Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan confronts a cloaked figure who uses “Whisper” to write dangerous branching fates for him, including being trapped by the Dark Kingdom, a hidden power in the Ninefold Nether’s Underworld.
• Xu Yuan counters with his own Whisper: because he has defeated the figure in earlier fate contests, he can weaken their predictions. The danger becomes an unexpected connection to the Dark Kingdom—its members recognize him as one of their own and treat him as someone important.
• Xu Yuan uses “Plunder” to seize and destroy the figure’s next Whisper, preventing further interference.
• He offers to trade his Whisper Rune for an ancient sword manual linked to “Night Rain,” the swordsmanship he already knows. The figure gives him only half the manual, reserving the rest until they understand his ability.
• The figure uses “Gaze” to break apart the Rune and absorb its fragments, believing the transaction complete. But a hidden, powerful being’s hook—apparently concealed in the Rune—pierces and lifts the figure into the air.
• The wounded figure reveals a body covered in eyes and attacks with black rays, tearing away the roof. A giant eye appears in the sky as the unseen being confronts the figure.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan remains cautious and resourceful, using negotiation, bluffing, and his fate-manipulating abilities to turn a dangerous confrontation into a bargain. He is also unsettled by the possibility that his bloodline and past associations connect him to the Dark Kingdom.
• The cloaked figure shifts from threatening Xu Yuan to negotiating with him, then grows overconfident after absorbing the Rune. Their caution does not protect them from the hidden trap.
• The unseen being is revealed as vastly more powerful than the figure and appears to have used the Rune as bait to capture them.

Significant themes

• Fate and agency: Xu Yuan can alter dangers imposed on him, but the resulting outcomes follow rules he does not fully control.
• Hidden affiliations and uncertain identity: Xu Yuan’s possible ties to the Dark Kingdom complicate his understanding of his own past.
• Deception and leverage: Both characters conceal their intentions, treating information and supernatural abilities as bargaining chips.
• Power and hubris: The figure underestimates the unseen being, while the scene emphasizes how little even an Immortal Species may understand about greater forces.

Character interactions

• Xu Yuan and the figure trade threats, test each other’s abilities, and negotiate over the Whisper Rune and the Night Rain-related manual.
• Xu Yuan’s apparent willingness to cooperate helps persuade the figure to absorb the Rune fragments.
• The unseen being intervenes against the figure, transforming Xu Yuan’s attempted trade into a trap and ending the negotiation in violence.

Plot points

• Xu Yuan watches a powerful being from beyond the sky capture the figure that had tried to manipulate his fate. The figure begs for help, but Xu Yuan refuses.
• The Paper Strip warns that the Overseer has arrived, drawn by Xu Yuan’s use of Whisper to summon the Human Emperor. The Overseer’s presence disables the attacker’s hook and reveals Xu Yuan’s connection to the Ruin Gate through his Emblem.
• The Overseer restores history, rewinding the destruction and erasing the witnesses’ memories—but keeps the captured figure. The otherworldly powerhouse retreats, leaving Xu Yuan alive and caught between two overwhelming forces.
• Seeing a rare opportunity, Xu Yuan claims to be protecting history and stabs the figure. The Overseer approves and confirms that Xu Yuan is qualified to join the Ruin Gate.
• Xu Yuan uses his final Plunder to take a jade slip from the figure, then persuades the Overseer to turn the captive into a ghost. Xu Yuan kills it with Ghost Devour, gaining its Whisper.
• The Overseer returns Xu Yuan’s upgraded Guide Emblem and directs him to the Ruin Gate. After the rewind, Zuo Lingjing remains and begs Xu Yuan not to kill her, having witnessed everything.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shifts from cautious observer to calculating opportunist. He disguises his self-interest as loyalty to the Overseer, takes advantage of the Overseer’s judgment, and secures both the jade slip and the figure’s Whisper.
• The Overseer emerges as an immense authority capable of restoring history and deciding what becomes of beings that threaten it. It recognizes Xu Yuan as an ally and recruits him into the Ruin Gate.
• The captured figure is exposed as an Immortal Species that sought Xu Yuan’s Whisper, but is ultimately transformed into a ghost and destroyed.
• Zuo Lingjing becomes an unwilling witness to Xu Yuan’s actions and now fears him.
• Xu Yuan’s refusal to help the captive contrasts with his later willingness to cooperate with the Overseer, while the retreating powerhouse demonstrates that even great strength may yield to the Overseer.

Significant themes

• Survival through opportunism: Xu Yuan turns a dangerous confrontation into a chance to gain power and access.
• History and control: The Overseer can erase events and enforce the world’s “normal” course, raising questions about agency and truth.
• Power and precariousness: Xu Yuan gains a valuable ability, but remains trapped between forces far stronger than himself.
• Deception and moral compromise: Xu Yuan invokes the protection of history to justify killing the captive, while pursuing his own advancement.

Key plot points and events

• Foundation Establishment cultivator Zuo Lingjing arrives at Xu Yuan’s home, terrified and seeking refuge from Lu Chenzhou, whom she suspects of killing his maids to control his emotions. Xu Yuan confirms that he has a grudge against Lu as well.
• Strange spirits—Whispers formed from death—circle Xu Yuan. He explains that he consumed their master, an Immortal Species, leaving them too weak to harm him.
• Xu Yuan uses an unexplained Mystic Art on Zuo Lingjing. When police and Imperial Armed Guards arrive to search for the wanted fugitive, they cannot see her, despite her kneeling openly in the living room. Their visit confirms that she is being hunted; she faints from exhaustion and fear.
• Xu Yuan carries Zuo Lingjing to bed, then joins two jade slips together. They reveal Star Surge, a legacy of the Sword-Commanding Sacred Way, which requires advanced Night Rain Swordsmanship and Foundation Establishment to decipher.
• A mysterious powerful being speaks through a Rune on Xu Yuan’s hand, then disappears. Xu Yuan concludes that an even stronger “Overseer” is restraining it.
• Xu Yuan investigates a new ability gained by absorbing another Immortal Species. His Competition Whisper now has a subsidiary ability, and he triggers “Training Match, begin!” The Border City Battle appears as floating light and shadow alongside a blank notebook, but the chapter ends before its function is clear.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan remains casual and pragmatic even amid supernatural danger. He shelters Zuo Lingjing, recognizes the value of the sword legacy, and experiments with the new ability he gained through consumption.
• Zuo Lingjing shifts from desperate pleading to stunned disbelief when she realizes the search party cannot perceive her. Overwhelmed by the experience, she collapses.
• Lu Chenzhou is characterized indirectly as a dangerous, calculating killer whose apparent kindness may signal that another maid is about to disappear.

