Chapter Summaries

Plot and events

• Chen Feng and his companions introduce themselves at a tavern before setting out to find the Sage’s Tower. Uncle Kuroki uses a false name and downplays his extraordinary magical abilities; Elibelle claims she is helping him only to repay a favor, though her jealousy suggests otherwise.
• Kuroki gives his Starstone Ring to Sika, who cannot remove it. Sika mistakes Elibelle’s earlier display of the ring for proof of romance, then awkwardly rejects the ring himself.
• The Shield Hero nearly identifies Patches as the merchant who once swindled him, but his poor reasoning lets Patches evade a clear accusation. Another team, led by a man on a throne, says they climb towers simply for the thrill of it.
• When the sandstorm briefly stops, Chen Feng joins the Dragon Kingdom’s knight order. He suspects the masked prophet may be a regressor and believes the prophet’s survival could be essential to clearing the tower.
• The party travels through the Death God Desert, but the distant tower appears not to get any closer. Xia Mei stays cheerful and teaches the group about desert plants. A spatial barrier eventually transports them nearer to the tower, then a new sandstorm forces them to take shelter.
• Mem orders Xia Mei to stand watch and insults Chen Feng’s group. Before Mem can finish threatening them, Chen Feng senses an immense spatial power and flees with Sika; Patches follows. A sniper’s shot then kills Mem instantly.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng remains cautious and analytical, concealing his real abilities and scrutinizing the prophet’s apparent foresight. He recognizes the tower’s mirage and later senses danger before the others.
• Kuroki and Elibelle show an awkward, teasing tension: Elibelle pretends indifference while displaying the ring, and Kuroki’s casual gift to Sika provokes her jealousy.
• Sika is more assertive than he once was, but his devotion to romantic ideals makes him sentimental about the ring.
• Xia Mei stands out for her boundless optimism and curiosity, even as Mem treats her cruelly.
• Mem is contemptuous toward Xia Mei and Chen Feng’s group, but her sudden death cuts short her attempt to assert authority.
• Patches continues to be slippery and opportunistic, escaping the Shield Hero’s near-recognition and quickly following Chen Feng when danger appears.

Significant themes

• Appearances and deception: False names, mistaken assumptions, and the tower’s mirage make appearances unreliable.
• Knowledge versus certainty: Chen Feng questions whether the prophet truly predicts the future, distinguishing prophecy from other ways of knowing.
• Optimism amid hardship: Xia Mei’s enthusiasm contrasts with the desert’s dangers and the group’s discouragement.
• The cost of arrogance: Mem’s bullying and confidence are abruptly undercut by a lethal, unseen threat.

Plot points and events

• A sniper ambushes the Divine Dragon Knight Order, killing several knights with shots that pierce both people and defenses. Chen Feng senses the attacks in advance and warns the group.
• Chen Feng accelerates Sika so he can use Magic Cylinder to reflect a shot. The reflected attack fails to penetrate the enemy’s defenses, revealing how formidable the attackers are.
• Mem’s Contract Spirit, the Great Ice Spirit, arrives—but turns hostile, blaming the knights for Mem’s death. Its blizzard freezes or kills more than half the Order.
• The prophet abandons the survivors, dismissing the disaster as fate, and is crushed by the Beast of the End. Chen Feng condemns the group’s supposed “god-tier teammates.”
• The Regression Sage’s request reaches Chen Feng. Accepting it triggers a Load Save, returning the party to the desert shortly before the sniper attack.
• Chen Feng realizes Xia Mei is the Regression Sage: her reaction to the Poplar Tree differs from before. Xia Mei urges the party to keep moving, but struggles to explain why.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng stays alert, protects Sika and the shady merchant with Time Stop and Spatial Teleportation, and pieces together both the spirits’ hostility and Xia Mei’s identity.
• Sika executes Chen Feng’s plan with Magic Cylinder, but learns that the enemy’s defense can withstand even a reflected attack at full power.
• Xia Mei reveals signs of knowing what is about to happen, confirming Chen Feng’s suspicion that she can regress through saves.
• The Great Ice Spirit shifts from expected protector to furious enemy, directing its grief over Mem’s death at the knights.
• The prophet refuses to help and accepts death as fate, while the other knights are left pleading for rescue.

Significant themes

• Unreliable allies: Powerful companions may fail, flee, or become threats rather than provide help.
• Fate, choice, and repetition: The regression mechanic offers another chance, but a poorly chosen save point traps the party near the same danger.
• Preparedness and information: Chen Feng’s awareness and caution help him survive, while Xia Mei’s knowledge is difficult to use because she cannot freely explain it.
• Grief and blame: The Great Ice Spirit turns its sorrow over Mem into vengeance against those nearby.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng and Xia Mei’s group travel through a sandstorm while Xia Mei urgently warns them of danger. Chen Feng knows her warning is justified from a previous timeline, but cannot reveal that she is a level-one Regression Sage whose power activates through death.
• Mem dismisses Xia Mei’s concerns and sends her away from the group. A long-range sniper attack strikes. Xia Mei warns Mem in time, and the Ice Elf’s shields stop the first shot—but the spirit soon disappears after using its power.
• A second shot kills several knights near Xia Mei. Chen Feng teleports her to safety. He notices the attacks are unfolding differently than in the previous timeline and suspects the sniper may target people who approach Mem.
• Xia Mei proposes using smoke to block the sniper’s line of sight. The Prophet casts a black mist, but a shot still gets through and badly wounds a knight. Chen Feng realizes the expedition has brought no healer, apparently because the Prophet’s battles have never injured anyone before.
• The group tries further countermeasures: the Prophet casts blinding Holy Light, and Xia Mei suggests tunneling underground. Sika reveals that he has already hollowed out the ground. The party falls into a pit, but Chen Feng spots an unexplained opening and notices that the escort list has dropped from over a hundred people to ninety—evidence of a new threat underground.

Character developments

• Chen Feng stays guarded about Xia Mei’s secret, but watches events closely and repeatedly protects her. His experience with the earlier timeline helps him notice that the attack pattern has changed.
• Xia Mei is anxious but resourceful: she warns the group, saves Mem from the first shot, and quickly devises several possible defenses. Her low status makes others doubt her despite her good instincts.
• Mem remains abrasive even after Xia Mei saves her, criticizing both Xia Mei and the Ice Elf rather than showing gratitude.
• The Ice Elf proves powerful but unreliable, using a defensive spell and then withdrawing to rest, leaving the group exposed.
• The Prophet readily performs impressive magic at Xia Mei’s request, but his solutions do not fully stop the attacks.
• Sika has already dug beneath the group without realizing the danger posed by the strange opening.

