Was She Going to Be Sacrificed to Heaven?! (Please Vote! Please Follow! Please Recommend!)

Dawn.

Lin Qingfeng sat in his cave dwelling, drawing a glowing screen open in the air with a flick of his finger.

[ Sect Contribution Points (NPC): 765/500000 ]

He sighed.

Being the Senior Disciple Brother was just too hard. Every day, he had to look after his junior sister's mental state and cheer her on.

If he weren't there to guide her, she probably would've fallen apart a long time ago.

Sigh. His junior sister was certainly working hard now, no question about that, but she kept stopping every so often to sit cross-legged, hold her hands to the sky, and recover her spiritual energy.

He understood. She needed to recover her Spiritual Power to keep working.

But watching those Contribution Points crawl upward had him worried, too.

There were so many players that they could even grind while idle. They didn't have to worry about Contribution Points.

But the game designers had stubbornly set up two separate tracks. If the NPC track didn't meet its target, the promotion quest wouldn't unlock.

And she was the only native NPC in the sect who could actually catch her breath.

It'd be great if a few more showed up in the future.

Once there were new NPCs, his junior sister was so perceptive that she could speak eloquently, thanks to his influence.

She was so good with words, she'd be wasting her talent if she didn't go around convincing people.

Then he could dump the whole task of welcoming and guiding new recruits on her, and become a hands-off manager himself. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Just goes to show how well I've educated her as her Senior Disciple Brother.

Besides, welcoming new native disciples earned plenty of Contribution Points, so things would be easier for him, too.

As the guild leader, he had a mountain of work to deal with. How could he spend every day on these trivial matters?

Wasn't that a win-win?

But before that, he had to get her to practice the Sword Refining Art.

When they welcomed new native disciples, if they saw that a senior sister of Gui Xi Sect was merely a little cultivator at Qi Refining Great Perfection, how could they be convinced by Gui Xi Sect's claims that it was an immortal inheritance of the "Supreme Immortal Sect, an Orthodox and Reputable Sect, and the foremost sect of the Righteous Path"?

After all, his junior sister had said she needed three to five days.

So they'd just have to wait a little longer. No rush.

Besides, quite a few of the others would be ready to attempt a breakthrough to Nascent Soul in another ten or twenty days.

What would the Inner Demon Tribulation be like then?

Lin Qingfeng didn't dwell on it. With a thought, the feel of the Cold Jade Bed beneath him disappeared, and the world before his eyes turned pitch-black.

He logged off.

Past noon, the sun blazed overhead.

Lin Qingfeng rose from his bed and stretched.

"Time to go make sure my junior sister's working."

He took flight on his sword, and with a flash, silently landed on the rafters of the Transmission Hall.

He planned to do what he usually did: observe first, then appear at the right moment and give her some "loving encouragement."

Just then, he saw his junior sister dart out of the Transmission Hall and head straight for the medicinal fields.

He froze for a moment, then saw the sect status panel before him.

[ Sect Contribution Points (NPC): 872/500000 ]

His junior sister had already started working?!

He hurriedly leaped down and headed to Hundred Herbs Valley, where he found the medicinal field his junior sister was working in.

Good. She really wasn't slacking off.

But... there seemed to be something about her steps...

Lin Qingfeng narrowed his eyes. Faint starlight flickered beneath Su Ling'er's feet as she moved with an elusive, wavering grace.

She'd learned a new skill!

Not bad. She'd even drawn a movement skill that would help her work more efficiently.

Su Ling'er felt much lighter on her feet.

Her Spiritual Power flowed through her meridians along specific pathways, finally converging at the soles of her feet.

This was the Star Treading Steps.

This beginner-level footwork required only a little Spiritual Power to activate, yet it was a hundred times better than the basic movement technique she'd learned at Qing Xu Temple.

Qing Xu Temple's instruction amounted to, "Gather your Spiritual Power at the soles of your feet." How to gather it and how to circulate it were left for the disciples to figure out on their own.

After all, they were outer sect disciples. There wasn't much they were allowed to learn.

But when the transmission elder had imparted the technique to her, the vision in her mind had demonstrated every subtle pathway of the Star Treading Steps in detail.

She'd reluctantly spent the hundred stalks of Spiritual Grass she'd earned yesterday before that transmission elder finally agreed to teach her.

He'd still worn the same wooden, expressionless face, but to Su Ling'er, he'd nonetheless bestowed the kindness of a teacher who imparted knowledge and skills.

She believed that if she kept doing quests, she'd definitely be able to trade for even better things!

When the day came for her to escape, she'd take all this back to Qing Xu Temple. Her junior brothers and sisters, struggling in the outer sect just like her, would be able to practice this footwork with its detailed explanations, too.

It might not make them peerless masters, but at least it would give them a better chance of survival, whether they were traveling or fleeing.

The inner sect disciples might not think much of this footwork, but to outer sect disciples like them, it was already excellent.

Thinking of this, she moved even faster.

But when she glanced to the side, the familiar dark hem of a robe caught the corner of her eye, up on the rafters.

Senior Disciple Brother!

He was here!

When had he arrived?!

