Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• With the infected creatures defeated, Qin Yumo and the others begin clearing and rebuilding the New World. Qin pauses at Chen Hao’s statue to mourn him.
• A young man who resembles Chen Hao claims to be his reincarnation. Qin dismisses him and slaps him—until he reveals private memories only the real Chen Hao could know.
• Qin recognizes him and rushes into his arms. Chen explains that the Crescent Pendant preserved his soul when the heavenly tribulation destroyed his body.
• After awakening among the ghosts inside the pendant, Chen persuades Horse Face to help him return to life, in exchange for helping Horse Face win at cards. Horse Face arranges for him to reincarnate into the young man’s body.
• That evening, Chen reunites with Qin and their friends over dinner, celebrating his return and the new world.

Character developments

• Qin Yumo shifts from grief and disbelief to overwhelming joy. Her fierce attachment to Chen is clear when she vows never to let him go.
• Chen Hao returns alive but as an ordinary person, without his former Qi-refining powers. His familiar humor and affection remain.
• Horse Face is shown as comically inept at cards but loyal enough to help Chen return to life.

Significant themes

• Love and enduring bonds: Qin’s love for Chen persists through his apparent death.
• Hope and renewal: Chen’s return parallels humanity’s recovery and the start of a new world.
• Sacrifice and second chances: Chen’s survival depends on the Crescent Pendant and the help of his friends.

Character interactions

• Qin mourns at Chen’s statue, then tests the stranger’s claim before embracing him.
• Chen uses intimate shared memories to convince Qin of his identity and explains how he survived.
• Chen bargains with Horse Face, turning a ghostly card game into a path back to life.
• The chapter ends with Chen, Qin, and their friends celebrating together; Qin keeps hold of Chen’s hand and proposes a toast to his return and their new world.

Chapter Summary

• Key events and reflections: In this author’s note, Zidian celebrates finishing their first novel, while acknowledging that it ended shorter than planned and that the story weakened—especially after Qin Yumo’s death and in its final eighty chapters. The author describes several major plotlines that never made it into the book, including supernatural characters helping China in the World Cup, the Little Charlatan entering the Heavenly Court’s leadership, stories involving Buddhist figures, and an extended arc about werewolves and vampires in which Qin Yumo would be resurrected as a vampire. Zidian also explains that Chen Hao’s pretense of not loving Qin Yumo was intended to echo a scene from A Chinese Odyssey.
• Character development: There are no new events in the fictional characters’ lives; instead, Zidian reflects on the ambitious plans for Chen Hao, Qin Yumo, and the Little Charlatan that remained unrealized. The author candidly identifies weaknesses in plotting, pacing, and character development, apologizes for disappointing readers, and expresses hope that experience will make the next book stronger.
• Themes: The note centers on creative ambition and its limits, regret over unrealized possibilities, accountability to readers, and gratitude for their support. It also marks a transition: Zidian plans to move from urban fiction to fantasy for the next novel.
• Character interactions: The focus is on the author’s relationship with readers. Zidian thanks named commenters and supporters, acknowledges that work sometimes prevented timely replies, and asks readers to understand. The note closes with a promise of a new fantasy novel and a heartfelt expression of thanks to everyone who followed the story to its end.

