Chapter Summaries

As the Seven Cities began to rise again, Fernan forced their transformation to a halt and continued his duel with Ji Jue. Ji Jue repeatedly reconstructed himself and adapted under Fernan’s pressure, eventually discovering a chaotic fighting path as their battle continued.

• Living beings’ renewed desire for Elevation restored the sun and Celestial Origin, stabilizing the Seven Cities and erasing the Green Fire.
• Fernan burned his life and soul to halt the Seven Cities’ Elevation, then resumed his duel with Ji Jue after a leaflet distracted him and Ji Jue wounded his cheek.
• Fernan used Grain Sound to stack Ji Jue’s accumulated injuries and fatigue into a devastating attack, but Ji Jue reconstructed himself without Isis or Three-Phase Flow.
• Ji Jue used his explosive reconstruction to evade One Foot Rod and conceal a third Spirit Essence Hand, which wounded Fernan’s heart before Craftsman’s Lie nullified Disintegration Art.
• Ji Jue kept challenging Fernan, improving his reconstruction and exploiting unpredictable fluctuations from Loss of Control until he found a chaotic way to fight and charged forward again.

Ji Jue reached the limit of his Rebirth Form, then received the Embers’ recognition and achieved Myriad Things Self-Transformation. He overwhelmed Fernan and explained that the change came from letting go, leaving Fernan to realize he had been swallowed by the sun’s omnipresent radiance.

• Ji Jue stopped challenging Fernan after his Rebirth Form reached its limits and thanked him for helping him understand Myriad Things Self-Transformation.
• The Embers bestowed their Gift on Ji Jue, restoring and surpassing what he had lost as he completed the final link of the Rebirth Rank.
• Ji Jue countered Fernan’s attacks and repeatedly shattered his body with Scene Tremor while allowing him to regenerate.
• Fernan begged Ji Jue to explain the source of his power, and Ji Jue replied that he had simply let go.
• Fernan realized that the sun’s radiance had always surrounded him and that he had been swallowed within it.

Ji Jue rejected absolute rule over Celestial Origin and returned its power to the people of the Seven Cities, allowing Red Firmament to transform through their willing cooperation. He left the new order without a throne or compulsory control, while an observer on the Tower withdrew in frustration.

• Ji Jue reached the seat of dominion in Celestial Origin but hesitated to claim authority over the Seven Cities.
• Ji Jue questioned why the people needed a savior or sovereign and realized that the Seven Cities’ achievements belonged to everyone, not to him alone.
• Ji Jue relinquished his absolute authority in Red Firmament and returned its power to the people, urging them to decide for themselves whether to act.
• Celestial Origin collapsed into chaos before its countless lights gathered again willingly and formed a new order around Ji Jue’s guidance.
• The observer on the Tower considered intervening but remembered a friend’s advice and withdrew his gaze.
• Red Firmament transformed into the light, featherweight Scarlet Firmament Banner, which guided the world without controlling it.

Ji Jue defeated Fernan, but the destruction of the lighthouse unleashed widespread Great Evil pollution across the Endless Sea. With Association forces mobilized and an unexpected ally killing Charybdis, Ji Jue watched Fernan vanish and wondered what Anvil Elder’s plan would forge from the calamity.

• Ji Jue overcame Fernan’s counterattack, and Fernan surrendered as the celestial remnant behind him crumbled.
• The lighthouse collapsed, releasing Zhi Fu Flame and triggering pollution and aberration outbreaks across the Endless Sea.
• Fernan revealed that the bait attracting Charybdis was in his cane, but Ji Jue said he had reinforcements.
• An unremarkable ship arrived after its Captain killed Charybdis, while Association forces attacked Deepdark and its hidden agents across Seven Cities.
• Ji Jue dismissed the dying Fernan as a nobody, and Fernan vanished as the conflict and pollution continued.

Jiang Tongguang destroyed a Deepdark stronghold, while the Great Evil essence it had concealed spread across the Endless Sea and formed a new Giant Pillar. Anvil Elder revealed his plan to replace the Association and Embers with Deepdark and Zhi Fu, and he and Heavenly Furnace agreed to begin another contest to decide which would prevail.

• Jiang Tongguang sank the island stronghold and drank wine made with the Deepdark blood of its defenders.
• Gustav told Jiang Tongguang that the Old Captain had reported that the young artisan had killed Dragon Poison, and urged him to deal with the aftermath.
• As the pillars collapsed, the Great Evil essence spread through the Endless Sea and combined countless remnants into a Giant Pillar that began rising toward the sealed Real World.
• Heavenly Furnace confronted Anvil Elder, who argued that the Association had suppressed Embers and revealed his plan to spread Zhi Fu through the craftsmen and replace the Association with the Secluded Well.
• Heavenly Furnace and Anvil Elder rejected negotiation and agreed to begin a new contest between the Association and Deepdark, with the winner claiming to be Embers.

