Seized by the System

The grand opening of the Institute of the Heavenly Edict did not come to an abrupt end because of the Bronze-masked Man’s disturbance.

The security guards who had been maintaining order quickly managed to quieten the people down.

Soon after, a new male host came onstage. He pointed at the enormous cauldron that was as tall as the 999-story building and said, “Look, this is the common disgrace of our human race!

“I hope that one day, I’ll be able to witness the students from our institute sending this cauldron back to where it came from!”

“I hope that one day, the world of humans will no longer be a place where those devils can enter and leave as they like!”

“I hope that one day, everyone can return to a life undefined by terror and fear!”

As the new host tearfully finished saying these three lines, the audience broke into thunderous applause! It was as if the people’s fearful hearts had just been injected with a stimulant, for they were cheering up again.

‘That’s right. No matter how strong the enemy is, we won’t admit defeat!’

‘For the sake of our descendants, and the sake of all the people around us, just as the Dragon God has predicted earlier, we should grit our teeth and try our best to move forward!’

This was humanity. While it had too many flaws, every time it fell into a desperate situation, there would always be someone who would burst out and be willing to assume responsibility as the backbone of society!

If one only focused on the ugly side of humanity, and so denied it in its entirety, that would be a foolish and immature behavior!

The grand opening ceremony that originally scheduled many more events could not be executed further due to the sudden appearance of this bronze cauldron.

The executive committee of the newly formed organization “Humankind Community” that consisted of twelve committee members made an appearance in public for the first time.

They all expressed a conviction that they would not compromise with and surrender to their enemies from the Upper Realm and were determined to fight them to the end. The crowd’s confidence received a boost again.

“We’ll bring the fight to the World of Spirits and Souls, and reclaim our lost land!” Someone from offstage started to shout.

“Humans of the whole world, unite!”

“Let those with money contribute their money, and those with strength contribute their strength!”

“Don’t sleep with your eyes closed anymore. The next one to fall will be you!”

The grand opening ceremony soon turned into a mobilization meeting. No one noticed that the Azure Dragon had quietly left.

…

In the System Space.

Fang Ning was frowning as he pondered a matter.

“Hey, Rice Bucket, don’t you think the incident today seemed rather strange?”

“If you don’t call me Rice Bucket, I can try answering your question,” Sir System said irritatedly.

“Fine then. God-like Bucket, please give me your answer.” Fang Ning yielded.

“My answer is that there’s nothing strange about it. It’s very normal. They can’t beat me, so they can only find someone else on whom they can vent their anger. Isn’t this what you humans love to do the most? Bullying the weak and fearing the strong,” Sir System said proudly.

“Tsk… Can you not keep bashing the entire nation for something like this? Many are kind-hearted, willing to help the weak and stand up against the strong, such as me…” Fang Ning said in discontent.

“Oh. Well, in any case, I don’t think there’s anything strange. What’s your view?” Sir System sounded puzzled.

“Fine, what you said makes sense as well, but according to Monk Zhi Nan, those three Metal-masked Men belong to more of the wise men type of characters. It’s unlikely for them to be so impulsive. There must be some bigger reason for their actions. For them to insult humans in such an aggressive manner, how will humans be willing to submit to them?” Fang Ning sounded hesitant.

“Haha, they’ll not submit at first, but after putting them under attack for some time, they’ll then be divided into two groups of people. The first group will continue to resist while the other will want to yield. Based on what I see in your human history, it’s always been like this,” Sir System asserted.

“Sss… It seems like this is their real aim. As long as there are people who choose to go down on their knees and surrender, that bronze cauldron will be able to fulfill its task.” Fang Ning carefully turned the matter over in his mind.

Gradually, he thought of many more things, and his expression darkened.

“I think it’s not that simple. This big cauldron may bring about a lot more effects that we don’t know of…” he said faintly.

“What effect? Can’t you make it clearer as you speak?” Sir System became frustrated. “You know I’m a simple-minded system. I can’t identify where the problem lies.”

“Then I’ll tell you as clearly as I can. With this big cauldron, the enemy could use it to play many tricks. For example, if by channeling his magical energy into this big cauldron, a person can receive a protection buff that prevents him from being attacked by ghosts and monsters, how many people do you think will choose to do so?” Fang Ning said.

