Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Open-Heaven Manor’s people refuse to abandon their stronghold despite being trapped in the Sword Tomb. A Brass Smith explains that the attackers seized only the outer supply and trade areas; the inner sanctum remains secure, and most of the manor’s strongest fighters have yet to join the battle.
• The group questions why the manor has not fought back. Su Yi and Wen Xuan privately conclude that the attackers must possess some advantage—or that Vulcan is deliberately waiting for the right moment.
• Wheelchair returns through a portal with Lu Qingyan, a celebrated disciple of the Queen Mother of Eternal Longevity and a direct descendant of the Lu Family. She can contact people inside the manor, but insists Su Yi first prove his ability and sincerity.
• Wen Xuan reveals that Su Yi’s current body is only a functional Doppelganger of the Expedition Warmaster, then transforms into his true, imperial appearance. The onlookers recognize him as Emperor Yan Zhao, the long-missing founder of the Flame Dragon Empire. The chapter ends with Wen Xuan asking whether that revelation is enough to convince Lu Qingyan.

Character developments

• The Brass Smith’s defense of the manor shows the loyalty and resolve of its people, even when retreat seems safer.
• Su Yi and Wen Xuan demonstrate strategic caution, looking beyond appearances to identify why the manor’s powerful leaders have not intervened.
• Lu Qingyan’s confidence in her own terms contrasts with her shock when Wen Xuan reveals his identity. She also finds Su Yi unexpectedly unimpressive and denies recognizing him.
• Wen Xuan shifts from a casual, unremarkable middle-aged man into the commanding Emperor Yan Zhao, dramatically changing how others perceive him.

Character interactions

• Zhao Hailong questions whether the group can only hide, while the Brass Smith urges them not to mistake the manor’s retreat for weakness.
• Su Yi and Wen Xuan exchange private theories about the siege and agree that they must quickly inform the manor of developments outside.
• Lu Qingyan questions Su Yi’s credibility and demands proof before helping him contact Vulcan. Wen Xuan answers by revealing his identity, prompting the gathered smiths, Zhao Hailong, and Huang Tianhan to kneel.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and duty: Open-Heaven Manor’s members would rather die defending their home than abandon it.
• Power and reputation: Lu Qingyan’s fame and Wen Xuan’s imperial identity carry weight, but the chapter also suggests that appearances can be misleading.
• Strategy and restraint: The manor’s apparent passivity may reflect a calculated decision rather than weakness.
• Hierarchy and craftsmanship: The detailed ranks of Open-Heaven Manor show how craft, combat ability, and proximity to the Primordial Fire determine status and influence.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Qingyan is stunned when Emperor Yan Zhao—long believed dead—appears. Wen Xuan reassures her that old dynastic grievances must be set aside because the Primordial Empire faces a crisis. She reveals the Heaven-Piercing Treasure Bottle, which contains a world and a Flame Mountain capable of contacting Vulcan. Su Yi agrees they must use it.
• At Open-Heaven Manor’s Sword Tomb, the defenders gather around the Creation Furnace and Primordial Fire. The Golden Venerables learn that Nightmare forces, aided by Soulless technology and Thomas of Dream Terror Academy, are attacking to seize the Furnace.
• Vulcan warns that the assault is meant to lure the defenders out, corrupt them with Nightmare power, and turn their own memories and abilities against the manor.
• The Cosmic Worm, also called Parasite, has turned two absent Golden Venerables—Heavenly Dragon and Heavenly Wrath—into grotesque puppets. It uses their bodies and voices to torment the defenders, provoking the gathered crowd into rage.
• Vulcan rings a bell and releases purifying flames, suppressing the crowd’s anger before Nightmare influence can take hold. The surviving Venerables prepare to wait for the right moment rather than rush into battle.
• A Flame Lotus appears before Vulcan, carrying Wen Xuan’s greeting and opening contact with the manor.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Qingyan overcomes her fear of the emperor associated with her dynasty’s painful past and cooperates with him.
• Wen Xuan shows restraint and pragmatism, prioritizing the shared danger over historical revenge.
• Su Yi remains calm and supports the plan to reach Vulcan.
• Vulcan emerges as a cautious, protective leader: he understands that controlling the defenders’ emotions is as important as resisting the attackers.
• The Venerables are deeply shaken by the corruption and desecration of their brothers. Their grief and fury test their discipline, while Vulcan urges them not to act prematurely.

Significant themes

• Old enmities versus cooperation: survival requires former enemies to work together.
• Restraint amid provocation: anger can become a weapon in the hands of the enemy.
• Corruption and identity: the Cosmic Worm turns respected figures into puppets and uses their own memories and voices against their allies.
• Loyalty and grief: the Venerables’ bond makes the attack especially painful—and makes their restraint difficult.

Plot points and events

• Wen Xuan reappears before Open-Heaven Manor’s three Gold Venerables. Army-Breaker recognizes him as Emperor Yan Zhao—the ruler who once saved his life—and is thrilled to learn he survived. Wen Xuan also reunites with Vulcan, whom he has not seen in four thousand years.
• Wen Xuan explains that he cannot defeat the Cosmic Worm’s Nightmare-tainted power directly. He introduces Su Yi as the person Vulcan foresaw: a powerful ally who has destroyed the Worm’s puppet and can help turn the tide.
• Su Yi proposes an alliance with Open-Heaven Manor. He needs an hour and an immense supply of energy—roughly the combined output of five Demigods—to bring the power of his true body through a Teleportation Gate.
• Vulcan agrees to help and protect Su Yi. Because opening the Sword Tomb directly could let Nightmare’s power contaminate it, he channels energy through a hidden route and activates the Creation Furnace.
• Su Yi transforms into a radiant gate to absorb the energy. Wen Xuan and the others prepare to defend him, expecting their unusual energy surge to attract enemies.
• At Nightmare Alliance Headquarters, Thomas and the Heavenly Master detect the surge and send Nightmare forces and the Twisted Fleet to attack the rift. Their assault tears it open, but Vulcan’s immense, fiery phantom emerges to shield the golden sun containing the vital operation.
• The Heavenly Master and Thomas attack Vulcan, while the Watchful Elder identifies the Creation Furnace’s energy flow and directs them to intercept the reinforcements it is powering.

