Chapter 001: Mysterious NPC

  The sky had just lit up with a faint red glow, and a white light appeared on the main street of Ling Xiao City. Zhang Heng was online.

  At the same time, white lights also flashed from time to time on the side, and one by one player also came online.

  Zhang Heng let out a sigh, not expecting that there were also many people who worked as hard as he did. At this moment, the real time was only 5 am, which was the low point of players' activity. He too was preparing to take advantage of this opportunity to grind some monsters, and if he was lucky, maybe something unexpected would happen.

  At this time, a bone-ash player in the prenatal period next to him yawned: "I've played all night and should go offline to sleep for a while."

  Only the figure of this bone-ash level player became transparent and slowly disappeared in Ling Xiao City, he went offline.

  Zhang Heng secretly felt ashamed, there were not a few of his peers who were stronger than him, and he couldn't sustain continuous battles for over ten hours, besides, he wasn't a professional player, but just an otaku.

  This is a large-scale virtual online game called "Xian Dao". Such Xianxia-style virtual online games are not uncommon on Earth in the 22nd century, and basically one appears every few years.

  Occasionally, a few rays of light flashed across the sky, with incredible speed, carrying a dreamy and enchanting glow. Among them were figures riding on mythical beasts, sweeping across the sky. These were all high-level players. Zhang Heng gazed at them with envy, wondering how much longer it would take for him to reach that level.

  Zhang Heng is now only considered an ordinary expert in the game, with the strength of the early stages of the Golden Elixir period, and is still ranked mid-to-upper in the game.

  It stands to reason that with his cultivation base, he should have already achieved some success. However, he doesn't have any top-grade skills or powerful treasures. The drop rate in this game is very low, and it's extremely difficult to obtain high-quality materials. Up until now, he hasn't even obtained a single piece of equipment, and he's struggling to make ends meet in the game. There are also many other players who share his circumstances.

  "Selling top-grade spiritual equipment, only 1200 crystal stones!"

  "5,000 Crystal Stones to Acquire a 3rd-Grade Spirit Beast!"

  "All kinds of magic jade slips on sale, price negotiable..."

  "Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill can increase the success rate of foundation establishment. It is also effective for cultivation during the foundation establishment period, and only two pills are left."

  ……

  Zhang Heng gazed at these street vendors, among whom were some professional players with relatively high cultivation levels. Many of them had reached the Jiedan period, and there were even some freaks in the Yuanying period.

  After a few glances, Zhang Heng decided to leave. It wasn't that these things were of no use to him, but rather he was originally quite poor and his storage ring didn't have many crystal stones either.

  Through this bustling street, came to a remote corner, Zhang Heng was ready to receive a task here, and the NPC of the task was in this corner.

  "Young man, let's make a deal." A slightly hoarse voice came over.

  Zhang Heng was startled and subconsciously turned his head to look back, only to find that there was a dirty old Taoist priest standing behind him.

  Not a player, but an NPC! Zhang Heng couldn't help but feel delighted. Could it be that his luck had suddenly surged and he had stumbled upon the legendary hidden quest?

  Although the old Taoist's attire was shabby, Zhang Heng didn't dare look down on him at all.

  "Is there anything I can help you with, sir?" Zhang Heng asked respectfully.

  The old Taoist wiped his nose with his hand, and a pair of ghostly eyes stared at Zhang Heng for a few moments before he snorted: "With my cultivation level, I naturally don't need the help of a Dan-forming period cultivator like you. I'm looking for you to make a deal."

  "Quest?" Zhang Heng was taken aback for a moment, it was his first time hearing about such a hidden task.

  "What's the deal." Zhang Heng looked at him warily, having played this game for so long, he still knew some common sense questions, and there were many evil NPCs in the game who used players as pawns.

  "I have a set of extraordinary skills here, I'll use it to exchange for something on you, don't know if you're willing or not?" The old Taoist's eyes sparkled with a sharp light, making Zhang Heng feel uneasy all over.

  "Reversal of Heaven's Grade Technique?" Zhang Heng took a deep breath, in the "Xian Dao", generally top-grade techniques were extremely rare and only a small portion of high-end players possessed them. As for Reversal of Heaven's Grade Techniques, it was said that only Ye Tianlong, who ranked first in the game, had one set. And Ye Tianlong had been sitting steadily at the top for several hundred years in the game, currently no player could rival him, and the second-ranked expert was far behind him.

  In other words, in the entire server, only one set of reverse heavenly level skills has appeared, which can be seen from the value of the reverse heavenly level skills.

  "Little brother, are you willing or not, I'll trade a set of heaven-defying skills for something on your body." The old Taoist had an air of certainty about him, he didn't believe Zhang Heng wouldn't be tempted.

  In the game, a set of invincible skills can completely change a person's fate.

