Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 34 – Peach Tree Monsters

After seven days, there had been persistent players who had already made it past the level 20 instance. A few of those had put together a guidebook on the forums, and charged money for access. A few professional guides would also lead players though the instance, again for a cost.

After logging off, Ye Zhou would occasionally check the forums, so he had heard about the Eternal Night District and Eternal Day District’s instances.

Here in the Eternal Day District, the background of the instance seemed to be that the Sun-Worshipping Clan had created the Eternal Day District. The Sun-Worshipping Clan was descended from Kuafu[1], and carried the bloodline of a primordial divinity.

The obsession of Kuafu’s people for the sun was etched into their blood. After Kuafu died pursuing the sun, his wooden staff became a peach forest, and his descendants settled down beside it. Back in primordial ages, Kuafu’s descendants had possessed divine power, discovered the remnant power Kuafu had left behind in the forest, and awakened to a technique to control time. Thus, they had caused time to stagnate forever within this area.

In the Eternal Day District, the sun rose in the east every morning at seven, and after setting in the west at seven every night, it immediately rose again, and then, like a 12-hour tape played in reverse, it traveled from the west to the east, where it would once again rise the next day. This repeated day after day and year after year, giving rise to the Eternal Day District.

The Eternal Day District’s Sun-Worshipping Cult Instance was started via a youth of the cult. As time had flowed on and tens of thousands of years had gone by, the divine power lingering within the people of the Sun-Worshipping Clan diminished further and further, until they were nearly unable to maintain the reversal of time within the Eternal Day District.

The youth of the Sun-Worshipping Cult believed that their clan must now leave the Eternal Day District. Only by embracing cold and darkness could they have a real future. Otherwise, sooner or later, the Eternal Day District would vanish completely, and the Sun-Worshipping Clan which had never faced night would perish.

But the elder of the Sun-Worshipping Cult refused to recognize the youth’s ideas, believing that the sun would forever belong to their clan.

The youth wanted to convince his elder, but he alone wasn’t strong enough. Thus, he asked for help from the brave young heroes (players) who frequented the Eternal Day District, hoping they could help him get through the elder’s trial.

After they passed the instance, the elder would entrust the players with guiding the youth out of the Eternal Day District, and as an expression of his gratitude, he would gift each player with one Foundation Establishment Pill. After eating it, they could form their foundation and rise to level 20.

Of course, the youth wouldn’t actually leave with the players. He needed to stay where he was and continue to lead other players through the instance.

Inside the instance, no other players would show up, leaving each group of challengers alone, so it indeed could be said to be a calm place.

The issue was that this was a six-player instance. They could still enter with less people. There was a limited number of mobs, which would award a fixed amount of experience, so the fewer players there were, the more experience each would get.

That was on the condition that they could clear it, of course.

Even full parties of six level 19 players would come stumbling out beaten black and blue. Each monster had level 20 strength and the three gatekeeper bosses were absurdly strong on top of that. If two people entered, they would probably die and get kicked out in less than five minutes.

If they got killed, they would lose items and experience. Ye Zhou had earned just a pitiful amount of experience from cultivating over those seven days, and he really couldn’t afford to lose any of it.

The youth guiding them said diligently to Dugu Zhuo, “Before us is the peach forest born from Lord Kuafu’s staff. The elder said that if I wanted to leave, I must first pass Lord Kuafu’s trials.”

In the first stage, they had to enter the forest, where the trees would become monsters and attack players in a never-ending flurry of branches. The trees had crazy amounts of HP and were extremely difficult to kill. Their branches hit hard and could knock off over 30% of someone’s HP in one hit. Each tree had seven branches and the forest had a total of 30 trees which could transform into monsters, so players were essentially walking into a slaughterfest.

The most infuriating part of it all was that the youth would also join in the battle. He had very little HP and would lose half of it if he got hit once. If he got hit twice, he would be dead, and his death would mean the end of the instance and the players automatically getting kicked out.

The players could only attempt to make it through by trial and error, dying time after time in order to find out the patterns of the branches’ movements. They had to avoid as many of them as possible, while also protecting the youth who was determined to fight head-on with the peach tree monsters. It was truly exhausting.

This stage tested the players’ abilities to cooperate as well as their powers of evasion. The first stage alone took out innumerable players.

Listening to the youth’s words, Ye Zhou surreptitiously tugged on Dugu Zhuo’s sleeve. “We can’t beat this.”

