Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• The Heavenly Dao detects and removes all three members of [Last Dusk] after their extreme cheats wipe out most nearby players. Lu Ze survives because their attacks hit [Azure Peak Soul] first, while the intervention prevents the cheats from locking onto him.
• Lu Ze revives Zhou Yue and Li Moran. With their main rivals eliminated, the trio agree to compete for the most kills, each heading in a different direction.
• The three dominate the remaining teams. Lu Ze makes impressive sniper kills, Li Moran shows off improved aim, and Zhou Yue eventually catches up with a team in the Core Zone. Once everyone else is dead, the Spirit Cloud Sect celebrates the victory for [Your Jade Feet].
• At the extraction point on the Immortal Bridge, Zhou Yue jokes that Lu Ze tried to steal his kills. Then the boss, Old Granny, appears within range. Zhou Yue challenges her and is quickly killed by her sniper fire and guided fireballs.
• Lu Ze realizes the Heavenly Dao Fragment has taken direct control of the boss and altered its attacks. He tries to counter snipe her, but is instantly shot down by an impossibly fast, modified rifle and then bombarded with fireballs.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze stays composed through the cheating incident, revives his teammates, and eagerly joins the kill competition. His confidence turns to alarm when he recognizes the Heavenly Dao Fragment’s intervention—but he still attempts to fight back.
• Zhou Yue goes from baffled survivor to enthusiastic competitor, boasting that he is ready to challenge the boss; his bravado ends in a swift death.
• Li Moran is keen to compete and demonstrates stronger, more polished shooting, earning comparisons to Lu Ze’s style.
• The teammates exchange playful banter over kills, while the Spirit Cloud Sect’s spectators and elders move from tense concern to celebration.

Significant themes

• Cheating and fairness: The Heavenly Dao’s intervention stops [Last Dusk] from ruining the match and averts a wider conflict.
• Competition and camaraderie: With their rivals removed, the trio turn the match into a friendly contest.
• Comic reversal and power imbalance: The players celebrate an easy victory, only to face an overwhelmingly powerful, seemingly sore-losing Heavenly Dao Fragment.

Plot points and events

• The Heavenly Dao competition ends with [Your Jade Feet] still winning despite the bizarre destruction of the Aerospace Base. [Last Dusk] is disqualified for cheating, moving all other teams up one place.
• Lu Ze discovers that [Blood Crow] and [Rakshasa] placed a huge bet on [Last Dusk] and lost. He suspects the Illusion Alliance leader arranged the cheating.
• The system rewards Lu Ze with a Void Soul Pill, which temporarily boosts Spiritual Sense, while the Heavenly Dao awards him the Dao Transformation Art as the competition’s champion prize.
• The Heavenly Dao Fragment explains that the three cheaters died from the corrosive effects of the array used to tamper with the Illusion Realm. It killed the array master too, though the attacker seemed to be a Spirit Body. The Fragment claims it killed him with a single slap.
• After half a month of struggling with the Dao Transformation Art, Lu Ze learns that it has a companion method—but the Heavenly Dao Fragment never obtained it. Lu Ze presses on, spending more than 300 years of accumulated enlightenment to reach perfect mastery.
• His mastery greatly improves his control over story-driven Illusion Realms, and he resolves to use that power to make Righteous cultivators suffer.
• The chapter ends with an author’s note about the novel’s declining readership, a poorly performing title change, and the author’s determination to continue writing until reaching one million Chinese characters.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze celebrates the Dao Transformation Art prize, but becomes frustrated by how difficult it is to learn. His persistence pays off, and his new mastery makes him more confident—and eager for revenge on Righteous cultivators.
• The Heavenly Dao Fragment remains powerful, blunt, and careless: it reveals the method’s missing companion only after Lu Ze has struggled, and dismisses his request to add a Void Soul Crystal to the next prize pool.
• Lu Ze and the Fragment trade comic barbs, while Lu Ze tries to learn more about the Spirit Body that interfered with the competition. The Fragment remembers almost nothing about its appearance.

Significant themes

• Persistence and costly progress: Lu Ze succeeds, but only after pouring centuries of enlightenment into the art.
• Power, cheating, and consequences: Tampering with the competition’s Illusion Realm proves dangerous, killing both the cheaters and their apparent accomplice.
• Comic contrast: Lu Ze’s dramatic hopes and frustrations repeatedly meet the Fragment’s casual, dismissive attitude.
• The author’s note raises the theme of creative perseverance: it describes the impact of algorithms and readership on a novel, while affirming the author’s attachment to the story and determination to continue.

Plot points and events

• At the Illusion Alliance’s elders’ meeting, Rakshasa is badly injured and Blood Crow shows signs of decline. Heart Demon appears unchanged, though his mask has subtly changed.
• Heart Demon explains that his encounter with the Heavenly Dao cost him only a clone. He also saw that the golden runes around the Heavenly Dao resembled the mysterious spell patterns in Lu Ze’s work, suggesting Lu Ze’s spell involves Heavenly Dao power.
• The Alliance decides it needs more information to decipher Lu Ze’s spell. Heart Demon proposes acquiring an Illusion Tower that carries traces of Lu Ze’s spiritual sense, so the Heaven and Earth Four Symbols can analyze it.
• Rather than risk a break-in at the Spirit Cloud Sect, Heart Demon plans to lure Lu Ze out by offering a Void Soul Crystal—a rare spiritual-sense-enhancing treasure—as the prize in a public illusion-realm competition.
• The competition is a cover for obtaining Lu Ze’s used Illusion Tower. Heart Demon believes the crystal is also a trap: Lu Ze’s poor former cultivation talent may leave him unable to absorb it safely, potentially destroying his spiritual sense.

