Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Jiu Wu establishes a seemingly permanent camp on One-Eyed Continent’s western coast, following Chen Fan’s plan after the original plan to secure the north and south fails. The One-Eyed Wraith King interprets the settlement as a sign that Jiu Wu intends to join his clan.
• At a welcome banquet, Jiu Wu secretly transmits the palace’s coordinates to the Mortal Domain. The One-Eyed Clan’s general asks him to delay rival forces while they seize another continent, but Jiu Wu feigns illness and leaves.
• The Mortal Domain launches a decapitation strike. Four nuclear-armed Sky-Piercing Pillars destroy the palace and kill the Wraith King and his commanders; additional strikes clear the Northern Region’s coast.
• A new “Vanguard Sky-Piercing Pillar” deploys a small teleportation formation, letting the Logistics Pavilion and supplies reach the coast quickly. Sky-Swallowing Crocodiles transport bulky materials, and the team rapidly builds thirty Heavenly Dao Cannons.
• Jiu Wu holds back the disorganized enemy forces while the cannons are installed. One volley then sweeps across the continent, destroying the Strange Entity forces and effectively flattening the land.
• The Mortal Domain begins collecting spoils. Keke, eager to help, is redirected from costly teleportation trips to collecting Eerie Stones with a Pick-Up Sculpture.
• Meanwhile, the Logistics Pavilion carries out a contingency plan on Provocateur Continent: building a house twenty thousand kilometers above the ground. Its inhabitants will be unreachable by Strange Entities, preventing the continent from being fully occupied.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiu Wu successfully follows Chen Fan’s strategy, then discovers that he still enjoys warfare—but only when fighting with a clear advantage and coordinated support. He is increasingly comfortable fighting alongside the Mortal Domain.
• Chen Fan remains focused on speed, secrecy, and decisive victory. He rejects publicity for the Vanguard Pillar, recognizing it as a weapon that must remain confidential.
• The One-Eyed Wraith King welcomes Jiu Wu as family but misreads his intentions; his trust leaves him vulnerable to the strike.
• Keke shows enthusiasm and a desire to contribute, while Chen Fan gently reins in the little crocodile’s inefficient efforts and gives it a manageable task.
• Logistics Pavilion members recognize their own role as frontline combatants, not merely support staff. Their confidence and pride grow as they help execute the victory.

Significant themes

• Preparation and coordination: The victory depends on extensive rehearsals, planning, logistics, and cooperation—not just overwhelming weapons.
• Deception and strategic intelligence: Jiu Wu’s apparent loyalty and the hidden positioning signal make the surprise attack possible.
• Power and the cost of war: The Mortal Domain wins decisively, but spends enormous resources, accepting a financial loss to eliminate a future threat.
• Belonging and shared achievement: Repeatedly creating victories gives the Logistics Pavilion members pride and a sense of belonging.
• Contingency and survival: The high-altitude refuge reflects the Mortal Domain’s effort to protect its territory through unconventional solutions.

Concise Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After wiping out every strange entity on the One-Eyed Continent, Chen Fan orders his forces to leave a team behind to inventory the spoils and move quickly against the Dark Star Clan before they can prepare.
• On the Provocateur Continent, he inspects a high-altitude prison platform suspended 20,000 kilometers above the ground. Seventeen prisoners are serving thirty-year sentences for crimes including fraud, attempted theft of examination papers, and stealing and selling rare materials from the Mortal Domain’s stores. Prisoners will be assigned useful work, while guards rotate in shifts.
• Chen Fan visits Rugged Island, where the Mortal Domain’s “Ten-Thousand Graves Project” is expanding its burial capacity to an estimated 1.7 million graves across ninety-nine layers. The surface level will be landscaped for honored members and leaders; a lavish central grave has been reserved for Chen Fan himself.
• Tests show that bodies buried underground on the island can emit ghostly lights, while bodies placed in aboveground buildings do not gain the same effect. Zhang Taiping’s body produces unusual yellow-grade golden light, suggesting a possible beneficial change, though he has not revived.
• Chen Fan completes a defensive wall around Rugged Island and encourages the project supervisor, emphasizing that ordinary, capable members are the foundation of a strong faction.
• Chen learns that the Provocateur Continent’s spoils include five dark technology source points. He plans to unlock Watchtower Mutation, which greatly expands detection range and guides Sky-Piercing Pillars. He also considers supporting weaker continents in exchange for their future source points.
• Rather than hear the loot report immediately, Chen asks Wang Kui to report at Nameless Mountain so he can first bathe and burn incense—eagerly anticipating the five source points.

Character developments

• Chen Fan remains pragmatic and strategically minded, while showing a more reflective side: he accepts that his life is finite and jokes about the grave prepared for him. He also reveals a playful, self-deceiving excitement about receiving resources he already expects.
• Crippled Monkey demonstrates careful oversight of law enforcement and prison operations, while reminding Chen Fan that he had approved the grave project without reviewing its details.
• The Logistics Pavilion supervisor gains confidence after Chen Fan personally praises his work, illustrating the value Chen places on developing ordinary talent.
• The prisoners represent varied abuses of opportunity, from exploiting the Mortal Domain’s reputation for profit to betraying responsibilities entrusted to them.

Significant themes

• Security through organization: Identification systems, law enforcement, and clear procedures are presented as essential to social stability.
• Practical rehabilitation and contribution: Even prisoners are expected to perform useful work rather than remain idle.
• The foundations of leadership: Chen Fan argues that a faction depends on trainable, reliable ordinary members as much as—or more than—rare geniuses.
• Mortality and legacy: The elaborate grave project prompts Chen Fan to acknowledge that even long-lived people eventually die, and to wonder whether the Mortal Domain will endure.
• Strategic competition: The campaign against rival clans, investment in air defense, and pursuit of dark technology all reflect the Mortal Domain’s drive to strengthen its position.

Character interactions

• Chen Fan questions Crippled Monkey about the prisoners’ crimes, briefly considers whether the old thief deserves leniency, then rejects it after learning the theft was driven by gambling.
• He treats the prison guards courteously, thanking them for difficult work, and encourages the Rugged Island supervisor with personal praise.
• When the supervisor explains that the central grave is meant for Chen Fan, Crippled Monkey jokingly accuses him of wishing the Domain Lord dead; Chen Fan responds calmly and humorously.
• Chen discusses acquiring dark technology source points with Crippled Monkey, who points out the financial and political risks of relying on weaker continents.
• Wang Kui arrives to report the completed inventory, but Chen Fan delays him until he is ready to receive the anticipated rewards.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan reviews the Mortal Domain’s postwar assets. The Provocateur Continent yielded 102.8 billion eerie stones; after expenses, gifts, and earlier spending, the Mortal Domain now has 161.8 billion available eerie stones, safely above Chen Fan’s 100-billion reserve threshold.
• Among the captured exotic treasures is a rare Purple Grade Heavenly Derivation Formation blueprint. Its role is to link faction buildings and provide real-time information. Chen Fan builds it in the Strategist Pavilion, upgrades it to Level 20, and connects 470,000 structures, including buildings, defenses, and transportation networks.
• The Formation displays a detailed map of the Mortal Domain and nearby regions, tracks structures and their condition, and can show the location of moving entities. Its Level 20 effect also reveals that it is part of a set with the Heavenly Derivation Sand Table: visiting the Fallen Firmament could yield the Eye of Heavenly Derivation.
• Chen Fan uses a Heavenly Dao Stone on the Formation and chooses to reserve the third blessing option, Soul of Heavenly Derivation, for when the set is activated, rather than take increased capacity or exclusive control.
• Recognizing that the Formation exposes sensitive information, Chen Fan orders background checks on Strategist Pavilion members and has the Shadow Pavilion monitor them. He still grants the department broad access, trusting its members while safeguarding against leaks.
• The Strategist Pavilion tests the system by launching a Level-1 Sky-Piercing Pillar. The Formation tracks its flight and permits small midflight course adjustments—an important improvement over the previous system.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan moves from satisfaction at the Mortal Domain’s financial gains to excitement over its new command-and-information infrastructure. He balances trust in the Strategist Pavilion with caution about the risks of centralized intelligence.
• Wang Kui delivers the asset report and is asked to gather research on the Fallen Firmament.
• Long Live, the Strategist Pavilion Master, recognizes the responsibility that comes with access to the Mortal Domain’s secrets. He reminds his members that they were trusted and calls on them to protect that trust.
• The Strategist Pavilion members affirm their commitment, explaining that they joined to serve the Mortal Domain and secure a peaceful future for their descendants.
• Crippled Monkey accepts Chen Fan’s orders to investigate and monitor the Strategist Pavilion.

