Chapter Summaries

Wang Zhifan practiced the Wind-Thunder Heaven-Treading Art on Gaia Star before learning that powerful Ash Domain monsters were overwhelming the Administration in Dongjiang City. As he drove to help, he agreed to attend Chen Ming and Chen Can’s banquet, while the battered Administration received word that someone had arrived to support them.

• Wang Zhifan enjoyed a picnic on Gaia Star, gained two Agility and three Spirit points, and practiced the Wind-Thunder Heaven-Treading Art across the air and sea.
• Chu Wei called Wang Zhifan for help against Ash Domain monsters in Dongjiang City, and he decided to drive to the battle to avoid drawing attention to his strength.
• Chen Ming invited Wang Zhifan to a player banquet and equipment exchange, and Wang Zhifan reluctantly agreed to attend the afternoon of the day after tomorrow.
• Chu Wei, He Qianqian, and the Administration’s teams struggled to contain the monsters, and a high-level demon Wang Zhifan had sold to the authorities was defeated.
• After He Qianqian pulled Chu Wei back to safety, a staff member reported that someone had arrived to support them, leaving He Qianqian stunned.

Wang Zhifan joined the Administration’s battle against the Ash Domain monsters and demonstrated his overwhelming strength. He killed two gigantic monsters with a single saber strike each, leaving the remaining enemies for the Administration to handle.

• Chu Wei convinced He Qianqian to let Wang Zhifan enter the restricted area to help fight the monsters.
• He Qianqian recognized Wang Zhifan but doubted he was strong enough to face the crisis, while Chu Wei vouched for him.
• Wang Zhifan drew the Blade of the Wolf Fiend and rushed toward the monsters despite He Qianqian’s warning about the ongoing gunfire.
• Wang Zhifan cut the long-tailed giant monster in half with one strike, and the beast died without regenerating.
• Wang Zhifan also killed the mountain-of-flesh monster with a single strike, then sheathed his saber and left the remaining enemies to the Administration.

After Wang Zhifan helped the Administration eliminate the restricted zone’s major monsters, he declined an offer to join and focused on cultivation and other preparations. He broke through in his movement art, handled business across several worlds, and learned that Captain Li Zhenguo planned to meet him when he returned to Dongjiang City.

• Wang Zhifan left Chu Wei and He Qianqian after refusing He Qianqian’s offer to recruit him into the Administration.
• Wang Zhifan cultivated overnight in the Mystic Chaos Secret Abode and broke through in the Wind-Thunder Heaven-Treading Art.
• Wang Zhifan tested his improved movement art on Gaia Star and resolved to continue cultivating it toward Lv3.
• Wang Zhifan inspected a frigate and combat robots on Urban Planet, then asked his female secretary to find him a high-end combat mecha.
• Wang Zhifan told Xiong Tianli he could only serve as Wind-Snow Tower’s nominal leader, and Xiong Tianli agreed to seek the other sect leaders’ support.
• Wang Zhifan asked Chu Wei about the Administration, and she warned him that Captain Li Zhenguo planned to meet him after returning to Dongjiang City.

Wang Zhifan chose the Mercenary identity in the Demon King instance and gathered clues from his companion, Jack, and a tavern owner. Jack’s hints pointed toward several dangerous locations, while the owner warned that the Demon King was more than a powerful monster.

• Wang Zhifan chose the Mercenary identity and met his loyal NPC companion, Jack, outside a tavern.
• Wang Zhifan and Jack entered the Wild Bee Tavern, where Wang Zhifan noticed other Players and asked the owner about the Demon King.
• The tavern owner said only the strongest Legendary Tier mercenary groups could pursue the Demon King, and a Player invited Wang Zhifan to join his team, but Wang Zhifan declined.
• Wang Zhifan asked Jack for information, and Jack named the Pitch-Black Tower, Devil Lake, and the Endless Dungeon as possible places linked to the Demon King before passing out drunk.
• Wang Zhifan returned to the counter to seek money for the drinks and heard the owner warn Players that the Demon King was far more than a powerful monster.

