Chapter Summaries

As the Nether Domain Calamity drove civilizations to seek survival resources, Jia Huangjin and Zhang Ming’s allies manipulated the market by publicizing formulas that used The Starry Night Shells. Their price climbed sharply, leaving the market divided between buyers and sellers.

• The Poison-Eye Civilization showed footage of a Shadow Beast invasion and shared information about inexpensive protective devices for the Nether Domain.
• Civilizations fleeing the neighboring cluster entered the market, increasing demand for survival resources as technology prices fell.
• The Air Bubble Civilization’s alliance learned that the Starry Night Shells were an ingredient in newly published formulas and recognized that their price was rising.
• The Youxiang Civilization published its Barrier-Breaking Mind-Awakening Pills formula, and other civilizations began sharing formulas and promoting technologies that used The Starry Night Shells.
• The Dragon Turtle urged its allies to buy and publicize more uses for The Starry Night Shells, while Jia Huangjin told Zhang Ming that the market shift came from consensus among civilizations.
• The Starry Night Shells rose to between 175 and 180 as rumors of Divine Beast Bloodline extraction spread, and civilizations clashed over whether to buy or sell.

Jia Huangjin’s market operation drove The Starry Night Shells’ price above 500, giving the human, Snake People, Macrosteel, and Akala civilizations a huge windfall. After pooling profits to buy advanced technologies, the civilizations headed home to prepare for cooperation, while Zhang Ming stayed at the Trade Market and planned to make the Black Tortoise World a neutral center for their alliance.

• Jia Huangjin and Stone Mama held their Starry Night Shells as the price climbed, then the Air Bubble Civilization released a bloodline-extraction technique and a Light Talisman formula that sent prices surging.
• The Akala Civilization disappeared with its five million tonnes of shells, and later attacks on major shell farms and a Wanhai Civilization warehouse pushed the price above 500.
• Zhang Ming’s group calculated a net profit of 134,400, then pooled funds to buy high-end technologies and equipment from the Shangbu Civilization and other sellers.
• The four civilizations hired a high-speed spaceship to return home, while Zhang Ming stayed at the Trade Market with 20,000 in capital.
• Zhang Ming asked Wang Fumin to bring the Black Tortoise World near Earth and establish it as a neutral site for shared technologies and inter-civilization exchanges.
• Stone Mama chose to remain at the Trade Market to build its fortune and reclaim the position of Dean of the Great Academy of Sciences.

Zhang Ming’s trade with four civilizations produced a major harvest of space-time tidal energy, while the Bianfeng Civilization brought its world to the Trade Market and challenged Transcendents to fight an artificial soldier. The market’s civilizations braced for a clash between the old and new paths, and Dragon Turtle chose to wait before deciding whether to intervene.

• Gangduo and Heikui thanked Zhang Ming for the profits and promised to promote cooperation between their civilizations and humanity before departing with the other delegations.
• Zhang Ming received a surge of space-time tidal energy after foreseeing that his trade would help civilizations resist the Shadow Beast disaster and accelerate their development.
• Dragon Turtle sold most of its Starry Night Shells holdings, warned others about an ominous feeling, and learned that the Bianfeng Civilization had brought its world to the Trade Market.
• The Bianfeng Civilization opened its world to visitors and announced that an artificial soldier would challenge Transcendents, offering 3,000 units of the Source of the World as a prize.
• Zhang Ming kept his staff inside their embassy and avoided the challenge, while Dragon Turtle resisted pressure to fight and decided to wait for others to make the first move.

Zhang Ming watched the Bianfeng Civilization’s darkness-rule warriors challenge the old-path Transcendents in the Death Arena and profited from betting on them. After Bei Yuan died fighting one of the warriors, the Bianfeng representative raised the prize and challenged the remaining Transcendents, asking Lord Turtle to enter the arena.

• Zhang Ming met Jia Huangjin at the Death Arena, learned about the conflict between the old and new paths, and bet two thousand on the Bianfeng Civilization’s warriors.
• A Bianfeng warrior defeated the Air Bubble Civilization’s Three-Headed Evil Dragon with a darkness-rule soul attack, and Zhang Ming won on his bet.
• Bei Yuan entered the arena and used Ultimate Berserk to cripple a Bianfeng warrior, but the warrior counterattacked without regard for his own life and killed Bei Yuan.
• The Bianfeng Civilization’s leader took Bei Yuan’s remains, while the wounded warrior was carried away as the Nether Domain spread through him.
• Jia Huangjin told Zhang Ming that his winnings exceeded four thousand and offered to help him bet through caravans in other World Clusters.
• The Bianfeng representative raised the challenge prize to four thousand units of Source of the World and asked Lord Turtle to fight.

