Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• Er Dongsheng takes control of Behemoth’s body, quickly erasing Behemoth’s will by detonating the trace of his own Forbidden Energy that Behemoth had kept inside.
• Now wielding Behemoth’s power and authority, Er Dongsheng fights Mephistopheles. Their clashes devastate the area and destroy many wraiths.
• Er Dongsheng demonstrates an unsettling ability to consume chaotic emotional energy and wraiths, strengthening himself as he fights.
• Mephistopheles tries to rally Hell’s rulers against him before Er Dongsheng’s true body can enter Hell. Sloth King Lilith attacks Er Dongsheng with a supernatural wave of sleepiness, briefly slowing him and allowing Mephistopheles to strike.
• Er Dongsheng reveals a far more destructive form of Forbidden Energy. Its force destabilizes the rulers and wraiths, though using it also strains his newly acquired body.
• As his true body approaches the boundary between worlds, Er Dongsheng reaches the opening between them. His true body tears through from the Material World, and the two halves merge.
• Hell responds with a blood-red rain and the appearance of a Throne. Er Dongsheng ascends it and is recognized as a new ruler of Hell, while its inhabitants kneel. The birth of this king is presented as a calamity for both Hell and humanity.

Character developments and interactions

• Er Dongsheng moves from controlling Behemoth’s body to fully joining with his true body and claiming Hell’s throne. His confidence, appetite for emotional energy, and overwhelming destructive power make him a terrifying new force.
• Behemoth is revealed to have secretly retained a trace of Er Dongsheng’s energy, hoping to study or claim it; this backfires and enables his swift defeat.
• Mephistopheles shifts from direct combat to trying to enlist the other rulers, but remains determined to stop Er Dongsheng even as his own body begins to break apart.
• Lilith joins the fight with a potent mental attack that overwhelms Er Dongsheng briefly. His Forbidden Energy, however, disrupts her power and leaves her visibly weakened.
• The other rulers and the surrounding wraiths are caught between the rulers’ attacks and Er Dongsheng’s destructive aura; they retreat, suffer damage, and ultimately submit to his authority.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: Behemoth’s attempt to appropriate Er Dongsheng’s energy proves fatal, while Er Dongsheng’s escalating power culminates in his rule over Hell.
• The danger of forbidden force: Er Dongsheng’s destructive energy can overwhelm Hell’s rulers, but it also strains the body wielding it.
• A world-changing new order: Er Dongsheng’s coronation marks the start of a new era, framed as a disaster rather than a triumph for Hell and humanity alike.

• Plot and events: This chapter is an author’s note rather than part of the story. The author acknowledges owing chapters to two guild leaders and other readers, promises to repay them, and plans to aim for four chapters the next day, with any extra output treated as an “outburst.”
• Character development: There is no fictional character development. The author presents themself as determined and grateful, while admitting that subscriptions tend to fall when they publish extra chapters.
• Themes: Keeping promises, perseverance, gratitude toward readers, and the ups and downs of creative work. The note also celebrates a modest personal ambition: reaching 200 subscriptions per chapter.
• Interactions: The author speaks directly to readers, asks for their support through subscriptions, votes, and recommendations, and playfully urges them to help fulfill the 200-subscriber goal.

Plot points and events

• Er Dongsheng secures the First Layer of Hell and sits upon its Throne. The other rulers retreat to their own territories, wary that he may continue his invasion.
• He learns that the silver disc is the layer’s Authority: a treasure that lets its bearer control the realm and study its rules. Er Dongsheng believes Behemoth relied on its outward power instead of mastering its rules, which explains his decline after losing it.
• Er Dongsheng resolves to use Hell’s rules to advance toward becoming a Demon who forges his own path—the path of the Ancient Demons, who once gathered and shaped rules into unique powers.
• Crimson rain spreads through the First Layer, transforming Specters into lesser Devils and strengthening Hell’s inhabitants. The upheaval spills into the Material World, where blood-red skies, Devil apparitions, and a vast vision of Hell appear.
• In the vision, Hell’s creatures kneel before Er Dongsheng as he takes the Throne. The vision turns toward the world, and he asks, “Are you ready?”

Character developments and interactions

• Er Dongsheng emerges as a confident conqueror, but also as an ambitious student of Hell’s deeper laws. He wants the First Layer both as a strategic chokepoint and as a foundation for his own power.
• The rulers of Hell respond with fear and caution, withdrawing to prepare their defenses. Belphegor, whose territory borders Er Dongsheng’s, laments his bad fortune.
• Lilith reacts with amused resignation, predicting that Hell’s long-standing dominance will give way to fear and instability.
• The Guardians and Elder Councilors retreat while witnessing Hell’s influence overwhelm the Material World. El feels his Hell-derived bloodline answer the Devils’ cries, suggesting a personal connection to the upheaval.
• Hell’s Devils and Specters show collective submission to Er Dongsheng, while lesser creatures are changed by the crimson rain.

Significant themes

• Power versus understanding: Er Dongsheng values mastering the rules behind an Authority, not merely borrowing its force.
• Conquest and control: Holding the First Layer gives him command of a strategic gateway between Hell and the Material World.
• Transformation and renewal: The bloody rain reshapes Hell’s inhabitants and signals sweeping change across realms.
• Lost greatness: The legends of the Ancient Demons contrast the Abyss’s former terror with its diminished reputation, while Er Dongsheng hopes to revive that path.

