Chapter Summaries

Aaron tried to reach the Gate of Longevity but was captured by the seemingly mad Rancher. He discovered that the Mother of Night had controlled the Rancher and engineered the apocalyptic history to trap him.

• Aaron used Spirit Language to create an opening in the Primordial Worms’ encirclement, killed one with the Sword in the Stone, and sent out multiple avatars to escape.
• Aaron threw Rational Amulets to distract the Primordial Worms and clear the way to the Gate of Longevity.
• As Aaron neared the Gate, black roots pierced and restrained him, drawing him away from its radiance.
• Aaron realized the Rancher had feigned madness to lure him into a trap and destroy the Tower of Babel, which prevented anyone else from approaching the Gate.
• The Mother of Night revealed that she had secretly controlled the Rancher and created the apocalyptic history to capture Aaron when he pursued longevity.
• Aaron recognized the Mother of Night and conceded that she had won.

Aaron revealed that he had used an alchemized version of himself to mislead Mother of Night while he approached the Gate of Longevity. He tricked the gate’s trial ritual, opened it, and attained Longevity, but the immortality within him began to threaten his sanity.

• Aaron revealed that the Aaron captured by Mother of Night was an alchemized double created to draw her attention away from his true body.
• Aaron used a talisman and the Tower’s paradox to convince the Gate of Longevity that his double’s completed trials counted as his own.
• The alchemized Aaron explained that he had also distracted Mother of Night, then faded away as she infected him with madness.
• Aaron swallowed the Child of Dawnbreak’s remnant and forced open the Gate of Longevity.
• Aaron passed through the gate, merged his body and spirit, and attained Longevity as a Life Scholar.
• Aaron cried out in joy but sensed immortality releasing madness and threatening his reason.

Aaron overcame the corruption of immortality and reached into the Secret Source, prompting the Mother of Night to sense a terrifying awakening within him. In the First History, Motula and Raven learned that the Mother of Night and two other Age Controllers had fallen as the Mother Tree of Flesh began to return.

• Aaron used the Power of Secret Source to resist immortality's corruption and remained unafraid of the Mother of Night.
• Aaron used divinity to search his deepest self and touch the Secret Source, while the Mother of Night sensed a powerful presence awakening within him.
• In the First History, Raven warned Motula that the Fate Controllers who slew the Crimson Creator had agreed to intercept Aaron and that war was imminent.
• Heretics in Green Forest City saw the Mother of Night's altar crack and lose its luster, while the altars of the Lord of Corpse Collection and the Underworld Moon also failed.
• Motula realized that the Mother of Night and the Lord of Corpse Collection had returned, and Raven warned that the Mother Tree of Flesh was about to awaken ahead of time.

The Mother Tree of Flesh awakened across the Spirit Realm and briefly brought a blood moon to the mortal world, but then fell and was reborn in the Eighth History through Rancher. The chapter ended with the Mother Tree of Flesh fully descending in the ruined Spirit Realm.

• Motula and Raven witnessed the Mother Tree of Flesh awaken beneath the Scarlet Moon, and Raven warned that it had reclaimed three rational masks and could cross between histories by dying and being reborn.
• Lilliat ordered an immediate purge of a suspected cultist stronghold in Green Forest City as the blood moon appeared and its influence stirred people’s desires.
• Lilliat used her Living Dead aura to calm government employees affected by the phenomenon, and the blood moon vanished as sunlight returned.
• Motula learned from Raven that the Mother Tree of Flesh had fallen and used death to travel to another history, where it could be reborn within an Age Controller.
• In the Eighth History, the Mother Tree of Flesh was reborn within Rancher, who had already devoured the other eleven Age Controllers, and descended at full strength beneath the Scarlet Moon.

Aaron discovered that his cheat was a prison called Balance, whose accumulated order let him use the Power of Secret Source while the released chaos burdened the worlds. When the Mother Tree of Flesh attacked him, he opened the prison and swallowed the Mother Tree and the Black Swamp into it.

• Aaron recalled that a foreign object had fused with his soul during transmigration and learned that his cheat was the Balance prison.
• Aaron understood that the Power of Secret Source was the prison’s authority of order and reason, while releasing its chaos had empowered him at the worlds’ expense.
• Aaron realized the Mother Tree of Flesh sought his power as a cure for the Fate Controllers’ madness.
• The Mother Tree of Flesh attacked Aaron with crimson branches and corruption as the Black Swamp rose around him.
• Aaron opened Secret Source and dragged the Mother Tree of Flesh and the Black Swamp into his body, imprisoning them.

