Recaps

Ji Jue used Zhanlu to erase the tsunami threatening Luo Island, then the island unleashed its hidden defenses against the advancing mermaids and Sea Locusts. The attackers were caught in a sea of fire as the battle for Luo Island began.

• Ji Jue guided Zhanlu through a massive release of power that destroyed the tsunami and the creatures within it.
• Penalosa warned Garisto that Devour City could not withstand Ji Jue's strike, while the Usurper in the Sea Abyss realized how close he had come to fighting him.
• The mermaid Priests urged their forces and the Sea Locusts to attack Luo Island, while the Green Flood Dragon's Blessing sent man-eaters through the air.
• The Priests' lightning and wind repeatedly broke Luo Island's Curtain, leaving the island exposed as the enemy forces closed in.
• More than four thousand machine-gun turrets opened fire, and sixteen concealed silos launched rockets carrying incendiary materials.
• The rockets spread flames across the sea, burning the mermaids and Sea Locusts as they screamed and thrashed in the water.

Liang Mo’s forces met the merfolk invasion of Luo Island with powered exoskeletons, Peace Cats, and nine Hydra-linked combat companies. After the Coast Guard overwhelmed the attackers, a bombardment killed a giant Flood Dragon Species mermaid that had challenged Doggie to a duel.

• The merfolk broke through Coast Industry’s defenses and surged into the factory grounds despite the burning sea and heavy gunfire.
• Liang Mo welcomed the invaders as the steel beasts and exoskeleton companies charged into battle, while the Peace Cats joined the attack.
• Penalosa recognized that Ji Jue had adapted the Horde’s command methods, linking nine Titan-class beasts and their companies through the Hydra Matrix and the Mycelium of the Red Federation.
• A giant Flood Dragon Species mermaid smashed through the Peace Cats and challenged Doggie, who stepped back as Liang Mo’s request for support reached Paradise.
• A 115-millimeter shell and an Alchemical shell struck the mermaid, while the Peace Cats returned to Paradise and downloaded into new bodies.
• Doggie photographed the mermaid’s shattered skull and sent it to King of Flies’s chat group with the note, “Idiot.”

The Prosperity and Luo Island’s defenses slaughtered the attacking mermaids and disaster beasts, but the Green Flood Dragon emerged and dragged the ship into a vortex. Ji Jue revealed the Prosperity’s true form as the Dragon Mountain Form and faced the beast.

• Luo Island’s defenses and the Prosperity’s Blazing Light guns devastated the mermaids and burned the Corpse-Dwelling Snails.
• The mermaids’ blood and bones formed bone dragons, which attacked the Prosperity before it smashed them and drove them away from Luo Island.
• The Green Flood Dragon emerged from the sea, trapped the Prosperity in a vortex, and cracked its hull with its coils.
• A mechanical hand seized the Green Flood Dragon as Ji Jue revealed the Prosperity’s giant mechanical body: the Dragon Mountain Form.

Ji Jue and Dragon Mountain fought the Green Flood Dragon, which transformed into a White Flood Dragon before Zhanlu’s sword overwhelmed it. The Usurper used Luo Island and the Book of Conviction to seize Ji Jue, but the Book exposed so many crimes that the Heavenly Origin and the tower turned their judgment toward the Abyss Lord instead, leaving him mocked by the final accusation.

• Lou Feng cheered as Ji Jue unleashed Dragon Mountain against the Green Flood Dragon and battered it across the sea.
• The Green Flood Dragon changed into the White Flood Dragon, froze Dragon Mountain, and attacked with frost, but Ji Jue formed Zhanlu’s sword from purple lightning and black flame.
• Ji Jue pinned down the White Flood Dragon and began stripping off its hide, while the Usurper completed its Law’s spread across Luo Island and locked onto Ji Jue.
• The Abyss Lord used the Book of Conviction to judge Ji Jue, but the pages filled with an immense list of crimes.
• The Heavenly Origin and the tower looked toward the Abyss Lord instead of Ji Jue as Zhanlu’s sword split the White Flood Dragon in two.
• The Book of Conviction gathered its crimson charges into the mocking question, “Who stands before the court, accusing this official?”

