Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• After spending a month evading danger in the War Mire, Jiu Wu returns to the Huyi Continent, then travels to the Eternal Night Continent to reunite with the Mortal Domain.
• Chen Fan briefs him on the war. Xiangyang infiltrated the Wasteland Clan Continent, won the trust of its king, Huang, and was caught in the continent’s destruction. Huang saved Xiangyang by transferring his heartblood to him before dying.
• Xiangyang then attacked a Night-Opening People Continent, sacrificing himself to cripple it and ease the Mortal Domain’s battle against five more. The Mortal Domain ultimately won, but at terrible cost: Qi Yue and most of the War Pavilion died.
• Jiu Wu tries to resurrect Xiangyang, but learns that Meatworm Wraiths require a higher dark authority to bring back. Alone with Xiangyang’s letter, he grieves, remembers their shared history, and resolves to resurrect him someday.
• The next day, Jiu Wu returns to Chen Fan with renewed energy. He explains that he is proud of Xiangyang and believes he can eventually bring him back by advancing his race. He pledges the Jiu Wu Pavilion to future campaigns, while still hoping for retirement—provided all his companions can share it.
• Chen Fan says the Mortal Domain will enter the War Mire in a year and imagines a future reunion and victory banquet for the fallen.
• Meanwhile, Mr. Na, now a physical Heavenly Dao, insists on processing a mountain of information. He explains that he fears returning to helplessly watching disasters unfold; being useful makes him happy despite his exhaustion.
• Chen Fan resolves to spend the year rebuilding and stockpiling a million Sky-Piercing Pillars before fighting again, aiming to reach level 30 and make the Mortal Domain overwhelmingly powerful.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiu Wu moves from shock and grief over Xiangyang’s death to pride, hope, and a renewed commitment to war. His bond with Xiangyang is revealed through their memories, their shared home, and Jiu Wu’s determination to bring him back.
• Chen Fan offers Jiu Wu space to grieve rather than intervening. Though he carries his own grief over the dead, he continues leading and planning for the future.
• Mr. Na reveals that his tireless work comes from a deep fear of helplessness. Chen Fan recognizes that feeling and ultimately lets him continue.
• Crippled Monkey worries that Jiu Wu might turn against the Mortal Domain. Chen Fan responds with a belief that trust must coexist with awareness of possible betrayal.
• Jiu Wu and Chen Fan agree that the coming campaign will be a path toward recovering the fallen, while Jiu Wu’s cheerful return briefly lightens the chapter’s otherwise somber mood.

Significant themes

• Grief and remembrance: Jiu Wu mourns Xiangyang and the other casualties while honoring what they accomplished.
• Loyalty and choice: Xiangyang’s sacrifice matters because he chose not to betray the Mortal Domain, despite his doubts and a tempting alternative.
• Hope and resurrection: The possibility of restoring the dead gives grief a future purpose, though it requires greater strength and further conflict.
• Purpose versus helplessness: Jiu Wu finds purpose in bringing his companions back; Mr. Na works to avoid being a powerless observer again.
• Trust, resilience, and preparation: Chen Fan accepts uncertainty about loyalty while preparing the Mortal Domain to face future threats from a position of overwhelming strength.

Chapter summary: “Heavenly Thunder”

Key events

• Peace has settled over the Mortal Domain after the war. Chen Fan visits Qi Yue’s grave, still grieving and reflecting that even the modest happiness he wants seems beyond his reach.
• Crippled Monkey reports that the Third Spring Examination is approaching and Chen Jiutian has made no progress on his plan to modify the Heavenly Thunder Formation. Chen Fan refuses to pressure him, worried the young man may take his three-month pledge—offering his head if he fails—too literally.
• Jiu Wu and his Military Strategist plan for future warfare. Rather than stockpiling Thorns to counter long-range attacks, they decide their clan should focus on close combat and develop Doppelganger Wraiths.
• Chen Fan examines the Heaven’s Mandate Token, which can lock enclosed spaces so only its holder can enter. He uses it to secure a small hut and preserves the token’s seven pre-existing locks, suspecting they may conceal valuable locations.
• The Land-Digging Machines begin extracting Continental Origins from the conquered One-Eyed Continent. The first extracted Origin can slightly increase a continent’s hardness.
• Chen Fan begins regularly manufacturing Sky-Piercing Pillars, aiming to build a stockpile of more than a million after recognizing how inadequate supplies were in the last battle.
• Chen Jiutian and the Formation Pavilion’s experts test their Heavenly Thunder Formation charging plan, but its lightning does not charge Sky-Piercing Pillars. Chen Jiutian suspects the formation’s “lightning” is fundamentally different from the kind that can charge them and proposes building a copper-pipe platform into the clouds to investigate how it forms.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains marked by grief over Qi Yue, while balancing personal sorrow with the Mortal Domain’s preparations and resource management. He shows concern for Chen Jiutian’s well-being rather than simply demanding results.
• Chen Jiutian responds to failure with renewed curiosity, shifting from trying to modify the formation to investigating the nature of its thunder. His determination and pride remain evident.
• Crippled Monkey acts as Chen Fan’s trusted aide, reporting developments and helping keep an eye on Chen Jiutian.
• Jiu Wu and his Military Strategist collaborate on military strategy. The strategist guides Jiu Wu toward a specialized role for their clan, and Jiu Wu accepts the plan.
• Zhang Qianqiu, Eight Hundred, and the formation team share the difficulty of the failed experiment; Chen Jiutian’s new hypothesis gives them a possible path forward.

Significant themes

• Grief and the cost of peace: Even as the world stabilizes, Chen Fan’s loss remains unresolved.
• Preparation for an uncertain future: The Mortal Domain stockpiles weapons, extracts resources, and develops specialized forces despite the current calm.
• Curiosity and persistence: Chen Jiutian treats failure as evidence to investigate, not merely as defeat.
• Knowledge versus appearances: The formation’s bolt looks and behaves like lightning, yet cannot charge the pillars—suggesting that appearances conceal important differences.

