Chapter Summaries

Ye Buyu proposed Plan 001, a way for souls to erase their Believer Marks through self-detonation and return to the Present World by their own will. Her plan left the River of Forgetfulness silent as everyone considered a future where ordinary people could defend themselves and choose to resist.

• Qin Yue announced Plan 002, under which the Present World Allied Army would screen souls bearing Believer Marks, use soul creation, and counterattack in the Borderlands.
• Kou Ying and Ye Buyu questioned the dangers of screening souls while the army faced calamities, and Qin Yue said a separate department would handle the task as the army advanced its lines.
• Lou Guanshan asked why calamity remnants could not fuel the Present World, and Su Wuwei warned that using them as nourishment could cause it to blow up.
• Kou Ying prompted Ye Buyu to present her plan, and Ye Buyu proposed teaching souls to self-detonate to erase their marks, return to the Present World, and defend themselves with soul creation.
• Ye Buyu called for ordinary people to gain the power to resist and for souls to save themselves, leaving the River of Forgetfulness in deathly silence.

Wan Lan joined the proposal debate as an observer and assessed the plans for confronting Doomsday, sharply criticizing their risks and impracticalities. She praised General Qin Yue's proposal most, but warned that its new organization could be infiltrated and offered only a limited chance of delaying Doomsday.

• Ye Buyu proposed erasing the mark on souls through self-destruction and said she had tested the method, though she had not worked out how everyone could learn the skill.
• Wan Lan arrived and announced that she would raise objections to the proposals.
• Wan Lan criticized Slyder's plan to rebuild the River of Forgetfulness as impractical and vulnerable to Calamity sabotage.
• Wan Lan declined to judge Li Fulin's proposal, while thanking her for holding to a conservative position.
• Wan Lan called Kou Ying's Man-Made Calamity strategy a dangerous doomsday plan that could encourage extremists and mutual destruction.
• Wan Lan praised General Qin Yue's proposal but warned that an independent organization could be infiltrated, putting the allied army and the Present World at risk.

Wan Lan challenged the scholars to address the divide between ordinary people and the Awakened, then questioned whether Ye Buyu’s soul self-destruction method could be taught and trusted. Ye Buyu argued it could make Calamity infiltration risky and give captured souls a way to escape, but Wan Lan raised the possibility of someone still choosing to betray them.

• Wan Lan condemned the scholars for treating souls and ordinary people as tools without considering their wishes, and urged them to build a bridge between ordinary people and the Awakened.
• Newmanda and the scholars recognized that the voiceless souls needed advocates, and Newmanda admitted he had forgotten his duty as a scholar.
• Ye Buyu applauded Wan Lan, but Wan Lan challenged her to prove others could learn soul self-destruction and asked whether freed souls could be trusted not to be Calamity infiltrators.
• Ye Buyu said skilled people could turn soul self-destruction and Soul Creation into teachable skills and argued that freed souls would have little reason to serve Calamities.
• Ye Buyu described how a soul could erase a Believer Mark, escape a Calamity, and return with intelligence, leaving everyone stunned at how the method could undermine infiltration.
• Wan Lan asked what they would do if someone still chose to defect to the enemy despite having soul self-destruction available.

Ye Buyu’s radical ideas about empowering ordinary souls astonished the River of Forgetfulness, and she was named a likely squad captain. When the final rehearsal began, the combatants unleashed their proposals in a chaotic battle, and Ye Buyu answered with an army of soul creations.

• Ye Buyu proposed that ordinary souls could use soul self-destruction to alert others and fight Calamities, prompting questions from Wandering Soul and other farmers.
• Wan Lan stopped Ye Buyu’s stream of ideas, told her the required brawl would still happen, and suggested she become squad captain.
• The final rehearsal began as the Soul Archives sank and waves of soul power swept toward the platform.
• Slyder, Li Fulin, Kou Ying, and Qin Yue attacked with their proposals, leaving Ye Buyu facing a scepter’s power, a giant hand, shadow monsters, and an army.
• Ye Buyu called for soul creations, and the young soul woman from Dead Island drove a semitruck into battle as drones, aircraft carriers, planes, cannons, and other creations filled the battlefield.

