The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 469 A sign of great misfortune
It has to be said that this model of developing downlines is very effective even in games like Abyss.

With the endorsement of He Ping, the strongest player in the Wasteland, and the support of a network of acquaintances that spreads downwards like a tree root, even if Wu Chang really wanted to fleece the players, he could still fool a large group of them. What's more, the tasks he shared were genuinely profitable.

He received side quest 2 that night, and by the time dawn broke, the quest progress had already reached 100/100, and the number was still rising at an increasingly rapid pace.

Part of the reason is that the members of the Arcane Knights are working too hard. They are so excited by the ever-increasing quest progress bar that they are searching all over the town for acquaintances who have not yet joined the faction.

Another reason is that the players who have priority exploration rights are all of high quality.

World instances are not peaceful games; the struggle for dominance is based on force, not numbers.

If we convert combat power into numerical values, the 1,000 players who entered the world instance first have higher numerical values ​​than the 9,000 players who entered after the world instance officially started.

Whoever can win the majority among these thousand people—the Great Xuan Royal Family or the Human Alliance—will gain the initiative in attacking the Demon Realm.

Of these thousand people, most players come from the four major organizations. Conservatively speaking, half of these members will be recruited into the Great Xuan Royal Family camp.

Wu Chang was not worried about completing the task and receiving the maximum reward.

What he's worried about now is that, despite how hard he's been working to recruit people for Emperor Zhaoning, he never intended to become deeply involved with Emperor Zhaoning from the beginning.

As the storyline of the world instance progresses, he may leave at any time, and if circumstances permit, he may even use his original body to start a new faction.

He certainly wouldn't tell other players about this beforehand. Too many people would gossip, and if someone was blinded by ambition and went to Emperor Zhaoning to report him, how could he possibly profit from Emperor Zhaoning?

Before the change of power, he only had time to gather the members of the Mystic Knights.

He scratched his head. If other players noticed something was wrong when the secret passage dungeon ended, wouldn't they post it on the player forum?
As Side Quest 2 was completed, the members of the Arcane Knights also successively completed the Twelve Earthly Branches quests.

Meng Yawen, who was in charge of all three array points, also fully activated all three array points and brought back the array imprint diagrams from them.

He pieced together the twelve array diagrams to form a complete array diagram. He took out the Omniscient Crystal and further analyzed the complete array diagram, arriving at the same conclusion as when he was at the Hai character array eye.

The essence of the earth-worshiping ritual is a means of stealing the power of the Heavenly Gate.

The sacrificial ceremony can purify the four calamities. Its power originates from the Heavenly Gate and is a power that ordinary cultivators cannot control.

The existence of the earth-worshiping ritual is that the array setter attempts to bypass the Heavenly Gate and seize the ability to purify the four calamities through the array.

The earth-worshiping ceremony can be likened to the artificial god project undertaken by Schultz and He Yun.

The power of gods comes from the power of faith, but without divinity to transform the power of faith into divine power, the power of faith is nothing and cannot be used directly.

In the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven, the existence of the Heavenly Gate is equivalent to the divinity in this process.

Because of the Heavenly Gate, the power of faith gathered through the sacrificial ceremony can purify the four calamities and turn misfortune into good fortune.

The artificial god was able to succeed because Schultz and He Yun deconstructed divinity and could transform the power of faith into divine power through their self-made device, without going through a god.

The purpose of the earth-worshiping ritual is to create a celestial gate belonging to the world's instance plane, allowing people to use abilities that can only be activated by the celestial gate without needing the consent of the beings on the other side of the celestial gate.

Simply put, "using the earth to replace the heavens" means that the immortals, led by the Seven Stars, are attempting to steal the authority of the higher-ranking immortals behind the Heavenly Gate.

No wonder that just when the attempt to replace Heaven with Earth was about to succeed, a catastrophe occurred in the world instance plane, with monsters appearing out of nowhere and occupying the Heavenly Gate.

The beings in the lower planes are not content with providing faith; instead, they are thinking about how to steal the power of the upper planes.

No one would tolerate such a thing happening and would impose sanctions.

If everything in the world instance was caused by the punishment sent down by the immortals, then the appearance of the demons was probably the work of beings located in the third or even fourth layer of the abyss, after the Heavenly Gate.

As Wu Chang thought of this, he recalled the scenes he had seen in Tianquan and Kaiyang Immortal Realm.

