Ten Directions Spirit Descending Grand Formation

Five days into the second phase.

With Zhou Yue and Li Moran leading the charge, the Lingxiao Sect firmly held first place and advanced early.

“Junior Brother Lu, I didn’t realize you were this formidable?”

Zhou Yue said with deep admiration after receiving various pointers from Lu Ze.

Throughout these days of battle, Lu Ze had never once made a move.

Fighting had been handled solely by Zhou Yue and Li Moran, while Lu Ze only focused on eating.

Occasionally, he would start by blowing himself up, then watch their perspectives to offer lessons—each one greatly benefited Zhou Yue.

Zhou Yue had guessed before that Lu Ze was skilled, but he hadn’t expected him to be this skilled.

The main reason for the surprise was the deep, rigid impression created by those first five days of the “beginner” playstyle.

“Given how strong you are, why were you unwilling to put in real effort those days?”

Zhou Yue asked, utterly puzzled.

“I was very serious about trimming toenails!”

Lu Ze explained earnestly.

He hadn’t meant to act that way intentionally.

But he couldn’t help it—it was all ordered by the system!

“…You’re something else!”

Zhou Yue gave a helpless thumbs-up, then asked in confusion.

“Hey, what’s strange is… when you submitted our team name back then, didn’t Elder Zhao stop you from including the Lingxiao Sect’s name?”

Upon hearing this, Li Moran, who had been sipping tea nearby, nearly spat it out.

The other teams’ names all related to their respective sects or factions.

Only the three of them had the name “Trim Your Jade Feet,” which had absolutely nothing to do with the Lingxiao Sect.

At the time, Zhao Wendao had let out a sigh of relief when he heard their team name.

The elders had clearly been worried that Lu Ze, bearing the Lingxiao Sect’s banner, might suddenly have a mental lapse and take Li Moran and Zhou Yue into unscrupulous behavior.

After all, that scene of being mixed in with twelve people and fighting from the back was far too demonic…

“So you’ve been planning not to make a move all along?”

Li Moran looked at Lu Ze.

“Double-protector down, that’s just a single explosion… isn’t that the rule?”

Lu Ze replied with a smile.

“Fair point… Among these people, none can get past me and Junior Sister Li.”

Zhou Yue nodded, feeling a slight pang of regret.

He suddenly understood why Li Moran had initially wanted to compete against Lu Ze rather than team up with him.

Li Moran remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly:

“In the last three days, that team ‘Twilight of the Epoch’… felt a bit off.”

“Off how?”

Lu Ze asked curiously.

Most of the time, he just stood around playing “Sanguosha” idle, waiting to finally start, with no real knowledge of the opponents’ specific situations.

“Their strength… fluctuating and unstable?”

Li Moran frowned slightly.

“There were certain moments when they even surpassed me… all my moves were predicted.”

“Yeah, I kind of felt that too… Maybe it was a lucky streak?”

Zhou Yue nodded, some memory slowly surfacing, but he didn’t dwell on it.

“Perhaps.”

Li Moran closed her eyes and stopped dwelling on it.

Though it was a pity she couldn’t duel Lu Ze in the competition,

having him around always brought peace of mind.

…

The seventh day of the second phase.

“Twilight of the Epoch” advanced in second place.

Luofeng Plain, Illusion Alliance base.

“Alliance Leader, I’ve made it… I’ve made it!”

Huang Yuwen opened his eyes from the Ten Directions Demon Subduing Array, shouting excitedly despite the bloodshot veins in his eyes.

The figure of the Heart Demon instantly appeared before him.

The Heart Demon’s gaze quickly swept across the formation.

Of the ten spiritual lamps around the formation, eight were lit.

The ninth lamp flickered on and off for a good while, but in the end, it went out.

“Oh? You’ve already summoned the eighth spirit and are brushing against the threshold of the ninth?”

The Heart Demon’s voice carried a rare hint of astonishment, but it quickly calmed as he placed his hand on Huang Yuwen’s shoulder.

“You’ve got talent.”

With that, a surge of spiritual energy flowed into Huang Yuwen’s body.

In an instant, Huang Yuwen’s aura swelled dramatically.

“I... I broke through? I broke through!”

