I Can Only Cultivate In A Game
Chapter 250 - 250: Back In Lingyun

The Campus Maintenance building looked like it had been lifted straight out of a sci-fi fantasy novel with tall hexagonal windows, bronze-and-blue trims, and hovering glyph panels that hovered mid-air displaying rotating shift rosters.

Inside, a small group of staff bustled around, outfitting volunteers and conscripts with mana-enhanced cleaning tools...

There were hover-mops, purification rods, self-adjusting sweeping panels, and mana-measuring dust sensors.

A squat woman with a glowing clipboard glanced at him over her glasses. "Victor?"

"That's me."

She sniffed. "On-time. Good. You're with Cleaning Crew B. We've calibrated the tools. Try not to overload them." She handed him a wand-like device and a satchel of spell-chalks.

Victor nodded silently and accepted the gear.

Some of the other students nearby were grumbling. Turns out Victor wasn't the only one on punishment.

Some were D or C ranks who had committed one offence or the other. Victor, however, had no time for sulking.

The woman continued, "Three locations. Lecture rooms in Building A2, southern hall in Building B5, and Dorm E's central lobby. Each one should take about an hour. That's the usual estimate."

Which meant he'd spend three to four hours cleaning.

Victor gave a polite nod. He had no intention of taking that long.

---

The lecture rooms were already dim when he arrived, with the last lights of the sun falling in dusty streaks across abandoned desks. He entered, activated the hovering mop, and without hesitation, extended his Void Qi outward.

Tendrils of near-invisible black-blue energy snaked out from his body, wrapping around the mop and pushing it across the floor at ten times the usual pace.

The air shimmered faintly with distortion as space warped around the tools, extending their coverage and letting him hit every corner simultaneously.

Dust, grime, even forgotten bits of snack residue clinging to floor tiles were gone in moments.

He summoned a gust using his wind-based qi art to flush the air, forming a mini vortex to draw in floating specks and redirect them toward the filter cores in the walls.

> Progress: A2 Classroom Wing — 100% Clean

A taskbar on his watch clicked complete.

Victor clicked the mop off.

He had finished in nine minutes.

---

– Building B5 South Hall

This wing was more stubborn. Some of the magical graffiti from a misfired alchemy experiment had left smudges of animated sludge on the walls, crawling like sentient ink.

Victor narrowed his eyes. The purification wand buzzed nervously in his grip, but instead of attacking manually, he extended a Void Space from his body.

The field created a small domain around him where time and matter both slightly warped. The sludge slowed, and Victor willed a layer of pressure to crush it against the floor.

Then, calmly, he drew a single glowing rune in the air with a piece of silver-chalk and tapped it against the affected tile.

A silent ripple of pure cleansing Qi expanded from the point of contact, sanitizing the entire hallway in an instant.

> Progress: B5 South Hall — 100% Clean

Victor sighed. 'Twelve minutes.'

---

– Dorm Wing E, Central Lobby

A more public space. Foot traffic residue. Tracked mud. Mana-burnt corners from sparring students trying out new spells in hallways.

Victor activated all three tools simultaneously, then spread his qi across them. Using multiple threads of Void Qi, he moved the mop and rods in perfect synchronicity across the surroundings, spinning, wiping, scrubbing. Like a silent, one-man storm.

He tuned out the amazed looks of a few passing students.

He didn't even stop to admire the spotless tiles afterward.

> Progress: Dorm Lobby — 100% Clean

> Task Completed

The watch beeped again.

Victor activated the clicked finish on the watch task-bar and didn't wait for confirmation.

He was already sprinting towards his dorm.

---

Within minutes, he arrived at his dorm and entered quickly.

Kairo's bunk was empty.

Perfect.

Victor barely took off his shoes. He locked the door, tossed the satchel aside, pulled the helmet from under his bed, and slid beneath the sheets.

Every second mattered.

The helmet latched into place with a click with low lights pulsing along its sides.

> [ LOGGING INTO: ASCENDANT REALMS ]

The real world vanished.

> Welcome back, Player: Fang Chen.

> Logged-out Duration: 36 hrs

> In-Game Time Passed: 12 Days-21 Hours

> Quest Tracker: Return to Lingyun Town

> ⏳ Time Remaining: 3 Hours

> Status: \\[IMMINENT TIMEOUT WARNING]

Victor appeared softly in the Violet Springs Sect as the soft rustle of feng leaves echoed around him. The jade-green pavilion lanterns humbly glowed, mirrored by the serene pond ripples beneath them. He instinctively closed his eyes and drew in a slow breath, gathering his scattered energies.

