Chapter 27 Chapter 27 Big Business!
"Actually, the Five Elements Dao Body is just a speculation I read in ancient books. There's no definitive record of anyone ever achieving the Five Elements Dao Body. Furthermore, you only have the lowest-grade five spiritual roots..."
"You were able to successfully break through to the seventh level of the Qi Refining Stage today. Firstly, your sudden enlightenment triggered a strange phenomenon in heaven and earth. Secondly, the Guanyun Terrace was filled with abundant spiritual energy. Thirdly, the Heavenly Ladder automatically protected its master, indirectly helping you to sort out the chaotic spiritual energy."
"However, sudden enlightenment is a golden opportunity, one that only comes once. I've never heard of anyone experiencing sudden enlightenment as easily as eating or drinking water. And given your aptitude, it would probably take you hundreds of years, or even longer, to break through to the eighth level of the Qi Refining Stage through cultivation."
When Master Chang said this, he touched the head of his little disciple in front of him with a worried look on his face. Things are unpredictable. Who would have thought that he would think of taking in a disciple again after so many years? He thought he had taken in a genius, but unexpectedly he took in a short-lived ghost.
But he had already taken him in, and he wasn't the type to abandon his child easily... Well, anytime he thought about the fact that his new disciple's life span was shorter than the spirit rats he used to play with as a child, he felt like crying.
That big rat that could only gnaw on the corners of the table stayed with him for three hundred years, but this lively and lovely little apprentice only died in the same hundred years.
It seems that he cannot remain in seclusion for the next hundred years, otherwise his disciple will die while he is in seclusion, and he will have no choice but to cry while holding a pile of earth after he comes out.
"The maximum lifespan of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator is one hundred and fifty years. Hey, my dear disciple, life is but a few decades long, a fleeting moment. Don't take anything to heart these days. Just buy whatever you want to eat and eat and drink as much as you can."
Master Chang's eyes were filled with sadness and love: "Master will definitely protect you and watch over you until the last moment."
Yun Miao: "...Doctor, ah, no, Master, I think I can still be saved."
Sect Leader Chang comforted her, "Although there are many cultivators in the world, only a handful have truly achieved immortality and achieved eternal life. Most people will die, and I am no exception. I even had a sudden inspiration last time and built myself a top-quality purple-gold bronze coffin. So you don't have to be afraid, just treat it with a normal attitude."
He lowered his voice and said, "By the way, I secretly embezzled those high-quality purple-gold coppers from the Deacon Hall's treasury. I only told you, so you must not tell anyone else. Otherwise, both us, master and disciple, will suffer."
Yun Miao's eye twitched. During the day, this old man with a white beard looked quite sage-like, majestic and kind. No one told him that he was so abstract in private. It was one thing for him to force her to accept the death notice, but an NPC would actually embezzle public funds?
According to common sense, she should have said "My destiny is in my own hands" at this moment, asking her master not to look down on her, or sincerely thanked her master for his comfort and see if she could improve his favorability towards her.
But after thinking for a second, she decisively chose the third path: "Master, I also want a coffin made of purple gold copper."
Although I don’t know what material purple gold copper is made of, I know it’s a good thing just by listening to it.
Sect Master Chang stroked his beard in a troubled manner and said, "My dear disciple, your Senior Uncle Yan'er has been keeping a close watch on us lately. The treasury of the Deacon Hall is locked tightly, making it difficult to enter."
Yun Miao: "Then Master, please give me your purple-gold bronze coffin. I only have a few decades left to live anyway, it will be a matter of a few seconds. And you still have many years to live."
Sect Leader Chang: "This..."
Yun Miao said aggrievedly, "Master, I won't be around for long. Are you willing to let me go?"
Master Chang's long eyebrows were furrowed, and he stroked his beard faster.
*
A moment later, Sect Leader Chang flew away on the moon. Yun Miao stood in the yard and waved goodbye happily.
"Thank you, Master. Please come visit us often when you have time!"
Great! There is a new high-quality purple-gold bronze coffin in the storage bag, and the player’s collection is +1!
When she has time to decorate her home, she will dig a basement and hide the coffin in it. When she has nothing to do, she can lie down in it and jump out to pretend to be a zombie! Hehehe!
