Recaps

Zhou Yue’s Earth Spirit Root gave him extra dirt while the group gathered resources and built a house to survive the coming night. As Demonic Beasts approached, the unfinished house offered little protection, and spiders began breathing nearby.

• Zhou Yue complained that his Earth Spirit Root only produced extra dirt, then the group assigned him and Mu Yawen to mine while Zhong Yi and Zhou Qiaoling gathered wood.
• Mu Yawen found a Mine Shaft and mined Iron Ore, while Zhou Yue’s pickaxe broke and he kept digging with his Earth Spirit Root.
• Zhou Yue mistook underground Lava for ore, fell in, and the system announced that Bu Po Bu Li tried to swim in Lava.
• The four gathered materials and built a large house with outer walls but no roof, planning rooms for each of them.
• The four hid inside as Demonic Beasts approached, but spiders appeared nearby after Zhong Yi said the walls would keep the beasts out.

Zhong Yi and the others repaired their shelter and discovered that darkness let zombies spawn inside, then devised a way to lure monsters out and fight them safely. Zhou Yue mistook a Creeper for a weak zombie and provoked it, and its explosion tore open the shelter, letting the horde pour in as the group faced another fight for survival.

• Zhong Yi and the others patched the roof, and Zhou Yue suggested they could build a proper roof by stacking blocks.
• After a zombie appeared inside, Zhong Yi suspected that zombies spawned in dark places, and the group lit the house with more torches.
• Zhong Yi proposed a rotation strategy for luring monsters close and fighting them one at a time, and the four took turns using it.
• Zhou Yue mistook a Creeper for a small zombie, taunted it, and was killed when it exploded.
• The Creeper's blast destroyed part of the house, allowing the surrounding monsters to flood inside and attack the group.

On the fourth day in the Illusion Realm, the group split between mining and building, but Zhou Qiaoling became lost underground while searching for valuable ores. After finally digging her way out, she spotted what looked like a Village, while Zhou Yue cautiously watched a strange person in black.

• Zhong Yi divided the work, sending himself and Zhou Qiaoling to mine while Mu Yawen and Zhou Yue chopped wood and built a house.
• Zhou Qiaoling got lost in the Mine Shaft, ran out of food and pickaxe durability, and kept digging rather than abandon the Raw Iron, Diamonds, and Spirit Stones she had found.
• Zhou Yue set out with Cooked Chicken to find Zhou Qiaoling, while Zhong Yi and Mu Yawen moved into a house and mined through the night.
• On the fourth day, Zhou Yue hid from a strange black-clothed creature that looked human and was unaffected by sunlight.
• Zhou Qiaoling dug out of the underground tunnels into the plains and spotted what appeared to be a Village.

Zhou Qiaoling entered a village in Lu Ze’s illusion and looted its livestock, equipment, and chest while mistaking the villagers’ silence for consent. Zhou Yue assumed the villagers were allies, but demonic-path guards attacked and killed him.

• Zhou Qiaoling arrived in the village, saw its farmland and livestock, and decided to take food when the villagers did not respond to her.
• Zhou Qiaoling killed a chicken and a piglet, then entered a villager’s house and took the iron equipment and ingots from a chest.
• Zhou Qiaoling replaced the chest with a stone and told the villagers she would return to undo the supposed petrification spell.
• Zhou Qiaoling told the others over team voice chat that the villagers were generous and that she had found valuable supplies.
• Zhou Yue emerged from hiding and approached a black-robed villager, but demonic-path guards shot him with poisoned arrows and killed him.

Zhou Qiaoling, Zhong Yi, Zhou Yue, and Mu Yawen explored a Village in the Illusion Realm, where a Blood Moon event killed them and destroyed the settlement. Lu Ze then told the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao that he could erase its karmic ties within a hundred years.

