Chapter Summaries

Liu Zhi and his team became trapped before the elves’ giant tree by a Ghost Wall in the Netherworld. After noticing plants and suspicious undead among his troops, Liu Zhi realized the effect was spreading through his formation.

• Liu Zhi led his team toward the giant tree, but no matter how long he traveled, it remained just ahead of him.
• Liu Zhi recognized the obstruction as a Ghost Wall and tried using the Sun Trail and the Eye of Ra Meditation Technique, but neither helped him reach the tree.
• The Spinning Fate Spider Woman pointed out that plants were growing along their route, prompting Liu Zhi to suspect a poison, illusion, or domain.
• Liu Zhi stopped his undead and inspected them, finding level-one Skeleton Soldiers among his troops and signs of wood and moss spreading across the undead.
• Liu Zhi prepared to expose the impostors as the Spinning Fate Spider Woman rushed back to him.

Liu Zhi realized he and his companions were trapped in a dream, where tiny souls interfered with his attempts to investigate. He used Sandru’s arrival and the Death Long Staff to strike back, ending the chapter as sunlight flooded the area.

• The Spinning Fate Spider Woman admitted she had only imagined making an Alchemy Potion, and Liu Zhi suspected they were in a dream.
• Liu Zhi contacted Sandru, learned a day and night had passed, and waited for him while killing level-one undead that seemed to reappear whenever counted.
• Liu Zhi noticed the Spinning Fate Spider Woman praying to Nature Maiden Edie as tiny souls gathered around her and mimicked a god’s aura.
• After another day and night, Sandru arrived with the Death Long Staff, and Liu Zhi told him the crystal skull in his head could counter the dream.
• Liu Zhi struck at Sandru, transformed the Giant Lizard’s Bloodstained Fang into the Death Long Staff, pierced him, and released blinding sunlight from the Sun Crystal.

Liu Zhi broke free of the root-bound realm by capturing the elven face behind the false Death Long Staff, then drew on the Feathered Serpent God's divinity to make the roots wither through a repeating cycle of sun, rain, harvest, and death. He climbed toward the ancient wooden wall and faced three possible choices about what to do next.

• Liu Zhi used Soul Extraction to draw the dust particles into the Death Long Staff, captured the elven face in a gemstone, and burned the wooden corpses.
• Liu Zhi freed his undead from the plants and called on the Nether Palace altar to draw upon the Feathered Serpent God's divinity.
• Liu Zhi cycled the divinity's powers of sun, rain, harvest, and death, causing plants to grow and wither and the roots to dry and break.
• Liu Zhi climbed a growing pile of fallen trees and corpses toward the ancient wooden wall, where he considered three possible choices.

Liu Zhi took control of a three-thousand-year-old tree and began converting its accumulated energy into power for the Feathered Serpent God, a new undead city, and a future vessel for his Harvest Divinity. As he entered a month-long meditation, his subordinates guarded him while strange undead began rising around the tree.

• Liu Zhi poured the Feathered Serpent God's divinity into the tree and used it to claim the tree's memories and accumulated energy.
• Liu Zhi began converting the energy, directing most of it toward the Feathered Serpent God and the rest toward a new undead city and a future Harvest Divinity vessel.
• Before sinking into meditation, Liu Zhi ordered Videnina and the Spinning Fate Spider Woman to guard him and protect his body.
• Dark green liquid dripped from the tree's roots, causing flowers to bloom on wooden corpses and undead to rise and wander around withered trees.
• The Spinning Fate Spider Woman planted spider eggs while Sandru received the Death Long Staff and Liu Zhi's final message.

Amanet explored the southern Underworld’s Blood Sea and learned from a blood-red skeleton about the Bloodseekers, the Blood Beast, and a mysterious eye-shaped stone. She left with directions to seek answers, increasingly suspicious that Liu Zhi’s Demiplane held more factions than its size could explain.

• Amanet entered the southern Blood Sea, where spirits fell from a Blood Cloud and the strongest preserved their bodies.
• A blood-red skeleton warned Amanet that the Bloodseekers were coming and led her group beyond the Blood Sea’s borders.
• After strange bats flew past, the skeleton told Amanet that the Bloodseekers and the Blood Beast ruled the Blood Sea’s center.
• The skeleton warned Amanet to flee if a huge bubble rose and explained that dirty blood corroded him, though he felt compelled to return to the Blood Sea.
• The skeleton directed Amanet southeast to an eye-shaped stone that answered questions, warning her not to touch it with dirty blood.
• Amanet questioned how Liu Zhi’s small Demiplane could contain so many factions and sensed something was wrong.

