Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• Players discover that using SL (rewind) lets them retry a turn, and the method spreads quickly. Clear rates for Slay the Immortal Spire rise, while repeated deaths during rewinds earn Lu Ze more Demonic Value and keep players engaged longer.
• Three days after the game’s release, Rakshasa worries that many players are suddenly clearing it. The Heart Demon explains that a game should be challenging enough to keep players trying, but not so difficult that they give up. He believes their Exquisite Tower Wonderrealm, with its seemingly endless spiral of stages, will keep players playing longer than Lu Ze’s game.
• Zhong Yi livestreams a lesson on deck-building, advising viewers to keep decks small, remove basic cards, and include cards that help cycle through the deck. He is about to reveal his carefully optimized strategy when Zhou Yue invites him to join a team run.
• Zhong Yi joins Zhou Yue, Mu Yawen, and Zhou Qiaoling for a difficulty-eight climb. Recognizing their reckless, unlucky, and greedy habits, he expects trouble; the others are delighted to have him along.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze benefits from players’ adoption of SL: it raises his earnings and encourages longer play sessions.
• The Heart Demon demonstrates a strategic understanding of game design and remains confident that endless progression will sustain player engagement.
• Rakshasa initially fears the sudden rise in clear rates, then adopts the Heart Demon’s reasoning and feels reassured.
• Zhong Yi has become an experienced player and teacher, proud of his deck-building research. His polished solo presentation is interrupted by the invitation, and his familiar teammates’ flaws make him wary.
• Zhou Yue, Mu Yawen, and Zhou Qiaoling enthusiastically welcome Zhong Yi, while teasing and blaming one another over their past team-run habits.

Significant themes

• Engagement through difficulty: A game must balance challenge and accessibility to keep players invested.
• Player behavior and monetization: Rewinds increase both playtime and Lu Ze’s rewards, despite seeming like a generous feature.
• Endless progression versus completion: The Heart Demon values a structure that keeps players climbing without ever reaching a final end.
• Expertise meets chaos: Zhong Yi’s careful strategy contrasts with his teammates’ unpredictable playstyles, setting up comic friction.

Plot points and events

• Zhong Yi leads Mu Yawen, Zhou Qiaoling, and Zhou Yue through Slay the Spire 2’s team mode, where monsters are tougher and attacks can hit the whole party.
• The group repeatedly undermines itself: Zhou Yue plays his cards before Zhong Yi can coordinate Vulnerable, Mu uses cards that strengthen both herself and enemies, and Qiaoling delays attacks to maximize the benefit of [Hand of Greed].
• At a campfire, Zhong Yi finds his teammates in critical condition. Each defends their decision to upgrade cards rather than recover health, while Mu insists she has no health bar—only a block bar. Zhong Yi despairs that he cannot carry them.
• Zhong Yi’s strong card combination, especially the early [Crimson Mantle], helps the team survive and defeat the second-floor Great Demon. He celebrates drawing [Add Fuel] afterward, hinting at a powerful strategy for the final floor.
• At the final floor, the map reveals that every route leads to the central Treasure Chest. Zhou Yue realizes Qiaoling must have secretly chosen the greedy [Treasure Map] event and calls her out.

Character developments

• Zhong Yi is an experienced, confident player who tries to guide the group, but becomes increasingly exasperated by their reckless choices. His strong run gives him a chance to show off a strategy.
• Mu Yawen is cheerful and eager to learn, but takes Zhong Yi’s advice too literally, causing dangerous mishaps.
• Zhou Yue proudly identifies with the Malfunctioning Spirit Puppet and promises to prove its strength, though his weak performance leaves him embarrassed.
• Zhou Qiaoling is pragmatic—and greedy. She prioritizes upgrading [Hand of Greed] and appears to have secretly steered the party toward treasure.

Themes and interactions

• The chapter portrays team play as both cooperative strategy and a source of comic conflict: poor coordination and mismatched priorities threaten the whole party.
• Friendship is tested through playful blame, teasing, and exasperation, but the group continues climbing together.
• The banter highlights the characters’ contrasting habits: Zhong Yi tries to coordinate, Mu follows instructions enthusiastically, Zhou Yue defends his build, and Qiaoling pursues rewards.

Key plot points and events

• The Treasure Map event makes the second floor’s routes more dangerous by forcing the group to confront elite monsters rather than detour. Zhong Yi struggles through the climb, carefully calculating every card play because Soul Rewind is impractical in a four-player run.
• After clearing the Treasure Map room, the team gains 600 spirit stones. Zhong Yi urges Zhou Qiaoling to turn the windfall into stronger combat cards, since he plans to stop adding cards and start trimming his deck.
• The party eventually reaches the top of the third floor, where the Great Demon is the Test Subject, a boss that can stall fights through multiple phases and a highly defensive incorporeal state.
• Zhou Yue hopes the long fight will give his magical-orb build time to come online. Zhong Yi hints that he intends to prevent that and claim the spotlight himself.
• At the final shop, Zhong Yi removes cards from his deck, while Zhou Qiaoling spends lavishly on gold and discounted cards. Her purchases repeatedly benefit teammates as well as herself, though she grumbles about her brother gaining from them.
• At the Campfire, Zhong Yi insists everyone rest before the final battle. But when the countdown ends, only Mu Yawen rests immediately; the others appear to be waiting to upgrade their cards first.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi remains the group’s tactician, compensating for the team’s weak synergy with painstaking calculations. He is preparing to streamline his deck for the boss and enjoys the prospect of outshining Zhou Yue.
• Zhou Qiaoling is cheerful and enthusiastic, using her large supply of spirit stones to buy upgrades. Though she complains when her brother benefits, she still chooses cards that help the whole party.
• Zhou Yue is self-conscious about being the weakest contributor so far, but regains confidence when he sees a boss suited to his slow-building strategy. He challenges Zhong Yi’s teasing.
• Mu Yawen follows Zhong Yi’s instruction to rest at once, while the other three delay—suggesting they are secretly prioritizing card upgrades over recovery.

