Chapter Summaries

Zhang Qing fought off a vast encirclement, recovered through Predation, and comprehended the offensive secret art Ten Steps, One Kill. As his enemies fled and his allies tried to reach him, he embraced the Predation Beacon’s influence, while Yun Xiaoxi and Yang Man feared his Waypoint was driving him toward madness.

• Zhang Qing charged into the combined forces of Specters, martial artists, and Sequence Users, taking heavy damage before Predation swallowed several enemies and restored his Armor Value.
• Zhang Qing resumed his attack and, amid the melee, comprehended the offensive secret art Ten Steps, One Kill.
• Zhang Qing used Chuan Blood Spring to ride a Blood River through the battle, and his seemingly unkillable assault broke the encirclement.
• The Sequence Users and many others fled, while Zhang Qing pursued and devoured them; Yun Xiaoxi and the others moved closer to him.
• Yang Man and Yun Xiaoxi feared Zhang Qing’s Waypoint had pushed him toward a dangerous extreme and tried to pull his will back, but Zhang Qing continued embracing the Predation Beacon’s influence.

Zhang Qing finished his bloody hunt, maxed out his Sequence Two armor, and reunited with Yang Man as the survivors fled. After encountering a terrifying Tiger Clan Imperial City Sequence User, he considered the power gap between the Imperial Cities and Blue Star, then began thinking about where to go and how to define his path toward Sequence Three.

• Zhang Qing used his Phoenix Blood Longbow to kill a Frostblood Ghoul and kept hunting as his armor reached its maximum Evolution level.
• The battle royale dwindled as the remaining Specters and martial artists escaped, and Yang Man caught up with Zhang Qing and found him unharmed.
• A Tiger Clan Imperial Clan Sequence User appeared, suppressing Zhang Qing's group with Tiger Might before withdrawing without a fight.
• On the way back, Zhang Qing worried that the Imperial City Sequences could overwhelm Blue Star and resolved to handle Phoenix Imperial City before moving elsewhere.
• Zhang Qing noticed that his Sequence Realm had gained tens of thousands of Waypoints and began considering the angle he would pursue for Sequence Three.

After reaching Sequence Two, Zhang Qing returned the Nirvana Pool to Ji Yuquan and left Phoenix Imperial City with his companions. His Sequence Progress stopped advancing, so he arranged a few days of rest and logged out, where he used his new power to trigger a red telephone in the Great Xia Imperial Capital.

• Zhang Qing learned that the Phoenix Clan used the Nirvana Pool to possess powerful outsiders and accepted Ji Yuquan's offer of a true Nirvana Pool when he reached Sequence Three.
• Zhang Qing checked his status panel, saw his combat abilities had increased, and chose not to spend his Attribute Points yet.
• After a day passed without his Sequence Progress increasing, Zhang Qing realized he needed to identify and act out his role before his progress regressed.
• Zhang Qing and his companions bought a courtyard in a dilapidated city, rested, and shared a meal together.
• Zhang Qing logged out in Suzhou-Hangzhou and used his Sequence Two power to make a red telephone ring at Dongfeng Pavilion in the Great Xia Imperial Capital.

Unable to find guidance toward Sequence Three in the Dark Realm, Zhang Qing tested whether advancement depended on reality by flying to the Imperial Capital to meet Zhang Zhengguo. At midnight his Sequence progress reached 3%, and he gathered Great Xia’s leaders to warn them that only one year and eight months remained.

• Zhang Qing failed to find any guidance from the second Waypoint and suspected that his path to Sequence Three lay in reality.
• Zhang Qing called Zhang Zhengguo and flew from Suzhou-Hangzhou to the Imperial Capital in his Hunter’s full armor, arriving in twenty-four minutes.
• Zhang Zhengguo and Great Xia’s officials gathered at Dongfeng Pavilion while security forces monitored Zhang Qing.
• At midnight, Zhang Qing’s Sequence progress advanced from 2% to 3%, confirming that reality provided a path forward.
• Zhang Qing used Mental Storm to bring the gathered officials into a conference room and warned them that only one year and eight months remained.

