Chapter Summaries

After learning that Old Wang had died and that a massive demon zombie tide would soon besiege the city, Zhang Yang prepared to leave the city despite Qiong Kou’s warnings. He spent his resources on mercenaries, ammunition, weapons, and upgraded vehicles, ending ready for a battle the next day.

• Qiong Kou told Zhang Yang that Old Wang had died and warned that a demon zombie tide would soon surround the city, but Zhang Yang refused to accept blame and dismissed her anger.
• Qiong Kou explained that she had to guard the city against supernatural-level interference for sixty days and warned Zhang Yang that leaving the city would mean death; Zhang Yang used Soul Tremor to make himself forget the conversation.
• Zhang Yang learned that killing a supernatural-level enemy had completed a world-class side quest, which he used to recruit three hundred armed mercenaries.
• Zhang Yang ordered the technical captains to design a faster Level 3 Base Vehicle, exchanged two Purple Fragments of Hope for two hundred thousand bullets, and strengthened firearms and armor-piercing rounds.
• Zhang Yang strengthened two Level 3 Base Vehicles, and Li Dong and Lu Long tested them, reporting that they could reach extreme speeds with Extreme Overload activated.

Zhang Yang led a heavily armed convoy beyond the city’s known map and carved through tens of thousands of Demon Zombies on a ring expressway. As he prepared his forces to face an approaching Devil Race enemy, he used 50 Immortal Stones to split its demonic cloud and shield the convoy.

• Zhang Yang set out with mercenaries, mechanical engineers, and armored vehicles toward a city 200 kilometers away, triggering a world-level apocalyptic side quest.
• Zhang Yang ordered the lead Base Vehicles and convoy to charge along the ring expressway, where they crushed Demon Zombies and mercenaries shot Elite and Special-grade targets.
• The convoy cleared the ring expressway in ten minutes, earning Zhang Yang 53,000 kills and enough resources to prepare 80 mercenaries for upgrades.
• Zhang Yang ordered Demon-Slaying Bullets distributed, selected 80 troops to level up, and accelerated the convoy as a powerful Devil Race member approached beneath a blood-colored demonic cloud.
• Zhang Yang spent 50 Immortal Stones to unleash the Formless Heart Sword, splitting the cloud and protecting the convoy as he waited for the enemy to appear.

Zhang Yang’s convoy killed a powerful Devil Race member through concentrated fire from heavily upgraded weapons, but Special-grade Demon Zombies broke into the convoy during the fight. Li Dong’s risky counterattack helped the survivors defeat them, though the convoy lost twenty-four tanks and many people.

• The Devil Race member collapsed part of the ring expressway and charged toward Zhang Yang’s convoy, blocking its escape route with its luminous shields.
• Zhang Yang ordered the Captain-level Mercenaries to concentrate fire, and their upgraded weapons broke through the shields so the seven King-tier Mercenaries could kill the Devil Race member.
• The Devil Race member crushed Base Vehicle No. 2, killing Lu Long and its other occupants, and Zhang Yang received the kill rewards and replacement-supply choices.
• Special-grade Demon Zombies burst through the convoy’s rear, overturning fifteen tanks, and Zhang Yang ordered a breakout.
• Li Dong turned Vehicle No. 1 around and used Extreme Overload to ram the Special-grade Demon Zombies, buying time for the mercenaries to destroy them.
• The convoy escaped after twenty-four tanks were destroyed, along with twenty-four mechanical engineers and fifty armed mercenaries.

Zhang Yang was ambushed by a powerful female sword cultivator and used Demon Language to break her Heart Meridian Sword Core. He coordinated with Du Chao and McField’s snipers to kill her, then received a haul of rewards that included part of a Profound Grade Sword Art.

• Zhang Yang activated Heavy Armor, but the female sword cultivator’s sword light severed his left arm and destroyed armored vehicles in the convoy.
• Zhang Yang used Shadow to evade her attack, then repeatedly cast Bewitchment to shatter her second-stage Heart Meridian Sword Core.
• Zhang Yang hid in the shadows and asked Du Chao and McField to gather the snipers while he used Bewitchment and Mire to expose the female sword cultivator.
• Du Chao and the other snipers opened fire, and the gunfire destroyed the female sword cultivator after she endured three seconds of attack.
• Zhang Yang received kill rewards, including Azure Shadow, village-building orders, and a choice involving a partially obtained Profound Grade Sword Art.

