Chapter 269: Chapter 269: What a Miserable Way to Play

It was a rare holiday. Wouldn’t it be a waste not to spend it gaming?

Xu Su shouted out in the group chat, asking if anyone wanted to grind quests together. After a long while, only a few people had trickled in with replies.

It was the Lunar New Year, so everyone was busy visiting relatives and paying respects. No one had time to log on, cultivate, and slay monsters…

Xu Su found this a shame, but it didn’t bother her in the slightest as she controlled her character, roaming through the Immortal World.

She was already at the Foundation Establishment Perfect Realm, just one step away from forming her Golden Core. Her master, Nanyang, had already prepared the Solid Essence Pill she would need after her breakthrough. He was just waiting for her breakthrough quest to appear so she could finally shed the “newbie” title.

Xu Su’s controls were ridiculously slick now. Her reaction time when fighting monsters, her awareness, and her positioning to dodge damage were all superb. Master Nanyang had praised her many times for her talent. Even with the same Cultivation Technique and weapon, she could crush most other players at the same realm just with her mechanical skill.

After wandering around the newbie “Taobao” area for a bit and finishing her daily quests, the long-awaited Golden Core breakthrough quest finally appeared in her quest log.

System: [Please proceed immediately to Wuyang Island, kill the Poison Spider Flame Moon, and absorb the venom from its body. Consume it along with the dropped ’Meteorite Pill’ to form your Golden Core.]

Above the quest description, a line of bold red text read, “Breakthrough Quest Time Limit: Four Hours,” indicating its urgency.

Seeing the words “Meteorite Pill,” Xu Su was both nervous and excited. This was an Immortal Pill coveted even by Nascent Soul Cultivators. It was said to reinforce one’s foundations, giving High-level Cultivators with shaky fundamentals a chance to rebuild them from the ground up. However, it was exceedingly rare—an item with a price but no market.

After all, every player’s advancement quest was randomly assigned by the system based on their strength, talent, and growth history. A quest that dropped a Meteorite Pill was a reward reserved for geniuses—a chance that couldn’t be sought, only stumbled upon…

Xu Su suppressed her excitement. Seeing the quest timer counting down at the top of her screen, she didn’t dare to delay. She grabbed a Teleportation Talisman and went straight to Wuyang Island.

During the teleportation, she thought, ’This quest might be really difficult.’ She specifically checked the group chat to see if any of the top players were online. It would be best to have her master, Master Nanyang, as backup to guarantee success…

Unfortunately, the group members’ avatars were all grayed out… The few who were online via their phones had just said they didn’t have time to get in the game.

’Looks like I’ll have to do it myself…’

Being the Lunar New Year, the number of players online in the game was much lower than usual. Wuyang Island was an island shrouded in poisonous fog, and it was even more deserted now.

Without much effort, Xu Su found the Poison Spider Flame Moon that the system had just spawned. It was an advancement monster tailored for her, its strength on par with her own.

Fortunately, the Immortal Robe from Nanyang had a weak defensive Attribute. It might be useless against a High-level Cultivator, but it was still somewhat effective for someone at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Relying on this bit of defense, Xu Su managed to wear down the demon beast and kill it, but she was left spitting blood and heavily injured. Half her health bar was gone, and her blue bar, representing Mana, was completely empty.

Thankfully, the outcome was good.

System: [Congratulations! You have slain the Poison Spider Flame Moon and completed the advancement quest.]

A pile of quest rewards appeared on the ground.

“One Meteorite Pill,” “One page of the Linglong Heart Method,” “One pair of Immortal Grade Tassel Earrings,” “One set of a High-level Immortal Robe.”

Xu Su already had a set of a High-level Immortal Robe, so she wasn’t too excited about that, but the Immortal Grade Tassel Earrings truly surprised her.

This was the first accessory with an Attribute she had ever obtained, and it was a Charm Attribute at that. It could even charm demon beasts at the Nascent Soul Realm for a certain period of time.

