Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Lu Wan and Gu Le are stunned when Yang Fan refuses their offers of financial help despite having invested more than 800 trillion Divinity Points. He insists that his problems are his responsibility and that he will not rely on his wives.
• Lu Wan privately resolves to sell her company and shares—or seek help from her mother—if necessary to keep the Yang Group from collapsing.
• Yang Fan reassures them that he has reasons for the investment and hints that he knows something he cannot reveal. Gu Le takes this as proof that he has a plan, while the narration makes clear that he is concealing the truth about his divine kingdom investment.
• Yang Fan raises a new proposal: establishing an investigation company to provide information services for the Yang Group.
• Lu Wan points out that large corporations need their own information channels, then reveals she owns Stellar Consulting Group. She transfers all its shares to Yang Fan.

Character developments

• Yang Fan presents himself as proud, responsible, and determined to protect his wives from financial risk. He also continues to rely on evasive hints and fabricated explanations to hide his real plans.
• Lu Wan shifts from calculating business-mindedness toward a willingness to sacrifice her assets for Yang Fan and the Yang Group. Her share transfer is a concrete expression of both trust and support.
• Gu Le is unsettled by how much Yang Fan seems to have changed, but chooses to trust that his apparent recklessness conceals a clever strategy.

Character interactions

• Yang Fan’s refusal of help shocks both wives; Lu Wan responds with an embrace, while Gu Le watches with bewildered admiration.
• He reassures them that the group will not fail, and Gu Le accepts his vague assurance without pressing for details.
• Lu Wan challenges his ability to fund yet another venture, then supports the idea by giving him control of her consulting company.

Significant themes

• Pride, responsibility, and partnership: Yang Fan insists on bearing his own burdens, while Lu Wan and Gu Le want to share them.
• Trust and sacrifice: Lu Wan is willing to abandon her usual focus on calculated interests, and Gu Le trusts Yang Fan despite her doubts.
• Secrets and deception: Yang Fan protects a crucial secret through carefully incomplete explanations, illustrating how trust can be shaped by what is left unsaid.
• Information as corporate power: The proposed investigation firm reflects the Yang Group’s need to build its own intelligence network.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Wan gives Yang Fan complete ownership of Stellar Consulting Group, a ready-made intelligence-investigation company based in his home region. She explains that its work is costly and operates near the limits of the law, so it often needs funding rather than generating much profit.
• Yang Fan accepts the company, intending to place trusted people in key roles. He refuses Lu Wan’s offer of further financial help, saying he will ask if he genuinely needs it.
• He abruptly declares that the more urgent matter is going to bed, then carries Lu Wan and her cousin Gu Le upstairs. The scene implies the three spend the night together.
• At the company’s headquarters, executives receive notice that Yang Fan is the new owner and chairman. They are ordered to enter 200 trillion Divinity Points as reserves that the company supposedly held a year earlier, while official systems confirm the transfer of ownership and authority.
• The next morning, Yang Fan gets up before the others. Gu Chengye is already at breakfast, rushing to class with a scheduled teacher, and asks where his mother has gone.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Wan supports Yang Fan’s ambitions by handing him an established company and offering to fund it. She is affectionate and eager to help, though Yang Fan pushes back against relying too heavily on her.
• Yang Fan balances pride in being self-reliant with accepting practical assistance. He also shows a playful, impulsive side in his intimate exchange with Lu Wan and Gu Le.
• Gu Le reacts awkwardly to Lu Wan’s generous claims about the company and is embarrassed by Yang Fan’s sudden bedroom announcement.
• Gu Chengye appears to be adjusting to a more structured routine, attending classes with a teacher whose schedule he must follow. His question about his mother provides the chapter’s closing joke.

Significant themes

• Support versus independence: Yang Fan accepts help that advances his plans but insists he does not want to depend on Lu Wan for every difficulty.
• Power and financial scale: The ownership transfer and enormous accounting adjustment show the reach of Yang Fan’s new enterprise and the scale at which its operations function.
• Comedy and domestic life: The chapter contrasts corporate intrigue and immense sums of money with teasing romance and an ordinary breakfast-and-school routine.

Plot points and events

• Yang Fan tells his son, Gu Chengye, to finish breakfast, attend class in the Virtual World, and begin a medically supervised weight-loss program. Chengye responds with exaggerated obedience.
• Yang Fan asks his AI assistant, Yang Da, to assess the Stellar Consulting Group, which his wife, Lu Wan, transferred to him.
• Yang Da reports that the company owns 126 Life Planets and enormous financial assets, including major investments, government bonds, and debts owed to it. It also received a concealed 200-trillion-Divinity-Point capital injection shortly before the transfer.
• Yang Fan realizes Lu Wan arranged the extra funds to ensure he would have money while sparing his pride. Yang Da explains that the company’s vast operations and expenses are covered by its returns, and that it remains profitable.
• Astonished by the scale of Lu Wan’s generosity, Yang Fan concludes that he is still living off his wife.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Fan is surprised and overwhelmed by Lu Wan’s gift. His pride gives way to gratitude and affection, but also unease: he wonders whether he is deceiving her, given his own intentions and the depth of her trust.
• Lu Wan, though absent, is shown to be devoted and considerate. Her gift—and the hidden capital injection—suggest she wants to support Yang Fan while protecting his dignity.
• Gu Chengye remains playful and curious, while Yang Fan takes a firm parental role in directing his diet and schedule.
• Yang Da provides the asset assessment and explains the company’s extensive operating costs and sound financial condition.

