Even a second of hesitation is disrespectful to the god-tier card.

Zhong Yi's livestream.

"First, play an 【Upper Hook】! Apply Vulnerable!"

"Then a 【Dismantle】! Double damage with Vulnerable!"

"Follow up with a 【Bully】... Here you go!!"

Zhong Yi narrated enthusiastically as he dramatically flung his cards onto the field, his posture nearly identical to the gamblers Lu Ze remembered in his past life who got carried away playing poker.

Despite losing the first two rounds, Zhong Yi wasn't discouraged at all. If anything, he was getting more hooked the more he played. This time, luck was on his side: right from the start, he drew 【Dismantle】, which he had found very handy in the previous round, followed by 【Upper Hook】 and 【Bully】. He pulled off a smooth little combo with ease, making his single-target attacks exceptionally powerful.

The first-floor boss, the great demon 【End Deer】, fell to this three-move combo like chopping vegetables—taken down effortlessly.

"Hahaha! Fellow cultivators! Vulnerable is the way! Absolutely the way to go!"

This was the first time Zhong Yi had defeated a floor boss, and he was incredibly excited, boasting about the strategy he had discovered.

"Let's see what the great demon drops... Whoa!? Golden spiritual energy!?"

From the corpse of the End Deer rose two wisps of spiritual energy—one gray and one gold.

The gray one was the standard reward of spirit stones, a full 100 pieces.

This was Zhong Yi's first time seeing golden spiritual energy. Excitedly, he blew on his hand, as if hoping it would bring him better luck.

"Here we go! Golden legendary!"

Zhong Yi shouted and reached his hand toward the golden energy.

Just as he expected, defeating a boss always dropped a golden card.

【Add Fuel (1 Energy): Discard all cards in hand, then draw the same number of cards. (Exhaust)】

【Crimson Cloak (1 Energy): At the start of your turn, lose 1 HP and gain 8 Block.】

【Infernal Maniac (2 Energy): Whenever you draw a card with "Strike" in its name, automatically play that card on a random enemy.】

Zhong Yi had never seen so many golden cards before. His eyes went wide as he read each line word by word, terrified of missing some crucial detail.

"Discard hand cards? No, no—what would I even play if I discard them?? How is this thing golden?"

"Lose 1 HP per turn for 8 block... sounds decent? But I feel like I don't lack defense? Wait—once I take it, I'm stuck losing HP every turn... That's a bit of a loss, huh?"

"Infernal Man... Ah!?"

When his eyes landed on the third card, they suddenly flew wide open.

"Draw a Strike card and it automatically plays???"

"Holy crap! There's a card this awesome!??"

From all the draws he had seen so far, he had encountered countless cards with "Strike" in their names. Back then, Zhong Yi had even joked that Lu Ze must be just as bad at naming things as he was.

Who would have thought—there was actually a strategy hidden in the names!

Leaving everything else aside, the Iron Armor Sect cultivator's starting deck already had five "Strike" cards.

Even just having those five cards played automatically was more than worth the 2 Energy cost!

Zhong Yi could already picture it: after playing 【Infernal Maniac】, every time he drew a card, it would automatically be played, letting him get five or six free attacks per turn. What a satisfying scenario!

"A god-tier card!! Hesitating even a second would be an insult to this card!!!"

With that, Zhong Yi added 【Infernal Maniac】 to his deck.

At that moment, he felt a bit of regret—earlier, he had been too focused on grabbing "Vulnerable" cards and hadn't taken any "Strike"-related ones.

"I'll need to grab more cards with 'Strike' in their names from now on... This is gonna be insane, right?"

The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. Whistling happily, he pushed open the door to the second floor.

Just like the giant whale on the first floor, the second floor was also guarded by a special Ancient Being.

This time, the creature Zhong Yi encountered was a pink being with a single huge eyeball on its head and a body resembling a young dragon: 【Living Prism】.

The giant eyeball didn't look all that eerie. It blinked as it stared at Zhong Yi, studying him, and was even a bit cute.

