Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin faced down Bi Tao’s Alliance forces and left with the two prisoners after refusing to be detained. Their departure revealed that Digital Phantom’s Battalion-Class Ship was willing to fight through the Alien Race surrounding Bi Tao Star.

• The Supreme reviewed the footage of Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin killing Alliance officers while more warships and Supremes arrived to reinforce the blockade.
• Qu Jianlei counted down, and the Supreme allowed the pair to leave but demanded they surrender the two prisoners; Jing Yuexin and Qu Jianlei vanished with them before the Alliance could fire.
• The Alliance forces tracked the pair to a Digital Phantom Battalion-Class Ship, but no one ordered an attack as its shield rose and it departed.
• A Bi Tao observation station detected the Battalion-Class Ship attacking the Alien Race blocking its route through space.

Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin devastated an Alien Race Forest of Trees near Bi Tao Star, then returned to Tianyu Star to learn that the Alliance planned to demand their attack method and had secretly restarted artificial intelligence research. They left Lawrence with no new information about the Alliance’s stance, while Qu Jianlei expected their success to bring both short-term gains and greater suspicion.

• Alliance observers saw that more than half the Forest Sea had been destroyed by an attack involving intense Space Ripples and speculated that a hidden fleet might have helped Digital Phantom.
• Qu Jianlei attacked the Forest Sea, collected seven or eight pieces of tree wreckage, and learned from the High-Fidelity Replica that fresh remains could be used in a Gathering Spirit Array while older stored remains had lost their vitality.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin traveled back to Tianyu Star and met Lawrence, who explained that news of their actions on Bi Tao Star had stirred public hope and calls for compensation from the nation.
• Lawrence learned that the Alliance would add demands related to Digital Phantom to its negotiations with the Empire, leading Qu Jianlei to expect improved conditions but increased suspicion.
• Lawrence revealed that the Alliance had secretly restarted artificial intelligence research, and Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin listened as he warned that the effort could bring major trouble.

After returning to Dawn Base, Qu Jianlei discovered that the High-Fidelity Replica might use the tree remains as a new vessel, while Xiang Xue successfully advanced to the Golden Core Realm. The military sought information about her tribulation, but Digital Phantom did not reply, and the Empire’s suspicion of the team deepened.

• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin returned from Tianyu Star, handed two Alliance spies to the Imperial Military, and refused to answer its inquiries about Bi Tao Star.
• The Alliance demanded access to Digital Phantom’s new attack method and requested direct contact, but the Empire rejected the request.
• Qu Jianlei found that Wind Forgotten could sense increased vitality in the tree remains, and a hexagram indicated they could grow alongside the High-Fidelity Replica as its new vessel.
• Xiang Xue entered seclusion at Dawn Base, passed four steady bolts of tribulation lightning, and reached the Golden Core Realm.
• The military asked Digital Phantom for information about Passing Thunder Tribulation, but Digital Phantom read the request without replying.
• The government questioned whether Xiang Xue’s tribulation was genuine, leading military insiders to fear that the Empire’s distrust of Digital Phantom was widening.

Yuanyuan returned to Tianbing Star to visit her dying grandmother and became embroiled in a family inheritance dispute. After her relatives tried to have her arrested, she killed several guards and spared a Supreme who recognized her ties to Digital Phantom; she then hired Gray Organizations to deal with her uncle’s family.

• Xiang Xue continued recovering from her tribulation while Qu Jianlei learned that Yuanyuan had killed two A-rankers and injured a Supreme on Tianbing Star.
• Yuanyuan returned and explained that she had gone to visit her dying grandmother, whose relatives were fighting over the inheritance.
• Yuanyuan defended her grandmother’s right to distribute her property and offered to give up her own share, but her aunt and uncle escalated the dispute.
• When her uncle sent two A-rankers and city guards to take her in, Yuanyuan killed several of them and trapped a nearby Supreme in her Soul Refining Cover.
• Yuanyuan spared the Supreme after he said he knew Jing Yuexin and had helped Kefu, then stayed on Tianbing Star rather than return to Dawn Base.
• Yuanyuan approached local Gray Organizations to eliminate the threat from her uncle, but they feared accepting payment from a Digital Phantom member.

