Chapter 17: Eldest Senior Brother, We'll Use Cheats to Carry You!

Chapter 17: Eldest Senior Brother, We'll Use Cheats to Carry You!

[Zhou Woman: Tell me about it! It's even trending on the hot searches now, saying we've gone possessed by playing games. They even dared to use terms like "holographic gaming."]

[Wu Dahu: It's normal. If I hadn't played it myself, I wouldn't believe it either. Sigh, I wanted to play too, but I just claimed my two cents worth of land. Too bad I have to sleep and go to work now.]

But there was something strange.

He was, after all, an office worker, but playing games for too long would still make his body feel fatigued.

Furthermore, when playing VR games, he was always standing, which inevitably led to backaches and muscle soreness.

Yet, after logging off, he didn't feel anything unusual; his mind felt clear and his spirit was high.

It was likely because his brain had been too excited. Fearing it might not be good, Wu Dahu replied to Zhou Xiao: [I'm going to wash up and sleep, otherwise I'll be late for work tomorrow morning.]

Zhou Xiao: [Go ahead! I'm getting ready to log in. This lady is pulling an all-nighter! HHHHHH]

She was still a student, currently on vacation, so she didn't have to work.

Wu Dahu was so angry he almost cried: [You beast, karma will get you sooner or later!]

Seeing that her online time had arrived, Zhou Xiao happily logged into the game.

Her timing was roughly the same as Han Tian's; by the time she logged in, he was about to as well.

Based on the time flow between the two worlds, by the time she logged in, dawn was already approaching on the Yunzhou Continent.

The morning mist rushed toward her, and a refreshing breeze gave Zhou Xiao's brain a sudden jolt of clarity.

She suddenly felt as if her mind had never been this lucid before.

Zhou Xiao also went to find the Sect Leader to receive her mental cultivation method.

After arriving, Song Jiulai found she could no longer maintain her "pretentious master" persona in the middle of the night, so she stopped acting. She simply sat in her main room in front of the courtyard, meditating and reading books.

Some books for cultivators could be read directly into the mind, while others were ordinary folk books; Song Jiulai was reading the latter.

The closer one got to the great sect cities on the Yunzhou Continent, the fewer mortals there were.

Wang'an County, where Song Jiulai resided, was on the periphery of the Wanxian Sect and still coexisted with mortals. She noticed that many folk books contained hidden tales of strange and bizarre phenomena.

It was said that people had once discovered clues to the tombs of powerful cultivators within mortal biographies.

While players could log off to cultivate their characters through other means, she couldn't go anywhere in the Yunzhou Continent, so she used folk stories as entertainment.

After receiving her mental cultivation method, Zhou Xiao stealthily observed Song Jiulai.

The Sect Leader did not fix her gaze upon her; after handing over the method, she simply smiled and let her depart.

*Her temperament seems really good; she's a gentle little fairy.*

*I must work with Big Boss Han and the others to make our sect big and strong!!*

Feeling the changes within herself, she went to find A-Wu. At this time, Han Tian had also logged in.

He and Zhou Xiao naturally had similar talent levels.

When Zhou Xiao came to test her talent this time, many players were watching.

Because the moment Zhou Xiao placed her hand on the Spirit Testing Stone, other colors finally appeared on it.

Purple!

Even A-Wu was somewhat surprised: "Fourth Junior Sister, you're amazing! You actually have a Purple Spiritual Root."

Purple Spiritual Roots were excellent and quite rare.

Only then did Zhou Xiao realize that in this world, spiritual talent was categorized by color: White, Blue, Purple, Orange, and Gold. Being the third tier, Zhou Xiao was already very satisfied.

Other players also showed expressions of envy and jealousy.

"Holy crap, she got purple right off the bat!"

"We didn't even get a blue one just now. The gap is too huge!"

"Sigh, some people are just born lucky."

Watching this, A-Wu instead let out a sigh: "What a pity, Fourth Junior Sister."