Character developments and interactions

• Wen Xuan returns as a trusted, celebrated figure. His past bond with Army-Breaker and reunion with Vulcan establish his reputation and credibility.
• Army-Breaker openly expresses gratitude and loyalty to Wen Xuan, whose earlier rescue shaped his life.
• Su Yi acts as a cooperative strategist: he offers alliance rather than exploiting the crisis, but depends on Open-Heaven Manor’s resources to summon his true body’s power.
• Vulcan demonstrates faith in Wen Xuan and willingness to risk his own intervention. He chooses a cautious energy route to protect the Sword Tomb from Nightmare contamination.
• Thomas resents the Watchful Elder’s attempt to command him, insisting that they are equals. The Watchful Elder, weakened in standing after a past failure, tolerates the insult in hopes of regaining his master’s trust.
• The defenders at the Sword Tomb shift from alarm to disciplined readiness, while the enemy leaders coordinate a full-scale assault.

Significant themes

• Alliance and trust: The crisis demands cooperation across powerful factions, grounded in personal history and mutual credibility.
• Sacrifice and responsibility: Vulcan risks activating the Creation Furnace and confronting the enemy personally to protect the others.
• Redemption and status: The Watchful Elder’s collaboration is driven by a desire to recover the master’s favor, while Thomas refuses to let him reclaim authority.
• Escalating conflict: The attempt to prepare a counterstrike immediately draws the enemy, setting up a direct confrontation around Su Yi’s arrival.

Plot points and events

• The Heavenly Master—revealed as Zhang Liangshi, the Thunder Immortal Lord—uses seventy-two rune-covered flags and Nightmare’s power to turn black lightning into enormous thunder dragons. They consume Vulcan’s flames and nearly overwhelm the people sheltered in his palm.
• Nightmare’s cultists press toward the defenders, spreading corruption through their deaths. About sixty Cast-Iron Guards begin to mutate, but Wen Xuan uses the Yin-Yang Twin Swords and his command of memory to blunt Nightmare’s temptation. Lu Qingyan expels the corruption from infected guards, while Wheelchair hides the group’s aura and the Expanding Gate of Light.
• Vulcan identifies Zhang Liangshi as the traitor who helped the outsiders locate Heavenly Wrath and Heavenly Dragon. The former friends argue over the Primordial Fire and whether one empire should rule the universe. Zhang Liangshi’s ambitions and belief in his own divine superiority clash with Vulcan’s refusal to use the Fire for conquest.
• A thunder dragon threatens to swallow Wen Xuan’s group. Wen Xuan unleashes a powerful, costly ability associated with Emperor Yan Zhao: it destroys the dragon and transforms the combined lightning, Nightmare energy, and flame into a peach-blossom grove.
• Vulcan breaks free by using the Creation Furnace to command the vast collection of weapons in Open-Heaven Manor’s Sword Tomb. His flying swords clash with Zhang Liangshi’s black lightning, while Thomas watches warily and questions Vulcan’s motives.
• As the defenders continue holding the yin-yang formation, the Azure Wolf Banner arrives through the gate. Wheelchair conceals it and the group, and Wen Xuan announces that they have forty minutes left.

Character developments and interactions

• Wen Xuan shifts from managing a defensive workaround to revealing a formidable, previously unseen power. Its use visibly turns some of his hair white, suggesting a personal cost.
• Lu Qingyan supports Wen Xuan’s plan by purging Nightmare’s corruption and defending the formation. She recognizes Wen Xuan’s power as Emperor Yan Zhao’s.
• Zhang Liangshi is exposed as a former ally of Vulcan who now embraces Nightmare’s power and seeks universal rule. Their confrontation reveals a deep ideological and personal betrayal.
• Vulcan fights desperately to protect those in his palm, then draws on Open-Heaven Manor’s arsenal when his own flames are insufficient.
• Thomas remains cautious despite his confidence, weighing the danger of Vulcan and the significance of Emperor Yan Zhao.
• Wheelchair stays focused on concealing the gate and its arrivals, while Zhao Hailong urges the troops to resist Nightmare’s seductive influence.

Significant themes

• Power and temptation: Nightmare corrupts not only through force but by promising to fulfill regrets and desires.
• Memory and resistance: Wen Xuan’s ability to alter or sever memories becomes a defense against corruption.
• Ambition versus restraint: Zhang Liangshi sees universal conquest as progress; Vulcan rejects using the Primordial Fire to impose an empire.
• The cost of intervention: Wen Xuan’s decisive power saves the group, but its visible physical toll hints that victory may demand sacrifice.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The battle reaches its breaking point: Vulcan’s Flame Giant is overwhelmed by black lightning dragons, while nightmare creatures press against the golden sun. Inside it, fewer than a hundred defenders remain; most swordsmiths have been corrupted.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord reveals that he was Zhang Liangshi, the hidden leader known as the Son of Yellow Heaven. His Yellow Heaven Legion helped trigger the Primordial Empire’s collapse during the Third Great Cataclysm, paving the way for civil war and Dream Terror Academy’s later rise.
• Vulcan’s final burst of power briefly shields the defenders. Thomas then attacks the gate with countless nightmare eyes, but Wheelchair—revealed as a Time Pursuer—destroys them with a surge of black-and-red power.
• In the Light Empire, Su Yi learns of the crisis and sends most of his combat power to the Primordial Empire through Divine Authorities, including the Azure Wolf Banner, Annihilation Blade, and Unity. He prepares to bring Ilis and the captured Wildfolk through once the gate is ready.
• As the defenders face what seems like certain defeat, Su Yi arrives in an imposing, armored form. A single sword strike tears open a vast abyss and annihilates the nightmare forces and ships in its path, including the thunder dragon.

Character developments and interactions

• Vulcan is revealed to have been betrayed by the Thunder Immortal Lord’s long-running scheme. Though weakened and furious, he uses his remaining strength to buy the defenders one last chance.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord boasts of engineering the Empire’s downfall and argues that power, not justice or consequence, determines who rules.
• Wen Xuan learns that Zhang Liangshi caused the catastrophe that destroyed his family and country. His grief and rage break his concentration, shattering his Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram; he later steadies himself.
• Lu Qingyan continues defending the gate despite exhaustion, but begins to despair as the forces against her seem impossible to overcome.
• Wheelchair protects the gate from Thomas and taunts him before unleashing destructive power. He then celebrates Su Yi’s arrival as his “Godfather.”
• Su Yi turns personal anger and sympathy for the Empire’s suffering into a decisive intervention, arriving just as the defenders are about to be overwhelmed.

