Chapter Summaries

Hellscream unleashed a terrifying transformation and destroyed the mutant temple guardian, then blamed himself for struggling against it. Shen Xing encouraged him, and Hellscream regained his determination as the fighting ended.

• The fallen temple guardian transformed into a mutant creature and drained several of Hellscream’s clones with its roots.
• The guardian captured and weakened Hellscream, while it knocked Gorehowl and his warg away.
• Fried Chicken rescued Hellscream, and they fought the guardian together but struggled against its rapid recovery.
• Hellscream activated Half-Demon Transformation, embraced the guardian, and burned it to ash with black flames.
• Hellscream knelt before Shen Xing and apologized for his weakness, but Shen Xing reassured him and restored his fighting spirit.

After defeating the Fallen Temple Guardian, Shen Xing rose to rank 89 and collected the boss’s valuable drops. He discovered the Sacred Statue’s Nature Offering could redistribute sacrificed attributes and prepared to test it.

• Shen Xing checked the leaderboard and saw he had reached rank 89 with 562 points.
• Shen Xing collected the boss’s drops, including the Decayed Dark Tree Heart, Dark Gem, Believer’s Pendant, and Black Spirit Wood.
• Shen Xing examined the Decayed Dark Tree Heart and Dark Gem, then equipped the Believer’s Pendant for its Spirit boost and protection.
• Shen Xing inspected the Sacred Statue and found that Nature Offering could redistribute one attribute among a creature’s other attributes.
• Shen Xing selected Agility for sacrifice and learned he could trade up to 100 Agility for a combined 70 points in Strength, Spirit, and Constitution.

After using all ten Nature Offering sacrifices to strengthen his territory’s core members, Shen Xing triggered the Goddess of Nature statue’s hidden Holy Gift option. His sacrifice caused the statue to shatter, revealing a Golden Ancient Tree Seed that he planned to cultivate in his territory.

• Shen Xing sacrificed 100 Agility and received 70 attribute points, which strengthened his body’s other attributes.
• Shen Xing used his remaining nine offerings to strengthen Hellscream and other core members of his territory.
• After ten sacrifices, the system revealed the Holy Gift option, which required a sacrifice of 1,000 points in one attribute or 250 in each attribute.
• Shen Xing attempted the Holy Gift sacrifice, and the Goddess of Nature statue cracked and collapsed without giving an immediate notification.
• Shen Xing used Hand of the Void to uncover a Golden Ancient Tree Seed among the statue’s fragments and learned it could grow a new Golden Ancient Tree.

Shen Xing took Leina back to the territory on Fried Chicken after explaining they needed to return quickly. Once they arrived, he checked the defenses and prepared to process the gains from their outing.

• Shen Xing told Leina to ride behind him on Fried Chicken so they could reach the territory quickly.
• Fried Chicken flew erratically, repeatedly sending Leina against Shen Xing before they reached the territory.
• Fried Chicken landed in the territory, where Leina hurried away to dry herself and Shen Xing climbed down.
• Shen Xing inspected the walls and found that the defenders and traps had easily defeated another wave of monsters.
• Shen Xing finished checking the defenses and prepared to process the outing’s gains.

Shen Xing discovered that Nimue’s bread could permanently increase constitution, while her experimental soup offered spirit resistance at a dangerous cost. He left Nimue to bake more bread and went to plant the Golden Ancient Tree Seed, but first searched the Pioneer Forum for planting advice.

• Nimue brought Shen Xing purple-quality Moonlight Vitality Bread, which increased constitution and improved stamina recovery.
• Shen Xing ate one loaf, gained a point of constitution, and ordered Nimue to set aside the purple-quality loaves for distribution.
• Nimue showed Shen Xing a strange soup that increased spirit resistance but could cause severe symptoms, and he persuaded her to make it only for Gorehowl, Da Hou, and the others.
• Shen Xing left the food processing plant and went to a clearing near the Bonfire to plant the Golden Ancient Tree Seed.
• Shen Xing searched the Pioneer Forum for planting guidance but found only posts introducing ancient trees.

Shen Xing learned how to plant his rare Golden Ancient Tree seed and activated it with his blood before watering it with Moon Well water. As he turned to deal with other rewards, the tavern recruited a newcomer: a towering cyclops.

