"A demonic cultivator?"
The young girl's pupils dilated slightly before quickly returning to normal.
Su Di'er tilted her head, pointed a finger at Zhong Yi, and blinked.
"You... a demonic cultivator?"
"Yeah, that's right. I know it's inconceiv..."
Zhong Yi's habit of being a chatterbox struck again, the cost being a sharp drop in his Behavior Score in the top right corner.
During story trigger sequences, the system was particularly sensitive to a player's roleplaying performance, so Zhong Yi hurriedly shut his mouth.
"Oh..."
Su Di'er nodded, looking at him thoughtfully.
"So, do you eat children?"
"Uh?"
Zhong Yi was stunned.
"Mom used to tell me that children who don't sleep get caught and eaten by demonic cultivators."
The corners of Su Di'er's mouth curled up, revealing a mischievous grin.
"I don't eat them!!!"
Zhong Yi rubbed his forehead, somewhat speechless.
The girl pouted. "Then what kind of demonic cultivator are you..."
"Listen, I'm not joking."
Zhong Yi sighed, keeping a straight face and speaking seriously.
"Demonic cultivators aren't good people."
"And the Righteous Path are good people? You mean the people who killed my little brother!?"
At the mention of her brother, Su Di'er's eyes reddened, and her voice involuntarily grew louder.
"But I..."
Zhong Yi was momentarily at a loss for words.
That bunch from the Demon Suppression Division cultivated righteous techniques to eradicate demons, yet they committed atrocities devoid of conscience.
"At least you wouldn't kill women and children, would you?"
Su Di'er wiped the corners of her eyes, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"If... if it were you..."
"At least my brother wouldn't have..."
The girl's soft sobbing made Zhong Yi feel particularly tormented inside.
What is justice? What is evil?
Is the Righteous Path always just?
Is the Demonic Path always evil?
The questions that had troubled him in reality not long ago now resurfaced in this illusion.
The figures of Li Ang and Su Di'er overlapped with the demonic cultivator youth and the mortal girl in the dungeon.
"If the Righteous Path is just running dogs like them... then I would rather become a demon!"
Su Di'er looked at Zhong Yi's hesitant gaze without backing down an inch.
Just then, the Main Quest in the top right corner refreshed.
[Main Quest: Take an Apprentice (Accept Su Di'er's request to become your disciple)]
Zhong Yi frowned.
Since this was the Main Quest, it meant that Li Ang, the protagonist, had already intended to take her as a disciple at this point in time.
However, Zhong Yi was ultimately a righteous cultivator bursting with a sense of justice. He sighed and said:
"No matter what, I cannot agree to let you fall into the Demonic Path."
Su Di'er was relentless. "Then teach me some ways to kill people. I want to kill them with my own hands!"
"Su Di'er, ordinary methods are useless against cultivators."
"Then lead me into the Dao! Righteous Path or Demonic Path, I don't care."
"You cannot enter the Demonic Path! You cannot..."
Facing the girl's stubborn gaze, Zhong Yi waved his hand in distress.
As he spoke, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Zhong Yi's mind.
Yesterday, while wandering around the small town, he had encountered many side quest clues that seemed to be of great use!
For example, the little beggar told him that a certain household had found a heavenly treasure capable of improving a mortal's constitution...
Wasn't that obviously prepared for Su Di'er?
And that martial arts tournament for marriage, with the female cultivator who was undefeated in the ring.
If he could get her cultivation technique, wouldn't that pave a righteous path for Su Di'er?
And he had only wandered around casually to find such opportunities.
Given his understanding of Lu Ze, this kind of clever design was definitely not limited to just one solution!
In other words, he didn't necessarily have to teach the girl to enter the Demonic Path!
"I might just need a little time... but believe me, I can definitely become as strong as you!"
Su Di'er spoke incoherently in her anxiety.
At this, Zhong Yi nodded slightly. "And I need... a drink."
The girl froze for a moment, then quickly understood Zhong Yi's meaning, standing up with joy.
"Don't move, let me get it~ let me get it!"
Watching Su Di'er skip into the kitchen, a genuine smile appeared on the corner of Zhong Yi's mouth.
"No, not wine... milk!"
"Oh..."
"Change yours to milk too. Children aren't allowed to drink alcohol!"
...
...
To tell a story through a game, simply following the pacing of a movie is not enough.
For this reason, Lu Ze had implemented numerous designs.
For instance, designing the small town as an open world, planting many side quests and special events.
Even the gangs in the town and the forces of wealthy families had clear planning.
Furthermore, the mid-game Main Quest turned the part about teaching Mathilda to be a killer—which wasn't detailed in the movie—into the game's core gameplay:
Nurturing and raising.
In the new inn, after accepting Su Di'er's request to become an apprentice, the illusion would enter a much more interesting phase.
At this point, the Main Quest would update to:
[Main Quest Updated: Raise Su Di'er to Level 30 (Early Qi Refining Stage)]
As for how to raise Su Di'er to Level 30, how to train her, and what cultivation techniques to teach...
Lu Ze made no specific requirements in the mission.
The purpose of this was to encourage players to explore the illusion and increase player freedom.
For example, Zhong Yi's intuition was one of the most interesting solutions Lu Ze had pre-set.
Obtaining spirit elixirs through side quests to improve Su Di'er's constitution, then obtaining techniques through other quests to guide her cultivation.
Apart from that, players could also spend a fortune directly at the restaurant owner to buy spirit elixirs and techniques.
As for money, it could only be earned by taking on tasks.
Of course, if players didn't want to choose either of the two laborious methods above, that was fine too.
The most straightforward approach—teaching Su Di'er demonic cultivation techniques—was also feasible.
It was just that the outcome would be rather miserable, generally leading quickly to a BE (Bad Ending).
This novel and bold setting quickly sparked heated discussions among cultivators.
On the Illusion Forum, players shared their experiences one after another.
[Fellow Daoists, can anyone provide a guide for raising Su Di'er?]
[Just buy them directly from the restaurant owner! Body Tempering Pills are ten taels each, and elementary techniques are thirty taels a copy!]
[Ten taels? That's enough to buy my life!]
[To give Su Di'er a good future, I can only desperately take on missions...]
[The genius cultivator's method works best. Go find side quests and random events in town. The probability of stumbling upon pills and techniques isn't low.]
[Currently known: The little beggar in the alley west of the teahouse triggers a spirit elixir quest if you buy him a meal; the martial arts ring in the downtown area seems to yield a righteous cultivation technique suitable for women from the female cultivator... Are there any other clues?]
[Why go to all that trouble? Can't you just choose to teach Li Ang's own technique?]
[??? Fellow Daoist, we cannot willingly degenerate!]
[Sigh, I tried the method of teaching demonic arts... Within a few days, Su Di'er suffered Qi Deviation and turned into a lunatic...]
[Going insane is actually a mercy. In my illusion, she was controlled by her inner demons and marched right into the Demon Suppression Bureau to throw her life away... When I found her, she was down to her last breath. She lay in my arms, asking if her brother would think she was dirty when she saw him again. She was crying, asking me if she was going to turn into a monster that eats children...]
[Stop, I'm about to have a breakdown! Fellow Daoists, whatever you do, don't cut corners and teach Su Di'er demonic cultivation techniques! No matter how hard it is, you have to get her a righteous cultivation method!]
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
