Chapter 5 - COG Chapter 5
Dugu Zhuo was just trying out his skills to see how much he recovered from his injuries. He tried the “Five Elements Sword Art” that all the beginner disciples of the Qingtian Sword Sect must practice.
There are five realms in sword cultivation, namely, common sword, imperial sword, all sword, the void sword, and the void-self.
These five realms have nothing to do with a cultivator’s skill. If a cultivator has no talent in one of them, even if one has already ascended to an immortal, he may only be in the common sword realm. And if they are extremely talented in swords, they can reach the realm of void sword, just after entering Dao.
“Five Elements Sword Art” is exactly the mental method for practicing the sword realm. It is divided into three stages. First, the sword is made with the five elements of the mortal world, and the gold, wood, earth, water, and fire swords are practiced to the extreme. The first stage is to be controlled by the sword, exerting the five element swords; this is the common sword realm.
The second stage is to abandon the five elements. Choose a suitable spirit sword, hibernate with the sword, and a master of the sword. This is the imperial sword realm.
The third stage is to break away from the shape of the sword. Cultivate an invisible sword, know the five elements of heaven, and find the sword everywhere. This is all sword.
The “Five Elements Sword Art” practiced to the extreme is nothing more than the “all sword” realm.
What Dugu Zhuo just used was this. He didn’t have a sword in hand, but everything around him could be a sword. He used the fallen leaves in the bamboo forest as a sword, and slaughtered all the karma beasts with a single move.
This move requires a very high realm, but the skill itself is not profound. Dugu Zhuo used seven levels of his true qi to use a high-level trick. His true qi was weak and not very powerful; it was just bluffing it’s true strength.
This momentum fell in the eyes of the two players who had been in contact with the keyboard “Nine Heavens”.
Now the highest level player in the game is only level 15. It is said that he is trying his best to climb a mountain towards apprenticeship. Schools have not been selected yet, how can there be such a powerful skill.
The two players thought that they had accidentally opened a level 50 map. The difference in strength was too great, and they obviously couldn’t fight it. They were so scared that they turned around and ran, not forgetting to send a message to their teammates first.
In a normal online game, whether it is a keyboard online game or a holographic online game, it is impossible for players to hear other people’s voices.
This is the same as secret sound transmissions in the cultivation world. Unless there is too much difference in skill, the content of the dialogue will not be noticed.
But Dugu Zhuo not only saw them, he also heard the content of their paper cranes.
The two saw his face and misunderstood he was a “level 50 boss”. Dugu Zhuo didn’t understand the meaning of this word, but instinctively felt that he couldn’t let them escape like this.
Seeing that the two players were about to flee to the teleportation formation, Dugu Zhuo tapped his toes and creating a wind sword with a burst of energy, cutting off two bamboos one after another. The huge bamboo branches fell, blocking the path of the two players.
“This… damaging the environment to intercept players? Is it a new gameplay?” the two players exclaimed.
Dugu Zhuo shuttled between the bamboo forests, finally coming up to the two of them. Standing on the bamboo branches that were chopped by the sword, he looked at them condescendingly.
Dugu Zhuo’s eyes swept across their faces and saw no shock, only surprise. It was obvious that he was not afraid of him, but had an urge to try fighting.
Yes, like the mystic realm, players will not really die. In the past, if he encountered a powerful monster in the mystic realm, he will not be afraid, and would try to challenge it instead.
There was one male and one female player, holding a paper fan and long whip, respectively. Seeing Dugu Zhuo is blocking the way, they took out their broken1Broken, as in weak or bad quality paper fans and whips to prepare for the challenge.
It’s not shameful to be killed by a boss above level 50, treating it as a new style of gameplay.
Seeing that the two were not afraid of him, Dugu Zhuo’s complexion eased, dropping from the bamboo branch, and slowly said: “You have misunderstood, I am also a player.”
“Liar! How can a player use such terrible skills?” The male player faced Dugu Zhuo. Tossing out the fan, the paper surface turn to steel the moment it was thrown out. It was made up of many throat-slitting blades.
Dugu Zhuo flashed sideways slightly and heard the female player say: “Right! How can a normal person grow up like you, unless you send me a picture of yourself!”
“Photo” – from the context, seems to be a portrait. Dugu Zhuo smoothly replied: “You can’t post photos.”
“Why do you want his photo? Even if it’s send, it may be photoshopped. No, NPCs will not post photos. Why am I being crooked by you, what am I thinking?” said the male player.
The female player shook her whip symbolically and was reluctant to attack Dugu Zhuo. She embarrassedly said: “I was just testing it out. What if?”
