Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn adjusted the Rebirth Merchant Guild’s business as Eastern Kingdom’s wartime intervention reshaped food and military markets. He signed a long-term procurement contract with the Eastern Kingdom government and secured exclusive orders.

• Lu PingAn learned that Eastern Kingdom’s cheap fertilizer and selected seeds had driven down food and daily necessities prices, so he decided to move the Guild upstream into processing and nonessential goods.
• Lu PingAn saw low-end weapons prices soar as Eastern Kingdom’s recruits increased demand, and he avoided exploiting the shortage for profit.
• Lu PingAn arranged to release more low-end goods and signed a long-term military procurement contract with the Eastern Kingdom government.
• Lu PingAn sold weapons components and auxiliary devices to Eastern Kingdom and received numerous exclusive orders as a trusted partner.

After Lu PingAn reported the Forest Goddess Church’s self-interested leaders to the Eastern Kingdom, the government rewarded his loyalty with a major order and a team of expert Gardeners. He began integrating into the Eastern Kingdom’s military-industrial effort while assigning the experts research on his own advancement bottlenecks.

• Lu PingAn recognized that the Eastern Kingdom sought long-term partners in other worlds and decided to leave the Forest Goddess Church’s internal disputes to the government.
• Lu PingAn filed a report warning the government about the church leaders’ pursuit of their own profits.
• The Eastern Kingdom responded with an order for Underwater Lanterns and sent expert Gardeners from Wanjing University and Jingyan Academy to assist him.
• Lu PingAn welcomed the experts as a student and discussed using their knowledge and research methods to develop his magical plants.
• The research teams began work on underwater lighting and portable heating equipment for the coming counteroffensive.
• Lu PingAn assigned Project Team Five to research the Oak Chess Piece.

Lu PingAn tested materials and methods for creating combat dolls, then used Fictional Assets and Puppetry to bring a basic Fire Oak mannequin to life and train it. He prepared to use the Wishing Pool to turn the new soldier into a supernatural being.

• Professor Li Jihou told Lu PingAn that his demands for intelligence, evolution, combat traits, and a Mind Network were too much to achieve at once.
• Lu PingAn found that Lamp Tree wood was too flammable and soft for melee dolls, while Fusang Tree wood lacked flexibility and potential for evolution.
• Lu PingAn’s research team developed Fire Oak, and he assembled its components into a crude humanoid doll.
• Lu PingAn used Fictional Assets to give the doll temporary life, named it a soldier, and used Complete Mimicry to teach it movements.
• Lu PingAn asked the doll to use Make a Wish to become a supernatural being.

Lu PingAn realized his principle was “human,” the force that overcame instinct through choice, cooperation, and society, and he tried to guide a wooden life toward becoming an independent human. His first attempts failed, so he planned to create more Wooden Figures and add pressure and society to their evolution.

• Lu PingAn considered how high-tier beings multiplied their power by combining abilities and concluded that his own abilities could stack across different fields.
• Lu PingAn understood his principle as “human,” distinct from the instinctive mutual devouring embodied by Kerdales.
• Lu PingAn gave a wooden humanoid the chance to make a Wish, and it chose, “I Want to Live.”
• The wooden life gained a body and awakened, but it remained content with mere survival and failed to develop further before its life force ran out.
• Lu PingAn gathered the scattered wood chips as nourishment for new Wooden Figures and decided to try again with more individuals and external pressure.

Lu PingAn used his resources to develop a living puppet body modeled on a Long-Hand Tribe member, giving him a way to explore without exposing his main body to surveillance. He tested the body’s limits and set out to try it as a local mercenary.

• Lu PingAn invested in his Courtyard and training facilities while Eastern Kingdom warriors used them to improve their abilities.
• Lu PingAn created and controlled a living Long-Hand Tribe puppet that had advanced to Tier 2 as a Storm Javelin Thrower.
• Lu PingAn tested the puppet’s awkward limbs and discovered that its control range was limited, though he expected it might later connect to the Lamp Tree Network.
• Lu PingAn used the puppet to wander freely and looked for combat commissions to test it as a chess piece.

Lu PingAn tested a Tier 2 Wooden Figure avatar in an underwater mission, where it was abandoned by its mercenary team and killed by an enemy Hunting Squad. He sent Cat Cat to help the endangered mercenaries and turned his attention to the growing conflict and the need for better Underwater Lamp Flowers, which a newly arrived divine Ark team might help address.

