Chapter Summaries

Priest Kui Rong explained that Tai Yu had concealed extensive experiments inside the Training Ground by using Illusory Nightmare System Power to transform dreamlike simulations into reality. The discussion left Farul and Priest Kannan wondering how Tai Yu could safely study powers that should not be observed for long.

• Priest Kui Rong told Farul that the Training Ground was not made through an Inner Universe and that its appearance in reality suggested a conversion between True Illusion and Virtual Reality.
• Priest Kui Rong identified traces of Nightfall, Blazing Flame, and other Divine Power systems across the Training Ground’s grids, and Farul concluded that Tai Yu had architectural knowledge.
• Priest Kui Rong argued that Tai Yu’s experiments would have caused enormous disturbances if not for his refined use of Illusory Nightmare System Power.
• Farul recalled Tai Yu’s escape from the Initial Awakening Society as a possible explanation, but Priest Kui Rong questioned how Tai Yu could endure studying such powers, and Priest Kannan remained silent.

Farul questioned Priest Kui Rong’s knowledge of Illusory Nightmare System Power and suspected he had ties to the Initial Awakening Society. As they entered the Training Ground, Farul considered the Myriad Gods Hall’s likely response and the leverage he might gain against Kui Rong.

• Farul noticed that Kui Rong’s remarks about Illusory Nightmare System Power suggested insider knowledge and considered whether he had ties to the Initial Awakening Society.
• Kui Rong led the group farther into the Training Ground and praised its creator’s ability to reproduce the real universe.
• Farul reflected on his own ambitions, past conflicts, and the possibility that Kui Rong had aligned himself with the Initial Awakening Society.
• Farul concluded that any scandal involving Kui Rong would likely be handled quietly and slowly within the Myriad Gods Hall.
• Farul considered whether he could use evidence against Kui Rong and remembered Tai Yu.

Farul and the other priests debated Tai Yu’s transformation of the Honeycomb Training Ground and the foundation he might choose on the path to becoming a Great Monarch. After Tai Yu called Farul and Kan Nan back to work, Priest Yan Chen discussed the nature of Illusory Nightmare System Power with Yuan Ju, who wondered whether Myriad Transformations Deep Blue had existed before.

• Farul attended a meeting with Priests Kui Rong, Kan Nan, and Yan Chen, where Kui Rong described the Honeycomb Training Ground and raised questions about Tai Yu’s foundation.
• Priest Yan Chen said Tai Yu might be asked directly about his intentions, while Kui Rong pointed out that neither the Inner Universe nor Illusory Nightmare System Power fit the current Investiture framework.
• Tai Yu called Farul and Priest Kan Nan further into the Underground Hive to help hold it up, and the priests went their separate ways.
• Priest Yan Chen later explained to Yuan Ju that Great Monarch-level Illusory Nightmare System Power could transform virtuality and reality in either direction.
• Yuan Ju asked whether Myriad Transformations Deep Blue had ever existed in the universe before.

Yuan Ju and Priest Yan Chen discussed how the Initial Awakening Society and movements among Great Monarchs could affect the Red Silicon Star System, while Tai Yu pursued his own plans. The Underground Hive’s environment fluctuated during Tai Yu’s work, and Yan Chen warned that turmoil could spread into the Dreamscape.

• Priest Yan Chen explained that Shan Long High Priest had been briefed because events involving Great Lord Luande, Great Lord Zhong Kai, Officer Tai Yu, and the Initial Awakening Society could affect his work.
• Yan Chen told Yuan Ju that Tai Yu had acted far earlier than the others and urged him to learn from Tai Yu’s pace of action.
• Yuan Ju suggested that the Yin Lord Evil God at the Tuoyuan City ritual might connect Officer Lu Yang and the others to the wider developments, and Yan Chen agreed that the Initial Awakening Society could have enabled it.
• Yan Chen expected the Red Silicon Star System to become turbulent as Great Monarchs and powerful organizations pursued differing changes.
• The Underground Hive’s temperature and lighting fluctuated as Tai Yu adjusted it with Priests Farul and Kan Nan, and Yan Chen warned Yuan Ju that turmoil might also reach the Dreamscape.

