Chapter 128: Moon Phase Shift

Emperor's Tomb Mountains, Earth Rift Furnace.

Endless volcanic clusters, like slumbering titans, occasionally awaken and roar.

Each release of the long-stored energy deep within sends scorching lava surging forth like furious fire dragons, bursting through the earth's crust, accompanied by deafening booms, shooting into the sky before raining down, staining the land in intertwined crimson and jet-black hues.

At the mountain's base, the player legion has assembled and launched an assault toward the Tianlan Pool domain node.

Ahead, thick black mist churns violently, and new Hei Chao Xie Sui are born like dumplings dropping into boiling water.

Within the battle group voice channel, Shen Wang is directing the players' combat.

During this, he noticed the intensity of the Hei Chao had significantly increased.

The low-tier Hei Chao Xie Sui, once easily slaughtered like grass, had vanished; current Hei Chao now give birth to various powerful systemic troops.

Catastrophe-class, Death Catastrophe-class, Plague-class, Destruction-class… these troops all possess unique abilities and are extremely troublesome.

Especially the Catastrophe-class troops—unkillable tanks that can rapidly repair damaged bodies by absorbing the life force of other Hei Chao Xie Sui.

The most terrifying thing is not the troop enhancements, but the tactical evolution of the Hei Chao.

Any tactic he had previously used could no longer deceive the Hei Chao; it seemed to absorb battlefield experience from every engagement.

For example, his earlier feint attack strategy had become utterly ineffective against the Hei Chao.

This drastically increased the difficulty of command.

He was learning and improving through commanding battles; the Hei Chao was also learning from their clashes with the player legion, summarizing counter-tactics against player strategies.

This discovery left Shen Wang with a pounding headache—yet also ignited his competitive spirit.

Through the perception perspective of the Eagle-Head Demon, he constantly observed the flow of the Hei Chao and the movement patterns of his own battle group's players.

Then, based on battlefield developments, he issued timely command adjustments.

Meanwhile, Qi Sheng, operating from behind the scenes, was also monitoring the course of this war.

Through feedback from the Guidance, he could observe the battlefield's overall trajectory from a broader perspective.

He could see that the Earth-Nourishing Evil Spirit had long since deciphered the player organization's tactics, using the Evil Eye's vision to control the direction of the Hei Chao's surge and the speed at which it spawned Xie Sui.

Secondly, Hei Chao forces from other regions were advancing toward the Earth Rift Furnace area.

The war had fallen into stalemate from the outset.

If this trend continued, players could still gain massive Shou Shou Jili and Evolution Points from this battle, but capturing the domain node was impossible.

At this moment, Qi Sheng's gaze shifted to one corner of the player battle line.

He could see the Gan Di Corps players, under Shen Wang's command, pushing forward fiercely.

Equipped with Crimson Gang Qi Painful Painful Minghun, they were surrounded by blazing blood-energy flames, creating a significant power gap between them and surrounding players.

Crimson Gang Qi, in actual combat, was like malleable clay—it could coalesce into a fearsome blood dragon to lunge forward, contract into a vital-energy shield to repel evil attacks, or gather beneath the feet to provide an instantaneous burst of power... truly a versatile melee soul.

The viewpoint shifted to a microscopic perspective.

Within the battle, fine strands of golden mist were born within the Gan Di Corps players' bodies, merging into their limbs and bones.

The Challenger prompts kept echoing in Li Zheng and other Gan Di Corps players' minds:

【Challenger Prompt: Absorb the power of war, gain Body Strengthening experience +2, War God Seal Painful Painful Minghun experience +2.】

After only a short while of combat, Gan Di Corps members had already gained 128 points of Body Strengthening experience, and the War God Seal's level had risen to Level 2.

This was merely a small-scale war; imagine the growth speed of players with the War God Seal once wars of millions—or even hundreds of millions—of participants erupted.

In a world-scale racial war, the Body Strengthening experience gained each minute might elevate a current player by one full Body Strengthening rank.

And each increase in Body Strengthening rank brought boosts to all attributes.

No wonder the Guidance had said that after an epic war, surviving warriors of the Counter-Tide Legion could gain power enhancements dozens of times—or even more.

The War God Seal, this rule-based power, was a battlefield printing press.

Without dwelling on this, Qi Sheng's gaze swiftly swept across the battlefield.

But he already knew the outcome of the war.

Before the great battle began, during the player assembly phase, the Earth-Nourishing Evil Spirit had already begun mobilizing Hei Chao forces in preparation.

Now that the war had stalled, it meant the player legion's defeat.

In short-term attrition warfare, no faction could match the Hei Chao.

