Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 101 - The Villain's Face

“Wow! We’ve encountered the main storyline! Our luck is incredible!” exclaimed Shenbi Xiaoma, who was experiencing the main storyline for the first time.

After a brief moment of celebration, he noticed his teammates all staring at him with peculiar expressions. Shenbi Xiaoma asked, “W-What’s wrong?”

Black Cat shook his head, “Nothing, just… it feels like I’m looking at my former self.”

Back when they first encountered the main storyline, they were happy, joyful, and excited—just like Shenbi Xiaoma. Now, when faced with the main storyline, their reaction had become, “Oh, of course, it’s this again.”

Aotian spoke with a tone of concern, “Another instance-limited main storyline, and we just had to stumble upon it. I’m genuinely worried that I’ll get beaten up the moment I step out. Has the game company ever considered the needs of other players for main storylines? Because of this issue, Nine Heavens has been trending on social media multiple times.”

At that time, Dugu Zhuo and the others, immersed in the game, were unaware of the storm brewing outside. After completing the first main storyline, players discovered it was a one-time-only event and became so furious they trended #NineHeavensInstanceLockedStoryline on social media. Back then, the player base was smaller, so the topic didn’t rank high and even attracted some new players.

When the second main storyline came, Nine Heavens opened to the general public. Millions of players flooded the game and trended hashtags like #NineHeavensDoesn’tWantUsToPlayTheGame, #MainStorylineWhenWillISeeYou, and #LittleBaoFamily, which dominated the trending list for several days.

By then, players’ frustration with the main storyline had reached its peak. If they ever discovered who “Little Bao’s family” was, it might lead to a full-scale in-game massacre of a few unlucky individuals.

Fortunately, “Little Bao’s family” never revealed themselves. Players began speculating whether they had purchased name-change items to disguise their identities.

Qingyue sighed, “If the system publicly announces our in-game names during this main storyline again, I might just buy a name-change item and hide in the Sounv Sect for a month before daring to come out.”

Lingzhi Doll, however, was optimistic. “I’ve wanted to change my name for a while now. Plus, I’ll shift to my adult human form after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, so there’s no way players will recognize me!”

Shenbi Xiaoma, initially full of joy, began to slump as he listened to his senior teammates.

“But finding a main storyline hidden inside an instance—it’s so hard to locate. Isn’t it lucky that we found it?” Shenbi Xiaoma said, still unwilling to give up.

Black Cat calmly burst his bubble. “The reason we found this main storyline in the instance wasn’t due to luck. It was because Yiye Bianzhou was trapped in a heart demon illusion!”

Check the system notification. The storyline is Main Storyline 3: Heart Demon. And it’s centered on Elder Ye Zhou of the Qingtian Sword Sect. Ever since the second main storyline, when Yiye Bianzhou somehow triggered the ‘Roleplay as Elder Ye Zhou’ quest, it was inevitable that Main Storyline 3 would involve him.

If Yiye Bianzhou encountered his heart demon here, the main storyline would trigger here. If it happened during another quest, the main storyline would start there instead. This is a storyline that can chase a player down wherever they go!

The group followed Dugu Zhuo up to Xingchui Peak to look for Ye Zhou. Along the way, the others explained what had happened previously to Shenbi Xiaoma.

Since they were all in the same boat now, they didn’t bother hiding their identities from Shenbi Xiaoma. After this storyline, they’d all be hunted down together anyway.

“So you’re ‘Little Bao’s family’!” Shenbi Xiaoma exclaimed in shock. “So from the very beginning, it was you guys who cleared all the main storylines?”

Everyone nodded solemnly.

Shenbi Xiaoma clenched his fists. Even though he was now part of their team, he couldn’t help feeling annoyed. Thinking about how they had lucked out twice before, he really wanted to punch them.

If he felt this way, imagine how the other players would react.

The five couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. All they could do was pray that the system would grant them hidden identities or name changes again and not reveal their player names.

