Taoist Antecedent of the Yellow Court - Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Primitive“
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Beyond Blackwood Village, the stars of night flickered.
Within the Blackwood shack, Qingyu was sleeping soundly as she snored faintly.
Lu Qingfeng was, likewise, in the land of Nod. However, in the wide ocean of his nighttime thoughts, a ring with the carvings of a dragon and a phoenix could be seen shining brightly.
[Detected that player is over 16 years old. Log-in ring activated…]
[Log-in ring bound. Exclusive code generated. Basic attribute generated…]
[Please log in to “Primitive”. We wish you a pleasant gaming experience!]
Lu Qingfeng abruptly opened his eyes. He could still see the twinkling ring carved with a dragon and a phoenix in his mind.
Subsequently, a message arrived in his mind.
In the primordial world, 3,000 Demon Lords were running amok amid the chaos. The almighty Pangu severed heaven and earth, bringing about the times of great antiquity. Since then, the world has experienced countless disasters and unending pandemonium, giving birth to a myriad of Abhijnas and zillions of legends…
The massive immersive online game “Primitive” will take you to the time of the eighth disaster the world had experienced after the sword fight at Mount Shu.
…
“‘Primitive’, an online game, huh?” Lu Qingfeng’s thoughts were racing as he looked at the log-in ring. Suddenly, emotional flutters emerged in his heart.
This was a massive immersive online game that had the primordial world as its background. It was said that one could not only choose to enter the game with one’s real body, but one could also take the various martial arts techniques, Abhijnas, and magic artifacts from the game back to reality.
The Human Federation, which had developed “Primitive”, had brought about the creation of countless powerful aces through the game, and even legendary Sages who commanded the galaxy and repressed thousands of alien races across the universe.
“Perhaps this is the cheat code that came late!”
“Log in!”
Without panic, hesitation, or any unnecessary questioning, Lu Qingfeng followed the instructions of the log-in ring and directly logged into “Primitive”!
…
Ka-boom!
A great primordial thunder reverberated in his head and lightning flashed across his eyes.
All he could see was nothingness, a field of chaos.
Amid the vast entropy, a giant of unknown size and height was holding an enormous axe in his hand. With a fierce swing of the axe, the primordial world was cleaved apart, and heaven and earth came to light.
Amid the consequent maelstrom, none of the 3,000 bloodthirsty Demon Lords survived!
They either plunged into the chaos of the world or had their blood and souls plummet into the brand-new primordial world.
Many years passed in the blink of an eye. The blood and soul of the Demon Lords gave birth to legions of kinds of beasts. The skies and land of the primordial realm nurtured incalculable numbers of mythical creatures.
Beasts and mythical creatures were rampant across the primordial world.
The primordial world that had just been cleaved apart plunged into unceasing massacres.
All of the beasts were at war. The three kinds of beasts, dragons, phoenixes, and unicorns, fought for supremacy. This meant that one’s rise was the other’s downfall.
Then came the war between Demons and Taoists.
The Forefather of Demons, Rahul, and the Taoist Antecedent, Hongjun, conducted the war between good and evil.
Lu Qingfeng quietly watched the evolution of the primitive world from the sidelines.
The scenes before him went from the Great Tribulation when Pangu severed heaven and earth, to the adversity of beasts, the three races’ fight for supremacy, the battle between Demons and Taoists, the war between religions…
There was also the calamity of witchcraft and the destruction of Mount Buzhou.
In the Tribulation of the Chosen One, Emperor Xuanyuan and Chiyou of the Nine Li tribe fought against each other. Mankind had arisen!
In the Investiture of the Gods, the primitive world shattered, the religion of Jie declined, and Buddhism was born.
In the Journey to the West, dharma blazed from the East. Buddhism had flourished!
In the sword fight at Mount Shu, the Investiture of the Gods was re-lived. The Eighth Saint of the primitive world returned.
…
The scenes flickered quickly before his eyes. The myths and legends he was familiar with from his previous life were falling apart at a rapid pace.
In a trance, Lu Qingfeng felt a powerful force dragging him. When he opened his eyes once again, he was in a building. The clamor in his ears had intensified. Silhouettes continued to appear.
A long-lost sense of familiarity filled Lu Qingfeng’s heart.
Lu Qingfeng looked up and saw three gigantic words above the building: Pool of Reincarnation.
“Pool of Reincarnation?”
“Ha, ha! I can finally log into ‘Primitive’!”
