Lu Ze looked at the mission prompt and took a deep breath.
"Master."
Lu Ze stealthily patted Nangong Yuan's back and whispered,
"Do you think... there's any chance the elders here might just casually gift me a magic treasure or something?"
Nangong Yuan smirked without warmth. "How about I gift you a century's worth of cultivation instead?"
Lu Ze nodded. "That works too."
"Then take this palm strike infused with a hundred years of my cultivation first—"
Nangong Yuan glared, white spiritual energy gathering in his palm.
Lu Ze immediately bolted.
"See, I gave you all an opportunity, but no one wanted it..."
He muttered under his breath.
In an unnoticed corner, Lin Anzai and Li Jiujian were still arguing over whose disciples were stronger.
"No way! My Tianxuan Sect disciples must challenge the most insane difficulty! Lu Ze, when the finals come, throw them against those so-called 'super invincible crazy-hard enemies'!"
Lin Anzai grabbed Lu Ze and declared loudly for emphasis.
"Ha! As if we're scared? Without my Wuji Sword Sect's Sword Immortals, how will you even counter the demonic faction's aerial forces? Lu Ze, I agree with Old Lin—go for the hardest challenge!"
Li Jiujian refused to back down, chiming in.
"Just you wait! Tomorrow, I’ll have my Tianxuan Sect disciples tear down your Wuji Sword Sect's training hall first!"
"If you dare cross the line, don’t blame the Wuji Sword Sect for retaliating!"
...
Watching the two elders bicker, Lu Ze couldn’t help but grin.
"Ahem, Elders, are you truly insisting that I prepare the most difficult tier of enemies to act as the demonic faction?"
"Of course! Any demonic forces they can’t handle, my Wuji Sword Sect will eradicate!"
"Ridiculous! My Tianxuan Sect disciples will carry the banner!"
...
"Since both Elders insist, I’ll do my best to fulfill your request!"
Lu Ze struggled to suppress his laughter, forcing a solemn expression.
Well then.
He never intended to bully the righteous factions, but the whole world seemed determined to push him into it.
...
...
Over the next few days,
Tianxuan Sect and Wuji Sword Sect disciples trained day and night,
battling against those so-called "super invincible crazy-hard enemies."
The AI opponents came in three difficulty tiers, primarily differing in resource acquisition speed and aggression.
At fixed intervals, they’d gain fixed resources and launch fixed attacks.
Survive the initial onslaught, and victory was assured.
The cultivators had moved past their novice phase. Even against the highest-difficulty AI, teams of three to five could secure a win nine times out of ten.
Sacrificing one or two cultivators to weather the AI’s early-game aggression turned the rest into a steamroll.
No matter how skilled the AI’s micro was, it couldn’t overcome sheer numerical disadvantage.
Soon,
disciples from both sects began ramping up their training—
fighting two AIs, then three...
...
Before long, three days passed.
The first round of competition was an inter-sect tournament among the disciples.
This annual sparring event for new disciples had been held for years,
but this was the first time nearly the entire sect turned up to watch.
"Immortal Realm Domination" had spread to other sects, sparking widespread fascination.
Not just the Lingxiao Sect—
even disciples from other sects came to spectate.
Lu Ze had specially designed a spectator mode for the event, projecting the matches in a way that kept everyone on the edge of their seats.
At his enthusiastic recommendation, the chatterbox senior brother Zhong Yi landed a new role as commentator.
And surprisingly, he nailed it.
His passionate play-by-play, paired with the clumsy yet intense matches, offered cultivators a fresh and thrilling experience.
That night, the "Immortal Realm Domination" forum’s activity skyrocketed.
[The Tianxuan Sect vs. Wuji Sword Sect match was epic!]
[Hah! Tianxuan’s formation masters almost had the Wuji Sword Immortals dead to rights, but who’d have thought their sword array would pull off a comeback?]
[The Wuji Sword Sect’s ultimate was held back so long—no one saw it coming!]
[Yunxian Palace’s mobility was impressive too. Speed is king in war!]
[Lingxiao Sect underperformed today... Got wiped before their late-game power spike.]
[Qingshan Sect had it worst, lol. Bonus damage against demons? Useless in sect battles.]
[You think Lu Ze held a grudge against Elder Yang and rigged it?]
[Nonsense! Lingxiao Sect’s design wasn’t OP either. That logic doesn’t hold.]
[Exactly. The demonic faction’s the strongest among the six factions—does that make Lu Ze a demonic spy?]
[That commentary today was fire! Senior Brother Zhong made it ten times more entertaining!]
[Entertaining, yeah, but weirdly... it made me hungry?]
[Fellow Daoist, same! I’ve gone through multiple fasting pills today.]
...
Lu Ze scrolled through the forum, amused.
Looks like livestreaming was about to become the next big thing in the cultivation world—perfect for binge-watching.
After reaching the Golden Core stage, cultivators barely needed food.
Fasting pills were the norm.
However, filling one's stomach and enjoying fine cuisine are two entirely different matters—even in the cultivation world, professions like spirit chefs exist.
Spotting a business opportunity, Lu Ze quickly reached out to the kitchen staff of the Lihuo Peak cafeteria.
While replicating illusion crystals was relatively low-cost, developing games was anything but.
When creating Demon Sect Escape and Spirit Plants vs. Zombies, the expenses hadn’t felt too burdensome.
But for Immortal Realm Domination, the intricate skill effects of grand formations required multiple talismans to portray, sending costs skyrocketing!
If not for the sect covering the expenses this time, Lu Ze’s savings from years of writing novels wouldn’t have been nearly enough.
With such an opportunity staring him in the face, Lu Ze wasn’t about to let it slip.
"Speaking of which… maybe it’s time to prepare a pay-to-win game…"
Lu Ze muttered to himself.
...
...
The next day.
The second round of matches began.
The Lingxiao Sect and the Qingshan Sect, both underperforming on the first day, were now locked in a heated battle.
"Master, care for a bite?"
Lu Ze cheerfully approached Nangong Yuan’s private seating area, carrying a steaming plate of Emerald-Shadow Braised Tendon.
Nangong Yuan, engrossed in the spectacle, caught a whiff of the Ironback Flame Boar’s fragrant aroma and involuntarily sniffed the air.
He picked up a piece of tendon and chewed slowly.
The refreshing crispness of spirit grass melded with the rich umami of the tendon, bursting across his palate.
Paired with the grand battle unfolding in the skies above, it was an experience unlike any other.
"Not bad, not bad! You’ve learned well!"
Nangong Yuan stroked his beard with a satisfied smile.
"Right? The other elders praised me too—said I had a great master."
Lu Ze grinned and nodded.
"You sent some to the other elders as well? Hahaha!"
Nangong Yuan chuckled and shook his head, though for some reason, his heart ached a little.
Everyone claimed this kid was clueless and ungrateful.
Yet here he was, spending his hard-earned stipend to treat the elders.
He’d had this dish at the cafeteria before—it cost 100 spirit stones per serving!
"Even with your true disciple stipend, you shouldn’t squander it like this! Next time, just buy something cheaper."
"Who’s squandering? It’s 300 spirit stones per serving, Master. You’re not thinking of skipping the bill, are you?"
Lu Ze held out his hand without a hint of shame.
"???"
Nangong Yuan gritted his teeth in frustration.
This little—!
Even with his elder discount, the cafeteria charged less than this!!
"Wait… what did you say the other elders told you?"
"That I had a great master."
"And who exactly is your master?"
"???"
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
