3: Chapter 3: The First Batch of Disciples – Everyone Treats Cultivation Like a Game

Five blank silhouettes floated in the silvery mist, like five shells that had yet to have their fates written.

Sect Master Di Kun stood by the Soul Reconstruction Pool, a candlestick placed on the stone pillar to his left; the firelight was swept up by the silver mist in the pool, casting the Underground Hall in flickering light and shadow.

The ancient patterns all around continued to operate, and a subtle humming sound traveled along the floor tiles to the soles of his feet, carrying a low, vibrating sensation.

He did not initiate the summoning immediately.

The four words "Loyalty Core" given by the System were very tempting, but the subsequent phrase, "Does not guarantee behavior conforms to this world's conventions," was more worthy of immediate attention.

In the Immortal Realm, killing and seizing treasures followed rules, Sect annexations required a justification, and even Yao Beasts descending the mountains followed beast tide paths. But Sect Master Di Kun was all too familiar with the logic of Blue Water Star players.

If they can crawl through a hole, they won't use the door. If they can exploit the terrain, they won't fight head-on. If they can use corpses to test mechanics, they won't bother asking if it hurts first.

Once this group landed, the Taichu Sect might come alive, or it might be dismantled by them first.

Sect Master Di Kun raised his right hand, and the pale silver Sect mark appeared on the back of his hand. He pressed the sect leader token into the groove on the edge of the pool, his voice low and steady: "Begin selection."

The silver mist parted, and five light screens emerged on the surface of the pool.

In the first light screen was a black shadow that looked like it had been scorched by fire. Text appeared beside it: High-Tolerance Challenger, long-term addict of high-difficulty suffering-type games, extremely high recovery speed from death-related frustration, preference for melee, rolling, and extreme counter-kills.

Sect Master Di Kun raised an eyebrow slightly.

Suffering-type players.

Very good, the Immortal Realm had no shortage of things to make people suffer.

The second light screen expanded into a chessboard pattern, with dense grid lines changing on it: Strategy Defense type, deep player of tower defense and real-time strategy, skilled in resource allocation, position construction, firepower coverage, and path planning.

Sect Master Di Kun tapped his fingers on the edge of the pool twice.

This person was suitable for guarding the mountain gate, especially for modifying broken Formations into things others couldn't understand.

The third light screen was the brightest, with the silhouette inside striking an exaggerated pose: Immersive Role-Playing type, long-term creator of original worldviews, intense linguistic expression, extremely high sense of immersion, possesses high emotional contagion ability.

Sect Master Di Kun stared at the words "intense linguistic expression" and the corners of his mouth twitched.

This one would most likely be the loudest.

In the fourth light screen, there was only a constantly changing route: Workflow Optimization type, speedrun enthusiast, skilled in finding the shortest path, skipping redundant segments, testing rule boundaries, high risk preference.

Looking at "skipping redundant segments," Sect Master Di Kun suddenly felt that the few remaining door panels of the Scripture Pavilion might not be safe.

The fifth light screen was much simpler, with symbols for wood, Ore, furnace fire, and herbs emerging: Life Manufacturing type, preferrer of gathering, crafting, trading, and infrastructure, long-term player of management and construction games, relatively high stability.

Sect Master Di Kun's gaze lingered the longest on the fifth light screen.

People who could fight were important, but people who could piece the Sect back together from ruins were even more important.

A mechanical voice sounded.

"Blue Water Star Soul projection selection complete."

"Reconstruction rule explanation: Summoned objects default to entering a high-fidelity game world initially. Loyalty Core bound to Taichu Sect lineage. Basic language and common sense of this world patches implanted. Individual personality, memory, and thinking patterns retained."

"Confirm summoning?"

Sect Master Di Kun glanced at the stone door of the Underground Hall, then looked at the five light screens above the pool platform.

"Confirm."

The sect leader token shook violently.

