Chapter Summaries

Lu Xingshi confronted Mara, revealed that he knew Mara was a Destiny Ghost, and beat him down to force him to grow stronger. He left Mara with one year to transform into a Calamity-level Life Ghost, or face death.

• Mara prepared schemes against Ke Lan and Lu Xingshi while investigating whether other ancient humans had survived.
• Lu Xingshi appeared before Mara and announced that he had come to beat him into behaving and hasten his transformation.
• Mara offered to pay Lu Xingshi, then tried to flee when he realized a fight was unavoidable.
• Lu Xingshi let Mara escape briefly before revealing his overwhelming true form and striking him with a gigantic palm.
• Mara realized Lu Xingshi had spared him because he was too weak, and promised to become a Calamity-level Life Ghost within a year.

Ke Lan learned that Lu Xingshi had driven Mara into hiding, then prepared him with a bomb-like ability for a future experiment. Ke Lan traveled to the future and used it to badly wound Mara, who escaped, leaving Ke Lan wondering what Lu Xingshi was really after.

• Ke Lan read that Mara had withdrawn from public affairs to pursue greater strength, and Lu Xingshi admitted he had seriously injured him.
• Lu Xingshi warned Ke Lan against trying to kill Mara and said they would use future travel for an experiment despite Ke Lan's Dead Save.
• Lu Xingshi implanted a cloud-like bomb in Ke Lan that would automatically target Mara and leave Ke Lan unharmed.
• Ke Lan traveled to the future, where Mara sensed the threat and swallowed him with his Ghost Domain.
• The cloud tore through Mara's Ghost Domain and struck him, forcing him to abandon much of his body and flee with only his mangled head remaining.
• Ke Lan watched Mara escape and wondered why Lu Xingshi was going to such lengths.

Ke Lan reported the altered future to Lu Xingshi, then asked for weapons and permission to hunt people and Destiny Ghosts. Lu Xingshi agreed under strict conditions, gave him a Starvation Ghost for protection and transport, and sent him to prepare for his leave.

• Ke Lan told Lu Xingshi that Mara had been gravely wounded, the Ghost Domain had shattered, and the future timeline had changed.
• Ke Lan requested weapons so he could kill people and Destiny Ghosts, and Lu Xingshi agreed on the conditions that he avoid Mara, spare ordinary people, and preserve the Federation’s stability.
• Ke Lan asked Lu Xingshi to send him to Jing Prefecture, and Lu Xingshi recognized that Ke Lan was arranging for weapons, transport, and protection.
• Lu Xingshi put a Starvation Ghost inside Ke Lan to protect and transport him, and told him the weapons were at the base.
• Ke Lan left to prepare for his few days of leave and tried to communicate with the Starvation Ghost, hoping to gain its help.

Ke Lan used the Starving Ghost’s power and Lu Xingshi’s weapons to kill Federation Councilors in Jing Prefecture, then fought off the Grand Arcane Treasure Masters sent to stop him. Mara decided that Ke Lan’s actions threatened his plans and prepared a mass blood sacrifice to reach Calamity Rank.

• Ke Lan killed another Federation Councilor with gunshots while the Starving Ghost absorbed attacks and restrained his enemies.
• Mara appeared as a clone and urged Ke Lan to surrender, but Ke Lan shot the clone dead.
• Several hundred Grand Arcane Treasure Masters attacked Ke Lan, who survived their barrage and declared he would kill only Councilors.
• Ke Lan threw a grenade into the attackers and fired into the crowd after they challenged what would happen to the Federation without its Councilors.
• Mara, still injured from Lu Xingshi’s strike, concluded that Ke Lan’s campaign would eventually threaten him and resolved to sacrifice half the Federation’s human population in a blood ritual to become Calamity Rank.

Ke Lan urged Lu Xingshi to stop Mara from sacrificing half the Federation to reach Calamity Rank, but Lu Xingshi allowed him only Three Great Prefectures. After enforcing that limit, Lu Xingshi prepared to use Time Traversal Technology to strike at the Mandate of Heaven Silk Protection Mechanism.