Zhong Yi was starting to figure out the setup of the Kill Immortal Tower.

Each floor's starting point was a room with an Ancient Being.

Upon entering an Ancient Being's room, health was restored to full, and then the being offered three high-tier artifacts to choose from.

【Sandcastle: When picked up, randomly upgrade 6 cards.】

【Driftwood: All card rewards can be rerolled once.】

【Prism Touch: Upgrade the Golden Crow Bloodline to Rebirth Bloodline (Restore 12 HP upon battle's end).】

"What the?! Double healing? That's way too strong!"

Zhong Yi, who was obsessed with sustain, had initially been struggling between options one and two. But the moment he saw the third, he immediately chose the upgrade.

"Hahaha~ I'm about to become invincible~~~"

Watching his Golden Crow Bloodline upgrade to Rebirth Bloodline, Zhong Yi's confidence soared. Happily, he waved at the Living Prism.

"Thanks, big eyeball guy! Hahahaha!!"

Zhong Yi pushed open the door past the Ancient Being and pulled out the map for the second floor, starting to plan his route.

With a dozen or so rounds of battles under his belt, Zhong Yi now considered himself a seasoned tower climber.

By now, he fully understood the purpose of each room type.

First, Campfires.

Campfires had two functions: first, resting, which restored HP; second, upgrading cards.

Both functions were crucial, but unfortunately, you had to choose only one.

When Zhong Yi first stepped into a Campfire room, he wanted to go back half an hour to slap himself for walking past one earlier.

Second, Shops.

Shops sold cards, artifacts, and potions of varying rarities.

Potions aside, golden cards and rare artifacts were treasures that provided a massive boost!

The only downside was their steep prices—you had to pick carefully.

Combining everything he had learned, Zhong Yi revised his climbing route once again.

"First, the more Campfire rooms, the better... If there aren't enough Campfires, that route is a no-go!"

As he spoke, Zhong Yi struck out the path on the far right with a cross mark.

"Second, Elite rooms should be taken based on strength... On the first floor, you'd want to skip them. But since I'm well-developed now, I should be able to handle two."

With that, he made a few notations near some Elite rooms.

"Next... if everything else is equal, Mystery rooms are a priority! We're not Old Zhou, after all..."

Zhong Yi's pen strokes flew across the map as he dismissed another small path.

"Finally, I only need to enter the Shop once for a big shopping spree—money's tight, after all!"

Following this logic, Zhong Yi quickly settled on his route for the second floor.

This set of reasoning left the viewers stunned.

[Man, Lao Zhong sure thinks things through! Full of logic!]

[Blah blah blah, a whole bunch of rambling—in the end, he just picks the middle route, right?]

[Got it! From now on, only walk the middle road!]

[Lao Zhong, go play a new character already! The heir to the throne needs you!]

...

Many people who had just tuned in didn't fully understand, but they still found it entertaining.

Lu Ze had done a great job crafting the illusion scenes for the livestream—beautiful special effects and solid impact with every hit.

Moreover, 《Kill Immortal Tower》 was that type of roguelike card game that seemed hard at first glance, but was actually like 《Three Kingdoms Kill》—you'd get the hang of it after watching a round or two, even if you weren't familiar with monster mechanics or card attributes.

Zhong Yi was the type of live-streamer who performed best on pure talent, chatting and commentating as he played, much to the delight of his viewers.

As they watched longer, they even started offering unsolicited advice.

【Use Shockwave Slash to finish one off! Why are you taunting? Do you really need that bit of defense?】

【You’re not using the gold card? Not using the gold card? Not using the gold card?】

【Are you deaf? I told you to use Whirlwind Slash!】

【Why are you throwing an uppercut there? You’re losing too much HP—why not block instead?】

【You pig of a streamer, you can’t even aim your card correctly!!】

...

Hidden quietly in the shadows, Lu Ze, who was secretly watching this whole scene, couldn’t help but chuckle.

This scene reminded him vividly of the old men in his past life who used to hang around the park, watching others play chess.