Wang Zhifan killed players who tried to attack him in the Wild Bee Tavern, then sold equipment with Jack’s help and hired him to gather information about the Demon King. Jack warned that the three suspected hiding places were dangerous and controlled by powerful groups, leaving Wang Zhifan to decide how to pursue them.

• Wang Zhifan waited for Jack to wake before selling his equipment, but two hostile players confronted him in the tavern.
• Wang Zhifan’s attackers and several players preparing to attack him suddenly died, while the survivors fled and later discussed their fear and need to find allies.
• Wang Zhifan denied responsibility, paid the tavern bill, looted the corpses, and left with Jack.
• Wang Zhifan sold equipment with Jack’s help, rewarded him, and asked him to gather information about the Demon King instead of fighting.
• Wang Zhifan named a tower, a lake, and a Dungeon as places to investigate, but Jack warned that they were dangerous and controlled by nobles or high-level mercenary groups.

Wang Zhifan entered the Pitch-Black Tower after forcing the guards to let him pass and discovered that its floors were separate worlds with different challenges. He defeated the first floor’s water monster and began fighting three opponents on the second floor.

• Wang Zhifan flew to the Pitch-Black Tower, found that its summit was protected, and approached its ground-level entrance.
• Wang Zhifan pressured the duke’s guards with his aura, prompting them to let him enter while they planned to claim any treasure he brought out.
• Wang Zhifan crossed the tower’s first floor, killed a water monster with Ice Source Power, and climbed to the second floor.
• Wang Zhifan leapt onto the second-floor platform and deflected a pointed-eared archer’s arrows and a frog creature’s tongue.
• Wang Zhifan split into three identical figures and charged at the archer, the blue-faced creature, and the frog as arrows pierced the copies.

Wang Zhifan tested his Dream Self clones, climbed to the third floor, and defeated its evil spirits before confronting a phantom merchant. The merchant offered to reveal the Demon King's whereabouts in exchange for Wang Zhifan's soul, but Wang Zhifan destroyed its contract and rewound time to stop its escape.

• Wang Zhifan's three Dream Self clones defeated the second-floor enemies, leaving him a mysterious longbow he chose to carry.
• Wang Zhifan crossed the crumbling spiral staircase, discovered a black cave entrance beneath it, and sent a Dream Self clone inside.
• Wang Zhifan landed on the dark third floor and killed its evil spirits with a single saber slash.
• A phantom merchant offered to provide the Demon King's whereabouts if Wang Zhifan signed a contract surrendering his soul.
• Wang Zhifan destroyed the contract with the Blade of Time, and the phantom fled after threatening revenge.
• Wang Zhifan used Rewind to bring the escaped phantom back to its original spot.

Wang Zhifan learned that the Demon King was sealed and that runes could reveal its location, then followed his clone to a plaza where mercenaries fought monsters to earn a key from a statue. He discovered that the statue accepted item sacrifices, but only after trading away valuable parchment scraps and equipment, and the chapter left him regretting how much the parchment might have been worth.

• Wang Zhifan tortured the illusory being with the Blade of Time until it revealed that the Demon King was sealed and that runes could reveal the seal's location, including one rune in the tower.
• Wang Zhifan connected to his clone's view of a plaza, where mercenaries fought bat-like monsters around a mysterious statue.
• After defeating the bats, the mercenaries sacrificed their battle to the statue and received a Copper Key.
• Wang Zhifan arrived at the statue and failed to start a combat sacrifice, then offered fine-grade gloves and received a rusty Black Iron Key.
• Wang Zhifan sacrificed the two parchment scraps from the illusory being and received a Gold Key, then traded his longbow for a Bronze Key.
• Wang Zhifan suspected the scraps had been extremely valuable and regretted sacrificing them without knowing their worth.

