Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor secures support from powerful figures who agree to join the Primordial World and fight the Upper Realm.
• He tells the Human Path’s fortune golden dragon that he plans to build illusion formations in Human territory. The dragon agrees to protect them, recognizing their importance.
• Daochen places the formations in the Human heartland because the Human Race is best positioned to defend them. In return, humans gain early access to the training.
• The formations—built with vast Mustard Seed Spaces—allow unlimited people to enter and strengthen their willpower. The Demon Emperor constructs them while Human powerhouses begin testing them.
• Human Sovereign Fuxi sends the entire Human Race into the formations. Other races, initially wary, follow after seeing the humans’ commitment and witnessing the Primordial World’s rapid growth in spiritual energy.
• The chapter ends with representatives of other races reaching the Human heartland and joining the training.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen acts as a strategist and organizer, preparing the Primordial World for future danger by both recruiting allies and creating a means to strengthen its people. He works cooperatively with the fortune golden dragon, who pledges the Human Race’s protection.
• The fortune golden dragon shows loyalty and foresight, accepting the responsibility despite the risks.
• Human Sovereign Fuxi responds decisively to the discovery of willpower’s importance, prioritizing training for the entire Human Race.
• The other races move from suspicion and hesitation toward participation, driven by the humans’ example, rising spiritual energy, and fear of being left behind.

Significant themes

• Preparation for looming conflict: The Primordial World’s training effort reflects the expectation of a dangerous invasion.
• Willpower as the basis of growth: The chapter reframes cultivation, suggesting that spiritual strength and progress may depend heavily on willpower, not merely soul strength or conventional practice.
• Unity through shared purpose: The races become more motivated when they share the goal of exploring the wider Chaos World and defending their future.
• Cooperation and competition: The Human Race’s initiative encourages others to join, but also sparks concern that humans may outpace them and dominate future territory.

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor completes the Illusion Formations, and people from across the Primordial World—including the dead from the Netherworld Office—rush in to strengthen their wills.
• Seeing others progress rapidly, Chaos Heaven worries that they may eventually surpass him. He and the Demon Emperor realize that their own cultivation has stalled because the energy available in their worlds is too low-grade.
• The Demon Emperor urges Chaos Heaven not to give up and suggests compressing the world’s energy to make it stronger.
• They seek advice from the Black Hole Lord, who offers to share his knowledge of energy compression but proposes another option: sacrificing useful goods to obtain higher-grade energy from the Upper Realm.
• The Demon Emperor suggests appealing to the food-loving Giant Mouth Clan. Since the clan values food, the group could offer them livestock and meals in exchange for energy.
• To gain leverage in negotiations, the Demon Emperor proposes seizing one of the Giant Mouth Clan’s ranches, then bargaining to manage its livestock in return for energy.

Character developments and interactions

• Chaos Heaven admits his anxiety about being overtaken and recognizes that he has become discouraged. The Demon Emperor’s advice renews his determination, and he is willing to learn from the Black Hole Lord despite his own status.
• Demon Emperor Daochen shows humility, initiative, and strategic thinking: he encourages persistence, values others’ expertise, and turns the Black Hole Lord’s suggestion into a practical plan.
• The Black Hole Lord proves resourceful, offering both technical knowledge and the more unconventional idea of using sacrifice to acquire energy.
• The Demon Emperor and Chaos Heaven consult the Black Hole Lord as respected collaborators, then jointly consider how to approach the Giant Mouth Clan.

Significant themes

• Trust and perseverance: The other races’ progress reflects their faith in the Demon Emperor and their willingness to keep striving.
• Learning from others: Strength comes not only from rank or power but from recognizing and applying others’ particular expertise.
• Adaptation and ingenuity: When existing resources cannot support growth, the characters consider refining energy or negotiating for better supplies.
• Pragmatic cooperation: The proposed bargain combines food, livestock, and energy, though it is backed by a calculated show of force.

Plot points and events

• Chaos Heaven agrees to join Demon Emperor Daochen against the Giant Mouth Clan, accepting that their mission is to rescue the Golden Squid Clan—not to save everyone. They will leave the defeated Black Dragons enslaved.
• At the Giant Mouth Clan’s colony, Daochen finds the breach has become permanent and collects large black eggs, which he suspects belong to the Black Dragon Clan.
• The Black Dragons ask him not to take their eggs. Chaos Heaven reveals his Heavenly Dao Realm power, forcing them into submission.
• A Heavenly Dao Realm Giant Mouth Clan member confronts Daochen, accusing him of destroying its altar and trespassing. Daochen kills it with his “Instant Blade” technique, but the creature’s body splits into many powerful doppelgangers.
• The doppelgangers attack Daochen and Chaos Heaven. Daochen learns that killing the creature’s Main Brain has weakened their coordination, leaving only a few enemies for him to face at once.
• Daochen fights effectively, while Chaos Heaven is gradually worn down by the swarm. Daochen unleashes the Kindling, enhanced by his Golden Crow Fire, setting the insects ablaze and turning the battle in his favor.

