What a Demonic Sect! They Actually Took Advantage of My Distraction to Grope Me!

Gui Xi Sect.

Lin Qingfeng was in a fairly good mood today.

At last, the Sect Channel had produced its first proper sect mission since the sect was founded.

[Mission: Guide]

[Mission Description: A new being wishes to join Gui Xi Sect. Senior Disciple Brother Lin Qingfeng, please go receive them and familiarize them with the sect.]

[Being Aptitude: Four-element Pseudo Spiritual Root of metal, wood, water, and earth. Their path of cultivation is fraught with difficulty; their aptitude is dull, and their innate talent is of the lowest grade.]

[Mission Rewards: Sect Contribution Points +100, Cultivation +500, Sect Reputation +10.]

Lin Qingfeng looked at the mission panel. Though the rewards were modest, he grinned from ear to ear.

After the server had been open for so long, an NPC had finally taken the bait!

The aptitude might have looked terrible, but they were still the first one!

Lin Qingfeng excitedly sprang up from the Cold Jade Bed.

At the start, the game Jintian offered players two completely different paths.

The first was [Native Birth].

Players who chose this path would begin as ordinary people in the vast Cultivation World.

They had to run around on their own in search of immortal opportunities.

They could join an NPC sect, then compete with thousands upon thousands of fellow players for limited resources and missions.

Or they could become rogue cultivators, without a sect's protection or supply of resources, but with the advantage of freedom.

This path left even many big spenders unable to find an opening, with money to burn but nowhere to spend it. Yet for players seeking immersion, it was the best possible choice.

The other path was [Founding a Sect].

This route was practically a broad, golden road prepared for player guilds and wealthy spenders.

As long as players invested enough real money during the initial stage, they could directly establish a sect of their own.

Once a sect reached Level Three, its founder would unlock the process of transferring the sect master position. After the novice protection period ended,

the system NPC would automatically transfer the title of sect master, allowing the player to become the master of the sect, unlock more sect features, and gain supreme authority.

Of course, its disadvantages were equally obvious.

Once novice protection was lost, if the sect faced a crisis of destruction, they would either have to spend a huge amount of spirit stones to hire the retired "former sect master," the Supreme Elder, to intervene, or face the fate of sect and members alike being wiped out.

But if they did not actively become sect masters, not only could they not participate in the Demon Suppressing Ceremony, their range of movement would also be restricted, leaving them unable to explore a broader world.

And more importantly,

once players became sect masters, all resources produced within the sect could be distributed by the guild president himself. The profits stayed in the family.

The sect would also come equipped with a whole range of functional NPCs for imparting cultivation techniques, alchemy, artifact forging, and missions.

Such drastically different gameplay experiences caused hordes of player guilds to flood in after the server opened, each establishing its own territory throughout the Cultivation World.

As a result, the game gained a bunch of bizarre sects.

There was the "Underpants Sect," the "Pal Sect," the "Beggar Sect," and even one with an especially bizarre style called the "Spellcaster Kickboxing Sect"...

With names as ridiculous as those, forget native NPCs—even stray dogs would probably take one look and walk around them.

Because players with low-level sects were restricted to the mountain regions where they had descended, they could not travel far to sweet-talk native NPCs. This left many guilds stuck on the first official main quest after the sect-building mission.

But Gui Xi Sect was different!

Just listen to it!

Gui Xi Sect!

How classical, how orthodox, how full of that native xianxia flavor!

It even subtly carried the meaning of sending people straight to the afterlife upon landing.

The more Lin Qingfeng thought about it, the more satisfied he became!

To attract a genuine native NPC to come and join their sect, their guild had spared no expense.

They had even forcibly thrown money at late-game buildings like the Monster Locking Tower and the Dao Seeking Ladder until they got them.

Yet months had passed without so much as a ghostly shadow appearing.

Meanwhile, the Forgetting Offspring Qiao Family Sect next door had not hooked any NPCs either, but simply by wearing matching hoods and singing in front of their mountain gate, they had somehow gone viral on the game forums!

They had even started holding masked concerts in real life to fleece people.

Their tickets cost more than those of A-list celebrities!

So infuriating!

Why had their utterly respectable sect failed to cause even the slightest stir so far?!

What was worse, the official preview for the large expansion, "Demon Suppressing Ceremony," stated that the minimum requirement for player sects to participate was reaching Sect Level Three!

But without native NPC disciples, they could not complete the main quest, and without completing it, they could not level up!

