Chapter Summaries

Key events

• After returning to the Supreme True Realm, the protagonist and “Old Self” regroup. The protagonist pools the mission and preaching-Dharma rewards, reaching 1.2 billion experience points, then spends all of it on Qi Refining Limit-Breaking.
• With the help of Heaven Rewards Diligence, their cultivation rises from over 26,000 to 27,000 layers—a major gain that nonetheless highlights how costly further advancement has become.
• The protagonist reviews three newly acquired authorities:
  • Huanhai — Boundless Expanse: lets selected numerical attributes, such as attack power or divine ability strength, grow without limit. The protagonist considers it exceptionally useful in combat.
  • Myriad Things — Transformation and Body Becoming Myriad Things: allows transformation into other beings or temporarily replacing a world’s heaven. The protagonist judges it disappointing and redundant with existing abilities.
  • Heavenly Calamity: grants permanent access to fundamental calamity-related authorities, including decay, disorder, Dao collapse, and tribulation erosion. The protagonist sees this as powerful and useful both in battle and in improving the survival and cultivation prospects of Heavenly Gate disciples.
• As a bonus for their contribution to the group mission, the protagonist receives the complete Life Great Dao. They are annoyed that it is only one half of the Life and Death Great Dao, but place it in the Eternal Primordial Chaos Willow World to enrich its laws and help nurture a Spirit Transformation Dao Master.
• The chapter ends as the protagonist turns to the reward from their Golden Timed Mission: the ability to raise one chosen fruit position’s Dao attainment directly to Great True Lord (Nascent Soul Late Stage).

Character development and interactions

• The protagonist remains ambitious and pragmatic, weighing each reward by its usefulness and how it fits their larger plans. They are especially pleased by powers that expand combat potential or help them guide and protect their followers.
• Their reaction to the Myriad Things authority shows confidence in their existing abilities; they dismiss powers that feel limited or duplicative.
• The protagonist’s interaction with “Old Self” is brief: both return safely through their connection, after which the protagonist handles the rewards alone.

Significant themes

• The escalating cost of power: even enormous experience gains produce only modest progress at the protagonist’s advanced level.
• Practicality over prestige: the protagonist judges authorities by their real utility, not their impressive names.
• Power tied to responsibility: Heavenly Calamity is valuable not just for combat, but for reducing dangers faced by the protagonist’s followers.
• Incomplete attainment and future ambition: obtaining the Life Great Dao is a major reward, yet the protagonist immediately focuses on the missing Death Great Dao needed to complete the pair.

Key plot points and events

• The Simulated Clone declines to use a breakthrough reward, choosing to preserve it for Chen Fan’s original body and future clones. The reward would offer the Clone little combat benefit, and he does not know the methods needed to advance his existing fruit positions.
• Watching the simulation, Chen Fan reflects on the past “Zero,” who seemed to prolong a fight so Chen Fan could glimpse a mysterious existence beyond higher dimensions. The Clone’s memory of the sight was erased, but Zero’s parting question—“Did you… see it clearly?”—suggests he was addressing Chen Fan too.
• Chen Fan suspects the higher-dimensional world is not the ultimate reality: as Zero’s rank rose, reality became an ever-smaller point, while an immense corpse appeared at the heart of the mysterious vision. He has theories but no proof.
• At age thirty-two, the Clone’s “Herding All Beings” program continues. The Heavenly Calamity authority has reduced cultivation deaths among Heavenly Gate talents to one percent of their former level.
• The fastest cultivator, “Talented One Number One,” becomes the first to attain the Great Post Earth fruit position and reach Nascent Soul True Lord. The Clone postpones devouring him, hoping he can advance to Nascent Soul Middle Stage and become more valuable.
• The Clone plans to make this breakthrough cycle repeat: once the talent dies, the fruit position will be vacant for another cultivator. To prevent suspicion, he uses divine-sense manipulation and Heavenly Rule Inscription to make Heavenly Gate members accept both relentless cultivation and being harvested as “ascension.”
• At age thirty-three, no further talents attain fruit positions. By age thirty-five, two more succeed—one with Fire in the Furnace and one with Willow Wood—while Number One has made only one-fifth of the progress toward comprehending his Dao-Seeking Immortal Art.

Character developments and interactions

• The Simulated Clone shows loyalty and foresight by reserving a reward for Chen Fan, while remaining calculating and ruthless toward the talents under his control.
• Chen Fan grows increasingly wary of Zero’s motives and of the world’s layered realities, recognizing that the vision may point to a larger hidden scheme.
• The Heavenly Gate talents are treated as both protégés and resources: the Clone supports their breakthroughs but intends to devour them, using magical rules to shape their understanding of that fate.

Plot points and events

• Over nine years, Heavenly Gate disciples increasingly reached Golden Core perfection, but Nascent Soul remained difficult; some aspirants died. The protagonist devoured failed “talents,” gaining substantial cultivation gains.
• In Year 38, the foremost talent comprehended the Great Post Earth Dao-Seeking Immortal Art and reached mid-stage Nascent Soul. Devouring him sharply increased the protagonist’s limit-breaking levels, bringing Foundation Establishment to 11,000 layers.
• At that milestone, the protagonist again felt merged with heaven and earth, but sensed that something essential was missing. He also found that his accumulated “essence” appeared additive and now exceeded twice that of a Spirit Transformation Dao Master.
• Five talents became Nascent Soul True Lords in Year 39, followed by two more in Year 40. The protagonist expected the remaining fruit positions to be filled within a decade.
• The long-awaited third Future Letter appeared. It warned that everything was wrong and instructed the protagonist to go to the Gods and Devils Realms, find Past Li Ping, and have him correct matters before the Third Group Mission. The protagonist resolved to seek him there, recalling that Li Ping’s contingency was hidden in the deepest layer of space in the Human Realm.

