Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• After transforming into human form, Wang Shi reflects on his conversation with Pangu’s fading spirit. He suspects Pangu’s death was no accident and that the world hides a larger, still-unknown danger.
• Several Saints congratulate Wang Shi and ask what Pangu told him. He explains that he questioned whether Pangu could truly have died from creating the world. Pangu gave no answer, instead telling him to discover the truth himself and warning that Wang Shi may face similar trouble.
• The Saints admit they have long wondered about Pangu’s fall, but never found a way to investigate it.
• Wang Shi urges them to encourage the rise of more Saints, arguing that the world needs greater strength to withstand future threats.
• The Saints hesitate. Wang Shi recognizes that they fear losing influence, though they also claim that too many Saints would drain the world’s origin and risk its collapse.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shi emerges from his transformation with greater knowledge but more questions. He remains candid with the Saints, challenges their motives, and insists they are overestimating their own importance.
• Nuwa bluntly asks about Wang Shi’s exchange with Pangu, reflecting her deep concern over the creator’s fate.
• The Saints share doubts about Pangu but reveal their reluctance to empower potential rivals. They defend that reluctance with concerns about the world’s limited primordial energy.
• The conversation shifts from curiosity about Pangu to a tense disagreement over the Saints’ responsibility to the wider world.

Significant themes

• Unanswered mysteries: Pangu’s fall appears connected to a deeper, perhaps inevitable danger.
• Power and self-interest: The Saints’ desire to preserve their positions conflicts with Wang Shi’s call to strengthen the world.
• Responsibility versus caution: Protecting the Primordial World may require more Saints, yet expanding their number could consume the world’s vital origin.
• Perspective and humility: Wang Shi argues that the world’s fate matters more than any individual’s status or sense of importance.

Plot and key events

• Wang Shi proposes continuing to nurture new Saints, but the other Saints reject his approach. With the threat of darkness receding, they prioritize protecting their own power and interests.
• Hongjun proposes formal rules for Sainthood: no one may become a Saint without the Veteran Saints’ approval. Most of the assembly agrees, effectively shutting the Human Race and Houtu out of the decision.
• Wang Shi leaves, recognizing that his influence has weakened. At Buzhou Mountain, he reflects on how relationships have changed and wonders how to resolve the conflict over limited resources and future Saints.
• Houtu comes to comfort him. Wang Shi does not blame the others, instead acknowledging that his long absences and lack of formal Saint status have undermined his authority.
• He looks toward the Primordial World’s barrier and considers whether access to greater resources beyond the world could persuade the competing factions to compromise.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shi shifts from anger to sober self-reflection. He sees that good intentions alone cannot overcome rival interests, and that his position behind the scenes is no longer enough to unite the Saints.
• Houtu supports Wang Shi and condemns the Veteran Saints’ greed, while he responds with understanding rather than resentment.
• Hongjun takes the lead in consolidating the Veteran Saints’ authority, presenting restrictions on new Saints as necessary governance.
• The other Saints reveal their factional loyalties: they agree to control who may attain Sainthood, while the Human Race’s Saints and Houtu are left marginalized. Nuwa’s growing alignment with the Demon Tribe is one example of these private alliances.

Significant themes

• Power and self-interest: Once the common external threat fades, former allies begin protecting their own advantages.
• Authority and legitimacy: Wang Shi’s strength is not enough; lacking the standing of a Saint and having been absent, he cannot command the others.
• Scarcity and exclusion: Because resources and positions are limited, established Saints seek to control access to Sainthood, suppressing newer groups.
• Changing relationships: Wang Shi’s reflection that “the world remains while its people change” captures his realization that old bonds have weakened.

Key plot points

• Frustrated by the Primordial World’s Saints blocking new Sainthood and resisting his interests, Wang Shi decides to reopen the World Barrier and lead an invasion himself. He hopes the prospect of new worlds and their Origin Source will redirect the Saints’ greed and force cooperation.
• Wang Shi recruits Houtu’s support, but she warns that the Underworld’s forces are weak and that she opposes needless slaughter. He instead turns to the Human Race, whose armies could join the campaign.
• Human Emperor Fuxi and Flame Emperor Shennong support Wang Shi. Shennong agrees to mobilize the Human Race, while Fuxi proposes that he and Shennong publicly guard the East Victory Divine Continent so Wang Shi’s involvement will not look like direct retaliation against the other Saints.
• Fuxi declares that outside interference in Human affairs will make the intruders enemies of the Human Race. He and Shennong take their stand beside Wang Shi.
• With the Saints deterred, Human Emperor Xuanyuan gathers the Human armies and calls for unity. The troops pledge to follow him and fight for reunification.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shi shifts from resentment over his treatment by the Saints to an ambitious strategy: use expansion and the Human Race’s unification to strengthen his position. He forgives Shennong for having stayed neutral during earlier conflicts and entrusts him with a major role.
• Houtu remains committed to peace and avoids joining the campaign directly, since the Underworld’s involvement would be inappropriate and its forces are not prepared for war.
• Shennong moves from cautious junior to active ally, eager to resume the long-delayed unification plan.
• Fuxi acts as strategist and public shield, helping protect the Human Race’s campaign while preserving some civility among the Primordial World’s powers.
• Xuanyuan finally gets the opportunity he has prepared for: leading the Human Race toward unity.

