Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu dies, and the Illusory Black Tortoise bound to him dissolves with him.
• The Royal Clan’s first assault on Yellow Springs Mouth is destroyed by Chen Fan’s 27,000 Godslayer Cannons. Without its commander’s coordination or a strengthening halo, the vanguard is wiped out before reaching the defenses.
• As the fighting subsides, Chen Fan sorts newly gathered blueprints, hoping to find the Vermilion Bird Cannon and complete the Four Divine Cannons. He remains concerned that the Royal Clan’s true force is still coming.
• The Royal Clan’s King, Zhitian, arrives with a much better-organized army. He offers to spare Mortal Domain if it abandons Western Wasteland Island and reveals how to cross the Thunderstorm Sea.
• Chen Fan publicly identifies himself and stalls Zhitian while secretly activating Zhang Qianqiu’s massive Forced Teleportation Formation. It teleports the enemy force into the air above the encircled defense lines, where the Full Airspace Ban traps them.
• Mortal Domain’s 81,000 Godslayer Cannons and thousands of Anti-Aircraft Cannons fire on the suspended army. Zhitian’s protective treasures break one by one, but he is ultimately killed.
• On the Eternal Night Continent, the remaining Royal Clan forces halt their advance after sensing their king’s death. The generals turn to competing for the vacant throne.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains the determined, burdened leader of Mortal Domain. Though exhausted and anxious, he trusts his preparations, risks showing himself to draw out Zhitian, and finally releases the tension of the past days in triumphant laughter.
• Zhitian arrives confident and condescending, seeking both a bloodless conquest and information about the New Continent. His confidence collapses into panic when the teleportation trap defeats him.
• Crippled Monkey tries to protect Chen Fan by offering to impersonate him, but Chen Fan refuses and confronts Zhitian himself.
• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu’s earlier help proves decisive: he had assisted Mortal Domain and cleared space for the enormous formation before his death.
• Mortal Domain’s people move from fear after the first assault to hope and celebration, then witness the decisive trap and bombardment.

Significant themes

• Preparation and ingenuity: Mortal Domain’s victory depends not only on firepower but on a carefully concealed, unconventional plan.
• Leadership and sacrifice: Chen Fan shoulders the responsibility of protecting others and exposes himself to lure the enemy leader forward.
• Overconfidence and reversal: Zhitian underestimates Mortal Domain, assuming its defenses are conventional, and is caught by a strategy he never considered.
• Home and defiance: Chen Fan’s declaration that this is Jiangbei Mortal Domain—and his turf—expresses the chapter’s central resolve to defend their home at any cost.

Plot points and events

• After the Royal Clan’s King is killed in a Mortal Domain ambush, its leaders gather to choose a successor. They decide that dark affinity will be the first selection criterion and test candidates at the secret Black Abyss.
• The Black Abyss can generate Strange Entities using a resource called Source of Darkness. The Royal Clan’s access is limited by its species level and territorial conquests, but the candidates quickly realize that whoever controls this power could build an army.
• General Kui Yi shows exceptional affinity, needing just 0.4 points to create a Doppelganger Wraith. His father, an influential royal adviser, declares him the rightful New King—but other candidates object, and the selection remains unsettled.
• The adviser reveals his hidden role in the old King’s death: he concealed information about the Mortal Domain’s rise and subtly encouraged the King to visit the ambush site. He has long concealed Kui Yi’s superior affinity, hoping to put his son on the throne.
• Meanwhile, Jiu Wu unexpectedly resurrects in the Black Abyss. His innate Dark Sacred Physique gives him far greater affinity than anyone tested, as well as the power to resurrect dead Strange Entities.
• Rather than seek power, Jiu Wu uses the Black Abyss to recreate his former followers and spend all its remaining darkness generating a huge army. He leads them away, finds an uninhabited island, and establishes the “Retirement Clan.”
• The island is recognized as a continent: the clan’s Heavenly Dao begins forming, granting the group the chance to settle down and have families. Jiu Wu welcomes the development, while his followers hail him as their wise King.

Character developments and interactions

• Kui Yi emerges as the leading Royal Clan candidate, though his position is contested. His father’s ambition and concealment have shaped his rise.
• The old adviser presents himself as a loyal official but is revealed as a calculating conspirator who maneuvered events to clear a path for his son.
• Jiu Wu shifts from presumed death to a powerful, resurrected leader. Despite possessing extraordinary potential, he deliberately rejects conquest in favor of peace and retirement.
• The Royal Clan’s Generals and Wraith Venerables debate the succession and assess one another’s strength; their outward silence masks growing ambition. Former Strange Entity Clan members, including Na Tian, observe the Royal Clan’s superior ability to manufacture armies.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: The Black Abyss gives the contenders a glimpse of the military power—and political leverage—dark affinity can provide.
• Betrayal and succession: The King’s death opens a leadership struggle shaped by secrecy and personal ambition.
• Choice versus potential: Jiu Wu has the capacity to build an empire but chooses a quiet life instead.
• Belonging and recognition: The Retirement Clan’s new Heavenly Dao symbolizes the possibility of a home and future for beings previously denied one.

Plot points and events

• Jiu Wu settles into exile: Far from the Mortal Domain, Jiu Wu reassures the Old Strange Entity that their enemies cannot reach them. He embraces his new identity as “King of the Retirement Clan,” though he still feels something is missing.
• The four Divine Cannons become the Heavenly Dao Cannon: After locating the Vermilion Bird Cannon blueprint, Chen Fan completes the set and fuses the four level-10 Divine Cannons into a level-10 Purple Grade Heavenly Dao Cannon.
• Chen Fan tests the cannon’s power: Its area attack summons an enormous storm of lightning that devastates a third of the Jiangbei Desert. Its point attack fires a searing beam that vaporizes everything in its path. The most expensive attack—costing 100 million eerie stones—sends a beam across the entire Eternal Night Continent, leaving a perfectly straight, roughly 20-kilometer-wide Void Strip. Chen Fan realizes the weapon could potentially eradicate the Strange Entities if they could be gathered into its path.
• Mr. Na is revived: The Medicine King Valley Master’s unconventional treatment brings the middle-aged man back to life. Mr. Na explains that he is the former Heavenly Dao of the Apocalypse Continent, now called the New Continent.
• Chen Fan learns how the world works: Mr. Na explains continent advancement, the Heavenly Dao’s limited role, the Primordial Continent’s shattering during the Dark Invasion, and the War Mire—a deadly battleground for powerful races and continents. The New Continent cannot advance because its Heavenly Dao is gone and no one can report its achievements to the Supreme Heavenly Dao.
• The Royal Clan prepares to attack: On the Primordial Continent, Old Strange Entity organizes the Royal Clan’s generals. With their Black Abyss stolen and their source of new troops threatened, they plan an all-out assault on the Yellow Springs Mouth, Jiangbei, and Guandong Plains defenses in seven days. The first general to reach a defense line will become the new King.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan grows more strategic as well as curious: he tests the Heavenly Dao Cannon, weighs its enormous cost and destructive power, and questions Mr. Na about the wider world and the Mortal Domain’s future. He is intrigued by the possibility of using the cannon to clear the continent, though Mr. Na doubts the enemy can be made to line up.
• Mr. Na shifts from a patient recovering from bizarre medical treatment to a vital source of knowledge. He explains the Heavenly Dao’s nature and the political and cosmic structure surrounding the continents. His conversation with Chen Fan also reveals that Chen Fan’s unique system grants access to powers unavailable to others.
• Weiwei is reunited with his revived parents but remains busy subduing Exotic Beasts fleeing to Western Wasteland Island. Chen Fan’s arrival briefly comforts him, and he returns to his work.
• Old Strange Entity shows political ambition and opportunism, presenting a competition for kingship as a fair arrangement while directing the Royal Clan toward conquest.
• Chen Fan’s companions and the defenders witness the cannon’s astonishing effects and listen as Mr. Na broadens their understanding of the world.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: The Heavenly Dao Cannon can save the Mortal Domain, but its extreme destructive capacity could also reshape the continent.
• Knowledge and perspective: Chen Fan and his allies discover that their conflict is part of a much larger world of continents, races, and wars.
• Belonging and escape: Jiu Wu’s retirement offers safety and comfort, yet his lingering sense of incompleteness hints that distance from the past does not necessarily erase it.
• Survival and ambition: The Royal Clan’s desperation over losing its Black Abyss drives it toward a new invasion, while competition for kingship turns collective survival into a contest for power.