Significant themes

• Power and hidden hierarchies: Xu Yuan’s strength, the Immortal Species, and the mysterious Overseer suggest forces operating on vastly different levels.
• Perception and concealment: The guards’ inability to see Zuo Lingjing raises questions about Xu Yuan’s ability and what can be hidden from even powerful cultivators.
• Survival and uneasy refuge: Zuo Lingjing’s flight shows the vulnerability of those pursued by powerful figures, while Xu Yuan’s help is practical but uncertain.
• Inheritance and transformation: The jade-slip legacy and the new subsidiary ability point to knowledge and powers being passed on, absorbed, and reshaped.

Character interactions

• Xu Yuan comforts Zuo Lingjing and invites her to eat, but she remains fearful and deferential.
• Zuo Lingjing warns Xu Yuan about Lu Chenzhou; Xu Yuan responds with his own unsettling account of the death Whispers.
• Xu Yuan deceives the search party by answering their questions while Zuo Lingjing remains invisible to them.
• After she faints, Xu Yuan cares for her, then turns his attention to the newly assembled legacy and his evolving power.

Chapter Summary

Plot and events

• Xu Yuan tests the Blank Notebook’s new idle-play feature, which lets him send an Idle Body into a Competition while his real body stays behind.
• In an idle run of the Extinction-Level Border City Battle, he investigates the Ruin Gate’s connection to the Overseer. He learns they have a symbiotic relationship: the Overseer preserves the world’s history but acts consciously and in the Ruin Gate’s favor when its interests are involved.
• When the Ruin Gate prepares for its final battle against the All Things Unity Society, Xu Yuan joins the preparations team. After choosing the dangerous funding assignment, he is ordered by group leader Wei Hanyun to rob a bank. Xu Yuan uses Heaven-Stealing to empty the vault, leaves Wei’s name behind, and keeps the money rather than turning it over.
• A falling Flood Dragon unexpectedly exposes Xu Yuan and pulls him into the battle. He fights effectively but withdraws when overwhelmed, avoiding the risk of dying in a Training Match.
• The idle run yields experience, important intelligence, and substantial money. Xu Yuan converts the haul into Gold Coins, bringing his total to 3,600. However, accumulated Curse Shadows prevent another idle run for now; his real body can still enter the Competition.
• Xu Yuan spends five experience points on Night Rain Swordsmanship, gaining the ability to control a hundred Spirit Light Threads with a powerful but costly Sword Seal.
• While waiting for the Shop’s renovation to finish, he uses a Blank Historical Branch to create an undiscovered personal history of secretly consuming Rations. This raises his Immortal Species ability, Deep Dive, to Stage Three. He can now seal a secret or object—including another living being—in an imperceptible Abyss Dimension, beyond divination. Reaching the ability’s full power will require 1,999 Life Force.

Character development and interactions

• Xu Yuan embraces the notebook’s unpredictable idle mode, making choices that balance risk and reward. He avoids direct combat at first but is drawn into the battle by circumstances.
• His interactions with the Ruin Gate’s leader reveal the organization’s dependence on the Overseer. Wei Hanyun’s hostility toward Xu Yuan leads to the bank-robbery order, which Xu Yuan answers with defiance and a prank-like signature.
• Xu Yuan grows stronger through both conventional training and deliberate use of Blank Historical Branches. His delight at the money and swordsmanship gains contrasts with his caution about curses and survival.
• The Paper Strip, speaking for the Shop, says its renovation needs another fifteen minutes.

Significant themes

• Risk and survival: Xu Yuan accepts danger for rewards but withdraws when the fight becomes too overwhelming.
• Power and its costs: New abilities offer major advantages, yet Night Rain drains Spiritual Power, Deep Dive requires immense Life Force, and idle play exposes the Idle Body to curses.
• Hidden histories and secrecy: Xu Yuan manipulates his own past to strengthen himself, while his new ability makes secrets and objects impossible to detect or divine.
• Competing loyalties and symbiosis: The Overseer’s relationship with the Ruin Gate is not impartial; it protects the organization with which it shares a goal.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan maximizes Deep Dive, his Dimension ability. It can secretly place a target in a private parallel world, erasing them from observation and memory until he ends the effect. This unlocks Abyss Veil, but using it at his current strength could destroy his body, so he decides he must prioritize reaching Foundation Establishment.
• The Paper Strip finishes merging with the Shop and becomes the Divine Throne, a temple where Xu Yuan can spend money as merit to buy and upgrade offerings.
• Yang Xiaobing reports that Jiang Xueyao’s phone call ended amid fighting and screams. Suspecting the Dark Kingdom’s skinning tactics, Xu Yuan rushes to the Jiang residence on Heart of Heaven Island.
• Hidden beneath a bedsheet protected by Deep Dive, Xu Yuan observes a fierce battle. Jiang Xueyao is being guarded and moved toward safety, but Dark Kingdom infiltrators are disguised in the skins of Jiang Household cultivators.
• Realizing the disguised attackers are closing in and that he must act, Xu Yuan uses Heaven-Stealing to pull a Great Cultivator out of his own skin. The exposed skin follows the infiltrator’s movements, revealing the horrifying deception and stunning the battlefield.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan becomes more deliberate about strengthening his Dimension abilities, while recognizing that his cultivation is too weak to safely use Abyss Veil. He also shows quick judgment and willingness to intervene when Jiang Xueyao is threatened.
• The Paper Strip completes its transformation into the Divine Throne and explains how its offering system works.
• Jiang Xueyao is established as the apparent target of the attack, though her reasons for remaining near the fighting are unclear.

Character interactions

• Xu Yuan and the Paper Strip discuss his new abilities and the Divine Throne’s merit-based purchases.
• Yang Xiaobing alerts Xu Yuan to Jiang Xueyao’s disappearance; Xu Yuan then contacts Tang Yunyu for the location of the Jiang residence.
• At the residence, Jiang Household fighters defend Jiang Xueyao while mistaking the attack for a revolt. Xu Yuan stays concealed until Heaven-Stealing exposes one of the infiltrators.

Significant themes

• Identity and deception: Human skin allows Dark Kingdom members to replace people and infiltrate families.
• Power and vulnerability: Xu Yuan’s abilities are formidable, but his limited cultivation makes their use dangerous.
• Duty and intervention: Despite the risks and confusion, Xu Yuan acts when he realizes Jiang Xueyao may be in danger.

