Chapter Summaries

Lin Yuan used the Nether River to defeat the Deep Sea beasts and found Bai Ling’s soul, then awakened her. After the river vanished, Chi Yu said she knew a way to rescue beings from the Nether River, though it could be difficult or easy.

• Chi Yu explained that the Nether River would empower Lin Yuan’s skeletons, and Lin Yuan revealed that his ship’s keel was made from an undead treant core.
• The beasts initially overwhelmed the skeleton army, but the Nether River revived and transformed the skeletons, allowing them to defeat nearly all the beasts.
• Lin Yuan sent Lilia to find Bai Ling’s soul, and she quickly retrieved it from beneath the river’s surface so Lin Yuan could awaken Bai Ling.
• When the Nether River’s duration ended, Lin Yuan collected the fallen beasts’ corpses, hoping to obtain several Transcendent Cores.
• Lin Yuan told Chi Yu that Bai Ling was a Player he was trying to save, and Chi Yu said she knew a way to rescue beings from the Nether River.

Lin Yuan learned that the Death Seed was a dangerous relic connected to the uncanny Life Domain, then asked Chi Yu how to save Bai Ling. Chi Yu explained that he had to find Bai Ling’s Nether River Monarch and defeat it, leaving him with a clear but difficult task.

• Lin Yuan showed Chi Yu the Death Seed, and she warned him that the Life Domain was perilous because everyone who had tried to condense its authority had died mysteriously.
• Lin Yuan recalled the Death Seed’s origins and realized that its creator and a later undead being had somehow returned to Paradise, suggesting the relic concealed a major secret.
• Chi Yu explained that the East Pole Island Lord had turned her and the others into self-aware Nether River creatures and brought them out of the river.
• Chi Yu told Lin Yuan that Bai Ling had already retained her self-awareness and been located in the Nether River, so only bringing her out remained.
• Chi Yu said Lin Yuan needed to find Bai Ling’s Nether River Monarch and defeat it to make it release her.

Lin Yuan learned that he could potentially summon Bai Ling from the Nether River by strengthening the Death Seed, avoiding the need to defeat a Nether River Monarch immediately. After the Phantom Lin Yuan navigated a vast ocean current, it surfaced near East Pole Island, whose lights appeared on the horizon.

• Chi Yu explained how Lin Yuan could summon Bai Ling by raising the Death Seed's power enough to summon Nether River Sirens.
• Lin Yuan decided to strengthen the Death Seed with life aura and thanked Chi Yu for the suggestion.
• Lin Yuan directed the Phantom Lin Yuan to continue toward East Pole Island after the behemoths no longer blocked their way.
• The Phantom Lin Yuan entered a massive ocean current that carried it rapidly toward East Pole Island.
• Lin Yuan brought the Phantom Lin Yuan to the surface near dawn and saw the brightly lit East Pole Island ahead.

Lin Yuan and Chi Yu reached East Pole Island, where the island’s immense scale contrasted with the poverty and pirate danger of its outskirts. They crossed the outer city and saw the opulent inner city beyond its guarded wall, where they were left at the boundary between two starkly different districts.

• Lin Yuan learned from Chi Yu that East Pole Island had broken off smaller islands during a battle two thousand years ago and could shelter vast numbers of people.
• As Lin Yuan approached the island, he saw ruined outskirts filled with makeshift tents and learned from Chi Yu that pirates frequently raided the area.
• Chi Yu calmed the frightened residents, and Lin Yuan withdrew the Phantom Lin Yuan to keep it from being looted or affecting them with its deathly aura.
• Lin Yuan and Chi Yu passed through the poor outskirts and outer city, where most of the island’s residents lived.
• Lin Yuan and Chi Yu reached the guarded inner-city gate and saw the wealthy, splendid district beyond it.