Character developments and interactions

• The foremost talent’s comprehension-enhancing life-bound ability helped him master his immortal art sooner; the protagonist then devoured him and gained a major increase in power.
• Other disciples continued pursuing Nascent Soul, with five-element fruit positions proving easiest, followed by the Four Symbols; karma-system positions remained especially dangerous because of Karmic Law.
• Wang Hao and Li Ping had guessed that the protagonist’s hidden rainbow talent was aided by an Otherworldly Demon “grandpa.” Their theory was wrong: the nature of Ten Gates itself prevented anyone from knowing it.
• The Future Letter’s urgent appeal to Past Li Ping raises the possibility that something has gone wrong with Present Li Ping, though the cause remains unknown.

Significant themes

• The cost and difficulty of advancement: Even talented cultivators can fail or die pursuing higher realms.
• Power gained through others: The protagonist’s growth depends heavily on devouring the cultivators he cultivates.
• Limits of understanding: The protagonist senses a missing element in the world’s spiritual essence but cannot explain it.
• Uncertainty and fate: The Future Letter’s claim that “everything was wrong” challenges the protagonist’s confidence in his plans and makes finding Past Li Ping the new priority.

Chen Fan wants to reach Past Li Ping in the Gods and Devils Realms, hoping to learn something that may help prevent a catastrophe tied to the third group mission, seven years in the future. To contact him, Chen needs Li Ping’s golden entry, “the last supper.”
Li Ping agrees to let Chen use it—but only in exchange for one of Chen’s talents. He demands “I am the mastermind,” a talent Chen considers mostly useless because it works only once per simulation and only on someone of lower rank. Chen suspects a scheme and refuses, offering the much less valuable “Ascension” instead. Li Ping rejects the offer and threatens to block access to his past self.
Wang Hao backs Li Ping’s demand, making Chen more convinced that the two have joined forces. Chen tries to intimidate them by threatening to summon Zero, the powerful “Otherworldly Demon” who killed them during the previous mission. Wang Hao claims they have their own trump cards, but Chen privately knows he cannot summon Zero again yet: their mutual understanding is far too low. Li Ping also points out that killing him would not help Chen, since “the last supper” activates only if Li Ping chooses to trigger it or dies—and death might prevent Chen from meeting Past Li Ping at all.
Unable to force his way forward, Chen realizes a trade may be his only option. He asks Wu Yong for advice, but Wu Yong cannot predict Chen’s possible futures because of Chen’s unknown talents. Chen is left to decide for himself.
Character developments and interactions: Chen is anxious about the future but tries to conceal his uncertainty through bargaining and threats; he grows frustrated as those tactics fail. Li Ping is firm and guarded, using his control over the contingency to negotiate from strength. Wang Hao supports Li Ping and hints at hidden resources, reinforcing the pair’s apparent alliance. Wu Yong remains unable to help, leaving Chen isolated in the decision.
Themes: The scene emphasizes uncertainty about the future, the limits of coercion, and the strategic value of information and leverage. It also builds suspicion around the alliance between Li Ping and Wang Hao, while showing that even powerful characters can be constrained by rules, incomplete knowledge, and dependence on others.

Plot points

• The protagonist accepts Li Ping’s deal because the choice triggers no warning from I Am the Chess Player and does not seem likely to disrupt the simulation. They agree to meet in person and add a condition: the protagonist’s next use of Investment must target Li Ping.
• Using the authority of Immortal-Settling Journey, the protagonist sends an “other self” to the Gods and Devils Realms rather than risking their original body.
• The protagonist transfers I Am the Mastermind to Li Ping through Supreme God’s Game. Li Ping then freezes the Human, Demon, and Divine Realms, causing their many worlds to appear.
• The Last Supper activates and delivers a vast memory to the protagonist. It shows one Supreme Existence fighting nine others across several eras, ultimately shattering the Human Realm. The lone survivor remains above the ruined world.
• The memory’s timing catches up with the present, revealing that the survivor is Li Ping in the past.

Character developments and interactions

• The protagonist acts cautiously, using a remote self to meet Li Ping and relying on the possibility of other trump cards as leverage if Li Ping breaks the deal.
• Li Ping appears eager to complete the exchange, readily accepting the condition and taking the transferred talent. His power over the realms is demonstrated immediately.
• The revelation recasts Li Ping as a figure with an immense and devastating past: he once faced nine Supreme Existences and survived their conflict.

Significant themes

• Trust and calculated risk: The deal rests less on faith than on safeguards, incentives, and deterrence.
• Power and scale: A single Supreme being’s battle can reshape or destroy entire realms.
• Memory and identity: A vision from the past reveals a startling connection between present-day Li Ping and the ancient survivor.
• Simulation and agency: The protagonist weighs choices through system warnings and simulation consequences, while still making deliberate strategic moves.

