Chapter Summaries

After spending time with Robin in Thousand Stars City, Jingxing left to travel the cosmos while she released a successful album. Months later, Herta summoned him to the space station to take part in the Metaverse, a collaborative project that used materials scraped from him.

• Robin pulled Jingxing into her room, and they spent the night together without going all the way.
• Robin and Jingxing spent the next few days sharing music and paintings, then agreed she would be told when he left Thousand Stars City.
• Jingxing departed aboard Chasing the Moon, and Robin watched from the port as he promised to stay in touch.
• Over the following months, Robin released Hope Is the Thing With Feathers, while Jingxing traveled, painted, and sent her a painting of Lushaka's sea.
• A Herta Puppet told Jingxing that the Metaverse had made a breakthrough using materials scraped from him and invited him to be one of its first guests.
• Jingxing agreed to go to Herta Space Station immediately.

Jingxing arrived at the Herta Space Station during an Antimatter Legion attack and discovered Kafka and Silver Wolf implanting a Stellaron into a gray-haired girl. After rescuing trapped station personnel, he returned to find the Stellaron Hunters and the girl gone, but detected where she had gone.

• Jingxing docked the Chasing the Moon at the damaged Herta Space Station and defeated the Voidrangers, Trampler, and Blaze Out of Space attacking the berth.
• Jingxing spotted Kafka and Silver Wolf heading toward the containment section and followed them unseen.
• Jingxing watched Kafka implant a Stellaron into a sleeping gray-haired girl while Silver Wolf worked at a holographic panel.
• Jingxing left the observation room to rescue station staff and visitors trapped by a collapsed support and attacking Voidrangers.
• Jingxing returned to find the observation room empty, then searched with Imaginary Energy and found the gray-haired girl's location.

Jingxing held back from attacking the Antimatter Legion after receiving a message from Elio, then watched the gray-haired Stellaron spirit destroy the Doomsday Beast’s blast. He joined Herta and met March 7th and Dan Heng, who asked what a P47 was.

• Jingxing received a message from Elio asking him to spare the Antimatter Legion, so he withdrew his attack and watched the fight.
• The gray-haired Stellaron spirit awakened a surge of power and smashed apart the Doomsday Beast’s imaginary energy attack with her bat.
• Jingxing received Elio’s permission to act, then erased the Antimatter Legion forces after deciding he wanted to paint the scene.
• Herta appeared and introduced Jingxing to March 7th, Dan Heng, and the middle-aged man after they checked the unconscious Stellaron spirit for injuries.
• March 7th introduced herself and Dan Heng, then quietly asked what Jingxing’s P47 designation meant.

Jingxing met the Astral Express crew after helping stop the crisis at Herta Space Station, and recognized a connection between Himeko and the Dual-Phase Paradise. He exchanged contact information with the crew and left Stelle wondering whether he had known her before.

• Welt introduced himself and Himeko to Jingxing, who recognized Himeko’s faint connection to the Dual-Phase Paradise and told her that her father missed her and her mother.
• The recovered grey-haired girl introduced herself as Stelle, and Jingxing greeted her as if they had met before.
• The Herta Puppet showed the group the Metaverse, which Stelle suggested renaming the Simulated Universe, and explained that Jingxing’s Image of Ten Thousand Jun formed its protective shell.
• Jingxing offered the Astral Express crew his contact information, saying they could call on him for help with the Xianzhou or the Corporation.
• Stelle asked whether Jingxing had known her before, and he replied that people where she came from had cherished her.
• Himeko arranged to talk with Jingxing about the Dual-Phase Paradise another time, then led the crew away with Stelle.

Stelle chose to leave with the Astral Express, and Jingxing gave her a sketch before the train departed. Herta then brought Jingxing to the Simulated Universe’s central machine room, where he agreed to enter the Image of Ten Thousand Jun and draw out the Simulated Aeons.

• Stelle decided to travel with the Astral Express, and Dan Heng gave her a spare terminal.
• Jingxing sketched Stelle with her bat and gave her the draft before she boarded the Astral Express.
• After the train departed, Herta took Jingxing to the central machine room and showed him the nebula contained by the shell he had once sold her.
• Jingxing met Ruan Mei, who discussed studying the remains of the King Bug he had destroyed.
• Screwllum explained that Jingxing’s aura made him the best candidate to enter the Image of Ten Thousand Jun and draw out the Simulated Aeons.
• Jingxing accepted an emergency beacon from Screwllum and entered the Simulated Universe.

