Five Frozen Centuries

Wei Huo was being washed away by the gushing water. Erosion from the flowing water for years had caused the slopes to become wet and slippery. It became similar to a slide where one could slide down endlessly until they reached the bottom. Wei Huo was shielding his head and adjusting his position in the midst of sliding down, avoiding himself from bumping into sharp stones.

Following the endless gliding, Wei Huo heard the deafening roar of a waterfall.

Wei Huo panicked. “!!!”

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. He could only shield his head and was swept away by the torrent. Seconds later, he saw the sun and the sky.

The cave was in the shape of a vertical shaft and appears to be bottomless. Looking above, one could see the sky with sunlight peeking in through the gaps. Water was running out from countless holes on the wall. Just like that, a waterfall was formed in the middle of the mountain.

Wei Huo was held down firmly by gravity. He could only helplessly fall into the endless pit cave. The view of the sky and sun he saw was momentary. The next second, he had dropped into the waters again. The force of a stronger water current swept Wei Huo into a more cavernous place.

Beneath the pit cave were numerous turbulent flows. Wei Huo had been swept around, and in the end, was washed away into a subterranean river. Sometimes he would bump into a rock while other times he would be hoisted up and dropped down vigorously. Wei Hua felt as though he was riding a roller-coaster.

Without any protective measures, Wei Huo could only embrace himself tightly during such situations. In the midst of this chaos, Wei Huo still managed to spare a tiny bit of time to do some thinking.

‘I’m sure something big is hidden in this cave. This roller-coaster-like subterranean river is surely a creation by God himself!’

Boom! Alongside a blaring sound, Wei Huo was wiped into the center of a subterranean lake. The water’s surface became much calmer and while he was whirling slowly on the water, Wei Huo saved himself with his athletic body from years of persistent intensive training.

That was why even though he went through such an extreme and thrilling torrent, he only had a few bruises without any severe injury.

However, he still felt slightly dizzy. He fluttered around the water for a bit and was washed ashore.

Wei Huo lifted his head on the shore. Although he still felt a bit light-headed, the scene ahead awed him. In front of him was a moon gate made of white jade. Glowing plants bloomed on both sides of the gate. Purple glows, red glows, blue glows and green glows were radiating from the plants.

All sorts of radiance lightened up the jade gate. Images of red-crowned cranes, phoenixes, spirit apes, and white deers were carved on the jade gate.

“Indeed, I was right!” Wei Huo swayed his head and walked up to the gate. He was prepared to push open the jade gate.

No words were needed, that had to be the cave concealing Qi Cultivation’s rare scrolls. Finally, after 10 years, he found it!

He pushed the jade gate hard, but it did not budge.

He pushed again, but still, nothing happened.

Wei Huo frowned. “Are there any other operations needed to open this gate?”

Right when Wei Huo fell silent, an image appeared on the jade gate. Not long after, a notification bar with the writings ‘Power On’ popped up.

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

‘This is not a jade gate. It’s a laptop, isn’t it?’

After the power was turned on, another image appeared on the jade gate. Following, countless thumbnails of red-crowned cranes, phoenixes, spirit apes, and white deers appeared. The thumbnails were all arranged in different orders. He took a closer look. ‘What the f*ck…’

‘Isn’t this sh*t a puzzle game?’

Why would the ‘Power On’ notification pop up in an ancient Qi Cultivation Master’s jade gate? Why did a puzzle game appear after it was turned on?

The notification popped up again.

“Mini-Game commences. Scores of the minigame will determine the player’s degree of completion for the inheritance of Qi Cultivation.”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

Wei Huo almost forgot that Earth was gradually being gamified by God!

Wei Huo closely examined the screen. There was a ‘Start Game’ option on the game interface. It seemed like he could use some time to look into the early stage of the game.

Wei Huo believed that players would be swarming into that place, scrambling over each other once they discovered it when time recovered. One by one, they would wait for their turn to play the minigame. The gap between players would be pulled apart as the minigame’s mark would decide the degree of completion when inheriting Qi Cultivation skills. In turn, the Europeans and Pros would have a wide gap of separation from Africans and Noobs¹. If the Africans and Noobs do not want to fall behind, they would have to reload cash!

That was the first time Wei Huo felt something’s fishy. Was God really the one behind this Earth’s gamification? Will those who recovered from the time halt really become players of the game?

It was all Wei Huo’s guess at that point as God did not say anything.

No matter what, Wei Huo had to speed up his progress. He tapped the start button, and the puzzle game began!

“The time limit is 60 seconds. Scores accumulated within the time limit will decide on the inheritance completion level for the rare Qi Cultivation Scrolls. The game will start in three seconds. Three… Two… One… Start!”

Wei Huo kept his eye on the ball as the marks accumulated would decide his degree of completion for the inheritance of the Qi Cultivator’s Rare Scrolls. Whether he could increase his lifespan would also be dependent on the rare scrolls. Otherwise, when the time halt ends, he might already be dead!

Although he put in all his effort, puzzle games were not his specialty. He only managed to gain a little over 2000 points after 60 seconds.

Soon after, another notification popped up. “According to the Player’s accumulated scores, you have been awarded a Qi Cultivator’s Rare Scroll inheritance with a 35% completion rate. Would you like to replay the game?”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

‘You can f*cking replay the game?’

Wei Huo let out a deep breath feeling relieved. ‘Do you think I will give up that easily before I reach 100%?’

Wei Huo immediately tapped the ‘Replay’ button. In the next second, a dialog box popped up on the jade gate.

“Replaying the game requires 90 Magical Stones. You have not met the requirements for replaying the game. Please reload your cash.”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

‘D*mn you! So I have to reload my cash!’

Just then Wei Huo started wondering again, ‘What are Magical Stones?’

Another notification popped up on the jade gate. “Are you willing to accept the inheritance? Please take note that the inheritance can only take place once!”

Wei Huo did not have any other better options. ‘What can I do? I am very desperate too but I don’t have any Magical Stones!’

He tapped on the accept button, and right then the jade door was opened!

The place oozed a mystical and magical aura. Inside the door, rays of light were shining through the colorful fog. The area was occupied by numerous decorated jade palaces. Cries of the red-crowned crane filled his ears every so often, and white deers would hop across streams. Immortals were sitting in their residences.

A magical voice suddenly resounded through the area.

“Pay 49 Magical Stones for a 1% increase of inheritance completion rate, or 81 Magical Stones for a 3% increase of inheritance completion rate.”

Wei Huo was speechless. “…”

‘What is this? Is this some Daoism chant? No wonder it was always 49 and 81 in Daoism chants¹.’

Wei Huo was dejected. He wanted to purchase the completion rate, but he had no Magical Stones!

It was then that Wei Huo realized the in-game purchase system was not created yet. Players still could not make in-app purchases. This game was not well developed enough!