Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• The Demon Emperor’s creation of 100,000 doppelgangers sparks a competitive frenzy across the Divine Academy, whose members see the feat as a challenge.
• One Primordial God manages to sustain 100,000 doppelgangers for a day, but collapses when their accumulated knowledge overwhelms him. After nearly ten days unconscious, he sorts through that knowledge and finds it has helped connect ideas and deepen his understanding.
• He posts his experience on the Meida Holy City forum, arguing that the apparent “soul injuries” are mainly the strain of processing vast knowledge—and that recovering from it can bring significant gains. His account inspires others to experiment, compare their limits, and develop new uses for doppelgangers.
• Nearly ten years pass. Daochen continues cultivating with 100,000 doppelgangers, steadily growing stronger without merging their knowledge back into himself.
• The Fire Barbarian King also advances to Super Overlord and becomes a prominent forum participant. He announces that Daochen is about to recall his doppelgangers, prompting followers to watch in anticipation.
• Daochen begins recalling them methodically, starting with those in places where he has fewer, such as the Competition, Alchemy, and Artifact Refining Rooms. He does so without difficulty.

Character developments and interactions

• The experimental Primordial God moves from fear of overtaxing his soul to confidence and admiration for Daochen. By sharing his experience, he encourages the academy’s members to push their limits.
• The Divine Academy community shifts from resentment and rivalry toward widespread experimentation and discussion, with members debating the risks and benefits of the technique.
• The Fire Barbarian King grows stronger, becomes an active forum organizer, and uses his influence to rally support for Daochen.
• Daochen remains focused and understated: though capable of creating 100,000 doppelgangers, he chose that number partly to avoid attracting too much attention. His calm recall contrasts with the forum’s excitement.

Significant themes

• Limits and courage: Fear may be the main barrier to reaching one’s potential.
• Knowledge as both burden and benefit: Too much information can overwhelm the mind, but integrating it can deepen understanding and improve ability.
• Competition and collective progress: Daochen’s example transforms a quiet academy into a lively culture of experimentation.
• Hidden strength and humility: Daochen’s immense capacity is matched by his preference not to stand out.

Key plot points and events

• The Fire Barbarian King secretly posts on the forum about Demon Emperor Daochen’s unusual ability to absorb his Doppelgangers’ memories, hoping to attract attention and earn Origin.
• Daochen continues collecting his Doppelgangers, then heads to the Library, where most of them are studying.
• Visitors gather to watch. Daochen mistakes their attention for a wish to ask about cultivation and politely offers help, before asking them not to interrupt his Doppelgangers.
• The Barbarian announces that Daochen plans to absorb a hundred thousand Doppelgangers, provoking widespread disbelief and debate about whether anyone’s soul could withstand it.
• Daochen absorbs the memories in batches of over a hundred. The process takes half a day, and he appears largely unaffected.
• Observers acknowledge what they witnessed but argue that absorbing the memories gradually is not the same feat as taking in all hundred thousand at once. Their doubts persist, and Daochen finally wonders why so many people are gathered at the Library.

Character developments

• Demon Emperor Daochen remains focused on study and unaware of the public spectacle around him. His calm, methodical approach shows both confidence and caution.
• The Fire Barbarian King proves eager to promote Daochen’s feats online, though he does so without Daochen’s permission. He understands that Daochen’s abilities are extraordinary and uses the attention to build his own popularity.
• The onlookers and forum users shift from outright disbelief to grudging recognition of Daochen’s strength, but continue to qualify what his feat proves.

Significant themes

• Power and common sense: Daochen’s abilities challenge conventional beliefs about the limits of memory fusion and the soul.
• Caution versus spectacle: While others expect a dramatic, all-at-once feat, Daochen chooses a controlled method that minimizes risk.
• Publicity and privacy: The Barbarian’s posts turn Daochen into a public sensation without his knowledge, highlighting the tension between personal discretion and public fascination.
• Misinterpretation: Onlookers interpret Daochen’s restrained method as evidence that he is merely rational, rather than fully appreciating the scale of what he accomplished.

Character interactions

• Daochen offers to answer the gathered people’s cultivation questions, then asks them to leave his Doppelgangers undisturbed.
• The Barbarian reports Daochen’s actions to the forum, sparking argument and excitement among its users.
• The crowd watches Daochen absorb the Doppelgangers but keeps its distance, wary of interrupting him.

