Chapter Summaries

Su Yu entered the third round of the Illusionary Duel, a first-person wargame in which commanders led armies through a 20-army melee. Confident from training with Tina, he organized his troops and attacked a nearby army, whose commander struggled to control his forces.

• Su Yu chatted with Xiao Tian, who had won the first round of the loser's bracket and chosen a Rare Psionic Firing Range Target Amplification Device.
• Su Yu reviewed the unusual items guild masters had chosen as rewards while waiting for his next round.
• Bernina announced the rules for the third round: commanders led 3,250 soldiers in a 20-army melee, restoring their troops and gaining a strength boost whenever they killed an enemy commander.
• Su Yu recognized the contest as a wargame and led his troops toward the nearest army, arranging his infantry, archers, priests, mages, and cavalry into a formation.
• Su Yu's white, lizardman-like opponent tried to organize his equal-sized force but caused his troops to fall into confusion.

Su Yu crushed successive opponents in the illusionary duel, using disciplined formations and a combined mage-and-archer attack to build his army’s buffs. As he overwhelmed a bearded commander, eight of the nine remaining armies converged on him, while one army stayed still.

• Su Yu’s Conical Formation shattered the white player’s army, killed its commander, and gained the first Pursuit buff.
• Three armies advanced toward Su Yu, but he charged them and used the Arcane Convergence Array to fuse hundreds of arrows into a strike that killed the white woman and eliminated her army.
• Su Yu’s buffed troops crushed the Chinese player’s army, and the Chinese player surrendered as the bearded commander retreated.
• Su Yu pursued the bearded commander while the surviving commanders noticed his three layers of buffs and resolved to stop him.
• Eight of the nine other armies marched toward Su Yu, while the army that had remained still continued to hold its position.

Su Yu defeated Muhammad Assad’s army, then led his buffed forces south to ambush a coalition of four armies using mobile tactics. His appearance with Morningstar and his dragons stunned the enemy commanders, and his troops eliminated one player, raising their bonus to five stacks.

• Su Yu ordered his mages to break Muhammad Assad’s layered shields, and Morningstar killed the exposed commander.
• Su Yu’s army replenished to full strength, then marched south at speed to evade the northern forces and engage a southern coalition.
• Su Yu and Morningstar summoned their dragons as the armies met, startling the opposing commanders.
• Su Yu protected himself with Imperial Guard Wall while his army attacked a flank and eliminated one player.
• Su Yu’s army revived at full strength, and its attribute bonus rose to five stacks.

Su Yu dominated the first Wargame Simulation round, then entered the second round as the Traitor with a 30% army buff. On the mountainous map, he decided to prioritize Gold Mines and divided his forces between himself and Morningstar to capture five mines.

• Su Yu eliminated the remaining players in the first-round battlefield, including a disconnected commander, and advanced to the next round.
• The system announced the second-round roles and rules, then assigned Su Yu the Traitor identity and its 30% army-attribute buff.
• Su Yu rode Morningstar into the sky to survey the map, locating its strongholds, Gold Mines, and Mercenary Camps.
• Su Yu rejected an immediate attack on the other teams because the battle could become a war of attrition while opponents recruited mercenaries.
• Su Yu split his army into five groups, sending Morningstar to capture two remote Gold Mines while he led three groups toward mines near the map's center.

Su Yu learned that the four other players had united to eliminate him, but he continued building his resources and went to hire mercenaries. The chapter left him examining the Ice Snow Camp’s high-tier units.

• Qi Yue Wu Yi and Jia Xin Tang revealed themselves as Loyalist and Lord, while !! and Alex revealed themselves as Rebel Army.
• Alex persuaded the other players to form an alliance against Su Yu, though Su Yu argued that eliminating him would put the Lord and Loyalist at a disadvantage.
• The four players agreed to target Su Yu, while he continued his plans and occupied five Gold Mines with separate armies.
• Su Yu sent light cavalry to scout and occupy other Gold Mines, then visited the Ice Snow Camp to hire mercenaries.
• The Ice Snow Camp elder showed Su Yu a list of mercenary units and their prices.

Su Yu used two Goblin Radar Tracking Devices to expose Jia Xin Tang and Qi Yue Wu Yi’s separated locations, disrupting their plans and redirecting the armies. As the Rebel forces and Qi Yue Wu Yi converged on Jia Xin Tang, Jia prepared an ambush while Su Yu marched south to exploit the conflict.

