Chapter Summaries

After Ning Wanjun rallied Jinxia City behind a campaign to repel the High Kingdom and reclaim Qi State, Xia Fan visited Mo Yun’s testing grounds to see her new Mechanical Beast. He recognized it as a Mechanical Automobile and told Mo Yun that it would change the world and make her famous.

• Ning Wanjun’s public speech won enthusiastic support for sending troops to recover Qi State’s territory.
• Jinxia residents backed the coming war, and letters sent across Qi State announced that Jinxia was preparing to act again.
• Mo Yun summoned Xia Fan to the Mechanical Bureau and showed him the new Mechanical Beast she had developed to transport Xuanwu.
• Xia Fan realized that Mo Yun’s prototype was a Mechanical Automobile and predicted that it would change the world and make her name famous.

Mo Yun showed Xia Fan a Heavenly Motion Instrument-powered cargo vehicle she had invented, and explained how its resin tires and Xun Wind Seals improved its stability and carrying capacity. Xia Fan approved plans for mass production and named the vehicle Liberation.

• Mo Yun revealed her prototype vehicle, which used handlebar controls and a Heavenly Motion Instrument for propulsion.
• Mo Yun explained that she had tested Nine Nether Fire Talismans on minerals to develop resin tires, and Xia Fan urged her to wear protective clothing during future experiments.
• Mo Yun described the vehicle’s cushioned wheels, Xun Wind Seals, and capacity to carry more than ten thousand jin of cargo.
• Mo Yun said the vehicle could transport Xuanwu forces to the border in a day, and Xia Fan proposed manufacturing it for broader use.
• Xia Fan ordered Mo Yun to set up a production line and named the vehicle Liberation.

Xia Fan proposed replacing Jinxia’s silver-based payments with paper currency to fund the city’s expansion, and Ning Wanjun agreed to pursue the plan. Eunuch Li warned that public trust, counterfeiting, and controlling circulation posed serious risks.

• Mo Yun enthusiastically returned to the Mechanical Bureau to research mass-producing Liberations.
• Xia Fan summoned Eunuch Li to discuss a trial issuance of paper currency in Jinxia.
• Xia Fan explained that paper currency would be usable by merchants and ordinary people for everyday purchases, unlike bank notes.
• Xia Fan said Jinxia needed vast sums for future development and that paper currency could overcome the limits of silver and copper supplies.
• Ning Wanjun asked Eunuch Li about the plan’s difficulties, and he warned that public acceptance, counterfeiting, and issuance controls could threaten Jinxia’s stability.

Xia Fan proposed that Jinxia establish a central bank and issue banknotes backed by gold, inviting Yongjuan Bank to provide reserves in exchange for branches or a share of profits. He outlined how Jinxia would enforce the currency’s use and build public confidence, leaving Feleton ready to invest and Eunuch Li and Hualin considering the plan.

• Xia Fan offered Yongjuan Bank a role in backing Jinxia’s new banknotes and invited it to invest in Jinxia Central Bank.
• Feleton accepted the offer, seeing it as a way to expand Yongjuan Bank’s business and move assets to protect Princess Twilight’s future.
• Xia Fan explained that special ink, layered paper, intaglio printing, embedded copper threads, and serial numbers would make the notes difficult to counterfeit.
• Xia Fan said the Affairs Bureau would pay salaries in banknotes and require their acceptance for purchases and trade in Jinxia.
• Xia Fan argued that Jinxia’s grain and other desirable goods would attract merchants, while Yongjuan Bank’s reserve fund would help prevent a bank run.

Li led a Yao scouting squad to Huangtu Town to locate the Black Gate Cult’s fifty-thousand-strong force, while struggling with her feelings for Xia Fan. Mu Youhong reported that the force had camped near Baili Town before mysteriously disappearing overnight.

• Li arrived in Huangtu Town with Shanhui, Gungun, Wu Lie, and Jiulin, and told the squad to wait for their contact.
• Shanhui asked Li why she had requested a mission away from Xia Fan, then fled the room after nearly provoking her.
• Li reflected on her mixed feelings about Ning Wanjun’s growing closeness with Xia Fan and her own decision to leave Jinxia.
• Mu Youhong arrived and reported that at least fifty thousand people had camped outside Baili Town a week earlier.
• Mu Youhong said the entire force had vanished overnight, leaving Li without a trail to follow.

Li and her companions investigated the disappearance of fifty thousand Black Gate Cult followers and traced them from their abandoned camp toward the mountains south of Baili Town. When their trail and scent abruptly vanished, Li used the Zhen Technique to discover a copper-wire pendant left by Luo Qingqing, which revealed that the group had left a hidden route marker.

