Chapter Summaries

Jiang Xiaoling escorted Zhang Zhengyuan and a group of free souls toward the Northern Wasteland, where Zhang weighed the prospects for his followers in Chen Qing’s territory. Chen Qing and Ziyue watched the newcomers arrive, and Ziyue questioned Chen Qing’s decision to bring Federation people to a region planned as a blood essence channel and base for a second Battle God Army.

• Jiang Xiaoling guided Zhang Zhengyuan and the free souls toward the North Ocean Ferry Crossing and described the opportunities and restrictions within Chen Qing’s territory.
• Zhang Zhengyuan considered whether Jiangnan, the southeast, or the Northern Wasteland would offer the best prospects for himself and his ten thousand Jade Dynasty followers.
• Hou Tianhua arrived, prompting Zhang Zhengyuan to recognize that the Northern Wasteland would draw more of the Central Federation’s great families.
• Ziyue and Chen Qing watched the free souls from North Sea City, and Ziyue asked why Chen Qing was bringing Federation people to the Northern Wasteland.

Chen Qing used the Northern Wasteland’s dangers to draw Federation figures there, while Ziyue worried that their presence could cause trouble. The newcomers were summoned to the Underworld, where Murong Bingyun prepared to carry out an important mission.

• Chen Qing explained that the Northern Wasteland would be a proving ground for Federation figures and a way to challenge the young emperor and royalists from within.
• Ziyue warned Chen Qing that Federation players with intact memories could destabilize the Northern Wasteland, but Chen Qing trusted Yuchi Feihong to lead them in battle.
• Federation arrivals complained about the Northern Wasteland and discussed Chen Qing’s identity until Zhang Zhengyuan overheard them and decided to keep his distance.
• A black-clad figure summoned all souls from beyond the heavens to the Underworld within a quarter of an hour or face expulsion from the Northern Wasteland.
• Zhang Zhengyuan and Hou Tianhua followed a wandering god into the Underworld and found Murong Bingyun, its newly appointed master, preparing to fulfill Chen Qing’s important mission.

Murong Bingyun learned why the Northern Wasteland mattered to ancient factions and why Chen Qing was sending reincarnated souls there under strict rules. He then offered them places in the region’s great families, pressuring the group to choose quickly and dividing them.

• Chen Qing explained that ancient beings needed jadeite and blood essence to revive quickly, and that the far north held many dormant high-grade demons.
• Chen Qing told Murong Bingyun that souls from beyond this world could reincarnate with their memories only if they obeyed the law, and that their misconduct could justify executing them.
• Murong Bingyun addressed the souls from beyond this world and offered those who stayed early a chance to reincarnate into Northern Wasteland great families.
• Zhang Zhengyuan asked how aptitude would be judged, and Murong Bingyun offered him a legitimate-line place in one of Northern Yan’s four great bloodline families.
• Zhang Zhengyuan asked for time to consider, but Murong Bingyun warned that the limited places would go to those who chose first, making Zhang realize he was being pressured to divide the group.

Chen Qing used the allocation of reincarnation slots to deepen resentment between Federation family scions and their followers. As Zhu Rong and others surrendered their places, Chen Qing revealed to Ziyue that he planned to eliminate the Disintegration Program, with Wang Ye involved.

• Chen Qing recognized that the Federation delegation included great-family scions and their followers, and used a seemingly fair spirit-body ranking system to pit them against one another.
• Zhang Zhengyuan allowed his subordinates to seek slots, while Murong Bingyun confirmed that people could surrender their places to someone else.
• Zhu Rong gave up a place that qualified him to be born into a great family, and others began surrendering their slots as well.
• Ziyue questioned how Chen Qing's tactic could help when the Disintegration Program still controlled the dissatisfied followers.
• Chen Qing declared that the Disintegration Program should not exist and told Ziyue that he had left Wang Ye to deal with it.

Wang Ye explained to Data City's families why the Underworld could not reserve reincarnation slots in advance, leaving them worried that the best births would be gone before they arrived. He considered Chen Qing’s mission to eliminate the disintegration programs and then noticed an extra eye on his palm as business suddenly surged in the red-light district.

• Data City's families questioned Wang Ye about the unequal allocation of reincarnation slots and whether Chen Qing had deliberately disadvantaged them.
• Wang Ye argued that reincarnation into powerful families served the Northern Wasteland plan, then offered to ask his lord to stop the replacement policy.
• The families asked Wang Ye to reserve high-quality births, but he explained that spirits could only enter an embryo after a woman became pregnant.
• The assembly members realized they might miss the best slots if they waited, while Wang Ye reflected on entrenched clans and his difficult mission to eliminate the disintegration programs.
• Wang Ye rubbed his fingers, and an extra eye appeared on his palm without anyone noticing.
• The red-light district in northern Data City drew an unusually large crowd of unfamiliar customers.