It was a complete dead end!

If they failed to recruit anyone soon, they would not even qualify for the preliminary rounds!

Lin Qingfeng did not say it aloud, but he had long been anxious enough to grow fur.

Now, finally!

The clouds had parted, and the moon had appeared!

This might have been a native disciple with terrible aptitude.

But this was a small step for his sect in attracting natives, and a giant leap for Gui Xi Sect ahead of those idiot sects!

Wasn't this their moment to take off?

Woohoo!

Before this, aside from their group of players, the entire sect had only possessed a bunch of blank-faced system-issued NPCs named Qian Buyu.

This person held several positions at once: sect master, elder responsible for imparting cultivation techniques, mission elder, and the deacon in charge of entry registration at the Affairs Hall...

Put simply, wherever an NPC was needed to stand around as a background decoration, there would be a blank-faced Qian Buyu there.

This guy occasionally suffered minor bugs too. Sometimes, in the middle of speaking, he would suddenly get stuck in a corner of the wall, or point and gesture at empty air.

The mission rewards he issued were often garbled, and the most outrageous incident had been when he directly teleported everyone back to their initial spawn point.

Everyone had grown accustomed to it. Whenever they had nothing better to do, they would laugh, take screenshots, and post them on the forums. It had become one of the game's daily sources of entertainment.

But today was different!

The newcomer was an [Highly Intelligent Interactive NPC] marked in bold by the official developers!

That meant they would have junior brothers or junior sisters who could think for themselves and even give some feedback after working!

Filled with anticipation, Lin Qingfeng rushed toward the mountain gate. He was already drafting plans in his head, considering how to display the grandeur of his excellent cultivation sect and thoroughly sweet-talk this junior who had just begun their immortal path.

He would make her deeply realize that joining Gui Xi Sect was the most correct decision of her life!

With those thoughts in mind, Lin Qingfeng finally arrived at the mountain gate.

Then, he saw this future junior sister.

A slender woman in red stood at the mountain gate, repeatedly taking one step inside, then one step outside;

then inside again, then outside again;

left foot in, right foot in, left foot out, right foot out...

Her expression shifted from shock to confusion, and somehow, there was even a trace of fascination?

The smile on Lin Qingfeng's face gradually disappeared.

The heart that had been burning with excitement moments ago instantly went cold.

Wh... what was going on?!

Had her character model gotten stuck at the map boundary?

Or had she triggered some sort of bug-prone trait?

Where was the promised high intelligence?

This was it?

Damn it, refund my money!

He looked at the girl still hopping back and forth at the gate, then finally sighed.

Sigh, forget it.

Her aptitude had been poor to begin with, and her brain did not seem to work very well either.

But no matter how bad she was, she was still the first native NPC in their sect. Even if he had to cry, he would trick her into joining!

I can do this!

Come on!

Lin Qingfeng took a deep breath, straightened his clothes and expression, then walked over.

He had prepared himself for the worst, ready to face some ancient god NPC who might spout a stream of cryptic mutterings.

But just as he approached, the girl at the gate suddenly stopped.

She stood motionless inside the gate, seemingly pondering something.

Hm?

Lin Qingfeng perked up. Was she no longer stuck?

Or had that merely been a normal occurrence while her character model was loading?

Delighted, he quickly walked up to the girl.

"Hello, future junior sister. Welcome to our Gui Xi..."

The girl did not react. She remained with her head lowered, as though she had not heard him.

The smile on Lin Qingfeng's face failed once more.

No way?

I'm a living person standing right in front of you. Can't you see me?

Was there something wrong with her hearing module, or was she still loading?

It was over. This NPC not only had bugged legs, but also seemed to have issues with her brain and ears.

What high intelligence? This was clearly high stupidity!

The veins on his forehead bulged. He forcibly suppressed the urge to make a forum post cursing out the game company, leaned closer, and tentatively patted the girl on the shoulder.

"You're here?"

"Junior sister? Can you hear me?"

"Ah—!!!"

A scream nearly pierced Lin Qingfeng's eardrums, echoing endlessly before the empty mountain gate.

Even Lin Qingfeng himself jumped in fright.

The girl before him sprang backward more than three steps as if electrocuted.

Then she stared at him in terror, both little hands instinctively shielding her chest.

"Y-you... what are you doing?!

Why did you suddenly appear beside me?!

You... what did you do to me just now?!"

Just as I thought, he's a demonic fiend!

In broad daylight, he actually dared to try and molest me!