Chapter Summaries

Lu Bai made the Mahayana-stage cultivators swear to uphold the laws and chose Daoist Yuan Zhong as the next Celestial Venerable before giving him the Immortal Dao Flower. After Lu Bai completed his mission and vanished from Xuanzhou, Daoist Yuan Zhong remained behind, unexpectedly subdued.

• The Mahayana-stage cultivators agreed to recognize Daoist Yuan Zhong as the second-generation Celestial Venerable, and Lu Bai forced them to swear by the Heavenly Dao not to break the laws.
• Daoist Yuan Zhong promised to uphold the old precedents, and Lu Bai assured the cultivators that future Celestial Venerables would follow him.
• Lu Bai took Daoist Yuan Zhong above the clouds, reflected on why he had made his reforms, and gave him the Immortal Dao Flower.
• The Deathmatch System announced that Lu Bai had completed his mission and that the showdown would close in thirty seconds.
• Lu Bai vanished when the world shattered around him, and Daoist Yuan Zhong stared at the empty space, feeling less excited than he had expected.

Lu Bai returned from the Deathmatch Showdown and found that the System had begun a self-check after judging his performance unreasonable. He claimed Iron Fist Breaks Wind and received two titles, then went home to his new residence, where Lu Qingyan said Lu Ziyi had been acting mysteriously.

• A young man returned from the Deathmatch Arena to a shelter and discovered that the world lacked spiritual energy.
• Lu Bai saw that the System had rated his performance beyond evaluation and was conducting a self-check.
• Lu Bai chose Iron Fist Breaks Wind as the ability to retain and added the Compassionate and Peerless National Scholar titles to his collection.
• Lu Bai left Desheng Tower and headed home, where Lu Ziyi and Lu Qingyan had already moved into the new residence.
• Lu Qingyan told Lu Bai that Lu Ziyi had been acting mysteriously, and Lu Bai suggested that Lu Qingyan start school.
• Lu Bai settled on the sofa and checked the latest public opinion polling data for the shelter's districts.

Lu Bai investigated growing public resentment in Shelter No. 9 while patrolling Livability Cities and searching for a way to improve life for ordinary people. After he encountered Li Shan and Feng Yixuan on their way to investigate a suspected Deathmatcher killing, a young man recognized Lu Bai and revealed a grudge against him for destroying his sect.

• Lu Bai explored social media and Livability Cities, finding widespread hostility and concluding that most people were under pressure, though he did not yet know how to bring about change.
• Lu Bai met Li Shan and Feng Yixuan while patrolling, and Li Shan explained that a suspected Deathmatcher killing had been reported in the Seventh Livability City.
• Feng Yixuan and Li Shan traded exaggerated threats, and Lu Bai declined to take sides and left.
• A young man watched Lu Bai from a Livability Building and recognized him as Heavenly Venerate Lu, whom he blamed for destroying his sect.

Lu Bai accompanied Li Shan and Feng Yixuan to investigate a blood-drained corpse in the Livability Building. Lu Bai recognized something familiar about the body and suggested the killer had been feeding; a commotion in the hallway interrupted the investigation.

• Li Shan persuaded Lu Bai to join him and Feng Yixuan at the crime scene, partly because Lu Bai had taken Li Shan's Wind Riding ability and left him weakened.
• A balding Security Department officer explained that a victim had been drained of blood while still alive, and that investigators suspected the killer had struck before.
• Li Shan learned the hallway camera was awaiting repairs and entered the victim's clean apartment with the others.
• Lu Bai felt something familiar about the corpse as Li Shan and Feng Yixuan examined the scene.
• Li Shan deduced that the killer had drained the victim at the doorway and tossed the body into the living room, while Lu Bai called it random feeding.
• A commotion broke out at the other end of the hallway, drawing everyone's attention.

An armed civilian confronted Lu Bai at a crime scene and revealed that he knew him as a Heavenly Venerate from the Deathmatch Arena. The civilian killed himself after hinting that he could still reach Lu Bai, leaving the Security Department confused and Li Shan asking about Lu Bai’s title.

