Chapter 145: Chapter 145: A Fee for Speaking
In an unknown location shrouded in dense fog, figures flickered in and out of sight.
Like phantoms, their forms wavered as the light around them distorted.
"Discovered by the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect so quickly? Impossible!"
"Wasn’t it near Demon Cave Valley? I checked—that place isn’t even guarded by the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect. How were we discovered?"
"Even if we were discovered, the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect couldn’t possibly have a way to deal with the fragment!"
"Heavenly Father Daoist Venerable... damn it! The fruit was picked before it was even ripe. What do we do?"
"Let’s get away from this place for now and focus on guarding the other fragments!"
—
The system said the sect was on the verge of collapse. Song Jiulai didn’t hesitate. After dealing with the fissure, she teleported directly back to the sect.
Meanwhile, the battle in Wang’an County was raging.
Players like Mu Qiu began to arrive in succession, and all available disciples from the Feique Sect had also rushed back.
But six Third-stage demon beasts were not to be trifled with. Su Huanli was already in a stalemate just holding off two of them by herself, and the Feique Sect’s strongest combatants were still at the Demon Cave Valley trading post, unable to return so easily.
Su Huanli used a great axe-like Magic Treasure to grievously wound a Nine Netherworld Spider.
She was fighting with her hands tied, in a way. For a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, dealing with a Third-stage demon beast wasn’t actually difficult.
The difficulty lay in the confined battlefield. These few Third-stage demon beasts refused to leave the vicinity of Wang’an County, and the Nine Netherworld Spiders would spawn smaller spiders. While Su Huanli could deal with them, the other cultivators fighting nearby would easily become collateral damage.
Then Song Jiulai appeared. Three bolts of Palm Thunder shot out simultaneously, striking the remaining Nine Netherworld Spider and leaving it convulsing as electricity sparked across its body.
She had dared to fight Nine Netherworld Spiders back when she was only at the Qi Refining Middle Stage, let alone now.
She had also mastered the secret to rapidly firing off several bolts of Palm Thunder—in reality, it was just a matter of attacking faster.
It wasn’t a true multi-cast in the strictest sense.
Normally, single-target attacks were more practical.
"Senior Sister?"
Su Huanli was startled by the three bolts of Palm Thunder. When she looked up, she saw Song Jiulai hovering in midair.
"You’re back?" Su Huanli was overjoyed to see Song Jiulai, but then her expression turned to suspicion as she sensed her aura. "Huh? Your aura... Why has it dropped to the Early Stage of Qi Refining?"
’How can someone in the Early Stage of Qi Refining possibly fight a Nine Netherworld Spider?’
This was due to a new function that had just been unlocked. Song Jiulai could now completely hide her cultivation, making it impossible for anyone to see her true level.
However, it could only be changed once a year. The options were to either hide it completely or display a lower cultivation level.
Appearing as a mortal among a crowd of cultivators would be strange, so she simply set her displayed level to the Early Stage of Qi Refining.
As for the people who knew her and had their doubts?
"I was lucky enough to stumble upon a Magic Treasure. It can mask my cultivation aura, making me appear to be in the Early Stage of Qi Refining to anyone below the Golden Core Stage. That’s its only function, though. I am a Sect Master, after all. I need to maintain a little mystery in front of my disciples."
Understanding dawned on Su Huanli. "So that’s what it is."
The Yunzhou Continent was full of all sorts of strange and wondrous Magic Treasures, so she wasn’t surprised.
Song Jiulai didn’t mention her successful Foundation Establishment for the time being. Even though she and Su Huanli had a good relationship, they weren’t so close that Song Jiulai would reveal everything about herself without a second thought.
She didn’t elaborate, only saying, "Senior Sister, let me help you deal with these!"
For her, dealing with Third-stage demon beasts was almost too easy.
With Song Jiulai joining the fray, the tide of battle shifted dramatically.
Su Huanli breathed a sigh of relief. "Your disciples are incredible."
