Chapter Summaries

After Huan Liang was killed during the meeting, the factions demanded that Huan Qi represent the divided Huan Family, while two professors and Qin Siyang warned its members to stop fighting among themselves. The Huan Family’s internal power struggle remained unresolved as Li Tianming and Zhang Kuang reflected on Huan Kai’s ties to the World-Destroying Church.

• Huan Liang was killed in front of the gathered factions, and Qin Yingguang proposed Huan Qi as the Huan Family’s spokesman.
• Huan Family members protested Huan Qi’s appointment and demanded an investigation into Huan Liang’s death.
• Zhong Dingming and Guan Fuhai urged the Huan Family to prioritize its crisis, and Zhao Longteng said Huan Qi should make decisions on the family’s behalf.
• When a Huan Family member rejected Huan Qi as their representative, an unseen attacker turned him to stone and shattered him.
• Qin Siyang reminded the Huan Family that he had helped prevent worse bloodshed after its members attacked the investigation team that morning.
• Li Tianming and Zhang Kuang remarked that the Huan Family’s infighting helped explain why Huan Kai joined the World-Destroying Church.

The mining families negotiated the Huan Family’s crisis, but Huan Qi exposed that the proposed settlement would leave his family vulnerable to further demands from the United Government. After Qin Siyang killed a Huan Family member for threatening to join the World-Destroying Church, Qin Siyang suggested there might still be a way for both sides to win.

• Xie Nanyun threatened to sever business ties unless the Huan Family accepted Huan Qi as its representative, and the family backed down.
• Xie Nanyun proposed that the Xie and Wang families each contribute twenty percent of their mining assets, while the Yu and Huan families each contribute fifty percent.
• Huan Qi accepted the Huan Family’s fifty-percent contribution only if it would settle the entire crisis, arguing that additional demands from the United Government could leave his family with almost nothing.
• Xie Nanyun admitted that the United Government would demand the Huan Family’s destruction because its patriarch served the World-Destroying Church and its members had killed Investigation Team personnel.
• When a Huan Family member threatened to join the World-Destroying Church, Qin Siyang killed him by pinning him to a wall with the Heaven-Splitting Halberd.
• Qin Siyang pulled the halberd from the corpse and told Huan Qi that cooperation might still produce a way for both sides to win.

Qin Siyang proposed Joint Mining to unite the powers seeking control of the Four Major Mining Companies' mines and address the challenges of operating them. The Huan Family and Yu Family agreed to contribute shares, leaving the Wang Family and Xie Family facing a powerful new rival.

• Qin Siyang told Huan Qi that cooperation could help the Huan Family withstand the United Government's inquiry and proposed Joint Mining.
• Qin Siyang explained how shareholders could combine their mining, research, transport, and sales capabilities while sharing profits and resources.
• Huan Qi offered sixty percent of the Huan Family's mines as initial equity, and Chu Xiaoang explained that the family was keeping the rest for the United Government.
• Yu Yongyou pledged part of the Yu Family's holdings and proposed oversight rules to prevent shareholders from harming Joint Mining.
• Wang Jixin slammed the table and cursed the Joint Mining proposal as the Wang Family and Xie Family were left out of the new alliance.

The mining families formed Joint Mining to protect their shared interests as the United Government threatened the Huan and Yu Families. As the meeting turned to confronting the possibility that Yu Jianyun might target the Huan Family, Zhao Longfei volunteered to stand guard.

• Huan Qi persuaded the other families to establish Joint Mining, and the powers present contributed mines and chose its board and officers.
• Yu Yongyou offered to let the United Government confiscate Yu Family mines outside Joint Mining, while the group worried about what might happen to the Huan Family.
• The group considered whether Yu Jianyun might attack the Huan Family indirectly under the World-Destroying Church's name.
• Huan Qi warned that Joint Mining and their families would remain at risk unless they found a way to face Yu Jianyun.
• Zhao Longfei said he would stand guard for the Huan Family for a few days.

After agreeing to defend the Huan Family, Qin Siyang and the others gathered at its estate as an attack seemed imminent. The chapter ended when the warning system jumped from a level-four alert to a level-one alert, signaling that the estate’s defenses had failed.

• Zhao Longfei secured the group’s agreement to protect the Huan Family and told them to rest in secret rooms to prevent information from leaking.
• Zhao Longteng predicted that the attack would come that day or the next, and the group organized to meet at the Huan Family’s estate.
• Gu Weiyang told a caller he would leave the Yu Family’s case largely settled and return to Zone 1, then ordered Qi Tian and Zhu Haifeng to set off.
• Qin Siyang refused to guard a position alone and joined Yu Yongyou, Chu Baxing, Hu Chan, and Zhao Sifang in the villa complex’s safest location.
• Qin Siyang and the others stopped playing cards when a level-four alert sounded, but the warning light quickly turned red and announced a level-one alert.

