Chapter Summaries

Jingxing ate with Sampo after leaving his meeting with Wuliangta, then met Sparkle, who offered to help make him famous by having him paint a poster for the Masked Fools’ Tavern. Jingxing did not accept the offer outright, but asked if he could visit the Tavern, and Sparkle agreed to take him there after the meal.

• Sampo took Jingxing to a small restaurant and tried to cheer him up when he noticed Jingxing was troubled.
• Sparkle joined them, introduced herself as a Masked Fool, and teased Jingxing about being Sampo’s valued client.
• Jingxing admitted he had come on a study tour hoping to make a name for himself.
• Sparkle suggested Jingxing paint a poster for the Tavern so the Masked Fools could spread his name across the galaxy.
• Sparkle teased Jingxing for being a fan of Robin, and Jingxing defended Robin and admitted he liked her.
• Jingxing asked whether he could visit the Tavern, and Sparkle said she would take him after they ate.

Sparkle brought Jingxing into the Masked Fools’ Tavern, where their cruel humor left him questioning whether the Fools—and even Aha—had strayed from the Elation. When Jingxing wondered if Aha could no longer laugh normally and had brought him to Vesna IV for help, a familiar voice agreed.

• Sparkle tricked Jingxing into entering a Tavern entrance with an exploding doll, while Sampo warned him to be careful and stayed outside.
• Jingxing saw the Masked Fools mocking others’ suffering and felt disgusted by their idea of elation.
• Sparkle said she had also grown tired of the Tavern’s company and compared Jingxing’s reaction to that of the Knights of Beauty who had visited before.
• Jingxing considered whether the Fools’ behavior reflected something wrong with Aha, recalling Murata Ryusuke’s words about how Aeons and those who follow their Paths shape one another.
• Jingxing wondered whether Aha could no longer laugh normally and had arranged his transportation to Vesna IV to save herself, and a familiar voice agreed.

Xuzhao revealed to Jingxing that she was Aha and explained that another part of the Aeon had gone mad. She told him he bore responsibility for the Swarm Disaster, leaving him stunned and confused.

• Xuzhao brought Jingxing from outside the Tavern to her room and asked whether he had noticed the Masked Fools’ growing cruelty.
• Jingxing agreed that the Fools seemed to have strayed from the Path of Elation, and Xuzhao said she shared the blame.
• Xuzhao revealed her identity as Aha by taking Jingxing into the Path Interstice and showing him the Aeon’s true form.
• Xuzhao tried to grant Jingxing Emanator certification but failed, then said that Aha had gone mad.
• Xuzhao told Jingxing he bore responsibility for the Swarm Disaster, leaving him wondering why he was being blamed.

Xuzhao revealed how Voracity’s bite contaminated her Path and caused the Fools to change, then asked Jingxing to ease her pain using the Path of Beauty’s Primal Force, Temperance. She taught him how to draw and convert Imaginary Energy, leaving Jingxing to reconsider his powers and learn that she had sent him to Vesna IV.

• Xuzhao explained that Voracity’s bite contaminated her concept of Elation, causing the Fools to change and forcing her to bar Aha and the Mournful Actors from the Tavern.
• Xuzhao said Jingxing could help because he wielded more of the Path of Beauty’s Primal Force, Temperance, than anyone else, and because Temperance could counter her craving for Elation.
• Jingxing said he stored Path energy in his body, so Xuzhao taught him that he could draw on Imaginary Energy and convert it through his authority instead.
• Jingxing asked whether Xuzhao had sent him to Vesna IV, and she admitted she had after noticing Idrila’s scent when he was born and wanting to keep him from following Akivili.
• Xuzhao asked Jingxing to ease her pain, while Jingxing wondered if she could give him thirty billion Credits; she replied that she would have spent such money on the Galactic Lotto.

