Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei and Digital Phantom used the Energy Storm to capture enemy Patrol Ships, then continued deeper into Federation territory while Xiao Hu infiltrated the monitoring network. They left the storm behind and encountered a civilian starship near the Frontline.

• Four Above Supremes captured two Patrol Ships during the Energy Storm, and Xiao Moshan negotiated with the Rank B Warriors about continuing the mission.
• Qu Jianlei ordered the team to press deeper behind enemy lines, while the two Rank B Warriors split off to return with the captured ships and prisoners.
• Qu Jianlei and the Ruler argued over how much spiritual energy Sunset Glow had used to create the storm.
• As the storm weakened, Sunset Glow helped Xiao Hu obscure monitoring footage, and Xiao Hu spent three days infiltrating several primary control systems.
• The two Micro Ships left the storm’s aftereffects and raced deeper into Federation territory without releasing their Attack Ship.
• A civilian starship painted as belonging to a Matchmaking Company approached, and Nutrient Solution activated the Invisibility Cloak while she and the others joked about its purpose.

Qu Jianlei’s team infiltrated enemy space, switched ships, and followed a route chosen with Xiao Hu to avoid detection. After capturing a Federation cargo ship for its maps and travel documents, they sent it back toward the front and passed an inspection using its credentials.

• Sunset Glow guided the exhausted team to an Energy Mass that it distorted so they could hide and switch from two Micro Ships to a Small Attack Ship.
• Qu Jianlei and Xiao Hu selected an infiltration route, and the team traveled more than fifty million kilometers without incident apart from an out-of-control supply ship.
• Qu Jianlei ordered the team to seize the supply ship, and Bentley and Xiao Moshan dealt with its crew while the others took its supplies, star map, registration certificate, and travel permit.
• Qu Jianlei ordered the captured ship to turn back toward the front, then spent five hours repairing it despite the incompatibility between Imperial and Federation parts.
• The team encountered an inspection three hours into the return trip, but the inspectors checked the ship’s permit and identification tags and let them pass.

Qu Jianlei’s group reached Kode Star after seizing two ships and passing inspections in the Federation. With no usable money or local transport, Qu Jianlei and Nutrient Solution tried to pay for jewelry with gold, but the shop asked for documentation.

• Qu Jianlei’s group destroyed and captured an Armed Merchant Ship and its Small Ship, then interrogated the survivors and learned about the Federation’s regional Self-Defense Forces.
• The group continued to Kode Star, passed inspections by an Armed Merchant Ship and city guards, and landed after Qu Jianlei used Mental Influence.
• Xiao Hu erased the group’s traces from the supply ship, and Xingbang Freight discovered the ship’s disappearance five days later.
• Qu Jianlei’s group left the starport, split into five groups, and searched for a way to obtain usable Federation currency.
• Qu Jianlei and Nutrient Solution selected jewelry worth more than five hundred thousand Federal Currency, then pretended Qu Jianlei had lost his Wristwatch and asked whether the store accepted gold.
• The sales clerk said the store could accept gold but asked for documentation, and Nutrient Solution challenged the requirement.

Qu Jianlei’s team tried to fund their stay on Kode Star without drawing attention, but their gold sales attracted a tail. The team decided to pull one job before leaving the planet, and split into four nearby groups to prepare.

• Qu Jianlei and Nutrient Solution exchanged three gold bricks for Federal Currency, then the team bought supplies, rented vehicles, and camped in the woods.
• After learning about Kode Star’s Black Market, Qu Jianlei assigned Hua Xiezhi to sell jewelry while the team discussed staying discreet as they pursued money and a Supreme.
• Xiao Hu connected to the Federation’s network, and Qu Jianlei’s group spent several days gathering local information and buying materials.
• Xiao Moshan and Xiao Qin were followed after selling five kilograms of gold, though Xiao Moshan shook off the tail at a shopping mall.
• Qu Jianlei decided the team would pull one job before leaving Kode Star, and they split into four parties that stayed within a kilometer of one another.

