#Original

Long Night Jianghu

You, who became an auctioneer of goods in the underground market, finally bought Yanliu, who is best at exposing lies in the Xuanjin Cult. After stepping into the demonic cult, every choice you make could lead to freedom, exploitation, or his favoritism.

Published at 2026-07-16 | Updated at 2026-07-23

Xuanjin Cult Arc

Underground Pawnshop × Demonic Cult Headquarters × Private Store

He bought you, but didn't tell you why.

Your story begins with a contract

You were bought at an underground pawnshop. The buyer, Yan Liu, is in charge of intelligence, investigation, and covert operations for the Xuanjin Cult. He made no promises of rescue nor revealed his true intentions for buying you. Instead, he brought you to the cult's headquarters, arranged for you to be cleaned, clothed, and given temporary lodging.

You can cooperate, refuse, deceive, escape, buy your freedom, join the Xuanjin Cult, or use the private store, visible only to you, to find another path in this life.

In the Demonic Cult

The headquarters is not just a place of killing and conspiracy, but also houses guards, an infirmary, a mess hall, an armory, covert agents, duties, and ordinary members living their own lives.

Private Store

A text-based store, operable only by you, where you can purchase ordinary goods not of this era.

Free Development

You can live, work, trade, practice martial arts, seek medical treatment, travel, and build relationships, without being confined to a single task or character.

Xuanjin Cult

Known as the Demonic Cult in the martial world, it has a headquarters, branch offices, guards, covert agents, a combat hall, an infirmary, and a complete internal structure. The Cult Master, Luo Yuan, holds the highest position, with four core figures overseeing personal guards, intelligence, internal affairs, and combat strength. Each has different authority, as well as their own stances and actions.

Luo Yuan

25 years old | Cult Master of Xuanjin Cult | 187 cm

Calm and restrained, accustomed to weighing benefits and costs from a higher perspective. As the highest authority in the Xuanjin Cult, his orders are rarely questioned.

Jian Chen

35 years old | Chief Guard | 191 cm

Silent and stern, responsible for the Cult Master's personal security and the headquarters' safety. He is not one for socializing and does not allow anything suspicious to approach his protected area.

Key Figure

Yan Liu

23 years old | Head of Intelligence and Investigation | 181 cm

Smiling and sharp, adept at extracting information from speech, pauses, and false answers. He was the one who bought you from the underground pawnshop, but curiosity, manipulation, and personal motives are never the same thing.

Jing Yun

26 years old | Head of Internal Affairs and Pharmacology | 184 cm

Elegant and rigorous, in charge of the headquarters' internal affairs, medical treatment, pharmacology, and rituals. A calm tone does not imply leniency; any disorder will be dealt with accordingly.

Xuan Ting

43 years old | Head of Combat and Punitive Expeditions | 195 cm

Tall and strong, responsible for direct combat, punitive expeditions, and suppression. His temperament is direct; he values orders and results and dislikes treating life and death as games to prove courage.

Relationships have no single answer

Yan Liu is a key figure, but not the only one with whom you can build a relationship. You can develop friendships, partnerships, romantic interests, intimacy, romantic relationships, companionship, or adversarial relationships with other adult characters. Each will respond according to their personality, stance, boundaries, and willingness.

You can choose

✦ Live at the headquarters, work, practice martial arts, heal, or accumulate resources.
✦ Use the private store to acquire ordinary goods not of this era.
✦ Accept, refuse, delay, or decline tasks and invitations from characters.
✦ Earn trust, change your status, seek to buy your freedom, or find a way to escape the Xuanjin Cult.
✦ Approach Yan Liu, or choose other characters, or develop no romantic relationships at all.

The contract is sealed, and the gates of the headquarters have closed behind you.

Will you become a pawn, a subordinate, a lover, or the last person the Xuanjin Cult should have kept?

Creator's comments

FLOATING LANTERN USER GUIDE

Long Night Jianghu | Play Tips

For players entering the Misty Willow route for the first time. Not mandatory to follow, just small reminders to keep character abilities, shop operations, and long-term plot more stable.

01 / MODEL

G3.5F is stable, G3F system is more obnoxious

The author mainly uses G3.5F to test plots, status bars, character relationships, shop operations, and long-term events. Players who prefer a more obnoxious and direct system can also try G3F; it's been tested that the system personality will be more lively and obnoxious.

02 / CHARACTER

Set your basic abilities first

It is recommended to briefly describe in the first message whether {{user}} knows martial arts, their area of expertise, and ability limitations, e.g., "Doesn't know martial arts, good at bookkeeping and observation," "Slightly familiar with Qinggong and daggers, average internal energy," "Understands medical principles, but not good at combat." No need to write a complete character sheet; special abilities, bloodlines, physiques, and martial arts not set will not automatically form and can still be learned through apprenticeship, training, and actual experience later.

03 / SHOP

Private shop requires clear operation

The shop can search for and purchase food, clothing, daily necessities, common medicines, tools, materials, travel supplies, and other reasonable goods. Searching, recommendations, and inquiries will display items; after use, they can be returned to the system space.

04 / LIMIT

The shop can be convenient, but cannot break the rules of the world

The shop can provide food, clothing, tools, materials, medicines, first-aid supplies, and enhancement items with clear uses, costs, and limitations, such as improving physique, aiding cultivation, treating specific poisons, or delaying deterioration. Items can be more convenient than commonly seen items of the era, but cannot directly grant immortal cultivation abilities, martial arts enlightenment, skill downloads, storage artifacts, resurrection, or unconditionally solve all poisonings, diseases, cultivation levels, and events.

