Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Demon-Suppressing Heavenly Venerable, the Wu Guang Mysterious Maiden, and an old god summon the gods of the Three Realms to support Xu Yuan’s coronation. Three thousand gods answer, lending him their True Power and blessing his goal of peace.
• Xu Yuan’s coronation interface confirms that its ritual requirements are met, but he cannot choose a crown because no suitable guiding law is present.
• The Heavenly Venerable sends Xu Yuan away with a longbow whose power over Dimensions carries him through time and space. Xu Yuan recognizes the approaching monster before he is transported; afterward, the monster confronts the remaining gods and mocks their resistance.
• Xu Yuan arrives at a desolate site beside a vast pit, where two small houses remain. He activates Team Battle, transforming his real-world conflict with Xu Chengan and the Nine Old Gods into a game-like Competition, complete with rewards, quests, a shop, and a safe zone.
• The ability designates the lit house as his Divine Temple and safe zone, but it turns out to be a ruined prison. Xu Yuan pays 100 Gold Coins for access and enters.
• A hidden room beneath the house contains three chained prisoners labeled “Peddler,” “Cook,” and “Hanger-on.” They claim the Dark Crown has begun, but Xu Yuan recognizes this as a bluff: the era is still peaceful, and the ritual has not yet started.
• Xu Yuan summons his Divine Temple, which his ability places beneath the jailer’s bed. Despite the prisoners’ warning that nothing is there, he searches beneath it and emerges with a Formation Disc.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan receives the gods’ collective support but remains uncertain what coronation will accomplish. He adapts quickly to his new surroundings, tests Team Battle’s rules, and stays skeptical when the prisoners try to mislead him.
• The Demon-Suppressing Heavenly Venerable acts with urgency, using the longbow to send Xu Yuan away as the monster arrives. Xu Yuan realizes the bow’s dimensional power may indicate that the Heavenly Venerable is an Immortal Species.
• The gods unite behind Xu Yuan’s ambition for peace, though their blessing does not resolve the missing-guiding-law problem.
• The prisoners interact with Xu Yuan through teasing warnings and apparent deception. Their contrasting appearances match the labels Team Battle assigns them, but their real identities and motives remain unclear.

Significant themes

• Collective hope and sacrifice: The gods pool their strength to support a future leader and the possibility of peace.
• Fate versus agency: Xu Yuan meets the ritual’s requirements but still cannot proceed without a guiding law, while Team Battle lets him reshape how he engages with reality.
• Uncertainty and deception: The house’s true purpose is obscured, the prisoners bluff about the Dark Crown, and even Xu Yuan’s new abilities impose strange, unexplained rules.
• Pragmatic resilience: Faced with danger and confusion, Xu Yuan investigates, tests his powers, and turns an apparently useless setting into a source of resources.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Chengan’s body sprouts eyes and mouths as the Old Gods search for Xu Yuan’s scattered doubles. They learn he has grown stronger, unleashed a Whisper, and hidden in the Ninefold Nether; they set out to hunt him.
• Xu Yuan activates a combined Warding and Isolation Array, then discovers an ancient octagonal mirror beneath his bed. The mirror expands the house’s usable space, adding another layer to his defenses.
• Xu Yuan explains to the peddler, cook, and hanger-on that his Whisper has turned reality into a game-like Competition, with his Shop ability supporting its rules. A quest appears when the peddler asks for an explanation, rewarding Xu Yuan with a compass from the peddler’s pocket.
• The compass works only for Xu Yuan: it reveals a hidden underground chamber containing a teleportation array linked to an ancient temple in Yanmen. The array is unusable for now.
• The Demon-Suppressing Heavenly Venerable reveals that, since the Three Realms’ ascension, the Dark Crown ritual has been held in the Ninefold Nether, where humans under Old God control have never completed it. Xu Yuan concludes that the Old Gods are preventing humans from growing stronger and resolves to advance the “Path of the Blood Saint” so Yalita can become a Blood Saint.
• When Xu Yuan senses an Old God approaching, he deliberately calls it toward himself to keep it from interfering with his other selves’ progress. The chapter ends with a knock at the door.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan grows more confident in his unusual abilities, eagerly tests the Competition’s quest mechanics, and focuses on strengthening his Safe Zone and advancing the Blood Saint plan. He knowingly risks drawing an Old God to protect the work of his other selves.
• The peddler, cook, and hanger-on move from confusion to wary acceptance of Xu Yuan’s explanation. They are especially astonished that the compass works in his hands but breaks again when they handle it.
• Xu Chengan and the Old Gods are revealed as active threats, determined to track down and kill Xu Yuan’s doubles.
• The Demon-Suppressing Heavenly Venerable entrusts Xu Yuan with a secret about the Dark Crown ritual; Xu Yuan connects it to the Old Gods’ efforts to suppress humanity.

Significant themes

• Reality reshaped by rules: Xu Yuan’s Competition makes extraordinary events—quests, rewards, and discoveries—fit into a game-like framework.
• Preparation and defense: Xu Yuan methodically fortifies his home while uncovering hidden resources and routes.
• Control versus human growth: The Old Gods’ control of the Dark Crown ritual appears designed to prevent humans from becoming stronger.
• Risk and responsibility: Xu Yuan draws danger toward himself to protect the progress of his other selves and the possibility of changing the Epoch’s future.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Chengan has traveled into the past with the Old Gods’ power, secretly pursuing Xu Yuan. In Ninefold Nether, Qi Canghai assumes Xu Chengan will soon return and kill him after their exhausting battle.
• When Xu Chengan does not appear, Qi Canghai discovers that both he and the Old Gods’ presence have vanished. With the President-selection pressure gone, he seizes the opportunity to prepare the Blood Saints for the Dark Crown ritual.
• Qi Canghai and the aristocratic clans mistakenly expect the ritual to begin in Ninefold Nether. They do not know that Xu Yuan has brought its site into the Mortal Realm, and that travel between the two realms is impossible without Netherworld Passage.
• Qi Canghai realizes Xu Yuan may have drawn Xu Chengan into the past to save him. He learns that Xu Yuan’s plans for the Society—including covertly infiltrating the Su Family—are advancing, and begins to understand that Xu Yuan is driven by ideals for the organization and humanity.
• When Bai Yuanze reports Dark Crown activity and an Attendant God in the Mortal Realm, Qi Canghai concludes that Xu Yuan and Xu Chengan are contesting the ritual. He orders the Society to use its last reserve of Life Force to activate the Old Gods’ protective art, intending to travel through time and save Xu Yuan.
• The scene shifts to Xu Yuan and three companions inside a Safe Zone. Xu Chengan is outside, radiating the combined power of the Nine Old Gods, but cannot enter. A voice explains that the building is one of Yanmen’s scattered structures and part of the Dark Crown ritual site; because Xu Chengan did not participate in the ritual in the future, he cannot get inside.