After escaping the Demon Zombie horde, Zhang Yang spent his spoils on mercenary upgrades and supplies, then tested the Golden Scales and Hope Fragments. He learned that restoring a Profound Grade Sword Art was beyond a Purple Fragment of Hope and decided to study a Mortal Grade Sword Art first.

• Zhang Yang ordered upgrades for 12 Captain-level Mercenaries and 100 Common Mercenaries, and exchanged for 50,000 Demon-Slaying Bullets after the convoy escaped the Demon Zombies.
• Zhang Yang counted the convoy’s heavy losses and considered seeking Qiong Kou’s transcendent power while preparing a backup plan.
• Zhang Yang exchanged 178 portions of Primal Demon Blood for 24 damaged mechs, then traded Special-grade Demon Hearts for supplies and Demon-Slaying Bullets.
• Zhang Yang fused Hope Fragments, discovered that combining Golden Fragments into Purple ones could fail, and lost a Purple Fragment while attempting to restore a Profound Grade Sword Art.
• Zhang Yang refused to risk fusing ten Purple Fragments and chose to learn the Mortal Grade Sword Art first.

After Qiong Kou warned him that the Fourth Sequence was beyond his reach, Zhang Yang strengthened his fortress and prepared his people and equipment for the next battle. He chose to continue the Apocalyptic Village Building Quest, hoping to exploit the compensation bug and obtain a complete Profound Grade Sword Art.

• Zhang Yang asked Qiong Kou to cooperate after reporting that he had killed three beings from the Fourth Sequence, but she refused and urged him to abandon the Apocalyptic Village Building Quest.
• Zhang Yang recruited four hundred people, promoted hundreds of workers and mercenaries, and spent his accumulated energy to build the main structure of a Level-Five Apocalyptic Fortress.
• Zhang Yang assigned Li Dong and a team to rebuild the damaged mechs from their components, giving them three days to prepare one for combat.
• Zhang Yang gathered 113 Captain-tier Mercenaries and supplied materials to enhance their firearms to the limit.
• Zhang Yang decided not to abandon the Apocalyptic Village Building Quest, believing that repeated compensation for the Fourth Sequence bug could help him obtain a complete Profound Grade Sword Art.
• Zhang Yang concluded that he needed to prepare thoroughly before leaving the city again, since his next encounter might bring either no Fourth Sequence beings or several at once.

Zhang Yang enlisted Qiong Kou to enchant two Apocalyptic Base Vehicles with Spirit Arts, then led a hundred soldiers north to trigger a major side quest. After learning Old Wang was trapped in a distant city, Zhang Yang ordered the vehicles to turn back, leaving his intentions unclear.

• Zhang Yang offered Qiong Kou five Purple Fragments of Hope and ten Immortal Stones to enchant two Base Vehicles with three Spirit Arts.
• Qiong Kou completed the enchantments, and Zhang Yang paid her before assembling nineteen King-tier Mercenaries and eighty-one Captain-tier Mercenaries.
• Zhang Yang led the two enhanced Base Vehicles north, ordering them to push through tens of thousands of demon corpses while watching for threats above Transcendent.
• After traveling three hundred kilometers, Zhang Yang received a major side quest to rescue Old Wang from a city ahead.
• Zhang Yang concluded that Old Wang might still be alive and ordered the vehicles to turn around.

Zhang Yang’s convoy survived a supernatural assault by using Qiong Kou’s Spirit Art Enchantments to expose and destroy a strange entity, then raced away before two more powerful beings arrived. The vehicles fled at maximum speed with the new pursuers behind them.

• McField told Zhang Yang the demon zombie horde had dispersed, and Zhang Yang ordered the soldiers to stay alert as they hunted the remaining zombies.
• Zhang Yang had the soldiers retreat inside the vehicles, wear goggles and soundproof earpieces, and remain silent while black-red mist and living shadows attacked.
• The shadows formed a giant that struck a vehicle, but Qiong Kou’s Spirit Art Enchantments protected the convoy from the supernatural assault.
• Zhang Yang unleashed all six enchantments, revealing a strange entity a kilometer away, and ordered nineteen King-tier Mercenaries and eighty-one Captain-tier Mercenaries to open fire.
• The soldiers blasted the entity apart with Demon-Slaying Bullets, and the Apocalyptic Village Building Order activated its plunder as Zhang Yang ordered the vehicles to flee.
• The base vehicles accelerated to 350 kilometers per hour, while two more beings above the Transcendent level appeared behind them.