Jingxing was ejected from the Simulated Universe after Aha recognized him, and Herta decided to revise the system before he tried again. After Xuzhao warned him away from the Xianzhou Luofu, Jingxing boarded the Chasing the Moon to check on Fu Xuan.

• Jingxing entered the Simulated Universe and encountered Aha, who recognized him and expelled him after forty-seven seconds.
• Jingxing told Herta, Ruan Mei, and Screwllum what had happened, and Herta concluded that Aha was watching the Simulated Universe.
• Jingxing left the machine room after Herta said fixing the system could take months.
• Xuzhao warned Jingxing not to interfere with the geniuses' plans and told him to stay away from the Xianzhou Luofu.
• Jingxing ignored Xuzhao's warning and boarded the Chasing the Moon to look after Fu Xuan.

Jingxing’s ship was forced to land on Yaxche, where he learned that Vaksya required him to enroll and pass an examination before he could leave. After Xuzhao explained that Vaksya was a powerful branch of the Imaginary Tree, she refused to help him escape, leaving him trapped at the academy.

• An invisible force pulled Jingxing’s ship down onto a white-sand wasteland and disabled its systems, while using Imaginary Energy caused him painful backlash.
• White-robed officials told Jingxing that Vaksya had registered him and that he had to earn credits and pass its final examination to leave Yaxche.
• Jingxing reached the academy, learned that art earned no credits, and was assigned a dorm room with textbooks and free supplies.
• Jingxing worried that he would miss his ten-day return to the Luofu and make someone worry about him.
• Xuzhao appeared in Jingxing’s vision, explained that Vaksya was a core of Yaxche and a branch of the Imaginary Tree, and refused to help him escape.

Jingxing learned from Fansuos that no visitor from beyond the stars had ever passed the academy’s escalating exams, but he refused to give up. After sensing a vast presence in the forest, he found a path to the true form of the giant tree.

• Jingxing answered a priest’s question about topological equivalence with a metaphor, then was told to copy a lemma five times.
• Jingxing discovered a graveyard of visitors from beyond the stars and met Fansuos, who explained that none had passed the academy’s exams.
• Fansuos told Jingxing that exam questions grew harder as students learned more and that locals faced easier tests.
• Jingxing entered a forest where space looped back on itself and used Imaginary Energy to probe its limits.
• A vast gaze swept over Jingxing, the fog receded, and he followed a newly revealed path to the giant tree’s true form.

Jingxing discovered the Imaginary Tree behind Yaxche’s endless exams and rejected the academy’s demands to study only formulas. After clerics challenged him to defend his drawings, he appeared before the central lecture hall to explain art’s value in his own way.

• Jingxing saw the Imaginary Tree and fled after it sent a soundless question into his mind.
• After four more days of exams, Jingxing decided the academy’s lessons and tests formed an endless loop and threw away his notes.
• Jingxing went to a rocky slope to draw the Imaginary Tree, but five clerics confronted him and threatened to confiscate his sketchbook.
• The tall cleric ordered Jingxing to defend his drawings in the central lecture hall or burn them and copy the academy rules.
• Jingxing finished his sketch without preparing by the clerics’ logic and told the examiners he had his own way to explain art’s value.

Jingxing defended the value of emotion before the academy’s judges by using the Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer to reveal the lives and memories of the dead. He argued that reason alone led to nihilism, while emotion gave people an anchor against meaninglessness.

• The chief examiner accused Jingxing of neglecting his studies and gave him three-quarters of an hour to defend whether unquantifiable emotion deserved to exist.
• Jingxing drew the Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer and painted a three-dimensional image of the lecture hall and the academy’s graveyard.
• Jingxing used the names on the gravestones to reveal scenes from the dead outsiders’ lives, including their ordinary joys, hopes, and relationships.
• The female examiner challenged the scenes as emotional illusion rather than proof, and the cleric dismissed empathy as a neurological response.
• Jingxing argued that pure reason led toward entropy, nihilism, and self-annihilation, while emotion gave material life a reason to resist.

