Chapter 380 - 363: We Do Quests to Admire the Scenery

Chapter 380: Chapter 363: We Do Quests to Admire the Scenery

Meanwhile, on Lin Qingfeng’s way back.

「Official Forums: General Discussion & In-Game World Channel」

As a bold, red system announcement about the change in ownership of Anhe City scrolled across the top of everyone’s screen, Lin Qingfeng’s private messages instantly blew up to 99+.

As the first powerhouse sect in the area to actually pull it off—carving out a piece of the dynasty’s territory for itself—the Guixi Sect instantly became the talk of the town among all the local sects.

Those who were on friendly terms with the Guixi Sect, or simply wanted to ride their coattails, flooded Lin Qingfeng’s inbox with private messages.

Lin Qingfeng’s Private Messages:

[Dawa Sect · Wa Wei X Feng]: Congrats, Mr. Lin! Seriously, congratulations! Your sect actually managed to take over Anhe City. You’re a legend! So... ahem, sorry to be nosy, but does this have anything to do with Mrs. Su? We haven’t had the pleasure of hearing her teachings in so long...

Lin Qingfeng’s lip twitched as he read the message, and he immediately swiped it away.

Meanwhile, players from the Apple Sect and the Android Sect were hoping to start up their celebratory video service again—they had made a killing off it last time.

The leader of the Wangzai Xiaoqiao Sect, Wangzai Xiaoqiao herself, also sent an inquiry. This usually mysterious sect leader, who was even suspected of lip-syncing for profit, clearly couldn’t sit still this time.

[Wangzai Xiaoqiao]: Mr. Lin, let’s not beat around the bush. How did you do it? What does it take to trigger a system-level change in the ownership of an NPC city?

You have to understand, in a game like Ashen Heaven, wrestling a piece of territory away from the native NPCs was considered hell-mode difficulty.

Countless guilds had already tried and failed, their blood and tears serving as cautionary tales:

There were the builder-type players who tried to construct a city from scratch out in the wilderness and recruit people. And what happened? The city got built, and it was theirs, but it came with no stat bonuses. The system didn’t even grant them an announcement, so they couldn’t show off. It was just a complete liability.

Then there were the PK-heavy, red-named guilds that took the violent approach. They slaughtered the authorities in a small city, leaving no one alive, and plopped themselves onto the City Lord’s throne to rule as local tyrants. The result? The system still listed the owner as the "Daqian Dynasty." The official City Lord was still the original one—just marked as "deceased"—and taxes were still automatically collected and arrest warrants still issued by the dynasty.

There were also the cultist-types who tried to win through proselytizing. They conned the entire populace and even managed to sideline the original City Lord, effectively stripping him of power. But what happened? The City Lord’s authority couldn’t be transferred, and the city officially remained under Daqian’s banner.

And yet today, in the Daqian Dynasty region, a sect called the Guixi Sect had captured a legitimate, honest-to-god NPC city.

This made that so-called "Guild Power Rankings" list look like a complete joke.

This was especially true for the so-called rich, major guilds like the Dawa Sect, Apple Sect, and Wangzai Xiaoqiao Sect. Many of them hadn’t even completed their starter quests or left their own headquarters yet, and they still struggled just to recruit a single NPC disciple. And now, in the blink of an eye, the Guixi Sect had gone and captured an entire city.

Faced with Wangzai Xiaoqiao’s thirst for knowledge, Lin Qingfeng just smiled and sent back a reply guaranteed to leave her speechless.

[Lin Qingfeng]: You wanna know? Take off that mask of yours, and maybe I’ll think about it.

[Wangzai Xiaoqiao]: ...

The conversation ended instantly.

For Wangzai Xiaoqiao, being asked to remove her signature mask was worse than death! As a "masked singer," her whole gimmick revolved around the mask. It even made it easier for her to lip-sync and rake in cash.

’So what if it’s a city conquest strategy? I can live without it!’

’My reputation and my mask—that’s what’s most important!’

Another private message sat near the top of his inbox.

[Cao Xin]: Well done.

Just two simple words.

After sending her congratulations, this top player—currently female—immediately went back to her research on "Methods for Cultivating Plants and Microorganisms in the Ashen Heaven World" without a second thought.

Meanwhile, the Daqian Dynasty’s regional channel had completely blown up, the discussion growing more and more heated.

[HOLY SHIT?! Am I seeing things? Another one of the dynasty’s NPC cities changed hands?!]

[For real? Is the Guixi Sect using some kind of exploit?]

[There are top players in other regions, but without exception, they’re all super secretive about their methods, guarding them like they’re protecting against thieves.]

[Seriously! Zero "open-source spirit"! Bunch of sneaky bastards, terrified someone else will learn their tricks and compete with them!]

[Ah, forget it! I heard the bonuses aren’t that great anyway. Can any of the top players give us a little hint?]

’Although Lin Qingfeng was completely in the dark himself about how his junior sister had pulled it off, that wasn’t going to stop him from putting on a show.’

’After all, his junior sister’s accomplishment was his accomplishment. By rounding up, it was basically him devising strategies from headquarters and securing victory from a thousand miles away.’

’Sure, he’d been busy playing ’How to Train Your Xenomorph’ and feeding little critters underground, so he had no idea what had happened on the surface, but... since this pleasant surprise had landed right in his lap, it would be rude not to catch it, right?’

Watching the chat scroll by, filled with desperate pleas, a faint smile played on Lin Qingfeng’s lips.

「Regional Channel」

[Lin Qingfeng]: Fellow cultivators, please, calm yourselves.

[Lin Qingfeng]: In this world, everything is bound by cause and effect. You only see that a city has changed hands, but you don’t see the... heart and soul our Guixi Sect poured into making it happen.

’He had no idea what heart and soul they had actually poured into it, but riding a xenomorph around underground, killing monsters, and feeding critters was pretty tiring too. That had to count for something.’

[Lin Qingfeng]: Sometimes, you need to look inward. All this time you’ve been playing, has your Cultivation improved? Have you been taking your quests seriously? A city is not built of bricks and mortar, but of the hearts and minds of its people.

[Lin Qingfeng]: The reason our Guixi Sect is so far ahead isn’t because of cheap tricks or brute force, but because of virtue! Of inspiration! We lead through moral character! Take Sword Flight, for example, or trade runs, or all those other tedious quests. You do them for the rewards, for the gear, for that pitiful, fly-leg’s-worth of EXP.

[Lin Qingfeng]: We, on the other hand, do it to appreciate the scenery along the way, to experience the true meaning of Cultivation. That is what you call a higher state of being. The two are completely incomparable. That is the fundamental difference!

...

After he finished, a brief silence fell over the channel.

It was followed by a wave of backlash ten times more furious than before.

[Everyone]: ???

[WorkingSpirit]: Holy crap! I’m speechless! Mr. Lin, what’s next? Are you going to tell us that the food delivery guy braving the elements isn’t trying to support his family, but is doing it to enjoy the city’s nightscapes and "run toward a better life in the storm"?

[BrickMovingHero]: And the guy hauling bricks on a construction site, sweating his ass off, isn’t doing it for the paycheck, but because hauling bricks builds character and strengthens the body? It’s a free gym membership, is that it?

[OldDriver]: So the cab driver pulling an all-nighter isn’t doing it to make a living, but because he just loves the stop-and-go traffic and enjoys the "freedom of the open road"?