Chapter Summaries

As Lu PingAn awakened from his transformation, the Courtyard expanded into a thriving world with vast seas and enlarged Rule Buildings. He emerged from the Incubation Pool with God-tier Spirit and a youthful appearance, explaining that he would grow back soon.

• The Courtyard expanded as Lu PingAn advanced, becoming a complete world with flourishing forests, wildlife, and oceans.
• The Rule Buildings grew alongside the land, including the Library, Time Stele plaza, and Gymnasium.
• A thunderous heartbeat echoed through the Courtyard as Lu PingAn returned and the giant egg in the Incubation Pool cracked open.
• Lu PingAn told everyone he was at the Library, and the officials found him in the second-floor reading area.
• Big Cat asked why Lu PingAn had shrunk, and he explained that his rebirth had given him a temporary childhood appearance.

Three months after the Plane War, Lu PingAn learned how the catastrophe had reshaped the world and considered how his Trading Grounds could support recovery. After returning to Ancient City, he found his hometown damaged but largely intact, then faced new trouble soon after notifying the Eastern Kingdom of his return.

• Lu PingAn learned that 2.2 billion people had survived, including returnees, and heard reports of civil war in the Americas and refugees fleeing Europa.
• Lu PingAn learned that UO planned to form a nominal Earth government in exchange for aid, with member states receiving priority.
• Lu PingAn suggested expanding his Trading Grounds, and his companion advised him to discuss the plan with Wanjing because his abilities were strategic national resources.
• Lu PingAn returned to Ancient City, found it largely intact, and abandoned the idea of creating a construction team so reconstruction jobs could go to unemployed residents.
• Lu PingAn's return informed the Eastern Kingdom that he was back, and new trouble arrived three days later.

Lu PingAn reunited with Xiu Yi in Wanjing and discussed how their advancement had made them peers on the path toward becoming God Above Gods. He learned that Chris had been reborn as a kitten and considered how her fate and the Mother Goddess’s Logic might now relate to his own path.

• Lu PingAn met Xiu Yi at an inn in Wanjing, and they agreed to address each other as peers rather than using her former honorific.
• Xiu Yi greeted Chris, who had been reborn as a tiny living kitten after entering the Incubation Pool with Lu PingAn.
• Lu PingAn and Xiu Yi discussed whether Chris had accepted the merging of her fate and Logic with Lu PingAn’s, though Chris was asleep and could not answer.
• Xiu Yi suggested that Chris could become Lu PingAn’s disciple and help verify his path.

Lu PingAn attended a postwar meeting in Wanjing where the Eastern Kingdom planned to restore its ranks of righteous gods and reward loyal factions. He secured approval for Guan Xinxian to become a righteous god, though Guan’s small church still needed to grow into a qualifying faction.

• The attendees speculated that Lu PingAn and Chris might be Twin Gods because of their shared origin and complementary connection.
• The Eastern Kingdom proposed raising the number of recognized righteous gods from sixty-five to ninety-nine, using the vacancies to reward loyal contributors and purge unreliable factions.
• Lu PingAn declined to apply for godhood himself and submitted an application for Guan Xinxian, the God of Redemption.
• Wanjing reviewed applications rapidly, and Guan Xinxian’s bid for righteous-god status was approved on the strength of his loyalty and Lu PingAn’s recommendation.
• Lu PingAn noted that Guan Xinxian’s small church still had to meet the requirements for becoming an independent righteous-god faction.

Lu PingAn planned to restart Rebirth Company's operations and secure compensation and opportunities for his people after the Plane Defense War. He began shaping a new organization for Guan Xinxian, the God of Redemption, while anticipating political changes in the Forest Goddess Faction.

• Lu PingAn assessed the losses from the Plane Defense War and considered how the government needed to compensate those who had borne them.
• Lu PingAn concluded that Lady Lin's absence during the war had likely angered the government and that she might lose her true god status.
• Lu PingAn planned to establish disaster relief services and hospitals for Guan Xinxian's new framework, potentially acquiring assets from the Forest Goddess Church.
• Lu PingAn considered absorbing smaller factions into the God of Redemption's organization and offering their members universal Life Pathway professions.
• Lu PingAn reflected that his faction could eventually have several god-level beings, and hoped more cadres would pursue the God Above Gods path.

