I've Got a Feeling!

"Great Wilderness Tycoon?"

The ancestral shamans were quite puzzled upon hearing the name, but they did not find it too strange. After all, Chen Song had already brought out mahjong and playing cards. This was probably, at worst, just as fun as mahjong and cards.

Chen Song introduced it, "This game combines strategy, luck, adventure, and trading! You can become Great Wilderness cultivators, travel across the Great Wilderness on this board, seize cave abodes, collect spiritual treasures, encounter fortuitous opportunities, and even duel and compete with other players! The ultimate goal is to become a 'tycoon' with wealth spanning the Great Wilderness and cultivation unrivaled beneath the heavens!"

He had tinkered with this set of "Great Wilderness Tycoon" during a boring period of secluded cultivation, combining his own experiences with Great Wilderness legends. Its rules were more complicated than mahjong or cards, but it was also more entertaining.

As for why he had not brought it out at Wuzhuang Temple, it was because Chen Song had not fully perfected the rules back then. Besides, there had not been as many people then. Now that there were more than ten of them, would it not be far livelier?

When had the ancestral shamans ever seen such a novel thing? They all gathered around, listening in utter amazement. Even the most composed Houtu showed intense interest. The Wu Tribe was naturally straightforward and enjoyed simple, direct fighting, but this sort of simulated journey and strategic competition was an entirely new experience for them.

"This sounds even more fun than fighting!" Zhurong rubbed his hands together.

"How do we play? Hurry up and teach us!" Gonggong urged.

Chen Song chuckled and began explaining the rules in detail. Starting funds, rolling dice to move, purchasing ownerless cave abodes, collecting tolls, fortuitous opportunity cards, heavenly tribulation cards...

The ancestral shamans were left bewildered, yet they found it incredibly novel.

Before long, the center of the stone hall had been cleared out and covered with a massive "Great Wilderness Tycoon" board. Chen Song, Houtu, Zhurong, Gonggong, and Big White, who lay sprawled over the board with his front paws braced against it, sat down as the first four players and one dog. The other ancestral shamans and great shamans gathered around to watch curiously.

The game began!

Zhurong snatched up the dice and threw them hard. "Six! Hahaha, straight to Kunlun Mountain! This place has enduring fortune. I'm buying it!" He swept out a hand grandly, as though he had truly claimed Kunlun Mountain for himself.

Gonggong followed right after. Once he rolled, he drew a card, and his face immediately fell. "'Encountering an extraterrestrial demon,' cultivation drops? What rotten luck!"

Houtu remained calm and steady, advancing step by step. She drew "Discover an Innate Spiritual Root," and her assets steadily grew.

Relying on his "foreknowledge" of the Great Wilderness, Chen Song often avoided risks, bought promising plots at low prices, and accumulated considerable wealth.

Big White was a complete troublemaker, rolling dice blindly and buying land at random. Yet sometimes his absurd luck exploded, and he drew top-tier fortuitous opportunity cards, making Zhurong howl in outrage.

The stone hall shook with noise:

"Dijiang! You landed on my Buzhou Mountain villa! Pay up! Triple rent!" Zhurong roared, slamming the table.

"Houtu, the toll for your 'Wuzhuang Temple' is way too harsh. How about a discount?" Gonggong stared at his shrinking pile of spirit stones with a pained expression.

"Huh? 'Wandering into the Purple Sky Palace and hearing the Great Dao'? Hahaha!" Zhurong nearly stepped onto the board, but everyone knew he couldn't understand a damn thing about the Dao.

"Aaargh! Why did I draw 'Pill Refining Furnace Explosion' again?!" Big White cradled his dog head with both paws, on the verge of tears.

When the round ended, Houtu took first place through her steady strategy. Zhurong and Gonggong had gone bankrupt several times due to being overly aggressive. Chen Song came in second, while Big White finished last but still had a wonderful time.

"I refuse to accept this! Again! This time, I'll choose the demon race as my piece and steal Zhurong's territory!" Gonggong shouted.

"You think I'm afraid of you? Watch me burn you broke with one fire!" Zhurong retorted without backing down.

Chen Song immersed himself in Great Wilderness Tycoon, mahjong, and cards alongside the Wu Tribe and ancestral shamans, completely losing track of time.

