Chapter Summaries

After the Asuras withdrew, Qu Jianlei’s team continued toward the Information Barrier Breach, preparing for a direct fight while replenishing their Mother Nests and hunting nearby enemies. As Asura Nests gathered despite Qu Jianlei’s attacks, the team concluded they were nearing the breach, though Jiao Daoren warned that it might be difficult to find.

• Qinghu captured the Eight-Armed Asura as a Live Sacrifice, and the opposing Mother Nest and other Asura Nests retreated.
• Qu Jianlei’s team debated how to proceed, then agreed to fight forthrightly and show their momentum.
• Qu Jianlei found High-Fidelity Replica beating Wind Forgotten for absorbing spiritual qi, and allowed their routine to continue after warning Wind Forgotten to be careful.
• The team replenished both Mother Nests and began hunting nearby Asura Nests that spied on them.
• Asura Nests appeared in greater numbers, and Qu Jianlei’s attacks failed to drive them away; the team suspected they were close to the Information Barrier Breach.
• Jiao Daoren cautioned that the breach could be concealed and difficult to locate.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet used divination to find the Information Barrier Breach and advanced through Asura territory, where the Asura tried to communicate but then let the fleet pass. The fleet attacked several nests along the way, crippled one Mother Nest, and continued onward as Zi Jiuxian questioned how the Federation had failed to contain the Asura.

• Qu Jianlei divined the location of the Information Barrier Breach, and the fleet formed a protected formation of five Division Level Ships with two Battalion-Class Ships as escorts.
• Five Mother Nests approached and displayed Taiji Diagrams of Yin-Yang, but the fleet refused to communicate and forced them to retreat with a show of force.
• Paranoid suspected the Asura were letting the fleet pass to prepare an encirclement, so he ordered two Mobile Palaces dropped behind the fleet; their blasts destroyed one Mother Nest and heavily damaged another.
• One of the remaining Mother Nests attacked the fleet, and all five Division Level Ships crippled it in three minutes while the other Asura nests held back.
• The fleet continued toward the breach, and Zi Jiuxian wondered how the Federation had failed to hold back the Asura.

Qu Jianlei’s group advanced through the Link Nebula toward the strange black hole, suspecting the Asura were concealing a trap while their forces remained stretched thin. They found a massive Mother Nest blocking the way, surrounded by smaller nests, and prepared to see what the Asura would do.

• Qinghu collected a damaged Mother Nest while the group concluded that the Asura’s restraint and sparse forces suggested danger ahead.
• The team traveled through white mist and unstable spatial energy, detecting the black hole and Asura nests tracking them from behind.
• Qu Jianlei’s group continued toward the black hole as their monitoring devices disappeared and more small Asura nests came into view.
• The warship spotted a nearly three-thousand-kilometer Mother Nest positioned in front of the black hole, and Qu Jianlei’s group approached cautiously.
• As many smaller nests surrounded the warship, Duo Gan noted that several other Mother Nests were hiding, while Paranoid mocked the Asura’s apparent lack of forces.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet faced Lord Burns’s powerful Mother Nest, whose Cyan Glow pierced the nest and crippled a Division Level Ship. Qu Jianlei ordered the team to descend into the Mother Nest while a decoy ship drew fire and launched a desperate counterattack.

• Qinghu asked Qu Jianlei whether the Digital Phantom Team should strike first, but the Mother Nest fired a Cyan Glow before he could answer.
• The Mother Nest rolled to shield the fleet, but the Cyan Glow pierced its edge; Yi He identified it as an Out-of-Body Realm attack, while the team suspected the Asuras were masking a fatal follow-up.
• Qu Jianlei ordered the team to descend into the Mother Nest, rejected Jing Yuexin and Qinghu’s offers to join him, and told Jia Shuiqing to prepare a decoy.
• The Asuras celebrated Lord Burns’s attack, believing the Humans had retreated into a damaged Mother Nest and that the strike could destroy their force.
• A battered, unmanned Division Level Ship emerged as a decoy, and the Mother Nest’s second Cyan Glow pierced its port side and severely damaged it.
• The Division Level Ship evaded the shot and fired back at the Mother Nest at full power, sacrificing its own survival to counterattack.

A Division Level Ship attacked Chieftain Burns’s heavily defended Mother Nest, but its weapons did no damage, and Burns expected the Small Ships to be a threat only if they carried Space Explosion Bombs. When a concealed magical artifact suddenly expanded into a massive shuttle, Burns tried to move the Mother Nest, then realized something about the attack was impossible.

