Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 65 - Fragmented Memories

The announcement caused the game’s world channel to explode with activity.

“Xiao BaAo’s second uncle, third uncle, little aunt… Damn, is this some kind of Xiao Bao combo?”

“What’s going on? Hasn’t Yangfan ¥ Yuanhuang been progressing through the main storyline? How did they get overtaken by the Xiao Bao family?”

“I checked the game leaderboard and scrolled through thousands of players but couldn’t find the Xiao Bao family. My eyes are going blind.”

“So what’s the main storyline about? I’ve been curious about the follow-up to Yangfan ¥ Yuanhuang’s broadcast. Did his brother end up marrying that man with a wife and kids?”

“Why is a xianxia online game featuring such a storyline?”

“I can’t find the Xiao Bao family at all. When did our game register so many players?”

【Broadcast】Bao Dating: @Yangfan ¥ Yuanhuang, what’s the deal with the storyline? How did you get overtaken by the Xiao Bao family?

【Broadcast】Yangfan ¥ Yuanhuang: Tired, don’t want to talk.

Players assumed that the Yangfan ¥ Yuanhuang team felt defeated after the Xiao Bao family team snatched the second part of the main storyline, so they didn’t want to engage. They all @-ed the Xiao Bao family, but no one responded.

The involved parties didn’t really want people to know they were the Xiao Bao family team. After receiving the reward from the sect leader, they were invited to attend Xiao Bao’s induction ceremony.

There wasn’t much of a ceremony; it was just that Dugu Yue gave Xiao Bao a name and registered him in the Qingtian Sword Sect’s roster. From then on, he was a disciple of the Qingtian Sword Sect under Xingchui Peak.

However, Xiao Bao wasn’t Ye Zhou’s disciple. He would be taken in by Dugu Yue but fostered at Xingchui Peak.

In short, the relationships were very complicated.

“His name was already chosen: Dugu Zhuo,” said the sect leader. “Zhuo as in ‘clear and muddy.’ This name matches well with the Xuan Sword and will help the sword absorb evil energy.”

The audience: “Thank goodness it’s not ‘Zhuo’ as in ‘outstanding,’ or people would really think this game names NPCs based on player names.”

Ye Zhou felt inexplicably uncomfortable upon hearing the name. While writing in the roster, he twisted his finger and wrote the character for “outstanding” instead of “muddy.”

“You…” The sect leader looked at Ye Zhou. “This ‘outstanding’ character is too exceptional and doesn’t match well with the Xuan Sword, it will…”

Ye Zhou interrupted, “Ye Zhou, as in ‘silent night lonely boat,’ doesn’t match well with the Su Sword either. He’s under my care, so I’ll decide his name.”

With that, he used his full true essence to write the last stroke and placed the roster before the ancestral tablet.

Dugu Yue also said, “From now on, you will be called Dugu Zhuo.”

When the name “Dugu Zhuo” appeared, the “Xiao Bao” above his head disappeared, and the titles above his family members also vanished. The effects of the disguise pills wore off before their time, revealing the players’ true appearances.

“As the viewing ceremony ends, I will now escort you down the mountain,” said a disciple from the Discipline Hall, business-like as he “escorted” the players out of the instance.

“Down the mountain?” Ye Jian pointed at Ye Zhou and Dugu Zhuo. “What about them?”

“Elder Ye Zhou will naturally take the new disciple back to the sect. Please follow me to the teleportation array,” the Discipline Hall disciple said emotionlessly.

“That won’t do, we all came up the mountain together. How can they have special access? And what if your sect forces them to marry again… I mean, I’ve only heard of sisters being forced to marry!” Ye Jian fumed.

Discipline Hall disciple: “Allow me to escort you, young heroes.”

With that, he waved his hand, and they were teleported directly to Jiuchuan City.

“Is this game intentionally creating a two-person world for them?” Ye Jian asked.

Lingzhi Doll stopped him, “Of course not. There should be other follow-up tasks. After all, pretending to be NPCs might yield different rewards than ours.”

Ao Tian said, “Let me see what we got besides weapons, equipment, and items. Each person got a top-grade spirit stone, a material to craft level 50 weapons, ten thousand taels of silver, and 150,000 experience points? That’s a lot of experience.”

Black Cat checked the system information, “We get 50,000 experience points for each task completed. Entering Qingtian Sword Sect counts as one, finding the use of the Stealing Scale counts as another, and stopping Ye Zhou from using the Stealing Scale counts as another, totaling 150,000 experience points. I can level up to 32 now. This main storyline gives a lot of experience!”

Qingyue said, “Too bad it’s a one-time thing. We were lucky to encounter it twice. Who knows who will stumble upon the next main storyline?”

Ye Jian was in no mood to study the uses of the fantasy lamp he had just obtained. After leaving the Qingtian Sword Sect, his private chat interface was restored, and he was busy sending messages to Ye Zhou, asking what he was doing and when he would return.

Ye Zhou ignored Ye Jian as he flew towards Xingchui Peak with Dugu Zhuo. The wind was strong along the way, and since Dugu Zhuo was still young, Ye Zhou should have held him in his arms to protect him. 

However, Ye Zhou’s character was aloof and cold, so he casually placed Dugu Zhuo on the sword and rushed towards Xingchui Peak. 

This time, Dugu Zhuo didn’t stubbornly turn pale as before. Instead, he took a step forward and grabbed Ye Zhou’s belt. He was only ten years old, short in stature, and his head barely reached Ye Zhou’s back. He leaned gently against Ye Zhou’s back and closed his eyes in peace.

