Recaps

Xiao Yu signed a termination agreement with Li Mingfei and left Sky Group with his contracts ended and more than twenty million in his account. Outside, Naiser asked him to meet someone and drove him away in a flying car.

• Li Mingfei and Xiao Yu signed the termination agreement and warned each other about the risks of their conflict.
• Li Mingfei offered Qin Shiyue continued support if she left Xiao Yu, but Qin Shiyue refused.
• Xiao Yu left the conference hall relieved by the settlement and considered how to defend the Elemental Planes from adventurers.
• Xiao Yu passed a crowd of contracted players waiting to sign supplementary agreements with the game company.
• Naiser stopped Xiao Yu outside, praised his stand against the company, and invited him to meet someone.
• Xiao Yu told his people to leave and rode with Naiser in a Chaos Power flying car.

Xiao Yu met Shen Yuan, who explained his vision of turning a game into a world indistinguishable from reality and invited Xiao Yu to join his plan. Xiao Yu agreed to hear more, and Shen Yuan prepared to show him something that would explain how the transformation could work.

• Naiser left Xiao Yu at a café, where Shen Yuan asked why Xiao Yu had opposed the game company.
• Xiao Yu said he had acted to save his NPC subordinates because his life in the game world mattered more to him than his real-world role.
• Shen Yuan described his idea for Earth Online, a virtual version of Earth where players could use attributes to become extraordinary, and Xiao Yu said he would choose to live there.
• Shen Yuan argued that a virtual world could be as real as reality and invited Xiao Yu to join his plan to remove game rules, respawning, and other artificial restrictions.
• Xiao Yu asked how Shen Yuan would make the game real, and Shen Yuan said he would show him something.

Shen Yuan showed Xiao Yu the God of Holy Light's game data and revealed his plan to attack the Pantheon, kill its gods, and take control of Sky World. He asked Xiao Yu to lead his monster army in exchange for becoming a god, leaving Xiao Yu to consider the offer.

• Shen Yuan led Xiao Yu into a sealed darkroom and showed him a 3D image containing the God of Holy Light's stats and abilities.
• Shen Yuan explained that the God of Holy Light was classified as a level 100 monster with health, so he could be killed.
• Shen Yuan displayed a map of the Pantheon and revealed that he planned to attack the dungeon, kill its three gods, and seize their divinities.
• Shen Yuan said he had a massive monster army and asked Xiao Yu to command it, arguing that Xiao Yu's World Destroyer nature would draw monsters to him.
• Xiao Yu questioned why he should help and doubted his ability to fight the God of Holy Light.
• Shen Yuan offered to make Xiao Yu the second god of Sky World if he helped defeat the God of Holy Light.

Shen Yuan proposed that Xiao Yu unite monster factions into a third playable faction to recruit immortal players and counter the adventurers. Xiao Yu considered the plan feasible, and Shen Yuan offered to gather most of the monster factions needed.

• Shen Yuan explained that the World Destroyer's Servant buff and monster-template respawning could let monster forces wear down the adventurers.
• Shen Yuan proposed uniting different monster factions into a third faction with many playable races and classes, whose players would serve as their own adventurers.
• Xiao Yu considered how to expand The Immortals beyond its elemental creatures and listed monster factions representing races from the Alliance and Horde.
• Xiao Yu noted that a broad roster of monster races and unique classes could attract players, despite monsters having fewer skills and weaker equipment than adventurers.
• Shen Yuan offered to gather most of the monster factions Xiao Yu had listed if Xiao Yu joined him.

Xiao Yu agreed to help Shen Yuan oppose the monster factions in exchange for becoming an elemental god, and moved into a secure home in Azure Cloud District. Meanwhile, Li Mingfei and the contracted hero bosses planned how to counter the Elemental King's offensive, with Feierdenan proposing a challenge at the Elemental Throne.

• Xiao Yu accepted Shen Yuan's offer and asked him to buy a home in Azure Cloud District for his protection.
• Xiao Yu moved into the 8.5-million home three days later, then entered the game to begin their plan.
• Li Mingfei gathered the contracted hero bosses to discuss the disrupted storyline and how to defeat the Elemental King.
• Samat proposed that monster factions join forces, but Zhang Xinghun and Little Dingdang debated how to make an alliance fit the factions' styles.
• Naiser said the adventurers needed support but could not enter the Elemental Plane through the available rifts.
• Feierdenan proposed that four elemental lords activate the Elemental Throne's trial ritual, forcing Azathoth to appear or letting them claim the Elemental King title.