• The Mother Nest struck the Division Level Ship with Cyan Glow, while the Division Level Ship’s Main Gun and Small Ships failed to damage it.
• Other Asura nests rushed to intercept the Small Ships, fearing they carried Space Explosion Bombs meant for Burns’s Mother Nest.
• Burns stayed still to preserve his reputation and observe the enemy, but grew uneasy as he considered the possibility of a hidden threat.
• A dim red streak expanded into a shuttle-shaped magical artifact more than ten kilometers in size.
• Burns tried to evade the incoming artifact, then widened his eyes and exclaimed that it was impossible.

Qu Jianlei and his allies destroyed the Asura patriarch’s out-of-body realm Mother Nest with the World Piercing Shuttle and survived the resulting spatial vibrations inside their own Mother Nest. After defeating the remaining Asuras and finding no sign of the patriarch, they prepared their ships and wondered whether to enter the Asura World.

• The World Piercing Shuttle expanded and pierced the Asura patriarch’s Mother Nest, reducing it and its contents to dust as Qu Jianlei and his allies fled into their own Mother Nest.
• The spatial rhythm severely damaged their Mother Nest and ships, but the group endured it and observed that it destroyed nearby Asura nests while weakening farther away.
• Qu Jianlei recovered the World Piercing Shuttle and ordered the group to fight the approaching Asuras; after three nearby Mother Nests were destroyed, the remaining four fled and the other Asuras scattered.
• Qu Jianlei, Jiao Daoren, Sunset Glow, and Yi He searched the area for three days and nights but found no trace of the Ten-Armed Asura or spiritual fluctuations.
• The group returned to their warships to repair the Mother Nest and recharge the World Piercing Shuttle, then considered entering the Asura World.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet crossed the black-hole rift into the Asura World and found little resistance on the far side. After scouting the area, he began planning a Teleportation Array and investigating whether the new world had spiritual energy and spirit stones.

• Qu Jianlei’s damaged fleet reached the black hole, performed a divination, and entered while a Division Level Ship stayed behind to guard the opening.
• Qu Jianlei and Sunset Glow emerged into an empty area, then found several seemingly idle Asura nests and learned that Burns had left to reinforce the other side.
• Qu Jianlei returned to the fleet, stored everyone and the ships in his Portable Abode, and traveled with Sunset Glow to a meteor suitable for hiding a Teleportation Array.
• Jiao Daoren identified Mystic Metal in the meteor, while Yi He warned that they needed to understand the world’s laws and determine what could power the array.
• Qu Jianlei agreed to investigate the world further, and Jing Yuexin pointed out that the team needed to learn whether spirit stones existed there.

Qu Jianlei and his team discovered an Asura-inhabited star continent, built a Teleportation Array there, and returned to the Division Level Ship. They learned that Fourth Boss, Xiang Xue, and Zi Jiuxian had defended the black hole entrance against several Asura nests.

• Jia Shuiqing urged the team to stop taking on new tasks, but Qu Jianlei agreed to visit one more celestial body before returning.
• Qu Jianlei and the others approached a life-filled star continent, avoided Asura nests, and landed amid the overwhelming stench of Asura waste.
• The team discovered more than two million Asuras, over a dozen settlements, idle Mother Nests, and abundant spiritual energy on the continent.
• The Nascent Soul Realm cultivators found a site beside the great river and built a Teleportation Array, which Jing Yuexin successfully tested.
• The main force returned to the Division Level Ship, where Qu Jianlei learned that Fourth Boss, Xiang Xue, and Zi Jiuxian had repelled several Secondary Nests and two Mother Nests.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fourth Boss and two delicate women (Xiang Xue, Zi Jiuxian) successfully pilot Small Ships without major fleet support, demonstrating their courage.
• Asura Nests retreat after a battle, suffering losses while Fourth Boss's team also incurs damages, but the Alliance Division Level Ship remains relatively intact.
• Discovery of spiritual energy, spirit stones, and a stellar continent on the Asura World, with only one Asura Nascent Soul and seven or eight Golden Core Realm cultivators present.
• Decision to patrol the Black Hole Entrance area but not defend it to the death, and to rest and reorganize at Dawn Base or remain at the Black Hole Entrance.
• Another Asura Nest attack triggers Flawed Portable Abodes, causing intense Space Ripples that last over a month.
• Jing Yuexin returns with three repaired Division Level Ships, news about the Empire, and a Regiment-level ship from the military.

