Chapter Summaries

Zhong Yi learned that Tower Masters could unlock powerful Partner Skills by raising their bond levels, after Zhou Qiaoling complained that Marcus’s skill spent her gold. He decided to take Zoe with him, while Marcus stayed behind to work at the Gold Coin Factory.

• Zhong Yi returned from exploring Sakura Island and found Marcus wandering around the base.
• Zhong Yi learned that Zhou Qiaoling had captured Marcus and brought him on an expedition to fight.
• Zhou Qiaoling explained that reaching bond level 8 unlocked Marcus’s Partner Skill, which summoned armed guards at the cost of her gold.
• Zhou Qiaoling assigned Marcus to the Gold Coin Factory to make up for the money he had spent.
• Zhong Yi realized Tower Masters had Partner Skills and invited Zoe to come with him instead of working at the base.

Zhong Yi tried to raise Zoe’s bond level and misread why it kept increasing, while Lu Ze realized Zoe might possess a Heavenly Dao opportunity. Lu Ze arranged to replace that opportunity with the Cross True Art if Zhong Yi earned it, hoping to obtain the cultivation method from him later.

• Zhong Yi noticed Zoe’s bond level rose while she accompanied him, but stayed unchanged when he switched her out for Frostallion.
• Zhong Yi concluded that Zoe’s bond increased when she joined the active team in battle, unaware that it actually rose through her affection for him.
• Lu Ze explained that Zoe’s affection grew through chatting, fulfilling requests, or giving her favorite food, and suspected she held a Heavenly Dao opportunity.
• Lu Ze asked the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao to replace Zhong Yi’s original opportunity with the Cross True Art, and the fragment agreed.
• Lu Ze asked for Zhong Yi’s original opportunity as well, and the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao told him to get lost.

Zhong Yi took Zoe to battle powerful Palworld creatures, misunderstanding her blunt denials and growing affection as a love of fighting while her Bond Value rose to level nine. After he noticed the live-stream discussion about Snowfield Tower Master Li Wei, Zhong Yi turned around and realized Zoe had disappeared.

• Zhong Yi led Zoe through battles against powerful Palworld creatures and gave her Forest Mammoth Curry when he noticed she was hungry.
• Zoe's Bond Value reached level eight, unlocking the Partner Skill Gale Lightning, but Zhong Yi mistakenly thought her bond had risen because she loved fighting.
• Zhong Yi and Zoe continued training together in several locations, and her Bond Value climbed to level nine.
• Zhong Yi heard the Danmu discussing Li Wei's recruitment conditions and decided to visit the Snowfield Tower Master.
• Zhong Yi turned around and discovered Zoe had vanished.

Zhong Yi discovered Zoe had fled after her childhood memories were stirred up, and searched for her at an abandoned Syndicate outpost. He rescued her from a Frenzied Direhowl and reunited her with Stormshock Bear, though he misunderstood what she wanted.

• Zhong Yi unlocked Zoe’s final bond quest and used her diary entries to guess where she had gone.
• Zoe hid in an iron cage at an abandoned Syndicate outpost and mourned being abandoned by everyone she trusted.
• A Frenzied Direhowl attacked Zoe after she realized Stormshock Bear was not with her.
• Zhong Yi arrived on Stormshock Bear and blasted the Direhowl away before reuniting Zoe with her Pal.
• Zhong Yi declared that Zoe wanted to stay with Stormshock Bear forever, and Zoe quietly accepted the reunion.

Zhong Yi fought off a pack of Frenzied Direhowls and unknowingly eased Zoe’s worries, completing her bond quest and unlocking her permanent presence feature. As they rode back to the base together, Zoe thanked him, and Zhong Yi saw the cultivation method of the Cross True Art unfold before him.

