Recaps

Gao Linzhi and the Daoist Academy’s headmaster were ambushed by the Fourth Prince, but escaped after a brief battle. As the Imperial Court launched a purge against the rebels, the Game System and mountain elder introduced Fair Competition and gave the players Dice of Fairness to challenge assassins in an anomaly’s contest space.

• The headmaster began setting up formations along the Thousand Island Waterway with materials Gao Linzhi supplied, but assassins attacked and killed four of her seven companions, including Gao Linzhi, who revived.
• The Fourth Prince and three players tried to recruit Gao Linzhi, but he refused and sided with the headmaster; the two sides fought until the headmaster used a smoke bomb to help them escape.
• The Fourth Prince ordered a search of Capital Island and the Daoist Academy, while the Game System announced the Imperial Court’s sweeping purge and directed Gao Linzhi to use the Fair Competition anomaly against it.
• The mountain elder explained that Fair Competition could force opponents into lethal contests and gave Gao Linzhi a die that would pull him and an assassin into the anomaly’s space.
• The other players received identical Dice of Fairness as quest rewards, giving them a way to face attackers on equal terms.

Gao Linzhi and the Headmaster traveled to the Whirlpool Sea Area to lure anomalies, where they fought off repeated waves of court assassins. Gao Linzhi used the Dice of Fairness to kill an level-80 assassin, and the chapter ended with the Headmaster’s formation work continuing as more assassins were teleported to their deaths.

• Gao Linzhi joined the Headmaster’s group as they sailed to the Whirlpool Sea Area, where court assassins ambushed them before they could set a trap.
• Gao Linzhi was killed by an level-80 assassin, but the Dice of Fairness pulled them into a void for a turn-based dice game.
• Gao Linzhi revived repeatedly and defeated the assassin, then returned from the void to find the Headmaster had dealt with the other attackers.
• Gao Linzhi and the Headmaster survived five waves of assassins while the Headmaster began setting up a formation, and the court sent more attackers to exhaust Gao Linzhi’s revivals.
• The Headmaster teleported assassins away whenever they approached, and a Deep Sea Giant swallowed one beneath the sea.

Gao Linzhi’s enemies learned that the Dice of Fairness could erode its user’s courage and mind, but repeated assassination attempts revealed that he was immune to those effects. After the Daoist Academy’s headmaster explained why he had withheld the warning, Gao Linzhi was left to weigh the dice’s risks against its life-saving power.

• The court punished the failed assassins by killing their mistresses and sons, while the Fourth Prince planned another attack on Gao Linzhi.
• Old Daoist Tiansheng told the Fourth Prince’s group that using the Dice of Fairness more than ten times could diminish courage and Mental Power, unless the user had sufficient power to resist its influence.
• The Fourth Prince sent ten more assassins after Gao Linzhi, but the dice’s side effects did not appear, and the group suspected his Heaven’s Heart Stone protected his mind.
• Gao Linzhi read warnings about the dice and understood that his Game Character was protected from personality changes by the game agreement.
• Gao Linzhi learned that a Heavenly Clear Talisman could cure the dice’s effects but leave the user childlike, then asked the Daoist Academy’s headmaster why he had not warned him about the risks.

Gao Linzhi learned that the Daoist Academy had prepared a sacrificial ritual that would punish anyone who destroyed it, while the players discovered that the Dice of Fairness had dangerous side effects but could be mitigated with special herbs. At the Fourth Prince’s mansion, the players learned that the Saint tolerated the Daoist Academy because it pursued Immortality, and the steward advised them to help the prince outperform his rivals rather than try to destroy the academy.

• The headmaster explained that destroying the completed sacrificial ritual would draw the worshipped aberration’s attack, then took Gao Linzhi to the next site.
• Players abandoned the Dice of Fairness quest after learning its risks, but the Daoist Academy offered herbs that could suppress the dice’s negative effects.
• The Fourth Prince complained that the court and Imperial Observatory would not act against the Daoist Academy, and the players concluded that the ministers had reasons to let it operate.
• The mansion steward told the players that the Saint prioritized Immortality and tolerated the Daoist Academy because it was researching a way to achieve it.
• The players realized the court would not move against the Daoist Academy unless it threatened the Saint, and the steward advised them to help the Fourth Prince solve more problems than his rivals.