Shen Wang, responsible for command, clearly realized the coordinated assault was failing, and changed strategy: shifting from continuous advancement to maximizing Hei Chao Xie Sui kills.

Defeat was inevitable.

At this moment, Qi Sheng withdrew his gaze and switched to the direction of the underwater Shuijingdian in the Colorful Mist Coast region.

A massive underwater battle was raging there.

But the vast majority of participants were Sui Fish and Yuan Fish players; human players were few and far between.

Early on, many human players had joined the Shuijingdian purification mission, but underwater combat felt deeply unnatural to them.

Without underwater breathing ability, they had to constantly surface for air during battle—extremely inconvenient.

Issues such as underwater movement efficiency and underwater vision further compounded the problem.

After multiple failed attempts, most human players chose to return to the coastal forests behind or back to the Emperor's Tomb Mountains battlefield.

But the Sui Fish and Yuan Fish players had not given up.

For them, the human players' abandonment was good news.

It meant that upon successfully purifying the Shuijingdian domain node, they could claim higher ranking rewards, eliminating a large number of strong competitors.

Underwater combat was the domain where the Sui and Yuan Fish were most skilled.

Unlike human players, whose underwater movement was sluggish, Sui Fish and Yuan Fish players moved through water as fluidly as merfolk, performing intricate maneuvers like dodging and circling—details normally reserved for ground combat.

The battle continued.

Under dim light, coral reefs and seaweed formed a complex labyrinth.

Sui Fish and Yuan Fish players darted through the coral thickets, chasing and being chased by Shadow-Scale Shrimp Guards and Shadow-Scale Crab Guards.

This is a tactic developed by Deep Abyss Fish Tribe players and Gills Fish Tribe players.

They lure the underwater guardians of the Shuijingdian into the coral thickets using some players, then launch an ambush there.

The low-intelligence underwater guardians fall for it every time, chasing into the coral thickets and entering the combat terrain favorable to the Gills Fish Tribe and Deep Abyss Fish Tribe players.

The space here is narrow; the massive bodies of the underwater guardians are hindered in movement, and their killing power is greatly diminished.

The war lasted for over two hours.

Once this group of Deep Abyss Fish Tribe and Gills Fish Tribe players were all killed, the second wave of attacks, poised and ready, arrived.

Players from both tribes cooperated closely during this period, attempting to exhaust all the underwater guardians before the Shuijingdian through a war of attrition.

Just then, Qi Sheng, who was monitoring the course of the war, received a guidance prompt indicating abnormal changes had appeared in the Di Zhong Mountain Range region.

Qi Sheng's consciousness instantly switched back to the Di Zhong Mountain Range region.

He saw the Evil Moon in the sky fluctuating violently, its surface appearing covered by a layer of indistinct gauze, with evil energy spreading and filling the air.

Seeing this scene, Qi Sheng immediately realized the Evil Moon had once again entered an unstable phase of change.

At this moment, he spoke out and asked:

"Guidance, can you judge which direction this lunar phase change will develop towards?"

【Boss, the Evil Moon is currently in a phase of violent energy fluctuation, so results cannot be analyzed for now. However, judging from previous energy fluctuation trajectories, it will most likely switch to a Waning Crescent.】

Hearing this, Qi Sheng felt somewhat regretful.

For him, the strength of the current Waning Moon was just right.

The strength of the Waning Crescent is too low.

If the lunar phase switched to a Waxing Moon or a Full Moon, players' current strength would be too weak to resist.

Furthermore, under these two lunar phases, the intensity of the Black Tide controlled by the Earth-Will Evil Spirit would also increase significantly.

According to the Guidance's analysis, the methods by which the Earth-Will Evil Spirit obtains growth nutrients for the Black Tide are divided into three types.

First, absorbing energy produced by occupied nodes; second, drawing energy nutrients from other Black Tide nodes; and finally, absorbing free energy particles in the air.

However, the Black Tide does not absorb elemental particles, but rather the Black Tide energy particles released by the Evil Moon.

Therefore, different lunar phases result in significantly different growth speeds for the Black Tide.

Moreover, after the scene switches, the intensity of the derivative evil spirits spawned by the Evil Moon will also change significantly.

The intensity of derivative evil spirits under the Waning Moon is around level 10, while the gap in strength compared to cursed weapons spawned by the Waning Crescent is 5 to 7 times.

After entering the Waxing Moon, the intensity increase is also around 5 to 7 times.

That is to say, a level 10 Blood Corpse will generate a large number of derivative evil spirits over level 50.

Players would struggle greatly against evil spirits of this strength; even dozens of Painful Painful Minghun players at level 30-plus working together would find it difficult to kill a single derivative evil spirit over level 50.

