Chapter Summaries

Lin Zhaoran tried to use her freezing ability and the surrounding terrain to slow the Mirror Water Beast’s tsunami, but she could not freeze it before it reached her. After her hill tactic worked once, the beast changed its approach and attacked from above, leaving her facing a renewed threat.

• Lin Zhaoran struggled to freeze the Mirror Water Beast’s tsunami, while the beast divided to pursue her and another fighter; its duplicate was recalled after it failed to catch the close-combat spear wielder.
• Lin Zhaoran used frost to slow the tsunami and spotted a hill that might reduce its momentum.
• She waited on the far side of the hill and froze the seawater that flowed over it, though the effect weakened beyond the hill and waves soon closed in from both sides.
• Lin Zhaoran tried the hill tactic again, but the Mirror Water Beast leaped above the hill and crashed down toward her.

Lin Zhaoran struggled to damage the Mirror Water Beast as it pursued her, so she called Gu Lingxuan to carry out their original plan. Gu Lingxuan arrived and restrained the tsunami with an air distortion while Lin Zhaoran began freezing it from within.

• Lin Zhaoran dodged the Mirror Water Beast's descending seawater palm by raising a Pillar of Extreme Ice, but its attack brought the tsunami closer.
• Cao Mingyu hurled logs into the wave to slow it and urged Lin Zhaoran to retreat, then ran off to prepare elsewhere.
• Lin Zhaoran told Gu Lingxuan that freezing the Mirror Water Beast cost too much Origin Power and could not overcome the seawater's force, and they agreed to follow their original plan.
• The Mirror Water Beast expanded its limb extension into a dispersed state and sent tentacles after Lin Zhaoran as it closed the distance.
• Gu Lingxuan arrived and used an invisible air distortion to halt the tsunami, while Lin Zhaoran channeled Origin Power and began freezing it from the inside.

Lin Zhaoran, Gu Lingxuan, and Cao Mingyu repeatedly used their abilities to freeze the Mirror Water Beast’s tsunami, shrinking it until it stopped moving. Just as they thought they were nearing victory, the Mirror Water Beast spoke as if it had anticipated their success and began to move.

• Lin Zhaoran escaped the frozen leading wave and told Gu Lingxuan and Cao Mingyu that the Mirror Water Beast might find a counter to their tactic.
• Gu Lingxuan decided they should keep fighting and adapt if the Mirror Water Beast responded, then pushed ahead to lead the attack.
• Lin Zhaoran and Gu Lingxuan repeatedly froze parts of the tsunami, shrinking it from over a hundred meters to a few meters tall.
• The Mirror Water Beast stopped pursuing them, and Cao Mingyu wondered whether it was about to change forms as Gu Lingxuan warned him not to relax.
• The Mirror Water Beast asked whether they were happy to think they were about to win, and then slowly began to move.

Gu Lingxuan, Lin Zhaoran, and Cao Mingyu realized the Mirror Water Beast could recover by melting its frozen pieces and absorbing them. Acting on Shen Heng’s hint, they decided to throw the frozen pieces far away, leaving the Mirror Water Beast angry as they began.

• The Mirror Water Beast melted a frozen piece of itself and absorbed it, growing slightly taller.
• Shen Heng advised the trio to stop the Mirror Water Beast from recovering, but urged them to work out how while they still had time.
• Gu Lingxuan realized they could throw the frozen pieces far away, and Shen Heng confirmed her idea.
• Gu Lingxuan ordered Cao Mingyu to help her hurl the frozen pieces away while Lin Zhaoran held the Mirror Water Beast back.
• Gu Lingxuan and Cao Mingyu rushed to throw the frozen pieces, and the Mirror Water Beast stopped laughing and grew angry.

Cao Mingyu, Lin Zhaoran, and Gu Lingxuan worked to weaken the Mirror Water Beast by throwing its frozen body parts away and forcing it to divide its tsunami. After the divided water bodies returned and restored much of its strength, Gu Lingxuan planned to draw it into the air and knock away any parts it froze, but the beast began shrinking again.