Key plot points and events

• On the day Chen Hao is resurrected, he declares the beginning of New Era Year 001. The world has been devastated: volcanic ash blocks the sun, the continents have shifted, and the Western Continent has sunk. The surviving humans begin rebuilding under Chen Hao’s leadership.
• Chen Hao and Qin Yumo discuss clearing the ash to prevent a new ice age. Though he has lost his powers and is now mortal, Qin Yumo reminds him how much he has already done for humanity.
• Their return is interrupted by CC, who makes crude jokes about Chen Hao and Qin Yumo. Chen Hao’s authority remains intact: the Chinese and Russian factions follow his orders.
• Horse Face contacts Chen Hao with news that the Heavenly Tribulation opened the sealed passage between the Three Realms. Emperor Fengdu offers Chen Hao privileged treatment in the Underworld, but Chen Hao sees little value in it.
• Still hoping to regain his powers, Chen Hao asks Horse Face to consult Sun Wukong. His original body cannot be restored, but Sun Wukong suggests a replacement clay body made by Nuwa.
• The gods demand a long list of supplies in exchange. Qin Yumo organizes humanity’s first major supply-gathering effort, and survivors collect most of the items by the next day.
• Chen Hao discovers that Horse Face exaggerated the request: Sun Wukong mainly wanted bananas, while Horse Face and other gods added their own demands. Despite his irritation, Chen Hao sends the supplies and asks for a powerful, versatile body.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao shifts from extraordinary warrior to mortal leader. He accepts responsibility for rebuilding while continuing to search for a way to regain his former abilities.
• Qin Yumo supports Chen Hao emotionally and takes charge of organizing the survivors, even while teasing and challenging him.
• Horse Face acts as Chen Hao’s link to the divine realms but opportunistically adds personal and others’ requests to the supply list.
• CC remains irreverent and crude, providing comic relief.
• Chen Hao’s exchanges with Qin Yumo, CC, and Horse Face balance affection, humor, and frustration.

Significant themes

• Rebuilding after catastrophe: Humanity’s survival depends on cooperation and practical action.
• Leadership without power: Chen Hao remains influential even after becoming mortal.
• Hope and adaptation: Unable to recover his original body, he pursues a new one rather than giving up.
• Humor amid ruin: Teasing, bargaining, and absurd demands lighten the bleak post-apocalyptic setting.

Key plot points and events

• Volcanic eruptions across Earth keep filling the sky with smoke. Qin Yumo’s team can clear patches of it, but the smoke quickly returns, so Chen Hao says they need to stop the eruptions at their source.
• A few days later, Horse Face delivers a divine Clay Figure, supposedly made by Nuwa from heaven-mending clay. Its appearance is comically featureless, but Chen Hao learns from its instruction note that he can rebuild his body by binding it with his blood.
• Chen Hao discovers the process requires a huge amount of blood: the figure’s displayed progress crawls from 1% to 2% despite repeated bleeding, then reaches 50% after he has lost a dangerous amount.
• Qin Yumo finds him pale and surrounded by blood. When he refuses to stop, she tries to help—misjudging how to cut him and severing a major artery.
• As Chen Hao loses consciousness, the Clay Figure’s blood meter finally reaches 100%.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao is determined to endure the painful process, despite panicking at its slow progress and fearing he may die before it is done. His humor and frustration remain prominent even in danger.
• Qin Yumo shifts from concern over the planetary crisis to alarm at Chen Hao’s condition. Though clumsy and alarming in her attempt to help, she trusts that the mysterious figure must be useful and stays beside him.
• Horse Face provides the figure and its instructions, but his teasing, unhelpful timing adds to Chen Hao’s comic frustration.
• Chen and Qin’s exchange shows their closeness: she cannot bear to leave him, while he tries to protect her from the consequences of the procedure.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and determination: Chen Hao accepts severe physical danger to complete the transformation.
• Trust amid uncertainty: Qin Yumo supports him despite not knowing exactly what the divine artifact will do.
• Dark comedy: The absurdly ugly figure, vague instructions, slow progress meter, and disastrous “help” undercut the life-threatening situation with slapstick humor.
• Crisis and limited solutions: The smoke-clearing effort highlights that treating symptoms is futile without stopping the volcanic eruptions themselves.