Chapter summary

Key events

• Jiu Wu returns from a month in the dangerous War Mire, expecting a victory celebration. Instead, Chen Fan gathers him to explain the Mortal Domain’s recent war.
• The Eternal Night Continent was attacked by a Wasteland Clan continent and a Night-Opening People continent, followed by five more Night-Opening People continents. The Mortal Domain ultimately won, but at a terrible cost: Qi Yue and nearly all the War Pavilion members died.
• Xiangyang infiltrated the Wasteland Clan. Though he had been offered a chance to join Huang, the Wasteland Clan King, he remained with the Mortal Domain. After Huang saved him by transferring his heartblood, Xiangyang returned, then sacrificed himself to cripple an awakened Night-Opening People continent and help secure victory.
• Jiu Wu tries to revive Xiangyang, but learns that Meatworm Wraiths require a higher-level dark authority to revive. He mourns his friend alone before resolving to bring him back someday.
• The next day, Jiu Wu tells Chen Fan that he will support the Mortal Domain’s future war effort, since advancing his race may eventually grant him the authority needed to revive Xiangyang. Chen Fan sets a one-year timetable before the Mortal Domain marches into the War Mire.
• Meanwhile, Mr. Na, the newly embodied Heavenly Dao, pushes himself to process information. He explains that he fears being helpless and wants to make himself useful. Chen Fan lets him continue, while resolving to build enough strength to crush future enemies decisively.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiu Wu shifts from a battle-weary leader who longs for retirement to someone willing to wage war for the chance to reunite with his fallen companions. His grief over Xiangyang is mixed with pride: he recognizes that Xiangyang chose the Mortal Domain when it mattered most. He also draws comfort from the idea that Xiangyang may eventually be revived.
• Xiangyang is revealed as conflicted about belonging and the divide between humans and strange entities. Despite that conflict—and despite Huang’s offer—he chooses to sacrifice himself for the Mortal Domain. His letter asks that his achievements be credited to Jiu Wu, underscoring their bond.
• Chen Fan carries his own grief over the dead but gives Jiu Wu space to process his emotions. He trusts in his followers even while acknowledging that betrayal is always possible, and afterward commits to preventing another costly defeat.
• Mr. Na reveals that his tireless work comes from a deep fear of helplessness: as a Heavenly Dao, he repeatedly watched disasters unfold without being able to intervene. Chen Fan understands this feeling but worries about how hard Mr. Na is pushing himself.
• Jiu Wu and Chen Fan discuss the future: Jiu Wu proposes joining the war effort, and Chen Fan promises the Mortal Domain will advance into the War Mire in a year. Their exchange turns personal grief into shared resolve.
• Crippled Monkey worries that Jiu Wu might turn against the Mortal Domain. Chen Fan answers with his paradoxical belief that one must prepare for betrayal while still trusting others.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and loyalty: Xiangyang’s final choice matters precisely because he was never entirely aligned with the Mortal Domain.
• Grief and hope: The survivors mourn their losses while holding onto the possibility of revival and reunion.
• Purpose versus helplessness: Jiu Wu and Mr. Na each find purpose in action—Jiu Wu through the hope of restoring his friends, and Mr. Na through work that lets him influence events.
• The cost of victory: The Mortal Domain wins, but its depleted resources and heavy casualties make clear that triumph is not the same as being unhurt.
• Trust amid uncertainty: Chen Fan accepts that loyalty cannot be guaranteed, yet chooses to trust his people.

Key plot points and events

• With the war temporarily over, the Mortal Domain enjoys a stretch of peace. Chen Fan reflects on how fragile that peace is and visits Qi Yue’s Tomb.
• Chen Jiutian is still struggling to improve the Heavenly Thunder Formation so it can charge Sky-Piercing Pillars in batches. Chen Fan refuses to pressure him, but worries that Jiutian may take his three-month failure pledge literally.
• Jiu Wu and Military Strategist plan for future third-level warfare. They agree that the Retirement Clan should emphasize Doppelganger Wraiths for infiltration and close-quarters operations rather than focus on intercepting long-range attacks, which the Mortal Domain can handle.
• Chen Fan tests the Heaven’s Mandate Token, using it to lock a sealed hut. The token can secure up to ten spaces, and seven old locks remain; Chen Fan preserves them, hoping they protect valuable secrets.
• Land-Digging Machines begin extracting continental origins from the conquered One-Eyed Continent. The first origin Chen Fan sees is a small scarlet orb that can slightly increase a continent’s hardness.
• Chen Fan spends his daily work producing Sky-Piercing Pillars, aiming to build a stockpile exceeding one million.
• Meanwhile, Chen Jiutian and the formation experts discover that the Heavenly Thunder Formation’s apparent lightning does not charge Sky-Piercing Pillars. Jiutian suspects it is not the right kind of lightning and proposes building a copper-pipe platform into the clouds to study how it forms.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains cautious and practical: he protects Chen Jiutian from acting rashly, preserves the Token’s unexplored locks, and prioritizes weapons stockpiles and resource extraction.
• Chen Jiutian shows both pride and persistence. Though his original plan has failed, he shifts from trying to modify the formation to investigating the underlying nature of its lightning.
• Crippled Monkey supports Chen Fan by monitoring Jiutian’s welfare.
• Jiu Wu and Military Strategist work collaboratively, with the strategist refining Jiu Wu’s initial focus on Thorns Strange Entities into a more specialized plan built around Doppelganger Wraiths.
• Zhang Qianqiu, Eight Hundred, and the other formation experts help test Jiutian’s theory, but their experiments confirm the problem without resolving it.

Significant themes

• Preparation for an uncertain future: Peace is temporary, so the Mortal Domain keeps building weapons, studying warfare, and gathering resources.
• Innovation through investigation: Jiutian’s breakthrough comes not from changing the formation but from questioning what its “lightning” actually is.
• Security and hidden history: The Heaven’s Mandate Token’s unexplained locks hint at valuable secrets and a past extending far beyond the present conflict.
• Leadership and responsibility: Chen Fan balances strategic work with concern for his people, while the other leaders prepare their forces for the next war.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jiutian rejects building a platform and instead approaches the Heavenly Thunder Formation in a Flying Boat, risking repeated lightning strikes to observe how it works.
• He discovers that the formation does not attract ordinary lightning. It fires a faint beam into the clouds, gathers dark energy, and produces dark lightning. This explains why its lightning cannot charge the Sky-Piercing Pillars.
• Tests on the Dark Continent confirm that the formation grows stronger where dark energy is abundant. A test on the Fallen Firmament produces an unexpectedly powerful bolt, revealing a vast reserve of dark energy high above it.
• Chen Fan investigates the Fallen Firmament’s upper barrier. Its dark layer turns out to be ancient “black sludge”—useless except as a deterrent to ordinary strange entities—and not evidence of creatures living above.
• Chen Jiutian and the others discover that dark lightning and normal lightning can combine in the right proportions. At a ratio of 3.2 to 1, they create “Pocket Silver Lightning,” which charges Sky-Piercing Pillars as effectively as Thunderstorm Sea lightning.
• Rather than stopping at proof of concept, Chen Jiutian proposes a vast, tower-like system of sealed copper-pipe chambers to strengthen lightning in stages. If successful, it could charge millions of pillars. The group begins working toward this ambitious plan.

Character developments

• Chen Jiutian proves himself a fearless, obsessive investigator, willing to risk injury and keep experimenting under a looming deadline. His discoveries turn a near-certain failure into a major breakthrough, and he quickly moves on to a larger solution.
• Zhang Qianqiu shifts from anxious skepticism to committed collaboration. Though injured and worried about the risks, he supports Chen Jiutian’s experiments and celebrates their success.
• Eight Hundred watches Chen Jiutian’s intensity with admiration, recognizing that his dedication rivals his own.
• Chen Fan responds cautiously to the danger at the Fallen Firmament, investigates it personally, and chooses not to discourage Chen Jiutian despite the risks.
• Chen Jiutian refuses Zhang Qianqiu’s offer of a leadership position in the Formation Pavilion, insisting that he is not interested in formations.

