Tong Tian's Game Daily Life

The flood crisis in Qinglan Gorge was successfully resolved with the application of Gong Gong's "world-shattering design" (even if it was a watered-down version). For a rare few days, the villa was filled with a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere. Although Gong Gong still grumbled about the "crude craftsmanship of the mortal construction team," the undisguised pride in his eyes was something even the most sluggish mimosa planted by Jumang in the backyard could sense. He even, for the first time ever, didn't smash the rock garden to smithereens during his morning exercises, merely punching it a few times symbolically to warm up.

Lin Fan savored this hard-won tranquility, feeling that life had finally returned to normal—if one ignored the occasional miniature explosions from Jumang's kitchen, caused by attempts to slow-cook spirit eggs with Samadhi True Fire, and the multicolored light bursts from Goddess Nüwa's "humanitarian modifications" to the latest holographic beauty device.

However, the peace of the villa, much like the Heavenly Dao's balance in the Primordial Era, was always fleeting. As soon as old conflicts subsided, new focal points quietly emerged. This time, the eye of the storm came from the leader of the Intercepting Sect, who once intimidated all Sages with the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation but was now hopelessly mired in a "quagmire of probability"—Tong Tian.

In the early morning, sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting dappled shadows on the living room floor. Lao Tzu occupied his usual prime spot with the best light, his eyes closed in meditation, a purple clay teacup before him emitting wisps of steam, creating a world of its own. Nüwa sat opposite him, her slender fingers manipulating a tablet, studying a constantly rotating 3D meridian model, seemingly conceptualizing her next "Simplicity of the Great Dao: Internal Nourishment, External Radiance Essence."

On the other side of the living room, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.

Master Tongtian was completely sunk into a soft beanbag chair (a "seat for enlightenment" that he had insisted Lin Fan purchase), his brows furrowed, a palpable aura of low pressure enveloping his handsome face. In his hand, he clutched not the Qingping Sword, capable of deploying the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, but a smartphone whose screen was almost polished smooth from use. The screen flashed with dazzling special effects, accompanied by exciting background music, and... a crisp "ding—" that sounded incredibly jarring to his ears.

Another flash of blue light.

"R Card! Another R Card!" Master Tongtian gritted out the words, his fingers turning slightly white from the force of his grip. "The thirteenth ten-pull! A total of one hundred and thirty draws! And they only gave me a guaranteed SR?! And it's a duplicate 'Qingfeng Child'! This useless wretch isn't even fit to guard the outhouse of Biyou Palace!"

He suddenly looked up, a flicker of fragmented sword light in his eyes, and turned to Lao Tzu, who was calmly sipping his tea, his voice filled with grief and bewilderment. "Lao Tzu! Tell me! What is the logic behind this Heavenly Dao... no, this 'probability'?! Back in my day, in Zixiao Palace, I had my seat among the esteemed. Innumerable spiritual treasures were obtained by those with fate! When have I ever suffered such indignity?! Could it be that the will of this world is deliberately making things difficult for me?"

Lao Tzu slowly opened his eyes, glancing at the "Qingfeng Child" with a mournful face on Tong Tian's phone screen. He said calmly, "Those with deep fortune and blessings find them without seeking; those who are impatient and restless seek but do not find. Fellow Daoist Tong Tian, you are attached."

"Don't give me that 'tranquil inaction' talk!" Master Tongtian irritably ran a hand through his hair, his usually elegant hairstyle becoming disheveled. "You don't understand! This new 'Chaos Demon God·Luo Hou' limited banner is incredibly powerful, and its appearance... is quite to my liking! If I miss it, who knows when the next rerun will be! I cannot swallow this injustice!"

Lin Fan happened to be coming out of the kitchen, holding a plate of "Qingxin Glazed Cakes" (reportedly made with lotus seeds and morning dew) that looked relatively normal, courtesy of Jumang. Hearing Tong Tian's complaint, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. Since becoming addicted to gacha mobile games, this Sage's vocabulary had certainly kept up with the times, mastering terms like "power level," "appearance," "limited banner," and "rerun."

"Master Tongtian," Lin Fan placed the pastries on the coffee table, attempting to console him. "Gacha pulls are all about luck... uh, luck. Why don't you take a break and play something else? Or... maybe spend a bit?" He said the last part a little guiltily, as the money Master Tongtian had spent on microtransactions before was "borrowed" from him (though never repaid).

"Rest?" Master Tongtian snorted. "There's no such word in my dictionary! As for spending..." His gaze swept over Lin Fan, with a hint of scrutiny. "Young Lin, your complexion has been rosy lately. I presume the success of Gong Gong's flood control has brought you some merit and good fortune? Perhaps you could lend me some to help me overcome this tribulation? I shall repay you handsomely in the future!"

