The other demon hunters seem to be checking the battlefield, confirming whether there are any lurking survivors or covert Taoyuan Village Cultivators around the exhibition hall, while Dong Che is responsible for taking Jiaoshu and me into the hall.

As for who exactly Dong Che hopes I will meet, he is keeping that a secret for now. Although I have a vague premonition, it's hard to be certain before the actual meeting. Anyway, we'll see soon enough, so I didn't eagerly press for the truth.

Meanwhile, I followed behind Dong Che, observing the slender figure of the young man from the back.

Whether Gua Tianshi knows about Dong Che's presence here, I am unsure. Despite Dong Che having already departed from Gua Tianshi's following, given the development around Moon Concealing Mountain at that time, Gua Tianshi may very well be secretly keeping track of Dong Che's movements all along, knowing from the start that Dong Che was caught in the battlefield of Impermanence.

However, Gua Tianshi did not intervene to rescue Dong Che. There must be reasons like Gua Tianshi's inability to infiltrate the barrier of this city, but it seems not entirely so. Even Lu Chan knows that I would go to great lengths to enter this city, so Gua Tianshi certainly could foresee this; hence, he should have at least mentioned something to me about it.

Or perhaps he foresaw this situation with his powerful precognitive ability from the start? Such a possibility isn't without merit, but I have other thoughts on this matter.

Gua Tianshi places significant importance on Dong Che, yet on the other hand, there is a philosophical acceptance of Dong Che's potential death. During the Moon Concealing Mountain incident, he could have intervened before Dong Che fell into a state of death but chose to let matters deteriorate until the irreparable last moment before finally stepping in.

Someone as powerful as Gua Tianshi naturally has immense fallback capabilities, but if he genuinely cared for the life safety of his direct disciple, he wouldn't allow the disciple to stand at such a precarious edge. I tend to think that even if the situation truly became irreversible, he wouldn't be greatly affected by Dong Che's death. Or perhaps, even if there's temporary sorrow, he wouldn't intervene rashly before the dust settled.

That indeed seems to be his consistent style. During my conflict with Yinyue, he did not choose to lend me a helping hand, even knowing the substantial benefits he could accrue in the future by doing so then and there. Instead, he openly declared his neutral stance. If either Yinyue or I failed, it would mean the lack of Heavenly Number's favor; death would simply be death. He merely viewed everything around him with the same detached gaze.

Only when it involves his genuine obsession—the future course of human civilization—would he be unable to remain passive.

Moreover, though I'm not entirely certain, Xuanming might share similar sentiments. Those ancient Impermanence figures have experienced overly long times and too much parting, seeing most people and things as transitory illusions. Whether it's fellow Impermanence colleagues or so-called direct disciples, it's all the same.

Even though Dong Che never looked back, he seemed to be secretly keeping an eye on Jiaoshu, bearing a cautious and vigilant air. At the same time, Jiaoshu displayed a low-key demeanor, silently following behind me.

"You seem to dislike Jiaoshu quite a bit?" I asked.

Dong Che turned around, earnestly expressing his view: "Xuanming believers have committed some atrocities in this city."

"Are you referring to their intent to sacrifice survivors?" I asked.

Dong Che indeed seemed to know about that matter, nodding and saying, "That is part of it."

"Part of it?" I turned to glance at Jiaoshu, "Besides intending to sacrifice survivors en masse and polluting the dream network, do you have any other plans?"

Despite Dong Che's criticism of the Xuanming believers' atrocities, Jiaoshu's attitude seemed to say that they were righteous and unafraid of shadows, directly responding: "Of course, the sacrifices were a plan we only started preparing for in the last ten days. In the early days when the city was occupied by Taoyuan Village, to thwart Taoyuan Village's ambitions, we originally had other strategic plans."

Initially, Xuanming only infiltrated the city over a week after it was sealed by the barrier. During that time, it appears that the Xuanming followers weren't merely a disorganized group.

"You all..." I pondered and turned to ask Dong Che, "What did they do?"

"They were slaughtering the city's residents en masse," Dong Che said.

"Slaughter? Why?" I asked.

Jiaoshu replied in a detached tone: "From the moment the city was sealed by the Taoyuan Village Master, the thirty million people here had no escape, only death awaited them. The only difference was whether they'd be killed by Taoyuan Village Cultivators and their beasts or by us...