Key plot points and events

• During the rebellion at the Jiang Residence, intruders wearing human skin reveal themselves as monsters. Their appearance makes clear the conflict is no longer merely an internal power struggle: the Demon Race poses a threat to all humans.
• Xu Yuan senses more disguised attackers closing in on Jiang Xueyao. He secretly warns her, helps her escape in his Flowing Cloud Supercar, and drives through pursuing cultivators while she prepares a Teleportation Formation Disc.
• The pair teleport to a hidden, fortified room in Jiangbei City. Xu Yuan judges it safe, but learns that the Demon Race is advancing along the great river and may reach North River that night.
• Jiang Xueyao explains that her ancestor once discovered a dying person concealed inside the bones of a dragon-like “meteor.” The stranger claimed to have stitched on True Dragon skin to travel beyond the sky and regretted that his reckless plan had caused the Ninefold Nether Ruins to fracture and turn against itself.
• Other aristocratic clans have encountered similar beings disguised in the skins of different species. Jiang Xueyao sends warnings to the clans and imperial court while also directing the response to the attack on her household.
• Xu Yuan prepares to leave, but notices something is wrong and returns to the window to investigate.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan acts decisively to rescue Jiang Xueyao, prioritizing her safety over the unfinished fight. His unusual senses help him detect the approaching threat, and he recognizes that the skin-wearing beings may be connected to the mysterious Ninefold Nether Ruins.
• Jiang Xueyao remains composed and resourceful under pressure: she escapes, activates the teleportation disc, and coordinates multiple responses. She chooses to share guarded clan history with Xu Yuan, whom she considers more than an outsider because he is the family’s guest elder.
• Their trust and warmth deepen through the rescue and conversation. Jiang Xueyao thanks him; Xu Yuan brushes it off but jokes that she owes him a meal. Her slight embarrassment hints at personal affection, though neither openly addresses it.

Significant themes

• Hidden identities and infiltration: Enemies can wear the skins of humans and other species, making ordinary defenses unreliable.
• Loyalty, trust, and belonging: Jiang Xueyao breaks with strict clan secrecy because she trusts Xu Yuan.
• Escalating danger and cosmic mystery: The coming Demon Race invasion coincides with the reappearance of beings from the Ninefold Nether Ruins, whose origins and purpose remain unknown.

Plot points and events

• Xu Yuan senses danger in the city and spots two people wearing human skins, apparently connected to the Ninefold Nether Ruins and possibly the Demon Race or All Things Unity Society.
• Exhausted and out of Pills, he asks Jiang Xueyao for help. She gives him two powerful Nine-Turn Purple Mansion Heaven-Mending Pills; he takes one and quickly recovers.
• Xu Yuan tells Jiang to stay put while he deals with the intruders. Using Heaven-Stealing, he takes one attacker’s human skin, kills both infiltrators, and sends their bodies into the Underworld to avoid harming anyone or leaving a mess.
• Walking home, he weighs whether to flee the coming war or fight to protect people he cares about, including his hospitalized mother, Zuo Lingjing, Ah Fei, and Xiao Bing.
• Remembering Zhang Pengcheng’s death at the hands of a powerful Ghost Entity in a subway tunnel, Xu Yuan decides to investigate before the Demon Race reaches North River.
• He finds Zuo Lingjing still asleep, leaves her a note, confirms that the Curse Shadow has dissipated from him but filled his “Idle Body,” and enters an Extinction Tier Training Match.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shows resourcefulness and restraint despite his exhaustion: he uses his abilities to eliminate the threat while keeping the deaths—and cleanup—out of public view. His uncertainty about whether to fight reveals his growing attachment to people in the human world.
• Jiang Xueyao responds to Xu Yuan’s condition with immediate concern, freely sharing rare medicine. She hopes his mention of a sect will lead him to reveal more about himself, and interprets his return to danger as evidence of his loyalty to her.
• Zuo Lingjing remains unconscious and unaware of Xu Yuan’s departure.

Significant themes

• Duty versus self-preservation: Xu Yuan considers escaping but feels responsible for those he cares about.
• Secrecy and concealed identity: Human skins disguise the infiltrators, while Xu Yuan’s own hidden origins make involvement in the coming conflict risky.
• Care expressed through action: Jiang helps Xu Yuan, and Xuuan protects Jiang and the wider public without seeking recognition.
• A fragile peace before catastrophe: The ordinary bustle of the city stands in stark contrast to the approaching war.

Key plot points

• Xu Yuan personally enters the competition and kills an armored Ghost Entity that attacks him. Ghost Devour extracts one of its memories, revealing that it was assigned to patrol Hongcheng Subway Station.
• He spends a general skill point on Night Rain Swordsmanship. The number of his Spirit Light Threads stays at one hundred, but three have begun to sense and respond to his will like extensions of himself.
• Xu Yuan drives across the city to investigate Hongcheng Subway Station. At the entrance, he sees a blood-red curtain forming over Drum Tower Subway Station, suggesting that Lu Chenzhou’s capture is imminent.
• A ghost skin he obtained proves unusable because his Bloodline rank is too low. Instead, he uses Bluefall Yellow Springs Art to become a Ghost Entity and tries to enter the station.
• Two powerful guards turn him away, citing a secret mission and warning that unauthorized ghosts will be killed. A powerful being below confirms that Xu Yuan is alive only because his Waist Token bears a special approval.
• Xu Yuan uses Pause the Competition to bypass the guards, but an invisible Ghost Entity Magic Array repels and burns him. He realizes the station conceals a major secret connected to the Mortal Realm.
• His Whisper ability, Competition, reveals that discovering this secret and earning the proper credential has transformed the situation into a choice: finish exploring the current match, or enter the Nine Nether Prefecture Selection Competition. Xu Yuan realizes the selection competition is the path toward unlocking Dark Crown.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains daring and opportunistic, but recognizes that repeated use of his powers is damaging his body and that he needs to grow stronger.
• His swordsmanship is advancing in quality rather than quantity: some Spirit Light Threads are becoming directly linked to his senses and will.
• The Ghost Entity guards initially treat him as an intruder, then spare him because of his approved Waist Token. Their report to the powerful being below underscores how much Xu Yuan’s survival depends on that endorsement.

Significant themes

• Progress through hidden systems: Xu Yuan’s discoveries unlock new stages of competition and reveal that the trial is tied to a larger reality.
• Power and its cost: His abilities offer shortcuts, but their physical toll and his limited cultivation constrain him.
• Curiosity versus danger: Investigating the subway uncovers crucial information, but the station is heavily guarded and protected by powerful magic.
• Transformation and adaptation: Xu Yuan turns himself into a ghost and finds his swordsmanship evolving beyond simple increases in strength.