Zhou Xiao froze: "What do you mean, pity?"

A-Wu said directly, "Our sect is too poor and our location is too remote. Even with your talent, we can't afford to support you."

Those with great talent were usually scouted by large sects when they were young. Those left behind were those with mediocre talent, who naturally spent their lives struggling in the corners of the world.

In such places, the spiritual energy was poor, spirit stones were scarce, and resources were lacking, making advancement extremely slow.

In the Feique Sect, having a Golden Core cultivator was already an extraordinary feat; their famous disciples were only at the Foundation Establishment stage.

In core sects like the Wanxian Sect, disciples of this age were basically starting at the Golden Core stage...

However, having good talent didn't guarantee being scouted; if one had high talent but low comprehension, it would be difficult to break through to high realms in this lifetime.

Zhou Xiao waved her hand: "It's fine, Senior Brother. I don't mind our sect."

At this moment, A-Wu said something unexpected: "If there's an opportunity, Fourth Junior Sister, you could try waiting for people from the great sects in Liuxian City to arrive and then join another sect."

Zhou Xiao's eyes widened: "Why? Senior Brother, isn't that defecting from the sect?"

A-Wu replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "How is that defecting? If you have better talent, you should naturally seek a better place."

It was only then that Zhou Xiao realized the mindset of the Yunzhou Continent was different from theirs.

What? Just because you joined a sect, you belong to that sect forever?

That didn't exist.

Unless it was a major sect and you were taken in as a core disciple by an Elder to inherit their legacy, there were no such requirements.

Small sects were too poor to support talented disciples; why hold them back?

Some small sects would even proactively recommend talented disciples to larger sects to exchange for resources, or even to ensure the disciple would provide benefits to the sect once they made a name for themselves.

It was a matter of social capital; although it was a world of the strong preying on the weak, it also respected the laws of cause and effect.

Zhou Xiao and the other players exchanged glances.

It was clearly impossible for them to leave the Changsheng Sect.

The entire game was built upon the existence of the Changsheng Sect. How could you dare to leave?

If you could leave, why do you think the main quest was to make the Changsheng Sect big and strong?

Zhou Xiao had never thought of leaving. She looked at A-Wu seriously and said, "Eldest Senior Brother, that way of thinking is wrong. We are people of the Changsheng Sect in life, and we shall be ghosts of the Changsheng Sect in death! We were discovered by the Changsheng Sect; if I were to leave for a better place, what kind of person would I become?"

Other players chimed in: "Then you wouldn't be a person, you'd be a beast!"

Zhou Xiao: "..."

A-Wu was somewhat bewildered: "Huh? Is that way of thinking wrong?"

He was only twelve years old, after all, and it was hard for him to grasp such profound principles.

He only knew that everyone in the cultivation world acted this way.

A-Wu said, "But I won't leave the Changsheng Sect. I just want to stay here for the rest of my life."

He was just a minor cultivator with mediocre talent and no grand ambitions; staying in the Changsheng Sect for his whole life was good enough.

Compared to the mortals at the foot of the mountain, A-Wu, who didn't even know who his parents were, felt he was already happier than many.

Zhou Woman patted her chest: "Eldest Senior Brother, don't worry. We guarantee we'll develop the Changsheng Sect into a great sect. In the future, you'll be our Eldest Senior Brother, and you'll be our Eldest Senior Brother for life!"

The other players quickly echoed: "Right, right, right! Eldest Senior Brother, don't worry, we'll use cheats to carry you. We guarantee we'll carry you all the way to ascension!"

This moved A-Wu to tears: "Junior Sister, Junior Brothers, I... *sob*... you guys are truly too kind! But... what is a 'cheat'?"

Han Tian suddenly appeared, timely interrupting the conversation.

"Eldest Senior Brother, can we go down the mountain for a trip?"

*Sorry, I was delayed by something today.*