Chapter Summaries

Fang Cheng questioned the Truth Society’s meditation practice, and Lin Chuqiao explained that deeper cultivation required a worthy belief rather than faith in a god. She revealed that she had awakened Special Abilities after encountering the society and had come to Yong'an Island to approach a target, while Fang Cheng offered to help her.

• Chen Jiandong watched the trainees leave the Quiet Cultivation Hall and worried that Fang Cheng had stopped making progress in meditation.
• Lin Chuqiao invited Fang Cheng for a walk, and he told her the Truth Society’s meditation method did not suit him.
• Lin Chuqiao explained that cultivation required an unwavering goal worth believing in, not belief in a god.
• Lin Chuqiao revealed that awakening Special Abilities had put her on the Truth Society’s blacklist and that she had come to Yong'an Island to get close to her target.
• Fang Cheng offered to help Lin Chuqiao if she needed it, and she said Pan Wendi had been handling something for her.

Pan Wendi found the Noah Organization’s hideout and was caught by Li Chengjun, who questioned him about his origins and a fishing boat incident. Pan Wendi escaped before Li Chengjun could break him, and Li Chengjun sent his subordinates after him toward the alley.

• Pan Wendi followed his cousin’s directions through the harbor district and found an old house that matched the paper.
• Pan Wendi entered the house using his ability, discovered weapons hidden in a box, and left a slip of paper on the table.
• Li Chengjun confronted Pan Wendi, accused him of involvement in the fishing boat incident, and used his ability to pin him down.
• Pan Wendi resisted Li Chengjun’s pressure and punches, but Li Chengjun kicked him toward a wall.
• Pan Wendi vanished before hitting the wall, and Li Chengjun directed his subordinates to pursue him through a nearby alley.

Pan Wendi and Lin Chuqiao were cornered by Li Chengjun’s team, but Fang Cheng arrived and fought his way through the pursuers to carry them to safety. Li Chengjun abandoned the chase and withdrew with his injured subordinates, regretting that he had refused the proposed cooperation.

• Pan Wendi escaped an illusion with help from his cousin’s warning, and Lin Chuqiao used her Charm Art to make Shorty protect them from their pursuers.
• Li Chengjun blocked Pan Wendi and Lin Chuqiao’s escape with a flying manhole cover and overwhelmed them with his pressure ability.
• An explosion disrupted Li Chengjun’s control, and Fang Cheng arrived, gathered Pan Wendi and Lin Chuqiao, and battled through the surrounding team.
• Fang Cheng used his breathing technique to resist Li Chengjun’s pressure and escaped over the rooftops with the two rescued people.
• Li Cheng ordered his team to withdraw and change strongholds, blamed the hedgehog man for the failed operation, and regretted rejecting the proposed terms.

Fang Cheng helped Lin Chuqiao and the injured Pan Wendi hide in Lin Chuqiao’s old courtyard, where he learned about the mental dangers of overusing abilities and gained experience with his Breathing Technique. The next morning, after Pan Wendi woke, Lin Chuqiao decided to send him back to the Eastern Capital, and Fang Cheng returned to the Training Camp Base.

• Fang Cheng carried Lin Chuqiao and Pan Wendi to Lin Chuqiao’s abandoned courtyard, where Pan Wendi collapsed from overusing his ability.
• Fang Cheng bought bedding and supplies while Lin Chuqiao cleaned the house, then she explained that excessive ability use could exhaust the body and damage the mind.
• Fang Cheng checked his skill panel and saw that using the Breathing Technique in battle had earned him 30 experience points.
• After keeping watch overnight and training underwater, Fang Cheng learned that Pan Wendi had woken and heard Lin Chuqiao decide to send him to the Eastern Capital to recover.
• Lin Chuqiao thanked Fang Cheng as he left for the Training Camp Base, startling a child when he vaulted over the courtyard wall.

Fang Cheng trained in the Seafloor Rift under extreme water pressure, increasing his Pile Stance and Push-Ups experience. After pushing through his physical limits, he reached Grandmaster Level in Push-Ups and gained the Qilin Arm skill effect.

• Fang Cheng dove to a training rock more than sixty meters below the sea surface and practiced Pile Stance against the violent currents.
• Fang Cheng gained 25 Experience Points in Pile Stance, then began weighted Squats and Push-Ups on the rock.
• Fang Cheng continued his Push-Ups as the pressure and lack of oxygen made each repetition increasingly difficult.
• Fang Cheng completed his 170th Push-Up and advanced to Push-Ups Lv3, earning the Qilin Arm skill effect.

Fang Cheng mastered the Qilin Arm special effect in the Seafloor Rift, tested its power, and used it to climb a sheer cliff on Yong'an Island. After regulating his body, he headed to the cafeteria to replenish his stamina.

