Chapter Summaries

Ma Jianguo warned Fang Cheng about the dangers of Spiritual Cultivation and told him to avoid the Special Search Team’s enhancement drugs. At dinner with Ma Jianguo, Ma Donghe, and Chen Yingjun, Fang Cheng sampled Ma Donghe’s unusual feast and gained food experience.

• Ma Jianguo explained that Spiritual Cultivation could overwhelm the mind and warned Fang Cheng that damage to the spirit could not be healed like a physical injury.
• Fang Cheng connected Ma Jianguo’s warning to the emotional instability he had experienced as his Spirit Attribute rose.
• Ma Jianguo advised Fang Cheng to avoid the Special Search Team and reject any drugs it offered, calling its methods a Heretical Path.
• Ma Donghe and Chen Yingjun served a feast of unusual nourishing dishes, and Fang Cheng tried them to spare Ma Donghe’s feelings.
• Fang Cheng received repeated food experience prompts as he continued eating the feast.

Fang Cheng raised his Cooking Skill to Expert Level and gained Poison Resistance while dining with Ma Donghe's family. Meanwhile, the National Guard examined the Experimental Subject and began investigating the unidentified Man in Black under the codename “Asura,” assuming he was a child of an influential family.

• Fang Cheng ate the banquet dishes to gain experience and raised his Cooking Skill to Expert Level, earning the Poison Resistance special effect.
• Ma Jianguo discussed finding Ma Donghe a respectable job, and Fang Cheng joined him in urging Ma Donghe to settle down.
• Luo Ge and A Jian arrived at the National Guard headquarters and saw the Experimental Subject being examined in the laboratory.
• Doctor Sun explained that the Experimental Subject's lobotomy and Blue Mysterious Substance had enabled extreme recovery, and he praised Luo Ge and A Jian for their mission.
• Luo Ge and Director Qin discussed the Man in Black's identity, and Director Qin filed him under the codename “Asura” for the Intelligence Department to monitor.

Fang Cheng used the Breath Counting Method with Focus to enter stillness and level up his skill, gaining the Heart of Steel effect. After testing its powerful increase to his willpower, he could not sleep and turned his attention to the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society business card.

• Fang Cheng combined Focus with the Breath Counting Method to meditate despite the distractions around him.
• Fang Cheng reached Master Level in Focus and gained the Heart of Steel skill effect, which increased willpower by 200% and spirit consumption by 100%.
• Fang Cheng activated the upgraded skill and found it blocked out external noise and distracting thoughts.
• Fang Cheng went to bed but could not sleep, so he looked at the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society business card.

Fang Cheng found that the meditation class Lin Chuqiao had recommended had closed, then learned its meditation program was offered through a travel agency. After arranging money for his maternal grandfather’s surgery and informing his mother, Fang Cheng joined the seven-day trip and reached the island by ferry.

• Fang Cheng visited the meditation class at the mall but found it shut down and posted for sale.
• Fang Cheng called Lin Chuqiao’s number and learned that the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society partnered with Orange Heart Travel Agency to offer a seven-day meditation trip.
• Fang Cheng decided to join the trip, transferred 150,000 yuan to his mother for his maternal grandfather’s surgery and recovery, and told her he would be traveling.
• On December 15th, Fang Cheng met the tour group, traveled by bus and ferry toward a Sea Island, and watched the island appear on the horizon at sunset.

Fang Cheng arrived on Yong'an Island for a meditation trip and settled into the remote Meditation Training Camp Base, where he noticed its unusual surroundings and experienced the refreshing mountain mist. The chapter ended with his square-faced roommate hinting that the camp held a major secret.

• Fang Cheng joined the tour group as its guide explained the meditation itinerary and led everyone to the Meditation Training Camp Base.
• Fang Cheng noticed that the brightly lit camp stood among apparently abandoned buildings, then checked into Room 305 and ate a vegetarian dinner with the group.
• Fang Cheng breathed in the cool mist drifting from the forest and felt refreshed, deciding the location seemed ideal for meditation.
• Fang Cheng's square-faced roommate arrived and asked whether he had noticed a big secret about the place.

Fang Cheng spent the night at the meditation retreat and heard a strange presence moving through the corridor, though his roommate Pan Wendi slept through it. The next morning, Fang Cheng found wet footprints directly outside their door.

