Chapter 14: Why has your sect suddenly gained so many people?

Chapter 14: Why are there suddenly so many people in your sect?

"Yo, Dahu, you logged on fast."

The player who came up was Ma Xiaoniao, whose in-game ID was "Peeing Far When Standing High."

Male players' naming conventions were always that unpretentious.

Seeing that Ma Xiaoniao was online, Wu Dahu walked over and asked, "So, how is it? Do you feel anything different?"

Ma Xiaoniao: "I feel it! My vision has actually improved!"

Such an obvious change was noticeable the moment he logged in.

Even more miraculous was that Ma Xiaoniao's current vision surpassed what he could achieve in reality. He was actually a bit nearsighted in real life.

"This game is too incredible."

No matter how long he had been online, Wu Dahu still wanted to say those words. He swallowed hard and then said, "Do you think we've encountered something miraculous and been chosen? No matter how I look at it, this game doesn't seem fake."

Ma Xiaoniao laughed. "If it's not a game, what else could it be? Could the two of us really become the legendary 'Chosen Ones'? Since when do Chosen Ones come wholesale? We just got lucky enough to snag the first batch of non-deletion beta access."

Wu Dahu thought that made sense.

"The system just notified us that we need to find the Sect Leader to receive our mental cultivation methods. It's the middle of the night; I wonder if the Sect Leader is still awake."

"Cultivators definitely don't sleep. A lot of people will probably be logging on soon."

Quite a few people in the group were night owls.

Tonight was definitely for the late-nighters; Ma Xiaoniao had seen the big shots, Jiang Ya and Chen Miaomiao, say they wouldn't sleep and would log in immediately.

Song Jiulai, of course, would not be resting.

In fact, tonight was an important moment.

As the nominal figure who required the support of disciples but remained the sole female protagonist of the sect on the surface, she needed to maintain her aura of prestige.

And that prestige was something one had to create for oneself.

For instance, right now under the moonlight, she was already on the roof behind the courtyard. She simply spoke a single sentence: "I am here."

Her voice sounded as if it had been enhanced with sound effects—gentle yet ethereal—drifting into the ears of Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao.

When Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao turned their heads, they were met with this exact scene.

Under the moonlight, the Sect Leader, dressed in a long white gown, stood atop the building. She reached one hand out toward the moon, her fingertips emitting a faint, shimmering glow. A light breeze gently stirred her skirt and hair, and her expression seemed to carry a sense of compassion for the world, tinged with a hint of loneliness.

The bright moonlight poured over her. In that moment, she looked like a true goddess descended to earth.

Ethereal grace, divinity, atmosphere.

Everything was perfectly in place.

It created a certain contrast with the image she projected during the day, making it even more effective.

Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao were stunned.

At this moment, Song Jiulai's image was truly etched into their hearts.

*My mom is so beautiful!!!*

They abandoned all the crude jokes they used to make while playing games.

This was the kind of female lead a cultivation novel should have—aloof, divine, a natural goddess!

How could the character designs in those low-quality advertisements even compare?

If they hadn't filled out those recruitment forms, they wouldn't have been able to taste such high-quality "fine grain" in this lifetime.

What they didn't know was that Song Jiulai was currently holding this pose while frantically asking the system: "How is it? Is this angle hitting the right vibe?"

System: "Um... I don't quite understand why you insist on striking such a pretentious pose."

Song Jiulai: "What do you know, you're just a system? You're a boor who can't appreciate the finer things!"

System: "..."

Judging by the looks on Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao's faces, Song Jiulai's aura of prestige had been successfully established.

They were both staring blankly.

When Song Jiulai saw Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao, she didn't turn her head, acting as if she already knew why they had come.

Only her gaze softened suddenly, as if she were looking at her own children, and a faint smile curled at the corners of her mouth.

With a wave of her hand, two glowing scrolls containing mental cultivation methods flew directly toward the foreheads of Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao.

This was also a basic reward from the system, since such things didn't exist locally in the Yunzhou Continent.

After all, she had seen all sorts of cultivation techniques, but this was her first time seeing a soul-cultivation type.

After practicing it herself, she discovered that this method wasn't for tempering the body, but for tempering the soul first.

Although her current knowledge wasn't deep enough to fully understand it, anything produced by the system was bound to be good.

After all, she hadn't seen anything like that Spirit Root Opening Pill in any of the current data on the Yunzhou Continent.

Once the mental method entered their minds, beginners who had entered the world of cultivation would automatically begin to comprehend it.

However, how deeply one could understand it depended on their individual comprehension.

Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao shuddered as they heard Song Jiulai's voice: "Simply meditate on the spot. Once you have finished your meditation, you must practice diligently."

As soon as she spoke, the system notification followed.

[Ding! Congratulations, you have officially comprehended the basic Soul Cultivation method of the Qi Refining stage.]

[After completing your meditation, please find A-Wu to test your Spirit Root talent and claim your own spiritual field.]

Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao immediately sat down to meditate.

It was hard to describe the feeling; from the moment the mental method entered their minds, it felt as if they had been born knowing it.

Even though the characters were unfamiliar, they could understand their meaning.

However, understanding it still presented a certain level of difficulty. For instance, both of them found it obscure and difficult, which immediately reminded them of the nightmare years of studying in their youth...

But this was cultivation!

Who would complain about it being difficult?!

They had to grit their teeth and persevere!

As the two began to comprehend the method, other players also began to log in one after another.

Everyone discovered their changes and began to express their amazement.

Words like "Awesome," "Holy crap," and "Too pro" had an incredibly high repetition rate.

Everyone who logged in came to find Song Jiulai to receive their mental methods. She had now changed her pose, standing on the roof with one hand behind her back, gazing into the distance, with a hint of worry faintly visible between her brows.

Under the moonlight, her profile seemed to be coated in a layer of soft light.

At the very least, the atmosphere and aura were maxed out.

The moon was being very cooperative tonight.

Song Jiulai heard that every player who entered would stare blankly for two seconds.

And then came

"Holy crap, she's so beautiful."

"This is a real cultivation female lead!"

"My mom is so pretty!! If I had known, I would have made my character's face look better. Sigh, now I'm even more annoyed!"

After receiving the mental method and meditating on the spot, the next step was to find A-Wu to test their Spirit Roots.

A-Wu was also staying awake. Seeing his junior brothers arrive, he led them to test their Spirit Roots.

Since Song Jiulai had arrived with the status of a "Child of Destiny," A-Wu had some vague suspicions about the current situation, but not much. As long as the Sect Leader ordered it, he was all for it.

Testing the Spirit Root was very simple; the Spirit Testing Stone sat in the middle of that shabby circular platform.

With a wave of A-Wu's hand, the Spirit Testing Stone slowly rose.

One only needed to reach out and touch it to know what their talent was.

Ma Xiaoniao and Wu Dahu reached out to touch it, and unsurprisingly—it was white.

The two had already been briefed by A-Wu that white was the most common talent, so they were mentally prepared.

There was no surprise or joy; it seemed they could only hope to change their fates through microtransactions later on.

Just then, a woman in martial attire suddenly flew over, pulling a light kite, which vanished automatically upon her landing.

Wu Dahu and Ma Xiaoniao watched, completely dazed.

"A-Wu, why are there suddenly so many people in your sect?"

(End of Chapter)