Plot points and events

• Xu Yuan discovers the entry point to the Dark Crown’s preliminary selection and immediately chooses to enter. The Competition warns him that it is an elimination event set in the recorded past, ten years earlier: death is real, and failure means he cannot return to this moment.
• After the Ghost Entities’ formation resumes, a voice recognizes the Waist Token Xu Yuan carries and transports him to the Nine Nether Prefecture, where the preliminary round begins.
• Xu Yuan arrives on a bone-strewn plain and is attacked by a Hellhound. He defeats it with his curse-charged White Bone Baseball Bat and uses Ghost Devour. Instead of a skill or information, he randomly gains the Hellhound’s strength, advancing from the peak of the Fifth to the Sixth Qi Refining Layer. His Life Force also rises.
• A Skeleton then appears, identifying itself as an Open-Selection Judge. It suggests Xu Yuan was given his place by a powerful patron and uses a Spell Seal to reveal scenes from Xu Yuan’s past missions. Each is marked successful, including his earlier actions at Drum Tower Street Subway Station, which earned him the merit of Vanguard Assault.

Character development and interactions

• Xu Yuan is thrilled to enter the selection, but acts decisively despite the danger and the warning that his presence may overwrite the past. His confidence and improvisational humor persist even in combat.
• He jokes with the Hellhound about its appearance, briefly confusing it, before defeating it when it attacks. He also treats the Skeleton Judge’s suspicion with amused surprise rather than fear.
• The Hellhound serves as Xu Yuan’s first opponent in the selection; the Skeleton Judge shifts the encounter from combat to an examination of his background and qualifications.
• Xu Yuan remembers Zhang Pengcheng and plans to thank him with spicy crayfish, while also worrying about Jiang Xueyao, Zuo Lingjing, and the Demon Race—but has no time to check on them before entering the Competition.

Significant themes

• Risk and irreversible choices: The selection offers a path toward the Dark Crown, but death and elimination have permanent consequences.
• History and consequence: Xu Yuan’s actions in the past may overwrite what originally happened, making his unexpected entry potentially significant.
• Merit versus connections: The Judge assumes Xu Yuan gained his place through patronage, while the revealed record shows he has accumulated successful missions and combat merit.
• Growth through adversity: Defeating the Hellhound produces a major breakthrough, suggesting the dangerous selection may also accelerate Xu Yuan’s development.

Plot and key events

• The Waist Token’s recorded images reveal Xu Yuan’s supposed battlefield achievements, including the rare Vanguard Merit. He realizes the token has been recording events from his Training Matches as if they were one continuous history.
• The Skeleton Referee explains that it wants Xu Yuan’s token to take his place in the Ninefold Nether Selection. Though the referee warns that the promotion route is reserved for candidates backed by powerful figures, Xu Yuan refuses to comply.
• Xu Yuan defeats the skeleton using Blind Eye and his White Bone Baseball Bat, then uses Ghost Devour to absorb its Original Strength. His Life Force and physical abilities increase, and the bat’s striking power improves.
• A fleeing Zombie tells him the Nine Nether Prefecture’s Bone Horse Herd is approaching. The stampeding herd is a deadly preliminary-round trial, and anything below Foundation Establishment risks being crushed.
• Unable to escape, Xu Yuan hides in the skeleton’s underground burrow. He survives the enormous herd by staying concealed and conserving his Spiritual Power while recovering it through cultivation.
• After the horses pass, Xu Yuan emerges—but an unseen force suddenly immobilizes and suspends him, along with an armored skeleton and a ghostly woman. A new voice asks how they survived.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan grows more confident in exploiting his abilities: he uses the token’s unexpected records to his advantage, defeats the skeleton, and quickly adapts to the approaching danger.
• His exchange with the skeleton exposes the corrupt, connection-driven nature of the promotion system. The skeleton treats Xu Yuan as a source of power and threatens him; Xu Yuan answers by smashing its skull and absorbing it.
• Xu Yuan uses Advanced Flattery on a fleeing Zombie to get information, then follows the other ghosts before deciding that hiding is his best chance.
• His survival depends less on fighting than on restraint: he abandons a costly technique, saves his remaining Spiritual Power, and waits out the herd.

Significant themes

• Merit versus connections: Official honors mean little in a system where powerful patrons have already chosen the winners.
• Adaptability and survival: Xu Yuan changes tactics as circumstances shift, relying on disguise, information, concealment, and resource management.
• Power gained through danger: Defeating Ghost Entities strengthens Xu Yuan, but each gain comes amid escalating threats.
• A rigged trial with unclear rules: The stampede is presented as a preliminary test, yet its scale makes survival seem nearly impossible, leaving the selection’s fairness in doubt.

Key plot points

• Xu Yuan, the Skeleton, and the Long-Haired Female Ghost are the only survivors to qualify for Ninefold Nether’s Soldier-and-General Training. They receive two entry tokens for three candidates.
• A Black-Clothed Faceless Man privately confirms Xu Yuan’s battlefield service and offers him a centurion’s post if he gives up his training slot. The training may be a trap, but Xu Yuan refuses, insisting he needs the chance to grow stronger for Ninefold Nether’s future war with the Mortal Realm. His apparent loyalty disarms the official.
• Xu Yuan takes one token. When he combines it with his existing pass, his recorded military merit promotes him directly to ghost deputy general. Meanwhile, the Skeleton and female ghost fight over the remaining token.
• The selection system confirms Xu Yuan has qualified for the Nine Nether Prefecture selection competition. It takes place in the real Underworld ten years in the past; passing each round grants a Blank Historical Branch and a brief return to the present. Xu Yuan returns to his living room with one such branch.
• Zuo Lingjing has awakened. Xu Yuan offers to shelter her from Lu Chenzhou, advises her to stay hidden, and provides food and pills. He asks her not to speak when his senior sister arrives.
• Tang Yunyu visits and tells Xu Yuan that their master killed Mo Daosheng. The Demon Race had deceived the emperor about an alliance and was involved in the Border City Battle. War has broken out, with human forces fighting the Demon Race, and the conflict may soon reach the South of the Yangtze. Xu Yuan asks about Lu Chenzhou.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shows both strategic awareness and defiance: he recognizes the officials’ attempt to remove him, refuses a safer promotion, and uses an impassioned appeal to duty to make the Faceless Man back down. He is newly promoted but remains wary and resentful of those who tried to sideline him.
• The Faceless Man shifts from coercion to reluctant resignation after Xu Yuan’s speech, surprised by what seems like genuine loyalty.
• The Skeleton and Long-Haired Female Ghost both covet the final token but hesitate to attack Xu Yuan, whose gear and apparent backing make him dangerous. They instead turn on each other.
• Zuo Lingjing is deferential and fearful, grateful for Xu Yuan’s protection. Xu Yuan treats her with concern but insists she need not address him formally.
• Tang Yunyu and Xu Yuan speak as senior sister and junior brother. Her news abruptly shifts the focus from his selection to a broader war and political crisis.

