Chapter 19: I’ve Shipped a Real Couple!
Everyone was startled by Qingtian Wai’s laughter and immediately asked what had happened.
Baobao Hong said, “I was too busy running the dungeon just now to visit Brother Qingzhou’s stream. Let me go take a look now.”
“Shocking—Mount Xumi’s new BOSS—is actually—a hopeless romantic—” Qingtian Wai read out the title of Chi Zhen’s stream one word at a time between bursts of laughter. “Hahaha! Xiao Chi, the cool guy of few words with slick gameplay, is actually the type to use clickbait titles!”
The numb, lifeless Chi Zhen regained the tiniest bit of vitality.
The chat exploded.
[That’s not the important part, Qingtian Wai!]
[He secretly took screenshots of Wujin Shi by himself!]
[He has a crush on Wujin Shi!]
Meanwhile, everyone in YY was laughing and joking, asking Qingtian Wai for the link to Xiao Chi’s stream. They wanted to visit immediately.
Qingtian Wai said, “Alright, alright, alright, I’ll post it in the public YY chat.”
Before Chi Zhen could even think, his fingers moved at lightning speed and cleared the chat screen.
The barrage immediately flooded back.
[You dare have a crush but don’t dare let people know?]
[Can’t handle it?]
[Afraid the person himself will find out and put a bounty on you.]
[Screenshots! Screenshots! CZ Xiao Chi took screenshots of Wujin Shi. He’s sooooo in love!]
“Friends, it’s past one o’clock, it’s too late, today’s stream ends here, good night, see you tomorrow!” Chi Zhen blurted the whole sentence out in one breath and instantly clicked End Stream.
The viewers in front of their computers and phones were left staring blankly at the streaming software that had forcibly kicked them out.
As for Baobao Hong and the others who rushed over, all they could see was: “The livestream has ended.”
Qingtian Wai: “Huh? Xiao Chi, where’d you go?”
Feeling guilty, Chi Zhen replied, “Ah... it’s too late. I’m shutting down my computer and ending the stream. I have classes tomorrow.”
The others were a little confused but understood, saying their goodbyes one after another.
The people in a hurry to log off, like Qian Yu, quit the game directly without even teleporting away. The ones who weren’t rushed teleported back to the main city, stored their materials in the warehouse, and only then logged out. Very quickly, only Wujin Shi and Qingzhou Yiguo remained in the secret realm.
Wujin Shi hadn’t spoken since the dungeon run ended. Chi Zhen had no idea whether he was still at his computer or had stepped away to do something else. After thinking for a moment, Chi Zhen typed goodbye into the party channel and prepared to log off.
Unexpectedly, Wujin Shi turned on his microphone. “Wait a moment.”
The YY channel fell silent. Without everyone’s laughter and chatter, Wujin Shi’s voice sounded even better—deep, magnetic, perfectly suited to the cool and handsome saber cultivator of the Cangming Sect.
Qingzhou Yiguo stopped moving, and Wujin Shi walked over.
When Chi Zhen had been taking screenshots earlier, Wujin Shi hadn’t been standing this close.
Remembering that he was no longer streaming, Chi Zhen secretly took several more screenshots.
“This is more suitable for a Spirit Cultivator to plant,” Wujin Shi said.
A trade request popped up for Qingzhou Yiguo. Wujin Shi placed the Nameless Seed into the trade window.
“Huh? No need. I—I already got a weapon, which is pretty good. You should keep the seed...” Chi Zhen felt embarrassed to accept it. Even though nobody knew what it would grow into—and there was a chance it could be something useless—games generally didn’t drop completely worthless items. Even if it didn’t produce rare materials, it would probably at least be some interesting item.
Wujin Shi didn’t take the seed back. “Spirit Cultivators have a slightly higher chance of growing rare materials.”
That was true. Among all classes, the Spirit Cultivators of Eclipse Shadow Pool genuinely had the highest chance of growing good things.
