Domestic Zone: You already have a system, why join a chat group?

Chapter 187 Left Foot Steps on Right Foot, Spiral Ascension

"So, what is the purpose of giving us these things?" Han Li asked, his fingers twirling the small white bone banner shrouded in faint demonic energy. His gaze slowly swept over the various Dao Fruits in the palms of the people in the room, his tone full of doubt.

At this moment, even friends and relatives like Nangong Wan, Ziling, Biyao, and Zhao Jiu received the blessing of the deity, and their brows shone with a faint spiritual light.

Although this kind of Dao fruit belongs to the authority granted by Heaven, once one leaves this world, the blessing brought by the authority will disappear in an instant.

But the Dao Fruit is, after all, the Dao Fruit; it contains the fundamental laws of this world and the ultimate principles governing the operation of heaven and earth.

Even for true immortals and gods, the benefits they could gain from this are unimaginable, let alone for low- to mid-level cultivators like them.

Generally speaking, the cultivation world has always emphasized "equivalent exchange," and the Heavenly Dao is no exception. If there is gain, there must be action; this is an unchanging law.

Such a generous opportunity could not have been given away for no reason; there must have been corresponding conditions that they needed to fulfill.

But therein lies the problem: since the arrival of the Dao Fruit, he has repeatedly focused his mind to sense it, but he has never been able to detect the transmission of the will of the Heavenly Dao. It is as if this sudden gift is just an accident without any reason.

"Balance." Zhongli toyed with the Dao Fruit in his hand, the golden seal flipping between his fingers, the Xuanhuang Qi flowing in his palm, and an ancient and profound aura surrounding him. Then he uttered two words softly.

Since coming into this world, he has felt a faint force of balance, wanting to use the power of these people to complete some kind of self-transformation and repair.

However, the power of the chat group was too strong, forcibly separating them from the origin of this world. Therefore, the only way to try to establish a connection between us and this world is by gifting Dao Fruits.

Therefore, it's not that the Heavenly Dao didn't set conditions, but rather that the contract between them and the Heavenly Dao was completed the moment they were willing to accept the Dao Fruit.

"Oh, right, I forgot you don't know the rules of this world yet." Russell patted his head. Although Jackie Chan Adventures was a childhood memory for their generation, Han Li, Zhong Li, Zhang Xiaofan, and Asule were all real natives of this other world.

[Group Notice: Group member Russell has uploaded the file "Jackie Chan Adventures"]

Xiaoyu sat to the side, looking at the file name that popped up in her mind. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Wait a minute, it should be 'Cheng Xiaoyu's Adventures'!"

After browsing through the entire Jackie Chan Adventures series at ten times the speed, Han Li finally realized what was happening and his gaze fell on Russell's face: "So, even our very existence is the best feedback we can give to this world."

"Unsurprisingly, that's exactly right." Russell nodded in agreement.

The most fundamental principle of the Jackie Chan Adventures world is the balance of Yin and Yang.

Good and evil, light and darkness, god and demon—these two forces are like the two ends of a seesaw that are constantly being increased in pressure, with neither completely overwhelming the other.

If evil initially prevails over good, then good will gain a competitive edge and overtake evil; once good prevails over evil, evil will gain a competitive edge and regain its dominance, and so on, with the world being propelled to a higher level through constant struggle.

This is a healthy, spiraling mechanism that has existed since the beginning of the world, continuously enhancing its strength.

Under this mechanism, numerical collisions are extremely easy to occur. There was even a glorious scene where the eight great demons led thousands of demon wizards to rule the world together.

It was an era of darkness, but also an era of power. Demons roamed freely among humans, who trembled in their shadows. Magic and witchcraft prevailed in every corner, and the overall strength of the world was pushed to an unprecedented level.

In order to counter this most powerful evil force in history, the righteous side spent a thousand years preparing for something big, and ended up giving birth to eight immortal gods.

After an earth-shattering battle, the eight gods annihilated the entire demon group with overwhelming force, and sealed the eight demons representing the eight trigrams into hell, never to rise again.

According to the original plot, as long as the immortal gods continue to exist, one day the eight great demons will return to the human world in an even more powerful form. At that time, it will no longer be a struggle between two lands, but an invasion of one dimension by another, a full-scale war between hell and the human world.

But what no one expected was that the Eight Immortals, having grasped the fundamental principle of Yin-Yang balance, refused to be filled in the pit and chose to run away with the bucket.

With their departure, the righteous side completely collapsed.

