Chapter 266: This Game Is Not Right!

Before officially beginning to experience the game content, Ji Chen was already won over by this game's perfect performance.

The visuals captured by his eyes and the sensations felt by his body all told him this was a real world.

If not for entering through the game pod and the existence of spatial nodes, he would surely have thought he had transmigrated again to another alien world.

"This technology... truly powerful."

Recalling his fantasies from back then, he let out a helpless smile.

Back when he transmigrated to an alien world, influenced by various transmigration themes, he had also worried about why he hadn't activated his system yet.

He wondered if the timing simply hadn't arrived.

After all, according to the normal transmigration protagonist process, one must come equipped with a cheat.

The early suffering was merely a setup for the later face-slapping and showing off.

A life of counterattack was about to arrive soon.

From initial expectation to the point of falling into total despair, he had a period of fantasy.

In his fantasies, he rose from obscurity and advanced with high spirits.

For instance, whenever the night grew deep and quiet after ending his cultivation, he would always rest his head on straw, fantasizing that perhaps when he woke tomorrow, a mysterious star pattern would appear on the palm of his left hand.

When he touched the glowing spirit pattern with his finger, a sound like a great bronze bell would explode in his mind:

"Host must be awesome system activated, automatically generating newbie gift pack..."

Or perhaps, one day a voice of an old man would suddenly ring in his mind:

"I am the last Grand Elder of the Ancient Sword Sect, reduced to a wisp of residual soul after being secretly harmed by treacherous people. After hiding for a thousand years, I have finally found a destined one. Your perseverance moved me; today I shall transmit to you the 'Nine Turns Sword Body'..."

This was also a way of life for him to comfort himself during those times of suffering.

Perhaps it was also the reason he could continue to persist while most of the other summoned alien beings died.

The vast majority of them died from mental collapse under hopelessness.

Although his body suffered pain, he always maintained expectation for the future.

This persistence was nothing more than: perhaps tomorrow, everything would be different.

It sounds ridiculous, but he indeed got through the most cruel slave life by relying on wishful thinking.

This was different from the innate confidence of the Dragonborn.

Even when bound by chains, the Dragonborn firmly believed in their bones that they were a divine dragon hiding in shallow water, and one day would tear apart the shackles and return to the nine heavens.

But he relied not on belief, but on the aftereffects of reading too many web novels.

He was an ordinary person from modern society; after transmigrating, how could he possess the heart of a strong one or a firm will?

In fact, he, raised in modern society, had never even touched physical labor in his entire life.

He merely fitted the "protagonist templates" he had read onto himself, like playing a game of self-deceptive role-playing; today he fantasized being a trash-flow protagonist, tomorrow he substituted the invincible system novel template.

The more desperate the reality, the more mad the fantasy.

He did not truly have perseverance; he just dared not stop fantasizing.

Because once he stopped fantasizing, the despair rushing at him would be enough to drive him mad.

He imagined every day's suffering as the tribulations a protagonist must undergo, scraping by to survive.

Those dead alien beings did not lose to the pain brought by cultivation, but lost to the realization in their clarity that this was an inescapable despair.

Thinking back now, perhaps it was precisely this ridiculousness.

That prevented him from sinking continuously into despair like the other alien beings.

He clearly remembered imagining a plot during this period about returning to Earth.

He had fantasized about many face-slapping scenes.

For example, after mastering a divine skill, returning to Earth to start a livestream, titling it: Livestreaming Cultivation.

Performing a show of flying through the sky and diving underground for the folks in the livestream room, attracting more folks to the room, then scrolling through the audience's comments shouting "awesome."

He also fantasized about his boring self returning to school, acting out the plot of playing a pig to eat the tiger, slapping the face of a bullying rich second-generation heir, and meeting the school goddess...

Although these past fantasies now seem incredibly childish, they also made him think about which stage of development the era would have reached when he returned to Earth.

Would aliens invade, with him appearing as a savior?

Or would the motherland face a crisis, with him in the guise of a god hard-blocking nuclear missiles and destroying aircraft carrier groups with a flick of his finger...

The fact was, when he returned, Earth's development was far more advanced than he had imagined.

Especially after the initial experience of the Monster World.

If it truly were an alien invasion plot, he, a returnee from transmigration, would most likely have already been killed by the Eclipse Clan "invading from outside."

