Chapter Summaries

Meng Chao and Lü Siya recovered in Jin Wanhao’s secret laboratory while deciding to secure its resources and keep his crimes from destabilizing Nest City. A Ji finally began to speak, insisting the truth was not what Meng Chao imagined.

• Meng Chao and Lü Siya found evidence that Jin Wanhao had secretly tortured and experimented on powerful Transcendents, and Meng Chao grew suspicious of A Ji’s identity and motives.
• Meng Chao and Lü Siya decided to recover their strength before addressing the laboratory’s dangerous secrets and reporting Jin Wanhao’s crimes.
• Meng Chao and Lü Siya absorbed the laboratory’s costly Medical Potion together, restoring their strength through the resonance of their Life Magnetic Fields.
• Meng Chao threatened that A Ji would become crippled if he did not receive treatment for the damage caused by using Celestial Overlord Shattering Star Strike.
• A Ji finally spoke and insisted that the truth was not as Meng Chao imagined.

Meng Chao and Lü Siya pressed A Ji to explain whether Jin Wanhao had conducted horrific experiments on innocent people. A Ji agreed to reveal the truth and began identifying the victims as notorious criminals, starting with a wanted killer called “Ill-Starred One” Huang Xin.

• A Ji said he would have shared Jin Wanhao’s secrets with Meng Chao, but distrusted Lü Siya because she belonged to one of the Nine Great Families.
• Lü Siya argued that her ambitions and interests did not necessarily align with those of her family or Qingtian Corporation.
• Meng Chao warned A Ji that they would cripple his arms if he refused to explain the photographs, and A Ji agreed to talk.
• Meng Chao asked whether Jin Wanhao had sacrificed innocent people for evil research, and A Ji admitted that some subjects had endured torture and painful deaths.
• A Ji identified “Ill-Starred One” Huang Xin as a wanted criminal who had robbed a bank, murdered seventeen bound employees, killed his accomplices, and evaded capture for ten years before Jin Wanhao caught him.

A Ji explained that Jin Wanhao had secretly captured more than a hundred notorious wanted criminals in Nest City, using them for interrogation and cruel experiments. He revealed that Jin Wanhao’s true goal was to restore his youth, leaving Meng Chao and Lü Siya to consider whether such a transformation was possible.

• A Ji identified the laboratory’s experimental subjects as notorious wanted criminals whose crimes had made them targets on the Superhuman Tower’s Wanted List.
• A Ji said Jin Wanhao had spread rumors that Nest City sheltered fugitives so he could lure them in, capture them, extract their hidden wealth, and use them in experiments.
• Meng Chao asked whether Jin Wanhao’s men had harmed any innocents, and A Ji insisted that the laboratory’s victims were all wanted criminals.
• Meng Chao asked what Jin Wanhao had been trying to accomplish, and A Ji said he had sought to restore his youth.
• A Ji argued that regenerative abilities suggested a person might return to youth if their flesh and blood were replaced, leaving Meng Chao and Lü Siya weighing the possibility.

A Ji explained how Jin Wanhao accidentally regained his youth, but the transformation left him with the body of a child and a new sense of identity. He revealed that he remembered being A Ji before waking with Jin Wanhao’s memories, leaving Meng Chao to consider whether the boy and the Underground Emperor were truly the same person.

• A Ji described Jin Wanhao’s failed attempts to develop a rejuvenation medicine and how the alchemist Red-Brow Su Lun’s mother had helped him before her death.
• During a severe Cultivation Deviation, Jin Wanhao accidentally absorbed a volatile unfinished medicine that restored his body to the age of eight or nine.
• Meng Chao and Lu Si Ya realized that A Ji might be Jin Wanhao, though Meng Chao struggled to reconcile the boy with the domineering Underground Emperor.
• A Ji questioned whether someone remained the same person through radically different stages of life, prompting Meng Chao to compare his current self with his former life.
• Meng Chao understood that A Ji could be Jin Wanhao while feeling distinct from him, and A Ji said he had always been A Ji before waking with Jin Wanhao’s memories.

A Ji explained that he had awakened as a new personality combining his childhood self with Jin Wanhao, and had fled the Golden Tooth Gang rather than reclaim the dangerous identity of the Underground Emperor. He had gone to Leprosy Village to hide, recover enough power to protect himself, and find a new identity.