Lin Fan: "..." Thank you very much! Can I not have this good fortune?

He finally understood. Master Tongtian had fallen into a state of metaphysical obsession regarding gacha pulls. A few days ago, during the flood crisis, he hadn't been focused on the game and had casually pulled a decent SR with a single draw. Now, with his mind clear and his full attention devoted, he was suffering complete failure. This was probably what they called "metaphysics can't save the unlucky, and spending can't change fate."

"Your Excellency, a forced melon isn't sweet," Lin Fan said earnestly. "Why don't you try 'metaphysical pulling'? Like pulling in a place with good Feng Shui, or bathing and changing, burning incense and praying..."

"Metaphysics?" Master Tongtian's eyes narrowed slightly, as if a nerve had been struck. "I am the ancestor of metaphysics! How could I seek the principles of metaphysics from others?!"

He suddenly stood up from the beanbag chair, the ethereal and sharp aura of a Sage beginning to spread uncontrollably. The light in the living room seemed to warp, and invisible sword energy appeared to be traversing the air.

"I refuse to believe in this evil!" Master Tongtian held his phone, his gaze sharp as a sword, scanning the entire living room. "The ambient energy here is mediocre, definitely not a lucky spot for gacha pulls! I shall find a 'spiritual nexus' and set up a 'fortune-gathering formation'! Let's see how this probability can get the better of me!"

With that, he ignored Lin Fan's terrified expression and Lao Tzu's slight frown, and strode directly towards the backyard.

Lin Fan's heart cried out, This is bad! The crisis of Gong Gong's dam destruction had only passed a few days ago, and now Master Tongtian was going to start setting up "Feng Shui formations"? Who knew if his so-called "fortune-gathering formation" would disrupt the surrounding network signals, power systems, or even the spiritual energy of the earth veins!

He quickly followed. Lao Tzu also seemed to find it interesting (or perhaps was worried), put down his teacup, and slowly followed. Seeing this, Nüwa also put away her tablet, gracefully stood up, and prepared to watch the spectacle.

In the backyard, Jumang was squatting by his spiritual herb garden, carefully infusing a soon-to-bloom "Moonlight Orchid" with plant essence. Gong Gong sat on the remnants of his weather-beaten rock garden, engrossed in a book titled Analysis of the World's Ten Great Dam Structures.

Seeing Master Tongtian emerge with a grim expression, both looked up in surprise.

"Tong Tian? Aren't you supposed to be inside pondering your box (referring to his phone)? What are you doing out here?" Gong Gong asked in a deep voice.

Master Tongtian ignored him, pacing back and forth in the backyard like a Feng Shui master searching for a dragon vein, occasionally looking up at the sky, then down at the ground, his fingers constantly performing calculations.

"Here... the earth's energy is strong, but the metallic sharpness is excessive, not conducive to gathering fortune."

"Here... the water vapor is abundant, too humid, prone to polluting the spiritual mechanism."

"Hmm... this spot is quite good. Backed by the rock garden (Gong Gong:?), facing the spiritual garden, it conceals wind and gathers qi, and is nourished by the vitality of the plants... Although not top-tier, it will suffice for now!"

He finally chose an open space near Jumang's spiritual herb garden. It received ample sunlight, and the spiritual energy (primarily plant-based) was indeed more concentrated than elsewhere.

"This is it!" Master Tongtian stopped, carefully placing his phone on a flat stone he had temporarily cleared. Then, he took a deep breath and began forming complex and profound hand seals with both hands.

Lin Fan's heart leaped into his throat. As Master Tongtian moved, the surrounding air began to vibrate slightly, and extremely subtle spiritual energy, imperceptible to mortals but of extremely high energy levels, began to converge from all directions, as if pulled by an invisible force field, slowly flowing towards the stone where the phone was placed. A faint sound of sword hums even echoed in the air!

Jumang was the first to sense something was wrong. His spiritual herbs began to sway without wind, the dewdrops on their leaves trembling slightly, as if unable to withstand the sudden influx of energy. "Fellow Daoist Tong Tian! Take it easy! My spiritual plants are delicate and cannot endure such rough treatment!"

Gong Gong also put down his book, frowning as he watched the flow of energy that Tong Tian was drawing. "What are you doing? It's just a gacha pull, do you need to use the 'Small Heavenly Cycle Spirit Guiding Formation'? Using a butcher's knife to kill a chicken!"

Lao Tzu stood under the eaves, shaking his head slightly, but did not intervene, seemingly wanting to see what tricks Tong Tian could come up with.

Nüwa covered her mouth and chuckled, "Fellow Daoist Tong Tian is quite serious, treating this as a Daoist practice session."