Zhang Ming disguised himself and entered the arena to disrupt the Bianfeng Civilization’s plan to recruit civilizations to search for the Abyss. He fought their strongest warrior and left the battle at a stalemate.

• The Bianfeng Civilization revealed that it wanted help finding the Abyss and promised participants a place in its alliance, despite the danger of releasing Demon Gods.
• Zhang Ming decided to stop the plan, borrowed a Doppelganger Puppet from Jia Huangjin, and secretly left the venue with Miss Gourd.
• Disguised in a Frieza Battle Suit, Zhang Ming challenged the Bianfeng Civilization and faced its strongest warrior in the arena.
• Zhang Ming used Light Talismans, Mirror Steel, and Dragon Turtle Power to withstand the warrior’s darkness attacks and repel him with his mace.
• The warrior’s Bubble Defense Device blunted Zhang Ming’s blows, and the two fighters settled into a stalemate.

Zhang Ming defeated a Bianfeng Civilization rule soldier with ancient Berserk Rule sand, claimed his winnings, and escaped after condemning the plan to excavate the Abyss. The Bianfeng Civilization then introduced its powerful champion Lu Wu and challenged the gathered Transcendents, while the other civilizations called for time to discuss the Abyss expedition.

• Zhang Ming endured the Bianfeng soldier’s Darkness Rule attacks until the soldier shattered his Mirror Steel shield and launched a powerful soul attack.
• Zhang Ming used sand containing the ancient Berserk Rule to weaken everyone nearby, then knocked the soldier unconscious with the Dream Entry Technique.
• Zhang Ming took 4,000 units of the Source of the World, returned the ticket revenue, and escaped in a flying saucer after warning that anyone who dug up the Abyss would be destroyed.
• The Bianfeng Civilization announced a challenge against its champion Lu Wu, offering 10,000 units of the Source of the World to anyone who defeated him.
• Zhang Ming declined to fight Lu Wu, while the Air Bubble Civilization’s giant Octopus urged the gathered civilizations to discuss the Abyss expedition before deciding.

Zhang Ming dealt with the Bianfeng Civilization’s threat to excavate the Abyss while humanity celebrated the return of Old Wang and the advanced technology he brought home. After warning his allies about the danger, Zhang Ming chose to remain at the trading market and gather intelligence.

• The Bianfeng Civilization gave local civilizations three months to consider cooperation and left Lu Wu in the arena to await challengers.
• Zhang Ming received a massive surge of space-time tidal energy after Old Wang’s group returned to Earth with advanced technology, gaining over two thousand points of source.
• Old Wang told Zhang Ming that humanity had brought the World Cube home and planned to establish a shared research institute in Black Tortoise World.
• Zhang Ming informed Old Wang and Bai Ze that the Bianfeng Civilization intended to excavate the Abyss, and Bai Ze flew into a rage over the threat to [Liu Mang]’s grave.
• Zhang Ming decided to stay at the trading market to gather intelligence rather than abandon the central information hub.

Zhang Ming obtained Li Xianfeng’s stronger Snowflake-and-Eight-Trigrams seal and went to the Red Moon to fuse with the Space-Time Worm’s rule. After a grueling two-month struggle, he stabilized the rule, though he was left with only around twenty thousand years of lifespan, while the Worm’s remains turned into valuable boundary-breaking stone.

• Zhang Ming asked Li Xianfeng to use the World Cube to optimize the Snowflake Seal, and Li Xianfeng delivered a stronger seal two weeks later.
• Zhang Ming took Miss Gourd and Stone Mama to the Red Moon and swallowed part of the Space-Time Worm to acquire its space-interference rule.
• Miss Gourd used Earth’s unique Snowflake to contain the rule, but Zhang Ming had to feed thousands of abilities into his mental black hole to stabilize it.
• Zhang Ming spent two months and over eighty thousand years of lifespan strengthening the black hole until the rule settled, leaving him with only about twenty thousand years remaining.
• The Space-Time Worm’s remains transformed into boundary-breaking stone, while distant observers mistook the newly visible dark red star for a revived Demon God.