Concise Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Elder Qian reveals that he is Kui Yi’s biological father. As the late King’s Trusted Aide, he secretly hid Kui Yi because the child’s exceptional dark affinity would have made him a target for execution. Kui Yi accepts the revelation but does not yet embrace him as a father.
• On the Northbank Defense Line, Mr. Na proposes the Eternal Night Reboot Plan: the Eternal Night Continent’s original Heavenly Dao will destroy himself and collapse the continent, while Mr. Na sacrifices himself to seal the surrounding sea. This will trap the invading Strange Tide on a narrow strip of land, where the Mortal Domain’s Heavenly Dao Cannons can destroy it.
• Mr. Na explains that a continent can form its own Heavenly Dao only after its population and prosperity recover. He also tells Chen Fan about hidden Heavenly Dao blessings that can be earned after the continent is reclaimed and unified.
• Chen Fan agrees to the plan and organizes the Mortal Domain’s people and resources for rapid construction. The chapter makes clear that Mr. Na expects his remaining soul to last only three months—and may not survive long enough to see the continent prosper.
• When the Royal Clan launches its All-Out Assault, Kui Yi volunteers to lead troops toward the Mortal Domain’s defenses. The Eternal Night Continent then begins collapsing, while Mr. Na gives himself up to seal the sea and prevent Strange Entities from escaping by water.
• The continent’s collapse funnels the invading forces onto a long, narrow stretch of land. As five max-level Heavenly Dao Cannons finish charging, the Royal Clan’s forces pretend to surrender, then attack in a last attempt to break through.
• Chen Fan orders the cannons to fire. Their beams engulf the remaining landmass and begin annihilating the Strange Tide.

Character developments and interactions

• Kui Yi learns his origins and begins to see Elder Qian’s past actions in a new light. Though shocked and wary, he agrees to work with him. During the invasion, he volunteers to lead the assault.
• Elder Qian reveals his hidden past and his bond with Kui Yi, offering to help him establish his legitimacy among the Strange Entities.
• Mr. Na shows both strategic resolve and personal attachment. He accepts the risk of sacrifice to protect the Mortal Domain and gives Chen Fan guidance about the continent’s future. His affectionate farewell to the crocodiles hints at how much he values the life he is leaving behind.
• Chen Fan accepts the plan despite its cost, then uses his organizational skill to prepare the Mortal Domain. He remains determined and composed as the cannons fire.
• The Royal Clan displays both desperation and cunning: its leaders beg for mercy, but use the delay to stage a surprise attack.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice for the future: Mr. Na and the original Heavenly Dao give themselves up to save the continent and buy time for its people.
• Strategy and collective effort: The Mortal Domain’s organization, infrastructure, and coordination turn an otherwise overwhelming invasion into a concentrated target.
• Hope after collapse: The destruction of the continent is presented not only as catastrophe, but as a necessary step toward rebuilding and forming a new Heavenly Dao.
• Courage and resolve: Chen Fan and his allies confront an extreme gamble without certainty of success.
• Deception and desperation: The Royal Clan’s false surrender shows how survival can drive even a cornered enemy to exploit any opening.

Key plot points and events

• Five Heavenly Dao Cannons erase the Strange Tide covering the Eternal Night Continent. The Mortal Domain immediately salvages Eerie Stone and Exotic Treasures, then begins relighting the continent’s Eerie Fires.
• Once all 3,877 fires are lit, their combined light breaks the continent’s age-old darkness. Golden rain restores its land, water, and vegetation. Chen Fan receives Heavenly Dominion: for three years, the continent will generate Eerie Ore, have fertile soil, and suffer no Strange Entity invasions.
• Survivors begin rebuilding. The Mortal Domain lays transportation networks, constructs cities, and erects monuments to remember those who died, including the defenders of Xuanwu Defense Line Seven.
• Chen Fan discovers that the continent needs three million Prosperity to form a new Heavenly Dao; it has about 1.8 million. Construction, transport, farming, trade, and other signs of life all contribute. He also pursues the Lord Panel’s tasks of unifying roads, compiling history, and currency.
• His attempt to commission a history goes awry when he discovers one candidate’s “history” is an obscene storybook. He dismisses the writer and orders a better selection.
• In the Primordial Land, Mortal Domain forces find Na Qianxi, the young son of Strange Entity leader Na Tian. Na Tian’s recorded message explains his agreement with “That One” to protect the boy and provides a Jade Slip listing humans who betrayed the Mortal Domain. Chen Fan orders Na Qianxi brought back safely and the Jade Slip left unopened.
• Chen Fan visits the newly built Wraith Museum, where captured Strange Entities are displayed and studied to help people recognize their traits and weaknesses. He also sees that a Sky-Swallowing Crocodile has been born, a welcome addition to the Mortal Domain’s exotic beasts.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shifts from wartime leadership to long-term reconstruction, balancing prosperity, security, and the freedom people need to develop their talents. He is determined to restore the continent’s Heavenly Dao and bring “That One” back.
• Tang Yue has grown more serious after witnessing evacuation and wartime deaths; she quietly supports her father as they revisit rebuilt Black Tortoise City.
• Na Tian is revealed to have made a pact with That One and to care about his youngest son’s survival, despite being an enemy commander.
• The Mortal Domain’s people turn grief into practical work, while memorials preserve the memory of those who sacrificed themselves.
• Weiwei eagerly awaits her new crocodile sister; the playful Gold-Swallowing Toad helps with construction after getting bored in Medicine King Valley.

Significant themes

• Rebirth through collective effort: The continent’s supernatural restoration is matched by the people’s labor to rebuild it.
• Memory and sacrifice: Monuments and history honor the dead and help survivors value the peace they regained.
• Prosperity as more than wealth: Infrastructure, cultivation, trade, and population growth all build the foundations for a new Heavenly Dao.
• Reconstruction’s dilemmas: Chen Fan weighs centralized control of currency against preserving ordinary people’s access to resources and opportunities for innovation.
• Mercy amid victory: The decision to spare Na Qianxi shows that the aftermath of war still involves moral choices and inherited promises.

