Chapter 295: Pain Does Not Disappear, It Only Shifts (Seeking Monthly Votes)

The Primordial Altar.

Qi Sheng's gaze shifted among the players.

The output of players from different playstyles appeared in his mind as percentage data.

The Monster World server had been open for nearly two years.

At the current stage, the playstyle with the highest yield remained Hunting; top-tier players fought the Evil Bully Alliance in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range, while reserves engaged in petty squabbles with the Pseudo-Disaster Legion under the Lord of Welfare in the Winter Snowfields.

Ranking second in output was the Adventurer Dungeon, which had recently gone online.

The Blue Lamp Clan, indifferent to various spiritual resources, was extremely generous with dungeon rewards, bringing players substantial resource gains.

Even the resource index on the forum had undergone a major update.

Many of the resources rewarded by the Blue Lamp Clan were types that players could not find in the regions they had currently explored.

This indirectly drove the development of many playstyles.

Examples included the Spirit Chef and Alchemist societies, among others.

At the current stage, the number of dungeon-focused players had far surpassed the "blind box" enthusiasts from the Underground Cave World era.

Every day, new dungeon content was posted on the forum for discussion.

During this period, a group of speedrun-focused players also emerged.

These players never challenged high-difficulty dungeons, instead earning profits by frequently clearing low-difficulty ones.

Although the probability of dropping high-value items in low-difficulty dungeons was extremely low, the advantage lay in the lack of pressure.

They simply needed to clear dungeons effortlessly from start to finish, tally their earnings, and then list them on the Exchange or consign them to the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce.

The emergence of the speedrun style also caused the popularity of the Wind-Breaking Fate Soul to skyrocket.

For dungeon squads of equal combat power, the clearing efficiency with a Wind-Breaking Fate Soul was over 30% higher than without one.

When many dungeon squads recruited teammates, they would tag themselves with "Leader has a level XX Wind-Breaking Fate Soul" to attract powerful players to join their groups.

The rise of the dungeon enthusiasts also gave the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce a significant boost.

They could earn profits daily from consignment fees.

However, correspondingly, the Chamber's expenditure on intelligence gathering also increased by the same percentage.

Recently, intelligence on two more domain nodes and one Primordial Monster had been shared on the forum, and many players had already set out to contain them.

Secondly, the recent earnings performance of arena-focused players was also remarkably bright.

This once niche playstyle welcomed a massive influx of fresh blood as novice players from the Sun-Chasing Land left their starting village to develop in other nodes.

"Phase Killer," the leader of the arena enthusiasts, had even successfully broken his own record, setting a new mark of ten consecutive victories.

Every day, edited videos of bloody battles from the arena were published on the forum, attracting more players to join this group.

They were also the group with the strongest combat skills within the player faction.

In large-scale warband confrontations, given equal strength, they would certainly not be a match for the joint warbands tempered in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

But in one-on-one life-or-death struggles, even with equal or slightly inferior strength.

Even the top-tier players of the Divine Hall Society might not be a match for those at the peak of the arena enthusiasts.

Joint warbands studied warfare, while arena enthusiasts studied how to breach an opponent's defense within a hair's breadth.

They knew which muscle to strike to instantly drain an enemy's strength and understood what angle could precisely sever an opponent's kinetic chain, repeatedly verifying lethal killing techniques in actual combat.

The smaller the scale of confrontation, the greater the advantage for arena enthusiasts.

However, on the level of large-scale warfare, even two arena groups of equal strength combined would not be a match for a single composite regiment of the Divine Hall Society.

Each held an absolute advantage in their respective fields.

Aside from mainstream playstyles, the data revealed that many niche styles also had very high output, though the number of players in these styles was small.

Ranking at the forefront were the guide enthusiasts and lore scholars of the forum.

They studied game content to provide developmental assistance to other players, earning profits through live stream tips and post donations.

Both groups contributed to the rapid development of the player faction, saving countless players the time of independent research by allowing them to simply "copy the answers" on the forum.

Next were the Spirit Chef enthusiasts.

This group greatly enjoyed crafting various spiritual delicacies and loved researching exotic dishes, occupying a unique place on the forum.

