Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen announces two benefits for the new Alliance: member worlds can buy mass-produced World-Destroying Cannons at cost, and each world will receive two free Puppet Armies.
• Alliance members rapidly place large orders, including the seven-star worlds, which pool resources to buy a hundred cannons. Daochen explains that the weapons consume world origin, but members consider the cost worthwhile.
• When the Many-Head King and Abyss King ask for four Puppet Armies because their worlds have merged, Daochen refuses: they retain one Alliance seat and therefore receive one world’s allocation.
• Daochen establishes rules for future distributions and proposes that each member world station an army in the Fortune Clan to form an Alliance force. Members needing support can request deployment, but will pay fees to fund the force.
• Meloki asks about the Alliance army’s equipment, casualty compensation, and soldiers’ cultivation costs. Daochen agrees to these provisions, noting that members must share the costs.
• Members send promising fighters to join the Alliance and begin training them in coordinated combat.
• Daochen also strengthens technological cooperation: Human and Mechanical Race researchers work together, while he buys and sells technology with the Rock Race. The Mechanical Leader says the new knowledge should let the race complete its arms factories within weeks and begin producing troops.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen establishes himself as a pragmatic, organizing leader: he offers attractive benefits, insists on a consistent seat-based allocation, and makes clear that his judgment will prevail in difficult decisions—though he promises later compensation where possible.
• The Many-Head King emphasizes that population and the survival of one’s people matter more than conserving origin, and tries to secure extra armies for his merged worlds.
• The Abyss King joins the Many-Head King’s request, revealing their shared interest in maximizing Alliance benefits.
• Meloki supports the Alliance army but presses Daochen on the practical costs and protections for its members.
• The Mechanical Leader responds enthusiastically to Daochen’s technological acquisitions and commits to rapidly building the Mechanical Race’s production capacity.
• Alliance members show confidence in Daochen by placing orders, contributing troops, and agreeing to shared responsibilities.

Significant themes

• Collective security and shared costs: The Alliance offers weapons and military support, but its members must contribute resources and forces.
• Pragmatism and fairness: Daochen balances equal treatment by Alliance seat with flexibility and promises of future compensation.
• Population as the foundation of power: The Many-Head King and Daochen stress that people and the emergence of new powerhouses sustain a world.
• Technology, cooperation, and competition: Races exchange expertise to accelerate development while still buying and selling technologies at high prices.
• Growth through preparation: The Alliance’s weapons, armies, training, and factories are presented as groundwork for future expansion.

Key plot points

• Encouraged by the Demon Emperor, the Mechanical Race begins building arms factories, seeing a chance to rise from its low status in the Primordial World.
• While the factories are being built, the Demon Emperor avoids launching major wars and sends scouts to study the expanding Ghoul Clan.
• The ghouls preserve many conquered inhabitants as “flesh sacks,” using their corpses to produce more ghouls. Through consuming different resources, ghouls can evolve into specialized, powerful branches.
• The Demon Emperor suspects that ordinary ghouls are not the true power behind the clan. He ventures deep into its territory to investigate.
• He discovers that the ghoul nests absorb the origins of conquered worlds and evolve over time. The nests themselves appear to be living organisms, eventually producing increasingly intelligent ghouls capable of surveillance.
• Realizing that mass-producing soldiers alone cannot counter the Ghoul Clan, the Demon Emperor returns and calls for technological cooperation, stronger individual Mechanical Warriors, improved armor, and large-scale evolution among the Primordial World’s inhabitants.

Character developments and interactions

• The Mechanical Leader/Commander is exhilarated by the Demon Emperor’s support and commits the Mechanical Race to building factories, anticipating its long-awaited rise.
• The Demon Emperor shifts from cautious observation to direct investigation, then revises his military strategy after recognizing the Ghoul Clan’s deeper evolutionary capacity. He treats the Mechanical Race as a crucial future force but also recognizes its limitations.
• The ghouls’ relationship with conquered peoples is revealed as purely utilitarian: survivors are kept alive as future sources of corpses. The Ghoul Clan’s nests, in turn, appear to be the hidden source of its growing intelligence and strength.

Significant themes

• Evolution versus production: Numerical strength and mass manufacturing may be insufficient against an enemy that continually evolves.
• Adaptation and intelligence: The Ghoul Clan’s growing ability to understand and use surveillance suggests that advanced power depends on more than raw combat ability.
• Cooperation and progress: The Demon Emperor concludes that technological restrictions must give way to collaboration and collective advancement.
• Exploitation and survival: The Ghoul Clan’s use of living populations as resources underscores the brutal costs of its expansion.

Key plot points

• The Demon Emperor compares the Ghoul Clan’s strength—which grows through territorial expansion and evolving Ghoul Nests—with his people’s potential for rapid individual advancement through cultivation.
• He believes the Primordial World’s broad, inclusive Laws can help it steadily absorb other worlds and provide strong defenses against invading ghouls.
• After returning, he orders the Mechanical Group to produce troops at full capacity but delays war to build reserves. He then convenes the Alliance’s first expanded meeting.
• He briefs the Alliance on the Ghoul Clan and raises questions about the scale of powerful civilizations, the Wisdom Race, and whether weaker worlds might be prey for even greater powers.
• The Alliance debates whether to expand, defend, or seek cooperation. The Demon Emperor urges steady growth, stronger defenses, military preparation, and cautious contact or trade with other worlds.
• The Abyss King warns that the ghouls may see the Alliance’s people and territory as more valuable than anything they could trade. The Demon Emperor agrees: the Alliance must first become strong enough to resist an attack.

