Chapter Summaries

Lin Hao urged Henry to secure votes for the inheritance and invited the Sword Saint to their banquet, while the other candidates gathered powerful supporters. Liu Wei sought Rhys Brennan’s help finding Yang Yong, then realized Rhys was probing him for information about the legendary Hajimi North-South Mung Beans.

• Lin Hao told Henry to canvass for votes and host a banquet, then created an invitation for the Sword Saint and insisted he would attend.
• Darian Wise asked Yin Saide and Wang Zhen to demonstrate their strength in the Colosseum, and Yin Saide agreed in exchange for extra pay.
• Luna Nolan discussed her competitors’ Transcendent allies with Cattiss and said she only wanted to prevent her would-be assassin from inheriting the title.
• Liu Wei visited Rhys Brennan to ask for help finding Yang Yong, who had been missing for three days, and Rhys promised to investigate.
• Rhys asked Liu Wei about the healing beans Yang Yong had mentioned, and Liu Wei recognized that Rhys was seeking information about the Hajimi North-South Mung Beans.

Liu Wei realized Rhys and Black Crow had deceived him and looked for a chance to escape, while the marquisate candidates held banquets to win noble support. The House Yosse Clan’s prospects changed dramatically when Astor, the Sword Saint, appeared at their banquet, prompting nobles to reconsider their allegiance and giving Liu Wei an opening to approach them.

• Liu Wei inferred that Yang Yong had invented the Hajimi North-South Mung Beans to protect himself and decided to seek help from one of Rhys’s rivals at the banquets.
• The candidates held lavish banquets, and Duke Wick’s arrival at Rhys’s venue drew nobles away from the other candidates and toward Rhys.
• Astor arrived at the House Yosse Clan’s banquet in a personal capacity, and news of the Sword Saint’s appearance spread through the capital.
• Nobles began turning their carriages toward the House Yosse Clan’s venue, while Rhys and Duke Wick reacted with surprise at Astor’s support.
• Liu Wei used the commotion to ask Rhys’s steward to let him visit the House Yosse Clan’s banquet, and the steward agreed.

At House Yosse’s banquet, Lin Hao prompted Astor to declare his support for Nico, silencing nobles who had pressured the Sword Saint to stay neutral. When Liu Wei arrived and was restrained while trying to seek help, Lin Hao and Astor intervened, and Astor agreed to help rescue Liu Wei’s abducted friend.

• Astor arrived at House Yosse’s banquet, where nobles questioned whether the Sword Saint Family intended to enter the Kingdom’s politics.
• After nobles demanded that Astor remain neutral, Lin Hao mocked them, and Astor released his sword intent before declaring support for Nico as the new Marquis Sike.
• The nobles quickly voiced support for Nico, and Liu Wei arrived hoping to ask Astor for help against Rhys.
• A mustached noble restrained Liu Wei and tried to take him away, but Lin Hao demanded to speak with him and Astor removed the noble’s hand.
• Liu Wei begged Astor to save his friend, whom he said had been taken after discovering a secret about Reese Brennan.
• Lin Hao said Liu Wei was from his homeland, and Astor agreed to search for Liu Wei’s friend and rescue him.

Astor confronted Reese Brennan’s faction after Lin Hao broke a Shadow Church restraint and a noble exposed the church’s infiltration of the Kingdom of Potter. Astor revealed that his greater concern was the kidnapping of Yang Yong, and he stopped Duke Wick’s attack before it could harm anyone.

• Miaoyu forced a noble to confess that he and others were working with Reese Brennan and the Shadow Church, while Lin Hao severed the Divine Art silencing him.
• The noble revealed that the Crow Bandit Group was cooperating with Reese, and Astor arrived at Reese’s banquet with the witness and accused Duke Wick of ties to the Shadow Church.
• Reese tried to distance himself from the Shadow Church, but Astor said he had come to answer Liu Wei’s complaint about Yang Yong’s kidnapping.
• Liu Wei’s coded phrase implicated Rhys in knowing Yang Yong’s situation, and Astor said the kidnapping mattered more to him than the Shadow Church’s infiltration.
• Duke Wick attacked with shadow power, but Astor appeared behind him and stopped him before he could strike.

