Chapter Summaries

Lu Changsheng defended his decision to remain in Quancheng despite the danger, arguing that the conflict would come regardless and that fleeing would amount to surrender. He declared his aim to transform evil into good, leaving his allies to decide whether to stand with him.

• Lu Changsheng greeted the leaders gathered in Quancheng, but Adrian confronted him over the worsening crisis and the Security Bureau's lockdown.
• Lu Changsheng urged Adrian, Jianyuan, and the others to accept the risk and make a last stand rather than retreat after receiving what they had come for.
• Lu Changsheng described how past heroes had acted despite the calamities their choices caused, connecting their legacy to the world's present cycle of disasters.
• Lu Changsheng told the gathered leaders that the conflict would have happened even without him and that they could still leave, but no one else could take his place.
• Lu Changsheng proclaimed that he would transform evil into good and challenged his enemies to consider what would then be called evil.

Ji Jue settled into his role as a crippled beast-of-burden apprentice in Deepdark, secretly using grease Spiders to scout the underground workshop. When the group’s quota was suddenly doubled and Sun Ci faced losing his position, Ji Jue offered a possible solution.

• Ji Jue arrived at the underground workshop and Sun Ci assigned him a station processing scrap.
• Ji Jue adapted to the work while secretly creating grease Spiders to explore the sealed workshop.
• Ji Jue’s grease Spiders overheard the Supervisor double the group’s quota and threaten Sun Ci.
• The apprentices argued with Sun Ci over the new quota, while he feared losing the position he needed to escape worsening materialization.
• Ji Jue approached Sun Ci and said he might have a way to help.

Ji Jue helped Sun Ci meet the workshop’s quota by using a technique that gave him four extra arms, while secretly studying the workshop’s flawed alchemy. After the supervisor signed off on their output, Ji Jue triggered a major contamination incident that turned the underground workshop into chaos.

• Sun Ci gathered the Spiritual Substance supplements, mercury, and materials Ji Jue requested, and the two agreed to share their fortunes and hardships.
• Ji Jue attached four poisonous arms to his back and used them to dismantle and restore Evil Ignorance Nails at extraordinary speed while secretly studying their alchemy.
• Sun Ci drove the other apprentices to work, and the group delivered 159 units to the supervisor, exceeding the quota by nine.
• The supervisor praised the output but privately resolved to cause a workplace accident to eliminate Ji Jue.
• The Melting furnace exploded, and a bloodied, contaminated creature emerged, crushed an apprentice, and triggered the major-incident alarm as Ji Jue calmly drank from his mug.

Ji Jue helped engineer Sun Ci’s apparent victory over the Aberration, which was killed by a makeshift pistol, while the Workshop’s leaders arrived to assess the damage. Cun Ling discovered the Aberration had grown from mishandled Sin-Corrupted Spiritual Substance and found an intriguing bullet in the wreckage.

• As the Aberration rampaged through the sealed Workshop, Ji Jue quietly assembled a pistol from scrap while CEO hid his Toolbox.
• Ji Jue arranged for Sun Ci to receive the makeshift pistol, and Sun fired it at the charging Aberration, killing it but injuring his arm in the explosion.
• Ji Jue and the apprentices praised Sun Ci as the one who had slain the Aberration, and the survivors celebrated his supposed achievement.
• Cun Ling inspected the wrecked Workshop, learned that Manager Wen’s mishandling of Sin-Corrupted Spiritual Substance had caused the disaster, and cursed him for his negligence.
• Cun Ling noticed a bullet embedded in the wreckage and examined it with interest.

Ji Jue used Sun Ci’s promotion to bind him into a fearful alliance and became his assistant at the Recycling Department. While delivering materials through the workshop, Ji Jue found the Precious Material Preservation Room that reacted to Lou Feng’s Spirit Essence Crystal.