• Cao Mingyu lifted a huge ice crystal and threw it away from the Mirror Water Beast while warning his teammates to move it farther.
• Lin Zhaoran slowed the tsunami with Ice Blast Bullets as the Mirror Water Beast split off separate bodies of water, reducing its strength to barely the middle fifth tier.
• Lin Zhaoran used Modified Ice Blast Rain, and the Mirror Water Beast revealed a new Water Barrage attack.
• Gu Lingxuan launched another ice crystal away, while the divided water bodies either pursued targets or melted the remaining crystals.
• The Mirror Water Beast’s returning waves merged and restored it to roughly four-fifths of its original strength, and Gu Lingxuan told Lin Zhaoran they would draw it into the air and knock away its frozen body parts.
• As Lin Zhaoran and Gu Lingxuan prepared to face the tsunami, it paused and began to shrink.

Gu Lingxuan and Lin Zhaoran faced the Mirror Water Beast as it compressed itself and launched a powerful attack, while Cao Mingyu prepared to confront it. Elsewhere, Xu Jianing carried a gravely wounded person away from a pursuing Fang-Splitting Tiger, refusing to leave them behind.

• Gu Lingxuan and Lin Zhaoran decided to treat the Mirror Water Beast as an exceptionally dangerous Calamity Beast, and Lin Zhaoran agreed to hinder its movements when she could.
• Lin Zhaoran recognized the Mirror Water Beast’s compressed body as a sign of its Lethal Impact attack and warned Gu Lingxuan.
• Gu Lingxuan propelled herself and Lin Zhaoran aside as the Mirror Water Beast shot toward their former position, then saw it leap toward Cao Mingyu.
• Xu Jianing finished treating a wounded person and saw an injured Fang-Splitting Tiger approaching with three pursuers behind it.
• Xu Jianing carried the wounded person away from the Fang-Splitting Tiger, but the beast continued to close in despite her attempts to escape.
• Xu Jianing refused to abandon the wounded person, insisting that a doctor could not watch a patient die.

Shen Heng saved Xu Jianing and the wounded man, then cleared Fourth Tier Calamity Beasts so the lower-tier inspectors could withdraw. As he watched the battle against the Mirror Water Beast, it mentioned using Rumination, and Shen Heng noticed something startling near Frontier-Pacifying City.

• Xu Jianing carried a wounded man away from the Fang-Splitting Tiger, but he fell and tried to hold the beast back as it attacked him.
• Shen Heng arrived in black armor and killed the Fang-Splitting Tiger with one saber strike, then ordered the inspectors to withdraw.
• Shen Heng killed Fourth Tier Calamity Beasts and confirmed that everyone below Fifth Tier was retreating with their comrades' remains.
• Shen Heng watched Gu Lingxuan use Pressure Deception against the Mirror Water Beast and noted how versatile her ability was.
• The Mirror Water Beast considered using Rumination against the humans, and Shen Heng spotted something near Frontier-Pacifying City that left him astonished and confused.

Lin Zhaoran struggled to survive the Mirror Water Beast’s relentless attacks while Gu Lingxuan and Cao Mingyu held it back. A black-armored fighter arrived, and the beast asked them to join the Ruins Realm, but the newcomer refused.

• The Mirror Water Beast chased Lin Zhaoran and struck her with a tentacle, injuring her despite her Ice Crystal Shield Formation.
• Lin Zhaoran dodged the beast’s water bullets, then escaped a hill it hurled at her with help from an ally’s pushing force.
• Gu Lingxuan and Cao Mingyu kept attacking the Mirror Water Beast while Lin Zhaoran recovered and assessed its strength.
• A black-armored figure arrived beside Lin Zhaoran and asked what condition she was in.
• The Mirror Water Beast approached the group, counted four humans, and invited the black-armored figure to join the Ruins Realm.
• The black-armored figure declined the Mirror Water Beast’s offer.

