Synchronization

"Cultivation? Like immortals such as Sun Wukong?"

"Not selling them, not selling them. They're all for you."

"I'm nearly eighty already. What's the point of cultivating? I'll live however many days I have left."

"A great-grandson? I can really live to see a great-grandson?"

"Let me see... It's pretty clear. It says I have a Wood Element Supreme Spiritual Root. Can this get me into Tsinghua?"

Jiang Liu went through an enormous amount of effort to explain cultivation to his grandpa. After talking for ages, nothing worked as well as a single mention of a great-grandson.

He had only just convinced his grandpa to cultivate with him when his grandpa's talent left him speechless.

Sitting on the sofa, Jiang Liu looked at his grandpa's clouded eyes. After holding it in for a long while, he finally managed to say, "A Supreme Single Wood Spiritual Root?"

"Yep."

Seeing Jiang Liu's unpleasant expression, Master Jiang thought it could not be used. He waved it off indifferently. "If it can't be used, then forget it. Just hurry up so I can see my great-grandson."

Can't be used?

It was more than usable!

Jiang Liu stared at his grandpa with envy, both annoyed and amused. His grandpa's aptitude would rank among the very best even in the cultivation world. Then there was his own Three-Element Mixed Spirit Root. It was enough to make him laugh and cry.

If he had not gotten the 0.1-discount Welfare Version client, he would probably have needed his grandpa to carry him for the rest of his life.

Although he felt a little unbalanced inside, he quickly adjusted. His grandpa was his only family. Jiang Liu was happy that he could live longer.

"Grandpa, these are Qi Refining Pills. Take them and eat them."

Jiang Liu spent another half hour adding his grandpa as a friend and trading over the remaining Qi Refining Pills in his inventory.

"How many times a day do I take them?"

"Take as many as you have."

Teaching game knowledge to a man nearly eighty years old was quite exhausting. Jiang Liu was drenched in sweat, and by the time he returned to his room, he was panting for breath.

After dealing with his grandpa, he sat on his bed and circulated the Essence Gathering Art again. Only after stabilizing it did he switch back to Cultivation Era.

A few hours later, when he returned to Cultivation Era, he was about to open the Character Panel when his eyes drifted unconsciously to the Chat Box in the lower-left corner. His eyes instantly widened.

Someone was actually talking in the Chat Box!

Someone had already reached Qi Cultivation Layer 5 after only a few hours?

Jiang Liu's heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly opened the Chat Box. The huge window contained only a few messages.

[Li Shigan]: Nanshi Shigan Group is recruiting elite employees. Those with Dual Spiritual Roots, add me as a friend and send your panel. Once approved, your guaranteed monthly salary will be 100 Spirit Stones!

[Wang Hui]: Brilliant Bathhouse, a chain across three provinces, has officially changed its name to Joyful Union Bathhouse. We are broadly recruiting female disciples. No requirements whatsoever. Interested parties, add me as a friend and send photos.

[Zhang Zhiwen]: Taobao has officially opened channels to District Four. Merchants from the three provinces of District Four are welcome to join. There are already over a hundred individual magical artifacts on sale.

[Bai Qian]: Hello, everyone. I'm Bai Qian. I was lucky enough to obtain a Fire Element Supreme Single Spiritual Root, and I'm very happy to meet everyone early. My new movie, Legend of the Immortal Snake, will be released on September 28. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Jiang Liu: "."

Jiang Liu stared fixedly at those messages in the Chat Box, his expression dazed. What the hell is all this?

Shigan Group was the major real estate conglomerate in the neighboring province.

Even as a student, Jiang Liu had heard of Brilliant Bathhouse. It had three bathhouses in this city alone. Renaming it Joyful Union Sect really did fit the theme.

It was perfectly normal for Taobao to push someone to Qi Cultivation Layer 5, but how had that female celebrity leveled up so fast too?

Advertisements had even made it into Cultivation Era. That was insane.

At the same time, Jiang Liu realized something: money really could make someone immortal!

He was playing the 0.1-discount Welfare Version of Cultivation Era, but so what?

Even at 0.1 discount, it was only a Hundredfold Discount. As long as one had money, they could have a thousand or ten thousand people supplying a single person!

No matter how great his discount was, he only had this many Spirit Stones in hand. He still could not compare to a God-Tier Player.

A massive conglomerate could support one person with an unlimited supply of Spirit Stones and casually pile up the number one player in the entire district.

While he was still figuring out how to get Spirit Stones, they had probably already pulled the permanent banner dry!

"Can't get cocky. Can't get cocky."

Jiang Liu muttered to himself. His previously soaring spirits were immediately knocked down by the few messages in the Chat Box, and he could not help feeling anxious.

He was an experienced gamer and knew all too well how predatory pay-to-win games were. There might not be any launch events yet, but within a couple of days, a whole pile of cash-grab events would probably arrive.

When that happened, only those at the top of the spending events could obtain more and better resources!

One step ahead meant staying ahead. That was true in games, and even more so in cultivation.

"God-Tier Players and lucky players may be one step ahead, but I'm not far behind."

Jiang Liu's gaze settled on his Qi Cultivation Level 4 realm. The restless feeling in his heart came quickly and faded just as quickly.

Perhaps rich people could buy Spirit Stones in bulk, but they definitely could not buy too many.

At the start of a new district, Spirit Stone production was extremely low. Even if God-Tier Players wanted to buy endlessly, they would not be able to. Unless someone was in especially dire circumstances, almost no one would be willing to sell Spirit Stones.

This was cultivation. Was this something that could be bought with paper money?

Demand far exceeding supply was the current state of District Four!

Unless they bought across districts. But although the first three districts had opened earlier, they were actually even more cutthroat. They had already reached the point of fighting over territory. Who would be willing to let Spirit Stones flow out?

Just because you can afford them, does that mean we can't?

How could mere Qi Cultivation cultivators compete with Golden Core Big Shots for resources?

Therefore, although District Four had God-Tier Players who could take the first step, they definitely would not get too far ahead. He could completely rely on his own advantage to catch up!

"From now on, I'm quitting all other games!"

Jiang Liu silently made up his mind. Without the 0.1-discount Welfare Version, he would probably have become one of the countless cultivators among billions.

But now, he was playing the 0.1-discount Welfare Version of Cultivation Era. He was fully qualified to challenge the Leaderboard and become a top-tier cultivator!

Since he had a chance to make the rankings, why not work hard for it?

Jiang Liu's spirits rose again. After staring at his realm for several seconds, his gaze shifted downward and landed on [Synchronization]. He clicked it directly.

The game character began Synchronization with reality!

In an instant, Jiang Liu felt his body jerk violently as though struck by lightning. His physical body changed at an astonishing speed, the aura around him growing increasingly powerful. Even the air in the room seemed to faintly stir.

As his realm poured into his real-world body, he suddenly discovered three areas on his body covered in something like mosaic blur, as though the textures had failed to load. Garbled streams of data appeared over those three parts.

Don't tell me there's another bug?

The sight of that all-too-familiar mosaic blur made Jiang Liu's heart sink as worry rose within him.

More than ten seconds later.

His body suddenly felt incomparably light. Spiritual energy surged, and Qi Cultivation Level 4 was complete!

The garbled data streams in the three places abruptly changed, and three magical artifacts appeared on his body!

Cultivation Era—cultivation was just that easy!