Recaps

Flame Demon begged Lu Xiao and Calamity to spare his people after they were trapped in volcanic ash, but Lu Xiao decided he could not be allowed to live because he threatened Lu Xiao’s people. As Lu Xiao recovered from the cost of unleashing the disaster, Calamity warned that they would soon face a furious deity.

• Flame Demon realized that Lu Xiao and Calamity had suppressed his Authority and sent the information-selling deity away, but the deity returned to report that no one could escape.
• Flame Demon found his people suffocating in volcanic ash and begged Lu Xiao and Calamity to spare them, admitting that he had plotted against them.
• Calamity suggested bringing Flame Demon into the fold, but Lu Xiao rejected the idea, saying Flame Demon would seek revenge and that he had to protect his own people.
• Calamity agreed with Lu Xiao and told him to recover before they faced Flame Demon, who would soon be driven mad by his people’s deaths.
• Lu Xiao struggled to heal his half-destroyed heart and resist the madness brought on by using power that did not belong to him.

Lu Xiao and Calamity reached the information-selling Deity as the Flame Demon Deity succumbed to madness and attacked them. Lu Xiao kicked Flame Demon away, then urged Calamity to suppress his flames as he prepared to fight back with a Bone Spur.

• The information-selling Deity failed to escape Flame Demon and begged Lu Xiao and Calamity to save him.
• The information-selling Deity clung to Lu Xiao’s leg, refusing to let go as Flame Demon charged.
• Lu Xiao kicked Flame Demon hundreds of meters away, then patted out flames burning the Deity on his leg.
• Lu Xiao told Calamity to suppress Flame Demon’s fire abilities, and Calamity began trying despite warning that Flame Demon had become part of the rules.
• Flame Demon attacked again with scorching heat, and Lu Xiao drew a Bone Spur.

Lu Xiao used the bone spur’s gravity authority to pin down the Flame Demon, but the strain drained his mental power. Calamity helped seal the Flame Demon underground, though the threat remained unresolved.

• Lu Xiao stabbed himself with the bone spur to draw blood, then used Horizontal Gravity to pin the Flame Demon against a building wall.
• Lu Xiao asked Calamity for a solution, while the Flame Demon’s flames and Lu Xiao’s fear of touching them kept him from taking the demon’s fire authority.
• The Flame Demon broke free and charged as the deity clinging to Lu Xiao’s leg warned that the demon might become fire itself and burn half of Hell.
• Lu Xiao used Vertical Gravity to knock the Flame Demon down, then urged Calamity to act and gave him his severed arm.
• Calamity swallowed Lu Xiao’s arm and used his authority to open a fissure beneath the Flame Demon, sealing him underground.
• Calamity determined that the bone spur had drained Lu Xiao’s mental power, and he helped Lu Xiao up while the Flame Demon remained only temporarily imprisoned.

Lu Xiao forced the Flame Demon to surrender by threatening his clansmen, then obtained the Flame Demon’s authority. He asked Calamity whether he could fuse it with his own authority, and Calamity said he could use its rules to strengthen his own.

• Calamity explained that capturing the mad Flame Demon alive was difficult because of his flames, so Lu Xiao asked him to bring the underground Flame Demon Clan members to the surface.
• Lu Xiao had Calamity restrain the clansmen and the Flame Demon with earth, exposing only their heads beside scalding magma.
• Lu Xiao used a severed finger to calm the Flame Demon, then threatened his clansmen until the Flame Demon agreed to cooperate.
• Lu Xiao stopped the magma and promised to spare the clansmen, then took the Flame Demon’s flame authority.
• Lu Xiao asked Calamity if he could fuse with the authority, and Calamity said he could incorporate its rules to strengthen his own authority.

Lu Xiao learned that wielding the Flame Authority required a dangerous fusion ritual, then let Amilia collect souls while Calamity turned the Flame Demon survivors against one another. The group returned to the Succubus Settlement, where Ruiqi believed the report of the Flame Demon Clan’s destruction after seeing Amilia in Lu Xiao’s grasp.

