Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 68 - Picking Leaves

“Finally reached level 39!” At nine in the morning, Ye Zhou lazily sunbathed on a deck chair on Xingchui Peak. Squinting against the sunlight, he opened his personal information interface and leveled up to 39.

A round-faced Dugu Xiaobao came over, using his somewhat chubby hand to shield Ye Zhou from the glaring sunlight. Ye Zhou grabbed that hand, resisting the urge to bite it, and half sat up, saying sideways, “No need to block the light, just bring me the light veil.”

Dugu Xiaobao pulled his chubby hand out of Ye Zhou’s grasp after a couple of tugs, ran to the bedroom with his short legs, and picked up a white veil from the bed. It was a piece Ye Zhou had cut from the blackout curtains.

He slowly ran back to Ye Zhou and handed him the veil. Ye Zhou covered his eyes with it and said, “It would be great if this game had sunglasses.”

Basking in the sunlight, he looked completely content. Reflecting on the past half-month’s life, it felt like living a celestial dream.

During these days, he spent his mornings setting up Xingchui Peak, even buying many succulent plants from Lingzhi Doll to beautify the peak and its rooms. The previously cold main hall was now filled with numerous potted plants, looking lively and vibrant.

Dugu Xiaobao also helped Ye Zhou create an array to block the overly cold mountain winds, making the top of Xingchui Peak warm like spring, allowing the plants to grow healthily.

Thanks to his modifications, butterflies, bees, and other insects appeared on Xingchui Peak. These game-generated insects looked quite ethereal. When Ye Zhou stretched out his finger, a butterfly would lightly land on it, gently flapping its wings.

From these subtle changes, Dugu Zhuo gradually understood the kind of person Ye Zhou was and the kind of life he enjoyed.

After the morning, they would spend the afternoons and evenings leveling up with everyone else. Before logging off, they would place their accounts on Xingchui Peak to hang, diligently accumulating experience. Last night, Ye Zhou was just shy of reaching level 39, and after hanging all night, he leveled up upon logging in today.

Dugu Xiaobao, silently upgrading alongside Ye Zhou, also reached level 39 at the same time, becoming the top-ranked player.

However, being top-ranked in levels wasn’t rare nowadays, as the game was filled with level 39 players. No one had yet reached level 40.

The reason was that level 40 required triggering a Heavenly Tribulation and a Heart Demon Tribulation, but there was currently no guide on how to trigger these events. Players could only keep accumulating experience, with some having an overflow of it.

Players in the game had divided into the following categories:

One type was the lifestyle players. After getting familiar with the game, they discovered it allowed buying houses and decorating homes. Following an update, the game not only opened the Battle Arena but also introduced a lifestyle mode. Many players who weren’t focused on levels but enjoyed cooking, planting, and crafting flocked to the game, living leisurely, if not quite idyllic lives.

Ye Jian saw a business opportunity in this and partnered with Lingzhi Doll and Fat Duduo to open a potted plant shop, which did quite well.

However, recently Ye Jian said that since any spiritual cultivator could plant and cultivate these potted plants, others would soon start similar shops. Once that happened, it wouldn’t be profitable anymore. For now, they were just making money as early adopters. Later, they planned to sell the shop under the pretense of quitting the game, making a small profit from the transfer fee.

Another type was the Battle Arena players. Since death in the arena didn’t result in loss of experience or items, and the top players of the week received a large system gift pack, many players spent their days in the arena. The game’s skill effects were very visually appealing, enhancing the experience. Many players even enabled the pain system for the full immersive effect of the xianxia (immortal hero) genre.

Another type was the players desperately seeking a way to break through to level 40. These players wandered the game like headless chickens, chatting with any NPC that behaved unusually, and forming groups to discuss leveling strategies. They were very career-oriented.

Ao Tian, Hei Mao, Yi Meng Xiaoyao, Bai Yi Piaopiao, and Ti Tou Laijian were among the leveling players. Through their efforts, Dugu Zhuo knew the status of every dungeon in the game.

To accumulate Illusion Heart Orbs, Dugu Zhuo also stayed up late to clear many difficult dungeons, collecting five Illusion Heart Orbs. However, since he learned to use a hat to hide his name during clearances, he hadn’t appeared in the game announcements for a while.

Additionally, with the main storyline being taken by Xiaobao’s family, forgetful players in the game almost forgot about Dugu Zhuo, the once-announcement-dominating player. There were fewer calls to report him.

Many players spend time and money in the game to become famous and achieve a sense of accomplishment. There were very few like Dugu Zhuo who, despite being capable of fame, chose to hide their identity, making Ao Tian and others very curious.

They didn’t know that Dugu Zhuo once had his youthful and arrogant days, making a name for himself in the cultivation world and longing for Ye Zhou to be proud of him. Unfortunately, in the end, he became infamous in the worst way.

Dugu Zhuo understood that his ability to move freely in the game as a bug was due to the system’s efforts behind the scenes. If he were reported too often, the game company would definitely take notice, and not only would he be in trouble, but the system might also be affected.

Therefore, Dugu Zhuo preferred to keep a low profile.

