Spirit Realm
Few people know that deep in the mountains of the Spirit Realm, there is a Spirit Tower, which is the core of the Chaos Star Array.
As the first instance of Soul Guiding Song, the ownership of the Spirit Tower does not belong to the NPC, but to Long Yan.
Once upon a time, this was Longyan's primary headquarters. However, with the launch of the larger-scale Lengbing City dungeon, it was relegated to second place for various reasons.
The Spirit Pagoda is the only place with a fixed location in the entire Spirit Realm.
At the top of the pagoda, the glazed pagoda top is engraved with intricate and exquisite array patterns.
Likewise, even very few Spirit Realm players knew that starting from this teleportation array, one could reach any place in the four major camps where there was a teleportation array, even Lengbing City, which was thousands of kilometers away.
The array patterns flowed, and the light clung to the people in the array like a living thing, and even their gray hair gradually flashed with colorful light.
But a voice interrupted the transmission.
"Second meeting."
The young man had a Taoist knot on his head, and his snow-white robe was covered with subtle patterns that were difficult to see with the naked eye.
He stood at the edge of the pagoda, facing only silver-level players, and bowed his head respectfully.
"They'll send someone to summon you to a holographic meeting shortly. They say it's an instruction from higher-ups."
The "later" he mentioned was none other than Shi Xizheng, the chairman of Longyan First Headquarters.
"I didn't attend the event before I went online. Can I attend it after I go online?"
The light of the formation faded, revealing a face of about fifty years old, smiling and amiable as always.
Erhui pointed at Zhan Xingce from a distance and said, "Xingce, don't forget the rules. I'm already in my seventies or eighties. Only by entering the game can I stretch my muscles and relive the physique of my youth. Don't bother me with such a small matter."
"But... the Yong'an mission may be related to divine revelation..." Zhan Xingce hesitated.
"What does that have to do with the Spirit Realm? A farm of hundreds of acres, which teleportation array could possibly accommodate it? Or does it have some unprecedented ability to pass through the Chaos Star Array and reach the Spirit Realm?"
Zhan Xingce remained silent.
The old child's temper was fickle, and his tone became gentle again.
"The Soul-Guiding Song originates from the Spirit Realm. We must help the nation preserve the roots of divine revelation. No matter how lofty the mission outside is, no matter how destructive the Yong'an Ghoul is, there are already enough forces involved. There's no need to wade into this muddy water. Besides—"
He paused, his eyes suddenly sharp. "The destruction of the other three factions might be a good thing for China. As my successor, you must understand this."
After saying that, he ignored Zhan Xingce and reactivated the teleportation array.
The man did not disappear, but the virtual body he transformed into had been teleported to the top of the mountain.
At this time, if you stand outside the spiritual realm, you can see a huge human figure covered with faint light appearing at the highest point of the spiritual realm's mountains.
He tilted his head back, yawned, stretched, and began to do radio gymnastics.
Being in the Chaos Star Array, An Rou didn't see him.
As a giant standing tall as the sky, he did not notice that in an inconspicuous corner below him, there was a night-flying boat that was out of tune with the mountains. It suddenly swooped down between two very close mountains and landed on one of them without stopping.
It was so fast that even if someone saw it, they would just think it was an illusion.
The earth-shaking roar was drowned out by the gravitational roar of the chaotic star array.
The huge farm couldn't find a flat landing place and cut across the mountainside.
Paopao, Meng Ziyu, and all the ghoul employees used their skills at the same time, trying to cut the rocks into pieces.
But no one gets rich quickly.
Four bone knives, each a hundred meters long, were stretched out and waved, and the bright white bone color formed a flat white mist that swept across the mountainside.
The rocks were shattered and scattered everywhere.
On the mountainside, there is a horizontal line of sky, which is so straight that it seems like a masterpiece of nature.
Even after being stopped, Baofu's inertia persisted. The bone blade beneath him dug deep into the mountain, sliding forward under the immense force of inertia.
The bone blade shattered into pieces, and the height of the farm became lower and lower.
The farm finally stopped until the 24 bone blades were almost worn flat. After a brief pause, it landed steadily.
Two bone knives broke, crossed half the farm, and slowly sank into the ground.
An Rou immediately connected with the consciousness of getting rich quickly, and before she could say anything, she heard the voice of her soul.
