Under the gloomy sky, Li Muyang sat on the field ridge and opened his eyes once again.
He scratched his head, somewhat speechless.
“Dead again…”
Was this steward Wu on a shooting spree today?
Why start killing as soon as he saw someone.
After meeting steward Wu, the system would give two options, but no matter which one Li Muyang chose, he would be violently slain by steward Wu, with no chance of survival.
After dying several times in a row, Li Muyang was now at a loss for words.
“Meeting steward Wu leads to certain death, but I can’t just not meet him…”
Logically speaking, interactive games shouldn’t have options that lead to certain death. If there are such options, it means that a key choice earlier on must have triggered a death flag, hence the appearance of a no-win scenario.
But the third phase of cultivation had just begun, and the game’s plot had barely advanced; there was no way Li Muyang could have triggered a death flag.
“Could it be that the key to breaking the game is before meeting steward Wu?”
Li Muyang reloaded the game, this time he reloaded to the very beginning, before going to the ancestral temple to meet Granny Gu.
After reloading into the game, Li Muyang met Little Wild Grass.
“Big Brother, Granny Gu wants us to meet her later.”
Little Wild Grass conveyed such news.
However, Li Muyang shook his head: “No, let’s go straight to the mountains.”
This time, Li Muyang chose not to meet Granny Gu and instead took Little Wild Grass straight into the mountains, avoiding the ancestral temple’s storyline.
Upon arriving on time at the cavern, steward Wu no longer killed him, but his attitude was still as indifferent as ever.
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After accompanying Little Wild Grass to finish her blood-drawing in the cavern, Li Muyang took her towards the fort.
But a chilling cold breeze suddenly emerged on the mountain path, and the darkness, like a tide, suddenly engulfed Li Muyang.
That feeling of being touched by a sinister creature in the ancestral temple appeared once again.
[You have died, game over]
The death screen popped up, and Li Muyang opened his eyes on the field ridge.
“If I don’t meet Granny Gu, will she just kill me directly?”
Li Muyang scratched his head: “It seems my utility isn’t as great as I imagined? If I don’t meet her as agreed, she’ll just slaughter me without giving me any chance to argue.”
This old lady seemed a bit too eager to kill.
Li Muyang closed his eyes and re-entered the game.
Not meeting Granny Gu led to certain death, and after triggering the ancestral temple storyline, it was also certain death to meet steward Wu afterward.
So the key to breaking the game had to be between these two storylines.
Li Muyang quickly pinpointed the direction to break the game and reloaded once again.
This time, he reloaded to the segment just after he and Little Wild Grass came out of the ancestral temple.
After leaving the ancestral temple, Li Muyang didn’t take Little Wild Grass straight to steward Wu.
He walked with Little Wild Grass on the mountain path, pondering what he could do before meeting steward Wu.
The outsiders, demon cultivators in Black Cloud Fort, were cruel and powerful, with a mysterious Temple-Sealing Lord at their head. The Temple-Sealing Lord was incredibly secretive, never showing himself in public, so the villagers had never seen his true face.
Below the Temple-Sealing Lord were three cave masters, and under these three cave masters were eighteen stewards.
Steward Wu was one of them and counted as an elite monster among the demon cultivators, with a high status.
It was impossible for Li Muyang to bypass steward Wu and find the three cave masters; that would result in an even quicker death.
These old-era demon cultivators were much more savage and vicious than the orderly evil of the Refinement Demon Sect, practically unreasonable.
Li Muyang, accompanied by Little Wild Grass, entered the cavern but instead of directly looking for Manager Wu, he deliberately avoided the Blood Room and began to aimlessly wander around the cavern.
One cavern connected to another, forming a vast underground world.
These caverns were all incredibly tall, the highest points reaching hundreds of meters, creating an environment that did not feel oppressive at all.
Additionally, with the Demon Cultivators’ modifications, apart from the air in the cavern being noticeably more moist and chilly, it was almost no different from the outside world.
Outside the pharmacy, a large void was even planted with many beautiful Spirit Grass flowers, their stems glowing in the dim light as if from a fairytale world.
Little Wild Grass followed Li Muyang, watching as he deliberately avoided the Blood Room and toured all of the caverns they could visit, unable to help but ask.
“Big brother, aren’t we going to the Blood Room yet? If we don’t go soon, Manager Wu is really going to lose his temper,” said Little Wild Grass with concern.
Li Muyang, however, continued to dart around the caverns as if he had nothing better to do, striking up conversations with any Demon Cultivator he ran into.
Talking to NPCs in the game is one of the main methods for obtaining key information.
And now, Li Muyang would approach any Demon Cultivator he saw to strike up a conversation.
“…Brother, anything new in the cavern today?”
“Sister, have you heard about what happened in the cavern today?”
“Hey… Uncle Dao, did you hear about anything that happened in the cavern today?”
Li Muyang would chat with every NPC he encountered, attempting to trigger a key event.
However, after visiting several conventional scenes such as the alchemy room, pharmacy, and Marrow-cleansing Pool, Li Muyang still couldn’t find the pivotal clues.
In response to his questions, everyone seemed confused and had no idea what Li Muyang was talking about.
Fortunately, the lower-ranked Demon Cultivators in the cavern were all from Black Cloud Fort like Li Muyang himself.
They wrapped ribbons around their hands and followed the Temple-Sealing Lord in cultivating demons, but they were still native to Black Cloud Fort and familiar with the character “Jiang Xiaoyu.”
Therefore, though Li Muyang’s behavior was odd as he darted around, no one disliked him for it.
Some warm-hearted Demon Cultivators even reminded Li Muyang to hurry up and bring the soulless ones to the Blood Room, not to delay; Manager Wu had a bad temper and it would really lead to trouble if he was angered.
And Manager Wu, true to what others had said, appeared quickly.
“Jiang Xiaoyu! You didn’t bring the soulless ones for blood extraction and are running around in the cavern… Do you want to overturn the heavens?” Manager Wu, with a gloomy face, suddenly appeared, blocking Li Muyang.
Clearly, the news of Li Muyang’s random sprinting through the cavern had spread, and Manager Wu had come following the commotion.
With cold eyes, Manager Wu said, “Since you don’t want to work, then stop working altogether!”
As his voice fell, Manager Wu waved his sleeve, and once again, large blood-red characters popped up in front of Li Muyang.
[You have died, game over]
Li Muyang, sitting on the ridge, opened his eyes, pondering for a moment.
“If the cavern doesn’t trigger the plot clue, could it be outside the cavern?”
He reloaded the save, but this time, instead of entering the cavern, he began to wander around Black Cloud Fort.
Li Muyang repeated his earlier tactic, talking to every villager he encountered.
There were more villagers in the fort, and Li Muyang wandered around for two to three hours, yet still, no key clue was triggered.
Then two hours later, Manager Wu arrived with a cold look in his eyes.
“You dare to be late?”
The next moment, blood splattered, game over.
Li Muyang opened his eyes and reloaded the save again.
“No clues in the cavern, no clues in the fort… Could the clue be on the mountain road before entering the cavern?”