Seized by the System

Fang Ning was currently giving a lesson, no, explaining his new plan to the confused System.

After all, ever since the System had matured, it overran the entire world and was practically peerless, which meant Fang Ning used his imagination less and less. Even the entire fiasco about supporting the sky before was solved by using existing resources; it was practically an issue that was solved without effort, so Fang Ning did not expend too much energy on that.

A fish will thrive because of calamity but will die because of ease ¹ really was an accurate saying.

All salted fish are dead fish, and Fang Ning felt that he had been spending his time as a salted fish for far too long ² for he knew that his fighting spirit has been deteriorating. He has gotten used to blaming other people, or saving as much energy as he can. However, the problem now was that his brain has been deteriorating too.

Like when they first met the Spectral Train, the fact that he did not come up with any methods despite the fact that the System was not only at its wit’s end but also completely out of ideas was already a warning sign in and of itself.

This was when Fang Ning decided he needed to get his act together and strive once more so that he will be able to continue being a salted fish after trying his best…

At this moment, he then finally explained his new plan in detail to the System, who was listening intently.

…

The newborn Whitestone person Claus was nearing the pool of water.

He saw the group of people on alert near the source of Yin Energy and immediately relaxed.

Even at this distance, Vigilante A had not sent one attack his way yet. This only proved one thing—his Transformation Technique that he had spent all that effort researching was a big success…

Although he had ordered his people to do experiments in secret, to which no problems had emerged as even when Vigilante A flew overhead, he had never once landed to farm them, testing it out himself truly did put himself at ease.

The Heliotrope marks could fuse with themselves as well as fuse with Whitestone marks. After all, both clans shared an origin.

This was also their trump card in evading and hiding from Vigilante A, as well as the reason behind their opening of the channel for the Whitestone people to descend.

As Claude possessed high intellect, he had spent the past half a year painstakingly researching this principle so that he would be able to push it further and find out the way to transform Heliotrope marks into Whitestone marks so that Heliotropes could disguise themselves as Whitestone people.

Whitestone people have long had a positive reputation. When facing Vigilante A, their identity was the best protection. Just like how they put it, in an era when antibiotics are rapidly developing, viruses have to keep up the pace in development as well.

This was no stand-alone game where the Boss never changed and only waited for people to farm it.

Just after arriving at the one-mile point from the pool, Claude felt the ground beneath him rumble.

A moment later, a Special Investigations Unit member appeared from the ground in front of him and stopped him from going further.

“Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from going any further as further ahead is a core restricted area. Unfamiliar Whitestone person, please leave,” warned the member.

Claude shivered slightly, he did sense that someone was lying in ambush in the ground nearby. However, the fact that every person could do something to this extent was quite commendable.

From the looks of things, China’s comprehensive cultivation system was starting to look up.

They had a cultivation system that was complete, which allowed it room for rapid improvement.

Claude was merely leading temporarily due to the inner secrets of the Upper Realm, but they were the locals that were being blessed by the Heavenly Axiom of Earth.

The speed at which they were understanding the Heavenly Axiom of this realm was far superior to him.

This person that had just stopped him seemed to be a man around thirty with decent qualifications, yet he already possessed abilities with their own specific characteristics.

This only further solidified his plan to seize this area of foundation.

After all, only then would Claude have his own independent realm that would not be limited by the Heavenly Axiom of Earth.

A simple and honest smile appeared on Claude’s squarish stone face as he scratched the back of his head with a hand and said, “Oh, I’m Claus, I’m looking for my people. When we first descended, I was separated from them and fell into this place. I can’t seem to leave either, so could you show me the way out?”

It was obvious that he had spent a lot of effort into perfecting his act, one could even say he was completely dedicated to the role.

The Special Investigations Unit member in front of him could not see through his acting at all, the most the member could do was try their best to notice anything suspicious about him.

If it were not for the fact that Claude looked like a Whitestone person now, any other demons would not have been stopped but would have been surrounded immediately and annihilated without a second thought.

“A30, what’s the matter?”

Right as one of the unit members was in the midst of sizing up Claude, Qiao Zishan had flown over upon realizing the situation.

