Chapter Summaries

After twenty years in the Silver Belt District, Wei He prepared to take the Harmonizing Agent while Bilian made plans for her own Spirit Energy advancement and shared news of a powerful potential mentor. As he reflected on their life together and heard about Stanley’s impending departure, Wei He arranged for a Harmonizing Agent to be delivered to his home.

• Wei He left the laboratory after clearing the remaining traces of his compounding medicine and erasing the instrument data, then reflected on his twenty years at the Pharmacology Center and his upcoming breakthrough.
• Wei He spoke with Bilian, who said her training on Linghai Star would last about five years and that she planned to take the Harmonizing Agent after meeting the tenfold Spirit Energy requirement.
• Bilian told Wei He that a major figure from the Crown Letter Society might accept her as a disciple, and she vowed to seek life-gene adjustment privileges to extend his lifespan.
• Sri Lanka invited Wei He to Stanley’s class reunion and explained that Stanley planned to confess to Yuna before leaving after losing his cultivation support, but Wei He said he would decide later.
• Wei He contacted the Black Merchant and arranged to have a Harmonizing Agent delivered to his residence before three the next afternoon.

Wei He consumed the harmonizing agent and used the Boundary-Breaking Pearl to complete his breakthrough into Illumination, transforming his body and psionic energy. After reporting his new strength and awaiting certification, he studied the abilities and spirit techniques available at his new level.

• Wei He drank the harmonizing agent in his hotel room, and the Boundary-Breaking Pearl suppressed its painful effects as he forced the Star Sea Spirit Art through its bottleneck.
• The Boundary-Breaking Pearl reshaped Wei He's body, dissolved buried radiation, and drew out the Gravity God, whose fragments fused into him and darkened his psionic energy.
• Wei He woke two days later with 1.2 spirit ears of psionic energy, confirmed as an initial-stage Illumination, and reported his test results to qualify for certification and Illumination privileges.
• Wei He tested the Illumination state, finding that it greatly accelerated his reactions and let him perceive the world in extreme slow motion.
• Wei He purchased the third level of the Star Sea Spirit Art and learned about its Spirit Pool, Shimmer, and Spirit Shield techniques.

Wei He completed his Illumination certification, received a promotion, and began studying the privileges of his new rank. Li Hanyue learned that Wei He had become an Illumination after she had repeatedly rejected chances to meet him, and she left the bar in anger and regret.

• Wei He completed his Illumination certification with Isali and Toni, and his terminal profile received the Illumination mark.
• Wei He began studying Illumination benefits after telling Bilian he would spend three days tempering his psionic energy in seclusion.
• Professor Floyd received Li Hanyue's request to investigate Lieutenant Colonel Liers and noticed an old contact in his terminal.
• Li Hanyue told Li Qingman that she had obtained Liers's account but received no response.
• Li Qingman informed Li Hanyue that Wei He had broken through to Illumination and been appointed deputy minister in two departments.
• Li Hanyue found Wei He's promotion records online, smashed her bottle, and stormed out of the bar.

Resius learned that Wei He had broken through to Radiance, making years of sponsorship seem worthwhile. The news spread to Sri Lanka and Bilian, who discovered her husband’s achievement while returning to work and looked forward to seeing him at home.

• Resius received Wei He's invitation to drink and was shocked to see his verified Radiance mark.
• Resius told his wife and daughter about Wei He's breakthrough and celebrated the prospect of having a Radiance friend who could help their Lineage.
• Sri Lanka learned of Wei He's breakthrough during military training and laughed with happiness.
• Bilian's colleagues congratulated her on Wei He's breakthrough, and she checked his verified profile and the public announcement.
• Bilian asked Wei He why he had not told her, and he explained that he was still consolidating his psionic power before agreeing to see her after work.

After fusing with the Gravity God, Wei He discovered that gravity had merged with his psionic energy and could grow alongside it, though he still wanted to find his missing master and Eldest Senior Sister. At the Saluto family dinner, Bilian’s relatives learned that Wei He had advanced to Illumination level, prompting her grandfather to welcome her back while Duoshali remained convinced Bilian had made the wrong choice.

• Wei He tested his new gravity-like psionic ability and reflected on his progress, Bilian’s sacrifices, and his determination to learn what had happened to Li Rong and Eldest Senior Sister.
• At a family dinner, Franci asked Duoshali to contact Bilian and invite her to visit the family.
• Ludi contacted Bilian, who said she could not visit because she was attending Wei He’s Illumination-level advancement celebration.
• Ludi confirmed Wei He’s promotion through the authorities’ public announcement, stunning the family and silencing Beyonce’s boasting about her son.
• Franci praised Bilian and asked her to bring Wei He for a visit after the celebration, while Duoshali privately insisted Bilian could have secured a better future through a family-arranged marriage.