Character developments and interactions

• Heart Demon demonstrates confidence and strategic cunning, concealing his true objective behind a prestigious public event. His immense spiritual sense also intimidates the elders.
• White Crane and Yun Tian, initially wary after Heart Demon’s encounter with the Heavenly Dao, become more determined to rely on him. Both show greed for the Void Soul Crystal, but accept his reasoning for using it as bait.
• The elders shift from frustration at their inability to decipher Lu Ze’s spell to enthusiasm for Heart Demon’s plan. Their confidence rests on the assumption that Lu Ze cannot safely use the crystal.
• Lu Ze, though absent, is the focus of the Alliance’s scheme. His extraordinary illusion skills and apparent connection to Heavenly Dao power make him both a formidable rival and a target.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as power: The Alliance believes it needs Lu Ze’s spiritual traces, not merely a completed illusion realm, to understand his technique.
• Deception and manipulation: The public competition is a façade concealing the Alliance’s real goal.
• Talent and underestimated potential: The plan depends on Lu Ze’s past reputation as a cultivation failure, creating a possible blind spot in the Alliance’s judgment.
• Power’s double edge: The Void Soul Crystal can enhance spiritual sense, but may also overwhelm and destroy it.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Ze spends a month refining his illusion-realm techniques, combining the Dao Transformation Art with his own body-to-Dao spell. The results are more elaborate, but each sentient NPC dramatically increases the spiritual sense required to run a large, story-driven realm.
• Realizing he may need to reach the Refining Void Realm to overcome the limitation, Lu Ze remembers a Void Soul Crystal could strengthen his spiritual sense. He repeatedly pesters the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao, which reveals that a crystal’s aura remains in the world—near the place where it killed a Formation Spirit, in Luofeng Continent.
• Lu Ze decides to travel there. When he tells Nangong Yuan, his master assumes he intends to join the Illusion Alliance, which is based in Luofeng and is recruiting talented illusion crafters.
• Lu Ze checks the Forum and finds the Alliance’s upcoming exchange in Tianshui City. Its challenges award points, with a Void Soul Crystal among the first-place rewards. Despite suspecting the event may be a trap, Lu Ze immediately resolves to win it and asks Nangong Yuan to accompany him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze is ambitious and resourceful, but increasingly frustrated by the spiritual-sense demands of his increasingly sophisticated illusion realms. He shifts his focus from combat-based Demonic Value gains toward cultivating cultivators’ emotional reactions through new stories.
• The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao is exasperated by Lu Ze’s daily requests. It turns him into a turtle after he jokes that it is a wishing well, but ultimately provides a useful clue about the crystal.
• Nangong Yuan is protective and suspicious: he seals Lu Ze’s escape when he thinks Lu Ze may be joining the Alliance, then learns the real reason for his trip. Their exchange ends with Lu Ze casually asking his master to travel with him.

Significant themes

• Ambition and its costs: Lu Ze’s pursuit of ever more complex illusion realms runs up against the limits of his spiritual power.
• Creativity as power: Intelligent NPCs make his worlds richer, but also vastly more demanding to construct.
• Comedy amid high stakes: Lu Ze’s pestering, the turtle transformation, and the misunderstanding about the Illusion Alliance contrast with his serious hunt for a rare treasure.
• Opportunity and suspicion: The Alliance’s contest offers exactly what Lu Ze needs, though its unusual rules make him wonder whether the event is designed with him in mind.

Plot points and events

• The Illusion Alliance announces a recruitment exchange gathering with valuable prizes, including an ancient Void Soul Crystal. Lu Ze signs up, prompting cultivators to lament that his participation will likely leave everyone else without a prize.
• The Alliance’s leaders—Heart Demon and four Elders—welcome Lu Ze’s registration. They have prepared illusions and intend to make him experience failure.
• Lu Ze travels to Tianshui City with his master, Nangong Yuan, Senior Brother Zhong Yi, and Chao Wendao. Though Zhong Yi is attending to gain experience as an Illusion Crafter, Chao Wendao and Nangong Yuan are also there to protect Lu Ze from the Alliance.
• At Leisure Cloud Mountain Villa, Zhong Yi warns Lu Ze that the Alliance may be using the Void Soul Crystal to lure him into a rigged contest. Lu Ze has anticipated possible tricks and trusts that the Heavenly Dao’s supervision will prevent outright tampering.
• The gathering opens on a stage over Leisure Cloud Lake. Rakshasa hosts, and Sikong Che of the Myriad Dao Sect announces the first theme: tower climbing.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze is confident and eager to compete for the Void Soul Crystal. He recognizes the Alliance’s likely schemes but believes his experience with games and the Heavenly Dao’s oversight give him the advantage.
• Heart Demon and the Illusion Alliance reveal their hostility toward Lu Ze and their intention to defeat him through prepared illusions.
• Zhong Yi is developing as an Illusion Crafter, benefiting from Lu Ze’s instruction in techniques such as the Space-Stacking Spell. He is concerned about the contest’s fairness, while Lu Ze jokingly treats his warning as good luck.
• Nangong Yuan and Chao Wendao accompany Lu Ze under the pretense of escorting their disciples; their real priority is protecting him. Zhong Yi joins for practical experience rather than protection.

