Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 22 – A missing soul

“Bian Zhou sure left quick,” Aotian said, looking at the place where he had vanished. “He pretty much disappeared as soon as the fight was finished. Is he skipping class and the teacher’s about to call roll?”

Ye Zhou’s in-game name was Yi Ye Pian Zhou, but that was too long and pronunciations were not shown in the game, so the party members decided to call him Bian Zhou[1] for short.

Dugu Zhuo had previously felt splitting pain in his dantian, but now it had been relieved significantly. Actually, when he had forcefully used a dual sword form, he was acting with a plan. He certainly would throw the spiritual essence within his body into chaos for a short while, but even though the twin swords of creation were broken, they weren’t completely powerless. He could still suppress his spiritual essence by forcefully drawing on their remnant sword qi, and only have to suffer some pain for a bit.

It was indeed a bit perilous when he first started losing hit points, but after Ye Zhou gave him medicine, he had regained enough energy to suppress the sword qi. Yet Ye Zhou had done something he didn’t understand, after which the pain was gone and the sword qi within his body had vanished as well.

With Ye Zhou having also logged off without any explanation, Dugu Zhuo couldn’t help but be a bit worried.

He looked over the panel for their blood bond again and again. After Ye Zhou’s “master” status, there was now a small pink heart-shaped symbol. Dugu Zhuo tapped it, but the system didn’t provide any explanation. He had no idea what it meant.

At least, no matter what Ye Zhou had done, it should stay on his game character and not affect his physical body. Dugu Zhuo tried to reassure himself, suppressing his feelings of concern.

He glanced at the time. It was fifteen minutes before 12. Ye Zhou had logged off earlier than his previously stated time, so it was uncertain whether he would still log on at the same time this afternoon.

“Since Bian Zhou’s gone, should we wait for him?” Black Cat asked.

Qingyue looked toward the east wing. “Let’s check on Xiao Bao first. We have to at least pick up Xiao Bao and bring him back to the washerwoman’s home, and then protect them just in case that group of players comes back.”

“After that fight, we’ve zeroed out on spirit stones and consumed a lot of healing medicine, yet we didn’t get any experience, equipment, materials, or herbs. There were only five Righteousness Points. This fight was a waste of time, huh?” Aotian let out a long sigh as he glanced over his bag.

“Now I’m a yao with four Righteousness Points,” Black Cat said. “I had one Sin Point from stealing that NPC’s essence, but now that’s been completely canceled out.”

The group walked into the east building and saw Widow Yang holding a knife, her face covered with tear streaks as she watched Xiao Bao lie on the floor. She kept repeating “I’m sorry.”

Xiao Bao was thinner than he should be and looked clearly malnourished. With a large head and a skinny body, he resembled a radish. He had no injuries on him, but he was unconscious, and even when Qingyue went up and shook him, he didn’t wake.

The moment the group found Xiao Bao, they received a system notification.

Each of them had earned 25,000 experience points, a set of level 10-20 equipment that matched their stats, fifty low-grade spirit stones, and 100 silver taels.

“We got so much!” Aotian said, delighted. “This much experience is enough to bring us to level 16 or 17. It looks like finding Xiao Bao was really an important step in this task. By the time we complete the task, we might get to level 20.”

“What about the reward for Ye Zhou?” Dugu Zhuo asked.

Everyone was calling him Bian Zhou, but Dugu Zhuo staunchly kept calling him Ye Zhou, making him seem a bit rigid.

“He’ll probably receive his reward when he logs on,” Aotian said, giving Dugu Zhuo an odd look. “Dashen, have you ever lost a quest reward because you went offline? You need to make a call to the game company’s service hotline if you did. They can reimburse you for it.”

Hearing how flippantly Aotian spoke, Dugu Zhuo realized that he had made a misstep and asked something that went against common sense.

He didn’t know what “making a call” was, but he still said unflappably, “I do not ‘make calls’ much. I’ll try when I log off later.”

Seeing his vague words led his party members to not suspect anything, he secretly let out a breath and turned his gaze to Xiao Bao.

Poor families didn’t own mirrors, so in his childhood, he had only hazily seen his own face in the river water. He had faint memories that when he was young, he wasn’t particularly good-looking at all. He had a big head and skinny neck and looked like a freak compared to the other kids.

When it came to the details of his features, Dugu Zhuo had never looked closely at them.

He remembered what his mother looked like, though, and she was the exact same as the washerwoman. In that case, this little boy who was so skinny he looked deformed must be his own child self.

Dugu Zhuo gave Xiao Bao a cold look and slowly said, “Ugly.”

Kneeling down to give Xiao Bao medicine, Qingyue retorted to him, “He’s clearly skinny from malnutrition. I remember seeing in my textbooks a picture of a child who’d had a harsh upbringing and looked like a little radish. I don’t think this child will turn out ugly. The washerwoman looks so beautiful, so if Xiao Bao was fed well and taken care of, he might become a pretty little boy.”

“Wake up.” Aotian tapped Qingyue on the head. “This is how he’s designed in the game. He can’t become pretty.”

