Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren and his allies finalized a plan to breach the Nightmare Lair by destroying three crystal pillars, then set out with the fairies stored in the Data Terminal. After reaching the crystal-pillar layer, Hao Ren detonated the explosives on the final pillar to begin the assault.

• Hao Ren, Vivian, and the others agreed to collapse three crystal pillars to open a passage to the Nightmare Source without bringing down the entire crust.
• The group spent four hours refining the operation plan, using the fairies' records of Amantir and the corruption army.
• Hao Ren's group downloaded several thousand fairies into the Data Terminal, and the fairies entered its storage safely.
• Lily and Roll returned from running around the miniature planet, and Hao Ren's elite squad used the unstable secret path to reach the crystal-pillar layer.
• Hao Ren's group installed explosives on the three pillars, while the fairies identified wreckage from Nakdal and described how monsters had used dead Guardian Giants as raw materials.
• Hao Ren pressed the detonator as the fairies cheered for trouble.

Hao Ren and his team collapsed a crystal pillar to breach the Nightmare Lair, unleashing catastrophic damage across Amantir. Inside, they discovered the lair was a living mass of flesh and that a giant brain connected to the Amantir Crystal guarded its center; their assault began, but the brain remained protected by many energy barriers.

• Hao Ren's chain explosions toppled a crystal pillar, triggering massive quakes, a failed energy barrier, and a torrent of magma into the crystal-pillar layer.
• Vivian spotted the passage opening in the dome, and Hao Ren led the team through the red membrane into the Nightmare Lair.
• Lily transformed and fired her Dog Cannon at the strongest energy reaction, destroying obstacles but penetrating only several of the brain's energy shields.
• Hao Ren saw the lair's grotesque living interior and realized its giant inverted brain was connected directly to the Amantir Crystal.
• Nangong May used a water-mist barrier to counter the lair's mental shock, while Hao Ren and Nangong Sanba led the team forward and opened fire.

Hao Ren and his allies attacked the Giant Brain in the Nightmare Lair, overcoming its defenses while fighting off Mutated Monsters and Nightmare creatures. The Godslaying Sword’s prattle suppressed the brain’s mental assault as the team continued bombarding its shields.

• Mutated Monsters emerged from the lair’s flesh walls, and Hao Ren deployed mechanical units and drones to hold them back while his squad attacked the Giant Brain’s shields.
• Hao Ren discovered the shields were regenerating more slowly than the team could destroy them and ordered everyone to maintain their fire.
• The Giant Brain began struggling to awaken, causing Nightmare creatures to leak into reality and its whispers to fill the attackers’ minds with illusions.
• Vivian awakened Lily and told Izax to connect everyone to Hao Ren with a Soul chain, then Hao Ren drew the Godslaying Sword and its companion blade.
• The Godslaying Sword’s prattle drowned out the Giant Brain’s whispers and dispelled the illusions, allowing Lily, Vivian, Izax, and the turrets to keep attacking the shields.

Hao Ren and his allies destroyed the Dream-Weaving Brain in the Nightmare Lair as the Corruptors’ guards closed in. The Lair began collapsing, but the Autonomous Mechanical Units secured a powerful crystal before the group withdrew.

• The guards began forcing their way into the Nightmare Lair while Roll warned Hao Ren that monsters were about to break in.
• Lily exhausted her divine power, and Hao Ren used his autonomous turrets to keep attacking the Dream-Weaving Brain’s remaining barriers.
• Hao Ren resisted the Giant Brain’s hallucinations and used the Godslayer Sword and the two Universe Shards to destroy it.
• The Giant Brain’s final words warned that someone or something would wake, and the Nightmare Lair began collapsing.
• The Autonomous Mechanical Units shielded a powerful crystal and vanished with it as Hao Ren called for the group to pull out.

Hao Ren and his team escaped Amantir after destroying the Nightmare Lair and taking the Amantir Crystal, while the planet’s collapsing structure left the Corruptors’ base vulnerable. The drones prepared a massive Annihilation Spear as Nolan raced the team to safety.

• Salamander watched Amantir’s crust collapse after the crystal pillar layer was damaged and waited anxiously for news from Hao Ren’s team.
• The drones ended their standby and cleared their barriers as Salamander received a coded message confirming that the team had succeeded.
• Nolan sped through the Corruptors’ defenses while Hao Ren and his allies held off monsters inside the collapsing Nightmare Lair.
• Nolan reached the rendezvous point, and Hao Ren’s team teleported away just before an explosive device destroyed the Control Center.
• The drones revealed a spear-shaped weapon built from giant crystals, and Nolan announced that the Annihilation Spear was fully charged.