Significant themes

• Persistence and experimentation: Progress comes from repeated trials, close observation, and correcting mistaken assumptions.
• Ambition and risk: Chen Jiutian’s willingness to endanger himself drives the breakthrough, but his plans also raise serious questions about safety and scale.
• Turning discovery into practical power: The chapter moves from understanding lightning to designing an industrial system that could transform the Mortal Domain.
• Collaboration: Chen Jiutian’s insight depends on the support and experiments of Zhang Qianqiu, Eight Hundred, and the Formation Pavilion team.

Character interactions

• Chen Jiutian repeatedly pushes Zhang Qianqiu to activate the formation, while Zhang worries about his safety but eventually gives in.
• Their shared excitement grows into partnership: they recognize the lightning-fusion breakthrough together and celebrate it despite their injuries.
• Chen Fan listens to Chen Jiutian’s report, investigates the threat himself, then offers restrained concern rather than dismissing his research.
• Zhang Qianqiu admires Chen Jiutian’s ingenuity and offers him a position in the Formation Pavilion, but Chen Jiutian declines.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Jiutian’s experiments have produced “Pocket Silver Lightning,” which could speed up charging the Mortal Domain’s Sky-Piercing Pillars. But making it in small quantities is costly and too slow, so he is developing a much larger device to draw dark lightning from the Fallen Firmament and combine it with amplified normal lightning.
• His proposed Nine Heavens Lightning-Inducing Tower uses a chain of sealed spaces to strengthen lightning step by step. Seven attempts have failed: precise timing across many stages is beyond human reaction, and a single mistake can cause an explosion and serious injuries.
• Chen Fan explains that the project calls for coordination and shared resources, not individual heroics. He assigns Number-15 Heavenly Dao to control the tower’s formations and synchronization, and Chen Jiutian names her Thundercaller.
• With the Logistics Pavilion mobilized, all one hundred spaces are built in a day. Eight Hundred suggests using tiny formations on operators’ hands as signals; Chen Fan refines the idea so electrical stimulation triggers their fingers directly, avoiding reliance on human reaction time.
• Chen Jiutian identifies another essential need: copper piping to carry the powerful lightning safely to the Missile Storage Base. Chen Fan orders the piping built to Jiutian’s precise blueprint, and preparations begin for a first full test.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Jiutian is brilliant and persistent, but his desire to complete the project alone keeps him from asking for help. Chen Fan challenges this “lone hero” instinct and reminds him that leadership in the Strategist Pavilion means integrating everyone’s strengths. Jiutian accepts support and contributes practical solutions.
• Chen Fan balances encouragement with blunt criticism. He recognizes Jiutian’s talent, provides resources and Thundercaller, and turns the project into a coordinated effort across departments.
• Thundercaller is introduced as a Heavenly Dao capable of controlling more than a thousand formations with exceptional precision—making her uniquely suited to solve the synchronization problem.
• Zhang Qianqiu voices the limits of human timing and raises safety concerns; Eight Hundred proposes the signaling formation. Their collaboration helps move the design forward.

Significant themes

• Cooperation over individual achievement: complex projects succeed through coordination among departments, not solitary effort.
• Technology and innovation: the chapter turns a sound theory into a workable system by combining formations, Heavenly Dao control, and practical engineering.
• Limits of human ability—and complementary strengths: humans develop the plan, while Thundercaller supplies the precision they cannot achieve.
• Infrastructure as power: the Mortal Domain’s organizational and construction capacity transforms an impossible undertaking into something achievable, with the potential to reshape the war.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• On April 5, Year 04, the Mortal Domain completed and tested the Nine Heavens Lightning-Inducing Tower, a vast, hundred-chamber system designed to draw down and amplify lightning.
• Under Domain Lord Chen Fan’s direction, Thundercaller, the Heavenly Dao, automated the tower’s precise sequence of activations. Lightning was amplified through each chamber, fused with dark lightning drawn from the Fallen Firmament, and sent along ten thousand suspended Phantom Copper Pipes toward Nameless Mountain.
• The silver current split into countless streams and charged the Missile Storage Base’s Sky-Piercing Pillars. The spectacle was visible across the continent, captivating residents and earning True Person Qi’s comparison to the Milky Way falling from heaven.
• The system worked exceptionally well: Level-1 pillars charged in two hours instead of three days, while a Level-10 pillar could be charged in thirty days rather than three years. Chen Fan judged that even Level-28 pillars might now be attainable before the Mortal Domain entered the War Mire.
• The project’s success was celebrated across the Black Tortoise Plains. Chen Jiutian and Zhang Qianqiu were carried aloft by cheering workers; exhausted, Chen Jiutian fainted soon afterward.
• Chen Fan noted that high-level pillars still required eerie stone to become fully effective strategic weapons. He also explained that the tower depended on a breach into the Fallen Firmament and would become unusable if the Eternal Night Continent moved. A simplified version could still provide limited power, so the Mortal Domain needed to stockpile ammunition during peacetime.
• News of the project made Chen Jiutian the most-mentioned person in the Mortal Domain Daily. Meanwhile, in the War Mire, a leader reviewing reports about the Mortal Domain’s victory over seven third-level continents considered recruiting Chen Jiutian for his role in concealing the power of Sky-Piercing Pillars from Peace Sculptures.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan is pleased by the tower’s success and its strategic benefits, but remains realistic about its limits and the need for more eerie stone. He discusses the project’s vulnerability and contingency plans with Crippled Monkey.
• Chen Jiutian receives public recognition for leading the project. His exhaustion reveals the personal cost of his work; his quiet response to the spectacle—“It’s beautiful”—captures both pride and relief.
• Zhang Qianqiu shares in the triumph, openly celebrating the success of a project he once thought nearly impossible.
• Eight Hundred reports that the operators are ready and explains how Thundercaller will coordinate them.
• In the War Mire, an unnamed leader recognizes Chen Jiutian’s strategic value and considers poaching him.

Significant themes

• Innovation and collective effort: Advanced automation, engineering, and coordination turn an ambitious idea into a functioning strategic system.
• Preparation and accumulated strength: Faster charging gives the Mortal Domain a crucial advantage, but ammunition and eerie stone remain essential resources.
• Progress amid uncertainty: The tower offers a major peacetime benefit, yet the continent’s possible movement and the coming chaos limit how long it can be relied upon.
• Recognition and strategic rivalry: The project elevates Chen Jiutian’s reputation, making him both a celebrated contributor and a potential target for rival powers.

