Chapter Summaries

As Xu Tianran purged his enemies in Ming Capital, Zhongli Wu persuaded Ju Zi to help the Holy Spirit Cult extract Xu Tianran’s life essence and preserve his bloodline. Ju Zi entered the secret hall with the Soul Tool and prepared to act against the emperor.

• Xu Tianran’s forces executed hundreds of nobles and officials accused of supporting Xu Tianyao or opposing the emperor.
• Ju Zi learned that Xu Tianran had stripped her of her power and ordered her executed if she obstructed Xu Tianyao’s return.
• Zhongli Wu told Ju Zi the Holy Spirit Cult planned to extract Xu Tianran’s life essence and offered her a chance to preserve his bloodline for use against Xu Tianyao.
• Ju Zi agreed to help and took the extraction Soul Tool from Zhongli Wu.
• After the secret hall’s guards were drawn away, Ju Zi entered alone and began uncovering Xu Tianran’s chest wound.

Ju Zi killed Xu Tianran by extracting his bloodline origin, then escaped with Zhongli Wu as the Empire launched a manhunt. Xu Tianyao returned to Ming Capital and learned that Xu Tianran had intended to pass him the Imperial Seal, leaving him to face the succession and a kingdom in crisis.

• Ju Zi drained Xu Tianran’s life with a Soul Tool, killing him in the secret hall before escaping with Zhongli Wu.
• Jing Hongchen discovered Xu Tianran’s body, ordered Ming Capital sealed, and declared Ju Zi and the Holy Spirit Cult enemies of the Empire.
• Xu Tianyao entered Ming Capital with Kong Deming and his army as news of the Emperor’s death reached him.
• Kong Deming told Xu Tianyao that Xu Tianran had planned to hand him the Imperial Seal and regency edict, and Xu Tianyao looked out at the rain without answering.

Xu Tianyao entered the palace and, honoring his brother’s death, took up the regency instead of ascending the throne. He issued orders to secure the Empire, hunt down the Holy Spirit Cult, and investigate Ju Zi’s allies while preparing Xu Tianran’s state funeral.

• Xu Tianyao told Kong Deming he would govern as regent until Ming Capital and the front lines were secure, then entered the palace.
• Xu Tianyao held the Imperial Seal as regent under Xu Tianran’s final decree and barred unauthorized troop movements or changes to the front lines.
• Xu Tianyao ordered the legions to hunt Evil Soul Masters and declared that Holy Spirit Cult collaborators would be investigated and punished.
• Xu Tianyao issued a nationwide kill order for Ju Zi and ordered the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion withdrawn and inspected; he threatened Zhou Rou with severe penalties for delaying.
• Xu Tianyao named Xu Tianran the Martial Emperor, ordered his state funeral, and left most of his brother’s former subordinates in place pending joint trials for those involved in the plot.

After Xu Tianran’s death, Xu Tianyao took control of the Sun Moon Empire and ascended the throne after the state mourning period. A year later, the Empire had purged most of the Holy Spirit Cult’s forces, while Xu Tianyao’s growing power made another assassination attempt increasingly unlikely to succeed.

• Xu Tianyao used the Imperial Seal and Xu Tianran’s final decree to secure the regency, then visited his brother’s body before it was buried.
• After three months of state mourning, Xu Tianyao formally ascended the throne, with Meng Hongchen set to become Empress when they came of age.
• Xu Tianyao’s government launched the Soul Eradication Operation, prompting the Holy Spirit Cult to withdraw toward the Evil Demon Forest while its leaders remained hidden.
• Xu Tianyao and Kong Deming suspected that the Cult’s plans involved the escaped Imperial Consort Ju Zi and her possible child with Xu Tianran, but postponed an attack on the heavily defended headquarters.
• The Three Great Empires rebuilt their defenses in the Mingdou Mountain Range and again prioritized a Decapitation Operation against Xu Tianyao.
• Over the year, Xu Tianyao reached Soul Sage, fused further with the Mountains Rivers Sun Moon Map and the Eternal Tree, and began forming his first storage Soul Core.

The Sun Moon Empire completed Civilization Punisher No. 1, a powerful but short-lived Soul Tool weapon, and Xu Tianyao chose to deploy it against the Dou Ling Empire's capital. The machine emerged in Lingdou City's Imperial Palace Square, leaving the city's defenders facing an immediate attack.

