Chapter Summaries

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu entered an ancient palace beneath the River of the Underworld and found signs that it had been built by the King of the Underworld, then mysteriously emptied. As they followed the devil’s guide into the dark main hall, they encountered a hanging corpse and a host of red-eyed figures.

• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu passed through the maze door into a vast underground palace, and the entrance closed behind them.
• Gu Shen deduced that the palace was built by the King of the Underworld about twenty years earlier and noticed that it had been unnaturally swept clean.
• Gu Shen tried to question the silent devil inside the Truth Ruler, while Mu Wanqiu wondered whether Gu Shen was connected to the King of the Underworld.
• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu followed the guide’s point of light toward the palace’s main hall, where Gu Shen warned that danger likely awaited them.
• Mu Wanqiu struck something in the darkness and drew her sword, revealing a hanging corpse, scattered armor and bones, and pairs of scarlet eyes opening around them.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu fought the Dried Bones in the great hall, but the scarlet lights pulled Gu Shen into a dream of the Judicators’ doomed attack on the King of the Underworld. After witnessing the Judicators’ torment in the River of the Underworld, Gu Shen faced the King’s gaze and declared that he hated the City of Light too.

• Mu Wanqiu charged the Dried Bones while Gu Shen destroyed one with Blazing Fire, but the skeletons’ scarlet lights drew them into a dream.
• Gu Shen relived the Judicators’ assault on the King of the Underworld and realized the skeletons had been Judicators in life.
• The King of the Underworld obliterated the Judicators and cast their souls into the River of the Underworld, where they were repeatedly crushed and revived.
• Gu Shen watched a Judicator’s memories and faith erode under the King’s torment until the Judicator’s Soul Spirit exploded.
• The King of the Underworld turned his scarlet gaze on Gu Shen, who faced him and said he hated the City of Light too.

Gu Shen used his Netherfire to escape the Judicators’ nightmare, then entered Mu Wanqiu’s dream and saved her from the River of the Underworld. After they returned to reality, he claimed Mu Wanqiu was the King of the Underworld’s apostle and confronted her about a secret dream he had seen in her Mental Sea.

• Gu Shen declared himself one of the King of the Underworld’s own, and the Blood-colored Pupils withdrew from him as his Netherfire appeared.
• Gu Shen sent Blazing Fire toward Mu Wanqiu, and her snow-white Judge let the flame enter her Mental Sea so Gu Shen could reach her nightmare.
• Mu Wanqiu relived the Judicators’ destruction and faced the River of the Underworld, but Gu Shen appeared and shielded her Soul Spirit with his fire.
• Gu Shen told Mu Wanqiu to claim she hated the light, and the King of the Underworld’s lingering presence allowed her to leave the nightmare.
• Mu Wanqiu thanked Gu Shen after they returned to reality, and Gu Shen said he had repaid her for saving him earlier.
• Gu Shen described Mu Wanqiu’s secret dream of being ferried across the Duo Lu River to meet the King of the Underworld, then asked whether she was his apostle.

Gu Shen concealed his identity as the new King of the Underworld and explained to Mu Wanqiu that he was the King’s Apostle. After discussing the Judicators’ lingering spirits and the River Styx’s influence on Mu Wanqiu, he decided to send the spirits after Meng Xiao.

• Mu Wanqiu asked Gu Shen to keep her dream secret, and he agreed while considering her a suitable prospective Apostle of the King of the Underworld.
• Gu Shen told Mu Wanqiu he was the King of the Underworld’s Apostle, and she accepted his explanation and shook his hand.
• Mu Wanqiu reconsidered her hostility toward the Judicators after Gu Shen described their lingering spirits as pitiable and said they deserved rest.
• Gu Shen realized the Judicators’ spirits could be drawn to Meng Xiao and proposed sending them to rest with him.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu found Meng Xiao’s door and lured eighty-three Judicators into it, hoping their curse would finish him. Meng Xiao had nearly endured the nightmare, but the renewed flood of Judicators extinguished his hope of escape.

• Gu Shen had the Judge break open doors while he searched for the spiritual fluctuations connected to Meng Xiao.
• Gu Shen found the right door, and Mu Wanqiu removed her protective flame and threw her blade to awaken the Judicators in the hall.
• Mu Wanqiu drew all eighty-three Judicators toward Meng Xiao’s doorway, and the Judge sealed it behind them.
• Meng Xiao endured the Judicators’ nightmare without betraying the light and sensed that his consciousness was returning.
• The door opened again, and Meng Xiao sensed Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu before the Judicators flooded in and overwhelmed him.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu discovered that a hidden door in Underworld Hall concealed a statue bearing the Black Gem responsible for the Duo Lu River’s Mental Toxin, though Gu Shen feared touching it. Meanwhile, the exploration teams reported finding doors at several sites, giving the main control airship a breakthrough in its search.

