"Me?"
Lu Ze pointed at himself, then smiled and shook his head.
"Of course I'm not participating."
Whenever the Heavenly Dao Remnant Spirit had too much fun, it would organize a large-scale tournament just for kicks.
Previously, after playing the role of the Demon King Teemo in the nightmare bot mode of Immortal and Demon Clash, it had hosted a competition.
Lu Ze figured that this time, Said and the old lady had also given it a thrilling experience.
Not only did Lu Ze know about this tournament, but he was even the one who helped name it the "Apex Match."
He already knew the tournament rewards in advance; the highest-tier prize was merely the second-rate prize pool of the illusion realm.
These rewards might be considered treasures in the eyes of ordinary cultivators, but to Lu Ze, they were rather ordinary.
"Why?"
A hint of disappointment flashed through Li Moran's eyes.
Operation Immortal Abyss didn't have custom rooms, so the tournament was a rare opportunity to spar with Lu Ze.
"I have no interest in smurfing."
Lu Ze stretched, casually making up an excuse.
Given the current skill level of the players, his entry would simply be an absolute dimensional strike.
First, there was no system mission, and second, there were no rewards that caught his eye. He couldn't be bothered to participate.
Hearing this answer, Li Moran looked quite dissatisfied.
"Then come to Sword Inquiry Peak later..."
"For what?"
"I have an interest in smurfing."
Li Moran snorted coldly.
Lu Ze: "..."
...
...
Illusion Realm, Main Server World.
"...That's roughly how the tournament format will be."
Lu Ze explained his entire event planning proposal to the Heavenly Dao Remnant Spirit.
In his previous life, the officials had hosted quite a few Delta Force tournaments, but the viewership was less than ideal.
Competitively speaking, the multi-elemental flaws of the "loot, shoot, extract" genre quickly became apparent.
If it focused purely on looting, the competitive match would lack entertainment value.
If it focused purely on shooting, the unique features of the game would be lost.
Eventually, it would always devolve into a group of top-tier gunners camping in one spot, crouch-walking the whole time and holding angles against each other, making for a terrible viewing experience.
What actually made the audience cheer in excitement were the various Solo vs Trios Smurfing Challenge Cups.
What Lu Ze handed over to the Heavenly Dao Remnant Spirit was an improved proposal based on various tournaments from his past life.
In short, it encouraged fighting a bit more, ensuring that players wouldn't just be holding angles against each other the entire time.
"Two stages? Hmm... interesting."
The Heavenly Dao Remnant Spirit nodded, then looked at Lu Ze.
"Are you not participating?"
"Why would I participate? I'm the one taking the rewards every time; others would just get jealous."
Lu Ze waved his hand with an indifferent expression.
The Heavenly Dao Remnant Spirit turned around with its hands behind its back: "Don't regret it then."
"?"
Lu Ze looked baffled.
He checked the rewards once more and confirmed that there was nothing he needed in the prize pool.
"I, Lu Ze, will absolutely not regret it!"
...
...
With Lu Ze's tournament proposal, the Heavenly Dao's competition soon officially began.
Every night, the Heavenly Dao livestream would quickly shoot up to the top of the charts; in terms of popularity, even Zhong Yi couldn't hope to catch up.
Lu Ze had a wealth of experience when it came to competing and spectating.
The spectator perspective spells he provided for the livestream were perfectly executed.
Viewers could choose their own perspectives.
They could either use a god's-eye view to overlook the entire situation or attach themselves to the players to watch from their first-person perspective.
For brilliant moments of combat, instant replays were even provided.
The first stage of the competition was created by Lu Ze based on the Streamer Apex Matches he enjoyed in his previous life.
Among officially hosted tournaments, this was one of the few modes that audiences actually liked.
Simply put, over a period of fifteen days, the maps would rotate.
The system would distribute a guaranteed amount of spirit stones every day for players to gear up.
During this stage, players could not form teams and could only queue with randoms.
Players would be selected to enter the second stage based on the ranking of the supplies they successfully extracted with.
The highlight of this mode was, firstly, being able to see various experts teaming up or clashing against each other, and secondly, it placed a greater emphasis on a player's individual skill, since teammates were randomized in every match.
The randomness of the first stage was very high, naturally leading to excellent entertainment value.