Plot and key events

• After Baal’s destructive assault on Hell, the vision of the battle vanishes, and Beelzebub, Hell’s second-ranked Demon King, reveals himself. He has watched Baal’s power from a distance, arriving on a dragon-eating Dragonfly before appearing at the edge of a Space-Time Rift.
• Beelzebub refuses to expose his True Form, explaining that even Mephistopheles would fear doing so after seeing Baal defeat Behemoth. Baal admits he knew Beelzebub had been nearby and demands to know why he stayed hidden.
• Beelzebub proposes an alliance, claiming their goals are aligned. To ensure privacy, Baal summons a Phoenix that devours nearby Wraiths, Specters, and Devils, then drives the remaining creatures away with fire.
• Beelzebub reveals that he possesses an Authority like the Silver Disc Baal previously acquired. Removing it briefly weakens him, but his power returns. He gives the Authority to Baal as a pledge of trust.
• Beelzebub states his goal: he wants Baal to gather all seven Authorities and then blast a hole through all of Hell.

Character developments and interactions

• Baal / Er Dongsheng remains dominant and suspicious, but his curiosity about Beelzebub’s unusual conduct leads him to hear the offer. Still recovering from the battle and Lilith’s attack, he clears the area in a brutally practical manner.
• Beelzebub appears composed and politically shrewd, but clearly fears Baal’s strength. Despite that fear, he makes a decisive sacrifice by handing over an Authority, revealing the scale of his ambition.
• Their interaction shifts from wary confrontation to a tentative alliance: Baal tests Beelzebub’s sincerity, while Beelzebub tries to prove it through a valuable gift.

Significant themes

• Power and fear: Baal’s victory over Behemoth has changed how Hell’s rulers approach him; even a powerful Overlord avoids confronting him directly.
• Trust and political calculation: Beelzebub uses the Authority as both a genuine pledge and a strategic means of securing cooperation.
• Rebellion against the established order: The plan to collect all seven Authorities and break through Hell suggests a challenge to Hell’s structure—or possibly escape from it.

Key events

• Beelzebub gives Er Dongsheng a red-and-gray Authority disc and urges him to gather all seven Authorities, open the gates beneath Hell’s seventh layer, and find a way out of Hell. He offers to act as Er’s ally within the deeper layers.
• Beelzebub says the Authorities may be both a source of power and a kind of shackle, trapping Hell’s rulers. He also claims Mephistopheles has long searched for the depths, where a vanished primordial being may once have lived.
• Er considers Beelzebub’s account but suspects his true motive is envy of Mephistopheles’s dominion, not escape. He accepts that their goals may still align.
• Examining his two discs, Er finds fragments of mixed Runewords and Abyssal Script, including meanings related to “darkness” and “forbidden” or “taboo.” The complete message requires all seven discs.
• Er channels breaking and Destruction power into the discs. When they begin draining him, he uses the Phoenix to absorb the surrounding emotional energy and feeds the discs even more power, determined to uncover their secret.

Character developments and interactions

• Beelzebub presents himself as a pragmatic, wary ally: he admits the Authority has become a burden and offers cooperation, while concealing—or disguising—his personal ambition.
• Er Dongsheng remains composed and skeptical, probing Beelzebub’s claims rather than trusting him. His curiosity turns to forceful determination when the discs react.
• Their exchange is a negotiation shaped by mutual caution: Beelzebub hopes to enlist Er, while Er recognizes the offer’s possible usefulness without accepting its stated rationale at face value.

Significant themes

• Power as imprisonment: The Authorities empower Hell’s rulers while potentially binding them to Hell.
• Ambition behind alliances: Beelzebub’s stated desire for freedom may mask envy and rivalry.
• Hidden history and uncertain truth: Hell’s origins, the vanished being, and the realm beneath its seventh layer remain mysterious.
• The price of knowledge: Er risks being drained as he forces the discs to reveal their meaning.

Key events

• The author unexpectedly ends Volume Three, turning the chapter into a thank-you to readers and a transition into the next volume, which begins the following day.
• The author reflects on writing for over six months and approaching one million words. The book rose from below 200th place to 140th in the monthly-ticket rankings thanks to reader support.
• The author promises to keep working hard, notes having missed only one day of updates, and says three owed chapters for Helmsmen will be delivered.

Character development

• The author, Sixue, comes across as persistent but emotionally candid: they admit to doubts, discouragement, exhaustion, and uncertainty about promotion, while reaffirming their commitment to the novel.
• Sixue emphasizes gratitude for both vocal supporters and quiet, longtime readers, including readers who encouraged them during a recent low point.

Themes

• Perseverance: Sixue continued writing despite criticism, setbacks, and feeling unwell.
• Community and gratitude: Readers’ encouragement and support are presented as essential to the book’s progress.
• Commitment to readers: Sixue pledges continued effort, regular updates, and repayment of owed chapters.

