Chapter 182: The Old Sect Master Actually Has an Old Acquaintance
It wasn’t just the system and Song Jiulai who were bewildered.
The players themselves were bewildered, too.
Lin Yuyu had watched Li Qianqing disappear right before her eyes.
She waited for a long time, but she wasn’t teleported.
Alarmed, she cried out, "System! System! Atong! Why didn’t I get teleported? What happened to me?"
"I’m here, I’m here. What’s the rush?" the system said. "There are no anomalies for now. You just haven’t switched worlds, that’s all. It’s not a big deal."
These players had gotten into the habit of calling for the system whenever anything happened.
This was also the reason the system was gradually experiencing data crashes.
With hundreds of squawking ducks yelling for it all day—’System, System’—was it any wonder its data was glitching?
But don’t you dare ask a powerful system like itself how it could short-circuit.
Lin Yuyu looked at the desolate small world still before her. "Really?"
Her reaction also caught the attention of the livestream chat.
[What’s going on? Is there a problem with the game?]
[The instance must be bugged, right? According to that female cultivator, the world was supposed to change after three days. The female cultivator just disappeared, but Daiyu still hasn’t switched instances.]
[Bugs are perfectly normal for a game of this scale.]
[A bug in a game like this... It’s kind of unimaginable.]
Lin Yuyu was also calling out to the other players in the Sect channel.
[Lin Yuyu: @Zhou Nvzi @Jiang Tianya @Mu Qiu... Have you guys switched worlds? I still haven’t!]
[Zhou Nvzi: I haven’t either.]
[Mu Qiu: +1]
[Lin Yuyu: It has to be a bug, right?]
[Han Tian: Huh? Did your hidden quest run into a problem?]
Some people in Han Tian’s livestream chat were also watching Lin Yuyu’s stream, so he quickly learned about the problem.
’Haven’t switched maps. Could it really be a game bug?’
As Han Tian muttered this, Ma Shaojie, who was standing beside him, asked curiously, "What kind of bug is the game having?"
"I don’t know," Han Tian said. "It seems like they ran into a problem with their hidden quest. But it should be fine. I haven’t seen the system say anything."
Ma Shaojie let out an "oh." He wasn’t very concerned with hidden quests. He gazed at the vast, snowy landscape before them.
"Are we about to reach the Liuyun Sect?"
Han Tian looked ahead. "Should be. The map says we’re almost there."
The Liuyun Sect was also an Artifact Refining Sect, and it wasn’t very far from the Feique Sect. Han Tian had already set it as their next stop before they departed a few days ago.
They needed to open up a trade route.
Ma Shaojie, on the other hand, was just tagging along as a tourist.
Although his cultivation was only at the Early Stage of Qi Refinement, he possessed the superpower of cash.
No points in the game? No problem. He’d just transfer real money!
It was just bringing one extra person along; there was no way Han Tian and the others would refuse.
Unlike the warm spring and blooming flowers of the Feique Sect, the surroundings grew progressively colder as they approached Liuyun County, the mortal settlement under the Liuyun Sect.
Han Tian was streaming, and as the camera zoomed in, a magnificent, spectacular snow-capped mountain came into clear view.
Liuyun County lay at the foot of the mountain, a setup similar to the Feique Sect’s, but this entire county seemed to be embedded into the mountainside itself.
It was built along the mountain’s edge, its snow-dusted streets forming beautiful, snowy paths at the mountain’s base.
From a distance, it was a beautiful sight.
The Liuyun Sect was also rich in a type of Snowfield Ore; this very mineral was on the procurement list Chen Miaomiao had given Han Tian before he left.
"It’s so beautiful."
Ma Shaojie sighed in awe.
Back in his own time, he had traveled to most corners of the world.
But to see architecture so steeped in ancient Huaxia culture presented so vividly before him gave him an entirely different feeling.
The past few days of travel had left Ma Shaojie feeling increasingly awestruck.
A boundless map... This place was a simulated world, a game world.
He couldn’t imagine what kind of miraculous creator could have produced such a heaven-defying game.
Liuyun County wasn’t closed off, and it normally received quite a few visitors.
Han Tian led Ma Shaojie and the other players into the city, no longer riding their Flying Magical Treasures.
It was snowing today, but unlike the extreme weather they had experienced in Wang’an County, this was a gentler, more normal kind of snow.
It was a characteristic feature of the Liuyun Sect.
From the outside, the mountain’s blade-sharp silhouette enveloped the entire county in shadow, and icicles under the eaves formed inverted sword formations.
Upon entering the county, they saw the proprietress of a Mortal Inn on her tiptoes, knocking away the icicles in front of her door curtain. The fragments scattered across the bluestone slabs, making a crisp sound like jade shattering on the ground.
She exhaled a puff of white mist toward the mouth of the alley, watching as the north wind tore the hazy vapor into wisps and carried it far away.
Han Tian led his group over. They planned to stay in Liuyun County for a few days and needed to find an inn to rest.
Han Tian was streaming, but with mortals around, he couldn’t always be narrating the sights for his audience.
His viewers could see for themselves, however.
When they saw another new county town appear, its uniquely beautiful snowscape still made viewers’ eyes widen in amazement.
It was simply too beautiful!
This game world was just too massive. When the hell were the damn devs going to release the next wave of open beta slots?
Weren’t they supposed to help the Sect become bigger and stronger? With 1.4 billion Huaxia people, if the devs just dared to release the slots, wouldn’t it be a piece of cake?
What good were a mere 149 players (Zhen Weida died once)?
Not to mention some of them were just slacking off, which was infuriating to watch.
You’re in the Cultivation World and you don’t even cultivate? What kind of slacker are you!
"Excuse me... are you from the Feique Sect?"
Just as Han Tian’s party was entering the inn, a female cultivator called out to them.
They immediately looked over and saw a beautiful female cultivator.
In this world, it was rare to see an unattractive Cultivator.
Once they developed a certain aura, their appearances were generally not bad.
—Except for those like Song Jiulai, who had issues with character creation.
Han Tian immediately spoke up. "Fellow Daoist, we are from Wang’an County, under the Feique Sect. How could you tell?"
They weren’t even wearing Feique Sect uniforms.
The female cultivator hesitated for a moment before saying, "I can smell the scent of where you came from. Have you heard of a small sect on Feique Mountain called the Longevity Sect?"
"The Longevity Sect?" Han Tian and the others exchanged a look, then he immediately said, "We are disciples of the Longevity Sect. You’ve heard of us, Fellow Daoist?"
’Logically, our business shouldn’t have reached the Liuyun Sect’s territory yet,’ he thought. ’But the Longevity Sect and the Feique Sect have been practically joined at the hip lately. No matter how slowly news travels in the Cultivation World, the nearby sects should know of our existence. It’s not that surprising that this female cultivator knows about us.’
But she clearly didn’t seem as if she’d only just heard of them.
She looked astonished. "The Longevity Sect has actually taken in new disciples? Then, what about your Sect Master? I met him once, several years ago, but his lifespan was nearing its end. I had business to attend to and had to leave, and I’ve only just returned. Don’t tell me he managed another breakthrough in his cultivation?"
Han Tian immediately cupped his fist in his hand and said, "Our Sect Master is named Song Jiulai. It seems he’s not the same person you’re talking about, Fellow Daoist..."
"Ah?"
The system suddenly spoke to Song Jiulai. ’Oh, crap! The Old Sect Master actually had an old acquaintance!’