Character developments and interactions

• The Demon Emperor shifts the Alliance away from reckless expansion toward preparation, resilience, and strategic growth. He listens to objections and acknowledges the Abyss King’s warning.
• Meloki voices anxiety about what emerging worlds are worth amid stronger civilizations.
• Enge argues that the Alliance is too weak for speculation and must focus on expansion.
• The Abyss King bluntly challenges the hope of diplomacy, stressing the Alliance’s vulnerability. His intervention sharpens the meeting’s focus on defense.

Significant themes

• Growth versus security: Expansion brings strength but can also expose a young world to danger.
• Power and vulnerability: Even formidable races may be insignificant beside unknown greater forces.
• Preparation and self-reliance: Diplomacy is possible, but only strength can ensure the Alliance is taken seriously.
• Cooperation amid uncertainty: Other worlds may be enemies or potential partners, though trust cannot be assumed.

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor proposes accelerating both outward expansion and internal development. Rather than merge worlds, the Alliance should continue pushing the Nine-Star World toward a higher level while ending restrictions on technology.
• He opens the Primordial World’s mechanical-arms factories and technology to Alliance members, proposes a shared research center, and urges each world to pursue its own cultivation advances without imposed rules.
• Alliance representatives welcome the plan, especially the chance to obtain arms-factory technology and learn from the Primordial World.
• With Daochen’s support, the Primordial World establishes a major research center staffed by leading scientists from across the Alliance. The Mechanical Race soon makes progress on combat armor.
• Researchers present a suit that improves strength and mobility without obstructing combat techniques. Daochen asks them to add elemental attacks so the armor can threaten powerful opponents, whose defenses ordinary physical strikes cannot penetrate.
• The Mechanical Leader develops a revised design but says research into Law Weapons and Hongmeng-level combat remains difficult. Daochen directs the researchers to consult Hongjun and suggests studying world power—the Primordial World’s power of origin—instead.
• Daochen makes clear that world power is a closely guarded secret, and the Mechanical Leader agrees to keep it confidential.
• Meanwhile, Daochen begins expanding the Primordial World westward. The Primordial World and the Ghoul Empire avoid one another and tacitly establish separate territories; the mechanical army advances slowly as Daochen uses various origins to expand the land.

Character developments

• Demon Emperor Daochen shows strategic foresight: he seeks to strengthen the Alliance through shared technology while protecting the Primordial World’s unique advantages. He also recognizes the limits of mass-produced troops against formidable enemies such as the Ghouls.
• Meloki and the Alliance members prove receptive to major changes, including deeper cooperation and access to the Primordial World’s technology.
• The Mechanical Race and its Leader demonstrate growing adaptability, incorporating knowledge from other worlds and responding to Daochen’s direction with new armor designs.
• Hongjun is assigned a potential role as a guide to researchers studying high-level powers.

Significant themes

• Cooperation versus competition: Sharing research can strengthen the whole Alliance, even as the Primordial World retains its leadership and guards its most valuable secrets.
• Balanced development: Military expansion and technological progress must be matched by internal growth and cultivation.
• The limits of technology: Mass-produced armies may overwhelm ordinary worlds but are less effective against increasingly powerful enemies.
• Secrecy and strategic advantage: World power could transform elite combat capabilities, making its protection essential.

Character interactions

• Alliance members ask Daochen for direction, and he lays out a cooperative development strategy.
• Daochen challenges the Mechanical Leader to improve the armor; the Leader presents a revised design and requests expert guidance.
• Daochen points the researchers toward Hongjun and world power, then warns that this knowledge must remain secret.
• The Primordial World and the Ghouls maintain a wary but nonviolent separation as both sides expand.

Plot points and events

• The Alliance’s rapid expansion stalls as the Demon Emperor’s forces meet the Abyss Nether Race, a powerful people claiming ties to the Abyss Empire’s Giant Mouth Clan. He withdraws rather than risk provoking a major power.
• At the Alliance’s second expanded council, Enge, Meloki, and their allies report that the Ant Race has halted their southern advance. The organized, bloodthirsty Ants can consume the genes of carbon-based beings, adapt to them, and strengthen their troops. The fighting is draining resources and leaving the Alliance’s own warriors vulnerable.
• Blaming reckless expansion, the Abyss King criticizes Enge’s group. The Demon Emperor instead proposes redirecting the Ant Race toward other powers. The Alliance abandons territory and maneuvers its Mechanical Warriors so the Ants clash with both the Wisdom Race and the Abyss Nether Race.
• With expansion curtailed and the immediate danger temporarily diverted, the Primordial World begins its advancement to an Eight-Star World. A Nine-Star upgrade is impossible without more territory.
• Observing the Ants pressure the Nether Race and grow stronger by consuming its genes, Enge and the others propose attacking the Nether Race themselves. The Demon Emperor agrees to an all-out campaign against it, while ordering the Alliance to avoid drawing the Ant Race into the war.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shifts from expansion to cautious consolidation and manipulation of rival powers. He recognizes the Ant Race as an exceptional threat, but later accepts an attack on the Nether Race when his allies see an opportunity.
• Abyss King reproaches Enge and his companions for expanding without adequate scouting, reflecting the cost of their ambition.
• Enge, Meloki, and the other Overlords reveal the severity of the Ant threat, then urge the Alliance to exploit the Nether Race’s apparent weakness. Enge promises caution despite their earlier costly miscalculation.
• The Alliance’s leaders cooperate in redirecting the Ants, but their shared strategy gives way to renewed opportunism once the Nether Race appears vulnerable.

