Chapter Summaries

Li Xiaowa discovered that the power of faith carried a mental poison that could eventually drive its users mad, while Jiang Yang continued pursuing the Emperor-Rank Third Step. Twenty years before the apocalypse, a woman from the Heroic Spirit Throne recruited Li Zhe and took him to another era after demonstrating magic.

• Li Xiaowa showed Jiang Yang that prayers within the power of faith contained traces of mental power that could accumulate into a poison, and Jiang Yang told her to investigate while keeping the discovery from the wider Divine Clan.
• Jiang Yang and Li Xiaowa discussed the Emperor-Rank Third Step, and Jiang Yang decided to seek insights by traveling around the world.
• Jiang Yang returned to the Kunlun Divine Court and spent seven days on Mount Kunlun contemplating the path to the Emperor-Rank Third Step.
• Twenty years before the apocalypse, a hooded woman and two companions from the Heroic Spirit Throne appeared in Li Zhe's dorm room and asked him to save the world.
• Li Zhe demanded proof of magic, and the hooded woman melted the window with a beam of light before taking him and her companions away through flickering space.

Jiang Yang arrived in a prosperous Silver Folk city-state after reflecting on the difference between divine and demonic elements. There, a young woman sought companions to slay an evil dragon, and a young elf volunteered to join her.

• The Silver Folk distinguished the meteorite-borne demonic element from the divine element, which enabled natural awakening.
• Jiang Yang entered a prosperous city-state and approached its grand temple.
• A determined young woman called for volunteers to help her slay an evil dragon threatening the city and its villages.
• A young elf with a longbow stepped forward and agreed to join the young woman.

Jiang Yang joined a group of adventurers setting out to slay an evil dragon, forming a six-person Dragon-Slaying Team. The next morning, the team left the city and began its journey.

• Borli joined the brown-haired girl’s mission to slay the dragon.
• Zhang Huan and a red-haired human youth joined the party.
• A gnome mage girl signed up to gather the dragon’s magical materials.
• Jiang Yang introduced himself as the swordsman Yang Jiang and joined the team.
• The six adventurers gathered at the city gate the next morning and set out to slay the dragon.

Jiang Yang traveled with Li Zhi and the other dragon-slaying companions, concealing his identity while helping them survive the journey. They reached the corrupted valley and found the enormous pitch-black dragon waiting atop a mountain of bones.

• Li Zhi led the party through the wilderness, and its members shared their backgrounds while Jiang Yang invented a story about seeking revenge on a strange beast.
• Molly played a song about God King Jiang, prompting the party to discuss the gods they worshipped.
• The party continued across mountains and rivers, while Jiang Yang secretly killed or drove off dangerous King-Rank strange beasts.
• The dragon-slaying party entered a valley where a corrosive force had turned the land black and found countless bones beneath a gigantic dragon.
• The pitch-black dragon opened its dark-golden eyes, laughed at the intruders, and called them food delivered to its door.

The dragon-slaying party attacked Lord Kus, but the pitch-black dragon proved far stronger than they had expected. Just as Kus prepared to kill them, a golden-haired, golden-eyed swordsman appeared and confronted him.

• Borli, Molly, the brown-haired girl, and their companions launched their planned attack on Lord Kus, but their blows barely threatened the dragon.
• The party unleashed their strongest attacks, and Borli struck Kus in the eye with an A-Rank arrow.
• Enraged by the wound, Kus vowed to plunge the world into turmoil and gathered corrosive light to destroy the party.
• A golden-haired, golden-eyed figure tapped Kus's jaws shut with his longsword, stopping the attack.
• The figure confronted Kus and asked how he intended to plunge the world into turmoil.

Jiang Yang forced the evil dragon to reveal how it planned to bring demons into the world, then watched as a vast ritual array summoned the Demon King, Samael. The dragon-slaying party fled while Jiang Yang prepared to face the newly arrived threat.

• Jiang Yang freed the pitch-black dragon's jaws and the dragon recognized him as God King Jiang of the Kunlun Divine Court.
• The dragon-slaying party praised Jiang Yang, while he questioned the evil dragon about its plan to plunge the world into turmoil.
• The evil dragon claimed that demons would soon descend, and Jiang Yang raised his sword to kill it until it offered to prove they existed.
• The evil dragon activated a gigantic hexagram array beneath the mountain of corpses and blood, releasing a powerful, unfamiliar evil presence.
• Jiang Yang ordered the dragon-slaying party to retreat, and the silver-haired elf led the others away.
• The Demon King, Samael, emerged from the array and announced that he had returned to the world.

