Eighty percent depends on ability, twenty percent on luck

"Junior Brother Lu, that expression... does that mean you've got a way?"

Seeing Lu Ze's expression change repeatedly, Zhong Yi immediately asked with delight.

"Yeah, sort of."

Lu Ze nodded.

"About eighty percent sure I can make her cry."

"What about the remaining twenty percent..."

Mindful of the Mystic Alliance's underhanded tactics, Zhong Yi couldn't help but worry.

Lu Ze spread his hands. "Leave it to fate."

Zhong Yi sighed. "So even Junior Brother Lu has moments of helplessness like this..."

"No, I mean, if she won't cry, I'll ask the Wisp of Heavenly Law to beat her until she does, inside the illusion."

Lu Ze corrected him matter-of-factly.

"...So that's the 'fate' you meant."

Zhong Yi's mouth twitched violently.

"Still, that guy isn't easy to ask for help... we'll do our best."

Lu Ze rubbed his chin, already beginning to think of a reason to use the Wisp of Heavenly Law as his trump card.

"What about you, Senior Brother Zhong? Any leads?"

"Heh, when it comes to romance, that's my specialty!"

Zhong Yi patted his chest, brimming with confidence.

"Ah???"

Lu Ze squinted, looking utterly unconvinced.

He'd sooner believe in a spell that made a rooster lay an egg than in Zhong Yi somehow becoming lovesick.

With his plan set, Lu Ze chatted with Zhong Yi for a while before they both headed to the platform above the lakeside and entered their respective Illusion Towers.

"First, I need to adapt..."

Lu Ze murmured to himself, half-closing his eyes.

The story of To the Moon was set in a tech-advanced alternate world.

After some thought, Lu Ze realized that many of the original settings could actually be adapted more logically.

Take the high-tech machine that could alter memories, for instance.

Or the beta-blockers that could block memories and even change personalities.

In a cultivation world, using spells to explain them wouldn't feel out of place at all.

Having settled on the adaptation approach, Lu Ze recalled the plot and scenes of To the Moon over and over in his mind.

The original was a pixel-art indie game whose outstanding script earned it the Best Story award that year—proof enough of its brilliance.

If technical capability allowed, Lu Ze had no intention of using pixel art for this story.

After refining the script, he began crafting the illusion bit by bit...

...

...

On the fifth day after the third challenge was announced.

On the platform above the Idle Cloud Lake, only a few Illusion Towers were still running.

Many cultivators had quit after just one day.

Narrative illusions weren't something you could solve just by mastering techniques; a solid foundation in writing was far more important.

Clearly, not everyone had that skill.

Especially when the goal was to move an unmoved elder of the Emotionless Sect.

It wasn't until the third day that cultivators began submitting their illusions one after another.

Of course, they were invariably discarded by Guo Yunfeng with a cold glare.

Not a single tear shed—she hadn't even blinked.

...

By the embankment of Idle Cloud Lake, in the temporary open-sided pavilion Nangong Yuan had set up.

"Why isn't that rebellious disciple of mine done yet?"

Nangong Yuan paced back and forth anxiously, his eyes fixed on the Illusion Tower numbered 749 on the platform.

"Elder Nangong, don't worry. Junior Brother Lu must be polishing his illusion! With his skills, surely—uh, Master, why are you covering my mouth??"

Zhong Yi looked bewildered, completely oblivious to Nangong Yuan's murderous glare.

"You brat... curse yourself if you like, but don't curse your Junior Brother Lu!"

Zhao Wendao shot him a glare and scolded.

"Uh, but I still don't get why Elder Guo hated my illusion so much..."

Zhong Yi's expression turned even more innocent.

Just then, the door to Illusion Tower 749 suddenly opened.

Lu Ze stepped out calmly, illusion crystal in hand, and walked to the center of the platform.

Guo Yunfeng was inside the central Illusion Tower at that moment, evaluating another contestant's work.

'Pretty impressive showmanship...'

Lu Ze muttered internally.

This time, the Mystic Alliance had really gone all out with appearances, even setting up a public process for judges to play and review the illusions.

He placed the illusion crystal on the table in front of Guo Yunfeng, then turned and walked back to the pavilion where Nangong Yuan and the other two were waiting.

"All that time spent—does that mean you made a really amazing illusion?"

Zhong Yi asked, full of anticipation.

"How long can I play this time? Three days? Four?"