Wang Zhifan left the mercenaries behind and crossed to the fourth floor, where he lured a dragon from a lava sea and questioned it about the Demon King. The dragon revealed that the Demon King’s seal was nearing failure and that he would eventually break free to seek revenge.

• Wang Zhifan watched the mercenaries fight Mud Monsters, then left a clone to follow them and returned to the third floor.
• Wang Zhifan climbed the spiral staircase to the fourth floor and discovered a lava sea with a hidden creature beneath its surface.
• Wang Zhifan circled above the lava until a massive dragon emerged, then prepared to attack it with the Blade of Time.
• The dragon offered to let Wang Zhifan pass and told him the Demon King had been sealed more than two thousand years earlier.
• Wang Zhifan learned that the Demon King’s seal was close to failing and that the Demon King could break free within ten years, or might already have escaped.
• The dragon explained that the runes led to the seal so people could reinforce it, but the Demon King would eventually escape and seek revenge.

Wang Zhifan entered the Head Channel alone after refusing to wait a day for the adventurers to recover. The group assumed he had died when the passage’s battle ended almost immediately, but he had actually dodged the giant statue’s curse beams and was facing an enemy that grew stronger over time.

• Wang Zhifan left the lava floor, entered a cave with six adventurers, and examined three passages marked with different symbols.
• Adams explained the three enemies and invited Wang Zhifan to join the group in the Head Channel after a day of rest.
• Wang Zhifan refused to wait and entered the Head Channel alone, causing its human-head symbol to glow red and seal the passage.
• Adams and the petite female Assassin predicted Wang Zhifan would die and discussed claiming his weapon, but the symbol stopped glowing moments later.
• Wang Zhifan used a Dream Self clone to scout, then appeared in a weightless space before an enormous black human-head statue that attacked him with purple curse-light beams.

Wang Zhifan destroyed the tower’s giant black head with a single full-power strike, cleared its trial, and collected three door rewards. The Little Flying Elephant offered to modify his Sea God Meditation Ring into a storage ring in exchange for a Sweetfruit, and Wang Zhifan handed it over.

• Wang Zhifan used a full-power strike with the Blade of Time to pulverize the giant black head, clearing the trial and reaching the tower’s reward hall.
• The Little Flying Elephant told Wang Zhifan that his strength had let him skip trial floors and explained that the three locked doors held his rewards.
• Wang Zhifan opened the golden door and found a black greatsword and gray cloak, then collected a silver ring from the bronze door and left the wooden pitchfork behind the iron door.
• The Little Flying Elephant offered to convert one of Wang Zhifan’s rings into a storage ring in exchange for food, and Wang Zhifan paid with a Gaia Planet Sweetfruit.
• Wang Zhifan gave the Little Flying Elephant his Sea God Meditation Ring to modify.

Wang Zhifan escaped the tower with a modified Sea God Meditation Ring, then killed the Duke’s men when they tried to seize his black greatsword. Little Flying Elephant revealed that the sword was likely the soul-absorbing Evil Greatsword and that it was a sentient rune tied to the Demon King’s seal, asking Wang Zhifan to help defeat the Demon King when it broke free.

• Little Flying Elephant modified Wang Zhifan’s Sea God Meditation Ring and showed him how to store items in its space.
• Wang Zhifan left the tower, saw the mercenaries still fighting on a lower floor, and passed through the ground-floor exit.
• The knight commander and the Duke’s men tried to take Wang Zhifan’s black greatsword, so Wang Zhifan killed them with Ice Source Power.
• Wang Zhifan noticed the greatsword absorbing power from the dead and forced Little Flying Elephant out of his ring to identify it as the likely Evil Greatsword.
• Little Flying Elephant followed Wang Zhifan and revealed that it was a rune meant to help restore the Demon King’s seal after the Demon King was defeated.
• Little Flying Elephant said the Demon King would soon break its seal and asked Wang Zhifan to help stop it.

