Chapter 15: The First Thing Every Morning Is...

The martial artists of Jiuhua City were famous far and wide!

As the saying went:

The fine wine of Jiangnan costs ten thousand a dou,

Yet the martial youths of Jiuhua are many and bold.

They drink to each other in high spirits,

Tying their horses by the tall tower beneath the weeping willows.

What it described was precisely the grand spectacle of the martial artists in Jiuhua City!

The Cloud Mountain Tavern.

Taverns like this were a common sight everywhere in Jiuhua City, and though not particularly famous, they won favor with affordable prices, for most martial artists loved the contents of the cup, and would often invite a few close friends here to drink to their heart's content, discussing the affairs of the world, which was a true joy in life.

A martial artist like Liang Shi, though not affiliated with any faction, naturally did not lack a few like-minded friends given his considerable strength.

"Brother Liang! Come! Cheers!" Amidst the banquet, cups were being passed and refilled as several men drained their cups in a single draft, epitomizing the reckless spirit of heroic men.

"I wonder if any major events have occurred around Jiuhua these past few days?" A middle-aged man of about forty, bearing a long saber on his back and sporting a goatee, spoke with a smile, "Staying in Jiuhua City these days, the Iron-Cleaving Saber on my back is almost turning rusty!"

"Hahaha, isn't that the truth!" A burly man with a thick beard said, "Brother Liang, you summoning us here this time, could it be that you've run into some trouble? Or perhaps... there's some business?"

He patted his chest and said loudly, "Whatever it is, just tell your brother here, there's no need for politeness between us brothers!"

Liang Shi offered another bowl of wine to the men and smiled, "You two misunderstand, my gathering you both here this time is to bring you a piece of new information."

"A good thing?"

"A good thing indeed!" Having said that, he began to tell the two about Resident Evil...

"A good thing?" Hearing these words, even some of the surrounding martial artists pricked up their ears.

"Resident Evil?"

"A game? Entering another world?"

Not only were the surrounding people utterly bewildered, but even the two men sitting at the table were thoroughly mystified, understanding less and less the more they listened.

"A world like those described in biographical novels?"

"But from what you say, no matter how lifelike it is, it's still fake," the goateed middle-aged man said, "Though what you say is novel, the two of us are already past the age for playing games."

Liang Shi shook his head and said, "This is far more than just fun, and I can't quite explain the benefits clearly in a short time, but you two will know once you try it! I happen to be heading over right now, would you like to come along and see?"

"This..." The two could not help but hesitate, for if it were anything else it would be fine, but accompanying Liang Shi to play a game now?

Was that not too absurd?

"Don't misunderstand, you two." Seeing their hesitation, Liang Shi explained again, "Though I admit this game is very fun, its benefits to one's cultivation and actual combat are indeed not small, otherwise I wouldn't recommend it to you two."

"Fair enough." The two pondered slightly, "Since we are idle anyway, we might as well take a trip with Brother Liang, but let us state clearly beforehand, we are only going to take a look, and this kind of new gadget for youngsters might not necessarily suit us."

Liang Shi nodded repeatedly.

"What on earth is so secretive and strange?" Seeing the three depart, several surrounding martial artists looked at one another, "What zombies... pistols, and what Al... Alpha Team?"

"How about... we follow them and see?" The men exchanged looks.

"Let's go!"

...

Lingyun Academy was one of the four great academies within the territory of the Grand Jin State, where martial artists from all over the world gathered, talents emerged in large numbers, and several martial grandmasters sat in governance, remaining prosperous even after hundreds of years of heritage!

Within the academy, it was divided into four tiers of courtyards: Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow, and newly admitted disciples would be assigned to the Yellow Courtyard, then distributed into various classes based on their assessment results.

Today could be said to be the very first cultivation class for this intake of new disciples.

The Yellow-A Class was the most elite class of this freshman assessment, with a total of forty disciples, all of whom were the darlings of this generation! A few disciples among them had even finished tempering their bodies, refined their martial qi, and entered the ranks of official martial artists!

Such as Song Qingfeng.

Reaching this level could absolutely be called a genius among geniuses, but they seemed to lack any such realization.

The break time had only just begun, and while several disciples hurriedly went forward to ask the instructor some questions regarding cultivation, who would have thought that these few were instead chatting at their seats.

"Brother Song, do you think if we emulate Jill's method and find a teammate to watch outside, this mechanism can be solved?"

"Impossible." Song Qingfeng immediately denied the suggestion, "I don't know if you noticed, but teammate Barry's gun is extremely similar in shape to the shop owner's Magnum, and it seems to be even more powerful, an ordinary teammate wouldn't have such a lethal weapon."

"In fact, yesterday I already found a girl from Bravo Team named Rebecca, and she only uses an ordinary pistol," Song Qingfeng said, "If that kind of gun could break the mechanism, I could do it myself, why rely on others."

"Young Master Song, you've already found a teammate?" The two cried out in surprise, "How did you find her? How is she compared to Barry?"

"A very gentle girl, though not as powerful as Barry, she can heal you when you're injured, and she even knows where the antidote for the zombie virus is hidden."