Significant themes

• Consequences and responsibility: The Thunder Immortal Lord denies that actions have consequences, while Wen Xuan insists that the destruction he caused will eventually return to him.
• History’s hidden causes: The Empire’s collapse is revealed not as inevitable decline but as the result of deliberate sabotage.
• Endurance and hope: The defenders continue resisting despite overwhelming losses, and Su Yi’s arrival transforms near-despair into renewed hope.
• Power and justice: The chapter contrasts the Thunder Immortal Lord’s belief in domination with the possibility that those responsible for past devastation can be confronted.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi’s devastating slash splits the Nightmare Alliance and frees Vulcan’s projection, abruptly turning a battle that seemed lost. Its shock shakes the Sword Tomb, where its defenders initially fear the structure is under attack.
• Vulcan reassures the Swordforge Manor defenders that reinforcements have arrived and the Nightmare Alliance is no longer an immediate threat. He shows the Golden Venerables the battle outside.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord counters Su Yi’s Destruction Authority by flooding the abyss with Nightmare power and Psychic Energy. He then sends black thunder dragons, spectral bone cranes, and Azure Thunder against him.
• Su Yi uses the Azure Wolf Banner to command the universe’s lightning and magnetic fields. Manifesting the Supreme Venerable of the Grand Unity, he invokes the power of Unity with the cry, “Summon gods, command ghosts! Rule heaven and earth!”
• Su Yi’s attack overwhelms the Nightmare army and destroys the thunder dragons. The Thunder Immortal Lord and Thomas retreat together, while remnants of Nightmare power remain.

Character developments

• Su Yi demonstrates extraordinary growth and confidence, combining Destruction Authority with the Supreme Venerable’s power to control lightning and magnetic fields.
• Vulcan shifts from defending against a seemingly hopeless assault to optimism, believing their greater undertaking may now succeed.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord loses his contemptuous composure when Su Yi proves stronger than expected and calls on Thomas for help.
• Lu Qingyan is awestruck by Su Yi’s power, enduring repeated eye injuries and regeneration rather than look away.

Significant themes

• Hope reversing despair: Su Yi’s arrival transforms the defenders’ outlook and the course of the battle.
• Human potential and heroism: Lu Qingyan sees Su Yi’s strength as “the divine might of humanity,” challenging the idea that such power belongs only to Deities.
• Power through mastery and unity: Su Yi turns the battlefield’s lightning and magnetic fields into weapons, pairing his abilities with the Supreme Venerable’s authority.

Character interactions

• Vulcan reassures the Sword Tomb defenders and later explains the battle to Heavenly Wolf, Po Jun, and Qi Sha.
• Vulcan warns Su Yi about the Thunder Immortal Lord’s attacks; Su Yi thanks him and presses on.
• Thomas warns the Thunder Immortal Lord about Su Yi’s Destruction Authority, then helps him retreat and brace against Su Yi’s next assault.
• Lu Qingyan watches Su Yi’s display with reverence, while the Golden Venerables react with astonishment and Vulcan cheers his progress.

Key plot points

• The Watchful Elder tries to break Open-Heaven Manor from within, offering Nightmare Power, rapid advancement, and access to secret techniques and treasures.
• He reinforces the temptation by displaying former manor members who have risen dramatically in rank. Liu Hai, Chen Ru, and Situ Shan mock their old peers and urge them to defect.
• The offer sparks a mass revolt: hundreds of thousands rush toward the barrier, including many Brass Swordsmiths and twelve Silver Masters.
• Vulcan orders the barrier opened and refuses to attack those leaving. He sees the defections as a painful but necessary purge, since Nightmare’s influence and the manor’s fixation on status have corrupted it.
• Five million of the sixty million defenders ultimately defect, including forty-six Silver Masters and two hundred thousand Brass Swordsmiths. The remaining fifty-five million recommit to defending the manor, and the barrier closes again.
• In the hall, Vulcan credits Su Yi’s outside support for making the risky purge possible and warns the Venerables not to attempt such a move without similar help.
• Outside, Su Yi and his allies continue battling Thunder Immortal Lord and Headmaster Thomas. Their combined army unleashes a relentless barrage, but Su Yi uses the Azure Wolf Banner’s magnetic field to deflect attacks and the Unity Sword to cut down the monsters. When Wen Xuan urges an end to the drawn-out fight, Su Yi reveals he has been charging a skill.

Character developments and interactions

• Vulcan shows strategic resolve and compassion: rather than punish defectors, he lets them choose freely, accepting a major loss to give the manor a chance to rebuild.
• Skywind Venerable and Star Venerable initially prepare to kill the defectors, but follow Vulcan’s order and trust his judgment.
• The Watchful Elder exploits ambition and resentment, while Liu Hai, Chen Ru, and Situ Shan use their newfound ranks to taunt and persuade former classmates and seniors.
• The defectors’ rapid advancement intensifies envy among those who stayed, but the remaining defenders ultimately unite around Open-Heaven Manor.
• Su Yi remains a crucial ally in the outside battle; his confidence suggests he is preparing a decisive counterattack.

Significant themes

• Ambition and temptation: promises of instant power exploit frustration with slow advancement and rigid hierarchy.
• Loyalty and choice: Vulcan allows people to leave rather than compel allegiance through violence.
• Renewal through loss: the manor treats mass defection as a painful purge that may let it recover its original purpose.
• Corruption and institutional change: Vulcan recognizes that prestige, status, and Nightmare’s influence have weakened the manor.
• Resentment and reversal of status: former underdogs’ sudden success exposes the bitterness and insecurity within the ranks.

Key plot points and events

• Five million defectors from Open-Heaven Manor accept the Watchful Elder’s power, rapidly advancing in strength, then celebrate their choice and denounce their former allies.
• Vulcan reveals the battle outside the Sword Tomb. The projection shows Su Yi fighting the Thunder Immortal Lord and Thomas, convincing the remaining members of Open-Heaven Manor that Vulcan’s promised reinforcements are real.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord and Thomas realize Su Yi has few combat weaknesses and plan to use the Primordial Empire’s Dragon Vein to cut him off from Dark Universe Energy and turn the Empire’s fortune against him.
• Su Yi senses the Dragon Vein’s influence and recognizes the danger, but chooses to unleash his hidden weapons rather than keep fighting defensively.
• He transforms the Unity Sword into thousands of blades, draws out the unfinished Annihilation Blade, and uses the Azure Wolf Banner to take control of Vulcan’s hundred million scattered swords. Infusing them all with destructive power, he forms a vast, inescapable field of annihilation.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord’s attempt to break free fails. Su Yi’s attack locks both opponents in place, and a hundred million swords strike them. The chapter ends with their apparent defeat.

