Chapter 365: Time for the Best Actor, The Big Fish Takes the Bait (Request for Monthly Tickets)

After more than two years of development.

The player forum has categorized the growth models of different playstyles into two types: the Righteous Path and the Demonic Cultivation.

The Righteous Path refers to mainstream growth gameplay.

War, hunting, arena combat, fishing, spirit cooking, dungeon runs... these are all mainstream playstyles and the growth choices of the vast majority of players.

Demonic Cultivation refers to growth models that run counter to mainstream gameplay.

The representative player is: Xiao Xiao Fashi.

His growth trajectory has been dubbed the "Evil Demon King" by players; he betrayed the player faction and established a brand-new power abroad.

He is also considered one of the strongest players in the eyes of many.

There are many other Demonic Cultivation playstyles.

Among them, the one leaning closest to the mainstream is the Pet Flow, initially known as the Control Flow.

This involves capturing external pets to obtain a creature that cannot be buffed by Soul Spirit traits, but can only be granted active buff-type trait effects.

This is fundamentally different from the Summoning Flow.

If it is a Soul Spirit summon, it can fuse with all of the player's abilities.

For example, trait effects like Ink Flame and Running Thunder mastered by the player can be directly bestowed upon the summoned beast.

However, external pets can only receive enhancements from actively applied buff-type traits such as Blood Ignition and Wind Breaker.

Running counter to mainstream gameplay is the hallmark of Demonic Cultivation.

The emergence of the Summoning Flow introduced the concept of a struggle between righteousness and evil within the forum's playstyles.

Some players preparing to pursue the Summoning Flow even declared: "In the past, the Demonic Path ran rampant; today, the Righteous Path shall rise."

These words were undoubtedly conveying a message to the players of the Pet Flow.

Times have changed; the orthodox Summoning Flow is about to suppress the Demonic Pet Flow, and the seventh orthodox profession of the faction is about to debut.

Players of the Pet Flow thus felt a sense of crisis and began discussing how to break the deadlock.

If one were to truly discuss growth potential.

The Pet Flow is clearly far inferior to the Summoning Flow.

The Summoning Flow can fuse all Soul Spirit traits and can even bestow fortune-type Soul Spirit bonuses upon pets.

Players only need to improve their own strength, and the power of their summons will increase significantly alongside them.

Unlike the Pet Flow, which requires frequent replacement of pets.

But in the eyes of Pet Flow players, their own advantages are equally unmatched by Summoning Flow players.

They can possess controlled pets that surpass their own personal strength.

The Book Speech Warrior from back then was one of the representative pets.

At its peak, a single Book Speech Warrior could easily crush a group of top-tier players.

But times change.

Just as it was between the Monster Flow and the Star Vein Flow in the past.

The glory of the Monster Flow began to wane after the Star Vein Flow system was gradually perfected.

It was only when the Monster Flow system received an epic-level enhancement that it barely managed to keep pace with the Star Vein Flow growth model.

The Pet Flow now faces a similar predicament.

When the strength of the Book Speech Warrior could no longer keep up with the players' growth progress, for the Pet Flow to rise again, it needed new channels to capture powerful pets.

During this period, a player proposed the idea of capturing members of the Artifact Race, sparking heated discussion among the Pet Flow community.

The combat power of this race generally sits at 120+ or even higher.

The leader of the Artifact Race, "Evil Sword," boasts a hunting level of 325; if the channel to capture the Artifact Race could be opened, it would supply combat power for a long time to come.

Within the "Pets" section of the forum, a player immediately proposed an idea.

They wanted to pool funds to construct a teleportation array and march toward the Artifact Race's territory.

To better capture pets, Pet Flow players spontaneously gathered information on the Artifact Race and exchanged ideas to formulate specific capture plans.

During this time, background data previously supplemented by lore-focused players was unearthed.

It contained much relevant knowledge about the Artifact Race.

The Artifact Race first appeared in the livestream of an exploration-focused player; they are a parasitic lifeform similar to artifact spirits, requiring a symbiotic host to grow by feeding on the negative emotions provided by said host.

Therefore, the more painful the host, the greater the power gained by the members of the Artifact Race.

This destined the artifacts to guide their hosts step by step toward destruction.

Slaughter of kin, betrayal of close friends, collapse of faith... the Artifact Race would constantly beguile the host in the guise of elders or protectors; every living being parasitized by an artifact would eventually die in despair.

Once the artifact had drained the host's value, it would seek a new host to continue the parasitic cycle.

The exploration-focused player who encountered a member of the Artifact Race at the time felt unable to grasp this opportunity and chose to sell it to the famous forum player "Brother Ming Hou."

This subsequently unveiled the background data of the Artifact Race.

Unlike other racial factions where an encounter means battle.

Although members of the Artifact Race possess strong combat power, they have many exploitable weaknesses.

