Absolute Death Game

The Grand Yin Sect's headquarters was located directly opposite the Nine Dragons City God Temple, in an inconspicuous building hidden within a narrow alley. From the outside, it seemed very unremarkable, but once inside, one would find that it was actually quite spacious.

Contrary to Xiao Buli's expectations, the decor here was extremely simple and austere, with monstrous sculptures surrounding a massive altar as its sole adornment. These features lent the place an added air of mystery.

Members of the Grand Yin Sect were all dressed in plain colored magical robes of black, white, and gray, creating a solemn and respectful atmosphere. Since everyone's Prestige here was essentially indifferent, the sight of NPCs with their brownish-red names gave the illusion of walking into a den of monsters.

Fortunately, unless they were hostile, they would not attack, and the group followed Bai Yunfei all the way into the great hall where they approached an NPC named Qiu Changyan, an elder of the Grand Yin Sect.

Bai Yunfei reported back after completing the mission, and Qiu Changyan nodded his head.

"So you already killed the Corpse Refiner Geng Lisong? Well done, you did very well, you've earned the friendship of the Grand Yin Sect with your actions, from now on, our doors will be open to you."

A line of red text flashed across Xiao Buli's screen.

System prompt: Completed the mission 'Cleanse the Defiant.' Your Prestige with the Grand Yin Sect has increased by 300 points, you have reached Neutral standing with the Grand Yin Sect, and you are now eligible to accept missions here.

Looking around, all those NPCs who were originally a shade away from being monsters with their brownish-red names now all had a yellow border.

This made things much safer.

If one continued to increase their Prestige with the Grand Yin Sect, it wouldn't take long to turn into the friendly green-bordered NPCs.

However, Xiao Buli didn't plan to increase his Prestige here. Even if he did, he would choose to work on the Sanqing Sect's Prestige first. But this didn't hinder him from inquiring about ghosts with the NPCs.

After all, when it comes to understanding the spirits, the Wandering Spirits, or the techniques of Spirit Reincarnation, no one is better than the Necromancers of the Grand Yin Sect who created these spells and deal with spirits daily.

The elder of the Grand Yin Sect, Qiu Changyan, was his chosen target for inquiry.

"Greetings elder, may I seek knowledge about souls from you?"

"Of course, we are very welcoming towards those with a desire to understand the essence of souls. What would you like to ask?"

Having learned his lesson through the Nameless Swordsman's experience, Xiao Buli was somewhat more enlightened about how to interact with NPCs, knowing that they were not merely data but required a different approach. Therefore, he went straight to the point, "I want to know whether a person becomes a ghost after death?"

Qiu Changyan answered, "That depends on the situation. If conditions are met, then one can become a ghost."

"Oh, what conditions are needed?"

Qiu Changyan then explained, "Normally, when a person dies, their soul dissipates and returns to nature as part of the Yin and Yang energies. However, if someone harbors obsessions, part of their soul, due to the overbearing nature of these fixations, cannot disperse and remains in the world as what is known as a ghost.

The nature of the ghost is determined by the obsessions they held in life. If a person held desires related to killing or vengeance, they would likely become one of the evil spirits and malevolent ghosts who actively attack humans. If a person was driven by gratitude or the desire to save others, they would most likely become what we call a benevolent ghost.

However, whether they are good or evil, in the end, they are still ghosts. Their souls aren't complete, having only parts of their cognition and memory from life, and they often become increasingly fixated. They're not meant to exist in this world for long, so if possible, they should be laid to rest."

Xiao Buli nodded in understanding. It seemed that Lu Jiang remained in this world because he too harbored obsessions, and once those obsessions were fulfilled, his soul would also dissipate.

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"So what exactly is a Wandering Spirit?" Xiao Buli asked again.

"Unlike ordinary ghosts, Wandering Spirits are the Spiritual Bodies formed by those with strong spiritual power or those who possessed Mana upon death. Unlike common ghosts, Wandering Spirits retain their full self-awareness, but that's all there is to it. They cannot harm others, nor can they help, and they cannot communicate with humans on any level.

Moreover, they can only exist for a certain period of time before they dissipate once the hour comes."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Buli thought to himself that it made sense, and that it would indeed be necessary to learn the Spirit Reincarnation skill.

After all, the reason Lu Jiang became a ghost was his attachment to his sister. Xiao Buli, on the other hand, was alone and without attachments. If he died, he would probably disperse into nothingness. It would be better to be able to turn into a Wandering Spirit and persist for a while.

With this thought, he opened his inventory and double-clicked on the Skill Book inside. As a flash of white light passed, a grey skill appeared in his Skill Bar.

Spirit Reincarnation: Inactive.

The group left the Grand Yin Sect and dispersed, having agreed to tackle another dungeon tomorrow. Xiao Buli reviewed the experience points gained from this dungeon run and found that he hadn't earned as much as he had expected—just over 1000 points. The main reason was the division of dungeon experience among five people; his share wasn't as substantial.

He looked at the Experience Points required for leveling up the Gale Sword Skills. Upgrading from level 5 to 6 needed 500 points, and from 6 to 7 would only need more. With his current experience, he could at most only level up to 7. To raise Gale Sword Skills to LV10 was indeed an arduous journey.

As for his spell-based skills, he had gained a little proficiency from frequent use, but there was still a distance to reach LV2. After all, Mana was limited, and it's not like other games where you could easily grind skill proficiency.

Should he continue to upgrade Gale Sword Skills, or concentrate on improving the levels of his spell-based skills first? Xiao Buli found himself hesitating. It seemed that farming experience was something he needed to focus more on.

However, grinding experience wasn't just about these moments. He checked the time and realized it was past five, dinner time. Xiao Buli logged out of the game and joined everyone in the dining hall.

As always, tonight's dinner was sumptuous, with fruit salad, egg-meat rolls, crispy lamb chops, tomato sauce salmon, and silver fungus seaweed soup, accompanied by rice and freshly baked bread as the main course.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Xiao Buli, as usual, loaded a large plate with food, eating while still pondering how he could earn more experience.

"Hey, may I sit here?" A somewhat raspy voice suddenly sounded in front of him. Xiao Buli looked up and saw a newcomer, an elegant-looking girl, who seemed faintly familiar. Find your next read on empire

"You are,"—he glanced at the badge on her chest, a Phoenix reborn in flames—"are you Leader Wu from the Vermilion Bird Group?"

'Hehe, just call me Sister Wu or Amin," Wu Min'er appeared very amiable, gesturing at the seat in front of him as if asking for permission. Xiao Buli hurriedly replied, "Of course, please sit."

"I heard you got a 'War God Atlas'. Can you sell it to me?" Wu Min'er got straight to the point, which puzzled Xiao Buli, "What do you want that book for? So, you know what it's used for?"

"Of course, don't forget I'm the number one spy master here," Wu Min'er said with slight self-deprecation. "Actually, its use is quite simple—it's for gifting to NPCs."

"Gifting to NPCs?" Xiao Buli's mind raced, and he instantly thought of a reason, "Could it be for boosting personal Prestige with NPCs?"

A hint of approval flickered in Wu Min'er's eyes, "You guessed it, that's exactly the case. This strategy book is of no use to us players, but NPCs need such things. I recently reached Reverence with an NPC because of a quest, and I'm a few hundred points away from achieving 'Reverence.' However, I can't get any more quests from him, so I'll need to give some gifts.

What do you think, will you sell it? I still have some Gold Coins."

After thinking for a while, Xiao Buli said, "No need for Gold Coins. I have no use for the book anyway, so I'll give it to you if you need it. Of course, if you feel bad about it, some information in exchange would be more than welcome."

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