Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 41 The Strange Village
"Knock 1" is a common slang term in multiplayer team games.

The "1" symbol is similar to a simplified expression like "received" or "understood." It was widely recognized as the fastest input method in the era of PC keyboard games, and it has been retained in the era of virtual reality gaming pods.

Of course, most of the time, these silly players won't just obediently type "1". The team chat was flooded with "2"s, and even some "0"s. Wang Ergou couldn't help but laugh: "Dude, I understand typing 2, they can't count! But what's with you typing 0? Are you from Chunxi Road?"

The silly players started spouting all sorts of witty remarks: "Guild leader, why are you so excited to see a 0? Are you a 1?"

"How do you know that there are zeros everywhere in Chunxi Road? Are you one of them?"

"I don't believe it! There's no '1' in the 'Ten Continents Chronicle'!"

"Pass it down: The commander is not number 1!"

"Pass it on: The commander likes number 1!"

"What? The leader is 0?"

"Sister, your formation is messed up!"

As a guild leader who frequented various games, Wang Ergou was used to this kind of teasing. He laughed and said, "You guys are like old sows with protective covers, one trick after another. Can't you take this time to meditate and cultivate? Look at Lu Renya, he's already gathered a bunch of spiritual herbs!"

The players looked over and discovered that Lu Renya, who had just finished sharing the quest, was actually taking advantage of having nothing to do to dig up spirit herbs not far away!

The Taiyin Mountain sect's headquarters had long been ravaged by players. This place is more than 200 miles away from Taiyin Mountain, and players usually don't travel that far, so the resources are still very abundant. In just a short while, Lu Renya had already dug up a whole bagful!

Seeing his teammates looking at him, Lu Renya guiltily huddled the dug-up herbs into a small clump, trying to prove that he wasn't as heartless as Huang Shiren (a notorious landlord in Chinese folklore)...

More than an hour later, almost all the players who had arrived early had large bags of spiritual herbs and ores, and the last player in the team finally arrived late.

"Dude, level up more! You're moving way too slowly!"

The player, on the verge of tears, explained, "I really didn't mean to! My [Wind Control] skill level is low, and I used [Pray for Clear Skies] and [Pray for Rain], but it was completely useless! This is so frustrating!"

In "Ten Continents Chronicles", players' beginner skills are completely randomized. After inducing Qi into the body, a random skill will also be given as a bonus. According to incomplete statistics, among the skill demonstrations posted by players on the forum, the most frequently unlocked skills are [Swordsmanship], [Swiftness], [Wind Control], and [Great Strength], with most players having three or four of them. Skills like [Pray for Clear Weather] and [Pray for Rain] are unheard of, probably as rare as Wang Ergou's [Transportation] – they just sound like they are really useless.

Once everyone was present, Wang Ergou said in the group microphone, "Alright, alright, everyone's here. Spread out into teams and start looking for clues!"

Upon hearing this, the players scattered and rushed towards the valley with strange cries. Zhao Qing (Pig Charges Forward), who ran the fastest, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

……

However, the task was not as complicated as it seemed.

Even Fang Xianyu, who was secretly following Zhao Qing, was stunned when he saw a small village covered by an array just a few miles from the valley entrance.

That formation wasn't advanced; it was just a concealment formation. Once it encountered a cultivator with even a little bit of cultivation, it wouldn't work.

Fang Xianyu had been kept outside the valley by the Demon of the Desire, unable even to probe deep into the valley with her divine sense, so naturally she hadn't discovered this village. Zhao Qing herself was the player with the highest cultivation level, especially since she had cultivated her own power. So as soon as she approached the formation, she sensed something was wrong. Then, following the method her senior sister had taught her, she gently swept the formation with her spiritual power, and it was easily broken.

The whole process was even more standardized than when her senior sister gave her private lessons!

Zhao Qing immediately typed in the team chat: "Sisters, I have a village here!"

Fang Xianyu also quickly updated the task.

[New Sect Headquarters]: [It turns out someone else already visited this beautiful valley. Why is this strange little village here? And why is it concealed by a hiding formation? You decide to investigate thoroughly. (Shareable, maximum number of users: unlimited) (Rewards: 2000 Exp, 100 Sect Contribution Points)]

Soon, all the players noticed the change in the mission details, and they all rushed towards the mission point that Zhao Qing had marked on the map.

Compared to Taiping Town, which players have encountered many times before, this nameless village is really strange: although the scenery is beautiful and the houses are old-fashioned, the villagers look terrified. The first few villagers who saw Zhao Qing even knelt down the moment they saw her, muttering something incoherently.

After carefully observing for a while, Zhao Qing realized that these villagers seemed to regard her as some kind of deity, believing that she had come to the village to ask for more offerings because she was dissatisfied with the offerings the village had recently made.

Zhao Qing wanted to find out more details, but the villagers were so frightened that they wet themselves, and one of them even fainted. Obviously, she couldn't get anything out of them.

"What's going on?"

Wang Ergou and Jieran arrived almost simultaneously, feeling somewhat bewildered by the scene before them.

“I don’t know either,” Zhao Qing said, spreading her hands. “They seem to have mistaken us for people who came to ask for tribute. I just don’t know why they were so scared.”

Upon seeing two more "immortals" arrive beside Zhao Qing, the villagers who had been begging for mercy were so frightened that their eyes rolled back and they all collapsed to the ground.

Wang Ergou was even more confused. He scratched his head and couldn't help but say, "Wait, are we that scary? The face I made isn't ugly at all!"

The player who arrived later, but had witnessed the whole thing, suggested: "Why don't we go in and ask someone what happened..."

Wang Ergou nodded: "Okay, you all wait here and let the main force come and assemble. I'll go in and see if I can get anything out of the NPC. If I get killed instantly, you all leave first and wait for my instructions!"

After he finished speaking, he walked into the village.

The houses and courtyards in the village were all tightly closed, and the villagers who were originally walking on the road hurriedly ran into the nearest house.

Wang Ergou couldn't help but frown—this situation was really too strange.

He hadn't gone far when he saw an old man with a white beard being led by a young girl, hurrying towards him, calling out as they went: "Wait, immortal! Wait, immortal! This old man has failed to greet you properly! Please forgive me, immortal!"

Wang Ergou stopped warily—although the old man's beard was white, not yellow, he was still an old man, and he instantly recalled the otherworldly cultivation version of Gandalf's close combat.

He asked cautiously, "You called me a deity? Do you recognize me?"

(End of this chapter)