Chapter Summaries

Aitaljia slaughtered the Fallen Ones in Nami Village to avenge her mother, while Riko and Rabbit Girl tried to stop her. As the villagers chose to fight so Aitaljia would not feel guilty, Rabbit Girl’s connection to Namiki briefly softened Aitaljia, but Rabbit Girl attacked again.

• Aitaljia charged into the Fallen Ones and began devouring them, but Riko tried to halt her by pleading that killing would not solve anything.
• Riko blew the White Whistle, and Rabbit Girl transformed and tried to calm Aitaljia by invoking Namiki.
• Aitaljia insisted the Fallen Ones had to die for what they had done to her mother, and the villagers charged her while secretly hoping to spare her guilt.
• Zhou Qing explained to Romantina that the villagers had recovered their memories and had chosen to die, then returned the Phoenix Wutong Mech-Staffs to her.
• Aitaljia caught Rabbit Girl’s kick but flung her away instead of killing her, realizing that Namiki had known Rabbit Girl.
• Rabbit Girl healed her wound and struck Aitaljia in the cheek, demanding that she inherit some of Namiki’s kindness.

Timidit confronted Ifranci, the embodiment of her fear, and defeated him after Zhou Qing helped her hear Namiki’s voice. Afterward, Aitaljia recognized that Namiki had forgiven Timidit, but pulled away when Timidit reached for her.

• Aitaljia controlled Ifranci, who struck Rabbit Girl and sent her flying.
• Timidit ran toward Ifranci to protect Namiki, and Zhou Qing stopped Romantina from intervening.
• Timidit blocked Ifranci’s club, shattered it, and hurled him to the ground after hearing Namiki’s voice.
• Timidit collapsed from exhaustion and asked whether she had passed Namiki’s test.
• Aitaljia approached Timidit, struggled to attack her, and concluded that Namiki had forgiven her.

Aitaljia learned that Timidit was her grandmother, then Hope gave her Namiki’s happiest memories in an attempt to end her hatred. As monsters poured into Nami Village, Aitaljia fought them while the others joined the battle.

• Zhou Qing urged Timidit to call out her name, and she declared that she was Namiki’s mother, causing Aitaljia to stop seeing her as a stranger.
• Hope arrived to face Aitaljia and transferred Namiki’s happiest memories into her, leaving her confused about her identity.
• Monsters poured into Nami Village, where Miss Clock, Clockwork Gentleman, Mr. Watch, Romantina, and others fought them.
• Aitaljia attacked the Dragon Mane Snail Doves, but one struck her with an Air Cannon, and Dugu Bo realized the creatures were not mindless.

Zhou Qing confronted Dark over his plan to make Aitaljia fully reincarnate as Namiki, urging him and the Fallen Ones to live on within her and seek forgiveness. After absorbing their power and the Time Sword, Aitaljia became a ten-tailed being whose god-level strength blended with the world itself, leaving Zhou Qing to conclude that she could wield it without attracting the God Realm’s notice.

• Zhou Qing learned that Dark had forced Aitaljia’s awakening to prevent her from becoming Namiki’s complete reincarnation, and he urged Dark to live on within her instead of seeking death.
• Dark rallied the surviving Fallen Ones, who compressed themselves and entered Aitaljia, while Riko protected Mahaha and the Boss Lady from being absorbed.
• The Soul Conductor-type Fallen Ones became the Time Sword, which Aitaljia split into the Hour Hand Blade and Minute Hand Blade as two more tails grew behind her original five.
• Aitaljia’s Aura Field blasted away the Dragon Mane Snail Doves, and the Nami Village residents she had devoured were reborn with their memories in her Inner Scenery World.
• Aitaljia told the reborn villagers she had not forgiven them, then killed every monster with a sweeping attack that left Zhou Qing and his companions unharmed.
• Dugu Bo asked about Aitaljia’s power, and Zhou Qing judged that she had reached god level while her merged Aura Field could conceal her from the God Realm.

After Aitaljia absorbed Boss Lady and Mahaha, she visited the fading soul of her mother, Namiki, and learned that she had become an independent person rather than Namiki’s reincarnation. Unsure what to do next, she accepted Zhou Qing’s invitation to join his adventures and settled onto his shoulder in a cloudlike form.

• Aitaljia absorbed Mahaha and Boss Lady, who chose to join her after explaining that they would fade away without Namiki’s protection.
• Zhou Qing explained that the Fallen Ones had moved into Aitaljia and would need her forgiveness for their past sins.
• Aitaljia approached Namiki’s soul, which dissipated after sensing her daughter, leaving Aitaljia to mourn and thank her mother.
• Zhou Qing invited Aitaljia to travel with the group, and she agreed.
• Aitaljia transformed into a soft, cloudlike form and clung to Zhou Qing’s shoulder.