• The Fire Barbarian King’s anxiety: Online backlash against him intensifies after his posts draw attention to the Demon Emperor, though he hides his role in the commotion. Worried that he has displeased Daochen, he gives him 800 five-star origins as payment and thanks for protecting the Fire Barbarian Race. Daochen refuses the gift, telling him to keep the hard-earned origins.
• Knowledge reaches the Primordial World: The Fire Barbarian King reports that divine-network helmets have arrived and that he has contacted Human Sovereign Fuxi and others. Daochen reconnects with Fuxi, Hongjun, Nüwa, and the other leaders, then uploads the knowledge he has gathered. The Primordial World’s Overlords are fascinated, but Fuxi warns that the material is too vast for everyone to study directly. He proposes organizing training classes so specialists can learn and teach others.
• Learning must accompany strength: Daochen agrees to categorize the knowledge and urges steady progress, warning that learning without gaining strength could leave the Primordial World powerful in theory but vulnerable in practice. He directs the Mechanical Commander to apply the new technological knowledge to upgrade the Primordial World’s combat machines, replacing older Wisdom Race designs with origin-powered weapons and puppets—technology far more dangerous than their existing law-based arms.
• The Alliance is fracturing: Daochen asks how the Alliance has fared during his long absence. Fuxi reports that it is close to collapse: the Many-Head King and Abyss King are aligning with the Abyss Faction and its ghouls, while Meloki, Enge, and others are building ties with the Wisdom Race and may join the Angel Empire.
  Character developments and interactions: The Fire Barbarian King shifts from nervous concealment to appeasement, while Daochen remains generous toward him and focused on the Primordial World’s long-term welfare. Fuxi acts as a practical organizer, balancing access to knowledge with the limits of time and equipment. Daochen’s instructions to the Mechanical Commander show his priority of turning learning into concrete military capability.
  Themes: The chapter contrasts knowledge with strength, emphasizing that neither is sufficient alone; explores the risks and responsibilities of sharing powerful technology; and signals political instability as former allies drift toward rival factions.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen returns to a Primordial World in a precarious position. Former Great Void Alliance members Enge and others have chosen to court the Wisdom Race, leaving the Primordial World isolated between the merged Abyss–Many-Head world, the Ghouls, and the Wisdom Race.
• With the Great Void Guardian’s protection nearing its end, Daochen recognizes that the Primordial World may face attack unless it secures powerful allies. He orders its people to focus on development, keeps support helmets out of rival worlds, and strengthens ties with the Fire Barbarian Race.
• The Fortune Clan and Clearwater Way have grown distant and remain politically evasive. Daochen tells Fuxi to test Qingpingzi’s and King Fu’s loyalty: they must either commit to the Primordial World or have all ties severed.
• Daochen asks the Fire Barbarian King about joining the Angel Empire. He learns that the Primordial World would only qualify as a vassal, receive little meaningful protection, and owe 80 percent of its resources each year.
• Outraged by the terms, Daochen rejects vassalage. He begins considering a coalition with other races—including the Wisdom, Ant, and Xenomorph Races—to resist absorption by the Angel and Abyss Empires.

Character developments

• Daochen shifts from cautiously weighing submission to the Angel Empire toward pursuing an independent alliance. He is pragmatic about survival but unwilling to surrender the Primordial World’s autonomy or accept exploitative terms.
• The Fire Barbarian King proves his loyalty through his unwavering support for Daochen and offers detailed intelligence about the Angel Empire. Daochen contrasts his clear allegiance with the uncertainty of old allies.
• Fuxi serves as Daochen’s intermediary in assessing the loyalty of the Fortune Clan and Clearwater Way.
• Qingpingzi and King Fu are portrayed as increasingly ambiguous, possibly hedging between powers as the Primordial World’s protection weakens.

Significant themes

• Loyalty versus self-interest: Allies’ commitment is tested when protection becomes uncertain.
• Autonomy versus security: Joining a major empire offers nominal safety at the cost of resources and independence.
• Political survival and coalition-building: Smaller worlds must unite or risk being absorbed by stronger powers.
• Trust and clear choices: Daochen increasingly rejects neutrality and divided loyalties.

Character interactions

• Daochen instructs Fuxi to confront the Fortune Clan and Clearwater Way with a choice: remain allied and cut contact with others, or lose the Primordial World’s support.
• He and the Fire Barbarian King discuss the benefits and costs of joining the Angel Empire. The King explains the system; Daochen challenges its fairness and rejects its demands.
• Daochen’s reflections on the Fire Barbarian King’s steadfastness sharpen his disappointment in allies who remain undecided.

Key plot points

• Demon Emperor Daochen approaches Wisdom Race Overlord Xirel to discuss an alliance. Xirel has already anticipated the proposal and offers protection from the Abyss, but says he cannot help if the Angel Empire attacks.
• In return, Xirel demands an explanation for how the Mechanical Race gained souls and warns that their rapid development—especially through the Divine Network—could endanger carbon-based life.
• Daochen argues that the Primordial World’s unusual laws likely gave the machines souls, and that technological bottlenecks limit how quickly they can advance.
• Xirel demands 10% of the Primordial World’s resources for protection. Daochen refuses, insisting the alliance should be between equals, with both sides contributing their full strength in any war.
• Xirel challenges Daochen to a duel to test whether he deserves equal standing. Daochen demonstrates his superior physical strength by denting the protected arena floor with one punch, then says technology cannot defeat him.
• Convinced, Xirel agrees to the alliance. He immediately asks Daochen for a Mechanical Race member to study, still preoccupied with the question of machine evolution.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen is confident in both his strength and negotiating position. Rather than accept a one-sided protection arrangement, he insists on partnership, and his display of power wins Xirel’s respect.
• Xirel is highly perceptive, rational, and wary of the Mechanical Race, but also intensely curious about technology. His challenge becomes a test of Daochen’s strength; after losing, he accepts the alliance and returns to his research.
• Their exchange shifts from cautious bargaining to a direct contest of strength, ending in mutual agreement.

Significant themes

• Strength and equality: Xirel believes equal partnership must be backed by comparable power; Daochen proves his claim through action.
• Technology versus physical power: Xirel’s mech cannot match Daochen’s raw strength, raising questions about the limits of technological advancement.
• Evolution and unintended consequences: The Mechanical Race’s souls and rapid access to knowledge provoke concern about what new forms of life may become.
• Curiosity and obsession: Xirel’s fixation on understanding the machines persists even after the alliance is settled.