• A Ji admitted that he retained some of Jin Wanhao’s memories and abilities but considered himself a new personality, not Jin Wanhao reborn.
• A Ji explained that he had left the secret laboratory because Nest City’s gangs and Jin Wanhao’s enemies would threaten him if they learned the truth.
• A Ji rejected returning to lead the Golden Tooth Gang, describing Jin Wanhao’s life as a dangerous role under the control of the Nine Super Enterprises.
• A Ji said he had used a dying criminal as a stand-in and deceived Red Brow Su Lun into believing Jin Wanhao remained in the laboratory.
• A Ji revealed that he had gone to Leprosy Village and sought indirect help from its Village Chief, hoping to regain strength and establish a new identity.

A Ji explained how he had assumed Jin Wanhao’s identity, tried to recover his hidden resources, and became entangled in the fight to save Nest City. When Meng Chao asked about the girl who emerged from Vortex’s corpse, A Ji said he did not know who she was, though Jin Wanhao’s memories contained a younger sister who had died decades earlier.

• A Ji described his plan to hide in Leprosy Village, cultivate in secret, and escape the Super Enterprises’ control, but admitted he had missed signs of the Monster Civilization’s conspiracy.
• A Ji explained that he had tried to save Nest City and retrieve the secret laboratory’s treasures, including Hell Blood, by exploiting Meng Chao’s distraction at Alloy Arena.
• A Ji said Vortex had targeted the laboratory, and the ensuing chaos had left Meng Chao and Lü Siya with the Hell Blood.
• Lü Siya found no major holes in A Ji’s story and pinched his cheek in revenge for their earlier encounter in Nest City.
• Meng Chao released A Ji from his restraints, treated his injured arms, and asked about the foam figure and the tattoo on his chest.
• A Ji said he did not recognize the girl who called him “big brother,” though Jin Wanhao’s memories included a younger sister who had died decades earlier.

A Ji revealed that his chest mark was a bloodline curse and explained that he, Lei Zongchao, and his sister had been unwilling experimental subjects in the earliest Spirit Energy Martial Dao research. He traced their story to the Blood Alliance, whose power came from occupying the Ancient Ruins beneath Dragon City, leaving Meng Chao and Lü Siya stunned by how early the ruins had been discovered.

• Meng Chao asked A Ji how his sister’s death related to his chest tattoo, and A Ji said it was a curse from his bloodline rather than a tattoo placed by someone else.
• A Ji recounted how his memories were fragmented after he became young again and described how Dragon City’s early Blood-colored Era had been obscured from public history.
• A Ji challenged the official account of Spirit Energy Martial Dao’s origins and revealed that he, Lei Zongchao, and his sister had been experimental subjects.
• A Ji said the Blood Alliance had been Dragon City’s earliest major force and that it rose to power by occupying the Ancient Ruins beneath the city.
• Meng Chao and Lü Siya realized that Dragon City had discovered and explored the Ancient Ruins near the beginning of the crossing.

A Ji explained how the regular army fought the Primordial Demons beneath Dragon City, then was wiped out, leaving the city without its last force of order. Survivors later explored the Ancient Ruins, where the few who gained Superhuman Power became the first Transcendents, and some founded the Blood Alliance to monopolize the ruins.

• A Ji explained that Dragon City's underground army fought the Primordial Demons and died after containing the threat, bringing the lawless apocalypse.
• Meng Chao connected the account to the missing regular troops and considered whether Primordial Demons had guarded the Ancient Ruins.
• A Ji said the Ancient Ruins later drew desperate survivors through Primordial Summoning, though its traps and strange zones killed most explorers.
• The few explorers who survived the Ancient Ruins gained Superhuman Power and became the first Transcendents, many of them mentally unstable.
• The earliest surviving explorers established the Blood Alliance to monopolize access to the Ancient Ruins.

A Ji told Meng Chao and Lü Siya how the Blood Alliance exploited the Ancient Ruins, torturing him, Lei Zongchao, and Jin Wanhao’s younger sister as test subjects. He recounted how the three formed a close bond under the trials, then revealed that Lei Zongchao had courted his sister.