Chapter summary

• A powerful figure in the War Mire orders the Black Knight to make cautious contact with Chen Jiutian and attempt to recruit him, without revealing their identity or provoking the Mortal Domain. The figure believes events are growing increasingly chaotic and urges his side to prepare faster.
• At Northbank Defense Line, Chen Fan inspects a newly unlocked Saltworks, which should speed up the continent’s salt production. Mr. Na then explains the third-level continent’s three possible blessings:
  • War Machine: Fire one million Sky-Piercing Pillars, activate the Heavenly Dao Cannon 100,000 times, or activate the Heaven-Deriving Orbital Cannon 10,000 times.
  • Peacemaker: Avoid war for a year and fire no more than 1,000 Sky-Piercing Pillars.
  • Garden: Bring at least twenty non-Strange Entity races to the continent within three years.
    Completing one blessing, reaching 5,000 days of War Mire survival, meeting the hardness requirement, and possessing orthodoxy allows advancement to fourth level. The blessing chosen determines the continent’s type: War Continents gain stronger military capabilities but can be freely attacked; Peace Continents gain permanent protection unless they initiate war; Garden Continents support rare races that can, in turn, defend them.
• The Eternal Night Continent has already lost its chance to qualify as a Peace Continent, since it was attacked after reaching third level. The Garden path seems difficult, so Chen Fan concludes that War Machine is his practical route forward. The continent’s hardness is already 56—well above the required 30—and its survival time is 2,521 days, leaving roughly half the target to go. Chen Fan plans to gain the remaining time through conquest rather than waiting.
• The chapter shifts to Nameless Mountain, where Weiwei’s parents’ new Sky-Swallowing Crocodile hatchling is born. Chen Fan names her Tiantian, while Crippled Monkey wins a bet with Zhou Mo by correctly predicting the name. Weiwei and Keke eagerly welcome the hatchling. Little Croc, exhausted and furious after giving birth, runs off declaring she will never have another baby; Big Croc chases after her.
• Nearly a year after the last great war, the Mortal Domain has exhausted the local resources: its Black Abysses have been mined, targeted continents absorbed, and Sky-Piercing Pillar production continues. With little left to gain in the current sea, the Strategist Pavilion prepares the Mortal Domain’s entry into the War Mire. Meanwhile, War Mire factions are already trying to spy on or recruit Mortal Domain members. Chen Fan’s sealed-off territory and loyal population make those efforts difficult.
• Chen Fan considers where to enter the War Mire and which factions to attack, hoping to gain survival time quickly without uniting everyone against him. He receives a threatening letter signed in the Seven-Star Continent’s name—“Enter the War Mire, and you die”—but suspects it is a crude false-flag attempt by one of that continent’s enemies.
• Chen Fan also reads speculative historical notes commissioned from True Person Qi about how humanity survived the ancient invasion of strange entities. The theories are unverified, but the possibility that fourth-level continents connect to this lost history interests him.
• Preparing for war, Chen Fan continues manufacturing Sky-Piercing Pillars. He has millions in reserve, especially Level-1 pillars suited to wearing down Thorn Strange Entities, which he expects to target in the War Mire. He rejects a suggestion to hide the stockpile: keeping the weapons exposed will improve firing speed, and concealing such a vast arsenal would be impractical.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan is pragmatic and increasingly resigned to war. Though he prefers peace and would have favored the protected Peace Continent, circumstances have pushed him toward the War Machine path. He balances strategic caution—investigating threats and possible enemies—with confidence in the Mortal Domain’s military advantage.
• Mr. Na acts as an informative, familiar adviser, explaining advancement conditions and their consequences. His explanations clarify why Chen Fan’s earlier conflicts have narrowed his choices.
• Crippled Monkey and Zhou Mo provide a lighthearted interlude through their bet over Tiantian’s name. Weiwei and Keke show affection and curiosity toward the newborn, while her parents’ comic quarrel contrasts with the chapter’s military preparations.
• Chen Jiutian and the Strategist Pavilion are preparing the Mortal Domain’s campaigns, while Shao Qiu keeps Chen Fan informed about espionage. Chen Fan treats the spies as manageable and does not let their activity derail his plans.
• The Middle-Aged Man and Black Knight reveal that influential War Mire powers view Chen Jiutian as important enough to recruit, but fear provoking the Mortal Domain.

Significant themes

• War versus peace: Chen Fan’s preference for peace clashes with the incentives and circumstances governing advancement. The safest path is no longer available, leaving him to embrace military strength.
• Preparation and strategic trade-offs: The chapter emphasizes that survival depends on choosing between protection, military power, and cultivating allies. Chen Fan favors readiness and efficiency over secrecy.
• A changing frontier: Local resources are depleted, and the Mortal Domain is moving toward a larger, more dangerous arena where outside factions are already taking an interest.
• Family and ordinary life amid conflict: The birth of Tiantian offers warmth and humor alongside the approaching war, showing that the Mortal Domain continues to grow and live even as it prepares for danger.
• Unresolved history: Speculation about humanity’s ancient survival highlights how much remains unknown about the world and suggests that higher-level continents may hold clues.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points

• During construction of Eyes of Heavenly Derivation on the Fallen Firmament, Chen Fan’s team discovers abandoned ruins about 50,000 kilometers from the Eternal Night Continent. The site contains four huts, Level-Ten farmland, copper pipes, and a Purple Grade, Level-30 Mailbox.
• A recording left in the Mailbox reveals the ruins were once Southern Heaven Station 278. It shows an enormous machine anchored to the Fallen Firmament lowering a steel claw through the barrier, piercing a continent’s Heaven-Shielding Formation, uprooting the entire landmass, and carrying it away.
• The display of force shocks Chen Fan’s companions. Chen Jiutian concludes that the machine—and likely the force behind it—belongs to a fourth-level continent, far beyond what a third-level continent could readily resist. Chen Fan orders the Eye of Heavenly Derivation project paused and seeks answers from the Heaven-Questioning Bell.
• The Bell initially insists the machine does not exist in the Building Compendium. After upgrading to Heaven-Questioning Bell 2.0, it explains that the machine is a self-created building, a system available to fourth-level continents. Its blueprint, called “Xixi Yi Xixi,” is listed on the Blueprint Market by the fifth-level Giggly Continent and can capture continents.
• The Bell adds that the Mortal Domain’s Nine Heavens Lightning-Inducing Tower could become a recognized self-created building once the Eternal Night Continent reaches fourth level. Its silver electricity may power other large buildings. Chen Fan considers the tower’s future blueprint and begins thinking ahead about recruiting construction specialists.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shifts from confident preparation—bolstered by the Mortal Domain’s large stockpile of Sky-Piercing Pillars—to wary recognition that a vastly stronger class of opponent exists. He responds practically, pausing exploration and planning for future development.
• Chen Jiutian, drawing on his strategic knowledge of buildings and communications, spots that the Mailbox’s long-range function implies the outpost was far from its headquarters. He also helps identify the machine as evidence of fourth-level power.
• The recording’s creator appears cheerful and excited to document the station’s first operation, contrasting sharply with the terrifying scale of the continent-capturing machine.
• The Heaven-Questioning Bell, now renamed Xiaowen by Chen Fan, becomes more useful and conversational after its upgrade. Its detailed explanations—and refund for Chen Fan’s frivolous question about the machine’s name—create a lighter exchange amid the chapter’s escalating threat.
• Chen Fan’s companions share his shock as they watch a third-level continent’s defenses fail against the steel claw.

