Chapter Summaries

Zhang Qing broke free of destiny’s control and became an Imperial City Seedling, drawing powerful figures to the Sky City Battlefield. As Sheep Emperor City’s ruling Grand Elder moved to protect him, Fan Adkin launched Ares into battle.

• Zhang Qing’s escape from Corner’s control created another Imperial City Sequence Seedling and stirred major figures across the Dark Realm.
• Grand Elders, Abyssal Sequence figures, and Sky City Sequence Enforcement Envoys entered the Sky City Battlefield as Zhang Qing underwent his coronation.
• Sheep Emperor City’s ruling Grand Elder arrived, drove the other powerful figures aside, and challenged Alberri while making clear she would protect Zhang Qing.
• Alberri warned that a new Imperial City would divide the Dark Realm’s limited territory, leaving the other powers to weigh whether to eliminate Zhang Qing before he became a Venerable Lord.
• Fan Adkin accepted the consequences of Zhang Qing’s breakthrough, ordered Ares to armor up, and sent the Sixth Floor’s giant Mecha charging into battle.

Zhang Qing completed his advancement to Sequence Four and challenged the powers watching him to make their move. When Alberri attacked, the Imperial Cities rallied to protect Zhang Qing, leaving the Sky City and Abyssal Sequences facing an overwhelming alliance.

• Zhang Qing completed his advancement on the Blood-Colored Plain and invited his enemies to kill him, gambling that his allies would reveal themselves.
• Alberri, a Sky City Sequence Enforcement Envoy, attacked Zhang Qing, but the ruling Grand Elder of Sheep Emperor City killed him with a single kick.
• The Grand Elders of Sheep Emperor City, Tiger Clan, Rat Emperor City, and the Phoenix Clan declared their support for Zhang Qing.
• A colossal Mecha arrived from the Sixth Floor, and the Grand Elder of Serpent Emperor City joined Zhang Qing after learning that the Color Sequence stood to gain another Imperial City Sequence.
• All eleven Imperial Cities sided with Zhang Qing, forcing the Sky City and Abyssal Sequences to face an alliance they could not fight without risking a massive war.

Zhang Qing won the support of the eleven Imperial Cities and returned safely to the Sheep Emperor City's camp, where his status as an Imperial City Seedling changed how others could treat him. He decided to establish his own frontier army centered on An City and prepare to build toward an Imperial City.

• The Enforcement Envoys withdrew after deciding they could not kill Zhang Qing, and the Abyssal Sequence retreated as well.
• Zhang Qing thanked the Imperial City figures, who vanished after supporting him.
• Yan Qingshan brought the Tyrant Army to escort Zhang Qing through the hostile crowd and back to the Sheep Emperor City's camp.
• Yun Xiaoxi welcomed Zhang Qing, and Fan Adkin explained the significance of his new status as an Imperial City Seedling.
• Zhang Qing told Fan Adkin he planned to establish a frontier army centered on An City, while Yang Man offered to pay the cost involving Monkey Emperor City.
• Fan Adkin offered preferential help with teleportation and intelligence, urged Zhang Qing to climb higher, and told him to return to the Dark Realm.

After reaching Sequence Four and gaining the Clear Heart Beacon, Zhang Qing used Kinship Authority to bring Yun Xiaoxi back to his world and showed her the lights below the Sky Dome. As midnight arrived on April 25, 2035, the Dark Realm Game servers opened and a new tributary entered the River of Destiny.

• Zhang Qing reviewed his Sequence Four status and realized the Clear Heart Beacon would permanently protect him from the influence of his role.
• Zhang Qing activated Kinship Authority and logged out of the Dark Realm with Yun Xiaoxi, bringing them both to the safe zone beneath South Mountain.
• Zhang Qing and Yun Xiaoxi flew to Suzhou-Hangzhou and watched the lights of the city from its tallest building.
• Xiao Qian showed Zhang Zhengguo photos of Zhang Qing and Yun Xiaoxi, and Zhang Zhengguo told him to prepare because the time was near.
• At midnight on April 25, 2035, the Dark Realm Game servers opened and a new tributary began flowing into the River of Destiny.

Zhang Qing watched the first players arrive in An City and saw them treat the Dark Realm as a place to indulge their desires rather than save the world. After players’ behavior spread through the forums, Li Wannian realized why Zhang Qing had kept information from ordinary players.

• A newly arrived player explored An City during curfew, but Guan Yutian had Niu Qi kill him when he acted suspiciously.
• Zhang Qing recognized the dead man as a player and decided to let newcomers prove themselves in a world with limited resources.
• Players killed out of the game gathered on the Great Xia forum and flooded it with posts about the Dark Realm’s sexual opportunities, including Elf City.
• The Think Tank tried to redirect the players toward saving the world, but even some of its members were tempted by the game.
• Li Keming reported that players were treating the Dark Realm like an eroge, and Li Wannian understood why Zhang Qing had withheld information from them.

