Chapter 11: Chapter 11: How Come We Have to Pay Taxes?
[Little Woman Power: HAHAHAHAHA I’m better than you! It took me two hours and 20 minutes. Looks like I’m a natural!]
[Qiao Shan Zhen Hu: Fuck, you’re a monster!]
[Streaking in the Wind: /crying I took an hour and a half, too. How did I sink to Wu Song’s level?]
[Jumps High Pees Far: An hour and 45 minutes for me...]
[Emperor: Are you guys talking about this game? Why are you so excited? Is it really that fun?]
[Jing Bao Tian: 2 hours, 35 minutes.]
[Little Woman Power: @Jing Bao Tian Awesome! A pro is a pro, after all.]
[Charity: @Jing Bao Tian Hey, pro, what are you guys talking about? Give us the inside scoop. How’s the game? Can you share some screenshots or details about the plot?]
Seeing Little Woman Power and the others pop up in the group chat, everyone else quickly rushed out to ask what was going on.
In response, they saw Jing Bao Tian post a single message.
[Jing Bao Tian: Brothers, to be honest, the plot of this game doesn’t even matter anymore. It’s definitely going to break a world record. You won’t find a more fun game anywhere in the world. I’d bet my entire gaming career on it.]
The chat instantly began to scroll at lightning speed.
It was a chorus of "Holy shit!"
Was he exaggerating that much?
Could it be that Jing Bao Tian, the great expert, had finally sold out and was getting paid to shill?
The most fun game in the world.
What kind of nerve did he have to make such a bold claim? Even *Divine Record*, the universally acclaimed, highest-rated AAA masterpiece, didn’t dare say that when it burst onto the scene!
Jing Bao Tian knew that no matter how much he explained, these people wouldn’t believe him.
Because right now, he really couldn’t produce any screenshots.
The only downside to the Yunzhou Continent was that it wasn’t fully connected to the internet. He couldn’t find any screenshot or screen recording buttons in the game, so he really had no proof to offer.
But his senses wouldn’t lie.
He had truly seen the existence of ’another world’.
He didn’t need to care about others’ opinions right now. What mattered was how to seize the initiative in this new world.
As long as the game itself didn’t shut down, he would absolutely keep playing it forever.
Jing Bao Tian had Zhou Xiao help him pull the other 40-some players who had entered the game into a single group chat.
[Yunzhou Continent Inner Sect Disciple Group]
Since Zhou Xiao had been the one to send out the recruitment forms, she knew basically everyone who had filled them out.
But after looking for a long time, she was still missing two people.
[Han Tian: Those two brothers or sisters probably saw the ad themselves. When we get in the game later, let’s tell them we have a group.]
[Han Tian: I see everyone’s pretty confused, so I’ll get the ball rolling. I’ll share what I’ve observed, and everyone can add anything I miss.]
[Everyone: 1111 (signifying agreement)]
[Han Tian: First off, the game has made one thing crystal clear: everything hinges on keeping the Sect Master alive. Basically, just treat her like your own mother.]
[Han Tian: So, the Sect’s development has two paths. First, the Sect Master needs to maintain her own cultivation. What we can do to help with that will depend on the game’s quests. Second, we need to ensure the Sect can at least develop on its own. That means earning money to keep the Sect afloat, increasing our own cultivation, and choosing suitable professions. These are our main tasks.]
[Han Tian: Currently, we know the game has paths like the Artifact Refining Sect and the Alchemy Sect. There are probably also Sword Cultivators and other types of Cultivators. When you get in the game, everyone should see what development path suits them. Our Sect can’t waste the talent of its players, so we must develop in all directions. In other words, when it comes to Artifact Refining and Alchemy... we want it all.]
[Han Tian: We’ve already run some tests. Most of the physical reactions in the game are consistent with reality. I’ve marveled at how insanely detailed this game is many times. So, it might be possible for us to bring some modern technology into the game first. I’ll let @Zhou Nvzi give an example.]
[Zhou Nvzi: Okay, okay, thanks, big shot! As one of the lucky ones chosen by Senior Brother A Wu today, I followed him to identify several basic types of Spirit Grass on the Yunzhou Continent. They’re the raw materials for crafting the legendary Blood Replenishing Pills and Qi Replenishing Pills.]