• Calamity explained that the Flame Authority was like an experience pack and that wielding another authority would require enduring its madness; Lu Xiao decided not to fuse with it immediately.
• Lu Xiao threatened Amilia into collecting the dead souls, while Calamity offered a survivor freedom in exchange for killing a hundred clansmen and bringing him their right eyeballs.
• The Flame Demon survivors began slaughtering one another, and Calamity realized that natural calamities could bring man-made disasters as well.
• Lu Xiao discovered what Calamity had done, objected that he had promised to spare the survivors, then left with Amilia as the hurricane carried news of the settlement’s destruction away.
• Ruiqi heard that the Flame Demon Settlement had been wiped out and believed the report after seeing Amilia helplessly slung over Lu Xiao’s shoulder.
• Lu Xiao returned to Ruiqi’s residence, drank water, and took a bath while Ruiqi abandoned her other plans and kept to their agreement.

After destroying the Flame Demon Clan, Lu Xiao wrestled with guilt and questioned Amilia about Hell, while Yi Hao responded to the news by preparing the Redemption Army for the political and military fallout. The chapter ended with Yi Hao announcing a day of mourning and declaring that the Great Lord would personally punish the two Outsiders.

• Lu Xiao bathed alone, reflected on the Flame Demon Clan’s extinction, and told Amilia to keep drinking the bathwater after joking that he had peed in it.
• Amilia drained the pool, and Lu Xiao chose not to kill him because he wanted the deity’s information about Hell.
• Yi Hao learned that the Flame Demon Clan had been destroyed and decided to speak with Lu Xiao after assessing the consequences.
• Yi Hao ordered the Redemption Army commander to send former raiders to the front, deal with fence-sitters, and pull back the defensive line.
• Yi Hao instructed the army to observe a day of mourning and announced that the Great Lord would personally punish the two Outsiders.

Lu Xiao brought the Flame Demon Clan’s souls to the ravens’ home and questioned the blurred figure who wove feathers from souls. The figure confirmed the number of souls Lu Xiao had delivered, and Lu Xiao left to ask Calamity about the feathers.

• Lu Xiao poured the Flame Demon Clan’s souls into the pit while watching the blurred figure weave feathers from a pale blue thread.
• The blurred figure told Lu Xiao to get lost, but Lu Xiao kept asking what the thread was and whether he could trade for some.
• The blurred figure finally answered that the thread was made of souls, then ignored Lu Xiao’s further questions.
• Lu Xiao asked how many souls he had delivered, and the blurred figure replied, “192,106.”
• Lu Xiao left the bushes, concluded that the ravens’ feathers were woven from souls, and decided to ask Calamity what they were for.

Lu Xiao returned to Gentleman's Paradise and met with Yi Hao, who explained his plan to use a staged battle with Ding Dan to restore the Salvation Army's standing in Hell. Lu Xiao pointed out that the plan relied on Hell's natives understanding humanlike conscience and loyalty, leaving Yi Hao to reconsider its assumptions.

• Lu Xiao returned to Gentleman's Paradise, bathed, and told Ruiqi to bring the visiting high priest, Yi Hao, to him.
• Yi Hao complained that Lu Xiao's recent actions had disrupted his plans and asked him to avoid appearing in public.
• Lu Xiao confronted Yi Hao for using services in Gentleman's Paradise without paying, and Yi Hao promised to send resources from the Holy City.
• Yi Hao told Lu Xiao that he wanted to stage a fierce battle with Ding Dan, who would appear to banish Lu Xiao and be seriously injured, boosting Ding Dan's prestige and setting a trap.
• Lu Xiao warned Yi Hao that Hell's natives might not recognize the intended moral contrast and that the fence-sitters might defect when threatened.

