Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• During a Body Arts and Movement Techniques lesson, Xu Yuan—acting as “Yaseline” through Whisper—practices with unusual intensity. The scene freezes, and a message explains that Dimensional Defense Lines can recognize and eliminate Immortal Species by their abilities. He must withdraw whenever he encounters one and wait until history has safely passed the first line before entering another historical fragment.
• The message declares the flashback mission, “protect your Household,” complete and awards him a Blank Historical Branch. Back in the Artists’ Dormitory, Xu Yuan collapses from extreme exhaustion and takes his last Nine-Turn Purple Mansion Heaven-Mending Pill.
• Xu Yuan calls Jiang Xueyao for help. She checks that his meridians are unharmed but orders him not to use Spiritual Power for three hours, then takes him to the safer men’s dormitory, where he immediately falls asleep.
• The next morning, Xu Yuan is turned away from a Movement Techniques class because Diamond Invulnerability is incompatible with the techniques being taught. Soon after, Senior Brother Sun Changfei summons him to a Swordsmanship assessment with Fu Xiuyi and several elders.
• Worried that he has not mastered Solely Revering the Skyscraping, Xu Yuan uses his notebook in a restroom to fight Ghost Entities and spend experience improving the technique. Sun Changfei finds him and teleports him to the assessment.
• While the notebook continues to provide upgrades, Xu Yuan tells the elders he is close to grasping the sword technique’s essence and asks about its origins and practitioners. The elders explain that the Skyscraping Divine Palace preserves inheritances entrusted by gods before the Divine Dao’s destruction. Xu Yuan’s questions also buy him time to continue improving.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shows determination and resourcefulness, but his overexertion exposes the physical cost of his historical missions. He is candid about his uncertainty regarding the sword technique while carefully concealing his notebook’s role in his progress.
• Jiang Xueyao responds with concern and practical care, examining Xu Yuan and arranging his return to the dormitory. His apparent dedication also moves her; she touches his cheek while checking him.
• Sun Changfei is brisk and task-focused, transporting Xu Yuan straight to the assessment.
• Fu Xiuyi and the elders take Xu Yuan’s observations as evidence that he has seriously studied the technique and explain its divine origins.
• After returning to her dormitory, Jiang Xueyao quietly watches her sleeping roommate, Yang Xiaobing, in a daze.

Significant themes

• The limits and cost of power: Xu Yuan’s progress and historical interventions leave him dangerously depleted, and the mission imposes strict rules on when he can re-enter history.
• Discipline and ambition: His intense practice—and the impression it makes on Jiang Xueyao—underscores that talent is paired with relentless effort.
• Adaptation and improvisation: Faced with an unexpected assessment, Xu Yuan uses his notebook’s upgrade system and conversation skills to make rapid progress and gain time.
• Inheritance and lost history: The sword technique’s uncertain nature reflects the survival of divine legacies after the destruction of the Divine Dao.

Plot points and events

• During Xu Yuan’s swordsmanship assessment, he delays demonstrating his new art by asking the elders to appraise his three swords. They advise him to use the Jade-Gap Sword for practice, the Ninefold Nether Shadow Sword only against mortal enemies, and the End of the World Greatsword as his main weapon.
• Xu Yuan secretly uses his system to gain experience from killing Ghost Entities and upgrades Solely Revering the Skyscraping. Although the system initially reports only Rudimentary mastery, he realizes that the sword art may require divine rather than ordinary spiritual power.
• He channels a trace of the True Power within him and successfully unleashes the art. Its true form lets him combine all the swordsmanship he has learned into a single strike, with sword shadows becoming real blades. The elders recognize that he has mastered a divine technique, though the effort leaves him badly drained.
• Because Xu Yuan has demonstrated the ability to inherit heavenly legacies, Fu Xiuyi gives him the Return to Truth Section of the Hundred Meridians Return to Truth Scripture, a core teaching reserved for qualified direct disciples.
• Fu Xiuyi reports that the emperor has entered seclusion after gaining an insight, while the Demon Race is gathering at the border. Cultivators of Foundation Establishment and above are being mobilized, but Xu Yuan is barred from going to the front. Fu Xiuyi instead announces that she will enter Demon Race territory to help hold the line.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shows resourcefulness and quick insight: he uses the assessment’s discussion to buy time, exploits his system discreetly, and recognizes that divine power may be needed to master the sword art.
• His success marks a major rise in standing. Fu Xiuyi and the elders treat him as someone capable of inheriting the sect’s most important teachings.
• Xu Yuan is eager to volunteer for the front, but Fu Xiuyi refuses, both because of his youth and because he is too important to risk. He responds with concern when he learns she will go in his place, while she reassures him confidently.
• Xu Yuan’s private, comic thought about using summoned gods and ghosts to run a theft operation contrasts with the solemn importance of his new responsibilities.

Significant themes

• Heavenly inheritance and human limits: Some divine arts are beyond ordinary cultivators, but Xu Yuan’s unusual power lets him cross that boundary.
• Growth through insight and adaptation: His breakthrough comes not from brute practice alone, but from reconsidering what the elders have taught him.
• Duty and protection: The looming war forces the sect to mobilize, while Fu Xiuyi’s decision to keep Xu Yuan safe highlights both his value and their bond.
• Power and responsibility: Mastering a supreme sword art and receiving the Scripture’s core teachings elevate Xu Yuan, even as the approaching conflict imposes urgent demands.

Key plot points and events

• After Fu Xiuyi leaves, Xu Yuan returns to his dorm, relieved that he can keep a low profile at Luofu University. But his bloodline mask manifests again, linking him with Bai Yuanze and showing them the showdown between Xu Chengan and Qi Canghai in the Ninefold Nether.
• Xu Chengan immobilizes Qi Canghai with the power of the Old Gods and brings Xu Yuan to Finger Mountain. He gives Xu Yuan a blade and urges him to kill Qi Canghai.
• Rather than kill him, Xu Yuan uses the Netherworld Passage Art to send Qi Canghai away to a random Fragment World. This breaks up the duel and prevents Xu Chengan from immediately taking control of the All Things Unity Society.
• Xu Yuan is returned to his dorm at Luofu. Later, Bai Yuanze contacts him through a disguised phone call, and they discuss the failed “performance” and the danger of staying in contact.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan reveals that he is pragmatic rather than loyal to either faction. He saves Qi Canghai not from sympathy, but to delay Xu Chengan, preserve a balance of power, and give himself time to grow stronger.
• Qi Canghai argues that his actions were meant to serve Gui Xu, not the Old Gods, but Xu Yuan criticizes him for being inflexible and failing to pursue practical ways to protect humanity.
• Xu Chengan appears poised to seize control of the society, but Xu Yuan’s intervention frustrates his plan.
• Bai Yuanze remains committed to the society and sincerely admires Xu Yuan’s choice to spare Qi Canghai, though he misunderstands Xu Yuan’s motives.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism versus idealism: Xu Yuan judges both sides by their usefulness and consequences, while Qi Canghai’s ideals seem ineffective without action.
• Power and survival: Xu Yuan’s main priority is buying time to develop his abilities in a world where greater forces threaten everyone.
• Moral ambiguity and manipulation: An apparent act of mercy is actually a strategic move, and alliances are complicated by secrecy.
• Entrapment: Xu Yuan and Bai Yuanze recognize that their world is a cage, yet neither believes escape is possible.

