"Big brother, that Ning-jiejie you like is quite the expert."
By the field ridge at dusk, Li Muyang opened his eyes. His adopted little sister, Li Yuechan, had returned with a roast chicken in hand, and that was what she said.
"Although I ran into her a few times on the way to the sect, we never got to know each other well."
"I spent the whole day wandering around with her today, and only then did I realize how amazing she really is."
The girl held the fragrant roast chicken and sighed with admiration.
"Giving up on her was absolutely the right choice."
"I suspect if you kept liking her, she'd have you wrapped around her little finger."
As she spoke, the girl grinned, watching Li Muyang's reaction.
But Li Muyang swallowed, his gaze fixed entirely on the roast chicken in her hand. He didn't react at all to what she'd said.
It wasn't all an act. The chicken really did give off an irresistible aroma.
Li Muyang's eyes widened. "What kind of roast chicken is that?"
How could it smell so good?
Just the aroma alone was enough to make your appetite surge beyond your control.
Li Muyang instinctively thought of a delicacy from Cloud City.
The girl's cheerful reply confirmed his guess.
"This is Cloud City's most famous Ginseng Wood Roasted Chicken. They use ginseng wood, which is rich in spiritual energy, as the charcoal, then seal it together with the chicken inside a mud oven. That draws out the spiritual energy and aroma perfectly and locks them into the meat."
"They say even the immortals high in the heavens can't resist the fragrance!"
The girl cheerfully handed the chicken to Li Muyang. "Big brother, eat it while it's hot. It stays warm for two hours after it comes out of the oven. It tastes best now. Once it gets cold, it loses its flavor."
Li Muyang took the fragrant chicken without hesitation. Tearing off a piece, he said, "The claim that even the immortals in the heavens can't resist it is pure nonsense, but I have heard of this chicken."
He hadn't expected it to be this enchanting. Sure enough, this was a world of immortal cultivation, where nothing made sense.
Before, Li Muyang had thought it was all hype. It was just a roast chicken—how could it possibly keep people from looking away?
Now the facts had proved it: this Ginseng Wood Roasted Chicken really was bewitching.
Not caring about appearances, Li Muyang sat right down on the field ridge and started tearing into the chicken the girl had brought, devouring it in big bites.
The chicken was crisp on the outside and tender within, melting in his mouth. An indescribable, wondrous flavor unlike anything in ordinary food exploded across his taste buds. As he ate, Li Muyang couldn't help marveling.
This world of immortal cultivation really was full of amazing things.
He glanced at the girl standing beside him. She smiled warmly. "Just eat, big brother. Ning-jiejie and I already tried some. I brought this one especially for you."
"All right," Li Muyang replied simply. He didn't hold back, enjoying the entire chicken by himself.
After chatting briefly with the girl about what they'd seen in Cloud City, Li Muyang realized the place was indeed very different from Jiuyuan City, his former home.
A remote little backwater like Jiuyuan City was poor and provincial in most people's eyes. Everything there fit Li Muyang's idea of what an ancient society should look like.
The streets were filthy, dust filled the air, and the stench of human waste hung everywhere.
But Cloud City, a great city with a population of a million, was clean and orderly at every turn. It had streetlights and sewers, more like the towns in the fantasy worlds of the games Li Muyang had played in his previous life.
Listening to his adopted little sister talk about the place made Li Muyang want to visit Cloud City and broaden his horizons.
But in the end, Li Muyang kept his excitement in check and didn't go.
His game had reached a crucial point.
Little Wild Grass's affection had now risen to 39. She was just one point away from 40, when he'd receive the second-stage reward.
Li Muyang didn't plan to waste time wandering around the city.
His adopted little sister, Li Yuechan, and Ning Wan'er, the young lady of the Ning Estate, often went into the city together.
The mountain gate was about to close, and afterward they'd be living in seclusion for a whole year.
The girls had a lot to prepare.
Life in the Outer Sect was meager. How could it compare to the bustling prosperity of Cloud City?
Every time Li Yuechan returned from the city, she brought Li Muyang something to eat and chatted about the interesting things happening there.
The hottest topic in Cloud City lately was a terrifying mysterious figure.
No one knew where this mysterious person came from or what they looked like, but they had killed many demonic cultivators in Cloud City.
Every demonic cultivator had died after their blood and vital essence were drained, stripped of all their demonic cultivation and reduced to a terrifying dried corpse. Their deaths had been gruesome.
Such a horrifying way to die had a powerful deterrent effect. So although there hadn't been many victims, rumors of all kinds were already sweeping through Cloud City.
Li Yuechan clucked her tongue in amazement. "The very heart of the Demon Refining Sect, yet one mysterious person has thrown the whole city into chaos. I hear the elders are furious. They've sent their personal disciples into the city to hunt down the killer."
"Big brother, what level of cultivation do you think this mysterious person has?"
Li Yuechan had only just set foot on the path of cultivation, and she was incredibly curious about the cultivation world.
She blinked at Li Muyang, who was sitting on the field ridge, and asked.
Li Muyang tore off another piece of the delicious roast chicken and said, "To stir up such a storm in Cloud City... they'd have to be at least a fourth- or fifth-rank expert, right?"
"In any case, they're not someone little nobodies like us can afford to provoke."
