Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn watched Fang Wen battle the Sophist and realized their fight had only pinned him down, leaving the Tree of Life as the next target. Big Cat warned that the Sophist had glimpsed his own reality and could become a Rule-level threat, so Lu PingAn shifted his priority to killing him.

• Lu PingAn teased Fang Wen over her struggles against a Tier 4, while she insisted her damaged forces and noncombat role had weakened her.
• Lu PingAn realized Fang Wen had been caught in a contract after hesitating over the Sophist's offer, further reducing her combat strength.
• Lu PingAn noted that neither fighter had invoked Life Election and warned that the fake Big Cat could force people into duels.
• Lu PingAn considered cutting down the Tree of Life, but Big Cat called the Sophist dangerous because he used contracts, Gourmet abilities, and books to consume others.
• Big Cat explained that the Sophist had glimpsed his own reality and could eventually reach Rule-level, so Lu PingAn decided they had to kill him.

Lei Huo Ren let Lei Shui Yun go after she refused to fight him, then Lu PingAn drew the exhausted swordsman back into the battle by revealing the badly wounded Xia Qin. With Xia Qin healed enough to fight, Lu PingAn set up a third round between them.

• Lei Huo Ren challenged Lei Shui Yun to take up her weapon, but she stepped aside and explained that Lu PingAn had told her not to arrest him unless he asked.
• Lei Shui Yun promised to capture Lei Huo Ren next time, and he left while she cried.
• Lu PingAn learned Xia Qin had lost again and watched Tie Zhenmei approach the Life Mother Tree while he prepared to deal with the Sophist.
• Lu PingAn approached the Sophist, but Lei Huo Ren appeared and stopped him with an Ice Blade.
• Lu PingAn called Lei Huo Ren "Brother-in-law," brought out the wounded Xia Qin, healed her with a one-sixth Life's Deferred Payment, and urged her to fight again.

Xia Qin drove Lei Huo Ren into retreat, while Lu PingAn faced the Sophist after revealing powerful abilities. The Sophist summoned Kerdales, who crushed Tie Zhenmei and began a new Life Election, leaving Fang Wen fleeing in terror.

• Xia Qin broke through and overwhelmed the bloodied Lei Huo Ren, who escaped when she could not capture him.
• Lu PingAn accepted that his abilities were exposed and turned with Fang Wen and Xia Qin to confront the Sophist.
• The Sophist detonated a bomb to lure Kerdales to the Life Mother Tree, and she arrived unharmed.
• Kerdales smashed Tie Zhenmei into the ground and fed Long Qianlan and Liu Zibei, the defeated Life Election contestants, to the Life Mother Tree.
• Kerdales started a new Life Election with herself and Tie Zhenmei as contestants, and Fang Wen fled first.

Lu PingAn and Xia Qin killed Yuan Dunxing, but his death brought the two-month-younger Lu PingAn into the arena, where Big Cat offered to pit the apparent twins against each other. The younger Lu PingAn challenged Big Cat instead, repeating the choice that had begun their cycle.

• Lu PingAn held Xia Qin back while he approached Yuan Dunxing, and she joined him in attacking the Sophist.
• Yuan Dunxing welcomed their blades and died from Xia Qin's sword after taunting her about killing her former comrade.
• Xia Qin sensed something had appeared within her, and Lu PingAn realized the danger had only begun when his younger self appeared in the arena.
• Big Cat proposed that only one of the two Lu PingAns could survive, but Lu PingAn stopped Xia Qin from fighting.
• The younger Lu PingAn challenged Big Cat, repeating the challenge he had made two months earlier.

Lu PingAn watched his past self challenge Kerdales and offer his entire lifespan, forcing the rules of the Life Competition to grant him a chance to win. After he struck Kerdales down, the Sophist’s hidden plan began, and the supposed history took a false turn as Lu PingAn remained alive.

• Lu PingAn’s past self challenged Kerdales, binding them as competitors in a Life Competition.
• Kerdales explained that a contestant could offer lifespan to Mother in exchange for power, while Lu PingAn’s past self offered all his remaining years.
• Lu PingAn explained that offering everything triggered the hidden rule granting an underdog a chance to win, and the rules drained Kerdales and the Life Mother Tree of power.
• With Kerdales immobilized and close enough to reach, Lu PingAn’s past self flicked her forehead and killed her.
• The Sophist’s backup plan activated after Kerdales fell, and Lu PingAn’s past self realized he was still alive despite sacrificing his life.

After the ritual’s collapse, Lu PingAn discovered that Life Bank had revived him and that Yuan Dunxing had used his body as the foundation for a rebirth. The merged person accepted a new self and asked Lu PingAn to lend him his identity and memories.