Character interactions

• Xu Chengan treats Xu Yuan as his son and tries to turn him into the executioner of his rival, but Xu Yuan refuses to follow his script.
• Xu Yuan confronts Qi Canghai over his leadership and ideals before sending him away rather than killing him.
• In their covert phone call, Bai Yuanze praises Xu Yuan, while Xu Yuan conceals his real motive and jokes with him about their supposed “concert.”

Plot and events

• After the crisis in the Ninefold Nether, Xu Yuan speaks with Bai Yuanze about the racing finals. Bai Yuanze is disgusted with the former champion and says he will race the challenger himself if the challenger wins, despite Xu Yuan warning him about the danger. He insists that his racing supporters will take a new approach.
• Xu Yuan worries that Xu Chengan, backed by the nine Old Gods and armed with the Netherworld Passage Art, will ultimately defeat Qi Canghai and destroy the Mortal Realm. Xu Yuan sees no way to intervene safely and falls asleep while considering his lack of time and knowledge.
• The next day, ordinary dorm life feels strangely unreal to Xu Yuan after the supernatural struggle he has faced. He joins Yang Xiaobing, Jiang Xueyao, and visiting friend Zhao Afei for lunch across the river.
• Zhao Afei says his school is touring Luofu University as part of a broader effort to train talent through more Single-Move Challenges. Xu Yuan notices a vague, unsettling premonition, but nothing happens during the meal.
• At the restaurant, Xu Yuan discovers Bai Yuanze paid their bill. Bai, disguised in flashy clothes and sunglasses, loudly treats Xu Yuan as a celebrity and asks for a photo. He then claims Kunhong Group wants Xu Yuan as a spokesperson and offers him a black card reportedly worth at least a million Spirit Stones, baiting him into a meeting.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains anxious about the looming threat, but also cherishes the peace of everyday life. His concern for the Mortal Realm is practical as well as personal: he needs it to survive and grow stronger.
• Bai Yuanze shows loyalty and resolve by preparing to challenge a dangerous racer, then reveals a flamboyant, calculated new tactic: using public praise, a paid meal, and enormous wealth to draw Xu Yuan into a conversation.
• Zhao Afei is energetic and proud of his improving combat skills; Xu Yuan acknowledges his progress.
• Yang Xiaobing and Jiang Xueyao share the relaxed meal with Xu Yuan and Zhao. Jiang explains the extraordinary value of Bai’s card, while the group is surprised by its offer.
• Bai and Xu Yuan’s encounter shifts from friendly recognition to an obvious attempt at persuasion. Xu Yuan suspects Bai’s unusual performance is strategic, but the offer tempts him.

Significant themes

• Peace versus looming catastrophe: Ordinary friendship and meals feel precious against the threat of the Old Gods and the possible destruction of the Mortal Realm.
• Powerlessness and limited time: Xu Yuan knows the danger but lacks the strength, information, and time to stop it directly.
• Strategy over direct confrontation: Bai’s declaration that his racing supporters will change their approach is echoed by his theatrical, high-stakes recruitment pitch.
• Unease and foreboding: Xu Yuan’s unexplained premonition keeps tension alive even during an otherwise peaceful day.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan accepts a million Spirit Stones from Kunhong Group director Bai Yuanze and agrees to meet his business partner, despite recognizing the risk.
• Jiang Xueyao explains that she checked Kunhong’s credentials and confirmed the school had authorized the meeting. She then leaves after receiving urgent good news from home.
• Zhao Afei heads off to pursue admission to Luofu. Left alone, Yang Xiaobing reflects on her new life there and opens Xu Yuan’s gift: two Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Bai Yuanze brings Xu Yuan to a private chamber, where nine leaders of the All Things Unity Society use a formation to contact their isolated president, Qi Canghai, across worlds.
• The leaders choose Xu Yuan to speak with Qi. Xu Yuan urges cooperation with other groups—including the Ruin Gate and Mortal Realm—to stop Xu Chengan, arguing that survival matters more than the Society’s pride or independence.
• Qi admits he may not be able to hold Xu Chengan back for long. After the leaders activate a powerful array, Xu Yuan receives the Ninefold Nether Seal, granting him temporary command authority as Acting President of the Society.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan remains practical and self-interested, but his priorities are clear: survive, prevent unnecessary deaths, and oppose his father Xu Chengan. He accepts leadership authority despite initially viewing himself as a mere participant.
• Yang Xiaobing is grateful for Xu Yuan’s thoughtful gift and resolves to advance quickly, hoping to catch up with him. Her quiet life at Luofu has become precious to her.
• Zhao Afei expresses determination to pass the Special Admission Test and enter Luofu.
• Bai Yuanze and the other leaders place significant trust in Xu Yuan, ultimately entrusting him with the Society’s temporary leadership.
• Qi Canghai appears to reconsider the Society’s direction, though his final act is framed as loyalty to the organization rather than gratitude to Xu Yuan.

Significant themes

• Survival versus pride: Xu Yuan argues that alliances and compromise are necessary when the alternative is destruction.
• Ambition and personal futures: Yang hopes to progress through cultivation, while Xu Yuan wants a peaceful life rather than becoming a hunted criminal.
• Trust and responsibility: Xu Yuan’s gift to Yang and the leaders’ decision to empower him both show trust carrying real consequences.
• Family and self-preservation: Xu Yuan’s opposition to his father is rooted not in sentiment but in the threat Xu Chengan poses to his life.

Character interactions

• Jiang Xueyao reassures Yang and Zhao that Xu Yuan’s meeting is officially approved, demonstrating her protectiveness and initiative.
• Xu Yuan’s gift gives Yang both material help and emotional encouragement.
• Xu Yuan and Qi Canghai clash over how to confront Xu Chengan: Xu favors broad cooperation, while Qi initially resists outside involvement.
• Bai Yuanze and the Society’s leaders support Xu Yuan’s position by granting him command authority, making him the organization’s Acting President.

