Chapter 10: Opening Spiritual Roots
The Players rushed back to their spawn points with excited hearts.
Every game needs a main quest, and theirs was to protect this Sect Master named Song Jiulai.
Since they had to treat the Sect Master as the most important woman in their lives.
Besides Mom, who else could it be?
The Players entered with their hands tied and saw Song Jiulai standing by the door of the house in the middle, smiling.
Song Jiulai’s appearance was her original one; after all, coming to a new World, it was more comfortable to see one’s own native face.
Her native face was the kind of delicate and beautiful that looked very pleasing.
She just looked very harmless.
Wearing a light blue ancient-style long dress, her gentle smile exuded the charm of an ancient woman.
A face like this wasn’t suited for forcibly pretending to be a detached, aloof immortal. Song Jiulai didn’t choose to make things difficult for herself.
After all, it was stated from the start that this was a Shattered Sect, so why should she pretend to be a master?
System: “Lift the corners of your mouth a bit more, to achieve a perfect 45-degree arc.”
Song Jiulai: “…”
With the System Warning in mind, and A Wu’s demonstrated divine abilities, looking at the Sect Master before them, the Players, if not overly excited, were at least whispering and discussing amongst themselves.
“Holy crap, she looks younger than me. So cute, more like a daughter than a mom.”
“Then you’re bold. I call her Mom, and you call her daughter? You’re taking advantage of me?”
“…I could be her wife.”
“Eat dirt! You’re not allowed to be her wife. She’s everyone’s Sect Master!!”
“She looks young, but she might be a hundred years old.”
…
Seeing the crowd’s barely concealed excitement, Song Jiulai realized she would lose her composure if she didn’t speak soon.
Once most people had arrived, she directly said, “Welcome, everyone, to the Longevity Sect on the Yunzhou Continent. I am Sect Master Song Jiulai, and from now on, I will lead you in making the Longevity Sect flourish. As for you all, you will be the Inner Disciples of our Longevity Sect.”
Her opening was a standard game NPC speech, and the Players immediately quieted down, afraid of missing a single word.
And Inner Disciples, that sounded awesome!
Song Jiulai got straight to the point: “As a welcome gift for all new disciples, I will give each of you a Spiritual Root Inner Elixir to awaken your Spiritual Roots and officially begin your Cultivation journey.”
“After taking the Inner Elixir, everyone’s reaction time will differ, and the awakened Spiritual Root Talent will also vary. These are all matters of personal destiny, so do not harbor any ill intentions. Stepping onto the path of Cultivation means cultivating both body and mind.”
“As the Sect Master of the Longevity Sect, my only wish is for every disciple to go as far as possible on the path of Cultivation.”
Song Jiulai’s words clarified that after awakening their Spiritual Roots, everyone’s reactions would indeed be different.
Some would have good Talent, others average.
“Got it, isn’t this just like a lottery? Some are lucky, some are unlucky.”
“Ah, I’m used to it. I never expected to get good Spiritual Roots.”
“It seems everything comes back to the same principle. Playing games doesn’t change the fundamental nature of needing to gamble.”
“It’s okay, isn’t all Cultivation like this? Having poor Talent doesn’t mean you can’t go far. Now, ‘underdog’ stories are popular!”
“Underdog stories are an outdated trope from eight hundred years ago. What’s popular now is effortless gain. Poor Talent doesn’t matter; maybe you’ll stumble upon a Hidden Task and find a powerful Magic Treasure?”
Fortunately, most games nowadays have a multitude of gacha probabilities.
The Players were successfully PUA’d and accepted the idea of differing Talents among everyone quite well.
Besides, they had all read plenty of Cultivation novels. Generally, those with too much Talent early on were easily made into cannon fodder for villains.
Everyone was experienced.
Song Jiulai smiled with satisfaction, then waved her hand, and fifty thumb-sized pills emitting a soft, radiant glow appeared before them.
Calling them pills almost made them sound like they were made of Jade.
Floating in mid-air, with another slight lift of Song Jiulai’s hand, the pills flew to each of them.
This move truly stunned the Players.
After all, there was a gap between online games and true Holographic Games. Watching TV shows didn’t provide the same thrill as everything happening before their eyes now.
Thanks to Su Huanli!
If not for the Mustard Seed Bag she gifted, Song Jiulai might not have been able to store them so perfectly.
What ethereal demeanor! She would have had to awkwardly hand out the pills one by one to the Players—it would have truly looked like distributing medicine.
“Take this pill, sit down where you are, and enter a meditative state. It will begin to change your Spiritual Roots.”
“The process will take anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour, depending entirely on your Talent.”
“Once all of you have successfully opened your Spiritual Roots, I will tell you what to do next.”
After speaking, Song Jiulai turned and walked inside.
The pills began to descend slowly, and the Players curiously took the pills before them into their palms.
They felt warm and smooth to the touch, like Jade. They looked like decent-sized pills; should they just swallow them?
Since it was a Game, they had no psychological barriers. After holding them, they swallowed them without hesitation.
Upon entering their mouths, the Jade-like pills transformed into liquid and flowed directly into the Players’ bodies.
Before the Players could even savor the taste, their vision suddenly went black.
【Spiritual Root opening in progress, the entire process will take 1 hour and 45 minutes…】
The Yunzhou Continent was gone; only this line of text appeared before their eyes.
Understood, it’s equivalent to the game updating a version.
The text that popped up before Han Tian was “2 hours and 35 minutes.” He was taken aback, remembering the Sect Master saying longer was better, and he wasn’t sure if this Talent was good or bad.
Zhou Xiao saw “2 hours and 20 minutes.”
Wu Dahu saw “1 hour and 30 minutes.”
The current situation meant they couldn’t log into the Game. It wasn’t until they logged off that the constraint of the VR glasses on their noses suddenly became heavy, and the Players finally realized they were truly playing a Game.
Zhou Xiao was ecstatic and immediately opened the main game chat group.
As they had expected, the main game chat group had also gone crazy.
But it wasn’t them, the Players currently in the game, but those who hadn’t managed to get in.
Ever since the Reviewers were called back to enter the Game, those of them who were online had essentially never logged off.
The in-game time flow was 2:1, plus the login restrictions. After chopping wood for a while and having dinner there, two hours had passed here.
In two hours, they hadn’t replied to a single message in the game.
After all, when playing a Virtual game, one was fully immersed; who had time to reply to messages?
【Old Daoist Ascended: Holy crap, after playing for so long, they should at least say something if it’s good or bad. Why aren’t they replying to any messages?】
【Philanthropist: It’s just a broken VR game, is it really so engaging that you don’t even have time to reply? Could it be that the manufacturer is deliberately colluding with players for some stunt to advertise?】
【The Sun Shines on Your Dark Heart: That’s unlikely. Big Shot Jing Baotian called for those who weren’t logged in to hurry and log in before he logged off. Seeing him so excited was rare; how much would it cost to get him to play this game?】
【I Once Shook Mountains and Trembled Tigers: Hahahaha, brothers, I won’t say more. From now on, you and I are no longer on the same starting line. @Little Woman Can Uproot Mountains and Rivers @Jing Baotian @Ying Feng Luo Ben @He Jumps High and Pees Far, how long did you all take? Mine was only an hour and a half.】