Jingxing won a debate by arguing that art preserved civilization’s existence, then encountered a strand of the Imaginary Tree’s energy. Using it, he created a living leaf from nothing, leaving the witnesses and Yaxche’s chief examiner stunned.

• Jingxing argued that art and memory were irreplaceable defenses against Nihility, and the chief examiner declared him the winner.
• Jingxing gathered his painting into a sheet of black silk and left it on the stone table for the examiner to appreciate.
• After the hall emptied, the Imaginary Tree appeared above Jingxing and placed a fine line of energy in his palm.
• Jingxing drew on the energy and used Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer to create a living green leaf on the stone floor.
• Apprentices, the chief examiner, and the tall, thin priest witnessed the impossible creation as Jingxing joked that the Imaginary Tree found them boring.

Jingxing passed the Academy’s examination on Yaxche, settled the old cases there, and left as the 2158th Amber Era began. After reconnecting with the Astral Express crew and Robin, he told Fu Xuan he was heading to the Luofu.

• Jingxing passed the examination, then asked Kenneth Zaitian to resolve the old cases and recover the remains on the Back Hill.
• Kenneth and his officers arrived three days later, documented the cases, secured the inscriptions, and granted Old Fansuos a pension.
• Jingxing departed aboard the Chasing the Moon as Yaxche marked the beginning of the 2158th Amber Era.
• Jingxing learned that the Astral Express crew had reconnected Jarilo-VI to the interstellar network and congratulated them in a group chat.
• Jingxing reassured Robin that he was safe, then told Fu Xuan he would arrive at the Luofu soon.

Jingxing stayed with Fu Xuan on the Luofu while warning her that an unseen danger might be approaching, despite the Divination Commission finding no signs of trouble. Jing Yuan then asked Jingxing to broaden Yanqing’s understanding of the universe, and Yanqing arrived to meet him.

• Jingxing returned to the Luofu and stayed at Fu Xuan’s home, where he repeatedly asked whether the Divination Commission had noticed anything unusual.
• Fu Xuan investigated the Luofu’s arrivals, ley lines, and divination records but found no evidence of outside evil.
• Jingxing kept watch over the still, secure thread of cause and effect he had brought back from Yaxche’s World Tree.
• Jing Yuan invited Jingxing to the Seat of Divine Foresight and asked him to broaden Yanqing’s horizons without necessarily teaching him directly.
• Jing Yuan called Yanqing into the pavilion, where Yanqing greeted Jingxing and assessed his unarmed, relaxed appearance.

Jing Yuan sent Yanqing to spar with Jingxing, whose effortless deflection revealed a vast gap in their skill. After hearing that Jingxing had narrowly beaten Yunli, Yanqing asked him for instruction and renewed the attack with fierce determination.

• Jing Yuan introduced Jingxing to Yanqing and sent them to the West Martial Arts Arena to spar.
• Yanqing challenged Jingxing, who let him attack without drawing a weapon.
• Jingxing deflected Yanqing’s thrust with a subtle flick, sending him stumbling and leaving his arm numb.
• Jingxing said he had narrowly won against Yunli, stunning Yanqing with the scale of the difference between them.
• Yanqing asked Jingxing to instruct him and launched another attack with renewed resolve.

Jingxing sparred with Yanqing until the boy was exhausted and injured, then spoke with Jing Yuan about why he had come to the Luofu. He admitted that a powerful figure had warned him the Luofu would be dangerous, but he had come anyway.

• Jingxing dodged Yanqing's attacks without drawing a weapon, then disarmed him and ended their sparring session.
• Jing Yuan sent Yanqing to get his bleeding hands treated and postponed his patrol shift.
• Jingxing told Jing Yuan he had come because he missed Fu Qing, but Jing Yuan pointed out his inquiries into secret accounts and deployment records.
• Jing Yuan warned that Jingxing's connection to Fu Qing had drawn the Xianzhou leadership's attention and that the Divination Commission could be a vulnerable target.
• Jingxing revealed that a high-ranking being had warned him not to go to the Luofu because it would be dangerous, but he had come despite the warning.

Jing Yuan learned that the Stellaron Hunters had infiltrated the Luofu, while Jingxing went home to cook for Fu Xuan. After a report revealed that Blade had been captured in Cloudford, Jingxing accompanied Fu Xuan as she headed to oversee the escort.

