Qin Ruqing, not wanting to waste energy on such arguments, recounted the Dao Ancestor’s origins, her foresight of the human world’s crisis, and her subsequent immersion in the barriers.

“In the beginning of chaos, if the source rules are divided into ten parts, humanity occupies nine, and the beast races occupy one. This imbalance has created conflicts and disputes.”

“The Dao Ancestor said herself that to permanently end the struggle, there is only one way: to merge the rules of the two realms and unify the Great Dao, only then will the wars cease.”

“The Dao Ancestor plunged into the barriers to find a way to merge the rules of the two realms.”

“Did she succeed?” Fifth Sheng asked urgently.

Qin Ruqing looked at Fifth Sheng.

He despaired again, waving his sleeve, muttering to himself, “Yes, if she had succeeded, we wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.”

“The Dao Ancestor is the origin of the Immortal Path, also originating from the chaos before the opening of the heavens. If even she couldn’t merge the two realms’ laws, how could we possibly succeed?” Feng Qinxue frowned.

While others were pessimistic, Feng Qinxue, who usually maintained calmness, voiced such negative sentiments, showing that merging the rules of the two realms was indeed an insurmountable mountain for humanity.

“Don’t be intimidated by terms like ‘merging laws,’” Qin Ruqing said，“The Dao Ancestor’s vision was grand; she wanted to end the war permanently, to resolve the problem fundamentally.”

This was essentially a “divine” perspective.

She stood on high ground, attempting to use divine hands to macro-manage the disputes between the realms.

“But now the knife is actually on us. What we can think about is only how to get through the current crisis.”

“We may have overcomplicated the issue before. The essence of the conflict between the human race and the beast race is simply a matter of who has the stronger fist. If we kill the Beast King, I don’t believe they can keep jumping so high.”

“As for unresolved issues, we can set them aside for now. Sometimes, delay can also be a tactic.”

“The beast race’s lower-level forces are indeed much larger than ours. We previously calculated that a direct fight would be a war of attrition for the human race. They are advancing their Blood Pool Plan, and it will only get more difficult in the future…” Clan Leader Ming expressed his concern.

“If the beast race is advancing the Blood Pool Plan, then we should destroy the plan. If we can’t win a direct fight, then when they break through the barrier and come knocking on our door, it’s the same as death anyway. We might as well die more gloriously,” Qin Ruqing said dismissively.

“The path is forged by walking it, and methods are devised by thinking them up. When have we ever solved problems by fearing delay?”

Qin Ruqing’s words made the virtual realm fall into silence for a long time.

The long-standing leaders first looked down at themselves and then up at the indifferent young woman in the center of the crowd.

She wasn’t as worried as everyone else.

Her delicate features now showed a resolute aura.

It was just death.

These simple five words surprisingly eased the tension in everyone’s hearts.

With no retreat and no hope, confusion arose from having too many choices.

Now that there were no choices left, the path ahead was clear.

It was a battle with no way out.

Taichi felt embarrassed, saying, “We old folks who have lived so many years find ourselves less courageous than a young girl at the end.”

He deeply bowed to Qin Ruqing and, upon raising his head, spoke solemnly and loudly, “From now on, Elder Qin is our true leader!”

The figures in the virtual realm exchanged glances, bowed their heads in unison, and said:

“We are willing to follow Elder Qin as our leader!”

The thunderous applause carried a sense of pride that was unmistakably diminished.

The transfer of power required no coronation ceremony—just a bow and a nod.

Qin Ruqing remembered attending the Hundred Clans Conference, striving hard, and wishing only for this kind of bowing and submission.

At this moment, she had truly received it, but her heart remained calm.

The image of the Dao Ancestor’s compassionate and benevolent face appeared in her mind.

In the shadowy figure of light, the elegant woman in blue asked her gently:

“You cannot be an ordinary genius. The world expects you to take on great responsibilities and become a hero. How will you choose?”

Qin Ruqing pondered seriously for a long time before finally looking up and saying:

“I cannot choose between being a genius and a hero.”

“I only know one thing.”

“The beast race is coming to our door. The foundation I’ve painstakingly built, the reputation I’ve created, will be destroyed by them.”

“I am not a noble person. I have weaknesses and selfishness in my humanity.”

“And I happen to be a bit stubborn and temperamental.”

“So if someone slaps me, no matter how I say it, I’ll slap them back.”

Qin Ruqing called out, “System.”

After calling out, she began to sit quietly and wait.

She hadn’t accessed the system interface for a long time.