Plot points and events

• A clay figure dissolves into muddy water around Chen Hao, cocooning him in a glowing halo. Qin Yumo believes he is undergoing a transformation.
• With the sky still obscured by volcanic smoke and dust, Qin Yumo takes CC to an actively erupting volcano to try to stop the eruption.
• CC proves able to withstand lava, but complains and resists going deeper. Qin Yumo forces CC to investigate the underground lava channels.
• A major collapse traps CC beneath the lava. The volcano erupts violently, and Qin Yumo is blasted back and burned while trying to reach CC.
• Chen Hao returns, now radiating a seven-colored halo and possessing vastly greater power. He comforts Qin Yumo, dives into the lava, and retrieves CC.
• When Qin Yumo fears CC is dead, Chen Hao reveals that CC is pretending. CC admits to faking unconsciousness, and Qin Yumo chases the dog in anger.

Character developments

• Qin Yumo shows determination and leadership in trying to address the catastrophe, but the danger to CC and the strain of carrying humanity’s burden expose her fear and exhaustion. Chen Hao’s return lets her finally release her pent-up emotions.
• Chen Hao returns transformed and seemingly immune to extreme heat and volcanic force. His calm, reassuring presence contrasts with the chaos around him.
• CC remains powerful but self-serving and theatrical, worrying about its own safety and joking through danger. Despite its complaints, it does investigate the volcano—and later exaggerates its peril to provoke a reaction.

Themes

• Sacrifice and responsibility: Qin Yumo keeps going because she remembers Chen Hao’s sacrifice and feels responsible for humanity.
• Love and emotional support: Chen Hao’s return gives Qin Yumo comfort after she has borne the burden alone.
• Courage mixed with comic selfishness: The dangerous mission is undercut by CC’s cowardly complaints and pranks.
• Transformation and renewal: Chen Hao’s new appearance and strength suggest a dramatic rebirth.

Character interactions

• Qin Yumo repeatedly orders and threatens CC, while CC protests and jokes; their exchanges create much of the scene’s humor.
• Qin Yumo’s grief over CC brings Chen Hao back into the emotional center of the story: he comforts her, rescues CC, and exposes CC’s act.
• The reunion restores Qin Yumo’s sense of support, while her final pursuit of CC returns the scene to comic bickering.

Plot points and events

• After surviving the heavenly tribulation, Chen Hao discovers that the volcanic riverbed is collapsing. The collapse spreads through the surrounding crust, unleashing magma and threatening to tear Earth apart.
• He returns to the base and warns everyone that the destruction may be global. Xiang Wencun confirms that she has already witnessed widespread ground collapse, while earthquakes intensify and the survivors grow desperate.
• Chen Hao asks Horse Face to seek help from the Heavenly Court. Supreme Lord Lao can offer no solution, but Horse Face sends Nuwa’s Sky-Mending Stone, which can repair Earth if activated by Nuwa—or her reincarnation.
• A photograph identifies Xiang Wencun as Nuwa’s reincarnation. While she and the other Qi Refiners try to hold back the spreading cracks with vines, Chen Hao reinforces their failing defenses with his glassy light.
• Xiang Wencun activates the stone by striking it against the ground. Its power spreads around the planet, calming the volcanoes, stopping the magma and earthquakes, and clearing the volcanic smoke. Earth is saved, and sunlight returns.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Hao shifts from confidence in his newfound strength to helplessness before a planetary catastrophe. He persists in seeking help and ultimately protects Xiang Wencun as she makes the decisive choice.
• Xiang Wencun demonstrates courage and self-sacrifice, refusing to abandon the threatened land. Learning she may be Nuwa’s reincarnation, she accepts the responsibility and saves the world.
• Qin Yumo supports Chen Hao and worries about the survivors. She briefly feels jealous when he embraces Xiang Wencun, but ultimately responds with a smile.
• CC provides comic relief amid the crisis, teasing Chen Hao about his embrace with Xiang Wencun; Qin Yumo kicks him for it.
• The survivors’ fear turns to relief and celebration once Earth is restored.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and perseverance: Xiang Wencun risks herself to defend others, while Chen Hao refuses to give up despite his lack of a direct solution.
• Hope in the face of catastrophe: The characters endure escalating disasters by continuing to act and trust that a way forward can be found.
• Renewal and contrast: The return of sunlight marks not just survival, but the beginning of a new world after darkness and destruction.