Black-robed attackers disguised as members of the World-Destroying Church launched a coordinated assault on the Huan Family’s stronghold while everyone’s tool skills were disabled. A gigantic creature swallowed the villas containing Qin Siyang and the hidden Huan Family members, and Li Tianming restrained its maw as the attackers fled.

• Qin Siyang and the others heard explosions from several fronts but received no distress signals, while Qin Yingguang and Chu Xiaoang fought three black-robed attackers.
• Qin Yingguang deflected crystal shards and struck a bone-blade wielder, while Chu Xiaoang shattered an enemy’s purple restraining force.
• A gigantic blue-gray maw burst from underground and swallowed several villas, trapping Qin Siyang and the Huan Family members inside.
• The black-robed attackers withdrew together, and Qin Yingguang pursued them as the others tried to intercept their targets.
• Li Tianming realized Xiao Qin was inside the maw, summoned a Crimson Mask, and bound the creature with thick vines to stop it from retreating underground.

Li Tianming, Chu Xiaoang, Zhao Longteng, and Wei Rulai struggled to keep the enormous maw from dragging their trapped companions underground. Inside, Qin Siyang and the others survived the collapse, but the Huan Family came under attack from dozens of powerful enemies.

• Li Tianming held the maw with his vines while Chu Xiaoang struck it and Zhao Longteng slashed it, but its wounds rapidly healed.
• Wei Rulai pulled the earth together to restrain the maw as Zhao Longteng searched for a way to rescue those inside.
• Qin Siyang, Yu Yongyou, Chu Baxing, Hu Chan, and Zhao Sifang crawled from the villa wreckage and found the Huan Family nearby; Qin Siyang discovered his Tier Six silver needle still worked but kept it hidden.
• Dozens of attackers charged the Huan Family, and Huan Qi shielded them with a torrent while other family members reinforced it with lightning.
• Huan Qi identified the attackers as sequence level five or higher, including two sequence level six giants, and the Huan Family panicked about their chances.

As the World-Destroying Church attacked the Huan Family, Huan Ruoyu abandoned his scornful relatives and joined Qin Siyang’s group. Qin Siyang identified the hidden enemies and assigned the others their targets, then prepared to face the rest himself while searching for their concealed leader.

• Huan Ruoyu’s relatives mocked him and dismissed his plan, so he left them by sinking into the ground and reappearing beside Qin Siyang’s group.
• Qin Siyang and the others noticed the attackers were targeting only the Huan Family, whose members called on them for help.
• Qin Siyang rejected Chu Baxing’s suggestion to leave and insisted that they had come to keep the Huan Family alive.
• Qin Siyang assigned Yu Yongyou and Zhao Sifang, Huan Ruoyu, Hu Chan, and Chu Baxing to attack enemies he had detected around them.
• Qin Siyang said he would face the remaining attackers, but admitted he had not yet located their hidden leader.

Qin Siyang revealed his strength during the World-Destroying Church’s attack on the Huan Family, killing four sequence level six enemies and breaking the siege. With his [Feast Kingdom] skill exposed, the battle continued on several fronts as the Huan Family rallied to fight back.

• Qin Siyang decided to stop hiding his strength and told the others to deal with their assigned enemies.
• Hu Chan warned Qin Siyang that potions no longer worked, so Qin Siyang used candies before rushing toward the Huan Family.
• Qin Siyang killed two sequence level six World-Destroying Church followers with single punches, shocking his allies and the Huan Family.
• Zhao Sifang’s fireballs failed to defeat enemies wearing high-tier protective cloaks, while Qin Siyang used [Feast Kingdom] to kill two more sequence level six enemies and break the siege.
• Qin Siyang urged the Huan Family to counterattack, and Huan Qi rallied his people as fighting spread across several fronts.

Qin Siyang fought the cultists attacking the Huan Family but was trapped by their leader’s powerful mental attack. As the leader repeatedly subjected him to an illusion of dissolving in blood rain, Qin Siyang began to fear that his friends could not reach him.

• Qin Siyang killed several cultists and broke the morale of the others before an enemy’s mental attack trapped him.
• In a crimson swamp illusion, Qin Siyang resisted the enemy’s [Memory Burn] and realized the attacker was likely the cultists’ leader.
• The leader urged Qin Siyang to stop interfering in the Huan Family’s affairs, but Qin Siyang refused and insisted that wiping out cults was everyone’s duty.
• The leader made blood rain dissolve Qin Siyang’s body, then restored him unharmed to the swamp so the torture could repeat.
• Qin Siyang said his friends would finish the fight, but the leader claimed no one would interrupt them, leaving Qin Siyang alarmed that his body was hidden in the real world.

