Unfilial Disciple, Don't Push Your Luck

After several days of cultivation, Lu Ze had roughly grasped the effects of the “Heaven and Earth Unity Technique.”

In simple terms, it allowed him to devour other cultivation techniques to elevate the grade of his own.

Moreover, the characteristics of the devoured techniques would be fully inherited.

A few days ago, he demonstrated the endless mode clearance in front of the other disciples, earning quite a number of rewards.

Among them were many cultivation techniques.

It was as if they had been tailor-made for the “Heaven and Earth Unity Technique.”

“Truly worthy of being the compatible technique for the ‘Myriad Phenomena Profound Demon Immortal Body’...”

Lu Ze muttered thoughtfully while cultivating.

The “Heaven and Earth Unity Technique” didn’t simply devour techniques like feeding skill books in a game.

Instead, the cultivator had to truly master them.

Without the comprehension granted by the “Myriad Phenomena Profound Demon Immortal Body,” even the most talented cultivators might struggle to unleash its full potential.

On the flip side,

without the support of various mental formulas, even if one comprehended different cultivators’ methods through the “Myriad Phenomena Profound Demon Immortal Body,” they might not be able to use them effectively.

Especially certain special moves that required coordination with specific techniques to be executed.

Lu Ze hadn’t found any records in that ancient tome indicating that the great master had ever practiced the “Heaven and Earth Unity Technique.”

In other words, his own ceiling might be even higher than that legendary immortal.

“Maybe I’m thinking too far ahead.”

Lu Ze chuckled, shaking off the distracting thoughts in his mind.

After all, he was just a gamer at heart.

Thinking about becoming an immortal now seemed a bit premature.

……

The next day, at the Artifact Refining Pavilion.

“You ungrateful disciple! I just left for a few months, and you’ve already caused such a big mess!”

Nangong Yuan glared at Lu Ze, his expression fierce, yet a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

“Looks like Master already knows that I won,” Lu Ze said cheerfully.

“These old geezers are all so secretive, refusing to tell me the result...”

Nangong Yuan grumbled.

A few days ago, upon hearing about Lu Ze and Ding Mingcang’s affair, he had rushed back to the sect from beyond the Nine Realms overnight.

He had assumed Lu Ze was doomed to lose.

Returning to the sect, he headed straight for Reflection Valley.

Seeing Ding Mingcang sitting there with a dark face, reflecting by the cliff, made Nangong Yuan burst out laughing.

From now on, the Li Fire Peak could hold its head high in front of the Lin Immortal Peak.

“Master, don’t you still owe me something?”

Lu Ze cleared his throat twice, reminding him.

“Hmph, once I make a promise, I never go back on my word.”

Nangong Yuan clasped his hands behind his back, striking a lofty pose.

“Speak up, what kind of treasure do you want?”

“No need for treasures. I won’t be leaving the sect anytime soon anyway... What I want is a tool to use inside the illusion realm.”

“Oh? What sort of tool? Tell me about it.”

……

Lu Ze explained his idea.

Basic screenshots, recordings, and even deeper-level real-time shared visuals inside the Illusion Tower.

In modern terms, it was like “live streaming.”

Nangong Yuan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“Recording images isn’t too difficult... I just need to replicate the key technique of the ‘Lingering Image Sphere’.”

After a long pause, he finally murmured,

“As for real-time sharing so that cultivators not present can also watch... that’s tough!”

After a while, he managed to squeeze out a single word: “Difficult.”

“No worries, Master. I believe you can definitely make it happen.”

Lu Ze eagerly flattered him.

“Oh? You say it’s difficult? Then why don’t you tell me exactly what makes it so hard?”

Nangong Yuan suddenly took on a teacher’s tone and asked unexpectedly.

Lu Ze smiled faintly, and after a brief moment of thought, began to answer.

“If we’re talking about the technique of transmitting images alone, it’s not difficult. Elders separated by thousands of miles usually use this method to attend elder meetings.”

“The real challenge lies in the fact that the transmission isn’t one-to-one, but one-to-many, or even one-to-a-whole-lot!”

“So, a massive relay platform is needed—one that first receives the images from the transmitter; then the receivers can extract the images from this relay platform.”

Lu Ze’s explanation left Nangong Yuan quite satisfied.

It was even more thorough than he had imagined.

