Recaps

After the Movie Edition ended, Tiandao claimed his rewards and added its permanent art style, then prepared to use Trista's Silver Fate Coin to dominate Season 3's Starry Sky Ladder. He left determined to turn defeated Starborn into subordinates rather than release them.

• Tiandao received the Movie Edition rewards after ranking first and discovered that his custom posters and merchandise could earn him Popularity Points.
• Tiandao activated the Permanent Movie Edition Art Style, which enhanced his appearance and made details of his powers clearer on the Dimensional Screen.
• Tiandao opened the Movie Edition Special Popularity Mall and obtained Trista's Silver Fate Coin, which let him gamble with souls as stakes.
• Tiandao planned to use the coin to make defeated Starborn his subordinates and monopolize the Starry Sky Ladder rankings.
• Tiandao declared that he preferred enslaving Divine Beasts to releasing them and said he had never claimed to be a good person.

Season 3 opened with Liu Ma and Chen Kong fleeing a Tyrant Sub-Dragon in a primeval forest until Vivian used her Void Turret to drive it off. The three escaped into the woods while the wounded beast returned to its territory, vowing revenge on the next upright apes to disturb its sleep.

• The Tyrant Sub-Dragon chased Liu Ma and Chen Kong through the forest after they disturbed its sleep.
• Liu Ma and Chen Kong blamed each other for taking a dangerous route on foot, and the beast's Dragonfire singed Chen Kong's hair.
• Vivian told Liu Ma and Chen Kong to duck, then fired her Void Turret into the Tyrant Sub-Dragon's chest.
• Vivian folded the Void Turret into a pocket watch and urged Liu Ma and Chen Kong to flee with her.
• The wounded Tyrant Sub-Dragon lost track of the three, returned to the forest, and vowed to punish the next upright apes that disturbed it.

Chen Kong, Liu Ma, and Vivian reached Martial Arts Heavenly Capital after escaping a Tyrant Sub-Dragon, where Chen Kong learned about the Martial Arts Tournament and the Martial Arts Emblems. Vivian explained that earning each emblem required mastering a corresponding martial arts school and gaining its Tower Guardian’s recognition.

• Chen Kong complained that Vivian’s shot had burned his hair, while Liu Ma teased him and examined Vivian’s pocket-watch weapon.
• Liu Ma led Chen Kong and Vivian away from the arriving patrol airship and toward the immense Martial Arts Heavenly Capital.
• At a Qianxia Group inn, Liu Ma checked the three of them in, and the owner told Chen Kong the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition was commonly called the Martial Arts Tournament.
• Chen Kong and Vivian noticed the Heavenly Human Ranking, where Chen Xing, Jing Liuli, Caroline, and others had gathered many Martial Arts Emblems.
• The inn owner and Liu Ma explained that emblems granted access to more areas of the Heavenly Martial Qilin Tower and helped earn its exclusive Heavenly Martial Coins.
• Vivian told Chen Kong that each Martial Arts Emblem required mastering its associated martial arts school and earning the Tower Guardian’s recognition.

Chen Kong learned that Martial Arts Emblem challenges required mastering a style and its path before facing a Tower Guardian, and Liu Ma warned him against challenging the Feather Tower with Qianxia Style. The trio left their hotel room to investigate a commotion gathering outside.

• Chen Kong asked Liu Ma about the Martial Arts Tower challenges, and Liu Ma described how a Flowing Maple Tower guardian had defeated him with ease.
• Vivian showed Chen Kong a video of a challenger failing the Rock Tower test because he relied on brute force instead of learning the Rock Shattering Style's path.
• Chen Kong suggested trying the Feather Tower, but Liu Ma explained that their Qianxia Style differed from the orthodox Yu Style and that the tower had ties to Qianxia Group's rivalry.
• Vivian warned that Feather Tower practitioners would recognize Qianxia Style and might treat the challenge as an attack on their school.
• Chen Kong, Vivian, and Liu Ma went downstairs to see what had drawn an excited crowd outside the hotel.