In the instanced world, the battle between humans and demons is merely a facade; the actual conflict lies between the Seven Stars and the Heavenly Gate.

No wonder Tianquan didn't think he could win the war before the decisive battle with the demon race, but instead placed his hopes on his descendants.

With their strength, it's safe to say they have no chance of winning a direct battle against the beings behind the Heavenly Gate.

The only chance of victory is to first downgrade the instance to the Desolate Realm, severing the connection between the demon race and the Heavenly Gate, and only then will it be possible to defeat the demon race, which has no backing.

If we can defeat the demon race and completely complete the sacrificial ceremony, it will be equivalent to the instance plane having the abilities of a higher-level plane.

Let alone returning to the Realm of Reason, even ascending to the third level of the Abyss would be nothing more than a natural progression.

Upon deducing the Seven Stars' plan, Wu Chang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the entity behind the Heavenly Gate cannot affect the world instance plane, the monsters inside will not pose any threat to him.

Compared to the dangers within the world instance, he was more concerned about the machinations the Light Society was making behind the scenes.

The world instance severed the control of the deeper beings in the abyss, but it also attracted the immortals of the realm of reason. In a sense, the world instance plane has a strong affinity with immortals.

While Wu Changzhen was examining the complete diagram of the Ziwei Exorcising Array, Wu Changzhen himself was not idle.

When Lü Changgeng learned that there were no remains of immortals inside the sacrificial altar, he crushed a teacup, tore Wu Chang's coat, and turned away with a livid face.

His long-planned scheme was disrupted. According to Lü Changgeng's habit, he needed to meditate on the sword in the quiet room for at least seven days to eliminate distracting thoughts and stabilize his Dao heart.

But he had only been in seclusion for less than half a day when auspicious omens from the sky urged him out of his meditation room.

With over a thousand Celestials entering the Great Profound Realm in one go, the leader of the Human Dao Alliance had absolutely no time to rest.

Receiving over a thousand Celestials in one go was no easy task for the Humanitarian Alliance.

The total number of all core disciples in the Humanity Alliance is less than a thousand. Faced with the massive Celestial Beings, the Humanity Alliance is in a state of chaos.

In order not to neglect the celestial beings and displease them, even the earth immortals, including Wu Chang, were forced to perform their duties and be responsible for receiving the celestial beings.

The city gates were guarded by grandmasters with keen eyesight, who initially divided the celestial beings into different ranks based on their strength.

Those with the strength of a Grandmaster, or those who are outstanding among Grandmasters, will be personally received by the Earth Immortal and the Alliance Leader.

Ordinary grandmasters are received by elders and enshrined masters, while those who are first-rate experts are received by deacons.

As a terrestrial immortal, Wu Chang met many players who ranked high on the combat power list during the meeting, including high-ranking members of the four major organizations.

Including Hou Jingchuan, almost all the high-ranking officials in the Administration Bureau have entered the world instance.

Ultimately, the four major organizations are still organizations formed by extraordinary individuals. Without sufficient power, it is difficult to rise to the top.

In terms of strength, Hou Jingchuan and others may not be the strongest in the Administration Bureau, but they are definitely in the first tier.

They stayed in the desolate realm to wait for the world instance, and they couldn't possibly let this opportunity slip by.

The other four major organizations are probably in the same situation.

For An Rong and Tao Xian, their first encounter with the Celestials was a novel experience. They could perceive a different perspective from the Celestials' words and hear a great deal of unknown information.

But as time went on, when they saw the fourth and fifth, the novelty turned into numbness.

They discovered that these celestial beings were usually vague about their origins, and their so-called novel ideas were mostly superficial and they were unwilling to discuss them in depth.

An Rong then approached Wu Chang and said that he believed these celestial beings had other purposes in coming, but he did not yet have any evidence.

Wu Chang felt a little guilty after being told that, and could only comfort An Rong, saying that whether they were celestial beings or great Xuan cultivators, those who could fight against demons were one of their own.

An Rong and Tao Xian's attitude gradually became perfunctory, while Wu Chang accepted all offers and even volunteered to cover their shifts.

During a casual conversation while receiving the Celestial Being, he learned about the other party's background. Then, he instructed his True Self to notify the members of the Mystic Knights to find members among their downlines who could connect with the target.

According to the six degrees of separation law, the social distance between any two people in the world will not exceed six intermediaries. This means that any two strangers can establish a connection with a maximum of six intermediaries. In the Abyss game, the circle of powerful players is not large. Those who have reached this level, except for Wu Chang, have all experienced dozens or even hundreds of dungeons, making it easy for them to connect with each other.

