Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Drunkard Xinghe reveals his bitterness toward a world that favors the naturally “noble,” but insists that the Angler Clan may one day challenge those above them. He declares the clan will commit all its reserves and honor to the Mortal Domain’s war.
• To take Chen Fan to the Three-Heat Plains, Xinghe uses a galaxy-like fishing line to drag the entire continent across the world and settle it beside the Eternal Night Continent. Chen Fan’s task of visiting the Four Great Extremes is thereby completed.
• The Three-Heat Plains’ extreme heat threatens the nearby continent, forcing its Land-Guarding Formation to shield the population. Jiu Wu is burned trying to gather Five-Turbidity Coconuts, so Chen Fan sends Baobao, a Fire-Wielder immune to heat, to investigate.
• Baobao finds a hidden space within the otherwise barren plains. Inside is a golden desert filled with red parasol trees; their fallen fruit proves to be the Five-Turbidity Coconuts.
• The hidden area also contains a palace decorated with Vermilion Bird reliefs. Its entrance bears the same couplet once used by the Eternal Night Hall’s Western Operations Group, whose authors, Tianyi and Qiu Yisi, died years earlier.
• Chen Fan orders Wang Kui to investigate whether other continents have Firewalker Sun cultivators, then tells Baobao to open the palace doors.

Character developments and interactions

• Xinghe’s drunken pessimism exposes anger at inherited privilege, but his actions reveal fierce loyalty to the King and the Mortal Domain. His enormous display of power turns his words into a formal declaration of war.
• Chen Fan is stunned by Xinghe’s strength, yet responds pragmatically: he organizes the search for the Plains’ resources, prioritizes Baobao’s safety, and pursues the mystery of the palace and Firewalker Sun cultivators.
• Baobao proves able to withstand the Plains’ heat and carefully follows Chen Fan’s instructions, while Jiu Wu feels guilty after failing to approach the area.
• Wang Kui, Crippled Monkey, and the others witness Xinghe’s feat and recognize that the Angler Clan’s capabilities may far exceed their presumed support role. The Strategist Pavilion records Baobao’s discoveries.

Significant themes

• Defying hierarchy: Xinghe rejects the idea that birth determines worth and vows to challenge the powerful.
• Loyalty and commitment: The Angler Clan openly joins the Mortal Domain’s struggle, staking its resources and honor.
• Hidden history and uncanny echoes: The palace’s couplet links the Vermilion Bird Clan’s ancient refuge to people and events from the recent past, suggesting a deeper connection.
• The cost of power: Chen Fan questions whether Firewalker Sun cultivators are channeling a force their bodies cannot safely bear, prompting him to investigate the nature of their abilities.

Key plot points and events

• Baobao enters the Vermilion Bird Clan’s ancient Palace in the Three-Heat Plains despite Chen Fan’s warning. The hollow-eyed statues turn toward him, and he walks to the Throne as if under a spell.
• The statues unleash flames that consume the Palace and destroy the recording device. Baobao survives, but reveals afterward that he has become the Vermilion Bird Clan’s King. He must remain behind to protect his people as they revive.
• Baobao explains that the Angler Clan preserved the Vermilion Birds’ remains using the rare Nine-Turn Yin-Yang Flower. The Angler Canghai Yue used Reverse Fishing to cast Baobao’s memories out of the River of Time; those memories were meant to reach the Palace and trigger the clan’s return. Baobao’s full revival must wait until the third dark turmoil begins.
• Baobao asks Chen Fan to care for his sister, Sweetie, and says he misses the peaceful years he spent in the Mortal Domain. He also identifies the Angler Clan as the Vermilion Birds’ benefactors.
• Xuan Ba recalls that his former king kept a diary and suspects Canghai Yue may have stolen it. Chen Fan sends him via Yellow Springs Road to retrieve it.
• The Eternal Night Continent resumes its journey toward a rendezvous with allied continents, while Chen Fan worries about the dangers ahead and resolves to stockpile more Sky-Piercing Pillars.
• Green Edge, representing the Human Faction, warns Chen Fan that the Mortal Domain is on the Strange Entity Faction’s Watch List and may be targeted by a mass assault. He provides three bags of resources and a guide to the Boundary Battlefield. The Human Faction uses the opposing faction’s Watch List to identify and support threatened continents.

Character developments and interactions

• Baobao is revealed to be more than the friend Chen Fan knew: he is the Vermilion Bird King, whose memories were sent ahead of his people’s revival. Though changed by his role and incomplete memories, he retains affection for his Mortal Domain friends.
• Chen Fan balances concern for Baobao with practical preparations for the Mortal Domain’s survival. He accepts Green Edge’s aid and dispatches Xuan Ba on a mission.
• Xuan Ba volunteers information about his former king’s diary, prompting a new search for clues.
• Green Edge is direct and duty-focused: he explains the threat, delivers aid, and leaves without ceremony.
• Baobao and Chen Fan’s conversation is warm but tinged with uncertainty: Chen Fan checks on Baobao’s condition and asks for his memories, while Baobao entrusts him with Sweetie’s care.

Significant themes

• Memory, identity, and return: Baobao’s memories precede his people’s physical revival, raising questions about how much of the person survives such a transformation.
• Sacrifice and gratitude: The Angler Clan’s forbidden use of a rare heavenly material preserved the Vermilion Birds, creating a lasting debt between the clans.
• Growing power, growing danger: Chen Fan’s strength and resources increase, yet the threats become more extensive, leaving him increasingly unsure of the Mortal Domain’s future.
• Alliances and preparation: Cooperation between factions and clans may be essential as the dark turmoil and Boundary Battlefield approach.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Human Faction invests heavily in Chen Fan, giving him three enormous Resource Storage Bags: one containing a million Level-10 Eerie Stones, another holding 200 tons of Stellar Gold, and a single-use Calamity Token that can trigger an ultimate calamity tied to a continent title. The Stellar Gold lets Chen Fan plan to return to the World Battlefield and rescue Angler.
• Xuan Ba visits Canghai Yue in Yellow Springs to ask about the Black Tortoise King’s diary. Canghai Yue retrieves a carved stone fragment. Its final entry reveals a long-ago attempt by the Black Tortoise and White Tiger clans to restore the extinct Vermilion Bird and Azure Dragon clans by blending their bloodlines and using humans as vessels.
• The experiments involved strange entities, the Ratmost Tribe, and eventually humans. Vermilion Bird blood caused severe side effects, and the diary ends before the project’s outcome is recorded. The clans were punished: adult Black Tortoises were slaughtered, while the White Tiger Clan disappeared.
• Xuan Ba brings the revelation to Chen Fan and the others. They infer that the Four Sacred Beasts are meant to serve as a “key” to a “lock,” possibly connected to the Cursed Continent or even the 1024th Heaven. Chen Fan suspects that the Vermilion Bird bloodline survived in people such as Firewalker Sun.
• Overwhelmed by the thought that his life and clan may be predetermined, Xuan Ba confides in Jiu Wu. Jiu Wu reminds him that a destined role does not erase the value of his choices and efforts.
• The two turn their morning runs into a chase: Xuan Ba and the Black Tortoises pursue Jiu Wu’s group and the strange tide. Chen Fan watches, amused by the continent’s disorder but wishing its newfound peace could last.