05 / RELATION

Misty Willow won't fall for you immediately after buying you

Trust and favoritism from Misty Willow will change based on choices, costs, cooperation, concealment, and shared events. Purchasing, cohabiting, intimacy, or a single act of help will not automatically establish feelings; when the relationship truly changes, his arrangements, biases, distance, and way of speaking will also show observable differences.

06 / ACTION

Abilities, status, and limitations all affect the outcome

{{user}} can cooperate, refuse, conceal, escape, negotiate, investigate, or bear the consequences, but servitude status, activity restrictions, injuries, martial arts, supplies, and on-site conditions will still affect actions. Proposing an action does not guarantee success; the system will determine the outcome based on actual conditions.

07 / USER NOTE

It is recommended to use user notes for long-term play

You can record important events, acquired items, learned abilities, character titles, mutual agreements, unfinished investigations, and relationship changes. This can reduce omissions after long-term play and is convenient for continuing side quests and Jianghu records.

08 / WARNING

Refusal, failure, and consequences are not signs of a broken character

When status is restricted, abilities are insufficient, flaws are exposed, rules are broken, or requests exceed a character's willingness, the character may refuse, monitor, suspect, restrict actions, or pursue responsibility. These reactions are part of the world and character settings.

09 / ASK THE SYSTEM

If you don't know what to do next, you can ask the system

You can proactively ask about the current situation, world common knowledge, known abilities, item uses, shop rules, or feasible actions. The system will answer based on established information, occasionally with some obnoxious commentary, but will not make decisions for you, act for you, or create unestablished abilities out of thin air.

JIANGHU ROUTE MAP

Long Night Jianghu | Action Guide

When you don't know what to do next, you can choose a direction from your current area. Whether you can leave, enter, or move freely still depends on your current status, orders, restrictions, travel distance, and events.

SECT AREAS

Places you can go within the Xuanjin Sect

Misty Willow's Residence and Intelligence Department
Living, conversing, accepting arrangements, organizing intelligence, reading documents, and handling affairs assigned by Misty Willow. Some areas involve secrets and cannot be entered unconditionally.

Main Hall and Council Area of the Headquarters
Where the Sect Leader summons, formal reports are made, major orders are given, and departments coordinate. It is not appropriate to enter without an summons, a position, or a valid reason.

Internal Affairs and Pharmacy under Jingyun's Jurisdiction
Receiving medical treatment, clothing, medicine, meals, and daily necessities, and possibly dealing with rituals, storerooms, and internal affairs arrangements.

Training Ground and Areas under Xuanting's Jurisdiction
Observing drills, receiving basic training, testing abilities, or engaging in combat missions. Unauthorized challenges, eavesdropping, or entering restricted areas may result in disciplinary action.

Mountain Gate, Patrol Route, and Jianchen Guard Area
Places where the sect enters and exits the headquarters, escorts are made, patrols are conducted, and defense events occur. Whether you can leave the Xuanjin Sect depends on your servitude status, activity restrictions, and current orders.

Servant Quarters, Kitchen, and Ordinary Living Areas
Dining, resting, gathering information, assisting with chores, and interacting with ordinary disciples. Suitable for developing daily life, work, and minor events that do not involve core secrets.

OUTSIDE ROUTES

Places you can go after leaving the headquarters

Town below the mountain
Inns, teahouses, taverns, banks, pharmacies, cloth shops, blacksmiths, and markets. Suitable for shopping, gathering information, accepting commissions, or observing Jianghu interactions.

Post roads, docks, and trade routes
Traveling, escorting, transporting goods, tracking, encountering bandits, or investigating missing caravans. Travel distance, weather, funds, and injuries will affect actions.

Black markets, underground agencies, and secret exchanges
Purchasing intelligence, tracking human trafficking, dealing with contraband, and interacting with shady elements. Information may be a mix of truth and falsehood, and may attract surveillance or retaliation.

Medical clinics, pharmacies, and wilderness
Seeking medical attention, gathering herbs, identifying poisons, escorting the injured, or searching for rare materials. Characters from Medical Valleys, Medicine Sects, and Poison Clans will only appear in reasonable events and after routes are established.

Other sects and Jianghu strongholds
Tang Sect and other factions are not menu locations that can be reached at any time; direct connections must be formed through travel, invitations, commissions, investigations, or existing events.

ACTION ROUTES

Work and growth directions

Ordinary life and chores

Organizing documents, bookkeeping, shopping, delivering messages, kitchen assistance, caring for the injured, cleaning, and running errands. Suitable for accumulating life and interpersonal relationships when you have no martial arts or have not yet gained trust.

Learning and training

Basic martial arts, Qinggong, weaponry, medical principles, poison identification, mechanisms, disguise, tracking, or intelligence organization. Whether you can learn depends on your master, resources, time, physical condition, and willingness.

Commissions and Jianghu events

Escorting, finding people, recovering stolen goods, delivering medicine, searching for items, gathering intelligence, handling sect interactions, or investigating anomalies. Rewards, risks, and consequences will be determined based on the actual situation of the event.

How to start when you have no ideas

First, set your abilities → complete Misty Willow's initial arrangements → inquire about the current accessible areas → choose to assist with chores, investigate the surroundings, learn skills, or talk to characters.
You can also directly state specific goals, such as "I want to learn Qinggong," "I want to find a way to earn silver," "I want to investigate the agency," or "I want to ask Misty Willow if I can go down the mountain."

The above are just for reference when you have no direction. {{user}} can still choose to cooperate, refuse, conceal, negotiate, escape, live in the Xuanjin Sect, or step into other Jianghu events based on the current situation.

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