Recaps

Qu Jianlei stopped divining after sensing danger and traveled to Light Gauze Star with Duo Gan, Hua Xiezhi, and the Fourth Boss to find Yi He and Sunset Glow. Yi He asked him to divine the Space Barrier’s weak point, but Duo Gan warned that the backlash could overwhelm him, while the group learned the damaged Flying Shuttle might have been capable of breaking through the barrier if its weapons still worked.

• Qu Jianlei returned from a nighttime search with a ruined handkerchief, and Jing Yuexin confronted him about sneaking out and divining.
• Qu Jianlei explained that he had stopped a divination after sensing danger, then spent the following days researching how to replicate the Black Colt Tower.
• Big Head Butterfly completed a preliminary model for identifying spies and advised Qu Jianlei to consult Yi He, so Qu Jianlei arranged a trip to Light Gauze Star.
• Qu Jianlei left Misty Rain Terrace with Duo Gan, Hua Xiezhi, and the Fourth Boss, then found Yi He and Sunset Glow near Light Gauze Star.
• Yi He asked Qu Jianlei to divine the weak point in the Space Barrier, but Duo Gan objected that the backlash could be too dangerous.
• Sunset Glow recognized Qu Jianlei’s damaged Flying Shuttle, and Yi He said that its weapons system might have let it break through the Space Barrier.

Qu Jianlei’s group searched Light Gauze Star for a damaged artifact, then traveled to Snowfield Star to capture spies and study a new screening method through Yi He’s soul searches. The chapter left Yi He and Xiao Hu beginning to convert searched memories into data with Qu Jianlei coordinating their efforts.

• Qu Jianlei divined the location of an ownerless damaged artifact on Light Gauze Star, and Hua Xiezhi retrieved a cracked Lifebound Flying Sword from a bank vault.
• Sunset Glow and Yi He found no confirmed spies on Light Gauze Star, so Qu Jianlei decided to investigate Snowfield Star instead.
• After arriving at Snowfield Star, the group discovered a large spy network, planned arrests, and captured more than two hundred people in one night.
• Qu Jianlei’s group built an underground Stone Chamber and equipped the captured spies with sensors so Xiao Hu could record data during Yi He’s soul searches.
• Yi He began searching the spies’ memories slowly for Xiao Hu to observe, then worked with Xiao Hu to convert those memories into data with Qu Jianlei’s help.

Yi He, Qu Jianlei, and Xiao Hu developed a model for identifying spies, prompting a planetwide screening on Snowfield Star. Qu Jianlei then performed another divination, which led Yi He and Sunset Glow to find a ghost cultivator’s soul-tempering method.

• Yi He, Qu Jianlei, and Xiao Hu completed a memory-to-data model and soul-searched more than two hundred people, leaving nine Suspected Spies who had not become idiots.
• Qu Jianlei and his companions released five innocent people, while Snowfield Star’s military investigated the mass disappearances and suspected Digital Phantom was responsible.
• Qu Jianlei had Xiao Hu infiltrate the military network and send it the spy-identification model and the warehouse’s coordinates.
• The military recovered the missing people, tested the model against them and soldiers, and confirmed its accuracy before requesting planetwide screening.
• After the Empire ordered Snowfield Star to serve as a pilot site, Yi He asked Qu Jianlei to divine a method for refining the divine soul.
• Qu Jianlei’s divination led Sunset Glow and Yi He to an underground Stone Chamber, where they found a ghost cultivator’s method and corpse.

After recovering on Snowfield, Qu Jianlei considered Duo Gan’s request to help her chief steward Kefu attempt a breakthrough to Above Supreme. Yi He offered a method for binding oaths, and Kefu accepted the condition, leaving Qu Jianlei to arrange their meeting.

• Qu Jianlei recuperated for five days in the underground Stone Chamber while military warships searched the area and failed to detect the group.
• Duo Gan told Qu Jianlei that Kefu wanted his help attempting to break through to Above Supreme and offered information about a vast Energy Stone Mine.
• Qu Jianlei hesitated because he barely knew Kefu and feared adding another difficult-to-manage Pseudo-Nascent Soul to the team.
• Yi He offered Qu Jianlei a method for imposing binding Oath Restrictions and explained that Kefu would be free if Qu Jianlei died.
• Duo Gan reported that Kefu had accepted the oath and would still offer the mine information, so Qu Jianlei told her to arrange a concealed meeting on Snowfield Star.