Yuanyuan recounted her retaliation against her relatives’ threats, while Rhine and Yuanyuan attended the launch ceremony for the military’s first improved Qi Gathering Arrays. Their actions and the return of several powerful figures led the government to reconsider its strained relationship with Digital Phantom, though some officials still feared the team’s influence.

• Yuanyuan explained that she had punished her uncle’s allies after they threatened revenge, and Qu Jianlei told her to inform the team before acting next time.
• Qu Jianlei sent Rhine and Yuanyuan to Dream Star to attend the trial launch of five improved Qi Gathering Arrays.
• Two government Supremes visited Rhine and Yuanyuan, then suggested at the celebration banquet that the government and Digital Phantom communicate more directly.
• Qian He informed Qu Jianlei that the government intended to strengthen cooperation with Digital Phantom after investigating Yuanyuan’s case and recognizing the team’s many powerful, mistreated members.
• Some government officials remained concerned that Digital Phantom’s strength could threaten the Empire’s interests and security.

After helping the Empire raid Federation forces, Qu Jianlei’s Digital Phantom fleet was caught in a trap but survived when three captured Alliance Division Level Ships arrived. The Federation force was routed, and all four of its Division Level Ships were captured or crippled.

• Qu Jianlei escorted damaged warships, wounded soldiers, and prisoners back through the Federation’s repaired blockade, then led his fleet back out and made another return trip to confuse the enemy.
• Qu Jianlei agreed to help the Imperial raiding force fight several battles and became interested in the three magical artifacts reportedly kept on Hesmus Star, but Jing Yuexin warned that their owners would hide them.
• Over the next two months, Digital Phantom and the Imperial force fought five battles, finding Federation warships harder to hack and their soldiers fierce in battle.
• The Federation ambushed the raiding force, then sent four Division Level Ships as reinforcements while Qu Jianlei’s force fought them.
• Three captured Alliance Division Level Ships emerged through rippling space, causing the Federation warships to retreat, but Digital Phantom’s force left all four Division Level Ships captured or crippled.

After winning the sixth battle, Digital Phantom gave the Imperial fleet permission to temporarily use its livery mark, and Qu Jianlei’s team traveled to the Federation to investigate conditions there. They found the Federation strained by its war against Asura and decided to head to Hesmus for intelligence.

• Digital Phantom left the Imperial soldiers a damaged Division Level Ship and gave them equipment plus temporary authorization to spray its livery mark.
• Qu Jianlei’s team compared the Federation’s struggle against Asura with the Alliance’s fight against Locust World and chose to gather information in the Federation.
• Qu Jianlei discovered that two of the three Teleportation Arrays on Yongxing Star had been destroyed, so the team chose Teres instead.
• The team arrived on Teres and learned that the Federation’s two wars had drained its finances, weakened businesses, and forced its military to retreat against Asura.
• Qu Jianlei rejected the idea of contacting Tony, learned that Federation reporting on Meat Grinder and Digital Phantom was heavily restricted, and chose to go to Hesmus for intelligence.

Qu Jianlei’s group searched Hesmus for magical artifacts but found they had already been moved, so they pursued information on reaching the Link Nebula and joined a bounty-hunting expedition. They boarded a Horizon Mercenaries ship and prepared to rendezvous with their own Armed Merchant Ship as the fleet set out.

• Yuanyuan refused the Imperial Military’s request for help against unmanned Alliance warships infected by artificial intelligence, saying Digital Phantom’s main force was away.
• Qu Jianlei’s group searched Hesmus for magical artifacts, learned the artifacts had been moved, and gathered information about the Federation and the route to the Link Nebula.
• Fourth Boss arranged for the group to join Horizon Mercenaries, whose military-derived star charts and flexible terms made the expedition seem reliable.
• Qu Jianlei’s group boarded a medium-sized Armed Merchant Ship and told Horizon Mercenaries they had their own ship and would meet them in space.
• The bounty fleet took off with three Horizon Mercenaries ships and six other Armed Merchant Ships, and Qu Jianlei’s group listened from their assigned conference room.