Wang Zhifan had his tower equipment appraised, learned that kingdoms were recruiting powerful adventurers, and traveled to the Endless Dungeon. After entering through a ruin and discovering signs of ambush and violence, he encountered a monster and a hidden hostile presence that let him pass.

• Wang Zhifan asked Jack to take him to the Artificers' Association, where an appraiser identified his Evil Greatsword, Shadow-Banishing Cloak, and silver ring.
• Wang Zhifan disguised himself as an old man, escaped the association using Entering Dreams and Dreambreaking, and reviewed the appraisal results on his way out of town.
• Wang Zhifan questioned Little Flying Elephant about the Demon King and learned that it was a plane-breaking demon monarch, while projection-capable demons were also high-level beings.
• Wang Zhifan reached the Endless Dungeon, used Dream Self clones to find an entrance, and chose a route through a ruin despite knowing that adventurers were being recruited by the kingdoms.
• Wang Zhifan smashed the ruin's entrance slab, killed an ambusher beneath it, and entered a dark passage littered with corpses.
• Wang Zhifan sensed a crawling monster and a more dangerous presence in the shadows, but the hidden enemy let him pass without attacking.

Wang Zhifan discovered that the Chapter of Gloom's United in Evil effect was making most monsters ignore him as he explored the Dungeon. On the third floor, he encountered an adventurer party investigating a grave said to hold a Demon King's descendant, and agreed to cooperate with them as its servants gathered.

• Wang Zhifan removed the Chapter of Gloom and triggered attacks from a crocodile monster and a spirit monster, then killed both with Ice Source Power.
• Wang Zhifan continued through the Dungeon, reached the third-floor underground wilderness, and followed a child's cries to a grave that fell silent when he tried to speak to it.
• Wang Zhifan hid as an adventurer party arrived, and the old mage said the grave held a Demon King's descendant whose soul could reveal whether the Demon King had returned.
• The old mage's spell exposed Wang Zhifan, prompting the party's bald Warrior, archer, and mage to attack him before the cowboy-hat player called for a stop.
• Wang Zhifan sheathed his blade and offered to cooperate for information about the Demon King, while the old mage warned that the descendant's servants were gathering around them.

Wang Zhifan helped defend the old mage’s ritual and learned more about the Demon King from a cowboy-hatted gunner. When the Demon King appeared briefly and killed the old mage and the spirit in the lantern, Wang Zhifan sensed its power and resolved to find it.

• Wang Zhifan and the cowboy-hatted gunner defended the ritual site from monsters, though many of the creatures bypassed Wang Zhifan and targeted the gunner.
• Wang Zhifan and the gunner exchanged information, learning that the Demon King was sealed in another dimension and that native factions were preparing to fight it.
• The old mage interrogated the Demon King’s descendant inside the lantern, which claimed excitedly that the Demon King was nearby.
• Wang Zhifan spotted a scarlet eye in the darkness, but it vanished before he could approach it.
• A powerful force turned the old mage to ashes and destroyed the lantern and the spirit inside it.
• Wang Zhifan sensed that the Demon King had demonstrated its power and decided that he wanted to confront it sooner.

Wang Zhifan sent a clone to escort the afflicted NPCs while he explored the Dungeon and fed monster souls to the Evil Greatsword. He discovered that the Demon King remained sealed, then captured Yicui Si and had her lead him toward the Darknight Clan's territory.

• The Demon King's power sickened the NPCs and killed the old mage, so the Priest led them back toward the surface without a teleportation scroll.
• Wang Zhifan sent a clone with the cowboy-hat gunman and the NPCs while his main body stayed behind to explore.
• Little Flying Elephant told Wang Zhifan that the Demon King had only projected its power and had not yet escaped its loosening seal.
• Wang Zhifan used the Evil Greatsword to absorb energy from corpses and slaughtered monsters as he searched the Dungeon.
• Wang Zhifan found Yicui Si, a Darknight Clan wilderness hunter, immobilized her, and questioned her about the Demon King and treasures.
• Yicui Si agreed to lead Wang Zhifan's clone toward her clan's territory while his main body continued hunting monsters.

