Recaps

Qin Yu agreed to conceal traps during the outpost evacuation, while the Bronze Skull Beast learned how its forces had been tracking the humans. A soldier later returned to the abandoned outpost to decipher a stone slab, where a huge shadow appeared behind him.

• Lin Zhaoran asked Qin Yu to conceal traps along the humans’ escape route, and Qin Yu agreed to do her best.
• Captain Lin assembled the soldiers and began evacuating the outpost.
• A wolf-type Calamity Beast told the Bronze Skull Beast that mountain-burrowing rats had secretly followed returning humans to locate their settlements.
• The Bronze Skull Beast ordered its forces to follow their previous plan and wait for the humans to return.
• A soldier returned to the abandoned outpost, found a stone slab, and began deciphering its characters before a huge shadow silently loomed behind him.

Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui laid a false evacuation route to draw the pursuing Calamity Beasts away from the main group, then waited at the final information point. The Bronze Skull Beast doubted that the humans ahead were the main force, leaving the pursuit uncertain.

• Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui carved staged directions into rocks, using a false route to mislead any Calamity Beasts following them.
• Qin Yu explained that Captain Lin stayed with the main group to handle threats and guard against other ways the beasts might track them.
• Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui left several more information points, then waited on a distant mountain after reaching the final one.
• A Bronze Skull Beast and its companions followed the trail after forcing a human to decipher the messages, but the Bronze Skull Beast stopped at the latest information point.
• The Bronze Skull Beast concluded that the main body of the humans was not ahead and asked how far they had flown that day.

The Bronze Skull Beast realized the humans ahead were drawing pursuit to buy time for the others to evacuate. It sent the two Calamity Beasts onward while it searched other routes through the temple for the hidden humans.

• The Bronze Skull Beast rejected the intelligence that humans had traveled hundreds of kilometers in a day, and the wolf-like Calamity Beast explained why the distance was implausible for their group.
• The wolf-like Calamity Beast suggested the humans ahead were leading them away to buy time for the others, and the Bronze Skull Beast agreed.
• The bear-like Calamity Beast guessed that the others had fled in the opposite direction, but the Bronze Skull Beast said they might have gone to the side as well.
• The Bronze Skull Beast decided to search other directions through the limited temple space while the wolf-like and bear-like Calamity Beasts followed the intelligence.
• The Bronze Skull Beast handed a captured human to the wolf-like Calamity Beast and told them to keep moving, warning that more relocation intelligence might lie ahead.

Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui watched two Calamity Beasts investigate their misleading message, while the Bronze Skull Beast remained absent. The beasts debated whether the message about humans returning to their original space was a trap, and the chapter ended with the bear insisting it had never said it believed the message.

• Liya praised Qin Yu for reaching A-Class mastery of the path of Shadow and encouraged her to keep training.
• Liya warned Qin Yu that Calamity Beasts had approached the mountain, so Qin Yu woke Yu Yanhui to watch them.
• Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui saw two Calamity Beasts examining their message and concluded that the Bronze Skull Beast was not among them.
• Yu Yanhui and Qin Yu waited for the beasts to leave so they could change the information and meet Sister Zhaoran and the others.
• The wolf Calamity Beast told the bear Calamity Beast that the message was a human ploy, but the bear replied that it had never said it believed the message.

Yu Yanhui and Qin Yu evaded two fifth tier Calamity Beasts by leaving them information that sent them searching in the wrong direction, then reunited with Lin Zhaoran. The group hurried to catch up with the humans evacuating through a distorted space, while the whereabouts of the sixth tier Bronze Skull Beast remained unknown.

• The bear-type Calamity Beast convinced the wolf-type Calamity Beast that the humans might have left their true destination, and the wolf-type Beast abandoned its plan to search in the opposite direction from Lord Bronze Skull Beast.
• Yu Yanhui and Qin Yu waited two days, changed the information they had left, and flew toward Lin Zhaoran and the others.
• Lin Zhaoran learned that two fifth tier Calamity Beasts had chased Yu Yanhui and Qin Yu, but the Bronze Skull Beast had not appeared.
• Lin Zhaoran, Qin Yu, and Yu Yanhui hurried to join the main group and continue the evacuation.
• Qin Yu looked toward the distorted space on the horizon and estimated that they would reach it in another two or three hours.

