The Gates of Gangso Castle

I generate slaughter karma.

By killing living things, I continuously produce slaughter karma, stacking it, swelling it, inflating it until it becomes experience. And through that entire process, I absorb the slaughter karma and refine it into foundation energy — polishing the base of my cultivation.

If Qi Condensation is the first step onto the path of immortality, then Foundation Establishment is actually starting to walk that path. Lifespan begins to stretch in earnest, which also means raising your realm starts eating up serious amounts of time.

Yeah, okay, I'll just say it. Even with a unique accessory jacking up my experience gain, the leveling speed was still ridiculously slow!

"Three whole days of slaughter and I only gained three levels."

Compared ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to dungeons, the efficiency was absolute garbage. This had to be another mod effect. Even for a trash-tier game, experience acquisition had never been this stingy.

The loot was nothing special either. Field content, I guess. At least I'd scored one rare-grade equipment durability repair consumable — that was a real win. If my epic weapon's durability bottomed out and shattered, I'd actually cry.

"Alright. Time to actually cross into the next map."

I settled on a gray zone — neutral territory, from the look of it. The reason was stupidly simple: while I was field hunting, the NPCs had been dodging me with terrifying competence. They ran better than I could track them on the minimap.

Something about sensing my killing intent, apparently.

Useful intel, at least — my slaughter karma did absolutely nothing for stealth or concealment. So I set my sights on the gray region that looked neutral and started walking.

Third map, maybe — the loading was taking forever. I was still thinking that when my vision opened up and a massive fortress city filled the entire view.

"A city?"

The minimap labeled it Gangso Castle. Cities and villages usually got random names, and with the xianxia mod running I hadn't expected anything familiar to pop up anyway.

Judging by the scale, this was city-tier, not some village! Fewer smashable objects, sure, but way more merchant NPCs than a village would have. Time to dump every scrap of junk I'd stockpiled and clean out the inventory!

"Halt right there!!!"

Ow! My ears!

I'd been approaching the gates with a spring in my step when a thunderous bellow stopped me cold, and cultivators came pouring out of the castle in a coordinated rush to block my path. Whatever amount of spiritual energy they'd packed into that shout, my eardrums were about to rupture. I clamped my hands over my ears, scowled, and glared at them.

"...An early Foundation Establishment cultivator. What business do you have at Gangso Castle?"

The other cultivators hovering at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠edge of my perception were Foundation Establishment level, but the tall man in the center — the one staring me down and asking the questions — had a realm so distant I couldn't even read it. Gold Core at minimum.

"I came to buy and sell things... sir."

I shrank into myself, reading the room. Nope. Zero angle for talking back here. The minimap still painted the place gray, though, so I mustered the courage to answer. The tall cultivator clearly found something about me distasteful, because his next words came out ice-cold.

"Should you dare raise a hand inside Gangso Castle, I will erase you without a trace. Heed that warning. Wi Sang — admit her."

He dumped me on one of his cultivators and the whole group shot into the sky and vanished. I watched them go, then turned to the one left behind — Wi Sang — as he drifted down toward me.

Mid Foundation Establishment... no, he looked stronger than that. Just into late stage, maybe.

If my stats hadn't been bottling my level-ups, the insights I'd already earned would have put me at mid Foundation Establishment by now — and my spiritual sense had grown enough that I could detect even early Gold Core cultivators. I was still turning that over when Wi Sang walked up and stuck out his hand, blunt as a brick.

"Entry fee is one mid-grade spirit stone. That'll get you about a day."

"...Come again?"

Only after hearing him did I dig through my inventory and notice the lowest-grade, low-grade, and mid-low-grade spirit stones jammed in among the junk items.

This was the currency?

This stuff that eats inventory slots is the currency?!

My head started throbbing. I covered my face with both hands before I could stop myself. Even trash-tier games don't make currency take up inventory space! This is a mod! A xianxia mod! Prioritize convenience, damn it!!!!

"...Could I pay with mid-low-grade and low-grade spirit stones instead?"

"Ten mid-low-grade. A hundred low-grade."

