Chapter Summaries

Team One studied the rules of the Stone Bridge Town offense-defense mission and debated how to divide their members between attackers and defenders. They chose Luo Jun as the first attacker, but he pointed out that the projections’ standardized stats would weaken him.

• The mission rules assigned Team One to kill ten Team Two members through hourly rounds of attacks and defense, while warning that failure to win before the deadline would trigger the Annihilation Program.
• Wang Yifan and Old Man Yang Wenyue noted that attacker projections would have enhanced stats and could freely use copied Treasure Tools, while Grandma Li Xiuzhen said their opponents would be Polluters.
• Ma Lei and Zheng Yunshan led the group in discussing whether to prioritize safe attackers or stronger defenders, and Zheng proposed leaving one attacker behind for the first round.
• Zhu Xixi suggested making Luo Jun the attacker, and Ma Lei vouched that he was stronger than an ordinary Peak-level fighter, persuading the group to agree.
• Luo Jun objected that becoming an attacker would weaken him because his projection would be limited to three times Innate Potential and fifty points of spirituality.

Luo Jun refused to attack after realizing the projection’s talents would weaken his combat power, so the group chose Yu Shan and explored Stone Bridge Town for a defensible base. They settled in the temple’s Ancient Pagoda, unaware that the deity statue’s saber had moved.

• Luo Jun judged that his projection’s reduced Innate Potential would severely weaken him and chose to play defense rather than attack.
• The group selected Yu Shan, whose Illusion Faction abilities and assassination skills suited the attacker role.
• As the countdown began, the group explored Stone Bridge Town and chose the Ancient Pagoda as their base.
• The group entered the temple and passed the deity statue without noticing its saber move slightly.

At the station, Yu Shan watched his lone projection fail to assassinate a defender, then saw a defender disappear from the Ancient Temple map before the attackers arrived. Inside the temple, a statue killed Liu Yufeng and attacked the group, and Ma Lei and Wang Shuwen discovered it was immune to direct Vital Energy attacks.

• Yu Shan watched his projection approach the defenders’ mall base and vanish after attacking, without eliminating anyone.
• Yu Shan saw one of the Green Dots exploring the Ancient Temple disappear while the three attackers were still far away.
• The Ancient Temple statue appeared in the courtyard with its broadsword stained with blood, and the group found Liu Yufeng’s body split in two.
• Ma Lei attacked the statue with a flame-wreathed fist, but the blow shattered her hand, and the statue swung its sword at her.
• Wang Shuwen blocked the sword and kicked the statue across the temple, but his foot was injured when it struck the statue.
• Ma Lei and Wang Shuwen concluded that the statue was immune to direct Vital Energy attacks.

Luo Jun destroyed a Vital Energy Shielding Alloy statue and freed the soul trapped inside, completing the first Side Mission. As the competitors sheltered behind his Earth Barrier, an unseen enemy’s sniper attack made the barrier flicker violently, leaving them in danger.

• The statue resisted Vital Energy and conventional weapons until Luo Jun pinned it with his Azure Dragon Crescent Blade, severed its hands with Gang Qi, and split it apart.
• A soul emerged from the statue and vanished after thanking Luo Jun; he explained that it had been sacrificed during the statue’s creation and that destroying the statue freed it.
• Grandma Li and Zheng Yunshan identified the enemy projection as likely belonging to Feng Tianci, a missing explorer whose ability could borrow and potentially lend other people’s abilities.
• Luo Jun sheltered the group inside his Earth Barrier while the competitors suspected Feng Tianci’s projection was searching for a weakness.
• Wang Yifan spotted a sniper on a distant rooftop, and Luo Jun assured the group that the barrier blocked attacks in both directions.
• The Earth Barrier began shaking and flickering under the sniper’s attack, and Luo Jun realized it had sustained severe damage.

