Only upon entering the Golden Core Realm does one truly become a cultivator.
The Justice League comprised eighteen sects, with more than 20,000 Golden Core Monks, over sixty in the Nascent Soul Realm, and at most, a mere seven in the Divinity Transformation Realm. Except for Luo Xue, the remaining six were all puppets Lin Bai had made.
Typically, each sect would have one or two Divinity Transformation Realm elders as figureheads.
However, to reach the Hollow Realm, Divinity Transformation required Soul Condensation. Most of the heavenly treasures needed for this were monopolized by leading sects like the Seven Orthodox Sects. Therefore, Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators wouldn't stay in their sects but would venture out, seeking opportunities.
Wild, suitable heavenly treasures were exceedingly rare, and finding them often required exceptional luck.
Consequently, regardless of how extraordinarily talented a cultivator from a lesser sect might be—achieving Golden Core at twenty and Nascent Soul Realm at fifty—most were eventually halted at the Divinity Transformation Realm due to insufficient Divine Soul condensation. Their achievements would be capped there for life, until they reached the end of their lifespan or failed in their attempt to break through to the Hollow Realm.
Master Li of the Return to Dragon View hid the Spiritual World Gap in Jiamucheng, merely clinging to a glimmer of hope of finding Spirit Condensing Fruits there.
Unquestionably, the Seven Orthodox Sects and Five Demonic Sects suppressed the resources of the lower sects so dominantly that even with another 20,000 years, the lower sects could never hope to challenge the position of the Seven Orthodox Sects.
Divinity Transformation cultivators like Master Li, Cangming Sword Immortal, Sword Ten, and Sword Nineteen had provoked Lin Bai one after another, only to be turned into his puppets.
So, Justice Weekly had publicized that Lin Bai possessed Spirit Condensing Fruits capable of helping Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators break through. However, even wandering practitioners whose sects had already joined the Justice League dared not openly align with it.
No matter how eloquently Lin Bai spoke, it couldn't conceal his terrifying ability to effortlessly turn Divinity Transformation Realm cultivators into puppets.
Who would risk their freedom for the sake of breaking through to the Hollow Realm?
This led to a severe lack of high-end combat power in the Justice League. Apart from Lin Bai, there was no one noteworthy. Even with aid from Taiyi Country, they were no match for any single sect within the Seven Orthodox Sects.
Moreover, both the Seven Orthodox Sects and the Five Demonic Sects were fully mobilized.
The disparity between the two sides was like that between ants and elephants; no one was optimistic about the Justice League's chances.
In battles involving the Great Cheng realm, cultivators in the Golden Core Realm were just cannon fodder.
However, now that Lin Bai had the Magpie Bridge, Golden Core Realm cultivators had a new purpose.
Specially chosen pairs of true lovers were sent via the Magpie Bridge to the capital of Taiyi Country. From Kyoto, they then dispersed in pairs, spreading out like a web across Taiyi Country.
If they were to depart from Zhen City, they would most likely be intercepted by the outer perimeter of the Seven Orthodox Sects.
But dispersing from the capital of Taiyi Country made their movements far more covert. The Great Cheng realm experts besieging Zhen City, even if they knew Lin Bai's plans, would have no way to reach the capital of Taiyi Country in time to intercept them.
Once the Magpie Bridge network was successfully established, Lin Bai and his Justice League could move freely between cities.
Great Cheng realm cultivators couldn't match the speed of the Magpie Bridge, and Lin Bai could sever the connection at any time. By then, even if the Seven Orthodox Sects wanted to capture him, they would be unable to.
One side wanted to establish the Magpie Bridge network as quickly as possible, while the other aimed to eliminate Lin Bai before it was completed.
Both sides were racing against time.
The series of countermeasures Lin Bai had taken had not resolved Crispy Rice's problem.
At A Brave Man's suggestion, the Purple-Robed Ancestor and Song Yaoqing rushed to Zhen City, leaving a few Hollow Realm cultivators behind in Qian City.