Key plot points and events

• The Eternal Night Continent’s prosperity crosses three million, allowing it to condense a Heavenly Dao. Mr. Na returns as the continent’s Heavenly Dao, though he initially pretends to be a cold, impersonal official. Chen Fan sees through the act and reminds him to report the continent’s readiness for advancement.
• The continent’s history is recorded in golden threads across the sky, from its ancient beginnings and past calamities to the Mortal Domain’s recent sacrifices. The Heavenly Dao approves its ascension, and the Eternal Night Continent becomes a second-level continent.
• The advancement unlocks new building capabilities. The Sky-Piercing Pillar gains broader functionality and can be upgraded to level 20; the City Wall and other structures can also exceed their former limits. Chen Fan concludes that second-level continents are meant for exploration, and that future upgrades will require materials from other continents.
• Six months after the great battle, the Commerce Pavilion prepares to leave the New Continent and explore the wider world. Wang Mazi delivers a rallying speech, and Chen Fan gives the expedition his blessing. The Flying Boats depart in several directions, with supply stations planned across the Sea Domain.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Fan reflects on how the Mortal Domain’s rebuilding has transformed the continent. He is proud of its progress and of Wang Mazi’s growth from a frightened survivor into a confident leader. He remains practical, focusing on development and exploration rather than celebration.
• Mr. Na / That One returns as the Heavenly Dao but retains his familiar, informal personality beneath his official act. He is grateful to Chen Fan, who treats him less like a distant force and more like a colleague—urging him to do his job and later teasing him about his lack of understanding of human culture.
• Wang Mazi has grown into a persuasive public speaker. His farewell frames exploration as a courageous step beyond the safety of the homeland, and he earns the Commerce Pavilion’s enthusiastic support.
• Chen Fan and Wang Mazi share a moment of mutual respect: Chen Fan admires Wang Mazi’s development, while Wang Mazi asks him to speak to the departing members.
• Crippled Monkey proudly praises Chen Fan’s speech, prompting Chen Fan to tease him about his obvious favoritism.

Significant themes

• Renewal and earned recognition: The continent’s ascension validates years of sacrifice, labor, and rebuilding.
• Growth through exploration: Advancement brings new possibilities, but also requires venturing beyond familiar territory and seeking resources elsewhere.
• Collective achievement: The Mortal Domain’s progress belongs to its people, not just Chen Fan; characters and society have grown together.
• Hope, courage, and identity: The expedition carries the Mortal Domain’s values beyond its homeland, turning the light kindled in darkness into a mission to face the unknown.

Key plot points and events

• Six months after the war, Chen Fan surveys a continent-wide reconstruction effort. Nearly all of the planned 10,000 Level 20 Private Schools are complete; the last eighteen are expected the next day.
• The schools merge the effects of the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion, helping students learn and cultivators improve. Their most important feature lets newly awakened cultivators choose one of three types suited to their talents. Chen Fan hopes the schools will build a fairer system and develop skilled people for the Mortal Domain.
• The chapter reveals the rewards for Eternal Night Continent’s completed hidden Heavenly Dao blessings. Great Unification granted Chen Fan the Purple Grade Mortal Domain Jade Seal, while People’s Will created a chance for natural Eerie Ore deposits to appear. That resource will remain available only while public support for Mortal City stays above thirty percent.
• Chen Fan reviews the remaining development challenges: newborn numbers have been low because the continent was recently in crisis and pregnant women suffered during the evacuation, while the high-speed rail network should cover the continent in about three months.
• At a school visit, Shadow Pavilion leader Shao Qiu complains about having to study. Chen Fan insists the lessons are necessary, anticipating that rival continents may send agents to spread rumors and weaken support for Mortal City.
• The Mortal Domain discovers heavenly calamity wood, apparently formed when a ship-plank fragment survived the Thunderstorm Sea’s lightning. Chen Fan realizes it is needed to upgrade the Vehicle Workshop to Level 10 and that the material may only be found in the Sea.
• The Heavenly Dao, appearing as Mr. Na, clarifies that access to an upgrade does not guarantee a continent can obtain its materials. Some resources and blueprints must be found beyond one’s own territory.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan is no longer focused merely on personal safety and comfort. Having achieved a secure home, he now sees protecting the peace and preparing for future threats as his responsibility. The Jade Seal also makes him extraordinarily difficult to kill while the Mortal Domain survives.
• The Jade Seal gives Chen Fan tools to lead and protect his domain: it amplifies his speeches, authenticates orders, punishes broken oaths, slows time in an emergency, and prevents his death under specified conditions.
• Shao Qiu shifts from complaining to dutifully returning to class, while showing initiative by spotting students he may recruit into the Shadow Pavilion.
• Wang Kui reports on schools, population, and transportation progress. Though he questions the value of Shadow Pavilion’s studies, Chen Fan chooses not to explain his full reasoning.
• Mr. Na provides practical guidance about building upgrades and reveals more of his own circumstances: he consults a Heavenly Dao “employee handbook” and appreciates both his renewed life and ordinary pleasures such as grilled wheat gluten.

Significant themes

• Building a lasting society: Schools, transport, population growth, and resource management are as vital to the Mortal Domain as military strength.
• Fairer opportunity and talent development: Private Schools give people more influence over their future and create a pipeline of capable specialists.
• Preparedness and vigilance: Chen Fan works to anticipate threats—from powerful entities in the Thunderstorm Sea to propaganda from rival continents—even while hoping for peaceful neighbors.
• Uneven opportunity between continents: The Heavenly Dao does not guarantee every continent the materials needed to maximize its buildings, making exploration and contact with others essential.
• Peace as a hard-won responsibility: Chen Fan’s original wish for a safe, comfortable life has grown into a determination to defend the community that made it possible.

Key plot points and events

• On a deserted island, Weird Emperor Jiu Wu spends his retirement dodging the Illusory Black Tortoise, which still follows him. He spots a Mortal Domain Flying Boat approaching and fears the Domain has found him.
• Chen Fan upgrades the Vehicle Workshop to level 10, unlocking Earth-Digging Puppets for construction and cheap roads that double the speed of vehicles traveling on them. He chooses a Heavenly Dao blessing that doubles vehicle speed, accepting doubled travel consumption.
• He then upgrades the Signal Tower to level 10, extending Message Talisman range to 100,000 kilometers, and selects confidential communications as its blessing. He pushes it to level 20, expanding range to one million kilometers and unlocking the ability to intercept messages containing three chosen keywords.
• Chen Fan sets keywords to monitor outside intelligence and assigns the Shadow Pavilion to review intercepted messages. The system reveals reports about other continents and the strategically valuable Black Abyss.
• On the Northbank Defense Line, Chen Fan asks Mr. Na about the ongoing fusion of a Primordial Continent Fragment. Mr. Na explains that it will not immediately enlarge the Eternal Night Continent, but will eventually grant it “orthodoxy,” a highly valuable status.
• Mr. Na reassures Chen Fan that continent-scale wars are rare and that a hidden defensive array will be ready when the three-year protection period ends. After another month passes, the Mortal Domain continues its steady development.
• A Commerce Pavilion Flying Boat spots an island covered in strange entities and reports a Ghost Emperor approaching. Its crew prepares to self-destruct rather than let the threat reach the Domain. The supposed attacker stops the ship and begs for mercy, revealing himself as Jiu Wu, a former ally.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan continues expanding the Mortal Domain’s infrastructure and intelligence-gathering capacity. Though capable and decisive, he remains anxious about future threats and the Domain’s vulnerabilities.
• Mr. Na acts as Chen Fan’s confidant, explaining strategic realities and encouraging him to prepare without letting worst-case thinking overwhelm him.
• Jiu Wu has grown accustomed to an eccentric, solitary retirement, but his encounter with the Flying Boat abruptly threatens to end it. His fear that the crew will mistake him for an enemy drives him to intercept them and plead his case.
• The Flying Boat crew demonstrate courage and loyalty: despite their terror, they prepare to sacrifice themselves to protect the Mortal Domain. Jiu Wu’s recognition of their flag—and their inability to recognize him in turn—creates a tense, comic misunderstanding.