Significant themes

• Love and trust: Lu Wan’s wholehearted support brings Yang Fan happiness but also makes him question whether he deserves her trust.
• Wealth and pride: Yang Fan struggles to accept just how much his wife has given him, especially when her quiet help seems designed to preserve his independence and dignity.
• Family responsibility: Yang Fan balances managing a major company with setting boundaries for his son’s health and education.

Key plot points and events

• Yang Da reports that the Stellar Consulting Group is far more valuable than its measurable assets suggest. It has operated for roughly 200,000 years, and its long-standing intelligence network gives it access to information otherwise classified as top secret.
• Yang Fan realizes Lu Wan transferred him a major asset without asking for anything in return. Though unsettled by the size of her gift, he decides the company fits his plans and resolves not to let her down.
• The scene shifts to Gu Le and Lu Wan, who are awkward after the previous night. Gu Le is astonished that Lu Wan gave Yang Fan such an important inheritance.
• Lu Wan explains that her gift was not a calculated investment: she gave it out of love and trust. She says she once viewed her marriage to Yang Fan as a mutually beneficial alliance, but later came to believe he was someone worth spending her life with.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Fan remains pragmatic, habitually viewing relationships as partnerships based on mutual benefit. Lu Wan’s unconditional generosity challenges that outlook and leaves him feeling indebted, though he still intends to repay her in his own way.
• Lu Wan shows a strikingly devoted side, treating marriage as a bond of trust rather than merely an alliance. She calmly defends her choice to give Yang Fan the company.
• Gu Le is skeptical of romantic idealism and worries Lu Wan has recklessly risked a major asset. She listens to Lu Wan’s explanation but privately concludes that both Lu Wan and Yang Fan are “beyond saving,” especially after their unconventional behavior the night before.
• Yang Da serves as Yang Fan’s adviser, clarifying the company’s true strategic value and reassuring him that he can repay Lu Wan later.

Significant themes

• Love versus transactional relationships: Yang Fan sees relationships as exchanges; Lu Wan insists that love requires trust beyond profit.
• Trust and obligation: Lu Wan’s gift creates a debt Yang Fan cannot easily measure, while Gu Le sees it as a dangerous gamble.
• The value of connections: The company’s greatest asset is not its wealth but its centuries-old network and access to sensitive information.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Wan and Yang Fan share an awkward, affectionate moment after the previous night. She stops him from explaining what he has done for Stellar Consulting Group, insisting he needn’t feel obligated to justify a gift.
• The household disperses into its usual routines, and Yang Fan enters the virtual world to visit Xiling Star.
• Ma Yu reports that the Yang Group completed its planned acquisitions, spending less than expected. He worries that Yang Fan’s rapid expansion is straining his finances and suggests slowing down.
• Yang Fan clarifies that he wants to establish a new company, entirely separate from the Yang Group. He specifies strict barriers against shared funding, personnel, business, ownership, or any traceable connection between the two.
• He asks Ma Yu to find a loyal, controllable legal representative. Ma Yu recognizes that Yang Fan is likely isolating legal risk and provides a list of candidates drawn from the company’s supported talent pool.
• Yang Fan reviews the candidates and notices a familiar photograph: Ning Bailian, a diligent young orphan supported by the Yang Group, who has a twin sister.

Character developments

• Yang Fan shows caution and strategic foresight. Although he is willing to spend heavily on expansion, he is also planning to shield the Yang Group from potential risks tied to his new venture.
• Lu Wan remains affectionate but independent: she accepts Yang Fan’s gift without wanting him to feel pressured to explain himself.
• Ma Yu proves both conscientious and perceptive. He worries about Yang Fan’s finances, follows instructions without prying, and infers the purpose behind the separation plan.

Character interactions

• Lu Wan gently but firmly prevents Yang Fan from discussing Stellar Consulting Group, framing his actions as a gift rather than a debt.
• Ma Yu respectfully raises concerns about the Yang Group’s rapid growth. Yang Fan reassures him, then gives precise instructions for creating an independent company.
• Ma Yu responds with discretion, understanding that asking too much could be dangerous.

Significant themes

• Trust and affection without obligation: Lu Wan does not want Yang Fan’s generosity to become a source of pressure.
• Risk management and secrecy: Yang Fan’s strict separation requirements suggest a venture with potential legal consequences.
• Loyalty and dependence: The candidate pool consists largely of people whose education, employment prospects, and family circumstances are tied to the Yang Group.
• Power and control: Yang Fan prioritizes loyalty and manageability over a representative’s status or strength.

Key plot points and events

• Yang Fan reviews the records of Ning Bailian, whom he met on Xiling Star, and decides to give him an opportunity because they are already acquainted.
• At home, Ning Bailian cooks for his two younger sisters, who worry that he works too hard and spends too many Faith Points supporting them. He boasts about his forging talent and ambitions, prompting playful teasing.
• An urgent summons from his superior, Minister Li, interrupts the family banter. Ning Bailian logs into the Virtual World and is brought to the top floor of Yang Group headquarters.
• There he meets Yang Fan, now revealed as the group’s chairman. Ning Bailian formally greets him, then shares that his family is thriving after the Rao Family’s downfall and the Yang Group’s support.
• Yang Fan’s review of Ning Bailian’s work reveals that his exceptional output is not merely vanity: Ning Bailian has been working hard in gratitude for Yang Fan’s past help.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Bailian is introduced as a devoted older brother who supports his sisters, though he covers his worries with swagger and boasts about his talent. Beneath that bravado, he is deeply grateful to Yang Fan and has quietly tried to repay him through hard work.
• Yang Fan shows personal interest in Ning Bailian’s circumstances and chooses to offer him a chance, while gently teasing him about his formal titles and past familiarity.
• Ning Bailian’s sisters care about his health and finances. Their teasing exposes the gap between his grand ambitions and their affectionate skepticism.
• Minister Li arrives with an urgent order, underscoring Ning Bailian’s low rank and the unusual importance of Yang Fan’s summons.

