Chapter Summaries

Broken Star recruited Li Zheng and nine other players into the Against the Tide Legion’s first-stage reserve training camp at Snow Valley, where they began training among elite youths from many races. As the chapter ended, the players faced their first trainee’s challenge and answered Ghost Eye’s questions with invented clan names.

• Elder You agreed to let Broken Star use ten Heavenly Talisman Race slots to recruit players, and Broken Star invited Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinder Group into the reserve camp after Qi Sheng triggered a quest.
• Elder You brought the players to Snow Valley, where Broken Star explained the five training stages and warned them to stand their ground without killing other trainees.
• Kuang Sha, the camp’s chief combat instructor, recorded the players’ unusual circumstances, explained camp rules and facilities, and ordered them to assemble at the Training Ground the next morning.
• Kuang Sha jolted the players awake, then sent them flying into a wall when they were slow to assemble; they rushed to the Training Ground and saw dozens of alien trainees whose Hunting Levels surpassed their own.
• Ghost Eye, a Four-Eyed Race trainee, challenged Li Zheng and his companions about their race, and they replied with joking names such as the Not Enough Sleep clan and the Not Enough Pay clan.

Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinder Group endured brutal training and repeated beatings from Ghost Eye and the Four-Eyed Race trainees, then devised a way to strike back by ruining their meals. The chapter left the two groups brawling again in the cafeteria as Li Zheng’s hunger tactics kept the Four-Eyed Race from eating.

• Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinder Group struggled through a snowy mountain climb, fought Ghost Eye and his fellow Four-Eyed Race trainees, and were beaten before finishing their training.
• At dinner, the Four-Eyed Race beat Li Zheng’s group again, and Li Zheng realized that starting fights during mealtimes could keep them from eating.
• Li Zheng’s group attacked the Four-Eyed Race at breakfast and dinner, leaving both groups hungry while Kuang Sha grew furious at their dirty fighting.
• After eating canned food and spirit fish overnight, Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinder Group attacked again at breakfast, kicked over the Four-Eyed Race’s table, and scattered their Spirit Food.

Li Zheng and the Player Race kept the Four-Eyed Race and the other recruits from eating during training-camp meals, triggering increasingly chaotic cafeteria brawls. After seven days, Kuang Sha banned fighting for one meal, but Ghost Eye’s relief ended when Li Zheng appeared and warned him not to waste food.

• Kuang Sha announced new training subjects, while Li Zheng and the other players interrupted the Four-Eyed Race’s meals to force them to fight.
• The cafeteria brawls spread among the races, and the trainees went hungry as Kuang Sha let them continue so long as they kept training.
• Ghost Eye ordered his clansmen to endure the hunger and refuse to yield to the Player Race.
• After seven days of deprivation, Kuang Sha announced that Water Valley recruits would arrive and forbade fighting during the meal.
• Ghost Eye enjoyed a full meal until Li Zheng called out to him, prompting the Four-Eyed Race trainees to eat faster.

Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinder Group endured the Mental Impact test and earned Body Tempering experience from a medicinal bath, earning the other races’ respect. Two days later, Water Valley Training Camp recruits arrived, and a clash over cafeteria rules left the recruits of both camps fighting.

• Li Zheng and the other Player Race trainees endured Mental Impact until the Purification System blocked the pain, and Kuang Sha ended their test at intensity 200.
• Li Zheng and the others gained 7,284 Body Tempering experience by soaking in Boiling Potion.
• Fifty recruits from Water Valley Training Camp joined the Snow Valley Training Camp trainees, and Kuang Sha announced they would train in opposition to each other.
• E Luo declared that the Poluo Race would eat first and offered the others the choice of waiting or eating food off the floor.
• Li Zheng attacked E Luo, and Ghost Eye joined the fight to defend Eat Dirt as the Snow Valley trainees rallied against the Water Valley recruits.

Qi Sheng assessed the players’ growing strength and the limits of Guide avatars, then released a system update that let players spend sacrificial power to expand Guide’s abilities. Players welcomed the new upgrade and discussed cosmetics, while Qi Sheng planned to tie cosmetic options to a future armed vehicle feature.

