What Kind of Move Was This? Why Couldn't They Understand It at All?!

Under everyone's skeptical gazes, the game began.

Lu Ze smoothly planted his first Sunflower.

He absorbed spiritual energy.

Then, using the Imitater's Sunflower, he planted a second one.

As usual, the horn signaling the Zombie attack sounded at this point.

Nearly all sect disciples, Zhong Yi included, would save a bit of spiritual energy at this time to observe which lane the Zombies appeared in.

Then they would place a Peashooter for defense.

But Lu Ze was different.

Even though he had clearly heard the warning of the Zombie attack, he still planted a third Sunflower.

This move left the disciples watching around the edge of the square dumbfounded.

It was not until Lu Ze buried a Potato Mine that everyone understood his plan.

"Using only mines and Squash to trade for Zombies in the first stage? Saving spiritual energy to the limit?"

"Good idea. I've learned something."

"No wonder I always run out of spiritual energy."

"But Potato Mines have such a long cooldown. How will he deal with the next wave of Zombies?"

"And what does it mean to place a Garlic on each of the upper and lower side lanes?"

"Damn, he's already planted two rows of Sunflowers. Still not enough?"

"He's ruthless."

"He's finally planting other spiritual plants! It's actually Doom-shrooms? And he's putting them in the water??"

In the sky.

Mu Yawen's tiny eyes were filled with enormous question marks.

She understood less and less of Lu Ze's moves.

At first, she would ask Zhong Yi about Lu Ze's intentions behind each move.

But the moment Zhong Yi opened his mouth, he would launch into a lengthy explanation.

Things like spiritual energy consumption and cost-effectiveness.

It made her head spin even more.

So she simply stopped asking and just watched for fun.

The spiritual energy constantly bouncing all over the screen was satisfying to watch.

Zhong Yi beside her was different.

The more he watched, the more excited he became, as though every casual move Lu Ze made gave him a sudden epiphany.

"The Garlic is used to drive away the Zombies, turning the two side lanes into lanes for farming spiritual energy."

"But if all the Zombies are concentrated on one lane, wouldn't the pressure of trading for Zombies be even greater? Is he going to use Cherry Bombs?"

"Wait... Puff-shrooms... no, Doom-shrooms..."

"!!!"

"Doom-shrooms can attack multiple Zombies at once!?"

Zhong Yi was stunned by Lu Ze's strategy.

First, he used Potato Mines and Squash to trade for Zombies, ensuring the Sunflowers could develop.

Once the number of Zombies had built up, he used Garlic to gather them onto the two lanes near the pond.

Finally, he planted the upgraded version of Puff-shrooms, Doom-shrooms, on the pond. By taking advantage of their omnidirectional attacks and area damage, he harvested them all.

Before Lu Ze demonstrated this move, everyone's approach to saving spiritual energy had been to first plant two columns of Sunflowers, then start adding offensive spiritual plants.

But before even half the opening had passed, Lu Ze had already planted two full rows of Sunflowers!

And, he seemed to intend to keep planting more!

The disciples below also understood Lu Ze's strategy and were instantly awestruck.

"Junior Brother Lu, are you going to fill all six rows with Sunflowers??"

"My god, I only dared to fill two columns..."

"I never thought just two Doom-shrooms could hold off the Zombies in the first stage!"

"Compared to that, Peashooters really do seem a little weak."

"Damn!! Junior Brother Lu's spiritual energy has already exceeded three thousand!!"

"What the hell? I only managed less than two thousand, and that was near the end..."

The host has impressed righteous cultivator Zhong Yi with his strength, earning his admiration. You will randomly obtain one of his abilities.

Reward obtained: Grand Dao Truth Incantation

Lu Ze's steady operations paused for a moment.

Senior Brother is such a good guy—he gave me another drop!

He thought excitedly.

He had never expected that making a bet with Ding Mingcang would bring such an unexpected gain.

This time, it was not some ordinary martial insight, but a genuine Cultivation Method.

Like the Ice Breath Technique he had "stolen" from Li Moran last time, it was a golden Skill.

How absurdly powerful had the Ice Breath Technique become after reaching mastery?

Despite only being at Foundation Establishment, Lu Ze had managed to evade the Divine Sense Probes of a whole group of Elders.