The Horizon fleet was coerced into joining the Wild Wolf Business Association’s Alien Race hunt, while its supervisors caused conflict aboard the ships. Qu Jianlei’s group kept its distance from the turmoil as the fleet received a signal from another merchant ship.

• The Wild Wolf Business Association forced Horizon to join its hunt, but Horizon secured the right to keep its fleet together and retain some autonomy.
• Wild Wolf assigned supervisors to Horizon’s ships, and Fourth Boss used Supreme Coercive Pressure to stop them from inspecting Qu Jianlei’s group.
• A Wild Wolf supervisor shot a female Awakened One for insulting the association, while another woman agreed to accept payment rather than resist his harassment.
• An A-rank woman left Horizon and joined Claire’s group, offering her skills in exchange for half the merit from the Alien Races she killed.
• Horizon discovered nearly forty coerced starships around them, while only four visible ships carried Wild Wolf insignia.
• A day later, an ordinary Armed Merchant Ship arrived and flashed a specific light signal as Qu Jianlei’s group remained isolated aboard their ship.

Hua Xiezhi and Qu Jianlei’s group rebuffed Wild Wolf’s Supervisory Team, then faced a military inspection after Wild Wolf quietly reported them to a Federation patrol. The chapter left a Rank B soldier confronting Hua Xiezhi after she threatened the supervisors and forced their Rank A member to his knees again.

• Hua Lei joined Qu Jianlei’s group aboard their disguised, outdated Armed Merchant Ship, while the Fourth Boss rejected a Bounty Hunter who asked to come along.
• The Fourth Boss allowed Wild Wolf’s Supervisory Team to board, and Duo Gan ordered its members to stand aside while Hua Xiezhi forced their Rank A officer to his knees with Finger Winds.
• The Supervisory Team’s Rank A told Wild Wolf that the group was powerful and uncooperative, so Wild Wolf chose to monitor them quietly.
• The fleet jumped toward the Link Nebula, and an enormous Division Level Ship with a thick tree beneath its hull followed half a day later.
• Wild Wolf identified Qu Jianlei’s group as a thorn in its side and alerted a Federation Patrol Ship, prompting a Battalion-Class Ship and two Company-level Warships to send soldiers aboard for inspection.
• Hua Xiezhi silenced the Supervisory Team’s Rank A again and challenged the Rank B soldier when he objected to her treatment of them.

Qu Jianlei’s group refused to yield to the Wild Wolf Business Association after a military inspection, and negotiations over the Supervisory Team broke down. As the fleet searched for the Asura, Wild Wolf stayed quiet, and Qu Jianlei suspected they were waiting to strike after an encounter with the Asura.

• Hua Xiezhi intimidated the Rank B Warrior, who recorded the hunters’ aliases and left the two Wild Wolf Supervisory Team members aboard Qu Jianlei’s starship.
• Qu Jianlei ignored repeated calls from the Wild Wolf Business Association, and the Fourth Boss rejected Skyline’s offer to withdraw the Supervisory Team and end the dispute.
• The fleet continued toward the Asura without Wild Wolf making a move, while other starships kept their distance from Qu Jianlei’s group.
• Qu Jianlei told Claire that Wild Wolf was likely holding back a nasty trick until after they encountered the Asura.
• When the fleet found no trace of the Asura, the Wild Wolf Business Association ordered it to split into groups to explore and keep watch in different directions.

Qu Jianlei and his companions were attacked by the Wild Wolf Business Association, and their starship deftly evaded the assault while fighting back. After they publicly executed two Supervisory Team members, a hidden Federation warship appeared and charged toward the battle, leaving the onlooking hunters waiting to see what would happen next.

• The Fourth Boss predicted that the Wild Wolf Business Association would attack, and four of its Armed Merchant Ships soon surrounded Qu Jianlei and his companions.
• Qu Jianlei's starship evaded the barrage and destroyed three Small Ships, while most nearby starships refused Wild Wolf's call to join the fight.
• Paranoid ordered the two Supervisory Team members beheaded, and their deaths were broadcast to the surrounding fleets.
• Hua Xiezhi and the Fourth Boss's Small Ship reached a hidden Battalion-Class Ship, which appeared and led Wild Wolf to suspect the group were military personnel.
• The Wild Wolf Business Association reduced its attack intensity and tried to make contact as the Battalion-Class Ship charged toward the battlefield.

