known to the Supervisory Academy.”

Duge frowned, pondering for a moment: “Contact your sect elders immediately and tell them, whatever orders the Supervisory Academy gives, do not listen, do not act.”

Everyone realized the urgency and hurriedly took out their phones, calling their respective Sect Leaders.

But soon.

A succession of startled exclamations came over.

With Duge’s sharp hearing and keen sight, even without their repeating, he also heard the voices from their phone speakers.

Half an hour ago, the Sect Leaders and the elites of the major sects had been notified to attend a meeting in the Capital City to discuss subduing the Heavenly Demon.

Damn!

Duge cursed inwardly; the guy in the Supervisory Academy was a master, executing a flawless combination of moves, outpacing him.

Duge opened his personal panel and took a look; he was still ranked first.

This meant that the other person’s influence couldn’t yet match his.

But if that person gained control over the Sect Leaders of the Cultivation World, who remained first would be uncertain.

There were real talents in the simulation grounds!

It was a pity that such a person was not deployed to the battlefield.

One couldn’t help but say that Qiyuan Star’s talent selection system was seriously flawed.

“Brother Cheng, what do we do?” Zhang Ziqing asked, somewhat anxiously, “The Sect Leader has been tricked into going to the Supervisory Academy, and, moreover, they have issued an order that no one is allowed to use communication devices to prevent eavesdropping by the Heavenly Demon, making intervention impossible.”

“Let’s go, raid their homes,” Duge looked around at everyone and said, “If the Supervisory Academy’s people want to capture all the elites in one fell swoop, we’ll do the opposite and get control over the main houses of the major sects first.”

“But the Supervisory Academy has redirected all the elites from the sects, even if we take down the sects, we won’t be their match!” Xie Zhong said, “Brother Cheng, you’ve only recently entered the Cultivation World, and you probably don’t know that each sect holds legacy Magic Artifacts that could suppress an entire sect with their immense power if used properly.”

“What’s there to fear?” Duge gave him a reassuring look, “As far as I know, the Heavenly Master Sect still has a batch of masters, right?”

“…” Zhang Ziqing furrowed his brows, “How come I wasn’t aware of that?”

“Isn’t there a Demon Sealing Cave in the Heavenly Master Mountain?” Duge smiled, “The Supervisory Academy may be able to summon the Sect Leaders and the elites, but they certainly can’t release the demons trapped in the Demon Sealing Cave!”

At this revelation.

The expressions of everyone changed drastically, once again experiencing the Heavenly Demon’s recklessness.

Zhang Ziqing swallowed hard: “Brother Cheng, those suppressed by the Demon Sealing Cave are at least millennium-old ghosts, and after being imprisoned for a thousand years, who knows how heavy their resentment might be! If we release them, and if we can’t control them, countless lives could be lost. We can’t do this.”

“You’re underestimating the Heavenly Demon,” Duge shook his head, looking at Confession Brother Chen Ziyong, “Don’t forget, we have an expert here who can eliminate hostility!”

“…” Chen Ziyong was stunned; he had thought his skill was useless, that he might never make a mark in this world again.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Yu had indeed found a place for him to make a difference—and if used well, it really might turn the tide.

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