Character developments

• Chaos Heaven commits to the dangerous alliance but remains pragmatic: he will help the Golden Squids, not risk everything for the Black Dragons.
• Daochen demonstrates confidence and ruthlessness in combat, quickly adapting to the Giant Mouth Clan’s unusual ability to divide into doppelgangers. His use of the Kindling reveals the growing strength of his fused powers.
• The Black Dragons appear less defeated than they seemed: their eggs suggest they may still have a future, even though they currently submit to stronger forces.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and selective compassion: Chaos Heaven distinguishes between rescuing allies and helping a clan with which he has no ties.
• Power and survival: The Black Dragons submit under overwhelming force, while the Giant Mouth Clan relies on numbers and attrition.
• Unusual forms of life: The Giant Mouth Clan’s Main Brain and doppelgangers make it a collective threat rather than a conventional opponent.
• Strength through combination: Daochen’s Kindling, amplified by Golden Crow Fire, shows the destructive potential of fused abilities.

Character interactions

• Daochen and Chaos Heaven agree on their priorities and coordinate against the colony.
• The Black Dragons appeal to Daochen to spare their eggs, but Chaos Heaven’s aura silences their resistance.
• The Giant Mouth Clan’s Main Brain challenges Daochen, then threatens to make him food for its doppelgangers.
• Daochen and Chaos Heaven fight side by side, but their different levels of strength leave Chaos Heaven more vulnerable to the swarm.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• The Giant Mouth worms realize they cannot withstand Demon Emperor Daochen’s sustained attacks and flee. Chaos Heaven estimates that only about a dozen Heavenly Dao Realm worms escaped; many of the apparent attackers had been illusions.
• Daochen worries the survivors may regroup, summon reinforcements through the altar, and become a future threat.
• Searching for the Golden Squid, Daochen and Chaos Heaven find only a few badly wounded survivors guarding many eggs. Most of the clan has been eaten by the Giant Mouth Tribe, which kept the survivors alive as breeding stock.
• Daochen rescues the remaining Golden Squid and their eggs, gives them a safe place to rebuild, and establishes a separate breeding ground for the Black Dragons.
• The two allies withdraw from public view and enter secluded cultivation, while also hoping to draw the hidden Giant Mouth worms into the open. They eventually remove their illusion barriers so the worms can reach the world’s only altar.
• The worms contact their clan through the altar. Daochen then sends a message declaring that he has taken control of the world and that its inhabitants will no longer be treated as food.
• Instead of replying, the Giant Mouth Clan activates the altar, whose sudden, powerful light drives Daochen back.

Character developments

• Demon Emperor Daochen shows both strategic caution and compassion: he recognizes the danger of letting enemies escape, yet takes responsibility for protecting and restoring the Golden Squid. He tries to establish his strength as a basis for negotiation, but misjudges the Giant Mouth Clan’s willingness to reason.
• Chaos Heaven acts as a practical adviser, assessing the worms’ numbers and tactics. He is shaken by the near-extermination of the Golden Squid and shares Daochen’s concern about the clan’s cruelty.
• The Giant Mouth worms are revealed as numerous but individually limited fighters, reliant on overwhelming numbers, deception, and the altar for reinforcements. Their greed for the Golden Squid as food persists even as their position deteriorates.
• The Golden Squid are reduced to a desperate remnant, but are given a chance to recover through their surviving members and eggs.

Character interactions

• Daochen and Chaos Heaven discuss the escaped worms, search together for the Golden Squid, and coordinate their plan to lure the enemy out.
• Daochen communicates with the Golden Squid through his soul, freeing them and assigning them a protected habitat; he also provides a breeding ground for the Black Dragons.
• Daochen attempts to address the Giant Mouth Clan directly, but their response is not a negotiation: the altar erupts with light, ending the chapter on a new threat.

Significant themes

• Survival and the cost of war: even victory leaves vulnerable populations nearly wiped out.
• Cruelty and exploitation: the Giant Mouth Tribe treats other species as food and preserves survivors only as future stock.
• Strategy versus brute force: deception, numbers, energy limits, and control of the battlefield shape the conflict.
• Rebuilding and responsibility: Daochen’s efforts to protect the remaining Golden Squid suggest that victory also entails helping the harmed recover.
• Failed assumptions: Daochen expects strength to earn serious negotiations, but the altar’s activation hints that the conflict may escalate instead.

Key plot points

• The Giant Mouth Clan repeatedly teleports members through the Altar, but they are trapped in the Illusory Realm and killed by Demon Emperor Daochen. He sacrifices their remains back through the Altar.
• To prevent the clan from retaliating out of humiliation, Daochen offers a Black Dragon as a gift. The gesture prompts the Giant Mouth Clan to send a Peace Envoy.
• Daochen proposes trading delicacies for Upper Realm energy. Though the clan initially warns that aiding fugitives is forbidden by the Racial Alliance, he argues that a private exchange of equal value can remain secret.
• They agree that each Black Dragon is worth one gallon of energy. Daochen trades more than a hundred dragons and receives the same number of gallons, then sends the envoy home.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shifts from defending himself against the Giant Mouth Clan to pursuing negotiation and trade. He uses food as leverage, presents himself as a shrewd and reassuring business partner, and recognizes that the envoy is also observing his group.
• The Peace Envoy, a tiny, timid, elf-like creature, acts as an intermediary. Though physically weak and frightened by Daochen’s attention, he is capable and politically useful, carrying the clan’s messages and relaying its agreement.
• The Giant Mouth Clan moves from hostile incursions to cautious cooperation once it understands the danger of teleporting into Daochen’s Illusory Realm and sees the value of his offerings.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism over pride: Gifts and trade turn a potentially escalating conflict into negotiation.
• Equivalent exchange and resourcefulness: Daochen transforms his group’s available food into a source of vital energy.
• Trust mixed with suspicion: Both sides cooperate while remaining aware of rules, risks, and possible surveillance.