Character developments

• Qi Canghai moves from resignation to renewed purpose. Learning that Xu Yuan may have saved him at great personal risk changes his view of Xu Yuan, and he chooses to spend the Society’s last reserve to help him.
• Xu Yuan is revealed as a purposeful, self-sacrificing leader whose plans quietly advance the Society’s goals. His actions prompt Qi Canghai to recognize his ideals.
• Xu Chengan is powerful enough to unsettle everyone nearby, yet the Safe Zone and ritual rules bar him from reaching Xu Yuan.
• Bai Yuanze remains committed to Xu Yuan’s operation, though he questions Qi Canghai’s risky decision to use the Society’s final safeguard.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and loyalty: Qi Canghai risks the Society’s remaining hope to repay Xu Yuan’s apparent sacrifice.
• Ideals and leadership: Xu Yuan’s work embodies a vision for humanity and the Society beyond personal ambition.
• Misjudgment and hidden information: The factions’ assumptions about the Dark Crown’s location leave them unprepared.
• Rules and limits of power: Even Xu Chengan’s overwhelming strength cannot overcome the Safe Zone’s protections or the ritual’s eligibility constraints.

Character interactions

• Qi Canghai gives orders to his subordinates and negotiates with clan leaders, then questions Bai Yuanze about the Mortal Realm operation.
• Qi Canghai and Bai Yuanze clash briefly when Bai challenges the use of the Society’s last reserve; Qi Canghai insists he is going to save Xu Yuan.
• Xu Yuan and his companions silently confirm that Xu Chengan cannot enter the Safe Zone, while Xu Chengan questions the barrier from outside.

• Xu Yuan discovers the house’s nature: Xu Chengan and an Old God–willed companion try to force their way into the two shabby houses, but learn they belong to a separate realm tied to the Dark Crown ritual. Xu Chengan leaves to search elsewhere. Xu Yuan realizes the intruder could return through the ritual and threaten him.
• The coronation begins: The Cook asks Xu Yuan to state his aspiration. Xu Yuan answers, “world peace,” fulfilling the requirement for a Coronation Ceremony. He is told to choose an executor to grant him his first Crown of Law, which will be essential to surviving the coming danger.
• Xu Yuan rejects the available choices: The Cook cannot crown him because his violence conflicts with Xu Yuan’s aspiration. The Vendor offers a law based on trade, while the Retainer offers one based on summoning powerful allies. Xu Yuan considers both, but judges neither suitable—especially since the world’s divine powers are dead or imprisoned. Despite the others’ urgency, he refuses to accept a crown he does not truly want.
• Yaseline buys time: As the Old God–willed enemy and the Nine Old Gods approach, Yaseline appears and offers to hold them off. Xu Yuan continues searching for another option, arguing that the Jailer—though believed dead—is present in some sense.
• The Jailer returns: The others notice the Bagua Mirror Xu Yuan retrieved, then hear movement beneath the bed. A pale, middle-aged man emerges and agrees to perform the coronation. The Competition system confirms that Xu Yuan has used “Fate Position” to replace the vanished Jailer’s ritual role with Xu Jingchen, making the Jailer exist again.
  Character developments and interactions: Xu Yuan shows caution and independence, refusing convenient but unsuitable powers even under pressure. The Cook, Vendor, and Retainer attempt to guide and hurry him, but their assumptions about his choices and the Jailer’s death are overturned. Yaseline acts decisively to protect him, while the returned Jailer becomes the unexpected executor he was seeking.
  Themes: The chapter emphasizes fate and loopholes, the importance of choosing power that matches one’s principles, and the possibility of restoring what is thought lost. Its final reveal suggests that Xu Yuan’s unusual ability to manipulate the rules of the Competition can reshape reality itself.

Key plot points

• Xu Yuan begins the Dark Crown coronation ritual, using power drawn from an Immortal Species while retaining a free human soul. Xu Jingchen recites the required incantation as the others realize how unprecedented—and uncertain—this attempt is.
• Outside the cottage, Yaseline confronts Xu Chengan, who is possessed by the Nine Old Gods and accompanied by powerful Attendant Gods. She invokes the blessing of three thousand deities and lands a devastating sword strike, then tries to make their celestial Imago real.
• Xu Chengan explains that the Old Gods have controlled past Dark Crown candidates and corrupted the Attendant Gods. One Attendant God kills Yaseline with an undetectable attack.
• The Eight-Armed Yaksha, aided by the Phoenix sisters and Flood Dragon, challenges the Attendant Gods. Their Imago is effortlessly undone, and they are hurled away.
• Qi Canghai arrives and addresses the Old Gods as president of the All Things Unity Society. Though Xu Chengan wants him killed, the Old Gods refuse: Qi’s death could destabilize the human order they depend on. They invite him to speak, shifting the immediate conflict toward a confrontation over authority and legitimacy.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan is shown attempting an extraordinary coronation outside the Old Gods’ control, though the ritual’s outcome remains unresolved.
• Yaseline fights with the support of the three thousand deities, but is killed by an Attendant God’s absolute rule.
• Xu Chengan displays immense power and confidence, yet remains subordinate to the Old Gods within him; their refusal to kill Qi exposes limits to his control.
• The Eight-Armed Yaksha and companions act together against the Attendant Gods, but discover that ordinary combat and Imago techniques are ineffective.
• Qi Canghai uses his institutional title and lifelong service to compel the Old Gods to hear him. His appeal also reveals the Old Gods’ dependence on the human hierarchy they created.

Significant themes

• Freedom versus control: Xu Yuan’s independent soul contrasts with earlier candidates enslaved by the Old Gods.
• Power and its limits: Even overwhelming supernatural abilities are constrained by rules, political structures, and practical needs.
• Legitimacy and governance: The Old Gods hesitate to undermine their own human order, since it sustains their supply of souls.
• Sacrifice and defiance: Yaseline and the others risk themselves resisting the Old Gods, even against seemingly insurmountable powers.