Ye Buyu fought Qin Yue to demonstrate how Soul Power could strengthen ordinary soldiers and argued that people should be able to fight back against Calamities. Her words stirred Qin Yue’s buried memories of why he had become a soldier, leaving him confronted by his instructor’s reminder to fight for the people.

• Ye Buyu used a chain to pull herself toward Qin Yue, hoisted a semi overhead, and hurled it past him.
• Qin Yue disarmed and pinned Ye Buyu, but she revealed that he had grabbed a fabricated double and explained that she wanted to show him another use for Soul Power.
• Ye Buyu combined Soul Shock with close combat to land strikes on Qin Yue and proposed teaching the method to soldiers.
• Ye Buyu recalled the helplessness and losses she had faced, arguing that people with the power to fight back could stop Calamities from harming them.
• Ye Buyu told Qin Yue that the people alone drove world history, stirring his memories of his instructor telling him to fight for the people.

Ye Buyu abducted scholars to help develop her Soul Skill Plan, while Qin Yue rallied his army to support Plan 001 against Slyder and Li Fulin. With the scholars making rapid progress, Ye Buyu’s group confronted Kou Ying and pointed out that his plan could not yet be adopted.

• Ye Buyu swung the loaded semi-trailer back to her camp, where Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, Wan Lan, and Su Wuwei caught the scholars in a net.
• Qin Yue let Ye Buyu leave, declared the chances of success had risen to one hundred percent, and ordered his troops to support Plan 001 and absorb Slyder and Li Fulin.
• Qin Yue’s forces split to confront Slyder and Li Fulin, and Li Fulin said the people on her side would not accept a plan they did not understand.
• Newmanda and the other scholars rapidly researched soul-energy skills to advance Ye Buyu’s Soul Skill Plan.
• Ye Buyu and Mu Bingge’s group confronted Kou Ying, and Ye Buyu argued that his plan could not be adopted before the final Doomsday arrived.

Ye Buyu declined to force the stability-minded souls to join her, and her respect led many of them to choose her camp voluntarily as the learnable pathway for Soul Creation was completed. Outside Dead Island, Ren Weixin’s forces held off the Calamities while Chen Ze, Sun Cheng, and Mo Yi confronted projections of nearly every known level-ten Calamity and an unfamiliar being who might be level eleven.

• Ye Buyu refused to fight Li Fulin’s stability-minded souls, and many chose to leave their shells and join her camp of their own accord.
• The River of Forgetfulness announced that the learnable pathway for Soul Creation was complete, and Li Fulin warned Slyder that the Borderlands had already been shaken.
• Ren Weixin led the guards in firing on the Calamities outside Dead Island, while the pressure from the projections above left him and his soldiers struggling to face them.
• Chen Ze joined Three-Star Water Ape, Sun Cheng, and identified the gathering as projections of almost all known level-ten Calamities, along with a possible level-eleven being.
• Azure Dragon, Mo Yi, watched the unfamiliar Calamity and asked its name.

Ye Buyu and the scholars completed Plan 001, turning Soul Self-Destruction into a skill and preparing new rules for the River of Forgetfulness. As the new powers spread through the Present World, the Calamities sensed the change and reacted with alarm.

• [Rotten Robe Lady] identified the Level Eleven Calamity as [Eternal Frozen Silence] and watched the entrance to the River of Forgetfulness with the others.
• Sun Cheng told Chen Ze that the Apocalypse Progress Bar had gone haywire, and Chen Ze said the Hold Up the Heavens Team's juniors were likely responsible.
• Ye Buyu, Wan Lan, Newmanda, and the scholars celebrated after completing the Soul Self-Destruction skill through countless trials.
• The River of Forgetfulness Truth acknowledged Plan 001 and announced that its rules would overwrite the original rules in one hour.
• The new rules spread Soul Creation and Soul Self-Destruction to souls across the Present World, strengthening the Guard Army and the broken souls in the Abyss.
• The winds shifted, and the Calamities projected in the sky reacted with alarm.

