Chapter 89: Each Lost in Thought

After a brief verification, Fang Qi realized that Xiao Yulv had indeed come to offer an apology.

Whether Xiao Yulv's past actions were forgiven or not made no difference to either of them.

He, Fang Qi, would never actively provoke anyone, yet Xiao Yulv's permanent ban from the premises would not be rescinded either.

Thus, Fang Qi merely nodded at him with an expressionless face.

"Is this... over...?" Xiao Yulv peeked at Fang Qi, thinking to himself, "At least you know what's good for you!"

Catching sight of Fang Qi looking over, he hastily withdrew his gaze and scurried back behind Su Tianji, lest Fang Qi change his mind!

Once back, he cast a deliberate backward glance, and only when he saw that Fang Qi had no intention of reneging did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"That lit—" He had intended to say "that kid," but the words caught in his throat, and he quickly amended, "That little shopkeeper saw how handsome, elegant, and imposing this young master is..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Su Tianji glare fiercely at him!

"Uh..." Xiao Yulv immediately cut his story short, "It is done!"

Only then did Su Tianji withdraw her gaze. Behind Nalan Hongwu and Yin Longsou, Su Tianji stood with her disciples, alongside the disciples of Yin Longsou, as well as a large crowd including An Huwei and Wang Kuan, all gathered behind to watch while eating Häagen-Dazs. The scene was incredibly bustling!

Having witnessed that first scene of the Grandmaster-level Sword Control Technique, everyone felt that although this was merely a game, it still held some promise.

It was like a small realm provided for people to gain experience. Su Tianji remembered that the last time she had heard news of a small realm was ages ago, back when she first began her cultivation. At that time, her master had led her senior brothers to that place, and by the time they returned, several of her senior brothers had vanished, and even her master had been gravely injured!

To think that upon emerging from her secluded cultivation this time, such things could actually be artificially created?!

She found it somewhat unbelievable.

More importantly, one could not be injured inside, and if one died, they could simply start over!

Even for those with low cultivation levels, or even the common martial artists they had always looked down upon, as long as they were willing to spend the time, they could learn the advanced martial arts and spiritual spells they desired, which had once been utterly out of reach.

Of course, exactly when one could master them still depended somewhat on individual talent.

The times were changing! Indeed, she lamented so in her heart!

Such a thing was precisely what it was, making people both love and hate it, Su Tianji thought to herself.

Standing behind, watching Nalan Hongwu and the others play the game, everyone harbored their own thoughts. The disciples of Su Tianji and Yin Longsou thought: "City Master An mentioned just now that raising one's level in the game can increase one's strength. If one plays the game as well as the boss does, the speed of advancement is even several times faster than the cultivation speed of the known geniuses of today!" Several disciples had already begun calculating their own small interests in the back, "If our cultivation can also reach such speed, wouldn't we soon surpass the genius disciples within our sect?!"

Wang Kuan, however, thought much deeper: "Just now, when City Master An explained the effects of the game, he said that for cultivation levels like ours, based on his own progress in the game, the benefits are quite decent—at least no worse than practicing on our own. The owner of this shop truly possesses some remarkable methods; this is actually quite good..."

For cultivators like them, the elevation of cultivation was essentially a process of daily accumulation and gradual manifestation over time. Practicing for a single day or dozens of days yielded no overly obvious effects; to truly break through, it required at least several decades of accumulation combined with some external forces.

In other words, while the effect was not particularly obvious, they could still use the time accumulated each day to play the game, which was incomparable to any other form of leisure and entertainment. After all, playing anything else was merely wasting time to amuse the mind and body.

"But... will these two old gentlemen experience any improvement...?" Wang Kuan cast a deep look at Nalan Hongwu's back. These two old gentlemen had been stuck in their respective realms without an inch of progress for an exceptionally long time!

If there was... even just a sliver...

He dared not ask, nor did he inquire further, but instead watched quietly from behind.

Of course, no one damn well knew that those whose hearts felt pulled by a string to the internet cafe every day were not necessarily driven by a frantic pursuit of strength and martial arts; in truth, it could also be a phenomenon known as "internet addiction."

When An Huwei was sharing this crucial information, Xiao Yulv had run off to apologize, entirely unaware of what he had missed, let alone that these benefits had nothing to do with him. He continued to watch from behind, not daring to speak out of turn.

"Isn't it just a game? Is it truly worth all this from you all?" Xiao Yulv curled his lip in disdain.

With great difficulty, he waited until Su Tianji finally got onto a machine, and Xiao Yulv finally began to understand a bit: "Li Xiaoyao is just a little punk, so how is it that the moment he steps onto the Immortal Spirit Island, he gets to marry a beautiful wife like Ling'er?!"

"If anyone is to marry her, it should be an extraordinarily handsome figure like this young master!"

