Chapter Summaries

Hao Ren and Vivian confirmed that Soul Suppressing City had taken control of the Firstborn and prepared the planet’s ecosystem for the return of sunlight. The ancient spirits chose to remain and guide their descendants, as the crust opened and the first sunlight marked the New Solar Calendar.

• The city AI reported that Soul Suppressing City had taken over nearly all control of the Firstborn and outlined how it would adapt the planet to sunlight.
• Hao Ren ordered the city AI to prepare for the Fialli opening the crust and explained that the Firstborn would help the ecosystem survive the transition.
• Pandong told Vivian that the ancient spirits wanted to stay and teach their descendants, and Vivian offered them Soul Suppressing City as their Hall of Heroic Spirits.
• Gragon welcomed Bania and promised that the ancient spirits would guide the solar people toward a flourishing future.
• The Pillar Giant Tree’s stone dome was lifted away, sunlight reached the land for the first time in ten thousand years, and the New Solar Calendar began.

Hao Ren watched the Purgatory Planet begin its rebirth, then discovered that Examiners across the universe knew him by titles tied to the destruction and ruins that followed his missions. He began wondering why the Goddess had entrusted him with the Dream Plane, but Lily brushed off the question and asked him to brush her fur.

• Hao Ren watched the Giant Turtle Rock Platform leave Soul Suppressing City and saw the Fialli dismantling the planet’s petrified crust as the New Solar Dynasty prepared to revive its civilization.
• Hao Ren posted a probe image of the planet’s rebirth on the Examiners’ public channel and found dozens of Examiners asking whether anything had exploded.
• The Data Terminal told Hao Ren that he had earned titles such as “Wherever you go, things explode” and “Grave-Digging Professional.”
• Vivian asked why the Goddess had given Hao Ren responsibility for the Dream Plane, and Hao Ren and the Data Terminal agreed that the assignment was unusual.
• Lily suggested that Hao Ren ask the Goddess, then dismissed his concern and handed him a brush to groom her shedding fur.

Muru watched Planet Tanagrus recover as Zhuom rebuilt its society around the restored ecosystem. During his daily meditation at a Tanan observatory, he heard a signal from deep in the universe.

• Muru saw new plants and animals thriving around Alamanda and the Fountain of Origin, where Zhuom's source blood was restoring life.
• Muru watched Ulanov emerge from a source-blood pond, regain his intelligence at a broadcast tower, and begin registration in a settlement.
• Muru accepted the Zhuom as hardworking Secondborn and continued guarding the planet while their settlements grew.
• Muru meditated at a ruined Tanan observatory near the North Pole and heard a signal from the depths of the universe.

Hao Ren traveled to Tanagrus after Muru reported hearing a signal from another guardian. The signal came from Sulun's Gate, a galaxy that Muru had seen destroyed and dragged into the Dark Domain, and it was a plea for help.

• Roll accidentally ate nearly half a bottle of Hao Ren's sleeping pills and slept through the day.
• Muru contacted Hao Ren and said he had heard a voice he believed belonged to another guardian.
• Hao Ren, Izax, Elizabeth, and Doudou traveled to Golden City Alamanda to meet Muru.
• Muru told Hao Ren that the recorded signal carried the mark of Sulun's Gate, which had fallen during the God-Slaying War.
• Muru said the signal was a plea for help.

Muru told Hao Ren that a genuine distress signal from Sulun's Gate suggested the Dark Domain had connected to the main universe again, and the Space Station main unit began analyzing its coordinates. Hao Ren visited a new Zhuom settlement, where the residents recognized him as their Planet Lord, before someone unexpectedly called out to him and Nolan.

• Muru confirmed that he had received a genuine guardian signal from Sulun's Gate, though its source coordinates were unfamiliar and difficult to decode.
• Hao Ren sent Muru's recording to the Crystal Core Research Station for analysis and then agreed to visit a nearby Zhuom settlement.
• Hao Ren, Lily, Elizabeth, and the others toured the growing town and saw its mixture of primitive infrastructure and industrial supplies.
• Hao Ren summoned Nolan's hologram so she could see the Zhuom people, but she said she did not feel connected to them as an AI.
• The Zhuom residents recognized Hao Ren as their Planet Lord and explained through their actions that they had accepted his authority while rebuilding their society.
• A nearby voice unexpectedly called out to Hao Ren and then Nolan.