A hooded woman and two men carried an unconscious bespectacled young man toward their mission destination while observing the demon Samael and a golden-haired figure from afar. In the valley, Jiang Yang transformed into the Golden Crow to confront Samael, and the trio recognized the legendary divine bird.

• The hooded woman identified Samael as a demon king whose recorded strength was fifth-step Emperor-Rank, and her companions judged him and the golden-haired figure to be powerful.
• The three mission members left with the unconscious bespectacled young man, while the stern man carried him on his shoulder.
• Aji welcomed Samael and asked him to bring death and eternal rest to the continent, and Samael promised to give Aji a more powerful demonic body.
• Samael mocked Jiang Yang and reached to seize him, while Jiang Yang saw that the demon's body was made from countless corpses and bones.
• Jiang Yang unleashed golden flames and transformed into a divine bird, and the distant trio recognized him as the Golden Crow.

Jiang Yang fought Samael, the King of Demons, for three days and three nights and defeated his projection. Samael’s exploding black blood spread across the world and eventually gave rise to Magic Beasts, while Jiang Yang was left wondering about Satan and the demon’s origins.

• Three observers recognized Jiang Yang as a possible supreme powerhouse of the Fifth Epoch and left, certain he would win.
• Jiang Yang shattered Samael’s giant hand and battled the King of Demons, using the Forbidden Domain and his sword-like Golden Crow form.
• After three days and three nights, Samael fell into a severe disadvantage and threatened that Hell would invade the mortal world.
• Samael exploded in the sky, scattering black blood across the world; Jiang Yang burned most of it but could not stop some from spreading.
• The remaining blood became a trigger for the later emergence of Magic Beasts, whose attacks devastated the Silver Folk but whose magic and materials proved useful.
• Jiang Yang returned to human form, exhausted, and wondered where Samael had come from and who Satan was.

Samael learned that Hell’s gate would take about three thousand years to fully open, then set out for a council at the Hell Court after threatening Satan’s envoy. On Earth, Jiang Yang went to the Great Snowfield Shelter and accidentally interrupted Li Xiaowa and Qing Fengxi in the laboratory.

• Samael asked his subordinates when the gate between Hell and the mortal world would open, and they said it would take approximately three thousand years to fully connect.
• Samael learned that weaker demons could enter through small spatial breaches before then, but he feared Jiang Yang would grow too powerful if he waited.
• A fallen angel delivered Satan’s command for Samael to attend a council at the Court, and Samael seized and threatened the envoy before agreeing to go.
• After recovering from the battle, Jiang Yang visited the Great Snowfield Shelter and entered the laboratory, where he found Li Xiaowa and Qing Fengxi nearly kissing.
• Jiang Yang backed out and shut the door, then Qing Fengxi angrily called for him to return.

Jiang Yang reflected on his battle with Samael and forged a Divine Ring, reaching the emperor-rank third step. He emerged before the Gods and declared what his breakthrough meant, while silently remembering Ania.

• Li Xiaowa and Qing Fengxi examined Jiang Yang’s photographs of the demon and the hexagram formation, and Qing Fengxi agreed to study the formation.
• Li Xiaowa planned to search historical records for demons and alert the other shelters and Divine Courts, while Jiang Yang returned to Kunlun Mountain to cultivate.
• Jiang Yang revisited his memories and formed a supreme will to protect heaven, earth, and all living beings, as a golden Divine Ring began to take shape behind him.
• For three years, the Divine Ring’s forging sounds echoed across the Divine Court, worrying Filiya, Li Xiaowa, and the other Gods.
• Jiang Yang completed the Divine Ring, rose with his sword drawn, and announced that he had reached the emperor-rank third step.

Jiang Yang spoke with the gods about the emperor-rank third step, then learned that Filiya had no interest in the young man courting her. Meanwhile, Qing Fengxi researched the Hexagram Magic Array and began considering whether demonic element could power magic arrays better than divine element.