During an evacuation, Qin Yu, Lin Zhaoran, and Yu Yanhui dealt with Calamity Beasts blocking the group’s path. A Sixth Tier Bronze Skull Beast appeared ahead and moved toward them, leaving Lin Zhaoran to ask Qin Yu to conceal the evacuees.

• A scout reported an early Fourth Tier Bloodfang Wolf ahead, and Yu Yanhui went to deal with it.
• Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui handled the Fourth Tier Calamity Beasts while soldiers fought the Third Tier ones.
• A scout spotted the Bronze Skull Beast from a few days earlier, about forty kilometers ahead and moving toward the evacuation group.
• Lin Zhaoran asked Qin Yu to try concealing the evacuees, and Qin Yu agreed despite the risk the Sixth Tier beast would detect them.
• Lin Zhaoran ordered the scout to alert the soldiers and report when the beast came within about twenty kilometers, then apologized to Qin Yu.

Lin Zhaoran warned Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui to flee alone if the Bronze Skull Beast found them, while urging Qin Yu to focus on finding a way out of the Plateau Erosion Zone. The group hid from the approaching beast, and after it passed, Lin Zhaoran ordered everyone to withdraw.

• Lin Zhaoran told Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui to scatter and escape alone if the sixth-tier Bronze Skull Beast discovered them.
• Lin Zhaoran explained that Qin Yu was their best chance of finding a way out because she and Captain Shen could avoid Calamity Beasts, but Captain Shen's whereabouts were unknown.
• Scouts reported the Bronze Skull Beast was approaching, and Qin Yu used a black curtain to conceal the group in the woods.
• The Bronze Skull Beast's probing presence swept over the hiding soldiers, and Lin Zhaoran warned Wu Wei not to look up.
• After a scout confirmed the Bronze Skull Beast had left, Lin Zhaoran ordered everyone to withdraw, and the soldiers rebuked Wu Wei for looking at it.

Lin Zhaoran decided the group had to evacuate because the Bronze Skull Beast might have only pretended to leave and could discover their trail. Before catching up with the column, she and Qin Yu considered leaving an alert behind, and Yu Yanhui proposed using Calamity Beast writing to lure the beast down.

• The evacuated column resumed moving after Lin Zhaoran ordered them to hurry, while she, Qin Yu, and Yu Yanhui stayed behind.
• Qin Yu asked whether Lin Zhaoran had doubted the scout’s report that the Bronze Skull Beast had left, and Lin Zhaoran admitted she could not be sure it was gone for good.
• Lin Zhaoran explained that the Bronze Skull Beast might learn of their evacuation from Calamity Beasts they had left behind, so the group needed to leave immediately either way.
• Lin Zhaoran proposed setting an alert with her charged Azure Talisman Jade, but wondered how they could lure the Bronze Skull Beast into triggering it.
• Yu Yanhui suggested leaving Calamity Beast writing on the ground to tempt the Bronze Skull Beast into coming down.

Yu Yanhui, Lin Zhaoran, and Qin Yu left a deliberately garbled message about the Mountain of Truth beside a hidden trap to lure the Bronze Skull Beast. As the group neared a portal, scouts reported that the Beast was pursuing them, and Lin Zhaoran ordered everyone to sprint forward.

• Yu Yanhui suggested leaving writing to draw the Bronze Skull Beast down, and Lin Zhaoran and Qin Yu agreed to the plan.
• Qin Yu proposed writing information about the Mountain of Truth, and the three carved distorted words into a rock wall.
• Qin Yu and Lin Zhaoran checked the concealed trap, which would activate an Azure Talisman Jade when the Beast stepped on it.
• The three rejoined the group and continued toward the nearby spatial boundary as the soldiers relaxed, hoping to escape through a portal.
• A scout reported that signs of the Bronze Skull Beast's pursuit had appeared behind them, and Lin Zhaoran ordered everyone to run toward the portal without conserving their strength.

As the soldiers hurried toward the portal with the Bronze Skull Beast approaching, Wu Wei blamed himself for drawing its attention. His squad leader confronted him until he stopped spiraling and regained some composure.