Shen Heng and the others tried to hold the Mirror Water Beast back so the retreating fighters could escape, but it realized their plan and pushed toward the fleeing group. As the retreaters came into view and panicked, Shen Heng called for them to change tactics and fight the beast to the death.

• The Mirror Water Beast attacked Shen Heng, Gu Lingxuan, and the others after Gu Lingxuan refused to leave, while they scattered and harried it.
• The Mirror Water Beast realized the fighters were buying time for people to retreat and set off to intercept them.
• Shen Heng told the others what the beast had realized, and they pursued it from the side to try to stop it.
• Gu Lingxuan and the others struck the Mirror Water Beast repeatedly, slowing but failing to halt its advance.
• Shen Heng spotted the retreating fighters ahead as they heard the battle and ran faster in panic.
• Shen Heng declared that they had to change the plan and fight the Mirror Water Beast prepared to kill it or be killed.

Shen Heng and Cao Mingyu fought the Mirror Water Beast to buy time while their team searched for an opening. As both men weakened, Cao Mingyu called to the captain for an update, but the answer was only to hold on a little longer.

• Gu Lingxuan, Lin Zhaoran, and Cao Mingyu joined the assault, but the Mirror Water Beast’s tentacles injured the fighters and sent Lin Zhaoran flying.
• Shen Heng cut down a tentacle before it could strike Lin Zhaoran again, then realized the group could not keep fighting at that pace.
• Shen Heng asked whether the Mirror Water Beast could still be restrained and sent Cao Mingyu and himself forward to hold it off.
• Shen Heng warned Cao Mingyu to conserve some strength in case the beast tried to switch to Tsunami Form.
• Cao Mingyu and Shen Heng fought the Mirror Water Beast as tentacles and water bullets wore down their strength.
• Cao Mingyu asked the captain over the channel whether an opening had been found, and the response urged them to hold out a little longer.

Gu Lingxuan, Lin Zhaoran, Shen Heng, and Cao Mingyu coordinated an attack to pin down the Mirror Water Beast and strike it with a massive sphere of frost. Just as the attack neared its target, Shen Heng spotted missiles forming inside the beast and recognized its ability as Rumination.

• Gu Lingxuan and Shen Heng drew the Mirror Water Beast's attention while Lin Zhaoran and Cao Mingyu prepared their attack.
• The Mirror Water Beast realized the two approaching fighters were a distraction, but it had paused too long to evade.
• Gu Lingxuan unleashed distorted air that trapped the Mirror Water Beast, Shen Heng, and Cao Mingyu in place.
• Lin Zhaoran formed a large sphere of frost, and Gu Lingxuan propelled it toward the Mirror Water Beast.
• Shen Heng saw missiles emerging inside the Mirror Water Beast and asked whether its ability was Rumination.

The Hard-Armored Salamander tried to track the hidden human by watching an arrow embedded in a Calamity Beast’s corpse, then followed a moving gap in the snow curtain and struck a rock decoy. The human ambushed it with explosive arrows, and a final shot into its mouth brought the Salamander crashing down.

• The Hard-Armored Salamander suppressed its curiosity about an explosion elsewhere and watched the arrow in the Calamity Beast’s corpse, waiting for the human to retrieve it.
• After the human took the arrow and vanished, the Hard-Armored Salamander noticed a moving gap in the snow and charged after it.
• The Hard-Armored Salamander struck a rock decoy, then turned as the human’s arrows flew in and blocked its escape upward.
• Explosive arrows hit the Hard-Armored Salamander’s head, hind limb, and forelimb, leaving it badly injured and costing it a limb.
• The Hard-Armored Salamander spotted the human emerging from beneath the snow, but her arrow struck its open mouth and exploded, sending its body crashing onto the ice.