As the Association and Deepdark prepared for a decisive war, Ji Jue focused on consolidating control of Seven Cities by executing hundreds of its surviving upper ranks. The chapter ended with his cleanup operation complete and the Seven Cities administration falling under the recreated Heavenly Origin Law.

• Heavenly Furnace and Anvil Elder openly declared war, and the Association and Deepdark began assembling forces as their clashes shook the Endless Sea.
• Yellow Beard called Ji Jue about the conflict, but Ji Jue said he had to finish dealing with trouble in Seven Cities first.
• Ji Jue oversaw a public execution operation, sending more than four hundred surviving Seven Cities elites to the gallows.
• Security Teams from Luo Island and Elephant Isle took over order and administration across Seven Cities with broad public approval.
• The recreated Heavenly Origin Law spread across Seven Cities, while Ji Jue's cleanup operation punished those who had benefited from the city's old order.

After the Seven Cities' ruling houses fell, Ji Jue took control and used their wealth to treat people deformed by Stagnant Rot, while severely affected survivors were rebuilt into workers in the Sea Abyss Industrial Park. He admitted he feared becoming hateful and resolved to punish those who refused to cherish their own kind, turning his attention toward Deepdark.

• Fernan's attack wiped out the Seven Cities Council and left Ji Jue free to seize power; city representatives elected the newly awakened Minkler as the Seven Cities' supreme ruler.
• Ji Jue oversaw new security measures and used the former ruling houses' wealth to provide treatment and support for people suffering from Materialization Deformity.
• Ji Jue and Isis transformed survivors with severe deformities into mechanical workers symbiotic with the Creation Spirit, and Ji Jue arranged for them to contact their families and eventually return to ordinary life.
• Isis asked whether Ji Jue disliked people, and he admitted that he struggled to understand humanity and feared losing his capacity to care for the world.
• Ji Jue declared that he would teach those who failed to cherish their own kind the consequences and vowed to deal with Deepdark.

The Association and Deepdark remained locked in a standoff as Gustav awaited reinforcements and Heavenly Furnace spoke with the Carrion Eater. An unmarked gray ship then crossed Deepdark’s territory, and its young passenger defeated and captured a figure formed from ash and lightning.

• Gustav learned that the Heavenly Furnace Honored One would carry on as usual, the Plow Forging Artisan would come eventually, and the Carrion Eater had arrived.
• Heavenly Furnace welcomed the Carrion Eater, who discussed Anvil Elder’s challenge and the burden Heavenly Furnace carried in his position.
• A black silhouette appeared on the battlefield aboard an unmarked vessel and sailed through Deepdark’s polluted territory toward Celestial Pivot.
• The vessel’s passenger insulted Deepdark, prompting a storm of ash and lightning to attack the ship Prosperity.
• The brass figurehead unleashed Great Momentum, and the passenger used silver strands to pull the storm’s burning figure down and seize him by the neck.

Ji Jue destroyed the attackers’ creations and turned their ambush against them while the Association ordered everyone to leave him alone. He ended the chapter facing a hostile Deepdark crowd, having just wounded a bloodstained girl who appeared behind him.

• Ji Jue killed the Fiendified One with Scene Tremor, drawing the attention of Celestial Pivot and Deepdark observers who recognized his use of Disintegration Art.
• The Deepdark craftsmen trapped the Prosperity in a Stasis Field and attacked Ji Jue with chains, a skeletal Giant Whale, and a soul-locking guillotine, while Heavenly Furnace Honored One ordered the Association to leave him alone.
• Ji Jue stopped the guillotine with one finger, destroyed it with Chun Jun and the Disintegration Art, and broke through the chains’ seal.
• Ji Jue seized control of the chains, reshaped them into a form resembling the Cooperative Association’s Kunwu Lock, and used them to crush and burn the Giant Whale.
• Ji Jue mocked the Deepdark attackers, then used Pan Ying to pierce the face of a bloodstained girl who appeared behind him.

Ji Jue used the Prosperity’s defenses and his own creations to overwhelm the Deepdark Old Ghosts with a tide of explosive Sea Locusts. After damaging the Deepdark Shadow and its defender’s broken sword, he crossed back into the Association and promised to return tomorrow.

• Ji Jue refined the bizarre hand and destroyed several creations sent by the Deepdark Old Ghosts.
• A giant attacked the Prosperity, but Steel Giant Dragon Mountain emerged and split it apart with Zhanlu.
• Ji Jue transformed the giant’s remains into Sea Locusts and unleashed an expanding swarm against the Deepdark Shadow.
• The Deepdark defender used Heavenly Craft: Rainbow Splitting to cut down the Sea Locusts, but their fragments exploded and battered his sword and defenses.
• Ji Jue crossed back into the Association, waved to the Deepdark, and said he would return tomorrow to seek their instruction.
• Anvil Elder ignored a voice urging him to respond and quietly watched the emerald flames in his furnace.