Dugu Zhuo had suffered a lot of humiliation in his youth, and when he first entered Qingtian Sect, many people looked down on him. It was Ye Zhou who noticed this and brought a still-disobedient Dugu Zhuo to the Star Draping Peak.

Star Draping Peak was Ye Zhou’s cultivation ground, and the whole mountain peak belonged to him. He had no disciples, so Dugu Zhuo’s days on the peak were peaceful.

By the time he descended the peak and made an astonishing debut at the once-per-century Discussion Conference of the whole cultivation world, he had already become the youngest Core Formation cultivator in Qingtian Sect. No one dared look down on him again, and no one would contradict him to his face.

Later on, no one besides Ye Zhou would dare to look directly at him, and when speaking to him, would only bow their heads and reply, “Yes”, or “Maybe”.

Qingyue’s tone with him wasn’t contempt, nor fear, instead casually placing them on the same level.

Silently, Dugu Zhuo watched as the players bustled around Xiao Bao, an unfamiliar feeling arising within his heart.

“Why isn’t Xiao Bao waking up?”

Qingyue pinched the space between Xiao Bao’s nose and lips, but he still didn’t stir. She went up to Widow Yang and yanked the knife away from her, asking, “You know that Xiao Bao is the child of pure yang, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Widow Yang said, sobbing. She had an elegant bearing, so even her crying moved people’s hearts.

“It took us a lot of effort to find the fortune teller and get him to tell us about Xiao Bao,” Qingyue said. “You were selling tofu all that time, so how did you find out?”

Widow Yang sobbed, “After you left, people from the yamen came to me and said they had caught several miscreants poisoning my tofu, and wanted me to go identify them.”

Hearing her words, everyone had a shock. They never thought there would be a follow-up to the business of the yamen. Was the plot capable of repairing itself?

Widow Yang continued, “When I got there, I saw that those people clearly weren’t human. I was terrified and wanted to go back and check my tofu immediately, but one of the ghosts possessed me and said he knew how to save my son.

“When he said that, it was like I lost all sense of reason. I lied to the yamen’s officials that I had tested my tofu with a silver needle and found no poison. Then I paid for those ghosts and demons’ release and brought them back to my house.

“They told me that my son wasn’t suffering from fever, but from yin energy within his body. If it was two hours earlier, he could be cured by Xiao Bao’s blood, but it was too late now and they could only channel the yin energy into Xiao Bao’s body.”

“You agreed to that?” Engrossed in listening, Qingyue was so emotionally moved she pounded on a wall.

Since the NPC had entered her plot-relaying mode, she paid no attention to Qingyue’s words and continued speaking in a melancholic tone, “Later, something with its face covered ran off with a plate of tofu, and I was certain they meant harm towards someone, but still I blinded my conscience and pretended I never saw anything.

“I used the technique they showed me and channeled the yin energy into Xiao Bao’s body. After that, my son’s fever really did improve, but Xiao Bao now won’t wake up.

“They also told me that my son’s fever had gone on too long and he had lost one of his Earthly Souls[2]. They wanted me to pierce Xiao Bao’s skull with this knife and steal one of his Earthly Souls, so it can be given to my son.”

Aotian immediately grabbed the knife and inspected it, finding that it wasn’t a knife but more of a thick triangular spike, and he could also see its stats.

He shared its stats in the party chat, and a dialogue box appeared before Dugu Zhuo’s eyes—

Weapon Name: Soul-Stealing Spike

Weapon Level: 40

Usage Restriction: Special weapon for the main questline, must be used by Widow Yang.

Effect: The one pierced by this weapon will lose an Earthly Soul and be deficient in a particular emotion, their personality becoming extreme. The last victim’s name is not known, but because of the emotion they lacked, they personally murdered their own kin.

Seeing the weapon’s effect, Dugu Zhuo felt a chill within his heart.

Ye Zhou had often sighed deeply as he looked at him, saying that he had lost one of his Earthly Souls and lacked fear, guilt, and moral restrictions. He didn’t know where that soul had ended up, and after searching everywhere, Ye Zhou could only use the Su Sword on Dugu Zhuo, creating a whole new Earthly Soul with its divine power and placing it inside Dugu Zhuo’s body.

It was because of this Earthly Soul that Dugu Zhou would later be able to control both swords.

Unfortunately, back then he was young and ignorant and had no idea where he could have lost one of his souls. He thought Ye Zhou was trying a new method to torment him, and often spoke rudely to Ye Zhou.

Up to today, he hadn’t known who had stolen one of his Earthly Souls, or why.

Yet somehow, this mysterious video game was displaying the truth of the past before Dugu Zhuo’s eyes.

Dugu Zhuo remembered this day, the day when everything in his life had changed.

He was working at the tofu shop back then, and could bring home some leftover tofu every day to eat. He rarely ever got to eat well, so he had been very happy.

One day, he must’ve been weak from hunger, and fainted while he was working. When he woke up, the tofu shop’s owner didn’t blame him, even kindly giving him a silver piece and telling him to buy something good to eat.

