Chapter 140: Crushing the Evil Spirits, Calling for Aid at the Node

【Challenger Alert (All Channels): New Intelligent Evil Spirit Warrior of the Evil Moon Domain descends upon the Colorful Mist Coast, initiating the Global Mission: Purify the Evil Spirits.】

Purify the Evil Spirits (Global Mission)

Mission Description: Slay the descending Evil Spirits and destroy the Xie Yan Gao Ta. During the mission, rewards for slaying evil spirits increase by 20%. Battle contributions count toward the Contribution Board, and additional mission rewards are distributed based on Contribution Board rankings.

……

As the game alert sound rang out,

within the Evil Moon Domain of the Colorful Mist Coast.

Black matter gathered, like ink gently stirred by an invisible giant hand, intertwining and spiraling upward, resembling a black python lunging toward the sky.

As time passed, the silhouette of the Gao Ta emerged.

The tower body was constructed from pure black matter, with simple and sharp lines piercing straight into the heavens.

The tower's surface was not smooth or flat; instead, it was covered in eerie patterns, resembling ancient spells or the blood vessels of dark creatures, subtly writhing under the light of the Evil Moon as if imbued with life.

Just then, a rotating spatial vortex formed atop the Xie Yan Gao Ta.

A massive purple-skinned eye emerged from the spatial vortex, extending countless pitch-black tentacles that connected to the tower's summit.

When the Evil Eye merged with the Gao Ta, perception linked through the tower to the Black Tide's domain node on the Pale Continent.

Upon completing the connection, the Evil Eye raised its gaze toward the platform ahead.

Where its gaze focused, a tiny black dot spun at extreme speed, tearing apart the surrounding air.

As time passed, the black dot gradually expanded, eventually forming a circular black hole three meters in diameter.

An Evil Spirit Warrior clad in pitch-black, fearsome armor, nearly two meters tall, stepped out of the darkness, passed through the spatial black hole, landed on the Gao Ta platform, and turned to look at the Evil Eye.

"Nai Xiu, welcome to the Monster World. I am your Auxiliary Eye in this world."

The purple eye greeted him at that moment.

Hearing this, the Evil Spirit Nai Xiu nodded indifferently, then took a deep breath as if sensing the energy content in the air.

At the same time, relevant information about the Evil Spirit Nai Xiu appeared in Qi Sheng's mind.

【Nai Xiu (Black Tide Evil Spirit)】:

Hunting Rank: 79

Target Analysis: Black Tide Commander-level Intelligent Evil Spirit Warrior, conscripted from the Tian Luo Shi Jie.

……

"Evil Eye, introduce the power structure of this world, and specify which Lord-level Evil Spirit manages me."

Facing the inquiry, the purple-skinned Evil Eye shook its head:

"In this world, Lord-level Evil Spirits and even Apostle-level Evil Spirits are all managed by King-level Evil Spirits, including you."

"King-level?!" Nai Xiu was startled, then continued:

"How strong is this world? Explain in detail."

"This world is called the Monster World, created by a fallen deity named Beneath Di Zhao who wields countless rule-based powers. Classified by world level, the Monster World can be categorized as an Endless World or a Super World. It possesses a nearly indestructible world structure and can continuously and automatically generate various energy resources, inexhaustible in supply."

"You were exceptionally conscripted into the Monster World due to your outstanding performance in the Tian Luo Shi Jie; otherwise, you wouldn't even qualify to join this world's battlefield."

Although the Evil Eye spoke bluntly, Nai Xiu did not become angry.

Upon entering this world and breathing the energy particles in the air, he immediately realized its strength was extremely high. As a Commander-level warrior, being equipped with an Auxiliary Eye at the start was something he had never experienced in the three worlds he previously conquered.

In the three previously conquered worlds, only the Black Tide's First Authority Commander was equipped with an Auxiliary Eye.

This demonstrated the upper echelons' emphasis on the Monster World.

"Compared to the Tian Luo Shi Jie I previously conquered, what is the strength gap?"

Facing the inquiry, the purple-skinned Evil Eye shook its head:

"They cannot be compared; this is not even a world of comparable strength. Even billions of Tian Luo Shi Jie combined cannot match the Monster World's strength. This is a different kind of strength that transcends dimensions, while the Tian Luo Shi Jie is merely an insignificant small world."

"No wonder a King-level warrior is needed to command. I understand."

"No, you clearly still do not understand. King-level warriors are only commanders of the Pale Continent region, not the supreme commander of the Black Tide in this world. The first batch of Black Tide supreme commanders has already perished. You can understand the Monster World as having strength equivalent to our race's main world."