[Zhou Nvzi: We observed that, aside from using Spiritual Energy for cultivation, there’s really no difference from our own farming methods. They even have a fertilization step, though they use local Spiritual Energy fertilizer from the Yunzhou Continent. @Chen Miaomiao, who’s an expert in this, said that we might be able to use modern techniques like grafting to improve Spirit Grass varieties and increase their yield. But since we’ve only just started the game, this will require experimentation to prove. For now, it’s just a plausible theory.]
Zhou Xiao’s message instantly made everyone understand what Han Tian was talking about.
If farming on the Yunzhou Continent was normal, just with the added variable of Spiritual Energy, didn’t that mean there was a lot more room for shenanigans?
One player immediately drew further inferences.
[Su Daqiang: So you’re saying if my cultivation sucks, I can just hand-craft a missile, right?]
[Wu Dahu: Bro, you’re treading on thin ice. Very thin ice.]
[Yang Meimei: That’s bullshit. Even if you could, you couldn’t build one right now. Let’s not even get into whether you know how to build a missile. You can’t seriously expect to kickstart an industrial revolution in the Cultivation World, can you?]
[Su Daqiang: @Yang Meimei It’s just an analogy! The more ideas we have, the more options we have.]
[Han Tian: Missiles are a no-go, but we could probably make a bomb.]
[Su Daqiang: Bro, you get me!]
[Jiang Ya: ...]
[Ma Xiaoniao: Yes, yes, yes, I knew I came to the right place teaming up with you guys! Our future is so bright! Are you guys not at all worried about the internet police raiding this group?]
[Ma Xiaoben: Didn’t we come here for Cultivation? If we can cultivate, why are we messing with this stuff?]
[Su Daqiang: Because we’re not strong in the early game! We definitely have to resort to some unorthodox methods. Look, we’ve got the Feique Sect right above us. Our Longevity Sect is just their vassal, we have no say in anything. In the early stages, it’s just the fifty of us at the Qi Refinement Realm. If they have even a single person at Foundation Establishment, they could crush all of us. The Cultivation World has no respect for the weak.]
[Zhou Nvzi: Actually, I think a sci-fi-style Cultivation World would be pretty awesome. We can tackle it from both angles! Let’s give the Cultivation World a shock. We’re players, so let’s stir up some trouble!]
[Chen Miaomiao: 1]
[Jiang Ya: 1]
[Su Daqiang: 1]
[Everyone: 11111]
While the players’ discussion was heating up, the person at the center of it all, Song Jiulai, began an intense grind of her own after they were forced to log off.
Because that damn system had told her that its entire knowledge base of the Yunzhou Continent came from Song Jiulai herself.
In other words, if a player asked a question, the system had to be able to answer. And the foundation for that ability was whether or not Song Jiulai knew the answer.
It could bluff its way through high-level questions, but what about the low-level ones? If the system couldn’t even identify some basic materials, and she, the Sect Master, couldn’t answer either, then the system’s omniscient image would collapse. That would be bad for her image as Sect Master too!
And so, a resentful Song Jiulai began to cultivate like a madwoman.
She had to practice the Soul Cultivation Heart Method the system gave her. She had to read the *Compendium of Mineral Veins of the Yunzhou Continent* she borrowed from Su Huanli. She had to read the *Compendium of Herbs of the Yunzhou Continent* she’d bought for one low-grade spirit stone. She even asked Su Huanli to find her obscure materials, like information on rare herbs and ore types that weren’t available on the market.
She didn’t have to practice those mental methods herself, but she absolutely had to know them!
Thankfully, one really didn’t need to sleep on the Cultivation Continent. Cultivation was as simple as opening and closing your eyes.
And then, she received some terrible news.
Not long after all the players logged off, A Wu came running over, out of breath. "Sect Master," he panted, "I just learned that the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect is holding an Immortal Sacrifice Ceremony next month. Cultivators from all over the world will be attending. The Ten Thousand Immortals Sect has announced that all sects must pay this year’s taxes early. Since our Sect has taken in fifty new junior brothers and sisters, we have to pay an extra ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones."
Song Jiulai: "What?!"
’What the fuck? We have to pay taxes?!’
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