Back in the house, Yun Miao did not log off and sleep as he had thought before, but picked up the "Low-level Qi Training Technique" that Senior Brother Qi had just given him.
Classics are indeed timeless, even though she had long guessed that she was dealing with a loser's comeback scenario. But after personally experiencing the sighs, regrets, and pessimism of those around her, she still felt a little depressed.
As an immersive player, Yun Miao feels that she has been completely immersed in the plot. She postponed her sleep as she will now practice hard to amaze all the NPCs as soon as possible!
So she sat cross-legged on the carved wooden bed, spread out the "Low-Level Qi Refining Technique" in front of her, carefully noted down the spiritual energy circulation routes on the little man in the picture, then put her five hearts facing the sky and closed her eyes.
She sat there for half an hour, never opening her eyes or turning to the next page. Her expression gradually changed from one of smug confidence to one of disbelief and doubt.
Finally, Yun Miao opened his eyes expressionlessly and looked at the slowly growing blue bar on the system panel.
Good news: Because she had already drawn Qi into her body during her epiphany, she already had the skill 'Drawing Qi into the Body' in her skill list. No need to learn it separately.
Bad news: The speed at which her low-grade five spiritual roots absorbed spiritual energy was comparable to the speed at which she wrote a paper in college, um... the kind that took her three words in an hour.
No wonder the master is so pessimistic. She herself wants to cry when she sees the speed of cultivation.
Yun Miao fell back on the bed and decisively changed his original plan of "working hard to practice and astonish everyone" to "working hard to find game props to improve his qualifications and astonish everyone."
At this moment, a light different from the moonlight suddenly flashed in the dark room.
Yun Miao looked down in confusion and saw that it was the disciple token on her waist that was flashing. She raised her hand to take it, but as her hand touched the token, an unfamiliar voice entered her ears.
[Junior Sister Yun, are you there?]
Yun Miao: ???
"My name is Shang Mancang. I joined the sect in the same batch as you. We just took a tour of the main peak with Senior Sister Ning. You should remember Senior Sister Ning saying that the disciple token has the ability to communicate, right?"
Shang Mancang's voice was enthusiastic, even flattering: "I asked a senior sister at Zhenfeng, and she said that since you're a new disciple, your disciple order probably hasn't been restricted yet. So I only need to know your name to contact you through the order."
[I'm sorry to bother you at night. I hope you, Junior Sister Yun, will forgive me. You lost quite a bit of blood today on the Guanyun Terrace. I wonder how you're doing? Are you feeling unwell?]
Yun Miao: ???
[Junior Sister Yun? Junior Sister?]
Shang Mancang: [Ah, I almost forgot, Junior Sister Yun, do you still not know how to use the Disciple Token? First, place the token close to your brow, then concentrate and feel it, and you will naturally know how to use it.]
Yun Miao did as she was told doubtfully. In an instant, the disciple's command shone brightly, and a message seemed to appear out of thin air in her brain.
Because the essence of holographic games is to create illusions in the brain by interfering with brain waves, she accepts this phenomenon well.
She just felt that the message was too flowery and made her a little confused. It took her a long time to sort it out in a way that she could understand.
In the world of cultivation, there is a special jade slip that can connect the spiritual consciousness of cultivators within a certain range, allowing them to communicate through the air. This area is called the airspace.
To put it simply, the jade slip is a mobile phone, the spiritual consciousness is WiFi, and the airspace is a local area network. The disciple order of Xuantian Sect integrates this jade slip to build a local area network belonging to the sect.
Because Qi Refining disciples lacked divine consciousness, the sect had previously instructed disciples at the Golden Core stage and above to deposit a small amount of data (divine consciousness) into the tokens of Qi Refining disciples like Yun Miao. Once this amount was used up each month, they could only go to the Deacon Hall, where they would top up the data for Qi Refining disciples based on a quota.
Therefore, this message also specifically reminded Yun Miao to use it sparingly so as to avoid running out of spiritual power (traffic).
Sects usually transmit information to disciples through regional networks, such as issuing a series of sect tasks. Disciples who complete the tasks can obtain sect contribution points.
Another example is announcing the latest sect activities, or posting the disciple contribution list, the champion list, the alchemist list, etc., similar to the school hanging the photos of the three good students on the public notice wall.
