Chapter Summaries

Lu Ze’s Plants vs. Zombies demonstration overwhelmed the disciples and earned him a flood of abilities and insights through the system. Meanwhile, Li Moran struggled to advance her swordplay, then saw news of Lu Ze’s demonstration and suspected he was behind the game she had been playing.

• Lu Ze’s formation stopped the zombie waves, and the disciples praised his strategy, including his deliberate use of ladders against the giant’s thrown zombie.
• Lu Ze received system rewards from several admiring disciples, including cultivation arts, martial insights, and swordplay.
• Li Moran failed to break through the major mastery realm of Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay and reflected on her need for an opportunity to reach perfection.
• Li Moran checked the Forum, saw reports of Lu Ze demonstrating Endless Mode, and wondered if he was also the person behind Plants vs. Zombies.

Lu Ze continued battling the increasingly difficult zombie waves in the Illusion Realm while Li Moran watched and reached a breakthrough in her swordsmanship. The system rewarded Lu Ze with perfect Sword Mastery after Li Moran gained insight and developed admiration for him.

• Li Moran arrived at Lingxiao Plaza and found Zhong Yi distressed by Lu Ze’s untidy plant layout.
• Lu Ze rearranged his plants to irritate Zhong Yi while he fought through stage thirty-five against powerful Red-Eyed Barbarian Zombies.
• Lu Ze repeatedly froze and defeated the zombie waves, using precise timing and disposable plants to protect his formation.
• Li Moran watched Lu Ze’s battle, gained insight, and performed sword forms that caused her Nine Heavens Mystic Ice Swordplay to break through to perfection.
• Chao Wendao recognized that Li Moran’s swordsmanship had already been close to a breakthrough, while the crowd marveled at her progress.
• The system announced that Li Moran had gained insight while watching Lu Ze and developed admiration, rewarding him with perfect Sword Mastery.

Lu Ze cleared fifty stages of Endless Mode and forced Ding Mingcang to serve his Sect Covenant punishment in Repentance Valley. Chao Wendao invited Lu Ze to design an Illusion Realm for the upcoming Five Great Sects Martial Arts Tournament, and Lu Ze negotiated for a true disciple's stipend.

• Lu Ze defeated the fiftieth stage of Endless Mode without dying, proving his challenge victory to Ding Mingcang and the watching disciples.
• Lu Ze refused to compromise on the Sect Covenant, and Chao Wendao officially admitted him to the inner sect.
• Chao Wendao asked Lu Ze to design an Illusion Realm for the Martial Arts Tournament, and Lu Ze agreed after securing a true disciple's stipend, pills, cultivation method, and weapon.
• Ding Mingcang went to Repentance Valley to serve his one-month punishment under the Sect Covenant.
• The system rewarded Lu Ze for exceeding the challenge requirements with the Heaven and Earth Unification Art, a cultivation method suited to his spiritual roots.

Lu Ze asked Nangong Yuan to craft tools for recording and livestreaming within the Illusion Tower, while he expanded Plants vs. Zombies with restricted challenges to revive players’ interest and boost Demonic Value. He also prepared Illusion Realm materials himself, determined to keep control of the project and maximize its Demonic Value.

• Lu Ze reflected on how the Heaven and Earth Unification Art could absorb Cultivation Methods and inherit their traits, with his physique helping him make full use of it.
• Nangong Yuan returned to the sect, learned Lu Ze had defeated Ding Mingcang, and agreed to craft tools for screenshots, recordings, and live streaming, though Lu Ze would have to solve the Relay Platform problem himself.
• Lu Ze added Advanced Endless Mode to Plants vs. Zombies, with rotating restrictions and weekly rewards, reigniting the disciples’ competitive play and increasing their deaths.
• Lu Ze began preparing monster designs and scenes for the Illusion Realm himself because he wanted to retain control over its ownership and Demonic Value.

Lu Ze attended the Martial Arts Exchange with Zhong Yi, who recounted his generation’s third-place finish and introduced the rival sects. At the gathering, Lu Ze encountered Xiao Hongzhi and learned that Zhang Shifei hoped to design the Secret Realm in Elder Ding’s place.

• Zhong Yi told Lu Ze about his generation’s defeat at the Martial Arts Exchange and advised him to treat the event as experience, but Lu Ze said he would win first place.
• Zhong Yi introduced the arriving sects and described his awkward history with a Cloud Immortal Palace True Disciple who had once been rescued by him.
• Lu Ze joined the Spirit Cloud Sect representatives and greeted Xiao Hongzhi, while Zhang Shifei challenged his right to participate because he was only at Foundation Establishment.
• Xiao Hongzhi told Lu Ze that the Grand Elder might assign a disciple to create the Secret Realm after Elder Ding was sent to Repentance Valley.
• Zhang Shifei claimed that, as Elder Ding’s True Disciple, he would accept the responsibility of designing the Secret Realm if it went to a disciple.