Amanet led her undead army into the Blood Sea, where they defeated a group of tainted undead and discovered a strange statue hidden in a skull. She stored the statue to bring back to Liu Zhi for identification and continued searching the area.

• The Blood Skeleton warned Amanet that some undead in the Blood Sea were not evil unless tainted blood had stained their eyes, then went ahead on his own.
• Amanet led her troops through the shallow, foul-smelling Blood Sea and accidentally entered the territory of incomplete undead.
• Tainted undead emerged from beneath the water, and Amanet ordered her more than five hundred troops to attack and wipe them out.
• Amanet found a statue resembling a pool of decaying corpses wedged inside a Skull Head and stored it for Liu Zhi to identify.
• Amanet searched the Blood Sea further and found several blood-colored energy crystals.

Amanet led her forces southeast to investigate the Blood Sea and found seven Blood Beasts encircling a giant petrified eye. She attacked the turtle-headed defender with giant beetles and her spear, but it ignored her, and the eye turned its beam toward the defender.

• Amanet followed the Blood Beasts’ roars and found seven of them attacking something inside their encirclement.
• Amanet sent nearly forty giant Insect Shell undead beetles charging at the turtle-headed Blood Beast that defended the group.
• Amanet rode a beetle into the defender, then ran up its long neck and stabbed its head with her spear.
• Amanet saw a huge petrified eye inside the encirclement blink and fire beams of light at the Blood Beasts.
• The eye noticed Amanet and fired a beam toward the turtle-headed Blood Beast.

Amanet discovered how to destroy Blood Beasts by exposing and striking the turtles that housed their souls, then received the giant eye’s account of the Blood Sea’s origins. The eye urged her to investigate the real world, where the pure blood that first fell from the sky might hold the key to resolving the Blood Sea’s corruption.

• Amanet distracted the Blood Beasts with beetles and undead, then pried open one creature’s shell and destroyed the turtle soul inside, causing the giant Blood Beast to collapse into tainted blood.
• Amanet realized Blood Beasts were undead sustained by the Blood Sea and could only be killed by destroying their souls; the giant eye then struck down the three remaining attackers.
• Amanet approached the giant eye, which communicated with her and sent detailed knowledge of the Blood Sea, its creatures, weaknesses, and dangerous places into her mind.
• The giant eye revealed it belonged to the evil eye race and had been stone in the Underworld before a catastrophe brought down vast quantities of blood and created the Blood Sea.
• The giant eye explained that tainted blood had produced Bloodseekers and Blood Beasts, and suggested the Blood Beast Lord might be its source.
• The giant eye told Amanet that the blood which fell from the sky was pure and that solving the Blood Sea’s problems might require investigating the real world.

Amanet learned that a Child of the Plane might be behind the Blood Sea’s tainted blood and offered to purify it in exchange for the undead joining the Underworld. The Big Eye refused to commit, leaving Amanet to consider the Blood Sea folk potential future enemies.

• Amanet noticed a crack behind the Blood Cloud and learned from the Big Eye that it had watched the Blood Sea for over three thousand years.
• Amanet told the Big Eye how Adam had harmed the Demiplane, and the Big Eye revealed that prayers came from above the crack for a Child of the Plane.
• The Big Eye proposed making Amanet queen if she killed the hidden enemy and purified the Blood Sea, but Amanet rejected the title and asked for a worthwhile offer.
• The Big Eye offered directions to a powerful undead’s remains and promised three useful items from each of the seventeen hundred undead.
• Amanet asked all the undead to become residents of the Underworld and submit to its administration, but the Big Eye fell silent and closed its eye.

Amanet brought her troops to the flooded iron mine to collect blood-infused ore, but a sudden eruption unleashed Bloodseekers and Blood Beasts nearby. She fought back against the apparent ambush and noticed something unusual when her spear struck a tiger-headed Blood Beast.

• Amanet used Big Eyes’ map to lead her troops to the Blood Sea’s old iron mine in search of useful ore.
• Amanet ordered her subordinates to search for overlooked iron ore while the mine’s whirlpool was not due to erupt.
• The mine suddenly exploded, releasing more than a hundred Bloodseekers and seven Blood Beasts, including pairs carrying cages of tainted souls.
• Amanet assumed her troops had been ambushed and ordered them to attack as the Bloodseekers and Blood Beasts tried to flee.
• Amanet faced a tiger-headed Blood Beast, struck it with Glimmering Thorn, and reacted with surprise at what she noticed.