His gaze looked out toward the front.

Ancient ruins and wreckage were everywhere across the vast land; eroded by time, they had all weathered, yet they were revitalized with a different kind of life due to the arrival of countless newbie players.

Distributed densely among these building ruins were various low-level monsters; they were also the training targets for players in the game's newbie scene.

His gaze swept to one side, where a group of players wearing black cloth clothes were jointly besieging a rock monster of huge stature.

Every time the rock monster swung its thick arms, it caused a round of exclamations from the surrounding players.

But the nearby newbie players were not afraid at all; taking advantage of the gaps in the rock monster's attacks, they rushed forward to deal damage with all their might.

Various spirit weapons smashed against the rock monster's body surface, splashing up stone chips.

Magic-type players stood in the rear, releasing lightning, fireballs, and other elemental abilities.

The seemingly clumsy fighting style was full of passion and hot blood, moving Ji Chen deeply.

His gaze looked out even further, where a group of players was chasing after small fairies with agile movements.

These small fairies had tiny figures and emitted a faint fluorescent glow around their bodies; they moved flexibly back and forth among the ruin debris, and from time to time threw small stones carrying spiritual fluctuations at the players, causing the newbie players to clutch their heads and scatter like rats.

The regional voice channel was even more lively:

"Ahhh, why is it all people? Where are the monsters? Where did my monster go? You all stop, let me level up first."

"This is way too lively; the opening game atmosphere is absolutely perfect. I don't even know where to start. Is there any enthusiastic veteran player nearby who can take me to a farther scene to grind monsters?"

"Brothers, look at the sky! Another dog-bullshit veteran player is riding a flying sword to show off. These veteran players are so annoying. Can't they live without showing off? I'm not jealous at all."

"The treatment for us newbies is way too poor. In the previous scenes, veteran players started with mindless monsters. Why do we have intelligent monsters like little fairies here? And they even throw stones from a distance! My head has already been hit by three large lumps from stones enchanted with brains, and my health is almost gone. My anger value is skyrocketing, but unfortunately, I haven't equipped the Anger skill."

The sound of new players cursing, their excited cheers, and the sounds of them high-fiving each other in celebration echoed in Ji Chen's ears.

To him, these newbies were like the rising morning sun; the scene of them fighting with hot-blooded clumsiness made him feel as if he saw his own past self, who was once youthful but full of passion.

In contrast, he himself had long since had his sharp edges worn down by the years.

The fatigue of long years of struggle meant that the passion and hot blood in his heart had long since flowed away like sand through his fingers.

The youthful scene before his eyes at this moment was like throwing a huge stone into his dead lake, causing ripples to rise layer by layer in his heart, as a long-lost feeling quietly surged in his blood vessels.

"Start striving."

Ji Chen, who had already decided to spend his entire life in the game, had a smile appear on the corner of his mouth.

He set a new goal for himself.

Since he had no pursuits left in reality, he would strive through the rest of his life to become a top player on the leaderboard.

He moved forward, following the surging crowd.

From time to time, inquiries about forming a party came from his side, but upon learning that he had chosen the Eagle-Headed Demon at the start, they all shook their heads to express regret.

This made Ji Chen realize that he had indeed chosen a Painful Painful Minghun that was very weak at the start.

However, after attempting to release his ability, his expression changed.

A familiar perception perspective unfolded, and the scene in his field of vision suddenly exploded like a kaleidoscope.

Yet it presented a clarity never seen before.

He saw microorganisms swimming in the rainbow light within a dewdrop condensed on a weed more than ten meters away.

He also saw deep underground, where magma pulsed rhythmically like breathing, and even every grain of dust floating in the air was so clear.

In his perception field of vision, the entire world was covered by a crisscrossing network of energy, with golden energy torrents representing spiritual qi surging like blood.

Under the illumination of the three suns, spiritual qi rising from underground pumped toward the sky.

And he seemed to stand at the center of a vortex composed of pure energy, completely surrounded by energy particles of various colors.

Only at this moment did he know how terrifying the spiritual qi content in this virtual scene was.

What made him feel even more incredulous was that the stretching of the perception perspective had already become an instinct, as natural as breathing.

With just a thought, the perception would spread like ripples, or contract.

The faces of the surrounding players appeared in his mind with every single detail.

