Opportunity Knocks—Time to Go Big

“Careful — he’s got the Reaper.”

Seeing Dusk hoist the Reaper over his shoulder, Li Moran spoke up in warning.

Lu Ze was inside the central control bridge, surrounded by special glass reinforced with protective runes. It was a spot Dusk could see but not hit.

The moment he stepped out of the bridge, he risked instant death.

“Facing the Reaper head-on — even Junior Brother Lu has to tread carefully!”

Zhou Yue let out a sigh.

Though Lu Ze had repeatedly shattered his understanding of what was mechanically possible, the concept of the Reaper still loomed.

Under the Reaper, all are equal.

No matter how many combos or loadouts you have — get hit and you die.

Even someone as strong as Lu Ze couldn’t escape that rule.

“Actually… in a one-on-one situation, it’s not that scary.”

Lu Ze blinked, speaking with visible interest.

Ever since he’d revealed his true strength during the competition, he’d been harvesting a flood of rewards.

Whenever righteous cultivators felt sincere awe or shock at his actions, the system would randomly copy something from them as a reward — skills, divine abilities, insights into the Dao…

Back when he was making more and more illusions, everyone had grown used to tasting delicacies, gradually losing that initial sense of awe.

Their reactions had shifted to things like “So fun,” “So tormenting,” or “So brutal.”

For a long time, Lu Ze had rarely gained rewards from this source.

Now, fighting as a player showing off skills beyond conventional understanding, he’d drawn countless players’ amazement.

The only catch: the bigger the gap in cultivation, the more valuable the plunder.

His current surface strength was half-step to Nascent Soul. Rewards gained from cultivators’ respect couldn’t compare to before — they were almost like mosquito legs…

But there were too many people!

The tournament hosted by the Heavenly Dao’s remnant spirit had drawn massive attention among cultivators.

Hundreds of thousands of pairs of eyes were watching!

All those mosquito legs added up to elephant legs!

His two just-executed gun-handling kill sequences had already netted him over a century’s worth of Dao insights.

That meant — as soon as he got his hands on the Heavenly Dao Remnant’s “Dao Transformation Art,” he could use it immediately.

Opportunities to show off and collect rewards in front of hundreds of thousands of cultivators didn’t come often. Lu Ze didn’t plan to let this one slip.

His moves just now were already pushing the limit. He had to break through that limit to keep harvesting the cultivators’ awe.

So Lu Ze decided to go big.

With that thought, he strapped both the Giant Wave and the Reaper onto his back. Instead, he grabbed the Crimson Sky in his hand and walked forward unhurriedly.

…

Heavenly Dao Livestream.

Lu Ze’s move sent the barrage of comments into a frenzy.

[What is he doing?!]

[What’s this? Walking out without a gun?]

[What kind of strategy is this?]

[Don’t tell me he’s just trying to promote the Crimson Sky skin?]

[If he doesn’t die, this young master will give away a thousand Crimson Sky skins for free!]

[Old Demon Lu couldn’t be taking bribes to throw the match, could he…]

[Damn it, we’ve been set up by Lu! He must be in cahoots with the gambling ring in the illusion!!]

[Don’t throw! If he dies, I’m bankrupt!!!]

…

Lingxiao Sect Observation Section.

“Why did Senior Brother Lu suddenly holster his guns… and switch to a blade while walking forward??”

Zhong Yi stared at Lu Ze’s perspective, his heart leaping into his throat.

“Senior Brother Lu, you’d better think carefully — the opponent is holding the Reaper!”

“And they’re not playing fair; getting hit in the chest gives too big a disadvantage!”

“He’s about to leave the central bridge… once he loses the glass shield’s protection, there won’t even be cover…”

“That’s a sure death!!”

Zhong Yi grew more frantic with each word, wishing he could message Lu Ze right now.

Then he noticed Lu Ze swinging the Crimson Sky repeatedly, as if testing the feel of it.

Zhong Yi suddenly remembered something.

While researching the mechanics of “Operation Mistshroud Abyss,” he’d once run into a Stormblade who brought nothing into Fort Puba and just went for a knife run.

At the time, he fired a spirit bullet that happened to hit the opponent’s dagger — and then the bullet just vanished.

No hit reaction at all.

Zhong Yi had suspected then that daggers could block spirit bullets, much like the shield strapped behind a Deep Blue operative.

But replicating that scenario was far too difficult, and even if the mechanic was real, it seemed impossible to use in actual combat — so he hadn’t pursued it.

Now, for some reason, that memory surfaced.

An almost impossible thought flashed through his mind.

“No…”

“No way!?”

“Could Senior Brother Lu be planning to…!?”

…

Blue Harbor Platform, high shipping container.

“Seven…”

Dusk held his breath, counting silently in his head.

After ten numbers, his “Heavenly Eye” would activate, and the momentum would shift.

“Six…”

In his field of view, Lu Ze strolled casually toward the end of the bridge, about to step out from the glass shield’s protection into his attack range.

Strange, though —

Lu Ze wasn’t holding any weapon. Just a dagger in hand.

“Five…”

[Dusk] furrowed his brow, momentarily uncertain of what Lu Ze intended to do.

But no matter what, the fact that Lu Ze had chosen not to rely on his ghostly movement technique for a forceful assault was good news for someone solely focused on buying time.

"Four..."

"Chief! He’s too arrogant, actually stepping out with just a knife in hand?"

[Setting Sun] immediately grew irate, whispering into [Dusk]’s ear.

"Exactly! In my opinion, there’s no need to wait for the ninth spirit lamp... just teach him a lesson with [Reaper]!"

[Dark God] chimed in, egging him on.

"Three..."

One of Lu Ze’s feet had already stepped beyond the glass shield, entering [Dusk]’s attack range.

[Dusk]’s eyes locked onto Lu Ze, but his finger on the trigger remained unmoved.

He was afraid.

Afraid that Lu Ze would once again pull off some unexpected move, forcing him to waste the crucial shot.

And then, the one who died might be him.

"Two..."

Lu Ze fully exited the protective range of the glass shield, his entire body now completely exposed in the open air, with no retreat possible.

There wasn’t even any cover.

"You...!"

A feeling of being belittled instantly ignited [Dusk]’s fury.

In this situation, there was no need for any "Heavenly Eye"...

Even without the auto-aim assistance of the Ten Directions Spirit Descending Array, there was simply no way he could miss!

"One..."

[Dusk] pulled the trigger.

"BANG——!"

A massive spirit bullet, wreathed in red flames, shot straight toward Lu Ze’s chest!