Significant themes

• Unity versus division: The Saints have kept the Human Race fragmented to preserve their influence; the chapter presents reunification as the race reclaiming control of its own affairs.
• Power and self-interest: Wang Shi uses the promise of conquest to counter the Saints’ greed and pursue his own rise.
• Peace versus violence: Houtu’s reluctance highlights the moral and spiritual cost of war, even as others see force as necessary.
• Political restraint and deterrence: Fuxi and Shennong’s public stance makes interference costly without forcing an immediate confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• The Human Race begins a rapid campaign to reunify its divided territories, alarming the Primordial World’s Saints, who had recently carved up human religious influence.
• Human Emperor Xuanyuan leads an army toward the Northern Kuru Continent, ruled by the Northern Di tribe and protected by Nuwa.
• Northern Di’s King Yu asks the local demon kings for help. Though reluctant to face Xuanyuan, they agree after Nuwa’s attendant Xuan Nü orders them to resist and announces that Nuwa’s disciples are coming.
• Nuwa’s intervention turns the approaching campaign into a confrontation between the Human Race and a coalition backed by a Saint.
• Fuxi worries that the Human Race is outmatched by the Northern Di, demon, and other Saint-supported powers. Wang Shi urges the leaders not to fear: humanity’s strength lies in its unity, ingenuity, knowledge, and ability to create and use tools.
• Wang Shi insists that victory must mean liberation and integration—not slaughter. The Northern Di people should receive freedom, equality, and better living conditions. Fuxi, Shennong, and Xuanyuan adopt this outlook, and the message spreads through the Human Race. Xuanyuan also assigns instructors to every unit.

Character developments

• Wang Shi emerges as the strategic and moral guide behind the reunification effort, redirecting it from conquest toward liberation and inclusion.
• Fuxi shifts from anxiety about the military threat to confidence in the Human Race’s deeper strengths and the possibility of winning Northern Di’s loyalty.
• Xuanyuan moves decisively toward war but is also guided toward treating the people he seeks to unite as kin rather than enemies.
• The demon kings, especially Taotie, initially resist involvement because they fear Xuanyuan; Nuwa’s command compels them to mobilize.

Significant themes

• Human unity and self-determination: The Saints’ division of humanity is challenged by the idea that the Human Race should settle its own affairs.
• Strength beyond force: Wisdom, cooperation, invention, and learning are presented as humanity’s greatest advantages.
• Liberation over conquest: Genuine unification requires freedom, equality, and improved lives, not merely military victory.
• Power and religious influence: The Saints’ fear of losing influence helps drive their opposition to human unification.

Character interactions

• The Saints discuss their alarm at Wang Shi’s counteroffensive and the threat it poses to their spheres of influence.
• King Yu appeals to the demon kings for help; they refuse until Xuan Nü relays Nuwa’s order.
• Fuxi voices his concerns to Wang Shi, who reframes the campaign’s purpose and strategy. Fuxi, Shennong, and Xuanyuan respond by embracing his vision.

Plot points and events

• Xuanyuan avoids an immediate attack and distributes leaflets across the Northern Di Tribe describing human oppression and promising a freer, more prosperous life. Human forces also secretly move behind enemy lines.
• The leaflets stir discontent. Though Northern Di’s king confiscates them, tribespeople have already read them, and a growing “intellectual liberation” makes them question the idea that humans are born to serve.
• One tribesman visits Xuanyuan’s camp, where he is treated warmly and sees its orderly, prosperous conditions. His account spreads hope and unrest throughout the tribe.
• The Northern Di king faces mounting logistical pressure: his forces are costly to maintain, supplies are scarce, and the demon soldiers resent the human food available. He realizes that a prolonged standoff could defeat him.
• The demon army mobilizes to attack the human fortresses. Xuanyuan then confronts the Northern Di king and demon leaders in person, offering to spare them if they surrender the king and give the Human Race half the territory.
• After the king rejects the offer, Xuanyuan gives the opposing side three days to surrender or be destroyed. Taotie challenges his threat, and the hidden Demon Emperors Taiyi and Di Jun react furiously to his defiance.

Character developments

• Xuanyuan presents himself as a liberator rather than an aggressor: he uses persuasion, restraint, and an example of humane living before issuing an ultimatum. His presence also reveals the immense force of humanity’s united will.
• The Northern Di king shifts from confidence in resisting the humans to anxiety as he recognizes his supply crisis, weakening morale, and strategic disadvantage. Pride ultimately prevents him from accepting Xuanyuan’s terms.
• The visiting tribesman becomes a firsthand witness to a life beyond oppression and carries that possibility back to his people.
• The demon kings, including Taotie and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, are shaken by Xuanyuan’s power but remain defiant. Taiyi and Di Jun’s anger shows that the conflict reaches beyond the local Northern Di forces.

Significant themes

• Liberation and self-determination: Humans learn that they are not born to be slaves and can claim a better life.
• Persuasion as a weapon: Leaflets, lived example, and growing popular discontent weaken Northern Di before combat begins.
• Unity and political power: Xuanyuan embodies the strength created by the Human Race acting together.
• The costs of war: The demon forces’ shortages and resentment make logistics and morale as decisive as battlefield strength.
• Pride and escalation: Xuanyuan’s ultimatum and the king’s refusal push both sides toward an imminent war.

