Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ming brought a delegation of Snake People through the Great Knowledge Institute, where they saw a culture that put learning ahead of status. At the Myth Research Institute, the cost of foundational research showed the Snake People that they could not afford to reproduce humanity’s research system.

• Zhang Ming introduced the Snake People to the institute’s egalitarian academic culture, and they watched researchers speak and work without regard for rank.
• A professor demonstrated combining onomatopoeia with Spirit Language, while Zhang Ming explained the long-term Human Mother Tongue Project.
• Bailin told an elderly Snake Person that the Snake People’s smaller population and unequal starting conditions would make it difficult to find and support talented researchers.
• Director Matthew welcomed the delegation and described the Myth Research Institute’s work on ancient paranormal technology.
• The Snake People saw the enormous material costs of the Spirit-Gathering Formation and realized that even their civilization could barely afford such research.

Zhang Ming planned to build a neutral, multi-civilization research haven in the Black Tortoise World and prepared to travel to the Demon God's Sea. After the Snake People scholars’ visit spurred some of them to seek change, Zhang Ming and his companions set off aboard the Aerospace Plane.

• Zhang Ming told Old Sheephead that he planned to contact the Honggang Civilization and move the Great Academy of Sciences and Great Knowledge Institute to the Black Tortoise World, with Stone Mama’s agreement.
• After the inspection tour, only 500 of the Snake People scholars passed the Great Knowledge Institute’s tests, including Bailin and Heilin.
• Bailin and Heilin decided that the White Snake Branch would trade everything, including Xiangyou's Transcendent Remains, for the Breathing Technique to challenge bloodline-based inequality.
• Zhang Ming gained 0.16 Source from the Snake People’s resolve to change their civilization, then declined their invitation to visit again.
• Zhang Ming and his companions departed aboard the Aerospace Plane to explore the Demon God's Sea.

Zhang Ming discussed humanity’s challenges and possible inter-civilization cooperation with Old Wang before departing in an Aerospace Plane with Little White and the stone. Their journey began with a glimpse of the world’s vastness, but the stone’s attempt to defy Heaven nearly caused a storm before Zhang Ming suppressed it.

• Old Wang told Zhang Ming about humanity’s difficulties and the distant Akala and Paji civilizations, while Zhang Ming considered warning other civilizations about the Nether Domain Calamity and merging world wills.
• Zhang Ming left in the Aerospace Plane, planning to meet humanity’s trade delegation at the Honggang Civilization in about ten years.
• Little White mourned that Old Bai Ze and Pelican Big Sis had stayed behind, then eagerly tried flying the plane as Friendship Island disappeared below.
• The stone declared Northern Extremity’s age, fate core, and ambition to reach the Heavenly God Realm, triggering a storm vortex that shook the plane.
• Zhang Ming pinned the stone beneath him, but it boasted about being the Stone Emperor and sang loudly.

Zhang Ming left Earth aboard the Aerospace Plane and traveled west for half a year before discovering a massive, dazed giant near Yellow Sand World. The giant’s strange activity drew swarms of sea creatures, and Zhang Ming watched cautiously as Stone Mama urged him to investigate.

• Zhang Ming said goodbye to Li Xianfeng and Earth, then departed Friendship Island with his companions aboard the Aerospace Plane.
• During the journey, Zhang Ming wrote a poem about pioneers and played games with Stone Mama, Little White, and Miss Gourd.
• After half a year, Zhang Ming sensed something unusual near Yellow Sand World and turned the Aerospace Plane back to investigate.
• Zhang Ming spotted a green-haired giant thousands of meters tall, chained at the wrists and ankles, squatting in the sea as marine creatures gathered around him.
• The giant dropped a huge, indescribable mass into the ocean, and the sea creatures consumed it overnight while Zhang Ming watched from a distance.
• Stone Mama offered to wake the giant in exchange for Source of the World, while Miss Gourd hid behind the World Tree.

Zhang Ming and his companions awakened the giant Zhong Shan with the Source of the World and learned that he came from the Wanhai Civilization. Zhong Shan explained that he was waiting for a Spacetime Storm to help aquatic creatures escape an impending catastrophe, then summoned his vine staff to host his visitors.

