The Might of the Saintly Mother Stream, Literary Contest

Gao Linzhi nodded.

This is actually similar to how the Imperial Observatory's Old Daoist Tiansheng was used to deal with the Heavenly Assassin, Tian Qing.

Tian Qing is very fast.

But the old Daoist priest used a full set of talismans, which was designed to reflect damage.

This is a reasonable approach.

I'm slower than you, but as long as my defense is solid, I can use the force of the rebound to injure you. The more you hit me, the more severe the damage I'll inflict.

Of course, this is based on one premise: that is, the venue must be home, where a large amount of support can be obtained at any time.

If it's a one-on-one fight in the wild, being slow will make you easily killed by your opponent.

No matter how strong the rebound, it's useless; the opponent can wear you down.

And you can't escape.

They can only wait to die.

Now that there are three people who can share the damage, it's clear that if the fight continues like this, the general will be at a disadvantage.

No matter how fast he is, he will be countered and killed by his opponent.

"If this fight continues, those three will benefit."

At this point, the other players also realized the trick these three were using.

It has to be said that this is a classic game strategy: defensive counter-attack.

Gao Linzhi nodded in agreement.

This player is definitely a veteran; their skills all follow a defensive counter-attacking strategy, and they operate in a three-person formation, supporting each other.

Their offense and defense are integrated, and the fact that the three of them can suddenly appear out of thin air clearly indicates that they have also mastered a Gao Ming method of concealment.

It has to be said, these three are definitely veteran players.

That is indeed the case.

They are all players from islands with single-digit serial numbers.

We came here, naturally, to participate in the game activities.

However, unlike the others, these three are actually players who play the Saintly Mother Stream.

What is a Saintly Mother Stream player?

It's the kind of person who doesn't want to kill anyone in the game, not even a chicken.

As for things like stealing or rummaging through boxes, which would lower one's moral standards, I would never do them.

Players who play this way are known for their strict moral standards and extremely high level of immersion in the game.

Therefore, under the protection of these three, it was clear that the punishment for the soldier could not be carried out.

The soldier had already cleverly escaped.

If this lowly soldier can't be punished, the others will naturally act with even greater impunity.

Thus, the gambling contest lost its deterrent effect.

Those on Prefect Liang's side saw that some had retreated without being punished.

They also started to back down.

They quickly developed a tacit understanding on the battlefield with the players, and neither side went all out.

"Yes, that's right!"

"We can't risk our lives for those important figures; our lives are our own."

What are the benefits of winning?

The two prefects were both angry and helpless upon seeing this.

They had no choice but to hide for the time being.

After an unknown amount of time, thanks to the valiant fight of the adjutant and the Red Robe Young General, the three finally retreated.

Gao Linzhi also saw the impact and changes that an individual's extraordinary martial prowess could have on the social structure.

Even a dignified prefect, a regional Feudal Lords, could do nothing about it.

Under this influence, a second battle began.

In the second instance, however, more people chose appeasement.

Everyone was just going through the motions.

Because military law could not be enforced.

Whenever a soldier was about to be executed, those three would come out and cause trouble...

"What exactly do you want?"

"What good will this do you?" Prefect Liu finally couldn't contain his anger and rebuked him.

"Hmph, you despicable people, you only care about your own interests, you can't understand a noble heart!" the female player in ancient costume said disdainfully.

"That's right, but when you do good deeds, don't worry about the future!"

"How could you vile creatures like crows possibly compare to our aspirations?"

Two Tengu player spoke, one after the other.

The casual players were immediately surprised.

"Are there really such good people?"

"That's rare."

"Not necessarily. There are indeed kind-hearted people like that, like that Canxue Boss, who became the strongest despite being a free-to-play player, and now he's become a protector of free-to-play players, never suppressing them and treating everyone equally."

"Yes, that's true magnanimity and broad-mindedness."

"Pshaw, I don't believe it. There's definitely a conspiracy and a motive. There are good people, of course, but they can't exist in the Skyfall Game, because good people will all be eliminated!"

"Yes, that's called evolution, natural selection, survival of the fittest. Those who survive in the Skyfall Game, even if they aren't evil, are definitely not great benefactors!"

Gao Linzhi smiled inwardly.

These players see things very clearly, but unfortunately, they shouldn't have said it just to show off.

Now, the two prefects were in a bind.

They never expected that someone could so easily withstand them.

"Damn it, where did these two players come from?"

Why are you interfering in our affairs?