• Gu Shen suspected someone had emptied Underworld Hall and found a smooth black wall at the hall’s end.
• Mu Wanqiu and the Judge pushed the wall open, revealing a colossal statue with a Black Gem on its forehead.
• Gu Shen identified the gem as the source of the Mental Toxin but sensed that they should not touch it.
• Lin Lin and Osmonde learned that the Triumphant Return Team had found and recorded a door’s coordinates.
• Exploration teams reported discovering doors at multiple river branches and at Snow Ridge.

After twelve doors appeared across the Doru River Calamity Realm and the team captains lost contact with the main control vessel, Lu Zhe continued toward Black Snow Mountain. Osmonde tasked him with acting as a scavenger, and Lu Zhe began clearing the mountain’s replicas as he advanced toward its summit.

• Twelve doors appeared at the ends of the Doru River branches, and the teams’ connections to the main control vessel were cut off.
• Lu Zhe contacted Lin Lin and Osmonde from the foot of Black Snow Mountain and learned about the doors and the disconnections.
• Osmonde ordered Lu Zhe to continue his mission and sweep away the threats on Black Snow Mountain as the main force’s scavenger.
• Lu Zhe entered the mountain’s danger zone while protecting himself from the black snow and using his mental power to survey the area.
• Lu Zhe killed the replicas he encountered with invisible attacks and continued toward the summit.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu found an annotated ancient inscription behind the statue in Underworld Hall, while the writing revealed a vision of the ancient migration. Meng Xizhou told the Empress that the erased Travelers survived in the Old World and had once been connected to the King of the Underworld, leaving their plan to open the gate to hell unresolved.

• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu found a chilling passage behind the statue and discovered later annotations beneath the ancient writing on the Rock Wall.
• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu read the translator's warning that the ancient text could trigger spiritual visions, and witnessed a scene from the disastrous migration six hundred years earlier.
• Meng Xizhou showed the Empress the forbidden record of the migration and explained that the Travelers, holders of the eighth Fire Seed, had been abandoned and erased from official history.
• Meng Xizhou told the Empress that the Travelers had survived in the Old World and were searching for humanity, and she revealed that her dream showed them standing with the King of the Underworld to open the gate to hell.

Meng Xizhou warned the Empress about the travelers and the danger at the Duo Lu River, but the Empress dismissed her after revealing she would keep Meng Xizhou’s secret. Meanwhile, Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu witnessed the travelers’ history and learned how the abandoned survivors evolved with the aid of a Gospel Box Fragment and made a bargain with the King of the Underworld to return home.

• Meng Xizhou told the Empress that the travelers might have found the Gate of Return and warned that her vision showed blood-red light and darkness at the Doru River Calamity Realm, where Meng Xiao was on a mission.
• The Empress dismissed Meng Xizhou, praised her immaculate Soul Spirit, and told her to keep the taboo secret, saying the audience had changed the landscape of the Five Continents.
• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu read the Rock Wall’s ancient account and entered the travelers’ history, witnessing the storm that destroyed their vessel and left them stranded in the Old World.
• The travelers gathered survivors, relied on a Gospel Box Fragment to evolve and endure the Old World, and struggled to preserve their dwindling population.
• The travelers’ leader met the King of the Underworld at a black snow mountain and accepted his offer to open a way home in exchange for building him a palace and making battle robes from their Gospel Box blessings.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu uncovered that the Traveler had helped create the Underworld Hall and that Black Snow Mountain sealed a gate between the Doru River Calamity Realm and the Old World. As the balance broke, the Traveler awakened through his statue and attacked the hall, leaving Mu Wanqiu directly in his sights.

• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu read the Rock Wall’s account of the Travelers and realized its words could influence their emotions.
• Gu Shen connected Black Snow Mountain to the deal between the King of the Underworld and the Traveler, and Mu Wanqiu concluded that the Traveler had a stake in the Doru River Calamity Realm.
• The disturbance at Black Snow Mountain broke the balance sealing the gate, and the statue began shaking as the Traveler attacked from the Old World.
• The Traveler’s statue awakened and fired black aurora through the hall, blasting apart the walls and destroying the Judicators it struck.
• Mu Wanqiu tried to force the statue back into place, but Gu Shen realized it was coming alive; the Traveler’s face emerged and fixed its gaze on her.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu fought the awakened Traveler statue in Underworld Hall, where Mu Wanqiu’s attack failed and the statue sealed the exit. Gu Shen tore the Black Gem from its forehead, bringing down the statue and revealing power beyond the Transcendent Realm of Two Realms.

