Chapter Summaries

Xu Zhi’s redesigned Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique divided the world into three time-flowing paths, leaving the players unaware of the other natives. In the Gourmet World, a Celestial Being mistook the players for primitive ancestors, but their excited reactions to being eaten left him bewildered.

• Xu Zhi explained that the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique had three Celestial Paths, three Human Paths, and three Animal Paths with different rates of time.
• Yuan Qinghua and the surviving competition players lay low in the Gourmet World while preparing for future players and discussing the dangers left by earlier groups.
• A Celestial Being descended to investigate the origins of new species and seized several players, intending to eat them.
• The captured players and their companions cheered, took screenshots, and treated the Celestial Being’s attack as entertainment.
• The Celestial Being bit one player and was stunned when the injured player laughed and posed for a screenshot.

Cloud Sovereign tried to study the Springs, but their players’ joking defiance convinced him they were an unyielding race of warriors. He brought Yuan Qinghua before the Celestial ruler and named them the Asura Path.

• A bloodied player mocked Cloud Sovereign with a heroic pose, and Cloud Sovereign crushed him after mistaking the player’s concern for sympathy.
• The other players charged Cloud Sovereign with crude weapons to take screenshots, and he smashed them while Yuan Qinghua hid nearby to photograph the fight.
• Cloud Sovereign watched Yuan Qinghua escape in a hot-air balloon, but Yuan Qinghua leaped back and jabbed a wooden club at his eye while declaring he could not abandon his teammates.
• Cloud Sovereign carried Yuan Qinghua in a cage to the Celestial ruler, where he described the Springs as brave, battle-loving ancestors of all things.
• Cloud Sovereign proposed naming the Springs’ people the Asura Path.

Yun Emperor and the Celestials tested Yuan Qinghua with brutal torture, mistaking his game-induced reactions and self-inflicted injuries for proof of the Asura race’s extraordinary courage. The Celestials hailed him as a hero and named their path the Asura Path, while Yuan Qinghua remained unaware of their interpretation.

• Cloud Sovereign told Yun Emperor about the mysterious race, and Yun Emperor decided to test its unusual lack of talent.
• Yun Emperor pierced Yuan Qinghua with Bone-Corroding Pain, and the Celestials watched as his body convulsed while he kept a proud expression.
• Yun Emperor struck Yuan Qinghua through the chest, and Yuan Qinghua secretly took screenshots as the gathered Celestials marveled at his apparent endurance.
• Yuan Qinghua pulled out his own teeth and used them to bite through his waist, leaving the Celestials convinced he had mutilated himself rather than submit.
• Yun Emperor declared that the race deserved to be called the Asura Path, while Yuan Qinghua privately noted that he had learned such behavior from other walking trees.

Yuan Qinghua was studied by the Celestial Humans, who discovered that he evolved rapidly whenever his realm advanced and decided to cultivate him into a weapon. After the Cloud Crane Lineage spent its resources raising him to the Heavenly Emperor Realm, they presented him with potential mates, while Yuan Qinghua mistook the gesture for another round of torture.

• Yun Emperor ordered Yuan Qinghua restrained, examined, and returned to the Animal Path before the Celestial Path repelled him.
• The Celestial Humans fed Yuan Qinghua energy-rich treasures, and his breakthrough to the Fifth-Order triggered a rapid evolution that gave him a tougher, armored form.
• The Celestial Humans concluded that the Asura Path adapted through evolution and proposed steering Yuan Qinghua's environment to create a species suited for warfare.
• The Cloud Crane Lineage spent its accumulated reserves and the previous Yun Emperor's talent to raise Yuan Qinghua to the Seventh-Order, the Heavenly Emperor Realm.
• The Celestial Humans brought several creatures before Yuan Qinghua to see whether he could reproduce with them, but he assumed they were offering him new torture and challenged them to come at him together.

Yuan Qinghua endured the Celestials’ experiments as they used his traits to breed a new race of war, which the Yun Emperor named the Hungry Ghost Path. Xu Zhi recognized that players’ evolutionary abilities had enabled the Celestials to create new species, while a startling discovery about the Gourmet World spread across the game forum.

• The Celestials used God of Love Baihua’s ability on Yuan Qinghua and an animal, then continued experimenting until Yuan Qinghua’s repulsive force forced them to send him back to the Animal Path to recover.
• The Celestials reported that three engineered offspring had survived as powerful but savage killing weapons, and the Yun Emperor named their race the Hungry Ghost Path.
• Xu Zhi noticed that the Asura Path and Hungry Ghost Path had emerged, and realized the Celestials were exploiting players’ evolutionary traits to create new species.
• A forum announcement claimed that the Gourmet World was a transcendent civilization and might be one of the Myriad Realms.