I pulled six mid-low-grade spirit stones and forty low-grade ones from my inventory and handed them over. He immediately scooped me up with spiritual energy and dumped me inside the walls.

A timer flickered into the corner of the minimap like an entry-time display, showing forty hours. So two days' worth of payment only bought me forty hours, not forty-eight.

Checking the inventory left me with three mid-low-grade spirit stones and about eight hundred low-grade ones. Low-grade spirit stones dropped by the dozens off neutral NPCs — I'd written them off as common junk drops.

Wi Sang took off into the sky the second his job was done, vanishing somewhere overhead. I turned and looked around, genuinely curious.

A castle with more cultivators than mortals was a novelty, sure, but I still had no idea how buying and selling actually worked here. I headed for the tallest building that was practically screaming for attention on its own — cultivators flying in and out of it nonstop. Important place, right?

Judging by the minimap label, this was basically an inn. Whether it had merchant NPCs was another question. Neutral NPCs cleared out of my path as I walked, and I stepped inside.

"Welcome, honored guest. Welcome to Gangso Pavil— ...ion...!"

"I'm here to sell stuff."

I started dumping junk items out of my inventory one after another. Everything from two dungeon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clears, everything off neutral NPCs and smashed objects, every useless consumable — all of it, out.

In total I got four mid-grade spirit stones and a pile of low-grade ones. Whether those prices were fair, I had no idea, and I didn't care. Next I tried to buy something. That was where it all fell apart.

"This is merchandise, right?"

"Yes, guest."

No equipment classification. How the hell was this a sale item?! Had the mod literally blocked merchant NPCs from selling usable gear?!

"This junk... is there anything else? Anything that isn't this?"

I'd come here planning to kit myself out head-to-toe in shop-grade rare armor. Not a single piece of it registered as equipment! How was that even legal!

"Nothing among our Dharma tools catches our junior's eye? Hah — then what about something like this?"

Some late Foundation Establishment guy pulled out an item with a flourish, and the surrounding neutral NPCs gasped and started explaining it. I didn't listen. I just frowned harder.

"I said not that. Something like this."

What was I supposed to do with rare consumables? I wanted equipment! At minimum a secondary weapon to spare my epic weapon's durability, or armor, or a decent accessory!

I pulled out the talisman hanging around my neck and held it up.

A level-40 unique accessory with a single line of options: experience ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gain increased by 150% to 250%. A good piece. The kind of item that only exists because of mods, honestly.

"A spirit beast's eye that looks almost alive... Hmm. Then how about these? These are from my personal collection!"

I glared at the con-artist cultivator proudly hauling out more random junk. Don't you dare lie to me. No merchant NPCs? So I'm supposed to get items exclusively from object drops and dungeon loot?!

"It seems our junior doesn't understand the value of these—"

I completely ignored the preening neutral NPC and looked at the other NPCs watching me with open curiosity. Then a thought hit me.

Maybe the reality patch or the xianxia mod had simply deleted merchant NPCs. But there was one other possibility.

"Check NPC Personal Trade Mode."

A mod that let you trade with neutral NPCs, with random equipment of every kind spitting out of the trade window based on level. One of the classic luck-based trash mods.

Veterans installed it specifically to raise the difficulty by locking out shop-grade equipment entirely. Cause identified. I was done with Gangso Pavilion.

"Take care, seniors."

Everyone kept calling me junior, so tossing "senior" back at them was easy enough. Lower realm than you means junior, higher means senior — that seemed to be the rule. I was heading for the exit on that assumption when it happened.

"Well now! Looks like our junior found nothing worth buying here! Why don't the rest of you pull something out as well? I'm genuinely curious what this little junior is interested in!"

At the late Foundation Establishment man's words — level 190 at least — the surrounding cultivators laughed and started rummaging, pulling out this and that.

Whatever. Personal Trade Mode gear was always worse than proper shop-grade equipme—

A blinding platinum light flared in the corner of the minimap, screaming its presence through the item filter mod. My head snapped toward it on pure reflex.

It wasn't equipment.

An artifact. In this xianxia mod, they called them Dharma Treasures — and one had just appeared.