Chapter Summaries

Zhong Yi streamed as the famed knife-running guide and agreed to join Zhou Yue for an aggressive match in Top Secret Ascension Base. As Zhou Yue prepared an extravagant loadout after thirteen failed extractions, Zhou Qiaoling kept tweaking her Gun to stay under the gear limit.

• Zhong Yi reflected on his popularity as the creator of knife-running guides and the specialist behind the popular Poop Gun series.
• During his livestream, Zhong Yi offered to play aggressively, and viewers suggested several friends for him to invite.
• Zhou Yue invited Zhong Yi to his team and explained that Junior Brother Xiao had gone broke after thirteen matches without extracting.
• Zhong Yi suggested switching to Confidential, but Zhou Yue refused and equipped nearly two million in gear for another Top Secret match.
• Zhong Yi geared up while Zhou Yue urged Zhou Qiaoling to hurry; she continued optimizing her Gun because her loadout exceeded the limit by 36 Spirit Stones.

Zhou Yue, Zhong Yi, and Zhou Qiaoling entered the Classified Ascension Base hoping to reach the Core Zone, but a squad with a [Reaper] killed Zhou Yue and drove them out in under three minutes. After Zhou Yue returned with a meager kit, Zhou Qiaoling upgraded her gear and promised to protect the team.

• Zhou Yue chose Luna, Zhong Yi picked Wyvern, and Zhou Qiaoling locked in Hive Medic before the trio entered the Classified Ascension Base.
• Zhou Yue spent heavily on medicine and rushed toward the Core Zone, but an enemy using a [Reaper] killed him with one shot.
• Zhou Qiaoling returned to help, while Zhong Yi tried to fight the enemy squad but missed with his shots and crashed into a wall with his jet-assisted swing.
• Zhong Yi, Zhou Yue, and Zhou Qiaoling returned to the Special Operations Office less than three minutes into the match.
• Zhou Yue switched to a tier-three kit, and Zhou Qiaoling upgraded to Level Six Gear and promised to protect the two men.

Zhou Qiaoling’s apparent full-loadout show of support pushed Zhou Yue and Zhong Yi to gear up for a dangerous match, where Zhou Yue wiped out an attacking team. Afterward, Zhou Yue discovered that Zhou Qiaoling had secretly replaced her expensive gear with nearly broken armor and a cheap rifle, leaving him furious at her deception.

• Zhou Qiaoling wore Level Six Gear and urged Zhou Yue to face his losing streak bravely, prompting him and Zhong Yi to prepare expensive equipment too.
• Zhou Yue bought a costly Havoc Dragon Scale Armor, then asked Zhong Yi to provide his guns and red ammunition when he ran short of spirit stones.
• The three spawned at the dormitories and set up defenses, catching a team attacking from the West District Gate.
• Zhou Yue killed one Level Six opponent with the Reaper, then wiped the enemy team while Zhong Yi was knocked down and Zhou Qiaoling looted nearby.
• Zhou Yue opened the enemy loot box and found Zhou Qiaoling’s teammate-marked, nearly broken Level Six armor and cheap Young Bee loaded with green ammo, then confronted her about pretending to protect him with a full loadout.

After Azure Peak Sect disciples stream-sniped Zhong Yi, Zhou Yue, and Zhou Qiaoling in two matches and publicly mocked them, the Spirit Cloud Sect trio decided to retaliate inside the Illusion Realm. Zhong Yi chose the Specialist character Ululu and hinted that he would use a dirty tactic.

• Zhou Yue and Zhong Yi realized that Azure Peak Sect squads had ambushed them twice, and Zhou Yue found the same player, [Desire to Destroy Spirit Cloud], had killed him in both matches.
• Zhong Yi checked the livestreams and forum posts, confirming that Azure Peak Sect disciples were targeting the Spirit Cloud Sect squad and selling his dog tag.
• Zhou Yue wanted to confront the offending disciple, but Zhong Yi insisted they settle the feud in the Illusion Realm, and Zhou Yue refused to leave either himself or Zhou Qiaoling out.
• Zhou Qiaoling warned that the Azure Peak Sect could have multiple squads using information from Zhong Yi's livestream to coordinate ambushes.
• Zhong Yi rejected turning off his stream, switched to the Specialist character [Ululu], and declared that he would play dirty in response.