Character interactions

• Sixue addresses readers directly, naming several supporters and warmly inviting a silent longtime reader, Brother Zombie, to speak up.
• The author thanks readers for encouragement, votes, and subscriptions, and asks them to continue supporting the story in the next volume.

Key plot points and events

• In a bleak, snowy room, a chained and abused girl named Isabella secretly protects a black religious book titled Taboo. It promises power and eternal life to worshippers of Demon God Baal and annihilation to his enemies. Its apparent owner’s signature reads Lily Baal.
• The story shifts to Baal’s conquered Material World, where his daughter Lily returns to a black castle in the forest. She reunites with her older sister, Iris Kleller Baal, and boasts of traveling with Lulu and Bei’er, fighting the forces of light, and visiting Baal.
• Lily says Baal personally taught her about the Magic Network. Iris, who struggles to use it, eagerly asks to hear what Lily learned.
• At night, the Magic Network’s black web spreads across the sky, and the Plane Will’s influence retreats. Demonic energy surges, empowering the inhabitants of the conquered lands and strengthening Baal’s growing dominion.
• Lily uses the network to unleash a barrage of fireballs at fleeing beasts, much to Iris’s exasperation. She then asks Iris about her missing book, Taboo. Iris awkwardly denies having it, though Lily remembers leaving it with her.

Character developments and interactions

• Lily Baal is shown as both a powerful, mischievous child and an enthusiastic follower of her father. Her recent adventures seem to have made her more combative and troublesome; Iris worries she is taking after Bei’er.
• Iris is affectionate toward Lily but weary of her pranks and destructive habits. She admires Baal, worries over her responsibilities, and is curious about the Magic Network. Her evasive response suggests she knows more about Lily’s book than she admits.
• Isabella, introduced in the opening scene, is frightened and mistreated but fiercely protective of Taboo, hinting at a connection between the book and Lily that is not yet explained.
• The sisters’ reunion is warm and teasing: Lily recounts her exploits, while Iris questions her and tries to redirect her toward a serious conversation.

Significant themes

• Power and conquest: Baal’s influence expands through the Magic Network, weakening the world’s native Plane Will.
• Faith and coercion: Taboo promises immortality to believers and destruction to opponents, presenting worship as both reward and threat.
• Changing identity: Lily’s increasingly violent behavior contrasts with Iris’s fond memory of her as a sweet child.
• Mystery and divided worlds: The opening image of Isabella with Lily’s signed book raises questions about how the book reached her and how she relates to Lily.

Chapter Summary

Plot and events

Three years after Baal’s arrival, the Destruction Demon Domain has expanded across nearly half the world, forming nine Dark Zones. Humanity is losing ground: the city where an unnamed Guardian writes is still unconquered, but demonic energy is spreading into it, mutating plants and making life increasingly dangerous.
In his diary, the Guardian recounts how Kunia and other human powers surrendered to Baal, how Demons assassinated leaders and wounded the heroes, and how Baal’s Magic Network gave his followers access to dark magic—erasing humanity’s former advantage. Just as humanity seemed close to defeat, Beelzebub and other Devils crossed into the world and allied with the remaining humans. Their help has enabled some counterattacks and the recovery of several cities, though the Guardian despises the alliance.
As he writes, the Guardian grows increasingly furious and develops scarlet eyes without noticing. The demonic energy around him thickens, and his own body appears to be changing. When he checks his reflection, a Devil’s claw bursts from his chest and kills him. His diary is left soaked in blood, becoming the “Scarlet Diary.”

Character development and interactions

The Guardian begins fearful and exhausted, briefly tempted by the safety and power offered by the Dark Zones. He then recommits himself to resisting Baal, believing humanity must fight for its survival. He distrusts Kunia’s surrender and condemns cooperation with Hell, even as he acknowledges that Beelzebub’s support is helping humanity. His unnoticed transformation—from wounded human to something demonic—turns his anger and despair into a fatal threat. The chapter’s central interactions are described on a broad scale: humans surrender, resist, or ally with Devils, while Demons invade and attack them.

Significant themes

• Despair versus resistance: People face a choice between surrender and fighting despite the odds.
• Survival and moral compromise: Humanity must rely on former enemies, raising doubts about the cost of its alliance with Hell.
• Transformation and corruption: The Guardian’s change suggests that the demonic influence can reach even those who remain committed to resistance.
• Irony and tragedy: His diary records humanity’s desperate struggle, only for the writer himself to succumb to the forces he opposes.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Er Dongsheng observes the rapidly developing Magic Network from the Destruction Demon Domain. Destruction energy from Purgatory flows through the network and strengthens every territory he controls.
• He explains the network’s origin. Instead of forcibly transforming humans into Demons—a process that would kill or mentally destroy most of them—he created a gradual system using:
  • Purgatory as the energy source
  • Hell’s emotional energy as the conduit
  • The World Stone as the host
  • His system and Purgatory’s incomplete will as the network’s coordinating intelligence
• The Magic Network allows connected beings to draw power, study stored knowledge, submit resources, and earn Contribution Points. These points can be exchanged for greater access, strength, knowledge, and eventually a Destruction Crystal that transforms qualified users into Demons.
• The network effectively replicates and supplements the former Crystal System of the Destruction Squad. It helps Er Dongsheng strengthen his army, collect resources, and harvest human emotions without openly revealing his actions.
• Er Dongsheng believes the network will become much more powerful once Purgatory fully devours the plane’s will and replaces it. Expanding into other planes would allow him to gather emotional energy from countless beings and move closer to transcendence.
• He plans to locate Purgatory’s true body in the Abyss and prepare to conquer additional planes, but he deliberately avoids immediately exterminating all human resistance. Their fear, pain, and despair are valuable sources of emotional energy.
• Er Dongsheng becomes suspicious of Beelzebub, who appears to be cooperating but leaves him with an uneasy feeling. He also wonders whether Hell’s lack of truly supreme powers is connected to a mysterious vanished being associated with fourteen pairs of black-and-white wings.
• Having accumulated enough rules, Er Dongsheng decides to advance fully to the Third-Level Demon realm.
• Underground, he brings out soul orbs containing powerful rule fragments from humans favored by the plane’s Heavenly Dao. Most belonged to Guardian Elder Councilors, while others were promising ordinary humans who might have shaped the world’s future.
• He feeds these souls to the Mysterious Disc, triggering a tremendous force and beginning his next evolutionary breakthrough.

