"I knew it! After transmigrating into the game, the second playthrough was never going to be this simple!"
Wang Mu stared at the two blades behind the statue.
The character models in the game differed from real-life statues, and this one was so large that Wang Mu couldn't be entirely sure.
But the appearance of the two stone weapons behind the statue was all too familiar!
The Sky-cutting Sword and the Shadow Hong Saber—the very weapons he had used when he cleared the game.
Could it be that this isn't a restart, but a thousand years after the ending? Thinking of this, Wang Mu was stunned for a moment.
A thousand years had passed in this world; surely, drastic changes must have occurred...
Wang Mu looked at the statue and remained silent.
"Young Wang, now that you're here in Anle Village, you'll have to work hard and sustain yourself. It doesn't matter if you don't know anything; many things can be learned!"
The Auntie sized Wang Mu up. "I wonder what your thoughts are?" she asked.
Wang Mu assessed his own condition. He had transmigrated with his entire body, but his physical fitness was, in all aspects, quite ordinary.
In the game, performing these tasks only required spending Action Points. The protagonist would then automatically work, and his skill proficiency would increase. It was essentially just a matter of clicking the mouse and managing time. Considering the differences between reality and the game, things like hunting or Mining might be difficult... But in reality, killing a chicken, Fishing, or chopping wood should be easy, right?
"My cooking skills are decent," Wang Mu said. "I can handle slaughtering a chicken and Fishing."
"Oh?"
The Auntie's eyes lit up. "You have this ability?"
The look in the Auntie's eyes made Wang Mu feel a bit uneasy.
"Come, come, come! I was just planning to stew some clear mushroom chicken soup. Why don't you slaughter a chicken for me to see?"
The Auntie led Wang Mu to a backyard surrounded by a four-meter-high fence, enclosing some strangely shaped, colorful chickens.
For some reason, Wang Mu found it odd. These chickens were robust, with sharp, alert eyes. Compared to the domesticated chickens on Earth, they looked like the overlords of their kind. Considering this was an Otherworld, Wang Mu didn't think much of it. They were just livestock, after all. How could they compare to human strength?
Outside the fence, there was a chopping block, and hanging over it was a colorful chicken ready for slaughter.
For Wang Mu, who had grown up in the countryside, slaughtering a chicken wasn't difficult. You just had to grab its wings, hold its head down, pluck the feathers from its neck, then slit its throat with a knife to let the blood drain...
The Auntie looked at Wang Mu with an encouraging gaze.
Wang Mu rolled up his sleeves and walked over, his hands skillfully reaching for the chicken's wings...
However, just as he was about to grasp the wing, the colorful chicken suddenly squawked loudly, flapping its wings like fans toward Wang Mu's arms!
WHOOSH!
A strong gust of air swept over him. Wang Mu felt a tremendous force hit his arm, as if it had been struck by a hundred-jin sledgehammer. His entire body was thrown off balance, and he stumbled back more than ten steps before falling to the ground...
Wang Mu was dumbfounded.
What in the world? I can't even catch a single chicken now? In that instant, Wang Mu even felt as if he'd been slapped by a boxing champion.
The Auntie watched this scene, a few fine lines appearing on her forehead.
"Young Wang, this chicken is called a Fengyu Chicken. Killing it isn't so easy," the Auntie smiled. "You're a bit frail. Slaughtering a chicken is a skilled task, not as simple as it looks."
Wang Mu stood up, shaking his arm, which felt sore and numb, as if the blood flow had been cut off.
Forget slaughtering a chicken; I was taken out in one hit without even touching it... Wang Mu thought to himself, Something feels off.
"Well, I should still be good at Fishing," Wang Mu mumbled, feeling a bit unwilling to give up.
In his previous life, he had a decent understanding of fishing in reality. He might not have always returned with a full creel, but he certainly wasn't one to come back empty-handed.
"Fine. I was just about to go to Old Yu to buy some Little White Carp."
The Auntie nodded. "Come with me to Yunlai Creek then. He's the only old fellow in our village with any real skill in this area. If he had another fishing companion, he'd probably be quite pleased."
With that, the Auntie led Wang Mu out of the village, heading to Yunlai Creek, located several miles away.
This was a stream that meandered down from Gu Yun Mountain.
Though called a stream, Wang Mu realized upon arrival that it was actually a large river. It spanned dozens of meters wide, and from its bank, one could see lush, towering trees on the opposite side, as well as the faint, cloud-enshrouded outline of Gu Yun Mountain.
The creek's surface was tranquil, with only the occasional breeze sending ripples across it.
Not far away, an old man sat on a wooden coffin by the shore. He held a bamboo rod and wore linen robes and a conical bamboo hat. His hair was white, and he sat as motionless as an old monk absorbed in fishing.
This scene felt quite familiar to Wang Mu.
I should be able to handle this.
Wang Mu nodded. I've transmigrated here and can't even kill a chicken. Fishing, at least, should be a breeze.
The Auntie remained silent, simply waiting quietly, clearly not wanting to disturb the fisherman.
Wang Mu also waited, understanding that fishing required stillness, like calm water.
Soon, the surface of the water rippled slightly, and the float dipped. A fish must be biting.
Time to reel it in.
Wang Mu watched the old man.
The next moment, the old man opened his eyes, extended an arm as withered as a dead branch, and flicked his wrist gently!
BOOM!
A visible torrent of water surged up along the bamboo pole and exploded where the float had been, instantly creating three or four water columns over ten meters tall.
