Recaps

Zhang Yang used the Village Building Order to transform Song Dachui and three other Elite Sword and Shield Soldiers into powerful, specialized fighters, then assigned them to guard the village. He recruited fifty more soldiers and learned that the Training Instructor, Qin Ge, could unlock hidden unit types only after the village met demanding growth requirements.

• Zhang Yang spent 5,000 energy to ensure a successful enhancement after the Mountain Monster's demon soul showed high compatibility with the four soldiers.
• Song Dachui, Wang Mumu, Duan Kuan, and Zhou Datou emerged as towering fighters with distinct weapons and roles, forming a complementary elite squad.
• Zhang Yang ordered the four men to patrol and guard the village together, and tasked Wu Yuan with helping make Eagle Feather Armor-Piercing Arrows.
• Zhang Yang recruited fifty soldiers and ordered the junior instructor to train twenty Sword and Shield Soldiers, twenty Spearmen, and ten Archers.
• The instructor, Qin Ge, explained that hidden unit types required a small town, a level-five Training Ground and instructor, and a population of at least 1,000.
• Zhang Yang checked Qin Ge's attributes and noticed that he was a special NPC who received a daily salary of one energy.

Zhang Yang recruited Zhao Tiezhu, a junior craftsman with the potential to make basic items with attributes, and assigned him to help produce arrows. He then asked Wang Mumu about the defensive Mountain Monster Battle Rune, hoping to use monster materials to strengthen equipment and village structures.

• Zhang Yang reviewed the village's defenses and decided he needed a craftsman to help build structures and improve anti-air defenses.
• Zhang Yang recruited Zhao Tiezhu and discovered that his craftsmanship skills gave him a small chance to create gray-quality items with attributes.
• Zhang Yang ordered Wu Yuan and the others to teach Zhao Tiezhu bow and arrow making and have him produce ten thousand arrows.
• Zhang Yang summoned Wang Mumu and asked about his defensive Battle Rune and its connection to his Iron Wall talent.
• Zhang Yang considered using monster blood and materials to apply Battle Runes to armor, walls, the castle, and gates.

After Wang Mumu explained that Battle Runes could not be copied from their visible patterns, Zhang Yang sought another path to understand how demonic energy powered Talismans and Battle Runes. He used his Soul Force Field to extract a tiny amount of low-level demonic energy, but the Village Building Order rated it as trash and offered to refine it for 1,000 energy points.

• Wang Mumu told Zhang Yang that Battle Runes were imprinted throughout his body and could not be replicated simply by drawing their visible patterns.
• Zhang Yang considered the dangers of the world and concluded that he needed to build an overwhelming advantage to keep his village alive.
• Zhang Yang reasoned that he could study demonic energy and work backward to develop rules for drawing Talismans and Battle Runes.
• Zhang Yang used his Soul Force Field to separate wolf demon blood and capture a tiny strand of its demonic energy, exhausting himself in the process.
• The Village Building Order reported that Zhang Yang had purified 0.1 units of low-level demonic energy, labeled its quality trash, and offered to refine it into usable mana for 1,000 energy points.

Zhang Yang purified Demonic Energy, discovered the Azure Wolf Essence within it, and learned that it would make future purification of Azure Wolf blood far easier. After dawn, Wu Yuan reported that the village could not properly assemble Eagle Feather Armor-Piercing Arrows, and Zhang Yang said he would handle the problem before reinforcing the demon souls.

• Zhang Yang recovered his Soul Power, then used his Soul Force Field to analyze a strand of Demonic Energy and experienced the Azure Wolf's wild essence.
• Zhang Yang concluded that the Azure Wolf Essence was a precious, enduring spiritual quality that would reduce the effort of purifying Azure Wolf blood by ninety percent.
• Zhang Yang noted that the Village Building Order had no information mapping for the Azure Wolf Essence, and he had also purified 0.01 units of magic power.
• Wu Yuan told Zhang Yang that the villagers could not bind the Eagle Feather Armor-Piercing Arrows to the required standard, making them dangerous to use with a Strong Bow.
• Zhang Yang told Wu Yuan to have Qin Yidao and the others rest, promising to solve the arrow problem before performing demon-soul reinforcement in an hour.