Key plot points and events

• Chaos Heaven suggests trading Primordial World food for resources from the Giant Mouth Clan, whose members seem to value eating more than fighting. The Demon Emperor decides to test this idea by arranging a large quantity of food for them.
• Back in the Primordial World, he finds most people away in an Illusion Formation and asks Human Sovereign Fuxi to summon its gourmets.
• The gourmets refuse to prepare food in bulk, insisting that they create only carefully perfected dishes for people who appreciate fine food.
• The Demon Emperor explains that the guest is crucial to the Primordial World’s future and demands cooperation. The gourmets still refuse, even welcoming the chance to be replaced.
• Viewing their stance as selfish and harmful to the world that protects them, the Demon Emperor banishes them into Chaos, where their weakness makes survival virtually impossible. Fuxi asks him to reconsider, but the Demon Emperor refuses.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shifts from practical optimism about food as a diplomatic tool to anger when the gourmets obstruct the plan. His devotion to the Primordial World drives his harsh judgment.
• Chaos Heaven is enthusiastic about the possibility of turning ordinary food into a profitable exchange with the Giant Mouth Clan.
• The gourmets are portrayed as proud and inflexible, treating culinary perfection as a principle more important than serving the world’s needs.
• Fuxi cooperates with Daochen but is alarmed by the banishment and tries to plead for mercy, revealing both compassion and respect for the gourmets’ talent.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts personal ideals with collective responsibility: the gourmets defend their standards, while Daochen demands service to the community.
• It explores gratitude and entitlement, suggesting that those who benefit from a society’s protection should contribute to its survival.
• It also highlights the cost of inflexible pride: the gourmets’ refusal turns a disagreement into an irreversible punishment.

Key plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen exiles the gourmets into chaos for three days after they refuse to help protect the Primordial World. He gives them a final chance to reconsider and return.
• Struggling to survive as their strength and vitality drain away, the gourmets gradually recognize that their culinary pursuits depend on the safety and stability of the world.
• Human Sovereign Fuxi visits after three days and asks them to explain their new understanding. One gourmet admits their mistake and acknowledges Daochen’s efforts; others remain defiant.
• Fuxi condemns one particularly selfish holdout, who would rather die than recognize any debt to the Primordial World, and sends him to his death. He brings back those who have genuinely reconsidered.
• The returning gourmets apologize to Daochen and accept that they must set aside their pursuits when the world needs their help. Daochen urges them to think beyond their own lifetimes and protect the future.

Character developments

• The gourmets move from arrogance and entitlement toward humility and responsibility. Some sincerely change their views, while a few cling to resentment and individual freedom.
• Daochen demonstrates both severity and restraint: he imposes a harsh lesson but allows time for reflection and offers the repentant a way back.
• Fuxi acts as mediator and judge, enforcing Daochen’s terms while insisting that people remember the protection they received from the Human Race and the Primordial World.

Significant themes

• Survival before luxury: Fine food and specialized pursuits are possible only when basic safety is secured.
• Responsibility and gratitude: Individuals owe something to the society and world that sheltered them, especially in a crisis.
• Rights and obligations: Personal freedom matters, but cannot justify abandoning collective responsibilities.
• Sacrifice across generations: The present generation must help create a safe world so future generations can pursue their own ambitions.

Character interactions

• Fuxi understands Daochen’s anger and supports his decision not to rescue the gourmets prematurely.
• In chaos, the gourmets’ shared crisis forces them to confront their dependence on the world and on Daochen’s protection.
• Fuxi questions the survivors, distinguishes genuine remorse from continued selfishness, and punishes one defiant holdout.
• The repentant gourmets kneel before Daochen and apologize; he accepts their change of heart while reminding them that their generation must shoulder the dangers of its era.

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor gathers newly transformed gourmets and takes them to the Black Dragon colony in Chaos, providing special Battle Armor so they can survive there.
• The gourmets are terrified by the enormous Black Dragons, though one young man immediately thinks of them as potential ingredients.
• At an altar, the Demon Emperor tells the group their task: turn a Black Dragon into a delicacy for his honored guests.
• Cooking proves difficult because the dragons are colossal and supplementary ingredients are scarce. Seasonings gathered across the Primordial World are enough for only one dragon.
• The Demon Emperor forges an Ultimate Weapon–level cauldron designed specifically for cooking. It can expand through subatomic space and contains an array of waters, fires, and seasonings.
• The gourmets eagerly compete to claim the cauldron. The Demon Emperor explains that he can make more, but first they must cook one Black Dragon well enough to delight his guests.
• The group nominates a young girl with low cultivation but exceptional cooking skill. She says she can control the heat, with her Saint Realm brother helping operate the cauldron.
• The Demon Emperor brings forward the largest, most docile Black Dragon, already subdued and unable to resist, and entrusts it to the girl.

