Chapter 26
Chapter 26: Isn’t This Standard?
“Don’t joke,” Jiang Tian Ya’s father replied.
He was busy. Even at dinner, his mind seemed elsewhere. After speaking, he frowned and added, “I don’t have time for your wild fantasies.”
That single line cut off everything Jiang Tian Ya wanted to say next.
After his father left, his mother looked at him with quiet disappointment. “When will you learn to be sensible? The thing I talked to you about last time—have you decided?”
Jiang Tian Ya’s voice went flat. “I don’t want to go abroad.”
His mother only said softly, “Then do whatever you want.”
The air in his chest felt heavy. His game group chat kept pinging, messages stacking like waves.
He hadn’t logged in since going offline at dawn, but suddenly he wanted the game—wanted it the way people wanted a window opened in a stale room.
He logged in.
Stepping out of the safe courtyard where he’d logged off, he found the place outside already buzzing.
Next to A Wu’s house, someone was putting together a crude stove. It didn’t look like they were building a home. It looked like they were building something meant to work.
His in-game ID was Jiang Ya. He walked over. “What are you doing?”
The one working with the materials was Zhou Xiao.
Zhou Xiao looked up and grinned when she saw him. “Big Shot’s online? We’re expanding the kitchen and building a brewery. Someone in the group knows how to brew alcohol. We’ll use that to trade with the mortals down the mountain and bring in money.”
She added, “Big Shot Miao Miao also wants to try combining spirit herbs with it—pulling the herb’s medicinal effect into something other than a pill.”
Jiang Ya blinked. “Like that…?”
It was clever. It just wasn’t what he cared about right now.
Zhou Xiao lowered her voice like she was sharing a secret. “Also, the player who went down the mountain found something big. The game’s main storyline is probably showing up.”
Jiang Ya froze. “Main storyline? Isn’t our main task just to help the sect grow stronger?”
“That’s the obvious task,” Zhou Xiao said. “But every game has a main plot. Today, Fan Gu Zhou and A Wu went down to sell spirit herbs. A shop boss told them the Myriad Immortals Sect is holding the Immortal Sacrifice Grand Ceremony next month. Every major sect on Yun Zhou Continent will send people.”
Her eyes glittered with excitement. “That’s not a small event. And A Wu knew about it, too—he just never told us.”
Jiang Ya frowned. “Immortal Sacrifice Grand Ceremony… sounds huge. Our sect probably isn’t even qualified to attend.”
“Probably not,” Zhou Xiao agreed. “But if it’s a major in-game event, they can’t just lock players out entirely, right? There has to be a way we’re pulled in.”
She didn’t know what that way was.
But anything involving high-level cultivators wasn’t something little Qi Refining Stage nobodies could stroll into.
A great expert cultivator could sneeze and wipe out a field of low-level cultivators.
Still… once you knew an event like that existed, how could you not want to go? If you couldn’t attend, you’d at least want to get close enough to smell the smoke.
While the players argued and planned, Song Jiu Lai was already walking toward the edge of Devil Cave Valley.
She hadn’t brought much. In her head were only two things: the Yun Zhou Continent supply guide, and two techniques she’d drilled until her bones remembered them.
Fireball Technique.
Water Control Technique.
Cheap. Practical. Enough to handle first-rank demon beasts.
And if she hit a true life-and-death moment, the System claimed it could keep her alive.
That was what it said, anyway.
Of course, if she ran into a high-level cultivator, she’d be dead before she even understood why.
After passing Wangan County, she occasionally crossed paths with other cultivators.
None of them were high level, but most were at least mid or late stage. Everyone was heading out to train, moving fast, not looking for trouble.
Someone as early-stage as Song Jiu Lai was rare.
Not far outside Wangan County, she started seeing demon beast traces.
Most were harmless—like the spirit-stealing mice on Flying Sparrow Sect’s mountain.
If they were left alive, it meant they served a purpose.
At least she wasn’t bored. The System kept sparring with her in her mind, trading words back and forth, until she entered a patch of forest and felt the back of her head tighten.
A woman shouted, “Careful!”
Song Jiu Lai moved without thinking. Her hand cut through the air—spiritual energy snapped into shape—and a fireball the size of a head formed instantly.
She turned and saw it: a snake-like demon beast as tall as a person, covered in fleshy lumps that made her skin crawl.
A first-rank demon beast—Toad Snake.
It wasn’t known for killing power. It was known for being vile.
The tumors on its body held poison that contaminated spirit herbs and crops. It would even attack mortals and cultivators on sight.
A harmful demon beast through and through.
Song Jiu Lai launched the fireball.
The Toad Snake recoiled with a hiss. Two tumors burst open, spilling poison that hit the ground and immediately released a ribbon of green smoke.
“Jesus—” Song Jiu Lai’s stomach turned. It wasn’t fear that hit her. It was pure disgust.
She’d been grinding Fireball Technique since the day her spirit roots opened.
She didn’t know much, but she knew one thing: if you had to learn one spell first, make it one that could put something down.
She’d fought the technique for two full days before it finally clicked.
Now it flowed.
Three fireballs slammed into the Toad Snake in quick succession, scorching it until smoke poured from its body. When she saw it wobble on the edge of death, she finished it with one more.
Boom.
The ugly thing dropped.
Song Jiu Lai swallowed her nausea and still hauled the corpse up.
Her mustard seed pouch—Senior Sister Su Huan Li’s gift—was definitely ruined now.
But demon beast bodies sold for money.
She didn’t have the luxury of being picky.
Also: if any player ever tried to raise demon beasts, she wanted a veto list. If anyone dared keep a snake like this, she would kick them out of the game herself.
After four fireballs, she only felt slightly short of breath.
The woman who had warned her stepped closer, cautious as if Song Jiu Lai might turn the fireball on her next. “I’m Lin Qian, from Peach Blossom Sect.”
Song Jiu Lai brightened. “Senior Sister Lin Qian. I’m Song Jiu Lai—Longevity Sect. We’re affiliated with Flying Sparrow Sect.”
She instinctively stuck her hand out to shake. Lin Qian stared at it, blank.
Song Jiu Lai snapped back to reality and pulled her hand away, clearing her throat.
Then her confusion returned. “I’m not even at Devil Cave Valley’s edge yet. Why is a Toad Snake out here?”
According to the terrain guide, Toad Snakes were usually driven away because of how badly they polluted the land. She hadn’t been gone from Wangan County long. This didn’t make sense.
Lin Qian nodded quickly. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. This one was strange. I came out to gather herbs and ran into it. I threw a Fireball Technique, but it barely scratched it. I knew something was wrong and ran.”
Her gaze flicked to Song Jiu Lai’s hands like she still expected another fireball to appear. “Your Fireball Technique is incredible. You’re early Qi Refining Stage? Even the mid-stage senior brothers and senior sisters in my sect might not be as smooth as you.”
Song Jiu Lai blinked. “…Huh?”
Wasn’t that just standard?