After all, even their weapons were tree branches. It would be unreasonable if the class didn’t get some kind of plant-related bonus. That was one of the reasons Chi Zhen loved playing Spirit Cultivators. Given the choice between farming and looking cool, Chi Zhen had chosen farming without hesitation. Even though he thought the Cangming Sect was the coolest class in the game. When it came to growing crops, however, Spirit Cultivators’ fields yielded slightly more produce than other classes’. Could a life-skills player resist that temptation? Absolutely not.
“And besides, growing things is too much trouble. I don’t like doing it,” Wujin Shi added.
That was true as well. After planting a seed, players had to visit the guild realm every day to loosen the soil, water it, fertilize it, and remove pests if they wanted quality results. If they ignored it, there was a good chance the plant would simply die. That was why many players couldn’t be bothered with farming in Quest for the Azure Heavens. It was just too much work.
In the end, Chi Zhen clicked Accept. “I’ll plant it for now. If it grows into something good, I’ll give it to you.”
Wujin Shi chuckled softly and said nothing.
Chi Zhen’s ears felt a little warm. He began wondering whether he was acting a bit too eager to please, so he hurriedly said goodbye and logged out of the game.
As he exited YY, he noticed that everyone else had already left. Only Wujin Shi and Wei Yu Ning Qiu remained in the channel, while Han Jian Ying was sitting in the room directly above them.
Chi Zhen’s eyes widened. He had the distinct feeling that some kind of dramatic love-triangle battlefield was about to unfold. He immediately left YY and shut down his computer to preserve his own safety.
By the time he finished washing up and lay down to sleep, it was nearly two in the morning.
That night, Chi Zhen slept poorly. His dreams were filled with endless fighting and killing. One moment the Mad Monk was laughing maniacally. The next moment the person laughing had become Qingtian Wai. Then he himself became Qingzhou Yiguo, swinging weapons and battling nonstop...
The sleep left him completely drained. When he woke up, his head was still buzzing.
The next day’s schedule consisted of only two morning classes. It wasn’t even ten o’clock when they ended. Chi Zhen immediately rushed back to his rented apartment and started editing a game-guide video, adding subtitles and recording narration.
He ate lunch and dinner in front of the computer, spending barely five minutes on each meal.
By seven-thirty that evening, he finally finished recording the last explanatory voice-over.
Chi Zhen was nearly exhausted. His vision blurred from fatigue. While uploading the video to Bilibili, he opened his livestream.
Stream Title: Casual Stream Tonight — Farming, Fishing, Daydreaming...
He hadn’t taken a nap, hadn’t slept well the previous night, and genuinely had no energy left to play seriously. There was no way he could go contesting field bosses with Way of Heaven and Dominating the Firmament today.
The moment he started streaming, several hundred viewers flooded in.
[Finally, we’ve been waiting for you.]
[Alright, kid. Let’s see how you run tonight.]
[Didn’t you rage-quit yesterday? I refuse to believe you can dodge Qingtian Wai every day.]
[Qingtian Wai, are you here? Qingtian Wai, are you here? Qingtian Wai, log in already!]
[Why aren’t you running dungeons today? Didn’t Wujin Shi ask you to do battlefields yesterday? You ended up doing a dungeon instead and never got to the battlefields. Aren’t you playing a few matches today?]
[Damn, streamer. I saw your ID in the Chronicle of All Things ranking when I logged in today.]
[Your name was right next to Wujin Shi’s. Rounded up, that’s basically marriage.]
[When’s the guide video coming out? When’s the guide video coming out? Hurry hurry hurry!]
[I heard someone on another server also spawned the Mad Monk, but they couldn’t beat him!]
[I heard Way of Heaven is unhappy because Wujin Shi invited the streamer to a dungeon yesterday, and they’ve been throwing shade at Wujin Shi on the forums.]
