Chapter Summaries

Yuan Zhu established the Shadow Domain and began planning its defenses, workforce, food supply, and cultivation resources with Left Commander and Lu Yan. He left the camp poised to grow through Shadow Power and Nightmare Power, while its development remained dependent on recruiting people and addressing food and spiritual qi shortages.

• Yuan Zhu gave Little Spicy Strip forty percent of the Shadow Domain’s control, and she joyfully raced around the Law Domain in the half-Mechanical Rat Rat.
• Yuan Zhu inspected the Law Domain with Left Commander and Lu Yan, divided it into twelve planned sectors, and granted Left Commander authority over an Insect Pillar and access to the Shadow Dream Hole.
• Yuan Zhu and his subordinates discussed expanding the camp, cultivating food and glowing slime mold, recruiting cultivators and children, and improving the supply of spiritual qi.
• Yuan Zhu explained that each Insect Pillar could house a Chang Ghost, and Left Commander realized the pillars were made from death-row prisoners and offered to gather more offerings.
• Yuan Zhu proposed controlled pollution riots to draw threats into the Law Domain and harvest Nightmare feedback, while Lu Yan volunteered to contact the Technician Alliance for tube worms and array services.

Yuan Zhu planned to build up the Shadow Domain by acquiring Insect Gold and recruiting workers, while training Chang Ghosts and refining a prisoner. He discovered that the Shadow Dream Hole had created a small dream linked to the Shadow Domain and named it Cockroach Village Far From The World.

• Left Commander proposed building an Incinerator to extract valuable Insect Gold from Magic Insects, and Yuan Zhu agreed that the resource was worth pursuing.
• Zuo Fan proposed stealing technicians and resources from Cicada City, while Yuan Zhu ordered him to prepare a plan and told Shopkeeper Lu to buy twenty orphaned children for training.
• Yuan Zhu released Chang Ghosts into Insect Pillars to cultivate, then used the Shadow Dream Hole to refine an Earth Rank death-row prisoner into another Chang Ghost.
• Yuan Zhu fell asleep during the refining process and found himself inside a small, looping dream connected to the Shadow Domain.
• Little Spicy Strip appeared in the dream, and Yuan Zhu explained that it might grow by absorbing other dreams and could potentially connect to Yellow Millet Village through nightmare pathways.
• As the dream expanded and Insect Pillar statues appeared, Yuan Zhu named it Cockroach Village Far From The World.

Yuan Zhu completed the first Shadow Demonic Insect Chang Gui, tested its combat abilities, and discovered that its valuable exoskeleton and Chang Gui tissue could support new technologies. He resolved to research those materials and mass-produce troops, leaving him with a new path toward strengthening the Shadow Domain.

• Yuan Zhu returned from Cockroach Village and inspected the newly completed Shadow Demonic Insect, confirming that its solid exoskeleton was tough, powerful, and capable of repairing damage.
• Yuan Zhu gave Left Commander control of the Beetle Great Emperor, and Left Commander tested its strength before estimating that it could fight Earth Rank opponents but lacked intelligence and martial skills.
• Left Commander explained the valuable uses of Demonic Giant Insects, and Yuan Zhu realized the Beetle Great Emperor's Unyielding Pride Bone could serve as an important material for armor, vehicles, and other technologies.
• Yuan Zhu examined the Shadow Demonic Insect and identified its Unyielding Pride Bone, Datafied Shadow Pollution, and Mutated Tissue, which could potentially be transplanted into other Chang Ghosts.
• Yuan Zhu entered the Shadow Dream Hole with another sacrifice and resolved to acquire more technical knowledge, research Chang Gui materials, and mass-produce troops for expansion.

Yuan Zhu infiltrated Cicada City with the Shadow Dream Hole and looted three supply warehouses to provision his camp. He escaped with the Shadow Space packed with food and basic supplies, leaving the camp ready to begin construction.

• Yuan Zhu removed the Shadow Dream Hole from his Law Domain and used Left Commander’s map to reach a hidden warehouse in Cicada City’s Middle District.
• Yuan Zhu entered the warehouse by bypassing its concealment arrays and warning systems with help from Little Spicy Strip.
• Yuan Zhu summoned Lu Yan, who confirmed that the warehouse’s dried plants, mushrooms, and insect products were safe, valuable food in the Underground World.
• Yuan Zhu sent four Eggplant Head Ghosts and five Shadow Demonic Insects to load the food and other supplies into the Shadow Space.
• Yuan Zhu emptied nearly half the supplies from three warehouses, retrieved Lu Yan and the Chang Ghosts, and escaped Cicada City through the shadows.