Character Developments

• Er Dongsheng is shown as increasingly strategic and ambitious. Rather than relying solely on destruction, he develops systems for long-term control, resource gathering, and mass evolution.
• His creation of the Magic Network demonstrates his growing ability to combine technology, supernatural forces, and political manipulation.
• He becomes more confident in his strength, considering the Lords of Hell largely beneath him and believing that becoming a Third-Level Demon is within immediate reach.
• Despite his confidence, he remains cautious about Beelzebub and the unexplained history of Hell, suggesting that he recognizes hidden threats beyond his current understanding.
• His ruthlessness is emphasized through his use of souls favored by the Heavenly Dao, including people who could have become major leaders, inventors, or heroes of the plane.

Significant Themes

• Control through systems rather than force: The Magic Network allows Er Dongsheng to dominate beings gradually by rewarding loyalty and contribution instead of relying only on coercion.
• Transformation and evolution: The chapter focuses on different paths to power, especially the controlled conversion of humans into Demons and Er Dongsheng’s own advancement.
• Exploitation of emotion: Human fear, despair, pain, and other emotions become resources that can be harvested and converted into strength.
• Conquest and expansion: Er Dongsheng’s ambitions extend beyond one world toward multiple planes and eventual transcendence.
• Knowledge and power as commodities: Information, souls, laws, ores, and other resources are all assigned value within the Magic Network.
• Hidden cosmic mysteries: The weakness of Hell’s rulers, Beelzebub’s secret intentions, and the vanished winged entity hint at deeper forces shaping the setting.

Character Interactions

• Er Dongsheng’s primary interactions are with the systems and supernatural forces under his control: Purgatory, Hell, the World Stone, the system, and the Magic Network.
• His relationship with Beelzebub is presented as an uneasy alliance. Beelzebub cooperates outwardly, but Er Dongsheng suspects hidden motives.
• The souls of former Guardian leaders and gifted humans become unwilling resources in Er Dongsheng’s advancement, symbolizing his conflict with the plane’s defenders.
• The Magic Network creates an indirect relationship between Er Dongsheng and all beings connected to it, allowing him to reward, monitor, empower, and eventually transform them without direct contact.

Key plot points and events

• Strange energy and catastrophic lightning converge on the Destruction Demon Domain. A powerful, unfamiliar pressure spreads across the planes, frightening creatures and destabilizing elemental energy.
• Leaders across the world feel the threat. The Black Iron Duke’s elemental spheres shatter, while Nature Church priests are overwhelmed by the pressure. Pope Dirax remains unaffected and suspects the Demon God has returned.
• Iris and Little Lily witness the moon turn blood-red and black as lightning and demonic energy gather over the Demon Domain. Snow Spirit interprets the omen as a sign that a monster is about to bring calamity.
• Underground, Er Dongsheng devours the essence of law produced from human souls bearing Law Runes. The law fragments assemble into a massive chain that incorporates his Phoenix bloodline, Destruction energy, and the World Stone.
• The chain coils around his heart and synchronizes with it. The Ink Spirit Flame absorbs another fragment of the Destruction Rune, then moves to Er Dongsheng’s Abyss Star. His body dissolves into black flames as two law chains—one tied to law and bloodline, the other to ruination and Destruction—spiral together.
• The completed chains send crimson light into the sky, triggering the Universe’s punishment. Er Dongsheng’s transformation is nearly complete.

Character developments

• Er Dongsheng undergoes a profound, apparently world-altering evolution, becoming closely linked with law, Destruction, and the surrounding elemental energy.
• Dirax grows more powerful and secure in his authority; his renewed youth and calm response reinforce others’ belief in his strength.
• Snow Spirit feels exhausted and resigned, wondering whether it is time to abandon his role as the threat intensifies.
• Iris and Little Lily recognize the event as connected to Er Dongsheng and respond with awe at his power.