• Fang Cheng completed 180 Push-Ups and unlocked the Qilin Arm special effect at Grandmaster level.
• Fang Cheng charged his right arm and unleashed a punch that sent a powerful waterline more than ten meters through the seawater.
• Fang Cheng used Qilin Arm alongside Elasticity and Ape Waist to rocket out of the Seafloor Rift and leap above the sea.
• Fang Cheng caught an osprey briefly before releasing it and decided to test his new ability on a near-vertical cliff.
• Fang Cheng climbed more than a hundred meters to the cape, meditated to recover, and then set off for the cafeteria to eat.

Fang Cheng tried to combine meditation and Breathing Technique to guide the qi in his body, but his attempts failed because his qi remained weak and difficult to control. He recalled Ma Jianguo’s explanation of qi gong and the legendary method Ma had offered him: Steal Heavenly Opportunity.

• Fang Cheng ended a meditation session after barely half an hour and prepared to try again in his dormitory.
• Fang Cheng reviewed his progress in Pile Stance, Meditation, and Breathing Technique as he sought to master qi gong.
• Fang Cheng tried twice to guide the heat flow in his abdomen to a specific part of his body, but it scattered when he lost concentration.
• Fang Cheng concluded that his weak sense of qi and limited Innate Vital Energy hindered his progress and that dietary supplementation would help.
• Fang Cheng recalled that Old Master Ma had offered him a legendary method called Steal Heavenly Opportunity.

Fang Cheng weighed whether to risk Steal Heavenly Opportunity to break through his Qi Gong Checkpoint as he trained on Yong'an Island. Lin Chuqiao returned to warn him that her Premonition Ability foresaw a massacre at the Training Camp Base during the upcoming Sea Festival.

• Fang Cheng considered using the dangerous Steal Heavenly Opportunity method to break through his Qi Gong Checkpoint, given his strength and the conditions on Yong'an Island.
• Lin Chuqiao arrived at Fang Cheng's dormitory and told him that ferry service had stopped because of abnormal currents.
• Lin Chuqiao said she had ordered Pan Wendi to remain in town and had returned because she feared Fang Cheng was in danger.
• Lin Chuqiao showed Fang Cheng drawings from her Premonition Ability depicting slaughter and a fierce battle by the sea.
• Lin Chuqiao warned Fang Cheng that a massacre would occur at the Training Camp Base within three days, on the day of the Sea Festival.

Fang Cheng learned that Lin Chuqiao’s prophecy had actually been about him and heard that the Truth Society possessed a Saint Relic. At the Society’s underground altar, the Truth Stone Tablet delivered an ominous, incomplete prophecy, and Zheng Hongxin ordered the group to prepare for the approaching Great Tide and impose martial law.

• Lin Chuqiao explained that prophecies grew less reliable over longer periods and said Fang Cheng was the true subject of her latest prediction, though her visions of him were interfered with.
• Lin Chuqiao warned Fang Cheng that the Truth Society had a Premonition Ability and a Saint Relic, making it safest to stay out of its affairs.
• The Truth Stone Tablet revealed a prophecy about bloodstained sinners trapped in the Blood River and a bright lamp that would one day be lit, then its writing vanished.
• Zheng Hongxin speculated that the prophecy foretold a bloody massacre and that the two-hundred-year-old relic was nearing the end of its lifespan.
• A cadre said the Society’s Fishing Team could gather Ancient Remains during the coming Great Tide, and Zheng Hongxin dismissed concerns about the Noah Organization.
• Zheng Hongxin ordered Chen Jiandong to bring newcomers for baptism and told the Society to expel the others, clear the building, and impose full martial law starting the next day.

Luo Lie arrived on Yong'an Island to help Li Chengjun target the Truth Society and claim a Saint Relic, unaware that Li Chengjun planned to forge one for himself. After tourists left the Training Camp Base, Fang Cheng stayed on the island and headed into the sea, determined to complete his breakthrough.

• Luo Lie reached the island by smuggling boat and told Li Chengjun he would handle the Truth Society while Li Chengjun managed the rest.
• Li Chengjun agreed to keep Luo Lie’s identity secret but privately planned to use the Saint Relic materials to create a new relic of his own.
• Tourists left the Training Camp Base for town, while selected trainees stayed behind to pursue advanced training as Formal Trainees.
• Fang Cheng checked into a town hotel, noticed preparations for the Sea Festival, and bought a diving mask because ship routes remained suspended.
• Fang Cheng sensed power in the sea, put on his diving mask, and went into the water to attempt his final breakthrough.

Fang Cheng pushed his meditation practice into the Seafloor Rift’s crushing depths and discovered that gray-white mist rising from the abyss restored his strength as he meditated. As the mist spread across Yong'an Island, Li Chengjun’s team prepared to attack the Truth Society’s base, but strange scaled creatures swam past their ship toward the abyss.