• Pan Wendi told Fang Cheng that the retreat forbade official members from eating meat, but he had smelled meat coming from the locked upper floor.
• Fang Cheng fell asleep using the Breath Counting Method and woke to a cold draft and a strange, foul odor.
• Fang Cheng saw a shadow outside the door and heard slow, wet footsteps moving down the corridor, then used his Focus Skill to block out the sound.
• Pan Wendi woke and exercised, saying he had slept well and heard nothing unusual during the night.
• Fang Cheng opened the door the next morning and saw a pair of wet footprints in front of it.

Fang Cheng joined his tour group for a visit to Yong'an Town, learning about the Sea Queen Goddess and the island's approaching Sea Festival. After lunch, the group returned to the Training Camp for their first meditation class, where Fang Cheng prepared in the Quiet Cultivation Hall.

• Fang Cheng finished his morning exercise and reflected on the strange footprints and stench he had found outside his dormitory.
• Fang Cheng joined the assembled tour group on a bus to Yong'an Town, where they explored the harbor and learned that the Sea Festival was six days away.
• The tour group visited the Sea Queen Goddess Temple and Yong'an Island History Museum, hearing about the island's traditions and history.
• The group ate a seafood feast near the fishing port before returning to the Training Camp for the afternoon meditation class.
• Fang Cheng and Pan Wendi went to the Quiet Cultivation Hall, changed into meditation robes, and prepared for the class.

Fang Cheng and the other trainees attended their first meditation lesson, where Mentor Chen explained the practice and its risks. The chapter ended as Mentor Chen introduced the Truth Society’s three-part method for dealing with heightened perception.

• Mentor Chen welcomed the trainees to the meditation hall and asked them to share why they wanted to study meditation.
• Deng Wenwen said she wanted to forget her boyfriend, who had died in the Western Mountains Fire, and Mentor Chen told her meditation could help transform her grief.
• Fang Cheng pretended to be Ma Donghao and described a traumatic past, while Pan Wendi said he wanted to become a spiritual mentor for his fitness students.
• Mentor Chen began teaching meditation basics and explained that heightened perception could overwhelm trainees and even cause mental abnormalities.
• Mentor Chen said the Truth Society’s method was to train the five senses, transcend the five senses, and return to awareness.

Fang Cheng reached an unusually deep meditative state and encountered a mysterious High-Dimensional Consciousness, but used Heart of Steel to break free. After class, he discovered that the experience had unlocked the Meditation skill.

• Fang Cheng followed Mentor Chen's meditation instructions and sharpened his awareness by focusing on his senses.
• Fang Cheng cut off his senses in sequence and encountered a vast blue space and a distant phantom that seemed to summon him.
• Fang Cheng activated Heart of Steel, escaped the vision, and regained his senses.
• Mentor Chen ended the three-hour class and encouraged students to keep practicing in the Quiet Cultivation Hall.
• Fang Cheng saw a prompt saying he had contacted High-Dimensional Consciousness and unlocked Meditation lv0.

Chen Jiandong and his teacher discussed the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society’s looming crisis and the need to recruit more people before the Sea Festival. Fang Cheng confirmed that meditation improved his spirit but avoided the mysterious phantom, then heard strange wet footsteps outside his room.

• The old man told Chen Jiandong that the Society lacked manpower and ordered him to seek help from his grandfather, the Chen clan leader, because Yong'an Island faced danger.
• Pan Wendi told Fang Cheng that meditation felt beneficial, but he recalled only suspicious details about the mentor and cultivation hall and reported no unusual experiences.
• After Pan Wendi fell asleep, Fang Cheng meditated for two hours and gained spirit and meditation experience, though he repeatedly woke when he sensed the vast azure space and phantom.
• Fang Cheng decided he would not pursue the Society’s mysterious goal of approaching the phantom and resolved to grow stronger through his own methods.
• Fang Cheng heard two wet, rubbery footsteps in the corridor and turned his attention toward the door.

Fang Cheng followed half-human, half-fish monsters from the Training Camp Base to a mass gathering in the sea near Yong'an Island, then discovered hunters capturing one of them from a fishing boat. After the hunters subdued their target, they found Fang Cheng aboard their boat, leaving their encounter poised for confrontation.