Significant themes

• Gratitude and repayment: Ning Bailian’s work ethic is driven by a debt of kindness, even though he knows his efforts may be insignificant to Yang Fan.
• Family responsibility: He works and spends his resources to secure a future for his sisters, who in turn urge him not to sacrifice too much.
• Humility beneath bravado: His loud claims of genius conceal a serious, selfless commitment.
• Power and social distance: Ning Bailian’s relationship with Yang Fan changes sharply once he learns Yang Fan’s true status, though Yang Fan recalls their earlier, more personal connection.

Key plot points

• Yang Fan offers Ning Bailian a chance to work for him, warning that the plan may break Federation law and could carry a death sentence. Yang will disown any connection to him if it is exposed.
• Ning accepts immediately and agrees to provide his Divine Kingdom coordinates. Yang also offers to fund and educate Ning’s two younger sisters, on the condition that they later provide their coordinates too.
• Ning explains that his father, a talented but trusting businessman, believed Federation law would protect the family. The Rao Family instead exploited them, imposed oppressive levies, and trafficked people.
• Determined not to repeat his father’s mistakes, Ning chooses to attach himself to a powerful patron. He believes Yang is the best possible choice and says his sisters would agree because “Big Brother” has always been their guiding light.
• Yang accepts Ning’s loyalty but insists that business is business. He invites Ning to call him “Brother Yang,” then grants him ownership of the remote planet Soul Star and transfers one hundred trillion Divinity Points for his use. Ning signs the transfer, departs, and Yang sends a message to Ma Yu.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Bailian is decisive and pragmatic. His family’s betrayal by the Rao Family—and his father’s misplaced faith in legal protections—has convinced him to gamble on power and patronage rather than rely on the system. He also accepts responsibility for choosing on behalf of his sisters.
• Yang Fan tests Ning’s commitment by stressing the danger and severing ties, then rewards his trust with extraordinary resources and a new home. Their relationship shifts from formal business to a more personal, though still transactional, bond.
• Ning speaks with respect and gratitude, while Yang discourages sentimentality. Their exchange shows both genuine trust and an explicit understanding that their arrangement is a deal.

Significant themes

• Law versus power: The Federation’s laws fail to protect Ning’s family, leaving influence and strength as the practical means of survival.
• Loyalty and patronage: Ning willingly trades independence for security and opportunity under a powerful benefactor.
• Family responsibility: His choice is driven not only by self-preservation but by his desire to protect and provide for his sisters.
• Risk and ambition: Ning rejects a safe but powerless life in favor of a dangerous gamble on a brighter future.

Plot points and events

• Ning Bailian wakes from a frightening experience in the Virtual World. When Minister Li asks whether he met the important figure associated with the coordinates, Ning calmly denies it.
• Minister Li suspects Ning may have powerful connections and decides to make his work easier. Shortly afterward, an unseen attacker kills him.
• At Yang Group headquarters, Third-Order Gods report a sweeping operation: Minister Li and other people connected to the target are eliminated, and related records are erased to prevent the Federation’s artificial lifeforms from tracing them.
• Ning’s younger sisters recognize that he is lying because his voice becomes unusually calm when he does so. He tries to distract them by claiming he is now a Planetary Lord, but they see through his over-the-top performance and tease him about his poor storytelling.
• Yang Fan receives Ma Yu’s report that arrangements are ready to move the three Ning siblings to the Southern Sky Star Region. Robot troops will provide security, and artificial lifeforms will run the new company.
• Ma Yu questions whether Yang Fan should keep acquiring businesses and Life Planets, given the seemingly low returns. Yang Fan insists on continuing with the plan and offers to provide more funding.
• Yang Fan enters his Divine Kingdom, where Yang Da reports that he has found a suitable building on the Dark Web.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Bailian remains guarded and composed, concealing what happened in the Virtual World even from Minister Li. His sisters know him well enough to catch his lie, showing both their closeness and his protective secrecy.
• Minister Li moves from curiosity about Ning’s possible connections to caution, but is killed before his suspicions can be resolved.
• Yang Fan demonstrates firm, long-range control over the operation: he arranges protection and relocation for the siblings while continuing to expand his holdings despite concerns about profitability.
• Ma Yu is loyal and capable but questions Yang Fan’s investment strategy. Yang Fan listens, then makes clear that the decision is his.
• The sisters provide a warm, teasing contrast to the chapter’s violence and covert operations.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and concealment: Ning hides his Virtual World encounter, while Yang’s organization suppresses evidence and removes witnesses.
• Power and control: Yang Fan uses resources, artificial lifeforms, and force to shape events behind the scenes.
• Family and trust: Ning’s sisters understand his habits and challenge him with familiar affection.
• Strategic ambition: Yang Fan prioritizes a broader plan over immediate returns, suggesting the acquisitions serve a purpose beyond ordinary profit.

