Chapter 127: Shift in Faction Aesthetic (10,000 Characters, Requesting Monthly Votes)

"The scene at the time nearly made me laugh out loud, but I held it in—I’d planned to grab Tongzi’s hand with my bloodied hand, trembling, and tell him... Tongzi, carry my share of glory, and never stop until you reach Phase Two Training Camp."

"But the poison effect was too brutal, my HP drained too fast—I never got to finish those words before Brother Di Zhao locked me in the black room."

"Hey, if I’d only managed to say those words, you can imagine how devastating it would’ve been to Tongzi."

"You didn’t see the look Tongzi gave me back then—he looked like he was about to cry."

"How do I describe it? His whole body was shaking, fighting back tears, forcing himself not to cry."

"I imagine Tongzi, after my death, would furiously pound the ground, grit his teeth, swear vengeance for us, then turn and walk away with resolve—after walking some distance, he’d glance back at the place where I died, then gaze toward the region where spirit beasts dwell, his eyes filled with endless killing intent."

"I, Gui Tong, swear to avenge you all!"

Through Li Zheng’s description, the Gan Di group players mentally pictured the scene and couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

Thinking that Tongzi, their usual rival, had been reduced to this, they felt delighted—Father Shared in the Family even kept slapping his thighs, looking like he was about to laugh himself into a spasm.

But the Gan Di group players were more delighted that Tongzi and the other Snow Valley Training Camp brothers had successfully escaped.

Choosing to die willingly to hold the line for these brothers was meant to buy them time to flee.

Now, these alien race brothers had escaped the most dangerous zone of the White Plains—their sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.

Although this act caused their hidden quest to be abruptly interrupted, the Gan Di group players were all happy.

Since the game’s launch, the Dark Lands in their eyes had long surpassed the concept of a game—they felt more like a real world.

Interacting with the alien race trainees, they even unconsciously regarded them as living beings, not merely created AI.

From initial hostility to later standing shoulder to shoulder when the Snow Valley Training Camp arrived, the friendship forged made them unable to stand by and watch alien race brothers die before their eyes.

Compared to profit, they now had something they cared about more.

Amid casual banter, they left the respawn point and headed straight for the armed vehicle factory east of Emperor Tomb Village.

Upon returning, the Gan Di group planned to first craft themselves a set of armed vehicles.

As for how to choose, they’d already formed clear ideas before returning.

Compared to building their own, they preferred downloading ready-made popular templates directly from the forum and crafting them with one click.

Building their own was truly tedious, requiring multiple revisions, and even after assembly, the vehicle needed extensive parameter testing and adjustment.

This entire process took at least half a day.

The popular, practical vehicles on the forum were the results of Gonglve party players spending days testing—ready-made templates were clearly superior to building from scratch.

Entering the factory, the ground’s spirit runes automatically lit up.

Li Zheng’s mind displayed a challenger prompt:

【Challenger Prompt: Activate Armed Vehicle Factory Cultivation Mode? Each session consumes 2 sacrificial power. Yes/No.】

After selecting the option with mental touch, a strong sensation of weightlessness struck, blurring his vision.

Entering the simulation test environment, Li Zheng dragged a vehicle template from his favorites into the assembly panel.

Instantly, a vehicle shaped like a flying sword appeared on screen.

Li Zheng had chosen the Cloud-Hidden Azure Dragon Flying Sword, ranked #1 in the forum’s “Armed Vehicle Innovation Contest.”

Although flying sword vehicles weren’t very practical and suffered from a half-hour endurance limit,

the key was that it looked cool.

As for potential dismounting issues during riding, these could be solved through training—mastering balance on a flying sword naturally required time.

He tapped to switch vehicles—the flying sword reassembled into a black robe.

Although the vehicle was chosen, Li Zheng and his brothers had no intention of using the default armor templates.

After discussion, they decided to standardize their armor aesthetics.

After initializing the armor aesthetic, Li Zheng dragged another armor template from his favorites, expanded and fused it according to the vehicle’s armor module count, and refined the details.

…

Half an hour later, the Gan Di group exited the factory.