Zhang Ming consumed the third Demon God Rule, Space-Time Interference, and hurried to the Death Arena as the Bianfeng Civilization pressed other civilizations to sign its contract. When Lu Wu challenged him, Zhang Ming revealed his power, and the dark giant stopped, reconsidering his target.

• Zhang Ming stabilized the mental black hole, consumed the Space-Time Interference rule, and discovered that the rule’s costs had fallen while his connection to the moon had deepened.
• Zhang Ming learned that the Giant Mountain Civilization and Air Bubble Civilization opposed the Bianfeng Civilization’s plan, then spent two days practicing his new rule before the deadline.
• Zhang Ming met Gu Shunjing and Jia Huangjin at the Death Arena, disguised himself as a small giant, and joined the gathering as the Bianfeng Civilization demanded that civilizations sign its contract.
• Shi Taidun declared that 131 civilizations would refuse to sign, and the Air Bubble Civilization announced that 211 more would join them; Lu Wu threatened Shi Taidun with his Darkness Rule.
• Lu Wu challenged Zhang Ming, who answered with a powerful aura, causing Lu Wu to stop and decide to choose an easier opponent.

Shi Taidun challenged the Bianfeng Civilization’s threats, and the Dragon Turtle struck down its champion, Lu Wu, with a devastating Black Tortoise Strike. When another World Will restored Lu Wu and drove him back into the fight, Zhang Ming tried to interfere with the Anchor Line as the battle between the exhausted Transcendents continued.

• Shi Taidun accused the Bianfeng Civilization of coercing the gathered civilizations and called for war, while its leaders pressured them to sign Contracts.
• The Dragon Turtle entered the arena, struck the Dark Giant with a Light Talisman, and unleashed a Black Tortoise Strike that gravely injured Lu Wu.
• Zhang Ming learned that the Dragon Turtle had intervened partly to help the sick Sea Lions and realized its powerful attack had left it exhausted and unable to use the move again.
• A Green Fir Civilization leader offered the Bianfeng Civilization aid from its World Will, and Zhang Ming spotted green energy traveling along an Anchor Line to restore Lu Wu.
• The Dragon Turtle resumed its attack, but Lu Wu escaped and fought on under an icy will; Zhang Ming tried and failed to sever the Anchor Line as their battle continued.

Zhang Ming rescued the Dragon Turtle from Lu Wu and faced a growing coalition of New Path civilizations seeking the Demon God's corpse. As eight powerful fighters arrived, a Zang Civilization ship appeared and its leader proposed slaughtering Transcendents to harvest their remains.

• Zhang Ming shielded the Dragon Turtle from Lu Wu's soul attack, forced Bianfeng Civilization to concede, and carried the wounded turtle away in a spatial sack.
• The leaders of nine New Path civilizations formed a temporary alliance to make local civilizations sign contracts and locate the Abyss.
• Eight powerful fighters from New Path civilizations arrived, leaving the local civilizations fearful that they would be forced to submit.
• Giant Mountain Civilization offered Zhang Ming a World Buster, while its leader warned that excavating the Abyss could destroy the entire World Ring.
• A Zang Civilization tower arrived through a space-time leap, and its zombie-like leader mocked the gathered Transcendents and proposed joining the New Path coalition to kill them.
• Jia Huangjin explained that Zang Civilization could use Transcendent remains to create easier, though weaker, Old Path Transcendents.

The Zang Civilization trapped the Wanhai Trade Market and revealed the Wanhai Civilization’s plan to use Conception Reversal to turn its Transcendents into Immortals. As the Wanhai leaders slaughtered their own people for nourishment, Zhang Ming confronted them despite the Immortal’s overwhelming power.