Significant themes

• Trust and concealed knowledge: Chen Feng knows more than he can safely reveal, while Xia Mei struggles to persuade the group to take her seriously.
• Dependence and preparedness: The knights rely heavily on the Prophet and appear unprepared for injuries or unforeseen threats.
• Adaptation under pressure: Xia Mei and Chen Feng must revise their plans as events diverge from the previous timeline.
• Power versus reliability: Strong abilities are not enough when their users are absent, careless, or unable to anticipate the enemy.

Character interactions

• Xia Mei pleads with Chen Feng’s group to trust her; he is sympathetic but avoids exposing her secret.
• Mem belittles Xia Mei, then continues to insult her after Xia Mei’s warning saves her life. The Ice Elf also receives Mem’s scorn and leaves.
• Chen Feng protects Xia Mei from the second shot, and she thanks him.
• Xia Mei asks the Prophet for help and proposes additional defenses; he responds to her requests with powerful magic.
• The knights criticize Sika’s excavation, while Chen Feng halts him and alerts the group to the missing escorts and possible underground danger.
  The chapter ends with a brief comedic skit about how the Cihang “F4” perceive one another.

Plot and key events

• Mem orders the knights to continue through a newly discovered tunnel, reasoning that it is safer than waiting above. The group advances into a maze of forks, unsure whether the tunnel was made by earlier Heroes or prepared by the Sage.
• Xia Mei tries to boost morale and chooses the third passage based on the joke that “C” is often the right answer. More forks soon make random guessing impractical.
• Knights discover a chamber filled with valuable gear and treasure. Xia Mei warns that it may be dangerous, and Chen Feng, Sika, and Patches recognize the likely trap, but the greedy knights ignore them.
• A knight sneaks back for a piece of equipment and is attacked by a plate-sized creature that paralyzes him. A companion returning to share the find is caught as well.
• Chen Feng notices that names are disappearing from the Escort System, yet the crowd behind the party remains just as large. He realizes something is wrong and warns that there may be ghosts among them.

Character developments and interactions

• Mem remains ruthless and impatient, pushing the group onward and demanding useful answers rather than encouragement.
• Xia Mei is upbeat and willing to take risks, but the maze and the growing number of routes undermine her confidence. She correctly recognizes that the treasure may be bait and warns the knights.
• Chen Feng stays skeptical and observant, dismissing the prophet’s assurances and identifying the treasure as suspicious. He notices the unexplained disappearance of escorts.
• Sika trusts Chen Feng’s judgment and asks whether the chamber is a trap; Patches, despite his greed, shows enough caution to leave the treasure alone.
• The knights’ greed and lack of discipline put them in danger: they disregard Xia Mei and even abandon their companions’ safety to claim loot.

Significant themes

• Greed and poor judgment: The promise of riches overrides warnings and common sense.
• Uncertainty and survival: The maze offers no reliable way forward, while danger may be hidden rather than openly visible.
• Appearance versus reality: The treasure looks like a reward but is likely a trap, and the unchanged crowd conceals the loss of individual escorts.

Key plot points and events

• In the Treasure Vault, a knight suddenly attacks Xia Mei. Chen Feng teleports her out of danger, and Mem kills the attacker.
• Xia Mei alone can see invisible Mind-Stealing Sandworms. The worms take control of knights and turn the group against itself; the Prophet refuses to help, while Mem fights them with repeated Super-Tier spells.
• Chen Feng uses the Map of Mountains and Rivers to bring the creatures into his cultivation universe, where Divine Sense reveals them. He defeats them with a rapid combination of powerful techniques.
• Mem blames Chen Feng for the deaths in the Divine Dragon Knight Order, then is killed when the sandworm-controlled Prophet turns on the group.
• The Prophet attacks the survivors. Chen Feng uses defensive magic and a trap to escape with Xia Mei, his disciple, and the crooked merchant.
• When the Prophet’s Ice Origin Magic pursues them, Chen Feng sends Xia Mei ahead and appears to sacrifice himself. In reality, he survives and gains enough affinity with her to take her with him when he leaves the Fire Universe.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng proves resourceful and formidable against enemies others cannot detect. He protects Xia Mei but also treats their growing bond as a useful way to secure her Reversal ability.
• Xia Mei is frightened and blamed by Mem, yet her unique ability to see the sandworms is crucial. Her distress at Chen Feng’s apparent sacrifice reflects her growing trust in him.
• Mem fights fiercely but lashes out at Xia Mei and Chen Feng; her hostility ends with her death.
• The Prophet again abandons the group when danger rises, then becomes a lethal threat after a sandworm takes control of him.
• The group’s crisis exposes how unreliable its powerful members can be: Chen Feng ends up protecting the others while the Prophet shirks responsibility and Mem turns on an ally.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: invisible parasites hide inside hosts, while Chen Feng’s apparent death is another deception.
• Power and responsibility: formidable abilities do not guarantee courage or sound judgment.
• Trust and manipulation: Xia Mei’s growing attachment to Chen Feng contrasts with his calculated interest in her powers.
• Blame amid disaster: Mem redirects fear and grief toward Xia Mei and Chen Feng instead of confronting the true threat.

Key plot points

• Xia Mei, believing Chen Feng is dead, vows to rescue her former companions. Chen Feng secretly follows her, hoping to earn her trust and eventually draw her away from the Divine Dragon Knight Order. He cannot reveal that he survived, since doing so would expose his deception and ruin her goodwill toward him.
• Searching the Sage’s Tower for information, Xia Mei finds Heimu and the elf princess frozen in ice to prevent the sandworms inside them from taking control. She recognizes their self-sacrifice as heroic.
• Xia Mei falls into quicksand and is swallowed by a giant, normally invisible worm. Chen Feng’s appraisal identifies it as a level-2000 monster created by the Calamity Witch. Its three forms—the Big Worm, Great Beast, and Great Kun—are one creature and can only be permanently killed if all three die together.
• Unable to rescue Xia Mei, Chen Feng accepts a request to reverse time. Xia Mei returns with memories of her agonizing death and panics at the prospect of entering the tower again.
• On the next attempt, instead of following the Divine Dragon Knight Order, Xia Mei walks toward Chen Feng’s group, leaving the prophet shocked.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Mei remains determined to protect others, but her firsthand experience of the worm’s attack leaves her deeply shaken. Her choice to approach Chen Feng’s group suggests a change in loyalty or trust.
• Chen Feng continues his calculated effort to win Xia Mei over, while privately confronting the overwhelming threat of the tower’s monster.
• The prophet expects Xia Mei’s power of Reversal to help his team clear the tower and revive the Witch. Her departure undermines his plans and delights Chen Feng.
• Mem dismisses Xia Mei as an embarrassment; Chen Feng silently resents the Order’s treatment of her.
• Heimu and the elf princess are presented as heroes who chose to freeze themselves rather than harm others.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and responsibility: Heimu and the elf princess accept imprisonment to protect their allies.
• Manipulation and trust: Chen Feng’s plan depends on concealing his survival while gradually gaining Xia Mei’s confidence.
• The cost of failure: The Sage’s Tower is far more lethal than its trial level suggests, and Xia Mei’s memories make the danger psychologically real even after time is reversed.
• Fate and control: The prophet relies on written predictions and Xia Mei’s reversal ability, but her unexpected choice disrupts his apparent script.