Ji Jue arrived at Celestial Pivot after his battle in Deepdark, where his extraordinary power and mass-production techniques unsettled the Association. With Ye Xian appointing him her full representative, he entered the Hall of Radiance to take her seat at the directors’ meeting.

• Ji Jue registered at Celestial Pivot, and Jiang Tongguang escorted him through the war-ready city.
• Jiang Tongguang explained that Ji Jue’s actions in Deepdark had frightened the Association, especially his use of Curtain Mandala to produce tens of thousands of Sea Locusts.
• Jiang Tongguang told Ji Jue that Ye Xian had entrusted him with all her authority and responsibilities within the Association.
• Ji Jue chose to enter through the Association headquarters’ grand central doors and was respectfully acknowledged by the gathered staff and Artisans.
• Ji Jue took the seat bearing Ye Xian’s name in the Hall of Radiance, and the Heavenly Furnace opened the meeting.

Ji Jue attended a meeting where Heavenly Furnace announced that the Association would decide its struggle with Deepdark through a formal Embers-Deepdark Duel. The duel was set to begin the next day, and Embers and Zhi Fu manifested as the two sides prepared to fight to the death.

• Ji Jue drew turtles during Heavenly Furnace's long meeting while Clock Tower and others chatted through a hidden channel.
• Heavenly Furnace ended the discussion abruptly and explained that the Association and Deepdark would determine their superiority through a duel.
• Heavenly Furnace showed how Stagnant Rot's corruption had spread across the present world and described the danger of the Pillar of Depravity.
• Heavenly Furnace outlined the duel's rules, requiring each representative to fight until one side was dead and forbidding interference.
• Heavenly Furnace announced that the Embers-Deepdark Duel would begin the next day, and Embers and Zhi Fu manifested beneath a darkened sky.

The first day of the Embers Secluded Decisive Battle began with a series of brutal duels, many ending in mutual destruction as both sides tested their strength. After Aignu defeated a Secluded Artisan but suffered a lingering curse, Ji Jue burned it away; then Ji Jue was chosen to fight the next match and was ordered to win.

• A stonemason and a gray-clad Secluded Artisan used their Rebirth Forms and died in a mutual destruction.
• A noblewoman and a young Secluded Artisan fought to mutual destruction, while a later Secluded Artisan outlasted his opponent and died after claiming victory.
• Aignu defeated a Secluded Artisan whose flames burned him repeatedly, then Ji Jue used Purple Electric Black Flame to remove the curse.
• Anvil Elder defended sacrificing Secluded Artisans as the price of survival of the fittest, while Heavenly Furnace mocked his approach.
• When the next Tian Shu Artisan could not stand, Jiang Tongguang ordered Ji Jue to take the match and win.

Ji Jue confronted the Deepdark Artisan Craftsmen's Cellar and destroyed one of his many bodies, but discovered that his opponent could survive through a hidden collection of souls and creations. As Craftsmen's Cellar used his ability to glimpse the future, Ji Jue countered his attacks and asked what he could see.

• Ji Jue entered the Rift World, and Craftsmen's Cellar's opening suppressions failed as Ji Jue appeared behind him and struck with Disintegration Art.
• Craftsmen's Cellar's body broke apart, but hidden arms, weapons, and another soul counterattacked, nearly killing Ji Jue before he repaired himself.
• Ji Jue recognized that Craftsmen's Cellar had multiple souls and a modified Rebirth Form called the Realm of Encirclement: Vault of Myriad Crafts.
• Craftsmen's Cellar used his visions of the future to anticipate Ji Jue, but Ji Jue evaded his creations and stopped Pan Ying's blade with the Chain of Passing Light.
• Ji Jue used the Phase Shifting Pearl to negate Zhanlu's flames, then faced Craftsmen's Cellar and asked what he saw.

Ji Jue defeated Craftsmen's Cellar by turning his foresight against him, then dismantled his creations and destroyed his final treasure. After Craftsmen's Cellar's soul was annihilated and the Pillar of Depravity descended, Ji Jue looked toward Deepdark and called for his next opponent.

• Ji Jue used predictions, speed, and coordinated attacks to outmaneuver Craftsmen's Cellar and destroy his blindfold.
• Ji Jue planted a hidden Spiritual Substance blade in Craftsmen's Cellar's face and used Scene Tremor to break his Masterwork, armor, and Realm of Encirclement.
• Ji Jue sealed Craftsmen's Cellar with Flowing Mercury and destroyed his collection, including the final treasure he held before him.
• Craftsmen's Cellar's soul was annihilated, leaving a statue frozen in despair as the Pillar of Depravity descended another section.
• Ji Jue pulled Pan Ying from the ground, faced Deepdark, and said, "Next."