• Zhang Ming gave Lord Stone Mama five units of Source of the World, and Stone Mama flew to the giant to shine it into his nostrils and eyes.
• Stone Mama awakened Big Radish, who offered it a nourishing root in exchange for more of the light.
• The giant regained his awareness and remembered that his name was Zhong Shan, while Big Radish helped him communicate with Stone Mama.
• Zhang Ming introduced himself as Gongchang Jinming of the Flamehorn Race and offered Stone Mama a Spatial Artifact in exchange for interpreting.
• Zhong Shan told Zhang Ming that he came from the Wanhai Civilization and was waiting for a Spacetime Storm to guide aquatic creatures to safety.
• Zhong Shan summoned his green-vine staff, and Zhang Ming stepped onto it as it began to grow.

Zhang Ming traded five units of Source of the World to Zhong Shan for advice on breaking through the spirit limit and learned the Wanhai Civilization’s Thought Anchoring method. He understood why he had suppressed his rule too much, but still lacked a safe object to anchor his thoughts to, so he asked how to remain lucid over the long term.

• Zhong Shan introduced his wife, Mu Mu, and their children, and explained that mysterious lake water in the Hidden World had enabled their interspecies reproduction.
• Zhong Shan asked Zhang Ming for three to five units of Source of the World in exchange for information and a choice of treasures.
• Zhang Ming gave Zhong Shan five units of Source of the World and asked why his attributes remained stuck at the spirit limit despite mastering a strong idealist rule.
• Zhong Shan explained that Thought Anchoring let someone command a rule by imagining themselves as a powerful, unconscious object, and warned that anchoring to a divine beast could destroy one’s sense of self.
• Zhang Ming learned the Wanhai Meditation Method, recognized that he had suppressed his rule too heavily, and asked Zhong Shan how to avoid the method’s side effects and stay lucid.

Zhang Ming let his companions return to visit Zhong Shan’s family while he maintained the Aerospace Plane and hunted in the Yellow Sand World. A report from humanity’s Main Base shared the first findings from the Moses Civilization ruins, ending with its classification of civilization levels.

• Zhong Shan explained that the Thought Anchoring Method could lead to Immortality and described the Wanhai Civilization’s higher realms, while warning that no civilization could stand against Demon Gods as things were.
• Zhang Ming and his companions left Zhong Shan’s family, and he agreed to give Gourd a Super Light and Shadow Stone so she could bring Mu Mu a gift.
• Zhang Ming sent his companions back to visit Mu Mu and flew the Aerospace Plane to the Yellow Sand World to hunt and carry out maintenance.
• Zhang Ming repaired the plane, replaced worn parts and nuclear fuel, and applied a special coating made from Flowing Golden Sand.
• Humanity’s Main Base sent Zhang Ming a report on the Moses Civilization’s population, ecosystem, and infrastructure, then introduced its classification of civilization levels.

Zhang Ming learned how civilizations could cultivate their World Will into a powerful collective force, though humanity lacked the time and resources to follow that path. After sending a report to the Main Base, he flew to the Yellow Sand World to hunt while his companions visited Mumu's family.

• Zhang Ming studied a classification system that ranked civilizations by their World Will, from those with unique technology to ones whose World Will could rival a Demon God.
• Zhang Ming joked with the World Tree, then learned from Gourd's note that Stone Mama had installed a camera to catch him acting strangely.
• Miss Gourd nearly fell into the sea while heading to visit Mumu's family, and Stone Mama teased her for fearing a mountain giant.
• Zhang Ming contrasted the Wanhai Civilization's individual path with the collective path of cultivating a World Will, then sent his findings to the Main Base.
• Zhang Ming flew to the Yellow Sand World to hunt as the little turtle, Gourd, and black stone were welcomed by Mumu's family atop the mountain giant.

Stone Mama and Little White learned about the Ginseng Dolls and their unusual origins, while Mu Mu recounted how she met Zhong Shan and their long journey together. Zhong Shan had reached the end of the Way of Mountains but remained unable to take the final step, and the couple had nearly exhausted their Sources of the World.