Dugu Zhuo had yet to use the five Illusion Heart Orbs he had accumulated. He couldn’t guarantee that using them again wouldn’t lower the White Tiger’s favorability, so he kept them, waiting to use them all at once during the Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon.

The Demon Spirit Tiger Fang was a level 40 dungeon with a level requirement, meaning the lowest level player in the team couldn’t be below level 39. This was why Dugu Zhuo hadn’t challenged the dungeon yet.

Ten days ago, Yi Meng Xiaoyao had first reached level 39 and took some of his leveling partners to the Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon, only to be wiped out within a minute.

For the next ten days, they attempted the dungeon daily but couldn’t survive the boss’s first move, “Tiger Roar.”

Yi Meng Xiaoyao had discussed this move with Dugu Zhuo, Qing Yue, and Ao Tian, finding it to be an unavoidable area attack.

The Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon was located between Jiuchuan City and the newly opened Beining City. Beining City was a large town surrounded by mountains, and the dungeon was hidden in a vast mountain range between the two towns.

In Beining City, there was a pavilion called Listening Rain Pavilion, where cultivators could post and take on tasks. Players who took on the task to exterminate the tiger demon received a map of the Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon.

Maps in “Nine Heavens” had a teleportation function. Upon receiving the map, players would be teleported to Tiger Roar Mountain. At the foot of the mountain, an old man with a white beard claimed to be the village chief of a nearby village. He said the village was suffering from the tiger demon, with children disappearing one after another, so he posted the task seeking help to rescue the children.

Under the guidance of the white-bearded old man, players entered Tiger Roar Mountain. After taking just a few steps inside, they encountered a three-meter-tall white tiger. Upon seeing the players, the tiger immediately used an area attack called “Tiger Roar,” instantly depleting the players’ health bars and teleporting them back to Beining City without exception.

The Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon could be attempted once a day. Yi Meng Xiaoyao attempted it for ten consecutive days and died ten times. Due to these deaths, he lost 700,000 experience points, 2,000 taels of silver, 300 low-grade spirit stones, and his favorite hair accessory, the “Soul-Calling Bell,” suffering heavy losses.

Seeing how difficult the Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon was, other players concluded it was the key to reaching level 40. They rushed into the dungeon one after another, only to be defeated within a minute.

On the game forum, a popular post titled “How to Minimize Your Losses When Attempting the Demon Spirit Tiger Fang Dungeon” appeared. The poster repeatedly warned players to store all their money and spirit stones before attempting the dungeon and to use an empty storage belt instead of one filled with items. The old tiger could snatch away the entire belt, which was particularly vicious. Most importantly, players were advised to attempt the dungeon as soon as they reached level 39, without accumulating too much experience, as the more they had, the more they would lose.

As soon as Dugu Xiaobao reached level 39, he received a paper crane message from Yi Meng Xiaoyao: “Master Zhuo, I see you’ve reached level 39! When are you going to attempt the Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon? Please take me with you. I have a vendetta against that tiger!”

Paper Crane Message 2: “Why does it kill us in one move? I’ve tried countless methods: maintaining distance, taking another route up the mountain, buying items to block hearing, even catnip to attract feline creatures—none of it worked!”

Paper Crane Message 3: “I called customer service and complained that the dungeon difficulty was too high. They insisted it wasn’t, saying the dungeon was definitely passable, but we just can’t get through it!”

Listening to Yi Meng Xiaoyao, Ye Zhou couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. He asked, “Will we encounter the same issue when we attempt the dungeon?”

“No, we won’t,” Dugu Xiaobao confidently replied, wearing an expression of assurance.

Seeing his demeanor, Ye Zhou couldn’t resist poking his face.

Dugu Xiaobao had become accustomed to Ye Zhou’s pokes over time. His eyes reflected a resigned “What can I do about you?” look.

When Ye Zhou saw those eyes, it felt like a feather was tickling his heart. He wanted to pinch Dugu Xiaobao’s cheeks, bite him, and ruffle his hair. The scariest part was that none of these actions seemed enough to satisfy the yearning in his heart. He didn’t know what he could do to calm the stirrings inside him.

Ye Zhou’s hand loosened, clenched, loosened, and clenched again several times before he managed to control his impulse. He gently raised his hand to remove a leaf from Dugu Xiaobao’s head.

As his fingertips brushed against Xiaobao’s hair, the sensation reached his heart, quelling all his unruly thoughts.

Dugu Xiaobao touched his head in confusion. “When did a leaf get there?”

Ye Zhou smiled perfectly. It wasn’t actually from Xiaobao’s head; it was a leaf that had fallen into Ye Zhou’s palm earlier when Xiaobao went to fetch the white veil.

He was just using the leaf as an excuse to touch Xiaobao’s hair.

“He’s been pestering you for a while. When do you plan to attempt the Demon Spirit Tiger Fang dungeon?” Ye Zhou asked, changing the subject to avoid being overwhelmed by Xiaobao’s adorableness.

“This afternoon,” Dugu Xiaobao replied. “You have three free hours in the afternoon, which is more than in the evening. Besides, dungeon difficulty involving demons and monsters increases at night. The afternoon is the best time.”