• Zhou Qiaoling led the group to a Village, where the others discovered she had taken the Villagers’ treasures and she divided the loot among them.
• Zhong Yi and the others explored the Village, found a Secret Realm Map, and were defeated by the Iron Golem guarding the Villagers.
• When night fell, the moon turned red and zombies broke into the houses, wiping out the group and razing the Village.
• Lu Ze watched the deaths generate Demonic Value, then spoke with the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao about the cost of running his Server.
• Lu Ze claimed he could shorten the time needed to erase the Fragment’s karmic ties to less than a hundred years.

Lu Ze persuaded the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao to test new game modes, especially Bed Wars, to increase Demonic Value and speed up karma resolution. He demonstrated a Ray Tracing Technique that could greatly improve the Illusion Realm’s graphics, and the Fragment agreed to handle its energy demands.

• The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao examined Lu Ze’s Extreme Survival, Civilization Simulation, and Bed Wars modes, but doubted they could shorten karma resolution to a hundred years.
• Lu Ze explained that Bed Wars would generate Demonic Value through repeated team battles and respawns, and the Fragment granted him a one-month trial period.
• Lu Ze proposed improving the Illusion Realm’s graphics to attract more cultivators and having players supply spiritual energy to cover the increased consumption.
• Lu Ze enhanced a Wood Block’s appearance and expanded it into a realistic forest, revealing his Ray Tracing Technique to the astonished Fragment.
• The Fragment praised the technique but questioned its energy consumption, and Lu Ze challenged it to run the spell, prompting it to boast that it could handle any number of them.

As Lu Ze and Nangong Yuan prepared the Server, Minecraft spread between the Spirit Cloud Sect and the Sky Profound Gate. Zhong Yi became engrossed in studying Villagers, while Zhou Yue returned with a Foundation Establishment Pill.

• Lu Ze added Spirit Stone top-ups and Crystal imprinting to Minecraft as he and Nangong Yuan worked on the Server formation.
• Cultivators from the Spirit Cloud Sect and the Sky Profound Gate flocked to Minecraft and shared discoveries on its Forum.
• Mu Yawen focused on building, Zhou Qiaoling hunted for treasure, Zhou Yue trained and fought bosses, and Zhong Yi investigated how Villages and Villagers worked.
• Zhong Yi discovered conditions for Villager breeding and tested them, prompting viewers to joke that he was losing his humanity.
• Zhou Yue returned and showed Zhong Yi a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Zhou Yue asked Zhong Yi to curse his Foundation Establishment attempt, then swallowed a fifth-grade Foundation Establishment Pill and was struck by a Thunder Tribulation. He revived with lingering abnormal statuses and tried to hide his condition from Zhou Qiaoling.

• Zhou Yue told Zhong Yi that his fifth-grade Foundation Establishment Pill had a low success rate and asked him to bless the attempt by predicting failure.
• Zhong Yi reluctantly said Zhou Yue would definitely fail, and Zhou Yue swallowed the pill as a dark storm gathered.
• A Thunder Tribulation struck Zhou Yue ninety-nine times, giving him abnormal statuses before he died and dropped his Backpack items.
• Zhou Yue revived with statuses that made him upside down, twitch, and randomly drop items, then decided to log out until they wore off.
• Zhou Qiaoling arrived, and Zhou Yue claimed that walking upside down was a Cultivation Method while she picked up his dropped Diamonds.

Zhou Qiaoling gave Zhong Yi bamboo slips about Redstone and arrays, then offered Zhou Yue a Secret Realm Pass. Confident in his survival skills, Zhou Yue entered the realm, only to find himself stranded on a lone Dirt Block with the destination dozens of meters away.

• Zhou Qiaoling tossed Zhong Yi bamboo slips titled Redstone Analysis Basics and Array Path Construction Principles.
• Zhou Qiaoling gave Zhou Yue a Secret Realm Pass with one challenge remaining and described its survival trials.
• Zhou Yue entered the Secret Realm, where the rules allowed unlimited revives and required reaching a destination before time ran out.
• Zhou Yue found himself on a lone Dirt Block in a snowy sky, far from the destination, and asked where his tree was.