Chen Kong and the crowd watched Yagami Rin challenge the Rock Shattering Tower after learning about her remarkable record of collecting Martial Arts Emblems. The chapter ended as Yagami Rin accepted the Tower Guardian’s challenge rules.

• The Dimensional Audience speculated about Yu Qianxia’s family history and the Qianxia Group’s role in Season 3.
• Chen Kong and the others joined a crowd outside the Rock Shattering Tower to watch a Martial Arts Emblem challenge.
• A bald man explained that Yagami Rin had earned ninety emblems in less than three months and described the difficulty of obtaining the final emblem.
• Bystanders praised Chen Xing and Jing Liuli as exceptional challengers and discussed their unusual methods.
• Yagami Rin entered the Rock Shattering Tower, and the Tower Guardian laid out the challenge she had to pass.
• Yagami Rin calmly agreed to receive three Rock Shattering Fists and block the guardian’s full-force strike with Stillness Controls Motion.

Yagami Rin faced the Rock Shattering Tower Guardian and revealed that her Shadow Double could learn an opponent’s martial arts through Phantom Assault. The chapter left the onlookers realizing that Rin’s ability explained how she had earned ninety Martial Arts Emblems.

• The Tower Guardian demonstrated Rock Shattering by cracking the arena floor and launching stone fragments at Yagami Rin.
• Rin’s Shadow Double emerged and used drifting Crow Feathers to block the fragments, prompting spectators to question whether Star Source abilities were allowed.
• The Tower Guardian charged Rin and struck at her with Shattered Stone, but the Shadow Double appeared and blocked his punch.
• The Tower Guardian realized that the Shadow Double had learned Shattered Stone, and Rin explained that Phantom was another version of herself.
• Rin raised her arm and displayed Rock Markings identical to the Tower Guardian’s, revealing that she had mastered his technique.

Yagami Rin defeated the bearded Tower Guardian’s full-powered Mountain Collapse with her Shadow Double, Shade, and received the Rock Shattering Emblem. She left the tower determined to keep collecting emblems and catch up to the monsters ahead of her.

• The bearded Tower Guardian attacked Yagami Rin with Rock Shattering Style—Mountain Collapse, but Shade shielded her and kept the ground beneath her feet intact.
• Shade’s damaged body and crow-feather haori regenerated, demonstrating its ability to recover from the attack.
• The Tower Guardian gave Yagami Rin the Rock Shattering Emblem and praised her shadow.
• Yagami Rin said she would keep collecting emblems because she needed a hundred to qualify to catch up to someone.
• Yagami Rin left the arena, and Shade dissolved into black feathers as she vanished into the corridor’s shadows.

Yagami Rin’s Shadow of Yesteryear impressed the audience with its potential, while Chen Kong worried about reaching the top twenty of the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition. After leaving Rock Shattering Tower, Rin met Huan Qianyin, who invited her to meet Tiandao.

• The audience imagined the many ways Yagami Rin could use her Shadow Double, and Chen Kong considered how difficult it would be to reach the competition’s top twenty.
• Huan Qianyin waited for Yagami Rin outside Rock Shattering Tower and said she most wanted to defeat her.
• Huan Qianyin told Yagami Rin that Tiandao wanted to speak with her, and Rin agreed to go.
• Huan Qianyin bought sesame cakes for them, and Rin said she trusted Qianyin because Qianyin was lonelier than she was.
• Huan Qianyin denied Rin’s claim and said she wanted Rin to eat well before she killed her.

Tiandao pressured Jiang Lingfeng into surrendering seventy percent of his future Heavenly Martial Coins in exchange for twice as many Martial Arts Emblems, then brought Yagami Rin into his scheme. With the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition approaching, Tiandao planned to secure the resources of dozens more powerful contestants and showed no concern about resistance.

