Chapter 26

Qian Kun Monastery

Cai Minghou waved his hands and said, “There’s no rush on my mission. I’ve got half a month! Brother Tian, go and do your mission first! I have go and level up. I can’t stand on the sidelines forever.”

“That’s fine too!” Meng Jingtian smiled and nodded.

This was a game, after all. Even if he was able, it wasn’t like he could help him with everything, right? What would Cai Minghou play then?

Cai Minghou turned to an NPC behind him and ordered, “Someone, bring a horse over!”

An NPC that did odd jobs for the mercenary company brought over a black horse. While it was an ordinary black horse, an ordinary player would have to spend at least one hundred gold coins to buy one.

This was the advantage of ‘identity’, and it was also one of the unique points of this ‘unfair’ online game. While everyone started as players, once they entered the game and ‘reincarnated’, their starting points would be completely different.

“Thanks!” Meng Jingtian said as he took the reins of the horse.

The Hidden Dragon Mountains were outside of Black Tortoise City, and this sort of field zone didn’t have a teleportation portal that led there, so he had to make his way there through his own power.

This ordinary black horse was not precious to Meng Jingtian. What was truly precious was the affection and camaraderie Cai Minghou had exhibited in his arrangements.

As the sun set, casting its twilight glow across the skies, a horse and its rider rode across the stone-paved roads.

By the time Meng Jingtian had arrived at the Hidden Dragon Mountains, it was already night. Under the light of the stars and moon, the Hidden Dragon Mountains truly did appear like some slumbering dragon.

As it was late, Meng Jingtian decided to log off and climb the mountains tomorrow. He had played for a very long time today, and he was beginning to grow tired.

Just when he was about to log off, the system made an announcement.

“System Announcement: Congratulations to Player Qin Mengmeng for establishing the guild ‘All Under Heaven’. All those under heaven with ambition are welcome to join!”

“System Announcement: Congratulations to Player Qin Mengmeng’s guild ‘All Under Heaven’ for being the first guild to be established. System Reward: Title (Orange): ‘World’s Number One Guild’!”

“Qin Mengmeng?” Meng Jingtian was taken aback by this announcement. He then realized that this person had probably established the guild in Seven-foot-sword Immortal’s stead, to avoid having to reveal Seven-foot-sword Immortal’s true name.

He then hastily opened up the auction screen.

As expected, ten minutes ago, the Guild Formation Token he had put up for auction had been sold for four million, five hundred thousand gold coins. It was just that he had failed to see the system’s notification.

With this, Meng Jingtian had suddenly become one of the richest players in the game in terms of in-game currency.

Meng Jingtian softly smiled as he logged off.

Luck truly was a vital factor! In his last game, he had been born into a new-player village with numerous experts.

All of the players had essentially the same basic stats. There had been no ‘identity’.

He couldn’t compete against guilds for bosses, and he couldn’t compete for missions against people who specialized in researching the rules of missions, so in the early stage of the game, he had been bullied around badly. Unlike this game, his luck in that one had been truly terrible.

Meng Jingtian couldn’t help but look forward to the future. At this time, the massive sum of 4.5 million gold coins truly didn’t seem like much.

The next day, after a night’s good rest, Meng Jingtian energetically logged in.

It was also morning in the game, the golden sunlight contrasting with the verdant slopes of the Hidden Dragon Mountains. Meng Jingtian quickly rode his horse into the mountains.

Just as Cai Minghou had said, the Hidden Dragon Mountains were full of Level 40-50 monsters. At the current stage of the game, players wouldn’t dare to try and enter this zone.

Shortly after entering the mountains, Meng Jingtian ran into a pack of level 45 white wolves.

A normal player rushing in would have been met with instant death.

But as he was a god, the white wolves had a Friendliness to him of 75. Not only did the white wolves not attack him, a small white wolf curiously ran over to him.

Meng Jingtian raised an eyebrow. As the location of Qian Kun Monastery, the Hidden Dragon Mountains had a completely different atmosphere compared to Black Crow Forest. He could sense a vague spirituality in the air, and even the air felt much fresher. It was not at all like the oppressive air of Black Crow Forest.

After passing through the wolf pack, Meng Jingtian ran into a pack of Level 50 rhinos, an elite Level 50 yellow-spotted tiger…

Finally, he arrived at a precipitous mountain. The ‘tippy-top of the mountain’ that Cai Minghou talked about was probably the peak of this mountain. From the base, Meng Jingtian could already make out a Daoist monastery at the summit.

But the problem was that this mountain was incredibly steep, almost ninety degrees. Even after making a complete circle, he failed to find anything like stairs.

Looking up, he saw the mountain thrusting into the clouds. How the hell was he supposed to get up there?

“It really is at the very tip!” Meng Jingtian bitterly smiled as he scratched his head.

How was it that the Daoists of Qian Kun Monastery went out? Could they all fly?

After some hesitation, Meng Jingtian shouted at the monastery, but perhaps because the mountain was too tall, nobody paid him any attention.

Since he was already here, Meng Jingtian couldn’t easily give up. With no better method, he decided to try climbing.

After climbing for half an hour, he looked up and saw the clouds engulfing the peak above him. There was no telling how much longer he had to climb!

And the closer he got to the peak, the steeper the slopes became. It was like they had been cut by a sword. Meng Jingtian soon found that there were no more edges to grab onto, and was immediately faced with a dilemma.

As the common saying went, it was easier to go up the mountain than get back down, and that wasn’t even considering a steep mountain like this one. He could go neither up nor down.

Bang!

Meng Jingtian took out Stupa and hacked at the mountain’s side, determined to continue climbing.

Since he couldn’t retreat, he would advance!

…Until there was truly no other way, until he had expended all his strength.

Meng Jingtian wasn’t one of those elite, top-class gamers. He might have lacked oustanding gaming skill, but he at least had a heart that would never give up until he achieved his goal.

Many times, this just seemed like laughable brute strength to bystanders, but sometimes, a little brute strength was required!

Meng Jingtian was just about to cut into the mountain with his saber and continue his climb when he heard a frantic voice. “Waitwaitwait! Young friend, please stop!”

“Eh? Someone there?” Meng Jingtian was astonished. He had been climbing for half an hour and was very high in the air. There were even thin wisps of cloud around him. How could there be someone else here?

Following the voice, he saw an old Daoist with an otherworldly air approaching him, riding on a giant red-crowned crane. He had a horsetail whisk at his waist, and his body, while slender, was packed with muscle.

“Level 65!” Meng Jingtian exclaimed. This old Daoist wasn’t the target of his mission, Master Tian Ying, but his level was pretty high!

“This stone mountain was moved here by the ancestor of Qian Kun Monastery, Celestial Qian Kun, using the Mountain Moving Art, and it was carved out by his sword. It mustn’t be damaged!” The old Daoist spoke with great heartache as he looked at the part of the mountain that Meng Jingtian had hacked at with his saber.

“This old Daoist has witnessed your persistence. You may enter my Qian Kun Monastery! If you would!” He waved his whisk, and another red-crowned crane flew out of the clouds and to Meng Jingtian’s side.