Chapter Summaries

Ji Jue explained why he intended to seize control of the Seven Cities without relying on Haizhou’s families, then accompanied Minkler to the Chopra estate on Elephant Isle. After Minkler struck the butler who blocked their way, Ji Jue insulted the gathered relatives and allies, provoking their hostile attention.

• Ji Jue told Lou Feng that he wanted the Seven Cities’ resources under his own control and would gather his own people rather than let Haizhou’s families claim a share.
• Ji Jue jokingly offered to teach Minkler a martial-world trick with two Spirit Essence Swords.
• Minkler led Ji Jue and the fleet’s guards to the Chopra Family estate on Elephant Isle, where he struck the butler for blocking their way.
• Minkler pointed out the relatives and supporters gathered at the estate, including members of Flawless Temple, Heavenly Heart Society, and Blood Eye.
• Ji Jue called the gathered crowd worthless trash, and they turned toward him with cold, hostile expressions.

Ji Jue humiliated the White Deer members and let Ling Shuo serve him while the crowd watched. At the Chopra family meeting, Minkler pushed for an early Family God Selection vote, and Ji Jue dismissed warnings that offending the usurper would make his future difficult.

• Ji Jue knocked Liu of Ash Port unconscious with a single unseen attack after Liu challenged him.
• Ling Shuo arrived, apologized for Liu, and waited on Ji Jue as he mocked the gathering and urged everyone to keep smiling.
• Minkler burst into the Chopra family meeting, theatrically embraced Boggio, and blamed Luocheng for Boggio's injuries.
• Minkler proposed holding the Family God Selection early, then called for a vote when Boggio objected.
• Several family members supported voting, turning the meeting into a noisy dispute while Boggio realized Minkler had come to stir up trouble.
• The Old Woman warned Ji Jue that offending the usurper would cause him trouble, and Ji Jue retorted that his enemy would suffer instead.

Ji Jue confronted the factions gathered at the Chopra Family’s estate in the Seven Cities, dismissing their threats and demanding they serve him instead of the Federation. When the crowd rose against him, he unleashed his Curtain and overwhelmed nearly everyone in the courtyard, leaving only a handful standing.

• Ji Jue dismissed the Old Woman’s questions and said he had come seeking fine materials.
• Ji Jue told the assembled factions that they could be his dogs, provoking furious protests and threats from the crowd.
• The Old Woman, a Heavenly Heart Society member, and members of The Horde warned Ji Jue to reconsider, while the crowd accused him of relying on Minkler.
• Ji Jue declared that he was not giving Minkler face and released his Curtain across the courtyard.
• Ji Jue restrained the assembled fighters, shattered their Alchemical Creations, and wounded or incapacitated many Chosen Ones, leaving only a handful standing.

Ji Jue effortlessly defeated the attackers who tried to kill him, killing or incapacitating them while criticizing their abilities. After returning to his chair for tea, he told Boggio that the devastated courtyard was perfectly normal and that he could simply say thank you.

• Mad Slaughter's Fiendified One attacked Ji Jue, but Ji Jue stopped his sword between two fingers and shattered it.
• The monk of Flawless Temple trapped Ji Jue in an illusion with the Five Poisons Heart as Mad Slaughter and hidden White Deer prepared to attack.
• Ji Jue's body acted on its own, using Deus Ex Machina to counter the blades and kill the attackers with a blood-red sword.
• Ji Jue saw through the illusion, killed the monk, the Old Woman, and Mad Slaughter's Fiendified One, and struck down the Chosen of Embers despite his claim that they were allies.
• Ling Shuo poured Ji Jue tea as the remaining people lay terrified, and Ji Jue returned to his chair.
• Boggio arrived to find the courtyard ruined, and Ji Jue called the cleanup perfectly normal and told him to say thank you.

Ji Jue’s attack on the Chopra Family exposed the family’s ties to Flawless Temple and disrupted Boggio’s plans, but Boggio still prepared to secure power through the Family God Selection. As the ceremony began, Minkler rejected Boggio and confronted him over the family’s past, and the household god descended over Elephant Isle.

• Ji Jue dismissed Boggio’s accusations, while Lou Feng noted that the guests included few powerful figures and warned that the true threat might still be hidden.
• Minkler told Ji Jue that Boggio had rushed the Family God Selection forward to use him as a decoy, while Boggio secretly ordered his assistant to hide the Holy Oil and account books and relied on Flawless Temple’s support.
• The Chopra Family began its ancestral ritual, shutting down Elephant Isle as its Family Fire drew Spiritual Substance from the city’s vulnerable residents.
• Boggio tried to persuade Minkler to return to the family, but Minkler said his family had died decades ago when Boggio drowned him in a pond.
• The Family Fire erupted, a colossal household god emerged, and its arrival stirred a storm across Elephant Isle.