After Xiao Moshan's group fled an attempted gold deal, Qu Jianlei's team retaliated by killing and robbing those responsible, then moved to Yongxing Star to establish a secret camp. As Claire neared advancement, Qu Jianlei prepared an operation and, learning that Federation military and Self-Defense Force leaders would gather with numerous Supremes, decided to strike the assembly.

• Xiao Moshan, Xiao Qin, Yuanyuan, and Duo Gan fled when four A-ranks arrived to seize their gold, and the attackers took their vehicle and camp supplies.
• Duo Gan tracked the A-ranks, and Xiao Hu traced their Supreme; Qu Jianlei's group killed six A-ranks and a Supreme and looted their homes and businesses.
• Qu Jianlei's team traveled to Yongxing Star with Sunset Glow's help, built a secret camp beneath the sea, and recovered their spiritual energy.
• Xiao Hu found a suitable residence for the team, and more than ten days later Claire told Qu Jianlei she was ready to advance.
• Qu Jianlei sent the lower-ranked members back to the starship and prepared the operation after learning that military and Self-Defense Force leaders would gather with at least ten Supremes.
• Qu Jianlei and the others agreed to attack the welcoming assembly and embarrass the Federation.

Qu Jianlei was detained after gathering information about a military VIP’s arrival, then escaped when a prison riot erupted. As he fled, he learned the VIP’s convoy was traveling nearby and heard that the unrest was a plan to lure enemies out.

• Qu Jianlei and Nutrient Solution gathered rumors at a bar, and Self-Defense Force personnel arrested Qu Jianlei while Nutrient Solution escaped.
• Qu Jianlei was held in a city guard prison, where an A-rank prisoner secretly removed his restriction.
• Old Lady Jia created a light drizzle, then the prison lost power and chaos broke out amid gunfire and a false warning about nerve gas.
• Qu Jianlei fled the prison using Instant Flashes after Nutrient Solution told him the military headquarters’ starship had landed.
• A military convoy traveled toward the city as officials described the unrest as a plan to lure the snake from its hole, and an explosion erupted ahead.

Qu Jianlei’s team attacked the convoy after another force ambushed it, and the convoy’s defenders revealed an unexpected Above Supreme. The chapter ended as Qu Jianlei’s mental attack met the enemy’s powerful resistance and the enemy cast Imperial Decree: Ice Seal.

• Qu Jianlei ordered his team to follow their original plan and prepare the Battle Formation rather than wait for the attackers and convoy to weaken each other.
• The convoy’s defenders formed arrays and attacked the artillery position, but a Battle Formation unleashed an Above Supreme-level Meteor Fire Rain that pierced their shields.
• An aura from inside the convoy revealed an Above Supreme, surprising Qu Jianlei’s team and prompting Qu Jianlei to order a hard attack instead of attempting a live capture.
• Qu Jianlei launched a Mental Attack at the Above Supreme, but the enemy’s Mental Strength overwhelmed his expectations and the enemy cast Imperial Decree: Ice Seal.

Qu Jianlei’s team used Ice Seal, Fire Element enhancement, and Jia Shuiqing’s Dispel to counter an enemy Above Supreme, then Nutrient Solution rang the Soul Suppressing Bell and disrupted both enemy forces and the nearby attackers. As a second bell toll sounded, the battle remained an indiscriminate assault on everyone within range.

• Nutrient Solution strengthened the Fire Element, while an enemy Above Supreme ordered his Supremes to counterattack.
• Qu Jianlei signaled Jia Shuiqing, who used Dispel to break the enemy’s control over the Water Element and revealed another Above Supreme on their side.
• Nutrient Solution summoned the Soul Suppressing Bell, and its first toll disrupted the enemy’s mental strength, spells, and Three Powers Array.
• The bell’s attack also affected the nearby sneak-attack group, which realized Meteor Fire Rain had enveloped them too.
• The Soul Suppressing Bell rang a second time as everyone watched in shock.