"In the former case, the consequence would be that their souls would become fragmented materials for the culprit's ambition; whereas, in the latter case, at least they wouldn't be incorporated into the dream network.

"Since Taoyuan Village's goal was the souls of these thirty million people, we only needed to ensure the enemy did not obtain them. Although there was a protective route, with our numbers, it was impossible. Even if we increased our numbers a thousandfold, should the Taoyuan Village Master personally intervene, the protective stance would become meaningless. Therefore, it was better to destroy them first so the enemy couldn't effectively use them.

"Of course, even if we were to destroy them ourselves, we couldn't wipe out thirty million souls at once, only as many as possible to delay the completion of the dream network.

"At that time, we didn't know that the city would experience the Reboot phenomenon."

Hearing this, I finally understood, "So that's the purpose of the Reboot?"

Those killed by Taoyuan Village Cultivators and beasts would be absorbed by "Paradise," whereas those who died by other means would revive, until one day they were killed by Taoyuan Village Cultivators and beasts.

The purpose of the Reboot is probably to ensure that all souls in this city eventually end up in the belly of "Paradise."

"It's astonishing you can say these words without batting an eye; don't you think your actions are utterly disgraceful?" Dong Che looked at Jiaoshu.

The latter, however, calmly replied: "Once 'Paradise' completes its creation, human civilization would be declared over. Compared to this outcome, those are just minor sacrifices. If instead, we needed to be sacrificed, we would accept our deaths willingly. What's disgraceful about it?"

Dong Che questioned: "Forcing your accepted beliefs arrogantly on everyone else, isn't that disgraceful? If you truly believe in your heart that others must genuinely accept what you accept, then why do you not accept Taoyuan Village? What makes their actions different from yours in this regard?"

The principles displayed by Xuanming believers active in this city likely reflect Xuanming's own philosophy. At first glance, this resembles comparing the human slaughter plans of the Evangelical Institute as the pot calling the kettle black. To avoid the worst outcomes, they'd rather sacrifice thousands, even millions, of humans if the reasons are sufficient.

If one must point out the differences between Xuanming and the Evangelical Institute, it would be that Xuanming's and Gua Tianshi's bottom lines are both the preservation of human civilization, whereas the Evangelical Institute could discard all accumulated human civilization just to ensure the race's survival. If needed, even the race's genes could be altered, and consciousness structures entirely changed, accepting even becoming a non-human race.

Xuanming once deemed the human slaughter plan "worthless," likely due to inability to accept the Evangelical Institute's disregard for civilization itself.

Yet from the sacrificed individuals' standpoint, Xuanming and the Evangelical Institute are likely the same ilk.

Jiaoshu seems to have a peculiar affection for younger children, but when it comes to disputes of ideology and belief, her demeanor turns uncompromising.

She and Dong Che argued without reaching an agreement. Realizing it was futile to continue, they ceased conversation. Before long, we arrived at a rather spacious exhibition hall.

Here, numerous tents were set up, and a large number of men and women gathered, perhaps numbering in the hundreds. They whispered among themselves, the atmosphere quite uneasy, seemingly unaware that the beasts' siege of the exhibition hall had ended.

A demon hunter arrived, holding a megaphone, announcing the end of the dangerous event. People gradually quieted, and the atmosphere of panic slowly receded.

"Doesn't the Reboot phenomenon reset the spatial position of everyone? The Reboot happened just a few hours ago; didn't these survivors leave here?" I asked.

"Most of them are survivors who were already sheltered here before the last Reboot occurred. Even if the phenomenon happened, their spatial position would only reset within the exhibition hall," Dong Che replied, "However, some unlucky survivors were also accounted for. Fortunately, survivors entering this refuge report their previous locations as we require, facilitating retrieval after spatial position resets."

"You're barely able to protect yourself, yet you still protect so many ordinary people? That's quite naive of you," Jiaoshu looked at those survivors, "With so many living people, if they were all used to pollute the dream network, I wonder if they could form a significant effect..."

Dong Che glared at Jiaoshu.

At this moment, a female figure staggered out from the survivors' tent area, stumbling towards us, calling out uncertainly, "Senior... senior? Is that you, senior?"