In the following months, all players were determined to level up and advance their realm cultivation, frantically grinding for equipment, skills, and materials. Embers City was bustling day and night with the sounds of players forming teams to hunt monsters, and the teleportation array’s light never ceased.

Since it’s already the Doomsday World, there’s no such thing as a "Professional Tutor," and all skill books can only be obtained from monster drops. In order to gather cultivation techniques to advance their realms, countless immortals were madly clearing maps, almost driving those Bosses to extinction.

Meanwhile, the number of Daluo Golden Immortals was steadily increasing.

In the first month, three advanced.

In the second month, five more advanced.

In the third month, seven.

By the fourth month, a total of thirteen advanced!

After all, the rules of this world are ultimately "game rules." As more people tread the paths, certain strategies gradually mature. Which Boss is easy to fight, which task is simple, what materials are needed for profession advancements—this information spreads quickly among players, forming a complete "leveling guide."

Moreover, players’ levels gradually reached the critical point—a huge number of Level 90 Golden Immortal Realm players were waiting for the breakthrough moment.

At this moment, what constrained players from advancing to Daluo was not the level anymore, but the number of "Bosses" and "core task items."

To achieve greatness as a Daluo often requires very high-end task items or defeating some super strong Boss. And such Bosses are limited in number—you can’t infinitely grind in this game, once a monster dies, it’s one less to fight.

So, besides "Wuchen Immortal," the kind of niche profession that can self-advance, many profession advancements to Daluo are limited in number, it’s first come, first served, latecomers have no chance.

By the sixth month, Embers City had gathered forty-three Daluo Golden Immortals.

Simultaneously, the environment around Embers City became increasingly hostile.

Back when Xiao Jie first arrived in the Great Thousand Worlds, though everything was a scene of apocalyptic wasteland, there was still a semblance of completeness—the mountains were still there, the earth remained, the sky still had clouds, albeit broken and twisted.

But as time passed, even the surface of the Great Thousand began to gradually disappear.

Huge annihilation storms swept in from all directions, devouring everything. The ruins, relics, and battlefields that once existed now had turned to nothingness. In the void, only fragments of shattered continents floated slowly, occasionally colliding and turning into even finer dust.

In the sky, chaotic energy tides surged day and night, wherever these tides swept, even space would be torn apart, revealing the pitch-black crack of the Void behind.

Even the shield of Embers City was continuously under attack, gradually deteriorating. The pale golden light shield was already full of fine cracks, with specialized immortals repairing and reinforcing it daily, yet still unable to keep pace with the erosion of the annihilation storm.

Players were keenly aware—

Time was running out.

Must hurry up.

Six months later—

"Alright, everyone!"

The Full-time Expert stood before the Qiankun Map, his gaze sweeping over the forty-three Daluo Golden Immortals present. These top players from three thousand worlds gathered here, their expressions varied—some were excited, some were solemn, some were eager to try, some were expressionless.

"Today, we’re officially fighting the Demon Lord for the first time."

The Full-time Expert spoke solemnly in arrangement: "It’s everyone’s first time, so the requirement isn’t high—just manage to get past the first stage. No pressure, understand?"

Everyone nodded one after another.

"Alright, I’ll assign the tasks."

The Full-time Expert took out a list and began calling names:

"I am a farmer, Iron Bone, Never Cowered in Battle—you three be the Tanks."

"Taixu Xuanzhen, Qingmu Changsheng, Cloud Guest, Red Pharmacist, Master of Buzhou Mountain, Qin Shi Ming Yue—you six will be Support Healing. Your only task is, by any means, keeping them alive as long as possible."

"Hidden Moon Following Wind, Sky Breaking Sword, Xiao Xiao—you three handle Shield Breaking. The Demon Lord’s protective field is key, it must be broken immediately, or the damage output group won’t deal any damage.

Based on my speculation, this Boss will likely restore its shield during the battle, so you three need to break it in turns to ensure others can always deal damage."

"Everyone else—output! Any questions?"

As soon as the words fell, someone raised a hand.

"Yes!" A player named "Sword Pointing at the Sky" stood up and asked, "Then...is there any tactic? This kind of Demon Lord Boss, it’s everyone’s first time fighting, we definitely need to prepare plans and response strategies, right?"

This immediately sparked a wave of agreement.

"Yeah, there ought to be a tactic, right?"

"What if there are mechanics involved?"

"We need to discuss how to cooperate..."

The Full-time Expert chuckled and spread his hands:

"The tactic is—Tank holds, Healer heals well, DPS hits hard."

I am speechless...

Everyone was utterly speechless.

What kind of tactic is this? I’m here to fight the Demon Lord, not to grind a five-man dungeon! This tactic only works for those Bosses without much technicality, right?

And "Tank holds on"—this is the Demon Lord! The monsters in this game are very intelligent, and very few can be "held," let alone a being of the Demon Lord’s level. Why would it heed your taunt?

"I know what you’re thinking." The Full-time Expert put away his smile and spoke seriously, "But the Demon Lord, despite its strength, is actually quite ’mechanical.’ It has somewhat of that programming feel of traditional MMORPG Bosses—its attack patterns are fixed, threat mechanisms are clear, and—it responds to taunts. Last time when we tried it, we already tested this. I think...this might be the ’backdoor’ the Saints left for us.