• Li and her companions concluded that the Black Gate Cult had likely left its camp because its provisions were running short, then decided to investigate Baili Town.
• Li relayed their findings to Jinxia before her group traveled overnight to the abandoned camp near Baili Town.
• Shanhui tracked the followers' scent south into the forest, but it faded near the mountain wall, and Wu Lie found no trace from the air.
• Li reasoned that Luo Qingqing might have left clues and used the Zhen Technique to sense qi converging on a tree branch.
• Li found a disassembled copper-wire pendant and recognized it as a one-way marker Luo Qingqing had left for Jinxia's trackers.

Li and her companions followed Luo Qingqing’s copper wire trail to a concealed entrance in Baiyao Mountain and discovered an orderly underground complex. They found evidence that the Black Gate Cult had been there, but the complex’s strange announcement and protective suits left them facing more questions than answers.

• Li, Shanhui, Jiulin, and Jinxia followed the copper wire to a cliff, where Jiulin used the mountain plants to locate a hidden entrance.
• Jiulin forced open the concealed stone door, and the four entered a vast, precisely constructed underground space.
• The group found orderly stairs and rooms, prompting Li to fear the site might be connected to King Yong’s burial place and the Black Gate Cult’s sacrifice.
• Shanhui confirmed that the Black Gate Cult had been in the rooms, but Li could not figure out where the fifty thousand refugees were being kept.
• A woman’s announcement called the rooms a train bound for the Escape Tower and instructed passengers to wear protective clothing.
• Li found the four white suits hanging in a room and began putting one on.

Li and her companions rode a mysterious bridge through darkness toward the Escape Tower, discovering a lifeless wasteland outside before hiding from Black Gate Cult members waiting at their destination. The cultists found the room empty and discussed how the route might eventually become impassable.

• Li reasoned that the repeating woman's voice came from a mechanism guiding anyone across the bridge, and the group planned to hide upon reaching the Escape Tower.
• Li and the others put on perfectly fitted protective suits, and the room began moving through darkness.
• A brief flash outside revealed a barren, ash-covered land beneath a dark sky, leaving Li and her companions stunned.
• When the woman announced that the Escape Tower was ahead, Li and the team concealed themselves inside the room.
• Black Gate Cult members entered, found no one, and speculated that the mysterious route might fail within a hundred years.

Li and the scouting team discovered that the Black Gate Cult’s stronghold lay inside the enormous sinkhole at the heart of Baiyao Mountain, where they could not contact Jinxia City. As Li weighed reporting back against finding Luo Qingqing, a massive Evil Spirit attack began, revealing that the cult had repeatedly defended its lair from them.

• Li led Wu Lie, Jiulin, and Shanhui out of the underground complex and discovered they were inside an enormous sinkhole.
• Li recognized the sinkhole as the Tomb of King Yong, deep within Baiyao Mountain, and failed to contact Jinxia City with her antenna.
• Li considered sending Wu Lie and Jiulin to report the cult’s location while she and Shanhui searched for Luo Qingqing.
• Urgent whistles sounded, and the group saw thousands of Evil Spirits climbing up the sinkhole walls.
• The Black Gate Cult’s guards and sorcerers launched a coordinated defense that stopped the Evil Spirits, prompting Li to wonder why the cult fought them so fiercely.

Li and Luo Qingqing helped the Black Gate Cult repel an attack by Evil Spirits, then met the cult’s leader after being summoned. The chapter left Li recognizing the Number Four marker as the same counting symbol Xia Fan had promoted at the Academy.

• A Great Demon attacked the shaft, and Luo Qingqing used Dragon Scale to split it in half and send it tumbling back into the well.
• Li transformed into a fox and used Thunderclap to help repel the Evil Spirits; the assault ended half an hour later.
• Li told Luo Qingqing that Xia Fan had saved Princess Ning Wanjun and that Jinxia City had returned to normal.
• Wang Sha said Venerable Victory over Heaven had summoned Luo Qingqing and her companions to explain their actions.
• Li and the others climbed to level Number Four to meet the leader, and Li recognized its marker as a symbol Xia Fan had promoted at the Academy.

Victory over Heaven confirmed that the Salvation Sect had evolved from the Black Gate Cult and revealed the history behind its war with the Yong Dynasty. She reacted strangely to Li, and the chapter ended with the revelation that King Yong had become a true immortal fused with Chaos.