"Young Master Song—! Why didn't you say so earlier!" The eyes of the several men instantly glowed with green light, for such a good girl was simply essential for home travel and killing for treasure!

One must know that the medicinal herbs they usually used for healing were in extreme shortage, let alone something like the serum to treat the virus!

"To think you secretly hid it and didn't tell us!"

"Brother Song, quick, tell me where she is!"

"..."

The few were chatting merrily in private, while some of the surrounding disciples listened in complete bewilderment.

Just then, a youth in yellow robes walked forward, cupped his hands and said, "Brother Song, the Lingyun Board of the academy is about to open, I wonder if Brother Song has any..."

Before he could finish his words, he saw several pairs of eyes glare over: "Not interested!"

"..." The yellow-robed youth instantly froze in embarrassment, for the four boards of Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow opened by Lingyun Academy were occupied by none other than those of preeminent strength and widespread fame, and if one could make it onto this board, on one hand they could become famous throughout Jiangnan, and on the other hand, they could also receive more attention from the academy, yet Song Qingfeng was actually uninterested in discussing such a matter?!

He found it completely unbelievable!

"Resident Evil zombies? Hunters? What on earth are all these things?" Although they knew every single one of these characters, when put together, they really could not understand what they referred to, and not just this yellow-robed youth, several others who wanted to come forward to make acquaintances afterwards all hit a wall because they could not join the conversation.

"Strange... could it be that some novel thing we don't know about has appeared in this Jiuhua City?" Everyone looked at one another, equally curious about the content the few were discussing.

Words like "shotgun" and "zombie" were fresh terms they had never even heard of before! The more they thought, the more they felt it possible, thinking to themselves: "I must send someone to check later, what new thing has appeared inside this Jiuhua City!"

...

"Zixin, you've only just come out of seclusion, so you might not know that the currently most popular biographical novel 'Martial Immortal' has released its eighth volume!" A green-robed girl of about seventeen or eighteen, with a string of small gold bells hanging from her wrist, strode ahead, "Shall we go buy it together?"

"Let's go later." Xu Zixin shook her head instead.

"Eh~? Zixin, didn't you use to love reading this biographical novel the most?" The green-robed girl looked puzzled.

Xu Zixin smiled, for if it were in the past, she would definitely have gone to buy it at the first opportunity, but now...

What could compare to 'Resident Evil'?

Furthermore, biographical novels were merely entertainment, and she usually only dared to read a bit during rest times, not daring to delay too much time, whereas playing 'Resident Evil' meant neither entertainment nor cultivation practice was neglected!

"If you want to see it, go buy it first, I discovered something more fun yesterday."

"Something more fun?" The green-robed girl tilted her head to look at her, "What is it?"

She pointed ahead: "We're here."

Only then did the green-robed girl see that it was a small shop, but this small shop seemed... not yet open?

Seeing this scene, Xu Zixin's exquisite and beautiful face instantly darkened, did it not say business hours start at 8 o'clock?

It was already nearing nine o'clock, yet the doors remained shut.

Not only that, she discovered to her surprise that people were already waiting outside.

One of them was a man of brawny stature who looked somewhat familiar; recalling the previous day, wasn't he the very warrior who had warned her?

She pointed toward the shop entrance: "This shop... why isn't it open?"

Liang Shi offered a bitter smile: "I have no idea. It was like this when I arrived..."

"What rotten luck!" A heavily bearded brute stood with hands on his hips. "If you ask me, we should just split this wretched shop open with an axe!"

"Brother Wu, don't be reckless!" Liang Shi pulled him back, a cold sweat breaking out. This Wu Shan possessed a volcanic temper, and Liang Shi genuinely feared he might smash the place to pieces at the slightest provocation.

Indeed, the shop had not yet opened, for Fang Qi had only just crawled out of bed.

Shaking his still-groggy head, Fang Qi glanced around: "Hmm? Where is the fat guy?"

"I think I vaguely heard..." He suddenly recalled that while he was still half-asleep, a voice had mentioned heading to the Lingyun Academy.

He did not bother to dwell on it, but a glance at the time revealed it was already almost nine o'clock.

He hurriedly threw on his clothes, washed his face, and rinsed his mouth. By the time he finished everything, twenty minutes had slipped away.

Only then did he walk downstairs to unbolt the main door.

The moment the doors parted, he was greeted by several faces as dark as thunderclouds.

"You all... arrived so early?" Seeing five or six people standing outside all at once, Fang Qi could not quite react for a moment.

"Early?!" Everyone's expressions grew darker still.

"Are you the owner of this shop?" A heavily bearded, middle-aged man stepped directly in front of Fang Qi, a menacing glint flashing within his narrowed eyes.

"I am." Fang Qi found it utterly bizarre. He had done nothing to offend the man, so why look so fiercely aggressive?

"Brother Wu! Let's... play the game first! Game first!" Liang Shi hurriedly intervened to restrain him, saying, "Brother Wu has a rather direct temper, please don't take offense, boss. Let's head inside to talk."