Chapter Summaries

Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying left to confront the latest threat, while Yun led the Rebel Army back to its territory with a prisoner. In the prison, the warden and jailers stopped one of their own from reporting Yun, and the warden reflected on his conflicted history with the Rebel Army.

• Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying set off to confront the disturbance, and Yun decided her group could not follow them.
• Yun took the prisoner with her, and the warden warned her to avoid being caught again.
• The warden struck a jailer who wanted to report Yun to the Inner City and warned the others that informing would bring punishment on them all.
• A jailer stabbed the would-be informant, and the other jailers left him to die as his consciousness shattered.
• The warden watched the jailer die, then recalled how the Rebel Army had once helped him and why he still felt indebted to them.

Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying turned the Inner City’s artillery against the palace, exposing Merkel’s failure to protect his people and confronting him directly. After Merkel’s body seemed to change, he addressed them as guests and invited them to speak elsewhere.

• Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying redirected the Inner City’s artillery barrage toward the palace after warning its people.
• The barrage shattered the palace’s defenses and caused panic and casualties among the Inner City’s residents.
• Lou Guanshan kicked Merkel through the palace barrier and condemned him for failing to save his subjects.
• Merkel attacked Kou Ying, but Kou Ying struck him down and left him retching in pain.
• Merkel went still, then looked at Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying with a changed expression and invited them to talk elsewhere.

Merkel revealed that the world’s eternal life came from a deity’s heart lodged in an ancient tree, and asked Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying to help break the curse. The pair learned that Merkel wanted to end eternal life but feared that exposing the secret would plunge the Inner and Outer Cities into war.

• Merkel invited Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying to hear about the world’s deity, and they followed him into a secret chamber.
• Merkel showed them a piece of divine status in a hollow ancient tree and claimed the tree was the deity sustaining the world’s eternal life.
• Merkel said the deity might be asleep or dead, and that its sacrifice could have granted eternal life to everyone.
• Merkel explained that he had failed to break the curse himself and feared that revealing the secret would trigger war between the Inner City, the Outer City, and the Rebel Army.
• Merkel asked Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying to destroy the ancient tree and end eternal life.

Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying investigated Merkel’s Divine Status and learned he wanted them to destroy the world, but Kou Ying said they needed to find [Eternal Life] to solve its problems. Ye Buyu and Mu Bingge entered the Inner City to search for them, where an attack broke out and Ye Buyu became ill.

• Lou Guanshan questioned Merkel about imprisoning the Rebel Army’s leader, then took the Divine Status from the dead tree for inspection with Kou Ying.
• Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying suspected Merkel was insane, and Merkel admitted he wanted them to destroy the world because Eternal Life had drained life of its meaning.
• Kou Ying explained that breaking the Divine Status would not change the world and said they would need to find [Eternal Life].
• Ye Buyu and Mu Bingge entered [Eternal Life]’s Divine Realm under identities created by [Fate] and arrived in the Inner City.
• A nearby building came under attack, and Ye Buyu became sick while trying to find relevant clues.

Ye Buyu and Mu Bingge discovered that the world was one of eternal life and identified its god, [Eternal Life], by the tangled relationships and divine thread surrounding him. Ye Buyu convinced him that [Fate] had sent them to help avert extinction, and he agreed to hear them out.

• Ye Buyu struggled to make sense of the Natives’ tangled relationships, so Mu Bingge led her somewhere quieter.
• Ye Buyu stepped on an old man, who explained that the world had eternal life, unlimited resources, and no death.
• Ye Buyu recognized the old man as [Eternal Life], and she and Mu Bingge cornered him in an alley.
• Ye Buyu claimed that [Fate] had sent them to help, displaying divine status and the Fate Halo as proof.
• [Eternal Life] revealed that he planned to devour two people to prevent the world’s extinction, then accepted Ye Buyu and Mu Bingge’s offer to help.

Ye Buyu and Mu Bingge learned that [Eternal Life] planned to reclaim his Godhead and seize Lou Guanshan's and Kou Ying's powers, then followed him into the palace. Ye Buyu found Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying in the secret chamber and pretended to attack them, leaving the confrontation poised to begin.

