Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 71 - Corpse Gu Village

You Lang’s words matched with Dugu Zhuo’s memories. When he encountered the White Tiger back then, it was during the White Tiger’s transformation period. To withstand the Heavenly Tribulation, the White Tiger was already exhausted and had run into a group of evil cultivators trying to seize the White Tiger’s demon core. The weakened White Tiger barely escaped from the evil cultivators but lost a tiger tooth in the process.

Dugu Zhuo had found a beast tooth necklace with demonic energy at the market. This demonic energy was unusual—it was demonic but mixed with very pure spiritual energy.

This piqued Dugu Zhuo’s interest. He bought the beast tooth necklace and used tracking techniques to locate the White Tiger. He helped drive off the evil cultivators, and after the White Tiger successfully survived the tribulation, he took the injured White Tiger back to Xing Chui Peak to recover.

Although the game had the Rain Listening Pavilion and task lists as disguises, it still recreated what had happened before.

Since the game world sometimes resembled the original cultivation world and sometimes was vastly different, Dugu Zhuo was unsure about the exact method to unlock the Demon Spirit Tiger Tooth instance. He only believed that the White Tiger could not have eaten children. The White Tiger had always been proud of its ancestral bloodline and would never consume sentient beings, whether human or intelligent demons.

Trusting the White Tiger, Dugu Zhuo finally found the problem in the task list and uncovered the truth.

You Lang said, “I really want to save this White Tiger to make amends for my mistake, but the task list has already been posted. Unless the village chief who issued the task dies, countless heroes will come to harm the White Tiger. I wonder if you all are willing to help me eliminate the evil cultivators in Corpse Gu Village and rescue the White Tiger that is about to transform?”

This was an NPC-issued quest, and Dugu Zhuo gladly accepted. Yi Meng Xiao Yao said from behind, “To be honest, I don’t really want to save the White Tiger. It has taken many of my things.”

Bai Yi Piao Piao agreed, saying, “There aren’t countless heroes harming the tiger, just countless heroes harmed by it.”

Ye Zhou, however, had a different focus. He frowned and asked You Lang, “Are you planning to come with us?”

You Lang, a spirited young man, said while holding his sword, “It’s my fault, so I naturally need to handle it personally. I am very grateful for your help, and how could I let you go alone?”

Ye Zhou replied, “…I feel like it would be better if you didn’t come along.”

He immediately saw that You Lang was an undercover agent sent by the game company, much like the Sun Worshipper from the Sun Worship Sect instance, causing trouble and likely needing to be dealt with.

Dugu Zhuo also reminded everyone, “Be sure to protect You Lang. If anything happens to him, we might be ejected from the instance.”

Ti Tou Lai Jian, who had his head severed and rolling on the ground, spoke up, “I am a healing player and can heal everyone.”

Everyone: “…”

The head rolled to Ye Jian’s feet, and Ye Jian said uncomfortably, “Look at yourself. How convincing is your healing ability?”

“It is,” Ti Tou Lai Jian picked up his head and said, “My healing ability is ‘Substitute Death.’ Before battle, I can tie a red string around your necks. This string is my substitute death line, deciding whether you die for me or I die for you.

“But you must protect me well. If you die, I’ll lose my head but won’t die, but if I am killed, no one can resurrect me.”

Ye Jian: “…Your resurrection ability is quite unique, indeed reciprocal!”

Ti Tou Lai Jian explained, “Once the red string is tied, my head will also be attached to the string. When your health runs out, the red string will tighten, and my head will fall instead of yours. Since my head shouldn’t be on my neck, it won’t result in death but will empty half of the spiritual energy. Each player’s red string can only be used once; after that, it needs a ten-minute cooldown. So even if I can resurrect you, the cooldown time is quite long, so don’t die easily!”

He proceeded to tie red strings around everyone. Bai Yi Piao Piao and Yi Meng Xiao Yao, being from the Evil Faction, easily had the strings tied. Among Dugu Zhuo’s group, Ye Jian had no trouble, but Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou had the strings snap repeatedly, even after several attempts.

“What’s going on?” Ti Tou Lai Jian asked, puzzled. “I’ve never encountered this before.”

Ye Zhou speculated, “Previously, you were teamed with evil faction players with high evil values or no righteousness. My and Dugu Zhuo’s righteousness values are too high, so it’s probably a resistance due to differing factions.”

Ti Tou Lai Jian said, “Righteousness and evil values cause this issue? That’s going to make this battle difficult. I also have a healing ability, but it seems you won’t be able to use it.”

His healing ability had a distinctly ghostly style called “Endless Hatred,” which could leave a mark of a vengeful spirit on the opponent, signifying that only he could kill them. Any health lost to others would be restored by 50%, making it a fascinating healing skill.

“Then you’ll need to bring plenty of healing pills,” Yi Meng Xiao Yao said. “Have you been to the pill shop in Jiu Chuan City? Although their Foundation Establishment Pills are useless to us, the healing and energy pills are very useful. The healing effect is good and has a short cooldown. I bought 20 of each this time; I’m investing a lot.”

Bai Yi Piao Piao: “Ti Tou and I brought quite a lot, especially Ti Tou, who bought many energy pills due to his healing costs.”

Ye Jian showed a merchant’s smile: “Of course, I bought plenty too, hahahaha!”

Last time, Qing Yue and others were dragged into battle by Ye Jian’s schemes and received pills from him. This time, no chance!

After confirming their skills and equipment, they followed You Lang to Corpse Gu Village.

By now, almost an hour had passed. In the game, someone with good intentions sent a message to the world: @Yi Meng Xiao Yao, why haven’t you died out yet today? Or are you afraid to tell us you’ve died?

