Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn learned that the examination was a disguised war rehearsal meant to create a medium-intensity battlefield and train Changping Province’s next generation. After the organizers revealed that exam companions could continue as representatives of their cities, he and the other examinees faced the prospect of surviving the battlefield to earn their Qualification Certificates.

• Lu PingAn noticed that monsters along the route had grown far stronger than the exam syllabus allowed.
• In the command room, officials explained that the competition was designed to prepare combatants for a new battlefield after Rain Old Man Huang Yushan withdrew his defenses.
• The officials prepared to intercept Abyss Lords but allowed other powerful demons to approach so the new generation could face them first.
• Lu PingAn received a message explaining that exam companions could leave or continue representing their cities, and he understood the meaning of his mission to not disgrace the Ancient City.
• Most Law Decree-level examiners chose to remain, while Lu PingAn realized the Holy Water Bottle would lose its deterrent power when Huang Yushan’s domain vanished.
• The ordinary examinees learned they had to survive the battlefield to earn their Qualification Certificates, and Lu PingAn decided to speed up.

Lu PingAn observed the examinees and tested their judgment as powerful monsters repeatedly hunted them through the arena. After the survivors regrouped, a poisonous beast and a Flame Knight trapped a temporary team with no clear way out.

• Lu PingAn gave Sentinel Lu Feng a passing mark and considered whether Fan Zheng had shown enough courage to pass.
• Fang LingGuo hesitated to keep fighting, and Lu PingAn reassured her that he would not let her die.
• The Metal Flame Demon attacked the examinees, driving them to flee, regroup, and face repeated routs as the examiners intensified the trials.
• A stronger group tried to escape a poisonous beast, but a Flame Knight blocked their retreat, leaving them apparently trapped.

Lu PingAn tested his new Kinetic Armor by defeating a lord-class Magma Hole Crocodile Dragon, while his summoned beasts chased the examinees. As monsters surged into the shallow layers and the death toll rose, he hurried to protect the examinees, and Xia Qin saved an examiner elsewhere.

• Lu PingAn identified the Magma Hole Crocodile Dragon and attacked it after it threatened the examinees with fire and poison.
• Lu PingAn beat the crocodile dragon to death, while his Flame Hounds and demons pursued the fleeing examinees.
• Lu PingAn noticed that monsters were entering the shallow layers unusually quickly and worried that the examinee death rate would exceed 10%.
• Monsters overwhelmed examiners and examinees across the land as the effects of the holy water weakened.
• Xia Qin killed a high-tier monster and rescued an examiner, though her temporary team's situation remained dire.

Xia Qin struggled to keep her examination team safe while deciding whether to remove candidates who were burdening the group, so she enlisted Cat Cat to help. Xia Qin earned a Temporary License, but trouble found the team just as she acknowledged they were still in the exam.

• Xia Qin concluded that survival mattered more than passing and admitted she was considering giving up because her team was too large and vulnerable.
• Cat Cat appeared behind Xia Qin, and Xia Qin asked her to remove the candidates who were relying on the team without helping.
• Cat Cat smashed Holy Water Bottles and disqualified nearly twenty of the thirty candidates, while Xia Qin ordered her to escort them out.
• The examiner declared that Xia Qin had passed and qualified for a Temporary License, leaving her awkwardly remembering that she was still taking the exam.
• Trouble found Xia Qin and her team just as their immediate problems seemed settled.

Xia Qin and Lu PingAn discussed how Lei Huo Ren’s sacrifice had helped Cat Cat begin to grow beyond her emotional shell. Lei Huo Ren then appeared in disguise to thank Lu PingAn, but their reunion turned hostile when Lu PingAn claimed Lei Huo Ren’s sister as his own.

• Xia Qin reflected on Cat Cat’s trauma and Lu PingAn explained that her innocent smile came from shutting away pain rather than ignorance.
• Lu PingAn said Lei Huo Ren had risked everything to keep the source of Cat Cat’s family tragedy from returning and reopening her wounds.
• Xia Qin observed that Cat Cat had gained desires and emotions, though she still cared about few people beyond her brother and Lu PingAn.
• A disguised man with the surname Lei thanked Lu PingAn for taking care of Cat Cat and revealed that he was Lei Huo Ren.
• Lu PingAn said Lei Huo Ren’s sister was his, provoking Lei Huo Ren into a fight.