Hao Ren reunited with Ulanov, who described how the awakened Zhuom people were rebuilding their society on a new planet. Their conversation turned to the Zhuom’s faith in the Creation Goddess before a commotion interrupted them.

• Hao Ren and Nolan recognized Ulanov, who had recently awakened and was adjusting to life among the Zhuom.
• Ulanov explained that he expected to help build a water mill and prepare food stores before winter.
• Ulanov said the Zhuom had learned what happened to their planet and remembered praying to the Creation Goddess before entering the ark.
• Ulanov described how AI factories supplied basic necessities while the Zhuom rebuilt production and limited how many people awakened from the blood pool.
• A commotion in the central square interrupted Hao Ren and Ulanov’s conversation.

Hao Ren and his companions investigated why a blood pool had stopped reviving the dead, only to discover that the source blood recoiled from Doudou. The pool returned to normal after Hao Ren fished her out and put her away, leaving him to wonder why the source blood feared and revered her.

• Doudou emerged from Hao Ren's chest and watched the preparations for a revival at the plaza's blood pool.
• The source blood's revival process abruptly stopped, though checks showed that the signal tower and information chain were functioning normally.
• Hao Ren noticed that the source blood shifted away from him, then Doudou jumped into the pool and caused it to retreat until the pool was empty.
• Hao Ren used a fishing net to lift Doudou out, and the source blood flowed back together and resumed its activity.
• Hao Ren concluded that the source blood feared or revered Doudou.

Hao Ren and the others discovered that Doudou’s attention caused the Origin Blood to lose activity, but they could not explain the connection. They set the mystery aside to ask Raven 12345 later, then discussed the Zhuom people’s reliance on the blood pool and why they could not yet settle in Alamanda’s ruins.

• Hao Ren tested Doudou near the Origin Blood and found that it retreated when she focused on it, while its activity returned when she looked away.
• Muru recalled that the Origin Blood had also lost activity when Doudou was present during an earlier test of Zhuom’s control over it.
• Hao Ren decided to ask Raven 12345 about Doudou’s unexplained effect after the mission.
• Ulanov reassured Hao Ren that the person delayed during birth had safely received his soul after a half-hour wait.
• Ulanov and a Zhuom man explained that the people could not move to Alamanda because they depended on the blood pool, signal tower, and nearby supplies.
• Hao Ren concluded that the Zhuom people would eventually move toward the city ruins once they had gathered supplies and learned to cultivate the wilderness.

After confirming that the Zhuom people were rebuilding their society, Hao Ren left with Muru and the others to investigate a signal from another Guardian. Their destination, a celestial system that had not existed when the drones last checked, had apparently appeared within the past three days.

• Hao Ren decided not to interfere further with the Zhuom people’s recovery, and Ulanov said goodbye to him and Nolan.
• The Crystal Core Research Station identified the signal’s source 12.6 billion light-years away, but the target did not respond.
• Muru joined Hao Ren’s group despite the cramped ship, and the Giant Turtle Rock Platform departed for the signal’s source.
• Hao Ren and the Data Terminal discovered that the destination lay within the probe drones’ patrol range and had appeared sometime in the past three days.

Hao Ren and his crew reached the distorted nebula around Sulun's Gate, which had appeared in a region that had been empty days earlier. As they approached Sulun, Nolan detected an abnormal flow of time centered on the planet, leaving the cause of the spatial and temporal distortions unresolved.

• Hao Ren examined the warped nebula and learned from the Data Terminal that space itself had been distorted, though no black hole was present.
• Hao Ren asked Muru to identify Sulun's Gate, and Muru recognized Sulun as the fortress planet where the signal originated.
• Hao Ren compared the nebula with a drone recording from several days earlier and found that Sulun's Gate had appeared in previously empty space.
• Nolan slowed the Giant Turtle Rock Platform near the rupture belt after detecting a spatiotemporal anomaly ahead.
• Nolan reported that time flowed progressively slower closer to Sulun, where the distortion was strongest.

Hao Ren realized that Sulun's severe time distortion meant the God-Slaying War had ended there only ten hours earlier, and he used the Giant Turtle Rock Platform's Void Engine to restore normal time. The ship arrived above Sulun, where the final battle had ended just ten hours ago.

