The System Maker!
Chapter 199 – The Heavenly Merit!

"Since we're all here, why don’t we divide the war spoils now?" the expert from the Great West Empire said, casting a glance at the other two as a signal.

"I agree. The sooner, the better—we don’t know if the Blood Fiend Palace will come back," added the expert from the Great East Empire.

"So let’s go with three, three, three, and one. We, the great empires, contributed the most troops and effort to push the enemy back, so we deserve a larger share. Don’t you agree, Patriarch Xia?" said the expert from the Gu Dynasty of the Great South Empire. His sharp gaze locked onto Xia Zhenhai, pressuring him to accept the unfair deal.

"No," Xia Zhenhai replied flatly.

"How dare you refuse our offer! Letting you have even one share is generous. Without us, you wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Blood Fiend Palace!" the expert from the West snapped.

"I’m quite disappointed. You’ve become an ungrateful man..." the expert from the East muttered.

"Xia Zhenhai, you’re making a mistake. Don’t be too greedy—think about the consequences," the Gu expert said coldly.

Xia Zhenhai looked at the experts from the three great empires with a gaze full of contempt. These old monsters were truly shameless, daring to make a ridiculous offer, claiming the share that should be his.

"You should know me… once I say something… I won't take it back," Xia Zhenhai said calmly and firmly.

"I suggest we decide who deserves the larger share the old-fashioned way," Xia Zhenhai said, as a sword appeared in his hand.

The three experts from the three Great Empires immediately widened the distance between them and drew their weapons. Become alert, ready to respond to any movement.

The atmosphere grew tense. A fight could break out at any moment.

The Gu expert's expression was grim. He didn’t want to share the merit with the Xia Clan, but he also didn’t want to fight. Any loss of experts at their level would endanger the entire continent—something no one wanted while the threat of the Blood Fiend Palace still loomed.

He needed to ensure no one died and that the matter of shares was resolved here.

"Let’s settle this with a hundred exchanges. No killing and no permanent injuries—anything else is allowed. Do you all agree?" the Gu expert said, sweeping his gaze across the group.

The experts from the West and East nodded. Then the Gu expert’s eyes met the last one.

Xia Zhenhai paused briefly—but then nodded in agreement with the rules as well.

"I won’t kill you—it would only weaken our side," said the expert from the west.

"Don’t blame us if you walk away with nothing from this spoil," the expert from the East said, as the fire dragon staff appeared in his hand.

"We’ll see who comes out on top," Xia Zhenhai replied, taking a sword stance.

"Let’s not waste any more time," the Gu expert said as he brought out a spirit stone and let it fall to the ground.

Time seemed to slow for these experts as the spirit stone descended.

The moment it struck the ground, the four experts vanished from the sky. They hadn’t disappeared—they had simply moved so fast that mortal eyes couldn’t perceive them.

Clang!!!

Sparks and flashes of light erupted across the sky as weapons clashed.

Xia Zhenhai's expression darkened—as he expected, the three of them were ganging up on him.

Cold ice qi surged into his sword, causing it to glow with intense blue light as he unleashed a powerful technique.

A blizzard sword shot toward the three opponents, its aura freezing the air in its path.

The three sensed the power of the technique and were surprised, quickly performing their own techniques in response.

The expert from the West was the first to act. He roared and swung his heavy saber, which radiated a golden earth aura. The blade descended like a mountain, attempting to block Xia Zhenhai's blizzard sword head-on.

At the same time, the expert from the East conjured a flaming dragon that surged forward with a high-pitched roar, its intense heat clashing with the icy force mid-air.

BOOM!

Steam exploded in all directions, blanketing the sky in a thick white mist.

Without waiting for the stream to settle, Xia Zhenhai was already on the move.

He dashed sideways, cutting through the mist, his sword dancing like the northern wind. Without pause, he unleashed his second technique—Frost Flowing Heaven. The tip of his blade glowed with condensed wind-frost qi, and the space in front of him began to crystallize.

