Chapter Summaries

After destroying Qiong Sang’s branch, Jingxing was taken aboard the Jade Abacus Xianzhou, where the wary Mingke Guards questioned his account and doubted his identity. Fu Xuan, the Luofu’s Lord Diviner and General Rongtao’s junior sister, arrived and declared that Jingxing was not an enemy.

• The Mingke Guards found no Abundance contamination in the clearing and escorted Jingxing and his ship, the Chasing the Moon, to their Xianzhou.
• Jingxing recounted how he had helped General Yaoguang thwart the Borisin plot, but the captain doubted his story.
• Jingxing showed the captain his Jade Knot and messages with Yunli, but neither convinced him.
• The captain treated Jingxing as a possible Abomination of Abundance and refused to release him without verification.
• Fu Xuan entered the cabin, introduced herself, and ordered the Cloud Knights to put away their blades because Jingxing was not an enemy.

Fu Xuan took over the investigation into Jingxing and learned that Yaoguang had vanished from the present while he destroyed a Borisin plot. After Priva II collapsed, Fu Xuan secured support to oversee Yaoguang’s disappearance, and she and Jingxing agreed to find her.

• Fu Xuan used divination to confirm that Jingxing was telling the truth and sent the Mingke Guards away.
• Jingxing explained that Yaoguang gave him the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot and vanished through Synchronic Displacement so he could destroy a branch of Qiong Sang.
• Fu Xuan agreed to provide Jingxing with a place to stay and asked him to return to the Jade Abacus Xianzhou with her.
• Priva II collapsed into dust as its restraints failed, and Fu Xuan treated the destruction as evidence supporting Jingxing’s account.
• Fu Xuan secured the Marshal’s support to oversee Yaoguang’s disappearance, and she and Jingxing agreed to work together to bring Yaoguang back.
• Jingxing messaged Yunli about the incident and joked that Fu Xuan was the first Xianzhou native he had met whose height Yunli could criticize.

After Priva II was reduced to dust, Fu Xuan questioned Jingxing in her guest quarters and learned that he was a freelance artist from the Klimt Constitutional Republic. Their conversation turned to Fu Xuan’s past with her senior sister Yaoguang and their deceased master, Jingtian, leaving Jingxing to suspect that the master’s death had shaped Fu Xuan’s move to the Luofu.

• Jingxing watched the fleet leave Priva II and regretted forgetting to use the Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer to recover its Path Energy.
• Fu Xuan invited Jingxing to talk, and her divination confirmed that he was telling the truth about being a recently graduated freelance artist.
• Jingxing told Fu Xuan he came from the Klimt Constitutional Republic and had spent ten years in cultural exchange on the Zhuming, where he befriended Yunli and received General Huaiyan’s guidance.
• Jingxing asked why Fu Xuan had left Yuque instead of helping her senior sister Yaoguang, and Fu Xuan said Yuque had been fine with Yaoguang while the Luofu needed a diviner.
• Fu Xuan identified her and Yaoguang’s former master as Jingtian but declined to say more, and Jingxing suspected the master’s death was connected to Fu Xuan’s departure.

Jingxing accompanied Fu Xuan to the Jade Abacus Xianzhou, where she lodged him at her home while the Alliance prepared to discuss her senior sister’s disappearance. On a nighttime walk, Jingxing encountered a recruiter for the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and reflected on Yaoshi’s responsibility for the harms caused by the Aeon’s blessings.

• Fu Xuan told Jingxing she would report her senior sister’s disappearance to the Marshal and try to take charge of the case, while Jingxing pledged to help find her.
• Jingxing arrived with Fu Xuan at the Jade Abacus Xianzhou and learned about its academic institutions.
• Fu Xuan brought Jingxing to her home, settled him in a guest room, and told him the Alliance would discuss her senior sister’s situation the next day.
• Jingxing went out alone at night and received a leaflet from a gray-robed person promoting the Medicine King’s compassion.
• Jingxing destroyed the leaflet and considered how Yaoshi’s unlimited blessings had enabled the rise of the Abominations of Abundance.

Jingxing returned to Fu Xuan’s residence, where she confronted him about encountering the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and asked what he thought of Yaoshi. After discussing the dangers of Abundance and the differences between Temperance and the Hunt, Jingxing learned that Pathstriders could walk multiple Paths, though he believed Idrila’s favor meant he probably could not.

• Fu Xuan noticed Abundance on Jingxing and questioned him about the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.
• Jingxing admitted that someone had given him a flyer for the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus at the night market and that he had destroyed it.
• Fu Xuan explained the Disciples’ history and their resurgence after the Xianzhou Luofu aided Fanghu in the Third War of the Denizens of Abundance.
• Jingxing said that Yaoshi’s unrestrained blessings could lead recipients to madness and that the god could not escape blame for the harm they caused.
• Jingxing explained to Fu Xuan how Idrila’s Temperance governed the self while the Reignbow Arbiter’s restraint governed others.
• Fu Xuan told Jingxing that Pathstriders could walk multiple Paths without punishment, and Jingxing concluded that he probably could not because of Idrila’s favor.