Hao Ren destroyed Amantir with a makeshift superweapon, ending the war and returning with Salamander’s forces to the hub. As the survivors began postwar recovery, Hao Ren and Salamander examined the reclaimed Amantir Crystal and discussed its contamination.

• Hao Ren fired the overloaded Annihilation Spear, which destroyed Amantir and its Corruptors, Nightmare Lair, and power of Madness, before the weapon itself broke apart.
• Salamander watched Amantir’s destruction in disbelief, then agreed with Hao Ren to return to the hub while drones handled the battlefield cleanup.
• After a day of rest, Hao Ren and Salamander organized searches for surviving minions of Madness and began rebuilding the hub and its facilities.
• Salamander raised research into the Throne of the End and Throne Network, while Hao Ren agreed but prioritized studying the Amantir Crystal and the fairies stored on the Data Terminal.
• Hao Ren and Salamander examined the Nakdal, Agudar, and Amantir Crystals in a laboratory, and Hao Ren noted that the Amantir Crystal had been contaminated but had survived.

Hao Ren investigated the damaged Amantir Crystal, the fate of the Starry Sky People, and the Throne Network after the battle. The analysis revealed that the Throne Network’s core commands had been defective since it was first completed.

• Salamander explained that the Lord of Madness’s contamination had stopped, but the damage to the Amantir Crystal made it unlikely to resonate with the other crystals again, so Hao Ren planned to scan and virtually reconstruct its data.
• The fairies were safely transferred into new Node Crystals, and Asuman explained that the Ancient Ones fought to preserve the order created by the Creation Goddess.
• Salamander said the Starry Sky People had not responded for three thousand years and were unlikely to awaken after their souls and strength had been depleted.
• Hao Ren assigned the Crystal Core Research Station and the drone swarm to analyze the Throne Network, and the Data Terminal reported that more than ninety percent of its core commands were impossible to execute.
• The Data Terminal explained that the fairies had compared the Throne Network against a snapshot from the day it was completed, leading Hao Ren to realize the network had been defective from the beginning.

Hao Ren brought one-third of the Guardian Legion from X Sector to Tanagrus, where the giants reunited with Muru, Lemendusa, and Siv. The Guardian Giants began settling on the planet, leaving the reunion to continue as they joined their kin.

• Hao Ren told Salamander that the Throne Network had an inherent flaw, and Salamander accepted that the Legion would have to wait longer before activating it.
• Hao Ren and Vivian invited Salamander and the Guardian Giants to visit Tanagrus and reunite with their surviving kin.
• Nolan led the Giant Turtle Rock Platform and hundreds of Guardian Black Starships through a warp jump to the Crystal Core Research Station.
• Salamander saw Tanagrus and sensed the Creation Goddess's life-giving aura, then agreed to keep the giants away from the Zhuom settlements.
• Hao Ren arranged for the Guardian Giants to land in batches in Tanagrus's northern wilderness, where Muru, Lemendusa, and Siv embraced their kin.

Hao Ren visited the Guardian Giants’ old camp and explained the truth about the Creation Goddess’s corruption and the Creation Engine. He returned to the Outer World with a plan to help the Giants build the engine’s shell while he investigated how to modify it.

• Hao Ren watched Zhuom youths leave flowers and painted stones at Siv’s camp, and Siv and Lemendusa explained that the offerings expressed gratitude for helping their town.
• Lemendusa and Siv asked Hao Ren about the Creation Engine and their mother, so he recounted how the Lord of Madness had infected the Creation Goddess and caused her split personality.
• Lemendusa, Muru, and Siv accepted that the corrupted personality was not their mother, and Siv said she trusted Hao Ren would not let the Creation Engine fulfill its original mission unchecked.
• Hao Ren asked Lemendusa to continue building the Creation Engine’s shell while he returned to the Outer World to analyze the technology and arrange modifications.
• Hao Ren finished organizing follow-up matters in the Dream Plane and returned to the Outer World with information for his Goddess.

After returning from the Dream Plane, Hao Ren reported his discoveries to Raven 12345 and retrieved the little weakling, who had learned to ask for food and show thanks. Raven 12345 explained that the Throne Network data could help improve the Creation Engine and reveal how to work safely with the Wall of Reality, and she told Hao Ren to wait while she sought the necessary components.

• Hao Ren visited Raven 12345 and handed her his report on the Dream Plane discoveries.
• Raven 12345 summoned the little weakling, who asked Hao Ren for food and bowed to thank him after Raven reminded her.
• Raven 12345 said her care had helped her understand how the Lord of Madness's power affected the Creation Goddess's creations.
• After reading Hao Ren's report, Raven 12345 said the Creation Goddess's plan to destroy her household could not continue and that the Throne Network and Creation Engine could be useful after modifications.
• Raven 12345 explained that the Throne Network data could help reconstruct the Dream Plane's original world barrier and guide safer work on the Wall of Reality.
• Raven 12345 told Hao Ren to wait two days while she applied for advanced components to fix the systems' flaws.