Their original black robes vanished; now they wore long coats with a black base and dark red stripe accents, their demeanor noticeably elevated by the new attire, and each coat bore a “Gan” character on the back.

After finalizing their armed vehicle setup, they began discussing how to reconfigure their Star Vein Sect builds.

They were still using the Star Vein Sect builds from the game’s launch and felt it was time for an update.

During their absence, the forum had updated many powerful Star Vein Sect builds, including several new ones they particularly liked.

Checking their Soul Core library, they found that while traveling toward Phase Two Training Camp, three new Soul Cores had been added since “Scattered Arrows.”

One of them was a Soul Core Li Zheng especially liked.

【Crimson Gang Qi (Third-Gen Origin）】:

Soul Core Trait: After embedding the Crimson Gang Qi Soul Core, you can freely manipulate your internal blood qi to form crimson gang qi, releasing it for long-range ranged strikes, enveloping your body to form a gang qi defense, or infusing weapons with gang qi for damage enhancement (gang qi strength depends on your blood qi level and Soul Core rank—the higher the Soul Core rank, the higher the gang qi quality; the higher your blood qi, the stronger the gang qi).

…

This was a versatile Soul Core similar to Wind Control.

The appearance of the Crimson Gang Qi Soul Core significantly boosted the strength of close-combat Star Vein builds.

Whether it was the Stone Statue build focused on tanking, the Assassin build focused on close-combat burst damage, or the ranged physical DPS Archer, all could enhance combat power through gang qi.

Since Soul Core upgrades primarily enhanced physical attributes, and gang qi usage consumed blood qi,

gang qi was unsuitable for magic-based Star Vein Sect players.

In practice, gang qi functioned like the inner strength, battle aura, or true qi from novels and films—highly adaptable in combat.

Its strength ranked among the current version’s T0 tier.

This was Li Zheng’s top choice.

Summoning the Star Vein interface, he saw a brilliant star-river-like spine of star veins in his mind.

Clicking the Soul Core shop on the right, he spent 6,000 sacrificial power to purchase a Crimson Gang Qi Soul Core Pearl.

Inside the pearl, crimson energy flowed, expanding and contracting.

He replaced the Black Scale Snake Soul Core in the first Star Vein slot—immediately, a powerful sense of weakness struck, as if his body had been instantly drained of all strength, even his breathing becoming abnormally heavy.

Without hesitation, he chose to decompose the Black Scale Snake Soul Core on-site, investing all 95% of the returned evolution points into the Crimson Gang Qi Soul Core.

Instantly, a powerful energy surged through his body, coursing through every limb and vein.

The Crimson Gang Qi Soul Core’s rank rose rapidly; his blood qi surged, emitting a crackling sound like popping beans.

His body was reinforced anew under the cleansing torrent of dense blood qi energy, and the lingering weakness vanished.

After allocating points, the Crimson Gang Qi Soul Core reached level 31.

Li Zheng opened his eyes.

How to use this ability required no training—it was as instinctive as breathing, imprinted in his mind.

He clenched his fist—immediately, a crimson energy flame like fire flared across his skin, and concentric ripples of blood qi energy radiated outward from his feet.

His right hand suddenly thrust forward into empty air.

Crack!

A sharp sonic boom echoed—the crimson energy coiled around his body surged toward his fist, then exploded violently several meters ahead.

After initial testing, Li Zheng realized gang qi’s strength wasn’t just in its ranged strikes—it also enhanced his movement efficiency when wrapped around his body.

For example, while running, he could use gang qi to propel himself forward.

“Third-gen Soul Cores are powerful—equivalent to the importance of Qi Absorption for magic-based Star Vein Sects. This gang qi is definitely the future’s essential versatile Soul Core for close combat,” remarked Sha Xin Dong Li, who’d also embedded the Crimson Gang Qi Soul Core, after a quick test.

With the first Soul Core slot completed, they began resetting the remaining Star Vein slots.

Besides gang qi, the two newly added Soul Cores were:

【Blood Burn (Second-Gen Origin）】:

Soul Core Trait: Applying Blood Burn to any target places them in a continuous HP-loss state while significantly enhancing their physical strength, movement efficiency, damage output, and damage tolerance.

