"Senior Brother, you can even modify cultivation methods?"
Jiang Lingsu's eyes held a teasing smile, lending an extra touch of charm to her lovely face.
How could modifying a cultivation method ever be an easy task?
Especially for a cultivator at the Qi Refinement realm.
Those qualified to alter a technique were at least at the Origin Core realm.
Naturally, Jiang Lingsu did not take Qi Yuan's claim seriously.
Taking the jade slip, she thought of something and offered a gentle warning: "Eldest Senior Brother, cultivation methods are of the utmost importance. You must never modify or practice them recklessly, or you might easily suffer qi deviation!"
Having only just met Qi Yuan, she knew it was taboo to speak too intimately with a near-stranger, so she kept her warning brief.
Qi Yuan looked at her and remarked faintly, "Do you think everything is just fine if you don't modify it?"
Jiang Lingsu choked on her words.
It seemed Senior Brother truly had a problem in the head—and a massive one at that.
Cultivators of the Obsession lineage were truly something else!
Without another word, she carried the jade slip back to her room.
"*Seven Colors Fire Refining Art*?"
"A Jade-grade method?"
"It looks quite ordinary."
She had originally hoped to deduce the background of the Peak Master of Seven Colors Peak through this method.
Yet it appeared thoroughly unremarkable.
While Jade-grade was respectable enough, it failed to impress her in the slightest. In her clan, Jade-grade cultivation methods lay around in heaps.
She examined the contents.
"The latter section was... modified by Senior Brother?"
"It actually looks pretty convincing."
"At least it fooled me."
"Sister Yaya is best at adapting cultivation methods. When I have time, I'll let her evaluate these changes. If Eldest Senior Brother plans to cultivate it, it might save him from going astray."
Jiang Lingsu murmured to herself.
...
Inside the thatched cottage.
Qi Yuan's full attention was focused on his game jade slip.
He had possessed this game jade slip for an entire year.
He had also played the game for roughly a year. It was simply an ordinary boss-fighting game.
The game map showed that this world was called the Wangyue Continent.
Within the Wangyue Continent lay four forbidden grounds and two death zones.
The map Qi Yuan currently occupied was named the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground.
Ferocious, brutal monsters teemed throughout the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground.
There were serpents as thick as water barrels, carnivorous blossoms bristling with sharp fangs, and colossal beetles built like tanks.
To Qi Yuan, these monsters were nothing more than bundles of experience points.
However, one particular creature in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground thoroughly disgusted him and severely degraded his gaming experience.
That monster was a fox tail shaped like a writing brush, sporting a resounding name: the Mad Brush.
Within the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground, Qi Yuan's character was clad in golden armor, slaughtering in all directions.
In his hands, those formidable monsters possessed zero ability to resist.
"Mere level fifty beasts dare display their paltry tricks before me?!"
"Die!"
Qi Yuan swept his sword across.
At level eighty, he was practically a walking meat grinder in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground.
Over the past few days, slaughtering had been his daily routine.
When he first entered the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground, he had been nothing more than an ordinary level-one novice.
Back then, he was playing a survival game.
Over the course of a year, he had grinded his way to level eighty, allowing him to stride wherever he pleased in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground.
Now, he was playing like an arrogant thug.
The monsters of the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground fled in terror at the mere sight of him.
Moreover, slaying monsters in the Wangyue Continent provided immense benefits to Qi Yuan in the real world.
Otherwise, how could he have reached Qi Refinement Perfection in just one year?
Even a genuine prodigy would require at least three years of bitter cultivation to reach Qi Refinement Perfection.
His cultivation within the game could be reflected onto his true self.
Of course, only a fraction of it.
After all, his game character was currently absurdly strong.
Just how strong?
Qi Yuan had no clear reference point.
However, cutting down the Sect Master of the Divine Light Sect with a single stroke of his sword would likely be child's play.
Yet in the real world, he remained a humble novice at the Qi Refinement realm.
*Once I take down the final boss, the Mad Brush, I'll have completely cleared this dungeon.*
The thought filled Qi Yuan with renewed vigor.
He would clear the dungeon today.
*I wonder what rewards it will grant me.*
*How about rewarding me with a harmless cultivation method?*
*Or at the very least, just a simple Foundation Establishment spiritual item would do.*
Thinking of the Mad Brush, Qi Yuan's eyes burned with intense fighting spirit.
This kind of monster took the form of a writing brush by day, but transformed into a gorgeous, highly seductive fox demoness by night.
Their favorite pastime was launching night raids.
If one fell for their charms, they would bare their fangs at the height of passion, instantly reverting into sharp brushes to plunge straight into... whatever openings the charmed victim possessed.
Qi Yuan had watched countless beasts in the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground fall prey to the Mad Brushes, meeting truly agonizing fates.
Qi Yuan himself was immune to their charms, but... he had to go AFK at night.
Once he logged off to rest, he had to guard against the Mad Brushes.
At one point, he had nearly copied an anime protagonist from his past life by fashioning himself a pair of golden underpants.
In the end, he resorted to digging a pit and burying himself in the earth each time before logging off, which successfully prevented the Mad Brushes' nocturnal ambushes.
"The final Mad Brush boss is only level seventy. No problem at all."
"I need to farm it quickly. I still have to take my little pet out for a walk this evening."
Clad in golden armor and brandishing his longsword, Qi Yuan radiated dazzling, multicolored lights. Every swing of his blade triggered an array of flamboyant special effects.
In any other game, one look would reveal him to be a lavish, flashy pay-to-win player.
Half an hour later, Qi Yuan breached the Xuanyuan Hall.
Lifting his massive blade, he yelled out with dramatic flair, "Fiend, where do you think you're running?!"
Timid in reality, relentless in the game.
The only response he received was the shrieking terror of the Mad Brushes.
Sword in hand, he cut through them unopposed.
One Mad Brush snapped after another.
His experience bar climbed steadily higher.
"Come out, monster!" Qi Yuan shouted, trying to draw out the ultimate boss of the Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground.
Unfortunately, no one answered.
The Mad Brushes scattered in all directions, fleeing for their lives.
Qi Yuan had a grand time slaughtering them.
Just then, golden light flared violently.
The entire Xuanyuan Hall began to tremble.
A brush shaped like a fox tail burst forth from the ground.
Sharp as a sword, eager for a worthy opponent, it thrust straight toward Qi Yuan.
"Good thing I came prepared." Qi Yuan remained completely unruffled.
He had devised a countermeasure before coming.
And even without a plan, he had nothing to fear.
His sheer power spoke for itself.
"Summer Eight Slashes!"
Qi Yuan unleashed his ultimate saber technique.
Indeed, he was wielding a sword to execute a saber style.
In an instant, the Mad Brush snapped clean in two.
Qi Yuan shrugged. "It couldn't even withstand a single slash from me. Far too weak.
"I still have seven slashes left. Who knows if anyone will ever withstand them? How lonely."
As the Mad Brush perished, the Xuanyuan Hall collapsed around him.
Right then, a notification chime rang in Qi Yuan's ears.
[Xuanyuan Forbidden Ground dungeon cleared. Rewards obtained.]
[Reward 1: Heavenly Dao Fragment x10.]
[Reward 2: Divine Brush.]
Chapter 5