Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 23 – Becoming mythic

After logging off, Ye Zhou’s pain vanished. Shaken, he immediately dialed his pain sensitivity to 0%. Even if he could no longer feel anything, he didn’t want to experience that kind of pain again.

He remembered how pale Dugu Zhuo’s face had looked and wondered whether he had set his pain sensitivity rather high.

When he got on later, he needed to ask Dugu Zhuo what it was set at, and suggest he lower it a bit.

After having lunch, the caretaker pushed him into a glass-roofed room so he could get some sun, then returned him to his room to nap.

Ye Zhou had a bunch of chaotic dreams. In them, he saw fragmented images of a high mountain peak that pierced the clouds collapsing, its surroundings becoming a sea of flames. He seemed to hear someone’s voice call out, filled with grief and despair. In his dream, Ye Zhou wanted to comfort them, but found himself unable to speak.

After waking, Ye Zhou’s thoughts were in a tangle. He recalled that the doctor had told him VR games could cause mental fatigue, and if he ever had excessive dreams and felt confused, he needed to stop playing. His body was frail, so he had to make sure he got proper sleep. If he lost sleep for more than a week, he was liable to fall ill.

Ye Zhou held the VR helmet, hesitating. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but he felt energetic and even seemed to have a little more stamina than before.

He had only been gaming for two days, so he’d wait until he slept poorly for a whole week before doing something.

Putting on the helmet, he logged in. The moment he entered the game, he fell to the floor from pain, his whole body twitching.

What was going on? He had clearly set the pain sensitivity to 0%, so he shouldn’t be able to feel anything at all. Had he misclicked?

Ye Zhou wanted to open a panel to check, but he was in so much pain he couldn’t even lift a finger. Holding the location of his dantian, he curled up on the ground, but someone picked him up.

It was Dugu Zhuo.

Ye Zhou had gone offline in Widow Yang’s courtyard. After quickly eating something for lunch, Dugu Zhuo returned to the courtyard to wait for Ye Zhou. He sat meditating there for a while, mentally keeping track of the time.

It was only 2:30 when Ye Zhou got on. Dugu Zhuo immediately stopped circulating spiritual essence and stood, taking the most aesthetically pleasing stance.

He had put on the level 10-20 outfit that the game had given him, which was a dark blue long robe, made of a soft fabric with wide sleeves. When the wind blew, it clung to his figure, making his waist look more slim.

He imitated the previous life’s Ye Zhou in his posture and poise. Though he lacked Ye Zhou’s unearthly aura, he still looked acceptable.

Dugu Zhuo had been careful to stand in a position where Ye Zhou would be able to see his best angle immediately upon arriving. However, the moment Ye Zhou appeared, he collapsed in pain, so Dugu Zhuo could spare no more attention for his appearance. He picked up Ye Zhou, resting him in his lap.

“What happened?” Dugu Zhuo asked, worried and helpless.

Ye Zhou couldn’t speak through the pain. He felt Dugu Zhuo’s strong arms holding him, and even his warm breath blowing past his ears.

How was this 0% pain and touch sensitivity? It was clearly 100%!

But the game’s pain sensitivity only went up to 70%. Even if a masochistic player wanted to set it to the max, the game wouldn’t allow it, since any higher would exceed a human being’s mental fortitude.

In the throes of agony, Ye Zhou felt a current of warmth enter his body through his back, which made a circuit through his lower abdomen, after which the pain eased up significantly.

“Ugh, that really hurt,” Ye Zhou said. “I’m logging off to adjust the pain sensitivity. I’ll be right back.” The touch and pain sensitivity could only be set by logging off and back on, to allow the game to reload the data. They couldn’t be adjusted in-game.

With difficulty, Ye Zhou opened the control panel and selected the system settings, but found that his pain sensitivity really was at 0%!

There was a small pink heart next to the number. Ye Zhou tapped it with a trembling finger and a dialogue box opened before him, reading: [Pain and tactile sensitivity currently being shared via the Heart Linking Technique. Sensitivity is set to 100%.]

Ye Zhou: “…”

So now that the Heart Linking Technique was active, even if he logged off and set his pain sensitivity to the negatives, as long as Dugu Zhuo didn’t adjust his, he would still be suffering.

“That can’t be. The maximum is 70%, so how come you have it at 100%…” Ye Zhou said weakly.

Dugu Zhuo was already checking Ye Zhou’s pulse. He found sword qi lashing out chaotically through Ye Zhou’s body, the same situation that he had previously been in.

Somehow, Ye Zhou had taken on his suffering.

Dugu Zhuo made his decision immediately. He grabbed the back of Ye Zhou’s neck, preventing him from escaping, and pressed their foreheads together.

“What are you doing? Go log off and adjust—” Before he could finish speaking, Ye Zhou felt a vast torrent of energy flow into him from Dugu Zhuo’s forehead, sinking into his consciousness.

Dugu Zhuo held the young Ye Zhou tightly in his lap, gripping his neck with one hand while the other arm was wrapped around him, leaving Ye Zhou unable to hit the button to log off.

In a situation like this, the sword qi within Ye Zhou’s body could only be calmed by the Su Sword’s divine power.

This was power that Ye Zhou had once given to him, so it was about time for him to return it to whom it belonged.

After that vast power entered Ye Zhou’s body, it not only subdued the rampaging sword qi, but completely reconstructed Ye Zhou’s meridians.

Ye Zhou just felt that, at one moment, his whole body felt weak, while the next moment it was filled with power. After this repeated for forty or fifty times, his pain was completely gone.

Dugu Zhuo, however, backed away holding his head, looking quite unwell.

“Hey, what did you just do to me? Was it something else you found?” Ye Zhou checked his body, but didn’t notice any difference.

