Chapter Summaries

Gu Shen hypnotized Hong Zhong’s soul and learned how the pendant called Fate Goddess's Protection had saved him before and controlled his body during the Maze Mission. He absorbed Hong Zhong into the Pure Land, fulfilling the pendant’s protection and becoming its new master as it began merging with his mind.

• Gu Shen hypnotized Hong Zhong’s Soul Spirit and discovered that he remembered his past but could not explain the pendant’s nature or how he had reached its mental space.
• Hong Zhong’s memories revealed that Fate Goddess's Protection had repeatedly guided him through danger and that, during the Maze Mission, it had controlled him to escape by killing his teammates and taking their energy cores.
• Gu Shen realized that Hong Zhong’s apparent survival depended on meeting him, and sensed that absorbing Hong Zhong into the Pure Land would transfer the pendant’s immortality protection to him.
• Gu Shen took Hong Zhong into the Pure Land, where the soul joined the other spirits and the pendant accepted Gu Shen as its master.
• Gu Shen returned to his body and sensed the pendant slowly merging with his mind, improving his awareness of his surroundings.

After the Storm Resistance War, Gu Shen celebrated with the Explorer Squad, accepted the Empress’s investiture invitation, and agreed to travel to Central City with Lin Lin. The chapter ended as Lin Lin prepared to leave Gubu Fortress, angrily ordering Zou Hai to unpack his luggage and insisting he would return in a couple of days.

• Gu Shen welcomed the Explorer Squad and drank until he had knocked out the squad members, including Yuan Yuan and Su He.
• Lin Lin arrived, delivered the Empress’s Invitation Letter, and invited Gu Shen to travel with him to Central City; Gu Shen accepted.
• The Explorer Squad sobered up, learned about the coming investiture, and invited Gu Shen to travel on their airship, but he declined.
• After three days, Gu Shen found Lin Lin’s airship loaded with luggage, and Lin Lin ordered Zou Hai to put it all back, saying he was only going to Central City briefly.

Gu Shen and Lin Lin discussed North Continent’s reliance on human defenders, the possibility of living creatures in the Old World, and Golden Grain Flower’s exploration before reaching Central City. The Cast Snow Grand Duke welcomed them to a banquet attended by A'liuer, members of the Investigation Corps’ Second Team, and North Continent generals.

• Lin Lin explained why North Continent rejected fully automated defenses and warned Gu Shen that unknown creatures might live in the Old World.
• Gu Shen contacted Golden Grain Flower, cautioned it against exploring blindly, and heard that it planned to inspect the law point near the labyrinth.
• Lin Lin flew Gu Shen over Central City, showing him its Furnace-powered rings, floating skyscrapers, and vast futuristic landscape.
• The Cast Snow Grand Duke invited Gu Shen and Lin Lin to a welcoming banquet and revealed that A'liuer, Investigation Corps members, and North Continent generals were already there.

Gu Shen attended a banquet in Central City while Lin Lin confronted his older brother, Lin Chou, about his role at Gubu Fortress and a political marriage with City of Light. Lin Lin refused to abandon the fortress or accept the marriage alliance, then accused Town Moon Grand Duke of targeting Gu Shen.

• Gu Shen was surrounded by guests and reporters before joining Investigation Corps Second Team at the front table, where he learned they would receive First Class Medals.
• Gu Shen discovered Lin Lin had gone upstairs and had no seat or investiture planned, so he left the table to look for him.
• Lin Chou told Lin Lin to accept his changed status and argued that Gubu Fortress could function without him, while Lin Lin insisted he would remain its commander.
• Lin Chou questioned Lin Lin's closeness with Gu Shen and pressed him about rejecting a marriage alliance with City of Light; Lin Lin said the marriage contract should be void.
• Lin Lin told Lin Chou that City of Light had already broken the agreement through Meng Xizhou and accused Town Moon Grand Duke of being hostile toward Gu Shen.