Significant themes

• Strategic adaptation: Team play makes Zhong Yi’s usual rewind strategy unreliable, forcing careful planning and temporary compromises.
• Risk, reward, and teamwork: The Treasure Map’s dangerous route pays off with a major financial reward, while the group’s purchases and combat strength are intertwined.
• Competition within cooperation: The party works together, but Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue also compete to be the one who shines in the final fight.
• Comic scheming: The ending turns a straightforward rest order into a playful contest over who gets to upgrade cards first.

Plot points and events

• On the third floor, the team faces the Great Demon’s test subject. Everyone’s build is progressing: Zhou Qiaoling relies on powerful Artifacts, Mu Yawen uses a self-playing card combo and helps defend, and Zhou Yue is preparing a damage build.
• Zhong Yi appears to sabotage his own deck by exhausting several strong cards with [Add Fuel], then burning another with [Brand]. His plan is interrupted when Qiaoling gives him a [King’s Sword] and then six more cards via [Generous Donation], thanks to a Replay x6 effect.
• Zhou Yue assumes Zhong Yi’s build has failed and boasts that his own Malfunctioning Spirit Puppet will soon deal huge damage. The boss’s third phase is currently Intangible, so attacks deal only one damage.
• Zhong Yi reveals that he has deliberately thinned his deck to just six cards. With [Crimson Mantle] making him lose health each turn, [Resentment] reliably draws another card, allowing him to cycle the card repeatedly in an “Infinite Loop.”
• The loop works, but each pass deals only one damage. The team’s initial amazement turns to frustration as Zhong Yi keeps going while the boss’s 900 health dwindles painfully slowly.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi reveals a precise, patient deck-building strategy and proudly celebrates his completed combo. His smug showmanship contrasts with the loop’s absurdly slow damage.
• Zhou Yue shifts from worried about Zhong Yi’s apparent misplays to triumphant about his own coming build, then grows increasingly angry when Zhong Yi’s endless turn prevents him from showing it off.
• Zhou Qiaoling innocently disrupts Zhong Yi’s plans by giving him extra cards, unaware of how badly the gifts complicate his setup.
• Mu Yawen remains supportive and defensive, but eventually admits she is getting sleepy as the turn drags on.
• The team moves from awe at Zhong Yi’s combo to pleading and threats, turning his technical success into a running joke.

Significant themes

• Deck-thinning and optimization: Zhong Yi’s strategy shows how removing cards can make a repeatable combo possible.
• Power versus practicality: An “infinite” combo is not necessarily useful when each repetition deals only one damage.
• Teamwork and disruption: Teammates’ helpful actions can unintentionally interfere with one another’s carefully planned strategies.
• Comedy through contrast: Zhong Yi’s grand, dramatic reveal clashes with the tedious reality of hundreds of tiny damage ticks.

Plot points and events

• Lu Ze boosts Zhong Yi’s livestream after recognizing the potential of his infinite-deck strategy. Viewers are amazed when Zhong Yi chains together 900 cards to defeat a Great Demon.
• Zhong Yi publishes a guide outlining infinite-deck builds for all five Classes. The guide includes core cards and early-game recommendations, making the strategy accessible to casual players.
• Infinite-deck builds reignite growth in Slay the Immortal Spire: players restart runs to find key cards, while successful players spend longer in the Illusion Realm.
• Lu Ze chooses not to nerf the builds, believing that the excitement of a high-ceiling strategy is important to a roguelike.
• Forum discussions increasingly echo familiar debates from the game’s previous life, including arguments over forms, Snake Bite, and the Defect Puppet.
• Another unusual source of increased playtime emerges: players deliberately seek out the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao, who appears as the Architect in its recognizable true form. They treat encounters—and even being killed—as a rare honor, then post screenshots.
• The chapter ends as the deadline arrives for the “Spire Climb” competition, eight days after the game’s release.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi proves himself a gifted strategist, developing theoretical infinite-deck routes for every Class in only three days. His successful stream and guide turn him into a popular authority.
• Lu Ze uses his knowledge of the game’s past to promote Zhong Yi’s stream and deliberately preserves infinite-deck builds rather than weakening them.
• The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao is confused by cultivators’ enthusiasm for being killed. Lu Ze explains that players recognize it and seek encounters with it; the Fragment jokingly wonders if they enjoy that sort of thing.
• Players interact through lively Forum debates and share screenshots of their encounters with the Fragment.

Significant themes

• High-risk, high-reward play: The appeal of infinite decks lies in their extraordinary potential and the thrill of assembling them.
• Player communities and engagement: Guides, livestreams, memes, and debates help sustain a game’s popularity and increase playtime.
• The absurdity of game and reality colliding: Cultivators treat a genuine encounter with the Heavenly Dao as entertainment because it occurs inside an Illusion Realm.
• Lu Ze’s design philosophy: He values exciting possibilities and player enjoyment over strict balance.