A group of grassroots military figures secretly watched a confidential live feed and confronted how the great families still controlled their lives through implanted disintegration programs. The chapter ended with Xu Min accusing Li Chong of inviting them to betray their country, while Li Chong argued the Federation had become an alliance of great families.

• Red-light district owners noticed the unusual visitors, and Sister Feng told them to keep quiet about what they had seen.
• The visitors gathered in private data rooms to watch a live feed through an eye brought by Wang Ye, whose display of familiar energy auras convinced them it was genuine.
• A burly man described how grassroots recruits had been forced to surrender resources and risk their lives in demonic organizations to seek advancement.
• Xu Min reminded the group that their disintegration programs still left the Federation in control of their lives, unlike Zhang Zhengyuan, who had no such implant.
• Li Chong revealed that Wang Ye wanted to free them from the programs and divide the Federation's internal factions, prompting Xu Min to accuse him of treason.

Li Chong tried to recruit demonic-path cultivators to help Wang Ye break their disintegration-program shackles, while Wang Ye explained why he wanted to destabilize Data City’s old order. The chapter ended with Mr. Heavenly Secrets revealing that Chen Qing had less than a ten percent chance of defeating the emperor from the Xiao Household.

• Li Chong told Xu Min and the others that Wang Ye had a plan to remove their disintegration programs, and they demanded proof before joining.
• Wang Ye told Mr. Heavenly Secrets that the powerful families would not shut down the Demon World, even if the operation failed, because they coveted immortality.
• Wang Ye said he wanted to act quickly because Data City’s technology might eventually develop ways to counter their abilities.
• Wang Ye explained that he wanted to upend the great families’ rule to draw out the hidden force behind Data City, while Chen Qing sought to build an army to challenge the Xiao Household’s emperor.
• Mr. Heavenly Secrets revealed that his divination gave Chen Qing less than a ten percent chance of defeating the emperor.

Councilor Hou’s plan to appease the uproar over surrendered reincarnation slots met little resistance from the young councilors, though Elder Hou doubted they understood the grassroots alliance. Xu Min used the unrest to conceal a plan involving Flying Star Marks, and welcomed the higher-ups’ invitation to meet, confident their attempt to divide his faction would fail.

• Councilor Hou proposed publicly criticizing the families’ scions, postponing their punishment, and giving up some reincarnation slots to divide the protesters.
• Elder Hou doubted that the grassroots talents would abandon their solidarity for immediate rewards and worried that the young councilors underestimated them.
• Xu Min’s aide confirmed that the Flying Star Marks had been arranged, while Xu Min said the plan depended on Wang Ye locating the disintegration program.
• Xu Min received an invitation from the higher-ups and recognized their attempt to win over one faction against another.
• Xu Min smiled, trusting Mr. Heavenly Secrets’ favorable prediction and hoping to change the Central Federation.

Xu Min rejected Hou San’s attempt to enlist him as a scapegoat for the powerful families’ resource dealings and asked for time to consider. Meanwhile, Wang Ye explained how the military could identify the disassembly programs, leaving the officers wondering where he would obtain the needed intelligence.

• Hou San offered Xu Min and selected talents good reincarnation slots in exchange for helping redirect public anger, but Xu Min recognized the scheme.
• Xu Min concealed his refusal by saying he needed time to think, then met other summoned leaders who silently acknowledged that their next steps mattered.
• Wang Ye reasoned that the powerful families must know the locations of the disassembly programs so they could access them quickly.
• Wang Ye asked the military officers to track everyone entering and leaving the sites once he supplied the intelligence.
• The officers questioned how Wang Ye could obtain intelligence that even they lacked and worried that Chen Qing had deeply infiltrated Data City.

Xu Min and Yun Dongliu agreed to consider Wang Ye’s plan after reviewing intelligence that exposed covert operatives controlling disintegration programs for the great families. Wang Ye reflected on Xu Min’s possible connection to Xu Hu and wondered whether other talented people from humble backgrounds were reincarnated players.

• Xu Min and the others reviewed Wang Ye’s detailed intelligence and concluded it was almost certainly accurate, despite wondering how he had obtained it.
• Wang Ye told Mr. Heavenly Secrets that bringing A Li to the origin of the world would be too dangerous because her Thousand-Faced Fox ability could give her control over the place.
• Xu Min and Yun Dongliu came to Wang Ye and said the intelligence was convincing enough to risk acting on, though only a few people would participate.
• Xu Min asked Wang Ye to protect their other allies if the plan failed, and Wang Ye recognized that Xu Min looked related to Xu Hu.
• Wang Ye wondered whether Xu Hu and other talented people from humble backgrounds had once been reincarnated players, and considered whether he might be one too.