The spirit food meals they produced were a necessity for players of all playstyles.

No matter how poor, players would save up some sacrificial power to occasionally treat themselves.

At the same time, Spirit Chef players were a crucial node in the internal circulation of the player faction.

Spirit fish, spirit beast meat, spiritual plants, evolution pills, and rune-resonant weapons... these were all consumables for Spirit Chef players.

While earning sacrificial power, there were also many places where they needed to spend it.

As for evolution pills, they were purchased to upgrade Fate Soul levels.

Although Spirit Chef players did not crave power improvements as desperately as mainstream Hunting or dungeon enthusiasts, it remained an indispensable part of their journey.

Without corresponding strength, it was difficult even to process ingredients.

For many spirit beast meats, if one's own strength was insufficient and they lacked a suitable rune-resonant weapon, they simply could not penetrate the ingredient's defense.

A saying circulated among the Spirit Chef enthusiast group to evaluate those with insufficient strength who stubbornly tried to participate anyway:

"Slicing vegetables like scraping frost, chopping meat like painting flowers; better to go to the forum and be a guide hero."

For Spirit Chef players wishing to process high-quality ingredients, their own strength was also very important.

Therefore, a portion of their expenditures would be invested in improving their strength.

But most of it was still spent on spiritual materials in the Exchange.

When many new spiritual plants were listed on the Exchange, Spirit Chef players were generally willing to pay a premium to purchase them for use in researching new dishes.

In terms of income, Spirit Chef players were among the top-ranking playstyles in terms of yield.

Among these playstyles, the lowest output belonged to the exploration enthusiasts.

Their contribution to the player faction mainly lay in map expansion, intelligence gathering, and filling in background lore; the fog-covered areas of maps in various spatial nodes were mostly cleared by exploration enthusiasts.

However, their earnings fluctuated significantly.

The pets of exploration enthusiasts were generally treasure-hunting rats, giving them a probability of obtaining substantial rewards during exploration.

In the Monster World, every inch of soil was soaked in the blood of life, so the chance of obtaining hidden rewards from alien races during exploration was not low.

But earnings depended primarily on luck.

One might go a month without a single considerable income, forcing them to scrimp and save along the way.

Or they might earn in a single day the sacrificial power that other players struggled for months to acquire.

Only a very few individuals among exploration enthusiasts possessed stable, high earnings.

For example, "The Explorer," regarded by forum players as the leader of exploration enthusiasts, earned sacrificial power through live streaming to improve his strength and cover daily expenses during his journeys.

In contrast to the situation of exploration enthusiasts, the group that enjoyed both stable earnings and ranked first in yield among all playstyles was the Trainee faction.

The Trainee faction referred to players who passed the assessment of the Counter-Black Tide Legion and entered its training camp.

The earnings of these players were even higher than those of the top-tier players in the Divine Hall regiment, and the later the training phase, the higher the earnings.

The Counter-Black Tide Legion possessed vast territories and resource output; these earnings were primarily invested in the war legions, followed by the various training camps.

In this aspect of expenditure, the Counter-Black Tide Legion had always been willing to pour in resources.

There was only one requirement: they must train warriors with powerful willpower and combat capability.

As long as a player could become a reserve warrior of the Counter-Black Tide, it was equivalent to embarking on a stable growth path with high returns of sacrificial power.

The outstanding performance of the Grind Emperor Group back in the day had paved the way for successors to enter the Counter-Black Tide Legion as reserve trainees.

Now, the Counter-Black Tide Legion periodically came to select players for assessment.

To date, 940 players had joined the Counter-Black Tide Training Camp.

Every single one of them was an elite among players, including former top-tier players from playstyles such as Hunting and Arena enthusiasts.

Their earnings within the Counter-Black Tide Training Camp surpassed all other major playstyles.

Apart from the limited number of spots, there were no drawbacks whatsoever.

Within the Counter-Black Tide Training Camp, those leading the pack were still the Grind Emperor Group, led by Li Zheng.

They had now advanced to the Phase Five Training Camp and would be sent to the front-line battlefield within a few months to become members of the war legions.

