Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn left the front lines aboard the Shenzhou to return home with his companions, leaving Guan Xinxian in charge of the Fire Seed Project. During the journey, his Rule-level companions attracted attention and recruitment offers while Lu PingAn planned to use the travel time to train.

• The demigods urged Lu PingAn to return home to help stabilize the worsening front-line situation, and he entrusted the Fire Seed Project’s preliminary work to Guan Xinxian.
• Lu PingAn accepted Guan Xinxian’s letter for the Rescue Team and resolved to visit them himself to see how he could help.
• Lu PingAn reflected on the risk of revoking the blessings that had helped new Rule-level beings ascend and decided to create more Bestowers of Blessings while keeping his ability secret.
• Lu PingAn and most of his companions boarded the Shenzhou, where the returning travelers chatted and celebrated their homecoming after ten years away.
• The Rule-level members of Lu PingAn’s team drew attention and recruitment offers, while Lu PingAn brought along a Law Decree-level sparring partner to train during the voyage.

Lu PingAn used the Wishing Spring to evolve his life form, making his fusions more harmonious and granting him a second nervous system through his Demon Vines. He discovered that his wish had a three-month cooldown, while his companions had either already tried and failed or could not afford a similar wish.

• Lu PingAn made a gold-coin wish for his life form to become more harmonious and better suited to fusion.
• During a ranked match, Lu PingAn found that his fused form moved and sensed the world as smoothly as his own body.
• Big Cat examined Lu PingAn and discovered that his Demon Vines had fused with him as a second nervous system, improving his control and perception when linked to other beings.
• Lu PingAn realized that his wish had triggered a three-month cooldown and told his companions about his evolution.
• Lu PingAn learned that his companions had already tried wishing, but their attempts had failed, produced subtle results, or been blocked by cooldowns and a lack of points.

Lu PingAn prepared Lu Lu, an eighth-tier War Emissary, for negotiations with the Eastern Kingdom and learned the extent of her strength. Their candid conversations strengthened Lu Lu’s trust in him as they considered how to secure aid for Mercury 42.

• Lu PingAn explained how Professionals’ power distanced them from humanity and discussed the Courtyard’s Life-type power with Lu Lu.
• Lu PingAn advised Lu Lu that the Eastern Kingdom was her best choice for support and warned that its diplomats might delay negotiations to gain leverage.
• Lu Lu considered whether approaching other human nations could improve her bargaining position, and Lu PingAn cautioned that it might anger the Eastern Kingdom’s leaders.
• Lu Lu revealed that she was a Tier 8 War Emissary whose strength grew further when commanding her legion, explaining Lu PingAn’s sense of danger around her.
• Lu Lu learned about Lu PingAn’s past and increasingly saw him as a heroic figure, while he continued mentoring her.

Lu PingAn finished a mountain of God's Ark administration in a few hours, then learned that several people wanted to defect to his faction, including a rule-level figure. He welcomed the potential newcomers, leaving their recruitment to be handled carefully.

• Lu PingAn used his many tentacles to clear budgets, staffing plans, and applications, while approving several vacation events for the Veterans.
• Lu PingAn finished a week’s expected workload in just over two hours and began playing games and resting.
• Big Bear told Lu PingAn that several people wanted to join them, including someone at rule-level.
• Lu PingAn welcomed the prospective recruits and told Big Bear to inform them they could join.

Ancient City’s leaders struggled to contain unrest caused by unemployment and the growing Phosphorus People population. Mayor Li Xingwu received news that a powerful group with double-digit Rule-level figures was arriving, and he rushed to the airport with the city’s officials to welcome them.

• General Office officials learned that the Development Zone had subdued protesters at an airship factory but had not found the organizers.
• Municipal Government leaders argued over the effects of the growing foreign-race population and whether to grant illegal workers temporary identities and a minimum wage.
• Mayor Li Xingwu received an urgent call from Governor Ruan asking him to greet a group arriving at the airport.
• Mayor Li learned the arriving group had double-digit Rule-level figures and was on their side, then ordered all the city’s officials to go welcome them.

Wang Xi'er and Jiang Hei joined Ancient City and Changping officials to welcome Lu PingAn and the returning Explorers, stunned when a group of former acquaintances arrived as Rule-level combatants. The delegation's arrival became a diplomatic event when Lu Lu, commander of Mercury 42's Savior Army, identified herself as Lu PingAn's student and Ancient City’s guest.

