To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Chapter 302: Chapter 194 – Bitterness Ends and Sweetness Begins (Three Updates)_1

While Eric was confusedly staring at the screen, considering whether the host machine had been playing for too long and encountered a problem, Fang Cheng had already chopped the Barefaced Demon Lord into mincemeat once again.

Just to be safe, he chopped him up once more, then burned him with Samadhi True Fire to ensure he could not resurrect, before searching through the ashes with Great Divine Power to trace the source of how the Barefaced Demon Lord was able to come back to life.

Like the Disease Demon Lord, the Barefaced Demon Lord had relied on a strand of remnant will to resurrect successfully, but Fang Cheng was certain he had thoroughly slaughtered them both before, leaving no chance of survival.

This strand of remnant will was hidden in the depths of Tang Mo’s Primordial Spirit and had accompanied Tang Mo’s reincarnation into the modern era.

Initially nourishing itself on despair to cultivate, it was this strand of remnant will that led Tang Mo to write such a novel of despair; and it was the will that merged into the novel, eventually becoming the key to its own resurrection.

The Great Divine Power the opponent used was Returning from the Dead, transforming the false into truth—first erasing its own death from reality, and then relying on the remnant will to resurrect.

This did not seem like the style of a Demon Lord but rather the handiwork of some outsider; the reasons were still unclear, but it was enough to put Fang Cheng on alert.

Leaving a Divine Sense in the void to scout, Fang Cheng began to study the issues left behind by the Barefaced Demon Lord.

With the Barefaced Demon Lord’s death, the entire world evolved once again.

The tragedies of the past were influenced by the subtle manipulations of this demon. Once he disappeared, the players still faced hardships, but Divine Skills had deduced a way out of the situation, laying it within the game.

Clearing the ninth cycle was a necessary condition for this process, and the Barefaced Demon Lord was also evolved, though it was nothing but a shell without will, merely a hidden boss that had been deduced.

By eliminating it, the world’s tragic narrative would be concluded, and the real ending the players had long yearned for would emerge.

The previous oppression of despair would be flipped at this moment; every character in the game would be saved, and while the hopeful ending might be clichéd, nobody would truly dislike a happy one.

Erasing the existence of the Barefaced Demon Lord, Fang Cheng left the place.

When the screen lit up again, Eric saw that the young man had turned into a bizarre and unpredictable monster, a terrifying pressure rushing towards him, but Eric felt not the slightest panic.

He saw the opponent’s health bar.

As long as there was a health bar, it meant that the enemy could be defeated. Having faced countless trials, he was fearless and boldly launched an attack on this hidden boss.

Meanwhile, Fang Cheng’s Primordial Spirit returned to its place, contemplating the Dustfire in his hand.

Although he hadn’t succeeded this time, he felt okay about it.

While overly dark themes certainly had their market, he still preferred stories with hopeful endings.

The black Dustfire slowly transformed to white, mirroring his mood. This transformation deepened his understanding of what was fun and also his self-awareness.

Understanding what was fun was essentially understanding himself.

To see into one’s nature and true self, probing deeper into one’s being based on a single point was also a key aspect of the quest for enlightenment through cultivation.

Unknowingly, his Taoist Heart seemed to have become more rounded, filling in some minor flaws that in turn made his Taoist Heart even more complete.

Feeling the change within himself, Fang Cheng nodded contentedly, reflecting that these games had not been in vain; the games were indeed his path to enlightenment.

What followed was the time to solidify his state of mind, and then to continue working hard.

Before long, news of “Heavenly Demon’s” rave reviews and outstanding sales reaching a dual harvest shocked the players of Huaxia.

The immense success showed domestic game companies the potential of exporting games; some games that struggled to pass domestic censorship faced no issues overseas.

Though none could compare with “Heavenly Demon”, in other aspects, our other games were also up to par!

Some game manufacturers began to focus on morally questionable content, with lowbrow jokes filling the skies, making people exclaim in surprise that Huaxia people could be this wildly entertaining!

Others started to focus on the second dimension, with one talented individual making foreign players realize how racy characters could become when political correctness in games was disregarded.

And racy wasn’t just a trivial matter—it was something we could evoke even while fully clothed.

Suddenly, game exporting seemed to be the collective desire, as the closed borders were finally chipped away just enough for people inside and outside the wall to discover that their counterparts were actually quite charming.

A game unexpectedly became the opportunity for communication, causing game analysts to reflect on how the gaming industry was truly miraculous, with no one knowing what might happen within it.

In hindsight, everyone found that the entire process was a happy one.

After the hidden boss was defeated, the tenth run officially began.

Although the hidden boss dubbed himself Barefaced Demon Lord, everyone agreed his true title should be Heavenly Demon.

Evidence was, after defeating him, the world quickly returned to normal.

The contaminated sect could finally be purified, the high-ranking occupants in the cities could be cleared out, and the world’s Demonic Qi was slowly dispersing, allowing the world to finally start reverting to normal.

Demons might still emerge, but cultivation was no longer a significant risk, and past tragedies could now be avoided one by one, leading toward a world where nobody would get hurt.

Seeing this perfect ending, the players were filled with emotions.

The game was still very difficult, but everyone hoped to personally craft a perfect ending. This determination drove them to continue fighting in “Heavenly Demon”, taking on difficult but achievable tasks with the help of walkthroughs.

As the first player to clear the game, Eric truly hit the jackpot.

When he went to Cologne to accept his prize, he was met with more camera flashes than he had ever seen in his life; by the time he came back, his face was stiff.

The one hundred thousand Euros was a secondary concern, as this first clear finally gave him the stature to step into the top tier of live streamers.

Back at his home, he immediately got in touch with Qiu Yu and gratefully said, “Thank you, Qiu Yu, my fellow Daoist. If it weren’t for you telling me about the Easter egg, I would never have achieved this.”

“I should be thanking you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even know the ending.”

“No, I should still be the one thanking you more. Since we’re fellow Daoists, is there anything I can help you with?”

Reading the response, Qiu Yu felt that Eric seemed to have adopted a bit of Eastern color, understanding the importance of repaying kindness.

After some thought, Qiu Yu said to Eric, “Actually, I’m working on a game. I’ve got my own game demo ready, but I’d like to get some more people to test it. Could you help me promote it?”

“No problem, send it to me.”

After sending the game, Qiu Yu let out a long sigh.

Thanks to the fortuitous connection through “Heavenly Demon,” he felt he was now on the path to independent game development, slowly but surely making his way toward success.

Indeed, one should really make more friends.