This Soul Core was obtained by hunting Origin monsters in the dense forests of the Misty Coast region.

Ideal for functional-build players, it could be used to enhance specific targets.

Forum players had also developed a bizarre Blood Burn combo using Blood Burn, Light Shield, and Bind Soul Cores to deal damage.

The tactic involved using Blood Burn to force the target into a continuous HP-loss state while enhanced, then using Light Shield and Bind to immobilize them, trapping them in perpetual HP loss without movement.

But the flaw was obvious—if the target was too strong, the Blood Burn enhancement would make them even harder to defeat.

The final Soul Core was:

【Rock Shield (First-Gen Origin）】:

Soul Core Trait: After activating the trait, you can consume blood qi to continuously draw earth energy for additional defense enhancement.

The Rock Shield Origin was a first-gen Origin obtained by poaching in the Qiling Valley; its appearance was a massive black stone shield, and its effect was striking in combat.

At level 1, Rock Shield consumed blood qi at a 1:1.2 ratio to the earth shield gained.

That meant, with Rock Shield equipped, your blood qi value effectively multiplied by 1.2.

As a Qiling Soul Core, the Rock Shield spirit could also serve as a physical tanking armor in combat—perfectly suited for Stone Statue build players.

…

Of the three new Soul Cores, Li Zheng disliked the other two besides gang qi.

For how to arrange the new Star Vein combo, he’d previously consulted the forum’s strategy expert “Nightfall Approaches.”

Nightfall Approaches was very enthusiastic and, using their “War God Seal” as the core, provided three recommended Star Vein combinations.

He noted that the War God Seal’s rule trait allowed continuous absorption of war power during battle for enhancement.

Therefore, priority shouldn’t be raw damage output, but how to survive longer than others in battle.

Think of the battlefield as an experience zone continuously supplying Duan Ti experience—the amount of growth experience gained depended on the battle’s intensity and your survival time.

The longer you survived, the more war power you absorbed.

Thus, prioritize survival in Star Vein composition, then movement efficiency (dodging, fleeing), and finally damage output.

Having clarified the growth direction of the Star Vein combination, subsequent Soul Soul pairings can all revolve around survival.

Among the three options given by Black Night Approaching, Li Zheng chose the second set:

Gang Qi + Gargoyle (Petrification) + Resistance + Power Barbarian Axe + Shatter + Roar + Extreme Speed.

The characteristic of this Star Vein sect is that Gang Qi comprehensively enhances physical attributes, Petrification provides high damage reduction when taking hits, Resistance grants significant elemental resistance, and the Power Barbarian Axe + Shatter combination—popular in close-combat sects—boosts output intensity.

Roar is a functional trait that can stun enemies when needed, making it a semi-output, semi-control type Soul Soul.

The final Extreme Speed is used in critical moments to grant high movement speed or instant burst output.

As for why he removed the Black Armored Snake Soul Soul, it was primarily because the Venomous trait of the Black Armored Snake is better suited for special-effect Soul Soul combinations later on.

For example, Venomous + Curse Blade + Soul Separation, and similar combinations.

Such combinations do not seek burst damage in a short time, but instead slowly kill opponents through sustained damage-over-time tactics.

At this stage, Li Zheng’s Star Vein slots have been unlocked to the seventh, and he feels he can fully utilize a burst-oriented setup to significantly enhance his close-combat damage and kill efficiency.

This Star Vein combination allows him to have both strong defense and high output.

His Level 7 Body Strengthening rank allows him to have it all—already placing him at a decisive lead above all other players.

The only thing troubling Li Zheng is acquiring Evolution Points.

His Body Strengthening and Star Vein ranks have risen, but their Soul Soul levels remain very low.

At this stage, mainstream players (first tier) each have at least one Soul Soul at Level 34 or higher, with the highest nearing Level 40, while their highest Soul Soul is only Level 31.

Now that seven Star Vein slots are open and seven Soul Souls are embedded, if Evolution Points are evenly distributed across each hunt, the difficulty of leveling their Soul Souls will multiply.

