Watching the sect disciples play to their hearts' content, Lu Ze felt deeply gratified.
As expected, a great work would shine wherever it went.
Swinging a sword while choosing where to plant things might have been difficult for players in his previous life.
But for cultivators who wielded blades and swords as casually as they ate their daily meals, it was simple.
Once Lu Ze changed the sunlight that players had to collect in his previous life into automatically absorbed spiritual energy, the only actions left were slicing fruit and planting spirit plants.
That meant the task of collecting sunlight had become one of cutting down unwanted fruit and spirit plants.
As for the many kinds of zombies and the spirit plants that had developed minds of their own, everyone understood those even more readily.
In some ways, cultivators understood the game's setting better than players from his previous life.
And in a puzzle game like this, cultivation mattered even less.
Of everyone Lu Ze had watched so far, True Disciple Mu Yawen had made the slowest progress.
Even after Zhong Yi's pointers, she still managed the bizarre feat of planting Sunflowers out front to block the zombies.
But Mu Yawen did not find it dull. On the contrary, she played with gusto.
For her, planting a field, reaping its harvest, then watching the spirit plants she had grown fight was a pleasure of its own.
Li Moran, the young gaming prodigy who had raced far ahead in Demonic Path Escape, picked this up quickly too, though she had not opened much of a lead over the other disciples.
The surprise was the chatterbox, Zhong Yi.
While everyone else was still learning the ropes on the first level,
he had reached the second stage without dying once.
The second stage took place at night.
The Spirit Field no longer generated spiritual energy naturally. Every bit of it had to come from Sunflowers or mushrooms.
Spiritual energy had suddenly become scarce, and players had more spirit plants available than their slots could hold.
Now, besides the basics of arranging their defenses, they had to consider how to budget their spiritual energy and build their decks.
The difficulty rose step by step.
These designs thrilled Zhong Yi.
He swung his sword, planted spirit plants, and chattered away all at once.
"The Spirit Field doesn't produce spiritual energy at night, but Sunflowers don't produce enough... What? Sun-shrooms can provide spiritual energy?"
"A small Sun-shroom costs fifteen spiritual energy and produces ten each time... After about ten breaths, it grows into a big Sun-shroom that produces twenty-five each time..."
"This! Sun-shrooms give such a high return! I can drop the Sunflowers!"
"But before the Sun-shrooms grow, I won't even have enough spiritual energy to plant Peashooters..."
"Hm!? Puff-shrooms!? They... don't cost any spiritual energy!?"
"This design links every part to the next... It's incredible!!"
"Junior Brother Lu's ingenuity is far beyond that of ordinary men!"
Zhong Yi exclaimed as he played, unaware that Lu Ze was watching the whole thing and laughing to himself.
As Zhong Yi had said, the levels in Plants vs. Zombies truly did link one into the next.
Each level was just a little harder than the last, or introduced a new mechanic.
And each level gave players a new plant.
The levels grew harder.
The players grew stronger too.
Couldn't beat Buckethead Zombie early on?
Put down a Wall-nut Wall to block him.
Could Pole Vaulting Zombie jump over it?
Tall-Nut would stop him.
Could Ladder Zombie climb over Tall-Nut?
Magnet-shroom would teach him a lesson...
The levels built on one another so gradually that players could not help getting hooked.
There was something especially satisfying about finishing a basic Formation, watching spiritual energy keep rising from the soil, and seeing carefully tended plants battle the zombies.
The 2D visuals from his previous life had already been excellent.
Inside an Illusion Realm in the Cultivation World, the spectacle was even more breathtaking.
By now, Zhong Yi had cleared more than a dozen levels in one go before finally running into trouble.
A new General Zombie clad in armor—the football zombie from the original game—was giving him a headache.
Its metal armor was simply too tough. Even with two Peashooters and an Ice Peashooter firing from behind a Wall-nut Wall, he struggled to bring it down.
Spiritual energy was scarce at night. When a horde of zombies appeared in another lane, his defenses collapsed in an instant, swept away like a river bursting its banks.
It was Zhong Yi's first defeat.
It had come much later than the other disciples' first losses.
Rather than lose heart, he found the game even more interesting and began trying all sorts of combinations.
In the end, with Hypno-shroom's help, he won.
Watching the Armor Zombie eat a Hypno-shroom by mistake and turn on the zombies behind him, Zhong Yi was once again awed by the game's design.
"Such ingenuity... Junior Brother Lu is truly a marvel!"
"Wonderful, simply wonderful!"
The man himself was standing right beside him, listening to the praise without so much as a blush.
The host's abilities had won the admiration of Righteous cultivator Zhong Yi. One of his abilities would be obtained at random.
Reward obtained: Twenty years of martial arts experience.
"Another reward?"
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow.
This True Disciple named Zhong Yi really kept the gifts coming!
It was just a pity that both rewards had been martial arts experience.
If only Zhong Yi could give him an incredible skill like Li Moran had.
Outside the Illusion Realm.
In the square.
The Second Elder, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.
"Time's up!"
He rose to his feet.
But to his surprise,
every disciple below was still immersed in the Illusion Realm. Not a single one showed any intention of coming out.
Ding Mingcang was dumbfounded.
It was just an illusion for slicing fruit.
How had it captivated so many disciples of the Spirit Cloud Sect?
It was one thing for Outer Disciples who had never encountered an Illusion Realm before.
But what kind of training illusions hadn't these Inner Disciples experienced?
Forget slicing fruit.
Someone had even designed training that involved carving runes into tofu!
And he had never seen the disciples practice that with such rapt attention!
"Ahem..."
He cleared his throat.
"An hour has passed!"
He infused his voice with a little spiritual energy, giving it the power to jolt their divine souls.
Only then did the disciples below reluctantly withdraw from the Illusion Realm.
"Old Ding, why did you pull me out too?"
Beside him, Chao Wendao looked displeased, his face dark.
He had been matching wits with the final wave of zombies, preparing for a last-ditch fight against them.
Then Ding Mingcang's shout had startled him. His hand had slipped, and he had placed his Wall-nut Wall in the wrong spot.
That had left his middle lane wide open.
"Well..."
Faced with Chao Wendao's reproach, Ding Mingcang was more dumbfounded than ever.
Even the Grand Elder had been playing?
What kind of Illusion Realm was this...
Even Chao Wendao could not clear it within an hour.
He looked at the disciples below, his expression complicated.
He had meant to ask whether any of them had cleared it.
There was no need to ask now.
If Chao Wendao had not cleared it, how could the disciples of the Spirit Cloud Sect?
"Grand Elder... Did that kid deliberately make the Illusion Realm long and tedious?"
Ding Mingcang asked.
"Long? Hm... It was a little long."
Chao Wendao stroked his beard with a contented smile. Remembering the great swath of spirit plants he had raised to attack the zombies left him feeling thoroughly satisfied.
For the first time, he had experienced the joy of nurturing something inside an Illusion Realm.
Ding Mingcang's expression turned grim.
Judging by Chao Wendao's reaction, this Illusion Realm was definitely not as simple as it looked.
He and Lu Ze were bound by a Sect Covenant.
If he lost, he would have to face the wall in Repentance Valley!
He would lose all face!
Before you continue