Shao Junyi, a Shao family sleeper agent working in the Federation, debated entering the new world with a fellow agent before receiving Wang Ye. Wang Ye revealed that the man was secretly monitoring her, and Shao Junyi asked what he wanted her to do next.

• Shao Junyi's companion urged her to challenge the higher-ups for an early place in the new world, but she refused to commit.
• Shao Junyi went to receive Wang Ye, while her companion later reported to Shao Junfu that she had passed his test.
• Wang Ye used the Thousand-Eye Technique to reveal the companion's secret call and explain that Shao Junyi's crucial data-security role had drawn suspicion.
• Shao Junyi asked Wang Ye what he wanted her to do.

Wang Ye recruited Shao Junyi to help place marked objects inside the Federation’s data centers, preparing to infiltrate them and undermine the great families. As the Central Federation reached a new era of power, a revolt against its million-year family rule was about to erupt.

• Wang Ye explained that Shao Junyi and other insiders could help him exploit divisions among the families and access their data centers.
• Wang Ye told Shao Junyi to continue his usual work and ensure that objects bearing Wang Ye’s spatial mark reached the database sites.
• Shao Junyi warned Wang Ye that the Federation might soon notice his activity and accepted a waist token that could transport him to the new world if danger arose.
• Wang Ye revealed that he had recruited a third of the key supervisors, enough to carry out his infiltration plan.
• The Central Federation prepared to become the Federations’ leading power, unaware that its internal conflict would soon devastate the great families’ rule.

After the coup sealed off Data City, Hou Limin and the aristocratic scions learned that the disintegration program had been destroyed and the rank-and-file forces had joined the revolt. Elder Xu warned them that their elite reinforcements might not return and suspected Chen Qing and Mr. Wang had helped Xu Min’s side, leaving the aristocrats with little leverage.

• Hou Limin and the other aristocratic scions argued over how to suppress the coup until Elder Xu asked what had emboldened the rebels.
• Reports confirmed that guards in the western district’s data sector had been killed and many disintegration programs destroyed.
• Elder Xu pointed out that the city defense forces had not deployed, suggesting the rank-and-file soldiers across Data City had joined the revolt.
• Hou Limin proposed recalling elite operatives from the Jade Dynasty Realm, but Elder Xu revealed that almost none had responded to his earlier recall order.
• Elder Xu explained that many sidelined aristocratic operatives had little incentive to defend their families and feared being made scapegoats.
• Elder Xu suspected Chen Qing had used Mr. Wang to help Xu Min’s side breach the disintegration program, though he did not know how.

Xu Min explained that his military coup aimed to end aristocratic privilege and demand fair treatment in the new world, not to destroy the great families. He left the crowd calling for the disintegration program to be abolished and for everyone to have a fair chance to compete.

• People outside Data City watched the coup unfold and debated the Federation’s corruption as Xu Min and Gong Mingrui appeared for interviews.
• Xu Min acknowledged that the uprising was a coup and said the Federation had to address aristocratic control before its rare opportunity to enter the new world.
• Xu Min revealed his disintegration-program mark and argued that aristocratic scions’ marks were fake, citing records showing that none of more than 18,400 executions had involved an aristocrat.
• A female reporter challenged Xu Min’s claims, but viewers and the crowd condemned her, and she yielded the interview platform.
• Xu Min rejected a reporter’s call to eliminate the aristocratic families, explaining that doing so could provoke a damaging civil war and weaken the Central Federation.
• Xu Min demanded abolition of the disintegration program and fair, transparent treatment in the new world so talented people could compete without being displaced by privilege.

Elder Hou and the other elders chose reincarnation rather than return to the Federation, allowing Chen Qing’s coup to succeed. The Federation opened virtual-world entry to selection by scholarly and martial merit, prompting public celebration and protests from privileged descendants and the Academic Clique.

• Elder Hou and the other elders debated abandoning their reincarnation slots to return and control the unrest, but Zhang Zhengyuan refused to go back and entered the reincarnation pool.
• Elder Hou decided the elders could not undo the growing rift, so he followed Zhang Zhengyuan into the pool.
• Chen Qing concluded the coup was settled and considered recruiting more players ahead of the coming war.
• The great households compromised by restructuring parliament, abolishing disintegration-program restrictions, and opening virtual-world entry to a Federation-wide examination based on scholarly and martial merit.
• The Central Federation celebrated the new opportunity, while Hou Laosan’s privileged descendants and the Academic Clique protested the selection requirements.

