Chapter Summaries

Bunier told Lu Qingxian that the Earth Tree Race would send an escort team and reinforcements to the Human Federation, then bring them back to the Local Galaxy Cluster. The Federation learned it remained important to the Earth Tree Race and was urged to keep building Large Warships.

• After his superior ended their communication, Bunier told Blake the good news and then contacted Lu Qingxian.
• Bunier told Lu Qingxian to gather the Large Warships and operating personnel for an escort journey to the Earth Tree Star Cluster, alarming the Federation Executives.
• Bunier clarified that the Earth Tree Race would send reinforcements and leave Morris and another level 210 powerhouse behind to protect the Milky Way.
• Bunier explained that the Federation would depart only after the escort and reinforcements set out, and that the Earth Tree Race needed more Large Warships.
• Lu Qingxian agreed to resume production, and the Federation Executives celebrated the Earth Tree Race's support and the Federation's importance.

Yi Chen learned that the Earth Tree Race would soon send reinforcements to the Local Galaxy Cluster and ordered the Shadow Emperor to gather their energy auras rather than attack them. Meanwhile, Ten Thousand Hands Race spies infiltrated the Heavenly Spirit Star System and sent back reports so astounding that their Elder suspected they were fabricated.

• The Shadow Emperor told Yi Chen that the Human Federation had built ten million Large Warships and that Earth Tree Race reinforcements would arrive in two or three months.
• Yi Chen refused the Shadow Emperor's proposal to attack the incoming forces and instead ordered him to have Titanbo collect their energy auras and track their warships.
• The Shadow Emperor suggested the Earth Tree Race might use the warships for a surprise attack, while Yi Chen decided to wait for the reinforcements and address intelligence-gathering weaknesses later.
• The Ten Thousand Hands Race sent six warships and more than a hundred experts to the Heavenly Spirit Star System to investigate the Great Flame Empire.
• The experts infiltrated Life Planets, gathered information and footage, and sent it to their Elder, who doubted the reports despite finding no evidence that the spies had been controlled.

The Hegemon-level Races’ Supreme Experts investigated reports of the Great Flame Empire and concluded that it was the Great Flame Kingdom Yi Chen had founded. They marveled at how he had secretly risen to unify the Heavenly Spirit Star System and prepared to expand further.

• The Tribal Chief of the Ten Thousand Hands Race summoned twenty Supreme Experts from the Local Galaxy Cluster’s Hegemon-level Races and showed them the investigation’s findings.
• The gathered leaders questioned how the Great Flame Empire could have risen so quickly and asked the Undying Monarch about its origins in the Heavenly Spirit Star System.
• The Undying Monarch explained that the empire had concealed its identity, used conquered races as its main forces, and displayed three major strengths: long-distance troop deployment, a powerful Assassination Team, and ranged law attacks.
• The Supreme Experts concluded that the Great Flame Empire was Yi Chen’s creation, citing evidence that explained how he obtained warships, built his Assassination Team, and developed large-scale attacks.
• The leaders praised Yi Chen’s ambition and audacity for evading the Human Federation and Earth Tree Race while unifying the Heavenly Spirit Star System.
• The Supreme Experts noted that the Great Flame Empire was using its Rest Period to drill troops and prepare for expansion into surrounding galaxies.

The Supreme Experts of the Various Races debated whether to ally with Yi Chen and the Great Flame Empire against the Earth Tree Race, but they realized Yi Chen might already be able to withstand that enemy on his own. They feared that if Yi Chen defeated the Earth Tree Race, the Great Flame Empire would become an even greater threat than the Human Federation.

• The Tribal Chief of the Ten Thousand Hands Race redirected the Supreme Experts to consider how the Various Races should deal with Yi Chen and the Great Flame Empire.
• The Tribal Chief of the Berserker Race proposed an alliance, arguing that the Great Flame Empire could infiltrate the Human Federation and disrupt it from within.
• The Wind Riding Race Great Emperor warned that the Various Races could not assume Yi Chen would accept their plan, since his choices had repeatedly defied expectations.
• The Wind Riding Great Emperor pointed out that Yi Chen had knowingly expanded the Great Flame Empire despite the Earth Tree Race’s likely response, suggesting he was not afraid of that threat.
• The Tribal Chief of the Berserker Race suggested Yi Chen could keep the Earth Tree Race occupied, but the Wind Riding Great Emperor warned that a victorious Yi Chen would turn the Great Flame Empire against the Various Races.
• The Supreme Experts considered the Great Flame Empire’s powerful citizens and combat capabilities, then felt powerless before the threat posed by both the Human Federation and Yi Chen.

