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."
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
