Chapter 10: 10. Chapter 10: Opening the Spiritual Roots

Chapter 10: Awakening the Spiritual Root

The players rushed back to their respawn points, hearts racing with excitement.

Every game needs a main questline, and theirs was to protect the Sect Leader named Song Jiulai.

Since they were meant to treat the Sect Leader as the most important woman in their lives...

Besides their mothers, who else could it be?

As the players entered tentatively, they saw Song Jiulai standing in front of the central house, smiling.

Song Jiulai’s appearance was her original one; after all, having arrived in a new world, her own natural face felt most comfortable to her.

Her natural face was of that exquisite and elegant type that made people feel at ease.

She looked entirely harmless.

Dressed in a pale blue ancient-style long dress, her gentle smile possessed the perfect charm of a lady from a historical drama.

A face like this wasn't suited for forcing a cold, aloof "transcendental expert" persona, so Song Jiulai chose not to make things difficult for herself.

After all, the game's opening clearly stated this was a broken sect; why bother putting on airs?

System: "Lift the corners of your mouth slightly. Aim for a perfect 45-degree arc."

Song Jiulai: "..."

Because of the prior system warning and the divine feats demonstrated by A-Wu, the players weren't exactly ecstatic looking at the Sect Leader, but they were certainly whispering and discussing amongst themselves.

"Holy crap, she looks even younger than me. She's so cute, she looks more like a daughter than a mom."

"Then be bold! I'm calling her 'Mom,' and you're calling her 'daughter'? Are you trying to take advantage of me?"

"...I could be her husband."

"Eat shit! No being the husband! She is everyone's Sect Leader!!"

"She looks young, but she might be a hundred years old for all we know."

...

Watching the crowd, unable to hide their excitement, Song Jiulai realized that if she didn't speak up soon, she wouldn't be able to maintain her image.

Once enough people had arrived, she spoke directly: "Welcome, everyone, to the Longevity Sect of the Yunzhou Continent. I am the Sect Leader, Song Jiulai. In the future, I will lead you all to bring glory to the Longevity Sect, and you shall all be the inner disciples of my sect."

Her opening was a standard piece of game NPC dialogue. The players instantly fell silent, terrified they might miss a single word.

And "inner disciple" sounded incredibly badass!

Song Jiulai got straight to the point: "As a benefit for you new disciples, I will give each of you a Spiritual Root Inner Core to awaken your spiritual roots and officially begin your journey of cultivation."

"After consuming the inner core, everyone's reaction time will differ, and the talent of the awakened spiritual root will also vary. These are matters of individual fate, so do not harbor any resentment. To step onto the path of cultivation is to cultivate both the body and the soul."

"As the Sect Leader of the Longevity Sect, my only wish is for every disciple to travel as far as possible on the path of cultivation."

Song Jiulai's words made it clear that everyone's reaction would inevitably differ once their roots were awakened.

Some would have high talent, and some would be mediocre.

"Got it. It's like a lucky draw. Some are 'God-tier luck' players, and some are 'unlucky' players."

"Sigh, I'm used to it. I wasn't counting on getting good talent anyway."

"It seems some things never change. Even in games, the essence of gambling for luck remains the same."

"It's fine. Isn't that how cultivation works? Poor talent doesn't mean you can't go far. The 'underdog comeback' trope is popular now!"

"The 'trash-to-genius' trope is an eight-hundred-year-old cliché; it's outdated. Now, the trend is 'getting something for nothing.' It doesn't matter if your talent is bad; maybe you'll stumble upon a hidden quest and find a powerful magical treasure?"

Fortunately, modern games are full of various gacha and drop rates.

The players had been successfully "PUA-ed" (manipulated) into accepting the disparity in individual talent.

Besides, they had read plenty of cultivation novels. Generally speaking, having too much talent in the early stages made one prone to being treated as a villainous cannon fodder.

They were all very experienced.

Song Jiulai smiled with satisfaction, then with a wave of her hand, fifty thumb-sized pills emitting a soft, lustrous glow appeared before them.

Calling them "pills" was almost an understatement; they looked like they were carved from jade.

Floating in mid-air, Song Jiulai gave a light upward gesture, and the pills flew directly in front of each player.

This move truly stunned the players.

After all, there was still a gap between online games and true full-immersion VR; watching a TV drama didn't provide the same intense stimulation as seeing everything happen right before one's eyes.

Thanks to Su Huanli!

If not for the spatial bag she had gifted, Song Jiulai might not have been able to present this so perfectly.

Instead of looking like a transcendent immortal, she would have ended up clumsily handing out pills one by one—which would have looked exactly like a pharmacist dispensing medicine.

"Consume this pill and enter a state of meditation on the spot; this will begin the process of changing your spiritual root."

"The process will take anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour, depending on your talent."

"Once you have all successfully awakened your spiritual roots, I will tell you what your next step is."

Having finished, Song Jiulai turned and walked inward.

As the pills began to descend slowly, the players curiously caught them in their palms.

They felt warm and smooth, like jade. They looked quite large—should they swallow them whole?

Since it was a game, they had no psychological barriers. Once they held them, they swallowed them without hesitation.

Upon entering their mouths, the jade-like pills turned into liquid, flowing directly into their bodies.

Before the players could even taste anything, their vision suddenly went black.

【Awakening Spiritual Root in progress. Total duration: 1 hour and 45 minutes...】

The Yunzhou Continent vanished; only this line of text remained before their eyes.

Understood. It was essentially like a game version update.

The text popping up in front of Han Tian read "2 hours and 35 minutes." He froze; he remembered the Sect Leader saying the longer it took, the better. He wasn't sure if this talent was good or bad.

Zhou Xiao saw "2 hours and 20 minutes."

Wu Dahu saw "1 hour and 30 minutes."

The current situation meant they couldn't log back into the game. It wasn't until they actually exited the game—when the weight of the VR headset on their noses suddenly felt heavy again—that the players realized they were truly playing a game.

Zhou Xiao was practically ecstatic and immediately opened the game's massive group chat.

As expected, the group chat was also going crazy.

But it wasn't the players who were losing it; it was the people who hadn't been able to play yet.

Ever since the testers were called back to enter the game, those who were online had practically never logged off.

The time flow in the game was 2:1. Combined with the login restrictions, by the time they had chopped some wood and eaten dinner on the other side, two hours had passed here.

In two hours, the players hadn't replied to a single word in the chat.

After all, when playing a virtual game, one is fully immersed; who has time to reply to messages?

【Old Taoist Ascended: Holy crap, they've been playing for so long! Whether it's good or bad, they should at least say something! Why aren't they replying to any messages?】

【Philanthropist: It's just a damn VR game. Is it really worth playing to the point where they can't even reply to a message? Is the manufacturer pulling some stunt with the players to advertise?】

【The Sun Shines on Your Dark Heart: It shouldn't be that bad. The big boss Jing Bao Tian told everyone offline to hurry up and log in earlier. It's rare to see him that excited. How much did it cost to get him to play this game?】

【I Used to Shake the Mountain to Warn the Tiger: Hahahaha, brothers, I'll stop talking now. From this moment on, we are no longer on the same starting line. @LittleGirlWithMountainMovingStrength @JingBaoTian @RunningNakedInTheWind How much time did you guys get? I only got an hour and a half.】