The nine incomplete Formation eyes lit up simultaneously, and silvery-white mist surged from the bottom of the pool, pouring into the five blank silhouettes. Skeletons formed first, emitting faint clicking sounds; flesh and blood covered them subsequently, as if an invisible hand were sculpting in the mist; skin, hair, brows, and eyes condensed one by one. Five young bodies hovered in the pool, aged around sixteen to twenty, wrapped in System-generated gray-white Disciple robes.

Sect Master Di Kun's gaze swept across their faces.

Three males, two females.

Their physical constitutions were not strong, and there was almost no fluctuation of spiritual power, similar to ordinary newly initiated Disciples. The only difference was that each had a faint Taichu mark between their brows, and as they breathed, those marks resonated gently with the pool platform.

The first person landed.

The youth had messy black hair and a lean build; as soon as his feet touched the ground, he immediately rolled to the side. The rolling movement was crisp and practiced; he rolled to the edge of the pool platform, casually touched the floor tiles, looked up at the stone wall, and finally bumped his shoulder against the air. He didn't hit an invisible wall.

His eyes lit up, and he blurted out: "Holy crap, the modeling here is way too realistic!"

Sect Master Di Kun suppressed the corner of his mouth that had almost lifted.

The second to wake up was a girl with short hair and sharp eyes; after landing, she didn't rush to speak, but instead walked halfway around the pool platform.

She looked at the exit first, then at the stone pillars, tapped the gaps between the floor tiles with her toe, and gestured angles in the air.

"Spawn point enclosed, single exit, four load-bearing pillars, minimal obstruction of view."

She looked up at Sect Master Di Kun, "Can I place a turret here?"

Before Sect Master Di Kun could speak, the third person had already sat up.

The youth had handsome features; after waking up, he first looked down at his hands, then suddenly raised his arm, fingers splayed, aiming at the dome of the Underground Hall.

Three breaths passed.

Nothing happened.

He remained silent for a moment, his expression as serious as if he were attending a Sect grand ceremony.

"My Seal has been nerfed."

The first black-haired youth turned to look at him: "Bro, can you turn off your character's voice lines?"

"Mortal, you do not understand." The Chuunibyou Youth stood up, holding onto the edge of the pool, his gray-white Disciple robe flared with the Aura of a cape, "My name is Night God, the Incarnation of Calamity slumbering in the sea of old stars. My spiritual energy has not yet recovered, but that does not mean the throne has collapsed."

Sect Master Di Kun watched his unsteady stance and said nothing.

The fourth person woke up the fastest and was also the most impatient. It was a young man with faint dark circles under his eyes; his first words after landing were directed at Sect Master Di Kun.

"Where is the quest log? Can I open the map? Can I skip the cutscenes? How much time is left for the limited-time main quest? Is there a death penalty? Are you handing out the beginner's gift pack?"

He bombarded him with a series of questions, not even leaving a gap to breathe in between.

The fifth girl to wake up was a beat slower. She wasn't tall and wore a low ponytail; her first reaction wasn't to look at the people, but to squat down, pinch a bit of dust from the edge of the pool, sniff it at the tip of her nose, and then touch the material of the pool wall.

"Can I gather this?" she asked, looking up, "This stone looks like Advanced Materials. Will I get flagged red if I dismantle a bit of it?"

The Underground Hall was silent for a moment.

Sect Master Di Kun finally confirmed that he had not summoned Disciples, but five scourges who wanted to test the mechanics as soon as they entered a new server.

The black-haired youth was still moving with quick, small steps in place, jumping up and squatting down, muttering to himself: "Jump height is normal, sensory latency is almost zero, pain feedback is unknown, collision is realistic, clothing physics are maxed out... This game company has some skills."

The short-haired girl had already walked to the stone door, reaching out to touch the door hinge, observing the direction the door opened: "If monsters come in from here, the entrance is too wide; we need to build a two-stage blockade. If we don't have long-range firepower, we need at least three layers of traps."