Zhang Yang used Soul Stones to strengthen his King-tier Mercenaries as the Base Vehicles came under attack from a Great Strength Demon and two Swift Blade Demons. The mercenaries killed all three demons with concentrated gunfire, though Base Vehicle No. 2 was overturned and lost its combat capability.

• Zhang Yang reviewed the rewards from earlier kills and chose materials that raised his incomplete Profound Grade Sword Art to 77.5% restoration.
• McField reported that the Great Strength Demon had caught up, and Zhang Yang gave ten Soul Stones to the King-tier Mercenaries to boost their soul strength.
• The Great Strength Demon struck Base Vehicle No. 2, overturning it and knocking it out of the fight.
• The King-tier Mercenaries used their Soul Force Fields to reveal two flanking Swift Blade Demons, and the mercenaries killed them with concentrated gunfire.
• The mercenaries kept firing at the Great Strength Demon until it died, shouting, “I hate the human race!” as its last words.

Zhang Yang built up the Apocalyptic Fortress and its forces while pouring his resources into defeating the rapidly evolving demon zombies. After the Devil Race retreated, he learned that exploiting a Fourth Sequence bug had angered Qin Ge’s superior, leaving him stuck in the world with most of his fortune spent but several valuable rewards and items.

• Zhang Yang rejected a rescue quest and returned to the city, then spent three days attacking demon zombie hordes and upgrading his mercenaries and mechs.
• The Apocalyptic Fortress expanded as survivors were rescued, while Zhang Yang avoided going north to save Old Wang and continued strengthening his forces against rapidly evolving demon zombies.
• A month and a half later, Zhang Yang had killed twenty million demon zombies and built a Level 15 Apocalyptic Fortress, but had spent nearly all his resources.
• Old Wang and Qiong Kou told Zhang Yang that he had exploited a Fourth Sequence bug, angering their superior, and that the Devil Race had retreated under that superior’s interference.
• Zhang Yang discovered he was stranded with little money, then received quest rewards and took stock of his sword art, languages, War Badge, tickets, weapons, and village-building orders.

After completing the Apocalyptic Village Building Quest, Zhang Yang chose to leave the ruined future and begin the Immortal Cultivation Village Building Task. He fused his accumulated Fragments of Hope into increasingly powerful objects, then stopped to reconsider whose luck to borrow after a fusion failed.

• Zhang Yang declined to remain in the world and unbound the Apocalyptic Village Building Order, regaining his strength in the ruins three hundred years later.
• Zhang Yang accepted the Immortal Cultivation Village Building Task and learned that most possessions would be destroyed or ineffective in the Immortal Cultivation World.
• Zhang Yang fused 3,000 Purple Fragments of Hope into 225 Star of Hope fragments, then into 78 elementary Stars of Hope.
• Zhang Yang tried borrowing Qin Ge's luck to fuse the stars, but the attempt failed; borrowing Wu Yuan's luck succeeded once and failed the next time.
• Zhang Yang borrowed Mu Shaojun's luck twice and Mu Shaoan's once, succeeding in all three fusions before a second attempt with Mu Shaoan failed.

Zhang Yang arrived in the Immortal Cultivation World after refusing the Khergit Boatmen’s investment offers, then approached a village built from Mortal Iron ore. The villagers barred him from entering, and he encountered the supposedly dead young woman whose corpse they had been mourning.

• The Khergit Boatmen offered Zhang Yang three investment options, but he refused to sign an agreement or pay for information.
• The boat delivered Zhang Yang to a misty port, which vanished as he stepped ashore in the Immortal Cultivation World.
• Zhang Yang sensed abundant spiritual energy and found a mountain village built from Mortal Iron ore.
• A village formation stopped Zhang Yang, and a burly villager demanded 500 Immortal Stones for one Sleepless Night and challenged him to endure one outside.
• Zhang Yang spoke to a weeping young woman, then heard her ask who said the dead could not return to life.
• Zhang Yang turned and saw the young woman standing behind him with blood tears in her eyes, though she had appeared to be alive moments earlier.