Plot

• Xu Yuan realizes that the Dark Crown ritual has been corrupted for countless Epochs. The true coronation is the Jailer’s law of Imprisonment, which the Jailer used to protect three other ritual executors before vanishing.
• As Xu Jingchen performs the ritual, the Vendor, Cook, and Retainer secretly combine their powers to conceal its progress and arrange a one-time strike against anyone who tries to stop it.
• Qi Canghai confronts Xu Chengan and argues that their goals—and Xu Yuan’s—are essentially the same: preserve human life and secure the All Things Unity Society’s future. The Old Gods agree with Qi’s stated beliefs, but the moment of apparent accord ends when Xu Chengan attacks him and destroys the Eight-Armed Yaksha avatar.
• Xu Jingchen completes the coronation just as Xu Chengan reaches the room. The Retainer’s summoned blade knocks back the Attendant Gods, giving Xu Yuan time to choose time as the target of his Imprisonment.
• Xu Yuan alters the Universe’s Ring of Time, fixing time into line segments, and earns the first Dark Crown: the title Lord of the Time Cage. He immediately returns to the future. Xu Chengan senses that he has escaped through time, though he believes Xu Yuan is still doomed.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan turns years of planning into action, completing the ritual and gaining a law that can imprison time. He coordinates the ritual through separate avatars, though one—the Eight-Armed Yaksha—is killed.
• Qi Canghai reveals that he shares Xu Yuan’s broad ideal and is willing to defy the Old Gods in pursuit of it. He risks himself to distract Xu Chengan and protect the coronation.
• Xu Chengan briefly accepts that Qi’s ambition aligns with the Old Gods’ interests, but remains hostile and attacks before the ritual is complete.
• The Vendor, Cook, and Retainer move from resignation to a desperate gamble, pooling their powers to hide the ritual and create an opening for Xu Yuan.
• Xu Jingchen completes the ritual at the crucial moment, then disappears as well.

Significant themes

• Shared ideals can conceal opposing methods: Qi, Xu Yuan, and the Old Gods all claim to value life, yet their interests and actions still lead to conflict.
• Sacrifice and cooperation: The ritual succeeds because the imprisoned executors spend their dwindling strength to help Xu Yuan.
• Fate versus agency: Xu Yuan’s coronation changes the fundamental rule of time, giving him a chance to escape what otherwise seems like an inevitable end.

Key plot points

• Xu Chengan finds himself trapped in a sealed, dark world, with no way out beyond its broken edge. He assumes Xu Yuan’s attempt to stop him is futile.
• Yaseline repeatedly attacks with the Ninefold Nether Shadow Sword, summoning stars and images of ancient gods. Xu Chengan initially dismisses her power, but her strike wounds him despite his attempt to escape through the void.
• Xu Chengan realizes Yaseline’s ability is not a conventional Dimension power: she has turned time into a closed line segment. Events repeatedly return to their starting point, preventing anyone from escaping.
• The Old Gods briefly separate from Xu Chengan and move toward the Ninefold Nether, but the world resets and returns them to his body. Yaseline is then killed by the Attendant Gods, and the world becomes empty.
• Xu Chengan searches the house and tries to burn the wilderness with Destruction Flame, but finds no one and nothing of value. The time loop resets again.
• The Old Gods identify the phenomenon as Nibelung, the power of a complete Dark Crown. They plan to feign death so their bodies can sense the cause of their future deaths and intervene earlier to stop Xu Yuan’s Blood Saint Ritual.
• Xu Chengan agrees to protect his Imago body, but privately recognizes that a Crown’s power can even trap the Old Gods—and becomes fascinated by the greater power it represents.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Chengan shifts from arrogant confidence to surprise and reluctant respect for Yaseline’s power. Though he agrees to follow the Old Gods’ plan, he also sees the Crown as a power worth pursuing.
• Yaseline demonstrates an extraordinary ability to control time, but is ultimately killed by the Attendant Gods. Her attack reveals the true nature of the trap.
• The Old Gods move from trying to escape to devising a plan that exploits their bodies’ ability to sense an “omen of death.” They communicate their strategy to Xu Chengan, who accepts his assigned role.
• Xu Chengan and the Old Gods have a tense, practical alliance: they cooperate, but Xu Chengan’s private ambition suggests he may have his own interest in the power they fear.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: Even beings who once embodied supreme power can be surpassed.
• Time and confinement: The closed loop turns time itself into a prison, making ordinary escape impossible.
• Ambition: Xu Chengan’s awe quickly becomes desire, revealing that the struggle for power continues even amid crisis.
• Sacrifice and strategy: The Old Gods accept apparent death as a calculated means to prevent Xu Yuan’s future rise.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan’s temporal trap ends after he successfully completes his coronation. His new title is Lord of the Time Cage, and his crown ability, Nibelung, can isolate a span of time and make it repeat indefinitely. He used it to trap the Nine Immortal Species and Xu Chengan, but the effort leaves him severely weakened; he must reach Nascent Soul before attempting another coronation.
• Xu Yuan returns to the present and explains to Qi Canghai that he diverted Xu Chengan while his avatars helped a friend become the Blood Saint. The coronation has shifted the Dark Crown ritual from the Old Gods’ control in the Ninefold Nether to the Mortal Realm, where anyone can enter through Yanmen. Qi realizes this offers humanity a chance to fight the Old Gods.
• Qi gives Xu Yuan the All Things Unity Ring, which holds the organization’s funds and authority. He plans to protect the organization and the Su Family, then enter the ritual himself for revenge against the Old Gods. Xu Yuan asks him to help conceal and resettle the maid who escaped the Imperial Palace.
• Exhausted, Xu Yuan returns to Mount Luofu and sleeps. Later, Lu Qingxuan warns him that Yanmen’s activation could bring a being into the world and cost one hundred million lives. The group is summoned to the Imperial Palace to discuss how to prevent the disaster.
• Before Xu Yuan can leave, a mysterious woman appears, identifying herself as his Attendant God. She explains that the Universe created her to help him complete the Dark Crown ritual. She can change forms and can use weapons and equipment he gives her. Xu Yuan names her Xi.
• Xi claims she has already gathered the power of one hundred million beings. Xu Yuan panics, but she clarifies that she killed powerful, half-dead monsters in the Outer Heavens—not people in the Mortal Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan has achieved a major victory for humanity but is physically depleted. He remains focused on protecting allies and avoiding harm to ordinary people, and is startled to discover that his new attendant may have already met the ritual’s enormous power requirement.
• Qi Canghai moves from astonishment at Xu Yuan’s success to renewed hope and a determination to join the Dark Crown ritual for revenge. He and Xu Yuan now regard one another as comrades, despite their earlier conflict over the maid.
• Xi is introduced as a powerful, adaptable being devoted to Xu Yuan. Her cheerful eagerness for approval clashes with the alarming scale of her power and actions; Xu Yuan immediately questions her about the lives she has taken.
• Lu Qingxuan serves as the messenger who alerts Xu Yuan to the imminent Yanmen threat and calls the group together.