Character developments

• Su Yi shows strategic ingenuity as well as overwhelming strength: he combines destruction, resonance, magnetic fields, and spatial powers into a coordinated attack.
• Vulcan is vindicated before the people of Open-Heaven Manor. He also recognizes the Annihilation Blade’s craftsmanship and is consumed by the desire to finish forging it.
• The Watchful Elder’s defectors lose their confidence when they see Su Yi’s power and realize they may have chosen the wrong side.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord and Thomas shift from confident planners to alarmed targets. Thomas remains analytical even as the threat becomes immediate.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and mistaken allegiance: The defectors’ sudden regret highlights how easily conviction can collapse when circumstances change.
• Power and its risks: The Dragon Vein represents immense authority over energy and fortune, while Su Yi’s destructive weapon offers a different, potentially catastrophic kind of power.
• Ingenuity in conflict: Su Yi’s victory depends not only on strength but on creatively combining abilities and weapons.
• Reversal of fortunes: Those who believed themselves secure face imminent destruction, while Vulcan’s supporters gain renewed hope.

Character interactions

• Vulcan reassures Open-Heaven Manor’s members by showing them the battle; Su Yi’s performance restores their faith in him.
• The Watchful Elder reacts angrily to Gheros’s arrival, while his new followers confront the consequences of their choice.
• The Thunder Immortal Lord and Thomas coordinate their plan against Su Yi, but Su Yi counters before they can complete it.
• Su Yi asks Vulcan to lend him his swords, then uses them in the decisive attack.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi unleashes a devastating attack that kills the Thunder Immortal Lord and Thomas, erasing their bodies, souls, Divine Authority, and the Nightmare power clinging to them.
• The Watchful Elder realizes his scheme has failed. Unable to manifest his true body in the Material Universe and now without his strongest allies, he withdraws his power and flees.
• The five million rebels who had sided with him lose the Nightmare power he had secretly granted them. Vulcan orders that none be spared, and Open-Heaven Manor’s forces kill them all, ending the largest purge in the Manor’s history.
• With the Watchful Elder gone, the Nightmare domain begins collapsing as the Material Universe’s laws move in to repair the damage. The remaining Nightmare army attempts to escape.
• Su Yi opens Teleportation Gates and brings in the Light Empire’s fleet, led by Ilis and Maria. Players rush into battle, eager to collect Nightmare power, which they use for classes, weapons, and skill upgrades.
• Open-Heaven Manor’s forces and the newcomers begin clearing the region. The chapter ends with local soldiers stunned as the Players’ Powered Armor troops kill Nightmare believers and apparently consume the released Nightmare power.

Character developments

• Su Yi demonstrates overwhelming combat strength and control over the battle, then immediately advances his broader plan by summoning the fleet.
• The Watchful Elder shifts from confidence to fury and retreat once Su Yi destroys his reinforcements.
• Wen Xuan is both frightened by Su Yi’s power and reassured that he chose the right ally.
• Lu Qingyan is left awestruck, realizing that even her family’s ancestor could not have survived Su Yi’s attack.
• Ilis hands command to Maria and sets out to investigate the Primordial Empire’s power of Order.
• The traitors, including Chen Ru, Liu Hai, and Situ Shan, collapse into panic and plead for mercy when their patron abandons them.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and betrayal: The rebellion’s collapse exposes the cost of abandoning one’s convictions for power or security.
• Power and confidence: Su Yi’s arrival not only defeats the enemy leaders but also restores the defenders’ morale.
• Cleansing and renewal: The purge is bloody, yet portrayed as removing infiltrators and wavering elements that threatened Open-Heaven Manor’s future.
• Contrasting views of corruption: The locals fear Nightmare power, while the Players treat it as a valuable resource—and even appear to consume it.

Character interactions

• Su Yi’s attack shocks allies and enemies alike; Wen Xuan celebrates his judgment in supporting Su Yi, while Lu Qingyan can only stare in disbelief.
• The Watchful Elder’s retreat leaves his followers begging him not to abandon them, but he does not respond.
• Open-Heaven Manor’s loyalists taunt the former rebels before Vulcan leads the purge.
• Ilis entrusts Maria with overall command, then joins Su Yi to prepare the next operation.
• The local forces watch in alarm as the Players’ strange methods turn the cleanup of Nightmare-tainted territory into a spectacle.

Key plot points and events

• Players exploit the battle against Nightmare cultists, whose Nightmare power is valuable to them, while discussing the Primordial Empire’s politics and Open-Heaven Manor’s legendary Creation Furnace.
• Five high-ranking Player officers arrive to reinforce the swordsmiths. Despite their intimidating titles, their unusual usernames confuse the local commanders.
• The Players and swordsmiths coordinate to retake the area. The Players fight with extraordinary fearlessness, repeatedly shielding the swordsmiths from attacks—even at the cost of their own lives.
• The swordsmiths feel guilty about the soldiers’ sacrifices. Ever Upward persuades them to forge a weapon for every fallen Player, so each can serve as a gravestone. The swordsmiths agree, hoping the weapons might protect others in the soldiers’ next lives.
• Su Yi and his party arrive at Open-Heaven Manor and are warmly welcomed. He explains that he seeks the Primordial Empire’s alliance against Dreamwalker and offers captured Wildfolk fortresses and prisoners as a gift.
• Su Yi asks Open-Heaven Manor to help Ilis seize the Goddess of Black Cinders’ Flame Authority using the Primordial Fire. Vulcan recognizes Ilis’s familiar aura and declares that the first branch has finally returned.

Character developments and interactions

• Ever Upward and the other Players combine genuine battlefield courage with a calculated desire to obtain Open-Heaven Manor weapons. Their self-sacrifice moves the swordsmiths, though the Players also deliberately frame the losses as an honor to secure weapons for the fallen.
• Venerable Heavenly Wolf, Seven-Killings Venerable, and the other swordsmiths shift from relief at being rescued to guilt, respect, and a commitment to honor the dead.
• Su Yi presents himself as both a rescuer and a strategic partner, using generosity to build trust and advance his larger campaign.
• Vulcan responds warmly to Su Yi’s offer and is intrigued by Ilis’s aura, suggesting an important connection between her and Open-Heaven Manor’s history.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and its cost: The Players’ willingness to die inspires the swordsmiths but also leaves them burdened by guilt.
• Honor and remembrance: Weapons become memorials to the fallen and symbols of service beyond death.
• Alliance through reciprocity: Su Yi’s rescue and gift establish trust while supporting his request for cooperation.
• Humor amid danger: The Players’ banter and awkward usernames contrast with the brutality of the battle.