Significant themes

• Power and preparedness: The Mortal Domain’s large reserves make it better equipped for future conflict, while the new Formation improves coordination and response.
• Trust versus security: Chen Fan gives newcomers access to highly sensitive information but pairs that trust with surveillance and background checks.
• Technology and organization: The Formation’s value lies not in direct combat, but in connecting scattered infrastructure, speeding up information flow, and enabling coordinated action.
• Growth and future ambition: The Heavenly Derivation set points toward the Fallen Firmament and a stronger command system, while the Formation’s tracking and control capabilities open new possibilities for defense and logistics.

Key plot points and events

• The Strategist Pavilion tests a Level-1 Sky-Piercing Pillar and learns its true range is only about 100,000 kilometers, not the advertised one million. Long Live proposes testing a Level-20 pillar with a nuclear warhead, but Chen Fan refuses: its flight could draw the attention of a powerful third-level continent.
• Chen Fan reviews the spoils from the Provocateur Continent: four dark technology source points, several Purple Grade treasures, and building blueprints. Among the treasures are an Exotic Beast Core and a Sky-Piercing Vine, which he recognizes as a conventional tool for exploring the Fallen Firmament.
• He upgrades the Exotic Beast Breeding Houses to level 20. Their new effect further increases breeding rates, and he intends to give the Exotic Beast Core to Weiwei.
• Chen Fan spends dark technology points to unlock Watchtower Mutation, extending watchtowers’ precise detection range to 1,000 kilometers and enabling them to track and guide Sky-Piercing Pillars. He also unlocks Black Tortoise Mutation, which turns the cannons’ previously illusory, lock-on tortoises into physical armored units capable of carrying defensive structures and healing from earth energy.
• A further technology, Mutated Heavenly Dao Cannon, would halve firing costs and add another blessing effect, but Chen Fan lacks enough source points to activate it.
• The Strategist Pavilion plans its next campaign against the Dark Star and Heaven-Slaying Clans. The Dark Star Continent seems relatively easy to seize, but the Heaven-Slaying Continent’s sea-urchin shape would require 276 Heavenly Dao Cannons deployed across 108 locations—a prohibitively costly and difficult operation.
• Strategists debate ways to defeat the Heaven-Slaying Clan, including luring it to a prepared battlefield or weakening its unusual continent. Long Live begins forming a workable plan and goes to brief Chen Fan.
• Meanwhile, Weird Emperor Jiu Wu reaches the Dark Star Continent and reacts with stunned confusion.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates strategic caution, refusing an expensive weapons test because its visibility could expose the Mortal Domain to stronger powers. He remains pragmatic about new technology: he activates Black Tortoise Mutation despite not understanding its purpose, then evaluates the resulting armored units as possible ground-force assets.
• Long Live is shown to be capable and creative, but initially overlooks broader geopolitical consequences. Chen Fan corrects him, prompting Long Live to reconsider; later, he leads the strategic discussion and develops a promising approach to the Heaven-Slaying Clan.
• Wang Kui reports the campaign’s recovered goods and lightly flatters Chen Fan, who dismisses the praise and lets him continue.
• The Strategist Pavilion members grow more willing to offer bold ideas after Long Live encourages open discussion. Their debate shows both the scale of the military challenge and a collaborative shift toward unconventional tactics.
• Chen Fan’s planned gift of the Exotic Beast Core to Weiwei reflects his continued investment in strengthening the domain’s exotic beasts.

Significant themes

• Strategic foresight over immediate gain: Testing a powerful weapon may provide useful data, but revealing it could invite a dangerous rival.
• Technological adaptation: New discoveries expand the Mortal Domain’s surveillance, weapon guidance, and potential ground-force capabilities.
• The cost and limits of power: Heavenly Dao Cannons are formidable but extremely expensive, and an enemy’s terrain can make their use impractical.
• Collective problem-solving: The Strategist Pavilion tackles an unprecedented challenge by encouraging many ideas rather than relying on one standard tactic.
• Growth through setbacks: Long Live’s early oversight becomes an opportunity to learn, while the Mortal Domain’s military planning evolves in response to new information.

Plot

• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu arrives on the Dark Star Continent seeking refuge, only to find that the Heaven-Slaying Clan has just defeated the Dark Star Clan. Mistaken for an enemy reinforcement, he quickly kneels and declares his allegiance.
• He explains that he had originally meant to seek protection from the Dark Star Clan because he feared the growing Mortal Domain. The Heaven-Slaying Clan’s Wraith Venerable accepts him, partly because the clan has suffered losses and can use his followers.
• The Wraith Venerable reveals that the Heaven-Slaying Clan attacked out of revenge for an earlier defeat by the Dark Star Continent in the War Mire—and to prevent the Dark Star Clan from claiming the now-vacant Feng Qiya Continent, which could help the Heaven-Slaying Clan regain third-level status.
• Jiu Wu is assigned to camp on the Dark Star Continent’s northern coast, rather than share the central territory. He accepts, privately relieved that he was not being tested, and prepares to aid the Mortal Domain.
• Meanwhile, Chen Fan approves a plan to ambush the Heaven-Slaying Clan on the Provocateur Continent. Before it can be carried out, Jiu Wu reports that the Heaven-Slaying Clan has already destroyed the Dark Star Clan and plans to move toward Feng Qiya. The Mortal Domain changes course and mobilizes to attack the Heaven-Slaying Clan’s forces on the northern coast.
• Jiu Wu assembles a teleportation formation and receives the Mortal Domain’s orders: secure the coast and cover its Heavenly Dao Cannon deployment.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiu Wu shifts from a frightened opportunist seeking protection to a covert, committed ally of the Mortal Domain. His terror and longing for a quiet life remain, but he follows through on his dangerous assignment.
• The Heaven-Slaying Wraith Venerable is pragmatic and self-interested: he welcomes Jiu Wu for the strength his followers add, but refuses to share the conquered territory. His account of the War Mire also reveals lingering resentment and a desire to reclaim his clan’s former status.
• Chen Fan remains measured and strategic, adapting the Mortal Domain’s plans as new intelligence arrives and emphasizing caution and zero casualties.
• Their interactions turn on shifting loyalties: Jiu Wu convinces the Heaven-Slaying Clan he is useful, then secretly coordinates with the Mortal Domain, whose personnel arrive through his formation.

Significant themes

• Survival and opportunism: Jiu Wu navigates rival powers by adapting quickly and presenting himself as useful.
• Ambition and revenge: The Heaven-Slaying Clan’s assault is driven by both old grievances and the opportunity to regain status.
• Preparation and intelligence: Drills, coded communications, and contingency planning let the Mortal Domain respond quickly to events.
• The cost of war: The chapter contrasts the clans’ appetite for conquest with Chen Fan’s hope that the Mortal Domain can win without losing anyone.

Key plot points and events

• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu secretly brings a Mortal Domain operative into his camp and gives them authority to command his Strange Entities. Mortal Domain forces then teleport in and rapidly establish a cannon network on the Dark Star Continent.
• While a Heaven-Slaying Clan Ghost Emperor, Seven Emperor, is distracted with wine, Jiu Wu challenges his assumptions about Strange Entity life: they need not exist only to conquer and die; they can farm, build homes, and pursue ordinary pleasures.
• Seven Emperor reveals his personal name, Xiangyang, and chooses not to warn his boss. He joins Jiu Wu in seeking refuge with the Mortal Domain.
• Chen Fan orders the final phase of the operation. Linked Heavenly Dao Cannons strike the Heaven-Slaying Clan, annihilating it before it can respond. Mortal Domain troops begin clearing the captured territories and preparing them for occupation.
• Jiu Wu takes Xiangyang and his Strange Tide back toward the Huyi Continent, promising to introduce him to the Retirement Clan’s farming, homes, and brewing.
• The Mortal Domain begins exploiting the three captured continents for resources and Golden Rain, which can extend its members’ lives and heal injuries.
• The Mortal Domain publicizes the destruction of the One-Eyed, Heaven-Slaying, and Dark Star Clans. Other Continent Lords are stunned by the speed and scale of the victory, and begin to view the Mortal Domain as a threat to everyone beyond its own borders.