Tiger Demon recruited and outfitted mercenaries as Pastoral Village workers, then made repeated trips to loot a warehouse before returning to Cicada City's Lower District. After learning the city's defenses and targets from Zuo Fan, Tiger Demon prepared for one final raid.

• Yuan Zhu used Holy Light, a long brainwashing conference, Shadow Eggplants, and Shadow Demonic Insects to recruit mercenaries into Pastoral Village.
• The new employees helped Tiger Demon move stolen supplies to camp, praising the benefits and safety of their work.
• Tiger Demon returned to the warehouse and made four trips, emptying it before resting and heading into the Lower District.
• Zuo Fan gave Tiger Demon a patrol route map and identified the Pill Refinement Room and Incinerator as the two practical targets.
• Tiger Demon questioned Cicada City's Heaven Rank defenses, and Left Commander explained that only five supreme experts controlled Dream Apertures while seven remained ownerless.

The Tiger Demon used the Left Commander's intelligence to break into Cicada City's Pill Refinement Room and plunder its pills, despite the building's powerful defenses. Cicada City sealed the area around it, but the Tiger Demon stayed to raid another storage section, confident it could still escape through the Shadow Dream Hole.

• The Left Commander explained how many Heaven Rank experts could respond in Cicada City and gave the Tiger Demon a patrol and defense map of the Pill Refinement Room.
• The Tiger Demon chose the Pill Refinement Room over the Incinerator and infiltrated it through the shadows.
• When Spicy Strip could not decipher the room's defenses, the Tiger Demon tore through the formation with its claws and Shadow Dream Hole.
• The Tiger Demon sent Eggplant Head Ghosts, shadow demonic insects, and Chang Ghosts to sweep pills and formation materials into the Shadow Dream Hole.
• A peak Earth Rank commander failed to seal the room, and Cicada City's power locked down the surrounding space.
• The Tiger Demon ignored Spicy Strip's alarm and continued looting, explaining that it could still return to Happy Home through the Shadow Dream Hole.

Yuan Zhu and his companions ransacked Cicada City's Pill Refinement Room, but a Heaven Rank cultivator broke in and attacked them. With the Shadow Dream Hole packed with loot, Yuan Zhu transformed back into human form and triggered a Holy Light explosion as a diversion.

• The Tiger Demon ignored Little Spicy Strip's warnings and looted three storage sectors, directing the Eggplant Head Ghosts and Shadow Demonic Insects to gather and consume pills.
• The Shadow Dream Hole absorbed pills and nourishment, disrupting the formations until the Heaven Rank cultivator abandoned them and cleaved open the Pill Refinement Room.
• The released Shadow Storm scattered pill dust and Shadow Pollution through Cicada City, boosting residents' True Qi and letting them hear a call from Cockroach Village Far From The World.
• The armored Heaven Rank cultivator attacked the Tiger Demon with a fire-infused saber, but the Tiger Demon used the Shadow Dream Hole to intercept the strike.
• Yuan Zhu canceled Tiger Demon Form and disguised himself in the Shadow Uniform as the cultivator recognized him as a dangerous sentient Shadow Demon.
• Yuan Zhu sent a Magic Insect toward the cultivator and remotely detonated it, unleashing a Boundless Holy Light Cough Explosion above Cicada City.

Yuan Zhu detonated Holy Cough-infused Shadow Demonic Insects across Cicada City, spreading Holy Light pollution and damaging the city’s Root Tendril Formation. The Heaven Rank cultivators contained the ensuing disaster instead of pursuing him, while Yuan Zhu’s Holy Cough reached the city’s civilians.

• Yuan Zhu’s First Holy Light Impact overwhelmed the Heaven Rank cultivator’s defenses, damaged Cicada City’s formation, and caused the local Polluted Spiritual Qi to run rampant.
• Yuan Zhu sent roughly twenty Shadow Demonic Insects racing in different directions to self-destruct, forcing the Heaven Rank cultivator to prioritize stopping them over capturing him.
• The Heaven Rank cultivator trapped five insects with his Martial Dao Domain and cut down another, but his strike triggered another Holy Light explosion and burned a second hole in the formation.
• Two more Heaven Rank cultivators arrived as the five trapped insects self-destructed together, further tearing open the City Protection Grand Array and releasing nightmare aura.
• The three Heaven Rank cultivators attacked Yuan Zhu from afar while joining forces to suppress the pollution riot, leaving Holy Cough Particles to spread through Cicada City.