• Cun Ling praised Ji Jue’s crude but ingenious bullet and appointed Sun Ci supervisor of the underground Workshop after Sun Ci killed the Aberration.
• Sun Ci realized Ji Jue had arranged events so suspicion would fall on him, then agreed to become Ji Jue’s friend and help him.
• Ji Jue became Sun Ci’s assistant, earned the workers’ gratitude by easing quotas and distributing protective equipment, and began making deliveries through the workshop.
• Ji Jue bribed the bald internal affairs supervisor with generated gold and learned that the fourth floor was Teacher Jian Yuan’s private domain.
• Ji Jue placed materials in the storage vault and sensed Lou Feng’s Spirit Essence Crystal react near the Precious Material Preservation Room.

Ji Jue secretly expanded his surveillance network through the Workshop and used mechanical spiders to see the devastated world outside. He remained trapped inside, only a few hundred meters from the chaos beyond the containment walls.

• Ji Jue sensed the Lou Family positioning device, then hid with the bald woman as Jianyuan and his disciples carried a large box into the material storage room.
• Jianyuan noticed Ji Jue, but Cun Ling identified him as an apprentice, and Jianyuan dismissed him before leaving the warehouse.
• Back in the garbage collection area, Ji Jue used hardened mercury beads to create Mercury Spiders that spread camera threads through the Workshop's outer levels.
• Ji Jue sent three mechanical spiders through a ventilation duct and onto a truck leaving the Workshop.
• Through the spiders, Ji Jue saw the ruined landscape, containment walls, enormous chains, and spiritual tides battering the Workshop from only a few hundred meters away.

Ji Jue received weapons and intelligence from Tong Zhiwu, then used three buried mechanical spiders to redirect Tong Shan’s attack toward the workshop at Quancheng. The resulting chaos gave Ji Jue a chance to discard his disguise and slip into the crowd.

• Ji Jue sent the CEO to deliver a letter and retrieve a reply from Tong Zhiwu, who sent back two Delusional Hands, a page of the Correction Book, and two Gleaming Blades.
• Tong Shan and the others discussed Ji Jue’s rapid infiltration of Deepdark, while Ji Liu tore up an order from the forward station and Tong Shan prepared the group to act.
• Tong Shan repaired his flag, left the hiding place, and raised it at the appointed time to unleash a powerful attack toward Quancheng.
• The three mechanical spiders Ji Jue had buried around the workshop activated and summoned the Blazing Light toward the site, where it struck the defenses and triggered alarms and chaos.
• Ji Jue discarded his disguised cane and blended into the fleeing crowd.

Ji Jue used a disguised identity and a vicious Blessed Creation to infiltrate the Workshop, kill Lian Yun, and steal his access. As the Workshop tightened security, Ji Jue appeared to reach the precious-material storeroom in Lian Yun’s guise, where the bald warehouse manager noticed his damaged face.

• The Workshop erupted into panic after an alarm sounded, but Lian Yun forced the apprentices and artisans back to their stations.
• Ji Jue used the [Gleaming Blade] to disable and kill Lian Yun, then took his amulets and Workshop identification access.
• Cun Ling ordered the Workshop to investigate hidden dangers and seize anyone missing from their post or acting strangely.
• Sun Ci checked on his scar-faced assistant and relaxed after the assistant denied causing trouble, unaware that a mercury puppet was behind the door.
• Disguised as Lian Yun, Ji Jue accompanied the bald warehouse manager into the precious-material storeroom.
• The bald woman noticed the false face slipping on the supposed Lian Yun, who picked it up, put it back crookedly, and asked what was wrong with his face.

Ji Jue found Lou Yanyue sealed in Deadlock, freed her with the help of Lou Feng’s stored instructions, and prepared an explosive escape from Jianyuan’s facility. The explosions began as he carried her out in a box and fled among the panicked crowd.

• Ji Jue repaired his disguise and explored the Precious Material Storage Room before finding Lou Yanyue sealed inside Spirit Essence Crystal.
• Ji Jue used Lou Feng’s Spirit Essence Crystal to unseal Lou Yanyue and explained that he was her grandnephew’s friend.
• Ji Jue sabotaged the alarm system and arranged bombs while Lou Yanyue recovered inside the dissolving Deadlock.
• Ji Jue put Lou Yanyue in a box and sprinted away as explosions tore through the facility.
• More explosions struck the entrance, and unmanned trucks crashed through the gates and fled in different directions.