Key plot points and events

• Yang Fan examines the Calamity Pearl, an S-Rank Wraith Race building designed to create disasters and turn the resulting fear, despair, and resentment into cultivation resources for Wraith followers.
• Its powers range from broad natural disasters targeting weaker lifeforms, to summoned calamity entities that can attack stronger ones, and even heavenly tribulations powerful enough to threaten Core Formation beings.
• Yang Da explains that the building suits the Wraith Race’s cultivation system, though it would be harmful to most other races. Yang Fan sees its potential for developing ghost cultivation but worries it could damage his Divine Kingdom.
• Yang Da reassures him that the disasters’ scope and intensity are controllable, and that he can intervene through his administrative authority. Yang Fan installs the Pearl.
• The sky across the Divine Kingdom darkens and fills with ominous black mist. Followers in the Heavenly Court and Myriad Forms Martial Court, along with artificial lifeforms in the Mechanical Civilization region, notice the unusual change and react with alarm or heightened alertness.

Character developments

• Yang Fan moves from astonishment at the Pearl’s destructive nature to cautious acceptance. His interest in nurturing ghost cultivation is balanced by his responsibility for the safety of his Divine Kingdom.
• Yang Da acts as an informed and reassuring adviser, explaining both the Pearl’s purpose and how its risks can be managed.

Significant themes

• Different paths of cultivation: What harms one race may sustain another; there is no universally beneficial resource.
• Power and risk: The Pearl offers a new source of cultivation, but its use requires careful control.
• Responsibility and stewardship: Yang Fan seeks to develop his followers without recklessly endangering their world.

Character interactions

• Yang Da educates Yang Fan about the Pearl’s Wraith Race origins and mechanics, then directly addresses his safety concerns.
• Reassured by Yang Da, Yang Fan activates the building. Its arrival immediately affects the Divine Kingdom’s inhabitants, setting up a response to the ominous new conditions.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• A mysterious evil force invades the Divine Kingdom, changing the laws of heaven and earth and foreshadowing coming calamities. The Life Ancient Tree and the inhabitants of the Eternal Corpse Mine sense the disturbance.
• Yang Fan delivers a Divine Oracle, warning his believers but urging them not to fear. He promises divine rewards to those who defend their home and assures them that he is watching over them.
• The Divine Kingdom’s factions mobilize for war:
  • The Heavenly Court assembles its cultivation armies.
  • The Myriad Forms Martial Court rallies its warriors.
  • The Mechanical Civilization deploys billions of artificial lifeforms.
  • The elves organize aid for the people under threat.
  • The high-level zombies stand ready to join the fighting.
• Believers living in the Secret Realms ask to return and defend the main Divine Kingdom. Yang Da tells them that those who have reached the Qi Refining Realm or higher may apply to join the war, while reminding them that their cultivation also serves the realm.
• Yang Fan stays to monitor the first use of the Calamity Pearl. Yang Da explains that it needs energy, can absorb many kinds of power, and should begin with a controlled earth calamity. Yang Fan agrees.
• The pearl consumes large quantities of spirit resources. The sky then shakes, black fissures open, and dark figures begin to fall from the void.

Character developments

• Yang Fan takes direct responsibility for both reassuring his believers and overseeing the dangerous new calamity mechanism.
• Yang Da acts as a trusted adviser and administrator, explaining the Calamity Pearl’s operation and establishing rules for Secret Realm volunteers.
• The corpse-cultivating believers move from fearing they are outsiders to seeing the crisis as a chance to prove they belong to the Divine Kingdom.
• The Secret Realm believers demonstrate their willingness to put the Divine Kingdom’s welfare ahead of their own comfort and advancement.

Character interactions

• Yang Fan’s Divine Oracle inspires confidence and resolve across the factions.
• The elven elder urges the elves to aid their human friends, framing defense as a shared duty.
• Yang Da balances the volunteers’ desire to fight with the need to preserve the Secret Realms’ cultivation efforts.
• Yang Fan accepts Yang Da’s cautious proposal to test the Calamity Pearl with a measured calamity.

Significant themes

• Collective responsibility: Every faction and community is called upon to defend their shared home.
• Unity across differences: The zombies’ acceptance into the wider Divine Kingdom is a central sign that all believers belong.
• Faith and leadership: Yang Fan’s reassurance motivates the people, while his promise of rewards reinforces their commitment.
• Sacrifice for the greater good: Secret Realm believers understand their cultivation as service to the whole civilization.
• Preparation under uncertainty: The Divine Kingdom mobilizes while Yang Fan cautiously tests the unfamiliar Calamity Pearl.

Key plot points and events

• Dark, Qi Refining-level shadows descend across the Divine Kingdom. Heavenly soldiers intercept some, while others sweep toward villages.
• In one village, auxiliary martial artist Liu San orders civilians to flee toward the Myriad Forms Martial Court. He stands to defend them but is drained of his blood energy and killed by the shadows.
• Liu San’s pale, barely visible phantom emerges from his body and drifts away. The shadows ignore the remaining villagers and continue toward the kingdom’s center.
• Yang Da tells Yang Fan that the Calamity Pearl’s first calamity can be controlled. Since only believers at Qi Refining Realm or above can potentially become ghost cultivators, he has spared ordinary mortals from the attack.
• Yang Da proposes future, limited calamities for mortals as well. He argues that without danger, believers may avoid advancement to escape becoming targets. Yang Fan approves and leaves the calamities’ intensity to Yang Da.
• Yang Da sees the Calamity Pearl as more than a way to create ghost cultivators: it could impose internal competition and pressure across the Divine Kingdom, cultivating stronger believers to supplement the inadequate selection produced by divine wars.

