Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 56 - Little Trumpet

Rewind to over ten minutes ago, when Ye Zhou had just received the task to “play the NPC Ye Zhou” from the system. He muttered to himself in the private room, “Who is this Ye Zhou? I don’t even know his personality. Can I tell my teammates about this?”

The system didn’t answer him but instead prompted: [After system scanning, the important main character Lian Haokong will arrive at the auction venue in ten minutes. Please prepare.]

“Huh? After accepting the ‘play NPC’ task, will you help me prompt the main storyline characters? This is too good. If I take on this task, I’ll be like a human main task detector. As long as my task doesn’t fail, I can encounter main tasks before other players, right?” Ye Zhou asked happily.

[System: Yes.]

“That’s great!”

In this way, the main task would definitely be theirs, and no one else could snatch it.

“But what about appearance?” Ye Zhou asked.

System: [Few people have seen the true appearance of Elder Ye Zhou. After the player accepts the “play NPC” task, the appearance will naturally resemble that of Ye Zhou. No need to worry.]

“But Ye Zhou is very powerful, right? He’s an elder of the Qingtian Sword Sect… Could he be a max-level NPC?” Ye Zhou asked.

System: [Ye Zhou is at level 120.]

Ye Zhou: “… Really? The game’s max level is only 100, transcendent stage. What does level 120 mean? How can I pretend to have such strong power?”

System: [Use the task item “Tai Chi Seal,” and you can temporarily boost your strength to level 120.]

Just as the system finished the prompt, Ye Zhou found the “Tai Chi Seal” in his storage belt.

It was a cylindrical seal with black and white colors, feeling somewhat like jade. When stamped, it displayed the Tai Chi symbol. Ye Zhou received the Tai Chi Seal, and the system automatically popped up with its introduction.

[Tai Chi Seal: Main task item, only for use by the player Ye Zhou. It can temporarily boost the player’s strength to level 120. The method of use: Must leave the Tai Chi seal in the palm without being seen by anyone, then the power of the Tai Chi Seal can be exerted. Note: Only for use in main tasks, cannot be used in dungeons, monster hunting, or PK with other players.]

“This is okay. At least there’s strength assurance. But why was I chosen for this task? Is it because I completed the first stage of the main task and coincidentally encountered a new main task at this time? The system automatically chose me?” Ye Zhou speculated.

As he played with the Tai Chi Seal for a while, he suddenly received another system message.

Ye Zhou opened it and saw some information about Ye Zhou.

[Ye Zhou: Cold and arrogant, not easy to get along with. Because the Su Jian recognition requires the master to have no evil thoughts, Ye Zhou has been taught by the sect since childhood to suppress desires and not care about anything.]

Seeing this, Ye Zhou inexplicably felt that he could play the role of Ye Zhou well.

In his mind, a figure appeared out of nowhere, dressed in white, standing with hands behind his back on a high mountain peak, looking up at the stars in the sky.

[Starfall Peak, rumored to be the closest mountain peak to the stars. Ye Zhou lives alone on Starfall Peak, away from worldly affairs.] That’s how the system described Starfall Peak.

Ye Zhou inexplicably felt that this Ye Zhou must be very lonely and must have learned how to deceive himself.

It’s impossible for a person to have no desires at all. If it weren’t for deceiving oneself not to think, not to see, not to hear, how could one achieve “away from worldly affairs”?

At this moment, Ye Zhou felt that he understood Ye Zhou.

[Lian Haokong is about to arrive at the venue. His divine sense can cover the entire auction venue. Lian Haokong is powerful and can hear players sending messages. Please, player Ye Zhou, do not expose your identity within the range of the mission target.]

After the system made the prompt, it disappeared.

“Eh? Don’t go! What am I supposed to do when playing Ye Zhou? How should I act? What should I do to Lian Haokong?” Ye Zhou kept asking the system, but there was no answer.

This game has this flaw. It was the same when doing the Little Treasure task last time. If it weren’t for Dugu Zhuo being clever, they wouldn’t have been able to complete the task at all.

Ye Zhou kind of missed Dugu Zhuo. The auction was about to start, and Dugu Zhuo hadn’t arrived yet. He wanted to send a message to Dugu Zhuo to discuss this, but suddenly felt a sharp sword aura entering his perception range!

Without the system’s reminder, Ye Zhou knew that this sword aura belonged to Lian Haokong.

Ye Zhou quickly sat by the window, instinctively rolled up his sleeves, and let down a strand of hair, revealing only half of his face so that Lian Haokong downstairs could notice him.

Just as he arranged himself, Dugu Zhuo rushed into the room like flying, dusty and said, “There was a little accident in the instance, you must have been waiting anxiously. It won’t happen next time…”

“Shh.” Ye Zhou said lightly, glancing at Dugu Zhuo from the corner of his eye.