The Gu expert frowned and raised his right hand. A translucent crystal lotus bloomed in the air, spinning rapidly to form a dome-like barrier.

As Xia Zhenhai’s slash descended, cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the barrier. The Gu expert narrowed his eyes. That wasn’t just a powerful sword technique—it carried the compressed weight of Xia Zhenhai’s dao seed.

Crash!

The destruction of the barrier sent everyone hurling backward, forcing the battle to come to a temporary halt.

Xia Zhenhai didn’t like the result—he hadn’t been able to take out even one of them.

The Gu expert’s face darkened. His technique had been destroyed, which was quite embarrassing given the title he held.

“He’s holding his own?!” The West expert was shocked.

“He’s matching us—alone…” the East added, his tone becoming serious no longer casual.

They exchanged glances mid-combat.

This wasn't going to end quickly…

…

The battle over the merit continued for a full hundred exchanges. But the result was not what the three experts had expected—Xia Zhenhai was strong enough to hold his ground against them without faltering.

Not only did they not get a larger share from Xia Zhenhai, but they even lost their part. Even though they were not satisfied with this outcome, they had already agreed on this.

In the end, they were forced to split the merit share evenly.

…

"What a pity!" Hengsheng cursed.

He looked at the experts from the top four factions fighting at the Blood Moon Altar through the dimensional map.

At first, he had no idea what they were fighting for, but after eavesdropping on their conversation, he realized they were talking about merit—something he had completely overlooked.

That realization filled him with regret. How could he have been so stupid, letting those old monsters reap the benefits of his work?

Heavenly Merit was the Heavenly Dao’s mechanism for rewarding those who accomplished great deeds for heaven and earth.

Like in this case, the actions of the Blood Fiend Palace were undeniably a great disaster for mortals and all people across the continent. Those who put an end to this disaster would definitely receive a reward.

The greatest treasure the Heavenly Dao could give to its people—Merit Qi.

With enough of it, anything was possible. There was almost no limit to what Merit Qi could achieve.

Hengsheng shook his head in defeat. It was too late—there was no point in thinking about it now.

Even if he had realized it earlier, he might not have been able to claim the merit anyway. After all, he didn’t know how to stop the Blood Moon from appearing.

…

A Year later.

Ding!

[Congratulations]

Daily Sign-In Complete

Day 6,400

Reward: Skybound Lotus [Heaven]

[Accept Reward] / [Convert to System Points]

Hengsheng looked at the reward he had received, and a hint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.

He had seen this item before—when he was young, during a visit to his Lan Clan’s city at an auction event he had attended.

He missed his mother and his loyal servant. He hadn’t seen them in many years.

He couldn’t help but think—he was already forty-one, no longer young, now a middle-aged man.

He had already spent more time living in this world than he had on Earth. The realization gave him a strange feeling—he could hardly believe he had come this far.

Without prolonging things any further, he accepted the reward and stored it in the Item Storage.

Then his eyes caught the clock in the corner of the system display. He glanced at the time.

'It's almost night time.' Hengsheng thought.

And then remember that today was the day the four top-tier factions would perform the ritual to end the Blood Moon period.

He didn’t want to miss this event. Even though he hadn’t been invited, he was still going to peek in.

Without delay, he opened the dimensional map and zoomed in on the location of the Blood Moon Altar.

What he saw was astonishing.

…

Millions of cultivators from the four top-tier factions were lined up in an orderly fashion on all four sides surrounding the altar.

At the front of each faction stood their leading elders and top experts. These figures didn’t speak or move—they only watched the altar as incense smoke curled upward into the dusk sky.

Offerings glowed faintly with spiritual light. Plates of celestial fruits, bundles of treasure flowers, and priceless spirit gems pulsed with qi as if resonating with the altar itself.

The atmosphere around the Blood Moon Altar was solemn and sacred. Despite the massive number of cultivators—easily in the millions—there was no noise, no chaos, only silent reverence.

They were waiting for the final Blood Moon to rise before beginning the ritual.

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