Online Game: Three Kingdoms Era

  After doing all this, I have a sense of emptiness. From entering the game to now, wealth, power, fame, and even benefits in reality, I've basically gotten everything. But I'm still the same me as before, and everything that I purely relied on chance to get is almost no longer interesting to me after I've arranged it all properly.

  I thought back to the question I had when I was in the newbie village, if I didn't rely on my own efforts with every sword and gun, then what's the point of everything I've obtained? The character I created based on Toy Pig's suggestion was originally for experiencing the ordinary fun of the game, but later because of constantly soaring to great heights, I had no time to take care of it, so I entrusted it to the system for a long time, and then entrusted it to Guan Yu. Now it's probably become a high-level expert too. That character has completely lost its meaning. Even if I go create another new character now, I estimate that in the end it will still be the same outcome.

  I now recall the stories of Meng Jiangnu and Zhuangzi's butterfly dream. However, in those two stories, the dreams eventually came to an end, but my dream, I'm afraid it will never come true again. Dreams are just dreams!

  But what can I do now? To enjoy wealth, power and fame in a proper manner, to be a rich man in the real world? Or give up everything and go back to being that poor guy? Neither of these is probably what I want.

  I am still young, I still want to go and do some things that make myself feel passionate.

  "Human life has a limit, but knowledge is boundless." I couldn't help but think of this sentence again.

  Suddenly, it dawned on me that Zhuangzi had arrived in the game. Why shouldn't I go and ask this sage for guidance? Perhaps he would teach me something. But I hadn't seen Zhuangzi before, my "Nine States Order" was useless against him. Where was Zhuangzi now?

  After a long time, I couldn't help but laugh at myself again. I'm still too obsessed. Why did I only think of Zhuangzi? After all, I haven't escaped the game mentality yet, always thinking about getting benefits from NPCs. In fact, when I first entered the game, the system had already given me a hint. Why did the imperial court build my mansion near the Confucius Temple? There must be a deep meaning behind it. Since that's the case, instead of searching for an elusive Zhuangzi, why not go and pay respects to the visible Confucius Temple, and take a look at my own Confucian ancestral temple?

  Thinking of this, I directly transported myself to Confucius Temple.

  In reality, I have never seen the Confucius Temple, but in the game, it is arranged as follows: There are a total of twelve halls. The first four halls are named after "Analects", "Mencius", "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean". The middle five halls are named after "Book of Songs", "Book of History", "I Ching", "Book of Rites" and "Spring and Autumn Annals". The last three halls are named after "Three People Hall", "Three Thinking Hall" and "Follow Heart Hall".

  Before entering, I remembered the disturbance of the male middle tone sao, and no longer wanted to get any rewards in this twelfth-level courtyard. With a thought in my mind, I knelt down and prayed: "Merciful Heaven, if you pity me, do not give me any rewards in the Confucius Temple, let me understand it myself."

  At this time, I heard my sister's voice say: "This matter doesn't need to ask heaven, asking me is enough."

  I stood up and smiled: "Thank you, sister."

  Sister said: "Don't thank me, just go in and have fun."

  And so, I stepped into the threshold of the Confucius Temple. My sister was indeed all-powerful and had disabled all my reward functions. As a result, when I saw the dazzling temple, that annoying male voice never appeared again.

  At first, I saw the things in the Confucius Temple, all were glittering with gold. But I didn't pay attention to those luxurious and magnificent parts. Because I was very clear that Confucius was stranded in Chen and Cai, almost starved to death. He should never have pursued these things from the start.

  Thinking so, the world in my eyes changed. The Confucius Temple was full of elegance and refinement everywhere, making people feel carefree and joyful.

  It's been two days since I started playing games, and except for the first time, this is the first time I've had such a feeling.

