Bingxuepiaopiao and Tai Er Zhenren both have very good spiritual root qualifications, much better than the other beta test players.
So after completing their own letter delivery mission, they gathered together first, and then together found the Moon Shadow Palace's base and expressed their desire to join.
When two countries are at war, sects on both sides will plant spies on each other, and even activate some spies who have been hiding for many years.
It is precisely because of this that the appearance of Bingxuepiaopiao and Taier Zhenren caused Guo Ze, the person in charge of Yueying Palace in Taichang Market, quite a headache. He would certainly be reluctant to refuse them, but recruiting them might get him into trouble in the future.
Fortunately, there was a higher-level person in charge here, so the two of them were brought before Xia Yuan.
News spread quickly among players. Even though Bingxuepiaopiao and Taier Zhenren were not present at the Huanyu Market, they learned about the strength of Lin Xiang and Jiaolong through the videos of other players. They also had a certain impression of Xia Yuan, who appeared in the video as a supporting role.
After all, many players and netizens speculated that the other party was dead. If he was not dead, he would bring his senior masters to seek revenge. In short, it would definitely become a drama.
As a player, it’s never too much to just watch the fun.
True Man Tai Er felt that the possibility of the two of them joining the Moon Shadow Palace was slim, as he feared he would be implicated if they hated the whole clan. With this thought in mind, he felt a great deal more relaxed, no longer feeling the urge to join the sect.
If he was rejected or killed, he would just turn to Wanmiao Pavilion and seek refuge with the brothers Han Mu and Xie Longtao.
"I heard you are from Dongshan Village?"
Bingxuepiaopiao nodded. After all, this kind of thing could be found out once it was investigated.
"Where are you from? What are your parents' names? I don't believe that Dongshan Village, with its beautiful natural environment, can produce so many geniuses in cultivation." Xia Yuan questioned. This was indeed a big problem.
There is very little fresh blood in the world of cultivation. It is extremely difficult for ordinary humans in the mortal world to give birth to spiritual roots, let alone their mutated ice spiritual roots and high-grade fire spiritual roots, which are absolutely rare.
For many sects, loyalty is very important. Even if a genius like this is not loyal, they will not be accepted, otherwise he will be a disaster that will lead to the destruction of the sect.
Master Tai Er replied, "That's the truth. We are indeed from Dongshan Village, and our ancestors have lived there for generations."
This is a game where you become a disciple, but it ends up feeling like you're checking your family tree, which is really frustrating.
He wasn't lying.
The soil that makes up the body comes from Dongshan Village, and it has been there for many years.
If it were any other time, no one would care where this person came from. After all, the backgrounds of individual cultivators were different, and even if they were found out, they might not be true.
"Even though I don't believe you, I will still give you a chance."
"What's wrong with this game NPC..."
While communicating with Xia Yuan, he also complained on the forum.
This was something that the game company should have handled, but he had to come up with an excuse on the spot. He suddenly wanted to play some tricks and see if the NPC could understand the game terms.
"We are all gamers from another world. This is the game world, and you are all just NPCs. I don't care about the war between you and the Great Zhou Yaowang Sect and the Fahua Temple. I just want to learn some skills and gain some benefits."
Zhenren Tai Er expressed his thoughts and dissatisfaction in one breath.
In other games, isn't becoming a disciple as easy as just clicking to confirm joining the sect? Now it's made so complicated.
Bingxuepiaopiao was a little surprised, because "Ascension" is an immersive oriental online game.
Players unconsciously imitate the actions and words of the ancients in every move, in order to increase the sense of immersion and put themselves into the background of ancient cultivation.
But right now, Master Tai Er was letting the NPCs get out of the act and started flipping the table.
She originally thought that Xia Yuan and other NPCs would be confused, but they seemed to have not heard these words at all and did not give any feedback at all.
"Words involving players, games, and NPCs shouldn't be automatically blocked, right?" Bingxuepiaopiao whispered to Master Taier. If that was the case, it would make sense.