Reviewing the statistical data and thinking of these veteran players from the Grind Emperor Group who had been here since the server launch, Qi Sheng's gaze shifted at this moment to the Counter-Black Tide Training Camp.

Counter-Black Tide Training Camp, Throat-Split Valley.

Viewed from high above, this was a torn canyon stretching for hundreds of miles, with cliffs on both sides dropping vertically as if sliced by a knife; the rock walls were covered in dark red cracks, resembling dried-up blood vessels.

The valley floor was unfathomably deep, with thick black mist constantly rising from below, occasionally punctuated by flickering ghostly blue phosphorescent fires within the fog.

Standing at the edge of Throat-Split, one could feel a formless, terrifying suction force.

The sound of the wind became distorted here, and faintly, one could hear echoes like metal clashing from the depths, resembling the trembling of chains.

At the deepest part of the canyon lay the Phase Five training base of the Counter-Black Tide Legion.

At this moment, Li Zheng and the brothers of the Grind Emperor Group were bound to the cliff Iron Face, their bodies wrapped in iron chains embedded into the rock, enduring the pain of the malignant wind scouring their bodies.

Chief Instructor Mo Dun hovered before the bound Li Zheng and others, speaking in a cold voice:

"Listen up, grunts. Before you are promoted to formal warriors, this is the final test of your willpower."

"Here, your stomachs will burn through, your throats will crack, and your bones will wail, but this is the inevitable path to becoming Counter-Black Tide warriors, a path you have chosen yourselves."

Mo Dun's voice sounded like the valley itself roaring, every word carrying a suffocating sense of oppression.

He hovered in the air, his pitch-black armor gleaming coldly in the ghostly blue fire, resembling a god of slaughter crawled up from hell.

"For the next month, no food, no water." Speaking thus, he bared his snow-white teeth in a sinister smile and continued:

"Either learn to extract energy from the malignant qi, or become part of the malignant qi yourself."

Having spoken, his gaze swept over every trainee bound in iron chains, finally resting on Li Zheng's Iron Face:

"I know you players possess the ability to resurrect upon death, but if you cannot pass this trial, regardless of whether you can resurrect, I will deem the assessment a failure, and you need not return thereafter... Do you understand?" Mo Dun's volume suddenly increased.

"Understood," Li Zheng and the others roared in immediate response.

"Very good, then... let us meet again in one month." As his voice fell, Mo Dun's form dissolved into a wisp of blood mist and vanished.

Once certain Mo Dun had left, Li Zheng and the others exchanged glances, then suddenly began to wail.

While Mo Dun was present, they had no Iron Face to cry out.

Now that Mo Dun was gone, only familiar brothers remained; they finally could not hold back.

Compared to previous training items, the pain of the evil qi scraping their bodies was too overpowered for them as players.

The evil qi also carried a mental corrosion effect; under this dual assault on flesh and spirit, they could only vent their physical agony through wailing.

"So noisy, shut up all of you, this is only the beginning," Gui Tong, bound not far away, could not help but roar.

"You stupid players, keep yelling and you'll see what's waiting for you when we get back," a burly figure, veins bulging as he endured the pain, also shouted furiously at that moment.

Li Zheng and the brothers of the Liver Emperor Group paid them no heed, continuing to wail with no intention of stopping.

Even with pain perception reduced by ninety percent, this agony remained unbearable.

They had been at the Nitchao Training Camp for one year and six months.

Only one step remained before the trial assessment for graduation, and the intensity of the training items was growing higher by the day.

What was underway was the ultimate assessment within the willpower evaluation.

This was also the training subject with the highest mortality rate in the Nitchao Training Camp, second only to the graduation "Random Teleportation Trial."

Mo Dun had stated that every Nitchao warrior must possess a will as hard as Dragon Stone (a high-hardness spiritual material within the Nitchao Legion); if one could not endure, only death remained.

In the eyes of other Nitchao reserve warriors, the most difficult part was the Random Teleportation Trial.

But in the eyes of Li Zheng and the players of the Liver Emperor Group, this training item was far more difficult than the Random Teleportation Trial.

This pain had never breached the "Purification" safety limit, yet it was more unbearable than any pain they had endured before.

Li Zheng's temples throbbed violently, feeling as though a blunt knife were churning back and forth inside his skull.