Li Mingfei’s group planned to rally forces against the Elemental King, including recruiting Elemental Will and sending Illidan to challenge him. They also agreed to restart the Guardian Project, leaving Feierdenan and Esmehalda as leading candidates for the role.

• Li Mingfei ordered Jiang Zeyan to offer Elemental Will a special contract and recruit them.
• Hua Yueying proposed sending Illidan against the Elemental King and using Tyrande to persuade him to fight.
• Hua Yueying agreed to order Maiev Shadowsong to stop hunting Illidan, while Li Mingfei planned an Alliance and Horde expedition to Outland.
• Feierdenan suggested restarting the Guardian Project in case Illidan could not defeat the Elemental King.
• Li Mingfei approved the plan and ordered his people in Dalaran to build support for restarting the project.

Xiao Yu attended his first Council of Sages meeting, where Azathoth and Naiser were welcomed as new members. The council learned of the Alliance and Horde’s plans to attack the Elemental Throne and assigned a team to obtain Y'Shaarj’s blood.

• Shen Yuan introduced Azathoth as the Elemental Sage and Naiser as the Demon Sage, and the members debated what to call their titles.
• Naiser reported that the Alliance and Horde planned to attack the Elemental Throne, hold an Elemental Ritual, and restart the Guardian Project.
• Shen Yuan said the council would consolidate its forces to support Azathoth, while Medivh argued that a new Guardian would be weaker than past Guardians.
• Shen Yuan assigned Ner'zhul, Kairoz, Merlin, and Naiser to retrieve a blood sample from Y'Shaarj, while he, Medivh, and Azathoth would unite monster factions.
• Shen Yuan ended the meeting and opened the remaining projector time for the members to exchange information.

After the Council of Sages meeting, Xiao Yu spoke with several members and learned about the abilities they offered as council benefits. The chapter ended as he approached Alodi, hoping to ask him about the secrets of the Prison of the Gods.

• Xiao Yu congratulated Medivh on their new undertaking, and Medivh said the Nameless Sage had promised to reveal the truth and protect the world from higher-dimensional beings.
• Xiao Yu teased Naiser about losing hundreds of millions, and Naiser suggested they settle their rivalry after becoming gods.
• Merlin explained that his prophecies could influence fate, then gave Xiao Yu a week-long luck buff called Merlin's Prophecy.
• Kairoz offered Xiao Yu the ability to view images of his past, but he would not explain what else his control of time could do.
• Xiao Yu approached Alodi and told him he had previously met a copy of him in another space, hoping to learn more from the Sage of Wisdom.

Xiao Yu recruited the Destroyers' Alliance to establish the World Destruction Legion as a third player faction, then launched its promotional video and drew players to it. The new faction quickly became a serious force, prompting the game company to grow more determined to eliminate the Elemental King.

• Xiao Yu joined Medivh and Shen Yuan in recruiting monster factions and, finding their humanoid races lacking, targeted the Destroyers' Alliance.
• Xiao Yu persuaded the Alliance's bosses that the game company had treated them unfairly and proposed creating a diverse humanoid faction called the World Destruction Legion.
• Abbas, the Destroyers' Alliance founder, joined first, and the other bosses followed, completing the new faction.
• Three days later, Xiao Yu released the World Destruction Legion's promotional video, attracting many players with its races, classes, and free starting options.
• Xiao Yu established the faction's spawn point in the Elemental Plane and connected it to the Prime Material Plane with portals and allied supply points.
• World Destruction Legion parties became strong enough to rival adventurer parties, and the game company became more determined to eliminate the Elemental King.

Archbishop Bandena received the God of Holy Light’s message that the Alliance should go to Outland, while Thrall learned from four elemental lords that the Elemental King had to be stopped there. Both leaders prepared to march with small forces, leaving the story poised for a confrontation in Outland.

• Liu Deliang, serving as Archbishop Bandena, completed his coronation and received the God of Holy Light’s instruction to tell Varian Wrynn that the answers lay in Outland.
• Varian ordered the Alliance to march for Outland in three days with ten thousand soldiers, keeping the main army behind to defend Akkad City and expecting adventurers to help.
• Thrall contacted the elemental spirits, and Big Ivan, Odin, Qixi Jun, and Taisuitou told him Azathoth had betrayed the elementals and must be stripped of his title.
• The four elemental lords urged Thrall to bring his forces to the Elemental Throne in Outland, where they could defeat the Elemental King.
• Thrall announced that he would march to Outland with three thousand troops.

