Chapter Summaries

Shen Heng left Xu Ruiyu and the gathered soldiers to continue searching the third space and clearing out high-tier Calamity Beasts. The chapter ended with the Ring-Eyed Beast and nearby beasts dying as humans changed course across the space.

• Old Liu told a fellow soldier that his scouting ability helped him survive alone in the wilderness, and the soldier praised Shen Heng for defeating the Azure Feather Bird.
• The soldiers realized Shen Heng had departed, and Xu Ruiyu explained that Shen Heng could not make arrangements for everyone scattered across the space.
• Shen Heng flew on, reflected on the soldiers he had found and the dwindling number of survivors, then stopped above a Calamity Beast.
• The Ring-Eyed Beast wondered whether it had returned to the Ruins Realm and spotted Shen Heng hovering above it.
• Shen Heng left, and high-tier Calamity Beasts across the space died while wandering humans changed direction.

A month after arriving in the Gobi Desert, Wang Hu, Huang Jun, and Shi Ruiyuan worried that few warriors remained outside their group and that Calamity Beasts might gather together. As they pondered their unknown location, Huang Jun sensed two visitors approaching and thought one might be Captain Han from Captain Shen’s team.

• Wang Hu, Huang Jun, and Shi Ruiyuan watched Zhou Xuan and Lü Wenrui return with a Calamity Beast and discussed how difficult hunting had become.
• Shi Ruiyuan noted that they had not encountered new warriors in days and reasoned that most survivors had either joined groups or died.
• Shi Ruiyuan worried that Calamity Beasts might also gather, making it difficult to replenish food later.
• Wang Hu recalled that their transportation to the Gobi Desert might be connected to a sixth-tier Calamity Beast attacking the base and the distorted space.
• Huang Jun sensed two people approaching and said one seemed to be Captain Han from Captain Shen’s team.

Han Ling explained that their current location was an abnormal space with boundaries and portals, and proposed finding a way out, possibly with help from the others. Meanwhile, Lin Zhaoran learned that more than six hundred Calamity Beasts were approaching her stronghold and began ordering an evacuation.

• Han Ling concluded that Shen Heng had likely succeeded in Shuofang City, while Wang Hu confronted Zhou Xuan and Lü Wenrui for failing to mention that the city had changed after they left.
• Han Ling explained that the group was in an abnormal space that suppressed Origin Power and had boundaries with portals leading to other spaces.
• Han Ling said she needed to find a way out because Shen Heng might also have been transported there, and Wang Hu offered to send people with her.
• Yu Yanhui told Lin Zhaoran that scouts had detected over six hundred and thirty Calamity Beasts heading toward their stronghold.
• Lin Zhaoran, facing dwindling ammunition and restricted Origin Power, ordered the group to abandon the stronghold and move.

Zhao Lei and Lin Yao, imprisoned with other humans and forced to offer one of their number to the Broken Claw Beast every few days, faced another selection. When Lin Yao was chosen, Zhao Lei offered to take her place, but she reminded him that they would all face this fate eventually.

• Zhao Lei and Lin Yao discussed how the Broken Claw Beast’s repeated demands had left nearly half the prisoners dead over two months.
• At the Calamity Beasts’ order, Zhao Lei led the prisoners in calling out numbers for the next tribute selection.
• The Calamity Beasts announced that the Broken Claw Beast had chosen 77, making Lin Yao, who called 76, the closest.
• Zhao Lei tried to take Lin Yao’s place, but a Calamity Beast insisted that the chosen number could not be changed.
• Lin Yao stopped Zhao Lei and said that this day would come for all of them.

Lin Yao faced the Broken Claw Beast, which admitted it had deceived the prisoners for its own amusement, before an unknown figure appeared in the sky. A violent upheaval killed the Calamity Beasts and freed the cave’s captives, whom Shen Heng cared for as they began to cry.

• Lin Yao refused to struggle after the Broken Claw Beast revealed that it had lied about why it brought prisoners to the summit.
• The Broken Claw Beast told Lin Yao to enter its mouth, and she noticed an indifferent figure standing in the sky.
• A tremendous impact shook the mountain, followed by fierce roars and a wave of pain that left the cave silent.
• Zhao Lei and a soldier went outside and found Calamity Beasts lying motionless across the mountain.
• Shen Heng offered the rescued prisoners heated baths and roasted Calamity Beast meat, then listened as they sobbed together.