• Ke Lan told Lu Xingshi that Mara was using a blood sacrifice of half the Federation to transform into Calamity Rank.
• Lu Xingshi said Mara could have Three Great Prefectures, and rejected Ke Lan’s pleas to save their 1.5 billion inhabitants.
• Ke Lan left after warning Lu Xingshi, realizing he could neither stop Mara nor defy Lu Xingshi without risking his parents and his own position.
• Lu Xingshi told Mara over the phone that Three Great Prefectures was his limit, and Mara agreed to obey.
• Lu Xingshi planned to use Time Traversal Technology to create a massive high-energy impact against the Mandate of Heaven Silk Protection Mechanism and the timeline.

Mara completed his transformation into a Calamity Rank by engulfing Jing, Shan, and He Prefectures in his Ghost Domain and slaughtering their inhabitants. Meanwhile, Ke Lan traveled physically into the past to reach Mara before his birth and was pulled inside the Mora Egg with a grenade.

• Mara revealed himself as a Destiny Ghost and crushed the first councilor who attacked him.
• Mara’s Ghost Domain, Asura Purgatory, engulfed Jing, Shan, and He Prefectures, and the slaughter completed his Calamity Rank transformation.
• Lu Xingshi told Ke Lan to enter the Mirror of Origin physically and travel to the eve of Mara’s birth.
• Ke Lan reached a wooden hut in the past and found Mara inside a gigantic egg.
• The Mora Egg pulled Ke Lan inside, and he silently pulled the pin on the grenade hidden in his clothes.

Lu Xingshi fused Mara Ke Lan with Mara from the Future Timeline, triggering a surge of power that let the world empower him against the invading outsiders. The Great Crimson Virtue Heavenly Emperor and the Wildlands War Overlord defeated him, while Lu Xingshi seized the source of the Mandate Silk Defense Mechanism and left Future Mora Ke Lan captive as enhancement material.

• Lu Xingshi used the Mirror of Origin and the Mandate of Heaven Silk to pull Future Timeline Mara into the present despite Mara Ke Lan's attack.
• Lu Xingshi fused Future Timeline Mara with Mara Ke Lan, causing timeline errors to shatter the world's Mandate Silk Defense Mechanism and empower Future Mora Ke Lan beyond Calamity Rank.
• The Great Crimson Virtue Heavenly Emperor and the Wildlands War Overlord arrived with Yan Kingdom's legions, subdued Future Mora Ke Lan, and destroyed the Mandate Silk Defense Mechanism.
• The rhomboid crystal tried to impose a fatal destiny on the Great Crimson Virtue Heavenly Emperor, but the Son of Heaven Destiny and Mountains and Rivers Sheji Diagram swept the attempt away.
• The Great Crimson Virtue Heavenly Emperor sent the rhomboid crystal into Lu Xingshi's world, where Bodhi Enlightenment True Lord pinned it down.
• Lu Xingshi restrained Future Mora Ke Lan, explained that Mara had been his creation, and sealed his mouth after declaring him enhancement material.

Lu Xingshi finished devouring the Fate Pattern World, merged its people into the Yan Kingdom, and examined the Divinity of the God of Fate that had shaped the world’s history. He decided the divinity could only serve as a costly DLC, leaving him to consider whether its old data was useful enough to create a Game Villager.

• Lu Xingshi completed the devouring of the Fate Pattern World, while Great Vow Bodhisattva took over its defenses and troop production from Bodhi Enlightenment True Lord.
• The Federation collapsed into the Yan Kingdom, and Lu Xingshi’s forces suppressed or quietly eliminated former citizens who resisted or plotted against the new rule.
• Lu Xingshi examined the diamond-shaped crystal and learned that the God of Fate’s divinity had drifted into the world after the God of Fate fell during the Twilight of the Gods.
• The divinity’s arrival transformed an ordinary society by recording events as the Mandate of Heaven Silk and enabling Fate Masters, the Heaven’s Blessing system, and successive Children of Destiny.
• Lu Xingshi traced how the Otherworld Demons, Li Fan’s downfall, and the world’s defensive systems had shaped later Fate Master and Arcane Treasure systems.
• Lu Xingshi judged that the divinity offered little value beyond DLC data and estimated that creating a Game Villager from it would cost at least a trillion Gold Coins.

