The Nine Sects' Cultivation Tournament was a staple event that happened in nearly every playthrough of Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits.
It wasn't always called the Nine Sects' Cultivation Tournament; sometimes it was the Three Sects' Spring Competition, sometimes it was the Fifty Sects' Trophy Battle. Whatever the AI decided to name it, there was always some sort of sect gathering where disciples could compete in every solo playthrough. As a player, if you were a disciple of a competing sect, you could gain enormous rewards by placing in the top of the main competition event.
The main competition event usually consisted of hunting down low to medium-level demons in a large canyon and killing as many as possible without sustaining injury. If you ranked in the top three disciples, you could gain as much as 1,000 Points in Martial Reputation, or Cultivation at once!
Of course, this was extremely difficult and almost impossible to do. Since every sect had anywhere from a dozen to five hundred members, and there could be anywhere from three to three hundred sects competing, as a player, you were basically fucked from the start. Even with the best stats and gameplay strategies, how could you compete against tens of thousands of AI NPCs, a fraction of whom had skills far superior to yours? Sometimes, there were even NPCs on the verge of Nascent Soul competing!
How this was allowed, Qiu Yunru didn't know. If you were close to Nascent Soul, you might as well be a master yourself. How could you throw a master in with someone who had just reached Qi Condensation? It was like tossing a duckling into a pen of bulldogs!
Because of this impossibility, these sect tournaments had become a major point of complaint in the game's community. For years, people called for difficulty balancing and more resource allotment, tagging the devs madly and even signing short-lived petitions begging them to not allow Nascent Soul AIs to compete. However, the Spring Blossoms, Autumn Fruits devs were never ones to give in to criticism. And so, all complaints went unheard, or even meme'd on the game company's social media page. Only the top 0.001% of players managed to ever win these kinds of events, and everyone else just had to accept their suffering in the end.
Qiu Yunru, however, was no longer a player.
Or, he sort of was. You know, a player, but not at a computer.
Being inside the game, he had the ability to "play" 24/7. He could train day and night, educate himself on every type of talisman and known sword technique, and build his martial and reputation points on missions every waking moment. In the real world, such behavior would have been unhealthy, and he'd definitely have to go to the bathroom and put eyedrops in his eyes to go study for an organic chemistry exam at some point. But now that it was his life, who would complain?
Of course, Qiu Yunru wasn't exactly the "motivated to work himself to the bone" type. He really did love to sleep and rest. Ever since he had reached the Golden Core stage, his game menu had stopped pestering him so often and threatening him with point deductions if he fell behind in his training. Nevertheless, he did his best. At night, he went to the library and read sword manuals; during the day, he tried to recall music from his past life while running and sword fighting to not grow bored. It was difficult, but he forced himself to continue training.
After all, a win in a tournament like this could bring him years closer to Nascent Soul. If his timeline right now was to reach Nascent Soul in ten years, he might be able to reach it in two with a tournament win reward pack!
Speaking of, if he did win and get that much closer, he would really need to go and scout out some good mountains. It was similar to apartment shopping, wasn't it? If he was going to spend eternity on a mountain, it should be a good one: peaceful, beautiful, and full of good spiritual energy. Also, far away from people.
One day as the snow melted into spring, Qiu Yunru finished up training and decided that it was a good time to go mountain-shopping.
Just as he was setting his sword down to hop on and go for a fly around the nearby mountain ranges, he heard someone call out:
"Qiu-ge, where are you going?"
Of course it was that kid, Li Chenyuan. Qiu Yunru sighed internally. No matter how much he tried to avoid seeing this kid too much, it seemed impossible. He always showed up, even at the strangest of places!
"I'm going to go for a ride," He said politely, giving a small smile. It was better to be vague. Wouldn't he be laughed out if he started spouting nonsense about Mountain-Shopping?
Li Chenyuan's cheeks were pink, and his expression was serious. He stepped forward. "Can I come with shige?"
Qiu Yunru stiffened. Again with this kid asking to come along--even though he wasn't directly mentoring Li Chenyuan anymore ever since they had gotten their Golden Cores, he wanted to go everywhere with him. Qiu Yunru opened his mouth to make an excuse about why he had to go alone--after all, wasn't house-shopping a bit of a private matter?--but he found he couldn't.
It was the same as always. Same, same.
Li Chenyuan's pink face warmed him heart for some reason. If only he had thicker skin...
Qiu Yunru sighed. "All right. You can come. I'm just going for a ride around the nearby mountain ranges. It might be a long time, though."
"That's okay--I just want to spend time with Qiu-ge."
Qiu Yunru felt a little tingle in his stomach at those words. This kid had been saying clingier and clingier things lately. He really didn't know how to feel about it!
One one hand, it made him feel a sinking guilt for the ways he was slowly trying to pull away. This kid really had too pure a heart, and it stung Qiu Yunru's heart to hear such things when he kept remembering that pile of a million bodies from time to time. All he could think was: I'm sorry, but I really can't get too involved with a fifty-percent probable mass murderer! Don't you know most people are murderered by people they know? The more I know you, the more likely you are to crush my guts!
On the other hand, it was....really, frustratingly heartfelt! If only this kid wasn't so insistent, earnest, and even cute, Qiu Yunru might be able to reject his company more easily!
Holding in another sigh, Qiu Yunru nodded again. He was too influenceable. Ah, well--as long as he didn't let this kid know about his plans to live on one of these mountains alone one day, he'd probably be safe enough. Even if Li Chenyuan became a mass-murderer, it would be hard to find some rando on a random mountaintop in an unknown cave, right?
"Ha...All right, shidi. Let's go, then."