Zhong Yi figured out how Zhou Yue could use Minecraft’s monster-spawning rules to obtain a shovel and build a path across the sky. He told Zhou Yue to lower his health before jumping into the abyss, leaving Zhou Yue ready to try the plan.

• Zhou Yue grew furious after repeatedly dying on the lone Dirt Block, while Zhong Yi considered how to cross the roughly two hundred blocks to the destination.
• Zhong Yi realized that snow could be collected and crafted into blocks, but Zhou Yue pointed out that he had no shovel or trees.
• Zhong Yi proposed spawning a Zombie that carried a shovel, but Zhou Yue said no monsters appeared when he jumped into the abyss.
• Zhong Yi deduced that Zhou Yue fell beyond the monsters’ 128-block despawn range before dying and told him to exhaust his hunger until he had about two and a half hearts, then jump.
• Zhou Yue understood Zhong Yi’s reasoning and praised his intelligence.

Zhou Yue’s attempt to clear the Secret Realm challenge ended when a Creeper spawned and exploded, while the challenge’s growing popularity inspired cultivators to study Minecraft’s mechanics. After Zhou Yue, Mu Yawen, and Zhou Qiaoling reached Foundation Establishment, they found Zhong Yi experimenting with an iron farm and learned he planned to level up using a towering stone pillar.

• Zhou Yue followed Zhong Yi’s advice, jumped into the Abyss to spawn a monster, and died when the creature turned out to be a Creeper.
• The failed challenge spread across the Forum, where cultivators shared Minecraft mechanics and Zhong Yi began studying redstone with Zhou Qiaoling’s book.
• The game’s three stages of spirit qi revival were explained, and Zhou Yue, Mu Yawen, and Zhou Qiaoling worked together to reach Foundation Establishment.
• The three cultivators found Zhong Yi trapping a zombie near villagers to make Iron Golems, then burning the golems for iron, though the setup stopped producing them.
• Zhong Yi pointed to a stone pillar towering above the village and said it would help him level up.

Zhong Yi demonstrated a Redstone monster farm that rapidly raised his level, then revealed he was researching how to manipulate Villagers’ Spiritual Roots. Meanwhile, Ding Mingcang appealed to the Sect Master to intervene against the Illusion Realms spreading through Spirit Cloud Sect.

• Zhong Yi explained how his Redstone mechanism gathered Demonic Beasts and dropped them until they were nearly dead.
• Zhong Yi killed the weakened Demonic Beasts and rapidly reached the peak of the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.
• Zhong Yi said he was researching how to exploit Villagers’ Spiritual Roots, prompting Zhou Yue and the others to cover his mouth because they were live streaming.
• Ding Mingcang entered the Sect Forbidden Grounds and requested an audience with the Sect Master.
• Ding Mingcang accused a wicked fiend of creating Illusion Realms and asked the Sect Master for a decree to restore discipline.

Ding Mingcang persuaded the Spirit Cloud Sect Master to investigate Minecraft and promised a decree in one week. After the Sky Profound Gate completed the world-spanning server, Lu Ze returned to the sect and announced an update to expand Minecraft’s reach and appeal.

• Ding Mingcang accused Minecraft of distracting cultivators and asked the Spirit Cloud Sect Master to intervene.
• The Sect Master promised Ding Mingcang a decree and Spiritual Sense inspection in one week, with expulsion for anyone involved if his claims proved true.
• The Sky Profound Gate completed the Divine Sense Resonance Array around the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao, making the server ready.
• Lu Ze returned to the Spirit Cloud Sect and found that Minecraft had fewer active players than other illusion realms, though regular players logged in daily.
• Lu Ze planned to improve Minecraft’s visuals and add new modes to address its low reach and open-ended gameplay.
• Lu Ze announced a next-day update with world-spanning multiplayer, Adventure Mode, custom modes, mod editing, improved visuals, and a live stream.

Lu Ze showcased the Illusion Realm’s updated graphics and new Mod Editor during a livestream, impressing Zhong Yi and the viewers with its expanded possibilities. The chapter ended with Zhong Yi asking Lu Ze to explain Redstone.

• Lu Ze began his livestream and used the Command Bar to bring Zhong Yi into his world.
• Lu Ze enabled Advanced Textures and Ray Tracing for everyone in the server, transforming the Illusion Realm’s appearance.
• Lu Ze showed Zhong Yi a Silver White Flood Dragon and explained that he had created it with the Mod Editor.
• Lu Ze demonstrated a temporary edit that gave him Golden Arms resembling Zhong Yi’s technique, then said players could create techniques, spells, items, and worlds.
• Zhong Yi grew excited about the possibilities and asked Lu Ze about Redstone.

Lu Ze took Zhong Yi to Night City and his giant underground factory to show him advanced Redstone creations, from a Minecraft computer running Plants vs. Zombies to enormous automated farms. Zhong Yi left stunned by Lu Ze’s ingenious and ruthless use of Villagers.

• Lu Ze agreed to show Zhong Yi Redstone creations and flew with him to Night City.
• Lu Ze activated a giant screen that displayed a playable Plants vs. Zombies setup, leaving Zhong Yi speechless.
• Lu Ze showed Zhong Yi an automated Iron Farm that produced about five hundred thousand Iron Ingots per shichen.
• Zhong Yi discovered that Lu Ze had gathered Villagers in a trading hall and left a Zombie among them, though Lu Ze did not explain why.
• Zhong Yi analyzed a crop farm and realized its farmers were being tricked into feeding crops into a hopper beneath a hungry Villager.

After Minecraft’s new graphics and mod features drew more cultivators into the Illusion Realm, Xiao Hongzhi and Zhong Yi pushed its Spiritual Energy demands too far. Zhong Yi collapsed after repeatedly re-entering the game, leaving his companions alarmed and calling for help.

• Minecraft’s new anywhere access, upgraded visuals, and mod functions caused its online activity to surge.
• Xiao Hongzhi enabled the High-Resolution Texture Pack and Ray Tracing, then fainted from the strain as his junior brothers rushed to get their Master.
• Zhong Yi enabled every available graphics option and the Shared Server World setting before building with his companions.
• After feeling drained, Zhong Yi refilled his Spiritual Energy and repeatedly returned to Minecraft, enduring mining, construction, and a battle against a demon.
• Zhou Yue noticed Zhong Yi smoking and red-faced, then watched him gush blood as Zhou Qiaoling and Mu Yawen woke and cried for help.

After Ray Tracing caused hundreds of Spirit Cloud Sect disciples to faint, the elders banned its use and sent Nangong Yuan to investigate the Sky Profound Gate. Lu Ze discovered that the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao was lagging under the spell’s load.

• Lin Qingxuan reported that 863 disciples had fainted from excessive Spiritual Energy consumption, though none appeared to be in serious danger.
• Yunzhu found no unusual Spiritual Energy flow, and Chao Wendao ordered Nangong Yuan to investigate the Sky Profound Gate and banned Ray Tracing Spells within the sect.
• Ding Mingcang concealed his satisfaction, planning to use the incident as evidence against Lu Ze when he visited the Sect Forbidden Grounds in three days.
• Lu Ze entered the Main Server world and found the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao unresponsive in an otherwise empty world.
• The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao spoke with severe delays, and Lu Ze realized Ray Tracing had pushed it to the brink of crashing.

Lu Ze discovered that the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao had over-optimized the Illusion Realms, but learned its enhanced Spells could make playing them count as cultivation. He gave the Fragment a new appearance and nickname, then encouraged it to visit players’ Illusion Realms.

