"Marble Dynasty Chronicles" has certainly made many people laugh.
But Jiang Yongqing is not among them.
As the notorious "Emperor Shi," the actual person behind the character in the game "Donât Go Home: Marbles Storm," Jiang Yongqing found this book utterly speechless.
After all, the very first page, first line, first sentence of the book reads, "Emperor Shi, online name [Baâs Little Coquettish Wife], real name Jiang Yongqing, from Peng City."
Lost his real name terribly!
Initially, hardly anyone knew him, but once this troublesome book got published, suddenly everyone recognized him.
Well, let them recognize him; Peng City is so large, and the name Jiang Yongqing isnât conspicuous, so who would know that heâs the "Emperor Shi" recorded in the book?
But thatâs for strangers.
To his friends and family around him, especially those gaming buddies, this was practically calling him out by name.
Now itâs a mess!
Jiang Yongqing completely lost his name; friends would shout "Emperor of the Coquettish Wife" or "Emperor Shi" whenever they met him, the level of embarrassment was comparable to posting "I walk on thin ice all my life" on social media.
Life became unbearable.
The publication and popularity of "Marble Dynasty Chronicles," especially the "biography of the Emperor of the Coquettish Wife" inside, left Jiang Yongqing so embarrassed that he couldnât lift his head.
"Donât Leave After School" became unplayable.
No matter how good the game, for Jiang Yongqing who lost his real name, it turned into an unimaginable torture. After all, with the nickname [Baâs Little Coquettish Wife], he became the focal point wherever he went.
Forget about it, time to flee!
As a top fan of Ba, a loyal supporter of Tianba Studio, Jiang Yongqing recently got hooked on "Cultivation Fantasy," an MMORPG xianxia online game.
This game is great!
He got a new identity in this game, no longer worried about being recognized and then joked about.
The most important thing is...
"Cultivation Fantasy" as a free MMO online game, doesnât have many paid features, and theyâre not that important either, Ba really has a conscience!
Playing this game, even free players can outperform the paying pros, something unimaginable in other MMOs, wouldnât you agree?
Jiang Yongqing is playing an Artifact Refiner.
His character just broke through to mid-level Foundation Establishment, fully equipped with top-tier magical artifacts, his combat power is not to be underestimated.
How much money did he spend?
To outsiders, Jiang Yongqingâs character is so top-notch, he surely spent a lot of money. But only he knows, he only bought a $30 Battle Pass.
The cultivation realm is achieved through effort, as for all his top-tier magical artifacts, two were dropped in dungeons, and the rest he crafted himself by collecting materials and consuming merits.
Fun fact, merits can be used to craft magical treasures!
Not just crafting magical treasures, they can also be used for alchemy, talisman making, array formation, spirit beast training, and more, nearly all professions can use merits.
Jiang Yongqing joined the Artifact Refining Sect, playing an Artifact Refining profession, naturally, he can use merits to craft magical artifacts and treasures.
However, this approach is very extravagant...
Merit Artifact Refining is powerful, as long as your merits are high enough, you can craft magical treasures exceeding your cultivation realm, and their attributes will be even more formidable.
But it consumes quite a lot of merits.
Under normal circumstances, players have sparse merits in the early stages, and dungeons, breakthrough realms all require merits, so theyâre reluctant to use merits for refining.
But this is an abnormal situation!
Ever since the "Cultivation Fantasy" exposed a game-breaking bug, allowing the Heavenly Dao Program to run in the background and farm merits through other software or games, merits started showing signs of "devaluation."
However, no matter how it devalues, as the strongest tier 3 currency in the game, the meritâs value is still substantial, and usually, itâs not easy to farm large amounts of merits.
Fortunately, Jiang Yongqing has a secret trick.
To gain high merit rewards, you need to achieve "earth-shattering" deeds, like counter-killing plug-in users to achieve the "Slaying Immortals" milestone.
But thatâs too difficult...
Jiang Yongqing has tried, but for ordinary players to counter-kill cheaters, the difficulty is indeed high, that high merit isnât given for free.
Is there another way?
Merit points in small amounts, honestly, Jiang Yongqing doesnât even care, he feels the efficiency is too low, if heâs going to do it, heâs going to do one big sweep, getting the Heavenly Dao to give him hundreds of merit points.
To achieve this goal, Jiang Yongqing, like many "Cultivation Fantasy" players, constantly tried to find new merit acquisition methods, trying to find an easy yet high-yielding merit approach.
And there is!
A player, quite strangely, got their hands on a foreign, popular social chatting software, then using very broken Japanese, and a voice changer, got into a virtual relationship.
Whether the counterpart was too gullible or this guy was too cunning, he eventually reeled someone in, captivating a middle-aged Neon man to the point of divorcing just to marry "her."
"Not possible!"
"I want to marry a good person, someone who accumulates virtue and does good deeds. If you want to marry me, then do more good deeds!"
"No problem! You wait, Mina-chan, Iâll go donate goods and money to your hometownâs charity, become a big philanthropist..."
Unbelievable family members!
Not cheating on money or on physical appearance, just exploiting emotions to earn merits, this playerâs shenanigans truly amazed many "Cultivation Fantasy" players and opened a new door for Jiang Yongqing.
Turns out, merits could be earned this way too?
Admittedly, although this playerâs methods were, well, questionable, he did earn those merits.
Jiang Yongqing analyzed, the Heavenly Dao Program is quite rigid and inflexible, while its merit distribution criteria are vague, they are not entirely without clues.
Promoting good and punishing evil is definitely correct!