• Kong Deming oversaw the completion and testing of Civilization Punisher No. 1, whose immense firepower came with severe energy and mobility limits.
• Xu Tianyao decided to teleport the machine to Lingdou City rather than risk using it against the Holy Spirit Cult in the Evil Demon Forest.
• Xu Tianyao used the Mountains Rivers Sun Moon Map to open a spatial passage to Lingdou City's Imperial Palace Square, draining Mingde Hall's energy and much of his own Soul Power.
• During a banquet, Lingdou City's alarms sounded as the spatial formation appeared above the imperial palace, and a Dou Ling Empire Titled Douluo failed to break it.
• Civilization Punisher No. 1 descended through the rift and landed in the Imperial Palace Square, shattering the ground and injuring nearby defenders.

Xu Tianyao ordered Civilization Punisher No. 1 to devastate Lingdou City and destroy the Dou Ling Empire’s palace, while Kong Deming monitored its energy and coordinated its deployment. The machine withdrew after its combat time ran low, leaving Tianyang Douluo alive to search the ruins for surviving members of the imperial family.

• Xu Tianyao commanded Civilization Punisher No. 1 to attack the Dou Ling Empire’s imperial palace, and its main cannon breached the city’s defenses and devastated the palace.
• The emperor ordered the city’s soul masters to stop the machine, but their attacks failed, and its cannons wiped out defenders in the square.
• Xu Tianyao ordered the machine to destroy the imperial family, and it cut down Tianyang Douluo before blasting apart the palace’s main hall.
• Xu Tianyao ordered a full-area bombardment, and Civilization Punisher No. 1 attacked Lingdou City’s defenses and pursued the wounded Tianyang Douluo as the city burned.
• Civilization Punisher No. 1 halted its pursuit when its combat time ran low and returned through a golden spatial array, leaving Tianyang Douluo to direct the rescue of imperial family members from the ruins.

After Civilization Punisher No. 1 destroyed Lingdou City, the Xingluo Empire and Shrek Academy prepared for war while the Sun Moon Empire celebrated the weapon’s successful deployment. Xu Tianyao ordered another attack on the weakened Dou Ling Empire, and Huo Yuhao trained at Shrek Academy as Sky Dream urged him to master his second martial soul.

• News of Lingdou City's destruction reached Xingluo Emperor Xu Jiawei, who raised border defenses, recalled the Consecration Hall, and ordered the Western Army Group to retreat.
• At Shrek Academy, Xuan Zi placed the city in lockdown, recalled disciples, and classified the attack as the academy's highest-level war situation.
• Civilization Punisher No. 1 returned to Mingde Hall with its main systems intact, and Kong Deming ordered further protection for its vulnerable circuits and recalculation of teleportation costs.
• Xu Tianyao reviewed the combat records and ordered another deployment against the Dou Ling Empire, reasoning that its defenses were weakest and its people could be driven into panic.
• At Shrek Academy, Huo Yuhao ran physical drills while Sky Dream told him to sense and master the power of his second martial soul.

Huo Yuhao learned that Civilization Sanctioner had attacked Lingdou City for a second time, devastating the city and leaving the Dou Ling Empire near collapse. Shrek Academy raised its defenses and prepared to send reinforcements, but its elders had no clear way to stop the weapon.

• Huo Yuhao recalled how the dying Ice Jade Scorpion had sacrificed herself to become his second martial soul, then heard Shrek Academy sound a yellow-level combat alert.
• Huo Yuhao learned that Civilization Sanctioner had returned to Lingdou City and that Xu Sanshi's mother might have been caught in the attack.
• Shrek Academy received a report that the second strike had devastated Lingdou City and inflicted further casualties on the Dou Ling imperial family.
• Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong worried about Xu Sanshi's mother while Shrek City's defenses began activating.
• Xuan Zi and the Sea God Pavilion elders watched footage of the attack and concluded that Civilization Sanctioner could independently locate and destroy cities.
• Xuan Zi ordered Shrek City onto maximum alert and assigned Elder Song to lead reinforcements to Lingdou City and negotiations with the other empires.

The leaders of the Three Great Empires, Shrek Academy, and the Body Sect discussed how to resist the Sun Moon Empire after the Civilization Sanctioner devastated Douling City. As Du Busi agreed to attempt another decapitation mission, he revealed that a mysterious silver figure had stopped him from reaching Xu Tianyao before.