Xia Yuan said firmly, "You two may join the Moon Shadow Palace, but you must pass the lie detector test with the Moonlight Mirror. I'm warning you in advance: the Moonlight Mirror can clearly discern whether you are lying. If it confirms you are lying, it will be immediately eliminated. In fact, countless spies and traitors have been killed by the Moonlight Mirror recently. No one can hide from it."
"Let's talk about Dongshan Village and Huanyu Market. How much do you know about that sacrificial spirit?" Xia Yuan was concerned about this question. "What level of cultivator is he? Does he have any other subordinates besides the dragon? Are there any special places in Dongshan Village, such as ruins or caves?"
Bingxue Piaopiao shook her head. "We don't know how powerful Lord Ji Ling is. He seems unfathomable. Every time we think we can catch up with him, we find that he shows strength that is even stronger than ours."
"No matter how hard we try, it seems that we are only one step away from his strength." Tai Er Zhenren added. He now knows that many bigwigs in the world of cultivation will hide their strength to pretend to be pigs and eat the tiger. Who would have thought that the sacrificial spirits in the novice village would do the same.
Xia Yuan nodded. This kind of operation is actually very common, and almost everyone in the cultivation world can do it.
Many people conceal part of their true cultivation level and pretend to be low-level cultivators, or suddenly reveal their true cultivation level when encountering cultivators of the same level to reverse the situation.
"In fact, we only learned about the existence of the dragon a short time ago, and the sacrificial spirit has not appeared yet. He still brings surprises to everyone from time to time."
Xia Yuan really found it difficult to gauge the other party's strength, but he didn't want to expose his potential opportunities, which gave him a headache.
Bingxue Piaopiao then spoke up, "Actually, Your Excellency Xia Yuan, you can visit the Huanyu Market again as a guest. I know that the Baibao Pavilion has already sent someone there. From what I understand, the Dongshan Village Sacrifice Spirit is very angry about the Great Zhou's secret killing of the other Sacrifice Spirits. He's definitely not an accomplice. He's been trying to protect the villagers, hoping to shelter more refugees."
"Are you serious?"
Xia Yuan laughed in anger. He was knocked away with one foot, but he ran over with the next foot. He really didn't care about his reputation!
He is a disciple of a top sect and he cannot afford to lose face.
"Sir Xia Yuan, the Huanyu Market only wants to gain fame. We won't become mortal enemies with the Moon Shadow Palace. We ordinary cultivators don't want to see that happen."
"Yes, in fact, there are many cultivators with excellent qualifications in the Huanyu Market who also want to join the Moon Shadow Palace. If you can seize the opportunity and accept them as outer disciples before sects like Wanmiao Pavilion and Tianjian Sect, you will definitely be better than the others."
"Stop talking. Just come with me back to Yueying Palace to undergo the lie detection test with the Mingyue Mirror." Xia Yuan was going to go back and report to his master in person to see if he could get the support of his own lineage.
Just as the two people in front of me said, there are still 600 internal test players behind, and there must be some with outstanding spiritual roots among them.
If Yueying Palace wants to expand the size of its disciples, this is definitely a good opportunity.
…
In Dongshan Village, Lin Xiang gathered all the soul crystals collected in the Five Elements Bing Fire Array and absorbed them.
I hadn't collected any soul crystals in a few days, but now I saw I had over a hundred. The one with the most soul power was the lv.19 Evil Ghost, which provided over a hundred times the soul power of a lv.1 Yin Soul.
The so-called evil ghost is the evil spirit encountered on the day of death. The evil spirit on the earth is ferocious, and when combined with the ghost, it adds a bit of viciousness.
In the past, cultivators would utilize Earthly Evil Qi to cultivate, but soon discovered its numerous drawbacks and abandoned this method. Only unorthodox cultivators and those without a strong heritage would resort to this method. Early encounters with the right Earthly Evil Qi allowed for rapid advancement, but at best, they would remain stuck at the Foundation Establishment stage.