At the Martial Arts Exchange, Chao Wendao announced that Lu Ze, a newly Foundation Establishment Inner Disciple, had created the competition Illusion Realm, provoking disbelief and complaints from the visiting sects. After Lu Ze revealed that Ding Mingcang had lost a bet over his Illusion Realm and been sent to Repentance Valley, Yang Zhengxin challenged him to prove his ability.

• Yang Zhengxin criticized the Spirit Cloud Sect for sending Ding Mingcang to Repentance Valley and threatened to judge the exchange Illusion Realm by Ding's standards.
• Chao Wendao said an Inner Disciple named Lu Ze had created the Illusion Realm, shocking Yang Zhengxin and the other elders.
• Zhang Shifei realized Lu Ze was the disciple Chao Wendao had praised and felt humiliated as the gathered disciples objected to being tested by someone at Foundation Establishment.
• Yang Zhengxin urged Chao Wendao to bring Ding Mingcang back and mocked Lu Ze, who explained that Ding had lost a bet with him and gone to Repentance Valley.
• Yang Zhengxin, unable to challenge Lu Ze while Chao Wendao watched over him, demanded that Lu Ze prove he could test Nascent Soul True Disciples.

Lu Ze accepted Yang Zhengxin’s challenge to prove he could create a Secret Realm mechanism after Yang and other sect elders questioned his ability. He claimed no one present would solve his mechanism and said he could build it in three hours.

• Chao Wendao confronted Yang Zhengxin for repeatedly questioning Lu Ze in Spirit Cloud Sect territory.
• Lu Ze told Yang Zhengxin he had never explored a Secret Realm but could create mechanisms, and agreed to prove it publicly.
• Yang Zhengxin challenged Lu Ze to create a mechanism meeting the Five Great Sects’ C-Grade standard.
• Lu Ze asked what grade it would be if no one present could solve his mechanism, prompting Yang Zhengxin to call it an Immortal-Grade Mechanism.
• Yang Zhengxin gave Lu Ze three days to build the mechanism, and Lu Ze replied that three hours would suffice.

Lu Ze prepared an Illusion Realm based on the punishing platform game I Wanna to meet the Azure Peak Sect elder’s challenge. He began setting its traps while disciples gathered outside to hear whether he could fulfill his boast.

• Disciples at the Spirit Cloud Sect plaza spread news that Lu Ze had promised to make a C-Grade trap-filled Secret Realm that even the elders could not overcome.
• Lu Ze chose I Wanna as the model for his trap-filled Illusion Realm, using plans he had made for punishing games.
• Lu Ze created an abstract version of the game and a landscape version for players, making the abstract visuals visible through Spiritual Sense.
• Lu Ze finished the visuals and started setting traps, including lethal ground spikes and blocks that could disappear.

Lu Ze finished an illusion realm in an hour and a half, despite Yang Zhengxin's doubts and Nangong Yuan's offer to take over. Yang Zhengxin entered the realm to test it, where its opening challenge appeared.

• Nangong Yuan confronted Yang Zhengxin for making Lu Ze create a C-Grade mechanism, while Yang Zhengxin insisted Lu Ze had volunteered.
• Lu Ze opened his eyes and announced that he had completed the illusion realm, astonishing Chao Wendao and Nangong Yuan.
• Yang Zhengxin accused the elders of trying to claim credit for Lu Ze's work, and the other sect elders demanded to inspect the realm themselves.
• Lu Ze presented the Illusion Crystal Stone and rejected Nangong Yuan's offer to intervene.
• Nangong Yuan moved the Illusion Tower to the grounds, and Lu Ze placed the crystal inside and invited Yang Zhengxin to enter.
• Yang Zhengxin stepped into Lu Ze's illusion, where the challenge read, "If You're a Cultivator, Descend a Hundred Levels".

Lu Ze projected his trap-filled Illusion Realm, If You're a Cultivator, Descend a Hundred Levels, for the Martial Arts Exchange and let Yang Zhengxin try it. Yang Zhengxin dismissed the game’s crude art and traps, but the first level killed him with its flying title characters, leaving him baffled after reviving.

• Lu Ze projected Yang Zhengxin’s view of the Illusion Realm for the gathering and explained that cultivation was suppressed inside it.
• Yang Zhengxin confidently started Random Level: One while spectators mocked the game’s abstract artwork.
• Yang Zhengxin tested his movement, learned he could jump and push off once in midair, and proceeded without expecting combat.
• Yang Zhengxin leaped onto a platform, where the giant characters reading “If You're a Cultivator” flew at him and smashed him apart.
• Yang Zhengxin revived at the starting point and stared in confusion at the title characters.

Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm kept killing Yang Zhengxin with bizarre text traps, even after Lu Ze changed the challenge to a timed attempt. Yang Zhengxin cleared the first level and entered a much harder second one, where his confidence led him into another deadly trap.

• Yang Zhengxin complained about dying to flying text, and Lu Ze persuaded him to continue by changing the challenge to a one-incense-stick time limit.
• Yang Zhengxin dodged the text trap and crossed the first obstacles, but a disappearing mound revealed the words “Hi, hello!” that killed him.
• Yang Zhengxin tried again, cleared the first level, and entered a second randomly selected level.
• Yang Zhengxin studied the second level’s map and confidently planned a route through its platforms and Ground Spikes.
• Yang Zhengxin landed near a Ground Spike that suddenly expanded to fill the platform, killing him.

Yang Zhengxin repeatedly tried to cross Lu Ze’s trap-filled Illusion Realm, adapting his tactics only to be killed by increasingly absurd mechanisms. He ended the chapter back at the Soul Gathering Array, furious after a Ground Spike accelerated into him.

• Yang Zhengxin dodged a Ground Spike but was knocked from a platform by an Iron Block, then pierced by two more spikes when he tried to return to the starting point.
• A cat killed Yang Zhengxin on the left route, and Lu Ze calmly explained that it was an Immortal Beast guarding an Immortal-Grade Trap.
• Yang Zhengxin found a way up the right side and tried to cross a Ground Spike that tore free with a strip of ground and shot toward him.
• Yang Zhengxin tested several ways to evade the flying Ground Spike, but the cat and the spike’s changing movements killed him each time.
• Yang Zhengxin was flattened again when the Ground Spike accelerated toward the Cave, then howled in frustration at the Soul Gathering Array.

Yang Zhengxin struggled to clear Lu Ze’s trap-filled Illusion Realm, while Lu Ze offered him a longer time limit and a seemingly helpful hint. Yang Zhengxin finally navigated the most dangerous spike trap, only to be smashed to pieces by the hidden cat.

• Yang Zhengxin withdrew from the Illusion Realm and accused Lu Ze of toying with him, but Lu Ze pointed out a gap that could help him dodge the Ground Spikes.
• Lu Ze replaced the original time limit with one level per oversized incense stick, and Yang Zhengxin accepted the challenge to clear at least ten stages.
• Yang Zhengxin memorized the route and raced through the traps, reaching the upper cliff and dropping into the gap on the left to evade a Ground Spike.
• Yang Zhengxin celebrated surviving the spike, but the hidden cat charged out and smashed him to pieces.

Lu Ze defended his trap-filled Illusion Realm after Yang Zhengxin accused him of cheating, and the Elders accepted his explanation. Lu Ze then added a sect leaderboard to the Illusion Realm, leaving the gathered cultivators eager to compete for the top rankings.

• Yang Zhengxin cursed Lu Ze after leaving the Illusion Realm, but Lu Ze argued that its restrictions and traps were legitimate tests of wit.
• The Elders leaned toward Lu Ze’s defense, and Chao Wendao persuaded Yang Zhengxin to stop challenging him.
• Yang Zhengxin left with the Azure Peak Sect disciples after warning that Lu Ze would face judgment again when the Martial Tournament theme was announced.
• Lu Ze secretly adjusted the Illusion Realm and added a leaderboard, which ranked Yang Zhengxin and the Azure Peak Sect first.
• Cultivators from the gathered sects noticed the leaderboard and began discussing how they could claim higher rankings.

The sect elders and disciples prepared to compete in Lu Ze’s illusion trials after he added a leaderboard that fueled their rivalries. Lu Ze earned a surge of Demonic Value and began creating more maps, eager to expand his trials as his cultivation grew.

• The elders discussed the disciples’ interest in the rankings, and Chao Wendao gave them Spirit Cloud Sect Illusion Tokens to explore the trials.
• Lin Anzai, Li Jiujian, and Wen Lingwu each secretly sent their disciples to compete and bring glory to their sects.
• Chao Wendao ordered Nangong Yuan to produce Replica Illusion Crystal Stones and told Zhong Yi to focus on clearing the trials for Spirit Cloud Sect.
• Lu Ze collected Demonic Value from the elders and disciples, reaching the middle Foundation Establishment stage after earning ten thousand points overnight.
• Lu Ze opened the trial’s backend and began editing a new map to challenge the cultivators further.

Guo Yunwen and the elders of Sky Profound Gate struggled to keep their composure after trying Lu Ze’s illusion, If You're a Cultivator, Descend a Hundred Levels. Guo Yunwen planned to bring the illusion as a local specialty to his senior brother, while Chao Wendao confronted Nangong Yuan about Lu Ze’s nature.