Once she had reached a certain level of understanding and confidence in her family’s development, and no longer relied heavily on external aids, the system became something she intentionally forgot about.

Of course, she hadn’t really forgotten.

At least, she had been meaning to ask the system one thing.

“System,” Qin Ruqing called out again.

When she received no response, Qin Ruqing wasn’t in a hurry.

She smiled slightly and said, “If you don’t respond soon, I will never call you again from now on.”

“I won’t even finalize any completed tasks in the backend. How does that sound?”

Having come this far, she was just one step away from completing the main storyline and didn’t believe the system would fail at the last hurdle.

“I’m here,” the system finally responded weakly.

“I thought you were going to play dead forever,” she remarked.

After the Dao Ancestor revealed the system’s existence in the Sixth Domain, it had started playing hide and seek.

The system chose to play dumb, directly skipping this topic: “Host, what do you need? Do you want to finalize any tasks?”

“The tasks are not urgent,” Qin Ruqing waved her hand casually.

She wasn’t really interested in the rewards at this point.

She adjusted her sitting posture, rested her chin on her hand, and smilingly asked, “How did I get this Azure Lutos Dao Physique? Did you secretly manipulate things behind the scenes?”

“… Why suddenly ask this? The Dao Physique of the host, apart from the host’s own talent, is also the effect of using the Divine Cultivation Liquid to enhance qualification,” the system’s voice sounded inexplicably guilty, even though its face couldn’t be seen.

“Divine Cultivation Liquid is just a fifth-grade potion. To achieve such a significant effect now, doesn’t it seem a bit much?” Qin Ruqing retorted, “Not only did it open the door to golden-grade talent for me, but it also immediately granted me the top-grade Dao Physique among the golden ones…”

This wasn’t just a single lucky draw.

It was more like getting a free lottery ticket from a game and winning big on the first try.

“That might just be your luck,” the system said awkwardly.

“Don’t try to fool me!” Qin Ruqing was irritated, “You’d better honestly explain!”

The system cowered: “… Alright, I’ll explain. Don’t get angry, host.”

“The truth is just as you guessed. If you hadn’t awakened the Dao Body, it would have been the Azure Lutos Dao Body once you did. This isn’t something I can decide; it’s decided by this world.”

“What do you mean?” Qin Ruqing asked, confused.

“It means that the world’s own proposition is closely related to the Azure Lutos. When we chose the host, we already detected the connection between you and the Azure Lutos’s fate. Our system doesn’t just pick anyone randomly; we select those with high potential. After the contract, we help the host unlock past life memories, making it seem like a reincarnation.”

“So you’re investing and choosing someone to help you, and you pick the one with the most potential, the one most likely to succeed, right?” Qin Ruqing smirked, “Then why did you say my qualification was a bit lacking and trick me into buying the Divine Cultivation Liquid?”

Isn’t this fraud?

The system defended itself quietly: “No, it wasn’t. The host at that time needed the Divine Cultivation Liquid to awaken the spirituality of the body.”

“Some people have special destinies, but that doesn’t mean they can necessarily handle that special fate. Like the previous two hosts, they all had the Qinglian Dao Body, but each one died prematurely, with some not even managing to awaken their Dao Physique.”

“So the tasks I gave and the host’s own choices were both correct!”

“No issues don’t mean there wasn’t any hidden guidance!” Qin Ruqing showed her teeth in a fierce smile, “You said you were willing to give me a discount when I had half the points, thinking it was a beginner’s benefit, but it turns out it was just an initial investment by capitalists!”

Capitalists… The system couldn’t help but speak up: “Host, look at us now. Who is really the capitalist here?”

Who’s squeezing whom?

You’re the expert at exploiting and bullying others.

The system wanted to cry but had no tears.

Qin Ruqing made a light humming sound.

“Open the interface and finalize the tasks!” Her main storyline task should be almost complete.

Qin Ruqing watched calmly as the system’s white light flickered, all the side quests’ progress bars advanced to their maximum lengths, with the entire screen in green.

The main storyline task was just a step away from completion.

“What level must one reach to be considered the foremost family?” Even among the Celestial-grade families, there are two today, evenly matched, making it hard to say who is truly the best.

The system said, “As long as you reach it, the system will definitely give a prompt.”

If not, then it means it hasn’t been reached.

Well, Qin Ruqing wasn’t going to dwell on that.

The reason she hadn’t paid attention to the system for a long time was that she now had more urgent tasks at hand.

More urgent than leveling up.