I Can Only Cultivate In A Game

Leaving the Murktree Forest, Victor moved swiftly through the lower edges of Blueflame City, avoiding the main roads and using small alleyways.

Eventually, he reached a checkpoint at the city gates.

He walked casually beside a cart piled with wooden crates and sacks of herbs. The old merchant nodded groggily, not recognizing him.

Victor slid the unconscious body into the back of the cart under a tarp while making sure the guards were distracted.

Moments later, the gates opened.

Victor walked calmly beside the cart, pretending to be just another traveler escorting goods.

Once outside the city's barrier walls, he peeled off from the merchant path, retrieved the bound cultivator, and disappeared into the surrounding hills.

The moonlight above was pale and cold but now wasn't the time to be bothered about that.

There was a place he needed to reach.

And an answer to uncover.

...

...

The journey from Blueflame City had taken Victor several hours on foot with his captive slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

The man stirred occasionally, groaning and murmuring under his breath, but each time he regained consciousness, Victor simply knocked him out again with a sharp tap to the temple.

Now, Victor stood at the edge of a town unlike any he'd ever seen.

This wasn't Lingyun with its cultivated elegance or the structured serenity of Blueflame. This place felt… wrong.

The air was heavy. Grit clung to his boots. The buildings leaned at odd angles as if the foundations had been built on a lie. Fires flickered in barrels near alleyways where gaunt beggars huddled, and children in tattered robes darted between broken carts and drunk cultivators.

There was a black market here. An entire world where law had long been buried beneath layers of desperation and decay.

Victor adjusted the mask he'd picked up earlier—a dark, bone-colored piece with faint runes etched across the cheeks. It hid most of his face, leaving only his eyes visible.

He proceeded to step into the heart of this ghost town.

The information he'd gotten from the system alert that notified him about the bounty wasn't just about the target. It also included a note on the bounty's reward claim location. And it was here, in this forsaken pit.

A signless building squatted near the end of a crooked road. No windows. One door. And two scarred men standing in front with their arms folded. They each had long blades sheathed across their backs.

Victor walked straight toward them.

One of them eyed him. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to cash in a bounty," Victor replied with a voice roughened by the mask.

They just stepped aside without asking for proof.

Inside was a den of shadows.

The room was filled with rogue cultivators, masked figures, and the sharp scent of blood and iron. The walls were black stone, and crimson lanterns swayed slightly from breeze vents overhead.

At one table, a man with a zig-zagged scar across his chest was polishing a blade soaked in dried blood.

Victor spotted a counter at the far end of the room where people were lining up. He joined the queue and waited behind a woman who carried a sack that dripped something thick and red.

She dumped the contents onto the counter.

A severed head.

Victor didn't blink. He needed to maintain an emotionless looking eyes in such a location to avoid any suspicions.

The clerk behind the counter—a thin man with glasses and green fingernails—inspected it, then nodded.

"Three thousand Spirit Stones. Next."

Victor stepped forward and let his bound prisoner slump down beside him.

"I'm here to cash in the bounty on Fang Chen," he stated.

The man raised an eyebrow and stared at the covered body.

"You caught Fang Chen?"

Victor nodded.

"Where's the confirmation item?"

Victor pulled the forged bounty poster from earlier and slapped it down. "Here."

The man inspected the unconscious body, frowned, then leaned forward a bit. "Doesn't look like him."

Victor shrugged. "He fought me hard. Burned half his features off with a defensive flame technique. He's healing, but slowly."

The man's expression remained flat.

"You from around here?"

"No," Victor said simply.

"Never seen you before."

"I operate outside the circuits. Independent contracts only. Fast, clean, quiet."

The man clicked his tongue and sat back. "Hmm. And what's your assassin tag, then?"

Victor paused for a split second.

"…Void Veil."

The clerk blinked once, then smirked. "Dramatic. Still never heard of you before. "

Victor leaned closer. "Who placed the bounty?"

This question made the man pause.

He folded his arms. "That's not typically disclosed unless there's a transfer clause written in the contract. This one doesn't have it."

Victor said nothing.

The man narrowed his eyes. "You're asking an awful lot of questions, Void Veil."

"Nothing wrong with wanting to know the names of the ones I'm working for. Perhaps, I could let you have a couple thousand spirit stones from the gains I'll make after cashing in Fang Chen."

The clerk stared at him long and hard.

Then he proceeded to lean forward and lowered his voice. "You didn't hear it from me. But the ones who want Fang Chen... are... Jade Serpent Sect."

Victor's eyes narrowed beneath the mask.

Of course it was them...

The Jade Serpent Sect—the very same sect whose disciples had been present when he absorbed the Pond of Dragon Tears. The same ones who betrayed him and Lady Li even after they helped them.

The same cowards he'd denied giving his magical Spit to amongst other cultivators.

They couldn't do anything to him back then due to Shen Mo's presence.

It made sense that they'd try to get him by any means necessary.

They hadn't forgotten.

Victor was now a walking relic in their eyes.

And they wanted him for themselves.

His voice dropped. "Oh the Jade Serpent Sect... did they add the reason for the bounty?"

"No," the clerk answered.

'At least they were smart enough to hide that or everyone would just want me for themselves. The bounty would be disregarded...'

"Wait," the man suddenly voiced out. "What did you say your name was again?"