Plot points and events

• After surviving several apparent attacks, Chen Feng agrees to protect Xia Mei, who has just endured a traumatic brush with death. When Mem tells her to keep watch, Xia Mei finally stands up to her, defending her past contributions to the Divine Dragon Knight Order.
• A spatial attack strikes again, and Chen Feng survives only because the Eternal Sword’s Famous Blade effect makes him briefly invincible. Noticing the attacks have hit different people each time, he realizes the sniper Monster is using a poplar tree as a lookout.
• Chen Feng and Xia Mei identify the tree’s unnatural survival underground and have it cut down. Its destruction triggers the Blight Plague Curse: damaging the Great Beast seals ten thousand skills associated with the attacker. Chen Feng loses Appraisal for a day and several Origin Magic skills for a minute; the knights suffer much longer or even permanent losses to some basic skills.
• The team has not yet faced the Great Beast itself, and three such monsters must be killed simultaneously. With most of his skills unavailable, Chen Feng summons the Bone Bear King for help.
• In the Netherworld, Bruce is given an absurdly powerful collection of venomous and cursed fangs by the Savior and black smoke. Though Chen Feng dismisses Bruce as an ordinary stray dog, the upgrades make him a potentially devastating fighter.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Mei moves from fear and dependence toward asserting herself, confronting Mem and contributing the key insight that exposes the poplar tree.
• Chen Feng acts protectively toward Xia Mei and shows his ability to reason through the changing attack pattern. His humorous bravado contrasts with his growing awareness of the Land of Fire’s danger.
• Mem’s habitual bullying is challenged for the first time; she lashes out when Xia Mei refuses to obey.
• Chen Feng seeks aid from Skeleton Resurrection, who eagerly offers Bruce, prompting Chen Feng to request the Bone Bear King instead. Bruce is hurt by Chen Feng’s dismissal, while the Savior continues improving him.

Significant themes

• Courage and agency: Xia Mei begins resisting the treatment she has long accepted.
• Observation and teamwork: Recognizing the tree as the sniper’s hidden source of vision turns the group’s attention toward the real threat.
• Escalating danger and costly power: The Great Beast’s curse makes even attacking it a serious risk, and the knights pay a heavy price before confronting it directly.
• Underdog potential and comic irony: Bruce is treated as a useless stray, yet the Savior’s elaborate enhancements give him extraordinary abilities.

Key plot points and events

• The Great Beast blindly bombards the knight order after its poplar landmark is cut down. Chen Feng and Xia Mei lead the group away before it can land a lucky hit.
• The knights blame Xia Mei for provoking the monster, but she explains that she is helping because she promised the Prophet—and because he once took her in when she was starving.
• Chen Feng warns Xia Mei that her meeting with the Prophet may have been engineered. Sika points out that the Dragon Kingdom’s great Prophet would have had little reason to visit the slums by chance. Xia Mei realizes he may have sought her out because of her ability, though she still intends to help.
• Chen Feng secretly knows the Prophet’s true plan: the Prophet is a disciple of the Witch of Calamity and summoned Xia Mei according to a prophecy, intending to use her to gather what is needed to revive his comatose master.
• Chen Feng hopes to recruit Xia Mei away from the Prophet, but first manipulates Mem. By suggesting Xia Mei is a liability and taking credit for the order’s successes, he encourages Mem to consider expelling her.
• Before Mem can act on that idea, the group’s mounts freeze in terror. The Great Kun, the Sage’s Tower’s final boss, appears overhead.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Mei begins to question the Prophet’s motives but remains committed to repaying the kindness she believes he showed her and keeping her promise.
• Chen Feng reveals his strategic, manipulative side: he wants to protect or recruit Xia Mei while using Mem’s pride to create an opening.
• Sika has grown more perceptive and recognizes both Chen Feng’s schemes and the suspicious circumstances of Xia Mei’s recruitment.
• Mem remains arrogant and quick to criticize, but Chen Feng’s flattery and insinuations redirect her hostility toward Xia Mei.
• The Prophet, absent from the immediate conversation, is exposed through Chen Feng’s stolen prophecy book as a calculating figure who exploited Xia Mei’s hardship.

Significant themes

• Gratitude and obligation: Xia Mei’s promise and sense of debt bind her to the Prophet despite growing doubts.
• Manipulation and hidden motives: The Prophet engineered Xia Mei’s circumstances, while Chen Feng manipulates Mem to counter him.
• Pride and blame: Mem’s ego makes her especially vulnerable to Chen Feng’s suggestion that Xia Mei is receiving undeserved credit.
• Imminent danger: The arrival of the Great Kun abruptly interrupts the political maneuvering and raises the stakes for the entire expedition.

Key plot points and events

• The Divine Dragon Knight Order confronts the level-2,000 Great Kun. The Prophet’s Sun’s Wrath burns away a fifth of its body, while Mem and the knights do little damage. Chen Feng’s Origin Magic takes off another one percent.
• The Great Kun’s roar incapacitates the animals and its dive overwhelms the party: the Prophet is knocked unconscious, Chen Feng escapes by teleportation, and the beast devours half the Knight Order.
• The Kun then charges toward Sika’s group, but Sika’s unique Trap Blessing activates a Magic Cylinder trap and slams it into the ground, costing it another fifth of its health. The wounded beast leaves.
• Afterward, Patches and Xia Mei have lost their memories, though Sika is unaffected. Chen Feng confirms Sika’s identity and exploits Xia Mei’s confusion, telling her they are best friends and giving himself the alias “Chen Buyin.” Her boastful, self-assured personality remains unchanged.
• Mem blames Xia Mei for the failed expedition, slaps her, and expels her from the Divine Dragon Knight Order. This completes Chen Feng’s “Big Shot Leaves the Party” mission and earns him five points.
• Chen Feng immediately recruits Xia Mei, then privately reveals that he had deliberately manipulated Mem into expelling her. He and Sika leave with Xia Mei, while Mem realizes she has been played.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng stays opportunistic and deceptive: he sizes up the Great Kun, escapes when the fight turns dangerous, and engineers Xia Mei’s expulsion to complete his mission before recruiting her himself. He also uses false friendship and an invented alias to manage her memory loss.
• Sika shows cool-headed competence by stopping the Great Kun with his trap. He remains unaffected by the memory loss and answers Chen Feng’s checks correctly.
• Xia Mei loses her memories but retains her cheerful, vain, talkative nature. She accepts Chen Feng as a friend and joins his party readily, even as Mem treats her as a liability.
• Mem is furious and contemptuous toward Xia Mei, whom she blames for the expedition’s failure. Her attempt to assert authority backfires when Chen Feng recruits Xia Mei and admits he lied.
• The Prophet demonstrates the power he had previously held back, but is incapacitated by the Great Kun’s counterattack.