Character Developments

• Fourth Boss shows strategic thinking and courage in piloting Small Ships.
• Xiang Xue and Zi Jiuxian display unexpected bravery and adaptability.
• Qu Jianlei demonstrates tactical prowess and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.
• Jing Yuexin proves to be a reliable and efficient leader, managing multiple bases and bringing supplies and news.

Significant Themes

• Courage and adaptability in the face of adversity.
• Strategic thinking and tactical decision-making.
• Sacrifice for the greater good and the greater good's potential cost.
• The importance of rest, reorganization, and resource management.

Character Interactions

• Paranoid praises Fourth Boss's resource management skills.
• Qu Jianlei, Xiang Xue, and Zi Jiuxian discuss the Asura World's discoveries and implications.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin coordinate on the team's next steps and resource allocation.
• The military and Digital Phantom discuss a potential deal involving damaged and new Division Level Ships.

Jing Yuexin rejected the Empire’s reduced offer of two Division Level Ships, accusing the government of using Asura intelligence to pressure the Federation rather than fairly support the Digital Phantom. After renewed negotiations, the team agreed to trade its intelligence for six ships and provided edited battle footage, leaving military officers stunned by the scale of the Asura threat.

• The Empire’s military and government debated whether to trade Division Level Ships for the Digital Phantom’s intelligence about the Asura entrance, ultimately authorizing two ships with limited ammunition.
• Jing Yuexin told the military that the Digital Phantom refused the deal because the offer had been cut from four ships to two and ammunition was restricted.
• Jing Yuexin explained that the government wanted the intelligence to pressure the Federation, and Qu Jianlei concluded that the Empire hoped to gain leverage from the Federation’s fight against the Alien Race.
• The government agreed to offer four ships with as much ammunition as possible, but the Digital Phantom demanded eight ships, and negotiations settled on six.
• The Digital Phantom refused to provide uncut footage, omitted the Flawed Portable Abode, and gave the military videos that showed countless Asura Nests and shocked the officers.

The Empire questioned Digital Phantom about its battle with the Asura Brood Mother, while the team prepared for the next threat and awaited its Division Level Ships. Jia Shuiqing then reported that Skyhook Cave Dwelling had expelled everyone, shrunk, and flown into space.

• The military learned from Hua Xiezhi that the Mother Nest was an existence one realm above Above Supreme, and Hua explained that Digital Phantom planned to take the initiative against the Alien Race.
• Qu Jianlei divined that You You would need three to fifteen years to form her core, then returned to Link Nebula as the Black Hole Entrance's fluctuations subsided.
• The Empire delivered four unmarked Division Level Ships to Digital Phantom, and the military said the ships should carry no team markings.
• Jia Shuiqing arrived at Link Nebula with Yi He and Jiao Daoren and told Qu Jianlei that Skyhook Cave Dwelling had disappeared.
• Skyhook Mystic Mansion expelled everyone inside, shrank to fist-size, and shot into space until it vanished.

The Empire sought Digital Phantom’s help after the Celestial Hook Mystic Mansion vanished, while Qu Jianlei and his team concluded that its Artifact Spirit had deliberately escaped with their stored Energy Blocks. Qu Jianlei refused to divine its location, and Duo Gan went to protect the Dark Red Celestial Body in case the Artifact Spirit tried to devour it.

• The Empire searched space for the missing Celestial Hook Mystic Mansion and asked Digital Phantom to help investigate, while also seeking an explanation for the team’s withdrawal from the Abandoned Mine.
• Jia Shuiqing told Qu Jianlei about the military’s request, and the team considered whether the Artifact Spirit had deliberately stockpiled Energy Blocks before fleeing.
• Qu Jianlei decided not to pursue the Artifact Spirit or cooperate with its apparent test, and the others warned against divining its location because of the karmic ties involved.
• Qu Jianlei asked about the Dark Red Celestial Body, and Old Lady Jia said Duo Gan had already gone there to protect it from the Artifact Spirit.

Duo Gan teleported to the Dark Red Celestial Body to shut down its Teleportation Array and delay the Abode Artifact Spirit while Qu Jianlei organized support. Qu Jianlei sent Qinghu to hold the black hole front and had Digital Phantom negotiate with the military over access to the Celestial Hook Mystic Mansion, leaving the garrison wondering how the team had returned so quickly.