Zhang San, Wang Er, and Li Si accepted a quest to investigate an ancient well and navigated a deadly underground dungeon to find Longevity Water. When Wang Er betrayed the others over the reward, Zhang San revived in the village and Wang Er fled while accusing Li Si of attacking him.

• Zhang San, Wang Er, and Li Si accepted a quest from Zheng Dong to investigate the ancient well in the Huai Tree Forest.
• The three descended into the well, triggered traps, escaped a rolling stone sphere, and continued through hidden passages.
• Zhang San tied the group together and blindfolded them to get past illusions, and they solved a Five Elements puzzle that opened a secret room.
• The three found a bottle of Longevity Water, and Wang Er stabbed Zhang San to reduce the number of people sharing it.
• Wang Er blocked Li Si's counterattack, while Zhang San died and revived in the village Safe Zone.
• Wang Er took the Longevity Water and accused Li Si of attacking him in the event channel, winning sympathy from some players.

Gao Linzhi watched the operators manipulate Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Er through memory resets and staged quest events, while the three searched for the object of Immortality. The chapter ended with Brother Ming realizing that the Golden Apple he had stolen was far more valuable than the gold he received for it.

• After Zhang San revived, the operators reset the trio’s memories and perceptions, making them forget the Longevity Water and their progress in the Secret Room.
• Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Er met their former teammate Brother Ming in the tunnel and agreed to search for the object of Immortality together.
• The four fled from a giant centipede, which crashed into a wall at a corner and vanished after Zhang San struck it with his magical iron shovel.
• The group found a Golden Apple in a treasure chest, but Brother Ming knocked the others down and took it.
• Four illusionary government constables appeared, took the Golden Apple, and arrested Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Er as Brother Ming received a pile of gold.
• As Brother Ming left with the gold, he realized he had traded the Golden Apple for far less valuable goods.

During Zhang San and the others’ mission, players in the Official Built-in Group discussed how to improve the memory-reset mission and learned that it was designed to identify players who could detect altered memories. Skyfall's Most Handsome said those players would receive extra access to Revival Stones and be cultivated to fight anomalies.

• Ah Kai District 47 joined the group and learned that veteran players had left because exposing themselves there put them at risk of being cursed.
• The players criticized the mission for resetting memories without clues and suggested using changing objects or injuries to reveal mismatches between memory and reality.
• Skyfall's Most Handsome explained that players who independently noticed the anomalies would become Objects of Key Cultivation and Observation and gain an Additional Exchange Channel for Revival Stones.
• Skyfall's Most Handsome said the game needed such players to resist memory-altering anomalies and prepare for an eventual all-out conflict with them and the imperial court.

Gao Linzhi discovered that the Longevity Water task screened players for resistance to illusions and memory alteration, then led his subordinates through the trial. After overcoming the mental interference and defeating the illusions, they earned the Green Tier Chosen One title frame, which protected against White Tier anomaly mental attacks.

• Gao Linzhi deduced that the Longevity Water task tested players' mental resistance and awarded a special name frame to those who saw through the memory reset.
• Gao Linzhi led Xu Gou, Wuliao, Dragon Fruit, and Puppet Best to the ancient well, where they solved a puzzle and found a bottle of uncertain Longevity Water.
• A memory-altering illusion affected the group as they left the secret room; Wuliao resisted with Single Player's protection, while Puppet Best and Gao Linzhi were barely affected.
• Gao Linzhi explained that the trial warned them about enemies that attacked minds and altered memories, and Xu Gou gradually recalled what had happened.
• Gao Linzhi led the group through the remaining illusions, killing the officials and giant centipede, and they completed the quest.
• The Game System awarded Gao Linzhi's group the Green Tier Chosen One title frame, which could resist mental attacks from White Tier anomalies.

