I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 376: Back To Violet Springs Sect

Its body was covered in pale blue scales that glinted like ice crystals and mane flowing like frozen mist. A single curved horn jutted from its forehead, etched with natural runes that tinged softly.

Its eyes locked onto Victor without hostility.

Victor didn’t draw his sword... instead he bowed slightly.

"I need your horn," he said plainly. "But I don’t want to kill you if I don’t have to."

The Qilin snorted and then it moved.

In an instant, frost qi exploded outward. The ground froze solid in a widening radius, ice spikes erupting upward as the Qilin charged. Its speed was incredible with its hooves barely touching the ground as it closed the distance.

Knowing that Ascendant Realms was a real place and not a game world, Victor wanted to give the beast a chance to survive but since that wasn’t an option...

"So be it," Victor murmured.

He stepped forward instead of back.

Their clash sent shockwaves rippling across the mountainside.

Victor parried the Qilin’s horn with his blade causing the impact to ring like struck crystal. Frost qi surged into his sword, trying to freeze it solid, but Victor channeled Void Emperor qi in response, neutralizing the invasion instantly.

The Qilin leapt back, surprised.

Victor charged after it.

A flurry of exchanges followed with horn clashing against blade. The Qilin unleashed freezing breath, coating the air in lethal frost. Victor countered with Gale Strike, dispersing the breath and sending the beast skidding across the ice.

Finally, Victor shifted space subtly and struck.

His blade flashed, slicing cleanly through the base of the horn without touching the Qilin’s skull.

The horn fell.

The Qilin staggered with widened eyes and then backed away slowly, wounded but alive.

Victor caught the horn mid-air.

> [Objective Update: 1/10 Qilin Horns Acquired]

He nodded once at the retreating beast.

"Live," he said quietly.

---

Unfortunately, not every hunt went so cleanly.

Some Qilin attacked in groups.

Some were territorial beyond reason.

Some... refused to yield.

The second and third horns came after brutal engagements with Victor dodging freezing lances of qi, countering stampedes that shattered mountain paths, adapting to Qilin that fought with surprising intelligence and coordination.

Each encounter escalated.

Rank 3 Qilin appeared in larger and more aggressive forms with their horns radiating dangerous pressure. One such Qilin ambushed Victor near a frozen ravine and its attack nearly sending him plummeting into the abyss.

Victor responded decisively.

The fight was short and violent.

When it ended, the Qilin lay dead, with steaming cold air emitting from its corpse as frost qi dissipated from its wounds.

There was a large hole in its head and gashes all over its body.

Victor stood over it, breathing steadily.

"I tried," he said softly.

He harvested the horn... and then paused.

Looking at the corpse, an idea formed.

This was a Rank 3 Qilin.

Its flesh would be rich in frost qi.

Cultivation benefits for the White Dragon would be immense.

He stored the corpse carefully.

Later, another Rank 2 Qilin met a similar fate—cornered, enraged, unwilling to retreat.

Victor claimed its horn... and its body.

> [Objective Update: 6/10 Qilin Horns Acquired]

---

By the time Victor hunted the eighth and ninth Qilin, rumors had begun to spread.

Travelers whispered of a white-haired cultivator moving through the mountains like a storm, defeating Qilin without arrogance, killing only when necessary. Some said the Qilin themselves were allowing him to pass—yielding horns as offerings, not trophies.

The final horn came from a Rank 4 Qilin which was as powerful as a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

Its aura pressed down like a glacier.

The battle shook the mountains.

Victor unleashed Shadow Crescent Strike, carving lines of destruction through ice and stone. The Qilin retaliated with domain-like frost, slowing time itself within its range.

Victor adapted.

He always did.

When it ended, the Qilin stood wounded but alive.

It lowered its head.

Victor stepped forward and severed the horn cleanly.

> [Objective Complete: 10/10 Qilin Horns Acquired]

The system chimed softly.

There was no further explanation just yet.

Victor exhaled deeply, relaxing its shoulders.

---

Hours later, the mountains began to thin.

Heat replaced cold.

The air grew frier and soon the massive Gates of Blueflame City rose before him like a wall of destiny.

Forged from dark stone and reinforced with blazing runes, the gates towered hundreds of feet high. Blue flames danced along engraved lines, forming protective formations that radiated immense power. Cultivators streamed in and out through multiple checkpoints with guards watching keenly from above.

Victor paused while tightening his grip on his sword.

"Alright," he said quietly.

"Let’s see what waits for me this time."

