Chapter Summaries

Mu Hongyuan met special adviser Leonhart Luosu to discuss her submitted technologies and learned that Survivors across the Empire were rapidly gaining influence. She recognized Su Luo behind his assumed identity, and he explained that Survivors had so far failed to awaken; the chapter left the cause tied to the Holy Light’s incomplete blessing.

• Leonhart Luosu questioned Mu Hongyuan about the origins and verification of her technologies and advised her to remove material about electricity.
• Leonhart told Mu Hongyuan that other Survivors had already entered the Empire’s central departments and were competing for World Influence.
• Mu Hongyuan recognized Su Luo beneath the name Leonhart Luosu, and Su Luo confirmed her identity while asking whether to refer to her as he or she.
• Su Luo described how Survivors were pushing into provincial and imperial power through political, religious, and industrial schemes.
• Mu Hongyuan sensed Su Luo’s formidable attributes and asked whether he had become Awakened; Su Luo said Survivors’ Awakening Rituals had all failed so far.

Su Luo concluded that he and his allies had to overcome resistance by force, then sent Mu Hongyuan to deal with a powerful Survivor. In Norn Town, Ansen’s peaceful writing was interrupted when an Academy of Sciences carriage destroyed his bookstall, and its young passenger asked if parking was free.

• Su Luo told Mu Hongyuan that Survivors might be unable to awaken in the current era and that the Empire Academy of Sciences’ doctrine would need to be changed through power rather than persuasion.
• Su Luo gave Mu Hongyuan a request to handle a troublesome Survivor while his forces supported her, then left for a neighboring city.
• Ansen settled in Norn Town, printed copies of his books, and began writing a fairy tale at a roadside stall.
• A luxurious carriage bearing the Empire Academy of Sciences’ insignia drove into Ansen’s stall and trampled his books.
• Ansen confronted the young noble in the carriage, who joked that parking was free.

Ansen fled after identifying Leonhart Luosu as a Survivor, then continued writing a fairy tale meant to expose the arrogant scholar and advance his plans. The tale remained unfinished as Ansen called on discerning people to reveal Luosu’s lies.

• Leonhart Luosu left after smashing Ansen’s book stall and ordering him to pay a fine to the Church.
• Ansen learned that Leonhart was a prominent noble and Empire Academy of Sciences adviser, recognized him as a Survivor, and fled town.
• At an inn, Ansen reviewed how his Talent made completed fairy tales alter reality while charging him an unpredictable price.
• Ansen continued the third volume in his series, which depicted scholar Luosu as arrogant and deceitful.
• Ansen’s tale called on discerning people to expose Luosu, but Ansen had not yet finished writing it.

Ansen finished a fairy tale intended to boost his future influence, while Su Luo went to the Empire Academy of Sciences to negotiate reforms. A confrontation with the Empire’s Judgment Knights began when one tried to subdue him and Su Luo’s spiritual power devoured the probe.

• Ansen completed the third volume of his fairy tale and planned a fourth, hoping to become the Saint Son in the next story.
• On the fourth day of the Large Dungeon, Su Luo arrived at the Imperial Capital to discuss electrical reforms and manufacturing with Franklin’s team.
• The Academy’s vice president and a crowd of researchers accused Su Luo of misconduct and demanded an investigation, but Su Luo left after recognizing Ansen’s fairy-tale influence behind the accusations.
• Two Judgment Knights confronted Su Luo outside the Academy, and one sent a spiritual probe to knock him unconscious.
• Su Luo’s spiritual power ground up the probe and began devouring the Judgment Knight’s essence, prompting the other knight to attack.

Su Luo escaped the Imperial Capital after killing two Judgment Knights and consuming the souls of nearly everyone nearby, then waited for a pursuing Bishop in the rain. Meanwhile, Mu Hongyuan rejected Count Sam’s advances and left to continue with her plans.

• Su Luo dodged the Judgment Knight’s attack, and two Judgment Knights fell as he entered his carriage.
• A spiritual vortex swept up the souls of the onlookers and researchers, and Su Luo called Mu Hongyuan to confirm that the academic path had been disabled and contact had been made.
• Su Luo left the Imperial Capital and waited beneath his umbrella for a pursuing Bishop, expecting the pursuit to deter other Survivors from interfering.
• Count Sam invited Mu Hongyuan to a banquet and pressed her for her family background, but she told him she was a widow with a child and dismissed him.
• Count Sam knelt and offered to marry into the Hanberg family, even proposing to take Mu Hongyuan’s child’s surname, but Mu Hongyuan walked away.