Significant themes

• Steady development versus anxiety: Chen Fan’s caution helps him prepare, but Mr. Na warns that constant anticipation of catastrophe can make it difficult to find peace.
• Communication and intelligence as power: The Signal Tower’s vast range, privacy, and message interception give the Mortal Domain a major strategic advantage.
• Exploration and expanding horizons: The Commerce Pavilion’s missions and intercepted reports reveal a wider world of continents, resources, and potential conflicts.
• Protection and sacrifice: The crew’s willingness to self-destruct contrasts with Jiu Wu’s desperate attempt to avoid being treated as a threat.

Plot and key events

• A Commerce Pavilion flying boat encounters Weird Emperor Jiu Wu, who stops it and panics at the sight of the Mortal Domain Banner. He insists he is not holding the crew hostage and asks them to contact Chen Fan.
• Jiu Wu explains that he was killed by the Mortal Domain’s Sky-Piercing Pillar, revived in a Black Abyss thanks to a mysterious “dark sacred physique,” and used his dark authority to resurrect his former subordinates. He founded the Retirement Clan on a vast island, where it formed its own Species Heavenly Dao.
• Chen Fan agrees that the Mortal Domain and Retirement Clan will remain at peace, but requires the clan to permit exploration of the island, believed to be a fragment of the ruined Eyi Continent. Any harm to the expedition would mean the clan’s destruction.
• Mr. Na identifies the island as likely part of Eyi Continent and warns that Jiu Wu’s ability to revive could make him dangerous. Chen Fan considers whether he could be killed permanently within the range of the Mortal Domain’s upgraded Rebirth Towers.
• Seven days later, Chen Fan leads an expedition to the island. Jiu Wu welcomes the visitors with a disciplined display, then swears before Heaven and Earth that he will not attack the Mortal Domain or harm its people. Chen Fan accepts the oath while warning that any future conflict will be settled by strength.
• As the expedition prepares to explore, Mr. Na and Crippled Monkey discuss the Mortal Domain’s defining approach to security: it seeks peace not by withdrawing from danger, but by removing potential threats.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiu Wu is revealed as a powerful but frightened and peace-seeking survivor. Despite his unusual resurrection ability, he has lost his appetite for conquest and is devoted to a quiet retirement. His respectful, anxious exchanges with Chen Fan culminate in a solemn oath of nonaggression.
• Chen Fan balances caution with pragmatism. He investigates Jiu Wu’s powers and keeps the possibility of eliminating him in mind, but accepts coexistence once Jiu Wu demonstrates peaceful intent. His reassurance is paired with a clear threat if the agreement is broken.
• Mr. Na provides historical and strategic context, arguing that provoking Jiu Wu could create a future war. He also analyzes why Jiu Wu is unlikely to pursue conquest, contrasting his lack of motivation with Chen Fan’s relentless drive.
• Crippled Monkey, Qi Yue, Big Croc, and Little Croc add comic banter aboard the expedition vessel. Crippled Monkey competes for Chen Fan’s attention and teases Mr. Na; Qi Yue attributes his improved cultivation to Eternal Night Continent’s advancement, while Mr. Na credits its removed restrictions.
• Jiu Wu’s strategist, Old Strange Entity, corrects him through the ghost bone in his ear when he mangles a human expression, underscoring both Jiu Wu’s eagerness to please and his imperfect command of human customs.

Significant themes

• Peace through deterrence: The agreement is genuine but backed by overwhelming force and explicit consequences.
• Survival versus ambition: Jiu Wu’s rebirth leaves him content with a modest life, while Chen Fan’s insecurity continually drives the Mortal Domain to expand and neutralize risks.
• Power, fate, and restraint: Jiu Wu’s rare ability could make him a conqueror, yet his shattered confidence keeps him from pursuing that path.
• Contrasting ideas of safety: Jiu Wu seeks a quiet refuge; the Mortal Domain seeks security by controlling or eliminating threats beyond its borders.

Plot and key events

• After negotiations with Jiu Wu, Chen Fan’s forces establish a Level-9 Construction Workshop on Eyi Continent and begin exploring its surrounding waters with newly built Submersible Ships.
• During a dive, Chen Fan’s ship encounters a Deep-Sea Giant Mountain Strange Entity at only 300 meters—far shallower than its normal habitat. Chen orders an immediate retreat.
• A later report reveals that another ship reached 1,000 meters and saw a gigantic, sun-bright creature on the seabed, surrounded by an area from which other strange entities had fled. The Deep-Sea Giant Mountain Strange Entity is found dead, and the remains of a sunken continent lie 2,300 meters below—too deep for the ships to reach.
• The Heaven-Questioning Bell identifies the glowing creature as a Heavenly Dao Strange, a parasitic being formed from the heavenly dao of an extinct race. It feeds on a continent’s fortune, bringing more disasters and fewer blessings. Chen’s Watchtower detects it as Level 19 and unharmed.
• To eliminate the threat, Chen upgrades four Divine Cannons to Level 20 and fuses them into the Mortal Domain’s most powerful weapon, a Heavenly Dao Cannon. Since a Flying Boat cannot withstand its recoil, the cannon will destroy its carrier when fired.
• Chen assigns the mission to Captain King Ke, whom he trusts and wants to reward. King Ke is to fire the cannon, then escape through a Teleportation Formation during its three-breath delay.
• The shot strikes the creature on the seabed and destroys it almost instantly, producing a vast underwater blast and whirlpool. With the threat removed, exploration of the sunken landmass can eventually proceed.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains cautious and pragmatic: he retreats when the first danger exceeds his ships’ capabilities, investigates before acting, then commits overwhelming force once he understands the threat. He also uses the execution to intimidate Jiu Wu.
• Jiu Wu admits that his people cannot reach the deep-sea creatures. He initially approaches the operation out of curiosity, but trembles in fear after witnessing the cannon’s power.
• King Ke is nervous during preparations but eager to take on the dangerous mission. Chen’s choice reflects his trust in King Ke and his intention to help him earn distinction.
• Crippled Monkey supplies useful information about deep-sea entities and answers Jiu Wu’s questions about the Mortal Domain’s preparations.
• The Heaven-Questioning Bell provides the crucial identification, at a steep cost, showing itself to be valuable despite its usual reluctance to reveal secrets.