Kefu arrived on Snowfield Star, joined Qu Jianlei’s team, and learned about its Gathering Spirit Array. Qu Jianlei then divined a damaged Yin Soul Pouch that could serve as a Spirit Beast Pouch, but Yi He warned him that repeated divination could cause irreversible harm.

• Kefu passed Snowfield Star’s genetic screening and told the inspectors he had come hoping to help Digital Phantom.
• Duo Gan met Kefu, brought him to Qu Jianlei, and Kefu revealed the information about the Energy Stone Mine before swearing a secrecy oath.
• Kefu saw the Gathering Spirit Array and was astonished that Energy Blocks could generate vast amounts of spiritual energy.
• Qu Jianlei divined an ownerless damaged magic artifact, and Sunset Glow and Yi He returned with a Yin Soul Pouch that could hold living creatures up to the Golden Core Realm.
• Qu Jianlei designated the pouch for the team’s shared use, and Yi He warned that Qu Jianlei’s excessive divination could cause irreversible damage.

Kefu reunited with Qu Jianlei’s group on Ironwood Star after accepting Space Stones from the Blade Star Domain military, which helped Qu Jianlei’s research into spatial compression. When Qu Jianlei’s group visited a newly developed Energy Stone Mine, the Pan Rock military offered them more Space Stones and asked for help with attacks on Ya Yi'an’s clansmen.

• Kefu left Qu Jianlei’s team, accepted five Space Stones from the Blade Star Domain military, established a mining company, and eventually joined the group on Ironwood Star.
• Qu Jianlei used the Space Stone powder he had to make two Item-Storing Talismans and was glad that Kefu brought solid Space Stones for his Black Colt Tower research.
• Qu Jianlei learned that Qinghu planned to form a Nascent Soul at Misty Rain Terrace and face the tribulation lightning after teleporting elsewhere, while Nationwide Gene Detection inspections spread to Ironwood Star.
• Qu Jianlei, Jing Yuexin, Duo Gan, Hua Xiezhi, and Fourth Boss traveled to Pan Rock Star to inspect their Energy Stone Mine and told the military they had no interest in visiting headquarters.
• The Pan Rock military gave the group ten fist-sized Space Stones, then warned them that Ya Yi'an’s clansmen had suffered attacks and asked for help protecting them.

After learning that the Ya Yi'an Family had been targeted by enemy spies, Digital Phantom considered its response and Qu Jianlei reconsidered how he used divination. The group later reached an Energy Stone Mine in the Tianhe Star Region, where Qu Jianlei secretly established a long-range Teleportation Array.

• The Lieutenant General told Hua Xiezhi and Duo Gan that the military had protected the Ya Yi'an Family after spies targeted them, and offered to arrange travel to the Federation or Alliance.
• Hua Xiezhi said Digital Phantom had not hit the spies hard enough, but Duo Gan declined to discuss their plans with the Lieutenant General.
• Jing Yuexin warned Qu Jianlei not to waste divination on wealth, and he agreed to reserve it for when it was necessary.
• Fourth Boss finished observing the sword intent four days later, and Shui Xisheng confirmed that the Ya Yi'an Family had already received military protection.
• A month later, Digital Phantom arrived at the Energy Stone Mine in the Tianhe Star Region, where Duo Gan established their authority and Qu Jianlei resisted divining the reserves.
• Qu Jianlei chose a location on the celestial body and secretly set up a long-range Teleportation Array.

Qu Jianlei's group changed course to investigate a Frontline where the Alliance had withdrawn and the Empire was fighting an Alien Race. After learning about the Winged Hand Race, they decided to continue to the Frontline, where they finally reached the military fleet.

• Qu Jianlei brought Bentley, Yuanyuan, Claire, Tian Yin, Sunset Glow, and Yi He toward the Frontline, but two Empire generals asked them to visit another breach instead.
• Qu Jianlei's group agreed to change course, refused the generals' offer to send a warship with them, and learned from Xiao Hu that the military lacked a clear grasp of the situation.
• A Major General explained that the Alliance had deliberately abandoned the breach after luring an Alien Race into the war zone, leaving the Empire to defend its bridgehead.
• The Major General showed Qu Jianlei's group footage of the Winged Hand Race, and Yi He judged that the aliens posed no serious threat to them.
• Qu Jianlei decided to inspect the Frontline, refused the Major General's guidance, and continued onward until the group reached the military fleet.