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor forms an alliance with the Wisdom Race and Ant Race, but the Xenomorph rejects cooperation and threatens them. The Demon Emperor responds by declaring it an enemy.
• The Virus Aggregate asks to join, and the Demon Emperor agrees, establishing Frontier Class Five’s Weaklings Alliance. Its name is meant to remind its members to stay cautious and keep growing.
• Xirel of the Wisdom Race promises to resist pressure from the Angel Empire, though he warns that a direct Angel attack could break the alliance.
• The Clearwater Way and Fortune Clan sever ties with the other races and commit to the Primordial World. The Demon Emperor orders Fuxi to share knowledge with them, gives their leaders access to the Primordial World Forum, and warns them that the alliance will defend the Primordial World if it is attacked.
• With preparations made, the Demon Emperor resumes cultivation. Later, he asks the Fire Barbarian King how to address their shortage of resources. Tutoring and manufacturing offer only modest returns, so the King suggests joining the Angel Empire’s war against the Abyss. The Demon Emperor considers taking his armies to the battlefield.

Character developments and interactions

• The Demon Emperor proves willing to build alliances with cooperative powers but refuses to tolerate the Xenomorph’s contempt. He prioritizes the Primordial World’s long-term growth, remains wary of the Abyss, and looks for more effective ways to gain resources.
• The Xenomorph openly antagonizes the Demon Emperor and the other would-be allies, cementing itself as an enemy.
• Xirel supports the alliance cautiously, balancing loyalty with the political pressure of the Angel Empire.
• The Clearwater Way and Fortune Clan choose the Demon Emperor’s side because they trust him not to deceive them.
• The Fire Barbarian King contributes practical economic ideas and points the Demon Emperor toward the battlefield as a source of resources and combat experience.

Significant themes

• Alliance and trust: Cooperation grows among groups that trust the Demon Emperor, while threats and coercion fail to win his allegiance.
• Growth through vigilance: The “Weaklings Alliance” name underscores the need for humility, caution, and continued improvement.
• Resource scarcity and power: The Primordial World’s development is limited by supplies, prompting the Demon Emperor to consider war as both a risk and an opportunity.
• The cost of conflict: The battlefield may offer resources and strength, but even powerful Overlords and Super Overlords are described as cannon fodder there.

Key plot points and events

• Demon Emperor Daochen asks his Spirit Realm teacher for permission to join a Border Clearing Mission so he can earn money. The teacher warns him that border work is dangerous and suggests applying for a school subsidy, but Daochen refuses because he needs substantial funds for elixirs and equipment.
• The academy requires formal approval and enough contributions to Angel Holy City before students can join border missions. Since contributions cannot be bought, Daochen investigates ways to earn them.
• When the authorities claim there are no bandits to suppress, Daochen arranges for a poor resident to report the bandits operating near the city. Once the official mission appears, he accepts it.
• Daochen swiftly destroys three bandit groups, then delivers their heads to the Public Security Brigade. The officials are shocked and warn him that influential figures protect the bandits and may retaliate.
• The squad captain explains that Daochen could face paid assassins or hostile fellow students. Daochen remains confident that the Divine Academy will protect him and that he can handle any challengers.
• Daochen completes the paperwork, earns contribution points, and keeps the bandits’ considerable weapons, supplies, and other valuables.

Character developments

• Daochen is resourceful and fiercely independent: rather than seek aid, he finds a way to meet the academy’s requirements while earning money. His confidence borders on recklessness, but he is also decisive and capable, defeating powerful opponents with ease.
• The teacher shows concern for Daochen’s safety and academic future, but ultimately respects his determination.
• The squad captain is wary of the consequences of Daochen’s actions, yet admires his courage.

Significant themes

• The cost of ambition: Daochen accepts danger because he needs resources to advance.
• Justice versus entrenched interests: The bandits prey on travelers, but powerful patrons have kept them safe from official action.
• Self-reliance and courage: Daochen refuses subsidies and takes matters into his own hands.
• Practical motives behind heroism: Daochen fights the bandits both because they threaten the public and because the mission rewards him—and the loot is substantial.

Character interactions

• Daochen’s discussion with his teacher contrasts a cautious mentor’s advice with a student determined to take risks.
• His exchanges with the Public Security Brigade expose the officials’ fear of the bandits’ patrons, while Daochen insists that protecting residents should be enough reason to act.
• The squad captain warns Daochen about retaliation; Daochen dismisses the danger, leaving the captain both concerned and impressed.

Plot points

• The Demon Emperor’s sudden wealth lets him expand production of Proton Robots, powerful enough to rival Super Overlords.
• A wealthy, influential figure learns that Daochen killed three of his associates and places a bounty of ten thousand Five-Star Origins on him, demanding a public execution.
• Verus warns Daochen that the bounty has made him a target and that Verus’s own Lineage is pressuring him to break contact. He advises Daochen to stay inside the Divine Academy.
• Daochen is attacked in public by disguised assassins. Rather than fight back, he acts wounded and flees, drawing the attackers into a long chase through crowded streets.
• Footage of the attack spreads online, prompting public outrage and pressure on the Public Security Office. It deploys a major force to find Daochen and capture the assassins.
• Daochen deliberately leads the chase through busy districts and shops, causing chaos and implicating the attackers in damage to properties belonging to powerful Lineages.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen remains bold and calculating. He recognizes the first assassin’s disguise, uses the attack to provoke a public response, and turns the pursuit into a way to shift blame onto his enemies.
• Verus is cautious and visibly frightened by the political consequences. Though he warns Daochen, he withdraws to protect himself and his Lineage.
• The bounty’s sponsor uses his influence to retaliate and make an example of Daochen, prioritizing a public show of power.
• The Public Security Office initially faces pressure from public criticism, then treats the attack as an affront to the city and mobilizes to respond.
• The assassins, expecting an easy kill, become increasingly frustrated as Daochen repeatedly evades them.