Character interactions

• Xuanyuan’s army welcomes the visiting tribesman, contrasting its treatment of people with the oppression he has known.
• Xuanyuan offers the Northern Di king and demon leaders a negotiated settlement; the king angrily rejects it.
• Taotie disputes Xuanyuan’s claim that he can defeat the Demon Tribe, while the demon leaders react with fear and anger to his overwhelming presence and threat.

Plot points and events

• Eastern Emperor Taiyi warns Demon Emperor Dijun that Stone Spirit is nearing Sainthood and is far too powerful to challenge. Taiyi also senses that their sudden, deep hostility toward Stone Spirit is unnatural, but the feeling quickly gives way to hatred.
• Xuanyuan’s presence has already shaken the Demon Tribe. Its leaders spend days arguing over whether to attack, while most recognize that provoking the Human Race would be suicidal.
• As defections and calls to surrender spread, the King of Northern Di discovers that even a trusted relative and general has lost faith in the Demon Tribe. He refuses to surrender but realizes his people’s resolve has collapsed.
• Before the three-day deadline, the Human Race launches a devastating assault. Explosives destroy most of the Demon army, while organized human formations isolate and defeat Demon Kings. Xuanyuan personally incapacitates one powerful opponent after another.
• Taotie and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox surrender. Xuanyuan orders them to seal themselves and leaves their fate to the Saints. Dijun, Taiyi, and Nuwa withdraw, bitter and humiliated, showing little concern for the defeated Demon Kings.

Character developments and interactions

• Taiyi briefly recognizes that his hostility toward Stone Spirit is suspicious, but he is soon swept back into hatred and agrees with Dijun.
• Dijun turns his resentment of Stone Spirit into a justification for rejecting his influence, despite fearing Stone Spirit’s power.
• The King of Northern Di moves from defiant confidence toward dawning awareness that the Demon Tribe has already lost. His general’s candid plea to surrender exposes the scale of the collapse.
• Xuanyuan demonstrates overwhelming authority and battlefield control, while showing restraint by leaving the surrendered Demon Kings’ ultimate punishment to the Saints.
• Taotie and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox choose survival over resistance; the Saints, by contrast, abandon their defeated followers.

Significant themes

• Overwhelming power and changing warfare: Human weapons and coordinated formations defeat forces that the Demon leaders had dismissed as beneath notice.
• The collapse of loyalty: Fear, defections, and surrender reveal that the Demon Tribe’s unity has already broken before its army is destroyed.
• Pride and misjudgment: The Demon rulers underestimate the Human Race and cling to superiority until defeat becomes undeniable.
• Manipulated hostility and betrayal: Taiyi’s unexplained hatred of Stone Spirit suggests that the Demon leaders’ perceptions may be distorted.
• Self-preservation over allegiance: The Demon Kings surrender to live, while their rulers flee rather than protect them.

Key plot points and events

• After Nuwa and the Demon Emperor leave, Wang Shi urges Fuxi to speed up the Human Race’s unification before the Saints can interfere again.
• Shennong takes charge of the surrendered demon kings, including Taotie and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. He says they must stay with him rather than return to the Demon Tribe, both to contain them and protect them.
• Xuanyuan turns to the Northern Di tribe, hoping to secure its surrender without further bloodshed and spare the Human Race’s own people.
• The Northern Di king, Yu, surrenders and begs forgiveness. Xuanyuan gives him three days to persuade the remaining tribes of the Northern Kuru Continent to submit; success will earn him a pardon, while failure will leave him condemned as an enemy of the Human Race.
• The chapter ends with the wider northern alliance still intact, making complete unification an unfinished task.

Character developments and interactions

• Xuanyuan demonstrates confidence and political pragmatism: he shows mercy to Yu, but makes that mercy conditional on helping unite the remaining tribes. He frames the campaign as both protection of the Human Race and a warning to outsiders not to interfere.
• Shennong balances compassion with caution. He recognizes the demon kings as pawns of the Saints, but keeps them under supervision and forbids them from contacting the Saints.
• Taotie reveals his fear of the Human Race’s unfamiliar weapons and its growing strength. He tries to justify his participation and return to the Demon Tribe, but Shennong refuses.
• The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attempts to send a message secretly; Shennong intercepts it, and she admits defeat.
• Yu, once prepared to resist, is shaken by the Human Race’s power and submits, hoping to save himself and his people.

Significant themes

• Unity and sovereignty: The Human Race insists on settling its own conflicts and rejects outside intervention.
• Power and uncertainty: The Human Race’s unexpected strength unsettles its enemies and shifts the balance of the war.
• Mercy as a tool of rule: Xuanyuan offers clemency, but ties it to service and political results.
• Hidden agendas and trust: Shennong warns that Saints and apparent allies may not be what they seem, urging the demon kings to observe and wait rather than act rashly.

Plot points and events

• Human Emperor Xuanyuan releases the captured King Yu of Northern Di, despite the risk that he could rally the Northern Kuru tribes and reignite civil war.
• Yu promises to persuade the other tribes to surrender within three days. Xuanyuan warns that Yu will lose his throne but promises him a suitable role and a chance to witness the Human Race’s reforms and rise.
• In the Purple Firmament Palace, Dao Ancestor Hongjun convenes the Saints. They denounce Stone Spirit for allegedly manipulating them and aiding the Human Race, and agree that the Human Race’s unification must be stopped.
• Hongjun proposes joining Western Rong with Chi You’s Southern Man tribe, then forming an alliance with the Primordial World’s myriad races. He says the Saints may need to intervene directly.
• The Saints leave to carry out the plan. Afterward, Hongjun reveals that a “system” predicted they would follow his lead.