He saw a female player with a high ponytail not far to his left frowning and staring at players nearby who were stealing monsters; the slight trembling at the tips of her eyelashes was perfectly captured, and even the almost invisible beads of sweat on her lips were clearly presented in his mind.

To the front right, a burly player was waving a Might Axe, and the trajectory of the sweat droplets splashing in the air was clearly visible.

He was not unfamiliar with the perception perspective.

In the years of fighting in the Other World back then, this was one of his most crucial means of survival.

But it was different from the perception scene he saw now.

In his perception field of vision, the world was like being covered by a layer of semi-transparent gauze, with blurred outlines; it was mostly to distinguish the trajectory of energy flow, and even the fluctuations of blood and qi when an opponent released abilities, so as to avoid damage in advance.

Or to precisely lock onto the opponent he wanted to strike.

But the scene he saw now could no longer be described as clear.

Every frame in the perception image was deconstructed into countless continuous slices; even the entire process of the fabric on a player's body going from wrinkles to smoothing out during movement could be clearly captured, and even the scene reflected in the player's pupils could be indirectly read by him.

This perception had already surpassed the limits that the two words "observation" could describe; it was more like directly reading the world.

There was not a trace of stagnation during the process of releasing the Eagle-Headed Demon's ability.

Nor was there a problem of information overload; the way the read images were presented was incredibly natural.

In comparison, the perception observation methods he had used in the past were like primitive weapons.

On his first attempt, Ji Chen was completely shocked.

Just a moment ago, he was thinking that even if the physical performance of this game was extremely realistic.

But the abilities used in the game were after all fabricated fake settings, so the feeling of releasing them definitely couldn't achieve a perfect analogy to reality.

Now he realized he was wrong.

The developers of this game had actually perfectly replicated the release experience of "supernatural power."

More accurately, it was even more perfect than when he used abilities in reality.

Every extension of perception was as easy as moving one's own arm; the flow of spiritual qi and the resonance of consciousness were perfectly natural, even eliminating the unavoidable sense of stagnation when using abilities in reality, and even the slight dizziness brought about when switching the perception perspective.

After this test, the game Monster World was raised again in Ji Chen's heart.

Continuing to follow the crowd forward, he finally left the most congested area of the crowd, and then went alone to explore the area shrouded in mist.

The base form was extremely weak, with no attribute buffs.

He chose to switch to the Eagle-Headed Demon form at this moment, transforming into a free-range chicken with fiery red wings.

The form switch brought not a trace of discomfort.

Nor did it require a familiar process; the use of the body was imprinted in his mind like an instinct.

As he moved forward, the figures of the new players gradually became scarce.

Ji Chen also locked onto a lone little fairy at this time.

It had a height close to one meter, with green skin that glowed faintly; four pairs of translucent butterfly wings grew on its back, its pointed long ears were trembling slightly, and at this moment, it was looking at him with eyes like a cat's pupils.

After the analysis was activated, relevant information flooded into his mind.

【Little Fairy】:

Hunting Level: 3

Target Introduction: A derivative species nurtured in the Land of Chasing the Sun, possessing preliminary intelligence, skilled at condensing flying stones to attack targets, possessing strong territorial awareness, and fearing no strong enemies.

……

"Whoosh!"

A flying stone hurtled toward his face.

Ji Chen made no unnecessary move; he simply shifted his head to the right, easily dodging the attack.

Having failed with one strike, the little fairy appeared furious, growling low as it condensed another glowing stone.

Ji Chen launched his own assault at that moment.

The incoming stone grazed past his wings; Ji Chen didn't even deliberately dodge, his body naturally twisting into a perfect arc mid-air.

With his perception activated, he could clearly see the force trajectory of the little fairy's shoulder blades as it threw.

As another stone came, his wings suddenly folded, his body pressing down vertically by three inches, the stone slicing over his head.

His claws hooked upward; the perception image clearly showed a faint green light point pulsing at the back of the little fairy's neck.

Judging by the flow trajectory of the qi and blood within his body, this was the weak point.

In the instant he closed in, Ji Chen's right wing whipped out like a whip, the bone spike at the wingtip precisely piercing the weak point he saw in his perception.

The moment the little fairy's body stiffened and trembled, Ji Chen's raised beak had already pecked through its temple.

The entire sequence of movements flowed like clouds and water, as if practiced a thousand times.