Character developments

• The Demon Emperor (Daochen) is reassured that the gourmets understand the significance of serving the Primordial World. He acts as organizer and provider, outfitting the group and creating the specialized cooking equipment.
• The young gourmet who views the Black Dragons as ingredients demonstrates an unusually bold, single-minded culinary perspective.
• The little girl emerges as the chosen chef: despite her youth and Qi Refining cultivation, the others trust her superior cooking and heat-control skills.
• Her brother, a powerful Saint Realm expert, is positioned as her assistant, highlighting the contrast between his strength and her expertise.

Significant themes

• Service as honor: Contributing to the Primordial World is framed as a rare privilege in a life largely spent pursuing personal goals.
• Skill beyond cultivation: Culinary talent, not martial strength or cultivation level, determines who leads the task.
• Perspective and absurdity: The gourmets’ eagerness to treat terrifying dragons as food turns a scene of fear into comic ambition.
• Resourcefulness and preparation: The Demon Emperor adapts to the scale and harshness of Chaos by creating specialized tools and assembling rare ingredients.

Character interactions

• The gourmets react with awe and fear to the Black Dragons, while the Demon Emperor lets their reactions speak for themselves.
• They enthusiastically argue over who deserves the cauldron; Daochen calms them by promising each a cauldron later and redirecting them toward the immediate challenge.
• The group backs the little girl as chef, and she confidently explains how her brother can compensate for her limited cultivation.
• Daochen questions her ability, then respects her confidence and gives her the largest dragon to cook.

Plot points and events

• The little girl directs the preparation of Black Dragon meat, specifying how to soften the armor, remove the soul, and cook the flesh. Daochen leaves the work to the cooks.
• Daochen tastes the red-braised dragon meat and finds it sour, tough, and unpleasant, though rich in energy. He distributes it so the group can strengthen their cultivation.
• A Golden Squid arrives on behalf of its king, offering its tentacles as ingredients and a recurring source of supplies. Daochen initially misunderstands the offer, then tries a roasted tentacle and finds it tender, flavorful, and energy-rich.
• Daochen recruits several gourmets to experiment with the tentacles, assigning each a different dish and promising to raise the most successful cooks’ cultivation. An appealing aroma soon spreads through the formation.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen shifts from overseeing the cooking to encouraging others to experiment. Though he cares little about eating for pleasure, he recognizes the tentacles’ quality and uses cultivation rewards to motivate the gourmets.
• The little girl displays confidence and expertise in handling ingredients, suggesting she has insight into how to transform even difficult food.
• The Golden Squid envoy is solemn and self-sacrificing, offering its limbs for the clan’s benefit. Its blunt explanation briefly causes Daochen comic alarm before he understands.
• The gourmets eagerly propose sashimi, stew, braised dishes, and sealed-pot cooking. They welcome the chance to spend less time cultivating and more time on food.

Significant themes

• Craft and experimentation: Even challenging ingredients may yield fine dishes through knowledge and care.
• Specialization and focus: People excel when they devote their limited time and energy to one pursuit.
• Food as nourishment and opportunity: Ingredients provide cultivation benefits as well as culinary enjoyment, while cooking skill can become a path to advancement.

Plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen samples several dishes made from Golden Squid tentacles and Black Dragon meat. He is impressed by the gourmets’ cooking and offers to add any successful dishes to his menu, rewarding the cooks with whatever they request.
• The little girl’s Black Dragon stew takes nearly a day to finish because it is an entire dragon and requires precise heat control. Exhausted, she collapses as soon as she declares it ready.
• Daochen carries her and places Kindling in her, which helps stabilize her soul. When he opens the cauldron, the Black Dragon looks almost alive, with its soul still coiled inside its head.
• A gourmet tastes the dish and discovers that it is exceptionally delicious and improves cultivation. Daochen and the others eagerly eat it, but Daochen saves some of the valuable meat to trade.
• He offers Black Dragon tail meat to the Giant Mouth Clan through the altar. Their Peace Envoy praises it and offers to buy more.
• Daochen demands one hundred million gallons of energy for each Black Dragon, claiming that preparing one is difficult and supplies will be rare. The envoy immediately accepts.

Character developments

• Daochen’s enthusiasm for fine food grows, and he recognizes both the gourmets’ skill and the commercial value of the girl’s cooking. He also acts protectively toward her, giving her Kindling to stabilize her soul.
• The little girl demonstrates extraordinary concentration and culinary ability despite her low cultivation. Her dish proves more potent than the others, though the effort leaves her completely drained.
• The gourmets gain recognition from Daochen, while the Peace Envoy is eager to secure a steady supply of the rare delicacy for its master.

Significant themes

• Food as power and exchange: Cooking transforms ordinary or unpleasant ingredients into delicacies that can even improve cultivation.
• Scarcity and value: Daochen deliberately presents the Black Dragon dish as difficult to produce to command a far higher price.
• Skill and persistence: The girl’s patience and precision make her dish exceptional, despite her limited strength.
• Care and patronage: Daochen’s support for the girl combines affection with practical concern for her well-being and growth.