Dugu Zhuo ignored his teammates’ worries. Together with White Tiger, he searched Ye Zhou’s living quarters and secluded cultivation room, but they found no sign of him.

Dugu Zhuo noticed that the environment resembled Xingchui Peak from a hundred years ago in his memory, rather than the warm-toned version he and Ye Zhou had redesigned together.

Xingchui Peak was spotless. The decorations were either neat and simple or entirely white, devoid of any color.

Dugu Zhuo then checked the mountain summit where Ye Zhou often sat, the main hall, and the sword training grounds—all to no avail.

Where could he be?

“Let’s check that room,” Dugu Zhuo suggested, pointing to a side hall.

White Tiger glanced at him, thinking, Isn’t that your room? Do you really think Ye Zhou would be there?

Dugu Zhuo said nothing and pushed the door open. Sitting by the bed was a man in white—Ye Zhou, roleplaying as Elder Ye Zhou.

He was quietly staring at the person lying on the bed—a gravely injured young man who looked exactly like Dugu Zhuo.

Everyone else: “…”

They looked at Dugu Zhuo, then at “Ye Zhou,” and were momentarily dumbfounded.

“Is this what Xiaobao will look like when he grows up?” Qingyue asked quietly in the team’s private chat.

Black Cat: “Probably. Xiaobao’s identity was taken over by God Zhuo, right? It’s normal for them to look identical when grown up.”

Aotian: “Two key figures in the main storyline, Ye Zhou and Xiaobao, look exactly like our teammates. This…”

He stopped himself from saying more. Were these game characters modeled after Dugu Zhuo and Bianzhou? Could the game company be owned by their families?

The group chatted in the team channel, which Ye Zhou should have been able to hear. Based on Ye Zhou’s character, he wouldn’t tolerate people whispering on Xingchui Peak and would have used his strength to throw them off the mountain. But now, there was no reaction at all.

Could this be Ye Zhou’s heart demon, rendering him unable to hear the voices of these “outsiders”?

Dugu Zhuo stepped forward and touched the version of himself lying on the bed, but his hand passed right through “Dugu Zhuo.”

It was a phantom.

He then placed his hand on “Ye Zhou’s” shoulder, making solid contact with “Ye Zhou,” proving it was a physical entity and indeed Ye Zhou.

However, Ye Zhou seemed lost in his heart demon, unable to free himself. He didn’t react to Dugu Zhuo’s touch, instead remaining fixated on the injured figure on the bed.

Seeing this, the group was stunned. What was going on? Could anyone explain?

White Tiger timely remarked to Dugu Zhuo, “Ye Zhou is reminiscing about you.”

Only then did the group understand.

“Ye Zhou?” Dugu Zhuo tried calling him, but Ye Zhou didn’t respond.

Ye Zhou wasn’t deliberately acting unresponsive or constrained by the system. In the past, no matter how difficult things got, Ye Zhou would make faces at Dugu Zhuo to convey hints. Now, he was truly consumed by his memories, unable to extricate himself.

He quietly watched “Dugu Zhuo” for a while, then raised his hand to press on “Dugu Zhuo’s” chest, sending a wave of true energy into his body. The young man coughed twice before opening his eyes.

Ye Zhou slowly spoke: “Losing a fight isn’t shameful. Why throw your life away?”

This was from when Dugu Zhuo had participated in the Cultivation World Grand Tournament and was severely injured by the demonic faction.

Back then, Dugu Zhuo was young and impetuous, determined to win the championship. Perhaps he wanted to prove his worth to those who once thought he was unruly and unfit for cultivation, or maybe he sought to bring glory to Xingchui Peak. Driven by complex emotions, Dugu Zhuo fought so fiercely in the tournament that his methods were more ruthless than those of the demonic faction.

He remembered that after losing the match and being rescued, Ye Zhou had woken him up and said these very words.