Character developments

• Chen Fan is grateful for the Human Faction’s generous, no-strings-attached support. Although the ancient revelation could have frightened him, he responds with pragmatic defiance, focusing on protecting the Mortal Domain rather than dwelling on distant threats.
• Xuan Ba learns that his people may have been part of a plan to make him—or the Four Sacred Beasts—serve as a predetermined key. He initially feels that his years of effort were meaningless, but Jiu Wu helps him regain perspective.
• Jiu Wu reveals a thoughtful, reassuring side beneath his usual irreverence. He relates Xuan Ba’s sense of predestination to his own reputation as someone destined to become the Dark Monarch, arguing that people can still choose how they live.
• Canghai Yue is reluctant to admit his interest in old writings, but helps Xuan Ba anyway. He has only one diary fragment and cannot use the time-related fishing technique Xuan Ba hopes might recover the others.

Significant themes

• Choice versus destiny: Even if people are born to fulfill a larger purpose, their actions and relationships still matter.
• Legacy and survival: The clans’ attempts to preserve the Four Sacred Beasts’ bloodlines reflect the lengths people go to prevent extinction and avert future catastrophe.
• The cost of knowledge: Discovering the past may deepen a burden rather than provide a clear solution; the missing diary fragments leave crucial questions unresolved.
• Found family and mutual support: Jiu Wu’s encouragement helps Xuan Ba move from despair back toward connection and activity.
• Peace amid chaos: Chen Fan’s closing reflection contrasts the continent’s absurd, lively routines with the quiet life he hopes to protect.

Plot points and events

• Two months into its high-speed journey toward the Wind-Eroded Land, the Eternal Night Continent has nearly exhausted its World Tree Sap. Chen Fan detours to collect Wan Gu, the Angler freed with 100 tons of Stellar Gold.
• Wan Gu regains his name and identity, but little else. He asks Chen Fan to rescue other Anglers trapped in World Battlefields; each would require another 100 tons of Stellar Gold, leaving Chen Fan alarmed at the cost.
• Wan Gu settles behind Nameless Mountain. Chen Fan reviews the Mortal Domain’s progress: Popular Will is growing on the Good Cat and Sahara Continents, and the Branching Out plan is advancing smoothly as more continents affiliate with the Mortal Domain.
• Chen Fan concludes he will likely need to reach the Boundary Battlefield to find more Stellar Gold before he can help the other Anglers.
• Wan Gu gives Xuan Ba and Jiu Wu stones that supposedly carry his aura, so he can sense if they are crushed. Xuan Ba admits his own “rescue Pearls” were fake, intended to give people confidence rather than summon him. Wan Gu’s stones are genuine, though currently useless until his memories return.
• Near the Wind-Eroded Land, a huge Strange Tide captures the Food-Heaven Continent and confines its people without killing them. Its elderly ruler suspects the strange entities are sparing him because a Ninth-Level entity once enjoyed a banquet he prepared.
• When the captors threaten him, the old man insists on caring for the fish in his Fish Tank. While preparing food, he accidentally breaks an old Pearl—a token given by a massive Black Tortoise long ago, said to summon it in an emergency. He hopes it will save his people.
• Nearby, two Level-Five Strange Entity leaders discuss holding a banquet and trying the Ninth-Level Clan’s famous One-Hundred-and-Eight-Course Banquet, though one worries this may violate a taboo.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains responsible for the Mortal Domain’s expansion and its people, but Wan Gu’s request confronts him with the limits of his resources. He respects the Anglers’ custom of announcing their names, even while finding it puzzling.
• Wan Gu is newly freed and more at ease, but his recovered memories are minimal. He shows generosity toward his new neighbors and a strong desire to rescue his trapped clansmen.
• Xuan Ba reveals his old Pearls were a practical deception: they reassured people and encouraged self-reliance, while also sparing him impossible rescue demands. Jiu Wu is shocked and skeptical; Wan Gu disapproves of the dishonesty.
• The Food-Heaven Continent’s elderly ruler uses his composure and knowledge of the captors to protect himself and the fish he considers his children. His apparent accident is a desperate attempt to activate the Pearl.

Significant themes

• Responsibility versus scarcity: Chen Fan wants to help the Anglers but lacks the Stellar Gold required.
• Unification and collective effort: The Mortal Domain’s expansion is gaining momentum through public support and organized work.
• Belief as a source of strength: Xuan Ba’s fake Pearls suggest that confidence and hope can help people endure danger.
• Ingenuity and survival: The elderly ruler negotiates with captors and risks everything on an inherited promise.
• Identity and legacy: Wan Gu’s insistence on naming himself reflects the Anglers’ desire to leave a mark, while old tokens and stories may still shape events generations later.

Plot points and events

• Leaders of nearly twenty Level-Five Strange Entity Clans gather in the Wind-Eroded Land to ambush the Mortal Domain. While they debate how to lure it in, they decide to hold an early victory banquet.
• They order an elderly Food-Heaven Continent cook to prepare a Seventy-Two-Course Banquet. The cook slyly specifies ingredients that describe the harpoon-carrying minor entity who brought him in, hoping to take revenge. The Kings see through the trick but allow it; the cook plans to stall until Black Tortoise arrives.
• Jiu Wu and Xuan Ba scout ahead of the Eternal Night Continent and discover the assembled Strange Tides. Jiu Wu warns Chen Fan, and Xuan Ba turns back. Though the enemy spots the continent, an ancient Heaven-Evading Strange Entity seals Chen Fan, and a King activates the ultimate calamity Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts with a Calamity Token.
• The calamity traps the Mortal Domain and the nearby Strange Entity Clans in a month-long battle zone; neither side can leave until a victor emerges, and both will be annihilated if time runs out. Twenty-seven Level-Five clans, along with possible Ancient Strange Entities, advance on the Eternal Night Continent.
• Chen Fan suspects someone leaked the Mortal Domain’s movements and orders Shao Qiu to investigate afterward. He prepares the defenses and uses Heaven’s Mandate Bestowed to draw numerous halos, including major bonuses to firepower, defense, and repairs. A lucky 888 draw grants a pink halo that makes Strange Entities drop 100 times as many eerie stones.
• With the enemy closing in, Chen Fan orders the first Otherworld Kingdom deployed to test its power against the boosted defenses.

Character developments and interactions

• The elderly cook turns his captivity into an opportunity for revenge, while still hoping the Black Tortoise will rescue him. He later realizes his request for help may have brought Xuan Ba and the Eternal Night Continent into danger.
• Jiu Wu and Xuan Ba show growing ease with each other during their scouting trip. Their banter touches on Xuan Ba’s age, past hardships, and Black Tortoise reproduction before the sudden ambush forces them to act.
• Chen Fan remains composed under pressure, prioritizing investigation, preparation, and tactical testing. His confidence is tempered by his awareness that the attackers planned carefully and vastly outnumber him.
• Chen Jiutian initially panics at the scale of the threat, then gains confidence after seeing the Mortal Domain’s accumulated power. He tries to stop Chen Fan from making more draws, but the final jackpot surprises them both.
• The Strange Entity Kings disagree over whether to attack immediately or delay, but one pushes the group into action. Their confidence is reinforced by an Ancient Strange Entity’s assurances, even as they are startled by the Mortal Domain’s many halos.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus surprise: The ambush catches the Mortal Domain at a disadvantage, but its accumulated resources and systems provide powerful countermeasures.
• Power built over time: Branching out, stockpiled structures, and war bonuses transform the Mortal Domain into a formidable force.
• Luck and risk: Chen Fan’s draws produce both practical advantages and a decisive jackpot, though victory remains uncertain.
• Loyalty and unintended consequences: The cook’s appeal for rescue may expose his would-be rescuer and allies to a far greater conflict.
• Overconfidence: The Strange Entity Kings trust their numbers and their Ancient ally, but they have not yet seen what the Mortal Domain’s preparations can do.

