On the way back, Qiyu encountered a few scattered swifts. 

His rule was that if he could earn the points on the way without delaying his business, he’d do so; if it would take too much time, he’d hurry on his way.

As a result, by the time he rushed back to his territory, it was exactly 5:40 p.m. There were still twenty minutes until dark. 

Qiyu stood within his territory and let out a sigh of relief.

Several white orbs of light were floating within the territory as well, and Qiyu collected them with a single click.

He opened the points leaderboard; by now, his total had reached 71,880.

Clearly, while he was on his way back, the territory’s residents had accumulated over a thousand points by picking them up along the way. Qiyu checked the status of his territory.

All 14 energy towers still had roughly half their energy remaining.

A fully charged energy tower can attack 100 times. Earlier today, Qiyu had accessed the territory module to replenish the energy towers with magic crystals twice. He topped off the energy towers’ reserves and then checked on the alchemy puppets, which still had plenty of energy left.

He activated the “Whispers of Nature” spell to observe the condition of the plants within his territory:

The Golden Apple saplings and mist star flowers continued to thrive in peace.

The Crimson Maple Forest and the emerald crystal peach orchard—perhaps because they are resource points, or perhaps because the trees are already fully mature—have remained emotionally stable and have a rather low profile. 

Wind blade grass and irritable tomato status: Excited. 

Screaming lily of the valley status: Exhausted. 

The honey crystal flowers and emerald bees are snuggled up together, sleeping. 

The bright sunflower is eagerly awaiting nightfall so it can be the brightest one in the territory. 

Qiyu wondered if the irritable tomato and wind blade grass were participating in such a large-scale territory defense event for the first time—was that why they were so excited? As for the screaming lily of the valley, it was easy to guess why it was exhausted; after all, it hadn’t stopped screaming all day. 

As for the demon vine…

Qiyu actually spotted it as soon as he entered the territory.

Because it had grown.

The demon vine, which had previously consumed so much of Qiyu’s magic yet showed no visible changes, had spent the entire day devouring the rain swifts. The vines, which had originally covered only one-third of the fence, had now climbed to nearly half of it.

Moreover, its appearance had changed as well. Specifically, its leaves were now a more vibrant, tender green, and the tiny white flowers it had bloomed were pure and flawless, trembling in the rain. 

Summary 1: Its appearance seems to have evolved to look a bit more menacing. 

Demon Vine, Status: Excited, Half-Full, swifts are so delicious. 

Qiyu: After eating his fill, the child’s ability to express himself seems to have improved. 

Seven-Colored Flower, Status: Melancholy, Angry. As usual, she’s been in a bad mood 24 hours a day. 

After inspecting the territory, night had fallen. Qiyu opened his backpack.

He pulled out a freshly dug ancient tree. What a huge tree! 

Back in the Forest of Stars, the tree had already looked enormous, but now that it stood in Qiyu’s territory, it instantly made Qiyu’s territory look “tiny” by comparison.

Qiyu had originally thought this mysterious ancient tree was already dead, so he figured he’d just find an empty spot in his territory, dig a hole, and bury it.

Who would have thought that the Survival Panel would pop up with a message:

【Cannot plant on this land.】

Qiyu：？

Isn’t it dead? Why is it still being picky about the land? 

That’s strange.

Qiyu was puzzled, but he still found a patch of beginner-level farmland and used a small plot of earth magic to plant the giant tree there. 

No sooner had the ancient tree been planted than the ringing of the screaming lily of the valley sounded. 

Qiyu stood by the ancient tree, spreading his spiritual energy, and saw a vast swarm of points rushing toward his territory. The buffet has arrived!

Just then, the communication orb rang.

After a whole day of running around, Qiyu was feeling a bit tired by now. He returned to the small house and answered the communication orb.

Through the communication orb, Dan Xingyu heard some commotion coming from Qiyu’s territory, primarily consisting of the emotional, heart-wrenching screams of the screaming lily of the valley. 

He paused mid-sentence: “Are you busy over there right now?”

Qiyu sat down and leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed.

He let out a long sigh: “No, I just got back to the shelter. I’m planning to hand it over to the energy tower tonight.”

He’d been farming points all day and hadn’t even had time for lunch. With the energy tower available tonight, he didn’t plan to push himself any further.

Mainly, farming points all day had nearly drained his magic completely.

While farming points, he’d been full of energy, but back in his warm little cabin, he felt like he didn’t want to move a single finger. 

Dan Xingyu didn’t ask any further questions; she simply brought over dinner. The two ate in silence.

After dinner, Qiyu felt his energy returning. 

He opened the survival panel and watched the points rise little by little, unable to help but chuckle.

“What’s that sound?”

The communication orb hadn’t been turned off, so Dan Xingyu had been listening to the background noise from Qiyu’s side the whole time—the screaming lily of the valley hadn’t stopped.

He knew exactly who was triggering the screaming lily of the valley’s warning—he was the one using it—and he was well aware that the intensity of this mutated plant’s cries was directly linked to the number of attacking mutated creatures.

In other words, a considerable number of mutated creatures had been attacking Qiyu’s shelter almost constantly.

Qiyu didn’t answer. He only sent a screenshot.

First Place, I Love Survival Game, 73,773 points.

【God Has no Form: ???】

“Holy crap!” Dan Xingyu straightened up instantly into full attention. “Did you raid a swiftlet nest?!”

“If you put it that way, I guess that’s about right,” Qiyu said. “Not only did I raid their nest, but I also carried their nest back home.” 

Dan Xingyu：？

Qiyu briefly recounted how he’d discovered a grove of ancient black trees and, while he was at it, dug up six of them to plant on his estate. 