Summary

• Cultivators gather at Leisure Cloud Lake for the Illusion Alliance’s recruitment and networking event, debating which Illusion Realm will win the opening round. Many favor Han Xian’s “Exquisite Tower Wonderrealm,” while others praise Zhong Yi’s game or doubt Lu Ze’s difficult “Slay the Immortal Spire.”
• Lu Ze secretly joins the crowd and jokingly threatens a critic, then quietly mutes him on the Forum. His appearance startles the onlookers.
• Nangong Yuan grows anxious about Lu Ze’s chances. Zhong Yi insists Lu Ze’s work is excellent, though he quickly backs down under Nangong Yuan’s glare.
• Zhang Yuxian arrives with Han Xian and publicly reveals their wager: the loser must take one attack from the winner without wearing artifacts. The challenge puts Lu Ze at serious risk if he loses, and Zhang uses the audience to make it difficult for him to withdraw.
• Lu Ze remains confident, reassuring his worried master and dismissing Han Xian as “trash.” Han Xian argues that Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm gained popularity too late to catch up.
• Lu Ze realizes the Alliance is estimating player activity from Forum discussion, which failed to reflect the intense, mostly unposted hours players spent on his roguelike cards. He is confident the true playtime gives him the advantage.
• At noon, the floating platform returns and the Alliance’s Rakshasa and a Myriad Dao Sect elder appear to announce the results. The chapter ends just before they do.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze stays composed and self-assured despite the public wager, and shows that he understands the flaw in the Alliance’s activity estimates.
• Nangong Yuan shifts from confidence to worry, then vows to protect Lu Ze even at the cost of the sect’s dignity.
• Zhong Yi supports Lu Ze but is intimidated by Nangong Yuan’s reaction.
• Han Xian is confident that his head start guarantees victory and eagerly accepts the dangerous wager.
• Zhang Yuxian turns the private challenge into a public spectacle, hoping to trap Lu Ze and exploit the potential consequences of his loss.

Significant themes

The chapter highlights overconfidence versus hidden strength, the danger of misleading metrics, and public pressure as a tool of political maneuvering. Lu Ze’s faith in his product contrasts with his rivals’ reliance on visible Forum activity and their apparent certainty that they have already won.

Chapter summary

• The first challenge’s results are revealed. Contestants display their Illusion Realms’ player counts and playtime. Han Xian’s Exquisite Tower Wonderrealm initially dominates with 14,000 players and roughly 2.9 million hours of play.
• Lu Ze overturns expectations. His Slay the Immortal Spire posts far greater numbers—millions of players and nearly eight million hours of play—making it the clear winner. The addictive roguelike gameplay, combined with cultivators’ ability to play for exceptionally long stretches, explains its enormous playtime.
• Han Xian disputes the result, but Rakshasa silences him. Han Xian accuses Lu Ze of falsifying the data, yet Rakshasa warns him not to question the Heavenly Dao. Rakshasa confirms that the figures are valid and declares Lu Ze the winner of the first challenge.
• Lu Ze collects on their wager. Han Xian agrees to the terms: no artifacts and no holding back. Confident in his higher cultivation and defensive spells, he invites Lu Ze to strike. Lu Ze hits him so quickly and forcefully that Han Xian’s Divine Soul is severely damaged, ending his prospects in illusion cultivation.
• The opposition shifts its strategy. At Leisure Cloud Mountain Villa, Rakshasa is furious over Han Xian’s injury. Heart Demon argues that the Elders should focus on stopping Lu Ze from winning three challenges, since the Void Soul Crystal is still within reach. They believe Lu Ze’s success depends on his bond with the Heavenly Dao and plan to sever that connection for the next challenge.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze remains calm amid the crowd’s doubts, confidently accepts Han Xian’s wager, and reveals overwhelming physical strength. His easy victory underscores that opponents underestimate him beyond his Illusion Realm craft.
• Han Xian shifts from proud confidence to disbelief, then challenges Lu Ze to prove himself. His arrogance and faith in his defenses lead to a devastating defeat.
• Rakshasa suppresses his anger over the contest’s outcome to avoid provoking the Heavenly Dao, but later lashes out over Han Xian’s injury.
• Heart Demon stays calculating and directs the Elders toward a counterstrategy, identifying Lu Ze’s apparent Heavenly Dao connection as his vulnerability.

Significant themes

• Underestimating innovation: A “board game” Illusion Realm outperforms more conventional designs through strong engagement and addictive gameplay.
• Power and arrogance: Han Xian’s belief that rank and defenses make him untouchable proves disastrously wrong.
• Fear of higher authority: Even Lu Ze’s rivals are reluctant to challenge the Heavenly Dao, shaping their choices and suspicions.
• Competition beyond the first victory: Lu Ze’s win raises the stakes, while the opposition looks for ways to undermine the source of his advantage.

Plot points

• After losing the first challenge, Heart Demon decides the Illusion Alliance should stop competing on the Heavenly Dao’s terms. His plan is to transform an Illusion Realm into a physical Secret Realm, shifting the contest from illusion to reality and removing Lu Ze’s main advantage.
• The following day, many cultivators have left the gathering after Lu Ze’s astonishing success. Those who remain gossip about his victory over Han Xian, whose Divine Soul he crippled with a single strike. The Azure Peak Sect is furious but cannot openly retaliate because Han Xian agreed to the wager.
• Lu Ze arrives to an unusually respectful crowd. Zhong Yi praises his speed and mentions Li Moran’s confidence in his talent. Lu Ze admits he would still lose to Li Moran, who has challenged him to spar.
• At noon, Rakshasa introduces Qian Wancai, owner of the Flying Cloud Trading House, as the sponsor and designer of the second challenge. Rather than create an Illusion Realm, participants must run an auction within a Secret Realm.
• The rules require the Secret Realm to admit only people from the Great Qian Dynasty. Contestants have seven days, and their score depends on how much profit they earn from auctions.