Ji Jue used the Book of Conviction’s backlash to locate the Abyss Lord and launched a devastating assault across the Sea Abyss. The Abyss Lord repeatedly stole Ji Jue’s weapons, but after taking Chun Jun he encountered a crowned figure emerging from the black flames.

• The Book of Conviction turned against the Abyss Lord, forcing him to destroy his body and the book, but his Usurper’s Law remained entangled with the Red Firmament Foundation.
• Ji Jue appeared in the Sea Abyss and used Pan Ying and Blood Wrist’s Inheritance Sacrifice to devastate the Abyss Lord, his forces, and his kingdom.
• The Abyss Lord invoked his domain to attack Ji Jue, but Ji Jue unleashed Feiming Flame and burned him.
• The Abyss Lord used Usurpation to steal Pan Ying and the active Inheritance Sacrifice, then seized Zhanlu from Ji Jue, triggering a massive explosion that left him severely wounded.
• The Abyss Lord stole Chun Jun and celebrated its power, but a Seven-Horned Crown figure appeared within the black flames before him.

Ji Jue overwhelmed the Abyss Lord and forced him to reach for Red Firmament, which reclaimed his stolen authority and consumed much of his kingdom. Red Firmament then united the Tower, Heavenly Origin, humans, and Creation Spirits under Ji Jue’s rule, leaving the Sea Abyss illuminated by its power.

• Ji Jue seized the Abyss Lord’s soul and destroyed his defenses, kingdom, subordinates, and authority until the Abyss Lord begged for mercy.
• Ji Jue stopped the destruction and ordered the Abyss Lord to continue, prompting him to reach for Red Firmament again.
• Red Firmament punished the Abyss Lord for attempting to seize Supreme Authority, crushing him and reclaiming his power as his kingdom began to collapse.
• The Abyss Lord tried to destroy his kingdom in a final act of resistance, but Red Firmament suppressed the attempt.
• The Tower and Heavenly Origin manifested together through Ji Jue, and Red Firmament absorbed the Abyss Lord’s kingdom, Mandala, Creation Spirits, and King of Flies.
• Red Firmament illuminated the Sea Abyss as humans and creations joined under Ji Jue’s unified authority.

Ji Jue killed the Usurper and absorbed the last Law of Aberration, transforming Red Firmament into a powerful command banner that let him control the Sea Abyss. After concealing the Abyss beneath the sea, he returned to the Prosperity and suspected that Deepdark had watched the battle without revealing itself.

• The Marquis Seal shattered, revealing the Usurper’s history and the source of his stolen power, and Ji Jue executed him.
• Red Firmament absorbed the remaining Law of Aberration and became a command banner bearing Celestial Origin, the Tower, and the seal [Eternal Mandate, Perpetual Constancy].
• Ji Jue recognized that Red Firmament could control those under his authority and alter conditions across its domain, then claimed the Sea Abyss’s land and mineral-rich earth vein for Coast Industry.
• Ji Jue used Red Firmament to close and conceal the Sea Abyss beneath the seabed, then left a coordinate in the Doomsday Train for future development.
• Ji Jue returned to the Prosperity as the storm subsided and the remaining Sea Locusts scattered, while the crew continued processing the White Flood Dragon’s head.
• Ji Jue recalled Wolf Fiend detecting a hidden hostile presence that had held back from attacking and wondered whether the watcher was Deepdark.

Ji Jue concealed his knowledge of the hidden Deepdark practitioner while preparing to lure them into revealing themselves and investigating when they had targeted him. After Luo Island’s victory brought Coast widespread orders and left the Seven Cities battling scattered Sea Locusts, Ji Jue confronted Bustaman about the origin of his household-god modifications.

• Ji Jue reviewed the attack records, failed to identify the hidden Deepdark, and decided to make plans to draw the practitioner out while searching his own past for clues.
• Ji Jue secretly activated Tower’s Shadow in the Sea Abyss, where the enemy still did not know the Abyss Lord was dead.
• Luo Island’s victory spread across the Thousand Isles, bringing Coast a flood of equipment orders and leaving the Seven Cities alarmed as Sea Locust swarms ravaged their territories.
• Minkler praised Ji Jue’s support as Elephant Isle’s defenses helped its people safely clear disaster-beast corpses.
• Ji Jue visited Minkler and Bustaman, then forced Bustaman to kneel and demanded to know where he had learned to modify household gods.