Master Tongtian was completely focused, deaf to the surrounding discussions. He continuously adjusted his hand seals, attempting to guide the converging spiritual energy in a specific trajectory that matched his deductions of "fortune," encircling the phone. Gradually, centered on the phone, an invisible but clearly perceptible spiritual energy vortex about one meter in diameter formed. The vortex rotated slowly, emitting a faint glow.

"Fortune-gathering spiritual formation, complete!" Master Tongtian grunted, a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. Clearly, using such an intricate formation to "empower" a phone, and controlling the intensity to prevent it from being directly refined into ashes, was also a delicate task for him.

He held his breath and solemnly extended his index finger, pointing at the "Ten Consecutive Draws" button on the phone screen.

At this moment, even Lin Fan unconsciously held his breath. Jumang stopped his work, Gong Gong curiously leaned over, and Lao Tzu and Nüwa's gazes also focused on the small screen.

Light flashed! It was like a rainbow shattered and sprinkled onto the screen!

One... two... three...

Nine consecutive blue lights, like nine resounding slaps, struck Master Tongtian's face.

The last light was purple.

SR! Another guaranteed SR! And it was a weapon! Not the "Chaos Demon God·Luo Hou" he had longed for!

Silence fell upon the scene. Only the wind rustling through the spiritual herbs in the backyard made a soft sound, as if mocking him silently.

Master Tongtian's expression shifted from anticipation to solidification, then to a dark green, and finally to an unbelievable rage.

"This is outrageous—!!!"

A roar shook the backyard, causing even the loose stones on the rock garden to fall. The meticulously arranged "fortune-gathering spiritual formation" instantly collapsed, and the out-of-control spiritual energy spread outwards like an invisible shockwave, causing Lin Fan to stumble, Jumang's spiritual herbs to flatten, and Nüwa's skirt to flutter.

"My formations! The spiritual energy of heaven and earth I've drawn upon! It can't even exchange for a mere SSR?! This world's laws! They bully Sages too much!!!" Master Tongtian trembled with rage, sword energy erupting from his body. The ground was already covered in fine cracks from the invisible sword intent. He abruptly raised his hand, as if about to cleave the "treacherous" mobile phone, along with this "unjust" heaven and earth, into pieces!

"Tongtian! Calm down!" Lin Fan's soul nearly flew out of his body. He couldn't care about anything else and rushed forward, hugging Tongtian's arm (feeling the despair of a mantis trying to stop a chariot once again). "The phone is innocent! Master! Think about your account! Think about how much you've spent!"

Lao Tzu also spoke at the opportune moment, his voice carrying a refreshing coolness that smoothed the agitated spiritual energy and Tongtian's fury. "Fellow Daoist Tongtian, when the opportune moment has not yet arrived, forcing it will only bring disaster. You interfering with the workings of mortal objects with such methods has already put you at a disadvantage, and suffering backlash is inevitable."

Master Tongtian held his hand up, his chest heaving violently, rage and frustration intertwined in his eyes. He looked at the phone on the ground, unharmed, its screen still displaying the gacha results. Then he glanced at the people around him (including the spiritual herbs), their eyes filled with sympathy, helplessness, or amusement. Finally, the overwhelming rage transformed into a long, utterly defeated sigh.

He listlessly lowered his hand, picked up the phone, and stared at the glaring SR weapon, muttering, "Could it be... I truly have no fate with this 'probability'?"

Seeing that he had calmed down, Lin Fan released his grip, wiping sweat from his brow with lingering fear. That was close; he had averted another "Sage's Wrath" that could have affected the entire community's network.

After this failed "formation gacha" experiment, Master Tongtian seemed to have temporarily accepted reality (or rather, bowed his head to probability). He no longer attempted to challenge the game's rules with supernatural means, but that didn't mean he gave up. He simply... changed his approach.

Since "luck" wouldn't work, he would make back his losses through "skill"!

He shifted his main focus to another core gameplay mechanic of the game – the PVP arena.

If gacha tested ethereal luck, then the arena tested solid execution, awareness, strategy, and understanding of game mechanics. And for the former leader of the Intercepting Sect, who once set up the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation, contended with all the Sages, and had myriad immortals paying homage, these aspects seemed to... find their place?

Master Tongtian began to study the skill combinations, attribute counters, and team compositions of various characters in the game, neglecting food and sleep. His powerful deduction and calculation abilities as a Sage, along with his terrifying learning speed, were displayed to their fullest at this moment.

