Chapter Summaries

Inside the Mother Goddess Holy Domain, Captain Xia and the other captives faced an increasingly hopeless deathmatch, while outside Lei Huo Ren betrayed Xia Qin and revealed his strength. After defeating her and taking Lu PingAn, he left behind the silver glove Lu PingAn had secretly brought to her.

• Captain Xia held onto hope of contacting the outside world and planned to challenge the sacred beast, while Lei Huo Ren concealed his regret at avoiding the arena.
• Outside the secret realm, Lei Huo Ren refused Xia Qin’s demand to return with her and revealed that he had advanced to Tier 4 by sacrificing more than eight thousand people.
• Xia Qin struck Lei Huo Ren with renewed resolve and broke through during their fight, but his Rule-level Frost Wings impaled and froze her.
• Lei Huo Ren took Lu PingAn with him, and Lu PingAn dropped and kicked his silver glove to Xia Qin’s feet as they left the alley.

Lu PingAn assessed the threat posed by Sabbath's Slumbering Waterwing and weighed the three factions converging on Zion District while waiting for news from Xia Qin. Xia Qin called to report that Lei Huo Ren had taken Lu PingAn, but she was alive and still able to fight.

• Lu PingAn reviewed the limited information on Sabbath's Slumbering Waterwing and concluded that its Rule-level powers made it a major threat.
• Lu PingAn identified the three factions in the Ancient City and hoped the sixth-rank trio and Sophist's group would weaken each other.
• Lu PingAn waited anxiously for Xia Qin, whose mission was to protect the captured Lu PingAn and keep him from falling into the wrong hands.
• Xia Qin called and told Lu PingAn that Lei Huo Ren had taken Lu PingAn, while she had survived and could still fight.

The Life Mother Tree’s secret realm imposed rules that forced its living beings into Life Competitions and let them trade lifespan for power. As Tie Zhenmei and Long Qianlan’s group prepared to build up strength by hunting monsters, Lu PingAn warned his companions not to initiate challenges or sacrifice their lives.

• The Life Mother Tree emerged from the fading mist, and the beastly host confronted the small figure before it.
• Tie Zhenmei, Long Qianlan, and their ally pushed past the Special Task Force and entered the domain.
• The Voice of Rules announced the rights to Life Competitions and to exchange lifespan for power, along with a concealed third rule.
• Long Qianlan killed a Wolf Monster and discovered that victory increased his power, leading the three fighters to plan to gather stakes by hunting monsters and Sacrifices.
• Lu PingAn told his companions never to initiate a challenge and never to offer sacrifices to the Mother Goddess.

Lu PingAn prepared for the battle by equipping himself with powerful items and discovering that the Heavenly Boots put him in a perfect state of balance. As fighting spread around the quasi-god's legacy, he waited for the hunters to become trapped by the Land of Rules before setting out to face Big Cat's Apotheosis Ritual.

• Lu PingAn equipped his Heavenly Boots, mechanical arm armor, weapons, and utility belt, then realized the boots had brought his body and spirit into a perfect balance.
• Lu PingAn considered improving his Soldier Path and acknowledged that his equipment could let him fight at around Tier 3 strength.
• Fang Wen urged Lu PingAn to hurry so she could pursue life chips, but he waited as hunters and hidden fighters entered the battle.
• Lu PingAn warned Big Cat that her immoral, meticulously designed rules might have contributed to her failed Apotheosis Ritual.
• Big Cat announced it was time to go and challenged Lu PingAn to face her supposedly unsolvable Apotheosis Ritual, which he mocked.

Tie Zhenmei discovered that the Life Competition’s rules tricked contestants into losing their own lifespan when they consumed life force and tried to sacrifice it, while Lu PingAn found that the Life Bank converted his gains into Life Points. The chapter left Lu PingAn gleefully killing to earn points as Big Cat protested his teasing.

• Tie Zhenmei sensed that the life force he had consumed was leaking away and realized something was wrong.
• Tie Zhenmei sacrificed a year of his lifespan, aged rapidly, and warned the other contestants that their stolen life force could not be exchanged for power.
• Tie Zhenmei and the other sixth-rankers realized that consuming others’ life force displaced their own lifespan and that their power was leaking away.
• Big Cat laughed from her throne as the contestants remained trapped by the rules.
• Lu PingAn killed monsters until the rules awarded him life force, which the Life Bank converted into 119 Life Points.
• Lu PingAn celebrated his compatibility with Big Cat, then teased her about killing him and laughing it off.