Amanet used Glimmering Thorn to discover the Blood Beasts’ weaknesses and fought through their ambush. She awakened the power of Horus in a devastating strike that burned away the Blood Sea and destroyed the retreating enemies, leaving the fate of the souls in their cages unknown.

• Amanet spotted the tiger-headed Blood Beast’s moving point of light and ordered her ranged undead to strike it, destroying the beast.
• Amanet dodged the wolf-headed Blood Beast’s bite and stabbed its hidden weak point, but the bear-headed beast’s corrosive spit trapped her as the wolf’s filthy blood surged toward her.
• Amanet used Thrust to reach the bear-headed Blood Beast, then unleashed Glimmering Thorn’s extraordinary effect and awakened the bloodline of Horus.
• Amanet held on as the spear’s sunlike power threatened to burn her, then watched it burn away the Blood Sea and destroy the Bloodseekers and Blood Beasts.
• Amanet found only melted chains and cages where the enemies had fallen, with the fate of the souls inside unknown.

After awakening the power of Horus’s bloodline, Amanet led her undead into the Iron Mine and discovered a corpse whose lingering power distorted anyone who approached it. She had the undead drag the corpse toward the Nether Palace, but moving it opened a twisting, black-hole-like tunnel beneath it.

• Amanet’s Glimmering Thorn burned away blood and undead, awakening her Horus bloodline and costing her army over a hundred troops.
• Amanet ordered the surviving undead to gather iron ore before the Blood Sea could recover, then entered the mine herself.
• Amanet discovered a dry cavern beneath the mine and found a long-dead player whose corpse tried to force information into her mind and distort her body.
• Amanet resisted the corpse’s power with her Horus bloodline and realized the Bloodseeker and Blood Beasts had been transporting twisted souls rather than planning an ambush.
• Amanet ordered Chimeras and hundreds of undead to haul the corpse toward the Nether Palace, and the ground beneath it opened into a twisting black-hole-like tunnel.

Amanet led the undead through the passage beneath the Iron Mine to find and close its source, unleashing deadly distortions across the Blood Sea. A bald man emerged from the Blood Sea, ordered more sacrifices and powerful Supernaturals, and set out for the Ironblood Vein as Liu Zhi sensed his arrival.

• Amanet realized the black hole was a passage to another world, ordered the Chimeras to protect the player's corpse, and led the undead inside to find the passage's origin.
• With the corpse removed, the passage widened and twisting power spread through the Iron Mine, transforming fresh blood into dangerous whirlpools across the Blood Sea.
• The whirlpools grew especially deadly at the Blood Sea's center, where a bald man rose from the water and stopped them with a gesture.
• The bald man punished Bloodseekers, ordered them to demand doubled sacrifices and powerful Supernaturals from the real world, and threatened that there would be no Leyline blood otherwise.
• The bald man had Bloodseekers carry his throne toward the Ironblood Vein to investigate the passage, while Liu Zhi sensed him from among the tree roots.

Sandru established the Nether Palace in the western Underworld, using a false Dragon Duke identity to gain influence and bring three undead factions under his control. He planned to make them tributaries, but their leaders insisted on becoming vassals instead.

• Sandru posed as a remnant of the defeated Dragon Duke and settled in the territory of an extinct faction.
• He annexed three minor undead factions and used their leaders to influence other western factions while remaining behind the scenes.
• Sandru divided the factions into vassals, tributaries, and allies, defining their obligations to the Nether Palace.
• He offered the three original factions tributary status, but their leaders eagerly demanded to become vassals.
• Sandru realized that his plan had gone awry when all three leaders volunteered to serve him fully.

While Liu Zhi remained in partial meditation, Sandru managed the Nether Palace and learned that Duan Xu had captured a harbor while Nasha had vanished with the Pirate King’s ships. Liu Zhi briefly woke enough to order the Fishmen sent to the real world and reorganize the Nether Palace, then learned that Amanet had disappeared.

• Sandru handled affairs for the western continent and Nether Palace while Liu Zhi meditated and Amanet remained silent in the Blood Sea.
• Duan Xu reported that he and the Fishmen had captured the Pirate King’s island, after which the Blackwater Goblins took over its harbor and trade routes.
• Sandru sent centaurs and Boarmen to build a city near the Nether Palace and assigned the harbor to the Jiao Wei.
• Goblins reported that Nasha had captured the Pirate King’s flagship and warships, and that his pirates were searching for a passage south.
• Liu Zhi contacted Sandru, ordered all Fishmen sent to the real world, and directed him to reserve the Nether Palace for undead.
• Liu Zhi asked about Amanet, and Sandru told him that she seemed to have disappeared.