[World] Yi Meng Xiao Yao: Still working through the instance, I’m likely to clear it today. I’m sure that even if you keep playing the instance, you’ll still be killed by the tiger (I know everything but won’t say), hahahaha!

Yi Meng Xiao Yao, a veteran online gamer, kept up with arguing in the world chat while on the move and even made a bet. If he cleared the instance today, the other person would give him 10,000 low-grade spirit stones, and vice versa.

At the entrance of Corpse Gu Village, Yi Meng Xiao Yao nervously said to Dugu Zhuo, “Zhuo Shen, this 10,000 spirit stones depend on you!”

Ye Jian: “Share half with us if you win.”

“Sure, sure!” Yi Meng Xiao Yao quickly agreed.

“Should we be in this Corpse Gu Village?” Ye Zhou asked You Lang. “Shouldn’t we be going to Tiger Roar Mountain to fix that tiger’s tooth?”

You Lang replied, “I’ve been to Tiger Roar Mountain before. There’s an old man with a white beard at the foot of the mountain—that’s the village chief of Corpse Gu Village. These evil cultivators set up a formation at the foot of the mountain to trap the spiritual tiger. They couldn’t defeat the tiger themselves, so they used this method to imprison it and issued a task for heroes to injure the tiger, hoping to reap the benefits. To save the tiger, we must cut off the source of the problem by destroying Corpse Gu Village!”

You Lang, with his sword on his back, charged into Corpse Gu Village. Ye Zhou grabbed him, took the sword off his back, and tucked it into his arms, advising, “Hold onto your sword and protect yourself. Stay in the middle of our group, okay?”

Yi Meng Xiao Yao was at the front and shot a glance at You Lang, saying, “Why are you taking my spot? I should be at the front, as I have the most health.”

This team was a rare complete setup, and it was Dugu Zhuo’s first time seeing such a well-configured team in an online game.

Yi Meng Xiao Yao was responsible for defense, also known as the tank, whose main task was to attract all attacks to himself, allowing his teammates to attack.

Ti Tou Lai Jian was the healer, with abilities to both heal and resurrect.

Bai Yi Piao Piao was capable of both group control and possession control, with strong attack power, making him a different type of violent support compared to Qing Yue.

Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou combined their swordplay and footwork, serving as the main attackers of the team.

As for Ye Jian… who knew what he did? He had no useful skills and weak combat ability. Last time, during the main storyline, while others got various attack or support items, he ended up with a broken lamp that summoned illusions with no attack power.

Although the team was well-configured, Ye Jian and You Lang were liabilities. Ye Zhou instructed Ye Jian to keep an eye on You Lang, holding him back and ensuring he didn’t drag them down.

Upon entering the village, Ye Zhou looked up at the plaque at the entrance. The characters were neither seal script nor regular writing but seemed like ghostly symbols. Ye Zhou remarked, “These two characters don’t look like ‘Corpse Gu’…”

After all, “Corpse Gu” was a phonetic translation, and no one knew the exact name.

But it was just a name, so it shouldn’t matter too much. Ye Zhou couldn’t decipher the characters and decided to move on.

The village’s houses were all made of grass and wood, with no stone or metal. The houses were positioned oddly, which made the village look somewhat uncomfortable.

Seeing the layout of the village, Dugu Zhuo immediately flew up with his sword to observe from above. After landing, he said with a serious expression, “The buildings in this village seem to form some kind of formation. They’ve made some disguises, so I can’t determine the exact purpose of this formation right now.”

“It’s not like players can recognize some kind of Five Elements or Bagua formation,” Yi Meng Xiao Yao said. “Let’s not worry about that. Just attack anyone we see!”

Just as he finished speaking, a child ran out from a nearby house and, seeing Yi Meng Xiao Yao, smiled and said, “Big brother, aren’t you supposed to catch the big tiger?”

Yi Meng Xiao Yao, not swayed by the child’s appearance, reached out with his long arm, transforming it into a willow branch to bind the child and prepare to absorb his essence.

Yi Meng Xiao Yao, having absorbed countless NPC essences, was a ruthless demon who wouldn’t be swayed by a child’s appearance. After all, they wouldn’t really die—once absorbed, they would just lie down and get up later to continue as usual.

Unexpectedly, You Lang shouted, “Yi Meng Xiao Yao, what are you doing? He’s just a child!”

He rushed towards the child, but luckily Ye Jian, quick-witted, hugged You Lang’s leg like a Lingzhi doll and used all his strength to prevent him from moving.

You Lang, as if possessed, kicked Ye Jian furiously, “Let go of me! I need to save the child!”

Ye Jian said, “Damn it! You were the one who said we needed to cut off the source and destroy Corpse Gu Village, and now you’re saying he’s just a child? Stop kicking me or I’ll lock you in a painting!”

Of course, Ye Jian was just talking. His painting was sealed by the system with a Four Symbols Talisman and could no longer absorb players or NPCs.

At this moment, Yi Meng Xiao Yao’s expression changed drastically, “Wait, this child has no essence. I can’t absorb anything!”

The child clung to Yi Meng Xiao Yao’s arm and said, “Big brother, help me catch the big tiger!”

As soon as he finished speaking, something unknown from the child’s palm entered Yi Meng Xiao Yao’s arm.

Fortunately, Dugu Zhuo, with sharp eyes and quick reflexes, used his sword technique as soon as Yi Meng Xiao Yao said “no essence,” drawing his sword and severing Yi Meng Xiao Yao’s arm.

After falling to the ground, the arm quickly turned into a withered tree branch and then into ashes. From the ashes, a small insect crawled out.

Ye Zhou suddenly had a flash of insight and said, “I remember now. It’s not Corpse Gu Village; it’s Corpse Gu Village, as in the Gu worm!”