The Game with Fairies

“Brother Li, we went to the city today and saw the ruins of a battlefield from thousands of years ago!” Guan Xiaoshun excitedly shared the day’s journey.

“In the center of the city, there’s a broken bridge, and beneath it, the ground is split open with a li long trench.

It’s said to have been made by a Sword Immortal during ancient times.”

“When we approached the trench, we could still faintly feel the intense immortal Sword Qi within it, so awe-inspiring and supreme that it deterred us from getting too close.”

“One sword strike and the Sword Qi lingers for a thousand years… it’s truly astonishing.”

“The cultivators from the mythological era of ancient times were really incredible!”

“If only we had been born in the ancient times!”

Guan Xiaoshun marveled, his eyes filled with longing.

In this era, where true immortals have disappeared and the long-lived are extinct, the ancient times of thousands of years ago shine brilliantly for contemporary cultivators.

It’s said that in that era, true immortals walked the earth, demigods established realms in the heavens, and deities herded souls in the wilderness… there are all sorts of bizarre and mysterious legends.

Every cultivator of this era yearned for that mythological age when the path to immortality was not yet severed.

Li Muyang, however, glanced at the excited border town youth and shook his head.

“If we, mere small fry, were placed thousands of years ago, we’d have to run even faster facing that city-destroying Sword Immortal.”

The mythological era was indeed brilliant, but that was for the so-called protagonists and the favored children of the heavens.

Ordinary folks in that era would have fared even worse.

Inside Nanjiang City, Fairy Yu perished, and three forces clashed in battle.

Strong human cultivators, demon kings, and half-demon generals… each harbored their own schemes.

But the majority of ordinary civilians in the city didn’t even have the qualifications to enter this deadly game.

They could only become a series of cold death count statistics in the aftermath of the turmoil.

Li Muyang had no desire to return to such a mythological era.

Not to mention that current signs suggest that era was even more dangerous than imagined.

Fairy Yu established a Nanjiang City to protect living beings, and although the group of demons within the city harbored sky-high resentment, they dared not easily leave the city walls.

The demon king leader like Crimson Flame King would need to steal treasures for self-defense before daring to leave the city.

In the wilderness of that era, who knows what dangers lurk?

Li Muyang’s words filled with despair took Guan Xiaoshun by surprise.

Guan Xiaoshun scratched his head and said, “Brother Li is thoughtful. If we demon cultivators were to go back to ancient times, encountering a Sword Immortal would indeed mean a quicker death.”

Guan Xiaoshun gave an awkward smile.

Li Muyang rolled his eyes: “Stop thinking about all that nonsense, hurry up and finish eating, then let’s get to work.”

……

These outer disciples had just arrived at Demon Sword City today, yet they were immediately assigned a task.

There was no time to rest.

But as members of the Demon Refining Sect’s Outer Sect, they had to obey orders.

Even if the task assigned was ridiculous, like having these outer disciples search the city for a lost pet dog…

“What kind of precious dog requires so many of us to search for it overnight?”

Under the dark night sky, Guan Xiaoshun and Li Muyang walked side by side through the empty alleys of Demon Sword City, muttering under their breath.

They weren’t the only ones out searching for the dog that night. The Demon Sword City’s garrison and the city lord’s cultivators were also on the hunt.

Almost all the low-level cultivators in the city who could be mobilized were dispatched to search for the missing dog.

Unfortunately, Demon Sword City was too large, and the cultivators stationed there were not numerous.

The many cultivators scattered throughout the vast city were like a drop in the ocean.

Li Muyang kept a vigilant watch around him, saying, “Be careful. Finding the dog is secondary. Staying alive is what’s most important.”

According to a local named Liu, there were resentful spirits from ancient times wandering around Demon Sword City, often soul-snatching in the dark.

Hence, ordinary people in Demon Sword City did not venture out at night.

Those who came out to search for the dog were all cultivators with some level of cultivation.

Moreover, they worked in pairs to watch over each other to prevent being harmed by resentful spirits.

Li Muyang wasn’t concerned about finding the dog or the reward offered by the city lord’s mansion, but he was very concerned about his own life.

This wasn’t a game where you could reload a save after dying…

Li Muyang, holding a lantern, kept a watchful eye in all directions.

The area he and Guan Xiaoshun were assigned to search was completely uninhabited.

The large district was desolate and silent.

Inside those old houses that had been vacant for thousands of years, everything was frozen in time at the moment Demon Sword City was destroyed.

When Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun pushed open the doors to enter, they could even see unfinished meals on the dining tables.

Like other things in the city, these meals from thousands of years ago were frozen in time from thousands of years ago.

Somehow, an invisible force preserved them and prevented decay.

Guan Xiaoshun tried to move the chopsticks on the table but found that they were as if welded in place, not budging at all.

Guan Xiaoshun exclaimed in amazement.

“What a magical city. Time in this city really seems to have been frozen thousands of years ago.”

Even the meals on the table were intact as if the homeowners had just left.

Li Muyang shook his head: “Let’s get out of here. This house is creepy and makes me very uncomfortable.”

Li Muyang instinctively resisted entering such houses.

As someone who was afraid of ghosts, seeing these empty, desolate abandoned houses almost triggered his PTSD.

Who knows how many horror movies and novels feature evil spirits jumping out from such places.

Fortunately, although the house was eerie, Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun left safely without encountering any danger.

No resentful spirits jumped out from the shadows.

After leaving the courtyard safely, Li Muyang breathed a sigh of relief.

“Let’s just search around casually. Let’s not enter houses anymore.”

The idea of resentful spirits wandering in the dark was terrifying enough for Li Muyang.

Guan Xiaoshun also nodded in agreement, “Brother Li is right. This city feels creepy.”

The vast streets and houses all maintained their appearance from thousands of years ago.

After nightfall, the view was desolate and cold, and one could almost hear each other’s breathing.

It was like a scene straight out of a ghost story.

Even if Guan Xiaoshun was braver, he was feeling a bit uneasy at this moment.

The two walked side by side on the empty streets, planning to muddle through the search and then return to report that they had found nothing.

But they hadn’t gone far when suddenly came a sinister and eerie low howl from the shadows ahead on the street.

The howling was fragmented, like that of a mouse.

However, the noise was much louder than that of a mouse.

Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun were startled and immediately took a defensive stance.

But from the shadows of the street emerged a huge transparent rat shrouded in black mist, roaring as it pounced toward Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun.

The giant rat was ablaze with a ghastly green ghostly fire.

The sight of the ferocious giant rat engulfed in flames was all too familiar.

Li Muyang’s eyes widened in an instant.

This… is this the ghost of the Crimson Flame King?

He hadn’t faced him in the game, and now he was encountering his ghost in reality?!

F*ck!

Without a second thought, Li Muyang grabbed Guan Xiaoshun and turned to run.

---

We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welcome!

Discord Server: .gg/HGaByvmVuw