The evil energy from the earth will pollute the golden elixir. If one wants to condense the elixir, he must expel the evil energy from the earth, which will undoubtedly mean dispersing his power and starting over again.
The evil ghost has the potential to continue to advance. If it had not encountered the Five Elements Bing Fire Array, it might have continued to practice in the gray fog and the evil energy of the earth for a few days and then broken through to lv.20!
In that case, it would pose a much greater threat to the formation and the players.
Soul crystals are indeed good things, but absorbing too many of them can easily cause the soul to become less solid. The soul needs to be constantly tempered to knock out the impurities in the soul crystals.
Lin Xiang's entire body is made up of the spirit and soul, so he has to pay more attention to these things.
Fortunately, the number of soul crystals is nothing compared to his body, especially since he is practicing the exercises with his spiritual body.
Human cultivators practiced their skills to expel impurities and waste gases from their bodies, while Lin Xiang expelled impurities from his soul, like a natural furnace.
The Panlong Whip in his dantian also continuously purified the absorbed soul power and quietly restored a little bit.
Every beta test player has the task of collecting the five virtues. Each person can only collect some occasionally, but when combined, it is relatively a lot.
Although he strongly suspected that the Coiling Dragon Whip was the Divine Whip, the name on the game system had not changed. Perhaps he would have to wait until it was completely repaired before he could see any clues.
But it’s better this way, the other monks or sacrificial spirits will not associate the Panlong Whip with the legendary ancient artifact!
If you concentrate on practicing, time will pass quickly.
While Lin Xiang was practicing, he was secretly checking the posts and replies of other players on the game forum.
"Hey, why did the game banner change?"
[Ascension's public beta is imminent, and pre-sales for gaming helmets are officially open!]
A sudden cold sweat broke out on his vest.
My company was originally run by someone, but they actually watched me manipulate the announcements and sections on the official website's homepage at will!
Originally, Lin Xiang thought he was working for an ordinary gaming company.
However, this is not the case now. Which game company can launch a groundbreaking gaming helmet?
"They've been hiding..."
Lin Xiang felt like a little white mouse placed in a glass container in a laboratory, his every move being observed under a magnifying glass. This feeling of powerlessness made him extremely uneasy and angry.
Do the people in the game company know that they have traveled into the game world?
If you don’t know, will you mistake your own consciousness for the main brain consciousness of the game?
If they knew, why did they remain silent and hide until now?
Lin Xiang now has a hundred thousand questions he wants to ask the game company. What is the condition of his body?
If possible, he would also like to log in and out freely like other players, even if he needs to play the role of an NPC.
The appearance of this game banner caused netizens to go crazy.
We've had enough of being spectators.
I’ve been itching to play the game myself after watching the beta testers having so much fun. Now I finally have the chance to get into the game myself. Who wouldn’t be excited?
"I've placed the order. I'll be able to enter the game in three days, hehehe."
“I don’t know where I will be born.”
"It would be better if we were at Lao Lin's place in Dongshan Village. At least we are more familiar with his place."
"You're overthinking it. Given the current popularity of the game, there could be millions of players entering on the first day, and they'll definitely be assigned to other Novice Villages."
"Ahhhhhhhhhh, the immortal hero dream I've been looking forward to for so many years is finally coming true!"
“I wonder what the other novice villages will be like. I’m really looking forward to it.”
"I have to quickly prepare a beginner's guide."
"Hehehe, when the time comes, you guys can take me flying."
Netizens were so excited that they couldn't wait to enter the game directly and didn't want to wait another three days.
With more players, the map of "Ascension" will definitely be more comprehensive and will not be limited to Dongshan Village.
It is just one of the thousands of novice villages.
By then, countries such as the Great Zhou, the Great Wei, and the Great Song will appear.
There are many players who are interested in games, and many of them were not interested in games originally. They were only interested in virtual helmets and virtual worlds.
What limits the number of gamers is probably the price of the helmet.
Internal beta players do not need to buy a virtual helmet themselves, but public beta players need to spend 9999 yuan to buy it.