At Cast Snow’s banquet, Gu Shen was attacked on the second floor and confronted by Town Moon Grand Duke Meng Xiao. Gu Shen resisted Meng Xiao’s mental assault and realized his hostility was connected to Meng Xizhou and Gu Nanfeng, leaving the two men poised for further conflict.

• Lin Chou explained that Meng Xiao’s arrival could help keep Gu Shen out of the spotlight, but Lin Lin refused to yield to the Town Moon Grand Duke.
• Gu Shen followed a guiding sensation to a private room on the second floor, where Ba Kui attacked him and Gu Shen blocked the blow with an Iron Shield.
• Lin Lin stopped Ba Kui’s second attack, and Cast Snow introduced Gu Shen to Meng Xiao as the two groups faced off.
• Meng Xiao questioned Gu Shen about his relationship with Gu Nanfeng, then used mental power against him when Gu Shen tried to leave.
• Gu Shen resisted Meng Xiao’s mental assault, inferred that Meng Xiao resented his connection to Gu Nanfeng and Meng Xizhou, and told Meng Xiao he would face him if he wanted to continue the conflict.

At the Empress’s banquet, Gu Shen and Lin Lin faced Duke Zhenyue Meng Xiao’s hostility, but Lin Chou ended the confrontation before it turned violent. Lin Lin accepted an invitation to visit the Empress, while Gu Shen’s true identity remained a mystery and Meng Xiao left with a new interest in him.

• Meng Xiao wondered why his mental power had failed to suppress Gu Shen, while Gu Shen and Lin Lin left the banquet hall to talk on the rooftop.
• Lin Lin explained that Meng Xiao likely targeted Gu Shen because of the feud between the Meng and Gu families, then questioned Gu Shen about his concealed identity.
• The Investigation Corps’ Seventh Squad received First Class Medals for surviving the Maze Mission, and Lin Lin accepted the Empress’s invitation to visit her residence.
• After the banquet, Meng Xiao demanded time to settle a personal matter with Gu Shen, and the Seventh Squad stood with Gu Shen as the confrontation escalated.
• Lin Chou ordered Meng Xiao to leave, and Meng Xiao departed after telling Shen Yun he had become interested in him.
• Gu Shen warned that Gu Nanfeng could be summoned to face Meng Xiao, and Shen Yun added that Gu Nanfeng could easily defeat a fifth-stage Transcendent.

Lin Lin took Gu Shen to the Empress’s estate after revealing that he was the Empress’s younger brother. The Empress’s gates opened to receive them, leaving Lin Lin’s identity no longer concealed.

• Lin Lin told Cast Snow that he did not want to marry Meng Xizhou and argued that the Lin family could cooperate with the City of Light in other ways.
• Lin Lin and Gu Shen flew through Central City as Lin Lin discussed the region’s wealth and the Northern Continent’s unequal share of the Furnace’s burdens.
• Lin Lin piloted his airship into the Empress’s estate without interception, and the sentries let him, Gu Shen, and the Labrador Dire Hound pass.
• Lin Lin brought Gu Shen to the Empress’s Ancient Castle, where A'liuer and a purple-haired Investigation Corps woman waited.
• Lin Lin revealed that he was the younger brother of the Empress of the Northern Continent.

Gu Shen returned to the Empress's Ancient Castle with Lin Lin and learned that the Furnace was the Empress's Divine Domain, not merely the reactor described to the public. The Empress had not seen anyone for about a year, and the chapter left Gu Shen at the blazing entrance to her residence as the Corps Commander invited him inside.

• Lin Lin brought Gu Shen to the Ancient Castle and introduced him to the Corps Commander, Wen Di, and A'liuer.
• The Corps Commander made Lin Lin stay behind while she took Gu Shen upstairs to the Empress's residence.
• Lin Lin explained that the Furnace was the Empress's Divine Domain, whose flames powered and warmed Central City.
• A'liuer told Gu Shen that the Empress had not left her residence or received visitors for about a year.
• The Corps Commander opened the red door, unleashing a fierce blaze that she absorbed, then invited Gu Shen to enter.

