Absolute Death Game

Xiao Buli just wanted to get a closer look when he suddenly heard a cold shout, "Who dares to trespass into Mystic Hollow Palace."

A figure descended from the sky along with the voice.

Holy crap, a Sword Immortal! Xiao Buli got a shock when he saw the person's appearance—the man was dressed in white robes as pure as snow, handsome yet exceedingly cold and detached, standing on a flying sword that hovered mid-air, with another sword radiating a cyan light floating nearby, ready to strike at any moment, and two scabbards strapped to his back.

He didn't dare to be negligent, fearful that he might get chopped without rhyme or reason, so he quickly typed, "My name is Xiao Buli. I accidentally encountered danger and took refuge in Mystic Hollow Palace, and I am grateful to Xuanxu Zi for allowing me to stay here for a few days."

The man's face softened slightly after hearing this, but he still said quite impolitely, "If that's the case, then let it be, but this is not a place for you. Leave quickly. I won't say much since it's your first offense, but mind your life if you dare to intrude again." After speaking, he withdrew his flying sword, waiting for Xiao Buli to leave.

System notification: Because you trespassed into a forbidden area, Gu Yuexuan, the eldest senior brother, has lowered his favorability towards you by 30 points, and your Prestige in Mystic Hollow Palace has decreased by 30 points, currently at 20/300.

Xiao Buli thought, no way, just like that I lost 30 points? If I lose again, won't my Prestige turn cold? Then I might not necessarily die, but I'd probably get kicked out, making this trip to Mystic Hollow Palace useless.

He checked the 'Sword Immortal's' name, Gu Yuexuan (Disciple of Mystic Hollow Palace), and turned out he was an NPC with a green name.

He had never seen such colored names before; they must represent the so-called characters with growth potential. What a pity it wasn't a beast, or else he could've captured it as a pet.

He slowly backed out of the secluded courtyard, thinking that he shouldn't rush to gain Prestige Points and should first ask Qingfeng Mingyue where he could and couldn't go.

As he thought this, he prepared to head back to his guest room, but since it was his first time out, he wasn't very familiar with the paths, and he somehow found himself in a place that looked like a pasture.

A young man dressed in leather armor with sword sleeves appeared before him. This person appeared to be in his twenties, and unlike the cold demeanor of Gu Yuexuan, this robust and handsome young man had a sunny and unrestrained look about him, with a sheathed longsword on his back, carrying a wooden bucket and feeding a flock of Immortal Cranes.

These cranes seemed no different from ordinary Immortal Cranes at first glance, but they were enveloped in a faint white light, suggesting something extraordinary about them.

Upon checking the name, it was another NPC with a green name, Jingci (Disciple of Mystic Hollow Palace). It seemed this person must also have a significant status, but weren't green names supposed to be rare?

The man turned around and saw Xiao Buli, asking with surprise, "Hey, who are you?"

With one meeting already past, Xiao Buli was calm and composed. He opened the etiquette actions panel, chose to bow, and then typed, "My name is Xiao Buli. I took shelter in the valley due to an accident and was taken in by Xuanxu Zi. I was on my way back to the guest room, but I happened upon these Immortal Cranes that you were feeding, please forgive my intrusion."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

After typing, Xiao Buli's heart was extremely uneasy; if his Prestige Points decreased again, he would be finished.

What seemed like an eternity was only a few seconds, but Jingji suddenly burst into laughter, "Haha, the kid knows his stuff. These are the Immortal Realm Spirit Beasts — Auspicious Cloud Immortal Cranes that master brought back from the Immortal Realm. They are quite troublesome to feed."

Xiao Buli's mind quickly hatched a simple plan and he replied, "How troublesome can it be? They seem quite manageable to me."

Jingci seemed unhappy with Xiao Buli's attitude and said, "Hmph, of course, it's easy to say, but you don't understand the art of breeding, how could you see the difficulty in it."

Xiao Buli thought to himself that he had fallen right into his trap, "Frankly, I do have some understanding of Breeding Skills. If you don't believe me, why not let me have a try?"

Seeming unable to resist a challenge, Jingci pondered for a moment, "There's no harm in trying, but if you're just fooling around, don't blame me for being impolite."

System notification: You have triggered the quest — Jingci's Test. You have obtained feeding privileges for the Mystic Hollow Palace Beast Pen. Do you wish to start feeding? Yes/No.

Xiao Buli hesitated with his cursor over the accept button but didn't click immediately. Clearly, if he failed, his Prestige would surely drop more than before, and his trip to Yuxu Palace would be over. On the flip side, if he completed the task well, he would probably earn Jingci's favor and, thereby, gather more Prestige. Success or failure depended on this one attempt.

With that thought, he took a deep breath, rubbed his knuckles, his gaze electric, and lightly tapped the confirm option.

The game began.

Xiao Buli breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he entered the scene; feeding the Immortal Cranes seemed quite similar to that little pig-feeding minigame. It was the same, with a little figure dropping food down for a group of Immortal Cranes eating below. Apart from using Immortal Cranes instead of fat pigs, there didn't seem to be any difference.