After losing the Subterranean Ships, the Special Task Force’s work and living conditions worsened, while its Acolyte Priests spent more time observing and learning from Officer Tai Yu. Taisa and Yuan Ju reasoned that Tai Yu’s Illusory Nightmare System Power made the Genetic Species underground into Fulcrums, then questioned whether everyone on You Chong Star—including Vajello and Stone Soul—was caught in its reach.

• The Subterranean Ships returned because their rental fees had not been paid, reducing the Special Task Force’s mobility and worsening its underground working conditions.
• With most missions halted, the Acolyte Priests observed and learned, while Officer Tai Yu continued answering questions whenever they could find him.
• Xi Fan joked that Tai Yu might have interrogated everyone in dreams, and Taisa warned that the joke could be closer to the truth than they thought.
• Taisa explained that Illusory Nightmare System Power required actual Fulcrums, and Yuan Ju deduced that the Genetic Species underground served as pivots within the power’s coverage.
• Taisa asked whether the power covered the entire planet and whether Vajello and Stone Soul were also Fulcrums.

Taisa warned that Tai Yu’s Illusory Nightmare System Power Framework could collide with the Initial Awakening Society’s framework, making the Underground Hive’s clergy a battlefield. The clergy were placed on combat readiness after the Abyssal Spirit Net reported a large-scale Outer Domain Species offensive near the Red Silicon Main Star.

• Taisa explained that Vajello might be an important node in the Initial Awakening Society’s framework, so Tai Yu’s attempt to lock onto him could trigger a clash between the two frameworks.
• Badar reasoned that the Society could have other hidden nodes on You Chong Star, while Taisa warned that the clergy themselves could become vessels for the conflict.
• Taisa said Tai Yu was still assessing the situation and would need to weigh the opposing forces before connecting his framework and asking the Myriad Gods Hall to target the enemy through the Abyssal Spirit Net.
• The Abyssal Spirit Net announced that Outer Domain Species had launched a major offensive near the Red Silicon Main Star and ordered clergy and regional defense forces, including those on You Chong Star, to enter combat readiness.
• The Acolyte Priests exchanged wary looks as they considered the alert in light of their discussion about the hidden conflict.

Farul pressed Tai Yu to explain his hidden plans, but Tai Yu gave only a broad account of his interest in the Outer Domain Species and the universe’s ultimate nature. After Tai Yu left, Farul questioned Priest Kannan about Tai Yu’s ambitions and the obstacles facing his possible paths to advancement.

• The Acolyte Priests speculated that the Outer Domain Species’ uprising might be a cover for the Initial Awakening Society, while Tai Yu and Farul assessed their reasoning.
• Farul confronted Tai Yu for keeping the Special Task Force’s plans secret, and Tai Yu replied that wartime transfers made detailed explanations pointless.
• Farul suggested Tai Yu might have anticipated or encouraged the invasion, but Tai Yu rejected the idea that he had lured the Outer Domain Species to attack.
• Tai Yu discussed studying the Outer Domain Species, the Local Universe, and the wider cosmos before vanishing from the Dark Seclusion Ring.
• Farul complained to Priest Kannan and questioned whether Tai Yu could advance through either the Inner Universe path or the Illusory Nightmare System.

Farul realized that Tai Yu and the Initial Awakening Society might be pursuing a path toward godhood rather than Great Monarch status, while Priest Kannan warned him about Illusory Nightmare powers distorting perception. Their discussion was interrupted when the Subsidiary Network connecting You Chong Star’s population began to convulse, leaving Farul facing a spreading crisis.

• Farul speculated that Tai Yu might pledge allegiance to the Lord of Dawn and bring the Initial Awakening Society’s Illusory Nightmare authority into the domain, then recognized that the Nightfall King and other deities might compete for it.
• Priest Kannan explained that Illusory Nightmare power distorted perception and shaped living beings into nodes, warning Farul to guard his mind.
• Priest Kannan said that Illusory Nightmare methods could not support a Great Monarch, and Farul concluded that Tai Yu was moving toward becoming a Deity while the Initial Awakening Society might seek to create a righteous or evil god.
• Priest Kannan stabilized the Underground Hive Training Ground when a disturbance struck, but Farul’s control slipped and the temperature surged and plunged.
• Farul sensed the Subsidiary Network attached to the Abyssal Spirit Net convulsing across You Chong Star, and his communications filled with messages and error reports.