Significant themes

• The scale of power: The Mortal Domain’s military strength, formidable against ordinary foes, appears inadequate against fourth-level technology.
• Exploration and uncertainty: The ruins show that the Fallen Firmament is not exclusive to the Mortal Domain and hint at a much wider world of competing forces.
• Preparation and innovation: Self-created buildings represent a new path to power, while Chen Fan’s plans for the Nine Heavens Lightning-Inducing Tower and construction experts reflect his habit of preparing early.
• Knowledge has a price: Upgrading the Bell provides broader, more useful information, but answers now carry a substantial cost—making curiosity a strategic decision.

Key plot points and events

• After learning from the Heaven-Questioning Bell about threats beyond their current reach, Chen Fan gathers senior officials to study footage of a continent-lifting building from the Giggly Continent, a fourth-level continent.
• Wang Kui points out that the rival continent also uses copper pipes—previously a hallmark of the Mortal Domain. Chen Fan and others suggest this may indicate either greater resources or a long history.
• Crippled Monkey recommends widening their exploration sideways to discover why the Giggly Continent stopped expanding toward their sea.
• Household Pavilion Master Qian Duoduo introduces Qian Xiaoping, a talented carpenter and logistics worker who failed the builders’ preliminary exam because he is not a builder.
• Asked to analyze the footage, Qian Xiaoping identifies likely energy storage using Pocket Silver Lightning and proposes adapting Sky-Piercing Pillars to store it. He also reasons that the rival’s claw uses spreading strands to anchor and lift an entire continent, and suggests Dark Earth-Vein Roots could let the Mortal Domain create a similar system.
• Impressed, Chen Fan gives Qian Xiaoping a rare Builder Token, establishes the Research Pavilion to develop buildings, and appoints him its acting pavilion master. Builders and staff from other departments will join the new effort.
• Chen Fan establishes the pavilion behind Nameless Mountain and gives it the motto: “Think big, be bold, and act decisively.”
• The chapter ends with Chen Fan realizing the Heaven-Questioning Bell used the term “Building Compendium”—a phrase he believed existed only on his personal Eternal Night Lord panel. He asks Xiaowen how it knows about it.

Character developments and interactions

• Qian Xiaoping transforms from a nervous, overlooked logistics worker into a confident and innovative thinker. His analysis earns him a Builder Token and leadership of the new Research Pavilion.
• Chen Fan demonstrates openness to talent and decisive institution-building. He recognizes that the rival’s seemingly impossible technology might be within reach and gives Qian Xiaoping authority and resources.
• Crippled Monkey steps forward with a strategic proposal, showing initiative beyond his usual supporting role.
• Wang Kui initially questions Qian Duoduo’s recommendation, then supports Qian Xiaoping once his abilities become clear.
• Qian Duoduo advocates for a promising candidate despite his failure to qualify as a builder; he clarifies that Qian Xiaoping is not his relative.
• Chen Jiutian and the other officials welcome Qian Xiaoping’s appointment, seeing his ideas as valuable to the Mortal Domain.

Significant themes

• Talent can emerge outside established systems: Qian Xiaoping’s failure to meet formal entry requirements does not erase his practical insight.
• Innovation turns fear into possibility: Careful observation and creative adaptation make the rival’s technology seem achievable.
• Institution-building and self-reliance: The Research Pavilion aims to develop advanced buildings locally rather than depend on costly, potentially controlling external sources.
• No safe retreat: With other continents able to ascend to the Fallen Firmament, the Mortal Domain must strengthen itself.
• A growing mystery: The Heaven-Questioning Bell’s knowledge of Chen Fan’s private “Building Compendium” hints at a deeper connection or hidden information.

Chapter Summary

Key events

• The Heaven-Questioning Bell explains that the Building Compendium is recorded on the rare Architectural Atlas Island. A faction can claim the island only after unlocking every max-level building in the compendium; visitors can collect rewards based on their faction’s progress. Chen Fan realizes the Endless Night Lord Panel may combine functions scattered across rare islands.
• As Mortal Domain prepares for its final campaign before entering the War Mire, Tian Ce reports that it has about 2.423 trillion eerie stones available. The upcoming battle is crucial: victory would put Mortal Domain on the path to becoming a fourth-level continent.
• Chen Fan gives Hao Mao and the Sahara Continent Lord two Continent Cores, enabling their continents to advance to third level. He asks them to pursue different fourth-level paths—Peace Continent and Garden Continent—and pledges support if Mortal Domain succeeds. He also gives each continent 200 days of War Mire survival time and explains the dangers ahead.
• Chen Fan visits Qian Xiaoping at the Research Pavilion, where researchers have spent three months trying to store and release silver electricity safely. Unable to help directly, Chen encourages Xiaoping not to rush. His words inspire Xiaoping to realize that the energy must be released in a powerful surge, prompting him to request a fully charged Level-28 Sky-Piercing Pillar for a desert experiment.
• Meanwhile, Chen organizes the conversion of Rugged Island into a floating island so it can accompany Mortal Domain into the War Mire. The plan uses Mysterious Heaven Propellers beneath the island, with Flying Boats providing additional lift and control. Chen Jiutian suggests that, with future technology, even the entire continent might someday be made to float.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates strategic foresight and generosity. He repays Hao Mao and the Sahara Continent Lord for past support, while strengthening a useful alliance. He also prioritizes protecting Rugged Island, which holds the hopes of people awaiting resurrection.
• Hao Mao and the Sahara Continent Lord move from nervous visitors to enthusiastic allies. Receiving the Continent Cores greatly exceeds their expectations, and they pledge to follow Chen Fan’s leadership.
• Qian Xiaoping is consumed by guilt over the Research Pavilion’s lack of results. Chen Fan tries to reassure him, but Xiaoping is too absorbed in his thoughts to respond. After Chen leaves, he interprets Chen’s encouragement as a key scientific insight and acts on it immediately.
• Chen Jiutian contributes practical planning for Rugged Island’s conversion and imagines more ambitious future uses for the technology.
• Mortal Domain’s logistics staff follow Celestial Pivot’s orders to transport the powerful experimental weapon, while carefully keeping the test far from Nameless Mountain.

Significant themes

• Reciprocity and alliance: Chen Fan repays past assistance and invests in allies’ advancement, building trust through more than simple transactions.
• Preparation and protection: Mortal Domain is racing toward a decisive war while safeguarding both its resources and the people’s hope represented by Rugged Island.
• Innovation through patience: Research advances not through instant success but through persistent experimentation and a new way of understanding failure.
• Ambition and progress: The proposed floating island—and the dream of a suspended continent—reflect Mortal Domain’s determination to turn technological development into a means of expanding its reach.

