Chapter Summaries

Hua Xiezhi questioned an Alliance Supreme and learned that the magical artifact had gone to the Resistors and was likely still in the Black Zone. With Qu Jianlei and Old Lady Jia overseeing the exchange, she traded explanations of the Divine Script System for information about the Alliance’s cultivation, leaving the team in its first substantial discussion with an outside cultivation system.

• Hua Xiezhi prepared to kill the Alliance Supreme, but Qu Jianlei told her to explain spiritual energy because the captive could not transmit information.
• Hua Xiezhi explained that spiritual energy came from the Divine Script System and demonstrated it, while the Supreme asked about divine sense, tribulation lightning, and Ran Bingluan.
• The Alliance Supreme revealed that the magical artifact had been handed to a Resistors Supreme after the two groups argued over who owned it.
• Hua Xiezhi learned that the artifact should still be in the Black Zone, but the Supreme could not identify its current holder or reveal other spies in the military.
• Old Lady Jia caught the Supreme lying about his knowledge of formations, and he agreed to discuss the Alliance’s cultivation and magical artifacts in exchange for more information about divine sense.

Hua Xiezhi revealed that Digital Phantom and her group were the same, then killed the Alliance Above Supreme. Qu Jianlei watched Abyss’s starship surrender before intervening against its pursuers, and his Company-level Warship crippled the Battalion-Class Ship with a sequence of precise attacks.

• Hua Xiezhi told the Alliance Above Supreme that Digital Phantom was her group, then pulled the Broken Blade from his chest and killed him.
• Big Head Butterfly warned Qu Jianlei that a Battalion-Class Ship was pursuing Abyss’s starship alongside a Company-level Warship, and Qu Jianlei chose to wait.
• Abyss’s starship fought the pursuers, was crippled, and surrendered as Qu Jianlei’s cloaked Company-level Warship arrived and was detected.
• Qu Jianlei ordered his warship to attack the Battalion-Class Ship while making the assault look accidental.
• Qu Jianlei’s Company-level Warship struck the Battalion-Class Ship’s transmission and power systems with a series of precise shots, crippling it and astonishing Abyss’s crew.

Qu Jianlei destroyed the company-level warship after its crew failed to surrender, then accepted the battalion-class ship’s surrender while taking its crew aboard. Two Supremes suddenly revealed that the surrender was a ruse to seize his starship, and Qu Jianlei’s side prepared to meet their Boarding Action.

• Qu Jianlei refused to let Alliance personnel ransom themselves and gave the company-level warship five seconds to surrender.
• When the company-level warship failed to surrender, Xiao Hu destroyed it, and escape craft and Space Mechs fled the wreckage.
• Qu Jianlei gave the battalion-class ship five minutes to discuss surrender while capturing escapees, then accepted its promise to disarm and protect his crew.
• As the battalion-class ship’s crew boarded, Hua Xiezhi placed restrictions on prisoners until two Supremes erupted from the Cargo Hold and announced they were requisitioning the starship.
• Qu Jianlei revealed that Xiao Hu had overheard the plan: the battalion-class ship’s crew had judged his side weak in close combat and intended to seize the starship through a Boarding Action.

Qu Jianlei’s group thwarted the Alliance and Resistance forces’ attempt to seize their ship, then captured survivors and learned where the Scissors Magical Artifact was hidden. After recovering supplies and a lost Divine Script sword, they headed toward the Secret Camp containing the artifact.

• Two Supremes disguised as low-level Awakened Ones attacked after their side surrendered, but Hua Xiezhi resisted one and a petite Fire Attribute Supreme cut down the other before Nutrient Solution and Qu Jianlei subdued the remaining intruders.
• The Company-level Warship opened fire, and Qu Jianlei’s group captured two more Supremes; one Resistance Supreme offered the Magical Artifact’s location in exchange for treatment.
• Qu Jianlei’s group returned Abyss’s captured members, took supplies and two A-rank survivors, and sold Abyss a Small Ship to tow its damaged starship.
• The Resistance Supreme revealed that the Magical Artifact was hidden at the Stealth Array where Hua Xiezhi had planned to lie in wait, so the group set course for it.
• Bentley and the other two retrieved supplies and Teleportation Array Discs from their Secret Camps, where they also found the Divine Script sword lost by the Bentley Family.
• Qu Jianlei’s group towed the battered Battalion-Class Ship through the Black Zone with their recovered haul, expecting to claim the Scissors Magical Artifact.