Duo Gan and her teammates overwhelmed a Federation convoy, killed its Above Supreme, and escaped with captives and his corpse. Qu Jianlei planned to study the corpse because the Above Supreme’s unusually fast Ice Seal suggested it held a secret.

• Duo Gan maintained Meteor Fire Rain while Paranoid, Bentley, and Qu Jianlei attacked the disabled Above Supreme and killed him.
• Mu Guang looted the Above Supreme’s body as Old Lady Jia and Nutrient Solution helped the team slaughter the convoy; Big Head Butterfly erased the vehicle footage.
• Qu Jianlei called for prisoners, and the team vanished in the White Mist; the arriving warships found seven of eleven Supremes dead and four missing, including the Above Supreme’s corpse.
• Mu Guang questioned Qu Jianlei about bringing back the corpse, and Qu Jianlei said he wanted to study its secrets, especially its unusually fast Ice Seal.

Qu Jianlei and his team interrogated prisoners after capturing an Above Supreme who had mentioned an Imperial Decree, but their answers did not explain the strange power he had wielded. Examining the corpse, Qu Jianlei and the Ruler discovered signs of outside consciousness and suspected the man had been granted an investiture through the Incense Divinity Path.

• Qu Jianlei ordered the prisoners released and questioned them about the Above Supreme and the attack.
• A confidential staff officer said the deceased Above Supreme had once served in the military before being demoted to the Self-Defense Force, while an attacker revealed that Separatists had targeted him to record his actions.
• The Big Head Butterfly admitted it had erased the nearby instruments' data, so Qu Jianlei decided to analyze the corpse.
• Qu Jianlei and the Ruler found that the Above Supreme's fontanelle was abnormally set inward despite his strength.
• Qu Jianlei and the Ruler concluded that the man may have received outside consciousness through an investiture and identified the possibility as the Incense Divinity Path.

Qu Jianlei’s team learned that the Imperial Decree belonged to the Incense Divinity Path and considered the powerful force behind it while deciding where to recover and prepare. They traveled to the Valencia Star Region, found little evidence of strong religious influence there, and settled on an abandoned Mineral Star to mine its tailings.

• Qu Jianlei explained the Incense Divinity Path to the team, and the group discussed who might stand behind an Above Supreme.
• Bentley suggested capturing the Separatist Supreme, while Qinghu revealed that she had left a strand of spiritual sense on him; Qu Jianlei told her to choose whether to sever it.
• The team debated whether Claire should advance in the Federation or return to the Empire, and Qu Jianlei supported Old Lady Jia’s argument to stay in the Federation and recuperate.
• After two days of travel, Qu Jianlei’s team arrived in the Valencia Star Region and learned from captives that neither Valencia nor Jinyang had prominent religious sects.
• The team changed starships, leased more than a thousand square kilometers of tailings on an abandoned Mineral Star, and Qu Jianlei sent robots to begin mining.

After a year on the Mineral Star, Qu Jianlei's team trained, returned to the Federation, and began looking for a chance to break through the blockade. Their opportunity emerged when a retired Self-Defense Force veteran's wife was assaulted, leaving the team poised to act.

• Claire advanced to A-rank, and Tian Yin followed, breaking through from B-rank to A-rank.
• Qu Jianlei's team left the Mineral Star, trained their new techniques on an uninhabited planet, and decided to make a bold move in the Federation rather than sneak back into the Empire.
• Sunset Glow teleported the team to Teres, where they spent several days sightseeing and then watched the military's movements for an opportunity to seize a warship.
• When Teres's military remained inactive, Qu Jianlei agreed to wait five more days before making a move, but a chance arose on the third day.
• A bar owner's lover, a high-ranking military officer, had the retired veteran's wife assaulted; the veteran had previously served in combat and struggled with postwar psychological syndrome.

