[“Newbie raid team needs a healer!”]

In the advanced area of the Divine Tree game world, also known as the Tiankong Tree region, players who had left the novice server all arrived uniformly at this elevated zone. The Tiankong Tree area sat at a high altitude, closer to the Divine Tree’s celestial projection. When one looked up from below, the Tiankong Tree had appeared as if it might topple down.

At this very moment, within Tiankong Tree’s Tiantong City, numerous high-level players had gathered. Leading them was the second-ranked team on the leaderboard, the Wonder Zoo. Previously ranked third, Wonder Zoo had just climbed up, having pushed the former number two, Griffin, down the ranks. Passing players noticed the Wonder Zoo members stationed there and cast curious glances their way.

The stone statue dropped by Skyward Ascent had already caused an uproar on the Star Network.  Players, like ravenous wolves pouncing on prey, whether in the know or not, had all rushed to the novice zone. As a result, many players—both openly and discreetly—were watching the movements of the leaderboard teams.

“There are already a ton of players on the Star Network taking notice. Several leaderboard teams have sprung into action. Skyward Ascent never expected that last announcement to expose everything,” a Wonder Zoo player whispered. “It’s seriously exhausting. Do these leaderboard players have to be this competitive? There are at least three groups around here keeping an eye on us! And the leaderboard—half the team IDs behind us have changed already.”

The greater the fame, the wider the attention. In Divine Tree, players can freely form or leave teams. A talent team’s ranking is based on the cumulative average of each player’s overall score, and the strong naturally gravitate toward one another. However, the Divine Tree leaderboard updates at a breakneck pace, with a major shakeup almost every week. The high fall, and the low climb up.

This leads many leaderboard teams, in their bid to maintain their rank, to adopt a survival-of-the-fittest approach—ditching the weak and recruiting the strong. Take Wonder Zoo, for example: at least half its members had received private messages from rival teams trying to poach them. Griffin had even dangled the lure of a hefty salary!

“We’d never be swayed by money!”  

“Right, Vice-Captain?” The player turned to the man sitting next to him, who seemed to be daydreaming.  

“Vice-Captain!”  

“Vice-Captain!”  

Finally, the man known as the Vice-Captain snapped out of it: “Hm?”  

“What are you doing, Vice-Captain? Snap out of it! We’re having a meeting!”  

The Vice-Captain of Wonder Zoo, with the ID “Ragdoll Cat,” had taken over as the team’s acting leader while the captain was engrossed in a special storyline quest. At this moment, he was pondering a different matter entirely: “How likely is it that someone will get poached?”  

The other Wonder Zoo members: “!?”  

The players exchanged bewildered looks. One of them stepped forward and glanced at the Vice-Captain’s interface, spotting an unfamiliar ID on his panel.  

“Who’s this?” the player asked.  

“A newbie,” Ragdoll Cat replied.  

“He broke two records in a very short time.” Ragdoll Cat was reviewing messages from others on his game interface. A few days ago, the streamer Xiaoyao Xian had shared a dark horse from the server-wide Qingshan Academy speedrun leaderboard in the group chat: “Cycle of Eternity.”  

To be honest, Ragdoll Cat hadn’t noticed this player at first. Standout players tend to shine brightly—either getting scouted by talent teams during the novice phase or already having a home. But Cycle of Eternity was different. Anonymous up to level 28, hailing from a backwater server like 3145, he’d easily be dismissed as just an ordinary player with decent skills if you didn’t pay close attention.

However, when Ragdoll Cat took notice of him, he discovered that this person was the one who had triggered the special event in Qi Ling Village at the very beginning.  

“His leveling speed isn’t fast. I checked this ID’s speedrunning log from the past two weeks,” Ragdoll Cat said thoughtfully as he opened the program. “The first time he attempted the leaderboard, he didn’t even make it into the top 100 tier. The second time, just last week, he took the top spot.”  

A player, hearing this, was a bit surprised and asked, “Top spot in just two tries?”  

Ragdoll Cat pulled up the latest Qingshan Academy records, and there hung the ID “Cycle of Eternity” at the top.  

It was Xiaoyao Xian from the Hidden Immortal team who had first noticed this, immediately sharing it on a social platform filled with leaderboard players.  

Ragdoll Cat’s focus was slightly different from the others: “This was his third attempt, and he’s already broken the Qingshan Academy record since the server launched.”  

