Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ming’s party reached Great Willow Town, where a corrupted guardian tree and the Demon God [Dusk] threatened them. Zhang Ming resisted [Dusk]’s mental assault and began severing its Anchor Lines from the Great Willow Tree, which begged him to cut it down.

• Zhang Ming’s party found Great Willow Town’s inhabitants dead and discovered its eerie, possibly corrupted Great Willow Tree.
• Zhang Ming arranged protections for the night, then learned Jia Huangjin’s superiors had agreed to buy an Immortal slot for a hundred thousand units of Source of the World.
• Demon God [Dusk] attacked Zhang Ming through a golden sunset, and Flaming Sun warned him that it was distorting his thoughts.
• Zhang Ming sent Stone Mama and the others into the Space Gourd, while Miss Gourd helped protect his Memory Library from [Dusk]’s mental attack.
• Zhang Ming discovered that [Dusk] had anchored the Great Willow Tree with tens of thousands of lines and began cutting them, despite the tree’s plea for him to destroy it and flee.

Zhang Ming helped the Great Willow Tree resist Dusk by cursing as he removed its anchorings, then learned how generations of inherited memories and growing vanity had corrupted the tree’s seal. A piece of rotten wood awakened a memory of Bofu confronting Dusk, leaving Zhang Ming with a glimpse of the Demon God’s arrival in the Huangtian Houtu Realm.

• Zhang Ming taught the Great Willow Tree to curse Dusk while he cleared away its anchorings, and the tree’s mental state improved as Dusk weakened.
• The Great Willow Tree recounted how it had inherited memories through successive lives, gradually becoming vain, protecting its relatives, draining nearby life force, and turning into an anchoring for Dusk.
• Zhang Ming hesitated to cut down the dying Great Willow Tree because Dusk might possess it and escape, while Miss Gourd warned that the tree’s desire for death could be Dusk’s influence.
• Zhang Ming discovered that rotten wood from the deer people resonated with the Great Willow Tree and brought it to the tree, awakening memories through a tiny ball of light.
• The memory showed Bofu leading his tribe against hardship before Dusk descended, scorching the land and causing tribespeople to lose their minds and melt into pools of blood.

Zhang Ming learned that Bofu had sacrificed himself to seal [Dusk], and he and Gourd deduced that the Great Willow Tree could be used as a trap to make another Demon God attack it. As the dying tree’s seal weakened, Zhang Ming sought help from the Wanhai Civilization, whose reinforcements arrived at the end of the chapter.

• Zhang Ming witnessed Bofu’s memories and received his final drop of divine blood, which had been left for future generations.
• Zhang Ming and Gourd reasoned that [Dusk] was replacing its original body with the Great Willow Tree, and that the blood might provoke a devastating counterattack if used at the right moment.
• The Great Willow Tree confessed that it was dying and could not hold out much longer, while Zhang Ming told it that an Immortal successor might take its place.
• Zhang Ming informed Jia Huangjin that the tree was failing and that [Dusk] had spread its influence through the Demon God’s Sea; Jia Huangjin contacted Flaming Sun, who arranged help from the Wanhai Civilization.
• Zhang Ming hid the villagers in his Space Gourd, helped Stone Mama recover, and ate Miss Gourd’s porridge while the Great Willow Tree briefly regained strength.
• Reinforcements from the Wanhai Civilization arrived from the west.

Zhang Ming followed Toad to a town ruled by Demon God [Burial], where he saw how its Human Lifespan Fruit tree was fed with the living and learned that its fruit could restore the Great Willow Tree. He refused to sacrifice the town’s people, and the Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle urged him to ask his Demon God wife for help.

• Toad led Zhang Ming through an earth tunnel to a town in the Land of Freedom and directed him toward its central temple.
• Zhang Ming learned from beggars that the temple was forbidden to the living and that people in the town sometimes disappeared without remembering it.
• Toad revealed that the temple’s Human Lifespan Fruit tree used living people to produce fruit that could extend the Great Willow Tree’s life.
• Zhang Ming watched a funeral procession bring a still-living man to the tree, which consumed him and produced a fruit that Toad handed to Zhang Ming.
• Toad offered to capture people for Zhang Ming to sacrifice, but Zhang Ming refused to take responsibility for the killings.
• Zhang Ming called out the Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle, which urged him to ask his Demon God wife for another solution.