Ji Jue recognized the Chopra Family god as a dangerously flawed construct before the Family God Selection swallowed all seven candidates into its soul-world. Minkler landed in a spectral version of Elephant Isle, where his family bloodline protected him from the ghosts, but Hippolyta and Old Nine decided to kill him.

• Ji Jue judged that the family god’s fragmented consciousness and layers of restraints had made it powerful but unstable.
• The Chopra Family’s selection ritual began, and the family god swallowed all seven candidates so they could compete to reach its core.
• Minkler fell into a monochrome, distorted version of Elephant Isle and realized he needed to reach the ancestral shrine to gain the Family Fire’s recognition.
• Remnant spirits surrounded Minkler but knelt when they sensed his Chopra Family bloodline.
• Hippolyta tore apart Himuria, while Old Nine warned that Fourth had already set off and urged her to hurry.
• Hippolyta and Old Nine spotted Minkler hiding nearby and ordered that he be killed.

The Flawless Temple’s Badanta trapped the Chopra Family estate and used a Forbidden Law to suppress Embers, then attacked Ji Jue. Ji Jue survived with the Family God’s protection and revealed he had forged a trove of family-head tokens, before producing a bottle of Holy Oil.

• Badanta appeared with a vast Realm of Encirclement that trapped the Chopra Family estate and overwhelmed its inhabitants.
• Badanta demanded that Ji Jue submit to the True Dharma, but Ji Jue mocked him and challenged him to bring his backer from the Vortex.
• Badanta invoked the Flawless Temple’s True Word Forbidden Law, splitting matter from spirit and suppressing Embers within the realm.
• Badanta’s golden hand attack was stopped when the Chopra Family’s Family God moved to shield Ji Jue.
• Ji Jue revealed that he wore and carried numerous forged tokens of the family head, which he had made with Minkler’s cooperation and Lou Feng’s help.
• Ji Jue pulled a tiny bottle of Holy Oil from his pocket, making Badanta’s expression change.

Ji Jue used the Holy Oil to take control of the Chopra Family’s Family God and battled Badanta, who summoned the Good Abiding Master’s power. After Badanta broke Ji Jue’s control and tried to overwhelm him with a True Word, Ji Jue struck back with a Head-On Staff Blow as Juque descended from the heavens.

• Badanta realized that Ji Jue had the Holy Oil, and Ji Jue ignited it to complete his control of the Family God.
• Ji Jue directed the Family God to unleash a barrage of Spiritual Substance attacks against Badanta, who defended himself with Tumo Samadhi.
• Ji Jue used Non-Aggression to remove the Family God’s restraints and attack Badanta with weapons and limbs of its own.
• Badanta called on the Good Abiding Master, suppressed the Family God, and severed Ji Jue’s control with a True Word.
• Badanta revealed the Flawless Temple’s plan to convert the Family God through the faith of Elephant Isle’s worshippers and demanded that Ji Jue submit.
• Ji Jue mocked Badanta’s Head-On Staff Blow, then used the technique against him as Juque descended from beyond the heavens.

Ji Jue dropped the Prosperity onto Elephant Isle, forcing Badanta to call on his master and the Family God to stop it. As the ship’s fall was halted, the Family God began speaking with Lou Feng’s voice, while Lou Feng emerged from Minkler’s mouth and defeated Hippolyta.

• Ji Jue sent the Prosperity crashing toward Elephant Isle, shattering the Seven Treasures Realm of Encirclement and forcing Badanta to confront the falling ship.
• Badanta used his True Word to erase the Prosperity, but the ship’s Dragon Bone resisted his power and left him badly wounded.
• Badanta called on his master, who took control of the Family God and stopped the Prosperity’s fall through the gathered minds of Elephant Isle.
• Ji Jue counted down as the Family God convulsed and spoke with Lou Feng’s voice, ruining his dramatic reveal.
• Lou Feng emerged from Minkler’s mouth and stabbed Hippolyta with a Spirit Essence Sword, then identified it as a protected copy of Chun Jun.

Lou Feng and Minkler headed to find Minkler’s father as Boggio confronted Bustaman inside Nether Elephant Isle’s ancestral temple. Bustaman merged with the Family God, but Boggio struck him down with the aid of his maternal grandfather’s power, leaving Minkler to learn that his father had blown up.

• Lou Feng used Chun Jun’s Spiritual Substance transformations to freeze and destroy Hippolyta, then led Minkler onward to find his father.
• Boggio confronted Bustaman in the ancestral temple and realized his father had orchestrated the succession struggle to sacrifice descendants and control the Family God.
• Bustaman and the old monk within Boggio exchanged accusations before launching attacks, and Bustaman merged with the Family God after absorbing the suspended figures.
• Boggio transformed with his maternal grandfather’s heads and struck Bustaman’s giant form with a vajra, causing it to explode in a rain of blood.
• Minkler arrived with Lou Feng, asked what had happened, and was told that his father had blown up.