• Lu PingAn struggled to see and move underwater in his Wooden Figure body after joining a mercenary offensive against Fishmen and Octopus Priests.
• The mercenary team left Lu PingAn behind, and his Tier 2 avatar was killed by an enemy Hunting Squad before he awoke back at his base.
• Lu PingAn sent Cat Cat to find commission E7324 and help the mercenaries, since the Octopus Priests had likely targeted them.
• Lu PingAn considered the growing number of Space Rifts and the escalating conflict between the New Kingdom, the Eastern Kingdom, and the Lava Clan.
• Lu PingAn worried that existing Underwater Lamp Flower samples were inadequate and considered seeking better seeds from the Octopus World.
• A divine Ark arrived with a professional team and gifts, offering hope of solving Lu PingAn's problem.

The Eastern Kingdom sent major reinforcements and a new strategy to break the stalemate against Eight-Clawed, including a Fishmen demigod and a possible direct route into the Other World. Lu PingAn received a powerful gift that could let him enter the fighting himself, and he prepared to join the counterattack.

• The special task force told Lu Lu that the Eastern Kingdom considered her progress impressive but wanted the front to advance faster.
• The Eastern Kingdom's reinforcements arrived, including the Free Fishmen demigod Sarlat Shashim, also known as Sharn or Wang Zhenhai.
• The task force brought Fishmen troops and resources from another world and proposed opening a dimensional passage directly into Eight-Clawed's world, possibly with the Moon God's help.
• Lu PingAn learned that the Eastern Kingdom had brought him Suletta's Dream Doll, which granted a perfect avatar.
• Lu PingAn accepted the gift and said he could now go to the Other World and have some fun.

Lu PingAn examined the Eastern Kingdom’s quasi-god-grade Taboo Item, Suletta’s Dream Doll, and learned that it could offer immense power by gradually consuming its user. He claimed ownership and began absorbing it, with the process expected to take eleven days and seven hours.

• Lu PingAn unwrapped the doll and recognized the Eastern Kingdom’s gift as a quasi-god-grade Taboo Item.
• Lu PingAn read the doll’s manual and learned that its growing power could tempt users to fuse with it until it devoured their original bodies.
• Lu PingAn sensed that the doll desired his flesh, blood, and soul, but decided to make it a component rather than use it as his own body.
• Lu PingAn confirmed the 9,100-point purchase and began absorbing the doll.
• Lu PingAn received a recommendation to advance his Puppeteer career and strengthen his doll-system Rules before the absorption finished.

Lu PingAn used his new resources to plan how to overcome his professional limits, then witnessed a moonlit vortex open between worlds. Allied forces entered the new battlefield, beginning a full-scale offensive against the Eight-Clawed.

• Lu PingAn realized he could use Re-Merchant Commerce to acquire rule-based items and gradually improve abilities that his talent limited.
• A second Bright Moon created a vast vortex from the sea, and the First Batch of warships sailed into it under divine blessings.
• Lu PingAn raised aquatic Lamp Trees beside the vortex and expanded the Trading Ground Network, while Fishmen bought weapons for the coming battle.
• Fishmen, Phosphorus People, Salin sailors, Eastern Kingdom troops, and other allied warriors entered the vortex in successive forces.
• The planar war began in earnest as the allies shifted from defense to offense.

Lu PingAn entered a new world through a spatial turbulence scroll and used a dream-made Fishman body to explore its waters while avoiding a nearby war zone. He left off on the shore with Fishman Big Cat, who was enjoying their outing despite her fragile mortal body.

• Lu PingAn used Li Xiaolan's Spatial Turbulence Ability Rental Scroll to escape the Great Vortex and arrived on a silver-white beach in a world with two suns and abundant sea life.
• Lu PingAn burned an attacking fish to ash and decided to avoid the nearby war zone while gathering intelligence and materials.
• Lu PingAn used the Gold High Rank rule building Nüwa's Lake to create a Fishmen Skin dream body from Fishman flesh and blood, allowing him to explore without risking his real body.
• Lu PingAn discovered that Fishman Big Cat had become an ordinary Fishman in the dream and could not leave him without nearly waking up.
• Fishman Big Cat explained that fish form was part of her Mimicry Boxing and, despite discomfort with her fragile body, felt inexplicable joy at being able to walk about with Lu PingAn.

