The Operation to Capture Ma Feifei
That's right, Ma Feifei is going to learn from Wu Gang chops osmanthus and do it himself to have enough to eat and wear.
Although the system says it's a barter system, according to Ma Feifei's reasoning, this is just a euphemism; in reality, as long as you have the ability, even if you snatch it from an immortal, Jidu convert it into points.
Of course, no one can do this at the moment, and this approach is obviously not very good, since the mission description says it's a friendly exchange mission.
The main reason Ma Feifei chose to cut down the Osmanthus Tree was because the Osmanthus Tree was different from other things; it was something that could never be cut down completely. According to mythology, Wu Gang cut down the Osmanthus Tree here in ancient times, and no matter how many years he tried, he could never finish cutting Osmanthus Tree down.
The fundamental reason is that the Osmanthus Tree has a magical function: it heals itself as soon as it is cut. As soon as you stop, the cut branch will return to its original shape in a matter of seconds.
This ability might be useless elsewhere, but it's extremely useful right now. Ma Feifei can use the Osmanthus Tree's properties to continuously cut its branches, gaining points without damaging the Osmanthus Tree and avoiding detection by the Heavenly Court Immortals—a win-win-win situation.
The only thing to verify now is whether Osmanthus Tree can be exchanged for points.
Thinking of this, Ma Feifei looked up in Azi's direction and found that she was chatting happily with the Jade Rabbit, which meant that she had successfully attracted the Jade Rabbit's attention.
Without hesitation, he raised his two-meter-long Sky-Opening Axe and began chopping at the Osmanthus Tree.
"Pfft~"
A very faint sound rang out, and Osmanthus Tree branch snapped and fell to the ground.
Ma Feifei crouched down to pick it up, only to find that the branch had suddenly turned into a puddle of water and disappeared...
"It seems to be the same as the Peach of Immortality in Peach Garden; they can't fall to the ground," Ma Feifei said thoughtfully, looking at the vanished Osmanthus Tree.
I got up and looked at the Osmanthus Tree, and found that the branches that had been cut off had grown back. The entire Osmanthus Tree was intact, shimmering with light, and was exceptionally beautiful.
Ma Feifei raised his Mountain-Splitting Axe and chopped off another branch of the Osmanthus Tree, catching it as it fell into the air.
Osmanthus Tree branch landed in Ma Feifei's palm, emitting a faint coolness that felt particularly comfortable.
"Ding~ Osmanthus Tree branch found. Congratulations, you have earned 10 points."
The system notification sounded in his mind, Ma Feifei couldn't help but feel a surge of joy; although the Osmanthus Tree branches only gave him ten points, there were so many Osmanthus Tree branches! He couldn't possibly chop them all down. Even if he chopped like this for two days, he estimated he'd have over a hundred thousand points...
Thinking of this, Ma Feifei felt a surge of joy and became full of Vital Spirit, picking up his Mountain-Splitting Axe and working diligently with great effort.
Ding! Osmanthus Tree branch found. Congratulations, you have earned 10 points.
Ding! Osmanthus Tree branch found. Congratulations, you have earned 10 points.
"..."
Ding! Osmanthus Tree branch has been found. Congratulations! You have earned 10 points, bringing your total to 110 points. You are now ranked 36th in the top 100 of the leaderboard.
"Huh?" Ma Feifei was a little confused, subconsciously stopping his tree-chopping movements, and asked, "Wait... aren't I a GM (game administrator)? Why am I included?"
"The points the host gains from the Lotus Lantern World will also be exchanged for rewards during the final settlement," the system announced.
"Me too!" Ma Feifei was a little surprised, but his face was filled with joy as he looked at the Osmanthus Tree in front of him.
"I've struck it rich..."
Ma Feifei felt that if things continued like this, he might bankrupt the system.
Assuming one tree branch is chopped per second, that's sixty branches per minute, which is six hundred points; one hour, six thousand points; and one day,...
"Mathematics is too brain-taxing, let's just chop down trees instead."
