"You damn... I'm over here! Don’t hit the wrong target!!"
Chen Feng's lips twitched in frustration, wishing he could transform into a sword cultivator and rush forward to take the damage himself.
Lu Ze was blasting away at precious spirit mines—precious spirit mines!
Once his own family’s spirit stones were depleted, he’d have to rely on these mines to survive!
At this moment, Chen Feng hadn’t yet realized that Lu Ze was doing this on purpose.
He simply assumed the other had misfired.
He commanded his troops to charge straight ahead.
But Lu Ze didn’t even spare them a glance. The three Shadow Rhinos under his control poured their firepower relentlessly into the spirit mines!
Chen Feng watched helplessly as cracks spread across the mines, bit by bit reducing them to rubble.
"BOOM—!"
"No!!"
"BOOM—!!"
"Stop it!!!"
"BOOM—!!!"
"Leave the mines alone—come at me instead!!!!"
Chen Feng’s cries were heart-wrenching, his hands trembling.
Right now, he’d rather Lu Ze’s bombardment was aimed at his own forces instead of the mines.
This was pure, gleaming spirit stone wealth—the very economy that decided victory or defeat!
Finally, it dawned on him. Lu Ze wasn’t targeting him—he was targeting his spirit stones.
"You little... don’t you dare run!!!"
Furious, Chen Feng ordered his main force to chase the Shadow Rhinos.
But in terms of mobility, how could they possibly match the Shadow Rhinos?
Lu Ze had no intention of engaging. He casually steered the rhinos away, leaving destruction in their wake.
The mines had to be destroyed.
Especially the ones farthest from him.
At its core, [War Mode] was a battle of economies.
How to develop faster, how to cripple the enemy’s growth, how to minimize losses...
The spirit mines near his own sect? Lu Ze could easily contest those.
The distant ones? He wouldn’t just let them thrive.
Remotely controlling the Shadow Rhinos, he left a trail of explosions wherever he went.
Meanwhile...
Another squad began harassing the other factions...
......
Outside the battlefield.
The spectating disciples erupted in uproar.
The atmosphere was electric.
Zhong Yi, the commentator, was practically glowing with excitement, exclaiming in awe.
"What’s Lu Ze doing? Did the rhinos hit the wrong spot?"
"Wait—he’s doing this on purpose!!"
"Lu Ze is blowing up the mines! Lu Ze is blowing up the mines!"
"With the mines gone, the Profound Blade Sect’s income is halved!!"
"Chen Feng has realized Lu Ze’s plan—he’s chasing, Lu Ze is fleeing! Chen Feng can’t catch up!!"
"Lu Ze is still destroying mines!!!"
"The secondary mine near the Lingxiao Sect’s gate is gone too!! Lu Ze’s gone mad—he’s even attacking his own allies!"
"What’s happening? Battles are breaking out everywhere!"
"Good heavens! How is Lu Ze controlling three squads for harassment at the same time?"
"The Heavenly Profound Sect and Cloud Immortal Palace were prepared—Lu Ze’s forces aren’t enough to break through..."
"Oh no! The Heavenly Profound Sect and Cloud Immortal Palace are chasing Lu Ze down. He’s retreating while fighting—seems like the harassment failed..."
"What!? Lu Ze’s assassins have infiltrated their bases... they’re targeting the laborers!!"
"Holy—! The laborers were Lu Ze’s real target all along!!"
"Guo Yunwen and Li Yuluo have realized something’s wrong... they’re pulling back! But it’s too late!!"
"By the heavens! The Heavenly Profound Sect and Cloud Immortal Palace’s economies are crippled!!"
......
Lu Ze’s tactics left everyone present gasping.
Not a single direct fight—just relentless, underhanded tricks.
And yet, he’d successfully stifled the economies of multiple factions.
Meanwhile, Lu Ze himself...
Held control of two major mines, his economy soaring far ahead!
And despite appearing to be repelled in several skirmishes, the losses inflicted on the other sects far exceeded his own.
This performance sparked heated debates among the disciples.
"Who is this Lu Ze? Is he really from the righteous path?"
"Lu Ze is a disciple of our Lingxiao Sect—how is he not righteous?"
