The Young man in Online Romance (6): 

Gu Juntian felt a bit relieved. Although the original owner had customized his avatar’s face, it was based on his real features and hadn’t altered the bone structure.

Thinking about his own current appearance and the original owner’s in-game character, Gu Juntian figured he still had a chance to make himself look similar to that avatar.

When the original owner was young, he had also been a handsome boy, but years of staying up late and eating junk food had drained all his vitality. His under-eyes were dark, and his face had grown rounder.

Clearly dissatisfied with his real-life looks, the original owner had given his in-game avatar the appearance he thought he should have had.

And to others, he always claimed this was his real appearance.

Gu Juntian believed that with early nights, early mornings, more exercise, and a clean diet, he could slim down—and once he did, his looks should be close to his avatar’s.

Thinking of this, he felt grateful for the full-immersion helmet.

Two years ago, when the original owner’s parents passed away, he had actually been heavier—over 200 jin.

Wearing the helmet to play games made eating inconvenient, so over the past two years, not only had he not gained weight, he had lost about 20 jin—a cause for celebration.

Looks could be improved with time; as for other matters… he would start learning programming right away!

After dismantling the original owner’s old helmet, he’d even gotten new ideas worth researching.

He could keep the online romance with Zhou Qinghao going for another year. By then, he would have filled all the holes the original owner had dug, and they could finally meet offline.

That sounded pretty good.

Feeling cheerful at the thought, he quoted a song lyric to Zhou Qinghao: “Ah Qing, the sky’s blue waits for the misty rain, and I am waiting for you.”

Zhou Qinghao’s heartbeat quickened—he even wanted to send Gu Juntian money.

This scammer’s skill level had definitely gone up!

As they spoke, small monsters rushed at them.

Gu Juntian swiftly cut them down and suddenly thought—this game was actually pretty fun.

He liked fighting!

Killing freely in-game was surprisingly satisfying.

He went on a killing spree, restoring his health and mana with potions when needed.

He was strong, but the Heavenly Demon Pavilion members he had brought along weren’t as powerful.

By the time their team reached the dragon, five members had already been lost.

But in a dungeon, deaths were normal—no one thought much of it.

Right now, they were more disappointed by the dragon’s appearance. “This dragon’s kind of ugly.”

“After being imprisoned so long, of course it’s ugly,” Gu Juntian replied.

In Cultivation, players were currently in the Mortal Realm map, but rumors said Qida Technology was already developing the Immortal Realm map.

A dragon matching the public’s idea of beauty would likely only appear in the Immortal Realm.

The one before them looked more like a flood dragon—its bloodline clearly impure.

Still, this was the strongest monster in the current game.

It had many spikes embedded in it, limiting its strength, but according to what Gu Juntian knew from the original plot, once its HP dropped to 20%, it would go berserk, the spikes would fall out, and its power would surge.

The spikes would then randomly attack everyone nearby. Many teams in the beginning had been wiped out at that stage.

Later, those who ran the dungeon would leave one or two attackers to finish bringing its HP to 20%, while the rest retreated into the cave to wait for the frenzy to end before swarming it again.

After going berserk, its attack power increased but its defense weakened, making it harder but still possible to kill.

Gu Juntian led his team into battle with the sealed dragon.

Some teammates had good coordination with the original owner and were among the strongest in the game.

After losing two more members, they brought the dragon’s HP down to 40%.

Then Gu Juntian spoke up. “Everyone, I’ve figured out this dragon’s attack pattern. I want to use it for practice—can you let me handle it alone?”

The Heavenly Demon Pavilion members were stunned. “Great Emperor, you’re going to solo it?”

“I want to give it a try,” Gu Juntian said.

He couldn’t reveal that he already knew its behavior—that would be suspicious, and the company might even investigate him for insider knowledge.

So he needed another reason.

The dragon’s attacks followed a pattern—Gu Juntian was confident he could use that to solo it and keep the others alive.

