Souls, huh

"Big Brother, why does Granny Gu want to kill Steward Wu?"

Inside the dark Ancestral Temple, Little Wild Grass gripped Li Muyang's hand tightly, her voice barely a whisper.

The two of them had already reached the exit of the Ancestral Temple; through the gaps in the heavy doors, they could faintly see the light filtering in from outside.

Li Muyang had no choice but to accept the old woman's bizarre request.

He had tried refusing.

Whenever he rejected the old woman's demands, the mysterious figure by the candle stand would let out a low, cold sneer.

Then, every light in the darkness would instantly vanish, and Li Muyang would feel something wet and viscous writhing in the shadows, brushing against him.

And then...

[You have died. Game over.]

If he refused the old woman's request, his game character, Jiang Xiaoyu, would drop dead instantly.

Thus, Li Muyang really only had one choice. He reloaded his save, went through the motions once more, and this time, he chose to accept the task given by the mysterious Granny Gu.

Little Wild Grass's question was the same one Li Muyang was asking himself.

He and Little Wild Grass were complete nobodies in the stronghold, possessing no status whatsoever.

Sending the two of them to kill Steward Wu... wasn't that just throwing their lives away?

If Granny Gu had a problem with those outsider demonic cultivators, she could just take care of it herself. Why force a small fry like Li Muyang to do the dirty work?

Li Muyang was utterly bewildered, but he had no choice but to comply.

"Granny Gu must have her own reasons..." Li Muyang muttered perfunctorily.

That old woman was truly terrifying.

She looked kind and amiable, yet the moment you refused her, you would drop dead without a second chance.

Her ruthless nature gave Li Muyang a deeper understanding of Black Cloud Stronghold.

He had originally assumed that of the two factions in the stronghold, Granny Gu's side was at least friendly.

Now, he realized that neither side was good.

One was evil and brutal, the other was eerie and sinister, leaving only him and Little Wild Grass caught in the middle.

The later stages of this game were going to be difficult, he felt.

As Li Muyang and Little Wild Grass reached the entrance of the Ancestral Temple, the tightly shut doors swung open, and Granny Gu stood there with a benevolent smile.

"It is time, Little Fish. You may go."

"Remember what you promised this old woman."

Under the sunlight, the old woman's smile seemed kind.

Little Wild Grass, however, shrank back behind Li Muyang in terror.

There was a Granny Gu inside the Ancestral Temple, yet there was another one outside... could there be two of them?

Li Muyang said nothing more and left with Little Wild Grass in tow.

Once they were clear of the Ancestral Temple, a dialogue box popped up before Li Muyang's eyes.

[Black Cloud Stronghold is too terrifying. Maybe I should take Little Wild Grass and run away...]

[I can't run. There's no escaping. I have to find a way to kill Steward Wu; only by killing him can Little Wild Grass and I survive.]

[There are two Granny Gus in the Ancestral Temple. If I tell Steward Wu about this... will he protect me?]

Three dialogue boxes appeared before Li Muyang; this was a first.

Previously, the system had only ever offered two choices.

Clearly, these three options corresponded to three different routes.

Li Muyang hesitated for a moment. The first option, running away, was clearly a dead end.

During the second phase of the cultivation period, Li Muyang had tried taking Little Wild Grass to flee Black Cloud Stronghold, looking for excitement in the mundane daily routine.

However, no matter how far they ran, they were always dragged back by the demonic cultivators of Black Cloud Stronghold.

The furthest they had ever gotten was thousands of miles away, where they had lived as commoners under assumed names for half a month, only to have the demonic cultivators break through their window in the middle of the night and drag them away.

The demonic cultivators of Black Cloud Stronghold clearly had some way of tracking Little Wild Grass.

Looking at the three options, Li Muyang followed his usual rule: save first.

After saving, he chose the second option.

For now, killing Steward Wu seemed to be the main quest.

If he leaned toward Steward Wu's side, Little Wild Grass's development path would likely skew toward becoming a demonic maiden.

And the game was called "Fairy"... wasn't that hint obvious enough?

He definitely had to cultivate Little Wild Grass into a lofty, transcendent fairy.

Though, Li Muyang found it hard to imagine what this sharp-tongued, cunning, and devious little wild girl would look like if she ever became a fairy...

In any case, let's stick to the main quest first.

Li Muyang chose the second option and left Black Cloud Stronghold with Little Wild Grass.

The difficulty of this three-stage cultivation had visibly increased by a significant margin.

The previous stage had only required completing daily tasks, but this stage suddenly demanded he kill Steward Wu.

It was no different than having a player finish the tutorial and get comfortable with the controls, only to have the final boss slammed into their face.

The jump in difficulty was just too steep... is this a Soulslike game or what?

Walking through Black Cloud Stronghold, Li Muyang let out a long breath, his eyes filled with excitement.

Although the difficulty had increased, he wasn't discouraged; on the contrary, he was quite pleased.

Because his previous experience had already shown that in this game system, the higher the difficulty, the richer the rewards.

After Li Muyang exhausted all his efforts to achieve the perfect ending in the tutorial, he had walked away with a top-tier artifact like the Endless Spirit Rice Jar.

As for this cultivation game, the difficulty of the first two stages had been so low that the completion rewards were merely mediocre.

Now that the third stage had suddenly spiked the mission difficulty, Li Muyang couldn't wait to find out what the reward for clearing it would be.

Regardless, time was the one thing he had in abundance, and although he lacked a walkthrough and had to explore on his own, as long as the game was right there, he would clear it sooner or later.

Leading Little Wild Grass out of Black Cloud Stronghold, Li Muyang arrived at the mountain range behind the stronghold.

The interior of this mountain was almost hollow, with a series of interconnected limestone caves forming a hidden world of their own.

Steward Wu and his group of outsider demonic cultivators usually hid in these caves to practice, having turned them into their own personal lair.

Steward Wu had previously lived inside the stronghold, but the demonic cultivators residing there had changed two years ago.

It seemed they took turns living in the stronghold.

Li Muyang led Little Wild Grass into the cold, damp cave, stepping across the wet ground until he saw Steward Wu, who had been waiting for a long time.

Dressed in a blood-red robe, Steward Wu looked impatient.

"Where the hell have you been, brat? Why are you so late today?"

Steward Wu's eyes were unkind.

A system dialogue box popped up in Li Muyang's field of vision.

[(Apologize to Steward Wu and make up a lie to explain why you are late)]

[(Tell the truth and inform Steward Wu that Granny Gu called you to help her)]

These two options...

Li Muyang chose the first one without hesitation.

The second one was a death sentence no matter how you looked at it.

Telling Steward Wu that he went to see Granny Gu, and that Granny Gu told him to come kill him... wasn't that just asking for death?

Li Muyang concocted a lie to explain why he was late.

However, after hearing his explanation, Steward Wu's expression turned grim.

"You clearly went to see Granny Gu, yet you dare not tell me... Did that old hag put you up to some mischief?!"

The next second, Steward Wu whipped his robe, and blood-red light erupted.

[You have died. The game has failed.]

Li Muyang sat up abruptly on the ridge of the field, feeling somewhat dazed.

"Damn! Dying just like that?"

This third stage really had a massive increase in difficulty; death was everywhere, and the frequency of dying was even higher than in the first stage. It was practically a minefield.

Steward Wu, who had been relatively easy to talk to in the previous two stages, was now killing people at the slightest provocation.

It felt as though the NPCs throughout Black Cloud Stronghold had become much more bloodthirsty since entering the third stage.

Could it be that the conflict between the outsider demonic cultivator faction and the local villagers had intensified?

Li Muyang closed his eyes with curiosity and entered the game once more.