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

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Sending Players Undercover to Other Sects

Song Jiulai happened to have just returned to the Sect.

But with the System around, the players didn’t need to see Song Jiulai anymore.

"Re-plan?" Song Jiulai did have that in mind. "It’s not out of the question."

She had originally been thinking about building roads. If she wanted to do that, work would have to start in Wang’an County first.

This was no longer just about her. The game would continue to expand, and many more players would join later. They couldn’t all be crammed together in a chaotic mess.

There were only a hundred players now, but there would be far more than that later on.

The Longevity Sect’s grounds were clearly not large enough anymore.

The System said, "You want to make your move now?"

Song Jiulai retorted, "Why use such ugly phrasing? My Longevity Sect is in Wang’an County. Contributing to the local populace—what do you call that? That’s called serving the people! Serving the people! You won’t find another person on the entire Yunzhou Continent with my level of enlightenment."

The System replied, "Of course not. You’re not even from the Yunzhou Continent."

"...That’s different. Didn’t I transmigrate? Now that I’m here, I *am* a person of the Yunzhou Continent."

After some banter with the System, Song Jiulai analyzed the mindset of Su Huanli and the others.

’There’s still a chance to make this plan work,’ she mused. ’The Feique Sect has never bothered with these matters, though they might be surprised. I’ll just have the players say they can’t stand the "decor" of Wang’an County. As long as the mortals feel it’s for their own good, they’ll be even less likely to interfere with the actions of Cultivators.’

The System asked, "So what’s your plan for the Feique Sect?"

Song Jiulai knew it was asking about the sect merger. "We have Palm Thunder," she said.

Palm Thunder wasn’t something an ordinary Sect could afford.

Besides, there was a prerequisite for players to gift Palm Thunder to others after cultivating it.

They had to master it completely themselves.

And for a player with their current talent levels, mastering Palm Thunder would take at least a year or two.

So the conditions for players to gift it away didn’t exist at present.

The beauty of Palm Thunder was that it was a Cultivation Technique that currently existed on the Yunzhou Continent and could be replicated.

As long as one’s cultivation was high enough, it could be copied with the right materials for a Jade Scroll.

"By joining our Sect, they’ll have a chance to obtain Palm Thunder."

It wasn’t that the System disagreed, but it asked, "You want to merge the Feique Sect and the Longevity Sect?"

"No." That wasn’t the model Song Jiulai had envisioned from the start. "Players are players, and locals are locals. Bringing outsiders in will only disrupt the players’ equilibrium and make it easy for others to notice there’s something off about them. The Feique Sect will remain the Feique Sect. It can be subordinate to the Longevity Sect without affecting its own existence."

Just as the Longevity Sect was currently, in essence, a dependent of the Feique Sect.

Except the Feique Sect paid no mind to the Longevity Sect.

Song Jiulai, however, planned to implement a compartmentalized management model.

Members of the Feique Sect could also receive a portion of the Longevity Sect’s resources, but they would only be part of an auxiliary branch.

This was the only way to protect the players’ secret.

In truth, once the Longevity Sect grew stronger, the Feique Sect would surely be tempted.

Everyone wanted to be affiliated with a powerful Sect.

The System asked, "Just give them resources and not manage them?"

"How could I?" Song Jiulai said. "Outsiders can’t come in, but there’s no rule saying players can’t go to other Sects. As long as the Feique Sect is subordinate to the Longevity Sect—once that concept is established—it should be within the game’s rules for me to assign players to manage the Feique Sect, right?"

"Besides, you never said players couldn’t join other Sects, did you?"

Their starting point was just the Longevity Sect.

But what if a player was interested in another Sect?

The System said, "I never said they couldn’t, but what are you planning?"

Song Jiulai tapped her chin. "I want to send some players to other Sects as undercover agents. For example, didn’t we just get a player with an Orange Talent? I’m pretty confident I could get them recommended to the Sea View Sect. But their Level is too low right now, and the Longevity Sect is still too obscure. Sending a spy wouldn’t accomplish much at this point."

"And what if a player with a Gold Talent shows up? They’d have to be sent straight to the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect to gobble up their resources. Keeping them in the Longevity Sect would be a criminal waste! And if they worked hard, grew strong, and eventually became the Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect... well, a girl can dream."

...

’It seemed it had truly underestimated Song Jiulai.’

’She was already planning things so far in advance.’

But it still threw cold water on her idea. "By the time a player becomes the Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect, you might have already achieved Ascension."

Song Jiulai pursed her lips. "I was just using it as an example. They can go over and start building factions. Keeping them here just to consume resources really is a waste. Besides, can’t you exploit a bug to send more players into Secret Realms? Some Secret Realms only grant entry to Major Sects. If we could finagle a spot, our people could get in."

The more Song Jiulai thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

And the more she talked, the more excited she became.

The System was stunned. "You’re a little genius—this could actually work."

Since it controlled the players, there was no risk of betrayal. In fact, betrayal was meaningless for them.

The System said, "Then you’ll have to pick a reliable candidate. To get into a Major Sect, they’ll need an Orange Talent at minimum. The major sects wouldn’t even look at someone with a Purple Talent, especially at that age. Right now, only one player fits the bill: Shuitan."

"Shuitan?" Song Jiulai asked. "The one from the third batch of players, right?"

So many players had joined that Song Jiulai only remembered their code names.

But she paid close attention to anyone with an Orange Talent.

Song Jiulai was still cautious. "If I have Shuitan go directly, do Major Sects have ways of reading a player’s memories?"

"No," the System explained. "The players are connected to two different worlds. Even a master at the Transcendance Tribulation Stage couldn’t read their modern memories. They haven’t achieved Ascension and lack the power to break through dimensional barriers. At most, they would just see a blank void. Besides, memory-reading is considered a particularly vicious technique on the Yunzhou Continent. It usually damages the target’s Spirit Root and talent. Unless they have a deep-seated grudge against him, they won’t do it. As long as Shuitan passes a check to prove he isn’t a Demon Cultivator, he’ll be fine."

After all, Demon Cultivators could also take human form, and some did indeed infiltrate other Sects to cause trouble.

Song Jiulai rubbed her chin. "I’m afraid a direct recommendation would make the Sea View Sect notice that there’s something special about the Longevity Sect. Let’s do this: have Shuitan go on his own. He can just say the Longevity Sect is too small for his tastes."

Going to a Major Sect was a normal move; it couldn’t be considered a betrayal of his Sect.

Besides, he was just one Outer Disciple. In the Cultivation World, cultivation was what truly mattered. A disciple in the Qi Refinement Realm was barely worth a second glance.

If the Sea View Sect wanted him, they would take him.

The System asked, "And what if the Sea View Sect doesn’t want him?"

Song Jiulai replied, "...If they reject him, I’ll just take him back."

The System was speechless.

Of course, this was an "arduous" mission, and it all depended on whether Shuitan himself would agree to it.

Song Jiulai prepared to ask Su Huanli if she had a way to get Shuitan to Liu Xian City.

Meanwhile, Shuitan was still grinding away with Zhen Weida and the others.

Out of the blue, he heard the System’s "serious voice."

"Greetings, Player Shuitan. You have been assigned a hidden quest. Are you willing to travel to the Sea View Sect and become one of its Outer Disciples?"