Su Ling'er kept working, but her heart pounded with fear.

Just as she thought!

She really was being watched every minute of every day!

Had he appeared in front of her again to warn her because he'd seen her mind wandering from her work?

Or was she just overthinking it?

What reason would a Senior Disciple Brother with such high cultivation have to keep an eye on a little cultivator at Qi Refining Great Perfection every day?

Just as she'd thought, even if he refined her with his current cultivation, she'd still be useful!

Otherwise, why would he keep watching her?!

She didn't dare think any further and focused all her attention on the work at hand.

Seeing how diligently his junior sister was working, Lin Qingfeng didn't go down to bother her.

He shifted into a more comfortable position, reclining on the rafters, and opened the player forum.

[Hot Post]: <Predictions for the Golden Autumn Harvest Festival! Double Sect Contribution Points!>

[Hot Post]: <Brothers, how do I join the Hehuan Sect? Anyone want to team up?>

[Hot Post]: <I'm dying—today I saw someone glitching through the bars above the prison to poke pressure points on the people inside. They kept laughing and scratching, and still have no idea who did it. Hahaha!>

As Lin Qingfeng browsed the posts, the corners of his mouth gradually lifted.

The tiles beside him rustled. Another figure climbed up—Ji.

He copied Lin Qingfeng, lying down beside him with a blade of grass between his teeth.

"Guild Leader, what're you looking at? You seem pretty happy."

Lin Qingfeng pointed to the glowing screen in front of him, which displayed the game event announcement.

"The 'Golden Autumn Harvest Festival' is in two days. Have you guys seen the announcement?"

Ji spat out the grass in his mouth.

"Yeah, yeah. Sect Contribution Points are doubled then, and I heard there'll be all kinds of fun activities.

I've already asked for time off. I'll have plenty of time to grind online!"

"The players will definitely be able to max out their Contribution Points."

"Mm,"

Lin Qingfeng nodded,

"the players aren't the problem. It's my junior sister...

She can't even earn a thousand points in a day.

Even if the event doubles the rewards and she works nonstop that day, she'd max out at three thousand points or so?

Maybe they'll have some event that gives a lot of points. But if my junior sister gets the first kill on the final event boss, she might get tens of thousands.

Too bad she'd still be nowhere near the five hundred thousand Contribution Points needed for the sect's promotion."

Ji followed his gaze and looked down, his own expression troubled.

"True. It's not like one NPC can get that much done by herself.

And this is a dual-track quest, and they won't even let us help each other. Otherwise, why would it be so hard?

We could just go find Wang Xian and have him send a bunch of spirit beasts to help out. Junior Sister could stay in the cultivation hall and wait for the Contribution Points to go up."

"But the boss for this event will probably be at the Core Formation stage. Won't Junior Sister's Qi Refining body get killed with one slap?"

"Relax. I've asked the Artifact Refining Pavilion to prepare some good stuff for her. Besides, isn't there still me?"

"No idea when the next NPC will show up. Surely one will come after the Golden Autumn Harvest Festival, at least!

Ideally, we should use the Sword Refining Art to force Junior Sister's cultivation up to Foundation Establishment first. Otherwise, how could someone at Qi Refining Great Perfection intimidate new disciples?"

Lin Qingfeng gazed up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, his expression profound.

"Sigh, great towers rise from the ground. The foundation of the sect, in the end, will have to be laid through her day after day of... hard work."

Ji looked at the guild leader, speechless. "Senior Disciple Brother, I get fooling Junior Sister, but how'd you get so caught up in the role?"

"You wouldn't understand. Nobody understands cultivation better than I do!"

Lin Qingfeng's gaze fell on Su Ling'er. Her red figure tirelessly repeated the same motions in the medicinal field, tending to the plants over and over.

Her new movement technique had made her trips back and forth much more efficient.

But even with the Spiritual Grass wrapped around it like candy, the work remained just as tedious at its core.

Then he slowly sat up on the rafters, his robes fluttering like those of an immortal, and decided to give his junior sister a little warning.

First, he activated the "Immortal Bearing" visual effect and the "Voice of the Great Dao" ambient effect to the max. Then, as he watched the red figure darting through the medicinal field, he spoke slowly.

"Junior sis-sis-sis-sister, remember this: whatever you gain-gain-gain, you must also lose-lose-lose."

"The sect's 'Golden Autumn Harvest Festival' is coming. For you, it may be a great opportunity.

Whether you can seize it depends not on your usual comfort, but on whether you have the courage to 'give up' when times are hard-hard-hard."

"I hope-ope-ope you understand-and-and."

After that, he said nothing more. With a flash, he disappeared from the rafters.

That left Su Ling'er standing alone in the medicinal field, frozen in place.

No, can't you just speak normally?

Why does your voice echo like that?

Are you showing off some kind of sonic cultivation technique or what???

"Whatever you gain, you must also lose"?

"The courage to give up"?

What was Senior Disciple Brother hinting at?

What was he trying to tell her?

Could it be... that this so-called "Golden Autumn Harvest Festival" meant they were going to take her and... sacrifice her to heaven?!