Key plot points and events

• Vulcan immediately recognizes Ilis’s true nature: she is a surviving branch connected to the Primordial Fire. He sends the other guests away so he can speak privately with her and Su Yi.
• He leads them to the Creation Core, a planet-sized furnace that stores the Primordial Fire and supplies the larger Creation Furnace system—a formation spanning a star system. Only four of its twelve furnaces remain.
• At Su Yi’s encouragement, Ilis approaches the Primordial Fire. She transforms into a crystalline fire-tree, which grows into a Flame Forest above the Core. Vulcan explains that she is returning to her source to be purified and remade. In time, she will gain a new Flame Authority superior to that of the Goddess of Black Cinders.
• Vulcan reveals that he knew the Goddess of Black Cinders before the Second Great Cataclysm. She had foreseen her corruption and eventual loss of self, but could only hint at what was coming. Vulcan has waited ten thousand years for her original branch to return, hoping Ilis might ultimately receive release from her suffering.
• Su Yi pledges to leave trusted Elite Troops at Open-Heaven Manor to help defend it while Ilis grows. Vulcan recognizes the soldiers as the result of the Mist Sage’s plan: warriors immune to Nightmare’s influence and capable of turning its power against Dreamwalkers.
• Vulcan notices Su Yi’s troops taking dangerous risks to obtain discarded weapons and Sword Blanks. He promises that Open-Heaven Manor will supply Su Yi’s forces with its finest weapons and divine armaments until the Dreamwalkers are defeated.

Character developments and interactions

• Ilis moves from uncertainty to resolve. Though the Primordial Fire feels like home, she is unsure of her memories and identity; Su Yi’s reassurance helps her take the leap toward transformation.
• Su Yi supports Ilis without hesitation and shows his commitment by assigning troops to protect her and the Manor. His soldiers’ welfare also matters to him, making Vulcan’s offer of weapons especially welcome.
• Vulcan shifts from a venerable host to an ally and keeper of painful history. His long wait for Ilis’s return reflects both grief over the past and hope that an old tragedy can reach its end.
• Su Yi and Vulcan share mutual respect: Vulcan praises Su Yi’s command of the Elite Troops, while Su Yi accepts the Manor’s support. Vulcan’s concern for the soldiers turns their alliance into a practical commitment.

Significant themes

• Return, transformation, and renewal: Ilis’s return to the Primordial Fire offers her a chance to become something new.
• Fate and suffering: The Goddess of Black Cinders foresaw her corruption but could not prevent it, leaving Vulcan to mourn what he understood too late.
• Loyalty and mutual aid: Su Yi protects the Manor, and Vulcan commits its resources to Su Yi’s cause.
• Hope against catastrophe: The Elite Troops represent a chance to resist the Dreamwalkers and save the universe.

Plot points and events

• After resolving Ilis’s fusion with the Primordial One’s Fire, Su Yi and Vulcan relax over Vulcan’s unique, intensely hot Lava Tea, which restores Su Yi’s energy.
• Vulcan examines Su Yi’s unfinished Annihilation Blade, recognizing its extraordinary Source of Destruction. He warns that the Creation Furnace alone cannot complete it: the blade needs several furnaces, further tempering, and more impurities purged. Su Yi will need to keep using it to absorb souls and kill Deities.
• With war spreading across the Primordial Empire, Su Yi agrees to bring his forces there and await the approaching Frost and Elf Empires. Vulcan offers Open-Heaven Manor as an armory and training resource, and gives Su Yi a crystal for communication.
• Su Yi asks about the Heat Death Research Institute. He believes its members are original Soulless corrupted by the Dreamwalker. Vulcan confirms that he once helped the Soulless and maintained contact with them, but they had concealed their location and left clues encoded in the Grand Library.
• Vulcan retrieves the hidden clues and sends them to Su Yi through a painful burst of flame. Su Yi deciphers the message: Starflame Corridor.
• Su Yi realizes the Soulless are likely hidden in Starflame Corridor, a vast, deadly labyrinth scarred by the ancient battle between the Heaven-Opener and the Dreamwalker. Its Chaosfire formed from the fusion of the Primordial One’s Fire and the Dreamwalker’s nightmare power. He also recognizes that its entrance is in the Dawn Labyrinth near Vine City—the site of an obscure location explored by Players in his previous life.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi grows closer to Vulcan, trusts his judgment about the sword, and accepts the need for further battles to finish forging it. His knowledge from his previous life helps him identify the significance of Starflame Corridor.
• Vulcan shifts from discussing craft and rebuilding Open-Heaven Manor to revealing his past ties to the Soulless. He demonstrates loyalty to Su Yi by sharing resources, information, and access to the Manor.
• Their partnership is reinforced through candid cooperation: Vulcan advises Su Yi on the blade and military situation, while Su Yi shares what he knows about the Institute and the approaching empires.

Significant themes

• Power requires sacrifice and refinement: the Annihilation Blade cannot be completed without further conflict and purification.
• Hidden history and rediscovery: the Grand Library’s coded records reveal secrets the Soulless deliberately concealed.
• Past and present converging: a location dismissed by Players in Su Yi’s former life turns out to be central to the universe’s ancient conflict.
• Alliances amid crisis: Su Yi and Vulcan prepare to cooperate as war and corruption threaten the wider world.

The author says their eyes hurt and they can barely open them, so they’re taking the day off. They plan to rest their eyes and use the time to work out the story’s final plot developments and ending, while promising not to take any days off next month.

