Chapter Summaries

Lin Chao bought a Nine-Headed Dog and learned that the Third Prince’s ties to the Flame Temple could threaten him, while the players discussed opposing the Continent of Deities’ human trade. The chapter ended with news that the Arcane Empire was buying Star Sand in large quantities to build Arcane Eyes, raising Lin Chao’s suspicions.

• Lin Chao bought a map of Divine Creatures and acquired the Nine-Headed Dog from the Huiteng Merchant Guild.
• The Grand Princess warned Lin Chao about the Third Prince and ordered Rihana to investigate his rise in Koya City.
• Lin Chao gave the map to Heiniu as a set of future missions and told the players about the human market and his conflict with the Third Prince.
• The players vowed to oppose the human market and eventually overthrow the gods, while Lin Chao considered whether they could help change the world.
• Charlie told Lin Chao that an Arcane Empire Golem Puppet had arrived, and Aunt Winnie explained the empire’s interest in Saya’s Star Sand for constructing Arcane Eyes.
• Lin Chao suspected that the Arcane Empire’s sudden large-scale Star Sand purchases meant something had changed.

Lin Chao discussed the Arcane Empire’s powerful Arcane Eye as its envoys sought Star Sand in the Kingdom of Saya. After the Third Prince offered Star Sand in exchange for assassinations, Anwa discovered that Ninth Prince Lin was among the targets and told Grand Arcanist Kongping that Lin had once saved her sister.

• Lin Chao praised the Arcane Eye to Heiniu and the players, while suspecting that the Arcane Empire’s arrival in the royal city meant trouble was coming.
• Grand Arcanist Kongping’s envoys discussed the Empire’s need for Star Sand and endured hostility from people in the Kingdom of Saya.
• The Third Prince told Kongping that the Four Great Temples also wanted Star Sand and offered access to Tigre City’s supply in exchange for killing people on his list.
• Kongping rejected the Third Prince’s assassination offer, and the Third Prince left the list behind.
• Anwa recognized Ninth Prince Lin’s name on the list and told Kongping that Lin had saved her younger sister’s life.

Lin Chao learned that the Third Prince planned to kill him, but remained calm and visited Grand Arcanist Kongping to trade Koya City's Star Sand. He demanded the Arcane Eye as payment, leaving the negotiations poised on his request.

• Anwa warned Lin Chao that the Third Prince intended to kill him and urged him to flee the Kingdom of Saya, but Lin Chao thanked her and revealed his interest in visiting the Arcane Empire.
• Lin Chao told Heiniu to wait until after the Divine Descent before leaving Koya City to hunt Divine Creatures, then invited Emperor Ye to accompany him to meet the Arcane Empire's envoys.
• Lin Chao and Emperor Ye passed a hostile crowd protesting outside the Arcane Empire's lodging and entered through a side gate.
• Lin Chao offered Grand Arcanist Kongping Star Sand from Koya City in exchange for a trade, and Kongping asked him to state his conditions.
• Lin Chao demanded the Arcane Eye from Grand Arcanist Kongping.

Lin Chao traded Star Sand and promises for the Arcane Eye blueprints, becoming an arcanist almost instantly and agreeing not to ally with the Four Great Temples or misuse the weapon. After studying and improving the blueprints, he prepared Ironstone City’s defenses and looked ahead to Divine Descent in three days.

• Lin Chao asked Grand Arcanist Kongping for the Arcane Eye and agreed to cultivate arcane arts in exchange for a chance to obtain its blueprints.
• Lin Chao absorbed the arcane knowledge from a spell scroll and immediately cast the first-level spell Flash, astonishing Kongping.
• Kongping agreed to give Lin Chao the Arcane Eye blueprints after Lin Chao promised not to ally with the Four Great Temples or spread the weapon’s secrets, and to use it only to protect people.
• Lin Chao agreed to supply Star Sand to the Arcane Empire, and Kongping wrote to Xido before drafting the blueprints.
• Lin Chao studied the blueprints, devised improvements that could make the Arcane Eye ten times stronger, and anticipated Divine Descent in three days.

King Diya weighed the Temple of Light’s request for Saya to join the campaign against the Arcane Empire while considering the gods’ influence and the royal succession. At the Divine Descent ceremony, Lin Chao arrived at court under threat from the Third Prince and was confronted by his brothers.