"Hmph, stop this pointless fighting immediately! Bring out the Longevity Water and share it fairly," the player in ancient costume ordered directly.

Prefect Liang suddenly looked at the Red Robe Young General paddling on the sidelines. "Xiao Hong, if you don't fight with all your might, think of your sister!"

"You wouldn't want your sister to suffer again after I go back, would you?"

Liang Hong's expression immediately changed.

He wasn't originally surnamed Liang, but his sister married the prefect and changed her surname to Lady Liang Chen, losing her original name. He also changed his surname accordingly.

He took a deep breath, then, facing the thousand-strong formation below the mountain, held his breath and said:

"Give me your all!"

"Otherwise, I'll take all your land and houses!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers' expressions immediately changed.

They all immediately started working desperately.

A dark figure began to appear above their formation.

Gao Linzhi immediately became highly vigilant.

As soon as the figure appeared, it was controlled by the Red Robe Young General. With a flick of his silver spear, the dark figure flew over.

Then they arrived at the top of the hillside and stood suspended in mid-air.

At that moment, General Liu an attack and then retreated, while the dark figure then engaged the three in combat.

"Bang!"

Absolutely, brute force triumphs over skill!

With the blood energy of a thousand people, coupled with the formation and the increase of heaven and earth, the three of them were immediately unable to resist!

Only after seeing this did Gao Linzhi understand, through the details, how the imperial court maintained order.

They deceived the public, then gathered their strength to suppress any dissent.

This would allow the most powerful individuals to calm down and achieve a relatively balanced relationship with the imperial court.

Even the Heavenly Assassin can only wreak havoc for a time; in the end, they will fall and compromise with the court.

For a powerful force like the imperial court, its biggest advantage over independent strong individuals is that it has a system, even if it's flawed.

However, it must be said that it can still mobilize a considerable number of people and organize a significant amount of manpower.

As for independent strongmen, they lack both the mental strength and the determination.

After all, if a powerful individual has the determination and willpower, he will transform into Feudal Lords and then ascend to a dynasty.

This creates an iteration.

At this moment, the female player in ancient costume among the three suddenly shouted:

"Since he wants to take your house and land, why don't you just kill him first?"

Why should we still be threatened by him?

"Yes, if we kill him, not only will we not have to fight each other, but we can also keep our houses and land, and from now on we won't have to resort to military law!"

The dark figure paused slightly, seemingly realizing that what the three men said made sense.

However, the Red Robe Young General naturally had a way to deal with this kind of situation.

He took out a red ring-shaped magical artifact and shook it.

The dark figure immediately clutched its head in excruciating pain.

He had no choice but to ignore their words and continue fighting them.

Gao Linzhi shook his head.

This is like Monkey King being bound by the Golden Fillet Spell.

Despite possessing extraordinary abilities, he could only obey the summons of mortals.

It's like a cow with a nose ring; it could have kicked someone to death, but now it has to conform to the ideas of ordinary people.

"Yeah, even if we managed to get our hands on the Longevity Water, do you think you'd get a share?"

With the three players shouting and the intervention of the ring-shaped magical artifact, the dark figure was in extreme pain.

Reason told him that his three opponents were right!

However, reality told him that he had no choice but to succumb to his own pain!

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

He screamed in agony toward the sky.

The soldiers all looked doubtful.

They felt the same pain.

"No!"

"He's right, we shouldn't risk our lives for the imperial court!"

"Yes, they threaten us, yet we still have to risk our lives. Are we born with a worthless fate?"

"No, those Descenders said that all men are born equal!"

They quickly figured out which side they should stand on.

The Red Robe Young General never expected that his magic weapon, which had always worked without fail, would start to malfunction!

"Hmph, you idiot! You're being threatened into working for others, and yet you still go and bully people who are even more pitiful!"

"You are also a victim of oppression, why are you aiding and abetting the evildoers?"

The Red Robe Young General fell silent.

At this moment, Prefect Liang burst into a tirade of curses:

"You bastard, you can't even handle a few savages!"

"Do you still want to stay in the Liang Clan?"

The Red Robe Young General was helpless.

He is now ready to fight to the death with his opponent.

Then the next move will inevitably kill many people.

Now, if he simply betrays them and follows these three players to overthrow the Liang Clan, these people won't have to die.

The math makes it very clear.

However, he could not afford such a risk.

Because he knew that the Liang Clan had many experts, an ancestor, and people from the imperial court.