Character interactions

• Daochen praises the gourmets, promises rewards, and invites them to contribute dishes to his menu.
• He quietly observes the girl’s efforts, then helps her after she collapses and gives her Kindling.
• The gourmets’ reaction to the finished stew convinces Daochen of its quality and value.
• Daochen negotiates with the Peace Envoy, who accepts his steep price without hesitation.

Plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen and the gourmets examine a vast supply of Upper Realm energy blocks. Adolan, a Qi Refining cultivator, eats one and rapidly rises to the Saint Realm without harm.
• Daochen learns the energy is unusually gentle: it boosts cultivation, strengthens the body, and can repair injuries and restore youth. An older man who eats a block visibly becomes younger and healthier.
• Daochen tests the energy himself. A single block has little effect, so he absorbs one million gallons and experiences significant bodily strengthening and healing.
• Chaos Heaven tries to consume the same amount but cannot withstand it and nearly explodes. Daochen saves him by puncturing his body and drawing off the excess energy.
• Daochen warns everyone not to exceed their limits and offers one block each as payment for good cooking. He rewards Adolan with ten blocks for her discovery.

Character development and interactions

• Daochen shifts from doubt about the energy’s value to recognizing its remarkable potential. He remains cautious, protects the others, and begins imagining how the resource could transform his world.
• Adolan proves unexpectedly perceptive and resilient: her willingness to try the block reveals its benefits. She identifies that Daochen may need a larger amount to experience a major effect.
• Chaos Heaven displays greed and overconfidence, misjudging his body’s limits. He must rely on Daochen to rescue him.
• Daochen asks Adolan and the other gourmets about their experience, rewards them, and admonishes the group after Chaos Heaven’s near-disaster.

Significant themes

• Power and bodily limits: The same energy that strengthens Daochen overwhelms Chaos Heaven, showing that cultivation and physical endurance matter.
• Merit and reward: The gourmets receive energy blocks in exchange for their cooking, while Adolan is specially rewarded for her contribution.
• Opportunity and ambition: Daochen imagines that abundant energy could raise countless powerful cultivators and greatly strengthen the Primordial World.
• Hard-earned strength versus shortcuts: Daochen’s disciplined cultivation contrasts with Chaos Heaven’s shortcut-driven rise and helps explain their different abilities to endure the energy.

Key plot points

• The Demon Emperor decides the group must eventually ascend to the Upper Realm, whose abundant energy could help them grow strong enough to escape its system of enslavement. He sees the Giant Mouth Clan as a promising partner and wants their cooperation to become a lasting alliance.
• He orders everyone to stabilize their cultivation, then begin stockpiling food. The black dragons are to be used as provisions, except for the juveniles.
• Daochen takes all one hundred million gallons of energy blocks to the Primordial World and gives them to Human Sovereign Fuxi, urging him to become an Ultimate Powerhouse and strengthen the world’s defenses.
• Fuxi doubts that energy alone can overcome the need to comprehend the ultimate laws. Daochen insists the blocks accelerate both cultivation and mental comprehension. After swallowing one, Fuxi’s cultivation surges, and he reaches the peak of the ninth saint realm in a day—raising questions about whether energy can break bottlenecks without sufficient law comprehension.
• Back at the Giant Mouth Colony, Daochen offers the Peace Envoy a small plate of Golden Squid dishes. The envoy returns excitedly, asking for a much larger serving for his master. Daochen agrees, but makes clear that the food must be paid for through equivalent exchange.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shifts from resentment toward the Upper Realm to a determined plan: gather resources, build strength, and forge an alliance with the Giant Mouth Clan. He is practical and forceful, pushing Fuxi to cultivate and using food as a resource for negotiation.
• Human Sovereign Fuxi moves from skepticism to commitment after seeing the energy blocks’ immediate effects. His cultivation accelerates dramatically, and he becomes absorbed in the prospect of rising without bottlenecks.
• Chaos Heaven complains that Daochen’s ability to eat without limit is unfair, then accepts being left without cultivation resources because he trusts Daochen’s priorities.
• The Peace Envoy eagerly pursues more food for his master, showing how valuable the dishes are to the Giant Mouth Clan. Daochen responds politely but firmly, insisting on payment.

Significant themes

• Resistance and liberation: The Upper Realm’s control and enslavement of Lower Realm cultivators motivate Daochen’s determination to break the established order.
• Alliance and mutual benefit: Daochen views cooperation with the Giant Mouth Clan as a strategic, win-win route to resources and future freedom.
• Power through unconventional means: Energy blocks appear able to accelerate cultivation and potentially overcome bottlenecks, challenging established assumptions about the role of comprehension.
• Resourcefulness and exchange: Food, energy, and cultivation resources are treated as strategic assets, with trade governed by equivalent exchange.

