Chapter 125: War Seal, Phase One Graduation (Requesting Monthly Votes)

【Challenger Notification (All Channels): Congratulations to players Game Bricklayer, Too Poor to Eat Dirt, Family-Shared Godfather... for obtaining the special rule Painful Painful Minghun: Junior War Seal.】

Junior War Seal (Special Rule):

Rule Painful Painful Minghun Level (No Star Pulse Inlay Required): 0

Rule Painful Painful Minghun Introduction: Can only gain rule growth experience through war; can absorb War Power from battles (battles of ten thousand people or more) to infuse oneself; every unit of War Power brings significant body-forging experience. Upon leveling up the Rule Painful Painful Minghun, the war divine techniques attached to the rule will unlock (Note: Upgrading the Junior War Seal to a Mid-tier War Seal requires triggering subsequent training camp missions).

The sudden notification instantly captured the attention of all online players.

They rushed into the Liver Emperor Group's livestream rooms to watch them receive the Reverse Tide God's Blessing.

Unlike other Painful Minghuns.

Although it is only a Junior War Seal, the amplification effect it brings is far beyond what existing Painful Painful Minghun strengths can compare to.

With the support of the Junior War Seal, even if players like Seeing Li Zheng and the Liver Emperor Group do not kill any targets during their participation in war, they can still gain strength improvements.

Just the effect of the Junior War Seal, according to the Guide's analytical evaluation, has already reached the strength of a 9th-generation Meng Yuan Chu.

Players with infinite resurrection abilities, paired with the War Seal, are practically unsolvable.

Compared to other players, the Liver Emperor Group players already possess a vastly superior growth potential.

But the Guide stated that obtaining the complete version of the War Seal is simply impossible.

The Guide's judgment is that this Rule Seal can at most advance to a Senior War Seal.

Just like the Analysis Rule, Purification Rule, Space Rule, and All-Things Extraction Rule in the Challenger System, players cannot master the complete rules belonging to the Four Gods; they have only obtained a replicated node of the rule.

And players like Seeing Li Zheng and the Liver Emperor Group, under the support of these four world rules, have also integrated a node rule of War Power.

Most importantly, this rule does not require inlaying a Star Pulse slot.

The Guide's choice was to directly help them integrate into the body's structure, not needing to occupy a Star Pulse inlay slot like the non-rule Painful Painful Minghun "Painful Painful Minghun".

At this moment, Qi Sheng finally understood why the Reverse Tide Legion could stand firm to this day.

Now, with powerful races like Lin Li in the Monster World and wars continuing year after year, such an environment is a growth paradise for the Reverse Tide.

Every war can bring him vast War Power, making him even stronger.

No wonder, when deeply analyzing and interpreting Duan Xing's memories, one would see this guy sitting on the Wang Zuo, speaking arrogantly:

"No need to inherit Beneath Di Zhao; I will surpass Beneath Di Zhao."

But the Guide showed disdain for this, because the war rules mastered by Soul War, and even Soul War's life itself, were woven and created by Beneath Di Zhao.

Relying solely on war rules truly makes it impossible to surpass Beneath Di Zhao; the Reverse Tide saying these words was more about giving confidence to followers, raising the banner of the Monster World to resist alien invasions, and recruiting countless aliens to pledge loyalty to himself.

But it can be confirmed that the Reverse Tide, supported by war rules, is absolutely a top-tier cheater among the current generation.

No wonder he can stand on equal footing with the terrifying Black Tide, Battle Bug Tide, and other cheat-level powerful enemies, not falling into a disadvantage, and establishing a powerful war legion in the Monster World.

Now that he knows the Reverse Tide is Soul War, one of the Eight Extreme Gods, Qi Sheng became curious about the other seven Eight Extreme Gods.

But in the maps currently opened by players, there is no sign of the other seven Eight Extreme Gods.

Only when players become strong enough and ascend to the Shijiewutai of world-level war can they see the performance of the other gods who once pledged loyalty to Beneath Di Zhao on this new world stage.

After the observation ended, Qi Sheng restarted the Purification Power on the Liver Emperor Group players, then withdrew his consciousness.

At this moment, before the Reverse Tide statue, the expressions of the group of trainees were incredibly excited.

Having received the Reverse Tide's blessing, they truly became reserve warriors of the Reverse Tide Legion.

And for the players of the Liver Emperor Group, this special reward in hand was something they had long anticipated.

Seeing Li Zheng: Brothers, the initial reward for the hidden mission is finally in hand. This special rule Painful Painful Minghun feels so strong; it doesn't even occupy a Star Pulse slot. It's simply invincible.