• Wang Xi'er fretted over her outfit while she and Jiang Hei waited with senior officials at the airport to welcome Lu PingAn's returning group.
• Lu PingAn and the Explorers emerged from the tower, and the officials saw that many of the group, including Xue En and Hua Xueyi, had become Rule-level beings.
• Jiang Hei recognized Lu PingAn as a Quasi-Rules being suppressing his level and wondered how he had helped the group advance so rapidly.
• Mayor Li Xingwu stepped forward to greet Lu PingAn, but Lu PingAn moved aside to introduce Lu Lu, commander of Mercury 42's Savior Army.
• Lu Lu greeted the officials in Eastern Kingdom language and said Lu PingAn had saved her, named her, and served as her master and half-father.

Jiang Hei reflected on Lu PingAn’s rapid rise and the formidable team he had cultivated, then learned that Lu Lu’s past and her ties to him could help bridge diplomatic talks. Lu PingAn presented his Forest Goddess Church credentials and agreed to oversee negotiations between the Savior Army and the Eastern Kingdom.

• Jiang Hei recalled first meeting Lu PingAn as a weakling and recognized that he might surpass her that day.
• Jiang Hei assessed Lu PingAn’s Rule-level subordinates and his extraordinary ability to cultivate talent.
• Lu Lu revealed that she had been born a slave and that Lu PingAn had rescued and raised her.
• Lu PingAn interrupted Lu Lu’s account and presented documents establishing his role in the diplomatic process.
• Lu PingAn explained that he would supervise the negotiations on behalf of the Forest Goddess Church, backed by signatures from several demigods.
• Jiang Hei accepted Lu PingAn’s explanation.

Lu PingAn brought the Forest Goddess Church’s request for aid to Ancient City, offering the city a chance to join negotiations over reinforcements and development on Mercury 42. Mayor Li agreed to help, and Lu PingAn secured government support for Xia Qin’s planned purge of criminal forces before the delegation left.

• Lu PingAn explained that Mercury 42 needed military strength, supplies, technology, and personnel to withstand its ongoing Plane Defense War.
• Lu Mouren described Mercury 42 as a wealthy world with resources and a growing market, prompting Ancient City’s officials to ask about factories and relocating surplus population.
• Lu PingAn asked Mayor Li to join the upcoming negotiations as an aid provider, and Mayor Li eagerly agreed.
• Lu PingAn said the group would leave in three or four days after cleaning up Ancient City’s criminal forces.
• Lu PingAn asked the government to support Xia Qin’s crackdown, and Mayor Li promised to approve a sweeping purge.

Lu PingAn returned to Ancient City and found that Earth’s rules treated him as a dangerous foreign presence because of his World Fragments. Back in the city, Xia Qin became a deputy director and led a surprise raid on the Steam Factory Black Market, while Lu PingAn resolved to use the Rebirth Merchant Guild to protect the city.

• Lu PingAn discovered that Earth’s gravity rules rejected him because his World Fragments made him resemble a high-dimensional threat, and he learned that digesting the mirror fragment could reduce the effect.
• Lu PingAn and Xia Qin returned to Ancient City, where Xia Qin hurried to Special Task Force Three’s office.
• Lu PingAn reflected that local authorities tolerated powerful churches and other criminal forces because they lacked the strength to remove them permanently.
• Xia Qin was promoted to deputy director of the Ancient City Bureau of Anomalous Affairs and announced that she would lead a team to destroy the Steam Factory Black Market.
• Xia Qin ordered the team to move out, while Lu PingAn declared that the Rebirth Merchant Guild could shelter the city and make it peaceful.

Lu PingAn led a sweeping crackdown on the Black Market, killing wanted criminals as the Special Task Force cleared targets across Ancient City. The operation continued under Xia Qin’s orders, with the team aiming to eliminate the city’s criminal forces before they could react.

• Uniformed Black Whirlwinds entered the Black Market and announced the Special Operations Bureau’s raid, breaking the usual understanding between officials and criminals.
• Lu PingAn killed You Xiangjin and three Crow Gang assassins, then trapped Duan Yu inside a building that transformed into a Stone Pillar.
• Lu PingAn ordered the Special Task Force to kill anyone who resisted or threatened the police, and continued toward the next target.
• Xia Qin and Lu PingAn pushed the operation forward, directing the team to leave no room for compromise and clean up every consequence.
• Hua Xueyi, Xue En, and other operatives reported clearing targets and locating contraband and a cultist sacrifice site as the Blitz Gu City plan spread across the city.