Qu Jianlei's group recovered Mu Guang's Magical Artifact, then fought off pursuers while escaping the Black Zone. As they reached a waiting starship, the pursuers realized it was Digital Phantom's Core Ship.

• Qu Jianlei repaired the Battalion-Class Ship's power system, and it fired on an Armed Merchant Ship that kept pursuing them until a cloaked Company-level Warship helped drive off the four ships.
• A day and a half later, the group reached the small celestial body, retrieved their supplies, and Mu Guang recovered the Scissors Magical Artifact from a safe.
• Mu Guang thanked the group and said he would focus on researching Magical Artifacts, while the others found the scissors strongly rejected the Awakened One System's Inner Breath.
• Qu Jianlei's group left the Black Zone with seven or eight starships pursuing them, but crippled or destroyed two Small Ships that tried to intercept them.
• The pursuers followed the Company-level Warship toward a waiting starship and realized it was Digital Phantom's Core Ship.

1314 Ship drove off a nosy starship and later damaged a military Patrol Ship while escorting the Company-level Warship, confirming that the Digital Phantom Team had taken the Bentley Family’s artifact. Qu Jianlei’s team considered taking their damaged Battalion-Class Ship to the Core Circle for repairs and selling their prisoners, then returned near Blessing Star so Mu Guang could look for a safe route.

• 1314 Ship damaged an approaching starship that claimed it was gathering information for the military, then let it flee after warning it off.
• Digital Phantom’s three starships snipped a stabilizer fin off a military Patrol Ship and departed, confirming that the team had acquired the Bentley Family’s artifact.
• Duo Gan decided that his group could leave the Black Zone after meeting Digital Phantom twice and gaining some goodwill.
• Qu Jianlei’s team discussed repairing the Battalion-Class Ship on Flying Star and entering the Core Circle through a safe route, while Qinghu warned about strict inspections.
• Mu Guang admitted he knew little about the Core Circle, so he, Nutrient Solution, and Old Lady Jia teleported down to a planet near Blessing Star while Qu Jianlei circled with the starships.

Qu Jianlei’s group reached the Core Circle and stored their damaged Battalion-Class Ship and Company-level Warship in an Extraterrestrial Warehouse inside the Tianluo Nebula. With the warehouse rental countdown running, Mu Guang planned to find acquaintances who could help them reach Pan Rock Star quickly.

• After Nutrient Solution, Mu Guang, and Zi Jiuxian returned with a safe jump route and a warehouse, Mu Guang said he had paid two hundred million for three months’ rental and the route information.
• Qu Jianlei stored the Company-level Warship in his Item-Storing Ring, and the 1314 Ship carried the Battalion-Class Ship through patrols and a jump into the Core Circle.
• Qu Jianlei guided the 1314 Ship through the Tianluo Nebula toward the warehouse, where private security verified Mu Guang’s storage card and escorted them to the facility.
• Qu Jianlei placed both ships inside the warehouse, and Mu Guang warned that their rental countdown had begun and said they needed to reach Pan Rock Star soon.
• Mu Guang said the journey to Pan Rock Star via official routes would take too long, so he planned to seek help from his acquaintances in the nebula.

Qinghu asked about life-sciences research contacts, and Qu Jianlei’s group went to a Fortress Hotel to seek information. After Mu Guang negotiated for an overview of the region, city guards began random inspections and demanded Zi Jiuxian show her identification.

• Qinghu asked whether any local forces were involved in life-sciences research, and the group flew deeper into the nebula.
• Old Lady Jia spotted a Fortress Hotel, where Qu Jianlei’s group marveled at its antigravity system and chose a lively hall to gather information.
• A middle-aged Rank B woman approached Mu Guang, who negotiated a steep discount on high-level information and warned he could seek help from the Cleaners instead.
• Four city guards entered and began a temporary inspection after a Rank A customer argued with their Rank B leader.
• A city guard reached Qu Jianlei’s table, pointed at Zi Jiuxian, and demanded her identification.