After learning that three Ghost Tribe Recruits had been spying on his village, Zhang Yang prepared its defenses and began crafting powerful Wolf Fang Arrows. He left the village braced for an attack from an unknown enemy and planned to equip ten Elite Archers with the arrows.

• A Village Imp told Zhang Yang that three enemy imps were moving underground and had assessed the village’s warriors and defenses.
• Zhang Yang ordered the Village Imp to guard the Wood Demon Tower, sent Wu Yuan and Song Dachui’s men to patrol, and put Qin Yidao and ten Elite Archers through enhancement in the small fort.
• Zhang Yang concluded that the enemy had known about the deer demon and might launch an attack now that its forces were gone.
• Zhang Yang used soul force and magic power to fuse arrow shafts, Azure Wolf fangs, and Red Eagle feathers into Wolf Fang Arrows.
• Zhang Yang planned to make as many arrows as possible and give three to each of the ten Elite Archers.

Zhang Yang’s newly promoted Captain-grade archers received Wolf Fang Arrows just as a force of wolf-headed enemies arrived and attacked his returning soldiers. After identifying the enemy’s limited force as a blockade, Zhang Yang ordered a charge and rushed out with an Imprisonment Spear.

• Qin Yidao and the other nine archers advanced to Captain-grade, gaining powerful skills and Captain-grade Great Bows, but they had no arrows until Zhang Yang crafted ten Wolf Fang Arrows.
• Zhang Yang continued extracting Demonic Energy from the Azure Wolf’s blood until the Village Imp warned him that at least six enemies were approaching.
• Zhang Yang ordered the village’s soldiers and recruits to retreat, while Wu Yuan’s group returned under fire from distant Captain-grade archers; Song Dachui and three others, including Wu Yuan, were wounded.
• Zhang Yang activated the Fog of War and saw eight wolf-headed enemies—six archers and two shield-bearers—more than four hundred meters away.
• Zhang Yang concluded that the enemy was trying to blockade the village with a small force, rejected Qin Yidao’s suggestion to circle around, and charged out with the last Imprisonment Spear.

Zhang Yang’s forces fought off a wolfman archer vanguard, then he used the spoils to strengthen his archers and staged a desperate fortress expansion for the enemy’s spies. He left the story preparing to turn the enemy’s surveillance into part of a trap while relying on his layered defenses.

• Zhang Yang led nine captain-level archers in a sudden volley that killed three wolfman archers, while the enemy wounded six of his own.
• Qin Yidao killed a fourth wolfman archer, and the surviving wolfmen retreated into the forest as Zhang Yang ordered his troops back to the fortress.
• Zhang Yang received four captain-level demon souls and valuable bows and arrows, then learned that at least eight enemy imps were watching the village.
• Zhang Yang recruited two archers, used demon souls to upgrade them, and exchanged four Fragments of Hope for twelve iron shovels.
• Zhang Yang ordered his soldiers to expand the fortress in view of the spying imps, pretending to be exhausted while secretly planning defenses that included captain-level archers, Imprisonment Spears, and his Soul Force Field.

Zhang Yang expanded his hilltop fortress and prepared for the mysterious enemy, reasoning that it would soon attack after dealing with the deer demon’s forces. The fortress was added to the Village Building Order system, unlocking village prosperity and recording gains for artisan Zhao Tiezhu.

• Zhang Yang nurtured a second ironwood tree, and Duan Kuan felled it so Wu Yuan could make spears and arrow shafts.
• Zhang Yang reasoned that the deer demon had relied on Heavy Armored Deer Horn Cavalry to deter the mysterious enemy and expected that enemy to attack within two days.
• Zhang Yang spent the day developing his defenses while the enemy stayed away, and the Level 1 fortress was completed before evening.
• Zhang Yang planned to make Wolf Fang Arrows, then agreed to add the fortress to the Village Building Order system.
• The system unlocked Village Prosperity and awarded Zhao Tiezhu proficiency for helping build the fortress and manufacture arrows.

