188: Chapter 188: Special Live Broadcast: Who is Reaping the Benefits of Merit?

The sunset's afterglow spilled onto the pockmarked plaza of Hengchuan Peak, but this dilapidated scene was now dotted with dreamlike, shimmering lights driven by spiritual power.

To pull off this livestream, Wen Xi had practically emptied the last of Hengchuan Peak's treasury to construct a simple yet incredibly wide-reaching "Sound Transmission Array." The core of the array was a water curtain mirror suspended in mid-air, facing the livestream stage carefully set up by Su Ciyao.

At this very moment, not just in the Qingheng Sect, but across the entire Nine Provinces Immortal Realm, countless low-Rank Cultivators—whether in seclusion, on the road, or struggling for a few Spirit Stones—saw this image forcibly pop up in the Void Realm before their eyes.

In the image, Su Ciyao wore a Daoist robe—dug out from somewhere, slightly old but washed spotlessly clean—her hair tied up in a high bun, her smile bright enough to be blinding.

"Good evening, Fellow Daoists."

She bowed slightly to the camera, her posture as elegant as if she were teaching profound Daoist techniques, but her first sentence stunned everyone.

"Today, we aren't talking about Ascension, and we aren't talking about slaying demons. We're going to talk about something light, something closely related to the Spirit Stones in your pockets—who is eating your Karma dividends."

Shen Xingzhou stood in the shadows backstage, watching the frantically jumping numbers on the System interface, his palms covered in cold sweat.

[System Livestream Backend]

Online Viewers: 108,432 (and rising at a rate of 1,000 per second).

Coverage: Major cultivation cities in the Nine Provinces, gatherings of Loose Cultivators, and low-Rank Sects.

"Karma dividends?" Su Ciyao waved her hand, and a vivid, amusing stick-figure animation appeared on the water curtain behind her.

On the left side of the screen was a pile of golden little spheres labeled "Karma"; on the right was a giant scale labeled "Credit Rank."

"Look, everyone, this is the rule dictated by the Heavenly Dao and the War Debt Bureau."

Su Ciyao pointed to the golden spheres. "These are our Karma chips, earned by fighting desperately on the battlefield, even exchanged with our lives. Logically, this Karma should be used to offset our sins or exchange for protection, right?"

She paused, her smile suddenly turning mocking.

"However, that 'Credit Rank' scale decides one thing—the Karma tax rate."

The animation changed. A little person in brocade robes (representing a major Sect) walked by carrying a huge Karma sphere. The scale showed "S-Rank Credit," and the sphere instantly shrank by half. The little person grinned and pocketed the rest.

Meanwhile, another ragged little person (representing Loose Cultivators/small Sects) walked by carrying a tiny Karma sphere. The scale showed "C-Rank Credit," and the sphere didn't shrink; instead, due to the 'low rating' penalty, it crushed the little person, causing them to vomit blood on the spot.

"Do you understand now?" Su Ciyao's voice rose a notch. "The higher your credit, the lower the 'Karma tax' you pay, or you might even be tax-exempt. The lower your credit, the more your pathetic bit of Karma is not only insufficient to pay off debts, but it is also subjected to double deductions."

"This leads to an absurd conclusion: High Credit = Low Karma Tax Rate = The more you fight, the more profitable it is."

"And those Sects that desperately save people, resulting in higher casualty rates and having no money to maintain connections, have their credit lowered and are heavily taxed. Is this cultivation? This is clearly… whoever is obedient lives well; whoever dies the most deserves to die."

On the screen, the barrage comments instantly exploded.

"What the f*ck? That's how it works?"

"I was wondering why the Beast Manor next door had so few deaths. It turns out it's because they don't save anyone at all and only pick on the soft persimmons?"

"This isn't Karma dividends; this is eating human blood buns!"

"So we've been giving them discounts while throwing our lives away..."

Watching the screen full of indignation, Su Ciyao reined in her smile and stepped back.

"My word alone isn't enough. Let the facts speak. Please welcome our Chief Data Officer—Wen Xi."

Wen Xi stepped forward. She didn't even glance at the camera, just coldly flicked her sleeve.

"Clatter—"

Dozens of giant charts instantly covered the water curtain. The dense, intricate data streams were like a giant net, capturing everyone's eyes.

"This is a comparison chart of 'Battle Loss vs. Rating' for the top ten Sects and the bottom ten small Sects in the Nine Provinces over the past decade."

Wen Xi's voice was cold as water, every word striking like ice.

"Please look at the red line. Tianyin Pavilion, ten-year battle loss rate: 0.2%. Rating: S. Reason: 'Buddha's voice saves all, very few casualties.'"

"Now look at the blue line. Chixiao Sword Sect, ten-year battle loss rate: 60%. Rating: D. Reason: 'Aggressive tactics, concerning personnel quality.'"

Wen Xi's finger traced across the chart, and the System automatically highlighted key nodes:

[Data Source: Heavenly Dao Backend + Actual Battle Loss Feedback]

"If you only look here, you would think the Chixiao Sword Sect is indeed incompetent. Right?"

Wen Xi turned her head, cold light flashing in her eyes behind her glasses.

"But what if I add the names of the cities that the Chixiao Sword Sect was defending at the time? Those were the main battlefields of three Demon Race tides. If I don't count the three thousand people they sacrificed to save Mortals, their 'tactics' were actually extremely perfect."

