Chapter Summaries

Yu Sheng concealed his injuries after leading Army-Breaker’s Soldiers out of Ten Thousand Demon Forest, then hid in a tree hollow and reflected on risking himself for them. He passed out as night fell, feeling less alone than before.

• Yu Sheng told Army-Breaker’s Soldiers to gather the spoils and leave Ten Thousand Demon Forest for Hundred Desolate Mountain the next day.
• Red Fox stayed silent about the forest’s secrets, restored the damaged ground, and went to report what it had witnessed to Old White Ape.
• Yu Sheng struggled away from the forest and hid inside a hollow tree, where his injuries worsened from using his power.
• Yu Sheng recalled how Army-Breaker’s Soldiers had fought beside him and wondered why risking himself for them had made him happy.
• Yu Sheng passed out in the tree hollow as night fell, wearing a faint smile despite the cold.

Young White Ape reported his defeat in the Ten Thousand Demon Forest to Old White Ape, who comforted him and urged him to learn from the experience. After Young White Ape left, Red Fox arrived and Old White Ape praised him for saving the forest and limiting the losses, though Red Fox appeared fearful.

• Young White Ape apologized to Old White Ape for failing and explained that he had reacted too slowly to intercept Army-Breaker.
• Young White Ape recounted how his mistaken thinking led him to retreat with the remaining tribes from the Ten Thousand Demon Forest.
• Old White Ape reassured Young White Ape that the failure was understandable and told him to rest and learn from it.
• After Young White Ape left, Old White Ape privately reflected on having entrusted the operation to someone else.
• Red Fox arrived, and Old White Ape praised him for saving the Ten Thousand Demon Forest, while Red Fox showed a flicker of fear.

Old White Ape confronted Red Fox for losing its courage and letting Yu Sheng go, explaining that the Demon Clan must look beyond its own interests. He punished Red Fox with a bone flute, then spared it after the brief ordeal.

• Old White Ape told Red Fox that it had lost the courage to charge at Yu Sheng and reflected on why the Human Race could fight bravely despite understanding death.
• Old White Ape explained that Red Fox cared only about the Ten Thousand Demon Forest, while he considered the wider world and could rebuild the forest if necessary.
• Old White Ape said he was angry that Red Fox had confined itself to the forest and abandoned the Demon Clan's most precious quality, so it still had to be punished.
• Old White Ape played a bone flute, causing Red Fox to writhe in agony for a minute without screaming.
• Old White Ape stopped the punishment and said a little pain was enough because he was angry, not disgusted with Red Fox.

Red Fox told Old White Ape that Yu Sheng had unleashed power beyond Demon God, nearly exposing them to a watching Demon God. After hearing the full account, Old White Ape sent Red Fox away and secretly took out the bone flute.

• Red Fox reported that Yu Sheng had killed seven Demon Kings with one strike and that his power exceeded Demon God.
• Old White Ape changed the subject to check whether a Demon God was observing them, then realized none was watching.
• Old White Ape angrily warned Red Fox that carelessly revealing the secret could have gotten them both killed.
• Red Fox swore loyalty and recounted everything witnessed in Yu Sheng, including the sensations of his power.
• Old White Ape apologized, ordered Red Fox to return to the Ten Thousand Demon Forest and keep silent, then took out the bone flute after Red Fox left.

Old White Ape called Yu Mo to demand an answer about helping him stage a fight, then threatened to destroy Yu Sheng and Army-Breaker if Yu Mo refused. He ended the call and waited anxiously for a response.

• Old White Ape used a bone flute to kill Red Fox, then worried that he had no trustworthy ally to send to the Ten Thousand Demon Forest.
• Old White Ape called Yu Mo and asked whether he would help him stage a fight.
• Old White Ape told Yu Mo that his forces had failed to destroy Army-Breaker, while Yu Sheng had killed nine Demon Kings and been badly injured.
• Yu Mo asked if Old White Ape had botched the operation, and Old White Ape admitted he had lost on both counts.
• Old White Ape threatened to wipe out Yu Sheng and Army-Breaker unless Yu Mo agreed to help, then hung up and watched for a reply.

Old White Ape called Yu Mo back after waiting for him to respond to a threat, then argued that Yu Sheng’s survival was at stake if Yu Mo refused to cooperate with his Loan Plan. Yu Mo agreed to cooperate but asked what he would gain, leaving Old White Ape to conclude that he was asking for a bribe.