Farul investigated violent fluctuations in You Chong Star’s Subsidiary Network and learned that Yi Ya and Tu Qian had triggered them while fighting a powerful Phantom Evil Entity. The network was recovering, but the cause and the mercenaries’ ability to hold their ground remained under scrutiny.

• Farul and Priest Kannan examined the damaged Subsidiary Network and worried that its imbalanced channels could make repairs difficult.
• Farul suspected Tai Yu and the Initial Awakening Society, while Priest Kannan contacted Priest Yan Chen for an Architecture Priest’s assessment.
• Higher-ups reported that Yi Ya and Tu Qian, on a Network Stability Office mission, had caused the disturbance while fighting cultists on You Chong Star.
• Farul questioned how the two mercenaries could withstand a Phantom Evil Entity powerful enough to shake the network across a wide area.
• Priest Kannan explained that Yi Ya and Tu Qian had gathered retired veterans and deployed a War Domain against the cultists, who had recruited disabled veterans by promising to ease their pain.

Farul and Priest Kannan realized the Initial Awakening Society had launched a counterattack against the Special Task Force, using Vajello and Stone Soul to strike at the Underground Hive’s Fulcrums. They vanished into a layered light-dark domain to evade the attackers, while Tai Yu remained missing.

• Farul and Priest Kannan discussed how Tai Yu had pressured the Initial Awakening Society across multiple fronts and asked where Tai Yu was; Priest Kannan answered that he could be anywhere.
• Farul sensed the Rule Environment weaken and warned of an enemy attack, realizing the Initial Awakening Society had struck at Tai Yu’s Fulcrums.
• Vajello, wrapped in magma-like Stone Soul Armor, charged at Farul through the disrupted defenses.
• Farul used the Ritual Ancient Script syllable “Light” to transform into void-light and evade Vajello’s attack.
• Priest Kannan uttered “Dark,” and the two priests disappeared into the interwoven light-dark domain.

Farul and Priest Kannan searched the Underground Hive after Vajello and the Stone Soul escaped the Light-Dark Domain, then Tai Yu revealed that the attackers’ visit had helped expose people turned into Fulcrums. Tai Yu began explaining how those affected could be identified and treated, leaving Farul uneasy under Kannan’s knowing gaze.

• Farul tracked Vajello and the Stone Soul in Grid Space, but they suddenly vanished and broke free of the Abyssal Spirit Net’s control.
• Priest Kannan ordered Gong Zhicheng, Lu Yang, Yan Chen, and Si Nuowan to secure Zones 1 and 2 while he and Farul searched the Underground Hive.
• After five minutes without finding the targets, Tai Yu appeared and proposed gathering everyone together to prevent further isolated attacks.
• Farul accused Tai Yu of deliberately using them as bait, and Tai Yu said the attackers’ arrival had revealed a temporary Fulcrum that could later be removed.
• Tai Yu explained that people must recognize they have been made Fulcrums before Perception Intention and Decay Severance Intention can treat them, then hinted that certain people might not realize their condition.
• Farul turned toward Priest Kannan and saw him watching with a complicated expression.

Farul realized the Initial Awakening Society had made him a Fulcrum for its Illusory Nightmare System Power, while Tai Yu and Priest Kannan worked with the Abyssal Spirit Net to expose the scheme. Tai Yu forced Farul to confront his concealed misconduct and Chief Priest Seo’s scrutiny, leaving Farul certain he had lost his chance to pass the assessment.

• Farul recognized that the Initial Awakening Society had made him a Fulcrum for its Illusory Nightmare System Power, and he pleaded for help from Tai Yu and Priest Kannan.
• Tai Yu explained that Farul had been caught in the trap for some time and mocked his refusal to cooperate, while Priest Kannan urged Tai Yu to stop pressing him.
• Tai Yu warned Farul that Chief Priest Seo might know about his actions and that concealing them could send him to the Black Inspector’s interrogation room instead of the Boundary Curtain.
• Farul realized that Chief Priest Seo’s attention and hidden power within the Abyssal Spirit Net were restraining him.
• Farul recalled being misled about the timing of the priest evaluations and understood that the Initial Awakening Society had exploited his decision to cover up a past mistake.
• Farul concluded that he had lost his chance to pass the assessment.