For the punishing evil part, everyone had already explored quite a lot, with the constant appearance of online demons, as long as you act against these demons, merits naturally follow.
In terms of spreading good deeds, no one has explored this yet. Jiang Yongqing felt he could take the lead and uncover a brand-new way of earning merit.
But how should he go about doing it?
Jiang Yongqing thought about it and finally settled on a plan, which was to create a new account on a certain video platform, dedicated to posting good deeds and promoting positive energy.
The direction was correct.
But initially, the video statistics were poor. The merit he gained was not even as much as when he played a game to defeat rude players.
So he posted a request for help on the Tianba Community, asking everyone to follow his account and help him with this experiment.
The players of "Cultivation Fantasy" were already interested in such experiments and were happy to help Jiang Yongqing. As a result, the number of followers quickly surpassed ten thousand.
With the increased followers, the video statistics gradually improved. One particular good deed, which hadnât been reported by other media, earned tens of thousands of likes and comments when he posted it.
Just from this alone, Jiang Yongqing earned more than a thousand points of merit!
Taking off!
With increased attention and exposure, and a deeper understanding of the merit evaluation system, he became a top player in "Cultivation Fantasy".
Posting videos daily, promoting good deeds, he could log in to receive a merit reward easily. Isnât that wonderful?
With merit, playing "Cultivation Fantasy" became a lavish experience.
This was also the main reason why Jiang Yongqingâs collection of exceptional magical artifacts made him invincible in various battles; his merit was simply overflowing!
Jiang Yongqingâs success also gave other players hope. They realized that merit wasnât just about punishing evil, but could also be achieved through promoting good deeds.
Moreover, there were many ways to go about this. One could promote good deeds happening around the world, like Jiang Yongqing, or practice good deeds in real life.
As long as itâs happening online, as long as the Heavenly Dao Program is running in the background, and your actions are deemed virtuous, you can earn merit rewards.
So, itâs not just about arguing with others!
You can also advise others online not to curse and teach them how to use civilized language on the internet. As long as you engage in such behavior, regardless of whether the other party agrees, you can earn merit.
"Purifying the network environment?"
Jiang Yongqing didnât expect that the merit acquisition method he inadvertently developed would play a critical role in purifying the network environment.
He was even praised by Ba!
Thatâs right!
After Jiang Yongqing posted about his actions and insights, the Heavenly Dao judged that he had made a "great contribution" and awarded him a generous merit reward. Ba also acknowledged his "significant contribution" by sending him an exquisite model of Tree Treasure, the protagonist of "Ancestor Tree".
Not only that, Jiang Yongqing was regarded as a model figure, pushed into the spotlight by Ba, and interviewed by many media reporters.
"Games arenât a scourge! A good game can instill players with good internet habits and a positive outlook on life..."
Jiang Yongqing knew that this was an article and advertisement that Ba paid for, aimed at praising the game "Cultivation Fantasy".
But he also admitted that the article wasnât wrong.
Since playing "Cultivation Fantasy," he felt his moral character improved by more than one level, with a grand pursuit of "Merit Ascension".
Not just him, but other players of "Cultivation Fantasy" felt the same way.
The discussion section of "Cultivation Fantasy" in the Tianba Community was once praised as the only "high-quality" forum on the internet, comparable to the comment sections of 18+ websites.
Have you visited any adult sites?
On those sites, arenât all discussions polite and classy, with everyone speaking so well and never resorting to insults or curses?
Sorry!
The forum environment in "Cultivation Fantasy" and its game chat channels are just like that.
A community of high-quality players!
In the game, the public chat screen isnât filled with the usual chaos and bickering seen in other MMO games. People respectfully address each other as "Fellow Daoist" and coexist harmoniously like family.
"Good morning, Fellow Daoist!"
"Good morning! Is Kun Kun Senior heading to a dungeon?"
"Thatâs right..."
This is the public chat environment of "Cultivation Fantasy," centered around manners and class.
Itâs not that there arenât any hot-tempered and mild-mannered players, but these players are on the "Karmic" evil cultivator path, like rats in the street that everyone wants to beat up.
What?
Why choose the karmic path?
Of course, itâs because these players, due to their temper and mild manners, had their merit deducted by the Heavenly Dao and couldnât accumulate merit, so they had to become karmic evil cultivators.
The Immortal Spirit Realm is polarized!
70% of players are like family, polite and courteous, passionate like fire, calling each other "Fellow Daoist" and speaking eloquently.
Because these are "merit route" players, everything is done to earn merit.
The other 30% of players focus on freedom and disdain those hypocrites. Anyway, they have no merit, only karmic force, and couldnât care less about the Heavenly Dao!
Each has their own way of playing...
Jiang Yongqing thought this was actually quite good, with cultivators divided into righteous and evil camps, each with their survival methods, choosing whichever camp they preferred.
If you canât stand the high-quality cultivation environment and the Heavenly Dao merit, then you can become a karmic evil cultivator, free from the Heavenly Daoâs constraints, free and unrestrained...
Oh, wait!
Evil cultivators canât be completely free and unrestrained, although they are unbound and powerful beyond compare in their level. However, the tribulation crossing is quite tragic for them.
Karmic force burdens them, and the lightning tribulation is much fiercer than for the ordinary merit cultivators!
Jiang Yongqing was fortunate enough to witness a karmic cultivatorâs tribulation crossing, and the scene was nothing short of the Heavenly Dao exacting revenge on these "unruly" individuals. It was too brutal.
But the Heavenly Dao left a way out; though immensely powerful, the karmic cultivators can successfully cross tribulations with more time...