Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 29 – Joining sects

As Dugu Zhuo watched Ye Zhou, Ye Zhou was also subtly observing him.

Ye Zhou was less obvious about it than Dugu Zhuo. Pretending to examine all his friends’ new outfits, he stole a look at Dugu Zhuo, trying to act nonchalant.

Dugu Zhuo’s level 20 equipment was an azure blue robe, made of soft materials which accentuated the shape of his already perfect body. His hair reached his waist like a waterfall, tied simply with a pendant at his head to prevent the wind from blowing the lush strands into disarray.

Everyone else’s appearance had changed, greatly or not, but only Dugu Zhuo remained the same, with the exceptional handsomeness that made him stand out from all other players.

Ye Zhou had been a head shorter than Dugu Zhuo, but after leveling up, his height had risen dramatically and was now within half a head of him. He didn’t know if it was because his viewing angle was now different, but Dugu Zhuo’s aura seemed even more otherworldly after leveling up. Previously, he might have felt a bit approachable, but now he was as if a fine sword drawn from its sheath, straight and sharp, causing people to be drawn to its point, yet unable to look directly at that unbearably keen light.

Aotian, who was completely plain and unremarkable even after leveling up, stole Qingyue’s mirror and looked himself over from all angles. “My appearance is improving by leaps and bounds,” he said with satisfaction.

Qingyue grabbed back her mirror without expression. “Aside from your height increasing by five centimeters, your appearance hasn’t changed at all. Sometimes I don’t know where your self-confidence comes from.”

“More like you don’t know what you’re looking at,” Aotian countered. “Plus no one’s really changed that much, so the difference is basically huge with me.”

“No one’s. Changed. That. Much?” Qingyue said, incensed. “Clean your eyes and take another look at these three radiantly and diversely handsome brothers!”

She pointed a finger. “Firstly, Jet Black. Observe his gleaming black hair, those eyes that retain a hint of wildness, those long eyelashes and that elegant jawline. Add on his tall and slim build, the gracefulness of a cat in his steps, and the appeal of his twelve-to-thirteen-year-old appearance. Keep it up, my young cat!”

She shifted her finger, pointing toward Ye Zhou. “And now for this gentleman, transforming from a teenager to a young adult, retaining a hint of youthfulness within his maturity, his presence shining and upright, his simply tied long hair revealing a sword cultivator’s carefree attitude. There’s still room to improve for you.”

Finally, Qingyue swept both her hands in a dramatic posture to show off Dugu Zhuo. “And as for him, this is an emperor newly ascended to the throne, though youthful, already displaying the dignity of a ruler. His appearance hasn’t changed much, true, but the aura that suffuses his whole body makes it practically impossible for people to look directly at him. Previously, our first impression upon seeing him was: hottie! But now, my first impression is: Great God, please carry me!”

Qingyue’s florid descriptions made Ye Zhou feel awkward, and he had wanted to interrupt her several times, but he also really wanted to hear what she would say about Dugu Zhuo, so managed to hold himself back.

“After seeing these three differently-handsome guys, take another look at yourself—” In the middle of attacking Aotian’s ego, Qingyue suddenly felt someone tug at her skirt, and looking down, she found a tiny child looking up at her. She patted the lingzhi on the head. “I’ll compliment you after you grow up into a beauty.”

Aotian, who had previously been pretty self-satisfied with his changes in appearance, now looked stunned. Ignoring Qingyue, he turned to Dugu Zhuo and asked, “Zhuo-shen, we’re all already level 20, so do we need to go check out the level 20 instance? The first clearance is still up for grabs.”

For anyone who wanted to reach level 20, this instance was a must-do, but now that they were already there, they could treat it very casually.

“I’m not interested,” Dugu Zhuo replied.

“But we’ve never seen what an instance is like in VR,” Aotian said. “I’m pretty intrigued about the first instance released in this game.”

“Level 20 is equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage of a cultivator, thus the level 20 instance in the Eternal Day District must be something related to a heavenly tribulation or inner demon trial. The one for the Eternal Night District should be a trial of heavenly lightning,” Dugu Zhuo speculated.

The more he understood about this game world, the more accurate his conjectures grew, and by now all his party members had full confidence in him.

“But there’ll be good rewards for clearing it first,” Aotian said, unwilling to give up.

“You can stay behind and find a party to do the instance with,” Dugu Zhuo said. “I want to find the next main quest sooner.”

Hearing of the main quest, Aotian’s expression changed instantly. “Right, right, right! We can play an instance anytime, and who cares if we don’t get the first clearance, but the main quest is one-time-only and we won’t ever be able to experience it if we miss the chance. The main questline is the bigger priority.

“I assume the main questline will follow Xiao Bao, or in other words, the Qingtian Sect,” Qingyue said. “So we need to hurry up and leave the starting town to discover new maps.”