Significant themes

• Knowledge enables action: Chen is troubled less by danger itself than by uncertainty; once the threat is identified and measured, he can plan a response.
• Power and responsibility: Chen treats the Heavenly Dao Strange as an existential danger to both Eyi and the nearby New Continent, justifying decisive action.
• Loyalty and reward: Chen gives King Ke a high-stakes opportunity because of his demonstrated loyalty.
• Deterrence and intimidation: The destruction serves not only to protect the Mortal Domain and open the way to exploration, but also as a warning to Jiu Wu.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After the Level-20 Heavenly Dao Cannon destroys the sea-borne Heavenly Dao Strange, Chen Fan learns from the Heaven-Questioning Bell that the Cannon’s max-level effect, Nine-Nine Returns to One, allows ninety-nine Level-20 Cannons to combine into a Red Grade, continent-class Heaven-Deriving Orbital Cannon. Such a weapon could destroy a poorly defended continent, but it requires Eternal Night Continent to reach the third level.
• Mr. Na cautions that a second-level continent cannot obtain a continent-class weapon and that reaching the third level will take at least decades—if it happens at all. Chen Fan accepts this but keeps the possibility in mind.
• That One observes that the Cannon’s overwhelming power has broken Weird Emperor Jiu Wu’s will to fight. Jiu Wu, once a potential future Dark King, has become so terrified that he may never regain his ambition.
• The Mortal Domain retrieves the Heavenly Dao Strange’s drops using its upgraded Pick-Up Sculpture, whose collection range now extends to ten thousand meters. The first item is a Purple Grade Individual Armory, which Chen Fan plans to build to strengthen the Mortal Domain’s forces.
• The second item is a Purple Grade Continent Core. Mr. Na explains that it is required for a second-level continent to advance to the third level. Its acquisition shortens Eternal Night Continent’s earliest possible advancement from thirty years to twenty.
• Mr. Na explains that Continent Cores form inside certain Heavenly Dao Strange that consume the fortune of collapsed continents. Though difficult to obtain, the defeated Strange was unusually weak and had absorbed the right kind of fortune.
• The third item is Heavenly Fortune, which grants its consumer a temporary surge of luck at a critical moment. Wang Mazi then reveals that, years earlier, he unknowingly ate four or five identical fruits he found near his station.
• Mr. Na concludes that Wang Mazi’s past consumption of Heavenly Fortune likely helped him cross the dangerous Thunderstorm Sea twice. Chen Fan reassures him that his actions ultimately helped the Mortal Domain discover a new continent.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains cautious and ambitious: he recognizes that a continent-class weapon is beyond immediate reach but is eager to secure it eventually. He also sees the Individual Armory and Continent Core as valuable gains for the Mortal Domain.
• Mr. Na provides crucial explanations about continent advancement, Continent Cores, and Heavenly Fortune. He is astonished by Chen Fan’s luck, then realizes Wang Mazi may be just as extraordinarily fortunate.
• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu retreats in terror after witnessing the Cannon’s power. According to That One, this experience has shattered his confidence and potential future as a ruler.
• Wang Mazi shifts from casual storytelling to anxiety when he realizes the “persimmons” he once ate were rare treasures. Chen Fan comforts him, framing his past luck as a contribution to the Mortal Domain.
• That One comments on Jiu Wu’s psychological defeat and explains that Heavenly Fortune’s effects help account for Wang Mazi’s survival.

Significant themes

• Fortune and destiny: The chapter’s rare treasures and improbable survival stories suggest that luck can shape the fate of individuals and entire factions.
• Power and deterrence: The Cannon not only destroys an enemy but also crushes Jiu Wu’s resolve, showing that overwhelming force can determine the outcome before a battle begins.
• Growth through strategic resources: The Continent Core and Individual Armory represent long-term development, linking the Mortal Domain’s future strength to exploration and rare rewards.
• Unexpected value in the past: Wang Mazi’s seemingly trivial memory turns out to be significant, reframing his accidental indulgence as a source of protection and a benefit to the Mortal Domain.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan credits Wang Mazi for helping discover the New Continent, a breakthrough that greatly strengthened the Mortal Domain and helped it survive the assault on Western Wasteland Island. He cautions Wang Mazi not to take reckless risks just because he has consumed Heavenly Fortunes.
• With the Heavenly Dao Strange on the Eyi Continent dead, Chen Fan leaves its further exploration to others and heads back to the Eternal Night Continent.
• The Mortal Domain launches a major construction and exploration effort: Earth-Digging Puppets will widen the existing undersea tunnel to the New Continent, dig a new tunnel to the Eyi Continent from both ends, and explore the submerged ruins. The Sky-Swallowing Crocodile will help locate treasures. Additional Mountain-Mound Embryos can reinforce the tunnels as the existing support material nears its limit.
• On the Eyi Continent, Wang Mazi reports that Exploration Flying Boat 222 has been missing for twelve hours. Its crew’s Life Tablets remain intact, but the vessel has been captured by an unknown group.
• The captors interrogate the crew, hoping to learn where their continent is and what it is like. They discover a flag marked “Mortal,” along with advanced communications equipment and plentiful supplies, suggesting the visitors come from a powerful, developed continent.
• Despite prolonged torture, the Sacred Lord, First Elder, and three disciples refuse to reveal information. Their loyalty—and stubborn, often absurd reasoning—frustrates the interrogators.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shows confidence in delegating the next phase of exploration and prioritizes efficient transport, choosing a Flying Boat over an extremely expensive long-distance Teleportation Formation.
• Wang Mazi is relieved by Chen Fan’s recognition but remains responsible for the missing vessel and takes the situation seriously.
• Crippled Monkey initially dismisses the idea that the crew has defected, insisting something must have happened to them.
• The captured crew display solidarity under pressure. The First Elder refuses to confess before his Sacred Lord does, while an ordinary crewman argues that confessing after enduring so much torture would mean having suffered “for nothing.” Their conduct leaves even their captors unsettled.
• The Sacred Lord secretly hopes Chen Fan will arrive soon, revealing that his defiance is not fearlessness so much as a desperate effort to hold out.

Significant themes

• Expansion through cooperation and infrastructure: Tunnels, railways, ships, and communications systems are extending the Mortal Domain’s reach.
• Loyalty and solidarity: The captured crew endure torture rather than betray their people, even when their reasons are comic or stubborn.
• The cost of progress: The Mortal Domain’s growing construction demands strain its resources, while exploration carries serious risks.
• Humor amid danger: The crew’s bizarre logic and the interrogators’ frustration lighten an otherwise grim captivity storyline.

