Super Barrier

The setting sun pierced through the sparse clouds and cast a golden glow over the ancient land, bathing the courtyard of High Peak in light.

Jia Meng stood before the crowd. In his eyes shone the light of wisdom, and the shadow of an unprecedented hope seemed to have appeared before him.

"Therefore, there is no need for suspicion. My proposal to eliminate Soul Force is meaningful. I am not urging everyone to eliminate Soul Force in haste, but rather hoping that, before the goal is achieved, Soul Force can be restrained as much as possible."

His voice was low yet powerful. Every word carried immense weight, and everyone in the courtyard felt his sincerity, determination, and conviction.

He paused briefly before continuing, "My proposal also has another purpose."

His gaze swept across the people, and the light in his eyes flickered with anticipation.

"First, we must resolve the problem of ordinary people fearing and rejecting Soul Force."

"My solution is to begin with the believers of the orthodox religion."

Jia Meng's voice carried a trace of profound understanding of human nature. In his eyes shone a wisdom that surpassed his years.

He smiled faintly and continued.

"If the new religion openly declares that Soul Force is evil, its followers will naturally feel fear and unease."

"But if the leader of an orthodox religion performs deeds that transcend common sense, ordinary people will think that the leader has received divine favor. They will then find it much easier to accept."

His tone carried a hint of compassion and sympathy born from a deep understanding of human nature.

According to Jia Meng's explanation, his proposal was to establish a religion.

That religion would describe a world filled with Soul Force, while its scriptures would teach people how to resist Soul Force—in other words, how to control their own cursed power.

The religion's rise would not be difficult.

As long as ordinary people could experience the Soul Force described in the scriptures, and the religious leader then displayed a divine miracle to dispel it, that would be enough.

Once the religion had accumulated enough believers, it would naturally become a cultural phenomenon.

At that time, the stories originally confined to the religion would influence more and more ordinary people.

As everyone slowly became aware of Soul Force, accepting it would become much easier.

With that cultural foundation in place, they could begin popularizing methods of controlling Soul Force. Once people learned to control their cursed power, Soul Force would gradually decrease.

The balance between cursed power and Soul Force would then begin to tilt toward cursed power. Eventually, the day would come when Soul Force was completely eliminated.

In Jia Meng's eyes shone anticipation and expectation. He seemed already to have seen that peaceful, beautiful world filled with Soul Force that was now reaching out to him.

Everyone in the courtyard was moved by Jia Meng's words. They deeply understood the difficulty and danger of his plan, but they could also see the hope and possibility within it.

"Of course, establishing a religion and having it spread to hundreds of millions of people will take far too long. I will directly cooperate with the government and High Peak to deal with the cursed world. Relying on the power of the government alone would not be easy."

Jia Ruo put forward her own idea.

"The government has already accumulated an advantage in this area. It would not be difficult to cooperate with them and make use of their resources."

Jia Meng patiently explained to Jia Ruo.

"Exposing the cursed world to the public would very likely lead to cooperation from ordinary people."

"But the government could also exploit the situation in secret. If the power of the cursed world became insufficient to threaten it, the government might take advantage of that weakness."

"Then we can leave a small portion of those who are willing to obey in charge of public affairs. In the end, the military and weapons will remain under our control."

Jia Ruo listened to Jia Meng's explanation. Her eyes darkened slightly, indicating that she understood the possibility.

Even if Jia Meng did not fear cursed power, ordinary people had no way to remain calm and composed before the mysterious and terrifying Soul Force.

"Building the religion and having it spread will be a long process."

"Therefore, the second step is to increase the speed at which cursed power is cultivated before the first stage of the plan is completed, thereby increasing the strength of cursed power."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"High Peak is currently supported by the three great families and several wealthy clans. Soul Force has also appeared among these wealthy clans."

"But how many talented people do these clans actually possess? Compared with the total population of the country, their numbers are less than one in ten thousand."

A trace of dissatisfaction and anticipation appeared in Jia Meng's eyes.

The light in his eyes sharpened, and he seemed to have seen the imminent collapse of the current order.

He intended to gather all the talented people in the country and increase the total amount of cursed power.

The government would probably encounter interference from the higher authorities. However, now that he had already forged power with special effects, the higher authorities' restrictions could no longer affect him.

If the higher-ups truly dared to send an expert to obstruct him, he would send the Five Shadows to kill them all.

He himself would not personally intervene. The difficult work could be left to the Five Shadows, and he was perfectly willing to let them handle it.

He took a deep breath and continued.

"To prevent ordinary people from witnessing the conflict between cursed power and Soul Force, I plan to place a super barrier over the entire country."

"Although this will reduce the fear ordinary people feel, it will also restrict my ability to eliminate Soul Force."

"If we wait until the Soul Force causes ordinary people to suffer, it will create even greater fear and cause many strange phenomena. That would also violate the law of cause and effect."

"Moreover, Soul Force may appear anywhere. No matter how many cursed-power users we have, we will never be able to keep up."

"Therefore, I plan to place a super barrier over the entire country."

Jia Meng then explained the function of the barrier in detail to everyone.

In short, the barrier had several effects.

First, it could automatically store Soul Force.

Second, it could guide newly manifested Soul Force to a designated location, such as the area around High Peak.

In this way, the area around High Peak would become the battlefield for eliminating Soul Force.

All elimination operations would be carried out near High Peak. Cursed-power users would not need to travel far, and reinforcements could arrive quickly if danger arose. No one would have to sacrifice themselves simply because they were short-handed.

In this way, cursed-power users who had begun to grow would have a safer transition period. Their survival rate would increase greatly, and more of them might grow into powerful cursed-power users.

After Jia Meng finished speaking, the courtyard fell into a brief silence. Only the night wind and the rustling of the trees could be heard, as if they were offering a final response to the plan that was about to begin.

"I have to admit, your plan is more complete than mine."

Nineteen You broke the silence. Anticipation burned in her eyes, and she had already seen the revolution and hope that Jia Meng's plan would bring.

"Establishing the religion and cultivating new cursed-power users will both take a long time before they can produce results."

"By contrast, placing a super barrier over the entire country is something we can begin immediately."

Xia Bu analyzed the situation.

"I can also use this barrier to gather Soul Force and assist in eliminating it."

Jia Ruo also expressed her opinion.

"All these ideas came from Nineteen You. It seems I really was brought down a long way by you. Fortunately, I am not angry."

Five Shadows' meaning was obvious. They were all gods of the three great families, so how could he possibly be worse than Nineteen You?

"It was not because you could understand everything in a single day that you managed to suppress High Peak. It was purely the result of chance."

"If you had half my brains, I would not have to worry about you."

Jia Ruo pulled out a long, thin cane and used it to teach Five Shadows a lesson.

"Enough, Ruo. Compared with Meng, I feel as though I have lived in vain for many years."

Xia Bu smiled wryly.

Jia Meng crossed his arms and said nothing.

The argument among the group attracted quite a bit of attention.

At that moment, the figure of the Ash Plains Hero appeared in the moonlight, looking especially imposing. He took one step forward, and his low voice carried a firm and decisive killing intent.

"Jia Meng, although my strength is weak, please allow me to join your plan. I also wish to contribute a little to protecting this world."

Seven Seas Builder stepped forward as well. His eyes revealed clarity and wisdom.

"I also hope to contribute. No matter how difficult the road ahead is, I will do everything I can."