• The Priest of Light urged King Diya to ally Saya with the Four Great Temples against the Arcane Empire, and Diya said he would seek the God of Songs’ guidance after the Divine Descent.
• Diya and Kailuo discussed the gods’ political maneuvering, Saya’s princes, and Lin Chao’s growing influence in Koya City; Diya ordered Kailuo to hand the scepter to someone after the ceremony.
• Lin Chao left for the royal court with Emperor Ye, while Charlie worried the Third Prince might attack him and Karl promised to protect him on the road after the ceremony.
• At the ceremony, Lin Chao sat largely ignored while the Third Prince drew a crowd, and the First Prince approached Lin Chao to ask about a song.
• Another prince remarked that Lin Chao did not believe in the God of Song, dismissing the importance of his singing.

At King Diya’s birthday ceremony, Lin Chao observed an anomaly during the God of Songs’ Divine Descent: a reversed thread connected the deity’s incarnation to his father. As Lin Chao left, the Third Prince’s assassination plot was ready to proceed, but an unexpected obstruction stopped his carriage.

• The Third Prince’s followers mocked Lin Chao, and the First Prince rebuked the Third Prince before he threatened to contest the throne in three years.
• King Diya opened the birthday ceremony, and the Sacred Singer Group performed before the God of Songs’ incarnation descended.
• Lin Chao examined the incarnation’s connections and discovered a reversed thread linking it to King Diya.
• The Grand Princess urged Lin Chao to leave before the ceremony ended, but he stayed through the ball and departed afterward.
• The Third Prince and a Flame Temple expert discussed killing Lin Chao with five High-tier Professionals and dismissed concerns about the First Prince.
• The Third Prince’s carriage stopped because a commoner lay in its path, and the coachman climbed down to move him before an unexpected change occurred.

Heiniu assassinated Third Prince by sacrificing himself with a deadly martial technique, then reappeared alive while traveling with Kong Wa’s Arcane Empire convoy. Lin Chao returned to Koya City with Yi Bei, who saw the growing Ironstone City and its modified Golem Puppets, as Lin Chao sensed Heiniu had slain a Divine Creature.

• Heiniu attacked Third Prince’s carriage and used Self-Sacrifice for Righteousness to kill Third Prince, the Blazing Warrior, and five High-tier Professionals.
• Karl learned Third Prince was dead, while Charlie admired the unknown assassin; Kong Wa later recognized Heiniu traveling with the Arcane Empire’s envoys and questioned him about the assassination.
• Heiniu told Kong Wa he planned to hunt a monster in a valley, then denied knowing about Third Prince’s death.
• Lin Chao returned to Koya City with Emperor Ye and took Yi Bei toward the Star Sand mine at Ironstone Mountain.
• Yi Bei saw Ironstone City under construction, including modified Golem Puppets and fertile fields, and praised Lin Chao’s abilities.
• Lin Chao sensed that Heiniu had slain a Divine Creature.

Lin Chao discovered that the faith of Ironstone City’s people had formed a unique Civilization Divine Position, and he chose to become the God of Civilization. Lan Guang received the Light of Civilization and recognized Prince Lin as his god, while Heiniu’s return from an apparent death left Anwa bewildered.

• Lin Chao sensed his worshippers’ faith flowing into him and realized Lan Guang’s prayers carried fragments of an unclaimed Divine Position with great potential.
• Lan Guang told his siblings to pray to Prince Lin, then dreamed that Lin Chao asked what the people had gained in Ironstone City; Lan Guang described their safe, hopeful lives as civilization.
• Lin Chao transformed his other Divine Position fragments into the Civilization Divine Position and declared that he had brought civilization to Lan Guang.
• After waking, Lan Guang prayed and gained the Divine Art Light of Civilization, then resolved to worship the God of Civilization.
• Anwa confronted Heiniu after seeing him alive despite finding and burying what she believed were his remains, and Heiniu claimed he had escaped the monster and recovered from his injuries.

Anwa and Heiniu arrived at Arcane City, where an emergency Arcane Stars Conference raised fears of a major war. In Koya City, Lan Guang and Li Long recruited workers for Ironstone City and learned that the war had already devastated the Bona Kingdom, while Lin Chao discovered that Temple of Light forces had arrived to demand military donations.

