Yueyang City
The next day.
When the sun rose in the distance and its light passed through the woods, a few rays fell across the group, waking them one by one.
The campfire before them had long since burned out, leaving only a little charcoal.
Fang Zelin stretched and glanced at the others beside him.
"If you're heading to Yunmeng Marsh, you're going our way. Want to ride in the carriage with us?"
The carriage was small, but taking Fang Zelin along would not be much of a problem.
Wu Yong felt that they had only come through last night unharmed thanks to Fang Zelin.
He therefore wanted to give Fang Zelin a ride as a way of repaying him.
Fang Zelin hesitated at the offer, then agreed after giving it some thought.
Traveling on foot really was a little too slow for him. Riding in their carriage should be considerably faster.
Once Fang Zelin agreed, the group soon set off.
In the early hours of the morning, they had all taken turns returning to the main world.
They had already taken care of eating and using the toilet, so they could now settle in and spend time in Seeking the Dao.
For Wu Yong and the others, escorting this provincial examination graduate was a quest.
After completing the quest, they could also look around the capital to see whether they could find any opportunities.
Fang Zelin sat in the carriage, listening to Wu Yong and the others talk about things in their lives.
The only female player in their party was someone they had met while playing games before.
After discovering Seeking the Dao, they had formed a group to play together.
They had been lucky enough to start not particularly far apart, which was why they had managed to form their party so early.
"I see you're on your own. Why not join us?"
After briefly introducing the members of his party to Fang Zelin, Wu Yong finally revealed what was on his mind.
Part of his reason for bringing Fang Zelin along was actually the hope of recruiting him into his party.
Judging by Fang Zelin's performance last night, he very likely had a hidden class or something of the sort.
It was just that, without a system panel or anything like that, Fang Zelin did not know whether it was a hidden class.
In short, as Wu Yong saw it, Fang Zelin's strength was somewhat difficult to gauge, and he seemed quite formidable.
There would certainly be nothing to lose by recruiting Fang Zelin into his party.
Fang Zelin was taken aback. He had not expected Wu Yong to want to recruit him.
At that thought, Fang Zelin shook his head gently. "Sorry, I'm not planning to join any party at the moment. I can only thank you for your kindness."
Fang Zelin wanted to seek out immortals. What need did he have for a party?
Seeing Fang Zelin refuse so decisively, Wu Yong sighed inwardly.
The firmness of his refusal made it clear that no amount of persuasion would work.
With that in mind, Wu Yong did not press him. Instead, he changed the subject and brought up something else.
"Hey, have you run into any spirits or things like that before?"
At those words, the others all turned to look at Fang Zelin.
Judging by Fang Zelin's performance last night, he had looked for all the world as though such things were nothing new to him.
It was as if he had known long ago that ghosts and such existed in the Seeking the Dao World.
If that was the case...
"I have seen a few before, but last night's was a skeleton spirit. I suppose that counts as a new variety."
Fang Zelin had no intention of hiding this.
The deer demon, the water ghost, and the kappa he had encountered before, along with the underworld officials in the Underworld Bureau, all counted as ghosts and monsters.
When Fang Zelin admitted it, the others' expressions immediately grew serious.
"Say, since there are ghosts and things in this Seeking the Dao World, if a player dies someday, or gets bitten by a zombie and becomes some kind of ghost, would they be able to use those kinds of magical techniques in the real world?"
He phrased the question somewhat indirectly, but what he actually wanted to ask Fang Zelin was this.
Did he possess some means other than martial arts, and could those means be used in the real world?
Last night, the members of their party had posted what had happened on the forum.
The post had immediately stirred up towering waves.
Only then had countless people realized that humans were not the only things in the Seeking the Dao World!
After the post went up, people had also immediately recognized other questions.
For example, since ghosts and monsters existed in the world of Seeking the Dao, there ought to be corresponding means of dealing with them.
Could those means be learned and used in the real world?
This question had also immediately caught the attention of Wu Yong and the others.
They had Fang Zelin right beside them. Had he learned some special ability that could be used in the real world?
Listening to the question, Fang Zelin could hardly fail to understand what Wu Yong was getting at.
He gave a helpless smile. "You might laugh at me, but I really have tried that. I've been trying for over three months now, without any results."
After all, he really had not managed to figure out immortal cultivation in the real world.
There was no great harm in saying so.
Seeing Fang Zelin's earnest expression, they knew he was not lying.
For a moment, they all felt somewhat disappointed.
If this could be verified, the Seeking the Dao World would surely become even livelier!
Unfortunately, Fang Zelin had just said he had failed to learn it even after three months.
That very likely meant the idea would not work.
Of course, it was also possible that Fang Zelin was lying. Or perhaps Fang Zelin was rather slow, which was why he could not learn it in the real world.
There were examples of that in the real world, too.
Some people with poor aptitude had already learned Qi Force in Seeking the Dao, yet once they were back on Earth, they simply could not learn it no matter what.
So, strictly speaking, Fang Zelin might not have been lying, but an isolated case could not serve as a basis for judgment.
After Fang Zelin finished speaking, the carriage grew a little quieter.
None of them said anything just then.
Fang Zelin pondered immortal cultivation, wondering how he could find that dragon once he reached Yunmeng Marsh.
He therefore had no particular intention of starting another conversation.
Half a day soon passed.
The carriage reached a distant hillside.
At a glance, they could see Yueyang City in the distance.
Whatever else might be said, the air in the Seeking the Dao World was unpolluted, so they could see a very long way.
The carriage paused briefly, and the group got down one after another, standing there and gazing at the magnificent city in the distance.
Fang Zelin also leaped down. As he stood on the hillside looking at the city ahead, his expression grew somewhat complicated.
Yueyang City, Yunmeng Marsh.
Those were names of cities and places that had only existed in the ancient Huaxia he came from, weren't they? He had not expected to see them again in the world of Seeking the Dao.