Ji Jue questioned whether Bustaman’s plan to remake the Family God had truly been his own, then summoned Yan Chang to investigate. Bustaman’s records supported his account but raised Ji Jue’s suspicions, and Yan Chang arrived having advanced rapidly through his work with the Paradise System.

• Bustaman admitted that remaking the Family God had been his own idea, and Ji Jue questioned him about the evidence and methods behind it.
• Bustaman led Ji Jue and Minkler to a hidden study containing his records, rare books, and ritual materials.
• Ji Jue found Bustaman’s research clumsy but its central idea sound, and suspected that something had given Bustaman unusual insight and luck.
• Minkler suggested searching Bustaman’s head with a Heart Pivot, while Bustaman welcomed the chance to learn whether he had been manipulated.
• Ji Jue summoned Yan Chang beneath the Chopra Family estate, where Yan Chang explained that he had grown stronger through his work on the Paradise System.

Ji Jue and Yan Chang investigated Bustaman’s memories to find the source of his obsession with power. They uncovered a childhood memory of the ship Theseus, where Bustaman first formed the belief that what mattered was keeping the ship—and its power—his own.

• Ji Jue gave Yan Chang books and exam questions for Yan Chang’s brother to complete.
• Yan Chang examined Bustaman’s memories within the Family God and found no sign that the Heart Pivot had influenced him.
• Yan Chang traced Bustaman’s fear of losing power back to a memory from when Bustaman was sixteen.
• Ji Jue and Bustaman entered the memory and found young Bustaman studying a painting called Theseus.
• After hearing the curator’s ship paradox, young Bustaman decided that the ship remained itself as long as it kept sailing, and that what mattered was that it was his ship.

Ji Jue uncovered signs that Bustaman’s ambition may have been deliberately nurtured, then realized the Seven Cities might each conceal a larger scheme. Meanwhile, leaders from the other cities debated how to respond to Ji Jue’s growing power and ended without agreeing on a firm course of action.

• Yan Chang showed Bustaman how the paintings Theseus and [Saturn Devouring His Son] framed the origins of his ambition and fear.
• Ji Jue refused Minkler’s suggestion to dig up the caretaker’s grave and considered whether someone had guided Bustaman’s rise.
• Ji Jue linked Boggio’s death and his own intervention to the collapse of a long-running plan, then wondered whether the Flawless Temple and the Usurper were part of wider threats across the Seven Cities.
• The Old Woman from Ma City urged the city leaders to confront Ji Jue, while the ruler of Tooth Gate and Garisto advocated a peaceful resolution.
• Garisto relied on the Imperial Sacred Tree Family’s protection as the other representatives regarded his retreat from the anti-Ji Jue alliance with contempt.

During a council meeting, the Seven Cities’ leaders moved to expel Luo Island and Elephant Isle from their alliance, but a colossal disaster beast’s passage interrupted the vote. The beast departed after battling another giant creature, leaving the Seven Cities shaken as the Calamity Wind season began in earnest.

• The old woman from Ma City proposed expelling Luo Island and Elephant Isle from the Seven Cities Alliance, and Garisto and several other leaders supported the plan despite Fernan’s opposition.
• As Garisto called for a vote, the lights went out and the lighthouse in Pu City illuminated a colossal storm-hidden disaster beast approaching across the sea.
• The giant beast paused at the lighthouse’s glow, then passed the Seven Cities and fought an unknown colossal creature in the Endless Sea before continuing toward its depths.
• The Federation belatedly announced that the annihilation-class disaster beast Gluttonous Turtle Charybdis had been driven south by the Leviathan Fleet and had passed through the region.
• At dawn, the Seven Cities faced the wreckage left by the beasts as disaster creatures began slaughtering one another and the Calamity Wind grew fiercer.

As calamity beasts spread chaos across the Endless Sea, Ji Jue checked on Puna Bantu and learned that Isis’s organization was keeping it secure. Meanwhile, Charybdis’s passage left valuable remains that sparked a dangerous but booming salvage trade around the Seven Cities.

