Chapter 114: There's Always Some Awkward Incident

Just as Fang Qi was immersed in the depths of the game cultivation room, a different scene unfolded at the Lingyun Academy.

Upon the vast, expansive Lingyun Square, paved entirely of white stone, a massive crowd had gathered.

The disciples of the Heaven, Earth, Mystery, and Yellow institutes—save for those away on training expeditions—were all assembled here.

"What is going on today?" Although the Lingyun Academy was notoriously strict with its admissions, refusing anyone but the finest talent, thousands of individuals still filled the grand plaza.

Rarely did the academy host such a massive gathering, leaving many of the disciples utterly bewildered.

"Why have they gathered everyone like this?"

"Did something major happen in the academy?"

"I heard Elder Qin arranged this. I have no idea what business could be so grave as to alarm even him." One had to realize that under normal circumstances, the affairs of the institutes were handled by a few senior instructors. No one expected the deeply revered Chief Preceptor to mobilize in person today.

Meanwhile, among the disciples of Class A in the Yellow Institute, Song Qingfeng, Lin Shao, and Xu Luo stood with bitter expressions, looking at Mu Hongzhu and the middle-aged male instructor beside her. "Instructor, isn't this punishment a bit too severe?"

The male instructor, named Chen Zhong, was in charge of Class A. Hearing their complaints, he shook his head helplessly. "Elder Qin is furious right now, and you boys happened to run straight into the blade. Skipping classes just to play games... I can't believe you actually thought of that!"

"They needed to make an example of someone, and who knew you'd be the ones to walk right into it?" Mu Hongzhu sighed softly. She, too, felt the punishment was excessive. Dragging a few capable disciples from her own class onto the stage to be publicly lectured and have their misdeeds broadcasted before thousands of peers—just who had come up with such a scheme?

"I can only try to beg Elder Qin to lighten your official penalty a little," Mu Hongzhu added with a sigh. Banning all disciples from entering that little shop was a move meant to deter the entire student body. Such a method was indeed shrewd, unique, and exceptionally effective.

Yet, she truly could not agree with this method of ruining reputations in front of thousands.

Beside them, Nalan Mingxue cast a look of silent mourning toward the trio. She seemed to be safe for the moment, having only received penalties regarding her academic credits.

At that moment, a plump disciple standing further back in the lower-class ranks wiped away a bead of cold sweat, having apparently caught wind of the situation beforehand. "Thank goodness I didn't have classes at the time... If I had been caught up in this, I probably wouldn't even be able to stay at Lingyun Academy. I’d have to drop out directly..."

"I wonder what will happen to Qi's shop after this... Will he even be able to keep it open..." Wang Tai gazed at the somewhat gloomy sky and let out a long, heavy sigh.

Meanwhile, Fang Qi was still being frantically hunted down by his own game character.

Within a bamboo forest that gleamed like green jade, a youth of about sixteen or seventeen stepped onto a bamboo branch as lightly as a swallow. Utilizing the elasticity of the stalk, he swung himself a great distance. A streak of silver light followed closely behind, and in the blink of an eye, the bamboo branch snapped clean in two!

By now, roughly a month had passed inside the game cultivation room. The silver light behind him clung like a shadow to his bones, already pressing against the small of Fang Qi's back. Suddenly, silver brilliance flashed behind him, and a surge of sword qi erupted, forcefully deflecting the lethal, freezing gleam that pursued his life!

Sword light clashed several times in the air in an instant, producing a flurry of metallic clangs. Immediately following, a streak of silver light flashed like a bolt of silk!

Everything fell into silence.

Current Cultivation: Li Xiaoyao, Sword Control Technique

Synchronization Rate (Sword Control Technique): 50%

Total Synchronization Rate: 10%

Total Experience Gained for Skill/Character Cultivation: 1,320,280

Evaluation: Your Sword Control Technique has gradually matured. Keep up the effort, and you may achieve mastery in this sword art.

"Whew..." Emerging from the respawn point, Fang Qi looked on with lingering fear. He had died yet again!

Fang Qi had finally realized that the proficiency of the Sword Control Technique executed independently by the game character Li Xiaoyao was absolutely at the level of the true Li Xiaoyao. It perfectly unleashed 200% of the Grandmaster-level Sword Control Technique he had originally trained it to. Even if he were to execute the Grandmaster-level technique himself now, he would be no match for the opponent—let alone now, when his own technique had only just matured and had not even reached mastery.

Just then, Fang Qi suddenly heard a sharp sound of breaking air. A streak of sword light came flying toward him from out of nowhere!

"...!" Almost instinctively, Fang Qi used the Sword Control Technique to parry the blade, before continuing his frantic escape!