Dugu Zhuo told the youth, “I only want to borrow the space here for a while. We won’t be going through the instance.”

He proceeded to use the binding spell he had employed against the temple attendant on the youth. The youth was instantly rendered immobile, like a block of wood.

Ye Zhou: “…”

Dugu Zhuo said, “I’ve come in here before. Originally, I had wanted to know how the game explained the existence of the Eternal Day District, but I accidentally triggered the level 20 instance, and discovered this was an excellent place to cultivate. Not only will we not be disturbed by other players, or draw anyone’s attention, but the environment is pleasant and the peach forest is very beautiful.”

Ye Zhou nimbly avoided a branch that came whipping at him. “Are you sure this is a ‘calm’ place? You better protect that kid. If he dies, we’ll be kicked out of the instance!”

“Don’t worry.”

Dugu Zhuo put one arm around Ye Zhou and picked up the youth with his other hand. He flew high up into the sky, far beyond the reach of the peach branches, and crossed over the peach forest, setting the youth down beyond the radius of the trees’ attacks.

On the other side of the forest was the second challenge of the instance. A man slept beyond the peach forest, the slumbering soul of the previous elder of the Sun-Worshipping Cult. If the trees protecting him had been defeated, this elder would awaken and unleash an AOE attack which would leave all the players half-dead.

If the players who had put so much effort into defeating the peach forest had been aware of this setup, it would’ve been fine, and they could avoid the area attack. But this was the game’s debut, and the players were completely clueless as they stumbled out of the tiger’s lair and into the wolves’ den. Typically the first attack left them confused and scattered, and they all got wiped out in short order.

However, the condition for the elder waking up was the peach trees’ defeat.

Right now, the trees couldn’t even touch Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou, and there was no way the elder would awaken. Dugu Zhuo set the youth down at the elder’s feet.

There was a bit of distance between the elder and the forest. The vegetation grew lushly here, and a field of rapeseed flowers were currently blooming in full force, looking splendid.

Ye Zhou sank into the flower field and couldn’t help letting out a sigh. “It’s beautiful.”

“I thought you’d like it,” Dugu Zhuo said. “I calculated earlier that after staying in the instance for one shichen without clearing it, we would be ejected. This is a good opportunity for practicing spells.”

It… actually made sense. It just seemed like somewhat of a misunderstanding as to the point of an instance. Ye Zhou stole a glance at Dugu Zhuo, feeling a spark of happiness.

After all those days shut up in one hotel room, now that he had suddenly come to this beautiful scenery, his spirits naturally felt lifted.

He just needed to ignore the wildly lashing branches off to one side. They looked as if they were raging powerlessly.

A butterfly flitted among the rapeseed blooms. Ye Zhou extended a finger, and that multicolored butterfly landed on it. Ye Zhou smiled softly.

“Thank you,” he said. “This place really is beautiful.”

“If you like it, from now on, we can come here every day to train for two hours,” Dugu Zhuo said. “If you ever get bored of this scenery, we can go to the Eternal Night District. The Netherworld there is also very beautiful.”

Dugu Zhuo spoke so matter-of-factly that Ye Zhou almost got the idea that instances were made for tourism.

Alarmed by his own thoughts, Ye Zhou knocked himself on the head, startling the butterfly off his finger. 

“What’s wrong?” Dugu Zhuo asked. “Does your head hurt?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Ye Zhou waved his hands. “Should we start practicing? Am I really going to be able to learn spells, though?”

“Of course,” Dugu Zhuo said with full confidence.

He first taught Ye Zhou the acupuncture points, lightly tapping a few positions across Ye Zhou’s body. “Remember these few acupuncture points. You must guide your spiritual essence through these positions.”

Ye Zhou had always had good memory, and was able to remember all of them after being taught once. He also easily found the same acupuncture points on Dugu Zhuo’s body.

“What are these for?” Ye Zhou asked.

“Cultivators sense the energy of the heavens and earth, making it their own or borrowing it,” Dugu Zhuo said. “In order to accomplish this, one must first be able to commune with heaven and earth. Arrays, footwork techniques, and even sword techniques are all languages in order to communicate with heaven, while spells connect this language with our own bodies.

“Simple spells don’t require this language, and can be used with only hand signs. When you form the hand sign, let your spiritual essence circulate through these points, and you’ll be able to lessen the earth’s restrictions on you and ascend into the sky. This is the Flight Spell.”