Plot and key events

• Chen Fan inspects the newly built level-11 Individual Armory, the Mortal Domain’s second Purple Grade building. Its latest weapon, the Pocket Cannon, is a portable, fire-attributed weapon powered by eerie stones. He tests it on a tree and considers mass-producing it for Mortal Domain members.
• He chooses the armory’s strategic-building Heavenly Dao blessing over immediate reductions in production or usage costs. If the Eternal Night Continent gains the required orthodoxy and reaches third level, the armory could become a Red Grade strategic building.
• Wang Kui reports that several hidden continent-wide objectives have been completed. Their rewards improve transportation safety, resource availability, and newborn health. Chen Fan warns that the Mortal Domain must keep preparing for stronger enemies rather than celebrate its rapid growth.
• Wang Mazi reports that a Commerce Pavilion flying boat and three rescue boats vanished near a location northwest of the New Continent. Chen Fan suspects they encountered a high-level continent and teleports to Wang Mazi’s boat using an unlimited-range formation.
• Meanwhile, the neighboring Feng Qiya Continent has captured and interrogated people from the Mortal Domain. Its leaders learn that the Mortal Domain controls the Eternal Night and New Continents. Judging the Mortal Domain stronger, they plan to return the captives and seek peace. The captured official who led the interrogation is marked as a possible scapegoat, depending on Chen Fan’s response.
• Chen Fan’s fleet reaches the disappearance site. A level-20 Watchtower’s Reveal the Hidden blessing exposes a vast, normally invisible continent, where buildings, cannons, and people are visible. Chen Fan tells his fleet to “say hello” first: a flying boat carrying a level-20 Heavenly Dao Cannon moves forward and aims at the concealed continent.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains pragmatic and forward-looking: he values strategic growth over short-term advantages, insists exploration is necessary, and responds calmly to the newly revealed threat.
• Wang Kui is energized by the Mortal Domain’s progress and hopes it will soon withstand major invasions. His question about avoiding exploration prompts Chen Fan’s ostrich-and-hyenas analogy and reinforces their disagreement over risk versus caution.
• Wang Mazi provides the warning that sets the confrontation in motion and guides Chen Fan to the missing boats’ location.
• In Feng Qiya, the Middle-Aged Man pleads that he should not be punished for his subordinates’ torture, while the blind Elder explains the leadership’s cautious strategy: preserve the continent’s future by avoiding a war it cannot afford.

Significant themes

• Preparation over complacency: Development and infrastructure matter because future enemies will be stronger.
• Exploration carries risk but cannot be avoided: Chen Fan argues that a continent must learn about its surroundings, even when doing so may provoke conflict.
• Strategic restraint versus confrontation: Feng Qiya favors negotiation to protect its long-term prospects, while Chen Fan’s fleet approaches the hidden continent with visible force.
• Growth through long-term investment: The armory blessing and hidden-objective rewards prioritize the Eternal Night Continent’s future strength and stability.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Feng Qiya Continent’s Counselors’ Pavilion debates how to respond after its Punishment Hall tortures captured members of the Mortal Domain. They expect negotiations and hope to avoid an expensive war.
• Chen Fan’s fleet instead deploys a Level-20 Heavenly Dao Cannon. He fires it into the sea—not at the continent—revealing Feng Qiya’s hidden landmass and demonstrating that the Mortal Domain is prepared to fight.
• Chen Fan demands the captives’ immediate return and an authoritative representative. Feng Qiya returns them, including the Slaying Immortal Holy Land Sacred Lord and his disciples, and offers the interrogator as a scapegoat.
• Chen Fan rejects Feng Qiya’s claim that the matter is settled. He demands five billion Eerie Stones and a Purple Grade Building Blueprint, threatening war if they refuse.
• Feng Qiya’s advisers estimate that attacking Chen Fan has little chance of success and that war would eliminate the continent’s prospects of advancement. Its lord accepts the payment demand and substitutes an unidentified Purple Grade Exotic Treasure for the blueprint.
• On the journey home, Chen Fan reassures the rescued members and asks them to report what they revealed under interrogation. He intends to use the captured interrogator to learn more about Feng Qiya and its methods of fighting Strange Entities.
• News of Chen Fan’s rescue spreads through the Mortal Domain, strengthening its members’ loyalty. Meanwhile, the former ruler of the Eyi Continent, Jiu Wu, follows the Mortal Domain’s growth and feels increasingly vindicated for his past decision.

Character developments

• Chen Fan shows himself to be both forceful and pragmatic: he avoids war when possible, but uses overwhelming resolve to protect his people and secure compensation. He views the cannon’s cost as an investment in the Mortal Domain’s reputation and morale.
• The Slaying Immortal Holy Land Sacred Lord and his followers earn Chen Fan’s respect by enduring torture without giving up information. The Sacred Lord, previously concerned with not appearing cowardly, is moved by Chen Fan’s willingness to spend heavily to save them and begins to feel genuine commitment to his leader.
• The other captives feel ashamed that they revealed information under torture, but Chen Fan tells them not to suffer needlessly in the future, assuring them that the Mortal Domain will rescue its people.
• The Feng Qiya Lord shifts from angry defiance to reluctant compromise after receiving his advisers’ assessment of the risks. His decision reflects his priority of protecting the continent’s development over personal pride.
• The interrogator, formerly a loyal official, sees his master offer him up as a scapegoat while Chen Fan spends a fortune to save his own subordinates. This contrast shatters his faith in Feng Qiya’s leadership.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and reciprocal protection: Chen Fan’s willingness to risk resources and war for his people strengthens their loyalty in return.
• Power as deterrence: The cannon’s shot is a warning rather than an attack, showing how force can compel negotiation without triggering full-scale war.
• Leadership and the value of people: Chen Fan treats his subordinates as worth protecting; Feng Qiya’s lord treats the interrogator as expendable.
• Pragmatism versus pride: Both sides face the costs of war, but Feng Qiya ultimately chooses survival and development over escalation.
• Public reputation and cohesion: The rescue becomes a widely shared story that boosts the Mortal Domain’s morale and sense of unity.

Character interactions

• Chen Fan confronts Feng Qiya’s representatives through the Message Talisman, refusing their attempt to declare the matter settled and bargaining firmly for reparations.
• His declaration that Mortal Domain members deserve protection profoundly affects the Sacred Lord and the other rescued captives.
• Chen Fan responds to the captives’ guilt with reassurance and practical instructions, while directing them to provide intelligence about what they disclosed.
• Feng Qiya’s advisers counsel restraint, and their risk assessment persuades its lord to accept Chen Fan’s terms.
• Chen Fan’s public example reaches beyond the rescued group: its circulation across the Mortal Domain deepens members’ trust in him, while Jiu Wu observes the Domain’s growing strength from afar.

Key plot points

• Zou Huang Jiuwu enjoys news of Mortal City’s victory over the Feng Qiya Continent, while his strategist, Old Strange Entity, reflects that their peaceful life is better than a new campaign of conquest.
• Feng Qiya’s lord accepts paying five billion eerie stones and a Purple Grade treasure rather than risk war. He plans to turn the humiliation into motivation to reach the third-level-continent stage.
• Feng Qiya officials make the payment deliberately inconvenient: the stones are all low-grade and too numerous for one flying boat to carry. Chen Fan refuses to send more ships or retaliate, instead leaving the stones where they are under a warning that any loss means war.
• Chen explains that this turns the awkward payment into an advantage: it gives Mortal Domain a standing, publicly understandable justification for war, a reason to visit Feng Qiya, and a chance to observe it. Feng Qiya’s lord, meanwhile, orders an investigation into officials and corruption after realizing the payment may expose deeper administrative problems.
• Back at New Continent, Chen questions a captured Feng Qiya intelligence officer. Disillusioned by his own continent’s willingness to use him as a scapegoat, the man breaks his oath and reveals extensive intelligence about Feng Qiya and nearby continents.
• The Slaying Immortal Holy Land Sacred Lord returns with the Purple Grade treasure. The defector says Feng Qiya considers it worthless, but Chen discovers through his system panel that it is valuable—turning Feng Qiya’s petty attempt to slight him into an unexpected windfall.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains calm and strategic under provocation. Rather than respond emotionally, he turns Feng Qiya’s stunt into political leverage and explains to his subordinates why legitimacy and public support matter in war.
• Crippled Monkey is furious about the inconvenient payment and urges retaliation; Chen’s reasoning helps him see the broader strategy. Lame Wolf initially thinks Mortal Domain has lost out, prompting Chen to explain the benefits.
• The captured officer shifts from defiant loyalty to openness and resentment. Chen’s contrast between Mortal Domain’s care for its members and Feng Qiya’s scapegoating breaks down his defenses; he ultimately praises Chen as “a perfect master” and shares everything he knows.
• The Slaying Immortal Holy Land Sacred Lord stays composed while Feng Qiya’s officials try to provoke him, following Chen’s instructions rather than giving them the reaction they want.
• Feng Qiya’s lord is pragmatic but increasingly alarmed: he avoids immediate war, then recognizes that the payment incident may reveal serious corruption and institutional weakness.