• The soldiers worried aloud that they would not reach the portal before the Bronze Skull Beast returned.
• Yu Yanhui noticed Wu Wei repeatedly apologizing over the team channel and realized he was the soldier who had drawn the beast's attention earlier.
• A soldier angrily told Wu Wei to stop apologizing, but his squad leader, Zhaoran, intervened and asked what he thought he was sorry for.
• Wu Wei confessed that he believed his actions had put everyone in danger, while the others listened in silence.
• The squad leader barked at Wu Wei to stop dwelling on his mistake and warned him that he would face consequences if they survived; Wu Wei answered that he understood.

With the Bronze Skull Beast pursuing them, Lin Zhaoran stayed behind so the soldiers could escape through the portal, but they discovered two nearly sixth-tier Calamity Beasts fighting on the other side. As the group’s options seemed to vanish, a black-haired figure emerged from the portal.

• Qin Yu realized that crossing the portal would not shake the Bronze Skull Beast, which could catch up soon afterward.
• Lin Zhaoran ordered the soldiers to pass through portals quickly and stop only after crossing two spaces.
• Lin Zhaoran told Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui to escape without her, planning to delay the pursuing Bronze Skull Beast.
• Soldiers returned from the portal and reported that two Calamity Beasts close to the sixth tier were fighting beyond it.
• A black-haired figure walked out of the portal and looked over the gathered soldiers.

Shen Heng reassured Lin Zhaoran’s unit that Origin Prohibition did not affect him and sent the soldiers through the portal before confronting the Sixth Tier Bronze Skull Beast. He planned to feign weakness and strike by surprise, but the first clash sent him plunging toward the trees.

• Shen Heng told Lin Zhaoran and the soldiers to cross the portal while he dealt with the approaching beast alone.
• Shen Heng explained that Origin Prohibition could not distort his Origin Power, then told Lin Zhaoran’s unit there were no Calamity Beasts nearby for nearly twenty kilometers.
• A soldier reported that two Calamity Beasts had been fighting in the next space, and Shen Heng said he had already dealt with one of them.
• Lin Zhaoran ordered the soldiers through the portal, and Shen Heng flew off to face the Sixth Tier Bronze Skull Beast.
• Shen Heng considered feigning weakness and launching a sneak attack, but the Bronze Skull Beast struck his saber and drove him down toward the trees.

Captain Shen faced the Bronze Skull Beast while the others watched from the boundary, and the beast repeatedly struck him without managing to kill him. The Bronze Skull Beast still did not know how to leave the space, and the battle continued as Captain Shen kept flying back toward it.

• The Bronze Skull Beast marveled that Captain Shen had survived its blow despite his Origin Power being affected.
• Captain Shen spoke of sacrifice and asked the Bronze Skull Beast how to leave the space, but it refused to tell him.
• Captain Shen raised his saber and asked the Bronze Skull Beast to attack, while the beast privately admitted it also had no way out.
• The Bronze Skull Beast attacked without holding back as Yu Yanhui and Lin Zhaoran watched from the boundary and chose to trust Captain Shen.
• The Bronze Skull Beast repeatedly sent Captain Shen flying, but he continued coming back, leaving the beast frustrated by how difficult he was to kill.

Shen Heng repeatedly fought the Bronze Skull Beast, hiding how much damage he had taken while preparing a sudden burst of power. He finally cut through the beast’s forelimb, leaving the battle unresolved.

• The Bronze Skull Beast repeatedly struck Shen Heng and sent him crashing into the mountainside, but he kept returning to fight.
• Shen Heng concealed the extent of his injuries while his armor, inscriptions, and body absorbed much of the force.
• The Bronze Skull Beast grew impatient and gathered more origin power in its claw as it continued attacking.
• Shen Heng changed how he drove his origin power and suddenly surged past the beast’s claw toward its face.
• Shen Heng redirected his blade and cleaved through the Bronze Skull Beast’s forelimb, severing it and sending blood raining down.

Shen Heng pursued the Bronze Skull Beast and continued attacking despite the Origin Prohibition, while the beast realized the warping power left by Lord Jörmungandr did not affect him. Their fight became a stalemate, and the Bronze Skull Beast finally asked Shen Heng to let it leave.

• The Bronze Skull Beast fled from Shen Heng, hoping he would undergo Distortion before it had to fight him.
• Shen Heng caught up and repeatedly wounded the Bronze Skull Beast with his blade as it questioned why the warping power had not affected him.
• The Bronze Skull Beast realized Shen Heng could use Origin Power without restraint and poured more of its own Origin Power into resisting him.
• At the boundary, Yu Yanhui, Lin Zhaoran, and Qin Yu watched the fight and confirmed that Shen Heng was unaffected by the Origin Prohibition.
• After trading blows through the mountain forest, the Bronze Skull Beast admitted defeat and asked Shen Heng to let it leave.