Significant themes

• Deception and manipulation: Chen Feng treats the expulsion as a scheme, steering Mem toward the choice he wants and revealing his dishonesty only afterward.
• Power and vulnerability: Even elite fighters struggle against the Great Kun, while Sika’s unusual trap succeeds where direct attacks fail.
• Memory and identity: Xia Mei’s memories vanish, but her personality and self-image persist, suggesting that memory loss has not erased who she is.
• Party loyalty and belonging: Mem judges Xia Mei by her level and usefulness, while Chen Feng recruits her despite claiming she is weak—though his motives are self-serving.
• Comedy through contrast: The chapter pairs a catastrophic monster battle with Chen Feng’s casual, irreverent schemes and Xia Mei’s exuberant self-praise.

Key plot points and events

• Mem abandons the failed Great Kun hunt, taking the exhausted Divine Dragon Knight Order to an oasis. Chen Feng leaves and receives a quest to hunt the three world-ending beasts—Great Kun, Big Worm, and Great Beast—with major rewards for himself and Xia Mei.
• Chen Feng studies the monsters’ abilities and decides he must grow stronger before facing them. He discovers that Xia Mei is held at level one by a curse that prevents her from gaining experience or skills. After identifying the powerful time-reversal protection tied to her death, he removes the curse.
• Chen Feng recruits Xia Mei and Patches, then rescues Uncle Blackwood and an Elf from Sandworms by moving them into his Small World and using time manipulation and specialized sword attacks to reduce the parasites to embryos.
• Xia Mei’s startled shout attracts nearby Sandworms. Chen Feng uses the Bone Bear King to stun them, then gives Xia Mei a weapon that lets her kill them and gain levels. He further accelerates the massacre with Skeleton Summoning, chain-reaction corpse explosions, and an experience-multiplier cheat.
• Meanwhile, an unseen attacker kills Mem’s knights at the oasis. Mem saves the Prophet, who wakes and dismisses the disaster as a failed timeline that can simply be reset.
• When Mem tells him she fired Xia Mei, the Prophet realizes she has dismissed the person he depends on to reverse time. He angrily slaps her and orders her to get lost.

Character developments

• Chen Feng is strategic and resourceful, using systems, allies, and loopholes to strengthen his team. His irreverent humor masks careful planning, including his deliberate decision to let Mem take charge.
• Xia Mei is freed from the curse that kept her powerless and begins gaining experience. Though initially unable to wield the heavy sword effectively, she is enthusiastic once Chen Feng finds a way for her to kill the Sandworms.
• Mem shows courage by saving the Prophet, but her loyalty and feelings for him make her vulnerable to his disregard. Her decision to dismiss Xia Mei proves disastrous.
• The Prophet is revealed as complacent and dependent on time resets. He assumes failure has no lasting consequences until he learns Xia Mei is gone.
• Patches remains an opportunistic comic presence; his own Knight Order expelled him for stealing everyone’s belongings.

Significant themes

• Power and dependence: The Prophet’s confidence rests on Xia Mei’s hidden time-reversal ability, while Chen Feng recognizes and acts on the real source of that power.
• Control versus growth: The curse keeps Xia Mei weak and easier to manage; removing it gives her the chance to develop.
• Preparation and exploitation of loopholes: Chen Feng survives overwhelming threats by combining abilities, systems, and unconventional tactics rather than relying on raw strength.
• False confidence and consequences: Mem and the Prophet underestimate Xia Mei, and the Prophet’s belief that every setback can be reset leaves him unprepared for an irreversible mistake.

Character interactions

• Chen Feng mocks Mem as he leaves, prompting her to vow revenge by hunting the Great Kun.
• Chen Feng reassures the Bone Bear King before deploying it against the Sandworms, then encourages Xia Mei to gain levels by killing them.
• Xia Mei’s frightened reaction to seeing the worm-controlled captives accidentally alerts the surrounding parasites.
• Mem supports the Prophet after rescuing him and urges him to continue without Xia Mei. His initial indifference turns to fury when he learns she fired Xia Mei, and he redirects his anger at Mem.

Plot points and events

• After a long leveling session, Heimu and Elf Hero Elibelle wake from being frozen. Heimu offers Chen Feng a rare Celestial Starstone Ring, but Chen Feng refuses, wary that Light of the Firmament would react dangerously.
• Elibelle thanks Heimu for rescuing her, then insists she is holding him only because Beastmen’s warmth keeps her from getting cold. Heimu accepts the explanation at face value.
• Heimu explains how the group became trapped: after escaping the Sage’s Tower illusion, they met fake poplars, were driven off by the Great Kun, and found an underground passage while fleeing. An invisible sandworm attacked, so Heimu froze himself and waited for help.
• Drawing on his gaming knowledge, Heimu devises a plan to defeat the Great Kun, the sandworm, and the great beast—but Chen Feng’s pursuer is closing in, leaving no time to gather the full team.
• The group urges Chen Feng not to fight yet. He instead uses a 999-times experience boost and Skeleton Resurrection’s corpse explosions to level rapidly, explaining that he is reducing the cost of hiring powerful support rather than preparing to fight alone.
• Chen Feng contacts Wutian Buddha, confirms that a well-planned opponent can be beaten through strategy, and opens the Demon King Escort System. He selects the Yokai King Yellow Wind Sage, whose hiring cost drops as Chen Feng levels.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng acts decisively despite the group’s warnings, relying on rapid leveling, systems, and powerful allies. He treats strength as less important than securing the right connections.
• Heimu proves his tactical skill by translating the Monsters’ weaknesses into a practical battle plan, though he remains comically oblivious to Elibelle’s affection.
• Elibelle shows gratitude and growing tenderness toward Heimu while disguising it as practical concern about warmth.
• Sika remains cautious, citing Cihang’s lessons and warning that the King of the Undead’s next revenge could be worse. Chen Feng counters with a joke about not trusting a Cihang Native.
• Xia Mei offers cheerful support, while Sika challenges her confidence. Meanwhile, the crooked merchant quietly tries to steal Elibelle’s purse.
• Wutian Buddha responds casually to Chen Feng’s request and helps him gauge the threat, then points him toward the kind of strategic thinking Chen Feng values.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus urgency: Heimu’s plan depends on assembling a full party, but Chen Feng must act before his pursuer arrives.
• Strategy and teamwork over raw power: Heimu identifies specific weaknesses, while Chen Feng seeks allies rather than trying to defeat the Monsters himself.
• Gaming knowledge as practical wisdom: Heimu applies game mechanics to real dangers, and Chen Feng exploits system rules to lower hiring costs.
• Trust, caution, and comedy: The group’s warnings contrast with Chen Feng’s irreverence, and the chapter uses romantic denial and Cihang-related jokes to lighten the escalating danger.