Dugu Zhuo just wanted to say something, and suddenly noticed a strong wind behind him. Without turning his head back, he stretched his hand back and grabbed the hidden weapon, which was the paper fan he had just avoided.
“The dodging action is really good, and can grab it empty-handedly. After the game is upgraded, the experience is great.” The male player was not anxious after his weapon is taken, analyzing very honestly/ “When will live broadcasting be available? With these kinds of graphics, there must be many people buying helmets to play.”
As he was talking, he saw the “boss” close the paper fan, and dexterously jump towards him.
At such a close distance, the male player thought he was going to be killed in seconds. Who knew that the “boss” has no intention of attacking. He held the paper fan, tapping the man’s arms. He casually said: “Whether you believe is up to you.”
“Believe. I believe you!” The female player said, “If you were the boss, we would have died a long time ago.”
The male player also put away his paper fan and spoke: “First, why do you have such a powerful skill?”
Dugu Zhuo recalled what Ye Zhou said before, and replied: “One-time item.”
“You used up such a powerful item like this?”
“Just try it out.” Dugu Zhuo said simply.
Dugu Zhuo’s purpose is very simple. It’s fine as long as these two people regard him as a player. “The monsters here are suitable for players below level 10.”
After that, he turned around and left to take a loo at the world outside the karma forest.At this time, he heard the female player say: “Handsome guy, add a friend?”
A floating dialog box appeared in front of Dugu Zhuo, which read: [Player Qingyuelove2the ‘love’ is spelled out in English. requests to add you as a friend. Do you accept? Yes/No]
It turns out that this is what Ye Zhou meant by “adding friends”, not mixing their blood.
When Dugu Zhuo reunited with Ye Zhou, for fear that it would be difficult to see each other again. in order to establish the closest relationship with Ye Zhou, he chose to establish a blood contract. After it’s established, he can sense Ye Zhou’s position at any time. No matter where Ye Zhou was, he could find him.
However, after Ye Zhou went offline, the contract was completely cut off. He couldn’t find Ye Zhou in this world.
It is impossible for Dugu Zhuo to be satisfied with such an encounter in this mysterious world. He must understand the real world in which Ye Zhou is located, and can inquire news from the two people in front of him.
Dugu Zhuo lightly tapped “Yes” and received a system prompt: [You have passed Qingyuelove’s friend application, and the current friendliness is 1. ]
After becoming friends, you can see the basic information of the other party. It’s less than of his blood contract. Only Dugu Zhuo’s name, level, and sect are visible. Race and character status are hidden.
Dugu Zhuo saw the opposite player was named Qingyuelove, level 11, no sect. She is one level higher than Ye Zhou.
Seeing that his teammate added Dugu Zhuo as a friend, the male player was not to be outdone and sent a friend request.
Dugu Zhuo accepted it as well. The male player is named Long@Aotian, level 11, no sect.
The names of these two people seem to be a joke. The incomprehensible characters “love” and “@” are piled up with ridiculous words. Obviously they are not real names, and just pronouns in the game.
“Wow, your name without symbols isn’t shared with someone else?” Long@Aotian said. “I needed to change several symbols in Long Aotian before registering successfully.”
“Isn’t it because of the high rate of your name?” Qingyuelove said, “It’s too dirty!”
“Isn’t yours dirty? It’s 02023Here, the author should be referring to 2020. They make it backwards for censorship or other plagarism reasons I’d suspect., and you still add English to your name.” Long@Aotian was not to be outdone.
While listening to the two quarreling, Dugu Zhuo used the experience gained from killing monsters to raise his level to level 9.
After he used the “Five Elements Sword Art”, his body was drained. He should meditate cross-legged several weeks to recover. But after the upgrade, his true qi was immediately replenished, and the bun that was scattered by the bamboo leaves returned to normal.
It seems that leveling up can restore one’s state, which is a bit similar to the way a cultivator breaks through the realm.
Dugu Zhuo used his known knowledge to understand the new world little by little.
Long@Aotian couldn’t win Qingyuelove in an argument, so he stopped talking back. Instead, he changed the topic to Dugu Zhuo. “Can add as friends; you’re indeed not a boss. But brother, did you really not spend any money to buy a skin?”
Dugu Zhuo heard “skin” and thought it was something a like disguise technique, beauty technique, or human skin mask. He shook his head and replied: “The game does not yet have a currency exchange.”
This is what Ye Zhou told him before.
“Oh, yeah.” Long@Aotian sniffed. “What’s the use of being handsome, it’s only level 9.”
“My disposable items are already used, and the monsters here don’t give enough experience. I was planning to go out to do a task. What about you two?” Dugu Zhuo said in the same tone4re: modern. Not that secondary disease or ancient way he spoke in before as the two of them.