In Divine Tree, if you had good skills and a high ranking, other teams would try to recruit you.  

When Xiaoyao Xian posted it in the group, plenty of people must have noticed Cycle of Eternity… yet this guy hadn’t joined a single team yet.  

“Vice-Captain, are you going to recruit him?” another player asked. “For a team leaderboard, even in solo dungeons, our scores wouldn’t be low if we farmed them.”  

Ragdoll Cat was a player who had set the Qingshan Academy record when the server first launched, so his familiarity with that dungeon surpassed most others. Even without seeing exactly how Cycle of Eternity cleared it, the difficulty had already taken shape in his mind.  

When coincidences piled up like this, it was hard to call them mere chance.  

And this ID… “Zhou,” a Chinese character that easily reminded him of someone else.  

But that person had retired from the training camp years ago, and there’d been no news of them on the Star Network since—making it an unlikely connection.  

Ragdoll Cat pondered for a moment: “Most people in the novice zone are probably at the Tiandi Temple right now, yeah?”  

Another player replied, “Yeah, Griffin’s already made their move.”  

“Not just them—anyone who saw that announcement would be interested in the Tiandi Temple.”  

The Tiandi Temple… Ragdoll Cat suddenly said, “The external help our captain brought in is also on 3145, right?”  

“Did that person say anything…? Never mind, tell Tiger to add Cycle of Eternity.”  

A player sent the message and then said, “Vice-Captain, Tiger Bro already tried adding him.”  

Ragdoll Cat perked up: “Then ask—”  

The player pasted a screenshot: “He refused the request.”  

“Tiger Bro told you not to bother him unless it’s important.”  

Ragdoll Cat mused, “He’s got some attitude. I like it.”  

A player shivered and relayed the message—  

“Tiger Bro, Vice-Captain says he likes you.”  

The reply that came back was deafening even through text:  

[You damn pervert, get lost!!!]

—-

Zhou Sui didn’t pay attention to the discussions about the storyline on the Star Network. After noticing the Tiandi Temple, he exited the livestream page and searched for “Tiandi Temple” on the Star Network.  

The eerie atmosphere in the video closely resembled the patterns on the severed head dropped by the boss. Zhou Sui’s gaze didn’t linger on the human head but instead fixed on the headless statue visible through the half-open, half-closed temple doors. His mind drifted to the small figurine he had obtained from the bird’s nest.  

Upon reaching level 30, he prepared to enter the dungeon. Zhou Sui had only skimmed the description of this dungeon’s content while grinding Qingshan Academy. From the fragmented comments of other players on the Star Network, he knew that Tiandi Temple was a six-person team dungeon—not a solo dungeon like Qingshan Academy that could be cleared alone. A six-person dungeon meant it was a group effort, requiring teammates.  

The search results were filled with guides on how to deal with the Tiandi Temple’s boss.  

Zhou Sui clicked on a random video and was greeted by eerie music and unsettling scenes. The desolate, dilapidated temple combined all the elements of horror, and the dungeon’s atmosphere carried a strange vibe. Compared to the expansive settings of other dungeons, Tiandi Temple felt claustrophobic to him. Especially after entering, the towering statues loomed on both sides, staring down at players from the darkness above, exuding an indescribable sense of oppression.  

“Every time I run this dungeon, it feels off. It’s like the eyes of those statues are watching me—gives me the creeps.”  

“Haven’t you heard the rumors about the Tiandi Temple dungeon? Some players say that anyone who clears it has their luck drastically reduced. The statues supposedly drain people’s fortune.”  

“What superstitious nonsense. A broken dungeon affecting luck? Are we in some ancient cultivation story now?”  

Player discussions flashed across the barrage of comments on the guide video. Zhou Sui wanted to read more closely, but the video had already skipped to the boss fight, and no further details were visible.  

Still, the eyes of the statues left him with a lingering sense of unease.  

Zhou Sui had to refine his search with additional keywords.  

Amid the flood of generic boss strategy guides, he found a video with low viewership—  

[Tiandi Temple Terrain Overview and Statue Distribution]  

The video’s title was straightforward. Unlike mainstream guides that focused solely on clearing the dungeon, this creator paid attention to the temple’s layout and the statues. As a result, the video was exceptionally clear. Every human statue’s appearance and condition had been meticulously recorded and compiled into the footage.  

In it, Zhou Sui saw that, within the dark environment at the entrance of the Tiandi Temple, eighteen statues stood inside the temple.  

