Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiao met Bai Xuedong, who had only about a week left to live, and agreed to lead a mission with Bai Suoyi, Gambler, Dan Guofeng, and Antie Icarus. Afterward, Lu Xiao learned how close Dan Guofeng had come to dying and reflected on the front line’s pervasive air of death.

• Lu Xiao left Doctor Li’s office after learning the tender shoot was not the person Doctor Li had hoped for, and his eaten tongue began to grow back.
• Bai Suoyi told Lu Xiao that Bai Xuedong had about a week left, then led him to see his father.
• Bai Xuedong confirmed that Doctor Li had explained the plan and asked who Lu Xiao would take on the mission; Lu Xiao named Bai Suoyi, Gambler, Dan Guofeng, and Antie Icarus.
• Lu Xiao asked for time to prepare, and after leaving, encouraged Bai Suoyi to spend time talking with his father.
• Bai Suoyi asked Lu Xiao to find a way to take the baby away from the front line, and Lu Xiao teased him before running off.
• Lu Xiao learned that Dan Guofeng had nearly died from blood loss and suspected the tree man had been the holder of the Life Trait.

Doctor Li explained that Dan Guofeng’s imagination sustained the peaceful rear, but Lu Xiao’s prompts pushed him past his limits and drained his blood. He then revealed that the decisive problem was that Lu Xiao had made Dan Guofeng imagine someone who should never have existed.

• Doctor Li took Lu Xiao to his tent to discuss Dan Guofeng and the rear.
• Doctor Li told Lu Xiao that Dan Guofeng’s understanding shaped the rear into a peaceful place filled with food, and that the present world would vanish if Dan Guofeng woke.
• Doctor Li explained that Lu Xiao’s prompts about Instigation and danger had strained Dan Guofeng, while imagining his father coming to save him had pushed him over the edge.
• Lu Xiao blamed himself, but Doctor Li said Dan Guofeng had already been close to breaking down.
• Doctor Li revealed that Lu Xiao had made Dan Guofeng imagine someone who should never have existed.

Doctor Li explained to Lu Xiao that Liu Guang had died and that Lu Xiao’s presence in the Time Shadow was disrupting the world’s balance. Lu Xiao learned he could return to his original world soon, but meeting the real Liu Guang could trap him there, and Doctor Li left him with only a brief explanation of Time Shadows and Creation Authority.

• Doctor Li revealed that Liu Guang had died when the Salvation Society was wiped out and that he had deceived Zhang Chu into believing Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow could revive him.
• Doctor Li explained that Lu Xiao’s appearance led Dan Guofeng to believe Liu Guang was alive, causing the Time Shadow’s balance to break down and prompting the World Will to correct the paradox.
• Doctor Li told Lu Xiao that he could return to his original world within minutes, but refused to let him see Liu Guang because their meeting could trigger a dangerous correction.
• Lu Xiao asked whether Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow could revive Liu Guang, and Doctor Li said it might be possible if they could find them.
• Lu Xiao told Doctor Li that conditions in his world were only slightly better, and Doctor Li said the Spark Plan had produced someone powerful enough to reach a Time Shadow.
• Doctor Li said Time Shadows involved Creation Authority but declined to explain further, while Lu Xiao accused him of distrust and Doctor Li denied it.

Lu Xiao told Doctor Li about the Prison Plan, and Doctor Li agreed to raise it with Chief Bai and have Lu Xiao persuade Zhang Chu to carry it out. Before Lu Xiao could visit Mount Kunlun, Doctor Li offered to prepare a gift for him, while Lu Xiao recalled Liu Guang's letter.

• Doctor Li explained that Lu Xiao's knowledge of the future could help him guide events, but changing history or lying about it could put their world at risk.
• Lu Xiao described the Prison Plan, and Doctor Li approved it as a way to send more powerhouses into slumber and onward to a new world.
• Doctor Li said he would discuss the plan with Chief Bai and asked Lu Xiao to guide Zhang Chu into carrying it out.
• Lu Xiao told Doctor Li that he wanted to visit Mount Kunlun, and Doctor Li suggested taking Dan Guofeng along.
• Doctor Li noticed Lu Xiao had no belongings and led him toward the warehouse to prepare a gift for his first visit.

Lu Xiao received a Wood Heart from Doctor Li and set out with the unconscious Dan Guofeng to meet Dan Qingrong and seek a promise. Meanwhile, Calamity, tormented by an undetectable Anchor Point, decided to retaliate against whatever had attached it to him.

