Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn aided the Mountainous Country’s counterattack by granting mortals power in exchange for their lives, and he felt his divinity and Life Pathway grow. After Big Cat warned him against becoming a life-harvesting ruler, Lu PingAn chose a path based on mutual benefit and restraint.

• Lu PingAn watched the Mountainous Country’s forces drive the Fishmen back while the war’s limited time threatened the Eastern Kingdom’s larger objectives.
• Vulnerable Mountainous Country residents traded their lives for strength through Lu PingAn’s Life Wish, becoming warriors who fought the Fishmen Lords.
• As prayers and sacrifices stirred his divinity, Lu PingAn felt the chance to become a God of Redemption but rejected the temptation.
• Lu PingAn added a rule lending life’s power in exchange for repayment at death, causing the Courtyard to grow as lives were harvested.
• Big Cat cautioned Lu PingAn not to follow the greedy path of its past, and Lu PingAn declared he would restrain instinct with reason and build a mutually beneficial path.

Lu PingAn allied with the God of Redemption and changed the Trading Ground’s rules to give Traders life insurance and inheritance, sacrificing some of the Life Bank’s profits to protect them. On the battlefield, the new rules quickly turned the deaths of fighters into strength for their living relatives, prompting Lu PingAn and Chris to marvel at the result.

• Lu PingAn refused to use other people’s lives to advance himself and formed an alliance with the God of Redemption to guide desperate souls to the Trading Woodland.
• Lu PingAn established mandatory Life Insurance and Inheritance rules, giving Traders’ beneficiaries compensation and their heirs access to their remaining assets.
• The new rules reached every Trader, though many were confused that Lu PingAn had given up potential profits.
• On a battlefield, a grandfather’s death empowered his grandson’s Phoenix Fire, and successive flames rose as other fighters inherited strength from fallen relatives.
• Lu PingAn worried that he had created monsters, and Chris declared that he was the monster.

Lu PingAn witnessed Life Points passing from the dying to newborns, creating a cycle of inheritance that could raise their life levels. He recognized the flow of life as part of his emerging World's Logic, added a rule against suicide for inheritance, and began empowering battlefield Professionals with Life Points.

• Lu PingAn saw a warrior strengthened by inherited Life Points tear a Naga lord apart, and realized life energy could be passed safely to newborns through inheritance.
• Lu PingAn perceived life cycling through nature, descendants, and civilizations, and connected that flow to his pursuit of All Spirits.
• Lu PingAn added a rule that people who voluntarily committed suicide would forfeit their inheritance to the Courtyard.
• Lu PingAn sensed his divine power nodes among the battlefield Professionals and found that directly intervening or granting Divine Grace cost too much power.
• Lu PingAn declared the battlefield Professionals worthy of possessing Life Points and sent strands of life force to some of them.

Lu PingAn granted desperate Life-type inheritors the ability to summon and grow Seeds of Life, turning them into powerful treant fighters across the battlefield. Exhausted after intervening, he stopped acting and waited with his companions for the battle’s outcome as his reputation as the God of Vengeance took hold.

• Lu PingAn offered the Seed of Life as an exchange that let Life-type professionals turn life force into combat strength.
• A grieving Gardener spent her life force to summon a Holy Lamp Seed and accelerate its growth.
• The seed became a massive Lamp Tree treant, which charged the Giant Soldiers and defeated a War Behemoth.
• Life-type inheritors across the battlefield summoned treants, giving the desperate resisters new weapons and hope.
• Lu PingAn sat down, exhausted, and told the approaching demigods and Big Cat that he would stop intervening and wait for the result.

The Eastern Kingdom celebrated a decisive victory in the Mountainous Country, where its forces killed three quasi-gods and routed the invaders. Lu PingAn learned that his death had triggered the life-force inheritance that unleashed the Grey King, who vanished into the sea after losing control.

• The Mountainous Country counteroffensive ended in a major victory, with the invaders driven back and three quasi-gods and six overlord-class creatures killed.
• The Eastern Kingdom released the results, naming the fallen quasi-gods and revealing Lu PingAn as a key figure in the battle.
• Three enemy quasi-gods targeted Lu PingAn and other Tier 8 combatants, killing Lu PingAn first and sending him into his revival timer.
• Lu PingAn’s death virus disrupted the battlefield, and the complete death of a human Tier 8 activated the life-force inheritance shared with his daughter, the Grey King.
• The Grey King inherited the immense life force, killed two or three quasi-gods with the other allied quasi-gods, then lost control and walked into the sea.
• Lu PingAn revived and realized his ability had helped make the victory possible despite his early departure from the battlefield.