Yuan Zhu used repeated Holy Cough Explosions to damage Cicada City and escape the Three Innates, while the Foam World revealed how the city’s rulers explored the Nightmare Dimension. He returned safely to Pastoral Village, restored the Shadow Dream Hole, and went into seclusion to level up.

• Yuan Zhu widened the nightmare rift with another Magic Insect explosion, resisted the Foam World’s urge to open a Sacred Dream Hole, and glimpsed the five rulers exploring the Nightmare Dimension through their dream apertures.
• Realizing the rulers were returning to stop him and that further destruction could provoke them, Yuan Zhu changed into Tiger Demon Form and fled with the Shadow Dream Hole and two Magic Insects.
• Yuan Zhu blasted through Cicada City’s sealed emergency exit with another Holy Cough Explosion, and the Three Innates let him escape as the city reeled from the damage.
• The five rulers repaired Cicada City’s Root Network, searched for the attacker, and analyzed the Holy Cough particles to develop defenses against Holy Light.
• Yuan Zhu returned to Pastoral Village, restored the Shadow Dream Hole, left Shopkeeper Lu in charge, and began a long seclusion to level up.

After three days of sleep, Tiger Demon awakened with greatly increased power and gained independent control of its Shadow Domain, which it used to manage Pastoral Village. Concerned that the village could not withstand Insect City, it decided to summon Mao Mao King for investment and protection, once it had produced its first batch of materials.

• Tiger Demon woke after three days and found its abilities had grown substantially, while Little Spicy Strip estimated its strength had reached Level II and the Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Tiger Demon used Shadow Domain without relying on the Shadow Dream Hole and saw that Pastoral Village had grown to include 34 Earth Rank employees and 121 Human Rank residents.
• Tiger Demon discovered it could divide Shadow Domain into three levels: Pastoral Village, an inner Shadow World, and the dreamscape Cockroach Village Far From The World.
• Tiger Demon recognized that it and Pastoral Village could not face Insect City directly, so it decided to summon Mao Mao King and seek the captain's investment and protection.
• Tiger Demon postponed the summoning until the Original Mao Clan Insects produced their first silk and asked Little Spicy Strip to prepare a ritual; Little Spicy Strip said the Boss Template could still level up, though future growth would be slow.

Yuan Zhu investigated why his Holy Light had grown stronger but lost some of its purity, and discovered that Holy Cough spread among Cicada City residents could feed back into his power. Realizing he might be developing an independent Holy Light Path, he began casting a seal and creating new combat techniques in his Inner World.

• Spicy Strip explained that the Shadow Dream Hole and Tiger Demon's growth had pushed his Shadow System near a temporary limit, so Yuan Zhu decided to develop his Holy Light instead.
• Yuan Zhu examined his Holy Light and found that Holy Cough particles absorbed by Cicada City residents affected its color and quality, while their continued use could spread his private Holy Light.
• Yuan Zhu concluded that spreading Holy Cough and cultivating followers could establish his own Holy Light school, independent of the Eight Holy Kings and the Tai Huang Path.
• Spicy Strip suggested that Yuan Zhu absorb Soul Ash from Shadow Demonic Insects to create a Holy Light Skill suited to the Underground World.
• Yuan Zhu summoned a Shadow Demonic Insect and used its steady Holy Light to absorb Soul Ash, cast a seal, and develop Sanctuary-based combat techniques.

Yuan Zhu cultivated his Sanctuary with Shadow Demonic Insects, then planned to spread Holy Cough through the Underground World while keeping Pastoral Village’s power balanced. After analyzing insect breeding experiments, he abandoned Holy Light Mao Worms and launched the Four Heavenly Kings Project to cultivate four kinds of Holy Light insects.

• Yuan Zhu trained his Holy Seal by trapping and purifying demonic insects with Holy Light Fields, bringing the Sanctuary to six marks and sensing it could surpass the theoretical seven-mark limit.
• Yuan Zhu proposed breeding controllable Holy Cough insects and sent two Firefly Demonic Insects to the siblings to support their Holy Cough Breathing Method and future distribution of Holy Cough particles.
• Yuan Zhu assigned camp management to Shopkeeper Lu and research leadership to Little Miss, then reviewed experimental data from the Traditional True Qi, Holy Cough True Qi, and Shadow True Qi groups.
• Yuan Zhu learned that moth and butterfly eggs died when exposed to Holy Light, while beetles, cicadas, cockroaches, and fireflies showed strong compatibility with it.
• Yuan Zhu abandoned plans to raise Holy Light Mao Worms and established cultivation plans for Sacred Beetles, Holy Cicadas, Holy Cockroaches, and Holy Fireflies as the Four Heavenly Kings Project.