“Uh, based on my observation of you humans, even if it’s not eighty percent, more than half of them would do so. If they go through a few more rounds of shock and fear, I’m afraid it’ll go above eighty percent,” Sir System replied seriously.

“Indeed, how dangerous and shameless!” Fang Ning remarked angrily. “Without providing you with any services in return, they’re only relying on threats and coercion to freely take away all the magical energy that humans have worked hard to cultivate. Now, this is truly turning all humans into slaves. In this day and age, is there any institution that can do something like this? None, because at least on the surface, their authority and duty should appear to be equal.”

“Uh, then how are you planning to solve this?” Sir System asked with uncertainty.

“I can’t think of anything for now. Since they dare to leave this big cauldron here, they’re probably not afraid that we can do any real damage to it. Now, let’s just see if we can seal it first,” said Fang Ning.

…

In the International Conference Building within the Land of Heritage, an assembly involving the fate of all humanity was being held on the ninety-ninth floor.

The attendees were all the powerhouses among the cultivators and had at least a Lake-level and above cultivation base.

“Right now, the problem before us is to quickly seal this enormous cauldron, or move it elsewhere,” a bald white senior said.

He was holding a white-colored staff and was dressed in a white robe. If it was not his baldness that had undermined his overall image, he would look like a real-life Gandalf.

“If we want to deal with that giant cauldron, we should go and beg that Bodhisattva for help. He’s knowledgeable and kind. I believe he’ll know what to do,” Ren Ruofeng said looking slightly at a loss.

“Mister Ren is a recognized wise person among us. Naturally, there isn’t any problem with what you said, so let’s hurry up and go ask that Bodhisattva for help.”‘Gandalf’ suggested in a serious manner.

“I’m afraid that may be difficult to manage. That Bodhisattva is currently training in isolation to do something important,” Ren Ruofeng said while shaking his head.

He did not want to say anything about this at first, because the Bodhisattva Spirit King had been in the process of reviving Qiao Anping all this while.

The other had said that the more time spent on reviving a person, the more perfect the body that would be created later would turn out. From the bone marrow to the tendons and skin, every part of the body could reach perfection.

On the contrary, if it was completed in haste, then he would only be revived to his original level of cultivation proficiency. This would mean wasting the valuable chance of reconstructing the physical body for the first time.

The fact remained that resurrection could not be performed countlessly on a person, because every time that person was revived, his soul and body would weaken a little. If he was revived for the second time, his endowment could never surpass that of his original body. It was only during the first round of resurrection that it could undergo significant enhancement.

However, Ren Ruofeng could not reveal this. Otherwise, he might be labeled as being too selfish and failing to consider humanity’s bigger picture. Right now, he could only choose to make a concession.

“No matter how difficult it is, we should still give it a try. That giant cauldron in our realm is like a time bomb. We can’t leave it there without doing anything about it,” someone said gravely.

Ren Ruofeng knew that these were not self-serving people, and what they said were all concerning the most urgent matter right now.

He could only give in. “Well then, let’s send a representative to go speak to the Bodhisattva Spirit King who lives in Spirit Valley, and ask if he has any solution to this issue.”

“That’s the right thing to do. The matter should not be delayed any longer. We should hurry up and prepare a big gift before going to seek his advice.”

Very soon, the people reached an agreement on this. Then, another person spoke up. “While we’re at it, should we go and visit the Great Venerable Dragon God as well? He did help us a lot today.”

“Yes, spoken like a truly experienced one. Let’s prepare one gift to express our gratitude, and then another big one to ask for his assistance.” Ren Ruofeng nodded his head as he spoke.

“This way, we really won’t have much left for ourselves. I miss those days when that Fang Ning person was still around…”

“Indeed. In any case, he was a human, so by saying some nice things to flatter him, he’d likely help us out. Now, this True Dragon won’t be as easy to talk to. If we don’t send him a big enough gift, he might just go and support the demons instead.” A person sighed.

“Never mind. He’s still a hundred times better than those monsters. At least he won’t kill the innocent, much less oppress us. This is good enough,” someone else said in contentment.

This assembly was organized with unprecedented speed and again came to an end with unprecedented speed.

The fate of humanity was not to be delayed any longer…