Ye Zhou unexpectedly understood Dugu Zhuo’s explanation. “You couldn’t possibly be an actual cultivator, could you?” he asked.

Dugu Zhuo didn’t deny, instead saying, “You can also understand the explanation I just gave as a procedure that already existed within the game. By reconfiguring these procedures, I can also create techniques of my own.”

This was an explanation that Ye Zhou could accept. Maybe Dugu Zhuo was actually a legendary hacker.

Due to his cultivation over the past few days, Ye Zhou was already familiar with controlling his spiritual essence. After memorizing the hand seals that Dugu Zhuo taught him, Ye Zhou started trying to use the hand seals as he manipulated his spiritual essence.

This wasn’t as simple as it had sounded. He had to control his spiritual essence while forming hand seals at the same time, and each time he made a movement, his spiritual essence had to pass through an acupuncture point at the exact same time. Even one mistake would cause it all to fail.

After trying for a few times, Ye Zhou still couldn’t get it to work, but he didn’t get discouraged and still seemed spirited as he kept practicing, getting better with each attempt.

After about an hour, Ye Zhou was feeling rather mentally fatigued, but he felt a sudden flash of insight. He no longer needed to purposefully remember every step, but instead, as he naturally formed the hand signs, his spiritual essence made the circulation perfectly, and he completed the whole process in one breath, without any issue.

Slowly, he rose off the ground. Ye Zhou felt like he could hear the voice of the vast land, as well as the pulse of the heavens. He knew the circulation of his spiritual essence that could allow his steps to no longer be restricted by the earth, and how to commune with the heavens for it to support his body.

“I can really fly!” Delighted, Ye Zhou soared back and forth through the air, loving the feeling of freedom.

Lost in his joy, he forgot that just to one side, the peach trees were lying in wait with malicious intent. He accidentally flew a bit too low, causing two branches to come whipping towards him.

Two branches could do 60% of his HP in damage at most, so he wasn’t very worried. However, over the past few days, he had adjusted his pain sensitivity to 70% for his meditation, so it would be agony if these two hits landed.

At this moment of peril, a sword light flashed by and severed both branches.

A hand grabbed Ye Zhou and pulled him up some distance, far out of the trees’ range of attack.

Ye Zhou had already grown tired of saying “thank you”. If they kept saying it to each other, they would feel like strangers.

“Is this sword flight?” Ye Zhou glanced toward the sword, and saw it to be Dugu Zhuo’s Refined Steel Sword.

“You’re also capable of it, but there isn’t enough time left today for you to learn it,” Dugu Zhuo said. “It’s sufficient that you’ve mastered the Flight Spell today.”

Ye Zhou looked at the peach trees below him, and suddenly came up with an idea. “Why don’t we try beating the first challenge of the instance like this, fighting the monsters from the sky? You can use your new steel sword, while I try the Five Phases Swordplay.”

“Good idea,” Dugu Zhuo said.

They slowly approached the peach forest and stopped just outside the range of the branches. Ye Zhou drew out the jade slip containing the Five Phases Swordplay, and pressed the “use” button.

The Five Phases Swordplay wasn’t like the Misdirection Array. It was a high-level sword technique, and in order to successfully use it, one needed very high mastery of the sword. Ye Zhou’s mastery wasn’t at that level yet.

However, as if he had a natural familiarity with the Five Phases Swordplay, Ye Zhou instantly understood how to create blades out of wind, sending a few dozen wind blades whirling through the peach forest and severing several branches.

Robed in white, Ye Zhou stood in midair, gazing downwards. His expression was solemn, and in his form, Dugu Zhuo saw a familiar impression.

Dugu Zhuo had been admiring Ye Zhou as he fought the trees, but upon seeing his mannerisms change, his heart skipped a beat.

He came up and poked Ye Zhou on one cheek, breaking that flawless and cold visage.

“What are you doing?” Ye Zhou said, the dignified expression vanishing, holding his cheek and staring wide-eyed at Dugu Zhuo. He looked a bit cute.

“Nothing,” Dugu Zhuo said, feeling his heart settle.

Dugu Zhuo liked Ye Zhou. He was satisfied with his current life. But he had no wish for Ye Zhou to turn back into his old self, or remember the events of his past life.

Things were fine the way they were now.

1. a mythological figure, kuafu was a giant who became obsessed with pursuing the sun. he drained the yellow and wei rivers to quench his thirst, but eventually died of dehydration in his quest ↩