Chapter Summaries

Jingxing woke in an unfamiliar forest with no memory of how he had arrived and found his belongings intact. A woman named Yaoguang emerged from a spatial rift, recognized him as an acquaintance, and introduced herself as the general of the Xianzhou Yuque.

• Jingxing woke in a quiet forest that smelled of gunpowder and found distant snow-covered mountains and a river stained dark red.
• He recalled losing consciousness after leaving school and checked his suitcase, finding his belongings and identification safe.
• Images from his previous life surfaced, and Jingxing steadied himself before checking his phone for a signal.
• A cyan trigram diagram appeared in the air, and a silver-haired woman stepped through a spatial rift.
• The woman called herself Yaoguang, identified Jingxing by name, and said it was not yet time.

Jingxing met Yaoguang, who revealed that his future paintings would become famous and told his fortune before her time in the past ran out. After she vanished, armed figures in the woods ordered Jingxing to surrender.

• Jingxing introduced himself to Yaoguang, who recognized his trunk and confirmed that he achieved his dream of becoming a renowned painter.
• Yaoguang explained that fighting Lord Ravager Guiji had scattered her existence, leaving her to drift unpredictably through time.
• Yaoguang told Jingxing that his fortune was most auspicious and advised him to avoid Pathstriders of Harmony.
• Yaoguang vanished into a shower of light, leaving Jingxing alone in the woods.
• Several armed figures confronted Jingxing and ordered him to raise his hands.

Jingxing was captured by an armed squad and escorted through a forest devastated by war to a refugee camp. There, he encountered the famous singer Robin, who appeared to be helping the wounded.

• Jingxing obeyed the squad leader’s orders, and the soldiers verified his Klimt Constitutional Republic identification before taking him along.
• Jingxing followed the squad through the war-damaged forest and realized he had landed in an active war zone.
• The squad brought Jingxing to a valley refugee camp where its armed members helped residents and treated the wounded.
• A high-cheekboned soldier escorted Jingxing to the camp’s central tent, where he saw Robin sorting supplies.

Jingxing met Robin in a refugee camp and explained that he had no idea how he had arrived there. Robin used her Harmony ability to confirm that he was telling the truth, then ordered Glenn to find him a place despite the camp being over capacity.

• Jingxing saw Robin tending to camp work and sat down to answer her questions.
• Glenn confirmed Jingxing's identity, and Robin warned him that he had narrowly avoided landing in a minefield.
• Jingxing said he had blacked out while traveling and awakened at the camp, and Robin sensed that he was telling the truth.
• Robin explained that she could hear a person's emotions in their melody and use it to detect lies.
• Robin ordered Glenn to provide Jingxing with a tent, sleeping bag, and water purification tablets despite the camp being full.

Jingxing followed Glenn through a refugee camp and saw how badly its people lacked medical care. Glenn warned him not to publicize the civil war because that could force the Company to intervene, and Jingxing agreed to keep quiet for now.

• Glenn led Jingxing through the camp and explained that Robin had come to help after reading a report about the refugees.
• Jingxing saw injured people waiting outside a medical tent and learned that many had died the previous night because of the shortage of medicine.
• Glenn showed Jingxing his tent and warned him to limit what he shared with the outside world about the planet.
• Glenn explained that the civil war centered on which side would sign a mineral procurement agreement with the Company, and that publicity could pressure the Company into intervening.
• Jingxing agreed to stay quiet for now, despite disliking the Company's conduct.

Jingxing suspected the company was restricting Robin and decided to judge her intentions for himself. While helping serve breakfast at the camp, he noticed anger beneath her practiced smile and resolved to speak with her privately.

• Jingxing reasoned that the company was using its soldiers and the camp’s supply shortage to keep Robin under control, and decided to observe her before taking a risk.
• Jingxing woke at dawn, saw the camp running in an orderly fashion, and credited Robin with keeping things under control.
• Jingxing steadied a woman carrying a child when the crowd jostled her in the supply line.
• Jingxing volunteered to serve porridge and used the work to watch Robin interact with a little girl.
• Jingxing noticed that Robin’s smile seemed rehearsed and that her eyes showed dissatisfaction or anger, so he decided to sound her out in private.