• Anwa showed Heiniu Arcane City and described the Hall of Arcana, but a messenger summoned Kong Ping to an emergency Arcane Stars Conference.
• Lan Guang and Li Long recruited laborers in Koya City and learned that the Four Great Temples and Six Great Kingdoms had declared war on the Arcane Empire.
• A youth from the Bona Kingdom told Lan Guang that War Copper Kingdom troops had ravaged his homeland, forcing him to flee after his parents died.
• Lan Guang realized that the conflict could threaten the Kingdom of Saya and decided the news needed to reach its leaders.
• Lin Chao learned that Temple of Light representatives were soliciting war donations in Koya City alongside the Temple of Light Holy War Army, and he suspected they were using force to extort people.

Hong Ying completed Ironstone City’s first Arcane Eye, while Lin Chao ordered more built and learned that the Temple of Light’s Lei Wu had arrived in Koya City to demand military funds. After Count Kaixiu refused to pay, Lofi pointed Lei Wu toward Arcane Empire visitors and Prince Lin’s allies, leaving Lei Wu poised to target them.

• Hong Ying celebrated the Arcane Eye’s successful construction, and Lin Chao approved manufacturing more while promising to find a way to test them without exposing the weapon.
• Lin Chao learned that Lei Wu and eight hundred Temple of Light soldiers had arrived in Koya City to raise funds, and he ordered his guard to keep him informed.
• Lei Wu urged Koya City’s nobles to donate three hundred thousand gold coins for the campaign against the Arcane Empire, and several nobles pledged money.
• Count Kaixiu rejected Lei Wu’s demand because the Kingdom of Saya had not joined the war, then left with five noble-house representatives despite Lei Wu’s threats.
• Lofi told Lei Wu that Prince Lin’s allies were sheltering Arcane Empire visitors and that Viscount Fengming was hosting them, prompting Lei Wu to consider them legitimate targets.

Count Kaixiu and five nobles decided to move their families from Koya City to Ironstone City under Prince Lin’s protection, while Lei Wu plotted to seize control of Koya City through Zhiya. Lei Wu intercepted Viscount Fengming’s convoy and threatened to kill his family unless he surrendered Yi Bei and other Arcane Empire members and paid three hundred thousand gold coins.

• Count Kaixiu warned five nobles that the Temple of Light might retaliate and urged them to move to Ironstone City within three days.
• Lei Wu questioned Zhiya about Shivana and Prince Lin, then decided to use her to help him take control of Koya City.
• Zhiya told Lei Wu that a mysterious tribe served Prince Lin, and Lei Wu dismissed them as savages.
• Lei Wu and Lo Fei intercepted Viscount Fengming’s convoy, which carried Arcanist Yi Bei and other Arcane Empire members.
• Lei Wu threatened to frame the Arcane Empire members for an attack and demanded their surrender and three hundred thousand gold coins in exchange for the convoy’s safety.

Viscount Fengming and his family faced Knight Commander Lei Wu and the Temple of Light Holy War Army, but Prince Lin’s players ambushed the force and turned the confrontation into a battle. The players held their ground in close combat, and Emperor Ye spotted Lei Wu as a target.

• Viscount Fengming refused to hand over three hundred thousand gold coins, so Lei Wu ordered the Temple of Light Holy War Army to kill the men and seize the women.
• Players led by Emperor Ye attacked from behind, killing soldiers with arrows and revealing more than thirty High-tier Professionals; Viscount Fengming escaped to his caravan.
• Lei Wu ordered his priests to strengthen the Holy War Army and charged the players, who used firearms to shoot down more soldiers.
• The Temple of Light Holy War Army clashed with the players, but the players’ high levels and fighting strength put the soldiers at a disadvantage.
• Emperor Ye praised the Holy War Army’s resolve as Skinny Monkey warned him not to let Lei Wu escape.

Emperor Ye and the players wiped out the Temple of Light Holy War Army in Koya City, while Lin Chao prepared for the Temple’s likely retaliation. The Temple sent Holy Knight Guangming Xiu to Koya City as it focused on its planned attack against the Arcane Empire, and Emperor Ye met a powerful Beast Tamer in the Canghai Realm.

