Chapter Summaries

Wang Tao crafted and tested the Dark Blood Wings, then discovered that Lightning was about to advance to Fifth Order. As he returned to Long River Base, the Crystal Energy Poison Tree awakened, and Wang Tao activated its barrier to shield the entire base from the snowstorm.

• Wang Tao opened the Bat Monster’s loot packages, crafted the Sharp Giant Blade and Dark Blood Wings, and chose the great machete as his main weapon.
• Wang Tao tested the Dark Blood Wings, finding they flew faster and could cut through obstacles, though they were less agile than the Flying Bee Wings.
• Wang Tao allowed Lightning to devour the Bat Monster’s corpse, and Lightning fell asleep as it began advancing to Fifth Order.
• Wang Tao sensed that the Crystal Energy Poison Tree had awakened and found its health and Compatibility had reached their maximums.
• Wang Tao activated the Crystal Energy Poison Tree’s barrier, which spread over Long River Base and blocked the snowstorm as the citizens celebrated.

Wang Tao tested the Crystal Energy Poison Tree’s defensive barrier and explained its costs and authorization system to Long River Base’s leaders. After arranging access passes and discussing the tree’s wastewater, he gave Gu Yun four Fifth Order Night Demon II Type Hearts and one Sixth Order Night Demon III Type Heart, then returned to the villa.

• Wang Tao tested the barrier, learned that the Crystal Energy Poison Tree could recognize entry rules, and confirmed that maintaining the barrier and blocking attacks consumed its health and crystal cores.
• Wang Tao inspected the Crystal Energy Poison Tree with the Golden Eagle, which asked to build nests in its branches.
• Wang Tao explained the barrier to Gu Yun and the base’s leaders, and they decided to use access passes that the tree would recognize.
• Wang Tao and the leaders discussed researching the wastewater and turning it into weapons against groups of zombies.
• Wang Tao gave Gu Yun four Fifth Order Night Demon II Type Hearts and one Sixth Order Night Demon III Type Heart for the Municipal Government.
• Wang Tao returned to the villa with the Golden Eagle and put Lightning in its doghouse ahead of its expected advancement.

Wang Tao tested Crystal Energy Poison Tree’s abilities, gave Cheng Yiyi a Sixth Order Night Demon Heart, and reunited with his returning companions. Their celebration of a successful hunt ended with Wang Tao revealing that Lightning had advanced to Fifth Order, and Lightning’s extraordinary health surprised him.

• Wang Tao learned Crystal Energy Poison Tree could temporarily enhance combatants up to Fifth Order and suppress Awakened up to Fifth Order, then authorized Gu Yun to use both abilities.
• Cheng Yiyi thanked Wang Tao, challenged him to spar, and was overwhelmed by his strength; he gave her a Sixth Order Night Demon Heart, and she gave him her meteorites.
• Wang Tao welcomed Ding Yuqin and the others home and heard that they had killed more than ten Fourth Order Lord monsters and three Fifth Order Lord monsters.
• Wang Tao told the group he had killed over twenty Sixth Order Lords and revealed that Lightning had already advanced to Fifth Order.
• Wang Tao checked Lightning’s attributes and was astonished by its 1.28 million health.

Lightning advanced to the fifth order, and Wang Tao tested its strength against the Golden Eagle before opening meteorites and showing the group his wings and Golden Beetle. After returning to Long River Base, Wang Tao received a plea for help from the survivors at Mammoth Base, who said their leader planned to sacrifice them to an Evil God for power.

• Lightning concealed its new fifth-order aura, then agreed to spar with the Golden Eagle outside the barrier.
• Lightning grew to the height of a six-story building and fought the Golden Eagle until Wang Tao called a halt, judging them evenly matched.
• Wang Tao opened Cheng Yiyi's meteorites, let the Golden Eagle and Lightning fight the monsters inside, and distributed the rewards.
• Wang Tao gave Lan Yulian bee wings to try, revealed his Dark Blood Wings, and let the group test his sixth-order Golden Beetle.
• Wang Tao returned to Long River Base and received a message from Mammoth Base saying its leader planned to sacrifice the survivors to an Evil God for power.