Jingxing recognized that Robin was being confined to a refugee camp and used by Interastral Peace Entertainment, while she wanted to sing and help end the war. After Robin declared her resolve to reach the whole planet, Jingxing decided to help, and she asked him to take her away.

• Jingxing struggled to paint the camp gate and reflected on the refugees, medical workers, and Robin's hidden gloom.
• Robin brought Jingxing energy bars and asked whether he had grown accustomed to the camp.
• Jingxing called the camp a birdcage where Robin's singing and his painting were both restricted.
• Robin explained that Interastral Peace Entertainment had taken over her itinerary and wanted to use her as a camp mascot to promote its role as mediator.
• Robin declared that she would reach everyone on the planet through her singing and help end the war, and Jingxing asked how he could help.
• Robin asked Jingxing to take her away from the camp.

Jingxing and Robin planned their escape from the camp, with Jingxing scouting the terrain and Robin arranging supplies. After Glenn challenged Jingxing’s claim that he and Robin had discussed art, Jingxing revealed his credentials, and Robin’s bundle of maps and newspapers left him preparing to learn about the planet.

• Jingxing and Robin agreed to prepare for escape, with Jingxing mapping the camp’s surroundings and Robin securing supplies.
• Jingxing surveyed the camp and sketched its terrain while considering the possible escape routes.
• Glenn questioned Jingxing about his conversation with Robin, but Jingxing defended his artistic credentials and Glenn apologized.
• A local worker delivered Robin’s bundle of supplies to Jingxing, including a map and newspapers about the planet.

Jingxing and Robin prepared to escape the refugee camp after he surveyed its patrols and found a weak point in the perimeter. As they waited for the midnight shift change, Jingxing wondered whether Beauty was the Path best suited to him and why Yaoguang had warned him against Harmony Pathstriders.

• Jingxing read the newspapers about the civil war and spent three days mapping the camp's defenses, finding a poorly lit gap near a dry riverbed.
• Robin met Jingxing in his tent and used a spatial pouch from General Feixiao to store their escape supplies and his art equipment.
• Robin explained how someone could become a Pathstrider, prompting Jingxing to consider whether the Path of Beauty suited him.
• Jingxing asked Robin about conflicts between Paths, but she named only Destruction as hostile to Harmony and did not mention Beauty.
• Robin told Jingxing that the third patrol would change shifts at midnight, and they planned to cross the dry riverbed and enter the woods.

Jingxing’s escape with Robin was interrupted by Glenn and the camp pursuers, but Kafka arrived and used her ability to send them back. Kafka told Robin that the Stellaron Hunters aimed to save the world, then she and Silver Wolf prepared to begin their own task.

• Jingxing left the camp during the guard change and headed through a dry riverbed toward the forest.
• Glenn spotted Jingxing and ordered the pursuers to stop him.
• Kafka appeared beside Robin, and Glenn recognized her as a Stellaron Hunter.
• Kafka used her ability to command Glenn and the pursuers to return to camp and care for the refugees.
• Jingxing and Robin thanked Kafka, and Kafka said the Stellaron Hunters wanted to save the world before they parted ways.
• Silver Wolf appeared beside Kafka, who told her it was time to get started.

Stelle trained aboard the Stellaron Hunters’ ship while Elio told her to wait until her part in the script began. Meanwhile, Robin and Jingxing camped together in a single tent, and Silver Wolf continued burying Sounding Ore at Elio’s direction.

• Stelle asked Elio why Silver Wolf and Kafka had gone to Epsilon, and he said her stage had not yet been set and she needed to wait for the star rails to intersect.
• Stelle decided to keep Firefly company after Elio left the training room.
• Robin and Jingxing reached a sheltered riverbank and set up the only tent Robin had brought.
• Robin insisted Jingxing sleep inside with her because the cold and damp could make him ill, and he agreed.
• Silver Wolf buried the thirteenth shipment of Sounding Ore and wondered why Elio had bought so much.