Character developments and interactions

• Liu San is introduced as a courageous protector who knowingly faces overwhelming danger so the villagers can escape. His death demonstrates the calamity’s threat, though the attackers spare the civilians.
• Yang Da develops from seeking ghost cultivators to envisioning a broader strategy of using controlled disasters to reshape the kingdom’s society. He speaks with growing enthusiasm and reverence for Yang Fan.
• Yang Fan shows concern for avoiding needless casualties, but accepts Yang Da’s argument that carefully managed danger may strengthen the kingdom.

Significant themes

• Survival and strength: The chapter presents strength as essential to protecting oneself, family, and community.
• Crisis as a tool for growth: Yang Da argues that hardship and competition can spur cultivation and produce stronger believers.
• The human cost of optimization: His plan treats fear, casualties, and the elimination of the weak as costs of improving the kingdom’s overall capabilities.
• Control and unintended consequences: Yang Fan intends to use the Calamity Pearl selectively, while Yang Da recognizes its potential to transform the kingdom far beyond its original purpose.

Key plot points and events

• Yang Fan orders Yang Da to recruit ghost cultivators and buy any useful S-rank buildings from Dark Web auctions, including listings from alien races. Since Yang Fan has abundant Divinity Points, the auctions’ inflated prices are no obstacle.
• Over the first century, the Calamity Pearl continually creates calamity creatures, prompting the Divine Kingdom’s major factions to fight back. The creatures are badly outmatched, so Yang Da changes the Pearl’s rules: cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above risk deadly heavenly tribulations if they join the campaign.
• The factions adapt by sending weaker fighters against weaker creatures and urging their stronger members to avoid direct combat. The Heavenly Court invokes honor, while the Myriad Forms Martial Court emphasizes fighting enemies of equal strength.
• In the second century, the creatures continue multiplying and the war escalates, destroying cities and villages. Tribulations also grow stronger and begin striking even cultivators who remain in seclusion.
• A Core Formation cultivator is killed when a dark-red tribulation bolt overwhelms his defenses. Officials report this is the 1,642nd such death in their jurisdiction that month. With the Immortal-Slaying Pagoda already full, they call for research into ways to resist the lightning.

Character developments

• Yang Fan continues to treat the Dark Web as a strategic resource, using his wealth to acquire tools suited to his plans.
• Yang Da proves adaptable and ruthless in managing the Calamity Pearl, escalating the danger when the calamity creatures begin losing too many battles.
• The Divine Kingdom’s leaders shift from confident mobilization to fear and improvisation as the tribulations make even staying out of battle unsafe.

Significant themes

• Survival and self-reliance: The chapter ends with the realization that believers must find their own way to survive.
• Power and unintended consequences: Attempts to develop the calamity creatures into a threat trigger a wider catastrophe for the Divine Kingdom.
• Adaptation under pressure: Factions change their tactics, and leaders seek new defenses as the rules of the crisis keep worsening.
• The cost of war: The conflict spreads across the Divine Kingdom, destroying settlements and claiming lives far from the front lines.

Character interactions

• Yang Fan gives Yang Da direct orders and entrusts him with both training and acquisition duties.
• Yang Da’s actions force the factions’ leaders to issue new battlefield rules and rally their troops with appeals to honor and martial pride.
• After the Core Formation cultivator’s death, high-level believers debate the lack of protection, identify the Pagoda’s limited capacity, and agree that they must research a solution themselves.

Key plot points and events

• Dark-red thunder tribulation hangs over the battlefield, terrifying high-level believers because it can strike without warning and is almost impossible to survive.
• As calamity creatures multiply over the third and fourth centuries, the Divine Kingdom’s major powers retreat, request aid, and eventually establish a vast shared fortress: Calamity Suppression Pass.
• The different powers divide its defense: elves scout, zombie generals take on dangerous reconnaissance, artificial lifeforms provide supplies and equipment, and the Heavenly Court and Myriad Forms Martial Court form the main fighting force.
• During a lull at lunchtime, martial disciple Zhang Yue thanks a zombie for saving him. He learns the zombie is Mu Wan, a woman who hopes to regain a human body by reaching the White Jiangshi Realm.
• Zhang Yue asks why the zombies chose their path of cultivation. Mu Wan says it is the deepest source of pain for her race, and begins explaining their origins: they were created by an artificial lifeform named Yang San. The surrounding soldiers gather to hear the story.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Yue approaches Mu Wan warmly and without disgust, despite her appearance and the smell of her poisonous fumes. His casual assumption that she is male leads to an awkward but humorous correction.
• Mu Wan is shy and wary of others’ contact, reflecting her race’s experience of being treated as strange and feared. When Zhang Yue asks about zombie cultivation, her guarded manner gives way to grief and anger; her crushing grip on the animal hints at how painful the subject is.
• The neighboring soldiers’ attention shifts from routine mealtime activity to shared curiosity, turning Mu Wan’s personal history into a gathering point.

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and fear: the thunder tribulation creates helpless dread beyond the risks of ordinary combat.
• Cooperation amid catastrophe: a common enemy pushes formerly separate powers into coordinated defense and makes peaceful coexistence possible.
• Prejudice and belonging: the zombies are accepted as necessary defenders but remain socially isolated because of their appearance and habits. Zhang Yue’s sincere friendliness offers a small contrast.
• Identity and loss: Mu Wan’s hope of regaining her human body—and her description of zombie existence as a profound pain—introduce the cost of the race’s origins and transformation.