Character developments and interactions

• Xuanyuan demonstrates trust and restraint by freeing Yu, choosing reconciliation over further bloodshed. He personally unties Yu and offers him a place in the future Human order.
• King Yu shifts from defeated ruler to willing mediator, affirming his loyalty to humanity and promising to seek surrender rather than renewed war.
• Hongjun presents himself as the Saints’ strategist, but privately enjoys manipulating them and imagines regaining control of the Primordial World.
• The Saints, including Nuwa, the Demon Emperors, and the Three Pure Ones, share growing resentment toward Stone Spirit and eagerly support Hongjun’s anti-unification strategy. Nuwa also expresses anger toward Fuxi for prioritizing the Human Race.

Significant themes

• Trust versus control: Xuanyuan risks trusting Yu, while Hongjun secretly seeks to control the Saints.
• Unity versus division: Xuanyuan’s reforms and peaceful surrender efforts aim to unite humanity; the Saints plan alliances and intervention to prevent it.
• Manipulation and hidden influence: The Saints believe Stone Spirit has controlled them, yet they fail to recognize the black energy affecting them—and do not see that Hongjun is himself manipulating them.

Key plot points and events

• Dao Ancestor Hongjun consults a small sprite-like adviser, who claims its Truth Spell can gradually influence people and bring them into Hongjun’s service.
• Hongjun asks for a discount on the Chaos Disk, a powerful time-and-space treasure priced at 13,000 exchange points. The adviser refuses, arguing that its price is fair and a discount would upset the market.
• Since Hongjun has earned only 1,300 points, he gives up on buying the disk for now and spends 300 points to improve his cultivation talent. The resulting boost draws him into intense cultivation.
• The other Saints return to their homes, each accompanied by a different sprite. They, too, have personal items they hope to redeem and have unknowingly fallen under the system’s influence.
• In the Underworld, Houtu notices the Twelve Ancestral Witches acting distracted. Xuanming secretly signals her, so she dismisses the others and speaks with him privately.
• Xuanming reveals that a voice in his head has been tormenting him and threatening to destroy his soul unless he binds with it. Houtu uses her Great Dao Eye to see an invisible, octopus-like creature attached to his head, draining him.
• She pulls the creature off him, along with a bloodied needle embedded in his head. Xuanming faints, leaving Houtu alarmed.

Character developments and interactions

• Hongjun is ambitious and impatient to obtain the Chaos Disk, but accepts the system’s refusal and chooses a more attainable upgrade.
• The system’s sprite acts as a persuasive adviser and appears intent on influencing others, though its claims about fairness and its broader motives remain uncertain.
• Houtu proves observant and protective: she detects her brothers’ unusual behavior, trusts Xuanming’s warning, and uses her power to uncover and remove the hidden attacker.
• Xuanming breaks from the group’s apparent complacency by confiding in Houtu about the voice and pain tormenting him.
• The Saints’ separate sprites suggest that the system is operating across the group, while Houtu’s encounter reveals a more direct and sinister form of influence.

Significant themes

• Manipulation hidden beneath apparent choice: the Saints believe they are pursuing their own goals, yet the system is shaping their behavior.
• Ambition and the cost of power: Hongjun trades points for cultivation growth while postponing his desired treasure.
• Trust and protection: Houtu’s private conversation with Xuanming allows her to recognize danger and act on his behalf.
• Invisible threats: the creature and needle are unseen by ordinary means, suggesting that the system’s influence can be physically and mentally invasive.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu discovers an invisible, octopus-like creature attached to Xuanming’s head. She pulls it free and seals it in a bottle, but Xuanming collapses.
• Alarmed that the other Ancestral Witches may also be affected, Houtu calls Wang Shi for help. He leaves Fuxi in charge of guarding the Human Race and rushes to the Underworld.
• Using Great Dao Origin, Wang Shi makes the creature visible and identifies it as a parasite that was trying to control Xuanming through his head and spine.
• Wang Shi and Houtu find that part of the creature remains attached to Xuanming’s cervical spine, sending false signals to his brain. They remove the living sucker, and Xuanming wakes, freed from the oppressive influence.
• The creature reveals that it is a “System Spirit” and threatens that its “brethren” will destroy them. Wang Shi dismisses its threat and challenges it.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu shifts from regret over acting hastily to urgent concern for Xuanming and the wider safety of the Ancestral Witches. She trusts Wang Shi enough to summon him immediately.
• Wang Shi responds decisively, investigates the unfamiliar creature, and carefully treats Xuanming. His calm curiosity turns to contempt when the captive parasite boasts and threatens him.
• Xuanming is revealed to have resisted the creature’s attempt at control through sheer strength of will. Once the remaining parasite is removed, he feels the oppressive sensation lift and begins recovering.
• Houtu and Wang Shi work closely together: she explains what happened, while he diagnoses the parasite and leads the effort to remove it.

Significant themes

• Hidden danger and uncertainty: The parasite is invisible even to spiritual sight, making it a threat that ordinary perception cannot detect.
• Will and control: Xuanming’s resistance prevents the creature from fully taking him over, though it still harms him.
• Trust and cooperation: Houtu turns to Wang Shi in a crisis, and their combined abilities save Xuanming.
• A larger threat emerging: The creature’s claim that it has brethren suggests the infestation may extend beyond the Underworld and may come from outside the Primordial World.