Aaron sealed the Mother Tree of Flesh and ended the apocalypse in the Mortal World, then waited for its madness to wear away so he could absorb its essence. After seeing humanity rebuild in his honor, he opened a passage back to the First History and encountered a Worm of All Histories, which bowed before him.

• Aaron imprisoned the Mother Tree of Flesh with the Power of Secret Source, and the Mortal World’s skies cleared as the Spirit Realm’s incursions ended.
• Ayi Fa and Inid led survivors back to the surface, and humanity began rebuilding civilization.
• Three years later, Ayi Fa’s Aaron City celebrated its first Hope Tree harvest while Inid wondered where Aaron was.
• Aaron explained that he would use the Power of Secret Source to wear away the imprisoned Mother Tree of Flesh and absorb its essence over time.
• Aaron opened the Gate of Multiple Histories to return to the First History, and a Worm of All Histories bowed when it sensed his fearsome aura.

After awakening completely, Aaron returned to Green Forest City, where he created flower fairies with true free will and reproduction. He planned to deceive the Ascension Ritual with a soul-splitting incarnation and prepare to advance while avoiding the Spirit Realm’s hostile Fate Controllers.

• Lilliat read a report describing the Red Moon Phenomenon’s worldwide pollution and its ongoing consequences before Aaron appeared and she recognized his complete awakening.
• Lin and Olivia revealed that Mother Nature had become January’s Age Controller and that another secret existence had taken February, while Aaron noted that Rancher had also escaped control.
• Aaron dismissed the temporary maid avatar and used Thought Alchemy to create flower fairies, then gave them souls that allowed them to act freely and reproduce.
• Aaron considered how to advance through the Creator path while remaining in the mortal world, then split off part of his soul to prepare an incarnation for the Ascension Ritual.

Aaron awakened in the body of Fang Yu, a poor sixteen-year-old fisherman, and killed Mangy Liu after sensing his hostility. He attempted a ritual on the lake but could not contact his true body, leaving him uncertain whether his Ascension had gone wrong.

• Aaron woke with his memories restored as Mangy Liu watched him suspiciously after they caught a Crimson Blood Carp.
• Aaron struck Mangy Liu in the groin and eyes, then killed him with a fish spear.
• Aaron recalled Fang Yu's impoverished life and reasoned that Mangy Liu's disappearance would not attract much notice.
• Aaron drew a ritual pattern with Mangy Liu's blood and invoked powerful entities in Spirit Language.
• Aaron failed to contact his true body and suspected something had gone wrong with the Ascension ritual.

After awakening in Fang Yu’s body, Aaron resolved to survive and grow stronger despite lacking the supernatural power to use his cheat system. He hid Mangy Liu’s body and a mysterious pictographic page, then sheltered from a storm and cooked the Crimson Blood Carp, leaving himself calmer about the long life ahead.

• Aaron examined his status panel, learned his Immortality talent could not protect him from injury or death, and discovered he could not use the system’s point-allocation function.
• Aaron hid Mangy Liu’s corpse and sank the boat, then searched the cabin and found a page covered in writing he could not read.
• Aaron steered his boat to a reed-filled harbor as a storm struck the lake and tied it securely to shore.
• Aaron decided not to risk selling the Crimson Blood Carp and cooked it into fish soup inside his cabin.
• Aaron ate amid the storm and felt his restlessness ease as he reflected that the rest of his life was long.

Aaron ate a Crimson Blood Carp and learned that the Cao Family had caused his parents’ deaths, then cautiously resumed life as the fisherman Fang Yu. After selling fish and buying salt at Three Waters Wharf, he observed the local market and tavern before returning to his boat.

• Aaron ate the Crimson Blood Carp, recalled that the Cao Family had forced his parents into the water, and resolved to remember the grudge while keeping a low profile.
• Aaron struggled to fish with a net, used his rapier skills to spear fish, then practiced until he could catch them with a net again.
• Aaron brought his fish to Three Waters Wharf, paid the dock fee and Tiger Lord’s protection money, and sold some fish at the market.
• Aaron bought a jar of illicit salt and visited Yuyang Tavern, where he listened to the fishermen’s talk and met Fourth Lady.
• Aaron left the tavern at sunset and headed back toward the docks with his fish basket.

Months after arriving in the world, Aaron briefly connected with his original body and learned that rituals could not provide useful support. He continued surviving as a fisherman and began considering learning to read, while the story left him weighing his next steps in a world of martial masters.