Significant themes

• Competition and manipulation: The Alliance’s generous prizes attract contestants, but its hostility toward Lu Ze raises doubts about the fairness of the event.
• Confidence versus caution: Zhong Yi sees the dangers; Lu Ze acknowledges them but remains sure of his ability to overcome them.
• Mentorship and loyalty: Lu Ze shares his knowledge with Zhong Yi, while Lu Ze’s senior companions quietly ensure his safety.
• Game-like challenges: The “tower climbing” theme establishes the exchange gathering as a contest built around illusion-based trials.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Myriad Dao Sect announces the next Illusion Realm challenge: “Climb a Tower.”
• Sikong Che introduces restrictive rules designed to prevent contestants from relying on the same idea:
  • No more than 100 contestants may choose the same category.
  • Later contestants choosing an already-popular category receive progressively lower scoring weights.
  • Illusion Realms must fit within a radius of 100 meters.
  • The winner will be judged by the number of plays and total playtime, based on Heavenly Dao data.
• Contestants must choose categories according to their registration numbers. Since Lu Ze registered last—and most others stopped registering after learning he would participate—he receives the final number, 749.
• Expecting combat-based tower-climbing realms to dominate, the first hundred contestants immediately select combat categories. Later contestants become increasingly desperate as useful categories fill up.
• Lu Ze’s allies and enemies believe the rules have successfully cornered him. Heart Demon and the others have deliberately occupied categories related to Lu Ze’s previous strengths, such as tower defense, movement, and combat.
• When Lu Ze’s turn finally arrives, he remains calm, taunts Rakshasa, and unexpectedly chooses “Board Games” as his Illusion Realm category.

Character Developments

• Lu Ze demonstrates confidence and composure despite being placed last and apparently denied the strongest categories. His remark that he has “nine ways” to solve the problem hints at a hidden strategy.
• Zhong Yi becomes angry at the unfair registration-order system and wants to protest, but Lu Ze stops him, showing that Lu Ze is not worried about the disadvantage.
• Sikong Che and Rakshasa work together to impose rules that restrict Lu Ze’s options. Rakshasa takes particular pleasure in announcing Lu Ze’s disadvantage and expects him to fail.
• Heart Demon, White Crane, and Yun Tian are confident that their preparations have neutralized Lu Ze’s talent, though Heart Demon remains uneasy until Lu Ze reveals his category.
• The ordinary cultivators display opportunism and anxiety, rushing to claim combat categories and mocking those left with weaker choices.

Significant Themes

• Ingenuity versus conventional methods: Most contestants assume that tower climbing must involve combat, while Lu Ze’s choice of board games challenges that assumption.
• Confidence under pressure: Lu Ze refuses to react emotionally to deliberate disadvantages, contrasting with the panic and resentment of the other contestants.
• Strategic restriction and counterstrategy: The organizers attempt to suppress Lu Ze through category limits, score penalties, and size restrictions, but the chapter suggests that rigid rules may create opportunities for unconventional solutions.
• Prejudice and herd mentality: Contestants collectively decide that combat is the only viable path, revealing how quickly assumptions become accepted as fact.
• Appearance versus reality: Although Lu Ze seems trapped by the rules, his calm demeanor and unexpected selection imply that the apparent disadvantage may be part of a larger plan.

Character Interactions

• Sikong Che silently coordinates with Rakshasa before announcing the rules, revealing their shared strategy.
• Rakshasa publicly presents the restrictions and exchanges hostile looks with Lu Ze.
• Zhong Yi protests the unfair selection order, but Lu Ze reassures him and hints at his confidence with the phrase, “I have nine ways to solve this problem.”
• Heart Demon’s group celebrates what they believe is Lu Ze’s impending defeat, while Heart Demon privately remains suspicious.
• Lu Ze verbally provokes Rakshasa by asking about his current fortunes and mentioning Elder Blood Crow, causing Rakshasa to struggle to maintain his composure.
• The chapter ends with Lu Ze calmly writing “Board Games,” shocking those who expected him to choose a conventional combat category.

• Competition begins: Lu Ze reveals his chosen Illusion Realm type: Board Games. The cultivators on the platform mock the choice as unsuitable for a tower-climbing challenge, while the Illusion Alliance elders and [Heart Demon] assume Lu Ze has been cornered and that their victory is assured. They had deliberately claimed the promising topics to leave him few options.
• Safeguards against sabotage: As the competitors receive their Illusion Towers, Chao Wendao and Nangong Yuan publicly ask what will happen if a tower malfunctions. [Rakshasa] promises that creators can switch to their own equipment and restart their allotted time. Lu Ze had arranged this precaution because he suspected the Alliance might interfere with his tower. Although [Rakshasa] had considered sabotage, [Heart Demon] rejected it.
• Lu Ze inspects his tower: Tower No. 749 appears completely sound—and unusually well made—leaving Lu Ze puzzled about the Alliance’s plans. He puts the question aside and talks with Senior Brother Zhong Yi.
• Zhong Yi’s predicament: Zhong Yi chose Strategy because earlier competitors had taken the familiar Illusion Realm types, and choosing another available option would have cost him much of his score. He is considering a puzzle-based tower built around escaping mechanisms, showing a natural aptitude for designing traps and levels.
• Lu Ze guides Zhong Yi: Lu Ze asks what first comes to mind when imagining a tower-climbing challenge; Zhong Yi answers, “combat.” Lu Ze explains that combat is only an outward presentation, not the underlying core of a compelling game. He illustrates this with Plants vs. Zombies and Immortal Realm Supremacy, where tactical contests can be expressed through plants, troop types, or other systems rather than direct fighting. He adds that strategy can take the form of images, words, numbers, or board games.
• Character development and interaction: Zhong Yi’s confidence briefly falters when he thinks Lu Ze is saying his strategy-based idea is unlikely to succeed. Lu Ze reassures him and patiently helps him see the broader design principle. Zhong Yi is inspired, thanks Lu Ze, and says he now knows how to approach the challenge.
  Themes: The chapter contrasts the Alliance’s confidence in controlling the competition with Lu Ze’s creativity; it emphasizes that strong game design depends on underlying ideas, not conventional presentation. It also highlights mentorship, strategic thinking, and the value of protecting fair competition.