Lu PingAn hired Wanjing University student Wang Sisi to show him around Wanjing, but the city’s mourning for its war dead dampened his plans. He left a succession of postwar meetings to rest, while Cat Cat urged him to take on more work.

• Lu PingAn looked at memorial notices around Wanjing, and Wang Sisi explained that many residents were still mourning those killed in the war.
• Wang Sisi asked Lu PingAn why he was sightseeing instead of preparing for exams, and he said he had already graduated.
• Lu PingAn explained that he had slipped away from meetings about postwar reconstruction and government affairs.
• Cat Cat swatted Lu PingAn when he yawned and pressed him to pursue projects such as a research lab and an arms-market venture.
• Lu PingAn decided to tour Wanjing, but the city’s somber streets made him lose interest in sightseeing.

Lu PingAn listened as his guide, Wang Sisi, described the city’s underground entertainment and supernatural markets, then connected them to possible government reforms after the Plane War. Intrigued by the changes ahead, he asked Wang Sisi to take him to the nearest interesting place.

• Wang Sisi noticed Lu PingAn growing bored and offered to show him the city’s hidden attractions.
• Wang Sisi described underground fighting exhibitions, supernatural goods, and exotic dance performances, while Lu PingAn questioned her about them.
• Lu PingAn reasoned that the city’s markets were only peripheral parts of the supernatural underworld and connected their existence to proposed tax reforms.
• Lu PingAn wondered whether the Eastern Kingdom’s reforms and new True God slots were intended to empower new beneficiaries and reshape old organizations.
• Lu PingAn asked Wang Sisi to take him to the nearest interesting place, and she agreed, warning that the ticket was expensive.

Lu PingAn visited a mall selling supernatural goods with Wang Sisi and saw how inexpensive protective equipment and novelty weapons were being marketed to ordinary people. He concluded that supernatural equipment was becoming commonplace, a sign that the New Era was preparing civilians to face supernatural threats.

• Wang Sisi enthusiastically guided Lu PingAn through the mall, admitting she had never gone inside before.
• Lu PingAn watched the protected animals fighting below and inspected the mall’s supernatural merchandise.
• Lu PingAn recognized that the affordable protective gear could help ordinary people survive low-level supernatural incidents.
• Wang Sisi excitedly watched the fight but covered her eyes whenever she saw blood.
• Lu PingAn dismissed the colorful, blunted weapons as nearly useless and reflected that supernatural conflict might soon reach everyone.

After the Plane War, Lu PingAn considered how ordinary people would face an era of ongoing conflict and explored the Courtyard’s new products with his companions. He decided to pursue the lower-end market because ordinary customers were the future.

• Lu PingAn gave Wang Sisi a black card that could become a ticket to the Courtyard if she became extraordinary.
• Cat Cat bought equipment, broke it with her strength, and asked Lu PingAn to make gear in the styles and colors she liked.
• Lu PingAn agreed to decorate his disciples’ weapons and armor, and to dye Cat Cat’s tails instead of her hair.
• Lu PingAn examined State-Run Shops’ products and decided his group would seize the lower-end market, even at the expense of the high-end market.

Lu PingAn studied the chaotic market for low-cost extraordinary weapons and armor as the Eastern Kingdom prepared to expand training and equipment access for ordinary people. He decided the Rebirth Merchant Group would enter the market and seize the opportunity, while addressing its lack of standards and the risks of shoddy goods.

• Lu PingAn and his associates tested sample products and discussed their poor quality, low prices, and possible consequences for buyers.
• Lu PingAn concluded that the authorities wanted to supply large numbers of ordinary people with affordable gear, despite its limited effectiveness.
• Lu PingAn confirmed that extraordinary knowledge and combat training would expand into schools and professional programs.
• Lu PingAn directed the group to sell the inferior products under a new trademark, prioritize armor, and offer blunted weapons in response to Security Department concerns.
• Lu PingAn recognized that the market lacked standards and chose to make it the group's main business and seize the Blue Sea.

Lu PingAn waited at Wanjing Parliament to meet councilors from Changping Province and Ancient City Municipality while the government struggled to allocate scarce resources to mounting supernatural disasters. Seeing the risks in the Eastern Kingdom’s push for universal supernatural advancement, he prepared to use his influence to improve ordinary people’s weapons and training, and the councilors finally arrived.

