Defiance

"Congratulations, Path Seeker, for summarizing the third rule. Do you wish to broadcast this to the Myriad Worlds?"

Just as Zhu Jiusi finished spamming the chat area, another notification appeared.

Zhu Jiusi didn't even have time to think; the Land God's hammer was already crashing down.

"Broadcast!"

Then came the scene everyone witnessed.

The broadcast reward remained the same: 125 units of each basic material.

But the reward for the rule itself was what Zhu Jiusi wanted most right now.

Defiance ×3

Three opportunities to violate the rules of Journey Survival.

In truth, only two were actually useful.

Because the first one had to be used to negate the Land God's pursuit.

Use!

The Land God statue, which had been roaring and bellowing behind him, slowed down step by step.

The massive statue stood on the road, watching Zhu Jiusi and brandishing its hammer, yet in the end, it could do nothing. Unwillingly, it was dragged step by step back into the Land God Temple by some unseen force.

The Land God Temple vanished completely. Even the Crude Telescope could no longer see it.

The forests on both sides of the road returned to normal. The Mountain God Temple reappeared.

Zhu Jiusi felt a lingering fear.

Having low intelligence and a poor brain had its benefits—it wasn't easy to feel fear. If he were still human, he would have overthought things and been filled with distracting thoughts; a single roar from the Land God would have left him trembling and unable to move.

Several people in the group expressed their thoughts.

Rain Seeker: "Thumbs up!"

Monkey Has Iron Rod: "The big boss is awesome, voice cracking from shouting."

Orchid Pavilion Scholar sent an emoji of someone rubbing their chin: "Summarizing the rules means courting death?"

The Master of Cloud Stack Cave had summarized the first rule by going against the flow—courting death!

The second time he encountered a green zombie—certain death!

The third time he killed someone in the Land God Temple—courting death again!

This isn't a Wild Boar; this is a Blockhead!

Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword: "Not advisable!"

A Path Seeker should be fearless, but one should not deliberately provoke.

Zhu Jiusi replied with a thumbs-up emoji: "Indeed not advisable, don't court death. I almost died."

Rain Seeker: "Very curious, what happened? Did you almost disappear along with the temple?"

Zhu Jiusi sent a pig-head shaking emoji: "The Land God Temple only disappears after a while, but the Land God came to life and almost beat me to death. It's very strong, don't provoke it. If your health isn't over a hundred, you're dead for sure."

Rain Seeker: "Then how did you survive? Uh... don't say it if it's inconvenient."

She was very curious, curious about all the rules, and liked to use her brain. But she wasn't the type to pry into others' privacy.

Master of Cloud Stack Cave: "It's nothing. Summarizing this rule rewarded me with a rule-based power, and that's the only reason I survived. Others won't have this chance."

Monkey Has Iron Rod: "Impressive!"

Zhu Jiusi exchanged a few more words with them, calmed his nerves, and walked toward his own Mountain God Temple.

As soon as he entered, he felt that the temple was three parts different.

The majestic Mountain God statue, which had originally looked down on everything, now followed him with its gaze wherever he went.

Yet the stone statue was a genuine stone statue, without intelligence or consciousness. It was simply placed there.

In his previous life, he had summarized the official system of Journey Survival, which could be divided into four parts.

One was pure rules. The moon in the scroll, the statues in the temples. They were like system spirits, without preferences or morality, acting solely based on rules.

One was the Enforcer of the Enforcement Hall. They didn't care about sentiment. But it was different from the ruthlessness of the statues. The statues simply lacked the concept of emotion. The Enforcers were heartless and disdainful!

They carried the attitude of an administrator, looking down from above. Some even rumored that bribing an Enforcer could be useful. The only taboo for an Enforcer was: Divination!

Whenever divination occurred, an Enforcer would inevitably descend; there were no exceptions.

There was also another type: Path Seekers who chose the Divine Path upon entering Journey Survival. They would become the NPCs, merchants, errand runners, slaves... of all kinds in future dungeons.

Perhaps they were walking an alternative path of seeking?

The three official entities each had their own goals. Killing someone in the Land God Temple violated the basic rules of the temple. Even though he used Defiance to negate the punishment, Zhu Jiusi could still feel a trace of hostility from the Mountain God toward him.

It wasn't hostility born of personal emotion, but from the rules themselves. It was like wearing only a shirt while outside, the world was frozen in a blizzard at thirty degrees below zero.