Luo Jun and the others survived the first round after discovering and destroying a Resonance Device, but Liu Yufeng and Zhao Xiaoyu were killed by enemy projections. Back at the station, they learned the enemy had suffered no losses and began choosing roles for the next round, with Luo Jun unable to use his barrier because it was on cooldown.

• Luo Jun found a Resonance Device in the sewer and destroyed it, but the weakened Earth Barrier soon collapsed.
• The group defeated two projections, while Death Gun killed Zhao Xiaoyu with a bullet that curved around Xu Li's Water Curtain; Luo Jun then destroyed the sniper and his position with the Longitudinal and Horizontal Giant Cannon.
• The group identified the sniper as the likely Polluter called Death Gun and learned Grandma Li had used tiny flying machines to locate a hidden projection.
• The first round ended, and everyone returned to the station having lost Liu Yufeng and Zhao Xiaoyu; Xu Shan reported that his projection had killed no opponents.
• The group confirmed they could not trade Treasure Tools, and Luo Jun revealed his barrier was on cooldown; Zheng Yunshan suggested keeping him as an attacker for the next round.

Luo Jun agreed to become an attacker and stayed behind with Zhu Xixi to watch the next round unfold on two maps. Map One’s defenders surrounded and defeated an attacker at the cost of one defender, while Map Two’s defenders suddenly began moving and one Green Dot disappeared.

• Luo Jun agreed to take a turn as an attacker, and the others chose Zhu Xixi to remain with him at the station.
• Zhu Xixi asked Luo Jun about his school, but the maps changed before he answered.
• On Map One, the defenders approached the three Red Dots near the Ancient Temple and surrounded them after one Green Dot reached their position.
• The surviving Red Dot fled south, killed one pursuing defender, and was eventually defeated by the group.
• On Map Two, the ten Green Dots gathered in a shopping mall while two Red Dots waited nearby without moving.
• The Green Dots in the mall began to jitter, and one of them disappeared.

Luo Jun and Zhu Xixi fought Team Two’s Polluters in the second round, and their side eliminated three opponents before both projections were destroyed. After the teams regrouped, they learned Zhang Lao San had died and prepared for the third round, while Luo Jun used the Dice of Heavenly Secrets to try to avoid the opposing Peak-level fighter.

• Luo Jun and Zhu Xixi watched the map as a hidden attacker killed one of Team Two’s Polluters, then the green dots tracked down and destroyed Zhu Xixi’s projection.
• Luo Jun’s projection fought off a group of Polluters, killed two of them, and vanished after the opposing fighters overwhelmed it.
• The second round ended with Team Two losing three people; Luo Jun and Zhu Xixi’s projections were both wiped out.
• Zheng Yunshan reported that Zhang Lao San had died after delaying a powerful attacker, and the group speculated that an Illusion Arts user might have affected him.
• Zhu Xixi described Luo Jun’s kills, while Zheng Yunshan said Yu Shan and Grandma Li had gained protection by completing Side Missions.
• As the group discussed attackers for the third round, Luo Jun used the Dice of Heavenly Secrets and wished to avoid the opposing Peak-level projection.

Luo Jun’s team defended the mall, killed two attackers, and completed another Side Mission before the third round ended. Back at the station, Ma Lei revealed that although the attackers had killed two people, one defender had instantly killed all three of them.

• Luo Jun used the dice to influence the enemy’s attacker choice and led his team to defend the mall’s underground garage.
• Grandma Li sensed an attacker at the mall entrance, and Luo Jun killed him after his shield failed to stop Luo Jun’s attacks.
• A twin-bladed attacker broke through the floor, but Yu Shan’s mental attack and Luo Jun’s pressure forced him out of his ethereal state, allowing Luo Jun to kill him.
• Luo Jun concluded there was likely no third attacker, and his Fate Peering Glasses confirmed that no third attacker remained in town.
• Xu Li found a lost ring in the sewer and completed a survivor’s Side Mission, bringing Team One’s protected members to four before the round ended.
• Ma Lei told the team that the attackers had killed two people but had all been instantly killed by one defender.