Significant themes

• Strategic restraint: avoiding an unnecessary fight can be more powerful than striking back.
• Legitimacy and morale: a credible justification for war can unify followers and make them fight without misgivings.
• Leadership and loyalty: Chen’s willingness to protect his people contrasts with Feng Qiya’s exploitation of its own, prompting the officer’s defection.
• Provocation and unintended consequences: Feng Qiya’s petty tactics give Chen leverage, intelligence, and a valuable treasure instead of weakening him.

Concise Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan identifies the miniature lion sculpture as Heavenly Lion, a Purple Grade Continent-Suppressing Treasure. He activates it on the Eternal Night Continent, where it anchors the continent’s fortune, ensures favorable weather, and prevents fortune from being stolen—including by Heavenly Dao Strange or Heaven-Stealing Cannons.
• The Middle-Aged Man, a former punishment-hall official who had tortured the Slaying Immortal Holy Land Sacred Lord, is still bound by an Oath Mark. Hoping to spare him, the Sacred Lord tests whether cutting off the marked hand will remove the curse, but the mark simply relocates. He ultimately kills the suffering man at his request.
• Chen Fan uses soil from other continents to upgrade the Individual Armory, unlocking two weapons: Soul Thunder, which explodes upon its owner’s death, and Soul-Summoning Banner, which can block a powerful cannon strike.
• A year after the Eternal Night War, the continent has developed substantially: currency is unified, transportation and infrastructure have expanded, schools have opened, and Eerie Ore deposits generated 70 billion eerie stones. Chen Fan’s annual report shows spending of roughly 73 billion, leaving reserves at 788.8 billion.
• Chen Fan remains concerned that the continent needs a dependable, high-yield source of eerie stones to finance defenses, exploration, and any future war. He also wonders why the Eternal Night Continent alone has a Thunderstorm Sea, suspecting it may be a prison, though he has no proof.
• An approaching visitor from another continent requests trade relations. The envoy offers a Purple Grade Insight Token, which can assess a faction’s overall circumstances. Its accompanying information explains that, with the Mortal Domain’s consent, a blueprint for its High-Speed Rail could appear in the world, replicating the rail’s effects without its usual materials and earning the Mortal Domain a special reward. Chen Fan welcomes the envoy for tea.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates foresight and practical leadership: he secures the continent’s fortune, invests in useful weapons, monitors the cost of development, and sees trade as a possible opportunity. His curiosity about the Thunderstorm Sea persists, but he prioritizes the more immediate need for reliable income.
• The Slaying Immortal Holy Land Sacred Lord shows compassion toward his former tormentor. Although he still resents the man, he recognizes his abandonment and suffering, attempts to free him from the Oath Mark, and honors his last request.
• The Middle-Aged Man faces his end without hope of escape, accepts the Sacred Lord’s kindness, and asks to die before his pain worsens.
• Mr. Na, the continent’s Heavenly Dao, celebrates the Heavenly Lion’s benefit to the Eternal Night Continent and imagines the possibilities of becoming a higher-level Heavenly Dao.
• Wang Kui gives Chen Fan a detailed account of the year’s development and finances, highlighting the scale and cost of the Mortal Domain’s expansion.
• The foreign envoy approaches openly and presents a valuable gift, establishing a potentially important first contact.

Significant themes

• Preparation and security: Chen Fan prefers to address threats before they arrive, from protecting the continent’s fortune to strengthening its defenses.
• Mercy and the end of resentment: The Sacred Lord’s final act shows how death and shared suffering can dissolve old grievances.
• Growth has a cost: Infrastructure, exploration, and defense fuel the continent’s progress but require immense resources.
• Exploration and uncertainty: The Thunderstorm Sea’s unexplained presence hints at a larger mystery, while the new trade contact opens another path for expansion.

• A goodwill visit becomes a trade agreement. Chen Fan welcomes a skeletal elder from the Dark Eerie Continent, a second-level continent north of Feng Qiya. The visitor explains that his people seek peaceful relations and trade, but his real priority is building goodwill before Mortal City’s expansion reaches them. He arrived partly because Feng Qiya had leaked the New Continent’s coordinates, apparently hoping another power would attack Mortal City.
• Chen Fan reassesses the danger from Feng Qiya. While the elder describes Dark Eerie’s trade goods, he mentions an “Installment Token” that lets a continent borrow against future resources to upgrade buildings—and face severe consequences if it cannot repay. Chen Fan realizes this could allow Feng Qiya to mobilize power quickly. Since both sides are already preparing for eventual conflict, he resolves not to underestimate its capabilities.
• The parties discover valuable goods to exchange. Chen Fan demonstrates an Earth-Digging Puppet, which the elder urgently wants for excavation and infrastructure. They agree on an initial order of 100. The price is based on Level-3 Eerie Stones, a higher denomination than Chen Fan first assumes; he realizes the misunderstanding makes the deal far more profitable and deliberately stays quiet about it.
• They arrange further trades. The elder offers Ghost-Stone Storage Bags—large-capacity bags that hold only Eerie Stones—in exchange for puppets, at a rate of ten bags per puppet. Chen Fan also sells Yellow Grade Faction Banners, which improve visibility, morale, and healing. The elder buys 10,000, apparently intending to resell them to another trading partner. Chen Fan suspects this but is content to earn his share.
• Character developments and interactions. Chen Fan shows growing confidence as a negotiator, carefully testing what the visitor’s continent can produce and using scarce technology to secure excellent terms. The elder is courteous and sincere about fostering goodwill, while also acting as a shrewd trader; he, too, believes he has negotiated well. Crippled Monkey watches their smiling exchange and privately sees two foxes sizing each other up.
• Outcome and themes. The elder departs with the banners, planning to arrange later collection of the puppets. Both sides leave satisfied, and Chen Fan warmly calls Dark Eerie a friendly continent. The chapter highlights diplomacy through trade, mutual benefit, strategic misdirection, the value of scarcity, and the danger of misjudging an opponent’s hidden resources.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan reflects on the carefully mapped Flying Boat routes connecting the New Continent and the Dark Eerie Continent. He sees the Dark Eerie Continent as a relatively friendly partner, with both sides exchanging strategic soil without payment.
• Outpost One is growing into the Mortal Domain’s planned logistics hub, where crops, Exotic Plants, and livestock will be developed.
• On the Feng Qiya Continent, Mortal Domain Shadow Pavilion agents arrive openly under the pretense of inspecting five billion eerie stones. The locals tolerate them rather than risk provoking the Mortal Domain into war. The agents use their visit to observe daily life and gather intelligence.
• Chen Fan studies the Purple-grade Insight Token, which can make faction technologies available to the wider world in exchange for rewards. He decides to release the Mortal Domain High-Speed Rail blueprint rather than risk another faction doing so first.
• Heaven and Earth grant him a level-one Black Abyss and one dark technology source point. The Black Abyss forms near Jiangbei, close to the Thunderstorm Sea’s protection, and can yield ten billion eerie stones when mined.
• Chen Fan spends his source point to unlock Resource Generation, which increases the chance of Eerie Ore mines forming naturally in Mortal Domain territory by 10%. He discovers the tree also contains powerful future upgrades, including accelerated plant growth, but further unlocks will require scarce source points.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan acts pragmatically: he accepts the risk of sharing the high-speed rail blueprint because keeping it exclusive offers little long-term advantage. He is excited by the power of the dark technology tree but concerned by how difficult its source points are to obtain.
• The Shadow Pavilion agents use their public uniforms and open conduct as protection, turning an apparent inspection into an intelligence-gathering operation.
• The Feng Qiya officials resent the agents but obey orders to avoid war, reflecting their government’s strict, centralized control.
• Mr. Na advises Chen Fan to place the Black Abyss near the Thunderstorm Sea and explains that dark technology source points can also come from the Primordial Continent fragment.
• Chen Fan and Mr. Na discuss the source points’ value: Mr. Na cautions that their usefulness depends on circumstances, while Chen Fan recognizes their potential to decide conflicts between factions.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and strategic exchange: Sharing resources and technology can support development, even amid competition.
• Intelligence and political pressure: The Mortal Domain gathers information openly, relying on the threat of retaliation rather than secrecy.
• Power and technological inequality: Dark technologies offer major faction-wide advantages, but their scarcity and unlock requirements could create decisive imbalances between continents.
• Pragmatism over exclusivity: Chen Fan chooses to share a useful technology before another faction can gain the advantage by doing so first.

