Chapter Summaries

The Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion waited to see whether the Black Rats would keep killing the strongest Calamity Beasts, while the starving herd continued to dwindle. The Rock-Backed Beast, having confirmed the Black Rats’ plan and lost faith in the two, was approached by someone offering to work together.

• The Steel-Mane Bear urged the Black Jade Lion to act, but the Black Jade Lion proposed waiting five more days to see whether the Black Rats continued killing selected Calamity Beasts.
• The Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion agreed that if they acted later, they would each find food separately to avoid suspicion.
• The Rock-Backed Beast observed that the Black Rats had killed the strongest Calamity Beasts but continued forcing the herd to mine and starve.
• The Rock-Backed Beast decided it could no longer rely on the Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion and needed to find its own way out.
• An unnamed Calamity Beast approached the Rock-Backed Beast, lay down beside it, and said, “Let's work together.”

Shen Heng approached the Two-Horned Lizard and proposed working together to escape the valley. He revealed that many Black Rats had left and suggested they could improve their chances by eliminating several more, leaving the Two-Horned Lizard to decide whether to join him.

• Shen Heng asked the suspicious Two-Horned Lizard to work with him, and the Two-Horned Lizard wondered how Shen Heng had found him.
• The Two-Horned Lizard questioned whether Shen Heng could trust him, and Shen Heng pointed out that the Two-Horned Lizard could not resist if the Black Rats tried to arrest him.
• Shen Heng proposed starting a riot and escaping while the Black Rats were distracted, but the Two-Horned Lizard objected that their strength was insufficient.
• Shen Heng told the Two-Horned Lizard that nearly half the Black Rats had left the valley, including enough powerful guards to weaken its defenses.
• Shen Heng proposed eliminating three or four more fifth-tier Black Rats, and the Two-Horned Lizard weighed the risks of accepting his offer.

Shen Heng persuaded Two-Horned Lizard to help organize coordinated Calamity Beast riots to draw away the Black Rats and create an escape opportunity. Two-Horned Lizard agreed to review the detailed plan, then asked Shen Heng for escape routes and was offered two to consider.

• Shen Heng explained that his group would coordinate staggered riots at the mines and enclosure while Two-Horned Lizard rallied the Calamity Beasts.
• Two-Horned Lizard insisted on seeing the detailed plan at least a day in advance, and Shen Heng proposed starting the next day.
• Two-Horned Lizard worried that his Tier 2 status might make it difficult to persuade Tier 3 beasts, so Shen Heng suggested claiming credit for earlier acts that had helped them.
• Two-Horned Lizard asked how Shen Heng planned to escape, but Shen Heng told him to decide from the plan if he would not leave with them.
• Shen Heng offered Two-Horned Lizard two escape routes to consider, and Two-Horned Lizard asked what they were.

Shen Heng gave the Two-Horned Lizard two possible escape plans for the Calamity Beasts and asked it to prepare for one of them. After agreeing to begin within three days, the Two-Horned Lizard privately weighed the risks and realized both options depended heavily on luck.

• Shen Heng explained that the Two-Horned Lizard could wait for unrest to spread, then climb the cliff where it began, hoping the Black Rats had moved elsewhere.
• Shen Heng proposed that the Two-Horned Lizard wait at the valley mouth and lead a charge after he killed the main Black Rat force, warning that many Calamity Beasts might die.
• The Two-Horned Lizard agreed that three days was more or less enough time to prepare, and said it could identify Calamity Beasts that only pretended to want to escape.
• Shen Heng warned the Two-Horned Lizard not to alter his later plan, especially during the attack on the Black Rats, and the Two-Horned Lizard agreed.
• After Shen Heng left, the Two-Horned Lizard considered the dangers of climbing the mountain or gambling on the Black Rats leaving the valley mouth.

The Two-Horned Lizard decided to begin acting rather than wait, then woke the Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion to reveal its role in their earlier preparations. It explained that their situation no longer allowed them to delay, but the chapter ended before it finished describing its plan.

• The Two-Horned Lizard considered the escape routes and decided to start before the three-day deadline.
• The Two-Horned Lizard woke the Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion, who initially rebuked it for disturbing their sleep.
• The Two-Horned Lizard identified itself as the one who had accompanied Lord Feather Owl, and the Black Jade Lion recognized it as the Thunder-Scale Beast.
• The Two-Horned Lizard confirmed it had arranged the earlier expedition and secretly passed on the warning not to finish mining.
• The Two-Horned Lizard said their situation no longer allowed further delay and began to explain what it had already done.