• Lu PingAn watched Parliament debate competing requests for central support as regions fought over limited resources for disasters and secret realms.
• Lu PingAn reflected that supernatural incidents would keep multiplying and that grassroots combat strength needed to improve.
• Lu PingAn decided to try to provide better weapons and combat supplies despite the risks of the current universal advancement program.
• Two councilors from Changping Province and Ancient City Municipality entered and expressed surprise that Lu PingAn was the one meeting them.

Lu PingAn proposed that the True God Churches establish an industry association and standardize affordable civilian weapons and equipment to support the National Transcendence Program. He left the meeting aiming to bring the churches and cities together, with Ancient City as the proposed headquarters.

• A Changping Province councilor proposed having the True God Churches cooperate on minimum standards for low-cost weapons and equipment, and the councilors listened closely.
• Councilors discussed the proposal’s likely benefits and whether suppliers would accept restrictions amid the shortage of resources and gear.
• Lu PingAn told Councilor Zhao that several quasi-gods had agreed in principle, giving the plan a seventy-to-eighty percent chance of success.
• Lu PingAn explained that the industry could create jobs and that he intended to distribute factories between Ancient City and cities across Changping.
• Lu PingAn proposed founding an Industry Association headquartered in Ancient City to set standards and bring more companies into the effort.

Lu PingAn worked with councilors and the five True God Churches to propose standardizing affordable equipment for new supernatural combatants. He planned to use top craftsmen, government support, and temporary losses to build a trusted brand, leaving the proposal under review by a Joint Seminar.

• Lu PingAn helped a state councilor propose commercial standards regulations, which the council discussed as a way to coordinate local needs and create jobs.
• The five True God Churches agreed to establish a Joint Seminar to refine the proposal and standardize the equipment market.
• Lu PingAn explained that major factories needed to produce usable low-cost equipment for newcomers while earning profits and reducing the Eastern Kingdom government's burden.
• Lu PingAn proposed that quasi-god craftsmen design standard models and that the government provide tax cuts, fee reductions, and subsidies.
• Lu PingAn said participating companies should accept early losses to cultivate the market and establish a brand that could later sell better equipment.

Lu PingAn proposed a loss-making joint venture to dominate the ultra-low-end supernatural equipment market, but after touring the country, he learned that his plan had been sent for reconsideration following accusations of malicious competition and proselytizing. Cat Cat explained that his trade-centered World's Logic could grow stronger through the venture, and suspected another Life-type, possibly Lady Lin, was behind the complaint.

• Lu PingAn argued that major corporations and churches could sell beginner equipment at a loss to prevent newcomers from going without qualified gear and secure their future loyalty.
• After meeting with the councilors, Lu PingAn toured the country with Wang Sisi and helped clear monsters near the Great Wall War Zone.
• Lu PingAn learned that his proposal had been delayed for reconsideration after someone filed a complaint against him.
• Lu PingAn heard that the complaint accused him of malicious commercial competition and unfair proselytizing through church organizations.
• Cat Cat explained that commercial activity centered on Lu PingAn could strengthen his trade-based World's Logic and attract believers, and suggested another Life-type, possibly Lady Lin, feared his growing power.

Lu PingAn fought to win approval for the Standard System despite opposition from Life-type factions and True Gods. After the resolution passed, he celebrated by beating up a hostile quasi-god, leaving the story with him ready for further competition in the Inner Domain.

• Lu PingAn recognized that powerful Life-type factions and True Gods were using the formal voting process to check his influence and opposed the Standard System.
• Lu PingAn mobilized his connections and used news and online platforms to build public support, while warning that the Rebirth Merchant Guild would pursue the project independently if it was rejected or he was removed.
• Before Lu PingAn finished touring Wanjing, someone told him that he had won the vote.
• Lu PingAn argued that the Eastern Kingdom and its people had won, then beat up the quasi-god who glared at him and left a hundred-denomination banknote for medical expenses.
• Lu PingAn dismissed the need to give his rivals face and declared that he was ready for the competition in the Inner Domain.

Lu PingAn faced hostility from deities who believed his faction had weakened, then used his strength to secure a Legislative Committee role and help establish standardized equipment for new trainees. As the committee refined its first equipment sets, he pushed for balanced prices and essential healing potions to protect recruits.

