55: Last single player mode, multiplayer mode is open

This time, Midnight Gao Sou played very smoothly; he must have practiced beforehand.

Following Watermelon Prince's guide, he led the people of Qinghe Town to Broken Wood Cliff, where he obtained a Pill Furnace, a Thousand Strength Talisman, and Alchemy notes.

Then, he captured some Outer Sect Disciples from Duan Kong Cave to inquire about the Female cultivator's background.

It turned out her name was Su Qianwan, a Qi Refining Seventh Level Cultivator, and she was the Dao Companion of Foundation Establishment Elder Lu Dingpeng.

"Qi Refining Seventh Level, Brothers, this seems a bit difficult to deal with," Midnight Gao Sou gritted his teeth, truly not expecting this woman's cultivation to be so high.

What was more troublesome was that because he chose to go to Broken Wood Cliff to seize treasures, it caused a butterfly effect; Su Qianwan was now traveling with Lu Dingpeng and was not alone at all.

To kill her, he would have to kill a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Midnight Gao Sou first tried the Ni Ling Grass, but found that Foundation Establishment Cultivators were immune to Ni Ling Grass, rendering it completely useless.

He then tried to use the Beast Luring Grass to attract a toad Demonic Beast, but the Demonic Beast would return after moving a certain distance away from Broken Wood Cliff, making it impossible to ambush the Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

At this point, Midnight Gao Sou was stuck again.

"What now? What should I do now?"

Midnight Gao Sou was very frustrated and could only ask the audience in his live stream for help.

"How about we wait until tomorrow? Tomorrow, everyone can come online and help, and we can ambush this Su Qianwan together."

"Good idea, this is how multiplayer mode should be played, players ganging up on NPCs."

Midnight Gao Sou shook his head: "No, I must kill this wretched woman myself; I don't want anyone else to interfere."

This matter was almost becoming his Heart Demon.

"Cultivation in single-player mode can be accelerated, Gao Sou, have you tried Cultivating?"

"That's right, let's Cultivate to Foundation Establishment and then seek revenge!"

"I've tried it; it can indeed be accelerated, but Qi Refining Cultivators can't abstain from grains yet and must eat, so the acceleration will be interrupted."

"That's simple, there are Grain Abstention Pills over at Duan Kong Cave; after eating them, you won't need to eat for a long time."

"What about going to the toilet then?"

"Are you a cloud player? Cultivators don't need to go to the toilet; they expel Impurities through breathing."

"Wow, then Female cultivators wouldn't need to..."

"Let's not get off-topic; we're discussing Cultivation here."

Midnight Gao Sou's eyes lit up.

That's right, he could totally Cultivate first, and then seek revenge after his cultivation Realm increased!

"Grain Abstention Pills are a good thing; when Cultivation acceleration is interrupted, I just need to control myself to eat one, greatly reducing the amount of operations."

Midnight Gao Sou held the Efeng Mountain Range map and began to plan:

"This is a map drawn by a mercenary group; it's barely usable."

"It prominently marks the Duan Kong Cave camps. Those Outer Sect Disciples often go on missions in the mountain range, so they store supplies in the camps, including Grain Abstention Pills. If I just raid a few camps, it should be enough."

No sooner said than done, Midnight Gao Sou took the Beast Luring Grass and secretly attacked several camps, specifically snatching Grain Abstention Pills.

After he finished, he disbanded the team, ran alone into the quiet, secluded depths of the mountain range, found a cave, and sat in meditation to Cultivate.

Under time acceleration, Midnight Gao Sou only needed to eat a Grain Abstention Pill when interrupted to Cultivate continuously.

In a flash, ten years passed in the game.

"Brothers, something's not right!"

Midnight Gao Sou's expression was strange as he scrutinized his own body.

The Lifespan of a Qi Refining Cultivator is two hundred years; a mere ten years wouldn't make his body appear old.

But the problem was, the strength of his body felt wrong.

"Ten years! This is ten years!"

Midnight Gao Sou exclaimed incredulously, "How am I only at Qi Refining Third Level?"

It took him ten years to advance two minor Realms, which means five years for one minor Realm.

To reach Qi Refining Ninth Level, there were six minor Realms left, which would take thirty years.

Does that seem like a short time?

This is because the calculation was wrong.

Midnight Gao Sou still remembered that it only took him one year to advance from Qi Refining First Level to Qi Refining Second Level.

However, it took him a full eight years to go from Qi Refining Second Level to Qi Refining Third Level.

He had Cultivated for another year and was still stuck at Qi Refining Third Level.

One could imagine that subsequent Cultivation would become slower and more difficult.

Even after his two hundred years of Lifespan were exhausted, he might still be a small Qi Refining Cultivator, destined never to reach Foundation Establishment.

The live stream audience commented one after another:

"Nonsense, you didn't take Medicinal Pills, so of course your speed isn't fast."

"I checked the information with Baixiaosheng; Cultivation is very resource-intensive. Not only do you need Medicinal Pills, but you also need blessed lands."

"The Cultivation Technique also has a huge impact. The Cultivation Technique we players use seems to be not very good; the efficiency is very poor."