Gao Linzhi equipped the Chosen One title frame as three players allied with the Fourth Prince planned to use the court’s tribute voyage to Wolf Snake Island against him. The players studied the route’s anomaly hazards and learned that its final key stretch lay in a Lightning Zone.

• Gao Linzhi equipped the Chosen One title frame, which turned his ID green, and learned that missions could upgrade it.
• The three players at the Fourth Prince’s residence decided to target Gao Linzhi by steering the court’s tribute voyage toward Wolf Snake Island.
• The players examined the distant route and identified three transportation hubs they would need to secure for the court’s ships.
• The palace steward explained that the giant anomaly at the first hub could curse anyone who deliberately angered it, so the players decided to monitor the area rather than provoke it.
• The steward described the piranhas and Sleepy Anomaly at the second hub, then revealed that the third hub was dangerous because it lay in a Lightning Zone.

The prince's steward explained how the Sky Wolf Dynasty collected tribute from dangerous islands, and three players began planning to use the court's authority to enlist local governors. Meanwhile, Zhang San, Wang Er, and Li Si fell into another Memory Reset illusion that convinced them they were zoo workers until a talking dinosaur appeared at their door.

• The prince's steward described the perilous sea routes, the court's tribute-collection system, and why the dynasty kept its distant islands.
• Player One asked why the court did not abandon the faraway islands, and the steward explained that they might yield rare treasures, including something that granted Immortality.
• Player Two initially gave up on using the court against their target, but the three players decided to enlist local governors through the court's authority.
• Zhang San, Wang Er, and Li Si were struck by another Memory Reset and dreamed they had escaped prison, wandered without food, and woken in their old lives as zoo workers.
• Zhang San and Li Si discovered that a talking dinosaur from their zoo had come to Li Si's apartment, and Wang Er explained that it had been bred using their genes.
• Li Si called the police while Zhang San and Li Si remained unaware that their apparent return to ordinary life was an illusion.

Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Er endured an illusion in which a dinosaur terrorized their neighborhood, then realized they had been tricked and returned to East Wolf Village. After the Official Built-in Group watched a recording of their ordeal, Skyfall's Most Handsome asked the top players how they would solve the mission.

• A dinosaur killed Sister Wang and grew larger after eating her, while Li Si and Zhang San waited for the zoo director to arrive.
• The director and patrol officers appeared to capture the dinosaur, but Wang Er warned Zhang San and Li Si not to trust what they saw.
• The dinosaur attacked again, killed Gao Xiang and others, and was eventually shot by arriving patrol officers.
• Zhang San and Li Si recognized that the bizarre events were an illusion, and Zhang San stabbed himself to wake up in East Wolf Village with Wang Er and Li Si.
• The top players watched the game authorities' recording of the men's experiences, and Skyfall's Most Handsome asked how they would solve the mission.

Gao Linzhi received the main-story quest to overthrow the Sky Wolf Dynasty just as Prefect Liu’s soldiers arrived to demand ships, human sacrifices, tribute, and women from the village. When Gao Linzhi refused, a level 65 saber expert attacked him, and the elders rushed to defend him.

• Empty 2086 explained how to recognize illusions, and Skyfall's Most Handsome rewarded him with access to a main-story quest.
• Gao Linzhi triggered the quest to overthrow the Sky Wolf Dynasty and decided to join the Werewolf Team despite worrying about the court’s strength.
• Gao Linzhi and the elders went to the shore to meet three ships flying Sea Sky flags, where soldiers blamed the village for a previous shipwreck.
• The soldiers demanded three replacement ships, 300 Human Sacrifices, another decade of tribute, food, and women, and threatened the villagers when they resisted.
• Gao Linzhi mocked the officials, prompting the saber expert to attack him; the Second Elder sent puppets to fight, and the Third Elder used a jade talisman to block the first blow.

Gao Linzhi used spells and repeated resurrection to turn the fight against the imperial experts after the knife-wielding Master Qi overwhelmed him. He killed Master Qi, while the master archer remained standing by as the players watched.