While staying on Yuque, Jingxing learned that the Xianzhou Alliance planned to use the Ten-Direction Light-Reflecting Dharma Realm to rescue Yaoguang, and Fu Xuan volunteered to accompany him into it. After Herta urged him to return to the Herta Space Station, Jingxing chose to remain and carry out the rescue.

• Jingxing spent his days exploring Yuque and exchanged messages with Yunli and a call with Robin.
• Fu Xuan brought Jingxing to a meeting with the Xianzhou generals and Marshal Hua because the agenda concerned him.
• The Alliance discussed using the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot to anchor the Ten-Direction Light-Reflecting Dharma Realm and retrieve Yaoguang from the timeline where she was lost.
• Fu Xuan volunteered to enter the Dharma Realm with Jingxing, and Marshal Hua approved their plan, promising to intervene if time ran short.
• Herta called Jingxing and asked him to return to the Herta Space Station, but he refused because he intended to handle the rescue himself.

Fu Xuan and Jingxing entered the Ten-Direction Light-Reflecting Dharma Realm to search for Senior Sister in the past, but they initially could not interact with the world. After Jingxing’s eyes caused the past to acknowledge them, they set out to find her and were confronted by a mysterious woman who attacked Jingxing.

• Fu Xuan activated the Dharma Realm and brought Jingxing to the Jade Abacus Xianzhou more than twenty years earlier, as it prepared to join the Third War of the Denizens of Abundance.
• Fu Xuan and Jingxing discovered that the people and objects around them could neither see nor touch them, and Fu Xuan could not perform a divination.
• Jingxing’s eyes caused him severe pain, after which the world began to recognize him and Fu Xuan as present in that time.
• Fu Xuan noticed a sweet scent, and a mysterious woman in a candy-colored evening gown appeared and thrust a blade at Jingxing.

Jingxing and Fu Xuan were attacked by Polka Kakamond, who let them go after confirming they were trying to retrieve a general displaced in time. They repaired the damaged alley and headed for the General’s Residence to find Yaoguang.

• Polka Kakamond attacked Jingxing, but Xuzhao’s power let him wield Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer and hold her off.
• Fu Xuan identified Polka Kakamond as a Genius Society member and Emanator, while Jingxing explained they had come to save a general displaced by Synchronic Displacement.
• Polka Kakamond failed to probe Jingxing, accepted that they were telling the truth, and warned them not to interfere with the Aeons’ calculations.
• After Polka Kakamond vanished, Jingxing restored the damaged alley with Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer.
• Fu Xuan and Jingxing set out for the General’s Residence to look for Yaoguang, but Fu Xuan paused before following.

Jingxing and Fu Xuan traveled to the past to find Yaoguang, whom only they could perceive because she remembered Jingxing. They offered to take her home with the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot, but Yaoguang refused because she did not want to return to the present yet.

• Jingxing discovered that people in the past could not see or hear him and Fu Xuan, and Fu Xuan guessed their existences had become linked.
• Fu Xuan tried to request an audience with General Rongtao, but the guards could not perceive her, leaving her shaken as she recalled visiting the residence as a child.
• Jingxing and Fu Xuan entered the General's Residence unseen and learned that Yaoguang had secluded herself while the Alliance prepared for the Abominations of Abundance coalition near Fanghu.
• They found Yaoguang in a side courtyard, where she said she had been there for about half a month and greeted Fu Xuan as her junior sister.
• Jingxing offered Yaoguang the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot and said they had come to take her home, but she refused to take it and said she did not want to return to the present yet.

Yaoguang asked Jingxing and Fu Xuan to help change the course of the Third War of the Denizens of Abundance, hoping to prevent their master's fate. Fu Xuan chose to join her, leaving Jingxing to decide whether to help.

• Jingxing warned Yaoguang that they had promised not to change the past, but Yaoguang said she no longer intended to return without trying to alter events.
• Yaoguang explained that she had survived an assassination attempt and changed two events in history, proving the past could be altered.
• Yaoguang urged Fu Xuan to help prevent their master from operating the Cloud-Gazing Mirror, and asked Jingxing to join them in preparing for the war in fifteen days.
• Jingxing considered his unusual ability to interact with the past and asked Fu Xuan what she thought.
• Fu Xuan said the Lord Diviner must obey the general's commands, then placed her hand on the map beside Yaoguang's.

Jingxing confronted Polka Kakamond after she secretly watched him, and learned that Fu Xuan and Yaoguang could not change the Worldline anchored by Nous. The chapter left Jingxing questioning whether their master’s death in the coming war was also part of Nous’s calculations.

