Game Paradise

"Clang, clang, clang..."

In the dim mine, the rhythmic tapping sounds varied in depth.

After a long time.

"Clang!!!"

With a strong and powerful impact, a scorching hot crystal fell to the ground.

Mu Ye was quick, patting the storage bag at his waist and scooping the crystal, which resembled a fire dragon fruit, into it.

A faint red light filtered through the old fabric of the bag, illuminating a face stained with dirt but with sharp, handsome features.

"Five days, and I've only dug up one Red Flame Stone."

Mu Ye put down his pickaxe and checked the time. "It should be Xu Shi now, time to clock out."

Carrying his storage bag, Mu Ye wound his way through the mine, reaching the entrance in just ten breaths.

At the entrance stood a middle-aged man in a green robe, acting as a guard. Seeing Mu Ye emerge, he couldn't help but frown and ask:

"Young Mu, you're leaving already?"

"Yes, isn't it Jinshi Sect's rule that we miscellaneous cultivators clock out at Xu Shi?" Mu Ye pointed to the sundial next to the middle-aged man. "Steward Xu, the markings are correct, aren't they?"

"They are correct." Steward Xu reprimanded, "But everyone else is working hard to mine Spirit Stones, and you're just leaving?"

Mu Ye scratched his head and thought:

"Then... should I tell them to leave together?"

Steward Xu: "..."

"You rascal!" Steward Xu shook his head. "With your meager cultivation of only Qi Refining First Layer, you're not even working hard to earn Spirit Stones for cultivation, always thinking of slacking off!"

"It's really not slacking off." Mu Ye pointed to himself, his face looking distressed. "Steward Xu, mining requires using the Golden Blade Art, otherwise this pickaxe can't dig. You are a great cultivator at Qi Refining Sixth Layer, you can cast it for three days and three nights without rest. But I'm only at the first layer. At most, I can only use it for half a day before the spiritual energy in my body is depleted."

"Forcing it to dig is inefficient, and it wastes the overtime supplies the Jinshi Sect gives us."

"My clocking out on time is also for the sect's expenses."

Steward Xu was stunned, speechless for a moment.

Thinking carefully.

It seemed to make some sense?

Taking advantage of Steward Xu's daze, Mu Ye slipped out directly.

The afterglow of the sunset cast down, stretching a symmetrical and tall shadow behind Mu Ye.

"The air outside is still so refreshing..."

Mu Ye took a deep breath, his eyes taking in the distant, cloud-piercing mountains and the low, dense forests surrounding him.

This was the Eastern Wasteland's Cultivation World, the Qinghe Mine under the Jinshi Sect.

After taking a few more deep breaths, Mu Ye sighed, muttering to himself:

"Breathing for too long, it just feels like that. If I were on Earth, I'd probably be drinking cola, eating fried chicken, and binge-watching shows right now, right? No, Tears of the Kingdom is about to be released, and Honkai: Star Rail has already started its open beta. I haven't even played them yet and I've transmigrated..."

"What a waste."

"Transmigrating is one thing, but before I transmigrated, I was at least a slacker with a car and a house. Now I've become a 996 slave in a Xianxia version of the working world, a handyman disciple. Every day it's either mining or weeding. Who can stand this?"

Thinking of this, Mu Ye felt speechless.

Muttering, Mu Ye first went to the riverbank and took a bath.

His spiritual energy was depleted, so he couldn't use the Body Cleansing Art. This natural method of cleaning was more to his liking.

After washing, he returned to the Qinghe Mine shed.

Many stone houses built from earth and stone were erected here, adjacent to the mine, forming a continuous stretch. It was similar to employee dormitories on Earth, but a battle-worn version.

Everything else was fine, except... there were no entertainment activities.

Cultivation was simply too boring.

Based on Mu Ye's observations over several months, most handyman disciples had the most common Mixed Spirit Root and absolutely no cultivation aptitude.

To the Jinshi Sect, handymen were like outsourced riders for Meituan, not official disciples at all. They received no sect benefits, and their upward mobility was practically zero.

Sometimes, after months of hard work, they'd earn a meager amount of Spirit Stones. Their only form of entertainment was to go to the Tianxiang Pavilion in the nearby market town and have a little fun.