Character interactions

• The Golden Thornbird Duke and Black Iron Duke compare their fears; the latter explains that the elemental plane’s inhabitants seem oppressed by a newly born elemental power.
• Dirax commands the Nature Church leaders to investigate after they are struck by the pressure, while they privately realize he has become stronger.
• Snow Spirit senses the Heavenly Dao Will’s anger but concludes it cannot challenge the Demon God.
• Er Dongsheng is unable to control or halt the transformation as the law chain reshapes his body.

Significant themes

• Ominous transformation and cosmic upheaval: The blood moon, lightning, and worldwide fear mark Er Dongsheng’s evolution as an event with consequences far beyond himself.
• Power and submission: Elemental beings, priests, and even the Heavenly Dao Will appear powerless before forces associated with the Demon God.
• Transformation through integration: Er Dongsheng’s new form emerges by combining law, bloodline, Destruction, and flame.
• Fear, resignation, and awe: Characters respond to the approaching calamity with terror, weary acceptance, or admiration.

Key plot points and events

• Er Dongsheng’s transformation into Black Flame sends a pulse of destruction and ruin through the elemental sea. The resulting upheaval disrupts magic across the Material Plane, injuring mages and revealing itself in the sky as a worldwide Blood Moon.
• Elder Councilor Snow Spirit’s divination confirms that the invasion is advancing. Refusing to yield to the Devils, he sacrifices his blood to a summoning array in a desperate attempt to glimpse humanity’s future.
• A vast bolt of sacred lightning targets Er Dongsheng underground, forcing him to abandon his elemental form and emerge above the Destruction Demon Domain. He recognizes that his elemental body can merge with the energy sea—and that this makes him extraordinarily difficult for weaker opponents to kill.
• Er Dongsheng takes flesh-and-blood form and confronts the Universe’s first calamity of the Ancient Demon Path. His destructive-energy Phoenix withstands the initial lightning, but immense purple bolts soon blast him aside and devastate the surrounding landscape.
• Rather than remain under attack, Er Dongsheng decides to lead the pursuing storm toward the Heart of Azure, humanity’s key defensive stronghold and the Devils’ point of descent. He intends to turn the Universe’s purifying lightning into a weapon against his enemies—and against the humans who are cheering for his death.

Character developments and interactions

• Er Dongsheng demonstrates the power and resilience of his new form, but the sacred lightning exposes its limits. He responds to danger with defiance and opportunism, deliberately redirecting the calamity toward his enemies.
• Snow Spirit remains steadfast despite the apparent scale of the invasion. His confrontation with Beelzebub is bitter and resolute: he rejects the Devil’s attempts to manipulate him and vows not to let the Devils enter the world.
• Humanity’s response is divided between terror at the Blood Moon and the devastation, and vindictive relief at the possibility that the Universe will kill Er Dongsheng.
• Er Dongsheng and the Universe are locked in a growing contest: the lightning repeatedly pursues and injures him, while he challenges its power and tries to control where it strikes.

Significant themes

• Cosmic forces and transformation: Er Dongsheng’s change reshapes the world and draws the Universe’s direct response.
• Defiance under threat: Snow Spirit and Er Dongsheng both resist overwhelming powers, though for very different purposes.
• Power’s collateral damage: Er Dongsheng’s transformation and the lightning storm endanger civilians and mages far beyond their immediate targets.
• Enemies exploiting enemies: Er Dongsheng plans to use a force trying to kill him to devastate both the Devils and the humans who oppose him.

Plot and key events

• Er Dongsheng repeatedly attacks a seemingly empty patch of space, eventually breaking through Wind Demon’s optical concealment and exposing his cracked, blue-rock body.
• He pierces Wind Demon’s rocky shell and knocks him to the ground. The surrounding Summoning Arrays disappear, and spectators—including the Fairies—realize Baal has overcome the supposedly invincible opponent.
• Er Dongsheng taunts Wind Demon for abandoning his powerful vortex defense in favor of Wind Erosion, then tears away his shell.
• Inside the blue fluid, Er Dongsheng finds Christina the Medusa, still barely alive and marked with mysterious blue patterns. He removes a blue stone embedded in her chest.
• Recognizing something familiar in the stone, Er Dongsheng crushes it and releases black Ink Spirit Flame. A voice cries out in despair, begging “Lord Wind King” for help as it is destroyed.

Character developments and interactions

• Er Dongsheng displays confidence, combat skill, and a vindictive streak. He understands Wind Demon’s concealment, exploits his changed defenses, and shows little concern for Christina once he has retrieved the stone.
• Wind Demon shifts from furious disbelief to confusion and desperation. He questions whether his choices were wrong and pleads to the mysterious Lord Wind King as the stone is destroyed.
• Christina is revealed to have survived her apparent sacrifice, though she remains near death. Er Dongsheng treats her as a means to an end rather than attempting to help her.
• The onlookers, especially the Fairies and Little Fairy Ximir, react with relief and celebration at Baal’s victory.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence and poor choices: Wind Demon’s decision to trade his strongest defense for another ability proves disastrous.
• Hidden identities and survival: Christina’s survival and the being concealed within the blue stone add mystery to the conflict.
• Power and cruelty: Er Dongsheng’s victory is decisive, but his disregard for others underscores his ruthless nature.