The Speedrun Youth began circling Sect Master Di Kun, trying to trigger interactions from different angles.

"No exclamation mark over the NPC's head? Hidden quest trigger? Good, hardcore style. Are you the village chief or the Sect Master? Can you give me the main quest directly?"

Sect Master Di Kun raised his hand.

The sect leader token lit up in his palm, and the Taichu marks between the brows of the five people flashed simultaneously. It wasn't oppression, but rather more like identity permissions being activated. The five people stopped their actions one after another, their gazes focused on him.

Sect Master Di Kun stood on the edge of the pool platform, his black-and-gold Sect Master robe half-draped, the hem still bearing the damp stains from the leaking Founders Hall roof. The silver light of the Underground Hall rose from behind him, casting his shadow at the feet of the five.

"Welcome to the Taichu Sect."

His voice was not loud, but it cut through the humming of the pool platform.

"I am the Sect Master of the Taichu Sect, Sect Master Di Kun. You can understand this place as a newly launched high-fidelity cultivation world. The current version is called — Sect Defense Survival."

The eyes of the five people changed simultaneously.

The black-haired youth stopped rolling.

The short-haired girl stopped measuring.

The Chuunibyou Youth retracted the pose he had just half-struck.

The Speedrun Youth stepped forward: "Limited-time event?"

Sect Master Di Kun looked at him: "Three days."

"Quest objective?"

"The Taichu Sect will participate in the Border Wasteland Sect assessment in three days. If the assessment fails, the mountain gate will be repossessed, and the neighboring Red Snake Sect will take over the spirit fields and spirit spring. The Black Mist Demon Ridge shows signs of a beast tide, and people in nearby villages have already been snatched away by Yao Beasts. The Sect currently has a shortage of resources, the Sect-protecting Formation is incomplete, there are insufficient official Disciples, and the Legacy Cultivation Technique is incomplete."

With every sentence Sect Master Di Kun spoke, the eyes of the five grew brighter.

This reaction was completely different from local Disciples. Normal people hearing this would ask if they could leave the Sect, if they could flee for their lives, or if they could join other major Sects. But these five in front of him were more excited than the last.

The black-haired youth rubbed his hands: "So you're saying, the beginner village start is basically a city defense battle plus a monster siege, with a hostile faction pressing in?"

The Speedrun Youth continued: "Three-day countdown, main story forced progression. The assessment should be the first-stage acceptance. Are there any skippable prerequisites? Like directly taking out the assessment officer, or robbing the neighboring Sect's resources in advance?"

The short-haired girl glanced at him: "Don't mess up the plot. First, look at the terrain map, resource list, and enemy paths. The beast tide and the Sect attack might overlap in waves; we need to build a defensive line."

The Chuunibyou Youth raised a hand to his chest, his tone mournful: "The shattered Sect, the slumbering King, the beast tide awakening in the Black Mist Demon Ridge... This script calls out to my true name."

The Life Manufacturing girl had already reached the corner of the wall, staring at a loose stone brick: "Sect Master, does the Sect have a workshop? Where is the warehouse? Can you open the trading System? I want to first confirm the gathering, crafting, and maintenance modules."

Sect Master Di Kun watched them, suddenly feeling that the Taichu Sect, which had been empty for a year, was like someone had thrown a fire into the cold ashes.

The flame was not big.

But it was noisy, crazy, and could burn very well.

He raised his hand and took out the Sect map he had long prepared from his sleeve; it was one he had temporarily cut out from an old map the night before in the previous chapter, the edges still bearing water stains. He spread the map on the edge of the pool platform, his fingertip pointing to the location of the mountain gate.

"First, remember a few things."

The five people immediately gathered around.

The black-haired youth half-squatted on the left, his finger already pressing on the mountain road on the map: "Can I pull monsters here?"

