Chapter 31: I Really Want to Curse Out Loud

Mo Jiang felt completely at ease. With the experience of his first relic world, he no longer believed anything in this game zone could pose a threat to him. In all the relic worlds he had traversed so far—aside from the hurried chaos of the Demon Ghost Metropolis, whose power levels he could not assess—the others had never contained power surpassing the third tier. The Seventh Doll had also remarked that, in the main world, there were not even any newly awakened extraordinary beings in the southern region who had reached the third tier. All this pointed to just how slim the chances were of encountering fourth-tier power.

This former illusory realm had been thoroughly transformed, now bearing all the hallmarks of an online game. The first thing Mo Jiang needed to find was the path into the Netherworld.

However, this second-tier monster hunting zone seemed vast. Mo Jiang wandered through this world until nightfall before he finally caught sight of signs of human habitation.

It was a small town. At its entrance stood several figures who looked suspiciously like game NPCs, dressed as soldiers, each as stiff and motionless as wooden stakes, illuminated by the glow of a few lanterns.

Mo Jiang’s imposing size made him highly conspicuous in the dusk. The supposed NPCs reacted immediately, releasing a few items that instantly ignited torches, revealing a crowd of figures gathering at the town’s entrance. More people hurried out from within.

“Damn, that’s Nascent Soul pressure! What is that thing?”

“This isn’t good. Our town only has one Golden Core cultivator. There’s no way we can resist that!”

“Heavens, is it possible for anyone to achieve Nascent Soul? I thought the path was severed as soon as our consciousnesses were trapped inside this game! Even we can only reach level 39.”

Sparse voices drifted from the crowd. To Mo Jiang’s surprise, some of them were once players.

His keen hearing picked them out at once. In a patch of shadow stood two figures dressed as the Black and White Impermanence. Over their heads floated two lines of text:

LV 39 Black Impermanence, Jiang Wen.

LV 39 White Impermanence, Song Rumo.

“Two with third-tier standard power…” Mo Jiang’s heart skipped at the realization. His own fourth-tier power had been evaluated as level 41, and before amplification, his power frequency was only 109, not 299. Thus, level 39 could indeed be inferred as third-tier standard. The fact that such power appeared in a mere small town made him uneasy.

If this followed the usual script, the further he went, the more formidable the adversaries would become.

“Could there really be someone here at level fifty or higher?” Mo Jiang’s anxiety grew, and he set aside his earlier carefree attitude, growing cautious.

As for their mention of the Nascent Soul path being severed, Mo Jiang did not understand.

At that moment, a few people stepped out from the crowd, including the two dressed in black and white. Only those two were former players; the other four were locals—NPCs.

LV 32 Master Qingfeng.

LV 29 Three-Lotus Fairy.

LV 28 Sword Guest.

LV 28 Monk Pingyi.

These were the titles over the four heads, with no names, only designations.

Just as Mo Jiang could see the text above their heads, so too could these people see the text above his. But Mo Jiang’s sheer size was so overwhelming, they scarcely dared look at him.

“Friend…” Song Rumo hesitated but addressed him thus.

“Just call me Mo Jiang. We’re all the same,” Mo Jiang replied.

At his words, Song Rumo and Jiang Wen both breathed a sigh of relief. They understood the implication—that he, too, was a “player.”

If he was a player, then he was a modern person, not bound by as many rules or barriers, and conversation would be easier.

“Brother Mo Jiang, are you here in our town to take on a Netherworld quest?” Jiang Wen asked cheerfully. “By the way, which region did you come from before? We’ve never met you.”

“I got killed. I really died, died in the game, and then, somehow, I found myself trapped somewhere. Only recently did I dig my way out. Do you know what happened? Are you all dead too? Is the Netherworld real? Can we reincarnate?”

Mo Jiang rattled off a string of questions, playing the part of a former player who had only just escaped his prison.

“You know nothing, brother?” Jiang Wen stared in disbelief.

“If Brother Mo Jiang knows nothing, then let us fill you in. I’ll get things set up first,” Song Rumo said, then ordered the others to disperse.

The in-game characters were all lower level than Song Rumo and Jiang Wen, and as the strong were respected here, when Song Rumo spoke, Master Qingfeng took the hint and led the rest away.

“Brother Mo Jiang, this isn’t the place to talk. Please, come with us.”

“Thank you,” Mo Jiang replied, following Song Rumo and Jiang Wen. Even as they walked further away, he could still hear the townsfolk talking.

“Besides Master Qingfeng, our town actually has two more Golden Core cultivators?”

“Who are those two seniors?”

“I might know a little.”

“Let’s hear it, young friend.”

“I’ve met Foundation Establishment seniors before. My father told me, when he was a child, he once encountered two of the Netherworld’s envoys, one in black, one in white. I suppose those two Golden Core seniors must be them!”

“So they’re Netherworld immortals!”

Mo Jiang quietly took note of everything. He realized that, aside from the game-like setup, the people here seemed lively and real, nothing like the absurdity of the Demon Ghost Metropolis or the Flower Castle. It was as if he’d stepped into another civilization entirely.

“So this is what happens when a timeline is introduced… relic worlds, illusory realms…” Mo Jiang pondered, following Song Rumo and Jiang Wen as they soared into the mountains. Watching the thin threads of luck around them, and the mountain woods receding into the night, Mo Jiang found it all marvelous.

This was Jiang Wen’s Cloud Riding Technique.

Standing atop a cloud had substance, yet made him feel weightless—truly incredible.

“There are still some of that world’s rules in this game zone. Does that mean all those players really gained cultivation powers?” The thought startled Mo Jiang.

Soon, they arrived at a cave dwelling.

Pearls lit the night, casting radiance all around, but not a single figure could be seen.

“Some players like to fill their caves with in-game characters for decoration. I have a few friends who turned their dwellings into fairylands, even giving themselves titles, like ‘Pearl-returning Fairy.’ From time to time, they gather acquaintances for a banquet, for a bit of amusement,” Song Rumo explained.

“But the two of us don’t care for such things,” he added, now openly using the term ‘player’ since no in-game characters were present.

“They’re only fooling themselves with all that,” Jiang Wen said.

Mo Jiang nodded in agreement, sensing that the two were about to tell him what he wanted to know.

With a gesture of Jiang Wen’s finger, a flock of beauties fluttered out of the cave, all light and half-transparent. Over their heads also floated text:

LV3 Wealthy Lady Ghost.

LV7 Courtesan Ghost.

LV6 Village Lady Ghost.

“We’re Netherworld envoys. How could we decorate with those things? Of course, we must be surrounded by a host of lady ghosts! That’s fitting for our position!” Jiang Wen declared righteously.

Song Rumo nodded in wholehearted agreement.

Mo Jiang: “…”