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

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Dahuang Dog

"I believe so."

"Whether a Secret Realm forms naturally or is deliberately created, all its final energy will converge at one point before it collapses."

"And that point is usually where the best thing in the Secret Realm is located."

Song Jiulai’s heart burned with excitement upon hearing this. "So if I can find it..."

"Even if you find it, you have to be sure you can actually take it."

The system wasn’t trying to pour cold water on her. "It depends on the rules. It might be easy, or it might be hard. Also, I have to remind you, if you take that thing, this Secret Realm will be gone."

Song Jiulai paused. "You mean the Secret Realm will disappear completely?"

"Yes. Every Secret Realm has a core. If the core is taken, the realm naturally can’t sustain itself. But the core isn’t that easy to take. I’d guess this Secret Realm has opened quite a few times, yet no one has ever taken it. It’s possible it just hasn’t been found yet."

Realization dawned on Song Jiulai.

While she didn’t expect to get the Secret Realm’s core for sure, she definitely had to go join in on the excitement.

Meanwhile, the disciples of the Four Great Sects were also starting to gather.

Along the way, they had fought whenever they encountered disciples from other sects.

Each Sect had sent ten disciples into the Secret Realm, but now only a few remained.

The Supreme Mysterious Sect was in the worst shape, with only three disciples left.

The other Sect Disciples were especially surprised to see that Yi Tianhe was actually all alone.

Outside, watching through the Water Mirror, the members of the Four Great Sects all breathed a collective sigh of relief when they didn’t see that strange disciple.

’Good. Looks like we don’t have to worry about her trying to fish in troubled waters anymore.’

After all, the final reward was a stalk of Fifth-rank Spirit Grass.

And this Fifth-rank Spirit Grass was the extremely rare Five-stage Ten Thousand Spirit Grass.

When refined through Alchemy into a Ten Thousand Spirit Pill, Ten Thousand Spirit Grass could allow a Cultivator stuck at the Late-stage Foundation Establishment to form a Golden Core.

Although a Great Power had once said that forcibly forming a Golden Core by consuming an elixir wasn’t as strong as forming one on your own...

...just crossing that threshold offered much greater hope for the future.

With something like this, the only complaint was that there was too little of it. No one would ever complain that it wasn’t good enough!

Ten Thousand Spirit Grass itself was rare, and not many Ten Thousand Spirit Pills could be successfully refined. Each year, if even one appeared, all the Major Sects would fight over it.

While the disciples of the Four Great Sects were eyeing each other like tigers, Song Jiulai was already strolling leisurely toward the location the system had pointed out.

She spotted a few dozen more stalks of Third-tier spiritual grass, including some rare ones needed for Side Door Elixirs, so Song Jiulai plucked them all.

At the same time, she urged the Longevity Sect disciples to quickly sell off the Second-stage Spiritual Grass. She was running out of space!

In the end, it was Chen Miaomiao who spent all her points, and even bought some more from other players, to purchase a huge pile of Second-stage Spiritual Grass.

Because she was about to start Alchemy.

As Song Jiulai walked, she discovered that the point where the energy converged was actually a small village that looked a bit like the Longevity Sect’s own environment.

It resembled the little huts built by the second batch of new players on the outskirts of Wang’an County.

But it was still a little different from the Longevity Sect.

The houses were scattered about, long abandoned, and no one should be living inside.

Because this was a Secret Realm.

Song Jiulai went into every single house to take a look.

They were all empty inside. There was a lot of bamboo furniture—all the essentials were there—but there were no signs of anyone having lived there.

She had no idea why a village like this would have formed here.

Whatever few things there might have been had long since been rummaged through by other Cultivators.

Song Jiulai walked through the area twice.

She really couldn’t find anything.

She sighed softly. "Looks like I won’t be able to find it."

System: "If you can’t find it, you can’t find it. You’ve already made a huge haul this time around."

This one trip had made the Sect temporarily rich. Combined with the efforts of the players, the future of the Longevity Sect was looking incredibly bright.

"True." Song Jiulai wasn’t a greedy person. She was just a cheapskate, but she was also easily satisfied.

’It’s fine even if I don’t find anything here,’ she thought.

She would just wait for the Secret Realm to end and then leave.

However, as Song Jiulai was wandering around, a dog suddenly shot out from the end of a small creek.

A mutt.

It was a big, yellow dog, the kind you often see in villages.

It tilted its head and stared at Song Jiulai. The human and the dog both seemed shocked by the other’s presence.

"Holy crap, why is there a dog here?!"

’And it’s just an ordinary dog!’

Song Jiulai couldn’t sense any trace of Spiritual Energy from the dog.

But the big yellow dog seemed pretty smart. It barked twice at Song Jiulai, "WOOF! WOOF!"

Song Jiulai stomped her foot at it. "Shoo—"

It was a conditioned reflex, just like how she used to react when she encountered a strange dog and wanted it to go away.

Then it hit her. ’A dog in a Secret Realm... could it really be an ordinary dog?’

’I’m a Cultivator now, what’s there to be scared of?’

With that thought, Song Jiulai crouched down and beckoned to the big yellow dog. "Come here, Wangcai."

System: "How do you know its name is Wangcai?"

Song Jiulai: "All the dogs in the world should be named Wangcai."

System: "...I should remind you, one of the players’ black pigs is also named Wangcai."

"Huh? Someone already took such a high-class name?" Song Jiulai continued to beckon to the big yellow dog, casually changing the name. "Facai, come here."

System: "From your choice of names, I can hear the eternal yearning deep within your soul."

The big yellow dog looked at Song Jiulai, hesitating, seemingly afraid to approach.

After a moment, the big yellow dog took two steps toward Song Jiulai.

Song Jiulai saw that it was wearing a necklace.

Peeking out from the fur on its neck was a Jade Pearl.

Judging by the dog’s appearance, it seemed to be well-cared for by someone.

Song Jiulai was a little surprised. "Can a dog really exist inside a Secret Realm?"

"Hard to say. I’ve only just arrived here myself, after all. What if it’s possible?" The system cleared its data. "Generally speaking, no. Things that exist inside a Secret Realm should be manifestations from the heart of the realm’s master. This dog must have some significance for being here. Why don’t you try and see if you can take it with you?"

Song Jiulai continued to beckon to the big yellow dog. To avoid scaring it, she didn’t use any Spells.

She patted her hand on the ground, then looked at the grass by the roadside, picked two blades, and used them to coax the dog. "Come on, come on, Facai."

The big yellow dog slowly walked toward Song Jiulai.

When it reached her, it stopped.

It didn’t get any closer, just sat down where it was and looked at Song Jiulai.

The dog had three tufts of white fur between its eyebrows, which must have been congenital.

Song Jiulai was truly amazed. "Do you have a master? Were you raised by the master of this Secret Realm?"

The big yellow dog tilted its head, but didn’t bark or give any other reaction.

Song Jiulai dangled a small blade of grass in front of the big yellow dog.

The system began to alert Song Jiulai: "The edges of the Secret Realm are starting to collapse. The energy is becoming unstable. We have half an hour at most before we have to leave."

Song Jiulai looked around. She figured she probably wouldn’t be able to find the real secret treasure.

The only point of interest now was this dog.

But this dog didn’t seem real, either.

She reached out and pinched the Jade Pearl on the dog’s neck.

"WOOF!"

The big yellow dog yelped, but it didn’t pull away.

’Hmm, it feels quite real.’

’Too bad it’s just an ordinary thing.’