Zhang Yang’s fortress fought off a Jackalman army, using its elevated walls and coordinated archers to inflict heavy losses before the enemy used imps to dispel the Fog of War and launch a sudden counterattack. The Four Berserker Bears intercepted the charging shield soldiers, and the battle continued at the fortress walls.

• Zhang Yang ordered the fortress to prepare for an attack by Jackalmen and hired Training Ground instructor Qin Ge to fight.
• Qin Yidao and the other archers killed several Jackalman Captain Archers with coordinated fire as the enemy advanced.
• The Jackalmen sent imps to swallow the Fog of War, allowing their archers to kill three of Zhang Yang’s Captain-Level Archers in a surprise volley.
• The remaining Jackalman Captain Archers were killed, and the shield soldiers rushed toward the fortress walls.
• Wu Yuan and the other defenders struggled to stop the charge, so Song Dachui, Wang Mumu, Duan Kuan, and Zhou Datou leaped out and fought the Jackalmen together.

Zhang Yang and his forces repelled a Jackalman assault on the city wall, but suffered heavy losses while the Jackalman chief and any hero remained absent. Zhang Yang concluded the chief had focused on strengthening its troops, then sent the wounded for treatment and prepared to expand his territory.

• Zhang Yang activated the Soul Force Field and killed thirty of the thirty-eight Jackalman captains who leaped onto the wall, then collapsed from exhaustion.
• Wu Yuan and the remaining soldiers killed the seven surviving Jackalman captains, suffering seven deaths and six severe injuries.
• The Four Berserker Bears slaughtered the Jackalman infantry below the wall, while the remaining infantry and Elite Archers fled into the forest.
• Zhang Yang reasoned that the Jackalman chief had followed the Charisma-Led Troop Command Style, investing in its soldiers instead of its own strength.
• Zhang Yang sent Wu Yuan and the other severely wounded soldiers into the Wood Demon Tower, ordered the instructor surnamed Qin to resume training the recruits, and prepared to organize the spoils and expand.

After defeating the Jackalman Village Chief’s forces, Zhang Yang traded thirty complete Captain-Level Monster Souls for a Resurrection Dice and revived his fallen soldiers. He then upgraded his Village Imp into a Ghost Priest, strengthening the Wood Demon Tower as his village recovered from battle.

• Zhang Yang examined the Golden Scales’ second trading mode and exchanged thirty complete Captain-Level Monster Souls for a Resurrection Dice.
• Zhang Yang used the dice to revive the twelve fallen soldiers, restoring his force to its pre-battle numbers.
• Zhang Yang used three incomplete ghost souls to upgrade his Village Imp into a Soul Reaper Ghost.
• Zhang Yang spent more ghost souls and other materials to evolve the Soul Reaper Ghost into a Ghost Priest.
• The Ghost Priest entered the Wood Demon Tower, whose healing effects and other attributes improved.

Zhang Yang prepared farming tools, assessed the village’s population and prosperity, and recruited workers while planning a second Residential House. He arranged for Instructor Qin Ge to build a Level 3 house so the novice craftsmen could learn by watching.

• Zhang Yang obtained two Iron Plows and assigned four Elite Spearmen to pull them, then inspected the Level 5 Residential House and realized the village needed to expand its population.
• Zhang Yang calculated that the village had 40 prosperity and a Livability Index of 4, then recruited eight craftsmen, eight Lumberjacks, two butchers, and two cooks from the second-generation residents.
• Zhang Yang exchanged Fragments of Hope for tools and supplies, sent the Lumberjacks to cut wood, and assigned the cooks to prepare lunch.
• Zhang Yang chose a site west of the hill and began laying the foundation for a new Residential House with help from soldiers and craftsmen.
• Zhang Yang offered Qin Ge 1,000 energy points, and Qin Ge agreed to build a Level 3 Residential House as a model for the craftsmen.

After learning of a quarry southeast of the village, Zhang Yang investigated the deer demons’ former settlement and discovered its vast, exposed plains and unfinished castle. Hundreds of Heavy Armored Deer Horn Cavalry drove Zhang Yang and his soldiers away, leaving him convinced the force was too dangerous to challenge.

