The Confidence of Illusion Alliance

Wuji Sword Sect, Illusory Sword Peak.

Glasses clinked amid the lively chatter.

Du Cheng, steward of Illusory Sword Peak, held his wine cup high, his face flushed with joy as he went from person to person, accepting their toasts.

Gathered here were all members of the “Phantom Alliance.”

The Phantom Alliance had just released over a dozen new types of barriers, but none matched the effectiveness of Wuji Sword Sect’s “Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.”

Hence, everyone had come early to celebrate the Phantom Alliance’s triumph.

As the architect behind the “Heavenly Dao Secret Realm,” Du Cheng naturally became the center of attention.

“Elder Jiang, Du offers you a toast!”

Facing his direct elder, Du Cheng’s proud expression faded, replaced by respectful sincerity as he raised his cup.

Jiang Lingfeng frowned, standing out from the festive atmosphere. He stared thoughtfully at the illusionary tower in his hand.

“You’re celebrating too soon…”

Jiang Lingfeng’s tone was cold as he tossed the illusionary tower in front of Du Cheng.

“The number of cultivators inside the realm is continuously declining.”

In their mindset, terms like “new user acquisition” or “retention” hadn’t yet taken root.

But Jiang Lingfeng keenly sensed that the prosperity of the “Heavenly Dao Secret Realm” was merely an illusion.

“Uh… maybe the disciples have been diligent in their cultivation and have stepped away from the realm?”

Du Cheng’s wine cup hung awkwardly in midair.

Jiang Lingfeng glanced at him, silently thinking, *Who would believe that?*

When disciples played Lu Ze’s illusionary realms, they were utterly engrossed, neglecting sleep and food. Diligent cultivation? Not a chance.

Not to mention the disciples, even Li Jiujian, the peak master of the neighboring Yiqing Peak, was constantly absorbed in Lu Ze’s illusions.

“That shouldn’t be the case. The other day, I contacted several elders and stewards for a joint test. The feedback was all positive.”

Du Cheng was puzzled.

On the day of the test, Jiang Lingfeng had taken first place and praised the realm highly.

A realm so highly regarded by elders—how could it fail to win the favor of ordinary disciples?

“Sure enough… it still needs the nourishment of Heavenly Dao’s spiritual energy!”

Jiang Lingfeng sighed, attributing Lu Ze’s success to the nourishing power of the Heavenly Dao’s spiritual energy.

Heavenly Dao.

This was the one thing everyone in the Phantom Alliance envied most about Lu Ze.

A frail constitution like Lu Ze’s, yet he had broken through multiple barriers within two years, all thanks to the Heavenly Dao.

If such fortune fell upon them…

How far could their realms advance?

Jiang Lingfeng hadn’t directly involved himself but had his trusted stewards create illusions to test the waters.

After all, as a venerable elder of Wuji Sword Sect, personally competing with a nascent Nascent Soul disciple for opportunities would be embarrassing if word got out.

“Elder, don’t worry. I’ll have other peak stewards arrange it so disciples must spend a fixed amount of time in the realm daily!”

Du Cheng patted his chest confidently and promised.

“I heard… that kid posted an announcement yesterday about creating a free-combat type of illusionary realm?”

Jiang Lingfeng suddenly said.

“That’s true.”

Du Cheng nodded, unconcerned.

“But Elder Jiang need not worry…”

At this, Du Cheng smiled with confidence.

“This type of realm requires many participants and as large a space as possible…”

“Lu Ze is only in the early Nascent Soul stage; the maximum range of his realm is two thousand meters.”

“Based on that alone, there’s no way he could be stronger than us!”

Hearing this, Jiang Lingfeng nodded thoughtfully.

Du Cheng was at mid-Huashen stage cultivation, and the illusionary realm atmosphere he crafted with full effort could reach a size of three thousand meters.

Just this alone placed him far ahead of Lu Ze.

“Then let him lose even more thoroughly… Otherwise, how could the Heavenly Dao possibly take notice of us?”

Jiang Lingfeng sneered coldly, standing with his hands behind his back.

“Starting tomorrow, I will help you elevate your illusionary realm to the next level…”

“A ten-thousand-meter illusion—let’s see how he dares to fight us then!”

……

……

Over the past half month, discussions on the forum about the Illusion Alliance and Lu Ze never ceased.

Especially with Du Cheng of the Illusion Alliance boasting arrogantly, claiming that Lu Ze’s illusionary space was too small to contain the Heavenly Dao’s opportunity.

Meanwhile, he spent ten days expanding the illusion’s size to nearly eight thousand meters in diameter.

This move immediately stirred heated debate among netizens.

[An eight-thousand-meter range? That’s beyond the capability of a Huashen-stage cultivator, isn’t it…]

[There must be an elder-level figure guiding him behind the scenes.]