• Plot and events: There are no story-world events. The chapter is an author’s note marking the protagonist’s rise to Greater Demon after roughly a million words, while joking that many ranks and realms still lie ahead.
• Character development: The protagonist’s progress highlights how slowly the planned power climb is unfolding. The author, Sixue, reflects on a childhood love of fantasy and how writing became a way to share those imagined worlds.
• Themes: Persistence, creative ambition, the long journey of storytelling, and gratitude for readers’ encouragement.
• Interactions: Sixue speaks directly to readers, apologizes for recent late updates caused by a busy schedule, promises to keep writing and aim for three updates a day, and hopes to release extra chapters over the weekend to make up for missed ones.

Plot points and events

• The trapped Divine Punishment bursts free inside the Heart of Azure, unleashing a wave of sacred energy that destroys much of the city and kills nearly all the Devils and dark ones there. Its purification also devastates human structures and causes human casualties.
• Er Dongsheng watches from outside the Barrier. Once it shatters, he faces Beelzebub, who emerges furious that the destruction has ruined his plans for “transcendence.”
• The two clash as enormous energy forms. Beelzebub’s body can shift between solid and intangible, and when Er Dongsheng splits it with his Spear of Destruction, it scatters into many small Devils and then reforms.
• Beelzebub boasts that he is immortal and hints that Hell’s rulers with True Bodies are far more dangerous than Behemoth. But he is caught off guard when Er Dongsheng reveals a similar ability to become intangible.
• Er Dongsheng surrounds Beelzebub with Black Flame and binds him with mysterious chains, preventing him from shifting form. He then devours Beelzebub, ending the fight.
• As Er Dongsheng turns toward the city center, another figure appears.

Character developments and interactions

• Er Dongsheng remains composed and confident despite the city’s destruction. He studies Beelzebub’s abilities, adapts, and ultimately reveals his own power and predatory nature.
• Beelzebub is enraged because Er Dongsheng’s arrival and the Divine Punishment have derailed his plans. His confidence in his immortality falters when Er Dongsheng immobilizes and consumes him.
• The destruction exposes how thoroughly Devils have infiltrated human society: one apparently friendly mage is revealed as a Devil when the sacred energy kills him, shocking his companions.
• Er Dongsheng and Beelzebub trade threats and taunts, while the surviving humans and Demons can only watch the overwhelming battle.

Significant themes

• Purification and destruction: The Divine Punishment eradicates Devils but indiscriminately devastates the city and harms humans.
• Hidden corruption: Devils can conceal themselves in human bodies and pass as trusted companions.
• Power and survival: Beelzebub claims to be immortal, but Er Dongsheng proves that even apparently invulnerable beings can be restrained and destroyed.
• Predation and dominance: Er Dongsheng frames the encounter as a natural hierarchy: the powerful consume those they regard as insects.

Key plot points and events

• After Er Dongsheng devours Beelzebub’s phantom, he is intoxicated by the powerful jealousy it contains—but senses that something about it is wrong.
• A figure emerges from the ruined city, claiming to be the Blood Demon. He appears to be a fusion or possession involving Beelzebub and Snow Spirit: one half of his face is Snow Spirit’s, while the other is obscured by evil, jealous black vapor.
• The Blood Demon attacks with black swords and a strange, multicolored energy that seems to strike Er Dongsheng before its movement can be perceived, twisting cause and effect.
• The attack strips away Er Dongsheng’s emotions and desires one by one, including his urge to fight, lust, appetite, and wrath. Unable to retaliate, he becomes increasingly passive as the Blood Demon presses his advantage.
• Outside the city, humans and Demons watch the battle anxiously. Xierjie considers intervening but stays to maintain order, trusting Baal to prevail.
• Believing his plan has worked, the Blood Demon prepares a devastating final blow. The Black Flame around Er Dongsheng suddenly stills—then surges again with blue fire, forming forbidden power.
• Er Dongsheng raises his head and answers that he has “never felt better,” revealing that the apparent emotional emptiness has not left him helpless.

Character developments and interactions

• Er Dongsheng/Baal begins confident but wary, then appears to lose his emotions and capacity to fight. His final response suggests a reversal or hidden resilience, though the chapter ends before its nature is explained.
• The Blood Demon reveals overwhelming power and a methodical plan to strip Baal of his emotions and desires. He is proud of his progress and intends to deal with others before pursuing transcendence.
• Snow Spirit appears to be trapped within or overtaken by the Blood Demon; his half of the face visibly suffers and wails, suggesting he has not been fully erased.
• Xierjie suppresses her own concern to keep the Demons organized, encouraging confidence in Baal rather than risking panic.

Significant themes

• Identity and possession: The Blood Demon’s relationship to Snow Spirit and Beelzebub remains unclear, blurring the line between fusion, control, and transformation.
• Emotion as strength and vulnerability: The Blood Demon weaponizes Baal’s feelings and desires, treating their removal as a way to reduce a living being to passive matter.
• Cause, effect, and helplessness: The attack’s apparent reversal of time and causality makes ordinary defense impossible.
• Faith under uncertainty: Xierjie and the watching Demons have no clear information about the battle, but must rely on Baal’s reputation and strength.