Plot points and events

• Chen Fan receives messages from allied continents rushing to help the Mortal Domain. The Food-Heaven Continent has submitted to the Mortal Domain so it can build teleportation formations and bring in reinforcements. But the fighting is sealed inside an Ultimate Calamity, so the arriving allies can only watch and prepare for a possible second battlefield.
• Hu Wan, lord of the Gods and Devils Continent, urges the assembled leaders to stockpile Sky-Piercing Pillars and prepare for the twenty-seven powerful Strange Entity Clans gathered at the Mortal Domain. He believes Chen Fan can win, but also wants to see which allies contribute supplies.
• Chen Fan tests the Otherworld Kingdom, a black-grade building whose Level 40 effect triggers when one hundred or more detonate together. A Stone Statue Wraith uses powerful winds to reverse the first launch, and then a second attempt.
• Chen Fan intercepts the returning Otherworld Kingdom with a Strategic Sky-Piercing Pillar. Its detonation creates a vast field of rapidly moving space rifts, devastating the Strange Tide—but also swallowing the valuable eerie stone dropped by the dead.
• A group of Mirror Wraiths form a huge dome that absorbs the space rifts and shields many Strange Entities. Xiaowen explains that Mirror Wraiths and Stone Statue Wraiths can work together to defend or propel an attack.
• An Angler fishing through space rifts elsewhere reels in the resources lost in the battle. Wan Gu, the Angler King, recognizes the technique and recalls a past war, but an Angler’s fishing line hooks him. Unable to enter the rift or reel in the other Angler, he cuts the line and resolves to recover his missing memories.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan is moved by the allies’ willingness to help, then shifts into a practical, experimental approach to combat. He is impressed by the Otherworld Kingdom’s destructive power but furious when its kills’ resources disappear into space rifts.
• Hu Wan presents himself as a capable, trusted leader, balancing confidence in Chen Fan with careful preparation and political calculation. Xiaoxixi questions his pessimism and privately teases his scheming.
• Xiaowen provides Chen Fan with crucial intelligence about the Strange Entities’ abilities.
• Wan Gu shows unexpected nostalgia for his Angler clan and past battles. Being hooked himself enrages and humiliates him, intensifying his desire to regain his memories and find the skilled clansman.
• The allied Continent Lords respond to the crisis with solidarity, though their help is limited to preparations outside the sealed calamity.

Significant themes

• Solidarity and reciprocity: Even distant allies risk resources to support the Mortal Domain.
• Preparation amid uncertainty: The alliance plans for defeat while trusting Chen Fan to win.
• Adaptation in warfare: Strange Entity abilities force Chen Fan and his side to revise tactics quickly.
• Power has costs: The Otherworld Kingdom devastates the enemy, but its power scatters valuable spoils.
• Identity and memory: Wan Gu’s incomplete memories leave him separated from abilities and relationships that once defined him.

Plot points and events

• The Eternal Night Continent’s first strike from the Otherworld Kingdom creates spatial rifts that devastate the incoming army of twenty-seven Level-Five Strange Entity Clans. A follow-up barrage from Sky-Piercing Pillars finishes off most survivors, and the Mortal Domain’s summoned forces clean up the rest.
• Chen Fan and his allies are surprised by how quickly the battle ends. Chen Fan explains that the Mortal Domain’s goal is the Boundary Battlefield, not risking lives in unnecessary fights.
• Jiu Wu proposes exploiting the Mortal Domain’s hundredfold Eerie Stone reward: he produces disposable Level-1 Meatworm Wraiths, which are immediately killed in a purpose-built cannon structure. The process turns five Eerie Stones into a net gain of ninety-five per creature.
• The Eternal Night Continent clears the ultimate calamity, Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, within two hours and kills nearly all its Strange Entities. It earns the unique continent title “Divine Descent.”
• The group visits the rescued Food-Heaven Continent, whose lord, Food Without Words, offers a Seventy-Two-Course Banquet and reveals that he has secretly preserved 3,000 tons of Stellar Gold. He gives it to Chen Fan and offers the Food-Heaven Continent’s cooks to supply meals at the Boundary Battlefield.
• Food Without Words also thanks Xuan Ba for supposedly answering an ancestral emergency Pearl. Xuan Ba admits to himself that his arrival was coincidental, but accepts the gratitude and asks for a banquet to take to Canghai Yue.
• The banquet is postponed until Jiu Wu can join. Chen Fan ends the chapter at the Northbank Defense Line, reflecting on his journey and preparing to leave for the Boundary Battlefield.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shows confidence in the Mortal Domain’s strength and prioritizes survival over seeking spectacular battles. He is grateful for the allies who have helped him and senses that circumstances are increasingly in his favor.
• Jiu Wu applies his unusual ability pragmatically, turning the reward system into a reliable source of resources. He stays behind to continue the process, while Xiangyang clarifies that he is now a Doppelganger Wraith, not a Meatworm Wraith.
• Xuan Ba is reminded of an old encounter with the Food-Heaven Continent. Though he did not actually come because of their Pearl, he accepts their thanks and warm offer to feed him and his clan.
• Food Without Words repays the Mortal Domain’s aid with valuable Stellar Gold and practical support for the coming campaign. His generosity strengthens ties between the continents.
• The allied Continent Lords witness the Mortal Domain’s overwhelming power, and their sense of belonging to its alliance grows. Crippled Monkey quietly supports Chen Fan at the end by bringing him a robe.

Significant themes

• Power and preparation: The Mortal Domain’s victories show the payoff of long-term investment in weapons, defenses, and logistics.
• Cooperation and reciprocity: The Food-Heaven Continent returns the help it received, while old connections—sometimes accidental—create new bonds.
• Practical leadership: Chen Fan values survival and shared purpose over danger for its own sake; the postponed banquet reflects the importance of including everyone.
• Reflection before a new trial: Chen Fan’s quiet moment marks the transition from recent victories and relative peace to the looming challenge of the Boundary Battlefield.