Trapped in an illusion of relentless rain, Qin Siyang endured repeated deaths while trying to use the Nightmare Lantern Tree’s dream skill to counter his attacker. His Sequence Level Seven enemy saw through his plan and vowed to torment him until his will broke.

• Qin Siyang endured four rounds of painful rain and realized that no one was likely to rescue him.
• Qin Siyang recalled that after reaching Origin Sequence Level Two, he had gained the ability to use the Nightmare Lantern Tree’s dream skill through Taste of Deification, though he could not access its other skills.
• Qin Siyang endured seven deaths in the illusion while watching for his enemy to reveal a body or consciousness projection he could attack.
• The enemy deduced that Qin Siyang was waiting for an opening and explained that they would remain hidden while slowly breaking his will.
• Qin Siyang recognized that his enemy was exceptionally powerful, experienced, and cunning, and feared that his counterattack would fail.

Qin Siyang endured repeated deaths inside an illusion until he realized its creator was weakening too. He confronted the enemy’s stalling tactic, convinced that the illusion was nearing its limit.

• Qin Siyang suffered through dozens of painful deaths in an illusion and realized no one was coming to rescue him.
• Qin Siyang noticed that the torture did not seem to last longer despite his deteriorating mental state, and suspected the enemy’s control was weakening.
• Qin Siyang observed that the illusion’s details had become less realistic, confirming that he and its creator were wearing each other down.
• The enemy offered Qin Siyang another chance to stop interfering with the Huan Family’s affairs, but Qin Siyang accused him of nearing his limit.
• Qin Siyang told the enemy that the key to stalling someone in an illusion was never letting them realize they were being stalled.

Qin Siyang endured the enemy’s illusion until its collapse exposed Crawford, then used the Nightmare Lantern Tree’s skill to capture him. The illusion vanished, returning Qin Siyang to the battlefield, where the others were still fighting.

• Qin Siyang realized the enemy’s torture depended on making him believe the pain would never end, and he waited calmly for the illusion to break.
• As the swamp illusion collapsed, Qin Siyang spotted a concealed shadow trying to escape through a fissure.
• Qin Siyang used the Nightmare Lantern Tree’s lantern to trap the shadow, who revealed himself as Crawford and begged to be released.
• Qin Siyang recognized Crawford as an old acquaintance and let the lantern draw him into a recurring dream.
• The illusion dissolved, and Qin Siyang returned to the real battlefield, where the fighting continued.

Qin Siyang returned from Crawford’s illusion to find the battle still raging, then watched the enormous maw eject him and the others before escaping into the night sky. With the maw gone, artifacts worked again, but Zhong Dingming and Guan Fuhai appeared, prompting Qin Yingguang to question where they had been.

• Qin Siyang realized that time had passed much more slowly in Crawford’s illusion than in the real world, and resolved to strengthen his defenses against mental attacks.
• Qin Siyang searched for Crawford but could not find him before the enormous maw opened and hurled Qin Siyang, Chu Baxing, Hu Chan, and the others into the Huan Family’s ruined villa.
• Wei Rulai tried to seal the ground beneath the maw, but it leaped upward, shattered the Safe Zone’s blast-resistant glass, and retreated into the night sky.
• Chu Xiaoang and Zhao Longteng discovered that artifacts worked again after the maw departed, while Qin Yingguang asked Zhao Longfei to summon Professor Harrison to repair the glass.
• Zhong Dingming and Guan Fuhai appeared, and Qin Yingguang demanded to know where they had been during the battle.

Zhong Dingming and Guan Fuhai explained that a powerful enemy with at least three Tier Five Artifacts had nullified the others’ artifacts and forced them to stay away from the battle. The enemy’s sudden retreat left Qin Siyang wondering whether he had caused it, while in Zone 1, the group learned that Crawford had died of sudden cardiac arrest.

• Zhong Dingming and Guan Fuhai returned injured and revealed that a Tier Five Artifact had nullified the others’ artifacts.
• Zhong Dingming said the enemy possessed at least three Tier Five Artifacts, including the Giant Mouth, and had warned them not to interfere in the battle.
• Zhong Dingming explained that the enemy had retreated for an unknown reason, and Qin Siyang wondered whether it was because of him.
• In Zone 1, a man in a top hat reported that Crawford had died of sudden cardiac arrest, and a middle-aged man blamed overtime.

Qin Siyang and the others cleaned up after gods breached the Safe Zone’s blast-resistant glass, while Harrison repaired the barrier and Qin Siyang learned that its nature remained a mystery. When Zoff Fan presented two captured World-Destroying Church followers, Qin Siyang killed them before anyone could question them, and the gathering accepted his decision.

