Wei Shu and Song Que were still a little dazed when they walked out of the Duanqing Cliff.
Wei Shu said: “There are no hints for this quest. How are we supposed to complete it? And why doesn’t she seek revenge herself?”
After Bai Qin finished crying, she asked the two of them if they would be willing to help her find Xiao Lingfeng. She promised a generous reward upon success. If they could bring her Xiao Lingfeng’s head, she would pass on all her skills to Song Que. Yes, she only mentioned passing them to Song Que because he was a disciple of Wuqiu Manor. Wei Shu’s eyes turned red because of jealousy, and she just hoped that Bai Qin would at least acknowledge her. In the end, Bai Qin gave Song Que a secret manual, and said that she had an acquaintance at Yuelun Manor. She told Wei Shu to find him and learn something first, so that in case they couldn’t find Xiao Lingfeng, at least they wouldn’t lose their lives.
Wei Shu was not interested in this, because the secret manual that Bai Qin gave Song Que wasn’t an item that would increase skill points like in a game, but an actual book. She felt that whatever she got would not be much better than what Song Que got, and she wasn’t sure if it was just a quest item for later. Moreover, Bai Qin only mentioned having an acquaintance but didn’t even give a name, clearly leaving it up to them to figure it out on their own. effort and listening to a long story, they got nothing in return. It was no wonder Wei Shu was filled with resentment toward Bai Qin.
Song Que glanced at her with a slight smile and said, “It should be because of her master’s disappearance. From the way it looks, she believes that her master wasn’t as strong as Xiao Lingfeng. She claims her master went missing, he might have already passed away. She feels guilty and ashamed to face her fellow disciples, so she does not plan to leave this Duanqing Cliff. Moreover, her master’s final wish was for her not to seek Xiao Lingfeng. Even if she wants to seek revenge, she will not leave the valley. The most important point is, if she leaves the valley, where will our quest come from? Let’s go to Yuelun Manor first.”
Wei Shu thought for a moment and didn’t refute. The two of them mounted their horses and left.
Riding was considered a skill, and once it was activated, the body automatically leaned forward on the horse’s back. The movements were fairly proper but a bit stiff, not as agile as automatic controls. Some people who could ride horses in real life become extremely rare cavalry in the team battles of the game. Others, when they needed to use a skill while on horseback, had to ride manually. If they didn’t know how to ride, they could only use the riding skill, but during the skill activation process, they couldn’t use any other skills.
At first, Song Que obediently used the skill, but later on, he started pulling off all sorts of flashy moves. Wei Shu saw that he was slowing down, so she looked back and found that he was about to fall off his horse. She was surprised and asked, “What are you doing? You don’t even know how to use your skills anymore?”
Song Que was almost falling off the horse, with his long hair cascading down like a ghost, yet he was still grinning and said, “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just learning how to ride a horse.”
He activated the riding skill, and his body flipped over, landing on the other side. After figuring out the posture used by the system, he canceled the skill, swung down to the ground, and tried to mount the horse with his own strength.
If this quesr hadn’t bound the two of them together, Wei Shu really wouldn’t want to travel with him anymore.
After much difficulty, Song Que finally learned how to ride. Although his posture wasn’t very graceful, at least it wasn’t like before, with his feet pedaling while his head dangled by the horse’s belly. Wei Shu commented, “It’s not bad.”
The system came out gloating: “Jianghu Strategy is the largest and most popular full-sensory MMORPG in this world. It has an incredibly high penetration rate, like a second reality. If you manage to achieve something extraordinary in the game, something legendary, maybe you’ll even fill up the progress bar. But before you become a legend, you will probably become a joke first.”
Song Que knew that the system never spoke without a reason. Although it always couched its words in a sarcastic tone, it was actually just delivering information.
Sure enough, the system was referring to a post on the forum titled “A Love Like No Other: The Tragic Romance at Duanqing Cliff, Life and Death Together.” It was unclear who the author was, but the writing was full of heartfelt sentiment and lingering emotion. If the protagonists weren’t him and Wei Shu, Song Que would have applauded.
The post was filled with ‘hahahahaha’, and some people even seemed a bit moved.
Song Que: “…”
Later on, some people started to notice that they had not been bounced back to the cliff. While some thought it was just the author not paying attention, more and more people began to suspect that they had encountered some kind of adventure. Some people even speculated that if a man and a woman jumped together, they would succeed. Based on Song Que’s guess, they were getting pretty close. If someone tried it a few more times, they should be able to figure it out.
Thinking of this, Song Que notified Wei Shu to take a look at the post and suggested: “Why don’t we just make our status back then public?.”
Wei Shu was somewhat reluctant.
“What if they also received this quest and completed it before us?”
Song Que took the opportunity to catch up on some knowledge while riding, and said, “I feel that this quest is different from the normal repeatable quests. Bai Qin mentioned that we are the first pair. ‘First’ means ‘only’. Our quest is likely to be an independent, unique quest chain. Even if we tell everyone how to get down the cliff, it would only open up the Duanqing Cliff map. Bai Qin will probably become an NPC who issues daily quests when facing regular players.”
Wei Shu pursed her lips and said, “This is just your guess.”
Song Que nodded and said, “Yes, this is just my guess.”
Wei Shu fell silent for a moment, then gruffly said: “It’s up to you. To be honest, this task wasn’t something I initiated.”
Song Que laughed and posted the information on the forum.
According to Song Que’s speculation, there should be several key points to achieving the “Life and Death Together” achievement:
- Two people jump off the cliff together, holding hands. (Gender doesn’t matter, since the game doesn’t have a marriage system that limits it to just men and women. There’s only a “loyalty value” that allows for both progression and retreat, so it seems to be inclusive of various orientations.)