Plot points and events

• The Blood Demon celebrates his newly formed body and unveils Causality Reversal, a blade made from countless emotions that can sever emotional derivatives.
• Er Dongsheng’s Flame of Destruction erupts, followed by blue flame. Their combined power creates a devastating aura that shakes the land and sends Demons fleeing. Xierjie orders everyone to retreat.
• Er Dongsheng transforms: Forbidden Energy replaces his flames, and the Illusion King’s Crown shrinks back into the mark on his forehead. He has lost all ordinary emotions, but remains lucid, driven only by destruction and devastation—the chapter frames this as Pandora’s box being opened.
• Er Dongsheng overwhelms the Blood Demon with a succession of punches and a crushing kick, wrecking buildings and splitting the ground.
• Observers in the distant void conclude that the Blood Demon’s scheme has failed. They leave, hinting at a larger conflict with two figures they call the eldest and the second.
• The Blood Demon makes one last attempt with a vastly enlarged Causality Reversal blade. Er Dongsheng pulls a miniature version of it from the void, shatters the attack, and eats the blade. He calls the Blood Demon “bug food.”
• Enraged and desperate, the Blood Demon tears off his human half’s arm, releasing swarms of Wraiths, specters, Devils, and Demonic Beasts.

Character developments

• Er Dongsheng undergoes a terrifying transformation. Though stripped of emotion, he is not mindlessly berserk; his new, uncanny clarity makes him more dangerous. He now treats the Blood Demon as prey.
• The Blood Demon shifts from smug confidence to shock, pain, and wounded pride as his powers fail. He resorts to unleashing a monstrous army.
• Xierjie recognizes the danger of Baal’s destructive state and acts quickly to evacuate the surrounding Demons and Destroyers.
• The distant, hazy figures reveal that the battle’s outcome is part of a wider power struggle, though their identities and plans remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Power without emotion: Er Dongsheng’s lucidity despite losing his feelings challenges the idea that emotion is necessary for self-control.
• Consequences of unleashing forbidden power: The Blood Demon’s scheme creates a force that he cannot control.
• Reversal of predator and prey: The Blood Demon’s attacks and grand status become irrelevant when Er Dongsheng regards him as food.
• Hidden conflicts: The departing observers suggest that this battle is entangled with rivalries beyond the immediate battlefield.

Character interactions

• The Blood Demon taunts Er Dongsheng and later demands that Baal recognize they are not enemies; Er Dongsheng answers only with relentless attacks.
• Er Dongsheng’s destruction forces Xierjie to order an evacuation, while the surrounding Demons react with both fear and delight at Baal’s power.
• The distant figures discuss the failed scheme and their impending break with the eldest and second.
• The Blood Demon’s final act turns the confrontation into a looming battle against the creatures released from his body.

Key points and events

• Sixue corrects his count of promised bonus chapters: he owes six in total and plans to begin catching up the next day.
• He explains that a discouraging interaction left him in a bad mood and unable to write, though he blames himself for being naïve.
• After venting, he says he has regained his writing rhythm and vows to focus on his work.

Character development

• Sixue shows gratitude toward readers and supporters, while admitting that criticism and his mood affect his writing.
• He resolves to work harder, repay his chapter commitments, and prove he can succeed without help from a famous author.

Significant themes

• Perseverance and ambition: Sixue wants to rise from failure and become a moderately successful author.
• Gratitude and obligation: He remembers support from readers and fellow authors and intends to repay it.
• Emotional resilience: He recognizes how discouragement disrupts his work and resolves to keep his head down and write.

Character interactions

• Sixue addresses readers directly, asking for subscriptions and thanking those who voted with monthly tickets.
• He alludes to an unnamed person whose actions upset him, but gives no details about the conflict.

Key plot points and events

• The Blood Demon completes enough of his ritual to open a strange Gate of Hell in the Heart of Azure. Wraiths, black energy, and an enormous array gather around it, while Devils pour from beneath the earth and return through the gate.
• Er Dongsheng discovers that the Devils contain traces of human souls, suggesting that vast numbers of people have been transformed into them. He is unsettled that the Plane Will has not intervened.
• Blood Demon sinks into the gate, but rather than escaping, he appears to be preparing something. The plane reacts with lightning and storms, yet its punishment is absorbed by the ritual array.
• The gate opens fully. Blood Demon emerges transformed into a being resembling Snow Spirit, then shifts into Beelzebub and other identities. He reveals that he can be understood as the Plane Will itself.

Character developments

• Er Dongsheng remains curious and controlled despite his destructive instincts. He studies the ritual rather than attacking, hoping to uncover who is behind it. His confidence in his combat strength is tempered by unease about the absent Plane Will and the dangerous Crimson Rune embedded in his bloodline.
• Blood Demon is revealed to be more than a subordinate or an ordinary demon: his transformation gives him shifting identities and overwhelming pride, culminating in the claim that he is the Plane Will.

Character interactions

• Er Dongsheng watches and questions Blood Demon, treating the ritual as an opportunity to expose its hidden mastermind.
• Blood Demon answers Er Dongsheng’s accusations and questions with shifting faces and identities, turning their confrontation into a revelation about his true nature.