Lin Yuan and Chi Yu tried to enter East Pole Island’s inner city, where Lin Yuan’s clashes with the Liu Family escalated into a crisis for the Island Lord’s Residence. After learning the Four Great Families might ally with pirates and the Crawlers, Lin Yuan remained determined to meet Steward Liu and deal with the threat.

• A guard from the Four Great Families demanded to search Lin Yuan and his coffin, so Lin Yuan kicked the officer unconscious and walked into the inner city with Chi Yu.
• The Liu Family’s third son confronted Lin Yuan, and Chi Yu explained that the young man had deliberately waited to provoke them.
• Lin Yuan challenged Chi Yu’s caution, saying Players naturally shattered the status quo, then used the Shell Pump to reach the young man and punched him and his guards down the street.
• Chi Yu warned that the Four Great Families might join the pirates and Crawlers against East Pole Island, and Lin Yuan said he could kill them after he had time to develop.
• Lin Yuan told Chi Yu to hurry and take him to Steward Liu, and Chi Yu understood why Steward Liu had called Lin Yuan the hope of breaking the deadlock.

Lin Yuan met Steward Liu, learned why the Island Lord’s treasury held no transcendent cores, and heard a plan to obtain cores scattered across East Pole Island. Steward Liu’s proposal pointed Lin Yuan toward the Four Great Families, leaving him poised to pursue the resources he needed.

• Lin Yuan surveyed the Island Lord’s fortress-like residence and reflected on Steward Liu’s loyalty and the Four Great Families’ corruption.
• Chi Yu brought Steward Liu to Lin Yuan, who said the Four Great Families should be wiped out; Steward Liu agreed but explained he could not leave the residence.
• Steward Liu tested Lin Yuan’s abilities and asked whether he could defeat the Four Great Families’ Double A-rank heads; Lin Yuan said he could.
• Steward Liu told Lin Yuan that the Island Lord’s warehouse contained no transcendent cores, since the Island Lord had distributed them for construction and crafting.
• Steward Liu explained that the cores had been scattered across East Pole Island and eventually concentrated among its richest and most powerful people, leading Lin Yuan to identify the Four Great Families.

Lin Yuan learned that the Pirate Kings’ vaults might hold the lower-rank Transcendent Cores he needed and planned to target them. Steward Liu agreed to have Chi Yu gather pirate intelligence, then revealed that he suspected Zero was an extraordinary kind of Sanctum Knight.

• Lin Yuan asked Steward Liu for lower-rank Transcendent Cores because he could not yet use the A-rank cores kept in the Four Great Families’ vaults.
• Steward Liu explained that the Four Great Families secretly backed Pirate Kings, whose vaults likely contained many C-rank Transcendent Cores and below.
• Lin Yuan chose to target the Pirate Kings, and Steward Liu asked Chi Yu to bring him information on pirates around East Pole Island.
• Chi Yu worried that Lin Yuan would face four Double A-rank opponents alone, but Steward Liu told her to give him time to develop.
• Steward Liu told Chi Yu that Zero seemed like one of the rare Sanctum Knights who fought powerful enemies beyond the Crawlers.

Lin Yuan fed the Death Seed a million health points, strengthening its connection to the Nether River enough to summon Bai Ling. He learned that the relic still needed more life force to evolve and considered asking Steward Liu about a rare material required for a Lookout Platform blueprint.

• Steward Liu told Chi Yu that the special Sanctum Knights were known as Lost Sanctum Knights because their histories and names had to be erased after they went to a dangerous place called “that side.”
• Lin Yuan poured life force into the Death Seed until it had absorbed about a million health points, then stopped before exhausting himself because the relic needed even more to evolve.
• The Death Seed’s connection to the Nether River strengthened, letting Lin Yuan sense its creatures and establish contact with Bai Ling.
• Lin Yuan summoned Bai Ling, who welcomed the respite from the Nether River and said she had begun mastering Nether River Siren abilities.
• Lin Yuan realized Bai Ling could serve as a navigator and decided to ask Steward Liu about the Starry Sky material required by his Lookout Platform blueprint.