Dugu Zhuo immediately quieted down, as if he realized something.

“Ye Zhou?” Dugu Zhuo asked.

Ye Zhou slightly turned his face and blinked gently at Dugu Zhuo, hoping he could catch his hint.

But at this moment, Ye Jian, his cousin, arrived with a few friends and was about to come over to say hello when he saw Ye Zhou.

Ye Zhou felt bitter in his heart, wishing he could comprehend the skill of “telepathy” to let his friends hear his thoughts.

Unfortunately, Lian Haokong was already inside the venue, and he couldn’t do anything. He didn’t dare to use team voice chat either, so he could only coldly play the role of Ye Zhou.

Meanwhile, his cousin and his friends, being restless, even sat on the floor chatting and mentioned Lian Haokong. Ye Zhou had no choice but to clench the Tai Chi Seal in his hand and gently stamp it, instantly gaining tremendous power.

With a single move, he pushed the group out of the private room and even sealed their ability to chat privately, forcing them to talk only in the current channel and not discuss Lian Haokong privately.

After throwing them out, Ye Zhou waved his hand, closed the door of the private room, leaving only him and Dugu Zhuo inside.

After all this commotion, Lian Haokong’s gaze had already fallen on their private room window. Ye Zhou calmly said, “Why have some insignificant people entered by mistake?”

As he spoke, he blinked twice at Dugu Zhuo, hoping that the sharp-witted Dugu Zhuo could see his subtle movements.

Sure enough, at the right moment, Dugu Zhuo said, “They have eyes but fail to see Mount Tai. They entered the wrong room.”

“What about you?” Ye Zhou didn’t look directly at Dugu Zhuo, saying lightly.

While outwardly composed, Ye Zhou was thinking, Dugu Zhuo, oh Dugu Zhuo, please come up with a reason, don’t make me throw you out again!

“I… as a junior, am being pursued by enemies and am hiding from them. I disturb the senior’s peace, please forgive me for any offense.” Dugu Zhuo said.

He really understood his meaning. Dugu Zhuo was really great! Ye Zhou lightly tapped his foot three times on the ground to indicate “well done” to Dugu Zhuo, hoping he could understand.

Dugu Zhuo lowered his head and said softly, “This junior will leave now.”

Please don’t go, please don’t go!

Seeing Dugu Zhuo turning to leave, Ye Zhou frowned and said, “You don’t need to leave.”

Dugu Zhuo stopped, showing a pleased expression. “Does the senior mean…”

Ye Zhou didn’t look at him and continued to look out the window at the people below. “Talking anymore would be noisy.”

“Thank you, senior, for your hospitality.” Dugu Zhuo whispered his thanks.

Great, at least one person was kept. Ye Zhou observed Lian Haokong downstairs and the friends he had thrown out earlier. He saw the organizers of the auction approaching Ye Jian and his group, asking them to compensate for the railing.

Ye Jian was angry, saying, “I didn’t start it!”

After being angry, he remembered that most of the money from Ye Zhou and Dugu Zhuo was under his care. Even if the auction asked Ye Zhou to compensate, what difference did it make? He reluctantly paid ten thousand low-grade spirit stones as compensation. After paying, he was about to go upstairs, but was stopped by the auction staff. “Sir, the second floor is private rooms. You cannot enter without an invitation from the guests upstairs. If you want to sit on the first floor, please show us your invitation.”

“You wait for me for a minute.” He opened the friend chat interface, wanting to send a message to Ye Zhou to ask what happened. Unexpectedly, the friend interface turned gray and he couldn’t send messages!

Qingyue and others who were following him looked pitifully at Ye Jian. “What’s wrong? Does Ye Zhou not want us to join the private room?”

“Maybe we should just leave.” Black Cat suggested.

Ye Jian hurriedly said, “He definitely doesn’t reject you. Didn’t you see he even left me behind?”

“Then you must have offended him with your words.” Aotian said.

At this moment, the auction staff said, “Gentlemen, please show your invitation, or you will have to leave.”

Qingyue and the others couldn’t afford the expensive entrance fee. They were invited by Ye Jian. Seeing no hope of returning to the second floor, Ye Jian had no choice but to pay the entrance fee for his teammates. They got the invitations and each received a badge, sitting on the wooden chairs at the back of the auction venue on the first floor, far from Lian Haokong at the front.

Lian Haokong noticed the commotion and scanned them with his divine sense, but seeing they were just a few Foundation Establishment juniors, he didn’t pay further attention.

Previously, when he took Xiao Bao away, Lian Haokong had seen Qingyue, Aotian, and Black Cat. But that was when the three of them hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment yet. After reaching Foundation Establishment, their appearances had changed quite a bit, especially Qingyue and Black Cat, whose changes were significant.

