The Director Team Hands the Course of Events to the Audience!

When Shen Yunfei regained consciousness, he found himself back where he had started.

The familiar room, the familiar furnishings.

Sure enough, everything that had happened before had been an illusion!

But he did not think he had even slashed anyone yet, so how had the illusion broken?

Strange.

With doubts in his heart, Shen Yunfei felt as though his head truly hurt, like he had downed several pounds of counterfeit liquor.

Ever since entering the secret realm, he had been having this feeling more and more often.

The master of this secret realm definitely had some twisted sense of humor.

After sorting out his mental state, Shen Yunfei let out a long breath and stepped directly through the next door.

Azure Willow Labyrinth.

It could be said that the entire production team had put in a great deal of effort. Aside from a few advertisements, the whole livestream was highly satisfying to the audience.

"Hm?"

Gu Yuan, who had been observing Lin Hao, suddenly raised his nonexistent brow.

Early Foundation Establishment?

Someone had broken through to early Foundation Establishment?

So quickly?

In an instant, Gu Yuan vanished from where he stood and appeared inside the Azure Mountain Sect Master's cave residence.

That was right.

It was this sect master!

Even Gu Yuan had not expected that someone playing the sect master would actually possess such excellent talent!

How long had it been? Even with the Qi Refining Formula providing a certain boost to cultivation speed, it should not have been this fast.

Among the other elders who had received the teachings, the strongest had only reached late Qi Refining.

Not a single one had reached Great Perfection.

Impressive.

The production team was impressive too, finding someone with such talent to play the sect master.

At this rate, the sect master was going to become real.

After sensing his own cultivation, Gu Yuan found that mid Golden Core was still far beyond his reach.

There were simply too many places where he needed to use energy.

His cultivation was far more difficult than theirs.

After all, he was literally a Qi Refining Formula.

Azure Willow Labyrinth.

The director team could only be said to be truly persistent. They had directly stretched the entire Azure Willow Labyrinth timeline out by a month.

Of course, the extras would not remain there the whole time during that month.

They would return to their cave residences through secret passages along designated routes, where they could enjoy air conditioning and electronic devices.

That was how good the extras had it.

Well, the dormitories for everyone in the sect aside from the protagonists were the same.

Then they would wait for the director team's arrangements—who was to appear where, and who needed to make an appearance immediately.

It could be said that aside from the ten protagonists, everyone else was having a pretty good time.

[It's been a month. I really never expected Zhang Yun to get so immersed in the illusion that he stayed there for a whole month!]

[I didn't expect it either. He was way too arrogant. Who would have thought that herding cattle could be this badass?]

[I'm dying. I just watched the livestream—he was already planning to go on a blind date, only to get rejected by the woman.]

[If this were a real cultivation world, Zhang Yun would probably die in that illusion.]

Although a full month had already passed, the audience's enthusiasm in the comments had not diminished in the slightest.

Basically, aside from Lin Hao and two others, the remaining protagonists had all entered the secret realm.

There were still plenty of people who loved watching the secret realm content.

[Director Team: We are preparing to enter the next assessment stage of the secret realm. As for those trapped in illusions, let them stay trapped.]

At this moment, the director team's voice rang out.

After a month, the third round of trials officially began.

As for why they would not release those who were trapped, all that could be said was that if people wanted to watch, they would broadcast it.

[All Departments: Received!]

The third round already?

Gu Yuan appeared and disappeared like a ghost, standing behind the chief director as his gaze fell upon the video feed of the third trial.

It showed an enormous platform, with a massive pillar standing at its center.

Three large characters were written on the pillar in an intricate script: Affinity Pillar.

Affinity Pillar?

What the hell was that?

Even Gu Yuan, who had spent so long in the real cultivation world, could not make sense of it.

Question marks flashed across the comments as well.

What was this thing?

Couldn't figure it out.

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[Director Team: Not everyone can obtain an inheritance. We are a proper cultivation world, so it has to be realistic.]

A proper cultivation world?

Yeah right, like anyone would believe that!

Zhang Yun was still herding cattle right now.

So?

What did the director team mean?

The question marks continued to flood the comments.

[Director Team: Therefore, only three of the ten protagonists can enter the final inheritance. Oh, no—excluding Zhang Yun, it should be three out of nine.]

The director team's voice did not stop. Ignoring the comments, they continued.

[Director Team: After careful consideration, we have decided to hand the power of choice to the audience.]

[Director Team: Text "*+protagonist number" to 250250. Each message costs 1 yuan. The Affinity countdown will end in two hours.]

Comments: ...

Gu Yuan: ...

He had thought it would be some sort of script or advanced technology.

Instead, the production team was reviving an old trend.

This was a straight-up retro revival!

What era was this? They were actually holding a vote through text messages?

And charging one yuan per message!

Had they gone crazy for money?

The mobile carriers were sponsors too, huh?

[Pay to vote? Not even dogs would vote. Do you take us viewers for idiots?]

[Retro revival is one thing, but you're actually charging for it!]

[Ahhh, I want to support Brother Shen Yunfei! Brother Shen Yunfei has had it so hard, I have to support him! I'm sending a hundred messages!]

[Can't we use another method? Voting directly in the livestream room would work too. Texting is such a hassle. Just restrict the comments and have everyone post the number they support. One yuan per comment, then count the votes at the end.]

[I don't get it. I'm just watching, but I really think Lin Hao has great potential.]

The viewers had differing opinions about this vote.

But...

Their actions were extremely honest!

[Tech Team: Director, Director! The votes on the backend have exceeded one million!]

In just a few minutes, the vote count had surpassed one million.

Sure enough, the viewers had money.

[Director Team: Tech Team, display the real-time vote count in the livestream room.]

How could they better motivate people to vote?

Naturally, with a leaderboard!

Go, go, go!

Come on, dear viewers!

The poor nine protagonists still had no idea that their fates were hanging in the balance.

The mechanisms throughout Azure Willow Labyrinth slowly shifted, and according to the original schedule, the rooms behind the doors began to rearrange.

Two hours later, they would emerge from the labyrinth one after another.

[Lin Hao! Lin Hao! Lin Hao! ...]

[Shen Yunfei! Shen Yunfei! ...]

[Zhao Ting! Zhao Ting! ...]

Comments bearing the protagonists' names swept across the livestream room, leaving almost none of the actual broadcast visible on the screen.

Ten million!

One hundred million!

Five hundred million!

The total vote count kept updating.

The rankings on the leaderboard shifted as well.

Wasn't it just one yuan per vote?

Vote!

Who was short one yuan?

What they lacked was the thrill of controlling the course of a cultivation world!

Go, go, go!

The two-hour voting period quickly passed.

The comments grew more and more frantic.

When the director team saw the vote count, they were dumbfounded on the spot.

156.8 billion!

Terrifying indeed!

Even after splitting the revenue with the mobile carriers, it would still be an enormous sum.

The viewers were truly enthusiastic!