His breathing rhythm quickly fell into chaos; every inhalation felt like swallowing scalding iron sand, searing his throat and lungs.

His skin also erupted with dense, stinging sensations, as if countless ants were burrowing through his pores into his body, gnawing madly between flesh and blood.

The other players of the Liver Emperor Group were faring no better.

Every player's muscles twitched uncontrollably; every spasm brought tearing agony, as if someone were using sharp hooks to snag their muscles strand by strand and pull them outward, sweat already having soaked through their clothes.

The pain spread from their fingertips to their entire bodies, then seeped into their consciousness seas.

This pain did not explode instantly like a blade cut, but acted like a slow-acting poison, eroding their will bit by bit; dull aches, stabbing pains, and burning sensations intertwined, forming an airtight net of suffering within their bodies that trapped them firmly, making even a single breath a luxury.

"Brother Li, I can't hold on much longer," Chi Tu gasped heavily, his Iron Face flushed crimson.

"Hold on; if it hurts, shout it out," Li Zheng, enduring the same agony, encouraged them with trembling lips.

In this scene surrounded by evil qi, every breath was torture, yet not breathing was impossible.

Being alive was more unbearable than dying.

"I envy the newcomers; look at the life we're living, it's too hard," Sha Xin complained at that moment.

Hearing these words, Li Zheng felt a deep resonance.

They were the first batch of players to enter the Nitchao Training Camp, blazing a shortcut for growth for the players who came after.

Nowadays, whenever players were selected to enter the Nitchao Training Camp, they all started from the Phase One Training Camp.

But their predicament was completely different from what it had been for them back then.

When they first arrived, the player system was still imperfect; even the Armed Vehicle function had not yet gone online.

At that time, player levels were generally very low.

Upon entering the Nitchao Training Camp, they were "Starvation Faction" players at the bottom of the food chain, often subjected to bullying by other trainees.

Gui Tong was a brother now, but back then he had despised them utterly, believing that weaklings like them could only enter the Nitchao Training Camp through connections and did not deserve to stand there at all.

If they had not been ruthless enough, even getting a hot meal would have been difficult.

Although... they still hadn't managed to eat much hot food afterward.

But the current trainees were different; upon entering the Phase One Training Camp, they already possessed the strength level to dominate that phase, needing not undergo the resistance struggles of enduring hunger or staying up late.

In comparison, their own days had been far too bitter.

The only thing worth celebrating was that after the Alchemy System went online, they could spend Sacrificial Power to purchase "Evolution Pills" to gain Soul Soul experience.

Otherwise, if their Soul Soul levels could not rise, they would have to rely solely on body tempering to increase their attribute values, which truly hindered their strength improvement.

Now they had reached the mid-stage of the Phase Five Training Camp.

Soon they would step onto the frontline battlefield.

This was their agreement with the God of Wealth; naturally, they would not give up at this stage where success was imminent.

But thinking that the "Evil Wind Body Tempering" training had only just begun, and that they still had a month of endurance ahead, their hearts instantly turned bitter.

He turned his head to look at the brothers in the training camp.

Everyone was gritting their teeth and persisting; wisps of evil qi sliced across their bodies like steel blades, cutting the skin and leaving black marks upon it.

"Stop wailing; this pain counts for nothing," at that moment, the Longji Clan trainee, annoyed beyond measure, roared again.

"Long Gen, stop pretending; I don't believe you aren't in pain," Family Shared Godfather responded decisively.

"It simply doesn't hurt; I only feel immense enjoyment," Long Gen gritted his teeth and held firm.

Hearing these words, Li Zheng and the Four-Eyed Clan trainees could not help but roll their eyes.

The strength of the Longji Clan warriors was absolutely at the very top of the training camp, but their attachment to honor and Iron Face was nearly paranoid.

Even with veins bulging in their necks and bean-sized beads of sweat rolling constantly from their foreheads, they still craned their necks to maintain an arrogant posture, unwilling to bow their heads.

"Long Gen, on the battlefield you will definitely be a good comrade, but in the training camp you are just a beast."

Looking at Long Gen gritting his teeth and enduring, Li Zheng could not help but complain.