Plot points and events

• Chen Fan oversees the relocation of Rugged Island from the sea to a lake in Jiangnan. Six hundred Flying Boats and 108 Mysterious Heaven Propellers lift, stabilize, tow, and carefully lower the island, preserving its graves. The successful operation impresses onlookers and strengthens the Mortal Domain’s unity.
• Soon after, a huge explosion in the North Jiangbei Desert alarms everyone. It turns out to be a failed Research Pavilion experiment, not an enemy attack. No one is hurt, but the blast destroys the test site’s Teleportation Formation.
• Qian Xiaoping explains the discovery: silver electricity stored in a Sky-Piercing Pillar cannot be released in a small, controlled flow; it must surge into a structure capable of absorbing it. The Mortal Domain currently lacks such a structure, but the breakthrough could prove valuable when it advances to a fourth-level continent.
• The next day, Chen reviews the department logs and newly unlocked military technology, Eerie Stone Synthesis. It can combine lower-level stones into higher-level ones, but repeated 30% losses make producing high-level stones extremely expensive.
• Chen also confirms that the deaths associated with Xiangyang and Qi Yue are recorded as two separate campaigns, honoring Xiangyang’s significance.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen shows satisfaction at the island’s successful relocation and gratitude for Celestial Pivot’s precise control. He supports the Research Pavilion’s long-term work, even when its immediate results seem modest, and remains attentive to Mortal Domain administration.
• Qian Xiaoping emerges as an enthusiastic researcher whose experiment yields a useful principle despite its explosive failure. His exchange with Crippled Monkey turns the lesson into a joke about matching powerful energy with structures strong enough to bear it; giant Jiu Wu’s interruption adds further humor.
• Crippled Monkey questions whether the Research Pavilion’s three months of work were worthwhile. Chen challenges him to consider how research breakthroughs often hinge on small details and emphasizes their strategic future value.
• A Painter’s image of Chen appearing to hold up the Mortal Domain flatters him; he pretends to dismiss it but privately admires the portrait. He also gently corrects the historical-records issue by explaining Xiangyang’s campaign was separate from Qi Yue’s.
• Chen’s playful authority shows in his teasing instructions to Crippled Monkey, while his reliance on Celestial Pivot highlights the balance between delegation and personal oversight.

Significant themes

• Collective achievement and solidarity: Accomplishing difficult feats together builds unity more effectively than speeches.
• Research and patience: A seemingly minor insight can justify months of work and create major future advantages.
• Power requires capacity: Silver electricity must be matched with a structure able to absorb it; suppressing it causes disaster.
• Leadership and remembrance: Chen combines practical administration with respect for individuals whose contributions shaped the Mortal Domain’s history.
• Progress across fields: Military strength, engineering, research, record-keeping, and culture all matter to the Mortal Domain’s development.

Chapter summary

Key plot points

• With one month left before the Mortal Domain enters the War Mire, Chen Fan spends his days inspecting its missile stockpile and consulting the Strategist Pavilion. The quiet across the continent reflects the strain and uncertainty of the coming campaign.
• Chen transfers 200 days of War Mire survival time each to Hao Mao and the Sahara Continent Lord. He assigns them responsibilities: Hao Mao must pursue peace and keep the Good Cat Continent out of war, while the Sahara Lord must try to meet the difficult “Garden Continent” objective by gathering many races and protecting the Mole Clan.
• The Mortal Domain launches a whole-sea talent selection to recruit capable people from other continents. Chen sees talent and population as essential to the Mortal Domain’s future, and the selection is organized by Hao Mao and several departments.
• Chen secretly visits Long Live, the former Strategist Pavilion Master, who has retired to a village. Long Live explains that a newspaper office set up in the isolated village made the Mortal Domain’s interest in him obvious.
• Chen tells Long Live that the War Pavilion has recovered and that the families of fallen members do not blame him. He also gives him a letter from Gongyang Yue, bearing thousands of signatures from those families, urging him to return.
• Long Live is deeply moved, but decides he cannot resume command. His grief has made him unable to issue orders that might sacrifice lives, a quality he believes a wartime strategist must possess. Instead, he hopes the new talent drive will ensure the Mortal Domain has enough people to carry responsibility.
• The talent selection proceeds on the Good Cat Continent. Qian Xiaoping tests applicants with unconventional questions meant to reveal their creativity and flexibility, while other departments use practical written exams on strategy, logistics, finance, and supply planning. Chen watches—and realizes he would struggle to answer many of them himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shows both anxiety about sacrificing a year’s accumulated supplies and growing awareness that the Mortal Domain needs a deeper pool of talent. He respects Long Live’s choice, while still hoping to benefit from his judgment through battlefield updates.
• Long Live has found perspective and humility through rural life, but remains burdened by the deaths under his command. The petition from the fallen members’ families comforts him without changing his conclusion that he is no longer fit to lead.
• Gongyang Yue demonstrates compassion and initiative by personally gathering signatures from the bereaved families to encourage Long Live’s return.
• Hao Mao and the Sahara Lord accept their assigned tasks and cooperate with the Mortal Domain’s broader plans.
• Qian Xiaoping takes charge of identifying unconventional talent, while Chen Jiutian and other department leaders help run the recruitment effort. Chen’s amused observation turns to respect as he sees how carefully the departments plan for wartime needs.

Significant themes

• Preparation and resilience: Buildings, resources, and military strength matter, but so do talent, population, and contingency planning.
• Leadership and the cost of command: Long Live’s experience shows how wartime decisions can leave lasting emotional wounds; competence may require a ruthlessness he no longer feels capable of.
• Compassion and solidarity: The fallen members’ families do not seek blame—they want Long Live, and the Mortal Domain, to be whole.
• Adaptability and perspective: The selection’s odd questions test whether candidates can rethink problems, imagine an opponent’s viewpoint, and find new uses for familiar things.
• Institution-building: As the Mortal Domain grows, its departments are developing formal systems for staffing, budgets, logistics, and long-term planning.

Summary

Three days before the Mortal Domain’s departure for the War Mire, its Whole-Sea Talent Selection concludes with 73,892 recruits. Most are sent to Private Academies for basic training and cultural orientation, while a much smaller group of exceptional candidates joins the Research Pavilion.
At the Research Pavilion, Chen Fan meets several unusual new talents chosen by Qian Xiaoping. Among them are Hei Ba, a mole and former head of a neglected underground-building research department; Zhu Yeqing, who can sense Exotic Plants’ emotions and has developed plant-based clothing; and Baobao, a heat-resistant blacksmith with unusual potential. Baobao’s young sister, Tianxin, is revealed to possess Word-Following Power: with access to a building, her spoken commands can activate its existing functions. She demonstrates this by launching a Sky-Piercing Pillar—an entirely new way to operate one. Baobao and Tianxin fled their home continent after he killed a bully who tried to abuse her. Chen Fan welcomes the recruits, promising the Mortal Domain will give their talents room to flourish.
Chen’s excitement at gaining such gifted researchers prompts Wang Kui to compare them favorably with the original team. Crippled Monkey counters that the early Mortal Domain needed practical, dependable people—not just impressive specialists—and that every role has its value. The two make peace and head for a welcome banquet.
Across the Mortal Domain, departments celebrate the newcomers. A painter recruited after submitting a work is given the job of documenting important events and illustrating history books. Meanwhile, Qian Xiaoping visits Household Pavilion master Qian Duoduo to thank him for recommending him. He brings Zhao Shengping’s famous braised delicacies, unaware that Qian Duoduo has eaten them many times before. Though he is tired of the dish, Qian Duoduo appreciates Xiaoping’s thoughtful gesture.
Elsewhere, Mr. Na visits Long Live and gives him a massive examination paper, following Chen Fan’s instructions that he complete it seriously. The visit hints that Long Live may have a role in the Mortal Domain’s plans, though his future remains unclear.
While others celebrate, Chen Fan goes alone to the Missile Storage Base and surveys the stockpile of Sky-Piercing Pillars. With the War Mire battle imminent, he prepares to unleash the Mortal Domain’s full strength.

