MTL - The General Loves to Collect Little Red Flowers - Chapter 38 Undead Legion

Sakimori Kagami plays a VRMMORPG called Arch Earth Online. He is a veteran player with the name and appearance similar to an elderly bearded wizard from a certain book about a ring.

One day he purchases an appearance change item as a last resort to spend expiring currency and gets the idea of choosing what he would want to look like if his character was ever a girl.

Falling asleep should have suspended the game, but Kagami wakes up still online and feels the game has has gotten a bit more realistic. Did Arch Earth Online finally get a long-awaited update?

A young man plagued by recurring nightmares finds himself visiting a blind fortune teller, who sends him to a world of martial arts that looks a lot like the wuxia stories he used to read.

In the sky of this world, a tome shines every now and then, revealing the hierarchy of mighty beings that seek power amid troubled times. Determined to unravel the mysteries of his involuntary journey and the secrets of the world he has ended up in, he endeavors to ascend the tome’s rankings, all while looking for a path back home.

Official Chinese blurb

Wandering the jianghu with a blade and wine, where beauties’ grace is filling one’s mind.

A youth, saber on his back and wine gourd at the waist, strides forth, yet the jianghu of his heart seems only more elusive;

With each flipped page of the Tome of Troubled Times, decades of nights soaked in rain pass over the jianghu.

As he suddenly turns to look back, he finds that the mortal world has shattered in his wake.

In the heart of the Azure Continent lies a legendary establishment known as Origin Mall.This extraordinary store offers goods beyond imagination: a sip of its cola can instantly replenish one's vitality; its spicy snacks grant the strength to overcome powerful foes; the games it offers can accelerate cultivation progress; and its novels impart profound techniques and insights.Origin Mall boasts a vast array of offerings, catering to leisure, entertainment, dining, and training needs alike.However, there’s one rule that all visitors must remember: never cause trouble in the store. The owner, though unassuming, is unimaginably powerful.

What is it like to own an abandoned oil town in the West? At first, Xu Xing simply wanted to provide some convenience for travel enthusiasts and camping enthusiasts traveling by car to the northwest.

However, it has been out of control since then…

The stall has been upgraded to a convenience store with a unique style, the instant noodles cooked in an earthen pot have been transformed into a restaurant that provides hot and authentic beef noodles, and the shack has been transformed into a hotel that is unique in the country and can look up at the deep starry sky. The tire point has been upgraded to become a gas station and maintenance station….

after that,

The town unknowingly became the size of a small county town…sixth tier, fifth tier, fourth tier, third tier…a few years later it became the only new first-tier city in the northwest Gobi Desert…

- Description from novelbuddy