Key plot points and events

• In Demon Race territory, the captured demons are subjected to relentless punishment and forced repentance by ghosts and gods. Their treatment is so brutal—and death so carefully prevented—that they sometimes miss the comparatively quick end they faced under the Human Emperor.
• Fu Xiuyi’s old friend, believed lost in the Northern Sea Ruins, unexpectedly returns. She asks after her daughter, Yiyi, and learns the girl is safe and cherished. Because the Demon Saint is attacking humanity, she decides not to go to the human lands yet.
• Before leaving, Fu Xiuyi’s friend gives her a newly found component for the Zhou Tian Instrument, instructing her to pass it to Yiyi. She warns that the Dark Crown is about to begin and calls the component humanity’s only hope. Fu Xiuyi resolves to return quickly and inform Yiyi.
• Xu Yuan examines a new detachable “skin” called Tengyu, a pair of wings that dramatically boosts movement and Imago power. He then discusses the organization’s crisis with Bai Yuanze: President Qi Canghai is being hunted by Xu Chengan, who can summon the powerful former ruler of Gui Xu.
• Xu Yuan proposes reaching Ontological Rank 3 with the Netherworld Passage Art and summoning the former ruler’s father. Since he, too, would have been a ruler of Gui Xu, Xu Yuan reasons he might discipline his son. Bai Yuanze realizes this could disrupt the fight and give Qi a chance to survive.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Xiuyi shifts from surprise and happiness at her friend’s return to concern over the new Zhou Tian Instrument component, the Dark Crown, and the emperor’s absence.
• Fu Xiuyi’s friend is driven by concern for her daughter, Yiyi. She is eager to reunite with her but accepts that going to the human lands could endanger her.
• Xu Yuan presents himself as willing to save Qi Canghai, earning Bai Yuanze’s admiration. However, his private thoughts reveal that his main motive is to secure a powerful ally for the coming Path of the Blood Saint Competition and Dark Crown; helping Qi is an unintended benefit.
• Bai Yuanze moves from doubt about Xu Yuan’s leadership to believing the organization made the right choice in appointing him. Their exchange pairs Bai Yuanze’s serious strategic concerns with Xu Yuan’s irreverent, unconventional solution.

Significant themes

• Unconventional problem-solving: Xu Yuan turns a seemingly unbeatable enemy’s family history into a possible strategy.
• Public duty versus private motives: Xu Yuan is praised for selflessness, though his actual goal is to improve his own chances in looming trials.
• Family and protection: Fu Xiuyi’s friend’s urgent search for her daughter, and Xu Yuan’s proposed father-son confrontation, place family ties at the center of key developments.
• Threats gathering on multiple fronts: The Demon Saint’s war, the approaching Dark Crown, Qi Canghai’s danger, and the Zhou Tian Instrument’s mysterious new component all foreshadow greater upheaval.

Plot points and events

• Bai Yuanze shows Xu Yuan the organization’s last known Bloodline capable of advancing Netherworld Passage from Ontological Rank 1 to 2. It has been destroyed, with a message from Xu Chengan claiming he eliminated every matching Bloodline to prevent anyone from challenging his position.
• Xu Yuan concludes that Xu Chengan may have a way to travel freely to the organization. He asks Bai Yuanze to keep the All Things Unity Society out of the war between demons and humans, recalling its members so they can unite against Xu Chengan if he wins.
• A prompt announces the coming Path of the Blood Saint. Xu Yuan activates a Nightmare-tier Peerless Hero battle, “The Day and Night at the End of the Blood Descendants,” to lower that challenge’s difficulty. Its tasks are to protect his family’s future and prevent historical events of Blood Descendant Corruption. Success would also earn Yalita a Blood Devour Emblem to help her evade the Immortality Curse.
• Xu Yuan travels ten years into the past and takes the place of Na Muluo, father of Yalita and Yaseline, on the day before the sisters’ test. Na Muluo was injured, trapped in a ghost city, and preparing to burn up his lifespan to escape and return to his daughters.
• Xu Yuan uses the One-Horned Ghost Wyrm’s skin to evade the Ghost Entities and reach the clan’s town. He pawns the Lifespan-Burning Pill and several items—some acquired through the Divine Temple—to raise enough Merit to treat his injuries and support his family.
• A warning identifies Salali as a future threat: at midnight on the third night, he will try to abduct Yalita. When Salali blocks Xu Yuan and probes his finances under the guise of concern, Xu Yuan kills him with a sword and takes his possessions to sell.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shifts from thinking about his own advancement to using his abilities and foreknowledge to protect his family and alter the sisters’ fate. He adopts Na Muluo’s identity and responsibilities, while remaining pragmatic and ruthless toward threats.
• Bai Yuanze accepts Xu Yuan’s plan to withdraw the organization from the war and prepare to oppose Xu Chengan, while continuing to search for a suitable Bloodline.
• Na Muluo’s past emerges through Xu Yuan’s inherited memories: he was gravely injured, impoverished, and resolved to return home to settle his affairs and see his daughters.
• Elder Wang reassures Na Muluo about the sisters’ upcoming test and advises him to seek medical care.
• Salali presents himself as a caring old friend, but Xu Yuan recognizes his probing and receives confirmation that he intends to harm Yalita.

Significant themes

• Changing fate through foreknowledge: Xu Yuan enters the past to prevent tragedies and strengthen his family before the Blood Saint trial.
• Family and responsibility: Taking Na Muluo’s place gives Xu Yuan a chance to provide the protection the sisters would otherwise lose.
• Power, scarcity, and ambition: Xu Chengan’s destruction of advancement resources reflects the lengths he takes to preserve his dominance.
• Pragmatism and moral ambiguity: Xu Yuan works around financial limits, exploits the Divine Temple’s market, and kills Salali preemptively to stop a future assault.
• Trust and betrayal: Salali’s friendly manner conceals predatory intent, highlighting the danger of deceptive relationships.