Yicui Si led Wang Zhifan to the abyss, where he confronted a Bone Dragon and learned it had once been the Demon King. The Bone Dragon offered to help him defeat the current Demon King, leaving Wang Zhifan wary but interested in its plan.

• Yicui Si failed to shake Wang Zhifan and led him to a cliff, where she summoned a Bone Dragon as a sacrifice.
• The Bone Dragon attacked Wang Zhifan, but he met its blast with the Evil Greatsword and matched its power.
• Wang Zhifan questioned the Bone Dragon about the Demon King, and it revealed that it had once held that title before a demon stole its power.
• The Bone Dragon proposed luring the current Demon King into the abyss so they could defeat it together and strip it of its power.
• Wang Zhifan doubted the plan was as simple as the Bone Dragon claimed and considered whether the Demon King was stronger in its restored state.

Wang Zhifan defeated the Bone Dragon and helped Little Flying Elephant strip the creature’s power origin, which Little Flying Elephant said could grant immortality. He refused to fuse with it and suggested giving it to the injured Yicui Si instead.

• Wang Zhifan demanded proof of the Bone Dragon’s claims, so the Bone Dragon attacked him.
• Wang Zhifan used the Blade of Time to cleave the Bone Dragon in half, and Yicui Si woke from the shockwave but remained too injured to escape.
• The Bone Dragon’s remains slowly struggled to revive under Wang Zhifan’s Saber Intent, prompting Little Flying Elephant to propose stripping away its power origin.
• Wang Zhifan agreed to suppress the Bone Dragon while Little Flying Elephant spent over half an hour extracting its dark power origin.
• Little Flying Elephant offered the origin to Wang Zhifan, but he refused to fuse with it and suggested giving it to Yicui Si.

Wang Zhifan strengthened the Evil Greatsword, tested it by killing Yicui Si after she absorbed the Hell Dragon’s essence, and left a clone to watch her resurrection. He later returned to the royal capital, where he declined to join the army or a player squad and planned to find his own way into the battle against the Demon King.

• Little Flying Elephant fused the Hell Dragon essence into the dying Yicui Si, raising her strength to the threshold of Demon King level, while Wang Zhifan absorbed the Bone Dragon’s soul into the Evil Greatsword.
• Wang Zhifan struck down Yicui Si to test the sword, then detected her attempt to resurrect and left a clone to monitor her.
• Wang Zhifan slaughtered most of the Underground Wilderness, brought the Evil Greatsword close to its power limit, and returned to the expedition team’s base in the royal capital.
• A gunslinger player told Wang Zhifan that joining the high-level Demon King fighting team required a prestigious noble’s recommendation and urged him to join a player squad instead.
• Wang Zhifan refused to join the army or the player squad and said he would find another way to participate in the battle.

Wang Zhifan refused the gunner player's suggestion to join an elite team and recognized the noble convoy as the group he had seen in High Tower. After the injured Marcus told the grand duke about the missing treasures, Adams identified Wang Zhifan as the person who had cleared the Secret Curse Statue and was now in the city.

• Wang Zhifan refused to join a high-level group and heard that an Indian player had joined the Demon King Subjugation Group.
• Wang Zhifan recognized Marcus and the others in a noble convoy, while Adams noticed him and hid his reaction.
• The grand duke visited the injured Marcus and asked who had taken the treasures from High Tower.
• Marcus described the young man who had entered the Secret Curse Statue passage, and the grand duke suggested he might have cleared it quickly rather than died.
• Adams arrived and confirmed he had seen Wang Zhifan in the city, arguing that the lack of a corpse or belongings proved he had escaped the passage.
• The grand duke told Adams to give him everything he knew about Wang Zhifan.