Wang Tao agreed to investigate Mammoth Base after Gu Yun suggested using the missing Great Sea Base survivors as a reason to bring Mammoth Base’s people to Long River Base. He reached the base with Jiang Shixue and Lightning, forced his way inside, and faced fourteen Awakeners who denied capturing anyone.

• Gu Yun told Wang Tao that Mammoth Base had supposedly taken people from Great Sea Base, and Wang Tao agreed to investigate alone.
• Jiang Shixue asked to accompany Wang Tao, and he took her, Lightning, and the Golden Eagle to the rift near Mammoth Base the next morning.
• Wang Tao found that the black mist thinned near the rift’s bottom, where four Mammoth Base guards confronted him.
• Wang Tao claimed Mammoth Base had captured Great Sea Base survivors and used his psychic power to make the guards lead him to the base.
• Mammoth Base’s guards sounded an alarm, and fourteen fourth-order Awakeners came out to face Wang Tao.
• The leader denied holding Great Sea Base prisoners and said the people from that base had joined Mammoth Base voluntarily.

Wang Tao confronted Hu Zhe at Mammoth Base over a distress signal from people taken from Great Sea Base. After Lightning revealed its fifth-tier strength and defeated Hu Zhe’s Awakened Ones, Wang Tao entered a mysterious hall and found a group performing a strange ritual around a fifth-tier Awakened One.

• Wang Tao told Hu Zhe he had come from Long River Base to investigate the distress signal sent by people from Great Sea Base, but Hu Zhe denied it and ordered his Awakened Ones to attack.
• Lightning revealed its fifth-tier lord aura and quickly incapacitated Hu Zhe and the other thirteen Awakened Ones without killing them.
• Hu Zhe agreed to lead Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, and Lightning into Mammoth Base, where Wang Tao noticed that the survivors’ homes were empty.
• Wang Tao entered a stone building where his detection abilities and senses were blocked, then saw people kneeling around offerings and bound captives.
• Wang Tao recognized the bare-chested man seated at the center of the hall as a fifth-tier Awakened One.

Wang Tao interrupted a sacrifice at Mammoth Base and learned that its leader, Tian Hua, had killed Hu Zhe with a curse tied to bodily impurities. After Tian Hua’s curse failed against Wang Tao and his companions, Wang Tao broke his Rock Shield and overwhelmed him, but Tian Hua called for the Stone God to descend.

• Wang Tao entered the ritual hall and found Tian Hua, a fifth-order Awakened, conducting a sacrifice while captives were bound nearby.
• Tian Hua killed Hu Zhe by raising the impurities in his body until an Instant Death curse took effect, then identified himself as Mammoth Base’s leader and a Stone God Envoy.
• Tian Hua’s curse failed to affect Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, or Lightning, so he activated his Rock Shield and attacked Wang Tao.
• Wang Tao shattered Tian Hua’s shield with three punches and used a mental shock to disable the other worshippers.
• Wang Tao beat Tian Hua down and mocked his strength, prompting Tian Hua to call for the Stone God to descend as the hall began to shake.

Tian Hua transformed into an incomplete Sixth Order Destruction Grade being with a Petrification Gaze, trapping Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, and Lightning inside the hall. After they gradually wore down Tian Hua, he began attacking physically, forcing Wang Tao to deploy the Golden Beetle Armament as the battle continued.

• Tian Hua’s transformation triggered Instant Death in everyone else in the hall, while Wang Tao discovered Tian Hua had become an incomplete Sixth Order Destruction Grade being with a Petrification Gaze.
• Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, and Lightning attacked Tian Hua while avoiding eye contact, and Wang Tao’s curses eventually weakened Tian Hua enough for them to reduce his health by more than half.
• Tian Hua suddenly caught Wang Tao’s Greatsword and shattered his All-rounder Shield with a punch, then struck Lightning for over 149,000 damage.
• Wang Tao gave potions to Lightning, summoned the Golden Beetle Armament, and climbed inside while Jiang Shixue deployed a Silver Beetle.
• Wang Tao used the Golden Beetle Armament to punch Tian Hua, but Tian Hua retaliated hard enough to deal over 33,000 damage, prompting Wang Tao to rely on the beetle’s health and his crystal cores.

