Chapter Summaries

Lily and the others entered White Maple City after repelling an attack, then hurried to Lia’s mage tower to investigate the Great Pit. Hao Ren discovered that written accounts of the Great Pit had changed, leaving him to conclude that the setting had changed.

• Lily climbed over White Maple City’s wall with her teammates aboard, then shook them off after landing.
• Hao Ren announced that the group had come to help defend the city and said they needed to reach Lia’s mage tower.
• Lia vouched for the group to a Guard Officer, and Hao Ren explained that they wanted to look up information.
• The group entered Lia’s library and found a popular book describing the Great Pit as a void filled with floating fragments.
• Lily and Nangong Sanba noticed that the books’ descriptions had changed, and Hao Ren told Vivian that the setting had changed.

Hao Ren revealed that La Rian was a dream layered over the shattered Founding Star, then awakened the world by having Vivian summon the red moon. After the dream dissolved, the group saw another ruined planet, leading Hao Ren to suspect that La Rian had not been entirely a dream.

• Hao Ren explained that the world’s setting had changed and asked Vivian to begin.
• Vivian summoned the red moon, causing the world’s inhabitants to stop and stare at it.
• Hao Ren confronted Lia, who dissolved into light as La Rian disappeared and revealed the shattered Founding Star.
• Hao Ren explained that the group had been living in a dream and suggested the Creation Goddess or Destruction Goddess had created it.
• Nolan began scanning the ruins for divine power while Hao Ren’s group searched for the Creation Goddess.
• Lily spotted another shattered planet, and Hao Ren concluded that La Rian might not have been entirely a dream.

Hao Ren and his companions found the Creation Goddess sleeping amid the ruins of the Founding Star in the Dark Domain and woke her. He explained how he had realized that La Rian was her dream, leaving the Goddess curious about the little weakling who had never entered it.

• Hao Ren and his companions followed Nolan's signal across the shattered Founding Star and found the Creation Goddess asleep on a small patch of grass.
• Hao Ren spoke to the Goddess, and she opened her eyes and asked how he had discovered that La Rian was a dream.
• Hao Ren described clues in La Rian, including its unusual ecosystem, unexplained ruins, and the Great Pit's resemblance to the Subconscious Layer.
• Hao Ren released the little weakling and explained that her chaotic nature made her incompatible with the ordered dream, so she had remained in the real Dark Domain.
• Hao Ren said that seeing the little weakling move freely through the Great Pit had convinced him that La Rian was a dream.

Hao Ren and his companions awakened the Creation Goddess from the La Rian dream, and she learned how her plans had failed and what had happened in the Dream Plane. The Goddess accepted Vivian’s independent identity and asked Hao Ren to explain the outside world, while the group began to realize that La Rian’s dream had briefly assimilated them.

• Hao Ren explained that his experience with nightmares and the little weakling had helped him recognize La Rian as a dream.
• The Creation Goddess recognized the traces of power in Vivian and accepted that Vivian had grown beyond the identity and mission she had planned.
• Hao Ren told the Goddess that the Throne of the End had been flawed and that Vivian had rejected it after losing her memories in another universe.
• Hao Ren described the Dream Plane’s decline, the corrupted beings and ruined worlds, and his group’s efforts to deal with the disasters.
• The Goddess revealed that Lia had been one of her incarnations and that the dream’s safeguards had centered on her; Hao Ren then warned the group that the dream’s assimilation had taken effect once.

Hao Ren discovered that the group’s Resurrection Marks had been consumed when La Rian’s dreamscape assimilated them, while Nolan resisted assimilation because her Void Engine lay beyond the dreamscape’s understanding. Creation Goddess revealed that La Rian had once been a real planet in a small universe beyond the boundary of the world, which the Founding Star’s explosion destroyed.

• Hao Ren explained that the Resurrection Marks had shielded the group from La Rian’s assimilation, and Doudou’s mark had been consumed despite her time in his causality-isolating storage space.
• Creation Goddess said Nolan escaped assimilation because the dreamscape could not account for her Void Engine.
• Hao Ren asked whether La Rian had an origin, and Creation Goddess pointed out the real planet visible in the ruins beyond the world’s boundary.
• Creation Goddess revealed that La Rian had once existed in a small universe where she landed after the Founding Star exploded.
• Creation Goddess said she had held back the Founding Star’s shockwave for about two hundred years before it destroyed that universe and La Rian, after which she fell asleep and La Rian became one of her dreams.

The Creation Goddess told Hao Ren how the God-slaying War had sent La Rian into the Dark Domain, where it was destroyed, and how her dream later restored it in reality. As she recalled the purpose behind her dream, a terrifying will descended upon the trembling ruins of the divine kingdom.