• Luo Qingqing admitted that she had concealed her suspicions about the Black Gate Cult and explained that her Listener abilities let her see qi.
• Victory over Heaven ordered Wang Sha to clear the fourth floor, then questioned Luo Qingqing about why she believed the Salvation Sect was the Black Gate Cult.
• Li cited a Jinxia City booklet describing Baiyao Mountain, and Victory over Heaven reacted with disbelief when she learned Li's name.
• Victory over Heaven confirmed the Salvation Sect's origins and explained how King Yong's Chaos research sparked a ten-year war that destroyed the Yong Dynasty.
• Victory over Heaven revealed that King Yong had survived as a true immortal fused with Chaos.

Wuyi, the Salvation Sect’s Pope, explained how the Black Gate Cult split from King Yong after learning he sought to destroy all living people, and revealed that he was a Listener whose visions described the Kingdom of Heaven as humanity’s refuge from Chaos. Li’s questions about the Skywell and its Jinxia-like symbols left Wuyi wondering whether another Listener had influenced the place, while Li insisted Xia Fan was the world’s one and only Listener.

• Wang Sha brought Wuyi, the frail Pope of the Salvation Sect, before Luo Qingqing, Li, Shanhui, and Venerable Victory over Heaven.
• Wuyi explained that King Yong returned as a soul after the Black Gate Cult believed him dead, then turned against humanity, prompting most of his followers to form the Salvation Sect.
• Wuyi described his vision of the Kingdom of Heaven rising above the Evil Spirits and carrying people to safety until Chaos faded.
• Luo Qingqing recognized Wuyi as a Listener, and he said he had received information about the coming disaster rather than Immortal Art.
• Li asked about the Escape Tower, the bridge, and the Skywell’s Jinxia-style symbols, prompting Wuyi and Venerable Victory over Heaven to speculate that another Listener had shaped the place.
• Li declared that Xia Fan was the one and only Listener because he heard new information about everything.

Li and the others questioned the Black Gate Cult about Xia Fan, King Yong, and the Black Gate’s power, but remained wary of the cult’s claims. They rejected Wuyi’s invitation to join the Salvation Sect and chose to trust Xia Fan instead.

• Venerable Victory over Heaven argued that Xia Fan could not be a Listener who awakened repeatedly, but Wu Lie and Shanhui defended his deeds in Jinxia.
• The Pope said the Black Gate Cult did not know who built the transport mechanisms or why the Sky Well was called Escape Tower, and admitted that they did not know King Yong’s location.
• Luo Qingqing noticed Chaos mixed with Wuyi’s and Venerable Victory over Heaven’s qi, and Wuyi explained that the cult had willingly accepted the Black Gate’s power to access Heaven’s facilities.
• Wuyi invited Li and her companions to join the Salvation Sect and help save the people of the world.
• Li, Shanhui, Wu Lie, and Jiulin refused the invitation and declared that they would follow Xia Fan, darkening Venerable Victory over Heaven’s expression.

Luo Qingqing proposed cooperation between Jinxia City and the Salvation Sect, and Wuyi sent Venerable Shengtian to Jinxia to investigate and invite Xia Fan to Heaven. That night, Li and the others examined Heaven’s food and lodging, while Li reflected on the Skywell’s enormous scale and the calamity that had erased its builders.

• Luo Qingqing argued that Jinxia City and the Salvation Sect could cooperate, including trading weapons and resources against their common enemies.
• Wuyi ordered Venerable Shengtian to travel to Jinxia and invite Xia Fan to visit Heaven if cooperation proved possible.
• Luo Qingqing showed the Jinxia group how to eat Heaven’s sealed rice paste, and Li and Gungun tried it.
• Li examined the compact room and considered the vast Skywell, wondering how powerful the Evil Spirits must have been to destroy its builders.

Venerable Victory over Heaven warned Li that the skywell was an Evil Spirit-infested zone and asked her about Jinxia and Xia Fan. As Li recounted how she had reached Jinxia, Victory over Heaven revealed her past efforts to keep track of Li and the circumstances that led her to join the Salvation Sect.

• Luo Qingqing sent Li's companions out so Li could speak alone with Venerable Victory over Heaven.
• Venerable Victory over Heaven warned Li not to explore the skywell at night because Evil Spirits could emerge from its lower levels.
• Venerable Victory over Heaven explained that the skywell was an infested zone, that the Salvation Sect had reached its fifty-fifth level, and that it sought resources to reach the Kingdom of Heaven's activation device.
• Venerable Victory over Heaven asked Li about Jinxia and Xia Fan, and Li began recounting how she had met Xia Fan after infiltrating the Scholar Examination in Qingshan Town.
• Venerable Victory over Heaven recalled joining the Salvation Sect after her convoy was intercepted and described how she had searched Shangyuan's execution records for news of Li.