After learning that Amanet was alive but trapped in a game, Liu Zhi reassigned his forces to protect the Blood Sea and ordered his allies to watch the south instead of the elves. Sandru returned to the Nether Palace, where construction and defenses were progressing under Mand.

• Liu Zhi checked Amanet's status and learned that she was alive but unable to return until she completed a task in a game.
• Liu Zhi ordered Sandru to check the Nether Palace for new heroes and send them to the Blood Sea, then told his allies to stop watching the elves and focus on the south.
• Sandru considered Liu Zhi's orders and left his growing city in the western Underworld to return to the Nether Palace.
• Sandru saw that Mand had completed a quarter of the outer wall and strengthened the gate with a portcullis, a wooden door, and a moat planned for poisonous creatures.
• Mand had also installed retractable mechanisms along the walls to cut vines and knock climbers down.

Sandru discovered that the roads in the Nether Palace were still unfinished and stopped at the Bordeaux Goblin Tavern, where he encountered the newly arrived hero Romeo Grey. After repeatedly dying from poisoned wine and reviving, Romeo joined Sandru as a level-one mage.

• Sandru traveled through the Nether Palace’s winding roads and checked the Salted Fish Tavern before heading to the Bordeaux Goblin Tavern.
• A goblin waiter poured wine into Sandru’s cup, and Sandru left the poisoned drink on the table.
• Romeo entered the tavern, drank Sandru’s poisoned wine, and repeatedly died and revived while asking for more.
• Sandru paid the waiter to bring Romeo more drinks, and Romeo introduced himself as a mage named Romeo Grey.
• Sandru spent 1,500 Universal Currency using Liu Zhi’s authority to hire Romeo.

Romeo accepted Sandru’s offer to defeat the Blood Duke in exchange for the Cup of Deadly Poison, while Liu Zhi discovered that the giant tree’s roots connected the Demiplane to the Underworld. Liu Zhi began his final meditation with the Feathered Serpent’s divinity, leaving his spirit merged with it.

• Romeo agreed to take on the Blood Duke and returned to ask Sandru how to reach the real world and what role the city served.
• Sandru recognized that Romeo had identified problems with concentrating Liu Zhi’s holdings in the Nether Palace and considered letting him manage the Blood Duke’s territory.
• Liu Zhi learned from the giant tree’s memories that its roots had sealed a fissure between the real world and the Underworld, creating a hidden passage between them.
• Liu Zhi began his final meditation at the Nether Palace altar and absorbed the Feathered Serpent God’s divinity.
• Liu Zhi’s spirit appeared in his true form, wrapped in a red-feathered serpent, as he began to embody the Feathered Serpent’s divinity.

Liu Zhi used his divine power to order Sandru to conquer the Demiplane within a month, while the First Blood Duke learned that the Blood Sea’s bald ruler planned to exploit the conflict to overthrow Mother Earth. The First Blood Duke agreed to conquer the physical world and protect the Wound in the Earth as the bald ruler claimed control of the Netherworld.

• Liu Zhi felt the Feathered Serpent God's divinity within him and recognized that using it recklessly could consume him.
• Liu Zhi ordered Sandru to conquer the entire Demiplane, including the physical world and Netherworld, within a month.
• The First Blood Duke questioned the Bloodseekers about Liu Zhi's announcement, and the bald ruler emerged from the magma to explain the situation.
• The bald ruler told the First Blood Duke that the opportunity for their revenge had arrived and that he must conquer the physical world within a month.
• The bald ruler outlined their plan to use the coming conflict and a Great Sacrifice to replace Mother Earth and make the First Blood Duke the First Blood Emperor.
• The First Blood Duke agreed to protect the Wound in the Earth, and the bald ruler said he already controlled the Netherworld.

Nasha offered to help the Blood Dukes stop an outsider from controlling the Demiplane in exchange for the power left by the Dragon Duke. The first Blood Duke arrived and learned from Nasha that destroying the Teleportation Array mattered more than unifying the continent.

• Nasha showed the Blood Duke a book about the Dragon Duke and demanded the power that would let him escape his current status.
• The first Blood Duke appeared and offered Nasha the power if he explained what he knew about the Dragon Duke.
• Nasha explained that the Demiplane was a world bought by the person he followed, who could enter it freely.
• The current Blood Duke vowed to send troops against the outsiders, but the first Blood Duke restrained him and listened.
• Nasha said he knew the Teleportation Array's location and offered to help destroy it in exchange for the Dragon Duke's power.