On his first attempt, Ji Chen was already able to skillfully use the body of the Eagle-Headed Demon Painful Painful Minghun form.

Although the attributes of the Eagle-Headed Demon appeared very weak compared to other Painful Painful Minghun.

For a player like him with countless combat experiences, the visuals provided by perception allowed him to maximize his combat power.

With the battle ended, the little fairy turned into a mist of blood and seeped into his body.

A Challenger notification rang in his mind; the level of the Eagle-Headed Demon Painful Painful Minghun increased by 1.

The resulting attribute changes were completely different from directly modifying data.

It made Ji Chen clearly feel that his spiritual strength, and even his physical constitution, had been amplified.

It also made him realize that perhaps in the game he could experience a more perfect manifestation of power than in reality.

Hunting for levels suddenly became interesting in his eyes.

At this moment, Ji Chen developed a strong curiosity about the background of this game, and even other settings.

The area was soon filled with the figures of newbie players arriving one after another; while continuing to explore forward, he summoned the forum to start checking game data information, especially regarding the Chasing Sun Lands where he was located.

As post after post was opened, Ji Chen gained a new understanding of the Monster World game.

He also gained some understanding of the Chasing Sun Lands.

According to data released by the research-oriented players, the birth of the Chasing Sun Lands traced back to the ancient era of the Monster World.

A secondary god bestowed power by Beneath Di Zhao was born and nurtured on this land, but in the war against the Hei Chao Xie Sui, the god named Ka Ci had his divine body shattered and perished.

Under normal circumstances, the fallen Ka Ci would be swallowed by the Hei Chao Xie Sui, becoming nourishment.

But the war at that time was extremely fierce; the Demon God controlling the Hei Chao Xie Sui had no energy to pay attention to Ka Ci.

Ultimately, the remaining fragments of Ka Ci's body transformed into three eternally burning small suns on this land, fixed in the sky in a triangular formation, neither rising nor falling, only alternating between light and dark as time passed.

According to records in the library.

The golden divine blood flowing out when Ka Ci perished soaked through the entire land, turning the originally barren rocks into a crystal forest; the last breath He exhaled became an undispersing spiritual mist, making the spiritual energy content here incomably dense.

And the fragments of those shattered divine wings evolved into the Sky-Track Fragments that originally floated in the air.

After long ages passed, countless new derivative races were born and nurtured on this land, breeding and multiplying.

Within the bodies of these races flowed the power belonging to the god Ka Ci.

During this period, countless new descending forces arrived.

Among them was a powerful descending force that set its sights on the power left by Ka Ci, namely the three dazzling suns in the sky.

To protect Ka Ci's source power, the native forces and the descending forces erupted into war.

The final outcome was that the native forces were crushed by the powerful descending forces.

The three suns symbolizing Ka Ci's source power extinguished after this, and the land fell into eternal night.

But there were still remnants of the native forces who did not give up.

Among them, a native force paid a heavy price to reshape the suns.

This was also the origin of the name Chasing Sun Lands; they attempted to chase the direction where the suns fell, wanting to reshape the power of the god Ka Ci, or even resurrect the god Ka Ci.

But in the end, they only reshaped three weakened versions of the suns, and the race walked toward its end in a new round of war.

Times changed; the descending powerful clans that had plundered the god's power back then had long been destroyed.

The Chasing Sun Lands of now have become a desolate land.

And the Earth-Resonance Continent where the Chasing Sun Lands are located is not unfamiliar to players.

Before this, the players' activity range was in the Pale Continent region; they had not gone to other continents.

But veteran players had encountered powerful clans from other regions.

Among them was a force very familiar to players.

Its name was "Mechanical Legion"; it now controlled nearly one-third of the territory in the Earth-Resonance Continent region.

Many newbies were relatively unfamiliar with the Mechanical Legion, but veteran players were very familiar.

Back then, the Mechanical Legion descended upon the Di Zhao Mountain Range region, snatching away a subterranean mineral vein; merely acting casually silenced both the players and the Earth-Mind Bullies.

At that time, the combat power of the Mechanical Legion, for the players and the Earth-Mind Bullies, was comparable to a dimensional strike.

Even the most ordinary troop type could easily slaughter players and Hei Chao Xie Sui; indeed, at that time, the strength of the Earth-Mind Bullies was not even as good as the lowest-level combat troop within the Mechanical Legion.