Plot and events

• Chen Fan meets Past Li Ping through the memory scene created by [The Last Supper]. Past Li Ping recognizes him as the Chat Group’s leader and realizes Chen Fan deliberately activated the contingency.
• Chen Fan explains that his future self’s third letter instructed him to find Li Ping, though it gave no reason. He describes his ability to see an unalterable, highest-priority future and shares the letter’s contents.
• After verifying Chen Fan’s claim, Past Li Ping agrees to stay in contact until the unusual change mentioned in the letter arrives. Chen Fan leaves the God-and-Devil Realms, planning to revisit Li Ping when [Investment] finishes cooling down.
• At age forty-one, a Heavenly Gate prodigy becomes a Nascent Soul True Lord by attaining the rare Karma-system [Fixed Lunar Position], aided by a Karma-type major divine ability.
• Past Li Ping witnesses Chen Fan’s plan to “herd all living beings” and condemns its ruthless methods. Chen Fan does not press him on why he objects.
• Chen Fan’s [Listening] yields no useful information throughout the year. At its end, [Investment] finishes cooling down.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan is direct about his uncertainty and relies on the future letter rather than pretending to know his purpose. He remains pragmatic about morally harsh strategies and keeps pursuing Li Ping as a valuable investment target.
• Past Li Ping appears far more imposing and contradictory than Chen Fan expected: powerful and oppressive, yet perceptive and cautious. He verifies Chen Fan’s account before agreeing to cooperate, while showing strong moral distaste for Chen Fan’s methods.
• Their relationship shifts into a tentative, information-based alliance: they agree to maintain contact but postpone further action until the predicted change occurs.

Significant themes

• Predestination and uncertainty: Chen Fan can see an unalterable future, yet does not understand the reason behind its instructions.
• Schemes, trust, and verification: Both men recognize the danger of contingencies and proceed cautiously.
• Moral compromise: Chen Fan treats ruthless population-wide manipulation as a practical response to the state of the world, while Li Ping rejects it.
• Power and talent: The prodigy’s rare ability enables an exceptional breakthrough, underscoring how special powers shape advancement.

Plot points and events

• The protagonist’s “Other Self” visits Li Ping in the Gods and Devils Realms to complete their planned transaction.
• Choosing between a strand of Primordial Purple Qi and a Golden Class Card, the protagonist gives Li Ping the Purple Qi. He keeps the card back, fearing Li Ping might use it to obtain a powerful class exclusive to the realm.
• The Investment talent returns a wisp of Primordial Dao Qi, a hundred-millionfold reward.
• Its description says it is a necessary condition for advancing beyond the end of the Dao, but the protagonist cannot determine exactly what that means or how it relates to Sages, Supreme Existences, and higher realms.
• Li Ping asks what the protagonist received. Instead of answering, the protagonist asks whether Li Ping knows what “the end of the Dao” is.
• Li Ping proposes a Question-and-Answer Game: each may ask one question, refuse to answer, but must not lie. The protagonist accepts, hoping to gain information after a year of fruitless conversation.

Character developments and interactions

• The protagonist shows caution by withholding the Golden Class Card, but is willing to risk the game because he needs answers. The Primordial Dao Qi raises the possibility of a new level of power, while its vague description leaves him uncertain.
• Li Ping remains enigmatic. He accepts the Purple Qi, asks about the protagonist’s reward, and uses his immense power to freeze the realm before proposing the game. He appears intent on probing the protagonist, but may also have information the protagonist needs.
• Their exchange shifts from a straightforward transaction to a tense contest of questions, with both aware that the other may be withholding crucial knowledge.

Significant themes

• Power and advancement: The chapter introduces a possible route beyond established realms through Primordial Dao Qi.
• Trust, secrecy, and strategic caution: Both characters seek knowledge while concealing what they know.
• Knowledge as a contest: The Question-and-Answer Game turns their relationship into a test of honesty and leverage.

Key plot points

• The narrator agrees to Li Ping’s question-and-answer game, reasoning that the main body’s simulation-choice ability has not activated and that the game can be ended by refusing to answer.
• The narrator asks what “transcendence” means. Li Ping explains that it is not a higher realm, but having found a path toward one; a transcendent can still be weaker than a higher-dimensional being.
• Li Ping asks what the narrator received after investing primordial purple qi in him. The narrator answers: a wisp of primordial dao qi. Li Ping and his past self are visibly surprised.
• Asked what lies at the “end of the Dao,” Li Ping says that, in the Supreme True Realm, it means a realm above Nascent Soul True Lord—but initially refuses to clarify.
• The narrator explains their purpose in meeting Li Ping’s past self: an ability lets them foresee the highest-priority future, which other beings cannot alter. They withhold the contents of the third future letter.
• Pressed for specifics, Li Ping reveals that Spirit Transformation Dao Master is not the true realm above Nascent Soul True Lord. It is an alternative route—a borrowed attunement to a higher rank, much like comparable beings in other worlds.
• The narrator realizes this explains why killing Spirit Transformation Dao Masters in past simulations yielded fruit positions and divine abilities, but no Great Dao. They begin to question whether supreme and higher-dimensional ranks might also be less genuine than they seem, though they lack enough evidence.