The Battalion-Class Ship destroyed the Wild Wolf Business Association’s armed fleet and took Hua Lei aboard after she chose to stay with Qu Jianlei’s team. Two days later, the team avoided a promising Alien Race group, leaving Hua Lei puzzled as Claire took her to eat.

• The Battalion-Class Ship launched six Small Ships, which defeated the Wild Wolf Business Association’s seven Armed Merchant Ships and looted them.
• The Horizon Mercenaries decided to send the Supervisory Team members back, while Hua Lei chose to stay with Qu Jianlei’s team.
• The Battalion-Class Ship departed with Qu Jianlei’s group and Hua Lei, and the remaining fleet agreed to hunt together without using Supervisory Teams.
• Two days later, the Battalion-Class Ship avoided a group of eight Alien Races despite their potential bounty, and Hua Lei wondered why.
• Claire came to take Hua Lei to eat, and Hua Lei asked her about the Alien Race group they had passed.

Hua Lei traded information with Claire and Tian Yin while learning more about their hunt for the Asura, then realized the group was not made up of Federation soldiers. Qu Jianlei appeared and Hua Lei identified them as Digital Phantom, though Claire angrily corrected her wording.

• Claire told Hua Lei that the team planned to reach an Asura nest and had defeated a large nest before, but limited ammunition made fighting through the route difficult.
• Hua Lei revealed that Above Supreme was properly called the Nascent Soul Realm, and Claire explained that the Out-of-Body and Soul-Splitting Realms came above it.
• Claire offered to let Hua Lei stay in a Life Support Pod and give her Asura corpses, but Hua Lei asked for help killing two Supremes who might be backed by a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.
• Hua Lei asked to speak with one of the adults, and Qu Jianlei appeared and pointed out that she had inferred the team’s identity from its ship, strength, and knowledge of Divine Script.
• Hua Lei guessed that the group was Digital Phantom, and Claire corrected her for calling them Phantom or Ghost.

Hua Lei told Digital Phantom how an old guardian had passed her information about the Divine Script cultivator who invented the Imperial Decree, and asked whether he had deceived the old man. After learning that Digital Phantom recruited across nationalities, she questioned why the team accepted Alliance members but not people from the Federation.

• Qu Jianlei asked whether Hua Lei's Imperial Decree information concerned an Above Supreme, and Jing Yuexin proved Digital Phantom's identity by showing her the Soul Suppressing Bell.
• Hua Lei recounted how she met a wounded old man, later learned from him, and inherited his account of guarding the Divine Script cultivator who invented the Imperial Decree.
• Hua Lei explained that the Federation's investigation of the Imperial Decree had put her family in danger, forcing her to become a Bounty Hunter.
• Hua Lei asked whether the old man had been deceived, and Jiao Daoren insisted that the Divine Script cultivator had recognized the old man's true nature.
• Hua Lei expressed interest in joining Digital Phantom, then asked why the team accepted Alliance members but not people from the Federation.

Hua Lei recounted what she knew about a deceased cultivator who had helped the Federation and sealed off threats from the Heavenly Demons and Asura World. The group considered his strength and warnings before Xiao Hu detected a suspected Asura squad ahead.

• Hua Lei agreed to share information with Digital Phantom, and Hua Xiezhi accepted her under Jing Yuexin’s authority.
• Hua Lei explained that a cultivator from the Divine Script System had aided the Federation, taught its Awakened Ones Imperial Decrees, and died nearly a century earlier.
• Hua Lei revealed that the cultivator had predicted Asura and Alien Race invasions, and might have sealed off both Heavenly Demons and the Asura World.
• The group questioned Hua Lei about Heavenly Demons and the cultivator’s seals, then reasoned that he had likely been an Out-of-Body Realm cultivator.
• Xiao Hu detected a suspected Asura squad ahead, and Jing Yuexin ended the discussion so the group could prepare.

Hua Lei traveled with Qu Jianlei’s team as their automated Small Ships easily destroyed several Asura groups and an Outpost Nest. Paranoid’s overwhelming power against an Eight-Armed Asura astonished her, while the team left the nest’s valuable mark behind and continued onward.

