Chapter Summaries

During a Blade City patrol, Kala’s contemplation of his emotions and soul led him to new insights into the Fire Element and a sudden infatuation with Daisy Lin. After the patrol, Kala planned to cultivate in seclusion, while Jie Ning and Dinar also chose to train and Korur and Mosang decided to keep taking missions.

• Kala and his companions discussed his Captain rank and the large number of Middle-Gods gathering in Blade City, including possible spies among them.
• As Kala reflected on Soul Fire, he began acting on his emotions, confronting people he thought were mistreating others; Jie Ning studied the change and gained ideas for his own cultivation.
• Kala saw Daisy Lin and, amid a surge of insight, asked her to become his wife; Daisy rejected him and left, challenging him to prove his strength.
• Kala admitted he still wanted to marry Daisy Lin and said he would enter seclusion to cultivate after the expansion ended.
• Jie Ning and Dinar also planned to cultivate, while Korur chose to continue doing missions and Mosang decided to join him.
• Kala offered to introduce Korur and Mosang to Kachishan so they could find suitable missions.

Kala told Jie Ning and the others that the Blade Army was restructuring and that its members would compete for promotions as hundreds of thousands of recruits joined. As the competition approached, the group reviewed information on likely opponents, and Jie Ning identified a dangerous Earth-element fighter who could challenge Mosang and Dinar.

• Kala explained that Soldiers and Captains would compete for promotions as the Blade Army expanded, with new ranks and direct chains of command being established.
• Kala warned that large-scale conflict might be coming, noted that an Overgod could stand behind the Blade Army, and gave the group dossiers and Combat Projections of contestants.
• Jie Ning recognized Daisy Lin in a dossier, while Kala concealed her Combat Projection after the others noticed his interest in her.
• Mosang activated a Combat Projection of an Earth-element fighter, and Jie Ning judged that the opponent used Puppets with strong defenses and could be especially dangerous for Mosang and Dinar.

Jie Ning entered the Blade Army’s Expansion Competition, where Beile oversaw his arena and secretly arranged favorable matchups for him and his comrades. After defeating Tamu, Jie Ning learned that the challengers had bought altered information about him, and he chose to continue fighting.

• The Army Lord welcomed the contestants and announced that winning three arena matches would earn a Captain position in the Blade Army.
• Beile assigned Jie Ning, Mosang, Korur, and other familiar veterans to the first round, then secretly told Jie Ning which challengers to select.
• Jie Ning chose three opponents and defeated Tamu, who had comprehended the Power Profound Mystery, using his Doppelgangers.
• Beile told Jie Ning that the challengers had bought information on him and that the Blade Army had altered it, so Jie Ning ordered the next opponent to enter without taking a rest.

Jie Ning won his third arena match against Yikas by using Earth armor and an Earth Seed that drained his opponent’s divine power, earning promotion to Captain. The Blade Army’s expansion contest ended with everyone except Dinar advancing, and news of the Army’s growth stirred unrest in the shadows.

• Jie Ning defeated Limus by summoning nine Mud Golems, prompting Limus to surrender and giving Arena 201 its second victory.
• Jie Ning faced Yikas, who filled the arena with mist and attacked with Ice Arrows, but Jie Ning’s Earth armor withstood the assault.
• Jie Ning overwhelmed Yikas with his figures and used Earth Seed to drain his divine power until Yikas surrendered.
• Beile congratulated Jie Ning on becoming a Blade Army Captain and praised his Mystery Fusion, while Jie Ning invited him to celebrate after the matches.
• Jie Ning watched Mosang and Korur gain the advantage in their matches, while eliminated Dinar resolved to pursue fusing Mysteries.
• The expansion contest ended with everyone except Dinar advancing; Kala became a Hundred Guard, Beile and the others became Sergeants, and news of the Blade Army’s growth stirred the shadows.