• The Zang Civilization’s leader activated a defensive formation powered by a Divine Beast’s corpse, trapping everyone in the Wanhai Trade Market and disrupting many technological weapons.
• A nearly Immortal blue-skinned leader called Lord Blue emerged with twelve other peak Transcendents, and Stone Mama and Jia Huangjin identified their plan as Conception Reversal.
• The Wanhai Civilization’s Immortal ordered the Transcendents to become Immortals or die, while a Bat Man burned kneeling Wanhai people to ashes as nourishment.
• Zhang Ming rejected Gourd’s offer to escape and decided to fight after witnessing the slaughter.
• Zhang Ming struck the Bat Man with a Light Talisman, then leaped toward the enemy forces as purple lightning erupted around him.

Zhang Ming fought eleven Wanhai Civilization Transcendents while the Immortal watched, and the other civilizations learned that Wanhai planned to destroy the world cluster for its Source of the World. As Zhang Ming and his allies faced the Immortal, a towering Mountain Giant arrived and declared that Wanhai opposed Wanhai.

• Zhang Ming battled eleven Wanhai Transcendents, using space tunnels, lightning, and boulders while searching for a chance to strike their curse users.
• Wanhai's attacks badly wounded Zhang Ming, who lost an arm and a leg, while Miss Gourd urged him to escape and he tried to provoke the other civilizations into helping.
• The Green Giant, Stone Mama, Gu Shunjing, and others intervened as the nine new-path civilizations learned that Wanhai planned to detonate the earth veins and destroy the world cluster.
• The Immortal dismissed the gathered resistance and said the destruction plan could be canceled if they defeated him.
• The Dragon Turtle confronted the Immortal, then a ten-thousand-meter Mountain Giant arrived and announced, "Wanhai opposes Wanhai!"

Zhong Shan led the Wanhai people in resisting the Immortal Flaming Sun and the Transcendents, while Zhang Ming helped defeat the eleven attackers. With the battle turning in their favor, Blue regained his clarity and rejected the path of Conception Reversal, leaving Zhong Shan to face Flaming Sun.

• Zhong Shan arrived to defend the Wanhai people, encouraged them to rebuild their civilization, and challenged Flaming Sun by burning his life force to wield the power of mountain collapse.
• Wanhai staff and allied civilizations helped evacuate refugees as Zhong Shan, Zhang Ming, Stone Mama, and Dragon Turtle fought the Transcendents.
• Zhang Ming used the World Buster to scatter the attackers, then worked with Zhong Shan to defeat them with the Rule Stone and falling mountains.
• Zhang Ming and the other fighters were badly injured, while Zhong Shan remained ready to challenge Flaming Sun.
• Blue wiped away his tears, regained clarity, and told Flaming Sun he could no longer follow the opposite path.

Zhong Shan unleashed the Mountain Collapse Technique to stop the Wanhai Civilization’s plan to collapse the world cluster, then fought Flaming Sun as Zhang Ming and others were sent into a spacetime storm. By dawn Flaming Sun had won the battle but failed to destroy the cluster, while Zhong Shan reappeared as a seedling, revealing a possible new path to Immortality.

• Blue regained his senses, and Zhong Shan told Zhang Ming he would send him somewhere he could recover while teaching him the Wanhai Civilization’s Way of Imitating the World.
• Zhong Shan used the Mountain Collapse Technique to disperse the Zhongshan God’s bloodline power and stabilize the world cluster, while Blue protected the remaining Wanhai people.
• Zhong Shan hurled Zhang Ming and his companions into a spacetime storm, then collided with Flaming Sun in a battle that lasted until dawn.
• Flaming Sun defeated Zhong Shan, but Zhong Shan’s remains could no longer trigger a spatial collapse across the world cluster.
• Gua Guzi recognized a seedling on the plateau as Zhong Shan’s second life and told Flaming Sun to find Zhong Shan’s wife and investigate Zhang Ming’s origins.
• Gua Guzi ordered Flaming Sun to bring Blue back alive.

As the Wanhai Civilization evacuated and warned Wang Fumin that a Space-Time Leap was ultimately safer, the surviving civilizations began organizing to face the Nether Domain Calamity. The first joint conference established Black Tortoise World as a neutral center for cooperation, while Zhang Ming’s world will proposed eliminating reproductive isolation.