After the opposing Peak ambushed and killed three projections, Luo Jun’s team prepared for the next round and faced a powerful attacker at the Ancient Temple. Luo Jun brought down the attacker’s enormous dragon form, but froze when he recognized the woman revealed beneath it.

• Wang Yifan explained how one opposing green dot had swiftly killed all three of their red projections after two green dots lured them into an ambush.
• Xu Li and Li Xiuzhen chose to remain as defenders, while Yang Wenyue and Zheng Yunshan joined the attackers.
• Luo Jun’s Fate Peering Glasses showed that the opposing Peak was almost certain to enter the next match, so the team prepared to face him at the Ancient Temple.
• When the attackers arrived, Luo Jun sensed a powerful Vital Energy Wave, bombarded the source, and then blasted apart the storm clouds gathering above the town.
• A Scarlet Dragon flew toward the Ancient Temple and breathed fire over the courtyard, but Luo Jun attacked its neck and nearly broke it.
• The dragon shrank into a woman, and Luo Jun widened his eyes in recognition.

Luo Jun discovered that an enemy projection had copied and enhanced the Ancestral Skeleton Headband, sending an army of monsters and powerful replicas against the temple. As his allies faced overwhelming numbers, he summoned tens of thousands of Ancient Soldiers to reinforce their defense.

• Luo Jun recognized the dragon that attacked him as Aishiliya, then chased a tornado carrying her injured copy and Ailongtan's copy.
• Luo Jun summoned the real Aishiliya and realized that the enemy had enhanced copies of the Ancestral Skeleton Headband's powers, including hundreds of Jackal Warriors and ten Ancient War Guardians.
• Luo Jun deduced that the enemy projection had copied his headband after using the Breath of Divinity to enhance it, and that the monsters had overwhelmed his earlier projection.
• Luo Jun summoned four Ancient Guardians and ten Jackal Warriors to fight the invading horde while Aishiliya held off ten enemy Ancient Soldiers.
• As the Jackal Warriors kept coming and his defenders weakened, Luo Jun summoned tens of thousands of ordinary Ancient Soldiers to fill the nearby streets and strengthen their line.

Luo Jun realized the enemy had sacrificed its summoned forces to call down a devastating meteor, then intercepted it before it could destroy the town. As meteor fragments rained down, Team One feared Luo Jun was dead and wondered whether they faced a Feather Transformation expert.

• Luo Jun calculated that the enemy could not have summoned so many Jackal Warriors under the projection's rules, then watched the warriors and Ancient Guardian vanish in a surge of Vital Energy.
• Luo Jun recognized the disappearance as a sacrifice and saw a massive meteor fall toward the Ancient Temple, so he ordered everyone to run and charged at it.
• Luo Jun struck the meteor with Gathering Origin Protective Qi and shattered it, but crashed into the river badly injured and used the Heaven Returning Realm to recover.
• Team One dodged falling meteor fragments as Yu Shan, Wang Yifan, Xu Li, Ma Lei, and Zhu Xixi discussed whether the enemy could be Alemont, a Feather Transformation expert.
• Wang Shuwen said Night might not have survived the impact, but a red spear suddenly pierced his chest and pinned him to the ground.

The group fought Chu Yunwei, a former top explorer who had vanished during a [Martial World] mission, and struggled against his Vital Energy Shielding Alloy armor and constructs. After Xu Li saved Ma Lei from a lance strike, Ma Lei attacked Xu Li from behind, killing her.

• Chu Yunwei killed Wang Shuwen instantly, and Li Xiuzhen identified him as the long-missing Number One Person Below the Peak.
• Chu Yunwei summoned Shielding Alloy Knight Armor and attacked the group, while Grandma Li and Li Xiuzhen used shields and golems to hold off his constructs.
• Ma Lei charged Chu Yunwei but was wounded in the thigh by his lance, and she cauterized the injury with flames.
• Li Xiuzhen’s golems struggled against Chu Yunwei’s armor, and Xu Li used water to push Ma Lei out of the way of another lance attack.
• Wang Yifan warned Xu Li too late as an attacker wearing Iron Gloves pierced her chest and revealed herself as Ma Lei.