The Various Races decided to send information about the Great Flame Empire to the Human Federation and hoped Yi Chen and the Earth Tree Race would weaken each other. Yi Chen dismissed their plan as no threat and looked forward to Bunier and Blake coming to challenge him.

• The Supreme Experts of the Various Races agreed to send the Human Federation information and footage about the Great Flame Empire, hoping to ease pressure and draw Earth Tree Race experts to the Heavenly Spirit Star System.
• The Various Races discussed how the Human Federation might suppress news of the Great Flame Empire, then refined their plans.
• The Intelligence Organization delivered the meeting’s contents to Yi Chen less than an hour later, and he praised the Various Races’ reasoning while dismissing them as no threat.
• Yi Chen said the Earth Tree Race was the Great Flame Empire’s only real threat and believed he was ready to contend openly for supremacy.
• Yi Chen hoped Bunier and Blake would come to the Heavenly Spirit Star System, both to test his strength and to gain Luck Energy from powerful opponents.

The Human Federation's leaders learned that Yi Chen had unified the Heavenly Spirit Star System and regretted rejecting his rule, believing his cultivation methods could grant humanity immense power and longevity. They decided to seek his forgiveness, but questioned whether Bunier and Blake could capture him, suspecting Yi Chen had a plan to counter the Earth Tree Race.

• A Berserker Race powerhouse sent intelligence and footage of the Great Flame Empire to the Federal Military Intelligence Organization, which passed it to the Federation's leaders.
• The Federation executives watched footage showing Yi Chen had unified the Heavenly Spirit Star System and felt both pride in his achievements and regret over rejecting him.
• Lu Qingxian and the executives concluded that Yi Chen's Blessed Grotto Heavens could grant humanity extraordinary lifespans and that his potential exceeded the Earth Tree Race's appeal.
• A military official proposed sending Bunier to capture Yi Chen and then securing Yi Chen's forgiveness, even if that meant accepting his rule over the Human Federation.
• Lu Qingxian questioned whether Yi Chen would let Bunier capture him, and the executives suspected his rapid expansion meant he had a way to withstand the Earth Tree Race.

The Federation Executives asked Bunier to go to the Heavenly Spirit Star System and capture Yi Chen after learning that he had unified the system and reached Level 150. Bunier was astonished by Yi Chen’s achievements but suspected the invitation might be a trap.

• A Military executive speculated that the Shadow Emperor might have secretly allied with Yi Chen, but the Federation Executives rejected the idea as insufficient to challenge the Earth Tree Race.
• Lu Qingxian and the Federation Executives agreed to ask Bunier to try capturing Yi Chen.
• Lu Qingxian contacted Bunier and told him Yi Chen had renamed the Great Flame Kingdom the Great Flame Empire, unified the Heavenly Spirit Star System, and created Blessed Grotto Heavens that greatly increased people’s cultivation.
• Bunier watched the footage and believed Yi Chen’s extraordinary rise could help strengthen both the Human Federation and the Earth Tree Race.
• Bunier grew uneasy, suspecting Yi Chen had exposed his location to lure Bunier and Blake into a trap.

Bunier weighed the risks and rewards of moving against Yi Chen, then chose to send Morris and five other level 210 experts to the Heavenly Spirit Star System while he and Blake stayed behind. Lu Qingxian asked the Earth Tree Race to forgive Yi Chen and return him to the Human Federation, but Bunier postponed that decision until after Yi Chen was captured.