Everyone said the player clan were beasts, but compared to the Longji Clan trainees, especially Long Gen, they clearly fell one step short.

As groups assigned together within the training camp, they always acted together; even when punished, they were together.

For instance, during this "Evil Wind Body Tempering" training, their group had been assigned to the same area.

The characteristic of the Longji Clan was that for any assessment they could pass normally, they would actively increase the intensity.

For some optional items, they sought only to pass at the highest difficulty.

This caused the brothers in the team to suffer alongside them.

For these beasts of the Longji Clan, special training in enduring hunger and staying up late was trivial.

Their characteristics were iron heads and hard mouths; even if beaten into cripples by instructors during training, they would hold their heads high and take it.

But one point was worthy of affirmation.

Once they gained the recognition of a Longji Clan trainee, that person became a brother for life.

If a trainee in the team was bullied outside, the Longji Clan trainees would without hesitation risk their lives to follow.

For example, when they had first entered the Phase Five Training Camp, he and the brothers of the Liver Emperor Group, during their rest time at night after training ended, went out for a stroll; out of curiosity, they entered a restricted room and accidentally knocked over a bottle of highly corrosive "Energy-Devouring Liquid," a potion meant for use during special training; the green liquid hissed on the ground, quickly corroding a deep pit, and a pungent smell instantly filled the air.

At that time, he and the brothers of the Liver Emperor Group had turned and run straight back to the rest area.

As a result, the instructor quickly tracked them down.

Facing the interrogation, "Long Gen," the leader of the Longji Clan, had clearly guessed the cause and decisively stepped forward, stating to the instructor:

"I did it!"

Afterwards, even though he was punished until covered in cuts and bruises, Long Gen did not make a sound.

Even when he led the members of the Liver Emperor Group to actively find the instructor and admit their mistake, when the instructor found Long Gen again to ask, Long Gen still stubbornly declared:

"It was me who did it; it has nothing to do with Ban Ban Zhuan and the others. I do not need other trainees to take the blame for me; whatever punishment remains, bring it upon me."

The Longji were exactly such fierce men; before gaining their recognition, they would beat you like a beast, but once recognized, you were a brother for whom they would sacrifice their lives.

"Stop wailing; it's so noisy; try to turn the pain into enjoyment," Long Gen roared once more.

"Damn it, tell me how one is supposed to enjoy this thing; if there were even a shred of enjoyment to be had, I would magnify that shred infinitely right now," Leopard Head Zero Recharge could not help but glare.

Long Gen raised his voice to drown out the wailing rising and falling around him, answering:

"I have a method; listen to me, focus your attention on the sensation of muscles tearing, and imagine you are tearing the throat of a Soul Beast."

"To hell with your Soul Beast; how can that thing be related? My train of thought simply cannot connect to the enjoyment you're talking about," Leopard Head Zero Recharge's forehead veins throbbed; he had intended to try Long Gen's method, but upon hearing that final sentence, he could not help but fly into a rage.

"Then try another: imagine you are soaking in a hot spring; this burning pain is natural nourishment."

"What the hell hot spring? Who soaks in a hot spring feeling as if ten thousand fire ants are gnawing their eggs? Your imaginations are utterly useless," Leopard Head Zero Recharge's voice had already cracked.

"That is why I say you players are all pig-brained; you don't even know how to imagine, useless trash," Long Gen said with a look of disdain, then turned his head to look at Gui Tong, who was painfully enduring:

"Tong Zi, you should understand what I mean."

"I understand your grandfather; I'm in so much pain I don't even want to speak; leave me alone," Gui Tong struggled to open his mouth, gritting his teeth.

"Then you are useless too."

Gui Tong: ...

"Hahaha," hearing Long Gen's words, all the trainees burst into laughter.

Amidst the purgatorial tempering of pain, the Nitchao trainees found joy in their bitterness.

But as the chatter continued, the evil wind suddenly grew fierce, instantly turning the sounds back into wails rising and falling.

Only Long Gen kept roaring, hoping everyone could persist without crying out, for this was precisely the perfect opportunity to temper their willpower.

But no one paid Long Gen any heed; even Gui Tong emitted a painful wail during this sudden, fierce assault of evil qi.