Ren Weixin awakened the Soul Creation path and led the defense troops in driving the Calamities from Dead Island, while [Eternal Frozen Silence] and other level ten Calamities arrived. Ye Buyu learned that an old acquaintance of [Whale of Wailing] could threaten her Soul Power path, then feared a Calamity would bring her team rotten luck.

• Ren Weixin formed the Red-Tasseled Broadblade with Soul Creation knowledge and killed the Calamity leader, unleashing the defense troops against the retreating Calamities.
• [Eternal Frozen Silence] turned its attention toward Mo Yi and the others, while [Iron Prison], [Seedling Eater], [Rotten-Clothes Lady], and [Overgrowth] reacted to the new Soul Power path.
• [Rotten-Clothes Lady] said [Whale of Wailing] was no level ten Calamity, and [Eternal Frozen Silence] mocked the idea that it was merely level ten.
• Little Whale told Ye Buyu that an old acquaintance and several level ten Calamities had arrived, and warned that the acquaintance could counter Soul Power.
• Ye Buyu refused to advance to the fourth tier and told her teammates she sensed rotten luck; when she mentioned a possible Calamity, all five reacted in shock.

Ye Buyu and the others fought off the Level Eleven Calamity [Eternal Frozen Silence] as it attacked the newly forming River of Forgetfulness. The projection was destroyed by a combined burst of soul-fire and the River’s power, but [Iron Prison] remained and challenged the Guardians of the Present World to fight.

• Ye Buyu learned from Little Whale that [Eternal Frozen Silence] was a Level Eleven Calamity capable of freezing souls and threatening the River of Forgetfulness.
• Ye Buyu used soul-fire to burn back the frost, and Su Wuwei, Lou Guanshan, Mu Bingge, Wan Lan, Kou Ying, and the others joined her.
• Mo Yi and the other defenders felt the Calamity’s attack slow their bodies and thoughts, while Gerard, Jiaomu Jiao, and Chen Ze prepared to use soul self-destruction against its projection.
• Flames spread from the River of Forgetfulness toward the projection, and Mo Yi stopped Gerard from sacrificing himself as the River unleashed a powerful attack that pierced and dispersed [Eternal Frozen Silence].
• [Iron Prison] refused to retreat and challenged the Guardians of the Present World to fight, threatening to destroy the River of Forgetfulness.

After the Guardians of the Present World destroyed [Iron Prison]'s projection, [Rotten-Clothes Lady] warned that the Abyss's backlash was only beginning. Little Whale explained to Ye Buyu that rejected souls could gather enough hatred to create a new Calamity, leaving the group to face the consequences of the souls' return.

• [Iron Prison] melted Dead Island's steel defenses and assembled them into a giant hand that attacked the River of Forgetfulness.
• Mo Yi, Kaitis, Gerard, and Morkov joined forces to destroy [Iron Prison]'s projection, which sighed that their power was still not enough before [Overgrowth] withdrew it.
• [Rotten-Clothes Lady] warned the Present World's guardians to withstand the Abyss's backlash.
• Ye Buyu asked Little Whale what the backlash would be, and Little Whale explained that rejected souls from the Abyss could form a Calamity driven by hatred.
• Little Whale advised Ye Buyu to beat back the souls, and Ye Buyu angrily threw the whale away after it suggested the crisis might benefit the Present World.

Ye Buyu learned that the River of Forgetfulness Reform might awaken the Abyss’s dormant souls and create a Calamity, then warned the Present World that the filth would surge toward it. The Secretariat activated the highest defensive alert short of world-annihilation, and the Sun began setting early as everyone prepared for battle.