• Su Yu bought sixteen Tundra Direwolf Cavalry and used two Goblin Radar Tracking Devices to reveal Jia Xin Tang and Qi Yue Wu Yi’s coordinates.
• After learning that Jia Xin Tang and Qi Yue Wu Yi were separated, Alex and !! turned their Rebel forces south to attack Jia, while Qi Yue Wu Yi hurried back to support him.
• Su Yu left guards at the five Gold Mines, gathered his troops, and marched south to take advantage of the approaching battle.
• Jia Xin Tang spent 1,800 gold on twelve Flame Skeleton Archers while waiting for Qi Yue Wu Yi to return.
• Qi Yue Wu Yi arrived and learned that the Rebel forces were approaching, then led the main force and twenty-four Flame Skeleton Archers into a mountain hollow to prepare an ambush.

Alex and !! marched to attack Jia Xin Tang, but their plan to counter his presumed knights was a trap. Qi Yue Wu Yi and Jia Xin Tang ambushed their army, and after the Flame Mage fell, !! ordered an all-out charge toward Jia Xin Tang.

• Alex and !! learned that Qi Yue Wu Yi was also moving south and planned to attack Jia Xin Tang near a Gold Mine.
• Alex diverted the army to Flame Camp, where she exchanged their gold for a Flame Mage, believing it would counter Jia Xin Tang's Flame Guardian Knights.
• Alex and !! reached Jia Xin Tang's position and discovered he had no knights; Jia Xin Tang revealed the ambush as cavalry and Flame Skeleton Archers attacked from hiding.
• Qi Yue Wu Yi ordered the ranged troops to focus on the Flame Mage, whose shields broke under successive volleys before the Flame Skeleton Archers killed him.
• !! ordered the Warriors and knights to ignore the attack from behind and charge Jia Xin Tang, and Alex sent her troops forward as well.

Su Yu defeated Qi Yue Wu Yi and Jia Xin Tang to win the third round of the Illusionary Duel. He received two Golden Epic rewards and faced Jerrifus the Lamp God, who presented him with four reward categories to choose from.

• Jia Xin Tang revealed he was an assassin and used Stealth, while Qi Yue Wu Yi ordered his troops to focus their fire on Alex.
• Su Yu led three hundred cavalry out of the forest as Qi Yue Wu Yi's ranged troops killed Alex.
• Su Yu summoned a giant fire phoenix with the help of three fourth-tier Flame Mages, killing Qi Yue Wu Yi and his nearby units.
• Jia Xin Tang's troops were defeated by Su Yu's cavalry, and Jia Xin Tang conceded, giving Su Yu the victory.
• Su Yu received two Jerrifus's Gift rewards and saw options for equipment, potions, materials, and other items.

Su Yu chose a resurrection device and a level-boosting potion as his rewards, then used Psionic Coins to upgrade both. He stored the Legendary Holy Light Chant as a trump card that could temporarily let a Level 84 fighter reach Tier 8 power.

• Su Yu selected the Goblin Pacemaker XXL, a device that could revive a dead target, and spent 930,000 Psionic Coins to upgrade it into the Goblin Pacemaker XXXL.
• Su Yu entrusted the upgraded pacemaker to Cat Morning Star so she could revive him or save someone else if needed.
• Su Yu chose potions and, after discussing the options with Morning Star, selected Holy Light Chant, which raised its user's level by one for an hour.
• Su Yu spent 11.35 million Psionic Coins to upgrade Holy Light Chant to Legendary Quality, extending its duration to 1.5 hours and its usable level range to Level 75–84.
• Su Yu stored the upgraded potion in his backpack as a trump card that could let a Tier 7 temporarily reach Tier 8 power.

Su Yu prepared for the Illusionary Duel’s final round, joined a Huaxia players’ alliance, and learned that the last match would be a commander battle. The round began as he entered the battlefield with an army of 325 soldiers.

• Su Yu and Xiao Tian exchanged messages, confirmed they had both taken first place in the previous round, and prepared for the finals.
• Su Yu cultivated with Morning Star until five minutes before the final round, then joined the Huaxia United Front chat channel at Xiao Tian’s invitation.
• Xiao Tian and Shepherd Cloud Enemy explained that the channel aimed to unite Huaxia players against overseas opponents and shared the code phrase “The Blue Sky is dead; the Yellow Sky shall rise.”
• Su Yu entered the Illusionary Duel and saw the final-round participant count reach 4,110.
• Bernina announced that Su Yu would command 325 soldiers, and Su Yu recognized that the match resembled the previous round but used a smaller army and rewarded players for eliminating opponents.

Su Yu entered the snowfield platform and quickly defeated two players while Cat Morning Star recruited Winter Mage Ex to support his army. As seven enemy armies converged on him, Su Yu used a coded phrase to reveal his Huaxia United Front identity, turning two approaching armies into allies.