• Gu Shen rescued Mu Wanqiu from the Traveler statue’s Black Gem beam, and she charged the statue with the Judge.
• Mu Wanqiu slashed the statue’s neck, but her attack left no wound and the Judge barely escaped its counterattack.
• Gu Shen identified the exit behind the Rock Wall, but the statue turned the wall and blocked the passage.
• Gu Shen put on the Ghost Mask, fought through the statue’s black light, and ripped the Black Gem from its forehead.
• The Traveler statue collapsed as Gu Shen’s spiritual power surged, and Mu Wanqiu realized he had crossed three realms.

After Gu Shen broke through to the fourth-order Domain, he projected his Pure Land into the Real World and shattered the sealed Great Wall. He and Mu Wanqiu stood before the newly revealed dark corridor, the likely exit from the Underworld Hall.

• Gu Shen explained to Mu Wanqiu that exhausting his mental strength during the fight with Meng Xiao had helped him break through, and that the Ghost Mask had let him release some of his suppressed power.
• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu found the Travelers attacking the gate and discovered that the Rock Wall had grown too heavy for Mu Wanqiu to push open.
• Gu Shen projected his Pure Land Domain into the Real World, causing the Su Xuan Wood to vanish from the Pure Land and appear behind him.
• Gu Shen pressed his palm against the Great Wall and shattered it with a single strike.
• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu saw a dark corridor beyond the broken wall.

Gu Shen opened Underworld Hall’s exit and sent Mu Wanqiu into the River of the Underworld, but stayed behind to confront Meng Xiao. As the hall collapsed, Gu Shen fought Meng Xiao and severed his head with the Iron Throne, Blazing Fire, and the Pure Land.

• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu reached the end of the corridor, and Gu Shen blasted open the exit to the River of the Underworld.
• Gu Shen sent Mu Wanqiu through the doorway but stayed behind to find Meng Xiao among the ruined doors.
• Meng Xiao emerged after escaping the Judicators and explained that he had survived by turning them against the revived Traveler statue.
• Meng Xiao charged Gu Shen, who used iron arrows and the Iron Throne to form a blade as they fell through the doorway into the river.
• Gu Shen suppressed Meng Xiao with the Pure Land and severed his head with a fourth-tier domain strike.

Gu Shen killed Meng Xiao in the River of the Underworld, burned his remains, and took his treasures after Meng Xiao guessed that Gu Shen was the King of the Underworld. Mu Wanqiu warned him that the Judicators would investigate, but Gu Shen said he would cremate any who came after him.

• Gu Shen severed Meng Xiao’s head with a single slash, and the dying Meng Xiao wondered whether Gu Shen was connected to Su Xuan Wood and the King of the Underworld.
• Meng Xiao recognized the bracelet’s predicted calamity and asked whether Gu Shen was the King of the Underworld, but Gu Shen stayed silent and burned his head to ash.
• Gu Shen collected Meng Xiao’s Zhen Yue Robe, bracelet, and other Sealed Items, then stored them in his Pure Land Domain.
• Mu Wanqiu found Gu Shen beside the furnace and learned that he had killed Meng Xiao, a Child of the City of Light Blessing.
• Mu Wanqiu warned Gu Shen that Western Continent’s Judicators would investigate Meng Xiao’s death, and Gu Shen joked that he would cremate any who pursued him.

At the Doru River Calamity Realm, Lin Lin wanted to leave the isolated main control boat to search for the missing teams, but Osmonde persuaded him to wait. A brief Mental Network connection revealed a swarm of human-faced creatures emerging from a black door, and Fisher led the Deep Scale Team back toward the Main Boat with orders to stay alive.

• In the Western Continent's City of Light, a blessing tablet fell, and a priest announced that the Blessed Child's soul had shattered.
• Lin Lin prepared to leave the main control boat after all twelve teams vanished and the Mental Network failed, but Osmonde urged him to remain and trust the captains.
• Osmonde reminded Lin Lin of his past battles and helped him accept that charging into the Calamity Realm without information would not solve the crisis.
• A brief Mental Network connection showed Fisher's image of a black door on a mountain, with countless extraordinary creatures pouring out, before the signal disappeared.
• Fisher and the six other members of the Deep Scale Team saw the human-faced Birdmen swarm around the black door and headed back toward the Main Boat, focused on staying alive.

Fisher held off a horde of bone winged beings so the Deep Scale Team could escape and warn Osmonde, but an intelligent Fourth Order creature emerged from the door and declared that its kind had returned. At the Main Boat, Osmonde put Lin Lin in control of fourteen Source Energy Airships and led an artillery strike into the fog.