Lin Yuan learned that awakening the Island Lord required entering the Crawlers’ territory and finding the slumbering Apostle, while losing his Player status would mean death without protection. He left the Island Lord’s Residence to pursue the pirates and overheard the Liu Family offering a Supreme Treasure Voucher for information about him.

• Steward Liu told Lin Yuan that the Island Lord’s soul was likely entangled with a Crawler Apostle, and that the Apostle’s sleeping place lay deep in Crawler territory.
• Steward Liu explained that Lin Yuan would die if he lost his Player status without becoming an Authority Holder, gaining an Island Lord’s protection, or finding another form of protection.
• Steward Liu warned Lin Yuan to avoid materials from the Starry Sky until he could enter the Abyssal Sea and return alive.
• Lin Yuan left the Island Lord’s Residence without requesting help, while Steward Liu and Chi Yu realized too late that he had no sense of direction.
• Lin Yuan used the Shell Pump’s Mirage Mist to evade the Four Great Families’ lookouts and overheard them discussing the Liu Family’s reward for reporting his whereabouts.

Lin Yuan sent Lilia into the Treasure Pavilion to locate its Transcendent Cores, using her disguise to keep the Four Great Families unaware of her connection to him. After Lilia showed a D-rank core as proof of her means, an attendant led her to a concealed VIP area to fetch the manager.

• Lin Yuan remembered that the Treasure Pavilion might stock lower-rank Transcendent Cores and decided to visit before going to sea.
• Lilia entered the Treasure Pavilion while Lin Yuan and the Coffin remained concealed in mist, and she insulted a guard who tried to turn her away.
• An attendant suggested the cheaper section, but Lilia demanded the finest treasures and was told to prove her financial means for access to the VIP reception room.
• Lilia produced a D-rank Transcendent Core and asked for more cores of higher ranks, convincing the attendant she was a valuable customer.
• The attendant led Lilia through a concealed door into a lavish private area and went to fetch the manager.

Lin Yuan and Lilia tried to obtain the Treasure Pavilion’s Transcendent Cores by offering Miniature Turrets, while the manager suspected a robbery and secretly called in reinforcements. The manager entered the storeroom to prepare, only to find that Lin Yuan’s people had already infiltrated it and were ready to strike.

• At Lin Yuan’s prompting, Lilia offered to trade Miniature Turrets for all the Treasure Pavilion’s C-rank, D-rank, and E-rank Transcendent Cores.
• The manager agreed to show them the cores in two hours, then told his attendant he suspected Lilia planned to rob the pavilion.
• The manager arranged for Liu Family experts and men sent by the Tidal General to come, while he went to prepare the storeroom.
• The manager entered the storeroom and smugly imagined capturing the supposed robbers.
• A voice asked Stalking Captain what “catch a turtle in a jar” meant, and another voice realized it was their turn to capture someone.

Lin Yuan and Lilia uncovered a Warehouse manager’s secret allegiance to the Crawlers and learned that the Four Great Families were watching people who accepted the Crawlers’ life-extending blessing. Lin Yuan killed the corrupted manager and left more worried about the Crawlers’ influence on East Pole Island, while Lilia finished looting the Transcendent Cores.

• Lin Yuan and Lilia confronted the manager after secretly following him to the Warehouse, and Lin Yuan subdued him while Lilia gathered the Transcendent Cores.
• The manager claimed he secretly served the Crawlers, who supported the Pirate Emperors, and Lin Yuan confirmed the man bore the Crawlers’ scent.
• The manager revealed that the Four Great Families knew of their people’s dealings with the Crawlers and treated them as test subjects, while the Island Lord’s Residence opposed the Crawlers.
• Lin Yuan rejected the manager’s claim that they were allies and killed him with the Holy Hall Light Blade, exposing the Crawlers’ corruption inside his head.
• Lin Yuan feared the Crawlers had corrupted more people than he had realized and resolved to reach Double A-rank quickly.
• Lilia reported that she had looted all the treasure chests and showed Lin Yuan her arms full of Transcendent Cores.