“Not bad. So what’s the specific difficulty?”

Nangong Yuan pressed on.

“The difficulty lies in this relay platform... it requires an enormous amount of spiritual energy.”

Lu Ze replied.

Nangong Yuan nodded, “Exactly. It would at least require spiritual energy of elder-level or higher to meet your demands... and even then, it’s limited to within the sect.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than he suddenly noticed Lu Ze was looking at him strangely.

“Master, you promised to help me make this device, right?”

“??? I’m not going to run around making relay platforms for you every day!”

“Well, maybe just occasionally?”

“...Ungrateful disciple, don’t push your luck.”

...

After much coaxing, Nangong Yuan finally agreed to first help Lu Ze make the key device capable of screenshots, recording, and live streaming.

As for the relay platform itself,

Lu Ze would handle that on his own.

...

Inside the Lingxiao Sect, the craze over “Spirit Plants vs. Zombies” had yet to fade.

In fact, there was not the slightest sign of it dying down.

The disciples remained deeply engrossed in chopping fruit and planting spirit plants, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Even those who had already cleared the adventure mode and normal survival mode continued to enthusiastically replay various levels.

A small group of disciples had even evolved into hardcore players.

Every day, they studied how to clear any level of the endless mode without breaking a sweat.

The endless mode clearance record, originally set at 20 levels by Zhong Yi, had gradually climbed to over a hundred, with hints that breaking a thousand levels was not far off...

The “Spirit Plants vs. Zombies” forum buzzed with activity.

Every day, disciples shared various endless mode clearing lineups, making Lu Ze feel like he had been transported back to the good old days of online forums.

It wouldn’t be long before this group of passionate core players, just like in his previous life, would no longer be satisfied with simply clearing endless mode.

They would add all sorts of restrictions.

For example, no gods, no cannons, or even no purple plants...

Back in his previous life, Lu Ze had seen all kinds of bizarre challenges, even ones that restricted lineup aesthetics.

“Forget it, no need to wait any longer. I’ll just take the initiative and make a move myself.”

Looking at the steadily decreasing magic value income, Lu Ze rubbed his chin and muttered.

As the disciples of the Lingxiao Sect grew more skilled, they rarely died while playing “Spirit Plants vs. Zombies.”

As a result, the accumulation speed of magic value plummeted.

The output from “Demonic Cult Escape” remained steady, though, since the battle mode was evergreen.

The problem was that cultivators of higher realms showed less interest in "Demonic Sect Escape" compared to "Spirit Plant Battle Against Zombies."

As a result, the amount of demonic energy Lu Ze received recently kept dwindling.

Seeing that his cultivation progress was stuck at the early Foundation Establishment stage, Lu Ze decided to accelerate things manually.

He directly implemented the lineup restrictions that players from his previous life had voluntarily organized into the game.

Besides the endless mode, there was now an advanced endless mode.

Only players who had cleared 500 stages in endless mode could participate.

Every week, the restriction conditions would rotate, adding new challenges to players' team formations.

In the advanced endless mode, a leaderboard feature was added weekly.

The top ten players on the leaderboard would receive special titles and honors.

These familiar settings from the previous life took effect immediately in this world.

Players who had grown numb to endless mode suddenly reignited their fighting spirit.

To fight for a spot in the top ten, core players were like they’d been injected with adrenaline, plunging once again into endless, merciless deaths...

...

Lu Ze, on the other hand, was far from idle.

Although the illusion realm challenge had yet to appear, Zhao Wendao’s advice to “first seek the Way” meant there was no need to rush. Preparations could be made during the martial arts tournament, and Zhao Wendao would also send people to help Lu Ze create the illusion realm.

But to be safe, Lu Ze decided to prepare some materials himself.

Such as monster designs, scene constructions, and so on.

He had no intention of accepting Zhao Wendao’s help.

What if someone else interfered, and the ownership of the illusion realm wasn’t his?

Would the demonic energy gained from cultivators dying inside the illusion realm count as his?

No one could say for sure.

Lu Ze decided it was best to take full responsibility himself.

“No matter what, the sect’s success or failure doesn’t matter. What matters is how to make them die as much as possible…”

Every day, Lu Ze pondered this question.

He even devised many plans for it.

Waiting for the challenge to appear, so he could put them into use at any time.