She had never seen disciples so eager to fight and kill.
Everyone has a different personality; some are naturally timid and fearful.
Even the Feique Sect had disciples hiding in fear, yet almost every available disciple from the Longevity Sect was on the battlefield.
Those who didn’t dare to fight helped by dealing with the corpses, quickly running back once their Jiezidai were full after looting a few bodies.
Not a single one of them was cowering in the rear.
Of course they were motivated! The Sect Master was paying for their medicine, and they earned points for killing demon beasts. It would be stranger if they weren’t fired up!
Song Jiulai’s heart was bleeding at the cost, but on the surface, she maintained a nonchalant expression and praised them, "Yes, they are very brave."
Utterly exhausted, Zhou Xiao, Honghuang, and the others managed to forcefully split the battle into several fronts.
The Second-tier demon beasts were simply too densely packed; they had to rely on Palm Thunder to blast a bloody path through them.
Disciples from the Feique Sect also provided support from the rear.
Splitting the battlefield proved beneficial. Two more waves of Second-tier demon beasts charged, but because they were divided and couldn’t swarm as one, and because Song Jiulai promptly paid to continuously replenish their Medicine Pills, both the Longevity Sect and the Feique Sect managed to hold on tenaciously, fighting fueled by potions.
For the first time, Zhou Xiao felt so exhausted in-game that she could barely keep her eyes open. She needed to log off and rest.
"Is that the Sect Master?"
She hadn’t seen the Sect Master in so long that she wasn’t entirely sure.
The Sect Master rarely came back, after all.
It was pretty much a given that she was out grinding in the wild.
"I think so..."
Honghuang sighed. "I’m so exhausted."
This exhaustion was the result of constantly chugging pills and having their Spiritual Energy completely depleted several times over.
It was mental fatigue.
After all, they weren’t made of iron.
If the fatigue felt this real in the game, it would probably be even more severe after they logged off.
Zhou Xiao blinked. "Just hold on a little longer. Now that the Sect Master is back, this will be over soon."
Even though they didn’t know the extent of the Sect Master’s power, they felt certain she had a solution.
They were whittling down the number of demon beasts, but their medicine had also run out.
Even the Medicine Workshop in the county seat could no longer keep up with demand.
This one battle had completely depleted the Wang’an County Medicine Workshop’s entire one-month supply.
And they only restocked once a month.
Furthermore, the workshop wouldn’t donate supplies for free; the Feique Sect and the players had to purchase everything.
After all, the owner of the Medicine Workshop was a Loose Cultivator. If trouble started, he could just flee. It was impossible to expect him to donate supplies just because there was a battle.
This incident made the players realize that even in a game, capitalists were pure evil. They proclaimed that the sect absolutely had to establish its own Medicine Workshop.
They had to hoard medicine and supplies!
Otherwise, how could they ever feel secure?
But the battle wasn’t over yet, and for now, the players were just letting their minds wander.
Zhou Xiao muttered, "Han Tian, that useless oaf..."
’The fight is almost over and he still hasn’t rushed back.’
Han Tian and his group were still on their way back, running on their own two feet.
Suddenly, a system announcement sounded in the ears of Zhou Xiao and the others.
[Ding! The Sect Messaging function is now available. Sending a message to a specific player costs one point. Posting in the internal sect channel costs ten points per message (voice and text are both supported).]
[Players may choose whether to automatically receive messages.]
Zhou Xiao was dumbfounded. "Those damn money-grubbing devs! They’re even charging us to send messages?"
Song Jiulai, who was still in the thick of the fight, sneezed.
She thought to the system with righteous indignation, ’Are you kidding? If I didn’t charge, it would be like listening to hundreds of ducks quacking all day. I couldn’t stand that.’
As for the difference between text and voice messages:
Voice messages were sent directly into the user’s ear.
Text messages appeared in a transparent chat box before one’s eyes, showing what others had typed.
Players could choose to block messages, in which case the box wouldn’t appear.
Comments