Chapter 3 - Is This a Cultivation World or a Ghost World?
Fu Tong found himself in the middle of a horror movie scene. Surrounding him was an abandoned village full of broken or burned houses. Walking further, Fu Tong found a pile of dead bodies in the middle of the village plaza.
This village had been pillaged, and all villagers were either captured or killed.
The dirt paths and front yards were riddled with rotten livestock corpses. Dogs, chickens, cows, and pigs seemed to have died for longer than a month, judging from the decay and the smell.
Instead of being horrified by the scene, Fu Tong explored the burned houses, searching for any clues or leftover spoils. However, nothing seemed useful.
Fu Tong returned to his original house. Upon a careful inspection, the thatched-roof house stood out like a sore thumb as it was in a good condition, minus a missing door and a half-burned wall. What was supposed to be the front door was on the ground, broken and battered.
Finding nothing, Fu Tong sighed. He wished he was an expert in Geo-guessing.
In the game, the mortal world that all players were spawned into had a massive land mass, covering 300 million square kilometers. Pillaged villages like this were also common. Thus, it didn't give him enough hints to pinpoint where he was.
'I need to find a landmark.'
Changing his objective, Fu Tong looked around, scanning for the nearest mountain, river, forest, or road. Following the dirt path out of the broken village fences, he found an old signboard, written in an unknown language.
At first, Fu Tong couldn't read the moon runes. But after staring at it for a while, the symbols started to make sense. The memory of the previous body owner resurfaced.
The nameless NPC was a orphan beggar, and he was in the middle of traveling to a blue forest north of here. He arrived at this village and borrowed this thatched house to rest for the night. However, before he could continue his journey, someone choked him to death while he was sleeping.
'Poor lad. Anyway, the body's mine now.'
Fu Tong prayed for the NPC's soul if he had one. In place of an incense stick, he put a gold coin near the old signboard and muttered.
"Rest in peace, people of Nutting Village. May you find your best nuts in heaven."
Magically, the gold coin dissipated into smoke and vanished. The gloomy air in the village also disappeared. Dark clouds in the sky parted, revealing a bright sky, and the wind blew. Rotten and burned corpses turned into dust and was blown away.
Strange energy circled around Fu Tong, yet he kept his eyes closed, paying respect to the dead. A minute later, he opened his eyes, but the energy was gone. He then inserted his hand into a pocket pants and thought of more gold coins.
7 exact gold coins manifested. Fu Tong arranged them on the ground in front of the signboard.
This time, they didn't vanish. Instead, they turned white. A white rune pattern also emerged on Fu Tong's forehead, indicating a temporary blessing.
In the game, vengeful ghosts and haunted villages existed. If a player wandered into a ruined village and didn't pay respect to the dead, local vengeful ghosts would curse the player, permanently debuffing the player's growth rate.
On the other hand, if a player paid respect with a gold coin first and paid seven gold coins afterward, they would open a path and bless the player, preventing monster beast and ghost encounters in the wilderness for 6 hours.
Fu Tong ignored the phenomenon and marched North, heading toward the blue forest in the nameless NPC's memory.
—
Traveling alone for 4 hours, Fu Tong discovered a dense forest. Blue pine trees stood tall, and their leaves covered the sky, darkening the forest.
While looking at the forest from the outside, Fu Tong's expression darkened. He looked at the sky and noticed that the sun was already halfway to the west horizon.
His mouth was dry, and he was hungry. His weak knees started shaking. All signs told him to secure food and make camp for the day.
Despite the hunger and the threat of the night, Fu Tong fetched more gold coins from his pockets.
The game developers had a strange motto that they applied to this game—There was nothing that money couldn't buy. Therefore, if no human shop was nearby, players could always buy something from the dead, local deities, or wandering cultivators. However, they never guaranteed that all transaction would go smoothly.
Following a mortal's tradition according to the game lore, Fu Tong arranged seven gold coins into a heptagon diagram, connected the lines, and fetched more coins. After creating a thousand gold coins from his pockets and stacking them in the middle of the array, he sat cross-legged and started the ritual. He clapped his hands seven times and shouted.
"I, a nameless mortal, humbly request the deity of Azure Pines for aid and protection in exchange for my prayers and Immortal Ji Gold Coins! Please guide me to the Celestial Fox City and protect me!"
The heptagon-coin array turned white, and the thousand gold coins that Tong had brought out vanished. Replacing the gold coins, a stream of white energy emerged and coiled around Tong. An archaic voice echoed in his mind.
'Why dost thou seek our place of birth?'
Fu Tong raised his head and replied, "I wish to patronize Hu Li Travel Agency and travel across the sea."
The voice paused for a minute. The mysterious voice eventually replied.
'Very well. Follow the wind.'
The threads of white energy brightened and slithered through the air, moving into the forest.
Rejoiced, Fu Tong got up and bowed to the forest. Catching up with the stream of energy, he ran, disregarding the dark forest and potential lurking wild beasts and monsters.
Following the white ethereal snake for 30 minutes, Fu Tong came across a Japanese shrine gate. The energy stream, however, disappeared upon arrival.
Fu Tong steeled his heart. But before he could enter, a pine nut dropped from a tall tree and landed in front of him. It transformed into a giant mass of sapphire and shapeshifted into a jewel fox mask.