As for Aotian, he was originally unremarkable, blending into the crowd so well that Lian Haokong probably forgot what he looked like.

Ye Zhou had a good view from the second floor and could see everything clearly, finally relaxing a bit.

At this point, Dugu Zhuo had slowly approached Ye Zhou, his palm facing downwards. The large sleeves covered Ye Zhou’s hand left indoors, and with the cover of the sleeve, Dugu Zhuo held Ye Zhou’s hand and wrote in his palm with his fingertip, “Ye Zhou?”

It was “Ye” from Ye’s name.

Adjusting his sense of touch to 70% was really good, otherwise, he wouldn’t know what Dugu Zhuo was writing. Ye Zhou didn’t dare to write much, just lightly scratched Dugu Zhuo’s palm to indicate it was him.

Dugu Zhuo recognized Ye Zhou as soon as he entered the room. Ye Zhou and Ye Zhou were the same person. Their attitudes and tones were just appearances, but their essence remained unchanged. Moreover, Ye Zhou had hinted to him so many times by blinking his eyes.

Initially, Dugu Zhuo didn’t know what had happened to Ye Zhou and didn’t dare to act rashly. When Lian Haokong appeared, he had some guesses.

But when Ye Zhou used his strength far beyond his own to push Ye Jian and others out of the private room, Dugu Zhuo immediately had a guess.

After cooperating with the performance, he made sure Lian Haokong’s divine sense was no longer paying attention to the private room before quietly approaching Ye Zhou and writing on his palm.

After confirming Ye Zhou’s identity, Dugu Zhuo wrote again: [System task?]

Ye Zhou quickly scratched Dugu Zhuo’s hand three times, as if saying “yes, yes, yes”.

Both of them were moved to finally communicate with each other. Just then, a message suddenly popped up in front of Ye Zhou and Dugu Zhuo: “@Dugu Zhuo @Ye Zhou, are you two leaving us for some private time? Is that why you heartlessly left me downstairs?”

The message was from Ye Jian, and he used the global speaker.

The global speaker was a new dialogue tool introduced after the game was launched. It required spirit stones to purchase, and it cost 100 spirit stones to send a message. Messages from the global speaker could not be blocked at all.

Players could set the global speaker to not automatically pop up, but as long as they opened the message scroll, the global speaker would pop up automatically.

And if a player specifically @ another player using the global speaker, even if the recipient put the global speaker messages into the message scroll, the message box would still pop up in front of them.

It cost 10 RMB to send a message, which was a victory for the RMB. Even though Ye Zhou had the strength of level 120, he couldn’t seal the function of the global speaker. Ye Jian finally succeeded in conveying his thoughts to Ye Zhou.

But at the same time, players from the entire server also saw this message from the player Yangfan￥Yuanhang.

Players in the game instantly exploded into chatter on the world channel —

[Dugu Zhuo, Ye Zhou, these two names sound familiar.]

[First kill of the main quest, first kill by the two of them in the level 20 dungeon on hard mode. They’ve been dominating the rankings for a while now. Could they not be familiar?]

[They’ve been relatively quiet recently, and even the first place on the level rankings has changed. I thought the system announcements finally quieted down, but I didn’t expect them to use this method to announce it.]

[From what this “Yangfan￥Yuanhang” says, did Ye Zhou and Dugu Zhuo leave him for some private time? Who knows where they are, I’m kind of curious to see what’s going on!]

[Although… I’m not sure if it’s them, but just now I did see a few players being thrown downstairs.]

[Where are they?]

[At the auction venue, you can see the side face of the person sitting by the window. Is that Ye Zhou? His profile is really elegant!]

[It should be Dugu Zhuo. I heard from a game merchant that he traded with Dugu Zhuo before, and he said Dugu Zhuo is a guy who put all his attribute points into looks.]

Meanwhile, the auction officially began. A beautiful woman in a goose-yellow dress walked onto the stage, holding a tray with a purple spirit stone inside, the first item for auction, a fairy-grade spirit stone.

The auctioneer was a handsome male cultivator dressed in black. He introduced the fairy-grade spirit stone to the participants, saying it was not an item of the mortal world but a spirit stone from a certain immortal realm, containing immortal qi. High-level cultivators could use fairy-grade spirit stones to communicate with heaven and earth more easily and break through their realms.

He enthusiastically introduced the auction items, but at least half of the participants on the first floor ignored him and instead looked up at the private room window where Ye Zhou was. Some even stood up on tiptoes, stretching their necks to try to see Ye Zhou and Dugu Zhuo in the private room.

Ye Zhou: “…”

Well, his cousin successfully used a global speaker message to help him distinguish who in the venue was a player and who was an NPC, which was quite an efficient method.