The First Sage of Lu

[Task completed!]

[Host has successfully plundered the karmic luck of the righteous path, half-step to becoming a Saint!]

[Reward obtained: Ten Thousand Souls Banner has been upgraded!]

Lu Ze felt that something was a bit off.

He clearly hadn't done anything. He had just walked out the door to get some fresh air, and the task was completed.

And he had inexplicably gained the karmic luck of a Saint.

After Zhong Yi's explanation, in everyone's eyes, his actions were entirely worthy of the manifestation of the Saint's phenomenon.

Providing employment opportunities for bottom-tier cultivators, and not charging a single cent for it, only deducting a tiny bit of spirit stones within the illusion...

Not seeking a single bit of profit for himself.

Saintly.

Too damn saintly!

But only Lu Ze knew that he actually did it to improve player retention and acquire more Demonic Path points...

Although he wasn't a true Saint yet, that wisp of Black and Yellow Qi had already granted him the favor of the Heavenly Dao. His karmic luck was no longer comparable to that of ordinary people.

In the future, if anyone suspected him of being in the Demonic Path, once he flashed this quasi-Saint identity, who wouldn't obediently shut their mouths?

Perfect!

Lu Ze nodded in satisfaction.

"Let me see what's going on with the upgraded Ten Thousand Souls Banner..."

...

After studying it for a while, Lu Ze figured out the changes in the [Ten Thousand Souls Banner].

Perhaps because he always relied on illusions to complete the system's tasks, the rewards he received were mostly a bit "crooked."

Most of the cultivation methods and skills were related to divine sense or illusions.

This [Ten Thousand Souls Banner] was also an anomaly.

Lu Ze was used to calling it the [Cyber Ten Thousand Souls Banner].

It didn't actually absorb the original soul, but rather used soul fragments to generate the players' "cyber souls" inside.

That is, replicas of their souls.

Besides being able to simulate player behavior in the illusion, their actual strength wasn't even one percent of the original.

However, after being upgraded by the system, Lu Ze found that the strength of the cyber souls had increased significantly.

They possessed about one-tenth of the original's strength.

This improvement was nothing short of exaggerated.

Because Lu Ze now controlled the cyber souls of more than half the cultivators in the cultivation world.

If it really came down to a life-and-death struggle, cultivators below the Tribulation Transcendence realm might not actually be able to take him down.

Of course,

Lu Ze didn't place much importance on these functions.

After all, his main profession was making games. He wasn't interested in fighting and killing, treating it only as a life-saving trump card.

Fortunately, the [Cyber Ten Thousand Souls Banner]'s improvement in the aspect of illusions was equally powerful.

On one hand, the strength of the cyber souls increased.

On the other hand, the efficiency of spawning intelligent NPCs had greatly improved.

Generating an NPC like Su Di'er from "This Demonic Cultivator is Not Too Cold" would now be much easier.

...

In short, Lu Ze did absolutely nothing, yet he freeloaded a "quasi-Saint" karmic luck and an upgraded Cyber Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

It felt incredibly awesome.

"Hehe, I wonder how the players view me now?"

Lu Ze suddenly became cheerful.

The players always affectionately called him [Old Demon Lu], although it was true that he often did things devoid of human decency.

But now, after the Saint phenomenon manifested, what would they call him?

Lu Ze cheerfully entered the illusion and opened the forum.

Due to the existence of the illusion, news spread incredibly fast in the cultivation world.

The news of Lu Ze's Saint phenomenon manifesting and him taking a half-step into the Saint path was currently being hotly discussed by cultivators in the forum.

[What the hell?? Old Demon Lu became a Saint??]

[Crap, we really have to call him Saint Lu from now on...]

[Not necessarily, it's just a possibility that he'll become a Saint.]

[Then what should we call him from now on?]

[I don't care! Unless he truly becomes a Saint, I'm going to call him Old Demon Lu for the rest of my life!!]

[Old Demon Lu is currently in the early stage of a Saint... why don't we call him Early Saint Lu, how about that?]

[Not bad, we'll call him Early Saint Lu from now on!]

[Early Saint Lu! Early Saint Lu!]

...

Lu Ze's face instantly turned green.

What the hell Early Saint Lu...

Your whole family is Early Saint Lu!!!

Don't you know how to say quasi-Saint? Don't you know how to say half-Saint?

If all else fails, a manifesting Saint phenomenon should at least be Saint Early...

Bah, Saint Early doesn't work either.

"Forget it. I am a Saint now, I shouldn't stoop to the level of netizens."

Lu Ze snorted softly and logged out of the illusion.

He still had to head to the Lingxiao Hall later. The Sect Master was specially hosting a banquet for guests from all directions to celebrate for him.

After taking just a few steps, the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt.

"No! Even a Saint must have clear thoughts!!"

With that thought, he immediately handed a three-day mute ban to the cultivator who took the lead in calling him Early Saint Lu.

The reason was abusing puns.

...

...

Luofeng Continent, Illusion Alliance Base.

Some are happy while others are sad; at least the expressions of everyone in the Illusion Alliance Base were sorrowful.

"Inner Demon" had borrowed the soul of the Heavenly Spirit Body to spawn an illusion production plan.

The four Illusion Alliance elders joined forces and rushed the work for half a month before finally completing the tomb-raiding mode.

But just as they were about to celebrate, they received the news of Lu Ze half-stepping into sainthood.

At this moment, the four elders were like frostbitten eggplants, their faces full of gloom.

"Now that Lu Ze has entered the Saint path, his karmic luck is flourishing... Should we stop doing these useless things?"

Blood Crow sighed mournfully, feeling a deep pain as if all his hard work had gone down the drain.

"Elders, there is no need to be so pessimistic."

"Inner Demon's" voice was deep, devoid of discernible emotion.

"Lu Ze's karmic luck all comes from the illusions... What we are doing is not useless."

"What's more, right now he merely has the Saint phenomenon manifesting... He might not truly become a Saint."

"Since we already know that the opportunity for Lu Ze to become a Saint is that [Knife Running] business... then we can naturally plunder this karmic luck."

Hearing Inner Demon's words, the four elders finally perked up and began to discuss.

"Plunder his karmic luck? Does the Alliance Leader mean we should do the same thing as Lu Ze?"

"This so-called [Knife Running] is nothing more than creating demand within the illusion... We can do this too!"

"Heh, then let's do it! We'll take away a share of his merit power. We absolutely cannot let the Lingxiao Sect dominate alone!"

...

"Everyone is right..."

"Since we want to siphon off his merit power, the most important thing right now is to snatch his karmic luck in the Dao of Illusions."

"Inner Demon" nodded, looking up into the void, his figure becoming a bit more profound.

"The karmic luck of illusions is controlled by that Heavenly Dao..."

"Therefore."

"In one week, the ranking of 'Venerables of the Eight Directions' must surpass 'Operation Xianyuan Continent'!"