Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 54 - Return to the Game

Eerie.

Dugu Zhuo could only use these two words to describe what was happening before his eyes.

No one had ever imagined that a cultivator at the Golden Core stage would be beaten to the point of being unable to fight back by several cultivators at the Foundation Building stage. Faced with several teammates, the demonic cultivator could only rage in helplessness.

Cross-tier challenges existed in the cultivation world, but they mostly relied on lower-level cultivators with various high-grade treasures. The most powerful treasures they had, the staff and rosary that Black Cat wielded, along with the Heavenly Tribulation Talisman already used by Qingyue, were no match for the demonic cultivator’s treasures.

Yes, the demonic cultivator had already used his strongest treasure, a set of Twelve Demonic Images. This painting depicted twelve demons that could transform into the desires deepest in the hearts of cultivators, awakening their inner demons and causing them to lose control, allowing the user to then ambush them.

But what would happen if this painting was used on a group of players?

Qingyue: “Wow! The paper men are coming out! The guys look so handsome. Why do the minions summoned by this boss look better than the boss itself?”

Aotian: “Why do I see a bunch of pixels? Anyway, let’s just defeat them. Don’t forget to buff me.”

Black Cat: “Why do you guys see handsome men and pixels? I see myself getting a perfect score in math. Oh god, why do I have to see a math test while playing a game? Get rid of these papers!”

Lingzhi Doll: “Huh? Are you seeing math? I’m seeing English. I can’t handle it. Seeing these letters makes me want to throw up!”

The power of the Twelve Demonic Images was immense. Even Dugu Zhuo saw Ye Zhou standing before him in thin clothing, asking if he liked it. If Dugu Zhuo’s cultivation hadn’t already surpassed the realm of cultivators, and if his mind wasn’t extremely firm, he might have been distracted.

However, it had no effect on these players.

The greatest effect of the Twelve Demonic Images was to attack the mind. Most people would become alert upon seeing this painting, and the more fearful they were, the more easily they would be controlled. However, these players just treated it as a game and were completely unaffected.

Even if they were slightly confused, Black Cat’s chanting was enough to wake them up.

Moreover, if the Twelve Demonic Images were used aggressively, it would create pixels. The difference between being tempted by a group of disheveled beauties and a group of pixels was too significant. Who would be swayed by pixels?

What troubled the demonic cultivator the most was how well-coordinated these players were.

How did cultivators cultivate? It was through decades or even centuries of seclusion, rarely engaging in battles. If it weren’t for the sect’s command for disciples to temper their minds in the mortal world, most cultivators would spend decades without seeing anyone.

And how did players level up? They were urged by experience points every day. Logging in meant fighting monsters and clearing dungeons. To gain experience, they repeatedly cleared countless identical dungeons and fought identical monsters. Their combat experience far surpassed that of cultivators.

Cultivators mostly faced others at a similar level of cultivation. Those whose cultivation levels were much higher rarely bothered with combat.

But what about players? Common monsters, dungeon bosses—weren’t they all at least five or ten times stronger than players? To deal with these monsters, players analyzed skills repeatedly, honed their teamwork, and perfected every gap. Skill cooldowns were measured in seconds. Any slight mistake in skill chaining could lead to team failure. Under such pressure, players had an extremely thorough understanding of their skills and cooldown times.

For example, as soon as Qingyue’s control skill ended, Lingzhi Doll turned the ground beneath the demonic cultivator into a swamp. He knew this wouldn’t cause much damage to the demonic cultivator, but as long as the demonic cultivator was affected for a few seconds, it would be enough for Black Cat to chant and activate the next skill.

What was most unfair was that the damage inflicted by players on the demonic cultivator was real, and the demonic cultivator felt real pain. But these players had all blocked their sense of pain, so the pain couldn’t affect them.

“You… you!” The demonic cultivator, who was rendered powerless, roared, “Fine, fine! I didn’t expect to summon the Lord of Reversal, only to summon you few talented juniors.”