Plot points and events

• The Peace Envoy offers Demon Emperor Daochen increasingly large payments for Golden Squid delicacies: ultimately, 100 billion gallons of energy for an amount equivalent to one Black Dragon, with the promise of ongoing orders.
• Daochen accepts and receives the payment. He then visits the Golden Squid Clan to collect a hundred members’ tentacles for the Giant Mouth Clan.
• The Golden Squid King hesitates because losing so many limbs could leave his people vulnerable, but submits when Daochen insists and assures him of protection.
• Daochen gives the King a Heavenly Dao Realm hammer as compensation. The King agrees to supply naturally shed tentacles as the clan grows.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shifts from cautious negotiator to confident profiteer, treating the clan’s tentacles as a valuable commodity. He balances coercion with generosity, offering the hammer to preserve the partnership.
• The Peace Envoy is eager to secure food for his master, who believes another Black Dragon’s worth of energy will help him break free of the laws’ restrictions. He also insists that the deal remain secret from the Alliance.
• The Golden Squid King is frightened of Daochen but tries to bargain for his people’s safety. He ultimately accepts the arrangement, partly because the clan can regenerate its tentacles and partly because it depends on Daochen’s protection.
• The Envoy and Daochen establish a profitable, continuing trade; Daochen and the King reinforce a relationship shaped by unequal power and mutual dependence.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: The Golden Squid Clan’s “consent” is constrained by its fear of Daochen and reliance on his protection.
• Commerce and exploitation: Daochen turns the clan’s regenerative ability into a recurring supply business, while the King frames the exchange as beneficial.
• Pragmatism and dependence: Both sides accept a morally uncomfortable arrangement because it offers survival or advancement.
• Secrecy and ambition: The Giant Mouth Clan’s pursuit of a breakthrough drives the deal, but its secrecy reflects political risk.

Key plot points and events

• The Golden Squid King reluctantly accepts a massive Heavenly Dao-class weapon from Demon Emperor Daochen, noting how difficult it has been for his clan to capture any Upper Realm weapons.
• Daochen explains that the Golden Squid Clan’s strength has plateaued: its members mature quickly and become powerful, but lack room to progress further. He urges them to rebuild their population first, promising to seek ways to help them improve once his current work is done.
• Daochen warns that conflict with the Giant Mouth Clan may eventually become unavoidable. The Golden Squid King agrees to prioritize hatching and raising more members, trusting Daochen to help the clan find a new path.
• Daochen returns to his temporary home, where the gourmets are enthusiastically cultivating after discovering a method that accelerates their growth. He cautions them not to become so absorbed in cultivation that they forget their nature.
• Back in the Primordial World, Daochen finds Human Sovereign Fuxi nearing the level of an Ultimate Powerhouse through the use of energy blocks. Fuxi warns that this rapid advancement is damaging his foundation: his strength is rising faster than his understanding of the laws, making further progress harder and the energy less effective.

Character developments and interactions

• Golden Squid King puts his clan’s survival above pride or accusations of submission. Though he does not understand Daochen’s criticism of the clan’s lack of drive, he accepts the practical instruction to focus on population growth.
• Demon Emperor Daochen shows sympathy for the Squid Clan’s limitations but remains candid about its stagnation. He avoids making promises he cannot yet fulfill and prioritizes immediate strategic needs.
• Human Sovereign Fuxi has made rapid gains but recognizes their hidden cost. He turns to Daochen for help after identifying the gap between physical power and law comprehension.
• The gourmets are inspired by the new cultivation method and increasingly eager to reach the Upper Realm; Daochen’s teasing warning contrasts their enthusiasm with his more measured outlook.

Significant themes

• Survival versus pride: The Golden Squid King accepts a difficult relationship with Daochen because preserving his people matters more than appearances.
• Growth requires more than strength: The Squid Clan’s power has stagnated through lack of adaptation, while Fuxi’s rapid progress shows that raw energy without comprehension and a stable foundation can also become a liability.
• Strategic preparation: Rebuilding the Squid population is presented as preparation for future conflict.
• Limits of leadership: Daochen wants to help others advance but recognizes his time and abilities are limited, and therefore refuses to offer empty assurances.

Key plot points

• Demon Emperor Daochen argues that rapid cultivation has trade-offs: it can weaken one’s grasp of the laws, but may still be worthwhile because it strengthens the body and improves overall combat power.
• He proposes teaching laws systematically, with powerful experts guiding talented students in the paths best suited to them. He believes the Primordial World’s urgent need for strength may outweigh concerns about unstable foundations.
• Fuxi explains that the Human Race already shares knowledge through academies and the Pavilion of Literary Splendor, where the leadership collects and organizes the insights of accomplished cultivators.
• Daochen provides nearly a hundred billion gallons of energy blocks, directing Fuxi to distribute them to powerful, battle-tested warriors—especially those nearing the Ultimate Powerhouse realm. He warns that these energy harvests may not last.
• Fuxi reveals that the Primordial World’s expansion can be accelerated: Hongjun can direct the Heavenly Dao to expand it, and people carrying a special law-power can absorb laws from outside and bring them back to merge with the world.
• Daochen realizes this could become a large-scale project, rewarding contributors with energy blocks while strengthening both the world and its people.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen shows himself to be pragmatic and focused on raising the Primordial World’s immediate strength. He also recognizes the value of organized learning after hearing how the Human Race has applied it.
• Fuxi respectfully challenges Daochen’s emphasis on rapid advancement, defending the importance of law comprehension and explaining the Human Race’s successful educational system. He is entrusted with managing the energy distribution and contributes a crucial discovery about world expansion.
• Their conversation is collaborative: Daochen supplies resources and strategic ideas, while Fuxi offers institutional experience and new information.