Qu Jianlei’s team fueled the conflict between the Federation military and the Self-Defense Force with attacks that escalated into open chaos on Teres. After Tony’s grandson was shot and a chance encounter stirred his separatist feelings, Tony resolved to act, while Nutrient Solution dismissed him as spineless.

• Qu Jianlei chose to target the military first, and his team carried out a string of attacks on personnel connected to the old veteran’s death.
• The military’s response and the killing of the old veteran’s closest comrade intensified the feud, which spread to unrelated soldiers and prompted a military Supreme to kill two Rank A fighters.
• Tony took his injured grandson to the hospital, believing the shooting was connected to his past support for the old veteran.
• Tony overheard a man challenge a woman’s fear of danger, reconsidered what he had trained for, and decided he had to act.
• Nutrient Solution complained to Qu Jianlei that Tony seemed hopeless and lacked backbone.

Qu Jianlei secretly met Tony to learn how he could help divert military warships and asked about the Above Supreme on Yongxing Star. Tony revealed that the Supreme’s cultivation path might not be a Human Race inheritance concealed by an “Imperial Decree.”

• The Big Head Butterfly reported that Tony had arranged to sell information about a military Above Supreme, and Qu Jianlei decided to meet him despite having no money to buy it.
• Qu Jianlei appeared at Tony’s home and asked what Above Supreme he wanted to target, but Tony refused to name one and insisted he only did business.
• Qu Jianlei asked how to transfer military warships to the Information Barrier Breach, and Tony said Frontline observation clearance could be issued through the Star Region Military District, though the number of ships was limited.
• Qu Jianlei brought up the Above Supreme on Yongxing Star, and Tony said the person had once served in the military and followed a cultivation path whose knowledge came from there.
• Tony told Qu Jianlei that the cultivation path might not be a Human Race inheritance and that an “Imperial Decree” was reportedly used to conceal such an inheritance.

Qu Jianlei questioned Tony about the nonhuman inheritance and learned that it granted Above Supremes powerful elemental control at the cost of severe backlash and uncertain lifespans. After dispatching Black Shadow to kill Hermann, Qu Jianlei connected the dead Above Supreme’s power to the idea of authority and began explaining Incense Divinity offices to Sunset Glow.

• Tony told Qu Jianlei that the nonhuman inheritance had a mortality rate above ninety percent, caused backlash, and gave its practitioners varying lifespans.
• Tony dropped his request to kill a Supreme and asked Qu Jianlei to kill Hermann instead, so Black Shadow vanished to carry out the task.
• Sunset Glow questioned Tony’s information and wondered how the Above Supreme had obtained a powerful method without hidden consequences.
• Qu Jianlei connected the Above Supreme’s Ice Seal power to authority and suspected the man had obtained authority over Ice Seal.
• Sunset Glow joined Qu Jianlei and pressed him to explain authority, so Qu Jianlei described Incense Divinity systems and divine offices such as the God of Wealth and the Door God.

Qu Jianlei explained his theory about how beings could steal fragments of authority, then briefed his teammates and arranged for Xiao Hu to infiltrate the military network. After Sunset Glow killed Hermann, the group left Teres and traveled through space, planning to observe the Frontline elsewhere to keep their methods hidden.

• Qu Jianlei convinced Sunset Glow that beings could gain authority by stealing parts of the rules, but refused to share his cultivation speculation with the team.
• Qu Jianlei told his teammates that Out-of-Body Great Experts probably did not exist, easing their fears, and directed Xiao Hu to infiltrate the military network.
• The military announced that Hermann had died by suicide in a locked room and secretly investigated his suspicious death while tightening its inspections.
• Tony worried about the military’s inspections and the possible consequences of his connection to the Separatists, while Qu Jianlei’s group had already departed Teres.
• Qu Jianlei’s group decided to apply for Frontline observation on another planet and avoid exposing their planning and methods in Teres.