At Jie Ning’s home, Beile explained the Blade Army’s plans, the Army Lord’s secret alliance with a Fire Element Overgod, and the new Demon Fortress mission system. The group learned they had time to strengthen themselves before upheaval, while Kala was assigned to work with Daisy Lin.

• Beile warned Jie Ning, Mosang, Kala, and the others that the Blade Army might become the only nearby force within two hundred years and urged them to improve their strength.
• Beile confirmed that the Army Lord had become an Overgod’s Envoy to a Fire Element Overgod and warned the group to keep the news secret.
• Beile said returning from Hell to the Material Plane was effectively impossible for them for now, even though powerful High-Gods had tried activating the Teleportation Array.
• Beile explained that missions would move from Blade Castle to the Demon Fortress, outlined its seven Demon ranks, and said Jie Ning had at least the strength of a Three-star Demon.
• Beile told Kala that Daisy Lin would be placed under his command and warned him about her violent temper, but Kala confidently accepted the arrangement.

After a century of cultivation, Jie Ning considered sending his Life God Avatar to the Life Supreme Plane, while Arannis and his adopted daughter Serina became gods. As Serina prepared to search for Anton, the Bana Continent's Teleportation Array began to glow, and Jie Ning's avatars reacted grimly.

• Over a hundred years, Jie Ning and his companions advanced their cultivation, and Jie Ning's Death God Avatar became a Middle-God.
• Jie Ning judged that his Earth God Avatar was nearing power comparable to a Five-star Demon and decided to send his Life God Avatar to the Life Supreme Plane.
• Fifty years earlier, the Tree of Light gave birth to Serina, and Jie Ning and Arannis adopted her as their daughter.
• Jie Ning welcomed Arannis and Serina after they became gods, and Serina said she wanted to find her brother Anton.
• The Teleportation Array on the Bana Continent began glowing, and Jie Ning's two Divine Avatars opened their eyes with grim expressions.

Jie Ning faced Stan Bowen, a Highgod from Hell who challenged him to a fight after arriving through the Teleportation Array. Jie Ning escaped Stan’s Earth Fortress using specially cultivated Seeds, but their battle continued above the West Sea.

• Jie Ning hurried away with Arannis and Serina after receiving alarming news, while his Life God Avatar and Death God Avatar waited near the Teleportation Array.
• Stan Bowen emerged from the array, identified Jie Ning’s opposing Life and Death Divine Avatars, and challenged him to fight.
• Jie Ning led Stan west over the sea, where Stan trapped the two Avatars separately inside an Earth Fortress and filled it with Mud Puppet Soldiers.
• Jie Ning realized the Mud Golems stopped appearing when he avoided damaging the fortress, then scattered Seeds that absorbed its earth divine power and caused it to collapse.
• Stan drew a hammer and attacked Jie Ning, whose two Avatars split apart and struck back from both sides.

Jie Ning fought Stan, a powerful visitor from a Supreme Plane, and discovered Stan was connected to the four Overgods who once descended on the Bana Continent. After they stopped fighting, Stan gave Jie Ning a jar of Sovereign's Might, and Jie Ning invited him to the Hall of Life.

• Stan’s defenses withstood Jie Ning’s Life and Death God Avatar attacks, so Jie Ning made their divine powers collide and explode to escape Stan’s gravity-bound hammer.
• Stan survived the blast using a Sovereign Artifact and ended the fight, revealing that he also carried a Soul Defense Divine Artifact.
• Jie Ning told Stan he had another Divine Avatar in a Supreme Plane, and Stan explained that his father was Progenitor God Xuanwu and his elders were Progenitor Gods Qinglong, Zhuque, and Baihu.
• Jie Ning invited Stan to his residence, and Stan accepted while giving him a jar filled with Sovereign's Might.
• Jie Ning’s true body stopped Arannis and Serina from continuing onward and told them to return to the Hall of Life and prepare a meal for his close friend.