Gu Shen delivered Gu Changzhi’s letter to the Northern Continent’s Empress inside the Furnace Divine Domain, where she destroyed it without reading it and explained that the letter’s message did not matter. The Empress recognized Gu Shen’s purpose and called him someone who carried a Sincere Heart, while leaving his secrets unaddressed.

• Gu Shen entered the Furnace Divine Domain and saw the Empress absorbing the Northern Continent’s cold within the throne’s freezing center.
• Gu Shen gave the Empress Gu Changzhi’s letter, and she let it freeze and shatter before thanking him for delivering it.
• The Empress’s gaze overwhelmed Gu Shen’s mental defenses, but she reassured him and praised his service to the borderlands.
• The Empress repeated Gu Changzhi’s prediction about the letter’s promised rewards and said she had no need to read it because she already knew why it was sent.
• Gu Shen said he had delivered the letter to fulfill Gu Changzhi’s final wish, and the Empress called him someone who carried a Sincere Heart without knowing it.

The Empress told Gu Shen that the Doru River Calamity Realm’s poison and hidden exit had left Northern Continent facing a dangerous mystery, and that her efforts to contain it had weakened her. She invited Gu Shen to join a mission to restart Doru River and find its second door, leaving him wondering why she had chosen him.

• The Empress revealed that she had arranged Gu Shen’s mission beyond the Great Wall and said the First Class Medal had closed the matter without risk of punishment.
• The Empress explained that conquering Doru River had consumed much of her mental power as she erased the dormant poison marks on those who escaped the Calamity Realm.
• The Empress showed Gu Shen a scene of Doru River and told him the poison carried a Mental Imprint, while a Throne of God’s aura had been sensed there.
• The Empress explained that Doru River had an entrance but no discovered exit, despite the rule that a sealed disaster zone must have a second door.
• The Empress said she planned to restart Doru River to find its hidden second door and asked Gu Shen to join the mission.
• Gu Shen accepted the importance of the mission but asked the Empress why she had chosen him.

The Empress explained that divination had led her to invite Gu Shen on the Restart Doru River mission, and Gu Shen agreed after securing her promise to save him from certain death. As he left, he wondered whether her promised reward reflected a vision of what would happen after the mission.

• The Empress told Gu Shen that her divination had singled him out for the mission, though she did not expect him to eradicate the Doru River's toxin.
• Gu Shen asked for a safety guarantee, and the Empress promised to intervene if he faced certain death in the Doru River Calamity Realm.
• The Empress outlined a mission of fewer than a hundred elites, granting Gu Shen independent authority and promising a generous reward for completing it.
• Gu Shen left the Empress's quarters with the Corps Commander and wondered whether the Empress had foreseen the mission's outcome.

Gu Shen agreed to join the Empress’s Restart Mission for the Doru River Calamity Realm, and A'liuer took him to the training facility reserved for the mission’s Exempted Candidates. There, Zhong Yuan and Lu Zhe discussed the dangers of the Doru River and Mu Wanqiu’s fear before the Town Moon Grand Duke dismissed their concerns.

• Gu Shen told Lin Lin that the Empress had invited him to join the Restart Mission, and the Corps Commander confirmed that he had agreed.
• A'liuer brought Gu Shen to the suspended training facility built for the Restart Doru River candidates.
• Zhong Yuan trained under tenfold gravity and worried that Gu Shen had been invited to the mission.
• Lu Zhe joined Zhong Yuan and explained that he had brought Mu Wanqiu back to the mission because her mental state had recovered.
• Zhong Yuan and Lu Zhe discussed the fear Mu Wanqiu had shown in a simulated Doru River dreamscape and the lingering dread from the previous suppression mission.
• The Town Moon Grand Duke left a Gravity Room and called the Doru River Calamity Realm dreamscape nothing to exaggerate.

