You Monks Are a Bit Strange

As soon as Zhong Yi's infinite combo playstyle was released, it exploded in popularity.

Lu Ze happened to be present at the time. Having experienced the era of infinite combo dominance in his past life, he naturally understood the appeal of this kind of build.

He decisively promoted Zhong Yi's livestream to the top spot across all illusion realms.

Lu Ze knew very well that among players who loved roguelike games, some sought to challenge their limits, but a large portion simply wanted to have fun and feel powerful!

The higher the ceiling of a card deck, the more enjoyable it was for this latter group.

And infinite combo was undoubtedly a playstyle with an extremely high ceiling!

Unlike those low-probability playstyles that relied on grinding for random events, infinite combo was a universal build, so its success rate was not low!

The more accessible such a build, the better it was at attracting new players and retaining veteran ones!

Lu Ze still remembered the time when "Slay the Spire II" took the world by storm.

Back then, every tutorial video had to mention infinite combo builds.

Countless players reset run after run, just to get a taste of an infinite deck.

Now, under Lu Ze's guidance, countless cultivators witnessed a jaw-dropping moment in the livestream: Zhong Yi played 900 cards in a single turn to defeat an intangible great demon, a feat that shook heaven and earth.

Instantly, the livestream's chat went wild.

[Whoa!! You can play like this??]

[Awesome!!]

[Tutorial! Give us a tutorial!!]

[Only Iron Armor Sect cultivators? Can the Broken Automaton work?]

[Is it hard? Seems like Zhong had a rough time...]

[No kidding! Look who gave him that rough time!]

...

Seeing the entire chat astonished and completely blown away, Zhong Yi felt an incredible rush.

He didn't hoard his knowledge. In the livestream, he cupped his hands toward the endless barrage of comments and said:

"Haha! Thanks for the support, fellow cultivators. I'll post the infinite combo guide on the forum later... And it's not just for Iron Armor Sect cultivators!"

...

After the livestream ended, Zhong Yi kept his promise and posted the meticulously researched infinite combo guide on the forum.

Even Lu Ze had to admire Zhong Yi's talent for strategy games.

In just three days, he had seen through the essence of infinite combos and found a viable infinite deck for every occupation.

Although Zhong Yi hadn't tested a few builds in practice and only theorized they could work, Lu Ze could tell at a glance that the theories were sound.

Zhong Yi wasn't one to speak carelessly, but when he did, he made a huge impact.

He had prepared infinite combo deck builds for all five occupations.

Since the warrior's infinite combo was the simplest to execute, he provided two versions.

For each of the other occupations, he offered one deck.

The core of each deck was cycle management and energy recovery, combined with a finishing move that fit the build.

As soon as the guide was posted, players went wild.

Why? Because infinite combos looked incredibly satisfying and tempting!

Especially for the Storage Lord's infinite combo: thanks to the Starlight mechanic, it could even achieve "reversed energy flow," where energy increased the more it was used, never running out!

And unlike other illusion realms where theory alone wasn't enough and required skill, this build allowed players to aim for an infinite combo right away, as long as they drew the core cards early.

Zhong Yi even thoughtfully prepared a list of quality transition cards for the community, practically feeding the information to players.

Overnight, casual players who had already cleared low-difficulty content and had no interest in tackling higher difficulties flocked to the infinite combo path.

Originally, the number of active players and average playtime for "The Slaying Immortal Tower" had slowed in growth.

With the promotion of infinite combos, both metrics surged once again...

As infinite combos spread among the player base, the benefits became quite substantial.

On one hand, cultivators who only wanted to play infinite combos would simply restart if they didn't draw core cards at the beginning, causing their demonic cultivation value to skyrocket.

On the other hand, players' overall skill improved, and their playtime in the illusion realms increased significantly.

In Lu Ze's past life, infinite combos were popular for less than a month before receiving repeated nerfs in the beta version.

Not only did they become much harder to assemble, but their ceiling also dropped significantly.

Lu Ze firmly believed that in roguelike games, a high ceiling bringing immense satisfaction was irreplaceable. So in this life, he decided not to remove the infinite combo playstyle.

By now, as the cultivators' understanding of climbing the tower deepened, the forum's tone began to resemble what Lu Ze remembered from his past life.

[This illusion realm is amazing! My Dao partner just broke through to the Golden Core stage, so I bought her the "The Slaying Immortal Tower" collector's crystal... She'll love it!]

[Why does a form card cost 3 energy? They're all garbage.]

[I don't care about other forms, but when I see the Ghost Form, I have to call it 'Dad, you're not dead?']

[Name the Serpent Form!]

[Serpent Form? More like Sad Form!]

[It's not as good as Snakebite.]

[Time will prove Snakebite's worth!]

[Time will prove the Broken Automaton's worth.]

[Don't insult our fifth-strongest character.]

[What did the Broken Automaton ever do to you? Just let me get it started.]

[What did the Broken Automaton ever do to you? Just let me get it sta.]

[What did the Broken Automaton ever do to you? Just let me get it.]

...

Of course, besides the factors that kept players hooked in his past life, there was a very strange reason why the playtime for "The Slaying Immortal Tower" kept rising.

Lu Ze turned to the remnant Heavenly Dao spirit beside him.

"Why are you cultivators so... weird now?"

The remnant spirit looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

Lu Ze replied.

"It feels like they're practically begging to die?"

The remnant spirit thought about the cultivators it had recently killed. Each one had an ecstatic expression, as if they wanted to be killed by it multiple times.

"Uh... Maybe they have a kink?"

Lu Ze struggled to suppress his laughter.

This was the "strange factor" he had been thinking about.

Although the remnant spirit played the role of the Architect, Lu Ze hadn't given it a complete form this time.

Aside from its clothes, the spirit's glowing orb, golden runes, and classic black mist hands were all its true form on display.

It had appeared openly before the mortal world more than once.

So when players encountered an Architect using black mist hands, they knew it was the Heavenly Dao remnant spirit and got more excited than usual.

After all, for ordinary cultivators, this was a rare chance to interact with the Heavenly Dao.

Dying was no big deal—it was just an illusion, not reality.

And so, many cultivators regarded "encountering the Heavenly Dao remnant spirit" as an honor. When they ran into it, they'd take screenshots and post them on the forum to show off.

Over time, even cultivators who had no interest in card games joined in just to encounter the Heavenly Dao, further boosting playtime in the illusions.

...

...

Soon.

Eight days after the release of "The Slaying Immortal Tower," and fifteen days since the first challenge proposition was launched.

The "Climbing the Tower" challenge had finally reached its deadline.