• Duo Gan deduced that the Artifact Spirit might use the Division Level Ship’s Teleportation Array, then teleported to the Dark Red Celestial Body to shut it down and buy time.
• Jia Shuiqing and the others brought the crisis to Qu Jianlei, who called Qinghu back to hold the front and told her she could retreat if necessary.
• Jia Shuiqing offered to accompany Qinghu, but Qu Jianlei declined and said it was time for Digital Phantom to make a move.
• Three days after Qinghu departed, Dawn Base announced that Digital Phantom’s main force had returned, startling the nearby garrison.
• Hua Xiezhi negotiated with the garrison for at least one-third of the Celestial Hook Mystic Mansion’s usage rights, independently and without supervision.
• The garrison reported the demand upward as troops and officials questioned whether Digital Phantom had returned to search for the Mystic Mansion.

Digital Phantom searched for the Mystic Mansion while the Empire debated the team's growing reputation, and Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin joined Duo Gan at the Dark Red Celestial Body. Unable to move or safely guard it, Qu Jianlei considered towing it away, despite the High-Fidelity Replica's warning that doing so might trigger unexpected changes.

• The Empire stalled on granting Digital Phantom usage rights to the Mystic Mansion, but the team deployed more than ten Battalion-Class Ships to search for it.
• Digital Phantom painted its Alliance warships with its own insignia, and the ships' appearance revived public interest in the team's years of fighting abroad.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin teleported to a desolate planet and traveled to the Dark Red Celestial Body, where Duo Gan had been waiting for support.
• Qu Jianlei considered ways to protect the celestial body from the Artifact Spirit, but the High-Fidelity Replica could not control it and warned that moving it might cause unexpected changes.
• Jiao Daoren agreed that they should try towing the celestial body rather than let the Artifact Spirit claim it.

Qu Jianlei’s team abandoned their attempt to retrieve the Dark Red Celestial Body and secretly rigged it with Flawed Portable Abodes to punish the Artifact Spirit if it returned. Back at Future Star, Qu Jianlei learned that Black Colt Tower’s calculations were nearly complete and prepared to begin a risky experiment, while Jing Yuexin urged the team to handle it together.

• Qu Jianlei agreed with Duo Gan to leave the celestial body in place and secretly deploy Flawed Portable Abodes as a trap for the Artifact Spirit.
• The team left the site, returned to Dawn Base, and Qu Jianlei explained their decision; the other members supported him and continued searching for the Artifact Spirit.
• Korona and Keros told Qu Jianlei that the Future Star calculations were nearly ready to produce version 1.0, so he went to inspect them.
• After checking the results for two days, Qu Jianlei told Jing Yuexin he needed a place to experiment and asked her to manage matters on Asura’s side while he worked.
• Jing Yuexin objected to Qu Jianlei undertaking the risky experiment alone and proposed that the team withdraw from Link Nebula so everyone could research it together.

Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin worked together in the Link Nebula to build a new Black Colt Tower, while confronting their feelings about Xiao Hu. Their experiments were interrupted when Bentley reported that increasing numbers of Asura Nests were emerging from the Black Hole Entrance, possibly heralding the arrival of a main force.

• Qu Jianlei agreed to conduct experiments in the Link Nebula with Jing Yuexin, Rhine, and Lao Ben, and they brought Qinghu back after she warned that another Mother Nest might have escaped her attack.
• Qu Jianlei, Jing Yuexin, Hua Lei, and their nonhuman companions reached their former base, cleared out scattered Asura Nests, and began testing a new Black Colt Tower.
• After two months, Jing Yuexin had become a capable assistant, and she asked Qu Jianlei whether she or Xiao Hu had been better to him; he explained that Xiao Hu was asleep and that he was waiting for it to wake up.
• Jing Yuexin helped Qu Jianlei’s experiments progress more quickly, and he began refining the third test product with her rough processing.
• Bentley arrived to report that increasing numbers of Small Nests had emerged from the Black Hole Entrance, raising his suspicion that the Asuras’ main force—and possibly an Out-of-Body Realm Asura—was arriving.

Qu Jianlei and his allies monitored the Asura invasion, using a Fire-luring Burst trap to devastate an early force before withdrawing as the Asuras adapted. Two months later, Jing Yuexin’s traps lay too far from a new formation, so Qu Jianlei lured the Asuras into battle with a cloaked Battalion-Class Ship, which was eventually overwhelmed by reinforcements.