He returned home with the money and found his mother collapsed on the floor and groaning in pain. The silver piece was not even close to enough to summon a doctor. He knelt crying before the straw pile that served as a bed.

Hearing his crying, his mother woke up. She spoke of how she hated him and his father, then placed her hands around Dugu Zhuo’s neck, as if she wanted to kill this burdensome child with her own hands.

Dugu Zhuo was choked unconscious by his mother, and after waking up, found a man who looked like an immortal standing by him. The man told him he was from the Qingtian Sect, and wanted to bring Dugu Zhuo back to the sect to meet his father.

His mother had already passed away from illness, lying on the straw bed with her face twisted in agony and her eyes still staring at him.

Dugu Zhuo cremated his mother’s body, and together with that man, left the town he had grown up in, heading for the Qingtian Sect.

He never could’ve imagined that this past of his would have a group of people’s schemes behind it.

Dugu Zhuo stared at Widow Yang. After so much time had passed, he no longer remembered what the proprietor of the tofu shop looked like, and didn’t know if she was the same as this Widow Yang before him. He only knew that the emotions within him that he could never resolve now exploded forth. Expressionless, he grabbed Widow Yang’s neck, lifting her off the ground with one hand.

Widow Yang’s eyes quickly rolled back in her head, as she cried weakly for help.

“D—d—dashen! It’s just the game’s plot! It’s just a story!” Aotian ran up and grabbed Dugu Zhuo’s arm. “It seriously pisses me off too, but you can’t lose your cool about it. Even if you choke her to death, she’s just an NPC, so she’ll probably come back to life tomorrow and go back to selling tofu.”

Black Cat leapt onto Widow Yang’s head, his deep green eyes gazing at Dugu Zhuo. He licked a paw, looking unconcerned. “Mrow. Back when I stole an NPC’s vital essence, didn’t you teach me a lesson and make me stop hurting them?”

Qingyue also grabbed Dugu Zhuo’s hand. “Widow Yang hasn’t stabbed Xiao Bao yet. They tried to convince her, but she just wouldn’t do it. Dashen, I think we got here in time!”

Dugu Zhuo slowly turned to look at Qingyue.

Qingyue felt a bone-deep chill from the killing intent that filled his eyes, but she stood her ground and said, “If we had followed the map the game gave us while we were looking for Xiao Bao, by the time we got here, Widow Yang might’ve already stabbed Xiao Bao and stolen one of his Earthly Souls. But it hasn’t happened yet! Dashen, your quick thinking saved the day! You weren’t misled by the map and took us right to Widow Yang’s house. She didn’t get a chance to do anything!”

Dugu Zhuo’s hand loosened a bit.

Seeing that her words were working, Qingyue kept saying, “Look at Xiao Bao, he’s still unconscious. We have to find a way to get rid of the yin energy. The washerwoman is still waiting to eat roast chicken with him!”

Dugu Zhuo released Widow Yang and said coldly, “Bring me a plate of clean tofu.”

“Okay, okay!” Terrified, Widow Yang picked herself off the ground, her voice still hoarse, and ran off to the tofu workshop.

Gradually, Dugu Zhuo returned to normal.

That’s right, this was just a game, just an NPC. Even if he killed Widow Yang right now, he couldn’t change what had happened in the past.

Qingyue, Aotian, and Black Cat huddled together and watched Dugu Zhuo carefully. Seeing that he no longer looked murderous, Aotian asked in a quiet voice, “Dashen, were you scaring Widow Yang on purpose, so she would make a piece of tofu for the monk at Tanye Temple?”

“That’s right,” Qingyue said. “There’s still a task to buy tofu that we haven’t completed.”

Dugu Zhuo offered no explanation. He didn’t want to speak right now, and leaned against a wall, quietly awaiting the tofu.

Widow Yang had already sold all her tofu, so now made a fresh batch. Trembling, she delivered a steaming piece of tofu to Dugu Zhuo.

“Since we have the tofu now, should we bring it to Tanye Temple?” Aotian asked.

“We’ll send Widow Yang to the yamen,” Dugu Zhuo said. “Since she’s an NPC, let’s follow the game’s regulations.”

He didn’t know whether there would be any point in doing this, but it was the only method available to him.

The party obeyed and brought Widow Yang to the yamen, where the bailiff really did take the case. He even found a doctor for Widow Yang’s son, and took care of all the follow-up.

The party earned five thousand experience points and two Righteousness Points, so it seemed their choice was correct.

After finishing everything, it was now 1 pm. “Let’s wait for Ye Zhou to return before continuing,” Dugu Zhuo said.

Aotian and the rest were hungry anyway, and even eating a whole roast chicken in game wouldn’t really satisfy their hunger, so they all logged off, arranging to meet at 3 this afternoon.

After everyone had left, Dugu Zhuo looked at the Soul-Stealing Spike. With a thought, a blast of extremely pure sword qi struck the spike, instantly reducing the level 40 special item to dust.

This was the divine power of the Su Sword which replaced one of Dugu Zhuo’s souls. It had incomparable power, but he couldn’t use it much, as every time he did, his emotions would grow weaker.