• Reports described disasters across the Endless Sea, including an Annihilation Class Disaster Beast’s destruction in eastern Central Earth, the North Sea Kraken’s approach toward human settlements, and military efforts to keep Leviathan dormant in Huangzhou.
• Ji Jue asked Isis about Puna Bantu, and she reported that its operations were orderly and that no high-threat targets had appeared.
• Pale flowers secretly spread through the waters around Puna Bantu, consuming sea life and disaster beasts while Isis’s security log continued to record the area as safe.
• After Charybdis left part of an unknown calamity beast’s remains behind, Tooth Gate and the other city-states sent fleets to claim and sell the valuable tissues and organs.
• The salvage boom filled the docks with eager workers and brought hope to the struggling Seven Cities, even as crews suffered severe injuries at sea.
• A Giant Serpent was dismantled for buyers, while a child in the Slums eagerly ate the plentiful meat as an old man urged the child to eat until full.

As Seven Cities’ residents rushed to hunt disaster beasts for wealth, Ji Jue refused to lift Luo Island’s maritime ban and blocked those who secretly sailed out from returning. While the wider region’s frenzy continued, Ji Jue sensed that the seal in the Sea Abyss had been disturbed, suggesting the big fish had taken the bait.

• Ji Jue rejected petitioners who wanted Luo Island to open bounties and allow ships to go to sea, keeping the island’s lockdown in place.
• Riot Cat and the Paradise System stopped a small group from organizing a protest, while most residents chose their jobs and secure lives over joining them.
• A group secretly sailed out from Luo Island, and Ji Jue let them leave before sending the coastal fleet to seal the waters and drive away returning ships.
• Across Seven Cities, rumors of riches and shipwrecks fueled a shipbuilding boom and drew more people into the dangerous hunt.
• Ji Jue sensed the seal within the Sea Abyss move and realized the big fish was taking the bait.

Rotten Ape and Du Luojia visited the Abyss Lord to recruit him for an assault on Luo Island and Seven Cities, but the Abyss Lord distrusted their vague plans and resisted committing. Rotten Ape offered a damaged tiger tally and forced both sides to swear a binding contract before the Tower; they agreed to act in ten days.

• Rotten Ape led Du Luojia to the ruined Sea Abyss, where the Abyss Lord angrily confronted him for failing to help reclaim Luo Island.
• Du Luojia offered Flawless Temple's aid and described the Eight Legions of Heavenly Dragons, but the Abyss Lord demanded details and refused to join without knowing the other factions' plans.
• The Abyss Lord exposed his ruined realm and invited Rotten Ape to see the mangled remains hidden in the mist, while Du Luojia rebuked Rotten Ape for provoking him.
• Rotten Ape presented a damaged tiger tally and demanded that the Abyss Lord swear to the alliance before the Tower.
• The Abyss Lord and Rotten Ape signed a binding contract to work together against Luo Island, and Rotten Ape promised they would act in ten days.

Ji Jue investigated Rotten Ape’s ten-day deadline while the Seven Cities’ sailors were driven into ruin by debt and a disastrous hunt for Charybdis. After only five days, Rotten Ape’s token began pulsing, signaling that their operation was starting early.

• Ji Jue questioned Master Hu Jian about Dragon Poison, learned that the Association’s records of him had been deliberately corrupted, and merged the Tiger Tally into the Scarlet Firmament Banner.
• Ji Jue ordered Isis to mobilize their reserves and monitored the Seven Cities, but found no sign of Rotten Ape’s plans.
• Ridwan begged Lei Wang for money after profiteering and mounting expenses left him unable to afford medicine, while sailors continued borrowing to chase promised riches.
• A fleet seeking Charybdis was wiped out by the maddened disaster beast, and the surviving sailors returned to face debt collectors and lose what they owned.
• Ji Jue received word from the Sea Abyss when Rotten Ape’s token began to glow, and the operation started five days ahead of schedule.

Rotten Ape accelerated the plan to seize the Seven Cities because the berserk Charybdis was approaching, and the conspirators discussed how to divide the cities and their spoils. When Ji Jue asked what Rotten Ape wanted, Rotten Ape revealed a token bearing Anvil Elder’s emblem, identifying himself as a Secluded Envoy.