Everyone else nodded in assent, so Dugu Zhuo added the lingzhi to the party as well.

The maximum number of players in a party was six, so they had conveniently managed to fill their ranks. Leading the party, Dugu Zhuo departed the little town.

After strolling for a while, Black Cat thought his human form wasn’t as convenient as his animal form, so turned back into a little cat, walking on rooftops and people’s heads. Lingzhi swam about under the ground, much faster than the rest of the party, so he often had to stop and wait for the rest.

They were all already Foundation Establishment stage and according to Dugu Zhuo’s prior knowledge, they should now be able to fly on magic artifacts. However, the players only had their own personal power at this point, without orthodox teachings from any sect. They didn’t know how to fly and could only run a bit faster now.

Dugu Zhuo could use sword flight, and he had also gotten a sword with the level 20-30 equipment the game had gifted him. Though the Xuan Sword was broken, the ordinary sword he had received was still sufficient.

However, since the rest of the party couldn’t fly, Dugu Zhuo didn’t want to stand out. He still had no way to explain his successive creation of an array and sword form to his party members. Fortunately, everyone else just thought he had secret knowledge of the game and didn’t want to casually ask about it, so Dugu Zhuo was saved from having to come up with a lie for now.

If he used sword flight right now, everyone would probably find it suspicious.

Dugu Zhuo could only hold himself back and use Lightness Art to move forward along with his friends. At least, the scenery wasn’t bad on their journey, so he still had a good time appreciating the landscape with Ye Zhou.

Ye Zhou gazed at a faraway mountain, his expression one of fulfillment. “I’ve always wanted to travel, but there were always complications. I’ve only been able to see most scenery on TV, so it’s kind of nice to be able to see tall mountains and wide rivers in this game.”

“I’ve seen plenty of mountains and forests,” Qingyue said. “I want to see the ocean.”

Ye Zhou nodded. “Me too. Who knows how wide the ocean will be.”

“The kunpeng[1] dwells in the Northern Ocean, and after subjugating it, one can ride it to the top of the heavens, or the depths of the sea,” Dugu Zhuo said. “If you like the ocean, someday, when we’re higher level, we can go to the Northern Ocean to search for the kunpeng.”

Ye Zhou took his words as a joke. “How could this game have a Northern Ocean map? It wasn’t in the PC game, and of course there wasn’t a kunpeng either. There was a sea, but I don’t know if this game will include it.”

As everyone walked along and chatted good-naturedly, Dugu Zhuo also cherished this opportunity to spend some uncomplicated time together.

Unfortunately, this was a game, so how could it let players make a journey without any complications? Once in a while, it would spawn a group of bandits.

The bandits on the route were all level 20, and now and again they would run into a few, so it was no wonder that those overly hasty players who left town before level 20 would all come crawling back and start grinding with a fury.

For a fully level 20 party of six, however, these bandits only amounted to experience.

Dugu Zhuo didn’t need to act, as the rest of the party could send the bandits fleeing with just normal attacks.

When Black Cat unleashed his Beguile ability, he could have the entire gang of bandits mesmerized as if they had seen some legendary beauty. After that, Ye Zhou only needed to use the Earth Sword of the Five Phases Swordplay once, then leave Qingyue and Aotian to mop up the stragglers.

Lingzhi had originally been ready to use his healing techniques, but it turned out the party never gave him a chance, and finished every battle without losing any health.

After finishing off a group of monsters so quickly, Aotian said, still unsatisfied, “It’d be better if we knew arrays. We’d be able to kill even more at once.”

As everyone chatted and joked while fighting mobs and gaining experience, they finally arrived at the largest city close to Penglai Town—Jiuchuan City[2]. Based on the PC version, Jiuchuan City should have NPCs who would give players introductions to different sects.

Seeing the tall city walls, Aotian said, “We’re finally here. Back in the PC version, we could’ve made this journey in a minute, but here in VR, we had to spend an hour walking. The players’ time is worthless to this game.”

“We had an enjoyable journey, though,” Qingyue said. “We got to take a trip for free. In real life, we would’ve had to spend money to see these sights.”

“At the beginning, players would be willing to make the trip for the scenery, but after a while, it would become unbearable,” Ye Zhou said.

“By Nascent Soul stage, one will be able to ride a sword and cross the land in a second,” Dugu Zhuo said.

“Like always, we gotta gain levels. Sects, here I come!” said Black Cat, rubbing his hands together while looking at the gates to Jiuchuan City.

Jiuchuan City was modeled after the Chang’an capital, a rectangular city with high walls and a moat surrounding it. Guards stood outside the city gates, and one could only enter by providing a travel pass.

When a player reached level 20, they were automatically provided with a travel pass and encouraged to travel freely within the game.