Key plot points and events

• After killing the Foundation Establishment cultivator Sara Li, Xu Yuan sells his equipment and recovers the money he previously lost. His special sword, the Blade of Betrayal, is too valuable—and loyal—to sell.
• No one witnesses the killing, so Xu Yuan avoids immediate consequences. A Ninefold Nether array then disintegrates Sara’s corpse to turn it into life force for the Nether, revealing the world’s ruthless treatment of the dead.
• Weak from nineteen days without food and still recovering from old injuries, Xu Yuan spends his new wealth on a large meal of Spirit Food. The food restores his strength.
• The restaurant proprietor probes Xu Yuan about how he made money, but Xu Yuan warns him away from dangerous work. His meal and visible wealth attract Ji Lou’er and other former companions.
• Prompt Talisman text reveals that Ji Lou’er once deceived Yalita and tried to sell her to another clan, disrupting her Bloodline awakening and causing years of suffering.
• Ji Lou’er lures Xu Yuan and the others into an alley, apparently intending to rob or kill him for his sword and possessions. Xu Yuan turns the trap around: he lets Ji Lou’er handle the sword, then attacks with hidden flying blades and powerful sword techniques.
• Xu Yuan kills the group. A single sword strike cleaves one attacker and his axe in two. Wounded and dying, Ji Lou’er asks about the technique; Xu Yuan calls it “swordsmanship from the heavens.” Ji Lou’er acknowledges the sword art before dying.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan is practical, calculating, and increasingly confident. He prioritizes food and recovery, conceals what he knows, and uses his apparent weakness and the sword’s weight to bait the ambush.
• Ji Lou’er shifts from an inquisitive acquaintance to an opportunistic betrayer. His past harm to Yalita underscores his cruelty; his final moments show grudging admiration for Xu Yuan’s swordsmanship.
• The proprietor is curious about Xu Yuan’s money-making but ultimately stays out of danger, representing the safer, ordinary life Xu Yuan rejects.
• Xu Yuan’s exchanges with Ji Lou’er’s group are marked by teasing and bravado, masking the hostility underneath. Their greed turns the conversation into a deadly confrontation.

Significant themes

• Power and justice: In this society, influence determines who is considered right, while unseen violence can go unpunished.
• Exploitation and survival: The Nether consumes even the dead, and people—including Ji Lou’er—treat others as resources or opportunities.
• Appearances and deception: Xu Yuan seems weak and invites underestimation, then uses that misjudgment to gain control.
• Restoration and resolve: Food revives Xu Yuan after extreme deprivation, allowing him to act decisively and revealing how close he had been to collapse.

Plot and events

• After slaughtering enemies in an alley, Xu Yuan returns to a restaurant, where the proprietor discreetly tests his cultivation by serving him specially treated Spirit Tea. Xu Yuan notices the trick, but accepts the proprietor’s offer of a free takeaway meal and leaves without escalating the confrontation.
• He spends the experience from his kills to improve his sword art, gaining the ability to layer elemental Spiritual Power onto his attacks. He then buys a top-quality Defensive Formation Disc and other supplies for his household. His “Love and Family” quest reaches 5%.
• At home, Xu Yuan controls both Na Muluo and Yaseline, his duplicate, and stages a reassuring family reunion with Yalita and Yaseline. The girls eat after going hungry all day; his care raises quest completion to 10%. He distributes protective items, giving Yalita the most, while she quietly shares some with her sister.
• That night, a warning reveals that bandits will raid the home. In the original course of events, Na Muluo would burn his lifespan fighting them, only to be captured and sacrificed the next day.
• Xu Yuan hides himself and the girls in a parallel world. The intruders—corrupt clan cultivators—search the house, then prepare a blood-sacrifice ritual, intending to sell the sisters as well.
• Xu Yuan secretly activates the ritual implements. When a Demonic Beast appears and demands sacrifices, the bandits turn on one another. Xu Yuan ends the parallel-world concealment, kills them all with a single sword sweep, and lets the Beast consume their souls and bodies. The Beast rewards him with a chance to flee before the Clan is destroyed.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan becomes more capable through his upgraded sword art and shows growing commitment to protecting the household. He acts strategically and decisively, preventing Na Muluo’s foretold death and rescuing the girls without exposing them to danger.
• Na Muluo is revealed, through the warning, to have been prepared to sacrifice his remaining lifespan for his daughters. His earlier desperation—bribery, a falsified aptitude test, and a marriage alliance—reflects how far he had gone to secure their future.
• Yalita is protective and considerate: she worries about her father’s health and finances, and tries to share her supplies with Yaseline.
• Yaseline is cheerful and unconcerned by receiving fewer gifts, helping ease Yalita’s embarrassment.
• The proprietor and waiter are wary of Xu Yuan’s strength. The waiter’s greed turns to fear after witnessing the alley’s aftermath and realizing how dangerous Xu Yuan is.
• The bandits are exposed as predatory opportunists, treating Na Muluo and his daughters as resources for profit.

Themes

• Family and sacrifice: Na Muluo’s willingness to die for his daughters, and Xu Yuan’s efforts to provide food and protection, anchor the chapter.
• Security amid vulnerability: Even basic needs and safety are uncertain for the family, making Xu Yuan’s purchases and interventions meaningful.
• Predation and corruption: The clan bandits exploit the weak and plan both murder and trafficking.
• Fate and intervention: Xu Yuan learns how Na Muluo was destined to die and actively changes that outcome.
• Power and restraint: Xu Yuan’s strength is apparent, but he uses concealment and timing rather than unnecessary confrontation.

Character interactions

• The proprietor quietly signals the waiter not to pursue the alley’s aftermath, then uses Spirit Tea to test Xu Yuan; Xu Yuan recognizes the ploy and accepts the meal as a peaceful resolution.
• Xu Yuan and the sisters share a staged father-daughter conversation, with Xu Yuan reassuring them about food, work, and his injuries.
• Yalita’s concern for Yaseline leads her to share pills despite Xu Yuan’s attempt to favor her as the elder sister.
• The bandits joke crudely about selling the girls and fight over them, underscoring their cruelty; Xu Yuan silently watches before turning their own ritual against them.

Plot points

• Xu Yuan receives a ghostly “skin” from a demonic beast, which lets him transform into an Eight-Armed Yaksha and pass as a ghost entity in the underground abyss.
• The beast also offers him a ring that triples spiritual power but curses its wearer to die within a day. Xu Yuan recognizes the trap and counters by offering a cursed sword of his own.
• Though they agree to part peacefully, both attack. Xu Yuan uses Gaze Upon to overwhelm the beast, then kills it with the Qiong Iron Sword and Ghost Devour.
• From the beast, Xu Yuan gains Verbal Assault (Pua), a mental skill that exposes an opponent’s weakness and attacks it through words, as well as a black heart.
• The black heart supplies the final element needed to upgrade Xu Yuan’s combat gear. He fuses it with Blind Eye, which becomes a powerful Spirit Treasure with dragon- and phoenix-themed abilities.
• The gear’s spirits—Flood Dragon Jingzhe and the Phoenix sisters—realize that a future upgrade could let Xu Yuan make their Imago forms real. Xu Yuan agrees to watch for a way to improve it further, then attempts to summon another demon.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains cautious and resourceful: he recognizes the ring’s curse, conceals his knowledge, and kills the beast rather than risk an unknown attack.
• The demonic beast shifts from helpful guide to hostile opponent, and its suspicion of Xu Yuan mirrors his distrust of it.
• Jingzhe and the Phoenix sisters bicker playfully during the upgrade, but unite in excitement at the prospect of becoming real. Their growing loyalty is reinforced by the gear’s ability to answer only to Xu Yuan.