The most important thing at this stage is hunting—they must raise Soul Soul levels as quickly as possible.

To avoid falling behind the main group.

After completing the new Star Vein setup, Li Zheng turned his gaze to the other brothers of Gan Di Team.

Their Body Strengthening ranks are all at Level 5, and they are still arranging their Star Vein combinations.

During the earlier discussion, Leopard Head Zero Charge decided to switch to a functional support stream; Eat Dirt and Fun Not Paying chose to continue with the magic-based Star Vein combination; the rest of the brothers would follow his setup.

Once the brothers completed their Star Vein combinations, Li Zheng immediately led them to the Test Tower for ability testing.

Combat testing inside the Test Tower is divided into two types.

They are the Dummy Test and the Monster Test.

The Dummy Test is simplest: in a simulated scenario, an infinitely durable wooden dummy can be summoned; any ability used against it displays damage values, along with a real-time statistics panel for monitoring.

During this, dummy values can be adjusted—for example, increasing its defense or health.

Additionally, the dummy can be used to test auxiliary Soul Soul effects—for instance, applying a Blood Burn trait and observing changes in its attributes and health drain.

The Monster Test setup is more complex.

In the test interface, players can select all monsters and evil spirits they’ve encountered, complete the selection, then set quantities; after summoning, they can choose whether the monsters attack them for live combat testing or merely test damage absorption.

Monsters can also be summoned to attack the dummy; players using support streams can test binding, light shield defense, and other auxiliary combat abilities during this phase.

In the Test Tower’s simulated battles, players can die.

But upon death, they do not enter a one-hour resurrection cooldown—they instantly resurrect on the spot and can immediately begin a new round of ability testing.

Many Soul Soul combinations are first tested for performance in the Test Tower before being posted by strategy-focused players on forums.

After spending an hour on live testing, Li Zheng and his team left the Test Tower.

But instead of rushing off to hunt, they sat around the fountain near the Test Tower, discussing future plans:

Li Zheng: Brothers, do you think our hidden quest might be resumed?

Family Shared Godfather: Brother Li, we didn’t get any notification that the hidden quest ended—I think it’s possible.

Kill Heart Moved: I agree too. I’d really like to keep going with those guys, cross Training Camp Phases Two through Five together, then fight side by side on the battlefield—it sounds exciting.

Broke to Eat Dirt: Your ideas are good, but how do we resume the hidden quest? We’re back in the village now, and the Training Camp isn’t somewhere we can just go whenever we want.

At this point, Eat Dirt paused, then turned to the floating Guidance Water Sphere beside him:

“Guidance, did our hidden quest fail? Is there any chance to resume it?”

In response, Guidance replied lazily:

【Cannot provide a definitive answer. According to the Training Camp’s arrangement, Kuang Sha previously told you that Elder You would arrive on some future day to recruit new player clan members into the Training Camp. At that time, you may go and ask whether you can rejoin the Training Camp, starting directly from Phase Two.】

Upon hearing Guidance’s reply, Li Zheng and the others’ expressions instantly brightened.

Although Guidance did not explicitly say the hidden quest could be resumed, neither did he say it couldn’t.

Given this game’s extremely high freedom, the possibility of continuing the hidden quest is entirely plausible.

The specific situation will need to be confirmed when Elder You arrives and they proactively approach and inquire.

Li Zheng: By the way, if the hidden quest can be resumed, how should we explain our resurrection after death? That answer could easily break game lore—how do we avoid giving a response inconsistent with player background?

Broke to Eat Dirt: Easy. The game’s rules forbid answering anything about Emperor Tomb Village or players; all other answers are free. We can just make up a reason. Whether Elder You believes it is his problem—he can’t verify anything anyway.

Family Shared Godfather: How about this: say our player clan preserved a Life Seed in the Outer Domain World; when the body dies, the seed receives our memory fragments and reshapes our life for resurrection.

Kill Heart Moved: Feasible. By the time we get there, our strength will be greater—we can also explain that the resurrection and reshaping caused the enhancement.

Leopard Head Zero Charge: But if Elder You asks how many times we can resurrect, what should we answer?

