An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 232 Compromise
As Liang Zhan's powerful voice fell, whispers arose again among the crowd below.

"Yes, General Liang is right. If it weren't for that blood-red monster protecting us, we would have all been crushed to death! How can a demon save people while a Buddha kills?"

"But didn't the holy monk say that it was the Buddha's test?"

"Did you see the holy monk? Imitating his voice isn't difficult enough, is it? And..."

The man glanced around and lowered his voice, saying, "To be honest, the Buddhist sect hasn't brought us much benefit over the years, has it? Even if they really are holy monks, so what?"

Upon hearing this, everyone around was immediately shocked! They instinctively moved away from the man who had spoken.

However, they soon stopped retreating, because they realized that there was no longer any reason to fear Buddhism.

They could understand why the man said that, because his daughter, just because she was beautiful, was summoned to the Buddhist order at the young age of eleven, and for more than ten years afterward, the father and daughter never saw each other again.

Normally, even if someone harbors resentment, they can only outwardly express gratitude to Buddha for his blessings. If they dare to utter a single dissent and it is overheard and reported by others, they will be subjected to severe punishment, including having their tendons and skin peeled off! Even their relatives will be implicated.

But now that Buddhist temples have been destroyed, there is naturally no place to report such incidents.

After the initial conditioned reflex of fear subsided, his words immediately resonated with many people.

The Buddhist community has committed countless evil deeds, which people may not speak of, but they all remember them in their hearts.

Upon hearing Liang Zhan's words, they all made their decisions.

However, there are still many people whose faith in Buddhism is so deeply ingrained that they ignore all attempts to persuade them.

Some of these people have benefited from Buddhism, or are even Buddhists themselves, while others have had their backbones completely shattered. Their only thought in their miserable lives is to suffer in this life and be reborn into a wealthy family to enjoy happiness in the next.

If we were to deny the holy monks at this moment, it would be to deny the meaning of their lives. Therefore, no matter how others try to persuade them, they would not waver in the slightest.

Three hours later, even after Liang Zhan had talked himself hoarse, 20% of the people still chose to leave.

Although there were nearly five thousand people, it still made Chu Xiu breathe a sigh of relief.

"It seems that the majority of people are still intelligent."

With 80% of the population under their control, there's at least no need to worry about mission failure, and because very few people die, the mission completion rate should be quite high.

Although I didn't achieve a perfect completion, I should be satisfied.

"Next, we'll see if Liang Zhan can persuade some people to come back from Shenlong."

Chu Xiu thought to himself.

The divine powers of the Heavenly Dragon are merely the power to grant believers their wishes.

Therefore, those who have already entered the protection of the Heavenly Dragon can leave the area of ​​the Heavenly Dragon's protection as long as they change their minds.

Based on past trial experience, being able to save 90% of the initial population is considered a near-perfect completion, earning a higher level of reward. Reaching 95% is a true perfect completion, granting the top reward.

Currently, achieving a perfect completion seems very difficult, but there is still a chance to persuade some players to return and increase the rewards to a higher level.

Without giving it any further thought, Chu Xiu focused on refining the earth dragon.

Although the earth dragon's strength attribute has been greatly improved after absorbing a large amount of life energy, it has only reached one-fifth of its original strength. Let alone returning to the Shiki world, it would even have difficulty taking off!

"The Blood Demon Avatar has recovered in the Spirit Flesh Storage Pouch, and it should be able to possess the body again with some enhancement buffs."

"Even so, it would only allow the earth dragon to barely take off, far from enough to carry so many people up more than ten kilometers!"

A hint of heartache flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes, but he was also decisive. He pointed again, and the body of the Gandharva exploded. The life force of this deity's body was more than ten times that of an ordinary king-level being, instantly boosting the attributes that had caused the earth dragon to stop moving.

At the same time, the resurrected corpses of the three Yaksha gods also flew out, and like the previous Heavenly Dragon, they partially merged into the back of the Earth Dragon.

Their lower bodies sank into the earth dragon's body, leaving only their upper bodies exposed.

However, Chu Xiu wanted to integrate the corpses of these three gods into the earth dragon!

Originally, such manipulation could be achieved solely through the [Netherworld Resurrection Technique], because forcibly fusing two completely different creatures together would only cause their attributes to decrease!
However, what makes the three deities' bodies special is that their physical strength is not strong, and is insignificant in the face of the earth dragon's enormous body, so they do not cause much rejection.

Their true source of power is three King-rank [Legendary] artifacts!
Chu Xiu intends to use these three [Legendary] pieces of equipment as energy cores to provide a continuous driving force!