Shen Heng considered whether to leave the wounded Bronze Skull Beast alone, knowing it might threaten others trapped in the space. He told the beast he would keep trying to kill it until he was sure he could not do so before its Distortion, then would leave; the two resumed fighting as people across the mountain forest looked toward the clash.

• The Bronze Skull Beast feared its unstable Origin Power would drive it into Distortion, while Shen Heng weighed the risks of fighting it or letting it go.
• Shen Heng told the Bronze Skull Beast that he would attack while it resisted and suppressed its Origin Power, and that he would leave if he could not kill it before Distortion.
• The Bronze Skull Beast erupted in anger and launched itself into battle again.
• Shen Heng pursued the beast, and the two exchanged violent blows above the mountain forest as figures below looked toward them.

Azure Scale Beast fled as the battle between the human and Lord Bronze Skull Beast approached, but Bronze Skull Beast pursued and killed it. Driven toward losing control, Bronze Skull Beast attacked the human, who used a sound wave to stun it and struck it down with a long saber.

• Shadow Wolf told Azure Scale Beast that Calamity Beasts were fighting, and the two watched a powerful battle draw nearer.
• Azure Scale Beast fled when it realized the battle was coming its way, but the fighting’s shock waves followed it.
• Lord Bronze Skull Beast seized Azure Scale Beast, wounded it, and tore it apart before continuing after the human.
• Bronze Skull Beast sensed its body and Origin Power slipping out of control, then charged the human in a final attack.
• The human used a sound wave to stun Bronze Skull Beast and cut it down with a long saber.

Shen Heng defeated the Bronze Skull Beast and obtained a sixth tier Origin Crystal, then weighed whether to delay advancing so he could use it to evolve his ability. He considered the beast’s clues about the World Tree, Jörmungandr, distortion, and order as possible ways out of the Ruins Realm, but still did not know how to identify them.

• Shen Heng descended to the Bronze Skull Beast’s corpse and caught the sixth tier Origin Crystal that flew to him.
• Shen Heng considered saving the crystal for ability evolution, but weighed that against the risk of remaining too weak and the uncertainty of when synchronization would occur.
• Shen Heng put away the Bronze Skull Beast’s corpse and recalled its words about the World Tree, Chairman Jörmungandr, distortion, order, and possible ways out.
• Shen Heng reasoned that the World Tree might be hostile to the Calamity Beasts and that the places of greatest distortion or order could offer a way out.
• Shen Heng realized he still could not tell whether the spaces’ environments revealed differences in distortion and order, but he had finally found clues.

Shen Heng returned after killing the Bronze Skull Beast and shared what he had learned about finding a way out. Lin Zhaoran agreed to move her group to a nearby city, while Qin Yu asked to travel with Shen Heng.

• As the group worried about Shen Heng's absence, Qin Yu offered to search for him while Lin Zhaoran continued evacuating the others.
• Shen Heng returned with the Bronze Skull Beast's Sixth Tier Origin Crystal, and Yu Yanhui and Lin Zhaoran questioned him about the kill.
• Yu Yanhui recounted the group's recent troubles, and Shen Heng learned that Qin Yu had joined them only a few days earlier while searching for a way out.
• Shen Heng shared information about the exit and told Lin Zhaoran to move her group to a nearby city, where they could gather other warriors.
• Shen Heng said he would deal with the Fifth Tier Calamity Beasts in the current space, and Qin Yu asked to travel with him.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu set out to search for a way out, leaving Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui to help the other soldiers. That night, Shen Heng shared Origin Crystals with Qin Yu and asked what she thought about the clues to escaping.

• Qin Yu chose to accompany Shen Heng despite his warning that the Origin Prohibition would make traveling difficult for her.
• Shen Heng left Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui behind and asked them to help any soldiers they could find while he searched for a way out.
• Yu Yanhui worried that gathering everyone across so many worlds could take a long time, and Lin Zhaoran said they could only proceed one step at a time.
• At camp that night, Shen Heng gave Qin Yu four mid-Fourth Tier Origin Crystals as her share of the day's kills.
• Shen Heng asked Qin Yu whether the extreme points of distortion and order were likely to be extremely strong or extremely weak, and she judged they were probably extremely strong.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu discussed how to find the way out of the palace by locating the extremes of distortion and order. Qin Yu revealed she could sense distortion, and she suspected the portal to the most extreme place moved between spaces.