• Bentley reported three newly emerged Mother Nests, and Qu Jianlei chose to observe from a Division Level Ship rather than act rashly.
• As the Asura force grew to sixteen Mother Nests, a Sub-Nest destroyed a disguised probe and triggered a Fire-luring Burst that annihilated it and damaged many nearby nests.
• The Asuras returned more cautiously with over twenty Mother Nests, while Qu Jianlei withdrew and instructed Bentley to keep watch.
• Two months later, Jing Yuexin and Hua Lei had set up two Mobile Palace traps near a new Asura force, but the traps were too far away to catch it.
• Qu Jianlei agreed to lure the Asuras toward the traps, and his cloaked Battalion-Class Ship attacked their four-Mother-Nest formation.
• The Asuras sent additional Mother Nests and Small Nests into the fight, leaving Qu Jianlei’s badly damaged ship struggling as enemy forces closed in from the flanks.

Qu Jianlei’s forces destroyed three of four pursuing Asura Mother Nests, then investigated a new Space Ripple while keeping their main research focused on the Black Colt Tower. Bentley later reported a powerful Mother Nest guarded by seven others near the Black Hole Entrance, and Qu Jianlei questioned whether the threat was genuine or a trap.

• Qu Jianlei lured four Asura Mother Nests into a trap, destroyed two with Mobile Palace explosions, then crippled the pursuing leader with more than two hundred Small Ships so Jing Yuexin could collect it.
• The surviving Asura forces withdrew, and the area fell quiet after three of the four Mother Nests were eliminated.
• After three failed experiments, Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin detected a Space Ripple resembling the World Piercing Shuttle, but Qu Jianlei insisted that developing the Black Colt Tower came first.
• Bentley reported an exceptionally high-ranking Mother Nest near the Black Hole Entrance, guarded by seven Mother Nests, and urged Qu Jianlei to strike before it could threaten them.
• Qu Jianlei questioned whether the Asuras were setting a trap and whether the suspected Out-of-Body Mother Nest truly possessed that level of power.

Qu Jianlei advanced the Black Colt Tower experiments, confirming that it could safely transport living creatures while altering the flow of time. After repelling another Asura invasion, he learned that the Federation was pressuring Digital Phantom to let it inspect the Asura entrance and threatening to expose the World Piercing Shuttle.

• Qu Jianlei stabilized the Black Colt Tower, tested it with spirit beasts and Wild Beasts, and found that Jing Yuexin’s avatar could spend three days inside while only half a day passed outside.
• Duo Gan’s avatar stopped a Science Vessel from entering Digital Phantom’s restricted zone, while the vessel’s survey found no trace of the fading energy fluctuation.
• Qu Jianlei began matching a Spiritual Qi Conversion Array to the Black Colt Tower, then joined Sunset Glow in using five Mobile Palaces to destroy eight invading Asura Mother Nests and relocate.
• Qu Jianlei visited Bentley and found that five Mother Nests remained at the Channel Entrance, with the suspected Out-of-Body Realm Mother Nest still protected by four others.
• Hua Xiezhi told Qu Jianlei that the Federation demanded access to the Asura entrance and threatened to reveal that Digital Phantom had obtained the World Piercing Shuttle illegally; the Empire offered ships and asked Digital Phantom how it would respond.

Hua Xiezhi and Qu Jianlei accepted a deal with the Empire and Federation that gave Digital Phantom additional ships in exchange for joining an expedition against the Asura. Qu Jianlei created and tested the first imitation Black Colt Tower, then learned he would need to improve it carefully as Digital Phantom prepared to travel to the Link Nebula.

• Hua Xiezhi agreed to accept three Division Level Ships from the Empire and Federation, while Qu Jianlei said their help could draw Asura forces away from Digital Phantom.
• Dawn Base recalled its members as Qu Jianlei returned to the Black Hole Entrance and then focused on overcoming his cultivation bottleneck.
• Qu Jianlei completed the first imitation Black Colt Tower and tested it with an A-rank wolf, which survived but absorbed too much spiritual qi.
• Jing Yuexin cultivated inside the tower for four days, but Qu Jianlei found that her Nascent Soul Realm demands had caused faint cracks.
• Yi He and Jiao Daoren warned Qu Jianlei that time-distorting treasures were rare and dangerous, so he resolved to improve the tower cautiously.
• Digital Phantom received three Division Level Ships and five Battalion-Class Ships and prepared to accompany the Empire and Federation toward the Link Nebula.