Zhang Ming faced a crowd of old beings demanding that he save a great willow, so Gourd agreed to summon the Judgment Balance’s projection after he gave her 2,000 units of Source of the World. Meanwhile, Jia Yushi arrived to observe Zhang Ming and investigate Gourd, and the chapter ended as Zhang Ming began a ritual while the Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle wagered that he could summon a Demon God.

• Old beings gathered around Zhang Ming, argued with one another, and pressed him to use his connection to a Demon God to save the great willow.
• Gourd explained that her rule granted wishes through the Judgment Balance, and Zhang Ming gave her 2,000 units of Source of the World to summon its projection.
• Jia Yushi arrived in the Land of Freedom with 100,000 units of Source of the World and secretly reported on Zhang Ming to the Shangbu Civilization.
• Jia Yushi watched the old beings assemble and discussed the Human Lifespan Fruit, Gourd, and the danger of being assimilated by Demon Gods with his contacts.
• Zhang Ming announced that he would summon a Demon God, then performed a strange ritual as the gray toad and others mocked him.
• The Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle wagered 10,000 Source Stones that Zhang Ming could summon a Demon God, and Stone Mama eagerly joined the bet.

Zhang Ming summoned Gourd as Demon God [Hope] to help revive the Great Willow Tree, drawing the Judgment Balance into the Burial Realm. Demon God [Burial] reacted to the intrusion, and the chapter ended with the two powers clashing while Zhang Ming recognized [Burial] as the likely source of the Nether Domain Calamity.

• Zhang Ming revealed Gourd’s red-flame form as Demon God [Hope], stunning the old monsters and prompting her to explain her wish-trading rules.
• Zhang Ming asked Gourd to grant the old monsters’ wish to revive the Great Willow Tree, and she summoned a projection of the Judgment Balance from the Mythological Origin Zone.
• Demon God [Burial] sensed the Judgment Balance and spread a dark domain across the Burial Realm, causing the surroundings to decay while most inhabitants remained unaware.
• Gourd used the Judgment Balance to push back [Burial]’s Darkness Rule, and the old monsters watched as the two Demon Gods began fighting.
• Zhang Ming concluded that [Burial] was likely responsible for the Nether Domain Calamity and that removing it from the Burial Realm could unleash even worse Demon God disasters.

Zhang Ming used the Gourd Demon God and the Judgment Balance to ask how to save the Great Willow Tree, while the gathered Immortals paid for an answer and a second attempt. After the Gourd stripped Zhang Ming’s soul as the price, he found himself on the Judgment Balance, learning that its wish-granting power worked by altering causality at an enormous cost.

• Gourd persuaded Demon God [Burial] to retreat after paying him five hundred units of Source of the World.
• Zhang Ming asked the Hope Demon God how to save the Great Willow Tree, and the assembled creatures paid 2,400 units for an answer that repeated a method they already knew.
• Zhang Ming persuaded the creatures to contribute 10,000 units for a better solution, and Gourd stripped his soul as an additional price.
• Ghost Crow speculated that Zhang Ming’s unusual soul had drawn [Unfulfilled Wish]’s attention, while Jia Yushi and the mirror observers discussed the possibility that Zhang Ming could help bring the Demon God over through a Space-Time Worm tunnel.
• Zhang Ming awoke on the Judgment Balance, learned that it fulfilled wishes by changing causal relationships, and heard that making someone an Immortal could cost millions of units of Source of the World.

Zhang Ming used the Judgment Balance and paid with most of his soul’s Spirit, while Stone Mama invented a story about escaping Demon God contracts as a remnant Black Tortoise soul. After Zhang Ming awoke amid the monsters’ battle, his power revived the Human-Longevity Fruit Tree and produced a highest-grade Human Lifespan Fruit.

• Miss Gourd explained that the Judgment Balance could grant wishes for information more cheaply than directly altering causality, then drew most of Zhang Ming’s Mental Power and Spirit as payment.
• Stone Mama claimed to be Black Tortoise and fabricated a method for old monsters to escape their Demon God contracts by shedding their shells and preserving a remnant soul.
• The monsters fought over the Fruit of Eden, which the gray toad swallowed before Jia Yushi urged them to return it for the Burial Realm’s plan to cultivate new Immortals.
• Zhang Ming awoke exhausted with a red Demon God mark on his chest, and the gray toad returned the Fruit of Eden after realizing he was alive.
• Zhang Ming said he could save the Great Willow Tree, and the Human-Longevity Fruit Tree bloomed before producing a highest-grade Human Lifespan Fruit.