Character developments and interactions

• The narrator moves from guarded curiosity to profound shock as their understanding of the Supreme True Realm collapses. They bargain for the right to ask first, challenge Li Ping’s evasiveness, and reveal only part of what they know.
• Li Ping remains cryptic but gives increasingly consequential answers. His surprise at the primordial dao qi suggests the narrator’s investment produced something more significant than a normal breakthrough aid. He also claims to have learned of the narrator’s past simulations through an entry.
• Their exchange is cautious and strategic: each probes the other’s knowledge, while the narrator keeps an important future detail secret and Li Ping uses the game to uncover the narrator’s motives.

Significant themes

• True advancement versus borrowed power: Apparent realms may be shortcuts or borrowed rank rather than genuine attainment.
• The limits of knowledge: Li Ping’s hints force the narrator to reconsider established assumptions, while leaving the ultimate hierarchy unresolved.
• Trust, secrecy, and strategic disclosure: The question-and-answer format creates a controlled contest in which both characters reveal only what they choose.
• The instability of certainty: A revelation about Spirit Transformation makes even supreme and higher-dimensional levels seem potentially suspect.

Key plot points

• Li Ping’s third question asks about the protagonist’s rainbow talent, Ten Gates. The protagonist refuses, ending the question game.
• The protagonist concludes that Li Ping’s real purpose was to reveal the unsettling truth that “Spirit Transformation is not Spirit Transformation.” Li Ping then restores movement in the Gods and Devils Realms and sends the protagonist’s other self away.
• Returning to the Supreme True Realm, the protagonist analyzes earlier clues: Past Zero may have been a Supreme Existence rather than a higher-dimensional being, and the supposed higher-dimensional realm may not be real.
• Seeking confirmation, the protagonist activates the Damaged Spacetime Token to contact Senior Lin Feng. Lin Feng warns that learning the truth is forbidden knowledge that can attract the attention of a terrifying taboo existence.
• The protagonist points out that Li Ping and Wang Hao know the same secret without apparent consequences. This suggests the entity has not targeted the protagonist yet—perhaps because the Primordial Chaos Bell protects them. But that possibility raises a further worry: why has the Simulator’s intervention not activated?

Character developments and interactions

• The protagonist becomes more perceptive, recognizing Li Ping’s question as a deliberate signal, but remains cautious about revealing the secret of Ten Gates. Their search for confirmation quickly turns into fear about the danger of knowing too much.
• Li Ping appears to have engineered the question game to make the protagonist confront forbidden truth, then ends the exchange without explaining further.
• Senior Lin Feng confirms the danger of the knowledge but offers only limited clarification, leaving the protagonist to connect the implications.
• Li Ping and Wang Hao serve as evidence that knowing the secret does not automatically mean the taboo entity will target someone.

Significant themes

• Truth as danger: Some knowledge may itself draw the attention of a powerful entity.
• Uncertainty and false assumptions: The protagonist questions whether familiar realms and labels—especially Spirit Transformation and the higher dimension—are real.
• Protection and hidden mechanisms: The Primordial Chaos Bell may shield the protagonist, but the unexplained lack of Simulator intervention complicates that theory.
• Strategic disclosure: Li Ping reveals enough to change the protagonist’s understanding while withholding answers and provoking further investigation.

Key events

• Lin Feng explains that a powerful, unnamed existence usually takes notice only when someone breaks through beyond the Nascent Soul True Lord realm. Li Ping and Wang Hao may deliberately keep their cultivation below that threshold to avoid attracting its attention.
• Lin Feng suspects Li Ping was hinting at the danger so the protagonist would ask about it—and may be preparing to offer a deal involving a way to evade that being’s notice.
• The protagonist asks whether realms beyond the Nascent Soul True Lord are real. Lin Feng says that, by the protagonist’s borrowed-rank framework, Spirit Transformation Dao Masters, Supreme Existences, and even higher-dimensional beings are all “false,” though the higher-dimensional level is far more complicated than a simple true-or-false distinction.
• Lin Feng reveals that Supreme Existences—called Half-Immortals in the Supreme True Realm—cannot leave the worlds they inhabit. The protagonist connects this to the Primordial World’s Sages and the restriction on using primordial purple qi.
• The protagonist concludes that Supreme Existences borrow the rank of Heaven and Earth itself. Their “authority” is likely Heaven and Earth’s authority: killing one yields only authority fragments, not full authority. They are empowered by, but bound to, the world they draw upon.
• Lin Feng warns that the higher-dimensional level involves many beings, including the unnamed existence, and that the protagonist must not discuss their theories openly.

Character developments and interactions

• The protagonist shifts from wondering whether Li Ping is plotting against them to considering that he may be offering a strategic warning or laying groundwork for a future bargain.
• The protagonist’s understanding of cosmic power changes dramatically: Supreme Existences are not wholly independent, but tethered to the worlds whose authority they wield.
• Lin Feng acts as a guarded mentor, answering carefully while withholding details about higher-dimensional beings. The protagonist recognizes the warning and does not press him further.

Significant themes

• Truth and illusion: The boundaries between real and false depend on the framework used to judge them.
• Power and its price: Advancing beyond a certain threshold may draw lethal attention; supreme power also comes with binding limits.
• Knowledge and secrecy: Even forming theories about higher-dimensional powers may be dangerous.
• World-bound authority: Supreme Existences gain authority from Heaven and Earth, but that dependence restricts their freedom.