Key plot points and events

• Three days into the illusion-making challenge, Nangong Yuan and Chao Wendao pass the time playing chess while Lu Ze rests instead of entering his tower.
• Lu Ze explains that he is delaying his entry to give Zhong Yi a chance to develop as an Illusion Crafter and learn from the competition.
• The first illusions appear: one inspired by Plants vs. Zombies and another by Immortal Realm Supremacy. Lu Ze judges most early entries polished but mechanically conventional.
• On the fifth day, Zhong Yi unveils Brave the Demon-Locking Tower. Its eighteen floors use stat-based combat and special artifacts, drawing on the classic game Magic Tower.
• Lu Ze praises the work as impressive for a newcomer, then offers advice on how to develop its combat system with skills and action bars.
• Lu Ze finally enters his own tower and begins creating Slay the Immortal Spire, claiming its possible solutions are “infinite.”

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze shows patience and strategic generosity: he postpones his own entry to encourage Zhong Yi, while confidently positioning himself as a far more advanced creator.
• Zhong Yi has absorbed Lu Ze’s earlier guidance and produced an unusually original, well-designed illusion. He remains humble, eagerly seeking honest critique rather than settling for praise.
• Nangong Yuan and Chao Wendao are amused by Lu Ze’s relaxed attitude but worry he may be falling behind.
• Lu Ze’s praise boosts Zhong Yi, while his technical feedback gives him a direction for improving the illusion.

Significant themes

• Creativity versus imitation: Many competitors’ illusions look refined but rely on familiar mechanics, while Zhong Yi’s game stands out through a distinctive design.
• Mentorship and growth: Lu Ze deliberately lets Zhong Yi learn through practice and comparison, then guides him without spelling everything out.
• Innovation and generational progress: Lu Ze frames game design as evolving from rigid numerical battles toward richer systems with more player choices.
• Confidence and ambition: Lu Ze’s claim that his own illusion offers infinite solutions signals his belief in the gap between his work and the rest of the field.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Ze decides to create “Slay the Immortal Spire,” a cultivation-world take on Slay the Spire. He chooses an early version of its sequel as his template, aiming to preserve satisfying gameplay, multiplayer, and the popular character The Regent, while improving the visuals.
• Meanwhile, other cultivators’ tower-climbing illusion realms are being released and discussed on the Forum. Many are criticized as imitations of Lu Ze’s earlier games, though Zhong Yi’s “Brave the Demon-Locking Tower” earns praise for its distinctive number-based combat.
• On the eighth day of the exchange gathering, Lu Ze’s illusion tower, No. 749, is still inactive, leaving Nangong Yuan concerned. Zhong Yi confidently predicts Lu Ze will win, but Nangong takes this as a jinx and scolds him.
• Zhong Yi tells his master, Chao Wendao, that his own realm has drawn eighteen thousand players. Its popularity has begun to fade, just as Lu Ze predicted, because its limited number-based solutions make repeat playthroughs less appealing.
• The excerpt ends when an unidentified cultivator mocks Zhong Yi for being satisfied with fewer than twenty thousand players.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze remains an ambitious, influential creator. His past criticism of Zhong Yi’s game proves accurate, and he now plans a more polished, replayable illusion realm.
• Zhong Yi is pleased with the recognition his game has received and accepts its shortcomings without resentment. He is already thinking about a sequel.
• Nangong Yuan worries about Lu Ze’s delay and reacts sharply to Zhong Yi’s confident prediction.
• Chao Wendao is eager for updates and hopeful that Lu Ze’s approval of Zhong Yi’s work will benefit his disciple.
• The Forum’s cultivators debate whether other realms are derivative or original, revealing how strongly Lu Ze’s work shapes the field.

Significant themes

• Replayability and randomness: Lu Ze sees varied runs as the core appeal of roguelike games.
• Imitation versus originality: Many creators borrow from Lu Ze’s ideas, while Zhong Yi’s realm is praised for finding its own approach.
• Success has limits: A game can attract many players yet lose momentum if it offers little reason to replay.
• Design philosophy: Lu Ze favors satisfying player experiences, and his advice helps Zhong Yi understand both his game’s strengths and weaknesses.

Key plot points and events

• At the Illusion Competition, Han Xian of the Azure Peak Sect taunts Zhong Yi and the Spirit Cloud Sect, boasting that his Exquisite Tower Wonderrealm has attracted 100,000 cultivators in three days.
• Chao Wendao intimidates Han Xian with a near-strike of Purple Divine Thunder. Lu Ze then emerges from Illusion Tower No. 749 and bluntly tells Han Xian to get lost.
• Han Xian warns Lu Ze not to use outside resources to promote his entry, pointing to a rule that appears designed to limit Lu Ze’s unusually large audience.
• Rather than start an unjustified fight between their sects, Lu Ze proposes a wager: if Han Xian wins the competition, he may strike Lu Ze while Lu Ze is unarmed; if Han Xian loses, he must take one strike from Lu Ze.
• Confident that the terms favor him, Han Xian accepts and signs a Spirit Contract. Lu Ze’s companions are left alarmed by the arrangement.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze stays cool under Han Xian’s provocation, then turns the quarrel into a formally binding opportunity to fight him. His confidence suggests he believes he can win the competition—and that his own strike will be far from harmless.
• Han Xian begins boastful, but Lu Ze’s presence and Chao Wendao’s threat keep him cautious. He nevertheless accepts the wager because he underestimates the risk of losing.
• Zhong Yi quietly supports Lu Ze and reassures the elders that Lu Ze cannot lose at Illusion Realms, though this only makes Nangong Yuan more anxious.
• Chao Wendao protects the Spirit Cloud Sect’s side by cowing Han Xian without escalating to an actual fight. Nangong Yuan worries that Lu Ze’s wager will end badly.