Significant themes

• The dangers of unchecked expansion: New territory brings powerful enemies and can stretch resources beyond what an alliance can sustain.
• Adaptation and escalation: The Ant Race becomes more dangerous as it absorbs enemy genes, turning conflict into a cycle of growing strength.
• Pragmatism and manipulation: The Alliance diverts danger toward rival powers rather than confronting the Ants directly.
• Precarious security: Even after upgrading and temporarily stabilizing the front, the Alliance remains surrounded by threats—and risks provoking another war.

Plot points and events

• At the Demon Emperor’s command, the Great Void World Alliance declares war on the Nether Race.
• Desperate, the Nether Race summons aid from the Abyss Empire by sacrificing captured ants. General Giant Mouth answers—but instead of helping, he swallows the Nether King and the other Nether Race members at the altar.
• The Nether Elders summon him again and persuade him to visit the battlefield by promising more ants. He devours ants and Nether Race fighters indiscriminately, wiping the area clean and forcing the ants to retreat.
• Once Giant Mouth leaves, the ants resume their attack. The Nether Elders decide to abandon their territory and flee rather than risk summoning the Abyssal Maw again.
• The Alliance captures most of the Nether Race’s territory. When its forces encounter the ants, they use the Mechanical Army to hold them off while they assess their gains, which appear unimpressive.

Character developments and interactions

• The Nether Elders are shown as desperate and politically weak: they rely on the Abyss for protection, yet know its Giant Mouth Clan may eat them. Their repeated attempts to bargain with Giant Mouth end in disaster.
• General Giant Mouth is powerful, gluttonous, and heedless of the distinction between ally and enemy. He treats the Nether Race’s plea for help as an opportunity to feed, then leaves once full.
• The Nether Race’s members fear the fate of their leaders; when asked who will become the next Nether King, everyone steps back.
• The ants, initially aggressive, retreat when confronted by Giant Mouth, then attack again after he departs. The Alliance avoids a direct fight with them by deploying its Mechanical Army.

Significant themes

• Dependence can become a liability: The Nether Race’s reliance on the Abyss has helped it survive, but ultimately exposes it to exploitation and ruin.
• Power without loyalty: Giant Mouth’s overwhelming strength offers no reliable protection; he serves his appetite rather than his supposed allies.
• Survival over pride or territory: The Nether Race chooses to flee and live as wanderers rather than face certain destruction.
• War’s uncertain rewards: Despite taking most of the Nether Race’s territory, the Alliance finds its gains less valuable than expected.

Plot points and events

• The Alliance defeats the Nether Race largely because the Ant Race occupies most of its attention. The Demon Emperor notes that the ants are less effective against mechanical troops, since machines offer little nourishment or useful genetic material.
• The Ant Race and Ghoul Clan then clash. Both can evolve by consuming the other’s remains, but the ghouls lose ground as their single nearby nest cannot replace their dwindling forces. The ants, by contrast, rapidly replenish their numbers through vast underground colonies.
• After driving the ghouls back, the ants continue campaigning toward the West and North. The Demon Emperor recognizes their formidable numbers but also their limits: their strongest members are far below the highest levels of power, and their conflict with the ghouls may prove disastrous.
• The Great Void Alliance abandons further expansion and focuses on cultivating powerful individuals and improving technology. The Demon Emperor, Many-Head King, and Abyss King all conclude that the Alliance needs strength to survive among formidable neighboring races.
• A powerful mechanical army approaches the Primordial World. Its envoy, Number One, identifies the force as the Mechanical Intelligent Race and delivers the Angel Empire’s demand that the Primordial World join its mechanical branch.
• Daochen refuses to accept the demand without consulting the Alliance, noting the Wisdom Race’s past conflicts with them. High-ranking ghouls arrive and make a rival offer: join the Abyss Ghouls for protection. Daochen ends by observing that both superpowers are courting a supposedly weak Alliance—and joking that they should recruit the Ant Race instead.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen becomes more cautious and pragmatic. Recognizing the dangers of unchecked expansion, he shifts toward strengthening the Primordial World and handles the Angel Empire’s demand without committing the Alliance.
• The Ant Race is shown as a vast, rapidly reproducing force whose strength comes from numbers and biological evolution, though its individual warriors have clear power limits.
• The Ghoul Clan demonstrates its ability to turn enemy corpses into stronger troops, but its dependence on a nearby nest leaves it vulnerable to sustained losses.
• The Many-Head King and Abyss King share Daochen’s change in priorities, choosing cultivation and development over expansion.
• Daochen and Number One clash over whether the Primordial World should join the Angel Empire: Number One presents membership as an order, while Daochen stresses the Alliance’s unity and prior hostility toward the Wisdom Race. The arriving ghouls interrupt the exchange and compete directly for the Alliance’s allegiance.

Significant themes

• The limits of expansion: Growth invites conflict with stronger powers; survival requires building internal strength.
• Different forms of power: The ants rely on reproduction and adaptation, the ghouls on consuming and transforming enemies, and the mechanical forces on technology.
• Alliance and autonomy: The Great Void Alliance must weigh offers of protection against pressure to surrender its independence.