Lu Ze watched Zhong Yi prepare a bridge-camping strategy against Azure Peak Sect players who had deliberately matched together to target his team. He removed Witch Mulan from the match to give Zhong Yi a fair chance, while Han Xian’s squad advanced through the Ascension Base toward the bridge.

• Lu Ze discovered that Azure Peak Sect players had exploited matchmaking to target Zhong Yi’s trio and added anti-targeting rules, but held off activating them when Zhong Yi revealed his plan.
• Zhong Yi switched to a semi-automatic sniper rifle and persuaded Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling to follow his bridge-camping strategy, despite their fears that Witch Mulan would spawn at the Ascension Platform.
• Lu Ze checked the match seed, found Witch Mulan set to spawn on the bridge, and erased her from the match; he realized that she had been controlled by an avatar of the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao.
• Han Xian learned that his Azure Peak Sect groups had matched against Zhong Yi’s team and ordered Junior Brother Guo to help clear the Prison Zone before they went after the Spirit Cloud Sect players.
• Han Xian’s squads eliminated a team in Prison Two, then learned that Zhong Yi’s trio had gone to the bridge and declared they would leave no cultivator alive; Han Xian vowed to kill them.

Zhong Yi devised the Uluru Position to turn the bridge into a near-unassailable firing ground, and Zhou Yue used it to eliminate attackers. When Han Xian rushed to investigate the tactic, he was immediately shot down from the hidden position.

• Zhong Yi showed Zhou Yue how to use Urururu's Artifact to create a half-sized Vajra Barrier that overlooked Ascension Base while providing cover.
• Zhou Yue recognized the bridge's three defensive positions and joined Zhong Yi in setting up a crossfire that killed three geared players from Centrifugal Hall.
• Zhou Yue vowed to kill the Azure Peak Sect players, while Zhou Qiaoling asked to loot the fallen players' bags and got permission.
• Han Xian learned that the bridge defenders had killed a squad and hurried toward the outer area to challenge the Uluru Position.
• Han Xian poked his head out of the Rat Passage and was shot down by Bu Po Bu Li.

Zhong Yi, Zhou Yue, and Zhou Qiaoling used Urururu and the Heaven-Suppressing · Twenty-Five to ambush Han Xian’s team at the bridge, while Lu Ze watched their bridge-camping tactics develop. Han Xian’s group struggled to find and counter the Urururu spot, and their allies ran into fierce fire at the bridge entrance.

• Zhong Yi used Urururu’s Patrolling Flame to finish off Han Xian after Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling had attacked him.
• Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling praised Zhong Yi as the father of bridge camping, and Lu Ze privately considered how far the tactic could go.
• Han Xian and his teammates repeatedly exposed themselves while searching for the Urururu spot, and Zhou Yue knocked them down with precise shots.
• Han Xian’s team found the spot with Luna’s detection arrow, but Zhou Yue killed Azure Peak Fierce Assault True Lord after he tried to challenge him.
• Zhou Yue, Zhou Qiaoling, and Zhong Yi drove Han Xian’s group into the rat tunnel, while nearby allies reported being attacked at the bridge entrance.

Zhong Yi’s squad outmaneuvered the Azure Peak Sect teams by triggering and canceling the Ascension mission at the last moment, leaving their opponents trapped between extracting and fighting. As the Azure Peak players prepared to risk a final stand, Realm Master Lu Ze suggested a way to force their hand.

• Zhou Yue and Zhong Yi concluded that only the two Azure Peak Sect squads in the Black Hall and Rat Passage remained, while Zhou Qiaoling’s defense helped keep their position secure.
• Zhou Yue’s squad held off repeated attacks until the final fifteen minutes, when Zhong Yi accepted and then canceled the Ascension mission so its extraction point would open at the deadline.
• Han Xian realized his squads were trapped unless they pulled the Lever, and he coordinated with the other squad to wait until the final moments and attack when Zhong Yi’s team moved to extract.
• Zhou Yue asked what they would do if the Azure Peak Sect players pulled the Lever but stayed to fight, and Zhong Yi struggled to find a countermeasure.
• Realm Master Lu Ze sent Zhong Yi a message suggesting that they pull the Azure Peak Sect’s Lever for them.

