Chapter 21
Chapter 21: The Yun Zhou World Begins, the Website Goes Live
In the end, A Wu still bought the two extra herbs.
He was the Eldest Senior Brother. The junior brothers and junior sisters had only just joined—if he didn’t indulge them a little, what was the point?
After he finished buying the seedlings the sect needed, he led Zhou Xiao and the others around Wangan County one more time.
Their memories were sharp. They quietly marked key terrain, street turns, shop locations—anything that might matter later.
Wangan County wasn’t large. One long street ran straight through, with mortal homes packed on both sides. Here and there were shops selling cultivator magic treasures.
They only needed one glance inside before turning away. Any single item in there could make the current Longevity Sect go bankrupt—
No. That implied they still had something left to lose.
They were already broke.
By the time they returned to the sect, most players had logged off. Only a dozen or so remained online.
Easy to understand. People had to work.
Han Tian noticed one person still hadn’t logged in at all—Mu Qiu, whose talent was said to be second only to Chen Miao Miao and Jiang Ya.
He asked Zhou Xiao about it.
Zhou Xiao shook her head. “I don’t know her. She joined through another game group reservation, and she’s always been low-key. Maybe something came up.” Someone who’d joined the group chat wasn’t likely to be uninterested in playing.
Han Tian let it go. There were more urgent matters.
They needed to fertilize the fields.
A newly reclaimed spirit field wasn’t handled with traditional plowing. It was “fed” first.
They poured in the fertilizer solution, letting it seep through the soil until the entire plot transformed into an environment the seedlings could survive in.
Only then could they plant.
One plot only fit a few dozen seedlings. It sounded ridiculous until you learned why: spirit herbs had sprawling root systems. The better the roots grew, the higher the chance the herb would become high-rank.
Once planted, you could only inspect them with spiritual qi. Most of the time, you didn’t need to do much. If a seedling looked weak, you moved it. That was it.
Whether it lived or died felt like fate.
And the cycle was short—one month to cultivate a batch.
When the three arrived, Chen Miao Miao had already finished inspecting A Wu’s fields. Zhou Xiao hurried up. “How is it, big shot?”
Chen Miao Miao shook her head. “You can’t tell just by looking. I checked mature herbs—nothing obvious. I want one plot as a test field.”
“Fine,” Zhou Xiao said immediately. “If you need more test land, tell me. I’ll hand you one of mine.”
Nearby, Han Tian was quietly counting numbers with Jiang Ya. “So it’s confirmed. Growing spirit herbs alone won’t generate much profit. Ten seedlings sell for one low-grade spirit stone, but survival rate eats that up. Eldest Senior Brother says he gets about half. There’s profit, but it’s thin.”
“One person can’t manage too many plots anyway,” Chen Miao Miao added. “He said seedlings can be made from mature herbs—cut a section of root. But sometimes cutting kills the herb and the root cutting dies too. There are methods to it. He buys seedlings because he doesn’t know the method. Medicine sect people probably do.”
They could guarantee survival. They just wouldn’t share.
That was how powerful sects monopolized techniques.
A chime rang out.
[Beginner quest unlocked.]
[Players may claim two plots for sect tasks. Each month, a ranking quest will be held based on the number of spirit herbs grown. Points earned from rankings can be exchanged with the System for game video recording permission.]
[In addition to two plots, players may spend points to rent more fields from the Sect Master to grow spirit medicine. Upon harvest, 30% is paid to the sect; 70% belongs to the player.]
[Note: If you trade personal property with outsiders without paying tax, you gain no game points. If you choose to allocate 30% of the trade amount as tax, you will gain points.]
[Points can be used to unlock all permissions connected to the real world, and to exchange rare items from the Sect Master.]
The online players exploded.
“Holy shit, we can record video now?”
“Then livestreaming later is possible too, right?”
“That’s insane—if I can stream, everyone will know how cracked this game is!”
Han Tian narrowed his eyes. “Ranking quests…”
Zhou Xiao’s gaze flicked sideways. “Every game has rankings. Big Shot Han, you want that recording permission, don’t you?”
“I do,” Han Tian said. “I want to make review videos. Without recording permission, it’s all talk.” Right now they couldn’t even take screenshots. No evidence, no credibility.
It wasn’t that Song Jiu Lai didn’t want to give them those features.
It was that you couldn’t cook without rice.
“Any channel connected to the real world consumes enormous energy,” the System complained. “Recording a video and sending it out is already hard right now, and livestreaming is worse.”
Then it muttered, almost as if consoling itself, “At least there are people now.”
The System’s energy calculations were complicated, but one thing was clear: most of it came from the players. The stronger they became, the more resources the sect held, the more energy the System could replenish.
Only then could Song Jiu Lai unlock further permissions.
Even if Song Jiu Lai grew stronger, she was still only one person. A group could feed the System far faster.
Energy was intangible. The points players contributed were essentially energy carriers. If they managed their fields well, they’d all be brushing against the threshold—approaching mid Qi Refining Stage.
The only issue was that the spiritual qi here was thin.
Han Tian acted immediately. He logged off and posted in the group chat.
Jing Bao Tian replied: “I applied to the System website for a strategy forum. We can post guides there.”
“This game can’t be only about growing herbs.”
“1111.”
“Support the big shot!”
“I want to play so bad. I’m at work and my soul is leaving my body.”
“Why do people have to work?”
Han Tian closed his computer and tried applying for a forum through the System.
Denied.
He frowned. He didn’t understand why, but the game company was too mysterious to argue with. Instead, he simply built a guide site himself.
Yun Zhou Continent Strategy Site.
He wrote an opening section—background summaries, basic setting divisions—then used AI images and his own memory to sketch a map from Wangan County to Longevity Sect.
He even marked every NPC he could remember, including what they sold.
Then he left messages for Zhou Xiao, Jiang Ya, Chen Miao Miao, and the others: if anything was missing, fill it in.
No one realized it yet, but this simple act would later shock the world.
The Yun Zhou world had begun.
And at the bottom of his opening post, Jing Bao Tian added a casual line for anyone reading: If there’s no update, check the comments. If something happens, I’ll make a post.