If it were a Full Moon, the player army could temporarily abandon development in the Di Zhong Mountain Range region and switch all forces to the Colorful Mist Coast.

Full Moon-level intensity can be described as demons running amok.

Ordinary derivative evil spirits spawned at this level would be world-destroying existences even in a Small World.

In the hundreds of years since entering the Monster World, Qi Sheng had only experienced a Full Moon scene once.

At that time, the Di Zhong Mountain Range region had no Evil Spirits yet; everywhere were the figures of derivative evil spirits.

One day, the lunar phase suddenly switched from a Waning Crescent to a Full Moon of the fourth intensity stage; after the scene switch and coverage, countless terrifying evil spirit figures surged forth.

Abyss Great Demons, Void Erosion Worms, Touches of Fear... a single glance revealed a vast number of super evil spirit lives with hunting levels exceeding 100.

The evil spirit figures blocking the sky and sun ravaged the Di Zhong Mountain Range region like a locust swarm, leaving no life able to survive wherever they passed.

During this process, the energy intensity released by the Evil Moon climbed significantly.

As for the fifth intensity, the "Great Evil Moon" in its ultimate state, Qi Sheng had never seen it; only the Guidance and the other three Vassals had witnessed it during the Cataclysm War.

In this state, the Evil Moon transforms into a burning black sun.

Everything illuminated by the Great Evil Moon becomes distorted, and every single derivative evil spirit possesses a disaster-level intensity.

According to the Guidance's analysis and judgment, the Evil Moon itself is a world-level rule.

Moreover, it is a super rule no weaker than the supreme rules of the Monster World, capable of deteriorating scenes within its irradiation range, generating corrosion cores and derivative evil spirits, and providing abundant growth energy for the Black Tide.

The act of switching lunar phases can be understood as the circulation process of the Evil Moon's energy.

It involves moving the existing scene to a new location, and then moving an entire new scene over.

For example, the Evil Moon scene at the end of the Colorful Mist Coast switches to cover the Di Zhong Mountain Range region, while the Evil Moon scene of the Di Zhong Mountain Range region switches to cover other Evil Moon scenes, but during this process, everything belonging to the Monster World remains unchanged.

It can be observed that this process is not controlled by ordinary Evil Spirits.

As for the meaning behind the Evil Moon intensity switch, the analysis given by the Guidance is:

The life activity of the Evil Moon.

The Evil Moon can be understood as a massive super life form; its extended tentacles cover multiple regions of the Monster World, forming countless Evil Moon scenes.

During this process, the Evil Moon constantly grows new tentacles, which are new Evil Moon scenes.

After a large number of new Evil Moon scenes are born, the ordering of the tentacles changes; to straighten out the tentacles, the Evil Moon automatically adjusts the regions covered by energy, performing tentacle ordering exchanges to prevent the tentacles from tangling.

Simply put, it is node organization and reordering for better energy circulation.

But this is merely the Guidance's speculation; the specific reason remains unknown for now, as analyzing the supreme rules requires consuming extremely terrifying Shou Shou Jili energy.

Only Demon God-level Evil Spirits and the Evil Lord, who has never appeared, can control the Evil Moon, this supreme rule; other Evil Spirits cannot influence the Evil Moon's changes.

The Guidance stated that when the Demon God-level combat power of the Black Tide appeared, the Evil Moon scenes of the Monster World began to contract, and the entire area of radiation and coverage became Great Evil Moon scenes, preparing to launch a corruptive occupation of the Monster World.

This completely enraged the Four Gods who govern the Monster World.

The Demon God-level combat power's behavior of tearing down and rebuilding also triggered the most intense battle in the history of the Monster World.

The Four Gods and the Black Tide Demon Gods unleashed a peak battle, which is the "Cataclysm War" spoken of by the Evil Eye.

The Black Tide forces that participated were annihilated; countless powerful races following the Four Gods also perished in this battle. The Four Gods themselves nearly fell; apart from the supreme rules they controlled, the remaining power was barely enough to maintain the operation of their divine bodies.

The aftereffects of this war left upon the Four Gods have not yet disappeared.

Thinking of this, Qi Sheng looked toward the Guide floating beside him.

It was said the Guide once possessed two forms: one a humanoid shape, the other a super golden wheel that released ten thousand beams of golden light.

The war with the Black Tide Demon God reduced the Guide to its current water-sphere shape, no longer able to switch back to its original body.

Recovery wasn't impossible, but the sacrificial power it would consume was something the current him simply couldn't bear.

But one day in the future, once he inherited and achieved the true body of Di Zhao, he would restore the four gods who followed him to their peak state.