Astor rescued Yang Yong from the Crow Bandit Group’s dungeon and handled the aftermath of Duke Wick’s betrayal while Lin Hao investigated the Shadow God’s connection to an Evil God. After Astor joined Lin Hao for dinner, he asked whether Lin Hao was an Outer God, leaving Henry alarmed.

• Astor broke into the dungeon, healed Yang Yong, and brought him back to Lin Hao and Liu Wei.
• Wang Zhen explained how Lin Hao and Astor had helped, while Lin Hao investigated the Shadow God’s resemblance to Shadow Fiend and considered implanting his own authority into other worlds.
• Astor dealt with the Shadow Church, captured nobles, and the royal representatives, while Remiel and the Third Prince agreed to leave the unusual matter in his hands.
• The Third Prince proposed that the new Marquis Sike become speaker of the Nobles’ Council, and Henry objected that the young ladies were too young for the role.
• Lin Hao invited Astor and Henry to eat and said he might need Astor’s help; Astor asked whether Lin Hao was an Outer God, startling Henry.

Lin Hao examined Astor’s Fate Holy Sword and sought divine artifacts tied to fate, wisdom, and shadow, while Astor prepared to make inquiries. After Nico exposed the Shadow Church’s infiltration in the Kingdom of Potter, the Shadow Church planned a coordinated retaliation against Astor, Lin Hao, and Josephburg.

• Astor explained that the Seven Gods repelled Outer Gods, and Lin Hao asked to examine the Fate Holy Sword, which he drew and assessed before returning it.
• Lin Hao told Astor he wanted powerful artifacts from the Fate and Wisdom Temples and said he might investigate the Shadow God as well; Astor agreed to make inquiries.
• Nico inherited the marquis title and announced an investigation into the Shadow Church’s infiltration, with Duke Wick leading the screening of nobles in the Kingdom of Potter.
• Shadow Church leaders learned that their agents in the kingdom had been exposed and that their divine art’s restraints had been severed, and they discussed disguising their taboos and retaliating.
• The Shadow Archbishop ordered a coordinated operation, planning to keep Astor occupied while other members targeted Lin Hao and his companion and provoked a demon-beast rampage to destroy Josephburg.

Bishop Kunding led the Shadow Church into the Demon Beast Forest to drive the Earth Dragon toward Joseph Territory, but Divine Lord Suoyao’s wraiths trapped and defeated them. In the Royal Capital, the Shadow Archbishop lured Astor away while Shadow Church forces converged on Marquis Sike’s residence, where Miaoyu and Lin Hao were interrupted by their arrival.

• Joseph Territory celebrated Nico becoming marquis and receiving a tax reduction while Bishop Kunding planned to use the Earth Dragon to attack the territory.
• Kunding’s group entered the Demon Beast Forest and scattered berserk-inducing potion over the Earth Dragon, but discovered it was a corpse puppet.
• Divine Lord Suoyao summoned the Myriad Souls Grand Formation, cut Kunding off from the Shadow God, and had the wraiths capture the bishop and his followers.
• In the Royal Capital, the Shadow Archbishop drew Astor away from the city, and Shadow Church forces began converging on Marquis Sike’s residence.
• Miaoyu and Lin Hao were together when Miaoyu heard the intruders and threatened to kill them.

Lin Hao used a vast Magic Array to capture the Shadow Church forces attacking the Royal Capital, then overpowered the Shadow Archbishop and took him for study. The Shadow God noticed Lin Hao but withdrew, leaving the Royal Capital’s people shaken and Remiel praying for an oracle.