“The rain swifts really love these trees,” Qiyu said. “Ever since I planted them, the screams in the territory haven’t stopped.” 

“……” A thousand thoughts swirled through Dan Xingyu’s mind, but in the end, they boiled down to just three words: “You’re so awesome!” 

He sighed, “I was actually hoping this time I might have a chance to beat you to getting the shelter blueprints first, but now it looks like you’re the true ‘Chosen One’ of this survival game!” 

“Actually, I still have to thank you this time, Dan Xingyu,” Qiyu said earnestly. “If it weren’t for the Blue Sky Wings you gave me, I might not have made it all the way out there and found the Ancient Wood Forest.”

“Listen to what you’re saying,” Dan Xingyu retorted. “Why don’t you take a look at your 70,000 points? If it were anyone else—even if this forest spawned right outside their front door—could they rack up 70,000 points in a single day?”

“Qiyu, this is all down to your own skill.” 

Qiyu thought about it and realized he had a point.

Not everyone is as skilled at area-of-effect spells as he is. If he didn’t know any magic and had to rely solely on weapons to kill enemies, he’d be exhausted after a whole day and still wouldn’t be able to rack up this many points.

“You’re right,” Qiyu nodded. “It’s not just good luck—I’m also really skilled.” 

Dan Xingyu: “……”

He let out a deliberate, long sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

Dan Xingyu: “I’m jealous. I’m so riled up, I’m not going to sleep tonight. I’m going to battle the Earthfire Dragon until dawn!” 

Qiyu asked him, “So, do I need to build you another energy tower?”

Dan Xingyu: “Hmph!” 

Qiyu thought he didn’t want one, but before he could turn around, the guy blurted out, “I’ll take it. Thanks, Brother Qiyu.” 

Qiyu:?

“Didn’t you say earlier that you wouldn’t call me ‘brother’?” 

Dan Xingyu: “You don’t get it—this is called ‘one who takes a hand is bound by the other.’”  

“Oh.”

Qiyu immediately crafted eight energy towers on the spot, filled them with Level 1 magic crystals, and handed them to Dan Xingyu.

He casually added, “You’re welcome, Dan Xingyu.” 

Dan Xingyu: ??? 

The communication orb went dead.

【God Has No Form: You must be tired after killing swifts all day, so I won’t bother you anymore. Get some rest early. Good night!】

Qiyu stared at the line of anxious-looking writing, thinking that Dan Xingyu must really be determined to face the Earthfire Dragon in a final battle. 

【I Love Survival Game: Okay, good luck.】 

The Mysterious Ancient Tree certainly held a strong appeal for Swifts, but since only one had been planted, their numbers wouldn’t be large. The territory’s defensive capabilities were already sufficient. 

Points have been steadily increasing and have now reached 74,500.

Meanwhile, “Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens,” currently in second place on the leaderboard, had just reached 25,000 points.

Third place is held by “My Fate Is In My Hands, Not The Heavens” with 17,500 points. Fourth place is “Liver Emperor,” with 12,000 points. 

It has now been 24 hours since the event began. 

Just as Qiyu had thought earlier, unless a player had a stroke of luck like he did, or teamed up with others—like the siblings in second place—to rack up points, it would be extremely difficult for a single player to accumulate 120,000 points and obtain the Level 3 Shelter blueprint. 

He opened the chat window.

Qiyu had previously discovered that he could customize the content of messages. He’d told all his friends that if anything urgent came up, they could send him an urgent message, and he’d receive a notification and check it immediately.

If it was just a regular message, there was no rush—he could read it whenever he had a moment.

01 Survival Squad:

【Love Survival Game: .】 

Still starting with that familiar period. 

【Civil Engineering Brother: Is the gaming expert done with work? I see your points are still rising at a steady pace.】

Not everyone in the group knows he has an energy tower, so they’re guessing the points aren’t spiking as wildly as they do during the day—maybe he’s clearing monsters in his territory right now.

【I Love Survival Game: Yeah, I’m good right now—not busy. But I’ll have something to do later.】

【Love Survival Game: There’s a type of large black tree in the Star Forest that swifts like to use as nests. If you can find one of these black trees, there’s a high chance you’ll encounter a massive flock of swifts.】

【Dare Not Open My Eyes: Is that why the top players scored so high? Because they found this?】

【Love Survival Game: Yeah.】

【Tranquility Yields Transcendence: It’s certainly lucky to stumble upon such an opportunity, but it’s even more important to be able to capitalize on it.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: Exactly. We’ve been saying all day that even if the Survival Game really dropped 70,000 swifts, we probably couldn’t kill them all.】

Dan Xingyu said the same thing.

So, they were also subtly complimenting themselves.

【Love Survival Game: Got it, impressive.】 He left the group chat, and Qiyu saw a private message.

They were all from his friends, and they were all about pretty much the same thing.

To summarize: There’s been an internal conflict within the Temple of the Gods. It seems that I Am Domineering, a core member, swindled a large amount of resources from My Fate is in My Hands, Not the Heavens and then blocked him, leading to a heated argument between the two on the regional chat channel.

The key point is that I Am Domineering revealed that My Fate is in My Hands, Not the Heavens harbors deep resentment toward Qiyu. 

Both private chats mentioned the same thing: My Fate is in my Hands, Not the Heavens allegedly possessed an item capable of remotely cursing and attacking players, and they both warned Qiyu to be careful.

Qiyu thought back to that previous catastrophe. He opened the zone chat.

As soon as he joined, he saw “I am Domineering” speaking:

【I Am Domineering: My Fate is in My Hands, Not the Heavens, your curse item has already been used, hasn’t it?】