Chi Zhen took a big gulp of water and began answering the questions one by one.
“Not running dungeons today. Just look at the stream title. I’m exhausted. Why am I exhausted? Because after class, I rushed home and spent the entire day editing a video. It’s uploading right now, so you’ll be able to watch it on my Bilibili homepage very soon. And after you watch it, remember to give it a like.”
“As for other guilds’ business, let’s not discuss it in the stream. It has nothing to do with us.”
[How does it have nothing to do with you? You’re being hunted! You even killed several of their people yesterday.]
[I heard Way of Heaven is having internal conflicts. No idea if it’s true.]
[I’m from Way of Heaven, I can testify. After the streamer’s group finished the dungeon yesterday, people started arguing in guild chat in the middle of the night~ Some people were unhappy that Wujin Shi took outsiders along for the first clear~]
Chi Zhen sighed helplessly. “Doesn’t it seem like I’m the only person there who isn’t from Way of Heaven? The rest were all Way of Heaven members.”
As he spoke, he logged into the game.
The moment he entered, Qingtian Wai messaged him.
[Friend] Qingtian Wai: Xiao Chi, you’re streaming, right?
[Friend] Qingzhou Yiguo: Yeah, stream’s on.
[Friend] Qingtian Wai: Wujin Shi is working overtime today and won’t be logging in. He said you can do battlefields another day.
[Friend] Qingzhou Yiguo: Okay.
[Friend] Qingtian Wai: Want to do daily quests?
[Friend] Qingzhou Yiguo: I’m not leaving the main city today. Just staying in the guild realm to do some farming.
[Friend] Qingtian Wai: Alright then.
Chi Zhen really wanted to ask whether someone in Way of Heaven was unhappy with Wujin Shi, but he held himself back. After all, he was still streaming, and he wasn’t one of Wujin Shi’s close friends. Asking too many questions would make him look nosy.
Besides, Wujin Shi was a top-tier player. There was no need to worry about him.
The game world was simple. Being bad at the game was the greatest sin. Being insanely skilled solved everything.
A player as strong as Wujin Shi was someone every major guild wanted to recruit. There was absolutely no need to worry about him being unable to stay in Way of Heaven. If he wanted to leave, every guild at the top of the rankings would immediately extend an olive branch.
Lost in thought, Chi Zhen quietly tilled the soil. The chat scrolled by.
[Ah? Wujin Shi isn’t logging in today? Suddenly I feel like there’s nothing to look forward to.]
[The streamer’s silhouette somehow looks lonely now!]
[Ahhh, farm! Fish! I love watching this!]
[Xiao Chi, you haven’t done a chill stream in days!]
[Wait, no shipping content today? I’m leaving then. Farming is boring.]
Chi Zhen ignored the viewers complaining that farming and fishing were boring. After loosening the soil, he pulled out the Nameless Seed from his inventory, swung his hoe to dig a hole, and prepared to plant it.
[System] Player [Qingzhou Yiguo] failed to plant [Nameless Seed]. [Nameless Seed] cannot be planted in ordinary soil. Try using [Nüyi’s Flowerpot] instead.
Chi Zhen froze.
Nüyi’s Flowerpot was a dungeon-drop item that could also be purchased on the marketplace, but it was extremely expensive.
Nüyi was the Flower Goddess. Many rare flower seeds could only be properly cultivated in her flowerpots. Flowers could be used to make dyes and cosmetic items, making them highly sought-after materials.
Could the Nameless Seed actually be a flower seed?
While Chi Zhen was still silently pondering the matter, the chat had already exploded.
[Nameless Seed? Wait, don’t I remember that Wujin Shi won that seed in the loot roll yesterday?]
[Huh? Anyone who stayed until the end yesterday, explain.]
[I freaking remember it clearly. Wujin Shi won that seed in the roll.]
[But now it’s in the streamer’s inventory.]
[Mom! The ship I’m rooting for is REAL!]
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