• Shen Xing asked Xia Wanyin about planting ancient tree seeds, and she consulted her sister Lingyin, who said the seed needed to be planted near the Bonfire and activated with the lord’s blood.
• Xia Wanyin told Shen Xing to water the planted seed regularly with life-rich water, and offered to help him locate nearby resource points after the leaderboard event.
• Shen Xing cut his palm, let his blood fall onto the Golden Ancient Tree seed, buried it in red soil, and watered it with Moon Well water.
• Shen Xing noticed a tremor and a beam of light at the tavern, signaling that it had recruited someone new.
• A cyclops over five meters tall emerged from the tavern carrying an iron hammer.

Shen Xing recruited Logan Stonebreaker, an intermediate blacksmith fleeing a group of dwarves, after verifying his skills by having him forge blue-quality armor. Logan joined the territory and began making equipment, leaving Shen Xing with a blacksmith to support his troops.

• Logan told Shen Xing that he was an intermediate blacksmith who could forge blue- or green-quality equipment, but admitted that dwarves were pursuing him.
• Shen Xing recruited Logan and gave him Moonlight Bread after learning he had gone several days without food.
• Shen Xing asked Logan to forge Ascetic's Light Armor, and Logan completed a well-crafted set in about twenty minutes.
• Shen Xing approved of Logan's work and ordered him to make a hundred sets of light armor.
• Logan ate thirty loaves of bread, drank three buckets of water, and returned to the smithy to begin forging.

Shen Xing used the Decayed Dark Tree Heart to transform Xiao Hei into a Black Moon Death Knight, greatly increasing his power and potential. After inspecting Xiao Hei’s new abilities, Shen Xing recognized that he had risen to nearly Hellscream’s level.

• Shen Xing reorganized the territory with gates, stone paths, benches, and guardian statues, then chose Xiao Hei to absorb the Decayed Dark Tree Heart.
• Xiao Hei absorbed the heart, endured its corrupting power, and recalled that he was an Upper Waxing Knight of the Black Moon Knights serving the Dark Moon Goddess, Luyana.
• Xiao Hei’s darkness and decay fused into death energy, awakening the hidden Black Moon Death Knight class and raising him to level 9 and Boss One Star potential.
• Shen Xing examined Xiao Hei’s Death Energy Mastery, Death Grip, and Evil Moon Force Field skills and assessed his new strength as nearly equal to Hellscream’s.

After Xiao Hei awakened fragments of his past and gained new power, Shen Xing gave him material to advance and continued developing his territory. Back in the real world, Shen Xing learned that Xu Jiayi and his friends were also climbing the rankings, while he remained 95th.

• Xiao Hei thanked Shen Xing for helping him fuse with the tree heart and described fragmented memories of the Black Moon Knights, the Black Moon Goddess, and an ancient being in the mist.
• Shen Xing gave Xiao Hei a [Black Moon Broken Blade] so he could advance to Tier Two, then considered how difficult it would be to promote troops to hero units.
• Shen Xing saw that his ranking had fallen to 95th with 715 points, upgraded the [Great Bonfire] and [Skeleton Archer] nest, and planned to recruit more troops.
• Shen Xing returned to his villa and realized that [Moonlight Bread] had kept him full, so he closed his food delivery app.
• Cilantro Who Loves to Play confirmed Shen Xing was 95th; Qin Lang said he and Xu Jiayi had been struggling, but Xu Jiayi revealed she was 947th and Cilantro said he was 2,300th.

Shen Xing learned that several powerful classes required painful or life-consuming sacrifices, then found himself listed among Hua Country’s top hundred newcomers. The Jiangcheng Player Association identified him as a potential target and prepared a special operation to protect him and seize suspected foreign agents.

• Qin Lang explained that his Sacrifice Knight skills consumed life force and described other classes that gained power through self-inflicted pain or injuries.
• Shen Xing worried about the effects of sacrificing life force, then considered whether sacrifice was a deeper principle behind the game’s powers and rewards.
• Shen Xing read a forum profile listing him at rank ninety-fifth among Hua Country’s top hundred lords, while commenters debated which Shen Xing he was.
• Shen Xing checked the matching status of his [Shattered Eyeball] and bought a level 4 lantern to support further exploration.
• Elder Wang and Zhou Zheng concluded that the ranked Shen Xing was likely the Jiangcheng player who won the Mist Void Realm and planned to protect him by rounding up suspected foreign agents.

Shen Xing received the Mourning Black Bone and lantern, then entered the Land of Mist as his territory and troops grew stronger. After learning that his forces had repelled three monster waves overnight, he prepared to use the new advancement material to strengthen his army further.

