【Paper Ingots ×10: Folded from gold paper imbued with dharma power.】
【Qi-Supplementing Pills ×5: Practice works crafted by Daoist boy Qingfeng when entering the Dao. Consuming can supplement qi and nourish blood, increasing cultivation by 10 points.】
【《Small Huanzhen Manual》 (Blue Quality): A method for entering the Dao, shedding falsehood to return to the true.】
【Heavenly Treasure Tree Lottery Tickets ×20】
【Begin lottery draw now?】
Slaying the Painted Skin Ghost had yielded a massive amount of experience, allowing Nan Zhi to instantly jump five levels. Her previously bare backpack had also gained quite a few items.
As for the lottery tickets obtained from unlocking achievements, she had accumulated enough for two ten-pulls.
The lottery interface was remarkably exquisite.
Vast clouds and mist drifted aside. At the very edge of immortal mountains, amidst jade halls and celestial pavilions, the towering silhouette of an ancient, sky-blotting tree emerged.
Five-colored radiance filled the sky, through which countless green-clothed young girls flitted back and forth.
These girls were all clad in Tang-style chest-high ruqun, adorned with circlets and necklaces of gems and jade, exuding an aura of glittering opulence and nobility.
Unlike other games, the lottery screen was oddly clean, featuring only a single floating “Ten-Draw” button at the very bottom.
However—
Staring at the lottery page, Nan Zhi rubbed her chin with a puzzled look:
“Why don’t any of these green-clothed girls have faces? And why do they all share the exact same silhouette? Did the artist get lazy?”
The moment the words left her mouth, one of the green-clothed girls seemed to turn her head and cast a glance right at Nan Zhi.
Nan Zhi rubbed her eyes, but the screen looked completely normal.
“Am I seeing things? Guess I really can’t pull all-nighters playing games anymore.”
Nan Zhi muttered to herself before spending all twenty tickets in her inventory in one go.
Amidst the swirl of five-colored radiance, white cranes took flight and apes cried in unison as dozens of radiant beams burst from the ancient tree. A succession of system chimes rang continuously:
【Ten-draw in progress—】
【Congratulations on obtaining: Yin Niangzi Brand Stinky Tofu ×10, Paper Ingots ×10, Paper Ingots ×10, Yin Niangzi Brand Stinky Tofu ×10, Blood-Supplementing Grass ×10, Qi-Supplementing Pill ×1, Qi-Supplementing Pill ×1, Qi-Supplementing Pill ×3, Paper Skin Garment (Blue), Blood-Supplementing Grass ×10】
【Ten-draw in progress—】
【Congratulations on obtaining: Yin Niangzi Brand Stinky Tofu ×10, Gourd ×1, Paper Ingots ×10, Mimic Bird ×1 (Green), Qi-Supplementing Pills ×10, Treasure-Seeking Spirit Mouse (Purple), Blood-Supplementing Grass ×10, Yin Niangzi Brand Stinky Tofu ×10, Qi-Supplementing Pills ×10, Blood-Supplementing Grass ×20, Paper Ingots ×20】
Nan Zhi's face turned green:
“Are you kidding me? Twenty pulls and not a single gold? Just one purple, one green, and one blue? Developers, do you really have to be this stingy?!
This is supposed to be an immortal cultivation game! Where are the cosmetics? Where are the weapons? Where are the flashy, cool spells?!
And who on earth is this Yin Niangzi anyway?! Why did she make so much stinky tofu?!”
Getting only a single purple item from twenty pulls without even catching a glimpse of gold was an utter humiliation for any gacha player.
She pounded her bed in frustration, feeling bitterly disappointed:
“The most absurd part is that you don't even have a top-up store! Who taught you to make a game like this?!”
—Pumping money to become stronger was an unspoken rule acknowledged by countless gamers.
Looking on the bright side, at least she had drawn three decent items.
At the very least, it wasn't an entire inventory of Yin Niangzi Brand Stinky Tofu.
Comforting herself with that thought, Nan Zhi opened her inventory:
【Mimic Bird (Green Quality): A blessing for the tongue-tied. Using it allows one to rapidly master a language.】
【Paper Skin Garment (Blue Quality): The Painted Skin Ghost's most cherished human skin. Wearing it masks one's human aura, temporarily disguising the user as a ghost. (Combat power +50, Constitution +20, Reputation -30)】
【Treasure-Seeking Spirit Mouse (Purple Quality): There lives a mouse in the southern wilderness with large ears, a short snout, a long tail, and small paws, capable of hearing the sound of treasures. (Can unlock the Spirit Beast System)】
“Finally, I don't have to play like a mute and can talk normally with NPCs.”