• Security Personnel surrounded an armed civilian who walked into the corridor, and Lu Bai suspected the man had come for him.
• Lu Bai stopped the Security Department from shooting the civilian and asked who he was.
• The civilian called Lu Bai “Lord Lu” and challenged him, claiming Lu Bai had lost his cultivation.
• Lu Bai let the civilian shoot him between the brows, and the bullet bounced off without injuring him.
• Lu Bai took the gun and questioned whether the civilian was using Puppet Technique or Soul Control.
• The civilian twisted his own head, died after warning Lu Bai he would always be nearby, and left Li Shan asking why he had called Lu Bai Heavenly Venerate.

Lu Bai investigated the death of Zhang Wei, whose body had been drained by a possessing intruder, while another cultivator secretly hunted for blood essence and a masked society completed a ritual summoning its lord. The intruder vowed to grow stronger before confronting Heavenly Venerate Lu, and the Can Society’s vice president welcomed the descended being.

• Lu Bai questioned the security officers about Zhang Wei’s movements and learned that Zhang Wei had stayed inside his apartment before leaving through the fire escape.
• Li Shan ordered the Livability Building sealed and searched, while Lu Bai recognized that the killer was an illegal migrant rather than a deathmatcher.
• A burly woman lured a middle-aged man into her apartment and drained his life, then resolved to perfect the Blood Swallowing Sacred Art before facing Heavenly Venerate Lu.
• Masked worshippers completed a descent ritual, and the man in the Rogue Mask identified himself as the Can Society’s thirty-second vice president and welcomed their lord.

Ruan Boyang arrived at Shelter No. 9 and ordered Can Society to find Lu Bai, while Lu Bai left the investigation and drew a watcher into an alley. There, Vice President Zheng warned him that a Deathmatch Arena fighter was seeking revenge, and Lu Bai realized the fighter might be a Replicant.

• Ruan Boyang asked Vice President Zheng to find Lu Bai, and Zheng agreed while privately wondering whether having their Lord present was wise.
• The bald man ordered residents near the crime scene questioned as Li Shan reviewed surveillance footage and the search continued.
• Feng Yixuan asked Lu Bai for help with the case, but he said he knew little and left to make his usual rounds through Livability City.
• Lu Bai suspected a smuggler was following him, deliberately walked through crowded streets, and waited in a dead-end alley.
• Vice President Zheng approached Lu Bai and warned him that a Deathmatch Arena fighter he had offended was coming for revenge.
• Lu Bai wondered which fighters he had offended, then realized Zheng might mean a Replicant.

Li Shan investigated a new crime scene while Lu Bai learned how to leave the shelter and decided to reach the surface. Lu Bai entered the restricted tower and used an employee to take him to the 404th floor, where the Evacuation Elevator was located.

• Li Shan arrived at the crime scene, kept Security Personnel outside the room, and learned that the City Martial Force's Fifth Squad captain was leading reinforcements.
• Lu Bai trapped Vice President Zheng in the Birdcage, learned how to leave the shelter, and stripped him of his abilities.
• Lu Bai reflected on how shelter life had dulled his desire to leave and resolved to see the surface.
• Lu Bai crossed into the military restricted zone and entered the tower housing the Evacuation Elevator.
• Lu Bai used Flash Time and Mind Control to make an employee press the button for the 404th floor.

Lu Bai confronted Vice President Zheng about Can Society and used Birdcage to isolate him while pressing him for information about reaching the surface. Meanwhile, a Security Personnel in a Livability Building apartment killed four colleagues and himself, prompting Li Shan to head to the scene and Feng Yixuan to request backup.

• Lu Bai challenged Vice President Zheng's loyalty to the Lords, and Zheng asked why a Lord had descended to target him.
• Lu Bai created a Birdcage around himself and Vice President Zheng and demanded to know how to reach the surface.
• Li Shan ordered Security Personnel to break into a woman's apartment after she failed to answer the door.
• A Security Personnel shot four colleagues in the apartment, grinned at the surveillance camera, and then killed himself.
• Li Shan hurried to the scene, and Feng Yixuan reported the incident to headquarters and requested backup.

Lu Bai broke through Level 404’s security doors and escaped upward in the long-unused elevator before power was cut. After the elevator opened into a dark civil-defense complex, he continued cautiously toward the surface.