At this moment, Li Zheng felt he too had reached his limit.

This pain was not extreme, yet it was unceasing.

The player safety mechanism is set such that after breaking through the limit, subsequent pain is blocked, entering a painless feedback state.

For example, if the pain value this time is 100, the player only needs to endure 10, while the safety threshold sits at 1,000 points.

When a player suddenly endures 11,000 points of pain, the safety threshold is breached, and pain exemption begins.

The prerequisite is that pain must breach the threshold.

The process of Tempering the Body with Evil Wind involves high-frequency pain; the extreme damage per instance isn't high, but one must endure hundreds or even thousands of instances of damage per second.

Having persisted for only half a day, he was already finding it hard to hold on.

Just then, the voice of Family Share rang out in the team chat channel:

"Brothers, I have a suggestion that might help us get through this difficult patch."

Hearing these words, the players of the Liver Emperor Group all turned their gaze toward their benefactor, Family Share.

"Spit it out, I can't hold on much longer," Eat Dirt wailed in the chat channel.

"Have you all forgotten? There's a skill in the Soul Soul repository that can reduce pain."

"The Pain Soul Soul... no, wait, that Soul Soul is completely unusable."

Upon hearing that a Soul Soul trait could reduce pain, Li Zheng's players first thought of the "Pain Brand," which could conduct one's own pain to other targets.

But upon further reflection, this was simply unworkable.

Leaving aside the fact that the Pain Soul Soul couldn't be obtained through purchase.

Even if it could be purchased, the Pain Soul Soul wouldn't be effective right now; after all, the essence of the Pain Soul Soul is to bear the pain oneself and then project it onto a target, but the pain one receives does not decrease.

"Brother Li, why are you so dense? I'm talking about the Life Link Soul Soul, conducting the damage, not conducting the pain."

Family Share's reply made the players of the Liver Emperor Group's eyes light up.

They immediately understood what their benefactor, Family Share, intended to do.

The effect of the Life Link trait is that, when activated, it continuously consumes vitality; the more damage endured during this period, the more vitality is consumed to maintain the active state. After release, it can connect to any target to conduct damage, but the damage itself does not disappear.

In other words, Family Share intended to conduct the damage to other trainees, thereby reducing his own pain.

"Holy crap, you're truly a beast, actually thinking to use this Soul Soul."

"Heh~tui, I refuse to be associated with you; have you even considered the feelings of our non-human brothers by doing this?"

"Unfilial son, I never expected you to be this kind of person; I suppose I misjudged you."

"The behavior of a beast among beasts; the brothers are nearly fainting from pain, and you want to conduct more pain to them? Do you want them dead or alive?"

Listening to the angry rebukes in the chat channel, Family Share wore an expression of pure innocence:

"Big brothers, I'm just giving a suggestion; how exactly to proceed is still a decision you all must make yourselves."

"I certainly won't do it."

Li Zheng declared righteously, yet his gaze subconsciously drifted to Long Gen and his brothers nearby, who were gritting their teeth and enduring.

Feeling the pain both inside and outside his body, even on a mental level, he ultimately summoned the Star Vein interface from his function list.

"I, Li Zheng, stand tall between heaven and earth... brothers are like limbs... friendship is priceless... Long Gen is so resilient, he surely won't mind this tiny bit of pain."

After these fluctuating thoughts, Li Zheng found the answer in his heart.

His vision locked onto Life Link in the Soul Soul shop.

Click, purchase!

Subsequently, he decomposed the "Heavy Hammer" Soul Soul in the 12th slot of his Star Vein slot, then embedded the Life Link Soul Soul, adding all the evolution points gained from the decomposition to it.

Instantly, the Life Link Soul Soul reached level 46.

Stealing a glance at Brother Long Gen, he activated the Life Link trait, injected energy into the cliff Iron Face behind him, and slowly approached Long Gen.

When the Life Link tether connected to Long Gen's back, Li Zheng fell into deep thought.

How much should I share?

10%? 15%?

My brother Long Gen has a robust physique; giving him 15% would be an insult to him. If I'm going to give, it must start at 80%.

In an instant, the Life Link trait activated.