• Doctor Li explained that the rooted figure was a fallen Trait holder whose power was healing, then reduced him to a Wood Heart for Lu Xiao to exchange for a promise.
• Doctor Li told Lu Xiao that Chainsaw Man would be watched and that the baby had been named Bai Ning by Chief Bai.
• Lu Xiao learned that Lu Xi had taken control of the vehicle, then drove away with Dan Guofeng toward his destination.
• Calamity failed to find the Anchor Point tormenting him and could not reach Lu Xiao through the Summoning Ritual.
• Calamity rushed toward the outskirts of the city, vowing to give the unseen tormentor something big to play with.

Ding Dan pursued Calamity after sensing that his sudden flight signaled trouble, while Yi Hao used the departure to stir uncertainty among the allied forces. As factions reconsidered their loyalties and the army remained stalled, Yi Hao summoned Feis, the official responsible for supplying its water.

• Ding Dan recognized Calamity flying overhead and pursued him after Yi Hao urged him to create a bigger commotion and tell Calamity to fly straight.
• A message spread through the allied army claiming that the Great Lord and an Outsider were both above Deity rank, prompting factions to reconsider their alliances.
• Yi Hao planned to intensify the rumors and pressure wavering factions to choose sides, while rival leaders discussed how to respond.
• The allied army remained reluctant to attack the Succubus Clan, and its soldiers continued relying on the Holy City for water supplies.
• Feis arrived with a water delivery and was summoned to Yi Hao, while worrying about the Holy City's expenses and dwindling reserves.

Yi Hao ordered Feis to halt the Holy City's water distribution without actually stopping preparations, intending to drive self-interested factions out of the coalition. When faction leaders began fighting, Yi Hao persuaded them to follow Ding Dan and support his battle against the Outsiders, giving them an excuse to pursue potential spoils.

• Yi Hao told Feis to announce that the Holy City's reserves were critically low and delay distributing water while continuing to prepare it.
• Yi Hao expected the threatened cutoff to dissolve the coalition and leave only factions loyal to the Holy City, but other leaders focused on potential gains from the war.
• Faction leaders gathered to discuss dividing future spoils, and a dispute between two major races escalated into a broader conflict.
• Yi Hao tried to mediate, then claimed that Ding Dan was fighting two beings above the level of deities and urged the factions to support him.
• The hostile factions immediately reconciled and agreed to follow Ding Dan, while Yi Hao privately sneered at how easily they had been manipulated.

The allied army pursued Calamity after Yi Hao diverted it from the Succubus settlement, and Ruiqi learned that Calamity had drawn the danger away from her people. Calamity sought the mysterious being in a thicket to make whoever planted an anchor point in him face it, but Ding Dan caught up and questioned his plan.

• The allied army began pursuing the direction Ding Dan had left, and Ruiqi learned from Amilia that it was targeting Calamity.
• Calamity flew toward a mysterious thicket, intending to ask its powerful inhabitant to transform him and force the being behind his anchor point to confront it.
• Ding Dan followed Calamity to the thicket and heard that an unknown being had planted an anchor point in him.
• Ding Dan saw a huge raven-like figure pass overhead, and Calamity identified it as Mr. Morati.
• Ding Dan realized Calamity meant to divert the trouble to the being in the thicket and asked whether he should reconsider.

Ding Dan heard Yi Hao’s drastic plan to slaughter the allied forces and decided to go along with it because he was short on time. Meanwhile, Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng reached Mount Kunlun, where Lu Xiao insisted they face Dan Guofeng’s mother together and was caught knowing she could make Puppets.

• Mitchell relayed Yi Hao’s arrangements to Ding Dan, who weighed their risks and decided to follow the plan.
• Lu Xiao drove Dan Guofeng toward home in the Off-Road Vehicle while teasing him about rebelling against his mother.
• Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng reached the foot of the Mount Kunlun Range after seeing no signs of human habitation along the way.
• Dan Guofeng asked Lu Xiao to go up the mountain alone, but Lu Xiao insisted he come along because he feared Dan Qingrong might kill him.
• Dan Guofeng asked how Lu Xiao knew his mother could make Puppets, and Lu Xiao claimed he was a devout follower of Daoism.

Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng traveled up the mountain on foot after the road ended, and Lu Xiao learned more about Dan Guofeng’s ability to borrow power from elders within him. The conversation left Lu Xiao suspecting that this world had no immortals, though he wondered whether Dan Guofeng’s ability could help create Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow.

• Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng left their vehicle where the mountain road ended and continued on foot.
• Lu Xiao told Dan Guofeng that his father had visited him and brought the Wood Heart, which had helped heal his injuries.
• Lu Xiao asked Dan Guofeng about Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow, and Dan Guofeng said they did not exist in this world.
• Dan Guofeng explained that elders lived within him and that his Patriarch-inviting ability borrowed power represented by the seven po, including Anger and Hatred.
• Lu Xiao considered whether Dan Guofeng’s ability could work with Gambler’s to produce Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow, and concluded that immortals were likely absent from this world.