"Blowing up mines, kidnapping laborers... and you call this righteous??"
"I swear he acts more like a demonic cultivator than the actual enemy..."
"How is Lu Ze even pulling this off? How can he attack multiple places at once?"
"Didn’t you see Brother Zhong’s replay? His hand speed is insane!"
......
In the joint command room of the Heavenly Profound Sect, Lingxiao Sect, and Cloud Immortal Palace.
Zhang Shifei: "The mine near my base is gone!!"
Li Yuluo: "My laborers have been kidnapped."
Guo Yunwen: "I’ve got it worst—my pursuit force took heavy losses..."
The three exchanged glances, each wearing a different expression.
"Screw this! Let’s just forget development and gang up on him!!"
Zhang Shifei gritted his teeth, his temper flaring.
Li Yuluo frowned slightly. "We should retaliate, but Brother Guo and I need time to recover our spirit stone losses before attacking."
"Not just that..."
Guo Yunwen shook his head with a bitter smile.
"When I chased him to the demonic faction’s base, I saw Lu Ze’s sect had built a ton of demonic arrow towers... Our early-game forces won’t break through easily."
Arrow towers were a nightmare for low-tier units.
Without tier-two spirit beasts to tank the damage, they’d need overwhelming numbers to take them down.
After some deliberation, the trio decided to focus on development, stockpiling tier-two forces before launching a joint assault.
To prevent Lu Ze from sending assassins after their laborers again, they each recruited Spirit Cranes with [Reveal Invisibility].
And considering Lu Ze’s dirty tactics, they also added Heaven-Hound Beasts with [Detection] to their ranks.
Now, neither spies nor assassins could infiltrate their bases.
Just then, a system notification flashed across everyone’s screens:
[A Spirit Vein has appeared!]
A blue marker appeared in the upper-left corner of the map.
In [War Mode], there were two types of random events.
One was the neutral village event seen in the tutorial.
Demonic factions could slaughter villages for troop rewards, while righteous factions could escort them for resources.
The other was the Spirit Vein.
Spirit Veins randomly spawned on the map, and occupying one granted a steady flow of spirit stones.
"This Spirit Vein is so close to the demonic faction’s base... Should we scout it?"
Li Yuluo sounded uneasy.
"No need. Lu Ze’s sect won’t reach tier-three anytime soon. Let’s focus on development and then crush him!"
Guo Yunwen dismissed the idea.
Spirit Veins were lucrative but a late-game objective.
Guarding the entrance were high-level rogue cultivators—ordinary forces stood no chance.
Players usually waited until they had tier-three units before attempting to capture them.
Whoever upgraded their sect to tier-three first would gain an overwhelming advantage!
......
At the same time.
Demonic Sect Base.
"Tch... Seems like dirty tricks alone won’t conquer these stubborn cultivators..."
Lu Ze muttered to himself, shaking his head.
He just couldn’t understand it.
He’d opened with arrow tower rush tactics, wiping out the Verdant Mountain Sect first.
Then he’d destroyed mines and kidnapped laborers to cripple the others’ economies.
With such overwhelming dominance, why hasn't it earned genuine admiration from others yet?
Could it really be just because the tactics are a bit unconventional and the approach a little underhanded that these righteous cultivators refuse to acknowledge it?
Fine.
Lu Ze figured that in future rankings, these so-called righteous cultivators would probably use these tricks even more eagerly than him.
He pondered for a moment.
Most likely, people just found the strategy bizarre and assumed they could pull it off too.
Even if they admitted his skill, they still wouldn’t respect him.
"Alright, alright. Guess I’ll have to show you some real finesse then."
Lu Ze chuckled.
He canceled the massive army he’d been building.
Originally, he planned to amass troops and crush them one by one with sheer force.
But now it seemed pure military suppression might not be enough to earn the rewards he wanted.
He’d have to go easy on them.
"Can’t go too hard when fishing, or the fish will scatter…"
Grumbling to himself, Lu Ze cheerfully summoned three Blood Puppets, a Soul Summoner, and a Blood Curse Master.
Their destination?
The newly spawned Spirit Qi Secret Realm!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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.
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."