Significant themes

• Power and political influence: Daochen’s enemies use wealth, Lineages, and the Dark Web to pursue him.
• Public opinion and accountability: The attack becomes a public scandal, making it harder for officials to ignore.
• Cunning over brute force: Daochen exploits his pursuers’ aggression and the city’s crowded streets rather than confronting them directly.
• Retaliation and collateral damage: By steering the chase through businesses, Daochen makes his enemies’ violence threaten influential groups across the city.

Key plot points and events

• Assassins attack Demon Emperor Daochen in Meida Holy City. Peacekeepers arrive late, and Daochen is left gravely wounded.
• The attack sparks public outrage. Residents condemn the peacekeepers and the Angel Empire for failing to protect people, especially those from the frontier.
• The Divine Academy’s vice principal pressures the authorities to save Daochen, punish the assassins, and identify whoever ordered the attack. Though officials suspect the culprit, they pretend not to know.
• Daochen awakens and stages an emotional appeal for justice, portraying the attack as an assault on all frontier people seeking the Empire’s protection.
• The Fire Barbarian King secretly records and uploads the scene to the Divine Network. The footage spreads quickly, drawing in powerful overlords and frontier students, who begin gathering to demand justice.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen turns his near-fatal injuries into a deliberate political opportunity, publicly accusing the Empire of abandoning frontier people.
• The vice principal initially expresses relief that Daochen survived, but becomes alarmed when Daochen’s outburst goes public and threatens to cause wider trouble.
• The Fire Barbarian King supports Daochen by secretly transmitting evidence and amplifying the incident online.
• Peacekeepers and officials face mounting pressure. Their usual neglect of frontier residents is exposed, while their response remains constrained by political interests.
• Frontier students, including Frontier Class Five and teacher Ling Jing, rally behind Daochen and voice broader grievances against the Empire.

Significant themes

• Institutional neglect and hypocrisy: The Angel Empire claims to offer protection while exploiting frontier worlds and failing to safeguard their people.
• Public opinion as political leverage: Recording and circulating Daochen’s appeal turns a local attack into a wider political crisis.
• Solidarity through shared grievance: Daochen’s case resonates because many frontier residents feel similarly oppressed.
• Justice versus political expediency: Officials must appear to seek justice even though they would rather avoid implicating powerful interests.

Key plot points and events

• Public anger over Demon Emperor Daochen’s reported assassination threatens to become a riot, forcing the Divine Academy and Public Security Office to respond.
• Professor Yuan explains that Daochen had accepted a legitimate bandit-suppression assignment and wiped out three groups that were disrupting trade. He suggests the bandits were tied to Xiao Wen, the deputy city lord’s son, and that Daochen may have acted deliberately to expose the corruption behind them.
• The Academy and authorities conclude that Xiao Wen likely arranged the attack. With the crisis spiraling, the vice principal decides the Xiao Household can no longer be shielded.
• Public security officers arrest Xiao Wen at his villa, where he is drunkenly boasting about his family’s power. They accuse him of hiring an assassin to kill an Academy student.
• Xiao Wen panics when told his father has not intervened. Officers order his dark-web account preserved, expecting it to contain evidence of the assassination—and potentially other crimes.

Character developments

• Professor Yuan emerges as a perceptive political analyst, connecting the bandits, Xiao Wen’s interests, and Daochen’s actions.
• The vice principal shifts from caution toward decisive action, recognizing that the public crisis makes protecting Xiao Wen untenable.
• Xiao Wen goes from smug confidence in his family’s influence to fear once he faces arrest and realizes his past crimes may be uncovered.
• The public security officers show growing resolve, treating the Xiao Household as no longer beyond the law.

Significant themes

• Power and accountability: Xiao Wen’s influence has long protected him, but public pressure and evidence threaten to end that impunity.
• Public image and political pressure: The authorities act not only because of the alleged crime but because the scandal could become a wider crisis.
• Manipulation and exposure: Daochen may have used the bandit assignment to provoke events that would reveal who benefited from the criminal operation.
• Justice versus status: The officers insist that no one in the Angel Empire can place themselves above the law.

Character interactions

• Professor Yuan guides the Academy’s discussion, persuading others that Xiao Wen is the likely culprit and that Daochen’s actions were deliberate.
• The vice principal coordinates with the Public Security Office and backs Xiao Wen’s arrest.
• Xiao Wen invokes his father, Deputy City Lord Xiao Jingyan, to intimidate the officers; they counter that his father has apparently allowed the arrest to proceed.
• The officers refuse Xiao Wen’s pleas, warn him to submit to investigation, and move to secure his dark-web records.

Key plot points and events

• The security captain persuades the Demon Emperor to withdraw his assassination report, promising officials will handle the matter. The Demon Emperor agrees, calculating that the reward is worth the risk, and returns to the academy under the vice principal’s protection.
• Authorities conduct a perfunctory investigation and later claim an ordinary student arranged the attack, though they provide no credible explanation. The incident is effectively covered up.
• At home, City Lord Xiao beats his son, Xiao Wen, for wasting a million origin and making the assassination too conspicuous. Xiao Wen remains arrogant and vows to take revenge on the Demon Emperor.
• Back at school, the Demon Emperor invests his new wealth in technology, buying production lines to build super-soldiers and armor for the selected inhabitants of his worlds. He also gives the Fire Barbarian King 100,000 five-star origin to develop his world; the latter plans to use it on production lines.
• A Spirit Realm Race teacher visits with news that frontier races and Overlords are organizing a gathering to discuss an alliance. They feel increasingly squeezed and disregarded by the Angel Empire.