The unit member immediately reported everything.

Qiao Zishan furrowed his eyebrows and said, “Mr. Claus, you should rest to the side here. After the Venerable One is done, we’ll have him escort Mr. Claus out.”

Claude’s eyes trembled; just as he expected, Vigilante A had already taken hold of the only way to enter and leave this Undead Realm.

How despicable. Did he not say so himself before that he could not enter here, so how did he do it?

How does he always have new tricks up his sleeve?

Claus had to spend half a year solving one difficult problem, yet Vigilante A could easily come up with solutions for all those difficult problems he faced?

Could it be that Draconic Penitentiary of his was some profound entity?

Claude’s thoughts started going haywire, but the simple and honest smile on his face never faded.

His face was one of gratitude as he said, “Thank you all so much, is there anything I can do to help?”

Qiao Zishan shook his head in reply, “Sorry, we are currently in the middle of a classified operation and outsiders are prohibited.”

Claude was not disappointed. Instead, he complied with their orders and moved to a nearby mountain ridge to rest. He moved quite far away from the pool of water, for he was at a distance for he could not see everything clearly at first glance.

He quickly looked for a slightly cleaner bluestone to which he then proceeded to sit on without hesitation.

His elegant tastes from before could no longer be seen.

As he sat, his squarish face gradually turned into a perfect square.

He watched as a young lady carried a pink female cat into the mountain ridge.

“Hello there, could you look after this cat who happened to stroll into here as well? We will bring the both of you out after a while.”

“Sure, sure, just leave it to me,” Claude smiled kindly as he watched the small kitten with affectionate eyes.

However, he was actually swearing like a pirate inwardly.

‘Black Cat Tome, have you no shame?’

‘I merely changed the way I looked, yet you even went as far as to switch genders by turning yourself into a female cat. Do you think Vigilante A would show sympathy for you?’

‘No, I heard that Vigilante A does harbor a certain affection towards animals.’

‘In his profile, it was written that other than having a human butler and a few human domestic servants, his mansion also had animals like dogs, fish, hamsters… He even had friends that were animals, like that great green insect and that eagle.’

‘From the looks of things, this black cat has beaten me at my own game.’

Claude’s kind smile never faded as he watched the pink cat intently.

“Meow…” purred the cat at him. Claude felt goosebumps rise across his entire body. He turned his head to the other side, no longer looking at the cat.

The cat seemed to have taken a liking to Claude’s square head, for it immediately hopped onto the top of his head to lie down. Even Claude felt that it was a perfect spot…

Claude immediately held back his inherent murderous intent and could only smile weakly as he let the pink cat sleep atop his head.

At the same time, he also held back his impulsive decision to initiate communication with Black Cat Tom for he did not want to be discovered by the black cat.

Although Black Cat Tom might have guessed it already, as long as he did not confirm anything there would be no concrete evidence. If there was no evidence, Vigilante A would not be able to act out against him.

Time passed by minute by minute. According to his calculations, he had waited for more than five hours.

During this time, the cat had long fallen asleep into a sound slumber. This shocked Claude quite a bit; when has Black Cat Tom been this inattentive?

He then came to the sudden realization right after, ‘Oh right, Vigilante A is nearby.’

If he dared to kill this cat, he would definitely be stopped immediately and he might even risk exposing his true identity in the process.

After all, the Whitestone people never took lives since they did not eat meat.

This Black Cat really was sly; he wanted to get rid of him using Vigilante A just like the last time!

Right before he could erupt in anger, Claude heard a burst of noise.

“It’s working, it’s working. As expected of the infinitely powerful Vigilante A that possessed the ability to inter-transform Yin and Yang. How wonderful and profound indeed. This way, China will gain another haven.”

His heart trembled as a sense of dread filled him, yet he could only himself back from seeing what had happened. However, the pink cat on his head stretched itself and raised its head to look around.

After looking around for a bit, the cat stepped on the square head beneath it and jumped forwards onto the ground before it sprinted towards the pool of water.