After the elemental lords withdrew their support and Elune ordered Maiev Shadowsong to stop fighting Illidan and join forces with him against the Elemental King, Maiev struggled with her anger. A mysterious black-robed figure appeared in her room and offered her answers.

• Maiev Shadowsong led the Watchers across a bridge as Illidan's forces pursued them, losing over a hundred sisters in the retreat.
• At Rockwall Keep, Maiev confronted the elemental lords, who said they were no longer under Azathoth's control and that the Elemental King was now their enemy.
• Maiev prayed to Elune, who told her that the Elemental King had destroyed Stormwind City and Orgrimmar and ordered her to stop attacking Illidan.
• Elune said Illidan would ally with them against the Elemental King and that Tyrande would persuade him; Maiev reluctantly agreed to stop attacking.
• After Maiev angrily vented her frustration, a mysterious black-robed figure appeared and asked whether she wanted answers.

A mysterious black-robed man offered Maiev answers about her past if she used his scroll a month later, while Tyrande and Malfurion prepared to seek Illidan's help against the Elemental King. In Dalaran, the mage leaders proposed restarting the Guardian Project to defend the world from its many threats.

• The black-robed man reminded Maiev that she had been absent when Tyrande and Malfurion freed Illidan and questioned whether an invisible hand had shaped her fate.
• The black-robed man gave Maiev a teleportation scroll and told her to use it at midnight on the next full moon if she wanted answers.
• Tyrande told Malfurion that Elune had ordered her to find Illidan in Outland and recruit his aid against the Elemental King.
• Malfurion objected to seeking Illidan but agreed to gather druids and set out with Tyrande.
• The heads of Dalaran's three mage councils proposed restarting the Guardian Project, arguing that the world's threats required a Guardian's power.
• An unknown mage cited Medivh's betrayal, but Glinton argued that one Guardian's failure did not outweigh the protection Guardians had provided.

The Dalaran Council approved restarting the Guardian Project and announced the requirements for candidates. Several mages volunteered, and Jaina joined the race before the council prepared to vote.

• The Dalaran Council leaders passed the proposal to restart the Guardian Project despite opposition from Jaina and other mages.
• Glinton announced that candidates had to volunteer, swear allegiance to the council, meet experience and magical-power requirements, and receive three endorsements.
• Feierdenan, Khadgar, Faerleisi, Maikedel Sunscar, and Esmehalda volunteered to become Guardian candidates.
• Jaina also entered the race, saying she wanted to protect the world and would give up her title as queen of Theramore if chosen.
• Glinton announced that voting would begin in half an hour, with council members receiving one vote and council leaders receiving two.

Esmehalda won the election to become Dalaran’s new Guardian, leaving Jaina bewildered and questioning why the outcome had been decided in advance. After receiving a mysterious scroll from Shen Yuan, Jaina watched Esmehalda’s infusion ceremony and resolved to seek the truth.

• Jaina received few votes as Esmehalda and Feierdenan tied for the lead, and Esmehalda won the second round with twenty-seven votes.
• Shen Yuan told Jaina that Esmehalda’s victory had been decided in advance and gave her a scroll to use at midnight on the next full moon.
• Twelve spellcasters infused Esmehalda with Dalaran’s arcane energy, creating a powerful new Guardian while weakening Dalaran’s power.
• Jaina watched Esmehalda’s transformation and decided to use the scroll to discover why she had lost.

Varian and Thrall led the Alliance and Horde through the Dark Portal into Outland, where they fought an elemental advance force. With Tyrande seeking Illidan and Esmehalda revealed as a Guardian, the expedition established a camp and began scouting the unfamiliar land.

• Varian and Thrall met in the Blasted Lands and brought their forces together to prepare for the campaign against the Elemental King.
• Tyrande arrived with night elf forces and said Elune had told her to persuade Illidan to join them.
• Glinton arrived with Dalaran mages and introduced Esmehalda as a Guardian, who opened the Dark Portal with the Kirin Tor Council Scepter.
• Varian, Thrall, and their armies passed through the portal and were attacked by an elemental force sent by Xiao Yu.
• The adventurers killed the force's lava giant, and the Alliance and Horde established a camp and sent adventurers to scout Outland.
• Tyrande flew off to find Illidan.

Tyrande visited Illidan to offer an alliance against Azathoth and the Elemental King, and Illidan accepted despite her rejection of his advances. After she left, a mysterious man appeared and began persuading Illidan that Tyrande could have chosen him.