• A soldier reported that Wu Yuan’s men had found a stone quarry southeast of the village, and Zhang Yang gathered soldiers to inspect it.
• Wu Yuan told Zhang Yang that the quarry’s mountain-monster miners had disappeared and that the Great Horned Deer’s village lay beyond it.
• Zhang Yang and his group found the deer demons’ unfinished, unusual castle across a broad clearing and judged the open terrain dangerous.
• As Zhang Yang’s party turned to leave, two or three hundred Heavy Armored Deer Horn Cavalry charged from the woods and forced them to flee.
• The cavalry stopped at the forest’s edge, and Zhang Yang concluded that the deer demons’ former territory was now occupied by wild monsters.

Zhang Yang organized his village’s construction, farming, and military preparations while spending five days crafting enchanted wooden spears. After the new Residential House was completed, he assessed his craftsmen and residents, then realized he would need a faith organization to support the village and pass on his abilities.

• Zhang Yang abandoned plans to exploit the distant quarry for now and sent Wu Yuan’s people back carrying stone.
• Zhang Yang checked Qin Ge’s work, recruited craftsmen and farmers, and assigned Wu Yuan to oversee preparations for the village’s defenses and expansion.
• Zhang Yang spent five days crafting wooden spears while armed patrols deterred demons, including a powerful flying demon, from approaching the village.
• After the Level 3 Residential House was completed, Zhang Yang promoted the three most proficient craftsmen to lead construction and assigned the others to make bows and arrows.
• Zhang Yang distributed the new house to ten promising young men and concluded that normally recruited residents were less obedient than his original recruits.
• Zhang Yang reflected on the challenges of passing down his abilities and decided to consider establishing a faith organization.

Zhang Yang established a Level 3 Mountain God Temple by enfeoffing nine Red Eagle fragmented souls, gaining useful village effects and talismans. He then inspected the newly cultivated farmland and learned that its first harvest would bring prosperity, leaving him focused on the village’s future growth.

• Zhang Yang chose to build a Mountain God Temple and replaced his crude first attempt with one built by the craftsmen.
• Wu Yuan carved a statue resembling his fallen comrade Duan Jiu, and Zhang Yang used nine Red Eagle fragmented souls to enfeoff the mountain god.
• The awakened mountain god submitted to Zhang Yang when Wu Yuan and the Four Berserker Bears confronted it, completing the Level 3 Mountain God Temple.
• Zhang Yang received the temple’s prosperity and building effects, then bought sixty talismans and gave them to Wu Yuan for the patrol team.
• Zhang Yang inspected 210 mu of cultivated land and learned it had produced twenty-one plots of Level 5 Farmland, whose first harvest would grant Village Prosperity.

Zhang Yang completed the Village Building Order’s third upgrade, expanding his village and adding residents, farmland, and a barracks. After organizing his troops, he discovered that the farmland lacked seeds and used a Fragment of Hope to obtain enough wheat seeds for half a mu.

• Zhang Yang upgraded his new recruits into elite and Captain-Level soldiers after the Village Building Order reached Level 5.
• The village expanded to five square kilometers and gained a Level 5 Residential House, ten mu of farmland, and a Deer Horn Barracks.
• Zhang Yang organized his forces into patrol, logging, air-defense, and construction squads, then distributed captured iron armor.
• Zhang Yang inspected the farmland and realized its two annual harvests would not meet his growing population’s food needs.
• Zhang Yang used a Fragment of Hope to obtain wheat seeds for half a mu after his request for enough seeds to plant one mu failed.

Zhang Yang expanded the village’s farmland, weapons, housing, and mining operation while preparing for its next stage of growth. A villager’s mysterious death revealed that the Mountain God Temple’s influence had begun, and Zhang Yang allowed the ghost to remain as long as it killed no one else.