Lu PingAn used the Rebirth Merchant Guild’s expansion plans to challenge the churches and gray factions’ control of the Ancient City, driving away their reinforcements with a local group of Rule-level fighters. After clearing out the outsiders, he proposed installing cameras throughout the city, but the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs and the Special Task Force opposed the plan.

• Lu PingAn announced that the Rebirth Merchant Guild would use the Ancient City as a base, provoking conflict with factions that had treated the city as their territory.
• Su Xia arrived to confront the locals, but three Rule-level fighters surrounded him and he left for Changping.
• The Ancient City’s defenders drove away three Rule-level powerhouses and more than one hundred thirty Law-level individuals over a day and night.
• Lu PingAn proposed installing cameras on every street and alley, and the Bureau of Anomalous Affairs and the Special Task Force rejected the idea.

Lu PingAn forced through his All-City Eye surveillance plan without normal approval, arguing that cameras and swift punishment would reduce crime. After an initial surge in disorder, the crime rate plunged, and the chapter left him defending the drastic results as the city’s crime rate reached 3.4% of its original level.

• Lu PingAn submitted a budget proposal for twenty-four-hour cameras across Ancient City, bypassing the usual government and council process.
• Lu PingAn persuaded Xia Qin to let the plan proceed, while Fang Wen agreed she could control the cameras unless a stronger Mechanical Awakener intervened.
• The Municipal Government approved the funding despite internal alarm, and Lu PingAn began installing the cameras as critics called his actions tyrannical.
• On the first day, vandalism, looting, and riots caused the crime rate to rise by more than 30%, so Rule-level and Law Decree-level beings worked overnight to suppress the unrest.
• Lu PingAn carried out executions as prisons overflowed, and the crime rate fell to 3.4% of its original level by the seventh day.

Lu PingAn’s crackdown on supernatural crimes sharply reduced incidents while he privately tested the limits of his Wishing Well and considered the risks of spreading supernatural powers. Lu Lu returned with news that the Phosphorus People might invest in Mercury 42, and a Tier 8 Phosphorus Person wanted to meet Lu PingAn.

• Lu PingAn’s forceful enforcement campaign deterred supernatural criminals and shifted public attitudes toward treating supernatural beings and ordinary humans equally under the law.
• Lu PingAn tested his Wishing Well and found that wishes on Earth required far greater costs, while making everyone supernatural risked plunging the Ancient City into chaos.
• Lu PingAn decided to wait for social order and crime rates to stabilize before considering any broader plan to create supernatural beings.
• Lu Lu reported that Wang Xi’er’s mentor had promised to discuss the Phosphorus People’s potential investment in Mercury 42.
• Lu Lu told Lu PingAn that a Tier 8 Phosphorus Person wanted to meet him and had something good to offer.

Lu PingAn met Wang Sixiang, who tested his strength and proposed a political marriage with Wang Xi'er. Lu PingAn rejected the old-fashioned approach and suggested cooperating over Mercury 42 instead.

• Lu PingAn declined Lu Lu's offer to accompany him and went alone to meet Wang Sixiang.
• Wang Sixiang and Lu PingAn assessed each other's strength during a tense tea meeting, then discussed the possibility of cooperation.
• Wang Sixiang proposed that Wang Xi'er marry Lu PingAn, but Lu PingAn questioned whether she had agreed and showed no interest in the arrangement.
• Lu PingAn suggested that they discuss cooperation instead and asked whether the Salin Race wanted a deity on Mercury 42.

Lu PingAn met with Wang Sixiang and urged him to move the Phosphorus People from overcrowded Ancient City to Mercury 42, where they could establish a new community and pursue greater power. Wang Sixiang agreed to consider the proposal, and Lu PingAn left hoping they would become allies.

• Lu PingAn discussed how his return had helped Ancient City introduce laws affecting the Phosphorus People, while his combat group balanced their high-ranking fighters.
• Lu PingAn proposed that Wang Sixiang and the Phosphorus People relocate to Mercury 42, arguing that Ancient City was overcrowded and offered Wang Sixiang little chance to advance.
• Lu PingAn warned that continued expansion in Ancient City would worsen racial conflicts and that the Phosphorus People faced a difficult future there.
• Wang Sixiang said he would think about the proposal, and Lu PingAn left expressing hope that they would meet again on Mercury 42.
• Wang Sixiang jokingly asked Lu PingAn to consider a marriage alliance, leaving him at a loss for words.