• Tiandao offered Jiang Lingfeng twice the Martial Arts Emblems he could earn naturally in exchange for seventy percent of his monthly Heavenly Martial Coins.
• Tiandao revealed that he had won the souls of Tower Guardians and threatened to make Jiang Lingfeng fail challenges unless he accepted the deal.
• Jiang Lingfeng signed Tiandao's contract and left, while Caroline reported that seventy-nine potential clients remained.
• Tiandao invited Yagami Rin to join his operation, and she reluctantly agreed after asking whether she could refuse.
• Yagami Rin asked how Tiandao would handle contestants who united against him, and Tiandao dismissed the question as unimportant.

Tiandao revealed that his Silver Fate Coin required both participants to consider their stakes equal, then demonstrated the Rock Shattering Style’s ultimate secret art to persuade Yan Lei to gamble. Yan Lei recognized Tiandao Siming’s eyes as the means by which he had learned the move from the future.

• The Dimensional Audience speculated that Tiandao had won Tower Guardians’ souls through the Silver Fate Coin, while Tiandao reflected on the gamble’s equal-stakes condition.
• Three months earlier, Tiandao proposed an additional gamble to Yan Lei at Rock Shattering Tower, and Yan Lei doubted that the young stranger could offer a worthwhile stake.
• Tiandao demonstrated the Rock Shattering Style’s Rock Markings and struck the ground with the powerful secret art Earth Split.
• Yan Lei questioned how Tiandao knew the style, and Tiandao removed his blindfold to reveal his azure eyes.
• Yan Lei recognized Tiandao as Ember's Tiandao Siming and realized he had learned Earth Split by seeing Yan Lei’s future.

Tiandao challenged Yan Lei to a wager, offering to teach him Earth Rend if Yan Lei won and demanding two years of help with Martial Arts Emblem challenges if he lost. Tiandao defeated Yan Lei using only the Rock Shattering Style, leaving Yan Lei in awe and wondering whether the General President’s era was ending.

• Yan Lei realized Tiandao had learned Earth Split by seeing Yan Lei’s future and struggled to accept that Tiandao’s brief observation surpassed his thirty years of training.
• Tiandao offered to teach Yan Lei Earth Rend if Yan Lei won their fight, while wagering that Yan Lei would follow his instructions for two years if he lost.
• Yan Lei accepted the wager, and Tiandao said the fight’s outcome never changed across the futures he had seen.
• Tiandao and Yan Lei fought using the Rock Shattering Style, and Tiandao defeated Yan Lei.
• Tiandao reminded Yan Lei that the next two years belonged to him and left the Training Arena.
• Yan Lei acknowledged his defeat and wondered whether the General President’s era was coming to an end.

Tiandao finalized his plans for the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition and explained why he would not recruit more Starborn, confident that the contestants would eventually need his approval to advance. He recalled his past dominance at Ember Base and set out with Caroline and Danika to watch a show, while Caroline decided to give Danika extra lessons.

• Yagami Rin and Huan Qianyin left the hotel after Tiandao assured Yagami Rin that Caroline would brief her on her duties.
• Caroline asked Tiandao whether he wanted to recruit more Starborn, but he said they would come to him when they needed his approval to advance through the Heavenly Martial Qilin Tower.
• Tiandao compared the Starry Sky Ladder to the assessments at Ember Base, and Caroline recognized that Doctor's training procedures had likely been modeled after the competition.
• Tiandao said he would make people remember their fear of being dominated by him, then took Danika's Game Console and told her to come watch a show.
• Caroline considered giving Danika extra lessons in advanced mathematics and quantum data.

Chen Kong learned that the Prosperity Martial Tower judged challengers by how much money they spent, not their fighting skill, and Liu Ma prepared to buy the Martial Arts Emblem with Yu Qianxia’s card. Yu Qianxia’s secretary revealed that she had helped lead Liu Ma into debt, leaving the Dimensional Audience to realize his supposed rescuer had helped create his troubles.