Significant themes

• Distrust and survival: apparent gifts and peaceful agreements can conceal lethal intent.
• Growth through transformation: Xu Yuan turns the demon’s remains into a major upgrade for his own weapon.
• Companionship and hope: the combat gear’s spirits gain not only power but a possible path to life.

Plot points and events

• The Curses Ring activates after the sacrifices are completed, awarding Xu Yuan a mysterious “Recommendation Quota.” As an Eight-Armed Yaksha, he senses a supernatural summons and follows it to a Ghost Gate Residence recruitment drive.
• Applicants are rejected for poor appearance or insufficient cultivation. Xu Yuan secures a chance by bribing the elderly recruiter with Spirit Stones, then passes a shapeshifting test that transforms him into a handsome human-looking figure.
• Rather than abandon his other mission, Xu Yuan removes the Ghost Hide and uses the Ancient Days Life-Creating Art to animate it as an independent, remotely controlled Creation. The Notebook warns that he cannot add further true bodies without damaging the historical timeline, and that Fate-related decisions must be made through it.
• Xu Yuan equips the Yaksha with the Deep Dive ability, 800,000 Spirit Stones, and the powerful Combat Gear Blind Eye, then sends him to infiltrate Ghost society. Through the Notebook, Xu Yuan selects bribery, socializing, and attacking for the Yaksha’s combat assessment.
• Blind Eye draws attention, and an officer introduces the Yaksha to Shangguan Yun and Shangguan Hong, important figures from the Torch Dragon Residence. Xu Yuan chooses to have the Yaksha serve Shangguan Yun. She assigns him to an upcoming Lineage extermination for experience and names him Shangguan Barbie.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan becomes more resourceful and strategic, using a created body to pursue Ghost-world intelligence while preserving his main mission. He remains casual and mischievous, but is careful about the limits on changing history.
• The Eight-Armed Yaksha becomes Xu Yuan’s agent within Ghost society. He favors survival, requests Deep Dive, and is given substantial resources and equipment to establish himself.
• Shangguan Yun is introduced as a powerful, influential heiress who selects Shangguan Barbie for a dangerous field assignment.

Themes

• The chapter explores infiltration and divided purpose: Xu Yuan pursues intelligence on Ghost society alongside his existing mission.
• Power, status, and advancement are tied to cultivation, appearance, wealth, and equipment.
• The Notebook and limits on altering history emphasize fate, rules, and the consequences of interference.
• Identity and transformation appear through the Yaksha’s shapeshifting, new name, and entry into a human-like hierarchy.

Character interactions

• Xu Yuan pretends to be an ordinary applicant and bribes the recruiter, who accepts him after testing his appearance.
• Xu Yuan and his Creation discuss how to survive and advance; Xu Yuan empowers and equips it before sending it away.
• The officer presents the Yaksha to the two Torch Dragon heirs. Xu Yuan chooses Shangguan Yun, whose assignment and bestowed name formally begin the Yaksha’s new role.

Key plot points and events

• After learning that the Torch Dragon Residence plans to destroy the clan where he is staying, Xu Yuan realizes the attack is scheduled for the morning after tomorrow.
• To prevent it without confronting the powerful residence directly, he uses Heaven-Stealing to transport its Ghost Soldier camp into Xu Chengan’s desert world. Most of the soldiers are buried or killed, disrupting the planned assault.
• When the remaining ghosts confront him, Xu Yuan claims an Old God gave him his power. A young ghost—actually Jingzhe—attacks with the Combat Gear Blind Eye’s “Dragon Flight.” Its Blood Drain heals Xu Yuan after the attack wounds him, revealing an unexpected self-healing effect.
• Xu Yuan escapes and returns home, satisfied that the attack has been derailed. Meanwhile, the Torch Dragon Residence’s leaders examine the incident but find no trace of how he vanished or destroyed the camp.
• The clan’s matriarch accepts Shangguan Yun’s explanation that “Shangguan Barbie” is a genuine Eight-Armed Yaksha with promising equipment. She orders the incident kept quiet and frames Xu Yuan’s power as temporary favor from an Old God.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan acts pragmatically: though he feels little attachment to the threatened clan, he intervenes because its destruction conflicts with his task to protect the family. He also discovers his Combat Gear can heal him through Blood Drain.
• Jingzhe, posing as Shangguan Barbie, follows the Ghost commander’s orders and helps sell the identity. Shangguan Yun claims responsibility for naming and selecting him, gaining praise from her grandmother.
• The Torch Dragon Residence’s leaders are unsettled by Xu Yuan’s inexplicable power. The commander tests Jingzhe’s obedience, while the matriarch chooses to reassure the group and contain the story rather than reveal her own fear.

Significant themes

• Power and uncertainty: Xu Yuan’s abilities defy the Ghosts’ understanding, making even a brief demonstration frightening.
• Pragmatism and unintended consequences: Xu Yuan’s intervention is tactical rather than sentimental, while the notebook’s prompts and his improvised actions create wider complications.
• Secrecy and reputation: Xu Yuan’s Old God story deters retaliation, and the matriarch controls information to preserve order.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan goes to bed, but the notebook reappears and displays new prompts.
• At a gathering honoring the Old Gods, Shangguan Yun’s grandmother tells her the Shangguan and Xu households may restore their marriage alliance. On the Glazed Terrace, Shangguan chooses Xu Jingchen—actually Xu Yuan, who has taken Jingchen’s place in altered history—over the competitive Xu Huaichuan.
• Alone together, Xu Yuan and Shangguan agree their childhood betrothal will be restored. Shangguan confesses that she has dreamed of another world, though she stops short of explaining further.
• In the Clan’s testing, both Yalita and Yaseline receive Top Grade ratings. Yalita refuses her engagement, while Yaseline accepts.
• Xu Yuan meets Clan Chief Galacha and claims to have awakened the rare Netherworld Passage Bloodline Art. Galacha warns him to conceal it because Xu Cheng’an hunts those who possess it, and teaches him the Blood-Concealing Art.
• A Spotlight lets Xu Yuan upgrade that art: he can now disguise suppressed Bloodline power as another Bloodline, with twice the concealment and suppression. Galacha appoints him Ritual Officer, giving him status, salary, and a new identity-based mission reward.
• Xu Yuan leaves on good terms with Galacha and Elder Wang, then learns the Dimensional Defense Line has finished a wide-area scan and is on cooldown. He realizes the Peerless Hero battle can continue and that he must act quickly.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan adapts to his role in the rewritten history as Xu Jingchen and navigates both personal and political relationships. He earns Galacha’s trust, gains a useful position, and remains focused on protecting the sisters and surviving the mission.
• Shangguan Yun reveals a warmer, more vulnerable side with Xu Yuan, while also sharing the Shangguan household’s plan to consolidate power before invading the Mortal Realm in ten years. Her unexplained dream hints at a deeper connection to another world.
• Galacha appears bloodthirsty but proves pragmatic and protective of his minor branch. He supports Xu Yuan while keeping his rare ability secret.
• Yalita and Yaseline follow contrasting paths: Yalita rejects marriage, while Yaseline accepts it. Xu Yuan, acting as their father, lets Yalita refuse without punishing her.
• Xu Huaichuan’s rude interruption and rivalry with Xu Jingchen disrupt the terrace meeting; Xu Hechen is relieved to leave. Xu Yuan and Elder Wang, by contrast, part on mutually beneficial terms.