Zhang Qing explained the Dark Realm to Great Xia’s leaders and promised to take responsibility if its invasion never came. After a rule prevented him from revealing the name of his special profession, he proposed building troops, fortifying cities, and stockpiling grain, then offered to seize a large Dark Realm city to help train martial arts experts.

• Zhang Qing demonstrated his power by stopping a bullet in midair and explained the Dark Realm to the gathered leaders.
• Li Wannian questioned who would bear the costs if the Dark Realm never arrived, and Zhang Qing agreed to take responsibility.
• Zhang Zhengguo accepted that the leaders would plan on the invasion being certain, while Zhang Qing said he would try to obtain slots for his special profession.
• When Zhang Qing tried to reveal the profession’s name, thunder struck, and he said a rule would compel him to massacre a city if he did.
• Zhang Qing proposed building up troops, fortifying cities, and stockpiling grain, then offered to seize a large city in the Dark Realm.

Zhang Qing secured Great Xia’s promise of special privileges and a protected residence, then returned to the Dark Realm convinced he could not lose. After he left, Zhang Zhengguo established a top-secret crisis response group and ordered Great Xia to change course in preparation for the war.

• Zhang Qing told Great Xia’s leaders that players could grow into a powerful force against the Dark Realm and requested Face-Waller authority.
• Li Wannian recognized that Zhang Qing needed Great Xia’s support to advance, and the leaders granted him special privileges and offered him a restricted zone at the foot of South Mountain.
• Zhang Qing accepted, left Dongfeng Pavilion, and reflected that the vast world was a blank stage that needed a role.
• After Zhang Qing departed, Li Wannian judged his credibility to be below thirty percent but described him as very tired, while the officials weighed the risks of acting on his claims.
• Zhang Zhengguo argued that Great Xia must not abandon a citizen fighting alone and established a top-secret crisis response group with himself as leader, Zhang Qing as chief action adviser, and Li Wannian as deputy leader.

After recovering in Dark Realm, Zhang Qing announced that he would seize An City, despite knowing it was ruled by a peak Sequence Four who had once massacred the city. The group agreed to go, and the Sixth Floor arranged a teleportation array in exchange for Yang Man allowing it to attend her Sequence Three advancement ceremony.

• Zhang Qing and Yun Xiaoxi got up late, then joined the others for breakfast.
• Zhang Qing declared that he planned to seize An City, and Yan Qingshan warned that a peak Sequence Four controlled it.
• Zhang Qing revealed that he knew An City's fate from his previous life and intended to exploit his knowledge to destroy the ruler's path.
• Yang Man and the others agreed to follow Zhang Qing's plan, while Hu Ben offered the Sixth Floor's fast-travel arrangement.
• Yang Man agreed to let the Sixth Floor attend her Sequence Three advancement ceremony in exchange for its transportation help.
• The group left the city and saw that the Sixth Floor had prepared what appeared to be a teleportation array.

Zhang Qing and his companions used an ancient teleportation device to reach An City, where Yang Man explained that such technology had become obsolete after Sequences emerged. Facing the vast city ruled by a peak Sequence Four, Zhang Qing revealed his plan to seize it by gathering players and using his advance knowledge of the area.

• Ares told Zhang Qing and the others that the teleportation array had been provided on the Sixth Floor’s orders, then sent them to the outskirts of An City.
• Zhang Qing vomited after teleporting and watched the device fold into a sphere and disappear.
• Yang Man explained that the device belonged to the Glory of the Past and said the Transcendence Sequence wielded authority.
• Yan Qingshan described An City’s population, satellite cities, military force, and peak Sequence Four City Lord, then questioned how they could take it.
• Zhang Qing decided An City was the right target because of its size, the players who had spawned there, and his familiarity with the city, then announced that they would begin their performance.

