[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-monsters-are-coming":3,"chapter-the-monsters-are-coming-monsters-are-coming-chapter-123":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Monsters Are Coming",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2249972,4069,"Chapter 123: The Earth","monsters-are-coming-chapter-123",123,"\u003Cp>Primordial Altar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qi Sheng’s gaze was switching across various arena platforms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the 12 selected lucky players entered the Death Arena, they were assigned their first-round matches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The average hunting rank of these 12 players was 29; in the first-round lottery battle, five of them drew opponents whose hunting rank suppressed their own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Players without attribute suppression were no match for these foreign warriors trained in professional combat techniques in one-on-one combat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were effortlessly eliminated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The remaining seven players advanced to the second round, receiving the Ancient God’s gift of low-grade Wu Lingzhu and gaining 2,134 points of sacrificial power amid the live-streaming audience’s curses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they won again in the second round, their rewards would double.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This filled the onlooker players with envy, all hoping to one day gain the chance to please the Ancient God when the next opportunity arose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this time, Qi Sheng, observing secretly, let out a sigh of relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When sending these players to the Ancient God Arena, he had been considering two questions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first was: if future players were repeatedly sent to the Ancient God Arena, would anyone notice?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Exposure didn’t matter—he wasn’t afraid of the Ancient God Clan; even if exposed, what could they do to him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He feared this path of exploiting the Ancient God Clan might be cut off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The guidance response provided an explanation: no need to worry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the various factions of the Monster World, players’ appearances were irrelevant; unless in prolonged contact, external forces would never pay attention to an individual player’s Iron Face. To them, all player clan members looked nearly identical, with no obvious differences.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This could be compared to the Black Black Tide evil spirits and the insectoid warriors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Players themselves didn’t care about the appearances of Black Black Tide evil spirits or insectoid warriors—they saw them all as identical combat units cloned from the same template.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if other factions noticed similarities in appearance, they’d interpret it this way; they could never suspect players possessed resurrection and rebirth abilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, the issue Qi Sheng was more concerned about was the players’ performance in the arena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Death Arena was a special channel through which the Ancient God Clan harvested Douhun energy; players’ performance would severely affect whether more players would be selected to enter the arena in the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When fighting foreigners, players would fight desperately for sacrificial power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if players fought against each other, based on his understanding of them, cheating would inevitably occur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, both players might agree to split the rewards equally afterward and then deliberately lose, finishing the match hastily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or one might even commit suicide on purpose for a quick end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If such behavior occurred too often, players’ value in the eyes of the Ancient God’s servants would plummet, since the Ancient God Arena was not a charity—it needed brutal, bloody battles between fighters to generate profit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deliberate losing would prevent the Ancient God Clan from extracting any Douhun energy at all, causing them to change their attitude toward the player clan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a major concern for Qi Sheng.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the arena drew two players to fight each other, there was a chance of unexpected outcomes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this issue found its answer during this round’s observation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When designing the arena rules, the Ancient God Clan had clearly anticipated the possibility of same-clan members meeting and one sacrificing themselves for the other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the arena’s lottery system separated warriors marked as same-clan members, preventing such incidents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This setting effectively resolved Qi Sheng’s concern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as players didn’t meet, the abstract problem wouldn’t occur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without further thought, he resumed monitoring the players’ performance in the arena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After recovering their condition in the room following their first win, the players immediately applied to open the second-round combat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For players, no psychological preparation or buildup was needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since they’d finished the first round, they might as well open the second round as soon as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Making them wait three days in the room was worse than killing them—better to go hunting for rewards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if not hunting, they could lie on the Colorful Mist Coast, enjoying bright sunlight, natural scenery, and various spiritual foods with taste feedback surpassing the real world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wasting time here was pure stupidity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the performance of the first player to enter the arena, they learned they could initiate the second round early, so they immediately contacted the Ancient God’s servant overseeing the arena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ancient God’s servant did not refuse and arranged the second round for the remaining players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this round began, large numbers of players flooded into the seven live streams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though they were teammates, the players in the live streams were all shouting for stronger opponents to appear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As one highly upvoted player in the stream put it: “Dear villagers, we miss you so much—don’t bother trying anymore, come home quickly! The village has distributed sacrificial power; everyone’s waiting for you to return.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The intensity of the second-round matches rose significantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the remaining seven players, only two passed the arena trial and advanced to the Flame Arena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two players received two low-grade Wu Lingzhu as rewards, triggering another wave of lamentation from the live-streaming audience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching others get rich while being unable to share in it felt worse to many players than losing money themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially since everyone started on equal footing, yet some players could obtain hidden quest opportunities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the mindset of: “We’re all poor together—why did you get rich?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two players who achieved two wins didn’t linger on this level; after drinking healing and stamina potions in their room to restore their condition, they promptly initiated the third-round arena trial.