Lin Xiang sighed. He knew that this was both a challenge and an opportunity.
As the number of players increases, even if the Huanyu Market fails to attract nearby NPC monks, it can still survive well by relying solely on the nearby players, provided that it can continue to provide the items and equipment that the players need.
In the game chat area for beta testers, everyone was also discussing the public beta test.
Now they can still lead for a while, but how long can this lead last?
“The number of players is finally increasing, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing.”
"Yeah, the monster population will be affected then. It'll be impossible to snatch low-level monsters. One ghost might take hundreds of people to attack."
"The game should spawn more monsters, otherwise there won't be enough."
"Now I'm worried about whether the price of equipment will increase, after all, the output is not large."
"Hey, I'm going to be level 10 soon. I can go get a Black Snake Sword quest first."
"They may not be able to reach Dongshan Village, they may be somewhere else. We may need to go to other maps to encounter them, don't worry."
"Everyone, hurry up and upgrade! Don't let anyone catch up, or you'll get this beta qualification for nothing."
"The public beta will be launched after Lao Lin's auction is over."
"When you become apprentices, be careful. These NPCs will ask about your hometown and other things. It's best to tell the truth because they'll have to take a lie detector test."
"Everyone, pay attention! I've successfully persuaded a Foundation Establishment expert from the Wan Miao Pavilion to come to the market. Let's see if you can become my disciple and learn from me in advance. Even if you have to wait until you reach level 10, it will save you the trouble of traveling."
"Damn, Boss Han is so powerful and domineering!"
"I like big guys like this."
"Excuse me, what are the skills of Wanmiao Pavilion and are the benefits good?"
…
Lin Xiang didn't say a word, and the players did a lot of things silently.
He did not invite these sects to send envoys to recruit disciples, and the players spontaneously wanted to help make this market more lively.
"No matter if there's a real GM or not, I'm just going to focus on leveling up!"
Anyway, the thing has been done. There is no point in regretting or worrying. It is better to work hard to improve yourself and wait for the other party to come to you.
If I can become a powerful and famous NPC by then, I believe the game company will be a little cautious and will not easily force the deletion of my character.
Game companies all want to make profits, so they must take players' emotions into consideration. It is impossible for them to get rid of such an important character for no reason.
If they really take drastic measures, it will inevitably cause a strong backlash from the players. At that time, there will definitely be a lot of players who are dissatisfied with it and demand a refund.
It now seems that popularity is Lin Xiang’s amulet.
"It seems that I was too low-key before, not high-profile enough!"
Fortunately, he successfully seized the opportunity and called on players to conduct an internal test before the public beta of the game, so that almost all attention was focused on him in the early stage.
There will be no such opportunity after the public beta.
Because every player would definitely prioritize their own Novice Village, and only pay attention to others unless something earth-shattering happened. After all, the cultivation world is too vast, and even if Dongshan Village did well, they wouldn't be able to teleport over immediately.
Lin Xiang knew that the only people he could rely on now were these internal test players. He had to let them maintain their top level and have enough say so that they could continue to speak for him.
"It's not too late to wake up now. There is enough time and opportunity."
He must make himself famous and attractive enough, and even make the Universal Market more prosperous.
In this case, style is key.
"I have to create a new personality for myself that is attractive enough to them."
Previously, Lin Xiang was labeled as mysterious. He was rarely seen and had little contact with players.
Everyone seemed to treat him as an NPC with a hidden background, nothing special.
Even in terms of popularity, Tan Mengru, who has been a ghost messenger for only a short time, may be higher than him.
Because she is beautiful and very friendly, she can get along well with both villagers and players. She is also good at medicine and has a fairy aura.
The popularity of Mo Jiao is also quite high, because Chinese people all have a special liking for Jiaolong.
Lin Xiang not only wants players to ask for something from him, but also wants them to like him.
"Oh, isn't this a star-making plan?"
Lin Xiang laughed in silence. He never thought that such a thing would happen. He would become the god in the hearts of all players.
