"Honored warrior, congratulations on your cultivation completion. Please choose one from the following options."
Neither Jiang Yuan nor Hamster Pudding expected that the first round of the ascension quest would present them with a multiple-choice question from the Supreme Moral Lord himself!
This choice came with no hints, only three options: "Ask of Love," "Ask of the Dao," and "Ask of the Heart."
"Jiang Yuan, how do we pick this?"
Facing the three options, Hamster Pudding was baffled, looking at Jiang Yuan with a clueless expression.
"I have no idea either. The forums didn't give any guides. How about we just pick one at random?"
Jiang Yuan was also a bit overwhelmed, not expecting a perfectly good ascension quest to turn into a multiple-choice test. He scratched his head and said to Hamster Pudding.
"Hmm... then I'll pick 'Ask of Love'!"
Hamster Pudding's gaze lingered over the three options for a moment before immediately choosing the first one.
"Damn it!"
Unexpectedly, after selecting the first option, Hamster Pudding suddenly blurted out a curse.
"What's wrong?"
Jiang Yuan quickly asked upon seeing this.
"This is such a trap! The first option I picked actually wants me to pick 999 love flowers!"
Hamster Pudding pouted with a grim face, clearly dissatisfied with her choice.
"It's fine, since I'm here with you!"
So, without a second thought, Jiang Yuan followed Hamster Pudding and chose the first option.
The love flowers were located in the "Garden" of the Kunlun Immortal Realm, the same large patch of red flowers Jiang Yuan had seen when he first arrived.
Taking Hamster Pudding's hand, they walked to the love flower patch. Jiang Yuan noticed quite a few people already there, both men and women, possibly pairs of lovers.
"Let's start!"
As soon as Jiang Yuan and Hamster Pudding approached the love flower patch, an interaction button appeared on both of their character interfaces. Jiang Yuan said to Hamster Pudding and began pressing the button to pick the love flowers.
What frustrated Jiang Yuan was that this ridiculous quest couldn't be shared—each person had to complete it individually. Plus, picking one love flower took about five seconds, meaning Jiang Yuan would need nearly an hour and a half to gather all 999!
"What a scam!"
Jiang Yuan glanced at Hamster Pudding and muttered under his breath, afraid she might hear and get mad at him.
After about half an hour, Jiang Yuan had picked nearly 335 love flowers and was so exhausted he could barely straighten his back. He paused to rest and happened to see Ding Ye riding a cloud horse, humming a tune, heading toward the Three Pure Ones' Preaching Platform.
"Old Ding, you finished your quest that fast?"
Jiang Yuan called out to Ding Ye and asked.
"Yeah! For the first round, I picked 'Ask of the Dao.' The NPC had me kill 999 Penglai Immortal Monkeys. I just finished. What's your quest?"
Ding Ye stopped, smiling as he asked.
"Ugh! Don't even mention it. Pudding chose 'Ask of Love,' and we have to pick 999 love flowers. No choice, I had to come with her!"
Jiang Yuan spread his hands, forcing a bitter smile.
"What? Sounds like you're not too happy about it?"
Hamster Pudding heard Jiang Yuan's complaint, her brows furrowing like willow leaves. She strode over to him, arms crossed like a tigress, glaring fiercely.
"No, no, no, I'm happy, very happy!"
Seeing her anger, Jiang Yuan quickly waved his hands, forcing a smile.
"You're not the unluckiest. I heard that Proud World Dragon picked the third option—he has to kill 999 Golden Armor Immortal Generals. Each one takes ten minutes, and no one else can help! Hahaha!"
Ding Ye laughed heartily, bringing Jiang Yuan and Hamster Pudding a bit of relief.
"Alright! Take your time picking. I'm off to turn in my quest. See you later!"
Ding Ye said to them, then rode off on his cloud horse, whistling.
"Compared to Proud World Dragon, ours isn't so bad, huh?"
After Ding Ye left, Jiang Yuan chuckled to Hamster Pudding to comfort her, then dove back into the love flower patch to continue picking.
After about an hour and thirty minutes, Jiang Yuan and Hamster Pudding finally finished picking all 999 love flowers. Hand in hand, they went to the Supreme Moral Lord at the Three Pure Ones' Preaching Platform.
"Honored warrior, congratulations on completing the first round quest. Please choose one from the following options!"
After talking to the Supreme Moral Lord and handing over the 999 love flowers, three options appeared before Jiang Yuan again!
"What the hell! Again! Why does this old man love giving multiple-choice questions so much?"
Staring at the three options reappearing before him, Jiang Yuan immediately cursed this mischievous NPC in his mind.
"Jiang Yuan, what do we pick this time? I'm scared to choose. You do it!"
Terrified of the choices, Hamster Pudding quickly looked to Jiang Yuan for help.
Jiang Yuan carefully examined the three options: the first was "A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold," the second was "A Word Worth a Thousand Gold," and the third was "A Throw Worth a Thousand Gold."
As a literature major about to graduate, Jiang Yuan relied on his linguistic intuition and chose the third option!
"Hahaha!"
"What? What? Tell me which one to pick!"
Hearing Jiang Yuan's laughter, Hamster Pudding urgently shook his arm.
"Baby, pick the third one!"
Jiang Yuan whispered in Hamster Pudding's ear, and she followed his lead, choosing the third option. When she saw the specific task, her eyes crinkled with joy!
The third option's task read: Go to the corresponding faction area's moneylender and pay 1,000 gold coins!
No monster fighting, no material gathering—just handing over 1,000 gold coins to complete this round of the ascension quest. How could they not be thrilled?
Just as Hamster Pudding, beaming with delight, summoned her unicorn mount, Jiang Yuan suddenly remembered something.
"Crap!"
Seeing Jiang Yuan slap his forehead and yell, Hamster Pudding tensed up, thinking something had gone wrong.
"I thought something happened. Here, trade!"
When she heard Jiang Yuan was only worried about having no mount to get back to Shangjing City, Hamster Pudding waved her hand and bought him a Frost Wolf worth 888 Dragon Kingdom coins from the in-game shop.
Jiang Yuan mounted the imposing Frost Wolf and walked with Hamster Pudding toward the Kunlun Immortal Realm's teleportation entrance. As they passed Penglai Immortal Mountain, they happened to see Proud World Dragon, face grim, hammering away at a Golden Armor Immortal General.
"Snort!"
Seeing Proud World Dragon's miserable expression, Jiang Yuan couldn't help but let out a pig-like snort of laughter.