• Qin Yu argued that an exit might be near where the World Tree was imprisoned, while Shen Heng proposed searching first for the strongest distortion and order.
• Shen Heng reasoned that the strongest extreme should be where the World Tree was imprisoned, making it more efficient to search than the many possible places where distortion and order were weakest.
• Shen Heng asked whether Qin Yu had been searching for an exit since she was teleported in, and she said she had followed changes in distortion between spaces.
• Qin Yu explained that she could sense distortion and that it varied by location and over time within each space.
• Qin Yu suggested that the portal to the most extreme place was not fixed and might move between several spaces.

Shen Heng and Qin Yu searched the spaces for a way out, and Shen Heng devised a faster method based on Qin Yu’s ability to sense spatial distortion. Qin Yu and Liya discussed the unknown dangers near the World Tree sapling, leaving Qin Yu uncertain about what they might face.

• Shen Heng asked Qin Yu how soon they might find the space with the most extreme distortion, and she estimated it would take a few to a dozen spaces.
• Shen Heng proposed measuring the distortion in each connected space and exploring only the one with the greatest distortion, to save time for the other warriors.
• Shen Heng and Qin Yu ate Calamity Beast meat and settled down to cultivate.
• Qin Yu spoke with Liya, who admitted she did not know what was happening around the World Tree sapling or whether Calamity Beasts had entered its territory before.
• Liya said the sapling might help them, but began to explain why the area might still be unsafe.

Qin Yu learned from Sister Liya that there were three possible ways to escape the distorted spaces: calculate distortion, gain the power to sense it, or find a portal by chance. Elsewhere, Han Ling’s group struggled to find an exit, until Lü Wenrui touched a tree that suddenly warped beneath his hand.

• Qin Yu decided that finding their destination was more important than searching the spaces for other warriors, since most survivors had already gathered into groups.
• Sister Liya explained that Captain might eventually calculate distortion to locate the exit, or grow strong enough to sense it; a randomly appearing portal offered another chance, though entering one alone could be dangerous.
• Han Ling’s group, led by Zhou Xuan and Lü Wenrui among others, admitted they had spent nearly two months searching without finding a way out.
• Zhou Xuan joked that Lü Wenrui’s bad luck might be preventing them from escaping, and Lü Wenrui angrily defended himself.
• Han Ling worried that their search strategy was failing and wished Shen Heng were with them.
• Lü Wenrui reached for a tree trunk, which warped suddenly and made him lose his balance.

A portal appeared and transported Lü Wenrui to an unknown place, while Han Ling and the others debated whether to follow him. Lü Wenrui eventually returned unharmed and said he had found a huge building on the other side.

• A portal appeared where Lü Wenrui was standing and sent him through before the others could react.
• Huang Jun urged Wang Hu and Han Ling to follow Lü Wenrui, but Han Ling decided they should wait and let him return if he encountered danger.
• As Lü Wenrui failed to return for a while, the group worried that he had encountered a powerful Calamity Beast or that the portal only worked one way.
• Lü Wenrui emerged from the portal unharmed, explaining that he had taken time to look around.
• Lü Wenrui told the group that he had found a very large building on the other side.

Lü Wenrui led the group through a portal to a strange grassland, where they found a white palace that slowed their Origin Power. Unsure whether his luck had brought them to danger, Han Ling decided they should approach the palace as their best chance of finding a way out.

• Lü Wenrui returned and urged the group to follow him to a strange building, but Wang Hu went through the portal with him first to check for danger.
• Wang Hu and Lü Wenrui came back unharmed and confirmed that a building stood beyond the portal, so Han Ling led everyone through.
• Han Ling and the others emerged on a vast grassland and saw a white palace with a pillar of light rising from it.
• Han Ling noticed that the place made their Origin Power circulate more sluggishly, while Lü Wenrui boasted that his ability had found it.
• Huang Jun worried that Lü Wenrui's bad luck might have brought them to their deaths, and the group considered whether to leave or approach the palace.
• Han Ling chose to head toward the palace, judging it their best prospect for finding a way out.