Character developments and interactions

• The Demon Emperor remains shrewd and pragmatic: he accepts the settlement, uses his wealth to expand his military and technological capacity, and recognizes that the assassination scandal has exposed a wider political problem.
• The vice principal escorts him back to the academy, wary of further attacks, then leaves officials to manage public anger.
• City Lord Xiao is frustrated by his son’s recklessness because it threatens his political ambitions. Xiao Wen, despite being beaten, remains defiant and intent on revenge.
• The Fire Barbarian King proves resourceful, seeking advice and quickly arranging to send production equipment home.
• The Spirit Realm teacher brings the frontier’s growing alarm directly to the Demon Emperor.

Significant themes

• Institutional corruption and impunity: Officials reduce a serious assassination attempt to a convenient, implausible explanation.
• Fear and solidarity: The attack alarms frontier Overlords because it suggests they cannot rely on imperial protection; this fear pushes them toward unity.
• Power through technology and preparation: The Demon Emperor and Fire Barbarian King invest in production and mechanical forces to build strength.
• Arrogance and political consequences: Xiao Wen’s entitlement endangers his father’s ambitions, while his hatred threatens to prolong the conflict.

Key plot points

• After an assassination attempt in the Angel Empire, Demon Emperor Daochen agrees to attend a gathering of Borderland representatives and supports forming an alliance.
• Teacher Ling Jing explains that earlier alliances sometimes won the Angel Empire’s attention and aid, but the Empire has since shifted to supplying technology while leaving the Borderland Worlds to bear the costs of their own defense. Even visiting students are no longer reliably safe.
• Daochen recognizes that the Borderlands’ alliances are weakened by self-interest and a reluctance to act together—a pattern he has also seen in the Great Void Alliance.
• The Fire Barbarian King proposes earning Origin by mass-producing Mechanical Warriors and selling them. Daochen questions the risks of selling weapons that could instead defend their own world.
• The Fire Barbarian King argues that territorial expansion could provide the resources to sustain production. Daochen allows that trade could be useful, but insists that survival and preparation for war must come first, especially when the thousand-year protection ends.
• With Mechanical Race cooperation improving through the Divine Network, Daochen’s side has made progress replicating lower-tier production lines. He assigns the Fire Barbarian King to manage sales of ordinary Overlord-level Mechanical Puppet production lines in exchange for a fixed Origin payment.

Character developments and interactions

• Daochen is pragmatic and skeptical of dependence on powerful allies. He sympathizes with the Borderlands’ weakness but believes their divisions leave them vulnerable. He prioritizes military readiness over commercial gains.
• Ling Jing is candid but discouraged, describing the Borderlands’ failed efforts to secure lasting support from the Angel Empire.
• The Fire Barbarian King shows entrepreneurial ambition, hoping trade can replenish his people’s resources. Though Daochen’s warning makes him acknowledge that he has focused too much on commerce, he eagerly accepts responsibility for the production-line business.
• Their exchange is teasing but purposeful: the King jokes that Daochen could simply rob others because of his strength, while Daochen objects to being made to sound barbaric.

Significant themes

• Unity versus self-interest: Alliances are ineffective when members retreat or pursue separate agendas.
• Dependence and exploitation: The Borderland Worlds resent relying on the Angel Empire, which appears to shift the burden of defense onto them.
• Security versus commerce: Trade can provide valuable resources, but it must not undermine preparedness for conflict.
• Expansion and its limits: Acquiring new territory may support production, though Daochen’s observations suggest expansion will eventually bring new enemies and complications.

Key plot points and events

• The Demon Emperor and his allies continue manufacturing copied production lines. The Fire Barbarian King sells them discreetly to Microcosm Overlords, earning far more than from ordinary goods. The replicas are less efficient than the Angel Empire’s originals, but cheap and profitable.
• The Demon Emperor warns the Fire Barbarian King that exposing their operation would bring consequences they cannot withstand. He intends to keep studying the Great Void Guardian for the next two or three hundred years.
• Invited by Teacher Ling Jing, the Demon Emperor and Fire Barbarian King attend a Borderland Alliance gathering.
• A senior attendee criticizes the Demon Emperor for settling his assassination dispute rather than prolonging the wider protest. The Demon Emperor argues that the borderlanders were using his case to vent their own grievances, and that he had no reason to sacrifice his interests for theirs.
• Ling Jing explains that many attendees are anxious because the Great Void Guardian is nearing its end and they are uncertain about their futures.
• The Demon Emperor reunites with the Wisdom and Ant Races and asks the Wisdom Race to sell him superweapons. The Wisdom Race Overlord readily agrees to supply them at a modest markup.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen remains pragmatic and self-interested, prioritizing tangible gains over solidarity or appearances. He also plans ahead, seeking production capacity and weapons to strengthen his position.
• The Fire Barbarian King becomes an effective, discreet merchant, using his Forum following and connections to sell copied production lines.
• The Wisdom Race Overlord sees an opportunity for business and welcomes the Demon Emperor’s order.
• Teacher Ling Jing mediates the tense exchange and offers context for the group’s frustration.
• The Demon Emperor and the unnamed critic clash over whether he owed the borderlanders continued resistance; others react with resentment, while the Wisdom and Ant Races offer him support.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism versus solidarity: Daochen refuses to risk his own gains for a collective cause he believes primarily serves others.
• Profit, technology, and power: Copied production lines offer enormous returns, while weapons and manufacturing capacity are tools for strengthening one’s position.
• Uncertainty and anxiety: The approaching end of the Great Void Guardian leaves the borderlanders worried about what comes next.
• Cooperation and competition: The Borderland Alliance provides a venue for trade and contact, but its members’ interests do not necessarily unite them.