That alone showed the value of a golden Skill!

Just as he was worrying over the lack of a suitable Cultivation Method to practice, Zhong Yi had come along to warm his heart. He truly was a great guy.

Lu Ze had never imagined that, aside from disciples earning him rewards by experiencing the game themselves and being impressed by its design, simply watching him play could do the same!

That was good news.

He could pull off this kind of play more often in the future.

With that thought, he decided to get a little more serious.

What if some other disciples decided to warm his heart as well?

Even though he had gone relatively easy on the First Level, he had still accumulated nearly six thousand spiritual energy.

If he focused fully on playing, he could probably save up around ten thousand.

Still, he could not take things too seriously. It was better to leave more things for the players to discover on their own.

Even so, this level of play had already left the entire sect staring in stunned silence.

"Why did he replace the Imitater with Pumpkin Head in the Second Level?"

"Junior Brother Lu finally brought combat spirit plants!"

"Why did he only bring Watermelon Throwers? Corn Throwers are the strongest, aren't they? They can control enemies endlessly!"

"Where's the Gatling Shooter? A formation without a Gatling Shooter is incomplete!"

"He brought Pumpkin Heads, so why not bring Wall-nuts??"

Given the players' current understanding, many of Lu Ze's choices were beyond their comprehension.

For example, while the Wall-nut series was beloved by newcomers, it was practically useless in Endless Mode.

The hardest enemies to deal with, Ice Cart Zombies and Barbarian Zombies, could both instantly kill anything they touched.

Experienced players generally would not choose Wall-nuts after playing for a long time.

Then there was the Gatling Shooter, the newcomer favorite.

Its individual DPS was indeed exceptional, but the key issue was that it had no AOE.

Although pairing it with a Torch gave the flaming peas a bit of splash damage, it was never quite enough.

And the splash damage could be blocked by Ice Carts.

In contrast, the AOE and piercing traits of Puff-shrooms and Doom-shrooms were better suited for Endless Mode.

Lu Ze was currently selecting cards. Hearing the waves of shouts outside, all urging him to bring Gatling Shooters, he gave it some thought.

Actually, bringing that thing was not impossible.

It would conveniently raise the difficulty and increase these disciples' learning costs instead.

"Then I'll use the 97 No-Cannon Formation."

Lu Ze muttered to himself before making his final decision.

The scene was projected in real time.

When the disciples outside saw Lu Ze add a Double Shooter, they all burst into cheers.

"I knew it! The Peashooter family is the best!!"

"No, I still think Throwers are the best!"

"Wait, Junior Brother Lu seems to have brought Throwers, Shooters, and Mushrooms..."

"What Formation is Junior Brother Lu playing? Why can't I make sense of it?"

"Maybe once your cultivation is high enough, the main thing is doing whatever you want."

"I feel like watching Junior Brother Lu clear the Illusion Realm like this is seriously satisfying—more satisfying than playing it myself."

"Fellow Daoist, you feel the same way? That was exactly what I was thinking!"

"If only we could watch like this every day..."

Lu Ze could hear the disciples' hushed chatter even from within the Illusion Realm.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

Wasn't this the prototype of Live Streaming?

Sure enough, cultivators were into this sort of thing too.

Unfortunately, he still had no way of creating a Live Streaming function.

On one hand, there was no network medium. On the other, he lacked the crucial technical artifacts.

But when he thought of the bet he had made with his master, Nangong Yuan, Lu Ze's smile grew even brighter.

Once he defeated Ding Mingcang, his master would have to make good on his promise and help him craft an artifact.

As for the key technology needed to crack Live Streaming, he could leave that to his old master.

Lu Ze put away his smile and continued operating.

With ample sunlight, even a dog could clear the next two stages by coming up and pressing a few buttons at random.

Lu Ze had already built his Formation and was now methodically adjusting it.

Double Shooters, Puff-shrooms, and Watermelon Throwers were planted one after another, waiting to gradually become Gatling Shooters, Doom-shrooms, and Winter Melons later on.

The Sunflowers were gradually replaced with Twin Sunflowers.

Pumpkin Heads were also placed one by one over the plants in the upper and lower lanes...