Lu PingAn confronted Lei Huo Ren over Cat Cat and provoked him into a fierce duel, where their Rule-level weapons left neither able to claim victory. They stopped fighting to discuss business, but Lu PingAn’s taunts about Cat Cat drove Lei Huo Ren to draw his sword again.

• Lu PingAn realized he felt possessive of Cat Cat and taunted Lei Huo Ren by boasting about her.
• Lei Huo Ren and Lu PingAn clashed with Ice Blade and Flame Fist, devastating the arena as their weapons and fighting styles countered each other.
• Lu PingAn found that Lei Huo Ren’s speed and Sabbath's Slumbering Waterwing overcame his usual advantages, though he revealed Rule-level flames in response.
• The two recognized that neither could win without fighting to kill, and agreed to stop their duel and discuss business.
• Lu PingAn continued taunting Lei Huo Ren about Cat Cat, claiming she had asked him to mate and have kittens, so Lei Huo Ren drew his sword again.

Lu PingAn met Lei Huo Ren, who had become a bounty hunter, and agreed to keep his distance from Xia Qin and Cat Cat while accepting a bag intended for Shui Yun. After they fought again, Lei Huo Ren invited Lu PingAn to join a trial where valuable targets awaited.

• Lu PingAn insisted that Cat Cat belonged to him and asked Lei Huo Ren why he had come.
• Lei Huo Ren revealed that he worked under an alias as a bounty hunter and gave Lu PingAn his contact information.
• Lu PingAn warned Lei Huo Ren not to return to Ancient City or approach Xia Qin, and Lei Huo Ren agreed to stay away from Xia Qin and Cat Cat.
• Lei Huo Ren gave Lu PingAn a Space Bag for Shui Yun, and Lu PingAn jokingly called it a dowry for his future brother-in-law.
• After Lei Huo Ren sensed Lu PingAn's greed when Shui Yun was mentioned, the two fought again without a clear winner.
• Lei Huo Ren asked Lu PingAn to join a trial, saying it offered both danger and a chance to make money.

Lu PingAn rejected Lei Huo Ren’s dangerous plan and returned to escorting the examinees, but Cat Cat arrived with news that Xia Qin had entered the Lower Abyss to rescue captives. As a fiery knight descended with killing intent, Lu PingAn prepared to send the examinees home before going after her.

• Lu PingAn found the examinees still holding on and concluded that Changping was using them and others as bait to clear and study the Abyss war zone.
• Lei Huo Ren invited Lu PingAn to join a raid against powerful Abyss monsters, but Lu PingAn refused, and Lei Huo Ren left alone.
• Lu PingAn gathered his remaining controlled monsters and began preparing a new beast pack while keeping watch on the examinees.
• Cat Cat told Lu PingAn that Xia Qin had jumped into the Lower Abyss to rescue people captured by Abyss Demon Monsters and had brought a Signal Device.
• Lu PingAn said he would send the examinees home first, as a gigantic knight of flames arrived and gave them one last chance to pass the exam.

Lu PingAn revealed himself as the Flame Knight after overpowering the examinees and judged their performance in the trial. He sent most of them away, then recruited the scout and Fang LingGuo for urgent work.

• The Flame Knight overwhelmed the examinees, leaving them defeated but alive and confirming that the battle was a test.
• Lu PingAn named five examinees who passed, then failed Fang LingGuo and revealed his identity.
• Lu PingAn ordered the examinees to withdraw and offered the scout a Brass Grade Taboo Item for a private commission.
• Lu PingAn kept Fang LingGuo behind and told her to use her treasure-hunting ability to work for him.

Lu PingAn used a life-based labor contract to recruit Abyss monsters as temporary workers, building a force that could help him reach Xia Qin and the others. He set out through an Earth Fire Channel with two prisoners, leaving the rescue attempt underway.

• Lu PingAn inferred that Xia Qin was buying time below and delayed his rescue until he could improve his chances against a possible Rule-level enemy.
• Lu PingAn forced a Berserk Horned Demon to acknowledge that it owed him a life, then used that acknowledgment to form a labor contract.
• Lu PingAn created the Life-Paying Labor Contract, which traded a life for three restricted labor tasks lasting no more than seven days.
• Lu PingAn sent his contracted Abyss monsters to capture more workers, relying on their willingness to betray their own kind.
• After gathering a monster force, Lu PingAn took two prisoners and headed toward the nearest Earth Fire Channel.