• Plot and events: No story events occur; this is an author’s note announcing a break.
• Character development and interactions: None.
• Themes: Rest, health, and preparing to bring the story to a conclusion.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi confirms that Open-Heaven Manor will serve as the Players’ main arsenal, supplying divine weapons. He puts Alton in charge of combat and joint affairs, while Madman and Wen Xuan are sent to the Flame Dragon Empire to investigate and map its star systems.
• Players celebrate the new supply source, but keep risking their lives and scavenging anyway—some intend to sell their recovered scraps, while others hope their deaths will help prompt the release of more stored weapons.
• During the battle at Open-Heaven Manor, Maria studies the Primordial Empire’s ancient Order, which is rooted in the Dragon Vein. She turns the stolen Thunder Edict into a blank rune, recognizing the power of this older framework.
• Su Yi arrives and reveals that he has killed one body of the Thunder Immortal Lord, weakening the Lord’s fortune and authority and transferring that body’s control of the Dragon Vein to Su Yi. He gives Maria a suggested opening for a new “Order Edict,” then leaves her in charge of the region.
• Su Yi returns to the Light Empire and prepares to enter the Starflame Corridor. Nine Blades warns that three Deities are trapped there, including Supreme Dao, a doppelganger of the Black Abyss Overlord. Su Yi says he will proceed despite the danger.
• Before leaving, Su Yi entrusts command of the Players to Winter. He then returns to Rhode Star, where he reflects on how far he has come since arriving there as a powerless outcast.
• In Vine City, Su Yi encounters three cheerful new Players. Their presence recalls his previous life: Position Five Carl, Support Anti-Mage, Riverbottom Private Room, and the absent fourth member, Mad-Faced Puppy—Su Yi’s former identity.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi delegates major responsibilities to trusted allies, showing both his expanding influence and his willingness to leave others in command. His return to Rhode Star brings a rare, emotional reminder of his former life.
• Maria advances her understanding of the Primordial Empire’s cosmic Order and is positioned to govern the ongoing operations while Su Yi is away. She and Su Yi tease one another affectionately before he leaves.
• Winter is more anxious and protective since becoming pregnant, but accepts command of the Players and encourages Su Yi to return safely.
• Alton, Madman, Wen Xuan, Kilman, and Nine Blades each take on or advise roles in the broader campaign: managing Open-Heaven Manor, investigating the Flame Dragon Empire, handling diplomacy, and assessing the danger ahead.
• The three new Players’ friendly offer to help Su Yi forms the emotional trigger for his memories of his old team.

Significant themes

• Growth and transformation: Su Yi’s contrast between his former helplessness and present power underscores how dramatically his life has changed.
• Trust and delegation: Su Yi entrusts allies with military, political, and Player leadership responsibilities as the conflict expands.
• Memory and reunion: The new Players evoke a team Su Yi knew in another life, making the encounter feel like a reunion separated by a thousand years.
• Order and power: Maria’s discovery of the Primordial Empire’s ancient rules suggests that its cosmic structure is deeper and more fundamental than the Thunder Edict.
• Sacrifice, pragmatism, and resourcefulness: Even with divine weapons available, Players continue to risk themselves and salvage battlefield scraps, turning danger into opportunity.

Key plot points

• Su Yi unexpectedly encounters his three closest friends from his previous life—Carl, I Can Eat a Whale, and Riverbottom Private Room—now new players in the game. Unsure whether they remember him or whether he existed in this reality, he hides his identity and introduces himself as “Crazy Puppy.”
• He joins their party and guides them through the largely looted Dawn Labyrinth, leading them to ancient materials and remains they would otherwise have missed.
• Deep in the labyrinth, a level-60 Lava Giant Python attacks. The friends prepare to fight or flee, but Su Yi effortlessly cuts the monster into pieces.
• Su Yi tells them the python’s meat can transform them into Lava Warriors, explains that the surrounding treasures are theirs to pursue, and leaves through a glowing gate without revealing who he is.
• Afterward, the three reason that their mysterious benefactor may have been Godfather—the Warmaster—and that he could be their lost friend Su Yi. They connect his emotional reaction and name to the timing of Su Yi’s death, and speculate that the game’s lifelike world may preserve the dead.

Character developments

• Su Yi is overwhelmed by seeing his old friends but chooses not to disclose his identity. His responsibility to save the universe keeps him from staying, so he gives them help and a chance to build their own futures before saying goodbye.
• Carl remains practical and easygoing, insisting that games are about having fun even when the labyrinth seems picked clean. Later, he becomes the first to assemble the clues linking “Crazy Puppy” to Su Yi.
• Whale and Riverbottom Private Room show their loyalty and courage, accepting the risk of exploring and trying to protect one another. Their shock at Su Yi’s power turns into hopeful excitement at the possibility that he is their old friend.

Character interactions

• The reunion is bittersweet: Su Yi recognizes the three, while they see only a helpful stranger. He listens as they privately suspect him, but keeps his identity secret.
• The friends joke, encourage one another, and prepare to face the boss together. Su Yi’s final words move them, though they initially fear he may be speaking as someone in despair.
• After Su Yi departs, the three compare memories and clues, beginning to suspect that their benefactor is the friend they thought they had lost.

Significant themes

• Friendship and farewell: Su Yi’s reunion brings him comfort and clarity, but he chooses to leave rather than reclaim the past.
• Identity and memory: The chapter asks whether a person can persist across realities and whether shared memories can reveal who someone is.
• Self-sacrifice and responsibility: Su Yi’s cosmic duty takes precedence over personal happiness.
• Hope and new beginnings: By giving his friends a powerful opportunity without dictating their future, Su Yi helps them move forward through their own efforts.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi enters the Starflame Corridor, the chaotic region beyond the Dawn Labyrinth. Its shifting spaces are filled with cosmic disasters and destructive black-and-white flames.
• Using the fifth Ancient Bronze Gate and his mastery of Unity’s Divine Authority, he creates a personal system of coordinates and navigates toward a powerful disturbance.
• He finds evidence of Supreme Dao’s presence, then discovers Supreme Dao and the Stigmata Totem locked in a long battle. Both are weakened, but still formidable True Gods who can draw on their shared origin to fight together.
• The two Deities attack when Su Yi approaches. Once they recognize him, each tries to influence him: the Stigmata Totem invokes its supposed past favor, while Supreme Dao warns that it intended to make him a puppet.
• Su Yi reveals that he killed the Shadow King by using him as bait to eliminate the Watchful Elder. Supreme Dao is delighted by this and recognizes Su Yi as the Light Empire’s Expedition Warmaster, a bearer of Unity’s bloodline and Destruction Authority.
• Su Yi declares that he has come to kill both Deities and restore the Black Abyss Overlord’s power to its original form. He has taken Open-Heaven Manor, secured Vulcan’s cooperation, and brought the Annihilation Blade.
• Supreme Dao welcomes the prospect of escape from their fate as prisoners destined to be harvested by Dreamwalker, but refuses to submit. Su Yi claims he can defeat either Deity individually; the Stigmata Totem asks whether he can face them together, exposing his weakness.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi demonstrates confidence, ingenuity, and growing power by surviving the Corridor and establishing his own navigation system. However, he admits—implicitly through his silence—that he cannot defeat the two Deities if they unite.
• Supreme Dao appears more open and hopeful than the Stigmata Totem. It admires Su Yi’s victory over the Watchful Elder and sees him as a possible route out of its long confinement, while still demanding proof of his strength.
• The Stigmata Totem is wary and manipulative, presenting its mark on Su Yi as a favor while Supreme Dao identifies it as an attempt to control him. It remains hostile to the idea of surrender.
• The Deities’ rivalry briefly gives way to mutual aggression against Su Yi: despite battling each other for millennia, their shared origin lets their powers combine when threatened.

