I Can Only Cultivate In A Game

Victor proceeded to pull out a map. "Red Willow Ravine sits south by two ridges. Lots of hanging stone. The glasswings nest under the lip—think flying blankets with knives. Ironbacks charge from cover; do not stand in front of cover. Needle locusts… well, you'll know them. I'll take point until we hit the teeth of the gorge, Questions?"

"Senior," Yao Lin called out with her chin up, "are you truly only a core disciple? I heard you—"

"Absolutely," Fang said gravely. "Merely a humble core disciple with a strong dislike of funerals. Move out."

They descended in a ribbon of white and steel, leaving the sect's comfort for the chattering pines below.

...

...

The sun dipped low behind sharp peaks as a crisp wind swept across the cracked ridges leading to Willow Ravine.

Victor walked at the rear of the group with hands behind his back and his expression indifferent.

He seemed very relaxed but always watching. He was not here to lead. He was not here to teach. He was only to intervene when death loomed too close.

Ahead of him were the eight newly initiated inner sect disciples, each barely out of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Eager to gain experience, credits, and refinement in their martial techniques.

On their second night, they stopped at a mountain town called Lanmu Ridge, a humble outpost built atop blackstone cliffs.

The inn was cramped, filled with scents of roast meat, smoke, and unwashed travelers. The disciples took a corner table, keeping to themselves—until another group entered.

Five robed figures, all bearing the crest of the Broken Peak Sect, stormed in like they owned the place. Their leader, a tall young man with spiked orange hair and a crescent earring, sneered at the Lingyun group.

"Best keep to your side, babies of the wind," he muttered, loud enough to be heard. "This region and all its loot belong to the Broken Peak."

One of the Lingyun disciples, Nie Lan, slammed her teacup down. "Say that again, pretty boy."

"What are you going to do about it," the orange haired leader questioned while drawing closer.

Victor, still leaning lazily against a beam in the corner, didn't even glance up. He chewed on a dry skewer, counting tiles on the ceiling.

"We're not going anywhere, what are you going do about it?" Nie Lan questioned with a fierce gaze.

Tension crackled like spiritual pressure as they had a one minute stare down.

The orange haired leader scoffed and then turned to head towards one of the tables.

"You lots better make sure we don't run into each other out there."

His fellow disciples followed behind him, shooting glares at the Lingyun disciples.

Despite the Lingyun disciples eagerness to prove themselves, they exercised restrain. Just barely.

That night passed without blood… but not without hate.

---

On the fourth day, the disciples finally arrived at Willow Ravine, a craggy scar in the earth rumored to be rich in spiritual beasts and rare herbs.

While Victor trailed behind with hands in his sleeves, the disciples went ahead to scout the area.

Soon they encountered a pack of Four-Eyed Gale Apes.

Powerful wind-type beasts. The disciples used this opportunity to test their techniques, Wind-Laced Arrows, Spiral Flame Slashes, even a rare formation technique one of them had learned recently.

Victor watched as they struggled but eventually triumphed. He even smirked when one of the apes flung its dung mid-battle and slapped a disciple square in the mouth.

"Very graceful," Victor muttered with a dry tone. "Ten points for dignity."

---

On the sixth day, deeper in the ravine, the Lingyun disciples ran into the Broken Peak Sect again.

They seemed to be battling over the carcass of a rare Black-Spined Monitor Beast.

Both groups had tried to hunt it. Only one succeeded. But both claimed it.

"You trailed it, but we landed the final blow," said the same oranged haired Broken Peak cultivator.

Min Fei stepped forward. "You barely tickled it. We did the heavy lifting."

Once again, Victor leaned against a nearby tree, picking his teeth with a twig.

"Fei," one of the Lingyun boys warned. "We should—"

Before he could complete his sentence, broken peak disciple thrust a palm of flames forward.

The blazing palm slammed into Fei, sending him flying.

This singular action, caused a battle to erupted.

Palms clashed...

Techniques filled the narrow gorge like falling meteors.

Victor watched with a casual tilt of his head as both groups fought.

They were around similar cultivation levels so it was a tie for now.

Meng Xinyi, leapt around the place firing steaming arrows that gathered a thick amount of qi to it and created a shockwave.