A Rock-Backed Beast called on the starving Calamity Beasts in the mine to rebel, and a Steel-Mane Bear tried to take it to Lord Feixu and the Black Rat lords. The other beasts stayed silent, caught between reporting the rebel and fearing the consequences.

• A hungry Scalearmor Lizard watched the gathered Calamity Beasts struggle to meet their mining quotas and avoid being attacked for food.
• The Rock-Backed Beast stopped mining and asked the gathered beasts, “Shall we... rebel?!”
• The Scalearmor Lizard considered reporting the Rock-Backed Beast but realized the other beasts might report it too.
• The Steel-Mane Bear accused the Rock-Backed Beast of being linked to an earlier escape attempt and grabbed it, offering to take it to Lord Feixu and the others.
• The Rock-Backed Beast said it would own its words and warned the Steel-Mane Bear that it would be waiting for it down below.
• The Steel-Mane Bear insisted the Black Rat lords would not punish it, while the other Calamity Beasts remained silent.

The Rock-Backed Beast convinced the Calamity Beasts in the mine to rebel against the Black Rats and explained how to recruit allies without exposing their plan. After the Steel-Mane Bear and the other third-tier Calamity Beast backed it as commander, the Rock-Backed Beast vowed to die before its followers.

• The Rock-Backed Beast told the Steel-Mane Bear that the Black Rats were squeezing the miners to death, leaving rebellion as their only path.
• The Steel-Mane Bear released the Rock-Backed Beast, and the Calamity Beasts began voicing support for rebellion.
• The Rock-Backed Beast stopped the beasts from shouting and warned that charging straight up would be suicide.
• The Rock-Backed Beast urged the Calamity Beasts to recruit others cautiously and proposed choosing a commander to coordinate their escape.
• The Steel-Mane Bear and another third-tier Calamity Beast endorsed the Rock-Backed Beast as commander, and the others joined their support.
• The Rock-Backed Beast said it could not guarantee their escape but promised to fall before them if they had to die.

Two-Horned Lizard argued that the enslaved Calamity Beasts should be free to choose whether to join the rebellion, even if that meant he faced the danger alone. He set Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion to recruit allies across the five mines, then privately admitted he hoped the human’s plan would help him escape and considered using other Calamity Beasts as decoys.

• Steel-Mane Bear warned Two-Horned Lizard that refusing to kill or restrain nonparticipants could let them report the rebellion to the Black Rats.
• Two-Horned Lizard insisted the Calamity Beasts deserved to choose their future and offered to take the blame if the plan was exposed.
• Two-Horned Lizard assigned Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion to find strong-willed recruits who could persuade others across the five mines within two or three days.
• After the others left, Two-Horned Lizard privately worried about the plan and considered keeping Calamity Beasts nearby to take the fall if danger arose.
• As Steel-Mane Bear and Black Jade Lion headed off to recruit, Steel-Mane Bear wondered aloud why Two-Horned Lizard would rather die himself.

The Calamity Beasts quietly spread a rebellion through the mines while the Black Rock Leopard struggled to meet its quota after ten days without food. At the end, it encountered a gathering led by the Rock-Backed Beast, who began speaking about their lost freedom.

• The Black Jade Lion explained to the Steel-Mane Bear that Lord Two-Horned Lizard treated lower-tier beasts as equals, and the pair went separate ways to find others.
• Calamity Beasts persuaded one another to join the rebellion while keeping their mining output high enough to avoid punishment.
• The Black Rock Leopard entered the mine hungry and exhausted after hearing Black Rats mock its chances of meeting its quota.
• After mining all day, the Black Rock Leopard found its crate less than one-fifth full and watched the other beasts leave without helping it.
• The Black Rock Leopard wandered deeper into the mine and found thirty or forty Calamity Beasts gathered around the Rock-Backed Beast.
• The Rock-Backed Beast beckoned the Black Rock Leopard over and began asking the gathered beasts to remember their freedom and question their present condition.

Shen Heng explained a plan for the Calamity Beasts to delay the Black Rat Clan and questioned Two-Horned Lizard about the Underground Demon. Two-Horned Lizard left still wary of Shen Heng, weighing whether it could betray him without ruining the uprising.

• Shen Heng explained why the battle plan relied on fixed orders rather than relayed information, and Two-Horned Lizard memorized the strategy for the uprising beginning the next night.
• Shen Heng tested Two-Horned Lizard's recall, then erased the map and told it to leave by a different route.
• Two-Horned Lizard told Shen Heng that the Arcane Lizard Clan invented the Underground Demon story to make miners work harder and secretly used the supposed sacrifices as food.
• As it walked away, Two-Horned Lizard wondered why Shen Heng had asked about the demon and considered having Black Jade Lion and the others investigate.
• Two-Horned Lizard suspected Shen Heng might have hidden a trap in the escape routes and considered betraying him at the Origin Ore mine, but feared that could leave the Fifth Tier Black Rats alive to pursue them.

