Let's start with the conclusion: this game looks like a mindless fun game, cultivating immortality, the more you cultivate, the more immortal you become. In reality, the game has one numerical trap after another; if you don't pay attention to the pace, you'll grind to the point of questioning your life. As a free game, this is understandable, but once you figure out the rules, you can enjoy playing for free even more comfortably than if you spent money. This is the conclusion I came to after calculating all night.
Getting straight to the point, the core of the game is a dual-track system of levels and cultivation. Increasing your cultivation level unlocks new characters, and these new characters directly determine your operational capacity in mid- to late-stage levels. There is a hidden mechanism here: the benefits brought by unlocking new characters are not linear; every three major stages bring a qualitative change. Specifically, from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, the chain-combo bonus from characters is about 1.5 times that of the early stage, but the leap from Golden Core to Nascent Soul jumps directly to 2.2 times. Many people get stuck at Nascent Soul levels and simply can't pass them, which is actually just because they haven't unlocked enough characters and are relying solely on equipment.
The first rule of the optimal strategy is to prioritize advancing the main storyline to unlock humanoid characters. Please make sure not to get obsessed with farming stars and items in low-level stages, as the returns are extremely low. I have compiled data from the first thirty stages, and the experience gained from the first completion of each stage is about 3.7 times that of repeated runs, making cultivation level-up efficiency completely on a different scale. You can always go back to collect stars later, but if your level falls behind, even your item gains will decrease.
Let's talk about two types of off-board props. One is the Xuantian Fragment, which randomly clears two rows at the start, and the other is the Bagua Pearl, which can transform any pattern into matching colors around it. In terms of numbers, the Xuantian Fragment's benefit is roughly equivalent to giving you 3 to 4 extra moves per game, while the Bagua Pearl provides a targeted explosion when you are stuck. Looking solely at clearing efficiency, the Bagua Pearl wins hands down, especially in later stages where the layout becomes more challenging. The Xuantian Fragment often feels useless if it doesn't land well, and a bad position can disrupt a potentially good combo rhythm.
However, there is an optimal timing for using these items. It is recommended to use the Xuān Tiān Fragments within the first ten seconds of the game, as this maximizes the probability of triggering combo clears and allows the initial gains to snowball. The Bagua Orb should be saved until there are only two moves left or when the board seems unsolvable. This is especially true in levels that require precise planning of the match order—using it too early is wasteful, while using it late can save your game. What is the recommended ratio for using the two items together? Based on my testing, I recommend a three-to-one ratio, meaning three Xuān Tiān Fragments for each Bagua Orb. However, for the first thirty levels, you can reverse this ratio. The Bagua Orb is actually less beneficial in the early stages because the board is more flexible then, so there is less need for strong directional control.
Regarding stamina planning, games of this type generally have stamina limits. Even if the payment model is free, it doesn't mean there isn't an implicit soft cap. My suggestion is to prioritize using your stamina on main story progression each day, until you fail for the first time, then go back to farm the highest level you have reached that you can reliably get three stars on to supplement experience. Because failing a level doesn't consume attempts, but does consume stamina, the loss from failing once is roughly equivalent to a third of the experience you would gain farming efficiency. Unless it's a boss, it's not recommended to grind the same level more than five times. Persisting stubbornly is a strategic mistake.
There is another detail that many players tend to overlook: leveling up cultivation is not just about unlocking characters. Each level up restores stamina once and also refreshes the day's item shop free buff. You might not know that this refresh can be kept across days. By pausing at a level-up breakthrough and claiming it the next day, it's like getting double buff time for free. This is a pure free trick, so don't waste it.
There is also a hidden first-time recharge logic. Although this game is free, it has a daily login protection period mechanism. If you log in consecutively until the seventh day, you will receive a rare character fragment. This fragment, combined with your upgrade path, can directly reduce the difficulty of early-stage progression by one level. So, if there comes a day when you really don't want to play, you should still stick it out until the seventh day to claim the fragment before quitting, because it would take a long time to obtain this character later through the main storyline. Claiming it is a gain.
Finally, here's a set of general strategies that I have tested in practice, suitable for the vast majority of ordinary players. At the beginning, use Xuanti Fragments to quickly clear the first twenty levels, while interspersing Bagua Orbs to deal with the boss levels. Stop when your cultivation level is stuck at the mid-foundation stage, and go back to max out all the levels that didn't reach three stars before. Why? Because at this stage, your character unlocks will face the first bottleneck. Pushing the main storyline further has extremely low cost-effectiveness. If you don't fill the stars, you won't be able to lay out resources later, which can make you stuck and frustrated. After supplementing the stars, continue progressing; when your cultivation reaches the mid-Golden Core stage, go through the final sweep again. These two final sweeps are the most critical turning points in the entire game. At other times, just follow the main storyline without overthinking it.
This is all the logic I came up with after crunching data all night, and it's well-reasoned. The game looks soothing, but the actual numbers are bad, though the structure is unexpectedly decent. It's worth playing seriously, but mindless rushing is not recommended. If you follow the pace outlined above, your experience will be much more comfortable than most players', and the energy you save can be used to study the layout of later levels, giving a sense of accomplishment far more satisfying than merely climbing the leaderboard. That's it. If you have any questions, you can leave a comment under the post, and I will answer them one by one.