Zhang Qing gave Yang Man, Yun Xiaoxi, and Yan Qingshan cover identities and secret information to help them infiltrate An City while he and Hu Ben prepared to exploit the coming conflict between the Yun and Xue families. After Hu Ben asked about Tiger Village’s destruction, Zhang Qing named Heavenly Punishment as the cause and warned Hu Ben not to stand in his way; Hu Ben chose to help him.

• Zhang Qing told Yang Man and the others that Jasmine Village was a real hidden pawn serving both the Xue and Yun families, then supplied their code phrases and information about Mo Li’s plan to control An City’s grain trade.
• Yang Man took Yun Xiaoxi and Yan Qingshan to prepare to enter An City, while Zhang Qing and Hu Ben set out to build their cover as murderous bandits.
• Hu Ben asked Zhang Qing what had happened to Tiger Village, whose survivors had burned to ash after Zi City was destroyed.
• Zhang Qing said Heavenly Punishment had destroyed Tiger Village, encouraged Hu Ben to hold on to his hatred, and warned him not to obstruct his plans.
• Hu Ben chose to stay and help Zhang Qing, who told him they were going to kill people to establish their identities as murderous maniacs.

Zhang Qing retrieved an account book proving Quartermaster Mo Li’s embezzlement in Iron Village and escaped with Hu Ben as An City remained engulfed in factional chaos. After logging off, Zhang Qing learned that Great Xia had begun adjusting its grain policies and received Li Wannian’s promise of a government Think Tank to support his plans.

• Zhang Qing explained that the City Lord was fostering An City’s chaos to advance his Sequence, and planned to use Mo Li’s account book as a bargaining chip with Mo Li’s enemies.
• Zhang Qing and Hu Ben took the account book from Iron Village, left the bloodied ruins, and found a cave where Hu Ben kept watch.
• Zhang Qing logged off and sensed events in the Dark Realm, then used his mental attributes to inspect government information and saw Great Xia changing its grain policies.
• Zhang Qing asked Xiao Qian to notify Regent Li that he needed help, then told Li Wannian he had reached An City and could not seize it by force.
• Li Wannian presented Zhang Qing with a large government Think Tank of specialists to advise him on the political challenges in the Dark Realm.

Zhang Qing briefed Li Wannian and the Think Tank on An City, prompting Li Wannian to devise an ideological “Awakening Plan” to defeat its City Lord. Back in the Dark Realm, Zhang Qing and Hu Ben encountered Yun Family riders and pretended to be fugitives, giving Yun Qi the impression they might be useful.

• Zhang Qing sent his gathered information about An City to the Think Tank, shocking its members with the difficulty of the mission.
• Li Wannian inferred that the City Lord could be killed through ideological warfare and wrote “Awakening Plan” as he considered how to bring light to people in darkness.
• Zhang Qing returned to the Dark Realm and, with Hu Ben, waited in the wilderness to see whether the Yun Family or Xue Family would find them.
• Yun Qi approached Zhang Qing and Hu Ben with Yun Family riders and offered to make a deal, while hinting that he knew about the Iron Village massacre.
• Zhang Qing pretended he and Hu Ben were drifting fugitives who wanted identities in An City, and Yun Qi believed they could be recruited.

Zhang Qing and Hu Ben infiltrated the Yun Family in An City, while Yang Man joined the Mo Family’s convoy, setting the stage to draw the Mo Family into the Yun-Xue conflict. When the Yun Family hired Zhang Qing and Hu Ben to escort a shipment, they discovered Ten-Day Fragrance and were attacked; Zhang Qing planned to blame the Mo Family and spotted Mo Shan and Mo Shui among the attackers.

• Yun Qi befriended Zhang Qing and Hu Ben, invited them to the Yun Family, and helped establish their identities in An City.
• Zhang Qing and Hu Ben settled in with the Yun Family, while Zhang Qing realized Yang Man had joined the Mo Family’s moving convoy.
• Hu Ben roared to signal the Mo Family convoy that he and Zhang Qing were with the Yun Family, and Yang Man recognized his voice.
• Yun Qi hired Zhang Qing and Hu Ben to escort a shipment entering An City that night.
• Zhang Qing and Hu Ben detected Ten-Day Fragrance in the convoy and were attacked by a group that included Mo Shan and Mo Shui.
• Zhang Qing led Hu Ben out of the encirclement and planned to tell the Yun Family that the Mo Family had stolen the goods.

