Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 58 - Stealing the Balance

In the first-floor venue, several teammates became uneasy when they saw everyone looking up, and they quickly restrained Ye Jian from broadcasting any more messages.

Ye Jian was only feeling extremely embarrassed after being pushed down by his usually obedient cousin. He had just intended to send a broadcast in the game to ask a question. But he quickly discovered that this method was effective—it instantly identified who among the auction attendees were players and who were NPCs.

He even noticed that even the beautiful woman standing on the stage holding the Immortal Spirit Stone couldn’t help but raise her head slightly—it turned out she was also a player!

Even Lian Haokong didn’t look up. He even raised his eyebrows slightly, puzzled by why everyone around him was looking up. This expression was fleeting, and he focused on the auction floor, seemingly waiting for something to appear.

The players, on the other hand, couldn’t see anything up there, so they were once again captivated by the novelty of the auction and focused on the items being auctioned. Even if they couldn’t afford them, it was an opportunity to learn about top-tier items like treasures, equipment, artifacts, and weapons in the game—broadening their horizons, so to speak.

The starting price for the first Immortal Spirit Stone was high, beyond the reach of most players. Moreover, the effects of an Immortal Spirit Stone were significant for cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage, but for lower-level cultivators, using an Immortal Spirit Stone would be disastrous. Their bodies simply couldn’t withstand the massive immortal energy, and that power would instantly destroy their elixir field, turning them into cripples.

The bidding started at a hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones. Some wealthy players had originally planned to bid, but after hearing about its effects, they temporarily restrained themselves, deciding to wait until they reached level 80.

Dugu Zhuo hid behind the door of a private room for a while, first memorizing which attendees were players and which were NPCs. Once all the players’ attention was drawn away by the auction items, he quietly slipped downstairs without a sound.

The entrance to the second floor was different from that of the first floor. Dugu Zhuo left the auction venue from the second floor exit, then put on a straw hat and paid a thousand low-grade Spirit Stones at the first-floor entrance to re-enter, sitting next to Ye Jian and the others.

“You…” Ye Jian recognized the person next to him as Dugu Zhuo and was about to speak, but Dugu Zhuo pointed at an acupuncture point, instantly rendering him unable to speak.

Ye Jian: “…”

Why did everyone have the ability to silence him one or two at a time? When would things finally get better?

Dugu Zhuo took out pen and paper from his storage artifact and wrote on it: [Yi Ye Pianzhou triggered the main quest. I’m not entirely sure about the specifics, but we need to cooperate with him.]

He passed this note to everyone, and they all understood.

[How do we cooperate?] Ye Jian wrote on the paper.

Dugu Zhuo added: [Don’t interfere with Ye Zhou’s actions. Whatever he does, we follow along. Also, keep an eye on Lian Haokong to determine the current timeline of the main storyline.]

Everyone understood what he meant. The timeline of the game’s main storyline might not necessarily match the time spent by the players in the game. They had been playing in the game for over a month now, but the main storyline’s timeline might only have advanced a few minutes, or it could have already passed several years, or even happened before the first segment of the plot.

Seeing Dugu Zhuo put away the note, Qing Yue remembered something. She also took out pen and paper and wrote: [Lian Haokong’s clothes are the same as the day of the main storyline.]

Dugu Zhuo: [That’s a top-grade robe. Not changing clothes is normal.]

Qing Yue shook her head and wrote again: [No no no, carefully look at his inner sleeves. I noticed just now that he revealed a bit of a white inner sleeve with a stain on it. It looks like it could be grease from fried chicken.]

When the laundress was feeding Xiao Bao with fried chicken, Lian Haokong indeed pushed the food away, and it was possible to get grease stains at that time.

It was normal for cultivators to wear robes, but most cultivators weren’t affluent enough to have all their undergarments as robes. At most, it was well-sewn fabric, cleaned every day with the Cleansing Technique to remove dust.

If there was really grease on Lian Haokong’s sleeve cuff, it meant that Lian Haokong’s timeline should have just received Xiao Bao and hadn’t had time to use the Cleansing Technique to remove the dust.

But that didn’t make sense, because Lian Haokong, if he went straight from Candle Dragon Town to take Xiao Bao back to the Celestial Sword Sect, seeing the formation outside the main hall was enough to clean up the dust.

Unless Lian Haokong didn’t leave Candle Dragon Town immediately after leaving, but went somewhere else and did something.

Dugu Zhuo recalled what had happened that year. He was too young at the time, just waking up from a coma and suffering from the pain of losing his mother, and his spirit was damaged. He was always confused, not knowing the day or night.

On the way to the Celestial Sword Sect, Dugu Zhuo slept all the way, and Lian Haokong said he had arrived at the Celestial Sword Sect on the same day, so he thought he had arrived that day.

As for how Lian Haokong reported to the sect’s elders, Dugu Zhuo didn’t know.

Did something really happen during this period?

[We need to find someone to observe Lian Haokong closely.] Ye Jian wrote on the note.

Dugu Zhuo had just read this line when he saw Ye Jian send another small broadcast: [The beautiful woman holding the auction item at the auction, can you help me check if there’s grease on the cuffs of the person in seat 16? A thousand Spirit Stones, thank you.]

Dugu Zhuo: “…”

He couldn’t help but rub his temples. This cousin’s thinking was a bit too active.

