Chapter 1157: Seizing The World
Fang Ning inspected the schools thoroughly. From his point of view up in the sky, the effects were quite obvious.
The children who walked out of the schools wore not just hope on their expressions, but most of the people’s spiritual senses and psyche were vastly different from those of the local natives. It seemed like they possessed confidence deep within themselves.
It was the confidence gained after mastering knowledge.
Wait, Fang Ning noticed something amiss.
Wisps of black air flitted across the bodies of the children.
Yes, they were Demonic Senses. The method which was provided to the Minister had not been implemented.
These Saints were diabolical, indeed. They focused on the children as targets.
At the next moment, Fang Ning realized a wisp of black air floating out of a child’s body and rising up to the skies.
Fang Ning started the flying boat and pursued it hastily.
Soon, the wisp of black air arrived at the edge of the world, right before the world’s membrane.
It did make any major actions, except for slowly permeating the membrane.
“Did you see that, Sir?” Fang Ning was concerned.
“Yes, is there a problem?” Sir System asked naively.
“Silly you, why didn’t you destroy it?” Fang Ning chided.
“Destroying it would waste much of my powers, this world is only a beta version.” Sir System replied nonchalantly. “Didn’t you say that you wanted to rely on the method of a citizen rituals of worshipping the Heavens and Earth to destroy it? Then I’m not going to take action.”
“Sigh, let me tell you this. We have a huge problem now. These Saints aren’t to be underestimated. They have made two types of preparations.” Fang Ning sighed.
“What are these two types of preparations?”
Fang Ning shook his head. “The first type is confounding the minds and hearts of the people so that we have no one to use; The second type is walking the same path as our’s so that we don’t have any paths to walk.”
“How shameless of them! Can they still be called Saints? They dared to copy us blatantly. Despicable! Vile!” Sir System yelled furiously.
“The Saints are neither
pleased by material gains nor saddened by personal losses.
There’s no point in scolding them. They’ll still copy what needs to be copied. I say, how is it that they have developed their technology when they didn’t come up, their world is still at an uncivilized stage and they’re a bunch of cavemen? They’ve already planned for this. Once our world’s beta test is completed, they’ll begin to plagiarise our work!” Fang Ning groaned.
“What should we do? Does this mean that no matter how hard we work, we’re merely making something for others?” Sir System asked.
“Yeah, unless you’re able to shield the entire world, but that would be challenging too. After all, you haven’t reached the level of a Saint and you don’t have a Saint’s method.” Fang Ning muttered dejectedly.
“Eh, are you saying that ultimately, it’s all my fault?” Sir System felt displeased.
“Oh, don’t be like that, I wasn’t complaining about you. I’m thinking, what is it that the Saints can’t copy. They can copy our technology, they can copy our civilized ways and they can also copy our world’s backdrop…” Fang Ning thought long and hard.
“They can even copy you. The Old World probably has a number of little Fang Nings by now…” Sir System rambled.
“Oh, please.” Fang Ning was at a total loss for words. Then, an idea came to him. “Yes, they can never copy you away! You’re the only entity in this universe who can’t be duplicated.”
“Why do you say so? Last time, didn’t you say that I was created by some Heavenly Axiom of the Upper Realm? If they create a second one, we’re done for.” Sir System gasped.
“No, after this recent world creation, I only found out that a miraculous entity like yourself can’t be created. It can only be born naturally.” Fang Ning said seriously.
“Are you trying to flatter me or scold me indirectly?” Sir System responded, feeling annoyed.
“This is my original meaning. Of course, I’m flattering you.” Fang Ning needed the System’s help and obviously, he could not admit this. “I wasn’t insinuating anything, please don’t overanalyze my words. We must think carefully about the way to use you — the only entity here — so that they’re unable to catch up with us. You’re the most important one in this plan.”
“Eh, since you mention this, I feel so embarrassed. Also, I’m not that important. It’s all thanks to your excellent guidance, Mr. Rich Boss.” Sir System remarked apologetically.
“No, being too humble is a sign of insincerity. Sir, the time for you to muster your courage and be proactive has come!” Fang Ning encouraged the System. “Do you remember? You once seized the little Heavenly Axiom in the Land of Sanguinity. Didn’t you do a great job back then?”
“What are you getting at?” Sir System noticed something was off. Was seizing a Host not enough? Did it have to carry the weight of the Heavens and Earth on its shoulders?
“You see, this is how human civilization develops. As societies became more and more civilized, organizational capabilities from top to bottom became more and more competent. For example, from tribal societies to military rule and monarchy, from feudal structures to administrative systems based on prefectures and counties, from a time when the monarch’s rule did not extend towards the peasants to a vertical system…” Fang Ning advised patiently.