The Hollow Realm cultivators left to guard Qian City were not ordered to accept surrendering players. Instead, their instructions were to kill on sight anyone who descended from the sky, without giving them a chance to surrender.
A Brave Man, formerly Lonely Old Man, harbored a bone-deep hatred for Crispy Rice. He had allied with Ancestor Chi Lian solely for revenge and would never allow Crispy Rice a chance to recover.
Moreover, his actions targeted not only Crispy Rice but also Lin Bai. This scorched-earth approach sent a clear signal to players considering joining the Justice League: follow Lin Bai, and you will never see a brighter day.
It was a strategy of irrational, cruel, yet effective oppression through sheer power.
The Beggar Gang players in Qian City and Jiamucheng experienced the humiliating taste of being corpse-camped by NPCs, leaving them aggrieved but helpless.
They could only place their hopes in Lin Bai. Otherwise, their only option was to delete their accounts and start over. After playing the game diligently for over two months, painstakingly leveling up and earning money, no player wanted to abandon their current life and begin anew.
Nevertheless, A Brave Man's strategy also served as a stark warning to players from other sects.
Players needed their own territory; otherwise, if NPCs turned vicious, they could genuinely be wiped from the game entirely.
At this stage, virtually all players hoped Lin Bai and his Righteous Door could withstand this siege from the Seven Orthodox Sects. Otherwise, their future in the game would likely be bleak and without hope.
[Seal techniques using Card during battles (completed); Reward: 5 Silver Cards, 10 Blank Cards (distributed)]
[The bigger your heart, the broader your stage. Try to discover the mysterious uses of the Card (long-term task); Reward: 10 of each Three-color Card for every different use of the Card discovered.]
After identifying the true lovers within the Justice League, Lin Bai didn't remain idle.
He and He Qin had a friendly spar on the Martial Arts Field, during which he successfully used a Blank Card to seal He Qin's technique, completing a Card System task.
Sharing the Cultivation Level of Divinity Transformation Realm puppets, Lin Bai couldn't seal the techniques of Great Cheng realm cultivators in battle. However, sealing Golden Core Realm techniques was laughably simple.
Unlike sealing people, techniques seemed to be directly frozen and absorbed into the Card.
Using them was also simple: just turn the Card towards the enemy and release the technique.
Fast and convenient.
Releasing a pre-formed technique in battle could create an element of surprise.
The skill was very useful.
However, in the upcoming battles, it seemed somewhat superfluous. The enemies Lin Bai faced were too high-level. Golden Core Realm attacks couldn't even breach their defenses, let alone injure them. This made sealing techniques less useful than the voice recorder's Lightning Storm. Moreover, directly attempting to seal a Great Cheng realm cultivator's technique head-on was too risky and not Lin Bai's combat style.
Lin Bai's Card supply was scarce, and he couldn't afford such extravagance. Sealing an opponent directly was far more gratifying than just sealing their technique.
However, the new Card System mission's reward perfectly compensated for his Card shortage.
Discovering a new way to use Cards rewarded him with ten of each of the three types of Cards. This was simply wonderful.
But the Card System task becoming a long-term one wasn't entirely good news.
How many new uses could be developed for a small Card?
This meant the number of Cards Lin Bai could obtain in the future was limited; his dream of sealing the entire world with Cards would likely never be realized.
Also, finding new features for the Cards wasn't easy.
Currently, Cards could seal people or techniques. Lin Bai next thought of sealing items or buildings.
But after several attempts, he failed.
It wasn't until Lin Bai had a flash of inspiration that he found a way. He released Qing Shan, stabbed his own kitchen knife into the puppet, and then chose to retrieve it.
As a result, both the kitchen knife and Qing Shan were recalled into the Card together.
Lin Bai had found a way to seal objects with Cards.
This method, though somewhat cruel, was highly practical—even more so than sealing techniques.
Imagine if an opponent's Magic Treasure could attack from a distance; he could deploy his own puppet, using it as bait—like borrowing arrows with straw boats—to forcefully seal the enemy's Magic Treasure.