This was a pleasant surprise…

Xu Su drank two Recovery Potions. After her health bar gradually refilled, she began controlling her character to gleefully loot the drop. ’This is the reward for advancing to the Golden Core Realm!’

Just as she finished collecting the items, a blade came slashing from behind. Xu Su sensed the danger and dodged in a hurry, but the attack still sliced through her Immortal Robe’s defense, instantly depleting a third of her full health bar.

Xu Su spun around and saw a man and a woman slowly approaching in the distance. They were both wearing emerald green Immortal Robes and looked like a cultivation couple.

She quickly clicked on their avatars to check their information. The man with the blade was Yan Yue, a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator, an Inner Sect Elder of the Cangyue Sect, and a Sword Cultivator.

The female cultivator, draped in Cloud Brocade, was Ge Feifei, a Golden Core Cultivator, an Inner Sect Disciple of the Cangyue Sect, and a Sound Cultivator.

Xu Su’s heart sank. The Cangyue Sect was one of the three major sects on the Immortal Continent, just like her Qingxuan Sect. The two sects looked down on each other, and it was common for disciples from the three major sects to steal treasures from one another.

’They can’t be after my Meteorite Pill, can they?’

If she had run into a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator from the Cangyue Sect under normal circumstances, Xu Su would have just accepted her bad luck and handed over her valuables to avoid trouble. But this was her Golden Core quest. If she lost the Meteorite Pill, it was hard to say if she’d ever be lucky enough to get a second Golden Core quest to spawn.

System: [Ge Feifei has requested to start a temporary group call. Accept/Decline?]

Xu Su clicked accept.

“What luck, to have a pair of Immortal Grade Tassel Earrings drop.” A girl’s voice came through. Xu Su quickly lowered her headset volume, and the voice became a little quieter. “Someone from the Qingxuan Sect?”

The voice paused, likely while she was inspecting Xu Su’s profile. Soon after, a man’s voice asked, “Your master is Master Nanyang of the Qingxuan Sect?”

Xu Su felt a glimmer of hope, wishing her master’s name could save her from this disaster. She quickly typed on her keyboard: “Yes, I’m his only disciple.”

’Just go, please just go. I still need to absorb the venom…’

“So what if he’s Master Nanyang of the Qingxuan Sect? My husband is an Inner Sect Elder of the Cangyue Sect, too. We’re not afraid of the Qingxuan Sect. We won’t make things difficult for you. Just leave the earrings and you can go.” The woman’s voice made it clear she couldn’t bear to part with the extremely rare earrings; they were beautiful and had an Attribute, which was incredibly hard to come by.

The man with the blade said nothing, but he clearly agreed.

Xu Su breathed a sigh of relief. ’It’s just the earrings.’ She decisively took them out and placed them on the ground. ’As long as they didn’t see the Meteorite Pill, it’s fine.’

Ge Feifei quickly picked up the earrings. After stroking them fondly, she pestered Yan Yue to put them on for her. The two began to flirt as if no one else was around, completely forgetting that Xu Su was still in their party and could hear their conversation.

“Hey, why are you still here? We already let you go. If you don’t leave now, one slash will send you back to your spawn point. Don’t come crying to us when you lose a level.”

In the Immortal World, dying meant dropping a whole Little Mirror Realm, a setting that made players cherish their lives dearly.

It wasn’t that Xu Su didn’t want to leave—she couldn’t!

She quickly typed on her keyboard, “The venom from this poison spider is useful to me. If you’re not interested, I’ll go ahead and absorb it.”

’How polite I’m being,’ Xu Su thought. She just hoped she could smoothly absorb the venom, then consume the Meteorite Pill and break through to the Golden Core Realm.

As expected, her slightly deferential attitude pleased Ge Feifei. “We’re not Poison Cultivators. What would we do with this venom?”

“So this is the game you’re addicted to? The way you play is so frustrating.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep