Chapter Summaries

Lu Ze accepted Ding Mingcang’s challenge to create another illusion realm within a month and negotiated a binding sect covenant with him. The challenge was set: Lu Ze had to design a cultivation realm for basic sword swings without combat functions.

• A system quest prompted Lu Ze to accept Ding Mingcang’s challenge and win while inflicting as much damage on him as possible.
• Ding Mingcang demanded that Lu Ze remain inside the Artifact Forging Hall under supervision for a month, and Lu Ze agreed while demanding punishment for Ding Mingcang and protection from future interference with his illusion realms.
• Ding Mingcang agreed to spend a month in Repentance Valley if Lu Ze succeeded, while threatening to cripple and expel him if he failed.
• Lu Ze asked Chao Wendao to establish a sect covenant, and Chao Wendao created one that Lu Ze and Ding Mingcang signed.
• Ding Mingcang tasked Lu Ze with creating an illusion realm for practicing basic sword swings, without combat functions.

Ding Mingcang restricted Lu Ze to creating a single-player sword-practice illusion without battle-related gameplay, confident that existing sword trials could not be surpassed. After studying the sect’s illusions, Lu Ze began searching for an unconventional approach, while Li Moran wondered whether he could make even swinging a sword ingenious.

• Ding Mingcang told Qian Yutang that Lu Ze had already lost by accepting his challenge, since sword practice inevitably involved combat and Lu Ze was forbidden from designing battle-related functions.
• Nangong Yuan contacted Lu Ze through a jade slip, offered him the sect’s sword-practice illusions to study, and agreed to make him an Immortal Artifact if he won their bet.
• Lu Ze spent the day trying the sword-practice illusions and realized his limited spiritual sense and Ding Mingcang’s restrictions sharply narrowed his options.
• Zhong Yi told Li Moran and Mu Yawen that Lu Ze would struggle to create a sword-themed illusion that could rival Demonic Path Escape.
• Li Moran stopped practicing and wondered whether Lu Ze could make even swinging a sword something ingenious.

Lu Ze struggled to adapt Fruit Ninja for cultivators, since sword-swinging felt too much like ordinary combat training. He found a new direction by making missed targets grow into plants, leaving him ready to develop the idea further.

• Lu Ze tested a Fruit Ninja illusion but found that slicing fruit lacked impact and resembled the sect's sword-training trials.
• He concluded that his game needed a reason to swing a sword that was not combat.
• After accidentally letting an apple fall and vanish, Lu Ze imagined that fallen objects could grow from the ground.
• Lu Ze changed the illusion so fruits fell onto soil and spared a sunflower, which sprouted into a smiling plant.

Lu Ze completed a cultivation-themed adaptation of Plants vs. Zombies and arrived at Lingxiao Plaza to present his new Illusion Realm to the sect. The chapter ended with the crowd watching him approach the elders and the enormous Illusion Tower.

• The Spirit Cloud Sect’s disciples secretly continued playing Demonic Path Escape while speculating about Lu Ze’s wager with Ding Mingcang.
• Lu Ze spent half a month creating a full story mode, minigames, and Survival Mode for his new Illusion Realm, adapting the game’s plants and zombies to the cultivation world.
• Ding Mingcang announced that the sect would examine Lu Ze’s new Illusion Realm at Lingxiao Plaza, drawing a huge crowd and six elders.
• Lu Ze arrived at the plaza escorted by two Enforcement Hall disciples and calmly walked toward the center as the crowd stared.

Lu Ze accepted Ding Mingcang’s challenge to create a sword-practice Illusion Realm that met strict usage requirements, while securing a weeklong halt to the Enforcement Hall’s confiscations. He activated the realm before the assembled disciples, revealing its name as Plants vs. Zombies.

• The elders discussed Lu Ze’s chances and doubted he could create an Illusion Realm that met Ding Mingcang’s challenge.
• Ding Mingcang required the new sword-practice realm to be original, keep disciples playing an average of at least two hours daily, and demand at least three thousand sword swings per day within a week.
• Lu Ze agreed and asked Ding Mingcang to prevent the Enforcement Hall from confiscating Illusion Tower artifacts and related items for a week; Ding Mingcang promised he would not confiscate them.
• Lu Ze placed an Illusion Crystal Stone into the Illusion Tower as the disciples entered the new realm, where the words “Plants vs. Zombies” appeared.

Zhong Yi entered Lu Ze’s new Illusion Realm, Plants vs. Zombies, and found himself cutting fruit with his sword to protect a Spirit Field. The Elders dismissed the game as a waste of time, while Ding Mingcang became confident that Lu Ze had lost.

