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

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Finding a Way to Earn Any Kind of Nefarious Money

This trip was certainly an eye-opener for Song Jiulai.

Watching the back of the departing Star Blaze Thunder Beast, she swallowed and said to her system.

"Everything I’ve seen on this journey, I’ve wanted."

The system comforted her, "You’ll have it all once the Sect becomes bigger and stronger in the future."

Song Jiulai asked, "And when is ’the future’?"

System: "Maybe in, oh, four, five, six, seven, or eight thousand years—or so! You have to have faith! As long as you live long enough, forget this stuff. The players might even be able to build you a Star Destroyer."

Song Jiulai: "..."

System: "Stop thinking about it. Staring at this stuff for too long will only break your heart. You’re better off going back to the inn and counting how many Spirit Stones you have left."

"..."

This system was sometimes unbelievably cruel.

Cultivators also needed places to stay.

The poorer ones stayed in the Mortal Area, which was exactly where Song Jiulai was staying.

Of course, Su Huanli and Shui Ping were with her.

Even for the Feique Sect, it wasn’t a given that every disciple would have many Spirit Stones on them.

When Song Jiulai returned to the inn, Su Huanli and Shui Ping hadn’t come back yet.

Song Jiulai waited in her room, taking out the few books she had just bought to have a look.

One was supposedly the autobiography of a certain City Lord, but it was likely a copy made with some kind of technique.

Song Jiulai opened the first page.

I thought my life would be as plain and unremarkable as the countless common people of this continent, until I met him...

After reading it, Song Jiulai was utterly shocked.

’This is the Yunzhou Continent, so how is this story as ridiculously cliché as the novels I read back on Blue Star?’

The autobiography was about a mortal woman, Yue Xi, who met a Mahayana Realm cultivator, Lu Zhaolan, who had come to the mortal world to gain experience.

And as it turned out, the Mahayana Realm cultivator fell for her.

What was supposed to be a fleeting affair turned into something more—Yue Xi became pregnant.

She was then brought back to the cultivator’s Sect.

As a mere mortal without a Spirit Root, Yue Xi would age and eventually die.

Lu Zhaolan forcibly used some sort of Secret Technique to extend Yue Xi’s life, even letting her manage a Sect City, making her the first mortal City Lord on the Yunzhou Continent.

But the ending was exceptionally vicious.

Lu Zhaolan wasn’t a scumbag, and there was no third party involved.

He was a monster.

The child in Yue Xi’s womb was only allowed to exist because he had seen a prophecy.

After the child was born, Lu Zhaolan threw it into a forbidden land outside the Yunzhou Continent as a sacrifice, all to obtain the secrets of Ascension.

Yue Xi wrote in the epilogue that she hated him, hated him so much she wanted to devour his flesh.

Even so, Lu Zhaolan shamelessly said they could just have more children.

Later, perhaps because the method of sacrifice was too evil, Lu Zhaolan’s Sect fell apart due to some accident. Lu Zhaolan disappeared without a trace, and Yue Xi’s autobiography ended there. Her current fate—whether she is dead or alive—is unknown.

However, she didn’t write which Sect Lu Zhaolan belonged to.

This meant the information didn’t match up with anything Song Jiulai knew.

’Could this be made up?’

Song Jiulai was conflicted. She had just bought this from a street stall, after all. How was this any different from some cheap, unlicensed publication?

Perhaps it was just a story made up by some mortal.

But she had an inquisitive spirit. When Su Huanli and the others returned, Song Jiulai casually asked, "Senior Sister, have you heard of the Moon Night City Lord?"

Su Huanli looked at her with some surprise. "Where did you hear that name?"

Song Jiulai’s heart skipped a beat. "What’s wrong? Is she that strange?"

"Not exactly strange, it’s just that we rarely mention that name now." Su Huanli subconsciously lowered her voice. "She goes by another name now: the Moon Demon Emperor, ruler of the Demon Cultivators. She despises the name Yue Xi, so whether you’re in Liu Xian City or outside, it’s best not to say it."