These are things that the three players cannot see.

They only had a surge of courage.

Gao Linzhi looked on and nodded.

It must be said that these three people are smart, and what they did was also the right thing to do.

However, they were probably acting on their own preferences without considering the future.

Furthermore, no long-term perspective was considered.

These people have families all on the island; it's not a remote place, it's an island located in the prefectural governor's residence.

I want to run, but how can I run?

This is not Wolf Snake Island, which the imperial court cannot control for the time being.

The prefectural governor's office is now located on this island, and they can send troops to annihilate it at any time.

So the Red Robe Young General stopped talking and began fighting the three of them.

He occasionally used the ring-shaped magical artifact to squeeze the black figure.

However, some soldiers began to give out.

After all, the way of this formation requires unity of purpose from top to bottom.

Now that their thoughts are different, conflicts naturally arise.

Just like an engine, if you're frantically slamming on the brakes while simultaneously slamming on the gas, such a contradiction is bound to cause the engine to fail.

Sure enough, soldiers began to clutch their heads and collapse to the ground in agony.

The formation of a thousand men began to crumble one after another.

At this moment, Prefect Liang shouted viciously:

"You three, get out of here right now!"

"You pride yourselves on being upright, do you intend to drive these innocent soldiers to their deaths?"

Upon hearing this, the other players laughed and said, "You're the one who forced them."

"That's right, don't be fooled by him, kill him!"

Players love a good show and enjoy watching the drama unfold.

The three men hesitated.

Seeing the soldiers' suffering, they truly empathized with them and actually stopped fighting.

"Quickly capture those three!"

However, the Red Robe Young General still hesitated.

In that short time, the three disappeared.

"Asshole!"

"Since you want to save people, I'll make sure none of them survive!"

"You Descenders once recited a poem: 'White bones exposed in the wilderness, a thousand miles without the crowing of a rooster, only one in a hundred of the people survive; to think of it breaks one's heart.'"

"Today, I will make it a reality!"

After saying this, he actually ordered the massacre of a thousand people!

Gao Linzhi was immediately enraged.

Because this goes against Gao Linzhi's long-term interests...

Among these thousand people, some may be ancestors of Newton, Einstein, and Dirac.

This is not an exaggeration, but a realistic depiction.

People often ask why Dragon Han didn't develop its technology.

The reason is that Newton and his ancestors were all killed by these so-called wise emperors, powerful generals, and loyal ministers!

Cao Cao killed Hua Tuo, and yet a bunch of people still defended Cao Cao, asking why Hua Tuo should have died.

That's ridiculous. If you're afraid of surgery, you can simply disagree. How could we force you?

But he killed the other person outright, thinking there were plenty more.

For this reason alone, Cao Cao will be forever vilified.

Do you really think genius brains are mass-produced?

A brain that only grows once every thousand years, once it's gone, it's gone.

If others can preserve it generation after generation, they will surpass you.

Then the three players reappeared.

"You bastard, you tyrant, you deserve to die!"

"If you dare to murder Qianlian, we will surely take the lives of your entire family in the future!"

Prefect Liang was speechless for a moment.

Under the threat of these three players, just three people turned the seemingly serious betting match into a joke.

Chaos prevailed.

Left with no other option, the two prefects hastily announced the end of the gambling match.

As for how to distribute the Longevity Water, they could only think of other ways.

"Literary Duel!"

"That's right, Literary Duel!"

What is Literary Duel?

It's certainly not about comparing poetry and prose.

Only someone without extraordinary martial arts skills would do something like that.

Because this thing can lull the people into complacency, it is also very useful.

Their Literary Duel was arranged as follows.

"Wargame Simulation"

"Move simulation."

In short, the idea is not to directly kill people on the battlefield, but to simulate everyone's strength.

Just like traditional martial arts in the offline world, where you rely on words to exchange blows.

This has its advantages, namely, it prevents injury and maintains harmony.

The drawbacks are even greater.

If this continues, they'll become weaklings as soon as they step off the field, easily knocked down by a single punch or crippled by a single knee strike.

Of course, this is the only thing they can do for now.

Soon, the Prefect Liang and Prefect Liu each appointed their own commanders and strategists for the Wargame Simulation. The two strategists sat together, holding the black and white pieces, and began to arrange them.

Of course, it's not Go; it's strategy game.

This set of Othello pieces is a magical artifact.

Each chess piece can automatically condense the soul and life force of a soldier.