“So what? They can also achieve this.” Sir System frowned.
“My point is, the development of the Heavens and Earth is the same, too. From a complete lack of consciousness to the presence of consciousness, only the first step has been taken. The force which used to allow sentient beings to roam around freely has evolved into development towards a particular direction; From management by the gods and the Saints to personal management by the Heavens and Earth, we immediately evolve to the final layer, seizing by the System.” Fang Ning grinned.
“Sounds rather meaningful…” Sir System was convinced now. “I didn’t know I’m so useful.”
“Yes, yes, as long as you apply the same enthusiasm you’ve shown in seizing me on seizing the Heavens and Earth properly, they’ll most certainly fail to copy us.” Fang Ning said.
“Eh, this is very taxing for the System. You’ve gotta give something in return.” Sir System suddenly demanded a reward.
“Son of a b*tch, you’ve changed. Previously, you never talked about conditions and you were always willing to do the hard work first and enjoy the rewards later.” Fang Ning scolded the System.
“That’s because I was too naive. Didn’t I learn from you after all?” Sir System asserted.
“Fine, in the future, you shall get 60 percent of the world’s produce while I get 40 percent.” Fang Ning said through gritted teeth.
“No, I want stocks.” Sir System refused to compromise.
“Stocks are out of the question. I’ve already given you half of the proceeds. What more do you want?” Fang Ning shook his head. “Furthermore, I’m doing this for your own good. If you don’t do so, when the Saints eliminate you, are you going to be like those dumb*sses at the end of the Ming Dynasty who prefer to fight amongst themselves instead of uniting to face off against the external enemy and split the goodies afterwards?
The Song Dynasty was already so weak, yet they wanted to form a Southern Song Empire. How long did the Southern Ming Empire even resist?”
“Sigh, I can never convince you…” Sir System gave up. “How about this? I’ll oversee the entire situation and force myself to learn to seize this world. However, this world is different from the arcane realms of the past. Arcane realms are small and the Heavenly Axioms are incomplete. They’re a far cry from the complexity of this whole world.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely train you well. If you have any problems, you can look for me.” Fang Ning quickly encouraged the System. It was not easy for him to manipulate this fellow into its current situation and he could not afford to let it come back up.
“Fair enough, however, what’s the first thing I’m supposed to do after I seized the world?” Sir System inquired innocently.
“Huh, when you seized me last time, you never asked this question.” Fang Ning was puzzled.
“You were so poor at that time. No matter what I did, it couldn’t possibly be worse than you.” Sir System replied. “Now, this world has a certain foundation and I can’t simply mess around.”
“Are you saying that you were messing around with me back then?” Fang Ning finally discovered the truth of the past.
“Don’t bring up past issues again. Answer my current question.”
“Let me think.” Fang Ning said helplessly. “Let me continue investigating and see what this world lacks.”
As soon as Fang Ning made his decision, he continued to tour the world.
This time, it was not just limited to human society.
Since he was seized by Sir System, he had to look at more places.
Natural worlds, skies, oceans… He had seen all of them and very soon, he was fully prepared for what was to come.
A month later.
“Alright, the first thing you have to do is to develop an opponent for humans.” Fang Ning said firmly.
“Are you serious?” Sir System exclaimed.
“Of course, diamonds are formed under pressure. If there’re no external fights, there’ll be internal conflicts. Since we are the gods of world creation, we can’t be restricted to the stance of humans, but to the stance of the Heavens and Earth as well.” Fang Ning explained.
“Ok, you’ve got a point, but which opponent should I create?” Sir System was dumbfounded.
“Easy enough. Isn’t Twelve Arms still on the digitized Earth? Get his Octopus clan out. See how thoughtful I am? A template isn’t even required now.” Fang Ning instructed.
“You’re wise, Mr. Rich Boss.”
Following that, a swarm of octopi appeared in the ocean surrounding the land of the Nine Provinces.
“Huh, today’s seawater feels a bit salty…” A little octopus frowned.
“Pfft, didn’t you notice that the moon in the sky is gone?” Another old octopus sneered.
“Where’s our king?” The little octopus continued asking.
“Hold on there, let us communicate.” The old octopus began to emit radio waves.
A literal translation of the Chinese idiom 不以物喜,不以己悲. It means that whatever good or bad things that happen in one’s life, one must always keep calm and not lose focus.
The Southern Song Empire was formed after the Song Dynasty lost the Northern Song Empire to the Jin Dynasty in the Jin-Song Wars. The Ming Dynasty fell in 1644 to the Qing Dynasty, but several rump regimes formed a Southern Ming Empire which lasted until 1662.