Lu Xiao advised Yi Hao on how to unite Hell’s races behind Ding Dan by making Lu Xiao a terrifying enemy and Ding Dan a fallen Savior, while manipulating rival factions with promises and pressure. He then claimed the Succubus race and Gentleman's Paradise for himself, prompting Yi Hao to protest his use of public property for private pleasure.

• Lu Xiao told Yi Hao to spread rumors portraying him as a catastrophic threat and Ding Dan as Hell’s ordained Savior, then have Lu Xiao defeat Ding Dan to push the races into uniting.
• Lu Xiao advised Yi Hao to offer neutral races substantial rewards and use a conciliatory approach alongside Ding Dan’s forceful rule.
• Lu Xiao warned that fence-sitters might strip resources from abandoned territories and defect, then suggested binding them with nominal fiefs while gradually removing their real power.
• Lu Xiao recommended nominal rewards over making promises and disappearing after the war, to protect Ding Dan’s future prestige.
• Lu Xiao demanded payment for the sex, declared the Succubus race under his protection, and said Gentleman's Paradise would no longer be open to the public; Yi Hao protested that Lu Xiao was using public property for private pleasure.

Lu Xiao outlined plans for the Succubus Clan to become Hell’s second-largest race and serve him through faith, then summoned Amilia to discuss a partnership. Amilia arrived and showered Lu Xiao with shameless flattery, while Lu Xiao made clear that he had no intention of letting him go free.

• Lu Xiao told Ruiqi that the Succubus Clan would receive resources, help Yi Hao unify Hell, and provide Lu Xiao with faith, with Ruiqi serving as his high priestess.
• Lu Xiao proposed that Ruiqi marry Yi Hao to strengthen ties between their peoples, but agreed not to interfere when she said the reasons were complicated.
• Ruiqi described Amilia as a lone Wanderer who traded information for resources and whose Authority was unknown.
• Lu Xiao decided the Succubus Clan could earn more income through a partnership with Amilia and told Ruiqi to bring him in.
• Amilia arrived and praised Lu Xiao extravagantly, while Lu Xiao told him that being caught meant he had little chance of regaining his freedom.

Lu Xiao gave Amilia the choice between becoming experimental material and helping him build an intelligence organization in Hell. He made Ruiqi the organization’s leader and drew Amilia into the plan, leaving the three of them set to work together.

• Lu Xiao offered Amilia a choice between being taken to his world for experiments or serving as his eyes in Hell, and Amilia chose to cooperate.
• Lu Xiao proposed an organization that would gather intelligence across Hell, indirectly control targets, and offer services such as bounties and assassinations.
• Amilia recognized that the succubi’s widespread infiltration of Hell could provide the organization with spies and intelligence sources.
• Amilia inferred that Lu Xiao wanted him to lead the organization, but Lu Xiao named Ruiqi as its leader instead.
• Amilia accepted Ruiqi as his boss and abandoned any thought of escaping, recognizing that the organization would tie their interests together.

Lu Xiao and Ruiqi agreed on plans for an Intelligence Organization to support the Succubus Clan, then Lu Xiao asked Calamity about creating a True Name to attract faith. Calamity revealed he would soon need to sleep, but Lu Xiao proposed the Heart-Nurturing Ground as a place for him to recover, leaving them to consider Lu Xiao’s True Name.

• Lu Xiao presented the Intelligence Organization as a gift to Ruiqi, and they discussed how it could provide the Succubus Clan with intelligence and resources.
• After seeing off Ruiqi and Amilia, Lu Xiao visited Calamity to ask about devising a True Name that pointed to him.
• Calamity said his madness was worsening and he would need to sleep in about ten days, but he intended to stay in Lu Xiao’s world.
• Lu Xiao suggested Doctor’s Heart-Nurturing Ground, where time flowed differently, and Calamity agreed it might help him recover.
• Lu Xiao and Calamity agreed that Calamity would avoid large-scale uses of his authority and began discussing how a True Name could draw lesser life-forms’ attention.