Lu PingAn and Chris settled temporarily in a fishman village while gathering local plant seeds and learning about the surrounding seas. Lu PingAn discovered that the fishmen were being exploited as a source of soldiers and decided to report their plight to the committee.

• Lu PingAn and Chris spent two days resupplying in a fishman village, where Lu PingAn joined the community as a hunter and Chris treated illnesses as a Witch Doctor.
• Chris explained that Rule-level Life-types could resist lasting changes to their self-perception, then prepared medicine from local seaweed.
• Lu PingAn gathered plant seeds with help from the villagers and traded with neighboring villages while collecting hydrological data and local stories.
• Lu PingAn learned that a Conscription Group regularly took the fishmen’s young and able-bodied, and had recently begun taking the middle-aged and elderly as well.
• Lu PingAn sensed Eight-Clawed power in the sea and concluded that the fishmen were being kept primitive and used as free-range troops, so he decided to report the situation to the committee.

Lu PingAn and Chris gathered plants, medicines, and other useful samples while living among the Fishmen in a remote town. After disguising themselves as locals, they set out for a major population center or Eight-Clawed stronghold to seek greater gains.

• Lu PingAn’s experimental cooking failed again, but the Fishmen children and young adults eagerly ate the strange-tasting leftovers.
• Villagers brought Lu PingAn seeds and seedlings in exchange for help with chores, and he discovered useful plants including the wound-healing Sea Bandage.
• Chris tested medicines and beast-taming methods, identified the local Fishmen as a different species from those on the front lines, and developed remedies and attacks against them.
• Lu PingAn and Chris recorded their samples and findings to support future military supplies and improvements to Lamp Flower.
• The pair packed away backup materials, disguised themselves as native Fishmen, and headed deeper into the region toward a city, nation, or Eight-Clawed military camp.

Lu PingAn and Chris discussed ways to exploit the Fishmen’s vulnerabilities while gathering information and supplies in their world. After killing a patrol and disguising themselves in its uniforms, they followed another squad into a giant city.

• Lu PingAn and Chris considered using plague, venom, and local disasters against the Fishmen, while weighing the risks to Earth.
• Lu PingAn collected magical plants, Fishmen’s natural enemies, and other materials as he and Chris discussed the Eight-Clawed gods and their role in transforming worlds.
• Lu PingAn killed Fishmen bandits who attacked them, and Chris took some would-be attackers as test subjects.
• Lu PingAn noticed one group of bandits wore uniforms, and Chris warned him that his fires drew too much attention.
• Lu PingAn and Chris changed into patrol uniforms, followed another squad of guards, and slipped into a giant city.

Lu PingAn entered a sea-clan city and killed a slave trader and his accomplices after they tried to buy Chris. He waited for the city’s authorities to retaliate, but no one came.

• Lu PingAn sensed that the White Jade city walls were living structures supported by special crystals.
• A Fishman merchant named Lourdes tried to buy Chris with Shell Coins, while local thugs surrounded Lu PingAn.
• Lu PingAn used the Wave-Cut Axe to slash through the city wall and kill the slave traders and their accomplices with resonant vibrations.
• Lu PingAn killed a guard he suspected of helping arrange the attack, then took Chris to a tavern and waited for the authorities.
• No one came after Lu PingAn, and Chris explained that the city was a chaotic world without order.

Lu PingAn concluded that the Fishmen city was ruled by violent gangs and clans, while its currency and barter system made ordinary trade useless. He abandoned his attempts to work within the city’s rules, seized the City Lord’s residence, and declared himself Shark Overlord Lu Mouren.

• Lu PingAn learned that gangs and powerful clans controlled the city, whose three Rule-level beings included the City Lord of the Shalong Family.
• Lu PingAn realized that Shell Coins were nearly worthless because of inflation, counterfeit money, elite factions’ private currencies, and rampant robbery.
• Big Cat Chris urged Lu PingAn not to impose his own values on the city’s primitive and violent society.
• Lu PingAn decided to use the city’s own rules and act without restraint because time was limited and the Fishmen were an enemy race.
• Lu PingAn blew up the City Lord’s residence, declared himself Shark Overlord, and gave the city three counts to obey or die.