• A pack of Frenzied Direhowls surrounded Zhong Yi and Zoe, and Zhong Yi gave Zoe two rings to hold while Frostallion defeated the Pals.
• Zhong Yi asked Zoe why she had run off, then reassured her that he planned to leave Tower Boss Li Wei for his friend Zhou Yue.
• The system announced that Zhong Yi had completed Zoe’s bond quest, raised their bond to level ten, and unlocked her permanent presence feature.
• Zhong Yi mistook Zoe’s rapid pulse and flushed face for signs of poor health, baffling her again.
• Zoe thanked Zhong Yi as they rode Stormshock Bear toward the base, and Zhong Yi saw the Cross True Art’s cultivation method unfold before him.

Lu Ze saw Palworld’s popularity drive a surge of Demonic Value as players chased Heavenly Dao Opportunities. As players reached the late game, he prepared to seal and purify the Evil Soul, whose resentment would no longer grow.

• Lu Ze watched cultivators follow White Curtain’s theories for finding opportunities, causing Palworld to deliver a new peak of Demonic Value.
• Zhong Yi, Mu Yawen, and Zhou Yue returned to their base and discovered Zhou Qiaoling had captured many humans and raised most of them to four stars to work.
• Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue found the elderly village chief running inside a wheel to generate electricity for the assembly lines.
• Zhou Qiaoling used Tocotoco’s Self-Destruct Skill on an old man while fighting Frostallion, prompting Zhong Yi and Zhou Yue to worry about the Spirit Cloud Sect’s reputation.
• Lu Ze told Sect Master He it was time to close the net, seal the Evil Soul, and purify it now that late-game players would no longer deepen its resentment.

Zhong Yi and his friends progressed through Palworld’s new content, while Lu Ze helped the Beast Taming Sect purify the Void Dream Chi’s Evil Soul. With the crisis resolved, Lu Ze returned to the Spirit Cloud Sect as the Void Dream Chi began its half-year path to rebirth.

• Zhong Yi and his friends defeated Cangli and learned that Li Moran had already recruited her as a companion.
• Zhong Yi and the others gathered all eight Key Spheres, completed the quests to obtain the Echo Flute, and summoned the Aocang Whale to prove their strength.
• He Muye asked Lu Ze how he had purified the Evil Soul’s resentment, and Lu Ze credited the righteous cultivators.
• Lu Ze explained that the docile Void Dream Chi could digest the Evil Soul and be reborn after about half a year.
• He Muye promised to give Lu Ze the Void Soul Crystal after the Void Dream Chi’s rebirth, and Lu Ze set off for the Spirit Cloud Sect.

After Zhong Yi and his friends defeated the Aocang Whale and captured it, they entered the World Tree and pursued new challenges, upgrades, and hidden lore. Zhong Yi’s investigation uncovered the beginning of Palpagos Island’s history, ending with the arrival of an unknown white, dragon-shaped Palworld creature.

• Zhong Yi’s group defeated the Aocang Whale after several attempts and decided to capture one for each of them before entering the World Tree.
• Players began exploring the World Tree, where new resources, affixes, and creatures expanded the game’s endgame grind.
• Zhong Yi and his friends built a sprawling new base on the northern island and continued raising combat and worker Palworld creatures.
• Zhong Yi designed a dark-type team that helped Zhou Yue defeat a hard-mode Tower Master, while Zoe’s presence kept him from using the Bella sisters himself.
• Zhong Yi investigated the World Tree’s secrets and learned that an unknown white, dragon-shaped Palworld creature had once descended onto Palpagos Island.

Zhong Yi explained Quivern’s ancient catastrophe and the group entered the World Tree to challenge Zoe and Quivern, only for Zhou Yue and Zoe to recognize each other before the battle began. Elsewhere, the Illusion Alliance’s divination ended with the Heavenly Spirit Body destroyed, and Heart Demon concluded that their course was correct.

