Chapter 190: Sea View Sect Competition
While the Sect Master and the system were having their daily falling-out, Lin Yuyu was busy defeating a Mirror Image by exploiting a system bug.
Many new viewers didn’t know that players could exploit this kind of system bug. It wasn’t until veteran viewers explained it that they understood.
After all, the fact that the system could communicate with players and act as a middleman—delivering Spiritual Medicine and collecting spirit materials without taking a cut—had long been known to those who followed Han Tian’s stream.
The only difference, according to Han Tian, was that the system communicated directly with their minds.
The players figured this must be a built-in system feature. Just as they couldn’t fully comprehend the game itself, they certainly couldn’t understand how such a mystical process was possible.
The viewers, of course, understood even less. Having a foreign entity in your head that you could communicate with? ’Isn’t that just bizarre?’
But that didn’t stop them from thinking the feature was ridiculously overpowered.
[Wow, does that mean players can just keep exploiting this nasty bug with the system’s help?]
[This crappy game has no respawns, you can’t just go around causing trouble, and you can’t even provoke a regular Cultivator NPC. If the game didn’t provide a few bugs to exploit, who would even want to play?]
[It’s not a bug, it’s the player’s special advantage. I mean, they’re here to play a game. With no other cultivation assistance and no way to just kill wantonly, it’s not like they signed up for torture.]
["Not here for torture," you say. But even without this system, you’d still play, wouldn’t you?]
[That’s a separate issue!]
[I get the feeling the open beta for this crappy game is nowhere in sight. If they let in too many people at once, the Longevity Sect wouldn’t be able to manage them...]
[Holy crap, what’s going on with that Mirror Image?...]
As Lin Yuyu’s final blow landed, a massive Fireball directly finished off the Mirror Image. It let out a short shriek and then fell silent.
But its body didn’t disappear. With a sudden flash of light, it transformed into a tattered strip of red silk.
It looked like a fragment of some kind of item. Lin Yuyu walked over and picked it up. The red silk showed no reaction, but she was able to put it in her Jiezidai.
"It’s like a scrap of cloth."
The red silk fragment was about the size of her palm. Lin Yuyu examined it and then asked the system, "System, can you identify what this is?"
System: "Fabric."
Lin Yuyu was speechless.
Lin Yuyu placed the red silk fragment into her Jiezidai and glanced at the stream comments, hoping the viewers had noticed something she’d missed.
As it turned out, the viewers were just as confused.
[What is this thing? We went through all that trouble to beat a Mirror Image, and this is the only thing it dropped?]
[It does look like a piece of clothing.]
[So this whole mini-realm is just about fighting these Mirror Images to find fragments?]
Lin Yuyu saw this comment and grew thoughtful, murmuring, "Could that really be it?"
Just then, the highlighted comment appeared again.
[Did some kind of anomaly occur because you didn’t change realms?]
Lin Yuyu nodded. "That’s possible. I’ll look around for more Mirror Images, but fighting them really burns through my Spiritual Medicine."
Lin Yuyu herself was broke. She was saving up to buy a Magic Treasure, and like many players, she was still dirt poor.
Lin Yuyu wanted to pursue the path of Artifact Refining, so she had been buying up Demon Beast Materials, leaving her with very few Spirit Stones.
Fighting a single Mirror Image like that one cost her an entire Qi Replenishing Pill. Running into a few more would be disastrous for her finances.
So, she asked the system, "Does the Sect provide Spirit Stones for this hidden quest?"
System: "You can take out a loan. The interest rate is very low."
Lin Yuyu was speechless again.
’What kind of Evil Sect is this!’
’Looks like I’ll have to figure this out myself.’
Fortunately, being in the Secret Realm didn’t stop her from communicating with the outside world. Lin Yuyu sent a private message to Fan Guzhou.
Lin Yuyu: "I’m in the middle of a hidden quest, and it’s burning through my Spiritual Medicine. Do you have any spare Spirit Stones you could lend me? I’ll pay you back with interest, or we could trade for points?"
Fan Guzhou: "Sure, but I have a small request. The next time you’re doing Artifact Refining, if you have a moment, could you craft a Xuan Grade Magic Treasure for me? I’ll provide the materials."
Lin Yuyu: "No problem! You can count on me, buddy!"
Fan Guzhou: "I’ll send you thirty Mid-grade Spirit Stones for now."
After all, they were all in the Late Stage of Qi Refinement, so ordinary First-stage Qi Replenishing Pills weren’t very effective anymore.
Lin Yuyu was stunned. "Holy crap, thirty Mid-grade Spirit Stones? Is your business really that insanely profitable?"
Fan Guzhou: "It’s decent. The Feique Sect has us on a retainer, so I’m holding onto the assets they prepaid our Sect. Just remember to pay me back when you’re done with your quest."
Lin Yuyu: "Absolutely!"
After Fan Guzhou finished his conversation with Lin Yuyu, his eyes met those of Tang Lingxiao, who had just returned from Liu Xian City.
He began, sounding thoughtful, "You said earlier that the Sea View Sect is planning to hold a competition, pitting their Qi Refinement Realm disciples against those from other Sects?"
"That’s right." Tang Lingxiao took a bite of a cream-filled cookie Fan Guzhou had offered him. The sweet taste put him in a good mood. That, combined with the fact that the Spiritual Wine was selling briskly in Liu Xian City and earning him a hefty sum of Spirit Stones, made his business partnership with Fan Guzhou an exceedingly pleasant one.
Therefore, he wasn’t stingy about sharing this piece of news with Fan Guzhou.
Nibbling on the curiously delicious cookie, Tang Lingxiao narrowed his eyes slightly. "The Sea View Sect holds this kind of competition annually, mostly as a way to burnish the reputation of their own disciples. But your Sect seems pretty strong, so you might as well give it a shot. The Sea View Sect is very generous—first place wins a genuine Earth Grade Magic Treasure."
"Earth Grade?" Fan Guzhou was stunned. That was a level of treasure that could be used even by those in the Golden Core Stage.
’The Sea View Sect is really that generous?’
Even he was tempted.
But he knew he wasn’t skilled in combat, so there was no way he’d be the one competing.
’But the other players have a chance!’
Seeing Fan Guzhou’s interest, Tang Lingxiao snorted. "The prize may be good, but it won’t be easy to claim. To even use an Earth Grade item, you need to be at the Foundation Establishment Stage at a minimum. For a Sea View Sect disciple, reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage is hardly a challenge. But for those of us from more remote Sects, it’s considerably more difficult. Besides, any disciple they send to compete while still in the Qi Refinement Realm is bound to be one of their very best. The odds of victory are slim."
Fan Guzhou asked, "Then why tell me?"
Tang Lingxiao explained, "Because to even enter this competition, you have to go through qualifiers against other sects. You’re a subsidiary of the Feique Sect. If the Feique Sect doesn’t approve, your disciples aren’t eligible to participate. If you’re interested, you can go ask them."
The Longevity Sect had indeed been a subsidiary of the Feique Sect.
And they still were.
But only on the surface.
From the moment Fan Guzhou and Chen Miaomiao took over the Feique Sect’s Spirit Grass Cultivation, the process of turning the Feique Sect into a figurehead had begun.
As this thought crossed his mind, Fan Guzhou cupped his hands toward Tang Lingxiao. "Thank you for the information, Mr. Tang."
Then, Tang Lingxiao suddenly remarked, "The amount of Spiritual Wine being sold in Liu Xian City recently doesn’t quite match the volume I’m moving. Are you cooperating with someone else?"