• [Eternal Life] explained that he had granted the people eternal life to form half his Godhead and intended to retrieve it and give them the death they now desired.
• [Eternal Life], Ye Buyu, and Mu Bingge headed toward the palace, and Mu Bingge urged General Rui to evacuate the area before it became a battlefield.
• The group reached the secret chamber, where Ye Buyu entered ahead of the others and announced the deity's arrival.
• Ye Buyu found Lou Guanshan and Kou Ying inside, realized [Eternal Life] had targeted them for their powers, and declared that she had to kill them as his hired help.

The Hold Up the Heavens Team confronted [Eternal Life], while Merkel unleashed his fury at the Deity who had denied the world death. Ye Buyu, Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, and Kou Ying attacked [Eternal Life] together, revealing that they had been on the same side all along.

• Lou Guanshan hid the Godhead from [Eternal Life], and the Hold Up the Heavens Team reunited as Mu Bingge arrived.
• Merkel attacked [Eternal Life] and demanded that he lift the curse of eternal life, but [Eternal Life] argued that people had summoned him through their own wishes and fears.
• Merkel repeatedly struck [Eternal Life], who regenerated and accused him of evading responsibility for humanity's choices.
• Ye Buyu, Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, and Kou Ying coordinated their powers to slow [Eternal Life], pin his Red Thread, cage him in shadows, and impede his recovery.
• [Eternal Life] accused Ye Buyu and Mu Bingge of switching sides, and Ye Buyu revealed that they had been allies all along as she fired at him.

Merkel revealed that his immortality had erased and replaced the people he loved, and he admitted that he wanted to destroy the Inner City. [Eternal Life] tried to persuade him to help preserve the world, but Lou Guanshan and the others chose to intervene and bring death back to it.

• Merkel repeatedly stabbed [Eternal Life] before Lou Guanshan restrained him and helped him confront his despair over immortality.
• Merkel explained that eternal life had caused people’s identities and memories to be replaced, leaving him unsure who he was, and said he wanted the Inner City destroyed.
• [Eternal Life] claimed that devouring the power of death would give the world a choice between death and endless life, and urged Merkel to help him.
• Lou Guanshan offered Merkel a hand, while Ye Buyu warned [Eternal Life] to surrender and undo the immortality he had imposed.
• Kou Ying declared that the group would break eternal life themselves and summoned a shadow of death.

Ye Buyu and her companions began planning to restore death to the world by working on the captured half of the Godhead, while restraining [Eternal Life]. Ye Buyu then examined Merkel’s Causal Lines and discovered another soul within him, which she said was like an older brother.

• Ye Buyu explained that the group would help because someone had asked for help, and proposed using the other half of the Godhead to undo eternal life.
• Kou Ying proposed merging the Origin of death into the Godhead, while Mu Bingge and Ye Buyu restrained [Eternal Life] and subjected him to chaotic Cause and Effect.
• Ye Buyu told Kou Ying and Lou Guanshan that she and Mu Bingge had split [Fate]’s personality and received refined energy that had strengthened their abilities.
• Ye Buyu counted five Merkels buried by Merkel’s body and identified him as the seventh.
• Ye Buyu noticed another active soul inside Merkel and said it had the same source but different roots, making it like his older brother.

Ye Buyu discussed death and Eternal Life with Merkel, then faced [Eternal Life] while her teammates worked to steal the Godhead. As [Eternal Life] attacked and the world plunged into panic, Ye Buyu prepared to hold the God back.

• Merkel told Ye Buyu that death mattered more to him than Eternal Life, and Ye Buyu explained that her team had helped because people in this world had fought for themselves.
• Merkel revealed himself as the sixth soul born in his body, activated a hidden communicator, and sent a message without explaining his reasons to Ye Buyu.
• [Eternal Life] experienced the pasts of the souls in Ye Buyu’s Causal Lines but dismissed their suffering as boring and refused to change its mind.
• Ye Buyu told Lou Guanshan she could hold [Eternal Life] back while her teammates worked, then faced the God as its power shook the Inner City.
• A giant hand formed over the Royal Palace, fireballs fell from the sky, and communication signals failed across the world as [Eternal Life] challenged Ye Buyu to fight.

Ye Buyu confronted the godlike [Eternal Life], wielding the tangled cause and effect of the dead to attack it and expose the suffering its power inflicted. As her allies watched, she gathered the scattered threads again and climbed toward the deity, confident the world’s cause and effect favored her.