Lu Xiao deduced that the Taoist Temple might be pursuing godhood through Dan Guofeng’s ability and that Doctor Li had sent him there with the Wood Heart as a test. As Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng approached the temple, they encountered a Silver-Ringed Long Snake, and Lu Xiao joked about turning it into an ingredient.

• Lu Xiao suspected that the Taoist Temple was conducting its own god-making experiment and wondered whether Doctor Li had sent him with Dan Guofeng to deliver the Wood Heart.
• Lu Xiao inferred from Doctor Li’s clues that the Taoist Temple and Doctor Li might have communicated, and that Dan Guofeng had been allowed to leave the mountain to gain experience.
• Lu Xiao considered that Zhang Chu might know about the Taoist Temple’s plans, while Dan Guofeng reflected on his family and his desire to meet his father.
• Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng reached the stone steps leading to the Taoist Temple and spotted a Silver-Ringed Long Snake in the weeds.
• Dan Guofeng denied that the snake was a Spirit Pet, and Lu Xiao joked that it might become a Silver Dragon and provide an ingredient for Dragon Liver and Phoenix Marrow.

Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng climbed the thorn-covered Path to Immortality and reached the Taoist Temple, where strange supernatural details unsettled Lu Xiao. A novice recognized Dan Guofeng as his junior martial uncle and told him that Grand Martial Uncle was resting in the palace.

• Dan Guofeng explained that the thorny half of the path was called the Path to Immortality and that its plants amplified pain, while Lu Xiao briefly stepped on the thorns before moving to the clean side.
• A silver-banded snake licked Lu Xiao's blood from the thorns and continued up the path despite the spikes cutting its body.
• Lu Xiao and Dan Guofeng reached the Taoist Temple, where Dan Guofeng offered incense that had appeared only after Lu Xiao blinked.
• A Taoist novice emerged from the gate, recognized Dan Guofeng as his junior martial uncle, and said Grand Martial Uncle was resting in the palace.

Lu Xiao accompanied Dan Guofeng into the Taoist Temple, where people seemed unable or unwilling to acknowledge Lu Xiao. Dan Guofeng reunited with his mother, Dan Qingrong, but her carefully tender behavior left Lu Xiao uneasy.

• Dan Guofeng led Lu Xiao into the Taoist Temple, where Lu Xiao saw its residents stare at him strangely before acting as though nothing had happened.
• An old Taoist pretended not to see Lu Xiao and told Dan Guofeng to visit his mother, so Lu Xiao went with him.
• Dan Guofeng and Lu Xiao found Dan Qingrong praying in the main hall and waited for her to finish.
• Dan Qingrong greeted Dan Guofeng tenderly and adjusted his collar, while Lu Xiao sensed something deliberate and wrong about her behavior.

Lu Xiao tried to learn why Dan Qingrong and the Taoist Temple had fallen out with Doctor Li, first provoking her and then attempting to act as a mediator. Dan Qingrong’s final remark suggested Doctor Li had not told Lu Xiao the truth about why he sent him.

• Lu Xiao annoyed Dan Qingrong by pretending to put the Wood Heart in his mouth, forcing her to acknowledge him.
• Dan Qingrong ordered Lu Xiao to leave the Wood Heart and report back, and he realized Doctor Li had been in contact with the Taoist Temple.
• Lu Xiao inferred that the talks had broken down because Doctor Li and Dan Qingrong’s side held opposing positions, and considered easing their conflict.
• Lu Xiao called Dan Qingrong “Fairy” and claimed Doctor Li had sent him to smooth things over.
• Dan Qingrong narrowed her eyes and told Lu Xiao that Li Liangren had not told him the truth.

Dan Qingrong told Lu Xiao that he could never become Liu Guang, then revealed that she had made the temple’s disciples appear unable to see him. Their conversation turned frightening when she used her power to make Lu Xiao give birth to a baby.

• Lu Xiao dismissed Dan Qingrong’s attempt to drive a wedge between him and Doctor Li, and Dan Qingrong sent Dan Guofeng to visit his first master.
• Dan Qingrong told Lu Xiao he was not Liu Guang, despite trying to think like him, and asked whether he had wondered why people in the temple acted as if they could not see him.
• Dan Qingrong summoned the blue-robed figures at the hall entrance, revealing them as puppets that bowed to the stone statue before leaving as if they had not noticed Lu Xiao.
• Dan Qingrong said she knew Liu Guang rather than Lu Xiao and hinted that the statue was connected to what was happening.
• After Lu Xiao asked whether the statue represented a deity and joked that Dan Qingrong was Liu Guang’s woman, she made his belly swell and caused him to give birth to a baby.