Zhong Yuan learned that Meng Xiao knew about his private warning to Gu Shen, while Gu Shen arrived at the Restart Mission’s training facility and discovered its roster of Exempted Candidates. After identifying several powerful figures inside, Gu Shen entered a simulated Source Armor combat pod with Chu Ling, who joined him in the simulation.

• Meng Xiao warned Zhong Yuan not to meddle in matters beyond the border, and Zhong Yuan suspected a powerful Sealed Item had revealed his conversation with Gu Shen.
• Zhong Yuan told Lu Zhe that Meng Xiao’s provocation likely stemmed from their encounter at Gubao Fortress, and Lu Zhe noted the golden Mental Radiance left on Zhong Yuan’s hand.
• A'liuer brought Gu Shen to the new training facility and explained that about a hundred people would be chosen for the Restart Mission, while exempted captains would be appointed in advance.
• Gu Shen used Chu Ling to scan the building and found seven Exempted Candidates, including Meng Xiao, Zhong Yuan, Fisher, and the Seventh Layer Transcendent Mu Wanqiu.
• Gu Shen entered a simulated combat pod on the 37th floor, where Chu Ling slipped into the sealed simulation and asked to watch him use Source Armor.

Gu Shen cleared the combat pod’s highest-difficulty simulation and accepted a challenge from another Transcendent. After a fierce duel in the virtual Snowy Wasteland, he recognized his opponent as Northern Continent’s S-rank, Mu Wanqiu.

• Gu Shen defeated ten AI source armor opponents and concluded that the combat pod’s simulations were too weak to challenge him.
• A second Transcendent challenged Gu Shen, and he accepted, confident that the virtual duel would reduce the gap between their real-world strengths.
• Mu Wanqiu attacked Gu Shen with powerful gunfire and flanked him, forcing him to counter her bullets and break free of her assault.
• Gu Shen pressed Mu Wanqiu with a series of close-range sword strikes until they locked blades in a stalemate.
• Gu Shen saw Mu Wanqiu’s face behind her source armor visor and realized she was Northern Continent’s S-rank.

Gu Shen used the combat pod’s system to expose Mu Wanqiu’s hiding place and force their duel into a close-range fight. Their battle was cut short when their mental power overloaded the pods, leaving Mu Wanqiu furious and Gu Shen disappointed.

• Gu Shen tried to lure Mu Wanqiu out of hiding, but she stayed concealed beneath the snow.
• Gu Shen summoned ten source armor AIs, whose attacks exposed Mu Wanqiu’s position and forced her to emerge.
• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu resumed their duel while dodging the AIs’ gunfire, and their longswords shattered in a clash.
• Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu fought hand-to-hand as their mental power strained the combat pods.
• The combat pods forcibly severed the network connection, and Mu Wanqiu climbed out and struck her smoking pod.

After Mu Wanqiu’s duel with Gu Shen was interrupted, Zhong Yuan explained that a strange dream from the Doru River Calamity Realm had left her spiritual aura unstable. He revealed that he too was haunted by a dream suggesting his world was false, and Gu Shen offered to Enter Dream and investigate.

• Mu Wanqiu blamed Lu Zhe for cutting her connection to the combat pod, then agreed to continue her duel with Gu Shen another day after Lu Zhe ended it.
• Zhong Yuan told Gu Shen that Mu Wanqiu’s dream in the Doru River Calamity Realm had unsettled her despite her high Mental Stability score, so Lu Zhe was guarding her.
• Gu Shen realized Zhong Yuan had also been affected by the Doru River, and Zhong Yuan admitted he could not freely discuss what happened there.
• Zhong Yuan recounted crossing a snow mountain alone, returning to his waiting team, and later dreaming that the mountain was a mirror separating a false world from a reality in which he had vanished.
• Gu Shen offered to Enter Dream and look into Zhong Yuan’s experience.