• Xu Jiawei reported that the Civilization Sanctioner had crippled Douling City and left Tianyang Douluo unconscious.
• Du Busi warned that reinforcements and city defenses could not stop the weapon from appearing directly inside an imperial capital.
• Qian Duoduo and Xu Jiawei explained that the Sun Moon Empire aimed to break the Three Great Empires' resolve, while a conventional invasion could not match its strength.
• Xu Jiawei proposed sending Elder Xuan and Du Busi to kill Xu Tianyao and buy the Three Great Empires time to rebuild.
• Du Busi agreed to go but said the operation was unlikely to succeed because a silver figure had stopped him from reaching Xu Tianyao during his previous infiltration of Ming Capital.

As the allied leaders considered the Sun Moon Empire’s overwhelming strength, Elder Song revealed that Mu En had secretly corresponded with Long Xiaoyao, a Limit Douluo within the Holy Spirit Cult. The Xingluo Empire, Heaven Dou Empire, and Xuanming Sect agreed to let Shrek Academy seek Long Xiaoyao’s help for a renewed Decapitation Operation.

• Du Busi told Xu Jiawei that an unknown Limit Douluo had protected Xu Tianyao in Ming Capital, making a direct attack perilous.
• Elder Song revealed Mu En’s secret letter and disclosed that he had maintained a private channel with Long Xiaoyao, the Dark Holy Dragon of the Holy Spirit Cult.
• Elder Song explained that Long Xiaoyao opposed Xu Tianyao’s expansion and might help restrain the Sun Moon Empire’s strongest fighters.
• Xu Jiawei approved seeking Long Xiaoyao’s aid, and the Heaven Dou Empire and Xuanming Sect also agreed to the plan.
• Elder Song said she would inform Xuan Zi, while Xu Jiawei ordered everyone to keep the meeting’s disclosures secret.

The Holy Spirit Cult faced a tightening Sun Moon Empire blockade as Ye Xishui and the elders debated their dwindling options. Long Xiaoyao revealed Shrek’s offer to join a coordinated strike on Ming Capital, leaving the cult divided over whether to cooperate or break out.

• The Sun Moon Empire discovered another concealed exit, and Zhongli Wu struck the messenger before Ye Xishui ordered the cult to withdraw from Soul Devouring Valley.
• Holy Spirit Cult elders argued over the blockade and the danger of a Level-Nine Fixed-Mount Soul Tool Projectile while Ye Xishui considered the child Ju Zi carried.
• Ye Xishui asked Long Xiaoyao about Shrek’s latest letter, and he revealed that Shrek and allied forces planned a Decapitation Operation against Xu Tianyao in Ming Capital.
• Long Xiaoyao said Xuan Zi had invited him to join the operation and asked the Holy Spirit Cult to provide intelligence and elite fighters.
• The elders denounced the alliance as a trap and proposed breaking through the blockade under the protection of the two Limit Douluo.

The Holy Spirit Cult agreed to join Shrek and the Three Great Empires in an assassination attempt on Xu Tianyao, while the Sun Moon Empire prepared Civilization Punisher No. 1 for its third deployment. The chapter ended with Xu Tianyao choosing Xingluo City as the weapon’s next target.

• Long Xiaoyao explained that the Holy Spirit Cult and Shrek shared the goal of killing Xu Tianyao, and outlined a plan to strike the Ming Capital when Civilization Punisher No. 1 departed.
• Ye Xishui ordered the Holy Spirit Cult to join the operation, placing Long Xiaoyao in command of most of its Titled Douluo and directing agents to investigate the imperial palace and Xu Tianyao’s movements.
• Civilization Punisher No. 1 completed its seventh charging cycle and final checks, while Xu Tianyao recovered and condensed an Ultimate Ice Soul Core.
• Jing Hongchen and Kong Deming assessed Heaven Dou City, Shrek City, and Xingluo City as possible targets, weighing their defenses and strategic importance.
• Xu Tianyao studied the Xingluo front and selected Xingluo City as the target of Civilization Punisher No. 1’s third deployment.

Xu Tianyao ordered a full-scale invasion of Xingluo and prepared the Civilization Punisher No. 1 to strike Xingluo City. As the Sun Moon Empire secured its supply lines and defenses against an expected assassination attempt, the Punisher began its deployment into the Xingluo Imperial Palace.