Significant themes

• Bluster versus real confidence: Han Xian relies on impressive numbers and sect backing, while Lu Ze responds with composure and a challenge.
• Cunning and misjudgment: Han Xian sees the wager as a bargain, failing to account for Lu Ze’s strength.
• Rules and rivalry: The sects’ hostility is restrained by formal rules, but Lu Ze finds a way to create a legitimate contest within them.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Ze deliberately delays the release of Slay the Immortal Spire so Zhong Yi can gain experience and attention for his own game, Brave the Demon-Locking Tower.
• Zhong Yi worries that Han Xian’s Exquisite Tower Wonderrealm will overshadow his game. Lu Ze reassures him, judging it to be a conventional action game padded with excessive story and repetitive stages.
• When Lu Ze’s game goes live, Zhong Yi eagerly enters it and starts streaming. Lu Ze realizes the rules do not forbid promoting someone else’s game, so he streams Zhong Yi’s game in return.
• In Slay the Immortal Spire, Zhong Yi chooses single-player mode and selects the Iron Armor Sect Cultivator, the only initially available character.
• He examines the branching tower map, which offers different room types and routes. Assuming elites are manageable, campfires unhelpful, and random rooms worth a gamble, he chooses the middle route.

Character developments

• Lu Ze shows patience and strategic generosity, giving Zhong Yi time to establish himself. He is also confident in his own game and quick to find a way around the promotion rules.
• Zhong Yi is anxious about competition but grows excited and curious as he explores Lu Ze’s unfamiliar game mechanics. His bold, overconfident personality shapes his route choices.

Significant themes

• Mentorship and mutual support: Lu Ze gives Zhong Yi room to succeed, and the two support each other by streaming one another’s games.
• Innovation and player choice: The branching map and varied rooms make route selection a core part of the gameplay.
• Competition and confidence: Lu Ze dismisses a rival game’s padding, while Zhong Yi’s choices reveal his willingness to take risks.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi seeks reassurance about Han Xian’s game; Lu Ze responds dismissively but confidently.
• Zhong Yi promotes Lu Ze’s game by streaming it, prompting Lu Ze to reciprocate by streaming Zhong Yi’s.
• Zhong Yi’s internal thoughts show him imagining future co-op runs with friends, even though he begins with single-player mode.

Plot and events

Zhong Yi enters Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm and begins a turn-based card-battle adventure. He learns that he controls a cultivator by spending limited spiritual energy to play attack and defense cards, then ends his turn while monsters act. After defeating enemies, he can claim spirit stones or choose one of three cards to add to his deck.
He clears three fights, adding the stronger [Prepared Strike] and the blue-rarity power card [Combustion]. A second blue reward, [Flame Barrier], makes him increasingly eager to collect rare cards. Although his planned route includes a shop, he chooses a random room instead. Its “Slippery Footbridge” event repeatedly offers him a choice between losing a card or losing health. He protects his cards until the repeated costs drain 18 health, then swears off random rooms.

Character development

Zhong Yi quickly grasps the combat system and initially judges its basic cards as repetitive. Discovering post-battle card choices reveals the strategic deck-building beneath the simple opening mechanics. Early victories make him confident—especially since his Golden Crow bloodline heals him—but his perfectionism also makes him deliberate over every move. His excitement for rare cards ultimately turns into frustration when he refuses to sacrifice them.

Character interactions

There are no direct conversations with other characters. Zhong Yi’s choices and reactions are shaped by his awareness of Lu Ze’s design: he recognizes Lu Ze’s familiar game concepts, compares the system to his own creation, and assumes the random event is deliberately targeting his prized blue cards.

Significant themes

• Strategy and adaptation: Limited energy makes card selection and turn planning central to combat.
• Progression and discovery: Rewards expand the player’s options and reveal that the apparent simplicity hides deeper deck-building.
• Risk versus reward: Zhong Yi’s curiosity about random rooms—and attachment to powerful cards—leads him to trade away health to preserve his deck.

Plot points and events

• After losing 18 health in a question-mark room, Zhong Yi enters an elite encounter with only 60 health. He underestimates the Olden Statue, which sleeps for two turns but then attacks for 25 damage.
• Despite dealing 44 damage during its vulnerable opening, Zhong Yi cannot finish the statue before it kills his Iron Armor Sect Cultivator. His first run ends.
• The defeat unlocks achievements, story scenes, new cards, and a second character, the Silent Hunter. Zhong Yi ignores the new option and immediately starts another run to prove he can beat the elite.
• At the start of the retry, the Mother of Rebirth offers him one of three special Artifacts. Zhong Yi chooses an item that upgrades a card, then discovers the map and available card choices have changed. He realizes each run is procedurally different.