Every night at the hour of You, the livestream would immediately be filled with all sorts of bullet comments.
[Is it the Ascension Base again today?]
[I wonder if anyone is bridge blocking.]
[Everyone here is a well-known disciple of an orthodox sect. Who would go bridge blocking on an occasion like this?]
[True, but it seems like everyone who blocks the bridge ends up winning.]
[It's all the anonymous rogue cultivators doing the blocking. They are in the minority, after all.]
[Is anyone opening a betting pool today? Who will take first place?]
[It's definitely True Disciple Li of the Lingxiao Sect! Her momentum is too fierce. I haven't seen anyone beat her in a one-on-one yet.]
[True Disciple Zhou of the Lingxiao Sect isn't bad either, right? Those two haven't run into each other yet.]
[True Disciple Zhou's skill isn't bad, but he's just too unlucky! If you ask me, even qualifying will be difficult...]
[A few ruthless characters we've never seen before have emerged among the rogue cultivators... the rankings are incredibly tight.]
[The Dam is still the best to watch! Gods among men keep popping up!]
...
Among the countless spectators, Lu Ze was one of them.
However, he wasn't in the Heavenly Dao livestream; instead, he was hanging out in Zhong Yi's livestream.
For no other reason than it was hilarious to watch him feed.
The fun of the first stage lay in the fact that players with all sorts of unorthodox playstyles could participate.
Not only could highly skilled experts join, but one might also encounter rats who loved knife running, or Uluru who loved bridge blocking.
As the grandmaster of knife running, Zhong Yi naturally participated as well.
He didn't care about his ranking, nor did he hope for any rewards; he purely enjoyed the atmosphere of the competition.
"Oh crap! Why did I match with teammates!?"
Zhong Yi slapped his forehead as he looked at the teammates he had been matched with.
Usually, he would run solo with a knife and just drop his bag, but for his first match today, he forgot to turn off the auto-fill option.
"Fellow Daoists, I am a knife runner..."
"￥%&&...@#￥@!"
As soon as Zhong Yi spoke, he was greeted with a barrage of friendly curses, clearly from gamblers who were about to run out of the spirit stones distributed today.
During the first stage of the tournament, all players' avatars in the illusion realm were replaced with the game characters themselves.
Therefore, many competitors, failing to notice his ID "Genius Cultivator" and only seeing the Wasp Medic's dopey face, couldn't help but spew profanities.
"Fellow Daoists, don't be hasty..."
Zhong Yi had always been very polite. He patiently explained that he had accidentally queued with teammates, but he would absolutely do his best to cooperate with the team.
Of course, the people on the other side suddenly went silent mid-sentence.
Lu Ze guessed that they had been muted.
In an environment swarming with aggressive rush teams, knife running was indeed a reasonable playstyle.
Although Zhong Yi lacked mechanical skill, he was highly proficient at knife running.
After ten days of playing, his net worth actually ranked in the middle of the pack among the competitors.
If he got a bit luckier, he might actually qualify.
...
Zhong Yi was chased by various rat-catching squads until he was sweating profusely, while Lu Ze watched with great relish.
"Haha, I finally extracted!!"
Zhong Yi hugged a Golden Gazelle, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
After sprinting the whole way, he finally managed a million-value extraction.
The moment he returned to the Special Ops Department, a notification appeared in the illusion realm:
[The total assets of the competitors have reached 2 billion. Competition rewards have been fully upgraded!]
Seeing this from the livestream, Lu Ze's mouth twitched.
"Heavenly Dao Remnant Spirit, you bastard..."
His fists had just clenched.
When the sound of a system mission rang in his ears:
[An ancient relic has descended upon the Demonic Secret Realm! Countless Righteous cultivators are flocking to fight for it!]
[The Host recently seized the karmic providence of the Righteous Path to achieve Sainthood, causing the reputation of the Demonic Path to suffer. Now is the perfect opportunity to restore the prestige of the Demonic Path!]
[System Quest:]
[Slaughter the Righteous cultivators and seize the ancient relic.]
[Quest Requirement 1: Slay 100 Righteous cultivators]
[Quest Requirement 2: Methods must align with Demonic Path standards, completely shattering the Righteous Path's perception of what it means to be a "Saint"]
[Quest Reward: Random high-tier alchemical pill]
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."
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
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.
