Theme Park Boom Aftermath! Empress Houtu's New Trouble!

The opening of the Underworld Theme Park is the most successful and absurd commercial miracle in the history of the Primordial World.

The "VIP bathing incident," orchestrated by Zhurong herself, was keenly observed by Empress Houtu.

She personally edited it into a highly impactful promotional short film.

The short film was playing continuously on various light screens in the underworld and the Metaverse.

Zhurong's slightly lazy and annoyed remark, "Can't the gods even take a proper bath?" quickly went viral and became the most popular catchphrase of the year in the Primordial World.

Countless beings, eager to experience the ultimate privilege of "bathing with the Ancestral Witch," have even taken out large loans from the "Western Paradise Bank" just to snag a VIP ticket to the "Cauldron of Oil Hot Spring."

The daily turnover of Lin Shen Coin in the Paradise is constantly pushing the limits of the understanding of all powerful beings.

The smug smile on Empress Houtu's face, which resembled that of a successful entrepreneur, vanished quietly on the seventh day after the opening of her "Underworld Tourism Group" account, which contained a string of numbers so long that it required special supernatural powers to read them completely.

In the end, that smile turned into deep worry.

On this day, she walked solemnly into the Order Divine Court, holding an operational report that the judge team had just deduced using the basic version of the "River Diagram and Luo Script".

Within the Divine Court lies a different world.

The Three Pure Ones and Hongjun Daozu were sitting around a jade table, playing a four-player game called "Primordial Beast Chess".

The Tongtian Jiaozhu, controlling his chess piece "Immortal Slaying Sword Dragon," was chasing after Yuanshi Tianzun's "Order White Tiger" as it flew across the board.

He was still shouting:

"Second Brother! Don't run away! Let my little dragon take a bite! Just one bite!"

The Yuanshi Tianzun remained calm and composed, his fingertips moving the chess pieces with precision. Each move was imbued with strategy and calculation, and he ignored Tongtian's provocation.

Taiqing Laozi, in a corner of his chessboard, surrounded himself with a bunch of "Wu Wei Little Turtle" pieces, perfectly embodying the ultimate defensive style of "If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move; if the enemy moves, I also don't move."

Hongjun Daozu's gaze swept over his three disciples, and he casually placed down his chess piece representing "Heaven's Way".

Once the pieces were placed, the "Sword Dragon" of Tongtian and the "White Tiger" of Yuanshi were imprisoned together in the "Zixiao Palace" on the chessboard.

"Houtu has arrived."

Hongjun raised his eyes and looked at Houtu at Houtu entrance of the palace. "What is it?"

"Dao Ancestor, three Sages." Houtu bowed and handed over the jade slip in her hand, her expression more solemn than ever before.

"The park's operation has encountered some unexpected problems."

"Oh?" The Tongtian Jiaozhu immediately lost interest in playing chess and curiously leaned over. "What's wrong? Lin Shen Coin isn't earning enough to pay salaries?"

"No."

Houtu shook her head, her voice extremely heavy.

"On the contrary, they've made too much money."

She extended her jade-like finger and gently drew a line in the air, causing a curtain of light to unfold out of thin air.

The report's core data is clearly presented on it.

"In the seven days since its opening, the park has received over one billion visitors, and the revenue generated by Lin Shen Coin has reached an astronomical figure."

"However," Houtu suddenly changed the subject.

The data charts on the screen changed color, and several red curves representing key indicators plummeted at a precipitous angle!

"The positive educational value of 'Death Experience' programs is rapidly approaching zero."

"Ninety percent of players experiencing 'Bridge of Helplessness Bungee Jump' for the first time will develop an instinctive fear of falling and weightlessness, thus gaining more awe of heights in real life."

"However, data shows that when a player experiences the experience more than three times, their fear level drops by 80%."

"Instead, there is a purely entertainment-oriented mentality that seeks thrills."

"Now, some players have even started researching how to perform a 'triple axe' during a bungee jump, a highly difficult maneuver, and are proud of it."

The "Cauldron of Oil Hot Spring" project has been completely transformed into a "high-end health club."

"Players no longer experience the pain of being fried; instead, they compete to see who can soak for the longest and whose skin absorbs the most spiritual energy."

"As for the most core 'Eighteen Levels of Hell' experience area..."

A bitter smile appeared on Houtu's face.

"That place has completely become a social Sacred Land for players."

Several real-time monitoring images appeared on the light screen.

Beneath the "knife mountain climbing wall," several scantily clad female gamers were taking selfies in various alluring poses against the blades, the mountain of knives behind them becoming the coolest backdrop for their social media posts.

Inside the "Sword Tree Jungle," a group of players sat together, playing a boring game called "Truth or Dare" with soft-touch rubber swords.

"This is the most outrageous part."

Houtu pointed to the last picture, and even she, the Sage who was in charge of reincarnation, felt a profound sense of powerlessness.

In the image, a male player is comfortably lying on the giant millstone in "Stone Mill Hell".

A hot towel was covering his face, his limbs were stretched out, and he looked as relaxed as if he were on vacation.

Beside him, another player was manipulating a stone mill, giving him a "full-body acupressure massage" at an extremely slow and rhythmic pace.

"They've turned the tortures of the underworld into a large-scale, immersive role-playing game."

"They are no longer afraid of death."

"They even began to enjoy death."

Houtu retracted the light barrier and bowed deeply to Hongjun and the Three Pure Ones.

"If this continues, the 'loss of reverence for death' that the Dao Ancestor worried about will not only remain unresolved, but will instead intensify in an even more absurd form."

"Once Fellow Daoist Fuxi's 'True Spirit Wear' mechanism is officially launched, these players who have made 'courting death' their daily entertainment will probably squander all ten 'resurrection opportunities' in a very short time."

"At that time, the underworld will face an unprecedented 'cycle of running'."

"The entire Six Paths of Reincarnation system could collapse because of this!"

Every word Houtu was like a boulder crashing into the divine court, making the atmosphere incredibly solemn.

The smile on the face of the Tongtian Jiaozhu vanished completely.

For the first time, he realized that his "bad ideas," while bringing him immense wealth, had also sown the seeds of a huge hidden danger that could overturn the entire world.

"This matter is indeed thorny." Yuanshi Tianzun's brows furrowed tightly.

The players' adaptability and ability to create unexpected and creative scenarios far exceeded the expectations of these Sages.

Using entertainment to alleviate fear will only turn fear itself into a form of entertainment.

"What should we do?" The Tongtian Jiaozhu looked anxiously at his two elder brothers and master.

However, everyone was at a loss.

Right there in this deathly silence.

A small figure, holding Panda Pet, who had just woken up and was still rubbing his eyes sleepily, peeked out from behind Taiqing Laozi.

Lin Shen gave a delicate yawn.

He listened to the adults discussing those complicated issues he couldn't understand, and he found it somewhat boring.

His gaze inadvertently fell on the light screen that the Empress Houtu had just displayed.

The image of a "stone mill massage" amused him.

A thought, without any warning, popped into his mind, which was as pure as a blank sheet of paper.

He tilted his little head and said in a matter-of-fact, childish voice:

"This isn't fun."

"A massage isn't scary at all."

He pointed his finger at the image.

"We should put an even bigger millstone next to it."

"A real pain."

"One... torments their pet."

Lin Shen paused, as if pondering a brilliant idea, his eyes lighting up.

"Let them watch as their favorite pet is, bit by bit, being..."

"Grind it into a meat paste."

As he spoke, he used his two small, white hands to make a cute "flattened" gesture.

"So."

"They definitely won't be laughing then."