• Nolan determined that time on Sulun had slowed so much that one hour there equaled about a thousand years outside.
• Hao Ren concluded that the God-Slaying War's final battle had ended on Sulun only ten hours earlier and that remnants of the traitor's army might still be there.
• The Data Terminal explained that the Void Engine could make the ship immune to temporal distortion, though doing so would reset time in the area.
• Hao Ren ordered Nolan to activate the Void Engine and stop thrust when the Data Terminal gave the signal.
• Nolan cut the Void Engine at the signal, restoring normal time around Sulun, and the Giant Turtle Rock Platform arrived above the planet.

Hao Ren and the crew reached the devastated Planet Sulun, where they discovered that a battle was still underway despite the distress signal likely having been sent thousands of years earlier. As the Giant Turtle Rock Platform approached the fighting, three Apostate aircraft emerged from the ruins.

• The Giant Turtle Rock Platform entered Sulun’s atmosphere and found the planet almost entirely melted and destroyed.
• Muru explained that the Apostates had overwhelmed Sulun’s defenses and that the equatorial trench had been carved by a Gravitational Tide Weapon.
• The crew realized the distress signal could have been sent thousands of years earlier in the main universe, and Muru feared its sender was dead.
• Lily spotted flashes of combat among the ruins, and Nolan detected signs of life and an ongoing battle.
• Hao Ren armed the ship and headed for the fighting, where Muru identified three approaching Pale White Aircraft as Apostate craft.

Hao Ren and the Giant Turtle Rock Platform destroyed three renegade aircraft over Sulun and then entered the ruined Guardian Giant city. The crew found no signs of other enemies, and Nolan identified the largest building as the aircrafts’ point of origin.

• Muru became furious when he saw the renegades’ gray-white aircraft, and Hao Ren ordered the Giant Turtle Rock Platform to attack them.
• The enemy aircraft damaged the ship’s shield with chaotic spheres, but Hao Ren and Nolan recalibrated the weapons and destroyed all three craft.
• Nolan reported minor damage as the ship approached the city, while Muru warned that the renegades’ starships and Gate of Chaos were greater threats.
• Nolan detected no other enemy energy sources or signs of survivors inside the devastated city.
• Hao Ren asked where the aircraft had taken off, and Nolan pointed to the area near the city’s largest building.

Hao Ren and his companions explored the ruined Sulun Holy Land, where they found a giant guardian who had died defending an anti-aircraft gun and the wreckage of an ungrateful son fighter she had brought down. Muru explained how the ungrateful sons used stolen Divine Runes to resist the guardians’ powers, and the group began examining the fallen fighter.

• Hao Ren saw that Sulun’s ruined central temple had once served as a weapon, and he spotted anti-aircraft guns and a body nearby.
• Hao Ren, Muru, Lily, and Izax left the ship to investigate while Elizabeth stayed behind to guard it.
• The group found a dead female giant beside an anti-aircraft gun, which fired a final bolt of lightning when her hand slipped onto its control.
• Izax discovered a crashed ungrateful son fighter, and Muru recognized that the giant warrior had shot it down before she died.
• Hao Ren and Lily examined the fighter wreckage, and Muru identified the markings on its armor as Divine Runes that protected the ungrateful sons from supernatural attacks.

Hao Ren examined a dead Secondborn pilot and learned more about the race’s genetic modifications and stolen powers. Muru sensed a living Guardian at the temple, where Hao Ren and the others found him fighting an overwhelming force of Secondborn attackers.

• Hao Ren and Lily recovered the dead Secondborn pilot from the wreckage, and Muru angrily tossed the corpse aside.
• Hao Ren and the Data Terminal examined the Secondborn, finding a heavily modified human-like body with powerful abilities but no divinity.
• Muru sensed a living fellow Guardian near the temple and rushed toward the rear entrance with Hao Ren, Lily, and Izax following.
• Lily transformed into her husky form, carried Hao Ren around the temple, and raced with the others toward explosions and flashes of lightning.
• Hao Ren and his companions found a wounded Guardian defending the temple against more than a dozen Secondborn attackers.

Hao Ren, Lily, Muru, and Izax joined the Guardian Giants in battle against the Prodigal Sons and quickly routed the rebel squad. Their commander then invoked the Promised Land and vanished inside a blinding white light.