Shen Heng explained the group’s situation and plans after rescuing them in the spaces connected to the temple on the Mountain of Truth. Though Zhao Lei and Lin Yao urged him to leave them to travel to the outpost alone so he could save more people, Shen Heng explained that escorting them would cost only about half a day, and they accepted his help.

• Shen Heng briefed the warriors on where they were, how they had arrived, and what he planned to do next.
• Shen Heng answered the warriors’ questions, including whether they were inside a space that had once belonged to the temple on the Mountain of Truth.
• Zhao Lei suggested that he and the others travel to the nearest outpost without Shen Heng so he could continue searching for a way out and rescue more people.
• Lin Yao supported Zhao Lei, but Shen Heng explained that finding a way out would require him to search the spaces regardless and escorting them would add only about half a day.
• Lin Yao apologized for the trouble and accepted Shen Heng’s offer to take them to the outpost.

Shen Heng brought rescued soldiers safely to the stronghold, entrusted their protection to Chen Hua, and continued searching the spaces for a way out. After more than two months without answers, he considered seeking the creature behind the tentacle-like appendage and reflected on the Origin Crystals he had collected.

• Shen Heng watched the rescued soldiers salute him and wish him a smooth mission and enduring martial fortune as they arrived at the stronghold.
• Shen Heng told Chen Hua to protect the soldiers and urged him to make use of everyone's abilities to help the base survive.
• Chen Hua returned Shen Heng's farewell wish, and Shen Heng departed from the stronghold.
• Several days later, Shen Heng continued searching the spaces and wondered whether he needed to find a sixth tier Calamity Beast or the owner of the tentacle-like thing to learn how to escape.
• Shen Heng ate roasted Calamity Beast meat and noted that he had ruled out more than twenty spaces, reunited scattered soldiers, and collected fourth- and fifth-tier Origin Crystals.

Shen Heng cultivated with his large stock of Origin Crystals as his body advanced toward the sixth tier. Meanwhile, Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui escaped a sixth-tier Bronze Skull Beast with Qin Yu’s help and began evacuating to warn the others.

• Shen Heng assessed the Origin Crystals he had collected over two months, then used one to temper his body with Origin Power.
• Shen Heng traveled through forests, swamps, plains, and rifts, cultivating as his body rapidly advanced toward the sixth tier.
• Qin Yu helped Yu Yanhui, Lin Zhaoran, and their companions hide from a sixth-tier Bronze Skull Beast until it flew away.
• Lin Zhaoran refused to return for the fifth-tier Calamity Beast they had killed and ordered the group to warn the others and evacuate.
• Yu Yanhui began explaining to Qin Yu how she and Lin Zhaoran had reunited and gathered other warriors after arriving in the world.

Qin Yu learned that Captain Lin and Lin Zhaoran’s outpost was being pursued by growing groups of Calamity Beasts, including a sixth-tier Bronze Skull Beast. She explained how she and Captain Shen’s actions at the Mountain of Truth led to the warriors being transported into the wretched palace, but she still had no clues about a way out.

• Qin Yu learned that Captain Lin and her companion had repeatedly relocated their outpost to evade pursuing Calamity Beasts, and now faced a sixth-tier Bronze Skull Beast.
• Qin Yu and Sister Liya discussed the Bronze Skull Beast’s possible connection to the one from the Mountain of Truth and whether it knew a way out of the wretched palace.
• Yu Yanhui asked Qin Yu whether she had arrived from another space, and Qin Yu said she had been searching for a way out.
• Lin Zhaoran asked whether Qin Yu and Captain Shen had succeeded in their mission, and Qin Yu recounted what happened at the Mountain of Truth and how the warriors were transported into the palace.
• Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui asked whether Qin Yu had found clues to escape, and Qin Yu said she had not.

Qin Yu traveled with Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui to their mountain base, where Lin ordered an immediate evacuation because Calamity Beasts were pursuing them with a sixth-tier beast. Lin abandoned the planned destination and chose to move to another space, then asked Qin Yu for a favor.

• Qin Yu told Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui that she had passed through more than twenty spaces without finding a way out.
• Lin Zhaoran led Qin Yu and Yu Yanhui to the mountain base and ordered the soldiers to pack essentials and evacuate at once.
• Qin Yu observed that the soldiers had practiced evacuation procedures, and Lin Zhaoran explained that they planned their next move whenever they settled somewhere.
• Lin Zhaoran decided against evacuating to the planned canyon because the sixth-tier Calamity Beast made it too dangerous.
• Lin Zhaoran chose to evacuate to another space despite the journey taking the soldiers three or four days, then asked Qin Yu for a favor.

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.