Li told Venerable Shengtian how Xia Fan had saved her and transformed sorcerer training in Jinxia City, leaving Venerable Shengtian stunned by the scale of his innovations and their growing number of Qi Sense Users.

• Venerable Shengtian suspected Xia Fan had deliberately gained Li's trust and recruited her to help his career, but held back from confronting him because Li trusted him.
• Li explained that Her Highness the Princess had identified Xia Fan as a Listener after his Thunderclap technique revealed secrets only a Listener could know.
• Li described how Xia Fan replaced Lightning-struck Wood with common materials, improved techniques such as Nine Heavens Heavenly Thunder, and taught his discoveries freely.
• Li demonstrated her mastery of techniques from several categories, shocking Venerable Shengtian with how widely Xia Fan's methods had expanded sorcerers' abilities.
• Li said that universal education had caused Jinxia City's number of qi-sensitive awakeners to surpass the Bureau of Military Affairs' total for nearly five years, with enrollment still rising.

Venerable Shengtian questioned Li about Jinxia and grew alarmed when Li described her close life with Xia Fan. Shengtian left determined to visit Jinxia, while Li wondered why their conversation had felt so familiar.

• Venerable Shengtian doubted Li’s claim that everyone in Jinxia could sense qi and cautioned her about Xia Fan’s tense relationship with the princess.
• Li insisted Xia Fan and the princess would end up together, citing his efforts to save the princess and his lack of ambition while she was comatose.
• Li revealed that Xia Fan shared information with her, that she often visited Prince Ning’s bedchamber, and that she had joined the trip to the Western Pole.
• Li explained that she had stayed with Xia Fan since leaving Qingshan Town and that he touched her tail and ears.
• Venerable Shengtian grew furious about Xia Fan’s closeness with Li and said she would visit her the next morning before leaving for Jinxia.

Jain Vanrit led a fleet through the Permafrost Sea to the Black Barrier Zone, where Duke Aurora revealed Natating’s plan to breach the boundary and travel to the other side of the world. The fleet prepared to approach the barrier as the purpose of its secret mission became clear.

• A third Silisti warship lost its observation tower when the cold made its iron structure brittle, and Jain Vanrit continued leading the fleet.
• Jain’s fleet reached the Black Barrier Zone, and he ordered the ships to slow down and turn toward it.
• Duke Aurora arrived at the command room and ordered the ships to draw closer so they could prove their worth.
• Jain asked Aurora why Natating had brought the fleet so far into the Permafrost Sea, and she revealed that they planned to breach the Black Barrier and travel to the other side of the world.

Aurora explained to Jain that the Empire planned to break through the Black Barrier because the Holy Grail was expected beyond it, though returning alive would be the true challenge. At the barrier, she prepared to use condemned Islanders as tools for the crossing, leaving Jain to witness the Empire’s preparations and the prisoners being sealed inside iron boxes.

• Aurora told Jain that seers had located the Holy Grail beyond the Black Barrier and that the Empire had long planned to cross it.
• The Wind Song reached the barrier, where its gangway slowed and crushed under the boundary’s effect, while mages reported that the site was a weak point.
• Jain saw the shackled Elf elder Koslin and a group of rag-clothed Elves and Bloodkin brought to the dock as part of Aurora’s preparations.
• Koslin protested that Aurora had promised to spare her people, but Aurora argued that the prisoners were criminals who deserved death and could serve the Empire one last time.
• Aurora ordered soldiers to silence the protesting Islanders and shove the prisoners into iron boxes.

Aurora used the prisoners’ deaths and bottled souls to create an Abyss Ghost, explaining that it could turn the Black Barrier Wall into a passage. The purple mist entered a force-field container and formed a pitch-black gate.

• Aurora explained to Jeren Vanrit that crushing prisoners in confined spaces could summon an Abyss Ghost.
• Soldiers slowly crushed the prisoners in iron boxes as their bottled souls began to tremble.
• Aurora ordered her guards to remove Elder Koslin from the dock and keep her away from the Tree Boat.
• The prisoners died, and their souls burst from the bottles, spreading hostile purple mist that sickened Jeren and the soldiers.
• Aurora explained that an Abyss Ghost could make the Black Barrier Wall traversable by turning it into the creature’s dwelling place.
• The mages formed a hexagonal force-field container, and the purple mist filled it before a pitch-black gate appeared.