Atlas of Heaven and Man.

Chapter 1385 Floating Intentions Disturbing One's Nature
Cheng Gao entered the venue with the entourage of the Tianxing faction.

He glanced around and saw that thousands of people were gathered in the square below, and the number was growing.

The Natural Faction doesn't care whether its members are fighters or not, so there are quite a few ordinary people here today just to join in the fun.

However, these people have no decision-making power and do not participate in core meetings.

Fighters usually have their own dedicated passage, so he entered the upper-level circular tiered conference hall through the passage and took his seat in the row reserved for fighters.

Perhaps because it was at the headquarters of the Natural Faction, or perhaps because a meeting was being held, there were more than ten fighters present.

His arrival only piqued the interest of a few people, but they only glanced at him before looking away.

Most people were engrossed in their own activities; some were playing games, some were lying there wearing eye protection glasses, seemingly looking at something, and some were reading a book.

These people were of average strength, and none of them had reached the level of immortality.

This is normal. The fighters of the Longevity Temple and those at higher levels almost all have their own things to do. They are either guarding the World Ring or holding important positions. Even if they attend the meeting, they will probably only send a representative or arrive via a field screen, and will not be present in person.

Even gathering these fighters together is not an easy task.

At that moment, the teacher-looking man who was reading a book suddenly looked at him with a thirst for knowledge in his eyes, "Mr. Cheng, may I ask you a question?"

Cheng Gao said, "Okay, but I won't answer questions I can't answer."

"Okay, thank you." The man politely expressed his gratitude. "I've heard that the naturalists abroad, especially those in Norland, don't have any restrictions, not even agreements."

It's said that the "natural instinct" school over there believes that restricting one's nature is equivalent to restricting one's true nature. Is this true?

These words attracted a lot of attention.

Cheng Gao answered without hesitation, "Yes, it's true." But before many people present could feel the novelty and excitement, he added, "But the person who told you this news only told you half the story. The other half he didn't tell you is..."

All natural-type fighters need to pay a certain amount of resources in advance, or even use their own blood and mutated tissue as collateral. If your actions go too far, these resources will be deducted.

This is something you have to pay every year, even if you haven't committed any crimes. It won't be refunded or replenished.

Some people couldn't help but say, "Isn't that just letting them take these things for nothing, and levying a blood tax for nothing?"

“Yes, that’s right.” Cheng Gao crossed his arms. “Since you can freely express your nature, then you should also allow schools of thought to express their own will. Schools of thought and individuals both enjoy freedom, don’t they?”

The teacher-looking man seemed even more interested. He said, "But isn't this encouraging people to do these things? Because if I hand in these things, doesn't it mean that I can do whatever I want within the permitted limits?"

Cheng Gao smiled slightly after hearing this, "You're right. It may seem that as long as the 'ransom' is paid in advance, one can indulge oneself at will, but in reality, how much is collected and how the degree of harm is defined are entirely up to the lawyers' group and the upper echelons of the Nature faction."

The more you indulge yourself, the more you cling to that feeling, and the more they will take from you. Even if you are extremely cautious, they will always find a way to exploit your weaknesses through various accusations and try to extract even more from you.

Someone couldn't help but say, "How dare they?"

Cheng Gao said matter-of-factly, "There's nothing we wouldn't dare to do. Just as the government is the agent of the upper echelons, those who collect these blood taxes and resources are the upper-class fighters of the nature faction."

Those who eventually rise to the top will naturally maintain this system in order to enjoy the benefits it brings.

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances. It seemed that the Norland Nature Faction was simply using its subordinates as blood donation bags, only paying lip service to it.

They shook their heads. If that's the case, forget it. It's better to sign an agreement so that they won't be stripped of a layer of benefits without having done anything.

Most of them lost interest in Cheng Gao and went back to doing their own things.

Seeing that everyone seemed bored while waiting there, someone said, "Gentlemen, some interesting things have recently appeared in Zhongjing. Perhaps they can help pass the time. Why don't you take a look?"

As he spoke, he tapped the lower realm token, and a chessboard-shaped arena immediately appeared on the field screen in front of everyone.

"This is a game...?"

Although they each have different hobbies and circles, they are not averse to novel things. Especially since everyone present is a fighter, they only needed to take a few glances to figure out what was going on here.

Someone immediately went up and tried it out. After a while, someone couldn't help but exclaim, "This thing is quite interesting!"

The person recommending the game said, "Right? I'm sure you'll be interested in this."

Who did this?

"I heard it was created by the Pure Faction."

Some people were not surprised: "Purists? These militants can actually do this? Ha, how strange."

"You're still using Pure Faction stuff? Don't you know you've arrested members of our Nature Faction?" a tall, thin man sitting in the corner said coldly.

But most people didn't seem to care. One man, wearing a baseball cap and half-lying down, retorted, "I don't think there's anything wrong with what they did. Those guys got into trouble, shouldn't they be arrested?"

The tall, thin man said coldly, "This is a slap in the face to our Nature Faction. Even if there are any problems, they should be handled by our Nature Faction. When did it become the turn of the Purity Faction?"

Many people laughed upon hearing this. The man in the baseball cap said, "That's strange. Does arresting them damage the reputation of our Nature faction? Do they represent you, or do they represent me?"

The tall, thin man's sharp gaze swept over them, and he said in a deep voice, "We are members of a school of thought. We have benefited from the school, so we should naturally be regarded as a whole, and every member should be valued."

The man in the baseball cap seemed utterly disdainful of this. What whole system? The upper class and the lower class are both permissive. Some people join in simply because this status provides them with convenient access to entertainment and ways to vent their desires.

As for those who have reached the level of fighters, they usually don't care about anyone else. Even if you are a member of the same faction, if you disagree, I will target you just the same way. There is no difference between them and outsiders.

The only ones who can unite them are the upper-level fighters above them. If they have different interests, they can't be bothered with each other, or even despise each other.

Moreover, in his view, your breaking the rules is ruining the reputation of the Nature faction. Do you expect me to bear the consequences for your rule-breaking? Don't be ridiculous, get lost as soon as possible.

There are quite a few people who hold this view. One person said sarcastically, "So what if I slapped the face of the 'natural' faction? Hey, if I get slapped on one side, I can just offer the other side for them to slap. What can you do about it?"

The tall, thin man's face immediately darkened.

Above them, where the leaders of the Natural Faction resided, Vice President Liu Zhenyi remained oblivious to the heated confrontation below.

He checked the time and said, "It seems the president isn't coming."

He glanced behind him. There were five seats, and each person was a high-ranking member of the Natural Faction. Some people had just sent someone to bring a portrait, while others simply had someone write a note and stick it on the seat. The worst one didn't say anything at all and just left an empty chair.

Only one person appeared there through the field screen, but he was wearing a hood with two eye holes gouged out, staring at him without blinking.

Liu Zhenyi asked expressionlessly, "Where's Liang Qin? Didn't he come today either?"

The female assistant beside him said, "Mr. Liang made a move against that person."

Liu Zhenyi understood immediately: attacking a high-ranking government official without cause means that under the agreement, he wouldn't be able to get out for at least a few months, and is probably still in the recovery phase.

At this point, the active awareness report indicated that more than half of the people currently qualified to attend the meeting had arrived.

He wasn't going to wait any longer because he knew that the number would only decrease, not increase, over time.

He sat down and addressed all the fighters present or attending the event via the field.

"As you all know what happened in the previous period, the reason I invited you all here today is to discuss whether to continue recommending candidates from our own faction, or to recommend their candidates according to the agreement we reached with the Pure Faction in the previous period."

After a while, a voice said, "Vice President Liu, I don't think there's anything to discuss. Everyone is short on time, so let's just vote."

"Yes, let's vote. Those who don't come will be considered to have automatically forfeited."

Liu Zhenyi said, "Then let's vote."

Cheng Gao, who was sitting on the lower level, straightened up a bit. He was very concerned about this matter because Ren Xinshan had asked him to keep an eye on the outcome.

The man wearing the baseball cap said, "Those guys, Song Shicheng and his gang, have undoubtedly violated national laws. I personally vote for that Chen Siwu from the Pure Faction."

Another person said, "I think he's good. He didn't do anything wrong, so I'll vote for him too."

"Why should we? Even if he has problems, it should be our own people who handle it, not outsiders who are in charge. I oppose him."

Looking at Chen Chuan's profile, someone said, "I think he's quite good-looking, so I'll vote for him."

"Hehe, then I object to him."

"I object too!"

Liu Zhenyi tallied everyone's opinions and found that it was a 50/50 split. However, if he cast his own vote, he could influence the decision.

But he didn't want to make the choice himself because he instinctively didn't want to take on the responsibility.

At that moment, he seemed to notice something. He looked at the seat with the name on it, and the slip of paper floated down and landed in his hand. He turned it over, paused for a moment, and said:

"The voting results are in. We will no longer recommend candidates from the Pure Faction, but instead recommend our own members."

……

……

(End of this chapter)