Disciples could also use tokens to surf the internet, post requests for help, and communicate with each other. As Yun Miao's mind moved, countless posts (spiritual consciousness messages) entered her mind, opening the door to a new world for her.
"Zhaixing Pavilion's latest edition of the 'Cultivation World Beauty List' was released yesterday, and the eldest brother was only ranked third. What a bunch of tasteless guys!"
"Who on earth was the bastard who secretly cut down the Law Enforcement Hall's fortune tree? As a disciple of Jianfeng who was implicated by you, I just want to say... well done!"
"Today, I only got the Zizhi Garden mission. I'm working hard on the land, while the old ox from Danfeng is whipping us to work. It's totally against the will of Heaven!"
"That old fox at the Beast Peak next door has been howling at the moon for nearly half a month. Are you guys at Beast Peak really not going to discipline it?"
"Hehehe, it seems that tomorrow is the disciple-recruiting ceremony. I wonder how many more disciples and sisters we'll have this year."
"Today's stargazing results are out. Tomorrow's weather is expected to be sunny..."
Yun Miao was stunned and was once again shocked by the freedom of this game. This world actually has an online world for cultivating immortals, and players can actually become friends with NPCs online?
Shang Mancang: [Junior Sister Yun? Junior Sister? Are you there?]
Yun Miao came back to his senses: [Didn't we join the sect together? Why do you call me Junior Sister?]
[Junior sister, have you learned it so quickly? You really have extraordinary comprehension!]
Shang Mancang first praised them enthusiastically, and then said that Yun Miao was the last one to pass the test and join Xuantian Sect. Since he joined after them, he was naturally the youngest. Finally, he asked about Yun Miao's physical condition.
Yun Miao was suspicious: [I'm in good health. What do you want to talk to me about?]
Shang Mancang: [Hehe, let's not beat around the bush. I do have something to discuss with Junior Sister Yun. Um... Junior Sister, are you interested in getting rich with me?]
Her voice was attentive, and she explained her purpose in the warm and smooth tone typical of a businessman.
To put it simply: she combined Senior Sister Ning's introduction to the stone pillar this morning with the gossip she heard from other senior brothers and sisters in Zhenfeng, and discovered a huge business opportunity.
Many disciples below the Jindan stage within the sect wanted copies of the ancestral inscriptions, but unfortunately, they didn't know how to obtain them. So, if someone could copy all the ancestral inscriptions on the stone pillars and sell them to these people, wouldn't that make them rich?
So Shang Mancang thought of Yun Miao first. Yun Miao copied the books and she would sell them, and they would split the profits 50-50 after the deal was done.
Another side quest?
Yun Miao glanced at the four treasures of the study on the table with a lack of interest: [Such an obvious business opportunity, are you sure no one else has noticed it besides you?]
Shang Mancang immediately said that this was not a problem. Although according to the information she had inquired about, disciples above the Jindan stage did have the ability to directly understand the inscriptions on the stone pillars with the naked eye, and some people even sorted them out and posted them in the airspace of Xuantian Sect.
However, this kind of message sent through spiritual consciousness is different from inanimate objects such as books and inscriptions in reality. It is more like the Tao rhyme lingering on the inscriptions on stone pillars, and naturally contains the sender's emotions and feelings about the message.
If the recipient can withstand the impact of this information, they can instantly comprehend all the knowledge contained within, which is known as a sudden enlightenment. But if they can't... at best, their sea of consciousness will be damaged, and at worst, their head will explode.
The Jindan-stage disciples' comprehension of the ancestral inscriptions is naturally not something that the Qi-refining-stage and foundation-building-stage disciples can read more of, so the sect has added restrictions to this knowledge at each level, and disciples with insufficient cultivation cannot see it.
This is also the reason why the sect, although it clearly has highly effective means of enlightenment, still only distributes paper books to new disciples.
[The kind-hearted seniors felt that giving the free copies to their juniors was a form of overreaching, while the cash-strapped seniors had no interest in such petty gains. They also felt that taking money from their juniors was beneath their dignity.]
"But we are new disciples, so there's absolutely no shame in taking money from our senior brothers and sisters. Perhaps a book priced at five, or even two, low-grade spirit stones might only be a small profit for them, but don't forget that we only receive a monthly allowance of ten low-grade spirit stones."