• Ye Buyu rose toward [Eternal Life], heard the cries of tangled cause and effect, and formed a crimson spear to strike the deity.
• Ye Buyu tore apart the enormous palm and drove her spear between [Eternal Life]’s brows, making the force reveal the endless suffering and identity confusion it inflicted on people.
• [Eternal Life] pulled the spear free and hurled it toward the palace, but the weapon broke into red lights that surged back upward.
• Mu Bingge explained that the lights were the cause and effect of departed souls, while Merkel asked whether Ye Buyu could win.
• Lou Guanshan trusted that Ye Buyu would prevail, and Kou Ying observed that the world’s tangled cause and effect might favor her.
• Ye Buyu gathered the cause and effect into her spear again and climbed toward the god, declaring that the place suited her.

Ye Buyu fought [Eternal Life] in the sky, driving her spear into its skull and smashing its forehead as the god tried to stop her. Below, Yun learned that the battle was buying time for Kou Ying and Lou Guanshan to prepare a way to deal with Death, and they hurried to finish their work before Ye Buyu had to fight alone.

• Ye Buyu charged [Eternal Life], whose true form was a gigantic skeleton, and stabbed it with her spear as the phantoms behind her poured their power into the weapon.
• [Eternal Life] tried to break the spear with lightning and its enormous hands, but Ye Buyu ran up the weapon and smashed the god's forehead with her fist.
• The impact made the sky seem to collapse, terrifying people throughout the Inner and Outer Cities, though the heavenly pillar did not fall.
• Yun reached the Royal Palace, seized Merkel, and demanded to know what was happening; Merkel explained that Ye Buyu was fighting [Eternal Life] while the others prepared to deal with Death.
• Mu Bingge reassured Yun that the pillar would not fall, while Kou Ying continued infusing the Godhead with Death's Origin Power and Lou Guanshan urged them to work faster.

Ye Buyu battled [Eternal Life] inside his skull while her power healed the people below, though it seemed to draw something from them in return. She continued attacking [Eternal Life], rejecting his claim that gods deserved to rule over other beings.

• Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, Kou Ying, and Yun hurried to support the battle as Ye Buyu became carried away fighting [Eternal Life].
• [Eternal Life] drove a giant spear into the ground, but Ye Buyu’s healing power left the people unharmed and flooded Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, and Kou Ying with strength.
• Lou Guanshan explained that Ye Buyu’s ability healed living beings by borrowing souls and cause and effect, while Yun and Merkel realized they felt changed.
• Ye Buyu dragged [Eternal Life] from his skull and resumed beating him as the spear rose and struck the enormous skeleton’s hand.
• [Eternal Life] claimed gods were inherently above other beings, but Ye Buyu called him a bandit who sought to enslave them and struck him again.

Ye Buyu overwhelmed [Eternal Life], while Kou Ying and the others prepared to restore death by transforming half the Godhead. As the group discussed how to destroy it, Yun explained her secret alliance with Merkel.

• Ye Buyu struck [Eternal Life] with the mountain-sized spear, pursued him as he fled, and pinned him beneath the ground.
• Ye Buyu told [Eternal Life] he had never been the master of the world and repeatedly crushed his regenerating body.
• Kou Ying completed the transformation of half the Godhead with Mu Bingge's help and explained that destroying it would return death to the world.
• Merkel volunteered to trigger the Godhead's destruction, and Yun revealed that he was secretly working with her against his brother.
• Yun explained that she had agreed to go to prison in exchange for the Rebel Army's safety and the Research Institute, which she then absorbed into the Rebel Army.

Ye Buyu and her allies destroyed [Eternal Life]'s Godhead, restoring death to the people of the Inner City and Outer City. They then used the causal threads to return life to the people and sever [Eternal Life]'s hold over them, leaving the defeated enemy raging in a pit.

• Merkel and Yun agreed to help Kou Ying make a weapon after the battle, and Kou Ying revealed that they planned to forge the Sword of Judgment.
• Kou Ying joined Ye Buyu and the others, who used the Godhead to draw [Eternal Life] out and bind it with Ye Buyu's causal threads.
• Lou Guanshan cleaved the Godhead, destroying eternal life and causing people across both cities to age and feel death again.
• [Eternal Life] tried to tempt the people with the promise of eternal life, but Ye Buyu ordered Lou Guanshan to send life back through the causal lines and sever their connection to the enemy.
• Rain restored the people's lives, the causal lines broke, and the shattered Godhead merged into the earth as [Eternal Life] cursed the group.

After [Eternal Life] merged with the world and renewed his curse, he forced the four heroes to choose between escaping through a rift and staying to save its people. Yun and Merkel chose for them, opening the way out and urging them to return when they were strong enough.