  I finally finished strolling through the Confucius Temple and arrived at my own mansion, which is currently under construction. To be honest, I already felt strange when I came here, just now I received a message from Zhuge Zhan, saying that the temporary palace in Tai'an has been completed. You know, although the temporary palace looks like an official residence on the outside, its interior layout is actually similar to that of an imperial palace. In such a short period of time, the temporary palace was completed, but my mansion will take three months to build. What's behind this?

  Looking at those busy people building the mansion, I couldn't see anything special. Still puzzled in my heart, I heard a voice say: "There's nothing strange about it. Other buildings are just buildings, but the 'Confucian Master' must be built with morality. And cultivating morality is not easy."

  I followed the sound and saw only an ordinary NPC, no different from other NPCs such as grocers or blacksmiths, standing there, looking at me with a calm gaze.

  I hastily paid my respects: "Finally met a superior man, I have the honor to meet you."

  "That person smiled and said: 'You are not confused by fame, wealth, or power, nor do you forget propriety due to your position. Your Majesty has a good foundation.'"

  I saw him see through my identity, slightly surprised: "I don't know how the master plans to teach me?"

  That man smiled and said: "I have come to bring Your Majesty a quest."

  As soon as I hear the word "task", I feel like I'm hearing a plague. Recently, twice when doing tasks, whether it's Zhuge Liang's task or Liu Bang's task, I haven't even seen what the task is yet and they've already been completed for me. What fun can be said about such tasks?

  "Senior, spare me, I don't want to do any more tasks." I begged.

  That man laughed with his head thrown back: "I am Zhuang Zhou. Since I see that Your Majesty is thinking of me a lot and doesn't want the system rewards from Confucius' temple, I've come to see you in person. Zhuang Zhou's task won't be automatically completed for Your Majesty; if Your Majesty completes it, perhaps it will dispel your worries."

  I was slightly surprised, and Zhuangzi actually came to me, he said that way, it seems I should take his task.

  Only heard Zhuangzi say: "In fact, this task can only be accepted by Your Majesty, and others can accept it. This is the plot mission of Zhuang Zhou."

  When I heard that Master Zhuang was still selling his wares, I didn't want to rush him, so I paid my respects and asked: "May I ask what is the mission of the Holy Master Zhuang?"

  Zhuangzi looked at me with a rich meaning, roughly understanding my urgency: "In the past, Confucius asked about etiquette from the moral ancestor, and Zhuang Zhou had feelings about the disputes between Confucianism and Taoism in later generations. He wanted to know the details of that year. So he wanted to borrow your majesty to see the two saints."

  I heard it again, and it was another simple task. I was a bit disappointed, but being able to see Confucius and Laozi made the trip worthwhile. So I said to Zhuangzi: "Alright, I'll help the great Zhuang complete this wish."

  Just after finishing speaking, sister has come out. First is towards Mengzi to pay respects: "Cai Yan has met the virtuous and holy one."

  The woman returned the courtesy and said: "Among women, I am a talented and outstanding person; Zhuang Zhou has long admired me."

  Sister continued to salute and said, "Zhuang Shengren doesn't know, according to the plot, Kong Shengren will definitely come out, so Cai Yan can only summon Laozi for you, I don't know if this counts as the Emperor's brother completing his task?"

  Zhuangzi said: "Alright, as long as I can see the ancestor of Tao and virtue, Zhuang Zhou will wait for the system to trigger before going to find Confucius."

  Sister said: "Since it's like this, then Cai Yan will invite Laozi out. Laozi appears."

  After the system announcement, an old man with white hair and beard appeared in front of me. Those deep eyes seemed to pierce through the universe.

  Zhuangzi stepped forward and bowed, saying: "I have seen the ancestor of virtue."

  Laozi slightly nodded: "Wait until I see Your Majesty, and I will tell you in detail about the past."

  Chuang Tzu said: "The Ancestor has a command; Chuang Chou waits for it."

