Chapter Summaries

Shub and Yog discussed Nyarlathotep’s Amusement Park and their plans for its Script, while the Eternal True World appeared before them. Within the world, Tsathoggua sensed an overwhelming Divine Status and heard a warning from Cxaxukluth.

• Shub asked Yog what Nyarlathotep intended to do, and Yog said the future was anchored and could not be changed.
• Shub questioned whether Yog had recovered his full power, and Yog challenged her certainty about his former strength.
• Shub said she cared only about the Script’s ending, while Yog suggested he might have influenced it.
• The Eternal True World flitted before Shub and Yog like a firefly in a park.
• Tsathoggua sensed an absolute Divine Status both beyond and within the Eternal True World, then heard Cxaxukluth say that everything was entertainment.

Cheng Yu sent the Nian Beast to raid Humankind according to an ordained fate, giving him a peacock feather for later use. At the Great Qin court, Qin Shuo learned that Shen Yu had taken control of the Demon Dynasty and ordered the Dragonfolk elder to find everything known about him.

• Steward Yu welcomed the Nian Beast to the Jade King's Residence and explained that Cheng Yu ruled as regent for the young Monster Emperor.
• Cheng Yu told the Nian Beast that he would raid Humankind once a year for three years, beginning ahead of his destined attacks, and gave him a white peacock tail feather.
• The Nian Beast accepted Cheng Yu's order and left to fulfill his ordained fate.
• A court official told Qin Shuo that a purge had disrupted the Great Qin's intelligence network in the Demon Dynasty and might be connected to Shen Yu.
• Qin Shuo asked a Dragonfolk elder to retrieve the clan's secret records about Shen Yu.

After the Nian Beast devoured people in Baiyue Prefecture, Qin Shuo ordered Humankind’s Heaven Peering experts to kill it, creating an opportunity to reverse the fortunes of humans and demons. Cheng Yu challenged anyone to take the Demon Race’s fortune, while Shen Yuan wondered how his second brother would break the deadlock.

• Qin Shuo learned that the Nian Beast had attacked cities in Baiyue Prefecture and ordered Humankind’s Heaven Peering experts to slay it for a strand of Humankind’s fortune.
• Di Yi Yun declared that Nian’s removal marked the turning point of Humankind’s fortune, while Cheng Yu warned that the outcome remained uncertain.
• Cheng Yu unleashed his aura, broke many Heavenly Dao Shackles above the Demon Capital, and proclaimed that the Demon Race’s fortune was his for anyone to take.
• Shen Yuan realized Humankind had been given a chance to reverse the balance but feared that its blinded Sages might still fail to overcome Nian.
• Netherworld asked You Lian about Cheng Yu’s strength, but she answered by praising his beauty.

Wei Xian confronted the rampaging Nian Beast in the Southern Continent, but its abnormal strength overwhelmed him and forced him to flee. Di Yi Yun suspected the beast’s power had been altered, while Cheng Yu tasked Zhen with enforcing sweeping criminal laws to prevent the Demon Race’s decline.

• Wei Xian arrived in the Southern Continent and fought the Nian Beast, but its strength and copper-red mist broke his techniques and injured him severely.
• Wei Xian escaped with a talisman, and the Nian Beast charged toward Baiyue Prefecture’s largest human city.
• Di Yi Yun watched the battle and suspected the Nian Beast’s abnormal toughness had a hidden cause.
• Zhen warned Cheng Yu that sweeping criminal laws could damage the Demon Race, but Cheng Yu said the measures were necessary to stop its decline.
• Zhen promised Cheng Yu he would see the measures through as the Nian Beast ran across the reflection in Mirror Lake.

The Nian Beast rampaged through Baiyue Prefecture, slaughtering its people as Qin Shuo and Shen Xuan considered how to stop it. At Fuzhou, the beast battered the city’s formation while its defenders faltered, and a court-robed man prepared the Gilt Black Dragon Scroll as night approached.

• Qin Shuo raged over Wei Xian’s defeat and the Nian Beast’s advance, while Shen Xuan warned that its strength seemed unnatural.
• The Nian Beast devoured people and destroyed cities throughout Baiyue Prefecture, staining the Southern Continent’s sky red.
• The defenders of Fuzhou formed a five-element barrier that burned away the beast’s bloody mist.
• The Nian Beast absorbed the mist, transformed, and struck the barrier twice, cracking it with the second blow.
• The damaged barrier and unconscious cultivators spread panic through Fuzhou, as a court-robed man drew the Gilt Black Dragon Scroll and night approached.