During a banquet, Stan explained how Sovereigns became Overgods and why the Four Divine Beasts were losing faith in the Bana Continent. He persuaded Jie Ning to establish their church, then departed after it was founded, leaving Jie Ning to reckon with the bargain and their unequal friendship.

• Stan told Jie Ning that Highgods could become Overgods through Sovereign Sparks, while Faith Power helped Overgods grow stronger.
• Stan explained that some Overgods had founded religions and suppressed the Four Divine Beasts’ elemental systems, cutting into their faith.
• Stan asked Jie Ning to establish a Four Divine Beasts Church on the Bana Continent, and Jie Ning agreed despite sensing the pressure behind Stan’s offer.
• A few days later, Jie Ning reached an agreement with Fire God Gru, and a month later the Bana Continent established the church with Gru as its pontiff.
• Two months later, Stan left the Bana Continent after promising to visit Jie Ning again with gifts, and Jie Ning reflected that he was Stan’s friend only while he remained weaker.

Jie Ning decided to warn the Blade Army’s Overgod that the Four Divine Beasts had claimed his home Material Plane. Dibo believed the report offered him cover to spread Fire Element magic, so he ordered Gould to send the Blade Army to other Material Planes while avoiding any existing Overgod faith.

• Jie Ning reconsidered his position after receiving Stan’s Sovereign’s Might and decided he needed to prevent a conflict between the Four Divine Beasts and the Blade Army’s Overgod.
• Jie Ning told Beile that an Overgod’s Envoy had appeared in his hometown, and Beile took him to meet Army Lord Gould.
• Jie Ning reported that the envoy had established a temple for the Four Divine Beasts and forbidden worship of other Overgods, so Gould brought him to meet Dibo.
• Dibo confirmed that the envoy served the Four Divine Beasts and decided their presence could draw attention away from his own efforts to spread faith.
• Dibo gave Gould Sovereign’s Might to activate a Teleportation Array and ordered the Blade Army to spread Fire Element magic only in Material Planes without an established Overgod faith.

Jie Ning returned to Blade City with Gould after meeting the Overgod, then prepared for a mission against Black Dragon Fortress as tensions rose. On the Bana Continent, Jie Ning gained a Destiny God Avatar and completed his first Magic Array, boosting the power of his Life and Death God Avatars.

• Gould rewarded Jie Ning with a golden leopard-shaped Metal Lifeform and ordered him to keep the Overgod meeting secret while summoning his officers.
• Jie Ning reunited with Korur and Mosang, who had become Two-star Demons, and revealed that he had completely fused three Mysteries.
• Beile arrived at Jie Ning's gathering and ordered the group to assemble in three hours for a mission to Black Dragon Fortress, warning that it was only the beginning.
• On the Bana Continent, Jie Ning confirmed that the Fire Element Overgod had abandoned the conflict with the Four Divine Beasts and gained insight into the Teleportation Array's Runes.
• Jie Ning gained a Destiny God Avatar and completed the Life-Death Battle Formation, which strengthened his Life and Death God Avatars by at least twenty percent.

Jie Ning and the Blade Army reached Black Dragon Mountain to hunt suspicious people and Black Dragon Fortress members. After Jie Ning killed three ambushers with his Sandstorm Prison, the mountain collapsed, and Jie Ning realized the Army Lord had attacked.

• Beile led tens of thousands of Blade Army members from Blade City toward Black Dragon Mountain, where Kala assigned his forces to hunt anyone without a badge.
• Jie Ning invited Daisy Lin to join their group and learned from Mosang that she and Kala had been together for decades.
• A Dark Element Middle-God ambushed Jie Ning’s group with black mist, but Jie Ning trapped the attacker and two allies inside Sandstorm Prison.
• Jie Ning used Earth Seed-infused sand to destroy the three Black Dragon Fortress members, then gathered their belongings and God Crystals.
• Black Dragon Mountain suddenly collapsed, and Jie Ning and Kala recognized that the Army Lord had made his move.