• The gods of Kunlun asked Jiang Yang about the emperor-rank third step, and he answered some of their questions.
• Jiang Yang asked Filiya about her suitor, but she said she had no thoughts of romance and felt she would never find love.
• Qing Fengxi studied the Hexagram Magic Array and investigated the God War Forest, where Jiang Yang and Samael had once fought.
• After seeing magic beasts cast magic in the forest, Qing Fengxi wondered whether magic arrays worked better with demonic element than with divine element.

Qing Fengxi sought an assistant skilled in Demonic Element to help research Magic Arrays, and Jiang Yang suggested finding a wise Silver Folk person. They visited Midsummer Town and heard a bard describe its Sage, whom they decided to seek out.

• Qing Fengxi began researching Magic Arrays and called Jiang Yang to ask for an assistant skilled in Demonic Element.
• Jiang Yang suggested Qing Fengxi seek a wise person among the Silver Folk.
• The Dragon-Slaying Team’s former members founded Midsummer Town, whose prosperity and reputation grew with the Sage’s plans and advice.
• Jiang Yang and Qing Fengxi entered Midsummer Town and admired a statue of the War God.
• A Bard sang of the Sage’s wisdom, town-building, healing knowledge, and talent for inventing spells by observing Magic Beasts.
• Jiang Yang identified the Sage as a possible assistant, and Qing Fengxi agreed to seek him out.

Jiang Yang and Qing Fengxi visited the Sage in Midsummer Town and discovered that he wore glasses from the Fifth Epoch. The Sage, Li Zhe, recognized Jiang Yang as the person he had been sent to help, but introduced himself as someone who had heard of Jiang from Li Zhi.

• Jiang Yang and Qing Fengxi asked for directions and reached the Sage’s residence in Midsummer Town.
• The guards let the visitors wait while they informed the Sage, and Jiang Yang noticed the carefully tended courtyard.
• Li Zhe came out wearing glasses from the Fifth Epoch, prompting Jiang Yang and Qing Fengxi to wonder whether other shelters had existed.
• Li Zhe recognized Jiang Yang as the person he had been ordered to influence and recalled being taken from his own time to awaken supernatural power in the Fifth Epoch before arriving in the Silver Age.
• Jiang Yang asked whether Li Zhe knew him, and Li Zhe said that Li Zhi had described him as the God King of the Kunlun Divine Court.
• Qing Fengxi asked Li Zhe where he came from and whether he had companions.

Li Zhe revealed that he came from another era and agreed to help Qing Fengxi study magic arrays that might extend the Silver Folk’s lifespans. In the future, the Heroic Spirit Throne’s blood-red “0” changed to a green “1,” prompting celebration as a supreme sovereign watched a radiant figure upstream in time.

• Li Zhe explained to Jiang Yang and Qing Fengxi that he had awakened in this era after falling unconscious during the apocalypse, while Qing Fengxi decided to keep observing him.
• At the bonfire, Qing Fengxi invited Li Zhe to study magic arrays, explaining that they might strengthen the Silver Folk and help them surpass their lifespan limits; Li Zhe agreed.
• Jiang Yang greeted the Dragon-Slaying Team, and the group shared stories until Li Zhi asked whether Li Zhe could be with a member of the Divine Clan; Jiang Yang reassured her that gods and mortals could unite in the Silver Age.
• In the future, the Heroic Spirit Throne’s blood-red “0” disappeared and a green “1” appeared on its screen, prompting people throughout the hall to celebrate.
• A purple-haired woman praised the endurance of Human Civilization, and a supreme sovereign looked upstream in time at a radiant, flickering figure before praising the Heroic Spirit Throne.

Qing Fengxi and Li Zhe developed the Demonic Element into a new Path of Magic, allowing practitioners to reach the Saint Domain and giving the Divine Clan a way to advance beyond King-Rank. The Divine Clan debated whether to share the system with the Silver Folk, but news arrived that forced them to agree to its spread.

• Jiang Yang returned to the Kunlun Divine Court to pursue the Emperor-Rank Fourth Step, while Qing Fengxi stayed in Midsummer Town to study magic with Li Zhe.
• Qing Fengxi and Li Zhe analyzed Magic Beasts’ spells and established a magic system whose highest level, the Saint Domain, matched Emperor-Rank First Step strength.
• Members of the Divine Clan reached the Saint Domain over the following decades, and the Dragon-Slaying Team did so under Qing Fengxi and Li Zhe’s guidance.
• The Divine Clan shared the Path of Magic with the Seven Divine Courts and shelters, and some Silver Folk who worshipped the Divine Clan also learned it.
• Most members of the Divine Clan opposed spreading the Path of Magic to all Silver Folk, but news arrived that forced them to agree.