  He didn't even bother with him, and directly said to me: "My ears are in the void, I have long known about your affairs. My ears are here to give you a volume of 'Tao Te Ching', please read it. Moreover, people often misinterpret 'Tao Te Ching', my ears will again impart spiritual understanding to you, and you can obtain the true interpretation of 'Tao Te Ching'."

  The annoying male voice went on and on as usual:

  "System Message: Player Zhang Haogu obtained 'Tao Te Ching' from Laozi. The system rewards the player with max level."

  "System Message: Player Zhang Haogu failed to obtain double rewards."

  "System Message: Player Zhang Haogu obtained Divine Consciousness from Laozi. The system rewards this player with the ability to possess a Daoist Hidden Xing profession."

  "System Message: Player Zhang Haogu's reward has been doubled. The system rewards this player with an additional Taoist Hidden Xing profession."

  "System Message: Player Zhang Haogu has received the teachings of Laozi. System reward: 10+ skill Reverted to True Self."

  "System Message: Player Zhang Haogu's reward has been doubled. System Reward: 10 + Skill Synthesis Dust."

  The old man smiled and said: "You have three minutes to check your panel, we won't disturb you."

  After finishing this sentence, Laozi and Zhuangzi disappeared from my line of sight.

  I didn't understand what they meant by "three minutes", but I also wanted to check out these two skills. So I opened the skill panel.

  Return to Innocence: Players with this skill can completely hide their level, and the system will automatically select a level between 0-10 to display to other players. Special skill for levels 10+.

  Homophonic Dust: Players with this skill can temporarily change the name of themselves and their clones. However, they cannot change the names of other characters they own. 10+ level special skill.

  Seeing these two skills, I secretly thought: The system really understands my intentions. Knowing what I'm thinking now, it gives me what I want. Although I still can't truly experience the feeling of starting from a blank slate, being able to be an ordinary person is almost enough.

  But ordinary people still feel uncomfortable with this.

  Just thinking like this, the annoying male voice suddenly rang out, but at this moment, the male voice was actually moving to the extreme point of being pleasant to hear.

  "System Announcement: Player Zhang Haogu has triggered the 'Character Freeze' function. From now on, whenever a player triggers the freeze condition, the system will freeze some of the player's permissions."

  "System Announcement: Player Zhang Haogu's Emperor privileges have been frozen by the system. The player's character will be dynamically entrusted to the system until the conditions for unfreezing are met in the game."

  "System Announcement: Player Zhang Haogu's current imperial privileges have been frozen by the system. All related interests of this player will be dynamically entrusted to the system until the conditions for unfreezing are met in the game."

  "System Announcement: Player Zhang Haogu's control permission over the Royal Chamber of Commerce has been frozen by the system. This player will temporarily be unable to receive benefits from the Royal Chamber of Commerce until the conditions for unfreezing are met in the game."

  "System Announcement: In order to compensate player Zhang Haogu, the system will create a duplicate character for this player. This character cannot receive any assistance, including trades, from other characters of the same player or other players until Zhang Haogu's original character is unfrozen."

  "System Announcement: In compensation for player Zhang Haogu, the system has reserved Zhang Haogu's special skills for this player's alternate role."

  "System Announcement: In order to compensate player Zhang Haogu, the system will allow this player to use a player clone character with Zhang Haogu's identity to communicate with other players, but only within Taian City Palace."

  "System Announcement: As compensation to player Zhang Haogu, the system will continue to leave Taian Newbie City as a territory for this player, managed by Zhang Haogu's alternate character. Taian Newbie City is set by the system as non-attackable and will be bound to Zhang Haogu's territory until his account freeze is lifted."

  "System Announcement: As compensation to player Zhang Haogu, the system allows Zhang Haogu to establish 20 cities. The established cities belong to player Zhang Haogu and are managed by Zhang Haogu's alternate role, but the alternate role cannot use the city's revenue for itself. These 20 cities will be set as non-attackable and bound to Zhang Haogu before his account is unfrozen."