• Yaoguang led Fu Xuan and Jingxing to an empty courtyard, where they discovered they could touch objects that could not touch them.
• Jingxing sensed Polka Kakamond watching him and challenged her when she appeared at his window.
• Polka Kakamond questioned Jingxing about his promise to take Fu Xuan back, but backed down from a fight because she could not understand his ability to break through her Omniscient Domain.
• Polka Kakamond explained that Fu Xuan and Yaoguang could not alter Nous’s anchored Worldline, though they might change temporary fates.
• Jingxing asked whether their master was fated to die in the war, and Polka Kakamond said she did not know.

Jingxing learned why Fu Xuan wanted to revisit the past: she hoped to prove that human choices could change a fate that divination had declared inevitable. Fu Xuan resolved to try again, while Jingxing considered whether destiny might be tied to Nous's calculations.

• After Polka Kakamond left, Jingxing changed his painting and went to ask Fu Xuan about her regrets.
• Fu Xuan said the Fu Clan's divination had led her to study under Yuque's Master Diviner, who taught that everything was predestined.
• Fu Xuan recalled arguing with her Master over whether divination made human choice meaningless, and said he had claimed his life was destined to end at her hands.
• Fu Xuan left home to join the Luofu Divination Commission and later proposed a way to turn defeat in the war into victory, but the general refused and another person bore the cost.
• Fu Xuan told Jingxing that his arrival gave her and her senior sister another chance to prove that human free will could defy fate.

Jingxing and Fu Xuan traveled unseen from Yuque toward Fanghu, where Jingxing learned how differently Xianzhou natives viewed death and their battle against the Abominations of Abundance. When they encountered Wingweavers, Jingxing slaughtered them with his ink brush but collapsed from the strain, leaving Fu Xuan to warn him not to fight again.

• Jingxing and Fu Xuan watched Mingke Guards prepare to depart from Yuque, and Jingxing questioned why they seemed eager to join a battle predicted to end in defeat.
• Fu Xuan explained that Xianzhou natives preferred dying as warriors to eventually becoming Mara-Struck.
• Jingxing took control of their Starskiff on the third day of the journey while Fu Xuan focused on divination.
• Jingxing used the Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer to sever the Wingweavers' wings and erase the group.
• Jingxing collapsed with a nosebleed and impaired vision, and Fu Xuan urged him to avoid fighting so they could all return safely.

Jingxing continued intervening against the Denizens of Abundance despite the growing toll on his body, while Fu Xuan worried about how long he could keep going. After Jingxing saved a supply convoy, Fu Xuan used the Path of the Hunt to help him recover, and he promised to intervene only in critical moments.

• Jingxing repeatedly attacked Denizens of Abundance forces, spreading rumors among the Cloud Knights about a mysterious person and divine assistance.
• Jingxing noticed that the backlash from intervening was weakening but that his recovery was taking longer, while Fu Xuan urged him to rest.
• Jingxing overheard Fu Xuan asking Yaoguang how long he could keep going and saying that she and Yaoguang were the ones who owed him.
• Polka Kakamond appeared near Jingxing and threatened to attack him once he had fully integrated into the current point in time, but Jingxing struck her with Path Energy and made her vanish.
• Jingxing used Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer to save a supply convoy from a Borisin hunting pack, suffering severe bleeding, ringing ears, and impaired vision.
• Fu Xuan used the constraints of the Path of the Hunt to help Jingxing recover, and Jingxing promised to intervene again only in critical moments.

Jingxing and Fu Xuan explored Fanghu while awaiting the coming battle, and Fu Xuan explained how the Vidyadhara's Molting Rebirth worked. They entered the hidden realm where Fanghu's Vidyadhara underwent rebirth, leaving them on a beautiful beach.

• Jingxing and Fu Xuan arrived at Fanghu and received Yaoguang's message that the first frontline engagement was expected in seven days, while the Jidu Mirage had not yet fully activated.
• Fu Xuan explained that Fanghu's Pearlkeepers were all Vidyadhara and that Vidyadhara could not reproduce, while those killed in battle could not undergo Molting Rebirth.
• Jingxing asked to see where the Vidyadhara underwent Molting Rebirth, and Fu Xuan agreed to take him there.
• Jingxing and Fu Xuan entered the Molting Rebirth hall and crossed through a hidden spatial gateway into a beach realm.
• Jingxing admired the scenery and took a photo for future painting reference.

Jingxing and Fu Xuan visited the Vidyadhara’s egg-laying grounds and discussed how the Alliance would protect Fanghu while limiting Vidyadhara casualties. When the Jidu Mirage began activating, they prepared to intervene in the coming battle.