• As the Red Threads faded, the dead spoke farewell to their loved ones while the living wept beneath the rain.
• [Eternal Life] restored his power, merged with the world, and challenged the four to leave or remain trapped and try to save everyone.
• Yun decided the four should leave rather than sacrifice themselves, and Merkel activated the Weapons Bases to send them toward the rift.
• Yun and the others urged the four to return when they had enough power to break the curse.
• Yun asked Kou Ying what he had wanted them to make, and he said he wanted a giant sword; she promised they would make it and told him to come back for it.

After escaping [Eternal Life]'s Divine Realm, Yun, Kou Ying, Ye Buyu, and Lou Guanshan left Merkel behind to help reform the world while they sought strength and a way to break the god's curse. Elsewhere, Wan Lan and Su Wuwei had lost a battle against a strange powerful being and began searching for a place that might reveal its weakness.

• Kou Ying accepted Yun's promise, and Yun, Kou Ying, Ye Buyu, and Lou Guanshan escaped [Eternal Life]'s Divine Realm, leaving Merkel a green doll and a promise to return.
• Yun and Merkel agreed to confront the groups exploiting the past heroes' names, while Yun vowed to forge a sword capable of slaying a god.
• Ye Buyu, Kou Ying, Lou Guanshan, and Yun decided to grow stronger and find Wan Lan and Su Wuwei before returning to face [Eternal Life].
• Wan Lan challenged her soldiers' beliefs about their history, explaining that their former lands and culture had been concealed by those who enslaved them.
• Wan Lan recalled that she and Su Wuwei had been severely injured after losing to a strange opponent, so they entered the world to investigate and search for its weakness.

Wan Lan challenged Wujia and her hundred-thousand-strong army to question the beliefs that kept them chasing money and doubting their own abilities, then brought them back to Headquarters after forcing them to think. There, Su Wuwei studied a burning old map and confirmed there was only one Native Civilization in the world, while Wan Lan warned that the truth was worse than enslavement and deception.

• Wan Lan questioned Wujia about why he and his tribe did not pursue the wisdom and courage of their ancestors, and challenged his dreams of an easy life funded by money.
• Wan Lan argued that people needed to work and produce material resources, and urged Wujia to question who had taught him that he was too stupid to change anything.
• When Wujia complained that his head hurt, Wan Lan flung him and the other soldiers into the sky, then returned with all one hundred thousand soldiers as human kites.
• At Headquarters, the soldiers described the outsiders as bandits who had abandoned production and turned against the people whose ancestors had helped them.
• Wan Lan found Su Wuwei studying an old map, and told him that the thing he had discovered was worse than enslavement and deception.
• Su Wuwei said he had found that there was only one Native Civilization in the world.

Wan Lan and Su Wuwei revealed how the tribes had destroyed an advanced civilization and tampered with its descendants’ memories. After the ancient map showed the lost history, Wujia questioned whether his own beliefs had been distorted, and Wan Lan threw a stone at his forehead.

• Wan Lan told Su Wuwei that neighboring tribes had stolen from the ancient people, enslaved them, and erased their education and culture.
• Su Wuwei unfolded the ancient map, and flames showed the civilization’s rise from farming and writing to trains and aircraft.
• The map depicted traitors and savage outsiders destroying the civilization and claiming its achievements as their own.
• The tribespeople struggled to accept that their ancestors had once been more advanced than they were.
• Wujia wondered whether his desire to earn money and avoid work was a distorted thought, and Wan Lan tossed a stone at his forehead.

Wujia and Su Wuwei challenged the tribe’s belief that money and survival mattered more than pursuing creative goals, exposing Shopkeeper Qian’s self-serving arguments. After the confrontation, the tribe’s famous trader told Su Wuwei that the deity wanted to see him, and Wan Lan accused the trader of serving [Colonialism].

• Wujia realized the tribe had lost its ancestral purpose and declared that he wanted to reclaim the lands their ancestors had explored.
• Shopkeeper Qian urged the crowd to accept low wages and abandon their ambitions, but Wujia and another worker challenged his claims.
• Su Wuwei exposed Shopkeeper Qian’s attempts to evade accusations of exploiting workers by playing the victim and redirecting the discussion.
• The tribe’s famous trader approached Su Wuwei and said the deity wanted to see him.
• Wan Lan accused the trader of being a lapdog of [Colonialism].