• Stone Mama introduced herself to the Ginseng Dolls, learned their ages, and discovered that the oldest was 668 years old.
• Little White asked the Ginseng Dolls about their origins and learned that their parents had produced offspring through prolonged attempts, while most siblings had died or lacked intelligence.
• Miss Gourd asked Mu Mu about Thought Anchoring, and Mu Mu described how a World Hunter destroyed her Yuanqing home before she escaped to the Demon God's Sea.
• Mu Mu recalled meeting Zhong Shan, who let her live on his head as he pursued the Way of Mountains and the Wanhai Civilization's goal of nurturing Immortals.
• Zhong Shan and Mu Mu traveled together for a thousand years, and their affection and the birth of their children briefly helped Zhong Shan resist the mountain's erosion.
• Zhong Shan reached the end of the Way of Mountains but could not take the final step, while Mu Mu had almost no Sources of the World left to restore his lucidity.

Mumu explained how Zhong Shan’s consciousness was fading as he walked the mountain path, and Miss Gourd and Stone Mama considered the dangerous methods that might restore him. Mumu traded much of Zhong Shan’s treasure for a life-saving item from Miss Gourd, leaving his fate unresolved.

• Mumu recounted how Zhong Shan rejected the Wanhai Civilization’s proposed method for regaining his sanity, even as his consciousness continued to weaken.
• Stone Mama speculated that the end of the mountain path might bring a catastrophic mountain collapse, while Miss Gourd described the Shanhai Realm’s Conception Reversal Method.
• Mumu explained that Zhong Shan spanned a dangerous spacetime weak point so creatures could cross the Spacetime Storm safely.
• Stone Mama and Doctor Little White appraised Zhong Shan’s treasures and traded some of them for Source of the World.
• Miss Gourd offered Mumu a life-saving item that could save Zhong Shan even if he failed the mountain path, though he might lose all his power.
• Mumu traded more than half the treasure chamber’s collection for the item, and Stone Mama privately celebrated that Zhang Mama’s first wife had sold off his little wife.

Mu Mu controlled Zhong Shan through a sixteen-hour Spacetime Storm, helping countless sea creatures escape through its whirlpool. After Zhang Ming reunited with the group, he gave Zhong Shan’s family a communicator and continued toward Turtle Island with his companions, planning to pursue thought anchoring.

• After five peaceful days together, Mu Mu sensed an approaching Spacetime Storm and moved the unconscious Zhong Shan toward it.
• Little White explained the storm and the Dimensional Rift to the others as the storm’s whirlpool formed and began dragging sea creatures toward it.
• Mu Mu guided Zhong Shan to weaken the whirlpool, allowing countless creatures to escape while the storm lasted sixteen hours.
• Stone Mama praised Zhong Shan’s deed, and Zhang Ming arrived by Aerospace Plane after the storm had passed.
• Mu Mu said she and the children would follow Zhong Shan’s choice about whether to go to the New World, and Zhang Ming gave the family a communicator before departing.
• As the group flew toward Turtle Island, Stone Mama urged Zhang Ming to stop at a civilization so it could earn spending money, while Zhang Ming focused on thought anchoring.

Zhang Ming began Thought Anchoring to break through his limits, choosing a Black Hole as the natural phenomenon most compatible with his abilities. After exploring the Information Universe for 201 days, he found and touched a Black Hole Information Origin Point, receiving a flood of information about its life and collapse.

• Zhang Ming weighed Thought Anchoring’s risks and asked Miss Gourd and the others to help choose a compatible natural phenomenon.
• Miss Gourd recommended Black Holes, White Holes, and Wormholes, and said Space-Time Tidal Energy could help preserve Zhang Ming’s self-awareness.
• Zhang Ming studied humanity’s astronomical theories, chose a Black Hole as his anchor, and entered the Demon God's Sea’s Information Universe using the Wanhai Meditation Method.
• Zhang Ming explored the Information Universe, encountering fragmented records, a dissolving dead creature, and a Black Stone eager to hunt the Black Tortoise Evil Corpse with a mech.
• On the 201st day, Zhang Ming found a Black Hole Information Origin Point and touched it, seeing information about the star’s supernova and eventual collapse into a Black Hole.

Zhang Ming studied an ancient black hole and began trying to create a mental black hole while humanity prepared for the coming war against the Shadow Beasts. During a flight over the Demon God's Sea, he picked up Gu Shunjing, an archaeologist from the Ancient Oath Civilization, who was heading north to investigate ancient ruins.

