Seized by the System

After hearing the other party’s words, Vigilante A fell silent.

‘The employment of the three Metal-masked Men’s under the Spirit Lord was truly done against their will,’ Fang Ning thought quietly.

However, he could not give way just because of their ineluctable situation.

It would be foolish if he did that; he might be soft-hearted, but he was not Mother Mary.

This gave Sir System a headache, “Mr. Big Boss, what do you think of this situation? If they went by force till the end with Bronze-masked Man’s attitude just now, then it would’ve been easy to solve things — we could’ve all just start fighting and I could farm a hell lot of experience points. Plus, these three play with their brains so farming experience points can’t get any easier. But now that they’ve surrendered, it wouldn’t be nice to go by force…”

“Yeah, they could never compete against a muscle System like you.” Fang Ning took the chance to tease him.

“Cut your nonsense and give me some ideas.” Sir System was frustrated.

“It’s simple,” Fang Ning smiled slyly, “Since they are under the control of the Spirit Lord, we’ll just tell them a way to free themselves.”

“Uh, can you be a bit clearer?” Sir System asked, puzzled, “I’m just a pure and naïve System, don’t beat around the bush.”

“Isn’t it simple? What was your System Hotel built for?” Fang Ning said in distaste, “Once they give up their body and enter the place in their soul form, then like those two Gods, they will naturally be freed from any control from the outside world—it won’t get any safer than this.”

“Ugh, Mr. Big Boss, you really made some fancy things out of my simple System Space…” Sir System was utterly impressed.

“It’s not much. I mean, this is the difference between man and System.” Fang Ning was pleased with himself.

Right there, Vigilante A told the Metal-masked Men lightly, “I understand the concerns all three of you bear. I have always hated those who prey on the weak; since you were acting under the Spirit Lords’ coercion, I will allow you to take cover in myTrue Dragon Realm on the condition that you will need to give up your physical bodies. No saint can do any harm to you there, not to mention mere Spirit Lords. Your Cultivation Base, bodily presence—or the lack thereof—should not affect you much.”

The trio looked at each other wordlessly — they did not expect such an idea from the other party.

The greatest epiphany the Gold-masked Man received from The Tragic Death of Boss was that in facing these protagonists, one must acquire a solid moral high ground; or else, one would die a horrible death.

He presented the Spirit Lord as a threat, so as to show that his actions were born out of desperation and not of self-interest. This way, if he was defeated in a conflict, he could at least escape alive.

Conversely, that Shadow Spirit General had committed those exact mistakes and built up enmity. It was understandable that he ended up being vanquished in ashes.

However, the other party now offered a seemingly perfect solution. If they were forced into action, they should be overjoyed and accept the proposal.

If they were to seek out excuses to decline now, it would be obvious that they were harboring evil intentions; the opposition was the True Dragon, not an idiot.

Nevertheless, they were under no form of coercion — rather, they were benefitting big time from the Spirit Lords.

Amidst such hesitation, the Bronze-masked Man grew impatient.

He burst out irritably, “I told you to not talk nonsense with them, Big Brother; you always hesitate like this, now what? Are we really going to enter whatever this rubbish True Dragon Realm is and receive protection? And even give up our bodies? That’s not possible, the Spirit Lords are offering us the last three positions as Gods in the World of Spirits and Souls!”

The Gold-masked Man did not chastise his brother this time because he knew that the Bronze-masked Man was right — the three of them could never accept Vigilante A’s proposal.

“Hmph, as expected, despite your smooth-talking, spirits are spirits!” Vigilante A said coldly, he stretched out his hand and pulled out the Black Sword.

“Now let Sir Soaring Dragon send you off to the Spirit Lords!” Black Sword roared at the top of its lungs, stunning everyone present.

“Ugh, this bloody sword, it just ruined the atmosphere I’ve been brewing. I was even thinking of playing some system sound effect…” Sir System said in annoyance.

“Never mind, don’t bother with the likes of a child,” Fang Ning consoled, “Fighting is more important.”

The Gold-masked Man released a long sigh and waved his hand, and the Metal-masked Men disappeared all at once.

In their absence was a gigantic tremor that started to crawl across the entire Devil Planet.