Ji Hu invoked the Human Emperor’s decree, and its sword wounded the Nian Beast before Shen Yuan revealed himself as the Golden-Winged Great Peng. The Nian Beast escaped and learned he was destined to die in Humankind’s lands, while Cheng Yu resolved to see whether he could defy Heaven.

• Ji Hu summoned the Human Emperor’s decree, and Qin Shuo ordered the divine dragon to suppress the Nian Beast.
• The Humanity’s Way sword pierced the Nian Beast, but a peacock tail feather absorbed the golden light and allowed him to escape death temporarily.
• Shen Yuan revealed his Golden-Winged Great Peng form, prompting the divine dragon and the Four Sages of the Human Race to wonder why the Heavenly Dao allowed his intervention.
• Cheng Yu told the wounded Nian that the sword had inflicted an incurable Dao Wound and that he was destined to die in Humankind’s territory in the third year.
• Nian accepted his mission and departed, while Cheng Yu vowed to see whether he could defy Heaven.

After the Nian Beast’s attack, Cheng Yu received Humankind’s demand for compensation and heard White Elephant argue that ceding territory could prevent a wider war. Cheng Yu said he would answer at court the next day and considered using the crisis to support his planned Reform Faction.

• Steward Yu brought White Elephant to meet Cheng Yu at Mirror Lake.
• Cheng Yu correctly guessed that Great Qin demanded an explanation for the Demon Race’s attack and wanted Southern Continent territory as compensation.
• White Elephant advised Cheng Yu to surrender a few territories to avert a great war, and Cheng Yu said he would respond at the next day’s court session.
• Cheng Yu reflected on the Demon Dynasty’s factions and decided to support a Reform Faction led by Zhen.
• Cheng Yu was willing to give Humankind territory on the Southern Continent to draw its attention.

Chong Wen, a human envoy, confronted the Demon Dynasty’s court over demons’ attack on Baiyue Prefecture and demanded that those responsible be surrendered. Cheng Yu surprised the court by praising Chong Wen and inviting him to join the Demon Dynasty.

• Chong Wen volunteered for a dangerous mission to the Demon Race after Qin Shuo sought an envoy.
• At court, Ma Yuan urged the demon rulers to execute Chong Wen, while Changsun Shen argued they should hear him first.
• Cheng Yu summoned Chong Wen to court, where Chong Wen refused to kneel and explained that he represented the Human Emperor, an equal of the Monster Emperor.
• Chong Wen asked whether the Demon Dynasty intended to wage war and demanded the surrender of the demons responsible for slaughtering humans and destroying cities in Baiyue Prefecture.
• Cheng Yu told Chong Wen that he admired him and offered him a place in the Demon Dynasty.

Cheng Yu offered human envoy Chong Wen a place in the Demon Dynasty and granted the Great Qin Celestial Dynasty the territories it demanded, then argued that the Demon Dynasty needed institutional reform and human talent. He guided Shen Tian to accept learning from other races and urged him to become a ruler suited to the future.

• Cheng Yu offered Chong Wen a high office in the Demon Dynasty and ceded sixteen border cities and their surrounding lands to the Great Qin Celestial Dynasty.
• Chong Wen left court knowing Cheng Yu had exposed his intentions and that the events would bring scrutiny when he returned home.
• Cheng Yu told the demon ministers that the Demon Dynasty needed reform and human talent, but Changsun Shen and Qingqiu Lan questioned his plan.
• Shen Tian asked Cheng Yu about reform, and Cheng Yu explained that the dynasty's weak control over regional clans made its institutions unstable.
• Cheng Yu urged Shen Tian to learn from other races and become a sovereign who could lead the Demon Race into the future, and Shen Tian said he was unafraid.

Zuo Feiyang questioned Chong Wen about his mission to the Demon Race, while Qin Shuo worried over the Great Sage’s invitation for Chong Wen to join the Demon Dynasty. Cheng Yu’s scheme gave way to a warning from the Heavenly Dao that the Outer Demons were moving, as the Abyssal Will announced a second round.

• Zuo Feiyang questioned Chong Wen at the Stillheart Terrace about volunteering for the diplomatic mission, but Chong Wen refused to explain further.
• Zuo Feiyang told Qin Shuo he had learned nothing yet, and Qin Shuo ordered him to protect Chong Wen while investigating the Great Sage’s invitation.
• Qin Shuo considered whether the Great Sage had sought to recruit Chong Wen and worried about the threat posed by the Sages.
• Cheng Yu observed that his scheme had prompted Qin Shuo to overthink the situation, then noticed the celestial patterns of all three great races changing.
• The Heavenly Dao Sages divined a warning that the Outer Demons were on the move.
• The Abyssal Will began the second round and claimed its Three Emperors were superior to the six false Sages.