Fun Not Paying: Tell Elder You we can only resurrect once.

Broke to Eat Dirt: Saying “once” is fine, but what if we die again and resurrect again? How do we explain it then? Elder You might think he’s seeing ghosts. Better to pre-emptively hint that we don’t know how many times we can resurrect—it’s controlled by our clan elders’ soul-summoning, and the exact number depends on our soul strength… Ultimately, how we spin it is entirely up to us.

Li Zheng: Right. Since they can’t verify, say it’s a special ability our player clan possesses, granted by Emperor Zhao’s elder brother in ancient times.

Broke to Eat Dirt: Have you noticed? Many races in this world possess godlike rule-based abilities—like the terrifying Black Black Tide’s devouring evolution, or the battle insect clan’s pheromone collection and modification. So why shouldn’t our player clan have a resurrection ability? It doesn’t conflict with the world’s background.

Family Shared Godfather: Hahaha, no problem. Everyone’s cheating—why can’t our player clan have a resurrection cheat? I ask you, why not?

Fun Not Paying: I’m already imagining the expressions on those guys’ faces when they see us—probably sobbing and hugging us.

Li Zheng: You’re imagining too much. I guarantee they’ll rush over and beat us up—especially after learning we have resurrection. Remember Ghost Eye’s desperate expression back then—do you think he’ll let us off?

Broke to Eat Dirt: He won’t let us off? Fine. I’m curious whether he’ll keep his promise and give you the divine necklace.

Family Shared Godfather: Ghost Eye will probably regret it till his intestines turn green. Let me demonstrate his expression—something like this: fists clenched, veins bulging on his forehead, murderous intent swirling in his eyes, teeth grinding… How’s my acting?

After seeing Family Shared Godfather’s imitation, all Gan Di Team players burst into laughter.

Especially when Family Shared Godfather mimicked the slight furrow of the brow—it was uncannily like Ghost Eye himself.

With a clear goal, the Gan Di Team players decided to closely monitor Elder You’s movements and attempt to resume their unfinished hidden quest.

After finishing the hidden quest discussion, Li Zheng’s expression turned serious:

“Brothers, where should we hunt next? It’s time to raise our Soul Soul levels. Otherwise, even if we resume Phase Two of the Training Camp, we won’t survive the later training—Phase One focused on willpower training, but the next phases will gradually introduce real combat. Even the strongest willpower won’t save you if your strength is insufficient—you’ll still be eliminated.”

In response, Leopard Head Zero Charge spoke up:

“Brother Li, how about we go to the Colorful Mist Coast? We haven’t been there since the new area opened.”

“Yes, to the Colorful Mist Coast—weren’t there guilds organizing underwater operations there? Let’s join them and give it a try.”

“I agree too, but the purification missions at the Crystal Palace are mostly handled by Gills Fish and Abyss Fish players—it doesn’t seem very large-scale. With our War God Seal enhancement, we should join large-scale campaigns—maybe ask the God King if he’s planning any big battles soon.”

…

After listening to the brothers’ suggestions, Li Zheng ultimately decided to first visit the Colorful Mist Coast.

Besides hunting, it was also to satisfy curiosity.

During the Training Camp, they could only observe the Colorful Mist Coast through other players’ livestreams.

Now that they’re back, they definitely wanted to visit and explore the new area.

With the plan set, the group rose and headed toward Emperor Tomb Village’s Spatial Teleport Plaza.

After walking only a few steps, a connection alert rang in Li Zheng’s mind.

It showed: “Wosini Die” requested a video call.

After accepting the connection, a figure appeared on the screen, clad in a full-body silver-white battle armor, with only two eyes visible.

“Ban Ban Zhuan, you’ve really made it. Why haven’t you been selling any Sacrificial Power lately? Any plans to release another batch?”

In response, Li Zheng laughed heartily:

“What a coincidence—we just spent all our Sacrificial Power, and what’s left has to go toward medicine. Even if we wanted to sell, we can’t.”

“Forget it. I’m contacting you now to ask if you’re interested in joining a joint operation.”

“Yes!” Hearing this, Li Zheng immediately agreed.