Character developments

• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu proves both a capable strategist and an advocate for a different future for Strange Entities. He risks recruiting Xiangyang because he sees him as a potential ally in building a more humane society.
• Xiangyang, formerly defined by his rank and the Heaven-Slaying Clan’s ambitions, begins to question the purpose of endless conquest. He claims a name of his own and chooses a life beyond the clan.
• Chen Fan remains calm and decisive, treating Xiangyang’s defection pragmatically while continuing the campaign and expansion.
• Hao Mao and the Sahara Continent Lord recognize that the Mortal Domain’s power and strategic ambition are difficult to predict—and that “Long Live,” its strategist, is a formidable planner.

Significant themes

• Life beyond violence: Jiu Wu argues that survival and advancement are not enough; Strange Entities deserve homes, names, work, and dreams.
• Production versus destruction: Farming and brewing represent the possibility of building a lasting society rather than living as conquerors who abandon every land they take.
• Names and identity: Xiangyang’s choice of a personal name marks his break from a hierarchy that treated individuals as interchangeable ranks.
• Power, security, and preemptive war: The Mortal Domain presents its strikes as necessary to prevent future threats, while its scale of aggression unsettles neighboring powers.
• Hope and longevity: Chen Fan’s goal is for Mortal Domain members to live long enough to witness the spread of their power—and, ultimately, the end of darkness.

Character interactions

• Jiu Wu uses hospitality, wine, and intimate conversation to draw Seven Emperor into questioning his beliefs; their exchange turns a guarded enemy representative into Xiangyang, a willing defector.
• Chen Fan accepts Jiu Wu’s request to bring Xiangyang into the Retirement Clan, but immediately returns attention to military operations.
• Jiu Wu reassures Xiangyang that he is going home to a community where he can learn to farm and live for more than battle.
• The Mortal Domain’s victory report prompts other Continent Lords to debate how the campaign was executed and what the Mortal Domain may do next.

Key plot points and events

• After celebrating a casualty-free victory over three near-Third-Level Strange Entity Clans, Chen Fan orders the next preventive campaign: identify and eliminate clans that need two more continents to reach the Third Level. Long Live is tasked with producing a battle plan within a month, named “Pulling the Firewood from Beneath the Cauldron.”
• Chen Fan also approves more staff for the Logistics and Commerce Pavilions and directs the training of junior administrators. The new campaign serves both to remove future threats and to gain territory and Eerie Stones.
• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu returns to the Huyi Continent with Ghost Emperor Xiangyang, where they find new housing built for Strange Entities. Jiu Wu explains the Mortal Domain’s system of rotating continental occupation to collect Eerie Stones, and shares the Black Abyss coordinates of the Heaven-Slaying and Dark Star Clans.
• Xiangyang reads the Mortal Domain’s history and newspapers, learning how quickly the faction rose and why Jiu Wu is loyal to it. Jiu Wu proudly presents his connection to the Domain, though the history’s description of him as being “taken in as a dog” embarrasses him.
• The One-Eyed Continent is being cleared and inventoried. Tiny Keke is accidentally left behind, hauling an oversized collection device through an already-cleared wasteland without food or water.
• Weiwei eats a Red Grade Exotic Beast Core and falls into a hibernation-like state as he begins to evolve. His parents are awaiting the birth of their young, while Sky-Swallowing Crocodiles are recognized as strategically useful for long-distance transport.
• The Mortal Domain learns that the Dupeng Continent has claimed Plum Blossom Island, apparently a former Rare Island belonging to the destroyed Feng Qiya Continent. Chen Fan calls all Second-Level Continents to a meeting on Dupeng in three days. Dupeng’s lord realizes the meeting is a warning and resigns himself to losing the island.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains relentlessly cautious: even victory does not satisfy him while potential enemies could still grow stronger. His strategy combines preemptive warfare, territorial expansion, and resource acquisition.
• Long Live shifts immediately from celebrating victory to preparing the next campaign, showing his willingness to follow Chen Fan’s demanding plans.
• Jiu Wu is a committed and enthusiastic ally. He provides valuable intelligence, welcomes Xiangyang into his household, and teaches him about the Mortal Domain. His pride in his place in its history is tempered by embarrassment over how that history labels him.
• Xiangyang moves from bewilderment at the Mortal Domain’s power to understanding why resistance seems futile. His brief hope that his clan might advance ahead of the Mortal Domain is quickly corrected by Jiu Wu.
• The Dupeng Continent’s lord goes from triumph at claiming Plum Blossom Island to recognizing that the Mortal Domain has noticed and is exerting pressure.
• Keke’s isolated, exhausting labor contrasts with the orderly operations around her: the others have forgotten she is still working alone.

Significant themes

• Preventive power and security: Chen Fan treats possible future threats as dangers that must be removed before they mature.
• Expansion through systems and cooperation: Occupation rotations, resource extraction, transport networks, and administrative growth turn military success into sustained power.
• Loyalty shaped by history and opportunity: Xiangyang’s reading of the Mortal Domain’s rise helps explain Jiu Wu’s allegiance and his own growing acceptance of the faction.
• The cost of efficiency and oversight: While the Mortal Domain’s organization advances, Keke is overlooked, revealing how individuals can disappear within large-scale operations.
• Power and quiet coercion: The meeting on Dupeng is presented as an ostensibly collective gathering but functions as a pointed warning over Plum Blossom Island.

Chapter Summary: “The Mortal Domain Alliance”

• Chen Fan convenes the Heaven-Questioning Sea Conference on Dupeng Continent, gathering the sea’s twelve Continent Lords. He names the sea the Heaven-Questioning Sea and frames the meeting around cooperation against the Strange Entity threat.
• He announces that the Mortal Domain has destroyed three powerful Strange Entity Clans—the Dark Star, Heaven-Slaying, and One-Eyed Clans—and asks the other continents to share the military costs. The Continent Lords each contribute five billion Eerie Stones, bringing the total to 60 billion.
• Chen Fan then proposes a second campaign against weaker Strange Entity Clans. The Lords agree to another 60 billion Eerie Stones, giving the Mortal Domain 120 billion in total.
• He asks to borrow their dark technology source points. The unusually eager Lord of Good Cat Continent donates four; the others contribute what they have. The meeting yields 27 points, with a further five potentially obtainable if certain continents complete their hidden Heavenly Dao blessings.
• Chen Fan assigns practical tasks to help the continents complete those blessings: Hei Hao will help five continents increase trade turnover; two Lords must hold fair Imperial Examinations; others are urged to develop cultural achievements or explore rare Islands. He also asks them not to advance to third-level status for two years—an indirect hint that the Eternal Night Continent expects to advance itself by then.
• Good Cat Continent proposes a formal alliance, with stable trade and communication routes and eventual mutual support in the War Mire. Chen Fan agrees, revealing that the Mortal Domain is already digging seabed tunnels to connect the continents.
• After the conference, Chen Fan claims the rare Island near Dupeng for the Mortal Domain’s plan, then returns home. With 28 dark technology source points available, he activates the Mutated Heavenly Dao Cannon, which halves firing costs and adds a Heavenly Dao blessing effect.
• The Mortal Domain expands its preparations: Earth-Digging Puppets build undersea routes, while flying boats map deep-sea Strange Entities as future targets.
• The chapter ends on a sudden horror turn. A shipment of Mortal Domain flying boats reaches the allied Despair Continent, but their crews are bloodied, smiling unnaturally, and apparently possessed. King Zhangba is infected or overtaken as the eerie figures turn on him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates political confidence and strategic opportunism: he converts military victories into funding, technology, influence, and an emerging alliance. He is also openly commanding, distributing tasks and claiming resources with little consultation.
• The Good Cat Continent Lord repeatedly speaks first, endorses Chen Fan’s proposals, donates four source points, and suggests a formal alliance. His eagerness reflects his belief that the Mortal Domain is effectively a third-level power.
• Hei Hao, Lord of Dark Eerie Continent, accepts Chen Fan’s instructions and offers six source points despite having bought them at great expense, illustrating how power shapes “trade.”
• Other Continent Lords are wary but compliant. They recognize the benefits of the Mortal Domain’s campaigns and backing, while the Dupeng Lord privately resents Chen Fan’s unilateral control over the rare Island.
• Wang Kui records the contributions and helps coordinate the conference’s results; the Mortal Domain historian later records the meeting as cordial and successful, underscoring the gap between official language and its coercive undertones.