Character developments

• Zhong Yi’s confidence and boastfulness lead him to underestimate the elite and overlook the danger of entering it with too little health.
• After losing, he blames specific choices and convinces himself that a better route and more attack cards would have secured victory. His pride drives him to retry rather than experiment with the new character.
• He becomes more alert to the game’s mechanics, noticing the revival reward and card upgrades, and finally recognizes the challenge created by the changing runs.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence and consequences: Zhong Yi’s certainty that the game is easy makes him careless.
• Strategy and adaptation: Success depends on planning around health, cards, rewards, and enemies—not just dealing damage.
• Variation and replayability: Randomized maps and card choices prevent players from simply repeating a fixed winning route.
• Entertainment through failure: Viewers enjoy Zhong Yi’s comic reversal from swagger to defeat.

Character interactions

• The Olden Statue’s delayed awakening gives Zhong Yi a false sense of advantage before it threatens him with a powerful attack.
• Stream viewers tease him for boasting and encourage him to try the Silent Hunter.
• The Mother of Rebirth revives Zhong Yi and offers him a choice of Artifacts, introducing a new strategic interaction with the game.

Plot and events

• Zhong Yi begins a second climb of Slay the Immortal Spire, using lessons from his previous run to plan a route. He expects ordinary fights to be easy, random events to be dangerous, and elites to be best avoided.
• His confidence is quickly shaken: the Dark Harbor’s monsters are much tougher than the Dense Forest enemies from his first run. Despite his Golden Crow Bloodline restoring health, he loses fourteen health in the first three fights.
• A random event offers either a sealed Sword in the Stone, which becomes a high-grade Artifact after five elite kills, or 107 Spirit Stones at the cost of seven health. Zhong Yi chooses the sword and changes his route to fight three elites instead of one.
• He has built a deck around Vulnerable and is eager to test it against four Ghost Eels. He targets the strongest eel, but it burrows and gains armor at the last moment, leaving it alive with one health.
• Meanwhile, Lu Ze watches Zhong Yi’s stream. He recognizes that Zhong Yi has made several poor card choices and knows the Ghost Eel encounter is especially dangerous for inexperienced players.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi is enthusiastic and increasingly confident, but his limited knowledge repeatedly leads him to misjudge enemies and mechanics. He adapts when the sword gives him a new objective, though his boldness may now put him in greater danger.
• Lu Ze watches Zhong Yi’s run with amusement and exasperation, privately anticipating that Zhong Yi will regret his choices. His final remark links Zhong Yi’s bad luck to the notorious “Crow’s Mouth Spiritual Root.”
• Zhong Yi directly addresses his livestream viewers, explaining his strategy for handling groups and demonstrating his Vulnerable-based combo.

Significant themes

• Learning through failure: Prior experience helps Zhong Yi, but new enemies and unfamiliar mechanics expose how much he still has to learn.
• Risk and reward: The promise of a powerful Artifact tempts him into pursuing elite fights he initially meant to avoid.
• Strategy and deck-building: Card combinations can create powerful attacks, but timing, enemy defenses, and unexpected mechanics can undermine even a confident plan.
• Dramatic irony: Zhong Yi sees the elite as an easy victory, while Lu Ze—and the reader—recognizes the danger he has overlooked.

Plot points and events

• Zhong Yi defeats four Ghost Eels despite taking heavy damage. Their first-hit shields make the fight difficult, but the rewards are excellent: extra Spirit Stones, the strength-boosting [Vajra Pestle], and the rare gold card [Demon Form], which grants strength each turn.
• With only 20 health remaining, Zhong Yi chooses a risky route toward a question-mark room rather than resting. He encounters a [Fossil Tracker], a monster that demands strong defenses. Because he has focused on attack cards, he is killed.
• Undeterred, Zhong Yi starts another run, eager to unlock and try the cards, characters, and builds he has not yet explored.
• “Slay the Immortal Spire” attracts over ten thousand players in half a day, but its difficulty sparks widespread complaints on the Forum.
• Elder [Rakshasa] exploits the negative reception to promote his own “Exquisite Tower Wonderrealm,” which he published under his disciple Han Xian’s name. Believing he is poised to win the contest and claim the Void Soul Crystal, he also reminds [Heart Demon] that Lu Ze has agreed to take one strike from Han Xian if he loses. [Heart Demon] sees this as a chance to eliminate Lu Ze.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi learns through failure that deck balance matters: aggressive cards helped him survive some fights but left him vulnerable to the Fossil Tracker. His frustration quickly turns into enthusiasm for another attempt.
• The players argue over which characters are strongest and how to play them. Some find the Iron Armor Sect cultivator powerful; others struggle with its card-burning mechanic, while the Soul Cultivator and Hunter are criticized as weak. Players also speculate that the last character unlocked must be especially strong.
• Rakshasa grows confident as players criticize Lu Ze’s game. He boasts to [Heart Demon] that his Wonderrealm is winning and highlights the potentially lethal pact involving Lu Ze and Han Xian.
• [Heart Demon] outwardly stays composed but privately agrees that the complaints look damaging to Lu Ze’s chances. He shifts from uncertainty about Lu Ze’s design choices to hoping Rakshasa’s side wins.

Significant themes

• Risk, learning, and persistence: Zhong Yi’s reckless choice costs him a run, but the challenge motivates him to keep playing and improve.
• Difficulty versus popularity: Players initially judge the Illusion Realm harshly because it is punishing, while the chapter hints that difficulty may be part of its appeal.
• Competition and concealed motives: The contest is not merely about game design; Rakshasa and [Heart Demon] see it as a way to gain a valuable prize and potentially remove Lu Ze.
• Context note: The chapter ends with a personal author’s note describing the writer’s heartbreak and the effort required to continue writing.