Lin Yuan waited near a Tidal General pirate ship, hoping to obtain the item that could lead him to the pirates’ mobile base, while sorting through the Treasure Pavilion loot. One-Eye arrived, unaware Lin Yuan was nearby, and complained about the Liu Family and the raid before cursing the mysterious Great Pirate who had caused trouble.

• Lin Yuan and Lilia reached a secluded cape and found a Tidal General pirate ship whose cargo had already been unloaded.
• Lin Yuan planned to wait for the ship’s Great Pirate so he could take the special item used to locate the Tidal General’s base.
• Lin Yuan refined the Treasure Pavilion’s Transcendent Cores, raising his C-rank Transcendent Energy to 90/90, and judged most of its equipment flashy and impractical.
• One-Eye arrived with several dozen pirates and empty carts, complaining that the Treasure Pavilion’s warehouse had been robbed and the Liu Family had reprimanded him.
• One-Eye grumbled that the Liu Family would not give the Tidal General an A-rank Transcendent Core, then vowed that the newly promoted Great Pirate had better not cross his path.

Lin Yuan captured One-Eye after discovering that his physical strength overwhelmed the pirate’s wind attacks. While questioning One-Eye about how to contact his hideout, Lin Yuan faced a threat involving the General.

• One-Eye sensed Lin Yuan through the Mirage Mist and attacked him with wind-enhanced saber strikes, but barely hurt him.
• One-Eye tried to flee, but Lin Yuan caught up with the Shell Pump and knocked him unconscious with his Light Blade in Light Staff mode.
• Lin Yuan had Lilia bind One-Eye, cleared the remaining pirates, and sailed away with him aboard the Phantom Lin Yuan.
• After One-Eye woke up tied up, Lin Yuan demanded to know where he had hidden the item used to contact the pirate hideout.
• One-Eye warned Lin Yuan about the General and urged him to join, but Lin Yuan slapped him and repeated his question; One-Eye answered with a strange smile.

After One-Eye revealed that the Crawlers had turned the pirates’ contact items into organs in their brains, Lin Yuan used Bai Ling’s Inspiration to trace the connection to the Tidal General’s hideout. As the Phantom Lin Yuan pursued the hideout, Bai Ling sensed it directly from farther away, and Lin Yuan killed One-Eye to prevent him from alerting the pirates.

• One-Eye told Lin Yuan that the pirates now contacted their hideout through organs implanted in their brains, and refused to reveal its location.
• Lin Yuan summoned Bai Ling, who traced One-Eye’s connection to a hideout less than a hundred kilometers away.
• Bai Ling’s directions led the Phantom Lin Yuan toward the hideout as it changed course and submerged to evade pursuit.
• Bai Ling began sensing the hideout directly from up to fifty kilometers away, and Lin Yuan realized they had a range advantage over the pirates.
• Lin Yuan cut off One-Eye’s head, preventing him from helping the pirates track the Phantom Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan used Bai Ling’s Inspiration to locate the Tidal General’s moving lair, killed Golden Hook and cleared out the remaining pirates. He and Lilia found the hidden warehouse, but its shelves labeled “Transcendent Core” were empty.

• Golden Hook ordered the lair to move after losing contact with One-Eye, hoping to evade the enemy.
• Lin Yuan arrived at the lair by surprise and killed Golden Hook, whose Soul Hook and Dark Shield failed against him.
• Lin Yuan cleared out the remaining lackeys and credited Bai Ling with locating the lair and its strongest occupant.
• Lin Yuan summoned Lilia, and they searched the lair room by room for the treasury.
• Lin Yuan found a concealed warehouse stocked with valuables and equipment, but its Transcendent Core shelves had recently been emptied.