The purple-skinned Evil Eye's explanation made Nai Xiu somewhat incredulous, but he did not reveal his emotions on his face, immediately asking in a deep voice:

"Based on my strength, how would I rank according to this world's combat power levels?"

"You are a Black Tide Commander; your personal strength is not the most important factor. However, analyzing your strength based on available intelligence, you can only be classified in the lower-middle tier of the food chain. There are too many powerful beings capable of killing you. Among our strongest opponents in the Pale Continent region, the Reverse Tide Legion, the combat power of regular warriors is equivalent to yours... I mean the most ordinary regular warriors."

"But you need not worry about your combat power. As a Black Tide Commander, you possess the Black Tide's power enhancement; your combat power cannot be calculated based on your personal strength."

"I am currently drawing upon the accumulated energy from nearby energy cores to create a Low-Level Black Tide for you. Begin your growth as soon as possible."

"Note that the Monster World is filled with numerous powerful races, and crises may descend at any time. Prepare for war."

As the Evil Eye finished speaking, black matter radiated outward from the Gao Ta, spreading in all directions.

Upon contacting the Corrosion Core, the Corrosion Core rapidly melted, automatically merging into the black mist, continuously releasing accumulated energy to nourish the Black Tide.

By the shores of the Colorful Mist Coast.

The player army stood ready, the scene resembling eight immortals crossing the sea.

Sailboats, speedboats, hovercrafts, water motorcycles, warships... Wealthy players boarded multi-person vehicles heading toward the Evil Moon Domain at the end of the sea.

Players without funds constructed rafts from local materials or swam directly there.

During this period, flying vehicles also traveled via aerial routes to the Evil Moon Domain.

Facing the high mission reward returns, players swarmed toward the Evil Moon Domain at the end of the sea, determined to crush the Black Tide in its cradle before it fully rose.

Compared to other factions, players deeply loathed the Black Tide.

As the most representative "poor bastards" in the game, the most absurd thing was their immense growth potential.

This time, the Evil Spirits had just descended and were still in their early stages.

Once the Black Tide fully grows and generates an endless tide of evil spirits, cleaning them up later will be extremely difficult.

The Earth-Will Evil Spirit of the Di Zhao Mountain Range serves as a warning; it has already become one of the two major roadblock bullies of the Di Zhao Mountain Range. Even with players uniting for multiple offensives, they could not capture another domain node.

Players feared the black tide in the Color Mist Coast region might become another newbie village bully.

They believed it must be crushed immediately, never allowed to grow.

This major battle had no player commander; it employed a free offensive tactic, targeting the Evil Eye Gao Ta and the Wise Evil Spirit directly.

Two hours later.

The first wave of players entered the Evil Moon Domain; the golden wheel in the sky instantly became a crescent moon, casting dark red light.

The seawater turned crimson, and countless ocean-derived evil spirits, like cats scenting fish, attacked players who entered their territory.

This was the first time many players encountered oceanic evil spirits; the great battle was about to erupt.

Small-scale team battles ignited within the Evil Moon Domain.

As time passed, more and more players flooded into the Evil Moon Domain scene.

The Purple-Skinned Evil Eye immediately relayed this news to Nai Xiu Evil Spirit.

Upon hearing the news, Nai Xiu immediately spoke:

"Evil Eye, use the absorbed Evil Moon Core energy to generate troops. Also, what is their origin?"

After a brief silence, the Purple-Skinned Evil Eye replied:

"According to intelligence shared by other nodes, they are the Player Clan—like us, invaders from the Outer Realm."

"Player Clan? Are there other invaders in this world?"

Hearing this, the Purple-Skinned Evil Eye nodded calmly:

"The invasion forces in this world are numerous; our Black Tide is merely one of them. The exact number of invasion forces cannot be counted. According to the information database, the Player Clan is extremely troublesome—evil spirits killed by them cannot feed back energy to the Black Tide. You must treat them with caution."

"Was this once the Player Clan's territory?" Nai Xiu Evil Spirit asked further.

What it did not understand was why the Player Clan had launched an attack here at the very beginning of its descent.

"This region has always been under the Evil Moon's shadow, with no connection to the Player Clan. But their behavior is utterly erratic—no logic can predict their actions. They wage war without any reason, merely for slaughter—even when there is no gain, they launch wave after wave of assaults, even if it leads to countless meaningless deaths among their own kind… Perhaps, they find joy in combat and killing."

The Evil Eye's answer left Nai Xiu with a pounding headache, realizing the world's situation was far more complex than he had imagined.

"Evil Eye, assist me in generating troops and provide me with perception."

"Understood, Nai Xiu." The Purple-Skinned Evil Eye nodded, extending several tentacles that pierced Nai Xiu's spine.