Sweet Donut publicized his server’s defeat by a transcendent being, turning it into an advertisement and revealing that more players would soon enter Gourmet World. Xu Zhi watched the excitement spread and explained that time-flow restrictions, short lifespans, and threats from Animal Path would keep the growing player population in check.

• Sweet Donut posted screenshots and a dramatic account of his server’s wipeout by an intelligent transcendent being, presenting the players as brave and united.
• Sweet Donut used the post to recruit players for his server and announced that the next PVP Fighting Competition would let the top six servers enter Gourmet World.
• Players, prominent gamers, and research institutes reacted with excitement to the prospect of six thousand people entering Gourmet World each week.
• Xu Zhi dismissed the idea that a larger player population would give them an advantage and described the constraints he had prepared for them.

Yuan Qinghua woke imprisoned among the Black-skinned Mantis, while Xu Zhi visited the Inner World to find staff for its crowded underworld. After learning about the Three Paths and their different time flows, Xu Zhi followed a pickpocket into a brothel.

• Yuan Qinghua woke in confinement and gestured to the Black-skinned Mantis, which offered to teach him its language.
• Xu Zhi walked through the Human Path, seeking someone to help manage the underworld and serve reincarnation soup.
• A teacher explained the Three Paths, their differing rates of time, and how beings could cross between them.
• Xu Zhi watched Li Sansheng attend class, then decided to look for a Meng Po and Black and White Impermanence.
• A child pickpocket stole Xu Zhi's wallet and escaped into a brothel, so Xu Zhi followed inside.

Xu Zhi discovered Shangguan Man’s talent for using emotion-infused medicine in her cooking and appointed her to become Meng Po in the underworld. Shangguan Man chose to die and entered the Road to the Underworld, where she encountered humans, animals, and Celestials as she began to understand the world Xu Zhi had promised.

• Xu Zhi visited Light Elegance Brothel, tasted Shangguan Man’s cooking, and discovered that she used medicine to manipulate diners’ emotions and appearances.
• Xu Zhi halted time, confronted Shangguan Man, and offered her the position of Meng Po, responsible for erasing the memories of souls before reincarnation.
• After Xu Zhi departed, Shangguan Man revealed her disfigured face and told the women of the brothel she was leaving, entrusting them with medicine packets and advice.
• Shangguan Man chose death and arrived on the Road to the Underworld, where she saw the dead gathering before reincarnation.
• Shangguan Man encountered a Celestial who insulted her, apologized out of habit, and wondered about the existence who had appointed her.

Shangguan Man reached the Three Lives Stone and learned how past lives shaped talent before Xu Zhi appointed her Meng Po, placing her in charge of the reincarnation process. She began judging souls and sending them to their next lives, while the Celestial Path being who had insulted her was forced into the reincarnation queue.

• Shangguan Man reached the Helpless Bridge and heard souls realize that their accumulated experiences and pursuits across past lives shaped their talent.
• Xu Zhi named Shangguan Man Meng Po, gave her the Book of Life and Death, and tasked her with managing reincarnation in place of the underworld’s absent officials.
• Shangguan Man assigned a diligent soul to the Celestial Path and a nobleman to the Human Path, then ordered the Celestial Path being who had insulted her to the Animal Path.
• The Celestial Path being attacked Shangguan Man, so the wheel of reincarnation threw him into the River of Oblivion and sent him to the back of the queue.
• Shangguan Man declared that she would enforce reincarnation impartially, and the watching souls recognized that she was capable of handling her new authority.

After enduring half a month of processing souls, Shangguan Man earned Xu Zhi’s approval as the underworld’s Meng Po and began learning how to manage its growing workload. Xu Zhi also warned her that extraterrestrial players of the Asura Path would soon enter the world outside the reincarnation system.

• Shangguan Man processed souls at Helpless Bridge for half a month until the endless queue finally cleared, leaving her exhausted.
• Xu Zhi praised Shangguan Man’s resolve, assigned her to recruit underworld officials from among the reincarnating souls, and replenished her soul with his mental energy.
• When Xu Zhi offered to restore her beauty, Shangguan Man chose to remain ugly and asked to look more intimidating, so Xu Zhi transformed her into a hunched, wrinkled old woman.
• Xu Zhi approved Shangguan Man’s judgment and told her to seek future colleagues who valued the underworld’s solemn public image.
• Xu Zhi told Shangguan Man that extraterrestrial beings known as the Asura Path would soon arrive in large numbers, remain outside reincarnation, and could nevertheless be recruited for underworld professions.