Zhang Yang paid to shelter in Black Ox Village, connected his sword-cultivator foundation to the Immortal Cultivation World, and tested a Mortal Grade Sword Art. The village archer offered him a permanent elder position and Immortal Stones for the art, then explained that the village relied on an inherited Ghost Empress Dowager and a Three Yin Drum.

• Zhang Yang avoided provoking the Village Guardian Ghost, paid the archer five hundred Immortal Stones, and learned the village's three taboos and basic rules for surviving the Sleepless Night.
• Zhang Yang explored Black Ox Village, found an empty stone house, and successfully refined the world's native Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi after enduring an inner tribulation.
• Zhang Yang used the Mountain River Sword Art's Ninefold Mountain form to destroy a stone house, then exhausted his Natal Spiritual Qi and spent five Immortal Stones recovering.
• The archer offered Zhang Yang elder status and a thousand Immortal Stones in exchange for his incomplete Mortal Grade Sword Art, and Zhang Yang questioned why the village needed it despite its powerful guardian ghost.
• The archer explained that Black Ox Village's Ghost Empress Dowager had been inherited from its ancestors, required yearly sacrifices of a virgin boy and girl, and protected the village as long as the Three Yin Drum remained intact.

After recovering from his injuries with a miraculous Earth Pill, Zhang Yang taught Black Ox Village’s youths the Ninefold Mountain Sword Form and learned about the region’s powers and the Sleepless Night. He realized his task of establishing an Immortal Cultivation Sect would be difficult, while a demon calamity threatened the region every three hundred and thirty days.

• Niu Jiao offered Zhang Yang an Earth Pill and a temporary place to stay in exchange for teaching Black Ox Village the incomplete sword form.
• Zhang Yang swallowed the pill, healed his injuries, and gained five years of lifespan before explaining the Ninefold Mountain Sword Form to ten village youths.
• Zhang Yang demonstrated the sword form, taught the youths the Three Firewood Sword Art, and received one thousand Immortal Stones from Niu Jiao.
• Zhang Yang asked an old man about the surrounding region and learned that Black Ox Village paid taxes and sacrifices to Black Mountain City, ruled by Black Mountain Lord.
• The old man explained that Black Mountain City relied on an Immortal Cultivation Sect and that the Sleepless Night brought the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons after three hundred and thirty days, forcing settlements to shelter behind ancient formations.

Zhang Yang ambushed and killed the Ghost Empress Dowager with help from Black Ox Village’s Three Yin Drum. He then told Niu Jiao he had killed the village’s strongest protector to force the villagers to cooperate before the sleepless night arrived.

• Zhang Yang saw the Ghost Empress Dowager warning him to leave the Black Earth Plains, then used his Mountain River Sword Intent to provoke an attack.
• The Ghost Empress Dowager struck at Zhang Yang, but his Demon Language: Bewitchment awakened Black Ox Village’s formation and Three Yin Drum.
• Zhang Yang combined his sword techniques with the drum’s suppression to grievously wound the Ghost Empress Dowager and wear her down.
• Niu Jiao called from underground that the drum had gone out of control because a Devil Race member had entered the village.
• Zhang Yang killed the Ghost Empress Dowager, then admitted to Niu Jiao that he had removed the village’s strongest support to compel cooperation and demanded proof of their sincerity by dawn.

Zhang Yang heard the Supreme Elder explain the Three Yin Drum’s purpose and agree to cooperate to survive the coming Sleepless Night. After the Supreme Elder appointed new village leaders, Niu Dou asked Zhang Yang to stay and establish an Immortal Cultivation Sect in the Black Earth Plains.

• Niu Jiao demanded Zhang Yang teach him the full Ninefold Mountain Sword Form and the spell used to rouse the Three Yin Drum, but Zhang Yang refused.
• Black Ox Village’s Supreme Elder emerged from the memorial tablet, explained that he had become the Three Yin Drum’s Drum Spirit, and thanked Zhang Yang for killing the Village Guardian Ghost.
• The Supreme Elder used the Three Yin Drum to kill Niu Jiao and the six elders, turning their souls into Drum Spirits as punishment for their betrayal.
• The Supreme Elder warned Zhang Yang that the village could not survive the Sleepless Night without his help, and Zhang Yang agreed to cooperate for the sake of staying alive.
• The Supreme Elder appointed Niu Dou as village chief and Zhang Yang as an elder, and Niu Dou asked Zhang Yang to protect Black Ox Village and establish an Immortal Cultivation Sect.