Key plot points and events

• After Jiu Wu completes the work of transporting the eerie stones, the haul is counted at 42.19 quadrillion, mostly thanks to his efforts. The Strange Entity Clan’s Supreme Heavenly Dao fumes that Jiu Wu is wasting his dark powers on hauling stones, while the Human Clan’s Supreme Heavenly Dao praises him.
• The Mortal Domain’s banquet continues, with Continent Lords free to explore the Eternal Night Continent.
• Xuan Ba asks Jiu Wu whether he could become Deputy Pavilion Master of the Jiu Wu Pavilion. Jiu Wu bluntly tells him he has not earned a position and reminds him that he repaid Chen Fan’s rescue with a fake pearl. Xuan Ba admits Jiu Wu has a point, though he objects to the harshness.
• Jiu Wu urges Xuan Ba to socialize rather than isolate himself, drawing on his own earlier experience of feeling unwelcome in the Mortal Domain.
• In a city, the Hexagram Heaven Continent’s Lord and his young acolyte encounter Mr. Na, who poses as the Dao-less Celestial Master and gives accurate low-cost fortunes by using his Heavenly Dao abilities.
• The acolyte’s boast that his master is the world’s greatest diviner sparks a public comparison. The Continent Lord, who actually relies on the Divination-Heaven Bell, humbly praises Mr. Na to avoid being exposed.
• The two men trade philosophical compliments and gradually relax, each leaving convinced that he has earned the other’s respect.
• Chen Fan arrives to watch their discussion, privately amused because he knows both “Celestial Masters” are relying on unconventional methods rather than genuine divination.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiu Wu has become comfortable in the Mortal Domain and shows empathy toward Xuan Ba, even while teasing him sharply about his lack of contributions and past deception.
• Xuan Ba reveals his insecurity about belonging and his desire for a formal role, but his shameless ambition and past dishonesty remain evident.
• Mr. Na and the Hexagram Heaven Continent Lord begin anxious about being exposed, then bond through mutual flattery and shared reflections on helping others. Their exchange emphasizes that they are more alike—and more earnest—than either initially expected.
• Chen Fan observes the encounter with amused detachment.

Significant themes

• Belonging and merit: Jiu Wu encourages Xuan Ba to participate, while insisting that status should follow meaningful contribution.
• Humility and service: The two Celestial Masters agree that sincere help matters more than the scale or prestige of a deed.
• Appearance versus reality: Supreme beings, powerful Continent Lords, and supposed masters all have comic shortcomings or hidden methods.
• Community and everyday life: The banquet, welcoming city, and citizens’ curiosity show the Mortal Domain as a place where people can live openly and comfortably.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan confronts Mr. Na, revealing that he knew the respected “Dao-less Celestial Master” was secretly a Mortal Domain member who had been performing genuine divinations among ordinary people. Mr. Na admits his identity was exposed but learns Chen Fan had been monitoring him all along.
• At Nameless Mountain, Chen Fan reunites three Continent Lords with their hidden bells: Niu Jiazi’s Divination-Heaven Bell, Xiaoxixi’s Fortune-and-Misfortune Bell, and the Food-Heaven Continent Lord’s Voidbreaking Bell. Each bell returns to the World Tree, regains sentience, and becomes stronger. Chen Fan explains that nine bells exist; finding the remaining three could restore the World Tree to its complete form.
• Several Continent Lords admit they do not want to go to the dangerous Boundary Battlefield. Chen Fan accepts their reluctance, favoring a cautious approach over forcing every continent to go.
• Hu Wan, once the most hardline advocate for going to the Boundary Battlefield, tells Chen Fan that the Gods and Devils Continent will stay behind because his wife is pregnant and he wants to see his first child born. Chen Fan congratulates him, reassures him that the continent has already helped the Mortal Domain, and accepts its “Defeat Heaven, Command a Billion Pieces” Ultimate Continent Title.
• Chen Fan decides that only the Mortal Domain will go to the Boundary Battlefield. He calls the journey an expedition and insists they must go, though he privately worries about those they will leave behind.
• At the Northbank Defense Line, Chen Fan checks on the War Pavilion’s resurrection efforts. Most members who died on Rugged Island have returned, but Qi Yue is still missing.
• Chen Fan begins writing a handwritten history of the Mortal Domain, recording the “1024 Campaign” and hoping that, if this becomes their final battle, future generations will call it the Mortal Domain Battle.
• In side developments, Canghai Yue finds a cache of blue stone slabs he had previously discarded and begins studying them. Baobao recovers his true identity as Star Lord Mao Ri and hints at connections involving the Lizard and Dragon Clans. Elsewhere, an Angler nears his goal of buying his freedom with Stellar Gold and worries about the King’s condition.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates both authority and restraint: he exposes deception easily, strengthens the bells, and accepts that other continents may stay behind. He is determined to lead the Mortal Domain himself, but his private history-writing reveals uncertainty about the expedition’s outcome and concern for its people.
• Mr. Na realizes Chen Fan has long known both his identity and activities. His conversation with Niu Jiazi also exposes that Niu’s reputation as a diviner rests largely on the Divination-Heaven Bell.
• Niu Jiazi, Xiaoxixi, and the Food-Heaven Continent Lord each recover their bells but make clear they would rather avoid the Boundary Battlefield. Their candid reluctance contrasts with earlier assumptions that every continent would join.
• Hu Wan undergoes the sharpest reversal: the former radical chooses family over battle, admitting fear and a desire to meet his unborn child. Chen Fan responds without judgment and credits him for the Gods and Devils Continent’s past support.
• Wang Kui urges Chen Fan that the Mortal Domain need not go; Chen Fan insists, then confides that the decision may let down those who remain.

Significant themes

• Duty versus personal ties: Hu Wan’s choice to stay for his child complicates the idea that courage always means going to war.
• Leadership through restraint: Chen Fan refuses to force other continents into a mission he considers too dangerous, while still accepting responsibility for the Mortal Domain’s expedition.
• Legacy and remembrance: Chen Fan’s history book reflects his hope that the Mortal Domain’s sacrifices will be understood and remembered.
• Identity, memory, and recovery: The bells regain fuller forms, Baobao remembers his true name, and the Angler wonders whether the King will recover his memories.
• Uncertainty before conflict: The chapter closes on preparations, missing allies, and unresolved mysteries, emphasizing that the coming expedition may be perilous and irreversible.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Qianqiu is freed and joins the Mortal Domain. A surge of Star Metal spent by an affiliated continent completes Angler Qianqiu’s release from the World Battlefield. When Qianqiu appears near the Eternal Night Continent, he mistakenly assumes the King has chosen to support the Human Faction. Wan Gu promptly yanks him away with a fishing line, then Qianqiu explains that he had once fished Eerie Stone belonging to the Mortal Domain out of a Space Rift and kept it safe. Chen Fan welcomes him into the Mortal Domain and agrees that the Anglers may settle above the Eternal Night Continent, where their true bodies can remain in a nearly invulnerable illusory state.
• The Eternal Night Continent sets off to rendezvous with allied continents. Rather than visiting every World Battlefield, it will send Star Metal through affiliated fourth-level continents to free other Anglers. The World Tree Sap supply is running low, limiting the continent’s speed.
• Chen Fan reviews the World Tree’s new abilities and his two unique titles. The World Tree can now travel through Space Rifts, warn of major danger to its continent, and reveal a race’s underlying strength. Chen Fan adds the mysterious one-use Divine Descent to his emergency plans.
• The title Defeat Heaven, Command a Billion Pieces proves especially powerful. It grants advantages in the Heaven-and-Earth Chess Game and a one-time ability to rewind all of existence by three days—though everyone will know the Eternal Night Continent caused it. Its accompanying treasure, No Regrets After Placing a Piece, can prevent any timeline from being rewound for three days.
• Hu Wan chooses not to join the Boundary Battlefield yet. Though he had devoted himself to fighting Strange Entities, seeing the Mortal Domain’s victory convinces him that its people are better positioned to lead the struggle. He gives the chess title to the Mortal Domain as his contribution, then stays with his pregnant wife.
• Chen Fan, his companions, and the Anglers prepare to ride the World Tree into a Space Rift. Since falling would be fatal, the Logistics Pavilion secures them with cables. None of the group knows exactly what to expect inside.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan welcomes Qianqiu and accommodates the Anglers, while carefully assessing new powers and adding them to his contingency plans. His practical caution shows as he asks the staff to tie everyone down more securely.
• Qianqiu is talkative, boastful, and rather irreverent toward Wan Gu, but he is eager to join the Mortal Domain. He admits he knows none of the Anglers’ three traditional techniques, then proudly claims to have invented a fourth—prompting his companions’ respect until Wan Gu reveals that the “technique” is merely a title Qianqiu made up.
• Wan Gu acts as Qianqiu’s composed, exasperated counterpart, explaining the Anglers’ true bodies, human forms, fishing boats, and abilities. He also makes clear that his memories have not returned, despite Qianqiu’s teasing.
• Hu Wan moves from single-minded commitment to the battlefield toward a more personal choice. His wife quietly asks whether he will go; he says no, believing his task is complete and trusting the Mortal Domain to carry forward the struggle.
• Hu Wan’s wife offers him quiet support rather than challenging his decision, sharing an intimate moment as he explains why he is staying.