Key plot points and events

• Mu Wan recounts the zombies’ history, changing the listeners’ reaction from disgust to astonishment and sympathy.
• Zhang Yue condemns the artificial lifeforms, but a fellow cultivator warns him not to insult Mechanical Civilization, whose supplies the other factions rely on. Artificial lifeform 4068 explains that Yang San was not part of Mechanical Civilization; his true origins remain unknown, and he has already been punished by the deity. A recording of that punishment reassures the zombie generals, who kneel in gratitude.
• Zhang Yue invites his investigation-team comrades—Mu Wan, 4068, and an elven warrior—to attend a lesson together and pose for a photograph. They agree, and Zhang Yue hopes they will reunite after he becomes a martial master.
• The story shifts to the fifth century, when human calamity begins. Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, droughts, and plagues devastate ordinary villages, where unprotected mortals are especially vulnerable. The calamity creatures then launch a major offensive, wiping out an outside reconnaissance team and prompting a battle order at Calamity Suppression Pass.

Character developments and interactions

• Mu Wan’s account earns the zombies greater understanding and compassion from the others.
• 4068 remains composed and clarifies Mechanical Civilization’s distance from Yang San’s crime, while expressing confidence in the deity’s justice.
• Zhang Yue’s bluntness briefly causes tension, but he apologizes and later shows his camaraderie by bringing the diverse team together for class and a keepsake photograph.
• The investigation-team members act as comrades despite their different backgrounds, agreeing to preserve the memory of their time together.

Significant themes

• Prejudice and empathy: Learning the zombies’ history softens hostility toward them.
• Accountability and justice: Yang San’s punishment distinguishes his wrongdoing from Mechanical Civilization as a whole.
• Fellowship and memory: The photograph and Zhang Yue’s promise of reunion capture the team’s bond before conflict.
• The vulnerability of ordinary people: Calamity that powerful cultivators can withstand becomes catastrophic for mortals, exposing the cost of prolonged peace and complacency.

Key plot points and events

• Yang Fan’s Divine Kingdom has over a hundred billion believers. Calamities increase deaths, but births—boosted by his Rank A Life Proliferation talent—keep the population replenished.
• Over several centuries, the population falls by about ten percent, yet the Divine Kingdom becomes more vigorous, with the share of high-level believers steadily rising. Yang Fan concludes that the Calamity Pearl can be used long-term and has effects comparable to top-tier S-class buildings when combined with his evolution talent.
• Yang Fan visits Ning Bailian on remote Soul Star, where the company’s registration and setup are complete. He directs Ning to create an investment company focused on funding promising talent rather than investing in ordinary businesses.
• Yang says the venture is meant to give back to the Southern Sky Star Region. He sets the ambitious goal of taking the company public there within ten years, tells Ning to build local relationships, and urges him to advance his own Divine Kingdom toward demigodhood.
• Yang orders Soul Star’s small native population relocated, leaving intelligent robots to manage the planet. He names the company Ning One Hundred Group, then departs.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Fan shows confidence in the long-term effects of the Calamity Pearl and a desire to support his home region. He gives Ning broad responsibility while treating a ten-year path to public listing as straightforward.
• Ning Bailian expects a covert or illicit operation, but is surprised to receive a legal, conventional investment business. He accepts Yang’s instructions, though the company’s name leaves him baffled.
• Their exchange is marked by Yang’s casual decisiveness and Ning’s increasingly speechless reactions.

Significant themes

• Cycles of loss and renewal: Death and reproduction reshape the Divine Kingdom, gradually strengthening its population despite overall decline.
• Survival and selection: The weak are eliminated while the strong endure, driving the growth of higher-level believers.
• Power and responsibility: Yang uses his resources not only for personal advancement but also to invest in his home region.
• Comic contrast: Yang’s grand plans and offhand naming choice clash with Ning’s practical concerns and disbelief.

Plot points and events

• Ning Bailian reviews the Ning One Hundred Group’s investment plan: it offers talent at least 30% above market rates, prioritizes soul-type divine kingdom talents, and asks recipients only to repay twice the investment within twenty years. They need not join the company or sign a long-term contract.
• He suspects the offer is unusually generous, but cannot work out Yang Fan’s motives—especially why Yang Fan made him legal representative and cut ties with the Yang Group. He decides to trust the artificial lifeform and follow Yang Fan’s instructions.
• A month later, Yang Fan’s son Yang Chenglu has made remarkable progress after receiving medicine from the Mechanical Divine Kingdom: he can try walking and is beginning to speak.
• Chenglu finds Yang Fan resting in the massage chair and scolds him for sleeping in the morning and neglecting his children. When Yang Fan asks about other family members, Chenglu explains that Gu Chengye is out playing and Mommy Gu has gone to see Jiu Heng. Chenglu then starts crying, accusing Yang Fan of not liking him.

Character developments

• Ning Bailian moves from suspicion to acceptance. He still does not understand Yang Fan’s plan, but his gratitude and trust lead him to commit himself to it.
• Yang Chenglu shows unusually rapid physical and verbal development, along with a strong need for attention and affection.
• Yang Fan remains relaxed and self-indulgent, preferring the Virtual World to childcare. He tries to joke and soothe his son, but is quickly outmatched by the child’s complaints.

Significant themes

• Generosity and hidden motives: The investment plan looks more like charity than a conventional business deal, leaving Ning Bailian to wonder what Yang Fan is really pursuing.
• Trust amid uncertainty: Ning Bailian chooses to rely on Yang Fan despite lacking an explanation.
• Family attention and responsibility: Chenglu’s teasing complaints reveal that children need parental presence, not just care from robots or material support.