Qu Jianlei and his team gathered intelligence in the Core Circle and selected Bacon Company as their target for reaching Pan Rock Star. Half a month later, Young Master reunited with Qu Jianlei and hinted that trouble had struck his family.

• Zi Jiuxian passed a Core Circle spot check after First One subtly influenced the city guard to accept her identity card without verification.
• Mu Guang commissioned intelligence from a broker, and Qu Jianlei verified the information before paying the remaining fee.
• Qinghu and the others chose Bacon Company as their target after Old Lady Jia recognized its leader as the grandson of a former schoolmate she had helped.
• Old Lady Jia and Nutrient Solution traveled to Pan Rock Star to contact Bacon's leader, who acknowledged his debt to Old Lady Jia.
• Young Master reunited with Qu Jianlei and said that trouble had happened at home before praising Qu Jianlei's role in capturing a Battalion-Class Ship and seizing the artifact.

Qu Jianlei and Young Master arranged to trade the damaged Battalion-Class Ship for a brand-new, fully armed ship, while planning to disguise the 1314 Ship. After moving to the Extraterrestrial Warehouse and setting out with Young Master's group, Qu Jianlei left Young Master wondering what would happen to the captives.

• Young Master proposed that a friend trade Qu Jianlei a brand-new Battalion-Class Ship for the damaged one, and Qu Jianlei agreed on the condition that it came fully equipped and its production records were erased.
• Qu Jianlei asked Young Master's company to alter the 1314 Ship's exterior, and they agreed to meet at the Extraterrestrial Warehouse before traveling to Pan Rock Star.
• Young Master contacted his friend, who promised to arrive at the warehouse within six days, and the group left the Fortress Hotel in separate starships.
• At the Extraterrestrial Warehouse, Qu Jianlei released the captives, stored the 1314 Ship, and escorted the captives aboard Young Master's starship.
• Qu Jianlei's group departed with Young Master's starship while the Company-level Warship vanished into space, and Young Master later asked what Qu Jianlei intended to do with the captives.

Qu Jianlei negotiated with Shui Xisheng over the prisoners, then traveled with his group to Pan Rock Star and arranged for their starship to be disguised. With the modification finished and the deadline for Shui Xisheng’s offer nearly up, Qu Jianlei worried that Lao Ben and the others had not returned.

• Qu Jianlei offered the prisoners to Shui Xisheng, who hoped to acquire them but needed to consider what his family could offer beyond money.
• Shui Xisheng’s friend inspected and took the damaged Battalion-Class Ship, while Qu Jianlei declined to meet him and kept the prisoner deal separate.
• Qu Jianlei and his companions traveled to Pan Rock Star, where Shui Xisheng’s vehicles took them through an inspection-exempt passage; Qu Jianlei gave him ten days to submit his conditions.
• Qu Jianlei’s group obtained fake identification documents and arranged for Shui Xisheng to have their starship modified by rotating crews at a repair plant.
• After Mu Guang and Qinghu returned from burying the Teleportation Array Disc, Qu Jianlei noted that only half a day remained before the deadline and asked where Lao Ben and the others were.

Qu Jianlei met Young Master to discuss a prisoner exchange and heard his offers of Magical Artifacts, Divine Script knowledge, and scarce supplies. After uncovering Young Master’s attempt to steer them toward a target, Qu Jianlei examined the Klen Family’s Life-Chasing Bow and judged it poorly suited to their spiritual-energy abilities.

• Bentley and Hua Xiezhi piloted the warship toward Pan Rock Star while Qu Jianlei waited for word from them and prepared to leave without using Young Master’s help.
• Young Master secretly traveled to Qu Jianlei’s residence and explained how Shui Corporation’s logistics center had detected the group.
• Young Master presented lists of Magical Artifacts, Divine Script knowledge, and scarce supplies, but Qu Jianlei insisted that they acquire artifacts through legitimate means.
• Mu Guang called out Young Master for hiding a plan to use them against someone, and Young Master admitted he could help them pursue the Klen Family’s Bow.
• Qu Jianlei and the others identified the bow as the Life-Chasing Bow, then concluded that its low energy requirements made it a poor fit for their abilities.

