Jin Hao sat cross-legged, eyes locked on the glowing shop screen.
The [Sect Shop] was insane.
Thousands of items. Too many. His brain was starting to fuzz from all the shiny options.
Row after row of items shimmered. Manuals with names like Iron Blood Bone Scripture and Golden Ox Tempering Path. Bottles of Marrow-Boiling Elixirs. Glowing hammers. Weighted clothes. Spirit meat jerky?
There was even something called Soul-Linked Punch Dummy with a tag that read: "Screams when you punch it. Very motivating."
Jin Hao raised an eyebrow.
"Who the hell made these descriptions? Screaming dummy? What is this, Cultivator Fitness Vlog?"
He scrolled more. Some items blinked in and out of view, like the system was loading ancient junk from deep storage.
Every item had a small tag on it.
[Contribution Cost: 120]
[Contribution Cost: 1,000]
[Contribution Cost: 99,999]
Didn't matter.
His top corner still said:
[∞ Contribution Points]
"Still there," he whispered. "Okay. That's not a bug. That's a full-blown cheat code."
He tapped one of the cheap ones. A basic Bone-Strengthening Pill. It looked boring. Small bottle. Brown label. Probably tasted like boiled shoes.
"Start small," he muttered. "Don't wanna break the universe first day on the job."
His finger hovered over the [Buy] button.
Then he paused.
From the screen, the courtyard view shifted. Jin Hao saw Wang Jie again.
Still kneeling.
Still covered in dust.
But now, the man was speaking.
"I was useless."
His voice was hoarse. Like he hadn't spoken to anyone in days. Maybe longer.
"I let the sect fall. I let the elders die. I let the beasts eat the root gardens. I let the traitors walk away."
He bowed lower. His forehead touched the stone.
"I couldn't even protect the outer gate. I couldn't keep the records from burning. I—I let them all scatter."
Jin Hao stared at the screen.
Wang Jie wasn't looking at the camera. He didn't even seem to know he was being watched.
He was praying.
"To the last ancestor," the disciple said. "To whoever is left watching this place… if you can hear me. If you can judge me. Please."
His shoulders trembled.
"Give me one more task. One more punishment. I'll crawl through the ashes. I'll start from nothing. I'll sweep every stone. I'll live in silence. Just… just don't erase me. Please don't erase the sect."
Jin Hao rubbed the side of his head.
"Dude," he muttered. "You're killing me."
He backed out of the pill screen.
Searched again.
This time, he scrolled to the top of the list. Not the cheap stuff. He wanted the best.
Wang Jie's hands were shaking. His knees were scraped red against the stone. Blood mixed with dust. His lips cracked.
"I know I wasn't strong enough," he said. "But I'm still here. That has to mean something, right?"
He bowed again.
Jin Hao leaned closer. His heart thumped louder than he expected. It wasn't the normal game rush. This felt weird. Real. Like something ancient was breathing through the screen.
"I'll do anything," Wang Jie said. "Please. Just… don't let the Jade Immortal Sect vanish like dust in the wind."
Jin Hao swallowed and looked at the shop again.
He lowered his hand.
The glow changed. The air around the shop screen almost felt heavier, like it knew what he was doing.
"Alright," he whispered. "Screw starting small."
He tapped:
[Chaos Dragon Body Strengthening Manual]
The icon pulsed. The description popped up.
[Forged from the body scriptures of ancient dragon emperors. Tears muscles apart and reforges bones with cosmic pressure. Each page contains the roar of a star-eating beast]
"Yeah, that sounds exactly like something that should kill a man," Jin Hao said happily. "Perfect."
He tapped again:
[Chaos Bone Strengthening Pill]
[Chaos Body Strengthening Pill]
[Chaos Meridian Strengthening Pill]
The pills shimmered. Their glow felt… heavier. Not visual heavy. Soul heavy.
He felt it in his fingers.
"Hope your stomach's made of steel, Wang Jie," he muttered.
[Confirm Purchase?]
Then he clicked Confirm on all four.
The courtyard cam flickered.
In front of Wang Jie, the air bent. The stone floor cracked slightly. A faint hum filled the ruined space. Like the sky itself was holding its breath.
Then, four items descended like falling stars.
One scroll, wrapped in scaled leather that shimmered with draconic light.
Three pill bottles. Each one radiated qi so dense, the dust around them scattered.
Wang Jie gasped.
His hands trembled.
"W-What…?"
He reached forward like he was touching something sacred.
"No," he whispered. "No, this can't be…"
He bowed again. But this time, it wasn't in sorrow. It was in awe.
"Ancestor… You heard me…"
Jin Hao stared at the screen.