• Zhong Yi selected Adventure Mode and entered a realm where Zombies shambled beside a barren field.
• Zhong Yi learned that fruit and plants falling from the sky could damage his family’s Spirit Field, so he sliced them apart with his sword.
• The Elders watched the disciples cut fruit, and Liu Qingmei and Lin Qingxuan judged the Illusion Realm poorly.
• The other Elders left, while Chao Wendao stayed to study the scene and Ding Mingcang sneered at Lu Ze, convinced he had won.

Zhong Yi discovered that his farmland could become a Spirit Field, where spirit plants consumed spiritual energy and produced more of it. When zombies approached, his Peashooter attacked them, revealing how the Illusion Realm worked.

• Zhong Yi learned that one lane of his farmland had become a Spirit Field and that spirit plants with awakened awareness could appear among the falling fruit.
• Zhong Yi accidentally chopped up a spirit plant, then used the back of his blade to land another pea pod on the Spirit Field.
• The pea pod transformed into a Peashooter, and Zhong Yi worked out that the number displayed represented spiritual energy used to grow plants and generated by the field.
• Zombies advanced toward the Spirit Field, while Zhong Yi found that his sword could not hurt them and he could only move within a limited area to handle falling fruit and plants.
• The Peashooter fired a pea at a zombie, and Zhong Yi realized how to play the Illusion Realm.

Zhong Yi discovered the strategy behind Plants vs. Zombies and helped Mu Yawen learn to use its plants instead of fighting the Zombies with her sword. The Inner Disciples gradually figured out the game’s mechanics, though they still insisted it helped them practice swordsmanship.

• Zhong Yi unlocked Sunflowers and learned to build Spiritual Energy supplies before planting Peashooters as he advanced through the levels.
• Mu Yawen asked Zhong Yi for help after repeatedly letting the Zombies eat her brains, and he explained how to plant and use the plants.
• Zhong Yi watched Mu Yawen place a Peashooter in the front row and explained that it belonged in the back, while the Wall-nut Taoist could serve as a defender.
• The Inner Disciples shared strategies in their Spiritual Sense channel, discussing Sunflowers, Buckethead Zombies, and Ice Peashooters.
• When a disciple questioned whether they were supposed to be practicing swordsmanship, the others claimed the game let them swing their swords more often.

Lu Ze watched the Spirit Cloud Sect disciples become absorbed in his Plants vs. Zombies Illusion Realm and received another reward from Zhong Yi. When the hour ended, the Second Elder found that even Grand Elder Chao Wendao had been engrossed in playing, leaving him worried about the Illusion Realm and his Sect Covenant with Lu Ze.

• Lu Ze watched Zhong Yi master the nighttime levels, overcome an armored General Zombie with a Hypno-shroom, and praise the game's design.
• Lu Ze received twenty years of martial arts experience as a reward from Zhong Yi, though he wished for a more powerful skill.
• Ding Mingcang announced that the hour was over, but the disciples remained inside the Illusion Realm until his spiritually empowered shout pulled them out.
• Chao Wendao complained that Ding Mingcang had interrupted his fight against the final zombie wave, revealing that even the Grand Elder had been playing.
• Ding Mingcang worried that the Illusion Realm was more demanding than it appeared and that losing his Sect Covenant with Lu Ze would send him to Repentance Valley.

After clearing Adventure Mode in "Plants vs. Zombies," Zhong Yi shared strategies and boasted about his progress on the Forum. Just as he discovered Survival Mode, his master Chao Wendao caught him playing and demanded his help with Level 3.

• Zhong Yi cleared the final stage of Adventure Mode and returned to the Forum to see how far the other disciples had progressed.
• He answered disciples' questions with strategies, repeatedly emphasizing that he had cleared the game.
• Zhong Yi opened a guide thread, described the later levels and Demon God Zombie, and drew a picture for the disciples.
• After leaving the Forum, Zhong Yi noticed Survival Mode had become available and prepared to start it.
• Chao Wendao caught Zhong Yi playing, recognized him as Genius Cultivator, and ordered him to help beat Level 3.

Zhong Yi helped Chao Wendao clear a level of “Plants vs. Zombies,” while Ding Mingcang tried to counter the game’s growing popularity. Lu Ze adjusted the later stages to make them brutally difficult, anticipating the Senior Brothers’ reaction.