• Qi Sheng observed that Li Zheng’s livestream and the Hungry Wolf Corps had become popular, but he still learned nothing about Against the Tide’s identity or whereabouts.
• Players contained Sluggishness, Thundering Lightning, and Roar, whose life souls enabled new Star Meridian combinations and renewed interest in capturing Wonder Butterfly.
• Nightfall Is Coming demonstrated a fast-moving electric-fireball build using Wonder Butterfly’s Wind Control, prompting players to seek the Wind Control life soul while Lu Xing refused to hunt Wonder Butterfly.
• Qi Sheng identified that Guide avatars’ 150-meter analysis and extraction range lagged behind players’ expanding attack range, and decided players should pay to increase it.
• Qi Sheng released version 1.5’s Guide Enhancement System, which raised Guide’s range through sacrificial power and unlocked appearance customization at level 10.
• Players debated the upgrade and asked for clothing cosmetics, while Qi Sheng decided to consider cosmetics as part of the future Armed Vehicles function.

Qi Sheng reviewed the players’ unconventional guilds before observing their assault on Demonfall Pit, where the allied guild army destroyed the Corrosion Core and purified the Domain Node. He merged Demonfall Pit with the Dark Cavern and introduced the Glory Album to record the players’ achievements.

• Qi Sheng identified the Arms Dealer Guild, Gene Ascension, and Fishing Alone in the Snowy River as the players’ three unconventional demonic cults, each of which produced goods for other players.
• Qi Sheng observed Divine King commanding allied guilds in a fierce assault on Demonfall Pit, while Li Tie’s Veteran Corps fought with exceptional discipline and Class Monitor’s lucky roll greatly increased his power.
• Divine King ordered the remaining players to charge, and the allied army destroyed the Corrosion Core, completing the collective quest to purify Demonfall Pit.
• Qi Sheng merged Demonfall Pit with the Dark Cavern, creating a larger underground mining region with faster spirit ore production and higher-quality ore.
• Qi Sheng announced the changes and released the Glory Album, which recorded the players’ major victories and contributions.

Pei Yun sold his game resources and prepared to sacrifice his kidneys to save his mother, Yan Liwan, after her hereditary genetic disorder made treatment in Eclipse City unavailable. Just before the operation, her kidneys miraculously recovered, and Qi Sheng revealed that he had used Sacrificial Power to treat her.

• Pei Yun dismantled his Star Meridian combination and sold his Sacrificial Power to raise money for his mother's treatment, but the doctor told him Eclipse City could not accept new patients.
• Pei Yun insisted on donating his kidneys, passed the compatibility assessment, and prepared for surgery despite knowing it could cost him his life.
• As Pei Yun faced the operation, a young man encouraged him to keep pursuing his dreams, though Pei Yun could not later remember the young man's face.
• The doctor announced that Yan Liwan's kidneys had recovered, and Pei Yun rushed to her ward as she confirmed the news.
• Qi Sheng told Guide that treating Yan Liwan had cost 3.6 Sacrificial Power and ordered it secretly deducted from Pei Yun's earnings.

Qi Sheng and the Di Nian Evil Spirit watched the Combat Zerg attack the Evil Eye Tower, learning that the Zerg had evolved ways to counter the Dark Tide. As the swarm pushed forward and Evil Eye revealed that Monster World's Rule-Level Deities had once slain every invading Demon God, Qi Sheng asked Guide about that battle and received a wildly simplified account.

• The Crystalwing Order attacked the Dark Tide near the Evil Eye Tower, and Qi Sheng learned that their crystalline bodies and energy particles hindered the Dark Tide's devouring and regeneration.
• Qi Sheng and Guide found the Low-Level Master Brain in Phantom Marsh, where Zerg warriors gathered matter for it to consume.
• Qi Sheng realized the Zerg were rushing toward the Evil Eye Tower to weaken the Dark Tide, while the Di Nian Evil Spirit struggled to stop their advance.
• Evil Eye told the Di Nian Evil Spirit that the Combat Zerg had pursued the Dark Tide across worlds and that all Demon Gods sent to Monster World had died fighting its Rule-Level Deities.
• The Di Nian Evil Spirit concentrated his forces against the advancing Zerg, while Evil Eye warned him not to join the battle and disrupt his command.
• Qi Sheng asked Guide about the past war, and Guide recounted how he and his siblings had fought the Demon Gods.