[Master, it succeeded.]
[The farm was unharmed.]
It's the only one that's damaged.
For no apparent reason, An Rou felt a sympathetic connection with it. If she had a soul, she would have felt waves of twitching pain deep within it.
An Rou was somewhat bewildered, and after a pause she gave a warning: "You also have life potions in your stomach, drink a few bottles quickly."
She disconnected.
Bao Fu was injured, but his life was not in danger. The most important thing right now was to check the surrounding situation.
Just now, she heard wailing one after another.
It's not a ghoul, it's a human.
An Rou turned to connect with the consciousness of other ghoul employees and saw the surrounding situation clearly from their eyes.
There were figures running in panic on the left, right, and front.
At the back of the farm, two employees smelled a strong smell of blood and their eyes just caught sight of clumps of disappearing white sand.
When the farm landed, people were crushed to death.
Those who died were all NPCs on this mountain.
An Rou couldn't help biting her lower lip.
There's no need to blame yourself, and now is not the time to blame yourself, she said to herself.
In the direction the surviving NPCs fled, there was a winding path of dim lights, and there must be players there.
We can't let players spread the news.
"Baobao, can you still fly?"
From underground came the deep mutterings of sudden wealth.
"Fly over and take those people..."
The word "kill" could not be uttered after all.
She changed her tone and said, "Order Zhang Da and the others to capture those people and bring them to the farm."
The farm disappeared into the night sky again.
There was a flat valley nearby, and the NPCs were all running on the ground, so Bao Fu chose to fly at low altitude.
From a distance, it looked like a strange thick fog chasing the NPCs.
The ghoul employees jumped out of the thick fog one by one, used their mobility skills, and soon pulled everyone onto the farm.
Everyone was so frightened that they couldn't speak.
Perhaps it would be most effective to let NPCs appease NPCs.
An Rou was thinking about calling Mei Hong and others to come out, when she suddenly saw Zhang Da and his ghoul employees jumping off the farm.
She quickly regained consciousness, her eyes unfocused and her expression dazed.
Behind the farm, on the road that had been crushed past, the dissipated white sand reappeared from the air, gathered together, and slowly condensed into a human shape.
Those NPCs that were crushed to death are alive again...
Unlike the captured NPCs, they looked bewildered, glancing at their hands before bending over and searching for something on the ground. It was only when Zhang Da forcibly restrained them that they revealed a look of fear.
"Who are you and why are you arresting me?"
"open!"
"There are many Fengmen disciples in the temple. They won't let the bad guys go!"
"Are you here to steal the rootless flowers?! Look at what you've done! The rootless flowers have been crushed to death!"
…
He kept cursing even when he got to the farm.
An Rou didn't care about them right away, and asked Paopao: "NPCs in the Spirit Realm won't die?"
"Yeah, oh, I was so busy studying the Chaos Star Formation that I forgot to tell the boss."
Paopao had no idea about Anrou's mental journey since landing.
"Spirit Realm is the first dungeon of Lengbing City. Although the holographic technology is very realistic, the game background is not very realistic.
"The NPCs in the Spirit Realm are considered the first generation of Soul Song NPCs. Unless their numbers are out of balance with the player base and they are recycled by the system, they will regenerate after death. Moreover, their memories will continue after regeneration."
An Rou was stunned for a long while, and finally said: "How come I didn't catch up with such a good thing..."
Otherwise, I would have infinite life, so why would I need to live in fear?
Perhaps it was the regeneration mechanism that gave the Spirit Realm NPCs a unique confidence. Not only did the cursing not stop, but it also caused the first group of people who were caught to curse together.
Zhang Dahe and his employees remained indifferent. Meng Ziyu could not bear it any longer, so he took out his fire crossbow, activated the skill, and aimed at them.
"Shut up, everyone!"
There was complete silence.
But looking at their expressions, it was not fear, but respect.
The NPCs all looked at the same person.
An old man with gray hair, his clothes were hundreds of years behind those of Lengbing City, so retro that even An Rou couldn't name the style.
In short, like farmers in ancient times.
The identity light screen above the old man’s head was very simple: [Tian De, flower farmer].
A farmer who grows flowers?