They were desperate for Evolution Points to raise Soul Soul levels and had just been considering contacting several major guild leaders to ask if they planned large-scale operations—after visiting the Colorful Mist Coast, they intended to join these big guilds.

But they hadn’t expected “Wosini Die” to reach out proactively.

“Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, coordinates sent to you (Emperor Tomb Mountain Range coordinates). Come to the rendezvous now—I want to see what you’ve learned in the Hunger Training Camp.”

“Got it. We’re on our way.”

After ending the call, Li Zheng spoke in the squad voice channel:

“Brothers, plans changed—we’re not going to the Colorful Mist Coast. We’re heading to Emperor Tomb Mountain Range to farm Evolution Points… The Colorful Mist Coast can wait until after this battle.”

Saying this, Li Zheng summoned the map function and matched the coordinates sent by “Wosini Die.” A golden dot instantly appeared on the map.

The exact location was north of the Rift Furnace.

After leaving Emperor Tomb Village’s space, they each summoned their vehicles.

But as soon as they started, they noticed a problem.

Li Zheng, in sword-flight Cultivation Mode, instantly pulled far ahead of his brothers, forcing him to keep landing, switching to armed Cultivation Mode, and waiting—reducing energy consumption during flight.

“How about… we get another multi-person vehicle? Having multiple vehicles per squad is too unreliable—we’re all moving at different paces.”

“Damn, I regret it too. Power Shoes are fast, but they drain stamina. Better to just get a driving vehicle—easier and more convenient,” Eat Dirt chimed in.

“No big deal. Brother Li, go kill a few Blood Corpses nearby to warm up—we’ll catch up soon. My tractor is so fun to drive, I don’t want to switch.”

…

Half an hour later, the Gan Di Team members followed Li Zheng to the rendezvous point.

The scene ahead left them stunned.

Looking out, the mountains and fields were filled with players.

It was clear that since the weaponized vehicle function was opened, player appearances had become wildly varied.

Some players dyed their hair in rainbow colors using armored coverage; others wore comical clown-style armored outfits; some turned themselves into iron warriors; others rode sleek motorcycles with beautiful women beside them... The scene was a chaotic gathering.

Besides these bizarre armors, many mainstream armored styles could also be seen.

For example, the xianxia style emphasizing ethereal elegance.

Male players wore long robes with wide sleeves, embroidered with patterns of clouds, water ripples, and mountains, in soft tones, paired with jade belts or silk-woven waistbands, stepping into cloud-patterned boots, and wearing jade crowns or simple hair ties.

Female players who chose the xianxia style favored light gauze long skirts, their hems swaying in the wind, embroidered with lotus flowers and immortal cranes, adorned with pearl and jade floral crowns, like celestial maidens descending to earth.

Or the magic style, where players typically wore long magical robes, emphasizing mystery and grandeur, decorated with gems and runes.

Others included xuanhuan style, fantasy style, wuxia style, futuristic style, steampunk style, fairy tale style, anime style, and more.

At a glance, the scene was utterly chaotic.

This was completely different from the previous player factions’ aesthetic.

Before this, everyone wore black cloth robes, with a uniform style.

The other factions fighting against the player faction were the same: the terrifying black Black Tide and the battle insect Black Tide both had unified faction aesthetics.

But the current player faction style was abstract—any style could be found here.

At that moment, the Challenger Prompt echoed in Li Zheng’s mind:

【Challenger Prompt: Player “Wosini Die” has submitted an application. Do you accept the warband invitation to join with your squad members? Yes/No.】

After mentally selecting “Yes,” a list of warband administrators appeared on the left side of his vision.

The voice of Shen Wang rang through the warband voice channel, directing the formation adjustments.

“Two guilds haven’t arrived yet—Lao He, go ask where they are.”

“Continue organizing formations according to the previous plan. Each guild leader leads one sect group. Players of the Statue Sect, move forward and assemble at the front of the formation.”

“Repeat: Every participating player must carry fifteen potions in their backpack.”

“All members switch your vehicles to armored Cultivation Mode. Stop showing off your rides—get to your sect battle formation positions immediately.”

…

Primordial Altar.