Character interactions

• Ning Bailian weighs the terms of Yang Fan’s investment plan and ultimately resolves to act as Yang Fan’s trusted representative.
• Yang Fan and Chenglu share a playful but strained exchange: Yang Fan praises and excuses himself, while Chenglu repeats his older brother’s criticism and argues that his father is lazy.
• Chenglu’s sudden tears leave Yang Fan flustered, highlighting the gap between his easygoing approach to parenting and his son’s desire for attention.

Key plot points and events

• Yang Fan calms his youngest son, Yang Chenglu, by promising to bring his older brother, Gu Chengye, home to play with him.
• Yang Fan contacts Gu Chengye and offers an extra thousand Divinity Points per month if he returns. Gu Chengye eagerly agrees, abandoning his planned trip to Xiling Star.
• Gu Chengye admits to a robot that he had anticipated bargaining for money, and sees the arrangement as an easy way to earn more.
• Chenglu’s tears turn out to be part of a scheme: he has had his conversation with Yang Fan recorded so he can expose Gu Chengye if his brother breaks his promise. He hopes the plan will give him another chance to run away from home.
• That evening, Gu Chengye returns and plays with Chenglu, freeing Yang Fan to relax—until Gu Le arrives and pulls him into a family discussion.
• Gu Le reports that her cousin, Gu Jiuheng, has found a valuable Mystic-Rank Secret Realm occupied by the Jade-Scaled Snake clan. Its extreme heat supports abundant Fire Dragon Vines, and Lu Wan estimates its annual resources could be worth at least 100 trillion Divinity Points.
• Lu Wan explains that a secret realm’s value depends not just on its rank or size, but also on whether its former Divine Kingdom contained rare, naturally occurring habitats.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Fan indulges his children, using money to persuade Gu Chengye to return, and initially underestimates how strategically both sons are acting.
• Gu Chengye is opportunistic and quick to accept a reward, while still dutifully fulfilling his role as older brother.
• Yang Chenglu appears vulnerable but is calculating: he uses tears and recorded evidence to secure his own plans.
• Gu Le brings the secret-realm opportunity to Yang Fan and Lu Wan.
• Lu Wan demonstrates practical expertise in evaluating secret realms and their resources.

Significant themes

• Family affection mixed with self-interest: The brothers’ interaction is shaped by both genuine family roles and Chengye’s financial incentive.
• Children’s clever manipulation: Chenglu and Chengye each exploit the situation in different ways.
• Hidden value and resource economics: A realm’s special environment can make it far more valuable than its nominal rank suggests.
• Opportunity versus competition: The Jade-Scaled Snake clan already controls the realm, and sharing the discovery could reduce the family’s eventual profit.
  Reference endpoint: The family has established the realm’s extraordinary value, but the chapter ends before they decide how to challenge or negotiate with its current occupants.

Plot points and events

• Yang Fan realizes that the Lava Secret Realm is far richer than the ordinary Mystic-Rank realms he knows: its dense fire-element energy makes it a true grotto-heaven paradise.
• He asks why Gu Jiuheng would share such a valuable discovery. Gu Le explains that Gu Jiuheng and an associate from the Han Family have spent months trying—and failing—to conquer it.
• The Secret Realm is defended by a powerful Third-Order Jade-Scaled Snake god and is difficult to attack. Fire poison suppresses human believers’ strength and worsens over time, while the snake race thrives in those conditions. Repeated offensives have cost tens of thousands of Divinity Points with little progress.
• Lu Wan judges that victory would likely require powerful Mid-Order Gods skilled in combat. But hiring them to risk their Divine Kingdoms and believers would be costly, and the Secret Realm’s hazards could make the eventual prize unprofitable.
• Gu Le clarifies that her cousin is not asking Lu Wan for help. He hopes Yang Fan will involve Lu Mingshi, whose corpse-cultivation path makes him immune to poison and whose strength is widely recognized.
• Lu Mingshi has already refused Gu Jiuheng’s direct invitation, insisting that the matter must be discussed with his boss, Yang Fan, first. This surprises both Gu Le and Lu Wan.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Fan shifts from seeing Secret Realms as ordinary resource spaces to understanding how valuable a genuine spiritual paradise can be.
• Gu Le reveals both her cousin’s predicament and Lu Mingshi’s unusual loyalty to Yang Fan.
• Lu Wan responds pragmatically, weighing the tactical challenge against the likely costs and risks.
• Lu Mingshi’s refusal to act without Yang Fan’s approval elevates Yang Fan’s apparent authority—and leaves the others wondering whether their bond is more like brotherhood or vassalage.

