Laddering Is a Technical Skill

Lu Ze's controls were utterly fluid.

The disciples watching, however, were left dazzled, unable to understand many of his moves at all.

"Junior Brother Lu! The defenses on the bottom lane have broken!!"

"No, wait—the Puff-shroom at the very front looks like Junior Brother Lu dismantled it himself?"

"This is bad, the Ladder Zombies rushed in!!"

"Why is he putting Pumpkin Heads on the Double Shooters and Watermelon Throwers at a time like this? Once the ladders are set up, it'll be over!"

"Huh? What is Junior Brother Lu placing Garlic for?"

"This is bad, there are more and more ladders being set up..."

"Did Junior Brother Lu get distracted? Hurry up and remove those Pumpkin Heads and replace them!!"

Hearing the excited shouts from the disciples outside, Lu Ze smiled faintly.

Laddering was far too advanced for these newbies.

He had not originally planned to set up ladders.

But the timing of the second wave of Ladder Zombies had been too perfect, so he did it on a whim.

Laddering was a technical skill.

Once the ladders were properly set up, the zombies that charged toward the backline in the midgame would simply climb over them.

Making use of the zombies' ladder-climbing behavior was actually the best protection for the backline.

Lu Ze did not mind letting them see it. Even if they saw it, they might not be able to learn it.

Time passed second by second.

Lu Ze's Formation gradually took shape.

This was a fairly standard "97 No-Cannon" Formation.

The upper and lower edge lanes each had four Gatling Shooters and Torches, while the other lanes used Winter Melons and Doom-shrooms. Two spaces had been reserved for Ice-shrooms in the center of the pool.

At first glance, there was nothing particularly special about it. Its firepower was merely average, barely enough to clear the stage at its limit, and it relied heavily on manual control against key zombies such as Red-Eyes and Jesters.

Lu Ze was not worried that the disciples would be able to mindlessly clear stages just by copying this Formation.

At the very least, it was not like the classic Eight-Cannon Formation, which could clear a stage as soon as it was brought out.

The stage count continued to rise.

Soon, they reached Stage 20.

Stage 20 was a threshold, and it was also the most extreme stage the Spirit Cloud Sect disciples had ever seen.

From this stage onward, the number of zombies would increase drastically.

The zombies that appeared in Endless Mode were random.

At the start of every stage, the fog above the zombie camp would disperse, allowing players to see what types of zombies they were about to face.

When the disciples saw Barbarian Zombies and Ice Cart Zombies appearing together on Stage 20, they erupted once more.

"This is bad, the barbarians are here. Is Junior Brother Lu's Formation strong enough?"

"Junior Brother Lu still hasn't used ten thousand spiritual energy! Why isn't he changing his Formation??"

"With this many barbarians, why isn't he switching to Corn Cannons?"

"I don't understand why he brought so many Doom-shrooms. It's already Stage 20, yet he still hasn't replaced them."

"Exactly! If he replaced the Doom-shrooms with Gatling Shooters and Torches, his damage output should be enough."

"It's fine to bring Doom-shrooms, but why didn't he put a Tall-Nut in front to protect them!"

"Forget Tall-Nuts—the four frontline spirit plants on land don't even have Pumpkin Heads..."

"Junior Brother Lu seems a little too confident, doesn't he?"

"He still has ten thousand spiritual energy left. Why not replace the Sunflowers with Cattails? They're great against balloons!"

"Why aren't the two land columns fully planted? Wouldn't it be good to put Ground Spike Kings in front?"

"Without Ground Spike Kings to puncture the carts and hold back the barbarians, Junior Brother Lu is going to have a hard time this round..."

Although the disciples greatly admired Lu Ze's ingenuity and had been stunned by his early-game strategy for gathering spiritual energy, they did not think highly of his Formation at this point.

This Formation looked like it was not much different from the ones they built themselves.

They believed they had failed to reach this many stages only because they had not saved enough spiritual energy early on and had built their Formations too late.

If they had learned Lu Ze's extreme early-game method of stockpiling spiritual energy sooner, Stage 20 would not have been a problem.

The Formation they envisioned was far stronger than Lu Ze's.

Facing everyone's criticism, Lu Ze smiled.

His fellow disciples' questions were remarkably like the questions asked by clueless newbies in the Danmu whenever he used to watch Formation videos.

Why bring so many Doom-shrooms?

Anyone who understood the value of 360-degree, no-dead-angle AOE understood.

Why not give the front line Pumpkin Heads?

Because once Pumpkin Heads were equipped, their collision boxes grew larger, and they would get flattened early by the ice machines.

Why not bring Ground Spikes?

They took up two card slots and would inevitably be instantly killed by hordes of giants. A complete waste of space.

Why not fill the front line completely?

Once giants and Jesters came around a few more times, they would understand...

Of course, Lu Ze would not tell them the reasons.

He would simply wait for them to figure it out themselves.

He was not Live Streaming this clear for teaching purposes. He was doing it to send Ding Mingcang to Repentance Valley to experience life.

And he did not make games so players could have fun. He made them so they could suffer...

If you have any suitable game recommendations, feel free to suggest them. Given the cultivation setting, gameplay will be the main focus.

For those who want to see players suffer, it will be coming soon.