• Rotten Ape told the gathered conspirators that Charybdis had gone berserk and might pass through the Seven Cities, so they could not wait five more days.
• Rotten Ape outlined a plan to break the workshop’s suppression, sever the Artisan’s connection to Luo Island, and seize the Seven Cities, while warning that Ji Jue was a serious threat.
• Ji Jue raised concerns about the Empire’s fleet and the Seven Cities’ lighthouse, but Rotten Ape claimed he had already dealt with both obstacles.
• The conspirators bargained over how to divide the Seven Cities and their spoils, with each faction claiming its share.
• Ji Jue asked Rotten Ape what he was seeking, and Rotten Ape showed a coin bearing Anvil Elder’s emblem, revealing that he was a Secluded Envoy.

Rotten Ape gathered Deepdark’s allies to launch a surprise assault on Luo Island, but their spatial rite was diverted into a sealed trap where Xu Chao Xian and Flawless Temple attacked. Du Luojia turned against Deepdark and its contract broke, leaving him aligned with the Federation.

• Rotten Ape promised the group Seven Cities’ spoils and future Gifts from Anvil Elder in exchange for helping Deepdark seize Luo Island.
• The Abyss Lord presented a natural spatial coordinate, and Rotten Ape activated the Secret Rite of the Eternal Gate to transport the assembled forces.
• The rite fractured and diverted the group into an iron enclosure, where the Usurper was impaled and gravely wounded.
• Du Luojia used the Eight Legions of Heavenly Dragons to shield himself as Xu Chao Xian’s Great Momentum devastated Deepdark’s forces.
• The Usurper died, and Rotten Ape accused Du Luojia of betraying them as the contract between the group broke.
• Xu Chao Xian praised Du Luojia for turning to the Federation.

Ji Jue’s trap on Luo Island exposed the Federation’s ambush and overwhelmed the gathered enemies. As Tong Shan and Tang Qian defeated the Calamity Masters, Du Luojia was trapped in the mandala and subjected to Badanta’s Great Momentum, while Rotten Ape was left demanding that Ji Jue face him.

• Rotten Ape used the Eternal Gate to anchor everyone in place, but the Federation’s Sole Authority and Celestial Origin domain suppressed the trapped fighters.
• The Chiliarch attacked Du Luojia, who blocked the strike and sealed him with lotus flowers, allowing Tang Qian to tear him apart; the Chiliarch’s Oathbound Vengeance Curse then ignited the Fire of Mad Slaughter inside Du Luojia.
• A Calamity Master unleashed the Frostflame Calamity, but Tong Zhiwu countered it with the Disaster Prevention Book and struck the Calamity Master down with the written character Death.
• Lou Feng activated the Absolute Spirit Extinction Domain across Luo Island, while Du Luojia was pulled into the mandala and attacked by Badanta’s Great Momentum.
• Tang Qian and Tong Shan turned their attacks on Du Luojia as Ji Jue cheered them on, and Rotten Ape called for Ji Jue to come out and face him.

Ji Jue and his allies fought Dragon Poison’s companions as Dragon Poison raised a decaying Observatory Tower that weakened their defenses and broke the prison cage. Du Luojia briefly escaped and transformed, but Inayat devoured his soul jewel, and Ji Jue overwhelmed Dragon Poison with repeated Scene Tremors.

• Ji Jue continued attacking Dragon Poison’s companions while containing them with Zhanlu, Chun Jun, and the torrent of Mercury.
• Dragon Poison raised the Observatory Tower, whose eerie light weakened Alchemical Creations and Celestial Origin and began cracking the prison cage.
• Badanta and Tang Qian attacked Du Luojia, who released a devastating surge, restored himself through Dragon Poison’s time-reversing protection, and transformed into Tara Aspect.
• Du Luojia broke through the prison, but Dragon Mountain struck Dragon Poison’s collapsing tower while Inayat seized and devoured Du Luojia’s soul jewel from the shadows.
• Tong Shan and Dragon Mountain destroyed Dragon Poison’s defenses, and Ji Jue repeatedly slammed the exposed Dragon Poison with Scene Tremor.

Ji Jue exposed and destroyed a counterfeit Dragon Poison, then prepared to confront the force behind the lighthouse as its flames consumed the Seven Cities. He left Luo Island’s defense to Lou Feng and headed into the burning hell.