Qu Jianlei’s team negotiated with the Young Master over supplies, prisoners, and a possible artifact purchase, while Qu Jianlei realized that revealing Digital Phantom could wield artifacts might raise future prices. After the Young Master agreed to provoke the Dyson Consortium within three days, news arrived that several senior Shui Corporation executives had been attacked.

• The Klen Family demanded nine hundred billion and a decisive strike against a Supreme for the Life-Chasing Bow, so Qu Jianlei concluded they had no intention of selling it.
• The Young Master suggested a milky-white bottle held by Hook Supreme, but Nutrient Solution pointed out that the team would not intervene without a personal grudge.
• Qu Jianlei realized his earlier use of the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors had revealed Digital Phantom’s ability to wield artifacts and might inflate artifact prices.
• Qu Jianlei settled on supplies costing about 2.8 billion, while Mu Guang demanded eighty billion for four Supremes and two hundred million for the other prisoners.
• The Young Master proposed provoking the Dyson Consortium, agreed to pursue the goal within three days, and left; Qu Jianlei warned that he might use another approach.
• Explosive news arrived the next morning that several senior Shui Corporation executives had been attacked the previous night.

Shui Xisheng used two women’s suicides to intensify the conflict between the Shui Corporation and Dyson, while Qu Jianlei’s group prepared to target Hook Supreme. The chapter left them planning to follow Hook to Pillar Star, where he would attend a heavily secured Wealth Forum.

• Shui Xisheng arranged for two women to die outside the Dyson office, leaving accusations that Dyson had coerced them into becoming informants.
• Shui Xisheng revealed to Qu Jianlei that one woman was a Shui Corporation informant and the other was not from the corporation, making the deaths a scheme to inflame the dispute with Dyson.
• Mu Guang told Young Master to locate Hook Supreme quickly and keep public pressure on Dyson while the group prepared to act.
• Bentley and Hua Xiezhi returned to Pan Rock Star, and Qu Jianlei released the modified 1314 Ship after storing the Company-level Warship.
• Young Master reported that Hook was preparing to attend a Wealth Forum on Pillar Star, and Qu Jianlei decided they would go and asked for Hook’s itinerary.

Qu Jianlei and his companions tracked Hook through the Wealth Forum on Pillar Star, then pursued his fleet into space to steal his artifact. Their Company-level Warship caught up and attacked, but Hook’s ship and its escorts proved formidable.

• Young Master decided to go to Pillar Star and seek an explanation from Dyson’s upper management, while Qu Jianlei’s group obtained the forum’s public schedule and set out without him.
• After arriving late, Qu Jianlei and Old Lady Jia used observer passes to enter the forum and attached a faint strand of divine sense to Hook to track him.
• When Hook prepared to leave Pillar Star after the formal forum, Qu Jianlei’s group chose to wait until he was in space before attacking.
• Qu Jianlei’s group transferred from the 1314 Ship to the Company-level Warship, caught up with Hook’s fleet, and opened fire after the fleet identified itself as belonging to the Fierce Wind Foundation.
• Hook’s ship fled with one escort as the Company-level Warship bypassed the other escort and continued its pursuit.

Qu Jianlei and Xiao Hu crippled Hook Supreme's ships and forced the Dyson Consortium leader to surrender. Hook and his companions were taken aboard the Company-level Warship, where Mu Guang allowed the other two starships to leave.

• The Company-level Warship used a collision to accelerate, then Xiao Hu's digital attack disabled the escorting merchant ship's systems.
• Avril identified herself and asked whether the attackers were Digital Phantom, but Qu Jianlei cut off communications and ordered an attack on the ships ahead.
• Hook Supreme chose to fight alongside his remaining escort, but Xiao Hu crippled the four Small Attack Ships and disabled Hook's personal ship.
• Hook ordered Guard Two to escape, then surrendered and arranged for his Above Supreme companions to board the Company-level Warship.
• Qu Jianlei, Mu Guang, and Hua Xiezhi restrained Hook's group of more than eighty people, and Mu Guang told Hook to let the other two ships leave.

Hook agreed to leave Dyson with his people, and Qu Jianlei’s group took him to a hidden site to demand his personal magic-artifact bottle. Hook surrendered it in exchange for being spared, then revealed Shui Corporation’s secret ties to the Poseidon Marquis family and its negotiations to rejoin the main branch.