• Guo Yunwen emerged from the illusion shaken after dying more than a hundred times and failing to understand Lu Ze’s traps.
• Guo Yunwen told his senior brother he would bring him a local specialty from Spirit Cloud Sect, deciding to buy more Mini Illusion Towers and Crystals.
• Nangong Yuan left the elders’ lounge after a frustrating night playing the illusion and encountered Chao Wendao, who had dark circles around his eyes.
• Chao Wendao recalled Lu Ze’s brutal traps and asked Nangong Yuan why his supposedly kind, simple-minded disciple had made them.
• Nangong Yuan denied having a disciple, leaving Chao Wendao speechless.

Yang Zhengxin learned that other sects were competing on Lu Ze’s illusion leaderboard, but Xu Huoyao’s attempt to restore Azure Peak Sect’s reputation left him furious instead. At Spirit Cloud Peak, Zhong Yi finally climbed the rankings, only to face an unexpected counting question in the illusion.

• Yang Zhengxin heard that Spirit Cloud Sect had displayed the leaderboard and that Azure Peak Sect ranked last, then asked whether Xu Huoyao had participated.
• Xu Huoyao tried Lu Ze’s illusion, became convinced the traps were being controlled to humiliate Azure Peak Sect, and threatened to attack Artifact Forging Hall before Yang Zhengxin stopped him.
• Yang Zhengxin told Xu Huoyao to focus on the upcoming Official Martial Tournament instead of the leaderboard.
• Zhong Yi endured a series of absurd deaths in the illusion, then vented his frustration by nearly beating apart a Training Dummy.
• Zhong Yi broke through the tenth stage and reached the leaderboard’s top five hundred, only for the illusion to ask how many red apples had appeared.

Zhong Yi, Mu Yawen, and Li Moran struggled through Lu Ze’s punishing illusion game, while Lu Ze refused to give Nangong Yuan its full solutions. The Spirit Cloud Sect gained limited guidance, and Lu Ze received a Myriad Souls Banner as a task reward.

• Zhong Yi quit the illusion after its trick questions about apples and spikes drove him to smash a training dummy, while Mu Yawen pretended to be calm.
• Li Moran emerged from the illusion after clearing level fifty and decided to return to cultivation rather than keep improving her score.
• Nangong Yuan asked Lu Ze how he had devised so many traps, and Lu Ze claimed he had invented them in his spare time.
• Lu Ze refused to give the Spirit Cloud Sect full walkthroughs, calling that cheating, but accepted Nangong Yuan’s offers and shared a few key hints.
• The system announced that Lu Ze had exceeded his task requirements and awarded him a Myriad Souls Banner.

Lu Ze discovered new uses for the Myriad Souls Banner and added a Map Editor to his popular Illusion Realm game. The Four Great Sects’ disciples and elders prepared punishing stages for him to face before the Martial Tournament, but Zhong Yi learned he had to clear his own map before publishing it.

• Lu Ze learned that game deaths strengthened souls in the Myriad Souls Banner, which could be given intelligence and summoned to help with work in the Illusion Realm.
• Two days after the game’s release, disciples continued playing and discussing its difficult stages, while Lu Ze uploaded a Map Editor for them to create their own levels.
• Disciples from the Limitless Sword Sect, Sky Profound Gate, Cloud Immortal Palace, and Azure Peak Sect began designing levels to challenge the Spirit Cloud Sect before the Martial Tournament.
• Yang Zhengxin eagerly set out to build a trap-filled map for Lu Ze, while Zhong Yi designed a twisted stage of his own.
• Zhong Yi tried to publish his map but discovered that he had to clear it once first.

After waking to a huge increase in Demonic Value, Lu Ze discovered that cultivators had been tormenting themselves trying to clear the stages they designed for his illusion realm. Meanwhile, Yang Zhengxin planned to undermine Lu Ze at the Official Martial Tournament by exploiting the illusion realm’s scale.

• Lu Ze checked the forum and learned that senior brothers and Elders had gained Demonic Value by repeatedly failing to clear their own stages in If You're a Cultivator, Descend a Hundred Levels.
• Lu Ze checked the Myriad Souls Banner and saw that Zhong Yi's soul had grown stronger.
• Yang Zhengxin smashed his Mini Illusion Tower after failing more than a hundred times to clear the trap stage he had designed, and Xu Huoyao soon suffered the same fate.
• Azure Peak Sect decided to abandon the illusion realm and focus on the Official Martial Tournament, while Yang Zhengxin planned to influence the tournament's Secret Realm theme against Lu Ze.
• Yang Zhengxin identified the scale of the illusion realm as Lu Ze's fatal weakness.