The idea is theoretically feasible, but it is extremely difficult to implement in practice. How to fuse the power? And how to transfer the power? These are extremely difficult problems to solve. Even the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stage corpse refining masters in the Demonic Sect do not dare to say that they can accomplish it!

If Chu Xiu didn't have the top-tier talent of [Perfect Refinement], he wouldn't even have thought about such a bold idea!
Even with [perfect refinement], it still requires a lot of time to slowly fuse together!

"I don't know exactly how long it will take, or whether it can be completed before the alien civilization's envoys are resurrected." A hint of worry flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes.

But he didn't dwell on it too much. All he could do now was to improve the "transport rocket" as much as possible.

At the same time, Liang Zhan and his men also arrived near Shenlong and began to persuade the crowd to leave.

"Li Tiefu, your wife and children are here. Are you really going to abandon them? Think carefully about what you might do."

"Shut up! Shut up! Don't try to fool me! These are all tests from the Buddha!"

"Brother! Don't you even believe your own brother's words? I witnessed the Buddha's divine power with my own eyes on the front lines. If it weren't for the Buddha's intervention, I would have died on the front lines and would never have had the chance to see you again!"

"Second brother, don't say that again. Although we are family in this world, your faith is not firm and you have been deceived by evil spirits. I will pretend that I don't have you as my brother!"

"Big brother, you..."

The soldier who was trying to persuade him looked at his own brother, who had a resolute expression on his face. He never expected his brother to say such a thing. He recalled the scene of the two of them supporting each other when they were young, and his face was filled with bitterness.

Similar conversations are happening all the time, but unfortunately, no matter how much Liang Zhan and the others try to reason with them, appeal to their emotions, or even bring in their relatives to persuade them, the results are minimal.

Those who still choose to stand with Buddhism at this point are people who have been completely brainwashed, and it is difficult to communicate with them using common sense.

Seven or eight hours passed, and fewer than a hundred people were willing to return. In many cases, the more they were persuaded, the more steadfast their faith became.

"It seems like this is the only way."

Chu Xiu sighed softly.

However, he maintained a balanced mindset. Given the difficulty of the End Trial, simply passing it was already quite an achievement, let alone saving 80% of the people, which would already earn him a good evaluation. Why should he expect a perfect completion? After all, while the demonic cultivation tradition was the most advanced, it was ultimately a cultivation profession that gained strength in the later stages. In the early stages, there were other top-tier professions that could rival it. Moreover, those who could challenge the [End Trial] difficulty were all geniuses from top-tier civilizations. Given the foundation of their civilizations, they all carried at least [Mythical] level equipment and items before attempting the challenge.

Although it's a bit of a shame to lose the top reward, Chu Xiu's achievement is already quite remarkable and satisfying.

"If this drags on any longer, the alien civilization's envoys will be resurrected."

At this time, the refining of the earth dragon was nearing completion, and Chu Xiu prepared to leave with those who trusted him, so as to avoid encountering the eight-fold enhanced Crimson Lightning and causing further complications.

Thinking of this, Chu Xiu cast a series of spells, and the earth dragon that was originally coiled on the ground immediately emitted a faint glow from its scales. With a loud bang, it slowly moved its massive body and opened its mouth wide towards the crowd.

Liang Zhan knew it was time to leave. He glanced regretfully at the still stubborn crowd and stopped trying to persuade them. Instead, he turned around and shouted, "Everyone, enter the dragon's body immediately!"

Following his instructions, the crowd gradually moved into the earth dragon's body.

At the throat of the earth dragon, Chu Xiu had already built small squares to serve as "carriages" for carrying people. The carriages not only had handrails to maintain balance, but also "buckles" for securing them.

As long as a person sits in a pre-set position, they will sink into the "flesh wall," minimizing the impact of changes in acceleration.

Chu Xiu spent most of the time refining the earth dragon on creating these small measures to ensure the safety of the residents.

"In that case, we should be able to return safely."

Watching the residents orderly enter the earth dragon's body, Chu Xiu thought to himself.

Although I didn't manage to clear the game perfectly, successfully passing the Final Trial and acquiring so many Legendary equipment items has fulfilled my goal for this trip.

But just when he thought the trial was over, a slightly contemptuous laugh suddenly rang out in the arena:
“My believers have come to me.”

As the voice faded, many residents who were walking into the earth dragon suddenly stopped, then turned around in unison and walked towards the heavenly dragon!
Not only the residents, but also many soldiers in the army have lost their minds and mechanically follow the crowd!
Only a few martial arts masters, such as Liang Zhan and the Buddhist elders, could barely maintain their sanity!
"?!"

Chu Xiu's expression changed drastically. He suddenly looked up at Tianlong, only to see a smug face appear on Tianlong's neck.