  In the "Xian Dao", Zhang Heng also understood that there are three most important things for cultivation: magical artifacts, elixirs, and martial arts. While magical artifacts and elixirs are just external objects, martial arts are the foundation. With a good martial art, the power of magical artifacts can be doubled, and the efficacy of elixirs can be fully utilized. Once you have a heaven-defying level martial art, you can be invincible among players of the same level, and even challenge higher-level opponents.

  "Really have a heaven-defying cultivation method? Can you show it to me?" Zhang Heng wasn't an idiot, how could he easily believe this old Taoist priest? In this era, people play games and games also play with people, NPCs deceive people to death.

  "Haha, you're quite cautious, aren't you? Alright, I'll satisfy your request." The old Taoist looked at Zhang Heng with a praising gaze and stretched out his hand, conjuring up a purple-golden jade slip out of thin air.

  The old Taoist didn't hand the jade cylinder over to Zhang Heng, but instead shared the properties of the jade slip with him.

  Zhang Heng saw the properties of this jade slip on a semi-transparent virtual panel:

  "Refining Heaven and Earth": A reverse-heavenly level cultivation technique that can be cultivated during the Qi-refining stage.

  Although the introduction above is simple, Zhang Heng couldn't help but get excited, never thought that this was actually a heaven-defying cultivation method, and what's more worth mentioning is that this set of methods has very low requirements for the cultivator's level, as long as they are in the Qi Refining stage.

  "I only need one thing from you, in exchange for this set of skills." The old Taoist NPC's cunning eyes glanced over Zhang Heng's body a few times.

  Zhang Heng calmed down, this old Taoist priest must have taken a liking to something on him, but there were too many things in his storage ring, and he didn't know which one he wanted.

  After some thought, Zhang Heng still decided to trade with the old man. As long as he could get this set of heaven-defying skills, even if he died once here, it would be worth it.

  "Alright, I agree to trade with you." Taking a deep breath, Zhang Heng still agreed to the deal.

  System: Mysterious NPC requests a trade with you, do you agree?

  "Agreed." Zhang Heng chose the "agree" option without hesitation.

  The old Taoist smiled and handed the jade cylinder to Zhang Heng, as the system had already testified and was not afraid that Zhang Heng would take the thing back.

  Zhang Heng took over the jade slip and was extremely excited in his heart. He couldn't help but use his divine sense to examine the cultivation method inside.

  The jade slip was simplified into a white light and instantly merged into Zhang Heng's mind. The jade slips in this game were all one-time consumable items, and ordinary players could not copy the jade cylinder.

  System: "Lian Tian Hua Di" is a reverse heavenly cultivation method, which must be cultivated from the Qi Refining stage. Since you are a Dan Forming cultivator, if you want to cultivate this method, you must first abolish your current cultivation and start over.

  Zhang Heng's face suddenly appeared with a few black lines, and he had a feeling of being deceived, just like you got a set of martial arts secrets, but the practice of martial arts secrets has a requirement: to practice this skill, one must first castrate oneself.

  From the Qi Refining stage to the Dan Forming stage, Zhang Heng spent over 200 gaming years, equivalent to two years in the real world. At this moment, he actually had to start from scratch again, any gamer would go crazy if they were in his shoes.

  Transcendent-level cultivation techniques are impressive, but they don't necessarily speed up the cultivation process. They only guarantee an advantage over cultivators of the same level, allowing them to go further. Ordinary yet impressive cultivation techniques may even be slower than average in terms of progress, and high-level cultivation techniques are definitely more difficult to cultivate than lower-level ones.

  After a moment of silence, Zhang Heng gradually calmed down. Since things had come to this point, he wouldn't go around complaining about it either.

  "What is it that you want from me?" Zhang Heng looked at this NPC old Taoist with a expressionless face.

  The old Taoist seemed to sense Zhang Heng's emotions and persuaded him, "Young man, don't lose heart. This set of heavenly-level skills will definitely not disappoint you. Alright, since it's a transaction, I want to get what I need."

  "What do you want from me?" Zhang Heng didn't think there was anything good on him.

  The old Taoist's face showed a strange smile: "What I want is... your life."

  "Want my life?" Zhang Heng sneered with a smile, never thinking that the thing the old Taoist said was his own life.

  Isn't it just dying once? Zhang Heng didn't mind this either, at most some things would explode, and he could revive after a while. After all, it was just a game, and he was still very optimistic about it.

  "Are you ready?" The old Taoist NPC smiled at him.

  "Come on." Zhang Heng replied calmly, he wasn't the first player to die at the hands of an NPC anyway.

  The old Taoist nodded and stretched out his withered arm, a wave of nothingness floated towards Zhang Heng.

  In the instant that the void wave drifted onto Zhang Heng's body, he felt a sense of danger - this was not the crisis of dying in a game, but a natural response of an organism facing death.

  Everything went black in front of him, Zhang Heng's body fell to the ground, he was dead.

  System: Server is under unknown virus attack, all players please log off immediately.

  System: Server is under unknown virus attack, all players please log off immediately.

  ……

  At this moment, Zhang Heng, who was wearing a gaming headset in reality, suddenly died with an expression of shock on his face.