• Lei Wu ordered a retreat after learning that more than three hundred of his soldiers had died, but Emperor Ye rallied the players to hunt him down.
• Lin Chao told Shivana that the players could be reborn through the divine tree unless their fatal weakness was destroyed, and he said he had arranged for no survivors to escape.
• Lin Chao and Shivana returned after the Temple of Light Holy War Army was annihilated, and Koya City purged many nobles as its residents feared the Temple’s retaliation.
• The priest rejected Commander Guanghui’s request to destroy Koya City and assigned Guangming Xiu to handle the matter, while ordering Guanghui to prepare for war against the Arcane Empire.
• Emperor Ye left home with his older brother to meet Jiang Ruoyu, a prominent Beast Tamer who planned to provide him with Pet Eggs.

Emperor Ye became Jiang Ruoyu’s disciple, contracted an Illusion Butterfly, and learned about the vast Pet Taming World. After entering Ragnarok with his pet, he discovered that his master’s dream matched the game’s setting, leaving Lin Chao to consider the butterfly and Jiang Ruoyu’s request for a beta slot.

• Jiang Ruoyu tested Emperor Ye with Na Tie’s heartbeat, accepted him as a disciple, and gave him a Pet Egg containing an Illusion Butterfly.
• Emperor Ye formed a contract with the Illusion Butterfly on his first attempt, while Jiang Ruoyu explained the Pet Taming World and its powerful Heavenly Butterfly Chamber of Commerce.
• Emperor Ye described Ragnarok to Jiang Ruoyu, who recognized the Kingdom of Saya and other details from a dream that had inspired his own rejected game proposal.
• Emperor Ye entered Ragnarok with his contracted Illusion Butterfly and found that his pet and Pet Space had entered the game with him.
• Lin Chao identified the butterfly as a creature from outside the game, heard that Jiang Ruoyu wanted a closed beta slot, and vanished in a low mood.

Lin Chao prepared for Guangming Xiu’s arrival and tested the devastating power of the Arcane Eye in the Abyss. Meanwhile, Jiang Ruoyu entered a game that matched his dream exactly, and a powerful demon discovered the crater left by Lin Chao’s weapon.

• Lin Chao recalled Butterfly Bird and vowed to find her after restoring his Main God cultivation.
• Shivana told Lin Chao that Guangming Xiu was coming to Koya City, and they discussed how his crusade had left Pearl of the Sea in chaos.
• Lin Chao told Shivana to prepare a congratulatory gift for his eighth brother and warned her to seek refuge in Ironstone City if danger arose.
• Jiang Ruoyu entered the game with Emperor Ye and recognized its world as the one from his dream, while his investigation had found no trace of its creator.
• Lin Chao tested the Arcane Eye in the Abyss, destroying a vast demon army and three Legendary demons before fleeing.
• A terrifying figure arrived at the crater and wondered whether a human had created the weapon that could kill its avatar.

Lin Chao gathered his first Civilization Divine Position and recruited Caynes to obtain maps of Divine Creatures, while Guangming Xiu arrived outside Koya City. Zhiya and Seventeen tried to provoke the Holy Knights into attacking the city, but Emperor Ye and Jiang Ruoyu confronted them, and Jiang Ruoyu hinted that Guangming Xiu would become the Temple of Light’s greatest traitor.

• Lin Chao formed one diamond-shaped Civilization Divine Position and told Caynes he wanted maps marking the locations of Divine Creatures, giving him one hundred thousand gold coins to buy as many as possible.
• Lin Chao endorsed Caynes as the Huiteng Merchant Guild manager for Ironstone City, and Caynes warned him that Guangming Xiu was heading to Koya City.
• Guangming Xiu refused a young Holy Knight’s request to use alignment detection, but Zhiya and Seventeen staged accusations against the Ninth Prince to incite the Temple of Light Holy Knights.
• Emperor Ye recognized Zhiya and dismissed her claims, while Jiang Ruoyu addressed Guangming Xiu and called him the Temple of Light’s future greatest traitor.

Jiang Ruoyu exposed Seventeen and the ragged accusers as evil through alignment detection, then challenged Guangming Xiu’s loyalty to the Temple of Light and revealed secrets about his family. After Jiang Ruoyu and Emperor Ye left, Jiang Ruoyu described the game world’s hidden history, including Guangming Xiu’s future rebellion and the rumored bond between An Qian and the Ninth Prince.