• The Mother Goddess Statue and sacred domain collapsed after the sacred beast died, but Lu PingAn remained alive despite having sacrificed his life.
• Lu PingAn realized that Life Bank had awakened through his death and Kerdales’s legacy, restoring his life and absorbing the deity’s power.
• Lu PingAn recognized Yuan Dunxing inside the revived body and confronted him about using a doll to return through rebirth.
• Yuan Dunxing’s memories and personality merged with Lu PingAn’s body, along with other voices, until the new person declared himself to be himself.
• The new person asked Lu PingAn to lend him his ID and memories, and Lu PingAn treated the request as a joke.

Yuan Dunxing absorbed the spoils of Godslaying but struggled to maintain a coherent self as his souls merged. Lu PingAn’s preparations denied him the Ability he needed to stabilize his rebirth, and Lu PingAn launched an attack.

• Yuan Dunxing gained control of more than twenty Human Skin Books as the Life Mother Tree’s power and the defeated beings’ souls flowed into his reborn body.
• Yuan Dunxing and the dissolving Lu PingAn argued over their identities within a chaotic sea of souls, and Lu PingAn willingly merged into it.
• Yuan Dunxing expected to gain a powerful Ability to organize his body and lay the foundation for God Ascension, but discovered Lu PingAn had already awakened Pain Relief Ability with an X-07 Potion.
• Lu PingAn revealed that he had arranged for the potion to thwart Yuan Dunxing’s plan and mocked him for seeking the God Ascension Foundation.
• Lu PingAn attacked Yuan Dunxing with the newly deployed Redemption.

Lu PingAn realized the Sophist’s resurrection plan had partly failed but had still made him more powerful, and he led an attack to stop him before he could recover. As Xia Qin held back the newly formed monster, Lu PingAn pushed toward the Sophist’s vulnerable core.

• Lu PingAn watched the Sophist absorb the Life Mother Tree and create a sea of life puppets from the records and remains of those he had consumed.
• Lu PingAn reconstructed the Sophist’s plan to revive himself and learned that the young man at the center was an empty shell while the Sophist’s true self lay beneath the Sea of Life.
• Lu PingAn sensed three powerful life signatures awakening in the sea and decided the team had to destroy the Sophist before he could rebuild himself.
• Lu PingAn and his hastily assembled team charged through the puppets, using Redemption and Noah’s Ark to open a path.
• A monster bearing Tie Zhenmei’s face and the Sophist’s face emerged, devoured a nearby puppet, and attacked the team.
• Xia Qin blocked the monster’s assault with her golden longsword and told Lu PingAn to go ahead while she fought it.

Lu PingAn and Guan Xinxian fought through the mannequin horde, but a powerful bat monster forced Guan to stay behind and hold it off. With Fang Wen and Guan working together against the beast, Lu PingAn advanced toward the Life Mother Tree and the Sophist fused with her.

• Guan Xinxian charged through the mannequins using his weight-adjustment ability while Lu PingAn marked and eliminated dangerous targets with his vines.
• The two used Life Perception to navigate the battlefield and headed toward a powerful life source, where a bat monster attacked them with blood spikes.
• Guan Xinxian froze and reflected the bat’s blood spikes, then prepared to hold off the beast while Lu PingAn continued onward.
• Lu PingAn threatened Fang Wen through his Powered Bracer, and Fang Wen revealed herself by blasting open the bat monster’s back.
• Lu PingAn accepted Guan Xinxian’s plan to fight the bat with Fang Wen’s help and walked toward the Life Mother Tree and the Sophist.

Lu PingAn realized that the Adverse Wind of Fate was a trial testing those seeking apotheosis, and that his own trial was far harsher than Kerdales's. He confronted Yuan Dunxing, who had remade himself into a powerful godson, and charged into battle with no path left but forward.

• Lu PingAn understood how gods burdened the worlds that nurtured them and how the Adverse Wind of Fate tested candidates for apotheosis.
• Lu PingAn recognized that fate had turned Kerdales's failed trial into a far more brutal one for him, with powerful enemies and danger closing in.
• Lu PingAn confronted Yuan Dunxing, the force behind the threat endangering the city and its millions.
• Yuan Dunxing completed his integration, discarded the identities and souls he could not digest, and rebuilt himself using Liu Zibei as his foundation.
• Lu PingAn accepted that he had to fight Yuan Dunxing and attacked first.

Lu PingAn faced Yuan Dunxing’s overwhelming strength and regeneration, then used Lei Shui Yun’s Spirit Fusion to gain a temporary surge in power. The chapter left Lu PingAn fighting back as Yuan Dunxing was kicked away.