Lu PingAn seized a Fishmen city by using his Life Sacrificer abilities to burn the sea and slaughter its defenders. After defeating the Gray Family Sisters and forcing the remaining Fishmen to surrender, he became the city’s king.

• Lu PingAn killed the City Lord and declared himself the new master of the city.
• Lu PingAn unleashed the Life Sacrificer’s black flames and Tree of Life, burning the ocean and attacking Fishmen across the battlefield.
• The Gray Family Sisters challenged Lu PingAn, but he pinned them down and crushed one while leaving the other badly injured.
• After another King-level creature fell, the remaining Fishmen surrendered to Lu PingAn.
• Lu PingAn became king of the Fishmen city and resolved to provoke the other nations into war.

Lu PingAn seized control of a city, imposed brutal laws, and raised an army by forcing its former elites and criminals to fight. After his forces swiftly conquered a neighboring city and plundered its wealthy upper class, he prepared to lead them toward another target.

• Lu PingAn declared war on the Northern Kingdoms, the Southern Islands, and the Desolate Sea, then took over a city and renamed it Shark Overlord City.
• Lu PingAn killed criminals and corrupt guards, protected the city's workers and common people as his wealth, and forced residents and prisoners into military service.
• Lu PingAn sent his ragtag army to attack a nearby nameless city, which fell within half an hour without him needing to fight.
• Lu PingAn ordered his troops not to loot commoners and directed them to plunder the city's wealthy merchants, slave traders, officials, nobles, and City Lord instead.
• Lu PingAn incorporated the new forces into his growing army as his Soldier (Conqueror) path surged, then called for the next city to be attacked.

Lu PingAn’s invasion of the Fishmen’s world became a major front in the Plane War, and the world’s desire for conquest elevated him to a Rule-level Black King. As his forces attacked a city, his Black Flame turned slaughter into a source of power and transformed his soldiers and their leader into increasingly dangerous war creatures.

• The invaders established a foothold in the Fishmen’s world, altered the environment for war, and waited for the Eight-Clawed forces to organize a counterattack.
• After receiving news that the main force was advancing well, Lu PingAn decided to press his own siege forward and ordered his ocean giant to charge the city.
• Lu PingAn gained the Black King Destiny Class, and the world elevated his Black Flame and his power to Rule-level.
• Lu PingAn’s Black Flame turned ordinary Fishmen into Black Berserkers who healed and grew stronger by killing their enemies.
• As the battle continued, the ocean giant’s Warfire formed an lv4 symbiote, which helped him break through the city walls and spread destruction across the battlefield.

Lu PingAn built a vast war machine as the Black King, turning battlefield deaths into Black Flame and strengthening his soldiers while advancing along the Soldier path. Xiu Yi found him and warned that the Eight-Clawed allied forces would arrive in roughly two weeks, setting the stage for a crucial battle.

• Lu PingAn deceived the world into recognizing him as a native Fishman and established himself as the Black King over the Seven Kings.
• Lu PingAn learned that deaths in battle fed his Soldier path, and he used enemy heads to create a display that empowered his forces and terrorized their opponents.
• Lu PingAn treated ordinary civilians and slaves kindly while rewarding his followers with land and Black Fire, focusing his rule on conquest.
• Xiu Yi met Lu PingAn, reassured him that higher-dimensional observers could not identify him without familiarity, and told him the Eight-Clawed allied forces would arrive in about two weeks.

Lu PingAn reflected on the choices, rules, and sacrifices that shaped his path to power, then embraced war as the means to make his divine kingdom real. After awakening on Giant Whale, he raised the fallen Fishmen, giants, and sea beasts as undying soldiers and ordered them to keep fighting.

• Lu PingAn recalled how the Green Planet and Firebird taught him about observation, strength, and the restraints Professionals needed to preserve their reason.
• Lu PingAn cast aside his main body and the Trading Ground, becoming a purer killer and Conqueror while recognizing that his idealistic divine kingdom was incomplete.
• Lu PingAn dreamed of being a Fishman betrayed by those he tried to protect and choosing to become a king who controlled the fate of all life.
• Lu PingAn awoke on Giant Whale amid the ruins of a city and drank blood from a black holy grail, but declared that individual strength was not what he wanted.
• Lu PingAn scattered the blood over the battlefield, raised the fallen Fishmen, giants, and sea beasts, and commanded them to fight without end.