Significant themes

• Chaos versus order: The Starflame Corridor has no stable directions, rules, or Divine Authority; Su Yi counters this disorder by creating a system centered on himself.
• Fate and imprisonment: Supreme Dao describes the Deities as prisoners awaiting Dreamwalker’s return and harvest, suggesting that even godlike beings are subject to forces beyond their control.
• Power, ambition, and survival: The two Deities fight to devour one another, while Su Yi seeks to reclaim their shared power—but must confront the limits of his own strength.
• Manipulation and trust: Both Deities attempt to shape Su Yi’s response, and their conflicting accounts of the Stigmata Totem’s mark leave their motives in doubt.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi learns that the Supreme Dao and Stigmata Totem’s Divine Authorities can resonate because both came from the Black Abyss Overlord. Together, they are far stronger than either alone, explaining why Su Yi could not defeat them.
• The two Deities warn that merging three Primordial Deities would awaken Nightmare’s power, corrupt the Overlord’s Divine Authorities, and potentially revive the Overlord’s mad will within Su Yi’s soul. The Dreamwalker could also attack despite being unable to fully manifest in the Material Universe.
• The Supreme Dao advises Su Yi to find the hidden Soulless Alliance. Its secret technologies might help him resist both the Overlord and the Dreamwalker. Su Yi leaves the Deities to their perpetual duel and begins mapping the shifting maze to locate the group.
• Five years pass while Su Yi searches. Meanwhile, the Light Empire expands and strengthens under Kilman’s rule, with Nine Blades serving as his close aide. The Empire prepares to relocate Sacred Will, anticipating attacks by Nightmare-aligned enemies.
• The Light Empire builds alliances and trade links, including a fragile nonaggression pact with the Redstone Empire and agreements with Open-Heaven Manor. Through Vulcan’s help, the Primordial Empire also establishes ties with the Flame Dragon Empire.
• Wen Xuan returns to a near-collapsed Flame Dragon Dynasty with a force of Players. Though many factions reject him, he prevents his supporters from punishing them and works to suppress rebellions and restore order. The gravely ill Grand Chancellor remains suspended near death in the Zhou Tian Grand Formation.
• Nightmare-aligned factions expand aggressively across the Primordial Empire. Open-Heaven Manor and the Immortal Queen Mother organize an Anti-Nightmare Coalition, which—supported by the Light Empire—manages to stabilize the front.
• Maria becomes the Light Empire’s supreme commander in the region and rises to near-divine power. Using the Dragon Vein and the laws of Order, she establishes a protected zone around Open-Heaven Manor that blocks ordinary Nightmare rituals and safeguards the coalition and the teleportation route.
• The chapter ends with a note that, despite Su Yi’s earlier actions, neither Maria nor Winter has become visibly pregnant after five years.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi recognizes the scale of the danger and shifts his priority to finding the Soulless Alliance rather than rushing toward the next stage of his plan.
• The Supreme Dao and Stigmata Totem reveal crucial knowledge despite their longstanding rivalry. Their contrasting temperaments emerge: the Supreme Dao is approachable, while the Stigmata Totem is cold and cutting. They return to fighting once Su Yi leaves.
• Kilman has grown into a formidable and authoritative ruler, directing military preparations and the Empire’s expanding diplomatic and administrative work. Nine Blades carries out his orders efficiently.
• Wen Xuan shows restraint and political maturity by protecting those who no longer recognize him, then focuses on rebuilding his fractured dynasty.
• Maria develops into a powerful leader whose command of Order provides a safe haven against Nightmare forces.

Significant themes

• Unity against common threats: Rivals can cooperate when greater dangers demand it, while alliances and coalitions become essential to survival.
• The danger of power and inheritance: Combining divine powers may unleash corruption and the will of the dead, making advancement perilous.
• Resilience and reconstruction: Several realms recover from political collapse and military defeat through leadership, cooperation, and careful diplomacy.
• Order versus corruption: Maria’s laws of Order directly oppose Nightmare’s influence, creating stability amid widespread chaos.

Plot points and events

• Five years after Su Yi’s departure, Winter and Maria are still pregnant with strange, abstract children. Their pregnancies have become a matter of state security: each is protected by elite soldiers, rotating top Players, and one of Su Yi’s twin allies.
• Emma and Dora have advanced to near-Quasi-Godhood by sharing the Twins’ Divine Authority. Their closely linked souls let them communicate and even exchange forms across great distances; they now protect Winter and Maria and help manage their affairs.
• Kavelyn, still serving as the Redstone Empire’s diplomat, regrets not accepting Su Yi’s offer before he vanished. Her leaders order her to discover his plans, but she is increasingly focused on earning Su Yi’s favor and securing a future with him.
• The Light Empire has grown wealthy and powerful through its trade gate to the Primordial Empire. Its Sixth Expeditionary Fleet is now heading toward the Wolong Star Sector, apparently to carry the Sacred Will into the Primordial Empire and confront the Nightmare Pioneer and Soul Dominator.
• Meanwhile, Su Yi has spent five years searching the Starflame Corridor for the Soulless’ hidden base. He realizes Vulcan’s information was a constant in a calculation, not a direct location, and finally derives the base’s position.
• Su Yi enters a microscopic universe concealed within chaotic space. As he approaches a firelit bubble containing drifting figures, an unseen force immobilizes him. A strange, two-headed, four-armed being appears and demands that he prove he has not been corrupted by Nightmare’s power.

Character developments

• Winter and Maria have adapted to their children’s otherworldly forms, while their growing importance makes them central figures in the Light Empire.
• Emma and Dora have become a powerful twin Deity, with greatly expanded forms and abilities and an unusually complete bond.
• Kavelyn has grown disillusioned with the Redstone Empire and is driven by regret, envy, and a desire to prove herself to Su Yi.
• Su Yi shows extraordinary patience and analytical persistence, devoting five years to solving the Soulless’ hiding place before making contact.