Too Poor to Eat Dirt: In the future, whether we return home to participate in wars for opening maps or follow the Reverse Tide Legion to fight abroad, we can grow quickly. We are likely to create a clear strength gap with the brothers back home.

Family-Shared Godfather: Hehe, bitterness ends and sweetness begins. Brothers, let's work a bit harder to raise the level of this Junior Seal to the top. Then, when we stroll around the battlefield, our strength will be several times greater. Just thinking about it feels awesome.

Listening to the Liver Emperor Group players' chat, the onlookers in the livestream room also voiced their Ji De Kan Fa.

"I think it's natural for you to get stronger; after all, you suffered so hard in the early stages, with black eyes and swollen faces every day, starving until you could almost chew tree bark. But you cheating? I'll report you. What kind of Painful Painful Minghun is this? Getting stronger by participating in wars of ten thousand people or more. If I had this rule Painful Painful Minghun, I'd organize people to fight the Black Tide and Bug Tide every day, leveling up like a rocket."

"Bold! You are openly cheating in the game. I think this War Seal's strength exceeds the standard. I strongly request the officials to nerf it... or, give me one too."

"The value of the training camp has skyrocketed. Although the days are bitter, we eat and drink well, and now they even give out Rule Seals. I want to go too, ahhh!"

"Hurry up, hurry up! When does the next round of the training camp open? I can't wait anymore. I want to go to the training camp and beat ten!"

"A bit emotional. The brothers of the Liver Emperor Group have obviously created a growth gap with the elders and villagers of the village. Every time I enter the small black room to face the wall, I come to watch your livestreams. It's too good to watch. Looking forward to your performance in the second-phase training camp. Go for it (Donation: 1 point of Shou Shou Jili)."

After the blessing ended, the group of trainees dispersed on the spot.

For the next two days, it was completely free activity. Although Instructor Kuang Sha would monitor their situation in the training camp, he would not restrict any of their activities within the camp.

On this day, after Seeing Li Zheng and others got up, they prepared to go to the stream at the foot of the snow mountain to catch fish.

Just as they stepped out, they saw Seeing Gui Tong leading a group of alien trainees sitting around the empty ground of the camp.

Curious, they moved closer to look and found a pitch-black lid covering the ground. In front of the lid, five circles were drawn, inside which were written respectively: Backtrack, Heart Demon, Soul Shadow, Painful Painful Minghun, and Li Jiu.

"What is this doing?" Seeing Li Zheng couldn't help but ask curiously.

Seeing the Player Race arrive, Seeing Gui Tong looked up and explained with a smile:

"This is a very popular entertainment method circulating within our Reverse Tide Legion. We call it Spiritual Luck Gamble. The lid is made of special materials that restrict perception scanning. Bets can be placed before opening the lid. After opening, by comparing the bet circle with the Spiritual Luck performance displayed after opening the lid, we determine victory or defeat..."

Through Seeing Gui Tong's detailed introduction, Seeing Li Zheng and the other Liver Emperor Group players immediately understood the gameplay of this game.

Backtrack, Heart Demon, Soul Shadow, Painful Painful Minghun, and Li Jiu are five mutually restraining fortunes in this game.

Participants must choose one of the five fortunes to bet on. There will be five possible outcomes: Draw, Big Overcome, Small Overcome, Small Overcome by, and Big Overcome by.

If the bet fortune matches the fortune inside the lid, this Spiritual Luck duel counts as a draw, and the participant retrieves the bet item.

If one bets on Small Overcome, one gains one times the bet return; if one bets on Big Overcome, one gains two times the bet return.

Betting on Small Overcome by means paying out the bet item; betting on Big Overcome by means paying out two times the bet item.

The rules are very simple.

After explaining the rules, Gui Tong's eyes carried a taunt:

"Want to give it a try?"

Hearing this, Li Zheng grinned broadly:

"Of course we'll try—it sounds amazing."

Seeing this, the other alien races made way, clearing space for them to join.

Sitting down before Gui Tong, Li Zheng glanced around, then asked curiously:

"What are you using as stakes?"

In response, Gui Tong pointed to five circles on the ground:

"As long as you can afford it, I'll take anything."

"Good!" Li Zheng nodded, then turned to Chi Tu:

"Go get our stuff from the room."

After speaking, Li Zheng added one more line in the team chat channel:

"Buy some Spirit Stones from Shangcheng and bring them—today we're giving him a real lesson."

Hearing this, Chi Tu immediately rose and walked off, returning shortly with a pile of mid-grade Spirit Stones.

Seeing the player race meant business, Gui Tong looked surprised but nodded:

"Let's begin."