• Fang Cheng entered a deep meditative state underwater, glimpsed his body’s inner workings, and felt the heat flow in his abdomen respond to a flash of insight.
• Fang Cheng concluded that meditation and the Breathing Technique could work together if he made consciousness and aura transform into one another, and his Meditation experience increased.
• Fang Cheng repeatedly descended deeper into the Seafloor Rift, eventually meditating while suspended more than one hundred meters below the surface.
• Gray-white mist rose from the Seafloor Rift, entered Fang Cheng as he meditated, and restored some of his energy while increasing his Meditation experience.
• Li Chengjun prepared his team to attack the Truth Society’s base, kept seasick Tang Dayuan aboard the ship, and waited for Luo Lie’s signal.
• Li Chengjun’s crew spotted strange, dark-green-scaled creatures swimming past their steamer toward the cape and the Seafloor Rift.

Chen Jiandong prepared the Truth Society’s stormy-night ceremony to contact a slumbering Higher-Dimensional Consciousness while fishing teams searched the sea for strange creatures and relics. At the deserted Training Camp Base, a group of stranded tourists saw a fishlike figure approaching their duty room.

• Chen Jiandong ordered the assistants to prepare the ceremony, and nearly a hundred Truth Society members drank a medicinal broth to strengthen their Mental Energy and Constitution.
• Chen Jiandong reflected that the ceremony would build a Space-time bridge to a Higher-Dimensional Consciousness, while fishing boats headed toward the Abyss to gather strange creatures and treasures.
• Chen Jiandong took his seat on the high platform and prepared to lead the prayer ritual as a storm raged.
• Tourists stranded at the Training Camp Base played cards and discussed rumors of a Water Demon after finding the building deserted.
• A lightning strike plunged the duty room into darkness, and A Qiang said he had seen a water ghost in the lobby.
• The tourists saw a dark gray-green, fishlike creature with webbed limbs approach the duty room, bringing a foul stench.

Fang Cheng cultivated Embryonic Breathing in the Abyss, reaching Expert Level in his Breathing Technique and entering the Unity of Heaven and Man. As he trained above a powerful seafloor vortex, strange creatures rose from the depths and gathered around him.

• Fang Cheng entered Embryonic Breathing and practiced in the Abyss for six hours as his Meditation and Breathing Technique experience increased.
• His Breathing Technique reached Expert Level, granting him a chance to synthesize an Exclusive Skill, and he gained a realization about the origin of life.
• Fang Cheng reached the Unity of Heaven and Man as his Spirit and Constitution gradually increased.
• A powerful vortex formed around a Submarine Volcano, and Fang Cheng used its currents to train his Pile Stance while remaining balanced above its center.
• Blue lights and dark shapes rose from the Abyss as fishlike humanoid monsters gathered around Fang Cheng and watched him meditate.

Luo Lie’s forces stormed the Truth Society’s base while Li Chengjun’s team tried to seize a treasure salvage operation at sea. Li Chengjun turned Feng Kehai’s ambush around, but Feng Kehai warned that the Truth Stone Tablet could track them and that the President was coming; Feng Kehai then tried to contact him and reacted with alarm.

• Luo Lie’s combat team killed the backpackers who had witnessed the monsters, crushed three Mermaids blocking their advance, and entered the Quiet Cultivation Hall to attack the cavern.
• Li Chengjun received the signal flare and sent teams to take control of the fishing boats while waiting for the Truth Society to salvage the Ancient Remains.
• A Jie reported that a large object was being hauled up, so Li Chengjun and his hunters boarded the target boat and discovered that A Jie and other team members had been captured.
• Feng Kehai revealed that the Truth Society had anticipated Li Chengjun’s arrival and summoned dozens of Mermaids to surround his team.
• Li Chengjun’s hunters released gas that drove the Mermaids away, and Li Chengjun used his Super Gravity Field to capture Feng Kehai.
• Feng Kehai warned that the Truth Stone Tablet could track anyone on Yong'an Island and that the President would arrive; after trying to contact him, Feng Kehai’s expression changed drastically.

Fang Cheng resisted a mysterious presence in the depths of his subconscious and used the struggle to achieve Expert-level Meditation, gaining the Spirituality Fire skill effect. As he remained in samadhi, strange remains and debris began rising from an abyssal volcanic eruption nearby.

• Fang Cheng meditated in the Abyss Fissure and entered a deep subconscious state, where a vast phantom’s strange chants tempted him with power.
• Fang Cheng recognized the countering moo as the Primeval Vowel and resisted the phantom’s influence while entering samadhi.
• Fang Cheng’s Meditation reached Expert Level, and he gained the Spirituality Fire skill effect as a flame in his subconscious blazed to life.
• A massive shadow rose from the Abyss, carrying volcanic debris, shipwreck relics, deep-sea corpses, and unknown skeletons that began glowing azure in the shallower water.

