No way, the Heavenly Path is lagging

On the first day of the version update, cultivators experiencing "system crashes" due to activating [Ray Tracing] were far from rare.

Even though Lu Ze had given a [Proceed with Caution] warning, many cultivators still bravely took the risk.

Cultivation, after all—who isn’t confident in their own abilities?

What’s there to fear from a mere illusion?

As a result, plumes of smoke began rising from every peak of the Lingxiao Sect that day.

The spectacle was nothing short of spectacular.

The elders of the Lingxiao Sect convened an emergency meeting, with the eight peak elders gathering in the council hall.

Zhao Wendao’s expression was the darkest among them.

Lu Ze’s illusions had spread widely within the sect largely due to his tacit approval.

Now that Lu Ze’s illusions had malfunctioned, he naturally couldn’t escape responsibility.

"First, let’s hear a report on the disciples’ condition… Elder Lin."

"Understood."

Lin Qingxuan, elder of Danqing Peak, nodded.

"Currently, the Alchemy Pavilion has received 863 disciples who fell unconscious due to the illusions."

"Among them, one is a core disciple, 524 are inner disciples, and 358 are outer disciples…"

"The diagnosis is: internal depletion caused by excessive spiritual energy consumption."

"At present, aside from exhaustion, there appear to be no serious consequences."

After hearing Lin Qingxuan’s report, Zhao Wendao’s expression eased slightly.

At least there were no life-threatening dangers, nor any impact on their cultivation paths.

Zhao Wendao continued, "Elder Yun, your perception of the world is the sharpest… has there been any anomaly in the flow of spiritual energy within the illusion?"

Yun Zhu, master of the Beast Taming Peak, stroked his chin and pondered.

"The spiritual energy input does not converge within the sect… The feedback from the [Ray Tracing] technique is also extremely refined, posing no harm to cultivators… For now, aside from the excessive consumption of energy, there seems to be nothing unusual."

"Good."

Zhao Wendao let out another sigh of relief.

If the spiritual energy had been funneled toward Lu Ze, they would have had to consider whether he was a demonic cultivator maliciously harvesting his peers’ energy.

For now, all issues pointed to the Tianxuan Sect, not Lu Ze.

Given the Tianxuan Sect’s deep-rooted prestige, at least they didn’t have to worry about demonic forces pulling strings behind the scenes.

"Elder Nangong, what exactly did the Tianxuan Sect embed in the divine consciousness array? Something capable of covering the entire cultivation world?"

"How should I know? The Tianxuan Sect only said ‘heaven’s secrets must not be revealed.’ My wayward disciple was even placed under a silencing spell, claiming it involved sect secrets…"

After Nangong Yuan’s explanation, Zhao Wendao’s face darkened.

"What nonsense about sect secrets? Now that such a major issue has arisen, they must provide an explanation… Otherwise, we’ll have to ban Lu Ze’s illusions from connecting to that divine consciousness array!"

"Elder Nangong, set off for the Tianxuan Sect immediately and get to the bottom of this!"

"Announce this now: Effective immediately, the use of the [Ray Tracing] technique is forbidden within the sect!"

With that, Zhao Wendao swept his gaze across the other elders.

"Does anyone object?"

The elders all shook their heads.

Zhao Wendao couldn’t help but eye Ding Mingcang with suspicion.

Ding Mingcang had a long-standing grudge against Lu Ze, and given his usual temperament, Zhao Wendao expected him to seize this chance to make trouble.

Yet Ding Mingcang seemed utterly indifferent, merely going along with the crowd as he shook his head.

"Elder Ding, do you have any objections?"

Zhao Wendao pressed.

"Me? Hah. Elder Zhao, you’re the chief elder. Your word is law."

Ding Mingcang sneered.

He knew the score.

Most of these elders would side with Lu Ze one way or another—what was the point of objecting?

Raise a fuss, make them wary, and force Lu Ze to fix things?

Or even shut down the illusions entirely?

No way!

In three days, he planned to visit the sect’s forbidden grounds to request the Sect Master’s decree, ensuring the Sect Master witnessed firsthand how disciples were neglecting cultivation for these illusions.

As for the disciples being drained of spiritual energy?

Hah. That only added to the charges.

Once the Sect Master saw the evidence, not even the heavens could save Lu Ze!

And those who shielded him—Zhao Wendao and Nangong Yuan—would likely lose their reputations too.

Who would take over as chief elder then? That was anyone’s guess.

……

……

Lihuo Peak, Spirit Jade Pavilion.

When Lu Ze heard about the mass fainting incidents caused by smoke, he was equally stunned.

His first thought was of the graphics cards from his past life that had "smoked" under the strain of ray tracing.

Well, well. History had repeated itself in the most unexpected way.

"This isn’t good…"

Lu Ze frowned slightly, then swiftly projected his divine consciousness into the main server world where the remnant of the Heavenly Dao resided.

In a void-like expanse, a single block of dirt stood alone.

The remnant of the Heavenly Dao sat motionless on the grass.

"What’s going on?"

Lu Ze was baffled.

The last time he’d visited, this world hadn’t been so barren.

Puzzled, he walked over and patted the remnant’s back.

"Hey. What’s wrong with you?"

No response.

He gave it a slight push.

"Why aren’t you talking?"

Still no movement.

Lu Ze rubbed his chin.

"Strange. Does the Heavenly Dao remnant need sleep too?"

What he really thought was: Servers aren’t supposed to take breaks…

Unsure what to do, he stood there, contemplating how to wake it up.

Then—

The remnant turned its head toward him… in a laggy, stuttering motion.

"What… do… you… want…"

"I’m… fine…"

Lu Ze froze.

Even its voice was glitching, like high ping in an online game.

Before he could respond, the remnant spoke again:

"Am… I… not… speaking… now…"

"???"

Seriously?

Even the Heavenly Dao lags?

Now Lu Ze understood.

This guy was practically on the verge of crashing from overload!

No wonder its world was empty—it must’ve cleared everything to lighten the load.

"Ant…"

"This… Heavenly… Dao… doesn’t… need… sleep…"

Lu Ze couldn’t hold back this time.

Remembering how the remnant had once arrogantly boasted that his "ant-like techniques" wouldn’t burden it at all, he nearly laughed out loud.

He’d known [Ray Tracing] was resource-intensive and might strain the remnant a little.

But he never expected it to lag this badly…

"Tsk."

Lu Ze sighed, barely suppressing a grin.

"You know, I kind of miss your old, unyielding arrogance."