The sole drawback was the puppet's durability. If the timing was off and the opponent's Magic Treasure destroyed the puppet, he would lose both the puppet and the chance to seal the treasure.
This meant Lin Bai needed more puppets with even higher Cultivation Levels, and crucially, they couldn't be allowed to regain their consciousness. This had little to do with humanitarian concerns.
The crux was that puppets with restored consciousness had controllable actions but uncontrollable thoughts. Such puppets still saw themselves as human and wouldn't willingly accept the tragic fate of being sent out as sacrificial pawns. If they cried out in battle, exposing his strategy, and the opponent recalled their weapon, then what was the point of sealing?
Ultimately, the Card System's puppets weren't designed for Card Masters to restore their consciousness.
Regardless, Lin Bai had discovered a new way to use Cards and successfully received ten each of Common, Silver, and Gold Cards, greatly enriching his inventory.
Next, Lin Bai's idea of sealing buildings hit a snag. Simply digging a hole in a wall and stuffing a puppet inside didn't work. He couldn't very well construct a building *around* a puppet.
Besides, sealing buildings wasn't particularly useful in combat. So, Lin Bai decided to abandon this line of thought for now.
He released Qing Yu, Flower Stream, Dao Xu, Pei Yanzong, and Sword Nineteen—all puppets whose consciousness he had restored—to brainstorm. His intention was for them to research the mysteries of Card sealing and drag more minds into the effort.
However, their minds proved to be astonishingly wooden; for the longest time, none of them could propose a viable idea.
Soon enough, Qing Yu and Flower Stream were cooing affectionately to each other. Sword Nineteen was pestering Lin Bai to restore Sword Ten's consciousness as well. Pei Yanzong was clinging to Master Li, blatantly taking liberties, while Dao Xu, face dark with anger, berated Pei Yanzong.
The puppets descended into chaos, and Lin Bai found them incredibly annoying.
Left with no choice, he sealed the boisterous bunch back into their Cards. It was far more productive to think by himself than to have them around.
Lin Bai swore that, unless absolutely necessary, he would never again restore a puppet's consciousness.
After stowing the puppets in their Cards, Lin Bai was about to resume pondering new uses for them when a notification suddenly popped up in his mind.
[Spreading the idea of Incompleteness, making 7,893 people believe that Incompleteness is ... (Completed); Reward: Eye of the Broken (Delivered)]
[Continue to expand the influence of Incompleteness, make 119,679 people believe that Incompleteness is ...; Reward: Incomplete Soul Parting]
The task was completed?
Lin Bai was stunned. This was an unexpected delight.
Lin Bai quickly understood why the task was completed: it was a result of his battle with Zhou Zhu outside Zhen City.
Back then, the sheer difficulty of the 'Spoken Law Follows' debate likely dissuaded a group from cultivating the Heavenly Dao. The Milky Way he commanded probably deterred another group from pursuing the Love Principle. Since the Way of Cooking and the Way of Teaching hadn't been widely promoted, the only path of cultivation principles left for outsiders was the Way of Incompleteness.
Furthermore, he had used the Nine Ancestors to mislead another wave of cultivators. It would be truly strange if those aspiring to achieve something in the cultivation of principles *didn't* delve into the Way of Incompleteness!
They all outwardly disdained his principle, yet secretly cultivated it. The 'True Fragrance' Law truly applied to any dimension!
His approach was correct. With a large enough base of people, among the world's vast population, some were bound to comprehend something from Incompleteness.
Regrettably, though, even by the end, Lin Bai hadn't figured out precisely what aspect of 'Incompleteness' the task required people to comprehend.
But that no longer mattered; all Lin Bai wanted was the reward.
The Eye of the Broken automatically installed itself in his eyes, coexisting with his Eye of Breaking Miasma.
Lin Bai blinked and instantly understood the nature of the Eye of the Broken.