• A Ji explained that the Blood Alliance controlled access to the Ancient Ruins and captured citizens to find new Transcendents, recruiting or tormenting those who survived.
• A Ji recalled that he, Jin Wanhao’s younger sister, and Lei Zongchao endured repeated expeditions and cruel experiments because of their unusual abilities.
• Meng Chao soothed A Ji when his painful memories overwhelmed him and urged him to continue with what happened afterward.
• A Ji said Lei Zongchao was a martial arts prodigy and that Jin Wanhao’s younger sister was even more formidable.
• A Ji described how he, Lei Zongchao, and his sister became an Iron Triangle through shared danger and torture.
• A Ji admitted that he resented Lei Zongchao for courting and winning his sister’s affection.

A Ji recounted how the Anti-Blood Alliance freed him, his sister, and Lei Zongchao to defeat the Blood Alliance, though his sister disappeared in the Crimson Dragon River. He explained that the Crossed Cross Eye appeared mysteriously on Ancient Ruins explorers and was regarded as a curse.

• A Ji said the Blood Alliance restrained him, his sister, and Lei Zongchao with poisons and devices while rival gangs secretly formed an alliance against it.
• The Anti-Blood Alliance staged a frontal battle, then infiltrated the Blood Alliance’s lair and freed A Ji, his sister, Lei Zongchao, and the other test subjects.
• A Ji, his sister, and Lei Zongchao turned the battle against the Blood Alliance, while citizens and Anti-Blood Alliance forces fought the group’s remaining forces.
• Blood Alliance founders gravely wounded A Ji’s sister, who fell into the Crimson Dragon River and vanished; Lei Zongchao then killed seven core experts and the Blood Alliance leader, causing the organization to collapse.
• Meng Chao asked whether the Crossed Cross Eye was the Blood Alliance’s symbol, and A Ji explained that it appeared on Ancient Ruins explorers without their knowledge and seemed to bring repeated dangers.

A Ji explained how the Crossed Cross Eye Tattoo marked potential heirs to the Primordial Civilization and why some holders came to kill one another in a supposed test of survival. Meng Chao realized Bai Jiacao could be drawn into this deadly competition, while A Ji said he had hidden his identity to escape other tattoo holders.

• A Ji explained that the Crossed Cross Eye Tattoo appeared unpredictably, seemed limited in number, and might mark explorers as candidates for the Primordial Civilization’s inheritance.
• Meng Chao realized Bai Jiacao had likely inherited a tattoo after another holder died and worried about her becoming part of the dangerous process.
• A Ji confirmed that Lei Zongchao had a tattoo and explained that Jin Wanhao’s tattoo had surfaced because his power overwhelmed his child’s body.
• A Ji said the tattoo was concealed because it was associated with the Blood Alliance’s atrocities and because some holders hunted one another.
• A Ji described the holders’ theory that killing every other marked person could serve as a test to inherit the Ancient Ruins’ power.
• A Ji explained that Jin Wanhao had fled underground and he had abandoned his former identity to avoid gangs, Super Enterprises, and other tattoo holders.

Meng Chao learned that Crossed Cross Eye bearers from many races were drawn into a deadly struggle over the Primordial Civilization, and he connected that conflict to the war that destroyed Dragon City. A Ji explained that Lei Zongchao and Jin Wanhao drifted apart over their ideals after the Blood Alliance fell, as Lü Siya showed eagerness to investigate the Ancient Ruins herself.

• Meng Chao accepted that Bai Jiacao's Crossed Cross Eye meant she was likely already involved in the struggle between the cursed, and resolved to protect her with what he learned.
• Meng Chao recalled that Crossed Cross Eye bearers existed across the Otherworld and suspected their conflicts had sparked the war that destroyed Dragon City.
• Lü Siya eagerly asked whether the curse could be obtained or transferred and suggested visiting the Relic Research Institute to investigate the secrets beneath the Superhuman Tower.
• A Ji told Lü Siya that Lei Zongchao and Jin Wanhao had not separated because of the Crossed Cross Eye; they had drifted apart because their ideals differed.
• A Ji explained that Lei Zongchao devoted himself to equality, defended Dragon City, shared his martial arts, and helped unite the factions into the Survival Committee.