Significant themes

• Institutional corruption versus merit: Xu Yuan’s earned advancement is threatened by favoritism and expendable candidates, yet he insists on claiming his place.
• Duty and ambition: He frames his decision as service to Ninefold Nether, while privately recognizing that the competition is also his only path to greater power.
• History and consequence: The selection sends candidates into the actual past, linking personal advancement to the events that led to a future invasion.
• Protection amid danger: Xu Yuan shelters Zuo Lingjing even as his own position and the wider world grow increasingly precarious.

Key plot points and events

• Tang Yunyu tells Xu Yuan that Lu Chenzhou is officially believed to be imprisoned, but his fate is undecided. Those who know the truth about his death must keep silent, both because of their contract and to avoid being associated with him during the emperor’s bloody campaign.
• The war is worsening. Martial law, a crackdown on crime, and mass recruitment are expected, signaling an all-out conflict. Xu Yuan worries whether he has enough time to strengthen himself before the Nine Nether Prefecture selection tournament.
• Tang Yunyu says Xu Yuan’s admission notice came from the Crown Prince and offers to ask her master about bringing him into the safer Skysurge Palace. Xu Yuan says he will wait where he is.
• After Tang Yunyu leaves, Zuo Lingjing reveals that she admires her. Because Xu Yuan is Tang’s junior brother, Zuo immediately trusts him and gives him the valuables she stole from Lu Chenzhou. Xu Yuan refuses to sell them because they may be traceable to the Imperial Family.
• Xu Yuan helps Zuo settle into a newly furnished room and explains that his bloodline powers attract trouble. Zuo reveals her own Ancient Mutant Bloodline abilities: Body Escape, which can take Xu Yuan to a random location within thirty li when he is in extreme danger, and Surface and Interior, which lets her perfectly imitate his appearance and Spiritual Power but not his fighting skills.
• With Zuo housed and fed, Xu Yuan turns to the Shop to prepare for war. After repeated refreshes produce little of interest, he calls Yang Xiaobing and prompts her to say he will draw something good. The final altar reveals a silver Ruin Gate identity plaque, a costly credential that may let him enter the secretive Ruin Gate to deliver urgent reports, though it may not convince them he belongs.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains focused on getting stronger and preparing for the looming war, but also takes responsibility for Zuo’s safety and basic needs. He recognizes the practical value of her bloodline abilities.
• Tang Yunyu acts protectively toward Xu Yuan, offering information and proposing a safer place for him. Her visit also unintentionally earns Zuo’s immediate trust.
• Zuo Lingjing shifts from a wary former thief to a grateful, increasingly trusting ally. Her admiration for Tang Yunyu shapes her decision to trust Xu Yuan, and her abilities may make her useful in a crisis.
• Yang Xiaobing joins Xu Yuan’s Shop gamble by repeating his lucky-draw phrase over the phone; Xu Yuan promises to treat her to dinner after finding the plaque.

Significant themes

• War and urgency: The approaching all-out war puts pressure on Xu Yuan’s training and preparations.
• Trust and loyalty: Zuo’s admiration for Tang creates an unusual but sincere basis for trusting Xu Yuan.
• Hidden identity and deception: Zuo’s ability to impersonate Xu Yuan and the Ruin Gate plaque both involve concealment, infiltration, and uncertain credibility.
• Power with limitations: Zuo’s bloodline abilities are potentially lifesaving, but their reach and usefulness are constrained by her strength and lack of combat skill.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan buys three increasingly powerful Ruin Gate badges from the offering platform, spending 1,100 Gold Coins. The highest-grade badge gives him an extremely high chance of being trusted, though it cannot guarantee acceptance.
• He activates his Personal Whisper, “Competition,” and challenges the Nine Nether Prefecture Selection Competition. The additional round sends him back to Border City in Extinction Mode. He must cause the Ghost Entities to lose at least half their forces; success will weaken the larger competition and earn him a Blank Historical Branch, while failure will prevent another challenge.
• With only thirty minutes, Xu Yuan rushes to Mercy Hall to warn the Ruin Gate. The silver badge gets him inside, but the leader doubts his identity.
• Xu Yuan presents the head of a notorious traitor. The Ruin Gate members recognize the man and accept the proof of his service, becoming more receptive to Xu Yuan.
• Xu Yuan warns them that the All Things Unity Society, Ghost Entities, and Demon Race are conspiring to destroy the city. He reveals that Lu Chenzhou has been chosen as an Anchor Point for a future invasion, and that the Demon Race has taken control of the city’s Grand Array. The Ruin Gate already knows some of the immediate danger.
• A blood rain and the Flood Dragon’s death confirm part of Xu Yuan’s warning. He then uses the gold and black-and-gold badges to establish his authority, claiming to have worked undercover for Sword Demon Bai Yuanze.
• The black-and-gold badge verifies Xu Yuan’s special status, and Bai Yuanze’s vehicle and belongings provide further evidence that he has access to the Sword Demon.

Character development and interactions

• Xu Yuan proves resourceful and bold, relying on escalating credentials, a genuine traitor’s head, detailed intelligence, and concrete evidence rather than expecting a badge alone to win trust. He conceals his identity and frames his connection to Bai Yuanze as the result of earning the demon’s confidence through his driving skill.
• The Ruin Gate leader and members shift from suspicion to respect. The traitor’s head wins their gratitude; the badges and vehicle convince them of Xu Yuan’s standing. They question his claims but ultimately accept his authority.
• Xu Yuan’s exchange with the skeptical Cultivator highlights the group’s disbelief that Bai Yuanze would trust a human. Xu Yuan answers by explaining Bai Yuanze’s fondness for cars and producing the vehicle as proof.