• Elder Wang detected a Class A anomalous energy signature over the city and set out to handle it, then realized his Tier Three Shadow of the Mad Dragon Scroll was missing.
• A girl in white celebrated Shen Xing’s top-hundred ranking but decided not to tell her big sister that he was her in-game friend.
• A tall woman used her Gluttony talent to make an archer devour two Boss One Star archers and advance to Boss Two Star.
• Shen Xing received a message that the Anomaly Handling Bureau had found Mourning Black Bone, and a courier delivered it with the lantern he had purchased.
• Shen Xing transferred both items into the game and saw notifications that his Great Bonfire and Skeleton Archer Den had advanced and Xiao Hei had reached Tier Two.
• Hellscream told Shen Xing that the troops had defeated three monster waves overnight and handed over their spoils.

Shen Xing strengthened his forces by evolving Xiao Hei, recruiting skeleton archers, and directing several units to explore and gather resources. His territory gained another Tier Two fighter, Black Arrow, and Shen Xing reached level 9, the current tier limit.

• Xiao Hei broke through to Boss Two Stars after Shen Xing used Life-Sacrifice Evolution, gaining Death Moon Shield and Full Moon Evil Light Slash.
• Shen Xing sent Xiao Hei and the Black Moon Knights to explore east, while Hellscream and Gorehowl led orcs north to investigate a lava cavern and gather Hellfire Seeds.
• Shen Xing gave Black Arrow a Mourning Black Bone, and Black Arrow absorbed it and broke through to Tier Two.
• Shen Xing recruited thirty Common 3-Star Skeleton Archers, activating bonds that increased their agility, armor penetration, and range.
• Shen Xing absorbed Soul Stones until he reached level 9, the current tier limit.

Shen Xing reached level 9, prepared to pursue a Tier Two breakthrough, and flew to the lava cave after seeing his troops fight there. He found a vast underground lava pool where hell creatures continued to emerge.

• Shen Xing reached level 9, noted that he had hit the level cap, and planned to save money for a Tier Two Lord's Heart.
• Shen Xing saw his leaderboard points rising rapidly while two orcs had died, so he decided to go to the lava cave himself.
• Shen Xing left Leina in charge of the territory's defenses and flew with Fried Chicken into the Black Sky Wing Mountain Range.
• Shen Xing found battle traces and the bodies of lemures and hell imps along an underground lava river.
• Shen Xing reached a huge lava pool more than a kilometer across, where lemures, hell imps, flame bats, and other creatures kept emerging.

Shen Xing arrived at a lava pool where his orcs were battling hell creatures and helped turn the fight with Fried Chicken. As the exhausted troops prepared to retreat, a powerful hell war demon emerged, and Hellscream confronted it to protect Shen Xing.

• Shen Xing saw the orcs and wolf riders fighting a swarm of hell creatures around a flaming greatsword in the lava pool.
• Shen Xing sent Fried Chicken into the enemy’s flying ranks, easing pressure on the orcs.
• Hellscream explained that he had led the army upstream hoping to claim the greatsword, but a powerful aura and relentless enemies had trapped them in battle.
• Shen Xing ordered the wounded orcs to retreat, but a hell war demon erupted from the lava and its aura weakened Hellscream.
• Shen Xing began withdrawing with Hellscream on Fried Chicken, but the war demon attacked, and Hellscream struck back to shield Shen Xing.

Shen Xing’s forces fought their way through a cave full of hell creatures, where Hellscream killed a Hell War Demon and uncovered a Hell Portal. Shen Xing decided to leave the portal open temporarily to farm monsters, then led his wounded troops back to the territory with valuable loot.

• Hellscream severed a Hell War Demon’s arm, dragged it into lava, and killed it, revealing a Two-Eyed Hell Portal beneath the pool.
• Shen Xing decided to keep the portal intact for now and use it as a place to earn points and materials, destroying it if it showed signs of evolving.
• Shen Xing ordered the exhausted orcs to retreat from the cave, while Gorehowl’s wolf riders covered them and Shen Xing gathered loot.
• Hellscream returned to the territory with the wounded orcs, where Shen Xing told them to rest and promised they would return to the cave the next day.
• Hellscream gave Shen Xing the spoils, including Greater Soul Stones, a Demon Flame Turret crafting blueprint, and a Demon Bone Blade advancement material.