Song Jiulai: "..."

’Holy crap, she’s that badass?’

’Wasn’t she a mortal originally?’

’Damn, sis, isn’t that a bit of an insane rank-up?’

Song Jiulai was utterly shocked. "She was... originally a mortal, wasn’t she?"

Su Huanli nodded. Things they were allowed to know were certainly no secret. "She massacred a Sect City. Nobody knows the details, but afterward, she entered the territory of the Demon Cultivators and became the Moon Demon Emperor."

On the Yunzhou Continent, Demon Cultivators and demon beasts are two different concepts.

Demon Cultivators carry the bloodline of Holy Beasts. They can take human form from birth, embark on the path of Cultivation like normal Cultivators, and can also transform back into a Holy Beast.

However, some spiritual beasts and demon beasts cannot take human form.

Because they carry the bloodline of Holy Beasts, they particularly disapprove of the practice of Beast Taming on the Yunzhou Continent, so the relationship between Demon Cultivators and human Cultivators is not good.

Demon Cultivators are entrenched at the borders of the Yunzhou Continent, on the fringes of those legendary lands, and are rarely seen by ordinary Cultivators in their lifetime.

Moreover, the bloodlines of common Demon Cultivators are often impure, and some who stray from their territory can lose control and go on rampages, attacking human Cultivators.

Song Jiulai subconsciously hissed, taking a sharp breath. "From a mortal to the Moon Demon Emperor..."

"It is incredible, which is why no one knows how she did it. But everyone knows the story has been circulating for several thousand years."

"Huh?" Song Jiulai was even more surprised. "That long?"

Su Huanli nodded. "The lifespan of a Demon Cultivator can easily reach thousands of years. The fact that there haven’t been any major upheavals means she is still ruling them from within."

"Also," Su Huanli leaned close to Song Jiulai’s ear. "The Sect City she massacred was the predecessor of the Xue Cang Sect. But the Xue Cang Sect of that time was not as powerful as the Xue Cang Sect of today. Just knowing this is enough. Don’t go discussing it with others."

She could see that Song Jiulai was clueless, so she told her everything, just so she would know her boundaries.

Now that Song Jiulai understood, she naturally wouldn’t go around gossiping about it.

’But this seems to contradict what was said in the biography.’

’The Moon Night City Lord’s biography said the Sect’s downfall was caused by Lu Zhaolan, but now it turns out Yue Xi was the killer?’

’Are they just blaming each other?’

Song Jiulai could only put the book back into her Jiezidai and treat it as if she had just read a little story from the Yunzhou Continent.

These events were too far removed from her life.

Besides, she couldn’t afford to be idle on this trip to Liu Xian City.

Since the players couldn’t come for the time being, she manually drew a map of the area around Liu Xian City and compiled information on the local culture and customs.

She had actually wanted to use the system’s camera function, but that would make it too obvious to the players that she, the Sect Master, might also be a modern person.

’Better to stick with more primitive methods for now.’

Besides, this map wasn’t for her own use.

[Ding! New item added to the Sect Store!]

The players opened it and saw a new item had been added.

[Complete Map of Liu Xian City and Detailed Building Layout]

[Exchange Price: 10 points]

The players knew Liu Xian City. Wasn’t that the biggest city next door?

They’d heard from their Eldest Senior Brother that the Immortal Sacrifice Ceremony was being held there and that people from the Feique Sect had all gone.

It’s just—

Did you really have to squeeze us for these 10 points?!

Besides, it’s not like we can’t go to Liu Xian City ourselves later. What sucker would buy this map now?

Han, the sucker, Tian, exchanged for a copy of the Liu Xian City map.

As he held the map in his hands, Han Tian silently cursed in his heart.

’Fucking game dev.’

’They’ll think of any vicious way to make a buck.’