Instantly, the perception expanded outward from Gao Ta, rapidly covering a vast area.

Meanwhile, the dense black mist beneath Gao Ta began generating numerous Level 1–3 evil spirits, which grew swiftly. Their hunting levels rose gradually under the energy infusion from other Corrosion Cores.

In Nai Xiu's mind, a pitch-black palace emerged.

Countless petrified statues stood within the palace—Black Tide Worms, Black Tide Shadow Dogs, Black Tide Demon Fleas… Each petrified statue represented a deployable combat unit.

This was the lowest tier of the Black Tide's twenty-eight Destruction Temples' troop repository. Focusing one's gaze displayed detailed combat stats and ability traits of each unit, allowing command-type evil spirits to select and deploy them for varying battlefield conditions.

Nai Xiu's gaze moved among the different combat units, then entered the second-floor palace.

From here, the Black Tide's combat units were divided into distinct system sects.

Catastrophe System, Death Catastrophe System, Rampage System, Plague System, Apocalypse System… Each troop type possessed unique abilities.

After a brief scan, Nai Xiu chose the Apocalypse System troops as the Black Tide's core combat units.

The Apocalypse System's strength lay in powerful area-of-effect attacks, capable of generating formidable Black Tide armor or regeneration abilities—it was one of the mainstream troop systems in the Black Tide army.

Using the Black Tide energy data provided by the Evil Eye, Nai Xiu's gaze swept over the Apocalypse System statues.

Apocalypse Warriors clad in molten armor, wielding massive black-flame greatswords; Apocalypse Archers armed with longbows; Apocalypse Behemoths… Countless troop templates flooded his mind, materializing in the black mist as Black Tide energy poured in.

Meanwhile, the remaining Black Tide energy in his mind steadily decreased.

"Evil Eye, increase the extraction speed from the energy core."

"Accelerating." The Purple-Skinned Evil Eye nodded, its eyes suddenly widening. Instantly, the Black Tide surged faster, drawing energy from the core nodes into Xie Yan Gao Ta, which transformed and absorbed it into Black Tide energy.

At this moment, outside the island, the battle between players and oceanic evil spirits reached a fever pitch.

Three kilometers from the island, a line of players activated their Flowing Shadow traits, summoning multiple clones who hurled continuous waves of ink-flame fireballs infused with Thunder attributes, igniting the crimson sea into a blazing inferno.

Nearby, a group of melee players leapt from their multi-person vehicles; with their Qi-enhanced bodies, they walked effortlessly across the water, engaging the oceanic evil spirits in close combat.

Players following the support-ability path continuously switched between Light Shield and Binding Painful Painful Minghun traits, occasionally granting their melee allies the Blood Burn trait to enhance their combat power.

Meanwhile, the regional voice channel became wildly active:

"We lost a member—someone with the Statue System, who has a Taunt Painful Painful Minghun, join us fast! We'll obliterate the evil spirits, tons of Shou Shou Jili waiting for you—come grab it in a sack!"

"Need more violent DPS for the magic cleanup squad—focus on sweeping everything away. No domain-style mages—we can't afford them."

"Evil Spirit, your player dad's here—open the door and welcome us!"

"Guys, push harder! Don't let this evil spirit grow—if it becomes a bully, we're screwed."

"Our boat's destroyed—any kind souls nearby? Can you give me a ride? Magic users swim too slow—help!"

…

Since this operation was sudden, no player was in command.

Thus, the tactics were utterly chaotic.

Those flying in the sky, swimming underwater, running on the surface—all attacked randomly, doing whatever felt satisfying.

In one corner of the battlefield,

Seeing Li Zheng lead his Ganyi Team across the waves, surrounded by a crimson Qi aura, each step on the water generating ripples that spread outward.

Ahead of them stood a roadblock: a derived evil spirit, the "Spirit Water Demon."

Suddenly, the evil spirit leapt from the sea and lunged at Seeing Li Zheng, the frontmost.

"Hold!"

The team's Zero-Charge Leopard Head raised his hand, pointing at the Spirit Water Demon. Instantly, the Binding Painful Painful Minghun trait activated—an invisible shackle froze the demon midair.

Sha Xin Dong raised his hand, a mighty flame bow materializing in his grasp. His index and middle fingers drew the string back slowly; a blood-infused arrow rapidly coalesced.

Bing!

Whoosh!

The blood-colored arrow instantly pierced through the Dark Water Demon's body, trailing a spray of black blood as it shot off into the air.

Seeing Li Zheng, who was walking at the very front, closed in at this moment. He reached out, grabbed the Dark Water Demon's massive tail, twisted his hips, spun around, and violently hurled the Dark Water Demon toward the Family Sharing Godfather.