Significant themes

• Progress versus solid foundations: rapid growth can bring instability, but may be justified when survival and combat strength are urgent.
• Shared knowledge: education and the preservation of expert insights can help an entire civilization advance.
• Resources and conflict: Daochen links scarcity to competition and violence, suggesting abundance could reduce both.
• Collective advancement: individuals can strengthen themselves while contributing to the growth of their world.

Plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen finds the Primordial World eerily empty after its powerful beings enter the Illusion Formations. In their absence, plants spread, animals evolve rapidly, and ocean creatures fight over resources. Signs of new civilization begin to emerge.
• Among humans, weaker survivors increasingly rely on tools and knowledge borrowed from the Mechanical Race. Mechanical weapons appear, and younger generations begin developing a technological civilization independent of cultivation.
• These changes lead Daochen to wonder whether powerful beings need only provide a stable environment, rather than protect and direct everyone. He begins taking technology more seriously and returns to the Demon Realm.
• Daochen visits the Mechanical Race and challenges the Mechanical Commander’s claim that its Planet-Buster Cannon is a new breakthrough. The Commander explains that the weapon now enables precise long-range strikes, unlike the indiscriminate attacks of the past, and says the race has also advanced its understanding of higher-dimensional space.
• The Commander proposes that the Primordial World may be an abandoned testing ground: its surrounding laws may support only one world, and the larger Chaos World may have a boundary leading to other Chaos Worlds. He also reports that the Primordial World is inexplicably expanding, perhaps because its laws have changed.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen shifts from viewing technology as primitive to recognizing its potential. Seeing life and civilization develop without their usual protectors also gives him a new perspective on independence and growth.
• The Mechanical Commander remains unable to cultivate normally because his soul has no body, but presents technological progress and ambitious theories about the structure of chaos.
• Their conversation is marked by Daochen’s blunt skepticism and the Commander’s relaxed, confident explanations. The Commander’s discoveries leave Daochen with new questions and a warning to monitor the Primordial World.

Significant themes

• Independent development: Life and civilization can evolve along their own paths when powerful protectors step aside.
• Technology and cultivation: Technological progress may be far more consequential than cultivation-focused powers have assumed.
• Evolution through competition: In the ocean, struggle for resources accelerates adaptation.
• The wider cosmos: The Primordial World may be only a limited, abandoned experiment, while other Chaos Worlds could hold new knowledge and resources.

Key events

• Demon Emperor Daochen asks the Mechanical Race how they uncovered facts about the Primordial World and Chaos. The Mechanical Commander invites him to examine their research.
• In the laboratory, Daochen sees the Mechanical Race’s model of the world and learns that they inferred its boundaries by sending out light waves and studying how their frequency changed when they returned.
• The Commander explains that their conclusions draw on experiments, spirit-energy measurements, calculations, and observations of changes in the Primordial World and Chaos. He also suspects Daochen has introduced a devouring law into the world.
• Fascinated by the evidence, Daochen studies the experiments closely and rethinks his assumptions about the Upper Realm. He proposes that its beings share the same dimension as those in the Primordial World, and may seem stronger mainly because their world has more energy and more advanced life.
• Daochen presents an Energy Block. The Commander identifies its energy as likely originating in the Upper Realm and suggests that energy is naturally attributeless, while local laws impose attributes on energy in the Primordial World and Chaos. Daochen confirms that the block makes breakthroughs easier.

Character development and interactions

• Daochen shifts from polite curiosity to genuine enthusiasm, recognizing science as a way to uncover the world’s foundations, complementing cultivation’s power to transcend its laws. He admits he has neglected scientific study while pursuing survival and the New World.
• The Mechanical Commander is eager to share research and encourages Daochen to take science seriously. His curiosity leads him to pepper Daochen with questions about other worlds, their spirits, and the Upper Realm; he also offers confident theories that Daochen is still learning to evaluate.
• Their exchange becomes collaborative: Daochen contributes firsthand knowledge and the Energy Block, while the Commander interprets it through scientific theory.

Significant themes

• Science and cultivation as complementary paths: cultivation can break through laws, while science can explain the world’s underlying structure.
• Knowledge through observation and experimentation: careful measurement reveals truths that even a powerful cultivator cannot sense directly.
• The limits of appearances: the Upper Realm’s apparent superiority may reflect differences in energy, evolution, and world laws rather than an entirely higher dimension.
• The value of open inquiry: the Mechanical Race’s willingness to share research enables new understanding.

Key plot points

• The Demon Emperor learns from the Mechanical Commander how a special energy can be absorbed more effectively and paired with spirit medicines to improve its benefits.
• Impressed by the Mechanical Race’s highly efficient pill production, Daochen accepts its proposal to centralize the Primordial World’s resources through a new Demon God Pavilion.
• The Pavilion will collect spirit medicines, ores, and other materials, then let people exchange them for pills, weapons, energy blocks, and other goods. It may later issue missions to explore Chaos and gather resources.
• The plan is also intended to encourage combat and exploration, which the Mechanical Commander believes can strengthen people faster than cultivation alone.
• Daochen orders that the Pavilion remain exclusive to the Mechanical Race. He permits research only when it is openly conducted under his supervision, citing the destruction of the Mechanical Universe as a warning.
• He cautions that efficient resource management cannot guarantee prosperity forever: when growth stalls, internal conflicts may emerge, and rigid rules can worsen discontent.
• With the Primordial World’s inhabitants currently focused on strengthening their willpower, Daochen sees a timely opening to establish the Pavilion. He adds that anyone sent beyond the world must carry the special expansion law to help accelerate the Primordial World’s growth.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen moves from seeking technical advice to entrusting the Mechanical Race with a major logistical role. He is pragmatic about its efficiency but remains wary of its potential power and dangerous research.
• The Mechanical Commander demonstrates the Race’s expertise and ambition, presenting the Pavilion as both a resource-management system and a way to spur development through missions and combat.
• Their exchange is cooperative but guarded: Daochen welcomes the Mechanical Race’s contribution while setting strict boundaries, and the Commander promises obedience.