As he spoke, Gui Tong lifted the lid, revealing a black rune.

He pressed his finger against the rune, and it immediately shifted form—flashing between white, black, red, deep blue, and purple—then he lowered the black cover over it, scanned the alien spectators, and smiled:

"Place your bets. The fortune will lock in ten seconds."

Hearing this, the alien spectators each pulled out Spirit Stones, Spirit Herbs, or other easily valued items and placed them into the different circles.

Li Zheng did not rush to bet; his eyes locked onto the black cover. Beside him, Chi Tu attempted to pierce the barrier with spiritual perception—but it felt like hitting a wall, just as Gui Tong had said: perception could not penetrate the interior.

Ten seconds passed. The fortune locked.

Realizing cheating via perception was impossible, Li Zheng looked up at the floating guide:

"Guide Brother, I'm counting on you."

In response, the Guide Water Sphere glanced at the black cover and replied coldly:

【It's a Soul Shadow.】

Hearing the Guide's hint, Li Zheng decisively shoved all his Spirit Stones forward, betting them entirely on the "Recall" circle—strongly opposed to Soul Shadow.

Seeing Li Zheng bet so heavily on the first round, Gui Tong looked surprised.

"Scared? If you're scared, I'll take it back?"

"Bullshit. I'm in." With that, Gui Tong yanked open the black cover.

When he saw the fortune displayed as Soul Shadow, his smile vanished instantly.

"Hahaha, Tongzi, pay up quick!"

Li Zheng and the others grinned wildly, shouting for payment.

Gui Tong turned to look at his tribe members behind him; they stepped forward, sensed the Spirit Stones' strength, calculated their value, then pulled out two red crystals and tossed them to Li Zheng.

Holding the crystals, Li Zheng and the others burst into laughter over the voice channel.

With the Guide, who could bypass perception barriers, assisting them, they couldn't imagine losing.

"Again."

"No problem." As he spoke, Li Zheng unconsciously glanced at Gui Tong's necklace.

"Don't even think about it. I won't stake this necklace—you couldn't match its value."

"I'm just looking. Don't get so tense. Next round, hurry up."

Hearing this, Gui Tong immediately pressed his finger against the red rune; the rune once again began shifting form, and he re-covered it with the perception-blocking black lid.

After the other students placed their bets, Li Zheng, having received the Guide's hint, made his move.

This time, he again went all-in, betting every Spirit Stone on Soul Shadow.

When the black cover was lifted, Gui Tong's expression changed—once again, the player race had correctly bet against the dominant fortune.

Third round, fourth round… As the game continued, Gui Tong's face grew rigid, sweat pouring uncontrollably from his forehead.

During this time, Li Zheng, to keep Gui Tong playing, occasionally let him win, no longer betting everything at once.

Each time Li Zheng deliberately held back, the Gan Di Team players saw on Gui Tong's face a look of relief—clearly, continuing the game was weighing heavily on him.

Meanwhile, the live stream's comments were in chaos:

"Cheat! Solid proof of cheating! Someone please stop this! You're bullying Tongzi so hard—I can't take it anymore if they keep winning like this!"

"Shou Shou Jili is making money too easily—built-in Guide cheat, total dimension-lowering assault. Only Tongzi still naively thinks he's just unlucky, when in truth, every win and loss is controlled by the Gan Di Team brothers. I'm worried he'll go red-eyed and stake his necklace next—that'll be the end."

"All the gamblers in the live stream, pay attention: nine out of ten bets are rigged. The Gan Di Team brothers prove with facts that gambling is something you must never touch—you can't imagine how they cheat."

"Enough already. Stop making money. If you keep this up, I'll turn green with envy and start screaming. I can tolerate you making small gains, but this kind of windfall? I'll turn jealous, go insane, and start ranting."

…

Ignoring the live stream's comments, Li Zheng and the others continued their game with Gui Tong's tribe.

You could see Gui Tong's hand holding the cover trembling.

Realizing that if this continued, Gui Tong might suffer a heart attack, Li Zheng spoke up:

"Tongzi, that's enough. Stop."

"This amount is nothing. One more round."

Realizing Gui Tong was now chasing losses, Li Zheng sighed, then swept his hand across the pile of crystals before him, pushing half of them toward Gui Tong:

"Tongzi, I'll return this portion to you. I'm done playing."

Saying so, Seeing Li Zheng picked up the crystal stones in front of him and was about to leave.

"Wait." Seeing Seeing Li Zheng's action, Seeing Gui Tong suddenly realized something was off about his own state, then looked at Seeing Li Zheng and said:

"A loss is a loss. We can afford to lose. We don't need your pity. The game ends here."