[Shh, better not say that recklessly.]

[What are you afraid of! A bunch of old Huashen and Refining Void experts teaming up to bully a junior?]

[Innocent man with a precious jade gets accused—typical!]

[Whether it’s bullying or not, just wait for Old Demon Lu’s illusion to come out, and then we’ll see who bullies whom!]

[Exactly! Even if Old Demon Lu’s illusion is only two hundred meters in range, I’d still enjoy playing in it… mainly because it’s fun.]

[Old Demon Lu’s illusion is playable by cultivators of all stages… unlike that so-called “Heavenly Dao Secret Realm,” where you just get beaten up like a punching bag.]

[Heh, those above must be too low in realm… Noobs just need to train more! Once you reach Nascent Soul, you’ll naturally understand how excellent the “Heavenly Dao Secret Realm” really is.]

[Alright, alright, we get it—you’re a Nascent Soul big shot… Just wait, once the Golden Core players retire, you’ll be next in line.]

[I’m training hard in the real world, why would I waste time in illusions?]

[Can the Illusion Alliance’s lackeys get lost already!]

[Free combat is only truly enjoyable if the illusion is big enough. In this regard, the Illusion Alliance definitely wins!]

[Agreed, only noobs like Lu Ze’s illusion.]

[Heh, noobs? Want to spar?]

[Sure! Give your sect’s location, I’ll come and test my skills!]

[No name changes, no aliases—Wu Ji Sword Sect, Li Jiujian!]

……

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……

The forum’s debates raged on.

As Lu Ze had predicted, the number of online players in the “Heavenly Dao Secret Realm” dropped sharply.

However, free-combat style illusions indeed attracted most of the battle-hungry cultivators.

Therefore, it still retained a considerable base of players.

Everyone’s attention was now focused on Lu Ze’s long-announced but not yet launched “Eternal Tribulation.”

Lu Ze didn’t participate in the fierce verbal battles.

Instead, he concentrated fully on crafting the illusion.

Building an illusionary space of ten thousand meters in size was the largest workload in history.

“Tianren City, Senluo Valley, Bailian Cave…”

Lu Ze floated high above the world, overlooking the entire continent, nodding with satisfaction.

This was a map modeled after the Juwu State from his previous life.

He had enlarged it several times and optimized many details and scenes.

No major changes were needed in gameplay or map design.

The only somewhat troublesome part was the action system.

After all, the original game from his previous life was just a computer game, with fixed moves.

If it were copied directly into the illusion realm, it wouldn’t feel so much like “I’m truly unrestrained.”

But Lu Ze always adhered to one principle—

A game is a game; it must have clear rules.

If it developed like "Heavenly Dao Secret Realm," where cultivators each enter with their own unique skills and techniques, the game would lose all sense of balance.

Taking both into account, Lu Ze designed the action system by separating the “form” from the “numerical values.”

On the “form” side,

Basic attacks are freeform moves—light attacks that players can operate at will.

Special attacks—like charged strikes, blade swings, and execution moves—require players to perform specific sequences exactly; otherwise, they won’t register.

The “numerical” part is independent.

No matter how flashy or elaborate the moves players perform during light attacks, damage calculation is strictly based on the number of hits.

There’s no way to deal more damage just by striking a special pose.

Of course, players can develop their own combos within the game.

With this design, cultivators aren’t overly restricted in their movements, nor does the lack of rigid rules throw the game’s balance out of whack.

As for those special effect moves from the previous life, with Mu Yawen’s help, they were optimized and adjusted to align with the core weapon techniques.

...

Once the map and action system were polished, Lu Ze gathered a bunch of cyber souls to test it out.

Just as he expected, even the cyber souls gave great feedback on this illusion realm.

Seeing that there were no bugs, Lu Ze was about to log out when his alt suddenly received a notification:

[Mo Moran invites you to a custom match]

Lu Ze couldn’t help but laugh.

Li Moran hadn’t given up; she was inviting him again to solo in "Immortal Demon Clash."

He quickly replied:

[Didn’t we agree to forget about this last time?]

The other side responded instantly:

[Ghost Immortal difficulty... I’ve already cleared it.]

Only then did Lu Ze notice that Li Moran was wearing the title [Emperor of Men].

This was the exclusive title in "Fearless Town," awarded only to the first player to clear the Ghost Immortal difficulty.

He hadn’t expected her to be so persistent.

She had overcome her fear of ghosts just to defeat him in the illusion realm.

“Ugh, so cold…”

Lu Ze shivered unexpectedly.

For some reason, even through the network cable, he could feel an icy, overwhelming grudge radiating from her—like she was itching for an offline solo match right now...

“The new illusion realm is about to launch; let’s spar there.”