• Ye Buyu confronted Little Whale after realizing its plans could lead to a Calamity, and Little Whale kept the full truth to itself.
• Ye Buyu told the gathered teams and scholars that the reform might create a Calamity, and Wan Lan and the others agreed to support her.
• The River of Forgetfulness shook, and Ye Buyu asked the souls to gather their strength and guide the lost souls home.
• Ye Buyu warned the Present World Union Secretariat that the Abyss’s filth would converge on the Present World, prompting it to activate level-two defense.
• The Construction Engineering Institute ordered the River of Forgetfulness’s highest defenses and Aurora Bridge’s night mode, while the Present World prepared for a Calamity invasion.

The River of Forgetfulness awakened countless souls, who retaliated against the Calamities and advanced the reform across the Borderlands. As the Unknown Calamity approached the Present World, an even larger tide of remnant souls from vanished worlds surged toward its defenses.

• Mo Yi ordered Level-Two Defense as the guards sensed an uncanny presence approaching.
• The River of Forgetfulness spread its power, awakening souls in the Abyss and advancing its coverage across the Borderlands.
• Awakened souls organized self-detonation attacks against the Calamities and hunted down their lairs.
• Narrator learned that remnant souls from destroyed worlds had also awakened and were gathering into a vast wave headed for the Present World.
• The guards opened fire as the Unknown Calamity reached the Present World, but a towering tsunami of souls loomed behind the first wave.

Ye Buyu and the souls of the River of Forgetfulness created a celestial projection and launched a spear that destroyed the remnant-soul wave threatening the Present World. As Chen Ze and others continued defending the boundary, powerful attacks from beyond the horizon joined the fight.

• The Soul Tide struck the Present World as Chen Ze, Sun Cheng, and the Guard Force battled the remnant souls.
• Ye Buyu struggled to wield the River of Forgetfulness's power, and Su Wuwei and the other Hold Up the Heavens members shared her burden.
• Ye Buyu formed a double-bladed spear with the help of the awakened souls and the Otherworldly Flowers, then projected the River of Forgetfulness into the sky as a field of stars.
• Ye Buyu's spear struck the boundary of Dead Island and annihilated the wave of remnant souls surging toward the Present World.
• A saber wielder, an attack of written characters forming chains, and a rain of blades and swords struck the remnant souls outside Dead Island.

Ye Buyu and Wan Lan used the River of Forgetfulness to awaken the remnant souls’ desire for revenge, while Kou Ying gave them a way to become a Man-Made Calamity. The souls united around revenge against the Calamities, but someone tried to turn their anger against the Present World as the new being began to take shape.

• Qin Yue, Li Fulin, and Slyder watched the Remnant Soul Tide as Ye Buyu began singing the Soul-Suppressing Song.
• Wan Lan used the River of Forgetfulness to rebuke the remnant souls and awaken their memories and anger toward the Calamities.
• The soul tide calmed and gathered its remaining will into seeds of revenge, while Ye Buyu urged Kou Ying to act.
• Kou Ying threw his variant of Plan 003 into the soul tide, and Ye Buyu told the remnant souls they could become a Man-Made Calamity.
• The remnant souls began to unite around revenge against the Calamities as an unseen voice told them the Present World was their true enemy.

Ye Buyu named the gathering remnant souls [Those Without a Home], giving the newborn Man-Made Calamity the anchor it needed to take shape. The souls vowed vengeance on the Calamities as their giant form emerged in the Borderlands.

• Ye Buyu hurled a spear into the War-Torn Zone, destroying Calamities and carving a deep opening into the level-nine region.
• The Narrators watched the spear strike and discussed the newborn Calamity’s need for a name to complete its birth.
• Little Whale urged Ye Buyu to name the Calamity, while Su Wuwei, Kou Ying, and Lou Guanshan also recognized that it needed a name.
• Ye Buyu named the remnant souls [Those Without a Home], and they accepted the name as their anchor.
• The remnant souls receded from the Present World, declared vengeance on the Calamities, and formed a giant Man-Made Calamity in the Borderlands.

[Those Without a Home] left the Present World after the River of Forgetfulness’s coverage halted, and Ye Buyu, Kou Ying, and Wan Lan lost consciousness from its Soul Shock. Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, and Su Wuwei completed the reform, and the sun rose as the Doomsday Tower’s progress settled at 66%.