• Fisher ordered the Deep Scale Team to retreat and deliver the warning to Osmonde, then charged toward the door alone.
• Fisher fought through the bone winged beings with his Boundless Abyss while the six surviving team members escaped.
• A powerful intelligent creature emerged from the door, pierced Fisher's domain, and told the New Humans, "We... have returned."
• Osmonde ordered Deep Sea to activate the Source Energy Airships and transferred control of fourteen of them to Lin Lin.
• Osmonde and Lin Lin piloted the Main Boat and the airships toward a mission site and opened fire, blasting through the fog.

Osmonde’s Main Boat fired on Bone Winged Beings as it advanced toward the Duo Lu River, while Lu Zhe encountered and killed a powerful creature from the Old World on Black Snow Mountain. The First Team captain remained unharmed and revealed his overwhelming strength after the creature mistook him for an easy target.

• Osmonde ordered the Main Boat to fire on the Bone Winged Beings near the Triumphant Return Team’s mission site, giving the team a chance to escape as other teams fled toward the Duo Lu River.
• Lu Zhe reached the summit of Black Snow Mountain, destroyed a replica of himself, and was then attacked by a powerful creature that had fought Fisher.
• The creature impaled Lu Zhe with a black snow spear, but Lu Zhe revealed that spatial distortion had kept him from being wounded.
• Lu Zhe explained that Fisher’s blood meant he had rekindled and grown stronger, then vanished and appeared behind the creature.
• Lu Zhe suppressed the creature’s ancient chant with his mental power and crushed its Mental Sea, killing it.

The Main Boat advanced through the Doru River under attack by Bone Winged Beings, while Lin Lin realized the creatures were driving the fleet toward Black Snow Mountain. Lu Zhe warned that a greater threat lay beyond the mountain, and a crimson pillar of light forced Osmonde to order an immediate retreat.

• The captains returned to the Main Boat and reported that intelligent Bone Winged Beings had attacked them and severely wounded Fisher.
• Lin Lin realized the Bone Winged Beings had blocked the fleet's route back and were forcing it toward Black Snow Mountain.
• Osmonde searched the encircling creatures for Fisher's attacker, while Lu Zhe established a Mental Link from Black Snow Mountain and reported that he had killed it.
• Lu Zhe told Osmonde that Black Snow Mountain was clear but warned that something more powerful would descend beyond it; he offered to retrieve Mu Wanqiu, Gu Shen, and Meng Xiao if the fleet turned back.
• A crimson pillar of light erupted beyond Black Snow Mountain, sending a powerful shockwave through the area, and Osmonde ordered the Main Boat to retreat.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu followed the River of the Underworld’s summons to its end, where Gu Shen found evidence that the King of the Underworld and the devil shared an origin. When the old King’s nightmare began consuming Mu Wanqiu, Gu Shen tore the seed from her mind and destroyed it with the thumb ring.

• Gu Shen scattered Meng Xiao’s remains into the River of the Underworld and noticed Mu Wanqiu was being drawn toward its distant source.
• Gu Shen agreed to accompany Mu Wanqiu to the river’s end, and they raced there with the Judge.
• At the end of the river, Mu Wanqiu saw the throne from her dream, while Gu Shen sensed that its hidden King of the Underworld and the devil shared an origin.
• The River of the Underworld’s nightmare overtook Mu Wanqiu, but Gu Shen used Blazing Fire to expose the invading spirit and pulled it from her mind.
• Gu Shen threw the black spirit into the thumb ring, which crushed it and severed its connection to the outside world.

Gu Shen removed the King of the Underworld’s nightmare seed from Mu Wanqiu, freeing her from its influence, but the Traveler broke through the sky and unleashed a devastating attack on the River of the Underworld. Gu Shen shielded Mu Wanqiu with the Su Xuan Wood and tried to hide from the advancing giant, only for the Traveler to find them.

• The Jade Thumb Ring consumed the King of the Underworld’s remaining mental power, clearing Mu Wanqiu’s nightmare and Heart Devil.
• The sky shattered above the River of the Underworld, and the Traveler’s giant foot crushed the shadow around the throne, sending enormous waves across the river.
• Gu Shen expanded his Pure Land Domain, and the Su Xuan Wood absorbed the river water and shielded him, Mu Wanqiu, and the Judge from the Traveler’s shockwave.
• Gu Shen fled with Mu Wanqiu toward Black Snow Mountain, then withdrew his domain and concealed them beneath the riverbed as the Traveler approached.
• The Traveler bent over and plunged its face into the river, found Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu, and smiled at them.