A Way for Four

After teaching Zhou Yue and his sister how to use Lu Ze’s Illusion Tower, Zhong Yi and the four of them entered the illusion together.

"‘Four Must Journey Together’? Another name I can’t make sense of…"

Zhong Yi muttered under his breath as the name of the illusion flashed by.

In Lu Ze’s previous life, the direct translation of this game was ‘Chained Together,’ and some players jokingly called it ‘The Gay Chain.’

But Lu Ze felt that ‘Four Must Journey Together’ better suited the current situation.

After all, the illusion he had described to Elder Zhao involved four righteous disciples working together to navigate through the traps of the demonic path. Just the name alone screamed "teamwork."

Soon, the other three entered Zhong Yi’s room, and he eagerly led them into the official illusion.

After a brief moment of darkness, Zhong Yi opened his eyes.

They stood in a grim, shadowy sacrificial hall.

Rows of metal spikes were stained with blood and rust.

"Where is this?" Zhou Yue asked curiously, looking around.

This was his first time experiencing Lu Ze’s illusion, and he had never seen anything like it before, making him especially intrigued.

"Brother, why are you wearing a prisoner’s uniform?!" Zhou Qiaoling gasped, covering her mouth.

"Huh?"

Zhou Yue looked down and saw that he was indeed clad in a black prisoner’s garb.

"What the—?! We’re all wearing prisoner uniforms… Ugh, and there are chains too?!"

Zhong Yi stared in shock at the shackles around his ankles.

All four of them wore differently colored prisoner uniforms.

A long, thick black chain linked them together.

"Hmph, mere chains think they can hold me?"

Zhou Yue smirked, gripping the chain in one hand while forming a seal with the other out of habit.

He intended to burn the chains with hellfire, only to find that not a ripple of spiritual energy stirred within him.

"Haha, Brother Zhou, have you forgotten what I said earlier?"

Zhong Yi chuckled and walked over to pat Zhou Yue’s shoulder.

"Junior Brother Lu’s illusions almost always suppress our cultivation and seal our spiritual energy. Even Junior Brother Mu knows this—"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Before Zhong Yi could finish, the sound of metal violently striking the ground interrupted him.

Mu Yawen had the chain between his teeth, gnawing at it with all his might, only to find not even a dent left behind. He looked utterly frustrated.

"Senior Brother Zhong! This chain is cursed—I can’t break it!"

"…"

Zhong Yi sighed, rubbing his forehead, sensing that leading this team might not be easy.

Just then, the illusion’s prompt appeared before their eyes:

[You are four nameless righteous cultivators, captured by the demonic path.]

[You seized the chance to escape the prison and stumbled into a demonic secret realm.]

[Reach the peak of the realm to break free!]

[Small hint: You are bound by a specially crafted chain from the demonic path. It cannot be broken—work together to overcome the challenges!]

[Good luck!]

"Oh, I get it now… This is just like that mortal-world game, ‘Three-Legged Race’!"

Zhou Yue exclaimed in realization.

"Brother Zhou’s quick to grasp things. Seems like we’ll clear this easily."

Zhong Yi let out a relieved sigh.

"Senior Brother, I’ve thought of a way to speedrun this!"

Mu Yawen suddenly sidled up to Zhong Yi with a mysterious air.

"Oh? Let’s hear it."

"With my arm strength, I can just throw you up there. The chain will pull the rest of us along, and we’ll fly straight to the top—instant win!"

"Junior Brother Mu, don’t mess around! Junior Brother Lu’s illusions won’t let you exploit—Hey, stop! DON’T—OW! DAMN IT, THAT HURT!!"

…

After several bizarre attempts confirmed that shortcuts wouldn’t work, the four of them began progressing step by step.

Though chained together, the chain wasn’t too short, giving them enough freedom to move.

"Honestly, this illusion isn’t as hard as you made it sound, Brother Zhong! Easier than ‘Three-Legged Race’!"

Zhou Yue shot Zhong Yi a puzzled look, unable to understand why he was so obsessed with this.

"Strange… It does seem pretty simple."

Zhong Yi scratched his head, equally confused.

The difficulty was nowhere near what Lu Ze had designed before!

"I heard from the Grand Elder that this illusion was developed to adjust the sect’s culture, encouraging disciples to prioritize teamwork… Maybe that’s why?"

The four climbed onto an iron cage.

Pushed upward by a lifting array, the cage slowly ascended, soon reaching the second floor.

Zhong Yi noticed a distance counter in the upper-left corner.

They had already traveled 200 feet.

He looked ahead.

Floating rocks and crates formed two paths—left and right—suspended in midair.

To reach the next platform, they had to cross these obstacles.

"This illusion is way too easy. Where’s the challenge?"

Zhou Yue scoffed.

"Hard to say… Maybe the rocks will vanish, or the crates hide demonic creatures?"

Zhong Yi frowned, analyzing the situation.

The torment he had endured in ‘Cultivator’s Descent: 100 Floors’ was still fresh in his memory.

"Enough hesitation. We won’t get anywhere without taking the first step! Let’s move!"

Zhong Yi declared.

"Right!"

"Let’s go!"

Zhou Yue and Mu Yawen had been itching to proceed. The moment they heard this, they leaped forward without hesitation.

"Eh? Wait..."

Zhong Yi hadn't even processed what was happening.

The moment he tried to move, an immense force yanked him forward violently.

Zhou Yue and Mu Yawen, standing on either side of him, had already leaped in opposite directions.

Since Zhong Yi hadn’t jumped with them, the two found themselves in a predicament—

Their leaps fell short, leaving them clinging to the edges of the floating rocks, desperately trying to pull themselves up.

But with Zhong Yi dangling in mid-air, the sheer weight made it impossible for them to climb.

The scene quickly turned absurd:

Zhou Yue clung to the rock on the left, Mu Yawen to the one on the right, while Zhong Yi flailed wildly between them, suspended in the air.

"Zhong Yi, stop pulling on me!!"

"Senior Brother Zhong, put some strength into climbing up!!"

"I can’t freaking fly!!"

"Can’t you try a little harder?"

"I can’t try ANY harder!!!"

"Senior Brother Zhong, you’re dragging me down..."

"Nooo!! I can’t hold on much longer!!"

Soon, the three of them hung in a straight line, swaying helplessly.

Luckily, Zhou Qiaoling was still on the platform at the rear.

Summoning every ounce of her strength, she hauled Mu Yawen back onto solid ground.

Mu Yawen then pulled on the chain, dragging Zhong Yi up after her.

Finally, all four stood safely on the platform again.

At that moment, Zhong Yi realized the true challenge of this illusionary realm—

The four of them were bound together by chains. If their movements weren’t perfectly coordinated, mistakes were inevitable.

And if even one person slipped and fell...

The entire team would suffer the consequences.

In other words,

The illusion itself wasn’t the hard part!

The real difficulty came from your own teammates!