Key plot points and events

• Zhong Yi defeats the first-floor Boss, the Endtime Deer, using a combo of Uppercut to apply Vulnerable, Disassemble for boosted damage, and Bully to finish it off.
• The Boss drops three golden cards. Zhong Yi dismisses Add Fuel and Crimson Mantle, but eagerly takes Hellraiser, which automatically plays drawn cards with “Strike” in their names. He resolves to collect more Strike cards to build around it.
• On the second floor, Zhong Yi meets the Ancient One Living Rainbow. Offered three artifacts, he chooses Touch of Rainbow, upgrading his Golden Crow Bloodline to the Nirvana Bloodline, which restores 12 health after each combat.
• He studies the floor map and explains his route-planning rules: prioritize Campfires, take only manageable elite fights, visit question-mark rooms when convenient, and make one major shopping stop. He chooses a route based on these priorities.
• As his livestream attracts more viewers, the audience begins giving him unsolicited—and often contradictory—gameplay advice. Lu Ze watches from the shadows, amused by their behavior.

Character developments

• Zhong Yi grows from a novice into a more confident player, learning the game’s room types, rewards, and route strategy. His excitement over Hellraiser also shows how quickly he commits to a promising build.
• Lu Ze remains an amused observer, entertained by the viewers’ backseat gaming.
• Living Rainbow is introduced as a strange but friendly-looking Ancient One who offers Zhong Yi powerful choices.

Significant themes

• Learning through play: Zhong Yi’s knowledge develops through trial, error, and experience.
• Strategic trade-offs: Card choices, health, upgrades, and routes all require balancing immediate rewards against long-term benefits.
• Spectatorship and advice: The livestream audience mirrors people watching a game and calling out moves, often with confidence but little agreement.
• Excitement and overconfidence: Zhong Yi’s enthusiasm helps drive his play, though it can lead him to become convinced he has found a game-changing strategy.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi interacts with the game’s rewards as if they were personal discoveries, celebrating his Boss victory and thanking Living Rainbow for the bloodline upgrade.
• The viewers shift from passive spectators to active advisers, criticizing Zhong Yi’s card choices and offering competing strategies.
• Lu Ze observes the chat’s behavior and compares it to people crowding around a chess game, finding the comparison amusing.

Plot points and events

• Zhong Yi builds his deck around Vulnerable and Strike cards, enthusiastically taking nearly every card he sees. His growing collection earns praise from his livestream viewers and makes him increasingly confident.
• In a second-floor battle against four Exoskeleton Bugs, he discovers their damage cap prevents any hit from dealing more than nine damage. His deck’s powerful single-target attacks are poorly suited to the group, and he loses 22 health before winning.
• He adjusts his approach, deciding to add area attacks and defensive cards. A random encounter gives him 63 Spirit Stones, which he spends lavishly at a shop on more cards—including another Perfect Strike, Demon Form, and area attacks. He passes up the option to remove a card, unwilling to thin his deck.
• At the final Campfire, despite having only a little over 50 health, Zhong Yi chooses to upgrade Perfect Strike rather than rest. Certain his 34-card deck can handle anything, he enters the Boss room.
• Against the Great Demon, he repeatedly struggles with its forced choices: losing health or drawing fewer cards. He also fails to draw the cards needed to sustain his intended combo, and several Perfect Strikes arrive at the wrong time. He realizes Hellraiser was at the bottom of his deck and ends the chapter furious at the Boss.

Character developments

• Zhong Yi’s excitement over card rewards becomes compulsive collecting. He mistakes a large deck for a strong, reliable one and grows overconfident.
• The cockroach fight briefly teaches him to consider area damage and defense, but he only adds more cards rather than reassessing the cost of an oversized deck.
• His confidence carries him into the Boss fight without healing; repeated bad draws and punishing choices turn his swagger into frustration.

Significant themes

• More is not always better: A bloated deck makes key cards harder to draw, undermining Zhong Yi’s combo.
• Adaptation and balance: Specializing in single-target damage leaves him vulnerable to groups and damage caps; defense and area attacks matter too.
• Overconfidence versus uncertainty: Zhong Yi assumes preparation guarantees victory, but enemy mechanics and draw randomness expose the limits of his plan.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi plays to his livestream audience, showing off his deck and drawing enthusiastic praise from chat, which reinforces his confidence.
• In combat, he faces the Exoskeleton Bugs and the Great Demon; the Boss’s repeated forced choices and disruption of his combo become the chapter’s main source of conflict.

Plot points and events

• Lu Ze leaves the Illusion Realm after hearing his master, Nangong Yuan, complain about an “ungrateful disciple.” Nangong privately gives him a secret art that transfers damage, intending to take the Azure Peak Sect disciple’s attacks himself if Lu Ze loses the competition.
• Nangong explains that players are struggling badly with Slay the Immortal Spire. The Forum is full of complaints, while Han Xian boasts that the rival Exquisite Tower Wonderrealm has reached 100,000 players.
• He urges Lu Ze to lower the game’s difficulty. Lu Ze refuses, arguing that its challenge is approachable: players mainly lose because they lack experience with monsters and cards, or make choices they later regret.
• Lu Ze predicts that near-misses, varied card combinations, and the chance of finding powerful cards or Artifacts will keep players starting new runs. He points to Zhong Yi, who keeps losing but remains cheerful and eager to try again.
• Lu Ze ends by casting a contemptuous glance toward a distant Floating Pavilion, hinting at his hostility toward someone there.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze is confident in his game’s design and dismisses fears that its difficulty will drive players away. He also jokes about Nangong’s protective plan.
• Nangong Yuan shows concern for his disciple and doubts Lu Ze’s ability to avoid defeat. His memories of Lu Ze’s punishing earlier games explain his skepticism.
• Zhong Yi serves as an example of the game’s appeal: repeated losses have not discouraged him; they leave him convinced the next attempt could succeed.
• Lu Ze and Nangong share a teasing but caring teacher-disciple exchange, with Nangong offering practical protection and Lu Ze defending his creation.