Significant themes

• Power as the basis of cooperation: the Lords’ “consensus” is shaped by the Mortal Domain’s strength and recent victories.
• Security through unity: pooled funds, shared intelligence, trade routes, and a proposed alliance offer protection against Strange Entities.
• Pragmatism and control: Chen Fan focuses on useful results—resources, technology, infrastructure, and readiness—regardless of whether others experience his methods as persuasion or pressure.
• The fragility of safety: just as the alliance begins to take shape, the infected flying-boat crews reveal that the Strange Entity threat can strike through trusted trade and communication networks.

Key plot points and events

• On the Despair Continent, King Zhangba emerges from his Flying Boat wearing an eerie smile. His men lose consciousness, then spread the same infection through an open defense line. The infection overwhelms the Western Region Strange-Suppression Defense Line No. 6, leaving hundreds of thousands of people moving inland in eerie silence.
• At the Northbank Defense Line, Chen Fan unlocks Psionic Cannon Alteration and builds a level-20 Psionic Cannon. It can harm incorporeal and illusory Strange Entities, and successfully shatters an Illusory Black Tortoise—though it cannot damage Chen Fan’s more advanced Phantom Copper Pipes.
• Chen Fan chooses a blessing that doubles the cannon’s damage to illusory entities, and gives the Heavenly Dao Cannon a rapid-deployment ability. He also builds a level-20 Dark Watchtower, which can reveal incorporeal entities and intimidate Strange Entities, but cannot accept Heavenly Dao Stones.
• The new defenses make Chen Fan uneasy: such specialized buildings suggest that invisible, intangible threats exist and may be especially dangerous to lower-level continents. His central motivation remains protecting himself and his people.
• Chen Fan spends dark technology source points on upgrades for the Mysterious Heaven Propeller and continental durability, then reaches the limit of the military technology branch until the Mortal Domain advances to a third-level continent.
• Mr. Na reveals that the Supreme Heavenly Dao noticed the Mortal Domain’s unusually high spending of dark technology points. It investigates because the points are limited and the Mortal Domain’s rapid growth is exceptional. Chen Fan’s control over twelve subordinate second-level continents—and their contributions—explains the unusual pool, though he keeps the source of his access secret.
• The following day, reports of hauntings prompt the Logistics Pavilion to install Dark Watchtowers. None detect anything, and most reported “water monkey” sightings appear to be drownings or rumors.
• The mood shifts when Wang Mazi reports that a supply caravan sent to the Despair Continent has vanished, along with contact with the local liaison. The crew’s Life Tablets remain intact. Chen Fan suspects a trap and orders caution; Long Live proposes testing the situation with Sky-Piercing Pillars carrying nuclear warheads.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan continues expanding his defenses methodically, but the prospect of threats that can bypass ordinary weapons and fortifications deepens his anxiety. He also shows caution when the caravan disappears, resisting an impulsive investigation.
• Wang Kui quietly manages Chen Fan’s workload, reminding his staff to keep the Domain Lord on top of unfinished tasks.
• Mr. Na explains the Supreme Heavenly Dao’s inquiry and marvels at Chen Fan’s rapid rise. Their exchange highlights how unusual Chen Fan’s power and political control are.
• Long Live offers a blunt, forceful response to the missing caravan, while Chen Fan weighs the risks.
• King Zhangba appears to become the carrier or trigger of the mass infection on the Despair Continent.

Significant themes

• Security versus danger: Chen Fan’s desire for safety drives both his defensive preparations and his repeated involvement in conflict.
• Unseen threats and escalating stakes: Specialized anti-illusion defenses imply enemies capable of bypassing conventional protections.
• Power and exceptional growth: The Mortal Domain’s success attracts scrutiny because it exceeds what a second-level continent should normally achieve.
• Caution amid uncertainty: The vanished caravan leaves open whether the danger comes from the Despair Continent, rival powers, or Strange Entities.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan tests the Despair Continent’s silence by firing a nuclear-armed Sky-Piercing Pillar into an uninhabited area. When no one responds, he suspects the continent has fallen and sends for Weird Emperor Jiu Wu.
• Chen Fan asks Jiu Wu and his clan to investigate because Jiu Wu can resurrect dead Strange Entities. He also revises Jiu Wu’s entry in the Mortal Domain’s history book—from calling him a “dog” to calling him an ally.
• A timid Doppelganger Wraith teleports to the Despair Continent and finds crowds of eerily smiling, bloodied humans. It dies almost immediately, then is resurrected and reports what it saw. Chen Fan dispatches scouts to cities and defense lines across the continent.
• The reports reveal that the humans are the only inhabitants—and appear to be under the influence of a Strange Entity. Chen Fan consults the Heaven-Questioning Bell, which identifies the culprit as a Ghost Emperor Heart-Eating Wraith. Its victims lose consciousness, become contagious, and cannot be saved; eye contact spreads the effect.
• When Mortal Domain members’ Life Tablets begin shattering sooner than expected, Chen realizes the enemy is deliberately targeting his people. He orders Jiu Wu to capture the Heart-Eating Wraith alive.
• Jiu Wu and his Ghost Emperor subordinates reach the Despair Continent, where the affected humans swarm them. Ghost Emperor Xiangyang locates the enemy near the shore.
• The Heart-Eating Wraith, Greed, recognizes Jiu Wu’s rare innate dark sacred physique and offers him leadership of the Wasteland Clan, a Level-3 Strange Entity Clan. Xiangyang urges Jiu Wu to abandon the Mortal Domain and seize the chance to rule.
• Jiu Wu rejects the offer, captures Greed, and chooses to return to the Mortal Domain. Xiangyang, devastated by the decision, remains behind as Jiu Wu invites him to come home.

Character developments

• Chen Fan shifts from cautious suspicion to decisive action as evidence mounts that the Despair Continent is under attack. He recognizes that Jiu Wu’s rare power may tempt him away, but chooses to trust him and calls him a friend.
• Jiu Wu moves from obedient subordinate to a trusted ally who consciously reaffirms his loyalty. When offered power and status, he chooses his bond with Chen Fan and the Mortal Domain over ambition.
• Xiangyang is tempted by the prospect of serving an Innate Dark Monarch and conquering the world. His reaction reveals a clash between his ambitions and Jiu Wu’s commitment to their new home.
• Greed is driven by the chance to secure Jiu Wu as a powerful leader, but underestimates the loyalty Jiu Wu expects from followers.

Significant themes

• Loyalty versus ambition: Jiu Wu’s decision tests whether loyalty can withstand an extraordinary offer of power.
• Trust amid uncertainty: Chen knows Jiu Wu could become a threat, yet chooses to trust him rather than preemptively control or eliminate him.
• Home and belonging: Jiu Wu rejects the fantasy of world conquest in favor of the friends and family he has found in the Mortal Domain.
• The human cost of conflict: The Heart-Eating Wraith’s victims are trapped in a contagious, irreversible state, turning ordinary humans into both casualties and apparent threats.
• Power and responsibility: Jiu Wu’s rare physique could make him a ruler, but the chapter emphasizes the choices—and loyalties—that define how power is used.