• The Prodigal Sons attacked the temple’s Guardian Giant, but Hao Ren and Lily arrived with Muru, who rallied the guardian and struck the rebels.
• Hao Ren fired psionic shots and threw graviton bombs as the rebels split their forces between the temple guardian and the newcomers.
• Izax burned one attacker alive while Hao Ren and giant-form Lily fought in sync and defeated the remaining Prodigal Sons.
• The rebels were wiped out, leaving their commander alone, and Hao Ren ordered the group to capture him alive.
• The commander raised his weapon, shouted that the Promised Land would descend, and was engulfed in blinding white light.

Hao Ren’s group defeated the rebels at Sulun’s Gate, but their commander self-destructed before he could be captured. Lily accidentally provided a surviving rebel soldier for questioning, while Muru explained to the Temple Guard that ten thousand years had passed since Planet Sulun fell.

• The rebel commander exploded after Hao Ren ordered his companions to capture him alive, leaving no recognizable remains.
• Hao Ren discovered that Lily had chewed a rebel soldier and spat him out alive, so he knocked the soldier unconscious and secured him in a crystal container.
• Hao Ren praised Lily and told her not to change back until the Autonomous Mechanical Unit could clean the scraps from her teeth.
• The injured Temple Guard mistook Hao Ren and his companions for rebels until Muru disarmed him and explained they were allies.
• Muru told the Temple Guard that Sulun’s Gate had been trapped in a temporal distortion, and Izax confirmed that Planet Sulun had fallen ten thousand years earlier.

Hao Ren and Muru told the rescued Guardian Lemendusa that ten thousand years had passed and that the universe had changed, while explaining their search for the Creation Goddess and surviving Guardians. Lemendusa learned that the God-slaying War had ended with the Founding Star’s disappearance, but gained hope that Mother might still be alive as they entered the temple.

• Lemendusa accepted Muru’s account of the ten-thousand-year gap and thanked Hao Ren’s group for rescuing him, while remaining wary of the strangers.
• Lemendusa revealed that Siv guarded the Sacred Treasury and that another companion had died at the anti-aircraft array; he then opened the temple’s Great Gate for the group.
• As he led them inside, Lemendusa introduced himself to Izax and asked Muru how the God-slaying War had ended.
• Muru explained that the Founding Star had vanished and the wretches had been erased, while Hao Ren told Lemendusa that the Creation Goddess might still be alive and that they were searching for her and other Guardians.
• Muru guessed that the Dark Domain had shielded the wretches on Sulun’s Gate from the universe’s extermination curse, allowing them to survive temporarily.

Hao Ren and his companions reached the temple’s deepest hall, where they met the wounded Guardian Siv and learned that Lemendusa and Siv were the last survivors of the temple guard. Lemendusa revealed that the temple held a relic sought by the rebels: a component of the mysterious Creation Engine, and the Guardians agreed to show it to Hao Ren.

• Lemendusa led Hao Ren, Lily, Muru, and Izax to a hall where the wounded Siv guarded a Green Crystal.
• Muru and Lemendusa explained the temporal-spatial turbulence and the battle’s history to Siv while Hao Ren sent Autonomous Mechanical Units to clean debris from Lily’s teeth.
• Siv told Hao Ren that no other Guardians remained on the planet, and Lemendusa explained that the last temple guard had stayed behind after the others went to defend Founding Star.
• Hao Ren asked why Lemendusa had remained at the temple, and Lemendusa revealed that it housed a relic the rebels had come to seize.
• Siv explained that the relic was a component of the Creation Engine, a mysterious project their mother had built across hundreds of planets, and Lemendusa and Siv agreed to let Hao Ren inspect it.

Hao Ren and the Guardians uncovered a golden component of the Creation Engine, a mysterious device the Goddess had built to restore balance to the universe. After agreeing to take the relic and let Lemendusa accompany him, Hao Ren turned the group’s attention to finding clues about the Dark Domain.

• Siv and Lemendusa activated the platform’s security mechanisms and raised the golden disk from its vault.
• Hao Ren was overwhelmed by visions when he looked at the disk, and the Data Terminal identified it as a highly connected God-made Object.
• Lemendusa explained that the disk was one small component of the unfinished Creation Engine, which the Goddess said could restore balance and change the universe’s trajectory.
• Hao Ren speculated that the rebellious children in the God-slaying War might have sought control of the Creation Engine, while Lily suggested taking the disk back to study it and focusing on the Dark Domain.
• Muru persuaded Lemendusa to let Hao Ren take the disk, provided Lemendusa could accompany him and learn his intentions; Hao Ren agreed and stored the relic in his personal space.
• Hao Ren proposed discussing the Dark Domain next.