Key plot points and events

• At an Alliance gathering, the Demon Emperor and other leaders discuss the Angel Empire’s neglect of the borderlands. The Wisdom Race Overlord says the empire has refused aid while the Wisdom Race faces mounting pressure from the Ghoul Clan and Abyss Empire.
• The Demon Emperor suggests that distant imperial authorities may not know what is happening in Meida Holy City, where another race could be exercising power. The group considers this plausible, but agrees not to discuss it openly.
• The Spirit Realm Teacher announces that 500 new Border Overlords have joined the Borderland Alliance. The Alliance promotes mutual support and mediation, though its members give the speech little attention.
• The Demon Emperor reflects on how many worlds and members the Angel Empire and Alliance may command, revising his estimate of both powers.
• After joining through a brief process and paying Origin fees, the Demon Emperor’s group is approached by a Loki Race trader selling imitation high-tech weapons. The group agrees to buy some and leaves open the possibility of future business through the Divine Network.
• The Demon Emperor plans to keep the trade discreet, perhaps arranging exchanges in secluded places or nearby war zones. His group joins the Alliance formally but does not intend to integrate closely.
• Meanwhile, a Xenomorph enthusiastically approaches other races to collect powerful beings’ genes and build relationships with different worlds.

Character developments and interactions

• Demon Emperor Daochen shows growing strategic awareness: he questions the Angel Empire’s conduct, recognizes the scale of the powers around him, and prioritizes secrecy and safety in business dealings.
• Wisdom Race Overlord/Core Brain expresses disappointment with the Angel Empire but urges restraint, warning that the group cannot safely address the suspected problem.
• Spirit Realm Teacher presents the Alliance as a cooperative body meant to prevent internal conflict and unite against the Abyss races.
• Fire Barbarian King responds quickly to Daochen’s signal and negotiates the weapon purchase.
• Loki Race trader is pragmatic and desperate, willing to accept risk because he must support his clansmen. He openly states that he expects a cut of any Origin earned.
• The Xenomorph stands out for actively seeking alliances and collecting genetic material, contrasting with Daochen’s cautious distance from the Alliance.

Significant themes

• Distrust of distant authority: The Angel Empire’s size may make it powerful, but its reach and oversight may be limited.
• Power through accumulation: Daochen realizes that the empire’s strength may come from generations of growth and the steady incorporation of new worlds.
• Cooperation versus self-interest: The Alliance advocates unity, yet members remain focused on their own needs and agendas.
• Risk, survival, and secrecy: The trader accepts danger for his people’s sake, while Daochen insists on carefully concealing his group’s activities.

Key plot points and events

• The Alliance establishes a Mission Center on the Borderlands Forum, where certified members can anonymously post or accept jobs and trade goods, services, and knowledge.
• Alliance Leader Teacher Ling Jing says the Alliance will not police ordinary transactions, but threatens severe consequences for anyone who deliberately harms Borderlands members. This reassures participants that the forum has meaningful protection.
• The Demon Emperor anonymously offers Overlord-level Mechanical Warrior production lines for four thousand Five-Star Origin—well below competing prices. The offer draws huge demand, leading to orders for at least five thousand sets.
• Daochen buys a novel combat technique, the Dirty Divine Art, which secretly stores power in the internal organs and releases it in a desperate fight by destroying them. He also purchases other useful techniques and crafting knowledge.
• The Fire Barbarian King and others exploit anonymous trading by buying cultivation methods and reselling them more cheaply. The practice drives prices down until Ling Jing closes the loophole: each identical method may have only one seller.

Character developments and interactions

• Teacher Ling Jing shifts from her usual approachable manner to demonstrate the Alliance’s strength and willingness to defend its members. She also acts decisively to regulate the trading system when abuse emerges.
• Demon Emperor Daochen recognizes the Mission Center as a safe, discreet way to conduct business. He sees the production-line orders as a major opportunity, while also taking advantage of the forum to acquire valuable knowledge.
• The Fire Barbarian King enthusiastically joins the resale scheme, and he and Daochen share excitement over the mechanical production-line deal.
• Alliance members respond to the new protections with greater confidence and eagerly pursue bargains, especially the low-priced production lines.

Significant themes

• Practical cooperation over military unity: Members may be unable to avoid fighting in their home worlds, but they can still trade knowledge and resources.
• Trust, anonymity, and protection: Concealed identities make exchange safer, while the Alliance’s threat of retaliation discourages fraud and violence.
• Innovation and ingenuity: The mission system and the Dirty Divine Art show how unusual ideas can create practical advantages.
• Markets, competition, and loopholes: Open exchange creates opportunities and lowers prices, but also invites exploitation—prompting the Alliance to balance freedom with rules.

Chapter Summary: “The Borderland Alliance”

Key plot points and events

• After his teacher’s screening, the alliance’s Mission Center was reorganized and began operating smoothly. The Demon Emperor contributed technical knowledge about advanced weapons.
• He discovered the alliance included several technologically sophisticated races, including the Golden Squid Clan, whose many heads and flexible tentacles suited them to designing and operating superweapons and mechs. He acquired mech samples that could help the Mechanical Race improve its technology.
• The alliance gathering lasted two days. The Demon Emperor traded for weapons, equipment, cultivation methods, and combat arts, while selling many Overlord-tier production lines.
• Most importantly, the races agreed to support one another and protect their allies. They established Mobile Units for communication and mutual assistance, to be coordinated by the Wisdom Race.
• Back at Meida Divine Academy, the Demon Emperor focused on study. Over a hundred years, two hundred thousand doppelgangers read throughout the Library. He eventually completed its collection, mastered the fundamental but difficult Great Void Origin Scripture, and entered the Library’s final level, the Great Void Illusion.
• His achievement earned him the title “All-Knowing,” an honor that could also bring recognition and resources to the academy from the Angel Empire.

