Rule Change

Chapter 9 - Rule Changes

Father and son weren't in the same place, so Li Bai's status as a rich second generation was naturally useless. Aside from daily greetings, the main topic on the phone was still his single dog's marriage prospects.

This Old Dad was so anxious, asking everyone to find suitable girls to send over, remotely controlling the matchmaking. There was really no one else like him.

If it weren't for the matchmaking fund, Li Bai's salary would have long been insufficient, and even drinking the northwest wind would be a luxury.

Pity the hearts of parents everywhere—it's the same in any world.

Putting down the phone, Li Bai looked at the Azure Flood Dragon coiled up on the sofa cushion. If this demoness could take human form and coo a few sweet words to Old Dad, he wouldn't be so frantic about the matchmaking problem.

Ding!

A text message arrived on his phone—two thousand yuan in matchmaking sponsorship funds had been deposited.

Li Bai couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

While the Azure Flood Dragon demoness was glued to the TV show, Li Bai began to check the gains he'd brought back from the other world.

Aside from a set of clothes, there was also a Storage Ring and a Spiritually Connected Jade Token for entering and leaving the Langya Heavenly Cave.

The Heaven and Earth Rules had changed. If these things became unusable dead objects, that would be a terrible waste.

The clothes and accessories, though made of precious materials, weren't magic tools. Once hung in the wardrobe, they wouldn't be worn many times.

This world had no Secret Hidden Heavenly Cave Langya Heaven, and the jade token only retained the value of its material. It might be sold for some money, but Li Bai wasn't short on cash for now.

The Storage Ring had an enormous capacity. It not only stored many daily necessities, but even a wooden house, and even more so, various refining materials and cultivation resources.

With the wealth of the Lord of the Heavenly Palace, it could support a Dao Sect of no small strength. The value of this Storage Ring was immeasurable.

Li Bai's mind stirred slightly, but his powerful Spiritual Power, comparable to a True Realm of the Dao cultivator, had been drained clean, leaving him not a single drop. The Storage Ring naturally remained completely unmoved.

The residual spiritual qi in his body had solidified, the size of a soybean, hard as iron and stone. Not to mention casting spells, he couldn't even spark a single ember. Looking at his extraordinary meridians, it was even more miserable—not a trace of Gang Qi, not even a single Gang Qi seed remained.

His Glazed Heart, which could once cover a hundred fifty zhang, was now compressed to just three feet around his body, severely suppressed.

It was like winning the Five Million grand prize, only to find when cashing it in that you'd only gotten a twenty-yuan consolation prize. Just thinking about it was infuriating.

The consolation prize left to him was that the Innate Exotic Treasure, the Chaos Green Lotus, still resided in his mind. But the accumulated Lotus Petal Spiritual Light had all dimmed, with only a few specks of spiritual light occasionally rising from the Lotus Core, barely refining his Natal Magic Tool, "Xuan Star."

As expected of a key capable of unraveling the Heaven and Earth Rules—even in another world, it could still continue to function.

His entire cultivation base was now just an empty framework, and the wilted Chaos Green Lotus seemed to have undergone massive consumption. Li Bai slapped his forehead, roughly guessing the reason.

He had brought the Big and Small Demonesses through the Outer Heavenly Evil God's Heavenly Gate back to Earth. Though they were unharmed, without missing any limbs, it hadn't come without a cost.

He could imagine that the Chaos Green Lotus had exhausted its spiritual light and his cultivation to ensure the safety of one person and two demonesses, preserving their physical bodies.

Li Bai glanced at the Azure Flood Dragon. The Qingyao Demoness couldn't transform into human form—perhaps it was more or less related to the Chaos Green Lotus.

Though not a single drop of cultivation remained, fortunately his foundation was undamaged. It would just take some time to cultivate back.

Li Bai began to try reciting the Maha Bolan Sutra. Back then, he had entered the path of cultivation relying on half a volume of the Maha Bolan Sutra. Now, he was merely retreading the old road, and even more skillfully.

"...Shiyan Shepige, Zhetuo Maha, Yesailusike, Caiduo Suman..."

The sutra text flowed through his mind. Distracting thoughts faded, gradually entering a state of clarity.

When he silently recited the Maha Bolan Sutra for the sixth time, the depths of his mind began to tremble slightly. The range of disturbance grew larger, and even the solidified, stone-like spiritual qi was affected.

Crack!

After a faint, almost imperceptible sound, Li Bai emerged from the meditative state of repeated chanting.

A few faint strands of Spiritual Power appeared in his dried-up mind. The solid spiritual qi, condensed to the size of a soybean, seemed to have cracked open a barely noticeable fissure. Yet he still couldn't sense even a trace of spiritual qi from the outside world.

The surface of the Chaos Green Lotus's petals flickered with the sutra characters of the Maha Bolan Sutra, but they quickly dimmed as the chanting stopped. Unlike in the other world, it didn't activate on its own to continuously generate Spiritual Power.