Qu Jianlei’s group entered the forest-like Locust territory and fought their first battle against the trees and Locusts. They withdrew after testing the enemy’s defenses and collecting Locust corpses and tree fragments for study.

• Qu Jianlei chose a Heavy Cargo Starship from the military and refused to let military personnel aboard as the group headed deeper into space.
• Yi He explained that the metallic trees and Locusts shared a symbiotic relationship and spread between planets together.
• Qu Jianlei’s ships tested their weapons against the trees, finding that destroying them required heavy firepower and many shots.
• The trees fired black threads, and the Locusts attacked the ships; tests showed that lasers were effective against Locusts while their black threads could breach a Small Ship’s defenses.
• After the Small Ships ran low on ammunition and energy, one collected Locust corpses and tree fragments before Qu Jianlei sent three more ships to cover the retreat.

Qu Jianlei and his crew retreated from a vast Tree Sea after the military refused to help, then discovered the Locusts’ strange corrosive energy could be contained in boxes made from the trees. They repeatedly attacked the pursuing swarm until it was halved, then finally left the area.

• Fourth Boss contacted the military for help, but the military refused and advised Qu Jianlei’s crew to take a detour.
• Qu Jianlei ordered the Battalion-Class Ship to disengage, and the crew inspected damage from the Locusts’ attacks and found evidence of corrosive energy.
• Qu Jianlei suggested using wood fragments to contain the energy, and the crew later confirmed that boxes made from the trees could hold it.
• Qu Jianlei’s crew returned to attack the Tree Sea, lost a Small Ship while collecting samples, and gathered wood fragments and Locust corpses.
• Qu Jianlei repeatedly sent the Battalion-Class Ship back to bombard the pursuing Tree Sea, reducing it by half before finally departing.

Qu Jianlei and his crew left the Tree Sea after testing the Locust and studying its remains, then traveled into Alliance territory while posing as merchants and bounty hunters. They reached the Vault Star Region near the front and passed another military inspection, intending to gather intelligence before making a move against the Alliance.

• Qu Jianlei ended the attack on the Tree Sea after confirming that their weapons had destroyed many trees but killed few Locust, and the crew examined the Locust and wood for possible uses and hazards.
• Xiao Hu made Locust meat non-toxic, but the process cost too much energy, so Qu Jianlei told Xiao Hu to keep working on making the corpses more valuable.
• The crew left in the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship and passed an Alliance Patrol Team's inspection by explaining that they planned to hunt Alien Races for bounties.
• Qu Jianlei's group chose to gather intelligence rather than seize Space Stones, and they traveled to the Vault Star Region near the Occupied Area.
• The crew passed a second military inspection near Jade Waves after claiming they were bounty hunting and assessing business prospects in the region.

Qu Jianlei and Sunset Glow stole supplies from an Alliance military warehouse and detonated one ammunition depot, prompting a clash over who should control Bi Tao Star’s weapons. The Alliance offered a compromise that left the local military and authorities dissatisfied.

• Qu Jianlei and his companions spent several days on Bi Tao Star but learned almost nothing about the Alien Race because information remained tightly restricted.
• Qu Jianlei and Sunset Glow infiltrated a directly commanded military warehouse to steal ammunition, then agreed with Yi He to blow up a medium-sized depot.
• The explosion put Bi Tao Star on alert, and the authorities and military began strict inspections while Qu Jianlei’s group watched from their ship.
• The local military used the blast to demand greater access to weapons and ammunition, arguing that the existing storage arrangements were unsafe and inadequate for the coming invasion.
• The Alliance offered to distribute up to twenty percent of the reserves among a limited number of sites guarded by Alliance personnel, but the local military and authorities rejected the offer as insufficient.

Bi Tao Star’s residents challenged the military over its secrecy and ammunition controls, while Qu Jianlei’s crew decided to head toward Baozhi Star to investigate the Alien Race. Their jump dropped the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship into a dangerous cluster of Forest Seas, leaving them to flee after narrowly escaping a three-way attack.