Yuan Zhu assigned Little Miss and Spicy Strip a sprawling Holy Light and Shadow research program to cultivate specialized insects, exploit their resources, and expand Cockroach Village Far From The World. He explained how Shadow Eggplants could turn cockroaches into dream-powered servers, then left the village’s experiments to develop while planning to strengthen Dreamland and seek a route into the Underground World.

• Yuan Zhu laid out four Holy Light projects: Sacred Beetles for Insect Gold, Sacred Cicadas to develop cultivators and reach the Cicada market, Fireflies to produce Holy Cough particles, and Holy Cockroaches to serve as dream-power sources.
• Little Spicy Strip questioned whether cockroaches could dream, and Jade Capital Child asked whether Holy Cockroaches could expand Cockroach Village Far From The World.
• Yuan Zhu explained that Shadow Eggplants could parasitize Holy Cockroaches, connect them to the Shadow Domain, boost their computing power, and install sleep programs in a system he called the Sleep Matrix.
• Yuan Zhu proposed creating more Brain Eggplants by feeding Shadow Eggplants to insects and tasked Little Miss with the demanding research plan.
• Yuan Zhu outlined a Shadow Group experiment to cultivate many kinds of Shadow Insects, collect data from cultivators, and use the Shadow Domain to build influence among marginal groups in the Insect Cities.
• Spicy Strip proposed using Shadow Cockroaches as dream servers too, and Yuan Zhu agreed to pair them with Holy Cockroaches to strengthen Cockroach Village and help establish a nightmare connection to the Underground World.

Yuan Zhu appointed Little Miss and Little Brother Jun to lead the village’s research and insect-raising work, then received Lu Yan’s report about the approaching Full Moon Period and its Moon Worship Ritual. He learned that the ritual could accelerate cultivation and might offer a second path to feathered ascension.

• Yuan Zhu sent Little Miss a massive task list naming her acting chief director of biological research, deputy village chief, and head of several projects, with authority to monitor Left Commander and Shopkeeper Lu.
• Little Miss accepted the challenge and recruited Little Brother Jun to help complete the assigned work; Yuan Zhu approved of their intense studying.
• Lu Yan requested an audience in Yuan Zhu’s Shadow Inner World and warned that the Full Moon Period would begin the next day, prompting insectoid beings and Qi Refiners to perform the Moon Worship Ritual on the surface.
• Lu Yan explained that moonlight strengthened spiritual essence, hastened Spirit Insect maturation, and helped cultivators advance, though attending the ritual meant risking the dangers of the surface.
• Lu Yan described a second legendary form of feathered ascension through the moon and Sea of Consciousness, which Yuan Zhu suspected could lead beyond the shattered Foam World toward the star realms.

Yuan Zhu agreed to lead twenty camp members to the surface for Moon Worship, hoping to strengthen his people and help the Original Mao Clan Insects pass their stalled transformation. After examining the different growth of the Original and Shadow Yuan Clan Insects, he equipped the expedition and led it into the polluted tunnel toward the surface.

• Lu Yan explained the risks and benefits of Moon Worship, and Yuan Zhu agreed to take twenty people to the surface the next day.
• Yuan Zhu examined the Original Mao Clan Insects, which had grown into translucent sapphire-colored larvae but needed moonlight to resume developing and spin silk.
• Yuan Zhu discovered that the Shadow Yuan Clan Insects had become black, spiny caterpillars that could produce temporary Shadow Silk Threads, and Little Spicy Strip recommended continuing to raise them.
• After emerging from seclusion, Yuan Zhu assembled twenty camp members, assigned them Shadow Demonic Insects and battle pets, and distributed pills.
• Yuan Zhu ordered the team to move out, and they rode their magic insects into a tunnel with increasingly dense pollution miasma.

Yuan Zhu’s team emerged from the Underground World and crossed the poisoned surface to a dead Immortal Realm Tree, where Little Spicy Strip received a broadcast from Meng Xiyue inviting teammates to Lacewing City. The chapter revealed that Meng Xiyue was being held there by the city’s natives, who were exploiting her knowledge and technology.

• Yuan Zhu led his team through the Underground World’s hazards, then emerged onto a barren surface beneath a cracked, rust-red sky.
• Yuan Zhu learned that the Moon Worship Ritual required touching a Sky-Reaching Ancient Tree after the Starry Sky filled every crack, and he led the team toward a dead tree for shelter.
• The team crushed attacks from giant insects and Death Knights before reaching a spiral dead tree and digging a temporary camp beneath its protective force field.
• Little Spicy Strip used a Mechanical Rat Rat on the dead tree to receive Meng Xiyue’s prerecorded broadcast, which invited teammates to seek refuge in Lacewing City.
• Meng Xiyue’s Skull Servos had helped her build a city server and translate her knowledge for Lacewing City, whose city lord kept her imprisoned and intended to exploit her until she was no longer useful.