Damage began to conduct, with Li Zheng as the source.

Li Zheng suddenly felt his body lighten, as if a burden of a thousand catties had been lifted, feeling utterly comfortable, as if soaking in a hot spring.

On the other side, Long Gen, who was gritting his teeth and persevering, suddenly trembled violently, his eyes widening:

"Brothers, hold on! The Evil Wind is intensifying!"

As soon as he spoke, blue veins bulged on Long Gen's forehead; excruciating pain, like ten thousand steel needles stabbing backwards, surged through his spine. His body arched slightly out of control, and while sweat seeped from his forehead, he gritted his teeth and said:

"Hiss~ The intensity of this Evil Wind is so high... yet the wind direction doesn't seem to have changed much."

Hearing Long Ji's reminder, the other trainees all tensed their bodies, preparing to endure a fierce impact from the Evil Wind.

The Evil Wind in this canyon below fluctuated in strength; every sudden intensification was truly unbearable.

But the fierce impact they imagined did not appear, leaving them utterly confused; they all turned their heads to look at Long Ji, whose forehead was constantly beading with sweat.

They saw that Long Ji's Iron Face was flushed red; compared to his previous state, he was clearly enduring far more intense pain.

The other trainees did not understand what had happened to Long Ji, but the members of the Liver Emperor Group, being players themselves, guessed the truth the moment they saw this scene.

Among them, a beast had made a move in the shadows.

They had just been discussing this matter, yet unexpectedly, someone couldn't resist acting so soon.

In fact, most players of the Liver Emperor Group had already purchased the Life Link Soul Soul by this time.

They just hadn't expected a brother to act so quickly.

At this moment, Eat Dirt activated the perception trait of the Eagle Head Demon; instantly, the surrounding environment, even the scenes within the cliff Iron Face behind them, became clearly visible.

He saw a crimson energy tether extending from Li Zheng's back, connecting to Long Ji's back.

After investigating the cause clearly, Eat Dirt immediately widened his eyes, speaking in the team voice channel with feigned indignation:

"Brother Li, you were scolding so vigorously just now, how could you go behind everyone's back and do it? I despise you."

"I just felt that Long Gen thought the training intensity wasn't enough, so I added some intensity for him; I wanted to see where his limit lies." Li Zheng's expression remained calm, without a trace of guilt.

"Beast (x9)."

But upon seeing Li Zheng transfer the pain, the other players of the Liver Emperor Group also formed their own ideas.

Since the boss had done it, they naturally felt no qualms of conscience.

Their hesitation turned into resolve; they one by one chose to decompose a Soul Soul in their Star Vein slots, then embedded "Life Link."

Their primary choice for connection targets was Long Gen and his clansmen.

"Actually, I also wanted to see just how strong the Long Ji clan's pain tolerance really is," Eat Dirt remarked at this moment, and as he spoke, the Life Link trait was already released.

"Same here, but I also embedded a Scattered Arrow Soul Soul; we are all brothers in the same group, we can't let the Long Ji clan brothers bear it alone," Sha Xin chimed in.

"Makes sense; team spirit, share the blessings and share the hardships. I'll also embed a Scattered Arrow to distribute the pain."

After discussion, the players of the Liver Emperor Group decided to distribute the damage, using the Scattered Arrow Soul Soul to have the other trainees in the team share the burden together.

After the embedding was complete, strands of Life Link tethers overflowed from the backs of the Liver Emperor Group, who were pressed against the cliff Iron Face, forming an invisible net that spread toward the other trainees.

Accompanied by Eat Dirt's countdown call in the voice channel reaching zero.

The Life Link network simultaneously connected to all non-player trainees present.

"Yah-ho-ho!"

"Ga-hei-hei!"

Almost simultaneously, over a hundred trainees let out screams akin to pigs being slaughtered.

Roars and wails in different languages rose and fell one after another, shaking the cliff Iron Face until gravel continuously fell.

Li Zheng and the players of the Liver Emperor Group did not hesitate either; decisively following the rhythm of their good brothers, they emitted their own "joyful wails."

The night grew deeper.

Tonight's Evil Wind was exceptionally noisy.

(End of Chapter)