It’s starting! It’s starting!
The classic scene from those brain-dead melodramas: the spoiled second-generation rich kid bullying an ordinary person!
Wu Guanyue immediately checked the personal attributes of the group as quickly as she could.
The one who had stepped forward to berate Lu Datong was Zhao Kexin, who was only LV.3—first level of Foundation Establishment. As for the Senior Brother She surrounded by everyone, his name was She Wenjie, and he was LV.5—Foundation Establishment at the Great Perfection stage.
Of course, that wasn’t the important part. The important part was their identities.
There was the grandson of the Pure Wanderer, the nephew of the Swordplay Grandmaster, the daughter of the Violet Cloud Primordial Lord… But the most impressive of all was She Wenjie. His identity was the grandnephew of True Immortal Cuiyun.
Ah, no wonder Zhao Kexin had no status at all among this group. Compared to them, his identity as the Young Master of the Yuelai Inn really was nothing to brag about!
Well… this was probably when the player was supposed to step in, right?
Normally, the ordinary person being bullied would be honest and submissive. Aside from turning beet red, he wouldn’t be able to utter a single word…
Wu Guanyue checked her inventory and prepared to put an end to this melodramatic bullying skit!
Who could have expected that Lu Datong would neither turn red in the face nor be left speechless?
He stared at Zhao Kexin and grew louder and louder, his voice booming like a great bell. “Young Master, we cultivators cultivate our true hearts. Cowering and picking on the weak is hardly anything to be proud of! I, Lu Datong, will tell you this much: if you’ve got a grievance, go to the person who caused it! Now, please move aside!”
With that, he couldn’t even be bothered to spare the shameless little brat another glance. He reached out and shoved him aside.
The principles of this world were actually quite simple. They were right there in people’s hearts. Whoever stood on the side of justice could hold his head high—and it had nothing to do with his identity.
Lu Datong strode away with his head held high, while Zhao Kexin’s face turned red as a fully cooked shrimp.
The young dandies from the immortal sects also looked embarrassed, so they egged him on even more.
“Kexin, you’re just going to take that?!”
“Go on, Kexin! Teach him a lesson!”
“If you can stand it, I certainly can’t!”
Zhao Kexin could endure it no longer. With a strange cry, he drew the treasured sword at his waist. A glint of cold steel flashed as he thrust it toward Lu Datong’s back!
Yet Lu Datong seemed to have eyes in the back of his head!
Clang!
The sword struck the blade of his saber!
With a move called “Taibai Parrying Sword,” Lu Datong blocked the attack. His entire body turned halfway around with the momentum, and with a loud shout, the Eight-Slash Saber in his hand came chopping down toward Zhao Kexin’s head!
How could Zhao Kexin ever have encountered such a deadly move? He was so frightened that he froze, even forgetting to activate his protective qi.
Smack!
That was the sound of Lu Datong’s saber striking Zhao Kexin’s face.
At the last moment, Lu Datong flipped his wrist and used the flat of the blade to give Zhao Kexin a solid slap!
Zhao Kexin’s face had already been red enough, but now an even redder, swollen mark slowly appeared across it. He stood there dumbfounded, seemingly unable to comprehend what had just happened… Yet the burning pain on his cheek wrapped him in an overwhelming sense of humiliation.
Lu Datong couldn’t be bothered with him. He sheathed his saber and walked away.
But—wait! Something was wrong!
A furious light suddenly flashed in the drunken eyes of She Wenjie!
Lu Datong’s refusal to act meek and submissive had clearly reminded him of something—or someone—he found intensely irritating.
From Wu Guanyue’s perspective, the color of the name above his head suddenly changed from yellow, indicating neutrality, to red, indicating hostility!
Not good!
She Wenjie erupted into action, snatching the sword from the person beside him!
How could Lu Datong have expected someone to be so unreasonable? After teaching Zhao Kexin a lesson, he had already sheathed his saber… but a cold glint was already upon him!
She Wenjie moved like rippling waves, his sword singing like a dragon!
Lu Datong shouted and reached for his saber—but he was already a step too late!
She Wenjie’s cultivation was deeper than his. With the richer spiritual energy circulating through him, his speed was naturally faster as well!
