"???"
Zhong Yi was stunned.
He had witnessed with his own eyes the scene where Evil Lord Yide instantly killed Zhou Yue just a moment ago.
That guy had just done a combat roll, and before his body even stabilized, he was already firing spirit bullets right at Zhou Yue's head.
No matter how you looked at it, he didn't seem like someone with bad eyesight.
At first, Zhong Yi felt the relief of surviving a disaster, but the more he thought about it, the more something felt off.
From the look of astonishment in Evil Lord Yide's eyes earlier, Zhong Yi had a vague feeling of being looked down upon.
But thoughts aside, the current situation was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the three of them.
"Old Zhong, this is a great chance! Ambush him from behind and catch him off guard!" suggested Zhou Yue, who was currently in a soul state.
"Exactly what I was thinking!" The corners of Zhong Yi's mouth curled up. He slowed his pace, held his breath, and tried his best not to make a sound, inching forward bit by bit.
Finally reaching the corner, he peeked out half his head and saw Evil Lord Yide standing with his back to him at the corner of the north stairs, looking extremely relaxed.
"You can do it, Senior Brother Zhong! Take him out!" Zhou Qiaoling cheered for Zhong Yi, her mind entirely focused on her backpack full of little gadgets.
"Don't worry, leave it to me." Zhong Yi took a deep breath, a slight smirk on his lips.
In his soul state, Zhou Yue opened his mouth, trying hard to hold back his laughter.
Zhong Yi looked incredibly cool when he said that.
He would have looked even cooler if he wasn't still wriggling on the ground like a worm.
"Aim for the head..."
Zhong Yi slowly raised the muzzle of his gun, using his eyes as a ruler, aiming straight at Evil Lord Yide's head.
"One shot, one kill!"
Zhong Yi shouted softly and pulled the trigger!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The muzzle jerked violently upwards, and the spirit bullets flew everywhere. Not a single one hit Evil Lord Yide.
Zhou Yue despairingly slapped his forehead. "What the hell was I even expecting..."
"Is there some kind of defect with this magical artifact? Why does it have such a kick..."
Zhong Yi was completely dumbfounded.
The trial gun in the beginner's tutorial was a high-end weapon loaded with attachments. Furthermore, it was the Bright Foal 15, adapted from the CAR-15 of his past life, so its recoil was extremely low.
The Bright Foal 15 obtained from the handyman disciple standard voucher, however, was practically a bare gun with zero attachments.
When they encountered the minor mobs before entering the Administrative Palace, Zhong Yi was still drawing his gun when Zhou Yue took them out with half a magazine of spirit bullets. Therefore, he never really had a chance to shoot and naturally didn't know about this weapon's recoil.
"Kick? Doesn't that kind of thing get countered just by naturally pulling down?"
Zhou Yue was equally confused.
He could feel a tiny bit of recoil, but after instinctively pulling the muzzle down, it was instantly canceled out. He didn't feel it at all.
"Brother, Senior Brother Zhong... stop arguing."
Zhou Qiaoling looked at the turning Evil Lord Yide, wanting to cry but having no tears. The thought of all the supplies in her backpack disappearing made her heart bleed.
"Look... Evil Lord Yide has already spotted Senior Brother Zhong!!"
Zhong Yi looked up and sure enough, he saw Evil Lord Yide turning his head. That purplish-black evil aura began to radiate outwards once again.
A wave of despair instantly spread across the hearts of the three.
...
In the main space of the illusion realm.
"Are those garbage rules you set... really useful?"
The Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao looked at Lu Ze beside him with a complex expression.
Lu Ze had set a rule for the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao, or rather, for all the NPCs in Operation Immortal Abyss:
Be strong against the strong, and weak against the weak.
In his past life's Delta Force, this was known as Dynamic Difficulty.
The system would analyze the players' data and behavior, then assign them tags.
The better the player, the more likely the bots they encountered would react with inhuman frames and shoot with terrifying accuracy.
Meanwhile, those rat players jokingly referred to as Lord Tang, who were addicted to looting and hated fighting, would often encounter much weaker bots.
The reason for designing it this way was for player retention.
For hardcore competitive players accustomed to high-pressure matches, it created obstacles and increased the difficulty of looting;
For casual players who disliked or were bad at fighting, it lowered the difficulty, reducing the chances of them quitting the game.
Even though the developers in his past life repeatedly stated that Dynamic Difficulty does not exist and We have already nerfed the bots, the actual gameplay experience never lied.
Although Lu Ze had been screwed over so badly by this system in his past life that he wanted to curse, when it was his turn to make the game, he still implemented it.
First, he felt it was necessary to protect the casual players, who made up the majority;
Second, it allowed him to harvest emotional points from some of the core players.