Jianyuan punished Cun Ling by triggering a terrifying, incomplete Sin Corruption, then revealed that he had been waiting for Ji Jue. As Jianyuan confronted Ji Jue, the Workshop discovered that the missing explosives were hidden in the sewers and about to detonate.

• Jianyuan froze the explosives in the storage room and questioned Cun Ling about the mocking poem left on the wall.
• Jianyuan condemned Cun Ling for his incompetence and subjected him to a half-formed Sin Corruption that left him bound to a dangerous puppet-like creation.
• Jianyuan gathered the Workshop's supervisors and department heads, then revealed that he knew Ji Jue had stayed behind after rescuing his companions.
• Jianyuan confronted Ji Jue, who realized that the Master Artisan had been lying in wait for him, while Sun Ci fainted in terror.
• Workshop search teams found the trucks and crates empty, then discovered Mercury Spiders carrying explosives in the sewers beneath the Recycling Department.
• The explosives beneath the Workshop detonated.

Ji Jue’s elaborate escape plan saved Lou Yanyue, but Jianyuan exposed his deception and captured him. After inspecting Ji Jue and discovering the many marks and influences bound to him, Jianyuan concluded that Ye Xian was his teacher.

• Ji Jue’s decoys and a disguised missile hid Lou Yanyue from Jianyuan’s search, while Jianyuan spotted discrepancies in the Workshop’s records and understood the scheme.
• The missile crashed beyond Quancheng, and Lou Feng and Tong Shan freed Lou Yanyue from the damaged Deadlock Crystal; she thanked Tong Shan and learned that Ji Jue was likely in danger.
• Tong Shan carried Lou Yanyue away, leaving behind Ji Jue, whom Jianyuan took into his private workshop after dismissing everyone else.
• Jianyuan explained that he had recognized Ji Jue as valuable material and praised his ingenuity, then restrained him and searched his body and soul.
• Jianyuan identified the many evils, virtues, and other forces connected to Ji Jue, then deduced that Ye Xian was his teacher.

After Jianyuan exposed Ji Jue as an undercover agent, he shackled him and forced him to process materials in his Workshop, where Ji Jue began learning Fiendification Alchemy. Jianyuan revealed his horrific, hollowed-out form before renewing Ji Jue’s deadline, leaving him to finish the work under threat of losing a finger.

• Jianyuan restrained Ji Jue with a Rune chain and ordered him to process a pile of materials, threatening him when he refused.
• Ji Jue pretended to submit, then explored Jianyuan’s Workshop and made himself a wheelchair with Non-Aggression and Miraculous Hands.
• Ji Jue questioned the materials’ specifications, and Jianyuan’s afterimage supplied instructions, textbooks, and a four-hour deadline.
• Ji Jue studied Fiendification Alchemy and processed the materials, but Jianyuan rejected most of his work and gave him half an hour to redo it or lose a finger.
• Ji Jue challenged Jianyuan about his ambitions, and Jianyuan peeled off his face to reveal his damaged skull and tormented soul before warning that Ji Jue had twenty-five minutes left.

Ye Xian learned that Ji Jue had been captured by Jianyuan but refused to rescue him until she finished confronting her Martial Uncle. Meanwhile, the families agreed that a decisive battle with the Evil Transformation Cult was imminent, as Tao Gong’s final days appeared to be approaching.

• Lü Yingyue told Ye Xian that Ji Jue had been captured alive by Jianyuan, but Ye Xian said she would leave him to face the consequences until she dealt with her own affairs.
• Ye Xian explained that Jianyuan would exploit Ji Jue’s capture to challenge her and her teacher, and she planned to bring Ji Jue back after her confrontation with her Martial Uncle.
• At the outpost meeting, Tong Ting and Madam Lou discussed the families’ response, and Tong Ting confirmed that the distinction between good and evil karma meant they would have to fight.
• Tong Ting warned Madam Lou that Tao Gong’s strength and clarity suggested his remaining time was short and that a clash would likely come within days.
• Madam Lou recalled Tao Gong’s declaration that he would sacrifice himself for the sake of all under heaven.