Plot points and events

• In Death God Desert, the Prophet realizes that events have diverged from the book: Xia Mei has lost her memory and is now traveling with a master and disciple who have turned her against him. Rather than attack them and make things worse, he plans to exploit her amnesia and use the Witch of Calamity’s power to bring her back to his side.
• The Prophet casts an Origin curse on Saint Spirit Venerable Bull Face, wishing it dead and stripped of its memories and power.
• Elsewhere, Bull Face and the injured Flesh Monster King visit the Monster Graveyard to recruit powerful monsters. They revive the Red King and consider other threats, including the endlessly adapting Formless Demon and the time-traveling Time-Dragon. Bull Face dies suddenly, apparently struck by the Prophet’s cross-universe curse, but revives in Cihang City and angrily demands to know who attacked it.
• Back in Death God Desert, an unknown, extraordinarily powerful Samadhi True Fire attack takes control of the Prophet’s and Mem’s speech, then burns them both to ash. Their resurrection items are destroyed along with them.
• Mem’s Contract Spirit, the Beast of the End, arrives moments after her death. Finding no one to blame, it decides the world itself should not exist and begins freezing the desert.
• Chen Feng and his companions emerge from an underground passage and encounter the Beast of the End. Chen Feng stops time, teleports his weapon—Dark Supreme Evil Emperor Tyrant Netherworld Ruler, nicknamed Bruce—onto the beast, and prepares to use its powerful teeth to land a decisive bite.

Character developments and interactions

• The Prophet shifts from anxious, jealous frustration to confidence in his identity as the Witch of Calamity’s disciple. His attempt to control the situation through a curse succeeds in killing Bull Face temporarily, but the scene soon ends with the Prophet himself destroyed.
• Bull Face is ambitious and boastful, eager to assemble an army and earn credit by defeating the giant protector. Its revival shows that death is not permanent in Cihang City.
• The Flesh Monster King is fearful and cautious, especially around giants, and supplies Bull Face with knowledge of the graveyard’s monsters.
• The Beast of the End’s attachment to Mem is revealed through its grief and rage: unable to find anyone responsible for her death, it turns its anger on the entire world.
• Chen Feng remains calm and tactical, using time-stopping and teleportation rather than relying on Bruce’s speed.

Significant themes

• The consequences of trying to control others: The Prophet’s plan to manipulate Xia Mei and reshape events is overtaken by forces beyond his control.
• Death and resurrection: Revival is common in some settings, but the attacks on the Prophet and Mem demonstrate that some powers can destroy even resurrection items.
• Escalating power and unpredictable threats: The graveyard’s monsters and the mysterious Samadhi True Fire suggest that the danger spans multiple universes and power levels.
• Grief turned into destruction: The Beast of the End’s love for Mem becomes a threat to everyone when grief leaves it without restraint.

Plot points and events

• The Beast of the End prepares to kill Chen Feng and his companions, but Bruce attacks from atop its head. His bite inflicts devastating bleeding, paralysis, blindness, petrification, and organ-destroying curses, killing the Beast.
• Chen Feng refines its level-1000 soul. The doubled-experience effect sends him rapidly to level 1000 and deepens his Spacetime Divinity: he gains limitless time control over anyone he touches and removes the cap on attribute growth.
• Chen Feng realizes his attributes are initially only 1,000 because levels above 100 must be earned through practice. The Firekeeper Witch System then converts his remaining experience into attribute points, raising every attribute above ten million.
• He discovers Equipment Amplification tried to steal the Beast’s Ice Divinity. Chen Feng calls in Proficiency to punish it, then prepares to resurrect the Beast as an undead creature using Skeleton Resurrection and the Divinity.
• The Great Kun arrives, drawn by the blood. Bruce’s fangs cannot penetrate its level-2000 defense, so Chen Feng spends three System Points to hire the Demon King Yellow Wind Sage, who appears ready to assist.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng grows far stronger but briefly doubts whether system-granted power is genuine. His doubts vanish when the system converts his surplus experience into immense attributes. He also shows his usual combination of confidence, scheming, and playful mistrust.
• Bruce proves extraordinarily lethal against the Beast of the End, though he cannot bite through the Great Kun’s tougher hide.
• Equipment Amplification is caught trying to take the Ice Divinity. Chen Feng calls on Proficiency, who disciplines it.
• The Beast of the End’s grief over Mem’s death turns to rage at Chen Feng and his allies, but it is quickly overwhelmed.
• Yellow Wind Sage enters as Chen Feng’s newly hired backup against the Great Kun.

Significant themes

• Grief and revenge: The Beast’s mourning for Mem drives its fury, but grief does not prevent its defeat.
• Earned strength versus artificial power: Chen Feng questions whether rapid, system-assisted leveling is hollow, then discovers that systems can also provide the means to grow.
• Power and escalation: Defeating one enormous threat immediately leads to another, forcing Chen Feng to adapt when Bruce’s familiar tactic fails.

Plot points and events

• Yellow Wind Sage arrives with Tiger Vanguard and more than five hundred rat-demon crossbowmen, offering to help Chen Feng fight the Great Kun, Big Worm, and Great Beast.
• Chen Feng explains that the three monsters are linked: killing only one lets it revive, so all three must be killed at the same time. Yellow Wind Sage devises a plan to lure the sound-tracking Big Worm with a giant drum and sends Tiger Vanguard to capture the Great Beast.
• Chen Feng joins the expedition with Heimu and the elf. Tiger Vanguard’s Appraisal reveals powerful defensive and stealth abilities, though he is only level 999 and has no divine spark.
• At the Great Beast’s disguised location, Tiger Vanguard rushes in and survives its spatial sniper shot with Bronze Head and Iron Arms. The rat demons’ arrows do no damage, showing that the Great Beast’s skill-sealing ability triggers only when an attack actually harms it.
• Chen Feng tracks the sniper fire to the Sage’s Tower. He and the others identify an armored scorpion at a window as the Great Beast. Enraged by the shooting, Tiger Vanguard charges it.