Character development

• Demon Emperor Daochen acts as both a practical organizer and an unusually driven scholar. His experience establishing the Great Void Alliance helps him understand the new coalition, though he recognizes that alliances often fail when members’ interests outweigh their principles.
• His relentless study makes him famous, but also exposes a problem: he may soon outgrow the academy’s Library as a source of knowledge.
• Vice Principal Meng Qi, initially unaware of the full extent of Daochen’s work, is astonished by his reading method and accomplishments.

Significant themes

• Cooperation versus self-interest: The military alliance recognizes the danger of fighting alone, but Daochen’s past experience suggests that cooperation is difficult to sustain when worlds pursue conflicting interests.
• Technology and cultivation: Advanced technology appears to be flourishing more rapidly than cultivation arts, creating the impression that technology has the advantage.
• Knowledge and ambition: Daochen’s vast use of doppelgangers lets him absorb knowledge at an extraordinary rate, but his success raises questions about whether any institution can keep pace with his growth.
• Recognition and institutional benefit: Daochen’s personal achievement may enhance the standing and resources of the academy as well.

Character interactions

• Daochen exchanges knowledge and goods with the alliance’s races, especially obtaining mech samples from the Golden Squid Clan and sharing technical expertise.
• The allied races reach a mutual-defense agreement and place their communication and support units under the Wisdom Race’s coordination.
• Daochen’s accomplishment eventually draws Meng Qi’s attention and admiration, transforming a private scholarly effort into a celebrated academy-wide achievement.

Plot points

• Vice Principal Meng Qi awards Demon Emperor Daochen the All-Knowing title, a blessing that protects him from anyone below Perfect God level, though it can be depleted and is not a defense against a major siege.
• Daochen has become deeply devoted to learning. He recognizes that knowledge gives him more ways to survive, but that he still needs to increase his strength.
• Meng Qi explains that greater study would require moving to a higher-tier holy city. With only about two hundred years before the Primordial World’s Great Void Guardian ends—and with the next city too distant—Daochen cannot easily pursue that option.
• Meng Qi suggests the Angel Empire’s protection, but Daochen rejects it: the empire could still suppress his world and kill its people without destroying it outright.
• Meng Qi instead proposes the Frontier Battlefield, where the Angel and Abyss Empires are at war and the empire’s largest knowledge repository is located. Daochen accepts despite the danger.
• The Fire Barbarian King warns that the battlefield may be a trap. Daochen agrees Meng Qi is maneuvering him, but interprets the assignment as a possible escape route: battlefield chaos could let him disappear from the powerful figures watching him.
• After a few days, Meng Qi urges Daochen to leave before the principal returns. Daochen hesitates, asking whether Meng Qi will be endangered once he is gone.

Character developments

• Daochen has shifted from relying on brute force and slaughter to valuing knowledge and strategic survival. He remains determined to protect the Primordial World, even when that conflicts with his desire to keep studying.
• Meng Qi appears to be balancing the academy’s interests with concern for Daochen. Though he steers him toward a perilous battlefield, Daochen believes the assignment also gives him a chance to escape a worse fate.
• The Fire Barbarian King is frightened and confused by Daochen’s reasoning, but trusts him enough to follow his lead.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus strength: Learning gives Daochen new tools, but he knows knowledge alone cannot protect him from the most powerful beings.
• Survival through strategy: The apparently more dangerous battlefield may offer greater freedom than remaining under close scrutiny in the city.
• Political protection and coercion: The Angel Empire’s “protection” would not guarantee the safety or autonomy of the Primordial World.
• Ambiguous motives and unspoken bargains: Meng Qi’s actions can be read as both institutional maneuvering and a discreet attempt to give Daochen a way out.

Character interactions

• Meng Qi explains the title’s limits, outlines Daochen’s educational options, and directs him toward the battlefield.
• Daochen challenges Meng Qi’s proposal to place the Primordial World under the Angel Empire, insisting that partial protection is not enough.
• The Fire Barbarian King voices concern that Meng Qi is pushing Daochen into danger; Daochen explains why staying in the city may be even more fatal.
• As departure approaches, Daochen’s concern for Meng Qi complicates his readiness to leave.

Key plot points and events

• Meng Qi tells Demon Emperor Daochen that he may ask for his help someday. Daochen accepts, satisfied that he will not leave a debt of gratitude unpaid, then departs with the Fire Barbarian King.
• The pair enlist as ordinary soldiers bound for the battlefield. Other recruits initially question why they have left the Divine Academy, but grow wary and keep their distance once they learn the two are Frontier Overlords.
• They are assigned to the First War Battalion, Zone 365, under Perfect God Kevin. The nearly five thousand recruits are mostly Super Overlords and Primordial Gods, highlighting the battlefield’s danger.
• The Fire Barbarian King gives Daochen a fragment of his soul and asks him to preserve it if he dies. Daochen promises to protect him.
• Kevin reprimands recruits who were talking. Daochen and the Fire Barbarian King comply, but many Primordial Gods refuse. Kevin’s elite soldiers swiftly restrain and throw the dissenters to the ground.
• Daochen studies their technique, recognizing it as the Clavicle Lock Hand. Kevin then seals the cultivation of everyone who had been talking and orders them to fight ghouls, leaving their survival to chance. Daochen discovers that his physical strength remains intact.