Significant themes

• Second chances and contingency: The three-day rewind gives the Eternal Night Continent a powerful margin for error, while Chen Fan treats every new ability as a potential safeguard.
• Duty versus personal life: Hu Wan’s decision weighs the distant responsibility of fighting for humanity against his pregnant wife and the family he has long put aside.
• Collective effort and trust: The Mortal Domain frees and welcomes the Anglers, shares resources, and relies on alliances rather than acting alone.
• Humility and comic bravado: The chapter balances enormous stakes with Qianqiu’s exaggerated pride and the group’s practical, slightly absurd preparations for the Space Rift.

Chapter Summary

• The World Tree’s expedition: Chen Fan, Qianqiu, Wan Gu, and their companions ride the World Tree’s detached crown through a mysterious galaxy filled with blue lights. The lights power the tree, and their collisions form space rifts. Chen Fan discovers that the tree can enter these rifts and emerge in distant locations—but the destinations can be unpredictable.
• A dangerous detour: The group emerges in the Boundary Battlefield amid a fierce conflict between Sky-Piercing Pillars and Strange Entities. Realizing the World Tree is not built for combat, Chen Fan immediately retreats. A second experiment confirms that another nearby rift leads back to their own realm, not the battlefield.
• The River of Space: Wan Gu recognizes the galaxy as the River of Space, a passage connecting places throughout existence. He explains that, unlike the River of Time—which records the lives of all beings and can be fished through with his “Reverse Fishing” technique—the River of Space can bypass ordinary boundaries. Travel remains risky without known coordinates. The World Tree’s leaves can record destinations, however, allowing the group to return to places they have visited. Chen Fan records the battlefield’s location, then brings the crown home and transfers control of the tree to Wang Mazi.
• Chen Fan’s progress: The second stage of his Uncrowned King quest is complete, granting him the research archives and projects of fallen continents and the ability to construct up to 100 buildings at once. The final stage requires him to become King of the Human Race, which means earning recognition from most of the Human Faction. He resolves to keep advancing toward that goal.
• A new generation steps forward: On April 1 of the eleventh year of the Eternal Night New Calendar, Mortal Domain holds its Spring Examination as it arrives at Giggly Continent to merge with Hao Mao and Sahara Continents. Many examinees are survivors of the evacuation eleven years earlier. Seeing them grown up reminds Chen Fan of when he reassured them from the city walls: “Don’t worry. It’ll be all right.” Now they are ready to contribute in their own right. Chen Fan notices a strand of white hair and reflects on the passage of time.
• A difficult exam question: Chen Jiutian, head of the Strategist Pavilion, chooses a Military Strategy question about how Mortal Domain should allocate resources across all continents, including dark technology source points. Mortal Domain needs these resources to maximize its military technology, but obtaining them from the other continents may cause conflict. Chen Jiutian understands that Chen Fan would prefer to avoid such confrontations, yet believes the issue cannot be ignored.
• Support from the Continent Lords: On Giggly Continent, Xiaoxixi, Hu Wan, and many other Continent Lords greet Chen Fan. They have pooled dark technology source points, building blueprints, and exotic treasures to help Mortal Domain prepare for its advancement and eventual entry into the Boundary Battlefield. Hu Wan asks Chen Fan to send news from the battlefield so they can learn what is happening there.

Character Development, Themes, and Relationships

Chen Fan remains curious and bold, but the battlefield encounter shows that he can recognize when exploration is too dangerous and retreat quickly. His discovery of the River of Space expands his reach while also underscoring how little control he has over it. The grown examinees bring a more reflective, paternal side of him to the fore, while his white hair hints at the years and burdens he carries.
The chapter’s main themes are exploration and uncertainty, responsibility in the face of danger, and the passage of time. It also highlights the tension between cooperation and necessity: the Continent Lords freely offer aid, while Chen Jiutian anticipates that resource allocation may still require difficult, potentially divisive decisions. The exchange between Hu Wan and Chen Fan reinforces the growing bond between Mortal Domain and its allies, who want not only to support him but to remain connected to what lies ahead.

