Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 32 – Teaching techniques

In the afternoon, when Ye Zhou came online, the waiter brought up a new tableful of food, and the two of them ate together while waiting for the system’s result.

During this time, Ye Zhou stood by the principle that one should not talk while they eat, and spoke as little as possible. Dugu Zhuo felt Ye Zhou was distancing himself, but instead of forcibly closing this distance, he maintained a level of interaction that Ye Zhou was comfortable with, no longer taking overly intimate actions.

The Tiangang Steps took longer to analyze than even the Five Phases Swordplay. It took until 5 PM for the system to leisurely issue its announcement—

[Notice: Dugu Zhuo has created the Tiangang Steps, which has passed verification by the system. He has gained the title “Footwork Master”]

[Notice: The Tiangang Steps has been recognized by the system as a high-level footwork technique, which can be learned by all players.]

[Notice: Dugu Zhuo has now obtained the titles “Array Expert”, “Sword Master”, and “Footwork Master”. He has now fulfilled the prerequisites for creating a sect and can found his own sect within the game, in order to take players or NPCs as disciples.]

After this announcement, the players within the game weren’t actually that excited. They were numb to the successive system announcements by now, and some people were even quietly writing stories on the forum where Dugu Zhuo was the protagonist and a cultivator who had transmigrated into the body of an NPC.

In fact, by now, there had already been people who called the service hotline and reported Dugu Zhuo for using a cheat engine, but the service personnel had investigated and found all his data to be normal. The system had discovered nothing out of the ordinary, so a lot of people abandoned the crusade at that point.

Of course, the most important point was that the players assumed the techniques they would gain by joining a sect and finding a master shouldn’t fall behind Dugu Zhuo’s self-created techniques. And plus, up to this point, Dugu Zhuo hadn’t received any tangible rewards, just titles. He might be able to start a sect and take in disciples, but players could also take on disciples and gain followers. There were uncountable people in the larger gangs, so there didn’t seem to be many upsides to being the master of a sect. It wasn’t very enviable.

There were even a few combative players who were looking forward to fighting with Dugu Zhuo when they reached a higher level, to see just how good his self-created techniques were.

“How do we start our own sect?” Ye Zhou asked.

Dugu Zhuo frowned. “A sect panel has appeared on the control screen, which says that in addition to creating three techniques, I must also fulfill a set of requirements.”

Firstly, they had to find land suitable for founding a mountain sect. It needed to have several mountain peaks, and spiritual veins under the earth to sustain the spiritual energy of the area.

Secondly, they needed enough silver to buy this land from the local government, a very impressive amount of silver taels, in the tens of millions.

Thirdly, they needed a strong magic artifact to sustain their sect array. It needed to be an artifact of at least the Nascent Soul stage, and if in the future, the sect master increased in realm, the artifact would also need to be upgraded.

Fourth, they needed an uncountable number of high-grade spirit stones, in order to set up an array to defend their sect.

Fifth, they needed a divine beast as sect guardian, which had to be of the spirit race.

Sixth, when forming their sect, they needed at least three players. One would be the sect master, one the sect elder, and one their chief disciple.

After hearing this long list of requirements, Ye Zhou instantly got a headache. Starting a new sect was way too difficult.

Dugu Zhuo, on the other hand, thought that if these were all of the requirements, it was actually easier than he had anticipated.

“These requirements ought to exist,” he said. “Naturally we will need a mountain if we want a sect. An artifact, spirit stones, and a guardian beast are all things that every sect has. As for the chief disciple, we can just arbitrarily pick another player. I’ll be the sect master, and you the elder.”

“Me? Shouldn’t I be the disciple?” Ye Zhou asked.

“How could that be? The system recognized you as my master, so of course you must be the Supreme Elder of our sect,” Dugu Zhuo said.

Ye Zhou sighed deeply, trying to strengthen his willpower against Dugu Zhuo. Initially he had thought this was too much of a hassle, but now he actually felt that Dugu Zhuo’s words were reasonable. Starting a sect of one’s own like this felt like running a business.

“Then how are we supposed to get these things?” Ye Zhou asked. “Didn’t the system assign you some tasks?”

Previously in the PC game, if players wanted to start a gang or a clan, they would have to complete a set of missions from the system, and every time they did, their territory would be expanded a little. For larger gangs, the leader and core members would’ve been overworked in the early days, completing missions late into the night, as well as spending all the money they earned in the game on the gang.

If this wasn’t enough, the gang leader would have to spend his own money, and even hire players to help complete the tasks.

Despite all this, there were still many people who enjoyed creating their own gangs, drawn to the business-like feel of it.

After looking over the control panel, Dugu Zhuo said, “There is a mission next to the mountain requirement.”

“What kind? A quest chain? An item collection quest?”

In Ye Zhou’s mind, in order to obtain a piece of land, they would have to complete a series of tasks in order to win an NPC’s goodwill, so that they would be willing to sell a mine about to go bankrupt to them. Or they could be forced to collect a set of items, to create their own mountain.

However, Dugu Zhuo said, “Select one of the following instances with suitable mountain ranges, and take them as our own.”

“What?!” Ye Zhou rubbed his ear, wondering if he had heard wrong.

“The provided instances are the level 100 Canglan Heavenly Fire instance, the level 90 Thousand Yao Spirit Fog instance, the level 80 Heavenly Dragon Vein instance, the level 70—”

“Hold on!” Ye Zhou interrupted. “What does the system mean by this? Are we expected to complete such hard instances?”

“No,” Dugu Zhuo said, “We’re meant to defeat the boss and all the monsters in the instance to the point that they submit to us and become our subordinates. Mm, this isn’t a bad method. After subjugating them, we’ll obtain a guardian beast too.”