Gu Shen entered Zhong Yuan’s dream and found a black mountain and a Mirror Dream that left him briefly doubting reality. After learning Mu Wanqiu had refused help with her own nightmare, he went to see her and found her struggling across a dark river toward a throne marked by the River of the Underworld.

• Gu Shen entered Zhong Yuan’s dream and saw a black, snow-covered mountain unrelated to the King of the Underworld.
• When Gu Shen tried to leave the dream, black snow swept him away and he glimpsed a world reflected in the sky before waking with a lingering sense that reality was false.
• Zhong Yuan said the Investigation Corps had searched the mountain without finding anything unusual and explained that Mu Wanqiu had refused to let anyone enter her dream.
• Gu Shen went upstairs to visit Mu Wanqiu and saw her dream of battling a dark river with the Judge as she rowed toward a throne and a stone bearing the words “River of the Underworld.”

Mu Wanqiu dreamed of the Styx and refused to let others enter her dream, while Gu Shen visited her hoping to help with the Doru River nightmare. Lu Zhe explained that Mu Wanqiu’s S-rank Judge ability resembled the King of the Underworld’s power, leaving Gu Shen to conceal his surprise at the similarity to his own abilities.

• Mu Wanqiu pursued the end of the Styx in her dream until a wave shattered her log and the white-robed Judge sank with her into the river.
• Gu Shen visited Mu Wanqiu at two in the morning and offered to help remove the Doru River poison, but she told him to get lost.
• Lu Zhe told Gu Shen that Mu Wanqiu refused outside help and was facing the Dream Eater alone.
• Lu Zhe revealed that Mu Wanqiu’s S-rank Judge ability let her control life and death within her domain, though each judgment consumed substantial mental power.
• Lu Zhe compared Judge to the King of the Underworld’s power, and Gu Shen agreed while hiding his shock at its resemblance to his own.

Gu Shen and Chu Ling suspected that Mu Wanqiu’s Judge and the Doru River Calamity Realm were connected to the King of the Underworld and Gu Shen’s Fire Seed. After learning about the upcoming Restart Mission Sub-Team assignments, Gu Shen prepared to join group training despite his special privileges and learned that Meng Xiao was in the same building.

• Gu Shen returned to the 00 Me Car, where Chu Ling teased him about visiting Mu Wanqiu before they discussed the possible connection between her Judge, the Doru River Calamity Realm, and the King of the Underworld.
• Gu Shen spent a sleepless night trying to break through his mental cultivation bottleneck, but found that he lacked the foundation to create a second volume of Breath of Summer.
• A'liuer brought Gu Shen breakfast ordered by Fisher and told him the Restart Mission roster and Sub-Team assignments would be decided within three days.
• A'liuer explained that Gu Shen could not be ordered around but was being asked to participate in sparring and group training to address other generals’ doubts about his privileges.
• A'liuer gave Gu Shen the Exempted Candidates roster and told him that Meng Xiao was training in the building’s Gravity Room; Gu Shen said he had no time to seek him out and asked about the Sub-Team assignments.

Gu Shen questioned why Meng Xiao was targeting him and asked A'liuer for the Town Moon Grand Duke's preselected roster. A'liuer confronted Meng Xiao, but he rejected her warning and threatened to attack her if she interfered again.

• A'liuer explained how Sub-Teams would be formed and named several candidates already assigned to captains.
• Gu Shen asked for the Transcendents Meng Xiao had preselected, warning that he would defend himself if provoked.
• After A'liuer left, Gu Shen wondered why Meng Xiao targeted him despite his lack of any blood relation to the Gu family of Nagano.
• A'liuer visited Meng Xiao and urged him to stop provoking Gu Shen, but the two clashed briefly with the Divine Powers of their Thrones of God.
• Meng Xiao dismissed A'liuer's authority and threatened to attack her if she appeared before him again.