Several times when Lin Fan got up in the middle of the night for water, he saw that Master Tongtian's room was still lit (or perhaps he didn't need a light, emitting a faint glow himself). He would sit cross-legged before the phone, his fingers moving so fast on the screen they left afterimages, muttering, "Here, I should use the 'Po Jun Style' to charge in, follow with 'Yao Guang Slash' for crowd control, and then finish with the 'Tian Shu Seal'… Hmm, this lineup fears control, so I need to pair it with a control-dispelling support…"

He was no longer satisfied with simple auto-battles or brute-force charges. He began studying movement, skill timing, energy management, and even utilizing subtle terrain differences in the game map. He integrated his understanding of formations, swordsmanship, and even the rules of the Heavenly Dao from reality into the game battles in an inconceivable way.

The result was that Master Tongtian's rank in the arena skyrocketed as if he were riding a rocket.

From the initial newcomer ranks, he fought his way through, crushing all obstacles, and ascended to the higher tiers. His opponents discovered in terror that this player with the ID "Supreme Purity Sword Master" (a name Tongtian chose himself) played with an extremely tricky and ruthless style. His predictions were so accurate they seemed like a full-map hack, his controls so exquisite they were infuriating, and he often defeated stronger opponents, using seemingly unremarkable character combinations to achieve unbelievable synergy and damage.

Discussion threads about "Supreme Purity Sword Master" began appearing on the forums.

"Holy crap! I ran into 'Supreme Purity Sword Master'! Is that movement a script? His skills can never be hit!"

"Seeking advice on how to counter 'Supreme Purity Sword Master's' 'Three Talents Sword Formation Style'. He took me down with one combo, no chance to fight back!"

"According to internal sources, 'Supreme Purity Sword Master' might be the smurf account of a professional player. This awareness and control are too terrifying!"

Lin Fan occasionally browsed the forums and saw these posts, his feelings complex. Of course, he knew it wasn't a script, nor a professional player. It was a Sage playing a mobile game in his own way of understanding the Great Dao...

Thanks to his outstanding performance in the arena, Master Tongtian obtained a large amount of in-game currency and resource rewards. Although he still couldn't draw the "Chaos Demon God·Luo Hou" he wanted most, he could at least exchange for other powerful characters and equipment, compensating for his "unlucky" deficiency in gacha. He even began researching how to use these "free" resources to assemble the strongest arena team, finding endless enjoyment in it.

In the living room of the villa, Master Tongtian could often be seen immersed in arena battles. The difference was that before, it was the gloomy despair of gacha, but now it was the triumphant elation after a victory (though he would still occasionally get so angry at network lag or incompetent teammates that he'd want to transmit the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Qi through the internet).

"Hmph, a mere mortal, daring to contend with this One?" After a hearty victory, Master Tongtian put down his phone, picked up the chrysanthemum tea Lin Fan made for him (to cool his temper), and glanced triumphantly at Gong Gong, who was reading the news nearby. "Gong Gong, have you seen what 'skill' is? How can you mere brutes who only know brute force compare?"

Gong Gong looked up from his book, "Analysis of Global Famous Bridges' Seismic Resistance," and snorted, "Petty tricks! If you have the guts, come out and fight me for real!"

"Brute's perspective!" Master Tongtian scoffed.

Lao Tzu watched the two of them, shook his head, and continued to sip his tea. Goddess Nüwa, on the other hand, was more interested in the gorgeous skill effects on Master Tongtian's screen, thinking they could be used to optimize the light and shadow effects of her "Nine Heavens Jade Dew Beauty Mask."

Lin Fan watched this scene and suddenly felt that Master Tongtian's gaming addiction might not be entirely a bad thing? At least, he was venting his destructive urges in the virtual world, and also became a top player in the game, bringing glory to the Intercepting Sect's reputation (in the game).

However, seeing Master Tongtian's slightly pale complexion due to continuous high-intensity gaming (even Sages could experience mental fatigue), and his increasingly dark eye circles (perhaps an illusion), Lin Fan couldn't help but remind him, "Master Tongtian, while games are good, you should also pay attention to... your Sage body's health."

Master Tongtian waved his hand dismissively, "It's nothing! Mere mental exhaustion can be recovered with a moment of meditation! I won't rest until I reach the 'King's Peak' rank and get that limited avatar frame!"

Well, this one was completely hooked.

Lin Fan sighed. It seemed that getting these great figures to live a completely "normal" daily life was a long and arduous journey. He touched the small slip of paper in his pocket, which contained the registration notice for the "City of Light Folk Talent Competition," and thought to himself: I wonder if Master Tongtian's exquisite gaming skills count as... a talent?

The thought made him feel a bit absurd, but then again, in this villa, what could be more absurd than this?

Tongtian's gaming routine continued, his legend as "Supreme Purity Sword Master" unfolding amidst the sorrow of gacha and the glory of the arena. The others in the villa had long since grown accustomed to having a Sage beside them who was sometimes irritable, sometimes triumphant, and always battling the phone screen.

The days passed one by one, filled with chaos and noise, yet possessing a unique... vibrancy.