• Seventeen urged Guangming Xiu to investigate Koya City and accused Emperor Ye and Jiang Ruoyu of destroying the Temple of Light Holy War Army, but Jiang Ruoyu proposed testing everyone’s alignment.
• Guangming Xiu ordered alignment detection, which revealed that Seventeen and several other accusers were deeply evil while Jiang Ruoyu and Emperor Ye’s red lights were negligible; the Holy Knights began purifying the guilty.
• Jiang Ruoyu warned Guangming Xiu that the Temple of Light might be using him again and disclosed that the Temple of Death had killed his parents and wife, then left with Emperor Ye.
• Jiang Ruoyu told Emperor Ye that Guangming Xiu would eventually betray the Temple of Light, that King Diya had taken the God of Song’s divine office, and that An Qian had brought about the Calamity Era.
• Jiang Ruoyu explained that An Qian was rumored to have been close to the Ninth Prince, who may have betrayed her, but suggested that Emperor Ye’s arrival had changed the worldline.

Jiang Ruoyu agreed to let Emperor Ye join him on a future treasure hunt while Guangming Xiu questioned the Temple of Light and entered Ironstone City disguised as a merchant. What he learned about the city’s free school and its teachings further unsettled his beliefs about light, evil, and the equality of humans and gods.

• Jiang Ruoyu told Emperor Ye that Legendary strength would be necessary in the coming Calamity Era and agreed to take him along when he traveled to find treasures.
• An older Holy Knight warned Guang Zhan, Mo Tu, and the other young knights that evil could exist even within the Temple of Light, while Guangming Xiu reconsidered what light meant.
• Guangming Xiu ordered the Holy Knights to camp outside Koya City and forbade them from entering or using Formation Detection, then chose to investigate Ironstone City instead.
• Guangming Xiu entered Ironstone City disguised as a merchant and hired Ma Tong to guide him around the city.
• Ma Tong told Guangming Xiu that laborers’ children attended the Ninth Prince’s free school and learned practical subjects such as literacy, arithmetic, and pulleys.
• Ma Tong repeated the teachings that people were equal in dignity and that gods were powerful living beings, leaving Guangming Xiu questioning his beliefs.

Guangming Xiu stayed in Ironstone City to investigate its society, while Lin Chao arranged for refugees to join the city. In the Arcane Empire and Bauhinia Empire, Anwa received a mission to travel to Koya City, Caynes gathered maps of Divine Creatures, and the chapter ended with players preparing to pursue godhood.

• Guangming Xiu decided to remain in Ironstone City after seeing laborers’ children attend school, and Lin Chao told Shivana to arrange for refugees to settle there gradually.
• Heiniu bid farewell to Anwa after killing the marked Divine Creatures in the Arcane Empire, while Anwa welcomed news of the empire’s victory over the Temple of Death and War Copper Kingdom.
• Grand Arcanist Kongping assigned Anwa to deliver books to Ninth Prince Lin and work with Yi Bei in Koya City, telling her to bring her unconscious sister An Qian.
• Caynes secured his position as Ironstone City’s steward, bought more than a hundred maps for Ninth Prince Lin, and heard Old Fei warn that three marked Divine Creatures would kill even a Legend.
• Lin Chao issued players the group mission “The Path to Godhood,” prompting players in Ironstone City to discuss forming teams to hunt Divine Creatures and earn divine power and divine office.

Anwa arrived in Ironstone City with her unconscious sister and delivered a vast collection of arcane books to Lin Chao, while adventurers flocked to the city for newly publicized Ancient Ruins. Nan Yu and her party learned Ironstone City's rules and sought information about the ruins, hoping to find Sulfur Flowers that could cure their poison.

• Jiang Ruoyu confirmed that the Ancient Ruins near Ironstone City were real and explained to Emperor Ye that they were being promoted to attract adventurers and residents.
• Anwa reached Ironstone City, entrusted her sister to the city’s care, and gave Lin Chao a storage ring from Grand Arcanist Kongping.
• Lin Chao broke the ring’s forbidden spell and discovered three million arcane books, including rare secrets from the Arcane Empire.
• Nan Yu instructed her adventurer party to obey Ironstone City’s rules, including its ban on fighting and other public misconduct.
• Nan Yu and Iron Hammer explored the clean streets, learned that Prince Lin’s warriors helped maintain order, and went to the Adventurers’ Hall to buy information about the Ancient Ruins.