Terrified, the Bullies decisively contracted their defenses, daring not to provoke.

The players also knew they had no chance of victory; with such a huge combat power gap, charging forward meant only death, so they did not carry out any retaliatory actions.

The appearance of the Mechanical Legion gave the players a significant shock and once sparked heated discussion on the forum.

The forum's record of this incident reads: Deus ex machina, terrifying beyond measure.

But today is not like the past.

The posting player believed that since the Land of Earth Roar had been opened as a new map, it meant that players were destined to face a full-scale war against the Mechanical Legion in the future.

Any land they players had set foot on must belong to them players.

What Mechanical Legion? It was merely an appetizer before stepping onto the World-Level Battlefield, destined to become nourishment for their growth.

Scrolling through the posts, knowledge continuously flooded his mind.

Ji Chen gradually gained a relatively clear understanding of the background of the Monster World.

But there were too many posts to scroll through; he simply couldn't finish them all at once.

Whenever he encountered monsters along the way, he would temporarily hide the forum interface and go hunting.

His level quickly reached 4. With the Hawk-Headed Demon providing the monsters' movement trajectories, every hunt ended in a very relaxed manner.

Find the weakness, strike with precision.

Every battle focused on kill efficiency; there was no ineffective damage output whatsoever.

Hunting battles, newbies flooding in, moving forward, scrolling through the forum along the way... repeating this process endlessly, with players behind him seeming infinite.

Whenever he discovered an area with dense monster concentrations, the moment he got started and looked up, he would find the vicinity already filled with the figures of newbie players.

Various noisy shouts also crashed against his ears.

He did not resist this noisy, passionate environment; in fact, he genuinely enjoyed this lively atmosphere.

The problem was, with so many newbie players, he couldn't find any monsters to hunt.

At this point, moving forward was his only choice.

During this time, he had also tried opening the map to find an area where no players had ventured.

But apparently, many newbie players shared his idea; there was simply no direction on the map where no players were currently exploring.

Clearly, a massive number of newbie players were still entering in batches.

The game had no channel settings; all players were in the same channel scene, pushing across the land like a giant carpet.

From the map, one could see the fog-shrouded areas expanding and dissipating in a fan shape.

But zooming the map out to cover the entire Land of Chasing the Sun, the players' efforts over several hours had only explored a nearly invisible corner of the map.

He had to drag and zoom the map's view distance for a long time just to enlarge that corner until it was clear.

Half a day later.

During the exploration, the scenery along the way made Ji Chen feel extremely novel; it truly felt like arriving in another world.

Coupled with the abundant spiritual energy brought by breathing, he felt completely refreshed throughout his body, a sensation he had never experienced in over a hundred years.

Before long, Ji Chen spotted two more monsters.

The monsters' appearance resembled lizards, their bodies covered in glowing scales, with two large horns on their heads and sharp crystal spikes at their limb joints.

The analysis information showed this was a monster named Shi Tu, possessing the ability to spew toxic mist.

One large, one small; their hunting levels were 4 and 6 respectively.

The battle erupted instantly.

As the first lizard raised its head, Ji Chen's swinging right wing swept across like a blood-red scythe.

The Perception View provided assistance.

The wing-blade precisely cut into the gap between the neck scales, where a fingernail-sized patch of soft flesh was pulsating.

Intense pain made the lizard reflexively shrink its head; its hind legs exerted force, its body wanting to lean back and launch itself away, but Ji Chen's sharp beak had already descended, instantly pecking through its skull.

"Pah."

The second lizard also spat out corrosive crystal mist, but with the aid of the Perception View, the trajectory of the toxic mist spreading through the air was clearly visible.

His body flipped in the air; every change of direction allowed the toxic mist to just graze past his wings, the wind waves he created sending the mist flying back.

Just as the lizard monster squinted its eyes, Ji Chen's sharp claws had already gripped its jawbone.

Crack!

Accompanied by the crisp sound of a broken cervical vertebra, Ji Chen's head slammed down violently, instantly piercing through the lizard monster's skull.

The entire hunting process took no more than five seconds; as the two lizards dissolved into light points, the crystal mist spat by one of them had not even fully hit the ground, completing the art of slaughter with a rhythm as smooth as flowing clouds and water.

With the hunt over, Ji Chen's main Painful Painful Minghun level reached 7.