Fifty Great Daos, Heaven's Evolvement Forty-Nine, thus one is left behind. Heaven never seals off all paths. Under the constraints of this world's Heaven and Earth Rules, cultivation was so difficult, yet a sliver of hope remained.

The results of cultivating again were half the effort for twice the gain, far slower than in the other world. But the fact that he could still cultivate at all made Li Bai let out a long sigh of relief. The stone in his heart finally fell.

His mind stirred again. A Spirit Crystal the size of an egg rolled to his feet, and a wisp of Spiritual Power vanished at the same time. This world had no spiritual qi, so every Spirit Crystal taken from the Storage Ring was one less.

The rules had changed. Even opening the Storage Ring wasn't as easy as in the other world. One wisp of Spiritual Power could only open it once.

When he stopped cultivating his Spiritual Power, the sky was already bright.

Li Bai, who had sat stiffly by the dining table all night, only then noticed that the TV was still on, but the Azure Flood Dragon demoness was no longer on the sofa.

His gaze swept the room, and he soon saw her coiled on the book bed. She had somehow opened the laptop, using her tail to press the mouse like an old pro, happily playing Minesweeper.

This demoness adapted fast—she'd learned to use a computer in just one night.

Modern society was also called the information society. People could easily access a vast amount of information. Watching TV for one night could yield more than traveling ten thousand miles and reading ten thousand books in ancient times.

This demoness grasped these things ten or even a hundred times faster than ordinary people. If not for such cunning intelligence, she would probably have been swallowed as a snack by the great demons of the Kunlun Demon Realm long ago.

After a simple breakfast, Li Bai tidied himself up. With a few snips of the scissors, his long hair was cut into a short, messy style. His scholarly aura vanished completely, and he looked full of youthful vigor and vitality, restored to his original appearance in this world.

Seeing the Azure Flood Dragon demoness still playing Minesweeper, he instructed, "Stay home and behave. Breakfast is in the pot. There are ingredients in the fridge and kitchen. Learn to use the cookware yourself, got it? Don't go out. Don't rummage through things."

Yesterday at the hospital, he'd scared a rich second generation half to death. He didn't want a repeat performance with other patients.

A flash of Electric Light flickered in the room. Li Bai's neck was gently wrapped, and with a slight sting, he knew this demoness would never forget her morning bite.

"This servant knows!"

The Demoness was used to acting spoiled and begging for favors in a voice so sweet it could make your teeth ache.

There were far too many novel things in this world to capture her attention; she could probably spend half a year just playing with a single computer.

The final day of the mental illness and mental health epidemiology conference for the Three Provinces and One City in East China, led by the Seventh People's Hospital, had arrived. Without a word of nonsense, Dean Zhou personally led the delegation, guiding his colleagues into the inpatient ward separated from the outpatient building by just one wall.

The high walls were lined with induction Electric Nets and infrared sensors, with high-definition cameras scattered in the corners. Add to that the sharp, retired Special Forces Soldiers serving as Security Guards patrolling day and night, and the security level was on par with a detention center.

Once a mental patient lacking the capacity for independent action had an episode, whether they hurt someone else or themselves, it was something neither the hospital nor the family wanted to see.

No wonder the doctors and Nurses liked to call the inpatient ward the "harem"—the people inside were all VIPs, watched and guarded, not allowed to come and go freely. Each one was precious, handled with care, for fear they might get bumped or bruised.

When not in the midst of an episode, the patients in the inpatient ward were no different from ordinary people. Aside from taking their medication on schedule, they could move about freely, play chess, watch TV, read books, recite poetry—content and at ease.

Deep within the inpatient ward behind the outpatient building, there was a special place that was no different from a real detention center. Known as the "cold palace" of the harem, it was the Intensive Care Unit. The patients there were all violent offenders, commonly called Martial Maniacs. At the very least, they could kill without paying with their lives, and what was even more terrifying was that some patients showed no warning signs at all during an episode. Even with restraint suits and isolation rooms, they were still hard to guard against.

For over twenty years, under the personal command of Vice Dean Wang, who was skilled with a Tranquilizer Gun, there had never been a single incident. She earned the title Invincible Divine Gun.

Some busybody wrote a piece: "This Lonely One's illness struck, raging mad and ready to charge. A dart came swift, and in seven steps, he fell. The crowd was stunned. The old woman smiled and said: 'Nothing special—just practice makes perfect.'"

After retiring and being rehired to return to her post, Vice Dean Wang's prestige was undiminished from her prime. She was now also called Granny Double Gun King. Just standing there, she was more effective than a sedative.

Visiting doctors from other hospitals couldn't help but come to pay their respects and seek her advice.

Ten years had passed. The son of Li Wei, the protagonist of The Nation Falls, Mountains and Rivers Remain, had grown up. Back then, so many people cried and begged for a sequel. Now even the second sequel was out—they should be satisfied, right. You've never read The Nation Falls, Mountains and Rivers Remain? It's a divine book that even Dragon Cavalry Fighter has to look up to.