Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 26 An Unexpectedly Friendly NPC
Not long after, Wang Ergou and Han Yi returned to their former spawn point, the sect's headquarters marked on the map, "Lieshi Mountain," though it has now been renamed "Taiyin Mountain" on the game map.

The mountain itself hasn't changed much, except that several uniquely styled buildings have appeared on the once bare rocky platform halfway up the mountain.

A wooden boardwalk winds its way up the mountain, leading to a simple yet magnificent hall. The roof ridge is adorned with a glazed tile statue of a goddess with a human torso and a dragon's tail, her hair styled in high buns. The blue glazed tiles shimmer in the sunlight. The robust beams and pillars are painted vermilion, and the double-layered lintels are decorated with carvings of green and white floral patterns. The green railings appear neither gold nor stone, but rather like jade, warm and translucent.

As the two approached, they discovered that the plaque above the main hall bore three unfamiliar characters: "Taiyin Hall".

Hmm... it's a name translated using the system's built-in translation function.

The main hall was bustling with noise, as players crowded together, forming a winding queue in twos and threes.

As soon as the two entered the hall, Zhao Qing, who had looked around countless times, spotted them and quickly waved and called out, "Here, here! I've already let several groups of people behind me get in line! Come on over!"

Wang Ergou and Han Yi were still a little confused about the situation, but they still obediently went over.

Wang Ergou asked curiously, "What are you doing?"

Zhao Qing had already gathered a lot of information, so she explained, "You'll be lining up to choose your sect! You should really think about what you want to specialize in. This game is very vague, and many professions are described very vaguely. For example, the profession of cultivating healing is quite clear, obviously a healer. But there are also other professions like cultivating the five elements, cultivating talismans, cultivating array techniques, and so on. I don't understand what they're good for at all!"

Han Yi frowned: "Can't I change my choice once I've made it?"

"No, I heard it can be changed later, but the experience points and level won't be transferred after the change, and I don't know exactly when it will be changed."

As she spoke, Zhao Qing spread her hands.

Wang Ergou excitedly pressed on, "Are there any sword cultivators? You know, the kind who wield big swords!"

Zhao Qing nodded: "Yes, it's called 'Hundred Weapons' in the game, which means you can master all kinds of weapons, not just swords! I was planning to choose this one!"

Wang Ergou was even more excited: "Is it that awesome!"

As they were talking, the players in line behind them urged, "Hey, hey, it's almost your turn!"

The three of them immediately became solemn and lined up obediently.

The NPC in charge of registering disciples was a young woman who wasn't particularly good-looking, but had a strangely kind and friendly demeanor—so kind and friendly that she seemed somewhat familiar, much like Aunt Wang who had tricked him into joining the organization.

She was sitting upright behind a table with a pile of jade tablets on it. The name on her head was "Lu Ying". Her title was Elder of the Taiyin Sect. She was probably not as young as she looked.

The first to step forward was Zhao Qing. She had only taken two steps when Elder Lu Ying gently asked, "This cultivator, may I ask what you intend to cultivate?"

Zhao Qing was prepared and answered decisively, "Hundred Weapons! I want to cultivate Hundred Weapons!" "Okay, [Pig Charge] cultivator, cultivation level [Great Perfection of Qi Refining], major cultivation [Hundred Weapons]..."

As Elder Lu Ying spoke, he picked up a jade tablet from the table, tapped it in his hand, and a flash of golden light appeared on the jade tablet, revealing many characters.

She handed the finished jade token to Zhao Qing and instructed her, "[Bullish Advancement] cultivator, this is your Taiyin Sect disciple token. The disciple token is mainly used to enter and exit the library and the sect's public kitchen, as well as to receive quarterly benefits. Of course, you also need it to register for courses, so please keep it safe. If you lose it, you will need to spend a lot of sect contribution points to replace it..."

……

The registration process was quick, and all three of them unanimously chose the Hundred Weapons set. After all, they were all cultivating immortality, so who wouldn't want to play with a sword?
As soon as the disciple token was obtained, a new interface, "Hundred Weapons," appeared on the game panel.

The course schedule is marked inside—players are already numb to having to attend classes to play a game. Before, not many players were willing to listen when Baili Shuang gave lectures every night, but now that there are sect contribution points, there will probably be many more players who come physically but are not truly engaged.

Most importantly, who in their right family plays games and goes to class?!
I've worked so hard for over a decade, all so I wouldn't have to go to class!
This notion led to a barrage of criticism on gaming forums regarding the "classes in the game" setting. However, some casual gamers defended "Ten Continents Chronicles," saying, "The classes you take in real life are incomprehensible esoteric texts and boring theories, but in the game you're learning about cultivation! How can that be the same?! If you don't like it, just delete your account and quit the game, freeing up some spots for us to take!"

Of course, that last sentence truly reflected their feelings.

Because the current quota for "Ten Continents Chronicles" is fixed at 55 accounts, if someone deletes their account and quits the game, another person who signed up for the closed beta will be randomly selected to fill the vacancy. This is the official announcement from the game's developers after a player who complained that "Ten Continents Chronicles" was too hardcore and that even a dog wouldn't play it deleted their account on live stream.

The stubborn player who was later chosen didn't mention how much he regretted it, but the lucky player posted more than a dozen messages on the forum thanking the stubborn player who deleted the account and his ancestors for eight generations.

Although many people were interested in "The Chronicles of the Ten Continents", Fang Xianyu did not pay much attention to Blue Star, because she discovered an unexpected secret through Huang Gong's affairs.

This leads to the story of why Huang Gong, who was once deeply in love with Shixia Village, suddenly turned against them and drove all the villagers away.

Huang Gong was a highly gifted weasel spirit. After inexplicably gaining sentience, while other weasels were still unable to control their instincts to steal chickens and dogs, Huang Gong could not only restrain his instincts but also help the villagers catch mice, guard the village gate, and even chase away mountain spirits that stole grain and caused damage on several occasions. As a result, the villagers of Shixia Village spontaneously began to worship him and called him 'Huang Gong'.

Gradually, Huang Gong also tasted the benefits of the offerings. Not only did his cultivation progress by leaps and bounds, but villagers also specially offered him chickens, ducks, and various kinds of steamed buns. This made him spare no effort to use his demonic power to secretly nourish the farmland with spiritual energy in the middle of the night to repay the villagers.

Over time, even before Huang Gong had refined the horizontal bone, he had developed a natural bond with the area around Lieshi Mountain. He had a premonition that if this continued, he might even become the mountain god of Lieshi Mountain!

However, unexpected things always happen.

In this world, most monsters naturally cultivate by worshipping the moon, following the path of yin, and Huang Gong is no exception.

Therefore, just as Huang Gong was refining the transverse bone and preparing to condense the elixir, the Lieshi Mountain, which was rich in yin and spiritual energy due to Huang Gong's cultivation, actually attracted several yin corpses!

(End of this chapter)