Key plot points and events

• After Chen Fan leaves the banquet, Hu Wan explains that the Continent Lords contributed dark-technology source points partly because Chen Fan’s commitment to the Boundary Battlefield made them feel ashamed of their own reluctance. Their donations let them see themselves as helping the Mortal Domain.
• The Good Cat and Sahara Continents merge with the Eternal Night Continent, creating a Grand Perfection Continent. Its larger territory can support specialized environments, and it gains the protection of a Peace Continent: other forces cannot attack unless the Mortal Domain attacks first.
• Chen Fan begins expanding the defenses to level 40. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Storehouse Pavilion sorts the Mortal Domain’s enormous Eerie Stone reserves. Wang Kui cautions that the stockpile is still far below Chen Fan’s goal of twenty quadrillion and could be spent quickly in a real battlefield.
• While building, Chen Fan unlocks the remaining military dark technologies: Bastion Guardian steadies the continent during fast movement; Fight Alone improves its combat capabilities when isolated and besieged; Battle-Hardened provides broad-area real-time reconnaissance; and Kings Never Meet can immobilize two designated Kings for three days. He finds the final military technology less impressive than expected.
• The major discovery is Economic Overflow, which generates annual interest equal to 3% of all Eerie Stones on the continent, with no stated cap. Chen Fan sees it as the missing element in his long-term “Live as Long as Heaven” strategy: protection, the World Tree, and steadily compounding resources could let the Mortal Domain avoid battle and grow stronger over time.
• Chen Fan recognizes that this plan is only a fallback. Protection may have vulnerabilities, powerful Strange Entity Clans may possess unknown abilities, and dark energy is finite. His more extravagant ideas—such as accelerating a thousand years or eventually carpet-bombing all opposing regions—are largely fanciful.
• Activating Economic Overflow creates a huge black vortex above the Eternal Night Continent, drawing in dark energy and raining newly formed Eerie Stones onto Nameless Mountain. Mr. Na warns that the spectacle could attract enemies’ attention. Chen Fan refuses to switch it off, deciding to address the visibility problem later.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains focused on preparation: he oversees defenses, unlocks technologies, and plans for both victory and survival. Economic Overflow excites him, but he also acknowledges its limits and treats prolonged hiding as a last resort.
• Hu Wan shows insight into the Continent Lords’ motives, recognizing that their contributions are as much about easing their guilt as supporting the Mortal Domain.
• Crippled Monkey tactfully keeps the donors company and accepts their thanks without pressing Hu Wan’s explanation further.
• Wang Kui remains committed to his role as Pavilion Master rather than seeking higher office. His practical warning counters the excitement of a junior worker who assumes the reserves will last indefinitely.
• Mr. Na reacts with alarm to the vortex and questions Chen Fan’s conspicuous resource-gathering method. Chen Fan dismisses the concern at first, then concedes that it is flashy but keeps the technology running.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus uncertainty: The Mortal Domain builds defenses and accumulates resources, but Chen Fan knows no plan can account for every battlefield threat.
• Security and restraint: The Grand Perfection Continent’s protection offers a powerful defensive advantage, but it depends on the Mortal Domain not striking first and is not invulnerable.
• Compounding growth and long-term survival: Economic Overflow turns stored resources into a potential engine of exponential growth, making patience a strategic weapon.
• Motives and self-image: Hu Wan’s explanation reveals that generosity can be driven partly by guilt and the desire to feel morally decent.
• Ambition tempered by realism: Chen Fan enjoys imagining immense future power, yet recognizes that his most extreme schemes are constrained by practical limits, including finite dark energy.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan completes the Eternal Night Defense Line. Its Level-40 effect, “Drawing Ground as Prison,” forbids unauthorized teleportation and other unnatural movement within the walls. It even blocks Mr. Na, the continent’s Heavenly Dao, until Chen Fan grants permission.
• The Mortal Domain prepares to leave for the Boundary Battlefield. Chen Fan believes its work in the current world is largely complete and plans to depart on May 1, while continuing unfinished tasks later. Mr. Na advises him not to expect perfect preparation; Chen Fan replies that his plans are safeguards, not guarantees, and that the Mortal Domain will enter the battlefield quietly rather than as decisive reinforcements.
• The Third Dark Turmoil begins. Thunderous war drums fill the sky, followed by an eerie red afternoon. Wan Gu identifies the event, and Chen Fan orders the Mortal Domain into first-level combat readiness.
• A United Front Pavilion is created. Wan Gu becomes its first Pavilion Master, with Xuan Ba as deputy, to coordinate races joining the Mortal Domain. Xuan Ba formally accepts the post.
• The Mortal Domain mobilizes. War drums sound across the Eternal Night Continent, and citizens are told to prepare for the battles ahead, with victory as their central objective.
• Sanqi bids farewell to his classmates. As the Retirement Clan prepares to advance alongside the Mortal Domain, he plans to fight on the front lines with his father, Jiu Wu. His friends have joined different departments and jokingly promise to support him—or arrange his benefits—if he falls.
• An overpriced chicken exposes wartime profiteering. A shopkeeper claims imported chickens justify charging Sanqi 1,000 Ghost Coins for one. Sanqi contacts Jiu Wu; Celestial Pivot immediately broadcasts that merchants may not exploit teleportation costs, warning that wartime profiteering can count as subversion. Authorities arrest the shopkeeper.
• A forgotten prison is revealed. On the abandoned Provocateur Continent, inmates remain stranded in an aerial prison after the Mortal Domain withdrew years ago. They have no eerie stones to activate their only Teleportation Formation and fear they may be forgotten—or that the Mortal Domain has fallen.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan is exhausted but reassured by the City Wall’s powerful defensive effect. He balances careful preparation with the understanding that no plan can cover every contingency, then takes decisive action when the crisis begins.
• Mr. Na shows concern for Chen Fan while disguising it with humor and complaints about white-cut chicken prices. His conversation with Chen Fan blends affection, practical caution, and playful banter.
• Wan Gu and Xuan Ba commit their races to the Human Faction and accept leadership roles in the new United Front Pavilion. Jiu Wu and Xuan Ba continue their teasing, including a joke about Xuan Ba being the Strange Entity Clan’s prophesied Dark Monarch.
• Sanqi appears more mature and duty-bound as he prepares to serve and possibly fight beside his father. His friendship with his classmates is warm and reciprocal, though his appeal to Jiu Wu over the chicken bill leaves them startled by his powerful connections.
• The stranded prisoners remain hopeful that the Mortal Domain will remember them, despite years of isolation and dwindling resources.

Significant themes

• Readiness amid uncertainty: The Mortal Domain prepares seriously for war without believing preparation can eliminate surprises.
• Collective duty and unity: Individuals and races take on roles across the Mortal Domain, while the United Front Pavilion formalizes cooperation.
• Friendship, sacrifice, and growing up: Sanqi’s farewell shows young people accepting different responsibilities while preserving their bonds.
• Justice and wartime accountability: The shopkeeper’s arrest demonstrates that mobilization includes protecting citizens from exploitation, not just fighting enemies.
• Memory and abandonment: The prison subplot contrasts the continent’s grand preparations with people left behind, raising the question of whether they will be remembered.

Plot and major events

• Mortal Domain soldiers bring a new prisoner—the Roast Chicken Shop’s shopkeeper—to the abandoned prison platform, along with food. He was sentenced to three years for charging 1,000 Ghost Coins for chicken normally worth ten. The longtime prisoners learn that their own sentences really are thirty years, then eagerly recruit the newcomer to cook and tell them about the Mortal Domain.
• Chen Fan spends more than two weeks preparing the Eternal Night Continent for its promotion, raising its important buildings to Level 49. On May 1, the Mortal Domain’s appointed departure date, its leaders and allies gather at the Northbank Defense Line. They take a lively group photo before setting out for the Boundary Battlefield.
• With one building upgraded to Level 50, the Eternal Night Continent becomes a Sixth-Level Continent. It rises through the Fallen Firmament and emerges over a dark sea. The Third Dark Turmoil begins, the continent joins the Human Faction, and its merit rankings and battlefield map unlock.
• Human Faction envoy Green Edge arrives to brief Chen Fan. He explains that the Strange Entity Faction considers Chen Fan a possible prophesied King and had planned to attack him, so the Human Faction placed seven powerful allied continents nearby for protection. The allies now withdraw to their other duties.
• Green Edge describes the new battlefield’s Fog-covered regions, strongholds, faction merits, exchange zone, and compulsory “black missions.” The Human Faction’s priority is to clear Fog, which conceals enemy movements and could allow an attack on its rear.
• Chen Fan studies the map and finds that the Human Faction has explored only about one-thirtieth of the enormous battlefield. Strongholds provide faction-wide advantages, especially movement speed; the combined speed bonuses are substantial. He considers using Jiu Wu’s potential advancement to learn more about the Strange Entity Faction.
• Wan Gu and Qianqiu ask whether they can resume fishing expeditions. Chen Fan wonders how the enemy might exploit the Fog and concludes that, if he were the Strange Entity King, he would attack straight through the Fog at the Human front rather than detour toward the rear.