Hao Ren discussed the Creation Goddess’s plan and the Dream-Weaving Brain’s warning with Raven 12345, who agreed to seek technical support and decode the divine-kingdom beacon. After Hao Ren left, Raven 12345 revealed that she had boasted about her ability and begged Raven 23333 to solve the problem for her.

• Raven 12345 explained that the Creation Goddess sought to destroy all true-god imprints and told Hao Ren to stop her from carrying out that plan.
• Raven 12345 agreed with Hao Ren and Vivian that the Dream-Weaving Brain’s warning linked the Creation Goddess and the Lord of Madness through a shared dream.
• Raven 12345 said Hao Ren’s team should send her scan data for the three crystals so she could work out the divine-kingdom beacon within half a month.
• After Hao Ren left, Raven 23333 questioned Raven 12345’s confidence, and Raven 12345 admitted she needed help deciphering the beacon.

Hao Ren returned home with Little Weakling, whose newfound fear of noodles suggested Raven 12345 had disciplined her by feeding her the food she hated. During dinner, Lily asked Hao Ren to help improve her limited ranged combat abilities, leaving him to consider a firepower upgrade for her.

• Hao Ren returned home with meat and Little Weakling, and Lily rushed to greet him and claim the meat for dinner.
• Little Weakling woke frightened, then recognized Vivian and drank water; the others noticed she had become calmer than before.
• Little Weakling hid from a bowl of cold noodles, leading Hao Ren and the others to suspect Raven 12345 had repeatedly fed her noodles to tame her.
• Doudou set Nangong Sanba's clothes on fire during dinner, and May put out the flames while Vivian dealt with Fish Baby.
• Lily told Hao Ren that her Dog Cannon quickly exhausted her energy and asked him to devise a firepower upgrade.

Hao Ren designed and built Heavy-Armored Lily MK-I to improve Lily’s beastified combat form, then took her to Erem’s satellite to test it. The collar expanded into heavy combat armor, and its systems began reporting online.

• Lily asked Hao Ren to upgrade her combat equipment, and he agreed to improve the weaknesses of her beastified form.
• Hao Ren and the others discussed Lily’s combat needs, while Roll confused the phrase “sucking cats” and brought Hao Ren a straw.
• Hao Ren and the Data Terminal designed and manufactured Heavy-Armored Lily MK-I as a heavy mobile firepower platform.
• Hao Ren took Lily and the others to a weapons testing station on Erem’s satellite and gave Lily a small activation collar.
• Lily transformed, and the collar expanded into heavy armor as its systems—including weapons, support devices, and a doggy communication device—reported normal.

Hao Ren unveiled a powerful battle armor for Lily, which transformed her into an armored siege beast and let her speak in her Big Dog form. After Lily tested its weapons and features, the armor folded back into a collar, and she thanked Hao Ren for the gift.

• Hao Ren showed Lily the battle armor, which unfolded from her collar and covered most of her transformed body.
• Lily discovered that the armor’s Doggy Communication Device let her speak while transformed, then learned to control its systems through the brainwave reader.
• Hao Ren explained the armor’s shields, missiles, sensors, air-defense beam array, and targeting system, while Lily tested its features.
• Lily asked where Hao Ren would ride, and he revealed a chair, passenger pod, and seats built into the armor.
• Lily returned to human form as the armor collapsed into a collar, and Hao Ren explained that it stored the equipment in a connected space.
• Lily told Hao Ren that she liked the armor and thanked him.

Hao Ren learned that Raven 12345 had finished analyzing the Amantir Crystal and received a reassembled coordinate marker that Giant Turtle Rock Platform could read directly. Raven warned him to prepare for the greatest challenge he had faced so far.

• Hao Ren explained that Lily’s combat armor could support the team with defensive fields and emergency medical systems, and warned her that its emergency disengagement function could leave the armor fighting independently until it was destroyed.
• Nangong May asked for similar armor, but Izax and Vivian said it would not suit them; Hao Ren joked that borrowing rare treasures from Raven 12345 would be more useful.
• Vivian reminded Hao Ren that Raven 12345’s promised analysis of the Amantir Crystal was due, and Raven soon summoned him to the divine kingdom with news that she had solved the coordinates.
• Raven 12345 gave Hao Ren a coordinate marker assembled from the recovered data, explaining that it no longer needed the three original crystals and could interface directly with Giant Turtle Rock Platform.
• Raven 12345 told Hao Ren to prepare because the next undertaking might be the greatest challenge he had faced.