However, this indeed turned out to be a good method. At that moment, the Immortal Spirit Stone was just bid on by a certain NPC. The host announced, “Our auction’s first item has been purchased by Guest 28 for three hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones. Congratulations to Guest 23. After the auction ends, you can choose to collect the item backstage or have it delivered to your residence… Hey hey hey? What are you doing? Come back!”

The host was just explaining the collection method for the first successful bidder when he saw the woman holding the Immortal Spirit Stone “whoosh” fly into the midst of the guests, heading straight for Guest 16.

“Come back! Even if you want to give the Spirit Stone directly to a guest, it should be Guest 23, not 16!” the host shouted.

But as if she hadn’t heard, the woman rushed up to Lian Haokong, pushed the tray forward, and said, “Guest, here’s your Immortal Spirit Stone.”

Lian Haokong pushed the tray away slightly. “It’s not mine.”

The woman simply placed the tray in Lian Haokong’s hand despite his refusal, quickly felt Lian Haokong’s sleeve, and snapped several photos of the white inner sleeve cuff.

“Wrong person, wrong person!” Security personnel finally rushed over, snatching back both the woman and the Spirit Stone. Apologetically, the host said to Lian Haokong, “Sorry, sorry!”

Lian Haokong frowned. “Your merchant is indeed as ‘safe’ as rumored.”

“It was a sudden madness of the hired cultivator who was introduced by Xuantian Sect. It’s unexpected that a disciple of a righteous sect like ours would behave so rudely. We’ll immediately discipline her,” the host hurriedly explained.

On stage, he had to reassure the disturbed Lian Haokong while also calming Guest 23, who almost lost the auction item, keeping himself busy.

Meanwhile, Ye Jian received a bill from the woman via his broadcast:

Insufficient Balance: [I’ve been expelled from the auction and fined one day’s wages, 100 Spirit Stones. Also, I’ve been killed and dropped one level. You owe me all this. Meet me outside the auction after it’s over.]

Ye Jian hurriedly left the venue, spent some money to resolve the matter, and returned to the others, gesturing “OK” and showing everyone the screenshot.

On the screenshot, it clearly showed a grease stain on the exposed sleeve of Lian Haokong’s left wrist.

Qing Yue was so excited that she wrote rapidly on paper: [It’s indeed part of the main storyline. We’re so lucky. But why is Lian Haokong here? And where’s Xiao Bao?]

Xiao Bao must be somewhere unaware of where he collapsed. Dugu Zhuo thought for a moment: [Watch quietly and see what item Lian Haokong wants to bid on.]

Understanding this was of utmost importance.

The group settled down and quietly watched the auction.

There were many items at the auction, such as the legendary Barrier-Breaking Pill, which, when consumed, could ignore the state of mind to break through realms. For example, between levels 19 and 20, no matter how much experience a player accumulated, they couldn’t reach level 20. In the future, at levels 39-40, 59-60, 79-80, and 99-100, there would also be difficulties, and it was said that there would be a divine thunder and devilish disaster from level 40. If there was a Barrier-Breaking Pill, it would be possible to break this barrier.

But it was clear that this pill was still more effective for high-level use, and lower-level players didn’t use it, so it was better to keep the money.

There were also things that were unfriendly to exotic race players, such as the Lingzhi Fairy Grass, Yaozu Yao Dan, and the Millennium Zombie, but were very useful to the cultivators, and were also sold at high prices.

Until the second half of the auction, at around 8 o’clock in the evening, the venue produced a treasure-surrounded aura that wasn’t ordinary scale, and Lian Haokong’s body, which had never been active, suddenly sat up straight.

It’s this! Lian Haokong came to the auction for this thing.

The people suddenly turned their ears, fearing they had missed a word.

The host explained: “This auction item is not a righteous thing, it is an evil thing.”

There was an uproar in the audience, and an NPC asked, “Since it’s an evil thing, why is it appearing at the auction? Your merchant company claims to be upright and has nothing to do with the evil path, right?”

The host said, “Guests, don’t worry. It depends on how it is used. This item is called ‘Heavenly Stealing.’ It is a bone from an ancient fierce beast, crafted into this scale by an ignorant craftsman, which has been circulating in the world until it was recently recovered by our merchant company.

“Any owner who has handled this scale, or who has suddenly become rich overnight or suffered continuous misfortunes and lost his entire family.

“After our merchant company learned all the stories about this scale, we found that it can exchange the luck between people. For example, if someone has the mandate of the emperor in the future, use this scale to exchange items with the other party and steal the mandate of the emperor from him.

“The emperor’s mandate is a heavenly gift, and the spiritual veins can all be stolen, showing how terrible this thing is.

“Although this item has evil energy, it was not refined by the evil path, but appeared naturally.

“This item is highly magical, and our merchant company cannot retain such treasures. No matter which guest buys it and what they do with it, once the goods are sold, our company will not be responsible.

“The starting price is one million low-grade Spirit Stones.”

As soon as the host finished speaking, Lian Haokong raised the sign and whispered, “Two million.”

Dugu Zhuo looked at Lian Haokong. This man was an elder of a righteous sect. Why would he choose to bid on such an evil thing? Who was he going to steal the luck from with this Heavenly Stealing scale?