Who knew how much time had passed.

The entire Wu Tribe was still immersed in this unprecedented gaming feast. Just as the clamor was nearly enough to lift the stone hall's roof, Laozi, who was cultivating quietly on Kunlun Mountain, slowly opened his eyes.

His state of mind was as still as an ancient well. With nothing to do, he casually performed a divination to check on the recent circumstances of that troublesome disciple of his.

Heavenly Secrets revealed themselves, and Laozi's brows furrowed slightly. In his perception, the karmic threads connecting his disciple to the direction of Buzhou Mountain were fluctuating violently. They were intertwined with all kinds of excitement, frustration, and joy, along with the faint disturbance of a strange force that seemed to simulate the operation of heaven and earth's laws. Mixed with the Wu Tribe's soaring blood aura and baleful energy, it seemed especially... noisy.

"This child... is once again in the Wu Tribe's territory, indulging in frivolous distractions." Laozi shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a trace of helplessness.

He sensed that Chen Song's cultivation was still stuck at the peak of Grand Unity Golden Immortal, without the slightest progress, yet he was wasting his energy on such childish amusements.

"This unlucky brat, why hasn't he broken through yet? And he's still playing around like this?" With a thought, Laozi decided that he could no longer allow Chen Song to carry on with such nonsense.

His figure flickered slightly, and he vanished from the meditation cushion. In the next step, he tore through space and appeared directly inside the noisy Wu Tribe stone hall.

The future Sage had already spent a long time at the Quasi-Saint stage. Even without deliberately releasing pressure, his very existence was enough to make the laws of heaven and earth fall silent.

The previously uproarious stone hall instantly became silent as death. Every ancestral shaman stopped what they were doing and looked in surprise at the suddenly appearing leader of the mysterious sect.

Laozi's calm gaze swept over the table covered by the huge board, the scattered cards and tokens, and Chen Song and Big White, whose faces still held traces of excitement.

"Disciple Chen Song," Laozi said flatly, yet his voice reached every living being's ears with perfect clarity. "Have you played enough? It is time to return."

The smile on Chen Song's face instantly froze. The "rocket bomb" he had been about to play nearly fell to the ground. "M-Master..." His scalp went numb.

Laozi said no more and gently swept his sleeve. Chen Song, Big White, and the Kui Ox and Green Ox, who had still been competing in strength with Wu Tribe warriors outside the hall, were immediately wrapped in an irresistible yet gentle force. They turned into several streaks of light and were instantly carried away from the Wu Tribe stone hall by Laozi, heading toward Kunlun Mountain.

Within the Wu Tribe settlement, only Laozi's faint voice remained behind. "Fellow Wu Tribe Daoists, this old Daoist has disturbed you..."

The lively stone hall instantly fell quiet. The ancestral shamans looked at one another.

Zhurong scratched his head. "Uh... the eldest of the Three Purities came personally to drag him away?"

Gonggong smacked his lips. "Tch, what a letdown! We were right at the crucial moment!"

Houtu smiled faintly. "It seems little friend Chen Song will be scolded when he returns."

Chen Song only felt his vision blur as wind howled past his ears. Laozi had already carried him beyond the bounds of Buzhou Mountain, speeding toward Kunlun Mountain. Big White was so frightened that he clamped down tightly on the hem of Chen Song's clothes. The Kui Ox and Green Ox followed obediently behind, not daring to make a sound.

Chen Song groaned inwardly. He knew that getting caught while gaming at this "internet café" meant there would definitely be no pleasant outcome once he returned.

He secretly glanced at his Master. Seeing Laozi's expressionless face only made his heart pound harder.

However, during the flight, perhaps because playing "Great Wilderness Tycoon" in the Wu Tribe had simulated journeys through the Great Wilderness and all kinds of "fortuitous opportunities" and "heavenly tribulations," subtly stirring his comprehension of heaven and earth's laws; or perhaps because subduing the Green Ox, fighting You, and playing cards with the ancestral shamans—no, discussing the Dao with them—had accumulated enough foundation...

Chen Song suddenly felt that the bottleneck at the peak of Grand Unity Golden Immortal, which had trapped him for so long, was actually beginning to loosen!

"Master, wait! I think I've got a feeling?"

"Speak plainly."

"I'm about to break through!"