• Su Yu led his army to defeat Tomato and gained 2,000 Gold, prompting other players to target him.
• Su Yu sent Cat Morning Star to recruit Winter Mage Ex while he attacked Snake keeper's army.
• Cat Morning Star ordered Ex to cast a wide Blizzard, slowing Snake keeper's troops so Su Yu could defeat them and gain 2,000 Gold.
• Several armies moved to besiege Su Yu or attack the Ice Snow Camp, but he remained calm.
• Su Yu shouted, "The Blue Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise!" and the Chinese Huaxia United Front players at seven and ten o'clock stopped advancing and prepared to help him.

Su Yu led a coalition of Chinese players to defeat the foreign armies across the snowy mountain and become the Illusionary Duel’s final champion. After crushing Snowflake Leopard’s forces, he emerged victorious.

• Su Yu’s army and two Chinese forces ambushed and defeated three foreign armies, then recruited more cavalry and let Fengling Dukou and Sabeining Shajiji follow his command.
• Su Yu, Fengling Dukou, and Sabeining Shajiji occupied the snowy mountaintop’s Gold Mines and surveyed the five-mountain map.
• Su Yu led the Chinese players in clearing foreign teams from the snowy mountain until all 975 remaining players were Chinese.
• The Chinese players gathered by the lake, then dispersed to compete for the championship as Su Yu’s powerful army gave him a major advantage.
• At the one-hour mark, Su Yu defeated Snowflake Leopard’s roughly equal military forces and became the final champion.

Su Yu defeated Snowflake Leopard to win the Illusionary Duel and received five camp-building items and the Element Harmony Set. As the game announced the upcoming Panda People Empire expansion and began its shutdown countdown, Su Yu inspected his rewards and considered their potential in reality.

• Su Yu and Snowflake Leopard began their final battle by the lake, where Su Yu's durable units and Holy Angels overwhelmed Snowflake Leopard's forces.
• Snowflake Leopard recalled his troops, praised Su Yu's command skills, and surrendered, leaving Su Yu the champion.
• Su Yu received five camp-building items that could recruit powerful units with gold or psionic energy, along with the Element Harmony Set.
• The game announced the Panda People Empire expansion and ordered players to log out before the server shutdown.
• Su Yu reflected on the expansion's importance and began inspecting the Element Harmony Set during the countdown.

Su Yu equipped the seven-piece Element Harmony Set and posted details of the Lighthouse Chill Set on the forum to encourage mages to level up. After logging out, he asked Xue Wenli to find a source of hundreds of tons of gold, leaving her to contact the National Treasury Bureau for information.

• Su Yu reviewed the Element Harmony Set, equipped it, and felt his power rise enough to rival an ordinary Saint Domain Peak.
• With thirty seconds left before logout, Su Yu posted the Lighthouse Chill Set’s attributes on the forum and offered to sell it at a reasonable price to the first mage to reach max level in the next version.
• Su Yu logged out, and Morning Star declined to accompany him to Yunlu Mountain Spring.
• Su Yu called Xue Wenli and asked her to locate hundreds of tons of gold.
• Xue Wenli said she would contact the National Treasury Bureau and report back to Su Yu.

Su Yu brought the Ice Snow Camp he won in the Illusionary Duel to the Yunlu Mountain base and began constructing it for the gathered Great Cultivators. As the camp expanded under a blanket of snow and ice, they sensed life inside and asked how long construction would take.

• Xue Wenli gave Su Yu the address of a warehouse holding 93 tons of gold, and Su Yu retrieved the gold and teleported to Yunlu Mountain.
• Su Yu met Li Shimin and Tao Yuanming at the mountaintop base and showed them the miniature Ice Snow Camp he had received as a game reward.
• Zhong Feng arrived in a mech and recognized the Ice Snow Camp from the Illusionary Duel.
• Finding no space at the crowded summit, Su Yu carved a platform out of the mountainside with his Ice Blade Sword.
• Su Yu placed the Ice Snow Camp on the new platform, and it grew to 100 by 100 as ice and snow covered it.
• The Great Cultivators sensed life inside the camp and asked Su Yu when construction would be completed.

Su Yu received the Yuumi body pillow he had promised Morning Star, then took her to capture the Wuyi Mountains No. 1 Skrull Base. He returned to Yunlu Mountain after finding that the Skrulls had greatly reduced their forces at small bases.

