Chapter 3: The Interesting Pink-Furred Rabbits

The first layer had the most people.

As for the second layer, she couldn’t reach it for now, only seeing a handful of people coming and going.

Besides, she noticed that most of the Tianxiang Sect disciples NPCs were stunning beauties, hardly any with ugly appearances.

She wondered if there was a punishment system for harassing female NPCs?

Chen Xiaoyan flipped through several skill books on the first layer, and they were basically all healer types; not a single offensive skill was to be found.

Good grief, this sect doesn’t even give a chance to deal damage?

Negative review.

There was no choice—she could only pick a few of the seemingly strongest skills to learn.

《Spring Breeze Draw (10 Points of Xiang Intent): Restores (Spiritual Energy × Skill Level) HP to self or one teammate over 3 seconds, cooldown: 4 seconds》

《Tianxiang · Bathing Rain and Embracing Light (50 Points of Xiang Intent): Restores 2% HP per second to self or one teammate, lasting (Spiritual Energy × Skill Level × 0.05) seconds, cooldown: 30 seconds》

《Tianxiang · Returning Wind Umbrella (80 Points of Xiang Intent): Restores (Spiritual Energy × Skill Level × 5) HP per second to self and all teammates within range for 5 seconds, cooldown: 300 seconds (Note: This skill requires equipping the Tianxiang main weapon)》

【① Learned one sect skill task completed, gained Spiritual Energy × 50】

“Open character interface.”

Character ID: Chen Xiaoyan

Level: 0

HP: 1000

Cultivation: Mortal (deals increased damage to low cultivation enemies) Next Level: Transcending Mortal (requires 1000 Spiritual Energy)

Spiritual Energy: 70

Xiang Intent: 170

Gongfa: Xiang Yi Jue (First Layer)

Skills: 《Spring Breeze Draw》《Tianxiang · Bathing Rain and Embracing Light》《Tianxiang · Returning Wind Umbrella》

Equipment: Tianxiang Sect Novice Outfit (no attribute bonus)

After gaining Spiritual Energy and learning skills, the character panel looked much better.

But why had the ID changed to Chen Xiaoyan (female)?

At that moment, Chen Xiaoyan recalled meeting the Tianxiang Sect’s Deputy Sect Leader, Shen Qingqing, at the mountaintop.

A sudden spark lit up in her mind.

Could the character ID be decided by the NPC?

But why ‘Xiaoyan’ with the character for ‘smoke’ and not ‘Xiaoyan’ with the character for ‘speech’?

“Whatever. IDs don’t matter. As long as I get stronger, why bother thinking about it?”

Chen Xiaoyan shook her head, trying to wipe the thoughts away.

For now, she needed to complete the third task quickly.

She had already noticed other players coming to the library to learn skills; if she wanted to surpass them, she had to work harder.

The third task was to head to the back mountain and kill a beast.

The heartbreaking part was that she didn’t even have a weapon.

Her skills were all healing; she had zero offensive capabilities.

Was she supposed to fight a beast barehanded?

Thinking about her weak body that got tired sweeping floors, Chen Xiaoyan quickly dismissed the idea.

That would be suicidal.

But no matter what, she had to complete the third task.

Spiritual Energy was the foundation of strength; even a little couldn’t be given up.

Maybe she could team up with other female players?

But since they were also just starting, they probably had no weapons either.

Looking around at the NPCs, Chen Xiaoyan came up with an idea.

She wanted to try approaching an NPC to see the reaction.

“Senior Sister.”

Without hesitation, Chen Xiaoyan walked up to an NPC and smiled as she greeted her.

The NPC put down her skill book and looked up sharply: “Junior Sister, what is it?”

“Senior Sister, I have a task to go to the back mountain to slay a beast, but I just joined and have no weapon. May I ask where in the sect can I get one?”

“Junior Sister, new disciples of Tianxiang must reach level five to receive weapons. The sect issues them automatically.”

“Ah?” Chen Xiaoyan was stunned. No weapon? How could she hunt monsters?

If she couldn’t kill monsters, how could she level up?

Damn it, what kind of crappy sect is this, so stingy.

Sigh… without a weapon, her only choice was to cling to someone stronger.

Tears filled Chen Xiaoyan’s eyes as she put on a pitiful expression: “Senior Sister, I haven’t even reached level one yet, so I really have no weapon. Could you please help me?”

“All right, Junior Sister, don’t cry.” The NPC gently patted her head, then pulled out a jade-green umbrella from a small pouch.

“This was Senior Sister’s old weapon, the Spring Breeze Umbrella. If you don’t mind, take it with you.” She placed the umbrella into Chen Xiaoyan’s hands.

Chen Xiaoyan bowed deeply, overwhelmed with gratitude.

“Thank you, Senior Sister. Without you, I probably wouldn’t be able to complete this task.”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it and hurry to complete your task.”

“All right, I’ll go now.”

Chen Xiaoyan clutched the Spring Breeze Umbrella tightly and left the library.

Her happy smile made it seem like she was carrying a treasure.

However, Chen Xiaoyan didn’t notice that as she left, the skill books 《Tianxiang · Bathing Rain and Embracing Light》 and 《Returning Wind Umbrella》 on the first floor of the library shelf had vanished without a trace.

“Senior Sister, Senior Sister!”

Two female players suddenly approached.

“Junior Sisters, what can I do for you?”

“We just joined too, and have no weapons yet. Senior Sister, please help us, sniffle.”

They imitated Chen Xiaoyan’s pitiful expression, the sorrowful tears just like pear blossoms in the rain—truly heart-rending.

“Junior Sisters, I can help you for a while, but not forever. Strength must be honed by yourselves.”