• The imperial experts attacked Gao Linzhi and the elders, and the archer killed a player who had been watching.
• Gao Linzhi fought the knife expert with curses, fireballs, and jade talismans, but his Game Character was killed when his defenses failed.
• Gao Linzhi revived behind the knife expert and repeatedly attacked him from blind spots, while the master archer urged Master Qi to retreat.
• Master Qi ignored the warning and kept fighting, his Reverse Blood God Saber making him more powerful but eroding his judgment.
• Gao Linzhi seized an opening and stabbed Master Qi in the lower back, causing his Mysterious Energy to pour out and his blood vessels to rupture.

Gao Linzhi drove the prefect’s fleet from Wolf Snake Island, then helped players destroy it by summoning a giant strange entity and banishing the monster before it reached shore. He confronted the Fenghua Alliance members who had summoned it and killed them, threatening to curse them even if they revived.

• The skilled archer abandoned revenge for Old Zhang and ordered the imperial fleet to retreat, while the soldiers planned to claim a strange entity had killed Zhang.
• The game rewarded Gao Linzhi for driving off the fleet, then offered players a quest to destroy its three ships; the Fenghua Alliance claimed the quest and summoned a giant strange entity with the Daoist Academy’s formation.
• The giant swallowed all three ships and headed toward Wolf Snake Island, but the Fenghua Alliance members left without dealing with it.
• Gao Linzhi used rare materials and an illusion array to turn the giant back toward the ocean and banish it from the island.
• Gao Linzhi confronted the fleeing Fenghua Alliance members, struck them down, and threatened to curse them so revival would not free them.

After punishing Fenghua Alliance, Gao Linzhi followed the headmistress to the Daoist Academy’s main academy using a formation that killed and copied its travelers. He realized the rebels had secretly revived the copied arrivals on a remote ice-field island, and the headmistress led the group farther inland.

• Gao Linzhi mocked Fenghua Alliance for attacking East Wolf Village, and the alliance members fell silent after their threats to target his offline business failed.
• Fenghua Alliance members complained in private about losing Revival Stones and blamed their alliance leader for provoking Gao Linzhi.
• The headmistress invited Gao Linzhi to the main academy, where he found Feng Qi and Luo Shao among the students preparing to travel with four teachers.
• The headmistress activated a blood-red formation that destroyed Gao Linzhi’s Substitute Puppet and transported copies of the travelers to a distant ice field.
• Feng Qi and Luo Shao noticed their missing Revival Stones and realized something was wrong, while Gao Linzhi recognized the headmistress as a puppet and the formation as a cloning method.
• The headmistress identified the island as an overseas rebel territory beyond the Sky Wolf Dynasty’s reach and led everyone deeper into the ice field.

Gao Linzhi and the other candidates began a month-long survival test in a frozen wasteland after the Daoist Academy sealed away their extraordinary powers. As hunger drove candidates to turn on one another, Feng Qi and Luo Shao approached Gao Linzhi, leaving him facing a threat from the people who had assumed he was weak.

• The Headmaster gathered 254 candidates from new and old zones and announced that five would be selected to receive powerful mystic arts after tests of virtue, strength, and intelligence.
• The Headmaster stripped the candidates of their extraordinary powers and separated them in a blizzard for the first survival test.
• The candidates built snow shelters and searched for food, finding only moss, decaying matter, and bones beneath the ice.
• As the days passed, many candidates refused to eat the meager finds and began considering whether to prey on one another for meat.
• On the eighth day, candidates began attacking each other, while Gao Linzhi kept apart from the groups.
• Feng Qi and Luo Shao, weakened by hunger, came to Gao Linzhi intending to eat him because they thought he was weaker than the old-zone players.

Gao Linzhi watched the players turn to cannibalism as hunger and cold devastated the frozen wasteland. When the survivors demanded his secret to staying warm and attacked him, he defeated them, leaving only five people alive as the trial neared its end.

• Gao Linzhi hid from the fighting while players hunted and ate one another, and he observed that the snowfall preserved footprints and trapped them in the mountain chief’s trial.
• After food became plentiful, the remaining players built underground shelters, but falling temperatures and a lack of fuel left them at risk of freezing.
• The survivors tracked Gao Linzhi to his shelter and demanded that he share his way of surviving the cold, but he refused and warned them to leave.
• The players attacked Gao Linzhi, whose Substitute Puppet retained its strength, and he killed the attackers despite their pleas for mercy.
• Only five people remained: Gao Linzhi, one other player, and three natives who survived by using the Turtle Breathing Technique.