The original balance was broken, and the power of justice was greatly reduced. In order to maintain the balance, the demonic forces had to be weakened again and again. All eight demons were weakened into mentally challenged beings, turning from invincible ancient demon gods into monsters with not-so-bright minds.

During this period, humanity, representing the opposite of demons, developed rapidly, not only establishing a prosperous civilization but also bringing magical culture to an unprecedented peak.

At this stage, righteousness once again prevailed over demonic energy. According to the rules of the world, demonic energy should flourish again. Therefore, with the help of the other seven demons, the Fire Demon Lord broke free from hell and returned to the human world.

In fact, things have come to this point without deviating from the inevitable laws governing the world. Even if the Eight Immortals' escape has caused severe damage to the world, as long as it continues to operate according to the existing logic, the world will eventually recover.

Justice will be reborn through trials, and evil will grow stronger through confrontation. This never-ending tug-of-war will continue, and in each collision, it will eventually return to a state of balance.

Unfortunately, a man named Lope appeared.

Not only was the Holy Lord completely defeated, but his power was also completely destroyed.

Most importantly, Lopez did not completely eliminate Shendu; instead, he used it to begin exploiting bugs.

He did not kill Shendu, nor did he reseal Shendu back into Hell. Instead, he used petrification magic to put him in a state of neither life nor death, neither birth nor annihilation.

The demonic position on the demonic side was firmly occupied by the Holy Lord, and other demons could not fill the gap. The demonic side could not produce a new leader and could not organize a new counterattack. The entire balance mechanism stopped because of this bug.

Even more outrageous, Lope left behind a petrification spell that would continuously weaken Shendu's power over the next few centuries.

This resulted in the demonic forces remaining stagnant and unable to rise, while the righteous forces, constrained by the Yin-Yang balance principle, also saw their power continuously weakened.

Over time, in modern times, this world has directly entered the end of the Dharma era, with magic declining and powerful beings dwindling.

Then they came—

"So, the Eight Immortals of this world are thieves who steal the Dao?" Zhang Xiaofan frowned. In a sense, he was a legitimate successor of Lu Zu. It would be strange if he didn't feel emotional when he saw his ancestor being slandered.

"Why did it come to this?"

Zhongli slowly rose, his robes trailing behind him, and went to the window to gaze at the sky.

His golden eyes reflected sparse stars, his gaze distant, as if he had returned to the time of the Demon God War, to the era when he personally forged Liyue, yet watched countless old friends depart.

"The rise and fall of a realm, the strength and weakness of good and evil, bring about endless conflict and turmoil. When the immortal path prospers, the demonic path will rise up to resist it. When the demonic path flourishes, the righteous path will gather to suppress it. Correspondingly, the common people suffer, the mountains and rivers are shattered, and the world is filled with sorrow for all eternity."

"Perhaps what the Pure Yang Patriarch was considering was never his own path to enlightenment, but rather the path of life for all living beings."

Zhang Xiaofan:

—"

Russell nodded silently; in fact, there was nothing difficult to understand about it.

Just like now—well, just like America, the world's largest economy doesn't prevent the lower classes from being cut off by the cutoff line.

Beneath every grand narrative lies the blood, tears, bitterness, and hatred of the working masses.

If things were to proceed according to the predetermined timeline, with good and evil in opposition and gods and demons battling it out, every great battle would be a catastrophe for heaven and earth.

At that time, mountains and rivers will crumble, rivers will change course, cities will turn into ruins, fertile land will become scorched earth, millions of people will be displaced, bones will be exposed in the wild, and there will be no roosters crowing for miles. Ordinary people will only become expendable resources in the battle between gods and demons.

What the Eight Immortals and Luo Pei did was to sever the connection between heaven and earth, reducing the original hellish difficulty to a beginner's village within the framework of the rules. Both the righteous and evil factions were few and far between, allowing ordinary people to live in peace and without worry.

"Wait a minute," Xiao Yan suddenly spoke up, "So, following this line of thought, right now, somewhere in the world, there should already be an evil god being conceived, right?"

"Sigh! What evil god can be more evil than our CEO K and our model worker!" Ye Fan immediately came over, hooked his arm around Xiao Yan's shoulder, and said in a teasing tone.

Klein rolled his eyes at Ye Fan helplessly, looking at the illusory Klein-type octopus Dao Fruit in his palm with a look of disgust but also helplessness.

Russell narrowed his eyes, a playful smile playing on his lips, and turned to Han Li: "Little Ye's words don't entirely fail you, Mr. Workaholic, what do you say?"