Qu Jianlei and his group arrived at Horseshoe Star to observe the front lines, while Colonel Hill impulsively organized a separate observation mission from the Triangle Star Region. Hill’s ship set out without escorts, and the chapter ended when two Armed Merchant Ships pursued it and revealed they knew its secret destination.

• Qu Jianlei’s group landed on Horseshoe Star, considered robbing a bank for supplies, and decided to postpone the idea until after their mission.
• Colonel Hill, frustrated by a career spent away from combat, submitted an application to lead an observation group to the front lines.
• Hill’s superior approved the application, and Hill assembled a group aboard a Battalion-Class Ship, which departed without escorting warships.
• A day into the voyage, a sergeant spotted two Armed Merchant Ships following the Battalion-Class Ship, and Hill confirmed they were pursuing it by changing course.
• The Battalion-Class Ship challenged the ships, which asked whether it was headed to the Information Barrier Breach; Hill’s crew demanded to know how they had learned the destination.

Hill’s Battalion-Class Ship was disabled by a backdoor planted in its systems as Qu Jianlei’s group seized control of it. The boarding ended with nearly the entire crew unconscious or subdued, though several people died.

• Hill identified the approaching ships as registered in Valencia and the Jinyang Star Region, then ordered them to submit to inspection and prepared Attack Ships to deploy.
• The Battalion-Class Ship’s control, power, backup, and emergency warning systems failed, and Qu Jianlei revealed that his group had left only communications intact.
• Qu Jianlei threatened the lives of the 486 people aboard, while Hill refused to surrender and believed the Separatists would not dare kill them all.
• The Battalion-Class Ship’s hatch opened, but instead of ordinary boarders, a powerful Supreme Aura incapacitated almost everyone aboard.
• Five or six Rank A boarders subdued the remaining crew; two people were beaten to death, and a Rank C Warrior died detonating explosives.

After capturing a Battalion-Class Ship, Qu Jianlei's team questioned its commander and secured the prisoners in Life Support Pods. As they prepared to jump toward the Frontline, they encountered a huge Federation fleet and tried to pass themselves off as an inspection group.

• Claire survived an explosion that destroyed three compartments, and Qu Jianlei's team restrained the 484 surviving people aboard the ship instead of killing them.
• Xiao Moshan pressured Hill for information, and Hill agreed to cooperate after Xiao Moshan threatened to leave the prisoners without Life Support Pods.
• Claire caught the ship's First Mate trying to escape, and Hill offered information about the Star Beasts to save him from execution.
• Qu Jianlei's team placed most of the prisoners in Life Support Pods while Hill shared details and tried to stall them.
• A fleet of nearly a hundred ships, including three Division Level Ships, appeared ahead, and Qu Jianlei identified his group as a Triangle Military Region inspection team.
• The opposing fleet demanded their identification and questioned why two civilian starships were traveling with them, and Qu Jianlei claimed they were carrying local supplies.

Qu Jianlei’s ship was requisitioned by the Special Operations Department to help hunt Star Beasts, and Hill explained the threat posed by nests and their powerful inhabitants. The chapter ended with Xiao Moshan accepting the mission despite the fleet’s formidable Star Beast force and lamenting their luck.

• Qu Jianlei verified the Special Operations Department’s credentials, and Fourth Boss refused to confirm whether their fleet had a Supreme.
• Qu Jianlei impersonated Hill on a video call, and a Colonel revealed that the fleet’s mission was to hunt Star Beasts and hinted that they might have found a nest.
• The Colonel recognized Hill and agreed to report the requisition up the chain, then told a Lieutenant General that Hill was the grandson-in-law of a prominent figure.
• Xiao Moshan told Hill that their Battalion-Class Ship had been requisitioned, and Hill was astonished that his dream of hunting Star Beasts had come true.
• Hill described Star Beast nests as mobile fortresses and said the creatures were large, cooperative, and stronger than human Supremes in individual combat.
• Xiao Moshan accepted that they could not refuse the mission, noting that the opposing fleet had three Division Level Ships.