Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The Illusory Realm was a magical place.

 All the cultivators could be resurrected there and only cultivators could be resurrected.

 In this small world, there was a huge number of ferocious beasts who had complete life cycles and could not be resurrected. Therefore, the Illusory Realm would only be activated once in a blue moon.

 Well…

 There was an interesting question to be asked then. How did this world determine who the cultivators were?!

 Lu Ming liked this question very much.

 Hypothetically…

 If this world was a game or programme, the rules of the a.s.sessment would need a parameter to differentiate the humans from the beasts!

 What was this parameter then?

 Marshes ran along a corner of the Illusory Realm.

Herds of peak one-star water buffaloes lived there.

They were very ordinary.

 They were also very weak and small.

 Therefore, when Lu Ming appeared, they didn't even dare to move. They trembled amid the three-star aura and allowed Lu Ming to ravage them as he wished.

 Hence…

 Lu Ming flipped over a female water buffalo and confirmed his hypothesis.

 He got the small water buffalo to open its mouth and then placed a vocation core inside. Despite the protection by the Isolation Film, the vocation core was dissipating faint energy.

 This energy was dissipating and spreading into the body of the small female water buffalo and eventually integrated with it.

 It was very amazing.

 In the first place, these ferocious beasts were formed by energy and were unique products of this illusory world! An aura similar to that in the Sea of Consciousness emanated from their bodies.

 After a long time…

 The vocation core was perfectly integrated!

 “Should I test it out?”

 Lu Ming's eyes were filled with antic.i.p.ation.

 Bang!

He destroyed the small female water buffalo with one punch.

 After a long time…

 The small female water buffalo was resurrected…

 Alright.

 It was resurrected!

 Due to the energy core, this female water buffalo was counted as one of the cultivators partic.i.p.ating in the Illusory Realm. It could resurrect now!

 Not only that, it could even acc.u.mulate energy over time!

 “It works!”

 Lu Ming was elated.

 Hahahaha!

 True enough!

 He guessed it right.

 True enough, the deciding factor of a cultivator in this world was the vocation core!

 Since that was the case…

 Well…

 Swoos.h.!.+

 He fished out a pink core and shoved it into the body of another small female water buffalo.

 Buzz—

 Energy integration!

 Success!

 Another ‘cultivator' appeared!

 After waiting for two minutes, he killed it with a blast. Sure enough, he obtained some of its energy. Although it was a very small amount of energy, his method was clearly effective!

 Well…

 He could begin now!

 Shus.h.!.+

 Shus.h.!.+

 Lu Ming took out a pile of energy cores from his body and, one by one, he integrated them with the water buffaloes. After a long time, dozens of cultivators appeared!

 Each one could absorb energy!

 Each one could also increase their energy!

 Since he could do this…

Why would he need to kill the beasts?!

 Haha.

 As long as he reared this herd of water buffaloes and then killed them, he would be able to obtain most of the energy in their bodies! This was simply the safest method!

 Hence…

 In this stretch of marshes that no one paid attention to…

 Lu Ming was in the middle, surrounded by water buffaloes. They were kneeling on the ground, as if they were on a pilgrimage and countless energy was constantly gathering around them…

 Lu Ming's energy suddenly began to increase by leaps and bounds!

 This was the scene witnessed by the vice president.

 What did this mean?

 The vice president went berserk.

 It was true.

 The Illusory Realm had been activated umpteen times. When did this kind of situation ever occur?

 Those who knew the strategy in advance: Yes.

 Those who prepared a large number of trump cards: Yes.

 Those who secretly formed teams: Yes.

 All of this was acceptable to them.

 However…

 No one was like Lu Ming!

 The Illusory Realm has just begun and he has created that many ‘sub-accounts'?!!! Brother, are you playing a game?! The first thing you do when you come here is create more accounts?! 

d.a.m.n, they're not even registered!

 The vice president poured over the rankings. Strangely, these mutated buffaloes were not on the list!

 Unregistered!

 All of them were unregistered!

 The Illusory Realm could only accept thirty people at one time. Due to these special reasons, they had already added Zhao Yunshan. But, now?

 The number had doubled!

 Each resurrection would deplete the energy from the Illusory Realm itself! Lu Ming had added a list of unregistered ‘heads' within such a short time!