• Lu PingAn tested his Aging Poison on Yuan Dunxing, but Yuan Dunxing used his immense life force to counter its effects.
• Yuan Dunxing pressed the attack, and Lu PingAn used his Heavenly Boots to escape to the city wall.
• Lei Shui Yun joined Lu PingAn, who used the Lucky Hat’s cat illusion to let her Spirit Fusion ability take hold.
• Spirit Fusion raised Lu PingAn’s attributes to Silver ranks, and he kicked Yuan Dunxing away when the giant attacked.

Lu PingAn fought the Sophist in his catlike beast form, but Yuan Dunxing triggered the Heavenly Boots’ curse and left Lu PingAn helpless. Lu PingAn used his last contract book to bring someone out as the battle reached its turning point.

• Lu PingAn used his beastified cat body and poison-coated attacks to tear into the Sophist, while Lei Shui Yun helped him adapt to the form.
• The Sophist healed his wounds, taunted Lei Shui Yun and Lu PingAn, and threatened their loved ones, but they stayed silent and kept coordinating their souls.
• As reinforcements arrived and Lu PingAn searched for an opening, Yuan Dunxing’s puppet tossed the Sophist an owl-shaped clock showing the cursed time.
• The city turned dark, and the Heavenly Boots’ curse sharply reduced Lu PingAn’s intelligence, leaving him vulnerable for several minutes.
• Lu PingAn opened his last contract book and said, “I forced him out. You're up.”

Lu PingAn used his borrowed Spirit Cat ability to let a powerful spirit possess his Silver Tier body for ten seconds, turning the battle against the Sophist and Fang Wen. When the possession ended, Xia Qin arrived to find Lu PingAn blank-faced and the enemy reduced to blood and minced flesh.

• Lu PingAn activated the one-use contract, allowing a spirit to descend into his body while the Moron Curse had emptied his mind.
• The spirit used Lu PingAn’s body to counter the charging Sophist, repeatedly killing and pulverizing him as he regenerated.
• The spirit recognized Fang Wen in the Silver Powered Armor and frightened her into fleeing; Lu PingAn stopped her, and the Silver War vanished.
• At the end of the ten seconds, Big Cat savored being alive again, and Xia Qin arrived carrying the severely wounded Guan Xinxian.

Special Task Force Three held a hospital meeting to review the losses, rewards, injuries, and fallout from the Ancient City disaster. Lu PingAn learned the team’s recovery outlook and began writing the urgent frontline report, encouraged by the gains in the Courtyard.

• The captain reported that the incident had been classified as an SS-grade quasi-evil god Pollution Incident, with around seven hundred confirmed deaths and more than two thousand missing, and announced preliminary bonuses and pay raises for the force.
• Lu PingAn and the others discussed their injuries, and he refused Xia Qin’s request to use Deferred Payment again because she could recover through ordinary treatment.
• The team learned that Lei Huo Ren had defected and been designated an S-grade wanted criminal, while Lei Shui Yun remained unconscious under observation after suffering an overload from her ability.
• Lu PingAn explained that Lei Shui Yun should recover soon but would need to avoid using her ability and possession for a while, and that she should begin Professional training afterward.
• Xia Qin asked Lu PingAn to prepare the frontline report, and he agreed to write it after seeing the gains in the Courtyard.

Lu PingAn wrote a carefully limited report that credited Xia Qin and Special Task Force Three with stopping Lei Huo Ren and the Sophist, helping protect the team’s reputation and future. After the Bureau lifted its surveillance and questioned Cat Cat, she returned, and the injured squad began leaving the hospital.

• Lu PingAn drafted a report from Special Task Force Three’s perspective, portraying the squad as having pursued Lei Huo Ren and defeated the Sophist under Xia Qin’s leadership.
• Xia Qin agreed to accept the credit so the team could preserve its reputation and secure reinforcements, while Lu PingAn said he wanted to avoid fame and had already gained enough resources.
• The report was submitted on the third day, and after verifying the team’s deadly fight with Lei Huo Ren, the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs lifted its surveillance on Special Task Force Three.
• Cat Cat woke up hungry and was taken for questioning after Lu PingAn’s team briefly clashed with the people monitoring her; he had told her to claim she knew nothing when uncertain.
• Cat Cat returned the next day, and a week after the incident, Special Task Force Three’s members began leaving the hospital.

