How Can You Still Lose

"No... there are only four days left until the Heavenly Dao's illusion rewards are revealed! If this continues, we will definitely lose!"

Blood Crow said with a gloomy expression.

"How about... we increase our spirit stone rewards a bit more?"

Rakshasa suggested.

"Increase it again!?"

Blood Crow's voice tightened a notch.

The resources provided by the Illusion Alliance were limited. Any excess had to come out of their own pockets.

To obtain the Heavenly Dao's reward, the two had already risked their life savings, throwing out spirit stones as if they cost nothing.

But even for Void Refinement Realm cultivators, resources were not infinite.

"Increase it! Otherwise, wouldn't all our previous investments be for nothing?"

Rakshasa gritted his teeth, making up his mind.

"Then we must raise the difficulty to claim them... otherwise, our chances are slim! Let's make it so that cultivators have to stay in for a full twelve hours before they can claim the reward!"

Blood Crow proposed again, quickly gaining Rakshasa's approval.

"But... apart from the rewards, is there really something wrong with our illusion?"

"Could it be... that the drop rate for our red items is too low?"

A flash of inspiration hit Rakshasa, and he spoke up suddenly.

"That can't be... The deduction results from the Heaven and Earth Four Symbols showed that red items need to be rare to..."

Blood Crow frowned, feeling a bit hesitant.

Many details of the illusion they created were finalized based on the Heaven and Earth Four Symbols.

"But the drop rate of our red items is simply too low!"

Rakshasa shook his head.

"The most famous live stream for Immortal Abyss Operation, hosted by some Genius Cultivator... he can pick up a bunch of small reds just by doing three knife runs."

"His teammate is even more exaggerated. Called Smart Little Zhou, he can drop several big reds in a single night!"

"With the drop rate in Immortal Abyss Operation being so high, why should ours be so low?"

Hearing Rakshasa's instigation, Blood Crow couldn't help but hesitate.

The Heaven and Earth Four Symbols couldn't completely deduce all the secrets of Immortal Abyss Operation. Could it really be misinformation?

"Think about it. If it's so hard for players to get a red drop... who would still want to stay in the illusion?"

Rakshasa continued to persuade him.

"Is it really because of the drop rate? If we do this... shouldn't we inform the Alliance Leader?"

Blood Crow was finally somewhat tempted, but still hesitated.

"No need!"

Rakshasa narrowed his eyes and shook his head, then looked at Blood Crow.

"If we truly form a karmic bond with the Heavenly Dao, does Brother Blood Crow really want another person to share it with?"

Blood Crow was startled for a moment, then understood perfectly.

"Alright!"

"Then we'll raise the red drop rate... let the cultivators get red drops to their hearts' content!"

...

...

The forum Lu Ze established wasn't solely for discussing the illusions he created.

It was just like the forums or message boards from his previous life; whenever a topic became concentrated, it would automatically be divided into its own sub-forum.

Lu Ze didn't spend every day researching whether Venerable of the Eight Directions had come up with any new tricks. He only needed to take a peek at the forum to get a good grasp of the latest developments.

Strangely enough, after the fourth day, the players' complaints grew louder day by day.

[Holy crap! What kind of match is this? How come it's full of big reds!]

[I rummaged through a trash pile and found a Heaven-rank cultivation method hidden inside...]

[No wait, I killed a Qi Condensation mob and it dropped an Immortal Artifact???]

[See for yourselves, there are more small reds than small blues!!]

[Even so, they're giving out way too many spirit stones... I want to go to the Immortal Abyss Continent for a knife run!!]

[It can't be helped. We have to choose between the spirit stones in the illusion and the ones in reality!]

...

Looking at the wave of complaints in the forum, Lu Ze was instantly amused.

Increase the drop rate for Red-tier loot?

Which little genius came up with this idea?

Originally, seeing the map design of "Venerables of the Eight Directions" and their marketing strategy of giving away spirit stones online, Lu Ze thought the Illusion Alliance had an expert guiding them behind the scenes.

But as soon as the update to drastically increase the drop rate of Red items came out, Lu Ze couldn't hold back his laughter.

This is what they mean by saying a good reputation is given by your competitors...

The reason why getting loot excites players is because it is rare.

It is rare because the drop rate is low, not because the cultivation technique is incredibly overpowered or the immortal artifact has a deep lore background...

Once Red items flood the market, their collection value will plummet, and the entire loot-farming system will collapse.

Just this one change is enough to pronounce a death sentence on the game.

"Can't launch them at the same time?"

Reading the players' complaints on the forum, Lu Ze stroked his chin, getting some ideas.

The reason they couldn't open a second illusion realm lay with him.

The games he developed didn't have idle-farming mechanics.

Therefore, players rarely needed to open multiple illusion realms simultaneously.

If they did, it was basically like stream-sniping, involving somewhat crooked intentions.

Thus, Lu Ze had set a rule in the illusion realm's logic:

Once a match started, a player could not enter other illusion realms.

But right now...

Special circumstances require special treatment.

Lu Ze cheerfully removed this rule from his illusion realms, only making a distinction between the live-streaming realm and the gaming environment.

...

...

Luofeng Continent, Illusion Alliance Base.

"Brother Rakshasa, you are brilliant!!!"

Looking at the player data that had been skyrocketing for two consecutive days, Blood Crow was so excited he almost jumped up.

At this moment, the number of players in "Venerables of the Eight Directions" had already reached over 380,000!

According to the deductions of the Heaven and Earth Four Symbols, the player count for "Operation Xianyuan Continent" was merely a paltry 500,000.

Although it seemed they hadn't caught up yet, the two of them knew very well that these 380,000 cultivators were snatched right from those 500,000!

As everyone knew, Lu Ze's illusion realms repelled other realms during a match, so the active player base of "Venerables of the Eight Directions" had already surpassed that of "Operation Xianyuan Continent"!

"Hehe, this also relies on Brother Blood Crow's financial power..."

Rakshasa was equally delighted in his heart.

In terms of the number of cultivators, "Venerables of the Eight Directions" already held a massive advantage.

In the evaluation rules for the illusion realm rewards, the rankings were determined based on the situation in the final week.

Having exerted their strength continuously over the last four days, victory was already in sight.

It was just that the consumption of spirit stones was a bit high.

With 380,000 cultivators coming into "Venerables of the Eight Directions" to exploit the freebies every day, this figure was no small amount.

The wealth that Rakshasa and Blood Crow had accumulated over a century was almost completely hollowed out; if they had to sell anything else, they could only sell their natal magical treasures...

"Hehe, compared to the rewards from the Heavenly Dao, this is nothing."

Blood Crow shook his head and said magnanimously.

The top-tier rewards given by the remnant spirit of the Heavenly Dao were resources that couldn't be bought even with billions of spirit stones.

As long as they took the first place and took down "Operation Xianyuan Continent," any price he had to pay would be worth it!

"The decision to increase the drop rate of Red items was truly a stroke of genius! Look at the momentum of the cultivators now... tsk tsk!"

Blood Crow watched the still slowly rising player count, feeling increasingly comfortable in his heart.

"By the time they finish claiming the rewards, twelve hours will have passed... Even if they return to 'Operation Xianyuan Continent,' they won't be able to stay there for that long!"

Rakshasa was brimming with confidence.

In the evaluation criteria set by the remnant spirit of the Heavenly Dao for the illusory realm, the duration of the players' stay was just as important as the total number of players.

Out of the twelve shichen in a day, The Eight Directions Venerable would occupy half of their time.

With an advantage like that, how could they possibly lose?