"If you want to impress the players, strength is very important. Let's go back to Qingwei Sword Sect tonight to climb the tower and kill monsters."
In fact, Lin Xiang’s level is now close to lv.17. Even though he is busy with construction and production every day, his speed of gaining experience points has not stopped.
But unlike players who can complete tasks, he can only issue tasks.
"Hey, can I collect players' experience points as currency?" This idea suddenly came to Lin Xiang's mind. He only tried to use spirit stones as currency in the store.
If the player's experience can be transferred to himself, it will definitely be an upgrade artifact!
You can assign tasks to them yourself without consuming your own experience points.
Players can spend the experience points they gain after completing the task, so they don’t actually lose money and can just slow down the upgrade process a bit.
In the end, they are just taking advantage of the gaming system!
It seems like I'm extending the life of the game in disguise.
If players level up too quickly, they will soon reach the ascension stage, and when they reach the maximum level, they will easily quit the game.
This is the case with many online games and even single-player games.
If each player can provide himself with 100 experience points, then the 100 players will have a total of 10,000 experience points, and 600 players will have a total of 60,000 experience points!
What's more, the experience points he gains are not limited to the players in Dongshan Village.
You can appear in places where there are many other players, and think of yourself as a roving merchant or roving NPC, and you can teleport all over the map.
Killing monsters is not as easy as cutting the leeks of players.
"Go try it now."
So Lin Xiang immediately stood up and teleported himself to the exit of the Five Elements Wu Earth Formation.
It was already late at night, but the night owl players went out in groups because the earth was covered with gray fog, and all the monsters hiding during the day appeared. It was a good opportunity to subdue the monsters.
Li Kuang, a player holding a hunting bow, was rushing outside. He was late in logging online today because of something else. His team members had already started fighting outside, and he was the only one left.
"Drinking is a waste of time. I will never drink again."
Li Kuang knew the location of the team members, and he had to get there as soon as possible, otherwise he would miss the experience.
At this moment, he suddenly saw a fairy with golden light shining in front of him!
"Hello, Lord... Lord Ji Ling!" Li Guang hurriedly stopped. The sudden appearance of the Ji Ling, who was usually not seen, must mean something good is going to happen.
As expected, Lin Xiang said, "Young man, if you have time, can you help me check whether the Five Elements Wu Earth Formation is operating normally?"
In Li Kuang's ears, this sentence was accompanied by a daily task.
[Ding, Lin Xiang, the spirit of Dongshan Village, has issued a task to you - check the formation. Do you accept?]
[Inspect the Formation: Attack the Five Elements Wu Earth Formation ten times to test whether the formation is working. Mission Reward: 300 Experience Points, 10 Favorability Points.]
When Li Kuang saw the content of this task, his expression was a little distorted.
"Isn't it too easy?"
"Is this some kind of hidden mission?"
"Could it be that the sacrificial spirit wants to test me?"
Despite all kinds of doubts, he still accepted the task, then walked out of the market gate, turned around, picked up the hunting bow, gathered the spiritual power in his body, and prepared to perform well.
Since I want to test the formation, I must use the most powerful skills and make sure to let the sacrificial spirit see my serious attitude and my great potential!
In fact, Lin Xiang just couldn't come up with a simpler task. After all, there still had to be some so-called rationality. It was impossible to reward players with experience points and favorability just by pulling weeds.
Even if Li Kuang just shot 10 arrows randomly, he would be judged to have completed the task.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, arrows condensed with fire-attributed spiritual power shot towards the light curtain of the Five Elements Wu Earth Array.
Li Kuang wanted to show off in front of the sacrificial spirit, so he used the skill that consumed the most spiritual energy.
Each skill consumes 10% of spiritual power, but after one attack, all the spiritual power was drained.
Lin Xiang over there couldn't help but sigh in his heart, kid, you really think too much!
Usually players will take advantage of loopholes and complete tasks as easily as possible.
But this archer is too honest.
