Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn reflected on the gaps in his rapidly acquired abilities and spent six months learning from demigods and expanding his arsenal through trades. As the powerful figures began treating him as a valued researcher and supplier, they placed orders for him to test their hypotheses.

• Lu PingAn recognized that his rapid progress had left his foundation and mastery unstable, so he sought guidance from the demigods.
• Old Liu and Shuichi shared their philosophies and opened channels for Lu PingAn to acquire rare plants, creatures, and professional knowledge.
• Lu PingAn explored Shuichi’s vast biological depot and used its standard-profession units to replenish his rare abilities and Forbidden Knowledge.
• Lu PingAn bought beasts from Akul, strengthened his wolf pack, and sold the improved creatures back to Akul for a profit.
• Several demigods placed orders with Lu PingAn, asking him to verify their hypotheses.

Xia Qin dragged Lu PingAn out of his lab for a day of shopping, where they discussed crime, refugees, and the limits of his authority over local affairs. As they continued through the neighborhood, Xia Qin told him a new religious faction had appeared nearby.

• Xia Qin insisted Lu PingAn take a day off and shop with her, and he noticed that he had grown taller and stronger since reaching the Rule-level.
• Lu PingAn spotted malice in the crowd, and Xia Qin chased down a thief while he waited and ate flatbreads.
• Lu PingAn and Xia Qin discussed crime in the refugee-filled region, the crowded Refugee Camp, and District Chief Li’s renewed recruitment for the Artificial Island project.
• Lu PingAn decided not to interfere with the officials’ public-security work, while Xia Qin said criminals had shifted from guarded commercial streets to remote residential areas.
• Xia Qin told Lu PingAn that a new religious faction had appeared nearby.

Lu PingAn discovered that lamp tree ornaments were being used to steal small amounts of faith, and he helped uncover similar cases involving several Ancient Divine Beasts. The chapter ended with Your Excellency Xiu Yi revealing that fragments of the World's Will's personality were inside the beasts, which were trying to restore its personality through ascension to godhood.

• Lu PingAn learned from Cat Cat that people worshipped lamp trees and instructed her to redirect their faith toward the God of Redemption.
• Lu PingAn noticed something unusual about lamp tree ornaments, bought them, and later found that the suns or Phoenix emblems on them were linked to stolen faith.
• Lu PingAn posted about fake divine statues on Your Excellency Xiu Yi's Contact Board, prompting major figures to investigate and find marks depicting six different creatures.
• The major figures suspected Ancient Divine Beasts were stealing faith but dismissed the threat, and an Eighth Order Professional died while tracking a Three-Headed Dragon.
• Your Excellency Xiu Yi returned with the dead Professional's final words, revealing that the beasts held fragments of the World's Will's personality and sought to restore it through ascension to godhood.

After the Ancient Divine Beasts revealed signs of carrying fragments of the World's Will, Lu PingAn and the East Country People began hunting them to prevent their ascension from awakening 'His' personality. Lu PingAn helped kill an ice-based divine beast, but he feared the campaign would turn into a witch hunt against other possible hosts, including ancient heroes.

• After another hunt for a Three-Headed Dragon failed, Lu PingAn concluded that the Ancient Divine Beasts were fleeing because they carried fragments of 'His' will.
• The East Country People decided to hunt every Ancient Divine Beast, fearing that those seeking godhood could awaken the greater portion of 'His' slumbering personality.
• Lu PingAn led the hunt that killed an ice-based divine beast, then offered to process its corpse and distribute the spoils.
• Lu PingAn judged that the Phoenix-like red bird would be difficult to capture because it was fast, immune to fire, and able to command lesser life forms.
• Lu PingAn worried that the hunt could expand into a new Witch Hunt Era and put ancient heroes such as Mudar under suspicion.

The East Country Bigshots rushed into battle after discovering that fragments of the World's conscious will could inhabit even weaker Divine Beasts, fearing its revival would destroy all life. Lu PingAn joined the intensified hunt as a Phoenix that had stolen his faith was cornered, and the trial grew more dangerous with a sun rising over a boiling ocean.

• East Country Bigshots personally entered the fray as they feared the World's conscious will might awaken and purge all life.
• Lu PingAn witnessed Xiu Yi destroy a giant underground insect and learned that even a weak Desert Divine Beast contained a fragment of the World's consciousness.
• The Bigshots discussed whether Ancient Heroes could be possessed, leaving Lu PingAn troubled that suspicion might lead to their deaths.
• Lu PingAn realized the gods were taking control of the world's origin, since erasing the dormant conscious will could awaken it immediately.
• Lu PingAn joined the hunt for the cornered Phoenix that had stolen his faith as the ocean boiled and a sun rose on the horizon.

