Chapter 29: Chapter 29: This Game is Weird
"Damn, that was fast!"
The other players jumped to their feet when they heard someone had officially reached the Early Stage of Qi Refining.
That was incredibly fast. It had only been two in-game days since they had their Spirit Roots Opened. For a player to fully master Spiritual Energy and enter the gates of Cultivation, their speed was nothing short of remarkable.
Song Jiulai had been even faster, mastering it on the first day.
But she had the System, which was basically a cheat.
After Chen Miaomiao entered the Early Stage of Qi Refining, she was thrilled.
It was a wondrous feeling, as if she held the key to understanding the world. Now, all she needed were the Heart Method Mantras to grasp the corresponding powers.
Right now, the most common Spells on the Yunzhou Continent were Fire Control and Water Manipulation. Things like Ice Thunder were considered Advanced System Skills.
The Longevity Sect had several of these Cultivation Techniques.
As soon as Chen Miaomiao stabilized her realm, the system gave her a quest to get one from A Wu.
"Fire Control and Water Manipulation..."
These Cultivation Techniques were all inscribed on special Spirit Scrolls. A Cultivator could immerse themselves in one to comprehend it on their own.
The extent of each person’s comprehension depended on their own fate and fortune.
Chen Miaomiao was beyond excited after receiving the Cultivation Technique.
Although her goal was Alchemy, everyone had their own dreams of Cultivation.
The moment she got the technique, she began meditating to comprehend it.
The other players were anxious, but seeing Chen Miaomiao succeed fired them up with enthusiasm.
In the real world, the wage slaves would rush to log into the game the second they got off work.
Some built houses, others set up wineries. There were even those who roamed the nearby mountains, tasting all kinds of wild grasses and fruits, vowing to become modern-day Shennongs to see how the things in the game differed from reality.
The once ethereal, immortal-like mountainside was, in just a few days, transformed into something resembling the mortal world, bustling with the aura of daily life.
After selling the Spirit Grass, A Wu bought a pile of grain for the players to experiment with. These past few days, Zhou Xiao and a male player who was a chef in real life were in charge of everyone’s meals.
Zhou Xiao’s cooking was delicious. A Wu couldn’t stop praising it after trying it.
Aside from these daily activities, they spent the rest of their time cultivating frantically.
After Chen Miaomiao stabilized her realm, over the next two days, players including Jiang Ya, Han Tian, and Mu Qiu all successfully stabilized themselves in the Early Stage of Qi Refining one after another.
As a result, the Longevity Sect was filled with Fireballs flying about wildly for two days. They nearly caused a forest fire and only settled down after getting yelled at by A Wu.
Perhaps it was because these past few days had been too joyful, or maybe A Wu’s cultivation was influenced by the changes in the Sect.
In any case, in the middle of the night, A Wu suddenly had an epiphany and broke through directly.
He had entered the Qi Refining Middle Stage.
Song Jiulai, still at the Early Stage of Qi Refining: "..."
’Great,’ she thought. ’Now A Wu is the one and only true Eldest Senior Brother in the Sect.’
A Wu was overjoyed. He wanted to share the happy news with the Sect Master, only to realize she didn’t seem to be around.
Song Jiulai couldn’t directly control A Wu, so his messages couldn’t be relayed through the system to contact her in time.
Fortunately, A Wu just assumed Song Jiulai had gone out and didn’t think much of it.
Instead, he told the players the good news.
The players naturally congratulated A Wu, while also expressing their envy, jealousy, and hate that he had reached the Qi Refining Middle Stage.
After all, with the system having forcibly Opened their Spirit Roots, after five in-game days of fumbling around, all the players had finally stabilized themselves in the Early Stage of Qi Refining.
And then, the system quest that had been baffling Song Jiulai finally showed some activity.
[Ding! Congratulations to Sect Master Song Jiulai for meeting the conditions to unlock the main quest: 50 disciples have stabilized at the Early Stage of Qi Refining.]