Jingxing and Robin broke camp and continued toward the government army’s base camp, discussing Jingxing’s childhood and his plans for painting. Jingxing said he wanted to depict the region’s lack of peace, but left open where he would display the finished work.

• Jingxing woke early from the cold, and Robin joined him for breakfast beside the campfire.
• Robin asked about Jingxing’s family, and he explained that his parents died fighting the Antimatter Legion when he was five.
• Jingxing told Robin he had refused Zhenzhu’s offer to raise him because he wanted to remain free to choose his own path.
• After breakfast, Robin packed their camp, and she and Jingxing set off upstream toward the government army’s base camp.
• Robin asked what Jingxing had planned to paint after graduation, and he described his interest in the Pilopa System and its missing colors.
• Jingxing said he wanted to paint the region without peace and might display the work at his school or at the highest point in Thousand Stars City.

Jingxing and Robin traveled through an abandoned town, where a refugee family warned them about dangers on the road to the capital and shared their food. After a girl recognized Robin from television and told her that her father had gone to fight and never returned, Robin renewed her resolve to restore peace as they continued onward.

• Jingxing and Robin reached a deserted town and found a warning that there was no food inside a house.
• A local family told Jingxing and Robin that rebels guarded a checkpoint and routed soldiers were robbing travelers farther ahead.
• The elderly woman gave Jingxing and Robin roasted potatoes and warned that Robin would be at risk on the road.
• A young girl recognized Robin from television and said her father had gone to fight and never come back.
• Robin promised to sing for everyone again once the bad guys were gone, and she and Jingxing shared the potatoes before setting off to prevent more needless separations.

Jingxing and Robin crossed a war-ravaged region and found shelter in an evacuated town, where Robin explained her plan to use Harmony to make combatants lay down their weapons. As rain fell, she revealed that she had also lived on a battlefield as a child.

• Jingxing questioned whether Robin’s singing could stop the civil war, and Robin said the power of Harmony could make listeners lay down their weapons.
• Jingxing and Robin walked through the heat toward a second town, sharing water as storm clouds gathered.
• Robin sensed no lingering cries of anguish in the empty town, and Jingxing found signs that its residents had been evacuated before the fighting arrived.
• They settled in an abandoned public library and discussed Robin’s Path energy and her sense of feeling more complete as a person.
• As they listened to the rain, Robin spoke about her song “Had I Never Seen the Sun” and said she had to help the suffering people.
• Robin told Jingxing that she had lived on a battlefield when she was little.

Jingxing and Robin shared how the destruction of their homeworlds shaped their childhoods and their different views of repaying those they had lost. They promised that Jingxing would paint an album cover for Robin once he became a famous artist, and Robin fell asleep beside him as the rain continued.

• Robin told Jingxing that a Stellaron destroyed her homeworld, and that she and her brother were adopted by Mr. Gopher Wood after their mother tried to save them.
• Robin said she felt obliged to use her life as a Pathstrider of Harmony to save others, while Jingxing recognized that their childhoods had both been marked by loss.
• Robin said she believed her brother was working to create a world without suffering, though Jingxing suspected he had approved the supervision imposed on her at the refugee camp.
• Jingxing and Robin joked about his drawing, then pinky-swore that he would paint an album cover for her when he became a famous artist.
• Robin fell asleep against Jingxing's shoulder, and he covered her with his coat, carried her into the tent, and wished her good night.

Sunday learned that Robin had disappeared after escaping Interastral Peace Entertainment’s restrictions, but the Hidden Night Thrush told him her actions would benefit the Divine Lord and urged him to trust the Family’s assurance. On Vesna IV, Silver Wolf placed the final Sounding Ore and left to play her games, while Kafka waited for Robin’s concert and the start of a new chapter.