• The Creation Goddess explained that the God-slaying War was her plan, but the divine kingdom’s explosion sent her and its ruins into a dying spacetime, where La Rian was destroyed and the energy became the Dark Domain.
• The Creation Goddess said she had watched La Rian’s civilization during her long slumber and created its dreamscape from her regret over the planet’s destruction.
• Hao Ren showed the Creation Goddess probe images of a living La Rian, including White Maple City, and explained that her dream had restored the planet in reality.
• The Creation Goddess began recording how her dreamscape affected reality, then started remembering why she had created the dream.
• The Creation Goddess remembered the dream’s purpose, and the ruins of the divine kingdom shook as a terrifying will descended.

The Creation Goddess remembered that she had created La Rian’s Dream to seal another version of herself, the Destruction Goddess, who had survived the divine kingdom’s fall. The Destruction Goddess emerged from a cocoon and attacked Hao Ren, but Raven 12345’s blessing shielded him as reinforcements began arriving through spatial rifts.

• The Creation Goddess recalled that she had bound her surviving counterpart inside a dream and sealed her away by splitting off her memories.
• Energy from the ruins gathered into a cocoon, which soon hatched the pale Destruction Goddess.
• Hao Ren prepared to fight, but the Creation Goddess warned that she could not defeat her counterpart after their long sleep.
• The Destruction Goddess sent a space-deleting ripple at Hao Ren, but Raven 12345’s blessing protected him with the Rigid Shield.
• Hao Ren pointed to the chaotic void as countless spatial rifts opened and two massive armies entered.

Hao Ren and the Creation Goddess led the Guardian Legion and drone forces in a massive assault on the Destruction Goddess, but she survived and created mirror copies of their forces. The battle spread across the ruins as everyone faced an equal copy, leaving the allies locked in combat on the ground and in space.

• Nolan activated the beacon, bringing the Guardian Legion and drone fleets into the Dark Domain, where the awakened Creation Goddess took the World-Breaking Blade and ordered them to attack the Destruction Goddess.
• The Creation Goddess and Hao Ren ordered maximum firepower, but the Destruction Goddess compressed the bombardment and unleashed an energy storm that destroyed ships and blasted the Creation Goddess away.
• The Destruction Goddess created mirror copies of the Guardian warships and drones, turning the one-sided barrage into an evenly matched exchange of fire.
• The Destruction Goddess made mirror copies of Hao Ren's companions, and the group began fighting their counterparts as the Creation Goddess shielded the continent.

Hao Ren realized the Destruction Goddess was weakening as she spent power maintaining her mirrors and attacking him. He struck her with a chain-wrapped Bible that drained her strength, but she counterattacked as he swung it again.

• Hao Ren noticed that neither he nor Doudou had a mirror, then the Destruction Goddess began attacking him directly.
• Hao Ren endured the Destruction Goddess’s repeated attacks and realized her power was diminishing.
• Hao Ren concluded that creating the mirrors had weakened the Destruction Goddess and that she could not destroy everyone at once.
• Hao Ren predicted where the Destruction Goddess would appear and smacked her with his chain-wrapped Bible, sending her flying and further weakening her.
• The enraged Destruction Goddess sent a pale storm toward Hao Ren, who swung the Bible at her again.

Hao Ren fought the Destruction Goddess while collecting data on her combat patterns, then faced her ultimate attack, the “end of the world.” Doudou survived the attack unharmed, leaving the weakened goddess exposed as the Guardian Fleet and drones opened fire.

• Hao Ren used the Bible chained to a meteor hammer to battle the Destruction Goddess and confirm that her power had weakened.
• The Destruction Goddess reclaimed the power she had released to the Mirror Army and unleashed her “end of the world” attack on Hao Ren.
• Doudou escaped Hao Ren’s pocket dimension and intercepted the attack, then bounced up unharmed and spat at the Destruction Goddess.
• Hao Ren realized the Destruction Goddess’s ultimate attack had failed and ordered all units to fire at her.
• The Guardian Fleet and drone forces unleashed their firepower on the weakened Destruction Goddess.

Hao Ren and his allies survived a prolonged bombardment of the Destruction Goddess, but the Creation Goddess revealed that the Lord of Madness had reclaimed the badly wounded enemy into its Abyss cage. The group learned that Doudou’s resistance to the Destruction Goddess’s causal attack had caused a dangerous backlash, potentially carrying an explosive surprise into the Lord of Madness’s lair.