"Don't interrupt." Sect Master Di Kun glanced at him.

The black-haired youth immediately shut up, muttering two seconds later: "The NPC majesty check is quite high."

Sect Master Di Kun ignored him and continued: "First, you are now Disciples of the Taichu Sect. All actions within the mountain gate must follow the Sect's coordination. Second, this is not an ordinary game; you will feel pain, you will bleed, and if you die, you might not be able to return immediately. Third, the Sect's resources are limited; if you dismantle things randomly, you will have to pay for them."

The Life Manufacturing girl silently pulled back the hand she had been reaching toward the stone brick.

Sect Master Di Kun pointed to the main peak: "This is the Founders Hall, and also your spawn point. In front is the main hall, the mountain gate is on the south side, and there are three mu of spirit fields and a half-abandoned spirit spring in the back mountain. The Scripture Pavilion is on the east side, and there aren't many Cultivation Techniques left inside. The Martial Arts Arena is on the west side; the wooden stakes are rotten, and the sword-testing stone is broken."

The short-haired girl reached out: "Give me the map."

Sect Master Di Kun looked at her.

She paused for a moment, then corrected herself: "Sect Master, can I borrow the map to mark it?"

Sect Master Di Kun tossed a piece of charcoal over. She caught it and immediately drew lines between the mountain gate, the Martial Arts Arena, and the spirit fields: "The enemy comes up from the mountain, the path is single. If the beast tide presses in from the direction of the Black Mist Demon Ridge, it will hit the back mountain first. We need to split into two sets of defenses, one for people and one for beasts."

The Speedrun Youth stared at the map: "Are there any beginner weapons? Can we go out to scout for monsters now? Three days is too short; we must test the combat mechanics first."

The black-haired youth immediately raised his hand: "I'll go. I'm a professional at taking hits. Give me a wooden sword, and I can figure out the attack wind-up of the minor monsters."

The Chuunibyou Youth stepped forward: "I shall go as well. Though the Seal remains, the King's intuition can still cut through the fog."

The Life Manufacturing girl added in a low voice: "I want to gather some Materials. Without Materials, I can't start repairing the Formation or making traps."

The five people spoke all at once, and the Underground Hall was ten times noisier than the Sect succession ceremony.

Sect Master Di Kun raised his finger and tapped the edge of the pool. The sound was not loud, but the silver patterns lit up accordingly. The Taichu marks between the brows of the five flashed again, and the chaotic discussion stopped instantly.

"If you want to go out, you can."

Sect Master Di Kun's gaze swept over each of them.

"But not by running around right now. First, go to the main hall to register your names and receive your identity wooden plaques. Then go to the Martial Arts Arena to test your physical bodies; confirm how fast you can run, how high you can jump, and whether you will cry if you take a punch. Before dawn, I will give you your first Sect task."

The black-haired youth's eyes brightened: "Are there task rewards?"

"Yes."

"Contribution points?"

Sect Master Di Kun paused for half a breath: "There will be."

The five looked at each other, as if they had heard some kind of gospel for a server launch.

The Speedrun Youth immediately pressed: "Then can you announce the main story time-limited information now?"

Sect Master Di Kun raised his hand and pressed it on the location of the Taichu Sect mountain gate on the map; beneath his fingertip, the defensive line drawn in charcoal was not yet dry.

"Within three days, hold the Taichu Sect. Step one, survive until dawn."

This time, the five people did not interrupt again.

Outside the stone door of the Underground Hall, the sound of the night rain tapping on the tiles came from the direction of the Founders Hall. Sect Master Di Kun put away the Sect map and turned to walk toward the stone steps. The five new Disciples followed behind him, their footsteps messy, yet they echoed in the long-empty Underground Hall.

The silver light at the end of the stone steps slowly receded, and the Soul Reconstruction Pool returned to calm. The five ripples remaining in the center of the pool were still rotating gently, like five sparks that had just fallen into deep water.