• Su Yu told the Great Cultivators he would attack another Psionic Spring while they waited, and Zhong Feng gave him the Yuumi body pillow Xue Wenli had sent.
• Su Yu brought the body pillow home, and Morning Star happily cuddled it before agreeing to join his next attack.
• Players on the Official Forum reacted to Su Yu's post about his Tier 4 Epic Set, and Shepherd Cloud Enemy announced his plan to become the first max-level mage in the next version.
• Su Yu and Morning Star traveled to the Wuyi Mountains and captured the Wu-1 Skrull Base.
• Su Yu returned to Yunlu Mountain after eliminating fewer than fifty Skrulls and capturing two spacecraft, as the Skrulls had withdrawn most troops from small bases.

Su Yu and Zhong Feng discovered that the old man at the Ice Snow Camp remembered the Illusionary Duel and learned that his troops could be recruited with real gold. After confirming the recruits were living beings, Zhong Feng realized the United Government’s gold reserves might buy thousands of powerful Tier 5 Soldiers.

• Su Yu and Zhong Feng entered the Ice Snow Camp and found that its old man remembered Su Yu buying Frost Dragons in the Illusionary Duel.
• The old man established that one gold equaled 500 grams of real gold, so Su Yu paid 50 kilograms for a Frost Troll Warrior.
• Gundak Winteraxe appeared, pledged loyalty to Zhong Feng, and was confirmed by Su Yu to be a genuine living creature.
• Zhong Feng considered the cost of recruiting Frost Dragons and asked Xue Wenli about the United Government’s gold reserves.
• Xue Wenli reported that official worldwide reserves totaled about 53,000 tons, prompting Zhong Feng to consider recruiting thousands of Tier 5 Soldiers.

Zhong Feng reported Su Yu’s five camps to the United Government, which planned to recruit more Tier 5 Soldiers. After returning home, Su Yu watched the new Evolution expansion’s promotional CG, which depicted the Panda People Empire and the dangerous power of Azerite.

• Zhong Feng told Su Yu that the five camps could provide a powerful force, and Su Yu agreed before Zhong Feng reported them to the United Government’s leaders.
• Hu Jing ordered countries to mine and reclaim gold so they could recruit more Tier 5 Soldiers, and he asked Zhong Feng to protect the camps and thank Su Yu.
• Su Yu captured a Psionic Spring in the Wuyi Mountains with Morning Star, then returned home and waited for the game to open.
• Su Yu viewed the Evolution expansion CG, which showed the three empires at war and Emperor Ryan gaining power by absorbing Azerite.
• The CG showed Bard exploding after an Azerite crystal appeared before him, then ended with General Gerong ordering Panda People miners to speed up their work despite Zhou Zhuo’s warning.

Su Yu reviewed the Panda People expansion and explained the new classes to players before reuniting with Alijeh. They discussed how to handle the coming conflict with the Panda People Empire, and Alijeh proposed a treaty with Blue Star.

• Su Yu read the expansion details, then posted an explanation of the new Martial Artist, Monk, Taoist, and Fangshi classes on the Official Forum.
• Su Yu and Morning Star entered the game and met Alijeh's guard, Kelderon, who escorted Su Yu to the Empress.
• Alijeh asked Su Yu how the empire should act while honoring its promise to Master Chen Sheng not to declare war on the Panda People Empire.
• Su Yu advised the empire to recuperate and establish Production and Construction Corps in occupied territories, and said he would focus on advancing to Legend while monitoring events in the Panda People Empire.
• Alijeh told Su Yu she planned to sign a treaty of equality and mutual benefit with the Blue Star United Government.

Alijeh proposed an agreement between the Golden Flower Empire and the human world, and Su Yu relayed her terms to the United Government, which agreed to begin drafting a cooperation pact. Snowflake Leopard made his way to the Panda People Continent, where he headed alone toward Mogushan Treasure Vault.

• Alijeh proposed rules against humans harming her citizens and offered industrial, trade, and quest cooperation; Su Yu agreed to contact the United Government.
• Snowflake Leopard relayed Alijeh’s proposal to Speaker Hu Jing, who agreed and began arranging a cooperation agreement and an ambassadorial meeting.
• After getting trapped in the crowd at the Panda People Empire Embassy, Snowflake Leopard used Mango Ice’s Hidden Quest to enter an empty Subordinate Plane and accepted a quest from Ji Huozhang.
• Snowflake Leopard completed the quest, boarded a treasure ship, and listened as Captain Zheng Keshuang offered rewards for defending the Panda People Empire.
• After the ship reached the Panda People Continent, Snowflake Leopard left the group, transformed into an eagle, and flew toward Kunlun Mountain and Mogushan Treasure Vault.