Calamity helped Lu Xiao create the appellation “Man-made Calamity” and explained how its use and related rituals worked. Lu Xiao went to tell Ruiqi, whose new evening gown from Yi Hao left him wondering whether Yi Hao possessed a trait related to beauty.

• Calamity explained that an appellation could let its owner sense and locate whoever recited it, but that powerful beings might ignore a call.
• Calamity helped Lu Xiao shape an appellation around his “Human Heart” authority, and Lu Xiao sensed it connect to him through the Eye of Truth.
• Calamity warned Lu Xiao not to spread his appellation widely and explained that individual communication required a ritual and an offering.
• Lu Xiao called Ruiqi to his room to share the appellation, and she appeared wearing a black evening gown gifted by Yi Hao.
• Lu Xiao admired the gown’s design and suspected Yi Hao had a trait related to beauty.

Lu Xiao told Ruiqi the honorific name that identified him and taught her a ritual for contacting him, then warned her that the Succubus Clan would soon face a conflict with Hell. Ruiqi pledged to trust his plans and stayed to massage him, and Lu Xiao fell asleep in her lap.

• Ruiqi wore Yi Hao's evening gown to see Lu Xiao, but he focused on having more gowns made for the succubi.
• Lu Xiao told Ruiqi his honorific name, Man-made Calamity, and showed her how to contact him by writing a Chinese sentence in blood.
• Lu Xiao told Ruiqi not to inform Amilia and warned that the Succubus Clan might soon oppose the forces of Hell, promising to limit their losses.
• Ruiqi firmly said she trusted Lu Xiao, surprising him with her willingness to follow his arrangements.
• Ruiqi sat beside Lu Xiao and massaged his temples until he drifted into a deep sleep.

After sleeping for a day, Lu Xiao ordered Ruiqi to prepare the Settlement for an attack, then used a magic circle to travel to a meeting place. Calamity contacted him through an improvised ritual, and Lu Xiao decided to bring him into the meeting.

• Lu Xiao woke after a day of sleep and told Ruiqi to move noncombatant Succubi into the inner city while the army prepared to fight.
• Lu Xiao drew a magic circle and teleported away to attend the meeting he had arranged with Doctor and the others.
• Calamity found the circle in Lu Xiao's room, copied it, then erased his copy and used a ritual to contact Lu Xiao.
• Lu Xiao recognized Calamity's voice and told him he was attending a meeting, prompting Calamity to complain that he had not been invited.
• Lu Xiao decided to use their new connection to bring Calamity into the meeting before summoning Doctor and the others.

Lu Xiao convened the others through the Summoning Ritual, and they exchanged updates on Antie's Eden Project and Lu Xiao's affairs in Hell. Lu Xiao outlined his plan to use a staged defeat by Ding Dan to purge opposition in Hell, while Gambler suggested letting the succubi be captured to reduce their losses.

• Lu Xiao summoned Calamity, Doctor, Warden, Gambler, and Antie to the meeting, where they greeted one another and exchanged information.
• Antie said his Eden Project had produced one Deity-level subject and another was close to hatching, and Doctor offered to send him the 'Emperor' trait for a Deification Ritual.
• Warden reminded Antie that Angel could wake if the experimental subject lost control, prompting Antie to consider proceeding with the ritual sooner.
• Lu Xiao recounted the raven, the thicket, and the indistinct human figure he had encountered in Hell, then explained his plan to let Hell's forces fight among themselves before staging a crushing defeat by Ding Dan.
• Lu Xiao said Ding Dan's apparent defeat and severe injuries would help purge his opponents, and Gambler proposed moving the resources away and allowing the succubi to be captured.

Lu Xiao discussed giving Antie the 'Flame' Authority, and Antie revealed his plan to combine it with 'Water' to create a powerful attack. After the meeting, Calamity learned the truth behind Lu Xiao's statue and apologized to it.