Having interacted for so long, Seeing Li Zheng naturally knew Seeing Gui Tong's temperament.

Since Seeing Gui Tong had said as much, continuing to decline would, in Seeing Gui Tong's eyes, amount to insulting him.

Seeing Li Zheng immediately gave Chi Tu a look, then took all the remaining crystal stones with him.

Watching the figures of the gamer clan members leave, Seeing Gui Tong's gaze was complicated, and he finally couldn't help but sigh:

"These bastards, what luck."

On the way back to the room, Seeing Li Zheng asked in the team chat channel:

"Brothers, you won't blame me for deciding on my own to end the game early, right?"

"No way. You're our boss. Your decision is our decision." Chi Tu immediately replied.

"Li-ge, we've been brothers for so many years, and you're still being so polite with your words. Say it again—your decision is our decision." Sha Xin also spoke up with a smile at this moment.

"Although Tongzi acts arrogant, he values bonds and loyalty. There's no need to target him like this. When we get to the second-phase training camp, we'll still need to face outward threats together. That's enough."

Hearing his brothers' answers, Seeing Li Zheng grinned.

These brothers who had followed him for so many years could always support any of his decisions at critical moments.

Back in the room, the players of the Liver Emperor Team closed the door and began tallying their gains, discovering that the total value of the crystal stones won this time exceeded 30,000 Shou Shou Jili.

After splitting the earnings among themselves, they went out again, heading straight for the stream at the foot of the snow mountain.

Next came fish-catching time.

……

The two days of rest passed in a flash.

On the morning of the third day, Seeing Li Zheng and the others shouldered the packs prepared by instructors like Instructor Kuang Sha, stood on the training grounds, and listened to Instructor Kuang Sha explain the precautions for heading to the second-phase training camp.

Among them, special emphasis was placed on the items carried in the packs.

Beyond the essential food and energy-restoration potions, Instructor Kuang Sha emphasized that each new student trainee's pack also contained three "Phantom Annihilation" bombs.

In Instructor Kuang Sha's explanation, these were a type of rune bomb that, when detonated at the necessary moment, could produce massive area-of-effect damage.

After finishing the explanation of the precautions for heading to the second-phase training camp, Instructor Kuang Sha took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping over the trainees present, and said with a solemn expression:

"Trainees, the bond between us ends here."

"In this turbulent new world, I will wait at Snow Valley Training Camp for good news about you all… Finally, may your journey of growth contain both magnificent, epic chapters and brotherly bonds of shared honor and disgrace. No matter where you go, remember that you were once members of Snow Valley Training Camp. Don't disgrace us instructors. Go to the second-phase training camp and perform well, writing your own brilliant chapter."

Hearing Instructor Kuang Sha's heartfelt speech, the trainees burst into applause.

"Instructor, well said!" Chi Tu couldn't help but praise aloud.

"Nonsense. I use this script all the time. The previous batch got the same lines. I'm nearly sick of saying it. If you've got nothing to do, get lost." Instructor Kuang Sha glared at Chi Tu and said with a fierce expression.

Hearing this, the trainees couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Led by Instructor Kuang Sha, the trainees walked out of the training camp's main gate and headed toward the mountain peak through the swirling heavy snow.

For the next stretch of the journey, they would face the many difficulties and challenges together, until reaching this journey's destination: the second-phase training camp.

After walking along the stream toward the snow mountain for a stretch, the trainees looked back and saw that the blurred outline of a figure was still standing at the training camp's main gate in the swirling snow, watching them leave.

"Let's go, stop getting sentimental. Not disgracing Instructor Kuang Sha at the second-phase camp is the best way to repay him." Seeing Gui Tong, walking at the very front, called out at this moment.

Hearing this, Seeing Li Zheng, standing beside him, smiled and nodded, then turned to look at Seeing Gui Tong with curiosity and asked:

"Tongzi, honestly, if we ran into a life-or-death crisis on the road, would you risk your life to save me?"

"No. I run faster than anyone."

"Then I definitely wouldn't save you either."

"Best that way. In my eyes, you lot are all dead weight. If the instructors hadn't required us to go together, I'd already be running at full speed. By the time I reach the second-phase training camp, you guys will probably have only covered a third of the journey."

"Bah!"

"Disgusting gamer clan, spitting on the ground wherever they go."

"Tongzi, are you itching for a fight? Why are you getting arrogant again?"

"This time our Bronze Clan backs the gamer clan. If a fight breaks out, we'll definitely help out. Tongzi's too arrogant…"

Amid idle chat and banter, the trainees walked farther and farther away, their figures gradually disappearing into the swirling heavy snow.

(End of chapter)