The Dark Tide and the Zerg fought a twenty-hour war that left both sides stronger, while players exploited their distraction to attack domain nodes. After the conflict became a three-way battle, Qi Sheng read a player’s guide proposing that one player carry a spellcaster as a monster-form mount, and the chapter ended with him recognizing that finding a willing buddy was the real challenge.

• The Zerg tide entered the Di Family Mountains and clashed with the Dark Tide, while players discovered that physical attacks were effective against the Zerg warriors.
• The Dark Tide and the Zerg grew stronger by consuming their opponents and adapting their units, but the Dark Tide gained the advantage in the prolonged battle.
• Players watching the battle discussed the Zerg and attacked domain nodes while the two hostile forces were occupied.
• After twenty hours, the Zerg withdrew, and the Di Nian Evil Spirit resumed fighting the players as the three factions turned against one another.
• Qi Sheng read Performance Artist’s guide and watched a demonstration of a spellcaster riding a buddy transformed into a Black-Armored Snake to attack the Zerg.
• Qi Sheng concluded that the mount strategy was feasible but depended on finding a buddy willing to serve as a mount.

Li Zheng and the Snow Valley trainees endured brutal training and hunger while feuding with the Water Valley trainees, then both camps secretly planned nighttime raids. Their clashing ambushes became an all-night brawl that left every trainee unconscious before morning training.

• Li Zheng and the Hardcore Grinder Group hammered the Crystal Wall and endured hunger training, while Kuang Sha explained the camp’s strict food rules and front-line purpose.
• At dinner, Li Zheng started another cafeteria brawl with the Poluo Race, and Kuang Sha led the battered trainees into more willpower training.
• After eating and restoring their mental energy, Li Zheng and the players persuaded Ghost Eye and the Four-Eyed Race to join a nighttime raid on the Poluo Race.
• Po Luo independently organized a nighttime raid on Snow Valley, and both camps’ trainees ran into each other while trying to ambush their rivals.
• Li Zheng and Ghost Eye accused the Water Valley trainees of plotting an ambush, then both sides fought through the night without waking the instructors.
• Kuang Sha found every trainee from both camps unconscious and badly bruised, including Po Luo and Ghost Eye, and sighed at their excessive extra training.

Li Zheng and the Player Race recruits fought the young Ice-Split Race members after Bing Xue insulted them, while other races secretly helped the Player Race. Three days later, the Ice Crack Race Elder arrived to find his starving descendants staring at a tree, and Kuang Sha began explaining what had happened.

• Li Zheng browsed Forum posts while training, then watched the young Ice-Split Race members arrive at the camp under their elder’s guidance.
• Kuang Sha gave the Ice-Split Race descendants priority in the cafeteria, but the ongoing brawl splattered food on them and Bing Xue objected to the camp’s rules.
• Eat Dirt insulted Bing Xue, and Li Zheng kicked him down before leading the Player Race recruits in a fight against the Ice-Split Race members.
• Ghost Eye, Po Luo, and recruits from other races covertly helped the Player Race while they fought the Ice-Split Race members.
• Three days later, the Ice Crack Race Elder found his gaunt, hollow-eyed descendants staring at a Snow Tree, and Kuang Sha said they did not like eating and that he had tried to persuade them.

Qi Sheng planned a new player development area after players struggled to find Primordial Monsters in the Di Family Mountains, and Guide discovered a promising coast threatened by the Evil Moon. He ordered Yan Ming to build a Spatial Teleportation Array there, leaving the trip’s eventual cost to players undecided.

• A forum user complained about scarce Sacrificial Power, Life Soul decomposition fees, and the difficulty of finding Primordial Monsters, while Nightfall Is Coming explained that stronger Star Meridian combinations could offset the costs.
• Forum users discussed how rarely Primordials appeared and noted that Blacksmith had contained five shortly after launch.
• Qi Sheng and Guide concluded that players had reached a bottleneck because the insect tide and Dark Tide blocked expansion beyond the Di Family Mountains, so Qi Sheng proposed creating a new teleportation node.
• Guide found the Colorful Mist Coast, where ocean resources and underwater Primordials could support players, though the advancing Evil Moon was expected to engulf the area within three months.
• Qi Sheng examined the Evil Moon’s territory and decided players could use the coast if they cleared its Corrosion Cores, then chose a sheltered spot inland for the teleportation array.
• Qi Sheng asked Yan Ming to build the array at normal speed, and Guide estimated it would cost about 3,000 Sacrificial Power per day, with the player fare still undecided.