• Zhang Yang used a White Fragment of Hope to obtain seeds for 210 mu of farmland and arranged for the crops to be planted and the fields guarded.
• Zhang Yang crafted 100 Imprisonment Spears, rewarded three skilled craftsmen with farmland, and assigned Zhao Tiezhu and other craftsmen to mine stone under Wu Yuan’s leadership.
• On the fourth day of mining preparations, villagers found Yu Dazhuang dead in bed, his body transformed into a scarecrow, despite the night patrol detecting nothing.
• Zhang Yang questioned the Ghost Priest, who explained that Yu Dazhuang had spat at the Mountain God Temple and that an evil ghost had caused his death.
• Zhang Yang ordered the Ghost Priest to watch the matter and not interfere unless the ghost killed again, prioritizing protection from outside enemies.

Zhang Yang orchestrated a haunting and Mountain God ceremony that established faith in the village and raised the Mountain God to a special profession. With the village stabilized, he planned to seek more people and prepare to begin the Hero's Trial.

• Zhang Yang let rumors of Yu Dazhuang's ghost spread while he finished crafting 220 Imprisonment Spears.
• An old man used powers gained through a dream from the Mountain God to defeat Yu Dazhuang's ghost, prompting Zhang Yang to order a village worship ceremony.
• Zhang Yang reassigned Duan Kuan and Zhou Datou to mining so they would not interfere with the Mountain God's manifestation.
• The Mountain God manifested at the ceremony, and the new faith gained 105 believers, increased village loyalty and prosperity, and advanced the Mountain God to a special profession.
• Zhang Yang decided to seek new inhabitants and give himself half a month to finish enchanting the Iron Wall Battle Rune before attempting a Hero's Trial.

Zhang Yang began rebuilding the castle and agreed to try nurturing Duan Kuan’s prized long blade with his Soul Force Field. He concentrated the field around the weapon, while its frightening effects drove Duan Kuan and the Ghost Priest away, leaving the blade’s fate unresolved.

• Zhang Yang reviewed the village’s forces and supplies, then ordered construction of a sturdier castle to begin.
• Zhang Yang assigned Zhang Chunlei, Wang Qiuyu, Chu Beifeng, Zhao Tiezhu, and ten soldiers to the construction work.
• Duan Kuan asked Zhang Yang to nurture his long blade like ironwood, and Zhang Yang agreed to try before noon.
• Zhang Yang examined the blade and compressed his Soul Force Field, frightening Duan Kuan and driving the Ghost Priest underground.
• Zhang Yang wrapped the long blade in a tightly compressed Soul Force Field, and the surroundings settled back to normal.

Zhang Yang analyzed Duan Kuan’s long saber with his compressed Soul Force Field, then examined Mountain Monster vital essence blood and was nearly overwhelmed by the Mountain Monster’s essence. He survived when his Azure Wolf Essence helped him regain control, and his Soul strength advanced from B- to B.

• Zhang Yang used his compressed Soul Force Field to analyze the long saber’s blood qi and Mountain Monster Spirit, glimpsing what he suspected were its metallic structure before exhausting his Soul Power.
• Zhang Yang set aside the saber and compressed a unit of Mountain Monster vital essence blood until he experienced the Black-Skinned Mountain Monster’s life and its relentless climb.
• The Mountain Monster’s essence fought to control Zhang Yang’s soul, leaving him nearly helpless until an Azure Wolf emerged from the darkness and helped him seize back control.
• Zhang Yang recovered in the Wood Demon Tower and realized the Mountain Monster Essence had nearly killed him, but its fusion with the Azure Wolf Essence raised his Soul strength from B- to B and granted him Wildness and Tenacity.

Zhang Yang discovered how to purify mana and use it with demonic energy to strengthen weapons, greatly improving the village soldiers’ arms. After five days of upgrades, a Ghost Priest reported spying imps near the village.

• Zhang Yang purified mountain monster essence blood into mana, absorbed it, and learned to refine more mana without help from the Village Building Order.
• Zhang Yang used mana to refine Duan Kuan’s saber, giving it Sharpness +5, then infused it with demonic energy to add the Evil Slaying trait and raise its quality to black.
• Zhang Yang summoned Duan Kuan, Wu Yuan, and the other soldiers to have their weapons strengthened, then spent five days upgrading the weapons of all sixty-six Captain-Level Soldiers.
• Zhang Yang used nearly all his demon blood, but the soldiers’ weapons gained greater sharpness and special traits, especially those of the Four Berserker Bears.
• A Ghost Priest reported that spying imps had appeared around the outskirts of the village.

