Chapter 90: Game Update

Yin month, yin day, yin time are not days that come often; if you miss this one, who knows how long you'll have to wait.

Chen Shicheng doesn't dare to waste a moment, quickly prepares all supplies, steadies his mind and breath, and begins processing the materials according to the Walking Yin Incense production procedure.

Yin‑dried locust wood, Tongling Old Turtle's turtle shell, countless primary and auxiliary ingredients are all orderly processed by him; then, in sequence, he adds the Five Dragon Ranking water from the well, the Yin‑Yang converging Mixed Essence dew, the long‑flowing living water of the river, the Five Ghosts water that drowned people in the river, and finally kneads the incense into shape.

Although it's his first time making Walking Yin Incense, under the flawless Zhi Xiang Skill the whole process flows like clouds and water, without a single mistake.

In the final second of yin time, Chen Shicheng successfully turns all the materials into Walking Yin Incense, a total of over seven hundred sticks.

But this time he cannot, as before, use True Essence to directly bake‑dry it; instead he must find an extremely yin place to bury it and wait for it to yin‑dry.

As for the location, he has already prepared it long ago.

Where else is more yin than the Pao Shi Zhi Di beside the underground palace? "Hui Siye, please!"

Chen Shicheng places all the half‑finished Walking Yin Incense into a pre‑prepared wooden box, then puts the box in front of Hui Siye.

"Ah, such a tiring fate."

Hui Siye reluctantly stands, waves a small hand to make the box float beside him, five‑colored light flashes, and a tiny mouse instantly vanishes on the spot.

A few seconds pass, the five‑colored light flashes again, and Hui Siye reappears in the inn's room, "All right, it's already buried in the pit we dug earlier; about five to seven days should complete the yin‑drying."

After speaking, Hui Siye, like someone with cartilage disease, lies back in the corner, in exactly the same posture as before.

Watching Hui Siye appear and disappear at will, Chen Shicheng feels admiration yet grows increasingly disdainful of Evil Ghost Pill.

He is now at level 13, only two levels below Evil Ghost Pill, and those two levels can be caught up in almost a day if he finds suitable wild monsters.

Therefore for him, Evil Ghost Pill, aside from stealthy aerial scouting, is almost useless; as for the True Sight Eye ability, need not mention it, it has been completely replaced by Divine Perception.

"If only we could slip Hui Siye into a mask, how great."

With a hint of regret, Chen Shicheng lies on the bed and logs off directly.

Seeing this, La Tiao, still rolling and playing with its tail, quickly scurries over, lies on Chen Shicheng's chest, closes its eyes to sleep, but its pair of round little ears keep twitching, constantly alert to any surrounding movement.

Hui Siye also silently pulls out the Reverence‑God Incense, walks to the bedside, finds a comfortable spot, and continues lying down in the same posture.

A night passes without a word.

Early the next morning, before eight o'clock, in the dimly lit room because of the drawn curtains, a melodious telephone ring suddenly sounds.

"Blue Lotus"

Chen Shicheng, irritated, turns over and ignores it, legs tucked under the blanket, ready to keep sleeping.

But after the first ring, the phone persistently rings again, instantly scattering any trace of his drowsiness.

"MD, calling souls so early in the morning!"

Chen Shicheng, fuming, picks up the phone, glances at the caller ID, and unsurprisingly it's Shuigu Tang, that lingering woman; he takes a deep breath, answers, and before he can start cursing, Shuigu Tang's anxious voice comes through.

"Quick, go online and check the information on Mountains and Seas Deification!"

"?"

Chen Shicheng, startled, asks in confusion, "Under national control, aren't all the infos unsearchable? Did something unexpected happen?"

"Look yourself, I can't explain, damn, this is really a big deal now!"

After saying that, Shuigu Tang hangs up without waiting to see if Chen Shicheng heard clearly.

Staring at the beeping phone, Chen Shicheng's brows gradually knit.

As more players enter the game during the third Closed Beta, inevitably some troublemakers will cause unrest; the real game and its power that can spill into reality will, sooner or later, be discovered by the public.

But the state suppresses it, making it impossible for matters to ferment into a major incident; what on earth happened this time? Chen Shicheng casually opens a browser and searches Mountains and Seas Deification.

"Damn, this really is a big deal now!"

The search results make his hand tremble, leaving him instantly stunned.

Because the homepage headline is a game update notice.

"Mountains and Seas Deification (Closed Beta Version 4.0) Update Announcement."

"1. To thank new and veteran players for strong support, the game will launch a new massive Closed Beta one week later; everyone may pre‑submit personal information on the official website to apply for beta qualification, with ten million slots randomly allocated worldwide."

