It was precisely because the World Tree Plan in the parallel world developed beyond Lu Jingming's expectations—even forcing him to summon Elysia as backup—that he decided to host the battle royale, indirectly empowering Spirit Hall and hastening the rise of stronger people to clean up the mess.
Beings like Black Fu Hua, Black Kevin, and Black Osial, plus the Haiyuan City, all far exceeded normal power levels. The parallel world's soul masters could barely cope.
Worse, the expanding Contamination Points threatened countless civilians and even cost the lives of some soul masters.
Lu Jingming never thought of himself as a good person. Although he offered some compensation, it was only from his own perspective; he had no intention of asking others for their opinion.
In his view, the strong ruling the weak was only natural.
Otherwise, why strive to become strong—just to avoid being controlled, to have peace of mind? Lu Jingming fully embraced the evil savior mindset.
Of course, he wasn't a complete villain. That's why he wanted to revise the plan, minimizing harm to civilians and reducing casualties.
If he simply copied the parallel world's plan here—planting the World Tree, linking it to the planet's will, using memories to condense ley lines and gather negative energy—the resulting Contamination Points could be unimaginably powerful.
This Douluo Continent, ten thousand years after the original, was in far worse shape.
Ten thousand years ago, evil soul masters didn't rampage unchecked and commoners had ways to rise.
Now, evil soul masters had run wild for millennia, and commoners were oppressed by nobles for ten thousand years. Lu Jingming dreaded to imagine the accumulated negative energy.
If he planted the World Tree and guided that negative energy through the ley lines, horrors like anti-matter armies, cosmic locust swarms, or abominations from his memories could manifest.
After all, Black Fu Hua and Black Kevin appeared only because they existed in his memories.
Millennia of suffering at the hands of evil soul masters and nobles left the commoners with overwhelming resentment—much more than the parallel world's Douluo Continent. Lu Jingming was keenly aware of this.
So, here, he couldn't just replicate the old plan—he had to build in safeguards, or risk things spiraling out of control.
Though he trusted his ability to handle things—with Jingliu and Herta on his side—it was best to avoid unnecessary risk.
Unlike the parallel world, he intended to unify the Douluo Continent and build an empire—to enjoy being emperor for once.
He wanted to care for his people, not rule through brute force or cause undue suffering.
After all, survival was already hard enough in this era.
Thus, he needed to discuss a new plan with Herta, the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, and Makoto.
His willingness to consider the people and revise the plan earned softer looks from Makoto and Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
Among them, Herta knew Lu Jingming best.
She understood that, above all, he disliked losing control. The parallel world fiasco had shaken him—he wanted a new plan.
Of course, some kindness played a role, but only Lu Jingming knew how much.
"What's your idea?" Herta asked casually. She didn't mind tough problems; as a genius, she welcomed challenges—easy tasks bored her.
"In the parallel world, Contamination Points were uncontrollable because they lacked reason—just pure destruction and killing driven by negative emotions."
Lu Jingming explained, then smiled. "But what if those negative-energy clones had some memories and intelligence—even if those were drawn from my own impressions?"
"That's interesting. You mean…?" Herta crossed her arms, intrigued.
"Using my memories as a recording medium, I'll create a Holy Grail that can purify Contamination Points, select Masters, and summon Servants formed from negative energy. As the Servants battle, defeated ones are absorbed and purified by the Grail, their power returned to the planet. The winning Master will gain a divine seat—the Sea God's position!"
Lu Jingming smiled slyly.
"You're so devious!" Makoto instantly realized—this targeted Sea God Tang San!
Why the Sea God's position? It was a direct blow to Tang San's influence on the Douluo Continent.
Herta had long set up pieces in the divine realm, ready to distract Tang San.
Once all was done, Tang San's power would be greatly weakened.
"It's a win-win: optimizing the plan, reducing civilian deaths, creating a new divine seat, boosting Douluo's strength, and hitting Tang San at the same time."
Normally, negative energy was hard to use, but with the World Tree's stigmata and Herta's brilliance, Lu Jingming could turn it into a divine seat.
This would not only enable his plans for eternal and thunder God-King seats, but also add an extra first-level Sea God seat.
Another benefit: summoned negative-energy memory bodies would become part of the world's record, gaining existence.
If Lu Jingming wanted to summon the real thing later, the energy cost would drop drastically.
For instance, summoning full-power Archeron might cost 100 million Reality Power, but if someone had already summoned a memory-based version, the world would recognize it, and the cost would drop to 80 million.
He couldn't predict exactly which characters would be summoned, since his memories contained many.
But once summoned, they'd be recorded; whether he made them real would be his choice.
It was like a gacha—drawing an SSR depended on luck.
Of course, he could cheat for his allies, if they were chosen as Masters.
Master selection depended on destiny; those with greater fortune were more likely to be chosen.
"This is a good method—can effectively reduce casualties. I'll help," said the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
As the God of Wisdom, her research skills, though not quite Herta's equal, were formidable.
This Holy Grail War model was far superior to the crude Contamination Point setup of the parallel world.
With Lu Jingming's memories as the core, the negative-energy Servants would possess intellect and memories.
Though these memories were fake, compared to mindless, destructive monsters, this was much better.
At least, most Servants with reason wouldn't go on indiscriminate killing sprees—though villainous Servants, like the Lord of Extermination or certain Herrschers, might still do great harm.
"That's a Holy Grail War, huh? If Aha notices, you might just get to be a Masked Fools," Herta rolled her eyes.
She felt Lu Jingming's main goal was fun—plus saving Reality Power.
If he could draw some of his favorite waifu cards, he'd be even happier.
Herta herself was looking forward to it; if someone summoned Ruan Mei, she'd have an excuse to have Lu Jingming summon Ruan Mei to keep her company.
As for Screwllum and Stephen, Herta didn't expect Lu Jingming to summon them.
Given her understanding of him, his heart was set on his waifus.
Ruan Mei qualified, but Screwllum and others would have to wait.
Once he stopped worrying about Reality Power, maybe he'd consider it.