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, both players were matched against opponents far stronger than themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One even drew a foreign warrior with a hunting rank of 57; upon receiving the analysis, the player immediately realized he had no chance of winning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The outcome proved true.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both battles ended with the foreign warriors crushing their opponents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This arena journey still failed to break the two-win record; the players never saw the generous rewards of three wins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What surprised the players was that several hours after this arena journey ended, the arena’s flying vessel returned to the Colorful Mist Coast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The players’ active performance had earned the Ancient God’s servant’s approval.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It decided to grant the player clan more opportunities to please the Ancient God.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was precisely the outcome Qi Sheng wanted to see.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Going forward, he planned to entrust the task of training players’ combat literacy to the Ancient God Clan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no shortage of players—he could capture them freely, give as many as he wanted, and recruit more if needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, Tianyuan Domain Node.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the edge of the platform atop the towering Xieyan Tower, Di Nian Xieling, clad in a black, grotesque battle armor, stood with arms crossed, gazing through layers of black mist at the region where battles with players were raging, his expression grim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to when he first arrived, Di Nian Xieling’s power had grown several times over by absorbing derivative energy from multiple domain nodes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he could not feel joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking back, back then his combat power was still low, yet he had roamed minor worlds, becoming a nightmare and calamity in the eyes of minor world lifeforms, striking fear into them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the situation in this world was entirely different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His power had increased several times, yet here he could not even seize a single region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the joy of sweeping across minor worlds and devouring growth freely, his current situation filled him with unbearable frustration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt like having boundless strength with nowhere to release it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The several-fold power increase had brought only changes to his own perception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His current combat power was still far from qualifying as a “strong one” in the Monster World.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides the massive gap between his strength and that of world-class champions,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over this period, he had clearly noticed that the combat power of incoming player clan members was steadily rising.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, the growth progress of the Black Black Tide under his control had been repeatedly delayed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Energy nutrients extracted from multiple domain nodes were entirely dispersed by the player clan’s strange abilities; every slain Black Black Tide evil spirit vanished completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This turned his conflict with the player clan into a prolonged war of mutual cancellation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing the player clan arriving from beyond the world barrier, he found no breakthrough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the player clan had a homeland, he would have exhausted most of his Black Black Tide energy to exterminate this peculiar faction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region was plagued by continuous harassment from the player clan, while behind him loomed the ever-watchful insectoid army; both directions were blocked, and the Black Black Tide under his control was completely locked in this area, unable to unleash its characteristic of sweeping across vast territories and rapidly devouring growth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judging by the trend of increasing combat power among incoming player clan members, he would soon be overwhelmed and fall into a weakened Black Black Tide state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that point, the Black Black Tide’s growth would turn into continuous decline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a result he refused to accept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If that day came and his Black Black Tide fell into total disadvantage, recovery would become impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How to solve this problem? Di Nian Xieling chose to seek help from the Xieyan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As an auxiliary to the Black Black Tide commander, the Xieyan could learn and grow by accessing shared data from other nodes and was his most vital strategist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this, Di Nian Xieling turned to Iron Face the massive Xieyan hovering behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t need to explain—he knew the Xieyan could read his thoughts and understood what he wanted to ask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their gazes met; the Xieyan blinked twice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Di Nian, if I had a way to break the deadlock, I would have told you immediately, wouldn’t I?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So you have no solution at all?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing Di Nian Xieling’s piercing stare, the Xieyan slowly lowered its eyelids, appearing extremely serious:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I have already reported the player clan’s unique traits to other nodes. The fact that player clan kills cannot be retaliated against has been recorded and archived. The higher-ups are very curious about the player clan. The Dark King responsible for managing your node and other Black Black Tide nodes on this continent has decided to grant your node commander-level resource subsidies and is considering upgrading your future allocations to lord-level.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, Di Nian Xieling showed no emotional reaction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had known about this already.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After obtaining the Commander-level resources, the node he was stationed at received a large amount of additional growth resources daily, transported from other nodes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the continuous supply of resources had already lasted for some time, and had not brought decisive help to the course of the war; it remained in a state of sustained depletion by the Player Clan, utterly unable to break the deadlock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What he found most unbearable was that the Player Clan’s erasure trait also affected the domain nodes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he manipulated the Black Black Tide to ravage the Emperor Tomb Mountain region, he seized all nodes outside the Artifact Spirit Valley—yet still, two domain nodes were erased by the Players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The erased domain nodes vanished mysteriously, leaving him no chance to counterattack and reclaim them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To him, this was sheer humiliation: not only had he failed to expand his territory, he had lost two vital resource-output nodes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In subsequent confrontations with the Player Clan, he had grown wiser.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew the Players would launch their main assault on the domain nodes in the Emperor Tomb Mountain region, and would also employ feints and other strategies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having been fooled once, he would not be fooled again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He would never allow himself to lose another domain node.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But judging by the Player Clan members’ rate of combat power growth, losing the next node was inevitable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only with resource support from other nodes could he better maintain balance—or even achieve comprehensive domination over the Player Clan, driving them to dare not continue descending.