Lucifer told Samael and Mammon that the Abyssal Will had ordered them to enter the Eternal True World and begin another game. Samael was chosen to go first, while Lucifer and Mammon stayed behind and hinted at a secret deal.

• Lucifer summoned Samael and Mammon and relayed the Abyssal Will’s command to enter the Eternal True World.
• Samael, Mammon, and Lucifer debated who should go, and Lucifer showed them the Seven Demon-Sealing Passes.
• Samael’s wrath and Lucifer’s pride flared, causing emotional upheaval across the Myriad Heavens of the Chaos Sea.
• Mammon agreed that Samael was best suited to fight, and Samael vanished.
• Lucifer told Mammon that Samael had discovered their deal, and Mammon proposed making another one.

Oliv entered the Eternal Battlefield to clear a space for Samael’s true form, where she faced Kuang Cang, the Demon Dynasty’s general defending the First Great Wall. Their meeting left Kuang Cang fearing that a devastating war with the Outer Demons was about to begin.

• Samael ordered Oliv to make a clear space in the Eternal True World for his true form to descend, and she entered the dimensional rift.
• At the First Great Wall, Kuang Cang condemned the North Sea Great Bird Race to serve at the 548th District of A Domain for their clan’s rebellion.
• Kuang Cang used his power to eliminate the demons attacking near the tower as his deputies sensed a powerful enemy in the black mist.
• Oliv stepped through the rift, and her presence drew the attention of Kuang Cang and the other powerful beings on the battlefield.
• Kuang Cang recognized Oliv as an Outer Demon of the Heaven-Peering Mirror realm and feared the return of the devastating war of eighty thousand years earlier.

Cheng Yu decided to abandon the First Pass if necessary, believing the Demon Race should not bear the burden of fighting the Demon Emperors alone. He sent Wu Xuan to deliver a token and a Silvery Tail Feather to Kuang Cang, leaving Shen Yuan and Shen Qian unaware of the full plan.

• Shen Yuan warned Cheng Yu that the Heavenly Dao had foreseen Sage-realm Heavenly Demons, and Cheng Yu said the First Pass might have to fall.
• Cheng Yu told Shen Yuan to keep Shen Qian from contacting anyone outside, and Shen Yuan agreed while asking to share his burdens as a brother.
• Cheng Yu ordered Wu Xuan to take a token and a Silvery Tail Feather to Kuang Cang at the First Great Wall.
• Cheng Yu reasoned that a Demon Emperor was likely to join the coming battle and that Shen Yu was the only one who might face one alone.
• Cheng Yu resolved that sacrificing the First Pass, despite the likely deaths of hundreds of millions of demons, was preferable to letting the Demon Race be used as the world’s shield again.

Wu Xuan delivered a message and a silver-white tail feather to Kuang Cang as the Heaven Peering Heavenly Demon Oliver withdrew from their battle. The blood mist then overwhelmed the First Great Wall, and Demon Emperor Samael formally entered the demon-sealing battlefield.

• Kuang Cang and Oliver fought outside the First Great Wall while Wu Xuan arrived to deliver orders from the Regent King.
• Wu Xuan watched from the battlements as Kuang Cang and Oliver fought for an unknown number of days.
• Oliver withdrew, and Kuang Cang received Wu Xuan's token and silver-white tail feather before ordering the soldiers to retreat to the Third Pass.
• The blood mist spread across the sky, drove Demon Race Soldiers into a frenzy, and destroyed the Teleportation Arrays as blood-colored meteors struck the wall.
• Emptiness-rank Heavenly Demons descended from the vortex, and Demon Emperor Samael appeared atop a towering throne of black steel.

Cheng Yu manifested as a powerful Annihilation Holy Spirit and fought Samael at the First Great Wall, disrupting the Eternal True World and countless other universes. He withdrew before his borrowed body failed, then returned to the Demon Capital and considered the uncertain future and his own role in the God of Amusement’s game.

• Samael arrived at the First Great Wall as demons surged forth, and Kuang Cang struggled against the wrath overwhelming him.
• Cheng Yu’s peacock tail feather protected Kuang Cang and the other demons from Samael’s influence, allowing them to escape through the Teleportation Array with Wu Xuan.
• Cheng Yu absorbed the maddened demons’ blood mist to form a temporary body, then used annihilation to dispel Samael’s collapsing sky.
• Cheng Yu and Samael clashed across the Chaos Sea, destroying universe bubbles and causing widespread upheaval before Cheng Yu withdrew as his body neared its limit.
• Cheng Yu returned to Jade King’s Residence, collected the merit granted by the eternal Heavenly Dao, and resolved to complete his task as Shen Yu before leaving the world’s fate behind.

