Chapter 455: Buddhist-Style Players, Just Hold Your Head (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

The final showdown with Chong Lou was at hand, but the moment the evil sword immortal fell, the demon lord seized Xue Jian and Long Kui as leverage. Trapped by strict limitations of time, players could never hope for the luxury of grinding all the way to level ninety-nine as they once did in the original game.

With such scant time to prepare, utilizing every possible trick and strategy was naturally permitted in the pursuit of the perfect ending to save them.

Yet, if one truly desired a fair, honorable duel against Chong Lou, they could pursue the path of Huang Ying's ending—where after Xue Jian sacrificed herself to the sword, Jian Tian, his heart utterly dead with grief, immersed himself entirely in the martial dao until he finally attained the realm of no-sword. With his past life's sword techniques restored by some seventy to eighty percent, he finally possessed the true right to stand against Chong Lou.

"Will no one praise this boss for his excellent mechanics?" Owner Fang, having emerged victorious by unleashing an endless barrage of rare treasures and divine elixirs throughout the fight, spoke without a hint of shame or a change in countenance. "Do you think underhanded tactics against the Demon Venerable don't require technical skill?"

Had this been the original version, Owner Fang was confident he could rely purely on positioning to defeat Chong Lou at level one with the Demon Suppressing Sword, but now...

Without those exploitable mechanics, and with the game fully adapted to reality, attempting to stylishly outplay the Demon Venerable as one would in Devil May Cry 3 was clearly an impossible dream.

After all, by the later stages of Devil May Cry 3, Dante’s strength had already caught up, not to mention that Owner Fang had spent a great deal of time perfectly synchronizing with Dante in the game's cultivation room; whereas Jing Tian at this point in Chinese Paladin 3 remained vastly inferior to Chong Lou.

However, everyone had long ceased to care about such matters, for their attention was captured by something far greater: Long Kui, who had leaped into the furnace to sacrifice herself to the sword, was finally about to be resurrected.

Chinese Paladin 3 was perhaps the only installment in the entire series to grant a flawless, perfect ending.

Naturally, to a being like Chong Lou, such a minor wound meant absolutely nothing, and after resurrecting Long Kui, he even separated Red Long Kui from Blue Long Kui, rather than leaving them as two sides of the same coin as before.

Thus, one Long Kui became two.

Before the eyes of the crowd, Jing Tian’s heart's desire was fulfilled, and he returned once more to his Xin'an Pawnshop to serve as its manager, casting aside his sword and sealing away his blade to live a life of carefree leisure.

Xue Jian became the proprietress, while on the other side, Blue Long Kui took charge of appraising antiques and Red Long Kui was responsible for scaring people away—a division of labor that brought a picture of absolute harmony and joy.

Just as the verse went: "A thousand pieces of gold cannot buy rare treasures, yet harmony at home easily brings laughter. Life itself possesses such foolishly devoted lovers, wishing only to be a pair of birds flying side by side..."

Though the poetry appearing on the great screen was simple, its beauty lay in how perfectly it suited the occasion, allowing the many martial artists and ordinary folk present to appreciate its refined yet accessible grace; beginning with the battle of the New Immortal Realm and ending with the battle of the New Immortal Realm, all cycles of reincarnation concluded here in a perfect finale.

If the ending of Chinese Paladin 1 was a sharp blade that still pierced the heart with agonizing pain whenever remembered years later, then the ending of Chinese Paladin 3 was a cup of fragrant tea, leaving a rich, everlasting aftertaste even after a long passage of time.

Upon the bullet commentary, lines of heartfelt emotion began to manifest irresistibly.

Ruan Ning: "So moving..."

Nalan Mingxue: "Compared to the first game, I prefer this one."

Lan Yan: "I love them both (tears turning into a smile)."

Su Tianji: "I love them both as well!"

Xu Zixin, Dong Qingli, and the rest of the young women, along with many men in the shop like Liang Shi and Song Qingfeng, were practically dancing with joy: "Long live Big Brother Chong Lou! I never expected Sister Long Kui could be resurrected! This is wonderful!"

"This master knew it all along!" Within the Yuanyang City shop, Zong Wu slapped his thigh from the sidelines, taking a massive gulp of cola with a look of pure delight. "The girl Long Kui is blessed by heaven, how could she die so easily!"