Therefore, even Said, personally roleplayed by the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao, had to abide by this ironclad rule.
"Of course."
Lu Ze nodded with a smile, then quickly realized something.
"Oh? Did you run into Senior Brother Zhou and his group again?"
"Senior Brother Zhou?"
The Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao expressed surprise and shook his head.
"I don't know who Senior Brother Zhou is, but I do remember that square-faced ant with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a somewhat miserable look."
Lu Ze immediately burst into laughter upon hearing this.
How could he not remember?
Whenever the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao played a BOSS to torment people in the illusion realm, Zhou Yue was always the unlucky bastard getting beaten up by him.
"If it weren't for those rules I set, the illusion realm would decline... For you, that would actually do more harm than good."
Lu Ze reminded him.
"Heh... Whatever. Killing ants that are too weak is indeed a bit boring."
The Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao snorted coldly, then frowned again.
"However..."
"This ant is ridiculously weak..."
The Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao could travel through any match of Operation Immortal Abyss and take over control of the BOSS in it.
To make it easier for the NPCs played by cyber souls to follow the rules, Lu Ze thoughtfully placed a number above each player's head, visible only to NPCs, to represent the player's strength.
This number would constantly change according to the player's in-game behavior.
When the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao saw that familiar cultivator with thick eyebrows and big eyes, the number above his head was 81.
According to the rules, players with a score over eighty were considered top-tier players. The NPC's parameters would be maxed out, which was why the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao took him out instantly with three headshots.
The female cultivator downstairs who was secretly looting the weapon box had 43 above her head.
This was within the range of a normal player, so the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao went easy on her, intentionally firing the spirit bullets at the weapon box.
Otherwise, the tiny bit of scalp she had exposed would have been enough for him to secure an instant kill.
But right at this moment, the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao was facing a gentle-looking, tall cultivator whose number above his head was quite intriguing:
5.
It was important to note that among the four player groups classified by Lu Ze, the lowest tier was Under 30.
This guy was a full twenty-five points lower than the absolute lowest tier...
When the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao first saw him, he was taken aback. Then, he pretended not to see him and intentionally exposed a flaw.
But he never expected that when this guy ambushed him from behind, every single spirit bullet would miss!
The Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao felt that a separate tier should be created exclusively for the guy in front of him!
After the gun was fired, the NPC's alert rules were triggered. Even if the Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao wanted to pretend he couldn't see the other party, he could no longer do so.
"Tell me, what am I supposed to do in this situation!"
The Remnant Spirit of the Heavenly Dao glared angrily at Lu Ze with a dark expression.
"It is very simple. Just do what he does... shoot blanks."
Lu Ze spread his hands.
"And if I accidentally kill him..."
The remnant spirit of the Heavenly Dao felt incredibly frustrated.
Lu Ze replied with a grin, "Hard to say for you, but anyone else would be sent to guard Ascension Stronghold Number Four all by themselves."
The remnant spirit was left utterly speechless.
However, considering Lu Ze's guarantee that this rule would continuously bring newcomers into the illusion realm, he decided against breaking it.
"Forget it. From now on, if I run into anyone with a score under thirty, I will just voluntarily back out."
The remnant spirit's eyes flickered slightly as he severed his connection to Zhong Yi's illusion world.
Said was instantly swapped out.
...
"Careful, Old Zhong, he pulled out a gun!!"
"Run, Senior Brother Zhong!!"
The voices of Zhou Qiaoling and Zhou Yue exploded simultaneously in Zhong Yi's ears.
Evil Lord Yide had clearly discovered his presence. Picking up a massive machine gun, he turned and strode toward him.
"There are no cowards in our Lingxiao Sect!!"
Knowing he had no way out, Zhong Yi raised his Mingju-15 and faced the danger head-on.
"You have fallen into a trap!"
Evil Lord Yide roared, putting on a fake act.
Then, spirit bullets poured out like an avalanche and a torrential tsunami.
"Ahhhh!! Die!!!"
Zhong Yi roared passionately, his eyes shutting involuntarily as his finger squeezed the trigger fiercely.
Both sides fired a wild barrage of spirit bullets at each other.
The gunfire was incredibly intense.
"Die! Die... huh?"
It was not until his magazine was empty that Zhong Yi realized he was completely unharmed.
Looking at his opponent, it seemed he had not taken any damage either.
Behind both of them, the area was riddled with wildly scattered bullet holes.
"Damn it! I am out of bullets!"
Zhong Yi retreated while reloading.
Opposite him, Evil Lord Yide also started swaying on the spot as he reloaded, looking incredibly comical.
This bizarre scene left Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling completely dumbfounded.
"Sis, is this how Evil Lord Yide attacked you just now?"
"No..."
"Old Zhong, how about you just knife him..."
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.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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."
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.”