Xu Zhi left Shangguan Man in charge of the Reincarnation Hall and considered expanding his Inner Space into a Pangu True Body. After learning how players reacted to Dao Changsheng’s flesh-and-blood world, he abandoned that cultivation path and left his body’s future expansion unresolved.

• Xu Zhi warned Shangguan Man to guard against the Asura Path and put her in charge of the Reincarnation Hall while he was away.
• Xu Zhi examined the Inner Space in his body and considered letting its inhabitants travel through his flesh and blood to create a Pangu True Body.
• Xu Zhi recalled Meng Mei’s announcement that Dao Changsheng was developing a flesh-and-blood continent through the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique.
• Players joked about exploring Dao Changsheng’s body, studying anatomy, and racing toward reincarnation, leaving Meng Mei bewildered.
• Xu Zhi decided not to develop a flesh-and-blood world in his own body because he did not want players roaming through his organs.

Xu Zhi watched the fifth PVP competition begin in the Wizard Community as the player-built world drew more participants and spectators. After the tournament, the Gourmet World launched live streaming, letting players watch through the Wizard Community or pay to stream externally.

• Xu Zhi reflected on the danger of letting players expand beyond their usual zones, then waited for the fifth Fighting Competition to begin.
• Xu Zhi entered the bustling Wizard Community and saw players thriving through farming, livestock, and alchemical greenhouses.
• The host opened the tournament, and the top-eight contestants, including the Super Ancient God and Di Qi, made their declarations.
• The fifth PVP grand finals began with three thousand servers competing for entry and starting benefits in the Gourmet World, while more than ten million spectators watched.
• After the results and closing ceremony, Xu Zhi left as an announcement introduced Gourmet World live streaming and paid external broadcasts.

The first six servers entered Gourmet World through a new deployment method that scattered players across the wilderness as plants and animals. Bai Xiaojun evolved from a tree, then a giant gray mantis uprooted him as a potential mate, and he started a livestream to see what would happen next.

• Netizens debated the new livestream feature as the first six servers prepared to enter Gourmet World.
• Bai Xiaojun entered the world as an immobile tree, and players discovered they had been scattered into different plant and animal forms.
• Players discussed survival and evolution while Bai Xiaojun absorbed nutrients until he reached Rank One and began becoming humanoid.
• A giant gray mantis uprooted Bai Xiaojun and called him another little wife.
• Bai Xiaojun started a livestream while the mantis carried him away.

Bai Xiaojun was carried to a mantis’s house and livestreamed his apparent capture, while viewers mistook the mantis’s mysterious activities for a bizarre mating ritual. As the other captives were taken inside one by one, Bai Xiaojun was left last and kept streaming after viewers showered him with gifts.

• Bai Xiaojun began livestreaming from the back of a mantis that had mistaken him for an ordinary tree spirit.
• The mantis carried Bai Xiaojun to its Wooden House, where it tied him up alongside several other strange creatures.
• The mantis took the horned horse and then the other captives into a room, prompting Bai Xiaojun and his viewers to speculate about what was happening inside.
• Bai Xiaojun realized he was the last captive and feared the mantis would take him next.
• Bai Xiaojun tried to end the stream, but viewers sent rockets to persuade him to keep broadcasting.

Bai Xiaojun was carried into a strange dungeon while viewers anticipated a scandal, where he discovered that the captive tree person was Yuan Qinghua. Yuan Qinghua explained that God of Love Baihua’s Hundred Flowers Arrow made its targets kiss and produce children, leaving the audience disappointed that the apparent scandal was actually a bizarre supernatural ability.

• Bai Xiaojun was carried toward the dungeon as viewers showered his livestream with tips and urged him to endure the encounter.
• The viewers and Bai Xiaojun recognized the captive tree person as Yuan Qinghua, who had been missing from the server.
• Yuan Qinghua sent the mantis outside and warned Bai Xiaojun to scream so the NPC would not suspect anything.
• Yuan Qinghua insisted that he had only kissed the creatures struck by the Hundred Flowers Arrow and that the ability had produced their children.
• Yuan Qinghua explained that God of Love Baihua’s arrow caused uncontrollable kissing and gene-exchanging fusion, leaving Bai Xiaojun and the viewers stunned.

Yuan Qinghua explained the three paths, their time differences, and the plan to breed an evolved war weapon, while Bai Xiaojun learned that surviving the Great Mantis might require becoming pregnant. Bai Xiaojun refused and proposed pollinating normally because they were both trees.