Significant themes

• Humanity’s chance to reclaim its fate: The Dark Crown ritual’s transfer to the Mortal Realm gives ordinary people access to power once monopolized by the Old Gods.
• Sacrifice and responsibility: Xu Yuan’s victory costs him nearly all his strength, while Qi’s desire for revenge is shaped by the people the Old Gods devoured.
• Power and its consequences: The chapter contrasts a world-threatening ritual with Xu Yuan’s concern for protecting lives, and introduces Xi’s immense power as a new source of uncertainty.
• Comradeship and trust: Xu Yuan and Qi’s relationship shifts toward mutual respect, with Qi taking on responsibilities Xu Yuan cannot manage while recovering.

Plot points and events

• Xu Yuan questions his newly revealed Attendant God, Xi, about her history of killing. She says she has killed around a hundred million beings, mostly monsters from the Outer Heavens, and claims she targets only those whose accumulated crimes make them deserving of death.
• Xi explains that she is a uniquely complete Attendant God, created by the Universe as a reward for Xu Yuan’s successful Dark Crown ritual. Previous attempts had failed because the Immortal Species repeatedly ruined humanity’s chance at Ascension.
• Xi demonstrates her rule, Time Stop, formed from the overlap of Xu Yuan’s powers of Time and Confinement. She pledges to help him grow stronger and reach the Dark Crown.
• Xu Yuan accepts Xi as an ally but agrees to keep her existence secret. Xi leaves ahead of him for Yanmen, which she says is her territory and already entering the early stage of the Dark Ritual.
• At Clearheart Hall, Crown Prince Lu Qingxuan briefs officials and representatives about the approaching overlap between the Ninefold Nether and the Mortal World, the Yanmen passage, and a prophecy of a disaster that will kill a hundred million.
• He shows images of indestructible Black Pillars burning their captives to ash. The pillars appear at twelve-hour intervals, escalating from one victim to ten, then hundreds and thousands. The next is expected in human territory, with ten thousand victims.
• Xu Yuan realizes the Black Pillars have already risen and departed for the Outer Heavens. Xi has apparently killed enough beings to meet the prophecy’s total already. He urges the gathered leaders not to panic.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan moves from suspicion and alarm at Xi’s killing to recognizing her as a powerful, trustworthy ally. He remains cautious, concealing her from the political gathering and treating her abilities as a strategic secret.
• Xi shows both a lethal sense of justice and genuine devotion to Xu Yuan. Her pride in being “perfect” is matched by her eagerness for his acceptance and her resolve to protect him.
• Lu Qingxuan acts decisively as a leader, presenting the threat and pressing Xu Yuan to act, despite the uncertainty surrounding the prophecy.

Significant themes

• Justice and violence: Xi’s killings are framed as punishment for entrenched wrongdoing, raising the question of who has the right to judge and execute.
• Destiny, reward, and cosmic purpose: The Universe’s creation of Xi links Xu Yuan’s achievement to a larger struggle over humanity’s Ascension.
• Power and secrecy: Xu Yuan’s new advantage is valuable but dangerous, so he keeps Xi hidden amid political and supernatural uncertainty.
• Escalating catastrophe: The Black Pillars’ growing death toll creates urgency, even as Xu Yuan’s private knowledge suggests the foretold disaster may already have run its course.

Character interactions

• Xu Yuan challenges Xi about her killings, tests her knowledge and power, and ultimately accepts her. Xi responds with loyalty, explains her origins, and offers to protect him at Yanmen.
• Xu Yuan and Lu Qingxuan coordinate around the Yanmen crisis, though Xu Yuan withholds what he knows about Xi and the pillars.
• Lu Qingxuan’s presentation prompts an official to question the prophecy’s credibility; the projected images persuade the assembly of the threat’s seriousness.

Key plot points and events

• After reviewing the threat beyond Yanmen, the leaders conclude that only those who earned enough Merit in the first Yanmen—and became Vanguards—can pass through the Secret Passage. The four-person team that previously saved the city must investigate.
• Fu Xiuyi notices Xu Yuan is pale, sweating, and unsteady. She checks him and finds no injuries, only severe exhaustion from sword training and recent exertions. She tells him to avoid fighting and focus on scouting.
• Xu Yuan leads Yang Xiaobing, Jiang Xueyao, and Zhang Pengcheng into the other Yanmen, recording everything for observers outside. He activates the expanded “Team Battle” system, which manifests in Black Flame Bar as a protected safe zone with a shop and quest system.
• At the bar, the group learns that Xu Yuan is recognized as the “Prophet,” and that his Gold Coins can be used as currency there. They accept a commission to kill three monsters in the fog, for Spirit Stones and cultivation guidance.
• Since Xu Yuan is too weak to fight, his three companions leave to hunt while he remains at the bar to rest.
• Xi, Xu Yuan’s Attendant God, approaches him in public while pretending to be a stranger. They privately agree that she should appear influential and keep their connection secret. Her suggestive “Royal Salute” joke provokes an unexpectedly strong reaction from Lu Yiyi watching the recording: she crushes her throne’s armrest, while the officials pretend not to notice.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan is physically depleted after sealing the Old Gods, but his Team Battle ability proves more powerful than expected: it can establish a safe zone, enable trade, and generate quests. He accepts help and lets his teammates take the danger.
• Fu Xiuyi shows concern for Xu Yuan while also feeling proud of his training. She advises caution rather than pushing him into combat.
• Yang Xiaobing, Jiang Xueyao, and Zhang Pengcheng take protective roles, insisting Xu Yuan stay behind. They head into the fog together to complete the commission.
• Xi reveals strategic awareness, choosing a public persona that will help her influence others without exposing her bond with Xu Yuan.
• The Parrot recognizes Xu Yuan as the Prophet and demands a proper birdcage; Xu Yuan promises to provide one.
• Lu Yiyi reacts sharply—though silently and indirectly—to Xu Yuan and Xi’s exchange.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Xu Yuan’s extraordinary achievements coexist with physical weakness, forcing him to rely on others.
• Systems, ritual, and adaptation: The Team Battle system transforms a hostile place into a base for commerce, quests, and protection.
• Trust and concealed identities: Xi and Xu Yuan coordinate secretly while maintaining a convincing public façade.
• Tension beneath comedy: The bar’s banter and the “Royal Salute” joke contrast with the dangerous mission and the observers’ tightly controlled reactions.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan speaks with Xi at the Black Flame Bar while his companions hunt monsters. Xi discreetly weakens wounded monsters in an alley, making the hunt easy for them.
• After the group returns with the monster heads, Qianqian pays them and begins the promised cultivation guidance.
• Qianqian unblocks Zhang Pengcheng’s meridians, strengthening the elemental power of his Earth-Wind Spiritual Root. She passes Jiang Xueyao knowledge of a Thunder Imago and teaches Yang Xiaobing a rare, secret Talisman-making art suited to her talent.
• Qianqian gives Xu Yuan a special pill that restores Life Force. It grants him 3,999 points, but he immediately spends all of them upgrading his “Team Battle” ability.
• Xu Yuan realizes the Bar commission and its rewards were part of Team Battle’s power to turn real events into structured tasks. Qianqian offers the group another commission: find three missing ritual officiants.
• Xi recognizes that the officiants have already been rescued by her master, who used “Nibelung” to trap the Old Gods.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains unable to fight effectively, but his social connections and Team Battle ability continue to advance the group’s efforts. He also learns that he is regarded as the true Vanguard.
• Xi is friendly with Xu Yuan and quietly helps his companions, while keeping her involvement hidden. She regrets that the new missing-person commission may already be resolved.
• Qianqian rewards the group and offers personal, highly tailored instruction, showing both generosity and a practical interest in protecting her Bar.
• Zhang Pengcheng, Jiang Xueyao, and Yang Xiaobing each receive a major boost aligned with their abilities. They become absorbed in practicing or processing their new powers, leaving Xu Yuan and Qianqian to talk.
• Observers in the Imperial Palace interpret Xi’s assistance as evidence of Xu Yuan’s charm and tease him through the Spotlights. Xu Yuan rejects their suggestive expectations and uses the resulting power to improve his swordsmanship.

