Chapter Summaries

Aaron returned to Ancient, where a two-year mission required him to obtain one of the Ancient Six Divine Powers, while his simulation showed that he would fail and die. Before logging in, he recruited Hong Gouyi and learned of Feng Ping’s plans to revive ancient martial arts.

• Aaron researched Great Liang and visited Professor Zhou Dunlin, who shared inscriptions linking the Crimson Turban Army’s collapse to its leader’s sudden death and a lost book by Clear Radiance Master.
• Aaron met Hong Gouyi at Forest City University, recognized her in-game name, and survived her attack before she agreed to join the Association.
• Feng Ping mastered a qi martial art and resolved to reveal the path of ancient martial arts to the world.
• Aaron returned to Ancient and received a mission to obtain any one of the Ancient Six Divine Powers within two years or die.
• Aaron’s simulation showed him becoming a Brahman Gate enforcer, battling rebel king Li Qiankun, then losing to Great Passage and dying after the mission deadline.

Aaron used a simulation to obtain half of Great Passage’s Brahman-Self Unity and resisted its attempt to assimilate him, reshaping it into his own version, Brahman-Self Nonduality. Though he had already gained a Six Divine Power before the Bathing Buddha Festival began, he entered Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple intending to keep stirring things up.

• Aaron simulated a confrontation at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, where he pursued Great Passage and seized half of the Brahman-Self Unity before they later killed each other.
• Aaron absorbed the simulation’s memories and experienced the vast consciousness called Brahman trying to merge with him.
• Aaron used purifying light to resist Brahman’s influence and realized he could manipulate his body and mind with its computational power.
• Aaron made the Brahman-Self Unity his own, calling it Brahman-Self Nonduality, and suppressed the Headless Buddha’s consciousness.
• Aaron entered Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple despite already possessing the divine power, intending to cause trouble at the Bathing Buddha Festival.

Aaron attended the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple’s Bathing the Buddha Festival, where monks and martial artists gathered to choose a Buddha Son and pass down one of the Six Divine Powers. After the Four Holy Monks challenged his past killings and authority, Aaron openly defied them and began to unleash a divine power.

• Players from the Ghost organization discussed the festival, the Six Divine Powers, and Fa Huan’s role in killing Du Chongshan and destroying the Crimson Turban Army.
• Aaron arrived in moon-white robes, and his presence and Buddhist understanding quieted the crowd and inspired the monks’ reverence.
• Aaron introduced himself to the Four Holy Monks as Fa Huan of Rotten Buddha Temple.
• The Dragon Elephant Holy Monk challenged Aaron over slaughtering the Crimson Turban Army, and the Holy Monk of Wisdom urged him to repent.
• Aaron rejected the Four Holy Monks’ authority, raised his alms bowl, and began chanting, “Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon...”

Aaron overwhelmed the Four Great Holy Monks at the Bathing Buddha Festival and used the Great Sun Tathagata Palm to destroy Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple. After the monks hailed him as their Buddha Lord, he pursued Monk Great Passage into the underground palace.

• Aaron struck Holy Monk Wisdom with an alms bowl, then withstood the Vajra Monks’ formation and defeated them with the Golden Bell Shield and Earth-Touching Demon-Subduing Seal.
• Aaron accused the Four Great Holy Monks of manipulating the Buddhist Child selection and revealed that he had mastered Brahman-Self Nonduality.
• Venerable Indra, Master Xin Chan, and the Dragon-Elephant Holy Monk attacked Aaron, but he gravely wounded them and shattered their assault.
• Aaron unleashed the Great Sun Tathagata Palm, destroying the Four Great Holy Monks, the warrior monks, and much of Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple.
• The surviving monks begged Aaron to become the Buddha Lord, while he entered the exposed underground palace to pursue Monk Great Passage and the Brahman-Self Unity inheritance.

Aaron obtained the power of Brahman-Self Unity in the underground palace and returned to the real world, where he sensed that Brahman existed there too. Meanwhile, Feng Ping challenged the Huo Family Martial Arts School and struck down its coach in the ring.

• Aaron used the White Bone Relic to navigate the underground palace and found Monk Great Passage climbing toward the empty lotus dais while losing his mind.
• Aaron knocked Great Passage unconscious with his alms bowl, absorbed part of the power of Brahman-Self Unity, and completed his mission.
• Aaron exited the game, sensed Brahman in the real world, and relaxed at home while reading the news.
• Feng Ping entered the Huo Family Martial Arts School, leapt into the air, and split its signboard with a kick.
• Feng Ping challenged the school, fought its middle-aged coach, and sent him flying with a single strike.