"Look at Tianyin Pavilion by contrast."

Wen Xi pulled up another hidden set of data.

"Three days before the Demon tide arrived, all members of Tianyin Pavilion evacuated. Afterward, the Demon Race slaughtered the city. When Tianyin Pavilion returned, the Demon Race had already eaten their fill and left. They harvested the 'low-Rank Demon Cores' from the entire city and reported a 'perfect zero-casualty annihilation battle.'"

"That is their 'zero battle loss.' That is their 'S-Rank Credit.'"

On the water curtain, those two sets of data stood side by side, sickeningly ironic.

Wen Xi pushed up her glasses and looked at the camera, her tone as flat as if stating a truth:

"It's not that you didn't die hard enough, nor that you didn't cultivate well enough. It is this System that rewards those who run away and punishes those who take the hits."

"Some people die too 'valuably,' because their deaths became stepping stones for others to climb the Ranks and get rich."

The air in the livestream room seemed to freeze. The barrage comments paused for an instant, then erupted into a wave ten times more violent than before.

"Bastards!!"

"A Senior Brother of mine died in that Chixiao battle... That bunch of bald donkeys from Tianyin Pavilion ran away at the time?!"

"Screw your Credit Rating!"

"Is this still the Heavenly Dao? This is clearly the Demonic Path!"

Just then, the final chart slowly floated to the center of the water curtain.

It was the data for the Qingheng Sect.

"Finally, let's talk about ourselves." Wen Xi's voice dropped.

"During the War Debt Liquidation Month, we reformed. We halted those suicide missions, and we turned the 'death list' into a 'survival list.'"

"The overall death rate of the Qingheng Sect has dropped by 40%. The Karma deficit has been repaired by 30%."

On the chart was a green curve that should have gone upward (improving).

"And the result?"

Wen Xi's finger pointed to the end of that curve, where a huge, blood-red "C-" hung prominently.

"Because we touched the cake, because we no longer obediently go to our deaths like before, because we let others die less... so, we were downgraded."

"The reason given by the Nine Provinces Review Bureau is: Using the power of the Demon Race to interfere with order."

Wen Xi looked up, staring directly into the camera, as if looking through the screen at every single person in the War Debt Bureau.

"No. There is only one real reason we were downgraded: We weren't downgraded because we killed too many, but because we saved too many."

"In this evaluation System, saving people is the original sin."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Immediately after, the barrage comments in the livestream room went completely out of control. It was an explosion of blood and tears repressed for countless years, countless generations.

"Revolt!!"

"What kind of crappy world is this!"

"I want to join too! I'm done with this!"

"The Qingheng Sect is right! Keep this crappy rating, we don't want it!"

Shen Xingzhou stood backstage, watching the frantically scrolling text before him, feeling his whole body trembling.

On the System interface, the progress bar representing "Public Opinion" broke through the ceiling, turning a blinding purple-red.

[System Public Opinion Monitoring: Off the Charts]

Topic Popularity:

#CreditDowngradeForWorkers —> Exploded (No. 1 Search on the Network)

Participation Analysis:

Low-level Cultivator participation: Extremely high (Anger meter full)

Anonymous data reporting channel for small Sects: Instantly overwhelmed (massive amounts of "dark history" are pouring in)

[System Comment]

You have succeeded.

You have forcibly pushed an "internal reform" regarding the survival of the Qingheng Sect into a "class issue" of workers across the Nine Provinces confronting capital (the Heavenly Dao).

Just as the flames of public opinion were about to spread, Shen Xingzhou felt the sky above him darken.

It wasn't that the sky had turned dark; it was that the gaze from a higher dimension had become so heavy that it was impossible to breathe.

The status bar at the very top of the System's main interface jumped once more. This time, it wasn't a gradient of color, but a change in texture. The detachment that had carried a hint of an "Observer" disappeared completely, replaced by a hostile, cold gaze, like a jailer looking at rioting prisoners.

[Heavenly Dao Attention Updated]

From: "Biased Observation"

♦

→ "Alert Monitoring"

Immediately after, a series of glaring red high-risk warnings flashed frantically at the edge of Shen Xingzhou's vision.

[System High-Risk Warning]

Detected that the Heavenly Dao is conducting drastic algorithmic corrections!

Anomalous Phenomenon:

The Heavenly Dao has directly interfered with the "topic dissemination path" multiple times in a short period.

Sanction measures have taken effect:

Dissemination Damping: +30% (Your voice is being muted across the entire network)

Traffic Hijacking: Livestream traffic is being cut off and redirected to promote "War Debt Bureau Positive Energy" propaganda.

Bias Suppression: Any topic containing the words "Reform" or "Qingheng Sect" is being algorithmically downranked.

Shen Xingzhou watched helplessly as the livestream's online viewer count, which had soared to five million, began to drop mysteriously. The barrage comments that were still scrolling began to show a large number of "Connection Interrupted," "Network Error" messages.

They were afraid.

The Heavenly Dao was truly afraid.

The last line of text on the System interface was as red as blood and as cold as ice:

[Status Determination]

You have officially entered the edge of the Heavenly Dao's blacklist.

Next-stage operation prediction:

No longer just downgrades or public opinion suppression.

Prepare to welcome... physical erasure.