Qin Yu killed the Hard-Armored Salamander and hurried toward the others as the Mirror Water Beast’s missile attack badly injured Shen Heng and Cao Mingyu. The Mirror Water Beast, reduced to middle fifth tier, again asked the humans to join the Ruins Realm, but Shen Heng challenged its certainty that it had won.

• Qin Yu killed the Hard-Armored Salamander, then rushed toward the fight against the Mirror Water Beast despite a warning about its strength.
• Shen Heng recognized the missiles inside the Mirror Water Beast as Rumination and shouted for Cao Mingyu to retreat, but the missiles detonated before they could escape the blast.
• Shen Heng and Cao Mingyu survived the explosion with injuries, while Shen Heng inferred that the Mirror Water Beast had taken the missiles from cities it had breached.
• Gu Lingxuan and Lin Zhaoran regrouped with Shen Heng and Cao Mingyu as the injured Mirror Water Beast approached, its aura weakened to barely middle fifth tier.
• The Mirror Water Beast asked Shen Heng and Cao Mingyu once more to join the Ruins Realm, and Shen Heng asked whether it was really sure it had won.

Shen Heng tried to confront the Mirror Water Beast but was too injured to summon Blast, and the beast knocked him aside. Daoist Master Li arrived as a Sixth Tier, trapped the beast in a fierce wind, and began destroying its copies.

• The Mirror Water Beast questioned Shen Heng’s confidence and threw a Calamity Beast corpse at him to test whether he had a trump card.
• Shen Heng’s damaged meridians caused severe pain when he mobilized Origin Power, so he failed to form Blast and was struck by the corpse.
• Shen Heng climbed out from beneath the corpse, told Cao Mingyu, Gu Lingxuan, and Lin Zhaoran he was fine, and looked toward Frontier-Pacifying City as if awaiting the battle’s end.
• The Mirror Water Beast sensed a Sixth Tier approaching and fled, dividing into several bodies as Daoist Master Li’s fierce wind swept onto the battlefield.
• Daoist Master Li restrained the Mirror Water Beast’s copies with wind blades, then strengthened the blades until they began making the copies disappear.

Shen Heng and Li Daoyi captured the weakened Mirror Water Beast, while Li Daoyi explained that headquarters planned to capture a sixth-tier Calamity Beast to investigate how to break through to the seventh tier. The chapter ended with Shen Heng asking whether Li Daoyi was going alone.

• Shen Heng asked Li Daoyi to leave one Mirror Water Beast alive so they could interrogate and study it.
• Lin Zhaoran began freezing the weakened beast to confine it, while Li Daoyi teased Shen Heng about risking a fight with so few people.
• Shen Heng explained that he had planned to stall the beast and retreat, splitting its pursuit to reduce casualties.
• Li Daoyi revealed that headquarters had sent him to capture a sixth-tier Calamity Beast and investigate the barrier to reaching the seventh tier.
• Li Daoyi said the mission was prompted by Jiang Xingwei reaching the late sixth tier, and Shen Heng asked whether Li Daoyi was going alone.

After Shen Heng’s group finished the immediate crisis, Jiang Xingwei assembled Chongshan City’s fifth-tier members without explaining why. The chapter ended as a newly arrived inspector from Bedrock City appeared to be a Calamity Beast.

• Li Daoyi left to deal with the Calamity Beasts at Frontier-Pacifying City and planned to meet Jiang Xingwei at the Ruins Realm light gate before sunset the next day.
• Shen Heng asked Qin Yu to carry him while they flew off to notify the scattered evacuees that they could return.
• Gu Lingxuan and Cao Mingyu stayed with Lin Zhaoran as he froze the Mirror Water Beast, and they saw a massive white tornado near Frontier-Pacifying City.
• Shen Heng told Qin Yu he was worried about how the Calamity Beasts would respond if Li Daoyi’s group captured a sixth-tier beast.
• Jiang Xingwei gathered Zhou Xuan and Chongshan City’s fifth-tier members, then noticed that the inspector arriving from Bedrock City looked like a Calamity Beast.