Xuzhao revealed that Voracity’s shed skin was buried beneath Dual-Phase Paradise and that she used Wish Power to keep it suppressed. She brought Jingxing to the cavern to teach him how to use Temperance against its corruption, but Voracity began tempting him as he worked.

• Xuzhao told Jingxing she had spent her earnings on Wish Power to suppress Voracity’s remains beneath Dual-Phase Paradise.
• Jingxing declined Xuzhao’s offer to connect him with her influential friends until his drawing skills were strong enough to stand on their own.
• Xuzhao led Jingxing through the ruins and showed him the mountain-sized shed skin surrounded by a net of Wish Power.
• Xuzhao instructed Jingxing to use Temperance to control the shed skin’s desires rather than fight it, and he began neutralizing its corruption.
• Voracity’s voice tempted Jingxing to stay and paint forever, and Xuzhao warned him not to listen.

Jingxing used Wish Power and Temperance to suppress Voracity’s beast husk, though Xuzhao said the effect would last only a few Amber Eras. As Jingxing recovered, Xuzhao warned him that Voracity had contaminated people within the company and that the Lord Ravager Guiji was watching her; meanwhile, Murata Ryusuke planned to use Yaboli to bring about Elation’s destruction.

• Jingxing patched the gaps in Voracity’s beast-husk patterns with Path energy and Temperance, silencing the husk at the cost of a nosebleed and exhaustion.
• Xuzhao told Jingxing that he had only delayed Voracity’s influence for a few Amber Eras, then helped him recover and asked him to live longer.
• Xuzhao warned Jingxing that Voracity had contaminated someone in the company, including a mole in the Strategic Investment Department and someone in another department, whom Jingxing identified as Yaboli.
• Xuzhao said the Lord Ravager Guiji was watching her and asked Jingxing to keep their actions secret until Voracity was eradicated.
• Murata Ryusuke realized that Jingxing’s energy had stopped the underground gnawing and urged Yaboli to bring destruction upon Elation.

Jingxing spent the day exploring Dual-Phase Paradise with Sampo after deciding to stay while Zhenzhu was away. In Haiyuan City, he learned how the company had brought the city and its residents out of a painting and saw an Imagenae whale living on Wish Power.

• Jingxing wondered whether Murata Ryusuke knew the secret of Dual-Phase Paradise, but learned that Zhenzhu had left for Thousand Stars City and would be away for several days.
• Jingxing met Sampo, who was relieved to find him unharmed and sensed the Path of Elation on him.
• Sampo took Jingxing to Haiyuan City and explained that the company had fished it out of a painting along with its residents.
• Jingxing saw an Imagenae whale near the viewing platform and learned that Imagenae lived on Wish Power.
• Jingxing reflected on the hardships of the company's workers and Imagenae, and compared them with the peace and care he had received in the Klimt Constitutional Republic.

Jingxing learned that Yaboli’s people had arrived at Dual-Phase Paradise and heard Xuzhao’s suspicions that Yaboli was an Ancient Beast or had been corrupted by one. He began to suspect that the Interastral Peace Corporation possessed part of Voracity’s body and might itself be corrupted, while Xuzhao privately said she missed Akivili.

• Jingxing turned down Sampo’s offer to visit the World-Painting Academy and planned to paint in Haiyuan City instead.
• Xuzhao waited for Jingxing at his hotel and warned him that Yaboli’s people might be looking for him.
• Zhenzhu messaged Jingxing that the Technical Research and Development Department had arrived at Dual-Phase Paradise and advised him not to go anywhere alone.
• Xuzhao told Jingxing to avoid the company’s people, explaining that Yaboli might want to experiment on him because he was Idrila’s devotee who could purify Voracity’s shed remains.
• Xuzhao suggested that Yaboli was an Ancient Beast or had been corrupted by one, and hinted that the company’s possession of Voracity’s body might have corrupted Preservation.
• Jingxing wondered whether Idrila had given him Temperance to confront an Aeon, while Xuzhao privately said she missed Akivili.