Creation Faction members battled Chu Yunwei and Ma Lei’s duplicate as Li Xiuzhen used a giant mech to cover the group’s retreat. After sacrificing her mech in an explosion, Grandma Li reappeared from the darkness, leaving her fate uncertain.

• Ma Lei fought her duplicate while Yu Shan’s Mental Shock slowed Chu Yunwei and the Knight Armors, but Chu Yunwei’s visor weakened the attack and Wang Yifan escaped.
• Li Xiuzhen assembled a massive mech, blasted Ma Lei’s duplicate and the Knight Armors, and fought Chu Yunwei’s giant armored construct.
• Chu Yunwei’s apparent controller proved to be an empty shell, and he attacked Li Xiuzhen’s mech from above.
• Li Xiuzhen detonated her mech as Chu Yunwei attacked, and the fleeing group believed Grandma Li had likely died in the explosion.
• Wang Yifan said Chu Yunwei was not a true Peak, and Grandma Li emerged from the darkness behind the group.

After Li Xiuzhen rejoined the group, she realized their enemies were duplicates controlled by a spirit, but the spirit attacked and killed her before she could explain. A bald man emerged as the true Peak and transformed Yu Shan into Li Xiuzhen, who began rebuilding her mech.

• Li Xiuzhen rejoined the group and agreed that Chu Yunwei had not truly reached the Peak.
• A duplicate of Wang Shuwen attacked, and after Wang Yifan killed it, its corpse turned into Xu Li's remains before dissolving.
• Li Xiuzhen realized they had been facing a spirit behind the duplicates, but a Ghost Shadow possessed and killed her.
• A bald man emerged from the darkness, and Wang Yifan sensed that he was their true Peak and warned the others to run.
• The bald man killed Yu Shan, then transformed his body into Li Xiuzhen, who began assembling her mech.

Luo Jun rescued Wang Yifan and defeated the mysterious Bald Man, then destroyed Li Xiuzhen's mech and killed her duplicate. The immediate crisis ended, though the larger mission remained unresolved.

• The Bald Man attacked Wang Yifan, but Luo Jun intercepted him and fought through his ghosts, crossbow, and golden shield.
• The Bald Man stabbed Luo Jun with a dagger, but Luo Jun survived, seized him, and killed him with the dagger.
• Luo Jun rode his Mechanical Warhorse toward Li Xiuzhen's mech as it pursued Ma Lei and Zhu Xixi.
• Luo Jun climbed onto the mech, cut through its defenses, and exposed Li Xiuzhen's exhausted duplicate in the cockpit.
• Luo Jun severed Li Xiuzhen's duplicate's arm and head, causing the mech to collapse and ending the immediate crisis.

Luo Jun rejoined the group after defeating his duplicate, and the survivors learned that the bald attacker was Zhuge Lang, the Spirit King of the Zhuge Family. After Li Xiuzhen explained Zhuge Lang’s deadly soul-stealing ability and apparent return from death, Luo Jun volunteered to be the first attacker of the next round.

• Luo Jun told the group that he had defeated a weaker duplicate who used his Treasure Tools to evade and resist attacks.
• Luo Jun deduced that Zhuge Lang had taken the souls of attacker projections to create duplicates, and the group completed Side Missions before the round ended.
• Xu Li, Li Xiuzhen, and Yu Shan returned with protection, while Wang Shuwen had been sacrificed; Zheng Yunshan and Yang Wenyue reported killing two opponents.
• Li Xiuzhen identified the bald man as Zhuge Lang and explained his ability to create Soul-Reaping Vengeful Ghosts, steal souls, and revive the dead, at the cost of his lifespan.
• Li Xiuzhen recounted that Zhuge Lang had apparently died decades earlier after defeating a Polluter, but the group concluded he had become a Polluter himself.
• Luo Jun volunteered to stay behind as the first attacker of the second cycle.

