Seized by the System

The next day, somewhere nearby the bronze cauldron in the Land of Heritage.

The surrounding area had already been cleared. The newly started Institute of the Heavenly Edict was forced to relocate on its first day of class.

Although it was already the next day, there were still quite a number of people looking at the enormous bronze cauldron from afar, discussing it spiritedly.

It was covered with Yin Energy all over, just like the bronze vessels used for funerals. At sunrise, this originally simple, unadorned and awe-inspiring vessel became a source of terror.

In one of the groups that was looking from a distance on a certain rooftop, a person suddenly clasped his head with his hands while observing the view, as if experiencing a headache.

The people around him glanced at him involuntarily. A moment later, they all moved aside.

Between the person’s eyebrows had appeared the same red line!

“This, isn’t this the strange sign that appeared on the host who died during the grand opening ceremony yesterday?”

Someone yelled in panic.

“Save me!” The onlooker, who had been clutching his head with both hands, was now reaching out his hand toward the others, calling out to them bitterly.

“Let’s get out of here fast. Be careful of being infected by the curse!” a person shouted.

The people backed away farther, and immediately begin to run.

Suddenly, above the skies, three cultivators flew over quickly.

They looked down from above, watching the cursed person struggling with his condition. Two of them started to secure their surroundings while the remaining one tore apart a piece of white paper talisman, seeming as if he was preparing to cast a spell.

However, before he could complete his actions, the cursed onlooker suddenly released his head and laughed wildly. “Hey, I’m okay. I’m okay now!”

Then, the crowd saw that the red line between his eyebrows had disappeared, but what took its place was a dark blue dot…

The three cultivators who were maintaining public security exchanged a glance, and one of them used spiritual telepathy right away to send a message to NASBOU, reporting what had happened here.

In reality, a large group of security officers had rushed over to the scene to clear the area, driving away all those were unrelated to the incident.

Soon after, the cursed person with the blue dot between his brows was secretly taken away.

However, there were more and more people who had that blue dot appearing between their eyebrows. In fact, their number was increasing at an exponential rate…

…

In the Land of Heritage, on the ninety-ninth floor of the International Conference Building, where a joint assembly of the strongest cultivators was taking place.

Unwittingly, a new structure of authority was formed. Secular affairs were still handled by the traditional secular institutions.

Nonetheless, more significant affairs relating to the cultivation world were all jointly discussed and resolved by the powerhouses among the humans, who would have to vote to arrive at a final solution.

For this particular assembly, the entry requirement was at Lake-level, and the number of qualified participants totaled up to 78 people.

The host of the assembly was a black cultivator named Washa. He was initially an Aboriginal wizard, but after receiving a revelation, he grew strong rapidly and became qualified as a Lake-level.

In order to express the idea of all humanity as one body, everyone silently agreed to let him be the host of this assembly.

“Today, there’s only one problem to be solved in this assembly, that is, to remove the effects of the bronze cauldron as soon as possible.” Washa used a special kind of spiritual telepathy to convey his meaning to everyone else’s spiritual sense.

By using this method, they could overlook any existing language barriers, and each person would be able to most accurately convey the message they wanted to convey. This could prevent, to the greatest extent, the communication barriers and various misunderstandings that used to occur in past international conferences and assemblies.

“Earlier, NASBOU sent us an urgent report saying that the number of Spirit Beings is rapidly rising. In only three hours, the number has exceeded 400 thousand people. At this rate, it won’t take very long for the entire population of the Land of Heritage, which consists of almost ten billion people, to be reduced to Spirit Beings.” Ren Ruofeng took the lead and gave them advance notice.

“Spirit Beings are those who have been cursed, although the curse is now suspended. According to our emergency investigation, they signed a contract with the bronze cauldron. As long as they offer up eighty percent of the magical energy that they cultivate daily to the cauldron, then they won’t be affected by the curse. If they don’t, their bodies will explode and disintegrate, making their deaths too gruesome to look at.”

He continued to explain.

When the black host heard this, he quickly said, “What solutions do you have in mind, dear wise one from China?”

Although everyone seemed to have achieved unity on the surface, their earlier factions still existed.

Many of them could not bear to see the rise of China, but under the current circumstances, they still had to depend on them.

“Yesterday, the two groups of people that we sent out to request help returned with news. The Bodhisattva Spirit King can’t make a move, so he gave us a formation map instead. The Great Venerable Dragon God also gave us three devil sealing techniques, but the Venerable One would not come personally, so it seems like we can only depend on ourselves,” Ren Ruofeng said calmly.

“How despicable. He’s the Pharos that illuminates the world, and with such a huge dilemma, how can he not intervene personally?” A white cultivator suddenly shouted. “The greater the abilities he has, the greater the responsibilities he should bear. This is a universally accepted truth! Like us, the USA, we’ve always maintained the order and safety of the whole world. Since he has such great power, why won’t he come and move that harmful giant cauldron away?”

Just like a tossed stone raised a thousand ripples, multiple responses broke out all at once in the assembly hall, with some nodding in approval and some shaking their heads while sighing.

Then, a sudden voice echoed.

“Are you still a child?

“Do you know how to sing the Internationale?

“Do you think the Dragon God can protect us for the rest of our lives? Do you think he’s like Superman from the movies?

“He’s a dragon, not a human. Why should he intervene in every single matter on our behalf?

“What a foolish person. Even if you gained power, without a complementary state of mind, you would merely be a false powerhouse whose growth was undermined by undue haste!”

Upon hearing these words, the white man became furious and turned to the person who spoke them.

The speaker was a white-haired, white-bearded Taoist priest, and the power of his presence was a hundred times stronger than that of the white man!

This was Ma Futian, the strongest powerhouse among humans, who previously returned whole from the World of Spirits and Souls!

After going through refinement, he had returned to having a Sea-level power. Among everyone present here, no one could compare to him!

His few rhetorical questions quickly silenced the entire room, and no one else raised any more objections.

The white cultivator also lowered his head, not daring to speak.

“There’s never been any savior, and we don’t rely on deities and emperors. If we want to save humanity, we can only depend on ourselves!” Old Master Ma spoke in a just and severe manner.

Although these words seemed out of place coming from a Taoist priest, at this moment, nonetheless, the crowd felt that these words fit the occasion.

For them to be able to cultivate until they reached Lake-level, the people in the assembly hall were naturally more clear-headed.

They understood very well the deeper significance behind his rhetorical questions.

His meaning was very clear. It was for their benefit that the Great Venerable Dragon God did not intervene.

It was just like how parents who spoiled their children and did everything for them would end up doing more harm to the children.

This particular crisis was not deadly, but a whetstone for honing humanity’s coping abilities. It also marked the beginning of humanity truly getting to know the Shenyuan Era!

“Okay, let’s calm down for a moment. Just as what Master Ma has said,” the black man who was hosting the assembly waved his hands and tried to lighten the room’s atmosphere, “we should depend on ourselves. There are almost a hundred Lake-level powerhouses here, and the Venerable Ones have given us the sealing techniques. We aren’t necessarily left at our wit’s end. The most important thing now is to stop arguing and swiftly make use of these ideas.”

The people nodded in agreement as most of them knew they needed to deal with the important matters first.

Therefore, using the Nets Above Snares Below, Ren Ruofeng quickly distributed the sealing techniques directly to everyone’s consciousness.

Instantly, the assembly hall fell into complete silence as everyone started closing their eyes to study the sealing technique manuals.