The Great River Demon Scramble

The embers of Su Yu Niang before them called out, attracting all the blacksmiths who were working.

Everyone rushed over, eager to see what she had discovered.

Soon, Su Yu Niang arrived at the Blacksmith Shop.

She picked up a copper ingot, slapped a wooden clapper, and sat on the table, recounting her journey, detailing all the plot points she had encountered.

"As I descended the mountain against the twilight, I saw colorful lanterns below," she began.

The crowd listened, captivated.

From a distance.

The real Su Yu Niang listened to all this silently, then suddenly commented with a laugh:

"See? There are tailors, blacksmiths, bookshops, all sorts of NPCs in the village below. I told you these text adventures usually have very rich plots."

Jiu Cai Rong nodded in agreement:

"After all, the cost of text is very low. You can add NPCs endlessly without worrying about processing load. They might as well add hundreds or thousands to a map to enrich the plot, making it more like a real village or town."

Su Yu Niang suddenly showed a hint of confusion: "It's just that, from her tone, those NPCs seem a bit dull, a bit... strange?"

Jiu Cai Rong chuckled, "NPCs are all like that! If the AI isn't smart enough, they seem a bit strange and stiff. Isn't it the same in the online games we usually play?"

They've focused on the scenery and sensory details of the manor, refining them to perfection. Creating such a manor is already astonishing; they've spent their money wisely!

Outside the manor, applying this idle adventure gameplay to the maps can showcase their vast xianxia world, described through text, to the server's maximum capacity!

This operational model is worth learning from the industry.

After all, creating a realistic, massive sandbox map is impossible no matter how you try.

A true xianxia world is larger than Earth's map. Forcing it into a sandbox would result in a mishmash. This kind of text adventure is best.

Text adventures offer a hazy beauty of fantasy and imagination.

Just like now, "Su Yu Niang's" textual descriptions made them feel as if they had descended the mountain and experienced a vivid adventure.

"It seems the branching system for this idle adventure is also quite interesting."

"Yes, every time you return, you can share stories of your adventures on the vast earth. Your legends, adventures, experiences, great loves and sorrows—those who like to listen will be happy."

"Hehehe, in the future, I can set up a stall to sell weapons through Travel Frog, like another me."

"Do you think this river demon could possibly be the Nian Beast, suddenly attacking the villagers?"

Everyone was stunned.

No way, there's this plot too?

But it does seem quite possible.

At this moment, "Su Yu Niang" slapped the wooden clapper, continuing to stand triumphantly with her foot on the river demon, boasting:

"Everyone, this river demon likes to swallow people. Once it grabs you, it won't let go. Its flesh is delicious, but Money Boys who can't eat meat shouldn't eat it. It's probably for the Human race."

The real Su Yu Niang walked over and asked, "What does it eat? Can we raise it in our manor?"

At this time, she had been resurrected and transformed into a beautiful human loli, her eyes full of admiration for her other self.

Another me, Travel Frog's great harvest!

I knew I was super powerful too, the baby's potential is sky-high.

"Of course, I asked it what it eats and how to raise it. River demons are omnivores; they can eat carrion. Their diet is probably similar to catfish. They can probably be fed with household garbage too," the "Su Yu Niang" before them replied.

But she instantly reacted, looking at the real Su Yu Niang and saying, "Wait, who are you? I've never seen you before."

"I'm your embers," Su Yu Niang said innocently.

"My embers?"

The "Su Yu Niang" before her clearly froze, then quickly reacted and exclaimed, "How can you prove it? Wait! Show me your foot first."

Su Yu Niang covered her face: "."

Screw you!

This is definitely not me, it's too embarrassing!

The people around suppressed their laughter. She had been defeated by her own ill-tempered, bratty self.

"Hahahaha! This is indeed my expression, exactly the same."

"Su Yu Niang" was overjoyed upon seeing this. As if some proof had been passed, she hugged the other, "I have embers too! That's great, I have a baby."

"Oh right, I'm your ember baby."

Su Yu Niang secretly thought the AI was too advanced, like another self from a parallel world who had traveled here.

So, the AI computations for NPCs were all placed here.

On the surface, she smiled brightly, "Let's work hard together."

The blacksmiths nearby, seeing the honeymoon phase between the two sisters, didn't know how to react.

Their interaction gave off a feeling: This person is too narcissistic.

At this moment, the Medical Fairy Maiden sisters from the medical hall spoke up:

"Ahem, since it's an omnivore, I suggest we find a way to breed it and keep it in my medical hall. It can serve as a living experimental subject."

The God of Cookery also raised his hand and spoke from the crowd:

"I also suggest breeding it, but it should be kept in my canteen. It can be used as a mount, or of course, eaten. After all, the new human blacksmiths can't just 'eat dirt' anymore and can't be vegetarians forever. Their recipes need to be expanded."

The main reason was the successful emergence of a new profession last night – the Enchanter. To celebrate, as the person in charge of the bonfire party's cuisine, the God of Cookery could only pull out his ultimate move, a universal recipe that both the Human race and Money Boys could eat:

Corpse-Colored Mushroom.

Both races could eat it as a vegetarian dish and were quite happy.

But when they woke up this morning, the human blacksmiths had pale faces and were clearly not right.

The God of Cookery immediately thought to himself: This is bad.

These human bodies are so fragile, how can they not handle just one meal? Their legs are so weak this morning they can't even hammer iron.

Humans are actually much more delicate than Money Boys. If this continues, my identity as a five-star chef will be exposed.

So.