"Catch."

"Volley." The astral qi on the Family Sharing Godfather's body surface gathered toward his right leg, then he suddenly raised his leg and kicked the Dark Water Demon in the head, sending it flying toward Seeing Li Zheng.

But Seeing Li Zheng didn't make a move—he raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

Already primed, Qiong Dao Chi Tu and Hao Wan Bu Ke struck simultaneously. Under the boost of their Extreme Speed trait, the lightning fireballs they released linked into a line in the air, instantly blasting the Dark Water Demon into a rain of shredded meat across the sky.

After killing the obstructing evil entity, they continued advancing toward the island.

Apart from Seeing Li Zheng and a few other physical-class players who could walk on the sea surface, the two magic-class players Chi Tu and Hao Wan Bu Ke each had a surfboard under their feet, moving forward via the vehicle.

Along the way, they killed several more derivative evil entities and successfully made landfall.

One could see that there was no vegetation on the island—only the twisted, gnarled tentacles of derivative evil entities, along with various types of derivative evil entities.

Among them were the Curse Soldiers they were relatively familiar with.

But the Curse Soldiers in this domain were far stronger than those in the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range region.

For Seeing Li Zheng and the other Grinder Guild players, the Curse Soldiers' strength was negligible—they bulldozed their way forward, advancing toward the direction of the Xie Yan Gao Ta.

Compared to the Black Tide in the Imperial Tomb Mountain Range region, the feeling of fighting in this area gave Seeing Li Zheng and the others an immense sense of exhilaration—this was the joy brought by the long-awaited crushing of combat power.

It reminded them of the Musou mowing-grass mode from when the Earth-Will Evil Spirit had first appeared.

This joy disappeared after the Earth-Will Evil Spirit rose to power.

The current Earth-Will Evil Spirit no longer manipulates the Black Tide to generate low-level evil entities; what it breeds are all systematic troop types, making players feel disgusted and hard to deal with.

What's worse, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit has now developed a set of underhanded warfare tactics specifically targeting how players fight.

In battle, whenever it discovers a Black Tide troop type is heavily wounded, it will manipulate the injured troop to retreat and remerge into the Black Tide, breaking it down in advance and reshaping it, doing its best to prevent the evil entity from being killed by players.

This infuriated the players.

As the commander of the terrifying Black Tide, instead of employing the Black Tide's rampaging sweeping tactics, it actually uses underhanded feedback tactics—it's simply a disgrace to the Black Tide.

But the players were only angry for a moment; they couldn't change the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's tactical layout.

One could see that the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's tactics for dealing with players were becoming increasingly refined.

The AI intelligence level of Earth-Will made players exclaim in disgust—it had even set up a learning-and-growth mode.

To prevent this kind of event from happening, the players had all prepared for a wheel-of-rebirth battle in this fight, determined to strangle this evil spirit to death.

As the battle line advanced, the first batch of players who landed on the island quickly made contact with the Black Tide.

The great battle was on the verge of erupting.

Seeing Li Zheng and the other melee players charging at the very front released astral qi to shield their bodies, charging into the tide of evil entities and activating bulldoze mode. Behind them, the Ink-Flame Cluster tore through the long sky, falling toward the rear of the Black Tide like a meteor.

Players who had long since adapted to team-battle mode were very clear about their own positioning.

Without a friendly-fire immunity mechanism, magic-class players had to consider the safety of the frontline players when outputting damage, avoiding collateral damage—the abilities they released were thrown as far back as possible.

During this, one figure appeared especially eye-catching.

Unrivaled within the Black Tide, no evil entity could withstand the might of his single fist.

He was precisely the Kindergarten Guild player "Iron Hammer."

Through throwing Infinite Dice and rolling a high-amplification state, he had transformed into a battlefield war god, truly possessing an invincible bearing within the tide of evil entities.

Under an 8x attribute amplification, his combat power was comparable to a monster of Hunting Level 72.

Facing Black Tide evil entities averaging over level 10, his combat power completely crushed them—his fist winds carrying astral qi swept through all directions within the Black Tide.

Behind him followed a group of brothers who had rolled into a weakened state, absorbing the extraction energy clusters that flew over after Iron Hammer killed evil entities.

It looked just like a high-level player leading a group of little kids to grind a dungeon.

Although they were among the first batch of players to enter the game alongside the Grinder Guild, after obtaining the Infinite Painful Painful Minghun, the Kindergarten Guild embarked on a luck-dependent road of no return.

Every throw of the Infinite Dice was a reshuffling of combat power—players who rolled combat-power amplification became the main force, while those who rolled weakened states followed the main force into battle.