"Sorry to disappoint you—if you rush through, you might see the ending in about two hours."

Lu Ze smiled and held up two fingers.

To the Moon wasn't a very long story.

If you didn't search thoroughly for details in every scene and just followed the plot, it was about three to four hours.

Theoretically, even turning a pixel game's scenes into an illusion shouldn't have taken five days.

The truth was, Lu Ze had finished building it by the third day.

The reason he stayed inside so long was that he had rigged the illusion.

Since he knew the Mystic Alliance was using this to probe the secrets of his techniques, Lu Ze wasn't about to let them succeed.

The Slay the Spire and The Bidding King illusions hadn't relied on any special spells—they were purely mechanics and settings.

That information, obtainable without deduction, didn't need to be hidden.

The new illusion Lu Ze created similarly didn't use the Dao Transformation Art.

But he had sabotaged it: if anyone tried to deduce the mysteries of its spells, they'd get absurdly wrong results.

To make everything seem as real as possible, Lu Ze set up layer after layer of spells that were both complex and useless.

What's more, if even one step went wrong, the entire illusion would fall into chaos.

"By the way, Junior Brother Lu. Elder Guo criticized my illusion pretty harshly... Could you take a look and tell me where I went wrong?"

Zhong Yi looked utterly puzzled as he handed over his own illusion crystal.

His illusion was the only one that had made Guo Yunfeng's eyelids flutter.

Strictly speaking, it made her eyelids twitch violently.

It was ranked dead last, which baffled him completely.

"Alright, let me have a look."

Lu Ze took the illusion crystal and sank his consciousness into it.

...

A quarter of an hour later.

Lu Ze emerged from the illusion, his face full of shock.

"Senior Brother Zhong... were you trying to make Elder Guo cry out of sheer frustration???"

"How could that be? I thought it was so touching!"

Zhong Yi explained confidently.

"Touching my foot!"

Lu Ze's eyelid twitched. There were way too many things about Zhong Yi's illusion worth criticizing.

"You call that junior sister who constantly says her senior brother is annoying and 'bestows' her salary on him a wicked woman?"

"Huh? What's wicked about that? That's pure humiliation!"

"Then... you call that scheming girl who clings to you all day, subtly badmouthing the junior sister behind her back... the heroine??"

"What? What's a scheming girl?"

"I..."

Lu Ze saw stars.

He'd barely made it through the first chapter before losing patience; he dared not even look at the rest.

"Senior Brother Zhong, how about we head back to the strategy track? This field is too deep for you—you can't handle it..."

Just as they were bickering, the door to the central Illusion Tower slowly opened.

Guo Yunfeng stood up expressionlessly, and after a long while, mustered a hint of emotion on her face that gradually emerged.

"The illusion created by Number Three... not bad. It stirs a few memories for me."

She let out a long sigh, yet her tone remained as indifferent as ever.

Guo Yunfeng rose and placed Number Three's illusion in the first position.

This act immediately sparked a flurry of discussion among the cultivators.

"Oh my! Elder Guo actually spoke?!"

"This is her first move since Zhong Yi, isn't it?"

"She actually praised this illusion... This truly is extraordinary!"

"This Number Three is locked in..."

"Hold on, the next one is Old Demon Lu."

"Old Demon Lu won't cut it either... For Elder Guo, this rating is already top-tier!"

"Too bad, Old Demon Lu isn't getting the Tai Xu Soul Crystal~~"

...

The muscles on Guo Yunfeng's face returned to their normal state.

She picked up the Illusion Crystal from the table.

On its surface, three words were clearly engraved—

《Going to the Moon Realm》.

[Announcement about recent content plans.]

[In the previous book, I spent 7 chapters writing an abbreviated version of "Going to the Moon Realm" to keep reader numbers up. Now that there's no concern about such data, this time I'm ready to go all out and write the story with a bit more detail. This way, those who catch up later can enjoy a smooth, satisfying read without feeling lost due to lack of familiarity with the original.]

[This time, I plan to take about 15-20 chapters to adapt this game storyline, as I've extensively reworked the setting, which does require some extra ink to write.]

[If possible, I hope everyone will still follow the updates. Of course, for those who prefer to wait until it's all written and binge-read, I don't mind. I just ask that no one accuses the author of padding for the sake of it. With "Auction King," I wrapped it up in 6 chapters precisely because I know when to stop and won't stretch it out.]