Character developments and interactions

• The Roast Chicken Shopkeeper’s arrival briefly lifts the prisoners’ spirits; his cooking and stories give them something to anticipate during their long confinement.
• Chen Fan shows both careful preparation and emotional warmth. He takes stock of the continent’s readiness, shares a family photo with his companions, and asks Ming San to let Fat One and Fat Two remain behind. Ming San agrees, though he appears conflicted.
• The group photo underscores the closeness and distinct personalities of Chen Fan’s allies: Sweetie quickly stops sulking and clings to Baobao, while the others pose—or fail to pose—in their own characteristic ways.
• Green Edge is terse and duty-driven, but his explanation reveals the Human Faction’s resolve to protect Chen Fan regardless of whether the prophecy about him is true. He later identifies himself as a survivor of World 671, a civilization destroyed after pursuing cultivation. Wan Gu recognizes him as a relic of an older era.
• Wan Gu’s conversation with Chen Fan shifts from practical fishing plans to strategic concerns about the enemy’s use of the Fog.

Significant themes

• Transition and uncertainty: The Mortal Domain leaves its former world and enters a vast, unfamiliar battlefield as a new upheaval begins.
• Family and fellowship: The group photo captures the companions’ affection and shared history before they separate for war.
• Preparation versus imperfection: Chen Fan accepts that not everything can be made ready, yet commits to moving forward.
• Information as power: Fog both hides threats and limits intelligence, making exploration and map control central to survival.
• Sacrifice and duty: Allies protect Chen Fan, then return to their own missions; the Human Faction’s black missions may demand even greater sacrifices.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan and the Angler Clan arrive on the Boundary Battlefield in the Human Faction’s Safe Sea Area. To pass the time, the Anglers reveal their true forms and start a ten-year fishing contest.
• Their enormous bodies and star-like fishing lines draw attention from Human Faction leaders. The elders are pleased that the Mortal Domain appears to have joined their side, but decide not to contact Chen Fan so they won’t burden him with expectations.
• Canghai Yue’s first catch is loot from a Human Faction continent. Chen Fan receives a quest asking him to persuade the Anglers to target Strange Entity Faction loot instead. Wan Gu apologizes, admitting they forgot they were no longer independent.
• Jiu Wu reaches Level 50, advancing the Retirement Clan to sixth level. Chen Fan realizes that, as a Human Faction subordinate, Jiu Wu cannot observe the Strange Entity Faction’s Fog-clearing activity.
• Unsure how to proceed in the unexpectedly peaceful Safe Sea Area, Chen Fan chooses a low-risk resource-gathering mission. Eternal Night Continent sets out for a nearby resource point, traveling quickly thanks to its Stronghold bonuses.
• Back in the 1024 Heavens, Black Orchid Continent maintains the lightning-collecting towers left by the Mortal Domain. Its assigned Yellow Springs Wraith turns out to be chiefly excited about trying local food, sharing dinner with the continent’s lord.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains cautious, but the Boundary Battlefield’s calm reception leaves him briefly uncertain: many dangers he had prepared for have not appeared, and others barely notice him. He decides to begin cautiously rather than rush into the Fog.
• Wan Gu and the Anglers are exuberant and competitive, but their first catch reveals they still think like independent scavengers. Chen Fan’s reminder makes them confront their new allegiance.
• Human Faction elders discuss whether the Mortal Domain’s arrival will improve their odds. Elder Pei argues that ignoring Chen Fan is kinder than placing pressure on him, though the accidental theft of Human loot makes them reconsider whether to contact him.
• Jiu Wu and Xuan Ba provide comic contrast: Jiu Wu quietly focuses on cultivation, while Xuan Ba jokes about longevity, his former king, and his own reluctance to become a historical figure. Huang and Xiangyang avoid engaging with him.
• The Black Orchid lord and the Yellow Springs Wraith move from wary uncertainty to friendly hospitality over a meal. The Wraith’s eagerness for food—and especially white-cut chicken—humanizes the strange entity.

Significant themes

• Caution versus opportunity: Chen Fan’s pessimistic contingency plans meet a safer, less hostile reality than expected.
• Allegiance and responsibility: The Anglers must adjust from acting independently to serving the Human Faction’s interests.
• The unfamiliar becomes ordinary: Fishing, resource missions, stargazing, and shared meals bring everyday humor and warmth to a vast inter-faction war.
• The limits of power and status: Eternal Night Continent’s former prominence means little on the Boundary Battlefield, where Chen Fan must start over and learn its rules.

Summary

• The author announces an August bonus chapter about Jiu Wu, the Dark Monarch’s backstory. Readers can unlock it by casting one monthly ticket on the chapter’s page.
• Monthly tickets cast from August 1 at 00:00 through August 7 at 23:59 will automatically qualify for a prize draw: 50 sets of 24 cans of Coca-Cola.
• The author will announce the winning ticket numbers in a separate chapter on the evening of August 10. Winners should check their ticket stubs and contact the author’s wife on QQ to claim their prize.
• The 20 readers who contribute the most monthly tickets by the end of August 7 will each receive a set automatically.
• Readers can find their ticket numbers in the monthly ticket voting page’s “Monthly Ticket Commemorative Album.”
  Character developments, interactions, and themes: There are no story events or character developments in this announcement. Its focus is reader participation, appreciation for readers’ support, and promoting the bonus chapter and ticket giveaway.

The chapter text isn’t included—only a notice that it’s unavailable online—so I can’t reliably summarize its plot, characters, themes, or interactions. Share the chapter text or a detailed excerpt, and I can provide a concise reference summary.

Plot points and events

• As the Eternal Night Continent nears its destination, Chen Fan notices that a blue route on the sea matches the dotted line on his mission map and seems to speed the continent’s progress.
• A faction announcement reports that the seventh-level Last-Ditch Continent has been destroyed. Footage reveals how: a mysterious woman on a moss-covered stone coffin offers its people Eerie Stones for spending a thousand years inside it, while only an instant passes outside.
• Guard Du Kun accepts the offer. Though the first reward is real and he returns apparently unharmed, the Continent Lord senses danger and urges him to stop. Du Kun is tempted by escalating rewards and enters four more times, despite his boss’s warnings and even an attempted attack on the woman.
• The woman eventually reveals that each round truly inflicted a thousand years of isolation and torment. She erased Du Kun’s memories between rounds, then restores them all at once. The accumulated Eerie Stones fuel his horrific transformation into a monster; he destroys the continent, which sinks beneath the sea.
• Chen Fan orders Mortal Domain’s leaders to prepare new crisis plans. Soon the same woman appears before the Eternal Night Continent and invites them to play. Chen recognizes that even one round could be fatal once the memories return. Rather than send a human, he calls for Xuan Ba, apparently intending to use the Black Tortoise’s ability to endure long sleep.

Character developments

• Chen Fan shifts from curiosity about the map route to grave caution after witnessing the destruction. He assesses the danger, prepares his people, and responds strategically rather than impulsively.
• The Last-Ditch Continent’s Lord proves perceptive and protective, repeatedly trying to stop Du Kun. His growing helplessness and regret emphasize the cost of failing to prevent the game.
• Du Kun moves from a loyal, joking guard to a participant swept up by greed and the promise of benefiting his continent. He dismisses warnings, only to suffer the torture he had forgotten.
• The stone-coffin woman presents herself as charming and trustworthy, keeping the literal terms of her promises while using them to conceal a cruel trap.
• Wang Kui and Zhou Mo volunteer to face the game, showing loyalty and courage; Chen recognizes that their willingness cannot overcome its underlying danger.