Lu PingAn surveyed Kerdales’s expanding holy domain and learned how its false apotheosis ritual trapped the Ancient City’s inhabitants. Unable to use Life Points to gain power, he continued hunting monsters while waiting for the ritual’s other targets to grow weaker.

• Lu PingAn watched the Life Mother Tree grow as Big Cat explained how the holy domain’s expanding rules turned its inhabitants into prey and would eventually consume the Ancient City.
• Big Cat told Lu PingAn that the ritual would become impossible to stop once it consumed enough people, and he recalled that someone had killed her during her real ritual before it reached that stage.
• Lu PingAn tried to exchange a Life Point for power, but the counterfeit Mother Tree Rule could not affect his Life Bank, so he continued hunting instead.
• With Big Cat’s guidance, Lu PingAn killed an Ankuel Chimera and gained 37 Life Points, then asked about the dangerous Neither-Nor Beast.
• Lu PingAn avoided the Neither-Nor Beast and kept gathering points while waiting for the other targets to become desperate enough to challenge a True God.

After a Tier 6 Blood Banquet guest died to Kerdales, Lu PingAn recognized that the Holy Domain’s promise of rapid advancement was trapping the greedy in a deadly cycle. He rescued Fang Wen from a crisis of faith, then learned that Long Qianlan had become a monstrous Chimera able to consume life force without limit.

• Kerdales killed a Tier 6 Little Devil of the Blood Banquet, leaving the other fighters to conclude that they needed to keep killing and advancing.
• Fang Wen asked Lu PingAn to help her hunt Long Qianlan, but her mechanical body began to disintegrate after the Mother Goddess rejected her as a being unfit to sacrifice.
• Lu PingAn used their contract and his Life Bank ability to convince Fang Wen that she was alive and that the Holy Domain’s judgment of her was flawed.
• Fang Wen stabilized and thanked Lu PingAn, then showed him what had happened to Long Qianlan.
• Lu PingAn saw that Long Qianlan had stitched monsters onto his body to become a six-meter Chimera that could devour creatures and consume their life force.

Lu PingAn refused Fang Wen’s offer to join the attack on Long Qianlan, and Kerdales emerged to drive Long Qianlan into retreat. After Kerdales left her lair, Lu PingAn alerted Xia Qin, who set out to destroy the Life Mother Tree and draw out anyone who might stop her.

• Fang Wen proposed that she and Lu PingAn kill Long Qianlan, but Lu PingAn refused, saying they should deal with the Sophist first.
• Kerdales appeared, and Long Qianlan fled, scattering the parts of his body in different directions.
• Lu PingAn called someone to say the time had come after Kerdales left her lair.
• Xia Qin, recovered enough to fight after treatment and Lu PingAn’s Deferred Payment, received the signal that the cat had left.
• Xia Qin left her hiding place and headed for the Life Mother Tree, intending to fell it and lure out interceptors.

Lei Huo Ren fought off a Special Task Force squad sent to arrest him and revealed how resentment and disillusionment had led him to abandon the law. He then confronted Captain Xia and claimed responsibility for summoning the Sophist.

• Captain Liu urged Lei Huo Ren to surrender, but Lei Huo Ren rejected his appeal and argued that the law could not restrain powerful people like Liu Erdao.
• A gunshot began the battle, and Lei Huo Ren used Mirror Walker to wound the sniper and evade the three captains’ attacks.
• Lei Huo Ren filled the ruined battlefield with water, ice, and mirrors, then used reflected light and hidden blades to force the squad to retreat with three captains injured.
• Lei Huo Ren recalled how watching Xia Qin remain steadfast amid corruption had shattered his trust in justice, and admitted he had once wished he had enough strength to protect Shui Yun and his parents.
• When Captain Xia confronted him, Lei Huo Ren called her too dazzling and said he had summoned the Sophist and was the source of everything.

Xia Qin fought Lei Huo Ren while using her knowledge of the Slumbering Waterwing’s drawbacks to survive his overwhelming strength. Just as Lei Huo Ren prepared a decisive attack, Xue En and Hua Xueyi arrived to help her.

• Lei Huo Ren mocked Xia Qin for trusting others as he overwhelmed her with the Ice Blade.
• Xia Qin layered seven Sun Patterns onto her defense and endured Lei Huo Ren’s attacks while explaining that his weapon drained his body’s moisture and blood.
• Xia Qin urged Lei Huo Ren to put down his weapon, but he summoned mirrors across the battlefield and prepared a final strike.
• Xue En and Hua Xueyi arrived, with Hua Xueyi’s golden sandstorm destroying the water mirrors and Xue En standing beside Xia Qin.