• Zhang Ming found an ancient black hole, felt an unexpected closeness to it, and returned to the aerospace plane after his anchors pulled him back.
• Stone Mama suggested Zhang Ming cultivate his mental power instead of changing his body, and he began trying to form a black hole in his mental world.
• Wang Fumin prepared humanity's first ocean-going trade expedition to the Akala civilization, carrying a spatial Gourd to bring back golden sand and intending to share information about the Nether Domain Calamity.
• Li Xianfeng and Wang Fumin discussed how humanity could strengthen the Gaia Consciousness through stability, transcendent remains, and fighting enemies such as the Shadow Beasts.
• Zhang Ming heard that Wang Fumin's expedition had departed and that humanity was preparing a major campaign against the Shadow Beasts in the Moses Civilization's ruins.
• Gu Shunjing offered Zhang Ming one unit of the Source of the World for a ride north, boarded the plane with his Silly Roe Deer, and asked to visit ancient ruins.

Zhang Ming and Gu Shunjing crossed the Demon God's Sea to explore Buzhou Barren Mountain, where Stone Mama used Historical Regression to reveal murals about the Space-Time Worm's arrival in the World Domain. The murals showed the creature at its peak and a vast horde following it through its tunnel, leaving the group facing a glimpse of ancient history.

• Gu Shunjing explained that ancient Divine Beasts and civilizations had entered the World Cluster through shifting space-time tunnels, and he took Zhang Ming's group to Buzhou Barren Mountain.
• Gu Shunjing gave the group Soul-Protection Runes to withstand the plateau's unnatural winds, and his Pixiu-blooded roe deer Jidebao led them across the desert.
• Jidebao found an ancient temple buried beneath the sand, and Zhang Ming and Gu Shunjing dug for three days to uncover its entrance.
• After Gu Shunjing paid Stone Mama, Stone Mama used Historical Regression to recreate the temple and its intact murals.
• Zhang Ming recognized the first mural's scarlet monster as the Space-Time Worm at its peak, and the next mural showed a vast horde following it through the tunnel.

Zhang Ming and Gu Shunjing deciphered murals recounting how the Demon God's Sea formed through the collision of rules, wars, sacrifice, and the spread of life. The murals ended with ancient Divine Beasts creating descendants and races, while Zhang Ming wondered whether powerful beings still lay dormant in the sea.

• The murals revealed that the Space-Time Worm fled after a war with Divine Beasts, whose corpses formed continents and whose blood became an ocean.
• Miss Gourd explained that the deaths of powerful beings caused idealist and materialist rules to merge, transforming the world into the Demon God's Sea.
• Later arrivals found their lifespans shrinking and began killing other species to obtain energy that could extend their lives, causing the ancient mythological war.
• Divine Men sacrificed themselves to calm the ocean's hostility, and the races gradually reduced their wars and agreed to merge their egos into the sea when they died.
• The final mural showed aging Divine Beasts spreading their life essence and producing descendants so their races could build civilizations and eventually awaken their sealed ancestors.

Zhang Ming and Gu Shunjing learned that the murals revealed how Divine Beasts and Divine Men shaped the Demon God's Sea, while Gu Shunjing traded Light Talisman knowledge for access to the murals and antiques. Gu Shunjing then proposed that Wa’s Sky-Mending Stone was a powerful Demon God that changed the world’s rules, and the chapter ended as he identified it as “the world.”

• Zhang Ming reflected on the murals’ account of Divine Beast bloodlines spreading through the Demon God's Sea and concluded that the ancient era’s violent rules had eventually given way to a stable New World.
• Gu Shunjing begged Stone Mama to replay the murals, but balked at the price; he then unearthed an antique carving of more than a hundred Divine Beasts, including the Torch Dragon.
• Zhang Ming offered to record the murals and sell Miss Gourd’s antiques, while Gu Shunjing taught him how to make Light Talismans that could repel Shadow Beast attacks during the Nether Domain Calamity.
• Stone Mama gave Gu Shunjing the carving in exchange for a favor worth a thousand units of Source of the World, and Gu Shunjing shared his theory about why ancient beings had crossed into the New World.
• Gu Shunjing connected Wa’s sky-mending legend to the murals and argued that the Sky-Mending Stone was a powerful Demon God that changed the Demon God's Sea’s rules; he concluded that it was “the world.”

Zhang Ming and his companions uncovered ancient White Sun Stones, restored murals, and traveled toward Turtle Island while Zhang Ming began anchoring the concept of a black hole in his mental world. The black hole overwhelmed his defenses, and his Eye of Space-Time collided with it as his consciousness was caught in a dangerous storm.