Who could withstand this?

 Also!

 Where did these unregistered ‘heads” come from?

 He had no idea what he was up to!

 They then saw Lu Ming waving his hands and followed by a pink flash.

 Afterward…

 An unregistered ‘head' appeared!

 This was not a program whereby you could casually ‘insert a user'. This was the Illusory Realm. Where did those unregistered ‘heads' come from?

 There was once a Summoner who tried to do this but failed.

 Lu Ming…

 How he did that, n.o.body knew!

 However…

 No matter how these ‘heads' were created, the problem seemed to be quite serious. If the Illusory Realm was interrupted due to the over-exhaustion of energy, the entire realm would be destroyed!

 “No! We have to stop him!”

 The vice president wiped away his cold sweat.

 “But… Vice president.”

 The a.s.sistant smiled bitterly. “We've emphasized before that in the Illusory Realm, any resources whether they come from family or are trump cards from outside… can be used!

 “Lu Ming… doesn't seem to have flouted the rules.”

 Why was there such a rule?

 The reason was very simple.

 There's no such thing as a free lunch!

 For the Energy Warrior a.s.sociation, all these partic.i.p.ants were sheep…

 The Illusory Realm was a small world on its own. All of the energy that they utilized and depleted there would eventually become a part of the Illusory Realm!

 After depletion, the energy would be transformed into another component of the world!

This component would silently remain in the air and this world. They would then gradually recover and transform into energy, eventually becoming part of this small world's life cycle!

 Therefore…

 They encouraged the cultivators to kill!

 They encouraged the cultivators to fight!

 In that case…

 The Illusory Realm would become stronger each time it was activated!

 It was just that…

 Someone like Lu Ming did not exist the previous times.

 “The rules won't do as well!”

 The vice president was enraged.

 Rules or not, were they important now?

 Lu Ming, this shameless guy, created ten unregistered ‘sub-accounts' in one go to serve him, the ‘main account'. If this were to continue, everyone would be dead meat?!

 If he had known that this would happen…

 He might as well have changed it to manual mode when he previously set up the quota for the small world!

 Anyway, there were only thirty of them.

 True enough, Lu Ming was a calamity!

 What should he do?

 The a.s.sistant felt very helpless too.

 The Illusory Realm was a very important place. They could only reset the rules in the presence of a few vice presidents or the president.

Only the vice president…

 He was afraid that he couldn't!

 Furthermore…

 The Illusory Realm had already been activated and they could not close it. They could only watch on!

 Shus.h.!.+

 Shus.h.!.+

 The results were changing.

 Lu Ming had sprinted to the twentieth place from his initial ranking of thirty-first. After a while, his ranking simply leaped to the tenth place.

 The vice president's face turned pale.

 “Actually, you don't need to be too worried.”

 After contemplating the board, the a.s.sistant said, “Although these unregistered ‘accounts' can provide a large amount of energy. If they are killed, they will also provide energy to other cultivators!

 During later stages…

 These unregistered ‘heads' and Lu Ming will become cannon fodder!

 Although these buffaloes are unregistered and their auras are not bad, they don't have cognitive spirits. They only have basic instincts and are quite powerless! Our Energy Warriors are very powerful and can vanquish almost all of the ordinary four-star cultivators!

Perhaps…

 We don't need to worry at all,” the a.s.sistant consoled.

 “Is that true?”

 The vice president furrowed his brows tightly.

 He hoped so.

 He did not know why. At the thought of the past few problems stirred up by Lu Ming, he felt very uneasy. Was it really that easy to deal with this little brat?

 Time pa.s.sed quietly.

 The cultivators had a tacit understanding with each other and did not confront one another.

When they saw that someone was killing the beasts, they would automatically go to another place to hunt. Their reasoning was very simple: “So what if I let you acc.u.mulate energy first?

 As long as I kill you later, that energy will become mine.”

 The more people went hunting for ferocious beasts, the more people they had working for them!

First there was the transfer of energy from the ferocious beasts to the cultivator.

 Afterward, there would be a fight between the cultivators.

 At this very moment…

 As time pa.s.sed, there were fewer and fewer ferocious beasts. Along with its acc.u.mulation over time and the hunting of ferocious beasts, the energy in the cultivators' bodies was increasing…

 Finally, a huge battle erupted!

