Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei and his companions attended an Alliance auction, hoping to buy a Nascent Soul Pill despite their limited funds. They lost the pill to a nineteen-billion bid, acquired a chance to buy a starship, and watched the final lot sell for eleven billion.

• Qu Jianlei and his companions decided to bid anonymously on the Nascent Soul Pill, while Jing Yuexin warned everyone not to cause trouble before the auction.
• Hua Xiezhi failed to win a starship at auction, then agreed to buy one through an observer who offered to handle its insurance and registration.
• Bidding on the Nascent Soul Pill quickly climbed beyond the group's budget, and Duo Gan's bid was beaten by two determined competitors.
• One bidder won the Nascent Soul Pill for nineteen billion, prompting Jing Yuexin and Yuanyuan to suggest pursuing it by force.
• A buyer won the Above Supreme blood essence for eleven billion after competing against three others.

A last-minute auction lot turned out to be a complete artifact, which Qu Jianlei recognized as a hairpin Wu Zhen had told them about. After Hua Xiezhi bought a starship and Qu Jianlei identified the buyers of the other major lots, Sunset Glow reported that the Nascent Soul Pill and blood essence buyers had met.

• The auctioneer announced a surprise final lot, paused the auction for two hours, and then presented a complete offensive artifact with a starting bid of 200 billion Alliance Coins.
• Jing Yuexin recognized the hairpin as one of the artifacts Wu Zhen had introduced, and it sold for 410 billion Alliance Coins to a bidder in a small private box.
• Hua Xiezhi completed the starship purchase using cash and gold after failing to win the Nascent Soul Pill.
• Qu Jianlei learned that an intermediary fund had bought the exotic beast blood essence and a rapidly growing corporate group backed by an Above Supreme had bought the Nascent Soul Pill.
• Qu Jianlei asked Yi He to watch the artifact and tracked the two major buyers; late that night, Sunset Glow reported that the two groups had met.

Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin investigated the fund and corporate group that had bought the Nascent Soul essence blood and pill, then robbed the pill from the group. As the group blamed the fund and called in the city guard, Yi He traced the artifact to Gevas, who abandoned his plan to flee after sensing mortal danger.

• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin overheard the fund's Supreme accuse the corporate group of pretending to have backing from someone Above Supreme, and they concluded the group's claim was a bluff.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin decided to target the Nascent Soul pill first and later robbed it, leaving two guards unconscious and cutting off an intervening Supreme's arm.
• The corporate group accused the fund of arranging the robbery, while the fund denied involvement and refused to prove its innocence.
• Yi He discovered that Supreme Gevas had bid on the artifact for his teacher, a board member who planned to donate it to a Higher Education Institution.
• Gevas felt that boarding his planned private starship would lead to his death, so he abandoned his escape plan.

After Gevas’s Item-Storing Talisman was stolen, he and his friend suspected the thieves were connected to the powerful people Qu Jianlei’s group had crossed, while warning Gevas to stop pursuing the matter. Qu Jianlei’s group left Tianyu Star and headed for Taigu Star, where the Fourth Boss hoped to see the Alliance military’s elite.

• Gevas stayed on Tianyu Star for safety, but an attacker knocked him unconscious at an upscale establishment and stole his Item-Storing Talisman.
• Gevas’s Supreme friend pressured an informant to reveal an audio recording in which the thief said that robbing the Divine Script pills was not enough.
• Gevas’s friend warned that pursuing the theft could bring disaster on Gevas and his teacher, and suggested the thieves might be connected to the people who had rescued forty thousand from the Alien Race.
• Qu Jianlei’s group regrouped and left Tianyu Star aboard their newly purchased starship, leaving behind an alibi that placed them in space during the ground incidents.
• The group chose Taigu Star as its next destination, and the Fourth Boss said he wanted to see the Alliance military’s elite.

Qu Jianlei and his group traveled to Ke Qi Star as a safer stop on their way to Taigu, then discovered Imperial soldiers imprisoned there. They decided to prepare a covert rescue, leaving their trip to Taigu delayed.