• Aaron briefly saw his original body and realized that the ritual’s response had arrived after a long delay and could not establish a useful spiritual channel.
• Aaron counted his remaining money and decided to spend it on food rather than save it for marriage.
• Aaron visited Yuyang Tavern, where Old Yu and Little Chu discussed Mangy Liu’s disappearance and White Peony’s refusal to perform at Master Liu’s birthday banquet.
• Aaron reflected on what he had learned about Great Marsh Lake, the Forest Kingdom, and the martial world, then decided to prepare to learn how to read.

Aaron visited Great Marsh Prefecture City to buy New Year provisions, learn characters, and scout the local market and services. After he left, a Goldfish Gang lackey and a city guard discussed monitoring fishermen and replacing their missing informant, Mangy Liu.

• Aaron left his boat with Old Yu and Old Chu and traveled to Great Marsh Prefecture City after the first snowfall.
• While waiting to enter the city, Aaron studied the characters and wanted notices posted at the gate, then paid the entry fee.
• Aaron explored the eastern market, learned common characters, and bought tea dust and cured wild boar meat for the New Year.
• Aaron passed Green Mountain Martial Hall and Spring Return Hall, noting the martial arts training and the need to find medical care.
• At dusk, Aaron left the city with his purchases, and the guards searched his bundle before letting him go.
• After Aaron departed, a Goldfish Gang lackey told a city guard that Master Tiger wanted fishermen watched and lamented the disappearance of Mangy Liu; the guard advised finding a replacement informant.

After two years of fishing on Great Marsh Lake, Aaron sold a lucky catch of knife fish and heard how White Peony had fallen from her former status. He returned to his hideout and uncovered a strange recipe for fish bait that might explain Mangy Liu’s remarkable catches.

• Aaron caught three knife fish, sold them for sixty copper coins, and Lord Tiger took half the money.
• At Yuyang Tavern, Aaron avoided Fourth Madam’s teasing and shared a meal with Old Chu as the patrons discussed White Peony’s fall from favor.
• Niu Er drunkenly revealed that he had spent his family’s savings to visit White Peony and lamented his brief performance, provoking laughter in the tavern.
• Aaron returned to his reed-marsh hideout and dug up the unusual page he had buried two years earlier.
• Aaron deciphered the page’s instructions for making moonlit fish bait and suspected it had helped Mangy Liu catch so many fish.

Aaron completed the Incomplete Sea-Gathering Art and discovered its bait could summon vast numbers of fish, then cautiously planned how to benefit from it. At the Fisherman's Ocean Tavern, he lent Old Chu money to help Little Chu marry, while Old Yu warned him not to get entangled in whatever Old Chu might do next.

• Aaron finished refining the bait and, after waiting for a clear night, scattered it into the lake at midnight.
• A massive tide of many kinds of fish swarmed around Aaron's boat, and he filled his tanks before recognizing the bait's supernatural power.
• Aaron saw that his status panel listed the Incomplete Sea-Gathering Art, and he decided to sell only less valuable fish while saving money to practice martial arts.
• At the Fisherman's Ocean Tavern, Old Chu told Aaron he had sold Aaron's Dragon Yang Trout and asked for help paying for Little Chu's marriage.
• Aaron lent Old Chu money without interest, recalling Old Chu's earlier fishing advice.
• After Old Chu and Little Chu left, Old Yu warned Aaron that Old Chu might take risks for his son and advised him to stay out of it.

Aaron refused Old Chu’s plan to sell rare fish outside the Goldfish Gang’s rules, choosing to save money and learn martial arts rather than risk punishment. In winter, Tiger Lord caught Old Chu and Little Chu selling fish in the city, punished them publicly, and severed two of Old Chu’s fingers.

• Aaron calculated how much he needed to save for martial arts lessons and considered hiding his earnings from the Goldfish Gang.
• Old Chu warned Aaron that refugees had become water bandits and asked him to help sell future rare catches in the city.
• Aaron refused to join Old Chu’s plan, fearing the gang’s retaliation more than he wanted money for marriage.
• Aaron spent the winter building his strength while Old Chu and several other families continued fishing for money.
• Tiger Lord arrived at Boat Village with Old Chu and Little Chu, accused them of breaking gang rules, and ordered his men to search Old Chu’s boat.
• Tiger Lord’s men found more than three hundred cash coins, and Tiger Lord cut off two of Old Chu’s fingers as punishment.

Aaron left fishing to join Green Mountain Martial Hall and began learning the martial path under Senior Brother Ding Shan. After establishing himself among his fellow apprentices, he learned that martial training began with controlling qi and blood, while the story left him facing the school’s first lessons.