 An Energy Warrior died instantly and provided a ma.s.sive amount of energy for his killer!

 The Illusory Realm… had officially entered its second stage!

 “It has begun!”

 Everyone was tempted.

 There were only two types of people here — The first type was super geniuses. They claimed to have shocking talent and strong comprehension skills. Of course, they were not weak! The other type was people like Zhao Yunshan who was a rich sponsor. They had wealthy family backgrounds and had even fewer worries!

 And Ye Liang was one of these rich tyc.o.o.n sponsors!

 Of course, he was long prepared to partic.i.p.ate in the Illusory Realm. With a huge sum of money, he had found out about many things about the Illusory Realm.

 For example…

 The more energy they had, the more powerful they would become after the breakthrough!

 For example…

 There was also an ability that could let you capture other people's aura.

 Buzz—

 Ye Liang's eyes were s.h.i.+ning.

 The world in his eyes became surreal and some energy particles that were initially invisible could be vaguely seen now. He could even see bright lights shooting into the sky!

 That was the unique energy which belonged to the Illusory Realm!

True enough…

 His money had been well spent!

 This was the only detection ability, amongst many, that could detect the energy acc.u.mulated in the Illusory Realm !

 And so…

 He would be able to target his opponents.

 Shus.h.!.+

 His eyes swept across the surrounding area.

 One by one, he swept his eyes across auras in the Illusory Realm. Suddenly, his pupils constricted and his gaze landed on a strong and powerful aura. He was astounded.

What a terrifying aura!

 Someone had already acc.u.mulated that much energy?!

 He looked at himself. He had hunted the beasts for a long time but did not even have one-tenth of this person's energy. How exactly did this guy do this?

 He could not be bothered anymore.

 If he were to kill him…

 Ye Liang licked his dry lips.

 Peak three-star…

 Hehe.

 He took out a pile of trump cards that he had prepared.

 Hence…

 He quietly moved in the direction of the aura.

 There was a stretch of quiet marshes where only water buffaloes rested. It was densely surrounded by reeds, which was perfect as they could conceal his movements.

 Shus.h.!.+

 Shus.h.!.+

 He lay in ambush without a sound.

 His gaze focused on a light pillar nearby which was shooting into the sky. He then gingerly approached it. However, just as he pa.s.sed by a water buffalo which was eating gra.s.s…

 Pfft!

 Cold lights flashed.

 The water buffalo which had looked up suddenly dashed towards him.

 “How annoying!”

 He sneered coldly.

 This was merely a one-star water buffalo and it dared to be so arrogant. If not for the fact that he was afraid of alarming the target nearby…

 Heh.

 A surge of lights flashed in his hands and he pushed it towards the water buffalo gently. However, at that instant, he could sense a huge gush of energy coming from the water buffalo.

 Its sharp horn was akin to a sharp blade slicing through the dark!

 Swoos.h.!.+

 Cold lights flashed.

 The horn perforated his body…

 Poof!

 Blood splattered everywhere.

 In that instant, he felt like a top-notch a.s.sa.s.sin had been quietly waiting and then attacked him in the dark with one fatal strike…

 “c.r.a.p!”

 Ye Liang's eyes widened and he could not come to his senses for a long time.

 What the h.e.l.l is this?!

 Water buffalo…

 Are water buffaloes that powerful?

 Cras.h.!.+

 His body dropped to the ground and his consciousness suddenly dissipated.

 Buzz—

 When he regained his consciousness, he was back at the place of his resurrection.

 Ye Liang was speechless.

 I died just like that?!

 d.a.m.n!

 What happened?

 That buffalo… What was wrong with that buffalo?

 A buffalo a.s.sa.s.sin?

 Could it be that the big shots of the Energy Warrior a.s.sociation deliberately designed such things for us to experience the sinister behavior of humans in society?

 That was possible.

 He'd better be more careful.

 Hence…

 Ye Liang went to the marshes again.

 That water buffalo was still at its original spot, drinking water. Ye Liang fished out his trump card and walked towards it, pretending to be nonchalant. The moment he appeared…

 He exacted revenge!

 Pfft!

 The water buffalo dropped to the ground.

 “Pathetic.”