• Chao Wendao recognized Zhong Yi as the guide behind the popular post and asked him to help clear the third level of “Plants vs. Zombies.”
• Chao Wendao told Zhong Yi not to help Elder Lin, hoping to mock him after clearing the level, and ordered Zhong Yi to stay on call overnight.
• Ding Mingcang panicked after disciples spent the night playing Lu Ze’s illusion, but Qian Yutang reassured him that they would soon clear it and lose interest.
• Ding Mingcang ordered Danqing Peak to intensify the disciples’ lessons and asked Sword Inquiry Peak to denounce Lu Ze’s illusion as an insult to the sword path.
• Lu Ze observed that disciples were progressing through Adventure Mode and beginning to explore Survival Mode, so he adjusted later stages to make them far more difficult.

After players unlocked Mini-Game, Puzzle, and Survival Modes, Survival Mode became the Forum’s main attraction. Zhong Yi cleared its stages and complained that they lacked Barbarian Zombies, so Lu Ze announced new levels for the next day, intending to give him plenty of them.

• Players unlocked Mini-Game, Puzzle, and Survival Modes, and the new levels and modes quickly drew interest.
• Players shared their Survival Mode strategies and favorite spirit-plant formations on the Forum.
• Zhong Yi cleared every Survival Mode stage and posted a guide, lamenting that the stages had no Barbarian Zombies.
• Lu Ze watched Zhong Yi boast, decided to give him more Barbarian Zombies, and announced that new levels would be available the next day.

Ding Mingcang tried to stop Lu Ze from changing the Illusion Realm and planned to increase the disciples’ coursework. Meanwhile, Zhong Yi struggled with Lu Ze’s redesigned Hard Mode, while Lu Ze used the players’ repeated failures to earn Demonic Value.

• Qian Yutang told Ding Mingcang that disciples had easily cleared the new Illusion Realm levels, and Ding Mingcang ordered him to warn Lu Ze against making further changes.
• Ding Mingcang sent Qian Yutang to Sword Inquiry Peak and Danqing Peak to arrange additional courses and distract the disciples from the Illusion Realm.
• Zhong Yi was overwhelmed by the tougher Hard Mode, where powerful zombies repeatedly defeated him.
• Zhong Yi read the Forum’s pleas for help and vowed to overcome the challenge and return to aid the other disciples.
• Lu Ze collected Demonic Value from the players’ repeated defeats and revealed that he had redesigned Hard Mode to provoke Zhong Yi and keep players hooked.

Ding Mingcang inspected the Spirit Cloud Sect’s classes, expecting Lu Ze’s difficult Survival Mode to have discouraged the disciples, but found that every peak had built lessons and training around Plants vs. Zombies. He returned to Numinous Ascent Peak alarmed as even the Elders who had opposed the game seemed to be embracing it, and he worried about losing his bet and being sent to Repentance Valley.

• The disciples grew more skilled at Spiritual Sense control while playing hard-mode Survival Mode after their demanding classes.
• Ding Mingcang visited Sword Inquiry Peak and discovered that its swordsmanship lesson used Plants vs. Zombies to teach precise sword techniques.
• At Danqing Peak, Lin Qingxuan taught how to cultivate an Ice Peashooter and planned to grow every game plant in the sect.
• At Quenching Gold Peak, Mu Yawen led body training using Tall-Nut-shaped stones, inspiring disciples to strengthen themselves like the Wall-nut Taoist.
• Ding Mingcang found Grand Elder Chao Wendao teaching formation design through Survival Mode in the Sect Plaza and backed down when confronted.
• Ding Mingcang returned to Numinous Ascent Peak worried that the Elders were warming to Plants vs. Zombies and that he might lose his bet.

After spending two days mastering Difficult Survival Mode, Zhong Yi cleared its final rooftop stage using a Corn Cannon against waves of Barbarian Zombies. He discovered five new Endless Mode stages and, convinced they had a finish, eagerly began the challenge.

• Zhong Yi paused the final wave to post updates and strategy tips on the Forum, where disciples praised him and asked about his tactics.
• Zhong Yi explained that a Corn Cannon had helped him survive groups of Barbarian Zombies, then returned to the game and faced five charging in separate lanes.
• Zhong Yi precisely fired corn kernels to destroy the Barbarian Zombies and used his accumulated plants and resources to defeat the remaining waves.
• Zhong Yi cleared the final Difficult Survival Mode stage and noticed five new stages labeled Endless Mode.
• Zhong Yi decided that Endless Mode could not truly be endless and resolved to find its end.

Zhong Yi emerged from an all-night attempt to master Endless Mode, while disciples across the Spirit Cloud Sect became obsessed with the game. Lu Ze enjoyed the game’s popularity, and Zhong Yi later discovered that Quenching Gold Peak had adopted Plants vs. Zombies imagery for its body-training goals.