Character developments and interactions

• Heart Demon responds to defeat by changing strategy rather than repeating the Alliance’s earlier approach; he proposes converting illusion into reality.
• Lu Ze has become a feared and respected figure after defeating Han Xian, though he recognizes that Li Moran remains beyond his ability.
• Zhong Yi admires Lu Ze and reveals that Li Moran regards Lu’s talent highly.
• Qian Wancai brings a practical, commercial perspective to the competition, asking the cultivators to help sell the trading house’s excess treasures for real money.
• Rakshasa formally hands the challenge over to Qian and announces its rules.

Significant themes

• Adaptation after defeat: Heart Demon seeks a new arena instead of challenging Lu Ze where he is strongest.
• Illusion versus reality: The second challenge deliberately tests practical outcomes—real auctions and profit—rather than mastery of illusion.
• Reputation and power: Lu Ze’s victory changes how the crowd treats him, while Han Xian’s defeat becomes public ridicule.
• Competition shaped by rules: The wager prevents the Azure Peak Sect from freely retaliating, and the new challenge’s restrictions determine who can participate and how success is measured.

Plot points and events

• The Illusion Alliance announces its second challenge: instead of creating illusion realms, participants must create secret realms based on an auction.
• Alliance Leader [Heart Demon] designed the change to limit Lu Ze’s usual advantages: secret realms cannot easily support his imaginative worlds, and the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao cannot interfere with them.
• The contest is restricted to participants within the Great Qian Dynasty. The organizers plan to auction valuable items from Flying Cloud Trading House, believing Lu Ze cannot sell enough of the warehouse’s remaining low-value goods to win.
• The rules provoke debate among the cultivators. Some condemn the change as a deliberate attack on Lu Ze and leave the gathering; others welcome the return to traditional secret-realm crafting.
• Zhong Yi wants to confront the Alliance, but Lu Ze stays calm. He accepts that the organizers can set the rules and hints that he can turn their choice to his advantage.
• Lu Ze reveals his idea: “King of Auctions,” a game whose realistic setting and mechanics can be reproduced in a secret realm.

Character developments and interactions

• [Heart Demon] appears strategically confident but remains uneasy, ordering the elders to monitor the Spirit Cloud Sect for outside help.
• [Blood Crow] admires the plan and is convinced Lu Ze cannot sell the warehouse’s leftover goods.
• Zhong Yi is outraged on Lu Ze’s behalf and tries to act, but Lu Ze reassures him and shows confidence in his own solution.
• Lu Ze recognizes the Alliance’s strategy without being rattled. His reply to [Rakshasa]’s gloating suggests he is already prepared to compete on their chosen ground.

Significant themes

• Rules and fairness: The challenge is presented as a legitimate shift in craft, but many see it as a targeted, underhanded move.
• Adaptability and creativity: The Alliance believes restrictions will neutralize Lu Ze’s strengths; Lu Ze counters by finding a concept that fits the new format.
• Confidence and perspective: Lu Ze’s claim that an illusion realm is “his territory” reflects his belief that the distinction between illusion and secret realms can be overcome.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Ze and Zhong Yi inspect the Flying Cloud Trading House’s vast warehouse, where the [Heaven-Piercing Talisman] represents 30 percent of the total inventory value. Zhong Yi concludes that selling it is the obvious route to winning the auction challenge.
• Lu Ze hints at a plan, then admits he has no way to sell the talisman. He expects the Illusion Alliance to arrange a buyer itself—and believes trying to outbid them would expose the Spirit Cloud Sect’s strategy.
• Lu Ze’s actual plan is to sell the other 70 percent of the inventory.
• The Illusion Alliance learns that Lu Ze may have a way to sell the talisman. Worried he could get ahead, [Heart Demon] orders [Blood Crow] to prepare the Secret Realm and hold the auction the next day.
• Instead of immediately making a Secret Realm, Lu Ze creates a small Illusion Realm called “King of Auctions” to generate publicity and attract buyers.
• [Blood Crow] moves first, arranging for prominent clans to bid up the talisman and several other treasures. The proceeds nearly match the value of everything left in the warehouse, leaving Lu Ze with a daunting challenge.
• Lu Ze anticipated the Alliance’s move. Rather than respond directly, he launches “King of Auctions” as a new mode in “Immortal Abyss Continent Operation,” whose player count is nearing 800,000.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze demonstrates that his strength lies in strategy and promotion, not necessarily in possessing a secret auction technique. He deliberately lets the Alliance believe he has a plan, then uses a popular game to attract an enormous audience.
• Zhong Yi is cautious and increasingly anxious. He spots how easy the challenge is to manipulate, but Lu Ze’s evasive jokes and unexpected approach leave him baffled.
• Nangong Yuan misunderstands the urgency of the challenge at first, then reacts dramatically when Zhong Yi announces that the talisman has been sold.
• [Heart Demon] treats Lu Ze as a serious threat and chooses to act preemptively. [Blood Crow] responds with an aggressive, expensive auction strategy, personally absorbing the inflated costs.

Significant themes

• Strategy over direct competition: Lu Ze avoids trying to beat the Alliance at its own auction and instead changes the conditions by drawing in buyers.
• Information and deception: Lu Ze’s misleading hints make the Alliance act quickly, while its informants and countermeasures show the challenge is as much about intelligence as sales.
• Audience as power: Lu Ze recognizes that an auction needs buyers as well as goods, and uses the popularity of his Illusion Realm to build a market.
• Escalating financial risk: [Blood Crow] spends heavily to secure an advantage, raising the stakes for both sides.