Currently, he was in the Justice League's council chamber, which was part of a luxurious courtyard estate belonging to a wealthy merchant in Zhen City. Previously, Lin Bai wouldn't have noticed anything amiss. But with the Eye of the Broken, he could clearly see the internal damage within the seemingly intact roof beams, identify the most brittle brick used in the house's construction, and spot the cracks in the wood of the table before him.
The entire world appeared different.
Lin Bai could now effortlessly perceive the flaws in all objects. He even knew that a light tap on the damaged section of a beam would cause the entire roof to collapse.
He placed his hand on a crack in the table and released a tiny amount of Inner Strength. The entire phoebe wood table instantly shattered into pieces.
Lin Bai looked at Master Li, who stood behind him.
Master Li's Daoist robe had at least three weak points, and the horsetail whisk in his hand had two areas of damage.
Even the flow of Master Li's Spiritual Power experienced an almost imperceptible lag as it passed through his Zhongfu acupoint. Attacking this point of stagnation in his Spiritual Power circulation would be enough to disrupt its flow throughout his body, inflicting grievous injuries.
Sword Ten and Not Sad were similar; their Cultivation Techniques all possessed flaws and weaknesses.
GULP.
Lin Bai swallowed hard. He was going to strike it rich!
He had once thought the Great Demon Solution Book was the ultimate reward from the Everything Has Shortcomings System. But the Eye of the Broken was even more potent; it allowed him to see the weaknesses in all things.
This was absolutely incredible!
With the Eye of the Broken, when he used the Blacksmith's six-piece set to smash things, wouldn't every strike be perfectly aimed? Any Magic Treasure would be smashed to smithereens by him!
A thought sparked in Lin Bai's mind. He commanded Cangming Sword Immortal to attack the trees in the courtyard.
Dozens of sword beams flew out, obliterating a thirty-meter-tall ancient tree into splinters, an almost flawless attack. Yet, as the technique unfolded, Lin Bai clearly perceived the vulnerabilities in the sword net formed by these dozens of beams. If he were fast enough, he could evade this attack entirely without needing Spiritual Power for protection, and even seize the opportunity to counterattack.
Perceiving the flaws in techniques and striking at the points an enemy is forced to defend—this must be the principle behind the Dugu Nine Swords.
Previously, when Zhou Zhu had attacked him, Lin Bai couldn't see any flaws in his opponent's moves at all, relying entirely on the Chaos Jade to endure.
Now, with the Eye of the Broken, he could probably rely on himself to dodge such attacks.
It had arrived at the perfect time.
A true life-saving Divine Skill!
As expected of the first major System to appear, it was truly formidable. As for the next task's reward, 'Incomplete Soul Parting' was likely a typo for 'Divided God.' Lin Bai pondered for a moment and felt this Divine Skill probably corresponded to the Great Demon Solution Book. However, its specific function would only become clear once he actually received the reward.
Now, Lin Bai no longer obsessed over whether the System wanted him to promote the 'beauty of incompleteness' or the 'calamity of incompleteness.' As long as he persistently promoted the principle, the rewards would naturally come to him when the time was right.
It seemed Crispy Rice's temporary setback hadn't affected the Luck Value he'd previously accumulated. He was still the Son of Destiny.
While Lin Bai was reveling in the joy of his bountiful harvest from the System missions, Ye Song in Zhen City was deeply conflicted. He didn't know whether to follow his sect's arrangements and carry out a massacre of Justice League members within the city, or to remain steadfast, stick to his original plan, participate in the cooking competition, and enter the Righteous Door as Lin Bai's Disciple to learn the way of principles.
Those Magpie Bridges, stretching tens of thousands of li from Zhen City, looked incredibly enticing.
Standing at the venue for the cooking competition, Ye Song quietly pondered for a moment, then decided to stick to his original plan.
Despite the formidable enemy at their doorstep, Lin Bai hadn't even canceled the cooking competition. If he, Ye Song, were to casually alter his plans and obey his sect's orders, wouldn't that just prove he was weaker than Lin Bai?