Wei He tested his new Illumination-level body frame against Resius and learned that psychic techniques, especially control of the Illumination state, dominated battles at this level. After losing repeatedly in the battle network, he asked Sound of Blades whether martial arts still mattered and received a qualified answer.

• Wei He and Resius sparred in White Flag frames, and Resius used combined psychic techniques to force Wei He out of the Illumination state and defeat him.
• Resius explained that Illumination battles centered on driving opponents out of the Illumination state, while martial arts skills played a secondary role.
• Wei He entered the body frame battle network and lost all twenty of his random Illumination matches.
• Wei He asked Sound of Blades whether martial arts remained useful at higher levels, and Sound of Blades said they could help evade or interrupt psychic techniques despite being secondary.

Wei He discovered that his martial arts realm formed a spiritual field he called the Control Body, and he began developing a way to resist psychic attacks by strengthening his flesh. Meanwhile, Yuan Du Zi and Li Rong learned that powerful flesh made people more vulnerable to Star Abyss, revealing a deadly flaw in the martial arts path.

• Wei He reflected on the role of martial arts among Illuminations and realized that martial arts cultivated the flesh while psychic energy primarily cultivated the spirit.
• Wei He meditated and perceived a red cube connected throughout his body, which he identified as the spiritual field of his Grandmaster realm.
• Wei He tested psychic energy and spiritual techniques against the cube, then reasoned that strengthening it could improve his resistance to mental attacks.
• Wei He found that direct stimulation barely strengthened the cube and concluded that he first needed to strengthen his body; he named the cube the Control Body.
• On a merchant ship, Yuan Du Zi and Li Rong discussed their discovery that stronger martial arts and flesh made people more vulnerable to Star Abyss's will.
• A third woman's voice explained that powerful flesh was easily controlled by Star Abyss, and Yuan Du Zi and Li Rong recognized that their martial arts path might lead to losing themselves.

Wei He researched ways to control cancer cells and found a Spirit Arts Permanent Layer technique that might resolve their chaotic will. He then joined old classmates at Yongji Restaurant, where they celebrated his rise to Radiance while reflecting on the distance between their lives.

• Wei He searched the Empire’s research database and learned that cancer-cell experiments had failed because the cells eventually turned subjects into monsters.
• Wei He found a report listing three ways to develop psychic resistance and began studying Spirit Arts Permanent Layer as a possible solution to cancer cells’ chaotic will.
• Wei He arrived at Yongji Restaurant for Sri Lanka’s gathering and joined his former classmates around the table.
• Sri Lanka, Yuna, Henry, Ivy, and the others congratulated Wei He and asked about his breakthroughs as Stanley watched with bitterness.
• Wei He answered his classmates’ questions and accepted their toasts, while Ivy reflected on how far apart their lives had become.

At a class gathering, Wei He observed how most of his former classmates had settled into ordinary family lives while he and Yuna still pursued advancement. Yuna warned him that Di Bang may have helped Komola escape and could be linked to Knosus, prompting Wei He to consider forming a company and building a network to monitor threats and information.

• Wei He learned that Sri Lanka was dating Franfil, the younger sister of Ground Assault Force commander Kelifir, while Yuna stopped Stanley from confessing to her.
• The classmates shared news of their lives, and Wei He and Yuna quietly recognized that they were among the few still striving to advance.
• After the gathering, Yuna warned Wei He that Komola had escaped prison with help from several people, including Di Bang, and advised him to be cautious because Di Bang might be connected to Knosus's intelligence organization.
• Yuna exchanged contact information with Wei He, who then drove home considering how to establish a company and recruit subordinates to handle affairs and gather intelligence.
• Wei He worried that his past dealings with Di Bang might have supplied medicine and ingredients that could aid an enemy.

Wei He built his new company and saw Bilian off before Di Bang drew him into a dangerous trap at the airport. After armed men ambushed him on the road and demanded the contents of an empty box, Wei He fought back and killed one of them.

• Wei He named his new company XM, recruited a core team, and continued preparing for his pharmacist examination and Radiance-level battles.
• Wei He saw Bilian off as she left for several years of off-world advanced studies.
• Di Bang approached Wei He at the spaceport and asked him to hide a small black box, while hinting he could expose Wei He's pharmaceutical work.
• After Di Bang left, Wei He discovered the box was empty and realized Di Bang had used him to distract the people pursuing him.
• Armed men cornered Wei He on the road outside the airport and demanded the contents of the box.
• Wei He dodged a gunshot, broke one attacker's arm, and drove his elbow through another attacker's chest.