• Fang Cheng watched a fishlike monster pass his dormitory, then followed it and another creature out of the Training Camp Base.
• Fang Cheng saw hundreds of half-human, half-fish creatures gather beneath the cape’s waters and suspected the island’s meditation society concealed dangerous secrets.
• A Wu and the boat captain waited near the cape, then lured a monster onto their fishing boat with a red flare.
• A Wu burned the monster with his heated fists while the captain shot it with tranquilizers and an electric harpoon.
• A Wu and the captain dragged the unconscious monster into the cabin and found Fang Cheng standing in the cockpit, drying his clothes.

Fang Cheng defeated and captured Wang Zongwu and Wang Zongwen, then learned that the brothers belonged to the Noah Organization and were hunting mermaids near Yong'an Island. He pretended to accept their offer to take him to their stronghold, but the chapter ended with the brothers’ alarmed cries as the boat reached port.

• Fang Cheng attacked Wang Zongwu and Wang Zongwen after they threatened him, breaking Wang Zongwen’s arm and knocking Wang Zongwu into the sea.
• Fang Cheng subdued Wang Zongwu, tied up the brothers, and questioned him about their mission and affiliation.
• Wang Zongwu revealed that he and Wang Zongwen served the Noah Organization and had been sent to capture a mermaid for a reward.
• Wang Zongwu described his Flame Fist ability, the organization’s ranks, and its connection to Chen Chen of the Red Tiger Gang.
• Fang Cheng pretended to accept Wang Zongwu’s offer to join the organization and ordered the brothers to sail back to their stronghold.
• As the boat docked at the fishing port, Wang Zongwu and Wang Zongwen cried out in alarm, and the cockpit fell silent.

Fang Cheng staged the deaths of the Wang Brothers and the boat owner, escaped the fishing boat with an extraordinary jump, and returned to the Training Camp Base. After reviewing what he learned about the Mermaids and Noah, he checked his newly acquired Water Breathing talent.

• Fang Cheng arranged the three corpses to look like a fight over stolen goods, discarded the Wang Brothers’ unwanted gear, and left the unconscious Mermaid on deck after firing more tranquilizer darts.
• Fang Cheng leaped from the drifting boat to the pier, then carried the travel bag back to the Training Camp Base and washed away the seawater and fishy odor.
• Fang Cheng reflected that the Mermaids he encountered seemed weak on land, while stronger ones might exist, and that Noah was a powerful organization conducting human experiments with a stronghold on Yong'an Island.
• Fang Cheng checked his panel and saw the new Water Breathing talent alongside his Beauty and Omniscient Language talents.

After awakening the Water Breathing talent, Fang Cheng watched the investigation of the previous night’s deaths at the harbor and suspected the Training Camp Base was tied to the mermaids and the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society. He spotted a suspicious young man in the crowd, but looked away when the man seemed to notice him.

• Fang Cheng reasoned that meditation and contact with the sea had awakened his Water Breathing talent, which gave him confidence in fighting Wang Zongwu on the water.
• Fang Cheng examined his spark-damaged sweatpants and recalled taking several thousand yuan from the Wang Brothers as compensation.
• Fang Cheng spotted Mentor Chen and an elderly man leaving the dormitory in a car, then followed them toward town.
• At the harbor, Fang Cheng listened as onlookers speculated about Zhou AShui’s death and watched Mentor Chen and the elderly men inspect the fishing boat with the police.
• Fang Cheng concluded that the mermaids were connected to the Training Camp Base and that the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society had deep roots on Yong'an Island.
• Fang Cheng noticed a young man in a black windbreaker and sunglasses watching the scene, then lowered his head when the man appeared to sense his gaze.

Li Chengjun searched the waters around Yong'an Island after two Noah Organization members were killed, while the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society prepared for an approaching Sea Sacrifice Ceremony. Fang Cheng gained Cooking Skill Experience from the training camp’s food, noticed people linked to the monsters had disappeared, and decided to use his Water Breathing Talent for underwater weight training.

• Li Chengjun searched around Yong'an Island, dismissed the idea that the Special Search Team was responsible, and said the Pursuer Team would arrive soon.
• Zheng Hongxin warned the Truth and Meditation Co-cultivation Society’s leaders that the Great Tide had begun and the Sea Sacrifice Ceremony in five days had to succeed, then ordered precautions against outside threats.
• Fang Cheng gained 12 Cooking Skill Experience by eating the training camp’s unusually nourishing meals and noticed that several people connected to the monsters had vanished.
• Fang Cheng attended outdoor meditation at the cape, returned there alone afterward, and decided to try weight training underwater using his Water Breathing Talent.

