Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Senior Brother, We’ll Carry You With Cheats!
[Zhou Nu Zi: Exactly! It’s even trending now. They’re saying we’re obsessed with games, and we actually dare claim it’s full-dive.]
[Wu Da Hu: Normal. If I hadn’t played it, I wouldn’t believe it either. Ugh, I still want to play. I just claimed my little plot. Too bad I have to sleep and work.]
But something felt strange.
Wu Da Hu was an office worker. After long gaming sessions, his body usually felt tired. VR especially—standing for hours meant sore legs, aching back.
Yet after logging off, he didn’t feel off at all.
His mind was clear. His spirit felt sharp—almost too sharp.
Maybe it was just excitement. Worried it might backfire, he replied: [I’m washing up and going to sleep. Otherwise I’ll definitely be late tomorrow.]
[Zhou Xiao: Go sleep. I’m getting on now. I’m pulling an all-nighter, hahahaha.]
She was still a student. It was vacation. No work, no consequences.
Wu Da Hu practically cried as he typed: [You animal. Karma will get you sooner or later!]
Zhou Xiao watched her online timer tick over and logged in with a grin.
She and Han Tian had nearly the same login schedule. When she arrived, Han Tian would be showing up soon too.
And because of the time flow difference, dawn was breaking on the Yun Zhou Continent when Zhou Xiao opened her eyes.
Mist rolled toward her, cool and clean. A fresh wind hit her face and snapped her fully awake.
For a heartbeat, Zhou Xiao felt as if she had never been this clearheaded in her life.
She went to the Sect Master to receive her cultivation manual.
Late at night, Song Jiu Lai had finally run out of energy to keep acting dignified. She’d dropped the performance and was now sitting in her main room by the courtyard, cross-legged, reading quietly.
Some cultivator books could be read directly into the mind. Others were ordinary folk texts. Song Jiu Lai was reading the latter.
On the Yun Zhou Continent, the closer you got to the great sect cities, the fewer mortals you saw.
Wangan County sat on the outer fringe of Myriad Immortals Sect territory, still mixed with mortals. Song Jiu Lai had noticed that many folk books hid strange records and eerie tales inside.
It was even said someone once found clues to a powerful cultivator’s tomb in a mortal biography.
Players could log off and find other entertainment.
Song Jiu Lai couldn’t go anywhere. She treated folk stories as her distraction.
Zhou Xiao accepted her manual and, while leaving, sneaked a look at Song Jiu Lai.
The Sect Master didn’t even focus on her. She handed over the manual, smiled warmly, and dismissed her without a hint of impatience.
Zhou Xiao’s first thought was simple: Her temper is amazing.
A gentle little fairy.
We’re going to make this sect bigger and stronger.
After feeling the changes in her body, Zhou Xiao went to find A Wu.
Han Tian logged in around the same time.
This time, when Zhou Xiao tested her talent, a crowd of players gathered to watch.
The moment her hand touched the Spirit Appraisal Stone, color bloomed.
Purple.
Even A Wu looked startled. “Fourth Junior Sister… you’re incredible. A purple spirit root.”
Purple spirit roots were good—and relatively rare.
Only then did Zhou Xiao learn the ranking: white, blue, purple, orange, gold.
Purple was third. She was satisfied.
The other players stared with envy, jealousy, and bitterness written all over their faces.
“Holy shit, she starts with purple?”
“We didn’t even get blue earlier. The gap is brutal.”
“Yeah, some people are just gacha gods.”
A Wu sighed instead. “What a pity, Fourth Junior Sister.”
Zhou Xiao blinked. “A pity for what?”
A Wu said it plainly, like it was obvious. “Our sect is too poor. Too remote. Your talent is good, but we can’t afford to raise you.”
Talented children were usually discovered young and snatched up by great sects. Those who weren’t… spent their lives grinding away on the fringes.
Here, spiritual qi was thin. Spirit stones were scarce. Resources were almost nonexistent. Advancement crawled.
Flying Sparrow Sect having one Golden Core Stage cultivator was already famous. Their notable disciples were all at the Foundation Establishment Stage.
As for core sects like Myriad Immortals Sect… disciples their age started at Golden Core, minimum. Maybe more.
Of course, talent didn’t guarantee everything. If your comprehension was poor, you could still stagnate forever.
Zhou Xiao waved it off. “It’s fine, Senior Brother. I don’t mind.”
But A Wu surprised her again.
“If you get the chance,” he said, “you could try waiting until people from the great sects arrive in Liu Xian City, and then join a better sect.”
Zhou Xiao’s eyes nearly popped out. “Why? Senior Brother, isn’t that betraying the sect?”
A Wu looked sincerely confused. “How is that betrayal? If you have better talent, you should go somewhere better.”
Only then did Zhou Xiao realize the Yun Zhou Continent didn’t share their modern assumptions.
Join a sect and you’re theirs forever?
Not necessarily.
Unless you were taken as a core closed-door disciple by someone elder-level and inherited their legacy, there was no absolute binding.
Small sects were poor. If they couldn’t raise someone with talent, why hold them back?
Some small sects even recommended talented disciples to great sects, trading it for resources—or for the hope of future repayment when that disciple rose high.
A favor. A thread of karma.
Zhou Xiao exchanged looks with the other players.
They couldn’t leave Longevity Sect.
This game was built on Longevity Sect. Leave it and—what? You thought the main quest would kindly follow you?
Zhou Xiao straightened, suddenly solemn. “Senior Brother, that way of thinking is wrong. We live as people of Longevity Sect, and we die as ghosts of Longevity Sect. We were discovered here. If we leave for somewhere better, what kind of person does that make me, Zhou Nu Zi?”
Other players shouted helpfully, “Not a person—an animal!”
Zhou Xiao: “…”
A Wu stared, even more lost. “Huh? That’s wrong?”
He was twelve. He wasn’t built for moral philosophy.
He only knew the cultivation world worked like this.
A Wu said quietly, “But I won’t leave Longevity Sect. I want to stay here my whole life.”
His talent was ordinary. His ambitions were small. Staying here was already a blessing.
Compared to the mortals down the mountain, A Wu—who didn’t even know who his parents were—felt luckier than many.
Zhou Nu Zi thumped her chest. “Senior Brother, don’t worry. We’ll turn Longevity Sect into a great sect. From now on, you’re our Senior Brother forever!”
Other players rushed to agree. “Yeah! Senior Brother, don’t worry! We’ll use cheats and carry you all the way to ascension!”
A Wu was so moved he nearly cried. “Junior Sisters, Junior Brothers… you’re too good to me! But what are ‘cheats’?”
Right then, Han Tian appeared, cutting in before the conversation could spiral.
“Senior Brother,” he said, “can we go down the mountain?”
Then he added, almost as an afterthought, “Sorry. Something held me up today.”