193, autumn, Xuzhou.
Ren Wo Xing and Ren Fei Fan were fighting a Ghost General force with over eighty demons and devils. They still employed run-hit-run tactics, but the enemy had ranged Bow Ghouls and incredibly fast Riding Ghouls. This battle was quite difficult.
As game time progressed, the demons and devils seemed to be growing stronger. In the past, the weakest monsters had been trash with 1 attack and 0 defense. After advancing into 194, the baseline was still 1 attack and 0 defense, but there were also many with 2 attack and 1 defense.
As the enemies grew stronger, they naturally gained more Aura Crystals as rewards. A single quarter of expeditions brought in at least two hundred Aura Crystals.
But earning a lot was no great feat; spending fast was what counted. Ever since Ren Xiao Bai was born and the Tai Bai Plain Earth Spirit went dormant, the Ren family had never found another spirit with whom they could commune.
Until three in the morning, when the bleary-eyed Ren Suo was performing the "Cultivate" action and accidentally clicked "Scout."
During the "Cultivate" action, unless all action points were used on the same direction, their cultivation directions would be distributed randomly. For example, if Ren Suo selected 2 points of Attack and 1 point of Scouting, Ren Wo Xing might cultivate Scouting, or one of the other two might do so instead.
Therefore, unless Ren Suo completely abandoned the development of other abilities and had the entire family focus on one direction, he had no way of controlling who cultivated what.
Ren Suo had always wanted Ren Fei Fan to gain 1 point of Management so he could stay home and send Ren Wo Xing and Ren Chang Sheng, the two ranged DPS fighters, out to grind demons and devils.
However, reality was that Ren Chang Sheng's Management attribute kept rising while Ren Fei Fan's Management remained at 0—like the gap between a failing student and a top student.
After Scouting was cultivated, Ren Wo Xing gained 1.3 points in the Scouting attribute. The following quarter, when Ren Suo sent Ren Wo Xing and Ren Fei Fan to clear Hulao Pass, the system suddenly displayed a prompt:
"Ren Wo Xing has noticed a mysterious aura in the northeast. Explore?"
A new point suddenly appeared on the world map. Ren Suo immediately perked up and sent the Ren brothers over to take a look.
Then, amid a lake, they encountered the spirit of the lake, Ling Bo!
Ling Bo said, "Immortal Master, a great demon has been lingering nearby recently. This lake spirit's cultivation is insufficient to contend against it. Could Immortal Master lend a hand and restore peace to the surrounding area?"
Dong Commandery in the northeast then lit up, becoming an available expedition location. At the same time, an additional line of information appeared: "A small number of demons and devils present (Easy)."
Only then did Ren Suo realize that the seemingly useless Scouting attribute had such a function: it could not only increase the chance of encounters on the world map, but also make newly discovered expedition points display difficulty descriptions!
After returning from the expedition, Ling Bo Lake Spirit also appeared in the family hall's spirit communion list. She demanded 1,000 Aura Crystals to mate—outrageously expensive.
Ren Suo thus completely understood the specific meaning of the six attributes.
Attack: When fighting demons and devils, if Attack exceeded Defense, the enemy was instantly killed. If Attack was less than or equal to Defense, it dealt damage equal to Defense minus Attack, weakening the enemy's Defense. For example, if Ren Wo Xing had 1 Attack and a Ghost General had 3 Defense, after one round of attacks, the Ghost General's Defense would drop to 2.
Defense: This was essentially the Ren family cultivators' health during battle. They would be fine until it dropped to 0, and the Defense attribute automatically reset after every battle.
Scouting: Revealed enemy data and increased the chance of encounters.
Movement: In battle, it determined how far a character could move in one round. On the world map, it determined the furthest distance Ren family cultivators could reach. Yes, if the destination was too far away, the dispatched Ren family cultivators might not make it back within a quarter.
Healing: In battle, it could directly restore lost Defense, even saving dying family members. In ordinary times, it could reduce the villagers' casualty rate.
Management: Everything besides battle was related to this attribute.
So far, Ren Suo's impression of this game had been quite good.
Complex but easy to understand, entertaining and varied. Setting a family management game about Slaying Demons and Eliminating Devils against the backdrop of the Three Kingdoms was truly very interesting.
Because most places where demons and devils appeared were locations with enormous casualties, and they had also been famous battlefields in history.
Hulao Pass, where the Eighteen Route Lords campaigned against Dong Zhuo; Yanzhou, where the Yellow Turban remnants crushed the imperial army; Xuzhou, where Cao Cao carried out the Fengxiao Massacre...
Every location required the Ren brothers to spend several quarters clearing it out. Along the way, they would encounter bandits, Yellow Turban remnants, wandering ghosts... In this chaotic age of recovering spirit veins, demons and devils were sinister and people's hearts were treacherous. Only cultivators like the Ren brothers could possibly travel everywhere, slaying demons and eliminating devils.
"After we finish this place, I'm going to sleep!" Ren Suo glanced at the sky outside, which was already bright, and felt an urge to equip "Infinite Stamina" and keep playing.
However, Ren Suo touched his hair and decided not to do something that would make both his liver and hair miserable.
After finally hacking the major boss, the Six-Armed Corpse Demon, to death, the game displayed the battle results:
"Battle concluded. After scavenging the battlefield, you obtained 3 intact Straight Swords, 8 intact spears, 1 superior longsword, 120 shares of gold and silver, and 250 Aura Crystals."
However, Ren Fei Fan suddenly said, "Big Brother, why... were so many of the demons and devils here ordinary people when they were alive...?"
Ren Wo Xing said, "They died with immense resentment in their hearts and resonated with the spirit veins, becoming demons and devils. Isn't that normal? You should have learned from the inherited knowledge that among demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters, demons are bloodthirsty animals, devils are fallen humans, ghosts are the resentment of the dead, and monsters are mutations caused by spiritual energy."