Character interactions

• Chen’s private conversation with Jiu Wu establishes a frank, vulnerable bond: he admits his fears, explains the danger, and asks for Jiu Wu’s help without disguising the risk.
• Jiu Wu answers Chen’s trust with a renewed promise of loyalty, then acts on it by leading the investigation and resisting Greed’s recruitment.
• Xiangyang’s pleading contrasts with Jiu Wu’s resolve, exposing their different ideas of freedom: Xiangyang sees power and conquest, while Jiu Wu sees loyalty and home.
• Jiu Wu’s rejection of Greed is grounded in his belief that a group willing to betray its current leader for a stronger one cannot be trusted—and that the Mortal Domain’s relationship with him is an alliance, not servitude.

Plot points and events

• Chen Fan surveys the coast with Crippled Monkey and asks about cultural growth on the Eternal Night Continent. He urges the Publicity Pavilion to promote music and arrange cultural exchange with the Good Cat Continent once the undersea tunnel is complete.
• Weird Emperor Jiu Wu returns with the Heart-Eating Wraith captured alive. The Wraith had destroyed every human on the Despair Continent in a single day. Chen Fan orders Crippled Monkey to interrogate it thoroughly and uncover its origins, motives, and knowledge of the Mortal Domain.
• Rather than focus on the prisoner, Chen Fan welcomes Jiu Wu back and formally brings him into the Mortal Domain, promising resources, status, and support. Jiu Wu admits he was not tempted by the Wraith’s offer to become a Dark Monarch. Chen Fan also promises to establish a Jiu Wu Pavilion and provide uniforms; Jiu Wu is moved enough to kneel and plead for them.
• Wang Kui explains that Chen Fan’s cheerful demeanor masks deep insecurity. Chen fears unpredictable threats and, especially, betrayal; the sudden appearance of a Level-3 Strange Entity Clan has made him anxious about the future. He has resolved to destroy the Wasteland Clan within two years if necessary.
• Jiu Wu’s subordinate Xiangyang receives a formal Mortal Domain identity token, salary, and custom uniforms. This practical welcome helps him understand the loyalty and belonging the Mortal Domain offers.
• Zhou Mo arrives to report that the War Pavilion has uncovered the real organizers of rumors intended to undermine loyalty. But he cannot immediately return to the Mortal Domain: the Finance Pavilion’s new rules limit cross-continent teleportation trips, and he has used his daily allowance.
• Frustrated by the restrictions and feeling overlooked, Zhou Mo eventually pays to return and tearfully asks Chen Fan to let him resign. Chen Fan takes him to Finance Pavilion Master Tian Ce, argues that three trips a day are too few for a veteran Pavilion Master, and secures Zhou Mo a fifty-trip allowance—the same as Wang Kui’s.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan reveals a more vulnerable side beneath his authority: he fears instability and betrayal, yet answers that fear by strengthening the Mortal Domain and protecting those loyal to him. His warm, teasing treatment of Jiu Wu and Zhou Mo shows how much he values old comrades.
• Jiu Wu proves his loyalty by resisting the Wraith’s promises and returning with it captured. Chen’s welcome gives him an official place and status, while Jiu Wu’s delight over clothing and a pavilion underscores his desire for recognition and belonging.
• Crippled Monkey remains Chen’s closest, steadfast companion, though he struggles to understand Chen’s hidden fears. He handles the interrogation and reacts with concern when Chen’s mood shifts.
• Wang Kui interprets Chen’s fear for Monkey, emphasizing that Chen worries less about losing a fight than about threats he cannot predict or trust.
• Xiangyang begins to grasp the Mortal Domain’s appeal through its tangible support and its members’ unwavering loyalty.
• Zhou Mo is proud of the War Pavilion’s achievement but feels slighted by the new bureaucracy. His comic confrontation with the teleportation rules ends with Chen advocating for him, while also affirming Tian Ce’s work.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and belonging: The Mortal Domain offers more than protection; it gives members recognition, resources, and a place within a community.
• Fear beneath leadership: Chen’s confidence coexists with insecurity. His response to fear is decisive preparation and the elimination of perceived threats.
• Affection expressed through action: Chen’s concern appears in concrete promises and personal advocacy, while the subordinates’ loyalty is shown by returning and standing with him.
• Bureaucracy versus personal bonds: The Finance Pavilion’s cost-saving policies improve efficiency but can frustrate members; Chen balances institutional rules with loyalty to longtime comrades.
• Culture and civilization: Chen treats music and writing as essential cultural achievements, even amid the Mortal Domain’s looming military dangers.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Mo reports that an investigation into rumors on the eastern Eternal Night Continent has uncovered a suspicious secluded family. Near East Wu City, he found hundreds of left-handed villagers who only respond when addressed by their full names, shut themselves indoors at the start of every month, and appear unusually secretive. He also witnessed them burying an old man—despite the Gold Grade rain having extended everyone’s lifespan.
• Zhou Mo suspects the villagers are not ordinary humans and may be connected to the rumor campaign. He has told no one else and has taken no action. Chen Fan orders him to resume the investigation quietly, authorizes the use of Sky-Piercing Pillars if necessary, and warns him not to alert the village.
• Chen Fan asks the Heaven-Questioning Bell about the continent’s history. It reveals that the continent was once called the Cursed Continent and that the Thunderstorm Sea’s disappearance coincided with a reported “blockade” being lifted. Chen Fan wonders whether the sea had been imprisoning the continent—or protecting it—and who imposed that restriction.
• At the Strategist Pavilion, Long Live presents a containment plan for the Despair Continent, where the Heart-Eating Wraith’s infection has doomed the population. The plan is to cordon off the continent, warn other regions, question the wraith about possible infections elsewhere, and wait for the infected to die rather than risk sending personnel in.
• Chen Fan approves the plan, then asks Long Live about his health and whether he attended Gold Grade rain. Long Live confirms he did, helping Chen Fan tentatively distinguish the hidden family from ordinary residents: its members may have avoided the rain by hiding.
• Chen Fan resolves to accelerate the takeover of the One-Eyed Continent and considers bringing everyone from the Eternal Night Continent under the Mortal Domain’s scrutiny, using the Household Pavilion’s registrations to identify anyone who cannot withstand exposure to light.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shifts from confidence about the Mortal Domain’s future to wary urgency. The possibility of a hidden wraith within his domain frustrates him, and he responds by ordering discreet surveillance, preparing for force, and expanding plans to screen the population.
• Zhou Mo demonstrates caution and investigative skill: he gathers unusual evidence without confronting the villagers and reports directly to Chen Fan. Their exchange establishes mutual trust, while Chen Fan’s authorization gives Zhou Mo broader responsibility.
• Long Live remains practical and dutiful, offering a measured response to the infection crisis and confirming that the One-Eyed Continent is ready for takeover. Chen Fan’s casual questions about his past and health are actually part of the investigation.

Significant themes

• Trust and hidden threats: The possibility that a secluded family has infiltrated the Mortal Domain makes even familiar populations suspect.
• Protection versus imprisonment: The continent’s former name and the vanished Thunderstorm Sea raise the question of whether its isolation was meant to safeguard it—or contain it.
• Crisis management and sacrifice: The Despair Continent’s infection is irreversible, forcing the Mortal Domain to prioritize containment over rescue.
• Control and uncertainty: Chen Fan’s plans grow more sweeping as he confronts how much remains unknown about his domain and its history.