They entered the city without trouble, and Ye Zhou and Aotian followed their knowledge of the PC edition to a teahouse, where they found the NPC who would introduce them to the sects.

It looked like the game didn’t intend to bottleneck players on finding sects, and after the NPC saw their travel passes, he enthusiastically said, “So you young heroes have connections to the Qingtian Sect. Please sit.”

Upon hearing “Qingtian Sect”, the party immediately perked up. “How come we have connections to the Qingtian Sect?” Aotian asked.

“Your travel passes have the seal of the Qingtian Sect on them, though this… small hero, Pang Du Du, has Tanye Temple’s seal. Tanye Temple is a major Buddhist temple. If you hadn’t the recommendations of major sects on your passes, I wouldn’t be telling ordinary people about the matters of the sects,” said the introductory NPC.

“Looks like the seals on our passes have to do with how we reached level 20,” Ye Zhou said. “We used the main quest, so we’re connected to Qingtian Sect, while Pang Du Du helped Tanye Temple heal Widow Yang’s son, so he was recommended by Tanye Temple.”

“I guess even if a player managed to defeat the bandits before level 20, upon coming here, they would still have to go back and complete the level 20 instance, to get a seal on their travel pass,” Black Cat said.

“Then can you introduce us to the sects?” Qingyue said. “Are there any that can improve your appearance?”

The introductory NPC said, “Naturally. For each of the five races within Nine Heavens, there are two sects.”

The two human sects were the Mystic Heavenly Sect and the Blood Flame Alliance. The former sounded like a righteous sect, while you could tell from the latter’s name that it wasn’t much of a good place to be.

Spirits had the Kunlun[3] Secret Valley and the Primeval Remnants, and once again, the first one was good, and the second one was evil.

Yao had the Fate Severing Sect and the Nirvana School, and contrary to expectations, the former was good and the latter evil.

Ghosts had the Qingliang Mountain and the Beimang Mountain, with the Beimang Mountain as evil.[4]

Demons had the Jiuli[5] City and the Nine Desires Abyss, with the latter as evil.

Once you selected your sect, you would have also picked your side.

“Are these all?” Qingyue said dejectedly. “None of them sound like they would improve your appearance.”

“Don’t worry,” the introductory NPC said. “There are two other sects which aren’t restricted by race. One is the Pure Lady[6] Sect which only accepts female disciples and requires attractiveness to be 60 points or higher to join.

“The second is the Boundless Temple[7], a Buddhist temple which also isn’t restricted by race and only accepts male disciples.”

The group sat in a circle to discuss the various sects. After a while had passed and the NPC hadn’t mentioned any other sects, Ye Zhou asked, “What about the Qingtian Sect? Do they take disciples?”

The introductory NPC said, “The Qingtian Sect is the leader of all cultivation sects and doesn’t accept disciples from the public. If you young heroes wish to join Qingtian Sect, you must pass an elite examination in order to be admitted to Qingtian Sect’s secret library where you can choose a cultivation method to study.”

“So that’s how it is,” Ye Zhou said. “It looks like the main quest isn’t so easy to trigger. There must be a lot of requirements.”

Dugu Zhuo, however, had his attention on something else. “You only mentioned five races. What about the mythic race?”

The introductory NPC chuckled. “Young hero, across the vast land, mythics are as rare as phoenix feathers, so how could they gather enough to form a sect? None of the sects accept mythics.”

Ye Zhou stared blankly. He had transformed from human to mythic, and so had Dugu Zhuo. If they didn’t have a sect to join, how would they learn skills and grow stronger?

Seeing Ye Zhou space out, Dugu Zhuo gripped his hand and said quietly, “It’s fine.”

By now, the rest had already picked their sects. Qingyue naturally picked the Pure Lady Sect, since in the first place she had been playing this game not to become a warrior who could slaughter enemies, but the prettiest girl under the heavens.

Aotian, of course, picked the Mystic Heavenly Sect, whose name sounded grandiose the moment you heard it, fitting for someone named Long @ Aotian.

Lingzhi picked the Kunlun Secret Valley. He already had an agreement with the Tanye Temple, so he didn’t want to join the villains’ camp.

After wavering for a while between the two yao sects, Black Cat finally selected the Boundless Temple. It seemed he had made his decision to become a monk.

The group dissolved their party and let the introductory NPC bring them each to the transport array for their respective sects, in order to begin a new tale.

Only Ye Zhou and Dugu Zhuo still sat in the teahouse, with two cups of now cold tea set before them.

“Should I… close this account and make a new character?” Ye Zhou said, a bit lost. “We practically have no way to advance.”

Dugu Zhuo smoothed Ye Zhou’s furrowed brow with concern. “If there is no sect for us, I will start a new sect,” he said with resolution. “Under the vast heavens, there will be a place for us.”