At this moment, he shook his wings, shaking off the blood from the lizards that had splattered onto them.

Fighting using a monster's body brought no physical discomfort, but psychologically, it still felt somewhat awkward.

Compared to the Monster Flow, he still preferred the mainstream Star Pulse Da Pei Wan Fa on the forum.

He planned to first accumulate Shou Shou Jili to unlock Level 1 Body Tempering, then consider choices for other Painful Painful Minghun.

The exploration continued.

Opening the map revealed that his straight-line distance from the starting point was now 17.7 kilometers.

Yet even so, groups of newbie players would occasionally pop up nearby.

It seemed no matter where he went, he could not escape the expanding crowd of players.

This half-day of exploration made him thoroughly fall in love with this game.

The early slave life in the other world meant that every cultivation session afterwards required him to endure pain, but he had to do so for the sake of growth.

In comparison, the growth through hunting in the Monster World was simply enjoyment.

Every hunt brought very intuitive growth feedback.

He even felt that, in all likelihood, it wouldn't take many days before his spiritual energy strength in the Monster World could easily surpass his real-world self.

This timeframe might only require one month.

If the evolution points and Shou Shou Jili feedback from monsters increased in the later stages, and Body Tempering levels rose, it might even take only 20 days to complete the efforts of over 200 years he had made in the other world.

This sense of disparity even gave him the feeling that he was growing with cheats.

He picked up the crystal stones dropped by the lizard monster on the ground, listed them on the trading house, and priced them by referencing energy crystals of the same category.

The next second, a Challenger Prompt rang in his mind:

【Challenger Prompt: Your Sold Items "Eroded Pattern Crystal x2" Sold Successfully, totaling 122 Shou Shou Jili obtained (handling fee deducted)】

Ji Chen: ……

He felt he had probably sold them too cheaply.

It had only just been listed, yet it was snapped up in an instant.

Smiling and shaking his head, he continued exploring forward.

After continuing on for some distance, the road ahead on the left was abruptly cut off by a sudden cliff.

The steep cliff face dropped vertically as if split open by a giant axe, forming a deep valley wreathed in mist at the bottom.

At this moment, a player stood before the cliff, expression hesitant.

Following his line of sight, Ji Chen saw a spirit plant of pure luminous white rooted in a crevice of the sheer cliff, nine translucent leaves carved like ice crystals, with a teardrop-shaped amber fruit cradled at the center, its skin so transparent that the golden liquid flowing within could be seen.

He swept an Analyze over it, and the relevant information appeared in Ji Chen's mind.

【Nine-Leaf Crimson Glow Grass】

Spirit Plant Grade: Grade 6.

Spirit Plant Introduction: A spirit plant variety that grows in the Land of Chasing Sun, commonly found in places thick with Karsa Divine Blood. It has high medicinal value, containing faint Karsa Divine Blood. After special refinement into medicine, it can greatly enhance the player's physical constitution (Body Tempering EXP), and also has miraculous effects on repairing damaged bodies. Offering it to Beneath Di Zhao yields 2938 Shou Shou Jili.

……

After reading the analyzed information, Ji Chen immediately understood why this player was hesitating.

Such a precious spirit plant — just from the lingering spiritual energy fluctuations, it was no Fan Pin.

Such a precious spirit plant, even the otherworlds he had traversed before could not nurture it.

"Damn it, go for it!"

Just then, the player standing at the cliff's edge suddenly took a deep breath, stepped back a few paces, then violently accelerated into a sprint, leapt mightily at the cliff's edge, arms thrust forward, fingers reaching for the Nine-Leaf Crimson Glow Grass growing in the cliff crevice.

Under Ji Chen's gaze, this player's body traced a clumsy arc through the air, coarse clothes flapping loudly in the wind.

But falling short by at least three meters, his body lost the momentum to continue forward.

From the Perception viewpoint, Ji Chen could see the resolute expression on this player's face gradually turn to astonishment.

Although his right hand still maintained its grasping posture, his body had already begun plummeting rapidly.

Grass!

The pitch-shifted tail of the cry trailed away rapidly with the fall, echoing in the cliff below.

After a long while, a muffled thud of landing came, startling a few birds with metallic wings, resembling crows, that broke through the valley-bottom mist.

This scene made Ji Chen laugh in spite of himself.