Lu Xiao learned that Dan Qingrong planned to use the Wood Heart for god-making by fusing a trait into the baby she called Nini. As Dan Qingrong explained that only she could perform the fusion, Lu Xiao considered what he had seen during his visits to the Taoist Temple.

• Lu Xiao realized the statue had been brought back by Zhang Chu and represented Liu Guang, while Dan Qingrong warned him not to get involved in the karma surrounding it.
• Dan Qingrong said her conflict with Doctor Li was genuine, and Lu Xiao gave her the Wood Heart.
• Dan Qingrong pressed the Wood Heart to the baby's forehead and called her Nini, alarming Lu Xiao.
• Dan Qingrong explained that she intended to fuse a trait into the baby and that she alone could perform such a fusion.
• Lu Xiao reflected on the living-seeming puppets and other strange beings he had encountered at the Taoist Temple.

Lu Xiao questioned Dan Qingrong about her Grafting ability and her knowledge of Liu Guang, then chose to wait for Dan Guofeng rather than leave. Alone in the hall, he suspected the stone statue was connected to Liu Guang’s resurrection and that Doctor Li’s cooperation involved recreating a holder of the Life trait.

• Lu Xiao asked whether Dan Qingrong could graft traits onto others, and she called her ability Grafting but refused to explain its limits.
• Dan Qingrong explained that Lu Xiao differed from Liu Guang because he still followed a personal moral boundary, then dismissed further questions about her sources.
• When Dan Qingrong refused to release Dan Guofeng from seclusion, Lu Xiao decided to wait until he could leave with him.
• After Dan Qingrong left with the baby girl called Nini, Lu Xiao examined the solid stone statue and considered whether it helped provide faith for Liu Guang’s resurrection.
• Lu Xiao concluded that Doctor Li’s cooperation with Dan Qingrong’s side might be aimed at recreating a holder of the Life trait.

Lu Xiao questioned why the time silhouette and Nini’s history had unfolded as they did, and planned to speak with Dan Guofeng. In Hell, Calamity provoked the crow-like being into revealing itself, whereupon an Observer appeared and accused someone of tampering with history.

• Lu Xiao considered whether he was correcting history and wondered why Liu Guang had not known he gave birth to Nini.
• Lu Xiao reviewed the clues about Nini’s future and decided to seek information from Dan Guofeng.
• Calamity ran toward the mysterious figure in Hell, then plucked the feathers from four ravens to draw its attention.
• The figure’s malice surrounded Calamity, who transformed into a black-feathered creature and confronted the twisted crow.
• A mass of flesh fell from Calamity and grew into a skinless, electrified being as the crow flailed its many arms.
• Calamity heard the crow repeatedly order an Observer to leave while the Observer accused it of tampering with history.

Calamity watched Crow and the Observer clash in a space removed from Hell, until a fish-shaped creature intervened on Crow’s behalf and drove the Observer away. The newcomer ordered Calamity to collect one hundred million souls, then buried himself in the ground.

• The Observer’s power trapped Calamity as he attacked Crow’s projection in a warped space.
• A fish-shaped creature entered through a tear in space and confronted the Observer with a Double-Pointed Fish Spear.
• The Observer accused Calamity of disrupting time, but the fish-shaped creature said the Observer was provoking his Lord.
• The Observer wiped the creature’s phlegm from his face and vanished, restoring the thicket and Calamity’s freedom of movement.
• The fish-shaped creature kicked Calamity and ordered him to collect one hundred million souls before leaving.
• Calamity flew away, and the fish-shaped creature dug into the ground and buried himself.

Calamity and Morati reunited as crows above the allied army while Yi Hao prepared the Holy City’s plan to destroy rival factions and redistribute their territory. After Amilia told Ruiqi that the purge was beginning, Ruiqi recognized the chaos as an opportunity for their people to rise, despite the likely deaths.

• Ding Dan saw Calamity flying overhead and understood that his gamble had succeeded, while Calamity flew off to gather souls.
• Calamity found Morati above a vast force in Hell, and the two crows greeted each other joyfully as they waited for deaths below.
• Yi Hao prepared to use Wanderers to destroy the allied army and weaken the great races, then redistribute their spoils to factions loyal to the Holy City.
• Amilia told Ruiqi that the Holy City was promising Wanderer leaders a share of the spoils from the great races’ collapse.
• Ruiqi recalled Lu Xiao’s warning about the Holy City’s revenge, realized its purge had begun sooner than expected, and considered the resulting turmoil an opportunity for their people.