Ansen asked Mu Hongyuan to help spread his fairy tales and proposed that they work together as the Empire entered a turbulent era. After seeing her face, he was so overwhelmed by her beauty that he asked her to be the heroine of his story.

• Mu Hongyuan reported that Luosu had attacked the Imperial Capital and been killed by the Tribunal.
• Ansen asked Mu Hongyuan to carry his fairy tales to the Imperial Capital, hoping to spread them throughout the Empire.
• Ansen realized he needed to become an Awakened before he could become the Saint Son.
• Mu Hongyuan read Ansen's unfinished story about a traveler who was secretly the Saint Son and brought justice to the Empire.
• Ansen removed Mu Hongyuan's veil and asked her to be his heroine, but she refused because she had a child.

Su Luo’s group ensured Ansen believed Mu Hongyuan’s false identity, but their scheme ended in a fight when Count Sam caught them. Meanwhile, Duke Spencer and Bishop Whitman traveled to Gray Furnace Fort to investigate trouble and discuss the Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons and the Church’s faith.

• Su Luo’s group left Ansen and Mu Hongyuan alone after planting evidence of her identity, and Count Sam tore apart the inn when he caught them together.
• Su Luo’s influence spread across fourteen county seats in Elfa Province, drawing the attention of Duke Spencer and Bishop Whitman.
• Duke Spencer and Bishop Whitman set out for Gray Furnace Fort aboard a Church- and Spencer-branded steam airship.
• Spencer asked whether Whitman had contacted the Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons, and Whitman said the Holy Light permitted everything, including the Church’s destruction.

Governor Spencer told Bishop Whitman about the Survivors and the worlds beyond their own, while revealing that he planned to cooperate with them and leave the Dungeon. Su Luo advanced his industrial projects and launched a crude satellite, drawing attention from Spencer and Whitman as Survivor factions began competing through new technology.

• Spencer explained the Survivors, the All Heavens and Ten Thousand Worlds, and the Survival System to Whitman, who suspected Spencer had been influenced and questioned his plan to leave the world.
• Spencer said he had chosen to cooperate with the Survivors and hinder the local Survivor faction, while Whitman continued to investigate.
• Spencer and Whitman saw a metal rocket-like object launch into the sky and redirected their airship to investigate its launch site.
• Su Luo launched a crude satellite, then packed up the simple launch pad and left.
• Su Luo consolidated control over the fourteen county towns and expanded production of telegraphs, generators, light bulbs, batteries, telephones, and hydrogen balloons as other Survivor factions began displaying their own advances.

Cang Yue, a Survivor who ran at twice the speed of sound, patrolled the territory and confronted a group of Church officials and Judgment Knights. After killing one Knight and regenerating his destroyed body part, he taunted the remaining officials as they prepared to face him.

• Cang Yue searched the remains of a site, suspecting that Survivors had launched a detector and noting their rapid industrial progress.
• Spencer and Whitman arrived aboard a steam airship with two Bishops and twelve Judgment Knights, and Whitman sent a Knight to test Cang Yue.
• Cang Yue charged the Knight, but the Knight grabbed and destroyed one of his legs; the Knight then exploded from the crotch upward.
• Cang Yue regenerated the damaged part, while Whitman called him a disaster and Spencer said he had placed his bet early.
• Cang Yue walked toward the officials and taunted them.

Ansen became infatuated with Mu Hongyuan while they were in Gray Furnace Fort, then hurried away to write the fifth volume of his fairy tale when she reminded him of the deadline. Mu Hongyuan reunited with Su Luo and Kundina and gave them the fourth volume, which named her as the Church’s future Saintess.

• Ansen gave Mu Hongyuan his money, admired her as she ate, and became completely absorbed in his love for her.
• A silver-white object launched from Gray Furnace Fort, so Ansen and Mu Hongyuan raced outside the fort.
• Mu Hongyuan demanded that Ansen finish the fifth volume, and he rushed off, promising to return with it in three hours.
• Su Luo and Kundina arrived, and Mu Hongyuan handed them the fourth volume of the fairy tale.
• Su Luo discovered that the story depicted Tustin Hanberg as a sorrowful noblewoman who became the Church’s designated Saintess.