• Xu Tianyao ordered the border legions to prepare for war and advance once the Civilization Sanctioner reached Xingluo City.
• Xu Tianyao kept the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion and Consecration Hall in Ming Capital, predicting the Three Great Empires would attack while the weapon was away.
• Jing Hongchen and the Wartime Cabinet secured Ming Capital's defenses, military rations, armaments, and transport routes.
• Xu Tianyao activated the Mountains Rivers Sun Moon Map and directed the Civilization Punisher No. 1 toward Xingluo City.
• Civilization Punisher No. 1 emerged through a spatial passage and brought its foot down in the Xingluo Imperial Palace square.

Civilization Punisher No. 1 appeared above Xingluo City and began destroying the capital’s defenses. Xu Jiawei and the imperial enshrined experts tried to stop it as its main cannon charged toward Xingluo Palace.

• Xu Jiawei reviewed wartime requests and confronted the possibility that Xu Jiujiu had died during the Decapitation Operation.
• A spatial formation opened above the palace, and Civilization Punisher No. 1 announced its deployment in Xingluo City.
• Xu Jiawei ordered the defenders to attack, but Civilization Punisher No. 1 crashed into the plaza and began firing on military positions and Soul Tool Arrays.
• Civilization Punisher No. 1 seized an imperial enshrined expert’s Martial Soul Avatar and smashed him through a palace roof.
• As Civilization Punisher No. 1 charged its main cannon at Xingluo Palace, Xu Jiawei raised a barrier of starlight while seven Titled Douluo attacked its chest.

The Civilization Sanctioner devastated Xingluo City, breaking through Xu Jiawei’s defenses and destroying the imperial center and vital infrastructure. As the attack continued, Xu Jiawei learned that the Sun Moon Empire had also begun its invasion at the Mingdou Mountain Range and ordered the empire’s forces to hold their lines.

• Xu Jiawei ordered an emergency encrypted message sent to the Heaven Dou Empire, Shrek Academy, the Body Sect, the Xuanming Sect, and hidden sects, announcing the Civilization Sanctioner’s deployment and the start of the Decapitation Operation.
• Xu Jiawei and the imperial offerings raised layered defenses against the Civilization Sanctioner’s main cannon, but the blast pierced them and obliterated the imperial palace and nearby buildings.
• Xu Jiawei refused to leave the ruins, while the Civilization Sanctioner began striking Xingluo City’s armory, granaries, Soul Tool workshops, and other infrastructure.
• A messenger reported that the Sun Moon Empire’s legions had crossed the border and the Evil Lord Soul Engineer Legion had breached the first defense line at the Mingdou Mountain Range.
• Xu Jiawei ordered Dai Hao to hold the Mingdou Mountain Range and told regional garrisons to stay in their defense zones, support Dai Hao, and stop the invading legions.

The Sun Moon Empire rapidly overwhelmed the Xingluo and Tianhun border defenses while Xuan Zi and Du Busi assembled powerful allies for a covert mission to kill Xu Tianyao in Ming Capital. The chapter ends with the invasion forces preparing to use Level-Nine Fixed-Mount Soul Tool Projectiles against cities and Xuan Zi and Du Busi setting out through an underground mine tunnel.

• The Civilization Sanctioner withdrew from Xingluo City as Xu Jiawei learned that the Mingdou Mountain Range defenses had collapsed and the White Tiger Duke had retreated.
• Dai Hao ordered most of his forces to fall back while he and the remnants of the Tiger Vanguard Army prepared to hold a canyon and cover their retreat.
• The Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion broke through the Tianhun Empire's border defenses and destroyed five military fortresses.
• Xuan Zi, Du Busi, and allied Titled Douluo learned that their original route to Ming Capital was blocked and agreed to travel through an abandoned mine tunnel using identities supplied by the Holy Spirit Cult.
• A concealed Sun Moon Empire force carrying two Level-Nine Fixed-Mount Soul Tool Projectiles advanced toward Shrek City, while the invading legions received orders to warn civilians before beginning sieges with the projectiles.
• Xuan Zi and Du Busi left Anping City for the underground mine tunnel to begin their mission to kill Xu Tianyao.

Xuan Zi, Du Busi, and Long Xiaoyao coordinated a covert attack on Ming Capital while forces from Shrek and the Three Great Empires secretly entered the city. Wang Yan, the young master of the Blazing Flame Wang Family, used a Prince Ming Token to reach Xu Tianyao with a letter and was taken toward the underground Mingde Hall.