Lu Ze helped Zhong Yi execute a bridge-blocking plan by having Zhou Qiaoling pull the final Lever, forcing the Azure Peak Sect to attack before they could destroy their gear. Zhong Yi’s team reached the ascension platform, and Zhou Yue prevented Han Xian from escaping with the enemy’s loot.

• Lu Ze explained the timing of the final Lever, and Zhong Yi sent Zhou Qiaoling to pull it while promising her weapon skins.
• Han Xian’s team learned the Lever had been activated and rushed to intercept Zhou Qiaoling as she escaped Blue Hall.
• After taking a sniper hit, Zhou Qiaoling spotted a Top-Secret Sigil Wheel, turned back, and knocked down Qing Feng in Black Hall.
• Zhou Yue held off the Azure Peak Sect’s four-route push until Zhong Yi’s team reached the ascension platform.
• Han Xian tried to extract by dropping his team’s Backpack, but Zhou Yue shot him and entered the Backpack-drop Extraction Point.

Lu Ze welcomed a reward that would steadily increase his demonic value as players died in the Demon Path Secret Realm, then explained to Zhong Yi why rival squads could not communicate in “Immortal Abyss Continent Operation.” Zhong Yi proposed organizing cooperative rat players, and Lu Ze helped him devise signals before Zhong Yi rallied the community.

• Lu Ze received a permanent ten-point demonic-value reward for righteous cultivators who died in the Demon Path Secret Realm and looked forward to relying on the game for future gains.
• Lu Ze recalled how Zhong Yi’s bridge-blocking tactic and the promoted sect battle had attracted new players and inspired bridge-camping squads at the Ascension Base.
• Zhong Yi asked Lu Ze why rival squads could communicate in “Naraka: Bladepoint” but not “Immortal Abyss Continent Operation,” and Lu Ze explained that the latter allowed multiple squads to extract together.
• Zhong Yi proposed signals to help cooperative rat players, and his impassioned wish power made a small rule adjustment that doubled matchmaking weight for dishonest players entering black-room lobbies.
• Lu Ze suggested a signal of two slow shots followed by three quick ones, and Zhong Yi went to rally players on the Forum.
• Lu Ze objected when Zhong Yi tried to credit him by name for a bridge-blocking tip, and Zhong Yi agreed to change the attribution to anonymous.

Mu Yawen invited Zhou Yue to ordinary Dam, where he discovered players casually shared loot and went about their own business. After Mu Yawen helped him earn enough Spirit Stones for top-secret runs, Zhou Yue lured her to the Top-secret Ascension Base; three days later, Zhong Yi returned to find Mu Yawen broke and heard Zhou Yue had taken her there.

• Mu Yawen accepted Zhou Yue’s team invitation after learning Zhong Yi was away on a Secret Realm mission.
• Zhou Yue joined Mu Yawen for an ordinary Dam run and was bewildered by players exchanging signals and loot instead of fighting.
• At extraction, Mu Yawen gave Zhou Yue supplies, helping him earn seven hundred thousand Spirit Stones and afford entry to top-secret runs.
• Zhou Yue promised Mu Yawen she could get rich at the Top-secret Ascension Base, and she put on her Crimson Flame War God Armor to go with him.
• Three days later, Zhong Yi returned from his Secret Realm mission and found Mu Yawen without gear; he realized Zhou Yue had lured her to the Top-secret Ascension Base.

Zhong Yi learned that players were praising him as a second parent for teaching them bridge-camping, even as they cursed bridge campers across the Forum. Meanwhile, Lu Ze worried that the Demon Path might truly be regaining strength, then ran into Zhang Ming outside the Spirit Jade Pavilion.