• Several leaders argued over Crawford’s death and whether to send reinforcements to Sigma District before being told that Gu Weiyang, Commander Qi, and Zhu Haifeng had arrived.
• Qin Siyang, Li Tianming, and Zhang Kuang discussed why gods rushed toward breaches in the Safe Zone’s blast-resistant glass and speculated that the barrier’s origin was connected to the apocalypse.
• Harrison used his Seal artifact to restore the shattered blast-resistant glass, but told Qin Siyang he did not know what made the glass repel gods.
• Zoff Fan introduced two captured World-Destroying Church followers, and Qin Siyang killed them with the Heaven-Splitting Halberd before anyone removed their hoods.
• Qin Siyang warned Wang Jixin against seeking information from the captives and asked Huan Family Head to dispose of the cultists’ bodies; the others did not object.

At the Reincarnation Council, [Heavenly Lord] explained the losses and political upheaval facing the Reincarnation Church and urged the others to seek allies rather than pursue revenge. The council turned to a violent clash in Zone 1, whose details remained to be discussed.

• [Heavenly Lord] convened the Reincarnation Council early and reported that Yu Bianwei, Choi Chan-hoon, and Han Lingye had been killed.
• [Heavenly Lord] introduced the new [Greedy Soul], who revealed that they had come forward because their strength was now sufficient and who possessed an [Apocalypse Fragment].
• [Heavenly Lord] described how the United Government blamed the Huan Family's destruction on the World-Destroying Church, forced the Four Major Mining Companies to surrender mine shares, and recognized Joint Mining.
• [Heavenly Lord] told [Fusheng] and [Asura] to suspend their investigations and revenge plans, and [Asura] agreed that the Church should try to win Joint Mining over.
• [Heavenly Lord] and [Asura] reported that Gu Weiyang had purged Zone 5 officials with ties to the mining companies and replaced them with new appointees.
• [Heavenly Lord] announced that a violent clash had broken out in Zone 1.

The Guardians learned that Lu Daoxing and Yan Mohui had joined the World-Destroying Church and been promoted to Guardians. Qin Siyang realized Lu Daoxing had likely joined to protect him and Li Tianming, leaving him worried and helpless.

• The Guardians discussed the battle in Zone 1 and the World-Destroying Church’s planned revelation of the first section of the [Apocalypse Fragment].
• All six Guardians received news that Lu Daoxing and Yan Mohui had joined the World-Destroying Church, with Yan Mohui having killed Wang Jixin and Wang Ziyou to prove his allegiance.
• [Asura] concluded that Yan Mohui had secretly arranged his defection and noted that [Heavenly Lord] had wisely scheduled the [Reincarnation Council] early.
• Zhao Longfei told Qin Siyang that Lu Daoxing and Yan Mohui had been promoted straight to Guardians after joining the World-Destroying Church.
• Qin Siyang realized Lu Daoxing may have joined because the Church offered terms that benefited him and Li Tianming, and worried that Lu Daoxing was choosing a dangerous path.

After learning Lu Daoxing had joined the World-Destroying Church, Qin Siyang heard from Kav that assassins had targeted Lü Boming during an agricultural investigation in State No. 12. Qin supported Lü’s decision to continue investigating, arranged protection and aid for the victims’ families, and asked Kav to report the incident to Secretary-General Gu.

• Qin Siyang examined the artifacts Lu Daoxing had left him and grieved over Lu’s departure.
• Kav told Qin that assassins had attacked Lü Boming while he investigated farms in Area No. 12443; Lü survived, but Liu Yu Xin and Carlos were killed.
• Qin suspected the attack was connected to a deeper problem in State No. 12 and backed Lü’s decision to continue investigating rather than return to safety.
• Qin offered Lü money, artifacts, and protection from the Zhao Merchants’ Association, and asked Kav to send the captured assassin to the Department of Justice and report the case to Secretary-General Gu.
• Qin promised compensation to the families of Liu Yu Xin and Carlos, offered relocation and employment, and arranged for their children to attend Nanrong University with Sequence Potions covered through Sequence Level Four.

Qin Siyang watched the Four Major Mining Companies settle their shares in Joint Mining, then learned that Wang Xugong wanted his help escaping the Wang Family. He refused to help without a stake in the family’s leadership struggle, but directed Wang Xugong to Yu Yongyou as a possible first step.

• The Four Major Mining Companies argued for two days before settling their respective stakes in Joint Mining, allowing the new business to move forward.
• Qin Siyang reflected on the Safe Zone’s increasingly powerful factions and the Wang Family’s losses, while Wang Xuzuo took over as its head.
• Wang Xugong cornered Qin Siyang in a restroom and asked him to help transfer to Southern Glory because Wang Xuzuo planned to move against him.
• Qin Siyang said he would only help Wang Xugong if he had a chance to become head of the Wang Family, then told him to ask Yu Yongyou for advice.