Zhang Qing and Hu Ben returned to the Yun Family after the Mo Family took the prize, and Zhang Qing pushed Yun Qi into treating the loss as a threat. The Yun Family mobilized to strike the Mo Family, with Zhang Qing reluctantly agreeing to join them.

• Zhang Qing and Hu Ben escaped to An City and told Yun Qi that the Mo Family had taken the prize.
• Yun Qi feared the Mo Family was using Mo Li to undermine the Yun Family and persuaded Zhang Qing to stay involved.
• Yun Ran led Yun Family fighters to the Xue Family, then returned unharmed as the Xue Family prepared its forces.
• Yun Tianfang assembled the Yun Family elite and declared that the family had to fight for its survival.
• Yun Qi pressured Zhang Qing to join the Yun Family's attack on the Mo Family, and Zhang Qing agreed.

As the Yun and Xue Families attacked the Mo Family, Zhang Qing met up with Yang Man and Yun Xiaoxi and learned their plans had also drawn the families into conflict. He confronted Mo Li in her private chamber over a military-supply account book bearing her seal, leaving her exposed to blackmail.

• Yun Tianfang led the Yun Family, while the Xue Family also attacked the Mo Family, and Zhang Qing joined the fighting crowd with Hu Ben.
• Zhang Qing found Yang Man and Yun Xiaoxi, who explained that they had been plotting to turn the Yun Family and Xue Family against each other.
• Yang Man led Zhang Qing to Mo Li's courtyard, where his companions suppressed the Morning Sun Realm and Blazing Sun Realm experts guarding her.
• Zhang Qing entered Mo Li's private chamber and revealed that the account book for Third Guard City's military supplies bore her seal.
• Zhang Qing warned Mo Li that the City Lord might learn of her shady dealings, putting her under pressure to cooperate.

Zhang Qing used Mo Li’s ledger to secure her cooperation and moved to recruit guards from the Yun and Xue families. At the Imperial Capital’s Dongfeng Pavilion, Li Wannian replaced the Think Tank’s proposed slogan with one that left Zhang Qing’s convictions untouched and vowed to bear the consequences himself.

• Mo Li offered to submit to Zhang Qing, who used their bargain to gain control of An City’s food supply while refusing to return her ledger.
• Zhang Qing told Hu Ben and Yang Man to call him Family Head and led them to recruit guards from the Yun and Xue families by force if necessary.
• A man emerged from the shadows in Mo Li’s chambers, and she rebuked him for failing to understand the City Lord’s larger strategy and the Ice Snow Ghoul Race’s purpose.
• At Dongfeng Pavilion, Zhao Wansheng showed Li Wannian a proposed plan to break the deadlock, but Li Wannian crossed out its slogan and wrote, “The blue sky is dead; the yellow sky shall rise!”
• Li Wannian ordered the Think Tank to proceed and said he would bear the consequences so Zhang Qing would only need to stand in the light.

After taking over the Yun Family’s and Xue Family’s supply duties, Zhang Qing lowered prices across An City to build public goodwill and draw the City Lord into a conflict. When the City Lord ordered prices raised, Zhang Qing prepared to comply, while Yang Man warned that killing a Sequence Four on its home ground was nearly impossible; Zhang Qing still chose to try.

• Yan Qingshan killed the Yun Family and Xue Family ancestors, and their remaining cultivators and retainers surrendered to Zhang Qing.
• Yang Man arranged for the Zhang Family to take over supply responsibilities and transportation from Satellite Cities One and Two.
• Zhang Qing ordered grain and daily necessities prices lowered, and the falling prices improved commoners’ lives across An City.
• Mo Li grew suspicious of the price cuts, sought the City Lord’s instructions, and ordered Zhang Qing to raise all grain and consumables prices by twenty percent.
• Zhang Qing planned to follow the order, believing the contrast would fuel public resentment and help destroy the City Lord’s Sequence path.
• Yang Man urged Zhang Qing to abandon his plan to kill the Sequence Four City Lord, but Zhang Qing said he wanted to try.