In an instant, it felt as if time had turned back hundreds of years. It seemed he had never viewed Ye Zhou as Dugu Yue’s partner and had never shown hostility towards him. When he first ascended the mountain, Ye Zhou had chosen him and brought him to Xingchui Peak, where they had been together for decades since.

If only it had truly been like this in his previous life. But it didn’t matter. In this life, being with Ye Zhou was enough.

As they set foot on Xingchui Peak, Dugu Zhuo saw a wisp of residual soul fly out from the peak and merge into Ye Zhou’s forehead. This wisp of residual soul contained more soul power than the first mission, as much as 5%. With the addition of the 10% divine power, Ye Zhou’s soul had already recovered 60%.

The moment he received the residual soul, Ye Zhou also received a system prompt: “Role-playing mission temporarily ended. The Two Rites Seal is temporarily sealed. Players can return to themselves and wait for the next main storyline to resume role-playing.”

“It’s over! I don’t have to keep a stern face anymore!” After landing, Ye Zhou let go of his icy expression and happily bounced twice on Xingchui Peak. He said, “The spiritual energy here is so abundant! It’s much better than the inn, the Sun Worship Sect instance, and the Tanye Temple! I feel like I can gain 5,000 to 10,000 experience points by meditating here for an hour!”

Dugu Zhuo laughed and said, “Not 5,000, but maybe around 3,000.”

He was surprised to hear his childlike voice and realized he hadn’t returned to his adult form.

Ye Zhou turned to look at Dugu Zhuo, seeing his small, thin frame. For some reason, he felt an itch in his heart. However, he restrained this feeling, tightly clenching his fists under his wide robe. He coughed lightly and said, “You won’t stay like this forever, will you?”

Dugu Zhuo replied, “I don’t think so. Maybe because I have to pretend to be Xiao Bao, I turned younger when I ascended the mountain. I should return to normal once I leave the Qingtian Sword Sect.”

His voice was clear and childlike, unique to young boys. Hearing him speak made Ye Zhou clench his fists tighter, his expression tensed. “Really? Then you’ll have to endure a bit while we’re on the mountain.”

Hearing this, Dugu Zhuo looked up in confusion. “Didn’t your role-playing end? Why are you still speaking in that voice?”

Ye Zhou, under his gaze, couldn’t help but look away. He turned his head slightly and said, “What? This is how I normally talk.”

Ye Zhou never spoke like this normally. He was straightforward and approachable, more so than in his previous life.

Dugu Zhuo circled around to face Ye Zhou, looking up at him with his hair blown messily by the mountain wind. “Are you…really still in character?”

“I can’t hold it anymore!” Ye Zhou’s expression finally cracked. He squatted down, raised his hand, and pinched Dugu Zhuo’s cheek. Shaking his head, he said, “You’re too skinny. You need to eat and train quickly to get chubbier so your face is better to pinch.”

Dugu Zhuo: “???”

He quickly stepped back, covering his face and looking at Ye Zhou.

Ye Zhou ignored his retreat, took a step forward, and rummaged through his storage belt, pulling out a comb to tidy Dugu Zhuo’s hair.

After smoothing out his hair, Ye Zhou took out a hairband and tied a crooked bun on Dugu Zhuo’s head with less-than-perfect technique.

Unable to resist, Ye Zhou poked Dugu Zhuo’s cheek again.

Dugu Zhuo covered his face and asked, “When you were speaking in that voice earlier, were you…”

“Enduring it!” Ye Zhou said straightforwardly. “Take a good look in the mirror and see how cute you are now! I really want to pinch you! I was restraining myself, but you kept getting close, forcing me to act!”

Ye Zhou took out a mirror, and Dugu Zhuo looked into it, seeing someone a size smaller than himself, but with the same large eyes.

A person’s eyes typically don’t change much in size after ages six to eight. Dugu Zhuo’s eyes looked especially big on his almost halved face. He looked into the mirror and saw no significant changes besides his smaller features.

Dugu Zhuo returned the mirror to Ye Zhou. “No changes.”

Ye Zhou: “…You really don’t know your own face at all.”

Dugu Zhuo touched his face. He shared five similarities with Dugu Yue in appearance and didn’t like his face, never thinking he looked good. Sometimes, looking in the mirror, he even felt disgusted.

But Ye Zhou liked it very much.

“You were speaking briefly and avoiding looking at me earlier because you were resisting the urge to pinch me?” Xiao Bao Dugu Zhuo asked, raising his big, adorable eyes.

Ye Zhou couldn’t help but smile, his lips curling up and his eyes narrowing. He nodded repeatedly. “Yes!”

Dugu Zhuo suddenly remembered that every time he ate after ascending the mountain, Ye Zhou would silently appear and watch him.

At that time, the stubborn and defiant Dugu Zhuo would put down his chopsticks and say, “I know I ate too much, I’ll stop now!”

Ye Zhou would coldly reply, “If you don’t eat enough, how will you have the energy to spar with me?”

Dugu Zhuo would then sulkily pick up his bowl and eat more. Within a few days at Xingchui Peak, he had gained some weight, and his previously sunken cheeks started to round out.

Ye Zhou would occasionally glance at him, raising his hand before lowering it again. Dugu Zhuo had once thought Ye Zhou wanted to hit him.

Now he realized it was actually because Ye Zhou wanted to pinch his increasingly round cheeks.

Xiao Bao Dugu Zhuo  pinched his own face and resisted, “It’s not good to pinch.”