Lu Ze was a little stunned.
After a moment's thought, he declined.
He carried too many secrets. He didn't want much contact with a True Disciple.
Not even in a game.
But she apparently refused to give up and sent another challenge.
"Fine. If I beat her once, she'll want to catch up even more."
After some hesitation, Lu Ze accepted.
A Righteous cultivator has challenged you! As a prodigy of the Demon Path, you refuse to back down, even against an opponent far stronger than yourself!
Objective: Defeat the Righteous cultivator Li Moran
Reward: One random skill belonging to your opponent
Lu Ze stared, then grinned.
Now he had no choice but to crush her.
He entered the Illusion Realm.
The account Lu Ze was using was a GM Account.
He had deliberately bought equipment from the Shop that concealed his face. After a few adjustments on the back end, no one could see what he really looked like.
Not even Li Moran, despite her Spirit Transformation Stage cultivation.
Li Moran glanced at "Nameless" beside her, dressed in a riot of colors, and frowned slightly.
Not quite what I imagined.
She thought it to herself.
She had challenged "Nameless" because she wanted to see exactly what he did better than she did.
Granted, Demonic Path Escape wasn't cultivation in the traditional sense, and a player's final score didn't necessarily reflect their cultivation realm.
Zhong Yi and Mu Yawen, who were currently competing, were perfect examples.
Neither had a low cultivation realm, yet in Demonic Path Escape, they performed no better than ordinary disciples.
But she had seen how absurdly difficult it became after three thousand steps.
She felt anyone who could run farther than she had must be no ordinary person.
Among cultivators, the best way to understand someone was to spar with them.
The countdown neared its end.
Li Moran grew even more focused, her expression a shade colder than usual.
What exactly does he do better than I do...?
With that thought in mind, Li Moran watched "Nameless" closely, tracking his every move.
She wanted to see what this "expert" could do.
Then, in the middle of his run, he bent down and picked up something she had never seen before.
The next instant...
A spittoon flew straight at her forehead...
Before long,
Li Moran lost.
Her feelings were a tangled mess.
The match had been nothing like she'd imagined.
Throwing a spittoon during a match was one thing.
She could even accept him using all manner of Talismans to make trouble for her.
She could also accept that Talismans could be combined into a Combo Skill.
What she truly couldn't understand was...
"Nameless" had been running ahead of her, yet he had reached over and snatched an item from her lane?!
Was nothing sacred anymore?!
For the first time, Li Moran felt her battle instincts might be lacking.
Yet every Elder had called her a genius one in ten thousand.
"Nameless..."
She murmured the name, lost in thought.
She had assumed this "Nameless" was some rare, reclusive genius.
Gifted but not arrogant, he had deliberately hidden his identity.
In her experience, cultivators like that were usually gentlemen of upright character.
She hadn't expected his methods to be so underhanded...
And yet, for some reason,
Li Moran didn't find him repulsive.
If anything, she found it rather funny.
When she recalled the moment the match hung in the balance, and he bent down to steal her item,
the faintest smile tugged at her lips.
If she was going to find someone repulsive,
it would be those cultivators who deliberately put on a gentlemanly act in front of her.
"Huh. That seemed a little easier than I expected?"
After leaving the Illusion Realm, Lu Ze let out a breath of relief.
He had thought Li Moran's astonishing talent for the game would put him under considerable pressure.
To outdo her and keep this golden goose chasing progress in Demonic Path Escape,
Lu Ze had gone all out from the start.
His use of the various combat items had been nothing short of masterful, overturning everything others thought they knew.
He had even used a few tricks no one else knew about.
For instance, although each player had only one item slot, they could time when they used an item.
With the right timing and items, they could create the effect of a Combo Skill.
Earlier, he had picked up a Wood Talisman and held it without using it right away.
Only when he was about to pick up a Water Talisman did he toss it a short distance in front of Li Moran, sprouting several branches that actively wound around her legs.
Then he swiftly threw the Water Talisman, showering the branches with Spirit Rain.
The branches rapidly grew larger and turned ferocious, far deadlier than an ordinary trap.
That was a Combo Skill most people would never think of.
Another example: the two players' lanes were separated, with a deadly Barrier between them, so each could only run in their own lane.
But in duel mode, the Barrier didn't kill a player the instant any part of their body touched it.
A small part of the body could cross the Barrier without triggering instant death.
In other words, with the right moves, a player could swipe an opponent's item if it was close enough to their side.
Lu Ze had used that very trick to leave Li Moran dumbstruck. While she was distracted, his Talisman Attack struck her, and she met a gruesome end beneath the claws and fangs of a Demonic Beast.
"She should keep playing Demonic Path Escape properly now, right?"
Lu Ze muttered to himself, thoroughly pleased.
In just one afternoon, the three True Disciples in the hall, plus that unidentified Grandmaster, had earned him a thousand Demonic Value.
At this rate, he might reach Foundation Establishment tonight.
Objective complete! You defeated a Righteous cultivator far stronger than yourself. You truly are the hope of the Demon Path!
Congratulations! You obtained: Ice Breath Technique
Ice Breath Technique: A secret breath-concealment art unique to the Ice Phoenix Sword Body. Once mastered, it can evade Divine Sense Probes from anyone below the Integration Realm.
"Holy shit! A True Disciple's skill, and it's gold quality!"
Lu Ze was overjoyed.
As expected of an Inner Disciple, even the quality of the skills she dropped was different. For keeping a low profile, this was practically unbeatable!
If he'd known the reward would be this good, why had he hesitated?
He'd fleece this golden goose for all she was worth!
He even hoped Li Moran would come back and hand him a few more wins.
Or Zhong Yi and Mu Yawen could challenge him to a duel. He wasn't picky.
Unfortunately, Li Moran knew how wide the gap between them was and had gone to single-player mode to hone her skills.
The other two were still absorbed in their battle of bumbling novices...
Lu Ze had to give up on the idea.
He began to wonder whether he should cultivate an obnoxious persona to draw senior disciples into challenging him to one-on-one matches.
Those quests would be pure profit.
But then he considered the possibility of a Real-life Fight and decided against it.
For now, he was still rather weak.
Another hour passed.
"Junior Brother Lu, do you still have Crystal Replicas of Demonic Path Escape for sale?"
After dueling Mu Yawen for so long, Zhong Yi found Demonic Path Escape more and more interesting. He hurried over to Lu Ze to buy a Replica.
"I do. Ten Spirit Stones each."
Smiling, Lu Ze took out a Crystal.
"I'll take... two."
Zhong Yi glanced back at Mu Yawen and Li Moran, then held up two fingers.
As a True Disciple, he had no shortage of Spirit Stones.
But as far as he knew, Li Moran had never been interested in anything besides cultivation. Even if he bought an extra copy, she would probably refuse it.
To his surprise,
Li Moran took out ten Spirit Stones and placed them before Lu Ze.
"I'd like one too."
Zhong Yi and Mu Yawen exchanged a look and, in perfect accord, spoke through Spiritual Sense.
Did I hear that right? Junior Sister Li is interested in this too?
Could she really have found a cultivation method in Demonic Path Escape? As expected of Junior Sister Li. What a cultivation genius!
There must be a cultivation method hidden later in Demonic Path Escape. We need to keep at it... Junior Brother, shall we keep playing tonight... no, keep dueling?
Sure!
Just watch how I crush you later!
Before you continue