I Cultivated Too Long and Got Isekai’d Into a Game

As soon as the light faded, Xu Tao found himself greeted by an oddly familiar yet strangely unfinished sight.

He was standing atop a half-constructed tower.

Work had clearly stopped in the middle of progress—piles of cut stone lay to one side, mortar and plaster sat in a neat heap, and scaffolding rose like skeletal ribs against the moonlit sky.

Through the gaps in the incomplete walls, a sea of clouds rolled gently beneath them, silvered by the steady moon. The scene felt oddly peaceful, and the softness of the cloudscape eased the tension in his shoulders without him meaning to relax.

"Sir Tao!"

"Huh?"

A heartbeat later, a figure lunged at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Jehanne—breathless, with cheeks flushed—had arrived before him.

She clung to him like a relieved child.

But she wasn't alone; the others were already gathered nearby, sitting or standing in small clusters, waiting for Xu Tao. Some were sprawled, others perched on unfinished stones, but all were evidently well enough and composed.

"You guys..." Xu Tao blurted, then paused as realization sank in. "Oh. The Dao Law blocking understanding of language is gone."

After he gently disentangled Jehanne from around his neck, he turned to the others. "How did you all arrive before I did? I thought I was leading the way..."

Arthur scratched the back of his head and gave a sheepish shrug.

"Actually, on the 49th floor our copies appeared—then the hair clones you gave us moved on their own and ended the fight in an instant. We got sent here first." He smiled wryly.

"Still, seeing how your clone finished me in a blink... I've got a lot more training to do."

Xu Tao nodded slowly.

From what Arthur described, it sounded as if his decision to dispatch clones had altered the battlefield dynamic; his own experience had been the one anomalous case. He hadn't expected that his intervention would make the rest breeze through their encounter while he struggled, but it was his doing, so he let it pass.

He turned his attention back to the woman still clinging to his arm. "So why is Jehanne suddenly clingy? Did the Mirror Maze break something in her head?"

"Ah, that..." Arthur began to explain, but Yifa stepped forward before he finished.

She folded her arms and gave Xu Tao a single, wry blink. "I think it's because everyone here saw your... less flattering moments, Master." Her tone was teasing, cute.

Xu Tao froze.

For a second his mind blanked—ghosts from the 48th floor swam back into focus: the merciless mirror reflections replaying his past mistakes, petty acts, and regrets on loop until his Dao Heart nearly cracked.

"Everyone... saw that?" His voice cracked. "How—how did you see it? I thought that trial was targeted at each individual's past?!"

Zetian answered this time, tugging Xu Tao's other sleeve and snuggling close in a mock-affectionate way.

"When your clone appeared, the target of the trial switched to your copy. We avoided being forced to relive our own painful pasts and instead were shown your memories and mistakes." She smiled impishly. "It was... enlightening."

Xu Tao felt his knees go weak.

The idea of his private, embarrassing history displayed for everyone—especially Jehanne, who now looked at him with what could only be described as fond adoration—made his insides churn.

An absurd thought flickered through his mind: 'Should I erase everyone's memory of the last hour?'

But he dismissed it immediately. There were more pressing matters.

A new system notifications chimed, splashing messages across their vision.

[

Quest Complete: Reach the top of the broken Tower of Babel!

Rewards Gained: +4,900 Stat Points

]

[

Quest: Let's save the City!

Quest Details:

Due to the Little World Tree in your yard, the city that you've painstakingly built is currently under siege by a swarm of monsters. Although the defense holds for now, who knows how long it can last? Return quickly and protect your people!

(Time until defenses are breached: 0:14:58)

Quest Rewards:

Awakening of the Guardian Spirit of the World Tree

]

A warm, diffused wave of light washed over everyone. It sharpened senses and left a subtle hum of power in their limbs—an instantly perceptible strengthening. Stat points trickled into everyone's character panels.

Only Xu Tao, Jehanne, and Yifa received free points to spend immediately; the others' points were allocated automatically.

But Xu Tao's eyes were not on his stats. They were fixed on the timer: fifteen minutes remained.

"Fuck!" He cursed under his breath, snapping himself upright.

He forced his embarrassment aside. "Everyone, we have to hurry. The city's defenses will fall soon!"

He swept his gaze across the rooftop, searching for the promised formation—the continent-spanning teleporter the Lost System had alluded to—but found nothing...

"Lost System! Where's the teleporter you promised?" he barked, half to the system and half to the sky.