At this moment, Qi Sheng’s mind was replaying the final moments of the Gan Di Team players.

The screen froze on the soul beast.

The Hun Gui Clan—this race had previously been mentioned by Kuang Sha, with information preserved by the Guide.

But after Li Zheng and the other Gan Di Team players personally contacted and analyzed it, he realized this race’s potential was far more terrifying than imagined.

The rule characteristic of Soul Sculpting Seeds was to nurture soul beasts, which could grow by consuming souls and flesh.

According to the Guide’s analysis, this growth model had no bottleneck.

As long as the soul beast consumed a target, it could acquire nearly a 1:1 ratio of the target’s abilities and memories.

Moreover, this consumption and growth was not a single inheritance—the Guide’s analysis concluded that a single soul beast could consume multiple targets, gaining infinite growth potential.

The Guide had also conducted simulation tests.

Suppose a common soul beast was placed in a minor world—this soul beast could theoretically, through killing and consuming, inherit the strength and memories of all life in that minor world.

A single soul beast could destroy an entire world and gain terrifying power boosts.

In the Monster World, where cheats ran rampant, the Hun Gui Clan was being hunted by the Ni Chao Army—but if placed in a minor world, even a single soul beast could evolve into a world-level catastrophe.

But the drawbacks of the Soul Sculpting rule characteristic were also obvious.

Soul beasts could only inherit strength and memories, not other world rules’ special enhancements.

For example, if a soul beast consumed Black Black Tide evil influences, it could not inherit their Tunshi evolution ability; if it consumed the Insect Clan’s hive mind, it could not inherit the rule-given pheromone collection and modification ability; even if it consumed Ni Chao Army warriors, it could not inherit the War God Seal.

When elevated to the level of rule characteristics, the soul beast’s strength was severely limited.

But the Soul Sculpting rule characteristic was also extremely powerful.

The Guide considered the Hun Gui Clan a near-invincible force in favorable conditions—enemies found it nearly impossible to stage a comeback under the influence of the Soul Sculpting rule characteristic.

The war’s progression would inevitably see the Hun Gui Clan gradually acquiring intelligence on enemy factions, while their own top-tier combatants multiplied with each battle. By the late stage, enemy factions had no secrets left from the Hun Gui Clan’s perspective—all intelligence would be known through the memories acquired by soul beasts.

Second, the Hun Gui Clan possessed a nearly ruthless tactic.

That was stockpiling top-tier combatants.

Preserve soul beasts that had become top-tier combatants, continuously accumulating more Qiangzhe , and unleash them all at once during the final battle.

Theoretically, the Hun Gui Clan’s method of creating Qiangzhe was simpler than any other race’s.

The Qiangzhe enemies spent vast resources and effort cultivating might become Hun Gui Clan warriors after just one war.

And those Qiangzhe ’s hard-earned combat skills, battle experience honed through countless real fights, and all other abilities would become easy gains for the Hun Gui Clan.

After carefully analyzing the “Soul Sculpting” world rule characteristic, Qi Sheng felt a headache coming on.

It wasn’t the Hun Gui Clan’s abilities that troubled him—after all, no matter how strong, they couldn’t possess players, posing little threat to him.

In fact, the player army completely countered the Hun Gui Clan’s Soul Sculpting rule characteristic.

After all, every player had four supreme rules Jiachi —standing still and letting soul beasts devour them would yield not a single bit of energy.

What gave him a headache was that another powerful cheat faction had emerged in the Monster World.

The Hun Gui Clan posed little threat to players but could rapidly grow by consuming other races, becoming an extremely terrifying disaster-level faction.

“The Monster World is really exciting these days—without a cheat, you’re just a bottom-tier weakling, even lacking the Zige to enter the world battlefield.”

Qi Sheng couldn’t help but sigh, his mind flashing through multiple factions.

The terrifying black Black Tide, battle insect clan, mechanical legion, Ni Chao Army, Hun Gui Clan, Ancient God Clan... each of these factions was absurdly strong—any individual unit from them could snowball into a disaster-level force in a minor world.