Wang Tao defeated Tian Hua and discovered that the Stone God had empowered him through a Summoning Altar fueled by Mammoth Base’s survivors. The altar revealed a way to summon a seventh-order creature, leaving Wang Tao wary of the Stone God but determined to grow strong enough to face it.

• Wang Tao continued fighting Tian Hua with the Golden Beetle until Tian Hua recognized him, but Wang Tao landed the final blow and emptied his Health Bar.
• The collapse of the hall freed Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, and Lightning, and Wang Tao realized the fallen human-shaped statues were Mammoth Base’s thousands of sacrificed survivors.
• Wang Tao gathered the remaining Mammoth Base members and demanded answers, then put away the damaged Golden Beetle and found a Seventh Order Summoning Altar beneath the hall.
• Wang Tao examined the altar and learned it could summon a seventh-order creature by consuming life energy, with incomplete sacrifices causing the creature’s power to possess the summoner.
• Wang Tao concluded that the Stone God had empowered Tian Hua and spoken through him before his death, and resolved to become strong enough to defeat it if it appeared in person.

Wang Tao learned how the Seventh Order Summoning Altar worked, uncovered the fate of Mammoth Base’s survivors, and brought Tian Hua’s accomplices back to Long River Base. On the flight home, he used Tian Hua’s Advanced Blood Orb and gained 500,000 health, while his final loot offered a powerful seventh-order weapon he could not yet activate.

• Wang Tao questioned Mammoth Base’s former followers, revealed that the Stone Sculptures were the petrified survivors, and learned that Tian Hua had taken survivors from Great Sea Base and Zou Jian into the hall.
• Wang Tao ordered the former followers to face justice, then left the rift with Jiang Shixue and Lightning and carried the captives home on the Golden Eagle.
• Wang Tao inspected Tian Hua’s loot and obtained a sixth-order Advancement Crystal Core, Advanced Awakening Keys, Awakening Energy Orbs, Gray Rock, an Advanced Blood Orb, and a Destruction Crystal.
• Wang Tao swallowed the Advanced Blood Orb, increasing his health from 320,000 to 820,000 and his mana from 200,000 to 300,000.
• Wang Tao learned that the seventh-order Destruction Crystal could devastate nearby seventh-order and lower creatures, but its health and awakening-energy costs exceeded his current reserves.

Wang Tao examined Tian Hua’s loot and crafted a powerful Gray Stone Shield Axe, but its size made it unusable by him directly. Jiang Shixue realized the Golden Beetle could wield it, and Wang Tao tested the idea, activating the axe’s protective shield around the group.

• Wang Tao found rare sixth-order crystal cores, amplification potions, awakening items, a Magical Stone Orb, and blueprints among Tian Hua’s loot.
• Wang Tao used the Impact Giant Hammer and Gray Rock to craft the Gray Stone Shield Axe, which had immense defensive attributes and a shield ability.
• Wang Tao discovered that the axe was too large and heavy for him to wield in his normal form.
• Jiang Shixue suggested that Wang Tao could use the Gray Stone Shield Axe while inside the Golden Beetle.
• Wang Tao had the Golden Eagle keep watch, entered the Golden Beetle, and wielded the axe without difficulty.
• Wang Tao activated Gray Stone Shield, which surrounded the Golden Beetle and protected Jiang Shixue, Lightning, and the others.

Wang Tao returned from the destruction of Mammoth Base with powerful Gray Stone equipment and told Gu Yun how Tian Hua had sacrificed the base’s survivors to the Stone God. After resting, Wang Tao learned that Jiang Shixue had advanced to Fifth Order and awakened Battle Stance, while the story left him preparing to hunt Fifth Order Lords for the Crystal Cores he needed to advance.