• Hao Ren, Vivian, and Izax watched the bombardment end and found the Destruction Goddess missing from the battlefield.
• The Creation Goddess confirmed that the Destruction Goddess had been dragged into the Abyss cage by the Lord of Madness, which reclaimed her as an extension of itself.
• The Creation Goddess explained that the bombardment had permanently weakened the Destruction Goddess and that the Abyss cage would keep her sealed away for a long time.
• The Creation Goddess asked how Doudou had blocked the Destruction Goddess’s end-of-the-world attack, and Hao Ren explained that Doudou’s world had already been destroyed and her existence was anchored to the Xiling Pantheon.
• The Creation Goddess revealed that the failed attack had caused the Destruction Goddess’s divine power to surge without an outlet, and Hao Ren realized the resulting living bomb had been taken back to the Lord of Madness.

After the Creation Goddess returned, she reunited with Salamander and learned that life still existed on La Rian. At an emergency meeting, the group assessed the Abyss cage and the threat posed by Lord of Madness, and the Goddess warned that his reunion with her evil duplicate would give him a clever brain.

• Aier brought Salamander and the Guardian Giants to meet the awakened Creation Goddess, who acknowledged her responsibility for the corruption of the Amantir legion.
• The Creation Goddess asked whether La Rian had survived the battle, and Salamander confirmed that the planet had not been harmed.
• The Creation Goddess chose to prioritize the Dream Plane crisis and joined an emergency meeting aboard Aier with Hao Ren, Salamander, Loken, Asuman, and other allies.
• Asuman reported that communication with the Abyss cage had failed, though the seal remained intact and the sentinel system seemed to be holding.
• Hao Ren said the Destruction Goddess's collision with their reactive armor would cause an energy burst that weakened Lord of Madness.
• The Creation Goddess warned that Lord of Madness's reunion with her evil duplicate would bring a major crisis because he would soon gain a clever brain.

Hao Ren warned that the Destruction Goddess’s union with the Lord of Madness could give it the ability to think, then began preparing for the coming war. He offered Lia a way to strengthen her power, and the chapter ended with him revealing a box of textbooks and exercise books.

• The Creation Goddess explained that the Destruction Goddess could give the Lord of Madness the ability to think, alarming Hao Ren and the others.
• Hao Ren argued against the Creation Goddess’s sacrificial plan and promised to help restore and strengthen her power.
• Hao Ren revised the war preparations, redirecting drone production toward combat and expanding Annihilation Spear research, Abyss monitoring, and defenses around the dark region.
• After the meeting, the Creation Goddess asked Hao Ren to call her Lia and requested to see his plan for increasing her power.
• Hao Ren opened a box filled with textbooks and exercise books and declared that knowledge was power.

Hao Ren gave Lia textbooks to strengthen her powers, then revealed that she had come from a drop of the Dark Valkyrie’s divine blood. Lia accepted the news happily, but Hao Ren said she could not meet her mother until the Dream Plane crisis eased and the expedition allowed it.

• Hao Ren presented Lia with divine textbooks and exercise books, and she was astonished by the knowledge inside them.
• Hao Ren explained that the books came from other pantheons and that Lia’s isolation had left her without proper education.
• Hao Ren told Lia she had been born when a drop of the Dark Valkyrie’s blood gave rise to a god.
• Lia accepted her unusual origins without resentment and became excited to learn that her mother was powerful.
• Hao Ren explained that the Dark Valkyrie cared about Lia but could not meet her while commanding an expedition and while the Dream Plane remained unstable.
• Lia returned her attention to the textbooks and asked whether knowledge was power, and Hao Ren affirmed that it was.

Hao Ren told Lia to study so she could strengthen herself for the coming war, then asked where she had hidden the Creation Engine. Lia revealed that it was concealed within the Sulun Galaxy and reconstructed it in space, leaving its core for Hao Ren to inherit.

• Hao Ren gave Lia a demanding study plan, and she agreed to study after he threatened her with the Meteor Hammer Bible.
• Hao Ren asked Lia where she had hidden the Creation Engine, and she said it was not in the Dark Domain.
• Lia revealed that the Creation Engine was concealed within the Sulun Galaxy itself and asked Hao Ren to project the galaxy's monitoring data.
• Lia combined and inverted images of the Sulun Galaxy's stars and orbits, revealing the Creation Engine's blueprint and summoning its core into space.
• Lia explained that the galaxy's appearance in the material world had been a signal for Vivian to retrieve the engine, then told Hao Ren the core belonged to him.

Hao Ren showed Lia the World Tree’s Dream and explained how its creations could be saved and projected onto planets, then prepared to return with Vivian and their companions. Lia agreed to be called by her new name, but Hao Ren’s teasing about her appearance ended with him fleeing through a portal.