• [Those Without a Home] accepted its name, unleashed a Soul Shock on Ye Buyu, Kou Ying, and Wan Lan, and walked toward the Third Zone as the Level-Two Defense alert returned to the safe range.
• Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, and Su Wuwei took over for the unconscious teammates and poured their Soul Power into the soul seed until it sprouted.
• Zhang Qian and the other souls left the Thumb Ring, became Otherworldly Flowers, and took their places as the River of Forgetfulness’s first soul guardians and guides.
• The River of Forgetfulness Reform succeeded, the Doomsday Tower recalculated Doomsday progress to 66%, and the artificial sun rose over the Present World.
• Mu Bingge, Lou Guanshan, and Su Wuwei fell asleep from exhaustion, while Chen Ze found the others dazed after the crisis had passed.

After [Those Without a Home] emerged from the River of Forgetfulness, Li Fulin revealed that the Hold Up the Heavens Team had driven the reform and created the calamity. Foreign academy leaders then competed for a chance to learn from the Great Xia students, while Mo Yi insisted the team would stay in Great Xia.

• Chen Ze recalled that Kou Ying had proposed turning the River of Forgetfulness into a man-made calamity at the end of doomsday.
• Slyder howled in disbelief that the man-made calamity plan had worked.
• Kaitis asked Qin Yue who had led the River of Forgetfulness attack, and Li Fulin identified Ye Buyu, Kou Ying, Wan Lan, and the Hold Up the Heavens Team as the key figures.
• Gerard, Morkov, and Kaitis each sought access to the team for their academies, while Mo Yi refused to send the students abroad.
• Gerard, Morkov, and Kaitis proposed bringing their academies or students to Great Xia to learn from the team.

As [Those Without a Home] pursued revenge, the Calamities debated whether to intervene, while [Whale of Wailing] protected it from attacks. Ye Buyu woke in a hospital and returned to her Mindscape, where she asked Little Whale whether it had watched the fighting.

• The Level Five, Level Seven, and Level Nine Calamities reacted to [Those Without a Home], while [Iron Prison] chose to let it pursue revenge.
• [Overgrowth] and [Rotten-Clothes Lady] decided to observe, and [Rotten-Clothes Lady] learned [Seedling Eater] had gone to a Level Eleven Region.
• [Seedling Eater] questioned [Eternal Frozen Silence] about [Whale of Wailing], and [Eternal Frozen Silence] sent frost toward [Those Without a Home].
• [Whale of Wailing] stopped the frost, warned [Seedling Eater] not to attack [Those Without a Home], and slapped it when it targeted the Present World.
• Ye Buyu woke in a hospital beside her teammates, returned to her Mindscape, and asked Little Whale whether it had watched [Those Without a Home] fight.

After receiving a gift of pure soul power from [Those Without a Home], Ye Buyu woke first and discovered she had reached the fourth tier. She learned to wield the otherworldly flower as a weapon called Other Shore, while Lou Guanshan woke up just as Su Wuwei tried to make him Ye Buyu’s test subject.

• Little Whale told Ye Buyu that the soul power gift had knocked her unconscious and that two teammates were also knocked out, two were exhausted, and Su Wuwei was pretending to sleep.
• Ye Buyu found Wan Lan and Kou Ying still unconscious, Mu Bingge and Lou Guanshan exhausted, and Su Wuwei awake and pretending.
• Ye Buyu announced she had reached the fourth tier and hoped her study period would finally be peaceful.
• Su Wuwei pointed out the otherworldly flower in Ye Buyu’s hair, and she transformed it into a spear and then a pistol.
• Ye Buyu named the weapon Other Shore and tested its power, while Su Wuwei tried to position the unconscious Lou Guanshan as a target.
• Lou Guanshan grabbed Su Wuwei’s arm as he woke, and Ye Buyu put away the gun and wished Su Wuwei luck.