• Wang Tao crafted the Gray Stone Ring, whose Defense and Mental Defense bonuses applied across his body and whose shield could absorb one million damage.
• Wang Tao brought the few survivors rescued from Mammoth Base to Long River Base and told Gu Yun that Tian Hua had sacrificed more than three thousand people to the Stone God.
• Jiang Shixue said the battle with Tian Hua had helped her advance, then fell asleep as her advancement began.
• After resting, Wang Tao learned from Gu Yun that the rescued survivors knew the locations of other Survivor Bases near the rift.
• Jiang Shixue awoke as a Fifth Order Lord with no bodily impurities and a new Second Awakening, Battle Stance.

Jiang Shixue advanced to Tier 5 and underwent a Second Awakening, while the Awakening School students returned from a month of training in the rift. Wang Tao announced that twenty students would be chosen to attempt awakening the next day, leaving the base preparing for their public trials.

• Jiang Shixue tested her Battle Stance awakening with Wang Tao and proved strong enough to challenge opponents above her level.
• Wang Tao and Jiang Shixue welcomed the returning Awakening School students, whose families, friends, and base residents greeted them along a red carpet.
• Wang Tao and Gu Yun congratulated the students, and Wang Tao announced that the awakening candidates would be revealed the next day.
• Pan Jian reported the students’ combat results and gains from their month in the rift to Wang Tao.
• Wang Tao and the others selected twenty students for the next day’s awakening attempts, prioritizing those who had secret keys.

Wang Tao selected twenty Awakening School students for awakening, and thirteen succeeded. He then searched three nearby survivor bases and found the prison base inhabited by members of the Twilight Church.

• Wang Tao selected twenty students for awakening, and thirteen successfully awakened.
• Wang Tao told the students to rest before entering the rift again, then flew with Jiang Shixue and Lightning toward Mammoth Base.
• Wang Tao searched the nearby village base, found it overrun by frozen zombies, and learned its residents had been infected after an expedition.
• Wang Tao found traces of past habitation but no people at the funeral-home base and suspected its survivors had relocated.
• Wang Tao discovered survivors inside the prison base, where armed residents emerged wearing Twilight Church badges.

Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, and Lightning entered Flying Sand Lake Base, where testing revealed their immense strength and Wang Tao found that the residents had dangerously high bodily impurities. While touring the prison and questioning its leader, Liu Bo, Wang Tao learned that many survivors had been driven out and discovered the nearby Silver Snake Base, which he had never heard of.

• Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, and Lightning tested negative for the Zombie Virus, but the reagent turned blood-red, alarming the armed survivors.
• Wang Tao entered the prison, noticed that its Espers had high bodily impurities, and learned that residents ate a foul-smelling soup made from insects.
• Wang Tao gave a Protein Block to a man preparing the soup, who tried it and found it delicious.
• Liu Bo introduced himself as the fourth-tier Awakener leading Flying Sand Lake Base and welcomed Wang Tao.
• Wang Tao toured the prison and learned from Liu Bo that the more than five hundred residents, including Liu Bo, had been driven out.
• Liu Bo told Wang Tao about Silver Snake Base, a super-large settlement of three or four hundred thousand people northeast of them.

Wang Tao learned about Silver Snake Base and revealed himself to Liu Bo as a High Sacerdotal of the Twilight Church, then recruited Liu Bo and the survivors of Flying Sand Lake Base. The chapter ended with Wang Tao eager to confront the Fifth Order Lord zombies threatening the base.

• Liu Bo explained that Silver Snake Base was a huge, faction-controlled survivor base where the military had lost power and the Twilight Church was considered a cult.
• Wang Tao showed Liu Bo a High Sacerdotal badge, and Liu Bo and the others knelt after recognizing his authority.
• Liu Bo revealed that he recruited survivors for Flying Sand Lake Base and had lost contact with his superior after the heavy snow began.
• Wang Tao asked Liu Bo to follow him, and Liu Bo agreed on behalf of himself and the survivors at the base.
• Liu Bo told Wang Tao that powerful Fifth Order Lord zombies had appeared nearby, and Wang Tao decided to deal with them.

Wang Tao and Jiang Shixue investigated an abandoned factory near Flying Sand Lake Base, where a group from Silver Snake Base planned to hunt three Fifth Order Lord Zombies. Wang Tao joined their operation under the alias Liu Bo and discovered that Peng Nan had concealed the group inside a gray, colorless virtual space.