Five of them were headless. The small figurine, only palm-sized, looked vastly different from the towering, decapitated statues he saw in the video.  

But in this video, Zhou Sui noticed something.  

The five headless statues were positioned in the central area, while the two sides of the temple were lined with other damaged statues—some missing hands, others missing feet. Yet, in the farthest corner, there was one statue that lacked no parts. Hidden behind the broken statues, it bore signs of wear across its body but had all its limbs intact.  

The faintly visible carvings on this statue, shrouded in the corner’s darkness, bore some resemblance to the small figurine he had held in his hand.  

Instinctively, he glanced at the video’s uploader—  

Yin-Yang Harmony.  

This was the second time. Zhou Sui had seen the ID “Yin-Yang Harmony” twice now.  

The first time was with Qingshan Academy; this time, it was Tiandi Temple.  

It feels familiar.

But he quickly gave up dwelling on it.  

No matter how much information he looked at, it was useless—his level wasn’t 30 yet, so he couldn’t even touch the Tiandi Temple dungeon. Over the next few days, Zhou Sui focused on leveling up. Qingshan Academy became his daily must-run dungeon, and all the materials he earned went straight into upgrading his Serpent Venom Water. After three solid days, he finally raised Serpent Venom Water to level 3.  

[Healing · Serpent Venom Water (Rare) (Level 3/3)]

[Upgrade Effect [Poison Strike]: Consecutive serpent venom attacks can stack a poison damage debuff, up to a maximum of 6 stacks, with each stack adding an additional 2% poison damage effect.]  

As he’d expected, upgrading Serpent Venom Water unlocked a new effect for Poison Strike’s debuff. Setting aside the skill’s base damage, the poison effect at max level could accumulate up to 6×2%, a 12% health reduction, though it required landing six uninterrupted consecutive hits to trigger.  

Once Serpent Venom Water leveled up, Zhou Sui’s own level, after three days of grinding, also hit 30.  

The Divine Tree granted him several skill points. Zhou Sui allocated some to later skills, but considering the unpredictable nature of dungeons, he backtracked after picking weapon-based skills and added a few healing and potion skills based on necessity—handy for emergencies in dungeons.  

On the day he reached level 30, he opened his friends list and saw that Slack Bro wasn’t online.  

A glance at the time showed it was midnight—perfectly normal for someone to be offline.  

The guy who’d been clamoring to run group dungeons with him wasn’t around, so Zhou Sui followed the usual routine and headed to the recruitment hub for the level 30 Tiandi Temple dungeon. When he arrived at the entrance, he found it bustling with people. In his memory, the novice server 3145 had always been a quiet, rural place—even Qingshan Academy’s entrance was sparsely populated. He hadn’t expected a level 30 group dungeon to be this lively.  

Zhou Sui wasn’t used to crowded, noisy environments. Dutifully, he followed the game’s smart guide and opened the recruitment platform.  

The game’s AI, which Zhou Sui had grumbled about more than a few times lately, popped up with a hint of reluctance: “Players can apply through the recruitment platform or send requests to other players.”  

The recruitment platform listed teams looking for players, while at the Tiandi Temple entrance, some players were shouting for teammates in a more old-school way.  

Zhou Sui spotted a few teams recruiting DPS and sent applications.  

[Your team application has been rejected by the other party!]  

[Your team application has been rejected by the other party!]  

[Your team application has been rejected by the other party!]  

Zhou Sui applied to three teams in a row, and all three rejected him.  

Puzzled, he sent another application.  

[Player “Grumpy Bro” tells you: No Qi Ling Village.]  

[You say to Grumpy Bro: I’m a damage dealer.]  

No response came from the other side.  

“Tiandi Temple needs DPS! No healers, no healers! No trash attack apothecaries either! Don’t apply if you’re blind!”  

At the dungeon entrance, a loud, impatient player shouted: “No more Qi Ling Village—if you apply again, I’m gonna lose it!”  

Zhou Sui followed the voice and saw Grumpy Bro standing there, sticking out like a sore thumb. The “trash attack apothecary” comment seemed aimed squarely at him.  

Tiandi Temple was a level 30 entry dungeon, billed as the first group dungeon of the novice phase. But in the Divine Tree dungeon system, it was dubbed the “Novice Shura Field.”  

The reason? High difficulty, a strong need for coordination, tricky mechanics, and steep requirements turned this newbie dungeon into a nightmare for solo players.  