Character developments and themes

• Chen Fan is delighted by the new recruits’ potential but remains focused on the coming battle, showing both openness to unconventional talent and a leader’s strategic resolve.
• Qian Xiaoping proves himself an enthusiastic, considerate leader, proud of his recruits and grateful to those who helped him rise.
• Baobao and Tianxin are established as close siblings whose loyalty and protectiveness have shaped their lives; their escape brings rare, powerful abilities into the Mortal Domain.
• Wang Kui and Crippled Monkey affirm the value of the original team: foundational service matters as much as extraordinary ability.
• Key themes include the value of different kinds of talent, creating a place where unusual abilities can thrive, gratitude and kindness, and the contrast between communal celebration and the looming threat of war.

Summary

• The chapter is an author’s notice about a May giveaway and a monthly-ticket bonus chapter; it contains no main-story events or character development.
• Readers can unlock the bonus chapter—unrelated “Giggly Continent” content—by spending one monthly ticket.
• Monthly tickets cast from May 1 at 00:00 through May 7 at 23:59 automatically enter a giveaway for one of 50 cases of Coca-Cola (24 cans per case, listed at 49.50 yuan).
• Winners will be announced in a separate chapter on the evening of May 10. They should check their ticket numbers and contact the author’s wife on QQ to claim a prize.
• Readers who cast more than 50 tickets during the period, including double-ticket bonuses, are guaranteed a prize.
• The author explains how to find ticket numbers and thanks readers for their support.
  Themes and interactions: The notice focuses on reader participation and support for the author. The only interaction described is between winners and the author’s wife to arrange prize claims.

The chapter itself isn’t included—only a notice that it was temporarily unavailable—so I can’t reliably summarize its plot, characters, themes, or interactions. If you share the chapter text or a detailed excerpt, I can provide a concise, structured summary.

Plot and events

• As the Mortal Domain prepares to enter the War Mire, Shadow Pavilion investigates all 73,892 new recruits for possible links to hostile continents. Its report clears the Research Pavilion members, including Baobao and Tianxin, but uncovers eight recruits secretly connected to different War Mire factions.
• Rather than eliminate the eight, Chen Fan orders them watched around the clock so the Mortal Domain can learn how they communicate with their handlers. Recordings reveal several unusual, effective methods of long-distance messaging.
• On February 1, the Eternal Night Continent and Huyi Continent set out for the War Mire, equipped with Mysterious Heaven Propellers and Whale Strange Entities. Preparations elsewhere include retracting the Black Tortoise Sky Pillar and stopping the Lightning-Inducing Tower.
• In the War Mire’s Core Area, leaders of thirteen powerful factions meet to discuss the Mortal Domain. They fear it could claim the War Mire’s sole route to becoming king—and gain orthodoxy—so one leader proposes a joint attack as soon as it arrives.
• The plan immediately loses support: the Yellow Springs Clan and the Cautious Continent withdraw. The remaining factions are left divided and suspicious.
• The meeting also reveals the danger of the Heaven-Earth tidal surge, a rare calamity that can devastate continents. Third-level continents are vulnerable; the War Mire is a refuge, but those who enter may become trapped unless they meet its demanding survival-time requirement to leave.

Character developments and interactions

• Shao Qiu demonstrates Shadow Pavilion’s thoroughness, personally investigating Baobao and Tianxin and reporting the eight compromised recruits to Chen Fan.
• Chen Fan remains cautious but pragmatic: he declines to kill the recruits, choosing surveillance and intelligence-gathering instead. He recognizes that hostile factions are still monitoring the Mortal Domain.
• Jiu Wu eagerly anticipates entering the War Mire beside Chen Fan, imagining a campaign named after himself, though he admits he would not want to lead a dangerous charge.
• At the secret meeting, the bald Continent Lord pushes for a united assault. The Elderly Man questions his assumptions, while the Middle-Aged Man weighs the risks against the threat of the tidal surge. The Tulip Continent’s lord resents the proposal because he had hoped to seize the Mortal Domain for himself.
• The Yellow Springs Clan refuses involvement. The Cautious Continent’s lord also leaves—privately because he has forgotten his Jade Seal and fears being attacked.

Significant themes

• Trust and surveillance: The Mortal Domain must verify newcomers while deciding how to use discovered threats.
• Pragmatism over retaliation: Chen Fan turns enemy infiltration into an intelligence opportunity.
• Conflict driven by scarcity: Orthodoxy, survival time, and the possibility of becoming king fuel competition and alliances.
• Knowledge as both burden and protection: Knowing about the tidal surge makes the War Mire’s dangers—and its refuge—impossible to ignore.
• Unstable alliances and self-interest: Even at a meeting about a common enemy, factions pursue separate agendas or withdraw when the risks become personal.

Plot points and events

• The Core Area’s eleven factions agree to attack the Mortal Domain as soon as it enters the War Mire, hoping to eliminate a future rival and seize opportunities on the Eternal Night Continent. The Bit Continent claims the high-risk Western Wasteland Island, while the Other Shore Clan chooses the less valuable eastern region.
• Chen Fan learns that the Core factions have stopped fighting and will be waiting for the Mortal Domain, so he abandons the plan to raid weaker territories.
• Long Live proposes breaking the alliance through disinformation: announce that the Mortal Domain already has orthodoxy and does not need to become King of the War Mire. Chen Fan explains that a thinking imitation of Long Live now advises him, created by stimulating a Heavenly Dao with silver electricity.
• Chen Fan deliberately leaks exaggerated claims about the Mortal Domain’s resources and power. His agents spread stories of thirty trillion eerie stones, millions of Sky-Piercing Pillars, and a plan to destroy every other continent.
• The Core factions meet again. Reports about the Mortal Domain’s supposed wealth, orthodoxy, and military strength alarm them. Rather than attack immediately, they decide to wait and judge the Mortal Domain’s actions on arrival.
• Chen Fan reveals the real priority: the Mortal Domain must complete its “War Machine” advancement task by launching another 800,000 Sky-Piercing Pillars. He plans to publicly offer surrender terms, then bombard those who refuse.
• Although he has claimed not to want the title of King of the War Mire, Chen Fan actually intends to secure it for Jiu Wu, so the Mortal Domain’s allies can advance together.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates strategic cunning, using intercepted communications, planted rumors, and the Eye of Heavenly Derivation’s cloud messages to manipulate the enemy factions. His confidence is matched by a pragmatic willingness to use overwhelming force.
• Long Live continues to contribute strategic advice despite being absent in person; his reasoning has been reproduced in a thinking Heavenly Dao, reassuring Chen Jiutian.
• Chen Jiutian moves from surprise at the shifting situation to confidently carrying out Chen Fan’s orders.
• The rival Continent Lords and the Wraith King show growing unease as evidence of the Mortal Domain’s strength accumulates. Their former unity weakens into cautious suspicion.
• Mortal Domain members knowingly spread fabricated intelligence to enemy moles, turning ordinary conversations and a staged missile-base tour into tools of deception.