Significant themes

• The appeal of attainable challenge: Players are more likely to persist when failure feels like the result of fixable decisions rather than impossible difficulty.
• Hope and replayability: The possibility of a better draw, a useful Artifact, or a smarter choice encourages another attempt.
• Different kinds of difficulty: Lu Ze distinguishes Slay the Immortal Spire from his deliberately punishing earlier games, emphasizing strategy and discovery over sheer frustration.

Plot points and events

• After three failed runs with the Iron Armor Sect cultivator, Zhong Yi switches to the Silent Hunter and lands a powerful dagger-focused build. Lu Ze had designed a guaranteed “power-trip” run for new players within five attempts, helping keep them engaged.
• Zhong Yi’s run draws a lively livestream audience. His daggers overcome the third-floor boss, the Banshee, despite her rule limiting which cards he can play each turn. He finishes her with a dramatic attack that deals over 200 damage.
• Instead of the expected rewards, Zhong Yi is transported into the Silent Hunter’s body and faces the Architect—the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao—in person. His attacks barely affect it, and the Architect kills him with a single blow.
• A results screen reveals that challengers have dealt the Architect only 1,240 damage in total. Zhong Yi mistakenly interprets this as having cleared the game first, celebrates, and renames his stream.
• He then joins Zhou Yue’s livestream and urges him to take the [Accuracy] card. Only afterward does Zhong Yi realize he has revealed that he recently completed an Accuracy-based dagger run.

Character developments

• Zhong Yi goes from frustration after repeated losses to exhilaration and confidence once his build comes together. His excitement leads him to overestimate what the results screen means and to boast before checking his conclusion.
• Lu Ze shows a deliberate understanding of player motivation: he built in an early strong run to give new players a satisfying experience. Meanwhile, he remains eager for cultivators to encounter the Heavenly Dao’s fragment.
• Zhou Yue appears to trust Zhong Yi’s judgment enough to follow his card advice immediately, though he is puzzled by Zhong Yi’s oddly specific knowledge.

Themes

• The thrill of mastery and luck: A coherent build can transform a difficult game into a rush of power, while success still depends on chance and deck choices.
• Gaming versus reality: What begins as a card-game-like Illusion Realm turns into a direct, lethal confrontation with its hidden ruler.
• Misinterpretation and comic irony: Zhong Yi mistakes a damage statistic for proof of victory and accidentally gives away the very experience he meant to keep secret.
• Designing for engagement: Lu Ze deliberately gives new players a chance to experience an exciting build, encouraging them to keep playing.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi entertains and advises his growing audience, then fields their reactions to his boss fight.
• Lu Ze speaks with the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao, which resents that no one has yet died directly at its hands; Lu Ze tells it to wait and warns it to keep visitors’ identities secret.
• Zhong Yi’s advice to Zhou Yue turns into a humorous exchange when Zhou Yue asks how Zhong Yi knew to recommend [Accuracy]—prompting Zhong Yi to reveal his recent dagger-hunter run.

Key plot points and events

• On Zhou Yue’s fifth attempt at the spire, Zhong Yi coaches him through building a Shiv-focused Silent Hunter deck. Zhou’s unusually good card options are actually guaranteed by the game’s fifth-run synergy system, not a change in his luck.
• Feeling confident after easily defeating early enemies, Zhou Yue ignores Zhong Yi’s warning and charges into an elite room. The Swarm Cultivator counters his deck by filling it with Daze cards, leaving Zhou furious at Zhong Yi.
• Two hours after the game’s release, more players are reaching the Architect. Forum posts celebrate different characters and builds while also sharing frustrations about difficult enemies and strategies.
• Zhong Yi explores the five characters after clearing the easiest difficulty. He understands most of them, but struggles with the Regent’s separate Starlight resource.
• When Zhong Yi wishes he could undo a bad move, Lu Ze reveals the Soul Rewind option. Zhong Yi tries it, only to have his Spirit Body shattered before the rewind takes effect. Lu Ze has designed the feature to cost players a death—and, for him, a little Demonic Value—each time.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Yue gains confidence as Zhong Yi’s coaching helps him assemble a strong deck, but his overconfidence leads him into a fight that directly counters it. He blames Zhong Yi after the defeat.
• Zhong Yi shifts from coach to enthusiastic player, experimenting with the game’s characters and openly struggling with the Regent. His friendly teasing unintentionally encourages Zhou Yue to take the dangerous elite fight.
• Lu Ze watches both events from the sidelines. He understands the systems behind Zhou Yue’s apparent luck and has secretly built a cost into the rewind feature, enjoying his own mischievous design.

Significant themes

• Strategy and adaptation: A powerful deck can still fail when it meets a counter or draws poorly.
• Confidence versus caution: Early success emboldens Zhou Yue, but leads him to underestimate a threat.
• Learning through play: Different characters offer distinct mechanics, and mastery takes experimentation.
• Game design and hidden costs: Lu Ze balances player convenience with difficulty and reward through the rewind penalty.