Key plot points

• Three days after the earlier events, Zhou Mo disguises himself as a laborer at an Eerie Ore mine near the Strange Village to investigate its residents. He notices that the ordinary-looking workers around him are all villagers, and that the area has been mysteriously isolated.
• A villager confronts Zhou Mo, recognizes his interest in the village, and offers him ten million Eerie Stones to mislead the Mortal Domain. Zhou Mo refuses to reveal his identity or take the bribe. The villagers admit they were hiding their true nature and had quietly helped the Domain expose rumor-spreaders to keep suspicion away from themselves.
• The villagers prepare to flee when a chained, corpse-stitched monster arrives. Unable to contact anyone, Zhou Mo reveals that he is the War Pavilion’s Pavilion Master and the Mortal Domain’s first level 20 martial artist, then attacks. His sword barely marks the monster; one blow from its spiked hammer kills him.
• Chen Fan arrives with reinforcements and finds Zhou Mo’s body. He orders the entire Eternal Night Continent sealed and searched. Zhou Mo’s protective treasures have all been shattered; among the fragments are his identity token and the wooden board he had kept from the rainy-season countdown.
• The middle-aged villager escapes to Black Tortoise City with only a few followers. During a citywide search, his black mist briefly hides the group, but the Mortal Domain members return and discover them. The middle-aged man and two others escape through a wall, leaving one villager behind. That villager drops to his knees and surrenders.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Mo shifts from cautious investigator to defiant fighter. He uses deception and negotiation to assess the villagers, but when confronted by the monster, he chooses to fight openly and proudly asserts his identity. His death marks the first loss among the Mortal Domain’s original members.
• Chen Fan reacts to Zhou Mo’s death with unnerving calm and immediate, sweeping orders. His grief is suggested through his attention to Zhou Mo’s belongings, especially the treasured wooden board.
• The middle-aged villager tries to bribe Zhou Mo, then threatens him when he refuses. He acknowledges the danger of killing a Mortal Domain member and later prioritizes escape over loyalty to his followers.
• Crippled Monkey reports the emergency measures to Chen Fan, addressing him as “Domain Lord” rather than his usual “Young Master,” reflecting the fear and formality of the moment.
• Wang Mazi recognizes the gravity of Zhou Mo’s death and the threat posed by the hidden enemy.
• The villagers’ apparent unity fractures under pressure: the leader abandons one follower, who chooses surrender.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and sacrifice: Zhou Mo’s bold stand and death underscore the cost of loyalty to the Mortal Domain.
• Appearance and concealment: The villagers mimic ordinary life, hide their true abilities, and use isolation and black mist to evade detection.
• Power and vulnerability: Even a level 20 martial artist with protective treasures is helpless against the monster, revealing how dangerous the hidden threat is.
• Grief expressed through action: Chen Fan says little, but his response—sealing the continent and searching every household—shows the depth of his resolve and loss.
• Self-preservation versus solidarity: The leader escapes while leaving a follower behind, who instead surrenders.

Plot summary

• A captured villager explains that the Night Awakeners are reincarnating humans whose memories return unpredictably. They are all left-handed, and their Right Wing arms contain ancient dark energy. Their origin story claims that their ancestors broke through the Primordial Continent’s sky barrier using a giant tower, unleashing the darkness that began eternal night.
• Night Awakeners on Eternal Night Continent seek to rebuild the Tower of Babel and reach Beyond Heaven, where they believe they are owed a homeland. Their leaders, Lord Hao and Lord Jiu, disagree: Hao favors provoking and weakening the Mortal Domain, while Jiu prefers concealment. Hao’s actions led to Pavilion Master Zhou Mo’s death.
• The Mortal Domain launches a continent-wide manhunt. Lord Hao is captured, and his corpse-built dark-energy puppet, Butcher, is destroyed. After seven days, nearly all Night Awakeners are arrested, but Lord Jiu remains hidden in Mortal City.
• Lord Jiu’s dark-space ability eventually fails. A hidden Positioning Formation concealed in a newspaper exposes him, and he is captured. The Mortal Domain reports 3,789 Night Awakeners in custody.
• In grief and rage, Chen Fan personally executes the prisoners, including both leaders, declaring that he will hunt down every Night Awakener. He then mourns Zhou Mo, placing keepsakes and a piece of Heavenly Fortune in the coffin in the hope that Zhou will revive on Rugged Island.
• Zhou’s funeral draws a vast crowd carrying lanterns in his memory. Chen Fan promises at the grave to make the Eternal Night Continent safe and bring Zhou home. The Mortal Domain appoints a new War Pavilion master and prepares to move the continent’s population to the One-Eyed Continent for Golden Rain and another screening for Night Awakeners.
• Meanwhile, Ghost Emperor Ba Wu explains to Xiangyang that loyalty and grief are real: he once chose to die alongside an enemy rather than abandon his murdered strategist.
• The chapter ends with Keke found unconscious beneath the heavy Pick-Up Sculpture after being left behind during the One-Eyed Continent operation. Chen Fan realizes Keke likely collapsed from exhaustion while trying to carry it, then asks where Weiwei is.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shifts from controlled investigation to overwhelming grief and vengeance. He personally carries out the executions, yet clings to the hope that Zhou can return and tries to reassure his companions afterward.
• Zhou Mo is revealed to have secretly investigated the Night Awakeners before his death. His funeral demonstrates how deeply his War Pavilion and the public valued him.
• Lord Hao and Lord Jiu embody the Night Awakeners’ internal division: Hao’s aggression brings the Mortal Domain down on them, while Jiu’s caution proves futile once the continent is sealed.
• Crippled Monkey and the other Mortal Domain leaders support Chen Fan, manage the arrests and funeral, and quietly worry about his state. Crippled Monkey withholds Zhou’s investigation records, fearing they would hurt Chen Fan further.
• Ba Wu and Xiangyang discuss whether Chen Fan’s grief is genuine; Ba Wu answers with his own story of avenging his strategist, emphasizing the bonds formed through loyalty.
• Chen Fan and Keke are linked by his earlier permission to carry the sculpture; his concern at the end shows the consequences of that decision.

Significant themes

• Grief, loyalty, and vengeance: Zhou’s death turns personal mourning into a sweeping campaign against the Night Awakeners.
• The cost of leadership and safety: Chen Fan’s determination to prevent further deaths drives mass screening and relocation efforts.
• Belonging and prejudice: The Night Awakeners see themselves as owed a homeland, while the Mortal Domain views them as an existential threat.
• Hope amid loss: Chen Fan’s gestures at Zhou’s grave reflect his refusal to give up on resurrection, even as he confronts death.

Plot points and events

• Keke is found unconscious after carrying the immensely heavy Pick-Up Sculpture. Chen Fan orders that he be notified when Keke wakes; the cause of Keke’s condition remains unclear.
• The Mortal Domain is relocating large numbers of people from the Eternal Night Continent through the Undersea Tunnel. Chen Fan learns from the captured Heart-Eating Wraith, Greed, that outside factions are watching the continent, drawn by rumors of a powerful treasure and the end of the Thunderstorm Sea seal.
• Greed reveals that advancement to a third-level continent or Strange Entity Clan requires fighting in the War Mire. Without that experience, a newly advanced faction remains vulnerable. Chen Fan realizes the Mortal Domain may face powerful enemies when its protection period ends in roughly a year and a half.
• Mr. Na brings Chen Fan a Ghosthide Map given by the Supreme Heavenly Dao, listing five rare islands and how to occupy them. He explains that the Heavenly Dao arose from living beings’ collective will to survive, regards all life equally, and has no human emotions or allegiance. Its aim is to drive out darkness and reunite the Primordial Continent.
• The Heavenly Dao cannot control what lies beyond the Fallen Firmament. Chen Fan considers whether Weiwei’s ability to break boundaries might eventually help shatter it, though Weiwei has not succeeded so far.
• On the Despair Continent, Weird Emperor Jiu Wu and his strange tide collect and remove all remaining animals and Exotic Beasts, clearing the way for the Mortal Domain to finish occupying the land.
• The Retirement Clan fulfills the requirements for advancement and becomes a third-level Strange Entity Clan. Jiu Wu advances to level 20 and becomes its first Wraith Venerable, then happily heads home rather than going to the War Mire.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan stays composed under pressure, accepting the Mortal Domain’s precarious position without indulging Crippled Monkey’s impractical suggestion to let outsiders search the continent. He remains focused on finding a way forward, especially through Weiwei’s potential.
• Crippled Monkey learns how exposed the Mortal Domain is and recognizes that his suggestion was driven by desperation.
• Mr. Na gives Chen Fan new insight into the Heavenly Dao and its limits; their conversation is frank and occasionally humorous, including a brief disagreement about whether pigs eat insects.
• Jiu Wu reaches a major milestone but remains characteristically laid-back: he celebrates the clan’s advancement while avoiding the War Mire and looking forward to retirement comforts. Xiangyang prompts him to consider whether he would remain loyal if Chen Fan were no longer in charge; Jiu Wu says he would leave.
• The Mortal Domain and the Retirement Clan cooperate practically: Jiu Wu’s forces clear the continent of living creatures, while Mortal Domain members prepare to collect valuables and complete the takeover.