Key plot points

• Zhong Yi enters the new King of Auctions mode, initially doubtful that an auction could make an engaging illusion realm.
• The tutorial places him at an auction for a sealed shipping container whose contents cannot be inspected directly. Players must infer its value from public clues and character abilities, then bid.
• Zhong Yi recognizes that container-searching works much like looting in Immortal Abyss Continent Operation: items’ locations, sizes, and quality are hidden, so players must use information to make educated guesses.
• Bidding rules change across five rounds, making timing and information management as important as the bid itself. Different characters and tools offer different advantages.
• Zhong Yi wins the tutorial, buying goods worth 90,000 spirit stones for 45,000. Impressed, he studies the characters’ skills and becomes confident he can excel.
• He tries to enter the high-difficulty Deep-Sea Shipwreck map but lacks its five-million-spirit-stone entry fee. With only 200,000 starting funds, he chooses the basic Blind Box Pile map and boasts that he will turn it into 25 million.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi shifts from skepticism to fascination, quickly grasping the mode’s strategy and praising Lu Ze’s design. His confidence then becomes showmanship as he boasts on his livestream, though the entry requirement gives him a brief reality check.
• Zhong Yi’s thoughts highlight his admiration for Lu Ze, whose design combines auction play with familiar looting mechanics.
• The chapter also introduces several auction characters through Zhong Yi’s review: Mai Xiaowen reveals a few item qualities early; Nameless gains powerful information in the final round; and Hive Medic reveals lower-quality items at the start.

Significant themes

• Information and deduction: Players cannot see the goods directly and must piece together clues.
• Risk, timing, and changing advantage: Round-based rules and character abilities make strategy evolve throughout the auction.
• Innovation through familiar mechanics: Lu Ze makes auctions engaging by adapting the suspense of searching for loot.
• Confidence versus reality: Zhong Yi’s ambitious plans collide with the practical limits of his starting funds.

Plot points and events

• Lu Ze explains why he added King of Auctions to the Immortal Abyss Continent: it builds on a popular game concept and gives players a new way to spend their stored Spirit Stones. Currency can move from Grave Robbing Mode into auction mode, but not back.
• Zhong Yi plays cautiously, using Mai Xiaowen’s information-gathering skill and Four Symbols Appraisal to estimate a container’s contents. He bids 500,000 Spirit Stones, convinced that a rival’s 800,000 bid is a mistake.
• The reveal initially seems to prove Zhong Yi right: the red item is worth only 120,000. But a hidden red collectible, a Yongle Encyclopedia Fragment II, adds 1.55 million to the container’s value, netting the rival a huge profit.
• After watching someone else win big, Zhong Yi abandons his careful strategy and starts bidding recklessly. He loses repeatedly, runs out of Spirit Stones, and is eventually barred from entering another auction.

Character development

• Zhong Yi begins as a methodical, risk-conscious player who trusts his calculations. Seeing another player profit from a gamble makes him envious and pushes him into increasingly impulsive betting. His collapse shows how quickly his self-control gives way to the desire to recover losses.
• Lu Ze remains a calculating designer, pleased that the game’s competitive rewards—and the sting of seeing others succeed—will keep players spending.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi explains his valuation to his livestream audience, defending his cautious 500,000 bid against viewers urging him to bid higher.
• The audience mocks him after his confident prediction is overturned, then watches as the loss spurs him to gamble.
• Lu Ze observes the stream and recognizes that seeing an opponent profit can be more compelling than losing one’s own money.

Significant themes

• Gambling and escalation: A player can start with careful strategy but become reckless after envy or losses take hold.
• The emotional power of comparison: Another person’s success can feel more painful than one’s own setback.
• Game design and exploitation: Lu Ze uses these psychological pressures to keep players engaged and drain their Spirit Stone reserves.

Key events

• After losing Spirit Stones in King of Auctions, Zhong Yi watches friends’ streams to reassure himself that others fare worse. Zhou Qiaoling’s apparent success only upsets him, while Mu Yawen’s mispriced bid makes him laugh—until her container unexpectedly yields valuable jadeite and a large bronze vessel, turning a loss into a 900,000-Stone profit.
• Zhong Yi then visits Zhou Yue’s stream, relieved to learn Zhou has returned to the auction game after going bankrupt in Grave Robbing Mode. Zhou enters the million-Stone Quiet Mansion venue with only 1.76 million Stones, hoping to build toward the ten-million Secret Auction.
• Playing Deep Blue, Zhou sees an enormous red collectible revealed by his Skill. He tries to conceal how valuable it is, but rival bids escalate. Caught up in the contest, he bets his entire 1.91 million and wins.
• The container’s supposed prize turns out to be a fifteen-square Bigeye Tuna, worth less than 20,000 per square. Zhou loses about 1.2 million, ends his stream, and declares he will go kill a Fish Monster in the Soul-Burial Sea.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhong Yi moves from self-doubt to vindictive amusement at others’ misfortune, but Mu Yawen’s lucky windfall leaves him frustrated again. He sees Zhou’s risky play as familiar and initially comforting.
• Mu Yawen is embarrassed by her accidental overbid, then delighted when the container’s contents make her unexpectedly rich. She thanks Zhong Yi for his stream tip, joking that his presence must have brought her luck.
• Zhou Yue is analytical at first, using Deep Blue’s information and a bluff to compete. As the bidding intensifies, his restraint collapses into all-in gambling; his dramatic loss turns triumph into humiliation.
• Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue’s friendship is shown through Zhong’s affectionate teasing and satisfaction at seeing his “good brother” struggle—though Zhou’s spectacular failure proves more painful than reassuring.