• Lu Xiao said he would give Antie the 'Flame' Authority after Antie explained what he intended to do with it.
• Antie proposed merging 'Water' and 'Flame' to make a nuclear bomb by hand, and the Doctor and Warden encouraged him to pursue the idea.
• Calamity shared methods and cautions for merging Authorities, while refusing to attempt the risky process himself.
• The group finished discussing how to contact Lu Xiao through a ritual, and the Doctor and the others left.
• Lu Xiao showed Calamity text on the statue's base, prompting Calamity to bow and apologize for his earlier remarks.

Lu Xiao promised to find a way to wake the person he had replaced, while Calamity confronted him about lying that his name was Liu Guang. In Hell, Ding Dan arrived in the Holy City to help carry out Lu Xiao's plan, but Yi Hao's meeting with a Neutral Faction envoy ended without advancing negotiations.

• Lu Xiao firmly told Calamity that he would find a way to wake the person he was living in place of, and Calamity questioned him about claiming his name was Liu Guang.
• Ding Dan arrived in the Holy City, where Yi Hao explained that he had been summoned to help Mr. Shadow stage an act that would lead to Hell's unification.
• Ding Dan approved Lu Xiao's plan and told Yi Hao to spread news of his arrival, predicting that someone would soon come to negotiate.
• The next day, Yi Hao received Modeganqing, a representative of the Neutral Faction, and served him tea while Modeganqing waited to meet Ding Dan.
• Yi Hao told Modeganqing that Ding Dan was resting and arranged for him to wait at his accommodations, then admitted that events were not going as smoothly as expected.

Yi Hao learned that Eden and Great Brahma were preparing for major upheavals, while Ding Dan cryptically said the farmer tending their civilization was dead. The next day, Yi Hao used an attendant’s display of Deity-level power to unsettle Lord Mordegan and hint at the strength of his sovereign.

• Ding Dan told Yi Hao that Eden had withdrawn, a Deity might have been born there, Great Brahma seemed to have produced a Bodhisattva, and their believers had been relocated.
• Ding Dan compared their civilization to vegetables that needed careful tending, then said the vegetable farmer was already dead, leaving Yi Hao puzzled.
• Yi Hao and Lord Mordegan again avoided discussing the main issue until Mordegan asked what their sovereign thought of the situation.
• Yi Hao scolded an attendant over the stale tea and ordered him to fetch reserved tea; as the attendant left, he accidentally revealed a Deity’s aura.
• Lord Mordegan recognized the aura, grew fearful, and asked Yi Hao who the attendant was.

Yi Hao used his divine attendant to make Modeganqing believe the Holy City possessed hidden divine strength, then gave him tea while warning him to keep the exchange secret. Modeganqing left intending to report what he had witnessed to his leader.

• Yi Hao told Modeganqing that the attendant was responsible for his daily affairs, leading Modeganqing to suspect the attendant was a deity and the Holy City was revealing its strength.
• Modeganqing decided to leave before meeting His Majesty, saying he needed rest to prepare for the summons.
• Yi Hao persuaded Modeganqing to stay for tea, and the attendant’s genuine deference to Yi Hao intensified Modeganqing’s unease.
• Yi Hao took over brewing the tea, then offered to arrange treatment for Modeganqing through the Succubus Clan priests when he claimed to feel unwell.
• Yi Hao gave Modeganqing a box of tea and warned him to drink it secretly and not share it with anyone.

Yi Hao and Ding Dan discussed how they had persuaded Modeganqing to consider betraying his leader, while Ding Dan revealed that his King's Authority was changing the way he thought. After Modeganqing appeared to make his choice, Yi Hao expected the Neutral Faction to shift its attitude toward them and wondered how Ding Dan and Mr. Shadow would manipulate Hell.