Significant themes

• A looming, uneven struggle: The Mortal Domain faces powerful outsiders and an impending end to its protection, while its opponents may already be far more battle-hardened.
• The limits of knowledge and control: The Heavenly Dao is powerful but bound by rules and unable to see or govern everything beyond the Firmament.
• Collective survival and impartiality: The Heavenly Dao represents the survival instinct of all living beings, not humanity alone.
• Advancement through circumstance and connection: Jiu Wu’s unlikely rise comes through an almost effortless occupation carried out with the Mortal Domain’s help, contrasting with the usual expectation that power must be earned through brutal war.
• Composure and humor amid danger: Chen Fan’s restraint and Jiu Wu’s comic self-interest offer contrasting ways of facing uncertainty.

Key plot points and events

• The Mortal Domain relocates the Eternal Night Continent’s population to the One-Eyed Continent so everyone can receive another Golden Rain blessing while the authorities check for hidden enemies. The sweep finds no remaining Night Awakeners, and life gradually returns to normal.
• The Mortal Domain reoccupies the Heaven-Slaying and Dark Star Continents. Its holdings now total twenty-two continents, and it expects a major yield of Eerie Ore. Chen Fan adds another 300 billion eerie stones to the strategic reserve, bringing it to a satisfyingly round one trillion.
• On the anniversary of Zhou Mo’s death, Chen Fan visits his grave on Rugged Island. Zhou Mo has not revived, and Chen Fan reflects that the island may offer the living comfort and hope more than any real promise of resurrection.
• Keke, whose family—including Weiwei—has been asleep for a year, shows Chen Fan an assortment of “toys” she has collected. Among them is a Sky-Piercing Pillar, which should be far too large to fit in a Sky-Swallowing Crocodile’s storage space.
• Chen Fan tests Keke’s capacity at the Missile Storage Base. In two hours, she swallows 17,209 Sky-Piercing Pillars, revealing a remarkable ability to store and transport enormous structures.
• The discovery excites Long Live, who recognizes that Keke could solve a major logistical problem in large-scale campaigns. Chen Fan praises her, while the base staff carefully recount and retrieve the pillars and keep her ability confidential.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains devoted to Zhou Mo’s memory but is increasingly accepting of his death. Keke’s discovery restores his confidence as the end of the continent-protection period approaches.
• Keke is curious, quiet, and childlike: she collects objects for fun and does not initially understand the military importance of her ability. She obediently returns every pillar and shyly reacts to Chen Fan’s praise.
• Long Live shifts from routine reporting to excitement over Keke’s strategic potential, while the Missile Storage Base’s group leader responds with astonishment and enforces secrecy.
• Chen Fan gently engages with Keke, treating her as a child even as he realizes her usefulness in war. He feels some guilt about potentially sending her into battle, but acknowledges that her ability could be crucial.

Significant themes

• Grief and remembrance: Chen Fan’s visit shows enduring affection for Zhou Mo and the difficulty of accepting loss.
• Peace and preparedness: The population enjoys a period of calm, but the Mortal Domain continues building reserves and military capacity in anticipation of future threats.
• Hope amid uncertainty: Rugged Island may matter less as a means of resurrection than as a source of comfort for those left behind.
• Childhood and the demands of war: Keke’s playful collecting unexpectedly becomes a strategic asset, highlighting the tension between her innocence and the military value others see in her.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan visits the Huyi Continent to test the Mysterious Heaven Propellers, which can move an entire continent. The test succeeds, though speed increases sharply diminish as more propellers are added. Wang Kui estimates that moving the larger Eternal Night Continent at a cost-efficient speed will require 8,000 propellers—an enormous but manageable expense.
• News arrives that Zhang Taiping, a boat captain who died delivering a warning about a surprise attack, has been resurrected on Rugged Island. Chen Fan and others travel there to welcome him home.
• Zhang Taiping reunites with his wife and young son. The family’s reunion is followed by an official welcome from Chen Fan and a long-delayed Victory Banquet, with dumplings served in keeping with the Mortal Domain’s old tradition.
• The day after the banquet, Zhang Taiping is promoted but chooses to remain in the Commerce Pavilion, where he can continue exploring. Wang Mazi tells him the Mortal Domain has expanded to five rare islands and destroyed the Feng Qiya Continent soon after Zhang’s death.
• Elsewhere, Wang Kui comforts the overworked Little Qiu, who is anxious about making a serious mistake as Logistics Pavilion Master. Hearing that even the once-unimpressive Wang Family Head may top the Military Strategy examination restores Little Qiu’s confidence.
• On the Sahara Continent, Hao Mao and its ruler discuss the Mortal Domain’s aggressive campaigns against distant Strange Entity Clans. Though they recognize its success and benefit from its protection, they also reflect on how far their own development lags behind.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Fan is moved by Zhang Taiping’s return and honors him publicly, despite having never known him personally. His reaction shows how deeply he values the sacrifices made for the Mortal Domain.
• Zhang Taiping returns uncertain that anyone will remember him, then finds his wife and son alive and waiting. He accepts the reunion with emotion but refuses an easier transfer to another department, choosing instead to continue the exploratory work that gives him purpose.
• Zhang Taiping’s wife reveals that she taught their son to say “Daddy” first, hoping her husband might somehow hear that his family was waiting. Their reunion affirms their loyalty to one another.
• Wang Kui quietly grieves for Zhou Mo and tries to comfort Little Qiu. Their trusting friendship gives Little Qiu a place to voice doubts he otherwise keeps to himself.
• Little Qiu worries that the growing responsibilities of the Logistics Pavilion exceed his abilities. Wang Kui’s reassurance—and the comic news about the Wang Family Head—helps him regain perspective.
• Hao Mao is impressed but uneasy about the Mortal Domain’s expansion and military spending; the Sahara Continent Lord remains more relaxed, grateful that its campaigns have made their surroundings safer.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice, remembrance, and homecoming: Zhang Taiping’s return rewards a sacrifice that the Mortal Domain has not forgotten, while his family’s wait gives that return its emotional center.
• The cost of security: The Mortal Domain protects its people by striking potential threats far beyond its borders, but its security depends on immense resources and constant warfare.
• Grief amid hope: Zhang’s resurrection brings joy, yet Wang Kui’s visit to Zhou Mo’s grave reminds the characters that many others may not return.
• Responsibility and self-doubt: Little Qiu’s concerns reflect the pressure of leadership; support from a trusted colleague helps him recognize his own capability.
• Development and uneven progress: The Mortal Domain advances rapidly, while other continents benefit from its protection without keeping pace.