• Qu Jianlei's group chose Ke Qi Star as a transit point, and Sunset Glow infiltrated a starship bound for Taigu while the others explored the planet.
• During a street inspection, Hua Xiezhi learned that Alliance soldiers believed the Empire had colluded with the Alien Race, and Qu Jianlei warned her not to question people recklessly.
• Qu Jianlei discovered that more than two hundred Imperial reconnaissance soldiers were held in a military prison alongside roughly two thousand other prisoners.
• Zhenshan Fort agreed that they should rescue the Imperial captives, and the group spent several days investigating the prison and assigning tasks.
• Claire asked why they would not use killing and arson, and Qu Jianlei and Fourth Boss explained that a quiet rescue would protect future Imperial captives and their remaining missions.

Apu received a secret message from the Imperial Military Intelligence Department and warned the rescuers about traitors among the prisoners. When the prison break began, Qu Jianlei’s team infiltrated the facility, took control of its systems, and started moving to free the captives.

• Apu heard a mental message promising a rescue and identified two Imperial soldiers as traitors.
• Apu accepted Nutrient Solution from the unseen messenger and named Haote as someone he trusted.
• Qu Jianlei’s team determined that five of the more than two hundred captives had betrayed the Empire.
• Hua Xiezhi, Yuanyuan, Claire, Tian Yin, Bentley, and Fourth Boss infiltrated the prison and took over key posts.
• Xiao Hu seized control of the prison system and disabled many monitoring devices and alarms.
• Fourth Boss left the central control room to rescue the prisoners.

Qu Jianlei and his team rescued more than two hundred Imperial prisoners from the Military Prison, but an alarm brought Alliance forces down on the facility. The prisoners reached an Underground Cave and were screened before Apu entered a Life Support Pod; he awoke beside Haote aboard a starship.

• Sunset Glow spread anesthetic through the prison as Xiao Hu disabled surveillance, Qu Jianlei opened cells, and Jing Yuexin identified and escorted the prisoners out.
• Hua Xiezhi rejected a military network caller who could not provide the prison password, prompting the caller to raise suspicions and draw attention to the facility.
• Duo Gan spotted approaching military vehicles, and Qu Jianlei ordered the team to pack up the Praying Rain Array and leave as alarms sounded.
• Alliance forces surrounded the prison and discovered that more than two hundred Imperial prisoners had vanished, then began searching for them.
• In an Underground Cave, Apu and Haote ate while the rescue team screened prisoners for possible traitors and placed them in Life Support Pods.
• Apu entered a pod after learning he would stay no more than five days, then awoke beside Haote aboard a starship.

Digital Phantom rescued Imperial soldiers and learned that Sihe Star in the occupied Heim Star Region was a steady source of Space Stones. After weighing the danger of entering Alien Race territory, Qu Jianlei decided the team should investigate after returning the soldiers to the Empire and making preparations.

• Fourth Boss ordered the rescued soldiers to choose five representatives, and the prisoners recognized Jing Yuexin and Zhenshan Fort as members of Digital Phantom.
• The representatives shared military intelligence, including a report that the Alliance was preparing an attack at another breach, and Fourth Boss said the soldiers would need two to three days before returning to the Empire.
• An Imperial soldier told Digital Phantom that Space Stones came from Sihe Star in the occupied Heim Star Region, where no Human Race inhabitants were believed to remain.
• Qu Jianlei's team debated whether to enter the Occupied Area, weighing the need to study the Alien Race against the danger posed by Nascent Soul Locusts.
• Qu Jianlei decided the team should investigate Sihe Star after returning the Imperial soldiers and making sufficient preparations.

After rescuing more than two hundred soldiers, Fourth Boss returned them to the Empire and learned that the Heim Star Region might contain a spatial breach. Qu Jianlei and the others set course for Heim, and the chapter leaves them investigating a vast, apparently lifeless meteor in the Occupied Area.