But after only a few moves, he realized something was wrong; these Immortal Cranes weren't waiting for the food to fall like the pigs he had fed before. Instead, they kept moving around. Xiao Buli had to calculate the hunger level of each Immortal Crane while also estimating the speed of their movement to adjust his timing. Suddenly, the difficulty of the operation had increased significantly.

Xiao Buli couldn't afford to relax at all. His fingers moved swiftly, his gaze shifting continuously from one Immortal Crane to another, and calculations ran non-stop in his mind. The intense concentration caused his stomach to cramp, but at that moment, he could care less about that.

For the first time, he fully immersed himself in the task, no longer leisurely as he was when feeding pigs; this time, he was staking everything on it.

The twenty minutes of feeding time felt as long as a century. As one Immortal Crane after another became full and flew out of the Beast Pen, Xiao Buli's spiritual power also neared its limit. Finally, the last Immortal Crane was satisfied, he exhaled and collapsed, almost falling, onto the chair.

Thankfully, he had the foundation of a level 10 Breeding Skill. Each level of the Breeding Skill increased the overall feeding time by ten percent. His level 10 Breeding Skill had doubled his feeding time; otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have been able to pass this time. He looked at the feeding evaluation.

System Notification: Seven Immortal Cranes have increased their spiritual energy storage by eating enough Spirit Bait. Two Immortal Cranes remained unchanged due to consuming insufficient Spirit Bait. Three Immortal Cranes have their spiritual energy congested due to overeating and require guidance.

Breeding Evaluation: C——Passable.

Xiao Buli thought to himself that there was a problem with eating too much. Indeed, Immortal Cranes are difficult to serve. If he had known earlier, he would not have fed them so vigorously.

With some trepidation in his heart, he wondered if his results were good or bad, but Jingci looked at him with a surprised expression, "What did you do before, lad? Your breeding is not bad at all."

System Notification: Due to your outstanding performance, Jingji's fondness for you has increased by 20 points, and your Prestige at the Mystic Hollow Palace has increased by 20 points. You are now Neutral, 40/300.

Thank heavens, at least it increased a bit. Xiao Buli finally relaxed within.

"Hehe, not bad, not bad. It's mainly because it was my first time feeding and I wasn't familiar with the temperament of the Immortal Cranes. If I feed them often, I should be able to improve," he said with an apparently casual demeanor.

Upon hearing this, Jingci seemed somewhat embarrassed and said, "Why don't you help me feed them a few more times? Honestly, feeding these silly birds is both tiring and boring. If it weren't for the Contribution Value for my sect, I would have quit long ago."

Xiao thought he was just waiting for this opportunity. It seemed the first batch of Prestige points would come from this Jingci. He immediately responded, "It would be my honor."

With a week's experience of pig feeding as a foundation and the boost from a level 10 Breeding Skill (doubling the feeding time), Xiao Buli's subsequent feedings went smoothly. He easily handled the second feeding, earning a high evaluation of B-minus. However, this time he only increased Jingci's fondness and Mystic Hollow Palace's Prestige Points by 10 points each.

It appeared that the Prestige rewards from repeated breeding tasks were diminishing.

After continuing until past four o'clock, Xiao Buli completed two more feedings, increasing Jingci's fondness by another 20 points and reaching Neutral 70/300 in the Prestige of the Mystic Hollow Palace.

Xiao took a short break, ready to go for another round to push his Prestige to 100, but Jingci seemed somewhat distracted.

After Xiao finished one more round of feeding, Jingci smiled and said, "Let's call it a day, shall we? If these silly birds eat any more, they might burst. Xiao, do you have time tomorrow? If you can, I hope you'll continue to feed them for me for a while."

Just as Xiao was about to agree, there was a sudden boom, shaking the entire screen. Xiao wondered what was happening as he looked around. Not far away, a building with carved beams and painted rafters was billowing smoke.

"Damn it, that girl has blown up the Alchemy Furnace again! No good, she's coming this way, let's get out of here quick." Saying this, the figure flickered and vanished into thin air as if invisible.

Although Xiao was confused, he could tell something wasn't right and also prepared to take off, but it was too late. A ball of fire suddenly exploded next to the Beast Pen, not with great force. When the flames cleared, a girl in fiery red clothes appeared before Xiao, the patterned fire apparently the result of some kind of teleportation Spell she had used.

The girl was quite pretty, her jet-black hair simply tied with a golden ring and devoid of any decoration. She held a short rod akin to a Wizard's magic wand in one hand, while her other hand cradled a large-bellied gourd, looking around furtively.

"Second senior brother, why are you running? Come on, come and try the Myriad Turn Silver Elixir I've just concocted!" After calling out for a while with no response, the girl felt somewhat embarrassed. Turning to Xiao, she flashed a malicious look and spoke with a sweet voice, "Hey, handsome, you're lucky today. Come try my freshly concocted Myriad Turn Golden Elixir!"

Xiao clicked on the girl's name with his mouse, Ji Xiangyun (Disciple of the Mystic Hollow Palace)—it was yet another NPC with a green name.

PS: Starting from the 26th, there will be a category image rotation recommendation, with two updates every day.