Jingxing returned to Haiyuan City to paint and discovered that a local group campaigning to return to a painted world might be affected by Voracity Contamination. He reported the encounter to Zhenzhu and left with Sampo, planning to paint somewhere else the next day.

• Jingxing and Sampo took the first train to Haiyuan City, where Jingxing painted a photorealistic seaside scene with the Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer.
• A girl from the Haiyuan "Return to the Painting" Federation gave Jingxing a flyer and said the group wanted locals to return to their old lives inside a painting.
• Jingxing smelled Voracity Contamination on the girl and messaged Xuzhao, who advised him to report the encounter to Zhenzhu.
• Jingxing sent Zhenzhu an account of what he had seen and a photo of the flyer, then returned to painting despite his trembling hand.
• Sampo said the Federation had held gatherings in Haiyuan City for years without causing major trouble, and Jingxing left with him after deciding to paint somewhere else the next day.

Zhenzhu learned that Voracity Contamination had appeared among members of a Haiyuan City social organization after Yaboli’s research team entered Dual-Phase Paradise, and Diamond sent her to investigate. Before leaving, she discovered that Jingxing owed Herta thirty billion Credits, leaving her unsure whether his secret deal threatened him or Dual-Phase Paradise.

• Zhenzhu told Diamond and the other Stonehearts that her informant had found traces of Voracity Contamination among members of Haiyuan City’s “Reenter the Painting” Federation, and Diamond ordered her to investigate Yaboli’s activities in Dual-Phase Paradise.
• Zhenzhu recommended Jingxing as a promising painter for early investment, but Topaz revealed that he owed Herta thirty billion Credits.
• Aventurine offered to investigate Jingxing, but Zhenzhu rejected his offer and insisted that Dual-Phase Paradise needed no outside interference.
• Zhenzhu told Jingxing she would arrive in Dual-Phase Paradise that night and asked him to meet her at the Pearl Star Building the next day.
• Zhenzhu ordered a subordinate to investigate the federation, Yaboli’s inspection team and its contacts, and the Chasing the Moon’s previous flight path.

Jingxing explained to Zhenzhu how Herta treated his eyes and revealed that Idrila had blessed him with the beauty of her gaze. Zhenzhu offered to repay his debt to Herta, but Jingxing refused because he did not want to owe the company.

• Jingxing met Zhenzhu at the Pearl Star Building, where she asked about his debt to Herta.
• Jingxing explained that Herta made the Light-Severing Sea contact lenses to suppress the painful effects of his unusual vision, and that he had repaid three hundred million Credits so far.
• Zhenzhu warned Jingxing that his eyes might be cursed by a Path and told him that Murata Ryusuke's wife, daughter, and clan had suffered the Weathering Curse after straying from Nanook.
• Zhenzhu asked Jingxing which Path he followed and why he had strayed, but he said he had never strayed and that his eyes were a blessing from an Aeon.
• Jingxing identified Idrila, the goddess of Beauty, as the Aeon who blessed him, and Zhenzhu offered to repay his thirty-billion-Credit debt to Herta.
• Jingxing refused Zhenzhu's offer, saying he did not want to owe the Strategic Investment Department.

Jingxing told Zhenzhu he wanted to repay his debt through painting, but she warned him to leave Dual-Phase Paradise because Yaboli’s research could put him in danger. He prepared to depart, said goodbye to Sampo, Robin, and Xuzhao, and left his flyer with Zhenzhu to aid her investigation.

• Jingxing told Zhenzhu he wanted to pay off his debt by making a name for himself as a painter, while Zhenzhu confessed she felt responsible for his parents’ deaths.
• Zhenzhu warned Jingxing that Yaboli’s researchers were distributing experimental products and urged him to leave Dual-Phase Paradise before she confronted Yaboli.
• Jingxing recognized that Yaboli was seeking the Beast Molt of Voracity and left Zhenzhu a flyer from the Reenter the Painting Federation to help her investigate.
• Jingxing called Sampo, who said he was also leaving and warned him not to travel at night.
• Jingxing arranged to visit Robin on the set of her new show and promised to bring her a painting.
• Jingxing told Xuzhao he was leaving Dual-Phase Paradise, and Xuzhao urged him to stay safe and finish things in the future.