• Bi Tao Star’s residents spread rumors and demanded weapons and information, prompting the military to announce that volunteers could enlist to support Baozhi Star.
• Qu Jianlei shared Xiao Hu’s findings, and Yi He, Jing Yuexin, and Duo Gan agreed to head toward Baozhi Star aboard the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship.
• Three days after the ship left, Bi Tao Star learned that Baozhi Star had lost contact.
• After jumping, the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship appeared between two Forest Seas and used its shield and Xiao Hu’s evasive piloting to escape their black-thread attacks.
• A third, larger Forest Sea appeared, but the ship eventually shook off all three pursuers, and the crew discussed the danger of the region.

Qu Jianlei’s crew circled Baozhi Star, refused military requisitions, and destroyed two warships that attacked them. After Sunset Glow returned with a teleportation array, Qu Jianlei’s group reached the planet and found its once-lush landscape reduced to rubble.

• Qu Jianlei refused to let the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship be requisitioned by a fleeing military fleet and turned down its request to transport wounded personnel.
• After two Company-level Warships tried to requisition them, one fired on the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship, and Qu Jianlei ordered both ships and their survivors destroyed.
• Qu Jianlei gave Energy Blocks to an Assault Ship seeking help rescuing the Deputy Commander of the Baozhi Military Region, then watched it accelerate away.
• Sunset Glow returned after setting up a Teleportation Array on Baozhi Star and reported that the planet was close to falling.
• Qu Jianlei, Claire, and Tian Yin teleported to Baozhi Star and found rubble where its vast forests had once stood.

Qu Jianlei’s group surveyed Baozhi Star and rescued ten children hiding in a Stone Cave. With the planet cut off from outside contact, they reached a Settlement by radio and tried to persuade its residents to admit the children; the chapter ended with the Settlement agreeing to arrange their entry.

• Qu Jianlei and the others surveyed Baozhi Star, finding barren land, Alien Race tree trunks guarded by Locusts, and six Settlements resisting attacks.
• Qu Jianlei removed the Teleportation Array Disc and led the group toward the nearest Settlement, where they discovered ten children hidden in a Stone Cave.
• Qu Jianlei asked the oldest girl whether she wanted to stay or go to a Settlement, and she chose to leave with the group.
• Qu Jianlei’s group approached Bacon Shelter and contacted its residents by radio, but they refused to send rescuers and questioned his identity.
• The girl gave her name and background, then pleaded for the shelter to admit the three nursing infants, prompting the residents to agree to arrange a time and place.

Qu Jianlei's team charged through the Locust siege and delivered the children to Fort No. 4 at Bacon Shelter. After demanding an explanation for why the Alien Race had not overwhelmed the shelter, Qu Jianlei was urged to come inside and talk.

• A Supreme at Bacon Shelter verified Qu Jianlei's team with Raindrop Reconnaissance Devices and ordered the defenders to keep watch.
• Qu Jianlei's team approached the shelter with the children, used Instant Flash to cover the final distance, and fought through the Locusts.
• Jing Yuexin ordered the Electromagnetic Belt at Fort No. 4 activated, allowing the team to reach the stronghold while Electric Arcs struck the pursuing Locusts.
• Yuanyuan and the others passed the children through a firing port, and the first infant's genetic test confirmed Alliance origin.
• Qu Jianlei asked why the Locusts had not taken the shelter in one push, and the Supreme on the external speakers invited the team inside to talk.

Qu Jianlei’s team entered the shelter and met Supreme Wu Zhen, who explained the desperate situation on Baozhi Star. Qu Jianlei learned that the Locusts’ energy-rich meat could be detoxified, but the process was still too costly for widespread use.

• Qu Jianlei and his team entered the shelter after helping rescue the children, and Wu Zhen welcomed them inside.
• Yuanyuan returned the girl’s belongings in an Item-Storing Talisman, and Qu Jianlei refused Wu Zhen’s offer to let the team rest apart from one another.
• Wu Zhen explained that the shelter had enough Energy Blocks for about half a year but that the Alien Race’s assault had shattered the Baozhi Military Region.
• Qu Jianlei asked why the Locusts had not captured the shelter and learned that they occupied only about one-tenth of Baozhi Star and needed to preserve their forces.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen that Locust meat could be detoxified, prompting Wu Zhen to ask about buying the patent.
• Qu Jianlei clarified that he was not selling a patent and that detoxification remained too expensive for widespread use.