After Black Dragon Fortress fell, Jie Ning and the Blade Army helped eliminate nearby forces and expanded the army across the region. Decades later, Jie Ning took over a Teleportation Array post at the newly named Mirror Moon Cliff, where the Blade Army prepared for future operations.

• Jie Ning and his companions defeated escaped Black Dragon Fortress members and discovered that Dinar and Mosang had made progress toward fusing Mysteries.
• Jie Ning’s group reached the Black Dragon Ruins, learned the Blade Army had already looted the shops, and waited for Beile’s orders.
• Beile led the Blade Army’s campaign against nearby forces, and over five years the army absorbed many groups, grew to several million members, and promoted Jie Ning, Dinar, and their companions to Hundred Guards.
• Several decades later, Jie Ning arrived at Purple Castle to replace Mosang and take over the Teleportation Array guard post for ten years.
• Mosang told Jie Ning he had named the place Mirror Moon Cliff, and Jie Ning watched him leave beneath the Purple Moon.

Jie Ning developed a plan to use the Tree of Light and linked spirit trees to connect Bana Continent, boost its elemental density, and eventually share people’s wisdom to accelerate cultivation. After checking the temples and communication network, he ordered Communication Devices to be promoted across the continent as the first step toward his larger plan.

• Jie Ning tested the spirit trees at the temples and confirmed they could communicate across Bana Continent, then ordered Serina to ensure every household received a Communication Device.
• Years earlier, Jie Ning conceived a three-step plan to connect people’s minds without harming them and began testing whether god power could pass through the Tree of Light.
• Arannis failed to transmit her god power through the Tree of Light, but Serina succeeded, and Jie Ning used Life God Power to modify the transmitted energy.
• Jie Ning explained that the Tree of Light and its offspring would form a continent-wide Magic Array to gather elements, then help connect souls and let him draw on everyone’s wisdom.
• Jie Ning said his ultimate goal was to make Bana Continent a cradle for God-level experts, while leaving the details of his third step for later.

Jie Ning and Gru put Jie Ning’s continent-wide plan into action, using the Light Spirit Trees, Jade Spirit Trees, and the Tree of Light to complete a vast Magic Array. The array helped the Tree of Light form a Wind God Avatar and created a new Life God Power array; Jie Ning then told Gru the next step was to distribute Communication Devices.

• Jie Ning secured Gru’s support, and they planned to place temples at the array nodes and recruit guards through competitions.
• Jie Ning, Serina, and the Tree of Light activated the Magic Array by linking the Light Spirit Trees and Jade Spirit Trees across the continent.
• The array revealed the Laws and Profound Mysteries to Serina and the Tree of Light, and the Tree of Light formed a Wind God Avatar.
• Jie Ning used the completed cycle to create a second Magic Array dominated by Life God Power, which made people near the nodes feel more alert.
• Jie Ning contacted Gru and told him to begin distributing the Communication Devices, and Gru said he had already prepared for their rollout.

After ten years of spreading Communication Devices across Bana Continent, Jie Ning prepared to expand their use with two new options: a collective cultivation alliance and a Death Rule technique that linked users to undead creatures. He set safety limits for the new technique and left Gru to announce the plan.

• Over ten years, Bana Continent flourished as elemental concentration rose, while Communication Devices spread across the continent.
• Jie Ning showed Gru how people could join a Continental Alliance and contribute Soul Power to form a collective entity called Super Intelligence, which would offer cultivation assistance in exchange for Points.
• Jie Ning proposed the Spirit Seeding Technique, which would connect users' souls to undead creatures so that the creatures' devouring strengthened their hosts' souls.
• Jie Ning set restrictions for Spirit Seeding, limiting access to people with spiritual power at level six or above and banning applications from anyone under sixteen.
• Gru agreed to Jie Ning's standards and promised to announce the new Communication Device options.