Tai Yu used Grease Ball Figures to investigate how the Initial Awakening Society had exploited Farul’s abnormal state and contaminated him with Phantom Nightmare toxins. As the figures copied Farul’s face and displayed his conflicting emotions, his mental defenses began to collapse again.

• Farul broke through his restrictions enough to shout that he had not done it, while Tai Yu told Priest Kannan that the chain of events was clear and left the remaining matter to him.
• Tai Yu summoned Grease Ball Figures throughout the Grid Space and explained that he wanted to uncover what the Initial Awakening Society had done through Farul’s abnormal state.
• Tai Yu pointed out that Farul had served as the fulcrum of the Society’s Illusory Nightmare System power network, enabling Vajello and Stone Soul to position themselves and conceal their movements.
• Tai Yu urged Farul to examine his problems and find the hidden Phantom Nightmare toxins, while Priest Kannan said the Blazing Flame Sect was better equipped to prevent and treat such contamination.
• The Grease Ball Figures developed faces resembling Farul’s and showed different emotions, leaving Farul frozen as his mental defenses began to collapse.

Tai Yu exposed the false despair imposed on Farul, helping him regain clarity and break another shackle. Vajello and Stone Soul emerged from concealment, but their struggle against the Grease Ball Figures’ heat-draining power remained unresolved as a purer darkness descended.

• Tai Yu explained that he had imprinted and sorted Farul’s emotional turbid currents to identify what was hidden within them.
• Tai Yu showed Farul a Grease Ball Figure whose fixed expression of despair did not match its reactions, then distorted its face until it transformed into someone else’s likeness.
• Farul regained clarity, roared, and broke another shackle as blazing light erupted from his body.
• Vajello and Stone Soul emerged from Farul’s haze while Grease Ball Figures absorbed the surrounding heat and restrained the separating phantom.
• Vajello’s Stone Soul Armor darkened into a rock-like shell as the Grease Ball Figures drained its heat, then a purer darkness descended.

Vajello used darkness, illusions, and shifting rule powers to evade Priest Kannan and Tai Yu, but Tai Yu revealed that Vajello remained under observation and Imprint. Tai Yu prepared to withdraw while continuing to study the Stone Soul, leaving Vajello’s fate and the Initial Awakening Society’s possible intervention unresolved.

• Vajello created multiple phantom positions and used darkness and misdirection to escape Priest Kannan’s grasp, while Farul fell unconscious.
• Tai Yu examined the shattered Stone Soul Armor and questioned whether Stone Soul or Vajello was the primary side of their fusion.
• Tai Yu revealed that Grease Ball Figures were Imprinting Vajello’s actions, indicating that he had not escaped Tai Yu’s observation.
• Tai Yu explained that the deep stratum could sever the Initial Awakening Society’s Fulcrums and make it harder for them to help Vajello break through.
• Tai Yu continued Imprinting the Stone Soul, which he considered important for studying the Outer Domain Species attacking Red Silicon Main Star.

Yuan Ju dreamed of a misty jungle as the Shadow used his perspective to observe Tai Yu and Vajello in a neighboring illusory region. Vajello explained the Sin Dream Nation’s co-construction system and its vacant kingship, leaving Tai Yu to decide whether to join.

• Yuan Ju returned to the Boundary, bathed, and fell asleep in the water.
• The Shadow judged that Yuan Ju’s dream nearly revealed hidden traces of Vajello and Stone Soul, so it kept him concealed while watching a nearby region.
• Vajello crashed into the neighboring jungle, and Tai Yu followed, confirming to the Shadow that Tai Yu had once left from there.
• Tai Yu questioned Vajello about the jungle and Luande, while Vajello explained that contributors who provided Awakened Ones gained privileges in the Sin Dream Nation.
• Vajello said he was carrying out a ritual to encourage co-construction and sharing, and Tai Yu asked who ruled the nation.
• Vajello told Tai Yu that the position of king remained vacant for someone qualified to claim it.

Tai Yu questioned Vajello about the Initial Awakening Society, the Sin Dream Nation, and his abilities while making clear he had twenty-five weeks to complete his mission. Vajello tried to escape through the illusory Jungle, but Tai Yu disrupted his Void-Gnawing Fungus and seized control of the space, leaving him trapped.