Lu PingAn and the East Country People trapped a powerful phoenix with a blizzard and repeated ice attacks, forcing it to burn through its energy. As the phoenix weakened, Lu PingAn’s communications confirmed that another one had arrived.

• Lu PingAn watched the phoenix boil the ocean and vaporize the defending forces, while Mei Yuge prepared to summon a massive blizzard with a God Power Artifact.
• Mei Yuge used Demonic Wolf Hilaire's Cry to freeze the battlefield, and the East Country People launched ice-filled Flying Barrels to weaken the phoenix’s flames.
• Lu PingAn ordered the forces to keep harassing the phoenix and make it expend energy rather than engage it directly.
• The phoenix unleashed meteor-like feather-flames and Fire Rings, but the repeated cold attacks dimmed its flames further.
• Lu PingAn received an update confirming that a second phoenix had arrived after the first was cornered.

As the world’s forces fought the discovered Dangerous Species, Lu PingAn joined with Little Flame to become a fire elemental and attack the phoenix with its own kind of power. He grievously wounded it and left it surrounded by two other eighth-rankers.

• The escalating threat of multiple divine beasts drove the Eastern Kingdom’s strongest fighters to battle, while Lu PingAn hoped Xue En and the others could stall the White Antelope.
• Lu PingAn linked with Little Flame and transformed into a fire elemental creature, making the phoenix’s flames and ice far less effective against him.
• Lu PingAn stomped on the phoenix and cut along its back with the Abyss Decapitation Blade, using beast-targeted curses to weaken it.
• Lu PingAn clapped his hands and detonated Avatar Bombs hidden inside the phoenix, inflicting its first grievous damage.
• Two other eighth-rankers surrounded the wounded phoenix as Lu PingAn continued attacking it.

Lu PingAn and the other hunters defeated a Fire Phoenix after a day-long battle, repeatedly stopping it from reviving. Lu PingAn claimed its Resurrection Artifact and used the phoenix’s remains to help Little Flame evolve.

• Lu PingAn, two Tier 8 combatants, and their support fought the Fire Phoenix while the White Antelope fled from the secondary battlefield.
• The hunters trapped the Phoenix’s flaming-egg revivals in a low-temperature cage and weakened it through repeated deaths.
• Lu PingAn and the others finally killed the Phoenix after its third revival failed.
• Lu PingAn claimed the Resurrection Artifact and compensated the other hunters with weapon customization and points.
• Lu PingAn gave Little Flame the Phoenix’s core materials so she could evolve.

Lu PingAn evolved Little Flame with the Fire Phoenix’s remaining power, transforming her into an intelligent, humanlike Pegasus warrior with potent fire and resurrection abilities. The chapter ended with Lu PingAn wondering whether Little Flame could reach eighth rank before him.

• Lu PingAn submerged Little Flame in the cauldron with the Fire Phoenix’s residual power, and she began to grow and develop fiery patterns.
• Little Flame sprouted enormous Phoenix wings and rapidly matured into a woman who covered her chest and spoke with full intelligence.
• Chris explained that Little Flame had gained humanity through fragments of His humanity, while Lu PingAn tested her and discovered her rationality and emotions had developed.
• The System Panel showed that Little Flame’s Sharing talent had become Gold Blood, granting elemental control and the ability to revive the recently dead, while Gold Spirit allowed three revivals on Mercury 42.
• Little Flame hesitated over how to address Lu PingAn, then called him Little PingAn before agreeing to call him PingAn.
• Lu PingAn realized Little Flame’s evolution had brought him closer to eighth rank and wondered if she could become an eighth-rank Demon King before him.

Lu PingAn struggled to understand how to advance from Tier 7 to Eighth Order, then realized his path began with raising his Magical Pets to Rule-level so he could share their life evolution. He ended ready to strengthen the little ones and complete his first major transformation.

• Lu PingAn reflected that Eighth Order opponents were far more difficult to face than foes he had fought at lower tiers.
• Big Cat explained that Eighth Order had no universal profession path, but involved multiple rules forming a collective and a qualitative change.
• Lu PingAn compared Tier 7 to a moon, Eighth Order to a sun, and Tier 9 to a nation, while admitting he lacked the components to build his own system.
• After merging with Little Flame on the battlefield, Lu PingAn sensed that his evolution had begun and realized he needed to establish a foundation for his rules.
• Lu PingAn concluded that he should evolve all his Magical Pets to Rule-level or above and share their life levels to advance his own.