Xia Qin, Hua Xueyi, and Xue En disrupted Lei Huo Ren’s control of the battlefield and held him back. Meanwhile, Lu PingAn set out to cut down the tree and force the Sophist to reveal himself.

• Lei Huo Ren created an ice-mirror labyrinth, but Hua Xueyi destroyed many mirrors by combining Xia Qin’s Sun and Moon Patterns.
• Xue En summoned localized rain and misfortune, making Lei Huo Ren’s mirrors and movement harder to control.
• Hua Xueyi and Xia Qin slipped on the wet, icy battlefield, while Lei Huo Ren fell and coughed up blood.
• Lei Huo Ren considered abandoning his restriction against killing Special Task Force members as the backlash from Water Wings worsened.
• Lu PingAn followed the team’s plan to cut down the tree and draw out the Sophist while the others kept Lei Huo Ren occupied.

Lu PingAn explained how he had used Xia Qin and Special Task Force Three to restrain Lei Huo Ren, then sent Fang Wen to threaten the Life Mother Tree and force the ritual’s controller to act. The Sophist saw Fang Wen approaching the altar and prepared to respond.

• Lu PingAn argued that Lei Huo Ren would avoid killing Xia Qin and the Special Task Force, allowing them to wear him down and restrain his Rule-level Weapon.
• Lu PingAn said that Xia Qin and the others could chop down the tree if Lei Huo Ren came after him instead.
• Lu PingAn brought Fang Wen to threaten the Life Mother Tree and force the Sophist controlling the ritual to step forward.
• The Sophist washed blood from his hands beside a mountain of civilian and Special Task Force corpses.
• The Sophist sensed Fang Wen nearing the altar’s center and decided he could not let Fang Wen and Lu PingAn reach the Holy Life Statue.

Lu PingAn and Fang Wen encountered Liu Zibei, who had prepared a vast demonic-plant battlefield to stop them from reaching the Ascension Tree. Lu PingAn chose to help Fang Wen fight through the encirclement as Liu Zibei marked them and sent his plants to attack.

• Lu PingAn recognized Liu Zibei, a wanted Tree Herder who had converted to the Maiden of the Forest and was determined to claim the sacred realm’s rewards.
• Lu PingAn told Fang Wen to ask why Liu Zibei had intercepted them, while he stayed disguised and considered bypassing the Gardener.
• Liu Zibei summoned thousands of temporary treants and other demonic plants, turning the surrounding ruins into a deadly forest.
• Fang Wen asked Lu PingAn for help, and he agreed rather than leaving her behind to reach the altar core.
• Lu PingAn ordered Blood Mark to attack as Liu Zibei spread its vines and traps across the battlefield and marked both of them from afar.

Lu PingAn and Fang Wen escaped Liu Zibei’s forest encirclement with a borrowed gravity ability and a rocket-like leap. As Liu Zibei prepared to pursue them, Big Cat entered the forest and drew his attention.

• Liu Zibei’s treants and blood-mark vines overwhelmed the battlefield, while Lu PingAn used herbicide to briefly weaken the vines.
• Fang Wen fought through the treants and tried to reach Liu Zibei, but the attackers trapped and battered her.
• Lu PingAn used a borrowed Gravity Manipulation ability to lighten himself and Fang Wen, then launched them above the forest with Nitrogen Acceleration.
• Fang Wen transformed into a bird and carried Lu PingAn toward the nearby altar after they escaped the encirclement.
• Liu Zibei began adjusting his Botanical Garden to pursue them, but Big Cat entered the forest dragging a mutilated meat chunk.

Lu PingAn reflected on his new ability-borrowing contract as he raced toward the arena, where Jia Yi and a massive pack of beasts blocked his way. He identified the Sophist as a Shivalo Headhunter and realized his hidden strength was at least Tier 4, leaving Lu PingAn facing an overwhelming battle.

• Lu PingAn developed a contract that let him borrow another person's innate ability briefly, though the borrowed power was heavily weakened and costly.
• Lu PingAn continued toward the arena with Fang Wen while expecting Liu Zibei to pursue them after regrouping.
• Lu PingAn encountered Jia Yi atop the arena wall, apparently under the Sophist's control, with more than a hundred beasts blocking the route to the Tree of Life.
• Lu PingAn connected Old Ke's death and corpse to the Sophist's Shivalo Headhunter profession, which used shrunken heads to control living corpses.
• Lu PingAn deduced that the Sophist was at least a Tier 4 Healer and prepared to face his enhanced beast pack.