The lair had long since finished its transformation. He just hadn't taken it out because he had been busy cultivating.

Zhu Jiusi did not spare the statue of the Mountain God another glance, retrieving his nest and departing immediately.

After exiting the Mountain God Temple, he walked three or four miles forward until the temple was no longer visible even through his Crude Telescope, only then pulling out the scroll to open the memorial.

"Subject, Law Enforcement Inspector 'Master of Cloud Stack Cave', hereby reports: Three Enforcers have abused their public authority to occupy the Corpses Across the Land Secret Realm; they used brute force to interfere with the competition among Path Seekers; and they leveraged their power to incite Path Seekers to attack others!"

Zhu Jiusi did not merely report them; he also uploaded the short video of the three capturing him, as well as the video of Daoist Number 323's confession.

Only after finishing all this did he let out a sigh of relief.

He had felt like he was forgetting something—how could he possibly allow his enemies to continue living comfortably?

He had already offended those three to the point of no return; it would be a miracle if those high-and-mighty fellows didn't try to trip him up!

But at the time, he was still in the Secret Realm, and those three were still present. Zhu Jiusi hadn't dared to make any extra moves.

The moment his revenge concluded, he had been tossed out of the Secret Realm by the map those three possessed.

As soon as he emerged, he had forgotten about this matter entirely—it wasn't that he had forgotten, but rather that he hadn't even realized he needed to report the trio!

That map was strange!

Even when Daoist Number 323 mentioned that those three were targeting him, the thought of retaliation hadn't even crossed Zhu Jiusi's mind.

It wasn't until he killed someone at the Land God Temple, triggered the Journey Survival rules, and was hunted by the Land God that the feeling finally dissipated.

After some thought, Zhu Jiusi submitted another report: "These three Enforcers used evil arts to control me, preventing me from performing my duties as a Law Enforcement Inspector!"

The memorial flickered slightly, and the handwriting upon it vanished.

Zhu Jiusi waited for a long time, but there was no response.

He put away the scroll and stopped dwelling on it; he currently had no means to resist the Enforcers.

Submitting a memorial to report them was his only option. However, Zhu Jiusi was not afraid.

Enforcers were not allowed to do whatever they pleased; in his past life, the Water Monarch had beheaded one, and nothing had happened to him, right?

He flipped through the scroll to check his own attributes.

[Path Seeker: Zhu Jiusi]
[Daoist Title: Master of Cloud Stack Cave]
[Identity: Mountain Master, First Rank (2%), Law Enforcement Inspector]
[Nature: 5]
[Life: 32]
[Realm: First Realm]

With the successful gathering of spiritual energy, he had officially entered the ranks of cultivation and could be considered a true First Realm Path Seeker.

Although his cultivation had yet to demonstrate any practical use.

Zhu Jiusi took a deep breath and began to walk forward as if taking a stroll. With his eyes unfocused, appearing half-asleep, he continued to absorb spiritual energy.

Now that he had a sliver of spiritual power within his body, he could vaguely sense the presence of spiritual energy in his surroundings, making it much easier to absorb.

He walked on in this aimless fashion.

Suddenly, someone spoke on the scroll.

Heals Stomach Not Body: "Eh? Eh? Eh? How am I not the first to complete the three-stage transformation?"

Someone had voluntarily withdrawn from the Secret Realm.

Monkey Has Iron Rod: "What makes you think you would be the first?"

Heals Stomach Not Body: "I have good luck! You don't know, but an accident happened at the canyon by our village entrance; two days ago at midnight, a pillar of light shot straight into the heavens."

Although it was text, one could still sense his excitement.

"The next day, as soon as I went over, I picked up a bunch of half-dead Walking Corpses and even found three white-haired ones. I spent most of the day killing them! Even though I didn't kill enough, the village chief counted it as me completing the investigation!"

Heals Stomach Not Body: "With luck like that, I still didn't make it to first place. How did you guys do it?"

Monkey Has Iron Rod: "Is it possible—that the pillar of light you saw was the masterpiece of another Path Seeker?"

Heals Stomach Not Body: "...Don't scare me!"

That huge pillar of light, that immense power—was that something a human could achieve?

Monkey Has Iron Rod: "@Master of Cloud Between Cave. This is the moment to invite the big boss to show off."

Zhu Jiusi did not reply; the result of his report had appeared on the scroll, and the memorial had been returned!