• Liu Ma told Chen Kong that wealth was essential to martial arts in Martial Arts Heavenly Capital and explained how his Martial Potential Credit Card debt had forced him to work for the Prosperity Martial Group.
• Vivian reported that challengers could earn the Prosperity Martial Tower’s emblem by recharging 100,000 Federal Coin, and Liu Ma said Yu Qianxia had supplied a card with a 300,000 limit.
• Liu Ma led Chen Kong and Vivian toward the Prosperity Martial Tower, where attendants welcomed them.
• At Qianxia Group Headquarters, Yu Qianxia’s secretary asked whether Liu Ma might discover that Yu Qianxia was a major shareholder and had led him into overspending.
• Yu Qianxia dismissed the concern, and the Dimensional Audience on Station 13 realized she had been both Liu Ma’s rescuer and the cause of his debt.

Chen Kong experienced the wealth and cultivation benefits of Prosperity Martial Tower while Tiandao met Gorn and proposed a deal involving Heaven-tier student slots. Gorn accepted Tiandao’s reasoning that, in Martial Arts Heavenly Capital, strength and results mattered more than the methods used.

• At Prosperity Martial Tower, Liu Ma offered Chen Kong a cup of Star Energy Juice and explained that it was free for honored guests but cost over a thousand Federal Coin outside.
• Chen Kong drank the juice, felt his star energy increase, and realized that wealth was an important part of martial potential.
• Tiandao met Gorn in a VIP room and congratulated him on becoming a Special Mentor for the Heavenly Martial Qilin Tower.
• Tiandao asked Gorn to act as an intermediary for leasing Heaven-tier student slots when the Starry Sky Ladder opened.
• Gorn questioned the risks of controlling promotion slots, then agreed that exceptional methods counted as strength in Martial Arts Heavenly Capital.

Tiandao arranged a deal with Gorn to mentor Chen Kong’s yellow-grade class, giving himself a reason to intervene and gain attention. Meanwhile, Chen Kong faced a hostile Tower Guardian over a Prosperity Martial Emblem and chose to fight him.

• Tiandao explained the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition’s potential grades to Gorn and offered to help him train a Heaven-tier student in exchange for a cut.
• Tiandao used the deal as a pretext to involve himself in Chen Kong’s class and cultivate his public image, while anticipating a future conflict between Star Envoys and Star Beasts.
• Gorn accepted Tiandao’s proposal, and Tiandao took him to watch Chen Kong and the others attempt to earn Martial Arts Emblems.
• A gold-toothed Tower Guardian demanded an extra two hundred thousand from Chen Kong for the emblem and warned that he would show no mercy if they fought.
• Chen Kong rejected the extra charge and chose to fight the Tower Guardian, who led him toward the Training Arena.

Chen Kong’s fans blamed the Stellaris Production Team for his repeated misfortunes, but Gorn suspected Tiandao had arranged Chen Kong’s latest challenge. Tiandao admitted he was interested in a possibility involving Chen Kong, while Chen Kong began his Martial Arts Emblem challenge unaware of the setup.

• Chen Kong’s fans complained that the Stellaris Production Team kept forcing contrived accidents into his life.
• Gorn suspected Zhang Hao was deliberately provoking Chen Kong and realized Tiandao might be behind it.
• Tiandao said he was interested in a possibility involving Chen Kong, while Caroline showed no concern about his motives.
• The Dimensional Audience speculated that Tiandao had orchestrated Chen Kong’s past misfortunes and was using Zhang Hao as a tool.
• Chen Kong began his Martial Arts Emblem challenge without realizing Tiandao had arranged the confrontation.

Chen Kong challenged Prosperity Martial Tower Guardian Zhang Hao, who used his Rainbow Bubble Star Source to turn invisible and overpower him. After deducing clues about Zhang Hao’s ability, Chen Kong closed his eyes and released a chill like Isabelle’s Absolute Zero.