• Remiel realized the Shadow Archbishop had lured Astor away and stayed inside the Fate Grand Cathedral while Kilian kept watch over him.
• Lin Hao’s Magic Array illuminated the Royal Capital, nullified the Shadow Cultists’ Divine Arts, and bound the Shadow Bishops in golden chains.
• The Shadow Archbishop resisted Lin Hao’s chains with shadow power while Astor refrained from intervening.
• Lin Hao sent more chains until the Shadow Archbishop exhausted his borrowed divine power, then appeared and seized him to study the Shadow God’s authority.
• The Shadow God’s gaze briefly fell on Lin Hao before withdrawing, and Remiel returned to the cathedral to pray for a divine oracle.

Lin Hao captured the Shadow Archbishop and all thirteen Shadow Bishops after they attacked the marquis’s estate, stunning the Kingdom of Potter’s leaders and nobles. As Lin Hao withdrew to study his captives, Remiel reassured the crowd and stayed behind, hoping to meet the mysterious guest.

• Liu Wei, Yang Yong, the Potter King, and the people of the capital witnessed Lin Hao’s magic array capture the Shadow Bishops and seize a powerful enemy outside the city.
• Astor arrived at the marquis’s estate and thanked Lin Hao, who began experimenting with shadow power from the captured enemies.
• Lin Hao asked Henry and Astor to handle the arriving visitors while he studied the captives.
• Astor told the Potter King, Jella, and the nobles that the Shadow Archbishop and all thirteen Shadow Bishops had been captured, prompting fears of divine retaliation.
• Remiel arrived and assured the crowd that Fate would protect the Kingdom of Potter, after which the visitors dispersed.
• Remiel asked to meet Lin Hao, but Astor advised him to wait until daytime; Remiel chose to stay, and Astor left.

Lin Hao negotiated with the God of Fate for a divine artifact that could guide him through the Void, in exchange for dealing with an Outer God connected to the Shadow God. After receiving the Fate Divine Sword, Lin Hao used its link to fate to begin writing the Swarm Will into the world, intending to protect it while strengthening the Swarm.

• Lin Hao studied the shadow domain’s ability to alter fermion states, then met Remiel after seven days of waiting and asked the God of Fate for an artifact to navigate the Void.
• Remiel explained that the God of Fate wanted Lin Hao to locate an Outer God linked to the Shadow God, and Lin Hao asked for additional help securing an artifact from the God of Wisdom.
• The God of Fate sent the Fate Divine Sword to Lin Hao as an advance payment, and the miracle drew attention across Potter’s Royal Capital.
• Lin Hao found that the sword gave him a rough direction toward his bloodline bonds and strengthened his connection to the world’s fate authority.
• Lin Hao used fate as a fulcrum to begin writing the Swarm Will into the world, aiming to keep the Swarm from attacking it and to improve insect growth.

Lin Hao used the Fate Sword’s authority to embed Swarm code in the Seven Gods World and pressured the gods into giving him the Shadow King’s coordinates. He alerted the Swarm to the isolated Evil God and prepared God-Eater Insects, leaving the gods sensing a vast hunger outside the world as a Shadow-like presence approached.

• Lin Hao kept inserting Swarm code into the world’s foundations while the Shadow God and Eternity tried to stop him, but Fate’s authority made removing it too dangerous.
• Lin Hao demanded the coordinates of Shadow’s Outer God contact, and the other gods pressured Shadow into providing them.
• Lin Hao sent the coordinates and information about the Shadow King to the primordial Swarm will, which ordered him not to alert the target.
• Lin Hao obtained information on a new God-Eater Insect version and adapted his existing insects while continuing to modify the world.
• The God of Fate sensed countless hungry gazes converging on the Seven Gods World, and the Shadow God detected a Shadow-like aura approaching the supplied coordinates.

Lin Hao helped the Swarm capture the Shadow King, then received all seven gods’ divine artifacts and gained new authorities. The Seven Gods World accepted him as its eighth deity, and his faith was established in its temples.