The best part is, I heard they provide free pens and paper on the first floor of the Sutra Library. While it's just plain, uninspired paper and pens, it's more than enough for us. This means, aside from the effort required for us to copy and sell, there's no upfront cost involved. It's pure profit, if you round it up!
Shang Mancang became happier and happier as he spoke. For a moment, he couldn't hold back his smooth businessman tone and just started laughing, as if he was swimming in a pile of spirit stones.
Yun Miao was surprised: [Did you find out all this?]
Even if we include the three days of participating in the test of climbing the ladder to heaven, they have only been in Xuantian Sect for four days at most, right?
[Hehe, mainly because the senior brothers and sisters at Zhenfeng are all good-tempered and always answer any questions. There's also a lot of information in the airspace for me to check.]
Shang Mancang said with a hint of pride: "How's it going? Junior Sister Yun, are you relieved now? I guarantee you won't find a better deal than this anytime soon. Of course, your health comes first, making money comes second. Junior Sister, just take your time transcribing as long as your body can handle it."
"After you've copied the master copy, I'll take care of all the subsequent chores, including the second copy and selling. Just sit back and count your spirit stones! What do you think, Junior Sister?"
Yun Miao: [Not really.]
[Haha, I knew you would definitely answer...huh?]
Shang Mancang: [Why? Junior Sister, do you think it's too little? Then... you take six and I'll take four!]
Yun Miao: [No.]
Shang Mancang gritted his teeth: [You take seven, I take three!]
Yun Miao: [No.]
Shang Mancang gnashed his teeth and said, "You take eight, I take two, or... or you take nine, I take one. This is my final limit! We're sisters, so you have to leave some soup for me, right?"
Yun Miao: [I don't like cursive calligraphy, and I hate copying books even more.]
Copying books - the lifelong enemy of students!
Shang Mancang choked. So he didn't want to kick her out and work alone, but simply didn't want to work?
She immediately appealed to his emotions and reason, trying to use her eloquence to explain the advantages of this deal and the beauty of the spirit stones. However, even after her words dried up and her disciple's stored spiritual power decreased significantly, she still couldn't change Yun Miao's mind.
She watched as the spirit stone that was about to go into her storage bag grew wings and flew away. Finally, she couldn't hold back her tears and choked with sobs.
"Just because of this, you're going to turn away so many precious spirit stones? Junior Sister, are you sure? Can you really bear it? Have you heard the spirit stones weeping bitterly?"
Yun Miao: [...Senior Sister, are you crying?]
Shang Mancang sniffed: "If I admit that I cried, will you do business with me out of pity?"
【Won't. 】
Yun Miao once again coldly refused. "As the saying goes, the business world is like a battlefield. Even if you succeed in getting a deal through tears, you'll only reap tears in the end. So, Senior Sister... if you don't have this awareness, you'd better wipe your tears and go back to growing sweet potatoes."
Shang Mancang: QAQ
Yun Miao: [It’s getting late, good night.]
【etc! 】
Shang Mancang's voice this time was no longer smooth and flattering, but instead had a hint of choked determination.
"Junior Sister, you were hung on a tree by Senior Brother Lu in front of everyone today. Don't you want revenge?"
Yun Miao narrowed her eyes. What? Did she look like a player who would be easily provoked?
Yes, she is!
【Do you have a solution?】
Shang Mancang: [Lu Dajiao, dual water and wood spiritual roots, peak Jindan stage, three hundred years ago became a disciple of Dongjun, the master of Beast Peak, and became Dongjun's thirty-fifth direct disciple. Now approximately four hundred years old, he lives on Shuangjiao Peak near Beast Peak. He is the champion of the Jindan stage arena on the champion list, and ranked high on the disciple contribution list...]
"Good Junior Sister, although I can't defeat Senior Brother Lu, I can help you gather information about his strengths, preferences, and weaknesses. With enough information, you'll be able to exact revenge one day."
Yun Miao listened in astonishment to the machine-gun-like intelligence reports from the other side. He was silent for a few seconds before coming to his senses: [Deal!]
So this game also has intelligence gathering and weakness exploitation? So fun, she loves it!
*
After the communication ended, Yun Miao silently looked at the real time on the system panel. The clock had already struck midnight, but the player who had decided to log off and sleep more than an hour ago was still playing in "Asking the Three Thousand Questions".