Wei He survived an ambush by men seeking the key supposedly connected to Di Bang, but their leader died before revealing what it opened. Whisper then demanded to inspect Wei He’s memories, and Wei He claimed he knew Di Bang was alive and where to find him, turning toward a confrontation between the two forces.

• Wei He killed the attackers who ambushed his car and learned their leader was forbidden from revealing what the key was before the man’s head exploded.
• Michelle and the Defense Department secured the scene, and Wei He asked her to notify him if the investigation uncovered what the key meant.
• Whisper contacted Wei He and demanded to inspect his memories, claiming Di Bang had died and that Wei was one of five people who might have received the key.
• Wei He accused Whisper’s organization of targeting him despite Di Bang’s apparent scheme and said he knew Di Bang was alive and well.
• Wei He turned his car around and decided to let Whisper’s organization pursue Di Bang, whom he believed was still affected by the medicine Wei He had given him.

After learning that Di Bang was still alive, Wei He used his medicine’s tracking method to locate him and persuaded Minister Katri to authorize a police operation. The raid on Di Bang’s hideout ended with the enemy spies defeated, but Di Bang’s whereabouts remained unknown.

• Wei He told an encrypted caller that he had located Di Bang at 144 Rainbow Road and warned that Di Bang might have changed his appearance.
• Wei He informed Minister Katri that his medicine could track those who had taken it, and Katri authorized him to mobilize police forces.
• Wei He and three Illumination-level brigade commanders surrounded the photo studio on Rainbow Road, where the tracker showed that numerous people who had taken Wei He’s medicine were hiding.
• White exosuits burst from the building and attacked the police, but the officers destroyed them and identified several as Knosus Knight-class units.
• A Knosus Great Knight fought the three brigade commanders while the other spies attempted to escape; the police eliminated or captured them, but Di Bang was not found.

Wei He defied the Intelligence Department’s order to let Di Bang escape and pursued him to a damaged breach, where he confronted Di Bang and the Radiant called Red Demon. The chapter ended as Wei He prepared to fight them himself.

• Wei He learned that Di Bang had escaped the encirclement and asked Jayne and the other majors to pursue him, but Minister Ollastin ordered them to stay and protect the Great Knight colony’s corpse.
• Wei He left the operation, suspected the officers were letting Di Bang go, and decided to handle the matter himself after recognizing the colony designs.
• Di Bang fled toward a breach with help from his Lineage, while Ollastin revealed that Wei He had exposed his location.
• At the breach, Di Bang met Red Demon and two members of Fransha, who had come to help him leave the Silver Belt District.
• Wei He arrived in a white colony, separated the two groups, and covered himself in psionic energy as he prepared to confront Red Demon and Di Bang.

Wei He confronted Red Demon’s group to stop them from taking Di Bang, but Red Demon’s psychic arts initially overwhelmed him. After surviving Red Demon’s attack and transforming into his Blood Energy State, Wei He fought back as the battle continued.

• Di Bang shot at Wei He, who entered the Illumination state and tried to kill him, but Red Demon intervened and blocked the attack.
• Red Demon took Di Bang toward a transfer craft, but two unidentified body frames destroyed the waiting starship, leaving the group without an immediate escape.
• Red Demon used psychic arts to disrupt Wei He’s Illumination state, then struck him into a pipeline and repeatedly shot him.
• Wei He survived the assault, transformed into his Blood Energy State, and attacked Red Demon at increased speed.
• Wei He and Red Demon fought fiercely, with Wei He’s wounds healing as Red Demon grew increasingly wary of his rising speed.

Wei He disguised himself as an Imperial war colony, destroyed the aircraft carrying Di Bang, and killed him while Red Demon tried to protect him. After escaping, Wei He returned home and spoke with Cipher, who offered to explain the key Di Bang had possessed.

• Wei He transformed into a ten-meter-tall colony and charged at the aircraft, destroying it despite Red Demon's Death Ray Gun.
• Red Demon saved Di Bang from the explosion, but Wei He repeatedly charged at them until Di Bang died from the sonic booms and the strain of being carried at high speed.
• Wei He left without fighting Red Demon further, and Red Demon retreated as the Security Department's police colony force arrived.
• Wei He returned to his car, reflected on his battle and his still-untested Dharma Body, then drove home while avoiding surveillance.
• Cipher contacted Wei He and offered to explain the key Di Bang had possessed, which Wei He had encountered briefly at the research institute.