And with that, Fang Chen stepped forward—toward Blueflame City once more.

The moment Victor crossed the massive gates of Blueflame City, the world rushed back into him.

Not gently.

It hit him like a living tide.

Heat rolled through the streets in layered waves... warmth from flame-qi furnaces beneath the stone roads, spice-heavy air from food stalls, sharp medicinal scents from alchemy shops, and the faint metallic tang of forged weapons cooling in open-air smithies. Voices overlapped endlessly, a thousand conversations blending into a single pulse of life.

"Spirit peaches! Fresh spirit peaches—three for one low-grade stone!"

"Azure talismans! Defensive arrays guaranteed to last ten strikes!"

"Looking for a sparring partner—Core Formation and above only!"

Victor slowed his steps without meaning to.

It had been over a year for the people here.

For him... barely months.

Yet the familiarity struck deep.

Cultivators moved everywhere with some dressed in sect robes, others in travel-worn gear stained with blood or beast ichor. In designated practice squares, blades clashed and qi flared as disciples sparred openly with refine techniques.

Fire qi streaked across one arena, while another crackled with lightning and frost in equal measure.

Above it all, floating lanterns drifted lazily, their blue-white flames suspended by formations etched into their cores. They illuminated the streets with a gentle glow that softened the chaos, giving Blueflame City its signature warmth despite the constant tension of ambition and danger.

Victor walked steadily with hands relaxed at his sides and his white hair tied loosely behind him.

He didn’t rush.

He didn’t hide.

He absorbed.

Over two years ago according to Ascendant Realms time, he had entered this city as a wary outsider.

Now, he moved with confidence. His aura was restrained but unmistakable to anyone sensitive enough to notice.

As he passed through a busier avenue, a large notice board came into view.

It was massive and several meters tall, constructed from smooth obsidian stone and reinforced with glowing runes. Cultivators crowded around it, murmuring among themselves as they read announcements posted in neat, glowing script.

Victor caught fragments as he passed.

"Azure Ember Empire... hosting a clearing?"

"Junior-only, hm?"

"Rewards are insane this year..."

Victor slowed as he noticed something else.

Names.

Floating names.

Just as they always had.

Above some cultivators’ heads hovered faint identifiers—player tags, stylized and subtle, visible only to those like him.

Victor frowned slightly.

’So it still works...’

Despite everything he now knew... despite the unsettling realization that Ascendant Realms might not be a game at all, but a genuine world layered beneath incomprehensible technology... the system interface remained consistent.

Players still had names.

NPCs or rather the ones born in Ascendant Realms, still did not.

It grounded him more than he expected.

At least this part of reality hadn’t shifted beneath his feet.

A group of players stood near the notice board, animatedly discussing something.

"—I’m telling you, if you don’t register early, you’re screwed."

"Like it matters, my cultivation isn’t even stable yet."

"You think Violet Springs even stands a chance this time?"

The system chimed.

> [New Objective]

Return to Violet Springs Sect immediately.

Priority: High

Victor stopped mid-step.

"Immediate?" he muttered.

He had already planned to return—Blueflame City was merely a waypoint—but the urgency made him wary. The system rarely pressed like this unless something significant was unfolding.

Still, there was no reason to delay.

Victor turned and headed straight toward the outer districts where sect transports and spatial gates were located.

---

The journey back was swift.

Upon arriving at the sect grounds, Victor immediately sensed the difference.

The air was... tense.

Disciples moved with urgency, voices hushed and expressions tight. Training fields were packed beyond normal capacity, elders standing at the edges with stern expressions as they observed sparring matches more critically than usual.

Whispers followed Victor as he walked through the main path.

"Is that—?"

"That’s Fang Chen, isn’t it?"

"The core disciple who vanished..."

"I heard he disappeared over a year ago."

"Didn’t some people say he died?"

Victor ignored most of it, though he caught the weight behind their words.

To them, he had been gone a long time.

Time in Ascendant Realms flowed far faster than in the apocalypse-ravaged Earth he had left behind.

A few disciples gathered their courage and approached.

"Senior Brother Fang!" one called out.

Victor turned.

A group of inner disciples stood there with a range of expressions. Some looked curious, some relieved and some openly shocked.

"Where have you been?" another asked. "The sect thought—"

"I had matters to attend to," Victor replied calmly. "I’m back now."

That seemed to satisfy them... mostly.

Then another voice cut in excitedly.

"Hey—wait. You’re a player, right?"