The seven magical artifacts had already been gathered up to four, but the situation was far from optimistic.
When the players gathered for a meeting again, Zhang San and Yuchi Goudan were utterly hopeless. "We can't pass, we really can't! This trial simply isn't meant for humans…"
Humans have limits. How could a person chop down a big tree with a wooden sword? How could they outrun those unpredictable shadows? It was simply impossible…
"Can you two act normal for once?! I fucking suffer every night too, playing games with that NPC!" Wang Erma exploded. He suddenly stood up, grabbed a handful of his own hair with a big sweep of his hand, and yanked it out. "Look! Look at this!" This was all evidence of his torment.
"The girl managed it already, and it's just you two dragging us down! Today is the sixth day! You must succeed!" The ritual was after seven days—on the eighth day. If these two still failed tonight…
Even Wang Erma himself didn't have the courage to clear it in one night! He didn't even know what kinds of torment awaited him after obtaining the kasaya. By now, he even regretted it a little. Why did he want the kasaya anyway? Wouldn't it have been fine to pick any random magical tool to protect himself? No matter what, players with magical artifacts were always safer than those without, right? If these two pig teammates only got their artifacts on the seventh night but left him no time for the trial, wouldn't he be… giving it away for nothing?
Wang Erma was the most anxious, but that didn't mean the other players felt relaxed. After all, the ritual required seven people—seemingly not one less. No one knew what would happen if some of the artifacts were missing. And the kasaya required unlocking six items to obtain—it was clearly crucial.
On this second-to-last day, Zhang San and Yuchi Goudan were driven to the village school. Zhang San ran around the school like his life depended on it, while Yuchi Goudan used a tree branch as a substitute wooden sword to practice nonstop. Xia Yun was working as the teacher here. Seeing how pitiful the players were, she would give them some pointers—though the effect wasn't very noticeable.
Huangfu Tiezhu still had to work at the tavern. Since Yuchi Goudan went off to train, Wang Erma had to fill in. The two of them worked diligently, and when work ended at night, Fang Xunjiu, suddenly feeling charitable, gave them an incense stick. After all, Mu Anqi had also spoken up—they needed to make things a little easier for these players.
The three female players attended Wu Sansheng's class, actively listening and answering questions. Before the day's lessons ended, they finally earned one incense stick as a reward. This incense—which they worked so hard to obtain—naturally went to Goudan and Zhang San. Wang Erma wanted to buff himself too, but what was the point if those two unlucky guys hadn't even gotten their artifacts? His own buffs would be useless!
"You must clear it tonight!" Wang Erma gritted his teeth. Tomorrow, he still had to work hard to earn incense for himself to get another buff.
"Clear it—we must clear it!" People were said to be capable of surpassing their limits in moments of crisis. At such a critical time, couldn't these players be reliable for once? Pull it together. One-life clear!
Honestly, watching the players hype each other up from the control room was pretty entertaining. Mu Anqi slipped into Wang Erma's perspective and imagined the scenario if the two still didn't get their artifacts tonight—just thinking about it was painful! If he was destined to be unable to unlock six artifacts before the ritual and thus lose the chance to obtain the kasaya, then what was the point of suffering every night taking care of kid and playing with her? Was it to rediscover the adult mind tormented by brats?
Well… at least Xia Fenghua was very satisfied with this "vacation entertainment."
After the meeting ended, Zhang San and Yuchi Goudan walked away with heavy steps. They had items, yes, but nothing that increased their stats. Strong-killing blue-named NPCs? That was pure suicide. Even though they felt lighter and stronger after praying at the shrine today, they still had no confidence in the nighttime trial.
"Why… are we this unlucky?" Zhang San drooped in despair. Those shadows were too fast. His buffs might help him last longer, but only in the sense of prolonging his failure. If he focused on dodging… Zhang San sighed, gripping his hair tightly. If tonight he didn't run with his back to the shadows but instead tried to dodge based on their movement patterns at the very limit, would it be better? But that would… test his reaction speed and agility even more.
Yuchi Goudan silently touched his right arm. A whole day of practice made him feel as if his arm no longer belonged to him. He had to obtain the artifact, but cutting down a big tree—with a wooden sword? This clearly wasn't some cultivation drama. Remembering how effortlessly the blue-named NPC had demonstrated it, he couldn't even begin to think about force-killing the NPC to seize the artifact. But when he thought about how all the other players had already gotten their artifacts, and how Wang Erma was waiting eagerly to unlock the kasaya, he had to grit his teeth and push forward no matter how hard it was.
Forget it, just give it everything one more time. At worst… even if his arm broke, it didn't matter. He could regenerate in the Nirvana Space anyway. Getting the artifact now was the first priority. Yuchi Goudan's gaze wavered, then firmed. He touched his pocket and took out the tip he'd earned working at the tavern yesterday. "Come on, we'll definitely make it tonight! I'll treat you to buns."
...
Hurrying out of that creepy outhouse, Huangfu Tiezhu kept looking back every few steps, constantly feeling like something unclean was tailing him. He was terrified but didn't dare think too much. He rushed into his room, dove under the covers, rubbed the goosebumps on his arms, curled up, and tried hard to fall asleep—he just needed to enter the virtual-illusion trial.