Significant themes

• Teamwork and earned rewards: The group’s shared work turns into real progress for each member.
• Talent and guidance: Qianqian helps each companion develop along the path best suited to them.
• Hidden assistance and appearances: Xi’s covert intervention makes the hunt easier, while outsiders draw their own conclusions about Xu Yuan’s relationships.
• Systematizing reality: Team Battle transforms real-world events into tasks and rewards, giving Xu Yuan a structured way to act.
• Recovery at a cost: Xu Yuan’s Life Force returns briefly, but is immediately consumed by his pursuit of a stronger ability.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan accepts Qianqian’s commission to find three missing Ritual Executors: a market Vendor, a Cook, and a Retainer. Their survival is vital to continuing the Dark Crown ritual, and they may be able to guide Xu Yuan’s companions through it.
• In the Ninefold Nether, Na Muluo frees the three from their shackles with Xu Jingchen’s help. The group repairs a damaged teleportation array using fragments they had kept, then returns to Yanmen. They explain that the Dark Crown ritual is an extraordinary trial and the Three Realms’ last chance for ascension, but refuse to reveal more.
• Xi senses the Ritual Executors at the city’s ancient temple and clears monsters from the route. Xu Yuan travels there with Jiang Xueyao, Yang Xiaobing, and Zhang Pengcheng, using his memorized map of the city to guide them.
• At the temple, the group finds the three cleaning the dusty hall. They recognize Xu Yuan as the sole Crown-Bearer, but he privately asks them not to reveal their past connection. When the others explain Qianqian wants them at the Black Flame Bar, the three readily agree and head back with the group.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan is newly energized by the possibility that the Ritual Executors can help his companions access the Crown’s realm. He keeps his history and identity as the Crown-Bearer concealed from them and presents himself as a bar worker.
• His companions take protective roles: Jiang Xueyao scouts, Zhang Pengcheng leads, and Yang Xiaobing shields Xu Yuan. They are impressed by his knowledge of the city, though puzzled by how easily the mission proceeds.
• Xi’s strength and loyalty become more apparent: she handles the monsters ahead of the group, allowing them to travel safely. Xu Yuan realizes how much easier her support makes his work.
• The Ritual Executors’ casual trust of Xu Yuan surprises the others. Their private recognition of him—and their knowledge of his extraordinary past—suggests they know far more than they say.

Significant themes

• The Dark Crown as a last hope: The ritual is framed as a potentially transformative chance for humanity and the Three Realms to escape the Immortal Species’ control.
• Hidden identities and shared history: Xu Yuan’s true status is concealed from his companions, while the Ritual Executors recognize him from an earlier encounter.
• Power and dependence: Xi’s growing strength shows how Xu Yuan’s own influence can empower those connected to him.
• Humor amid danger: The ominous, monster-filled city contrasts with the almost absurd ease of finding the Ritual Executors and their unquestioning acceptance of Xu Yuan’s cover story.

Key plot points and events

• The Vendor, Cook, and Retainer explain that the Jailer used Imprisonment to hide them in a dungeon before he died. They survived the ritual’s collapse and have now returned.
• A cool, elegant woman enters the bar. Her presence reassures the three ritual officials: she is an Attendant God, and the Lord of the Time Cage is nearby, so the Dark Crown Ritual can proceed.
• Qianqian offers the officials shelter at the bar in exchange for a share of their future ritual fees. She then welcomes humanity to Yanmen and explains that the four Vanguards’ arrival allowed others to enter.
• The Vanguards receive rewards:
  • Zhang Pengcheng wins the slot machine and trades his gold coins for the Law of Random Exchange, which lets his sword attacks swap randomly with stronger or weaker attacks.
  • Jiang Xueyao loses, but the officials frame her loss as good fortune: she avoids the gambling temptation and receives the Law of Helping Hands, which summons anyone who can assist her. She demonstrates it by calling help for a drink and then summoning armed warriors.
  • Yang Xiaobing refuses to gamble despite seeing the others’ powerful rewards. The officials praise her lack of attachment and identify her as an Innate Dao Seed. After she eats a cherry from the Cook’s cake, she receives the Law of Fusion, which can transform the rotten into the miraculous.
• Xu Yuan remains without a reward in this chapter, and the group’s reward ceremony appears unfinished.

