Chapter Summaries

Ji Jue refused to send Seven Cities food directly and instead offered meal vouchers for refugees willing to work on Luo Island, while Coast Industry continued expanding. He then visited Lou Feng, who was rapidly integrating the Green Flood Dragon’s remnant spirit into the Prosperity, and learned the ship would provoke nearby merfolk once it went to sea.

• Ji Jue offered Seven Cities three thousand tons of food in the form of meal vouchers redeemable by people who came to Luo Island and worked.
• Ji Jue escorted the envoy away after the envoy could neither accept nor object to his conditions.
• Ji Jue’s assistant confirmed that people and technical specialists were already smuggling themselves from Seven Cities to Luo Island for jobs and food.
• Ji Jue visited the underground Workshop, where Lou Feng was using Prisms and crystals to oversee the Green Flood Dragon’s integration into Juque and the Prosperity.
• Lou Feng warned Ji Jue that the Green Flood Dragon’s grudge would drive nearby merfolk into a frenzy whenever the Prosperity went to sea.

Ji Jue pushed Lou Feng to upgrade Juque, and Lou Feng completed a major part of the work despite his growing frustration and envy. As Ji Jue struggled to make progress on his own final step, Juque sensed a massive earthquake erupting far away.

• Lou Feng endured Ji Jue's demands and used Star of Bethlehem to etch thirty-two layers of Spirit Essence Circuits into Juque, allowing the Green Flood Dragon's Dragon Blood to spread across the hull.
• Lou Feng felt that his work merely revealed the potential Ji Jue had already designed, but he agreed to keep working after Ji Jue praised him and introduced another idea.
• Ji Jue continued refining blades, but Heaven's Movement Strong brought him little growth and he remained short of the milestone achievement [Myriad Things Self-Transformation].
• Ji Jue sensed through Juque that a huge earthquake had erupted thousands of kilometers away, as though a dragon in the earth veins had awakened and struggled to break free.

Ji Jue and Lou Feng turned Luo Island into a vast tuned mass damper to withstand a catastrophic earthquake, using the Prosperity as a pendulum to absorb the force. When the tremors stabilized, they seized the earthquake’s power as a forging opportunity and began transforming Juque.

• Ji Jue activated the Prosperity and Paradise System, while Isis took control of Luo Island’s infrastructure and spread mercury networks throughout the city.
• Mercury’s Chains and three Giant Pillars linked Luo Island to the suspended Prosperity, which Lou Feng recognized as a tuned mass damper.
• A massive earthquake struck, but the Prosperity absorbed its force and kept the seismic intensity near level four as Lou Feng’s Spiritual Substance reserves rapidly drained.
• Ji Jue and Lou Feng decided to use the earthquake as a forge, striking the Prosperity with an Invisible Hammer while Lou Feng extracted the Azure Flood Dragon Remnant Spirit and carved new Spirit Essence Circuits into Juque.

Ji Jue and Lou Feng finished tempering the Prosperity with the earthquake, while Luo Island and Elephant Isle weathered the disaster with limited damage. After the Seven Cities Council accused them of withholding warnings, Ji Jue threatened Tooth Gate and challenged the council to find a solution to the crisis.

• Ji Jue and Lou Feng completed the Prosperity’s tempering, and Lou Feng struck it with the Spirit Essence Hammer to shed its cracked outer layer.
• Ji Jue concealed the Prosperity’s brilliant appearance and celebrated the completed Spirit Essence Circuit with Lou Feng, who ordered him out of the Workshop.
• Luo Island repaired essential services after the earthquake, while Elephant Isle used its family god and Riot Cats to protect its people; Ji Jue saw reports of worsening conditions elsewhere.
• Tooth Gate accused Luo Island and Elephant Isle of knowing about the earthquake in advance, and Ji Jue threatened to erase Tooth Gate within three days.
• Ji Jue rebuked Garisto, the Old Woman from Ma City, Xi Island, and Fernan when they tried to calm him, then said the council would not dare use his proposed solution.

After the Seven Cities Council isolated Ji Jue, Calamity Wind brought a vast swarm of mutated Sea Locust toward Luo Island, threatening to overwhelm it. Ji Jue kept the island’s employees at work as a white Curtain enveloped Luo Island, separating it from the swarm.

• Ji Jue rejected the Seven Cities Council’s demands, ended the meeting, and focused on preparing for the storm and tsunami.
• Days of torrential rain brought worsening mutations, dead fish, and a shower of rotting fish that drew Sea Locust toward Luo Island.
• Ji Jue recognized the approaching Sea Locust swarm as a catastrophe and decided to deal with it himself rather than sound the alarm.
• Ji Jue ordered his frightened employees back to work, increased their allowances, and ensured overtime pay and food supplies.
• A white Curtain spread around Luo Island, concealing it from the Sea Locust swarm.

Ji Jue used the Curtain Mist to trap and dismantle the Sea Locusts swarming toward Luo Island, turning their material and spirits into fuel for his Mandala. As the mist protected the island and fed his reserves, a Mechanical Sea Locust emerged outside a fisherman's shack and began attacking its former kind.