• The Shadow King tried to lure Lin Hao closer, but Lin Hao and the Swarm trapped it and dragged it away after a half-month battle.
• The Swarm spared the Seven Gods World, and its seven gods thanked Lin Hao for rescuing them from the Outer God.
• The seven gods gave Lin Hao their divine artifacts, allowing him to combine their authorities and strengthen his wish power.
• Lin Hao used the Shadow King’s information and the God of Shadow’s artifact to develop shadow abilities that could alter matter at the quantum level.
• Lin Hao asked permission to spread his faith, and the seven gods accepted him as their eighth deity and Creator God.
• In the first year of the Creation Era, temples across the Seven Gods World added Lin Hao’s statue to their central position.

Lin Hao led Penglai City out of its world fragment and into the Chaotic Void, relying on Earth Will’s protection and the Swarm Network to navigate the dangerous expanse. As he began calculating a wormhole route, patrol officers Liu Wei and Yang Yong discovered an invisible intruder, which Divine Lord Suoyao captured and prepared to report.

• Lin Hao used a multicolored sword projection to tear open the fragment’s sky, and Penglai City entered the Chaotic Void under Earth Will’s Protection.
• Lin Hao explained that the void’s turbulence could destroy powerful cultivators, then began calculating a route to a nearby Swarm wormhole with help from Navigator Bugs and computational tools.
• Liu Wei and Yang Yong spotted an eerie flash during their patrol and reported the unexplained anomaly to central control.
• Divine Lord Suoyao emerged, seized an invisible creature that had slipped through a gap in the city’s shields, and decided to report the intelligent intruder to Lin Hao.

Lin Hao learned about a chaotic-void creature called a World Infiltrator and encountered a technological colony ship whose pilots were investigating Penglai City. Liu Qingqing welcomed the four pilots, who arrived wary of the Swarm after spotting insects in the city.

• Lin Hao captured and examined a weak void creature, identified as a World Infiltrator EB441, and learned that it had infiltrated a Civilization Refugee spaceship.
• The colony ship’s pilot Alan returned from patrol, then received orders to investigate a nearby world signal and launched with three other void fighters.
• Lin Hao detected the colony ship’s method of locating him through trajectory calculations and decided to make contact.
• The four fighters reached Penglai City, where Liu Qingqing greeted them outside the city.
• The pilots noticed the insect rickshaws and taxis and grew wary, so Liu Qingqing reassured them that the insects were harmless.

Liu Qingqing and the four Void fighter pilots established a friendly first contact, and Alan revealed their immigrant ship’s search for a habitable world. Lin Hao agreed to take them to an oasis fragment in exchange for their acceptance of his leadership and access to their technology, but he planned to visit their Starry Sky first to confirm Gaia’s permissions.

• Liu Qingqing welcomed Alan and the other Void fighter pilots into Penglai City, where residents gathered to watch their mecha transform.
• Alan explained that his people had fled a destroyed world and described the terrifying Swarm they had encountered, while Liu Qingqing shared that Penglai City was preparing to travel to another habitable fragment.
• Alan asked Liu Qingqing to take his immigrant ship to the new oasis, and she and Li Yanbing considered the potential value of its antimatter engines and positron cannons.
• Lin Hao appeared, learned that Alan and the other envoys could represent their ship with authorization from Gaia, and offered to lead them if they accepted his leadership and opened their technology.
• Alan agreed in principle and said he would consult Gaia, while Lin Hao decided to visit the Starry Sky himself to verify the arrangement.

Lin Hao met the Starry Sky colony ship and negotiated an alliance, agreeing to lead it to a new oasis in exchange for authority over Gaia. He became the ship’s Captain, and began integrating Gaia’s computing power with the Swarm Network as the Starry Sky prepared to join Penglai City.