He opened his game panel again, receiving the reward for completing the “Find Xiao Bao” task, which also gave him 25 thousand experience, a full set of level 10-20 equipment, and 50 spirit stones.

None of his stats were different. Only the entry for his race had changed, from human to mythic.

“This… what did you give me?” Ye Zhou poked Dugu Zhuo, who was propping his forehead on one hand. “I’m a mythic now. Will I be able to strengthen weapons with my blood like you?”

“No,” Dugu Zhuo said, his brows deeply furrowed as he tapped his fingers on his forehead. “I am unsure how the change in your race will manifest in the future.”

Ye Zhou didn’t doubt Dugu Zhuo’s words. The game was still new, so there were all kinds of aspects that players needed to explore themselves. It made sense for Dugu Zhuo to not know.

“Is your pain set to 100% because of your mythic race too? Even if you can, you shouldn’t actually set it to 100%! This is a game full of swords and weapons, and it’ll seriously hurt if you get hit even once,” Ye Zhou said.

He felt his stomach, still a bit shaken. The sensation earlier of his body being shredded from the inside by blades had been too intense, and no normal person could possibly endure it.

Dugu Zhuo didn’t speak. He had completely lost the power of the Su Sword, and was missing one of his Earthly Souls. He didn’t know what he would be like without the divine power restraining him.

He probed his body with his spiritual essence, then checked his consciousness. Aside from his soul’s structure being weaker, he didn’t notice anything wrong.

He finally said, “I’ll be careful in the future. But what was the technique you used? Did you take on my injury for me?”

“You were injured and about to lose your account, and the system told me that I could use the ‘Heart Linking Technique’ to save you, so I didn’t really think about it and just accepted,” Ye Zhou said.

He spoke casually, as if he didn’t consider this something worthy of thanks. He simply hadn’t wanted his friend to lose all his levels and his character, and it wasn’t a big deal that he had to feel some pain. It was just a game, after all.

“Heart Linking…” Dugu Zhuo’s arm shook slightly. He held it still and slowly looked toward Ye Zhou. His young face was filled with innocence, completely ignorant of just what technique he had used.

This was a method of sharing another person’s pain. Even if it didn’t link their lives and deaths like a soul pact, it was still capable of completely transferring someone’s injuries and pain to another person’s body. Was Ye Zhou actually aware of what kind of choice he had made?

To share one’s pain, sensation, and deepest emotions with another person, and to know what was in their heart at all times—that was the Heart Linking Technique.

If this link was created by an external source like a gu parasite, then all one would need to do was get rid of the parasite. But if it was built with a blood bond as foundation, then it could only be undone by one of them severing the bond.

Dugu Zhuo looked at Ye Zhou and felt a tether in his mind snap.

The elder whom he had respected, admired, cherished, and loved, the one he had sworn, in his mind, that he could never touch, was right in front of him.

Feelings such as doubt, worry, fear, and restraint had been erased from Dugu Zhuo’s mind. This was the Earthly Soul that he lacked. The moment he returned the divine power to Ye Zhou, those restrictions had vanished.

Without respect, admiration, and cherishment, all that was left within him was love he could no longer hold back.

Dugu Zhuo placed a hand on Ye Zhou’s face, brushing a fingertip over the corner of his lips. Since Ye Zhou was sharing a tactile sensitivity of 100% with Dugu Zhuo, his whole body instantly felt tingly, and though he wanted to push Dugu Zhuo’s hand away, when he met that pair of fathomless eyes, he found himself unable to do so.

“I—If you keep going, you’ll activate the game’s censorship system,” Ye Zhou stammered out.

Dugu Zhuo seemed not to hear him as he gradually drew closer to Ye Zhou.

As Ye Zhou grew more and more flustered, a black shadow passed between the two. Black Cat landed on the ground and spoke, licking a paw. “I just got on and checked Aotian and Qingyue’s statuses. They seem to be on too, so let’s go to Tanye Temple together.”

Dugu Zhuo finally released Ye Zhou. He turned to Black Cat, giving him a dark look.

Unfortunately, Jet Black seemed to be a bit slow on the uptake, and said to Ye Zhou like he still hadn’t noticed anything, “Level up already! Everyone already reached level 17 with the experience we got, but Dugu really wanted to wait for you. Hurry up!”

“Oh,” Ye Zhou said, returning to reality.

He carefully took a glance at Dugu Zhuo and saw that he was raising a hand toward Black Cat with a deeply abnormal look in his eyes. He grabbed Dugu Zhuo’s hand and said, “Let’s level up together.”

Dugu Zhuo stared at Ye Zhou for a long time, before he slowly nodded. He and Ye Zhou ascended to level 17 together.

Xiao Bao was still unconscious from the yin energy within his body, so at noon, everyone had settled him into Widow Yang’s master bedroom. After Ye Zhou heard Black Cat summarize the story, he went to the room and picked up little Xiao Bao. “You guys shouldn’t have waited for me. You should’ve gone to Tanye Temple and gotten Xiao Bao treated as soon as possible. The washerwoman is still waiting at home to eat roast chicken with him.”

Xiao Bao and the washerwoman were just NPCs, but Ye Zhou still felt bad about letting them stay hungry. It must be because the game felt too realistic.

Seeing Ye Zhou hold Xiao Bao in his arms, Dugu Zhuo had a complicated expression on his face. His hand lifted slightly, like he wanted to make Ye Zhou stop, but he hesitated.

“Do you want to hold him? Here.” Ye Zhou held Xiao Bao out to him, blocking Dugu Zhuo’s line of sight.

Dugu Zhuo glanced at the unconscious Xiao Bao and shook his head. “I won’t touch him. You should hold him.”

He took a step back, putting clear distance between himself and the young Xiao Bao.