Lu Xingshi built an incomplete identity as a glorious knight who inherited a noble title and became a Powerful Lord, then entered a distant world as Viscount Landon. He learned about his territory, the vanished Transcendent, and his family’s Breathing Technique before his carriage arrived at Black Earth Territory.

• Lu Xingshi replaced the available identity fragments with nobility, glory, knight, distant inheritance, and Powerful Lord, then began creating a Game Villager despite the long travel time.
• Lu Xingshi woke in a carriage with incomplete memories identifying him as a wandering knight who had inherited the Landon Family’s viscount title and Black Earth Territory.
• Lu Xingshi learned that the world’s Transcendent had nearly vanished, that awakening a Life Seed made someone a legendary Grand Knight, and that shamans used curses and harmed ordinary people.
• Lu Xingshi discovered that his predecessor’s distant cousin had transferred the title and territory to him, and that he held the family’s Earth Element Breathing Technique.
• The carriage stopped, and the Butler announced that they had arrived at Black Earth Territory.

After taking control of Black Earth Territory, Lu Xingshi learned that the territory had been left without usable money, though its officials and food supplies kept it stable. He sought ways to raise funds and ordered the blacksmiths to produce goods for sale, leaving the territory still short of money.

• Lu Xingshi reviewed Black Earth Territory’s finances and forces, discovering that the former viscount’s cousin had taken the gold and silver and collected taxes fifty years in advance.
• Lu Xingshi summoned the Security Officer, finance officer, and Judicial Officer, who explained that food and order were secure for now but the lack of gold and silver threatened trade.
• Lu Xingshi proposed using Black Earth Territory’s minting rights to make coins for nobles without those rights, but the Judicial Officer warned that it violated kingdom law.
• The Security Officer suggested selling iron armor and swords, but Lu Xingshi doubted the local blacksmiths could make valuable goods.
• Lu Xingshi ordered the blacksmiths to start forging armor and swords so the treasury could obtain gold and silver as soon as possible.

Lu Xingshi studied the Earth Element Breathing Technique and learned that its Life Seed required scarce Earth Element Essence, which the Landon Family no longer possessed. After discovering that the former viscount had given the family’s Earth King’s Shield and the complete technique to the Royal Family, Lu Xingshi considered ways to recover the shield and began assessing his castle.

• Lu Xingshi reviewed the Earth Element Breathing Technique, its knightly ranks, and the resources needed to condense a Life Seed.
• Lu Xingshi asked the Butler about Earth Element Essence and learned the former viscount had given away the family’s only portion.
• The Butler revealed that the former viscount had also presented the Earth King’s Shield and the complete Breathing Technique to the Royal Family.
• Lu Xingshi learned that buying the items back could cost hundreds of thousands of Gold Coins, though merit or war might offer other routes to retrieve them.
• Lu Xingshi left the treasure vault, walked through the cramped castle, and considered expanding it despite lacking the money.

Lu Xingshi discovered a hidden chamber in the castle and uncovered the Landon Family’s wizarding heritage, including an original Earth Element Breathing Technique and the blueprint for the Earth King's Shield. He planned to use the recovered knowledge to awaken a Life Seed or Soul Seed, but lacked the Earth Element Essence and money needed to proceed.

• Lu Xingshi found a concealed chamber through his three-dimensional map of the castle and arranged for guards to keep others away while he opened it.
• Lu Xingshi entered the chamber and found shattered remains, a purified Earth Element Essence shell, an Earth Element Breathing Technique, an Earth Element Meditation Method, and other wizarding records.
• Lu Xingshi studied the Earth King's Shield blueprint and learned that the artifact required rare materials, strengthening his resolve to retrieve it from the royal family.
• Lu Xingshi compared the chamber’s original Breathing Technique with the royal family’s safer version and considered practicing the more powerful original to better match the Earth King's Shield.
• Lu Xingshi read an ancestor’s diary and learned that the Witch Hunt had devastated orthodox White Shamans, forcing a Landon Family wizard to hide his identity.
• Lu Xingshi concluded that he needed large quantities of Earth Element Essence to use the family’s techniques, but Black Earth Territory lacked the resources and he had no suitable way to make money.