Ren Fei Fan said, "I know... but these people were all common folk. Like Xiao Cui, they honestly farmed the land. Why... why did they have to suffer such an end, slaughtered while bearing such immense resentment!? Why did Cao Cao do this?"
Ren Wo Xing said, "Massacres can make enemies tremble in fear and surrender... At the same time, they vent the soldiers' stress and Cao Cao's anger. I heard that Cao Cao's Father was killed in Xuzhou. The reason for this campaign was Fengxiao's punitive expedition."
Ren Fei Fan said, "...So it was all Cao Cao's fault?"
Ren Wo Xing said, "You could say that... What's wrong?"
Ren Fei Fan said, "Nothing..."
Ren Suo's eyebrows shot up as he watched—Ren Fei Fan was obviously about to stir up trouble!
Sure enough, the next second, the game displayed a prompt:
"Ren Fei Fan has left the party."
In the winter of 193, Ren Fei Fan was absent from the family hall. Ren Chang Sheng said, "Family Head, Third Brother has gone somewhere unknown... Please give instructions for this quarter's plan."
Ren Suo nearly spat blood. As the only melee cultivator, Ren Fei Fan was practically an indispensable tank now that demons and devils were steadily growing stronger. With him gone, how were they supposed to fight?
Fortunately, Ren Fei Fan returned in the spring of 194. However, his hair had turned white like that of a man in his sixties or seventies, and his expression was exhausted, as though he were in the twilight of his life.
Ren Fei Fan said, "Big Brother, Second Brother... I'm back."
Ren Suo checked Ren Fei Fan's attributes and discovered that his lifespan had dropped to eighteen years!
But he was already eighteen this year!
Fortunately, the game had no intention of leaving the player completely in the dark. Ren Chang Sheng was extremely shocked. "Third Brother, you... how did you become like this?"
Ren Fei Fan said, "I went to kill Cao Cao, but I failed. Not only did he have talented people at his side who had a rudimentary grasp of spiritual energy, more importantly, whenever I tried to harm him, my body froze... I tried three times, and failed every time."
Ren Chang Sheng said, "This is the shackle in our bloodline. Even though we have already violated it once, violating it again tightens the shackle. Our Champion Bloodline grows stronger, causing our lifespan to shorten. Third Brother, how could you be so foolish... Do we have a grudge against Cao Cao? Why put yourself through this?"
Ren Fei Fan said, "I don't know either... Whenever I close my eyes, I see those people in Xuzhou who died with endless resentment, gathering together and becoming monsters that are neither human nor ghost."
"They did nothing wrong, did they? They were not at fault, so someone else was. Shouldn't those who did wrong be punished...?"
Outside the family hall, spring was in full bloom, the breeze gentle and the sun bright.
Ren Suo looked at the number of Aura Crystals in the upper-right corner and selected "Spirit Communion," clicked Ling Bo Lake Spirit, then selected Ren Fei Fan.
In the summer of 194, Ren Fei Fan appeared in the family hall with a withered face but a smile on his lips, holding a child in his arms.
"This child will be called Ren Bu Hui..." Ren Fei Fan said only that, and then the screen entered a story CG.
"I have not failed my mission, Big Brother... I have continued the Ren family bloodline..."
Supported by Ren Wo Xing and Ren Chang Sheng, Ren Fei Fan trembled as he said, "What a pity. Even now, I still haven't learned how to cook. On the road, I still had to let Big Brother cook... What you make is really terrible..."
"Second Brother, I've really caused you trouble all these years. I know that you helped cover for me in many matters. This time, I offended Cao Cao, and who knows what kind of disaster it may bring. I have one last request. Second Brother, find Xiao Cui a good man..."
"Third Brother!" "Third Brother, stop talking!"
Ren Fei Fan tightly embraced his two brothers and finally cried. Tears streamed down his face as his body flickered with radiance. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... When I'm gone, will you remember me?"
"We will!" Ren Wo Xing nodded heavily. "I, you, and Second Brother... none of us will be forgotten!"
"Summer of 194: Ren Fei Fan died at the age of 18. Last words: I'm sorry, I left too soon."
In the family tree screen, Ren Fei Fan's portrait turned black and white.
Ren Suo stared at it for a long while before suddenly thinking of something about the game.
"Damn it, I never saved!" Ren Suo remembered this because he had been playing continuously for sixteen hours without stopping. The difficulty had not seemed high, so he had been too lazy to save.
However, when he opened the system, he found that there was only an option to exit the game; he could not save!
Ren Suo chose to exit the game. When he selected Load Game, he saw this entry on the save screen:
"Immortalized in history, undying through a thousand years."
Saving was impossible. He could either load a save or start over from scratch.
Only now did Ren Suo understand where this game's two-star difficulty lay—
In his Ren family save, Ren Wo Xing would also die in 195. By then, only Ren Chang Sheng and two children who had yet to grow up would remain! Ren Chang Sheng could not leave, and could only wait for the children to grow up. By then, he might have already died of old age!
And even once the children grew up, their combat strength would be utterly incapable of dealing with the steadily strengthening demons and devils!
Even if they grew up, so long as they were characters Ren Suo could not control, they could do something unexpected at any moment—Ren Fei Fan aside, even Ren Chang Sheng had once suddenly left a battle during an expedition to save a group of refugees. In that battle, Ren Wo Xing had nearly lost his virginity.
Family members who might cause trouble and could not be perfectly controlled, increasingly powerful enemies, sudden disasters, a shortage of mating partners, the curse of short lives, and the curse of ending the bloodline. To continue the family for seventy-six years in such an environment—
Simply put, it was as difficult as a webnovel author becoming a god with a single book.
Before you continue