Significant themes

• Treasure and the cost of conquest: A rich prize may not be worth the losses required to claim it.
• Power and loyalty: Lu Mingshi’s deference to Yang Fan contrasts with his formidable strength.
• Trust and self-interest: Gu Jiuheng originally kept the discovery secret, but turned to others when he could not win alone.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Wan questions Yang Fan about his supposed closeness to Lu Mingshi. Yang Fan privately resents that Lu Mingshi has involved him in a dangerous campaign without telling him, but agrees to negotiate on his behalf.
• Gu Le explains the proposed deal: Lu Mingshi would receive 30% of the proceeds from capturing a resource-rich Mystic-Rank Secret Realm; Gu Jiuheng and a Han Family ally would receive 30% each, with the remaining 10% split among the three intermediaries. The shares can be renegotiated.
• The two women are eager to pursue the opportunity, which could yield enormous annual returns. Lu Wan urges caution, suggesting they formalize an agreement with Lu Mingshi first, since the Realm is held by a powerful third-order Jade-Scaled Snake god and a conflict could damage Yang Fan’s friendship with him.
• Yang Fan accepts the proposal on Lu Mingshi’s behalf and agrees to discuss it in the Virtual World. Gu Le contacts her cousin, Gu Jiuheng, while Yang Fan messages Lu Mingshi.
• At the Virtual World meeting, Gu Jiuheng welcomes Yang Fan and Lu Wan. He admits that his side has struggled for nearly a century to take the Realm and has suffered losses, explaining why they need Lu Mingshi’s strength.
• Han Qing arrives. Gu Jiuheng introduces her as a Han Family member and Ninth Legion brigade commander, a renowned Starry Sky Academy graduate and one of humanity’s strongest third-order gods.

Character developments

• Yang Fan is irritated at being drawn into Lu Mingshi’s plans, but agrees to help because Lu Wan and Gu Le are invested in the opportunity.
• Lu Wan demonstrates caution and loyalty: she values Yang Fan’s friendship with Lu Mingshi more than the Realm’s riches and wants safeguards before they proceed.
• Gu Le is enthusiastic about her first major deal as a newly ascended god and hopes it will make her a contributor to the family.
• Gu Jiuheng is pragmatic and willing to offer Lu Mingshi an even larger share, recognizing that the Realm cannot be taken without overwhelming strength.
• Han Qing is introduced as an exceptionally powerful, disciplined martial-path cultivator whose presence commands respect.

Significant themes

• Wealth versus relationships: the Realm promises vast profits, but Lu Wan considers trust and friendship more valuable.
• Strength and risk: riches alone are useless if a powerful enemy guards them; success depends on military power and the cost of war.
• Negotiation and contribution: the proposed division of profits is tied to each participant’s role and willingness to shoulder danger.
• Family ambition: Gu Le’s excitement reflects her desire to prove herself and help her family.

Character interactions

• Yang Fan and Lu Wan tease and challenge each other over his claim of closeness to Lu Mingshi, then discuss the danger and value of the venture.
• Gu Le pitches the deal earnestly, while Lu Wan cautions against risking Yang Fan’s bond with Lu Mingshi.
• In the Virtual World, Lu Wan politely defers substantive negotiations until Lu Mingshi arrives; Gu Jiuheng agrees that greater contributions should earn greater rewards.
• Gu Jiuheng introduces Han Qing, whose formidable aura immediately impresses Yang Fan.

Key plot points and events

• Han Qing, a proud young member of the Han Family, approaches Lu Wan about helping sell basic resources from several Earth-Rank Secret Realms. Lu Wan politely declines, explaining that the low margins make the resources difficult to sell.
• Lu Wan links arms with her husband, Yang Fan, signaling that Han Qing’s contemptuous treatment of him is affecting her response.
• Gu Jiuheng tries to redirect the group toward their more important discussion: a proposed partnership to explore a Secret Realm.
• Han Qing insults Gu Le’s S-Rank talent and suggests she benefits only from her family connections. When Gu Le gets angry, Han Qing continues taunting her.
• Yang Fan steps in to defend Gu Le and challenges Han Qing’s disrespect. Han Qing then mocks Yang Fan for marrying into both the Gu and Lu families and gives him an insulting gesture.
• Suspecting that Han Qing’s behavior might be a tactic to weaken their negotiating position, Yang Fan asks Gu Jiuheng directly. Gu Jiuheng denies it, promises that Yang Fan’s agreed ten-percent referral share will remain intact, and stresses that the others may even give up some of their own shares to secure the deal.

Character developments

• Yang Fan stays composed at first but becomes protective when Han Qing targets Gu Le. He recognizes Han Qing as a deliberate provocateur and questions whether her behavior is part of a bargaining strategy.
• Lu Wan remains courteous, but her refusal and supportive gesture toward Yang Fan reveal that she will not overlook disrespect toward him.
• Gu Le struggles to contain her anger but is stopped by Gu Jiuheng. Han Qing’s insults expose how sensitive she is to judgments about her talent and inherited status.
• Gu Jiuheng acts as mediator, trying to keep the negotiation alive. His anxiety shows how much he needs Yang Fan and Lu Wan’s group for the Secret Realm venture.
• Han Qing is introduced as highly capable and influential, but also openly arrogant, contemptuous, and intent on provoking the people around her.

Significant themes

• Status and inherited privilege: Han Qing belittles Gu Le for her talent and frames her opportunities as products of family connections.
• Respect versus arrogance: Han Qing’s social rank does not excuse her insults, while Yang Fan and Lu Wan respond with restraint.
• Family and loyalty: Lu Wan supports Yang Fan, and Yang Fan steps in when Gu Le is attacked.
• Trust in negotiation: The group must distinguish genuine business terms from possible pressure tactics as they discuss profit-sharing.

Character interactions

• Han Qing treats Lu Wan as the only person worth addressing, while deliberately ignoring Yang Fan and Gu Le.
• Lu Wan’s refusal is polite but firm; linking arms with Yang Fan makes her loyalty clear.
• Han Qing and Gu Le trade increasingly personal insults until Yang Fan intervenes.
• Gu Jiuheng repeatedly tries to contain the conflict and reassure Yang Fan that the agreed share will not be reduced, despite Han Qing’s disruptive conduct.