His chest felt tight.
"…Yeah. I heard you."
Wang Jie uncorked the first bottle.
The qi inside spilled into the air like steam off boiling oil. The grass around him withered. Stone cracked louder. Even the jade lanterns flickered and went dim.
"Okay, maybe don't take that all at once," Jin Hao muttered.
Too late.
Wang Jie downed it.
The moment the Chaos Bone Strengthening Pill touched his tongue, his entire body locked up.
His eyes went wide.
His back arched.
Then—
"AAAAUUUUUGHHH!"
Jin Hao flinched. He almost dropped his comm-tab.
"Holy—"
The screen shook. Wang Jie fell over, twitching. His hands clawed at the ground. Veins bulged across his neck and arms like black ropes.
"Was that supposed to happen? That didn't look normal."
Wang Jie rolled onto his side, coughing blood. Steam poured from his mouth. His skin flushed red, then turned pale, then dark again like it couldn't decide what color it wanted to die in.
Then Jin Hao felt it.
Not pain. Not exactly.
But something deep in his bones flinched. Like a phantom echo of everything Wang Jie was going through.
He touched his chest.
"Why do I feel weird?"
A headache rippled behind his eyes. Not a sharp one. More like pressure. Like someone had clapped his soul between two bricks.
He looked back at the screen. Wang Jie had already opened the second bottle.
"Oh no. Don't do it."
He did it.
"AaaaaAAGHH—!!"
This time the scream echoed through the courtyard like thunder. Dust exploded around him. His muscles twisted unnaturally. Skin tore. Blood sprayed.
Jin Hao groaned and grabbed his arm.
"Why am I feeling this? Is this game feature or a health hazard?"
Wang Jie didn't stop. He crushed the last bottle and threw the third pill into his mouth like a possessed man.
Everything went still.
Then his body exploded in light.
Golden qi spiraled around him. Not the pretty kind. The kind that looked like it was trying to rip him apart from the inside.
Jin Hao gritted his teeth. He wasn't screaming like Wang Jie, but his arms were shaking. Something was wrong.
There was a link.
He could feel it now.
Not full pain. But shadows of it. Like echoes from a shared thread. His stomach turned. His breath caught.
"This isn't normal. This is not normal."
The screen trembled again.
Wang Jie collapsed.
Steam rolled off his body in waves. The courtyard looked like someone dropped a lightning bomb in the middle of it. The jade statues were cracked. Pillars scorched.
But… he was breathing.
Barely.
Jin Hao leaned back, hand still on his chest.
"Dude… what the hell did I just do to him?"
Wang Jie didn't move. He looked half-dead.
Jin Hao stared at the screen. There was nothing left to click. No pills to give. No buttons flashing.
So he did what bored players do when they can't interfere anymore.
He zoomed out.
The courtyard view shrank. The screen pulled back until the whole sect compound came into view.
Broken halls. Cracked walls. Overgrown paths and ruined towers.
Then it zoomed out again.
A full map appeared.
It was… massive.
Mountains. Wastelands. Craters. Cities.
And there—marked in glowing gold—was a small dot labeled:
[Jade Immortal Sect]
One green dot blinked under it.
[Wang Jie – Alive]
Jin Hao blinked.
"…That's new."
He tapped the gold label.
The map pulsed.
Then a new tab opened.
[Sect History: Jade Immortal Sect]
The first line alone made him sit up straighter.
[One of the Five Pillar Sects of the Immortal Cultivation World. The Strongest Sect of the Eastern Wastelands. Known for its unbroken bloodline of Immortal Founders and their mastery of body cultivation arts. Peak population: 1,300 core disciples, 3,500 inner disciples, 9,000 outer disciples, and thousands of elders under its command]
Jin Hao's eyes widened.
"You were that big?"
He kept reading.
[Ruled the Eastern Wastelands for tens of thousands of years. Known for cultivating jade body techniques. Protected the Wasteland routes from demon invasions for ten generations straight.]
Then came the last part.
The font turned red.
[Betrayed from within.]
[Core vaults sealed by the traitors. Elders slaughtered during the Waking Moon Rebellion. The last known loyalists were hunted down. Survivors scattered. The sect was declared 'Extinct' by the Council of Nine Heavens.]
Jin Hao read the last line three times.
Then whispered to himself.
"Wang Jie… you were the only one who stayed."
He looked back at the courtyard.
The broken gates. The ruined statues. The disciple lying in the middle of it all, burned and broken but breathing.
Jin Hao felt quiet for a moment.
Then leaned forward.
"Alright," he said softly. "If you're crawling through hell for this place…"
He touched the screen.
"…Then I guess I'm not just playing anymore."