Grab More Good Cards

With Zhong Yi deliberately choosing the Vulnerability-focused playstyle, his deck was quite strong.

Even on the second floor, the pressure wasn't much.

After every battle, Zhong Yi's most anticipated moment was the card selection phase.

Because the first-floor boss had dropped [Hell Rager], Zhong Yi frantically began searching for cards related to "Strike."

"Prepared Strike? Old friend, take it!"

"Double Strike... Hmm, a bit weak, but if it's free... take it!"

"No Strike... Another copy of Bully? A zero-cost card, why not grab it? Haha, lucky me!"

"What?! Perfect Strike, +2 damage for each Strike in your deck? Is there a more perfect card than this? Take it, take it!"

"Whoa! Another Perfect Strike! With cards this good, I'll take as many as I can!"

...

Every time Zhong Yi cleared a combat room, his face lit up like it was New Year's in the mortal realm.

"Haha, fellow cultivators, my deck already has 28 powerful cards! I'm terrifyingly strong now!"

Zhong Yi proudly displayed his deck, showing off without restraint.

The livestream chat immediately buzzed with discussion.

[Whoa! Wait, let me save this screen—I have to copy this deck!]

[So, are we playing the Vulnerability build or the Strike build?]

[No brainer! Play whichever cards you draw—just focus on never losing value with any card!]

[Lao Zhong's a genius!]

...

Basking in the flattery of the chat, Zhong Yi grew incredibly cocky, feeling like he could stomp on anyone.

"I feel invincible!"

With that, he walked into the next monster room.

"Damn! Four enemies!!"

The moment four little monsters leaped out, Zhong Yi broke out in a cold sweat.

The four wriggling eels from the last run had left him with quite some psychological trauma.

He instinctively glanced at the room attributes in the top-right corner.

"Oh... just small fries... okay, no big deal..."

Zhong Yi patted his chest, then looked at the four ugly cockroaches.

Facing new monsters, Zhong Yi's first instinct now was to check their special buffs.

[Tenacious: All damage and life reduction effects dealt to the Exoskeleton Bug cannot exceed 9 points.]

"..."

Zhong Yi took a deep breath.

A single hit couldn't deal more than 9 damage, and each cockroach had around 26 HP. That meant killing one cockroach required at least three cards.

And there were four such cockroaches.

Worst of all, Zhong Yi had been obsessed with grabbing Vulnerability and Strike cards—these cards focused on high single-target damage but had very few AoE or multi-hit attacks...

Looking at the damage values of the four cockroaches, Zhong Yi felt like the sky was falling.

"Seriously!! How are these small fries on the second floor tougher than the elites on the first floor!!!"

...

After losing 22 HP, Zhong Yi barely managed to take down the four cockroaches.

"Damn! I need to grab some AoE cards after all!"

With this hard lesson, Zhong Yi kept optimizing his card choices, immediately picking an AoE card from the new drops and stuffing it into his deck.

"Oh right, I also need to grab some defensive cards..."

"Our deck needs to be well-rounded!"

"The key is to be ready for anyone we face!"

...

After the cockroaches, he entered a random room, then a shop room, a campfire, and finally the big demon boss room.

"Hahaha! Jackpot! An encounter just gave me 63 spirit stones!"

Shaking a small pouch of spirit stones, Zhong Yi walked out of the random room overjoyed.

The next room was the shop.

So getting the spirit stones now meant he could buy more cards and artifacts!

Zhong Yi rushed into the shop without waiting.

Now holding a fortune of 413 spirit stones, he started browsing the shop's goods.

"I feel like I'm a bit short on defense..."

"No defensive cards... Wait! Iron Wave? Iron Wave is great! Deals damage and gives defense... Buy!"

"Wow! Another Perfect Strike! This perfect card is sold so cheap? What a waste... Grab it, buy!"

"What!? [Demonic Form], which I couldn't play last run, is here and on sale?!"

"Good heavens, buying a gold card for 74 spirit stones? Where can I find more deals like this?"

"Whoa, this card? A zero-qi AoE card with 8 damage? Awesome, awesome! Buy!"

"Delete cards?? These are cards I fought tooth and nail for. Only an idiot would delete them! And it costs 50 spirit stones... Add a bit more and I could buy a discounted gold card!"

...

Zhong Yi bought everything in sight, thinking every card was incredible.

"As long as it doesn't consume my cards, it's a good card!"

Zhong Yi admired his thick, stacked deck and left the shop feeling satisfied.

He showed off his heavy pile of cards to the livestream chat.

"See that, fellow cultivators? The deck has already broken past thirty cards, almost at 35!"

The chat erupted in awe and envy.

Zhong Yi arrived at the campfire.

This was the fixed bonfire before the final boss. After resting here, he would have to face the ultimate boss of this floor.

Zhong Yi's health was barely above 50 points, but he didn't plan to rest and recover.

"I've got so many cards, no Great Demon is going to mess with me... I'll just upgrade a card instead!"

Zhong Yi had full confidence in his combat strength.

In his eyes, his deck was now absolutely perfect!

The three-part vulnerability combo for single targets was a piece of cake!

If the boss had too much health, he had a [Hell Raider] card, running an auto-play system.

Every turn, it would automatically play a bunch of "Strike" cards—should the boss be scared or what?

If this boss was a swarm type or could summon minions, he'd just gotten two AoE damage cards—nothing to fear either!

Summing it all up in two words—

Invincible!

"Hahaha... thirty-four cards, there shouldn't be any opponent in the tower, right? Hahaha~~"

Zhong Yi upgraded his Perfect Strike, then laughing wildly, he walked into the boss room.

"[Great Demon: Prophet Fiend]? Doesn't look that threatening... pretty average."

"It wants me to make a choice? Lose health every turn, or draw fewer cards every turn??"

"Obviously, drawing fewer cards!"

"Dammit! Where's [Hell Raider]? Where's [Provoke]? Come on, show up!"

"Crap, no [Dismantle] to chain combos. Is Old Zhou watching my stream right now??"

"Tch... why is it asking me to choose again?? If I draw one less card, I'm screwed!"

"I'll pick health loss... ow, that hurts!!"

"[Hell Raider], [Hell Raider]... please, just come already!"

"Three [Perfect Strikes]?? Can you just get lost!!!"

"Damn it!! [Hell Raider] is really the very last card!?"

"Why does it keep making me choose?? Can you just give me a quick death???"

"How the hell was this Great Demon designed?? This is insane!!!"