Significant themes

• Gambling and risk: Strategic play gives way to compulsive escalation, especially when Zhou becomes fixated on the apparent jackpot.
• Luck versus judgment: Mu Yawen profits despite a mistake, while Zhou’s careful analysis cannot protect him from a misleading reveal.
• Schadenfreude and camaraderie: Zhong copes with his own losses by watching friends fare badly, yet his interest reflects genuine familiarity and affection.
• Appearance and value: The enormous red collectible looks priceless, but its size and color conceal its low actual worth.

Plot points and events

• Zhong Yi, buoyed by watching Zhou Yue’s stream, decides to try his luck in King of Auctions. He exchanges two million Spirit Stones from his enormous in-game fortune, but avoids the more expensive auction house.
• In the Quiet Mansion, he uses a special item—the Giant Object Sampler—to reveal the largest item in a shipping container. It turns out to be the same red-rarity Bigeye Tuna that caused Zhou Yue’s disastrous loss.
• Rather than quit, Zhong Yi tries to bluff the other bidders. He raises his bid repeatedly, hoping they will assume the container contains a valuable treasure and drive up the price.
• His bluff works too well: the others stop bidding, and Zhong Yi wins the lot for 1.6 million. The container holds only the tuna, leaving him with a net loss of about one million.
• Furious, he leaves the Illusion Realm and vows to join Zhou Yue in the Soul-Burial Sea to kill fish demons.

Character development

• Zhong Yi begins confident and playful, believing his wealth and preparation will protect him from bad luck.
• His plan to manipulate other bidders shows his mischievous, competitive streak—and his tendency to enjoy others’ losses more than his own gains.
• His confidence collapses when his bluff succeeds, exposing his overconfidence and poor judgment. He ends the chapter angry but ready to turn his frustration into action.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi’s mood is strongly affected by watching Zhou Yue’s stream; Zhou Yue’s earlier misfortune becomes a warning—and then a strangely repeated experience.
• The live-stream audience comments on Zhong Yi’s resemblance to Lu Ze and mocks his increasingly reckless scheme.
• The anonymous bidders never see Zhong Yi’s identity, but their decision to stop bidding makes him the victim of his own bluff.

Significant themes

• Bad luck and repetition: Zhong Yi encounters the same disastrous tuna that ruined Zhou Yue’s auction.
• Greed and overconfidence: His attempt to manipulate the bidding turns a manageable loss into a major one.
• Schadenfreude: Zhong Yi openly finds others’ losses more satisfying than his own profits, until the joke turns against him.
• Fate versus agency: Despite his preparations and clever plan, chance and other players’ choices undo him.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Yue adopts a cautious “knife-running” strategy in King of Auctions, using Luna to identify low-rarity loot and steadily grow his bankroll from two million to just over five million.
• A lucky battle-pass pack gives him Treasure Scan, an item that reveals how many slots red-rarity collectibles occupy in a hold.
• Tempted by a large Deep-Sea Shipwreck hold, Zhou Yue scans it and discovers 86 slots of red collectibles. He goes all in with 5.16 million, narrowly winning the auction.
• The revealed reds are all disappointing, low-value items. Zhou Yue loses 1.6 million and angrily confronts the viewer who urged him to risk everything. The viewer is “Genius Cultivator,” revealing that Lu Ze was behind the bad advice.
• Meanwhile, Lu Ze reviews the game’s performance. A promotional event tied to Immortal Abyss Continent Operation has brought most players into King of Auctions, with many playing for hours.
• Lu Ze concludes that cultivators are especially drawn to gambling-style random rewards. He prioritizes users in the Great Qian Dynasty and prepares to transplant the Illusion Realm into a Secret Realm.

Character developments

• Zhou Yue shifts from reckless play to disciplined, low-risk earning, but a lucky item and an enormous haul lure him back into an all-in gamble. His confidence turns to frustration when the loot disappoints.
• Lu Ze shows a sharp understanding of player behavior and marketing. He is willing to manipulate the game’s appeal—and its players—to expand its audience, then moves on to his next major project.

Significant themes

• Gambling and risk: The auction game’s information tools and rapid rounds make it feel like gambling beneath an auction facade; even Zhou Yue’s careful strategy can collapse when luck tempts him.
• Luck versus judgment: Zhou Yue mistakes a lucky streak and a high red-slot count for a sure win, while the actual value of the loot proves unpredictable.
• Games as engineered engagement: Lu Ze’s event, rewards, and player targeting show how game design can turn curiosity into prolonged play.

Character interactions

• Zhou Yue’s livestream audience teases him, encourages him to take bigger risks, and ultimately helps push him into the losing all-in bid.
• Zhong Yi previously taught Zhou Yue the safer strategy that helped him rebuild his funds.
• Lu Ze watches Zhou Yue’s disastrous auction through Zhong Yi’s livestream; Zhou Yue’s furious callout exposes Lu Ze as the “Genius Cultivator” behind the advice.