Meng Chao learned that the Martial God Lei Zongchao was gravely ill and suspected that his remembered role in the future Monster War concealed a conspiracy. A Ji condemned the inequality perpetuated by Dragon City’s Super Enterprises, while Lü Siya challenged him to judge Jin Wanhao’s gang by the same standard.

• A Ji explained that Lei Zongchao had devoted his life to fighting for Dragon City but had gained no faction or wealth, and was now confined to a Medical Chamber by his injuries.
• Meng Chao recalled that Lei Zongchao had fought and died against the leader of Monster Civilization in his previous life, and suspected that the truth about his condition was being concealed.
• A Ji said Jin Wanhao had broken with Lei Zongchao because he feared the Anti-Blood Alliance would become another Blood Alliance after seizing the Ancient Ruins’ power.
• A Ji accused the Super Enterprises of preserving deep inequality, citing Lü Siya’s privileged upbringing and the hardship endured by children in Tianfu Garden and Leprosy Village.
• Meng Chao struggled to defend the system, recalling that Dragon City’s class divisions had never been resolved in his previous life.
• Lü Siya agreed that dragon slayers could become Evil Dragons, then asked whether Jin Wanhao’s Golden Tooth Gang had been any better.

A Ji recounted how Jin Wanhao founded the Golden Tooth Gang, fell out with Lei Zongchao, and withdrew to Nest City to pursue rejuvenation. The rejuvenation succeeded, but it erased Jin Wanhao’s consciousness and created A Ji, who wanted nothing to do with his predecessor’s ambitions.

• A Ji explained that Jin Wanhao founded the Golden Tooth Gang to become powerful enough to control his own fate, but the nine factions contained its rise.
• Jin Wanhao asked Lei Zongchao to help him defeat the nine factions, but Lei refused because he believed military and economic power should remain balanced.
• Jin Wanhao and Lei Zongchao fell out after Lei sided against Jin Wanhao’s plans, and Jin Wanhao agreed to confine his gang to Nest City.
• Jin Wanhao discovered that a bead from the Ancient Ruins held the secret of cellular regeneration and used it to research rejuvenation in Nest City.
• Jin Wanhao rejuvenated himself, but the renewal of his brain cells erased his old consciousness and produced A Ji.

Meng Chao concluded that Jin Qianxi may have survived and become the leader of Monster Civilization, using her knowledge and painful memories to shape intelligent anomalous beasts. He decided to report the threat to the Survival Committee, while A Ji asked to remain hidden because his rejuvenation could make him a target for experiments.

• Meng Chao asked A Ji whether Jin Qianxi had possessed the Crossed Cross Eye, and A Ji confirmed that she had.
• Meng Chao argued that Jin Qianxi might have survived her fall into the Crimson Dragon River and become the leader of Monster Civilization.
• Meng Chao connected the Foam Messenger and Abyss Demon Eye's memories of human experimentation to Jin Qianxi and her past suffering.
• Meng Chao declared that he would send the vital intelligence to the Survival Committee despite A Ji's distress.
• A Ji agreed not to stop him but asked Meng Chao to conceal his existence, fearing people would experiment on him to uncover the secret of his rejuvenation.

Meng Chao considered whether to hide A Ji’s accidental rejuvenation from Dragon City’s powerful elders, fearing the social upheaval it could cause. Lü Siya supported keeping the secret, seeing rejuvenation as a way for the old rulers to block her rise to power.

• A Ji explained that Jin Wanhao had rejuvenated by accident and that he could not reproduce or explain the process.
• A Ji begged Meng Chao to protect him from powerful elders who might capture him to study rejuvenation.
• Meng Chao recalled how the pursuit of the elves’ longevity secret had helped undermine Dragon City in his previous life.
• Meng Chao worried that revealing rejuvenation to Dragon City’s elders could put the city’s future in their hands again.
• Lü Siya said she had no interest in giving the secret to her grandfather or father, since rejuvenation could keep them in control of Qingtian Corporation indefinitely.
• Meng Chao considered that long-lived elves had not become rulers of the Otherworld, while shorter-lived races had fought harder for survival.