• Bunier weighed whether to wait for reinforcements or act immediately, then decided Morris and five other level 210 experts would investigate while he and Blake remained behind.
• Bunier told Lu Qingxian that Yi Chen might have a trap prepared and proposed sending Morris and the others to assess the situation.
• Lu Qingxian asked the Earth Tree Race to forgive Yi Chen and hand him over to the Human Federation, offering to let him rule it.
• Bunier refused to promise anything, saying he would consult the higher-ups after Yi Chen was captured.
• Bunier contacted Blake, who agreed with the plan, and Morris and five other level 210 experts received orders to head to the Heavenly Spirit Star System and capture Yi Chen.

Yi Chen learned that the Human Federation had offered to make him its ruler, but remained determined to destroy it and ordered the Shadow Emperor to monitor Morris’s team as they approached. A Space Fortress carrying Morris and five other level 210 Earth Tree Race Experts neared the Heavenly Spirit Star System, where the experts anticipated capturing Yi Chen while Morris feared the mission would go badly.

• The Shadow Emperor relayed the Federation Executives’ offer to Yi Chen, who rejected reconciliation and chose to have the Shadow Emperor follow Morris’s team rather than continue watching Bunier.
• Yi Chen returned to constructing Law Runes and noted that the six level 210 Earth Tree Race Experts offered him Luck Energy to absorb.
• The Human Federation dispatched a Space Fortress toward the Heavenly Spirit Star System with a hundred thousand soldiers and Morris’s group aboard.
• Five Earth Tree Race Experts eagerly discussed the rewards they expected for capturing Yi Chen, while Morris worried that the mission carried unknown risks.

Morris led five level 210 experts toward Crimson Planet to capture Yi Chen, but chose to remain aboard the Space Fortress while the others went ahead. Shadow Emperor reported their movements to Yi Chen, who prepared to use the Mountains and Rivers State Diagram and his New Cultivation Method against the approaching experts.

• The five level 210 experts urged Morris to lead a quick assault on Crimson Planet, but Morris proposed leaving someone to guard the Space Fortress.
• The other experts mocked Morris for wanting to stay behind, and he accepted their contempt as the five set off for Crimson Planet.
• Shadow Emperor reported to Yi Chen that five experts were heading to Crimson Planet while Morris remained aboard the Space Fortress.
• Yi Chen told Shadow Emperor to come to him, and Shadow Emperor used Yi Chen's Control Time to speed ahead and reach Crimson Planet.
• Yi Chen prepared the Mountains and Rivers State Diagram and warned Poseis and Titanbo to get ready to receive the approaching experts.

Five level 210 Earth Tree Race Experts arrived at the Crimson Planet to capture Yi Chen and discovered the Shadow Race, but Yi Chen and Shadow Emperor ambushed them. Yi Chen began extracting luck from the captured experts while Shadow Emperor returned to the Space Fortress beside Morris.

• The five Earth Tree Race Experts sensed the Great Flame Kingdom and Shadow Race on the Crimson Planet and decided to search for Yi Chen by splitting into groups.
• Shadow Emperor brought Yi Chen beside an Earth Tree Race Expert, and Yi Chen used Control Time and the Mountains and Rivers State Diagram to capture him.
• Poseis and Titanbo knocked the first captured expert unconscious, while Shadow Emperor and Yi Chen used the same ambush to capture the other four.
• Yi Chen confirmed all five experts were seriously injured and unconscious, ordered Shadow Emperor to return to the Space Fortress, and bound the captives with the Immortal Binding Rope.
• Yi Chen began draining luck from the captured experts as Poseis and Titanbo continued cultivating, while Shadow Emperor stayed beside Morris.

Morris lost contact with five level 210 Earth Tree Race Experts after they set out for Crimson Planet, and he ordered the Space Fortress to retreat. Bunier also failed to reach the experts and suspected Yi Chen had trapped or killed them, then ordered Morris to investigate, but accepted his excuse and told him to return.

• Morris tried contacting each of the five level 210 Earth Tree Race Experts, but none answered, so he ordered the Space Fortress to retreat at full speed.
• Morris contacted Bunier and explained that the experts had gone to Crimson Planet and could no longer be reached.
• Bunier tried contacting the five experts himself, failed, and suspected Yi Chen had trapped, captured, or killed them.
• Bunier told Morris to investigate Crimson Planet, but Morris claimed the Space Fortress had already Warp Jumped away from the Heavenly Spirit Star System.
• Bunier did not challenge Morris's excuse and instructed him to return as soon as possible.