The Demon God [Hope] created a human longevity fruit for the Great Willow Tree, and Zhang Ming was left exhausted as the old creatures and civilizations debated whether [Hope] was [Unfulfilled Wish]. The chapter ended with the Joint Conference considering the danger of a Demon God becoming ultimate.

• The Demon God [Hope] ordered the Demon God [Burial] to create a human longevity fruit, extending the Great Willow Tree's life by twelve years for ten thousand units of source stones.
• The old creatures crowded around exhausted Zhang Ming, while Jia Yushi persuaded them to let him take Zhang Ming and the Fruit of Eden away in exchange for promises of support from the Demon God's Sea.
• Jia Yushi delivered the fruit to the Great Willow Tree, which recovered some vitality and agreed to endure a few more years despite its regrets.
• At the 11,871st Joint Conference of Civilizations, the representatives discussed [Hope]'s connection to Zhang Ming and whether it was [Unfulfilled Wish] or its avatar.
• Zhang Ming met the Gourd Demon God in a dream and asked to place his soul in her active thinking region, while the conference debated how dangerous an intelligent Demon God could become.
• Mr. Karl explained that an ultimate Demon God could extend its rules into natural law, prompting younger civilizations to fear how such a transformation could change the world.

At a conference, civilizations debated the threat posed by [Unfulfilled Wish] and whether they should help Zhang Ming integrate more Demon God rules while preserving his sanity. After recovering from a month-long ordeal, Zhang Ming reached Great Mother City, learned more about its Demon God and its links to the Demon God's Sea, and received 100,000 units of Source of the World from Jia Yushi for a completed transaction.

• Karl explained that the Mythological Origin could no longer assimilate Ultimate Demon Gods and that the materialist universe beyond it was vast.
• Civilizations debated hunting [Unfulfilled Wish], Zhang Ming’s potential as a tunnel digger, and helping him accommodate another Demon God rule without losing his sanity.
• Gourd told Zhang Ming she had saved 688.3 yuan and gave him access to her savings, while he tipped her 200 units of Source of the World.
• After a month of recovery, Zhang Ming arrived at Great Mother City and learned from Gourd about its contract-witnessing Demon God [Mo] and its Space Tunnel connection to the Demon God's Sea.
• Jia Yushi told Zhang Ming that the fruit transaction was complete and gave him a box containing 100,000 units of Source of the World, plus a small surplus.

Zhang Ming learned that the Burial Realm was collapsing under population loss and Demon God incursions, while Jia Yushi explained the precarious balance maintained by the Shangbu Civilization. In Great Mother City, Zhang Ming severed a Demon God’s anchor line from a gravely ill Sheep-Headed Man, suffering a powerful backlash as the caravan continued toward treatment.

• Jia Yushi explained that leaving the Burial Realm would likely be a one-way trip, then described its dwindling population, trapped Immortals, and growing Demon God threats.
• Jia Yushi told Zhang Ming how the Shangbu Civilization built trade routes and Great Mother City, and explained that [Burial]’s power anchored the realm while its people faced worsening calamities.
• A Sheep-Headed caravan arrived in Great Mother City seeking treatment for a villager who had mysteriously become pregnant and was gravely ill.
• Zhang Ming saw a black Anchor Line from an unknown Demon God attached to the sick Sheep-Headed Man and severed it with Dimension Cutting.
• The Demon God’s backlash hurt Zhang Ming, but he said he had acted because leaving the man unaided would have troubled him.

Zhang Ming grew suspicious that Miss Gourd’s Tree of Eden and its enormous potential profits might have been part of a deliberate plan, but he could not bring himself to doubt her. After helping Bluestone Village’s caravan and learning that civilizations across the Demon God's Sea wanted to contact him, he remained overwhelmed by his growing wealth and unease.

• Jia Yushi explained Great Mother City's trade rules, the Demon God [Mo]'s lie-detection boundary, and the dangers spreading through the region.
• Zhang Ming claimed he could provide Eden fruit, then realized that demand from the Burial Realm and the Demon God's Sea could amount to tens of millions in Source of the World and wondered whether Miss Gourd's arrival with the tree had been planned.
• Zhang Ming reflected on his bond with Miss Gourd, decided he could not bring himself to suspect her, and accepted that he might have been deceived despite the years of happiness he had enjoyed.
• Guo Dazhu gave Zhang Ming his share of the caravan's earnings, and Zhang Ming agreed to give the returning Bluestone Village traders practical supplies rather than escorting them home.
• Jia Yushi connected Zhang Ming by screen to Jia Huangjin and a giant dragon, and Jia Huangjin warned him that sudden wealth could bring ruin if his spiritual development did not keep pace.