Significant themes

• Efficiency and centralized resource use as tools for collective advancement.
• Growth through struggle, with combat and exploration framed as ways to test limits and provoke breakthroughs.
• The risks of power and technology, reflected in Daochen’s concern about uncontrolled research.
• The limits of rules and planning: prosperity may conceal future conflict, and rigid systems can create the disorder they are meant to prevent.

Key plot points and events

• Daochen tells the Mechanical Commander that Heavenly Dao Hongjun will help reattach laws after people return from outside the Primordial World. Doing it individually is more practical because few lifeforms travel out often.
• Daochen returns to the Giant Mouth Colony with Golden Squid tentacles and asks the Gourmets to prepare the same dishes as before, prioritizing a large quantity over experimentation.
• The Gourmets, mostly at the peak of the Saint Realm, have little interest in further cultivation and are busy figuring out how to prepare Black Dragon ingredients without wasting them.
• They prepare provisions—five times as much as the Black Dragon dishes—and receive forty million gallons of energy blocks in return.
• Daochen establishes a regular arrangement: ten Black Dragons prepared daily and Golden Squid dishes every three to five days.
• He decides to stop handing out energy blocks freely and instead use them as mission rewards and incentives for cultivation.
• The Gourmets ask to train cooks to take over repetitive food preparation. Daochen agrees, requiring them to train at least one cook every ten days, with each cook specializing in one dish.

Character developments

• Daochen continues to manage exchange and production pragmatically. He also recognizes that free rewards can weaken motivation, and plans to tie resources to work and advancement.
• The Gourmets remain devoted to culinary pursuits rather than cultivation. Though reluctant to accept routine work, they negotiate for a way to delegate it.
• The Mechanical Commander accepts Daochen’s explanation and promises to handle the law-reintegration process properly.

Significant themes

• Motivation and reward: Daochen considers how earned benefits may encourage effort more effectively than freely distributed resources.
• Balance in cultivation: Daochen sees the value of varying work and rest, while the Gourmets reject cultivation pursued without regard to their own aims.
• Practical cooperation: Trade succeeds through reliable exchanges, clear duties, and room for each group to work according to its strengths.

Character interactions

• Daochen explains the law system to the Mechanical Commander, who agrees to carry out the plan.
• Daochen directs the Gourmets’ work, balancing their culinary preferences against the colony’s obligations.
• The Gourmets push back on repetitive labor by proposing trained cooks; Daochen grants the request but sets a firm training quota.

Plot points

• The Demon Emperor demands that the thirteen Gourmets remain nearby and continue cooking, arguing that their elevated cultivation comes with a duty to serve the Primordial World.
• When they insist on leaving, he offers a compromise: they must teach one new dish per person each day for a year—about five hundred dishes total—after which they may leave, though he warns that abandoning the Primordial World could mean losing its aura and protection.
• The Gourmets eagerly accept, confident they can finish much sooner. Frustrated, Daochen decides to replace them rather than negotiate further.
• He asks Human Sovereign Fuxi to find children who can be trained as cooks, promising to raise their cultivation to the level of Ultimate Powerhouses.
• Fuxi brings nearly a thousand children, many with disabilities or illnesses. Daochen recognizes that Fuxi is also hoping the children will receive care and healing, and takes them beyond Chaos, cautiously supplying ordinary spiritual qi so they can absorb it safely.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shifts from trying to retain the Gourmets to accepting their departure and preparing replacements. Though angry at their perceived selfishness, he shows care and caution toward the vulnerable children.
• The Gourmets appear determined to prioritize their freedom and Culinary Way, treating the year-long assignment as easy work rather than a serious obligation.
• Fuxi sympathizes with the Gourmets, seeing them as temporarily misguided, but also uses the opportunity to secure help for disadvantaged children. His exchange with Daochen mixes gentle advocacy with practical calculation.
• Daochen’s confrontation with the Gourmets is tense, while his conversation with Fuxi is more familiar and teasing. The children themselves are quiet and accepting despite their hardships.

Significant themes

• Duty versus personal freedom: Daochen expects those who benefit from the Primordial World to contribute to it; the Gourmets resist being bound by that expectation.
• Consequences and belonging: Daochen warns that leaving means giving up the world’s protection and possibly being rejected by it.
• Care and responsibility: The replacement plan becomes a chance to support children who have been neglected or born with serious ailments.
• Talent, opportunity, and numbers: Daochen and Fuxi consider whether many ordinary cooks can compensate for limited individual talent.