After surviving the first trial, Gao Linzhi and four others faced a second test of courage: driving away or destroying a gigantic Ice and Snow Giant Anomaly. As Wang Da proposed using another Strange Being against it, the group remained in danger and Wang Da eyed his brothers coldly.

• The head of the academy announced that Gao Linzhi, Wanshi Suifeng, and the Wang Family Three Brothers had passed the first trial and must now prove their courage.
• The head of the academy summoned a thousand-meter Ice and Snow Giant Anomaly and ordered the five to drive it away or destroy it.
• Gao Linzhi realized that the test judged their willingness to confront a powerful enemy, but he kept his own solution to himself because it could put the others at risk.
• Wang Da explained that the imperial court had seized his family's territory and killed his father, while his brothers urged him to abandon the trial and survive.
• Wang Da proposed using another Strange Being to counter the giant, and Wanshi Suifeng mentioned Canxue's jade talismans before Wang Da looked coldly at his brothers.

Wang Da tried to drive away the Ice and Snow Giant Anomaly by sacrificing his twin brothers, but the giant’s sneeze erased their souls. Gao Linzhi then made over ten thousand Ice Snow Dolls for a new ritual, and the giant opened its eyes to look at them.

• Female Player Sui Feng found that her Story Instance Tickets could not be used on the Ice and Snow Giant Anomaly, so Wang Da proposed a Method of Sacrifice using his twin brothers, Wang Qiang and Wang Shun.
• Wang Da got Wang Qiang and Wang Shun drunk, tied them to a bloodstained altar, and performed the ritual while promising they would be honored as ancestral spirits.
• Wang Qiang and Wang Shun’s souls drifted toward the giant, but it sneezed and made both souls dissipate.
• Gao Linzhi explained that the ritual needed far more offerings and suggested making dolls from the surrounding ice and snow.
• Gao Linzhi used his Expert Level Crafting skill to create more than ten thousand Ice Snow Dolls, and Female Player Sui Feng arranged them into a ritual.
• The Ice and Snow Giant opened its eyes and looked toward the dolls.

Gao Linzhi lured the giant anomaly away by feeding it Ice Snow Dolls, then impressed the Mountain Chief with his Proclamation of Conquest and won the right to learn a skill. He chose the Immortality category and learned that its Petrification Technique turned his Game Character to stone, while the Mountain Chief explained how she used petrification to extend her own life.

• Gao Linzhi awakened the giant anomaly, discovered it was hungry, and used Ice Snow Dolls to lure it away from its original spot.
• The Mountain Chief praised Gao Linzhi and his companions for passing the second trial, then set a third trial requiring them to write a Proclamation of Conquest denouncing the imperial court.
• Gao Linzhi submitted a proclamation inspired by late Ming thinkers, which the Mountain Chief praised, while Wang Da and Female Player Sui Feng failed to impress her.
• The Mountain Chief awarded Wang Da the Seven-Three Heart-Breaking Technique as compensation, then summoned Gao Linzhi for instruction in Immortality, protection, and curses.
• Gao Linzhi chose Immortality, and the Mountain Chief used the Petrification Technique to turn his Game Character into stone; she explained that her own true body had been petrified for thousands of years.

Gao Linzhi began learning the dean’s Petrification Technique, while the Game System merged his immortality-related skills and pushed his constitution and spirit toward new limits. Elsewhere, the Association considered offering him an Incense Longevity Path to bind his survival to humanity and the planet.