The flower should be what they call a rootless flower. Although he is a farmer, judging by the attitude of the people around him, he should be a veteran on this mountain.
An Rou didn't go forward, but waited quietly for him to reveal more information.
Under everyone's gaze, Tiande cleared his throat, took a step forward, and forced a chrysanthemum-like smile.
He clasped his fists and bowed, performing an ancient ritual towards Meng Ziyou. "Sir, are you a disciple of the Fire Sect? It's us who are blind and have misunderstood, misunderstood."
Fire door?
An Rou looked at Meng Ziyu and noticed the fire crossbow in his hand.
Although the Fire Crossbow is a fire weapon from Onigashima, its form resembles that of a cold weapon. Because it contains fire elements, a red glow emanates from it when the skill is activated.
So you were mistaken for a Fire Gate player?
An Rou had learned about the player structure of Ling Yu in advance.
From a guild perspective, Spirit Realm is the second headquarters of Longyan, and the entire territory is controlled by the Longyan Guild.
Therefore, the players in the territory are mainly Longyan members and wild guests. Of course, there are also a few guild players who traveled from other camps.
From the perspective of game settings, players' "professional identities" are divided into five categories: water, fire, wind, thunder and miscellaneous arts.
As for the specific division, An Rou has never known.
She whispered to Paopao, "The weapon has fire elements, so it's the Fire Gate?"
"No." Paopao shook his head. "Elemental weapons are so expensive, how could everyone have them? Besides, many Spirit Realm players don't even have weapons. They fight with support cards containing various formations... a bit like the spells in myths and legends."
He understood why An Rou asked this, glanced at Tian De, and said, "NPCs can't use props, so it's normal for them to make random identifications. The most reliable way to tell which sect a person belongs to is the ID card. Oh, I saw in the forum guide that the NPCs in the Spirit Realm call their ID cards nameplates."
Similar to the nameplates of farm dwellers.
An Rou: "Then which sect do players belong to? Do wild guests also have to choose one?"
Paopao still shook his head: "Spirit Realm profession is not a mandatory option, but it is said that most Spirit Realm players have chosen it. Just like Ghost Island, it is just a way to make money besides completing missions."
At its core, similar to Ghost Island, the Spirit Realm was a place of abundance. The production of potions and teleportation arrays alone was enough to make the players here incredibly wealthy.
The four gates of water, fire, wind and thunder produce life potions, mental potions, physical potions and energy potions respectively.
All the potions in the entire game are supplied by the Spirit Realm, which naturally attracts the covetousness of many forces.
For example, the rootless flowers used to make physical potions require player protection at every stage, from planting to harvesting, processing, and shipping.
Players can get a stable salary through this, but the prerequisite for getting this job is to join Fengmen.
Presumably, the NPC management of the Spirit Realm believes that only their own people can be trusted.
Apart from the four sects, the Miscellaneous Arts Sect, although its name is not nice, is the richest one.
Teleportation arrays, teleportation cards, and some auxiliary cards unrelated to the "water, fire, wind, and thunder" elements are all produced by the Miscellaneous Arts Sect. Especially the props related to teleportation, the value is extremely high...
Hearing this, An Rou couldn't help but press her chest with one hand and cover Paopao's mouth with the other.
"Stop talking."
A heart-pounding feeling.
Her first stop on Ghost Island was the Black Market Island. She didn't know much about the industry on Ghost Island, so she didn't have much feeling about it.
But this time, after listening to Paopao's detailed popular science, a picture of the immense wealth of the Spiritual Realm has already been drawn in my mind.
No matter how many gold coins or props you have, they will all be useless if you just sit back and wait for the money to be used up.
These industries are the real source of endless wealth!
An Rouqing couldn't help but connect with the consciousness of sudden wealth, and through its eyes, she looked at the messy field of rootless flowers below.
I want it so much.
Cash crops and the like should not be too closely related to farms.
"Isn't it?"
Paopao was confused by her casual words. He scratched his head and suddenly an idea came to him.
"Boss, you're not... planning to plant rootless flowers on the farm, are you? We're still running for our lives..."
An Rou was stunned, wiped the non-existent saliva from the corner of her lips, and smiled slightly.
"You're right. Go and test the favorability of those NPCs." An Rou said, "By the way, that old man's name is Tiande. He should be a veteran among these flower farmers."