• Lu Bai put on a panda mask and used [Iron Fist Breaks Wind] to smash through the first security door.
• Lu Bai blasted through the remaining security doors, crossed the bridge, and activated the escape elevator’s emergency ascent mode.
• The main control room detected the breach and cut power to Level 404 as security forces mobilized.
• Lu Bai rode the elevator upward as it accelerated, then slowed and opened into a dark passage.
• Lu Bai used an ability that produced light and walked carefully through the underground complex toward the surface.

Lu Bai opened the civil-defense shelter’s massive iron door and emerged into a green world four hundred years after humanity had disappeared. He noticed signs that someone might be clearing vegetation in the city, and turned toward a sudden attack in a ruined plaza.

• Lu Bai used his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to lift the iron door and leave the shelter.
• He saw plants covering abandoned roads and buildings, and questioned whether an ice age had really forced humanity underground.
• Lu Bai reached the city and noticed the street vegetation appeared to have been regularly cleared.
• He headed toward the city center to search for food, then turned around after a sharp whistle sounded behind him.

Lu Bai met Huo Yao after emerging from a shelter, and Huo Yao took him to a human settlement inside an old stadium. Lu Bai saw that the settlement housed thousands, but he still wondered how they obtained enough food.

• A young man attacked Lu Bai with a sharpened piece of rebar, then confronted him with a steel knife and demanded he leave.
• Lu Bai said he had been born in a shelter and had worked to reach the surface, persuading the young man to take him to the settlement.
• Huo Yao led Lu Bai through overgrown ruins to a former sports center, where Uncle Xia let them through the locked gate.
• Huo Yao told Uncle Xia that Lu Bai had emerged from a shelter and was taking him to see Brother Biao.
• Lu Bai surveyed the stadium settlement’s makeshift shelters, estimated that several thousand people lived there, and wondered how they got enough food.

Lu Bai questioned Brother Biao about the truth behind the Shelter era and how the Linxi settlement survived, then learned that the Lord had made a deal with humanity’s leaders. After discovering the Lord would summon settlement leaders the next day, Lu Bai decided to meet it in person.

• Lu Bai followed Huo Yao to Brother Biao’s office and learned that Brother Biao had come from Shelter No. 76 and belonged to Can Society.
• Brother Biao claimed the Ice Age and underground Shelter plan were lies, but he did not explain how the deception had happened.
• Lu Bai pressured Brother Biao to answer his questions, then defeated the two guards who entered the office.
• Brother Biao revealed that humanity’s leaders had agreed to surrender the surface and half the population to the Lord in exchange for civilization’s survival.
• Brother Biao said the Lord summoned nearby settlement leaders on the first of every month, and Lu Bai realized it would arrive the next day.

Lu Bai learned that the Masters kept settlements weak and took people to make Replicants, then observed how the settlement's children were taught to hate the underground shelter. The next morning, he set off with Brother Biao and two underlings to meet the Master.

• Brother Biao showed Lu Bai a room and explained that the Masters supplied food while forbidding settlements to grow crops and requiring them to provide people.
• Lu Bai realized the Replicants in the Deathmatch Arena were made from people taken from the settlements and hoped the Master would answer his questions.
• Lu Bai watched children play at fighting warriors and traitors, then noticed that the settlement's older residents reacted with hostility when they learned he came from the shelter.
• Brother Biao and two underlings arrived to take Lu Bai to meet the Master, despite the danger the visit posed to their settlement.
• Lu Bai and his companions boarded a four-seat flying vehicle that would carry them to the Master who ruled nine settlements.

Lu Bai attended Lord’s gathering with Brother Biao and watched Lord punish a settlement spokesperson for stealing supplies. Lu Bai revealed himself and confronted Lord, who argued that ordinary people were lambs who would always be controlled.

• A Zang landed the flying car outside the vine-covered hotel, and Brother Biao led Lu Bai and their companions inside to wait with the other settlement spokespeople.
• At the appointed time, Lord summoned everyone to the dining room, where he welcomed them to a lavish meal.
• Lord accused one of the spokespeople of betraying him, and a man confessed to stealing food for his settlement.
• Lord cut the settlement’s supplies in half, ordered its starving children brought to the next offering, then killed the spokesperson despite his gratitude.
• Lu Bai canceled his title’s concealment effect, stepped forward, and challenged Lord’s claim that his victims were blessed.
• Lord sensed Lu Bai’s presence and argued that ordinary people were lambs who would always be controlled, warning Lu Bai not to pity them.