Feng Ping exposed the Huo Family Martial Arts School’s false claims about ancient martial arts, while Great Xin’s authorities began preparing to disclose supernatural powers. Aaron watched an official archaeology program introduce the Buddhist Lord Fa Huan, realizing the disclosure had begun.

• Old Guan and another member of the Folk Enthusiasts Association watched Feng Ping fight at the Huo Family Martial Arts School and decided to wait for official guidance.
• Feng Ping defeated the school’s coaches, disarmed Coach Han, and snapped a dagger with his bare hands before leaving.
• A video of Feng Ping’s feat spread on Magic Sound, and Aaron recognized him and suspected Great Xin had begun warming the public up to supernatural powers.
• Hong Gouyi complained to Aaron that the Association had few strong members, then sent out notice of an official archaeology program about supernatural powers.
• Aaron watched the program as its host introduced Fa Huan, the Buddhist Lord of Great Liang, and his expression twisted.

Aaron watched Great Xin’s media reveal archaeological evidence of Fa Huan and Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, accelerating his Imprint ritual. He returned to Ancient, where simulations led him to Three Realms Mountain and helped him complete the divine power Dreaming a Thousand Years.

• Aaron watched a television report about the Great Liang ruins of Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, whose pagodas formed a palm and whose inscriptions linked Fa Huan to the Great Sun Tathagata Palm.
• Aaron observed Great Xin’s growing public revelations about supernatural powers and waited before returning to Ancient.
• Aaron received a quest to travel to Three Realms Mountain and used his simulator to explore seven years of Great Liang’s history, where he killed rebel king Li Qiankun before dying on the mountain.
• Aaron realized repeated simulations could help him assemble divine powers and began another simulation focused on ascending Three Realms Mountain.
• Aaron died again on Three Realms Mountain but obtained partial information that completed the divine power Dreaming a Thousand Years.

Aaron used the simulator to uncover the truth behind the Ancient game: Xu Fu sought to resurrect Great Liang, but the six divine abilities would turn their strongest pursuer into the Demon Star and destroy the real world. After gaining the game’s administrative authority, Aaron left the simulated world and arrived at Three Realms Mountain to confront Xu Fu.

• Aaron simulated meeting Xu Fu, who claimed Ancient was created to save the world, and learned that Xu Fu could revive through Nine Deaths Underworld.
• Aaron repeatedly killed Xu Fu in a simulation until he exhausted all nine revivals and gained administrative authority over Ancient.
• Aaron learned that Xu Fu intended to resurrect Great Liang by bringing its people back to life in reality.
• Aaron discovered that gathering the divine abilities altered a player's fate into that of the Demon Star, causing Ancient to invade reality and the player to lose their consciousness.
• Aaron concluded that Xu Fu was a fragment of a soul who had chosen an agent to become the Demon Star, then leaped to Three Realms Mountain.

Within Three Realms Mountain, Aaron confronted Xu Fu, a remnant soul trying to change Great Liang’s fate through the demon star’s power. After defeating and trapping Xu Fu, Aaron summoned his true body and proposed that everyone play tabletop RPGs instead of Ancient.

• Aaron recognized Xu Fu’s scholar disguise and explained that Xu Fu planned to use Defy Heaven and Change Fate to alter Great Liang’s fate.
• Xu Fu attacked Aaron with the Sword of All People, but Aaron countered with the Great Sun Tathagata Palm and reduced Xu Fu’s body to ashes.
• Aaron used his alms bowl to capture Xu Fu’s remnant soul and revealed that gathering the Five Divine Powers would stir the demon star to alter fate.
• A black hole appeared in the data stream, and Aaron summoned his true body, terrifying Xu Fu with its presence.
• Aaron told everyone to leave Ancient and play tabletop RPGs.

The Ancient game’s second-generation update erased Feng Ping’s and other players’ Qi, introduced Sanity, and caused bizarre, dangerous changes to gameplay. The Folk Customs Enthusiasts Association learned that the Great Xin government had suspended its plan to absorb the players, and Old Vegetable Gang ordered members to find the source of the mutations.

• Feng Ping knocked Hong Xing out of the ring, then opened the Ancient game when his phone prompted him to return.
• The game update removed Activity, Exploration, and Qi, added Sanity and new maps, and left Feng Ping’s game character injured, confused, and near death after a chaotic fight with a wild wolf.
• Feng Ping lost his Qi and became confused after losing Sanity, then woke in a restroom after a sanitation worker doused him with cold water.
• Hong Gouyi discovered that her game record described her escape from Yellow Plum Village and learned that all players had lost their Qi.
• Old Vegetable Gang told the association that the government had suspended plans to bring players into official service and ordered them to investigate the Ancient game’s mutations.