• Aaron avoided Smiling Tiger’s invitation and left Great Marsh Lake to seek martial training in Great Marsh Prefecture City.
• Aaron paid ten taels to join Green Mountain Martial Hall, where Senior Brother Ding Shan accepted him as a student on Xue Qingshan’s behalf.
• Zhai Yong took Aaron to the communal quarters, where Huang Dacheng and the other apprentices rejected him because he was a fisherman.
• Aaron beat Huang Dacheng into submission, secured a place to sleep, and urged the apprentices to care for one another.
• Ding Shan explained that controlling qi and blood marked entry into the martial path, then demonstrated the strength of the Manifest Force realm by lifting a thousand-jin stone.

Ding Shan explained the martial realms and taught the apprentices the Flowing Sand Palm, while Aaron memorized the techniques and considered how martial arts might someday combine with spirituality. The chapter ended with Ding Shan praising Aaron’s precise movements and ordering the other apprentices to train harder.

• Ding Shan demonstrated his Black Sand Palm and explained that Bright Force followed skin-and-flesh training, while Dark Force followed bone training.
• Aaron recognized Cao Hongyan as his enemy and inferred that Hall Master Xue Qingshan might only have reached the Dark Force realm.
• Ding Shan warned that the apprentices had two months to grasp their blood and qi and pay their fees, then began teaching them the Flowing Sand Palm.
• Zhai Yong asked why mastering the forms had not let him grasp his blood and qi, and Ding Shan told him to spar with a stronger fist master.
• Ding Shan described medicinal sandbags and the Flowing Sand Palm’s guiding principle as the apprentices practiced.
• Ding Shan praised Fang Yu for accurately copying the Flowing Sand Palm and ordered Huang Dacheng and the others to double their training.

After a month of training, Aaron had only learned the basics of Flowing Sand Palm and worried that he would not control his qi and blood before his tuition ran out. He joined Huang Dacheng and Liang Wu in helping Li Qinglan practice her newly awakened Bright Force, and the chapter ended as she called Huang Dacheng forward after knocking Liang Wu down.

• Aaron reviewed his status and concluded that his martial talent was ordinary, while Song Sanjin had begun sensing his qi and blood.
• Huang Dacheng and Liang Wu told Aaron that Li Qinglan would pay one tael of silver for an evening of serving as a human dummy, and Aaron agreed to go with them.
• Li Qinglan demonstrated her uncontrolled strength by shattering a wooden post with a palm strike.
• Aaron volunteered first, struck Li Qinglan's palm, and was sent flying back by her Manifest Force.
• Li Qinglan swept Liang Wu to the ground while testing her footwork, then pointed at Huang Dacheng to take the next turn.

After witnessing the costs and risks of medicine-assisted martial training, Aaron struggled to improve despite using a medicinal sandbag and concluded that Great Marsh Lake remained his fastest way to make money. Ten days later, Song Sanjin had sensed his qi and blood, while Huang Dacheng and Liang Wu still had not, and Aaron remained stuck at beginner level in Flowing Sand Palm.

• Li Qinglan defeated Huang Dacheng and sent him, Liang Wu, and Aaron to Spring Return Hall for treatment at her expense.
• Master Ge warned Aaron that his poor constitution made martial progress difficult, then offered the injured disciples Azure Dragon Life-Seizing Soup at one tael per bowl.
• Aaron and the others discovered that Song Sanjin was buying the soup, prompting Huang Dacheng to confront him for keeping its benefits secret.
• Aaron returned to the courtyard, received a medicinal sandbag from Li Qinglan, and continued training despite Ma Zhu's despair over their poor prospects.
• Ten days later, Song Sanjin had sensed his qi and blood, Liang Wu was packing to leave, and Huang Dacheng was borrowing money to keep training, while Aaron's Flowing Sand Palm remained at beginner level.

After failing to sense his qi and blood at Green Mountain Martial Hall, Aaron returned to fishing and confronted Master Hu at the fish market. He defended himself against accusations of secretly selling fish by producing a ledger proving he had paid the gang its share.

• Aaron failed to grasp his qi and blood after two months of training, so he left Green Mountain Martial Hall and returned to fishing.
• Aaron returned to the fish market, where Master Hu and several Goldfish Gang members confronted him.
• Aaron knocked down a lackey who tried to slap him, then admitted he had studied martial arts but had not entered Force.
• Master Hu accused Aaron of secretly selling fish to afford his training, and Aaron demanded proof.
• Aaron produced a ledger of his fish sales and payments to the gang, leaving Master Hu shocked that he could read and had kept accounts.