Victor heart raced when he saw that only three hours remained.

Journeying personally from Lingyun Town, had taken him weeks previously but even with his current Nascent Soul strength, it was impossible to get there in three hours.

'Hopefully Tarkos has gotten there...' Victor had only thought of this he felt a throb from his storage.

He pulled out the Anchor Disk fragment which was softly blinking just like the time he Aeri and her group were summoning him back then.

Which meant one thing...

He pressed the disk as it emitted a soothing buzz and a burst of blue glow surrounded him.

With another swirl of light and wind, Victor reappeared on a narrow street. China-red lanterns floated overhead, lighting his path. Somewhere nearby, a white-robed townsman squatted to pick herbs. A faint breeze carried smells of pandan and tea.

He steadied himself and looked around.

The town felt strangely still and quieter than he remembered.

> [SYSTEM] Congratulations!

> Year-Long Quest Completed: Return to Lingyun Town

> Reward Chest Discovered.

> Rewards: 5 × 50,000 Wisp‑Qi, 10% Mastery increase for all techniques, 1 Tier 2 Armor Fragment, 3 Random Scrolls, +5 points to all sub stats.

Victor didn't immediately react. Too many distractions clouded his mind.

The reason revealed itself was because Lingyun Town looked quite different.

In quieter moments, people looked over their shoulders. Children clung to their mothers. Townsfolk slunk down narrow lanes that Victor barely recognized. Compared to the past, when lantern-lighted gaiety filled the air, now everyone wore wary expressions.

Victor passed the old well he'd once trained next to for hours, focusing his sword Qi.

The well was covered, not abandoned, but… covered. Then he noticed scrolls nailed to walls:

"MISSING! Have you seen Shen?"

His eyebrows furrowed because this wasn't the only missing person sticker plastered to a wall.

A voice cut through the haze.

"Fang Chen!"

Tarkos was standing behind him, cloaked in black. He was ever the Assassin, having sneaked up on Victor without him even noticing.

Victor half-turned in relief. "Thanks for getting here on time."

Tarkos grinned. "You owe me one.'

Tarkos proceeded to follow him down the whistling lanes of Lingyun, wondering why he had any interest in a dead beat town.

Victor frowned upon noticing that there were more differences than he expected. "What happened?"

Tarkos mumbled with a look of disinterest. "Beats me. Everyone looks depressed."

Victor took in the details with a look of concern but all of a sudden, a quest update popped up in his vision.

> 🔍 [NEW QUEST – Investigate Lingyun Town Stability ]

> Objective: Speak to People to gather updates on current state of affairs, missing locals, and disrupted leylines.

"Tarkos, go somewhere and wait for me. I'll get back to you when I'm ready..."

With this, Victor stepped softly through the silent streets of Lingyun Town to investigate.

...

...

(( 30 Minutes Later ))

The evening sky had lost its customary warmth, and instead was painted in deep indigos. Unfamiliar banners flapped above doorways with intricate script unreadable to his eyes.

Victor stopped before a once familiar spot and looked up.

Once vibrant with laughter and the clank of ale-mugs, Lingyun Rest now stood strangely foreign.

Its sliding bamboo door was replaced by heavy dark panels, nailed shut and safeguarded by two guards in stiff black–gold uniforms.

Their expressions made it abundantly clear: neither Fang Chen nor any untokened bard was welcome.

Still, Victor decided to try his lock.

The moment he stepped forward, the two guards blocked the threshold with arms crossed.

"What do you want?" the tall one growled with a thick disdainful tone.

"I'd like to enter," Victor responded calmly.

The guard's dark eyes swept him up and down. "Tokens are required for entry. Daily admission is Hundred jade crescents. or you can purchase a week's pass for Five hundred and fifty."

Victor recalled that back then he spent 50 Jade Crescents purchasing a low quality sword and these guys were asking for twice the price just for access.

Even getting a drink cost as low as 5 to 10 Jade Cresents so he couldn't understand the astronomical surge in price, not even for the wines but for just access to entry.

"Erm... I don't have money," Victor muttered.

"We're not running a charity," the guard spat. "Tokens or turn back."

Victor opened his cloak and produced the slender moonstone pendant,.

The guard's eyes flicked down, then up as interest flashed for a heartbeat before flickering away again.

Victor's held out the necklace. "This is what I have. Should easily cost a lot more than a token. Can it pass for payment?"