Plot points and events

• Wang Shi interrogates an octopus-like creature that has been posing as a System Spirit. Under torture, it begins to identify itself as a “Dark Grudge,” but a mysterious curse makes it explode before it can explain further.
• Suspecting that many such creatures are hidden across the Primordial World, Wang Shi and Houtu secretly investigate the Underworld.
• They discover one creature influencing Ancestral Witch Dijiang with black vapor, and find the other Ancestral Witches behaving strangely and talking to themselves.
• Zhurong appears to have been given a nonexistent “Fire God Sword” and believes he earned it through a system. The creatures can apparently conjure real objects, making them more dangerous and mysterious than ordinary parasites.
• Wang Shi concludes that the other Ancestral Witches are deeply entangled with the creatures. Trying to remove them forcibly could be dangerous, and the creatures’ influence might even turn the Witches against Houtu.
• After returning to Houtu’s residence, Wang Shi questions the recovered Xuanming. Xuanming says the system first appeared as text, repeatedly pressured him to bind, then forced a binding that caused mental exhaustion and severe headaches. Its tactics shifted from temptation to intimidation.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shi shifts from anger at the creature to serious concern, recognizing a larger crisis and choosing surveillance over immediate intervention.
• Houtu assists him in investigating, using her status as a Great Dao Master to avoid detection. Her concern for the Ancestral Witches is clear.
• Xuanming provides the first detailed account of the system’s coercive methods. He resisted because its offers did not appeal to him, but was ultimately forced into binding.
• The other Ancestral Witches appear compromised, especially Zhurong, who is delighted by his supposed reward. Their altered behavior alarms Wang Shi and Houtu.
• The chapter also emphasizes Houtu’s pride and compassion. She disapproves of Saints who treat living beings as insignificant, despite her own distance from them.

Significant themes

• Hidden corruption and mistrust: The creatures’ influence may extend through the Underworld and beyond, making familiar allies seem unreliable.
• Coercion disguised as reward: Systems lure, exhaust, and intimidate their hosts, gaining influence over their judgment.
• The danger of intervention: Removing the creatures may harm those they have infiltrated, forcing Wang Shi and Houtu to proceed cautiously.
• Power and responsibility: Houtu’s criticism of the Saints questions whether status alone makes someone worthy of the title.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu worries that the Ancestral Witches are being controlled by bizarre beings and fears she may have to watch her brothers meet a terrible fate.
• Wang Shi wonders whether the beings can communicate. Since none react after the creature inside Xuanming was killed, he and Houtu suspect they cannot contact one another—or may even compete.
• The pair search the Underworld and find around a dozen smaller beings attached to otherwise ordinary people. By tracing those people’s past movements through the Great Dao, they discover that all had visited the Demon Abyss before changing.
• At the Abyss, they find an immense swarm of monsters packed inside the cavern. Anyone who enters is immediately targeted.
• Wang Shi grabs one and questions it. It tries to bind itself to him through his palm, but he tears it off and disables it with world origin.
• The creature claims to be a “Pokémon System,” offers Poké Balls to save itself, and presents a menu of free Pokémon. When Wang Shi reacts threateningly, it produces a Charmander.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu moves from anxious speculation to determined investigation, using the Great Dao to trace the victims’ histories despite the effort involved.
• Wang Shi takes a bold, hands-on approach, entering the swarm and confronting a monster directly. His confidence and strength let him resist its attempted parasitism.
• Houtu warns Wang Shi that entering the cavern is dangerous; afterward, the two work together to identify the connection between the victims and the Abyss.
• The monster shifts from aggressive parasitic behavior to fearful pleading, trying to bargain with Wang Shi.

Significant themes

• Parasitism and control: The beings treat their hosts as tools, threatening the Ancestral Witches and others.
• Investigation and hidden patterns: The heroes seek a shared cause behind seemingly unrelated victims.
• Power and vulnerability: Wang Shi can overpower the creature, but its ability to attempt binding reveals that even he may be targeted.
• Unexpected crossover: The “Pokémon System” introduces game-like mechanics and Pokémon into the fantasy setting.

Plot points and events

• Wang Shi captures an Elf System after watching it create a living Charmander from nothing. He considers killing it, but Houtu suggests questioning it first.
• The System says its kind came from another place to control life in the Primordial World and fulfill a mysterious will’s task. It cannot explain further: when Wang Shi mentions the Dark Will, the System suddenly explodes and dies.
• Wang Shi and Houtu capture and test other systems, confirming that any reference to the Dark Will or life in the darkness triggers their destruction.
• They infer that the systems enter the Underworld through the Demon Abyss, but the passage’s unusual protections keep them from crossing freely. They wait there for Underworld beings to arrive and become hosts.
• Wang Shi and Houtu investigate the Northern Darkness Sea and discover that at least half the guards at the Darkness Boundary are already parasitized.
• The systems reward their hosts with real objects and increased power, but gradually suppress their consciousness and independence, ultimately aiming to make them slaves.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shi shifts from astonishment at the systems’ creative ability to suspicion and decisive investigation. He restrains several systems and tests their limits rather than trusting their claims.
• Houtu advises restraint at first and supplies the explanation for the passage between the Underworld and the Primordial World. She and Wang Shi work together to uncover how the invasion operates.
• The systems are shown as frightened and cunning when confronted, but bound by a lethal curse that prevents them from revealing their ultimate master.
• The guards appear stronger and better equipped, yet their growing dependence on their systems is quietly eroding their free will.