Significant themes

• Changing and inhabiting history: Xu Yuan’s presence has overwritten parts of the past, forcing him to live out Xu Jingchen’s history.
• Secrecy and survival: Concealing his Bloodline is essential to protecting himself and the Clan from Xu Cheng’an.
• Power, loyalty, and political maneuvering: Marriage alliances, branch-family consolidation, and Clan appointments all serve larger struggles for influence.
• Identity and possibility: Shangguan’s dream of another world, Xu Yuan’s borrowed place in history, and the notebook’s prompts all suggest reality is more malleable than it seems.

Key plot points and events

• Shangguan Yun tells Xu Jingchen—actually Xu Yuan—about recurring dreams that seem to recount another life. In one, she was a flight attendant on Earth who died in a plane crash and awoke as Shangguan Yun. She also dreamed of a dangerous battle involving Xu Chengan and of Xu Jingchen saving her.
• Her dream’s details unsettle Xu Yuan, especially the word “Earth” and the plane crash, which resemble his own past. He tests her account by asking about her memories of Earth; her critique of Journey to the West convinces him that she has experienced something real.
• Hoping to learn whether Shangguan Yun has an unknown power, Xu Yuan enters the guarded temples and examines a stele whose writing is normally impossible to remember.
• He uses his Second Tier Dimension System ability, Righteous to the Point of Evil, to obtain the Universe’s judgment that he has already studied the entire stele. The resulting “Overlook” effect lets him perceive its hidden power and memories.
• Xu Yuan discovers the truth behind All Spirits Return to the Ruins, a Whisper created by the Old Gods: souls entering the Ninefold Nether are reborn as humans in Gui Xu if they think of life, or become ghosts if they think of death. When affected humans and ghosts die, Phantom World Dust makes them surrender everything to the Old Gods.
• The apparent civilization of Gui Xu is therefore not a true living nation: its inhabitants are dead souls, and the realm is part of the Old Gods’ means of replenishing themselves.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan moves from curiosity about Shangguan Yun’s dreams to alarmed investigation. His clever use of his unusual ability reveals a terrible secret about Gui Xu and the Old Gods.
• Shangguan Yun is frightened and emotionally shaken by dreams she believes may be memories. She clings to Xu Yuan’s promise of protection and urges him to trust and guide her.

Significant themes

• Dreams, memory, and identity: Shangguan Yun’s dreams may preserve a former life, blurring the line between dream and reality.
• Death disguised as life: Gui Xu’s flourishing society conceals that its people are dead souls caught in a system controlled by the Old Gods.
• Power and exploitation: The Old Gods’ Whisper turns souls’ own thoughts about life and death into a mechanism for harvesting their strength.
• Knowledge and perception: The stele’s memory-blocking power shows how truth can be hidden; Xu Yuan’s dimensional ability lets him see beyond that concealment.

Character interactions

• Shangguan Yun confides in Xu Yuan, seeking reassurance and insisting that he will save her as he did in her dream.
• Xu Yuan listens gently but probes her memories to verify them, balancing comfort with suspicion.
• Their exchange over Journey to the West briefly lightens the tense conversation before Xu Yuan’s discovery shifts the chapter into horror.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Jingchen’s power activates the stone stele, sending an invisible ripple throughout the Ninefold Nether. The “Competition” Whisper reveals that the Old Gods’ servants are watching the four Xu Yuans: their scrutiny rises whenever they alter history, and at 50% the servants will discover them and initiate a divine battle. Xu Yuan decides to keep a low profile.
• He plans for each identity: Xu Jingchen leaves Shangguan Yun and disappears; the Eight-Armed Yaksha enters seclusion; Yaseline remains safely asleep. Na Muluo, however, must still act to complete the Peerless Hero battle.
• As Na Muluo, Xu Yuan gets his injuries treated and learns that the Lineage is assembling an expedition to explore floating ruins. He joins, hoping to prevent disaster while advancing his objectives.
• Treasure signs draw Cultivators toward the ruins. Xu Yuan senses danger, pays a steward for a safer place, and boards the third Flying Boat. A strange temporal force sweeps over passengers, rapidly aging one to death and reducing another to a child.
• A massive ghost emerges from the ruins and attacks with devastating fire. The first boats and many explorers are destroyed. Xu Yuan saves the transformed child, then is rescued himself by the steward’s rope. His “Love and Family” completion rises from 15% to 30%.
• As Lineage leaders confront the Greater Ghost, Xu Yuan rushes home. He hides his two daughters in the cellar and activates the house’s Defensive Array. When Lineage officers summon him to the clan chief, he agrees to go. The Whisper warns that this choice will affect history, raising the Old God’s Gaze to 30%.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains cautious about attracting the Old Gods’ attention, but his concern for his family and determination to finish the Peerless Hero battle keep drawing him into danger. He uses money and favors pragmatically, yet risks himself to save the child.
• Shangguan Yun reveals that she dreamed of Xu Jingchen every night and remembers his encouragement. Xu Yuan jokes to himself that he was her “bedtime pet,” then leaves before she can follow.
• The steward accepts Xu Yuan’s gift and quietly helps him board a later, potentially safer boat. He later throws Xu Yuan a rope, demonstrating loyalty and practical care.
• Xu Yuan and his daughters share a brief, affectionate reunion. He prioritizes their safety by sending them into the cellar, while concealing the danger.
• The rescued child thanks Xu Yuan, while the Lineage head notices him but says nothing; the steward urges him to leave.