• The dean revealed that she was an Immortality Being and explained why she opposed the Sky Wolf Dynasty, then agreed to teach Gao Linzhi the Petrification Technique in exchange for his help.
• The dean taught Gao Linzhi the first stage, Heart Transforms into Stone, and instructed him to steady his emotions and still his mind.
• The Game System began merging Gao Linzhi’s immortality-related skills into a Beginner Longevity Technique and estimated that his constitution and spirit would both surpass 2,000.
• Players competed for advantages as conflict grew among the imperial court, local powers, and the Daoist Academy.
• The Association discussed Gao Linzhi’s pursuit of immortality and proposed using an Incense Longevity Path to tie his survival to humanity and the planet.

The Longevity Society formed around a genuine pursuit of Immortality rather than trying to bind Gao Linzhi with the Incense Path. As weirdness began invading reality, Gao Linzhi monitored the public response while companies issued warnings and banned incense.

• The female team leader warned that the Incense Path would alienate Gao Linzhi, so the group agreed to form the Longevity Society and pursue Immortality sincerely.
• A global radio broadcast warned residents to avoid strange creatures, report incidents, and protect the scene, and Gao Linzhi realized weirdness had begun invading cities.
• Gao Linzhi sent the Corpse Vine to check the Archipelago Forum and saw people debating the Federation's warnings while other residents remained confused.
• Companies began sharing different amounts of information about weirdness, and Ancheng residents were warned to stay home and report White Mist, unexplained laughter, and white shadows.
• Companies banned the private production, sale, and burning of incense and candles because incense could attract anomalies.

Gao Linzhi saw a recruitment post for the Longevity Society, an organization claiming to possess three paths to immortality, and joined after demonstrating his research into the Petrification Method. The group welcomed him and offered members Revival Stones for protection during gatherings in the game.

• Companies banned incense and candle production to reduce the attention anomalies could draw, though lax enforcement allowed anomalies to hide and grow in some cities.
• Gao Linzhi read the Longevity Society's recruitment post, which described the Petrification, Evergreen, and Incense Paths and invited people interested in immortality to apply.
• Gao Linzhi privately messaged the recruiter, rejected the Incense Path, and described his progress on the three steps of the Petrification Method.
• The Longevity Society approved Gao Linzhi and added him to its group, where the group owner offered members privacy protections and Revival Stones before online gatherings.

Gao Linzhi attended the Longevity Society’s first online meeting, where its leader proposed an in-game gathering on Wolf Snake Island to build a network for pursuing immortality. After collecting a disguise mask and entering the Safe Zone, Gao Linzhi explored its expanded underground levels and learned that Serenity Company paid the Four Village Trading Company nearly three hundred kilograms of gold in monthly rent.

• The group leader described the dangers facing Rogue Players and proposed organizing the Longevity Society to share knowledge and pursue immortality.
• The leader set the society’s first in-game gathering for eight o’clock that night on Level Six underground in Wolf Snake Island’s Safe Zone, and Gao Linzhi sent villagers to retrieve his disguise mask.
• Gao Linzhi distrusted the society’s mask, bought an identical one from the game store, disguised himself, and traveled to the Safe Zone.
• Gao Linzhi explored the vast Safe Zone and arrived at its sixth basement level, where Serenity Company operated an entertainment complex.
• Gao Linzhi contacted Boredom and learned that Serenity Company paid the Four Village Trading Company nearly three hundred kilograms of gold in monthly rent.

Gao Linzhi attended the Longevity Society gathering, where he met Chang Tian and debated whether immortality required preserving the body or abandoning it. The host, Chang Yu, outlined the gathering’s agenda and admitted that the organizers hoped to be first to learn of any path to immortality.

• Chang Qing escorted Gao Linzhi through the Longevity Society’s four entertainment halls, but Gao Linzhi declined to indulge and went straight to the gathering venue.
• Chang Tian welcomed Gao Linzhi with tea, and the two discussed why emperors seeking immortality had struggled to give up power.
• Gao Linzhi said arguments about immortality required concrete evidence as attendees debated whether the body or spirit should be preserved.
• A member cited the long-lived Wen Yuan Shen Jun and a scholar’s sudden success as evidence for spiritual immortality, while others questioned whether the transformed person remained the same individual.
• Chang Yu introduced himself as the gathering’s host, outlined the program, and acknowledged that the organizers hoped to be the first to learn of any successful path to immortality.