Lu PingAn visited the Development Zone and discovered that overcrowding, poor public security, and new regulations had worsened life for refugees, especially the Phosphorus People. After police mistook him for a threat, he spoke with the commissioner and asked to review the regulations and their effects.

• Lu PingAn inspected the Development Zone and saw overcrowded streets, few jobs, and signs of worsening public security.
• At the local police headquarters, a receptionist mistook Lu PingAn for a suspicious visitor, and officers tackled him until he revealed his power and summoned the commissioner.
• The commissioner apologized for the officers’ response, and Lu PingAn stayed to discuss the recently passed refugee and employment regulations.
• Phosphorus police officials told Lu PingAn that the regulations had kept them busy and that factories were cutting refugee wages while hiring low-paid workers.
• Lu PingAn asked to see the documents after learning that Phosphorus factory owners were exploiting their own people.

Lu PingAn visited Wang Xi'er after refusing a political marriage arranged by her clan, and the two discussed exploitation of refugees and the pressures she faced from both her government and family. He offered her a job coordinating a major project, and she accepted the clarification that he meant employment rather than marriage.

• Lu PingAn told Wang Xi'er that he had refused the marriage arranged by The One Who Cut the Ribbon.
• Wang Xi'er learned that Lu PingAn’s refusal spared her political ambitions, though she thanked him through gritted teeth.
• Lu PingAn pointed out that a job advertisement offered laborers only six hundred a month, and Wang Xi'er described the rising costs and exploitation refugees faced.
• Wang Xi'er explained that she would struggle to control profiteering because her relatives and clan rivals could undermine her.
• Lu PingAn suggested Wang Xi'er work with him, and she initially rejected what she thought was another proposal.
• Lu PingAn clarified that his project needed a Phosphorus People coordinator, and Wang Xi'er angrily accepted the explanation.

Lu PingAn warned Wang Xi'er that the Salin elite, the commoners, and Ancient City were pulling the Development Zone toward an unavoidable conflict. He urged her to leave and ally with him, and she asked for more time to decide.

• Lu PingAn explained that Wang Xi'er's strategy of relying on both the royal family and Ancient City would leave her trapped between them as their interests collided.
• Wang Xi'er told Lu PingAn that the royal family planned to impose a Three-One Tax on the Phosphorus People, squeezing their livelihoods to fund the nobility.
• Lu PingAn described how the Salin upper class, exploited commoners, and Ancient City Government would eventually clash, leaving Wang Xi'er vulnerable to all three.
• Wang Xi'er considered Lu PingAn's offer to join him and independently gather a Salin tribe, but she asked for more time to decide.

Lu PingAn investigated the Moon God Knight profession and discovered that light was its core ability, while its many branches relied on light as a medium. After buying Taboo Items and receiving a gift from King, he began to comprehend the profession’s essence.

• Lu PingAn learned that Wang Xi'er was considering leading an expedition to Mercury 42, with Wang Sixiang appearing to approve.
• Lu PingAn remained under effective house arrest while the authorities worried that a confrontation involving him could become dangerous.
• Lu PingAn studied Moon God Knights and realized their varied abilities were connected to light and space.
• Lu PingAn bought numerous Moon God Knight Taboo Items but found them too scattered to integrate through the Breathing of All Things.
• King sent Lu PingAn a Truth-level item as an apology, and Lu PingAn began to comprehend the essence of the Moon God Knight.

Lu PingAn analyzed the Twin Moon Gods’ power as “Static Recording” and considered how his dual pupils might lead to a new form of evolution. He decided to wait for his next wish before creating Mirror Eyes and to strengthen the foundation of his Moon Knight first.

• Lu PingAn concluded that the Twin Gods formed a single system whose power came from observing and recording each other’s present states.
• Lu PingAn recognized that his dual pupils reflected two different worlds and that their mutual verification made them unsuitable as ordinary Mirror Eyes.
• Lu PingAn decided to use a future wish to create a separate pair of Mirror Eyes and explore a new sensory system.
• Lu PingAn resolved to reinforce his Moon Knight foundation while worrying that further evolution would make him even less human.