Zhang Qing met Li Liming, a Great Xia soldier who had reached An City after twelve deaths, and appointed him commander of a new frontier army. Li Liming left with Guan Yutian to organize the military as more players were expected to arrive.

• Across the Dark Realm, players recklessly died and revived in the unrestricted virtual game until the growing death penalty and dwindling accounts began to slow the frenzy by dawn.
• Guan Yutian intercepted Li Liming, who proved his identity with the passphrase and received a spiritual pill that restored his health.
• Zhang Qing met Li Liming, learned he had spawned twelve times, and ordered him to gather military personnel and form An City's frontier army.
• Zhang Qing told Guan Yutian to take Li Liming to Mo Li and have them cooperate with him.
• Guan Yutian escorted Li Liming to meet An City's people and warned him that Mo Li might threaten Zhang Qing's foundation, while welcoming the chance to weaken Yuan Hong's influence.

Players who repeatedly died in the game began sharing starting identities and survival strategies, while Cheng Yu lucked into a protected position among Mountain City's Sharp Teeth and quickly gained Attribute Points. Her post about the remarkably favorable start left other players furious and begging her for help.

• Players searched the forums for survival guides, and posts sharing starting identities and locations became increasingly popular.
• Players complained that An City's Guan Yutian killed people readily, while one player revealed that two Silver Coins had helped him survive under Guan Yutian's command.
• In Mountain City, Shan Qi found Cheng Yu and recognized her as the human girl Captain Cheng had wanted protected, so he gave her a Sharp Teeth uniform and took her into his squad.
• Shan Qi's squad taught Cheng Yu about Mountain City's rules and Specters, and she gained 0.5 Attribute Points after helping kill a Xiangpi Ghoul.
• Cheng Yu logged off and posted about her safe position, Attribute Points, and meals, prompting hundreds of thousands of angry players to message her for help.

Zhang Qing directed Li Liming to lead An City's newly gathered military players in purging Specters, then presented the Think Tank with a map and ordered plans for an eastward war. The chapter left An City poised to invade Rat Emperor City's territory with backing from several Imperial Cities.

• Li Liming told Zhang Qing that he had gathered three hundred men and came to receive a mission.
• Zhang Qing ordered Li Liming and his men to purge An City of Specters.
• Zhang Qing logged out and asked Li Wannian to gather the military strategists from the Think Tank.
• Zhang Qing showed the strategists a map of the Dark Realm and identified An City's location between two superpowers.
• Zhang Qing ordered plans for an eastward campaign to seize Rat Emperor City's territory, which Rat Emperor City wanted him to take.

Zhang Qing directed the border army toward Mountain City while preparing for his upcoming trip to Treasure Snatching Mountain. In Mountain City, player Cheng Yu made contact with Yun Yue, forming an alliance that the Think Tank chose to monitor as the military planned to seize the city.

• Zhang Qing ordered the army to study the route to Mountain City and prepare to take it, while explaining to Li Wannian that their plans would not be affected by a super faction.
• Zhang Qing decided the border army would help him grow stronger and conceal his own path, and he hoped Li Liming would move quickly before his trip to Rat Emperor City.
• Cheng Yu faced suspicion and hostility from players in Mountain City, then read Yun Yue's private message and began discussing how he could help her.
• Yun Yue persuaded Cheng Yu to cooperate, creating the first meaningful player alliance in Mountain City.
• The Think Tank monitored Cheng Yu's contact with Yun Yue, ordered Mountain City observed, and planned for the military to seize it within twenty days.

Players shifted toward role-playing, cooperation, and profit after learning that killing natives could increase their maximum Blood Volume. At Phoenix Imperial City, Fan Adkin noticed Ye Linwang survive eating a Specter’s corpse and decided to contact the Mad Blood Ghoul Race.

• Players bought acting lessons, formed groups, and pursued Silver Coins as Great Xia steered them away from erotic content.
• A Think Tank-backed forum post revealed that players could seize another person’s Blood Volume by killing them, prompting players to attack natives.
• Fan Adkin considered using Zhang Qing’s border-army plans to reach Serpent Emperor City and obtain a piece of Serpent Venerable’s shed skin.
• Ye Linwang, starving among refugees outside a city, ate a Specter’s corpse and went mad while the other refugees died.
• Fan Adkin told Ares to contact the Mad Blood Ghoul Race and produced a Fate Stone, seeing Ye Linwang as a promising test subject.

Li Liming and the military rapidly cleared An City and expanded into the wilderness, using a snowball strategy to build up their forces. Zhang Qing then launched a main quest that recruited players to support the army’s campaign toward another city.

