Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 390 The Elephant King's Journey

Upon hearing this, the General Staff Secretary's expression became somewhat subtle. He asked with a half-smile, "But how can you be sure who should be tried and who is just going with the flow? We have an old saying that goes, 'To punish without teaching is cruelty.' I'm afraid mere force cannot solve the problem, can it?"

“You’re right,” Baili Shuang nodded frankly in agreement. “Rule by man is ultimately not as good as rule of law, but building a ‘law’ is not something that can be accomplished overnight, and besides…”

At this point, she paused for a moment, then suddenly dropped a bombshell: "The Guixu Realm has been designed with 'laws,' which is the 'Heavenly Dao.'"

The General Staff Secretary's breath hitched almost imperceptibly: "Is there really such a thing as 'the Way of Heaven'?"

"The way of Heaven is to take from those who have more than enough and give to those who have less than enough. The way of man is to take from those who have less than enough and give to those who have more than enough. You should have heard this saying before."

Baili Shuang's expression was solemn: "On Blue Star, this is generally considered a philosophical dialectical idea, rather than referring to the objective environment. But in the Realm of Return to Nothingness, there is a very clear corresponding manifestation."

"Ordinary cultivators cannot sense it, but once they cultivate to become immortals, they will be burdened with 'karmic obstacles'. At first, they will not feel anything unusual, but by the time their spiritual senses detect the 'heavenly tribulation' brought about by the 'karmic obstacles', it will be too late."

The General Staff Secretary was somewhat puzzled: "Karmic obstacles? Isn't that a Buddhist term? Is there Buddhism in the Realm of Return to Nothingness?"

"There really isn't one. I'm just explaining it in a way that you can understand better." Baili Shuang paused for a moment, then continued, "Therefore, in the Guixu Realm, anyone who has achieved a certain level of cultivation and has sensed the 'Heavenly Dao' in the dark likes to establish a position for themselves so that ordinary people or cultivators from small sects can offer them worship. In this way, they can delay the accumulation of 'karmic obstacles' or even offset them."

"Of course, this method is not without its drawbacks. By accepting offerings, one has to bear the 'karma' of the group that made the offerings. As for whether it is better or worse, it is hard to say."

The General Staff Secretary frowned and said in a deep voice, "It sounds like there is a higher-dimensional being controlling, or even judging, the entire Guixu Realm."

Baili Shuang nodded: "Yes, if we compare the natural rules of the Blue Star Realm with those of the Ruins Realm, it does sound like something is monitoring us, but unfortunately, there is currently no evidence to support this speculation."

As they talked, the activity time was almost up.

Fang Xianyu, disguised as Baili Shuang, ended the conversation in a few words and left. He then took control of his true form, leading several dragons that had transformed into human form as a sign of respect, and the Quanxian clan members who had also transformed into two legs, onto the best viewing platform—the magnificent flying boat in Chang'an Sheyi, which had been decorated time and again.

The Chang'an airship wasn't very big; it could only be described as a medium-sized airship. It didn't have the fancy pavilions and towers designed by those major sects. It only had two three-story buildings with flying eaves on the left and right sides. The strangely shaped "dragons" carved on the eaves were "installed" by a cultivator skilled in weapon crafting that Wang Ergou and his group later specially asked.

The airship was surrounded by small red flags, each bearing that strange pattern.

As soon as Yinglong Wang and his companions (dragons) boarded the ship, they discovered this strange pattern and stared intently at it.

After observing for quite some time, Ping Jun couldn't help but ask softly, "Sect Leader Fang, what's painted on this banner? Does it look like a dragon? Or a horned snake?" Fang Xianyu sighed inwardly, then put on a social smile and began to save face for the players: "Oh, this is the banner of the Chang'an community under the Taiyin Sect, called the 'Rising Dragon Hiccup Banner.' It depicts a simple sketch of a dragon... If it offends your dragon race, please forgive me."

The Dragon King of Zhenhai quickly waved his hand and said, "There's no offense intended; the painting is quite childlike!"

Ping Jun echoed, "That's right. The disciples of the Taiyin Sect are indeed quite different from the disciples of other sects... uh, they always seem to have a carefree and unrestrained temperament."

Yinglongwang opened his mouth, wanting to casually offer some praise, but then he recalled the experience of countless players touching the hem of his skirt yesterday and excitedly shouting for him to turn into a dragon, so he couldn't bring himself to say anything and could only remain silent.

Thanks to a cat demon they encountered yesterday, Yinglong Wang, who was about to lose his temper, calmed down. The cat demon claimed that it was temporarily sent on official business and had been following Yinglong Wang and Pingjun around. When some bold Taiyin Sect disciples offended it, it actually killed those disciples!
When Pingjun first saw that scene, she was quite frightened. She knew very well the status of demon cultivators among human cultivators and was very afraid that the cat demon would be attacked by the Taiyin Sect disciples because of this. However, she did not expect that when the other Taiyin Sect disciples saw their fellow disciples killed by the cat demon, they laughed with schadenfreude. This left Yinglong King and Pingjun bewildered for a while!

"They'll all be resurrected anyway, so if you feel it's too offensive, you can just kill them... But you still need to determine whether they are actually disciples of the Taiyin Sect, because some outside cultivators are becoming more and more... reckless and unruly..."

The cat demon talked a lot, seemingly believing that King Yinglong and Lord Pinghe would stay at the Taiyin Sect for a long time. It even taught them to get a free "demon-revealing mirror" artifact, saying that with this artifact, they could identify whether someone walking on the street was a Taiyin Sect player! Because as long as you wear the "demon-revealing mirror," you can see square characters floating above some people's heads!
"That's called 'Chinese characters,' and it's a bit difficult to learn. I still can't recognize all of them, and I've failed the assessment several times! That's why I haven't been officially promoted yet! My salary is more than half less than the boss's—that is, our sheriff's!

That cat demon was nothing like a cat demon; it talked a lot.

"And another thing, if you encounter a Taiyin Sect disciple whose behavior isn't too excessive but is still a bit offensive, you can scare them! Say you'll deduct their favorability points! They won't go too far then!"

Many of the new words spoken by the cat demon were unfamiliar to him, and he didn't quite understand their meaning, but this did not stop King Yinglong and King Ping from listening with great interest.

Whether it was the Gugu Chicken City they spent the night in yesterday or Rongyu City today, all these places gave Yinglong Wang and the others a feeling of joy and freedom. Even ordinary people with no cultivation at all had smiles on their faces. This was a strange sight they had never seen in any human sect or force!

Not long after he finished reminiscing, the majestic and grand music resounded in the ears of the Dragon King—

"Boom boom boom——"

"Boom boom boom——"

The drums sounded, and the bronze bells rang out.

For once, the players stopped joking and laughing. They stepped out from the innermost part of the square, keeping time with the drumbeats. Although the formations looked far less orderly than those on Earth, they were quite formidable in the Guixu Realm, where such behavior had never occurred before. Even Yinglong King, who had only intended to take a casual look, unconsciously straightened his posture, his eyes filled with shock.