The ground seemed to be vibrating in a slight judder.

“The Incarnation of a True God?” A sudden wave of fear stirred within Fang Ning.

As he was going to retreat to the blacksmiths forge, he suddenly turned to the System Hotel.

‘Yup, there are still two gods playing chess in the entertainment room.’

Though a big-time cheesy homebody, Fang Ning also had times when he disliked being alone. Like when he just completed a horror decryption game, or when he just finished reading a scary novel, or right after a horror film…

At these times, he would miss his college classmates who snored a lot.

He also missed the few colleagues whose snored on their business trips could wake their neighbors.

“It seems like there’s something disastrous happening outside?” Death said briskly as he lifted his head to look in a direction.

Fang Ning raised his gaze to the big screen hanging on the entertainment room wall, it was showing the scene taking place outside.

Of course, it had not been showing every single event to the two gods, but when it involved more sophisticated war situations, incidents would be broadcasted in order to attain their transcendental guidance.

“Yeah, based on what the Metal-masked Men said, they seem to have brought an avatar of a Spirit Lord down with them.” Fang Ning said heavily.

“They’re going big,” Death was impressed, “I didn’t think that the World of Spirits and Souls could afford to spend such great power for a Spirit Lord’s incarnation and transmigration through space down here. If my deduction is correct, this trip will cost the World of Spirits and Souls a year’s worth of life reduction.”

“With such a price to pay, it seems like this Avatar of a Spirit Lord must be something extraordinary. I wonder Elder Death, would you have any ideas to counter this?” Fang Ning asked, hopeful.

At this moment, outside, the entire planet was shaking. The oceans writhed, and the ground creased, just like how an Earth Dragon’s stirring caused a ripple to spread across the planet in the legends.

With such a spectacle, one could only imagine the formidable power of the forthcoming monster.

“Uh, this is indeed a little troublesome. During my heyday, an avatar of a Spirit Lord would consume an amount of Divine Power that was just slightly higher; but now, this is difficult.” An unmistakable trace of helplessness showed through Death’s tone.

At this time, the observing Black Pot tried reversed-psychology, “Lord Death, you are the supreme deity in charge of the Path of Death. Even though you stand powerless against it now, surely you would know the weakness of a mere avatar of a Spirit Lord?”

“Uh, of course, it has weaknesses, but they could only be utilized by gods. For cultivators who aren’t gods, its only shortcoming is its lack of endurance for a prolonged battle, after all, this planet has limited vitality. However, the so-called prolonged battle is really just a false proposition because the avatar can hold up at least a year-long. For one, it can save its power through dormancy and aura-masking; it has many tricks up its sleeves.” Death sighed.

“Uh, Sir System, are you still confident? Do you want to just flee?” Fang Ning suggested.

Sir System replied cowardly, “When you put it like this, I think it’s better to escape too, but I’m worried if it’ll chase us to Earth… We can still fight freely here but back on Earth—well, Earth is going to get trampled.”

“That’s true, but there is an advantage in retreating back to Earth—we could use the powers of Heavenly Axiom; unlike here, we’re isolated with no backup.” Fang Ning said seriously.

At this moment, the green-skinned frog suddenly popped out, shaking his head as he said, “Axiom Daddy sent a message just now, he wants us to remain here and face the monster head-on as his set-up still requires some time. If the enemy is defeated here, then Master will be rewarded 10000 Heavenly Merit Points; if not, 30000 points will be deducted instead.”

“What? There’s even a penalty? Tell him, he can deduct as he pleases, I’m leaving right now.” Sir System was infuriated.

“Uh…” The green-skinned frog seemed to be communicating with Heavenly Axiom.

After a while, he spoke, “Axiom Daddy relented, he said to stall for at least half a month. As long as you stall for half a month, you’ll get 10000 Heavenly Merit Points and with every extra day, you’ll get another thousand points.”

“That’s more like it.” Sir System said, satisfied.

“Half a month, can you hold it off that long, Sir System?” Fang Ning was doubtful.

“Hmph, the enemy might be an incarnation of a god but I have battle skills that exceed the gods,” Sir System puffed proudly, “I can’t defeat it, but I can buy some time.”