Key plot points and events

• As the Spacetime Token’s brief contact with Senior Lin Feng ends, the narrator asks about his true strength and whether he has fought the being who sealed off realms beyond Nascent Soul.
• Lin Feng declares that only the Supreme Immortal is worthy of being compared with him. The claim leaves the narrator reassured, though Lin Feng’s actual power remains unclear.
• Outside the simulation, Chen Fan is shaken by what he has learned: “Spirit Transformation” and higher realms may not be genuine stages of cultivation, but borrowed authority or rank manipulated by powerful beings.
• Chen Fan concludes that the taboo being deliberately blocked advancement beyond Nascent Soul, keeping potential challengers contained and under control.
• Recalling Past Zero and an immense corpse associated with the end of existence, Chen Fan forms a theory: higher-dimensional beings borrow their rank from that corpse. Their power depends on how much of its rank they access and how close they are to it.
• The narrator tells Zero about recent events. Zero responds only with a smile, leaving the narrator unsure whether Zero is also scheming.
• Convinced that the world is full of hidden plots, the narrator resolves to survive and become a schemer himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shifts from curiosity about powerful figures to deep suspicion of the entire cultivation hierarchy. He makes a major deduction about the source of higher-dimensional power and adopts survival—and eventual cunning—as his strategy.
• The narrator gains confidence from Lin Feng’s boast but becomes increasingly paranoid after hearing Chen Fan’s deductions. He shares his experiences with Zero and distrusts Zero’s silence.
• Senior Lin Feng presents himself with overwhelming confidence, claiming that only the Supreme Immortal can rival him.
• Zero remains enigmatic, offering no explanation and perhaps appearing to the narrator as another hidden schemer.

Significant themes

• Power and deception: Even seemingly absolute realms may be constructed through manipulation.
• Control and exploitation: Powerful beings may restrict advancement and treat living beings as pieces in a larger game.
• Uncertain reality: Cultivation ranks and higher dimensions may be borrowed or artificial rather than genuine.
• Survival through suspicion: In a world of concealed agendas, the characters conclude that caution and cunning are essential.

Key plot points and events

• Li Ping’s hidden purpose is revealed: he has a golden entry that can shield someone from a powerful existence’s perception and let them advance beyond its “sealing.” He anticipated that the protagonist would consult Lin Feng about this. The protagonist decides not to contact Li Ping yet, since reaching that level is still far off.
• Over the following years, the protagonist’s Herding All Beings program steadily produces Nascent Soul True Lords. The Fate Demon Dice’s increasingly powerful boost accelerates the rate at which beings claim fruit positions.
• Several True Lords advance to the Nascent Soul middle stage after comprehending Dao-Seeking Immortal Arts. The protagonist immediately devours them, gaining major cultivation increases: by age 44, reaching 27,800 Qi Refining limit-breaking layers and 14,000 Foundation Establishment layers.
• By age 45, every fruit position has been claimed and all have produced Nascent Soul True Lords—earlier than expected. However, no one advances to the middle stage that year, slowing the protagonist’s gains.
• Past Li Ping remains withdrawn, repairing the Human Realm and repeatedly calculating something. The protagonist also contacts Lin Feng in the past and Mo Wuyou in the future, but Mo is still too weak to help, so the protagonist arranges opportunities for him.

Character developments and interactions

• The protagonist grows stronger by exploiting the True Lords created through the Heavenly Gate, while continuing to investigate the nature of cultivation and the world’s rules.
• Li Ping appears increasingly secretive: he has a way to evade the powerful being’s perception and seems to be pursuing an undisclosed plan.
• The Heavenly Gate’s cultivators progress rapidly, with all fruit positions filled, though middle-stage breakthroughs become less frequent.
• Mo Wuyou remains weak in the future; the protagonist takes a supportive role by setting up future opportunities for him.
• The protagonist’s contact with Lin Feng in the past continues, but no new decisive information is reported.

Significant themes

• Hidden schemes and surveillance: Li Ping has secretly observed the protagonist’s conversations, while the powerful existence’s influence remains difficult to detect.
• Power through cultivation—and exploitation: The protagonist’s advancement depends on cultivating others into True Lords, then devouring those who reach a higher stage.
• Uncertainty about cosmic rules: The protagonist suspects that “incomplete heaven and earth” may be linked to Supreme Existences borrowing the world’s rank and authority, but the theory remains unconfirmed.
• Patience and long-term planning: The protagonist postpones confronting Li Ping, supports Mo Wuyou’s future, and continues building toward distant cultivation milestones.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan repeatedly questions Senior Lin Feng about Lin Feng, Li Ping, and Wang Hao’s past, but learns only that they once fought with spells; Lin Feng offers no new insight into their abilities.
• In Year 46, three Nascent Soul Middle Stage True Lords appear. Chen Fan captures and refines them, raising his Qi Refining limit-breaking to 29,500 layers and Foundation Establishment limit-breaking to 15,500 layers.
• Chen Fan remains troubled by the Third Future Letter’s warning that “everything is wrong” and that he must find Past Li Ping in the Gods and Devils Realms. He has found Li Ping but cannot determine what needs correcting.
• In Year 47, the third group mission is announced, set to begin in 24 hours. Chen Fan suspects Li Ping and Wang Hao are involved in a scheme. Wang Hao openly confirms he is scheming, while Li Ping teases Chen Fan.
• Wu Yong says he cannot predict the mission without paying a significant cost and claims not to know what will happen. Chen Fan gives up on expecting useful help from him.
• Chen Fan checks the mission options. The first, “Primordial Beginning,” describes a reality-shaping origin force tied to the beginnings of all worlds, and its immense scale astonishes him.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan grows far stronger by refining True Lords, but his power does not resolve the mystery surrounding the mission. He becomes increasingly wary of Li Ping and Wang Hao and frustrated with Wu Yong’s neutrality.
• Wang Hao admits outright that he is scheming, though his joking tone leaves his intentions unclear.
• Li Ping teases Chen Fan and prompts him to acknowledge that the long-awaited mission has arrived.
• Wu Yong remains a detached, unreliable source of information, unable—or unwilling—to offer a useful forecast.
• Senior Lin Feng provides little help beyond recalling his past spell-based conflict with Li Ping and Wang Hao.