"……oh."
Paopao went away scratching his head.
He was very smart. He took out the Silver Wind Mace from the item bar and used his skills to fly to Meng Ziyu.
"Old man, we are not disciples of the Fire Sect, we are disciples of the Wind Sect."
As he spoke, he swung the Silver Wind Mace, and a gentle wind spread out in all directions with him as the center.
After Tiande asked Meng Ziyu if he was a disciple of the Fire Sect, Meng Ziyu remained silent, which made Tiande feel uneasy.
Seeing Paopao showing off his skills and feeling the night wind rising out of nowhere, his heart immediately calmed down.
"Oh, so you're a disciple of Feng Sect. That's good, that's good."
Tiande's old face was filled with smiles. "It's my fault that I didn't recognize you, sir... You look unfamiliar, sir. Is this your first time at Fengyu Temple?"
Paopao stared at the light screen without saying a word.
Although he seems polite on the surface, his favorability is only 40%?
An Rou connected to Meng Ziyu's consciousness and observed the Paopao light screen through its eyes.
As Paopao looked at the NPCs one by one, notifications of their favorability popped up on the screen, and none of them exceeded 40%.
By setting, this value means "rejection".
For some people, their favorability even dropped below 30%, so be on guard.
Could it be that the landing on the farm was what hurt them?
Not really.
No matter how Paopao greeted or spoke sweetly, no one's favorability towards him changed.
If you can't improve your favorability, the other party will only be polite on the surface. When you want to ask about the situation at Fengyu Temple, the other party will also play Tai Chi.
Paopao was having a headache when his vision suddenly blurred. All the NPCs in the Spirit Realm suddenly dropped their heads.
He was startled: "Boss, what are you doing?"
"Try resetting it," An Rou said, walking over to him. "NPCs in other places all start at 50% indifference. I suspect the Spirit Realm is different. The guide you looked up didn't mention this?"
"No……"
More than a dozen corpses turned into white sand and dissipated. A moment later, fine sand appeared from the air again and slowly condensed into a human shape.
Tiande's wrinkled face was blank for a moment, then his gaze focused on Paopao and he bowed repeatedly: "I'm so sorry, sir, I was distracted."
The favorability is still 40%.
An Rou suddenly said angrily, "You are just flower farmers, how dare you treat us so perfunctorily?!"
She was referring to Tiande's avoidance of answering Paopao's questions.
Tiande shuddered all over and immediately knelt down: "Sir, please spare my life, sir, please spare my life!"
He didn't know that he was immortal and was still afraid of death.
The other NPCs also knelt down and kowtowed desperately.
An Rou frowned, as if she had caught a flash of thought, but her attention was drawn to another NPC.
【Ma Chang, flower farmer】
Of all the people, he had the lowest favorability towards Paopao. Originally only 20%, it dropped another 5% as everyone knelt.
It’s not far from the “direct attack” state.
An Rou remained calm: "Why, do you have something to say?"
Ma Chang gritted his teeth for a moment, then steeled himself and demanded, "You're the ones who destroyed the flower fields for no reason, and we're the ones being punished! We're starving to death, and we still have to kowtow to you?!"
Halfway through listening, An Rou's flash of thought just now resurfaced.
She understood.
The wealth of the Spirit Realm makes the favorability of NPCs and game tasks less important.
Because the Spirit Realm NPCs can regenerate infinitely, the exploitation they receive has no bottom line.
Especially these low-level flower farmers are the most exploited.
With minimal food and tattered clothes, no one would care if they died of starvation or freezing, because they would regenerate.
Is their favorability negative? It doesn't matter, because they are afraid of death and will still work diligently in the fields.
Only an NPC like Ma Chang, whose favorability is so low that he is not afraid of life and death, can express the resentment in his heart.
But such NPCs are ultimately a minority.
Furthermore, even if most of the NPCs were Ma Chang, what would they do? Would they be able to defeat players with skills? Without them, wouldn't the system still be able to replenish the NPC population?
An Rou couldn't help but think of what Paopao once said: Don't NPCs have human rights?
No.
They are just a bunch of data, how can they have human rights?
An Rou asked herself, apart from a few specific people like An Younian, as an "NPC", she had never really taken other NPCs seriously, let alone players.