If the Artifact Race are leeches parasitizing other living beings, then Brother Ming Hou back then had reversely parasitized Ba Jian, drawing power from its pain until finally killing it to claim the hunting reward.

Based on the content of early videos that were dug up, Pet Flow players identified the characteristics of the Artifact Race's parasitic targets.

They always precisely lock onto living beings whom fate has pressed into the mire.

Whether bullied by other members of their clan, facing a survival crisis, or misunderstood by their kin... the more one teeters on the edge of survival, the more likely they are to attract members of the Artifact Race following the scent of pain.

These souls, repeatedly kneaded by pain, are like fruits rotting in a gutter, representing the perfect parasitic vessels in their eyes.

The Artifact Race also appears under the guise of a savior, leading the parasitized beings into an abyss of despair woven by themselves.

However, during the initial contact, the Artifact Race will also give the parasitized individual hope.

Because the Artifact Race knows that only by seeing hope will the feeling of falling back into the abyss be even more painful.

The negative emotions bred during this period constitute a feast for the members of the Artifact Race.

Pet Flow players felt this might be a weakness that could be exploited.

As long as one could emanate the scent of pain desired by the Artifact Race, they could gain the favor of its members.

According to the guidance of lore-focused players, a player's acting skills alone were insufficient to attract the Artifact Race.

The "Ba Jian" killed by Brother Ming Hou back then was already at the end of its rope, and its perception of emotional auras had become dull.

Plus, having been severely injured by the Gatekeeper Elder, it needed to choose a host nearby to quickly recover its strength.

Only then did Brother Ming Hou succeed.

To successfully capture a member of the Artifact Race, one must learn to simulate the aura of negative emotions, making oneself a delicacy in the eyes of the Artifact Race.

This problem immediately stumped the players of the Pet Flow.

Simulating emotions is not that easy.

They did know of an ability called "Momentum" that could transform emotions into releasing pressure, causing dual damage on both the mental and physical levels.

But players still hadn't figured out exactly how to use Momentum.

Wanting to simulate painful emotions, they could find no clue whatsoever.

Just as the discussion among players on how to capture members of the Artifact Race hit a dead end, a player proposed an idea.

They felt it might be possible to achieve this through the Earth Chant Bully.

The Earth Chant Bully had created an evil spirit army independent of the Black Black Tide: the Black Tide of Pain.

Every unit within it releases abilities that deal emotional damage.

Making players feel despair, anger, regret, and a series of other negative emotions.

So, could they find an opportunity on the battlefield to let the Earth Chant Bully strike them with a Pain Brand, then decisively retreat with the Pain Mark, travel via teleportation array to loiter near the Artifact Race's territory, and complete the lure-and-capture in the style of playing the pig to eat the tiger?

This proposal immediately gained approval from many players.

But whether it was truly feasible remained to be tested.

Before that, a teleportation array had to be constructed first.

To test the feasibility of the plan, Pet Flow players spontaneously raised funds, with the player who proposed the idea taking the lead to contact the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce.

The entire negotiation process and the payment of rewards were made public via livestream.

The Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce did not reject this request and immediately dispatched a professional spatial construction team to the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region.

They headed toward the relatively safer direction of the Artifact Spirit Valley to begin the construction of the teleportation array.

Two days later.

The teleportation array was completed, and the plan officially launched.

"No problem, we are all brothers of the same faction; come over now, we are about to start the battle."

"Thank you."

Closing the dialogue box, Yang Xiu clenched his fist in excitement.

Facing the Earth Chant Bully alone, he clearly could not do it.

To have the Black Tide of Pain stack a layer of negative buffs on him, he needed the assistance of the United Warband led by the God King.

This was also the reason he sought help from "God's Left Leg," one of the administrators of the United Warband.

Fortunately, upon learning of his idea, God's Left Leg agreed without hesitation.

After replenishing his potions, he summoned his pet space to take a look.

His pet space was divided into eight slots; constructing it alone had cost 830,000 sacrificial power to purchase spatial-type materials.

Aside from his homegrown growth-type pet, the other seven were external pets captured using the Control Soul Spirit trait.

Each is suited for battlefields in different environments.

For instance, the pet "Great Wave Breaker," designed for underwater combat, is a monster nearly three meters long resembling a shark; its dorsal fin glows with eerie blue lightning, capable of whipping up rotating water columns tens of meters high, while its tail fin slaps the surface to unleash shockwaves of electric current, making it exceptionally powerful in underwater warfare.

Then there are the Thorn Demons, possessing extraordinary combat prowess in jungle environments.

And the Shadow Leopards, shrouded in flowing black mist, able to slip into shadows to launch surprise attacks.

There are also the Poison-Sac Frogs, specialists in fighting within swampy terrain....