Minkler and Lou Feng witnessed Bustaman’s attempt to take over the Family God, as the restored patriarch and Boggio fought for control while outside forces interfered. Realizing both men meant to use and kill him, Minkler unleashed the hidden King of Flies blade.

• Bustaman regenerated after exploding, and Lou Feng briefly explained the strange attacks surrounding the battle.
• Lou Feng deduced that Bustaman had spent years feeding his children into the Family God to replace its ancestral souls with his own line and seize control.
• Bustaman and Boggio’s struggle transformed the Family God, while Ji Jue, Badanta, and King Shanzhu’s interference repeatedly shifted the fight.
• Bustaman begged Minkler to kill Boggio, while Boggio urged Minkler to kill Bustaman and offered him the family leadership.
• Minkler understood that neither man intended to spare him, pulled the blade from his soul, and released the King of Flies.

Ji Jue’s King of Flies overwhelmed the Family God, while Boggio and Badanta fought to seize control of it. Ji Jue defeated Badanta, sealed him inside the transformed Family God, and turned him into a shrine statue before preparing another attraction for the Chopra Family.

• Minkler unleashed a flood of souls that transformed the Family God into a spreading King of Flies, which created Iron Demons and overwhelmed Bustaman.
• Boggio attacked Bustaman and took control of the collapsing Family God, transforming it into a golden Buddha that converted the Iron Demons.
• The King of Flies corrupted Boggio’s mechanical monks, replaced the golden Buddha with silver light, and shattered the Family God’s defenses.
• Badanta pressed his conversion of the Family God while Ji Jue appeared weakened, but he fled when he lost contact with his master and sensed danger.
• Ji Jue trapped Badanta, cut off his True Word, and transformed him into a statue within the iron-gray Family God.
• Ji Jue draped Badanta in a kasaya, added two coins to complete the shrine display, and turned toward the damaged grounds to create another attraction.

Minkler became the new Chopra Family head after surviving the Family God Selection, while Ji Jue refashioned the family god into a guardian and surveillance system under his control. As Minkler began purging those who refused to submit, Ling Shuo brought Ji Jue evidence against Boggio and warned that trouble was spreading throughout the Endless Sea.

• Minkler survived the Family God Selection and was chosen as the new family head, while Boggio died and the family god devoured Boggio's mother after she ordered an attack.
• Madik knelt to greet Minkler as patriarch, and the other witnesses either pledged loyalty or were cowed into submission by the family god.
• Ji Jue explained that he had kept the family god on Elephant Isle and upgraded it with monitoring and one-click deletion functions, then left Minkler to carry out his promised purge of the Chopra Family.
• Ling Shuo presented Ji Jue with Boggio's captured assistant, Holy Oil, hard drives, and account books, explaining that his people had intercepted the assistant while he tried to flee.
• Ling Shuo warned Ji Jue that problems were spreading across the Endless Sea and left to report to Sworn Godfather, while Ji Jue accepted his contact card.

Minkler consolidated his rule over Elephant Isle with Ji Jue’s help and used Bustaman’s expertise to review the family’s assets and the Seven Cities’ political landscape. Bustaman warned that the Soekarno Family was cooperating with the Usurper and was backed by the Federation, leaving Ji Jue stunned by the implications.

• Minkler kept Bustaman, now merged with the Family God, in service because his experience could help stabilize Elephant Isle.
• Bustaman checked the family’s accounts, disclosed his hidden savings, and offered advice on managing the assets.
• Bustaman assessed the Seven Cities’ responses to Minkler’s rule and warned that the Soekarno Family would retaliate after its losses.
• Minkler asked whether the Usurper would dare act so close to the Federation, and Bustaman said the Soekarno Family was merely cooperating with the Usurper.
• Bustaman revealed that the Federation was backing them, and Ji Jue realized others would interpret his actions as serving Haizhou’s interests.

Ji Jue learned that the Xu Family might be working with the Soekarno Family and decided to draw them out while using the situation to strengthen his position in Seven Cities. After the Lou Family began promoting a major investment plan, Fernan came to meet Ji Jue.

• Bustaman told Ji Jue that the Long Island Conglomerate and the Xu Family might be linked to Luo Island and the Soekarno Family.
• Lou Feng concluded that the Xu Family was behind the trafficking of spiritual bodies and offered Lou Family support for a campaign against them.
• Ji Jue told Lou Feng to contact his third uncle for money and chose to bait the Xu Family instead of confronting it openly.
• The Lou Family's Extensive Relief Enterprise announced an ambitious investment plan for Elephant Isle and Seven Cities, drawing attention from investors and local leaders.
• Fernan visited Ji Jue, who greeted him by asking whether he had eaten.