Nan Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, then glanced at the other two items:
“It actually gives fifty points of combat power and twenty points of constitution?
Since spirit pets have tiered qualities, does that mean there will be higher tiers down the line?”
Her current Constitution was a measly five points, and her Combat power sat at a mere twenty-seven—appallingly low by any standard.
Equipping the Paper Skin Garment would more than double her combat strength, making it a handy piece of top-tier gear for the early game.
Just then, Nan Zhi noticed a tiny, easily overlooked “Extract” button tucked into the bottom-right corner of the backpack.
She attempted to click on the items inside, only for a prompt to appear: “Cultivation too low. You can only extract five items per day.”
Without reading too closely, Nan Zhi clicked a few items at random, then turned her attention to studying the freshly acquired 《Small Huanzhen Manual》.
Some of the game's finer details were rendered with striking realism.
Upon clicking 《Small Huanzhen Manual》, the interface blurred for a fleeting moment, rippling outward like ink washing over water, as a poem surfaced before her eyes:
“The true heart in pure tranquility holds the Dao as its core,
Like the precious moon shining high in the heavens.
Sweeping clear the mist and clouds without a single blemish,
A radiant sphere fills the boundless void with light.”
Nan Zhi gave it a cursory glance and clicked “Begin Cultivation.”
On screen, her in-game character moved automatically, placing a Qi-Supplementing Pill beneath her tongue, sitting cross-legged, closing her eyes, and entering a meditative state.
【Learned 《Small Huanzhen Manual》】
【Cultivating...】
【Cultivating...】
“Idle cultivation?”
Watching the tiny figure meditatively idling on the screen, Nan Zhi felt an overwhelming wave of drowsiness wash over her.
She let out a yawn, and without even having the energy to close the game, she slowly leaned back onto her bed and drifted off to sleep.
Inside the screen, the game character held a meditative posture with palms and soles turned skyward, surrounded by countless swirling motes of pale green light, flickering softly like dancing fireflies.
Outside the screen, Nan Zhi lay flat on her spacious bed, her face peaceful and eyes gently shut. Her entire body was draped in the very same shimmering motes of light, her exposed skin giving off a subtle, milky-white luminescence.
She slept soundly through the night.
...
...
“Aaaah! No, no, no! I overslept! Curse this lazy holiday, I swear I'm never staying up late to play games again!!”
Early the next morning, Nan Zhi shrieked in horror at her phone's lock screen, which read “8:12 AM.”
During the recent May Day holiday, she hadn't stepped foot outside the house once, spending the entire time holed up gaming. She had completely forgotten that today was an adjusted workday, meaning she had to go to work on Saturday!!
Ah!
The unending agony of a working stiff!
After a frantic morning routine, Nan Zhi bit the bullet and hailed a taxi. Driving like lightning, she finally managed to slide through the company doors right on the dot at nine o'clock.
On the first day back from a holiday, the office was permeated with an inevitable air of sluggish exhaustion.
Nan Zhi walked to her cubicle, and seeing the mountain of pending documents piled on her desk, her vision blackened, nearly fainting on the spot.
Her colleague, Zhang Qiuyu, was slacking off in front of her computer. Seeing Nan Zhi arrive, she called out in greeting:
“Hey Nan Zhi, where did you go have fun over the break?
I went back to my hometown for a couple of days, and I totally regret it. My parents immediately started nagging me about getting married again. Ugh!”
She let out a heavy sigh, but then her eyes snapped onto Nan Zhi's face. As if discovering a brand-new continent, she couldn't help but gasp in astonishment:
“Whoa! Nan Zhi, did you fly to Korea for plastic surgery?! Why does your complexion look so amazing?! Your skin got so much fairer, too!”
“Really? I got fairer?”
Nan Zhi touched her cheek in confusion, then offered a reasonable guess:
“Maybe it's because I stayed cooped up at home playing games for several days without seeing the sun, so my skin just lightened up naturally.”
“Really? I don't buy it.”
Zhang Qiuyu leaned in closer to inspect her carefully, remarking with suspicion:
“Just staying indoors for a few days makes your skin that fair? I clearly remember you had dark circles and blemishes before, how did they disappear so fast?
Did you use some secret brightening skincare? Share the link with me, please!!”
Rate on N.U.