Meng Xiyue won the Lacewing City Lord’s support by teaching Skull Servo techniques and pitching an Intelligent City, while Yuan Zhu recognized the scale of her influence. Elsewhere, Zhou Chu recruited underground children into her Law System and began turning them into a Justice Knight Order.

• Meng Xiyue taught Lacewing City’s cultivators to build Skull Servos from discarded heads, earning the City Lord’s investment and a steady supply of experimental materials.
• The City Lord focused on Mao Mao King’s insect eggs, while Meng Xiyue improvised increasingly elaborate Skull Servo systems and proposed connecting a matrix to the city’s protective array.
• Yuan Zhu listened to Meng Xiyue’s broadcast, admitted her influence exceeded his own, and decided not to imitate her approach.
• Zhou Chu gathered more than thirty underground children outside Firefly City and told them their Law Decree Chains could help control demonization and pollution.
• Zhou Chu promised the children armor power and a path to form a Justice Knight Order, then fitted a red metal gauntlet onto their leader.

Yuan Zhu observed the Moon Worship Ritual and experimented with using Holy Light to absorb moonlight, while the Crystal Silkworms transformed into gemstone cocoons. He identified the cocoons as the material Mao Mao King needed.

• Yuan Zhu learned from Meng Xiyue's intelligence that Cicada City was a powerful city controlled by the Cicada Clan.
• Yuan Zhu watched his team shelter beneath a giant dead tree as Rotten Iron Rain fell, then observed Duling's moon appear in the sky.
• Yuan Zhu studied the Moon Worship Ritual and realized the dead trees drew in moonlight that residents refined through Qi Silk to strengthen themselves and their Spirit Insects.
• Yuan Zhu used his Holy Cough-Breathing Method to draw in moonlight, but it failed to benefit his soul and only slightly optimized his Holy Seal.
• Yuan Zhu's team helped Crystal Silkworms absorb moonlight until they spun stable crystal threads and formed gemstone cocoons, which Yuan Zhu recognized as Mao Mao King's desired material.

Yuan Zhu used the Moon Worship ritual to test how moonlight affected his insects, fought off approaching Magic Insects, and completed the forging of his Sanctuary Holy Seal. The chapter left him with an eight-mark Holy Seal and a soul beginning to form a space-type Soul Crystal.

• Yuan Zhu crushed a cocooned Mao Clan Insect, discovered its essence improved the Crystal Silk, and ordered a subordinate to test Moon Worship on Yuan Clan Insects instead.
• Yuan Zhu observed that his shadow-polluted Yuan Clan Insects followed different mutation paths, while the Moon Worship ritual strengthened the gathered insect eggs and produced Crystal Silk Cocoons for the quest.
• Yuan Zhu fought off several approaching Demonic Giant Insects with his Tiger Demon abilities and Holy Light techniques, then refined one Magic Insect within a Holy Light Barrier.
• Yuan Zhu maintained the barrier through the final hours of Seal Casting and raised his Sanctuary Holy Seal to eight marks.
• Yuan Zhu felt his soul fuse more deeply with Holy Light and sensed a cubic space forming within it, awaiting the condensation of a space-type Soul Crystal.

Yuan Zhu completed two nights of moonlight cultivation, sent his subordinates back to develop the territory, and hunted a Calamity Knight patrol before returning to Happy Home injured. There, he learned that the captain had arranged for everyone to return at the same time and asked how his teammates’ missions had gone.

• Yuan Zhu decided to stay through the final night of the Full Moon Period, distributing Insect System Pills while his subordinates cultivated and discussing the risks and benefits of condensing a Soul Crystal with Spicy Strip.
• After the Full Moon Period ended, Yuan Zhu chose to return to Happy Home rather than continue escorting his team, leaving instructions, supplies, and a Shadow Memory Stick for the camp’s leaders.
• Yuan Zhu wandered the surface to find the undead Calamity Knights, then charged a patrol of more than thirty knights while protected by the Sanctuary.
• Yuan Zhu returned to Happy Home with serious but treatable injuries and healed himself with his remaining Holy Light.
• Yuan Zhu found Meng Xiyue, Zhou Chu, Mechanical Maid No. 3, and the captain in the lobby, and learned that Huo Tuo Luo had returned to Duling while the captain had synchronized everyone’s return times.