Shen Xing arranged for Logan to build a Demon Flame Turret and listed a Demon Bone Blade for trade while reflecting on his falling rank and the growing number of Mist lords. After Shen Xing dropped out of the top hundred, Elder Wang decided to send him a valuable treasure to help him advance.

• Shen Xing gave Logan the materials and blueprint for a Demon Flame Turret, then listed the Demon Bone Blade on the Pioneer Forum in exchange for troop advancement materials.
• Shen Xing saw that his points had risen to 1,772 but his rank had fallen from 95th to 112th, and he read forum comments identifying him as a recent Void Realm champion from Jiangcheng.
• Shen Xing learned that more than 20,000 novice lords had appeared in Hua Country over two days and saw that Wu Wen had entered the global top ten.
• Elder Wang and Jiang Rong discussed Shen Xing's potential and his shallow foundation after he fell out of the top hundred.
• Elder Wang gave Jiang Rong a black box containing a valuable treasure and asked her to deliver it to Shen Xing.

Shen Xing summoned Fried Chicken to destroy a B-rank energy point filled with Stone-Eyed Fleas and collect their valuable eyes. As they cleaned up, one flea launched a surprise attack, but Fried Chicken struck it before Shen Xing could respond.

• Shen Xing detected a Transcendent Rank aura near his home and went out with Fried Chicken to investigate.
• Shen Xing and Fried Chicken found Stone-Eyed Fleas by the White Dragon River, including a Transcendent Rank one.
• Fried Chicken killed the fleas with Thousand Feather Funeral, and Shen Xing reported the cleared energy point to the bounty section.
• Fried Chicken ate the flea corpses while spitting out their valuable eyes, which Shen Xing collected.
• A surviving flea leapt at Shen Xing from behind, but a feather struck it before he could use Hand of the Void.

Shen Xing collected the rewards from the Stone-Eyed Fleas and received a package from the Anomaly Handling Bureau. The package contained a black box, a document, and a letter from deputy director Wang Kun, which Shen Xing began to read.

• Yu Feifei claimed Shen Xing owed her a favor for saving him, and he agreed after she threatened to reveal the words he used to summon the Hippogryph.
• Shen Xing counted the Stone Eyes he had collected, received 1,000 contribution points for reporting a grade B mist anomaly, and arranged to sell the Common Stone Eyes while keeping the Rare one.
• The next day, an Anomaly Handling Bureau courier brought Shen Xing a package and collected 33 Common Stone Eyes for buyback.
• Shen Xing opened the package and found a black box, a document, and a letter from Jiangcheng Anomaly Handling Bureau deputy director Wang Kun congratulating him on his ranking.

Shen Xing received a villa ownership certificate and a powerful Broken Shadow Demon Ring from Elder Wang, then discovered that a Stone Eye Gem activated a hidden ability in Captain Jack's Spyglass. He accidentally used the spyglass to see through walls and caught sight of Leina changing, who sensed him and looked up.

• Shen Xing found that Elder Wang had transferred ownership of his River Bay villa to him and gifted him a cracked ring that could summon the Soul of the Shadow Demon Dragon for five seconds.
• Shen Xing examined the Stone Eye Gem and decided to socket it into Hellscream's Blackwater Greataxe.
• Shen Xing discovered his spyglass reacted to the gem and fitted it into the device, unlocking a 3,000-meter scouting range and the Insight ability.
• Shen Xing used Insight to see through the walls of nearby buildings and observe the orcs and the cyclops at work.
• Shen Xing pointed the spyglass toward Leina and saw her changing; Leina sensed his gaze and looked up at him.

Shen Xing assembled his forces, evolved Xiao Hei into a three-star Boss, and led the army toward the northern mountains. In the underground cavern, his troops charged the hell army as the battle began.

• Shen Xing recruited sixteen lesser demons and twenty orcs, collected Moonlight Bread and Moonlight Spring Water, and assembled more than two hundred combat units.
• Shen Xing used Life-Sacrifice Evolution on Xiao Hei, advancing him to Boss ★★★ and unlocking Black Moon Tide.
• Shen Xing sent Leina, the lesser demons, and ten orcs to defend the territory, then flew north with Fried Chicken to join the main force.
• Shen Xing waited for Hellscream and the troops at the underground passage, then led them into the cavern filled with hell creatures.
• Gorehowl led the wolf riders in a charge, and the orcs and hell monsters clashed across the battlefield.