Striding to the cliff's edge, he poked his head out and looked down.

Mist steamed up from the valley bottom; even the Perception viewpoint could not reach the bottom.

His gaze turned forward.

Carefully measuring the distance, the Nine-Leaf Crimson Glow Grass grew in an excessively tricky spot, precisely beneath an outward-jutting rock ledge.

Even with his strengthened Eagle-Headed Demon body, a full-force leap could reach at most two-thirds of the way.

More troublesome were the interlocking crystal clusters on the rock face — one careless slip and he would end up in the same fate as that hotheaded player.

Such a precious spirit plant, he naturally did not want to miss.

But the Eagle-Headed Demon form could not fly; how to obtain it became a conundrum.

If this were reality, he would use psychokinesis to grab it, but this was a game….

Ji Chen suddenly froze.

He thought of a question.

Since the game perfectly replicates real-world physical performance, could his psychokinesis also be used in the game?

"Let's try."

Closing his eyes, he began attempting to trace the Jing Shen Lao Yin he knew intimately within his body.

As his consciousness sank, the spiritual force in the game actually responded as if it were an extension of his arm, constructing a spiritual operation circuit within the virtual sea of consciousness's meridians.

Soon, his spiritual force was completely exhausted.

Without hesitation, he immediately summoned the Marketplace Realm interface and purchased ten bottles of Spirit Recovery Potions.

But this was far from enough; the 10 bottles were quickly used up.

Constructing the Spirit Pattern imprint required even more massive spiritual energy.

So this time Ji Chen directly purchased 80 bottles, emptying his Shou Shou Jili balance down to a single digit.

Chugging three bottles in a row, the tremendous spiritual force surged like floodwaters breaching a dike, raising towering waves in the sea of consciousness.

His consciousness remained steady as a rock during this period, precisely controlling the spiritual force energy pouring into the sea of consciousness.

The patterns of the psychokinesis imprint gradually emerged during this process.

His darting consciousness traced brilliant blue streaks across the sea of consciousness.

Then it wound upward around the imprint, spiraling and intertwining, forming a precise spiritual circuit.

As one spiritual pattern after another lit up, spiritual force was consumed violently.

But the energy from the potions he kept drinking ceaselessly filled the gaps.

Gradually, a complex pale-blue imprint fully took shape within the sea of consciousness.

This was the Jing Shen Lao Yin of psychokinesis that Ji Chen had mastered in the otherworld, now perfectly replicated into this digitized body.

When the final stroke was completed, the imprint suddenly burst forth with dazzling blue light, then fell silent, deeply branded into the center of the sea of consciousness.

Hum~

Suddenly, visible ripples spread through the air.

The pebbles at Ji Chen's feet trembled, then rose one after another into suspension.

When Ji Chen opened his eyes again, a faint blue mark flashed across his forehead, and all suspended objects began orbiting his body.

In an instant, the rotation speed surged.

They became blurred stone shadows, forming a seamless protective barrier.

A sharp whistling echoed through the air; the pebbles scraped against the air at high speed, as if countless blades were slicing through space.

The Eagle-Headed Beast's perception expanded, and its telekinetic range extended accordingly.

Not only pebbles, but also sand, withered branches, and even dust were pulled by the telekinesis.

In an instant, a small storm vortex formed around Ji Chen, sand and dust interwoven, withered branches swirling wildly within it—all matter obeying Ji Chen's will.

His gaze locked instantly onto a twisted dead tree nearby.

A flash of blue light surged in his eagle eyes; telekinesis clamped onto the trunk like an invisible giant hand.

Crack!

The dead tree groaned under unbearable strain, its roots ripped violently from the rock crevices, dragging up soil.

When the trunk hovered three meters high, it froze, its surface glowing with a web-like pattern of blue light—the energy pathways revealed as telekinesis penetrated the wood fibers.

The next second, the entire tree rapidly disintegrated.

Large chunks broke free from the main trunk and were shattered midair into tiny fragments, until they became powder.

Then, under telekinetic control, the powder formed a small vortex of wood dust.

At that moment, Ji Chen was stunned.

This was a technique taught to him by the Dragon Descendant, yet he never expected it to be perfectly replicated in the Monster World game.

Even with the Eagle-Headed Beast's perception enhancing it, he found it smoother than in reality.

"This game is weird!"

(End of Chapter)