Everything in the village was fine except the nights, which were getting creepier. Using the toilet always felt like someone was poking your back, and he would hear all sorts of hallucinated sounds. He didn't dare answer the strange questions that popped up, but nothing had happened so far. As for walking back at night, he always felt like he was being followed, as if something invisible was stepping on his footprints and entering with him. Still, blankets were great—they were like a protective shield that blocked all those dirty things.
The ghost tales didn't have much time left to stir up the players' emotions. The closer the ritual drew, the harder they worked, regretting that Mu Anqi hadn't given them an MVP ranking—otherwise, they would've fought to earn first place in emotional-value harvesting.
Only the steamed-bun shop owner remained extremely laid-back. By now he had completely become an ordinary bun-shop owner, waking up before dawn every day to prepare fillings, knead dough, and steam buns, busy as ever. All sorts of ghosts and the occasional visiting players in the game came to eat his buns. The only one who could share some workload was Mu Xiaobai. But Mu Xiaobai's cooking capacity was limited—when players weren't paying to eat at the tavern, they ate the special meals provided by Mu Anqi and Ji Huaichu. Everyone else could only chew on various buns.
Night deepened, and the players entered the virtual-illusion trial one after another. As soon as they opened their eyes, the familiar blue-named NPC appeared.
Even if you obtained the artifact… if you failed the later trial, the blue-named NPC would take it back temporarily. But none of the cleared players had cheated—doing it again wouldn't stop them from passing.
As for tonight's two main characters—
Zhang San and Yuchi Goudan also began their respective trials.
"Calm down, calm down, focus. Those shadows aren't scary. Just dodge them." He kept taking deep breaths, his gaze growing steadier. Zhang San didn't start immediately. Instead, he warmed up first, stretching until his body was fully active. Only then did he look at Zhao Qianluo seriously. "Let's go!"
Zhao Qianluo casually nodded. If this player still couldn't pass, she would have to subtly go easy on him tonight. With a wave of her hand, a shadow roared toward Zhang San, pouncing straight at him!
Instead of panicking and fleeing blindly, this time Zhang San watched the trajectory of the shadow. His muscles tensed all at once, exploding into action in a single instant—he dodged it!
"Oh?" Zhao Qianluo became a bit interested. This player usually ran away like a terrified stray dog, unable to think about anything. When his stamina ran out, the shadow simply pounced on him. Now… he intended to dodge all the way through? The shadow missed, froze for a moment—intentional on Zhao Qianluo's part—giving Zhang San a bit of breathing room to adjust before attacking again.
To Zhang San, this meant he had found the way to deal with it! From the start, he should have faced the shadow head-on!
Dodge, dodge, extreme dodge! With his own physical stats enhanced by the incense, Zhang San grew more and more agile, and his explosive power each moment became astonishing. Whether it was the hang-time when he leapt high, or the exaggerated movement of his knees and body when dodging, these were actions no ordinary person could pull off.
"I can definitely do it this time!" Zhang San thought.
On Yuchi Goudan's side, however, the more he hacked, the less hope he felt. His tiger's-mouth point had already split open, his arm hurt as if it didn't belong to him, and blood had stained the wooden sword's hilt. His eyes were filled with deep despair. It was simply impossible to cut down. Even with the incense buff, he wasn't some kind of superhuman—if only his ability were stronger, if only his power were something that helped with this…
Panting, he thought about many things, only to sink deeper into discouragement. He didn't know how Zhang San was doing, but if he failed today, how was he supposed to face everyone tomorrow? Besides, this tree was far too tall and sturdy. There was no way a wooden sword could chop it down.
With his thoughts in turmoil, Yuchi Goudan gritted his teeth. Just as he prepared to continue his futile attempts, the blue-named NPC who had been silently observing suddenly spoke:
"Sword cultivators advance without hesitation. Your mind is far too cluttered."
"When you are told to cut a tree, your eyes need only see the tree, and your heart need only hold the sword."
How could he succeed when he swung with hesitation, not even believing he could cut down the tree? With each strike, his head was filled with all sorts of nonsense—thinking of failure, thinking of the next swing, thinking of elimination, thinking of tomorrow? A sword cultivator needed to be pure.
He Guxia felt that this player had not a bit of spiritual sense, and even lacked courage and resolve. He wasn't even a fraction as good as her disciple. How could two players be so different? Was this the difference between having a sword heart and not having one? The sword-cultivator master thought coldly. If Mu Anqi hadn't told her to go easy, she wouldn't have bothered to speak.
Yuchi Goudan, hearing this, was stunned. His mind was too cluttered—what did that mean? Should he… think of nothing? A moment too late, he suddenly realized what he had been lacking all along. Subconsciously, he had always believed he couldn't do it. Even though he had trained so hard tonight, encouraged himself, and forced confidence into his mind, the moment he saw this towering tree, fear rose in his heart, and of course his strikes were no good.
Yuchi Goudan looked at the wooden sword in his hand, then at the towering tree. For a moment, he didn't swing again. Instead, he closed his eyes.
It was just chopping down a tree. Believe in yourself. You're a player— you've already died once. You've gone through countless games, and you've even been killed by ghosts before. Now it's only a tree—
When he opened his eyes, Yuchi Goudan had never felt so smooth and clear. Without any intentional starting posture or technique, he simply swung the sword as naturally as breathing. The air around him seemed to move with him, invisible energy swirling around his body.
"Boom—"
So it turned out, even he could topple a great tree.