After five level 210 experts vanished on the Crimson Planet, Bunier and Blake abandoned their attack and prioritized escorting the Large Warship back to the Earth Tree Star Cluster. The Federation celebrated promised pill-based cultivation benefits, while Yi Chen finished the Law Runes for the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven.

• Bunier told Lu Qingxian that five experts, including Morris, had lost contact after setting out for the Crimson Planet, and he chose not to investigate further.
• Bunier and Blake agreed to focus on escorting the Large Warship and deal with Yi Chen after returning with reinforcements.
• Morris and the Space Fortress retreated to the Milky Way, ending the attack in failure.
• The Federal Parliament announced increased welfare and promised that citizens would soon gain access to Ascension Pills and Realm Breaking Pills.
• The Federation’s citizens celebrated the news, unaware that Yi Chen had supplied the alchemy knowledge and that the Great Flame Empire had already advanced far beyond them.
• Yi Chen completed the Law Runes for the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven’s Formation.

Yi Chen forged the prototype of the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven and developed a stable Formation that incorporated a tenfold time acceleration. The completed grotto heaven could raise Great Flame Empire cultivators to the peak of the ninth level of the True Immortal Stage.

• Yi Chen refined over a hundred piles of Immortal Minerals while Titanbo, Poseis, and Marys watched and Little Golden Ball remained uninterested.
• Yi Chen fused the refined minerals with Space Stone, creating a compact Black Stone that served as the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven's prototype.
• Yi Chen tested and repeatedly adjusted a composite Formation incorporating Time Law Runes until its Law Power operated calmly and stably.
• Yi Chen installed the improved Formation in the grotto heaven, enabling faster cultivation, easier comprehension and Immortal Qi absorption, and tenfold faster time inside.
• Yi Chen determined that the grotto heaven could let Great Flame Empire citizens reach the peak of the ninth level of the True Immortal Stage, provided they had enough Low-Grade Immortal Stones.

Yi Chen completed the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven, reforged the first three generations, and arranged for all four to support cultivation as the Great Flame Empire prepared its expedition to the Undying Star System. The empire’s hundred-billion-strong force assembled using mass-produced Flying Magic Treasures, whose transport capabilities could reshape warfare across the Supercluster.

• Yi Chen completed the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven, formed a Blood Oath with it, and summoned Bai Ruoxin to bring him the earlier three generations.
• Yi Chen reforged the first three Blessed Grotto Heavens, making their internal time flow ten times faster, then entrusted all four to Bai Ruoxin for military use.
• Yi Chen explained that the Blessed Grotto Heavens could be protected and recalled instantly, and approved bringing the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven on the expedition.
• Yi Chen later broke through to the fifth level of the Golden Immortal Stage as the Great Flame Empire prepared to march.
• Military Marshal Zhan Cheng ordered two million Human Race soldiers to load squads of the Various Races’ warriors into Flying Magic Treasures as the hundred-billion-strong Expeditionary Force assembled.

The Great Flame Empire transported a hundred-billion-strong army into the Undying Star System and began conquering its life planets. After taking the Undying Star and establishing garrisons, the army spread across the system to occupy the remaining worlds.

• The Great Flame Empire used teleportation arrays, flying treasures, and warships to move its army into the Undying Star System in a few days.
• A force of one hundred thousand flying treasures reached the Undying Star, where soldiers announced the Great Flame Empire’s occupation and ordered clansmen to comply.
• The army divided into units, registered and suppressed Undying Race members above Level 80, and brought the Undying Star under control in about half a day.
• The Great Flame Empire left around one million soldiers to garrison the system, then sent forces through space cracks to occupy nearby life planets.
• The army split into more than a thousand forces and swept across the Undying Star System, leaving at least two hundred thousand soldiers on each occupied planet.

The Supreme Experts of the Local Galaxy Cluster debated the Great Flame Empire’s rapid conquest of the Undying Star System and concluded that ordinary raids could not stop it. They decided to alert the Human Federation, leaving the response to the Federation and Earth Tree Race uncertain.