Ji Jue challenged Darsath to a consecutive battle and unleashed the full power of Pan Ying, but Darsath countered with Siegfried's Ring and an apparently endless army of reborn heroes. As the heroes swarmed Ji Jue, he stopped Herenniel with his bare hand and invoked Deus Ex Machina.

• Heavenly Furnace approved Ji Jue's request to keep fighting, despite Gustav's objections.
• Darsath entered the Rift World carrying a blood-red scepter, and Yellow Beard recognized him as the North Wind traitor who had stolen its legacy.
• Ji Jue mocked Darsath's resentment toward Ye Xian, then attacked with Pan Ying at the peak of its amplified power.
• Darsath blocked Ji Jue's strike with a giant hand of death and revealed Siegfried's Ring, using it to summon an army of endlessly reviving North Wind heroes.
• Ji Jue's attacks failed to stop the disposable heroes, but he halted Herenniel by touching its face and activated Deus Ex Machina.

Ji Jue turned Darsath’s overwhelming army against him by multiplying silver mechanical mermaids and transforming corrupted Seeds of Heroes into rebellious beasts. He defeated and beheaded Darsath, then challenged the powers watching from Deepdark to send their next opponent.

• Ji Jue used Mycelium, the Scarlet Firmament Banner, and Mechanical God Mandara to produce and repair a growing army of mechanical mermaids that fought Dragon Blood’s heroes.
• Darsath summoned powerful heroes to break through the steel army, but Ji Jue seized Herenniel’s Seed of Heroes and transformed the fallen hero into a giant beast.
• Ji Jue transformed a second Seed of Heroes into a monster, and the aberrant creatures broke free of Darsath’s control as his forces were overwhelmed.
• The Scarlet Firmament Banner suppressed Darsath’s scepter and army, and Ji Jue forced Darsath to kneel before taking the scepter and golden ring.
• Ji Jue ordered Pan Ying to behead Darsath, displayed his remains, and challenged Deepdark to send the next opponent.

Ji Jue was swallowed by Torch Plague’s tide of deformity, but Non-Aggression automatically shielded him and began purifying the corrupted Rift World. He took control of the battle and started recreating the world’s myriad phenomena in their original forms.

• Torch Plague appeared as Deepdark’s materialized source of stagnant rot and unleashed a tide that transformed the Rift World into a furnace of corruption.
• Ji Jue vanished beneath Torch Plague’s tide as Heavenly Furnace and Anvil Elder discussed Deepdark’s choice of opponent.
• Non-Aggression erupted around Ji Jue, carving out a pure domain and stopping Torch Plague’s deformity from reaching him.
• Ji Jue condemned his enemies and declared that he would show them what Non-Aggression truly was.
• Ji Jue clenched his palm, and silver ripples spread through the Rift World, reversing corruption as he began recreating its myriad phenomena.

Ji Jue annihilated Torch Plague and continued defeating Deepdark’s challengers in a one-sided duel, while Deepdark’s Filthy Mire struggled to find a way to stop him. Filthy Mire sent his disciple Motu forward, and Motu exploded before Ji Jue could act.

• Ji Jue overwhelmed Torch Plague with silver alchemy, erased him with eternal nothingness, and left his remains beside the other defeated challengers.
• Ji Jue defeated the next Deepdark challengers in succession, while Yellow Beard and the Association’s masters watched in disbelief.
• The Association’s masters discussed Ji Jue’s achievements and concluded that his Master Evaluation had effectively been decided.
• Deepdark’s Filthy Mire studied the incomplete intelligence on Ji Jue and faced pressure to send another challenger into the duel.
• Filthy Mire ordered his disciple Motu to face Ji Jue, and Motu exploded as soon as he stood before him.

Ji Jue survived a devastating suicide explosion shielded by Dragon Mountain, but was left entangled in curses as Filthy Mire arrived to challenge him. Filthy Mire entered the Rift World, established a defensive mire, and began revealing his preparations as his first attack vanished before Heavenly Furnace's lamp.

• A Deepdark artisan detonated himself, unleashing chained explosions that devastated the Rift World and covered Ji Jue and Dragon Mountain in curses.
• Dragon Mountain shielded Ji Jue from the blast, though its armor was badly damaged.
• Filthy Mire appeared and taunted Ji Jue, offering him the chance to withdraw by admitting defeat.
• Heavenly Furnace allowed the duel to continue despite Gustav's urgent plea to replace Ji Jue.
• Filthy Mire entered the Rift World, spread a mire fortress, and explained that he had spent time gathering and borrowing supplies.
• Filthy Mire unleashed Purple Electric Black Flame, but it vanished before Heavenly Furnace's lamp.