Isn't This a Game? Why Are You All Cultivating for Real!

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Accident

’How can this be?’

Shui Ping couldn’t believe what the members of the Longevity Sect were up to.

’Even my own mortal mother can get rewarded with low-grade spirit stones?’

’Are they being this generous just to have mortals make money for them?’

Shui Ping had a complicated look in her eyes. She felt like she understood this group of disciples less and less.

She was truly curious. Where on earth had Song Jiulai recruited such a group of people?

They seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

But curiosity wasn’t good for Cultivators; excessive thinking could hinder the progress of their mental state.

So it wasn’t that Cultivators weren’t curious about many things, they just suppressed it.

"Oh, these clothes are so strange, but they’re strangely beautiful..."

Shui Ping’s mother, Zhao Lan, was still murmuring over the design drafts. She found it incredible that these Cultivators were so clever as to design such clothes.

Seeing her mother occupied with her own work, unlike the usual indescribable sorrow that always hung over her whenever they met...

...Shui Ping now felt a sense of relief.

She said, "Mom, I’m going to Demon Cave Valley. Please take care of yourself."

"Go on," Zhao Lan said. She knew that as a Cultivator, her daughter would always have to go out for training.

This time, unlike in the past, Zhao Lan just sighed. "Come back safely."

Shui Ping felt her eyes sting. "Mm."

To keep her mother from seeing the overwhelming emotions on her face, she turned away and strode off.

*

Meanwhile, the players’ debate had come to a conclusion.

They decided to go elsewhere.

Some players were quite willing.

’A game this good can’t just be about holing up in one place.’

Some players were already full of confidence.

But there was a conflict between the trade-focused and combat-focused players. The trade route had to be maintained, which meant some players would have to stay in another county for a long time.

However, this wasn’t a major issue after the Sect offered ways to guarantee their survival.

In the end, the players who wanted to go drew lots, forming a ten-person team.

This team included Wu Dahu and Daoist, among others.

Daoist had to go.

—because the man was an expert flatterer.

Opening a trade route would benefit the Sect, and Song Jiulai herself relied on them for hunting demon beasts.

So, she rewarded each team member with two hundred points and established "Opening Trade Routes" as a routine Sect quest.

For example, when the Longevity Sect opened shops in other places in the future, players who chose to be stationed there would receive point rewards.

Each member of the rotated-in team would receive a 200-point reward each month, and the merchant player team would also have priority purchasing rights for any materials they needed.

The point rewards naturally varied with the difficulty of the task.

For instance, safe tasks like tending the Spirit Fields within the Sect had the lowest rewards.

The advantage of having so many players was that decisions were made quickly, and departures were just as fast.

As soon as the team was selected, they prepared to depart.

Fan Guzhou put up the money to support the caravan, pooling funds with Zhou Xiao and others to get everyone a Second Order Mustard Seed Bag.

However, this was considered a public fund, so a portion of the demon beasts killed along the way would have to be given to Fan Guzhou and the others.

Han Tian was also on the team.

Since he was a livestreamer, he had to be bold and open up new locations. He wanted to show his followers what a real Cultivation City was like.

Jiang Tianya also chose to go with them, but he would only be going for this month.

Liang Xueyao remained in the Sect and began to research Artifact Refining.

The so-called Artifact Refining involved entering the Artifact Refining Room. The purchased spiritual ore was piled on a specially carved Forging Platform. When Spiritual Energy was channeled into the spiritual ore, it would release a flame to melt the materials. Combining different materials could then create various items.

’It’s a lot like a game.’

As long as the material ratio was correct, an item would be produced.

It wasn’t very scientific, but this was the Cultivation World—it didn’t operate on science.

For low-grade items, you were usually given a recipe, but the fusion process still had its subtleties, leading to slight differences in what each person created.

Maintaining stability was a challenge, as one had to continuously channel Spiritual Energy throughout the process.

There were many types of spiritual ore, and each item required different kinds. What he was studying now was the most basic of Artifact Refining: the Mortal Treasure.

This type of Magic Treasure could be made into a Flying Magical Treasure, or one for attack or defense.

But a Mortal Treasure was largely useless—better than nothing, but not by much.

The Flying Magical Treasures used by disciples of the Feique Sect were at least Xuan Grade.

Most importantly, once his proficiency was high enough, refining a Jiezidai would be much more efficient.

Otherwise, he’d just be wasting materials in the early stages.

A Jiezidai was a very important item.

It was the most expensive of all Mortal Items. The rich could afford to carry several.

And the Secret Technique provided by the Sect could even be used to refine a Second Order Mustard Seed Bag.

He had given the money he’d earned to the Sect and purchased another batch of materials, which should be enough to keep him refining for a long time.

"The snow’s stopped!"

The good news was that after the players departed, the heavy snow finally stopped.

The environment in Wang’an County was changing rapidly; they could practically see everything around them melting with their naked eyes.

The ice and snow melted away, and a spring breeze began to stir.

The changes to the new players’ residential area were even more obvious.

Sunlight pierced through the thin cloud cover, shining down on a land that had been cleansed by the harsh winter.

The scenery in the game began to radiate with the vibrant life of burgeoning nature.

"This view is so much better."

With the melting of the heavy snow, the suffocating sense of oppression seemed to dissipate as well.

The players’ spirits lifted. First destination: Taohua Sect. Let’s go!

Just as everything was proceeding quietly, with Song Jiulai having no immediate plans for further expansion, an unexpected event occurred for Shuitan over at the Sea View Sect.

The Spiritual Energy at the Sea View Sect was dense. After formally entering the Qi Refining Middle Stage, Shuitan became even more of a thorn in the side to that little brat, Yun Chenyu. But Shuitan kept his head down and didn’t make a peep, giving the boy no new faults to pick at, so Yun Chenyu could only stew in his anger.

Plus, Yun Chenyu would soon be heading out to hunt demon beasts, so he had to let it go for the time being.

「A few days later」

While Shuitan was in the middle of a mundane Spirit Grass quest, a booming voice suddenly called out.

"All Qi Refinement Realm Outer Disciples, gather at Ming Hall immediately!"

Ming Hall was the place where Outer Disciples usually gathered and received their missions.

Shuitan’s eyelid twitched.

’Qi Refinement Realm... all of us?’

Since it was a summons like this, Shuitan had no choice but to go.

When he arrived, he found that the Sea View Sect had a great many Outer Disciples.

There was a massive crowd of them, all in the Qi Refinement Realm—at least a hundred people, by a rough count.

They were all young and inexperienced. Shuitan swept his gaze across them and realized he was the oldest one there.

’A little embarrassing, but not much.’

The looks the kids gave him were strange. After all, it was rare to see someone his age who was only at the Qi Refining Middle Stage.

Not everyone knew where he came from.

Only Pan Qingyi waved to him. Shuitan kept his expression neutral and squeezed through the crowd toward him.

Just then, the Steward who had originally recruited Shuitan entered, leading a gloomy-looking young Cultivator. The Steward wore an obsequious smile. "Senior Brother Jiang, all the Qi Refinement Realm disciples are here."