After three cautious Abyssal Ghost Tribe imps were spotted near the village, Zhang Yang strengthened surveillance and led a heavily armed team to the quarry, hoping to draw out the hidden enemy. He left the village’s defenses prepared and accepted the risk because the castle needed stone and he wanted to grow through combat.

• The Ghost Priest reported that three Village Imps had watched the village from beyond five kilometers before escaping, but it could not identify their faction.
• Zhang Yang ordered heightened patrols and regular use of Level 3 Vision Talismans where Ghost Eye surveillance was absent.
• Zhang Yang reviewed the village’s layered defenses, including hidden archers and spearmen near the castle and patrol teams around the farmland and outer perimeter.
• Zhang Yang decided to continue quarrying stone despite the possibility of an ambush, since construction could not stop and no closer quarry existed.
• Zhang Yang personally led Wu Yuan, elite soldiers, and craftsmen toward the quarry, hoping to lure out the enemy and gain experience through battle.

After seeing smoke rise from the Jackalman village, Zhang Yang led his soldiers to investigate and found it under attack by a powerful orc force. When Orc Squads moved to surround his group, Zhang Yang ordered a charge and his archers killed the first Berserker Orc Captain.

• Zhang Yang decided to investigate the smoke and sent Tao Yong back with two men while leading the others toward it.
• Zhang Yang and his group found the Jackalman village under attack by green-scaled orcs and learned that three orc heroes were directing the assault.
• A lookout warned Zhang Yang that Orc Squads were flanking his group, so he ordered Wu Yuan to lead an assault against the left squad.
• Zhang Yang’s soldiers charged as three Orc Squads converged on them, while nearby imps appeared to be watching their movements.
• Six Archer Captains fired enhanced armor-piercing arrows and instantly killed three charging orcs, including a Level 15 Berserker Orc Captain.

Zhang Yang stopped an Orc Mage’s fireball by altering its mana structure, then led his troops in wiping out two Orc Squads with coordinated Imprisonment Spears and armor-piercing arrows. After a large Orc force reacted and began pursuing them, Zhang Yang’s soldiers killed the pursuing squad and retreated.

• Zhang Yang compressed his Soul Force Field around an incoming fireball, disrupted its mana structure, and caused it to explode harmlessly above the battlefield.
• Wu Yuan and the soldiers killed the Orc Mage and destroyed the first Orc Squad with volleys of Imprisonment Spears and arrows.
• Zhang Yang ordered his soldiers to charge the next Orc Squad, then called a retreat when a larger force led by an Orc Hero moved to intercept them.
• Zhang Yang ordered his soldiers to turn and fire on the pursuing Orc Squad, immobilizing and killing most of its members.
• Wu Yuan and the soldiers charged the survivors, killed them, gathered most of their spears, and fled before the other orcs could catch them.

Zhang Yang explained why his group had to preserve its strength and predicted that the Orcs would avoid pursuing them after destroying the Jackalmen. He warned that the Orcs would return within a month with counters to their weapons and prepared forces, and planned to begin Wu Yuan’s Hero’s Trial.

• Zhang Yang refused to lead another charge and explained that the Orcs were using a cautious strategy after his group killed sixty of their soldiers.
• Zhang Yang urged his captains to preserve their soldiers rather than risk everything in a single battle, then bet that the Orcs would not attack them.
• Wu Yuan reasoned that the Orcs would retreat because defeating Zhang Yang’s group would cost them too many soldiers, and Zhang Yang silently agreed that the Orc commander was formidable.
• The Orcs destroyed Jackalman Castle, looted its supplies, studied the battlefield, and left without pursuing Zhang Yang’s group.
• Zhang Yang predicted that the Orcs would attack within a month with a cracked version of the Imprisonment Spear, Orc Mages, and archers, then said he would begin Wu Yuan’s Hero’s Trial.