• Xuan Zi and Du Busi met Long Xiaoyao in a hidden Holy Spirit Cult passage, and the three reviewed their plan to attack Ming Capital.
• Forces from Shrek, the Three Great Empires, the Body Sect, and the Xuanming Sect infiltrated Ming Capital and moved separately to their assigned positions.
• Wang Yan entered the city disguised as a merchant and used a Prince Ming Token to gain admission to Prince Ming's Estate.
• Meng Hongchen questioned Wang Yan, who insisted that he had to deliver his message to Xu Tianyao in person.
• Meng Hongchen escorted Wang Yan in a sealed vehicle through a secret route leading underground toward Mingde Hall.

Wang Yan delivered the Blazing Flame Wang Family’s pledge to support the Sun Moon Empire and warned Xu Tianyao that Shrek, several sects, the Three Great Empires, and the Holy Spirit Cult planned to assassinate him. The Wang Family’s defection was accepted, and Xu Tianyao began reading intelligence about Heaven Dou’s military preparations.

• Meng Hongchen brought Wang Yan to the repair platform, where Jing Hongchen and Kong Deming questioned why he had come to Ming Capital.
• Wang Yan insisted on delivering his grandfather’s sealed letter directly to Xu Tianyao, who left seclusion and recognized him.
• Wang Yan knelt before Xu Tianyao, pledged the Blazing Flame Wang Family’s allegiance, and offered to help overthrow Heaven Dou’s rule and welcome the Sun Moon army.
• Wang Yan warned that Shrek, the Body Sect, the Xuanming Sect, the Three Great Empires, and the Holy Spirit Cult were joining forces to infiltrate Ming Capital and assassinate Xu Tianyao.
• Xu Tianyao thanked Wang Yan, accepted the letter, and read its reports on Heaven Dou’s troop deployments and forced conscription orders.

Xu Tianyao learned that Wang Qiangu’s Blazing Flame Wang Family would open Heaven Dou City’s southern gate to the Sun Moon Empire, while enemy assassination forces gathered in Ming Capital. Rather than expose the plot early, Xu planned to let the assassins assemble and then trap them, as their leaders studied the imperial city’s defenses.

• Xu Tianyao accepted Wang Qiangu’s terms and ordered Wang Yan to tell the Blazing Flame Wang Family that its members would be spared and rewarded for opening Heaven Dou City’s gates.
• Wang Yan revealed that assassination forces from the Three Great Empires were entering Ming Capital through a hidden route provided by the Holy Spirit Cult, and identified three of their assembly locations.
• Jing Hongchen urged Xu Tianyao to seal Ming Capital and search for the infiltrators, but Xu refused so the leaders would continue gathering and the empire could trace the Holy Spirit Cult’s network.
• Xu Tianyao ordered the city’s defenses to appear unchanged and left a route open to the imperial palace, where he intended to trap the attackers.
• In an abandoned warehouse, Xuan Zi, Du Busi, Qian Duoduo, and other Titled Douluo reviewed the imperial city’s patrol routes and discussed exploiting a brief shift-change gap.

Xuan Zi and the allied sects finalized their plan to assassinate Xu Tianyao in Ming Capital despite suspecting the Sun Moon Empire might know they were coming. They agreed to strike the palace, Mingde Hall, and six military warehouses, leaving civilian casualties possible but ordering teams to divert residents first.

• Xuanming Douluo questioned whether the unusually easy intelligence and entry into Ming Capital were part of a trap, but Du Busi argued that the advancing Sun Moon Empire forces left them no time to wait.
• Xuan Zi said the Sun Moon Empire's main Soul Engineer Legions were at the front and ordered the operation to proceed, while Qian Duoduo explained that Long Xiaoyao would draw away the palace's strongest defenders.
• Qian Duoduo revealed that Ye Xishui would not participate, and Du Busi read a letter stating that the Holy Spirit Cult planned to attack the Imperial Ancestral Temple with a Level-Nine Fixed-Mount Soul Tool Projectile.
• Qian Duoduo outlined simultaneous attacks on six ammunition warehouses, where teams would first disable blastproof arrays before detonating the stored weapons.
• After the Xuanming Sect elder raised concerns about civilians near the warehouses, Du Busi argued that the weapons would otherwise kill people in the Three Great Empires, and no one withdrew.
• Xuan Zi ordered the warehouses destroyed but told each team to sabotage nearby alarms and create fires and fighting to draw civilians away.