Another Drop? Eldest Senior Brother, Send Some More Warmth

Watching the sect disciples have the time of their lives, Lu Ze felt deeply gratified.

Sure enough, an excellent work would shine no matter where it was.

Swinging a sword while choosing planting spots might have been somewhat difficult for players in his previous life.

But for these cultivators, who wielded blades and swords as casually as breathing, it was incredibly simple.

After Lu Ze changed the sunlight that players had needed to collect in his previous life into automatically absorbed spiritual energy, the only operations left were slicing fruit and planting spirit plants.

As a result, the act of collecting sunlight in his previous life became cutting down unneeded fruit and spirit plants in this world.

As for the various zombies and the spirit plants that had gained sentience, everyone understood those even better.

In some ways, cultivators understood this game's setting better than players from his previous life.

And with this kind of puzzle game, cultivation level mattered even less.

So far, the person Lu Ze had seen progressing the slowest was True Disciple Mu Yawen.

Even after Zhong Yi had given him pointers, this guy still managed bizarre moves like planting sunflowers at the front to block zombies.

Yet Mu Yawen did not find it boring in the slightest. Instead, he played with great enthusiasm.

For him, farming, harvesting, and then watching the spirit plants he had grown fight was a unique kind of enjoyment.

Li Moran, the little esports prodigy who had been far ahead in Demonic Path Escape, still picked things up quickly, but she did not pull especially far ahead of the other disciples.

Instead, it was the chatterbox Zhong Yi.

While everyone else was still getting familiar with the gameplay in the First Level, this guy made it all the way to the Second Level without dying even once.

The Second Level was nighttime.

The Spirit Field no longer naturally produced spiritual energy. All spiritual energy had to be generated by sunflowers or mushrooms.

With the amount of spiritual energy drastically reduced and the number of spirit plants available to players exceeding the card slot limit, aside from testing basic troop deployment and formation, this stage also required careful consideration of spiritual energy allocation and deck planning.

The difficulty increased step by step.

These designs greatly excited Zhong Yi.

He swung his sword, planted spirit plants, and chattered away all at once.

"The Spirit Field at night no longer produces spiritual energy, but sunflowers generate it too inefficiently... What? There are actually Sun-shrooms that can provide spiritual energy?"

"Puff-shrooms cost 15 spiritual energy and produce 10 each time... After roughly ten breaths, they grow into Sun-shrooms and produce 25 spiritual energy each time..."

"This! Sun-shrooms have way too high a return! We can do without sunflowers!"

"But before the Sun-shrooms mature, there isn't even enough spiritual energy to plant Peashooters..."

"Hmm!? Puff-shrooms!? They actually... don't require any spiritual energy!?"

"This design is all interconnected... It's incredible!!"

"Junior Brother Lu's brilliance is far beyond what ordinary people could ever match!"

Zhong Yi cried out in astonishment as he played, unaware that Lu Ze was watching everything before him and quietly chuckling to himself.

Just as Zhong Yi had said, Plants vs. Zombies truly linked its levels together seamlessly.

Each level was only a little harder than the last, or introduced one new mechanic.

Then each level gave players a new plant.

The level difficulty increased.

The players' strength increased as well.

Couldn't beat Buckethead Zombies early on?

Put down a Wall-nut to block them.

Could Pole Vaulting Zombies leap over Wall-nuts?

Then there were Tall-Nuts to stop them from jumping over.

Could Ladder Zombies climb over Tall-Nuts?

Magnet-shrooms would teach them a lesson...

The gradually escalating level design made players unable to resist becoming immersed in it.

Especially once a basic Formation had been set up, spiritual energy continuously emerged from the ground, and the carefully cultivated plants fought the zombies—it was incredibly easy for players to feel satisfied.

The 2D visuals from his previous life had already been excellent.

Within the Illusion Realm of the Cultivation World, the sight was even more spectacular.

At this moment, after clearing more than ten levels in one go, Zhong Yi finally found himself in a difficult predicament.

The new armored General Zombie—the football zombie from the original game—gave him a massive headache.

The defense of that metal armor was simply too strong. Even with two Peashooters and an Ice Peashooter firing under the cover of Wall-nut Walls, the battle was still a struggle.

Spiritual energy resources were extremely scarce at night. When a horde of zombies appeared on another path, his defenses instantly collapsed, and the situation spiraled out of control.

This was Zhong Yi's first defeat.

It had come far later than it had for the other disciples.

Not only was he not discouraged, he found it even more interesting and began experimenting with all sorts of different combinations.

In the end, with the help of a Hypno-shroom, he successfully claimed victory.

Watching the Armor Zombie that had accidentally eaten the Hypno-shroom turn against the zombies behind it, Zhong Yi was once again astonished by the game's design.

"Such ingenuity... Junior Brother Lu is truly a genius!"

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

The person in question was right beside him, listening to the praise without so much as a blush or a change in expression.

The host has impressed the Righteous cultivator Zhong Yi with his strength, earning the other party's admiration. One of the other party's abilities will be obtained at random.

Reward obtained: Twenty years of martial arts experience

"Another drop?"

Lu Ze raised an eyebrow.

This True Disciple named Zhong Yi was practically a walking source of generosity!

Unfortunately, both times had been martial arts experience.

It would have been nice if he could get an awesome Skill from him, like he had from Li Moran.

Outside the illusion.

On the plaza.

The Second Elder, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.

"The time is up!"

He rose to his feet.

Yet to his surprise, every single disciple below was still immersed in the illusion, with no sign of leaving it.

Ding Mingcang was dumbfounded.

It was only a Fruit-Slicing Illusion.

Why had it captivated so many Spirit Cloud Sect disciples like this?

It was understandable for the Outer Disciples who had never experienced an illusion before.

But what sort of cultivation illusions had these Inner Disciples not encountered?

Forget slicing fruit.

People had even designed cultivation exercises that involved carving runes into tofu!

And yet these disciples had never practiced with such obsession before, had they?

"Ahem..."

He cleared his throat.

"One hour has passed!"

This shout carried a trace of spiritual energy, enough to shake the soul.

Only then did the disciples below reluctantly withdraw from the illusion.

"Old Ding, why did you drag this old man out as well?"

Beside him, Chao Wendao wore a dark expression, clearly displeased.

Just then, he had been battling wits and courage against the final wave of zombies, preparing to make his last stand against them.

But Ding Mingcang's shout had startled him, making his hand twitch and causing him to toss the Wall-nut Wall crookedly.

As a result, his middle lane had been breached.

"Uh..."

Faced with Chao Wendao's reproach, Ding Mingcang was even more dumbfounded.

Why was even the Grand Elder playing?

What kind of illusion was this...

Even Chao Wendao had failed to clear it within an hour.

His expression complicated, he looked down at the gathered disciples.

At first, he had wanted to ask whether any disciples had cleared it.

Now there was no need to ask.

Even Chao Wendao had failed to clear it—how could Spirit Cloud Sect's disciples possibly manage?

"Grand Elder... did this brat deliberately make the Illusion Realm so damn long?"

Ding Mingcang asked.

"Long? Hmm... it was a little long."

Chao Wendao stroked his beard with a pleased smile, recalling how he had raised a vast field of spirit plants to attack the zombies. He felt thoroughly satisfied.

For the first time, he had experienced the joy of cultivation in an Illusion Realm.

Ding Mingcang's expression immediately turned ugly.

Judging from Chao Wendao's reaction, this Illusion Realm was definitely not as simple as it appeared.

He and Lu Ze were bound by a Sect Covenant.

If he lost, he would have to face the wall in Repentance Valley!

That would be a huge loss of face!