• Zhong Yi scolded Zhou Yue and Mu Yawen for losing their fortunes through aggressive runs in top-secret Ascension.
• Zhou Yue blamed Zhong Yi’s bridge-camping tactic for making extraction difficult, and Mu Yawen urged Zhong Yi to check his Forum messages.
• Zhong Yi found grateful players calling him their parent, then discovered other threads cursing bridge-camping players and urging everyone to rush them together.
• Lu Ze noted that Immortal Abyss Continent Operation was growing popular and that its tactics were influencing cultivation and exposing Demon Path infiltrators.
• Lu Ze suspected the Demon Path might be recovering its strength but resolved to keep its schemes confined to the Illusion Realm.
• Lu Ze left the Spirit Jade Pavilion to buy food and recognized the excited inner disciple who called to him as Zhang Ming.

Lu Ze introduced a restricted account-possession feature for knife runs in "Immortal Abyss Continent Operation," opening a new way for cultivators to earn spirit stones. The feature delighted ordinary players, and Zhong Yi predicted that Lu Ze might become a saint.

• Zhang Ming explained to Lu Ze how his success in illusion realms had made him a paid path guardian, and Lu Ze gave him a breakthrough pill.
• Lu Ze decided that path guardians benefited the illusion realm market and considered ways to support knife runs without letting borrowers exploit other players.
• Lu Ze released a comrade mission proxy feature that let players possess another account for solo missions, with limits on kills and a 10% processing fee.
• Players flooded the Forum with excited reactions and offers to perform knife runs for spirit stones.
• Zhou Qiaoling offered to run missions for Zhou Yue, but he realized her proposed deal was a trick and refused.
• Zhong Yi praised the feature's value to ordinary cultivators and declared that Lu Ze might become a saint.

Rogue Cultivators flocked to the new knife-running business as the Sky Profound Gate Sect Master foresaw an age of great cultivation. Lu Ze then received a mission to stop a Righteous cultivator from attaining sainthood, and the target area was the Spirit Cloud Sect.

• Rogue Cultivators celebrated knife running as a way to earn Spirit Stones, and the profession spread through the Illusion Realm.
• The Sky Profound Gate Sect Master told Grand Elder Chi Shengtian that the age of great cultivation was coming.
• The Five Great Sects questioned the prediction, but trusted the Sky Profound Gate Sect Master's divination.
• Lu Ze enjoyed the growing knife-running business and the praise he received on the Forum.
• The system ordered Lu Ze to plunder Righteous Path fortune and prevent a Righteous cultivator from attaining sainthood.
• Lu Ze checked the mission location and discovered that the target area was the Spirit Cloud Sect.

A sage manifestation appeared over the Spirit Cloud Sect, drawing cultivators and attention from across the region as the sect tried to identify who had earned the Heavenly Dao’s recognition. The auspicious clouds drifted toward Glazed Fire Peak, where a white-robed youth emerged from Spirit Jade Pavilion.

• Lu Ze decided not to pursue the quest reward because he suspected the honored person might be an acquaintance, then noticed the world outside had suddenly brightened.
• Chao Wendao, the Sky Profound Gate’s white-haired elder, Zhang Yuxian, Master Qing, Qin Ming, and Zhong Yi reacted to the manifestation and suspected a Saint was emerging at the Spirit Cloud Sect.
• Cultivators from across the region gathered at the sect as Huang Xiao and the Elders tried to identify which disciple had earned the Heavenly Dao’s recognition.
• Fourteen True Disciples assembled in Spirit Cloud Great Hall, and Zhou Yue and Mu Yawen discussed whether Zhong Yi or Lu Ze might be the one becoming a Saint.
• The auspicious clouds moved away from Spirit Cloud Hall and gathered above Glazed Fire Peak, where a white-robed youth calmly walked out of Spirit Jade Pavilion.

Lu Ze was shocked when a Sage Manifestation appeared for him, and Zhong Yi explained that the Illusion Realm had created a way for disadvantaged cultivators to earn spirit stones. Lu Ze accepted that extending this path could eventually make him a true sage, while Li Moran decided to try Immortal Abyss Continent Operation.