Key plot points and events

• Zhong Yi continues playing King of Auctions, relying on the French Gambling God’s skill to reveal the quality and outlines of items.
• He spots a promising container containing several red 1×2 items, which have a strong chance of being valuable. He plans to outwit two Nameless players by bidding low, then raising his offer sharply.
• Zhong Yi’s strategy fails: the Nameless players do not raise their bids, and Mai Xiaowen wins the container for 2.8 million.
• The container yields three Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng, then a Star of Africa. Mai Xiaowen makes a huge profit, while Zhong Yi laments that the haul should have been his.
• Back in the collection room, Zhong Yi receives notice of a Great Qian Dynasty charity auction at Leisure Cloud Mountain Villa in two days.

Character developments

• Zhong Yi shows both expertise and recklessness: he understands the auction system well, but his confidence and taste for gambling leave him vulnerable to bad calls.
• Mai Xiaowen proves more successful in this round, winning a valuable container despite Zhong Yi’s elaborate plan.
• Zhong Yi’s frustration turns into comic self-pity when he watches the prizes he hoped to win make Mai Xiaowen rich.

Significant themes

• Risk and overconfidence: Knowing the odds does not prevent Zhong Yi from chasing a gamble or misjudging how others will act.
• Luck and competition: A sound-looking strategy can collapse unexpectedly, while another bidder can walk away with an enormous windfall.
• Comedic humiliation: Zhong Yi’s confident commentary makes his defeat all the more amusing, especially as the audience teases him.

Character interactions

• Zhong Yi talks through his tactics to the livestream audience, trying to explain how he will manipulate the other bidders.
• His plan depends on the two Nameless players following their usual strategy, but they unexpectedly stay out of the bidding, allowing Mai Xiaowen to win.
• The Danmu viewers mock Zhong Yi after his scheme backfires, turning his disappointment into a running joke.

Key plot points and events

• “King of Auctions,” a fast-paced Illusion Realm game, has become popular enough to serve as a casual pastime. Players can access it even while inside Grave Robbing Mode.
• Lu Ze announces a real-world auction in the Great Qian Dynasty, recreating the game as a Secret Realm. The event’s novelty and limited-edition reward excite cultivators, while outsiders follow along online through prediction bets.
• Blood Crow tells Heart Demon that the auction goods originally totaled 170 million taels of gold. After 85 million’s worth sold on the first day and Blood Crow arranged for another 5 million to be sold, only about 80 million remains. He believes Lu Ze cannot surpass their total, especially with the warehouses full of unwanted goods.
• Heart Demon is reassured—but then wonders where Spirit Cloud Sect elders Chao Wendao and Nangong Yuan have gone.
• At Lu Ze’s residence, Zhong Yi asks to join the auction, but Lu Ze says he must follow the organizers’ rules. Zhong Yi then asks about the missing elders, who return exhausted.
• The elders reveal that, at Lu Ze’s request, they have spent several days helping more than 100,000 ordinary people enter the Illusion Realm through trial stations. Though they are drained, they insist they did it to help their sect compete against the Illusion Alliance.
• Lu Ze explains that bringing ordinary people into the game solves its biggest limitation: too few cultivators are interested in the auction’s mostly mundane wares. Ordinary participants—especially wealthy young nobles—have taken to the game enthusiastically.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze shows strategic ingenuity: rather than compete only for cultivators, he expands the audience to ordinary people and builds interest in both the Illusion Realm and the real-world auction.
• Blood Crow is confident his manipulation of the remaining inventory guarantees victory; Heart Demon trusts his calculations, though his concern about the elders hints that something may be amiss.
• Chao Wendao and Nangong Yuan demonstrate loyalty and determination by working themselves to exhaustion for Lu Ze’s plan. Chao’s boast that he could continue is undercut when he suddenly gets a nosebleed.
• Zhong Yi admires Lu Ze’s resourcefulness and eagerly anticipates the auction, while also wishing he could participate himself.
• The elders’ strenuous effort and Lu Ze’s respectful thanks reinforce their cooperative, familial relationship.

Significant themes

• Innovation through widening participation: Lu Ze turns a narrow game into a mass attraction by involving people overlooked by the cultivation world.
• Competition and strategy: Blood Crow relies on controlling inventory and assuming Lu Ze’s limits; Lu Ze counters through audience-building and careful preparation.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: The elders’ exhaustion underscores their commitment to the Spirit Cloud Sect and its struggle with the Illusion Alliance.
• The appeal of novelty and shared entertainment: The event draws interest not only for its rewards, but because it brings a virtual experience into reality.

Key plot points and events

• On the sixth day after the second challenge was announced, Lu Ze opened his auction secret realm.
• Blood Crow arrived early, convinced he could finally defeat Lu Ze and win the Void Soul Crystal. He had also arranged to restrict exchanges of spirit stones for the auction’s currency, hoping Lu Ze would run short of funds.
• Qin Ming appeared and asserted his right to attend, having lived in the Great Qian Dynasty for centuries. Blood Crow briefly feared the powerful cultivator could bankroll Lu Ze, but Qin Ming admitted he had no money and asked Lu Ze for chips.
• Blood Crow’s confidence collapsed when the villa gates opened to a huge crowd. Lu Ze had prepared around 2,000 auction rooms, and thousands of people had come.
• The auction uses chips and a tiered bidding system. Participants can compete throughout the day, while entry to the final “Secret Auction” requires ten million chips—an amount players must earn through the auction’s activities rather than buy outright.
• The crowd talks excitedly about profits and missed opportunities, making the event seem less like a conventional auction than a place to make money. Alarmed, Blood Crow warns Heart Demon that something feels wrong.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze remains composed and teasing, greeting Blood Crow with a pointed joke about making a fortune. His elaborate secret realm shows he anticipated mass participation.
• Blood Crow begins smugly, expecting Lu Ze’s defeat, but becomes increasingly confused and uneasy as the crowd and its focus on profits become clear.
• Qin Ming arrives with the bearing of an eminent expert, but his request to borrow chips undercuts that image and reassures Blood Crow—at least temporarily.
• Heart Demon is present as Blood Crow’s ally, but the scale and unusual nature of Lu Ze’s event leave even him facing an unfamiliar situation.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence and reversal: Blood Crow’s careful plans are undermined by a turnout he never anticipated.
• Disruption of expectations: Lu Ze transforms the idea of an exclusive auction into a mass event centered on earning and spending chips.
• The power of participation: The crowd’s size suggests Lu Ze’s strategy depends not on a few wealthy cultivators, but on attracting ordinary people in great numbers.