- The loyalty value must reach “Close Friend” or higher. (When Que Zhi wasn’t pretending to be a sweet young girl, he was actually quite indifferent. Wei Shu had paid more attention to him because of that name, and then noticed that his gaming habits were quite similar to those of the soft girl she had in mind. That’s when she gradually started approaching him, trying to figure out the truth. To get Que Zhi to speak more, Wei Shu put in a lot of effort, and during this process, their loyalty value unknowingly skyrocketed.)
- At least one person must be in a critically injured, near-death state. (At that time, Song Que was stabbed by Wei Shu, and stabbed himself three more times, all of them went straight through. With continuous bleeding, his health had already dropped to less than ten percent)
- You can perform free fall or projectile motion with initial velocity, but please don’t use advanced lightness skills.
Song Que felt uncertain about other conditions, like being a disciple of Wuqiu Villa. However, he didn’t directly include those speculations in his post, to avoid being scolded later if they turned out to be wrong, which would be a thankless task. Instead, he described the exact state he and Wei Shu were in at the time, leaving nothing out, including the most extreme detail: 100% pain sensitivity.
Many years later, those who had tried still remembered the sensation of hitting the ground, and the name that was forever etched in their hearts.
Que Zhi, a true man like a demon.
By the time Song Que and Wei Shu arrived at Yuelun Manor, it was already crowded with people. In addition to the disciples of the Manor, there were also many people from other sects.
Wei Shu was extremely shocked. It hadn’t been like this when she left the Manor. What happened now? Could it be that after the Duanqian Cliff, their Manor had also unlocked some hidden map?
Wei Shu was so excited that she wanted to push her way inside, but Song Que grabbed her by the arm. Wei Shu said impatiently, “What are you doing? We need to focus on the main task.”
Song Que suddenly remembered something that he had forgotten for a long time, and asked a little embarrassedly: “Is there any clothing store nearby?”
Que Zhi’s backpack did contain other equipment, but they all fully reflected the unique style of Wuqiu Villa. The chest was exposed and was outrageously flashy. Song Que refused to wear them.
Wei Shu quickly took Song Que to the nearest clothing store. She watched as he swiftly picked out a few seemingly ordinary outfits and immediately changed into one. She was somewhat confused. If she hadn’t known that the clothing store didn’t sell anything particularly special, Wei Shu would have thought he was here to prepare for a mission.
“Is this some kind of strategy?”
Song Que smiled gently and said: “No. Those earlier ones were open at the chest, and I didn’t feel very comfortable wearing them.”
Wei Shu looked like she was about to lose it, but before she could snap, Song Que quickly turned to the shopkeeper and asked: “Boss, why is Yuelun Manor next door so lively? Did something big happen?”
The shopkeeper enthusiastically replied, “Young master, you are not from the northwest, are you? This is a big event. The eldest young lady of Yuelun Manor is holding a martial arts contest to choose a husband. From what I can see, all the most outstanding heroes of the Northwest have gathered here! I actually thought you two were here to join in the excitement as well.”
Wei Shu was a little surprised. Yue Qing, the young lady of Yuelun Villa, was her senior sister. She never expected that one day she would witness her senior sister getting married.
Song Que and Wei Shu hurried back to Yuelun Manor. The Manor was crowded with players, and a few NPCs could be seen occasionally.
Wei Shu casually grabbed a passing player and asked what was going on. The player had no ambition at all and was just there to join the excitement. When he saw someone asking, he eagerly shared everything he knew.
The martial arts contest for marriage at Yuelun Manor was suddenly set up one day. Some players stepped forward to try it out and discovered that they could actually participate. Miss Yue Qing did not personally participate in the competition. Before facing her, participants had to defeat her fellow discipline. These disciples weren’t just a limited number of NPCs. Everyone in the Manor could sign up to fight on her behalf. For each victory, there were substantial rewards.
Similarly, the disciples of the Manor could also team up with other players or the young hero NPCs to challenge the arena. The winners would receive the same rewards.
Just the upgrade of the competition itself made the rewards quite substantial. But what if someone could actually clear the entire arena? Many high-level players hold this thought and silently wait for the number of players to decrease.
Whether defending the arena or challenging it, players could only participate once. Once this wave of excitement passed, it was possible that someone might actually clear the arena.
Song Que was somewhat puzzled and asked, “If a player really wins, will they really marry the NPC to the player?”
A passing player said: “I heard someone say that this quest might be issued in order to open a marriage system.”
This did make some sense. Song Que stroked his chin and sent Wei Shu a private message.
Wei Shu opened it and saw :
⎾Do you think this martial arts contest for marriage could be part of a quest chain? Because we accepted Bai Qin’s task, the quest chain was triggered, and since you’re from Yuelun Villa, it opened this side quest⏌
Wei Shu’s eyes lit up as she looked at Song Que. Song Que said, “Let’s go see where the young lady is.”
Wei Shu nodded.
The arena outside was lively, with long lines of people on both sides. However, Yue Qing was not present at the scene. It seemed she had no interest in the grand event that might decide her marriage.
Wei Shu took Song Que to search several places before finding her in a pavilion.
Yue Qing was painting here, with rice paper spread out on a stone table. She was painting a landscape: the mountains towering, the water stretching far, and the evening twilight beginning to fall. In the top left corner, there were two lines of poetry from Pei Di’s Hua Zi Gang: “Cloud light touches the footprints, mountain green brushes against the clothes.”
[Hua Zi Gang (华子岗) is a poem by Pei Di (裴迪), a poet from the Tang Dynasty]
She stared at the painting for a long time, as if in a trance.