The diligent ones would desperately mine, then save up Spirit Stones, dabble in side hustles like making talismans or refining pills, and barely scrape by.

The fearless ones would team up, looking for opportunities to hunt demonic beasts outside, collect resources, and attempt to strike it rich. This had the highest mortality rate.

When Mu Ye transmigrated, the previous owner of this body had died from exhaustion while desperately mining.

Mu Ye admired such hardworking individuals.

Knowing their aptitude was so low, yet still striving so hard. If it were in another world, perhaps they could have succeeded.

But in this Xianxia world, where personal strength controlled the vast majority of resources, and even those with power at the lower levels couldn't turn their fortunes around...

It was better to forget about it.

Without a cheat, he'd just live comfortably.

At this moment, Mu Ye lay on the cool stone bed, feeling bored.

If he wanted to cultivate, his five-element mixed spirit root aptitude meant he'd barely make any progress even after years of training.

The cultivation technique was the most common Peiyuan Manual.

A five-element mixed spirit root plus a common technique, it was like stacking buffs.

Getting stuck at the Qi Refining First Layer bottleneck was truly something else.

If only he had a proficiency cheat, Mu Ye felt he could still try to salvage things.

But alas, he didn't.

Cultivating a full Great Heavenly Cycle absorbed and refined so little spiritual energy. Training felt like a blind man stumbling through a brothel, just flailing around.

Suddenly, Mu Ye seemed to remember something.

"Right, I wonder if that thing has finished loading?"

A thought crossed his mind.

A strange game interface appeared in Mu Ye's vision.

The interface was pitch black, with only a few words displayed in the center.

[Game Paradise Loading, Current 99%...]

"I didn't expect this damn game to come with me when I transmigrated..."

Looking at the interface, Mu Ye's face was filled with strangeness.

This was a peculiar game called Game Life.

The night he transmigrated, he found a DEMO trial invitation email for this game in his email's junk folder.

It boasted about 'open world', 'multiple gameplay', 'free exploration', 'super engine', 'realistic sensation'...

Basically, every buzzword that could be advertised on the market, they had used.

Mu Ye knew immediately it was either a reskinned game hyped by marketing accounts or a piece of trash that claimed to be the 'pride of the nation' but was outsourced and filled with excrement.

He wasn't interested at first, but the game posters on the email had a few ancient-costumed girls that appealed to him.

So, he decided to click agree to the invitation and critique it.

And then, he transmigrated.

The game interface had been loading since he transmigrated.

"If this isn't a cheat, I'd be fine with the game just playing with me!" Mu Ye thought.

At this moment.

He saw the numbers on the panel shift slightly.

"100%... Loading complete..."

The words dimmed.

A painting, like an ink wash, slowly appeared. In the picture, a Man in Black wearing black martial attire and a bamboo hat, holding a long saber, stood at the highest point of the city wall, looking down at the continuous expanse of colorful buildings below.

"An intro animation?" Mu Ye chuckled.

It looked quite professional.

Suddenly, the sky rumbled with a deafening sound. The black-clad swordsman leaped from the highest point, diving down like a swallow in a storm. A fleeting black shadow, the surrounding scene blurred with afterimages as he swept past street vendors and the eaves of houses in alleyways.

Finally, he leaped out like a fish, and the city below transformed into a sandbox map.

Then, lightning struck, and dark clouds gathered into a pitch-black hand, engulfing the entire ancient city.

Mid-air, the Man in Black drew his long saber and slashed down.

The dark clouds parted, and the screen shattered instantly. Everything began to converge, and finally, two massive ancient bronze doors slammed shut, as if closing off a world. The screen then disappeared.

On the bronze doors, four large characters were engraved:

"Game Paradise."

Mu Ye watched with a grin, feeling it was decent.

This intro animation looked like a wuxia fantasy game.

"Binding user..."

"Binding successful. Based on user status, only the trial game [Sword and Blade Demon Sealing] is currently available. Please clear the tutorial level [The Widow of Taiping City] to unlock more functions of Game Paradise."

An old man's new book, hmm... nothing much to say, that's it then (￣︶￣)