Chapter 225: The Disdain on the Surface Might Already Be Overflowing with Envy

In the instant the words "sword mastery" left the true cultivator player's mouth, every player who had been watching Feng Xue saw on his face an expression of disdain so obvious it could be read at a glance.

"What's going on? Is sword immortal a sewer job?"

The true cultivator player, startled by the expression, forgot his social anxiety and hurriedly said:

"Uh, sir, I also know a bit about talismans and body cultivation."

"Triple affinity: talismans, sword mastery (object control), and body forging? I wonder if players in this world truly have energy circuits, or just data-formed bodies…" Feng Xue mused internally, while outwardly raising an eyebrow:

"Talisman arts? What talisman have you received? To what rank have you cultivated spirit communication and deity invocation? How much divine might can your body forging withstand?"

"Huh? Could you… repeat that?"

The true cultivator boy looked utterly bewildered; Feng Xue obligingly repeated the question more slowly, with an expectant expression.

The true cultivator boy grew even more embarrassed. He quietly opened his talent tree and skill tree, scanned each one, then half-guessed, half-bluffed:

"I know Spirit Fire Talisman, Healing Talisman, Lightning Strike Talisman, and the lineages of Nine Heavens Thunder Control Talisman and Three Pure Fire Talisman—but I haven't learned them yet…"

"…"

With Seeing Mo Ying's aid, Feng Xue instantly shifted his expression from expectation to confusion to utter disbelief, holding it for a moment—only to unexpectedly realize these players showed no volition fluctuations. He finally let out a deep sigh, swept his sleeve, and vanished along with the table and chairs.

"Holy shit, you scared off the NPC!" The true cultivator player who had just arrived caught only the instant of Feng Xue's disappearance and let out an inarticulate player scream. The original player, deeply aggrieved, retorted:

"Anyone who asks gets zero response! Don't you get it? Their idea of cultivation doesn't match our talent tree at all! So tell me—what talisman did you receive?"

Though this argument made sense, players valued "stubbornness." Since you couldn't try again, if you failed to seize the opportunity, it was your own fault.

Watching the players bicker, Feng Xue quietly changed his face. His disguise technique had improved considerably since analyzing Laina's innate talent—though he still couldn't match her ability to effortlessly assume any body or gender, altering his own appearance with specific intent was no longer difficult—just requiring fine control.

Didn't he have Xiao Lingdang and Seeing Mo Ying?

"How's it going? Found any data port yet?" Feng Xue asked inwardly as he paced through the city. Xiao Lingdang emitted a human-like sigh, her cheerful expression drooping as she said helplessly:

"No. No data port at all, and no volition income. If they're truly players, then their tech is on a completely different path. If we insist on trying, the only option left is to have them worship me in the real world and see if volition comes in—but success is doubtful."

"That's a problem. Without cyber consecration, making consecrated items is nearly impossible." Feng Xue asked the junk shop owner—whose sentience matched that of an ordinary person—about available materials, feeling deeply frustrated. Given the shop's inventory, it was unlikely these players, who produced no volition at all, could consecrate anything themselves.

"So why not spirit-binding art?" Seeing Mo Ying, whether naturally reclusive or due to her spirit-ghost nature, had quickly recovered from the aftereffects of being stuffed into the Pot Heaven Sack. Hearing her question, Feng Xue shook his head:

"It's possible, but I'm unsure what their system would identify my crafted items as. If they have an identification skill, the entire plan collapses and restarts. Conversely, if they lack identification or can't recognize my items, they might just be treated as junk—so we need a precursor item with a degree of sentience—"

"First, to test their identification ability; second, to lay groundwork for later guiding them into the plan; third, to emulate what we did in the last world against the Anti-He Clan—see if we can extract their skill effects… Sigh, this medieval-plus-mystical world is utterly unsuited for Xiao Lingdang's talents!"

"If it's just about guidance, can't we just assign a low-ranking soldier?" Just as Feng Xue was at a loss, Liu Yunxi suddenly spoke. Hearing her, Feng Xue felt a flash of inspiration—but couldn't grasp it. He immediately went to a secluded spot and said:

"Explain."

"It's simple. In the stories the Fox Immortal Grandma used to tell, Sun Wukong went to Lion-Camel Ridge and first asked Xiao Zuanfeng for information. Since these players can't tell good guys from bad guys, why not assign a villain to leak secrets? Like stationing a low-ranking soldier nearby, letting him get attacked, then begging for mercy and spilling the details…"

"Didn't know you were this smart?" Seeing Mo Ying muttered, incredulous. Feng Xue himself began doubting his own intelligence—how had he missed such a simple method?

"What's that? I'm very smart, thank you very much!" Liu Yunxi protested, though inwardly she gloated. Though the human dao's spiritual ingenuity in this world had grown obscure again, she couldn't help calculating how much debt this suggestion might repay.

…

"This game company is toxic. They designed player classes with this cheap skin, yet wrote NPC dialogue in orthodox Daoist terms. Before, I could say they just didn't understand cultivation and were riding the trend. Now, with this NPC? It's clearly intentional nonsense!"

On the wilderness map, players who had exhausted their daily EXP quota idly chatted while grinding mobs. Secrets were hard to keep among players, let alone something so widely observed—by evening, anyone who checked the forums knew what had happened that day.

Now everyone was scouring the game for that strange cultivation NPC, investigating "talisman reception," and trying to find any in-game interaction that might vaguely relate to it.

Unfortunately, this garbage game was a traditional Western fantasy map—you could find a church easily, but a place to burn incense and worship? Sorry, none exists.

"I suspect this is just a lead-in. Next time we see him, it'll probably be during a boss fight against the demonic dragon in the wilderness, where he gets critically wounded and gives the boss a debuff to lower its stats—otherwise, the five-man dungeon's difficulty is way too high!"

The true cultivation class player, who was just soaking up EXP, watched the elemental mage brother clear mobs while muttering. He was hoping a teammate would say something like "You know what?"—when suddenly the elemental mage brother said:

"One didn't die! Wait—why did it run? Must've spawned an elite mob! Taunt it!"

(End of Chapter)