Meanwhile, Jiang Xiaoyuan sat all alone behind the counter, thoroughly bored. She pouted her small lips. "There are so few people today... how boring! The boss isn't even streaming. What is everyone doing?"

When Su Tianji arrived with Fenghua, Yuexin, and Xiao Yulv—who habitually followed behind to watch—she also found it rather strange. "What's going on today? Why does it feel so deserted?"

The Liuyun Daoist Palace was quite a distance from Jiuhua City, and coupled with her general lack of interest in trivial matters, she naturally had no inkling of what had transpired.

"I don't know... Today is so weird!" The little girl, Jiang Xiaoyuan, replied listlessly.

"Forget it, never mind." She glanced left and right. "Your boss isn't here either?"

"He's upstairs. No idea what he's doing," Jiang Xiaoyuan said, her lips still pouted.

"No stream today?" Su Tianji thought for a moment. "Then let's play Legend of Sword and Fairy for a bit first."

"Xiaoyuan, give the three of us three boxes of Haagen-Dazs."

"Alright!" It was rare to get any business today. Seeing them order three boxes of Haagen-Dazs as usual, Jiang Xiaoyuan's mood brightened slightly.

Yet, she still felt a bit disgruntled. Staring intently at the Haagen-Dazs, she muttered unhappily to herself, "When will this lady finally get to eat Haagen-Dazs?!"

It was not just Lingyun Academy; at this moment, various places throughout Jiuhua City were experiencing a wave of boycotts against the Origins Internet Club and games in general. Propaganda at this time relied primarily on distributing flyers. Thus, in prosperous areas of Jiuhua City like the Tianfu Market and Jiuhua Avenue, many shop errand boys could be seen stepping out into the streets, handing flyers to passing cultivators and warriors.

Chen Xiaolang, who styled himself Young Master Chen, belonged to a branch of the Chen family in Jiuhua City that possessed distant relations to the Chen family in the imperial capital. Furthermore, with several cultivators of decent strength emerging from his household, they held immense power in the southern district of Jiuhua City. At least in the southern district, few dared to provoke him, earning him the moniker of the Chen Pest.

However, Young Master Chen had grown weary of plaguing the southern district lately, preferring occasionally to stroll through Tianfu Market, the city's most bustling area. Just then, he noticed a shop by the roadside that looked reasonably high-class. The errand boy standing out front suddenly handed him a flyer.

"What is this trash?" If this were the southern district, he wouldn't have spared such a thing a single glance. But looking up at the grandly decorated storefront, he accepted it anyway.

He was bored enough as it was.

Yet, after taking a brief glance, Young Master Chen froze. "The games in this shop are so fun they can make people addicted?!"

"Exactly!" The errand boy dressed in green explained with righteous indignation. "The things in this shop are exceedingly malicious. Please look, young master."

The boy's finger pointed to the most prominent section of the flyer:

"On the fifth day of the eighth month, in the southwest of Jiuhua City, independent warrior Xue Changgui."

"Due to a lack of money to play games, he robbed an elderly man from the Yang family estate within the city. He has now been detained by Jiuhua City on charges of robbery..."

"On the third day of the eighth month, in the south of Jiuhua City..."

The green-clad boy read the entries one by one. Seeing Chen Xiaolang's increasingly astonished face, he said triumphantly, "This sort of thing is practically a toxin that induces addiction and causes people to lose their sanity! Right now, major factions like the Lingyun Academy and the Southern Alliance Merchant Guild are uniting to boycott it!"

"Everyone in Jiuhua City avoids this place like the plague now. This servant advises you, young master, that you must never touch such a thing!"

"Hiss—! There's actually a place like that?" Young Master Chen said in a deep voice. "Where is this shop?"

"In the eastern district," the boy said. "But if you intend to go smash the shop and punish those villains, young master, please be careful. Their backing is reportedly quite formidable!"

"Smash the shop?" Young Master Chen cast a bewildered glance at him, then waved his hand. "Xiao Wu."

"Young master, I am here!" The burly man following behind him immediately responded respectfully.

"Prepare a carriage. We are going to the eastern district."

"Prepare a carriage?" The burly man named Xiao Wu asked curiously. "Are we going to smash the shop?"

"Smash what shop?" Young Master Chen grinned. "I didn't expect a place like this to exist. It sounds rather thrilling. Come, let's go see just how fun it really is!"

The green-clad boy, still clutching the flyers in his hand, was left dumbfounded. "Ah?!"

.

.

"Young master, this doesn't sound like a good thing...?"

"If it sounded like a good thing, this young master wouldn't play it!"

"..." Watching the retreating figures of the two men, the green-clad errand boy was left completely dazed.