She once again felt guilty for wasting her youth, and then...feeling guilty, she sat down at the table and opened the system screenshot.
It’s not that we didn’t try hard, it’s just that the game is so fun, so she will play for a while longer!
As a half-scenery enthusiast, she would record any beautiful and interesting scenes she encountered in the game. Although she couldn't understand the cursive calligraphy carved on the stone pillars, she had to admit that the nine giant pillars standing on the cloud-filled viewing platform were indeed majestic and magnificent with an ethereal aura.
So when she followed Ning Yu forward, she consciously opened the system panel and took many screenshots from various angles. Although a small part of the inscriptions was not captured, most of them were captured.
The moonlight tonight is very bright, and the light emitted by the system panel is also very bright. After enlarging these screenshots, the inscriptions on them are clearly visible.
Yun Miao fetched some water from the well in the front yard and sat by the moonlit window, grinding ink. He then adjusted the system panel so it was flush against the desktop, placed rice paper on the gleaming panel, and began tracing the inscription from the enlarged screenshot below with his brush.
Perhaps people are least afraid of hardship and fatigue when doing bad things, or perhaps more than ten years of study have left too much influence on Yun Miao.
Although she said that she hated copying books the most, when she actually sat down and started copying, her heart suddenly calmed down, and she had a calm temperament that came from being drowned in the ocean of knowledge for a long time. Her eyes moved intently as the pen tip moved.
The thick ink fell on the rice paper, and at first it was crooked and messy, but she soon regained the feeling of learning calligraphy as a child, and her pen strokes became more and more steady.
The traced characters gradually began to resemble the flamboyantly carved characters in the screenshot below, becoming closer and closer, more and more similar, until they were exactly the same...
Yun Miao didn't notice that as her heart became calmer and her pen became steadier, the distracting thoughts in her mind had completely disappeared, leaving only tracing.
Even if she noticed a problem, she would have taken it for granted. After all, she couldn't understand the cursive writing and was just copying it. It was normal for her mind to be blank and unable to receive anything.
But in fact, although her brain was not thinking of anything, it was not blank. Those frantic inscriptions were being engraved into the depths of her mind through her gaze.
Tick!
It was not until the first drop of blood from his nose that Yun Miao's brain, which had been numbed by the large amount of invisible information, finally woke up for a moment.
She felt dizzy and her consciousness seemed to be split in two. One half of her consciousness had only one thought, which was to copy all the inscriptions. So her body kept mechanically lifting and putting down the pen, taking down the paper after finishing one, and switching to another after tracing one picture.
Yet, the other half of her mind was screaming danger, telling her to stop. But her body was like a runaway train, and she couldn't stop it just because she wanted to.
Tick, tick...
More blood dripped onto the rice paper, staining the pure white paper a glaring red. Even without checking the health bar, Yun Miao could guess that he was losing blood continuously.
It took her only an incense stick of time to finish writing on the rice paper given by her senior brother. However, she still did not stop. Instead, she picked up the pen and wrote on the table. After she finished writing on the table, she went to write on the wall. After she finished writing on the wall, she lay on the ground and wrote!
She wrote faster and faster, more and more frantically, and the poor high-quality purple-hair brush was almost worn out by her torture in a short time.
Yun Miao was extremely panicked. It wasn't that she was afraid of death, but resurrecting on the spot could only take her back to the minute before her death. As long as she had no way to end this situation, resurrecting on the spot would only mean entering a vicious circle.
But if she chose to rewind... She had almost forgotten when she last saved her game. If she chose to rewind, wouldn't all her efforts over the past few days be in vain? She didn't want that!
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Master’s kind face: Although its lifespan is shorter than that of mice in the world of cultivation, it still has several decades left, so you should take good care of it.
In the middle of the night, Yun Miao: Lifespan - 1-1-1...
The master let out a sharp cry: Ahhhh, my disciple, what are you doing!
*
From this moment on, we will rise to the blue sky: from Liu Yuxi's "Sending Wei Xiucai Daochong to the Imperial Examination"
I'd like to clarify that Yun Miao and the other players aren't playing the same game; she's the only one who's truly entered the world of cultivation. I won't go into details about the rest of the story to avoid spoilers.
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