Fantasy Realm Should Be Played with a Smile

At that moment, scattered bullet comments drifted across the sky.

[Eh? It really is Senior Brother Shen!]

[What kind of illusion is this? It looks so weird...]

[Why is Senior Brother Shen sitting in a jar?]

[Damn! Another one of Lu Ze's new illusions? Is it hard? Is it brutal?]

...

Seeing viewers enter the livestream, Shen Yan immediately perked up with full focus.

"Hard? No no no, not at all."

Maintaining a smile, Shen Yan painstakingly adjusted the force in his arms.

By now, he had already sensed the real challenge Lu Ze had designed into this illusion.

It was the highly unusual way of exerting force with the arms—

A bizarre sensation that made his mind and limbs feel completely uncoordinated...

Awkward. Extremely awkward.

But remembering Lu Ze's words, he figured he just hadn’t reached the state of "unity between man and hammer" yet, which eased his frustration somewhat.

Suppressing the urge to scream, he pressed on.

"This illusion was designed by Brother Lu to help me comprehend the wondrous state of unity between man and hammer... If any of you are interested, feel free to join in."

Shen Yan said with a smile.

The bullet comments immediately panicked.

[No thanks]

[Maybe next time]

[Just watching is torture...]

...

"How is it torture? It’s just using a hammer to walk instead of your limbs."

Shen Yan retorted.

By now, he had somewhat grasped the trick to pushing forward on flat ground, and he hobbled his way to a thick, withered tree.

"Look at the obstacles in those previous illusions—so difficult! Now look at Getting Over It—just a simple tree! All we have to do is climb over it!"

While chatting casually with the viewers, Shen Yan adjusted his arms and hooked the hammer onto a protruding branch of the tree.

"First like this, then like this... and with a little force—!"

With a sudden twist of his arms, he and the jar went flying into the air—

Only to crash hard onto the branch and bounce back to the ground, looking utterly disheveled.

But despite the mess, he had, against all odds, managed to get past the tree.

This came as a surprise to Lu Ze.

In his past life, this very tree had stumped countless beginners.

As expected of a skilled player—he made it through so smoothly.

If it were Zhong Yi, who knew how many tries it would’ve taken?

Back when Zhong Yi’s digital soul was serving as a beta tester for Lu Ze, even after the entire scene was fully built, he was still stuck staring blankly at the tree.

Even resorting to smacking the tree angrily with the hammer in frustration...

...

Of course, Lu Ze wasn’t worried.

In his past life, plenty of players had cleared the tree in one go, only to lose their minds later anyway.

After all, this wasn’t even the tutorial level.

True to his expectations, Shen Yan soon began tumbling down the first valley slope repeatedly.

The real difficulty of Getting Over It lay in the extreme discomfort of its controls.

After porting the 2D mechanics from his past life into the illusion, it became even more disorienting.

The slightest misstep would make his left and right hands work against each other.

Just like Shen Yan right now.

What he intended to do and what he actually did were often two completely different things.

The longer he played, the more a restless heat seemed to burn through his body.

A simple slope had already sent him crashing down over 20 times!

Meanwhile, more and more viewers were tuning into the stream.

[He fell again...]

[So brutal!]

[His arms are all twisted up from swinging that hammer]

[What kind of sadistic design is this? Just watching makes me physically uncomfortable]

[Only Senior Brother Shen could handle this! I’d be crying if it were me]

[Even Senior Brother’s expression is starting to look off...]

[Adding Lu Ze’s illusions to my blacklist from now on!]

[Agreed]

...

Noticing the growing flood of comments, Shen Yan hurriedly adjusted his expression.

After all, as the face of the Tianxuan Sect, he couldn’t afford to lose his composure.

"Junior brothers, Brother Lu’s illusions aren’t as bad as you think!"

He quickly defended Lu Ze.

"If you find the illusion torturous, it’s only because your Dao hearts aren’t yet steadfast enough."

"No matter how bitter or difficult this is, it’s still just an illusion... If you can’t face a trial meant to temper your will, how can you hope to overcome the tribulations on the path of immortality?"

"We’re just experiencing an illusion—you have to make sure you’re enjoying yourselves."

Forcing a strained smile, he continued:

"Do you know what it means to please yourself?"

"It’s about making yourself happy... Heh, hehehe..."

This sudden burst of motivational speaking left the viewers stunned, and they marveled:

[Senior Brother Shen’s mental fortitude is truly beyond ordinary people!]

[As expected of a natural-born Dao seed]

[I get it, but I’ll still just stick to watching...]

[Let’s all be happy! Everyone type ‘haha’ in the chat!]

[Haha]

...

Seeing the chat play along, Shen Yan felt gratified.

"When playing illusions, we must always smile—no frowning allowed."

With an eerie chuckle, he swung the hammer, inching his way upward.

Higher and higher.

"Like this... playing illusions with a smile..."

The moment the words left his mouth—

The hammer slipped into a crevice in the rocks, and a strange force sent him flying backward, all the way back to the bottom of the valley.

"GODDAMMIT!!! F!!!"