"The divine power of celestial beings is control! Since they can even command other tribes, manipulating these mortals is naturally a piece of cake."

"Moreover, deep down they are all devout Buddhists, which makes manipulating them even easier!"

"I told you long ago, I could not allow so many people to leave the abyss!"

As the celestial being finished speaking, Chu Xiu's expression turned extremely ugly.

He never expected that the Celestial Being would have such a trick up his sleeve!
The previous incitement of the public was merely a deception to mislead Chu Xiu! It made him mistakenly believe that the Celestial Being's abilities were limited to this. In reality, the other party was simply waiting for the Heavenly Dragon to restart, so that they could leave without giving Chu Xiu any time to react!

"As expected, it's always the compromisers who lose."

This reminded him of a saying.

"Peace will survive if we seek it through struggle, but it will perish if we seek it through compromise."

Chu Xiu always kept this in mind, so he rarely negotiated with the enemy. He mostly used negotiation to obtain information, but in reality, he wanted to kill the enemy by any means necessary!

The reason I didn't hesitate to attack the Celestials before was also for this reason.

However, Tianlong's supernatural powers were too difficult to deal with, which made him think of compromising. He didn't expect that the other party would teach him a lesson.

"Didn't I tell you that cooperating with me was your best choice?" Celestial's voice rang out again. "It's a pity you didn't choose to trust me back then."

"But it's okay, I can still give you a chance to go back."

"Next, if you stop obstructing me, I will follow my previous suggestion and kill 95 percent of the people so that we can all 'pass the level' smoothly."

"Well? Isn't this proposal sincere enough under the current circumstances?" Tianren offered his suggestion again.

In his heart, he didn't really want to fight Chu Xiu to the death. If the other party failed the mission and went crazy destroying Paradise Lost, he wouldn't get away with it either. It would be better to give up a portion of the population.

Anyway, humans reproduce very quickly, and the population can recover after a few generations.

As he finished speaking, Chu Xiu fell silent for a moment, while Liang Zhan stared wide-eyed in shock and anger!
"Kill 95 percent of the population?!"

"You, a holy monk, have done such a thing! Aren't you afraid of being burdened by the sins of killing and suffering karmic retribution?"

"Killing? Karma?" The celestial being curled his lip in disdain. "I'm a materialist."

Upon hearing this, Liang Zhan was even more furious, but at this moment he was completely helpless and could only turn to Chu Xiu and plead, "My lord! These are twenty thousand lives! Are you really going to abandon these twenty thousand lives?"

"boom!"

The lieutenant behind Liang Zhan immediately knelt down: "My lord! My parents, wife, and children have all been bewitched by that beast! Please, my lord, save them!"

With him leading the way, a whole group of people immediately knelt down behind him. The dozens of martial arts masters present all had family members, such as wives and children, parents, or siblings. Now, however, their lives were about to be taken by the Celestial Being!
Even if you are lucky enough to be among the remaining 5%, you will have to live the rest of your life under the rule of the gods!

Even among the Buddhist elders, many have spoken out, pleading that in this world, Buddhism does not prohibit the seven emotions and six desires, and that some of their family members have been captured by celestial beings!
Seeing the crowd kneeling down one after another, the Celestial's expression turned somewhat ugly, and he coldly snorted, "Fine, I doubt you'd be this sincere when you kneel before me normally, would you?"

"But do you think this will work? He is just a powerful awakened one, not an omnipotent god. Do you really think of him as a Buddha?"

"If he had fought with all his might before, he might have been able to exhaust the Heavenly Dragon's energy through constant recovery and depletion. But now that the Heavenly Dragon can take flight at any moment, how can he stop me?"

The celestial being's face twisted in a grimace as he smugly said, "Hurry up and make your choice, Civilization Envoy. Will you follow my advice and successfully complete the mission to advance your rank, or will you insist on fighting to the death and end up with nothing?"

His eyes were filled with smugness and anticipation, as if he was certain that Chu Xiu would not refuse, and he couldn't wait to see the despair on Liang Zhan and the others' faces after they were abandoned.

Although he is essentially a fraudster disguised as a religious figure, in this small world, he is the god of this world, and the actions of Liang Zhan and others are no different from betrayal!

In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on Chu Xiu.

Amidst the hopeful gazes of Liang Zhan and the others, a rare look of hesitation appeared on Chu Xiu's face.

He was certainly unwilling to take away the guaranteed trial rewards, but what could he do? How could he stop Tianlong?
Just as Chu Xiu was pondering, something even more despairing happened to everyone.

At the edge of the earth, an extremely powerful aura suddenly appeared without warning!
The alien civilization, enhanced eightfold, has been resurrected.

(End of this chapter)