Character developments and interactions

• Yellow Wind Sage proves resourceful, quickly devising a way to draw out the Big Worm and organize an assault on the Great Beast.
• Tiger Vanguard is bold, hot-tempered, and eager to prove himself. He ignores warnings, withstands the Great Beast’s attack, and leads the charge.
• Chen Feng coordinates the group, investigates the enemy’s abilities, and tries to manage Tiger Vanguard’s recklessness. His accidental reference to Zhu Bajie—Tiger Vanguard’s killer in Journey to the West—briefly panics the tiger demon.
• Heimu is insulted when Tiger Vanguard mistakes him for a demon because of his appearance. The elf teases him about returning home, hinting at attachment beneath their banter.
• Sika interprets the newcomers as “Tang people,” reflecting the group’s confusion over how to classify them.

Significant themes

• Teamwork and strategy: The linked monsters require coordinated action, not isolated victories.
• Strength versus vulnerability: Tiger Vanguard can endure a devastating shot, but the army’s weapons are useless against the Great Beast’s defenses.
• Humor amid danger: Misunderstandings, cultural references, and teasing lighten the battle’s escalating stakes.
• Belonging and identity: Heimu’s angry insistence that he is human and the elf’s uncertain invitation home raise questions of how characters see themselves and where they belong.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Tiger Vanguard attacks Great Beast, but its armor withstands his blows. Elibelle nearly hits Tiger Vanguard with her Ice Holy Sword after he offers to find Uncle Blackwood a wife.
• Chen Feng’s appraisal reveals that Great Beast is immune to the first 10,000 attacks from each individual attacker. It also has numerous powerful skills, including high-level accuracy, evasion, regeneration, poison, corrosive attacks, and elemental resistances.
• Uncle Blackwood compensates for his lack of special defenses with exceptional technique: he uses magic from all five schools, precise timing, and clever positioning to strike Great Beast from its blind spot.
• When Blackwood finally damages Great Beast, it teleports away and seals 10,000 of his skills. The group learns that the beast can also deal ranged true damage and revive repeatedly.
• Spatial magic is restricted in the Sage’s Tower—but Chen Feng’s level-10,000 Teleportation bypasses the restriction. He pursues Great Beast through the tower’s forest, water, and insect-filled worlds.
• Meanwhile, Yellow Wind Sage begins the planned ambush against Great Kun and Big Worm in the Sea of Sand. He wounds Big Worm to provoke Great Kun, then enlarges himself to intercept it. Sika and Xia Mei join the fight, and Sika’s trap makes Great Kun crash into an invisible barrier.
• Yellow Wind Sage unleashes the Threefold Divine Wind. It sweeps enemies across the Three Realms, kills Great Kun and Big Worm repeatedly despite their revivals, and even pulls Great Beast out of another universe. Great Beast’s individual attack immunity delays its death, but the relentless wind continues to strike it.
• The quest is completed, rewarding Chen Feng with 999 World-Destroying Beast Souls and a choice of one of three Prismatic Hextech options.

Character developments and interactions

• Tiger Vanguard remains bold and impulsive, repeatedly attacking Great Beast despite its overwhelming defenses. His offer to help Uncle Blackwood find a wife provokes Elibelle’s jealousy.
• Elibelle shows possessiveness toward Uncle Blackwood, warning Tiger Vanguard off with a near-fatal “accidental” sword strike.
• Uncle Blackwood proves that skill can rival raw power. His arcade-game-inspired footwork lets him survive and land a hit despite lacking an invincibility skill or unique artifact.
• Chen Feng applies his knowledge and overwhelming teleportation ability to track Great Beast through the tower. He is astonished by both Blackwood’s skill and Yellow Wind Sage’s power.
• Yellow Wind Sage demonstrates the scale of his strength, using the Divine Wind to control the battlefield and destroy enemies that seemed nearly impossible to kill.
• Xia Mei rushes into danger despite her low level, while Sika initially hesitates but acts to protect her, using his Trap Magic Cylinder to stop Great Kun’s charge.

Significant themes

• Technique versus raw strength: Blackwood’s timing, positioning, and precision let him challenge a vastly stronger opponent.
• Power and its limits: Great Beast’s layered defenses and abilities make it nearly unbeatable, but Yellow Wind Sage’s Divine Wind overwhelms even its extraordinary protections.
• Teamwork and courage: Xia Mei and Sika contribute despite being badly outmatched, while the larger plan depends on coordination across separate battles.
• Escalating power and spectacle: The contrast between Great Beast’s enormous skill list and Yellow Wind Sage’s single, near-absolute wind ability underscores how one overwhelming power can surpass elaborate defenses.

Character interactions

• Tiger Vanguard thanks Blackwood for saving him and offers to help him find a wife; Elibelle responds with jealous hostility.
• Chen Feng and Blackwood discuss the Sage’s Tower’s teleportation restriction, which Chen Feng overcomes with his exceptional skill level.
• Yellow Wind Sage coordinates with Chen Feng before starting the ambush, then urges Sika and Xia Mei to act when Great Kun attacks.
• Sika’s trap saves the group from Great Kun’s charge, while Yellow Wind Sage’s wind ultimately sweeps all three beasts into the same deadly battle.

Key events

• A reader is transported into Cihang City with five deliberately weak or unreliable “Challengers”: a Jujutsu Sorcerer, Xia Mei, a Red Giant, Scarface, and Baomu. He intends to outsmart the Five Freaks of Cihang rather than rely on an overpowering team.
• On arrival, he is trapped reciting an incantation that floods him with dangerous knowledge. He works out that Xia Mei’s Reversal can reset events, and uses the Jujutsu Sorcerer’s Domain of Void to erase his memory of the chant.
• He searches for useful resources but finds neither a system nor the desired allies. The Red Giant promptly disappears after learning the team’s opponents.
• The group encounters the Dog, a higher-dimensional being immune to their ordinary attacks. The narrator realizes the Jujutsu Sorcerer can transform into the Evil Savior and potentially fight it.
• Before that plan can play out, the Great Yokai arrives, having predicted their location. The narrator orders Xia Mei to reset and warns him about the Yokai’s foresight.
• The reset goes badly: the Dog follows them, the Jujutsu Sorcerer is killed, and the Evil Savior and other enemies arrive. The narrator recognizes that his team has been cornered and apologizes to the Five Freaks.