Su Luo explained that the Imperial Capital had been purged and that neither doctrine nor industrial reform offered a viable path, while he planned to improve satellite surveillance with Kundina’s help. Elsewhere, Ye Fan and Layton explored the vast Primordial World, tested a Black Hole generator, and discussed Ye Fan’s origins as they continued through the Void Sea.

• Su Luo told Mu Hongyuan that the Pope and the Empire’s upper ranks had massacred most of the Imperial Capital, making the doctrine route too dangerous.
• Su Luo and Kundina concluded that industrial reform had little potential and agreed to monitor the Empire and prepare for the Survivors’ reaction.
• Ye Fan praised Layton’s Black Hole generator after Layton used it against threats, and the two continued exploring the Void Sea.
• Layton asked about Ye Fan’s origins, and Ye Fan said that new personalities formed periodically to preserve his sanity.
• Ye Fan and Layton joked about their ages and disappeared into the Void Sea’s annihilating particles.

Song Shige and Fu Li remained outside the Empire after the military lockdown drove Survivors from the front lines away. They reached a Calamity Nest and began considering how its Calamities could help them gain World Influence and achieve their goals.

• Song Shige and Fu Li escaped the military camp into Calamity territory after powerful Awakened began hunting the Survivors.
• Fu Li advised Song Shige to wait at least a week before attempting to force their way back into the Empire.
• Song Shige led Fu Li toward a vast Calamity Nest and proposed using its Calamities to gain World Influence.
• Song Shige transformed himself to resemble a Mature Calamity as he and Fu Li studied the Nest.
• Fu Li suggested that Mutated Calamities might be sending Calamities into the Empire's heartland using spatial abilities.

Song Shige and Fu Li entered the Calamity Nest, where Fu Li died and a vast Calamity tide overwhelmed the frozen frontline. Ansen’s fairy tale helped set Heaven’s Collapse in motion, and the Empire’s leaders faced a world-ending Calamity Disaster as the Pope and Bishops fled into the sky.

• Song Shige and Fu Li entered the Calamity Nest to explore it, but Fu Li died at the hands of another Survivor.
• The Calamity Nest erupted, releasing a tide of Calamities that made the frontline commander order his troops to slit their throats and return to heaven.
• Ansen distributed a fairy tale portraying himself as the Church’s lost Holy Son who would save the Empire, and he told Mu Hongyuan that Heaven’s Collapse would begin in one day.
• Ansen announced Heaven’s Collapse as the sky changed and a huge rift opened over the Empire, unleashing a world-ending Calamity Disaster.
• The Pope and more than a dozen Bishops fled beyond the sky, while the emperor stared upward in alarm.

Su Luo investigated the Spatial Rift pouring Calamities into the Empire and entered it with Qi Yuan to study what lay beyond. As fleeing Awakened reached low orbit, they saw silver-white objects speeding through space.

• The emperor noticed a hole in the sky, killed the consorts in his bedchamber, and flew after the fleeing Awakened.
• Su Luo watched the Spatial Rift and reflected on how spatial abilities and teleportation might work differently across worlds.
• Su Luo flew toward the rift with Qi Yuan while Calamities poured into the Empire and Survivors fled.
• Su Luo examined the rift, tested it with Qi Yuan and several Calamities, then entered it with Qi Yuan.
• Awakened fleeing the Empire reached low orbit and saw silver-white objects speeding through space.

The Red Bishops and Pope mistook satellites for dormancy platforms and settled onto them, while Kundina secretly watched from one. Su Luo explored the realm beyond a Spatial Rift, discovered a vast Calamity-filled hall, and learned that Mutated Calamities generated the rifts leading above the Empire.

• The Red Bishops and Pope identified three silvery-white objects as dormancy platforms and ignored the emperor's explanation of orbital motion.
• The emperor flew to a higher orbit, while the others divided among the satellites and began to hibernate.
• Kundina, who had come to investigate the destruction of Su Luo's satellites and assemble a communications satellite, hid as the natives arrived.
• Su Luo crossed the Spatial Rift with the unconscious Qi Yuan and encountered an immobile Mutated Calamity whose spiritual pressure overwhelmed Qi Yuan.
• Su Luo concealed himself in a vast hall crowded with Calamities and observed that Mutated Calamities generated short-lived Spatial Rifts that sent low-level Calamities above the Empire.

Su Luo investigated the Mutated Calamities and found that their supernatural abilities seemed to come from an external source, then discovered Mana from a battle and encountered Song Shige. Song Shige carried him away from a deadly Survivor free-for-all and offered him a Mana-rich object, which Su Luo refused.