“It’s been 16 long years! I’ve almost been suffocated.”
…
Soon, he could hear the cheering of teenagers.
“In an immersive online game, the Pool of Reincarnation is probably the default spawn point.”
Looking at these teenagers, who were either really excited and lively or pretending to be pondering something, Lu Qingfeng couldn’t help but smile.
A situation such as this was rarely seen in the depressing Blackwood Village. Even during the harvest season each year, the emotions on the faces of the villagers would still be mostly of sadness and solemnity.
“It’s been a while.”
Along with all the rambunctious noise, Lu Qingfeng’s 16 years of depression dissipated slightly.
Subsequently, along with the cheering teenagers, he walked out of the Pool of Reincarnation.
He passed through what seemed to be a layer of space. When he emerged from it, he had arrived in a bustling small town.
“For this game, you can choose to enter the game with your real body. This is no longer just a virtual online game.”
“But when I was logging in just now, why didn’t the system prompt me to choose whether I wanted to log in with my real body?”
Lu Qingfeng hesitated in his heart.
Although his current body felt extremely real, it was in fact just a vessel generated by the game, not his real body. In other words, without being able to select himself, the system defaults had entered the game for him as a conscious soul while his body remained behind in reality.
This didn’t match the game description that had been shown to him before he logged into the game.
“I wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing.”
Lu Qingfeng shook his head and immediately thought about the contents of the novels about online games that he had read in his past life. Silently, he chanted in his heart, Attribute Panel.
Before him, a virtual panel emerged:
Name: Lu Qingfeng
Race: Human
Faction: None
Title: None
Cultivation Stage: None
Level: 0 (0/1)
Destined Life Span: 16/68
Innate Talent Level: 1
Merit: Unknown
Karma: Unknown
Technique: Yellow Court Classic (Unblooded) [Property: Ability Upgrade (Level 1); Commanding Power (Level 1); Karma Nullification (Level 1)]
Magic: None
Abhijna: None
Equipment: None
As Lu Qingfeng had expected, his Attribute Panel could be described as empty. However, stamina, strength, attack, defense, and the values of other attributes weren’t displayed on the Attribute Panel.
“An immersive online game…,” Lu Qingfeng ruminated.
He looked around. The pedestrians and buildings that had come into sight looked real. If he woke up and appeared in this place, Lu Qingfeng would think that he had traversed worlds again.
“Look!”
“A Sword Sage!”
Surprised voices abruptly struck his ears.
Hearing these sounds, Lu Qingfeng raised his head and saw a ray of white light flickering in the sky, which quickly vanished. Immediately after, dozens of white, blue, and red rays of light flickered past. Gusts of piercing sword auras wafted across space, tearing the skies apart and sending chills down Lu Qingfeng’s spine.
“Sword Sages?”
“They are flying on the lights of their swords! This is way more awesome than those so-called Sages of the Truth Sect.”
Lu Qingfeng raised his head, watching the dozens of the swords’ light rays disappear, as he was exclaiming in his heart.
The disciples of the Truth Sect were at best at the level of martial artists. They had not yet broken through the customs of the mortal world. Their strengths might be powerful, but they could only shatter rocks. Their speed might be fast, but they could only maneuver on the ground.
They have no Abhijna such as these Sword Sages riding on sword lights in the sky!
“So, how do I play this game? And how will it help me?”
Lu Qingfeng looked over the Attribute Panel again, and his eyes fell on the Technique column.
The other columns were empty; only the Technique column had any information.
“Yellow Court Classic.”
“This is something passed down by the Taoist Antecedent, Hongjun, in myths and legends. In ‘Primitive’, it should be the most powerful art. Why does it appear in my Technique column?”
“Could this be a fundamental technique that all players have by default?”
Lu Qingfeng thought about it for a bit and chanted softly to open the Technique column.
[Technique: Yellow Court Classic]
[Grade: Antecedent]
[Cultivation Stage Requirement: None]
[Technique Characteristics: Ability Upgrade; Commanding Power; Karma Nullification]
[Remark: The grades of a Technique are divided into: Preliminary, Refined, Lateral, Authentic, Mystical, Unrivaled, Primate, and Antecedent]
“Antecedent.”
“Sure enough, it is the highest level of techniques in ‘Primitive’. Looks like it isn’t a default technique for all players.”
Lu Qingfeng speculated after checking the specific information of “Yellow Court Classic”.