Significant themes

• Fate, history, and surveillance: Even seemingly ordinary choices can alter history and increase the Old Gods’ scrutiny.
• Family and responsibility: Xu Yuan’s concern for his daughters shapes his decisions, reflected in the rising “Love and Family” completion.
• Power and exploitation: The Lineage sends low-ranking Yue and Spirit Slaves into unknown ruins first, exposing the unequal costs of ambition.
• Uncertainty and hidden danger: The ruins prove far more perilous than expected, with chaotic dimensions, lethal temporal effects, and a Greater Ghost capable of threatening the city.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan purchases a flying art, the Sky-Treading Art, and tests it. He can fly, but the Spiritual Power cost makes prolonged flight impractical at his current level.
• The Ninefold Nether’s Grand Array begins drawing in Life Force ahead of schedule. Xu Yuan realizes this power is being offered to the Old Gods, whose influence appears to be growing across all Fragment Worlds.
• A system update reports that the Old Gods are observing everyone. Xu Yuan also gains progress toward studying another Immortal Species’ abilities, while balancing competing objectives: raising “Love and Family” progress, keeping the Old Gods’ Gaze below 50%, and reaching 100% observation progress.
• Clan Chief Galacha leads an expedition to the Ruins. When a lethal dimensional attack targets their Flying Boat, Xu Yuan secretly uses Deep Dive to shift it into a Parallel World, avoiding the strike without changing the expedition’s apparent course.
• The group then withstands a barrage of fire-and-earth Mystic Arts and reaches the Ruins. Xu Yuan deliberately lets Galacha and the others handle the expected dangers, preserving the normal course of events. His restraint reduces the Old Gods’ Gaze by 5%, to 25%.
• While the expedition investigates, Xu Yuan worries that Yaseline and Yalita may be vulnerable at home amid the wider crisis. He takes control of Yaseline and secretly creates two wooden creatures, giving them abilities and sending them to guard the house.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan becomes more capable and strategic: he learns flight, interprets the Old Gods’ actions, and uses his dimensional power discreetly. He weighs mission goals against protecting his family and recognizes that intervening too much can be dangerous.
• Galacha treats Xu Yuan with particular trust and consideration, keeping him close during the expedition. The other cultivators’ respect for Xu Yuan reflects the chief’s influence.
• Xu Yuan and the cultivators cooperate during the attack: Galacha directs the defense, while Xu Yuan quietly prevents the dimensional strike and otherwise lets the group fight on its own.
• Yaseline and Yalita show contrasting responses at home: Yaseline senses danger and grows anxious, while Yalita tries to reassure her. Under Xu Yuan’s control, Yaseline creates guardians to protect them.

Significant themes

• Power and secrecy: Xu Yuan must conceal his unusual abilities while using them to protect others.
• Fate and intervention: Preserving the expected course of events can be as important as winning a fight, and restraint can reduce the Old Gods’ attention.
• Family responsibility: Xu Yuan’s concern for Yaseline and Yalita competes with his duties on the expedition.
• Cosmic threat and uncertainty: The premature Life Force collection and universal observation suggest the Old Gods are preparing something on a vast scale.

Key plot points and events

• While patrolling Na Muluo’s house, the cat and mouse defeat three intruders who intend to abduct two gifted girls. The cat’s Gaze ability leaves the men helpless, and the mouse kills them with its Sword-Flight Art.
• Two Scouts return from the Ruins mentally impaired, behaving as if they are jujube trees. Galacha binds them and leads an armed expedition into the Ruins, with Xu Yuan among the party.
• A hidden Magic Array attacks the group with Mystic Arts arrows. Xu Yuan uses Heaven-Stealing to make the arrows vanish, saving Galacha. The party retreats rather than risk another attack.
• Xu Yuan’s intervention advances his missions, though it also raises the Gaze of the Old Gods. He secretly creates a tiny stone cat with the Old World Creation Art, gives it Deep Dive, and sends it to investigate the Ruins’ connection to the Old Gods.
• Back at Broken Cliff, the clan learns the Ruins contain dangerous Extreme Yin Ghost Entities and cannot be moved or safely destroyed. Galacha proposes relocating the Clan through Xu Yuan’s Netherworld Passage Art.
• Galacha appoints Xu Yuan Disciplinary Elder. The change secures Xu Yuan’s household’s standing and raises the “Love and Family” completion to 60%. The Gaze of the Old Gods reaches 45%.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan grows more influential within the Clan and continues balancing his mission to protect his family with the danger of provoking the Old Gods. He also takes the initiative to investigate the Ruins covertly.
• Galacha shows practical leadership: he abandons the Ruins when the party is outmatched and seeks a way to protect the Clan by relocating it. His trust in Xu Yuan becomes public and consequential.
• The cat and mouse demonstrate both loyalty and lethal skill while protecting the girls’ home.
• The stone cat is brought to life and tasked with exploring the Ruins.

Significant themes

• Protection and family security: Xu Yuan’s growing authority helps make his household safer, while Galacha’s relocation plan prioritizes the Clan’s survival.
• Pragmatic leadership: Galacha chooses retreat and relocation over pride or reckless confrontation.
• Power and its cost: Xu Yuan’s interventions save lives and advance his mission, but each change brings the Old Gods’ attention closer.
• Hidden dangers and discovery: The Ruins remain mysterious, and Xu Yuan’s small creation begins a quiet investigation.

Character interactions

• The cat and mouse work together to stop the kidnappers, then conceal the evidence.
• Galacha questions the Scouts, leads the expedition, and accepts Xu Yuan’s unexplained intervention without dwelling on it.
• Xu Yuan admires Galacha’s sensible decisions and accepts the Disciplinary Elder appointment.
• Galacha openly relies on Xu Yuan’s Netherworld Passage Art, reassuring the Clan that they have a way out.