Ji Jue accepted the Soekarno Family’s challenge to a Blood Feud Trial, turning the dispute into a fight to the death in seven days. As the group recognized that the trial bought the Soekarno Family time and revealed the Xu Family’s involvement, Ji Jue suggested Lou Feng’s aunt might be sent as the Chopra Family’s champion.

• Fernan delivered the Seven Cities Council’s congratulations and informed Ji Jue that the Soekarno Family had accused Minkler of murdering Mulba.
• Ji Jue countered by accusing Saino of murdering Bustaman and conspiring against the Chopra Family, and refused to answer the Soekarno Family’s charges first.
• Fernan announced that the Soekarno Family had invoked a Blood Feud Trial, and Ji Jue accepted by stamping the notice with Minkler’s patriarchal seal.
• Bustaman explained that the Soekarno Family was using the seven-day delay to prepare for war, while Ji Jue revealed that the Xu Family had made its move.
• Ji Jue pointed out that outside champions could fight in the trial, and Lou Feng realized his aunt might be called upon.

Ji Jue persuaded Lou Yanyue to join the Blood Feud Trial, and she arrived having already reached Transcendence. Before the trial could begin, riots erupted across Elephant Isle, prompting Ji Jue and Minkler to deploy Coast Industry’s security forces to restore order.

• Ji Jue explained how the Xu Family could use Lou Yanyue’s death in the Blood Feud Trial to intensify the feud, but Lou Feng objected to putting his aunt at risk.
• Lou Yanyue arrived, agreed to take part in the trial, and revealed that she had Transcended after fighting an old Empire man.
• Before dawn, riots spread across Elephant Isle after an immigrant’s death exposed police extortion and inflamed tensions between immigrants and locals.
• Minkler recognized that the unrest was a rebellion targeting his leadership, while Ji Jue declined Lou Yanyue’s offer to intervene and asked Minkler about his requirements.
• Minkler asked Ji Jue to avoid harming innocent civilians, and Ji Jue relayed the request to Liang Mo as Central Earth Security Team mobilized its exoskeletons, drones, and mechanical beast.

The security forces deployed by Coast Industry crushed the riots engulfing Elephant Isle with Exoskeleton Armor and Riot Cats. Liang Mo and Doggie eliminated a cell of instigators, while Waste Ruins was killed trying to escape.

• As martial law began, Exoskeleton Armor operators charged into the rioters and killed those who resisted, including intruders who broke into a school.
• Coast Industry deployed 410 Exoskeleton Armors and 3,000 Riot Cats across Elephant Isle, rapidly suppressing the unrest and arresting suspects.
• A commander ordered his followers to blow up a bank after the riot organizers lost control of the crowds.
• S789, registered as Doggie, smashed through the commander's hideout and impaled him with a spear.
• Waste Ruins fled into the slums, but drones and Doggie tracked him down, and Liang Mo killed him with a beam of Hunting Light.
• Liang Mo posted photos of his victory to the internal channel, traded insults with the others, and rode Doggie off to pursue another target.

Ji Jue tracked the source of the riots to a hidden villa and had Lou Yanyue destroy it with the Lou Clan’s Five Buildings Twelve Cities inheritance. The attacks on Elephant Isle subsided, but Ji Jue revealed that he planned to retaliate by targeting Luo Island.

• Ji Jue used the Curtain Mist and his surveillance network to trace the riots’ Spiritual Substance fluctuations to an isolated villa in Central City.
• Lou Yanyue unleashed Five Buildings Twelve Cities, reducing the villa to a deep, smooth-sided pit while sparing the surrounding area.
• The riots and attacks across Elephant Isle rapidly dissipated after the source of the agitation was destroyed.
• Lou Feng realized Ji Jue was unaffected by the inheritance’s aura, while Lou Yanyue complained that no one had dared challenge her.
• Ji Jue said the retaliation was only beginning, then changed the map to Luo Island as countless green markers appeared across it.

Ji Jue triggered a cascading disaster across Luo Island, beginning with a countdown broadcast everywhere and an airship crashing into the Soekarno Family’s Crown Seat. After the island’s systems miraculously returned to normal, Ji Jue opened his screen again, signaling that the chaos would start over.

• Armed guards patrolled Luo Island as rumors spread that the Chopra Family might attack, while the captain dismissed the threat and complained about the security measures.
• Screens, phones, and the Clock Tower displayed a countdown, then a flaming Giant Whale airship crashed into the Crown Seat and caused a massive explosion.
• Fires, blackouts, equipment failures, traffic jams, and financial turmoil plunged Luo Island into chaos for eight hours.
• Everything underwent Restoration just before dawn, and the Soekarno Family began cleaning up the damage.
• After a day of calm, Ji Jue picked up his teacup, opened his screen, and started AGAIN.