"Cultivation also varies from person to person. Spiritual Root is just the foundation, everyone also has hidden talents, and the speed of Cultivation varies with different talents. In single-player mode, everyone has the worst talent, but in tomorrow's multiplayer mode, it will be random."

"It is said that some people might even randomly get special Physiques, but I don't know what those are."

"So, Gao Sou, it's very normal for you to be stuck at Qi Refining Third Level after Cultivating for ten years."

"So what do I do now?"

Midnight Gao Sou was completely dumbfounded.

A Qi Refining Third Level Realm Cultivator couldn't defeat Su Qianwan, let alone Lu Dingpeng; his revenge plan was stuck again.

With a sigh, Midnight Gao Sou left the cave and headed out of the Efeng Mountain Range.

When he found Qinghe Town, he was completely stunned: "No, where's my Qinghe Town?"

Only ruins remained where the small town once stood; the ground had sunken considerably, and there wasn't a single living soul.

Midnight Gao Sou searched the vicinity for a while, found no one, and then returned to the Efeng Mountain Range, heading towards the Duan Kong Cave sub-Sect.

It turned out that the Duan Kong Cave sub-Sect had also been destroyed, leaving only a stretch of ruins, and in the open spaces, one could still see the tombstones of the Sect Disciples and Elders.

With complex emotions, Midnight Gao Sou walked towards the cluster of tombstones and, after some searching, indeed saw the name he had been thinking about:

Outer Sect Disciple: Su Qianwan

Outer Sect Elder: Lu Dingpeng

These two enemies were already dead!

Many things seemed to have happened in the past ten years, like the vast changes in the world, so significant that Midnight Gao Sou found it difficult to accept for a while.

"What is this supposed to be?"

Midnight Gao Sou slumped in front of the tombstone and gave a bitter smile: "What is this supposed to be?"

He had been in seclusion Cultivating for ten years, focused solely on revenge.

After emerging from seclusion, his enemies had already turned to dust.

This disparity left Midnight Gao Sou with mixed feelings.

The audience in the live stream also felt a bit emotional:

"This is a Xuanhuan World! Just a casual period of seclusion is ten years. You just need to focus on Cultivating in a cave, and your enemies outside will die on their own."

"That's right, Foundation Establishment Cultivators can abstain from grains, so couldn't they go into seclusion for a hundred or even two hundred years in one go? What kind of scenery would that be?"

"After one seclusion, everyone you knew is dead when you come out?"

"Wait, I suddenly realized a problem: the Lifespan differences between different Realms seem a bit too much, doesn't this mean..."

The live stream audience discussed animatedly; they all discovered a very peculiar thing about the Xuanhuan World:

Lifespan and time.

"Relax, it should only be like this in single-player mode. In multiplayer mode, everyone's time is synchronized, and there won't be Cultivation acceleration."

"Makes sense..."

"But that's not right, this cultivation Realm needs a long time of Cultivation to accumulate. What should we do if multiplayer mode can't accelerate? Are we going to let us players keep playing at Qi Refining Realm?"

"I've read the official website information on this; it says there will be unique designs that allow players to consume Lifespan for single-player time acceleration, but I don't know the specific operation yet; we'll have to see tomorrow."

The live stream audience quickly drifted off-topic, discussing Cultivation in multiplayer mode.

Midnight Gao Sou lay in front of the tombstone, thought for a moment, and then simply smashed the tombstone, dug out the remains, and scattered them to the winds.

This series of actions left the live stream audience stunned.

"Phew, I feel much better," Midnight Gao Sou wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Sigh, it seems it's very difficult to kill Su Qianwan in single-player mode. When multiplayer mode opens tomorrow, I'll gather more people, and we'll all Cultivate together and find an opportunity to surround and kill her."

The live stream audience immediately became interested:

"Good, good, I'll take this job."

"Gao Sou, make a group; we'll contact you tomorrow."

"All you stream friends, let's go together! That Su Qianwan is no big deal at all."

"It's settled then, tomorrow everyone helps Gao Sou kill Su Qianwan!"

Midnight Gao Sou chatted in the live stream for a while longer, planning how to contact everyone tomorrow and agreeing that killing Su Qianwan was the primary objective.

He even created several QQ groups, each filled with two thousand people.

Finally, Midnight Gao Sou yawned: "Alright, Brothers, I'm going to sleep; I still have to play multiplayer mode tomorrow."

...The next day.

Midnight Gao Sou woke up immediately, ate a quick breakfast, and lay directly into the VR pod.

The Xuanhuan World had already completed its pre-update, and there was still an hour until the server opened, but the internet was already flooded with related news.

Because before the server opened, players could preview the identities they had randomly received.

Some were randomized as a seventy-something-year-old farmer, some as a few-year-old child, and some as a Qi Refining Realm Elder of a small Sect.

More and more related news appeared online, and the popularity of the Xuanhuan World grew higher and higher.

Midnight Gao Sou, however, didn't care about others' identities. He immediately opened the game to check his own—

"Duan Kong Cave Efeng Mountain Range Sub-Sect · Outer Sect Elder · Lu Dingpeng (Foundation Establishment Early Stage)"