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I need more resource support,” the Earth-Night Evil Spirit said to the Evil Eye, each word deliberate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am merely your auxiliary eye; I have no authority to mobilize resources from other nodes for you,” the Evil Eye replied, sounding somewhat innocent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You are the child of the Thirteenth Divine Eye—surely you have at least a shred of privilege?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Di Nian, you must understand one thing: this is not a minor world. If my identity as a descendant of the Thirteenth Divine Eye were deployed in a minor world campaign, the warrior I assist could gain absolute resource allocation authority—but this is the Monster World. Every auxiliary eye assigned here is a child of the Divine Eyes, including the First Divine Eye’s offspring.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Compared to them, my status has no special distinction.” Here, the Evil Eye suddenly looked curiously at the Earth-Night Evil Spirit:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By the way, may I ask you a question?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ask.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your war record shows you’ve only participated in two minor world campaigns, and your combat rank is merely Commander-level, vastly inferior to Commander-in-Chief-level. Based on my understanding, after you finished the Dungeon World campaign, you were most likely to be sent to another minor world to continue assisting in combat—so why were you directly transferred to the Monster World, given exclusive control over a regional node, and granted my assistance? This clearly contradicts my clan’s combat power deployment patterns.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Secondly, although my reports on the Player Clan caught the King’s attention, the Monster World hosts countless races with bizarre and varied abilities; the Player Clan’s uniqueness alone is insufficient to warrant extra resource support—yet the King swiftly approved your node for Commander-in-Chief-level resource allocation. This puzzles me greatly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So, what do you think is the reason?” the Earth-Night Evil Spirit did not answer, but asked directly in return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can I speak my mind openly?” the Evil Eye blinked its eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By all means. We are bound together in the Monster World; no need to hold back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re a connection kid. One of your parents is very likely an Apostle-level warrior superior to the King. You are one of their many offspring, unimportant to them, so they sent you to a minor world for training. But since you are still their child, they eventually decided to give you some support—sending you to the Monster World, the strongest known world, so you could rapidly grow in its energy-rich regions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is precisely because of this connection that my mother resurrected me and assigned me to you as your auxiliary eye.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That explains everything—you’re a super connection kid,” the Evil Eye said seriously, offering his analysis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Bullshit!” Hearing himself called a connection kid, the Earth-Night Evil Spirit’s forehead twitched with veins:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re the one who’s a connection kid!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I am. My mother is the Thirteenth Divine Eye.” The Evil Eye nodded sincerely, then continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But I rely on my own abilities. My mother has too many children; I mean nothing to her. Yet my abilities are sufficient to make me an auxiliary eye in this world… By the way, my previous Commander-level master was also a connection kid—but he was too weak. He died shortly after arriving in this world.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m not.” The Earth-Night Evil Spirit shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t believe you. Tell me about your parents,” the Evil Eye pressed, puzzled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve never met them. They probably died long ago in another world. I was raised in the Abyss Furnace. All the Evil Spirit warriors from my generation were parentless children, trained from childhood as soldiers and commanders.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then why do you have special privileges?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After the conclusion of my last minor world campaign, I underwent the Abyss Trial.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, the Evil Eye’s half-closed eyelids snapped wide open:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Abyss Battlefield?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Correct. I survived. So I am regarded as a potential warrior by the high command, and a priority candidate for cultivation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder. The database has no record of this. I misjudged you. No wonder you were so arrogant when you first arrived—I thought it was blind confidence from minor world campaigns.” The Evil Eye nodded in realization.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My pride has not been lost. I’ve simply realized that my current self is not yet strong enough to justify it. But in the future, I will fully unleash this pride within me… I will become a King-level warrior, surpass even the King to become an Apostle-level warrior, and even a Demon God-level warrior.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the Earth-Night Evil Spirit speak these words with calm expression, the Evil Eye saw intense confidence in his eyes—and his perpetually tranquil heart rippled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I will walk beside you until our lives end, or until we stand together at the peak.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So I need extra resources. Go apply for them immediately.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can’t.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What good are you if you can’t even do that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can provide you with long-range vision and node information archives, assist you in combat and cognitive judgment, and offer effective development advice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I only want resources. Whether you’re here or not doesn’t matter.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, the Evil Eye fell silent. After a long while, he sighed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Di Nian, I can decompose myself to provide you with my portion of the Rule Force. After merging into the Black Black Tide, I can also generate some growth nutrients, accelerating the Black Black Tide’s growth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Di Nian: …\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re serious?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I never joke. If it’s my commander’s order, I will carry it out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Forget it. Keep it. At least you’re still useful.” Realizing the Evil Eye was serious, the Earth-Night Evil Spirit felt a headache coming on and swiftly retracted his previous words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Understood. I will remain by your side to assist you. I will continue applying to the King for your requests and inform you the moment I receive a response.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, the Earth-Night Evil Spirit did not respond immediately. After staring at the Evil Eye for a long while, he couldn’t help asking:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you really just consider sacrificing yourself for me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. But before executing this plan, I must report it—and the King monitoring me would never approve. So this hypothetical scenario is impossible.” The Evil Eye answered sincerely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shut up. I don’t want to talk to you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Understood.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This chapter mainly lays groundwork for future plot developments. The 10,000-character count is complete~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",3088,"2026-06-19T09:20:35.554Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","8a9737e39dcade5b0829427f7b5bbd4d5af3b3de521937d3864c192fa484d86c","monsters-are-coming-chapter-124","monsters-are-coming-chapter-122",393,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmonsters-are-coming-cover.jpg"]