• The Supreme Experts learned that the Great Flame Empire Army was sweeping through the Undying Star System, while Yi Chen and the Earth Tree Race’s response remained unclear.
• The Ten Thousand Hands Race's Tribal Chief suggested that Earth Tree Race Experts had secretly entered the Heavenly Spirit Star System and failed to stop Yi Chen.
• The Supreme Experts recognized that the Great Flame Empire’s Human Army and rapidly growing elite forces could defeat the races’ combined armies and repel their raids.
• The Wind Riding Race Great Emperor urged the raiding forces to stop attacking, but the Undying Monarch objected because the Undying Star System was at risk of being permanently lost.
• The Wind Riding Race Great Emperor proposed informing the Human Federation, and the assembled Supreme Experts agreed that it might be able to slow the Great Flame Empire’s expansion.

The Federation Executives and the Various Races considered how to respond to the Great Flame Empire’s rapid advance, while the Federation Executives regretted their repeated failures to reconcile with Yi Chen. The chapter left the Human Federation facing a major conflict with the Great Flame Empire’s expansion and doubting whether even the Earth Tree Race could stop Yi Chen.

• The Undying Monarch warned the Various Races that neither Yi Chen nor the Federation Executives would let them benefit from a conflict, but the Tribal Chief of the Ten Thousand Hands Race urged the Supreme Experts to try their proposed plan.
• An inside agent delivered the Various Races’ news to the Human Federation Council Headquarters Building, where Marshal Tie Xue and the Federation Executives reflected on the Great Flame Empire’s strength.
• The Federation Executives compared the Great Flame Empire’s ability to rule with the Human Federation’s reliance on Earth Tree Race Experts and recognized the weaknesses in their own position.
• The Federation Executives lost confidence that the Earth Tree Race could capture Yi Chen after learning that five level 210 experts had died and that the Great Flame Empire had swept through the Undying Star System with startling speed.
• A high-ranking military official noted that Yi Chen and the Great Flame Empire had become the Human Federation’s greatest opponents in unifying the Local Galaxy Cluster.

Lu Qingxian urged the Human Federation to prepare ways to bargain with Yi Chen in case the Earth Tree Race's reinforcements failed to capture him. The executives considered offering rare materials and secretly supplying infants and children, leaving the plan unresolved as they weighed how to conceal it.

• Lu Qingxian warned that the Federation could not rely solely on the Earth Tree Race and should continue seeking a way to repair relations with Yi Chen.
• A Military executive argued that the Federation could not gather the rare minerals Yi Chen would likely demand for the Fourth Generation Blessed Grotto Heaven.
• Lu Qingxian proposed asking the Earth Tree Race for those minerals and, if its reinforcements failed, openly telling it that the Federation was contacting Yi Chen to ease tensions.
• Lu Qingxian raised the possibility of supplying infants and young children to help meet the Great Flame Empire's population needs.
• A high-ranking council official proposed secretly training deathsworn from a small race as scapegoats and blaming the Revival Army if the child transfers became public.

Yi Chen accepted the Human Federation’s secret offer of population in exchange for cultivation methods, while Bunier escorted a fleet to meet Earth Tree Race reinforcements. Bunier concealed Yi Chen’s abilities and planned to delay reporting them as the combined force headed back toward the Local Galaxy Cluster.

• Lu Qingxian approached Bai Zhenshan on behalf of the Human Federation, offering population and help gathering resources in exchange for improved relations with Yi Chen.
• Yi Chen agreed to cooperate with the Human Federation and offered to share Spirit Dao Stage cultivation methods at the appropriate time.
• Bunier led an advance fleet through the Vacuum Zone, then guided the ten million Large Warships toward the Supercluster.
• Bunier met Leiten and the Earth Tree Race reinforcements, including two War Affairs Department executives and a powerful escort force.
• Leiten placed the reinforcements under the joint command of Bunier and Lie Ka and authorized them to return with the fleet.
• Bunier concealed Yi Chen’s ability to refine Blessed Grotto Heavens and decided to postpone reporting his discoveries until after returning to the Local Galaxy Cluster.