“What’s the lowest level instance the system provided?” Ye Zhou asked.

“The level 40 Spirit Yao Tiger Fang—” Dugu Zhuo cut himself off abruptly.

“Level 40 is alright. But if we don’t have a sect before level 40, won’t our progress be too slow?” Ye Zhou was so anxious he wanted to ram his head into a wall.

“We’ll use this instance,” Dugu Zhuo said, suddenly looking resolute.

He brought out a jade slip and placed it into Ye Zhou’s hand. “This is the Tiangang Steps, a strong technique in its own right. In a bit, I’ll teach you sword flight and wind riding, so we can level up as quickly as possible.”

“Huh? The system didn’t recognize your sword flight as a technique, so how am I supposed to learn it?” Ye Zhou asked, as he accepted the Tiangang Steps.

Dugu Zhuo smiled slightly. “Your aptitudes are good, so I’m certain you’ll be able to learn it.”

There were too many players in the game, and they needed a quiet area to train. Without Black Cat around, they couldn’t enter the Tanye Temple. After thinking for a bit, Dugu Zhuo decided to simply purchase a two-person room in that inn which allowed you to meditate and gain experience. It would be 200 silver for a night, and Ye Zhou would be able to conveniently meditate there.

Ye Zhou: “…”

Hold on, there was something not quite right about this development.

He could set aside the room-sharing for now. After all, nothing could happen under the game’s censorship system. More importantly, just why did Dugu Zhuo believe he could learn such a technique?

This game, Nine Heavens, in order to give players an authentic xianxia experience, seemed to be using the most advanced brain linking technology.

Any command a player issued could be linked with a specific action within the game. With the player’s thoughts, the in-game character could run, leap, roll, and so on. Techniques worked the same way, linking the special effect in-game to the technique’s name, so that when the player thought of the technique’s name, the command would be issued and the player character would be able to attack.

The underlying principles behind this were very complex, and Ye Zhou wasn’t interested in understanding them either.

But in the end, cultivation in this game was nothing like the cultivation shown in novels, and was simply the combination of mental commands and technology. If his in-game character hadn’t learned a certain technique, then no matter how much he thought, he wouldn’t be able to carry out that action.

“No way. It’s totally impossible,” Ye Zhou said, refusing to sit cross-legged on the bed.

“It’s possible for you,” Dugu Zhuo said. 

Ye Zhou had been the elder of Qingtian Sect, the master of the Su Sword, and therefore his aptitude for the sword was far beyond normal people’s. It was said that he had been able to establish his foundation at ten, and only because after Foundation Establishment, a cultivator’s appearance wouldn’t change, had he suppressed his cultivation in order to establish his foundation at eighteen, in order for his body to mature.

After that, he had broken through Golden Core stage within two years, and Nascent Soul stage within ten, becoming a genius rarely seen in ten thousand years.

Ye Zhou was unable to persuade Dugu Zhuo, and finally obeyed and sat cross-legged. The requirements for his posture were high as well, since he had to let the palms of both his hands and feet, as well as the top of his head, face the sky. He was told this posture would allow spiritual essence to most easily flow through his body.

It was way too difficult to have the bottoms of both his feet face the sky after sitting cross-legged. He needed to first place his left leg over his right leg, then his right leg over his left. Fortunately, this was a game, and it was easy to pull his character into position.

“What should I do next?” Ye Zhou asked.

Next, he saw Dugu Zhuo also sit on the bed. His eyes immediately widened. If this went on, they’d activate the system’s screening functions.

However, Dugu Zhuo didn’t do anything, only sitting behind Ye Zhou and pressing both palms against his back. “I’m going to pour my spiritual essence into your body. All you need to do is try to feel the true qi within your dantian. Then you can allow your qi to circulate within your body, the same way I do.”

After speaking, Dugu Zhuo began to circulate his spiritual essence. Ye Zhou really sensed a warm current enter his body from his back, beginning to circulate within his body.

This was illogical!

Even though he was filled with doubts, Ye Zhou closed his eyes and tried to sense the spiritual essence within his body under Dugu Zhuo’s guidance. Very quickly, he felt warmth within his dantian. He imagined there was a current of true qi within his dantian, and tried to guide it throughout his body. After only a short while, he had entered a meditative trance.

Dugu Zhuo withdrew his hands. He had been sure that Ye Zhou’s aptitude would be sufficient.

“The first time you circulate your true qi, you only need to complete nine grand circuits,” he said. “You are at Foundation Establishment stage with your current level, so nine shouldn’t be hard.”

It wasn’t hard at all. After effortlessly completing six circuits, Ye Zhou felt a beeping noise start up by his ears.

This was his housekeeper calling him. Actually, the VR helmet could be disconnected just like a PC by unplugging the power. The planners of Nine Heavens had accounted for the possibility of sudden disconnections, and aside from an abrupt change in vision, there wouldn’t be any psychological effect.

However, Ye Zhou’s health wasn’t good, and his housekeeper didn’t want to directly disconnect his helmet, afraid that the sudden change in environment would make his heartbeat speed up and cause him to become short of breath. She had simply installed an alarm on his helmet, so when she needed him to log off, she could just press the alarm to remind him.

He was still not done cultivating, though, and he enjoyed the sensation of qi flowing freely through his body too much. He decided to just close off his senses and allow the alarm to beep, until he finally finished nine grand circuits.

Upon opening his eyes, Ye Zhou said frantically, “It’s already 7:30! No wonder my housekeeper is so impatient. I might not be able to get on tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After saying his farewells, he quickly left the game.