Chapter 1: Pocket Cultivation!

Great Xia Kingdom, Qingcheng suburbs, in an old rundown house.

Six o'clock in the morning.

Beep beep beep... beep beep beep!

The alarm clock and notification sounds rang out.

"My sister sent me a message last night?"

The young man on the bed woke up, glanced at his phone, pushed himself up with both hands, and sat up.

His legs were weak—he was disabled.

The young man's name was He Zhi, 24 years old. His parents had died when he was young, and he was disabled, with only a younger sister to depend on.

His sister's name was He Ling, 18 years old this year, currently a freshman in college.

"Bro, I found a work-study job! I can cover my own living expenses now!

I won't celebrate my birthday next month—taking time off means losing money.

Bro, you need to take care of yourself! Remember to eat well, don't stay up late, don't..."

He Zhi clicked on the voice message on his phone, and immediately a lively young girl's voice rang out—it was his sister's.

"This girl is actually nagging me."

Hearing his sister's voice, the young man immediately smiled, then sent a message back.

"Remember to study hard, and don't work too hard."

However, his sister didn't reply—she probably wasn't awake yet.

"My sister has worked so hard these years taking care of a useless disabled brother like me.

Now she's finally in college, but she still has to work part-time to help with expenses. She's so thoughtful it breaks my heart..."

He Zhi's expression dimmed slightly, but he quickly adjusted his mood.

"Time to start work.

Next month is my sister's birthday. Even though she's thoughtful and says she won't celebrate, I need to buy her a gift.

If I can earn more money from work, she can focus on studying and won't need to work part-time."

He Zhi's face showed determination as he resolved to work harder and not be a burden to his sister.

***

Fifteen minutes later, He Zhi finished washing up, hastily ate breakfast, and sat down at his computer, ready to start his day's work.

Due to his disability, he couldn't do ordinary work, so his profession was as a game booster, and he also did some buying and selling business in games.

Although the income wasn't much, at least it kept him fed.

And he was extremely hardworking, getting up at six in the morning.

"Hm? What's going on?"

A moment later, He Zhi didn't start his work, but instead looked puzzled.

Because on the desktop of his freshly booted computer, a prominent window had popped up.

[Your application has been approved. Congratulations on obtaining the closed beta qualification for "Pocket Cultivation"!]

[Client updating...]

Below the window was a download progress bar that kept scrolling.

"Pocket Cultivation? What game is this? I don't remember applying for any beta qualification.

Could it be a virus?"

He Zhi looked at the popup window, his heart sinking slightly. This thing was probably a virus, wasn't it?

He moved his mouse, looking for his antivirus software.

Otherwise, if a virus damaged his computer, that would be trouble.

However, at this moment, the progress bar moved incredibly fast and had already completed.

A game window popped up.

There was no actual game, but rather a beautifully rendered CG sequence.

In the CG, it started with an overhead view, showing a vast and boundless beautiful continent shrouded in clouds and mist.

The graphics were exquisite, like a fairyland.

The view descended, and the continent began to enlarge.

Immortal mountains, grotto heavens, blessed lands...

Cultivators flying through the air on immortal swords, demon beasts ruling mountains as kings...

There were also great battles between immortals and demons, demons causing chaos in the world, the netherworld manifesting, extraterrestrial demons...

Various scenes from the cultivation world were vividly displayed before He Zhi, captivating him completely.

More than ten minutes later, the CG ended.

The screen returned to the initial overhead view of the continent as a dynamic image, but now with a [Start Game] button added.

And He Zhi's finger, which had been about to click the antivirus software, stopped.

"This CG is truly exquisite, almost like a real cultivation world. I wonder how much money it would take to produce something like this.

It's probably really some new game.

A virus couldn't possibly create such beautiful CG.

Could it be that I applied for the beta test sometime before and then forgot? I've been so busy lately, I've almost lost track of time."

He Zhi muttered to himself.

