CHAPTER 4: QI YUAN'S OBJECT OF OBSESSION

Jiang Lingsu froze. She couldn’t believe her ears. Someone as dignified as her... had to build her own house?

He wants me to use my spells to build a straw hut??

She really wanted to give Qi Yuan a piece of her mind. Unfortunately, the man didn’t seem to notice her expression.

He looked up at the clouds in the sky. “You’d better hurry. It might rain tonight.”

Jiang Lingsu blinked, completely stunned. “Senior Brother, what if I don’t finish in time?”

She was trying to send him a telepathic message. “Help me.”

"I have a bench in my room," Qi Yuan responded, "If you are afraid of getting wet, you can sleep there for the time being."

He then turned and promptly walked into his straw hut.

Jiang Lingsu clenched her fists as she stared at her senior brother's back. Eventually, she resigned to her fate. After all, she wasn’t the type of girl who’d expect others to pity her just because of her delicate appearance. She’d deal with her own problems.

Carrying bundles of straw and some wood, she followed Qi Yuan into his yard. Am I supposed to build a nest?

Though annoyed, Jiang Lingsu remembered her reason for coming here. Finding the unknown master was her top priority.

Although Ruan Yixi, the Seven-Colored Peak’s master, was the most likely candidate, it could still be someone else. There could be a sealed place under the Divine Radiance Sect where a supreme cultivator lay in slumber.

As for Qi Yuan, she’d simply treat him as a regular senior; she wouldn't get too close or intentionally distant. She would just keep a casual eye on him and let things flow naturally.

Time passed as Jiang Lingsu worked hard. In the previously empty space, a small hut slowly took shape.

Although she’d never built a house nor lived in a hut before, she had studied spellcraft. Moreover, she had brought quite a few magical treasures.

She could just slap on a Stabilizing Talisman if the structure was unstable. Why should she be afraid of it collapsing?

The sky was still bright when Jiang Lingsu finished. Jiang Lingsu clapped the dust off her hands and looked at her hut with deep satisfaction.

Afterward, she went to Qi Yuan’s door and called out, “Senior Brother.”

Regardless of everything that was said and done, she had joined the Seven-Colored Peak. She had to keep up with appearances and study their cultivation methods.

"Come in," Qi Yuan said.

Jiang Lingsu promptly entered, finding Qi Yuan holding a square-shaped jade. Recognizing it, she asked, "Senior Brother, are you playing games?"

The cultivation world was no longer the dull, lifeless place it once was. Entertainment was abundant. They could gamble on alchemy, visit brothels with music, and watch Sword Immortal dances. Even games were plentiful.

The jade in Qi Yuan's hands was clearly for gaming. It usually contained multiple games such as fighting games, dungeon crawlers, farming simulators... everything.

However, gaming jades weren’t cheap, especially those containing larger and complicated games embedded with formations. The characters and storylines felt incredibly lifelike, as if they were real.

In fact, that was the reason why the gaming jades were extremely popular. Of course, some were even too explicit and only circulated in secret.

Still, anyone who could afford these games likely wasn’t short on money.

Without looking away from the game, Qi Yuan replied, “Mhm.”

“Did you play all afternoon?” Jiang Lingsu asked. She felt a bit disgruntled thinking that her senior brother was gaming while she was hard at work.

“Shouldn’t you cultivate, Senior Brother? If I’m not mistaken, haven’t you reached the peak of Qi Refinement? You are just a step away from Foundation Establishment.”

Jiang Lingsu herself was also at the peak of Qi Refinement.

“I am cultivating,” Qi Yuan responded.

Playing games is considered cultivating now?

While some rare gaming jades could indeed aid cultivation, those were few and far between, not to mention extremely valuable.

“Playing games is cultivation?” Jiang Lingsu blinked. She then got an idea. “Senior Brother, you’re on the Obsession path. What is your object of obsession?”

Cultivators of other paths had to find cultivation methods suitable for their Spirit Roots. However, Obsession cultivators were different. They had to find an object of obsession and be emotionally bound to it.

Some examples included jade, flowers, or even swords.

According to the elders in Jiang Lingsu's clan, Obsession cultivators emphasized the power of the heart. They had to be devoted to their object of obsession. Upon reaching its peak, one would become manic and disconnected from the outside world. That was why cultivators of the Obsession path were notoriously hard to communicate with.

Jiang Lingsu had seen such cultivators before, but never one obsessed with games. Usually, anyone obsessed with games would be sent off for treatment, with lightning therapy being the most popular option. After all, traditional cultivators didn’t believe games could be a legitimate object of obsession.

Without looking up, Qi Yuan replied, “Does this count as obsession? If it does, then I’m obsessed with this.”

Jiang Lingsu was at a loss for words.

Should I request lightning therapy for him? Can being obsessed with games really lead anywhere?

"Senior Brother, this looks unreliable. I have never heard of any accomplished cultivator with games as an object of their obsession."

In the Obsession path, the potential of the obsession mattered. A Thousand-Year Dragonblood Tree was better than an ordinary tree, and the Heavenly Fate Wood was better than the Thousand-Year Dragonblood Tree.

On the other hand, what potential did games have?

Qi Yuan glanced at Jiang Lingsu. He flatly replied, “It’s a new era. We must embrace new things.”

He’d had this gaming jade for over a year—long before he’d even transmigrated to this world. To him, it was like a game console, albeit a very unusual one. It even seemed like it could connect to a network.

His transmigration likely had something to do with the gaming jade. He even suspected that it was connected to his ability to see hidden information in this world. He’d seen other similar-looking gaming jades in this world, but they were completely different.

Jiang Lingsu was rendered speechless.

Remembering why she was here, she asked, "Senior Brother, can you give me the cultivation method of the Seven-Colored Peak?"

Qi Yuan stared at her seriously. “The cultivation method of the Seven-Colored Peak is not to be practiced.”

Jiang Lingsu asked, “Why not?”

Is he hiding something? Is it related to the Peak Master?

"That cultivation method is poisonous."

"Pfft..." If Jiang Lingsu had been drinking water, she would have spat it out. Right now, she couldn’t see Qi Yuan as anything but a full-blown madman.

Then again, from what she’d learned before arriving, the chief disciple of the Seven-Colored Peak was known to be an eccentric. Maybe it wasn’t that surprising.

Jiang Lingsu urged, "Senior Brother, I don't mind. Please give me the cultivation method."

Qi Yuan took his sweet time to take out another jade slip and handed it over to Jiang Lingsu. "This is half of the Seven-Colored Peak's cultivation method. The front half is the original method, and the back half is my modified version. I haven’t finished revising it, though."