He'd been thinking too far ahead. Qi Sheng chuckled wryly, shifting his gaze to the Wicked Moon hanging high over the Di Tomb Mountain Range region.

The Wicked Moon was still twisting and shifting; its fluctuating state had yet to stabilize.

……

Abyss Domain Node.

On the platform at the top of the Xie Yan Gao Ta.

The Di Nian Evil Spirit spread its arms, watching the Wicked Moon's changes with an excited expression.

"Di Nian, I can feel your emotions shifting greatly. Could it be that you're able to judge the direction of the Wicked Moon's changes?"

Facing Xie Yan's inquiry, the Di Nian Evil Spirit bared its lips, revealing sharp teeth:

"I learned how to judge the intensity fluctuations of the Wicked Moon during my Abyss Trial. If I'm not mistaken, this time the Wicked Moon will most likely switch to a full moon state."

"I'm very curious what the standard for this judgment is. I've never learned any knowledge in this area—could you teach me?" Xie Yan blinked curiously, humbly seeking instruction from the Di Nian Evil Spirit.

Facing the inquiry, the Di Nian Evil Spirit had no intention of holding back and immediately gave an answer:

"Carefully observe the fluctuation frequency of the moon phase's twisting changes. The arc of the original waning half-moon is gradually shrinking, the wicked light released is intensifying. Try to sense the rhythm of the moon phase's energy release frequency, and you'll find the energy fluctuation frequency on the moon's surface is combining into an increasingly clear outline pattern. This is the Wicked Moon whispering—it is about to enter the full moon stage."

"When that time comes, my Black Tide will receive massive nourishment, and I can finally break free!"

Thinking of the scene after the full moon descended, the Di Nian Evil Spirit couldn't help but laugh heartily.

"Player faction, Bug Race… your doomsday has come!"

Hearing these words, Xie Yan tried to use the method the Di Nian Evil Spirit described to record every change during the Wicked Moon's twisting process.

Sure enough, it saw a complex energy ripple pattern emerge on the moon's surface.

Although it couldn't understand the meaning this pattern represented, it still recorded and archived the information given by the Di Nian Evil Spirit into the node information database, sharing it with other nodes.

During this process, Qi Sheng was also listening in on the Di Nian Evil Spirit's analysis.

Learning the moon phase was about to enter full moon, he couldn't help but shake his head.

"Looks like the Di Tomb Mountain Range region can't be opened for now."

If it were the third-stage waxing half-moon scenario, players could still play as souls, and through group combat could barely kill the derivative evil spirits.

But if it were the fourth-stage full moon intensity with derivative evil spirits above level 100, players going out would be sending themselves to death—even organizing war groups of tens of thousands would be no match.

No advantage in numbers, and completely crushed in intensity. At this point there would only be the sacrificial power consumed by resurrection, with no gains from hunting.

So he absolutely wouldn't open the Di Tomb Mountain Range region to players.

【Indeed, the waxing half-moon intensity is already hard for current-stage players to bear. Small player groups would have to shift from war mode to survival mode. If it's a full moon one tier higher in intensity, what players face would be doomsday mode—going out means certain death, with no possibility of survival.】

The Guide also nodded in agreement at this moment.

"Once the moon phase stabilizes, post an announcement. The Di Tomb Mountain Range region won't be opened for now. Shift the players' development direction to the Colored Mist Coast region, and consider reopening once the moon phase switches back in the future."

【Understood.】 The Guide nodded.

Abyss Domain Node. The Di Nian Evil Spirit stood at the edge of the high tower platform, arms spread, gazing up at the rapidly twisting and changing Wicked Moon, breathing in the Black Tide energy particles gradually intensifying in the air with a contented expression.

Just then, the moon phase's changes suddenly intensified, and a savage smile appeared on the Di Nian Evil Spirit's face:

"It's coming!"

The twisting moon phase was seen gradually steadying, the waning half-moon dissipating. The condensed dark red light finally transformed into a thin, narrow dark red line at the horizon's edge, stubbornly flickering in the darkness.

Seeing the moon phase suddenly freeze at a waning crescent, the smile on the Di Nian Evil Spirit's face abruptly stopped.

The Xie Yan floating behind the Di Nian Evil Spirit said nothing, silently deleting the recorded information shared with other nodes.

On the other side, the Guide also decisively deleted the announcement content it had edited.

【This is practically a scam!】

At this moment, whether it was the Di Nian Evil Spirit, or Qi Sheng and the Guide secretly observing, all were completely dumbfounded by the moon phase suddenly switching to a waning crescent.

What followed was the Di Nian Evil Spirit's hysterical roar.

"Di Nian, you need to calm down!" Xie Yan spoke up to soothe.

"Calm down my ass."

(End of chapter)