Plot points and events

• Blood Crow suspects Lu Ze is cheating because auction goods are repeatedly being traded in the waiting room. Lu Ze explains that the participants are bartering with chips, not buying people off, and that his team is collecting items for a second auction rather than taking goods from the trading house.
• Blood Crow mistakes the apparent trading boom for a harmless cycle. Heart Demon sees the real scheme: reselling each item at a profit lets Lu Ze earn far more than selling it once.
• Lu Ze’s “King of Auctions” Secret Realm thrives by exploiting visitors’ appetite for risk and status. Carefully controlled payouts in the Beginner Auction Room encourage players to build funds, while wealthy heirs repeatedly buy more chips after losing theirs. The Realm earns steadily increasing revenue.
• At the Secret Auction, Qin Ming is a surprising exception among the entrants: despite being broke and poor at gambling, he keeps trying to trade his Artifacts for chips because he loves playing.
• As the Realm closes, Blood Crow accuses Lu Ze of manipulating participants through chip exchanges. Lu Ze points out that the chips were his own creation and that buying them back breaks no rules.
• Blood Crow and Rakshasa test departing visitors with a truth-detecting Formation, hoping to find evidence of coercion. Every answer registers as truthful, leaving them unable to prove cheating.
• Lu Ze’s Secret Realm earns 130 million and wins the round, giving him his second point. The Elders worry that another loss will hand him the Void Soul Crystal. Heart Demon insists he cannot pass the third challenge.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Ze reveals himself as a shrewd strategist: he has designed the auction as a casino, profiting from repeated play and the participants’ own desires while staying within the rules. He remains calm and amused under Blood Crow’s accusations.
• Blood Crow grows increasingly frustrated and financially ruined. His confidence collapses when Lu Ze exposes the loophole in his accusations and the truth test fails.
• Heart Demon recognizes Lu Ze’s profit strategy immediately, sharply correcting Blood Crow’s naïve assumption that the trading is harmless. Despite the setbacks, he remains confident Lu Ze will fail the next challenge.
• Qin Ming is shown as an enthusiastic but inept gambler, willing to trade valuable Artifacts simply to keep playing. His public praise of Lu Ze’s Realm also discourages the Elders from framing him.
• Rakshasa helps Blood Crow try to catch Lu Ze, but their investigation yields no evidence.

Significant themes

• Greed and risk: Lu Ze’s success depends on people’s willingness to gamble, chase losses, and spend freely.
• Ingenuity within the rules: Lu Ze exploits gaps in the regulations rather than openly breaking them.
• Appearance versus reality: What looks like a straightforward auction is actually a carefully designed casino, and the apparent goods-trading frenzy hides a profitable resale cycle.
• Power and accountability: Even Lu Ze’s opponents cannot simply fabricate evidence while Qin Ming’s status and scrutiny make such a move risky.

Key plot points and events

• Heart Demon bribes Guo Yunfeng, the Ruthless Sect’s grand elder, with a Mortal Tears Crystal—a treasure that could help her disciple, Liu Mengli, overcome a major cultivation barrier.
• In return, Guo agrees to give Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm the worst possible rating and later praise the Illusion Alliance’s realm.
• Heart Demon reveals the third challenge’s real objective: make Guo cry. He considers it impossible because she has severed her emotions, making this challenge his surest way to defeat Lu Ze.
• Two days later, the third challenge is announced before a larger crowd. Guo is named as its subject, and the theme is Love: contestants have seven days to move her to tears.

Character developments and interactions

• Heart Demon shows how carefully he has engineered the exchange. After Lu Ze defeated his first two challenges, Heart Demon designed an apparently unsolvable emotional test—and expects Lu Ze to repeat the technique he used in his earlier Illusion Realm.
• Guo Yunfeng remains firm in her emotionless cultivation, dismissing the idea that an Illusion Realm could make her cry. She accepts Heart Demon’s bargain because it benefits Liu Mengli.
• Liu Mengli is revealed to have a special constitution that makes reaching the Nascent Soul Realm unusually difficult without the crystal.
• Lu Ze stays confident in his ability to create Illusion Realms, but suspects Heart Demon has a deeper reason for luring him to the exchange.
• Zhong Yi worries that the next challenge will be especially outrageous; Lu Ze reassures him that the Illusion Alliance may set the rules, but Lu Ze has the advantage within an Illusion Realm.

Significant themes

• Emotion versus detachment: The challenge directly tests the Ruthless Sect’s doctrine by trying to evoke feelings in someone who has renounced them.
• Manipulation and leverage: Heart Demon uses a rare treasure to secure Guo’s cooperation and shape the contest.
• Ingenuity under unfair rules: The exchange’s challenges are designed to corner Lu Ze, while he trusts creativity to overcome them.