I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 186: Let’s Go Hunt A Jade Serpent Elder

"Ascendant Realms again?" Danny asked with a teasing grin.

Victor simply winked, then turned and made his way back to the dorm.

"What is Ascendant Realms?" Selene turned to Danny.

Danny just realised she was here and immediately started feeling hot.

"Uhm oh... it’s just a catchphrase Victor and I have been using since middle school, don’t pay it any mind."

"Hmm what does it mean?"

...

...

Later that evening, nestled under his blanket, he logged back into Ascendant Realms.

The moment he rematerialized, he found himself within the quiet confines of the base in Yinfrost City.

As the world solidified around him, the icy mist clung softly against his jaded robe.

Low spiritual qi phased faintly through the walls.

Before he could move further, a stiff voice greeted him.

"You’re back."

Victor turned. Yuren stood at the side with his arms behind his back.

He still had that same look of mild disdain he always wore when addressing someone who wasn’t Tarkos.

Victor blinked. "Right... good to see you too."

Yuren didn’t smile. "My young master has been injured. Because of you."

Victor’s brow furrowed. "Where is he?"

Yuren gestured stiffly. "Follow me."

Victor was led through a narrow corridor to a side chamber within their current hideout. There, Tarkos stood shirtless with bruises tracing his ribs and shoulders. Across from him was a bloodied man in ripped jade-green robes bound to a pillar.

The man’s hands were tied behind him and his knees were bent in pain with one eye swollen shut.

"Tarkos—what the hell happened?" Victor questioned.

Tarkos looked up with his usual nonchalance and one brow raised as if they were just having tea. "You were gone long enough for half of the Emerald Coil Pavilion to start pissing themselves."

Victor blinked. "What?"

Tarkos shrugged before wincing slightly from his injury. "The Pavilion realized their disciples were disappearing. They adapted. Groups of five minimum. One elder per group. No exceptions. Harder to pick them off one-by-one."

Victor let out a slow breath. "And let me guess—you went after one anyway?"

"I don’t like being bored," Tarkos replied casually. "I took care of a group, but the elder gave me trouble. Brought him back instead of killing him. Thought he might be useful."

Victor glanced at the elder. The man, even in his broken state, still held a look of hatred in his eyes.

"I’m not telling you anything," the elder spat with blood trailing down his chin.

Victor was about to say something when the elder turned and, with the last of his strength, spat at Tarkos’s feet.

Tarkos chuckled darkly. "That’s disgusting. But I love it. Defiance gives me more excitement to toy with you."

Victor sighed. "You’re not right in the head, man."

He stepped forward raised his palm and spat onto it. Then he walked up to Tarkos and, without asking, rubbed it across his injuries.

In moments, the wounds sealed and healed completely.

The elder’s good eye widened. Yuren’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

The man bound to the pillar gasped. "You... you’re Fang Chen."

Victor looked down at him with a mild smirk. "Took you long enough."

The elder breathed heavily. "They said you had some treasure... some ability... but this..."

Tarkos grin widened as he leaned in. "Tell us what you know about the bounty. Names. Faces. The whole chain of command."

The elder trembled but said nothing.

Tarkos cracked his knuckles and turned to Yuren. "Bring the tools."

Yuren bowed. "Yes, young master."

Victor crossed his arms, watching the exchange. The room felt colder, not because of the frost that permeated Yinfrost City, but because of what was about to come.

He didn’t like torture. But he also knew they needed answers.

"Let’s make this quick," he murmured.

Tarkos nodded. "We’re close now. Once we find the ones responsible, we move to end them."

Outside, the icy mist of Yinfrost City swirled gently around the narrow alleys. The frozen stream that divided the city glowed under the night sky, reflecting the crimson hue of lanterns.

Victor sat quietly outside with his elbows on knees, as he waited for Tarkos to finish his work in the back room.

Even though the elder’s screams were sealed by some sort of muffling technique, Victor didn’t need to hear them to know what was happening inside.

The ominous flicker of runes along the room’s walls and the occasional vibration through the floor told him everything.

Yuren stood nearby with arms crossed. His usually cold face waw more relaxed than before.

He glanced at Victor for a long time and then finally said, "Thank you... for healing my young master’s wounds."

