Give You a Chance and You Still Couldn't Cut It

"Don't dare treat you like that? Do you think Du Dajin alone can scare me?"

A faint smile hung on Jiang Dali's lips. "What is your relationship with Du Dajin? Why are you working for him? Du Dajin shouldn't be dumb enough to send you directly into my territory to find me, should he?"

Hu Ling's eyes widened again, and his lips trembled. "I-I used to be an escort master at the Dragon Gate Escort Agency."

"I understand now. Even in death, you won't be some nobody."

Jiang Dali nodded and suddenly struck out with his palm. The force of the blow rumbled like muffled thunder, landing squarely on the man's heart with a bang.

Hu Ling's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Blood spilled from his mouth as he stared at Jiang Dali in utter disbelief. "Wh-why..."

Jiang Dali said, "I gave you a chance, but you were useless. Do I have to guess everything? You wouldn't voluntarily explain yourself. Are you the prisoner, or am I?"

He waved a hand, ordering the bandits under him to search the man and take all his belongings before dragging him away.

The group of tied-up, imprisoned players were all dumbfounded and scared half to death.

With their mouths sealed shut, they could only communicate through their eyes, each of them terrified.

"Fuck! This stronghold's Great Mountain Lord is way too arrogant and cold-blooded. We've fallen into the hands of a monster."

"I don't want to be branded with a hot iron. I'm scared of pain."

"If we really have to suffer torture, we can only log out first to avoid it."

"What's the point of logging out? Our bodies will still be here, and we'll be unconscious and at their mercy. If we really get tortured beyond recognition, we'll still have to endure the pain from our wounds when we log back in."

"Don't be so pessimistic. Maybe they'll just kill us later. That would be much more comfortable."

Just then.

All the players stopped communicating with their eyes and turned in unison to look at Jiang Dali as he approached.

"I'm giving you people two choices now."

Jiang Dali looked expressionlessly at the players. "First, join Black Wind Stronghold. You'll start at the lowest rank as ordinary bandits. By contributing to the stronghold, you can earn the chance to learn some martial arts and cultivation techniques from me. All you need to do is risk your lives for the stronghold and never betray it.

"Second, remain imprisoned here forever. Choose for yourselves."

The players were all stunned after hearing this.

Could this even be called a choice?

Did they have any choice at all?

One option was becoming bandits, with a chance to learn martial arts.

The other was being locked up forever, unable even to die.

After all, the officials had said from the beginning that Comprehensive Martial World was supposedly a completely realistic world. Everyone only had one chance to obtain an identity within it—the qualification to be a player.

Whether that was true or not didn't matter.

If it was true, then being trapped forever in this stronghold prison meant they were truly finished. They might still be locked up when the open beta began.

Although these professional players now felt that this game was far too difficult and were already feeling frustrated and angry, they did not want to give up so soon after starting.

"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph—"

Several players were the first to start wildly shaking their bodies, trying to express their willingness to submit.

"Player Central Plains Eyeing Cracks wishes to join Black Wind Stronghold. Accept?"

"Player Ximen Vampire wishes to join Black Wind Stronghold. Accept?"

"Player Tianshan Scoundrel wishes to join Black Wind Stronghold. Accept?"

This time, Jiang Dali did not hesitate and chose to recruit all the players.

Originally, his plan had been to lure the players into voluntarily joining Black Wind Stronghold.

However, because Many-Armed Bear Du Dajin had arrived, he had no choice but to change his plan and adopt a simple, forceful approach.

Forcing the players to join the stronghold like this meant there was still a high chance they would rebel in the future.

After all, compared to other famous orthodox sects, Black Wind Stronghold was indeed far less appealing.

But Jiang Dali now had a new plan. Once these leeks entered his field, he would make sure they could never escape.

After taking in the players, Jiang Dali gave them a few verbal warnings, then offered a few sweeteners. He ordered his subordinates to take the players out of the prison and let them familiarize themselves with the surrounding stronghold environment.

As he carried out this series of actions, an interaction prompt appeared in his mind.

"You are issuing the mission 'Familiarize Yourself with the Stronghold' to newly joined players in your capacity as the Black Wind Stronghold Master.

After the players complete the mission, you will receive a certain amount of Jianghu Reputation and Cultivation Points.

You may set the mission rewards yourself or choose random settings. Random rewards will provide equivalent rewards according to mission difficulty and will not include physical items."

Jiang Dali pondered for a moment. Wanting to see whether the random settings were reasonable, he immediately chose random.

Meanwhile.

All twelve players received a mission prompt.

"Black Wind Stronghold Master Jiang Dali has issued the mission 'Familiarize Yourself with the Stronghold.'

Mission Type: Faction Mission;

Mission Requirements: Under the guidance of veteran bandits, familiarize yourself with the environment around the stronghold. Must be completed within one day. Failure will result in punishment;

Mission Rewards: 1 Stronghold Contribution Point (exchangeable for weapons, cultivation techniques, silver, and more), 3 Cultivation Points, 3 Potential Points."

The players were instantly excited when they saw the mission.

"Whoa. There's already a mission so soon? And it even rewards Potential Points. I picked up missions in the county town before, but none of them gave Potential Points."

"This is a real benefit. The mission isn't hard either, and the rewards are pretty good. I'm still an ordinary person right now. I only need 50 Cultivation Points to advance to the Strength Training Realm."

Joining Black Wind Stronghold isn't bad at all. At least we're ahead now. Lots of people haven't even left their villages yet."

"I just don't know why the Black Wind Stronghold Master captured us and forced us to join. If we'd known there were benefits like this, we would have joined voluntarily."

"Hey, brother, that just shows you don't understand. Our Black Wind Stronghold is made up of bandits, after all. Recruiting people has to follow the proper process. You have to forcibly kidnap people up the mountain and make them join. That's what bandit logic is all about."

These guys are overthinking it way too much. Jiang Dali heard the players whispering among themselves and shook his head inwardly. Maintaining the imposing, mysterious air of a Great Mountain Lord, he turned and left.

With all twelve players recruited.

He had also completed the first stage of the triggered mission, "Recruiting Soldiers and Buying Horses," receiving 100 Cultivation Points and Potential Points as rewards.

Now, I can convert those Potential Points into strength tonight and improve the Iron Cloth Skill.

Thanks to the friends who sent rewards.