Within Xiao Yulv's heart: "I am so full of envy, jealousy, and hate—!"

As for Su Tianji, being a major shut-in who would not step out of her door for dozens or a hundred years at a time during secluded cultivation, playing such a game for the first time truly filled her world with novelty at every turn!

"Hmm... what kind of spiritual herb exactly are the medicines in this game? Picking one up by the roadside and taking a single bite can actually rapidly heal injuries?!" It was true what they said about games revealing another side of a person. Once in another world, unlike her usual poised demeanor in reality, Su Tianji clearly let loose quite a bit.

For instance, in the outside world, even if she discovered such a thing, she would not show any joy or anger, at most commanding a disciple to step forward, pluck one, and bring it back for study. But here, since she was Li Xiaoyao anyway, she went straight forward to pluck a few more and even studied them on the spot.

When she encountered the Wine Sword Immortal, she naturally chanted two lines of "riding the wind on a sword," leaving Xiao Yulv behind her completely dazed: "Is this Li Xiaoyao really being controlled by my aunt?"

Of course, seeing the poor Taoist priest who originally had to beg even for wine suddenly transform into the Wine Sword Immortal, Xiao Yulv grew even more envious, jealous, and hateful: "Why do I feel like this Wine Sword Immortal is cut from the same cloth as this little shop?! If it were this young master, wouldn't I have beaten this wine madman out on the spot... and then...?"

The consequences of beating out the Wine Sword Immortal were something that made one shudder just to think about.

"This game digs pits for people everywhere! It is fine not to play for now; let this young master study it first!"

From behind, Xiao Yulv not only watched Su Tianji play, but at the same time looked at An Huwei and Nalan Hongwu beside her.

With a lapse of attention, on Su Tianji's side, as a shut-in who had barely stepped out for a very long time...

Slowly, as Su Tianji immersed herself into this new game world, such an extremely realistic world could indeed bring a person far more than simply learning a bit of swordplay or martial arts.

In the Peach Blossom Dock stands the Peach Blossom Hut; beneath the Peach Blossom Hut resides the Peach Blossom Immortal.

The Peach Blossom Immortal plants peach trees, then plucks the blossoms to sell for wine money.

Awake, he only sits before the flowers; drunk, he turns to sleep beneath them.

Half-sober, half-drunk, day after day; flowers fall, flowers bloom, year after year.

What the poem described was precisely Suzhou.

The city of Suzhou was itself a place filled with the misty rain of the south, a city of poetic charm and picturesque imagery.

Above there is heaven, below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou.

"Outside Suzhou City lies the Cold Mountain Temple; the midnight bell reaches the passenger boat." The poet Zhang Ji, during a moment of frustration in his life, had written a timeless masterpiece right here!

Ending the fatigue of slaying demons and banishing devils along the way, she soon arrived at the first major city in the game—Suzhou.

The world of the Legend of Sword and Fairy was remarkably close to the world Su Tianji inhabited, save for the lack of cultivators who could be seen everywhere in the bustling streets.

A girl as gentle, beautiful, and considerate as Ling'er was indeed someone few could bring themselves to dislike, and at this moment, Su Tianji, having played for a long time, felt this deeply.

The night lantern market added an even heavier touch of enchanting, bright color. The flow of people on the streets was woven like fabric, and Su Tianji walked slowly amidst the bustling crowd of the lantern market. Unlike the various rich and colorful gameplays of Diablo, such as exploding equipment, killing bosses, and studying skill combinations, in the game of Sword and Fairy, it felt more like a lifestyle.

A life completely distinct from the present world, possessing both carefree joy and tranquil peace, the comfort of passing days leisurely, and the hot blood of severing gratitude and grudges with a sword—whatever a human heart yearned for could be found here!

It might not excel in pure gameplay, but it displayed all the joy of the human world and the hidden beauty deep within a person's heart right before their eyes.

And all of this was perfectly embodied in the game world before her, making one linger with no desire to leave!

A truly elegant gaming mindset required no consideration of tedious cultivation matters, nor any calculation of how much profit one could gain. This state of mind merely required one to stop their steps and quietly experience it.

"Ling'er is so cute; let me buy you a skewer of candied hawthorns!" At this moment, Su Tianji began to comprehend this point, throwing herself completely into this incomparably real game, enjoying this rare moment of serene time.

"These mortal ornaments are actually quite pretty. Ling'er, come over, put this on and let's see if it looks good!"

"This silver hairpin is also beautiful; try this one too!"

"Ling'er, the lanterns over there seem quite beautiful as well!"

"..."

Although her gameplay was slowly veering a bit off course, she seemed to be playing quite happily all by herself.

"It seems this game is rather interesting..." A thought popped into Su Tianji's mind, entirely oblivious to the fact that while others were playing a cultivation fantasy, what she was playing was a maiden-raising simulator.