Her opponent, lost his balance a couple of times but leapt into the air and spat out a toxic fog.

Qian Bo, the big teen that was like a mountain, surged forward and slammed into three Broken Peak disciples at the same time, sending them spinning across the air.

However, the oranged haired cultivator suddenly appeared before him, lifted him into the air and rammed him into a rock by the side.

Some Violet Spring Sect disciples were also having difficulty facing the opposition.

Victor sharp eyes assessed, calculating: broken bones, spiritual depletion, technique mastery. But nothing yet worthy of intervention.

Until Broken Peak's senior stepped forward.

A Nascent Soul cultivator with a spiky azure spear and a sinister grin. "Enough playing," he growled, and slammed his spear into the earth, causing a rupture of crackling lightning vines that nearly electrocuted one of the Lingyun girls.

Victor vanished from his spot.

The air rippled like silk torn apart.

When he reappeared, he was between the senior and the disciples. His body shimmered with faint arrow-like markings as his Void Emperor Bloodline was activated.

"You must be new to reading instructions," Victor voiced with a flat tone. "This level of bullying isn't allowed."

The Broken Peak senior snarled. "Who are you?"

Victor raised a brow. "A witness. A bystander. A problem-solver."

Lightning vines shot toward him, but Victor pulled his blade out and whispered, "Shadow Crescent Strike."

A black crescent cleaved through the vines and kept cutting forward till it slammed into the Broken Peak cultivator's chest, sending before he could realize.

A four feet long diagonal gash appeared across his chest, causing him to stagger backwards in pain.

'Just what sort of technique was that? It tore through my defenses...'

The man clutched his ribs as Victor blurred, reappeared behind him, and struck with Frost Bloom Palm.

His blueish glowing palm froze the enemy's meridians, slowing his qi flow.

Before the senior could even blink again, Victor jumped into the air while spinning, sending a kick to his face.

The Nascent Soul realm broken peak cultivator, got sent flying and landed on his back before sliding backwards for a couple feet more.

"You should have just let the juniors thug it out," Victor muttered from up ahead.

Beaten and humiliated, the Broken Peak senior retreated, dragging his injured pride and the rest of the disciples with him.

The Lingyun disciples cheered. "Senior Fang is truly remarkable."

Victor waved them off. "Next time, don't let me do your job."

---

Three days later, while traversing a rocky gorge, the disciples found a Blazing-Tusk Porcupine Beast. After an exhausting fight, they skewered it on a spit and roasted it for dinner.

Min Fei bit into the meat. "This is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth."

"That's what she said," Labyrinth Rook muttered.

Laughter rippled through the group.

They eat excitedly while chatting and telling stories.

Minutes later, the canyon suddenly quaked.

"Hmm? What's that?" One of the disciples questioned with a confounded expression.

The trees rustled violently as an earsplitting roar split the heavens.

Everyone turned as a giant beast nearly four times the size of the slain porcupine, emerged with eyes bloodshot and tusks burning red.

Its quills sparked like flaming lances.

It was the mother of the beast they had slain.

"Oh… no," whispered a disciple with a mouth full of porcupine leg.

Victor, who had been sitting atop a rock nearby, watching the clouds, slowly turned his gaze.

The beast charged.

One disciple screamed and threw a leg bone at it but this didn't stop its charg in the slightest.

Just when it was about to burrow the disciple with its flaming quills, Victor vanished and reappeared beside the disciple.

He grabbed hold of the disciple's collar and leapt over the beast which was up to fifty feet large.

Mid-charge, the flaming porcupine slammed into thin air.

Upon sweeping its head around, it noticed Victor many feet behind with its target while the others were scattered all around the place.

It growled in fury while unleashing thousands of its flaming quills in every direction.

It was as though thousands of flaming arrows were raining from the sky as the quills cut through the air with intensity.

Victor pulled out his sword and swung his arms so swiftly that his blade turned into an afterimage.

In the process of slicing through the flaming quills, the others were doing their best to evade but unfortunately, a couple of them got impaled by it.

The flames spread ten times faster than regular flames across their bodies threatening to burn them alive.

"Shit, I can't end up failing my first core disciple mission," he grumbled and reached out with his Void qi.