• Old White Ape waited ten minutes for Yu Mo to call back, then phoned him and asked why he had not.
• Yu Mo joked that Old White Ape had been acting like Party B in a negotiation and advised him to watch fewer TV shows.
• Old White Ape warned Yu Mo that he would abandon the Loan Plan and pursue Yu Sheng if Yu Mo refused to cooperate.
• Yu Mo said that Yu Sheng and Army-Breaker had fallen outside the Wartime Agreement, but Old White Ape replied that two Demon Lords could kill Yu Sheng in the Demon Domain.
• Yu Mo agreed to cooperate, then asked what he would gain from it.
• Old White Ape recognized that Yu Mo was asking for a bribe and complained that humans preferred to hint instead of asking plainly.

Yu Mo and Old White Ape haggled over a Demon God's Demon Core, with Yu Mo offering human citizenship and Old White Ape offering cheetahs before their negotiation devolved into insults. Yu Mo played a recording of Animal World to embarrass Old White Ape, who insisted he already knew what it was.

• Yu Mo asked Old White Ape for a Demon God's Demon Core, saying a ninth awakening might heal his legs and let him run freely.
• Old White Ape offered Yu Mo ten Demon Lord Level cheetahs instead, and Yu Mo offered to arrange an official identity and a Human Race visa.
• Yu Mo demanded at least ten Demon Lord Demon Cores and threatened Old White Ape, while Old White Ape mocked Yu Mo's disability and taunted him about female apes.
• Yu Mo played a recording of Animal World to ridicule Old White Ape, then offered to sell him a video version for one Demon God Demon Crystal.
• Old White Ape yelled that he knew the recording was Animal World and claimed he had simply never bought it, while Yu Mo mocked him for not knowing what it contained.

Yu Mo and Old White Ape negotiated over the phone, trading threats until they agreed on Demon Lord and Demon King Demon Core payments. Old White Ape then revealed a planned attack on Demon-Suppressing Pass and warned Yu Mo not to destroy the attacking force.

• Yu Mo threatened to fight Old White Ape unless he paid nine Demon Lord Demon Cores.
• Old White Ape offered three Demon Lord Demon Cores, and Yu Mo accepted before demanding Demon King Demon Cores as well.
• Yu Mo bargained Old White Ape down from a hundred Demon King Demon Cores to ten, then tried to ask for sixth-level Demon Beast Demon Crystals.
• Old White Ape told Yu Mo that four tribes would launch a surprise attack on Demon-Suppressing Pass before dawn, with two tribes attacking and two supporting.
• Old White Ape told Yu Mo to limit casualties and stage a narrow Human Race victory, warning that wiping out the force would trigger an immediate final showdown.

After bargaining with Old White Ape, Yu Mo questioned its reaction to a recording of white apes and called an animal expert to identify the sounds. He left the expert listening to the recording under threat, hoping to resolve his suspicions about Old White Ape.

• Yu Mo agreed to arrange a death soldier to deliver the trade items to the city wall the next day, and Old White Ape told him to stop playing the recording.
• After ending the call, Old White Ape reflected on its curiosity about Yu Mo and its frustration with their conversations.
• Yu Mo watched a video of white apes and wondered whether Old White Ape had been steering his thoughts or hiding its embarrassment.
• Yu Mo called an elderly animal expert and asked him to identify the species in a recording.
• When the expert shouted at him, Yu Mo threatened the man's granddaughter and children until he agreed to listen.
• Yu Mo resumed the video and waited in silence.

Yu Mo called an elderly scholar to identify the cries heard near Old White Ape, then used the scholar’s expertise to question whether Old White Ape was truly an ape. The possibility left Yu Mo suspicious of Old White Ape’s identity and hidden strength.

• Yu Mo asked the old man to identify recorded cries, and the old man identified them as White Apes from before the Spirit Energy Revival.
• Yu Mo had the old man listen to a documentary recording and asked whether a modern White Ape might mistake the cries for those of Yellow Apes.
• The old man insisted the sounds were unmistakably White Apes, and Yu Mo told him that his family had been saved from the brink of death.
• After ending the call, Yu Mo wondered whether Old White Ape had misidentified the sounds because he was not actually a White Ape.
• Yu Mo considered that Old White Ape might be concealing his true race, talent, and strength, then angrily struck the table over how much the incident had made him think.