Luo Jun sent Aishiliya out with the departing defenders, then questioned Li Xiuzhen and Xu Li about Zhuge Lang’s revival ability and the strength of his projections. When the next battle began, a Space Gate appeared in the station after Luo Jun completed a high-difficulty event, leaving his next move unrevealed.

• Luo Jun summoned Aishiliya, equipped her with Treasure Tools, and sent her with the others to support the defenders outside the station.
• After the station sealed itself off, Luo Jun failed to contact Aishiliya and concluded that it had become a separate miniature world.
• Li Xiuzhen and Xu Li explained that souls taken from projections could retain Treasure Tools, while revived duplicates’ physical qualities depended on their corpse or living vessel.
• Luo Jun activated the Fate Dice before the countdown ended, and the maps showed nine remaining participants on each team.
• At the start of the next round, the projections watched Zhuge Lang’s position cautiously, and a Space Gate appeared after Luo Jun received a 688-point experience prompt.

Luo Jun used the Gate of Myriad Realms to enter the enemy base in Second Stone Bridge Town and launched a surprise attack on the Polluters. After killing three of them, he faced a new opponent when Zhuge Lang revived the red-haired youth as a copy of Luo Jun.

• Luo Jun revealed the Space Gate to Li Xiuzhen and Xu Li, then crossed it to Second Stone Bridge Town with three projections following him.
• Luo Jun led the group toward the mall, where Zhuge Lang and six other Polluters waited in the underground parking lot.
• Luo Jun burst through the ceiling, killed the red-haired youth, and sliced a short, fat man in half.
• Luo Jun broke the black-furred beast's arms and tore it in half, killing three Polluters in under ten seconds.
• Zhuge Lang put a soul into the dead red-haired youth, who rose again as a copy of Luo Jun.

Luo Jun cut down Zhuge Lang’s allies and fought the Spirit King, whose swords and vengeful ghosts nearly caught him off guard. Zhuge Lang escaped using a substitute protected by an invincibility effect, and Luo Jun vowed to search all of Stone Bridge Town for him.

• Luo Jun used his duplicate’s equipment to kill Death Gun and the invisible purple-haired woman, then pursued Zhuge Lang and the long-haired man.
• Zhuge Lang sent five Vengeful Ghosts into Luo Jun and attacked with his Uneven Swords, but Luo Jun resisted the ghosts and evaded the blades after his duplicate’s death made his horse and weapon disappear.
• Luo Jun struck Zhuge Lang with a Gang Qi-coated punch, then used Mental Intimidation to expose and kill the fleeing long-haired man, but Zhuge Lang escaped.
• Luo Jun joined Li Xiuzhen, Xu Li, and his projection in attacking Zhuge Lang’s golden barrier until its thirty-second protection ended.
• Luo Jun killed the figure inside the barrier and discovered it was the purple-clad woman acting as a substitute, then borrowed his projection’s headband and vowed to search Stone Bridge Town for Zhuge Lang.

Zhuge Lang tried to evade Luo Jun’s summoned creatures, but his trail led them to him, and a meteor destroyed the town. Luo Jun investigated the crater and found a steel Giant emerging from the smoke, which he suspected was Chu Yunwei.

• Zhuge Lang hid from the Jackal Warriors, then left the house after one urinated on the windowsill and he unknowingly stepped in it.
• The Jackal Warriors followed Zhuge Lang’s urine-scented footprints, and the dragon spotted him as he fled from their pursuit.
• Luo Jun’s projection summoned a meteor that obliterated most of the town, while the station survived under the protection of the mission’s rules.
• Luo Jun explained that the Mythic-grade Skeleton Headband’s meteor spell sacrificed its Summoned Creatures and permanently cost it the High Priest.
• Luo Jun and the projections flew a drone into the crater, where a steel Giant attacked it and Luo Jun wondered whether it was Chu Yunwei.