• Tyrande entered the Black Temple and Illidan greeted her with a passionate confession, but she pulled away when he took her hand.
• Tyrande offered an Alliance and Horde alliance against the Elemental King, and Illidan agreed to fight until Azathoth was driven from Outland.
• Illidan watched Tyrande leave and struggled with his desire to keep her with him.
• A mysterious black-robed man appeared beside Illidan, passed through his Warglaives of Azzinoth, and offered to help him stay with Tyrande forever.
• The black-robed man argued that Tyrande had no reason to choose Malfurion over Illidan and claimed that night elves tolerated warlocks and demons in Darnassus.

Illidan realized the adventurers’ use of Fel exposed a contradiction in how he had been judged, while Xiao Yu and the Council of Sages prepared to collect N’Zoth’s blood for Shen Yuan’s plan to cultivate a Super Old God. The council set out to face N’Zoth the following day as Xiao Yu’s forces prepared for the coming war in Outland.

• A black-robed man gave Illidan a scroll and promised to answer his questions when he used it on the next full moon.
• Xiao Yu reinforced Hellfire Citadel and stationed elemental troops and permanent Elemental Kings around the Elemental Throne in preparation for the Alliance and Horde’s advance.
• At the Council of Sages’ second meeting, Shen Yuan revealed that he planned to fuse the blood of four Old Gods to cultivate a Super Old God.
• Xiao Yu questioned whether the Super Old God could be controlled, but Shen Yuan assured him that he understood the Old Gods’ powers and had other safeguards.
• Shen Yuan ordered the council to set out the next day to collect N’Zoth’s blood, assigning Azathoth’s Water Elemental Legion as cannon fodder and Naiser to gather the blood.

The seven Sages gathered on the Lost Island and discovered that N'Zoth was likely hiding beneath Atlantis in the Bottomless Abyss. With Azshara agreeing not to interfere, Xiao Yu led the water elemental army and the Sages toward Atlantis to collect N'Zoth's blood.

• The Elemental King assembled fifty thousand low-level water elementals as cannon fodder for the mission against N'Zoth.
• Merlin used his Crystal Ball of True Knowledge to search for N'Zoth, but its image turned black.
• Xiao Yu tried the Magic Mirror of True Knowledge, and its image also turned black.
• Shen Yuan concluded that N'Zoth was hiding in the Bottomless Abyss beneath Atlantis, which was now occupied by the naga.
• Shen Yuan said Azshara had agreed not to interfere, and Xiao Yu led the army and the Sages toward Atlantis.

Xiao Yu and the Council of Sages fought their way through mutated sea life in Atlantis and descended into the Bottomless Abyss. In its lightless depths, a tentacled creature devoured a giant anglerfish, making Xiao Yu suspect N'Zoth was nearby.

• Shen Yuan identified the purple, eye-covered seaweed as mutated by the Old Gods’ evil aura and warned the group not to touch it.
• A corrupted giant whale attacked the elemental army, survived Ner'zhul’s Finger of Death and Medivh’s Light of Annihilation, and was killed by Naiser.
• The Council of Sages cleared hundreds of mutated marine creatures and found the enormous, seemingly bottomless pit at Atlantis’s center.
• Xiao Yu sent a thousand elementals to scout before leading the fifty-thousand-strong army into the Abyss in a spindle-shaped formation.
• The group spotted a mutated anglerfish’s lure, then watched a huge tentacle drag it into the darkness and swallow it; Xiao Yu suspected N'Zoth.

Shen Yuan and the sages confronted N'Zoth in the Abyss, fought off the Old God and its sea creatures, and escaped through a portal with a severed tentacle. With N'Zoth's blood secured alongside that of the other three Old Gods, Shen Yuan said they could begin the next stage of the plan.

• Shen Yuan ordered the sages to illuminate the sea, revealing the colossal N'Zoth, which recognized him and demanded to know why he had returned.
• Xiao Yu sent his water elementals against N'Zoth while Ner'zhul, Kairoz, Medivh, Merlin, and the others attacked or hindered the Old God and its creatures.
• N'Zoth's tentacles closed in, so Naiser severed one and Shen Yuan captured it in a bottle before Medivh opened a portal for the group to escape.
• Xiao Yu used a Simulated Black Hole to pull N'Zoth's tentacles away from the portal, which then closed and cut off another tentacle that Xiao Yu froze.
• Shen Yuan announced that they had collected the blood of all four Old Gods and could begin the next stage of the plan.