After Grey King's unexpected power killed three Outland Visitors demigods, Eastern Kingdom decision-makers approved Dragon Moon Island's high-risk advance toward Australia and reinforced its support. Lu PingAn worked to refine Designated Inheritance as Dragon Moon Island sailed toward its target under close scrutiny.

• Eastern Kingdom decision-makers concluded Grey King's lethal power was an unplanned result that would be difficult to reproduce, though it could deter enemy combatants.
• Dragon Moon Island proposed bypassing the original rescue plan and heading directly for Australia, and decision-makers approved the gamble after learning the enemy had overcome the Poison Sea.
• Eastern Kingdom forces and allied nations launched attacks to pin down enemy legions, protect Dragon Moon Island's supply line, and draw out hidden threats.
• Lu PingAn continued adjusting Designated Inheritance, whose unstable power could serve as a dangerous last resort.
• Enemy top-tier combatants kept their distance during a later interception, and Dragon Moon Island continued sailing toward Australia.

Lu PingAn recognized that Earth had one chance to stop the Eight-Clawed invasion while its foothold remained unstable, and the Eastern Kingdom’s counteroffensive drew in foreign powers seeking military credit and a role in the postwar order. As their fleets reached Australia, the Lord of the Octopi appeared and unleashed a devastating attack.

• Lu PingAn reviewed intelligence showing that the Eastern Kingdom’s footholds at Mercury 42 and Mercury 99 were bleeding the Octopus Race, but he warned that Earth faced eventual ruin unless the invasion’s entry point was blocked early.
• The Eastern Kingdom expected little help from other powers, but Flower Flag, Europa, and the South American Alliance launched counterattacks to gain influence in the future postwar order.
• Lu PingAn and the commanders considered how the foreign lords’ rivalries and desire for credit could keep enemy forces from reinforcing the front.
• As Dragon Moon Island neared Australia, Flower Flag and Europa airships arrived with aircraft and spacecraft launching from their decks.
• The Lord of the Octopi appeared coiled around Australia, and its attack tore through the carriers and aircraft as the sky and ocean began to burn.

Lu PingAn faced the terrifying presence of Eight-Clawed and helped assess the survivors and the ongoing battle. As the Western forces deployed new mass-produced aircraft, Dragon Moon Island continued toward the conflict, where many more hidden weapons awaited.

• Lu PingAn recognized the entity as a connection used by Eight-Clawed and resolved not to let it take over the world.
• Lu PingAn agreed to save the survivors if possible, while Eastern Kingdom escorts headed toward Dragon Moon Island to assist them.
• Lu PingAn examined captured aircraft and identified them as inexpensive, remotely charged planes designed to operate from Air Carriers.
• The Western forces sent successive waves of aircraft against the Fishmen, whose forces struggled to counter attacks from the sky.
• Dragon Moon Island continued advancing as its Observers watched the battle and anticipated the Outland Visitors' hidden weapons.

The Western Allied Fleet and Dragon Moon Island attacked the Fishmen forces on Australia Island with aircraft, drones, and long-range guns. As the battle escalated, Fishmen infiltrators launched an assault on Dragon Moon Island.

• The Western Allied Fleet bombed the Fishmen camps along Australia Island’s coast and shot down Fishmen elites who flew up to fight.
• The Fishmen air combatants struggled against the Air Carriers and Escort Gunboats, which kept their distance and continued firing.
• Dragon Moon Island’s forces deployed large Drone swarms to support the attack, while Fishmen supernatural attacks destroyed hundreds of Drones.
• Lu PingAn and Dragon Moon Island’s forces fired super cannons and Magic Bullets at the Fishmen.
• Fishmen infiltrators climbed onto Dragon Moon Island, and fighting broke out there.

Lu PingAn observed how technology and mass-produced weapons let humanity wage an attritional war against the invaders while forcing their top-tier fighters to reveal themselves. After the Eastern Kingdom’s upgraded Drones drove a demigod berserk, human high-level combatants entered the battlefield and the fighting escalated.

• Lu PingAn reflected that war remained a contest of resources and lives, with top-tier fighters constrained by the risk of being targeted and exhausted.
• Flower Flag bombarded the ground from a safe distance while the Eastern Kingdom sent waves of Drones from Dragon Moon Island to wear down the invaders.
• Eight-Clawed’s phantom vanished, and the great being’s will forced enemy high-level combatants into the battle, where detection equipment recorded twenty demigod energy signatures.
• The Eastern Kingdom deployed more expensive, heavily armed Drones, whose strange mist caused a demigod to go berserk.
• The demigod’s companions withdrew him under protection, and human high-level combatants entered the battlefield as the fighting advanced to a new stage.