Upon being noticed by Russell's gaze, Han Li immediately sat up straight, feigning seriousness. He coughed and said earnestly, "Actually, I wanted to be a good person, but since Fellow Daoist Luo has put it that way, how could I possibly refuse?"

"Tch." Russell gave the middle finger.

"Is there any explanation?" Klein asked.

Han Li grinned, opening the small white bone banner in his hand. The moment the banner unfurled in the air, a chilling aura surged from it, and his demonic energy instantly surged, enveloping him in a grayish-white mist. His tone was extremely arrogant: "Since Luo Pei can use the Holy Lord to occupy the spot, then we two are evil gods appointed by the Heavenly Dao. If we don't do what evil gods should do, wouldn't we be wasting the blessings bestowed upon us by Heaven?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Fan and Xiao Yan immediately became interested; they were experts at causing trouble.

Ye Fan quickly asked, "How exactly do I do it?"

Russell immediately waved his hand and said, "Then of course we'll go pull up the radishes and claim the spot."

Aside from Xiaoyu, this world is a clear-cut place where good and evil are distinct. Who is good and who is evil is determined from birth, and their roles are pre-arranged. Everything is traceable, and there is no such thing as a powerful being who can suddenly appear and overthrow everyone.

Therefore, based on the current situation, the biggest beneficiaries of the resurgence of demonic energy are likely the eight demons in hell. Once they are eliminated, the excess demonic energy overflowing from the righteous energy will naturally fall on them, leading to a surge in the demonic path, a decline in the righteous path, and the righteous path exerting its power to maintain balance.

Everyone has a bright future.

Lu Mingfei clicked his tongue: "Doesn't this sound a bit like a cataclysmic event from a prehistoric fantasy novel?"

"Pretty much." Russell looked at everyone present with great interest: "Anyone want to participate? The final winner gets a blue lottery draw."

"I'll go!" Xiao Yan was the first to raise his hand.

Ye Fan chimed in, "Count me in."

Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Mingfei exchanged a glance and then joined in. The former wanted to inherit the will of their ancestor, while the latter simply wanted to join in the fun and try his luck with the blue lottery, hoping to win something good.

Klein thought for a moment, then raised his hand as well. He didn't mean anything by it; he just wanted to get used to life as a big shot in advance.

Then there's Xu Qi'an, who loves showing off in front of others.

"Isn't the Emperor coming?" Russell looked at Zhongli, who chuckled and shook his head: "Please don't disturb an old man who has already retired."

"Okay." Russell shrugged, not pressuring her.

In this way, the only group members who participated were Russell, Han Li, Xiao Yan, Ye Fan, Klein, Lu Mingfei, Zhang Xiaofan, and Xu Qi'an.

Klein counted and suddenly realized something important: "Wait a minute, it's six against two, that's not fair!"

"Don't panic, I have some connections in the underworld." Russell waved his hand dismissively.

The next moment, the Asura Summoner on his wrist lit up instantly, and an extremely strong baleful aura surged out from the summoner, carrying a violent aura, rushing towards the Big Dipper Dao Fruit in his palm.

The originally pure purple magic seal was gradually imbued with crimson magic power, acquiring a touch of bloodlust and savagery, and its aura instantly shifted from the righteous path to the demonic path.

"Alright, I'm on the demonic path now." Russell opened his palm, and the Dao Fruit in his palm had changed its appearance. Purple-black demonic patterns spread across the seal surface, like winding snakes, coiling around the Big Dipper and tightly binding the seven stars.

"Three against five, and I'm letting you two have it, isn't that fair?"

Xiao Yan: "6"

'

Ye Fan: "

Xiaoyu: "Then I—"

Russell & Han Li: "No way!"

Just kidding, no referee ever gets on the field himself.

Xiaoyu is the only standard by which to judge who won and who lost this battle.

The timeframe is six months. If Xiaoyu has more demonic energy after six months, then the righteous side wins; otherwise, the demonic side wins.

Meanwhile, a fierce chase is unfolding on the coast.

The two sides are Jackie Chan, who claims to be an archaeologist but is actually a hidden superhuman, and the talkative Black Tiger Ah Fu, along with the trio from the Black Hand Gang who have mastered the twelve talismans.

Meanwhile, in Hell, the Holy Lord, having paid a price, was also eager to forcibly open the gates of Hell.

It can be said that the vibrant scene of all things flourishing and competing for life is still vivid in our minds.

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