Key plot points and events

• Envoys from the Angel Empire’s Wisdom Race and the Abyss-aligned Ghoul Clan debate the Ant Race’s prospects. The Wisdom Race dismisses the Ants as unstable because their rapid genetic evolution may eventually cause them to collapse; the Ghoul expert counters that their growing intelligence and status as a Nine-Star World show they should not be underestimated.
• The envoys explain that powerful empires beyond the Angel and Abyss Empires—including the Dark God Clan—also shape the wider universe.
• Both sides pressure Demon Emperor Daochen to choose an alliance. The Wisdom Race warns that neutrality will not protect his people and offers a thousand years to develop if they join the Angel Empire. The ghouls argue that either empire would use the Alliance as a tool, but offer support if it joins the Abyss.
• Daochen sends a record of the meeting to the Alliance and convenes a third meeting to discuss the choice.
• The Many-Head King and Abyss King say they must side with the Abyss Empire because their worlds’ abyssalization makes them incompatible with the Angel Empire. Enge favors the Angel Empire, reasoning that a power devoted to light is more trustworthy than one devoted to darkness.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen remains wary of both powers and seeks advice rather than accepting either envoy’s assurances. He recognizes that the choice may be forced and weighs how it would affect the Alliance’s members.
• The Wisdom Race envoy, Number One, is contemptuous of the Ant Race and bluntly warns Daochen against neutrality, while presenting the Angel Empire as a path to protection and knowledge.
• The Ghoul envoys present themselves as more open to courting different races, but admit that joining either side entails becoming part of its power struggle.
• The Many-Head King and Abyss King reveal that their existing ties to the Abyss leave them no realistic alternative.
• Enge expresses a preference for the Angel Empire, though his trust is based on its symbolism rather than demonstrated guarantees.

Significant themes

• The cost of neutrality: Remaining outside the rivalry may only postpone conflict, not avoid it.
• Power and exploitation: Both empires may treat smaller races as instruments in their wars.
• Uncertainty in judging strength: The Ant Race’s unstable evolution is a weakness, but its intelligence and achievements may signal greater potential than outsiders recognize.
• Compromised choice: The Alliance’s members have different histories and allegiances, so no single alliance option is equally safe for everyone.

Plot points

• Demon Emperor Daochen concludes that neither the Angel Empire nor the Abyss Empire can be trusted to absorb the Primordial World without undermining its interests. He argues that the world must first explore the Great Void and seek other ways to survive and grow.
• Daochen plans to travel in search of opportunities once the Great Void Envoy arrives. Meanwhile, the Primordial World will seal itself off and develop independently.
• The leaders around him remain divided: the Many-Head King and Abyss King favor joining the Abyss, while Enge and others prefer to wait and assess the situation.
• The Great Void Envoy explains that the Primordial World is protected as a newly arrived “infant” world for a thousand years. After that, it must fend for itself. Joining a powerful empire may offer short-term security, but escape from its influence could remain possible.
• The Envoy outlines the Great Void’s major spheres of influence: the Angel and Abyss Empires dominate the oldest regions, while smaller races survive within or between their territories. The Primordial World lies in the west, near the Dark God Clan, the Angel Empire, and the Abyss Empire.
• The Envoy shields the Primordial World with a pillar of light. Before leaving, they agree to a single trade opportunity and give Daochen a list of available goods to review.

Character development and interactions

• Daochen shows himself to be cautious, independent, and opportunistic. He rejects premature allegiance, probes the Envoy about the rules and limits of protection, and quickly looks for ways to use the thousand-year reprieve.
• The Great Void Envoy is formal but helpful within strict limits. Their explanation encourages Daochen to view alliances as potentially temporary, while their refusal to extend protection emphasizes the world’s harsh rules.
• The gathered leaders reveal differing survival strategies: some prefer the Abyss’s structure, while others favor postponing a decision.

Significant themes

• Survival and self-determination: Protection is temporary; lasting survival depends on a race’s own strength and choices.
• Caution versus allegiance: Joining an empire may bring security but risks assimilation.
• Opportunity within constraint: The thousand-year protection and one-time trade are limited chances that Daochen hopes to exploit.
• The scale and uncertainty of the Great Void: Its expanding nature makes reliable maps impossible, underscoring how little the Primordial World knows about its new surroundings.

Key plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen studies the Great Void exchange catalogue, considering treasures, time-manipulation items, defenses, and combat arts. He rejects time-acceleration as too dangerous and finds few options that can benefit an entire world.
• He chooses three items: Great Void Hammer, a technique that channels world power; Great Void Guardian, a barrier that can protect the Primordial World for a thousand years; and the Great Void Origin Scripture, a cultivation method for developing a Great Void body.
• The purchases cost 1,035 Great Void Coins, a painful expense. The Great Void Envoy approves the choices, noting that they respectively strengthen Daochen, protect his world, and provide a foundation for cultivation.
• The scripture offers nine stages of advancement, but stresses that cultivators must first make their existing strength as complete as possible. A higher realm without strong combat power would be hollow.
• Daochen discovers that the scripture lets his world-containing body grow again by absorbing Origin Worlds. Since worlds have already merged into the Great Void, he considers trying to seize Nine-Star Worlds before they merge.
• Returning to the Primordial World, he instructs Human Sovereign Fuxi to lead everyone in training and reach Super Overlord within the thousand-year window. They must cultivate the scripture but not advance beyond Super Overlord until they are ready.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen proves cautious and strategic: he weighs the risks and broad usefulness of each item rather than choosing the most immediately powerful-looking options.
• The cost of his choices pains him, but he accepts the expense because the scripture reopens a path for his own and his people’s growth.
• The Great Void Envoy validates Daochen’s selections and explains their distinct purposes.
• Daochen shifts from private preparation to leadership, entrusting Fuxi with organizing the Primordial World’s cultivation while setting firm limits on advancement.