• Sunday read that Robin had gone missing in the Epsilon system and suspected she had escaped after clashing with Interastral Peace Entertainment.
• Sunday prepared to travel to Thousand Stars City, but the Hidden Night Thrush stopped him and said Robin’s actions would benefit the Divine Lord.
• Sunday questioned whether the Family would sacrifice Robin, and the Hidden Night Thrush assured him she would be safe.
• Silver Wolf placed the final Sounding Ore at its coordinates and declined Kafka’s offer to stay for Robin’s concert, choosing to return to her weekly game missions.
• Kafka watched Silver Wolf’s ship leave and urged Robin to hurry as she anticipated the beginning of a new chapter for the galaxy.

Robin used the power of Harmony to persuade a group of routed soldiers to join her and Jingxing on their journey to the capital. Jingxing’s eyes burned whenever he looked at Robin afterward, leaving him wary of the ability and distant from her.

• Robin and Jingxing encountered seven or eight routed soldiers who demanded their food and valuables.
• Robin stepped forward and persuaded the soldiers to become their guards and help protect the planet’s future.
• Old Zhou agreed to follow Robin, and the soldiers laid down their hostility before picking up their weapons under her rule.
• Jingxing felt severe pain in his eyes when he looked at Robin and remembered Yaoguang’s warning to avoid Pathstriders of Harmony.
• Old Zhou led the group along safer routes, while Jingxing avoided looking at Robin because his eyes continued to sting.

Jingxing and Robin reconciled after he explained that looking at her caused his eyes to burn, though the source of the pain remained unclear. As the group neared Rovini, Robin prepared to use her song in the city at war, and Jingxing drew her while enduring the ache.

• Old Zhou warned Jingxing that Rovini was a deadly battlefield, but Jingxing said Robin had to go there for the sake of peace.
• Robin asked Jingxing if he feared her, and he explained that looking at her sometimes felt like a red-hot needle stabbing his eyes.
• Robin realized the pain was unusual, and Jingxing reassured her that he would not leave or distance himself.
• Jingxing and Robin grew close again as they traveled, while Robin shared food with refugees fleeing the martial law zone.
• As the group approached Rovini, Robin prepared in silence, and Jingxing drew her profile despite the returning ache in his eyes.

Robin told Old Zhou and the others to leave her before entering Rovini, explaining that armed travelers could not pass the wartime checkpoint and urging them to survive and rebuild after the war. Jingxing realized Robin’s ability drew people’s suppressed emotions to the surface rather than controlling their minds, and he and Robin entered Rovini after soldiers recognized her and summoned a military vehicle.

• Robin told Old Zhou and the others they could not accompany her into Rovini because they carried guns, and urged them to find safety and consider rebuilding after the war.
• Jingxing concluded that Robin’s Harmony brought out people’s subconscious emotions rather than hypnotizing or controlling them.
• Old Zhou and the others departed, and Old Zhou tossed Jingxing his remaining cigarettes while asking him to protect Robin.
• Robin and Jingxing reached Rovini’s guarded checkpoint, where a soldier recognized Robin and an officer contacted his superiors.
• A military vehicle arrived, and Robin took Jingxing with her as they entered the city.

Robin met with the government forces’ leader in Rovini and proposed a ceasefire deal centered on a performance broadcast across the planet. She left the meeting seeking to use the government’s communications network to reach people in towns near the advancing front line.

• Jingxing and Robin entered war-stricken Rovini and met Ofila, the Interastral Peace Entertainment representative assigned to assist Robin.
• Robin insisted on meeting the government forces’ leader, and Ofila arranged for him to visit their hotel.
• At the meeting, the leader said the war began after opposition groups challenged his mineral development agreement with the Interastral Peace Corporation.
• Robin acknowledged that the leader might not have wanted the war but argued that continued fighting would harm Vesna IV.
• Robin proposed a deal: she would perform in Rovini if the government forces used their broadcast system and public communications equipment to transmit her performance to towns across the planet.