• Li Liming led over five hundred Starflash Realm soldiers in a purge of An City, while Guan Yutian’s Sunrise Realm experts protected them from powerful opponents.
• Li Liming ordered Ouyang Lin, the military’s first Waning Moon Realm soldier, to lead a hundred-man unit into the wilderness and gather strength for the campaign to capture Mountain City.
• Over the next three days, the military recruited thousands of personnel, cleared An City, and sent newly advanced Waning Moon Realm soldiers to lead separate units.
• Players on the forums noticed that An City’s Specters had vanished and speculated that its unusually durable soldiers were players or Specters.
• Zhang Qing began the next phase of his plan, and An City announced an Auxiliary Army quest offering spirit pills for supply and logistics work.
• Players spread news of the main quest, and people from other cities sought ways to join An City.

Zhang Qing launched a city-wide push that players interpreted as An City’s main quest, while Mountain City players learned the quest might target their city. Yun Yue and his teammates debated which side to support, leaving them inclined to follow An City’s campaign to conquer the Dark Realm.

• Zhang Qing used his Imperial City Seedling title to draw players into An City’s momentum and shield them from accusations.
• Yun Yue, a Taoist, and a muscular scholar worked together to kill a Thousand Blood Ghoul and gained Attribute Points.
• Shan Qi’s Mountain City Fang Squad collected the Specter’s corpse, paid the players a pill and Silver Coins, and received information from Cheng Yu.
• Yun Yue read Cheng Yu’s note and learned that An City had formed a military guild, was recruiting an Auxiliary Army, and might be preparing to attack Mountain City.
• Yun Yue and his teammates concluded that An City was likely the human race’s main city and decided to follow the player mainstream in conquering the Dark Realm.

Yang Man told Zhang Qing about a newly formed relic zone created by the aftermath of battles between the higher-ups and the Sky City Sequence, and they decided to leave that night to claim its spoils. Before departing, Zhang Qing planned to summon Mo Li and question her about what she knew of the Sequences and the Theater.

• Players discussed improving their strength, then went to a pharmacy to buy medicine for their injuries.
• Players and refugees joined An City's Auxiliary Army, drawing attention to the Dark Realm Game with its generous wages.
• Yang Man returned after familiarizing herself with her acting Grand Elder duties and asked Zhang Qing if he wanted to make money from an unmined relic zone.
• Yang Man explained that the relic zone held destroyed Sky City Sequence warships, Authority traces, and Square Crystals, and that Orthodox Sequences from Mountain City would also be going.
• Zhang Qing agreed to leave with Yang Man that night, hoping the relic spoils might provide Universal Experience.
• Zhang Qing decided to summon Mo Li before departing and ask what she knew about the Sequences and the Theater.

Mo Li revealed that she had an activated Fate Stone and could not cultivate, while Zhang Qing decided to keep her in An City. Meanwhile, Kati planned to use the ruins as cover to gather nearby Orthodox Sequences and ambush Zhang Qing.

• Zhang Qing asked Mo Li when she planned to advance to the Moon-Shattering Realm, and she revealed her activated Fate Stone and lack of cultivation aptitude.
• Zhang Qing dismissed Mo Li, and Yang Man said she was likely gathering information for an Orthodox Sequence and could be useful.
• Zhang Qing, Yang Man, and Xiaoxi left to prepare for the ruins.
• Kati warned his son that Zhang Qing might be protected by the Imperial Cities and said they could not attack him openly.
• Kati ordered the Minotaurs to contact nearby Orthodox Sequences and prepare to surround and kill Zhang Qing at the ruins.

Great Xia’s forces encountered the powerful Li Luanxing and learned that he was likely a hidden-class Heavenly Demon. After Li Luanxing escaped, the Think Tank ordered troops to avoid provoking such figures, and Ouyang Lin returned to An City with his surviving squad.

• Li Liming’s army discovered Fang Dao at a village near An City and reported his nearly one hundred thousand Blood Volume to Great Xia’s Think Tank, which ordered them to keep their distance.
• Ouyang Lin’s Moon-Shattering Realm squad attacked Li Luanxing, but Li Luanxing killed one fighter instantly with a Mental Storm.
• Li Luanxing recognized the squad as An City’s border army, gave Ouyang Lin two Square Crystals, and fled after claiming he was an old acquaintance of their City Lord.
• Li Keming identified Li Luanxing as a suspected Heavenly Demon and warned Great Xia’s forces not to provoke powerful entities, especially those with 7,999 or 9,999 Blood Volume.
• Ouyang Lin received the warning and ordered his surviving squad to return to An City.