• Zhong Yi explained that Quivern’s instinctive feeding on the World Tree’s lifeblood had caused the ancient Calamity, and that Zoe and Quivern had been sealed after the eight ancient fighters failed to defeat them.
• Zhou Yue learned that Quivern might be Paldeck number 204 and urged the group to continue the main quest so they could try to capture it.
• Zhong Yi, Zhou Yue, Mu Yawen, and Zhou Qiaoling traveled to the deepest part of the World Tree and used the eight Key Spheres to open the sealed gates.
• Zoe and Quivern awakened, and Zhou Yue and Zoe recognized each other as the battle began.
• The Illusion Alliance’s Four Symbols Formation collapsed, destroying the Heavenly Spirit Body, and Heart Demon concluded that their direction was not wrong.

Heart Demon used the Heaven and Earth Four Symbols Formation to learn that Lu Ze was using the Path of Illusion to resolve the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao’s karma. He decided the Illusion Alliance needed to pursue victory outside Lu Ze’s familiar rules, and the Elders settled on Sword Dao as their next field.

• Heart Demon asked the formation whether trying to make Lu Ze fail mattered, and it answered that Lu Ze was resolving the Fragment of the Heavenly Dao’s karma through the Path of Illusion.
• Heart Demon concluded that the Alliance needed to break away from Lu Ze’s rules and win first place in a field where Lu Ze could not interfere.
• Heart Demon warned that if Lu Ze entered that unfamiliar contest, the Alliance would seize the chance to bring him down.
• Blood Crow and the other Elders discussed Lu Ze’s abilities and concluded that Sword Dao was the field to pursue.

Zhong Yi and his team became the first to defeat Quivern and Zoe in Palworld, then woke in the starting area with Zoe alongside them. Lu Ze’s games continued generating profits and Demonic Value, while Li Moran struggled against the final Boss.

• Players complained on the Forum about the difficulty of the Quivern and Zoe fight as they approached Palworld’s finale.
• Zhong Yi’s team used Mu Yawen’s heavily armored Warsect to endure the spinning ring’s attacks and gradually wore down Quivern and Zoe.
• Zhou Qiaoling landed the final blow on Quivern, and Zoe chose to fall into the Abyss with the dragon as the chamber collapsed.
• Zhong Yi woke in the starting area surrounded by familiar Pals and found Zoe there too; after Lu Ze offered him a gift at the Spirit Jade Pavilion, Zhong Yi left the Illusion Realm to meet him.
• Lu Ze noted Palworld’s strong profits and Li Moran’s increased Demonic Value after her breakthrough, then saw that she was still struggling to defeat Quivern and Zoe.

Lu Ze failed to bluff Li Moran into believing he knew a way to beat Quivern, and she left him facing her wrath. Meanwhile, the Heart Demon tried to persuade Chen Yuan to host the Limitless Sword Sect’s Sword Dao Ruins in an Illusion Realm, promising a Heavenly Dao opportunity.

• Li Moran challenged Lu Ze to demonstrate the supposed trick for defeating Quivern, but he hesitated because he could not win without changing the Illusion Realm’s data.
• Li Moran vanished from the Illusion Realm, and heavy snow, hail, and a rain of blades struck the Spirit Jade Pavilion.
• The Heart Demon met Chen Yuan, Grand Elder of the Limitless Sword Sect, and proposed using an Illusion Realm for the sect’s Sword Dao Ruins.
• Chen Yuan refused, fearing that involving the sect in the rivalry between Lu Ze and the Illusion Alliance would bring another disaster.
• The Heart Demon argued that Lu Ze would have no reason to compete for the sword-focused prize and said the Illusion Alliance sought fame.
• The Heart Demon claimed his Sword Dao Illusion Realm could contain a Heavenly Dao opportunity powerful enough to shake the heavens.

Chen Yuan learned that the Illusion Alliance planned to use the Three Tribulations Sword Art to lure the Limitless Sword Sect into an illusion realm under the guise of a Heavenly Dao opportunity. Meanwhile, Lu Ze refined his control over the Illusion Tower’s array, then received an urgent summons to the sect’s main hall.

