When Jiang Liu saw the words "Victory," he was completely stunned.
His Immersive Experience got slaughtered.
The paper-doll, turn-based battle cleared in one go.
So I'm not even as good as a paper-doll?!
Jiang Liu knew that with eight magical artifacts equipped, his stats were extremely high. They just weren't displayed.
He hadn't lost to the Lingyun Sect Senior Disciple because of his cultivation level, his equipment, or his spells. It was purely a lack of personal combat experience!
He couldn't win even with eight magical artifacts, but the paper-doll cleared it in one go with the same eight.
Honestly, he was pretty shaken.
Jiang Liu felt completely deflated. He couldn't be bothered to run through stages 1–10 a few more times, so he quit Cultivation Era.
Once he left Cultivation Era, his view returned to the classroom.
By then, the sky outside had gone dark. The bright moonlight spilled across the ground, and when he looked out the window, the school buildings were still ablaze with lights.
Though it was already the middle of the night, his classmates hadn't stopped. They were cultivating every minute and every second.
For cultivators who had settled into the rhythm, cultivation was as easy as breathing. They'd long since lost the restlessness that kept them from sitting still.
Only those who could endure solitude could hold on to prosperity.
When cultivating, spending a day or two meditating was nothing. Even retreating for years at a time was commonplace.
Though no one had been rumored to go into seclusion for years yet, as their cultivation levels continued to rise, it was inevitable that some would disappear for years at a time.
After all, that was what cultivating immortality was all about.
Jiang Liu hadn't made a sound when he quit Cultivation Era. After glancing around at his classmates, he began focusing on circulating the Three Revolutions Mysterious Technique.
He needed 200,000 Cultivation Points to advance from Qi Refining Layer 8 to Qi Refining Layer 9. Even he would be stuck there for several days. He'd have to cultivate while taking pills to reach Qi Refining Layer 9 as quickly as possible.
The night passed in the blink of an eye.
Daylight broke.
Warm sunlight streamed into the classroom. Some students went to the restroom, some went to the cafeteria, and others remained full of energy.
The noise in the classroom roused Jiang Liu, who had been absorbed in cultivation. When he sensed that a new day had begun, he entered Cultivation Era again.
He collected the Spirit Stones from his Monthly Card and daily check-in, ran through the Resource Dungeon, and then received the Spirit Stones Master Jiang and Grandma Zhao had sent him in the mail.
Twenty-four Spirit Stones in one day!
After collecting his harvest, Jiang Liu used the pile of Spirit Stones to buy a Foundation Establishment Stone and tossed it into the furnace. In one go, he filled a third of the progress bar for Perfect Foundation Establishment.
In another two days, he'd have Perfect Foundation Establishment.
He logged in to collect his harvest and run the dungeon, spent all his Spirit Stones, then logged out. The game had already hit a content drought on its third day, which left Jiang Liu thoroughly dissatisfied.
"What kind of game launches without any content? Do they even know how to make games?"
He couldn't help complaining.
They didn't need to plaster the screen with paid bundles and events, but they could at least offer something.
On the second day after launch, they'd added a Launch Event, and all you had to do was throw money at it.
Did this game have no live-ops team?
They'd put the Foundation Establishment Event in on the second day after launch and hadn't added any other events. The live-ops were a complete mess. Had they even graduated college?
No KPIs? No player count? No online-time targets?
Wait, now that he thought about it, maybe they really didn't need those.
Jiang Liu couldn't figure out what the people running Cultivation Era were thinking. Even if he could, there was nothing he could do about it. After tossing his Spirit Stones into the Foundation Establishment Event, he returned to cultivation.
The Three Revolutions Mysterious Technique had already reached its second revolution. With all the other assorted cultivation-speed bonuses, he'd gained over ten thousand Cultivation Points in a single day. It was insane!
I'm going to cultivate!
Nobody bother me!
"Jiang Liu, Jiang Liu."
"Leave me alone!"
"Boss Wang from Brilliant Bathhouse is looking for you."
"Hm?"
Jiang Liu opened his eyes and turned to Li Dongze, frowning. "What does he want with me?"
"To treat you to a meal."
Li Dongze shrugged. "After you told me about that yesterday, I called my dad. I don't know what he did, but early this morning, Boss Wang from Brilliant Bathhouse called and said he wanted to treat us to dinner."
Jiang Liu: "..."
What a great friend. He'd only mentioned it in passing, but Li Dongze had taken it seriously and even gone out of his way to contact his dad. Jiang Liu didn't know how to thank him.
"Can we go?"
Jiang Liu didn't know much about this sort of thing. He couldn't tell whether it was a peace offering or a trap.
"Of course. The big boss himself invited us. If we don't go, we'll be insulting him."
Li Dongze didn't seem bothered. "It's just a meal. What, is he going to kill us?"
Jiang Liu came from an ordinary family, so it was only natural for him to be wary of a big shot who ran a bathhouse. But Li Dongze had nothing to fear. His family was in real estate, at the top of the food chain. Boss Wang had even bought that bathhouse from them.
"Fine."
Seeing how fearless Li Dongze was, Jiang Liu thought, If he isn't scared, why should I be? I'm at Qi Refining Layer 8 and have eight magical artifacts on me.
"Where are we eating?"
"Brilliant Bathhouse."
"Oh? We haven't even gone in yet."
At noon,
Jiang Liu and Li Dongze arrived at Brilliant Bathhouse on the city's second ring road. They looked up at the seven-story building, all gold and glittering grandeur, and felt a little timid.
Outside the bathhouse's glass doors stood four hostesses in bright red qipaos, their legs wrapped in sheer stockings and their feet in high heels. They had curvy figures, and whenever someone came or went, they called out, "Welcome!" or "Thank you for coming!" Their voices were so sweet that the two boys felt weak in the knees.
Jiang Liu had never seen anything like it. He was just an ordinary high school student, with barely enough money in his pocket to buy instant noodles at an internet café. When had he ever been to a bathhouse?
Li Dongze had money, but he'd never gotten up to anything with girls. His only hobby was gaming, and he'd never been to a bathhouse either.
The two young men stood outside Brilliant Bathhouse, watching the well-fed guests come and go. After staring at the hostesses' long legs for a few seconds, they fell silent.
This was no place for good students like them!
"I'm too embarrassed to go in."
Li Dongze turned to leave. "You go by yourself. I'll call Boss Wang. Don't worry, he won't dare lay a finger on you."
"After the meal, I'll sell you a few dozen Qi Refining Pills!"
Jiang Liu immediately played his trump card.
Li Dongze turned around and came right back, pulling Jiang Liu by the head and charging straight into the bathhouse.
"Welcome!"
Jiang Liu could clearly see that Li Dongze's ears had turned red. Seeing that made him forget his own embarrassment and crack up.
"Brother Ze, you're so innocent?"
Jiang Liu teased him. "A rich second-generation heir, and you're still a virgin?"
"Heh."
Li Dongze shot him a sidelong glance. "Aren't you?"
Jiang Liu: "..."
Jiang Liu's expression darkened. "Women will only slow down my sword-drawing speed. I just want to cultivate immortality."
"But a rich woman won't. A rich woman will buy you a sword—and it'll be a spirit sword."
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