Aaron decided to make a spectacle that would lead players into the game to save its world, while the Special Bureau prepared a global operation to arrest suspected players connected to the game's sudden mutation. The bureau commandeered the Folk Customs Enthusiasts Association as its command center, and Gu Yuan was told not to interfere.

• Aaron said he wanted to lead reality's players into the game to save the world, insisting he did not want to be a villain.
• Special agents sealed off the Forest City Folk Customs Enthusiasts Association, threatened Chen Ci at gunpoint, and forced him to leave.
• Hong Gouyi suspected that the bureau's crackdown was retaliation against players who had gained supernatural powers and lost them overnight.
• Soroa told Gu Yuan that Aaron was likely the player who cleared the Rotten Buddha Temple instance and became Buddha Lord Fa Huan, one of the Six Divine Powers.
• Soroa announced a coordinated global operation to arrest suspected players and requisitioned the association as his command center.
• Gu Yuan asked how he could help, and Soroa told him that the best cooperation was to stay out of the operation.

The Special Bureau launched a coordinated operation to capture players who had opened the third chapter, but Aaron evaded the hotel raid and used the Demon Heart Art to pass through the agents unseen. When Soroa confronted him with an armored force, Aaron prepared to strike back with the Great Sun Tathagata Palm.

• Soroa ordered Special Operations teams to arrest third-chapter players, and agents captured targets including Fire God.
• Special Bureau agents raided Aaron’s hotel, but their search failed to find him.
• Aaron knocked out an agent, evaded a tranquilizer shot, and used the Demon Heart Art to make the surrounding agents unable to see or touch him.
• Aaron walked out of the encirclement and waited atop a tower as Soroa arrived with armored vehicles and helicopters.
• Soroa claimed specially made glasses would counter Aaron’s illusion-type qi art, and Aaron raised his palm and invoked the Great Sun Tathagata Palm.

Yi Xiaochuan survived the Buddha’s palm striking Forest City and learned that the disaster was linked to Ancient players, including the mysterious Aaron. As the authorities and the Folk Customs Enthusiasts Association scrambled to respond, Aaron became the focus of a worldwide investigation.

• Yi Xiaochuan and Lin Su watched a gigantic Buddha appear over Forest City and unleash a palm strike that devastated the city.
• A falling chandelier struck Yi Xiaochuan as he pushed Lin Su out of danger, and he later woke in the hospital with fractures but his hands unharmed.
• Yi Xiaochuan learned from the news and online videos that the palm print matched one associated with Fa Huan, and that the mysterious game Ancient had players with supernatural powers.
• Old Vegetable Gang told the Folk Customs Enthusiasts Association that the Special Bureau had mishandled the player crisis and ordered them to find Aaron and investigate his connections.
• The Great Xin authorities formed a task force to analyze Aaron, and his name spread around the world.

After destroying Soroa, Aaron met with Great Xin’s representatives to negotiate, warning them that the Ancient game was changing and could threaten reality. He offered to share a quest to uncover the game’s truth, leaving the representatives to consider his proposal as the game’s influence deepened.

• Aaron waited in a Forest City café while the city panicked over revelations about the Ancient game and its players.
• Chen Ci and Hong Gouyi met Aaron on behalf of the Folk Customs Enthusiasts Association to discuss reaching an understanding.
• Aaron warned them that players would gain spirituality and could eventually recover or exceed their former powers, while the game’s strangeness might invade reality.
• Aaron offered to share a main quest to uncover the truth of the game and asked other players to help him.
• Chen Ci said the Association would consider the proposal, and Aaron urged them to act quickly because the game was eroding reality.

The Folk Customs Association shelved its plan to capture Buddha Lord and secretly prepared to cooperate with Aaron, while Old Vegetable Gang warned Gu Yuan that the game’s invasion of reality was real. Elsewhere, a player used a ritual to regain power from spirituality tainted by corruption and transformed into a beast.

• Anthony and Sun Yinghong rejected Aaron’s proposal, but the association’s meeting decided to prioritize public order and explore the new game version while shelving the operation against Buddha Lord.
• Old Vegetable Gang privately told Gu Yuan that the game’s invasion of reality was likely true and that association players might need to cooperate with Aaron.
• A Radiance City player received a ritual dagger and candles as a mission reward and performed a ritual after recalling mystical knowledge from the game.
• The player sensed spirituality, then grew black bristles, howled, smashed through a window, and jumped outside.

As the Ancient game’s invasion brought ghosts and other disasters into reality, the Folk Customs Enthusiasts Association lost members and struggled to respond. Gu Yuan and the others accepted Aaron’s Final Chapter mission, which began as a text-based game with lethal sanity checks, and the chapter ended as Gu Yuan faced his first investigation choice.

