CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 52: RETURN TO PURPLE BAMBOO MOUNTAIN

"Immortal Divine Body Skill" and "Asura Sword Technique" are game characters that are easy to learn.

In fact, Lin Qianxuan in front of the screen understood them at a glance.

Not difficult at all.

Compared to "Little World Technique," it’s the difference between a world problem and kindergarten math.

Gongsun Ying’s favorability also skyrocketed to 48%.

Indeed, it’s easier to win over straightforward personalities like her.

Curious about Gongsun Ying’s strength, Lin Qianxuan suggested a duel.

They set some ground rules, stopping when necessary.

Then, something slightly unexpected happened to Lin Qianxuan.

His game character was quickly approached by Gongsun Ying, and she tapped his forehead with a finger.

[You sparred with Gongsun Ying, who approached you at high speed. You realized it and tried to manipulate the water flow to block her, but it was broken instantly. You used Spiritual Power to perform the Protective Art and retreated abruptly, but still, Gongsun Ying got close and tapped your forehead with a finger.]

[Gongsun Ying (with cupped hands): Young Master Lin, I’ve accepted your concession.]

Lin Qianxuan couldn’t quite accept it.

Is Gongsun Ying at full strength really this formidable?

Was his human form really so easily defeated in one move?

Even though he didn’t use his full strength, Gongsun Ying obviously didn’t either.

She didn’t utilize the special power of her Divine Strategy Body, nor did she perform any significant Divine Martial skills, let alone use a Divine Machine Weapon.

No wonder Gongsun Yue thought victory was hopeless when she learned he planned to help.

With Gongsun Ying’s strength like this, she couldn’t even beat Elite monsters, let alone face the Muddy Spirit Emperor.

If he couldn’t find another way, in order to successfully end this great calamity, he’d probably have to strategize with Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Yue.

Though it wasn’t very ethical, considering it might be the only way to end the disaster, he felt he really had to do it.

Let’s just hope he can complete the strategy while holding onto his principles.

Otherwise, who knows how Chen Long’Er would react.

Just thinking about it gave Lin Qianxuan a massive headache.

This was his first time experiencing love, without much accumulated experience, and he didn’t expect to face such a high-difficulty multitasking scenario so quickly.

Shaking his head slightly, Lin Qianxuan dismissed the distracting thoughts in his mind and continued to focus on the game.

He’d deal with the future when it came. He decided to trust his future self’s wisdom.

For now, it’s all about seriously playing the game, without thinking about other random things.

Besides, it’s still uncertain whether he’ll go or not!

If he really can’t handle it, he’ll have to choose not to touch that stick.

In the game, Lin Qianxuan’s character sought out Gongsun Ying to learn more Martial Techniques later, learning them quickly, but the favorability boost had diminished.

It finally stuck at 51% and wouldn’t rise further.

Lin Qianxuan thought, for the further increase, another method was probably needed.

He advanced the game’s timeline, pushing the time to the next day.

Come morning, the game character gained the Divine Energy brought by the shared talent.

The Divine Energy obtained this time was equivalent to over four years of rigorous cultivation.

The amount of Divine Energy gained didn’t seem to increase by a percentage of the shared talent, but rather as the connection degree increased, the communication time at morning with that Alternate Space in Purple Mansion got longer, allowing more Divine Energy to be drawn from it.

If this keeps up, Gongsun Ying, within a day, could easily gain as much as one or two decades’ worth of Divine Energy Cultivation.

She didn’t need to refine Divine Energy at all, only consider how to consume it.

No wonder she’s learned so many Martial Arts and always works so hard at her cultivation.

Speaking of which, what happens if Divine Energy fills the Purple Mansion, and more Divine Energy is poured in?

Would it burst?

Or would it simply just fill up?

Lin Qianxuan didn’t delve deeply into this issue since he hadn’t yet obtained that talent.

All he could do was gather some information from his game character’s self-description.

Given the present situation of his character in-game, it might take a few more days to fill the Purple Mansion with Divine Energy.

By then, he should know the answer.

In the new day within the game, Lin Qianxuan again let his character attempt to strategize with Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Yue.

But there was little effect.

Gongsun Ying had grown accustomed to his character’s genius performances and now acted as if she didn’t notice them.

As for Gongsun Yue, she hardly showed any emotional fluctuations, solely focused on her own matters. It seemed nothing else mattered to her besides completely resolving the calamity.

Since the path near the sisters was blocked, Lin Qianxuan began exploring the external environment.

He had his game character start investigating the information about Zhang City and the Rebel Army’s situation.

Currently, the Rebel Army’s numbers weren’t high, totaling just around three hundred-plus members.

Out of a city of thirty thousand people, there were only about three hundred rebels?

The number was indeed a bit low.

But they were all elites, entirely Divine Manifestation Realm martial artists.

Or formidable existences capable of matching Divine Manifestation masters.

According to Lin Qianxuan’s estimation, they were at the Profound Rank level in the Otherworld Bureau.

That was already pretty powerful. In early martial arts novels, any one of them would be a master beyond their time, able to fight armies or easily escape from tens of thousands of soldiers.

There are three Squad Commanders in the Rebel Army; they’re named Lou Zheng, Shen Hongshan, and Liu Qingqing, each managing over a hundred warriors.