‘D*mn, I picked the wrong disguise. I’m now an honest Whitestone person, so I can’t move to check what happened since I promised them I would wait here patiently.’

That black cat was not restricted by this. After all, cats are naturally curious, so its behavior would not be suspicious in the slightest.

Claude could not help but feel slightly dejected. He even started suspecting that the black cat was purposely playing a trick on him.

…

‘Haha, I am playing a trick on you!’

‘Do you think you’ll be able to fool my sharp eyes just because you turned yourself into a Whitestone person?’

‘Right after a group of Heliotropes left, a Whitestone person appeared immediately. Even if I were blind, I would still be able to deduce your true identity.’

‘You’re Claude.’

Black Cat Tom, no, pink cat Tom sprinted gleefully towards the pool of water.

It had purposely wandered around nearby Vigilante A just now just to confirm that Vigilante A made no movements into catching him. This had prompted it to run into the restricted area, but it was caught and carried over to the temporary area of resettlement, where it met a Whitestone person.

It had immediately discovered who it was. Other than the cunning and sly Claude, who else would do something like this?

However, it chose to not expose him, since it was now nothing more than a muddleheaded female cat that had just gained sapience.

This was also its former first love after it had arrived on Earth.

The other party’s soul was still in its storage, and Black Cat Tom was well-versed in the Path of Death, so doing something like this was as easy as ABC.

There was no horrible death by a dog, for its first love had merely died of old age.

After all, normal cats only have a lifespan of about ten years or so, and if no cultivation was done after gaining sapience, the lifespan does not increase either.

When Tom had met its first love, it was already an old cat past 10 years old, so there was no time for it to started cultivating either.

Tom had deeply regretted not meeting its first love when it was still young, so when Tom had decided to disguise itself, Tom took on its first love’s young form it had seen in photos.

At this moment, Tom had strutted towards the pool of water. Nobody paid it any attention since everybody was busy praising Vigilante A.

Tom gazed ahead and noticed that the pool of water shrouded in greyish-white fog was spinning.

The greyish-white fog spun non-stop and for every round it took, columns of pure white gas appeared high above the pool of water. The columns of gas also had a hint of a golden aura.

The evil Yin Energy from before had turned into columns of Yang Energy instead!

Yang Energy was extremely valuable as once any person with Morality absorbed it, they would be able to convert Yang Energy into Morality.

Yin Energy, Demonic Energy, and Yang Energy were all natural resources.

Morality, Death Aura, Resentment, Power of Fear, were all produced after processing from the human heart. This was the difference in both parties.

Black Cat Tom had experience, it knew that this was the supreme technique of inter-transforming Yin and Yang!

In the Upper Realm, only a few Master Taoists knew this technique.

Vigilante A was the True Dragon, so the fact that he was able to learn this was no surprise.

However, the source of Yin Energy, the holy ground of dead spirits was in perfectly good condition! Now that he had gone and done this, the entire place would have gone to waste!

If he had wanted Yang Energy, he could have just waited until he located an arcane realm with an abundance of it, why did he have to involve this Undead Realm?

Tom was furious and confused at the same time.

Vigilante A had never cared about the existence of these natural substances. “The Source of Yin” did not possess good or evil attributes.

However, those that cultivated Yin Energy demanded people with strong willpower. Those that did not possess strong enough willpower would easily have their minds and hearts distorted, and they would then turn into mere evildoers.

As for those that cultivated the so-called methods of righteousness, it was no better for they also had their fair share of villains…

Demonic Ability cultivators were the same as well, since more Demonic Abilities did not differentiate between good and evil.

However, right after you started cultivating Demonic Abilities and you let Demonic Energy into your body, it would amplify your deepest desires and pay no heed to rules of the society, which meant you would naturally become a “demon” in everyone’s eyes.

From the looks of things, Black Cat Tom would have to sacrifice itself for the greater good. While the Source of Yin was in the process of being nurtured, its thoughts and will have not taken form yet, Tom must grab the opportunity to lead it back onto the right path.

However, it should take care not to let itself be swayed into thinking it should also develop like this too…

Otherwise, things would be absolutely disastrous.