The river demon appeared, and he was determined to have it!

"The river demon is mine!"

The Medical Fairy Maiden was furious.

"My medical hall is more valuable. My medical hall was overcrowded this morning, probably because everyone caught a cold sleeping on iron beds last night. This proves that health is the core issue of people's livelihood. After all, this is ancient times, and preventing plagues is crucial."

Bah!

I'm the one sending you business.

If you let me have it, I'll take better care of your medical hall's business in the future, letting you treat patients and make money every day.

If they discover a problem with my cooking and I'm replaced, do you think the medical hall will still make money?

But he couldn't say that.

"It's mine!"

The God of Cookery roared, unwilling to be outdone. "Food is the paramount necessity of the people!"

As they argued, the two sides began to quarrel, fiercely debating the ownership and breeding rights of the river demon.

Just as everyone was discussing this one river demon.

"It really doesn't have teeth, huh? It can swallow people. Isn't that just a catfish?"

A dazed hairpin maker, still half-asleep, groggily crawled into the mouth of the equally dazed river demon, a blissful expression on her face. "It's so soft and moist in here, like a warm bed. This is the best sleep I've had."

Everyone: "..."

This one is truly something else. Those lines...

Is it being used as a sleeping bag?

This blacksmith's action of entering the river demon's mouth clearly caught the Medical Fairy Maiden's attention. She shouted loudly:

"Everyone! This river demon must be mine! It's the prototype for a bed! A new project no less than bladder research! It must be given to me for research and modification!"

"It's a scavenger, which means it can perfectly clean up the blacksmiths' waste! It will become a fully automatic, warm sleeping bed!"

"This will be a great step forward in human progress!"

Hearing this, many blacksmiths were shocked.

Even Su Yu Niang, who had been speaking loudly, slowly widened her mouth and looked at the Medical Fairy Maiden speaking in the crowd: "This game is a real treasure trove, to encounter such a peerless genius!"

Then she felt that it... actually made some sense.

After all, since becoming part of the Human race, they had discovered they were rather delicate.

Unlike the sturdy and resilient Money Boys, who were still bouncing around after sleeping on iron-mesh beds, they woke up this morning with sore backs and aching waists. Especially their stomachs; they might have caught a chill, leaving them completely drained.

At that moment, they thought:

This iron-mesh bed is not something humans can sleep on!

Improving our living conditions indeed needs to be put on the agenda.

"Is this river demon-brand heated sleeping bag really feasible? I'm afraid the river demon boss would call us perverts, not knowing who the real monsters are."

"Yeah, the weather might be getting a bit cold recently, and winter might be coming soon. Money Boys aren't afraid of the cold, but we are. Sleeping on iron-mesh beds and waking up like ice blocks the next day."

"That makes sense. There's clearly a weather system at play here."

"Yeah, even as a primary school student, I know we need to solve the problem of its stomach acid, otherwise, we'll be corroded sleeping inside."

"I think removing the organ that produces stomach acid in the river demon isn't impossible, right? Or, should we leave it to the Medical Fairy Maiden to try? She seems quite professional at dissection. This morning she was even dragging a Money Girl to have her bladder modified, and I heard it also included body sculpting?"

"Holy crap, are you guys that messed up? Living inside a beast's belly? Even the ghouls would call that messed up!"

While everyone outside was arguing over the river demon, Yu Jin, "Su Yu Niang," no longer bothered with them. She followed Jiu Cai Rong into the steward's room.

Chatting as they walked, "Su Yu Niang" also received real-time information about the manor's current situation.

After she left yesterday, seven enchanters followed suit, all dying and becoming materials.

Regrettably, none of them dropped any embers after death.

Between yesterday's dusk and this morning, they had almost finished forging the enchanted artifacts, with a 100% success rate. It could be considered a historic milestone!

Of course.

Because there was no forging experience.

Most were +1, +2, and so on, with innate divine abilities and spells that activated once or twice. A small portion were +3, of ordinary quality.

At this moment, "Su Yu Niang" entered the steward's room, pulled up a chair, and sat down. She picked up a guide to spiritual roots and divine abilities, compiled through their "life-tasting" efforts:

[1. Foxtail Grass (Fire Mixed Spiritual Root), Trait: Rabid Transformation]

[Spiritual Root Introduction: This spiritual root has significant side effects. Cultivators who plant this spiritual root will occasionally enter a rabid transformation, gaining increased strength and reduced intelligence, becoming abnormally ferocious.]

[Image (a drawing of a weed resembling a dog's tail)]

[Enchantment Trait: Low-level Berserk.]

[Brief Review: This lowest-tier mixed spiritual root has great potential. While useless for cultivators, a trash mixed spiritual root that even a dog wouldn't bother with, after being forged into an artifact, it can actively trigger low-level berserk, possessing extremely high practical combat value. It is recommended to cultivate this spiritual root on a large scale and turn it into a flagship product.]

[Potential: C. This spiritual root possesses bestial qualities. It is suspected to be a spiritual grass that was once soaked in the beast blood of ancient canines, degenerating over generations to become a weed. Perhaps it can revert to its ancestral form through cultivation and advance its spiritual root tier.]

The writing was very detailed.

Most of the old hands were data analysis enthusiasts.

After all, forging was the manor's core business, and the blacksmith shop industry was now officially underway.

They even delved into the origins and evolutionary theories of spiritual roots.

Some individuals even expressed a desire to cultivate spiritual roots, induce mutations, graft them, and revert them to ancestral forms, all to forge mutated spiritual root artifacts.