Significant themes

• Information as a weapon: rumors and selective truths shape enemy decisions as much as military power.
• Deterrence and brinkmanship: the threat of vast firepower delays the factions’ planned attack, even before the claims are verified.
• Ambition and advancement: the struggle for the War Mire’s crown is tied to becoming a fourth-level power.
• Loyalty and collective progress: Chen Fan’s final goal reflects the principle that those who advance first should help their companions advance too.
• Righteousness as a façade: Chen Fan frames an impending bombardment as a reluctant act for peace, exposing the gap between public justification and private intent.

Chapter summary

Ten days after reaching the War Mire, Chen Fan publicly announced the Mortal Domain’s arrival through a proclamation written across the clouds. He said the Mortal Domain already possessed orthodoxy and wanted only enough survival time to advance to a fourth-level continent—not to rule the War Mire. But he made the offer a threat: those who gave time would be spared; those who refused would face the Mortal Domain’s armies and die. The War Mire’s leaders were shocked, and the eleven powers meeting in the Core Area chose to wait and see rather than submit immediately.
Chen Fan let the threat sink in for a day, then led the heavily reinforced Eternal Night Continent through the War Mire’s storm belt. Once inside, the Mortal Domain began its planned show of force. Under Chen Jiutian’s command, it launched saturation strikes against the region’s seventy-seven third-level continents and its Heritage Continents, concentrating fire on the eleven leaders who had gathered at the meeting. The stated aim was deterrence: continents that merely intercepted the missiles would be removed from the target list, while those that retaliated would face much heavier attacks. The Cautious Continent, whose lord had wondered whether the Mortal Domain truly was courteous, was among those struck—and learned that its “courtesy” came with thousands of missiles.
Meanwhile, Mr. Na delivered Long Live a new appointment from Chen Fan. Long Live had been living in retirement, but the demanding military-strategy work he had recently taken on reminded him how much he missed intellectual work. Chen Fan offered him the post of Minister of Education, overseeing the Mortal Domain’s private schools under the Household Pavilion. Long Live accepted, grateful that Chen Fan had found him a role suited to his abilities.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan presents the Mortal Domain’s goal as limited, but pursues it through overwhelming force. His confidence is tempered by strategic calculation: he knows a united War Mire would be dangerous, and intends to exploit its members’ distrust of one another.
• Chen Jiutian takes command of the campaign in Long Live’s absence, issuing precise rules for strikes and retaliation. His disciplined, cold manner shows the Mortal Domain’s military strength operating under a clear plan.
• Long Live shifts from reluctant retiree to willing public servant. His exchange with Mr. Na reveals both his frustration with retirement and his appreciation of Chen Fan’s thoughtful appointment.
• The Cautious Continent’s lord moves from cautious optimism to panic and anger when the promised “Nation of Etiquette” launches its attack. His reaction exposes the gap between the Mortal Domain’s claim of restraint and its blunt coercion.
• Mr. Na serves as Chen Fan’s trusted courier and mediator, carrying the appointment to Long Live and responding warmly to his decision.

Significant themes

• Power framed as diplomacy: The Mortal Domain offers a choice, but its terms are backed by the threat of annihilation.
• Deterrence and calculated restraint: The strikes are designed to demonstrate reach and compel submission, while sparing those who do not retaliate.
• Disunity as vulnerability: Chen Fan believes the War Mire’s long-standing rivalries will prevent its leaders from forming an effective alliance.
• Purpose and belonging: Long Live’s return to service suggests that meaningful work, not mere comfort, gives him a sense of place.
• Courtesy as irony: The chapter’s title and closing joke highlight how the Mortal Domain’s self-description as courteous clashes with its missile-filled “greeting.”

Chapter summary

Key events and plot

• Chen Fan launches a massive, indiscriminate barrage at all seventy-seven continents in the War Mire. By mixing ordinary Sky-Piercing Pillars with concealed higher-powered ones, the Mortal Domain forces its rivals to spend expensive strategic weapons on interception—or risk severe damage.
• Once the other continents fall silent, Chen Fan explains that striking everyone at once keeps them from feeling singled out or joining forces against him. He intends to make the Core Area his main target while keeping the outer continents passive spectators.
• The Mortal Domain demands half of the Other Shore Clan’s War Mire Survival Time. When the clan refuses, Chen Fan orders a devastating targeted strike: more than 300,000 Sky-Piercing Pillars overwhelm its defenses and destroy the clan.
• Chen then calls out the Cautious Continent. Its young Lord, Li Kaixin, quickly chooses to surrender rather than risk annihilation and transfers 1,209 days—half his Survival Time—to the Mortal Domain.
• The transfer raises the Mortal Domain’s Survival Time from 2,121 to 3,330 days, enough to increase its level cap. Li Kaixin identifies the Bit Continent as a leading organizer of resistance, giving Chen Fan his next target.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan reveals himself as a controlled, politically astute leader. His apparent recklessness is deliberate: he uses intimidation, public pressure, and carefully chosen examples to shape the other continents’ choices while conserving his limited reserves.
• Chen Jiutian is impressed but uneasy about the Mortal Domain’s boldness. He begins to recognize that Chen Fan’s influence lies not only in military force but in controlling the tempo and framing of events.
• Li Kaixin initially fears the Mortal Domain’s power, then pragmatically surrenders. His conversation with Chen Fan is courteous and transactional; afterward, he provides intelligence on the Bit Continent.
• The Other Shore Clan’s King reacts with anger and humiliation, but his attempts to rally allies fail. His clan’s destruction demonstrates the cost of resisting the Mortal Domain.
• The Cautious Continent’s Lord chooses survival over pride, while other outer continents watch and wait rather than risk becoming the next target.

Significant themes

• Power as overwhelming force: The Mortal Domain’s “saturation” barrage makes conventional defenses and strategy nearly irrelevant.
• Fear, pride, and herd behavior: Chen Fan exploits the fact that opponents are less likely to unite when everyone has been threatened and each waits for someone else to act.
• Control of perception and timing: Public demands, deadlines, and selective strikes let Chen Fan steer the conflict and isolate targets.
• Pragmatism over honor: Li Kaixin concludes that surrendering half his Survival Time is preferable even to a costly victory, let alone defeat.