• Lu Ze told the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao to apply Spell enhancements only near cultivators after it had optimized the entire Illusion Realm world.
• The Fragment explained that its enhanced Spells refined Spiritual Energy and could help cultivators gain insight, leading Lu Ze to see Illusion Realms as a way to attract sect support.
• The Fragment demanded that Lu Ze shorten the time he needed to a hundred years and gave him one month to show progress.
• Lu Ze changed the Fragment’s appearance to resemble HIM from Minecraft and suggested the nickname Black Curtain.
• Lu Ze said he would make Obsidian Spell Mods for the Fragment and urged it to explore players’ Illusion Realms.

After Zhong Yi defended Minecraft to Chao Wendao, the Sect Master decided to try the Illusion Realm himself and became absorbed in its mod feature. Li Moran also agreed to try Minecraft after Zhou Qiaoling described it, while Ding Mingcang arrived at the Sect Forbidden Grounds to request the Sect Master's Decree.

• Zhong Yi insisted that Minecraft had not harmed him and told Chao Wendao that Lu Ze had adjusted its Spiritual Energy limits.
• Chao Wendao agreed to try Minecraft and later spent a day studying its mod feature, hoping to build his Thunder Arts into it.
• Zhou Qiaoling invited Li Moran to play Minecraft, and Li Moran agreed after hearing about its mod feature.
• Three days later, Ding Mingcang knelt outside the Sect Forbidden Grounds and requested the Sect Master's Decree.

Ding Mingcang convinced the Sect Master that illusion realms were harming the Spirit Cloud Sect, and the Sect Master ordered an inspection that exposed how widely the disciples and elders played them. As the Sect Master demanded Lu Ze be brought before him, Zhong Yi sensed trouble, and Lu Ze suddenly vanished from the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao’s Main World.

• Ding Mingcang persuaded the Sect Master to inspect the peaks and punish the creator of the illusion realm and Chao Wendao if his claims proved true.
• At Numinous Ascent Peak, the Sect Master discovered that disciples used the prospect of Ray Tracing in Minecraft to motivate themselves to reach Nascent Soul.
• Ding Mingcang led the Sect Master across the peaks, where they found disciples and elders absorbed in illusion games, and the Sect Master demanded to know who was harming the sect.
• Ding Mingcang identified Lu Ze as the creator of the illusion realm, and the Sect Master ordered him brought in.
• Zhong Yi saw danmu warning that Lu Ze was in trouble and shouted through the party voice channel that Junior Brother Lu was in danger.
• Lu Ze discussed Black Curtain and mod development with the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao, then suddenly vanished from its Main World.

Chao Wendao and Li Moran made progress using Minecraft’s Mod Editor as they refined their spells and sword techniques. At Glazed Fire Peak, Ding Mingcang tried to seize Lu Ze, but Lu Ze claimed the Illusion Realm drew Spiritual Energy through a wisp of the Spirit of the Heavenly Dao before red lightning struck Ding Mingcang.

• Chao Wendao studied Minecraft’s principles and sensed he was close to mastering his spell.
• Li Moran repeatedly refined her Sword Art Mod and felt she was nearing enlightenment.
• Ding Mingcang accused Lu Ze of disrupting the sect and tried to attack him, but Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue intervened.
• Ding Mingcang restrained Zhong Yi and the others, and the Sect Master ordered him to deal with Lu Ze and find Chao Wendao.
• Lu Ze said the Illusion Realm drew Spiritual Energy through a wisp of the Spirit of the Heavenly Dao, and red lightning struck Ding Mingcang.

Lu Ze challenged Ding Mingcang to prove that his Illusion Realm could improve cultivation, while a hidden Fragment of the Heavenly Dao struck Ding with crimson thunder. Li Moran arrived to testify that she had gained Sword Dao insight and broken through in the Illusion Realm, but as Ding objected, eight bolts of Purple Thunder struck Thunder Peak.