Fang Cheng trained the Prisoner's Six Arts underwater, using the pressure and currents around a deep seabed rift to increase his training gains. After reaching his limit and returning to the surface, he planned to come back the next day and try underwater Pile Stance and Breathing Technique.

• Fang Cheng leaped from a cliff into the sea and dove to the seabed to test underwater training.
• Fang Cheng practiced Push-Ups at ten meters deep and decided the water pressure there was not enough for his physique.
• Fang Cheng used Eagle Eye Vision to discover a vast rift in the seabed and swam to its edge.
• Fang Cheng trained the Prisoner's Six Arts beside the rift, completing five groups of each movement as the currents and pressure challenged him.
• Fang Cheng stopped when his breathing and limbs weakened, then swam to the surface and gained substantial experience in several skills.
• Fang Cheng checked his improved Push-Ups progress and decided to return the next day to practice Pile Stance and Breathing Technique underwater.

Fang Cheng returned from underwater training to find tourists temporarily housed at the training camp because of an infectious disease outbreak in Town. After resting and reviewing his training gains, he noticed a familiar jasmine scent near Quiet Cultivation Hall and turned to investigate.

• Fang Cheng hurried to the cafeteria, ate with Pan Wendi, and learned from Shen Lili that tourists had been moved to the base for three days while venues in Town were disinfected.
• Fang Cheng returned to his dormitory, showered, meditated, and saw that underwater Weight Training had increased his Strength, Agility, and Physique.
• Fang Cheng suspected that Pile Stance and Breathing Technique might be better suited to underwater practice than the Prisoner's Six Arts and planned to test the idea the next day.
• Fang Cheng wandered near Quiet Cultivation Hall, caught a familiar jasmine perfume, and turned around to see who was behind him.

Fang Cheng discovered that Shen Lili was Lin Chuqiao in disguise, and she said she had come to help him. The next morning, his underwater training let him grasp the principles of breath circulation and unlock the Breathing Technique.

• Fang Cheng questioned Shen Lili about Lin Chuqiao and exposed her disguise after bluffing that Pan Wendi had told him everything.
• Lin Chuqiao admitted she had disguised herself because she was worried Fang Cheng would face danger and said they would talk the next day.
• On January 19, Fang Cheng completed his underwater push-up and squat practice, then focused on Pile Stance.
• Fang Cheng used his Focus Skill and Water Breathing talent to sense his body and regulate his breathing under the pressure of the sea.
• Fang Cheng mastered the Breathing Technique and unlocked it at Level 0.

Fang Cheng trained underwater until his Pile Stance reached Expert Level and he unlocked the Breathing Technique by mastering internal respiration. Back on land, he tested the technique and used its rhythmic vibrations to circulate his breath and blood, drying his body after his swim.

• Fang Cheng practiced Pile Stance under the pressure of the Deep Sea Rift and used a thunderous cry to send ripples through the water.
• Fang Cheng reached Expert Level in Pile Stance, gained attribute bonuses, and raised his Pile Stance to Level 1.
• Fang Cheng realized that his underwater training had helped him understand internal respiration and unlock the Breathing Technique.
• Fang Cheng swam to shore, climbed the cape, and began testing the Breathing Technique on land.
• Fang Cheng used the Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound Skill to vibrate his body, circulate his breath and blood, and evaporate the water on his skin.

Fang Cheng reflected on the recovery benefits of his Breathing Technique, then attended Mentor Chen Jiandong’s Meditation lesson on entering Samadhi. A hymn-guided exercise left him unmoved but convinced that he was close to entering Samadhi and needed only a suitable goal.

• Fang Cheng found that the Breathing Technique eased his fatigue and helped his body recover, though his supply of Qi and Blood Energy quickly ran out.
• Fang Cheng hurried to the cafeteria, then joined the afternoon Meditation class in the Quiet Cultivation Hall.
• Chen Jiandong explained that entering Samadhi required looking beyond the Five Senses, facing inner emptiness, and establishing a Meditation goal.
• Chen Jiandong had an attendant play ethereal music and guided the gathered students into Meditation.
• Fang Cheng understood the hymn’s lyrics through his Omniscient Language Talent and resisted the music’s influence.
• Fang Cheng concluded that he was already close to entering Samadhi and lacked only a suitable goal.