I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 181: Closing In On YinFrost

Meanwhile, back at his dorm, Victor arrived and noticed that Kairo wasn't in yet. Perfect. He shut the door, jumped into his bed, and slid under the sheets.

Pulling the helmet over his head, he took a deep breath.

"Let's get some real work done tonight."

He logged into Ascendant Realms.

The familiar buzz filled his ears, and his consciousness snapped into the virtual realm.

Only... this time, something was wrong.

Victor's eyes snapped open—he wasn't standing. His limbs were bound tightly, and his back rested against a stone pillar. The ground beneath him was hard, cracked, and damp.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

Next to him, another figure stirred.

"Oh, welcome back," Tarkos grumbled. He was tied up as well and his voice was laced with frustration.

Victor twisted while trying to flex his fingers.

"What happened? Why are we tied up?" Victor asked.

Tarkos sighed. "While you were away, we crossed into territory patrolled by rogue cultivators. Bandits, to be exact. A powerful group. I was leading the way when we were ambushed. I would've killed them all, but... they slapped Qi-Locking Talismans on me."

Victor looked down and saw a bunch of them—etched with crimson symbols, pulsing faintly on Tarkos's chest, shoulders and belly.

"Oh... that explains it."

"These guys know their stuff. They're after something. They haven't come back since they tied us up, but they're not amateurs," Tarkos voiced with a tone of wariness.

Victor grit his teeth. "We need to find a way out of this."

Victor struggled against the ropes. "These bastards… do they even know who they just kidnapped?"

Tarkos chuckled dryly. "I doubt it. One of them called you a 'rich merchant's young heir' while going through your pouch."

Suddenly, a voice echoed from behind the nearest rock outcrop. "He's awake, boys!"

Four rough-looking cultivators strolled into view. Their robes were mismatched and worn—none bore sect insignias. Bandits. Worse yet, they moved with the precision of experienced rogue cultivators.

The tallest one, who wore a bone necklace and had a twin blade strapped to his back, stepped forward. "You gave us a bit of worry earlier, snow-hair. Thought we might have to kill you. But then… your friend here said you'd regain consciousness," he gestured toward Tarkos, "and figured you both might be worth more alive."

Victor met his gaze calmly. "If you think someone will pay a ransom, you've got the wrong people."

The bandit leader sneered. "Oh, we're not expecting ransom. We're going to sell you."

Victor's brow furrowed. "Sell?"

"To a contact in Yinfrost City," the man replied. "A buyer that specializes in rare goods. And you—" he pointed at Victor— "are something rare."

Victor's mind raced. If they were heading to Yinfrost anyway… maybe he could turn this to his advantage.

"So you guys have any transportation?" Victor questioned.

"Yes... those two legs of yours hahaha!" One of the bandits responded and all four began to laugh.

Victor shook his head and realised it wasn't worth it.

"Hmm?"

Victor suddenly noticed that while Tarkos was bound tightly with glowing restraints, he himself had no talisman on him.

He tried to use qi and realised that it flowed towards him easily.

Apparently, the captors hadn't thought him worth worrying about. A deadweight being carried on Tarkos's shoulder probably didn't need restraining.

Their mistake.

Victor smirked. "Well, you fools should've done your homework."

The suddenly retort caused one of the bandits to glare at him with anguish.

"Hey who do you think you're talking to?"

Victor took a deep breath as spread qi through his veins. With a sharp burst of energy, the ropes disintegrated as wind surged around him. He rolled his shoulders and stretched.

"He's up!" The bandit yelled.

Victor's figure blurred as he activated his Void Emperor Bloodline. The arrow-like tattoos illuminated on his neck and arms. With a single step, he vanished from their sight.

[Technique: Shadow Blink]

He reappeared behind the two bandits with his sword already drawn.

[Technique: Phantom Moon Slash]

The sword trailed multiple glowing afterimages that struck with such precision the bandits didn't have time to scream. Both collapsed, unconscious.

Victor turned to Tarkos while the other two bandits began stepping back in fear.

"Try not to get captured next time, assassin boy." freewёbnoνel.com

Tarkos rolled his eyes as Victor ripped off the talisman and cut his bindings. "Not a word. It's time for payback."

Moments later, the whole den was in chaos. Rogue cultivators burst into the underground room with glowing talismans and blades raised.

"Get them! Use the sealing marks!"

Dozens of qi locking talismans were flung like daggers.