Fat, glistening fish darted through the water columns like phantoms.
The old man, however, was unhurried. He lifted the bamboo rod and flicked it. The fishing line, like the embroidery needle in the hands of the Eastern Sect Leader, wove through the water columns; in mere moments, he had threaded more than ten plump White Carp, each at least a meter long.
With another flick, the fishing line flew to the shore, and the fish slid off the line into a bamboo basket submerged in the water.
Wang Mu stared, his mouth slightly agape. His mind once again filled with question marks.
You call this Fishing?
"Old Yu, not a great haul, huh?" the Auntie called out from behind with a loud voice. "Why is it all these Little White Carp? Our village hasn't tasted Red Bream in ages."
Wang Mu looked at the bamboo basket; each fish in it was at least a meter long.
Little White Carp? Are these seriously carp? Carp this big... Wang Mu was dazed for a moment. This Newbie Village in the second playthrough seems seriously off.
The old man turned, sighed, and said, "You know how things have been lately. Yunlai Creek only has these Little White Carp to tide us over. What is it? Is something wrong?"
The Auntie nodded, about to speak.
Suddenly, dark clouds roiled in the distance, and thunder rumbled as if darkness were enveloping the land. The sky, which had been reasonably clear, changed color in an instant.
"I did have something to discuss, but let's head back first."
The Auntie's expression grew solemn. She glanced into the distance, then said to Wang Mu, "Little Wang, an Immortal over at Gu Yun Mountain is undergoing a Tribulation again. The Spiritual Energy is chaotic, making it unsuitable for work, and Fierce Beasts even come out to hunt. We need to get back to the village."
"Oh, okay, okay…" Wang Mu nodded subconsciously.
Wait a minute? An Immortal Crossing Tribulation? Isn't this a Martial Arts World?
Wang Mu's face changed.
"An Immortal Crossing Tribulation?" Wang Mu asked in a low voice.
"Exactly. You should know about it, right?" The Auntie seemed puzzled. "On the other side of Gu Yun Mountain, there's a Cultivation Sect, the Shangxiao Sword Sect. For the past few months, it's said an Immortal there has been breaking through and attempting to transcend a Heavenly Tribulation. This has caused natural phenomena and has slightly affected our nearby villages and towns. Every so often, disciples from the Immortal Sect come down the mountain to give us, the nearby villages, some compensation."
Hearing this, and after some further probing questions, Wang Mu finally understood.
Got it. So, a thousand years later, this damned game has become an Immortal World?
Back in the village, the Auntie told Wang Mu to rest for a few days and gave him a set of clean linen clothes.
In the clean wooden hut, Wang Mu lay on a wooden bed piled with dry grass.
Outside, the rain poured heavily. The sound of raindrops beat against Wang Mu's heart, a relentless drip, drip, drip.
Purple arcs of lightning flashed through the wooden window, illuminating Wang Mu's face, capturing his bewildered expression in a fleeting snapshot.
I've transmigrated, can't even kill a chicken, and—holy crap—it turns out this is an Immortal World. The second playthrough isn't a restart; it's set a thousand years after the game's ending... The Martial Arts World has evolved into an Immortal World...
Wang Mu closed his eyes.
I was so confident when I first arrived... Now, though...
Wang Mu didn't hesitate, calling out in his mind:
"System Dad?"
There was no response.
"No system, fine! But I don't even inherit any character abilities? And it's turned into an Immortal World where even a chicken can one-shot me..."
Wang Mu was utterly speechless.
The most ridiculous part was this:
A thousand years. The world has changed beyond recognition—people, places, everything has transformed. The map itself is different! My own character has become a historical figure. And those heroines I once romanced... they've probably long since turned to dust, haven't they?
That Auntie and Old Yu in Newbie Village are as strong as Superman, yet they're supposedly ordinary villagers without Spirit Roots... Wang Mu recalled the day's encounters. If actual Cultivators are even stronger… Damn it, this feels even worse than Earth Online.
On Earth Online, even though I was just an ordinary person, I could at least slack off for a lifetime. In an Immortal World with such high Combat Power, reality isn't a game. With my meager talent and aptitude, forget Cultivation; even Martial Arts Training seems like a distant dream. After all, in the game, Martial Arts Training and learning skills were just a matter of clicking the mouse and assigning Action Points—a piece of cake! In reality... Hah, even killing a chicken is hard. If I try to slack off here, who knows what day I'll kick the bucket.
With this thought, Wang Mu, restless, got up from the wooden bed. He stepped out of the hut and, braving the heavy rain, approached the statue in the village.
The history of the statue was said to be very ancient; Wang Mu had asked about it when he returned to the village.
It was said to have been built by Dongfang Mu right after he opened the Gate of Apocalypse, to commemorate his return to Anle Village after remembering his homeland.
After that, Dongfang Mu disappeared, and the statue remained, preserved to this day.
A faint golden glow, like a protective shield, enveloped the village.
This was the Evil-Avoiding Golden Light Talisman, a Talisman given by disciples from the Immortal Sect to the villages and towns at the foot of Gu Yun Mountain. It was to prevent them from being attacked by Fierce Beasts and Demons during this recent period.
"Dongfang Mu..."
Wang Mu gazed at the statue, sighed, and touched its base. "Are you really just a character?" he murmured.
Suddenly, as he touched it, a faint light emanated from his body. It coalesced within his consciousness, forming a unique interface.
[Current Action Points: 1]
[Cultivation: -]
[Travel: -]
Wang Mu: "!"