Zhang Ming learned that Zhong Shan had been reborn and would soon reach the Burial Realm, then negotiated with Flaming Sun’s side over Fruits of Eden and a way to contain more Space-Time Demon God rules. He was offered a drop of Divine Blood from the Mythological Origin in exchange for one hundred fruits and a stable Space-Time Tunnel, and the chapter ended with him examining the treasure.

• Jia Huangjin and Flaming Sun showed Zhang Ming a recording of Zhong Shan growing from a gourd and explained that he would recover most of his memories within a week and reach the Burial Realm within two months.
• Flaming Sun asked how many Fruits of Eden Zhang Ming could supply, and Zhang Ming said he could provide up to a hundred with payment upon delivery.
• Flaming Sun proposed three plans to help Zhang Ming accommodate more Demon God rules, including using a World Will, nurturing Zhang Ming’s World Little Tree, or providing a special object.
• Zhang Ming learned that the special object was a drop of Divine Blood from the Mythological Origin, which could steal Demon God power and had once belonged to Divine Man 'Burial.'
• Flaming Sun offered the Divine Blood for one hundred Fruits of Eden and required Zhang Ming to return it to the Demon God's Sea if he began losing himself, as well as help excavate a stable Space-Time Tunnel to the Burial Realm.
• The ball of light displayed the golden, solid, droplet-shaped Divine Blood, and Zhang Ming considered its value.

Zhang Ming weighed a deal to trade Eden fruits for Divine Blood while wrestling with doubts about Gourd and [Unfulfilled Wish]. He obtained a Demon God contract from the Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle and left the mountain path concealing his true feelings.

• The sphere of light offered Zhang Ming a private proposal from the Wanhai Civilization: a drop of Divine Blood for a hundred fruits, and said the Alliance should not be told unless asked.
• Zhang Ming told Jia Yushi that he liked the Divine Blood proposal but might need to choose a payment in Source of the World, and asked what price the civilizations would pay; the sphere of light set their maximum at half the asking price.
• Zhang Ming visited the Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle and accepted a one-minute contract that forbade lies in exchange for owing it a favor.
• The Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle explained that Demon God [Mo] had made the contract personally and that it could affect Demon Gods, leaving it puzzled about a possible Demon God War.
• Zhang Ming emerged from the mountain path at dusk and called for Stone Mama to save him, while hiding his joy from those around him.

After suspecting that [Unfulfilled Wish] might have replaced Gourd, Zhang Ming tested her by offering her a turtle pendant as a marriage gift. Gourd accepted, but Zhang Ming remained unsure whether she was truly herself as she appeared before him in human form.

• Zhang Ming found Younger Sister’s gold turtle pendant and used it to consider whether Gourd still existed or had been replaced by [Unfulfilled Wish].
• Zhang Ming recalled Gourd’s unusual public claim to be the [Hope] Demon God and noticed that she had twice said she had given him everything.
• Zhang Ming asked Gourd whether she would accept the pendant as a gift for his future wife, presenting the offer as a marriage proposal.
• Gourd said she was happy to accept but worried that she could not fulfill the responsibility or that her appearance might invite gossip.
• Zhang Ming reassured Gourd and asked her to accept the pendant in human form, and she agreed to dress up.
• Gourd appeared as the No. 1 girl, while Zhang Ming continued to watch for signs that she was not truly herself.

Zhang Ming used a Demon God Contract to test Number One Girl, only for her to reveal herself as [Unfulfilled Wish] and kill him in a devastating future. He awoke back in the same evening and changed his conversation with Gourd, apparently steering events onto a different path.

• Zhang Ming proposed that he and Number One Girl sign the Demon God Contract and truthfully share their feelings for one minute.
• Zhang Ming passed the contract's truth test, but Number One Girl attacked him with red light and revealed herself as [Unfulfilled Wish].
• Zhang Ming witnessed a future in which [Unfulfilled Wish] failed to control the Space-Time Worm, the Burial Realm was destroyed, and the survivors were left devastated.
• Zhang Ming heard Miss Gourd warn him not to get discovered before his consciousness faded, then awoke back at the evening before the attack.
• Zhang Ming repeated his earlier conversation with Gourd but chose to say that money mattered most, and Gourd offered him one hundred fruits while discussing the Tree of Eden.

