Seized by the System

Vigilante A looked at what remained of the tree’s root after listening to William’s introduction and asked doubtfully, “Explain to me again, what do you mean by accomplice and what do you mean by sacrifice?”

William explained hurriedly, “When I first came in here, I was with Chief Hook and that unorthodox alchemist leader Countess Barito. That Countess had wanted to use Grand Wizard Abraham’s Red Tree form as a sacrifice for the Astral Formation to enhance its power… Chief Hook had tried to talk her out of it, to not sacrifice the Grand Wizard while he was in a disorientated state.”

As for what became of Chief Hook, he did not elaborate because the chief had hurt his uncle, he did not wish to see him come back alive…

“I see. This Grand Wizard must have been lost his mind from the realm’s bloodlust and ended up being used by another to willingly become a pawn for the formation, helping those alchemists to refine souls. Little did he know that he would end up being refining fodder himself, that’s very sad,” sighed Vigilante A as he shook his head.

William nodded in agreement, “Exactly. Would the Venerable One have any ideas on how to turn this elderly gentleman back to normal?”

“I’ll come up with some ideas. A benevolent man like him should not suffer such a fate…” Vigilante A nodded.

In the System Space.

“Hey, this old man named Abraham is someone we know. We’ve met him once before,” Sir said to Fang Ning.

“Is that so? When was this?” Fang Ning did not have a memory as good as Sir System, especially when it came to remembering people. He was always lazy at memorizing names.

“It was a while ago when America was giving justice to a few crimes, this old man named Abraham was defending the people. At the time, the System Map had indicated that he was a really good man. Who’d thought he would end up like this, good men do not necessarily reap rewards,” Sir sighed.

Fang Ning agreed, “You are right this time. The fact that virtue has its own reward comes from the rise of civilization. Without civilization, all that’s left would be the jungle’s rule of the strong preying on the weak. By the way, look at the Bodhisattva Spirit King who stood on his own from the Upper Realm’s Buddhism Clan in hopes of creating a world where the virtuous would be rewarded. There must be a story there.”

“Stop your nonsense and let’s find out if we can save that old man,” Sir said hurriedly.

“Erm, for him, at least the root is still there. But look at it, what else is there to be saved? Besides, if we did save him, what if he turns on us?” Fang Ning looked at the image of the root, which was once a big red tree, jutting out from the ground and voiced his doubts.

“He can definitely be saved but judging by your words, are you saying that we shouldn’t save him?” Sir asked.

“No, if we can guarantee that this old man is one who values gratitude and not some ungrateful soul, then we should save him. My intuition tells me that he will be of great help in changing the world and to us as well,” Fang Ning scrutinized the root and said thoughtfully.

“Don’t worry. If he happens to be an ungrateful soul, it would be just as well. I am anxious about replacing that 10 billion experience points I used…” Sir replied without much empathy.

“Look at you, you can’t even keep to the basic rules of conserving energy. You’ve really learned nothing,” Fang Ning retorted after hearing Sir’s reply, dealing him a blow.

Sir was momentarily confused, “Which rule is this? I’m seriously not getting it.”

“What I’m trying to say is, the experience points you gain killing him will not be more than the experience points used to save him unless you can revive him without using any of the points. Otherwise, you would be using your points without any limit…” Fang Ning said with contempt.

“Erm, I’m still not understanding but it sounds like it makes sense. Do we want to take a risk?” Sir was unsure.

“How much experience points do you estimate for reviving him?” Fang Ning questioned.

“This guy is at the peak of Lake-level and still has remains. Although, if we really want to revive him, it would take around one billion experience points…”

“Wow, that’s a lot. No wonder you were deliberating. Let’s just take the risk. After all, he is an important person in America. It would help us a lot in the future to get on his good side,” Fang Ning made the final decision.

“Okay, you made the decision. If we lose this gamble, you’re responsible for making up for the loss,” Sir made his escape immediately after these words.

“Damn it, no wonder you allowed me to be the decision-maker, you sure are a naïve, honest system…” said Fang Ning resentfully.

Sir did not reply.

…

Later, William witnessed a green light flash from Vigilante A’s wave of a hand. It landed on the remains of the root.

Young shoots started to sprout from it after being covered by the green light and it grew rapidly. A new tree was grown.

William’s eyes went wide as he watched this miracle happen and his heart stirred with excitement.

He understood that Vigilante A had the power to do so and watching this scene at this era of miracles fulfilled his life’s regret.

After around an hour or so, the new red tree had fully grown, just like before.

If he did not see this with his own eyes, William would have found it hard to believe, despite claiming to be a child of God and understanding that God’s favorite miracle, would be a ‘revival’…

Not long after the Red Tree was formed, the young green shoots on the bark formed an elderly face.

Both his eyes were clear and bright, like that of an innocent child, a stark contrast to his previous red eyes filled with bloodlust.

“Thank you, Pharos of the East. I’ve been focused on cultivating the Path of Mother Nature, yet I’ve inadvertently forgotten that while Mother Nature may accept and nurture all living beings, she is also destructive and can be violent with bloodlust. Forgoing humanity to cultivate solely on the Path of Mother Nature is the incomplete way. Thank you for saving me, even more so for teaching me to understand the true Path of Mother Nature and allowing me the chance to re-evaluate the way I cultivate the path,” said the elderly man ashamedly.

“This is a good thing. I am planning to transform Heaven and Earth, and change this land of blood and killing into a beautiful land of spring, would you be willing to give me a hand?” Vigilante A nodded as he said.

“I am prepared to do so even though it is not my place to request for it,” the elderly face on the bark looked grateful.

“Not bad, your proficiency in the Mandarin language is at least at level 8…” Vigilante A said seriously.

“…” William and the elderly man looked and each other and smiled.

…

Three days later, at a hill filled with greenery.

Qiao Anping and the others are sitting at the foot of the hill and looking up at the four venerable powerhouses having a meeting at the top.

The hilltop included the Bodhisattva Spirit King, River God of Sky River, the Venerable Dragon God, Tianjing Fawang…

Old Master Ma of the past would have been part of the meeting with the four powerhouses, but he was now no longer able to keep up, which was no wonder that he had placed all efforts in grooming his son to take over.

“The Venerable One is indeed a compassionate being. If it was an evil man who had achieved a boost in power so quickly in the land of massacres like you did, he would have advanced in his abilities within a few hundred years and exist as if he was Buddha. The Venerable One, however, chooses to turn the land into one of compassion. There are not many in Heaven and Earth who would possess such a generous spirit such as you,” praised Tianjing Fawang.

He was from the Upper Realm and was very well aware of the power of temptation, even a Buddha who has achieved enlightenment could be lured onto the demon’s path.

“Mr. Rich Boss, this old monk is right. Why should I transform it? Isn’t it better if I used it to gain more experience points?” Sir suddenly regretted the decision.

“This is really stupid of you, really. Think about it, do you think it will be so good-hearted as to allow us to gain experience points for nothing? Let me tell you this, it will want you to return it in tenfold for whatever you have benefited from it… When that time comes, it will force us to kill innocents and destroy the world’s living beings and harvest their souls. Would you give in to its demands then? As for playing manipulative games with such an existence, pretending to be compliant and gaining power without contributing, it can’t work. We have to face it head on with dignity,” Fang Ning said with contempt.

“Oh, I see. Looks like Mr. Rich Boss is a man of vision. No wonder you said to use ‘love and justice’ to influence it after we take over to get it back to the right path. That’s the long-term plan,” Sir gave another rare praise.