Chapter Summaries

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.

Ji Jue fought Fernan as Fernan’s restored power overwhelmed the Seven Cities and left the Dragon Mountain Giant’s attack suspended. Ji Jue survived Fernan’s relentless invisible strikes, but Fernan remained in control and continued trying to crush him.

• Ji Jue laughed at Fernan’s incomplete Transcendent creation and secretly photographed him, then Fernan halted the falling Dragon Mountain and the Giant’s Zhanlu strike.
• Fernan’s head re-formed, and he erased the Chun Jun swords with a snap while invisible blades repeatedly cut into Ji Jue.
• Fernan pressed down Badanta’s golden body and shattered the Mandala, but Ji Jue repeatedly dodged his attacks and endured behind Juque’s defense.
• Fernan grew furious as Luo Island and Elephant Isle resisted the lighthouse’s summons, while his support began to fade before he could reach the final summit.

Fernan used the Path of Depravity to erode Ji Jue’s intelligence and strength by turning the Seven Cities’ resistance against him. Ji Jue recognized Fernan’s plan to elevate himself through the Seven Cities’ decay, but remained trapped in a worsening struggle and ended by mocking Fernan’s claims.

• Fernan used Heavenly Craft: One Foot Hammer to fracture Dragon Mountain, but Ji Jue repaired and reinforced it with Non-Aggression and Earth Bearing Sea Containing.
• Fernan disrupted Zhanlu’s transformation and weakened Ji Jue’s perception, judgment, and talent until Ji Jue drove Chun Jun into his forehead and overloaded his brain to restore his thinking.
• Fernan explained that his Path of Depravity reduced Ji Jue to mediocrity and relied on the Seven Cities sinking into Stagnant Rot to complete his Elevation.
• Ji Jue’s Three-Phase Alchemy spiraled out of control, destroying his arm, while the Seven Cities’ souls resisted him and hindered his transmutations.
• Fernan argued that ordinary people were inherently mediocre and that their rejection of change made Myriad Things Self-Transformation end in Myriad Things Self-Decay.
• Ji Jue accused Fernan of falsifying his experiment and data, then jokingly asked him for an introduction to his connections.

Ji Jue rejected Fernan’s attempt to erode his convictions and revealed that he had never wavered in his own ambitions for the Seven Cities. As Fernan unleashed a devastating paradox, Isis arrived and activated the completed infiltration project, spreading pale flowers through the afflicted population and leaving the Seven Cities under Ji Jue’s control.

• Ji Jue accused Fernan of distorting the Seven Cities’ development and admitted that he saw its people as tools for expanding the Coast.
• Fernan realized Ji Jue was sincere, abandoned his attempt to corrupt him, and decided to destroy him.
• Fernan gathered the Realm of Depravity and unleashed a paradox that divided Ji Jue and Juque countless times.
• Isis arrived, and Ji Jue canceled his emergency transfer after learning that the Seven Cities infiltration project had been completed five days earlier.
• The project took root across the Seven Cities, where pale flowers sprouted from people afflicted by Materialization Deformity.

Ji Jue unleashed Isis across the Seven Cities and repeatedly challenged Fernan, while the spreading Pale Flowers fought to reclaim the souls trapped by Stagnant Rot. Fernan’s celestial foundation began to crack as Ji Jue’s recruitment notice reached the people of the Seven Cities.

• Five days earlier, Ji Jue had secretly spread Isis seeds throughout the Seven Cities through supplies, goods, and other trade.
• As Pale Flowers bloomed across the cities, Isis began fighting Fernan’s control of countless souls and taking over his creations.
• Ji Jue challenged Fernan to prove whose creation was greater, but Fernan repeatedly shattered him while Isis repaired his body.
• Ji Jue kept attacking despite his warped control and repeated defeats, using his creations and abilities to stay in the fight.
• As souls struggled against Fernan’s control, the foundation of his celestial being weakened and a crack appeared across his face.
• Fernan saw the Coast Group Seven Cities Industrial Park First Major Recruitment Notice falling through the sky and realized Ji Jue had distributed it.

Ji Jue’s recruitment flyers stirred hope among the suffering people of Seven Cities, prompting many to reach for a future despite their despair. Their choices cracked the Realm of Depravity and weakened Fernan’s Celestial Being, though a dying vagrant held onto his flyer as the light faded.

• Ji Jue’s recruitment notices spread across Seven Cities, unsettling people who had lost hope and reminding them of promises he had kept.
• Workers in Luo Island’s shelter talked about their wages, security, and plans for the future, while others across the cities questioned whether the flyers could be telling the truth.
• A person in the Mud Pit picked up a flyer and began to weep, as many others awakened to their hunger, pain, and longing for a better life.
• As more souls chose to reach for the flyers, cracks spread through the Realm of Depravity and the Celestial Being buckled under their resistance.
• The Scarlet Firmament Banner’s light overwhelmed Fernan’s efforts to save the Celestial Being as a third of Seven Cities chose to rise again.
• A dying vagrant read the flyer and found a trace of hope before he died, his face settling into a faint smile.