But the luck-based throwing wasn't entirely without benefits.

A player who rolled into an amplified state could single-handedly make up for the entire team's output efficiency.

But what saddened the Kindergarten Guild members was that this time, the one who rolled into amplification was the team's tank-type player, Iron Hammer.

Being a tank, his kill efficiency was at the bottom of the team.

If it had been a magic-class amplification, the kill efficiency on the battlefield would have been 5-10 times that of Iron Hammer—a true spell-fire battery capable of mowing down clustered evil entity lives in swathes.

"Iron Hammer, how about you switch to magic-class? That way our team can take turns activating the harvest." Drunk Milk, following behind, suggested in the voice channel.

"Not playing. The Faxiliu Sect suits you little kids. Real men bulldoze the battlefield with their bodies—magic-class can only hide in the back throwing skills, way too boring."

"It's because the brothers have protected you too well, let you take too few hits, that you can say such treasonous words. Next time we'll send you to the Reverse Tide Legion for training, let you feel some physical torment." Class Monitor chimed in.

"You guys don't get it. See the Ancient God Champion? His body withstands elemental torrents, one punch sends qi and blood surging skyward—that's my goal. I'm going to walk the path of sanctification through the physical body."

Saying so, Iron Hammer suddenly leaped forward, and after his feet landed, he raised his hand, condensed astral qi, and slammed it forward.

Immediately, surging astral qi condensed into a tidal wave, rolling forward, and swathes of evil entity lives were killed and harvested by the astral qi.

"See that? Qi and blood convert into astral qi, and astral qi can be used as a semi-ranged output skill."

"Don't jump so far away, hurry back over here. We old, weak, sick, and injured can't handle the Black Tide evil entities' torment—come back and escort us!" Discovering that the surrounding Black Tide evil entities were rapidly converging while Iron Hammer had pulled away from them, the Kindergarten Guild members spoke up one after another to rebuke him.

On another front.

The Veteran Regiment's members displayed very high combat proficiency in battle.

Melee troops opened the path ahead, magic-class dealt damage from the back row, assassins circled the formation to clean up lone evil entities that came attacking.

The 27-person team advanced steadily, and communication in the voice channel was also very efficient—constantly adjusting tactics according to changes in the Black Tide's intensity.

Besides Painful Painful Minghun abilities, they were also each equipped with a series of weapons developed by the Arms Dealer.

For example, fifth-generation spiritual energy firearms, spiritual energy hand cannons, shield spheres, beam-toothed swords, and so on.

These weapons can be drawn from spatial pouches at any moment for actual combat, and the members of the Veteran Corps are all long-time clients of the Arms Dealers; basically, they purchase new models every time weapons are updated.

Just then, five Endwarriors emerged from the surging black tide ahead.

"Old Dog, Convergence Sphere!"

Hearing Commander Li Tie's order, Old Dog in the squad retrieved a palm-sized metal sphere from his spatial pouch, twisted his hips to generate leverage, and hurled it precisely at the Endwarrior.

Upon hitting the ground, the Convergence Sphere activated instantly; countless energy threads shot out, entangling the nearby Endwarrior and Evil Entities before suddenly contracting.

This was a new weapon developed by the Arms Dealers Guild, also dubbed the "Monster-Clustering Artifact" by forum players.

The released energy beams can instantly entangle nearby monsters and contract them to the location of the beam sphere.

Taking advantage of the countdown to the beam sphere's explosion, the Veteran Corps launched a concentrated assault on the gathered Evil Entities.

Boom!

The beam sphere exploded at that moment, and the gathered monsters were instantly swept away under the multi-pronged assault.

Through tactics combining technology with Painful Painful Minghun characteristics, the Veteran Corps advanced with high efficiency, quickly pulling away from other players.

The players' frenzied assault caught the Nai Xiu Evil Spirit, stationed in the rear, off guard.

He couldn't help but grit his teeth and look at the Purple-Skinned Evil Eye:

"Evil Eye, this region is so dangerous; it is completely unsuitable for my initial development. Why did you let me descend here?"

Facing the question, the Purple-Skinned Evil Eye calmly shook his head:

"Descent regions are calculated by a higher-level Evil Eye; only areas explicitly suitable for initial development allow new arrivals to descend. This domain shrouded by the Evil Moon has never been invaded by external enemies, and the process of the energy core continuously drawing power has never been interfered with by any faction, so it was explicitly defined as a region suitable for new arrivals' initial development."

"Then how do you explain the arrival of this group of Player Clan members?"

"I cannot explain it. The arrival of war involves too many unknown factors; theoretically, even if you just entered the Monster World, there is a probability of being killed by a suddenly descending invading faction."