By all rights, the group of youths from the Haotian Academy, being close in age to the characters, should have resonated even more deeply; in the game, they had gone from acquaintances to confidants, weathering so many trials and tribulations together until they finally reached fulfillment today.

Yet in reality, these young people, whose vessels on the ocean of life had only just hoisted their sails, found themselves mostly sinking into a quiet silence at this moment.

"How wonderful!" Among the several young men and women, someone sent a bullet comment—though it consisted of only two words, it carried a profound weight of meaning.

Meanwhile, the newcomers Wang Xie, the black-robed Taoist, and the old academy principal Gu Tingyun looked at one another in mutual bewilderment, suddenly feeling a strange, inexplicable urge to understand what had transpired before: "Can anyone... tell me what just happened?"

"So it is Senior Gu!" Because they had been so completely spellbound by the spectacle, many had failed to notice him, and when Zong Wu and the others finally reacted and offered their respects, quite a few people were startled.

One had to know that this old gentleman was not someone just anyone could meet at a whim; otherwise, those seeking his divination would have long since broken down the threshold of the Haotian Academy.

"Ah... think nothing of it," Gu Tingyun hurriedly rose to wave them off. "This old man merely stepped out to walk in his leisure time, I did not expect so many of you to be here."

"We..." Zong Wu and the others shared an embarrassed smile. "Right, Old Senior Gu, you mentioned just now that you wanted to know the prior plot of Chinese Paladin 3?"

"Chinese Paladin 3? Plot?" Gu Tingyun was completely mystified. "What plot?"

He pointed toward the great screen: "This old man wishes to know what occurred on the boss's side—how is he fighting a demon lord one moment and resurrecting people the next..."

"Ai! Just what kind of person is this boss? He is far too formidable, to actually be capable of contending with a demon lord!"

The expressions of Zong Wu and his companion twitched simultaneously.

This misunderstanding was grand indeed.

They hurriedly gave the newcomers a brief explanation, then found a few seats to let them experience Chinese Paladin 3 for themselves.

Three minutes later.

It took a mere three minutes for them to fall utterly in love with this brand-new game, their eyes gleaming with a feral, green light: "Are you saying that if we play until the grand finale, we too can challenge the Demon Venerable Chong Lou?!"

Just watching someone else fight was exhilarating enough; who would have thought they could fight him themselves in the future?!

Though it was merely a game, one had to understand that everything within it was virtually identical to reality; a battle of such scale made even an old man like Gu Tingyun, who had already intended to live out his remaining years in peaceful retirement, feel an unbearable itch in his heart, wishing he could clear the game this very instant to experience what it felt like to battle the Demon Venerable.

"Uh... well..." Zong Wu coughed in embarrassment; such a prospect was likely a bit too distant, they would have to take it slow.

However, Owner Fang's solo duel against Chong Lou had given them an excellent line of thought—unable to beat him? It mattered not, so long as one's tactics and item allocation were precise, with enough accumulation in the early stages, and if those rare treasures obtained during the course of the game were strictly saved, then even if one's cultivation and strength were not quite high enough, it was not entirely impossible to clear the game.

Of course, Chinese Paladin 3 possessed far more endings than its predecessor, and if one wished to pursue the others, they could only continue in a second playthrough.

The Zi Xuan ending, the Huang Ying ending—aside from the imperfect ending born of defeat at Chong Lou's hands—were all well worth a trial.

Players like Nalan Mingxue, Song Qingfeng, and Su Tianji from the Jiuhua City shop, who were already proficient or even masters of Chinese Paladin 1, naturally found the journey through Chinese Paladin 3 a familiar and smooth path, having already reached the mid-to-late stages of the game.

The cultivators of Yuanyang City, however, were mostly lingering in the early-to-mid stages.

To say nothing of the newly initiated Gu Tingyun, Wang Xie, and the black-robed Taoist Zhou Mo; they had spent a long time making a great fuss over the opening cinematic and were currently being lectured thoroughly by the eldest Miss Tang.

"This little wench, how can she be so tyrannical, how dare she strike this master?!" Zhou Mo was seen flying into a thunderous rage, but before Jing Tian—who had yet to learn any martial arts in the game and could only think of striking back—could make a move, he was beaten once again.

Turning his head, he asked, "Master, how did you pass this?"

Gu Tingyun wore a completely serene expression, playing like a devout Buddhist; since he could not win anyway, he simply held his head and endured.

"..."

To challenge Chong Lou, it seemed the road ahead was long and the burden heavy.