Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Something Is Off with This Game
“Damn, that fast!”
The moment the group heard someone had officially stabilized early Qi Refining Stage, the chat exploded.
The speed was ridiculous. From opening spirit roots to stepping through the door of cultivation, only two in-game days had passed.
Song Jiu Lai had been even faster—she’d done it on day one.
But she had the System. That wasn’t exactly fair.
For Chen Miao Miao, though, the breakthrough felt like grabbing a key to the world itself.
It was hard to describe: like the universe had been a locked door her whole life, and now the lock had finally turned. Now, with the right heart-method formulas, she could reach out and pull power into her hands.
On Yun Zhou Continent, the common spells were Fire Wielding and Water Control. Ice and lightning techniques belonged to more advanced methods.
Longevity Sect had several manuals.
The moment Chen Miao Miao stabilized, the System assigned her a task: go to A Wu and collect them.
“Fire Wielding. Water Control…”
The techniques were carved into special spirit slips. When a cultivator immersed their consciousness in them, comprehension came naturally—how far depended on the person.
Some people grasped a spark and stopped. Others caught fire.
Chen Miao Miao could barely contain her excitement. Even if she intended to focus on medicine, everyone carried some private dream of cultivation.
As soon as she got the manuals, she sat down to meditate and comprehend.
The other players were anxious too, but seeing someone succeed lit a fire under them.
In the real world, exhausted office workers got off work and dove into the game like their lives depended on it.
Some built houses. Some expanded the kitchen. Some worked on the brewery.
Others wandered the nearby mountains tasting every wild grass and fruit they could find, swearing to become a modern Shennong and discover what in the game matched reality—and what didn’t.
A hillside that had once looked like an immortal realm was, within days, transformed into something that felt almost ordinary—warm, noisy, full of smoke and laughter.
A Wu sold spirit herbs and used the money to buy grain for the players’ experiments.
Zhou Xiao, along with a male player who was a chef in real life, handled everyone’s meals. The food was so good A Wu couldn’t stop praising it.
Outside of daily life, the rest of their time was spent cultivating like mad.
After Chen Miao Miao stabilized, more followed in the next two days—Jiang Ya, Han Tian, Mu Qiu, and others all reached early Qi Refining Stage.
Longevity Sect became a storm of flying fireballs. Someone nearly set the forest on fire, and A Wu only managed to stop it by yelling until his voice went hoarse.
Maybe it was the atmosphere. Maybe the sect’s changes affected cultivation.
Either way, in the middle of one night, A Wu suddenly gained insight and broke through.
He stepped into mid Qi Refining Stage.
Song Jiu Lai, still early Qi Refining Stage, could only stare.
Great. Now A Wu was the only truly deserving Senior Brother in the sect.
A Wu was so happy he tried to share the news with the sect master—only to realize the sect master wasn’t around.
Song Jiu Lai couldn’t directly control A Wu, so his progress couldn’t be instantly relayed to the System and fed back to her.
A Wu assumed she’d gone out and didn’t think too much of it.
He just turned and announced it to the players.
The players congratulated him immediately—and then drowned him in envy.
After the System forcibly opened their spirit roots, the players spent five in-game days exploring, training, and stumbling forward until all fifty finally stabilized into early Qi Refining Stage.
Then the System task Song Jiu Lai couldn’t make sense of finally shifted.
[Ding: Congratulations, Sect Master Song Jiu Lai. You have met the condition to unlock the main quest: 50 disciples have stabilized in early Qi Refining Stage.
1. Within one month, the sect must gain ten more mid Qi Refining Stage disciples.
2. Meeting the condition grants a mysterious reward.
3. Because Sect Master Song Jiu Lai unlocked sect missions through a special method, the System grants an extra energy pool and opens a promotion channel. Specific conditions must be explored by the Sect Master.]
Song Jiu Lai went still.
“…Are you kidding me? Ten mid Qi Refining Stage disciples in one month? Does it even understand how many years A Wu needed to reach mid Qi Refining Stage?”
She gritted her teeth. “Your mission is insane.”
The System coughed, as if offended. “This mission is based on data projections. If it was issued, it means it’s possible to complete.”
“And if we can’t?” Song Jiu Lai asked.
“Then,” the System replied calmly, “we’ll meet again only if fate allows.”
Song Jiu Lai stared into nothing.
“…You’re ruthless.”
The System continued, almost cheerful. “Good news, though. The extra energy pool grants recording and livestream permissions. You can record player footage and post it on the website to promote the game. You also have three free livestream slots. Who do you want to give them to?”
Once livestreaming opened, this game would erupt.
Song Jiu Lai didn’t hesitate. “Give them to whoever contributed the most to the sect.”
There were no new test slots anyway. Broadcasting to the outside world would only make people jealous.
Right now, what she needed wasn’t heat—it was efficiency. She needed every player inside the game to be worth ten.
The thought had barely formed when the System dropped a bomb.
“Huh,” the System said. “Su Da Qiang has been poisoned.”
Song Jiu Lai blinked hard. “Who? Poisoned? They’re puppet dolls—how can they be poisoned?”
“They can,” the System said. “Data shows abnormal status. The soul link has been severed.”
Song Jiu Lai’s scalp prickled.
How did someone get poisoned while staying at the sect?
As if to answer her, Su Da Qiang wailed in the group chat the moment he was kicked offline.
[Su Da Qiang: Holy shit, I’m poisoned! Fuck, I’m actually poisoned!!]
[Su Da Qiang: I ate a black piece of grass, then some snake came out of nowhere and bit me. I didn’t even react before everything went dark. The System said my status was abnormal and kicked me offline!!]
[Su Da Qiang: Am I going to die?]
[Su Da Qiang: No, no—don’t ban me!!]
After days of addiction, getting forcibly kicked offline felt like being cut off from oxygen. Su Da Qiang was panicking hard.
A few players who were at work laughed at his misery.
[Su Da Qiang: Bastards, you can still laugh?!]
[Yang Mei Mei: Try connecting again and see what it says.]
[Su Da Qiang: I can’t connect! It just says my status is abnormal—what do I do?!]
[Su Da Qiang: Drag my body back, or if demon beasts chew it clean out there, I’m finished!]
Players usually logged off at the spawn point for a reason.
If you logged off somewhere else, your puppet doll body stayed behind. In unsafe areas, that was practically a death sentence.
Su Da Qiang was frantic, begging for someone to haul his body back before it was too late.
Not long after, Han Tian—who had just been prompted to log off—posted a message to calm him down.
[Don’t panic. Big Shot Miao Miao and Jiang Ya went to find your body.]
Han Tian hadn’t logged off by choice.
Now, if you enabled alarm notifications, the System would also alert you when something happened in real life.
The message that called him out made him frown.
It was a phone call from a friend he’d asked to investigate the game company behind Longevity Sect.
The voice on the other end sounded unsettled.
“This company is seriously shady. We can’t find any registration records. And that download address you gave me—we can’t find any server endpoint at all.”