Jingxing drifted through peaceful star systems, painting the worlds he visited and keeping in touch with his friends. On Priva II, he discovered a large Borisin hunting pack and decided to escape before contacting Yunli about the bounty.

• Jingxing left Dual-Phase Paradise aboard Chasing the Moon and set course through no-conflict zones without following the Star Rail.
• Over the next month, Jingxing visited three planets to paint and exchanged messages with Zhenzhu, Robin, and Yunli.
• Jingxing landed on Priva II, where fresh damage and footprints led him to suspect that humanoid creatures lived there.
• Jingxing used Path energy to conceal himself and followed the traces to a sprawling Borisin camp.
• Jingxing recognized the camp as a sizable Borisin hunting pack and resolved to get away and contact Yunli about its Strale bounty.

Jingxing secretly stopped the Borisin from producing biological weapons, then encountered General Yaoguang while retreating from their camp. Yaoguang explained that she was scouting the hunting pack and asked who Jingxing was and how he knew her.

• Jingxing found a Borisin workshop where craftsmen were growing biological weapons in tanks from looted materials.
• Jingxing used his Path energy through the ground to stop the weapons from growing, and the Borisin camp erupted in alarm.
• The hunting pack's Nestfather arrived, ordered a search of the woods, and failed to find Jingxing as he slipped away.
• Yaoguang unexpectedly tapped Jingxing's shoulder at the edge of the camp, and he recognized her as a general of the Jade Abacus Xianzhou.
• Yaoguang said she was gathering information before the Xianzhou wiped out the Borisin hunting pack, then asked Jingxing who he was and why he knew her.

Jingxing and Yaoguang escaped the Borisin camp and talked aboard Jingxing’s ship, where Yaoguang explained that a divination had brought her to Priva II to investigate an Emanator-level energy signature. Jingxing revealed why he had come to the planet, while Yaoguang remained uncertain about the danger threatening the Jade Abacus Xianzhou.

• Jingxing concealed his knowledge of Yaoguang’s future and claimed he had seen her in a Light Cone recorded by General Tianji.
• When horns sounded at the Borisin camp, Yaoguang led Jingxing into the woods, using talismans to keep their pursuers from finding them.
• After they reached Jingxing’s ship, Yaoguang said a divination had warned that the Jade Abacus Xianzhou would face serious trouble unless she personally came to Priva II.
• Jingxing explained that he had landed for inspiration, discovered the Borisin, and sabotaged their biological weapons before planning to contact Yunli for help.
• Yaoguang recalled that the Divination Commission had detected an Emanator-level energy signature on Priva II and wondered why her visit was necessary to protect the Jade Abacus Xianzhou.

Jingxing and Yaoguang discovered that the Borisin were using a ritual to awaken something beneath their camp, then found the ritual had cut off communications and disabled their ship. Stranded together, they prepared to face the Borisin themselves.

• Yaoguang questioned Jingxing about sabotaging the Borisin’s biological weapons, and he explained that Temperance had stopped the weapons from growing only temporarily.
• Jingxing and Yaoguang infiltrated the camp again and saw the Borisin rapidly rebuilding their production line with green liquid and fresh materials.
• They followed Borisin carrying crates to a bone-and-hide altar, where a crowned figure led a ritual around a pit glowing with green light.
• Yaoguang concluded that the Borisin were trying to awaken something and decided they had to stop them by attacking the camp.
• Back aboard the Chasing the Moon, Yaoguang and Jingxing found that the ritual had blocked communications and left their spaceship unable to start.
• Yaoguang said they would have to face the Borisin themselves, and Jingxing reluctantly asked whether he had to fight too.