Key events

• As the clan prepares to evacuate, fiery meteors from the Ruins bombard the town, causing widespread destruction and panic.
• Xu Yuan protects his daughters, Yalita and Yaseline, inside his home’s Defensive Array while investigating attackers who arrive posing as “roving bandits.”
• Using Open Theft, he discovers the attackers belong to the Netherworld Passage Group and were sent by Xu Chengan. With help from his Golden-Armored Skeletons and the meteor shower, Xu Yuan kills them.
• Clan cultivators order Xu Yuan and his daughters to the gathering point as the evacuation is moved up. Sensing danger, Xu Yuan sends the girls ahead with the cultivators.
• Xu Chengan appears and reveals that he is a Spirit Transformation cultivator and intends to kill Xu Yuan because Xu Yuan shares the Netherworld Passage Bloodline. He claims only he and his descendants may awaken it.
• Xu Yuan realizes Xu Chengan is connected to the Old Gods and has come to trigger the impending “divine battle.” Rather than take Xu Chengan’s offer to say goodbye to his daughters, Xu Yuan turns into a Flood Dragon and escapes underground. Xu Chengan pursues him.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains protective and resourceful under pressure: he secures his daughters, identifies the attackers, and turns the meteor strike against them. His growing strength lets him use more of his Immortal Species abilities.
• Yalita’s Blood Saint potential lets her sense danger; frightened, she is reluctant to leave her father but obeys when asked to protect Yaseline. Yaseline’s fear helps persuade her sister to go.
• Xu Chengan shifts from apparent courtesy to open hostility. He offers Xu Yuan time with his daughters, expecting him to comply, but Xu Yuan exploits his confidence and escapes.
• Xu Yuan’s encounters with both the masked attackers and Xu Chengan expose a conflict over who may possess the Netherworld Passage Bloodline.

Significant themes

• Family and sacrifice: Xu Yuan’s choices prioritize his daughters’ safety, even as he faces overwhelming danger alone.
• Power and survival: He compensates for a vast gap in cultivation through preparation, ingenuity, and exploiting his enemies’ assumptions.
• Fate and hidden forces: The Ruins, the Old Gods, and the “divine battle” suggest that the town’s disaster is part of a larger, manipulated conflict.
• Identity and inheritance: Xu Yuan’s bloodline makes him a target, revealing that inherited power can bring both possibility and peril.

Plot points and events

• Xu Chengan pursues Xu Yuan underground, expecting an easy victory, but is badly wounded by the Ghost Wyrm’s Divine Mask, Mountain God, which shatters the earth around it.
• Xu Yuan uses the Tengyu skin to greatly strengthen his powers and make his Imagined Scenes real. He traps Xu Chengan in a storm of sword-filled rain, then turns the Ghost Wyrm into a blazing sun and attacks with another amplified Imago.
• Xu Chengan counters with his own Imago, Ancestral Household Shrine, and later summons a huge insect whose darkness swallows Xu Yuan’s falling-star attack.
• As the two hesitate over whether to fight or flee, Xu Yuan’s observation progress reaches 33%, revealing the core of his ability: Fate Position. When he initiates a Competition, he can replace someone who has died and claim their place.
• Xu Yuan tells Xu Chengan that he intends to kill the Old Gods after they destroy everything. He argues that their inability to act freely suggests something stronger defeated them, and proposes finding that power and bringing it to fight them. Xu Chengan is left stunned and calls him insane.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan / Na Muluo demonstrates that his future-derived skin and ability can challenge a far stronger cultivator. His new understanding of Fate Position clarifies how he has repeatedly taken the places of the dead.
• Xu Chengan shifts from bored confidence to surprise and uncertainty. He recognizes a kindred ambition in Xu Yuan, but Xu Yuan’s plan to kill the Old Gods—and whatever lies beyond them—pushes even him to disbelief.
• Both men pause before committing to violence, weighing not only their chances but the consequences of killing the other.

Character interactions

• Xu Chengan initially sees Xu Yuan as a target and potential source of information, but their shared hunger for truth creates an unexpected bond.
• Their battle becomes a contest of amplified Imagined Scenes: Xu Yuan’s rain, sun, and falling stars against Xu Chengan’s shrine and engulfing darkness.
• Xu Yuan’s answer about what he will do after the Old Gods’ destruction unsettles Xu Chengan, changing the confrontation from a fight over survival into a debate over ambition and truth.

Significant themes

• Power and knowledge: Xu Yuan’s strength comes not only from combat abilities but from understanding the system behind them.
• Identity and fate: Fate Position raises questions about what it means to replace the dead and occupy their roles.
• Shared madness and ambition: Xu Yuan and Xu Chengan both seek ultimate truth, yet Xu Yuan’s willingness to challenge even the force that defeated the Old Gods exceeds Xu Chengan’s expectations.
• Choice and consequence: Each fighter hesitates, aware that killing the other could alter more than the immediate outcome.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Chengan gives up fighting, believing Xu Yuan is doomed to fail against Ninefold Nether and the darkness beyond it. Xu Yuan chooses not to kill him, prioritizing the Peerless Hero Competition and his larger plan against the Dark Crown.
• The Scarlet Palace collapses, revealing that an Old God has descended into Xu Chengan. The transformation turns him into a monstrous vessel and spreads a corrupting force across the wilderness.
• Xu Yuan drops his disguise and reveals his Immortal Species power, hoping to learn why the Old Gods are dormant in Ninefold Nether. The being recognizes him as one of its kind, but calls him a “Juvenile Form” and a valuable ingredient.
• The Old God traps Xu Yuan with Gaze and Dimension abilities, abandoning the rules of the Competition and trying to consume him. Xu Yuan condemns the betrayal and threatens to destroy the Three Realms and deny the Old Gods any sustenance.
• The Old God casts Nightmare Binding, locating and capturing Xu Yuan’s other identities—Na Muluo, Yaseline, Xu Jingchen, and the Eight-Armed Yaksha. They are tortured and begin to be erased from history.
• Xu Yuan vows revenge, but the system announces that he has forfeited the Competition.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan moves from strategic restraint and curiosity to uncompromising vengeance after the Old God violates the Competition’s rules and attacks his identities. He tries first to negotiate as a fellow Immortal Species, then uses threats when negotiation fails.
• Xu Chengan initially appears resigned and lucid, but becomes the vessel for an Old God. His remaining identity is effectively fused with the entity, which speaks and acts through him.
• The Old God is revealed as predatory, powerful, and contemptuous of rules. Its brief hesitation at Xu Yuan’s true nature gives way to an attempt to devour him.
• Xu Yuan’s different identities are exposed and attacked simultaneously, showing how interconnected—and vulnerable—his existence is.

Significant themes

• Rules and fair play: Xu Yuan accepts the Competition’s constraints, but sees the Old God’s cheating as making the contest—and his time—meaningless.
• Power, survival, and predation: The Old Gods treat other beings as food, while Xu Yuan responds with a promise to turn that predatory relationship against them.
• Identity and vulnerability: The attack on Xu Yuan’s multiple identities makes his divided existence a major weakness.
• Vengeance and consequences: The Old God’s choice to break the rules transforms Xu Yuan’s curiosity into a long-term commitment to make it suffer.