The Seven Divine Courts and their allied refuges gathered on Mount Olympus after devil-like creatures appeared across the Olympian Region. Artemis warned that the creatures might signal a world-ending invasion, and Ra asked why they believed the threat was so grave.

• The God Kings of the Seven Divine Courts and representatives of their refuges convened on Mount Olympus.
• Artemis presented a dead creature with horns, black scales, and an aura resembling the Demon King Jiang Yang had fought.
• Artemis said similar creatures had appeared throughout the Olympian Region and identified them as the Devil Race.
• Jiang Yang confirmed the creature shared the Demon King's aura, while Brahma questioned why the Divine Courts needed to gather over a threat they could handle.
• Artemis said the Devils were evidence of a powerful evil force seeking to destroy the world, and Ra asked why she believed the danger rivaled the Fifth Epoch apocalypse.

Artemis reported that the Horned Demons were part of a powerful Devil Civilization planning an invasion of Earth, and Chief Scientist Aulisel announced plans to arm the Silver Folk and place the Divine Courts under unified command. Her demand met resistance from five of the seven God Kings, who had held power for two thousand years.

• Artemis told the Divine Clan that the Horned Demons came from Hell, where a Devil Overlord and seven Demon Kings ruled a powerful civilization preparing to invade Earth.
• The gods learned that they could neither explain nor predict when or where spatial rifts would form.
• A researcher from the Norse Refuge presented Aulisel to the gathered gods through a screen of light.
• Aulisel announced that the Silver Folk would receive the New Magic System to help resist the devils.
• Aulisel asked the Divine Courts to fight under her unified command if the Devil Civilization invaded, and five God Kings furrowed their brows at the demand.

The gods debated Aulisel’s proposal to place the Seven Divine Courts under a unified authority, with Divine Court loyalists rejecting the idea and arguing that the God Kings had safeguarded the world. Qing Fengxi defended the Refuge Research Institute and challenged the gods to remember that the Divine Courts were founded to protect, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• A long-faced man behind Ra argued that the Divine Courts and God Kings had protected the world and demanded that Aulisel explain why they should submit to another authority.
• The gods answered his questions by declaring that the Divine Courts had maintained order and the God Kings had led them.
• Jiang Yang signaled Qing Fengxi to respond after Aulisel stayed silent.
• Qing Fengxi defended science and the researchers, citing their role in cultivation, preserving civilization, and assessing threats.
• Ares claimed that the age of the gods had replaced the era of Chen Ping'an, but Qing Fengxi overpowered him with his emperor-rank first-step aura.
• Qing Fengxi reminded the God Kings that the Divine Courts had been founded to protect rather than rule.

Qing Fengxi and Aulisel argued that the Seven Divine Courts needed unified leadership to face an invading devil civilization, but several God Kings opposed Aulisel’s authority. Zeus called for a vote, leaving the gods to decide whether she would lead them.

• Qing Fengxi praised Aulisel’s impartiality and scientific ability, persuading some gods to support her leadership.
• Mar opposed Aulisel’s proposals, warning that the Silver Folk could gain power, rebel, and repeat the upheavals of the Fifth Epoch.
• Odin argued that the Divine Courts had grown powerful while science had made little progress, and rejected Aulisel’s leadership.
• Aulisel defended unified command and declared her duty as Chen Ping'an's successor to protect her civilization and compatriots.
• Zeus questioned whether the Silver Folk would accept Aulisel because her strength was below that of the other God Kings, then proposed a vote.

The gods and God Kings voted on Aulisel’s proposal, and Zeus declared it defeated. Jiang Yang then revealed that he supported a new era where strength reigned supreme and challenged the gods to choose whether to stand with him or become his enemies.

• The gods split evenly between supporting and opposing Aulisel’s proposal.
• Ra, Mar, Zeus, Odin, and Brahma opposed the proposal, Isa abstained, and Jiang Yang supported it.
• Zeus declared that the majority had rejected Aulisel’s proposal and called for another method.
• Jiang Yang rose from his throne and insisted that his support meant strength should reign supreme in the Primeval Era.
• Jiang Yang unleashed his divine power and warned the gods that those who opposed him would be his enemies.