Lu Xingshi weighed how to trade perfume formulas for the Earth King's Shield and cultivation supplies, while experimenting with artificial Earth Element Essence. He planned to seek resources beyond his territory and create opportunities amid the kingdom’s stagnant order.

• Lu Xingshi learned that his Black Thorns had made a perfume, but the finance officer warned that selling it could attract greedy nobles; Lu Xingshi decided to trade formulas to the royal family for the Earth King's Shield and materials.
• Lu Xingshi ordered the finance officer to travel to the Royal Capital with guards and travel funds, then depart the next day.
• Lu Xingshi resumed his experiments and produced shoddy Earth Element Essence from soil, discovering that purifying enough for twenty thousand portions would require vast amounts of land and rock.
• Lu Xingshi decided to prioritize condensing a Transcendent Seed and considered refining Earth Element Essence in an enemy’s territory if someone opposed him.
• Lu Xingshi concluded that he needed artificial Transcendent plants and that the kingdom’s stagnant order offered too few opportunities, leaving him to seek profit through greater chaos.

Lu Xingshi received the Earth King's Shield and ten century-old White Rock Potions from the royal court, then examined the shield's uses and considered seeking similar relics. He left the treasure vault to continue perfecting Artificial Earth Element Essence, expecting the project to be finished within two weeks.

• The finance officer returned with the Earth King's Shield and ten White Rock Potions, which Lu Xingshi discovered had been made a century earlier.
• Lu Xingshi reassured the finance officer, rewarded him and the soldiers with most of the remaining money, and sent him back to his duties.
• Lu Xingshi examined the heavy shield and realized it could serve as both a knight's weapon and a shaman's spell implement.
• Lu Xingshi considered whether the Life Seed and Soul Seed could be cultivated together, but postponed investigating until he had more data.
• Lu Xingshi speculated that the royal court might hold other pioneering nobles' shields, then decided to focus on completing Artificial Earth Element Essence.

Lu Xingshi created and drank a powerful new potion, then learned that bandits were targeting Black Earth Territory. Suspecting they were connected to the perfume formulas or the royal family, he ordered the territory to prepare and decided the attackers had to be killed.

• Lu Xingshi refined one successful bottle of New White Rock Potion from the remaining White Rock Potion and drank it despite its unpleasant taste and the stomach discomfort it caused.
• Lu Xingshi planned to make a crude Heat Weapon for self-defense, since Black Earth Territory lacked the materials and craftsmanship for more advanced technology.
• The Security Officer reported that a bandit group had marked Black Earth Territory, and Lu Xingshi ordered the common people notified and the militia mobilized.
• Lu Xingshi suspected the bandits were agents of a great noble or the royal family seeking the perfume formulas he had given up.
• Lu Xingshi resolved to kill the bandits and make clear that Black Earth Territory was not an easy target.

Lu Xingshi captured brigands who attacked his castle and learned they claimed to serve Grand Duke Haipa, so he planned to provoke the duke and draw the royal family into the conflict. He sent orders to deliver the tortured leader and the brigands’ heads to Haipa Duchy, then used the perfume formula to seek the royal family’s help.

• Lu Xingshi beat the scar-faced brigand leader and ordered him imprisoned in the lightless Black Prison for three days.
• The other brigands claimed Grand Duke Haipa had sent them and said their leader was his illegitimate son, but Lu Xingshi ordered them hanged.
• Lu Xingshi told Butler to send the tortured leader and the dead brigands’ heads to Haipa Duchy, despite Butler’s warnings.
• Lu Xingshi ordered Butler to offer the royal family the Blue Sea Anthem perfume formula in exchange for the original Earth Element Breathing Technique, or White Rock Potion, and to reveal the brigands’ claim.