• The Association received reports of supernatural disasters across several cities, and Anthony fled Kun City before a ghost emerged through his computer and caused his helicopter to crash.
• Old Vegetable Gang took charge of the Association’s meeting and reported severe casualties and mental-health problems among its players.
• Aaron summoned Chen Ci and Hong Gouyi to share the Final Chapter mission, and Gu Yuan persuaded the Association to join him.
• Three days later, Gu Yuan, Old Vegetable Gang, Aaron, and the other selected players began the mission, receiving their identities and skills.
• The players faced an opening sanity check; some passed at a cost, while a veteran player critically failed and died in madness.
• Aaron narrated the group’s journey to Three Realms Mountain, and Gu Yuan was asked whether to use Investigation on something buried in a shattered pavilion.

Gu Yuan and the others investigated the ruins, found a clue naming Xu Fu, and explored Three Realms Mountain, where Old Vegetable Gang decoded a secret ritual. After they survived an attack by Morgan's Hound, they reached the Gate of Truth, which demanded a living sacrifice, leaving the group to choose who would be offered.

• Gu Yuan investigated the ruins and found a broken stele bearing the name Xu Fu.
• The group spoke with a nameless wandering soul, gave it a made-up name, and received its secret manual.
• Old Vegetable Gang used Occultism to decode the manual, gaining the Fate-Reversing Secret Rite and increasing his Occultism.
• Morgan's Hound attacked the group; Chen Ci and Gu Yuan lost Sanity, Nine-Tailed Meow Meow Meow struck the monster with a crowbar, and Flying on the Wind killed it.
• At the Gate of Truth, the group chose to offer a sacrifice, and the gate demanded that they select one of the five players as a living offering.

Aaron and the Association sacrificed Chen Ci to learn that gathering the six Divine Powers would merge the game with reality, while a hidden roll set off a deadly battle at Three Realms Mountain. The nameless wandering soul gathered all six powers and began assimilating reality, but Old Vegetable Gang attempted a Fate-Reversing Secret Rite.

• Old Vegetable Gang called Aaron and proposed that the group sacrifice him, but Aaron refused to be intimidated.
• Gu Yuan chose Chen Ci as the sacrifice, and the Gate of Truth revealed that the six Divine Powers were a trap and that the Demon Star had to be prevented from appearing.
• Aaron secretly rolled against Old Vegetable Gang, and the die changed from 44 to 66 as Old Vegetable Gang's game continued.
• The nameless wandering soul attacked at the summit of Three Realms Mountain, killed Gu Yuan, and defeated Flying on the Wind despite Hong Gouyi's crowbar attack.
• The wandering soul gathered all six great divine powers, began transforming into a demon star, and triggered the game's invasion of reality.
• Old Vegetable Gang urged the remaining players not to give up and began the Fate-Reversing Secret Rite after confusing the wandering soul by shouting Xu Fu's name.

As the crimson demon star triggered a worldwide invasion of aberrations, Old Vegetable Gang reversed Xu Fu’s fate and slowed the worlds’ merger, but died after transferring three divine abilities to Hong Gouyi. The disaster ended, and Aaron prepared to leave for another world after confirming that the people he had influenced had survived.

• Aberrations poured through wormholes across the planet as players and groups such as the Fire Group fought to protect their cities.
• Lin Su rushed to Yi Xiaochuan’s hospital room, and the two embraced as a giant aberration approached, but the monster vanished when the invasion ended.
• Old Vegetable Gang rolled a critical success, took over Xu Fu’s fate, and slowed the erosion between the two worlds.
• Old Vegetable Gang entrusted the world to Hong Gouyi, transferred three divine abilities to Nine-Tailed Meow Meow Meow, and committed suicide after Xu Fu possessed him.
• Hong Gouyi watched sunlight return as monsters disappeared, while survivors including the Fire Group, Yi Xiaochuan, and Lin Su realized the disaster was over.
• Aaron used divination to check on those he had influenced, then prepared to leave the world and continue the imprint ritual elsewhere.

Aaron awoke in the body of Fang La, a starving young farmer in the Great Pine Dynasty, after falling from a cliff, and discovered he could no longer draw spiritual power from his true body. He escaped the mountains and reached farmland, facing life in a seemingly magicless society under oppressive rule.

• Aaron used up his remaining spirituality to heal his badly injured body, then realized he could no longer receive power from his true body.
• Aaron recovered Fang La's memories and learned that his parents had died under the Flower-and-Bird Levy and that he had entered the mountains seeking rare creatures to avoid corvée labor.
• Aaron judged that martial cultivation and supernatural religions offered no reliable path to power in this world, while official status gave even low-ranking clerks control over ordinary farmers.
• Aaron followed a stream out of the mountains and reached farmland and farmhouses before nightfall.