Pointing at Qingyue, he said, “You! Born with a charming body, if you join me, you’ll ascend within a hundred years for sure.”

Pointing at Black Cat, he said, “You! Gifted with Buddha’s grace, you’re our nemesis.”

Pointing at Lingzhi Doll, he said, “You! A spiritual cultivator with the power of resurrection, so cunning and able to fight alongside several human cultivators.”

Pointing at Aotian, he said, “You! A disciple with a single spiritual root, excellent in swordsmanship, and with such a firm mind that even my Twelve Demonic Images can’t shake you.”

“Hahaha, I unexpectedly encountered so many exceptional talents. Truly amazing!” The demonic cultivator laughed bitterly.

“What about him?” Qingyue couldn’t help but point at Dugu Zhuo. Why did everyone mention them, but not their leader, Zhuo Shen?

The demonic cultivator glanced at Dugu Zhuo and said, “He’s just a sword cultivator with a face, nothing remarkable. How can he compare to you few geniuses?”

Everyone: “…”

Well, after all, he was just a boss. How could he know the power of their Divine Zhuo?

Pressing both hands on his chest, the demonic cultivator laughed wildly, “Today, I’m going to die, but it’s not bad to have you few geniuses accompany me in death. Thinking that I can exchange my life for four pillars of the righteous path, it’s worth it!”

With that, he inserted his ten fingers into his chest, and countless black blood gushed out.

Aotian, who was experienced in monster fighting, said, “He only has 5% health left. He’s going to go berserk. Everyone, when we distance ourselves, don’t forget to keep attacking. His ultimate move definitely requires a channeling time, so interrupt it if you can!”

Berserk refers to the explosive attack that boss-level monsters unleash before they die in the game. At this moment, if players aren’t careful, they could easily be wiped out by the boss.

Dugu Zhuo infiltrated the player team, helping them attack the demonic cultivator while also probing for information, “Who exactly is the Lord of Reversal you summoned? Why is it affecting us?”

The demonic cultivator, using his true essence to support the purple robe to resist the attacks of the crowd, spat blood, saying, “The Lord of Reversal is none other than the one who deceived his teacher, exterminated his ancestors, killed his father, and slaughtered his teachers with a sword. It is said that he has fallen into a deeper abyss than the Nine Desires Abyss for cultivation. Once he appears in the world, there will be widespread suffering.”

Dugu Zhuo: “…”

So the Lord of Reversal refers to him?

Aotian exclaimed excitedly, “The Mysterious Sword! I didn’t expect such a small boss to be related to the main storyline. Ask a few more questions before he goes berserk.”

Black Cat countered, “Isn’t the Mysterious Sword Master just Little Bao? How could he do what he said?”

The demonic cultivator didn’t give them a chance to chat further. With a sneer, he exploded his entire body, and black “oil” splattered everywhere. A golden core burst out, on the verge of exploding.

The power of this self-destructing golden core was too strong. The crowd couldn’t withstand this attack. Dugu Zhuo stood in front of the crowd, preparing to forcibly mobilize the power of the Mysterious Sword, sacrificing himself to protect the players.

Unexpectedly, Black Cat was faster than him. Transforming into a cat, he rolled in front of Dugu Zhuo and loudly said, “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. Fatty, remember to heal me. Don’t overdo it. If my HP drops to 0%, revive me immediately, and control my HP at 1-2% after revival!”

“Got it!” Lingzhi Doll’s chubby head popped up from the ground.

Black Cat collided head-on with the about-to-explode golden core. His HP instantly plummeted to 0, his entire body stiffened, and at the same time, Lingzhi Doll timely activated the small Lingzhi on Black Cat’s body. A Lingzhi turned into a stream of life force that entered Black Cat’s forehead, resurrecting the already dead cat.

At that moment, Black Cat’s HP reached exactly 2%, and the string of prayer beads around his neck emitted a golden light.

“Unyielding Vajra,” a player’s designated skill. When a player’s HP drops below 3%, they can summon a Vajra of the Buddhist sect. With infinite attack power, it can instantly kill any player on the opponent’s side with one move.