Jie Ning launched the second phase of his Communication Device plan by gathering soul fragments from those who joined the Continent Alliance and combining them into a Divine Spark. He created a basic Super Intelligence that could grow stronger over time, leaving its participants’ souls connected to its development.

• Gru’s Communication Device options spread across the Bana Continent, while Jie Ning restricted the Undead Realm option to suitable targets with strong mental power.
• After learning that Jie Ning was both the God of Life and the God of Death, some upper-class figures considered choosing multiple options, but Jie Ning ruled that out.
• A month later, Jie Ning instructed Alliance members to press their Communication Devices to their foreheads and extracted a wisp of soul from each participant.
• Jie Ning placed the gathered soul fragments and a wisp of his own soul into an Earth Demigod Divine Spark, then synchronized and erased their subjective consciousness.
• The soul collective formed a basic Super Intelligence, which Jie Ning nourished with a Magic Array as its connected participants felt their souls subtly strengthened.
• Around one billion people had joined the plan, and Jie Ning concluded that Super Intelligence still had considerable room to grow.

Jie Ning began sending more than one hundred thousand volunteers into the Undead Realm as skeletons, planting Soul Seeds in them so he could share their experiences and gain insights into death and destruction. Buster survived his first encounter with stronger undead, while the volunteers’ arrival barely registered across the realm.

• Jie Ning used the Life and Death God Avatars and the Life God Avatar’s Magic Array to prepare the volunteers’ souls for the Spirit Seeding Technique.
• Jie Ning sent the first thousand volunteers into weak, remote skeleton bodies and planted a wisp of his Soul Power in each soul.
• Buster adapted to his fragile skeleton body, defeated five skeletons, and absorbed their Soul Fires to grow stronger.
• Bone Birds nearly shattered Buster’s soul, but Jie Ning’s Soul Seed stabilized it before an Undead Knight killed the birds and departed.
• More than one hundred thousand volunteer-controlled skeletons appeared across the Undead Realm, where their arrival caused little notice.

Beile gathered Jie Ning and the others to explain the Blade Army’s mission to secure positions near Hell’s Teleportation Arrays and support a campaign to spread faith across the Material Planes. Jie Ning and Mosang joined Beile’s team, which set out toward Mirror Moon Cliff, while the other teams flew in different directions.

• Beile told the gathering that the Blade Army would station teams near Hell’s Teleportation Arrays to receive soldiers returning from missions in the Material Planes.
• Jie Ning explained that the Overgod needed Faith Power and that the arrays’ return routes were random, so the Army had to cover multiple locations.
• Beile said his team would visit four nearby families with ties to multiple Overgods, and Jie Ning suspected they were the Four Divine Beasts Clan on the Blood Peak Continent.
• The group chose Mosang to accompany Beile and Jie Ning, and Beile ordered Jie Ning and Mosang to select a hundred subordinates each.
• A week later, Beile led the several hundred-person team aboard a Golden Dragon Metal Lifeform and warned them not to enter conflict with followers of another Overgod.
• Six Golden Dragons departed Blade City in different directions.

Jie Ning and his companions traveled through Hell, discussing why Highgods became bandits before their Metal Lifeform was caught in strange gravity. Jie Ning recognized that Zi Jing had appeared and identified her as an Overgod, and she asked how he had figured it out.

• Jie Ning exposed Mosang's bets on his battles, and Mosang flew off to confront the other bettors.
• Beile explained that Highgod bandits sought ambition and resources, and revealed that the Blade Army had once been bandits under their Army Lord.
• The group resumed their journey, but their Metal Lifeform was seized by strange gravity and landed in a misty area.
• Jie Ning suspected the group was in the Purple Crystal Mountain Range and sent Beile a Telepathic Message to offer their Metal Lifeform.
• Zi Jing appeared after Beile offered the Metal Lifeform, and Jie Ning identified her as an Overgod.
• Zi Jing praised Jie Ning's cleverness and asked how he had recognized her interest in the Metal Lifeform.