• Jing Yuan received a report that the Stellaron Hunters had infiltrated the Luofu, and Jingxing left to cook for Fu Xuan.
• Jingxing made mushroom and bamboo shoot soup, and Fu Xuan told him her third-eye pain had recently eased.
• Jingxing admitted he had used Imaginary Energy to lessen Fu Xuan's pain, and she told him not to do it without asking next time.
• A message informed Fu Xuan that the Cloud Knights had captured Blade in Cloudford and that she had to oversee the escort formation.
• Jingxing insisted on accompanying Fu Xuan to Cloudford, where he sensed a sinister presence through the thread extending from Yaxche.

Jingxing went to Cloudford and helped March 7th, Stelle, and Welt fight Mara-struck attackers at the harbor. He told Stelle that Blade had been detained, then led her away as the thread in his palm grew more urgent near the Seat of Divine Foresight.

• Jingxing sensed trouble at Cloudford, left Fu Xuan, and headed for the harbor while she returned to the Seat of Divine Foresight.
• March 7th, Stelle, and Welt fought Mara-struck attackers at Cloudford's damaged pier, but the monsters repeatedly reassembled.
• Jingxing arrived and drained the death energy from the Mara-struck, leaving their bodies as ash.
• Jingxing told March 7th and Stelle that he was living on the Xianzhou and that Blade had been detained.
• Jingxing warned the group to leave before they were arrested, then led Stelle away as the thread in his palm pulsed urgently toward the Seat of Divine Foresight.

Phantylia’s plan to lure the Astral Express Crew was disrupted when Jingxing defeated the Mara-Struck Cloud Knights, so she disguised herself as Tingyun and approached the group. Jingxing saw through the disguise and secretly bound her with Imaginary Tree roots as she led them through Cloudford.

• Phantylia learned from a Mara-Struck Cloud Knight that Jingxing had stopped the attack on the Astral Express Crew, then decided to approach them as Tingyun.
• Tingyun met March 7th, Welt, Stelle, and Jingxing, and offered to guide them around the Cloudford blockade.
• Jingxing sensed unnatural Imaginary Energy and immense power beneath Tingyun’s disguise, but chose not to attack her in front of the others.
• Jingxing sent Imaginary Energy into the paving stones and formed a concealed ring of roots around the alley.
• As Tingyun led the group along a side path, Jingxing secretly tightened the roots around her shadow and ankles, preparing to test his new ability.

Fu Xuan struggled to divine what was happening at Cloudford while worrying about Jingxing. Meanwhile, Jingxing followed the suspicious “Tingyun” into an old warehouse, secretly preparing to trap her when she attacked.

• Fu Xuan received reports of attacks and mara-struck riots at Cloudford, then ordered a divination of the area beneath the old locust tree.
• Fu Xuan tried to read the tangled cause and effect at Cloudford and urged the guards to hurry, quietly hoping Jingxing would return safely.
• Jingxing deflected Tingyun’s questions about his abilities and whether he would defend the Luofu, while Stelle, March 7th, and Welt Yang whispered behind them.
• Tingyun warned the group that the alley ahead was unsafe and led them toward an old warehouse belonging to the Sky-Faring Commission.
• Jingxing entered the warehouse with a thread already wrapped around Tingyun’s shadow and prepared to trap the impostor if she attacked.

While sheltering in a warehouse amid the Mara-Struck crisis, Jingxing warned the Astral Express crew that Belobog would soon face an IPC debt claim from Topaz. He quietly raised a barrier around the warehouse as Tingyun’s suspicious calm drew his attention.

• Stelle, March 7th, and Welt recounted how the Astral Express crew helped reconnect Jarilo-VI and seal its Stellaron.
• Jingxing warned that Belobog’s seven-hundred-year-old IPC loan had accrued interest and that Topaz would arrive to collect it.
• Welt thanked Jingxing for the warning, and March 7th messaged Bronya, who said Belobog was reviewing its accounts and owed the crew a favor.
• Tingyun praised Jingxing’s knowledge, then claimed she was frightened after being separated from her colleagues.
• Jingxing silently wove Imaginary Energy through the warehouse to form a barrier while watching Tingyun.