• Jingxing and Fu Xuan visited the Vidyadhara’s egg-laying grounds, where Fu Xuan explained how Vidyadhara returned there for Molting Rebirth.
• Jingxing and Fu Xuan reasoned that the Alliance would rely on Cloud Knights for the deadliest assaults because Vidyadhara could not replace their losses.
• Polka Kakamond told Jingxing that the Vidyadhara’s limited reproduction stemmed from the Aeon of Propagation and said Jingxing was among those influenced by an Aeon’s Path.
• Fu Xuan used her remembered war chronicle to identify the places the Abominations of Abundance would attack first and discussed when she and Jingxing should act.
• Fu Xuan received Yaoguang’s message that the Jidu Mirage had begun to activate, and she and Jingxing prepared to find the right moment to intervene.

Jingxing and Fu Xuan watched the battle at Green Conch Crossing, where the Xianzhou defenders faced the Denizens of Abundance. After struggling with the sight of the wounded, Jingxing used the energy of Beauty to heal them, and a Cloud Knight returned to the fight.

• While waiting at Green Conch Crossing, Jingxing wondered whether the Denizens of Abundance had strayed from their Path, and Fu Xuan explained that the Mara-Struck had appeared before The Plagues Author became The Plagues Author.
• The Pearl-Bearers and Cloud Knights assembled against the Borisin, Houyhnhnms, and Wingweavers across the river.
• When the fighting began, Jingxing watched the wounded being carried away and turned aside from the battlefield.
• Fu Xuan steadied Jingxing and suggested they return to the Starskiff, but Jingxing leaped to the battlefield's edge and used the energy of Beauty to ease the wounded soldiers' injuries and pain.
• A recovering Cloud Knight picked up his weapon and returned to the fight while Jingxing watched from the shadows.

At Green Conch Crossing, Fu Xuan stopped Jingxing from spending his strength on the Abominations of Abundance, then learned that the Jidu Mirage was approaching Fanghu. With one month until its descent, she planned to help Jingxing conserve and store power so he could confront it safely.

• Fu Xuan restrained Jingxing from joining the battle and used the river to drive the Denizens of Abundance away from Green Conch Crossing.
• Fu Xuan and Jingxing learned that the scattered Denizens of Abundance were gathering in northern Fanghu, signaling that the Jidu Mirage was becoming active.
• Jingxing and Fu Xuan saw a bloody mirage of Fanghu appear in the sky, and Fu Xuan explained that it would become real when the Jidu Mirage descended.
• Yaoguang's divination predicted the Jidu Mirage would arrive in one month, a result Fu Xuan independently confirmed.
• Fu Xuan told Jingxing they would stop traveling between battlefronts and that she would devise a way for him to store up his strength.

Fu Xuan devised a way for Jingxing to prepare Path Energy in advance by binding it into inksticks, then sent samples for testing. Half a month later, they joined a council debate about bringing the Cloud-Gazing Mirror to Fanghu as a fallback, which stalled over the Vidyadhara eggs’ safety.

• Fu Xuan explained that Jingxing could draw on Imaginary Energy and convert it into Path Energy, which she would bind into inksticks for use against the Jidu Mirage.
• Jingxing made inksticks with the Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer, and Fu Xuan adjusted the inkstone to reduce the pain he felt.
• Fu Xuan wrapped and labeled the inksticks, contacted Yaoguang, and arranged for the Luofu's Cloud Knights to test them against the Abominations of Abundance.
• Jingxing and Fu Xuan made more inksticks over the next two days, but Fu Xuan stopped him when his fingers went numb and took him around the area to rest.
• Fu Xuan and Jingxing attended the Fanghu council, where generals questioned how to transport and operate the Cloud-Gazing Mirror, and Huyuan Zun asked where the Vidyadhara eggs could go if Fanghu had to use it.

Fu Xuan and Jingxing learned that the Cloud-Gazing Mirror could call down the Reignbow Arbiter’s devastating arrow, and the marshal ordered it brought to Fanghu but sealed unless jointly authorized. Fu Xuan told Jingxing she would use the mirror if necessary, concealing her belief that the Arbiter could see her, while he returned to the starskiff unaware of her true reason.

• Yaoguang foretold that an old acquaintance could help the Vidyadhara, but said Fanghu first had to withstand the Abominations of Abundance, and the marshal ordered the Cloud-Gazing Mirror sealed at Zhenhai Platform.
• Fu Xuan explained to Jingxing that the mirror could summon the Reignbow Arbiter, whose arrow could destroy friend and foe alike, and they discussed preparing to fight the Jidu Mirage.
• Fu Xuan told Jingxing she would use the Cloud-Gazing Mirror if necessary, claiming the Reignbow Arbiter could not see her because she was anchored to him.
• Fu Xuan privately believed the Arbiter could see her and concealed that truth so she could use the mirror to save her master.
• Jingxing returned to the starskiff before daybreak while Fu Xuan stayed outside, maintaining the inkstone that produced energy blocks.