Wei He learned that the key module was part of the activation key for Penza’s Dragon Machine and that Secret Whisper belonged to the Eternal Silence Party. A year later, Sri Lanka’s honeymoon ship exploded shortly after takeoff, leaving everyone at the spaceport stunned.

• Secret Whisper told Wei He that the key module was one of nineteen fragments needed to activate Penza’s Dragon Machine and revealed the organization’s name as the Eternal Silence Party.
• Wei He decided to investigate the group and avoid getting caught up in the conflicts surrounding Fransha, the Heart of the Banyan Tree, and the Dragon Machine key.
• A year later, Wei He and other guests saw Sri Lanka and his bride off on their honeymoon from Silver Belt District’s Second Spaceport.
• After the ship entered space, it exploded in a burst of light, shocking Wei He, Ivy, and everyone at the spaceport.

After a bomb planted by Fransha destroyed a ship carrying more than 8,400 people, Wei He mourned Sri Lanka and realized he lacked the strength to protect what mattered to him. He resumed cultivating and resolved to accelerate his path toward Fission level, trusting the Boundary-Breaking Pearl to overcome the deadly odds.

• A spatial-jump engine explosion destroyed the ship, killing more than 8,400 passengers, including Sri Lanka and his wife.
• Wei He registered as Sri Lanka’s family and joined the investigation, which identified Fransha as responsible for the attack.
• Wei He told Bilian that the bombing was likely retaliation for Fransha’s lost ship and slain Great Knight, and he returned home safely.
• The investigation confirmed that Fransha’s intelligence organization had targeted two Illumination-level officers aboard the ship, while Sri Lanka and his wife were among the victims.
• Wei He measured his psychic energy at 12 Spirit Ears and 127,665 Far, then studied the risks and requirements of advancing to Fission level.
• Wei He resolved to pursue greater strength more urgently, believing the Boundary-Breaking Pearl could make his chance of success certain.

Five years after the Star Abyss contamination was cleared, Wei He accepted Katri’s offer to help develop Planet 184, a revived wilderness planet. He left Planet 228 with Katri’s team and met Ansaya aboard their spacecraft.

• Wei He reflected on his expanding ramen business and his progress in martial arts, psychic power, and physical strength.
• Katri told Wei He that he was being reassigned to Planet 184 and invited him to join the mission to establish a base and investigate the planet’s revival.
• Wei He accepted, and Katri promised to make him chief person in charge and cover the resources he needed to advance to Fission level.
• Wei He arranged his pharmaceutical supply channels and research before handing his work over to his successor.
• Wei He boarded a spacecraft for Planet 184 with Katri and thirty-five others, then Katri called Ansaya over to meet him.

Wei He met Ansaya, the security commander of Planet 184, and agreed to a postponed spar as their teams prepared to work together. Meanwhile, Red Demon identified Wei He as a possible target connected to a missing key module, and Wei He arrived with Katri and Ansaya at the Eye of the Giant Wood, where they spotted its humanoid inhabitants.

• Katri introduced Wei He as the research center's new director and Ansaya as the security commander for Planet 184.
• Ansaya challenged Wei He to a real spar, but Katri's repeated summons made them postpone it.
• Red Demon told the red-caped warrior that Wei He might be the mysterious fighter who disrupted their retreat and could possess the missing key module.
• The red-caped warrior ordered Red Demon to pursue Wei He and assigned Modia and another fighter to support him.
• Wei He, Katri, and Ansaya landed at the Eye of the Giant Wood, where they learned about the local Giant Wood People.
• Wei He spotted two humanoid natives watching the landing party from the forest.

Wei He investigated Planet 184's pollution-resistant natives and unusually rational polluted beasts at Research Center 184, hoping to uncover a way to pursue his Flesh and Blood Martial Arts path. After successfully simulating a six-eyed spider, he began exploring the planet's strange specimens.

• Katri told Wei He that the natives' immunity to polluted radiation was the purpose of their mission, and Wei He joined the research effort at the underground base.
• On Planet 184, Tree King Kanota ordered Lexi to investigate the demons from beyond the heavens and gave her one month to find their purpose.
• Qino explained that Planet 184's polluted beasts behaved more rationally than those elsewhere and that its natives resisted every form of pollution without direct physical contact.
• Wei He examined six natives held near polluted grunt beasts and learned that their genes appeared broadly similar to those of humans.
• Wei He asked Ansaya to capture more than thirty species of polluted beasts and grunt beasts for analysis.
• Wei He discovered that the collected specimens showed no contamination, then touched a six-eyed spider and successfully simulated it.