Zhang Ze, a hardcore ARPG player, bug discoverer, world game speedrun record holder, wheelchair strategy king, 100% map licking obsessive.
He died and game developers worldwide breathed a sigh of relief.
But he came back to life, and now it's the Immortal Cultivation sects of the Four Continents that are panicking.
Sword Sect, Seventh Sword Pavilion.
Elder Li is really troubled lately, because this batch of disciples is truly difficult to manage.
Sword Sect has seven Sword Pavilions in total, yet only the Seventh Sword Pavilion in Cyan Thorn has seen talent decline over the years, with recruited disciples becoming worse year by year.
Take this year, there are 32 Outer Sect junior disciples, 29 of whom are averagely talented, while the remaining three have good aptitude but are all burdensome troublemakers.
The first one, named Lin Feng, is practically born under a bad star.
Within half a month of joining, he has offended three male Inner Sect disciples, fought six peers from the Outer Sect, and aggravated four Outer Sect instructors to illness.
Whenever he's scolded, he stiffens his neck, acting like a stubborn mule, spouting various arguments. After walking a hundred paces, he never forgets to say, "Don't belittle a youth for being poor."
The second, Chen Qin, is the Sect Leader's youngest daughter.
Because the Sect Leader is thousands of years old and is still unseemly, Chen Qin's seniority is frighteningly high.
More than half the elders of the Seventh Sword Pavilion have to call her grandma by seniority, owing two generations.
For some reason, she had a fight with her father and left home to this Seventh Sword Pavilion.
Insisting on being an Outer Disciple.
But not cultivating, enjoying mountains and waters daily, and no one dares provoke her.
Causing a stir wherever she goes, even if a stray dog crosses her path, she'll drag it over for a couple of strokes before letting it go.
As for the last one...
Thinking of the disciple named Zhang Ze, Elder Li's hands tremble a bit, pulling out two strands of his beard.
When he first joined, this grand lad was fairly restrained, never late for morning or evening classes, diligent in cultivation, and sweet-talking like his mouth was coated in honey, charming Elder Wang who manages the Library Pavilion into treating him like a grandson.
Recently, though, he suddenly showed his true colors, resembling a nimble dog from the mountains, disappearing from sight all day long.
Whenever seen, he's either jumping off cliffs in the back mountain, diving into icy pools halfway up the mountain, or caressing walls.
Asked about it, he'd say he's exploring hidden maps.
Elder Li thinks to himself, I've been cultivating in this Sword Pavilion for 300 years, how come I never heard of any hidden maps?
The most troublesome thing is, originally these three troublemakers were each causing their own chaos, especially Lin Feng and Chen Qin, who were practically water and fire.
But a few days ago, Zhang Ze somehow gave them some Enchanting Soup, now the three of them move in a group, with doubled destructive power.
Especially with Chen Qin as a shield, that rascal Zhang Ze is even more unscrupulous.
Yet among these three, Zhang Ze is the only one with some redeemable value.
After pondering for a while, Elder Li made up his mind.
Behind the Seventh Sword Pavilion, Little Divine Peak.
Atop the mountain, the three troublemakers Elder Li spoke of are sitting on a green stone, gazing at the distant cloud sea, enjoying the scenery and listening to the wind, with fruits and delicacies before them.
The wine is a fine one, sneakily taken by Chen Qin from her father's storeroom when she left home; a good immortal-grade brew, if mortals drink it would extend their lives, if cultivators drink it, it would replenish essence and consolidate their foundation.
Lin Feng appears to have drunk a few more cups, with his face slightly flushed, he stands up with his cup to toast Chen Qin.
"Indeed, I mishandled things earlier and offended junior sister, today I apologize here as your senior brother."
"Haha, it's fine, it's fine, no fight no friendship." Saying so, Chen Qin raised her cup but didn't drink.
Sitting between the two, Zhang Ze is happily gnawing on a lamb leg, smiling at the peaceful reunion of the two.