Ji Jue endured Jianyuan’s brutal training, mastered Fiendification Alchemy, and used his new control over Cun Ling’s puppet to punish him. He then brought Jianyuan a newly forged creation disguised as a back scratcher.

• Ji Jue reflected on his exhausting studies and rapid progress in Stagnant Rot techniques and Fiendification Alchemy, while black marks from resisting his restraints covered his body.
• Ji Jue suppressed a blood-red creation that burst from the Furnace and concluded that Jianyuan’s Fiendification Alchemy made powerful but dangerously uncontrollable creations.
• Ji Jue confronted Cun Ling in the corridor, and Cun Ling attacked him before the puppet fused to Cun Ling turned on its host.
• Ji Jue let Cun Ling suffer until he begged, then briefly eased the puppet’s grip and rolled away as the puppet watched him leave.
• Ji Jue entered Jianyuan’s workshop and presented his new Sin Corruption creation as a back scratcher that made its user itch more the longer it scratched.

Jianyuan tested Ji Jue with the Stagnant Decay Furnace Core, forcing him to face a hellish vision of the mortal world and the temptation of the Heavenly Mandate Craft. Ji Jue rejected that path and returned from the furnace, while Jianyuan declared that his next lesson would continue tomorrow.

• Ji Jue’s Fiendification Alchemy produced another comically ineffective creation, and Jianyuan decided he was ready to move beyond the basics.
• Jianyuan brought Ji Jue to his abandoned workshop and used the accumulated furnace ash to reignite its furnace and reveal the Stagnant Decay Furnace Core.
• The furnace engulfed Ji Jue in visions of endless cycles of suffering, showed him Feigong’s Sin, and tempted him with the path to the Heavenly Mandate Craft.
• Ji Jue remembered a distant song and the woman watching him, rejected the vision’s invitation to hate and destroy, and turned toward the emptiness instead.
• Ji Jue emerged from the furnace and thanked Jianyuan, who congratulated him on learning to control Sin Corruption through hatred and malice and said they would continue the next day.

Ji Jue’s fiendification forging advanced rapidly as his Blessing transformed, but the process left visible signs of erosion and risk. After forging a dagger and a secretly distorted Blessed Creation, he revealed that the creation exposed its holder’s unspoken thoughts, and Jianyuan turned it on Ji Jue.

• Ji Jue’s [Primacy of Spirit] underwent Metamorphosis, letting his Spiritual Substance interfere with fiendification while the Secret Rite left his body increasingly scarred and altered.
• Ji Jue forged a shrieking dagger, but it shattered when Jianyuan tested it against his own aura and Matrix.
• Ji Jue presented Jianyuan with a crimson skull containing a concealed, distorted Heart Pivot blessing.
• The skull exposed Jianyuan’s true thoughts by speaking them aloud, revealing that its [Two Hearts Know] blessing voiced thoughts that differed from spoken words.
• Jianyuan drew Ji Jue’s Spiritual Substance into the skull, which grinned and threatened him.

Jianyuan showed Ji Jue the battle consuming Quancheng, where Tao Gong and the city’s forces fought the Evil Transformation Cult and Lu Changsheng. As the Workshop transformed into a towering machine, Ji Jue recognized the Sin Corruption-eroded engine in the Riftworld ruins calling to him.