The NPC spoke coldly, then sat down to continue reading her skill book, ignoring them.

“Huh?”

The two female players were dumbfounded.

That’s not right—why was this different from how she treated that other player?

……

【Received Tianxiang Novice Main Weapon: Spring Breeze Umbrella】

In the library, Chen Xiaoyan rolled her eyes at the jade-green umbrella in her hands.

What use was this umbrella?

Was she supposed to stab the back mountain beast to death with it?

At least give me a sword or a dagger.

Damn it, this lousy Tianxiang Sect was utterly unreliable.

Chen Xiaoyan walked to the back mountain feeling depressed, wanting to check just how strong the beast was.

The back mountain was a peach orchard, now in full bloom.

From far away, the sweet fragrance of peach blossoms drifted in the air, refreshing and uplifting.

Looking out at the endless sea of pink blossoms, her annoyance suddenly vanished.

“Not bad scenery here.”

Chen Xiaoyan didn’t rush to find the beast but quietly admired the view for half an hour before moving.

Yet after searching the entire back mountain, not a single fierce beast was in sight.

What was going on?

Where was the beast?

Not believing it, Chen Xiaoyan searched again, but still found nothing.

She checked the task again; it clearly said to kill a beast in the back mountain.

So where was the beast?

“This must be a fake task!!!”

Chen Xiaoyan shouted with twitching lips.

In the end, she could only give up.

No walkthrough, no hints—how was this even playable?

Also, the game lacked a world chat, only having private chats with friends.

No way to ask for help.

Fine, she would go back and ask the NPC senior sister.

Before leaving, Chen Xiaoyan snapped off a branch of peach blossoms to take with her—the peach blossom scent was delightful, and she liked it very much.

“Wu ji ji wu ji ji.”

Just as she broke the branch, a group of pink-furred rabbits suddenly appeared from nowhere and rushed toward Chen Xiaoyan.

They stood on their hind legs, growling fiercely as if warning her.

“Huh?” Chen Xiaoyan looked curiously at the pink-furred rabbits in front of her, then slowly raised the Spring Breeze Umbrella.

Though they looked soft and cute, they might just be the beasts the task referred to.

After all, she hadn’t seen any other beasts on the back mountain except these.

Whether or not they were the target, she would find out by killing one.

With a sly smile, she slowly approached: “Little rabbits, be good now, don’t move around.”

“Wu ji ji.”

The pink-furred rabbits erupted in chaos.

Sensing Chen Xiaoyan’s murderous intent, they knew the human wanted to kill them.

Run!

At the command, the rabbits scattered swiftly in all directions.

“Stop! Don’t run!” Chen Xiaoyan panicked and quickly chased after them.

The rabbits were fast, far too fast for her to catch.

Watching them disappear from her sight, Chen Xiaoyan angrily kicked a nearby peach tree.

“Crash!” Peach petals rained down.

“Wu ji ji!” The pink-furred rabbits reappeared, snarling fiercely at her.

A sharp glint flashed in Chen Xiaoyan’s eyes as she kicked the peach tree again.

The rabbits’ growling grew louder.

“Ah, I see.” Chen Xiaoyan smirked and kept kicking the peach tree relentlessly.

Soon, nearly all the peach blossoms had fallen.

“Wu ji ji!!!”

The rabbits were completely enraged.

One leapt at the hateful human to bite with its teeth.

At the critical moment, Chen Xiaoyan thrust the Spring Breeze Umbrella forward.

“Hit.”

The umbrella’s tip was sharp enough.

One unlucky pink-furred rabbit was pierced right in the abdomen.

“Ji~”

The rabbit screamed in pain.

But the companion’s cry did not frighten the others; it only made them more aggressive.

Though the pink-furred rabbits had little offensive power, their sheer numbers could overwhelm her.

She didn’t even have an attack skill now.

So Chen Xiaoyan chose to back down, retracting the umbrella and running down the mountain.

【③ Cleared one back mountain beast task completed, reward: Spiritual Energy × 30】

【Killed one level 0 pink-furred rabbit, gained 10 experience】

【Congratulations, level up】

Her Spiritual Energy had finally reached 100, and she gained 10 experience points.

Now she could go to the Demon Suppression Tower to level up.

“Open character interface.”

Character ID: Chen Xiaoyan

Level: 1

HP: 1100

Cultivation: Mortal Next Level: Transcending Mortal (requires 1000 Spiritual Energy)

Spiritual Energy: 110

Xiang Intent: 210

Gongfa: Xiang Yi Jue (First Layer)

Skills: 《Spring Breeze Draw》《Tianxiang · Bathing Rain and Embracing Light》《Tianxiang · Returning Wind Umbrella》

Equipment: Tianxiang Sect Novice Outfit (no attribute bonus), Tianxiang Novice Weapon—Spring Breeze Umbrella.

“Haha, I finally leveled up, woohoo~”

Chen Xiaoyan laughed happily while running for her life.

But she hadn’t even left the back mountain when the pink-furred rabbits caught up.

Originally, the speed gap was huge, but she slowed down from excitement just now.

“Hiss~” The rabbits bit at her heels, the pain making Chen Xiaoyan gasp sharply.

Damn! Why did this game make pain feel so real?

【You are attacked by pink-furred rabbits, HP –10】

【You are attacked by pink-furred rabbits, HP –50 (Critical Hit)】

“Ji ji!”

The rabbits were excited, sensing the hateful human was close to death.

“Ji!”

Another command, and their speed suddenly increased.

Their eyes shifted from pink to blood red.

“Damn! You guys actually went berserk!”

Chen Xiaoyan was horrified.

Her rapidly dropping HP had already made running difficult; now, with their berserk mode on, their speed was nearly double hers.