Zhang Qing learned that the Dark Realm would arrive in seven months, and Great Xia began preparing in earnest while he agreed to help build a city. In the Dark Realm, Yang Man sent Yan Qingshan and a Tyrant Army unit to attend a ceremony in An City, bringing Pusan and Guan Yutian along as laborers.

• Zhang Qing saw the Dark Realm's promotional campaign and confirmed with Li Wannian that its arrival was exactly seven months away.
• Li Wannian said Great Xia would unite its forces and asked what support Zhang Qing needed; Zhang Qing requested to build a city with construction crews.
• Zhang Qing prepared to establish his role and advance toward Sequence Three by acting it out.
• Yang Man changed the plan from seizing An City to attending a ceremony for a Sequence Four expert's advancement to a legendary Sequence.
• Yan Qingshan led more than five hundred Tyrant Army soldiers and conscripted laborers through a teleportation array, while Pusan and Guan Yutian worried about being dragged into a dangerous mission.

Zhang Qing watched the Tyrant Army arrive in An City and rescued Guan Yutian and Pusan from its supply convoy. He offered the two men work for him, setting them up as the first workers for his plans.

• Zhang Qing decided to stir up trouble, recruit capable people, and begin distributing Cultivation Techniques as he pushed the Sequence's progress forward.
• Yan Qingshan returned to An City with the Tyrant Army, whose Sunrise Realm soldiers seemed linked to his Brutality Sequence authority.
• Zhang Qing recognized Guan Yutian and Pusan hauling supplies and called them over.
• Yan Qingshan allowed Guan Yutian and Pusan to leave the convoy and join Zhang Qing.
• Guan Yutian told Zhang Qing that they had escaped Zi City, survived attacks by Specters, and been forcibly conscripted before reaching An City.
• Zhang Qing offered Guan Yutian and Pusan work for him, and they happily accepted.

Zhang Qing recruited Guan Yutian and Pusan to build power in An City, inspiring them to challenge the Dark Realm’s entrenched order. After they left to carry out his plan, Zhang Qing checked Great Xia’s response and found that major national measures were underway.

• Zhang Qing brought Guan Yutian and Pusan to the Zhang Family residence and had them memorize Cultivation Techniques in the Scripture Pavilion.
• Zhang Qing used spirit pills to raise Guan Yutian and Pusan to the peak of the Candlelight Realm.
• Zhang Qing urged Guan Yutian and Pusan to build a new family and change An City, then promised his support and assigned them Morning Sun Realm retainers.
• Zhang Qing told Guan Yutian and Pusan to organize villages and refugees around An City, and they left after nightfall to pursue the plan.
• Zhang Qing logged off while Yun Xiaoxi went to bathe, then checked Great Xia’s announcements and saw new food export restrictions, steel industry directives, and plans for super-large cities and population relocation.

Great Xia began a massive national infrastructure and recruitment drive as it prepared to send hundreds of millions of people into the Dark Realm. Li Wannian brought Zhang Qing to a weapons laboratory to test his abilities, where Zhang Qing’s first Glimmering Realm speed nearly broke human limits; Li Wannian then requested a Candlelight Realm test.

• Headlines reported Great Xia’s construction plans, labor recruitment, market turmoil, and strict new entertainment controls, alarming countries abroad, especially in Southeast Asia.
• Li Wannian told Zhang Qing that Great Xia would start nationwide infrastructure projects and expected more than three hundred million people to enter the Dark Realm.
• Li Wannian took Zhang Qing to a weapons laboratory so experts could measure his physical abilities and determine what weapons could harm Dark Realm cultivators.
• Zhang Qing ran the hundred-meter track at the first level of the Glimmering Realm and recorded a time of 9.0124 seconds.
• Li Wannian chose to test Zhang Qing at the Candlelight Realm next.