The Guide water sphere hovering beside him displayed a smiling expression on its surface:

【Boss, no problem—they’re all cheating, but aren’t we? With the player army’s current growth rate, why fear these factions? We’ll beat them senseless eventually.】

Qi Sheng smiled and nodded upon hearing this.

The biggest recent gain had been the gradual opening of the Ancient God Arena to players.

Every day, arena flyers came to the Caiwu Coast region to capture players, each capture bringing him substantial profits.

Players didn’t consume the Wu Hun Pearls they obtained in the arena—they chose to sacrifice them for sacrificial power, from which Qi Sheng earned a 30% commission.

The Ancient God Clan also gained Battle Soul Power from the players’ duels and battles.

Now, this growth path of the arena had entered a steady rhythm, giving Qi Sheng the feeling that he was sincerely trading with the Ancient Gods.

The Ancient Gods provided resources; he provided them with combatants for arena duels—mutual benefit.

This behavior reminded him of a game he played before becoming Di Zhao.

In that game, there was a popular item called “Heart of Steel,” which allowed stacking layers through attacking opponents—leading to a trustworthy mutual-stacking gameplay where players friendlyly stacked layers on each other to grow stronger.

He and the Ancient God Clan were just like this trustworthy mutual-stacking Cultivation Mode.

Without further thought, Qi Sheng’s vision shifted to the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

The war organized by Shen Wang was about to begin.

This time, their target was the domain node “Tian Lan Pond,” located north of the Earth Crack Furnace region.

With battle imminent, Qi Sheng’s consciousness, guided by the Guide, pierced through layers of black mist, advancing deeper.

After piercing the black mist, a small pond appeared before him—the water was thick and black, covered by a dense layer of black mist that constantly churned, sometimes coalescing into heavy curtains, sometimes dispersing into gauzy veils, ever-changing.

The node crystal floated above the pond.

With analysis capability activated, information about the node crystal surfaced in Qi Sheng’s mind.

【Tian Lan Pond—Domain Node】

Domain Type: Resource

Domain Trait: Spiritual Qi Nurturing.

Trait Description: Continuously releases pure spiritual qi energy.

Domain Status: Terrifying Black Black Tide (Occupied)

…

“Guide, what do you think if this node is integrated into Emperor Tomb Village?”

In response, the Guide manifested an arm propping up its chin, wearing a thoughtful expression.

【I thought of two usage methods: First, after integrating Tian Lan Pond into Emperor Tomb Village, turn it into a non-open area that continuously produces spirit stones, cutting off the rule’s process of releasing spiritual qi into the world, significantly increasing our sacrificial power gains. Second, after integration, fully open the spiritual qi released by Tian Lan Pond, allowing it to spread freely within Emperor Tomb Village, transforming the village’s space into one rich with spiritual qi.】

【If the second option is chosen, players moving within Emperor Tomb Village will be nourished by pure spiritual qi—even doing nothing, they’ll gain Duan Ti experience. For example, players mining in Emperor Tomb Village’s mines, by staying there long-term, will later gain Duan Ti experience.】

【I recommend the second option more—allowing spiritual qi to spread freely aligns with the rules and won’t affect spiritual qi output.】

“If we choose the second option, how much Duan Ti experience will players gain per hour while active in Emperor Tomb Village?”

After a brief silence, the Guide replied:

【1.8 Duan Ti experience per hour, 43.2 per 24 hours. This number may seem small now, but as player numbers grow, the collective enhancement effect will become very noticeable.】

“Alright, choose the second option.”

After listening to the Guide’s analysis, Qi Sheng made his decision.

Second, he had also considered the upcoming “Fully Automatic Cultivation System.”

In theory, this special function, adaptable to any cultivation technique, requires an energy-rich environment to operate, and Emperor Tomb Village is planned as the player army’s future main city.

He needed to elevate the city’s functional facilities and environmental strength.

But how to use it was a matter for later—whether Shen Wang’s joint warband could capture this domain node remained uncertain.

Brothers, you’re too strong—today’s monthly votes increased by over 2,000. Thank you for your support.

Thank you, Non-Chief like me, for the 10,000 Qidian coins tip.

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(End of Chapter)