• The Seven Cities Council watched the Sea Locusts disappear into the Curtain and recognized it as far beyond the Venom Fleet's old barrier, alarming Garisto about Ji Jue's threat to Tooth Gate.
• Ji Jue revealed that his Curtain Mist was an artificial Realm of Encirclement, where the Non-Attack Hand separated and dismantled Sea Locusts while their spirits strengthened the Mandala.
• Lou Feng saw the Spiritual Substance reserves rise as Three-Phase Alchemy recycled the locusts, and Ji Jue directed Isis to send processed remains to his furnaces and branch factories.
• A fisherman and his wife stayed inside their shack during the government lockdown notice and discussed applying to Coast Industry for work and housing.
• Outside the shack, the mist dismantled Sea Locusts while a Mechanical Sea Locust fought and killed another locust, then raised its head and screeched, “Meow!”

Ji Jue used the Mechanical God Mandara to mass-produce Mechanical Sea Locusts and conceal his strength while turning back the swarm attacking Luo Island. As the other forces believed he was running out of resources, Ji Jue sensed the Tower Usurper secretly invading through the ley lines and realized his old enemy had returned.

• Ji Jue's Mechanical God Mandara transformed Sea Locusts into Mechanical Sea Locusts, which hunted the swarm across Luo Island.
• The Curtain appeared to weaken under the swarm's assault, leading the forces gathered in Pu City to believe Ji Jue was nearly defeated.
• Ji Jue unleashed fire and lightning, then lured the Sea Locusts away with a fleet of ships carrying rotting food.
• Ji Jue told Lou Feng that their Spirit Essence was nearly spent and ordered him to request more supplies, though their reserves were actually full.
• Ji Jue sensed the Tower Usurper spreading through Luo Island's ley lines and recognized the presence of his long-lost enemy.

Ji Jue received three Heavenly Origin Blessings from the Lou Family and forged Scarlet Firmament into his own spine, barely surviving its weight. He began Scarlet Firmament’s Secret Rite by imposing a new system on three factory zones, but the workers’ grateful celebrations left him increasingly dizzy and convinced they needed stricter quotas.

• The Lou Family fleet turned back after its speedboat was destroyed, while Ji Jue’s three Heavenly Origin Blessings were delivered to the Doomsday Train.
• Ji Jue combined the Blessings with the Nine Types inheritance rite to forge Scarlet Firmament, then implanted it into his Rebirth Form as a replacement spine and passed out from the strain.
• Ji Jue recovered and asked Isis to begin Scarlet Firmament’s Secret Rite by issuing new rules and management systems across the factory zones in Haizhou, Luo Island, and Central Earth.
• Old Gou and Yu Shu carried out Ji Jue’s directives as the factory zones introduced strict safety rules, working hours, performance targets, and improved employee benefits.
• Ji Jue mistook the workers’ tearful gratitude and celebrations for mockery, so he ordered Isis to increase quotas and launch mandatory night-school training.

Coast’s rising wages and expansion drew people toward New Spring, while Ji Jue’s Red Firmament Foundation progressed and Luo Island stabilized. He discovered the Usurper’s corruption was entering through a fissure beneath the island’s reservoir, but the Abyss Lord hesitated to act even as its forces prepared to strike.

• Gou Er concluded that Ji Jue intended to build New Spring City and urged Yu Shu to help lay its foundations without spreading the guess.
• Ji Jue learned from Isis that employees supported his regulations, felt the Red Firmament Foundation’s pressure lifting, and observed Luo Island settling into routine.
• A Sea Locust hatched in the Ya Men Islands’ Slums, attacked a child, and was killed by desperate refugees, who shared its flesh as authorities dispersed a protest.
• Ji Jue identified a reservoir fissure as the source of the Usurper’s spreading corruption and realized Luo Island’s drinking water might have carried the Usurper’s influence for centuries.
• Ji Jue waited for the Usurper to commit to an attack, while a voice in the abyss urged the Abyss Lord to seize the prepared opportunity on Luo Island.

The Abyss Lord coordinated a vast merfolk Black Tide against Luo Island while Ji Jue refused outside assistance and began awakening the Heavenly Origin Law. Ji Jue stopped the Sea Locusts’ torrential rain, but a towering wave surged toward the island as he raised his hand to face it.

• The Abyss Lord rejected Old Monkey’s pressure to act immediately, then resolved to keep testing his opponents while he waited for conditions to improve.
• The Abyss Lord coordinated twenty-one merfolk tribes into a Black Tide and sent it toward Luo Island to reclaim the Holy Spirit of the Sleeping Lord.
• Ji Jue declined Penalosa’s offer of support, while Luo Island’s residents evacuated in an orderly manner under the Paradise System.
• As the crisis unfolded, Ji Jue sensed the people’s shared wishes, and the awakened Celestial Constitution halted the rain and opened a clear space in the storm.
• A vast wall of black water surged toward Luo Island, and Ji Jue raised his hand to confront it.

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.