Yu Mo concluded that Old White Ape might actually be a Mirage Dragon using Illusion to disguise himself as a white ape. He was left shaken by how little he knew about Old White Ape’s true strength or motives.

• Yu Mo reconsidered whether Old White Ape’s mistake about white apes was an accidental slip rather than a prank.
• Yu Mo recalled Old White Ape’s unusually silky fur and how he repeatedly deflected questions about it.
• Yu Mo reasoned that Old White Ape’s disguise, self-mutilation, rapid growth, and inexplicably healing injuries pointed to a Mirage Dragon using Illusion.
• Yu Mo wondered whether Old White Ape was using the lending system as cover for a hidden plan and realized he trusted only himself.
• Yu Mo admitted that he no longer felt confident he could defeat Old White Ape.

Yu Mo realized Old White Ape had hidden a deadly secret and that discovering it might give the Human Race an advantage. After recovering from his injuries, Yu Sheng made his way to Hundred Desolate Mountain, where Army-Breaker's Soldiers were still waiting for him.

• Yu Mo reconsidered Old White Ape's past words and actions, concluding that he had once seriously intended to kill Yu Mo but had held back for reasons tied to the past.
• Yu Mo calmed himself, recognized that learning Old White Ape's secret had prevented a potentially disastrous misjudgment, and turned off Animal World.
• Yu Sheng woke in the tree hollow, ate and replenished his strength with Demon Crystals, then changed his damp clothes.
• Yu Sheng traveled slowly to Hundred Desolate Mountain while continuing to absorb energy from Demon Crystals.
• Yu Sheng found Army-Breaker's Soldiers still assembled and waiting as he had ordered.

Yu Sheng told Army-Breaker to avoid the Demon Clan’s guarded perimeter and prepare to raid weaker tribes deep in the Demon Domain. The soldiers embraced his plan to rob their enemies, leaving eager to put their newly devised tactics into action.

• Yu Sheng said Army-Breaker would stay concealed on Hundred Desolate Mountain for three days before heading deep into the Demon Domain.
• Yu Sheng explained that the soldiers should raid weak Demon Clan tribes and steal their demon plants, Demon Crystals, and Demon Cores.
• Army-Breaker’s Soldiers became excited about robbing the enemy and joked about apologizing to novelists whose stories they had once mocked.
• A young soldier worried that raiding would dishonor Army-Breaker, but his fellow soldiers convinced him it was right to rob and kill their enemies.
• Army-Breaker’s Soldiers began developing more than a dozen robbery tactics, while Yu Sheng focused on keeping them alive.

Yu Sheng led Army-Breaker’s Soldiers into Hundred Desolate Mountain after they planned a coordinated raid on Demon Domain tribes. The Demon Beasts fled at the sight of Yu Sheng, and he left the soldiers to wait while he went deeper into the mountain for three days.

• Army-Breaker’s Soldiers organized into combat squads and devised a plan to rob and burn Demon Domain tribes.
• The Middle-Aged Man revealed he had written the novel that inspired their formation and said he joined the group after readers trashed his book.
• Yu Sheng put two depleted Demon Crystals into the Mountains and Rivers Bottle and led the soldiers into Hundred Desolate Mountain.
• Demon Beasts across the nearby mountains fled when Yu Sheng appeared, leaving the soldiers free to gather without hiding.
• Yu Sheng said he had something to take care of, went deeper into the mountain with two fresh Demon Crystals, and told the soldiers he would return in three days.

Yu Sheng followed the increasingly urgent voice to the three mountains deep within Hundred Desolate Mountain, where he encountered a powerful group of Demon Beasts. He left without fighting after learning they had seen or used a large Space Rift, and continued searching for another passage.

• As Yu Sheng traveled deeper into Hundred Desolate Mountain, the voice in his mind grew clearer and one Jade Pendant began to tremble and warm.
• Yu Sheng reached the three deep mountains, where elite Demon Beasts confronted him and warned him away from Divine Mountain.
• Yu Sheng showed the Eagle Clan bird a picture and asked whether it had seen the person from the Crystal Coffin, but it denied seeing him.
• Yu Sheng asked about a large Space Rift, and the bird's reaction led him to conclude that the Demon Beasts had seen or used one.
• Yu Sheng chose to leave rather than fight the gathered Demon Beasts, while the voice in his mind grew more urgent.

Yu Sheng followed the mysterious calls and tested the being in the Divine Ruins by refusing to enter until she opened a new rift and pleaded. He entered the familiar ruins, reached the Crystal Coffin, and wondered whether the woman inside was truly the one who had called him.

