First Return to Life

Multi-faction instances usually meant certain death in the players' eyes. Thus, without exception, every player invited to this kind of instance came with the mindset of dying early and respawning early.

Being invited by the Weird Game to become a player did not mean one could die only once.

Aside from the initial adjustment period, where instances trained players in basic survival skills and the ability to fight the vengeful ghosts within them, anyone who successfully cleared their first instance would gain one chance to return to life.

This return to life came with a restriction.

The corpse had to remain intact at the time of death—no missing arms or broken legs. Otherwise, even after returning to life, something would still be missing.

And if one could rise from a B-rank to an A-rank divine player, then in addition to that one chance at returning to life, one could gain another chance to return to the human world. This was considerably more impressive, almost like being reborn from a drop of blood. Even if all that remained was a single strand of hair or a mouthful of spit, one could still revive and return.

All one could say was that it truly was the Weird Game that urged people to drink more hot water.

"Multi-faction? I heard an A-rank super player mention this kind of instance during a lecture. At least three factions will be tangled together. We're screwed! Oh, speaking of which, do you still have your first time?"

"I do! I do! How could anyone not save their first time properly?"

"Only an idiot would lose their first time while they're still young!"

"Everyone still has it? Great, then. If things look bad, make sure you die fast, accurately, and ruthlessly. That way, after you return to life, there won't be much difference from now. I'll treat everyone to a drink afterward."

Because the instance was far too difficult, the players who had entered with the conviction that they would die had already come to terms with it.

At worst, they would just lose their first time!

This "first time" naturally referred to the one chance to return to life granted by the Weird Game after clearing one's first instance. Since it could only be obtained by clearing one's first instance and could only be obtained once, players jokingly called it their "first time."

However, the players invited into this multi-faction instance soon noticed that one of them was completely out of step with the rest, because this player had kept a funeral face the entire time.

"Brother, don't tell me you've already lost your first time?" A player immediately realized what the problem was and could not help asking.

At those words, the man's deathly pale face stiffened, and then he nodded slightly.

Seeing him nod, the other invited players could not help revealing looks of sympathy. In an instance with an extremely high fatality rate, he had lost the surest means of protecting his life before even entering. How was that any different from his life beginning a countdown?

"Brother, is there anything you need us to take out for you?"

"I... forget it. There's nothing worth saying. I have no family, no friends, and no one I love. When a man dies, the lamp goes out. Let it be." As the man spoke, his expression gradually calmed.

At that moment, blood-red text appeared, and the players stopped talking.

The scene before their eyes, previously nothing but darkness, had begun to grow clear.

It was a small village in an ancient setting, beneath the lingering glow of the setting sun.

Before them lay a mountain path leading straight into the village.

The players thus began walking toward the village. In any other instance, they would probably have discussed matters and come up with a sound plan, but with everyone thinking only of dying quickly, who had the mind for that?

After all, if they were torn in half by a vengeful ghost at death, then although returning to life would restore the missing half of their body, the limbs on the other side would not fall within the scope of restoration.

But very quickly, all the players discovered a problem.

"Why can't we get in?"

There was nothing blocking the entrance to the village, yet strangely, there seemed to be an invisible barrier ahead of them that made it impossible for them to step inside.

"Didn't it say we were supposed to enter the village and look for clues? What's with not letting us in?"

"Could it be that this instance hasn't reached its starting time yet?"

"How is that possible? The blood-red text already appeared!"

"Let us in already! If we can't go in, then we can't lose our first time!"

"You want to lose your first time that badly?"

"Hahaha!"

Players who still had their first time were just that reckless. After all, no matter how they died, they could return to life.

Of course, one player was an exception—the one who had lost his first time. His expression was growing worse and worse. He had just accepted it, but now he suddenly could not accept it again. He did not even have a girlfriend yet. He did not want to die!

There truly was an invisible barrier at the entrance to the village.

It was called the Water-Mirrored Lotus Veil.

Unlike the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture, which required Tan Shuchang to release seven shadows in order to seal off an entire dormitory building, the Blood-Refined Lotus Art needed only a single lotus mark to cover the entire village.

Tan Shuchang had naturally done this to prevent those vengeful ghosts from escaping!

According to his dog-headed military adviser, most of the vengeful ghosts under General Sophora possessed a method of forcibly seizing a living person's body, thereby temporarily granting themselves the traits of the living.

Thus, to avoid such a situation, Tan Shuchang had simply used the Blood-Refined Lotus Art to seal off the entire mountain village. From then on, the living could not enter; only vengeful ghosts could!

Originally, this method could only be successfully employed by a demonic cultivator who had cultivated the Blood-Refined Lotus Art for a full sixty years. But Tan Shuchang possessed a special ability: refining vengeful ghosts could amplify the power of his cultivation arts, bringing them to the pinnacle realm.

That was why, with barely more than a decade of cultivation, he had mastered all manner of profound and unfathomable methods.

Cultivation in the Jia Five Realm required no dedicated cultivation of divine abilities. As one cultivated an art to a profound realm, divine abilities could emerge naturally.

Of course, this did not mean cultivating divine abilities held no significance.

As time slowly passed, the game began. Within the small mountain village, several stone statues that had originally shown nothing unusual came to life one after another.

At their head was a tall figure dressed like a general, with six more figures standing behind him.

At the same time, in another part of the small mountain village stood a rundown thatched hut, inhabited by an elderly butcher.

In a setting with such backward productivity, butchers generally had some spare wealth at home. Yet this old butcher was in such a state, clearly hiding some unspeakable reason.

The old butcher had originally been barely breathing, lying motionless on his bed as though he was about to die. But suddenly, he stood up, and a strange green light flared in his eyes.

"Not yet, not yet. I still have some time..." The old butcher slowly spoke in a hoarse voice, and as he did, the green glow in his eyes gradually faded.

The other place held a brawny man who was still forging iron.

The furnace blazed with heat, yet the brawny man wore thick clothing and a bamboo hat that concealed his features in darkness.

Unlike the talkative old butcher, this brawny man did not utter a word from beginning to end.

Suddenly, the brawny man stopped what he was doing and looked toward the doorway. The door instantly shattered, and a figure stepped inside. Though this newcomer had entered without even knocking, which was highly rude, his words were exceedingly polite: "Student Tan Shuchang greets this officer!"