• The Wanhai Civilization evacuated its people, promised to spread basic knowledge and aid weaker civilizations, and invited Wang Fumin’s alliance to join a small exchange platform.
• A Wanhai envoy advised Wang Fumin that the cluster might survive another hundred years or more, but delaying a Space-Time Leap would make escape harder; he also warned about destroyer civilizations.
• Wang Fumin settled Mu Mu’s family in Black Tortoise World and prepared to unite the humans, Snake People, Macrosteel People, and Akala people.
• The civilizations held their first joint conference, designated Black Tortoise World a permanently neutral venue, and began planning shared academic exchanges, construction, and intellectual property laws.
• Mu Mu’s world will offered to help eliminate reproductive isolation using Lake Water from the Yellow Sand World, but the representatives shelved the proposal as premature.

Zhang Ming and his companions drifted across an unfamiliar sea while he remained trapped in resin, gravely injured by curses and toxins. His condition continued to worsen despite their treatments, leaving his companions searching for a way to save him.

• Little White carried the unconscious Zhang Ming and the injured Stone Mama onto the steamship, where Stone Mama said the Dragon Turtle was alive but would need decades to recover.
• Miss Gourd used a short-lived human avatar to cook and help repair the old ship and Aerospace Plane while Little White handled the fighting and repairs proved difficult.
• Gourd examined Zhang Ming and said his brainstem and soul needed urgent repair; Zhang briefly moved in the resin and muttered that they should prioritize repairing his reproductive system.
• Zhang Ming failed to awaken, and his body continued to decay as curses and toxins eroded him despite the companions’ medical equipment.
• Gourd said she might fuse more demon god rules into Zhang Ming as a last resort, but the chance of success was less than one in a hundred thousand; Stone Mama estimated he might suffer brain death within three to five years.

Zhang Ming’s companions brought his ruined body to a fog-covered world and buried him in Soul-Burial Grass, hoping it would remove his curse. That night, a Rule Monster lured Gourd Girl’s avatar into the fog and killed it, while the others remained unable to intervene.

• Little White spotted a continent, and Stone Mama recognized its floating mountains as resembling the Shanhai Realm before identifying the local weeds as Soul-Burial Grass.
• Stone Mama explained the risks of Soul-Burial Grass, but Gourd said it could absorb Zhang Ming’s curse because his power was not bloodline power.
• Little White and Sailor Girl dug a grave, and the companions buried Zhang Ming among the Soul-Burial Grass while Gourd stayed to monitor him.
• After Stone Mama and Little White went to sleep, Little White saw a bell-ringing old person lead paper figures to the ship and call Gourd’s avatar into the fog.
• Little White’s suppressed abilities failed to stop the old person, and Gourd later reported that her avatar had been drained of blood and reduced to human skin.

Gourd and the others survived a night of monster attacks while protecting Zhang Ming’s grave, and Zhang Ming briefly demanded a human incarnation before falling asleep again. The Steamship set off at dawn, while a native funeral procession arrived at the Tuhuang temple and discovered that its guardian monster was already stuffed.

• Gourd sent several human incarnations to fight the monsters, but they were killed, and Little White and Stone Mama hid when the White-Haired Monster attacked.
• Gourd used Rune Bullets to kill a monster near Zhang Ming’s grave, while another monster attacked her; the monsters eventually left after eating the food she threw them.
• At dawn, Stone Mama criticized Gourd and Little White, and the companions dug Zhang Ming up so they could move him somewhere safer.
• Zhang Ming briefly awoke and insisted on having a human incarnation, so Gourd promised to make one that would stay with him aboard the Steamship.
• A native funeral procession carried the dying Old Eighth Master to the Tuhuang temple, where the red-haired guardian monster toyed with him before eating him.

Bluestone Village’s residents followed the tracks of a destroyed caravan and found an unfamiliar metal ship, which they hoped to claim as a windfall. When they tried to capture the white turtle aboard, it fought back, and Old Guo suggested it might one day become a Tuhuang.

• Village Chief Guo explained that the villagers fed their dead to the Tuhuang, a reanimated ancestor who protected the village from monsters.
• A boy spotted a strange ship crossing the grassland before it vanished, and villagers later found bones and the remains of a giant toad nearby.
• The villagers followed tire tracks and discovered a metal ship; Old Guo agreed to investigate it, provided they took nothing if any merchants were alive.
• Guo Dazhu boarded the ship to catch Little White, but the turtle startled him into fleeing, then struck another villager on the head.
• Old Guo proposed keeping Little White if it was female, saying it could lay eggs and might become a Tuhuang after it died.