This was a skill given to Black Cat by the Old Monk of the Altar Monastery after he abandoned his innate demonic talent of absorbing the essence of humans.

He had been wanting to try out this move, but he hadn’t had the chance until now!

A golden monk radiating light descended from the sky, making it impossible for everyone in the room to open their eyes. He looked at the about-to-explode golden core and the remaining soul of the demonic cultivator, then struck out a palm toward the golden core’s direction.

The huge golden character “Gan” smashed onto the golden core. The remaining soul of the demonic cultivator only managed to say, “Please, Buddha, how can a mere little monk like you…” before he vanished in the Buddha’s light.

“Amitabha.” The monk folded his palms together, recited a Buddhist chant, and disappeared without even looking at the crowd, which was very cool.

Dugu Zhuo caught the weakened Black Cat with one hand, while Lingzhi Doll applied a “Silent Nurturing” spell to Black Cat, allowing him to continue regenerating HP.

Dugu Zhuo’s finger touched Black Cat’s neck, feeling his heartbeat. Although players could be resurrected, this was the cultivation world, and Dugu Zhuo wasn’t sure if Black Cat would be affected.

Black Cat’s heart was beating strongly. He leaped down from Dugu Zhuo’s palm, his body rigid, and said happily, “Great! I succeeded!”

“What’s so great?” Aotian ran to the position where the demonic cultivator had just been, confirmed that the body was truly gone, and said sadly, “The big monk you called forth obliterated the boss’s body with one move. We worked so hard to fight for so long, and nothing good dropped from the boss!”

Black Cat didn’t care about Aotian’s anger. He had used his trump card, and that was enough. He was invincible!

Qingyue said, “Strange, we won, but why haven’t we been ejected from the instance? And we didn’t gain any experience.”

Dugu Zhuo glanced at the altar and said, “Maybe we can return by standing on it.”

If he guessed correctly, this demonic cultivator probably learned summoning techniques from somewhere using dark arts to summon Dugu Zhuo. The demonic cultivator’s techniques were probably related to Ye Zhan’s paintings. When Ye Zhan’s scroll opened, Qingyue’s hand touched the painting and was sucked into the cultivation world. At that time, she really arrived in the cultivation world, evidenced by the absence of pixelation on the demonic cultivator.

And when Dugu Zhuo also arrived here through the painting, due to his presence, the cultivation world and the game world overlapped to some extent, and the pixelation reappeared, and the players began to stand invincible.

Now that this demonic cultivator has been eliminated, if Dugu Zhuo wants to return to the game, he should be able to open a passage to take everyone back.

He stood in the center of the altar, thinking, “I want to go back and see Ye Zhou.” His palm then entered the altar, opening a passage between the two worlds.

“Jump!” Dugu Zhuo said to the players.

Complaining that they didn’t get any experience or items, not even a spirit stone, the players jumped into the passage opened by Dugu Zhuo. At this moment, a seductive ghost floated out of the body of a female corpse lying on the ground, the second boss of the chaotic burial mound dungeon.

She’s not dead? She’s been hiding here all along?

Dugu Zhuo watched as the seductive ghost quickly entered the passage ahead of everyone else and followed suit.

While dodging the small monsters and protecting the painting, Ye Jian ran and muttered, “Why hasn’t she come out yet? The auction will start in another 20 minutes!”

As she grumbled, a hand suddenly reached out from the painting. Ye Jian rejoiced, grabbed the hand, and pulled out a seductive ghost.

Ye Jian: “…”

The seductive ghost was very dedicated and immediately began to fulfill the boss’s duties upon returning to the dungeon, killing Ye Jian in just two or three hits.

Following closely behind were the others who came out of the painting: “…”

Qingyue pointed at the seductive ghost, voicing everyone’s thoughts, “We at least rescued you from the painting, is this how you repay us? Let’s fight!”

Sigh, just finished one fight, now another one, players are really tired!