Significant themes

• Trust and proof: Official credentials open doors, but actions, corroborating evidence, and demonstrated knowledge are needed to secure belief.
• Deception in service of a cause: Xu Yuan adopts a false identity and uses carefully chosen truths to persuade the Ruin Gate to act.
• Urgency and sacrifice: The short deadline forces Xu Yuan to take risks and reveal a valuable cover identity to prevent disaster.
• Competition as power: Xu Yuan’s challenge turns the looming conflict into a contest whose outcome can weaken a larger enemy event.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan arrives at Ruin Gate headquarters in the All Things Unity Society’s SUV, bringing intelligence that a huge Ghost Entity force has gathered at Hongcheng Subway Station.
• The Ruin Gate leader abandons his planned confrontation with the Society and sends his fighters to the station. He entrusts Xu Yuan with a sealed bottle of mysterious corpse fragments—their precious “Holy Relic”—and a specially inscribed identification badge.
• Xu Yuan attempts to offer the relic to the powerful being linked to the Rune on his hand, but receives no response, so he keeps it.
• At the subway station, Ruin Gate fighters use specialized goggles to locate Ghost Entities and initially fight effectively. Xu Yuan suspects the faction’s advanced methods mean it has not shared its technology with ordinary humanity.
• When a devastating blast scatters the fighters, Xu Yuan uses his “Deep Dive” ability on the mustached leader. The power makes the leader impossible to perceive and causes anyone aware of him to forget him, letting him attack the Ghost Entities unhindered. This fulfills Xu Yuan’s objective of eliminating more than half of them.
• A commanding voice then stops the battle and summons countless phantom Ghost Entities. Everyone is immobilized by its supernatural pressure.
• Lu Yiyi emerges from the station, transformed and radiating authority. Xu Yuan realizes she had left Lu Chenzhou during the earlier battle and reached this station. He then sees the Long-Haired Female Ghost behind her and concludes that the ghost is parasitizing Lu Yiyi.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan continues acting as an undercover agent, using the trust others place in him while pursuing his own objectives. He protects the Ruin Gate leader with his power, but becomes increasingly focused on the mystery beneath the station.
• The mustached Ruin Gate leader trusts Xu Yuan with the Holy Relic and returns to battle despite his injuries. Under Xu Yuan’s hidden protection, he becomes a decisive force in the fight.
• Lu Yiyi is revealed in a radically altered state: her gray eyes, detached expression, and commanding presence suggest she is no longer acting alone—or entirely as herself.
• The Long-Haired Female Ghost is identified as the force parasitizing Lu Yiyi, turning a personal mystery into an immediate threat.

Significant themes

• Trust and deception: Xu Yuan earns the Ruin Gate’s confidence while concealing his motives and abilities.
• Power and its costs: His extraordinary ability can reshape a battle, but the voice from below reveals forces powerful enough to suppress everyone at once.
• Hidden truths and foreshadowing: The timing of Lu Yiyi’s movements and the station’s secrets connect earlier events to Border City’s impending destruction.
• Possession and identity: Lu Yiyi’s transformation raises the question of how much of her remains herself.

Plot points

• Xu Yuan reconstructs the timeline from the Monthly Exam: Lu Yiyi first escaped, visited Hongcheng Subway Station to meet Ghost Entities, then went to Xinzhou Subway Station, where Lu Chenzhou would eventually find and capture her.
• In the exam, he sees Lu Yiyi—still a child—command Ghost Entities to slaughter the humans, then tell their leader to wait ten years before seeking or awakening her. She explains that a Witch has been parasitizing her since birth, though it cannot fully control her.
• Xu Yuan uses his ability to escape the overwhelming Ghost Entities and reaches Xinzhou Subway Station. There, he encounters the younger Lu Yiyi and confirms his timeline. She does not know about the Witch inside her, whose memories have been sealed.
• A powerful many-legged Ghost Entity watches from the tunnel but does not attack, apparently recognizing the Witch within Lu Yiyi. Xu Yuan ends the Competition, determined to find a way to save her.
• Afterward, he learns that his Divine Temple has lowered the difficulty of the Nine Nether Prefecture Selection and unlocked its item shop. He buys a Ghostfire Gatling Gun, a weapon designed to suppress Qi Refining–level Ghost Entities.
• Xu Yuan learns that Ninefold Nether Bonecraft can produce sophisticated weapons and becomes eager to study the Nether’s technology and mystic arts. Still troubled by the Witch and the threat of her awakening, he starts the Competition again to investigate further.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan pieces together Lu Yiyi’s history, shifts from suspicion to concern, and resolves to act despite being underpowered. His curiosity about Nether technology grows into eager ambition.
• Lu Yiyi appears as a frightened, apparently ordinary child, unaware that a Witch has been parasitizing her since birth. The Witch can influence her actions but has not replaced her.
• The Witch is revealed as powerful but constrained by her own sealed memories and her instruction to remain dormant for ten years. She directs the Ghost Entities through Lu Yiyi.
• The Ghost Entity leader submits to Lu Yiyi’s command, while the many-legged entity in the subway holds back, suggesting the Witch’s presence deters it.
• Xu Yuan’s interactions with Lu Yiyi are gentle and protective; his exchange with her confirms the timeline without revealing what she carries within her.

Significant themes

• Hidden identity and compromised agency: Lu Yiyi’s innocence coexists with a powerful entity influencing her.
• Knowledge versus power: Xu Yuan uncovers the truth but recognizes that he lacks the strength to address the larger threat.
• Technology across worlds: Ghost Entities are not merely supernatural; they possess engineering and weapon-making capabilities.
• Resolve through action: Rather than remain trapped in speculation, Xu Yuan chooses to re-enter the Competition and seek answers firsthand.