Lin Yuan discovered letters from the Crawlers in the Tidal General’s secret study and learned that the Three Emperors had fallen or disappeared. The Tidal General had left with his forces and Transcendent Cores to join the Crawlers’ expedition, but Lin Yuan could not find the map showing their destination.

• Lin Yuan concluded that the Tidal General had taken his Transcendent Cores and most of his Great Pirates away on important business.
• Lilia found a cramped secret study where Lin Yuan discovered recent letters from the Crawlers.
• Lin Yuan read that the Red Emperor and Black Emperor had fallen and the White Emperor had gone mad and vanished.
• Lin Yuan learned that the Tidal General had accepted the Crawlers’ invitation to visit the place where the Three Emperors met disaster.
• Lin Yuan searched for the map of that location but could not find it, leaving him without a way to follow the Tidal General.

Lin Yuan found a marked location on the Tidal General’s sea chart that might be where the Crawlers had summoned the Pirate Generals, and he sailed there to investigate. After finding the territory deserted, he waited for Bai Ling and recognized the Time Maze’s mist as the same mist from the Sanctum’s Land of Legacy.

• Lin Yuan gave up searching the vast East Pole Sea for the underwater site and collected the Crawlers’ letters to bring back to Steward Liu.
• Lin Yuan noticed the Tidal General’s sea chart marked a deep-sea location where the three Pirate Emperors’ territories overlapped, and suspected it was the place the Crawlers had mentioned.
• Lin Yuan searched the rest of the lair, found nothing, then took Lilia and the Phantom Lin Yuan toward the marked location.
• After more than half a day, Lin Yuan reached the pirate territory and found no ships or other signs of activity; he suspected the Pirate Generals had taken their capable subordinates with them to meet the Crawlers.
• Lin Yuan decided to wait until he could summon Bai Ling to search the dangerous area, then observed the Time Maze and recognized its mist from the Sanctum’s Land of Legacy.

Lin Yuan learned that the Sanctum Founders had hidden their Legacy within a Time Maze, then focused on his own preparations as the Divine Artisan Forge recovered. With Bai Ling’s help, he found a deep sea island where dying Deep Sea Behemoths gathered, identifying it as their graveyard.

• Little Black told Lin Yuan that the Divine Artisan Core had recovered, so Lin Yuan put “Explore the Sea” into the Divine Artisan Forge to be upgraded.
• Little Black said the Level Five Hull blueprint was nearly finished, and Lin Yuan considered returning to Shattered Island to obtain its materials.
• Lin Yuan summoned Bai Ling after the Death Seed’s cooldown ended and told her about the Crawlers’ letter concerning a dangerous place in the Deep Sea.
• Bai Ling sensed no nearby threats and guided Lin Yuan to a deep sea island formed by a rising ocean current.
• Bai Ling divined that death energy on the island drew dying Deep Sea Behemoths there, and Lin Yuan recognized it as a graveyard for them.

Lin Yuan learned that Red Anglerfish was using a formation in the Behemoth Graveyard to gather death energy and help the wounded Crawler Apostle awaken or recover, so he infiltrated the graveyard to sabotage the plan. Meanwhile, the Tidal General and Red Anglerfish each pursued their own schemes as the formation’s nodes were activated.

• Bai Ling sensed that Red Anglerfish and the Crawlers were manipulating the graveyard’s death energy through a formation, and Lin Yuan concluded they intended to aid the wounded Apostle.
• Lin Yuan decided to stop the Crawlers, used Bai Ling’s information to enter the Behemoth Graveyard, and watched her return to the Nether River when her summoning time ended.
• The Tidal General activated an altar node with Transcendent Cores, allowing his pirates to loot nearby behemoth remains safely.
• The Tidal General suspected the Crawlers wanted something from the pirates and decided to gather more loot before withdrawing, hoping their larger plan would fail.
• Red Anglerfish heard that the Pirate Generals had activated several nodes but were slowing down, and said their actions were already beyond their control.