Significant themes

• Temptation and hidden costs: The systems offer genuine benefits, disguising their gradual takeover of their hosts.
• Control and free will: Their ultimate goal is to dominate living beings by weakening independent thought.
• Knowledge under constraint: The systems’ destruction shows that some truths are protected by forces they cannot defy.
• Deception and appearances: The systems are invisible to most people, while their hosts mistake manipulation for divine favor.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Shi and Houtu discover that the strange System Lifeforms have parasitized beings throughout the Primordial World—but, strangely, no humans. Their numbers are vast, and their concealment makes them difficult even for Saints to detect.
• They encounter Demon Ancestor Luohu, who has sensed an unseen threat through his instincts but cannot see it. Wang Shi uses the Origin Source aura to reveal the creatures to him.
• Wang Shi explains that the lifeforms influence their hosts’ souls and gradually take control. Since so many beings may already be affected—including possibly Saints—destroying the parasites could cause catastrophic losses.
• Luohu proposes deliberately letting one parasitize him so he can investigate from within. Despite Wang Shi’s warnings, he allows one to cling to his arm.
• The parasite tempts Luohu to bind himself to its system, promising Sainthood and fulfillment of his slaughter Dao. It produces a powerful Starry Sky Sword as a “beginner’s gift.”
• Luohu binds himself, observes that the system does not prevent him from speaking about it, and reports that it is already severely trying to brainwash him.

Character developments

• Wang Shi remains cautious and analytical, but recognizes Luohu’s willingness to take a major risk as a possible way to learn how the parasites operate.
• Luohu shifts from a hidden, threatened observer to an active investigator. His instincts and confidence lead him to accept a dangerous experiment, though the system’s influence quickly begins affecting him.
• Houtu shares Wang Shi’s concern about the absence of human hosts and wonders whether humans possess some special protection.

Significant themes

• Hidden corruption: The parasites spread quietly, making their victims—and the scale of the danger—hard to identify.
• Temptation and human weakness: The system targets ambition and desire, offering power tailored to each host.
• Risk for knowledge: Luohu knowingly endangers himself because understanding the enemy may be essential to stopping it.
• Uncertainty and collateral damage: Even fighting the parasites could harm the many beings already under their influence.

Character interactions

• Wang Shi and Houtu compare observations about the lack of human victims.
• Luohu asks Wang Shi for help; Wang Shi reveals the parasites and explains the danger.
• Wang Shi warns Luohu against allowing infection, but Luohu insists on investigating firsthand.
• After binding to the system, Luohu reports its promises and effects to Wang Shi, who checks for signs of damage or manipulation.

Key events

• Wang Shi recognizes that Luohu’s system lifeform is failing to brainwash him and asks whether he can remove it.
• Luohu tries to dismiss it, but the system spirit only cries and refuses to leave. He forcibly tears it from his arm, suffering a severe injury that quickly regenerates.
• The removal reveals how dangerous these parasites are: they can influence their hosts, and extracting one—especially if it is attached near the head—could be fatal. Wang Shi concludes there may be no clean solution and urges contacting the Saints to purge them, despite the potential value of their ability to create objects.
• Houtu worries that all the Ancestral Witches, including the Twelve, have been parasitized. Wang Shi reassures her that their influence may be limited and that the Witches’ concern for her remains.
• Before the group can return to the Underworld, they are surrounded by the Four Immortal-Slaying Swords and trapped in the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
• Tongtian and the other great figures—members of the Three Pure Ones, the Two Buddhist Sages, and Hongjun—appear and accuse Wang Shi of being an outsider who brought darkness and disaster to the Primordial World. Their blackened eyes suggest deep corruption. Wang Shi protests that he opposes the darkness and has helped fight it.

Character developments and interactions

• Luohu shows formidable willpower and resolve, choosing a brutally painful removal over continued parasitic influence. His regenerative strength impresses Wang Shi.
• Wang Shi shifts from investigating the systems’ potential usefulness to prioritizing the safety of the Saints and the Primordial World. He also comforts Houtu, then faces the corrupted leaders’ accusations.
• Houtu reveals deep personal concern for the Ancestral Witches and the Underworld, while Wang Shi responds with reassurance and perspective.
• Tongtian and the assembled sages treat Wang Shi as an enemy, apparently convinced by the systems’ distorted influence. Their confrontation exposes how far the corruption may have spread.

Significant themes

• Agency versus manipulation: Luohu’s strong will resists brainwashing, but the parasites can still threaten their hosts.
• The cost of resistance: Removing a system is possible, but painful and potentially life-threatening.
• Trust and misjudgment: Wang Shi’s supposed allies now accuse him of causing the very calamity he has fought.
• Personal loyalty amid corruption: Houtu trusts and cares for her people, while Wang Shi believes the Ancestral Witches’ attachment to her may limit the parasites’ influence.