• Modeganqing accepted Yi Hao's tea and left, apparently understanding the offer behind it.
• Ding Dan explained to Yi Hao how the tea, his promise, and a display of strength were meant to make Modeganqing question his loyalty.
• Ding Dan told Yi Hao that mastering King's Authority was drawing his thoughts closer to its former owner, and that he might eventually go mad or become Him.
• A deity attendant reported that Modeganqing had taken a Succubus woman into his quarters, and Yi Hao concluded that he had made his choice.
• Yi Hao predicted that Ding Dan would summon Modeganqing the next day and wondered how Mr. Shadow would cooperate in their plans for Hell.

Lu Xiao and Calamity visited Gentleman's Paradise, where they learned that Xinxiya had married a Succubus and become the settlement’s security chief. Xinxiya refused to leave despite Lu Xiao warning of an impending disaster, and Lu Xiao rejected Calamity’s suggestion to take him along as a future vessel before continuing inside.

• Lu Xiao and Calamity arrived at Gentleman's Paradise and encountered Xinxiya, who had become its chief of security.
• Xinxiya explained that Ruiqi had arranged his marriage to the Succubus woman he loved and given him a home and career.
• Lu Xiao warned Xinxiya that disaster would soon strike and advised him to leave, but Xinxiya refused because of his loyalty and his wife's wishes.
• Calamity suggested taking Xinxiya to Lu Xiao’s world as a vessel for future Advent, but Lu Xiao refused because Xinxiya was not an enemy.
• Lu Xiao and Calamity entered Gentleman's Paradise to experience the Authority of desire, with Calamity teasing Lu Xiao along the way.

Lu Xiao entered the Sixth Layer of Gentleman's Paradise, where a survival trial placed him in a war-torn ruin with no supplies and overwhelming hunger. As he faced starvation, a giant cockroach appeared, and Lu Xiao grinned at it with green-glowing eyes.

• Lu Xiao chose the Sixth Layer’s survival desire and entered an empty room, where the trial transported him to a smoking battlefield and gave him the objective to survive.
• A soldier mistook Lu Xiao for a civilian and told him to seek shelter before rejoining his squad.
• Lu Xiao discovered he was nearly naked and starving, then vomited a lump of dirt he had apparently eaten.
• With his vision fading from hunger, Lu Xiao slapped himself to regain focus and searched the deserted ruins.
• Lu Xiao heard rustling and faced a water-buffalo-sized cockroach, then grinned as his eyes began to glow green.

Lu Xiao used the giant cockroach’s slow reflexes to impale it on rebar, but could not break its tough leg joint before soldiers arrived. The soldiers offered him food in exchange for the trapped cockroach, and Lu Xiao ate a ration bar as their leader ordered extra protein bars for him.

• Lu Xiao observed that the giant cockroach took ten seconds to react and planned to exploit the delay.
• Lu Xiao dodged the cockroach into exposed rebar, impaling it, then struck its leg joint with a brick without breaking it.
• Lu Xiao retreated from the cockroach’s flailing leg as a squad of soldiers arrived and surrounded it.
• The squad leader asked Lu Xiao to hand over the cockroach in exchange for something, and Lu Xiao said he was hungry.
• A soldier gave Lu Xiao a ration bar, and the squad leader ordered extra protein bars for him.

Lu Xiao watched Dan Guofeng’s mess squad turn a mutated cockroach into protein bars and accepted an offer to join the army. Dan Guofeng brought him back to camp, where Lu Xiao prepared to collect supplies and join the next mission.

• Four soldiers from the mess unit severed the cockroach’s legs and collected its white liquid while Lu Xiao recognized it as the source of his protein bar.
• The soldiers cooked the liquid and ground cockroach shell into powder to make more protein bars, and Lu Xiao praised the smell.
• Dan Guofeng offered Lu Xiao a choice between joining the unit and receiving food to leave, and Lu Xiao accepted the steaming protein bar and enlisted.
• Dan Guofeng introduced himself as Lu Xiao’s immediate captain and told him he had to follow orders during missions.
• Dan Guofeng took Lu Xiao to the military camp to collect his allotted supplies and prepare for their next mission.