• Qu Jianlei and his companions transported the rescued soldiers in Life Support Pods, but the teleportation from Ke Qi Star triggered an alarm and left Fourth Boss stranded aboard the Battalion-Class Ship.
• Fourth Boss returned the soldiers to the military, which placed them under supervision and questioned Digital Phantom about the rescue.
• Fourth Boss asked about the Heim Star Region and learned that an earlier military investigation there had suffered terrible losses, possibly because of a spatial breach.
• Qu Jianlei divined that traveling to Heim held fortune amid danger, and the team chose to travel through space rather than risk another long-range teleportation.
• After traveling through the Occupied Area for over twenty days, the team found a meteor more than five hundred kilometers across, checked it for Alien Race, and went to investigate.

Qu Jianlei’s crew tested a seized hairpin artifact, then encountered a starship that had returned from Heim after nine years. After learning Heim’s jump coordinates, Qu Jianlei forced the crew to accompany them back there to learn the Alien Race’s secrets.

• Jing Yuexin tested the hairpin and discovered it was a Golden Core Realm imitation of the Wen Xin Nail, while Qu Jianlei recognized its soul-locking ability.
• Qu Jianlei’s starship detected another ship emerging from a jump and charged its weapons as the battered-looking vessel approached.
• Hua Xiezhi told the strangers that the region had been occupied for over a year, and they revealed they had been away from the Alliance network for nine years.
• The strangers said they had returned from Heim, and Qu Jianlei demanded and received their genuine jump coordinates.
• Qu Jianlei’s crew moved in with their Mechanical Arms and compelled the Heim explorers to travel back with them, promising to learn about the Alien Race there.

Qu Jianlei’s group exchanged intelligence with a battered Alliance starship while searching the Heim Star Region, then returned to their Battalion-Class Ship. The chapter ended as Big Head Butterfly announced it had found a solution for the Locust corpses.

• Qu Jianlei’s group met an Alliance starship in a Small Meteor Belt and discussed Alien Race Forests of Trees, spatial breaches, and the Alliance’s losses.
• The Alliance crew shared that they had searched the Heim Star Region without finding a breach and had killed an Alien Race Above Supreme.
• Qu Jianlei’s group confirmed the area was free of Alien Race Forests of Trees, then left without investigating the suspected spatial anomaly.
• Qu Jianlei jumped the battered starship near Bi Tao Star, left Energy Blocks, and later led his group through a Teleportation Array into the Battalion-Class Ship.
• Fourth Boss reported that the Alliance had intensified its offensive at the other breach, and Big Head Butterfly told Qu Jianlei it had worked out a solution for the Locust corpses.

Qu Jianlei established Dawn Base in the Thorn Star Region and tested Xiao Hu’s Locust Qi Gathering Array, which proved workable but inefficient. As the team prepared for further refinement, Paranoid and Mu Yu arrived at the base.

• Qu Jianlei chose a remote military training planet in the Thorn Star Region and named the new base Dawn.
• Xiao Hu and the team inspected the planet, found and destroyed four hidden signal transmitters, and accepted five billion Energy Blocks from the military as compensation.
• Qu Jianlei began testing the Locust Qi Gathering Array in a sealed underground chamber, and after nearly three months the basic version achieved its purpose but had a very low conversion rate.
• Qu Jianlei rejected handing over the array’s refinement to the military and decided to spend at least another half year improving it.
• Three months later, Paranoid and Mu Yu arrived at Dawn Base.

Paranoid’s divination warned of major calamity if he entered seclusion, while Qinghu received a favorable reading and began her own seclusion. Paranoid later accepted a similar reading and secluded himself, as Qu Jianlei completed a first version of the Locust Qi Gathering Array and brought it to the military for testing.