The strength of the three is weaker than that of Gongsun Ying, but even before the calamity struck, they could still be considered masters.

If we must compare, they should be at the seventh or eighth Heaven of the Profound Rank, and if they use Divine Machines, they might reach an attack strength of the Earth Rank.

Because the game’s characters have showcased their strength to save them, the three were quite courteous in dealing with them.

Lin Qianxuan also obtained some information about the Gongsun sisters through the three.

One particular piece of important information was the origin of Gongsun Ying’s Divine Strategy Limbs.

Lin Qianxuan initially thought they were replaced after an injury.

Upon inquiring, he learned that the limbs on her body were voluntarily replaced by herself.

Body tempering requires time, and even though she did not lack Divine Energy, the body’s absorption was limited. Achieving the strength of Divine Machines in a short time was formidable.

The fragile physical body restricted her use of her own Martial Techniques, forcing Gongsun Ying to pursue sufficient combat power by deliberately removing her limbs, transforming herself into a cyberpunk-like cyborg.

Having read many books in this world, Lin Qianxuan knew that even though this world did not hold the belief of honoring one’s body as a gift from parents, it still greatly valued the original body.

Making such a decision was obviously not easy.

He could imagine that Gongsun Ying might have faced inner struggles.

But ultimately, she chose to sever her limbs to protect more people.

Perhaps this is one reason why she earned the respect of the Rebel Army.

The game character stood on the watchtower, overlooking the scenery of the city.

The city of more than thirty thousand people was not bustling, and people’s faces showed hardly any vitality.

They were just living, and only barely alive.

They lacked the strength to resist, barely relying on some special Divine Machines, struggling through the days, hoping and waiting for a miracle.

Facing this scene, Lin Qianxuan was momentarily stunned.

He had the feeling that the fate of these people rested in his hands.

Choosing wrongly would ultimately lead them to their deaths.

However, Lin Qianxuan soon pushed the time forward.

He wasn’t one to ponder over philosophical dilemmas like the trolley problem.

As long as he acted according to his true intentions, he wouldn’t care about the final outcome.

Even if these people eventually encountered misfortune, it had nothing to do with him.

He was just a gamer; what did these people have to do with him?

Of course, if he could save them along the way, he wouldn’t refuse, but if the risk was too great, then sorry, he didn’t want to play this game of fate.

In the game, Lin Qianxuan had advanced time by several days.

He also took the time to have the game character stroll outside the city twice, closely observing a few Muddy Spirits.

The Muddy Spirits seemed like bio-mutated beings due to contamination.

They exaggerated their instincts and aggression, enhancing their power but losing most of their rational thinking.

They exhibited considerable aggression towards nearby living beings.

However, their aggression towards their kind was not as exaggerated.

They appeared not to need to eat to maintain activity, completely relying on absorbing muddy air to sustain bodily functions.

In a sense, muddy air didn’t seem entirely negative; purely from the perspective of flora and fauna, it even helped with genetic propagation. With that, referring to them as evolving due to muddy air might be apt.

The reason humans didn’t accept it was that muddy air infection would result in a loss of wisdom.

Lin Qianxuan thought of Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Yue sisters just then.

They appeared to have undergone beneficial evolution.

One acquired eyes with special functions, and the other linked the Purple Mansion with an alternate space full of endless pure Divine Energy, and neither had lost rationality.

After about five days in the game, the game character’s Divine Energy filled the Purple Mansion.

Lin Qianxuan also knew the outcome would remain unaffected after filling up and activating the talent.

It wouldn’t spill over or explode the Purple Mansion; it simply stopped allowing new Divine Energy to enter after being filled.

This did make the nature of this talent more controllable.

However, the game’s time line seemed a bit lengthy.

From the time of the game character’s traversal till now, about seven days had passed, yet the game hadn’t ended. The in-game time might be longer than anticipated.

This was a good thing.

Chen Long’Er had only given him three days for strategy, which was tight.

Normally, fully strategizing a character would take at least a month in progression.

With ample time, Lin Qianxuan could devise a better strategy plan.

Lin Qianxuan started advancing the game time line again. On the twelfth day of the game character’s traversal, the Rebel Army had reshuffled and prepared once more.

Gongsun Ying and Gongsun Yue got ready to lead the team to set off again towards Purple Bamboo Mountain.

To be precise, not just Purple Bamboo Mountain.

Purple Bamboo Mountain was the mandatory route to the Celestial Craft Institute, where there were flying ships they wanted to utilize, heading straight to Kyoto to find the Eye of Muddy Air.

Besides that, other ways to Kyoto weren’t reliable.

There were many Muddy Spirits along the way; if they reached outside Kyoto, there seemed to be a huge moat blocking them, making it impossible to bypass.

Outside the city gates, the Rebel Army had gathered.

The game character was also among them, and this looked like the main plot, so Lin Qianxuan would naturally not miss participating.

Moreover, he wanted to know the situation with the Muddy Spirit King at Purple Bamboo Mountain that caused Gongsun Ying’s previous failure.

[Gongsun Ying (waving her hand): Everyone, set off!]

With a command from Gongsun Ying, the group boarded Divine Machine Vehicles and began heading towards the direction of Purple Bamboo Mountain.