Hearing the Purple-Skinned Evil Eye's explanation, Nai Xiu felt helpless.

But the immediate priority was to drive back the Player Clan as quickly as possible, so he could understand the world's background and construct a black tide legion space corresponding to the environment.

Unlike the Di Nian Evil Spirit, Nai Xiu was very clear that as the Black Tide Commander, he should not join the battlefield, so he had always been sensing and regulating the power of the Black Tide.

"Evil Eye, give me detailed information on the Player Clan, as well as tactical plans for other nodes to counter the Player Clan."

The Purple-Skinned Evil Eye fell silent; after inputting relevant information into the Black Tide Node Information Repository, the Player Clan information provided by the Di Nian Evil Spirit, along with the tactical plans, all appeared in his mind.

"Nai Xiu, according to the tactical plans provided in the information repository, you need to change your combat strategy: reintegrate the injured Evil Entities into the Black Tide to reduce Black Tide energy loss."

"I'd like to, but the Evil Entities I spawn generally cannot withstand a single round of output; there is simply no way to use this feedback strategy." Nai Xiu couldn't help but roar.

"Change the strategy: when countering the Player Clan, do not spawn low-tier troops; try to use Black Tide energy to generate high-tier troops instead. This makes them easier to reclaim... Although doing so will cause the front line to contract, it is the only option available."

Hearing the Purple-Skinned Evil Eye's proposal, Nai Xiu felt like vomiting blood.

He had thought that upon descending into this new world and becoming the commander controlling the Black Tide, he could show off his full capabilities.

Instead, right at the start, he encountered this group of fearless Player Clan members charging in, and the Purple-Skinned Evil Eye assisting him actually proposed a strategy of elite troops.

Although he had only participated in three Devour the World campaigns, this was the first time Nai Xiu had ever heard of a tactic making the Black Tide follow an elite troop route.

Before this, in his eyes, the Black Tide should be endless, relying on its vast numbers, the characteristic of infinite feedback spawning, and its terrifying devouring growth ability to crush all opponents.

"I'll follow your suggestion."

The front line continued to advance toward the Evil Eye Tower; forced by necessity, Nai Xiu could only adjust his tactics and decompose all the low-tier Evil Entities spawned by the Black Tide.

The Evil Entities spawned subsequently were all changed to Endwarrior-type troops.

But this tactic completely lost the war characteristics the Black Tide should possess, relying purely on troop strength to fight.

Three hours later, more and more players landed on the island; during this period, players who had died and resurrected re-joined the battle.

Various bizarre tactics also appeared.

Especially the "meme" players; their performance on the battlefield was nothing short of abstract.

For example, to the north of the battlefield, a certain whale (big spender) stood suspended in mid-air, pointing forward with an outstretched hand:

"Sword, come!"

Immediately, the players standing behind him all switched to their Artifact Spirit forms, floating in the air and circling him.

The whale crossed his arms behind his back, stood proudly in the void, his clothes fluttering, looking like a deity descending to the world, and spoke calmly.

"Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Sect."

Instantly, the Artifact Spirits surrounding him arranged and spread out behind him, forming a rotating Artifact Spirit Great Array, as magnificent as a peacock spreading its tail.

Different Artifact Spirits emitted different lights.

Some long swords were like autumn water, with chilling, fierce light; some long staves resembled spiritual snakes, agile and swift; some battle axes were like mountains, heavy and majestic... Different Artifact Spirits floated in the air, operating according to the whale's commands in the voice channel.

At this moment, the whale suddenly raised his hand and pointed forward:

"Ten Thousand Swords Drawn from Their Scabbards!"

Instantly, the rotating Artifact Spirit Great Array swept forward; upon contacting the Black Tide, it was like a shield tunneling machine clearing a tunnel, high-speed rotating and cutting through the Evil Entities ahead.

This scene immediately attracted a large number of players to watch, and they all gave this "meme" performance full marks and praise in the voice channel.

Facing the players' praise, the whale clasped his fists and spoke in the voice channel:

"Thank you, fellow Daoists, for your kindness. I am Li Jianshen..."

"Stop pretending, you idiot! You're still pretending while fighting? Hurry up and kill the Evil Entities."

Before he could finish pretending, a player spoke up and interrupted.

On the other side.

A group of players specializing in the Twilight Shadow Painful Painful Minghun activated their Extreme Speed trait, turning into black shadows and running wildly across the battlefield; they had Ke Bing Xue Lao Yin floating above their heads, focusing entirely on sucking blood everywhere to replenish the blood loss caused by activating Extreme Speed, joy overflowing on their faces.