• Su Luo dissected a Spatial Rift Mutated Calamity but found no bodily or spiritual basis for the Calamities’ bizarre abilities, then stored a small specimen for experiments.
• Su Luo followed a violent commotion and sensed Mana amid a lethal field of fast-moving threads that had slaughtered numerous Calamities.
• Su Luo recognized Song Shige’s Martial Will as Song Shige burst from the threads and grabbed him, carrying him toward the edge of the Calamity Nest.
• Song Shige said dozens of Survivors had died in a free-for-all and explained that the thread-field owner was suspected to be a recultivated Rainbow Badge.
• Song Shige gave Su Luo a crystalline hand containing Mana and offered to help him find more, but Su Luo thanked him and refused it.

Su Luo and Song Shige escaped the Calamity Nest after discovering that the Rainbow Badge Survivor [Silk Woman] had trapped and controlled nearly everyone inside with her threads. They discussed the Empire’s looming collapse and what to do next, while Su Luo wondered whether Heavenly Emperor Ye was in the Dungeon.

• Su Luo discovered transparent threads manipulating his mental world and broke free of the illusion by suppressing them with transparent flames.
• The illusion collapsed, revealing [Silk Woman] in a vast cocoon controlling the Calamities and Survivors gathered inside the Calamity Nest.
• [Silk Woman] attacked Su Luo, but he endured her threads and repeatedly regenerated as Song Shige carried him out of the Nest.
• After pursuing them for several kilometers, [Silk Woman] stopped her attack and turned back to absorb the abilities of other Survivors and Calamities.
• Su Luo and Song Shige escaped and exchanged information; Song Shige asked whether they should return to the Empire, but Su Luo said its destruction was inevitable.

Su Luo and Song Shige pushed to accelerate the Empire’s destruction before the era ended, then awakened in a new era after the world reset. Su Luo recognized the new setting as an era of immortal cultivation and began adapting his knowledge of cultivation techniques.

• Su Luo explained the Empire’s situation and the Awakened to Song Shige, then released Qi Yuan’s soul and discussed farming more world influence before the era ended.
• Su Luo and Song Shige headed toward other Calamity Nests, and Su Luo learned that Fu Li, the third-ranked expert on the World Channel, had died.
• As the world’s Calamity Nests awakened and chaos spread, Su Luo saw the cocoon at the first Nest nearly collapse and realized someone had arrived in the polar region.
• A spatial rift spread across the Empire, the old world collapsed into chaos, and a new era began.
• Su Luo awoke in a crude thatched hut with his body reset, sensed Qi in the environment, and identified the new era as one of immortal cultivation.

Su Luo entered a primitive, drought-stricken world and discovered he needed food to strengthen his body before cultivating. After recognizing his landlord Jerome from the Steam Age, Su Luo was summoned to meet the village chief about an important visitor from the city.

• Su Luo searched his dilapidated hut for food, ate dried cornstalk-like plants, and resumed cultivating after realizing his weak body could not yet contain Qi.
• Jerome burst into the hut, begged Su Luo for food, and scolded him for eating grain that could have been traded for bran.
• Su Luo recognized Jerome as his landlord from the Steam Age and concluded that the Dungeon's NPCs reappeared across ages without remembering their past lives.
• Su Luo stepped outside and saw a barren landscape with scarce food and thin Qi, explaining Jerome's desperation.
• Jerome told Su Luo that the village chief had summoned him because he was the only villager who could write and an important city official had arrived.
• Su Luo questioned Jerome's authority with a disdainful air, briefly making Jerome mistake him for a superior.

Su Luo followed Jerome to the village chief’s house, where Ban Xu was investigating reports of villagers exchanging children for food. The investigation ended with Ban Xu accepting the village chief’s loophole, while the meal before them and a mention of spirit farmland left the danger in the village unresolved.

• Jerome led Su Luo through the starving village and demanded a share of any reward Su Luo received.
• At the village chief’s house, Su Luo met Ban Xu, who was discussing the villagers’ hardships over a pot of food.
• Ban Xu questioned the village chief about exchanging children within the village, but the village chief admitted they traded children with other villages instead.
• Ban Xu accepted that answer and resumed his meal with the village chief.
• After the pot revealed a cooked fowl, Ban Xu asked about the village’s spirit farmland and complained that the meal lacked spiritual ingredients.