Players debated how Blood Volume and unpredictable attack power worked, while Yun Yue and Zhu Yi considered building player factions to gain strength and seize cities. At the ruins, Zhang Qing, Yang Man, and Yun Xiaoxi waited for the remaining authorities to settle as hostile Sequence Users appeared.

• A popular forum guide explained that Blood Volume gave players a larger margin for error but did not increase their actual combat strength.
• A forum post proposed that attack power depended on a player's force and ability to overcome an opponent's defense, and Yun Yue and Zhu Yi found the theory convincing.
• Zhu Yi described how his martial arts training and the Glimmering Realm's warm current had boosted his combat ability, while Yun Yue proposed uniting players to gather strength and pursue privileges or seize cities.
• Zhang Qing, Yang Man, and Yun Xiaoxi arrived at the ruins and waited while the remaining authorities fought, with the Imperial City Sequence's authority still raging in the air.
• Yun Xiaoxi spotted hostile Sequence Users approaching, and Zhang Qing and Yang Man turned to face them.

Yang Man explained that Imperial Cities had approved the Orthodox Sequences’ attempt to test Zhang Qing, possibly using an Authority Artifact to bypass the ban on transcendants acting. While Zhang Qing waited with his companions for the demonic tide to pass, An City’s army expanded its wilderness operations and players followed behind, causing trouble and seeking gains.

• Yang Man and Yun Xiaoxi told Zhang Qing that Imperial Cities had approved the Orthodox Sequences’ operation, while seven Imperial Cities opposed him and could deny responsibility for the trap.
• Zhang Qing asked whether the Orthodox Sequences planned to surround and kill him, and Yang Man suggested they might have brought an Authority Artifact capable of unleashing a founder’s power at a cost to that founder.
• Zhang Qing wondered whether his Mechanical Heart and Alternate Body counted as Authority Artifacts as the demonic tide gathered over the ruins and the three companions waited for it to recede.
• In An City, Li Liming’s forces surpassed three hundred thousand troops, expanded their wilderness exploration, encountered Mountain City’s forces, and withdrew after finding them strong.
• An City’s players followed the army, exploiting battles and targeting soldiers and Zhang Qing’s former retainers, while the army let them act and hoped the greater struggle would sort them out.

Zhang Qing entered the ruins to harvest the Sky City Sequence wreckage, then fought the lineage forces competing for its spoils. He seized their authority artifacts and demanded they name their cities, leaving the confrontation poised to escalate.

• Zhang Qing used Predation on the warship wreckage and gained Universal Evolution Experience until he reached his daily limit.
• Zhang Qing charged at the lineage forces to stop them from carrying off the wreckage, while Yun Xiaoxi followed and Yang Man continued collecting spoils.
• Kata challenged Zhang Qing with an authority weapon, and Zhang Qing tore off Kata’s arm and took his giant axe.
• Zhang Qing defeated the other Sequence Four users in three minutes and seized their authority artifacts.
• Zhang Qing demanded the fighters identify their cities, and Kimura, Taoye, and Shuili threatened him.

Zhang Qing uncovered why the Orthodox Sequence members had provoked him and explained how succession conflicts weakened their factions. After he left, Mountain City declared war on An City, setting a decisive battle for three days later and forcing the players to choose sides.

• Zhang Qing realized the Orthodox Sequence members wanted to provoke a strike by their founders, and Yang Man explained that succession deadlocks often caused Orthodox Sequences to collapse from within.
• Yang Man described how the Imperial City required its border army leaders to step down after three hundred years, allowing successors to take over while the founders remained alive.
• After Zhang Qing left, Mo Li managed An City, and several nearby cities declared war after learning he had stolen the authority artifacts from the ruins.
• Mountain City mobilized its army and announced that it would fight An City in three days, with plans to massacre the losing city.
• Yun Yue told Cheng Yu, Taoist Zhu Yi, and Kong Siming that An City was bound to win and suggested they switch sides.

Rich Brother’s recruitment post drew players into a planned siege of Qiong City, while Great Xia prepared to fight Mountain City by rushing soldiers toward the Sunrise Realm. Zhang Qing returned from the ruins to find the war only three days away and met ten newly advanced Sunrise Realm experts, sensing that Li Wannian had changed in a way that worried him.

• Rich Brother recruited players from Rong City for a paid attempt to seize Qiong City while Rong City's army was away.
• Li Keming urged Great Xia to concentrate resources on training Sunrise Realm experts, and Li Wannian agreed that the army needed them before the war.
• Zhang Qing failed to learn how to use the authority artifact, then set it aside and continued gathering supplies with Yang Man and Yun Xiaoxi.
• After logging out, Zhang Qing discovered that the war would begin in three days and went to meet Li Wannian.
• Zhang Qing found ten people who had reached the Sunrise Realm and sensed an aura like Mo Li’s around Li Wannian.