Lu PingAn used medicine and Zhi Xi’s cooking to help two examinees withstand the Abyss’s erosion, then put them to work gathering intelligence. With Lu Feng mapping the terrain and Fang LingGuo locating a missing person through her innate ability, Lu PingAn prepared to search for the hostages.

• Lu PingAn gave two weakened examinees Abyss resistance medicine and Zhi Xi’s barbecue, then made himself taste her new sauce so she could improve it.
• Lu PingAn decided the examinees’ ability to endure the Abyss would help determine whether the captured hostages might still be alive, and ordered them to work.
• Lu Feng used his sentinel ability to survey the surroundings and draw a rough topographical map.
• Lu PingAn gave Fang LingGuo a personal item belonging to Xia Qin and promised his Deferred Payment ability would protect her from pollution.
• Fang LingGuo used her Missing Person ability to locate a resting woman near a lake of flames and mountains, then began drawing what she saw.

Lu PingAn used the Abyss Decapitation Sword and the abyss’s aura to disguise himself as an Abyss Overlord, while Zhi Xi grew stronger through abyssification. He built a growing army of subdued monsters and led it onward to hunt and evolve.

• Lu PingAn covered his armor in abyssal blood and absorbed the gore, restoring his strength and making his disguise more convincing.
• Zhi Xi’s physique rose to Silver Upper Rank as the abyss’s aura transformed her Living Armor through slaughter.
• Big Cat explained that this region was only a small abyssified area, where the Abyss Will chose its Child by letting the one who killed until the end become king.
• Lu PingAn realized that the monsters attacked living creatures indiscriminately and began gathering defeated Abyss Demon Monsters into his growing legion.
• Lu PingAn’s knight grew into a horned, five-meter-tall figure and ordered the monster hordes to kneel; they submitted and joined his army.
• Lu PingAn led the assembled monsters onward to hunt and evolve.

Lu PingAn used his bond with Zhi Xi to keep her Abyssal transformation balanced while learning that the Abyss was driven by instinctive killing and consumption. He found one of his targets, but a horned demon carrying human captives attacked him over the Abyss Decapitation Sword, leaving him to fight without breaking the chains it carried.

• Zhi Xi slaughtered and consumed Abyssal creatures until Lu PingAn called her name and drew her spirit back, restoring her sanity.
• Lu PingAn concluded that the Abyss’s inhabitants were driven by primal urges rather than strategy, and questioned why they gathered hostages and intelligence.
• Lu PingAn reached a mountain range and located one of his targets after his communicator sounded.
• A horned demon carrying human captives in a golden cage charged Lu PingAn to claim his Abyss Decapitation Sword.
• Lu PingAn learned that the demon’s chains could attack spirit bodies and that Fang Wen and Zhi Xi wanted them intact.
• Lu PingAn put down his sword and taunted the demon into dropping its club and fighting him hand-to-hand.

Lu PingAn defeated the Imprisoning Demon by unleashing the Sacred Fire in his gauntlets, then destroyed its transformed victims to prevent its spawn from surviving. The battle ended with him confronting the Abyss’s brutal reality after discovering that one victim had been a fellow student from Gu City University.

• The Imprisoning Demon attacked Lu PingAn with its brute strength and spawned replicas that swarmed his metal armor.
• Lu PingAn recognized that the Imprisoning Demon’s cage was turning its prisoners into offspring that could spread its existence.
• Lu PingAn ignited the Sacred Fire in his gauntlets, broke off the Imprisoning Demon’s arms, and stomped its body.
• Lu PingAn burned the spawned creatures and crushed the released prisoners who had already been transformed into hidden offspring.
• Lu PingAn destroyed the last spawn and watched the soul-bearing cage become ordinary rare soul material.
• Lu PingAn mourned a victim from Gu City University, and Big Cat described the Abyss as a hopeless land of despair.

Su Wenbing, trapped in the Abyssal Jailer's cage and losing control to abyssal corruption, was rescued by Lu PingAn. Lu PingAn healed and transferred the captives to his Courtyard, then continued to investigate what had happened.

• Su Wenbing regretted taking the dangerous assignment and tried to resist the transformation consuming his body, but he could no longer control himself.
• Lu PingAn arrived in Black Knight Armor, opened the cage, and reassured the captives that they were saved.
• Lu PingAn used Deferred Payment to heal the captives and invited them into the Courtyard to protect them from further abyssal contamination.
• Su Wenbing learned his rescuer was Lu PingAn, and Lu PingAn completed the first wave of rescue before going to investigate what had happened.