• The Heart Demon offered Chen Yuan the Three Tribulations Sword Art, claiming the ancient sword art would become a Heavenly Dao opportunity for the Limitless Sword Sect.
• Chen Yuan questioned how an art already held by the Heart Demon could count as a Heavenly Dao opportunity, and the Heart Demon said the label did not matter as long as Chen Yuan obtained it.
• Players continued exploring Palworld after its initial surge, and some tried high-difficulty runs after Li Moran reached the World Tree without relying on Pals.
• Lu Ze discovered that refining a Void Soul Crystal let him see and modify the Fearful Soul Entanglement Array to affect memories and consciousness as well as emotions.
• Nangong Yuan summoned Lu Ze to the sect’s main hall because Elder Chao wanted to see him.

Lu Ze learned that the Limitless Sword Sect would host its Sword Dao Ruins in illusions and dismissed the chance that he would compete. After Li Moran revealed that Palworld had improved her swordsmanship, a system notification warned that a Sword Immortal of this age was about to emerge.

• Chao Wendao and Nangong Yuan told Lu Ze that the Limitless Sword Sect had chosen an illusion for its Sword Dao Ruins, but Chao Wendao said the Spirit Cloud Sect would not send him to compete.
• Lu Ze learned that Li Moran would participate and that contestants would seek Heavenly Dao Opportunities in illusions created by Realm Cultivators.
• Three days later, Lu Ze found Li Moran still fighting in Palworld and urged her to try another game, but she said she preferred stronger opponents.
• Li Moran asked why Lu Ze was not entering the illusion contest, then thanked him because her swordsmanship had improved through Palworld.
• A system notification told Lu Ze that a Sword Immortal of this age was about to emerge.

Lu Ze received a mission to disrupt the Sword Dao Ruins and chose to torment every participant rather than target Li Moran alone. At the Limitless Sword Domain, Li Moran found the featured Illusion Realm unimpressive, while another cultivator announced he had gained a sword technique from it.

• Lu Ze read the system mission to defeat Sword Cultivators and shake their composure, then decided to send all the Sword Dao Ruins participants into an Illusion Realm.
• Lu Ze contacted Elder Chao and claimed he had gained a small insight into the Sword Dao.
• Sword Cultivators gathered at the Limitless Sword Domain and entered Illusion Realms while spectators watched their challenges.
• Li Moran spent two days challenging 《Sword Slashing the Stars》 but judged its opponents and opportunities mediocre compared with Palworld.
• A Limitless Sword Sect True Disciple celebrated learning an Earth-grade sword technique in 《Sword Slashing the Stars》.

Li Moran questioned whether the treasures found in Sword Slashing the Stars were truly heavenly dao opportunities, while the Limitless Sword Sect and Heart Demon used the illusion realm to counter her dominance at the Sword Dao Ruins. Chen Yuan proposed a further scheme to avoid suspicion over Li Moran receiving nothing.

• Spectators praised Sword Slashing the Stars for producing numerous supposed heavenly dao opportunities, while Li Moran privately doubted that the tangible manuals and treasures resembled the opportunities she knew.
• Grand Elder Chen Yuan thanked Heart Demon for helping the Limitless Sword Sect hold the Sword Dao Ruins gathering through an illusion realm that avoided direct contests with Li Moran.
• Chen Yuan explained that the Illusion Alliance had secretly planted the illusion realm's rewards, leaving Li Moran as the only participant among several hundred who had obtained nothing.
• Heart Demon reassured Chen Yuan that he had merely hidden treasures for cultivators to find and had never claimed they came from the Heavenly Dao.
• Chen Yuan asked Heart Demon for the promised Three Tribulations Sword Art, then suggested changing the plan because Li Moran's lack of rewards might arouse suspicion.