Zhou Qing and the others found the White Whistle formed from Namiki’s remains, and Aitaljia had Mahaha carve it into a matching pair for Zhou Qing and Romantina. The group prepared to continue with Timidit, while Aitaljia insisted she was her own person rather than Namiki reborn.

• After Namiki’s Soul Shell vanished, Zhou Qing found a heart-shaped White Whistle that resonated with his and Romantina’s Aura Fields.
• Aitaljia took the White Whistle and had Mahaha carve it into black Yin and white Yang flutes, which Zhou Qing and Romantina wore.
• Riko and Aitaljia persuaded Zhou Qing to wear his Yin Flute outside his clothes, despite Romantina’s teasing.
• Timidit arrived with Recorder, and Zhou Qing decided to bring her along because she was Namiki’s godmother and Aitaljia needed family.
• When Zhou Qing introduced Aitaljia to Timidit as her grandmother, Aitaljia declared that she was herself, not her mother, and Timidit accepted her with a smile.

Zhou Qing and the others activated the Sky Ladder at the abandoned Nami Village and learned from the Recorder that the Abyss Ruins were over a hundred thousand years old and that humans once called their world Earth. The group entered the next layer while the Recorder stayed behind to fulfill its duty.

• Timidit led Zhou Qing and the others to Nami Village’s Sky Ladder, where they found a stockpile of Red Iron and collected one-third of it for Tang San to study.
• Zhou Qing and Romantina loaded one thousand jin of Red Iron into the Sky Ladder’s groove, activating its crimson pillar.
• The Recorder explained that the Abyss Ruins had existed for over a hundred thousand years and that the Abyss People had migrated back twenty thousand years earlier to preserve civilization’s Core Flame.
• Zhou Qing asked what humans had called their world a hundred thousand years ago, and the Recorder answered, “Earth.”
• Dugu Bo, Romantina, and Riko discussed whether the world was round, and Zhou Qing proposed testing it by traveling in one direction.
• Zhou Qing, Dugu Bo, Romantina, Riko, Rabbit Girl, Aitaljia, and Timidit entered the Sky Ladder, while the Recorder remained on the Fifth Layer.

The group reached the Sixth Layer, where Riko explained the Ascension Curse, the risks of becoming a Fallen One, and the layer’s names and route onward. They learned that the Altar beneath the broken Black Pillar held a teleportation device, but the group still did not know why the layer was called the Swarm Kingdom.

• Aitaljia and Rabbit Girl playfully bickered as the group traveled to the Sixth Layer, while Zhou Qing reassured Dugu Bo that Aitaljia knew her limits.
• Riko explained that ascending through the Sixth Layer’s Aura Field could kill people or turn them into Fallen Ones through imperfect fusion of Martial Souls and bodies.
• Riko introduced the Sixth Layer as the City of No Return and said it was also known as the Swarm Kingdom and the Great Fault.
• Riko explained that the Black Pillar ended abruptly on this layer and that travelers had to reach the Altar and enter its central spherical teleportation device to proceed.
• Zhou Qing asked why the Sixth Layer was called the Swarm Kingdom.

As the Sky Ladder descended toward the Sixth Layer, Riko explained that the Swarm Kingdom was ruled by the instinct-driven Mother Bug and urged the group not to kill its inhabitants. The group encountered Egg Dragons, gathered and cooked their eggs, and Zhou Qing reflected on how the Abyss Ruins’ creatures differed from Soul Beasts.

• Riko described the vast Swarm Kingdom and explained that its insects obeyed the Mother Bug through instinct.
• Dugu Bo considered wiping out the swarm, but Riko warned that doing so could devastate the ecosystem and endanger future Explorers.
• Riko spotted Egg Dragons near their nest and identified their eggs as nutritious, while explaining that the venomous creatures themselves were inedible.
• Rabbit Girl chased the Egg Dragons away and collected all the eggs from their nest.
• Riko fried the eggs after boiling failed to cook them through, and Zhou Qing found them tasty and filling.
• Zhou Qing concluded that Abyss Ruins creatures stored Heaven and Earth Energy in their flesh, making them more nutritious than Soul Beasts but difficult to digest.

Zhou Qing and the others reached the Swarm Kingdom after crossing the barren Sixth Layer, but Romantina fainted when her Spiritual Detection triggered a powerful, seemingly mindless spiritual force. Zhou Qing carried her away to recover while the group reconsidered how to approach the kingdom.

• After resting overnight, Zhou Qing and the others traveled for two more days across the Sixth Layer, finding little beyond sugar-rich plants and Egg Dragons.
• The group reached the Swarm Kingdom, a vast black-rock enclosure, and discovered that a hard, sweet energy membrane blocked its entrance.
• Romantina used Spiritual Detection on the kingdom, causing the swarm to pause and releasing a tremendous surge of spiritual energy that knocked her unconscious.
• Dugu Bo said the force felt like pure spiritual energy without an individual consciousness, while Zhou Qing realized it had overwhelmed even Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
• Zhou Qing confirmed Romantina was uninjured but would need seven or eight hours to wake, then carried her away to avoid provoking the swarm further.