• Zhong Yi lost a battle in Endless Mode after a Red-Eyed Barbarian Zombie broke through his defenses, then learned from Mu Yawen that he had played through the night.
• Zhong Yi described Endless Mode’s brutal zombies and told Mu Yawen he would post a guide before returning to try again.
• Disciples across the sect debated Endless Mode strategies on the Forum, while Lu Ze read their posts and concluded that the game’s difficulty had not driven players away.
• Lu Ze noted that the game was generating substantial Demonic Value, though he expected most players to move on after clearing its regular stages.
• At Quenching Gold Peak, Zhong Yi instinctively sliced a thrown Spirit Fruit and then saw a lifelike Tall-Nut used as a Body-Training Rock.
• A fellow disciple told Zhong Yi that Quenching Gold Peak now aspired to become Barbarian Zombies, leaving Zhong Yi wondering whether he was the only one losing his mind.

Spirit Cloud Sect revealed that its disciples had far exceeded Ding Mingcang’s contest requirements while playing Plants vs. Zombies. Ding Mingcang accused Lu Ze of cheating and offered to void their wager, but Lu Ze demanded that he honor it if Endless Mode could be beaten.

• Grand Elder Chao Wendao announced that disciples averaged three and a half hours of play and 7,328 sword swings per day, and praised Plants vs. Zombies for its ingenuity.
• Ding Mingcang objected to the results, claiming Lu Ze had unfairly added difficult levels and made Endless Mode impossible to clear.
• Lu Ze pointed out that the contest had no rule forbidding updates and that the later mode icons had been present from the start.
• Ding Mingcang proposed voiding the wager and promised to explain the matter to the Sect Master on Lu Ze’s behalf.
• Lu Ze refused to compromise and asked Ding Mingcang whether he would admit defeat if Lu Ze proved Endless Mode could be beaten.

Lu Ze agreed to demonstrate that he could reach wave fifty in Endless Mode after Ding Mingcang accused him of cheating, and the sect inspected the Crystal and Illusion Tower. Lu Ze began a run on Daytime Pool with an unusual No-Cannon Formation, leaving the watching disciples and Zhong Yi puzzled about how he would survive.

• Ding Mingcang accepted Lu Ze's challenge and demanded an inspection of the Crystal and Illusion Tower before the demonstration.
• The disciples gathered at Lingxiao Plaza and doubted Lu Ze could reach wave fifty without cheating.
• After the inspection found no tampering, Lu Ze entered the Illusion Tower and considered how to prove his skill without revealing an easy Formation.
• Lu Ze chose Daytime Pool and started Endless Mode with a No-Cannon Formation and an unusual selection of Spirit Plant Cards.
• Mu Yawen and Zhong Yi watched Lu Ze's choices, and Zhong Yi wondered how he could survive to wave fifty without Peashooters or Tall-Nuts.

Lu Ze demonstrated an efficient strategy for the first level, earning Zhong Yi’s admiration and a cultivation method as a reward. As he prepared for the next levels, he chose an unconventional formation while the watching disciples struggled to understand his plans.

• Lu Ze used Potato Mines and Squashes to protect expanding rows of Sunflowers, then funneled zombies with Garlic and defeated groups with Doom-shrooms.
• Zhong Yi understood Lu Ze’s strategy and admired his skill, earning Lu Ze the Grand Dao Truth Incantation.
• Lu Ze decided to play more seriously while still leaving room for the disciples to discover tactics, then selected plants for the second level.
• Lu Ze chose a Double Shooter and a mix of shooters, throwers, and mushrooms, confusing the disciples watching his projected game.
• Lu Ze built up his formation with Double Shooters, Puff-shrooms, Watermelon Throwers, Twin Sunflowers, and Pumpkin Heads.

Lu Ze used ladder placement to protect his backline and built a standard 97-cannonless formation as he pushed into stage 20. The disciples doubted his choices, but Lu Ze left them to work out his strategy for themselves while he continued his run to send Ding Mingcang to Repentance Valley.

• Lu Ze used Ladder Zombies’ climbing behavior to set ladders and protect his backline, confusing the disciples watching him.
• Lu Ze completed a 97-cannonless formation with Gatling Shooters, Torches, Winter Melons, Doom-shrooms, and Ice-shrooms.
• Lu Ze advanced to stage 20, where Barbarian Zombies and Ice Cart Zombies appeared.
• The disciples criticized Lu Ze’s formation and suggested replacing plants, but Lu Ze smiled and kept his reasons to himself.
• Lu Ze focused on clearing the game so he could send Ding Mingcang to Repentance Valley.