Who Are You?

Guan Xiaoshun's gaze was sincere. He had made a special trip to tell Li Muyang this important news.

And Li Muyang really hadn't known the Demon Refining Sect was about to open its gates.

The main reason was that he lived too far away, secluded from the world. He never went down the mountain and knew nothing about what was happening in the sect. He was completely on the fringes.

The sect opened its gates once a year. It was a major event within the sect—mainly because it mattered a great deal to outer disciples like them.

Outer disciples weren't allowed to leave the sect whenever they pleased. Most of the time, they had to stay shut up inside the sect to cultivate (and do hard labor).

Only during the once-a-year period when the gates stood wide open were outer disciples of the Demon Refining Sect allowed to go down the mountain.

This period lasted about a month. Many outer disciples took the opportunity to return to their hometowns to visit family or head down the mountain to enjoy themselves.

Of course, workaholics like Guan Xiaoshun would seize the time to take all the things they'd accumulated over the past year outside to sell. They could earn more silver that way, and he never let any chance to make money or improve himself slip by.

This period when the sect opened its gates was also when the Demon Refining Sect took in the most new disciples each year.

Li Muyang's cheap little sister would probably arrive in the next few days.

Hearing Guan Xiaoshun's suggestion, Li Muyang hesitated.

The first thing that came to mind was taking his top-grade spirit rice outside to sell.

Top-grade spirit rice would attract attention in the outer sect's marketplace, but once he went to Cloud City outside the mountain, it wouldn't be anything particularly rare.

Cloud City, outside the Demon Refining Sect's main altar, was the largest city within the sect's territory.

If the Demon Refining Sect were a dynasty ruling over a region, then Cloud City would be its imperial capital.

Cloud City was bustling and prosperous. If Li Muyang took his top-grade spirit rice there to sell, he would surely make a fortune.

But after thinking it over, Li Muyang still shook his head.

"No, I won't be going down the mountain tomorrow. Thanks for coming all this way to tell me, Xiaoshun."

"But I spent all my savings renting these two spirit fields and buying a water scoop."

Li Muyang smiled wryly. "I'll sit this trip down the mountain out."

Although he could surely make a fortune selling top-grade spirit rice, Li Muyang didn't have any urgent need for money right now.

Selling spirit rice in Cloud City would be low-risk, but it still came with risks—what if someone set their sights on him?

He had a system and an Endless Spirit Rice Jar. His future prospects were limitless. There was no need to take risks for a paltry gain.

At only the fourth level of Qi Refining, the most important thing for him was to hide away and grow stronger in peace.

Reality wasn't a game. In a game, you could go wild and have fun; if you failed, you could just reload a save.

In reality, you only had one life. Once it was gone, you lost everything.

Li Muyang decided to act cautiously and take no risks at all. He came up with an excuse and turned down Guan Xiaoshun's invitation to go together.

Still, as he watched Guan Xiaoshun walk away, Li Muyang couldn't help but sigh.

That young man from a border town might have been a workaholic, but he was honest and down-to-earth.

They weren't that close, but he'd been willing to travel all this way just to give him a heads-up. That was already the sort of thing a friend would do.

Unfortunately, all Li Muyang wanted right now was to clear the game and claim his rewards as soon as possible.

Five stages, five rewards!

If he managed to get them all, he might even reach Foundation Establishment by the end of the year!

After seeing Guan Xiaoshun off, Li Muyang locked the door, lay down on the hard wooden bed, and closed his eyes.

Game with Fairies, start!

Under the morning sun, dust motes drifted through the air around the stilt house.

The little girl, her face somewhat pale and her expression a little weak, looked up and smiled warmly.

"Big brother..."

Li Muyang glanced at the affection bar in the upper-right corner of his field of vision.

[Little Wild Grass: 25]

Li Muyang had been immersed in the game for days, but nearly half a year had passed inside it, and Little Wild Grass's affection bar still hadn't budged.

It was starting to make Li Muyang doubt himself.

Before, just a few words had easily raised her affection to 25. Now half a year had passed in the game, and he'd spent all that time playing with the little girl, yet her affection hadn't increased at all.

Would he have to wait for another crisis before her affection went up?

But half a year had passed in the game, and life in the stockade had been absurdly peaceful. There hadn't been a second crisis.

Every day, aside from cooking meals for the little girl, playing with her, and teaching her to read and write, Jiang Xiaoyu's game character had nothing else to do.

Every ten days, Jiang Xiaoyu's most important task was to take the little girl to Steward Wu to have her blood drawn.

Looking at the affection bar that refused to rise, Li Muyang tried to take the little girl and escape the stockade, hoping to see whether leaving would trigger a new storyline.

But Little Wild Grass wasn't willing to leave.

She thought staying in the stockade was pretty good. If the two of them left, they might not get away.

And she was right. Li Muyang tried to escape with her, but in less than three days, the people from the stockade caught them and dragged them back. "Jiang Xiaoyu" was beheaded in front of everyone...

After reloading again and again and failing to escape the stockade several times, Li Muyang had to admit that Little Wild Grass was right.

The two of them didn't have what it took to leave the stockade yet. They could only stay and carry on with their day-to-day lives.

In the game, Jiang Xiaoyu and Little Wild Grass were happy in the stockade, carefree and content.

All Li Muyang could do was go through the daily routine, making a few simple dialogue choices each day as he watched time in the game speed by.

Based on Li Muyang's instincts as a player, it would probably take a while to get through this stage of the game.

Since it was a cultivation game, it made sense that building a relationship and raising affection would take time.

Unless it was the kind of extreme, life-or-death situation that produced the "bridge effect," ordinary people found it hard to build intense affection in a short time.

So although Little Wild Grass's affection bar hadn't moved, Li Muyang wasn't in a hurry.

After all, time in the game passed incredibly quickly. Only a few days had gone by in reality, but half a year had passed in the game.

Li Muyang stayed home in the little house halfway up the mountain, tending his spirit fields and playing the game. Even when the Demon Refining Sect opened its gates and the outer disciples streamed down the mountain to have fun, he didn't join in.

He stayed alone on the mountain, far from the crowds, secluded and focused on growing stronger as he waited for the day he could soar into the skies.

But on the fourth day after the Demon Refining Sect opened its gates, an unexpected visitor broke the quiet rhythm of Li Muyang's life at home.

"Brother! Why didn't you come pick me up?"

A young woman, weighed down with large and small bundles, appeared beside the spirit fields halfway up the mountain. She glared at Li Muyang, who was "asleep" with his eyes closed beneath an old tree by the field ridge.

Li Muyang, who was in the game, heard the noise outside and immediately quit.

He opened his eyes and saw a pretty face that seemed familiar, staring at him in a huff.

The setting sun spilled over them both. Li Muyang opened his eyes, stared for a moment, and couldn't tell who she was.

"Um... who are you?"

Li Muyang asked the question that pierced his very soul.