As he spoke, Li Muyang glanced at Li Yuechan. "You know there's a mysterious person causing trouble in the city, yet you go there every day. Aren't you afraid of getting killed?"
Li Yuechan grinned. "I asked around. That mysterious person only kills demonic cultivators at the Qi Refining realm or above. Someone like me, who hasn't even reached that level, won't even get a glance."
After she finished, she saw that Li Muyang still didn't seem convinced, so she sighed.
"Honestly, I don't want to go every day either. It's exhausting."
"But before we left home, Second Uncle said that while our sect's mountain gate was open, one of his friends would come to Cloud City. He'd ask that friend to bring some things for us to use."
"Second Uncle said those things are valuable, and he was afraid it would be dangerous for a young girl like me to carry them here, so he had to ask his friend to bring them."
The girl shrugged innocently. "So when I go into the city every day, I'm actually waiting for Second Uncle's friend."
After the girl explained, Li Muyang frowned.
"Dad asked someone to deliver things? He's just a country bumpkin of a martial artist. What valuable things could he send?"
At most, they'd be some cultivation materials worth a few low-grade spirit artifacts.
A country bumpkin of Li Damu's caliber couldn't have saved up anything good.
Li Muyang didn't care at all about whatever had been sent from home.
Even if he just let a few grains of high-grade spirit rice slip through his fingers, it'd be enough to make his adopted father, Li Damu, goggle in shock.
After seeing his adopted little sister off and cooking himself another dinner of high-grade spirit rice, Li Muyang continued his monotonous but orderly life.
When night fell over the mountains, he closed his eyes and entered the game.
His adopted little sister's recent arrival had still disrupted his progress in the game.
He seemed to spend more and more time chatting with Li Yuechan, and as a result, his game was progressing more slowly.
On the little plaza at Black Cloud Stronghold, Li Muyang looked at Little Wild Grass before him and sighed.
Li Muyang, Li Muyang, you can't keep this up.
Although chatting with a sweet girl was relaxing, and having someone to talk to helped dispel the loneliness for someone like him, who'd been isolated and withdrawn for so long, making him feel much happier,
He couldn't let it get in the way of what mattered!
Tomorrow, he couldn't spend so long chatting with his adopted little sister. He had to work hard and pull himself together!
He looked at the affection bar in the upper-right corner of his vision: [Little Wild Grass: 39].
Li Muyang clenched his fist.
Starting today, he'd get his act together and return to the way he'd been before—putting all his time and energy into the game!
He was only one step away from completing the second stage of her development and claiming his reward.
How could he lose himself in chatting with a sweet girl at a time like this?
Li Muyang decided to change.
So the next day, when his adopted little sister returned from the city, their conversation was finally... a few minutes shorter than usual.
After watching his adopted little sister walk away again, Li Muyang sat on the field ridge and scratched his head.
"Have I been alone and withdrawn for so long that I can spend ages chatting about useless nonsense?"
Li Muyang had meant to wrap up that day's conversation quickly, but he'd failed. Now he felt frustrated and downcast.
He realized he might really have been alone for too long. Once he started talking with his adopted little sister, it was hard to stop.
Perhaps he was craving that kind of connection, the response that came from a conversation.
"People really are social animals. Spend too long alone, and you'll end up with problems."
Li Muyang muttered to himself.
He stopped trying to cut short his conversations with his adopted little sister.
It was fine if he took a little longer to finish the game. But if being alone gave him a mental illness, that would hardly be worth it.
Fortunately, apart from chatting with his adopted little sister each day, he spent nearly all his time in the game.
As the saying went, hard work paid off, and he was rewarded.
On the third day before the Demon Refining Sect was due to close its mountain gate, Li Muyang successfully completed the second stage of her development, raising Little Wild Grass's affection above 40.
[Little Wild Grass: 40 (She sees you as a precious friend... or perhaps family?)]
The moment that affection score appeared, Li Muyang clenched his fist and punched the air.
This second stage had really been a time sink!
It had taken him almost a month. During that time, he'd raised his cultivation to the sixth level of the Qi Refining realm just by eating spirit rice, and only then had he managed to get Little Wild Grass's affection to 40.
The daily tasks over the past month had been a grind, but now, seeing Little Wild Grass's sweet smile in the game, Li Muyang was genuinely happy.
Because a system reward notification had popped up before his eyes.
[Little Wild Grass's affection has exceeded 40 for the first time. Development progress has entered the third stage (five stages in total)]
[Congratulations, host. Your second-stage development reward is ready to claim]
[Please select your second-stage development reward (choose one of three)]
[Cultivation +1 (Qi Refining realm, sixth level → Qi Refining realm, seventh level)]
[Taiyi Light-Splitting Talisman (low-grade spirit talisman) ×3]
[Common-grade flying sword ×1]
Li Muyang was overjoyed when he saw the rewards the system had offered.
A low-grade spirit talisman... Damn!
So the system's prize pool didn't just have manuals and weapons?
It even had rare items like spirit talismans... Sure, spirit talismans were single-use items, but their power was immense!
Even the lowest-grade spirit talisman was no joke. It could easily kill a Qi Refining cultivator in one blow.
The system really knew how to surprise him. The rewards were all over the place, and every one was a good thing.
Li Muyang stared wide-eyed at the second option, the low-grade spirit talismans, and claimed it without hesitation.
Before you continue