Zhang Ming realized that the Gourd with him was [Unfulfilled Wish], while the real Miss Gourd was the [Hope] Demon God and had secretly sent him a prophetic dream. He searched the Judgment Balance for evidence of her preparations, but the chapter ended with him unable to find the Piggy Bank she had left behind.

• Zhang Ming suspected Miss Gourd had been replaced after she wanted to move the Tree of Eden, and he concluded that [Unfulfilled Wish] now occupied her body.
• Zhang Ming concealed his suspicions by playing guitar and singing with Stone Mama and the people of Bluestone Village.
• Zhang Ming considered whether the apparent Time Reversal had been an actual power, a delusion, or a prophetic dream sent by [Hope].
• Zhang Ming reasoned that [Hope] had hidden her prophetic ability in the Demon God Contract from [Mo] to evade [Unfulfilled Wish]'s surveillance.
• Zhang Ming sent a Soul Clone to search the Judgment Balance for the Piggy Bank that might confirm [Hope]'s preparations, but the clone found neither it nor the Tree of Eden.

While the fake Gourd entertained the ship’s company, Zhang Ming used a soul clone to secretly contact the Demon God contract in the Judgment Balance. Miss Hope sent him a cryptic message and a piggy bank, giving him a safer way to hide the contract as he prepared to deal with [Unfulfilled Wish].

• At Lord Stone Mama’s urging, the fake Gourd told a dark joke and then a story about Yellow-Haired People, while Zhang Ming worried that she might expose her identity as [Unfulfilled Wish].
• Zhang Ming sent a soul clone carrying the Demon God contract into an alternate space around the Judgment Balance, where the contract revealed a message from Miss Hope.
• The message led Zhang Ming to a warm, gourd-shaped piggy bank containing 250 units of Source of the World, and he added ten thousand points of source to it.
• Zhang Ming discovered that his soul mark let him access the piggy bank as portable storage, allowing him to hide the contract and sustain his soul clone there.
• Zhang Ming used the remaining Source of the World to send Miss Hope numerical messages, then returned his consciousness to the Steamship’s deck and began thinking about how to kill the fake Gourd.

Zhang Ming suspected that Miss Gourd was [Unfulfilled Wish] and reasoned that the real [Hope] had been suppressed, while he secretly hid the Demon God Contract and exchanged coded messages with her. As he tried to uncover [Unfulfilled Wish]'s objective, a fleeting spark of inspiration came to him.

• Stone Mama demanded a hundred lighthearted stories, then fought Zhang Ming before fleeing to visit the Mountain-Bearing Divine Turtle.
• Zhang Ming secretly concealed the Demon God Contract in layered alternate spaces near his heart.
• Zhang Ming and Miss [Hope] exchanged coded messages by changing the Source of the World’s amount in the Piggy Bank.
• Zhang Ming studied Miss [Hope]’s cryptic words and considered how [Unfulfilled Wish] might have replaced or suppressed her.
• Zhang Ming analyzed [Unfulfilled Wish]’s goal and the prophetic dream, then briefly glimpsed a mysterious spark of inspiration.

Zhang Ming deduced that [Unfulfilled Wish] was replacing [Hope] and would become an Ultimate Demon God if [Hope] was forgotten, so he tested the fake Gourd by manipulating her into agreeing to buy Divine Blood and fund his plans. He ended the chapter suspecting that the Gourd beside him might be the real one, while secretly altering the Source of the World in his Piggy Bank.

• Zhang Ming realized that [Hope] had staked her existence on being recognized, and that [Unfulfilled Wish] could become an Ultimate Demon God if he failed to notice the replacement.
• Zhang Ming decided to seek help from the civilizations in the Demon God's Sea and tested Gourd by asking to use their resources to obtain Divine Blood and strengthen himself.
• Gourd agreed to Zhang Ming's proposals and said that even a hundred million units of Source of the World would not let her defeat her powerful big sister.
• Zhang Ming proposed escaping to a materialist world and starting a new civilization, and Gourd supported his plan to have children there.
• Gourd told Zhang Ming to abstain from sex so he could recover and improve his chances of fusing with Divine Blood, while Zhang Ming secretly changed the amount of Source of the World in his Piggy Bank.