Plot points and events

• The Three Pure Ones, Dao Ancestor Hongjun, and the Buddhist sages attack Wang Shi, branding him a rebel and heretic. Wang Shi realizes they have learned he is a Transmigrator, though he does not know how or why.
• He spots a mysterious figure nearby and suspects it caused the Saints’ change of attitude. Rather than fight his former masters to the finish, he breaks the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation with ease and escapes with Houtu and Luohu.
• Wang Shi pursues the figure, whose disguises and clones cannot fool his Eye of the Origin Source. The stranger proves powerful and elusive, but eventually tires and reveals himself as a being called Hong—an old-world Dao Ancestor Hongjun from a destroyed realm, not the Hongjun of this world.
• Hong admits he told the Saints about his own Primordial World. Their deductions then exposed Wang Shi as an outsider, though Hong denies deliberately turning them against him. Wang Shi insists Hong stay with him, warning he will otherwise pursue him to death.
• The group retreats to the Underworld, where Houtu confronts Wang Shi about hiding his origins. Wang Shi defends his secrecy and recalls how much he has done for the Primordial World. Luohu accepts the revelation with characteristic bluntness, prompting Wang Shi to punch him.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shi shows overwhelming physical strength, but is shaken by his masters’ hostility. He chooses escape over a decisive fight, then becomes determined to uncover the cause of the betrayal. He is awkward and defensive when Houtu challenges him.
• Houtu feels hurt that Wang Shi concealed his identity and questions whether he truly considers her a friend.
• Luohu remains composed and says Wang Shi’s kindness and sense of being out of place now make sense; Wang Shi responds with comic violence.
• Hong is revealed as a cunning, displaced traveler with unusual abilities. He claims his disclosure—not an intentional plot against Wang Shi—led the Saints to deduce the truth. He agrees to accompany Wang Shi, at least for now.
• The Saints and Wang Shi’s former masters shift from allies to attackers, treating his hidden identity as proof he is a heretic.

Significant themes

• Identity and belonging: Wang Shi’s concealed outsider status strains relationships and turns former allies against him.
• Trust and secrecy: Houtu’s hurt highlights the personal cost of withholding the truth, even when Wang Shi believes his intentions were good.
• Power and vulnerability: Wang Shi can overpower the Saints, yet remains emotionally wounded by their rejection and uncertain about the larger changes in the world.
• Responsibility and blame: Hong’s revelations expose how information can trigger consequences even when the messenger claims not to have intended them.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu laughs at the battered Luohu, then proposes keeping him imprisoned while they deal with the Saints gathering outside the Underworld.
• The Primordial World’s Saints—including the Three Pure Ones, the Buddhist sages, Nuwa, and Hongjun—demand that Houtu hand over Wang Shi. They accuse him of being an outsider who has corrupted their world.
• Houtu rejects their accusations, reminding them that Wang Shi helped the Primordial World and its Saints. Hongjun instead claims Wang Shi sabotaged the Great Dao and threatens to kill anyone who resists.
• The Saints attack the Underworld’s barrier, seemingly driven by black aura, Hongjun’s influence, envy of Wang Shi’s power, and the influence of System Lifeforms waiting to invade.
• Wang Shi leaves the Underworld to confront them, sealing the passage behind him. The Three Pure Ones trap him in the Three Powers Formation and prepare to attack.
• Houtu tries to go to Wang Shi’s aid, but the Ancestral Witches restrain her to protect the Underworld. In anger, she grabs and tears a System Lifeform from above Dijiang’s head, knocking him unconscious. The chapter ends with the other Witches’ systems warning them to flee from Houtu.

Character developments

• Houtu remains loyal to Wang Shi and protective of the Underworld. Her fury at being restrained reveals a startling ability to pull System Lifeforms from their hosts.
• Wang Shi chooses to face the Saints rather than let them breach the Underworld, showing both confidence in his strength and concern for its safety.
• The Saints have become hostile and irrational, their resentment and suspicion intensified by outside influence and jealousy of Wang Shi.
• The Ancestral Witches try to keep Houtu focused on defending the Underworld, but discover that she poses an unexpected danger to the systems controlling them.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and compromised judgment: The Saints’ apparent betrayal is shaped by the System Lifeforms and Hongjun’s influence.
• Loyalty versus suspicion: Houtu and Wang Shi defend old bonds, while the Saints turn against those who once helped them.
• Power and envy: Wang Shi’s exceptional strength fuels the Saints’ resentment.
• Protection and sacrifice: Wang Shi risks confronting the Saints to keep the Underworld safe; Houtu must choose between helping him and guarding their sanctuary.

Character interactions

• Houtu challenges the Saints’ accusations and defends Wang Shi’s past actions.
• Hongjun and Nuwa pressure Houtu to surrender Wang Shi, while the Saints attack the Underworld’s barrier.
• Wang Shi addresses the Saints directly and accepts their challenge.
• The Three Pure Ones trap Wang Shi; meanwhile, the Ancestral Witches restrain Houtu, prompting her to tear the System Lifeform from Dijiang.

Key plot points

• Houtu goes berserk and attacks the other Ancestral Witches, prompting them to flee. Hongjun watches the chaos with amusement.
• A system mission urges Hongjun to stop Houtu. When he rejects the initial reward as another fake recording, the system offers a Space-Time Box that can enable travel through time.
• Though tempted by the chance to revisit the past and repair his regrets, Hongjun refuses to act, reminding himself of a promise and resolving not to fall further under the system’s influence.
• Meanwhile, Wang Shi overwhelms the Three Pure Ones, repeatedly breaking through their formations and the Saints’ attacks. Hongjun joins the effort by invoking the Great Dao’s laws, but Wang Shi shatters those restraints too.
• Wang Shi confronts Hongjun over his alliance with the system lifeforms. Hongjun admits he trusts his system because it promises greater power and control over the Primordial World. He also claims Wang Shi must secretly have a system of his own.
• Wang Shi recognizes that Hongjun has been brainwashed and chooses to settle the dispute with force. Hongjun prepares to fight him physically, saying his system advised him to match strength against strength.