Lu Bai confronted the Master and killed two of the Master's followers when they approached him. He then questioned the Master about his people and the Deathmatch System, concluding that they were Replicants who could not control the system.

• Lu Bai taunted the Master and moved close, using his confidence to provoke him without giving him an opening to attack.
• Lu Bai patted the Master's head and announced that he would ask him questions while the settlement Spokespeople watched.
• A settlement Spokesperson ordered his underlings to deal with Lu Bai, and Lu Bai killed both men with blades of wind.
• Lu Bai named the Master's people Replicants and asked whether they lacked control of the Deathmatch System and needed human shells to enter the Deathmatch Arena.
• The Master stayed silent, and Lu Bai took his silence as confirmation of his guess.

Lu Bai deduced that the Replicants had divided humanity to keep people from uniting and gaining power through the Deathmatch System. The Master revealed that the Replicants dominated its rankings and said cleaners were coming to kill Lu Bai, but Lu Bai remained amused and unafraid.

• Lu Bai reasoned that the Replicants had supplied humanity with survival technologies while keeping underground shelter-dwellers and surface communities divided and dependent.
• The Master admitted Lu Bai's theory was close to the truth, then mocked him for thinking he could threaten the Replicants alone.
• The Master revealed that he had reported Lu Bai as an anomaly and that the Replicants held most of the Deathmatch System's top rankings.
• The Master said cleaners would soon arrive and promised that the Replicants would not let Lu Bai survive.
• The Master noticed that Lu Bai showed no fear, leaving him uneasy despite his confidence that Lu Bai could not escape or defeat them.

Lu Bai faced the Mona Warriors sent to kill him and effortlessly defeated them after disabling their abilities. The Spokesperson and the settlement representatives fled, but Lu Bai prepared to stop them as they escaped the restaurant.

• The Spokesperson summoned reinforcements, and six pillars of light descended around Lu Bai as the restaurant ceiling collapsed.
• Three Deathmatch fighters arrived and identified themselves as Mona Warriors, while Lu Bai learned they were humans who served the Mona Spokespersons.
• Lu Bai used his [Load] ability to read the Mona Warriors and made the six pillars of light vanish.
• When the mustachioed Mona Warrior tried to attack, Lu Bai erased the fighters' abilities and decapitated all three with blades of wind.
• The white-robed Mona person and the settlement Spokespersons fled toward the hotel entrance, and Lu Bai knelt to the ground and warned them about crossfire.

Lu Bai destroyed the hotel and faced a Mona attack from an orbiting warship, discovering that a punch could weaken its heat-based assault. The Mona escalated with a localized gravitational disaster that began releasing matter’s energy, leaving Lu Bai caught in an intensifying catastrophe.

• Lu Bai used [Iron Fist Breaks Wind] with [Needle Woman Spirit Control] to reduce the hotel to dust as the people fleeing it watched in shock.
• The white-robed Mona fled more than two hundred meters away, revealed a camouflaged warship in low orbit, and ordered it to fire.
• The warship subjected Lu Bai to intense heat inside his body, and he punched the air to weaken the attack before shielding himself with [Wall of Fire].
• The Mona fired hair-thin beams that triggered a localized gravitational disaster, lifting boulders and collapsing stones.
• The gravitational disruption overwhelmed [Wall of Fire] and caused matter in the affected area to release its energy.

Lu Bai struggled to escape a contained gravitational disaster unleashed by the Mona people, while the white-robed Mona assumed the attack had killed him and explained the evolution of space weapons. The chapter ended with Lu Bai appearing alive behind him.

• The Mona weapon tore apart matter inside its field, and Lu Bai used [Flash Time] to try to escape while [Steel Body] remained active.
• The white-robed Mona watched the gravitational disaster and assured the settlement Spokespersons that submission would spare them.
• Brother Biao praised the Mona and asked why their starships used gravitational weapons instead of planet-destroying cannons.
• The white-robed Mona explained how the evolution of space weapons was shaped by the balance between energy, attack, and defense.
• Lu Bai appeared unharmed behind the white-robed Mona, who turned in alarm at the sound of his voice.