• Gu Shunjing explained how the Sky-Mending Stone shaped the Demon God's Sea, then agreed to visit Stone Mama's homeland after Stone Mama offered to sell him Flamehorn heritage.
• When a wall collapsed during Gu Shunjing's mural restoration, the group discovered White Sun Stones that attacked the soul and could record rules; Zhang Ming and the others carefully stored them.
• Gu Shunjing and Zhang Ming's companions helped restore the seven murals, then left the plateau aboard the Aerospace Plane for Turtle Island.
• Zhang Ming chose his Attribute Conversion talent as the starting point for anchoring a black hole and began resonating with the black hole information origin point.
• A mental black hole appeared and threatened to drain Zhang Ming's consciousness; Lightning and Diamond failed to contain it, so he used Soul Burning and the Eye of Space-Time to resist.
• The black hole and Eye of Space-Time collided, distorting Zhang Ming's mental world and stirring his Dream Worlds as he nearly lost consciousness.

Zhang Ming successfully merged his Attribute Panel with the mental Black Hole, reducing the cost of his supernatural abilities but risking a gradual loss of self as the Black Hole consumed more power. After discovering that devoured abilities produced Transcendent Spirit, he realized he might be able to turn his vast stock of unactivated abilities into strength without increasing his attributes.

• Miss Gourd used the World Tree to help Zhang Ming stabilize the mental Black Hole and merge it with his Attribute Conversion talent.
• Zhang Ming raised his Physique, Perception, and Mental attributes beyond human limits, but found that the Black Hole weakened his ego and could not return what it consumed.
• Zhang Ming awoke after exhausting his mental strength, and Miss Gourd returned to the cabin, cooked for the others, and watched over him as they played games.
• Zhang Ming examined his transformed Attribute Panel and discovered that devouring abilities generated Transcendent Spirit.
• Zhang Ming tested abilities of varying mastery and found that their conversion into Transcendent Spirit ranged from ten to eighty percent, then considered converting his unactivated abilities instead of risking further attribute growth.

Zhang Ming explored how transcendent spirit could strengthen his attributes and spent a year converting abilities into it while traveling to Turtle Island. There, Stone Mama confronted a Dragon Turtle that claimed to carry a civilization but was suspected of seeking Black Tortoise descendants’ blood, and the two ancestors began a fierce battle.

• Zhang Ming used one point of transcendent spirit to exceed humanity’s physical limits, then learned from Gu Shunjing that most Divine Beast bloodlines favored physique while mental-focused bloodlines were rare.
• Zhang Ming asked the Wish Demon God to raise the conversion rate for his abilities, then spent a year studying and devouring 300 abilities for 4,800 points of transcendent spirit.
• Zhang Ming’s group reached Turtle Island and spotted a Bixi descendant, whom Stone Mama recognized as an old enemy who had abandoned its original Black Tortoise body.
• The Dragon Turtle claimed it had come to carry Turtle Island’s descendants to safety and showed the sea lion-like creatures living on its shell, while Stone Mama accused it of plotting to devour Black Tortoise bloodlines.
• Stone Mama entered a battle armor made from monster scales and bones and attacked the Dragon Turtle, but its shell shield absorbed the blow and the two giant turtles clashed in the sea.

Zhang Ming and Stone Mama fought the Dragon Turtle, and Zhang Ming wounded it by teleporting an atomic bomb beside its shell. The Dragon Turtle retreated to the Demon God's Sea, where it gathered sea lions and began planning to rob divine-beast tombs and build a civilization.

• Zhang Ming joined Stone Mama's battle, but his axe and lightning could barely penetrate the Dragon Turtle's defenses.
• Zhang Ming teleported an atomic bomb beside the Dragon Turtle, blasting off shell plates and injuring its neck while the explosion also damaged Stone Mama's battle armor.
• The Dragon Turtle fled using a vast Black Tortoise field, while Zhang Ming collected pieces of its shell and meat; Stone Mama explained that the two ancient beings could no longer merge after gaining self-awareness.
• The Dragon Turtle escaped far across the sea, washed the toxin from its wound, and returned to a group of sea lions it called the Flamehorn Race.
• The Dragon Turtle rallied the sea lions and announced plans to rob divine-beast tombs and pursue extraordinary opportunities, beginning a new story in the Demon God's Sea.