• Lu PingAn realized deities were challenging him because they thought Chris had been reborn and his faction had grown weaker, so he decided to prove his strength.
• Lu Mouren arranged duels with quasi-gods and demonstrated that the Rebirth Merchant Group still had powerful combatants without Big Cat.
• The proposal passed to establish a Legislative Committee, with Lu PingAn as Executive Vice Chairman, and he brought his team into the standards-setting work.
• Lu PingAn reviewed the first batch of weapons and equipment and inferred that its selection favored Swordsman, Spearman, and Fighter Paths.
• Lu PingAn argued that equipment bundles should narrow price differences between paths and that basic sets should include healing potions, as the plan underwent further revisions.

Lu PingAn negotiated with government departments over Novice Set prices and profession training, learning that the Eastern Kingdom planned to favor safer combat paths for new Professionals. He agreed to make Fighter equipment the most expensive, then considered stockpiling swords and polearms as the new system took shape.

• Lu PingAn learned that Novice Set prices could shape newcomers’ survival rates and profession choices, making the issue a social concern.
• Public security and education officials proposed guiding newcomers into four main professions and adjusting equipment prices to influence their proportions.
• Officials explained that beginner Fighters suffered high mortality rates because their abilities were limited and they often fought unarmored at close range.
• Lu PingAn agreed to make Fighter equipment the most expensive and favor Swordsmen and Spearmen to improve newcomers’ chances of survival.
• Lu PingAn considered stockpiling high-rank swords, sabers, and polearms after hearing the government’s plans.

After the Plane War, Lu PingAn helped stabilize the Eastern Kingdom’s recovery by finalizing affordable equipment for new Professionals and establishing his PingAn brand. With his influence secured across industry and society, he prepared for another journey beyond the domain but received a new mission that could send him back to battle.

• The Eastern Kingdom began rebuilding coastal cities and resettling residents while preparing newly trained Professionals to defend themselves.
• Lu PingAn and the other powers finalized the Novice Sets, including affordable equipment options and healing-potion necklaces, and he received orders for his workshop’s products.
• Lu PingAn solicited a brand name, and the company chose PingAn after an anonymous suggestion won the internal vote.
• PingAn launched production across Ancient City, Changping, and cities in four states, employing hundreds of thousands of workers.
• With the Redemption church established and the Dragon Serpent hunt continuing, Lu PingAn considered another journey beyond the domain, but the higher-ups gave him a new mission that might return him to the battlefield.

After the Eastern Kingdom’s victory, Lu PingAn avoided an official post and sought rewards that would bind his interests to society. He accepted commissions to fight in the Eastern Theater or help stabilize collapsing countries abroad, where he learned that many regions had descended into chaos.

• Lu PingAn disappeared rather than accept an official position, hoping to receive rewards embedded in the Eastern Kingdom’s society.
• Lu PingAn received two commissions: to join the Eastern Theater at Leighton Peninsula and Sakurajima, or to follow the main force into Southeast Asia for a Great Purge.
• Lu PingAn read military intelligence describing how many countries had collapsed under Dragon Serpents, invading creatures, and the breakdown of their governments.
• Lu PingAn learned that surviving countries were plagued by warlords, gangs, attempted imperial restorations, and superhuman rulers.
• An official told Lu PingAn that intervention abroad would be a security operation and asked whether he wanted an overseas territory or private estate.

Lu PingAn weighed whether to join campaigns in the southwest or overseas, preferring to avoid entangling himself in the Eastern Kingdom and Sakurajima’s rivalries. A former Royal Family member offered him valuable treasures and the coordinates of three resource-rich worlds in exchange for securing a small overseas territory, and a message from above urged him to accept.

• Military intelligence described the southwest as a lawless region where starvation had led to cannibalism, murder, and widespread atrocities.
• Lu PingAn declined the eastern campaign and considered recuperating or exploring beyond the domain, since overseas territory offered him little benefit and considerable trouble.
• Several Sakurajima disciples approached Lu PingAn, and he explained that he wanted to stay out of the conflict between Sakurajima and the Eastern Kingdom.
• A former Royal Family member asked Lu PingAn to secure a small overseas territory for their family and offered Rule-level treasures and coordinates to three resource-rich worlds.
• Lu PingAn began weighing the offer, then received a message asking him to serve as a bridge and help send the family’s troubles away.