Lu PingAn and Chris kept Fang Wen trapped in the Secluded Courtyard by exploiting the Life Bank’s rules, leaving her to work as a Sweeping Robot. Lu PingAn confirmed that the bank had restricted her from leaving but had no procedure for dealing with her debt, and he planned to present her to visitors as Fang the Sweeping Robot.

• Lu PingAn returned to the Courtyard and found Fang Wen mopping the lobby; Chris ordered her to keep cleaning and sort the library materials.
• Lu PingAn and Chris discussed how their first contract stripped Fang Wen of her Life Bank client status, making the bank treat her as an object they could confine in the Courtyard.
• Lu PingAn explained that he had arranged for Fang Wen to breach the first contract and trigger the punishment, while a second contract had made him her creditor after he took her to meet Kerdales.
• Chris reported that the Life Bank had only added a restriction preventing Fang Wen from leaving and had taken no action over her unpaid debt.
• Lu PingAn concluded that the bank lacked rules for handling Fang Wen’s situation and said they would introduce her to future visitors as Fang the Sweeping Robot.

Lu PingAn established the Rebirth Society with four companions and assigned them codenames and roles. At their first meeting, they began deciding how to divide the spoils from their previous battle, agreeing that compatibility would determine this haul’s distribution.

• Lu PingAn chaired the Rebirth Society’s first meeting and explained that codenames would help protect future members and trading partners.
• The members chose their codenames: Lu PingAn became Peace Dove, Guan Xinxian became Old Fisherman, Xia Qin became Captain, Cat Cat became Black Claw, and Kerdales became White Claw.
• Lu PingAn said he might later invite Xue En and Hua Xuejie as probationary members once he knew them better.
• Lu PingAn revealed that the Society had secured the valuable belongings discarded after the Mother Tree consumed Liu Zibei, Tie Zhenmei, and a Blood Feast member.
• Lu PingAn proposed internal auctions for future spoils, but the Society agreed to prioritize compatibility when dividing the current haul.

Lu PingAn and the others voted to dismantle Sha Mu Sha Lai Mu's dangerous timer and reclaim its time rules for the Life Secret Realm. The dismantling succeeded, though it left behind a new Rule Building, the Pillar of Time.

• Lu PingAn examined the timer's powerful time-freezing ability and learned that using it could draw attacks from the King of Time's Slyin God Hunters.
• Lu PingAn recommended dismantling the timer, and the group unanimously agreed rather than keep or trade it.
• Lu PingAn dismantled the timer, causing a phantom to emerge and collapse into pixel particles.
• The Land of Rules shook as a plaza and massive Stone Pillars appeared before the Bank Building, with the horned black demon phantom atop one pillar.
• The Life Bank announced that the dismantling yielded 1,670 Life Points, God's Remains x1, and a new Rule Building called the Pillar of Time.

Lu PingAn introduced the Pillar of Time’s paid acceleration services and helped the club members divide the spoils from their defeated enemies. The club claimed valuable weapons and equipment, and the remaining items were placed in storage as they turned to Liu Zibei’s loot.

• Lu PingAn and the others tested the Pillar of Time’s Biological Acceleration, Pollution Item Acceleration, and support for other Rule Buildings.
• Xia Qin received a Silver Tier shortsword, while Cat Cat took a cloak-and-boots set from a Blood Feast big shot.
• Xia Qin and Guan Xinxian both wanted Tie Zhenmei’s Curse Balls, but Xia Qin took one and let Guan Xinxian keep the other three.
• The club stored unwanted Taboo Items and consumables in the Bank Building’s warehouse after dividing Tie Zhenmei’s other equipment and Gourmet goods.
• The club members reached the Gardener, Liu Zibei, and he smiled.

Lu PingAn and the Rebirth Society divided the Silver Taboo Items and other spoils from Liu Zibei and the other dead Professionals, while the Secluded Courtyard gained new features from dismantling a Rule-level item. After proposing a referral-based system for new members, Lu PingAn told everyone their vacation was over and it was time to return to school and work.

• The Secluded Courtyard gained a day-night cycle, a time-lock option, and a Time-Space Training Room after Lu PingAn dismantled a Rule-level item.
• Lu PingAn gave Liu Zibei's Mobile Garden to Guan Xinxian and kept the Four-Color Ticket Set, Liu Zibei's pistol, and the item of the dead man's resentment.
• Lu PingAn and the other founding members distributed eight Silver Taboo Items and other loot among themselves, while Xia Qin set aside lower-grade items for newer members.
• White Claw Big Cat accepted Tie Zhenmei's mobile theater and gave the mobile kitchen and cookware to the Sweeping Robot.
• Lu PingAn presented the founding members with a referral-based system for bringing in new members and told everyone to return to school and work.