• Wang Tao and Jiang Shixue rode Lightning to the factory after Liu Bo warned that a dangerous zombie group had gathered there, threatening nearby Flying Sand Lake Base.
• Wang Tao spotted sixteen people from Silver Snake Base preparing to enter the factory, including Fourth Order Awakeners Peng Nan, Yu Li, Shen Cuishan, and Zhuo Song.
• Peng Nan discovered Wang Tao watching the group and invited him to join their hunt; Wang Tao accepted and introduced himself as Liu Bo.
• Wang Tao shook hands with Peng Nan and Shen Cuishan, learning that Peng Nan had the Second Space Awakening and Shen Cuishan had the Bewitching Postures Awakening.
• Peng Nan led the group over the factory wall and used his virtual space to conceal them from nearby Fifth Order Elite Frozen Zombies; Wang Tao entered and saw the factory turn gray and colorless.

Peng Nan led Wang Tao and the other awakeners through his Gray Space to plant Poison Gas Bombs intended to kill three Fifth Order Lord Zombies. After learning that no Sixth Order Lord Zombie was in the factory, Wang Tao slipped out of the Gray Space to deal with the three Lords himself.

• Wang Tao studied the Gray Space and concluded that it was a powerful, rigid illusion formed from borrowed mental energy.
• Yu Li chatted with Wang Tao and explained that he hoped to recruit him in case the group fought over the loot.
• Peng Nan planted timed Poison Gas Bombs around the factory, planning for them to release poison gas simultaneously.
• Wang Tao secretly communicated with Jiang Shixue, who reported that she and Lightning had found no Sixth Order Lord Zombie and had located the three Fifth Order Lords.
• Wang Tao left the Gray Space without the others noticing and vanished to pursue the three Fifth Order Lord Zombies.

Wang Tao killed three Fifth Order Lord Zombies at the factory, then told Liu Bo that the threat to Flying Sand Lake Base had been dealt with and urged him to grow the base. As Wang Tao prepared to explore the rift near Mammoth Base, Golden Eagle revealed that a horde led by a Sixth Order Lord Zombie had entered the factory, so Wang Tao turned back toward it.

• Peng Nan reassured the others that Liu Bo could not interfere with their plan, while Wang Tao met Jiang Shixue and Lightning at the factory.
• Wang Tao killed the first Fifth Order Lord Zombie in two strikes, then let Jiang Shixue fight the second and Lightning weaken the third before he took the final kill.
• Wang Tao and Jiang Shixue cleared the remaining Fifth Order Elite Zombies and left without meeting Peng Nan and the others.
• Wang Tao returned to Flying Sand Lake Base, told Liu Bo that the factory's Fifth Order Lord Zombie was dead, and asked him to expand the base and recruit more survivors.
• Wang Tao left to explore the rift near Mammoth Base, then learned from Golden Eagle that a horde led by a Sixth Order Lord Zombie had entered the factory and headed back there.

Wang Tao killed the Sixth Order Lord Zombie and tested the Summoning Altar with the remaining zombies. He rescued Peng Nan, Shen Cuishan, and Zhuo Song from the basement, then learned that Shen Cuishan knew of a place that could increase strength at the cost of other lives.

• Wang Tao, Jiang Shixue, Lightning, and the Golden Eagle swiftly killed the Sixth Order Lord Zombie and cleared out the other zombies above Fourth Order.
• Wang Tao placed zombies and their corpses on the Summoning Altar to test whether they could serve as sacrifices, then left it inside the factory for its twenty-four-hour experiment.
• Jiang Shixue detected survivors underground, and Wang Tao dug into the basement and rescued Peng Nan, Shen Cuishan, and Zhuo Song, who recognized him as Liu Bo.
• Wang Tao gave the injured survivors medical supplies and Renewed Vitality Potions, and Shen Cuishan explained how a Sixth Order Lord Zombie had killed most of their group.
• Wang Tao told the survivors he had killed the zombie horde, but they doubted him and chose not to question him further.
• Shen Cuishan privately told Wang Tao about a place that could increase strength by consuming other people's lives, which sounded like the Summoning Altar.