Chapter 259: Lao Zhou, your hairstyle

“Damn it! I fell for it again!”

Old Zhong’s mouth twitched as he looked at the System prompt.

He couldn't understand why every teaching level Lu Ze made would cause everyone to die in strange places.

Returning to his room, Old Zhong saw that Mu Yawen and Zhou Yue had also finished the novice tutorial, so he quickly sent an invitation.

Seeing the two appear in the room with frustrated expressions, Old Zhong immediately guessed what they had experienced.

The cunning Lu Ze would equally trick every novice to their demise.

Though the three were annoyed, their anticipation for the game did not decrease; it increased.

The short few minutes of the novice tutorial were enough to glimpse the unique aspects of this Illusion Realm.

“Chosen One, Endless Trial...”

Looking at the two modes presented before him, Old Zhong focused his gaze for a few more moments.

The introduction to the “Chosen One” gameplay wasn't detailed; it generally involved numerous teams engaging in slaughter and combat within a vast area.

The sole victor would be the last team standing.

The “Endless Trial” gameplay was relatively simpler.

Infinite respawns after death, with the player who first achieved the designated kill score winning.

“Chosen One” was divided into solo, duo, and trio modes.

Whereas “Endless Trial” required individual combat.

The difference was immediately clear.

“So... are we the Cultivators from the opening story, competing for the Immortal Mask?”

Old Zhong looked at the introduction, deep in thought.

“Feels like it... Alright, stop talking nonsense, let’s start quickly!”

Zhou Yue urged, extremely interested in this type of combat Illusion Realm.

“Why the hurry? You might get beaten up again once we go in...”

Old Zhong chuckled as he glanced at Zhou Yue.

“Impossible!”

Zhou Yue shook his head with absolute certainty.

“What could possibly restrict me in a combat Illusion Realm? This kind of Illusion Realm can’t possibly have a critical hit mechanism, right? If it does, I’m not playing!”

Old Zhong unhurriedly selected the trio mode for Chosen One.

“eternal calamity” had a huge hype.

Half a month ago, the promotional slogan, “My body is unrestrained, my Dao is infinite,” was incredibly eye-catching.

Now that it was released, countless Cultivators quickly poured into it, and matchmaking was almost instantaneous.

“Haha, Yue Shan, here I come!”

“Haha, Ji Canghai, here I come!”

Mu Yawen and Zhou Yue unhesitatingly chose Yue Shan and Ji Canghai, gleefully waving their fists on the small island in the preparation area.

“Where’s Old Zhong? Why hasn’t he come in yet?”

Zhou Yue asked curiously.

“I’m looking at skills... Aren’t you guys looking?”

Old Zhong replied speechlessly.

“Oh... So there are skills.”

Mu Yawen rubbed her head, then opened the panel to check her skills.

“Wow, I can transform into a Divine General!!”

Although Mu Yawen didn't fully understand the purpose of a Divine General, the ability to transform into one was enough to excite her.

“My small skill is... getting hit? And my ultimate is activating Meridians with Fire Spiritual Qi? Skills even have variations?”

Zhou Yue looked at even more details.

Each person had two skills, divided into normal skills and ultimate Profound Truths.

Each skill also had three different versions.

For example, his Ji Canghai.

The small skill, Scorching Blaze, besides its original form, also had two variant versions: “Forceful Counter” and “Giant Flame.”

Compared to standing still and getting hit, he preferred the “Giant Flame” version, which allowed him to actively use fireballs.

Unfortunately, variant versions required accumulating character proficiency to unlock.

“It feels very interesting!”

The more Old Zhong researched, the more he found the Illusion Realm created by Lu Ze this time to be fascinating.

Besides researching his preferred Master Tianhai, he also looked at the skills of many other characters.

Intelligent as Old Zhong was, he quickly categorized each character in his mind.

Offensive, defensive, supportive, functional...

Each character had different roles, and combined with the changes brought by variant skills, the gameplay offered immense anticipation!