Victor looked up while casually wiping a smudge of dirt off his knuckles. "Oh that? I just used my spit."

Yuren blinked. "Your... spit?"

"Yeah," Victor stood up and stretched a bit, then grinned. "I absorbed a pond once. The Pond of Dragon Tears."

Yuren staggered back like he’d just been punched in the chest. "You... absorbed the legendary Pond of Dragon Tears? The one that heals all ailments?"

Victor nodded. "That’s what caused the bounty. Jade Serpent Sect wanted it for themselves. I kinda, sorta... beat them to it."

Yuren stood frozen with his jaw practically grazing the floor. He stared at Victor as though seeing him for the first time. It all made sense now. The strange reverence his young master held. The reason Tarkos had refused to break free of the blood contract.

A flicker of memory flashed across Yuren’s mind.

---

[FLASHBACK]

Yuren approached Tarkos in a silent grove, days before Victor’s return.

"Young master," he said. "Why haven’t you broken the blood contract when you know how to do so without incurring consequences..."

Tarkos looked off into the misty horizon with one leg perched on a rock. "Because I don’t want to."

Yuren frowned. "You’re stronger than him. You have no obligation to follow a lowly Nascent Soul Realm brat."

"He’s not just any brat," Tarkos said without turning. "He’s... special."

Yuren looked even more confused. "How?"

Tarkos didn’t answer. He simply chuckled to himself and walked away before disappearing into the haze.

---

[END FLASHBACK]

Back in the present, Victor tilted his head. "By the way, why do you call Tarkos ’young master’? I thought you were just some assistant."

Yuren’s face snapped back into its usual stern mask. "You really don’t know his background, do you?"

Victor raised an eyebrow. "Clearly not."

Yuren hesitated, then shook his head. "If he has chosen to keep it from you, it is not my place to reveal it."

Victor stared at him for a moment but didn’t press further.

Moments later, Tarkos finally emerged from the sealed room while wiping blood off his hands with a rag. His robes were stained, and in his left hand, he held a bloody eyeball like a grim trophy.

"Well," he said with a satisfied sigh, "I have everything we need now."

Victor looked unimpressed. "Took you long enough."

Tarkos smirked. "You can torture him next time if you’re so eager."

He left and returned minutes later with a bundle of scrolls, each carefully sealed and stamped with the mark of the Jade Serpent Sect. He unfurled them one by one, revealing faces drawn with exceptional detail.

"These," Tarkos began, pointing to four of the faces, "should be familiar to you."

Victor’s eyes narrowed.

Zhao Feng. Xu Jian. Xiao Mei. Yan Rui.

The same senior disciples who had been present that day.

"Her," Victor murmured with a growl. "Xiao Mei. She was the one who pushed me into the pond... She thought I’d die."

Tarkos nodded. "According to the elder, these four were directly involved in what happened. But they weren’t acting alone. There are four elders and two high-ranking members who orchestrated the bounty."

Victor clenched his fists. "Then we hunt them all."

Tarkos tossed one of the scrolls to the ground, revealing a face Victor hadn’t seen before.

"We start with Elder Lei Feng. According to the information, he has a monthly habit. He visits a Jasmine House about three blocks from the Emerald Coil Pavilion. For ’relaxation.’"

Victor scoffed. "A brothel."

"Essentially," Tarkos replied. "He should be heading there tomorrow night. I’ve already scouted the area. There’s a side alley with minimal visibility."

Victor picked up his sword and strapped it to his back. "Let’s go hunt a Jade Serpent Elder."

Yuren bowed slightly. "Shall I prepare your gear, young master?"

Tarkos nodded. "Yes."

...

...

The Jasmine House was known throughout Yinfrost City as one of the most prestigious and luxurious establishments—especially for powerful men of influence.

From the outside, it resembled a divine temple, with towering ice-sculpted cones and glistening glass walls that reflected the shimmer of the city’s eternal mist.

Inside, warm golden lights danced across the interiors like a second sunrise, bathing the incredible structure in an almost dreamlike glow.

Victor and Tarkos, both wearing luxurious looking outfits over their jaded robes, strolled through the lavish entrance with their hands clasped behind their backs like nobility.