Lu PingAn identified the Sophist among the intruders and sent Fang Wen to confront him while a beast horde closed in. With Senior Brother Guan’s help, Lu PingAn blocked and incapacitated the horde, buying time to unfold his own Landscape.

• Lu PingAn and Fang Wen retreated from a horde of evolved beasts while Lu PingAn searched for the Sophist.
• Mercenaries and other intruders breached the Gladiatorial Arena, and Lu PingAn recognized Tie Zhenmei carrying a third idol linked to the Historical Secret Realm.
• Lu PingAn sent Fang Wen to kill Tie Zhenmei, explaining that the idol could be the key to the Secret Realm and that defeating him might break the beast horde’s attack.
• Lu PingAn summoned Senior Brother Guan, who called forth Noah’s Ark as a barrier against the charging beasts.
• Lu PingAn used Sith White Flower cherry trees aboard Noah’s Ark to release hypnotic mist, making the beasts fall asleep and giving him time to unfold his Landscape.

Lu PingAn unleashed his Scene of Salvation against Jia Yi’s Hundred Beasts legion, using the Fusang Tree’s gallows-like vines to slaughter the beasts. After enlarging the tree with Giant in the Palm, he advanced the moving death zone toward Jia Yi aboard Noah’s Ark.

• Jia Yi ordered his Beast Tamer legion to kill everyone except Lu PingAn, and Guan Xinxian welcomed the chance to fight him.
• Lu PingAn summoned his Scene of Salvation, where the Fusang Tree’s black ropes ensnared the beast horde and drained the creatures’ lives.
• Lu PingAn used Giant in the Palm to enlarge the Fusang Tree, and its strengthened vines tore apart the remaining beasts, including the Beast King.
• Jia Yi realized that Lu PingAn’s killing Scene could move when Noah’s Ark carried the giant tree forward, while Guan Xinxian pointed toward his sworn enemy.

Lu PingAn used the giant Fusang Tree to mow down the beast herd and earn back the Life Points he had spent preparing for battle. Guan Xinxian killed Jia Yi in revenge, then turned toward his brother, who still needed help.

• Lu PingAn advanced his enlarged battlefield fortress, using the Fusang Tree’s ropes and hooks to capture beasts and harvest their life force.
• Lu PingAn’s Life Bank recovered to 4,891 points, leaving him temporarily free from the risk of losing more lifespan.
• Jia Yi’s master made him run as bait to slow the advancing Scenes, but Lu PingAn sent Guan Xinxian after him.
• Guan Xinxian beat Jia Yi to death, wept as he avenged his family, and then turned to help his brother.

Fang Wen pursued Sophist, who revealed how he fused the Pactbearer, Headhunter, and Gourmet paths by exploiting his Living Dolls. Meanwhile, Lu PingAn reached the Grand Gladiatorial Arena with Guan Xinxian and returned to the place where the dream began.

• Sophist tried to bargain with Fang Wen, but she shut off her sound receiver and kept attacking him.
• Fang Wen discovered Sophist could match her strength and learned he had fused his three paths by signing contracts with Living Dolls and absorbing their inheritances.
• Sophist compared his abilities to the Mother Goddess and tried to sway Fang Wen while she began to consider his claims.
• Lu PingAn reached the Grand Gladiatorial Arena, retracted his realm, and had Guan Xinxian carry him over the wall.
• Lu PingAn arrived at the place where the dream began.

Yuan Dunxing revealed how he had forged the Pactbearer path into a combat profession by recording other people’s lives, souls, and Life Essence in books and his own body. He overwhelmed Fang Wen with the abilities of those he had collected, and Lu PingAn arrived to find Fang Wen at a disadvantage.

• Yuan Dunxing’s peers had expected little from him, but he advanced rapidly as a Pactbearer and developed his own combat techniques.
• Under pressure from Fang Wen, Yuan Dunxing summoned Ke Zhenmo’s Exploding Wrist and struck Fang Wen with his deformed arm.
• Yuan Dunxing used Lin Xiang’s recorded kicking techniques to kick Fang Wen repeatedly and scatter her physical body.
• Fang Wen recognized that Yuan Dunxing’s books and flesh stored other people’s lives and Life Essence, and envied how well the ability suited the Mother Goddess.
• Yuan Dunxing recalled how his curiosity had led him from writing Human Skin Books to collecting souls and Life Essence, awakening the lives stored within his body.
• Yuan Dunxing’s Fish Head summoned the remaining beasts as Lu PingAn climbed over the city wall and saw Fang Wen losing ground.