• Qu Jianlei divined major calamity for Paranoid and advised him to delay seclusion; Paranoid and Mu Yu moved to Dawn Base, where they stayed with the team.
• After Qu Jianlei solved a research problem, Qinghu received a reading of misfortune giving way to fortune and entered seclusion at Dawn Base.
• Five days later, Qu Jianlei gave Paranoid the same general reading and advised him to wait, but Paranoid chose to enter seclusion with Mu Yu and Bentley watching over him.
• Two months later, Qu Jianlei completed the first version of the Locust Qi Gathering Array and took it to Pan Rock Star to arrange a military field test.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin shopped on Pan Rock Star, while Digital Phantom’s Alliance specialties brought the Shui Corporation a profit and drew factions seeking introductions to the team.

Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin considered offers from the Dyson and Carnegie Consortiums before Lord Pute arrived to discuss the military’s tests of Digital Phantom’s formation. Pute offered Digital Phantom honorary governorship of a Habitable Star, and the chapter ended with the team considering the proposal’s rights and responsibilities.

• Shui Xisheng refused the Dyson Consortium’s offer of fifty billion Energy Blocks, while Qu Jianlei rejected the Carnegie Consortium’s offer of a magical artifact and partnership despite Jing Yuexin’s interest in the academy it planned to name for her.
• Qu Jianlei told Jing Yuexin he would support her if she wanted to lead the academy, and she threatened to kill him if he left her behind.
• Lord Pute arrived and praised the potential of Digital Phantom’s formation, then objected when Qu Jianlei said the team would donate it to the Empire.
• Jing Yuexin challenged Pute to offer practical compensation, and he proposed making Digital Phantom the honorary governor of a Habitable Star.
• Pute explained that Digital Phantom would have no specific obligations and could rely on a deputy governor to handle the planet’s administration.

Pute tried to persuade Digital Phantom to settle on a habitable planet and continue researching the Qi Gathering Array and Passing Thunder Tribulation, while the team resisted taking on political responsibilities or dangerous experiments. The government offered Digital Phantom ten billion and proposed a public award ceremony, which Qu Jianlei allowed Jing Yuexin to attend without him.

• Qu Jianlei rejected settling on a military-supported planet, and Jing Yuexin suggested that Digital Phantom might instead buy one and handle its own defense; Pute said he would report the proposal.
• Jing Yuexin refused to continue improving the Qi Gathering Array, but Pute explained that the military still depended on Digital Phantom's expertise.
• Jing Yuexin refused to release the Passing Thunder Tribulation plan because people could die, and Pute dropped the request.
• Pute offered Digital Phantom ten billion for the Qi Gathering Array plan and proposed a public award ceremony to boost confidence in the Empire.
• Jing Yuexin agreed to the ceremony with facial blurring available, while Qu Jianlei declined to show his face and told Pute he could appear instead.

Jing Yuexin accepted a military commendation in Rock, while the ceremony’s publicity concealed the details of Digital Phantom’s breakthrough. Meanwhile, coordinated attacks devastated the Ya Yi'an Family on Silver Wing Star, and Qu Jianlei learned that the authorities had failed to warn them while secretly using them as bait.

• Jing Yuexin agreed to a military ceremony on the condition that it be held within ten days, and the ceremony took place nine days later with military and government officials in attendance.
• Government and military media reported that Digital Phantom had achieved a major research breakthrough and awarded Jing Yuexin an electronic key worth ten billion, while keeping her face and other details classified.
• Multiple members of the Ya Yi'an Family were attacked across Silver Wing Star, leaving five dead, three injured, and two missing; authorities captured prisoners linked to the Federation and the Rebel Organization.
• Qu Jianlei asked Xiao Moshan to contact Shui Xisheng and offer the Ya Yi'an Family help, avoiding military channels for the communication.
• Xiao Moshan reported that the Ya Yi'an Family believed the authorities had secretly used them as bait, and the family head blamed the authorities for failing to warn them before the attacks.