Key plot points and events

• Twenty days after Zhang Taiping’s return, the Eternal Night Continent prepares for the second annual Mortal Domain Spring Examination, scheduled for April 1.
• The Mortal Domain’s foreign trade passes 100 billion Eerie Stones, completing a hidden Heavenly Dao blessing. It has also completed all five blessings required for advancement and now holds two Continent Cores, so it can become a Third-Level Continent once its protection period ends in eight months.
• Chen Fan receives a song written by a young girl who lived through the war. Its lyrics celebrate the Mortal Domain’s growth, resilience, and protection of its people. Moved by it, Chen Fan orders it framed for his desk.
• During the Spring Examination, Chen Fan personally reviews the military-strategy papers. One candidate proposes abandoning the continent, another suggests rebuilding in Beyond Heaven, and others offer extreme or ethically unacceptable plans. An essay on dark energy catches Chen Fan’s attention with a theory that Night Watchers may share a connection to the original unleashers of eternal night.
• Chen Fan selects an audacious proposal for the Military Strategy Champion: use concealed Strategic Sky-Piercing Pillars and waves of cheaper standard ones to exhaust enemy air defenses before striking. Its author, Chen Jiutian, is a 21-year-old orphan and a gifted Formation Master who chose Military Strategy because he hopes to join the Strategist Pavilion.
• Chen Fan summons Jiutian to assess his character. Jiutian explains that he chose his own grandiose name after a storybook hero. Chen Fan briefly claims the Mortal Domain already developed Jiutian’s concealment formation, then reveals he was joking. The chapter ends as Chen Fan asks why Jiutian chose Military Strategy over Formation.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains forward-looking and careful about the Mortal Domain’s resources, but he is also receptive to unconventional ideas and public recognition. The girl’s song visibly moves him, and he values the intentions and character behind Jiutian’s work, not just its technical merit.
• Crippled Monkey acts as Chen Fan’s trusted aide, bringing reports, presenting the child’s song, and helping evaluate and summon Jiutian. He is baffled by the radical strategy essay but follows Chen Fan’s judgment.
• Chen Jiutian is ambitious, inventive, and disciplined enough to keep his discovery secret until he could present it strategically. Despite his lofty self-chosen name, he is inexperienced and earnest; Chen Fan’s teasing briefly punctures his confidence.
• The young girl’s song offers a civilian perspective on the Mortal Domain’s unification: safety has helped a child overcome fear of darkness and imagine a future protecting others.

Significant themes

• War and deterrence: The chapter’s stark claim that “only killing can end war” frames Jiutian’s ruthless strategy, while Chen Fan weighs the practical costs of survival.
• Protection and legitimacy: The Mortal Domain’s power matters not only for advancement and defense but also because ordinary people recognize it as a source of safety.
• Innovation and open-mindedness: Chen Fan encourages bold, even impractical proposals because they may spark useful ideas.
• Ambition, patience, and character: Jiutian’s talent is important, but Chen Fan also considers his motives, judgment, and temperament before granting him the top honor.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jiutian chooses the Strategist Pavilion over the Formation Pavilion. He says formations are tools, not his passion; he wants peace, meaningful work, and a place in history. Chen Fan approves of his ambition.
• Weiwei awakens on April 1 but secretly travels to the Black Tortoise Sky Pillar. With Crippled Monkey’s help concealing the plan, Weiwei waits eighteen days, then breaks the Fallen Firmament on Chen Fan’s birthday, April 18. Dense energy pours through the opening, creating Eerie Ore deposits.
• Chen Fan and his companions explore Beyond Heaven, discovering that it is an immense, barren, oxygenless plain—not a viable home for humans. There, the Heavenly Derivation Set grants Chen Fan the Eye of Heavenly Derivation, a rare monitoring structure that can survey the land below.
• Chen Fan builds and blesses the Eye so it can write messages in the clouds. He uses it to announce a day off, then establishes April 18 as an annual holiday. He launches the Heaven-Watching Project, expanding surveillance across the sea and eventually into the War Mire.
• The Eye lets Chen Fan observe the wider world, including the peaceful daily lives of Weird Emperor Jiu Wu and Xiangyang. Xiangyang briefly recounts his difficult transformation from a Meatworm Wraith into a Ghost Emperor.
• As the Mortal Domain’s protection period nears its end, Chen Fan spots a Wasteland Clan continent heading toward him. It is due to arrive thirteen days after the protection ends. He also learns that a third-level Night Awakener force is approaching. The Mortal Domain begins mobilizing its reserves and raising defensive walls for the coming conflict.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jiutian emerges as an ambitious young man, prioritizing his values and legacy over conventional prestige. Chen Fan responds with respect and encouragement.
• Weiwei shows loyalty and affection through a dangerous, deeply personal birthday gift. Chen Fan is moved, especially because he never expected birthday celebrations after growing up without family or friends. He gently tells Crippled Monkey not to hide important matters from him again.
• Chen Fan turns the Eye of Heavenly Derivation into both a strategic asset and a tool for public communication. His playful holiday announcement contrasts with the seriousness of his preparations for war.
• Crippled Monkey admits he concealed Weiwei’s plan because he believed it might be for the best; his relationship with Chen Fan remains candid and loyal, despite the rebuke.
• Jiu Wu and Xiangyang share a relaxed, companionable life. Xiangyang’s reluctance to dwell on his past hints at the suffering behind his rise.
• Chen Fan and the approaching Wasteland King are set on a collision course: both have strong reasons to win the coming battle.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and affection: Weiwei’s gift expresses devotion more powerfully than words.
• Ambition and legacy: Chen Jiutian wants his life to matter, while Chen Fan’s organization gives people opportunities to shape history.
• Information as power: The Eyes of Heavenly Derivation transform surveillance into a major military advantage.
• Peace before conflict: The peaceful routines of Jiu Wu and Xiangyang—and Chen Fan’s appreciation of ordinary days—stand against the looming war.
• Preparation and survival: The approaching enemies and the War Mire’s survival-time system make the Mortal Domain’s defense a high-stakes test.

Plot and key events

• Chen Fan uses the Eye of Heavenly Derivation and the Heaven-Questioning Bell to study the two approaching enemies. He learns that the Qi Night-Opening People Continent is a third-level continent equipped with a Heaven-Deriving Orbital Cannon, a Capillary Formation that links buildings to shared power, and a Peace Sculpture that automatically detects and intercepts incoming attacks.
• The Wasteland Clan’s Strange Tide is relatively small, but the Bell explains that this may reflect a deliberate focus on powerful elite entities rather than mass-producing weak ones. It identifies the Yin-Yang Wraith as a high-level enforcer: formidable against other strange entities but vulnerable to human weaponry. The Bell estimates the Mortal Domain has a 70% chance of defeat.
• On Huyi Continent, Weird Emperor Jiu Wu recruits Xiangyang to infiltrate the Wasteland Clan and help the Mortal Domain strike from within. Xiangyang agrees, taking a Doppelganger Wraith with him. Jiu Wu’s plan is risky, and Xiangyang will have no direct communication or teleportation aid.
• With the Eternal Night Continent’s protection period nearly over, the Mortal Domain completes its Eternal Night Defense Line: a level-10 wall encircling the continent, reinforced with cannons, watchtowers, and air defenses. The preparations cost 450 billion eerie stones, while food and other supplies are stockpiled and the Rare Islands are moved toward Huyi Continent.
• Xiangyang departs with a Strange Tide. At the same time, Strategist Pavilion Master Long Live checks the defenses with grave concern, aware that the coming confrontation may be the Mortal Domain’s greatest crisis.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan becomes more systematic in gathering intelligence, learning that the Heaven-Questioning Bell is most useful for questions with definite, factual answers. He shares what he discovers with the Strategist Pavilion and accepts that the enemy may outmatch the Mortal Domain in direct combat.
• Jiu Wu shows both strategic resolve and personal warmth. He sends Xiangyang on a dangerous mission because he trusts him, promises he can resurrect him, and urges him to return safely.
• Xiangyang sees himself less as the proud “Seven Emperor” and more as Jiu Wu’s brother. Though he feels limited attachment to the Mortal Domain itself, he accepts the mission out of loyalty to Jiu Wu, who treated him as a person rather than a tool.
• Zhang Taiping moves Rugged Island and the other Rare Islands away from the coming battlefield, reflecting his hope for peace amid preparations for war.
• Long Live contrasts with the Mortal Domain’s general confidence: his knowledge of past defeats makes him acutely aware of the danger.

Significant themes

• Preparation through knowledge: Learning enemy capabilities may matter as much as raw strength; Chen Fan’s reconnaissance aims to prevent the Mortal Domain from entering battle blind.
• Loyalty and belonging: Xiangyang’s willingness to risk himself stems from being accepted as a brother, not from abstract duty to the Mortal Domain.
• The cost of survival: The enormous expenditure, frantic labor, and mobilization show how much the coming war demands from the whole community.
• Hope versus realism: Many expect victory, but Long Live’s historical perspective and the Bell’s grim estimate underline the danger beneath that optimism.
• Peace and war: Zhang Taiping’s wish for peace stands in tension with the vast defensive preparations everyone is making.