"2. A pet system is added in‑game, allowing players to capture wild monsters as combat assistance."

"3. Due to real‑name issues, a new game ID feature is introduced; except by extremely special means, true names cannot be detected." "4. Forum functionality is opened, allowing players to speak freely and communicate."

Chen Shicheng rubs his face, tries to calm himself a bit, then checks the date on his phone.

June 24th.

So a week later, that is July 1st.

Ten million new players will enter the game after seven days?!

Chen Shicheng remains silent for a long while before accepting this reality, then quickly clicks the link to the official page.

The official website looks fairly proper, at least more refined than the initial mobile webpage; the background shows a massive golden list floating on clouds, empty of any content.

Below the clouds, countless cultivators and demons mingle, scrambling upward with eager eyes yearning to touch the golden list.

At the bottom is a simple game background introduction and a registration button, with the publisher's name astonishingly large: "Honghuang Culture Co., Ltd."

No need to investigate; this company must be a fictitious entity, merely a front for the game.

Know that before entering the game, he had already searched online for information about it, yet saw not a single trace.

Now, the game has directly put the official website online, and the announcement still accepts players worldwide.

Moreover, the website has been online so long without a 404 from the state, meaning the game does not intend to hide itself, preparing to forcefully expose itself to the world.

Previously, each country suppressed the news for stability, since this game would cause a massive shift, evident to anyone.

But now it cannot be suppressed; even though the official site doesn't specify the game's wonders, players have relatives and friends, and through word of mouth it will inevitably become known to all.

Just look at the registration numbers beside the page.

【Reservation count: 3.69 million.】

The current registration number isn't huge compared to the global population, but a secret, once a second person knows, ceases to be secret, let alone nearly four million people.

Soon, the game's news will spread worldwide like a plague.

And as the number of people who know the truth about the game grows, various countries may even abandon the blockade and instead actively promote it, allowing citizens to obtain game qualifications as much as possible.

After all, the game's existence was previously concealed because a small number of players gaining power would become an unstable factor.

But when the number of players exceeds a certain level and can no longer be concealed, these unstable factors become a strategic resource.

Moreover, the number of reservations is limited to only ten million; given the randomness, the more people from our country who reserve, the more will obtain qualifications, so if we don't want to fall behind, we must actively promote even more.

Of course, Chen Shicheng feels that all this seems like a replay of several decades ago; countries that have learned lessons will surely make preparations.

Moreover, he also believes in the combat power of the vast netizens; in the aspects of snatching game qualifications and yearning for cultivation, no one can match them—but just thinking of tens of millions wielding miraculous relics of the Fourth Heavenly Calamity flooding into the game, a sense of urgency rises in his heart.

He is not some extraordinarily talented protagonist; his current achievements are entirely thanks to the Stealing Heaven Pendant, but later players entering the game will also have various relics, possibly even existences more miraculous than his.

Moreover, resources within the game are limited, and cultivation is about seizing the heavenly earth's spiritual mechanisms and taking them into oneself; if one does not contend or grab, they will eventually fade into obscurity.

Then, the coming week is the final opportunity to gather resources.

He must, within this week, strengthen himself as much as possible and gather resources to cope with the various changes that may arise in the future.

Thinking of this, he dared not delay even a moment, hurriedly lying on the bed to log into the game.

Upon logging in, he immediately noticed a change in the interface: beside the storage bar and personal attributes appeared a pet option, with further information about the pet system below.

【Soul Spirit Contract: Bite the middle finger, use True Essence to force out a drop of essence blood and place it on the chosen pet's forehead; when the other party is willing or unable to resist, a contract can be signed to make them your pet.】

"This information is a bit overwhelming!"

Chen Shicheng looked at the description, somewhat astonished; besides voluntary agreement, it seems that when a wild monster is beaten to the brink of death and unable to resist, one can also forcibly establish a contract.

Now he has two pets that need contracting in his hand: one is La Tiao, which will surely volunteer, so there's nothing to say about it; however, the situation with the Tai Sui is a bit unclear.

Of course, whether the Tai Sui volunteers or not doesn't matter; just beat it into submission.

But where is the Tai Sui's forehead? That thing basically has no face! With some doubt, Chen Shicheng woke the La Tiao sleeping on his chest, then bit his middle finger and dropped a drop of essence blood onto its forehead.

The moment the essence blood touched the La Tiao, under the pet system's effect it transformed into a complex Soul Spirit Contract, directly entering the La Tiao's sea of consciousness and forcibly attaching to its soul.

It seemed to sense something; the La Tiao, which had been half-asleep, instantly woke up, tilting its head blankly as it sensed the change in its soul.

(End of chapter)