Significant themes

• Power and transformation: The pregnancies and the twins’ advancement suggest that divine power can reshape both bodies and destinies.
• Loyalty versus ambition: Kavelyn’s diplomatic success matters less to her than personal opportunity and escape from her former allegiance.
• Patience and hidden knowledge: Su Yi succeeds through sustained calculation, uncovering a secret designed to defeat ordinary tracking.
• Fear of corruption and trust: His encounter with the stranger begins not with welcome, but with a test tied to the threat of Nightmare.

Character interactions

• Emma and Dora support and protect Winter and Maria, their shared powers allowing them to act across distance.
• Kavelyn is pressured by the Redstone elders, but privately rejects their priorities and seeks a way to prove her usefulness to Su Yi.
• Su Yi approaches the hidden inhabitants of the Soulless base, only to be restrained and questioned by one of them.

Summary

• Su Yi is confronted by a remotely controlled corpse-puppet and asked to prove he has not been corrupted by Nightmare. He gives a coded response—“One! Five! Bro, let me drop you a rhyme…”—which convinces the puppet’s controller that Su Yi has met Mist Sage and that the plan succeeded. The controller lowers the security measures and introduces himself as Qian Haonan, leader of the surviving Soulless.
• Qian recognizes Su Yi’s connection to the Source of Destruction and asks about their old research institute. Su Yi admits it was empty but reveals he found Qian’s diary. Horrified, Qian grabs and destroys it, then leads Su Yi into a hidden shelter after learning that Vulcan supplied its coordinates.
• Inside, Su Yi meets Qian in person: a legless, white-haired man whose years of isolation have left him emotionally numb and physically stiff. Qian explains that he has guarded the shelter alone for thousands of years. Su Yi expresses admiration for his endurance, and Qian replies that people can surpass what they think possible when others’ survival depends on them.
• Qian reveals that the shelter—also called the Soulless’ “final tomb”—contains the Alliance’s most advanced technology, records, and supplies, all preserved for Su Yi’s arrival. He and Su Yi exchange information about events in the wider universe. Su Yi reports disrupting several of the Wall Watchers’ plans and killing Dr. Anxiety; Qian dismisses the latter as an unimportant opportunist.
• Qian recounts how the Soulless Alliance collapsed after the Second Great Cataclysm. A faction tried to harness Nightmare’s power, citing an infant who could wield it without apparently succumbing to Dreamwalker. Qian’s traditionalist faction feared that this resistance was temporary and that wider experimentation would corrupt the Soulless. The opposing faction believed Nightmare could be controlled. Their disagreement became civil war, drew in other factions, and culminated in the Third Great Cataclysm.
• Nightmare-aligned Soulless recovered from the final devastation and hunted the others. Dreamwalker gained Soulless bodies, allowing him to extend his influence into the Material Universe. With Mist Sage’s help, Qian’s group reached Vulcan, learned how to activate their ultimate defense, and retreated to the Hope Fortress. As Dreamwalker’s corruption spread through their bloodline, the refugees left the base and sacrificed themselves in Chaosfire to protect it.
• Qian reveals that the fortress is powered by Eternal Fire, one of the Genesis Particle’s three Doppelgangers. His group rescued Eternal Fire from the Goddess of Black Cinders; the shelter now provides a safe place for Eternal Fire to develop its Divine Authority and following.

Character development and interactions

• Qian Haonan shifts from cautious, guarded suspicion to relief and excitement once Su Yi gives the coded proof. His diary exposes a comic, self-conscious side, while his account of the fortress reveals his long-standing duty, grief, and perseverance beneath his numb exterior. Talking with Su Yi slowly restores some expression and emotion.
• Su Yi proves his trustworthiness through his knowledge of Mist Sage and his record of resisting the Wall Watchers. Qian’s words about enduring for others resonate with Su Yi because they echo what his own brothers have told him.
• Their conversation develops from interrogation and guarded introductions into a candid exchange between allies: Qian shares the Soulless’ history and the fortress’s purpose, while Su Yi brings news of the current conflict.

Significant themes

• Perseverance and responsibility: Qian survives isolation because his people entrusted him with their final hope; he argues that responsibility can carry people beyond perceived limits.
• The dangers of power and experimentation: The Soulless’ attempt to exploit Nightmare’s seemingly controllable power deepens division and ultimately contributes to their destruction.
• Sacrifice for collective survival: Qian’s companions willingly abandon the shelter and die in Chaosfire to prevent Dreamwalker’s corruption from spreading inside it.
• Hope amid extinction: The fortress preserves technology, supplies, and Eternal Fire as resources for a future beyond the Soulless’ collapse.

Plot points

• Qian Haonan explains that the Soulless Alliance once conquered time and dominated advanced factions, but most survivors became Nightmare’s servants. He alone has guarded their hidden base for millennia, waiting for Su Yi.
• The alliance preserved vast technical records and experimental data for Su Yi, believing these would help the Light Empire recover the lost heights of ancient technology.
• Qian reveals that the sixth Ancient Bronze Gate can send Su Yi’s power, mind, and existence into a higher-dimensional space, letting him manipulate time and space. The seventh contains the last remnant of the Unity True God; merging with it would restore the True God’s body and Divine Authority.
• They reach the sixth gate, where the Eternal Fire—one of the Deities split from the Ancient War Gods—has been confined. Long eclipsed by the Goddess of Black Cinders and deprived of worshippers, it has become mentally unstable.
• Qian identifies Su Yi as the modern Unity True God and the Eternal Fire’s destined end. Eager to escape its torment, the Eternal Fire throws itself onto Su Yi’s Extinction Sword and dies, cursing the Goddess of Black Cinders.

Character developments and interactions

• Qian Haonan remains steadfast and forward-looking. He rejects Su Yi’s pity, saying that Su Yi’s arrival vindicates his long wait, and acts as his guide through the base and its secrets.
• Su Yi gains a clearer picture of the gates and his possible destiny. He responds to the Eternal Fire’s suffering with sympathy, though its frantic, comic outburst surprises him.
• The Eternal Fire is revealed as a ruined, resentful Deity who longs for release after millennia of helplessness. Its metaphor of losing its “wives and children” to a stronger rival expresses its humiliation under the Goddess of Black Cinders.

Significant themes

• Hope and endurance: Qian’s long vigil gains meaning through Su Yi’s arrival.
• Power, decline, and dispossession: The Soulless Alliance has fallen, while the Eternal Fire has lost its influence and sanity.
• Destiny and responsibility: The sixth and seventh gates point toward Su Yi’s possible rise to ultimate power—and the fate of the universe resting on him.
• Release from suffering: The Eternal Fire chooses death as freedom from an existence it considers unbearable.