Significant themes

• Preparation over shortcuts: dangerous time acceleration is rejected in favor of steady cultivation and readiness.
• Strength versus rank: combat ability matters more than realm labels; advancement without a solid foundation produces an “empty shell.”
• World-scale survival: personal treasures are inadequate to protect an entire world, making collective cultivation and the Guardian barrier crucial.
• Opportunity and uncertainty: Daochen’s idea of capturing Nine-Star Worlds offers a possible route forward, but success is uncertain and must be attempted to avoid regret.

Plot points and events

• Human Sovereign Fuxi reports that the expanding Primordial World has caused Overlords’ territories to overlap, sparking bitter disputes. He also proposes giving surplus basic resources to the Mechanical Race so it can build more Mechanical Warriors and reduce casualties.
• Demon Emperor Daochen resolves the territorial conflict: races must return to their original lands, while new territory belongs collectively to the Primordial World and is distributed according to contributions. The expanded lands must be separated from original territories, and part of each expansion is reserved as public space and a buffer zone. Fuxi and Hongjun agree to divide new territory into five portions—one for each of the four races and one held in reserve.
• Lady Pingxin reports that construction of the enlarged Netherworld Office is complete. Without the Six Realms, souls will be judged and then reincarnated randomly, possibly into another race or even as plants. Daochen approves, viewing this as fair and as a second chance for the dead.
• Before leaving to travel, Daochen urges peaceful development and gives Fuxi the Great Void Guardian to protect the Primordial World in his absence. He expects to return within two thousand years.
• The Fire Barbarian King asks to accompany Daochen, pledging loyalty despite believing his people lack the strength and technology to thrive independently in the Great Void. Daochen accepts him as a companion.
• They visit the rapidly expanding Ant Race. Daochen observes that some Ant Queens have developed notable intelligence, but the vigilant ants drive the visitors away. Beyond their territory, the pair find the ants at war with an intelligent, highly reproductive octopus-like race that can quickly recover from death in the sea.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen acts as an authoritative mediator, curbing the Overlords’ greed with a collective system for allocating land. He also accepts random reincarnation as a fair natural order and prepares the Primordial World to withstand his absence.
• Fuxi and Hongjun accept Daochen’s settlement, despite its imposing a shared claim on newly gained territory.
• Pingxin presents the practical implications of rebuilding the Netherworld Office and its altered reincarnation system.
• The Fire Barbarian King openly acknowledges his race’s limitations and expresses enduring loyalty to Daochen. Their exchange establishes mutual respect and brings him along on the journey.
• Daochen’s curiosity about the Ant Race shifts to admiration—and envy—when he realizes that consuming the octopus race’s genes could drive the ants’ evolution further.

Significant themes

• Collective responsibility versus self-interest: Daochen responds to territorial rivalry by placing new land under shared governance.
• Fairness and change: Random reincarnation breaks the certainty of racial identity, while death becomes a chance for another life.
• Loyalty amid unequal power: The Fire Barbarian King chooses allegiance despite recognizing his people’s weakness.
• Evolution and adaptability: The ants’ rapid development and potential genetic gains suggest that the balance of power may shift quickly.

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor and Fire Barbarian King leave the Ant Race behind. The Emperor gives one ant a drop of his blood, hoping it might eventually be won over and help the Ant Race stand against the great empires.
• They encounter a falling Nine-Star World. The Demon Emperor stops its descent, defeats its inhabitants, then compresses and absorbs the world into his body.
• He reveals—without explaining it aloud—that he can use the laws of worlds contained within himself even in the Great Void. By reshaping each absorbed world into an acupoint, he turns its power into his own.
• The pair continue west, seeking only Nine-Star Worlds. After absorbing one hundred, the Demon Emperor stops to break through.
• His body grows dramatically, becoming a three-meter-tall giant. To test his new strength, he strikes the Fire Barbarian King and sends him flying.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shows strategic concern for the Ant Race, while also revealing an extraordinary secret: he is effectively a living amalgamation of worlds and grows stronger by absorbing them. His breakthrough transforms both his body and aura.
• Fire Barbarian King begins reluctant to leave the Ant Race behind, then becomes increasingly awed and wary as he witnesses the Emperor’s power. He serves as the Emperor’s carrier and guard, and ends up the target of the Emperor’s test strike.
• The Emperor treats the Fire Barbarian King instrumentally, relying on him throughout the journey while keeping the full nature of his abilities largely unspoken.

Significant themes

• Evolution through consumption: The Ant Race and the Demon Emperor both gain power by absorbing others—through genetic adaptation in the ants’ case, and through whole worlds in the Emperor’s.
• Power and ambition: The Emperor’s relentless pursuit of worlds reveals the scale of his plans and the lengths he will go to strengthen himself.
• Unstable cosmic order: By devouring worlds, the Emperor disrupts the apparent balance in where worlds fall, suggesting his actions may affect the wider structure of the Great Void.

Plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor’s casual strike injures the Fire Barbarian King, an Overlord, revealing just how far Daochen’s strength has surpassed the Overlord level. Daochen has finished absorbing his main acupoints but chooses to keep traveling rather than pursue the primordial god realm.
• Over the next three years, Daochen and the Fire Barbarian King continue absorbing Nine-Star Worlds while hunting and being hunted. Once Daochen completes this phase of his strengthening, he turns east to seek resources for the Primordial World.
• In the south of the Ant Race’s territory, they discover the Ant Race fighting a powerful species Daochen names xenomorphs. These creatures hatch inside corpses, inheriting and combining traits from their hosts. Their adaptable biology makes them dangerous invaders, but they cannot cultivate.
• Daochen learns that some xenomorphs can develop intelligence by parasitizing intelligent beings, forming rudimentary societies. However, their intelligence remains violent, so he abandons the idea of controlling them as a puppet army.
• Continuing east, Daochen encounters many worlds and classifies their dominant species into broad groups: physically or genetically evolving “flesh evolvers,” technologically advancing mechanical races such as the Wisdom Race, and cultivation-based races that develop both body and soul through their world’s laws.

Character development and interactions

• The Fire Barbarian King is increasingly awed by Daochen’s power and becomes fully convinced of his superiority, even wondering whether he could defeat the Wisdom Race and the ghouls.
• Daochen remains calculating and pragmatic. He evaluates each race for its usefulness, considers the xenomorphs as potential military assets, then rejects them when their limitations become clear.
• Daochen and the Fire Barbarian King travel and observe these worlds together, with the King asking where they will go next and Daochen directing their journey east.

Significant themes

• Different paths to power: The chapter contrasts genetic adaptation, mechanical progress, and cultivation as competing ways for races to grow stronger.
• Strength and vulnerability: Powerful flesh-based species can still be disadvantaged against machines, which lack fear and offer no genes to exploit.
• Evolution’s limits: Adaptability and physical strength alone do not guarantee versatility; the xenomorphs’ inability to cultivate constrains their potential.
• Pragmatism and exploration: Daochen’s journey is not only about personal strength but also about finding useful resources and understanding the wider worlds.

Plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen reflects on how difficult cultivation is compared with rapid technological or genetic advancement, though cultivated worlds may eventually surpass others. Even genetically evolved beings can cultivate, but only rarely.
• Daochen and the Fire Barbarian King travel through many worlds toward the Great Void’s central region. As border inspections grow stricter, Daochen pays two Five-Star Origins for a travel permit.
• A local merchant tries to sell them expensive superweapons, but Daochen recognizes the attempted rip-off and declines.
• Though he deeply resents the Angel Empire, Daochen decides to visit it for its valuable goods and knowledge. He and the Fire Barbarian King receive entry protections because their world remains under the Great Void’s protection.
• Daochen completes a detailed registration form honestly, naming the Fire Barbarian King as his companion and guard, and offers to pay for both their studies.
• An investigator named Verus recommends a merchant ship to Meida Holy City—also known as Angel Holy City No. 95789—for a fee. Daochen agrees to hear the offer and asks Verus about his title.
• Verus reveals he is a Primordial Stage expert, the first Daochen has encountered, and proudly explains that such experts can earn titles.

Character developments

• Daochen shows growing pragmatism: despite his ambition to rule and conquer, he recognizes that he must study and acquire knowledge. He is cautious about scams but generous toward his companion, and confident enough to travel openly without falsifying his background.
• The Fire Barbarian King remains Daochen’s companion and guard, sharing his goal of studying in the Angel Empire.
• Verus presents himself as helpful and affable, while also seeking payment for arranging passage. He is proud of his recently earned status as a titled Primordial Stage expert.

Themes

• Cultivation versus technological and genetic power: Different paths to strength have different costs and advantages, and neither guarantees dominance.
• Adaptation and learning: Even a powerful ruler must acquire new knowledge to survive in a changing world.
• Scale and humility: Daochen’s journey exposes him to worlds and experts far beyond the reach of his own.
• Trust and commerce: Travel depends on deals and intermediaries, but apparent generosity may also be self-interested.

Character interactions

• Daochen rejects the merchant’s sales pitch without hostility, recognizing the inflated prices.
• He presents himself and the Fire Barbarian King honestly to the Angel Empire’s investigator and offers to cover both their expenses.
• Verus uses the empire’s protections and his local connections to persuade Daochen to travel with his merchant ship. Daochen responds politely and learns that Verus’s title reflects his Primordial Stage standing.

Key events

• The Demon Emperor and the Fire Barbarian King travel with Verus toward the Angel Empire, openly displaying their wealth. The Emperor argues that visible riches can signal strength and that their status as members of a protected “new generation” should discourage attacks.
• Verus explains that his public-service job pays one five-star origin annually, while acquiring more origin can require dangerous expeditions to hunt Nine-Star Worlds. Even Primordial Stage cultivators need mercenary groups to destroy one; machine legions are costly.
• After a two-day wait, Verus takes them aboard a huge merchant ship. He reveals that a typical ship earns around five hundred five-star origins per trip, and that his household operates many ships.
• The Demon Emperor asks about academies and powerful technology. Verus warns that ordinary products sold to outsiders are largely useless on major battlefields. Instead, he recommends earning academy credits to access genuinely advanced technology and advises the Emperor to apply to the Divine Academy, which trains true gods.
• The Demon Emperor accepts the recommendation and thanks Verus for his guidance.