• Tai Yu asked whether Vajello had to die for the Awakened One and Sin Dream Nation methods to be obtained, then questioned him about his superiors, subordinates, Stone Soul, and the Sin Dream Nation.
• Tai Yu explained that his mission allowed him thirty weeks to apprehend Vajello and that twenty-five weeks remained, while threatening to spread knowledge of the Sin Dream Nation to others.
• Vajello warned Tai Yu that events in the Red Silicon Star System might not go as he wished, then plunged into the ground to escape through the illusory Jungle.
• Tai Yu identified Vajello's reliance on Void-Gnawing Fungus and disrupted its spacetime displacement, causing the illusory environment to break apart.
• Tai Yu seized control of the space modeled after the Sin Dream Nation, turning Vajello's prepared refuge into a prison.

Tai Yu trapped Vajello in his domain and severed the connection between the Jungle region and the Sin Dream Kingdom, while Shadow weighed how to respond to Tai Yu’s growing threat. Tai Yu then told Sheng Wu that he needed to find a new source of power as the Old Mine Source neared exhaustion.

• Tai Yu used Illusory Nightmare System Power and the Grease Balls to fragment Vajello’s thoughts and leave him beyond saving.
• The mapped connection between the Jungle region and the Sin Dream Kingdom faded, while Shadow considered whether the Initial Awakening Society could control Tai Yu.
• Shadow sensed a powerful, unauthorized borrowing of power and suspected that the Development Department’s Yin Lord Evil God was being hunted by Tai Yu and the Abyssal Spirit Net.
• Shadow sent a message asking his superiors to intervene before Tai Yu’s actions endangered the Sin Dream Kingdom.
• Tai Yu told Sheng Wu that he would not keep pushing others’ patience and explained that the Old Mine Source was nearly exhausted, so he needed to find a New Mine.

Tai Yu and Sheng Wu discussed the Deformed Infected, the risk of deformation, and Tai Yu’s eventual need to return to the Han Guang Star System. Their conversation revealed that the veterans’ condition was tied to the River Styx Curse, a punishment imposed by the Myriad Heavens Gods.

• Tai Yu agreed that Yi Ya and Tu Qian should withdraw once they had restrained the Yin Lord Evil God, while explaining that his mission was to capture Vajello.
• Tai Yu cited the large populations of Deformed Infected on Star Ring City and You Chong Star and asked whether he could use them as resources.
• Tai Yu hinted that he planned to go to the Han Guang Star System, explaining that the Deformation Correction Experiment would eventually require it.
• Tai Yu asked Sheng Wu why people still showed signs of the Sin-Poison Environment despite being in the Central Star Zone, and Sheng Wu said Tai Yu had not survived the Battle of the River Styx in his previous life.
• Tai Yu mentioned the River Styx Curse, and Sheng Wu explained it was the Myriad Heavens Gods’ punishment for the Lord of Silent Extinction’s destruction of connections between the Han Guang Star System, Central Galaxy, and Central Star Zone.

Tai Yu and Sheng Wu discussed the fading Karmic Poison Contamination in the Han Guang Star System and considered researching what triggered aberration. Sheng Wu suggested Yi Ya and Tu Qian could guide Tai Yu there, while Tai Yu looked for funding by trying to sell the arrangements on You Chong Star.

• Sheng Wu explained that the Styx once threatened to spread Karmic Poison Contamination across the Central Star Zone, prompting the Myriad Heavens Divine Kingdoms to isolate and suppress it.
• Tai Yu and Sheng Wu connected the contamination’s history to the three hundred and twenty rule frameworks, but Tai Yu noted that its triggers during battles with Outer Domain Species and prolonged War Domain use remained unexplained.
• Sheng Wu suggested Yi Ya and Tu Qian could accompany Tai Yu to the Han Guang Star System, and he warned that they were at risk of severe aberration.
• Tai Yu said he would seek research funding by selling the arrangements on You Chong Star and asked whether Great Lord Luande might buy them.
• Sheng Wu said Great Lord Luande would avoid involvement in the Habitable Zone, and Tai Yu resolved to ask potential buyers one by one, including Great Lord Zhong Kai.