Significant themes

• Power through cultivation and sacrifice: Chen Fan’s rapid advancement comes from consuming powerful cultivators.
• Uncertainty and manipulation: The future letter, the mission’s unknown purpose, and the other group members’ schemes keep Chen Fan unsure of what is true.
• Limits of foresight and information: Even powerful or supposedly knowledgeable figures cannot explain what lies ahead.
• Cosmic scale: The “Primordial Beginning” mission introduces a force portrayed as transcending ordinary concepts of time, space, and the Dao.

The protagonist reviews three possible group-mission worlds. The first, Primordial Dao Love, is so powerful and dangerous that its difficulty, requirements, and rewards are all listed as unknown; the protagonist decides it would likely be fatal to enter.
The second option is Supreme Martial Arts World, which appears earlier than expected, suggesting the previously listed Weird Weird Weird mission may have been removed because it did not meet the group mission’s apparent difficulty threshold. The world offers a reward of primordial purple qi and requires overthrowing the Great Qian Dynasty. But it is closely tied to Li Ping, and the protagonist suspects he has prepared dangerous contingencies there. The protagonist also recalls surviving a previous visit only with Zero’s Past Shadow ability, making this choice seem especially risky.
The final option is Gods and Devils Realms—an ancient, immense world that should not ordinarily have appeared as a mission. Its objective is to destroy the Human, Demon, and Divine Realms; its difficulty is SS, and the reward is everything belonging to a Supreme Existence. The protagonist remembers that the same world appeared in an earlier simulation with a lower difficulty and a lesser reward, and is alarmed by the change. Its appearance also raises the frightening possibility that the Chat Group could one day turn the protagonist’s own world into a mission destination.
Character development and interactions: The protagonist grows increasingly wary of the Chat Group and of the influence Wang Hao and Li Ping may have over mission selection. Both remaining options are linked to Li Ping, whom the protagonist believes may have planted traps or contingencies, though his continued survival makes the appearance of his world as a mission hard to explain.
Themes: The chapter emphasizes escalating, unpredictable danger; the limits of the protagonist’s understanding and power; and the potentially catastrophic reach of the Chat Group. The protagonist ends with two perilous choices and no clear safe path.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan notices that [Gods and Devils Realms] is one of the worlds available for the third group mission. He asks Li Ping about it, but Li Ping misunderstands the question as an insult and reveals nothing useful.
• Chen Fan asks Past Li Ping for advice. Past Li Ping recommends [Gods and Devils Realms], but refuses to explain why, making Chen Fan suspicious.
• Seeking a second opinion, Chen Fan consults Zero, who advises choosing [Supreme Martial Arts World] instead.
• Zero explains that an Otherworldly Demon’s native world may contain beings capable of rivaling that demon. Since [Gods and Devils Realms] is Li Ping’s native world, it may pose unpredictable dangers.
• Zero also reveals that [Supreme True Realm] once produced a Dao Child to challenge each Otherworldly Demon. But because heaven and earth are now incomplete, it can no longer produce them; Otherworldly Demons have become the dominant force.
• Troubled by the implications—and convinced Past Li Ping’s recommendation is malicious—Chen Fan decides to follow Zero’s advice and select [Supreme Martial Arts World].
• Just as he prepares to confirm his choice, an unknown voice stops him and asks whether he is about to make “the worst possible choice.”

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan grows more cautious, weighing competing advice rather than acting immediately. He trusts Zero more than Past Li Ping, whose interests may conflict with his.
• Li Ping appears uninformed about the mission-world selection, though his brief exchange with Chen Fan does not resolve the mystery.
• Past Li Ping gives cryptic advice that deepens Chen Fan’s distrust.
• Zero acts as a knowledgeable adviser, explaining the dangers of native worlds and the history of Dao Children, but withholds some details.
• The chapter ends on a cliffhanger as an unidentified speaker challenges Chen Fan’s decision.

Significant themes

• Trust and conflicting advice: Chen Fan must decide whose motives and knowledge to rely on.
• Hidden dangers and fate: A seemingly suitable mission world may contain powerful rivals or unforeseen threats.
• A changed cosmic order: The incomplete state of heaven and earth has disrupted the balance that once produced challengers to Otherworldly Demons.
• Uncertainty: Even after receiving guidance, Chen Fan cannot be sure which choice is truly safe.