Character developments

• Zhang Pengcheng is thrilled by his new Law and immediately tests it, realizing its potential to amplify his swordsmanship. He also recognizes how easily winning could tempt him into dangerous gambling.
• Jiang Xueyao accepts her Law with humility and gratitude, discovering that it can provide both practical help and combat support.
• Yang Xiaobing shows calm conviction by refusing to gamble, even when doing so might cost her a powerful reward. Her attitude earns the officials’ respect and a distinctive Law.
• Qianqian is hospitable but commercially sharp, negotiating a cut of the officials’ earnings while helping reunite and protect them.
• The Vendor, Cook, and Retainer shift from anxious survivors to guides and benefactors, interpreting each Vanguard’s choices and tailoring rewards accordingly.

Significant themes

• Temptation and restraint: The slot machine’s excitement disguises the danger of gambling; a win can encourage further risk, while refusing to play can itself be a kind of victory.
• Character shapes power: The Laws reflect the recipients’ dispositions and choices, not merely luck or strength.
• Merit and self-knowledge: The officials reward the Vanguards for qualities they demonstrate—ambition, humility, or freedom from attachment.
• Growth through uncertainty: The Laws begin weak or mysterious but can develop through continued participation in the ritual.

Character interactions

• Qianqian warmly reconnects with the officials, then negotiates with them and publicly welcomes the Vanguards.
• The officials guide the Vanguards through their rewards, with the Retainer explaining Jiang’s Law and the Cook recognizing Yang’s Dao nature.
• Zhang’s excitement prompts a warning about gambling, and he realizes that a lucky win could have drawn him into a perilous cycle.
• Xu Yuan supports Yang’s decision to try the ceremony, reassuring her before she eats the cake.

Plot points and events

• Yang Xiaobing tests the Fusion array by combining three daggers into a stronger, higher-grade weapon, then fuses Seeds into an ancient Demon Rain Tree Seed. Though Qianqian suggests she focus on Talismans, Xiaobing chooses to keep studying both Talismans and Spirit Plants.
• The three ritual officiants worry that Xu Yuan has already gained immense power and cannot safely receive another law. They tell him he is too exhausted for the ritual and promise to bestow a law once he has recovered. He accepts.
• Xi briefly considers killing Jiang Xueyao, whom she sees as a potential romantic rival, but changes her mind after witnessing Xueyao and Xiaobing cooperate to care for Xu Yuan.
• Xu Yuan’s Team Battle ability gains a new rule: it automatically creates a “Blank Historical Branch” to explain anything that would otherwise disrupt the world’s coherence.
• As black fog spreads outside, the group leaves the Bar and returns to ordinary Yanmen. Xi stays behind to investigate a disturbance in the void beyond the city.
• The Parrot reveals that beings from the Past Dimension are approaching and persuades Xi to remain overnight. Qianqian warmly welcomes her and offers her a permanent reserved suite.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Xiaobing shows confidence in following her own interests, while Qianqian recognizes that her earlier advice was overly pragmatic.
• Jiang Xueyao and Xiaobing demonstrate mutual trust and teamwork, combining emotional support and practical resources to help Xu Yuan recover.
• Xi displays possessiveness toward Xu Yuan but is capable of revising her plans when she sees the women supporting him together. Her decision to stay also reflects her role as his watcher and protector.
• Xu Yuan accepts the delayed reward without suspicion and relies on Xi’s judgment about the changing threat.
• The Parrot shows unusual awareness and authority at the Bar, while Qianqian quickly shifts from irritation to deference when he signals Xi’s importance.

Significant themes

• Choice versus pragmatism: Xiaobing chooses a broad path of study over a narrowly efficient one, and Qianqian respects that choice.
• Cooperation over rivalry: The women’s shared concern for Xu Yuan counters Xi’s assumption that they must compete.
• Power and vulnerability: Even a powerful figure like Xu Yuan must rest, and his allies must protect him while he recovers.
• A world adapting to its own rules: Team Battle’s new provision creates explanations for inconsistencies, further “gamifying” reality.
• Approaching danger: The Past Dimension’s advance and the strange fog suggest a larger threat beyond the Bar.

Key plot points and events

• The four students return from Yanmen to the Imperial Palace and demonstrate the powers they gained: Zhang Pengcheng turns a sword strike into a meteor, Jiang Xueyao summons two bronze figures to cast spells, and Yang Xiaobing fuses talismans into a powerful Azure Luan. Xu Yuan cannot yet display his law because his body is still recovering.
• Their demonstrations convince the assembled Cultivators that the new powers are real. Eager to obtain them, the factions argue over who should enter Yanmen first. Lu Qingxuan settles the dispute by arranging entry in groups by lot.
• Before leaving, Xu Yuan privately warns his mentor, Fu Xiuyi, that the students were rewarded for being the vanguard and that True Yanmen is dangerous and mysterious. He advises letting others scout first. Fu Xiuyi appreciates his caution but stays silent while the factions argue.
• The first group of fifteen prominent Cultivators reaches the Black Flame Bar, only to find it closed. They force their way inside and encounter a blood-lit bar, an absent Qianqian, and a parrot-headed monster chopping flesh behind the counter.
• The monster offers them rules in exchange for killing nearby monsters. It drinks two of the thirteen cups itself to prove the wine is safe, leaving eleven rewards. Faced with the risk of missing out, the Cultivators finally agree to the commission. One rushes out first.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan shows prudence rather than excitement, warning Fu Xiuyi that the apparent welcome in Yanmen may conceal danger.
• Fu Xiuyi trusts Xu Yuan’s judgment but chooses not to challenge the crowd while its members are consumed by competition.
• The Cultivators move from amazement at the students’ powers to intense jealousy and impatience, revealing how strongly the prospect of gaining rules drives them.
• Yang Xiaobing demonstrates ingenuity by treating talisman fusion like cooking: combining different ingredients produces a more powerful result.
• The parrot-headed monster manipulates the newcomers’ fear of missing out, using the dwindling cups to pressure them into accepting its task.

Significant themes

• Power and temptation: The promise of rules makes even experienced Cultivators willing to take risks.
• Caution versus ambition: Xu Yuan recognizes danger where others see only opportunity.
• Competition and scarcity: The limited cups turn cooperation into a race.
• Unknown dangers: Yanmen’s strange setting and the monster’s unsettling behavior suggest that its rewards may come with hidden costs.