Plot points and events

• Mr. Na explains that Dark Technology Source Points can be spent on powerful continent-wide enhancements, but only at rare overseas Islands that have a Dark Technology Tree. Chen Fan realizes these upgrades function like faction-wide buffs.
• Chen checks the Insight Token, which assesses the Mortal Domain’s condition. Its latest information says a special Heaven and Earth reward will come when the Domain has more than 10,000 newborn boys and girls each. Chen cannot complete the task yet, but considers the token worthwhile even if it yields only one Dark Technology Source Point.
• Over the next month, the Mortal Domain and Dark Eerie Continent establish a successful trade route. Chen discovers that a level-17 Life Workshop can produce Ghost-Stone Storage Bags, which the Domain had been buying from its trading partner. Upgrading the workshop to level 20 halves production costs, but Chen accepts the overpayment as a normal part of trade.
• Chen interprets the Dark Eerie Continent’s purchases as a way to assess the Mortal Domain’s development. The Feng Qiya Continent, meanwhile, is racing to reach the third level.
• Chen and Mr. Na visit a low-grade Black Abyss, where the Mortal Domain’s workers mine its fixed supply of ten billion Eerie Ore. Chen suggests using Weird Emperor Jiu Wu to generate Strange Entities for slaughter, but Mr. Na explains that the Abyss’s output cannot be increased and Jiu Wu would not cooperate.
• The Dark Eerie Continent’s leader reveals that it is actually inhabited by Giant Black Rats. Its people disguise themselves as humans to make trade easier and build their continent through peaceful commerce. They resell Earth-Digging Puppets to the Ratmost Continent, whose intelligent Hollow Rats rely on underground work.
• The Feng Qiya Lord learns of the Mortal Domain’s new trade relationship and abandons plans to undermine it, deciding instead to focus entirely on reaching the third level first.
• The Giant Black Rats’ leader orders an Exotic Beast Breeding House from the Mortal Domain, hoping it might help with their slow reproduction.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains practical and observant: he accepts that trade involves mutual profit, studies rivals’ development, and looks for ways to maximize resources, even when his schemes prove unworkable.
• Mr. Na acts as an adviser, clarifying the limits of Dark Technology upgrades and Black Abyss production while fielding Chen’s impatient questions.
• Little Qiu feels guilty for overlooking the Life Workshop upgrade and angry that the Dark Eerie Continent charged heavily for an item the Mortal Domain could make itself. Chen reassures her that both sides profit from trade.
• The Dark Eerie Continent’s leader, a Giant Black Rat posing as a skeletal human, is revealed as a shrewd but peace-oriented trader. He values commercial ties and hopes the breeding house can address his people’s demographic weakness.
• The Feng Qiya Lord shifts from covert hostility to open development competition, while remaining confident his continent will reach the next stage first.

Significant themes

• Trade as mutual benefit: Both sides profit from specialization, resale, and differing levels of development; neither party views earning a margin as wrongdoing.
• Development over sabotage: The Feng Qiya Lord concludes that advancement, not schemes, is the best path to power.
• Information and strategic competition: Workshop levels, purchases, and trade routes reveal how quickly rival continents are progressing.
• Limits of resource exploitation: Even clever plans cannot bypass fixed resource yields or the nature of Strange Entities.
• Identity and prejudice: The Giant Black Rats conceal their true form because they expect humans to be reluctant to trade with them.

Key events

• Devouring the Primordial Continent Fragment rewards Chen Fan with a dark technology source point. He spends it to activate Accelerated Growth, making crops in a designated area grow one hundred times faster.
• Chen Fan realizes source points can be traded, since many continents possess them but cannot use them without access to a Dark Technology Tree.
• He negotiates with the Dark Eerie Continent’s Rat Kingdom for its two source points, offering century spirit rice in exchange. Using intercepted Signal Tower transmissions, he learns the rats’ hidden identity and their need for spirit rice to extend their short lifespans.
• The Rat Kingdom agrees to provide the source points on credit. The Mortal Domain will deliver three tons of century spirit rice in a year—one ton per source point, plus one ton as compensation for the delay. Chen knows accelerated growth will allow the rice to mature in time.
• Half a month later, Chen activates the third available technology, Ammunition Consumption, which reduces ammunition use across his territory and stacks with an existing bonus. The technology tree’s economy, livelihood, and military branches become visible; the first military technology is an enhancement for the Sky-Piercing Pillar.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen shows himself to be strategic and opportunistic: he quickly sees how to turn a technology the Rat Kingdom does not understand into a valuable trade, while using intelligence gathering to gain leverage.
• The skeletal trade representative initially negotiates for the Rat Kingdom, then reveals his true form as an elderly rat. Chen’s calm reaction reassures him and helps establish trust.
• Both sides make concessions: the Rat Kingdom accepts delayed payment, while Chen commits to an additional ton of rice. Their successful agreement strengthens relations between the Mortal Domain and the Rat Kingdom.

Significant themes

• Practical value and exchange: An item’s worth depends on whether it can be used; the Rat Kingdom trades unfamiliar source points for something it needs.
• Technology as strategic advantage: Accelerated growth turns a one-year delay into a manageable obligation and enables rapid development.
• Trust and intelligence: Chen combines reputation-building with covert information gathering, while the Rat Kingdom’s willingness to extend credit signals growing confidence.
• Foundations of power: The technology tree’s economic, livelihood, and military branches show that strengthening a faction requires investment across multiple domains.