He actually used spiritual power to attack the light curtain of the formation, which not only wasted time, but also wasted the spiritual stones used to set up the formation.
Fortunately, his spiritual power supported 10 shots, otherwise Lin Xiang would have to wait for Li Kuang to recover his spiritual power.
"Thank you for your help, young man. It seems that our formation is still effective." Lin Xiang was talking nonsense. As the person who set up the formation, how could he not know whether the formation was effective or not?
Li Guang immediately received a notification that the mission was completed.
Lin Xiang's true intentions were fully revealed, and he continued, "It seems that you are a kind-hearted chivalrous man. Since you have the heart to save the common people, how can you travel the world of cultivation without powerful spells to protect yourself? I have some items that are suitable for your current level of strength. You can purchase them as you see fit."
After saying that, he showed the other party the hidden store he had just set up.
Originally, Lin Xiang thought that he would no longer need to use this function after arranging a store in the market, and naively thought that this function would be useless.
I didn’t expect it would come in handy now!
In his personal hidden shop, he can use experience points to purchase the skills he can teach others, but any items must be traded in kind.
In other words, players can spend experience points to buy skills from Lin Xiang, but they cannot buy equipment or elixirs.
Despite some restrictions, Lin Xiang was very satisfied with it.
The bookstore inside the market must be open so that everyone can know how expensive a skill book is, and how cost-effective it is to buy it with experience points from Lin Xiang.
Just like many unscrupulous businessmen open stores of the same type on both sides of the street, seemingly competing with each other. Consumers think they are getting discounts, but in fact they are all shopping in his store.
It would be best if the skill books in the bookstore could be sold, but if they can't be sold, it can also give players a psychological hint.
That means NPC Lin Xiang is really good, and you can exchange experience points for good things!
It is really a good profit.
"It really is a hidden opportunity. These skills that cost five or ten spirit stones in the bookstore actually only require 5,000 or 10,000 experience points."
Li Guang was so excited that he couldn't stop smiling. Including the 300 experience points he had gained from completing the task, he was currently at level 9 with 6,900 experience points. He needed another 3,100 points to upgrade to level 10.
Collecting spirit stones is difficult, but gaining experience points is much easier.
Even if you don't fight monsters, you can still gain experience points by completing tasks, meditating, practicing, or doing daily work, which is quite cost-effective.
Anyway, I will definitely be able to reach level 10 tonight, so I might as well buy some skills to equip myself. Such an opportunity will never come again.
5,000 experience points correspond to skills worth 5 spirit stones, including fire sword skills, ice arrow skills, golden cone skills, golden armor skills, wooden thorn skills, etc.
These spells are relatively weak and can be used by people of all spiritual attributes.
Li Guang thought seriously, "I'm a ranged ADC. Rocket is basically enough. I can try Frostbolt, a control skill. It should come in handy when kiting or in team fights."
Rocket Magic was the skill he had just used, covering the arrow with a layer of fire-attribute spiritual power, causing fire damage or even explosive damage to the monster.
Ice Arrow Technique naturally shoots arrows with freezing properties, slowing down or even freezing the opponent, causing their movement speed to decrease.
This is indeed a must-have skill for a long-range archer!
Li Guang said confidently, "Master Ji Ling, I would like to purchase the Ice Arrow Technique. Is that possible?"
"Of course." Lin Xiang took out a blank jade slip, engraved the practice and usage methods of ice arrow technique on it on the spot, and handed it to the other party.
Li Kuan immediately saw his experience value drop rapidly to 1900 points.
Lin Xiang received a prompt from the game system.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining 4500 experience points! ]
"Wow, the game system actually deducts 10% of the experience points as a handling fee."
Lin Xiang complained in his heart, but he was still very satisfied. He could accept it even if 50% was deducted.
With this method, upgrading is not difficult.
He only hoped that Li Kuang could be more "selfless" and quickly tell the other players that they could exchange experience points for skills, otherwise he would have to find a few more people to issue tasks!
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