Plot and events

• Several Cultivators exploit the Bird-Headed Monster’s offer, grabbing drinks without completing the Bar’s commissions. The Bar punishes them under the Law of Compensation, transforming them into tables and chairs that will repay their debt indefinitely through interest.
• A Cultivator who completes a commission receives the random Law of Trade Affinity. Unhappy that it is not combat-focused, he drinks additional glasses despite the warning and is turned into a wooden doll, then thrown into the fireplace. The monster says he might regain his original form only by matching the First Blood Saint’s feat of challenging and sealing the Nine Old Gods alone.
• The Bar reopens after a century, now furnished with its former patrons. The Bird-Headed Monster eagerly anticipates serving more customers.
• Back at Mount Luofu, Xu Yuan and Zhang Pengcheng reflect on the powerful Rules they have gained. Sun Changfei brings Xu Yuan Heaven-Mending Pills and leaves for the Imperial Palace, then Yanmen, where Luofu’s leaders are responding to a dangerous opportunity for their rivals.
• Xu Yuan realizes that the Bar’s apparently simple commission was made safe by Qianqian’s choice of task, Xi’s protection, and the Bar’s Team Battle Whisper—not by the task being easy. He also recalls that his own first Crown, “Lord of the Time Cage,” required extraordinary trials.
• Though the pills restore Xu Yuan’s Spiritual Power enough to cast a spell, his deeper exhaustion remains. He identifies the cause: his Path of the Blood Saint has stalled because an enemy he trapped in a time segment has somehow prevented him from completing a task in the past.
• Xi appears, and Xu Yuan says he must return to that past era to finish the crucial task. She agrees to accompany him.

Character developments and interactions

• The Cultivators’ greed and entitlement bring severe consequences: rule-breaking turns some into furniture, while reckless overconsumption turns another into a doll.
• Xu Yuan is thoughtful and cautious, recognizing that others may underestimate the danger of pursuing Rules. He appreciates Jiang Xueyao’s gift and is grateful to Sun Changfei and his master.
• Sun Changfei reveals that Luofu faces numerous enemies and that the Yanmen events may trigger a struggle for power.
• Xu Yuan and Xi’s relationship remains respectful and trusting: he invites her to join his journey, and she responds confidently that she can follow wherever he has been.

Significant themes

• Power and consequence: Rules offer tremendous rewards, but greed and disobedience carry lasting costs.
• Debt and exploitation: The Law of Compensation is built around interest, making repayment effectively endless.
• Appearances versus reality: A seemingly simple commission depended on hidden protections and help; true advancement demands far more than luck.
• Persistence and unfinished paths: Xu Yuan’s physical recovery cannot resolve a spiritual blockage, which stems from an unresolved task in the past.
• Political upheaval: The powerful Rules emerging at Yanmen threaten to destabilize the balance between Luofu and its enemies.

Key plot points and events

• Xu Yuan rests in his dorm while Xi guards him. In the early morning, Lu Qingxuan calls: another group entered the Yanmen bar after Xu Yuan’s team, but none returned. Xu Yuan agrees to come to the Imperial Palace after considering that his friends might otherwise be involved.
• At the palace, Fu Xiuyi presents Wang Junshen, president of West Mountain University. After obtaining the Law “Blood Debt,” Wang killed two people and was caught trying to flee. He claims the mist in Yanmen affected him; Fu confirms through Spirit Speech that he is telling the truth.
• Recalling that the mist outside the bar turned black at night—and remembering warnings from Qianqian and the Cook—Xu Yuan concludes Yanmen changes after dark. Xi confirms that a powerful, unknown presence is approaching through the void outside Yanmen.
• Xi explains that Yanmen’s night contains accumulated malice from countless past Dark Crown Rituals. The Old Gods stored this evil there to prevent humans from gaining Evil Laws. These Laws are stronger than ordinary ones and can overwhelm their users: Wang’s “Blood Debt,” once limited to returning damage, now returns it twofold and has taken over his mind. Xi warns that Wang will soon mutate and make the Evil contagious.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan shows caution and perceptiveness, piecing together clues from the mist’s color and others’ remarks. Though physically depleted, he accepts the risk of returning to Yanmen.
• Xi reveals both her protective devotion and the limits of her knowledge. She had kept watch over Xu Yuan and tried to prevent him from returning, eventually explaining the danger when pressed.
• Wang Junshen is revealed as a victim as well as a threat: he may sincerely have been affected by Yanmen’s mist, but his mind has been consumed by malice.
• Lu Qingxuan and Fu Xiuyi treat Xu Yuan as a valuable investigator, relying on his experience with Yanmen.

Significant themes

• Good and evil, day and night: Yanmen’s daytime offers ordinary Laws, while night brings accumulated, dangerous malice.
• Power’s cost: Stronger abilities can come at the price of a person’s judgment and control.
• Memory and inference: Xu Yuan’s attention to seemingly minor details helps uncover the larger threat.
• Protection and agency: Xi tries to shield Xu Yuan, while he insists on understanding the danger and choosing for himself.

Character interactions

• Xi’s intense protectiveness contrasts with Xu Yuan’s calm, practical approach; he coaxes her into revealing what she knows.
• Lu Qingxuan appeals to Xu Yuan’s unique experience, and Fu Xiuyi asks him to assess Wang.
• Xu Yuan questions Wang directly, then shares his observations with the gathered Cultivators, helping shift their attention toward Yanmen’s nighttime conditions.

Key plot points and events

• In the present, West Mountain University principal Wang Junshen, restrained in handcuffs, tells the gathered cultivators that the black mist’s influence weakens after leaving Yanmen and urges them to hold on to their identities. His account is mostly true but conceals the full danger.
• Xi explains to Xu Yuan that the mist is the Universe’s accumulated malice, capable of turning people toward destruction and stirring Inner Demons. Defeating this malice could let humans wield the powerful Malice Law—but Xi warns that humans cannot withstand it.
• Xu Yuan senses that his old “Competition,” Path of the Blood Saint, is approaching Yanmen from another Dimension. He realizes the Old Gods are making a past era overlap with the present and decides to enter the Competition.
• Xu Yuan takes control of his past self, Xu Jingchen, in the Torch Dragon Residence more than a decade earlier, just as he is beginning to help Yalita pursue her first Merit Points.
• Yaseline trusts Xu Jingchen with her Staff. He pawns it for 3,000 Merit Points, gives Yaseline 2,000, and keeps 1,000. Yaseline shares the money with Yalita, allowing both sisters to meet their Merit requirements and avoid being made slaves.
• The three celebrate over dinner. Their growing ease is interrupted when the Dark Crown Ritual’s malice spreads through the world, freezing everything and filling the Torch Dragon Residence with black mist.
• A message reveals that the Nine Old Gods are using their bodies’ malice to resonate with the Ritual and attack the Path of the Blood Saint. If Yalita fails to become a Blood Saint in the past, she will lose her standing in the present, forfeit what she gained, and be expelled from the Ritual—potentially freeing the Old Gods trapped in Nibelung. The announcement marks the start of the Competition.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan/Xu Jingchen shifts from observing the danger in Yanmen to taking direct action in the past. He is delighted to meet his earlier self and Yaseline, and uses their shared identity to guide events.
• Wang Junshen remains composed and reassuring, encouraging others to resist the mist, though his explanation omits the greater threat.
• Xi acts as Xu Yuan’s adviser, explaining the nature of the malice while warning him against confronting it.
• Yaseline shows perceptive judgment by recognizing that someone is obstructing the sisters’ efforts; despite Yalita’s doubts, she trusts Xu Jingchen to help.
• Yalita is initially wary and unfamiliar with life outside her prior circumstances, but Xu Jingchen’s help earns her gratitude and begins to build trust among the three.
• Xu Jingchen and Yaseline share an unspoken recognition when the malice arrives, signaling that both understand the danger more deeply than Yalita does.