Character developments

• Demon Emperor Daochen remains composed and pragmatic, prioritizing survival over challenging Kevin’s authority. He is also observant, quickly learning from the elite soldiers’ combat methods, and remains confident in his ability to protect the Fire Barbarian King.
• The Fire Barbarian King reveals his fear is less of death than of losing the gains of his life’s work. His request shows his trust in Daochen.
• Perfect God Kevin is introduced as a strict, forceful commander who expects unquestioning obedience and uses harsh punishment to establish authority.

Character interactions

• Meng Qi and Daochen part on mutually respectful terms, with Daochen left open to helping him in the future.
• The recruits’ attitude toward Daochen shifts from curiosity to suspicion when they learn he is a Frontier Overlord, reflecting the group’s distrust of Overlords.
• Daochen reassures the Fire Barbarian King and accepts responsibility for his soul fragment.
• Kevin clashes with the recruits who resist his orders, while Daochen deliberately avoids confrontation and watches the soldiers’ actions closely.

Significant themes

• Military hierarchy and discipline: Kevin insists that rank governs behavior, and the recruits quickly learn that battlefield rules are enforced through force.
• Survival and preparedness: Daochen chooses caution, while the Fire Barbarian King prepares for the possibility of death.
• Reputation and mistrust: Frontier Overlords are treated warily because of their perceived selfishness and competition for resources.
• Learning through observation: Daochen turns a display of coercive force into a chance to study practical combat technique.

Plot and events

• Kevin and his officers throw the recruits into a huge pit and declare that, on the battlefield, his orders are absolute—even if they lead to deaths.
• Super-Overlord-level Ghouls swarm out of a nest. They are fast, powerful, and fearless, but have a vulnerable nerve at the back of the neck; striking it paralyzes them.
• The Demon Emperor demonstrates the tactic, then coaches the Fire Barbarian King through his first fight. He warns that the captive Ghouls’ weakened instincts make them easier to defeat than true battlefield opponents, and stresses that speed and timing are essential.
• Most of the recruits panic, while the experienced Frontier Overlords handle the monsters effectively. The Demon Emperor also prevents some people from dying, though he does not try to spare them injuries.
• Watching from above, Kevin and his deputy discuss whether the Demon Emperor should be recruited or eliminated. Kevin favors cultivating his talent, but accepts that the recruits will be sent to the battlefield and left to their fate.

Character developments and interactions

• The Fire Barbarian King moves from nervousness to focused confidence as he studies the Ghouls and successfully kills one. He takes the Demon Emperor’s criticism seriously.
• The Demon Emperor acts as a capable, composed mentor, balancing practical instruction with blunt warnings.
• Kevin reveals himself as comparatively sympathetic to talented outsiders, while also exercising ruthless authority over the recruits.
• The deputy is cautious and politically guarded, avoiding criticism of the Angel Empire’s policies.

Significant themes

• Power and expendability: The recruits’ lives are treated as acceptable losses under military rules.
• Experience versus reputation: A monster’s stated strength can be misleading; knowledge and battlefield experience matter.
• Political mistrust and institutional decline: The discussion suggests the Angel Empire’s suppression of outsiders may be preventing new talent from emerging and weakening the empire.

Plot and events

• After the recruits defeat their first Ghouls, Kevin mocks them for surviving and orders a second, much harder exercise. He leaves only the Frontier Overlords and a few experienced primordial gods to face a much larger horde.
• The next wave consists of coordinated Higher-Rank Ghouls. The Demon Emperor and other Overlords deliberately let themselves be wounded, realizing Kevin expects them to hide their full strength and demonstrate battlefield caution. Kevin approves and ends the punishment.
• Training then shifts to squad tactics and battlefield skills. The Demon Emperor values learning to coordinate with others, while also learning how pervasive the Ghoul threat is: their armies attack across the defensive line and harvest both enemy and Ghoul corpses.
• When an officer tries to move the Fire Barbarian King out of the Demon Emperor’s squad because he is considered too weak, the Demon Emperor refuses. After both are punished for resisting, the transfer is canceled.
• Following three months of training, the recruits receive their first orders. The Demon Emperor’s hundred-person squad—made up largely of Overlords and designated the Vanguard Team—is sent to penetrate enemy lines and capture the Ghoul Nest on Hill 65.

Character developments and interactions

• The Demon Emperor proves capable in battle but carefully conceals his true strength, understanding that survival depends on not revealing everything. He also shows loyalty to the Fire Barbarian King by insisting they remain together.
• The Fire Barbarian King fights alongside the Demon Emperor, shares in the deliberate display of vulnerability, and is ultimately allowed to stay in his squad.
• Kevin uses harsh, targeted exercises to test the recruits and teach them practical lessons about danger, discipline, and concealing their abilities.
• The Frontier Overlord captain explains their precarious position: they must accept dangerous missions and earn merit if they hope to escape the Angel Empire without endangering their worlds.

Significant themes

• Survival through caution: Recruits must hide their strength, avoid underestimating enemies, and follow battlefield rules.
• Solidarity and loyalty: The Demon Emperor’s refusal to abandon his companion shows the importance of trust amid a harsh military system.
• Coercion and limited freedom: The Frontier Overlords face dangerous service as their best chance to escape the Angel Empire; desertion could bring retaliation against their worlds.
• Escalating threat: The coordinated Ghouls and their use of corpses reveal the scale and grim nature of the war.