Lu Xingshi struggled to make firearms with Black Earth Territory’s limited materials and reconsidered how to defend his land. He decided to buy supplies and build siege weapons that could launch explosives while investigating how the territory’s former viscount had learned about the outside world.

• Lu Xingshi finished training, learned that the men escorting bandits to the Haipa Duchy had returned safely, and ordered a reward for them.
• Lu Xingshi tried crafting firearms but realized Black Earth Territory lacked the materials needed to make them reliably.
• Lu Xingshi questioned how the former viscount had learned about the outside world and concluded that the territorial officials or castle servants might know.
• Lu Xingshi considered bombs, ballistae, and trebuchets as alternatives to firearms for defending Black Earth Territory.
• Lu Xingshi decided to buy scarce bomb-making materials under the pretext of researching new perfume formulas and summoned the finance officer.

Lu Xingshi received the complete refined Earth Element Breathing Technique and learned how it differed from the more powerful but dangerous primitive version. He decided to pursue a path combining magic and martial arts, and considered extracting the vast amount of Perfect Earth Element Essence he needed in the Haipa Duchy.

• Lu Xingshi's Butler returned with the original Earth Element Breathing Technique and ten bottles of White Rock Potion, while reporting that the royal family had promised to handle Grand Duke Haipa.
• Lu Xingshi found that only two bottles of White Rock Potion remained usable and studied the complete refined breathing technique, comparing its safer cultivation with the primitive version's greater strength at higher realms.
• Lu Xingshi concluded that Life Seeds and Soul Seeds conflicted, so cultivating both magic and martial arts required him to find a way to reconcile their energies.
• Lu Xingshi determined that Perfect Earth Element Essence could solve the conflict, but he would need at least one hundred thousand portions to pursue his plan.
• Lu Xingshi considered going to the Haipa Duchy to obtain the necessary earth, then decided he could leave Black Earth Territory without explaining himself to his subordinates.

Lu Xingshi persuaded his officials to help him obtain one hundred thousand portions of perfect-quality Earth Element Essence from the Haipa Duchy using a secret alchemical method. He left the mission to the Security Officer, his son, and the Butler’s son, rewarding them with the prospect of becoming Conferred Knights while insisting on secrecy.

• Lu Xingshi’s officials objected when he proposed leaving Black Earth Territory alone for three months, so he told them he needed materials to awaken and condense a Transcendent Seed.
• Lu Xingshi claimed his family’s alchemical technique could make perfect-quality Earth Element Essence from soil and rock, and said he needed one hundred thousand portions from the Haipa Duchy.
• The Security Officer volunteered to lead the dangerous mission with his son, and Lu Xingshi promised to make the son a Conferred Knight and grant the Security Officer ten more households of Knight Territory if they succeeded.
• Lu Xingshi urged the finance officer and Judicial Officer to assist without attracting attention, then reassured the Security Officer that his safety mattered more than success.
• The Butler warned Lu Xingshi that the Security Officer might defect with the technique, and Lu Xingshi agreed to send the Butler’s son to accompany and monitor the pair.
• Lu Xingshi ordered the officials to keep the plan secret and sent the Butler to put the mission into motion.

Lu Xingshi turned deteriorated White Rock Potion into a potent stimulant and poison, then considered using it to destabilize the kingdom. Unable to find a practical way to poison the king, he settled on Grand Duke Haipa as a possible target and began thinking through a plan.

• The Security Officer, his son, and the Guard Captain delivered the first batch of one hundred thousand portions of perfect-quality Small Earth Element Essence to Lu Xingshi.
• Lu Xingshi developed New White Rock Potion Type II, which could briefly boost an ordinary person's strength by overdrawing their life force and mental strength, but might kill or cripple them.
• Lu Xingshi realized the potion could also serve as poison and imagined assassinating the king to throw the kingdom into chaos.
• Lu Xingshi recalled that the king had a princess and a new bride, but decided that royal affairs were not his concern.
• Lu Xingshi ruled out poisoning the king because access to the royal castle was too difficult and resolved to consider poisoning Grand Duke Haipa instead.