If the talismans came close to them, they would lose their ability to use qi.

Victor raised his hand, and Void qi swirled around him like a tornado. The talismans froze midair like they had been held up by invisible hands.

[Void Emperor Bloodline Ability: Spatial Cloak]

The talismans vanished, causing the bandits to look around in confusion.

With a flick of his fingers, the invsible talismans reversed and slammed into their throwers. Screams rang out as their qi was locked.

Tarkos pounced from the side and delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to one of the stunned cultivators, causing him to crash into the rocky wall.

"Don't mind me," he voiced while cracking his neck. "I'm just here for payback."

Within minutes, the entire hideout was neutralized.

[System Notification]

[ Hidden Objective Completed: Escape the Kidnappers ]

<[ New Objective: Ransack the Den ]>

"Oh interesting... Tarkos, wanna turn this place upside down?"

Tarkos only smirked in response.

Minutes later, Victor and Tarkos moved through the dusty stone corridors, opening crates and chests filled with spirit herbs, tainted scrolls, and bags of spirit coins.

One scroll bore a familiar serpent emblem.

Victor narrowed his eyes. "The Jade Serpent Sect. These guys were linked."

"Looks like your enemies have deep roots," Tarkos muttered.

[Objective Completed: Ransack the Den]

[ Rewards: +15 Attribute Points | 40,000 Wisps of Qi | Rare-Grade Spirit Herb x3 ]

"Not bad," Victor voiced before stuffing the herbs into his pouch. "Let's keep moving."

They exited the den and resumed their journey eastward.

For two days, the path was calm but exhausting. They hiked through muddy trails riddled with sharp roots and poisonous flora. A wild spirit beast, half-boar half-lizard, tried to ambush them but fell quickly to Victor's Shadow Crescent Strike.

By the third day, the land ahead changed drastically.

Massive spiky cliffs loomed to their left, and the ground beneath them cracked in thin, dangerous lines.

Tarkos slowed. "This is the Bleeding Hollow Expanse. Two days of cursed terrain and spiritual interference. The mist here messes with perception and qi sensing."

Victor looked out over the floating rock pathway ahead. Mist rolled across it like silk, obscuring what lay beyond.

"Great. My favorite kind of terrain."

As they ventured forward, the path beneath their feet shifted. Victor used his Wind Arts to stabilize each step, while Tarkos stuck to the shadows.

Halfway through, a horrific screech split the air.

A massive winged serpent with glistening black and red scales rose from the mist.

[ Void-Tethered Wyrm (Mutated) Approaching ]

"Keep your footing!" Tarkos yelled.

Victor activated [Technique: Shadow Crescent Strike]

The dark crescent shot toward the beast's eyes. The beast recoiled and let out another scream.

Its tail whipped toward them. Victor leapt, using [Technique: Wind Arts ]

And then activated Wind glide in mid air to further soar above and place another strike in between the winged serpent's eyes.

It made a loud shrieking noise in pain and swung it's tail at Victor who was still in mid air.

Victor inclined himself backward causing the tail to sweep above his head but before it could pass by completely, he grabbed it.

Fwwhoooopp~

The tail swung him forcefully across the air and then he proceeded to use it to catapult himself further up.

Tarkos hurled two explosive talismans at the beast that erupted on impact.

Victor landed on the back of the beast and used [Phantom Moon Slash] once again. This time, the blade made contact with the creature's neck, drawing black blood.

With a shuddering roar, the beast shook Victor off forcefully and vanished into the mist.

Victor fell from a height of over hundred feet.

Just as he was less than twenty feet from hitting the ground, he activated wind glide and jumped in mid air.

He landed on the ground without causing much impact.

"Please tell me we're close."

Tarkos grinned. "You'll see soon enough."

By dawn the next day, they emerged from the fog.

Tarkos stood near the edge of a craggy cliff with his arms crossed as he stared eastward into the horizon. "Yinfrost City lies just beyond the next few valleys," he said without turning. "If we make good pace, we should be there in another three days."

Victor approached and squinted in the same direction. A blanket of frost shimmered faintly in the air, just barely visible past the misty hills. Even from here, the cold reached out like a whisper. "And when we get there?"

Tarkos turned to face him now, a hint of warning in his expression. "Yinfrost caters more to women than men. The city is steeped in Yin qi. Unless a man is practicing the Jade Serpent cultivation style, he'll freeze into a statue within minutes."