 Ye Liang pursed his lips.

 Forget that I didn't notice you earlier. Since I've seen you, do you still have a chance?

 Beasts were beasts. They were not intelligent enough.

 He quietly walked to the reeds. A distance away, another water buffalo targeted and charged at him. Ah, it had already given up on ambus.h.i.+ng and now planned to rush him directly?

 Instinctively, Ye Liang wanted to kill it.

 However…

 Just as the water buffalo touched him, he sensed a horrifying aura emerging like a tsunami, drowning him instantly…

 That moment!

 He felt like a powerful warrior was attacking him with a top-notch ability!

 Pfft!

 The horn perforated his body instantly.

 Ye Liang.

 Dead.

 Ye Liang resurrected with a dumbstruck expression.

 W-what happened just now?

 Why did that charging water buffalo feel like an Energy Warrior?

 To h.e.l.l with it!

 What's happening to those water buffaloes?!

 Warrior buffaloes?

 Ye Liang was completely lost.

 He vaguely sensed that something was not right but if he did not go there again, he would feel ashamed. Therefore, he decided not to go near the place. Instead, he would observe first…

 Pfft!

 b.a.l.l.s made of water burst on his chest.

Before he could approach them, he merely saw a water buffalo spitting out a mouthful of water, and then he died.

 Ye Liang wore a dumbstruck expression.

 Element buffaloes?

 Since when can water buffaloes release abilities?

 Forget it.

 He would distance himself further this time.

 Ye Liang was in a daze. He had died consecutively many times. Even if he had a ma.s.sive amount of family resources backing him, he could not fully concentrate. However, he still felt very indignant.

 These water buffaloes definitely had secrets!

 Very soon…

 He rushed to the marsh again.

 This time, he became smarter. He changed his location, stood on the crest of a hill far away and glanced at the reed. Seemingly, there was…

 Pfft!

 A buffalo horn shot through the sky and pierced his chest. He was now dangling from a huge tree behind him.

Ye Liang.

 Dead.

 Buzz—

 Ye Liang resurrected numbly.

 Oh.

 Shooting buffaloes…

 d.a.m.n it!

 Is there s.h.i.+t in the brains of the big shots from the Energy Warrior a.s.sociation?! They actually created ferocious beasts of such a level in this place. What exactly are they trying to do?! They are too much!

 Ye Liang suffered from a complete mental breakdown.

 He was not going there anymore!

 Whoever wanted to go could do as they wished!

 At this very moment…

 Lu Ming, who was in the marsh, suddenly felt that something was amiss. He had been too focused on creating cards and a few water buffaloes had slipped out.

 Buzz—

 Lights flashed.

 A water buffalo resurrected.

 Lu Ming took a glance. It was actually the water buffalo in which he had installed the a.s.sa.s.sin vocation core…

 “Why are you running around!”

 Lu Ming was between laughter and tears.

 Just as he wanted to say something, he was shocked to discover that the water buffalo's energy had increased…

 Alright.

 Although death had caused its energy to reduce by ten percent, its aggregate energy had increased. Therefore, it had actually killed either a ferocious beast or cultivator?!

 This was amazing!

 Lu Ming came to his senses.

 Oh, right.

 This was the water buffaloes' place of origin and they would resurrect here after their deaths.

 Since this was the case…

 Perhaps he could release them?

 The vocation cores that he installed were not merely four-star. There were also five-star ones! If he were to release them and let them cultivate, he would not lose even if they died!

 Lu Ming simply released all of them.

 Hence…

 One by one, the water buffaloes exited the small stretch of marshes.

 Somewhere.

 Two peak three-stars were engaged in combat.

 Suddenly…

 A beam of cold lights flashed and the two of them were perforated instantly. Before they died, they cast a vague glance, only to discover that their attacker seemed to be a buffalo.

 Somewhere.

 A cultivator saw a bull-like ferocious beast and wanted to kill it.

 Suddenly…

 That buffalo summoned a terrifying fierce tiger which tore up him on the spot. He could not come to his senses after a long time. After his resurrection, he was still wearing a dumbstruck expression.

 When was it that… water buffaloes could summon a tiger?!

 On what grounds?

 Were they on good terms?

 Were the lives of ferocious beasts nowadays that messy?