• Jianyuan explained that he had come to exhaust the Path of Embers Zhi Fu, then removed the barrier around the Workshop so Ji Jue could witness the battle outside.
• Jianyuan identified the forces fighting across Quancheng, including the Lou Clan, Yu Clan, Tong Family, Lü Yingyue, Flawless Temple, and Heavenly Heart Society.
• Tao Gong used his Celestial power to hold back the Higher Fiends and attack Lu Changsheng, while Jianyuan warned that the power was consuming Tao Gong’s remaining humanity.
• Lu Changsheng challenged Tao Gong, and the battle intensified as fighting spread through Quancheng.
• Jianyuan declared that they could begin, and the Workshop expanded into a Giant Pillar as its Spirit Essence Circuits and furnaces activated.
• Ji Jue saw the black engine in the Riftworld ruins shake and call to him.

Jianyuan activated the rebuilt Sky Rail and unleashed the Vortex’s accumulated Sin Corruption across Haizhou, while he tried to convince Ji Jue that Ji Jue did not truly care about anyone. Ji Jue rejected him, and Lu Changsheng transformed into a Higher Fiend and claimed Quancheng before Tao Cheng sacrificed himself.

• Jianyuan used the engine to rebuild the Sky Rail, awaken the Vortex, and summon Haizhou’s accumulated sins toward Quancheng.
• As the black cascade threatened Haizhou, Ji Jue witnessed echoes of the dead and told Jianyuan that he cared despite Jianyuan’s accusations.
• Lu Changsheng gathered the evil abominations, transformed into a Higher Fiend, and made Quancheng the Vortex’s extension in the human world.
• Lu Changsheng challenged Tao Cheng to honor their wager, but Tao Cheng condemned his choices and declared that evil remained evil.
• Tao Cheng raised his hand to his neck and sacrificed himself for righteousness.

Tao Cheng sacrificed himself to fuse Superior Virtue into Sin-Corrupted Quancheng, reversing the battle and forcing Lu Changsheng to bear the weight of Celestial Origin’s power. As Haizhou’s forces reclaimed the city at terrible cost, Tong Shan destroyed Evil Folly’s cathedral and raised the Celestial Origin Flag over the collapsing battlefield.

• Tao Cheng recalled choosing to become a vessel for Celestial Origin and fell into Quancheng, where his final soul burned away and fused Superior Virtue into the city.
• Celestial Origin’s assimilation swept through Quancheng, suppressed Sin Corruption, and pressed down on Lu Changsheng as the Existing Fiend struggled to hold it back.
• Lü Yingyue invoked Tao Gong’s command, took control of Haizhou’s forces, and ordered them to advance while Lou Yanyue restored her limbs and eyes and searched the ruins for Jianyuan and Ji Jue.
• Jiang Xuan stayed behind to hold off Fiendified Ones, while Tong Shan entrusted Da Liu and A Xue to Tang Qian and entered the sanctuary to confront the Higher Fiends.
• Tong Shan fought through Evil Folly’s cathedral and killed its last High Priest as the Higher Fiend’s power collapsed and Sin Corruption rained over Quancheng.
• Tong Shan climbed the ruins and planted the tattered Celestial Origin Flag atop the broken sacred statue as the city sank beneath the Vortex.

The T5 Alliance approved a plan to erase Quancheng with Dust, but CEO vetoed it and secured three minutes of special operating authority for Sky Rail Transit. As Ji Jue faced Jianyuan, he died activating the engine’s hidden power, which revived the Sky Rail and turned it against Jianyuan.

• The T5 Alliance voted on deploying Dust to erase Quancheng, but CEO vetoed the proposal and won three minutes of special operating authority for Sky Rail Transit.
• Jianyuan explained that he pursued Sin Corruption and knowledge without regard for the poison and destruction they might leave behind, while Ji Jue challenged his indifference to the consequences.
• Ji Jue broke free of Jianyuan’s restraints, attacked with hidden weapons and the Heart Poison Arrow, and finally stabbed himself with the Bone Blade to send his blood onto the engine.
• Ji Jue’s blood awakened [Deus Ex Machina], and the engine shattered its chains, rejected Jianyuan’s control, and began rebuilding the Sky Rail.
• The revived engine summoned parts from the warehouse and regenerated as Ji Jue, dying, declared himself Jianyuan’s enemy.