However, something was even faster than him: Wu Guanyue’s hand!
The moment she noticed that his name had turned red, Wu Guanyue had already made her move!
[Using Initial Proficiency Skill—Pickpocket!]
Wu Guanyue chose to pickpocket the sword from She Wenjie’s hand!
[Pickpocket failed!]
Given the difference in their levels, failure was only to be expected!
[[Wu Guanyue] gave [Square-Shaped Manure] to [She Wenjie]. May your friendship last forever!]
But that was all right. The instant she used the Pickpocket skill, she had switched to her inventory screen—and then, without a word, stuffed She Wenjie’s hand full of fertilizer!
“Go, Wuyun!” Wu Guanyue shouted. “Charge!”
Wuyun, who had been perched on top of her head the whole time, let out a series of yowling meows and pounced forward!
Wu Guanyue’s Pickpocket skill could generate an enormous amount of momentum. Wuyun itself was a pitch-black clump of aquatic weeds that moved with incredible speed. The fact that it could carry someone as large as Wu Guanyue and still run so quickly was proof enough of its astonishing velocity!
A clump of black aquatic weeds shot forward like lightning and slammed into She Wenjie’s hand before his sword could pierce Lu Datong!
Everyone knew that a swordsman’s hand had to be clean and dry when gripping a sword. Otherwise, the sword would slip…
This was true not only in the real world, but in the world of cultivation as well!
Sliiip!
The sword flew out of She Wenjie’s hand!
She Wenjie stared dumbfounded at his own hand.
Lu Datong stared dumbfounded at that hand… and at the smug little Shopkeeper Wu!
The change had happened so quickly—and was so bizarre—that She Wenjie hadn’t even processed it yet. His hand was sticky. His hand was sticky with… with… with something that seemed to be…
“Ah! Senior Brother, your hand has—mmph!”
“Shut up! Don’t say it!”
She Wenjie: “…”
She Wenjie: “……”
She Wenjie let out an enraged roar. “You! How dare you—!”
“Wuyun! Charge, charge, charge, charge!!! Lu Datong, bear with me for a second! Just bear with me!!!”
Standing on one leg atop that clump of black aquatic weeds, Wu Guanyue grabbed Lu Datong and hoisted him high over her head!!!
Ha! She wasn’t going to get tangled up with these dandies and their powerful backgrounds. Hit them, then run! Time to make her escape!
“Meow meow meow meow meow—!”
Wuyun sprinted wildly on all four paws. With two people riding on its back, its body had been flattened into something resembling a long-haired rug, yet it still moved so fast that afterimages trailed behind it. With a whoosh, it carried them out of sight!
In the side alley beside the Yuelai Inn, the fading afterimage of a young girl standing on one leg while holding a burly man overhead seemed to linger in the air.
She Wenjie roared furiously, “Stop! Stop right there—!!”
“Senior Brother, calm down! Wipe it off first! Wipe it off!”
“I’ll put a Cleansing Talisman on Senior Brother—!”
Wuyun had been carrying Wu Guanyue and Lu Datong with the intention of running all the way back to Qihua Road, but Lu Datong kept insisting that they stop and let him down.
There was nothing for it. Wu Guanyue had to put him down halfway there.
“Lu Datong, don’t you think this is much faster?”
Lu Datong: “……”
He cupped his hands and said solemnly, “Little Shopkeeper Wu, I owe you one today. If you hadn’t been there, I’d have been in serious trouble when that bastard suddenly lost his mind!”
Wu Guanyue declared righteously, “It’s nothing! I’m here to set the world straight!”
Lu Datong: “…………？”
But then he thought about Little Shopkeeper Wu’s move… Well, it hadn’t done much damage, but the humiliation had been devastating. Unfortunately, not many people had witnessed it. Otherwise, She Wenjie would probably be known for a long time as “the guy who had a handful of manure shoved into his hand.”
At the thought, Lu Datong suddenly burst out laughing.
But… why exactly did Little Shopkeeper Wu carry so much manure in her storage pouch? And she ran an inn and sold food, too…
Lu Datong: “…………”
The gap-toothed grin vanished from his face at once.
