Chapter 4: Inner Door Disciples Attack
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Looking at the scene where the bodies of those righteous disciples evaporated into green smoke, Lin Nan felt a serious case of panic setting in.
Within just a few short minutes, everything had spiraled out of control after she dodged that sneaky crossbow bolt.
For reasons unknown, her new body seemed to have reflexes sharper than a cat’s whiskers—her movements flowed as if they were second nature, without even a hint of thought. The crossbowman’s neck was snugly gripped in her hand, much like a chicken awaiting its fate.
Her first skill, “Black Snow,” was linked to her cold value. When her cold value surpassed 100, black-and-white snowflakes would start fluttering down from the air like a quirky weather forecast. The higher her cold value, the darker the snowflakes became, boosting her attributes by an extra 1% to 30%.
Plus, it could automatically trigger the following skills:
Skill 1: Teleport next to the first enemy who has dealt damage (or intended to) and deliver a massive hit with a 20% chance of an instant k*ll—methods including, but not limited to, strangulation, throat-piercing, head-chopping, or mid-section cleaving. Successful activation would garner an extra 50 cold value points.
Skill 2: When the snowflakes turned completely black, they became as hard as diamonds, capable of combining with other moves for ranged damage against enemies.
So, that poor crossbowman met a swift demise courtesy of this auto-trigger skill.
Lin Nan had never envisioned herself battling so many foes at once. Sure, in “Heavenly Domination,” she was a formidable female sword fairy, but that was after leveling up and mastering her skills. Here, she was fresh out of the gate, still trying to wrap her head around her surroundings when she bumped unceremoniously into this horde of people.
As soon as she wiped the floor with the bowman, the whole gang of righteous disciples scrambled toward her like bees to honey.
It looked like there was no way out of this mess.
Well, if she died, she’d just respawn at the starting point and try again. She figured these folks would scram once they realized they were in the middle of nowhere.
But right at that moment, the system chimed in with a glaringly red message in her mind: “Warning! Upon character d*ath, you will be unable to respawn, and your character may be permanently deleted.”
Excuse me, what?
Why couldn’t her character respawn?
She panicked at the thought of losing her exquisite gear. Until she truly understood their value, she certainly didn’t want her awesome equipment to vanish into thin air with her character!
She could always throw down with these irritating guys. If she really couldn’t handle them, fine, she’d admit defeat.
But what caught her off guard was that these oncoming righteous disciples weren’t as difficult to deal with as she’d imagined. The moment her Black Wind Sword was unsheathed, they were all taken aback, and their fear boosted her cold value to new heights.
With her cold value spiking, the speed at which the snowflakes turned black accelerated. Adding in the full attribute boost from her Black Robe, Lin Nan’s skills were suddenly 1.5 times more powerful.
When “Illusory Sea” came into play, a horde of undead rose from the ground, coupled with the unbelievably hard yet light-as-a-feather black snow. In no time, they made a mockery of anyone who dared to provoke her.
By the time Lin Nan snapped back to reality from her combat state, all her opponents had turned to wisps of smoke, heading back to the spawn point.
“Ding… You’ve killed one hundred and eight Thousand Bird City disciples. You gained 3000 experience points, and your level has risen to Level 5.”
“Skills: Black Snow, Flowing Wind, and Illusory Sea all level up to Level 2.”
Crying out loud, was she really stepping further onto the villain’s slippery slope?
But it wasn’t her fault! All she wanted was to get out of here. They were the ones who threw the first punch, and then she—well, you know the rest…
“System, can I create a new account? This character isn’t what I wanted! Also, can I carry my level over? I’ve worked hard for these measly experience points!”
The system remained as silent as a rock.
Great, so it only chimes in when it feels like it. When she had questions, it pulled a disappearing act.
Frustrated, Lin Nan stomped in place.
“Cold Value -10.”
“Cold Value -10.”
“Keep deducting, why don’t ya? You’re just going to keep knocking my cold value down. Why can’t you ever answer my questions?”
“Cold Value -20.”
“…”
“Notice: Your cold value has dropped to the critical line of 100; your passive talent is about to expire.”
Lin Nan instantly turned serious.
As a dedicated gamer, there was no way she could let go of her hard-earned experience points for no reason!
She could pretend to be aloof; as long as her experience points keep flowing, she could keep up the ruse for life.
Nevertheless, having accepted her current predicament, what was she supposed to do next?
Checking the time, she realized she’d only been in the game for a little over an hour—plenty of time left before the eight-hour mandatory logout. Why not wander around a bit? There might be a village or something at the foot of the mountains, just perfect for whiling away the hours.
“System reminder: The higher-ups of Thousand Bird City are aware of your presence and have dispatched ten Inner Door Disciples to investigate. Please ensure to conceal yourself within five hours. If discovered, consequences will be yours to bear. Survive past the time limit to receive a base reward of 10 cold value points.”