Qi Sheng gained the Forbidden Blade Primordial, and players used it to develop a new Assassin Build Star Meridian combination. After Gray switched to the build and fought through an insect swarm with exceptional skill, a video of his performance changed the Forum debate and showed how much technical ability mattered.

• Qi Sheng received the Forbidden Blade Primordial’s power and learned that Divine Wing Guild players had contained it near Weapon Spirit Valley.
• Shadow Hunter posted an Assassin Build guide combining Black-Armored Snake, Duskshadow, Forbidden Blade, and Shatter, prompting debate over the build’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Lao Gou urged Gray to try the Assassin Build, and Gray changed his Star Meridian combination before the Veteran Corps advanced toward an insect swarm.
• A player posted footage of Gray fighting alone amid the swarm, where his precise attacks and form changes drew widespread praise on the Forum.
• Players reconsidered the Assassin Build’s potential, while Qi Sheng’s behind-the-scenes plan advanced as they recognized the importance of technical skill.

Qi Sheng analyzed why Sacrificial Power was scarce and expensive, then observed the nearly completed Spatial Teleportation Array and a player build that used clones carrying Psionic Bombs to attack the Insect Tide. The build boosted bomb sales, and Qi Sheng considered ways to extract Sacrificial Power from players before deciding that prize draws and other chance-based games were more effective than reselling resources.

• Qi Sheng reviewed player statistics and found that Sacrificial Power output had risen as the Insect Tide drove recruitment and player growth.
• Qi Sheng and Guide analyzed the rising cash price of Sacrificial Power and concluded that paying players' demand far exceeded supply, while virtual jobs had become common in the AI-driven real world.
• Qi Sheng watched Yan Ming guide spatial runes into place and confirmed that the Spatial Teleportation Array was nearing completion.
• Melee Mage God posted a build using Qi Eater, Flowing Shadow, Light Shield, and Psionic Bombs, demonstrating clones charging into the Insect Tide and detonating their bombs.
• Players praised and discussed the clone self-destruct build, while Qi Sheng saw Psionic Bomb sales rise and rejected resource speculation in favor of using prize draws or other chance-based games to collect Sacrificial Power.

Players explored the newly opened Colorful Mist Coast and discovered a temple containing the Snake Ancestor Trial. As Ding Yu prepared to enter its trap-filled corridor, Veteran Corps members began completing the trial and claiming its limited rewards.

• Qi Sheng launched the update, opening the Teleportation Plaza and access to the Colorful Mist Coast, where players explored the new region and fought its powerful, scattered monsters.
• Players found an ancient temple and learned from a translated mural that completing the Snake Ancestor Trial could earn the Snake Ancestor's reward.
• After respawning from repeated failed attempts to fight the Insect Tide, Ding Yu traveled to the temple and read an inscription describing the Snake Ancestor's resistance against the Dark Tide.
• Ding Yu crossed the trial's floating-stone chasm and watched other players struggle with a corridor of randomly triggered traps.
• As Ding Yu prepared to enter the corridor, Blacksmith completed the trial and received 1,400 points of Sacrificial Power, and the game announced that rewards were limited and each player could claim them only once.
• Veteran Corps members' names appeared in successive notifications as they completed the trial.

Qi Sheng explained how he converted the Snake Ancestor trial’s rewards into Sacrificial Power, while Ding Yu mastered the difficult challenge and began carrying other players for a fee. The new service drew a flood of orders and inspired other skilled players to pursue the same opportunity.

• Qi Sheng learned from Guide that the Snake Ancestor’s people had died resisting the Dark Tide, and he converted the trial reward into Sacrificial Power while keeping a 600-point processing fee.
• Ding Yu spent days learning the trial’s stages and finally completed it, earning 1,400 Sacrificial Power and celebrating his achievement.
• The Nurse Is Crazy Too asked Ding Yu to guide him through the trial, and Ding Yu agreed to waive his fee in exchange for testing whether he could carry another player.
• After eight failed attempts, Ding Yu guided The Nurse Is Crazy Too to the summit on their ninth attempt and confirmed that carrying someone through the trial was feasible.
• Ding Yu advertised paid carries on the Forum for 980 Sacrificial Power per clear, received fifty orders, and prompted other skilled players to start learning the trial for similar work.