• Lia watched a World Tree’s Dream scene of primitive people learning to make fire, and Hao Ren explained how its template could be saved and made real on a planet.
• Hao Ren and Lia returned to the World Tree’s main hall, where Lia reflected on how differently events had unfolded from what she had expected.
• Vivian and the others arrived, and Hao Ren reassured Nangong May that the fairies’ dizziness came from temporary incompatibility between the Throne Network and the World Tree.
• Lia offered to rewrite the fairies’ drivers, but Hao Ren warned her not to alter the system and urged her to focus on studying.
• Lia said the others could call her by her new name, and Hao Ren joked that she differed from his imagined Creation Goddess before fleeing with Vivian.

After returning from the battle with the Destruction Goddess, Hao Ren and Vivian discussed Lia’s subdued attitude and their limited time to prepare for Lord of Madness. Raven 12345 approved their decisions and revealed that Mistress Icedis had left a special gift among Lia’s textbooks to help her regain her fighting spirit.

• On the way back, Lily celebrated defeating a true god, while Vivian told Hao Ren that Lia’s gentle, detached demeanor differed from what she had expected.
• Hao Ren worried that Lia had lost her drive after her plans were repeatedly overturned, and Vivian asked whether the Raven Goddess could help her recover.
• Hao Ren reported the battle and Lia’s condition to Raven 12345, who praised the team’s survival and agreed that monitoring Lord of Madness was wiser than entering its lair.
• Raven 12345 warned that using the Prophecy Crystal to predict Lord of Madness could trigger destructive consequences, so Hao Ren abandoned the idea.
• Raven 12345 learned that Lia had begun studying and said Mistress Icedis had hidden a gift in the textbooks to help her.

After the Creation Goddess returned, Lia began studying the books left for her by Hao Ren and discovered a message from her mother, Shaymar Icedis Du Yi. Icedis appeared to Lia in a strange space and began addressing her doubts about whether protecting mortals mattered, ending by showing her other worlds.

• The Guardians and fairies celebrated the Creation Goddess’s return at the Final Hub, while Lia withdrew to the World Tree Temple to study.
• Lia opened An Introduction to Deities and found a message from her mother urging her blood descendant to fight fearlessly.
• Turning the page transported Lia into a mist-shrouded space, where Icedis appeared as a strand of consciousness.
• Icedis asked Lia whether she had grown hesitant, and Lia admitted that she doubted her efforts could protect a world from destruction.
• Icedis asked how mortals resisted the end of the world, then revealed scenes of other worlds across the endless void.

The Dark Valkyrie showed Lia countless worlds, including civilizations that had gone extinct, and taught her that mortals fought alongside gods to defend their homes. She urged Lia to keep fighting the Lord of Madness out of anger at the destruction he caused, then assigned her textbook study while Hao Ren and Raven 12345 discussed the Dark Domain.

• The Dark Valkyrie showed Lia the Great Nebula and other worlds, explaining that mortals defended their homes alongside the gods.
• She showed Lia the Extinct Civilization Archive and asked whether fighting mattered when so many worlds were doomed to fall.
• The Dark Valkyrie told Lia that their resistance mattered even without guaranteed success, then said anger at those who destroyed what they protected drove them to fight.
• Lia said the Lord of Madness made her extremely unhappy and that she wanted to fight for the slaughtered, so the Dark Valkyrie told her to underline the first textbook lesson.
• Hao Ren asked Raven 12345 whether the Dark Valkyrie's textbook lessons would work, and Raven 12345 assured him they would before turning to the Dark Domain.

Hao Ren presented samples from the Dark Domain, and Raven 12345 identified it as fragments of an independent universe attached to the Dream Plane. Their findings led them to suspect the Lord of Madness had destroyed the Dark Domain before infecting the Dream Plane, and they resolved to investigate Planet La Rian for clues to its weakness.

• Hao Ren showed Raven 12345 samples from Planet La Rian and the Dark Domain, and she identified the strange light as shattered, solidified world barrier.
• Raven 12345 concluded that the Dark Domain was likely a ruined universe that had clung to the Dream Plane’s world barrier since before the God-slaying War.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, and Raven 12345 proposed that the Lord of Madness might infect universes through collisions and be reborn from an informational singularity between hosts.
• Hao Ren and Raven 12345 briefly bickered about confronting the Lord of Madness before agreeing that Hao Ren should investigate Planet La Rian.
• Raven 12345 praised the little weakling for helping them escape La Rian’s Dream, but the creature hid in Vivian’s hair when Raven 12345 looked for her.