• A crimson thunderbolt wounded Ding Mingcang, and Lu Ze claimed it came from the Spirit of the Heavenly Dao.
• The Sect Master stopped Ding from attacking Lu Ze and proposed that Lu Ze prove the Illusion Realm’s benefits, with the guilty party to be crippled and expelled.
• Lu Ze and Ding Mingcang both accepted the Sect Master’s terms.
• Li Moran arrived after breaking through and testified that she had gained Sword Dao insight in the Illusion Realm.
• As Ding Mingcang challenged Li Moran’s testimony, eight bolts of Purple Thunder struck Thunder Peak.

Chao Wendao reached the eighth bolt of Ninth Heaven Divine Lightning after finding enlightenment in Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm, and the Sect Master confirmed the realm’s connection to a fragment of the Heavenly Dao. The Sect Master expelled and punished Ding Mingcang, but Ding fled using the Sect Protection Array before the Heavenly Dao intervened and killed him.

• Chao Wendao revealed that he had attained enlightenment in Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm and demonstrated how its laws could be understood.
• Lu Ze explained that a wisp of the Spirit of the Heavenly Dao sustained the Illusion Realm, and Nangong Yuan confirmed that a fragment of the Heavenly Dao lay at the heart of the Spiritual Sense Formation.
• The Sect Master accepted Lu Ze’s proposal, condemned Ding Mingcang for deceiving the sect, and reduced his cultivation before expelling him.
• Ding Mingcang fled by using the Sect Protection Array and swore that he would kill Lu Ze.
• The Heavenly Dao appeared in the clouds, asked Ding Mingcang who the ant was, and killed him with two massive cloud hands.

After the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao killed Ding Mingcang, the Sect Master cleared Lu Ze's name and rewarded him with an Illusion Tower and Protective Artifacts. Lu Ze returned to the Fragment, which urged him to prove the Server plan could restore its power, and he promised results within a week.

• The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao killed Ding Mingcang, and the Sect Master announced that Ding had been executed for deceiving him and harming disciples.
• The Sect Master offered Lu Ze the position of Saint, but Lu Ze declined and asked for an Illusion Tower made from the sect's best materials.
• The Sect Master promoted Nangong Yuan to Second Elder, made Glazed Fire Peak the sect's second peak, and appointed Lu Ze its fourth direct disciple of the generation.
• The Sect Master granted Lu Ze three Protective Artifacts and asked for an Illusion Tower and Crystal to be sent to the Sect Forbidden Grounds so he could try them.
• Lu Ze thanked the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao for saving him, and the Fragment explained that the cultivators' deaths in the illusion were slowly restoring its power.
• The Fragment of the Heavenly Dao reminded Lu Ze that he had one month to demonstrate the Server plan's results, and Lu Ze promised to do so within a week.

Lu Ze prepared a competitive Bed Wars mode for Minecraft, hoping its fast matches would satisfy the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao’s need for cultivators to die repeatedly. As Minecraft’s reputation grew after Chao Wendao and Li Moran advanced through it, the Great Illusion Era began, and Lu Ze’s update introduced Bed Wars and a module marketplace while removing the Black Curtain.

• Lu Ze chose Bed Wars for Minecraft’s new Arena Mode and began adapting its combat to the characters’ greater agility.
• Chao Wendao comprehended his eighth bolt of divine lightning in Minecraft, and Li Moran broke through to a new realm, prompting sects to treat Illusion Realms as a new Celestial Bridge.
• Cultivators flocked to Minecraft, and sects began studying and sharing modules as its popularity soared.
• A week after Ding Mingcang’s death, Zhou Yue complained that the Black Curtain had beaten him again, while Zhong Yi and Mu Yawen discussed modules and their encounters.
• Lu Ze announced that Bed Wars was live, opened the module marketplace, and removed the Black Curtain.