[1. Within one month, the Sect must have ten more disciples at the Qi Refining Middle Stage.]
[2. Fulfill the condition to receive a mysterious reward.]
[3. Considering that Sect Master Song Jiulai has unlocked the Sect quest through special means, the system will grant an additional Energy Pool to open a promotional channel. The specific conditions are for the Sect Master to discover on her own.]
"..."
"Damn it all! Ten disciples at the Qi Refining Middle Stage in one month? Did it not even consider how many years it took A Wu to reach the Qi Refining Middle Stage?"
Song Jiulai couldn’t believe such a harsh condition existed. "Is this system quest insane?"
The system coughed. "This is based on internal data projections. If it issued the quest this way, it means it’s possible to complete."
Song Jiulai: "And what if I can’t complete it?"
System: "Then I guess we’ll have to part ways here."
Song Jiulai: "..."
Still, the system did have some good news for Song Jiulai. "By the way, the additional Energy Pool unlocks livestreaming and recording permissions. You can now record videos of the players and post them on websites for promotion. Also, there are three free livestreaming slots. Who do you plan to give them to?"
Once livestreaming began, this game would absolutely blow up.
Who to give the livestreaming slots to... that was a vexing question.
Song Jiulai said, "Who else? I’ll give them to whoever has contributed the most to the Sect."
Besides, there were no new beta testing slots available right now. Showing off livestreams would be useless, other than making outside players drool with envy.
What Song Jiulai lacked right now wasn’t hype for the game, but a way for the players who were already in to maximize their value.
Just as she was thinking this, the system suddenly delivered some terrible news.
System: "Huh? Su Daqiang has been poisoned."
Song Jiulai was dumbfounded. "Who? Poisoned? Aren’t they just puppets? How can they get poisoned?"
"He is indeed poisoned. The data shows his status is abnormal, and his soul connection has been severed."
Song Jiulai: "..."
’Fuck, what kind of trouble did this player get into now?’
’How could he get poisoned just by staying safely within the Sect?’
Meanwhile, Su Daqiang, who had been kicked offline, was wailing in the group chat.
[Su Daqiang: FUCK, I’m poisoned! HOLY SHIT, I actually got poisoned!!]
[Su Daqiang: I ate a black piece of grass, then a snake shot out from nowhere and bit me! Before I could even react, everything went black, the system told me my status was abnormal, and I got kicked offline!!]
[Su Daqiang: Am I going to die? Nooo, noooo!! I don’t want to get banned!!]
[Su Daqiang: How can a game be so illogical?! I’m a Cultivator, how could I get poisoned!!]
The players had become completely addicted over the past few days. Being suddenly kicked offline sent Su Daqiang into a full-blown panic.
Some players who were at work gloated in the group chat.
[Wu Dahu: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]
[Su Daqiang: You bastard, how can you laugh!]
[Yang Meimei: Can you try connecting now and see what’s happening?]
[Su Daqiang: I can’t connect! It just says my status is abnormal! What do I do?! You guys have to drag my body back, or if a demon beast really eats me clean, I’m finished!]
Players usually logged off at the spawn point.
This was because if they logged off elsewhere, their puppet’s body would remain, and it could easily be killed in an unsafe area.
Su Daqiang was frantic, hoping someone would save him from his dire predicament.
At that moment, Han Tian, who had just been urged to log off, offered a word of comfort to Su Daqiang.
[Don’t panic. Big Boss Miao Miao and Jiang Ya have gone to find your body.]
Han Tian, on the other hand, had been called offline by a message.
Now, as long as you enabled the alarm notification, the system would also alert you to real-world messages.
When Han Tian saw the message, his brow furrowed.
It was a call from the friend he had asked to investigate the game developer behind Longevity Sect.
The person’s tone was strange.
"This game company is seriously shady. The people I asked couldn’t find any registration records for it. And we can’t even trace the server’s broadcast location from the download link you gave me."
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