Divine King led a coordinated assault on the Dark Tide at the Cloudfield Domain Node, using careful formations and tactics to push through Gray Mist Forest. As the battle reached Cloudfield and its Corrupted Plants, Qi Sheng identified game-system changes that would improve command tools and make Purification Mission rewards fairer across player builds.

• Ding Yu's successful temple trial carries inspired other skilled players to offer cheaper carry services, while Divine King gathered guilds and independent groups for another assault on the Cloudfield Domain Node.
• Divine King coordinated attacks on the Rotten Wood Domain Node and Gray Mist Forest, directing the joint force to repel the Dark Tide and advance through the woods.
• Divine King ordered the players to burn away the forest, then slowed their advance until the smoke cleared and the formation could move safely.
• As Cloudfield came into view, Divine King sent Gargoyle-style players ahead to draw the Corrupted Plants' entangling vines while casters attacked with fireballs.
• Watching the battle, Qi Sheng decided to add team communication and command data tools, and to count support actions as well as damage in future Purification Mission rankings.

Ye Xing overcame the plague balls slowing the joint battle group by ordering monster beast style players to carry artifact spirit path fighters into battle, clearing a path to the Corrosion Core. The players purified the Cloudfield Domain Node, received their rewards, and Emperor Tomb Village began expanding.

• Ye Xing sent the few assassin build players after the plague balls, but their losses and limited numbers failed to break the stalemate.
• Ye Xing paired monster beast style players with artifact spirit path players, and their mounted charge killed plague balls and pushed through the Dark Tide.
• The joint battle group advanced to the Corrosion Core, where magic players used Flowing Shadow clones to clear a path through the twisted plants.
• The Corrosion Core ruptured, and the players completed the collective mission to purify the Cloudfield Domain Node.
• The system announced contribution rewards, including Spirit Fields for the top thousand contributors, and Ye Xing thanked the players for winning after three hours and twelve minutes.
• Emperor Tomb Village expanded after absorbing the node, giving players more space and supporting Qi Sheng's plans to accommodate future arrivals.

Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng endured gene seeds to gain body-tempering experience, then traded one to Kuxing, the dying last chief of the Great Flame Tribe. They accepted his offer to inherit his research into a pain-based quasi-rule ability and followed him to the Great Yan Tribe Lands.

• Jiang Cheng complained that Xia Sheng had earned a spirit farmland plot, and the two ate grilled Golden-Claw Crabs before swallowing gene seeds for body-tempering experience.
• After enduring hours of agony, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng met Kuxing, whose analysis identified him as the level-79 last chief of the Great Flame Tribe.
• Xia Sheng traded a gene seed for Kuxing's level-7 Golden Seal Stone, and Kuxing swallowed the seed without showing pain.
• Kuxing offered to teach Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng a supreme divine art, triggering the hidden mission Secret Art Cultivation, and they accepted.
• Kuxing explained that he had researched pain as an ability approaching rule-level power and asked them to help fight the Dark Tide; they agreed and followed him toward the Great Yan Tribe Lands.

Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng accepted Kuxing’s inheritance of Pain Touch, a secret art designed to strike intelligent Evil Spirits through the Dark Tide’s mental connections. As Kuxing inscribed their Pain Brands, Qi Sheng and Guide transformed the energy and integrated the brands into new Star Meridian Slots, granting both players a Pain Life Soul and announcing their hidden mission success to all players.

• Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng visited the Great Yan Tribe Lands, where Kuxing introduced them to the tribe’s deity, Nu'e, and demonstrated his Pain Touch ability.
• Kuxing explained that Pain Touch could damage intelligent Evil Spirits through the Dark Tide’s mental connections, and Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng agreed to learn the secret art.
• Over the next three days, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng endured painful medicinal treatments as Kuxing prepared them to practice Pain Touch.
• Kuxing began inscribing Pain Brands using two Energy Storage Stones, while Qi Sheng and Guide replaced his crude patterns and converted the energy into Sacrificial Power.
• Guide embedded the completed Pain Brands in new fourth Star Meridian Slots and granted Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng the special Pain Life Soul, triggering an all-channel hidden mission announcement.