Others included the Clone Extreme Speed Mining Corps, the Drifting Dragon Magic-System DPS Corps, the Monster Mount Flow, the Thunder-Rolling Ball Push-Through Flow, the Domain Lone-Wolf Flow... After landing, they all started performing.

One of the most outrageous characteristics of players is that one cannot analyze ability characteristics from their appearance.

For example, with the Black Tide or the Insect Tide, different troop types can be intuitively distinguished by their appearance.

But the hallmark of the player legion was their wildly varied gear.

Players who looked frail and dressed in flashy outfits could still charge wildly across the battlefield.

Tank-type players who appeared clad in heavy armor were, in truth, hiding at the rear hurling fireballs, unwilling to enter the main frontline.

Different schools each had their own tactical role on the battlefield.

For many players, war was one grand performance — they could be killed, but they couldn't stop putting on a show.

The key point was that some of these showy tactics could still produce remarkably impressive results.

Take the Artifact Spirit Formation school, for instance — once the artifact spirits gathered to strangle and slaughter, the damage was terrifying, and their efficiency at killing evil beings was even higher than many guild teams.

With their imaginations fully unleashed, players could always pull off dazzling moves.

In stark contrast to the players' merriment was the mood of the Nai Xiu evil spirit at this moment.

Three hours later.

Facing the player legion's steady advance, Nai Xiu kept commanding the Black Tide to counterattack, yet was utterly unable to halt the players' forward march.

Realizing that if the advance continued like this, defeat was inevitable, Nai Xiu said in a low voice at this moment:

"Evil Eye, if this continues we're bound to lose — I need support from the other nodes."

"Hold on, I'm reaching out now."

After the purple-skinned Evil Eye responded, it conveyed the request for support to the King-rank Auxiliary Eye managing the Pale Continent region.

A few seconds later, the purple-skinned Evil Eye received a reply from the King-rank Auxiliary Eye.

Having received the answer, the purple-skinned Evil Eye looked toward the Nai Xiu evil spirit standing on the platform before it:

"The King-rank Evil Eye is currently assisting the Black Tide in direct combat against the Reverse Tide legion. There's no surplus energy to supply at the moment — it recommends seeking support from other nodes."

"Hurry it up."

The purple-skinned Evil Eye did not reply and began establishing information links with the other nodes.

……

Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, Abyss Domain node.

On the Xie Yan Gao Ta platform shrouded in thick, pitch-black fog, the Earth-Read evil spirit was enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

Because for the better part of a day, no disgusting player clan members had come to provoke them.

Although the insect tide still raged, for the Earth-Read evil spirit, the insect tide's threat was far less than that of the player clan.

Fighting the insect tide, the Black Tide could at least absorb nutrients.

Although the amount absorbed wasn't large, it could still provide some assistance to the Black Tide's development.

By comparison, the player clan gave nothing back at all.

Evil beings killed by players couldn't feed back into the Black Tide either — the encounters during this period had thoroughly disgusted it.

In its rare moment of leisure, a smile appeared on the Earth-Read evil spirit's face:

"Evil Eye, it seems the player clan's reserves are nearly exhausted by us."

The Evil Eye hovering behind it heard this and opened its enormous eye:

"I wouldn't be so sure. From our contact during this period, we can tell the player clan is descending continuously from the Outer Realm. Even if their reserves are gradually worn down, it should be a slow decline — how could they suddenly vanish all at once? I have two guesses about this."

"Speak."

"The first guess: the player clan judged the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region too difficult to invade, chose to give up, recalled the players queued for later login, and decided to change their descent location."

"The second guess: the player clan judged that descending in dribs and drabs couldn't defeat us, so they're amassing strength in the Outer Realm, preparing to descend all at once in a massive wave… we need to guard against this possibility and be ready at any moment for a brutal battle."

The Earth-Read evil spirit heard this and said, somewhat helplessly:

"I hope it's the first one."

"Me too," the Evil Eye agreed wholeheartedly.

Just then, the Evil Eye's eyelid drooped slightly, and it said in a low voice:

"Earth-Read, I've received a message from another node requesting support."

"Support?"

"It's information sent by the evil spirit Auxiliary Eye newly descended at the Pale Star Sea Domain node. They've been invaded by swarms of player clan members and are in the midst of a brutal battle… at this stage, the Xie Yan Gao Ta hasn't been fully constructed yet, and absorbing and refining the energy released by the core takes time to digest — the situation is not good."

Hearing this news, the Earth-Read evil spirit was first stunned, then asked curiously:

"How strong are the player clan forces over there?"

"Based on the image records the node sent me, the invading player clan's combat power is about the same as the player clan members we've fought — it's very likely the player clan changed their descent location to the Pale Star Sea Domain, which might also explain why the player clan in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region suddenly vanished."