Significant themes

• Identity and corruption: The black mist exploits inner darkness, making self-control and holding fast to one’s identity essential.
• Fate and causality: The Old Gods seek to alter the past so that Yalita’s future status—and Xu Yuan’s present gains—are undone.
• History and intervention: Xu Yuan’s ability to enter his past life turns the Competition into a struggle across time and Dimensions.
• Trust and mutual aid: Yaseline’s trust in Xu Jingchen and his practical help give the sisters a chance at freedom just before a much larger threat emerges.

Plot points and events

• Xu Yuan realizes that the black Malice is eroding the past, and that losing the Blood Saint’s path could rewrite history and undo the Dark Crown Ritual. He persuades Fu Xiuyi and the others to let him investigate with Wang Junshen, demonstrating his “disappearance” Law.
• At the Department Store, Wang’s remaining blood-debt Law attacks Xi after she kills him, but she survives. As Malice surrounds Xu Yuan, he explains that the threat is testing the Blood Saint of the present; Xi therefore returns to the past to help his earlier self.
• The Malice traps Xu Yuan in memories of high school bullying. When a classmate taunts him, he throws the boy out of a third-floor window, rejecting the test’s apparent attempt to provoke him through old suffering.
• In another past-era scene, Xu Yuan is challenged by two cultivators. Xi follows the threads controlling them to the Ninefold Nether, where she discovers an immense cocoon of Old God Malice corrupting people into extensions of its will.
• The controlled inhabitants attack Xu Yuan. Xi rushes back, fearing she has failed him, but finds the city’s people dead and Xu Yuan unharmed. A black figure confronts him, expecting guilt and despair.
• Xu Yuan recognizes that the Malice’s real tactic is to make him suffer for killing the corrupted people. Instead, he says the ordeal has freed him from the restraint he imposed on himself. He vows to keep trying ways to hurt the Old Gods—not from anger, but for pleasure.

Character developments

• Xu Yuan shows greater understanding of his own temperament and the Malice’s strategy. Rather than be manipulated by guilt or anger, he accepts the consequences of his actions and embraces his capacity for real-world violence.
• Xi remains fiercely loyal and protective, but her fear of being judged useless or abandoned briefly overwhelms her. She nevertheless finds the source of the corruption and returns to Xu Yuan.
• The black figure is confident that guilt and rage will weaken Xu Yuan, but is unsettled when its psychological attack has the opposite effect.

Significant themes

• Malice and the self: The trial exploits painful memories and moral guilt, but its power depends on making its target lose control of their identity.
• Agency and responsibility: Xu Yuan understands that he chose how to act and accepts the consequences, refusing to be trapped by remorse.
• Restraint versus release: He reflects on how he had confined his competitive, combative nature to games and avoided real conflict; the crisis gives him a sense of freedom.
• Loyalty and insecurity: Xi’s devotion is paired with anxiety about whether she has value to Xu Yuan.

Character interactions

• Xu Yuan gains the group’s approval by explaining his Law and proposing a joint investigation with Wang Junshen.
• He gives Xi clear instructions to help his past self, while insisting that his present self can face the trial alone.
• Xi’s report to Xu Yuan is subdued after she returns to find the city destroyed, while he remains calm and asks what she discovered.
• Xu Yuan’s final exchange with the black figure turns the expected contest of guilt into a direct promise of deliberate retaliation.

Key events

• The black fog recreates episodes from Xu Yuan’s school days, when classmates bullied him. Though he recognizes the scenes as memories, the Universe’s overwhelming will makes them feel real, and he cannot fight it directly.
• In the first replay, he repeats what he did originally: he threatens to drop a boy from a window, then pulls him back to safety. When the scene shifts to an attack in the restroom, he returns to bed and later retaliates by repeatedly forcing the bully’s head into a flushing toilet.
• The fog then revisits further assaults. Xu Yuan responds by attacking the bullies in their dorm and, later, ambushing two older students with a stone. He ends the final fight by declaring that it was only a childhood quarrel and should be over.
• Xu Yuan repeatedly asks the unseen force what it wants. At last, the fog reveals the ritual’s condition: during the ritual, he must attain Ascension by changing the past and doing better than he did then.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Yuan remains calm and observant despite the frightening power surrounding him. He trusts his instincts, but his responses to the bullying grow increasingly violent as the memories repeat.
• He recalls that the attacks once felt like an invitation to play: people usually had reasons for hurting others, but these classmates seemed to attack him without cause. He remembers the experience with excitement and even nostalgia, rather than resentment.
• The bullies mock and assault Xu Yuan; when he retaliates, one begs him to stop. Teachers and administrators appear in the recreated scenes but fail to prevent the abuse in time.
• Xu Yuan’s lack of hatred is central: despite his violent actions, he feels excitement, joy, and a desire for more—not malice.

Significant themes

• Malice versus violence: Xu Yuan commits violent acts, but the ritual tests for malice, and none arises in him.
• Memory and repetition: The fog makes the past real again, probing whether Xu Yuan will respond differently or develop resentment.
• Unusual interpretations of cruelty: Xu Yuan treats unjustified bullying as a rare opportunity for interaction, revealing a deeply unconventional outlook.
• Ritual and transformation: Because Xu Yuan withstands the Law of Malice without succumbing to evil, the ancient ritual advances to an unprecedented second stage. The newly revealed Coronation condition is to change what happened before and do better than he did in the past.