Key plot points and events

• The protagonist considers choosing Gods and Devils Realms for the third group mission, but Past Li Ping urgently warns that doing so would lead to the disastrous ending described in the Third Future Letter.
• Past Li Ping says his Omniscience let him learn about the protagonist’s second group mission and argues that Zero’s assistance may conceal an ulterior motive. He suspects Zero has influenced the protagonist into choosing Supreme Martial Arts World.
• The protagonist challenges Past Li Ping’s warning, given how often Li Ping’s clone previously schemed against them. Past Li Ping presses the protagonist to notice something amiss, but cannot explain why their I Am the Chess Player talent did not protect them from possible influence.
• Past Li Ping identifies the danger: Gods and Devils Realms can become a group-mission world only after its native Chat Group member dies. In the second future simulation, the world appeared as a mission world because Past Li Ping manipulated the system after the present Li Ping had already fallen.
• The protagonist recalls the system notification about Li Ping’s death and realizes the implication:

Present Li Ping may have been dead for a long time.

Character developments and interactions

• The protagonist shifts from suspicion of Past Li Ping to listening cautiously, while still questioning his motives and using their knowledge of the past to challenge him.
• Past Li Ping, initially aloof, becomes actively protective and reveals how much he knows about the protagonist’s future and the Chat Group’s rules. His warning suggests his scheming may now be aimed at preventing catastrophe.
• Zero’s role becomes more ambiguous: he has helped the protagonist, but Past Li Ping frames that help as potentially manipulative.
• The protagonist’s final question marks a major revelation about the fate of Present Li Ping.

Significant themes

• Trust and manipulation: Assistance and warnings alike may hide ulterior motives.
• Fate and foreknowledge: The Future Letter and past simulations offer clues, but understanding them may not prevent disaster.
• Death and consequences: A member’s death can change the status of their world and make it available for group missions.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Even an apparently omniscient schemer cannot explain everything, and the protagonist must piece together the truth from conflicting accounts.

Plot points

• Past Li Ping claims the present Li Ping has already fallen, though the Chat Group has not marked him dead. He says his Golden Entry, The Last Supper, can project this past-memory scene only if his present self has fallen.
• He explains that he delayed sharing this because he needed time to identify whom the apparent trap targeted. The Third Group Mission, and the arrival of Gods and Devils Realms, convinced him the target is himself.
• Past Li Ping accuses Zero of orchestrating the trap and possibly replacing present Li Ping. The narrator challenges his evidence and suggests the realm’s appearance could instead be part of Li Ping’s own scheme.
• Past Li Ping invokes the future letter’s claim that “only I can change everything,” then reveals that his argument is directed not at the simulated narrator but at Chen Fan outside the Simulator: he is offering Chen Fan a choice.
• The Simulator’s intervention prompt appears. Chen Fan can either trust Past Li Ping and choose Gods and Devils Realms, changing the simulation’s course, or trust Zero and choose Supreme Martial Arts World, changing its ending. Neither choice seems likely to make the simulated clone fall immediately.

Character developments and interactions

• Past Li Ping presents himself as composed and certain, but his explanation remains difficult to verify. He shifts from persuading the narrator to deliberately influencing Chen Fan’s decision outside the simulation.
• The narrator remains skeptical, questioning both the evidence and Li Ping’s motives, but begins to consider that Li Ping may be telling the truth.
• Chen Fan becomes responsible for the pivotal choice and finds the situation intriguing rather than immediately decisive.
• The exchanges are chiefly a tense interrogation: the narrator presses Li Ping’s claims, while Li Ping answers with increasingly consequential revelations.

Significant themes

• Trust and uncertainty: The characters must choose between competing explanations without conclusive proof.
• Identity and replacement: The possibility that present Li Ping is dead or has been replaced destabilizes what the Chat Group’s status checks can be trusted to mean.
• Manipulation and agency: Past Li Ping’s “choice” may itself be part of a scheme, while the Simulator gives Chen Fan power to redirect events.
• Fate versus intervention: The future letter and simulation mechanics suggest established outcomes, yet the choice can radically alter the story’s course or ending.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan concludes that the Simulated Clone is being influenced by Zero, not Past Li Ping. The clone’s unquestioning obedience to Zero seems unnatural, while the Simulator’s future-letter talent says Past Li Ping is the only one who can set things right.
• Chen Fan considers why [I Am the Chess Player] did not activate. He favors the idea that Zero’s scheme was aimed at Past Li Ping rather than the clone—but suspects the Third Future Letter may mean Zero was actually manipulating the clone, too.
• He reasons that Zero replaced Present Li Ping during the Second Group Mission, yet later allowed the clone to seek Past Li Ping and demanded [I Am the Mastermind] in exchange. Chen Fan suspects Past Li Ping may have recognized Present Li Ping’s death and understood Zero’s scheme from the start.
• Concluding that both the clone and Past Li Ping may be targets, Chen Fan chooses to trust Past Li Ping.
• The simulation reveals that the clone had been compelled to reject Past Li Ping and select the Gods and Devils Realms for the Third Group Mission. Chen Fan’s intervention overrides that compulsion, and the clone realizes his thoughts may have been manipulated.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan moves from suspicion and analysis to decisive trust in Past Li Ping, using the Simulator’s intervention to change the clone’s choice.
• The Simulated Clone realizes that his resistance to Past Li Ping—and his conflicting mission choice—may not have been his own.
• Past Li Ping emerges as a possible ally who may have understood Zero’s actions early.
• Zero is presented as a concealed manipulator who may have replaced Present Li Ping and influenced the clone, while also maneuvering around Past Li Ping.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and agency: The clone’s sudden compulsion raises doubts about whether his decisions are truly his own.
• Trust under uncertainty: Chen Fan must choose between conflicting evidence and decide whether Past Li Ping can be relied upon.
• Schemes and counter-schemes: Zero’s apparent plan, Past Li Ping’s possible awareness, and Chen Fan’s intervention form layers of strategic deception.
• Selfhood and divided perspective: The clone recognizes that his outside “original self” is still him, yet has chosen differently—suggesting an external influence has altered his judgment.