Otherwise, if everyone attacked during its frenzy, only the best-geared and highest-level player—him—would likely survive, and even he wouldn’t be able to handle it alone.

The Pavilion members had often benefited from his generosity.

Many players were reluctant to spend money in-game, but not the Great Emperor—he spent freely and often gave others items.

For this run, he had given everyone healing and mana potions worth about ten yuan each.

In real life that wasn’t much, but in-game it was quite a lot—and could be life-saving.

Without those potions, some of them might already be dead.

Since they owed him, they all stepped aside.

Gu Juntian said, “Healers, keep healing me—don’t stop!”

Then he began fighting the dragon alone.

His control over his character was extremely fast, dodging the dragon’s attacks with ease and landing strikes on its wounded, spike-pierced spots.

“The Great Emperor’s skill is amazing!”

“As expected of the Great Emperor!”

“His control didn’t seem this good before—just in great form today?”

…

The others were thrilled to watch, and Zhou Qinghao’s eyes could no longer hold anyone else.

The Heavenly Emperor was just too handsome.

He could keep this online romance going forever.

Gu Juntian’s attack power wasn’t low, and the original owner’s inventory still had talismans, poisons, and other tools.

Using these along with his skills, he brought the dragon’s HP down to 20% in just over ten minutes.

At that point, the dragon went berserk, unleashing an AoE attack and forcing the spikes out of its body.

The others were far enough away to avoid damage. Gu Juntian, with his good gear and cash-shop healing potion, lost over half his HP but survived.

Now, with its attack greatly increased, everyone knew they couldn’t just leave it to him.

They all rushed in, attacking together.

After losing seven more members, the dragon was finally slain.

This dungeon had only been discovered that morning.

Many teams had tried it throughout the day, but none had even brought the dragon’s HP to 20% before being wiped out.

That evening, an elite team had finally reached 20%, only to be wiped out by the AoE.

Little Lamb wasn’t surprised.

In his past life, this dungeon had been cleared for the first time two days later.

This time, he planned to gather a team tomorrow, stream the run, and be the first to clear it.

His stream would then become the go-to guide for the dungeon, boosting his popularity.

Later, he could even unlock the dungeon’s hidden storyline.

He had never been great at game mechanics, but after being reborn, his past-life knowledge had allowed him to produce many guides, making everyone think he was highly intelligent despite his weak skills.

Now, his follower count was several times higher than before, and he had befriended several top Cultivation players besides the Heavenly Emperor.

Even without the Heavenly Emperor, he could thrive in this game.

Little Lamb had already contacted people to run the dungeon with him tomorrow and aim for the first clear of Imprisoned Dragon.

But then, the system announced that the Heavenly Emperor’s team had cleared the Transformation-level Imprisoned Dragon dungeon.

First-clear rewards were very generous.

In his past life, the Dragon Scale set had eight pieces, and the first clear had dropped two of them.

The Dragon Scale set was unique—only one set existed in the entire game.

Even if not worn, it could sell for a fortune.

In his past life, a wealthy player had spent over a million just to complete the set.

And now, the first clear had gone to the Great Emperor?

That hadn’t happened in his previous life.

Wait—back then, the Great Emperor had already disappeared from Cultivation after being exposed as a scammer…

But that didn’t make sense. With his abilities, he shouldn’t have cleared it this fast. Could Zhou Qinghao have told him something?

Did Zhou Qinghao leak dungeon info?

Little Lamb’s face shifted repeatedly as he went to find his boyfriend.

Others in the game weren’t overthinking it.

“Heavenly Demon Pavilion again.”

“They’re really strong.”

“Well, the Great Emperor’s rich, after all.”

…

While chatting, many players contacted the Pavilion members for the dungeon’s strategy.

Even if the first clear was gone, they could still get the second or third.

Gu Juntian naturally noticed this.

He had recorded the entire run, so he simply uploaded the video to the game forum, charging only 0.2 yuan to watch.

It wasn’t expensive, so plenty of people went to see it.

And it would earn him at least a bit of money.