Jingxing learned from Yaoguang that Idrila’s gaze had given him Emanator-level power, and Yaoguang began teaching him how an Emanator could wield the authority of a Path. As she revealed the Borisin camp through a talisman, Jingxing sensed his power already encompassed it and realized he might be able to destroy everything there, though he wondered whether doing so would violate his Path.

• Jingxing questioned whether he and Yaoguang could wipe out the Borisin hunting pack, especially since he was a recent Pathstrider.
• Yaoguang told Jingxing that his energy readings were Emanator-level and that Idrila’s gaze had made him an Emanator of Beauty.
• Jingxing realized Xuzhao had never corrected his mistaken belief that he was an ordinary Pathstrider.
• Yaoguang explained that an Emanator wielded a Path as authority over the world and could potentially destroy a planet, depending on the Path.
• Yaoguang used a talisman to reveal the Borisin camp, where Jingxing’s power had already spread across the area.
• Jingxing sensed that he could destroy the camp by making up his mind, but wondered whether that would go against his Path.

Jingxing used Temperance to erase the Borisin camp on Priva II, but the power spread beyond his control and began wiping away the surrounding landscape. As the ripple threatened the forest and mountains, Jingxing tried to stop it.

• Yaoguang argued that The Hunt’s restraint could justify destroying the Borisin, and promised to limit Jingxing’s power.
• When the planet trembled and the Borisin’s ritual neared completion, Yaoguang connected her power to Jingxing and urged him to act.
• Jingxing envisioned the camp as corruption on a canvas and declared that everything tied to it should disappear.
• A wave of white light erased the Borisin, their camp, and the materials around the pit.
• The wave continued beyond the camp, erasing a tree and threatening the mountains, while Jingxing’s command to stop it failed.

Jingxing and Yaoguang discovered that a branch from Qiong Sang lay beneath the Borisin camp and was parasitizing Priva II, trapping them on the planet. As Jingxing’s power threatened to destroy the world, Yaoguang began explaining how her past defiance of fate might affect their choices.

• Yaoguang summoned the Timewheel Heavenly Pheasant Wisdom King to temporarily contain Jingxing’s energy, but she could not locate a way off Priva II.
• Jingxing and Yaoguang returned to the Borisin camp and found that much of the surrounding forest had vanished as they approached the pit.
• At the bottom of the pit, Jingxing and Yaoguang discovered a luminous branch from Qiong Sang, which Yaoguang said could parasitize the planet and protect itself.
• Yaoguang explained that the Wingweavers might use the branch to rebuild their destroyed homeworld, so they needed to destroy it before it fell into their hands.
• When Jingxing refused to risk Yaoguang’s life by letting his energy continue unchecked, Yaoguang revealed the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot and told him that she had once defied fate on Fanghu, becoming entangled with Yuque’s Ten-Direction Light-Reflecting Dharma Realm.

Yaoguang used Synchronic Displacement to leave the present, entrusting Jingxing with the Jade Knot so he could find her and bring her back. Jingxing erased Qiong Sang’s branch, and the Jade Abacus Xianzhou fleet arrived as he vowed to explain Yaoguang’s disappearance and search for her.

• Yaoguang explained that the Jade Knot kept her anchored in the present and gave it to Jingxing before deliberately disappearing into a lost timeline.
• Jingxing wondered whether he and Yaoguang were caught in a time loop as she vanished into blue-gold sand.
• Jingxing used Path Energy to destroy Qiong Sang’s branch, exhausting himself as its light faded and it disappeared.
• The Jade Abacus Xianzhou fleet arrived, and Jingxing heard Yuque call over the communications channel.
• Jingxing pressed the Jade Knot to his chest and resolved to explain Yaoguang’s disappearance and find her with the fleet’s help.