• Zhang Hao taunted Chen Kong, who fired Mark of the Void bullets that Zhang Hao stopped with an unseen defense.
• Zhang Hao vanished and struck Chen Kong repeatedly, leaving him badly injured and unable to stand.
• The Stellaris Production Team revealed that Zhang Hao’s Star Source was Rainbow Bubble, and that he hid inside an Invisibility Bubble.
• Zhang Hao falsely claimed his Star Source was Shadow Assassin, while Chen Kong considered how to identify the ability.
• Chen Kong closed his eyes and unleashed a chill resembling Isabelle’s Absolute Zero.

Chen Kong defeated Tower Guardian Zhang Hao by exposing his Rainbow Bubble Star Source and using Absolute Zero and Black Iron Clock to set a trap. After Zhang Hao conceded and handed over his golden badge, Tiandao hinted to Gorn that the real show was still to come.

• Chen Kong used Absolute Zero to freeze Zhang Hao’s invisible Rainbow Bubbles and deduced that Zhang Hao’s Star Source created them.
• Zhang Hao revealed his Explosive Bubbles, blasted the arena, and attacked Chen Kong at close range.
• Chen Kong fired ice bullets, then used Black Iron Clock and hidden ice on the floor to trap and stab Zhang Hao’s shoulder.
• Zhang Hao conceded defeat, gave Chen Kong his golden badge, and left the arena.
• Gorn asked Tiandao whether the duel had been the promised good show, and Tiandao said the real show was about to begin.

Mi Yao challenged Chen Kong to a wager for Chen Kong’s Prosperity Martial Emblem, offering six Martial Arts Emblems in return. Chen Kong agreed to fight using only their Star Source Effects, and the game began.

• Mi Yao appeared at the arcade and teased Chen Kong about their childhood, calling him a Reskinned Elite Monster.
• Mi Yao offered Chen Kong six Martial Arts Emblems if he won their game, but demanded Chen Kong’s Prosperity Martial Emblem if he lost.
• Mi Yao revealed his Arcade Master Star Source and selected the Demon Contract ability for their match.
• Chen Kong agreed to the wager on the condition that neither could use Star Core abilities and they could fight only with Star Source Effects.
• Mi Yao started the game, activating Demon Contract as the arcade console flashed with light.

Chen Kong attacked Mi Yao in the Training Arena, believing he could win by draining Mi Yao’s Star Energy. Caroline and Tiandao recognized that Mi Yao was deliberately taking the hits to build up Lucky Star Bond rewards, leaving Chen Kong walking into a trap.

• Mi Yao appeared at Chen Kong’s Martial Arts Emblem challenge, and Tiandao confirmed that this was the show he had mentioned to Gorn.
• Chen Kong copied Liu Ma’s Golden Demon Bull Star Core and charged Mi Yao, who offered no resistance and took a barrage of attacks.
• Caroline analyzed the fighters and declared that Chen Kong had a 0% chance of winning.
• Gorn noticed the Retro Game Console displaying Mi Yao’s six-loss streak and accumulated reward value of 30 gold.
• Tiandao explained that Mi Yao had hidden his Silver Shovel Game Realization Ability, Lucky Star Bond, which rewarded him for losing health and could grant powerful effects.

Mi Yao revealed that he had endured Chen Kong’s attacks to build a 12-loss streak for his Lucky Star Bond, while Demon Contract kept him sustained. After the bond restored and amplified him, Mi Yao struck Chen Kong down and explained that the wager had been a trap from the start.

• Chen Kong stopped beating Mi Yao after noticing the Retro Game Console had unlocked Lucky Star Bond.
• Mi Yao revealed he had built a 12-loss Losing Streak and punched Chen Kong to trigger its reward.
• The Lucky Star Bond fully healed Mi Yao and tripled his Star Energy and basic attributes.
• Mi Yao moved faster than Chen Kong could follow and slapped him into the Training Arena wall.
• Mi Yao told the injured Chen Kong that his apparent advantage had been a Newbie Bonus and taunted him for failing to get up.