Ye Zhou was only level 10, and Dugu Zhuo didn’t plan on leveling up more. Instead of staying in the karma forest, he might as well go to the outside world to find out more.
This game world is inextricably connected with his original world. Dugu Zhuo wants to adapt to the new world, learn more about the relationship between the two worlds, and wants to know how he and Ye Zhou came here.
Qingyuelove: “I’ll do a task with you.”
Long@Aotian: “We plan to explore the new map.”
The two said exactly the opposite things. Having a disagreement, they began quarreling again.
Dugu Zhuo only regarded them as tools for obtaining information. He did not intend to wait for a result of their quarrel, and said politely: “You take your time to discuss.”
After that, he went to the teleportation formation and was sent to Tanye Temple.
There is a feeling of time and space changing during the transmission. The sight in his eyes underwent a huge change, from a green bamboo forest to a temple full of incense.
The temple was originally a clean place, but now it was like a vegetable market. There were a lot of people…
“Hey, hey! Can’t you see so many people lining up for incense? Go to the back of the line. Don’t you have any manners?”
“Aren’t gaming helmets expensive? Why are there so many people in the public beta?”
“It used to be crowded when playing online games, but now it’s really crowded. Why did I set the feeling parameter so high? Whoever stepped on my toe – it hurts!”
These are all people queuing for the incense task.
“Master, I am here to hand in and receive a new mission.”
“Amitabha, the donor, this cat does not meet the requirements.”
“Why not? The dead flower5another player whose type is a flower next door can receive it, why can’t I?”
“Don’t deceive this monk with your demon clan ways. Gan! Arhat’s golden body6a spell/skill, evildoer appear”
A golden light flashed, and the black cat in the player’s arms suddenly fell to the ground. The monk releasing the mission was still kind.
The black cat stiffened, lay down for a while, then resurrected on the spot. He stretched out his paw and scratched the released player, and vomited: “Let me test this out, I don’t believe it won’t work!”
“Didn’t you try?” The player fled with his head in his arms. “How could I know that this old man looks thin and thin, but is so ruthless. At least level 40 or above. And you’re only level 1, so if you die and lose a level, it won’t hurt!”
“Let you try, let you try! I will cancel my number when I go offline and re-register as a human.” The black cat licked his paw and said.
“Don’t, the black cat is so cute. It’s a species that was finally found randomly. Look at the mushroom next door, they have it much harder!” The player pointed to the free clinic booth in front of the Tanye Temple.
Black Cat: “Are you blind, that’s a lingzhi7Translates to Ganoderma lucidum. Re: Some medicinal ‘shroom, that in this novel, doubles as a species for spirit race players.!”
A kind-minded old monk was sitting in front of the free clinic booth, giving free treatment to the poor.
There is a lingzhi on the table where the old monk is diagnosing people’s pulses.Every time the old monk diagnoses a disease, he clasps his hands to the lingzhi. “Saving a life is better than building a seventh-level floating buddha. This benefactor will be blessed if he sacrifices his life to save others.”
He took a ray of spiritual energy from lingzhi and injected it into the eyebrows of the sick, and they healed immediately.
The lingzhi rocked its body, feebly saying: “No thanks are needed. Just trouble you to give me experience, so I can reach level 20 and become a human. Oooh, the life of a spirit race is so bitter.”
A player next to the lingzhi pointed. “They’re first in the player ranking list. Spirit races level up so fast! Only needs to help heal people for EXP.”
“Wow, he can level up by saving people? Soon, they’ll be level 20!”
“It’s impossible for him to continue to doing rescue missions. There must be a limit on the number of times.”
Sure enough, as the player spoke, then the lingzhi reached level 16, the old monk held it up. “Donor, your mission today has reached its limit. If you continue treating, your life will be endangered. Please come back tomorrow.”
The old monk put the llingzhi on the ground, took out a snow lotus from the bamboo basket at his feet, and said to the snow lotus kindly: “Saving a life is better than building a seventh-level floating buddha. This benefactor will be blessed if he sacrifices his life to save others.”
Snow lotus waved a leaf: “Troubling you. Hurry up.”
Dugu Zhuo: “…”
It is a lively and harmonious world.
Live and harmonious is an understatement. It’s a messy world.
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Visit my ko-fi page to see how close we are to an add’l release.1Broken, as in weak or bad quality2the ‘love’ is spelled out in English.3Here, the author should be referring to 2020. They make it backwards for censorship or other plagarism reasons I’d suspect.4re: modern. Not that secondary disease or ancient way he spoke in before5another player whose type is a flower6a spell/skill7Translates to Ganoderma lucidum. Re: Some medicinal ‘shroom, that in this novel, doubles as a species for spirit race players.