After a Sage-realm Heavenly Demon entered the Demon-Sealing Battlefield, the Human Sages warned of another world-ending calamity and called for reinforcements. Cheng Yu explained the Demon Race’s decline to Kuang Cang and prepared to put Humankind’s rise to the test.

• Di Yi Yun told the Human Sages that the First Great Wall had fallen and a Sage-realm Heavenly Demon had entered the battlefield, so they ordered reinforcements for the Second Great Wall.
• Qin Shuo received the decree, feared that Humankind might be wiped out by the new calamity, and summoned his officials.
• Kuang Cang admitted to Cheng Yu that he felt guilty for losing the First Great Wall and believed he should have died defending it.
• Cheng Yu rebuked Kuang Cang, explaining that the weakened Demon Race needed its Great Demons alive and that Humankind’s rise threatened the demons’ future.
• Cheng Yu sent Kuang Cang to rest, then instructed Wu Xuan to handle the frontier generals who had arrived in the capital.
• Cheng Yu watched the stars reflected in Mirror Lake and declared that it was time for Humankind to fulfill its duty as the world’s leading race.

Shi Yan and Chu Chang prepared the Second Great Wall for the Heavenly Demons after Prince Shen’s power appeared and the First Great Wall fell. Samael ordered demons to fill the resulting chasm with their bodies, opening a path for the invasion toward the human defenders.

• Shi Yan and Chu Chang recognized Prince Shen’s power, and Shi Yan ordered the Second Great Wall’s army to prepare for battle.
• The First Great Wall exploded, leaving a light-filled chasm that destroyed any demon approaching it.
• Samael ordered an Abyss noble to charge into the chasm, then commanded the frenzied demons to fill it in.
• Countless demons sacrificed themselves until their flesh formed a road across the battlefield, and the Heavenly Demons surged toward the Second Great Wall.
• Shi Yan was shaken by the demons’ madness, while Samael looked forward to sampling human souls and meeting interesting humans.

As the Demons attacked the Second Great Wall, Cheng Yu began reforming the Demon Dynasty’s finances by targeting the great clans’ resources. He left Shen Yue intrigued by a promised way to improve demon descendants’ potential in exchange for resources the clans did not need.

• Shi Yan deployed the Life-Destroying Sword Formation against the Demons, and the first Demons who reached the wall began Humankind’s resistance.
• Cheng Yu questioned Minister Ma about the Demon Dynasty’s low tax revenue and learned that local great clans controlled taxation and resources.
• Cheng Yu announced that clans would pay taxes based on their past income, with rates capped at fifty percent, and told Ma Tian to inform his clan.
• Cheng Yu told Shen Yue that the Demon Race’s young would suffer under Humankind’s rise and suggested that the great clans would willingly offer resources for a way to improve their descendants’ aptitude and bloodlines.
• Cheng Yu told Shen Yue that the price would be something he did not need, but did not explain the method.

Ma Hong weighed whether the Heavenly Horse clan should accept Prince Yu’s tax policy, then chose to split the clan’s response between paying and waiting. Cheng Yu explained to Ma Tian that he intended to build a system that would constrain the great clans and let imperial orders pass unobstructed.

• Ma Hong considered Prince Yu’s offer of benefits for clans that voluntarily paid taxes and decided the Heavenly Horse clan would gamble with half its resources.
• The Heavenly Horse clan split over whether to pay, and news of the division soon reached the Jade King’s Residence.
• Cheng Yu told Ma Tian he wanted a united Demon Race and planned to build a cage that would constrain the clans’ actions.
• Ma Tian bowed and privately worried that he had heard too much of Cheng Yu’s intentions.

Cheng Yu tested Shen Tian on how to resolve the Demon Race’s regional fragmentation, and Shen Tian proposed dividing the Great Clans by recognizing and empowering their secondary lines. Cheng Yu approved of his insight but said the crisis demanded a faster, more drastic remedy, and prepared to reveal a plan that required Shen Tian’s approval.

• Cheng Yu reviewed a list showing that the Demon Race’s leading Great Clans had stayed silent and considered how their regional power threatened the dynasty.
• Cheng Yu asked Shen Tian how he would address the Demon Race’s worsening fragmentation.
• Shen Tian outlined six aspects of an emperor’s cultivation and analyzed how his imperial father had governed the Demon Race.
• Shen Tian proposed recognizing the status of Great Clan members from secondary lines and redistributing clan resources to divide the Great Clans internally.
• Cheng Yu praised Shen Tian’s proposal but said the dynasty had no time for a slow solution, then invited him closer to hear a more drastic plan requiring his approval.