But his absolute favorite remains the incredibly rare Shadow-Devouring Butterfly.

Its wings span only the size of a palm, yet they can flap to create ripples that tear through space; it devours physical attacks to convert them into its own energy, excelling in both offense and defense.

Unfortunately, the Shadow-Devouring Butterfly's hunting level caps at merely 78.

At the current stage, it is nearing obsolescence.

However, he greatly admires the Shadow-Devouring Butterfly's various abilities and has considered purchasing a Soul Beast to transfer those abilities to it.

This would be equivalent to possessing a Shadow-Devouring Butterfly with infinite growth potential.

The problem is that Soul Beasts do not circulate on the market at all; there is no channel whatsoever to purchase one.

He posted several buy requests on the forum, offering prices three times higher than the market rate, yet still no player was willing to sell.

This left him extremely frustrated.

He had no intention of killing and disposing of the Shadow-Devouring Butterfly either, believing he would eventually have the opportunity to obtain a Soul Beast in the future.

Analyzer glanced at the statistical data of the eight pets.

Yang Tianxuan dragged different foods from the inventory panel on the side of the interface, tossing them into separate spaces to feed them, then summoned his vehicle: the Blaze Motorcycle.

This was a vehicle he had personally designed and crafted.

It drew inspiration from the old Earth movie "Ghost Rider" from ancient times.

The body lines were sharp as an unsheathed battle blade, while the front embedded a skull engulfed in raging flames; at first glance, it resembled a ferocious beast poised to strike.

Orange-red tongues of fire spat from the exhaust pipes extending on both sides of the seat, heating the surrounding air until it scorched.

Yang Tianxuan straddled the seat, gripped the handlebars, and twisted; instantly, the entire motorcycle was enveloped in surging flames.

The engine emitted a deafening roar, like an ancient fire dragon awakening, as the flame ring beneath the chassis exploded outward, transforming into a trail of fire several meters long dragging behind him.

After leaving Emperor Tomb Village, Yang Tianxuan activated the vehicle's high-efficiency Cultivation Mode.

The flame chariot crushed over the ground, leaving a trail of scorched marks sparking with embers as it sped toward the Emperor Tomb Village battlefield.

At maximum power, the flame chariot entered flight Cultivation Mode.

The trailing flame tail carved a dazzling arc through the sky; wherever it passed, even the wind carried a scorching heat. From a distance, it looked like a lightning bolt wrapped in raging flames, possessing immense visual impact.

Before long, Yang Tianxuan arrived at what players regarded as a hall-level battlefield.

This time, it was another three-way contest of forces locked in a chaotic melee.

To the north stood the invincible wall constructed by Calamity-type troops, while to the northwest spread the fungal carpet and the tyrannical Zerg army.

Before the melee began, waves of posturing surged like tides.

The Zerg's shrill screeches and the clicking of carapaces rubbing together merged into one, sounding like millions of blades scraping against each other.

The Black Black Tide's whispers resembled echoes from the abyss—low, viscous, carrying a rhythm that twisted the mind.

Meanwhile, the players' roars were wild and unrestrained, their battle intent boiling as if ready to overturn the entire battlefield.

All three factions were old acquaintances; fighting had long become a daily routine.

The posturing process was more like saying hello, similar to asking: "Have you eaten today?"

Yang Tianxuan also merged into the United Warband at this moment.

When players from a top-tier warband stood nearby, the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

As their gazes swept over the Zerg and Black Black Tide positions, it was as if they were counting prey; Yang Tianxuan felt a battle intent nearly tangible swirling around them.

"So strong!"

Merely sensing the fluctuation of their aura, Yang Tianxuan couldn't help but exclaim in his heart.

These players beside him were every single one ruthless figures who had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

They were war butchers who treated the battlefield as their daily life.

When combat power of this caliber gathered together and simply stood before the formation, it constituted a deterrent in itself.

One could say that the United Warband was a top-tier war legion cultivated single-handedly by the Overlord of the Earth.

His contact was the commander of the United Warband's Damage-Taking Group 3, who was also one of the administrators of the United Divine Hall Society.

He was a giant of a man standing two meters tall, shouldering a massive axe wrapped in blood-colored thunder; merely by standing, the ground beneath his feet constantly cracked within the vortex of his Crimson Gang Qi.

"Brother Left Leg."

Although it was their first meeting, Yang Tianxuan politely addressed him as "brother."

"When the battle starts, follow me to the Overlord's front line; once you've applied the Pain Brand, I'll send you away," God's Left Leg said with a grin, slapping his left hand onto Yang Tianxuan's shoulder and speaking with familiar ease.

"Thank you."

"No need for thanks; we players are all brothers of the same faction, so mutual aid is only proper. Besides, you are working hard for the development of the player faction, and many brothers in our group who follow the Control Flow have asked me to look after you."