Who the Hell Are You

Guan Xiaoshun's expression was sincere; he had made a special trip to inform Li Muyang of this important news.

Li Muyang, for his part, truly had no idea that the Demon Refining Sect was about to open its mountain gates.

The main reason was that he lived too far away, leading a reclusive life without ever descending the mountain, making him a complete outsider with no knowledge of the sect's affairs.

The sect opened its gates once a year, which was a major event—primarily for the outer disciples like them.

Outer disciples were not permitted to leave the sect at will; most of their time was spent confined within the sect, cultivating (and performing manual labor).

Only during the annual opening of the mountain gates did the Demon Refining Sect allow outer disciples to descend.

This period lasted about a month, and many outer disciples would take the opportunity to return home to visit relatives or head down the mountain to enjoy themselves.

Of course, a "grind-master" like Guan Xiaoshun would seize the time to take the various items he had accumulated throughout the year to sell outside, exchanging them for more silver and never missing a chance to earn money or improve himself.

The period when the gates were open was also when the Demon Refining Sect took in the most new disciples each year.

Li Muyang's cheap sister would likely be arriving in these next few days.

Upon hearing Guan Xiaoshun's suggestion, Li Muyang hesitated for a moment.

His first thought was to take his superior-grade spirit rice outside to sell.

While superior-grade spirit rice would be eye-catching in the outer sect's market, it wouldn't be considered particularly rare in Cloud City, located outside the mountain.

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

If one viewed the Demon Refining Sect as a dynasty ruling over a region, then Cloud City was its imperial capital.

Cloud City was prosperous and bustling; if Li Muyang took his superior-grade spirit rice there to peddle, he would surely make a fortune.

However, after a moment of hesitation and consideration, Li Muyang shook his head.

"No, I won't be going down the mountain tomorrow. Thank you for making the special trip to tell me, Xiaoshun."

"But I've already spent all my savings on renting these two spirit fields and buying water buckets."

Li Muyang smiled helplessly. "I won't be going down the mountain this time."

Although selling the superior-grade spirit rice would certainly yield a large profit, Li Muyang had no urgent need for silver at the moment.

While the risk of selling spirit rice in Cloud City was low, it still existed—what if he caught someone's eye?

He had his system and the Endless Spirit Rice Jar; his future prospects were limitless, and there was no need to take risks for petty gains.

Now only at the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage, his top priority was to stay hidden and develop steadily.

Reality was not a game; in a game, one could be reckless and wild, simply reloading a save if they failed.

In reality, one only had one life, and if that was gone, everything was gone.

Li Muyang decided to act with caution, avoiding any risks, and offered his excuse to decline Guan Xiaoshun's invitation to travel together.

Still, watching Guan Xiaoshun's retreating back, Li Muyang felt a sense of appreciation.

Even though this border-town youth was a grind-master, he was very genuine.

Their friendship wasn't deep, but the fact that he was willing to run this far to inform him was already a gesture of true camaraderie.

It was a pity that Li Muyang only wanted to clear the game and get the rewards as soon as possible.

Five stages, five rewards!

If he could get them all, Li Muyang might even be able to reach Foundation Establishment by the end of the year!

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

Game with Fairies, initiate!

In the stilt house under the morning sun, faint dust motes floated in the air.

The little girl, her face somewhat pale and her expression slightly frail, looked up and revealed a friendly smile.

"Big Brother..."

Li Muyang looked at the favorability bar in the top right corner of his vision.

[Little Wild Grass: 25]

Li Muyang had been immersed in the game for days, but although nearly half a year had passed in the game world, Little Wild Grass's favorability bar had not budged.

It made Li Muyang feel a bit insecure.

He had easily raised her favorability to 25 with just a few sentences before, but now, after half a year in the game and spending so much time playing with the little girl, the favorability hadn't increased at all.

Could it be that he had to wait for another crisis to raise her favorability?

But half a year had passed in the game, and life in the village had been absurdly peaceful; no second crisis had emerged.

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

Taking the little girl to Steward Wu for blood draws every ten days was the most important task for the character Jiang Xiaoyu.

Li Muyang looked at the stagnant favorability bar and tried taking the little girl to escape the village, wanting to see if leaving would trigger a new plot.

But Little Wild Grass was unwilling to leave.

She felt that staying in the village was fine, and if the two of them left, there was no guarantee they would be able to get away.

And the situation was exactly as she had said. Li Muyang tried to take her and escape the stronghold, but less than three days after running away, the two were caught and dragged back, and "Jiang Xiaoyu" was hacked to death in public...

Constantly reloading his save, Li Muyang had to admit that Little Wild Grass was right after failing to escape the stronghold several times.

The two of them currently lacked the ability to leave the stronghold and could only continue to live there day after day.

In the game, Jiang Xiaoyu and Little Wild Grass lived very happily in the stronghold, carefree and without a worry.

Li Muyang could only go through the motions, making a few simple dialogue choices every day while watching the time in the game pass by rapidly.

According to Li Muyang's intuition as a gamer, it would likely take some time for the game to progress to this stage.

Since it was a cultivation-style game, logically speaking, the development of feelings and affection levels would certainly require time.

Unless it was the suspension bridge effect triggered by extreme life-or-death conditions, it was difficult for ordinary people to build high levels of affection in a short period.

Therefore, even though Little Wild Grass's affection bar hadn't moved, Li Muyang was not in a rush.

In any case, the flow of time in the game was very fast; only a few days had passed in reality, but half a year had already gone by in the game.

Li Muyang contentedly stayed in his small house on the hillside, tending to his spirit fields and playing the game. Even with the Demon Refining Sect throwing its gates wide open and the outer disciples heading down the mountain to revel, Li Muyang didn't go to join the fun.

He remained alone on the mountain, away from the crowds, living in seclusion and burying himself in his own development, waiting for the moment to soar into the sky.

But on the fourth day after the Demon Refining Sect opened its gates, an uninvited guest shattered Li Muyang's quiet, homebound life.

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

A young girl carrying large and small bags appeared, pouting, beside the spirit field on the hillside, glaring at Li Muyang, who was "asleep" with his eyes closed under an old tree on the ridge.

Li Muyang, who was in the middle of the game, heard the commotion outside and immediately exited the game.

He opened his eyes to see a familiar, pretty face staring at him in a huff.

The twilight sun shone down on the two of them. Li Muyang, having just opened his eyes, was stunned for a moment, unable to recognize who this was.

"Uh... who are you?"

Li Muyang posed the soul-searching question.