After the swarm left the petrified castle, Zhou Qing and his companions prepared to enter the Swarm Kingdom, where Riko hoped to find her mother. They passed through its jelly-like entrance and began exploring the cooler, energy-rich interior.

• Rabbit Girl spotted the Black Ants searching the area, and the swarm found the group in the Ancient Castle but left without attacking them.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm took control of Romantina and warned Zhou Qing that the Swarm Kingdom was powerful and could cause spiritual backlash if confronted directly.
• Zhou Qing decided the group would enter the Swarm Kingdom, and Romantina woke up an hour later after passing out.
• Zhou Qing stopped Riko from touching the entrance, tested its jelly-like barrier, and reported that the inside was cooler and had denser Heaven and Earth Energy.
• Zhou Qing entered the Swarm Kingdom first, followed by Riko, Dugu Bo, Romantina, Aitaljia, Timidit, and Rabbit Girl.

Zhou Qing and his companions explored the Swarm Kingdom, where unusual energy and weakening gravity let them move through the air. They traveled deeper into a vast insect settlement and saw its many species working together in an orderly system.

• Romantina, Dugu Bo, and the others recovered in the Swarm Kingdom’s dense Heaven and Earth Yuan Power as Zhou Qing sensed an unfamiliar element flowing through its Aura Field.
• The group watched enormous bees carry pollen and debated whether the liquid visible in their abdomens was honey or nectar.
• Zhou Qing observed that the bees barely moved their wings inside the passage, while Rabbit Girl noted that they beat them rapidly outside it.
• As the group traveled deeper, gravity weakened and the air and Heaven and Earth Energy grew denser, allowing Zhou Qing and his companions to float through the passage.
• The group passed numerous forks and holes where different insects transported food and ore, excavated tunnels, and gathered fungal substances without conflict.

Zhou Qing and his companions entered the Swarm Kingdom, where he recognized the insect swarms as the kingdom’s vital force and considered how the insight could shape human organizations. Taros and Tais welcomed the newcomers, and as they explained the swarms’ need to identify outsiders, Tais began explaining why people in the kingdom went without clothes.

• Zhou Qing followed the bees into a vast network of insect streams and concluded that the swarms themselves were part of the Swarm Kingdom’s qi.
• Zhou Qing compared a nation’s Aura Field to the Swarm Kingdom, identifying its people as its most important qi while distinguishing humans from the insect swarms.
• Taros and Tais approached the group, and a beetle drew blood from the newcomers so the swarms could identify them.
• Aitaljia was ignored by the beetle because the swarm already recognized her as one of its own.
• Riko asked why Taros and Tais wore no clothes, and Tais began explaining that the Swarm Kingdom did not allow something.

Zhou Qing and his companions learned how the Swarm Kingdom provided communal food and tried jelly made by Food Worms. Taros then asked whether they were heading to the lower layers, and Zhou Qing confirmed their desire to explore deeper.

• Taros explained that personal possessions were communal in the Swarm Kingdom, except for White Whistles, which were considered part of a person's life.
• Taros and Tais led Zhou Qing and the others to a cave, where they showed them Food Worms producing nutritious jelly and Cleaner Worms consuming Riko's vomit.
• Riko tried the jelly first, and Zhou Qing followed after overcoming his hesitation; the others also tasted it.
• Zhou Qing questioned Taros about her identity, how long she had been in the Swarm Kingdom, and whether she knew Saundin, but Taros could not give a clear account of time and said she did not know Saundin.
• Taros asked Zhou Qing whether his group intended to descend to the lower layers, and Zhou Qing answered that they wanted to keep exploring deeper.

Taros and Tais explained how to reach the Seventh Layer and warned that its two guardians wield Cremation Cannons capable of killing Titled Douluos. Zhou Qing recognized the weapon as technology used elsewhere in the Abyss Ruins and wondered whether it originated on the Seventh Layer.

• Taros explained that the group could descend to the Seventh Layer, Sky City, by activating a White Whistle in a device at the Swarm Kingdom's Altar.
• Zhou Qing reasoned that the Seventh Layer's strange time flow affected perception rather than the actual passage of time, while Romantina and Aitaljia bickered around him.
• Taros warned that two guardians protected the route to the next layer and that their attacks surpassed those of ordinary Titled Douluos.
• Tais recounted how a guardian's beam had instantly killed a Defense System Titled Douluo, but Dugu Bo said the guardians were worth fighting.
• Zhou Qing recognized the beam as a Cremation Cannon like the weapon Saundin used and wondered whether the technology came from the Seventh Layer.