Key plot points and events

• During the Competition, Xu Yuan watches the battle at Hongcheng Subway Station from hiding. Lu Yiyi’s attack triggers his Honor Among Thieves ability, but the resulting Paper Strip cannot be used effectively yet because he has no connection to the Nine Nether Prefecture. He saves it.
• Xu Yuan deliberately recalls an insult from Lu Chenzhou, generating a usable historical branch. Back in reality, he activates it: the branch rewrites events so Lu Chenzhou’s hidden spirit stones are mistaken for an apology. An Armed Guard delivers them to Xu Yuan.
• Xu Yuan converts the spirit stones into gold and then into 4,000 Gold Coins, giving himself resources for future equipment and emergencies.
• He tells Zuo Lingjing he is tired and postpones discussing a dangerous mission. She completes household chores, then finally relaxes and sleeps safely.
• Xu Yuan considers preparations for the upcoming official Competition: bringing Zuo Lingjing for her teleportation ability, searching for the fourth piece needed to activate All Things Are Impermanent, and preserving the Paper Strip for a critical moment. The fourth piece is far too distant to retrieve immediately.
• A little over an hour later, Zuo Lingjing asks what will happen to Lu Chenzhou. Xu Yuan senses danger and tries to warn her, but she embraces him and teleports them both away just as a massive fireball destroys their residential compound.
• From a distance, they see that the Demon Race has attacked the city, targeting humanity’s rising stars and devastating the neighborhood. Xu Yuan realizes the invasion has begun and, furious at his helplessness, decides to spend 99 Life Force to awaken the Gaze System’s offensive ability, Disruption.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan becomes more resourceful, discovering that a historical branch created during the Competition can affect reality. He also shifts from cautious preparation to anger-driven resolve when the Demon Race attacks.
• Zuo Lingjing grows stronger after Xu Yuan’s words, advancing a cultivation stage and improving her abilities. Her teleportation can now carry them 3,000 li. Though exhausted and frightened, she remains eager to protect Xu Yuan and acts decisively to save them from the fireball.
• Their bond deepens: Xu Yuan recognizes Zuo Lingjing’s vulnerability and gives her time to rest, while she treats him as a source of safety and insists on accompanying him.
• Lu Chenzhou remains an unseen but consequential presence: his insult provides Xu Yuan with a usable branch, and his spirit stones become Xu Yuan’s financial windfall. Zuo Lingjing’s hatred of him remains intense.

Significant themes

• Improvisation and loopholes: Xu Yuan turns his abilities and even an enemy’s mistake into practical advantages.
• Safety, trust, and loyalty: Zuo Lingjing’s relief at finding refuge contrasts with her continued willingness to protect Xu Yuan.
• Helplessness and growth: The attack exposes the limits of Xu Yuan’s current strength, motivating him to awaken a direct offensive power.
• War breaking ordinary life: The sudden destruction of a neighborhood shatters the appearance of peace and signals the start of a larger conflict.

Plot points and events

• Xu Yuan realizes the Immortal Species’ purpose: their Gaze gives the otherwise undifferentiated universe a way to perceive itself and bring existence into being.
• Given a chance to Gaze, he projects not only his experiences but also the history, stories, and imagined worlds he knows from another human civilization. The universe welcomes this diversity and Resonates with him.
• His basic skill, Disruption, transforms into Gaze Upon, which brands targets with Loss of Direction, Mental Chaos, and Terror for three hundred years.
• Xu Yuan uses the ability on the Demon Race attacking North River. Their forces fall into panic and lose coordination, allowing the Human Race cultivators and city defenses to turn the battle around.
• As Xu Yuan speaks with Zuo Lingjing, the scene shifts into the Residual Matter, where the Overseer appears. The Paper Strip urges Xu Yuan to flee, but his Glass Bottle responds to the Overseer.
• The Overseer calls Xu Yuan a “Believer.” His Ruin Gate Nameplate, the bottle containing Turbid Liquid, and the Paper Strip’s Letter of Guarantee float before it. Xu Yuan says the bottle was entrusted to him by its former owners.
• The bottle reacts to the Overseer’s power. A message reveals that the Holy Relic exists both in Xu Yuan’s possession and in the ruins of Border City, so it must choose where it will finally rest.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan recognizes the scale of his new power and eagerly uses it, while also showing resourcefulness by contributing his broad knowledge to the universe. When confronted by the Overseer, he is wary but tries to explain the relics and defend his actions.
• Zuo Lingjing reacts to Xu Yuan’s overwhelming intervention with reverence, asking whether he is truly a god.
• The Paper Strip remains protective of Xu Yuan, warning him that the Overseer may kill him and urging him to escape.
• The Overseer shifts from an imposing, monstrous form into a humanlike one when it notices Xu Yuan’s objects. Its recognition of him as a “Believer” suggests a connection between the Ruin Gate and the Overseer.

Significant themes

• Perception and creation: The chapter presents the Immortal Species’ Gaze as what allows the universe to emerge from nothingness.
• Knowledge as power: Xu Yuan’s varied cultural and imaginative knowledge makes his contribution distinct and earns him an extraordinary ability.
• Power and consequence: His intervention saves the city, but it also draws the attention of a dangerous, mysterious force.
• Faith, ownership, and destiny: The Overseer’s “Believer” label and the Holy Relic’s choice of a final resting place raise questions about allegiance and who—or what—has a claim to the relic.

Plot points and events

• During a meeting with the terrifying Overseer, Xu Yuan uses his active resonance with the Universe to make a mysterious Glass Bottle—the Holy Relic—vanish from beneath Border City and appear in his hand.
• The Overseer questions Xu Yuan’s loyalty and intentions. Xu Yuan claims he will preserve the proper course of history while helping eliminate the Outer Heavens, an enemy that threatens the world.
• Convinced enough to work with him, the Overseer brands Xu Yuan with a new Rune and orders him to locate corpse fragments for the enemy to consume, then activate the Brand so the Overseer can intervene. Xu Yuan’s clearance is also raised.
• The Nameplate identifies Xu Yuan as a Ruin Gate Messenger, bearing three marks that link him to the Primordial Rune, the Local Supervisor, and the Overseer. It suggests he may return to the Ruin Gate to uncover its secrets.
• The battle above Border City is nearly over, but Xu Yuan realizes the attack is part of a full-scale Demon Race invasion.
• After using Gaze Upon across the battlefield, Xu Yuan suffers extreme hunger and weakness. He consumes his stored pills, accepts Zuo Lingjing’s supply, and orders a thousand-pill family pack by flying boat. Once he has replenished his food, he and Zuo Lingjing leave.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shows quick thinking and nerve, using the Universe’s resonance to secure the Holy Relic and bargaining with the Overseer by presenting himself as a useful ally. He accepts the Overseer’s mission and new Brand, while privately recognizing the physical cost of his immense use of power.
• The Overseer remains cold and domineering but begins treating Xu Yuan as an operative rather than simply a suspect: it gives him a task, grants him greater clearance, and provides a way to summon it.
• Zuo Lingjing remains unaware of Xu Yuan’s meeting with the Overseer. She watches over him after his sudden collapse, offers her pills, and worries about his condition.
• Xu Yuan and the Overseer negotiate through a mix of threat and usefulness: Xu Yuan stresses his willingness to serve, while the Overseer makes clear that his continued existence depends on fulfilling that role. Zuo Lingjing’s interaction with Xu Yuan is caring and practical.