Qu Jianlei negotiated with Wu Zhen to process Locust meat and learned more about the Alien Race, including the threat posed by its enormous Mother Trees. After Wu Zhen failed to answer his question about Higgins, Qu Jianlei began testing the meat while Wu Zhen admitted he opposed Higgins and explained why.

• Wu Zhen asked Qu Jianlei to make Locust meat non-toxic for the shelter’s survivors, and Qu Jianlei agreed to process it for a price.
• Wu Zhen described the Locust spores, the dark attributes of the Black Lines, and a rumor that conquered planets developed Mother Trees over a thousand meters wide.
• Qu Jianlei asked how many Mother Trees existed in the Alliance, then demanded to know where Higgins was and ordered the Locust corpses brought in when Wu Zhen did not answer.
• Qu Jianlei set up a shielded laboratory and began processing meat from five damaged Locust corpses while Wu Zhen waited outside with the team.
• Wu Zhen told Jing Yuexin and the others that he opposed rescuing Higgins because Higgins had delayed Baozhi’s evacuation and misjudged the danger.

Wu Zhen tried to persuade Jing Yuexin’s group to help evacuate everyone in his shelter, but they demanded a practical plan before discussing payment. He revealed that Baozhi Star’s Military Factory could take off, leaving Qu Jianlei stunned as the story ended with Wu Zhen explaining how he had secretly completed the project.

• Wu Zhen argued that an early Alliance evacuation could have saved most of Baozhi Star’s population and admitted he wanted to take everyone in his shelter away.
• Jing Yuexin and Duo Gan doubted Wu Zhen’s motives and rejected his offers of cash and Alliance Contribution Points.
• Qu Jianlei emerged from the laboratory, learned Wu Zhen wanted to evacuate more than forty thousand people, and asked to hear his plan.
• Wu Zhen revealed that the Military Factory could take off under a secret Mobile Fortress Preparedness Project.
• Wu Zhen explained that he had secretly completed the project more than ten years earlier, after the Alliance ordered similar projects scrapped.

Wu Zhen asked Qu Jianlei and his companions to help the people at his shelter escape Baozhi Star, offering twelve starships to draw away the Alien Race. Qu Jianlei agreed to help for payment, but Wu Zhen could not provide the three complete artifacts he demanded.

• Wu Zhen explained that the Alien Race had blockaded space and asked Qu Jianlei's group to draw its forces away so the shelter could take off.
• Bentley and Duo Gan rejected Wu Zhen's attempt to make them feel responsible, and Qu Jianlei said they would need practical compensation to help.
• Wu Zhen revealed that his Military Factory had twelve usable starships in an outer-space supply depot, though they were unmanned and most belonged to clients.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen the Alien Race's encirclement stretched more than thirty million kilometers, then agreed to help without promising the escape would succeed.
• Qu Jianlei demanded two billion in cash and three complete artifacts; Wu Zhen agreed to the cash but said he had no artifacts available.

Qu Jianlei and his group observed the Alien Race’s assault on Wu Zhen’s shelter while the Alliance tested whether Locust meat could be safely eaten. Qu Jianlei argued that selling the meat as a hunted reward could make war against the Alien Race profitable, then prepared to leave as the attack eased.

• Wu Zhen showed Qu Jianlei’s group the Locust assault, explaining that the trees’ Black Line attacks consumed too much energy and that the night attack would eventually retreat.
• The battle continued through dawn, and Qu Jianlei’s group watched the shelter struggle against shuttle-shaped Locust while Wu Zhen reported that sixty people had eaten Locust meat without toxic reactions.
• Qu Jianlei learned the meat tasted tough, dry, sour, and fishy, then proposed selling it at a high price as a hunted reward to make large-scale war sustainable.
• Wu Zhen explained that the shelter had tried burning Alien Race corpses for energy but found the approach impractical, and Qu Jianlei processed ten more Locust corpses for the experiment.
• As the Locust attack weakened near nightfall, Qu Jianlei’s group prepared to break out, while the people who knew they were leaving looked at them despairingly.