• Lin Hao welcomed the Starry Sky and learned that its people had lost contact with their other colony ships while searching the chaotic Void for an oasis.
• Freya agreed to ask Gaia to grant Lin Hao control if he could lead the Starry Sky to a new oasis, despite the risks of surrendering its authority.
• Lin Hao inspected the Starry Sky’s antimatter technology and communicated with Gaia in its quantum-computer chamber for about two hours.
• Lin Hao reached an agreement with Gaia to lead the Starry Sky to the oasis and promote the integration of the two civilizations, including Earth Will’s gradual absorption of the ship’s World Will.
• Gaia appointed Lin Hao Captain of the Starry Sky with authority equivalent to its own, and he ordered Freya to host a celebration of the civilizations’ integration.
• Lin Hao arranged to borrow Gaia’s computing power through the Swarm Network and implanted the Swarm Module in Gaia, though integrating its full capacity would take time.

After a month of cooperation between Penglai City and the Starry Sky, Lin Hao used Gaia’s computing power to improve navigation and his cultivation before the two settlements reached the wormhole zone. They entered a higher-tier Swarm’s base, where Lin Hao learned they would have to wait behind a massive expeditionary force.

• Lin Hao praised Freya’s cleansing song and agreed that the Starry Sky Songstress team could perform in Penglai City while residents grew accustomed to the bugs.
• Over the following month, survivors aboard the Starry Sky learned about Transmigrators and became more active, while Lin Hao installed Antimatter Engines in his armor and organized Gaia’s computing power.
• Lin Hao used Gaia’s calculations to find a faster, safer route and refine his techniques, cultivation art, and plans for a Divine Transformation Pool.
• Penglai City towed the Starry Sky into the wormhole zone, where Alan and the other Void Fighter pilots saw vast numbers of giant bugs and realized they belonged to the Swarm.
• Lin Hao sensed the higher-tier Swarm’s Mother Bug withdraw after confirming his permission, then learned that a large expeditionary Swarm had occupied the wormhole queue to conquer a world.

Lin Hao used Freya’s singing to bargain with successive Swarm groups, gaining powerful insects while guiding Penglai City and the Starry Sky through wormholes. After reaching a new wormhole zone, he learned they were only two months from the Oasis, where his family was waiting.

• Lin Hao returned with a century-old Brain Bug and two Flesh Insects after Freya sang for a Mother Bug.
• Lin Hao’s group waited three days for their turn, then traveled through a Wormhole Insect to a new region of the Chaotic Void.
• Lin Hao brought Freya to another Mother Bug to sing and received four more Flesh Insects in payment.
• Lin Hao planned to use the Flesh Insects as the basis for armor and a Divine Transformation Pool.
• Lin Hao told Freya they were two months from the Oasis, and she reacted with astonishment.

Lin Hao prepared to break through to Divine Transformation and led Penglai City and the Starry Sky into a habitable oasis fragment. His breach triggered catastrophic natural disasters, leaving the settlements to wait for the barrier to repair before moving to safer ground.

• Lin Hao completed preparations for his Divine Transformation Pool and created a remotely controlled duplicate from his equipment.
• Lin Hao detected that his family had left the settlement and decided to travel there after entering the oasis.
• Lin Hao cut open the oasis fragment's barrier, and Penglai City and the Starry Sky passed through into its natural world.
• The barrier's rupture unleashed storms, earthquakes, eruptions, toxic gases, and falling debris that devastated the surrounding region and killed local creatures.
• Lin Hao reassured the settlements that they would leave for a more habitable area once the barrier repaired itself.

Liu Xudong’s settlement in the Abyss faced a storm and an attack by intelligent, powerful dinosaurs until Lin Hao arrived and saved the residents. The villagers discovered that the figure who had defeated the beasts was the Lin family’s eldest son.

• Liu Xudong and another elder discussed the strange storm, the growing danger from nearby beasts, and whether to send residents to the Second World.
• Three enormous tyrannosaurs and a pack of velociraptors approached the settlement, and one tyrannosaur destroyed a room with a blue energy blast.
• Lin Hao appeared in the sky, dispersed the storm, and caused the dinosaurs to submit.
• Lin Hao killed the tyrannosaurs and surrounding velociraptors with a rain of golden swords, then descended to help Liu Xudong up.
• Liu Xudong recognized Lin Hao and stared in disbelief at the young man who had saved the settlement.