Pang Hu announced October’s update schedule, monthly ticket rewards, and an unrelated basketball side story, then reflected on September’s slow updates and the challenges of keeping a web novel fresh. He ended by declaring he was ready to work hard again in October.

• Pang Hu announced that the monthly ticket side story, “Monstrous Athletic Talent,” would follow Tiandao leading his elementary school basketball team to a regional championship and would be released on October 1.
• Pang Hu scheduled five updates each day from September 30 through October 2, with the side story as an additional October 1 chapter, and promised one extra chapter for every thousand October monthly tickets.
• Pang Hu announced a lottery with thirty Crazy Thursday prizes for readers who voted with monthly tickets by 9:00 PM on October 9, with winners required to verify by October 16.
• Pang Hu said September’s updates had been uneven because he lacked compelling plot ideas and discussed the challenges web novelists faced in maintaining freshness, characterization, and immersion.
• Pang Hu noted that he had taken only one day off in September and urged himself to work hard in October.

After Mi Yao defeated Chen Kong, Tiandao challenged him to a card game for the Prosperity Martial Emblem. Mi Yao wagered all of Tiandao’s Martial Arts Emblems, and the chapter ended with Mi Yao revealing a Little Joker while Caroline predicted Tiandao would still win.

• Mi Yao defeated Chen Kong, took his Prosperity Martial Emblem, and prepared to leave the Training Arena.
• Tiandao arrived with Caroline and Gorn, then challenged Mi Yao to draw cards and wagered Chen Kong’s emblem.
• Mi Yao demanded all of Tiandao’s Martial Arts Emblems if Tiandao lost, so Tiandao produced ninety-nine emblems from a Subspace node.
• Mi Yao drew the Little Joker, while Caroline calculated that Tiandao had almost no chance of winning but trusted her intuition that he would.

Tiandao won Mi Yao’s card game because his unwavering confidence made any card he chose become the Big Joker. As Tiandao and Caroline left, he claimed that only the world he chose was real, leaving Caroline to wonder at the meaning behind his words.

• Tiandao asked Caroline to choose a card, and she picked the thirteenth from the right; Mi Yao presented it while Tiandao left without looking at it.
• Gorn told Chen Kong the card had to be the Big Joker, and Chen Kong flipped it to reveal that it was.
• Mi Yao revealed that every remaining card was also a Big Joker and explained that his game cards changed according to the players’ confidence.
• Gorn told Chen Kong that Tiandao had not chosen the Big Joker; any card Tiandao chose would become it because he believed victory was certain.
• Caroline asked whether Tiandao had anticipated Mi Yao’s game, and Tiandao said he would have won even with ordinary cards because only the world he chose was real.

Three months after Chen Kong challenged the Prosperity Martial Tower, Tiandao and Caroline arrived at Martial Arts Heavenly Capital for the Starry Sky Ladder qualification selection. Tiandao presented himself to a reporter as an ordinary civilian, while Hannah and Jing discussed the Association’s plan to bring him in and the resistance it might face.

• Tiandao and Caroline traveled to the Qilin District, where thousands of Rank 2 and Rank 3 Star Envoys had gathered for the selection.
• Caroline assessed the crowd and reported that attendance was roughly a third higher than expected, but Tiandao said the fixed number of tower places would make the outcome unchanged.
• Reporter Hannah and Camera Envoy Jing interviewed Tiandao, who described himself as a lucky civilian with no particular goal.
• Tiandao ended the interview as the assessment approached, and Hannah told Jing that Tiandao’s performance was convincing.
• Hannah said Tiandao suited the General President’s God-Making Plan and that the Association needed fresh blood, while Jing warned that those holding power would resist.