Lu PingAn learned that Xia Qin had raided the homeworld of an absent Lord-level abyssal monster, then led his black knight and warband to attack the undefended city. As the slaughter strengthened Zhi Xi and the Abyss Decapitation Sword, Lu PingAn continued growing more immersed in the abyss.

• Lu PingAn reasoned that the abyss's powerful monsters were gathering for a major battle and decided to finish his own business before the battlefield reached him.
• Cat Cat returned with news that Xia Qin had ambushed a Lord-level monster's homeworld while it was away, causing the remaining monsters to go wild.
• Lu PingAn realized the absent Lord-level monster was likely preparing for war and ordered Cat Cat to show him its homeworld.
• Lu PingAn's black knight broke through the city's gate and slaughtered the demons guarding it.
• The fighting restored the Abyss Decapitation Sword's cracks, increased its power, and helped Zhi Xi evolve as Lu PingAn called for the next target.

Lu PingAn tried to learn the Abyss True Words from a stolen false scripture before Lord (False) Akdar could pursue him. Zhi Xi met the requirements but could not activate the altar until Lu PingAn offered Wild Wolves from another world as sacrifices.

• Lu PingAn examined the Truth Word Stone Tablet and learned that using it would alert Lord (False) Akdar, while Big Cat urged him to master its cross-plane True Words.
• Lu PingAn found that neither he nor his subordinates could use sacrifices to read the tablet, but Zhi Xi had enough Abyss Affinity to try.
• Zhi Xi understood the scripture but failed to grasp its True Words, and the altar did not respond to the sacrifices already piled beneath it.
• Lu PingAn released Wild Wolves from the Green Planet, and their rapid Abyssification made them suitable offerings that finally activated the altar.

Zhi Xi offered the Courtyard’s discarded Beast Species to the Abyss, which transformed them into new creatures and rewarded her with a powerful True Word. Lu PingAn recognized the Abyss’s strange life-making process and continued studying its books for useful intelligence.

• Zhi Xi sacrificed the Beast Species, and most melted into blood while the Abyss rewarded her with denser Abyssal aura.
• Lu PingAn watched the Abyss rapidly create stable new species from the surviving creatures and their remains, which then fought and preyed upon one another.
• Zhi Xi revealed the True Word she had obtained: One-Eyed Newman's Venomous Kiss, which could bind a target or devour life across an area.
• Lu PingAn explained the True Word’s connection to Grand Duke Newman and stopped Zhi Xi from testing its dangerous offensive mode.
• Lu PingAn continued reading the pseudo-lord’s books, gathering local intelligence and information about the leading lords driving the conflict.

Lu PingAn learned that Serpent King Di Di Luo Na threatened Changping and decided that she had to be eliminated to prevent the Abyss lords from uniting. After raiding a subordinate lord’s territory, he returned to the Courtyard to study the Truth Stele Inscription and prepare for the coming battle.

• Lu PingAn reviewed information about Serpent King Di Di Luo Na and concluded that killing her could keep the other Abyss lords from forming a new coalition.
• Lu PingAn and his group raided a pseudo-lord’s territory while its ruler was away, finding that most prisoners had already been taken by Xia Qin.
• A demonized human offered to betray the Abyss and reveal the Outer Domain’s defenses, but Lu PingAn killed it.
• Lu PingAn’s group left before the territory’s lord returned to find its home burning.
• Lu PingAn hid in the Courtyard and accelerated his study of the Truth Stele Inscription as Cat Cat and the sentries searched for Captain Xia.

The Serpent King Didiluo Na transformed a battlefield into a swamp and routed the human defenders with pythons and Multi-Armed Snake Demon Guards. As Abyss Lords gathered to watch the war, Lu PingAn studied the Dark Codex on the fifth floor while an Abyss Knight looted their abandoned treasures.

• Didiluo Na used her True Word to flood the battlefield with Black Water and turn the plains into a swamp.
• Pythons and Multi-Armed Snake Demon Guards overwhelmed the human defenders and shattered their defensive line.
• Didiluo Na took command from Horned Demon Warlord Kasibai, while Gelawu demanded a chance to fight and continued eating her provisions.
• The Abyss's Three Giants and other lords gathered, bringing nearly half of the region's high-level combat power to the conflict.
• An Abyss Knight burglarized the lords' vacant domains while Lu PingAn studied the Dark Codex and learned about the Abyss's origins.