Zhang Yang agreed to establish an Immortal Cultivation Sect in Black Ox Village after Niu Dou offered land, people, and resources in exchange for protection through the coming Sleepless Night. They inspected the village’s assets and settled on a substantial contribution of Immortal Stones and Earth Pills.

• Niu Dou explained how he had helped Zhang Yang survive the Village Guardian Ghost and argued that the Black Earth Plains offered the freedom needed to establish a sect.
• Niu Dou demanded a profitable partnership, threatening to disband Black Ox Village if Zhang Yang would not cooperate.
• Niu Dou offered the land within five hundred li, the village’s 1,287 residents, and its Earth Pills as the sect’s foundation.
• Zhang Yang accepted Niu Dou’s proposal, agreeing to establish the sect with thirty-two days remaining before the Sleepless Night.
• Zhang Yang and Niu Dou inspected Black Ox Village’s assets, including its protective arrays, Three Yin Drum, and twenty thousand Immortal Stones.
• Niu Dou promised Zhang Yang one-quarter of the Immortal Stones, plus 1,000 Immortal Stones and all the village’s Earth Pills each year.

Zhang Yang chose a site for his sect gate near Black Ox Village and learned that the village’s ancient protection array would need an expensive replacement stone in ten years. When Niu Dou discovered Zhang Yang lacked the array blueprint needed to build the gate, Zhang Yang fled as the village chief turned on him.

• Zhang Yang learned that Black Ox Village’s ancient array came from an old blueprint and would need a costly Mortal Grade Array Stone in ten years.
• Niu Dou revealed that his ancestor had been a Golden Core Stage cultivator and offered relics, persuading Zhang Yang to continue establishing the sect.
• Zhang Yang chose a ridge beyond the Ancient Village Protection Array and activated a task requiring a Sect Protection Array, a benign-anomaly guardian, and a Spirit Gathering Platform.
• Niu Dou brought two hundred villagers and supplies, but explained that building the sect gate required an array blueprint.
• Zhang Yang realized Niu Dou had expected him to possess a Village Building Order, and he ran when Niu Dou’s eyes flashed fiercely.

After Black Ox Village moved away, Zhang Yang stayed behind and tried to cultivate, realizing the village’s spiritual-energy facilities had been supporting the area. He practiced the Mountain River Sword Art and hid from strange visitors, only to discover a bloody ox head that was more frightened of him than he was of it.

• Niu Dou accused Zhang Yang of deceiving Black Ox Village, moved his people away, and warned other villages not to accept him.
• Zhang Yang remained at the abandoned village site and learned that its Spirit Gathering Platform had been drawing in the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
• After the spiritual energy faded, Zhang Yang spent Immortal Stones to replenish his Natal Spiritual Qi and practiced all three forms of the Mountain River Sword Art.
• Zhang Yang recognized flaws in his sword forms and resolved to strengthen his Sword Intent and develop his Spirit Meridian Sword Core.
• Zhang Yang hid when strange whispers approached the abandoned village, then found a bloody ox head above him; it screamed at the sight of him and fainted.

Zhang Yang was swept up with other villagers by Ox-Head Ghost Slaves and brought to a dangerous Profound-grade anomaly that Prince Kun tried to subdue. As the anomaly fought back, a little girl appeared to ask Zhang Yang three questions.

• Zhang Yang let the modified Demon Language: Bewitchment control him and followed the Ox-Heads through the azure mist with the other villagers.
• The Ox-Heads injected Zhang Yang and the other captives with Thieving Spring Water, then brought them to a mountain and black pavilion that Zhang Yang recognized as an anomaly.
• Prince Kun and his Demon Race followers prepared sacrifices and formations to subdue the benign Profound-grade anomaly, while the anomaly killed and injured them and the puppet humans.
• Prince Kun launched a black-and-white sphere and his followers activated their formation, but the anomaly counterattacked and a little girl asked Zhang Yang who she was, who he was, and who he was.