Fang Cheng absorbed the Azure Aura radiating from the Abyss’s treasures, strengthening his body and forming what seemed to be a Dantian and Inner True Qi. Meanwhile, the Truth Society’s ritual was interrupted when the Lord turned its attention elsewhere, and Luo Lie’s armed group stormed the sacrificial hall.

• Fang Cheng’s body absorbed the Azure Aura as the Breathing Technique circulated it through Bright Points, raising his Physique and healing his skin.
• Fang Cheng accumulated Azure Aura in his lower abdomen, where it seemed to form a Dantian and Inner True Qi.
• The Truth Society’s meditation ritual ended abruptly when the Lord’s attention was drawn to another summoning.
• Zheng Hongxin explained the Truth Stone Tablet’s role in preserving members’ sanity and lamented that its power was nearly depleted.
• Zheng Hongxin noticed Feng Kehai’s image showing his group under attack and prepared to rescue them.
• Luo Lie and armed members of the Noah Organization blasted open the sacrificial hall’s stone door and entered.

Luo Lie and Zheng Hongxin fought as the Elite Hunters attacked the Truth Society’s hidden cavern, while the Truth Stone Tablet showed a deep-sea salvage mission. At the bottom of the Seafloor Rift, the divers uncovered glowing bone fragments and a mysterious young man who opened his eyes.

• Luo Lie led the Elite Hunters into the cavern and challenged Zheng Hongxin, who saved a priest and struck back.
• Luo Lie and Zheng Hongxin began fighting while their followers battled around them, and the Truth Stone Tablet displayed images of the deep sea.
• Li Chengjun forced Feng Kehai to cooperate and sent A Jie and the divers to salvage Ancient Remains near the Seafloor Rift.
• A Jie’s team encountered mermaids, followed them to the rift, and discovered blue lights surrounded by the creatures.
• Li Chengjun ordered the divers to use an Infrasonic Gun, revealing massive glowing bone fragments in the Abyss.
• A Jie and the others saw a naked young man suspended among the bones and mermaids, and the man opened his eyes toward them.

After a grueling undersea training session, Fang Cheng broke through major physical limits and awakened the ability to project True Qi. When Li Chengjun’s hunters attacked him, Fang Cheng killed nine of them and forced the survivors to flee; he then paused to recover and turned his attention to the interrupted Exclusive Skill Synthesis choice.

• Fang Cheng emerged from more than ten hours of training with greatly increased attributes, including Physique 41 and Spirit 43, and a newly awakened Spirituality Fire effect.
• Li Chengjun ordered A Jie and the Hunter Team to kill Fang Cheng and reclaim the treasure, so they opened fire on him at the Seafloor Rift.
• Fang Cheng used vibrating waves to deflect the bullets, then attacked the hunters and killed them with his fists and True Qi strikes as A Jie and others fled.
• A Jie reached the surface but was struck by Fang Cheng’s attack and died, while Li Chengjun ordered the other two teams to gather at the rift.
• Fang Cheng meditated to steady his True Qi and looked toward the ships, choosing to address the interrupted Exclusive Skill Synthesis before continuing the fight.

Fang Cheng synthesized Breathing Technique, Pile Stance, and food into the exclusive skill Qi Gong, gaining enhanced defensive and recovery effects. After learning that Noah Organization members were involved in the night’s events, he found his Water Breathing talent had evolved and gained influence over mermaids and greater combat power at sea.

• Fang Cheng reviewed the synthesis rules and chose Pile Stance and food to combine with Breathing Technique, preserving Meditation and its Spirituality Fire.
• Fang Cheng gained Qi Gong Lv1, inheriting Poison Resistance and acquiring Evergreen Resilience, which increased vital-point defense and Dantian Qi recovery while he practiced Standing Meditation.
• Fang Cheng approached a group of mermaids and communicated with one, learning more about the night’s events and confirming that the divers belonged to Noah Organization.
• Fang Cheng saw his Water Breathing talent turn purple and gained permanent worship among the mermaids, the ability to command them, and doubled combat ability effects in marine environments.

Fang Cheng gained a strange Stone Mask from a sunken chest and decided to repay the Mermaids by confronting the hunters threatening them. He emerged from the sea unharmed after enduring a barrage of gunfire, leaving Li Chengjun and his men stunned.

• Fang Cheng realized that taking opportunities had brought him a responsibility to help the Mermaids and resolved to face their trouble.
• Fang Cheng found a horned Stone Mask in an Iron Chest and put it on, where it shrank to fit his face.
• Fang Cheng spotted Li Chengjun above and launched himself toward the surface with the help of his Talents.
• Li Chengjun ordered his hunters to fire, but a wave shielded Fang Cheng from the first volley.
• Fang Cheng stood on the sea amid the gathered Mermaids after bullets struck him without harm, and Li Chengjun demanded to know who he was.