After Little Flame evolved into a Tier 7 Energy Creature, Lu PingAn realized that sharing the perspectives of more Magical Pets could guide his own evolution. He also discovered that the javelins used to kill the Phoenix had become a Godslaying cursed item, and he put the new divine weapon away.

• Little Flame evolved and joyfully hugged Lu PingAn, while he considered how her new form would affect his abilities and tactics.
• Lu PingAn realized that his path of evolution required gaining the perspectives of more Magical Pets and began planning future additions to his family.
• A Tier 8 Spearman returned the javelins Lu PingAn had used against the Phoenix, noting that they remained alive until their assets were depleted.
• Lu PingAn appraised the javelins and discovered they had become a linked set of seventeen cursed spears with Certain Death, capable of bypassing revival and regeneration.
• Lu PingAn recognized the spears as a Godslaying weapon born from killing the Phoenix and stored the divine artifact, anticipating an extra profit.

Lu PingAn used the founding of the New Kingdom to shape its emerging history and myths, writing holy scripture that linked the God of Redemption to self-rescue and Guan Xinxian to resistance. As their ideas became part of the world's logic and history, the chapter left Lu PingAn working to merge himself with the world he intended to guard.

• Lu PingAn recognized that the leaderless New Kingdom had made the fictional Teacher a focus of faith, and he considered how its founding figures might enter history and myth.
• Lu PingAn planned to spread stories of divine artifacts and heroes, presenting himself as the God of Guardianship who bestowed them.
• Lu PingAn wrote the first passage of the God of Redemption's holy scripture, defining salvation as mortals' struggle to save themselves and others.
• Guan Xinxian began his evolution by establishing that all living beings had the right and obligation to struggle for themselves.
• The world's logic of resistance helped Awakened Insectoids and Free Fishmen resist the Call of the Homeland, while Lu PingAn wrote resistance against enslavement and invaders into scripture.
• Lu PingAn embedded the God of Resistance and the God of Redemption in the world's history as he sought to merge himself with the history of the world and nation he would guard.

Lu PingAn learned that powerful Professionals cultivated churches and factions abroad to test their paths and gather anchors, and that the threat of the World's Will had made them support ascendants like Guan Xinxian. Guan Xinxian had made the Great Lamp Tree both his divine statue and Holy Relic at great personal cost, while Lu PingAn prepared to act from the New Kingdom capital.

• Lu PingAn questioned the upper ranks and learned that Tier 8 and Tier 9 Professionals secretly established small churches overseas, often in Flower Flag, to test their rules and gather anchors.
• The group explained that the Nirvana Plan could provide vast populations and resources as anchors, and that the gods were now supporting potential ascendants because they feared the World's Will awakening.
• Lu PingAn realized that the Salvation Church and Rebirth Merchant Guild had begun expanding worldwide, spreading Guan Xinxian's Holy Relics and testing the Trading Ground Network with divine support.
• Lu PingAn learned that Guan Xinxian had turned the Great Lamp Tree into both his divine statue and Holy Relic, risking his identity as faith might make him become the tree.
• Lu PingAn recognized that the tree also represented an ark, accepted Guan Xinxian's resolve, and returned to the New Kingdom capital to begin acting after half a year of preparation.

Lu PingAn tried to use Parliament to establish a God of Guardianship system that could support Guan Xinxian’s ascension, while reflecting on how the New Kingdom’s copied institutions had become ineffective. The proposal faced fierce opposition just as it seemed likely to pass.

• Lu PingAn met Cat Cat and Lu Lu at Parliament, where Cat Cat said she had killed everyone on his assassination list and celebrated receiving a set of God Slaying Spears.
• Lu PingAn watched Parliament debate worsening battlefield losses, conscription, taxes, and racial discrimination before turning attention to his God of Guardianship proposal.
• Lu PingAn reflected that Parliament had little practical power because the ministries controlled personnel and implementation, and its members struggled to agree on laws.
• Lu PingAn proposed selecting ten initial Gods of Guardianship from Friendly Gods, prioritizing friendly demigods ascending to godhood, with Guan Xinxian among the intended new additions.
• An unexpected parliamentarian fiercely objected to Lu PingAn’s proposal.

Lu PingAn watched the God of Guardianship proposal face opposition from Kane, a veteran backed by the Phosphorus People, who offered a God of War and insurance for soldiers in exchange for greater influence in the New Kingdom. The debate revealed that powerful outsiders were competing to secure the country’s undeveloped industries and markets.

• Kane argued that the New Kingdom needed more God of Guardianship positions and that veterans understood the value of divine support.
• Lu PingAn suspected someone was backing Kane after noticing his expensive prosthetic limb.
• Kane announced that the Phosphorus People and their gods would join the New Kingdom, with Hunting Blaze providing a war commander path and protection for soldiers.
• Kane described the church’s plan to insure warriors against disability and use its forces to support the front lines.
• Lu PingAn concluded that rival powers were competing through gods and churches for influence over the New Kingdom’s industries and markets.