Significant themes

• Survival through bargaining: Xu Yuan navigates overwhelming power by offering the Overseer value rather than resisting it.
• Power has a cost: His battlefield-scale use of Gaze Upon depletes his body’s resources, leaving him dangerously hungry and weak.
• Larger dangers emerging: The near-defeat of this attack does not mean safety; the invasion reaching deep into human territory signals a much wider conflict.
• Uncertain identity and loyalty: The Nameplate casts Xu Yuan as a “sleeper agent” and Envoy, underscoring his complicated position between powerful factions.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan visits his mother in the hospital and learns that a new spiritual medicine has improved her condition, though it leaves her deeply asleep. He asks Zuo Lingjing to stay with her and uses Deep Dive to hide her from anyone searching.
• Jiang Xueyao summons Xu Yuan to an island command center. She explains that the Demon Race is invading Jiangnan, her father has disappeared while traveling to the Imperial Capital, and she has been placed in charge of coordinating the province’s response.
• Xu Yuan watches Jiang Xueyao direct forces with calm authority. He realizes she brought him to the heavily guarded command center mainly to protect him.
• As the Demon Race approaches Jiangbei City’s defensive array, Jiang Xueyao prepares to go to the front. Xu Yuan insists on accompanying her as her Guest Retainer.
• When the Demon Race spreads a false report that Xu Yuan is dead, he livestreams to refute it and urge people to unite against the invasion. During the stream, Tang Yunyu reveals that Xu Yuan’s master is coming to collect him.
• Fu Xiuyi arrives in bloodstained robes carrying two severed heads: Mo Daosheng’s and the Lion Demon King’s. She explains that the Lion Demon King had ordered the attack on North River to kill Xu Yuan and boost the enemy’s morale.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan remains pragmatic and irreverent, but shows concern for his mother and loyalty to Jiang Xueyao. He accepts the danger of joining the provincial defense effort and uses his public profile to counter enemy propaganda.
• Jiang Xueyao is revealed as a capable, experienced commander whose authority rests on years of preparation. Despite her confidence, she is also protective of Xu Yuan and keeps him close to reduce the risk to him.
• Zuo Lingjing agrees to guard Xu Yuan’s mother, showing trust and willingness to help.
• Fu Xiuyi appears as a formidable, devoted master: she has eliminated a major enemy commander and presents his head as a gift to her disciple.

Significant themes

• Duty and protection: Xu Yuan and Jiang Xueyao both try to protect one another, even while framing their actions as professional obligations.
• Leadership and preparation: Jiang Xueyao’s command reflects years of study and service, while the Jiang Household’s organization enables a coordinated regional defense.
• Propaganda and morale: The Demon Race targets Xu Yuan’s reputation to weaken human resolve; his livestream turns the rumor into an opportunity to rally people.
• Loyalty and personal ties amid war: Family, mentorship, and friendship remain central even as the invasion escalates.

Character interactions

• Xu Yuan entrusts Zuo Lingjing with his mother’s care, and she accepts.
• Jiang Xueyao candidly explains her past strategy and current need for Xu Yuan’s support; he commits without hesitation, while she quietly prioritizes his safety.
• Xu Yuan’s casual eating and pill-taking contrast with the command center’s disciplined atmosphere, but the elders treat him respectfully.
• Jiang Xueyao and Xu Yuan discuss his master just before Fu Xiuyi’s dramatic arrival, shifting the gathering’s focus from military planning to Xu Yuan’s unexpected connection—and the deaths of two powerful enemies.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Human Emperor attacks the Demon Race alone. Although surrounded by demons and Ghost Race forces, Lu Chaowu uses a remote Mystic Art to destroy a Demon Race city with a golden palm. He continues toward another stronghold, while explaining that his doubles let him target cities from afar without revealing his location. He has already destroyed seven cities in retaliation for the human massacres of ten years earlier.
• Fu Xiuyi arrives in South of the Yangtze. She explains to Jiang Xueyao that the Demon Race used Xu Yuan’s victory over Mo Daosheng—and the subsequent killing of Mo—as a pretext for invasion. Jiang defends Xu, insisting the invasion would have happened regardless.
• Fu Xiuyi demonstrates overwhelming power. She presents Jiang with the heads of the Demon generals responsible for the invasion, then takes Jiang and Xu out over the river. At Jiang’s request to spare its valuable spiritual plants, Fu transforms the river into towering trees of water and freezes them with a single word, trapping the invading ships and cultivators in an immense ice forest.
• The crisis shifts into a wider strategic contest. Fu tells Xu that the Human Emperor has ordered the Human Race to defend its cities while he strikes alone. The Demon Race, allied with Ghost Entities and northern demons, is assembling an army intended to force him back to defend the empire.
• Fu gives Xu a new path of study. Worried that something is deeply wrong with the war, she gives him a jade slip containing instruction in hand-held swordsmanship and the Hundred Meridians Return to Truth Scripture. She directs him to train at the Skyscraping Divine Palace, where the material will remain secret.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Chaowu is revealed as both immensely powerful and strategically elusive. His destruction of enemy cities is driven by revenge for past atrocities, and he deliberately keeps human forces out of danger by fighting alone.
• Fu Xiuyi acts as Xu’s protective master and as a decisive defender of South of the Yangtze. She also recognizes Jiang Xueyao’s loyalty to Xu and responds warmly to it.
• Jiang Xueyao openly shields Xu from blame and accepts Fu’s invitation to witness the battle. Her connection to Fu and Xu strengthens her standing within the Jiang Household, whose elders become more confident in her leadership.
• Xu Yuan learns how much larger and more dangerous the conflict is than he knew. He realizes he took something from the Twin Phoenixes after their deaths—possibly a clue to the war’s hidden cause—and gains a clearer understanding of why close-combat swordsmanship must surpass his ranged Flying Sword Art.

Significant themes

• Vengeance and justice: The Human Emperor’s campaign is framed as repayment for the slaughter of human cities, though its scale raises questions about the costs of revenge.
• Power and responsibility: Fu’s extraordinary strength saves South of the Yangtze, while the Human Emperor’s choice to fight alone aims to spare his people but risks leaving the wider empire vulnerable.
• Loyalty and political influence: Jiang’s defense of Xu reflects personal devotion, while her association with Fu and Xu also reinforces her authority.
• Hidden causes and foreboding: The war’s apparent pretext may conceal a deeper threat, and Fu’s unease—along with Xu’s forgotten loot from the Twin Phoenixes—points toward a mystery still to come.