As the Central Federation’s great families faced losing council seats, Elder Kong and other prominent scholars arrived to challenge the Civil and Martial Selection rules. Elder Xu let them believe their objections would be heard, while recognizing that they mainly feared competing in the civil examination.

• Hou Laosan demanded that the council negotiate for slots, but Elder Xu explained that the great families had lost the support of their peripheral descendants.
• Elder Kong and other scientists and scholars arrived and criticized Elder Xu for agreeing to abolish the Disintegration Program.
• Elder Kong objected that the Civil and Martial Selection, especially its written civil examination, could overlook researchers’ character, prestige, organizational abilities, and inspiration.
• Elder Kong proposed that academic elders select candidates by assessing research achievements and papers, and the other scholars agreed.
• Elder Xu told Elder Kong that representatives Xu Min and Gong Mingrui would soon arrive so the scholars could present their objections directly.

Xu Min and Gong Mingrui negotiated the new-world selection rules with the elders and council members, agreeing to abolish Disintegration Programs and hold an open military tournament while rejecting family-controlled placements. The debate over how to select scientists remained unresolved as Elder Kong threatened an academic boycott, and Gong Mingrui questioned whether the academic community would follow him.

• Elder Xu confirmed that the Federation would destroy all Disintegration Programs and fill new-world places through a population-wide selection, then asked about Xu Min's cooperation with Mr. Wang and the selection system.
• Xu Min assured Elder Xu that cooperation with Mr. Wang would not compromise the Federation, and proposed a live-broadcast military tournament open to Federation personnel from second lieutenant rank upward.
• Hou Laosan proposed letting powerful families distribute places among their own members, but Xu Min insisted that every contestant follow the same rules and forbade surrendering places.
• Elder Kong accepted the martial tournament but argued that scientists should be selected by a different method, prompting Gong Mingrui to challenge the fairness of academic selection and accuse the scholars of relying on subordinates' work or falsified papers.
• Elder Kong threatened that the entire academic community would refuse to take the exam, and Gong Mingrui laughed and questioned his confidence in that community.

Mr. Kong and the academic community threatened to boycott the resistance army’s open exam, arguing that it could not measure top scientists. Xu Min worried the boycott would gain support, but Gong Mingrui expected the exam to proceed as planned; researchers at the institutes were ordered not to take it and faced a difficult choice.

• Mr. Kong denounced the open exam as unfair to academicians and threatened that the academic community would withdraw from building the new world unless the policy was changed.
• Xu Min asked Gong Mingrui how the resistance army would respond, and Gong Mingrui said the exam would go ahead because researchers were no longer trapped under the institutes’ control.
• A research institute director ordered researchers not to take the exam and threatened expulsion and blacklisting for anyone who disobeyed.
• The researchers privately weighed the risk of losing their institute positions against missing their chance to enter the new world and study its warlock system.

Researchers weighed whether to leave their secure jobs for the new world as Wang Ye explained the written exam’s rules, risks, and placement system. The first rankings revealed unexpected high performers, prompting doubts about the exam’s merit.

• Research institute workers debated whether to risk being blacklisted by leaving for the new world, while many remained afraid to burn their bridges.
• At a press conference, Wang Ye said the new world was dangerous and at war, explained how the written exam would be scored, and outlined how rankings determined birth locations and opportunities.
• Wang Ye said successful candidates could allow recordings of their early lives to be shared, giving the public a way to observe the new world before deciding whether to take the exam.
• The first written exam drew more than ten million candidates, and its results included a nearly three-hundred-year-old repairman in ninth place.
• Observers noticed that few top candidates came from research institutes or prestigious schools, and they began questioning the rankings’ merit.

After the exam exposed growing resistance within academia, Wang Ye’s recruitment drive drew researchers away from institutions controlled by Elder Kong. In the new world, King Xiang’s army of ghost soldiers marched on the capital, bringing war to the brink.

• The authorities explained that prestigious schools and research institutes had barred their people from taking the exam, while Ren Xiaotian and Qi Lin’s top scores and resignations sparked protests.
• Elder Kong tried to threaten his disciple Su Hui into staying, but she rejected him after Wang Ye promised her a chance to study in the new world.
• Elder Kong returned to find many other scholars had left the conference, and he feared the academic establishment was collapsing.
• Transcendent watchers saw more than ten thousand ghost soldiers leave the capital and warned that King Xiang had begun his move.
• Warlock families in South Sea City anticipated Cloud Capital’s response as black clouds gathered.
• The emperor confronted King Xiang’s forces at the capital and declared that he would not stop until the world was set right.