Paopao had read his brother's thesis and now he and Anrou had the same idea.
He opened his mouth, but An Rou held his shoulders and shook his head.
An Rou personally helped the NPCs kneeling on the ground up one by one, and her gentle expression was completely different from before.
"We were inconsiderate and have caused trouble for everyone. To be honest, we are not disciples of the Feng Sect, but we just fled from outside the Spirit Realm. If you don't believe me, you can ask them."
The farm gate opened and Zhang Da led a group of residents out.
After all, they were strangers, and they just looked at each other without getting close.
But the moment the door opened, all the lights on the farm lit up at the same time, and the colorful neon lights illuminated the surprised expressions of the NPCs in the Spirit Realm.
Due to the restrictions of the Chaos Star Array, too many places in the Spirit Realm have no electricity.
"What kind of lantern is this? Why does it have so many colors?"
"It's so bright, much brighter than a candle!"
After nightfall, they couldn't even light a candle, otherwise they wouldn't work in the flower fields in the dark, making it impossible to avoid getting rich quickly.
"If we had such bright lanterns, it would be much more convenient for us to work at night!"
"yes……"
Surprise actually converged on this thought.
Even Meng Ziyu felt sad and silently put away his fire crossbow.
"These aren't torches, they're lights."
An Rou supported Tian De as they walked inside. Feeling the stiffness in his feet, she smiled and said, "Don't worry, we're really not bad people. And they are just pitiful people who want to live in seclusion from the world."
An Younian squeezed out of the farm gate and trotted over.
"Rou Rou, what is this?"
Even he had never seen people dressed so raggedly. To be honest, the beggars on the streets of Zhongsu Town were better dressed than them, at least they were not naked.
"Dad, please call everyone and take them around the farm. And by the way, have all the shops open and prepare some food."
"Oh, okay."
An Younian took Tiande from her and turned to greet other residents.
Meihong and Leng Hanli brought everyone over.
However, except for Tiande, all the NPCs in the Spirit Realm only walked to the farm gate and did not dare to step over the threshold.
To them, the farm buildings and streets covered in neon lights were too magnificent and noble to touch even a little bit.
Perhaps it was because An Younian always exuded the friendliness of an honest man, or perhaps it was because Tiande was old and had already let go of many things.
Among so many people, they were the only ones who went in and disappeared at the intersection of Yong'an Street.
The NPCs in the Spirit Realm gathered together, looking at each other with trepidation in their hearts.
Meihong looked at An Rou for instructions, and seeing the boss shaking his head silently, she also shook her head at Leng Hanli.
Wait patiently.
An Rou retreated back to Paopao and said, "According to the plan, whichever mountain the farm lands on, we'll kill the players on that mountain."
There is no need to say more about this matter as it has already been discussed.
Paopao knew that the boss was taking his feelings into consideration.
He nodded heavily: "Okay!"
Judging from what happened to Tiande's NPCs, the players in the Spirit Realm are truly despicable. Even more despicable than the players in Lengbing City and Ghost Island.
"Every mountain in the Spirit Realm is named after the word 'Guan'. According to the old man, this one is Fengyu Guan, which belongs to the Fengmen territory."
Paopao turned around and looked at the building at the edge of the valley, which was shrouded in dim lights.
"There aren't many habitable places on the mountain. The players from Wind Whispering Temple should all be there. Boss, get started."
An Rou shook her head: "Wait for them to go in first."
With the cover of "Night Walk", it won't take long.
Not long after, Tiande appeared at the street corner and hurried into the gate.
He was holding a large bowl of noodles, which contained hot soup noodles, vegetables, shredded meat, eggs and chopped green onions. Under the light of the door lamp, a layer of golden oil could be seen floating on the surface.
The aroma is tempting.
Tiande was so excited that he didn't care that his fingers were scalded by the hot soup. He used his other hand to pick up the noodles with chopsticks.
After holding it in for a long time, he finally managed to utter three words: "There's more inside!"
After a moment of silence, the NPCs from the Spirit Realm rushed in through the door.
Paopao's eyes became sore from watching so much, so he raised his hand to wipe them, only to find that the boss was smiling at him.
"It's started." An Rou whispered, "Violent."
A dark cloud silently surged towards the edge of the col.
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