Huang Yuwen was overwhelmed with excitement, a sudden urge to sacrifice everything for the Phantom Alliance burning in his chest.

The Heart Demon gazed at the Ten Direction Spirit-Descent Array, lost in thought.

Cheating within the illusion was no simple task.

Back when Swordsmen and Demons Clash was at its peak, the demonic sects had, in their quest for rewards, kidnapped several renowned independent cultivator players and extracted their souls for their own use.

The result? They were besieged and their lairs destroyed by righteous cultivators acting in unison.

During the heyday of Eternal Strife, when the Phantom Alliance was just getting started,

Elder Jiang Lingfeng of the Limitless Sword Sect had used spells to block the heavens’ spiritual energy, cutting off the control of the remnant Heavenly Dao. He then injected his own cultivation into the game, crushing a horde of players.

Naturally, the consequences were far worse.

Violating the illusion’s rules was a blatant act of defiance against the Heavenly Dao’s remnant will.

That venerable elder, Jiang Lingfeng, was struck down by two full cultivation realms and had his foundation damaged, rendering him incapable of further progress for life.

After studying two major cheating incidents, the Heart Demon had drawn his conclusions.

To cheat within the illusion, one must first avoid breaking its rules.

Someone like Jiang Lingfeng, who in Eternal Strife activated speed boosts, invincibility, and zero-cooldown abilities…

Even a fool would know he was cheating!

Stirring up trouble in the territory of the Heavenly Dao’s remnant will meant either death or at least crippling injury.

Thus, the illusion’s rules must not be interfered with.

Even if interference was necessary, it had to be subtle—at least on the surface, nothing suspicious should appear.

The demonic sects’ method was effective enough.

But their methods were unacceptable to the righteous factions and far too easy to expose.

Making enemies of the entire righteous path simply wasn’t worth it.

Besides, their approach was crude.

Using other people’s souls was essentially letting someone else play the game for them.

That was meaningless.

After all, among the players of Spirit Firmament Sect, Li Moran and Zhou Yue were the only two who could simultaneously defeat both—and in this world, no one else could match them.

The Heart Demon’s conclusion was this:

Strengthen the cultivators externally,

And interfere with the illusion’s rules in the most covert way possible, ensuring no one could detect it on the surface.

Combining both approaches, he refined his Ten Direction Spirit-Descent Array.

The first five spirit lamps enhanced the cultivator’s five senses while their cultivation was sealed.

Even with all five lamps lit, one could at most tie with Zhou Yue—but still struggle to get past Li Moran.

But the next five lamps were capable of subtly distorting the illusion’s rules, granting secret advantages to the cultivator.

When the sixth lamp lit, one could sense gazes from behind.

In other words, Lu Ze’s treacherous ambush tactics would no longer be a threat.

When the seventh lamp lit, the cultivator could see the location of all enemies on the full map, even their names.

“The eighth and ninth lamps… what effects do they have?” the Heart Demon asked calmly.

“After activating the eighth lamp, I felt like my marksmanship became unmatched! Even if I aimed into thin air, the gun barrel would automatically snap onto the target…”

“As for the ninth lamp…”

“I vaguely felt I could see where my opponent would move in the future?”

Huang Yuwen answered honestly, then puffed out his chest with pride.

"But rest assured, Alliance Leader. Once the seventh and eighth spiritual lamps are lit, even Li Moran will be no match for me!"

"Let us hope so."

The Heart Demon nodded.

Huang Yuwen quickly added, "By the way, Alliance Leader... if the tenth spiritual lamp were to be lit, what would happen?"

The Heart Demon narrowed his eyes behind his mask, peering at the rapidly collapsing spiritual veins inside Huang Yuwen's body.

"I do not know... but you won't need it."

He had not transferred his power earlier to reward Huang Yuwen.

Rather, it was to prevent Huang Yuwen from sensing the abnormality within himself. On one hand, he planted a mark inside him; on the other, he strengthened Huang Yuwen's physical body to withstand the erosion of the Ten Directions Spirit-Subduing Array.

In the second stage, there were 201 participants, which should have formed 67 teams.

In the end, fewer than 60 teams entered the competition.

No one knew,

That the Phantom Alliance had secretly recruited thirty top-tier protectors.

Ultimately, only three people survived past the fifth spiritual lamp.