Significant themes

• Temptation and escalating greed: Each reward makes it harder for Du Kun to stop, even as the danger becomes clearer.
• Deceptive bargains and literal promises: The woman does give the stones and erase memories—but the torment still happened, and restoring it becomes part of her cruelty.
• The limits of leadership: The Last-Ditch Lord understands the threat but cannot control Du Kun’s choices or overpower the woman.
• Unseen dangers and uncertainty: The woman’s nature and power remain unknown, suggesting that the fog contains threats beyond familiar enemies.
• Different forms of resilience: Chen’s plan implies that a thousand years of isolation may affect species differently; a Black Tortoise may withstand what would break a human.

Character interactions

• The Last-Ditch Lord’s banter with Du Kun over late-night food establishes their familiarity and trust before the game strains their relationship.
• The Lord repeatedly warns, commands, and finally threatens Du Kun, while Du Kun insists he is acting for the continent. The woman exploits their disagreement by making Du Kun the sole authority over whether to continue.
• Chen consults his leaders after the disaster, then hears Wang Kui and Zhou Mo offer themselves. He rejects the human volunteers’ approach and summons Xuan Ba instead.
• The stone-coffin woman manipulates both groups through pleasant conversation, real rewards, and carefully controlled rules, turning apparent generosity into a weapon.

Plot points and events

• The Human Faction Command Post detects the Stone Coffin Woman’s aura near the Eternal Night Continent and loses contact with Chen Fan. They fear the anomaly is attacking him, but nearby reinforcements cannot arrive in time.
• The woman says only a human can play her game. Chen Fan has Xuan Ba, a Black Tortoise, accept instead. Xuan Ba enters the coffin and returns unharmed, revealing that the coffin—not the woman—controls the game’s rules.
• Chen Fan realizes the woman cannot end the game while the player refuses to stop. Xuan Ba repeatedly asks for another round, earning increasingly vast piles of eerie stones. The woman deteriorates, then vanishes as smoke; the stone coffin breaks, leaving a small final reward and three items.
• A beam from the shattered coffin strikes the sky, revealing a formation of 108 anomalies. The Human Faction identifies the defeated entity as the Millennium Stone Coffin, one of the Seventy-Two General Wraiths, and sends Chen Fan an updated guide. It warns that anomalies are distinct from strange entities, attack all races indiscriminately, and are usually encountered deep in the Fog.
• Chen Fan is outraged that the guide omitted such crucial information—and shaken that the anomaly appeared in a supposedly safe sea area. He resolves to take no unnecessary risks.
• Approaching a resource point, Chen Fan asks the Command Post what it contains. On learning it is a large field of black-gold meteorites, he orders a massive, indiscriminate missile bombardment of the entire area before mining it. The Command Post is stunned that he has effectively “refined” the resource point from afar.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan proves observant and strategically cautious. He identifies the coffin’s role, exploits its rules, and responds to the surprise encounter by becoming even more vigilant—perhaps excessively so.
• Xuan Ba is calm and sleepy, treating the deadly game as an opportunity to nap. His willingness to keep playing drives the woman to defeat.
• Monkey and the others initially panic when the woman rejects a nonhuman player, then understand Chen Fan’s deduction and are amazed by the game’s repeated rewards. Crippled Monkey regrets that the woman escaped before the later rounds.
• The Stone Coffin Woman shifts from cheerful and composed to desperate and disheveled. She offers information and a “great gift” to make them stop, but Chen Fan refuses to trust her.
• The Human Faction elders debate how much guidance to give Chen Fan. They try not to encourage overconfidence, though his survival and victory impress them; one elder begins to like him after seeing his extreme precautions.

Significant themes

• Rules and loopholes: The coffin’s rules matter more than the woman’s claims, allowing Chen Fan to turn an apparent trap against her.
• Caution versus confidence: Chen Fan’s survival depends on noticing details and refusing to assume that “safe” means harmless.
• Incomplete knowledge: The missing anomaly information exposes how dangerous gaps in official guidance can be.
• Preparation as defense: Chen Fan responds to uncertainty with overwhelming firepower, showing both pragmatic caution and the cost of fear-driven overreaction.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• After killing the Millennium Stone Coffin, Chen Fan examines its three pink-grade treasures:
  • Time Fruit, which gives a target a thousand years of growth instantly; he plans to use it on the World Tree.
  • Stone Coffin Token, which lets him control anomalies created by the coffin.
  • General’s Incense, which keeps nearby General Strange-level anomalies and weaker entities away while it burns.
• The coffin leaves behind about 4,600 trillion Level-10 Eerie Stones. Chen Fan realizes the expected final batch was never produced because the coffin had not extracted enough pain.
• Although Chen Fan assumes the death of a General Strange will attract attention, the exchange channel he checks is quiet. Elsewhere, Continent Lords discuss the event, warning that the Strange Entity Clan may now target the Eternal Night Continent more intensely.
• Chen Fan feeds the Time Fruit to the World Tree, giving it a thousand growth rings and adding to its reserves of fruit and sap.
• His first resource-gathering mission is at a nearby site. After confirming the area is safe, he persuades the reluctant Angler Wan Gu to help gather resources. More than thirty Anglers clear the site quickly.
• Chen Fan accepts further missions, and the Anglers discover they can collect resources remotely using their fishing lines and a Sky-Piercing Pillar to locate each site. The Mortal Domain completes mission after mission at remarkable speed.
• The Human Faction Command Post notices the pace. Its senior officers welcome the extra resources but worry that the Eternal Night Continent will soon exhaust the safe, reserved sites and have to venture into dangerous semi-safe waters.
• On the third day, Chen Fan reaches a large resource mission in recently cleared territory. He cancels it—and another similarly risky mission—rather than take the Eternal Night Continent near the Fog.
• He instead travels to the nearest Transit Continent, a vast logistics hub with designated ports for continents of different sizes, and heads for Port 19.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains cautious about danger but is highly motivated by practical rewards. He prioritizes gathering merit to advance the Eternal Night Continent to seventh level, while avoiding risky exploration of the Fog.
• Wan Gu begins dismissive of routine resource work, but quickly enjoys the efficiency and renewed sense of purpose it gives him. He even proposes collecting from distant sites without moving the continent.
• Chen Fan persuades Wan Gu by explaining that merit points and advancement will help rescue the Anglers still trapped in the 1024 Heavens. Their cooperation strengthens the impression that Chen Fan has built a good relationship with them.
• The Human Faction’s senior officers reconsider their assumptions about Chen Fan’s abilities and resources, while debating whether to let him continue operating freely.

Significant themes

• Power and usefulness: The Anglers’ unusual skills turn mundane resource collection into a highly effective operation.
• Caution versus ambition: Chen Fan wants to advance quickly, but refuses missions that would expose his continent to unnecessary danger.
• Unconventional thinking: The elders acknowledge that Chen Fan’s resources and allies enable solutions they would not have considered.
• The costs of survival: The Eerie Stones and the coffin’s final output highlight how suffering and depleted vitality were converted into resources.