With the reward, Ma Feifei became even more enthusiastic about chopping trees, and the system's notification sounds kept ringing in his head, making him very happy.
Meanwhile, on the leaderboard next to the projection, a piece of data was climbing rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it reached the number one spot!
"My God! Look at the number one!" a cultivator exclaimed, pointing at the points leaderboard in shock.
"No way! A thousand points?" A cultivator who saw the first place's information exclaimed in astonishment, his mouth agape.
"It's gone up again, by 10020 points!" another cultivator exclaimed in disbelief.
"It's gone up again..."
"My God, what did he get? His points have skyrocketed to such a high level!"
"Why doesn't the projector switch its perspective to show us?" one of the practitioners couldn't help but complain.
"Yeah, I've never heard of this NPC (non-player character) before! Let everyone see who it is!" The cultivators outside the Bookstore protested one by one, their eyes constantly glancing towards the entrance of the Mysterious Bookstore. Yun Qingyang was sitting on a small stool, looking up at the sky, completely ignoring what the group was saying.
Most of the cultivators in the book's world were unaware that such a dark horse had suddenly emerged. They only knew that their ranking had dropped again, but rankings fluctuate, so no one cared. However, it was different for a small number of people, such as Azi was ranked first.
When a notification popped into her head telling her she'd dropped to second place, Azi couldn't sit still anymore; she had no interest in chatting with the Jade Rabbit.
He started by casually agreeing, then looked around, trying to find Ma Feifei.
Finally, Azi saw Ma Feifei not far behind her. He was facing away from her, holding the Mountain-Splitting Axe she had lent him and chopping down the beautiful tree.
At the same time, the perspective in the projection began to shift at Azi, and the vast number of cultivators also witnessed this scene.
"Who is this person?" someone asked, puzzled.
"The figure looks familiar from behind," one of the cultivators remarked.
"It seems like not many people who went in this time wore purple robes," another cultivator remarked.
However, some people in the audience who were familiar with Ma Feifei recognized Ma Feifei from behind, such as Gongsun Qiong, Zhao Xiaodao, Zhou Zhuling, etc. However, they did not say anything, but just looked at Ma Feifei with a slight smile.
At that moment, the person in the projection seemed to sense that the camera was filming him, stopped chopping down trees, and turned around.
"Holy crap... I can't see their faces at all!" All they could see was the figure inside had turned into countless tiny cubes; how could they possibly make out their faces?
"Is this even possible?"
"I remember this happened when the Overlord instance in the first Grave Robbers' Chronicles was opened. Back then, the shopkeeper called it a mosaic."
"That's right, supposedly to protect privacy."
While the people outside were studying the mosaic, Azi inside was completely baffled by Ma Feifei chopping down trees. She opened her mouth to ask if she could be taken to exchange for points.
Ma Feifei gestured for her to wait a moment, then turned his back to continue cutting down the tree.
Helpless, Azi could only turn her head and continue chatting with the Jade Rabbit.
Ma Feifei had no other thoughts at the moment. He just wanted to call Azi over to help chop down trees later when the Jade Rabbit was resting.
In such a short time, Ma Feifei has already earned 1,300 points. At this rate, when the rewards are distributed, the system will definitely give him some kind of powerful artifact, which would be a huge windfall.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Ma Feifei was dreaming of the divine artifact when a gentle voice suddenly came from behind her. Ma Feifei instinctively replied, "It's all for the divine artifact, no trouble at all!"
After saying that, Ma Feifei realized something was wrong, stopped cutting down trees, and slowly turned around.
A woman dressed in white with black hair, exuding an ethereal aura and possessing flawless beauty, stood there, quietly watching Ma Feifei.
"Ding~ The host has been caught by Chang'e for stealing and cutting down the Osmanthus Tree without permission. The Heavenly Court will arrest the host in 15 minutes. Successful arrest will deduct all the points the host has. (Note: The host cannot leave the Heavenly Court's territory during the arrest.)"
"Holy crap!" Ma Feifei was completely dumbfounded upon hearing the system's notification...