• Tong Shan used a magnifying glass to reveal that Dragon Poison was a counterfeit created by Truth Publishing House, and Ji Jue disintegrated him with Scene Tremor.
• Tong Shan returned to Central Earth, while Ji Jue sent Inayat away and assigned Tang Qian to guard the Coast Factory Area’s entrance.
• Ji Jue and Lou Feng saw the lighthouse engulfing the Seven Cities in Zhi Fu Flame, while Mirroring - Star of Bethlehem struggled to shield Luo Island’s Giant Tree.
• Lou Feng confirmed that everyone had evacuated to the factory’s underground fortifications, and Ji Jue thanked him for protecting Luo Island.
• Ji Jue told Lou Feng he was going somewhere he ought to go, then walked toward the hell blazing beneath the lighthouse.

Ji Jue witnessed how corruption, counterfeit medicine, and violent suppression crushed the people of Tooth Gate until they accepted their suffering as inevitable. Their final despair awakened the corrupt flames within the lighthouse, and the Sea of Suffering began to churn.

• The lighthouse’s radiance showed Ji Jue visions of debt collectors, officials, and profiteers exploiting sick and impoverished people while counterfeit medicine spread disease.
• The desperate crowd rioted and attacked the upper district, but soldiers opened fire, and the dead and infected mutated into beasts.
• The crowd and mutated beasts charged the nobles, but the Chosen Ones slaughtered them while the banquet continued undisturbed.
• The ruler of Tooth Gate dismissed the unrest, and the city returned to its usual cycle of corpse incineration, scarce aid, and desperate survival.
• An old woman told a child that life would probably stay the same, as the people’s despair settled into acceptance.
• Ji Jue saw the final sacrifice awaken the world’s corrupt flames within the lighthouse, and the Sea of Suffering churned.

The Gift of Stagnant Rot spread through the Seven Cities, transforming their inhabitants into grotesque objects and creatures as chaos engulfed the region. The Sacred Tree Fleet abandoned Devour City, while Minkler fled a pursuing monster made from his ancestors and encountered Ji Jue.

• Stagnant Rot ignited across the Seven Cities, and the lighthouse spread Green Fire that transformed residents into grotesque forms.
• Garisto failed to get help as the Sacred Tree Fleet received orders to leave Devour City and sailed away toward the battlefield.
• A gigantic creature formed from the Chopra ancestors pursued Minkler through the collapsing streets of Elephant Isle.
• Minkler blamed his guards and fled the creature on a motorcycle after watching his father, Bustaman, transform.
• Ji Jue appeared before Minkler and admitted he had left trouble behind by failing to finish a previous job.

Ji Jue confronted Fernan amid the destruction of the Seven Cities, accusing him of using decades of ineffective reforms to keep its people trapped in exploitation and despair. As the city burned and the Stagnant Decay Furnace Core answered the summons, Fernan’s supposed good intentions were exposed as the force behind a long-running cycle of ruin.

• The mutated Family God attacked the family’s descendants, and Steel Giant Dragon Mountain crushed it under Ji Jue’s command.
• Ji Jue ordered Minkler to let the Paradise System take over Elephant Isle and told him to keep nonthreatening mutated civilians under watch.
• The Seven Cities Council burned, and Fernan wandered through the chaos before collapsing in despair.
• Ji Jue confronted Fernan and accused him of creating the city’s misery through reforms that enabled exploitation while promising improvements that never came.
• Fernan insisted he had acted for the Seven Cities, and Ji Jue praised his ability to make decades of failure seem like good intentions.
• The Stagnant Decay Furnace Core answered the summons as the Seven Cities fell into the Realm of Zhi Fu.

Ji Jue confronted and killed Fernan, then discovered that Fernan could revive by reclaiming the powers and body parts he had cast aside across the corrupted cities. The chapter ended with Ji Jue laughing as his interference kept Fernan from completing his plan to control Seven Cities and ascend.

• Ji Jue challenged Fernan’s claims of sacrifice and accused him of standing apart from the suffering people he claimed to save.
• Ji Jue struck Fernan with Chun Jun, killing him and destroying his soul.
• Fernan’s empty body revived, and he confronted Ji Jue for ruining his carefully planned final ceremony.
• Luo Island broke free from the lighthouse’s coverage, and Elephant Isle began escaping the Realm of Zhi Fu, preventing Fernan from controlling them all at once.
• The corrupted cities sent Fernan his heart, eyes, hands, and other lost powers, restoring him as Ji Jue laughed at having blocked his ascent.