Chapter 4: 4. Chapter 4: This Game is a Stroke of Fortune

Chapter 4: This Game is a Stroke of Fortune

Due to extreme shock, Wu Dahu looked at Han Tian, his body even trembling slightly. "Boss, do you think this game... is this game... a bit too real?"

From the moment they entered, he hadn't seen a single pixelated mosaic or graphical error in the surrounding environment.

They were in a small courtyard with a semi-enclosed structure, flanked by three tiled-roof houses on the left, right, and above—completely ancient and classical architecture.

Everything within the naked eye's range was a perfectly logical construction.

They could actually smell scents, and the fatigue they felt from playing the game seemed to vanish, leaving them feeling incredibly refreshed, as if their brains had undergone a sudden cleansing.

Looking up, they saw white clouds drifting across a deep blue sky; everything was so beautiful and real it felt surreal.

They were dressed in simple cloth garments—poor, but authentic.

The only issue...

Was that when they pinched their own faces...

There was sensation, but no pain. Good. It was a game.

Han Tian was also shocked, but due to his personality, he remained relatively calm.

However, his heart was racing. Combined with the shout coming from outside, Han Tian said, "The guiding NPC probably called us. Let's go see."

The NPC was outside the courtyard.

To avoid A-Wu being too shocked by seeing the "puppets" in the courtyard develop consciousness, Song Jiulai hadn't told him where they came from; she only told A-Wu that they were newcomers.

A-Wu was obedient and didn't look.

That was until Wu Dahu and Han Tian walked out.

Seeing the scene outside, the two men's shock intensified.

Back in the day, the Longevity Sect couldn't compete for territory and was forced to establish its sect on a pitifully thin spiritual energy hillside.

The buildings in the courtyard were actually the main hall.

Yes, they were so destitute they didn't even have a proper grand hall.

Song Jiulai was quite clever with her choice of game name.

The stairs led outward and downward; below the stairs was once a wasteland that the previous Sect Master had leveled to build a circular open-air structure made of irregular stone slabs, which now barely served as a place for cultivation.

A-Wu was standing right there.

Further down was where A-Wu lived—two small houses next to the spiritual herb fields he was responsible for.

Han Tian and Wu Dahu stood there dazed.

At this point, both men lost their composure, staring at their surroundings with their mouths agape.

No matter how you looked at it, the Yunzhou Continent was rich in spiritual energy; even this obscure, broken mountain was magnificent and breathtaking.

Because it was built halfway up the mountain, adjacent to a cliff, the terrain was steep and shrouded in mist, making everything below look like a dreamscape, blurring the line between reality and illusion.

At a glance, it evoked the poetic imagery of "Taiyi nears the heavenly capital, continuous mountains meet the sea's edge."

If one wanted to push the difficulty, it brought to mind: "The road to Shu is hard, harder than climbing to the blue heavens—"

Damn, the cultural DNA is kicking in!

"This... this... this modeling, this realism, holy crap!!"

As they walked along, not only were Wu Dahu's legs shaking, but his voice was trembling as well.

It was truly difficult to describe how he could see a game with such technology on Blue Star in the year 2024.

A holographic game with 99% realism?!

My god, he played games every day; had some new technology emerged domestically that he hadn't seen in the news?

Where on earth had he been sent?

It wasn't just him; even Han Tian, who had seen exquisite masterpieces and tasted exceptionally terrible ones and could comment on any genre, was completely stunned.

He had truly never seen anything like this!

An indescribable sense of trembling permeated his entire body.

He had a premonition: this game would change his life!

"Junior brothers, why are you still standing there dazing off?"

Seeing the two standing there like idiots, A-Wu felt somewhat confused.

He muttered to himself: *Though it's a bit impolite, why do these people the Sect Master recruited look so... dim-witted?*

"Hey, hey, hey, we're coming!"

Han Tian and Wu Dahu were startled. This game had nothing—no tutorial interface. The NPC before them was likely the start of the main quest.

A-Wu was standing on the circular structure right against the cliff. The height alone would give anyone vertigo, yet he seemed completely unfazed.

When Han Tian and Wu Dahu approached A-Wu, they realized he looked to be only about ten years old—clearly an underage child. They immediately felt awkward.

What should they say?

Han Tian, however, performed a somewhat awkward, half-baked salute. "This... Senior Brother?"

He had just heard the child call them "Junior Brothers."

A-Wu nodded. "I know you are the new disciples recruited by the Sect Master. I am A-Wu, the eldest disciple of the Longevity Sect. From now on, I am also your Eldest Senior Brother. Everything regarding your life in the Longevity Sect will be guided by me."

Wu Dahu let out a chuckle and whispered to Han Tian right in front of him, "This little brat wants us to call him Eldest Senior Brother?"

A-Wu, whose long hair was tied up, had a delicate and youthful face. He frowned, behaving like a stuffy old traditionalist. "Do not be disrespectful to your Senior Brother!"

Just as Wu Dahu was about to speak, a system warning thundered in his mind.

【Players must not reveal their player identity to any NPC, nor should they easily offend NPCs. A-Wu is the Eldest Senior Brother of the Longevity Sect and possesses decision-making authority. If you are expelled from the Longevity Sect by A-Wu, it will be deemed a game failure, and your Player ID will be banned.】

Wu Dahu instantly became well-behaved.

He immediately lowered his head to apologize. "Eldest Senior Brother, I was wrong!"

Dammit! If this were any other game and an NPC dared to treat a player like this, Wu Dahu would have written a 30,000-word rant against the developers long ago!

He would have said, "If you don't treat the player like God, what kind of trash game and trash plot is this?"

But this was virtual! It was holographic! And it was a cultivation game!!

Just by standing here, Wu Dahu understood what the system meant by "you will begin a brand new life."

The Eldest Senior Brother only asked him not to be disrespectful; what did the Senior Brother do wrong?

It was all his own fault!

Seeing Wu Dahu apologize so readily, A-Wu smiled. "It's fine. You've just arrived and aren't familiar with things yet. I don't blame you."

His youthful appearance delivering such mature words brought a touch of unintentional humor to the situation.

But Han Tian and Wu Dahu didn't dare laugh.

Han Tian immediately took the opportunity to ask, "May I ask, Eldest Senior Brother, where is the Sect Master currently?"

The Sect Master was the female lead.

The website had clearly stated that the Sect Master, Song Jiulai, was the absolute protagonist of this game.

A-Wu said, "The Sect Master is currently in seclusion. She said that I am responsible for all your daily tasks. Resources within the sect are currently scarce, and since many new disciples have been recruited this time, there is a lack of housing. You will need to build your own temporary residences."

So, the game starts with infrastructure building?

That was their specialty!

The talent of the Chinese people lies in farming and construction; even if they didn't know how, they could look up information in minutes.

However, since this was a cultivation game, Han Tian asked the crucial question: "Senior Brother, since we have joined the sect, can we all cultivate?"

In a holographic simulation game, cultivation must be possible, right?

A-Wu replied, "The Sect Master said that once all the disciples have arrived, we will first teach you the arts of physical body cultivation."

In reality, it was because they were all in puppet bodies, making it impossible for them to possess spiritual roots.

The system said there was a way to solve it, but they had to wait until all the recruits were gathered.

Song Jiulai herself didn't know what the next step was, so naturally, she had to dangle a carrot in front of them first.

(End of Chapter)