Lu PingAn watched the proposed list of Gods of Guardianship grow into a struggle among factions, then left the council chamber to consider how the new contenders threatened his plans. He decided to investigate the Phosphorus People’s quasi-gods and let rival gods test one another before the final appointments.

• Lu PingAn saw the debate over ten divine posts spiral as Wild Gods, quasi-gods, and fringe factions tried to secure official positions.
• Lu PingAn left the council chamber, while Lu Lu stayed behind to watch the proceedings.
• Lu PingAn recognized that the Phosphorus People would claim a post with their established God of War and two quasi-gods, and considered entering the War Domain himself.
• Lu PingAn told Cat Cat to have the intelligence department investigate the domains through which the Phosphorus People’s quasi-gods might ascend.
• Lu PingAn identified the King of the Sea and the Free Insectoids’ collective consciousness as rivals to Guan Xinxian’s God of Resistance, and expected the final list to include fifteen to twenty contenders.

Lu PingAn celebrated his twentieth birthday at a gathering with friends and received a medal from the New Kingdom’s Prime Minister’s secretary. Eve kissed him as a birthday gift, while his friends teased him about romance; he remained unsure how to respond to the tangled feelings around him.

• Lu PingAn’s friends held a birthday banquet for him at the Rebirth Merchant Guild headquarters, where officials and visitors also brought gifts and honors.
• Lu PingAn received the Special First-Class Contribution Medal and talked with Big Bear about Xue En’s newborn child and its dormant bloodline curse.
• Eve kissed Lu PingAn and ran off, leaving him flustered as Big Bear and others teased him about her feelings.
• Chris reacted to the mention of Xia Qin, while Lu PingAn reflected that he wanted to take his relationships slowly despite his long lifespan.
• Xue En encouraged Lu PingAn not to disappoint the women who cared for him, then left as a woman praised his matchmaking efforts.

Lu PingAn and the Rebirth Merchant Guild began trialing a ritual that let people trade as spirit-body Traders through the Land of Rules, while Guan Xinxian completed his first step toward godhood. The New Kingdom’s seventeen-god pantheon formed, and the chapter ended with the Church of the God of Justice joining the frontline war.

• Lu PingAn reflected on his family and the changes in his life after his birthday banquet.
• Guan Xinxian took the first step on his God Ascension Road, and the first batch of Traders successfully returned to their bodies.
• The Rebirth Merchant Guild began trialing a Lamp Tree ritual that sent spirit-body Traders to the Courtyard, but the Courtyard’s capacity limited how many could participate.
• The New Kingdom assembled a pantheon of seventeen gods, including Guan Xinxian, and its coordinated gods began competing more actively to win mortals’ support.
• The Church of the God of Justice agreed to join the frontline war and sent divine envoys.

Lu PingAn and Xia Qin discussed the New Kingdom’s dependence on rapid population growth and the policies they were using to improve children’s lives. Lu PingAn left the conversation hoping that even brief childhoods would give young people something worth fighting for.

• Lu PingAn teased a Long-Hand Tribe child by eating an apple instead of giving her one, and Xia Qin bought the crying girl a bag of apples.
• Xia Qin worried that the children’s lives should be different, while Lu PingAn explained that the Growth Fruit had become a mass-produced Time Fruit and was still needed to supply workers and soldiers.
• Lu PingAn described the Minimum Childhood policy and working-hour limits as gradual reforms that had to fit the population’s needs.
• Lu PingAn admitted that he had partly invented claims about childhood developing better workers and Professionals to persuade people to accept the policy.
• Lu PingAn said children needed to understand what they were fighting for so that despair would not lead them to lose control.

Lu PingAn remained in the New Kingdom’s capital, where his expanding organization, political influence, and ties to the God of Resistance and Redemption drew him into the country’s affairs. As the guardian gods competed for influence, his arms business brought him into direct conflict with the two Gods of War.

• Lu PingAn stayed in the capital to guide the New Kingdom’s development and represent the God of Resistance and Redemption.
• Lu Mouren used the Rebirth Merchant Guild’s profits to support welfare policies and fund thirty more schools.
• The Lamp Tree Network spread across territories and cities, making Lu PingAn’s organization far larger and harder to ignore.
• Lu Mouren survived more than twenty assassination attempts, sometimes with help from demigods.
• Lu Mouren challenged the two Gods of War by refusing to give up the arms trade and threatening to undercut their prices.