Base cold value points? So, after this, no matter how chaotic her actions became, her cold value wouldn’t drop to zero. Now that was a pretty sweet reward.
Following her usual routine, Lin Nan focused on the quest rewards and then reread the task details carefully.
That’s when she noticed the important term, “Inner Door Disciples.”
What did Inner Door Disciples mean in the realm of immortals?
They were the backbone of the sect, the hope for the future. Nearly every practitioner who made it into the Inner Door had remarkable talents and incredible willpower; otherwise, how would they have been recognized and welcomed into the Inner Door?
Inner Door experts could be both NPCs and players in the game, and based on her experience with “Heavenly Domination,” they tended to be level 30 and up, while she was barely at Level 5.
No wonder the system gave her a heads up.
If she got taken out, wouldn’t all the experience points she just earned go to waste?
What should she do? She definitely didn’t want to duke it out with the righteous disciples again, especially since she was at a clear disadvantage in levels.
“Brother, isn’t the Sect Leader overreacting? Sending ten Inner Door Disciples after a random demoness that popped up out of nowhere seems a bit much.”
Perched atop a ten-meter wingspan celestial crane were ten or so young disciples clad in white robes.
While they looked youthful, each had trained for over forty years, thanks to their cultivation methods providing a youthful appearance, making them resemble twenty-year-olds.
The disciple speaking was named Luo Xiu—tall and thin, with a big forehead that made him appear a bit top-heavy.
In contrast, his “senior brother,” Gongsun Ding, was incredibly good-looking and resplendent, sitting cross-legged in the front, relishing the wind rushing by as his long hair danced around like he was in a shampoo commercial.
“Do you even understand? For a hundred miles around Thousand Bird City, we haven’t seen a demon cultivator capable of wiping out our Outer Door Disciples in a blink of an eye. Clearly, that demoness doesn’t take us seriously. The Sect Leader is sending a message that disciples from Thousand Bird City are not to be trifled with!”
Luo Xiu nodded vigorously. “What you say makes sense.”
Then he turned to the timid-looking Tang Tong sitting at the back and said, “Hey, kid, you must have hit the jackpot today, or with your mere-status as just reaching the Inner Door criteria, how could you possibly ride along with our sect’s celestial beast?”
“…”
Tang Tong clearly had a fear of heights. Though he knew this was just a game and even if he fell, he wouldn’t truly be in danger, seeing the village beneath the clouds shrink to a miniature model made him want to close his eyes completely. Yet that guy Luo Xiu wouldn’t stop chattering away, driving him up the wall.
But he couldn’t exactly act high and mighty against a level 30 Inner Door disciple when he was just a level 5 Outer Door disciple, unless he wanted to throw his chance of ever fitting in at Thousand Bird City out the window.
“You’re absolutely right; I must have stumbled onto a golden opportunity…”
As he said this, the livestream room erupted in laughter.
“Oh my goodness, I’m dying! Look at Upgrade Maniac’s face of agony yet still trying to put on a brave smile. He’s a shoo-in for this year’s best reaction meme!”
“Haha, too bad for you running into a hidden boss; as soon as the Sect Leader heard about it, boom, they scrambled to send people to check it out, dragging you along for the ride!”
“How can a cultivator suffer from acrophobia? What if you learn to ride a sword and take to the skies? You’d be falling down right away!”
“By the way, do you think these Inner Door Disciples can handle the hidden boss? Gongsun Ding’s only level 50, after all.”
“Only level 50? That’s already pretty impressive, you know?”
“But didn’t you all say that hidden bosses are at least level 80 since they can teleport?”
“That’s a tricky one; after all, this is “The Way of Inquiry,” not “Heavenly Domination.” Plus, these Inner Door Disciples are here on a spying mission, not to eliminate a boss. I doubt these NPCs are that foolish.”
All the while, despite his fear of heights, Tang Tong was bubbling with excitement inside. Getting killed by that female boss and being knocked back to Level 5 had really dampened his spirits. Now he had the chance to redeem himself, and who knows, he might just snag enough experience points to hit Level 10 again. This was why he eagerly tagged along with the Inner Door Disciples after hearing he could be their witness.
If it weren’t for how high the celestial crane was flying, he’d be expressing his joy openly.
The journey from Thousand Bird City to the Spider Cave in the Dark Clouds would have taken a whole day on foot, but on the celestial crane, they covered the distance in mere moments.
Gongsun Ding stood up and declared, “Brothers, that demoness could still be in the Spider Cave. Since we don’t know her true strength, let’s stay cautious. Once we locate her, send out a signal immediately, and do not engage in a drawn-out battle.”
The crowd responded eagerly, “Understood!”