The Two-Horned Lizard reconsidered its escape plan and decided it might wait until after the uprising, while Shen Heng, Qin Yu, and Stone prepared to leave after the Black Rats lowered their guard. At the mine, Gray Spot and Scar Tail discovered a gathering of Calamity Beasts eating amid the blood, realizing the beasts had rebelled.

• The Two-Horned Lizard decided to wait at the valley entrance for the fifth-tier Black Rat, then escape during the riot or wait until afterward and climb the mountains at night.
• Shen Heng told Stone that the humans planned to leave after the riot and said they would not change course if the Two-Horned Lizard reached the same idea.
• Qin Yu warned Shen Heng that the Two-Horned Lizard might suspect their route through the Origin Ore mine, and Shen Heng said they would take precautions while carving Han Ling's Blast Inscription there.
• Gray Spot and Scar Tail spent the next day whipping and mocking the Calamity Beasts working in the mine.
• Gray Spot and Scar Tail followed a strong smell of blood and found Calamity Beasts gathered in the dark, eating and staring at them.

One Ear the Black Rat and Red Eye were caught in an ambush as oppressed Calamity Beasts rebelled against the Black Rats. Red Eye remained trapped in a vine net while the Black Rats’ resistance collapsed, and the rebels countered his attempt to persuade them to fight on his side.

• One Ear and the Black Rats fled through Black Stone Valley, but Calamity Beasts ambushed them with a vine net and attacked from both sides.
• Red Eye tore through the net and tried to fly away, but another vine net caught him while the Calamity Beasts overwhelmed the Black Rats.
• Red Eye ordered One Ear and the other Black Rats to attack, but some hesitated until reinforcements arrived and the rebels forced them into a losing fight.
• One Ear saw Red Eye still trapped and bleeding as only three Black Rats remained on the battlefield.
• Red Eye threatened and offered the Calamity Beasts a chance to serve the Black Rat Clan, but another beast urged them not to trust the Black Rats.

A group of Calamity Beasts rebelled against the Black Rats, killing one and chasing another back to the plains. Broken Tooth recognized the signs of an uprising and led the Black Rats to confront the returned beasts and warn the clan chief.

• The Calamity Beasts attacked the Black Rats again, and a wounded Black Rat tore through five vine nets before being caught and killed.
• Thin Tail and Broken Tooth noticed that far fewer Calamity Beasts had returned from the mines than usual.
• Iron Guard emerged from the trees pursued by Calamity Beasts, who caught up and killed it in front of the Black Rats.
• Broken Tooth told Thin Tail and the others that the Calamity Beasts had rebelled and said they should report it to the clan chief.
• Broken Tooth led the Black Rats toward the returned Calamity Beasts, and one frightened beast begged them to spare it.

Broken Tooth the Black Rat decided to leave Thin Tail and Lame Claw watching the Calamity Beasts while he returned to report the rebellion to the clan leader. After the Black Rats gathered the Calamity Beasts together, one beast cried out and the others turned to look toward the distant forest.

• A Calamity Beast insisted that it and the others had not joined the rebellion, while Lame Claw accused them of knowing about it.
• Broken Tooth stopped the argument and decided that reporting the rebellion to the clan leader mattered more than dealing with the Calamity Beasts immediately.
• Broken Tooth ordered Thin Tail and Lame Claw to watch the herd, then warned the Calamity Beasts to stay and behave before leaving to gather help.
• The remaining Black Rats spread out around the Calamity Beasts and ordered them to gather in the middle.
• As the herd waited and watched the distant forest, one Calamity Beast cried out, prompting the nearby beasts to look in the same direction.

The enslaved Calamity Beasts rebelled after witnessing escape attempts and fearing that the Black Rats would kill them regardless. Lame Claw ordered their slaughter as Broken Tooth noticed the chaos behind him and continued forward.

• The enslaved Calamity Beasts saw disturbances heading toward the mountains around Black Stone Valley and realized that other Calamity Beasts were trying to escape.
• Several Calamity Beasts voiced fears that the Black Rats would kill those who remained, but a Black Rat ordered them to disperse.
• Lame Claw seized a defiant Calamity Beast, demanded that it identify accomplices, and tore it apart after it spat at him.
• Calamity Beasts throughout the herd rose amid calls to fight, and Lame Claw ordered the Black Rats to kill them all.
• The Calamity Beasts charged at the attacking Black Rats as calls for resistance spread.
• Broken Tooth looked back at the chaos in the resting area, then accelerated forward.