Lu PingAn assessed the ongoing war from Dragon Moon Island's command room, where analysts used battlefield intelligence to direct forces against the invaders. He treated wounded operatives and watched Dead Yin's Void counter an enemy demigod, while the war continued to claim powerful combatants on both sides.

• Lu PingAn reviewed drone footage as Scholar analysts recorded enemy abilities and planned targeted elimination squads.
• After Lu PingAn returned wounded from fighting a Tier 8 water-user, staff treated him and assigned him to rescue two operatives using Deferred Payment.
• Lu PingAn watched Dead Yin's Void clash divine kingdoms with the Blood Sea Kingdom, and analysts estimated their side had a seventy-three to eighty percent chance of winning.
• Lu PingAn observed that the Land of the Dead countered the enemy's blood-based powers and began eroding the Blood Sea Kingdom.
• Lu PingAn learned that the Courtyard's space was still sealed off, while both sides continued exchanging casualties, including demigods and Tier 8 combatants.

During the twentieth hour of the war, Lu PingAn treated the wounded and saw how the Fishmen’s brutal methods helped them adapt to the Poison Sea. An earthquake and brief power failure alerted him that a top-tier combatant had arrived, and he went to investigate.

• Lu PingAn struggled to save top-tier fighters whose lost existence, broken balance, and curses left him able only to delay their deaths.
• He learned that the Fishmen had few Witch Doctors and little medical care for ordinary soldiers, while Dragon Moon Island’s superior healers helped its forces recover.
• Lu PingAn saw Fishmen forced to take Dream-Entering Demonic Medicine that made their two Rebirth souls fight in dreams, preserving their bodies at the cost of the original self’s chance of survival.
• He concluded that the Fishmen were adapting to the Poison Sea and that their deities were beginning to interfere in the world, threatening to encircle humanity.
• An earthquake briefly cut power to the operating room, and Lu PingAn sensed a top-tier combatant’s arrival and went to investigate.

As the Fishmen threat grew and divine power distorted the battlefield, humanity’s Eastern and Western forces committed to a desperate counterattack. After the floating airships exhausted their options and withdrew toward Dragon Moon Island, high-tier Fishmen advanced on the island and Lu PingAn returned to the front lines.

• Lu PingAn learned that the Eastern Kingdom and Western nations had agreed to work together in the counterattack as the world’s condition worsened.
• Eastern Kingdom military regions intercepted Fishmen reinforcements, while other nations sent small groups of elite fighters to peripheral missions.
• A god under Eight-Clawed entered the world and collapsed, but its arrival distorted gravity and water, strengthening the Fishmen in the area.
• Western coalition forces unleashed cursed flames and powerful explosives, but their attacks injured rather than killed the high-tier Fishmen.
• The floating airships retreated and sought to use Dragon Moon Island’s airport as Fishmen advanced toward the island.
• Lu PingAn and the other fighters returned to the front lines.

Lu PingAn left Dragon Moon Island to draw off a powerful Snake Monster, then returned when the island was under heavy attack. He used Deferred Payment to repair the island’s damage, leaving it able to keep fighting as a nearly unsinkable fortress.

• Lu PingAn and Chris struggled to hold off the Snake Monster, whose speed, attacks, and illusions nearly overwhelmed them.
• After receiving the code 7612, Lu PingAn left Chris to fight alone and returned to Dragon Moon Island.
• The invaders damaged Dragon Moon Island’s walls and supporting limbs, while the island’s counterattacks also wounded it.
• Lu PingAn used Deferred Payment to reduce the island’s injuries and restore the fallen stone to its original state.
• Lu PingAn explained that his ability worked because he considered Dragon Moon Island alive.

Lu PingAn restored Dragon Moon Island by declaring Old Mr. Liu and the island alive, then used Deferred Payment to repair the damage Dragon Moon unleashed in battle. The Outland Visitors retreated, leaving the human side with its frontline base intact and the battle shifting toward attrition.

• Lu PingAn renewed Dragon Moon Island and sealed its damage by treating it as a living body whose injuries could be deferred.
• Old Liu, transformed into Dragon Moon, fired a devastating beam that destroyed many enemy forces but damaged the island again.
• Lu PingAn deferred the island’s new damage, restoring its defenses and prompting the enemy commander to order a retreat.
• Human forces attacked the retreating Outland Visitors while western airships landed on Dragon Moon Island for repairs and supplies.
• Lu PingAn warned Old Liu against relying too heavily on his ability, and Big Cat and the others cautioned Lu PingAn against risking his Courtyard.
• With Dragon Moon Island secure, the humans gained the initiative and prepared to compete in a war of attrition.