[Lin Feng's favorability with Chen Qin increased to indifferent, hidden condition reached, activating hidden ultimate achievement: I Love Peace]
[Chen Qin's favorability with you increased to friendly, hidden condition reached, activating hidden ultimate achievement: Immortal Demon Companions]
[Lin Feng's favorability with you increased to friendly, hidden condition reached, activating hidden ultimate achievement: Riding Together]
[Stay duration met, Little Divine Peak map unlocked, exploration rate 10%]
[Sword Sect Outer Sect map fog fully cleared, exploration rate 50%, rewards issued]
[Hidden quest refreshed, Elder Li is anxious, forcefully accepted. Please return to the Martial Arts Hall within 30 minutes.]
[Task failure penalty, hung up and beaten by Elder Li for three days, no pleading would help, task completion reward, none.]
[Whether completed or not, follow-up tasks will be activated.]
Seeing the last line, Zhang Ze's face changes dramatically, "Gentlemen, I have urgent matters, must go now."
Before Chen Qin and Lin Feng could speak, Zhang Ze had already jumped behind a pine tree, activating the hidden teleportation array he found while licking maps.
With a flash, he vanished from their sight.
With 40 seconds left on the mission failure countdown, Zhang Ze sees Elder Li looking for him with an iron stick on the Martial Arts Hall's playground.
"Where did you go? Why didn't you come for morning and evening classes?"
Elder Li looks fierce and glaring at Zhang Ze with fire in his eyes.
"I went to the toilet, my digestive system's not been well lately, energy deficiency, spleen weakness, too much dampness, making the stool a bit sticky..."
"Enough, stop making excuses with me, reeking of alcohol. Go, roll over and meditate, don't leave the Martial Arts Hall until dawn."
Elder Li strikes the stick on the ground, causing Zhang Ze to shudder thrice.
"Oh."
By this time, the evening class was over, leaving only a few duty cleaning female disciples in the Martial Arts Hall.
Zhang Ze made a face at the most attractive one and then found a well-ventilated spot to sit cross-legged.
Half an hour later, Elder Li silently appeared behind Zhang Ze holding a big stick like a ghost.
Seeing Zhang Ze indeed meditating and not sleeping, he nods in satisfaction before leaving.
Once Elder Li was gone, Zhang Ze opened a slit in his closed eyes.
[Hidden task, Elder Li's Challenge, completed. Follow-up task to be activated tomorrow, rewards accumulated.]
Looking at the panel jumping out in front of him, Zhang Ze finds it amusing; he never expected Elder Li to have hidden tasks.
Upon resurrecting, Zhang Ze discovered himself reborn in an Immortal Cultivation world.
As expected, Zhang Ze saw his system panel.
Detailed stats of his body are listed, with options to allocate points for adjustments.
But the main quest only contains Immortal Cultivation and Heaven Ascension.
As an ardent game player, being able to treat cultivation as a game, not beating it equals dying for nothing once.
Thus began Zhang Ze's initial days of diligent cultivation with a honeyed mouth.
Though the daily cultivation progress was slow enough to frighten people.
Zhang Ze looked at the seemingly endless main quest progress bar, and his daily accumulation of cultivation.
Doing a simple calculation, he realized it's likely he'd only reach Golden Core before dying from cultivation.
Grinding experience like Ten Li Slope Sword God had no future.
Those thoughts depressed Zhang Ze for days.
Until he accidentally encountered Chen Qin, activating a hidden achievement.
[Drop of Water's Fate]
He then realized his system cunningly hid achievements, side quests, and map exploration.
Just like the main quest, these sides only had a title, occasionally with some time requirements.
To complete them, one had to proactively trigger them.
If you're hoping for system hints to guide you? Hopeless!
One must have subjective initiative.
So, from that day on, the dual calamities of the Seventh Sword Pavilion Outer Sect became the three scourges.