Unfortunately, Zhou Sui was one of those solo players.  

Outside, plenty of teams had already formed and entered. Zhou Sui lingered for ten minutes, watching more teams head in as the crowd at the entrance thinned.  

He finally managed to join a team, and the captain, upon seeing him enter, found his partially ID vaguely familiar. But with the dungeon looming, familiarity didn’t matter. Spotting that Zhou Sui was an attack apothecary, the captain demanded he share his stats panel.  

By the time Zhou Sui found and sent it over, the captain took one look at his outrageously low attack power and kicked him out without a second thought.  

Zhou Sui: “?”  

Giving up on applications, Zhou Sui decided to try queuing for the dungeon solo.  

The moment he applied, the system shot back a prompt: A group dungeon required at least two players to start. His solo run request was mercilessly denied.  

The Tiandi Temple entrance was teeming with players coming and going, with teams periodically shouting recruitment calls.  

“Newbie raid team needs a healer!”  

“Newbie raid team needs a healer!”  

Nearby players frowned at the call. Someone asked a question and then fell silent, secretly walking away.

A raid group was one thing, but the type of raid group mattered.

No stat requirements, no healing output demands—this wasn’t so much a “newbie raid team” as it was a “disaster squad.”  

The newbie raid team got no takers. The players gathered here weren’t low-level and had a basic understanding of Tiandi Temple. If it were just an ordinary dungeon, calling for a newbie raid wouldn’t be a big deal, but for Tiandi Temple, it was a recipe for tragedy. Especially lately, with the dungeon tied to Divine Tree’s world progression, it was a hot topic in the game. New and veteran players alike flocked to it—especially alts from leaderboard climbers. No one would waste their time on a newbie raid group with no clear strategy.

After shouting for nearly ten minutes with no bites, the newbie raid team’s leader, Bubble Dragon, glanced at the recruitment list. Unfazed, he shifted tactics and started scoping out solo players at the dungeon entrance—especially those from Qi Ling Village.  

He privately messaged three or four, and all rejected him.  

Just as he considered rallying people through world chat, he spotted someone standing under a tree nearby. A quick scan revealed a [****] over their head—clearly a hidden ID. But that wasn’t the point. What mattered was the unhidden info: the Qi Ling Village emblem.  

A healer!  

A solo healer, no less!  

Bubble Dragon didn’t hesitate and fired off a team invite.  

After a brief wait, a notification popped up: [Player has joined the team]!  

The [****] ID appeared in the team list and unhid itself: [Cycle of Eternity].  

“Brother Zhou!!”  

Zhou Sui had barely joined when a familiar voice rang out. Mortal World’s Noble Grass, someone he’d met a few days ago, was right there in the team lineup. What a coincidence.  

The team leader, hearing Beastmaster Mortal World’s Noble Grass knew Zhou Sui, asked, “You two know each other?”  

Mortal World’s Noble Grass’s voice was bright and clear: “Of course we do! Don’t worry, my Brother Zhou deserves a big thumbs-up!”  

“Awesome! We’re set then!”  

The leader glanced at Zhou Sui—plainly dressed, handsome yet kind-looking, and not much of a talker. He seemed like the perfect benevolent healer.  

Zhou Sui paused mid-step, glancing at the team list in silence.  

The leader, Bubble Dragon, was a Tian Wu Bastion, a tank class. The rest of the team included members from Tian He Mountain, Sui Xing City, and Yin Yue Alliance.  

The only role missing was a healer.  

“Wait, Captain!” Mortal World’s Noble Grass suddenly remembered something. “Brother Zhou isn’t a pure healer.”  

Zhou Sui had no intention of misleading anyone and said plainly, “My healing output’s low. You’d be better off swapping for a proper healer.”  

Hearing this, the three DPS players in the team exchanged looks.  

One of them, an assassin, sized Zhou Sui up and muttered something under their breath. The captain spoke up right after.  

“Being from Qi Ling Village is enough.”  

Bubble Dragon’s tone had a calming, easygoing warmth. “Relax, I’m easy to keep alive.”  

Zhou Sui’s hand, about to send his stats panel, froze. Bubble Dragon had already queued for the dungeon.  

[Player Bubble Dragon has initiated the Tiandi Temple dungeon. Dungeon difficulty: ★★★★. Relevant coefficient updated to A-grade.]

[Players matched: (6/6)]

[Would you like to enter?]