• Yuan Qinghua explained that the world had three paths with different time flows and that the Hungry Ghost Path intended to use their offspring as a war weapon.
• Yuan Qinghua said he was learning the Animal Path’s language so he could publish and sell a dictionary.
• Yuan Qinghua warned Bai Xiaojun that the Great Mantis outside would become suspicious if he did not get pregnant.
• Study Medicine Little Sweetie entered the livestream and said she chose to forgive Bai Xiaojun.
• Bai Xiaojun refused to use the Hundred Flowers Arrow and suggested that they could pollinate normally because they were both trees.

Bai Xiaojun and Yuan Qinghua cooperated in captivity, and Bai Xiaojun’s pollinated flower produced a fruit that the Great Mantis expected to survive. Meanwhile, players watched the developing world and Xu Zhi judged the new game’s reception before inspecting the transformed underworld.

• Bai Xiaojun saw through Yuan Qinghua’s scheme and calmly pollinated himself, then discussed escape plans and the risks of revealing his Asura Path identity.
• The Great Mantis moved Bai Xiaojun and the other animals into a room for feeding and care, where they waited through the pregnancy period.
• After four months inside the world, most animal births failed, but Bai Xiaojun’s flower bore a vivid pink fruit, thrilling the Great Mantis and the livestream audience.
• Players watched the livestream, formed teams, survived, and discussed the game’s evolution and the coming birth while commentators assessed their progress.
• Xu Zhi reviewed the enthusiastic player response, reflected on developing the world’s rules, and found that Meng Po had recruited several new staff members in the underworld.

Xu Zhi inspected the underworld and learned how Shangguan Man had cultivated Black and White Impermanence and recruited a strange keeper of secrets. He named the new creature Diting, leaving the underworld with two officials maintaining order and a living source of information.

• Xu Zhi visited Meng Po, and Shangguan Man reported that she had cultivated Black and White Impermanence to maintain order in the underworld.
• Shangguan Man explained that she had guided the being’s successive reincarnations until its talent developed into the opposing yin-and-yang forms of Black and White Impermanence.
• Black and White Impermanence merged into one black-and-white figure to greet Xu Zhi, then split apart and returned to their duties.
• Shangguan Man introduced a mad, gossip-loving creature who watched the Three Lives Stone and had an extraordinary memory, proposing that he record information from the Book of Life and Death.
• Xu Zhi named the creature Diting, and Shangguan Man praised the choice.

Xu Zhi praised Shangguan Man for managing the underworld and approved her plans to engage with the Asura Path and develop a city for the dead. The underworld’s new city would be called Fengdu, becoming the sixth path in the Six Paths of Reincarnation, while its overseers would eventually take turns entering reincarnation.

• Xu Zhi considered Shangguan Man a reliable candidate to manage his affairs after she described how Diting helped her track the Asura Path.
• Shangguan Man proposed contacting and recruiting members of the Asura Path, and Xu Zhi approved her plan.
• Shangguan Man presented a proposal to build a city where the dead could rest, and Xu Zhi named it Fengdu.
• Shangguan Man proposed making Fengdu the sixth path, and Xu Zhi established the Hell Path and the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
• Shangguan Man proposed that underworld overseers periodically enter reincarnation to improve themselves, and Xu Zhi approved the idea.

Xu Zhi inspected the reincarnation underworld and its progress under Shangguan Man, then watched the Celestial Path’s war against the Yao Kingdom unfold. Zhang Xiao’s resistance ended in defeat and suicide after the Yun Emperor revealed that the Celestials intended to reincarnate Human Path heroes into their own ranks, leaving the White Emperor curious about the world beyond death.

• Xu Zhi judged the reincarnation underworld and the Gourmet World’s development to be on track, and decided to observe its construction for a while.
• In Year 321 of the Celestial Age, Zhang Xiao became the first Human Path figure to reach the Heavenly Emperor Realm and led the Yao Kingdom in war against the Celestials.
• The Celestials sent young fighters to attack the Yao Kingdom, exploiting their faster recovery to wear down its forces, while Human Path prodigies joined the resistance and seven briefly became beacons of hope before they fell.
• In Year 373, the Yun Emperor told Zhang Xiao that the Celestials planned to reincarnate him and the slain Human Path heroes into the Celestial Path, turning Zhang Xiao’s revolt into a source of recruits.
• Overcome by the belief that he had aided the Celestials, Zhang Xiao killed himself, and the Yun Emperor buried him beneath a tomb marked with his name.
• The White Emperor wondered whether reincarnation and an afterlife existed and expressed a desire to meet whoever governed them.