However, he couldn’t be asking other players about this matter. Fortunately, whether it was a default technique for all players or not, it wouldn’t affect Lu Qingfeng at all.
This itself was always a good thing.
“Before entering the game, there is a general introduction to ‘Primitive’ and a log-in guide. After entering the game, absolutely no guidance is provided, and players will have to explore on their own.”
Lu Qingfeng’s feelings about the authenticity of this game intensified.
It was just that for him, the most important thing now wasn’t the game, but to discover how this game could help him in reality.
“There are three possibilities.”
“First, one’s cultivation level, character level, techniques, equipment, and yada yada can be brought out of the game and into reality. If that’s the case, with the current state of the world in ‘Primitive’, any treasure would be enough to help me through my current adversities.”
“Second, nothing can be redeemed. However, the experiences, various techniques, magic, Abhijna, and whatnot from ‘Primitive’ can be cultivated by oneself in reality. With the realistic levels of ‘Primitive’, perhaps techniques from inside the game could be realized in reality.”
“Third, which is the worst possibility, nothing can be redeemed, nor can any techniques or anything else be cultivated in real life, making it a game that is absolutely useless to reality.”
Naturally, what Lu Qingfeng was looking forward to was the first possibility.
In the introduction to the game of “Primitive”, it seemed to imply the first possibility. But being unable to go into the game with his real body when he was logging in made Lu Qingfeng wonder that maybe the treasures or even the techniques and Abhijnas of the game couldn’t be brought into reality, and thus neither could the techniques in “Primitive” be cultivated in reality.
If so, this game would be absolutely unappetizing to him.
However, regardless of what it turned out to be, he still had to give it a go.
“Exit game.”
As soon as he prompted this with his mind, Lu Qingfeng’s consciousness returned, and he had already exited the game.
In the Blackwood shack, Qingyu was still sleeping as soundly as before.
In the darkness, Lu Qingfeng got up into a sitting position and whispered, “Call upon the Attribute Panel.”
In the silent Blackwood shack, all that could be heard was Lu Qingfeng’s voice, which had become hoarse due to his excessive nervousness, and Qingyu’s light snoring.
Name: Lu Qingfeng [Real Body]
Race: Human
Faction: None
Title: None
Cultivation Stage: None
Level: 0 (0/1)
Destined Lifespan: 16/68
Innate Talent Level: 1
Merit: Unknown
Karma: Unknown
Technique: Yellow Court Classic (Unblooded) [Property: Ability Upgrade (Level 1); Commanding Power (Level 1); Karma Nullification (Level 1)]
Magic: None
Abhijna: None
Equipment: None
“The Attribute Panel can be brought into reality!”
Lu Qingfeng felt ecstatic.
Being able to call upon the Attribute Panel in reality would at least prove that this game could interfere with reality.
“Let me test the technique.”
Lu Qingfeng tapped on “Yellow Court Classic”, and paragraphs of obscure texts suddenly emerged from the bottom of his heart.
“Beneath Yuanshi Tianzun of the Three Clarities lies the Supreme Venerable Sovereign. In the Seven Mirror Chamber in His dwellings, one shall merge with the Five Primordial Elements, making them one with thee.
In the Yellow Court, the harp of souls plays, balancing thy meridians, and cultivating thy Spirit of Natal. When thy meridians flow, so do the Chi of the Nine Suns. Chi condenses into purple haze, enlightening thy eyes, so that they can never go astray.
By comprehending the contents of the Yellow Court, attaining divinity will be a dream no more. Calamities will be gone and thy life prolonged, but, certainly, this is only for a few after all…”
Within his body, a refreshing sensation emerged at this time. Lu Qingfeng felt comfortable all over, with a burst of clarity in his mind.
After a short while, he stopped, checked his body, and brought up the Attribute Panel again.
There were no changes to his Cultivation Stage, Level, Destined Life Span, Technique, and so on.
“Cultivation is by no means an easy task. The Yellow Court Classic is a supreme Antecedent-grade technique in ‘Primitive’. Cultivating in it will be very hard, and making progress will be even harder.”
Lu Qingfeng didn’t feel dispirited. Instead, he was happy.
Since the Yellow Court Classic could indeed be practiced in reality, at least his second guess must be correct.
“I have to get in again. This time, I need to focus and find out if I can bring my cultivation and items from the game into reality.”
Lu Qingfeng lay down silently and once again logged into “Primitive”.
…