Shen Yuan created a tiny creature from the blood of the four great Old Gods, and the sages planned to accelerate its growth with the Hourglass of Time in the Caverns of Time. As they prepared to attack the Bronze Dragons’ stronghold, Merlin suggested they name the creature first.

• Shen Yuan combined the blood of Y'Shaarj, C'Thun, Yogg-Saron, and N'Zoth, producing a small, tentacled creature with the powers of all four Old Gods.
• Shen Yuan explained that the creature would need tens of thousands of years to mature, but Kairoz said the Hourglass of Time could accelerate its growth in the Caverns of Time.
• Kairoz offered to guide the sages into the Caverns of Time, and the group agreed to attack the Bronze Dragons with Naiser's Purgatory Legion serving as cannon fodder.
• Merlin proposed that the sages choose a name for the creature before they set out.

Shen Yuan named the combined Old God Overlord and assured the Council of Sages that genetic commands would keep it from harming them or disobeying him. The group then prepared to invade the Caverns of Time with Naiser's demon army, while Kairoz explained how they planned to prevent the defenders from hiding it in another timeline.

• Shen Yuan explained that Overlord combined the control abilities of all four Old Gods, and Xiao Yu and Medivh worried it might turn against its creators.
• Shen Yuan revealed that he had genetically bound Overlord to protect the Council of Sages and obey his orders, easing the group's concerns.
• Naiser and Medivh built a permanent Abyssal Gate, and fifty thousand demons gathered in the desert near the Caverns of Time.
• Kairoz explained that the bronze dragonflight's Time Barrier could hide the Caverns of Time in another timeline, so he and another sage would infiltrate and kill the overseer during the attack.
• Kairoz said the Council of Time consisted of twelve bronze dragons, though only about a third were usually present at the Caverns of Time.

Xiao Yu used Shen Yuan’s test-item mask to disguise himself as a level 60 human mage and entered the Caverns of Time with Kairoz. They reached the cavern’s main hall, where Xiao Yu saw the bronze dragons’ formidable presence as they prepared to head for the Time Barrier’s control room.

• Naiser declined to accompany Kairoz because he had to command the demon army, so Xiao Yu agreed to go instead.
• Shen Yuan gave Xiao Yu an Adventurer’s Mask, which let him create a level 60 human mage identity with mage equipment and abilities.
• Xiao Yu put on the mask and traveled with Kairoz, who transformed into a bronze dragon and carried him to the Caverns of Time.
• The mask let the pair pass through the bronze dragon guards’ camp and enter the Caverns of Time without raising suspicion.
• Xiao Yu and Kairoz walked past frozen scenes from history and reached the main hall, where they saw many elite dragonkin guards and adult dragons.

Xiao Yu and Kairoz infiltrated the Time Barrier control room and killed its bronze dragon guards as Naiser’s demon army attacked the Caverns of Time. The demons broke through the entrance, and the Council of Time realized the barrier had not been activated.

• Kairoz explained that Maijiaer guarded the Hourglass of Time, and warned Xiao Yu that stealing it would provoke the Bronze Dragon Clan.
• Xiao Yu and Kairoz entered the monitoring room, where the bronze dragon monitors spotted Naiser’s demon army approaching.
• Kairoz attacked one monitor while Xiao Yu killed the other and froze and shattered the dragonkin guards.
• Xiao Yu summoned giant stone elementals to block the passage while he and Kairoz prepared to hold the control room.
• Naiser cut down the bronze dragon warlord and ordered the Purgatory Legion to storm the Caverns of Time.
• Three members of the Council of Time questioned why Draka and Dewala had not activated the Time Barrier.

Chromie led bronze dragons to investigate the attack on the Caverns of Time, but Kairoz and Xiao Yu’s fight caused the Time Barrier’s energy reserve to explode. Xiao Yu was swept into a strange white world, where he found a gate overlooking a cavern and saw a figure identical to himself.

• Chromie ordered the bronze dragons to defend the Caverns of Time and teleport into the monitoring room after stone elementals blocked their way.
• Chromie arrived in the monitoring room and confronted Kairoz, who revealed that he planned to seize the Hourglass of Time with the outsiders.
• Xiao Yu attacked Chromie, and other bronze dragons teleported in and restrained him with Time Shackles.
• Xiao Yu unleashed Elemental Storm, forcing the dragons to defend themselves and shattering the container holding the Time Barrier’s reserve energy.
• A silent explosion engulfed Xiao Yu and the others, leaving Xiao Yu alone in a boundless white world.
• Xiao Yu found an iron gate overlooking a cavern and saw a figure with his own appearance approaching in the distance.