Li Moran continued to receive no opportunities in Sword Slashing the Stars until Shen Yan explained that the rewards seemed deliberately arranged rather than granted by the Heavenly Dao. After Chen Yuan effortlessly cleared the highest stage, he entered the Arena and approached Li Moran’s platform.

• On the fifth day at the Sword Dao Ruins, Li Moran again cleared her match without receiving an opportunity and wondered why she had failed to obtain one.
• Li Moran opened an Arena platform, and Shen Yan joined her after she defeated him with a single strike.
• Shen Yan told Li Moran that he had received a treasured sword despite being unsuited to sword cultivation, suggesting that someone was distributing the rewards deliberately.
• Li Moran agreed that the opportunities seemed suspicious and resolved not to expose the scheme or keep wasting time in Sword Slashing the Stars.
• Chen Yuan entered Sword Slashing the Stars, defeated three Void Refining Sword Cultivators at the highest difficulty, then went to Li Moran’s Arena platform.

Chen Yuan cheated to gain an advantage over Li Moran in Sword Slashing the Stars, but surrendered when she began to read his techniques. After Chen Yuan received a rare opportunity and Li Moran got a basic sword manual, a familiar young voice told her she should be angry about the insult.

• Chen Yuan used adjusted stats to pressure Li Moran, but realized she was adapting to his sword moves and would eventually defeat him.
• Chen Yuan abandoned the battle and pretended to concede magnanimously, while the spectators praised both fighters.
• A Heavenly Dao Opportunity appeared: Chen Yuan received the Three Tribulations Sword Art, while Li Moran received a basic sword manual.
• Li Moran ignored the spectators’ mockery and reviewed the fight, treating the manual as worthless.
• A familiar young man picked up Li Moran’s manual and told her she should be angry about it.

Lu Ze challenged the Illusion Alliance’s claims that cultivators’ rewards were Heavenly Dao opportunities, but Spirit Crane admitted the Alliance had planted rewards in the Illusion Realms and offered Li Moran a sword manual. Lu Ze chose not to expose the Alliance, believing its prized sword art could instead draw attention to his own Illusion Realms, and prepared to compete with his newly created Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

• Lu Ze tore up a basic sword manual and challenged Chen Yuan’s claim that it was an opportunity.
• Chen Yuan deflected Lu Ze’s accusation by pointing to cultivators who said they had received valuable rewards.
• Spirit Crane admitted that the Illusion Alliance had placed manuals, cultivation methods, and artifacts inside its Illusion Realms, then offered Li Moran a high-grade Heavenly Rank sword manual.
• Li Moran rejected Spirit Crane’s gift and said Chen Yuan’s Three Tribulations Sword Art was beneath her notice too.
• Lu Ze decided not to expose the Alliance’s role, reasoning that the Three Tribulations Sword Art could be credited to the Heavenly Dao and attract people to his own Illusion Realms.
• Lu Ze revealed that his completed Illusion Realm was called Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and believed it could win the Sword Dao competition.

Lu Ze demanded the Three Tribulations Sword Art as compensation for Li Moran and challenged Chen Yuan to a wager over his swordsmanship Illusion Realm. Chen Yuan accepted, believing he could win, while Lu Ze prepared to draw cultivators into his game.

• Lu Ze confronted Chen Yuan over Li Moran’s humiliation and demanded the Three Tribulations Sword Art as compensation.
• Lu Ze claimed his new swordsmanship Illusion Realm could teach the assembled cultivators, provoking Chen Yuan and the other Sword Cultivators.
• Lu Ze wagered a Heavenly Dao opportunity against the Three Tribulations Sword Art, promising that Chen Yuan’s cultivation would be sealed but that the opponent would be beatable.
• Chen Yuan questioned whether Lu Ze’s Illusion Realm could help cultivators advance in swordsmanship, and Lu Ze agreed to concede if no one benefited.
• Chen Yuan accepted the wager and demanded that Lu Ze bring out his Illusion Realm.