"Let me check out this game first. If the CG is this beautiful, it must be a big production."

He Zhi thought for a moment, moved his mouse, and opened the game.

As a professional game booster, he was naturally very interested in this kind of beautifully crafted new game.

There might be a way to make money in it.

***

Click, the game started!

Whoosh!

The overhead view on the screen rapidly zoomed downward, finally freezing above a spiritual peak immortal mountain.

The spiritual mountain was tall and majestic, like a divine sword pointing straight to the sky, thousands of zhang high, with clouds and mist swirling around the mountain.

The mountain peak had been carved into a huge platform, covered with ancient-style pavilions and buildings.

Among the pavilions were many people dressed in green robes, all with upright postures and agile figures.

Occasionally, one or two people would fly on artifacts, soaring into the sky.

On the largest building, there was a plaque.

On the plaque were three ancient, simple characters:

Qingxuan Sect.

Clearly, this was a cultivation sect.

"The graphics are truly beautiful, actually no different from the CG."

He Zhi looked at the ethereal spiritual mountain and sect in the image and praised it, becoming even more interested in this game.

"But why is there no game UI or operation prompts?"

But a moment later, He Zhi frowned slightly. How was this game supposed to be played?

He began moving the mouse and pressing the keyboard, trying to figure out how to play this game.

***

Ten minutes later...

"What kind of broken game is this? You can only look at the scenery. What's the use of good graphics and models if there's no gameplay? Looks like it's just a half-finished product that hasn't been fully developed."

He Zhi helplessly took his hands off the keyboard.

In those ten minutes, he had tried various methods.

In the end, he discovered that the keyboard plus mouse could control the camera to move forward, backward, left, and right.

The left and right mouse buttons could zoom the view in and out.

Also, the view wasn't blocked by obstacles and could freely pass through buildings to observe inside.

And then... nothing.

The screen could only be viewed, with no interactive options whatsoever.

Moreover, the camera movement was limited to this spiritual mountain and couldn't leave.

The various immortal mountains, blessed lands, and vast world from the opening CG couldn't be seen at all.

This was rather disappointing.

"Let me try a bit more. Even just looking at the scenery is fine—at least the graphics are beautiful."

After a while, He Zhi shook his head and moved the mouse again.

A game with such beautiful graphics, if it could be played normally, would definitely be a huge hit, and his beta qualification would be valuable.

So He Zhi didn't want to give up easily.

He Zhi controlled the camera again, moving up, down, left, and right around the spiritual mountain, looking around randomly.

Before he knew it, he had wandered to a deserted area halfway up the mountain.

"I have to say, these graphics are really good. I've never seen anything like it."

He Zhi nodded in admiration as he looked around.

He felt that the game's graphics were even more beautiful than reality, pleasing to the eye.

"Incredible, my 2K resolution off-brand screen is actually showing 8K quality...

Wait, that's not right. No matter how close I look, I can't see any pixels?"

As he looked, He Zhi suddenly felt something was strange.

When did his thousand-yuan off-brand screen have such good display quality?

He couldn't help but move his face closer to the screen to investigate.

Logically, when you get close to a screen, you should be able to see pixels and pixelation.

But He Zhi discovered that the closer he got, the clearer it became.

He couldn't help but get closer and closer...

"I've pressed my face right against it, how is it still so clear... Huh?!!"

Just as He Zhi completely pressed his face against the screen, he felt his skin seem to break through an invisible membrane.

Then suddenly his vision brightened and expanded.

It was like sticking his head out a window and seeing the vast world outside.

At the same time, He Zhi felt fresh air he had never breathed before rushing toward him, making him feel refreshed and invigorated.

Meanwhile, the moisture from the mountain mist covered his face, wetting his features.

"What's happening!"

A moment later, He Zhi finally reacted.

He quickly pulled his head back and instinctively wiped his face.

He found that his hand was actually covered in water!

"This... could there really be a world inside this game?"

Proofreader & Editor: Fat Goose 🪶