Zhou Qing learned how the Swarm Kingdom used pheromones to hatch bugs with different forms and roles from identical eggs, while Taros urged him to help control the swarm. He rejected the idea and resolved to seek coexistence, suspecting that the swarm’s collective intelligence and defenses were far more formidable than Taros and Tais believed.

• Zhou Qing asked Taros and Tais to explain their plan, and Taros said she wanted to control the swarm and use combat bugs to advance through the layers.
• Riko objected to using bugs in battle, while Zhou Qing argued that the swarm’s consent and dignity mattered; Taros claimed the bugs lacked intelligence and acted only in response to pheromones.
• Tais explained the Swarm Kingdom’s Three Domains and Two Rings, then guided the group into the Hatching Area.
• Taros and Tais showed Zhou Qing how Hatching Bugs applied different scents to Mother Bug eggs, producing bugs with distinct forms and functions.
• Taros argued that controlling the swarm meant controlling a tireless living machine, but Zhou Qing rejected the idea and chose to seek coexistence, wary of the swarm’s collective intelligence and defensive power.

Zhou Qing and his companions reached the Swarm Kingdom’s core and saw the Mother Bug and the Altar leading to the next level. Taros and Tais offered to help them pass the combat-type Larvae in exchange for helping control the swarm, leaving Zhou Qing asking about the swarm’s command scents.

• Taros guided Zhou Qing and his companions through the Inner Ring, where they witnessed the swarm devouring an exhausted worker bug.
• Taros led them to the Mother Bug and explained that the Altar’s energy membrane required a White Whistle to activate.
• Zhou Qing tried to approach the Altar, but combat-type Larvae blocked his group’s path.
• Taros explained that the combat-type bugs guarded the Mother Bug and Larvae, and offered to teach them how to avoid detection in exchange for help controlling the swarm.
• Zhou Qing asked Taros whether pheromones were the key to directing the swarm.

Tais and Taros explained that scents could control the swarm, then brought Zhou Qing and his companions to a damp cave filled with edible fungi and moss used to make Pheromones. Zhou Qing identified several obstacles to controlling the swarm and learned that Taros and Tais had another important reason for making Pheromones themselves: the Mother Bug.

• Tais said controlling Pheromones could let them command the swarm, and Taros and Tais led the group to a cave filled with glowing fungi and moss.
• Tais explained that the fungi and moss were used to create Pheromones, while Rabbit Girl questioned why they did not collect them from the Mother Bug.
• Zhou Qing reasoned that the Mother Bug's protection, the vast range of Pheromones, and the swarm's unique scent signatures made collecting and using them difficult.
• Taros admitted Zhou Qing's guesses were right, and Aitaljia bared her teeth when Taros joked about opening Zhou Qing's skull.
• Taros said they wanted to keep control in their own hands, but that the Mother Bug was the more important reason for making Pheromones.

Zhou Qing explained how pheromones controlled the Swarm Kingdom and why contamination made the Mother Bug’s orders ineffective. Dugu Bo compared pheromone commands to imperial decrees, while Taros seemed increasingly comfortable with the idea of humans taking control of the Swarm.

• Romantina asked what happened when bugs other than Transmission Bugs touched pheromones, and Taros explained that they carried out the orders.
• Zhou Qing compared pheromones to smells that triggered subconscious actions, helping the group understand how the Swarm performed its tasks.
• Zhou Qing explained that mixed pheromones made the Mother Bug’s orders unclear, so the Swarm ignored them and continued its previous work.
• Dugu Bo compared pheromone orders to imperial decrees that recipients could reject if altered, then called the Swarm mere bugs.
• Taros agreed with Dugu Bo’s dismissive remark, his smile becoming increasingly natural as human control of the Swarm seemed possible.

Zhou Qing and the others debated whether to use the Swarm Kingdom, while Taros explained how its swarm creatures generated Spiritual Energy. Inside Romantina’s Sea of Spirit, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm persuaded Ice Empress to consider helping Romantina refine their life-bound soul rings and pursue immortality through Zhou Qing’s Inner Scenery World.

• Timidit argued that the Swarm Kingdom should not be exploited because its way of life resembled Nami Village, and Zhou Qing agreed with her.
• Zhou Qing asked Taros about Spiritual Energy, and Taros explained how attacks on the swarm made its creatures transmit energy to the Mother Bug.
• Tais told Taros that Romantina had used Spiritual Power to probe the Swarm Kingdom, and Taros revealed that a previous Titled Douluo’s probe had caused no disturbance.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm proposed that he and Ice Empress help Romantina refine their life-bound soul rings so they could gain a place in Zhou Qing’s Inner Scenery World.
• Ice Empress resisted Sky Dream Ice Silkworm’s proposal but began to consider it, while he suggested they keep watching the Swarm Kingdom.