At that precise moment, the unfinished top of the tower pulsed an eerie green and began to hum. Lines of runes started to crawl across the floor like veins lighting up.

Strange sigils—characters Xu Tao had never seen, geometries that seemed to fold into higher dimensions—etched themselves in luminous ink. Though the formation was incomplete, the air it released tasted old and immense: the kind of pressure that reminded him of the Ancient Gods.

'This is beyond mortal craft,' Xu Tao thought, breath tightening in his chest.

"Move to the center! Now!" he ordered. No one hesitated, running instantly.

Even Achilles—silent since the clone had humiliated him—moved without a word. He still looked shaken at how effortlessly Xu Tao's clone had cut his copy down during the 49th-floor encounter. The chasm between them had left a visible mark on his posture.

Everyone gathered fast, fingers brushing against plaster and scaffolding as the runes on the floor completed their last strokes.

The drawn pattern—the Continent-wide Teleportation Array—was vast, littered with concentric rings segmented by sigils. It thrummed with potential like a sleeping leviathan about to be called.

For a moment, nothing happened. The group held their breath, waiting.

Then a system popup blinked up from nowhere.

[Linking the Continent-wide Teleportation Array to the Lost System... Success.]

[Please Select Your Teleportation destination:]

[- Home Base]

[---Nothing Follows---]

There were no other choices. Home Base was the only option—no surprise given the system's constraints.

Xu Tao selected it with a single, decisive press.

Beneath their feet, the green lines deepened. The entire array brightened from a subdued emerald to a furious, sunlike white. A roar of power filled the rooftop and they instinctively shut their eyes as the light went nuclear.

When the light finally ebbed away, the tower's 50th floor lay empty and silent.

Not a single figure remained; the top had become a barren, moonlit expanse, the freshly etched runes cooling beneath the newly still air.

The flash had taken them all—every voice, every presence—transported away in a single heartbeat.

"Hmm..." Xu Tao hummed as he opened his eyes.

As he did, the scenery welcomed him instantly—tall rock walls in the distance, a familiar tree emitting faint traces of True Qi nearby, and Celestial Beasts roaring as they fought off intruders attempting to scale the walls.

"No time to waste!" he shouted the moment he grasped the situation. "Everyone, protect the city!"

Since they were all standing near Xu Tao's castle, they could reach any wall with equal speed. Xu Tao was the first to move, activating Ground Shrink and vanishing toward the back of the castle.

It was the sector with the weakest life signatures nearby and, as a result, had the fewest Celestial Beasts stationed there. Unfortunately, that also meant it had become the perfect breach point—now swarming with monsters.

GROOOOWL!

Zetian's Celestial Beast let out a bone-rattling roar. The monsters recoiled in hesitation, cowed for a moment. But it was only the desperate cry of a beast on its last legs.

The poor creature was covered in wounds, its fur matted with luminescent blood, and its body leaking soul energy in faint sparks. Yet even in such a battered state, the fire in its eyes remained unextinguished.

It still stood, willing to fight to the death if it meant guarding the place its master had commanded it to protect.

"You've done more than enough," Xu Tao said as he descended, landing in front of the wounded beast. "Rest now, and leave the rest to me."

Grrr...

The beast, as if reassured by his presence, collapsed unconscious on the spot. Xu Tao allowed himself a small smile, silently acknowledging its loyalty and endurance, before turning his attention back to the mass of enemies.

As the system had reported, every monster here hailed from the desert. Among them were familiar foes—Sand Beetles, Sand Snakes, Sand Bats, and Rock Lobsters—while the rest were species he had only glimpsed once before, back when he rode the Diamond Bus.

"Level 500 or below, huh?"

Xu Tao smirked and shook his head. "You're far too weak to dare trespass into our lands. I could offer you a chance to retreat... but I am not that merciful."

He drew his sword, the blade singing as it left its sheath, the ringing tone cutting through the battlefield like a sharp, high-pitched frequency that made even the braver monsters flinch.

"Lie down and surrender your lives to me, and I shall grant you all a painless death!"

With one smooth swing of his blade, the entire army before him… disintegrated into dust. No—rather, they became a sprawling sea of Loot Boxes, scattered across the outer moat and the fields beyond.

"Collecting all of these will take some time..." he sighed, sliding his sword back into its sheath.

Then, his gaze shifted toward the opposite front.

"I wonder… how are the others holding out against their share of the monsters?"