Character developments and interactions

• The Fire Barbarian King’s confidence in the Demon Emperor grows; he regards him as powerful enough to protect them from any threat.
• The Demon Emperor remains cautious about spending his wealth but proves willing to pay for useful information. He listens closely to Verus and turns the advice into a concrete plan.
• Verus acts as a knowledgeable guide, candidly sharing how the world’s economy, trade, and education work. The exchange strengthens his friendly relationship with the Demon Emperor.

Significant themes

• Wealth as a show of strength: Displaying riches can deter challengers when hidden power is not being revealed.
• The scale and danger of the wider world: Vast trade networks and formidable worlds make the Emperor’s new surroundings far larger than the frontier he knows.
• Strategic investment and advancement: Lasting progress comes not from buying accessible, low-grade technology, but from gaining entry to institutions that provide access to superior resources.

Key plot points

• On the ten-day journey to Meida Holy City, the Demon Emperor and his companion are repeatedly stopped by bandit gangs. Verus explains that these groups are backed by powerful city factions and collect protection money, while small Lineages have little choice but to tolerate them.
• Verus warns the Demon Emperor to keep a low profile: frontier outsiders may be useful to the Angel Empire, but they cannot safely challenge its native powers.
• After reaching the city, the travelers endure lengthy entry checks. Verus’s connections help them avoid being overcharged.
• To save money on expensive housing, they apply to the Divine Academy, whose dormitories offer a cheaper place to stay.
• Academy examiners test their potential with crystal balls. The Demon Emperor’s casual touch releases enough world power to shatter his ball, revealing him as a World Overlord. He is admitted directly; the Fire Barbarian King also qualifies as a Seven-Star Overlord and is admitted.

Character developments

• The Demon Emperor recognizes that the Angel Empire is less orderly and welcoming than it appears. Though irritated by Verus’s bluntness, he accepts the need for caution. His extraordinary power is revealed almost by accident.
• Verus acts as a practical guide, helping the newcomers navigate the city and its rules. The Demon Emperor considers him inexperienced but comparatively straightforward and trustworthy.
• The Fire Barbarian King confirms his status as a Seven-Star Overlord without revealing the full truth about the Demon Emperor’s unusual power.

Significant themes

• Power and corruption: City authorities tolerate gangs tied to major factions, leaving weaker groups exposed to exploitation.
• Pragmatism and survival: Outsiders must adapt, pay fees, conserve resources, and avoid provoking stronger locals.
• Status and opportunity: The Academy’s potential test shows how exceptional cultivation status can grant privilege and bypass ordinary procedures.

Character interactions

• Verus cautions the Demon Emperor against arrogance, while the Demon Emperor questions the city’s factional order.
• The Demon Emperor and Fire Barbarian King rely on Verus’s help to enter the city and pursue Academy enrollment.
• The examiners’ surprise at the shattered crystal ball leads them to recognize the Demon Emperor’s World Overlord status and grant both applicants direct admission.

Key events

• After gaining admission to the Divine Academy, Demon Emperor Daochen and his companion prepare to move in. Verus warns that whenever the academy recruits world overlords, the incoming students’ death rate tends to rise sharply—a sign that war may be approaching and students could eventually be sent on dangerous missions.
• Verus offers to help through his lineage’s shops and wishes them well. He later reports the situation to his lineage, whose members worry that the coming war could devastate them.
• Daochen and his companion enter the academy and receive separate but neighboring detached-villa dormitories.
• Daochen meets his mechanical steward, whom he names Nüwa. She explains the dormitory’s facilities and its safety, while warning that fighting is permitted outside and advising him to prioritize study and avoid unnecessary risks.
• Daochen explores the rooms and is especially impressed by the combat room, where simulated opponents can help him test his strength and practice techniques without real injury.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen accepts that he cannot control the possibility of war, parts from Verus appreciatively, and begins settling into academy life. The academy’s support for borderland overlords softens his prejudice toward the Angel Empire, though he remains curious about its motives.
• Verus shows concern for Daochen and his companion, explains the danger surrounding their admission, and offers practical assistance despite being unable to protect them from what may come.
• Nüwa acts as Daochen’s informative, safety-conscious guide, emphasizing both the academy’s extensive resources and its competitive, potentially deadly environment.
• Daochen and his companion remain close, receiving nearby dormitories as a concession, though the chapter focuses mainly on Daochen’s first impressions.

Significant themes

• Education versus conflict: Students come to study, but the academy may use them in warfare.
• Risk and uncertainty: Characters must face dangers beyond their control and make the most of the time they have.
• Competition and growth: The academy encourages conflict as a means of development, while its combat simulations offer a safer route to improvement.
• Changing perceptions: Daochen’s experience of the academy challenges his earlier distrust of the Angel Empire.

Plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen explores the Divine Network Operating Room and learns about combat arts, including the informal categories of low-end, high-end, and divine-grade techniques. He discovers that divine-grade arts draw on laws, while familiar techniques such as Blade Slash and Sword Slash only imitate them.
• He creates a private Primordial World Forum as a potential contact point for his people, though he currently has no way to reach them.
• The Network’s free theoretical resources deepen his understanding of cultivation and advancement. He is especially impressed by Great Void Guardian Millennium Development, a plan for coordinating technology, cultivation, talent, and daily schedules to strengthen a world.
• After studying for several days, Daochen is interrupted by the Fire Barbarian King, who reports that small, fast aircraft can carry messages from the frontier back to the Alliance.
• Daochen immediately considers sending Divine Network access home. Nüwa recommends portable headsets instead of full operating rooms, and cautions that robot maids may not function reliably beyond the Angel Empire.