The “Dugu Zhuo” on the bed repeated the same words his younger self had said: “I didn’t lose because I lacked skill. The opponent cheated! They planted a power-draining gu in my room last night. I couldn’t muster any strength today—a bunch of cowards!”

This “Dugu Zhuo” was filled with hostility, his eyes bloodshot, showing no trace of a righteous cultivator.

Watching from the side, Dugu Zhuo found his younger self utterly repugnant.

Qingyue murmured, “How did Xiaobao turn out like this? Wasn’t he raised by Ye Zhou as a child husband? How could he become like this?”

As if in response, a jade slip appeared before the group. Aotian reached out to take it and activated the team-sharing mode so everyone could see it.

The jade slip provided a pictorial timeline that explained the context. The heart demon they were witnessing belonged to the unaltered storyline version of Ye Zhou. In this storyline, Ye Zhou did not undergo dual cultivation with Duguyue and instead absorbed the Stolen Balance Scales into himself. Xiaobao was neglected and nearly died on Tayu Peak, with Duguyue completely unaware.

After reading the backstory, Qingyue angrily cursed Duguyue: “What a scumbag! He ignored them for ten years, his fiancée passed away, and his child returned alone and helpless. He just left the kid to his disciples to fend for themselves. What nonsense! Did he think kids grow up like crops planted in the ground?”

Reflecting on Duguyue’s actions, Dugu Zhuo realized Qingyue might be right. Duguyue likely thought staying away was for the best for his wife and child. But his actions amounted to leaving Xiaobao and the washerwoman to fend for themselves, as if planting them in the soil and abandoning them.

Lingzhi Doll disapprovingly tapped Qingyue: “Don’t insult plants! Plants need watering, fertilizing, pest control, sunlight, and oxygen. A little neglect, and they won’t survive!”

Without Ye Zhou’s intervention, Xiaobao would not have survived Duguyue’s negligence.

“No wonder he turned out this way. Ye Zhou really had it tough,” Black Cat sighed. “But at least in our timeline, Xiaobao became a child husband.”

Their conversation didn’t affect Ye Zhou, who told “Dugu Zhuo”: “You’ve forgotten something. Tournaments have rules, but real battles don’t.

“The ‘cheating’ you accuse them of is commonplace in reality. If you can’t counter it, that’s your own lack of skill.

“Being protected by rules for too long, did you really think they would shield you forever? The same ruthlessness you showed to other opponents was only possible because rules kept you safe.”

“Dugu Zhuo” froze. He had fought so hard to make Ye Zhou proud, only to realize those accolades meant nothing to him.

Ye Zhou stood and threw a bronze mirror from the table to “Dugu Zhuo”: “Look at how ugly you’ve become. Once you’re healed, leave Xingchui Peak. We don’t tolerate such disgraceful disciples here.”

With that, Ye Zhou left the room. “Dugu Zhuo” stared at the mirror, picked up a towel from the bedside, and slowly wiped the blood from his face. He then made various expressions in the mirror, trying to look more presentable.

Qingyue, the group’s beauty expert, remarked, “You know, this younger Xiaobao may look identical to God Zhuo, but he just isn’t as handsome.”

Black Cat added, “Just looking at his face makes me annoyed. God Zhuo, I’m not talking about you—you’re the best-looking!”

Shenbi Xiaoma chimed in, “Xiaobao has the face of a cannon-fodder villain. His expressions are too fierce; it’s unsettling.”

Listening to their discussion, Dugu Zhuo didn’t feel offended. He knew his younger self had indeed been insufferable, but he hadn’t realized just how ugly he had seemed.

Why did he ever think Ye Zhou admired his youthful looks? Was that why he always tried to appear elegant and poised in front of Ye Zhou?

Ah, it all began when Ye Zhou called him “ugly.” From then on, he learned to control his expressions. Over time, the facade became reality, making him a gentler person.

Returning to this familiar place, he finally understood what Ye Zhou meant by “ugly.”