• The three Small Ships quickly destroyed an Asura squad, and Hua Lei watched as the team’s artificial intelligence handled the battle with minimal effort.
• Claire arranged for Hua Lei to cultivate in an energy chamber, and the group continued cultivating until they encountered more Asuras.
• The team found an Outpost Nest, and Qu Jianlei allowed Claire and Hua Lei to join the attack aboard a Small Ship.
• When Asuras made a short-range jump, Paranoid killed the attackers, split the Outpost Nest apart with a Golden Wheel, and defeated an Eight-Armed Asura.
• After the battle, Hua Lei asked why the team was leaving the nest mark behind, but Qu Jianlei and the others showed no interest in collecting it.

A Federation fleet followed a trail of destroyed Asura nests and discovered Digital Phantom fighting alongside Wind Forgotten against a Sub-Nest. After the battle, the Federation fleet collected the wreckage while Hua Lei learned that Wind Forgotten had joined Digital Phantom and saw its contribution rewarded.

• Claire told Hua Lei she could have the Division Level Ship, and Hua Lei joked that a passing Federation fleet might otherwise find it suspicious.
• A Federation fleet found destroyed nests, followed the trail, and discovered Digital Phantom fighting an Asura Sub-Nest with an Empire Division Level Ship.
• The Federation reconnaissance ship identified Digital Phantom and Wind Forgotten fighting together, but Digital Phantom ignored them and departed after cleaning up.
• The Federation fleet collected the Sub-Nest wreckage and decided not to pursue Digital Phantom, fearing stronger nests lay ahead.
• Hua Lei questioned whether Digital Phantom had recruited an alien, and Wind Forgotten called the group its comrades.
• Qu Jianlei rewarded Wind Forgotten with a Space Stone for using its cutting lines effectively against the Sub-Nest.

Qu Jianlei arranged for Wind Forgotten to replenish its spiritual energy aboard a wrecked warship, while Claire accidentally revealed the team’s ability to produce spiritual energy and pressed Hua Lei to disclose more about a Secret Chamber. After days of detouring around Sub-Nests, the Division Level Ship encountered Asuras who suddenly appeared nearby.

• Qu Jianlei gave Wind Forgotten access to Space Stones as a reward and arranged for Bentley to set up two Gathering Spirit Arrays inside a wrecked Battalion-Class Ship so it could replenish its energy.
• Claire admitted to Hua Lei that the team could produce spiritual energy and that some members had endured tribulation lightning, then demanded that Hua Lei reveal what she knew about a Secret Chamber.
• The Division Level Ship detoured around several Sub-Nests over the next seven or eight days to conserve ammunition.
• On the eleventh day, the Division Level Ship encountered two Sub-Nests in succession, and the second released two Grandchild Nests and several fast Outpost Nests.
• The Division Level Ship destroyed three Outpost Nests, but two nests rippled and brought two Six-Armed Asuras and more than ten four-armed Asuras close to the ship.

Qu Jianlei and Digital Phantom fought scattered Asura forces, then tried to evade a coordinated pursuit rather than draw attention away from their mission to investigate the Space Barrier. After a costly counterattack broke the encirclement, new Asura nests appeared along their route toward the Link Nebula.

• The Division Level Ship destroyed several Grandchild Nests and Sub-Nests, and Qu Jianlei warned the team not to underestimate the Asuras after their easy victories.
• Qu Jianlei held a post-battle review, where Paranoid offered suggestions and Hua Lei observed Digital Phantom’s collaborative approach.
• When three Sub-Nests blocked their path, Qu Jianlei chose to flee rather than risk a major battle that could expose their mission.
• Jiao Daoren helped Qu Jianlei recognize that the Asuras were steering the Division Level Ship, so Qu Jianlei changed course and tactics to disrupt the pursuit.
• Qu Jianlei sent ships to counterattack, destroying several Sub-Nests and scattering the pursuers, but the team lost warships and spent another to eliminate the trailing nests.
• Less than a day later, more Asura nests appeared ahead as the Division Level Ship continued toward the Link Nebula.