Qu Jianlei sent Claire, Yuanyuan, Jing Yuexin, and others to Silverwing after the authorities failed to find a missing Ya Yi'an Family member or capture all the attackers. Claire confronted the city guard chief for the investigation files, while Yuanyuan forced a Supreme Awakened One to back down; the chapter left the chief aware that Digital Phantom could act with near-untouchable privilege.

• Qu Jianlei gave the Silverwing authorities half a month to capture everyone involved in the attack and find the missing Ya Yi'an Family member, but they failed to locate the person.
• Qu Jianlei decided to go to Silverwing with Jing Yuexin, while Old Lady Jia sent Yuanyuan and Claire along with them.
• Claire confronted the city guard chief at headquarters and demanded the investigation files, then used Five-Sense Deprivation when he questioned her authority.
• A Supreme Awakened One tried to intervene, but Yuanyuan identified herself as Fire Circle and threatened to kill him if he did not leave Claire alone.
• Yuanyuan departed, and Claire warned the city guard chief that he had survived only because Digital Phantom had not yet acted against him.

Qu Jianlei and Digital Phantom searched for a missing Ya Yi'an Family member and uncovered a murder linked to a hidden underground hideout. After finding suspects beneath a city plaza, they began digging them out as City Guards and the military arrived.

• Qu Jianlei told Claire to handle the City Guard Boss and kill him if he continued obstructing them, then searched Silverwing Star with Yi He without finding anything unusual.
• Qu Jianlei divined the missing Ya Yi'an Family member’s location and found the tortured corpse inside an Item-Storing Talisman beneath a river.
• After Xiao Hu reported that Logic Bombs had disrupted nearby surveillance, Qu Jianlei divined again and located a hidden cavity beneath an amusement park at the edge of a central plaza.
• Jing Yuexin used the Soul Suppressing Bell to detect life underground, while Qu Jianlei and Yuanyuan used spells and a Wood-Type Talisman to reach the suspects.
• Claire stopped the arriving City Guards, and Qu Jianlei pulled a mass of frozen soil from underground as the Silver Wing Military Region commander arrived seeking Zhenshan Fort.

Qu Jianlei and his companions uncovered spies and a corpse beneath Silverwing, then handed the evidence and suspects to the military before departing for Dawn Base. There, they found that Qinghu had begun attempting to form a Nascent Soul, while Paranoid remained still.

• Jing Yuexin, Qu Jianlei, and Yuanyuan uncovered a hidden Stone Chamber containing three living suspects, and Claire identified one as the murderer and revealed the missing person's remains.
• Jing Yuexin explained Illusion God Sand to the lieutenant general and gave the military the recovered supply.
• Hua Xiezhi arrived to report that someone close was advancing, and Qu Jianlei's group learned through Yi He's soul search that two spies had escaped Silver Wing Star.
• Qu Jianlei's group handed the military the suspects, corpse, and intelligence, then left Silverwing after Claire warned the city guards' First One about corruption.
• Qu Jianlei and the others reached Dawn Base, where they sensed Qinghu beginning her Nascent Soul attempt while Paranoid showed no signs of movement.

Qinghu successfully formed her Nascent Soul, then stabilized her realm while the military watched from a distance and Pute waited for permission to visit Dawn Base. After Pute left, another tribulation occurred: Paranoid advanced successfully, but the energy from the Nascent Soul formation could not heal his severe injuries, which Yi He attributed to the different laws of heaven and earth.

• Qinghu completed her Nascent Soul tribulation with six lightning bolts, and the military observed from its warships but was denied permission to approach.
• Fourth Boss refused the military's questions and Pute's request to land until Qinghu had finished stabilizing her realm.
• Pute landed with Locust corpses, discussed the military's research and cooperation plans, and recuperated in one of Dawn Base's Qi Gathering Arrays for over a month.
• After returning from the Frontline, Pute learned that another tribulation had occurred, with four lightning bolts and Exotic Energy gathering afterward.
• Paranoid successfully formed his Nascent Soul, but the resulting energy could not repair his bodily injuries, so Yi He blamed the difference in the laws of heaven and earth.