Have You Ever Heard of the Sword Saint of Dharma Cultivation

The term "Spellblade Master Yi" was something Zhou Yue had never heard before.

From both the character design and skill mechanics, he felt the title "Spellblade" had nothing to do with Master Yi.

When Zhong Yi bought a "Doran's Ring" from the shop at the start of the game, the other three players immediately spammed the chat with questions.

"???"

"Bro, you bought the wrong item!"

"Did you pick the wrong champ?"

"Who the hell builds a ring on Master Yi? Troll!"

"Fck this! Master Yi, go support. I'm taking mid!"

"??? Have you even considered how the ADC feels?"

...

It wasn’t just his teammates—even the viewers in Zhong Yi’s stream were baffled by this move.

As everyone knew, attack items in Immortal Demonic Clash were divided into two categories:

Spellcaster items and physical combat items.

The former boosted Spirit Energy (AP), while the latter increased Attack Damage (AD).

For a swordsman like Master Yi to buy a Spellcaster item was beyond comprehension.

"Don’t panic, everyone. Let me explain," Zhong Yi chuckled, shaking his head as he addressed both Zhou Yue and the stream chat.

"It’s true that Master Yi’s ultimate and third skill only enhance basic attacks… but have any of you noticed? His first and second skills both have an oddly high Spirit Energy scaling—way higher than most mages!"

With that, he pulled up the skill descriptions in the stream.

"Enough talk. Actions speak louder."

By then, the minions had reached the lane.

At first, Zhong Yi’s opponent scoffed at the sight of a Spellblade Master Yi.

But soon, he realized something was very wrong.

This build was absolutely disgusting.

The first skill, Phantom Slash, dealt insane damage, cleared waves instantly, and made Master Yi untargetable during the dash.

Trading blows was impossible!

When the enemy finally managed to whittle Zhong Yi down, he simply retreated under tower and started channeling Meditate—instantly healing back to near-full HP.

The opponent’s mental state shattered instantly.

What kind of laning is this?

This is just pure cheese!

The stream audience was thoroughly convinced.

[I take back what I said earlier. Spellblade Yi is OP (/thumbsup)!]

[Bro, this is straight-up broken!]

[And it requires zero mechanics…]

[A single ability heals half your HP? Who can out-sustain this??]

[Genius cultivator indeed—absolute mad scientist of the rift!]

[But with one less combat skill and a situational ult, won’t he fall off late-game?]

...

"Not at all," Zhong Yi replied mid-Meditate.

"Master Yi’s ultimate resets basic ability cooldowns on takedowns… meaning Phantom Slash can be spammed infinitely!"

He had tested this extensively in private matches.

A full-build Spellblade Yi could deal thousands of damage with a single Phantom Slash.

Once a single enemy dropped low, the fight would snowball into an unstoppable massacre.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Especially in these early days, when players were still figuring out macro and mechanics, teamfights were constant midlane brawls.

In this game, Zhong Yi—despite his "grandma-tier mechanics"—secured his first-ever Pentakill.

After the match, even Zhou Yue, who usually mocked Zhong Yi’s lack of skill, couldn’t help but praise him.

"Damn, Old Zhong, how’d you even come up with this strat?"

"Stay humble. I’ve got plenty more where that came from…" Zhong Yi grinned.

He had studied many champions’ kits.

Master Yi wasn’t the only one designed for physical combat but secretly broken with Spellcaster items.

The "Tower-Terror Trio"—Master Yi, Tryndamere, and Xin Zhao—all had similar hidden builds.

High Spirit Energy meant insane sustain and burst damage.

Though, Tryndamere and Xin Zhao fell slightly short compared to Yi.

Beyond that, he’d even theorized a "suicide Sion" strat, using the undead juggernaut’s passive to brute-force towers with sheer deaths…

...

...

When Lu Ze witnessed Zhong Yi’s innovation, he couldn’t help but marvel at the man’s creativity.

It was a perfect example of "when one door closes, another opens."

In his past life, AP Yi had been an absurdly overpowered pick during League’s early days.

How overpowered?

A complete newbie could lane evenly against a seasoned Gold/Plat player using this strat.

Easy execution, insane margin for error.

The only downside was its mediocrity in high elo—though that was more due to the midlane meta at the time.

When designing Immortal Demonic Clash, Lu Ze had blended heroes from different eras.

Champions like Fiora and Master Yi used their old versions.

Others, like Mordekaiser and Poppy, were based on their reworked kits.

Whichever iteration was more fun for casual players, he kept.

Back then, balance changes catered to pro play.

But Lu Ze didn’t care about that—he just wanted maximum entertainment.

Spellblade Yi quickly took the rift by storm.

Ironically, Zhong Yi, the pioneer, could never lock in Master Yi anymore.

Worse, in normals, he kept getting stomped by his own "disciples" using his strat.

After a brutal losing streak, Zhong Yi vowed to master the counterplay.

Soon, he unleashed the "5-Auto Combo" Mordekaiser mid…

...

Time flew.

Players improved at a frightening pace.

Even with magic sealed away, cultivators found ways to adapt in this combat simulation.

Lu Ze hadn’t been idle either.

He’d rolled out ARAM, URF, Arena, and other fun modes—rotating them regularly to keep casual players hooked (and feeding).

The only missing piece was Teamfight Tactics.

But Lu Ze wasn’t in a hurry.

TFT was practically a separate game—it’d split the playerbase, and the "death efficiency" was too low.

He could always add it later when things stabilized.

The game modes were nearly complete, yet something still felt… off.

"Of course," Lu Ze muttered after some thought.

"If we’ve got a MOBA, we gotta add esports. Otherwise, what a waste…"