Lü Siya pressured A Ji into sharing Jin Wanhao’s hidden treasures and helping him rebuild his life, while Meng Chao stayed out of the bargaining. After A Ji agreed to her demands, Lü Siya turned her attention to the Celestial Overlord Shattering Star Strike he had used against Vortex.

• Lü Siya exposed A Ji’s attempt to hide the Secret Treasure Warehouses and demanded that he share their contents with her and Meng Chao.
• A Ji refused to reveal the warehouses’ locations, but Lü Siya threatened to watch him constantly and keep him from accessing the treasures.
• Lü Siya convinced A Ji that he needed the treasures to develop during puberty, and he agreed to an equal split in exchange for a new identity, cultivation chamber, and laboratory.
• Lü Siya demanded that A Ji also share Jin Wanhao’s Bearer Bonds and Deep Web Universal Currency, and A Ji reluctantly agreed.
• Lü Siya asked A Ji about the Celestial Overlord Shattering Star Strike he had used against Vortex.

Meng Chao and Lü Siya persuaded A Ji to share Jin Wanhao’s blade art and lend out the Golden Tooth Battle Blade, then agreed on how to report the secret laboratory incident. Lü Siya turned their attention to who would control Nest City after Jin Wanhao’s fall, leaving Meng Chao considering Ghost Bear Xiong Wei’s rise.

• Lü Siya argued that Meng Chao could combine the Celestial Overlord Shattering Star Strike with the Nine Dragons Divine Seal, and Meng Chao persuaded A Ji to teach him the blade art.
• Meng Chao convinced A Ji to lend him the Golden Tooth Battle Blade, arguing that A Ji could not safely use the conspicuous weapon himself.
• Meng Chao, Lü Siya, and A Ji agreed to divide the Underground Emperor’s treasure and report most of the secret laboratory events honestly while saying Jin Wanhao died gloriously in battle.
• Lü Siya asked who would control Nest City after Jin Wanhao’s fall, and Meng Chao judged that the Black Bone Gang’s Ghost Bear Xiong Wei was the likely successor.
• Lü Siya asked whether Nest City would fare better or worse under Ghost Bear Xiong Wei.

Lü Siya argued that Ghost Bear Xiong Wei could not solve Nest City’s problems and proposed Meng Chao as a stronger candidate to lead the city. Meng Chao considered inheriting Jin Wanhao’s mantle as the chapter ended with Lü Siya laying out why the gangs, authorities, and Super Enterprises might support him.

• Meng Chao, Lü Siya, and A Ji agreed that Ghost Bear Xiong Wei was unfit to rule Nest City or address its underlying problems.
• Lü Siya suggested that a capable outsider could prevent Nest City from falling under Xiong Wei’s control, then described Meng Chao’s service and Jin Wanhao’s support for him.
• Meng Chao realized Lü Siya was proposing that he become the next Golden Tooth Gang Leader and potentially lead all of Nest City.
• Lü Siya explained that Golden Tooth Gang members could benefit from Meng Chao’s resources while Song Jinbo and the old members retained their roles.
• Lü Siya argued that the Poison Scorpion Gang, relevant authorities, and most Super Enterprises would prefer Meng Chao to Xiong Wei.

Lü Siya persuaded Meng Chao to seize control of the Golden Tooth Gang and transform Nest City into a powerful independent force, with A Ji helping him behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Song Jinbo faced the Black Bone Gang’s growing pressure as rumors and disputes threatened the Golden Tooth Gang.

• Lü Siya explained how new development zones and Old City Renovation could make Nest City profitable, then proposed joining forces with Meng Chao to build a power beyond the Nine Super Enterprises.
• Lü Siya offered A Ji a role helping Meng Chao control the Golden Tooth Gang from the shadows, and Meng Chao vowed to take power for Dragon City’s future.
• After the fighting in Nest City subsided, Song Jinbo surveyed the damaged city from the Golden Tooth Gang Headquarters Building and saw that a new conflict was beginning.
• Gang members reported that Xiong Wei and the Black Bone Gang had seized supplies, absorbed the weakened Red Snake Gang, and used the Golden Tooth Gang’s men to bear the brunt of an assault.
• The Golden Tooth Gang’s members warned Song Jinbo that rumors about the gang leader being brain-dead were spreading and urged him to respond before the gang collapsed.