The Evil Eye paused here, then said in a Solemn tone:

"Earth-Read, another request for help has come in — I need your answer."

"No!"

"According to the King's directive, other nodes must provide support to nodes currently in combat — that's the rule."

"No!"

"Earth-Read, you need to understand what the consequences of doing this are. Your actions violate the King's regulations and will be punished severely — in serious cases, you'll become nutrients for the Black Tide."

After hearing the Evil Eye's warning, the Earth-Read evil spirit fell into thought.

Mutual aid among evil spirits was originally a hallmark of the Black Tide, but ever since fighting the player clan, his desire for resources had reached a pathological state.

He understood deeply just how passive fighting the player clan without sufficient resource supply could make him.

If this were back when he had just descended into this world, faced with a support request he would have answered affirmatively without hesitation, providing a portion of Black Tide energy to the combat node.

But the current situation was that whether the player clan had truly withdrawn remained unknown.

Sending incomparably important Black Tide energy to other nodes at this time could easily leave him in a passive position if the player clan turned back.

No matter what, he could not possibly give up these resources.

Yet doing so carried the risk of violating Black Tide ordinances.

"Evil Eye."

"I'm here."

"Give me an idea—how to refuse a support request without violating regulations."

"Your thinking is dangerous. As Black Tide warriors, we are one whole—honor and ruin shared by all. Every warrior is a single mote of energy within the Black Tide that sweeps across myriad worlds. It is countless motes like us that gather into the Black Tide calamity, bringing terror to billions of living beings… So the starting point of our thinking should be the collective, not the growth or decline of the individual."

Hearing Evil Eye's stern warning, Earth-Will Evil Spirit's expression froze for a moment.

Evil Eye's admonition made Earth-Will Evil Spirit suddenly realize how dangerous his own thoughts had been.

Just as Evil Eye said, the Black Tide is one whole—it never serves the growth of a single individual.

"Understood. The problem lies with my thinking. I'll divert one-third of the resources to Cang Star Sea Domain right now to aid the newborn node in combat."

Just as Earth-Will Evil Spirit had finished preparing the support, the hovering Evil Eye shifted its tone:

"Wait. I sense the current advance trajectory of the Worm Tide is very dangerous—it could launch an attack on us at any moment. I recommend striking first."

Earth-Will Evil Spirit was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

Then, switching his perception viewpoint toward the direction of the Worm Tide's rampage and jumping through several angles, he found everything normal.

Puzzled, Earth-Will Evil Spirit was about to open his mouth to ask, when he suddenly realized something—turned around, and began cursing Evil Eye at the top of his lungs.

Evil Eye, however, blinked innocently:

"I'm only offering a suggestion. The decision on how to execute it is in your hands."

Earth-Will Evil Spirit heard this, his expression froze for a moment, then he said solemnly:

"The Worm Tide is about to strike. To resist the invasion, gather resources from Emperor Tomb Mountain Range and prepare for war."

"Understood, Earth-Will." Evil Eye blinked again.

"Reply to the Cang Star Sea Domain node: the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range node is currently in combat and cannot provide any resource supply."

"No problem."

"Oh, and send the footage of me controlling the Black Tide fighting the Worm Tide to the Monarch-grade auxiliary eye… Also, delete the entire record of our conversation just now."

"Deleting conversation records violates regulations and will arouse suspicion from the Monarch-grade auxiliary eye… But as the child of the 13th Evil Eye, I have the authority to modify the feedback content of this conversation."

Hearing that Evil Eye was willing to take a risk for him, Earth-Will Evil Spirit was somewhat moved, but still warned:

"Evil Eye, what you're doing now is very dangerous—how dare you use your authority to modify content for the sake of my growth."

"No, I think your thinking is even more dangerous. But as your auxiliary eye, I will still devote myself wholeheartedly to assisting your growth—until we climb together to the peak of Deng Zhi Shi Jie, or until we walk together into death in war."

Halfway through, Evil Eye fell briefly silent, then continued:

"The third support request has arrived. Nai Xiu Evil Spirit wishes to establish a spiritual link with you, and hopes you will assist it in controlling Black Tide power against the Player Clan… After all, all data on the Player Clan is provided by our node, so Nai Xiu believes you can offer effective war guidance."

Upon hearing this, Earth-Will Evil Spirit decisively controlled the Black Tide to launch an attack toward the Worm Tide's direction:

"Can't you see I'm locked in fierce battle with the Worm Tide? No time to take its link, and no resources to supply it. Tell it to apply to another node."

Ten thousand characters complete.

Haven't played games in a long time; the pressure's been really heavy lately





(End of this chapter)