Character developments and interactions

• The narrator shifts from cocky confidence to improvised crisis management. His knowledge of the source material helps him reason through the incantation, Reversal, and enemy abilities, but his weak lineup leaves him increasingly outmatched.
• Xia Mei is essential because her Reversal enables retries, though she provides little strategic guidance and is repeatedly used to trigger a reset.
• The Jujutsu Sorcerer is the team’s strongest practical asset: he erases the narrator’s memories, uses spatial techniques, and has the potential to transform into the Evil Savior. His sudden defeat removes the team’s main hope.
• The Red Giant confirms his reputation by vanishing at the first sign of danger.
• Scarface and Baomu attempt their signature attacks on the Dog, but both fail against its dimensional nature.
• The Great Yokai’s divination and the Dog’s ability to pursue the group undermine the narrator’s attempts to control events through resets.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus power: Knowing the story gives the narrator tactical insight, but cannot overcome enemies whose abilities outclass his team.
• The limits of “weak” or comic characters: The selected lineup’s unusual abilities initially seem exploitable, yet their weaknesses become decisive under pressure.
• Escalation and loss of control: Each apparent solution—memory erasure, Reversal, or transformation—creates only temporary relief as stronger threats converge.
• Parody and meta-humor: The story plays with team-building tropes, game-like abilities, crossover references, and the narrator’s self-aware commentary.

Key plot points and events

• After defeating the Great Beast, Yellow Wind Sage is nearly assassinated by a disguised Dagger Mentor, one of the Five Seats of Vengeance. Chen Feng spots the impostor by noticing there are 501 rats despite knowing the troop should contain 500.
• The Dagger Mentor’s causal dagger pierces Yellow Wind Sage, but Chen Feng reverses him to an earlier, unharmed state. The attacker then kills Tiger Vanguard with a dagger that bypasses his supposed invulnerability.
• Yellow Wind Sage attacks with his Threefold Divine Wind, but the Dagger Mentor counters it with Wind-Settling Pearls. He then kills Yellow Wind Sage in one blow.
• Chen Feng uses Xia Mei’s Reversal ability to restore the situation, but Yellow Wind Sage and Tiger Vanguard return to their original universe. The Dagger Mentor retains his memories and realizes Chen Feng and Xia Mei possess Time Divinity.
• Chen Feng learns that Divinities can combine into broader concepts, and that the forty-two most powerful Multiversal Gods are called principal gods. He suspects he may possess multiple portions of Time Divinity.
• To escape, Chen Feng traps the Dagger Mentor in the Map of Mountains and Rivers and throws him into a Cultivation Universe. The Mentor destroys that miniature world, permanently reducing the map’s holdings from 100 worlds to 99, but Chen Feng gets away.
• The Mentor follows Chen Feng’s trail into the Red Fog City World, only to be expelled into an unfamiliar place called a Narrative Layer. There he meets an old man who calls himself Master and says the place is “Forty-Two.” Master tells him he cannot leave and ominously names the next chapter, “The Death of the Five Seats of Vengeance.”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng shows sharp attention to detail, tactical deception, and growing confidence in using his powers. He deliberately pretends not to understand what the Mentor has revealed, then stages an apparent escape to lure him into a trap.
• Yellow Wind Sage shifts from triumphant victor to a target of assassination. Though Chen Feng saves him temporarily, he is ultimately killed and returned to his own universe.
• Tiger Vanguard dies defending Yellow Wind Sage, his loyalty and impulsiveness bringing him into direct conflict with the vastly stronger Mentor.
• Xia Mei willingly lets Chen Feng use her Reversal ability, strengthening their trust and cooperation.
• The Dagger Mentor is introduced as a powerful, sardonic assassin with an arsenal of specialized daggers. His confidence gives way to panic when he discovers he has entered Forty-Two and may be unable to escape.
• Master appears at the end as a seemingly all-knowing figure who controls or understands the Narrative Layer.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Even formidable fighters can be helpless against abilities that bypass ordinary defenses, such as causal attacks and anti-immortality weapons.
• Knowledge as leverage: Chen Feng’s memorization and deduction expose the disguise, while playing ignorant lets him learn about Divinity and his enemies.
• Death, reversal, and consequence: Reversing deaths can alter events, but the Dagger Mentor’s explanation suggests Vengeance Divinity carries rules that limit such reversals.
• Reality and hierarchy: The story expands from individual universes to a Multiverse, higher gods, and finally a Narrative Layer where even powerful beings may be trapped by the story’s structure.

Key plot points and events

• The Five Seats of Vengeance meets the Dream Tenth Seat, the Chess Master, who reveals the Dream Pantheon’s “narrative layer”: it can alter reality and rewrite the past by influencing the story’s unseen narrators. The Chess Master advises him to escape Universe 42 before the chapter ends, using spacetime divinity.
• While fleeing, the Five Seats encounters other Dream Gods. The Fool Knight’s spear can effectively delete characters through narrative “bad reviews,” while the frail Dream First Seat can summon immensely powerful beings into the story. He escapes both.
• A crowd of jacket-wearing old men mistakes him for an estate to be divided. Their monocled companion warns him away from the Demon Divine Kingdom and says the Five Seats’ death was already claimed by someone powerful. The group then flees at the mention of the Dream Fourth Seat, who can turn truth into fiction.
• The Five Seats reaches the War Divine Kingdom and discovers its soldiers are fantastically powerful, despite their absurd competition-based culture. When he considers stealing spacetime divinity from the Death Divine Kingdom, he is instantly killed across past, present, and future.
• Back at the Abyssal Revenge Temple, the Goddess of Vengeance forbids her followers from avenging him and denies that the Five Seats—or a Dagger Mentor—ever existed. When other Vengeance leaders defy her and contemplate retaliation, they also die. The Goddess and all her followers are then wiped out by the Instant-Kill Angel, whose power kills anyone who feels hostility toward him.

Character developments and interactions

• Five Seats of Vengeance: Begins terrified but briefly hopeful when the Chess Master calls him a disciple. He realizes that even his memories and body can be rewritten, then becomes a desperate fugitive, repeatedly choosing flight over confrontation. His attempt to secure an escape through the Death Divine Kingdom proves fatal.
• Chess Master: Calmly explains the threat and offers practical, limited advice, while treating the encounter as practice for his narrative powers.
• Other Dream Gods: The Fool Knight attacks with reality-erasing narrative force; the Dream First Seat presents herself as helpless while summoning powerful allies. Their eccentric behavior masks overwhelming power.
• The monocled system user: Warns the Five Seats despite belonging to the bizarre group, explaining that his death would cause trouble and that the wider calamity affects the outside world.
• Vengeance’s leaders: The Gun Mentor and Poison Mentor both reject the Goddess’s order and die for considering revenge. The Goddess’s usual creed—retaliate against anyone who harms her followers—collapses under the threat of the Instant-Kill Angel.