Plot and key events

• The protagonist confronts Zero inside Rainbow Talent: Ten Gates, accusing them of using the eerie Clown Mask or Past Shadow to influence him. He suspects Zero’s subtle influence may be part of a larger scheme involving Past Li Ping.
• Zero admits to setting up a game and using the protagonist, but refuses to explain their ultimate purpose. They clarify that Purple Talent: I Am the Mastermind is meant to stop the protagonist from using it against Zero—and to verify something they will not disclose.
• With the Third Group Mission less than a day away, the protagonist waits. His Golden Talent: Listening then delivers an unusually valuable eight-ring intelligence revelation.
• Past Li Ping had already noticed that Present Li Ping had changed and was waiting for the protagonist to activate The Last Supper. Past Li Ping planned to use Omnipotence to bring the Gods and Devils Realms into the Third Group Mission, where he could reveal the preparations he had made there.
• The protagonist realizes that the Third Future Letter effectively guarantees he will go to those realms, triggering Past Li Ping’s plan. This also explains why Zero did not try to stop him—and why Zero may have gained a Purple Talent through their arrangement.

Character developments and interactions

• The protagonist grows more suspicious of Zero, recognizing that Zero’s influence was deliberate but unusually restrained. He leaves without getting answers, frustrated but aware that Zero may have provided useful help.
• Zero remains composed and evasive, openly acknowledging their manipulation while withholding their real objective.
• Past Li Ping emerges as a patient planner with long-prepared contingencies. The protagonist now sees that the coming mission may expose both Past Li Ping’s preparations and Zero’s intentions.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and hidden agendas: Characters use one another while concealing their broader aims.
• Fate and inevitability: The Third Future Letter makes the protagonist’s journey—and the triggering of Past Li Ping’s plan—seem unavoidable.
• Strategic patience: Both Zero and Past Li Ping appear to have been preparing for this confrontation long before the protagonist understood the stakes.

Plot points and events

• The third Chat Group mission begins: destroy the Human, Demon, and Divine Realms. Its difficulty is SS, and the reward is everything belonging to a Supreme Existence.
• Chen Fan enters the Human Realm disguised as “Old Self,” avoiding the gaze of a higher-dimensional being, then retreats to the Supreme True Realm while his other self scouts.
• Present Li Ping is missing. Wang Hao implies that more than ten higher-dimensional beings may be involved and predicts the realms’ destruction, but cannot say whether Past Li Ping or the senior Otherworldly Demon will win. Wu Yong adds that the senior will lose nothing either way.
• Past Li Ping’s hidden plan activates: colorful Class Cards buried in the realms begin breaking them apart. The Demon Realm and then the Divine Realm are destroyed, with even its three Transcendent Gods consumed.
• The Human Realm is not destroyed outright. Instead, part of its origin produces the final card among six that appear. The six cards fuse into a ring, though Chen Fan senses it is incomplete.
• Present Li Ping finally appears, no longer posing as a priest: he wears a suit and Clown Mask and holds three colorful cards. Past Li Ping emerges from the ring, and the two face one another.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan remains cautious and observant, using his disguise, alternate self, and ability to withdraw safely. He questions Wang Hao about the coming battle and tries to learn what Wu Yong knows.
• Wang Hao acts like a spectator, apparently aware that Zero has replaced Li Ping, and reveals the scale of the impending conflict while withholding any certain outcome.
• Wu Yong suggests that the senior Otherworldly Demon has arranged matters so he cannot lose, but the excerpt does not explain how.
• Present Li Ping reveals his true appearance and possession of three cards; Past Li Ping is revealed as the architect of the cards hidden throughout the realms. Their confrontation sets up the next major conflict.
• Zero, who has replaced Present Li Ping, is central to the looming standoff, though his motives and the result remain unknown.

Significant themes

• Hidden preparation and contingency: Past Li Ping’s cards have been concealed in the realms for an unknown span of time, making the devastation part of a long-laid plan.
• Escalating cosmic stakes: The mission’s destruction objective pales beside a clash involving many higher-dimensional beings and the possible annihilation of the entire world.
• Uncertainty and unequal knowledge: Even powerful figures such as Wang Hao cannot—or will not—predict the victor, while Chen Fan can only infer what is unfolding.
• Destruction and transformation: The realms are consumed, but their origins yield cards that combine into a new, seemingly incomplete structure.