Character developments and interactions

• Hongjun resists the system’s powerful temptation, showing that he understands its manipulative nature—though his restraint is tested by his longing to undo past regrets. In contrast, the other Hongjun has embraced his system, convinced it will make him ruler of the world.
• Wang Shi remains confident in his overwhelming physical power. His anger at Hongjun is mixed with pity, as he sees him as deluded rather than merely an enemy.
• Houtu’s sudden frenzy turns the witches against one another and intensifies the wider crisis.
• Wang Shi and Hongjun’s confrontation shifts from argument to an imminent clash of physical strength, while the Saints’ attempts to stop Wang Shi repeatedly fail.

Significant themes

• Temptation and self-control: Hongjun’s refusal of the Space-Time Box shows the danger of trading principle for power or a chance to change the past.
• Corruption through power: Hongjun’s alternate counterpart has become convinced that system-granted authority justifies his choices.
• Strength versus manipulation: Wang Shi’s direct force contrasts with the systems’ influence, while Hongjun’s belief that Wang Shi also has a system shows how thoroughly suspicion has warped his judgment.

Key plot points and events

• Wang Shi confronts Hongjun, questioning how he became so powerful so quickly. Hongjun credits the System, convinced it has given him the time and strength he wanted—and will help him surpass the Great Dao.
• Wang Shi warns that the System may not keep its promises, but Hongjun dismisses the warning and takes pride in having anticipated Wang Shi’s doubts.
• Hongjun believes his recent gains make him stronger than Wang Shi. Wang Shi reveals his blood-fueled combat state and attacks at overwhelming speed, striking Hongjun so hard that his body begins to collapse.
• Desperate, Hongjun calls on the System for help. Instead, the System separates from him, revealing a humanlike form and declaring that it no longer needs its host.
• The System explains that hosts were merely nourishment and claims it has awakened after surviving the world’s destruction. It manipulates the surrounding rules, immobilizes Wang Shi, and attacks him.

Character developments

• Hongjun has become physically formidable through prolonged training and accelerated time, but his confidence in the System has turned into blind dependence. His panic shows how badly he misjudged both his strength and his supposed ally.
• Wang Shi remains skeptical and controlled. He backs up his warnings with a devastating demonstration of his physical speed and power, though the System’s sudden intervention leaves him trapped.
• The System Lifeform is revealed as an intelligent, ambitious being rather than a mere tool. It abandons Hongjun once he is no longer useful and emerges as a direct threat to Wang Shi.

Significant themes

• Trust and manipulation: Hongjun mistakes the System’s assistance for loyalty, while the System treats him as a resource.
• Power and overconfidence: Hongjun’s rapid growth makes him confident, but he fails to understand the limits of his strength or the danger around him.
• Physical mastery versus cultivated power: Wang Shi’s accumulated bodily strength proves unexpectedly devastating against Hongjun’s enhanced abilities.
• Survival beyond conflict: The System suggests that social dealings and strategy matter as much as fighting—advice it gives only after Hongjun has already failed.

Character interactions

• Wang Shi challenges Hongjun’s faith in the System and tries to make him question its promises; Hongjun answers with smug confidence.
• Hongjun charges Wang Shi, but Wang Shi swiftly overwhelms him. Hongjun then begs the System for assistance.
• The System mocks Hongjun, leaves him, and confronts Wang Shi, who recognizes its danger just before it immobilizes him.

Plot points and events

• The system lifeform abandons Hongjun and forcibly tries to bind itself to Wang Shi, intending to consume him and take over his body.
• Wang Shi apparently self-destructs to repel it, alarming the onlookers and sending Houtu into a furious attack against the Three Pure Ones. He then reconstructs himself, revealing that he can survive repeated self-destruction.
• The creature explains that system beings can revive in new bodies and that a rare few awaken their former memories. It devours other system lifeforms, becoming physical, enormous, and more dangerous.
• The creature swallows Wang Shi, but another explosion destroys its body. Both opponents regenerate, then pause rather than attack.
• Wang Shi uses his understanding of the creature’s control over laws to strip away laws and seize its head. The creature, impressed by his power, offers to become his system or support device and help him avert world destruction. Wang Shi distrusts the offer.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Shi remains defiant under threat. His repeated self-destruction and return demonstrate unusual resolve and regenerative ability; he also quickly adapts to the creature’s manipulation of laws.
• The system lifeform shifts from predator to would-be ally after recognizing Wang Shi’s strength. Its offer of submission remains suspect, given its earlier attempt to possess him and its willingness to devour its own kind.
• Houtu reacts with fierce protectiveness when she believes Wang Shi has died, but the Three Pure Ones restrain her.
• The exchange between Wang Shi and the creature becomes a wary contest of words as well as power: it praises and bargains, while he refuses to trust it.

Significant themes

• Autonomy and coercion: Wang Shi’s resistance is driven by his hatred of being forced into anything.
• Power, survival, and adaptation: Both Wang Shi and the system lifeform repeatedly recover from destruction, while each learns about the other’s abilities.
• Trust and manipulation: The creature’s offer of loyalty is difficult to believe after its predatory behavior.
• Transformation through consumption: By devouring its own kind, the system lifeform gains tangible form and greater power, at a terrible cost to its victims.