• Yu Sheng deduced that the being in the Divine Ruins could move its entrance, then ignored the first rift and continued walking.
• After the being opened another rift and its calls weakened into pleading, Yu Sheng entered the Divine Ruins.
• Yu Sheng recognized the ruins from his earlier visit and noted that they appeared to have remained active all along.
• Yu Sheng followed the increasingly hot Jade Pendant to the deep mountain and entered the cave.
• Yu Sheng found the woman lying in the Crystal Coffin and questioned whether she was the one calling him, noting that her empty hand had once held the Jade Pendant.

Yu Sheng investigated the Jade Pendant’s connection to the woman in the Crystal Coffin before Yu Sanshui appeared in the Divine Ruins. Yu Sheng accepted that he was powerless against his father’s Ninth Awakening, while Yu Sanshui tried to frame their strained relationship as deep family affection.

• Yu Sheng repeatedly put the Jade Pendant away and retrieved it, noticing that the woman in the Crystal Coffin moved her fingers when it was separated from her.
• Yu Sheng heard footsteps, summoned the Hammer, and waited for whoever was approaching.
• Yu Sanshui entered and teased Yu Sheng about their reunion, claiming he had forgiven his son and felt no hostility toward him.
• Yu Sheng said that Yu Sanshui’s Ninth Awakening made resistance pointless and accepted that he was effectively a captive.
• Yu Sanshui gave a sentimental speech about being an aloof but devoted father, prompting Yu Sheng to summon his Hammer again before stopping himself from striking.

Yu Sanshui tried to convince Yu Sheng that he was his father, but Yu Sheng questioned the origins of his surname and his mother. Yu Sanshui offered to reveal secrets connected to the heavenly race, yet Yu Sheng showed little interest and only asked where Shi Guang was.

• Yu Sanshui claimed that finding Yu Sheng a sworn older brother was an act of fatherly love, then insisted Yu Sheng had to keep the surname Yu.
• Yu Sheng suspected Yu Sanshui had taken the surname Yu from him, but Yu Sanshui denied that Yu Sheng had a mysterious background.
• Yu Sanshui named Yu Sheng's mother Wang Cuilian and gave details about her birthday and hometown, while Yu Sheng pointed out that the birth year did not match the zodiac sign.
• Yu Sanshui listed the mysterious voice, space rift, Jade Pendant, woman in the Crystal Coffin, and Shi Guang's disappearance as secrets involving the heavenly race.
• Yu Sheng asked where Shi Guang was, and Yu Sanshui admitted that he did not know.

Yu Sheng coaxed Yu Sanshui into revealing what he knew about the woman in the Crystal Coffin and the Jade Pendant. Yu Sanshui identified her as a dying member of the Heavenly Race, then explained that he had no connection to that race as their conversation continued.

• Yu Sheng asked Yu Sanshui where Shi Guang was, but Yu Sanshui admitted he did not know.
• Yu Sheng asked about the woman in the Crystal Coffin and the Jade Pendant, and Yu Sanshui revealed that the woman belonged to the Heavenly Race and was dying because of the pendant.
• Yu Sheng inferred that the Jade Pendant helped preserve someone’s bodily functions during sleep, but Yu Sanshui refused to confirm it.
• Yu Sanshui realized Yu Sheng had been provoking him to draw out information, and Yu Sheng admitted it.
• Yu Sheng asked about Yu Sanshui’s past and whether he belonged to the Heavenly Race, and Yu Sanshui denied any connection as wisps of energy spread from his body.

Yu Sanshui proved he was human by revealing his Awakening Object, then denied that Yu Sheng was one of the Heavenly Race. He began explaining the Divine Ruins, confirming that the voice Yu Sheng had heard originally came from the woman in the Crystal Coffin.

• Yu Sanshui revealed his Awakening Object and argued that his powers proved he was not one of the Heavenly Race.
• Yu Sheng asked whether he was one of the Heavenly Race, but Yu Sanshui insisted Yu Sheng was his biological son and human.
• Yu Sanshui asked why Yu Sheng had not followed his lead in Mobei City and destroyed Soul Hunt, but Yu Sheng said he simply did not like the idea.
• Yu Sanshui began explaining the Divine Ruins and said the voice that had called to Yu Sheng at first came from the woman in the Crystal Coffin.