• Hook agreed to bring his core descendants along, and Qu Jianlei’s group traveled with him and the captured company-level warship into an unmonitored gaseous Star Cluster.
• Qu Jianlei and Mu Guang demanded Hook’s magic-artifact bottle, and Hook suspected Shui Corporation had revealed its existence.
• Hook handed over the bottle after Mu Guang promised they wanted the artifact rather than his life, and Hook accused Shui Corporation of provoking the conflict.
• Hook revealed that Shui Corporation had split from the Poseidon Marquis family and that Shui Xisheng’s father had been negotiating a return to the main branch.

After Hook revealed that the Poseidon household possessed a magical artifact, Qu Jianlei’s group secured the bottle artifact, released Hook and his crew, and tested the bottle’s chilling wind. They arrived on Pan Rock Star, where Mu Guang negotiated a forty-billion payment from Young Master for their protection, while making clear they knew about the Poseidon family’s bead artifact.

• Angry that Shui Corporation had ended negotiations, Poseidon Marquis enlisted Hook to pressure the company, and Hook later told Mu Guang that the Poseidon household possessed a bead artifact.
• Cole returned with the bottle artifact and another Armed Merchant Ship, and Qu Jianlei verified the bottle before releasing Hook and his crew.
• Hook admitted defeat as his fleet departed, while Avril asked whether the matter was truly over and Hook wondered where Qu Jianlei’s group had come from.
• Qu Jianlei’s group tested the bottle on a celestial body, where it expanded and released a breeze cold enough to rival Old Lady Jia’s Ice Seal.
• After arriving on Pan Rock Star, Qu Jianlei had Young Master negotiate the captives’ price with Mu Guang, who demanded forty billion for the captives and protection from Dyson.
• Mu Guang told Young Master they knew about the Poseidon family’s bead artifact and asked whether forty billion was too much to pay.

The Young Master struggled to gather the forty billion silver notes owed to Qu Jianlei, and the team left with part of the payment still outstanding. After Fourth Boss successfully broke through to Supreme, Qu Jianlei returned to find Celestial Hook Star under increased scrutiny and warned that the Empire was growing increasingly unstable.

• The Young Master managed to obtain thirty-two billion silver notes, so Qu Jianlei agreed to accept the remaining 5.2 billion later with the Battalion-Class Ship.
• Qu Jianlei's group returned to Celestial Hook Star, where Paranoid reported that investigators had again looked into Ran Bingluan.
• Qu Jianlei crafted B-rank Gold Spear Art and Fireball Art talismans, then began preparing Octopus Skin for more advanced talisman paper.
• Fourth Boss asked to break through to Supreme, and Qu Jianlei took Nutrient Solution and Mu Guang with him to guard the attempt in space.
• After nearly a year away, Qu Jianlei returned with Fourth Boss, who had successfully become a Supreme.
• Qu Jianlei discovered that Checkpoints had increased around the residence and learned that investigators had repeatedly nearly forced their way inside.

As unrest spread through the Hope Star Region, Qu Jianlei’s group learned that Hope Fourth Star had fallen and considered how to protect themselves. Fourth Boss led a team toward the region to check on his friend, while Qu Jianlei prepared to travel to Pan Rock Star and learned that Sural’s family was selling off its assets.

• Qu Jianlei practiced making Above Supreme-level talismans, checked Qinghu’s Spirit Grain progress, and examined Bentley’s promising energy-conducting ores.
• Fourth Boss reported that Hope Fourth Star had lost communications and the other Habitable Stars were under strict control; the group later confirmed Fourth Star had fallen and nearby stars were under military control.
• Paranoid explained that Garbage Star had been settled by people who fled the Empire’s unification, revealing the planet’s history to Qu Jianlei and the others.
• Nutrient Solution planned to find two additional residences and arranged to collect the remaining payment and Battalion-Class Ship from Shui Corporation before traveling with Qu Jianlei to Pan Rock Star.
• Fourth Boss, Bentley, Hua Xiezhi, You You, and Xiao Moshan left for the Hope Star Region aboard the Unlucky Starship to search for Fourth Boss’s friend and check on people they knew.
• Nutrient Solution reported that Sural’s family was selling its Tanwang Star properties, and Qu Jianlei considered asking whether Sural would sell his magical artifact.