A fleeing herd of Calamity Beasts tried to reach the mountains, while the Black Rat chief ordered a response to their escape attempt. The chief expected the Black Rats to contain the herd, as the fleeing beasts hurried to meet Lord Rock-Backed Beast.

• A Tier 3 Calamity Beast diverted the fleeing herd to attack a Black Rat, and the stampede killed it.
• Broken Tooth reported the incident to the Black Rat chief, who sent Gray Whiskers and Curly Fur to question captives and search for the organizers.
• The chief ordered Black Spine and Moya to lead half the fourth-tier Black Rats in patrol teams along the mountain walls and kill any escaping Calamity Beasts.
• The chief told the Black Rats that the herd would likely try climbing the cliffs, but insisted they could stop it.
• A Tier 3 terror beast urged its herd to hurry and meet Lord Rock-Backed Beast, imagining freedom and a future ahead.

Fear Beast realized the Black Rats were calling reinforcements and warned the Calamity Beasts to scatter as the Black Rats poured from the forest. Meanwhile, Black Jade Lion’s hidden group watched Black Rats leave a fenced settlement, and he ordered the Calamity Beasts to move.

• Fear Beast noticed a fleeing Black Rat calling to others and realized Black Rat reinforcements were approaching.
• Fear Beast shouted for the Calamity Beasts to stop and scatter, and the herd dispersed in different directions.
• Black Rats emerged from the forest and charged toward the few Calamity Beasts that remained behind.
• Black Jade Lion and the other Calamity Beasts hid near a fenced settlement and watched a bloodied Black Rat warn the residents.
• Black Rats ran out of the settlement in the direction the bloodied rat had come from, and Black Jade Lion told his group to move.

Curly Fur and Gray Whiskers questioned a Thick Armor Beast during the Black Rats’ pursuit of the fleeing Calamity Beasts, trying to learn about the rebellion’s leaders and plans. The beast pointed them toward a source mine before Curly Fur sensed something strange about the direction they had been heading.

• Black Rats chased and captured fleeing Calamity Beasts throughout the woods as the panic shifted to the rebels.
• Curly Fur questioned the Thick Armor Beast, which said a Tier 2 Rock-Backed Beast had organized the uprising through orders passed by group leaders such as Azure Scale Beast.
• The Thick Armor Beast said it had not seen which way Azure Scale Beast fled, but pointed out the direction its group had been traveling before the Black Rats arrived.
• Curly Fur suspected the beast might be lying because its group had been heading toward a source mine, but the beast insisted it had told the truth.
• The Thick Armor Beast died under Curly Fur’s pressure, and Gray Whiskers suggested they follow the direction it had indicated.
• Curly Fur agreed to investigate but asked Gray Whiskers whether it also felt that something was strange.

Curly Fur and Gray Whiskers pursued fleeing Calamity Beasts and learned from a captured Fear Beast that Rock-Backed Beast had planned to hide them in the source mine. They realized the plan nearly worked, and Gray Whiskers explained that weak ambushers had exposed the fleeing groups.

• Curly Fur questioned why so few Calamity Beasts were fleeing, and Gray Whiskers suggested they had split into smaller groups to avoid detection.
• The two Black Rats encountered more scattered groups but failed to catch their leaders, then approached a lone Tier 3 Fear Beast.
• When Gray Whiskers moved to kill him, the Fear Beast offered information and said his group had been ordered to go to the source mine.
• Curly Fur deduced that Rock-Backed Beast intended the Calamity Beasts to hide in the mine tunnels until the search passed and they could escape.
• Gray Whiskers said weak ambushers had let Black Rat clansmen escape and alert others, disrupting the plan; the Fear Beast blamed those useless fools.

Curly Fur and Gray Whiskers learned that the fleeing Calamity Beasts planned to gather at the Origin Ore mine, then waited nearby for the scattered groups to arrive. As they prepared to attack, Gray Whiskers realized some of the beasts might have escaped by climbing the cliffs if they had not been exposed.

• Gray Whiskers killed the Fear Beast after it revealed the Calamity Beasts’ destination and rendezvous plans.
• Curly Fur and Gray Whiskers flew to the Origin Ore mine and saw Calamity Beasts entering its tunnel.
• Curly Fur decided to wait for the groups from farther away and summon nearby Black Rat clansmen before attacking.
• More Black Rats gathered while Gray Whiskers considered how the Calamity Beasts might have escaped by climbing the cliffs.
• Gray Whiskers worried that fighting in the mine would destroy Origin Ore, but Curly Fur said stopping the Calamity Beasts was more important.