“Old Zhong, hurry! Ten seconds left!”

Zhou Yue urged.

Without time to research more character skills, Old Zhong hastily chose Master Tianhai.

Since “"Clash of Immortals and Demons",” Lu Ze’s application of “role-playing” techniques had become increasingly refined.

Each character had one to three fixed accessories, plus several optional ones.

Each type of accessory had both male and female options for players to choose freely.

Players with chunibyo could choose to wear all accessories and “cosplay.”

Those who preferred simplicity could just wear classic accessories.

Such as Ning Hongye’s blindfold or Cui San Niang’s eye patch, and so on.

Those who liked to be cross-dressing bigshots...

Well, that was also fine, purely based on personal preference.

In addition, players could also transform into the character themselves.

Old Zhong chose to enter wearing all of Master Tianhai’s gear.

His flowing long hair instantly became a short buzz cut.

Old Zhong, wearing a simple white short-sleeved shirt, entered the preparation island.

He was already handsome, and with the sharp, golden Zen aura of Master Tianhai in his eyes, he truly exuded the feeling of Master Tianhai himself.

“Hahahaha! Senior Brother Zhong with short hair... First time seeing it!”

Mu Yawen laughed foolishly.

He wore a brown chest guard, his hair tied back in a bun, and green stubble on his face, making him look weathered and reliable.

“Heh heh, Junior Brother Lu’s transformation technique is getting better and better!”

Old Zhong looked at himself, then at the other people with various appearances around him, and couldn’t help but praise.

Then he turned his head and saw Zhou Yue, and Old Zhong almost couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Ji Canghai was originally the image of a wild and uninhibited chivalrous wanderer.

His messy, voluminous long hair, combined with Zhou Yue’s thick eyebrows, big eyes, and inexplicably awkward face, looked utterly hilarious.

“Hahahaha...”

“Hahahaha!”

“Old Zhou, you with this hairstyle... Hahahaha!!”

...

Amidst the joyful laughter, the countdown ended.

The three appeared on a huge, extremely fast flying boat.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Old Zhong curiously leaned over the edge of the flying boat, looking at the vast continent below.

It was then that he suddenly realized something—

This Illusion Realm...

Seemed a bit too big!

Even when viewed from ten thousand miles high, it was still so magnificent.

If Lu Ze hadn’t used any illusionary tricks, this area must be nearly ten thousand meters!

Old Zhong was a Middle Stage Soul Transformation Cultivator, and his Divine Sense was considered excellent among his peers.

Frankly, if he were to create an Illusion Realm, with this level of visual fidelity, even with all his might, it would probably only reach about 4,000 meters.

And Lu Ze had just entered the Nascent Soul Stage!

Only four words came to his mind to describe it:

Terrifying as such!

As the people around marvelled at the enormous map, the floorboards beneath their feet suddenly became transparent.

At the same time, an option appeared before everyone.

【Land】.

In Lu Ze’s previous life’s original work, players of “eternal calamity” only needed to select a point on the map to spawn there.

But Lu Ze felt that a battle royale game without the classic parachute jump sequence always felt like it was missing something.

So he added the parachute jump to this Illusion Realm.

“Oh! I get it... We jump off the flying boat and choose our initial landing spot!”

Old Zhong immediately understood the meaning and shouted out.

Upon hearing this, the surrounding players understood one after another, taking out their maps to study them.

“Old Zhong, you really are something... Why would you shout out this kind of information!”

Zhou Yue muttered quietly.

“Bah, it doesn’t matter, how can a true man only care about himself?”

Old Zhong waved his hand with a smile.

He also took out his map, looking at the various locations on it.

He had seen this map, named “Jukuzhou,” several times before and had its general topography firmly memorized.

But connecting it with the current flying boat descent, he finally understood what the “High Resource Point” markers meant.

“Looks like... there are many treasures here!”

Old Zhong looked at the map, his eyes burning.

His finger pointed to a place called “Tianren City.”