He earnestly advised her, “Little Shopkeeper Wu… Don’t use that move when there are a lot of people around in the future… It’s bad for the inn’s reputation…”
Indeed, it was bad for the inn’s reputation… because Wu Guanyue discovered that her inn’s popularity had dropped by one.
It was Lu Datong! Lu Datong had figured out something he absolutely should not have figured out!
Ahaha… Ahaha…
Forget it. There was no point dwelling on that. It was time to investigate the side quest.
Wu Guanyue asked, “Why did Zhao Kexin say you can’t even build your foundation properly?”
Lu Datong was clearly a higher level than Zhao Kexin—he was LV.4.
Lu Datong was silent for a moment before saying, “I came from a minor sect, so my fundamentals were shaky. I’m not precise enough in controlling spiritual energy, and my foundation platform has never been perfect… Zhao Kexin is nothing special, but She Wenjie is far stronger than me.”
At that, he seemed somewhat unhappy.
However, he quickly waved his hand and said, “Little Shopkeeper Wu, I still have things to do, so I’ll be off. See you around!”
Lu Datong cupped his hands toward her and strode away.
Wu Guanyue held Wuyun in her arms and stared thoughtfully at his retreating figure.
After a while, she turned her thoughtful gaze toward Wuyun.
Wuyun: OωO
Wu Guanyue asked, “Wuyun, did you get manure stuck in your fur?”
Wuyun: “…………”
Wuyun: ◣ω◢
Wuyun suddenly became angry.
***
The side quest could wait for now. The most important thing was figuring out how to complete the main quest.
Wu Guanyue’s little inn had only five guest rooms in total. Completing the “impossible to find a room” requirement in the quest description should have been fairly easy…
But this concerned Wu Guanyue’s paralyzed legs. There was no way she could treat the matter so flippantly!
The system required the inn to reach at least LV.4 during the Lotus Tournament. Increasing the inn’s level required sufficient revenue and popularity. Her current level was LV.2, and killing Daoist Master Songfeng had brought her another increase in popularity. Her current popularity was (508/1,000).
The popularity requirement for Level Four was 100,000…
That was basically equivalent to making sure everyone in Meishan City had heard of her inn.
It was practically a mission demanding that someone ascend to the heavens in a single bound…
Wu Guanyue’s brows furrowed tightly as she came back to her senses from the ecstatic joy of having a pie fall from the sky.
So the quest description wasn’t wrong. If she wanted to become a famous inn known throughout the city within a single quarter, she had to ride the Lotus Tournament’s popularity wave as hard as she could!
Ride it for all it was worth!
Clearly, the Yuelai Inn, the Xihua Old Inn, and every other inn in the city had come to the same conclusion… They had all begun offering guest rooms that could assist with cultivation.
So how could she stand out among all those specialized rooms?
Wu Guanyue fell into deep thought.
Wuyun was drenched from head to toe. It had just finished washing all its fur and was now crouching on the floor, shaking itself vigorously and spraying water droplets everywhere.
Wu Guanyue glanced at Wuyun.
Hmm. Wuyun was a mirage beast… What were the defining traits of a mirage beast…?
Wu Guanyue pulled out her bestiary and began looking through it.
[Mirage Beast: Capable of creating extremely realistic illusions and luring cultivators who stumble into them into exhausting all their spiritual energy… Their cultivation increases precisely by relying on this process. A rather evil and rare type of demonic beast.]
Hmm? Wait a moment. Why did this description sound so familiar?
Huh?! Wasn’t this basically a game developer?
Game developers could create extremely realistic environments and lure players who wandered in to grind until midnight… Their income increased precisely by relying on this, making them a rather evil and rare type of demonic beast!
Wait!
Didn’t that mean that if she could get Wuyun to create a game that was both educational and entertaining, one that could help cultivators improve their cultivation, then the inn’s popularity would shoot up like a rocket?!
FPS games helped train hand-eye coordination… So, in the immortal cultivation world, using games to improve one’s precision in controlling spiritual energy was theoretically entirely possible!
Wu Guanyue stared at the kitten shaking out its fur.
Wuyun: ◣ω◢
Wu Guanyue’s voice turned sweet and syrupy. “Wuyun, you’re the cutest little kitty in the whole wide world～～～～～”
Wuyun: OωO！
Oh no! She was up to something!
No…
