Leigong Peak, summit.
Zhao Wendao shut out all distractions beyond the peak, wholly immersed in the mod editor of Minecraft.
Over the past two days, he had Zhong Yi explain to him the intricate logic behind Minecraft's mechanics.
The more he learned, the clearer the flaws in his spells became.
This illusory world, deceptively simple, was in truth infinitely profound.
Be it creatures, terrain, tools, or spells—
everything followed a complete, self-contained logic.
Similar to reality, yet not entirely the same.
After repeated attempts,
Zhao Wendao could sense himself inching closer to success.
Faintly,
he seemed to brush against an elusive, almost mystical law...
......
......
Sword Inquiry Peak, Sword Inquiry Manor.
Li Moran, too, was lost in the mod editor.
For days, she had been playing Minecraft with Zhou Qiaoling and others.
Her gaming talent was extraordinary, her in-game movements terrifyingly precise.
Driven by curiosity, she accidentally opened the mod editor, attempting to compile a swordsmanship mod into the game.
The result, predictably, was failure—
one after another.
Yet Li Moran refused to be discouraged, refining her approach step by step.
"So that's how it is... the sword intent here should be like this..."
"This movement is just slightly off..."
In this blocky world,
everything was segmented into cubes.
Large cubes split into smaller ones,
smaller cubes into even tinier fragments...
Spells and techniques,
likewise, were magnified and dissected.
Li Moran's sword intent grew ever more precise,
and she felt herself on the verge of enlightenment...
......
......
Lihuo Peak, Spirit Jade Pavilion.
"This is the disciple who created the illusion?"
The sect master's voice was laced with doubt.
In his eyes,
a prodigy capable of ensnaring countless cultivators—even draining the spiritual energy of Nascent Soul cultivators—
should at least be a Nascent Soul expert himself.
Yet the Lu Ze before him was merely at the Golden Core stage, hardly a plausible suspect.
"It's the absolute truth... This boy is cunning, calculating, and excels at deception. Sect Master, do not be fooled by his cultivation level!"
Ding Mingcang smirked venomously at Lu Ze.
"Aren't you describing yourself, Elder Ding?"
Lu Ze met Ding Mingcang's gaze coldly, already formulating contingency plans.
With Nangong Yuan currently at the Tianxuan Sect, he couldn't rely on him.
Elder Zhao?
Unlikely to help either.
Ding Mingcang held the Sect Master's token this time—Zhao Wendao would be hard-pressed to protect himself.
Fortunately, the illusion did have cultivation-boosting properties, but Lu Ze needed to prove it.
Yet Ding Mingcang, that sly old fox, would surely slander him at every turn...
"Disciple Lu Ze of the inner sect! You crafted this illusion to sow chaos, drain spiritual energy... What is your true aim!?"
Ding Mingcang pointed accusingly, putting on a show.
"Minecraft was created at the request of Tianxuan Sect's Grand Elder Chi Shengtian—not to harm our sect. I beg the Sect Master to judge fairly."
Lu Ze ignored Ding Mingcang, speaking directly to the Sect Master's divine sense.
With the Tianxuan Sect as a shield, he could buy some time.
If the sect master sought verification, the Tianxuan Sect would undoubtedly mobilize to protect him.
"Silver-tongued wretch! Let's see who can save you now!"
Ding Mingcang sneered.
"Sect Master, this boy is too crafty to confess willingly... Allow me to extract his soul for interrogation!"
With that, he formed a hand seal, conjuring a devastating spell aimed straight at Lu Ze.
"Elder Ding, show mercy!!"
At the critical moment, Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue—who had just arrived—acted simultaneously.
A golden palm and black-red karmic flames barely managed to block Ding Mingcang's attack.
Lu Ze exhaled inwardly.
A moment later, and he would have unleashed every cybernetic soul in his Ten Thousand Souls Banner to flee.
"Hah, you two again?"
Ding Mingcang's sneer deepened.
This scene felt familiar.
Last time, disciples had intervened one after another until Zhao Wendao stepped in to save Lu Ze.
He glanced at the Sect Master's divine sense.
Though slightly puzzled, the Sect Master remained silent, offering no objection.
Ding Mingcang grinned inwardly.
With the Sect Master's backing, even Zhao Wendao's arrival wouldn't change the outcome!
"The Sect Master's token represents his authority! Do you think being core disciples makes you untouchable? Stand down!"
With a roar, Ding Mingcang activated four Soul-Binding Chains, immobilizing Zhong Yi and the others, cutting off their spiritual energy.
"Sect Master, reconsider... Disciple Lu's illusion is profoundly mystical—it may enhance cultivation!"
Zhong Yi shouted desperately.
"Within that illusion, my cultivation has progressed daily! I beg you to investigate!"
"Is this true?"
The Sect Master frowned.
"Preposterous! How could a Golden Core disciple boost a Nascent Soul cultivator's progress? Even I cannot do such a thing!"
Ding Mingcang scoffed, then smirked at Zhong Yi.
"You claim progress—yet where is your breakthrough?"
Zhong Yi fell silent.
Breakthroughs took time, but he felt the subtle improvements.
Yet how could he prove it?
The Sect Master nodded.
For now, he was seventy percent convinced by Ding Mingcang's claims.
This illusion neither boosted cultivation nor upheld the sect's discipline.
On one side stood a loyal elder; on the other, an unknown inner disciple.
He wanted this resolved quickly, to restore the sect's peace.
"Enough. The boy is yours to deal with. Afterward, find Zhao Wendao."
The Sect Master's expression turned icy.
"Gladly!"
Ding Mingcang's face twisted with glee.
Months ago, Lu Ze had landed him a month's punishment in Reflection Valley.
That humiliation had festered like a demonic heart-tribulation, fueling his hatred day and night.
Had Lu Ze not hidden on Lihuo Peak or traveled under Nangong Yuan's guard,
Ding Mingcang would have disposed of him long ago.
Now, with this chance, he wouldn't hold back.
"Ahahaha—"
Cackling, Ding Mingcang slowly drew a massive broadsword from his spatial ring.
"Sect Master... Zhong Yi speaks the truth. The illusion doesn't drain energy—it's a fragment of the Heavenly Dao."
Lu Ze spoke calmly.
His pact with the Tianxuan Sect forbade revealing the Heavenly Dao's remnant spirit—
unless his life was at stake.
Now, he could say it outright.
The Sect Master's brow twitched.
"You? Connected to the Heavenly Dao?"
Ding Mingcang cut in furiously.
His body surged with spiritual energy, the broadsword gleaming with blood-red malice.
"I'll cripple your cultivation first!!"
Just then—
A crimson bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens, blasting Ding Mingcang away.
"Ant, begone!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
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."
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.