Lu PingAn strengthened his war abilities as humanity and the Octopus Race entered a prolonged war of attrition. The battlefield settled into a stalemate, with both sides escalating weapons production and using increasingly brutal tactics.

• Lu PingAn used the War Game to empower his covenant bearers and realized he could interfere with soldiers across the battlefield, but chose to wait rather than provoke enemy demigods.
• Humanity stabilized its front lines and logistics, then prepared reserves and increased Drone production to trade renewable machines for enemy lives.
• The nations unleashed specialized weapons against the Fishmen, including evaporation bombs, Fishmen-targeting firearms, and suspected biological agents.
• The Eastern Kingdom deployed Corpse Drones created by Death-Themed Artists, overcoming the vulnerability of ordinary Drones to High-Level Professionals.

As the First Human Counterattack War/Third World War entered a stage of attrition, Lu PingAn handled diplomacy and monitored foreign reinforcements and Evil God Churches joining the Eastern Kingdom’s forces. He recognized that even wary or notorious allies were needed, though all would be risking their lives as cannon fodder.

• Dragon Moon Island held through repeated attacks for five days, while Lu PingAn repeatedly used Deferred Payment and worried his accumulated injuries would become unmanageable next month.
• Lu PingAn helped receive a delegation of East European warriors seeking to join the Eastern camp, and a civil servant told them they would have to follow the Staff Department’s arrangements.
• Lu PingAn asked why the delegation feared becoming cannon fodder, and the civil servant explained that the West would be even more likely to sacrifice them.
• Lu PingAn observed that reinforcements from many nations, along with Evil God Churches and affiliated groups, had joined the war for survival, profit, or a chance to gain power.
• Lu PingAn used his Eye of Truth to monitor priority targets and noted that the Evil God Churches could help intercept enemy reinforcements as the war became one of attrition.

Lu PingAn and humanity fought an escalating war of attrition as gods reshaped the battlefield and nations deployed increasingly effective weapons. Humanity began to gain a narrow upper hand, but the otherworldly invaders prepared to change the course of the war.

• Lu PingAn sensed that another god had fallen as battles between gods, demigods, and mortals continued across the transformed battlefield.
• Lu PingAn repaired Dragon Moon Island with Deferred Payment after a suicidal demigod attack, while humanity gradually gained ground through reinforcements and secret weapons.
• The Eastern Kingdom deployed Corpse Drones made from dead Professionals, which could retain their former abilities and create more Drones from their prey.
• Frontline reports showed that humanity had begun attacking Outland Visitor facilities and altars in Australia, though enemy-transformed regions caused many ordinary Drones to malfunction.
• Lu PingAn's request to go to the front became harder to approve as casualties mounted, and the chapter ended with the otherworldly invaders preparing to disrupt the attrition war.

As the Plane War entered its ninth day, humanity maintained a favorable exchange rate despite Eight-Clawed reinforcements and growing enemy numbers. After a major enemy desertion, a Tier 11 being intervened, unleashing pressure that began flooding the world and revealed humanity’s hidden danger.

• Humanity’s organization, intelligence, and medical support helped its forces achieve an exchange ratio of roughly 1.5 to 5 against the Outland Visitors.
• Lu PingAn continued fighting without serious injuries as deaths mounted and deserters began fleeing the battlefield.
• A powerful demigod deserted, and the enemy failed to stop him from leaving.
• The next day, humanity discovered the enemy had lost thirty percent of its forces and prepared to retake territory.
• A distant being’s leaked power sank Dragon Moon Island and caused widespread flooding, while Lu PingAn’s Eye of Truth revealed a sunlike presence beyond the gods.
• Humanity realized that the Tier 11 being could interfere with the world and potentially destroy it alone.

Lu PingAn witnessed the Eight-Clawed creature attack the battlefield and learned that its devastating rays came at a cost. As the coalition faced mounting losses and refused to retreat, Lu PingAn offered guidance based on the creature’s limits.

• Lu PingAn saw the God Above Gods enter the world, kill a Fishman Overlord, and drive sea levels higher as it forced more of itself through the rift.
• The mask Old Liu had given Lu PingAn shattered, and the Eight-Clawed creature’s attention caused him to explode; he returned minutes later and told others he was safe.
• The creature erased more than twenty airships and then wiped out seawater and warships with another ray, while English forces refused to retreat.
• Lu PingAn noticed that a limb withered after each attack and that the creature had only eight claws, and he stepped forward to share his observations.