Significant themes

• Hidden identity and deception: Blood Demon’s changing appearance makes identity—and the truth behind it—uncertain.
• Corruption and human cost: The Devils’ human souls imply a mass transformation of people into monsters.
• Power and vigilance: Er Dongsheng’s strength gives him confidence, but the Plane Will’s mysterious absence warns that the greatest threat may be unpredictable.
• Forbidden forces and consequences: The ritual, the Plane’s reaction, and Er Dongsheng’s unstable Crimson Rune all suggest that power gained through unnatural means carries serious risks.

Key plot points and events

• The Blood Demon—now apparently fused with Beelzebub and empowered by the Plane Will—attacks Er Dongsheng with a devastating combination of Heavenly Dao forces, energy blades, and emotional power.
• Er Dongsheng counters with his Flame Wing, Forbidden Energy, and protective Crystals. He wounds the Blood Demon, then tries to finish him with a punch, but discovers the Blood Demon has become an illusion.
• The Blood Demon unleashes a nearly fatal black-energy blade that tears open a massive space-time rift and splits the Heart of Azure, leaving a trail of destruction and magma. Er Dongsheng narrowly dodges it; his defenses are obliterated, but he remains unharmed.
• Both combatants recognize the limits of their position: Er Dongsheng is shaken by the attack’s power, while the Blood Demon realizes his unfinished body cannot withstand using it again. Despite the strike’s strength, he failed to injure Er Dongsheng.
• From afar, Hell’s rulers observe the devastation and begin questioning Mephistopheles’s actions. They realize the Material World’s Plane Will has not appeared to suppress them, and suspect Mephistopheles may have manipulated them and done something to Beelzebub.
• Lilith heads to Hell’s Sixth Layer to investigate, and the other rulers follow.

Character developments and interactions

• Er Dongsheng remains aggressive and self-assured, dismissing the Blood Demon as a “worm,” but the near-miss forces him to take the opponent seriously. His quick reactions and layered defenses save him.
• The Blood Demon reveals immense but unstable power. He is disappointed that his strongest attack failed and knows his incomplete body cannot repeat it.
• Lilith and the other rulers shift from watching the battle to suspecting betrayal. Lilith takes the lead in investigating Beelzebub’s whereabouts and Mephistopheles’s plan.
• The confrontation between Er Dongsheng and the Blood Demon becomes a tense stalemate, while the rulers’ discussion introduces a second mystery: what happened in Hell’s Sixth Layer?

Significant themes

• Power and its limits: Even a near-apocalyptic attack has costs and may fail against a resilient opponent.
• Deception and hidden agendas: The Blood Demon’s illusion and Mephistopheles’s secretive planning leave characters unsure whom to trust.
• Escalating consequences: The battle’s force devastates the landscape and alarms observers far beyond the fighters.
• Uncertainty and revelation: The chapter ends as the rulers move to uncover the truth behind the fusion, Beelzebub’s fate, and the absent Plane Will.

Plot points and events

• The four rulers of Hell reach the gate to the Sixth Layer, where Lilith senses something wrong. When she throws a Sloth-filled Devil at it, blue energy laced with Destruction consumes him instantly. The gate shakes as the energy spills out, leaving the rulers alarmed and suspicious.
• Before they can investigate, a battle between Er Dongsheng and the Blood Demon (Mephistopheles) crashes into the Fifth Layer. Er Dongsheng has been pursuing him and attacks with overwhelming force.
• Er Dongsheng reveals he wants the Blood Demon alive to learn how he fused with the Plane Will, seized part of its control, and used an emotion-severing technique that might help Er Dongsheng manage the dangerous side effects of Forbidden Energy.
• The wounded Blood Demon tries to escape through the gate, but cries out in agony from within. Er Dongsheng implies the gate itself has trapped him and heads inside to uncover its secrets.
• Er Dongsheng announces that Purgatory’s full descent and an invasion of Hell’s depths are near, and that several mysteries—including the vanished Heavenly Dao, its legacy, the path to transcendence, and Beelzebub’s fate—may soon be resolved. The four rulers follow him into the gate.

Character developments and interactions

• Lilith is startled by the gate’s change and insists she knows nothing about it. When Er Dongsheng arrives, she withdraws rather than risk fighting him.
• The other rulers distrust Lilith at first, then quickly retreat from Er Dongsheng and the Blood Demon’s confrontation. Though they initially avoid involvement, curiosity and fear draw them after Er Dongsheng.
• Er Dongsheng is ruthless but calculating: he beats the Blood Demon severely, yet keeps him alive for the secrets his body and abilities may reveal. His interest in the Sixth Layer’s Destruction energy suggests his larger plans are advancing.
• The Blood Demon remains defiant despite being badly injured. His attempted escape through the gate turns into a trap, leaving his fate uncertain.

Significant themes

• Hidden danger and uncertainty: The Sixth Layer’s gate has become a lethal, unexplained force, and even its ruler is ignorant of the change.
• Power, control, and exploitation: Er Dongsheng seeks to turn the Blood Demon’s unusual connection to the Plane Will into a means of controlling his own power.
• Approaching revelation: The chapter gathers multiple unresolved mysteries around the gate and signals that a major conflict in Hell is imminent.