Raven 12345 gave Hao Ren a Star Domain Divine Race World Management Terminal to connect to the Creation Goddess's Throne Network and replace Vivian as its control core. Hao Ren prepared to take the device into the Dark Domain, where it could help him escape the shattered divine kingdom and revive his team once.

• Hao Ren considered the dangers of entering the Creation Goddess's lost divine kingdom in the Dark Domain.
• Raven 12345 presented Hao Ren with a World Tree seed, explaining that it would grow into a World Management Terminal comparable to a Sovereign Hub.
• Raven 12345 explained that the Terminal would connect to the Throne Network and replace Vivian as its control core, with the Creation Goddess sharing administrator authority with Hao Ren.
• Raven 12345 warned that the Terminal could be dangerous to operate but would activate automatically when placed near the Throne Network's highest connection port.
• Raven 12345 said the Terminal could pull Hao Ren and his companions out of the shattered divine kingdom and grant each of them one full-health resurrection.

Hao Ren received the World Management Terminal and learned that Doudou had to accompany him to the Dark Domain. After returning home, he told Vivian and the others that the expedition to find the Creation Goddess’s divine kingdom was ready to begin and revealed the World Tree seed.

• Raven 12345 explained that the World Management Terminal could restore order in the Dream Plane, but its resurrection mark could only be used once in the Dark Domain.
• Hao Ren took food from Raven 12345’s desk, then learned from her Prophecy Crystal that he had to bring Doudou on the mission.
• The Prophecy Crystal revealed that Lily had stolen Hao Ren’s pork rib rice and that Vivian was making egg fried rice while electrocuting Lily.
• Hao Ren returned home and told Vivian and the others that the marker leading to the Creation Goddess’s divine kingdom had been completed.
• Hao Ren showed the group the World Tree seed and explained that it could replace Vivian as the CPU on the Throne of the End.

Hao Ren and his companions prepared for their expedition into the Dark Domain, discussing the risks, the World Tree Seed, and the need to bring Dodo. After the meeting, Hao Ren comforted Vivian as she worried about meeting the Creation Goddess, and they planned to plant the World Tree at the hub before setting out.

• Lily’s noisy excitement brought the household together to inspect the World Tree Seed and Dark Domain beacon, and Hao Ren explained how the seed could connect to the Throne Network.
• Hao Ren shared snacks from Raven 12345, and the group discussed the dangers awaiting them in the lost divine kingdom and the possibility of confronting surviving God Slayers or lingering disasters.
• Hao Ren told the group that Raven 12345’s prophecy required them to bring Dodo, and he explained that they needed to plant the World Tree before using the Giant Turtle Rock Platform to enter the Dark Domain and open a passage for the army.
• Vivian and Hao Ren agreed that they would plant the tree at the hub and then inform Salamander and the Guardian Giants about their coming march into the Dark Domain.
• On the roof, Vivian admitted that she was nervous about meeting the Creation Goddess and worried she had failed her creator’s expectations, so Hao Ren reassured her with jokes and promised to make the goddess do homework if she mistreated Vivian.

Hao Ren and his companions returned to the Hub to connect the World Tree Seed to the Throne of the End, hoping the World Tree would help restore the Dream Plane and prepare the Guardians to search the Dark Domain for their mother. After gaining the fairies’ permission to enter the throne hall, Hao Ren placed the seed on the throne.

• Salamander and the Guardian Legion began traveling between Tanagrus and the Hub, helping rebuild the Dream Plane and ease its labor shortage.
• Hao Ren and Salamander surveyed the busy Tanagrus spaceport and discussed how the World Tree Seed could help them search for their mother in the Dark Domain.
• Hao Ren’s group returned to the Hub, where the Guardians and drones continued clearing war damage and rebuilding defenses.
• Vivian reunited with the fairies, and Hao Ren explained that connecting the World Tree would not take away her role as their queen.
• The fairies let Hao Ren’s group enter the Throne of the End, where Hao Ren placed the World Tree Seed on the throne.

Hao Ren and his companions installed the World Tree Seed on the Throne of the End, and it grew into a colossal tree connecting Hub Star to the Dream Plane. With the World Tree’s main control system online, Hao Ren prepared his companions for their first expedition into the Dark Domain.

• Hao Ren’s group waited as the World Tree Seed began its startup and spread glowing patterns through the hall.
• The World Tree rapidly enveloped Crystal Peak, cleared the planet’s cloud layer, and connected with the universe through an immense network of threads.
• Hao Ren and his companions returned to the Throne of the End hall and saw that the throne had been sealed inside the World Tree’s central vines.
• Hao Ren accessed the World Tree’s automatic control system and gathered the expedition team to set their resurrection points.
• The World Tree recorded the team members’ information snapshots as rings of light surrounded them, while Salamander watched from outside.