Wu Zhen offered Qu Jianlei’s team artifact information, a Divine Script Treasure, and gathered funds in exchange for a chance to escape Baozhi Star. After the team agreed to help and planned their operation, Bentley and Duo Gan retrieved a Military Factory warehouse and discovered additional hidden warehouses stocked with starships.

• Wu Zhen gathered the locations of four artifacts, promised a Divine Script Treasure, and collected 1.5 billion in cash and gold worth about one billion from the shelter’s residents.
• Qu Jianlei’s team discussed the risks, accepted Wu Zhen’s offer, and questioned him about the Mobile Fortress before devising a battle plan.
• Bentley and Duo Gan left the shelter, escaped the Locusts, and teleported back to the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship.
• Xiao Hu entered the Military Factory’s space warehouse, where it found twelve usable starships, more than fifty million Energy Blocks, and ammunition, then took control of the ships.
• Duo Gan discovered five more warehouses on the asteroid, including two stocked with twenty-six intact starships, Energy Blocks, and ammunition.

Duo Gan and Bentley brought thirty-eight starships to Baozhi Star while Qu Jianlei's group prepared to break out of Bacon Shelter aboard its Mobile Fortress. The breakout began under cover of a diversion, and the fortress rose into the sky as nearby shelters watched.

• Duo Gan and Bentley loaded thirty-eight starships with supplies and towed them toward Baozhi Star, detouring around pursuing Alien Races.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen to complete Bacon Shelter's final preparations, and Wu Zhen paid the agreed price and shared the magical-artifact information.
• Wu Zhen killed several dozen people who refused to obey and informed the shelter residents how they would depart.
• At eleven that night, sixteen starships launched from Baozhi Star and attacked nearby Alien Races to draw the Locusts away from Bacon Shelter.
• Xiao Hu maneuvered a starship to shield its partner from Black Lines before it crashed, distracting Locusts that might have attacked the shelter.
• Wu Zhen ordered the Mobile Fortress not to return fire as it rose through Locust attacks, while observers identified it as Bacon Military Factory's fortress.

Qu Jianlei commanded the Mobile Fortress through the Forest Sea encirclement while starships drew away the Alien Races and the fortress endured Black Line attacks. After escaping the encirclement, the battered fortress reached a sparser stretch of space, where Qu Jianlei revealed that additional starships from another warehouse had helped escort them.

• Twenty-two starships attacked in waves and carved a passage through the thirty-million-kilometer encirclement as the Mobile Fortress rose toward it.
• Wu Zhen ordered the Electromagnetic Belt and Laser Weapons to clear the Locusts clinging to the fortress, and the fortress charged upward.
• Qu Jianlei took command and guided the fortress through Black Line attacks while Higgins demanded that it turn back to evacuate the Command Center.
• The fortress survived the encirclement and continued through the thinning Forest Sea, while additional starships drew attacks away from its route.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen that they had found another warehouse beside Wu Zhen's, which supplied more starships for the escape.

Qu Jianlei’s fortress jettisoned its damaged outer shell and fought through the Tree Sea, where Tian Yin’s Light Attribute spells proved effective against Black Lines and Locusts. Her attacks provoked a furious response, and the escape was further threatened when two enormous, apparently Supreme-level Locusts appeared.

• Qu Jianlei ordered the fortress to jettison its outer shell after Jing Yuexin and Tian Yin inspected the damage, and the intact inner fortress emerged and charged ahead.
• Qu Jianlei sent Yuanyuan, Hua Xiezhi, and Tian Yin to the front to support the fortress with talismans.
• Tian Yin used Radiance Art to counter Black Line energy and Light Bullet Art to destroy Locusts, revealing the powerful effects of Light Attribute spells.
• The Tree Sea responded to Tian Yin’s Light Bullet Art by multiplying its Black Line attacks and sending trees into a reckless pursuit.
• An apparent Space Ripple revealed two enormous Locusts that cast powerful, tracking spells, and Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin recognized them as possible Supreme-level threats.
• Jing Yuexin used Fireball and Ice Cone Talismans to counter the Locusts’ spells, but the results differed from their earlier tests.