• A Sage Manifestation named Lu Ze, leaving the cultivators and his master, Nangong Yuan, astonished.
• Lu Ze wondered why the Heavenly Dao had recognized him as a sage when he had only made games.
• Zhong Yi explained that the Illusion Realm let outer disciples, menial disciples, and rogue cultivators earn spirit stones by providing things other cultivators wanted.
• Zhong Yi told Lu Ze that extending this path through the Illusion Realm could eventually make him a sage, and Lu Ze realized he could do so through in-game farming.
• Li Moran watched Lu Ze and decided to try Immortal Abyss Continent Operation.

Lu Ze gained a Quasi-Saint’s fortune and an upgraded Myriad Souls Banner, then saw players mockingly dub him Lu Chusheng. Meanwhile, the Illusion Alliance planned to challenge his success by making their game outrank his in a week.

• The system rewarded Lu Ze with a Quasi-Saint’s fortune and upgraded his Myriad Souls Banner, strengthening its cybersouls and making intelligent NPCs easier to create.
• Lu Ze checked the Forum and saw players agree to call him Lu Chusheng, so he muted the first cultivator to use the name for three days.
• At the Illusion Alliance Base, the four elders worried that Lu Ze’s rise toward sainthood had made their work on Grave Robbing Mode pointless.
• Heart Demon urged the elders to compete for merit by creating demand in the illusion realm, just as Lu Ze had.
• Heart Demon ordered Eight Directions Venerables to rank above Immortal Abyss Continent Operation within one week.

Lu Ze and Zhong Yi examined Eight Directions Venerables’ new Grave Robbing Mode, and Lu Ze explained why its design could not match Immortal Abyss Continent Operation. The Illusion Alliance’s realm had drawn a huge first-day crowd, but its player numbers were already collapsing as the reward rankings approached.

• Zhong Yi warned Lu Ze that the Illusion Alliance had released a new map and mode to compete with Immortal Abyss Continent Operation, and Lu Ze agreed to inspect it.
• Lu Ze and Zhong Yi tried Grave Robbing Mode, and Zhong Yi praised its cultivation-technique combat, familiar mode, and polished maps as potential strengths.
• Lu Ze explained that Eight Directions Venerables copied Grave Robbing Mode’s surface features but missed its appeal, including varied player styles, exciting loot, and searching mechanics.
• Lu Ze admitted that the Illusion Alliance’s generous Spirit Stone rewards were impressive and called its members far too rich.
• Blood Crow and Rakshasa watched Eight Directions Venerables’ player numbers fall sharply after its first day, while only four days remained before the Illusion Realm reward rankings were announced.

Blood Crow and Rakshasa tried to boost Eight Directions Venerables by raising its rewards and red-item drop rate, while Lu Ze noticed their mistake and changed his own Illusion Realms. The rival Illusion Realm’s player count surged, leaving its creators convinced they had secured victory.

• Blood Crow and Rakshasa raised Spirit Stone rewards and required cultivators to stay twelve hours before collecting them.
• Rakshasa persuaded Blood Crow to increase the red-item drop rate despite Blood Crow’s doubts about their deductions.
• Lu Ze read players’ complaints on the Forum and recognized that Eight Directions Venerables’ flood of rare items was undermining its looting system.
• Lu Ze removed the rule preventing players from entering other Illusion Realms during a match.
• Blood Crow and Rakshasa celebrated Eight Directions Venerables’ rise to 380,000 players and believed its rewards and twelve-hour requirement would win them first place.

Lu Ze infiltrated the Illusion Alliance gathering as the Heavenly Dao revealed its rankings and rewards. Eight Directions Venerables placed second, leaving the alliance’s elders waiting to see who had won first place.

• Lu Ze changed his appearance before entering the Heavenly Dao Illusion Realm and spotted the Illusion Alliance members gathered behind a soundproof barrier.
• Lu Ze disguised himself as [Lu Guan] and entered the alliance’s gathering, where he learned how Blood Crow and Rakshasa had contributed to Eight Directions Venerables.
• Rakshasa attacked Lu Ze after he laughed at his boast about increasing valuable item drop rates, but an invisible force destroyed the ghostly figure.
• The Heavenly Dao began displaying rankings and rewards, and the crowd watched as the golden rankings approached their top entries.
• The golden rankings revealed Blood Crow and Rakshasa’s Eight Directions Venerables in second place.