Among the downlines developed by members of the Arcane Knights, there are always some who get to know the target.

Once a matchmaker is found who knows the target, the matchmaker is sent to meet them by chance around the Lidi Temple. Then, using common rhetoric, the matchmaker inadvertently reveals the benefits of the Great Xuan Royal Family organization.

Using this method, almost all the players that Wu Chang came into contact with became members of the Great Xuan Royal Family.

By noon, Wu Chang's side quest 2 had reached a completion rate of 160/100.

This number has not stopped, but continues to increase. More importantly, the majority of players have not yet entered the instance.

When the mission is completed, he will definitely make Emperor Zhaoning bleed a good blood.

Looking back on the players I met that morning, the only one who had the ability to enter the world instance but didn't actually enter it was probably Shi Ning.

Shi Ning's situation is different from that of the painter. He does not have enemies in the Realm of Reason, nor is he afraid of the high-difficulty dungeons in the Realm of Reason.

Before the world instance began, Jianxing told Wu Chang that Shi Ning was a researcher who did not like fighting. Many people in the Administration believed that Shi Ning did not want to waste time improving his strength, which was why he did not enter the Realm of Reason.

But the moment Shi Ning took out the divine script decipherer, Wu Chang knew that Shi Ning disliked fighting, not that he was incapable of fighting.

As long as one doesn't end up in dungeons on the verge of collapse like him, with Shi Ning's mastery of mystical arts, it's impossible for him to be stumped by ordinary dungeons.

In Wu Chang's view, the reason why Shi Ning did not choose to be promoted seemed to be that he simply liked the Desolate Realm and was immersed in the research on it.

As time passed, fewer and fewer players entered Zhenyue City, and the countdown to the official start of the world dungeon began.

An inexplicable atmosphere filled the space between heaven and earth; the clouds in the sky thinned, and the breeze that had been blowing on everyone stopped.

The world, which was originally in motion, seemed to have fallen into stillness, making people feel anxious and uneasy.

People looked up at the sky, and the brightest midday sun seemed to be covered with a layer of dust, becoming less bright.

Something is coming.

Wu Changgang had just seen off a Western Union player and was about to go outside to see what strange phenomenon was about to occur when Lu Changgeng walked in.

Lu Changgeng was no longer as composed as before. He tried to relax, but even when he smiled, his brows remained furrowed. Anyone could see that Alliance Leader Lu was not in a good mood today.

Lu Changgeng entered the room, first using his spiritual power to isolate the inside from the outside, then said to Wu Chang:
"Sect Leader Tang, I lost my composure yesterday. The matter of the immortal's remains is of great importance; it can be said to be the foundation of our attack on the Demon Realm. When I suddenly heard about the changes in the immortal's remains, I was unable to control my emotions."

"After I returned, I requested the decree of the immortal, who then performed a ritual to prepare a remedy for us."

"However, this remedy cannot be accomplished by a single sect or school; it requires the combined power of the Great Mystic Realm and the cooperation of the Celestials and Humans."

After hearing this, Wu Chang did not say much, but asked:
"What is the remedy that Alliance Leader Lü mentioned?"

Lu Changgeng took a deep breath and said:
"We four Earth Immortals will replace the missing immortal remains and break through the outermost defenses of the Heavenly Gate. The High Immortal will help us find a way to deal with the remaining missing power."

After Lü Changgeng finished speaking, a prompt popped up in front of Wu Chang's eyes.

Side Quest 1: Become one of the key figures in the sacrificial ceremony, guide the ceremony to completion, survive the third phase, and launch an attack on the Heavenly Gate. There is no penalty for failure. Accept the quest?

"Note: This is a special mission. Once the mission is successful, the player's faction will switch to the Ascension Society, and the main storyline of the dungeon will be changed accordingly. Regardless of whether the mission is accepted or not, information related to the mission cannot be shared with others in any way."

Wu Chang glanced at the mission prompt with some disdain. The Ascending Heaven Society sounded like a bunch of small fry with no future.

What annoyed him even more was that when Lü Changgeng asked him to explore the Demon Realm, no side quest for the Ascension to Heaven class popped up, indicating that Lü Changgeng, though seemingly sincere, didn't actually consider him one of his own.