Han Ling and Zhou Xuan tried to stop Jiang Xingwei from killing the Stone-Armored Beast, which he considered no different from other Calamity Beasts. Jiang Xingwei offered to compensate them with a dead Fifth Tier Calamity Beast, and the others seemed willing to accept as he demanded that Han Ling move aside.

• Han Ling arrived with the Stone-Armored Beast and noticed Jiang Xingwei and the mushroom-haired girl beside General Wang.
• Jiang Xingwei released his Sixth Tier Origin Power and prepared to strike the trembling Stone-Armored Beast with lightning.
• Han Ling stood between Jiang Xingwei and the beast, explaining that it was unusually gentle and that they hoped it could become a companion.
• Jiang Xingwei insisted that Calamity Beasts should be killed, and Zhou Xuan tried to stop him by calling the beast their personal property.
• Jiang Xingwei offered a dead Fifth Tier Calamity Beast in compensation, and the others considered the trade worthwhile as he asked Han Ling to move aside.

Han Ling, Zhou Xuan, and the Stone-Armored Beast stood up to Jiang Xingwei to prevent its immediate execution, and Jiang Xingwei agreed to wait for headquarters' decision while assigning Cao Yiyi to monitor it. Afterward, Zhou Xuan and Han Ling watched Jiang Xingwei swiftly eliminate the Calamity Beasts near the Eye of Earth Marrow and learned that his S-rank lightning ability made him exceptionally destructive.

• Han Ling argued that Jiang Xingwei should not kill the Stone-Armored Beast before headquarters decided its fate, and Zhou Xuan stood with her.
• Jiang Xingwei lowered his hand, ordered Cao Yiyi to monitor the Calamity Beast, and warned Han Ling to prevent the Stone-Armored Beast from attacking humans.
• The Stone-Armored Beast reconsidered its distrust of humans and wished Han Ling could become its master.
• Wang Hu asked Jiang Xingwei why he had come to the Plateau Erosion Zone and gathered them, but Jiang Xingwei began to withhold details.
• Jiang Xingwei quickly cleared the Calamity Beasts around the Eye of Earth Marrow, and Cao Yiyi explained that his S-rank lightning ability made him unusually powerful.

Han Ling and the others recovered Origin Crystals from the Calamity Beasts Jiang Xingwei had killed, while Cao Yiyi praised his strength and apologized for his earlier treatment of Han Ling. After the group collected more than three thousand crystals, Han Ling sensed a faint thumping sound beneath her feet.

• Cao Yiyi described Jiang Xingwei as Great Xia’s strongest inspector, and Wang Hu silently made him a future goal.
• The group descended to retrieve Origin Crystals from the dead Calamity Beasts, and Han Ling collected 278, including 27 Fourth Tier crystals.
• Cao Yiyi apologized to Han Ling on Jiang Xingwei’s behalf, and Han Ling accepted after recognizing that he had been following rules and holding back.
• The others returned with more crystals, bringing the total above three thousand, and Cao Yiyi suggested they continue collecting them.
• Han Ling paused when she heard a faint thumping sound coming from beneath her feet.

Han Ling sensed a Calamity Beast rising quickly from beneath the Eye of Earth Marrow, despite Jiang Xingwei having supposedly cleared the area. Cao Yiyi ordered everyone to withdraw, and the beast emerged as Zhou Xuan wondered whether it was the Profound Crystal Griffin they had encountered over a year earlier.

• Han Ling sensed a Calamity Beast approaching from underground and warned the group.
• Cao Yiyi and the others sensed the beast but could not explain how it had survived after Jiang Xingwei cleared the area.
• Zhou Xuan suggested the beast could travel through earth or come back to life, and Cao Yiyi considered the latter possibility.
• Han Ling recommended withdrawing until they could judge the beast's strength, and Cao Yiyi agreed.
• The group retreated as a huge beast claw emerged from the entrance, and Zhou Xuan wondered if the creature was the Profound Crystal Griffin.