Character developments

• Daochen becomes more knowledgeable and slightly stronger through his studies. He also recognizes that his former approach to cultivation was inefficient and grows eager to apply the Network’s systematic ideas to help his world.
• The Fire Barbarian King shows his attachment to the Primordial World by focusing first on how to communicate with and return to the Alliance.
• Nüwa demonstrates practical judgment, offering a more efficient way to distribute Network access and explaining the limits of her technology.

Character interactions

• Daochen and the Fire Barbarian King reveal complementary priorities: the King wants to protect and reconnect with home, while Daochen seeks knowledge to shelter and strengthen it.
• Daochen consults Nüwa about purchasing Network equipment and asks whether she herself can be transported. Nüwa answers his practical questions but does not encourage the idea.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and progress: Free information can reshape Daochen’s understanding and accelerate personal and societal development.
• Different forms of devotion: The Fire Barbarian King guards his world directly; Daochen wants to empower it through learning.
• Systematic development: The chapter emphasizes coordinating technology, cultivation, talent, and time rather than relying on strength alone.
• Connection across distance: The discovery of message-carrying aircraft offers a possible bridge between the frontier and the Alliance.

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor judges the mechanical maid to be the villa’s most advanced—and likely most important—defense.
• He and the Fire Barbarian King buy miniature aircraft, Spatial Rings, and helmets at great expense. The aircraft may crash in transit, but they send them off with instructions to divide the supplies fairly between their two worlds and share any surplus with allies in the Great Void Alliance.
• After the maid reminds them that classes have begun, the two report to the Divine Academy and are assigned to Frontier Class Five. Their first lesson covers ways to increase an Origin World’s potential.
• The Demon Emperor is startled by the class’s wildly varied inhabitants, including powerful monsters, robots, and an intelligent Zombie made of viruses. Their teacher, the Mirror Heart Demon, is a soul living in a mirror.
• He listens intently to the lecture and recognizes that his own approach to developing talent has been incomplete.

Character developments

• Demon Emperor Daochen is cautious about the dangers and expense of his new surroundings, but also open to learning. He presents himself as friendly and modest while privately assessing the class’s strength.
• Fire Barbarian King follows Daochen’s lead, buys fewer aircraft, and remains close to him in class.
• The mechanical maid proves useful beyond her advanced technology by keeping the newcomers on schedule.
• The Mirror Heart Demon is introduced as an unusual but knowledgeable instructor.

Significant themes

• Adaptation through learning: Daochen’s first lesson exposes gaps in his prior methods and offers a chance to improve.
• Resourcefulness under uncertainty: The newcomers must spend carefully, plan for possible losses, and protect their alliances.
• Strangeness and diversity: The academy includes beings of radically different forms and origins, challenging Daochen’s assumptions about life and education.
• Power and caution: The class is filled with formidable beings, reinforcing the danger of Meida Holy City and the need for Daochen to keep a low profile.

Character interactions

• The maid guides Daochen and the Fire Barbarian King through their purchases and reminds them to attend class.
• Daochen gives the aircraft-distribution instructions to preserve fairness between the two worlds and support their alliance.
• At class, Daochen introduces himself and the Fire Barbarian King politely, then listens as the Mirror Heart Demon teaches. The other students remain silent and focused, while the Zombie is socially shunned because of its decaying appearance.

Plot points and events

• After his first day of classes, the Demon Emperor is disappointed that lessons alone provide too little knowledge, so he takes the Fire Barbarian King to the Library and plans an intensive course of study.
• He uses the Doppelganger Technique to let separate selves study different subjects, with their experiences later merging into his original self. Though the technique can exhaust energy and damage the soul if overused, the Demon Emperor creates more than ten thousand doppelgangers and keeps them studying across the Academy.
• He also teaches the technique to the Fire Barbarian King, creating a daily cultivation schedule suited to the Fire Barbarian’s fire-focused powers and physical training. The King makes twenty doppelgangers and rests regularly.
• The Demon Emperor’s extreme study habits attract attention and provoke speculation on the Divine Network about how long he can endure. Other students and even Primordial Stage cultivators begin imitating him, pushing themselves to use more doppelgangers.
• Seeing the Academy filled with people following his example, the Demon Emperor mistakenly thinks they are all working as hard as he is. Feeling ashamed that he might be holding back, he creates another hundred thousand doppelgangers, crowding a corner of the Library.

Character developments and interactions

• The Demon Emperor reveals exceptional capacity for learning, discipline, and self-improvement. Despite trying to stay low-profile, his example reshapes the Academy’s study culture. His interpretation of others’ efforts as proof that he is slacking leads him to escalate further.
• The Fire Barbarian King follows the Demon Emperor’s guidance, using a more measured approach that accounts for his strength and need for recovery. His race’s distinctive combination of fire cultivation and bodily training is emphasized.
• The Academy’s students and cultivators move from watching and gossiping about the Demon Emperor to copying his methods and competing to push their limits.

Significant themes

• Relentless self-improvement: The Demon Emperor treats every moment as an opportunity to learn and grow.
• Competition and social influence: His personal example sparks a widespread race to work harder.
• Ambition versus sustainability: The technique offers enormous benefits but carries risks of exhaustion and soul damage; the Demon Emperor’s extreme approach contrasts with the Fire Barbarian King’s planned rest.
• Humility and misperception: The Demon Emperor’s low-key intentions and mistaken assumptions make him believe he is less diligent than everyone else, driving his effort to almost absurd heights.