Moreover, it's not hard to tell from the name of the organization that Lu Changgeng kept saying that he broke through the Heavenly Gate so that all cultivators in the world could have the opportunity to become immortals, but his organization is called the Ascension Society.

It's likely that after opening the Heavenly Gate, they'll only care about becoming immortals themselves and won't care about anyone else.

However, Wu Chang didn't believe such nonsense at first. Lu Changgeng was willing to sacrifice half of the people of Tianlan Province in order to break through the Heavenly Gate, and at the same time, he cooperated closely with the Bright Society. If he really cared about the cultivators of the world, that would be surprising.

After hearing this, Wu Chang did not rush to agree, but instead asked:

"Alliance Leader Lü, I am self-aware. Putting aside the fact that I have not yet fully mastered the Immortal Destiny, even if I did succeed and reach the Earth Immortal realm, how could I possibly replace the remains of a True Immortal?"

Lü Changgeng explained:

"The four of us alone are indeed not enough, but with the arrival of the celestial beings, breaking through the outermost defenses of the Heavenly Gate is not difficult."

"The origins of the Celestials are mysterious, and there are countless individuals with profound cultivation. It is sufficient to find three Grandmasters and twenty Grandmaster-level Celestials to assist each array point and form an array to support the ritual."

At this point, Lü Changgeng's expression darkened further, and his tone became somewhat impatient:
"However, I heard from cultivators within the alliance that the Great Xuan royal family has great ambitions and desires to overwhelm the Human Alliance with the help of Celestials. They are frantically recruiting Celestials."

"Emperor Zhaoning is too quick. He has already won over many powerful celestial beings. If we don't hurry, we may not even be able to form the most basic formation."

"The reason I came here is to ask Sect Leader Tang to be more careful when receiving Celestials, so that the Great Xuan Royal Family doesn't snatch them away."

Wu Chang thought for a moment and said:

"As for maintaining the sacrificial ceremony, if Alliance Leader Lü's formation is feasible, I am willing to give it a try. However, as for recruiting celestial beings, I am not good with words and I am afraid I am powerless to do so."

After hearing this, Lü Changgeng sighed. Indeed, if Tang Wuchang had understood human relationships, he wouldn't have ended up not even becoming an elder of the Human Alliance.

Wu Chang changed the subject and said:

“When we explored the Demon Realm before, the Celestial Peace who accompanied us seemed to be very prestigious among the Celestials. If Alliance Leader Lü can’t find a suitable Celestial, perhaps we could try asking him.”

Lu Changgeng noted down the information and was about to give a few more instructions when he suddenly noticed that the sky was getting dark rapidly.

The two quickly went outside and saw that the sunlight was being slowly obscured by the moon.

Eclipse.

Unlike the auspicious clouds that appeared in the sky before, whether in ancient times or in the present day, the sight of a celestial dog eating the sun is an ominous sign.

A solar eclipse is usually followed by a major disaster.

At this moment, everyone in Tianlan Province looked up at the sky, watching the sun disappear.

The moment the world plunged into darkness, a streak of light flashed across the horizon, followed by a second and a third.

Countless fine rays of light streaked across the sky like a meteor shower, illuminating the dark expanse.

The Director of the Imperial Observatory, who was in charge of observing celestial phenomena, couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine and break out in a cold sweat when he saw the celestial sight.

A celestial dog eclipsing the sun, or stars falling like rain, are all ominous signs of imbalance in the universe, foreshadowing the collapse of a dynasty.

The simultaneous occurrence of these two phenomena is something he has never seen before, not even recorded in historical records.

If this were recorded in history books, how would future generations think of Emperor Zhaoning? How many things would they believe Emperor Zhaoning did that would incur the wrath of both heaven and man?
More importantly, if he cannot come up with an explanation to cover up the celestial phenomenon, what will Emperor Zhaoning think of him?

Logically speaking, the simultaneous appearance of two ominous signs should be doubly ominous. However, the light of the falling stars happens to illuminate the darkness brought by the solar eclipse, which may mean that things will turn around and there is good fortune amidst the misfortune.

Just as the Director of the Astronomical Bureau was fretting over the celestial phenomena, streams of light fell to the ground, and players emerged from the light.

As they gazed at the solar eclipse entering its "light-giving" phase, a notification popped up before their eyes.

"Player has successfully entered the 'Wilderness - 76271 Plane'."

"Instance Name: Jupiter Surpasses the Stars"

"World instance officially begins."

(End of this chapter)