Significant themes

• Reality as a story: The narrative layer makes identity, memory, and physical facts editable, blurring the boundary between fiction and reality.
• Power and helplessness: The Five Seats is formidable by ordinary standards, yet repeatedly encounters beings whose powers make resistance pointless.
• Revenge’s limits: The Vengeance faction’s defining principle becomes a fatal vulnerability when even hostile intent triggers retaliation from a stronger force.
• Absurdity amid danger: Comedic details—estate-auction sticky notes and an elbow-strike tournament—contrast with catastrophic power and sudden death.

Plot points and events

• Chen Feng waits outside the Happiness Internet Cafe after using Spacetime Divinity to redirect the Five Seats of Vengeance into the Nine-Bend Yellow River Formation. Their Vengeance mark disappears, confirming they have been killed, and Chen Feng admits he was worried the trap might fail.
• He reviews the available Hextech augments. Rejecting the combat options, he takes all three economic augments: Make Me King, Bond Tree, and Birthday Gift. Proficiency has changed the system’s usual “ding” to a whip-crack, based on a bizarre theory about reincarnation and funeral bells.
• When Chen Feng mentions he has used up his Blessing, Proficiency activates the Favorability System. It lets him borrow a friend’s Blessing once their affection reaches “dear friend” status. Sika is currently the only available option; several companions’ affection is too low, while Xia Mei and Zhao Yun have Blessings beyond the system’s rank.
• Chen Feng discovers She Qingqing likes him more than the supposed threshold, and Light of the Firmament’s affection score is absurdly high. Worried that Light of the Firmament might misunderstand the situation involving Xia Mei, he tries to leave—but is interrupted by Bruce and Erha barking at each other.
• In the Death God Desert, Chen Feng checks Heimu’s and the Elf Hero’s Blessings. Heimu has none; the Elf’s improves ice magic and grants the ability to wield the Ice Holy Sword, though the sword itself is unavailable.
• Asked about the world’s strongest people, the Elf names the Sword Saint as a likely contender. Chen Feng recognizes him as the infamous author of the Interracial Review Guide, who has a martial-world kill order against him.
• In a comedic closing scene, the Sword Saint is irritated that a yellow wind disrupted his monster-girl carnival. His Demon Sword proposes confronting the nearby Slime Demon King, but the Sword Saint repeatedly warns that using slimes for sexual gratification causes memory loss—apparently forgetting that he has already said this several times.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng shows caution beneath his outward composure, then turns practical and opportunistic when selecting rewards. He also becomes curious about using other people’s Blessings and is especially wary of Light of the Firmament’s intense affection.
• Proficiency continues to act as a mischievous, helpful system administrator: it selects Chen Feng’s new system, changes its sound effect, and jokes about his priorities.
• Chen Feng and his companions are framed through the Favorability System’s affection ratings, which reveal that some relationships are merely ordinary friendships while others are unusually intense.
• The Sword Saint and Demon Sword share a bickering dynamic: the Sword Saint repeats a dubious warning, while the Demon Sword grows exasperated by his forgetfulness.
• Bruce and Erha provide a brief comic interruption, with Chen Feng trying to stop their barking.

Significant themes

• Power and system mechanics: Chen Feng weighs the limits and benefits of skills, augments, Blessings, and affection-based abilities.
• Relationships as measurable resources: The Favorability System turns personal bonds into a mechanism for borrowing power, while also exposing awkward emotional imbalances.
• Parody and absurdity: The chapter contrasts cosmic-scale danger with petty jokes, strange system commentary, and the Sword Saint’s increasingly ridiculous repetition.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Feng brings his companions to the Sage’s Tower, where Sika’s grandfather guards the library. To earn knowledge, they answer three riddles about the World-Ending Monster Beasts. Chen Feng knows the final answer—Great Kun’s fragrance erases memories—because of information in his system.
• Sika’s grandfather explains that he is watching the Tower for the Witch of Calamity. He removes Chen Feng’s Mark of Vengeance and gives him a guide to the Great Tomb: defeating the King of the Undead will require ten level-1,000 Heroes and a million level-100 soldiers.
• He opens a portal home for Heimu, warning that seventeen years have passed there and arcade games are no longer popular. The elf Hero follows Heimu through, despite her boast that she might accompany him only if he begged.
• Chen Feng learns that Fulameng has attracted many recruits, but almost all are too weak. With a deadline of one week, he calculates that he still needs several powerful fighters. He repairs his Quest System using the Life Divinity and gains the ability to earn quest points, then consumes many monster souls to barely pass level 2,000.
• In a parallel scene, Savior is summoned to the Netherworld by Lia, a fallen angel. Her level-10,000 Holy Light nearly destroys him, and he escapes using an array of spells.
• Savior learns that Lia was cast out of Paradise for secretly helping a failing Hero, which violated its rule against spending more divine power than it recovered. He initially plans to leave her to her fate, but when the Netherworld Pig Emperor’s forces arrive to capture and eat her, he decides to fight them.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Feng remains practical and driven: he uses system knowledge to solve the riddle, gathers intelligence, and focuses on the resources needed to defeat the King of the Undead. His progress also reveals how steeply leveling slows at higher tiers.
• Sika answers the first two riddles and realizes his ring’s fragrance protected him from Great Kun’s memory erasure. His grandfather praises him, though their reunion remains awkward and familiar.
• Sika’s grandfather is revealed as a retired Hero with a mundane routine of cleaning, repairing, and sealing the Tower. He helps Chen Feng while still teasing and dismissing Sika.
• Heimu and the elf Hero leave together for Heimu’s home universe. Her proud teasing gives way to immediate action once she realizes he has already gone.
• Savior is suspicious and calculating, but his choice to stay and defend Lia shows a reluctant moral impulse. He judges her more human than the pig-headed attackers and turns his formidable buff-stacking abilities against them.
• Lia is compassionate but impulsive and somewhat inept. Her instinctive attack on Savior exposes the danger of her old habits, while her backstory explains the kindness that cost her her place in Paradise.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and preparation: Chen Feng relies on information, planning, and recruitment rather than assuming strength alone will suffice.
• The cost of compassion: Lia was punished for helping others, while Savior’s eventual choice to protect her suggests that empathy can persist even in a cynical world.
• Humanity beyond appearance: Savior’s final judgment contrasts Lia’s wings with the pig-men’s cruelty, arguing that humane behavior matters more than species or looks.
• Immortality and fear: Chen Feng notes that powerful beings often avoid death at any cost, making the old Heroes’ acceptance of mortality seem especially courageous.