Chapter Summaries

Su Shijie sought ways to earn enough Credit Points to buy Spirit Crystal Ore, arranging for Qian Cheng to sell his hunting materials while he waited for new ore to surface. Henry René Abel, captain of the Prosperity, approached him on deck and asked where he was from.

• Su Shijie calculated that he needed four standard units of Spirit Crystals for his infusion but had only a little over four million Credit Points.
• Qian Cheng reported that Su Shijie's equipment had sold for 2.17 million Credit Points, and Su Shijie tipped him seventy thousand.
• Su Shijie gave Qian Cheng three bags of materials to sell through several purchasing stations, including teeth from an Evolutionary Tier Spirit Beast.
• Su Shijie decided not to hunt outside a mining area and waited for someone to find Spirit Crystal Ore so he could buy it at a premium.
• Henry René Abel approached Su Shijie on deck, asked where he was from, and joked that captains spent their time looking at beauties and enjoying fine food.

Su Shijie struck a deal with Captain Henry René Abel to provide help if the Prosperity faced trouble in exchange for access to Spirit Crystal Ore, then used the authorization to buy ore and advance his cultivation. The Prosperity reached Penglai, the first port island of the Shattered Islands, where Su Shijie saw the busy harbor from the ship.

• Henry René Abel invited Su Shijie to join his fleet, but Su Shijie offered to help in emergencies in exchange for payment in Spirit Crystal Ore.
• Henry René Abel agreed and authorized Su Shijie to buy a limited amount of ore at the original price.
• Su Shijie used the authorization and some of Qian Cheng's proceeds to buy four units of Spirit Crystal Ore for eight million Credit Points.
• Su Shijie completed his mid-stage Gene Imbuement and genetic compilation, entering the late stage of Transformation Tier Level 3.
• The Prosperity stopped at Penglai, and Su Shijie went on deck and saw the bustling port from offshore.

Su Shijie studied the Contamination Sources around the Great Concave Valley and sought extra intelligence from the Assassin's Guild. He accepted a mission to assassinate Spirit Wind Knight Yu Yi, who was still believed to be on Penglai Island.

• Su Shijie reviewed Dawn's data on the Great Concave Valley and Abyssal Trench, deciding to build his strength before pursuing the Super Contamination Source.
• Su Shijie bought intelligence from the Assassin's Guild, which narrowed down the locations of two Contamination Sources.
• An attendant offered Su Shijie four Transformation Tier missions, and he chose the one targeting a Spirit Wind Knight.
• Su Shijie paid a hundred-thousand-Credit-Point deposit and learned that the target was Yu Yi, a suspected Transformation Tier Level Four who was hunting Evil God Cultists.
• Su Shijie learned that Yu Yi was likely still on Penglai Island and complained that the Guild had underestimated her Spirit Caller profession before leaving.

Su Shijie warned Yu Yi that someone had put a bounty on her and suspected the order was meant to protect a Contamination Source held by Evil God Cultists near Penglai. After exchanging information, they agreed to investigate separately, and Su Shijie set out for the suspected Contamination Zone.

• Su Shijie tracked Yu Yi to a women-only hot spring inn and waited for her to emerge.
• Su Shijie privately warned Yu Yi that an Assassin's Guild bounty had been placed on her, and Yu Yi said she had not recently tracked any Evil God Cultists.
• Yu Yi explained that she had come to Penglai to search the Great Concave Valley for a Contamination Source.
• Su Shijie suspected Evil God Cultists had targeted Yu Yi to keep her away from a nearby Contamination Source, and Yu Yi agreed to share information while investigating separately.
• Su Shijie added Yu Yi as a friend and left overnight for the suspected Contamination Zone.

Su Shijie tracked an intermediate Contamination Source into the Great Concave Valley and discovered Evil God Cultists trying to contaminate a bound Evolutionary Tier Spirit Beast. The crab sensed him and pleaded for help, leaving Su Shijie to decide how to respond.

• Su Shijie descended into the Great Concave Valley to search for the Contamination Source identified by the Assassin's Guild.
• Su Shijie followed the contamination aura, killed several Contaminated Beasts, and learned that one Awakened Rank tuna had undergone evil spirit transformation.
• Su Shijie discovered a group of Evil God Cultists praying around a Contamination Source carved into volcanic rock.
• Su Shijie sensed that the cultists had chained an Evolutionary Tier crab to the seafloor and were trying to contaminate it.
• The crab's materialized will sensed Su Shijie's psychic power and sent him a plea for help.

Su Shijie rescued a bound crab by killing the Evil God Cultists holding it, then killed the slightly contaminated creature to conceal his own Evil God nature. He brought the crab ashore, sold most of it for thirty million Credit Points, and resolved to keep becoming stronger.

• Su Shijie ambushed and killed more than a dozen Evil God Cultists who were trying to corrupt the bound crab.
• Su Shijie ignored the crab's pleas, killed it, and drained its soul to prevent it from revealing his nature as an Evil God.
• Su Shijie considered using the identity Abyss to openly hunt Evil God Cultists while keeping it separate from Rising Sun.
• Su Shijie dragged the thirty-ton crab ashore, drawing a crowd of hunters and onlookers.
• Su Shijie negotiated a thirty-million-Credit-Point sale with a dock manager while keeping crab roe and meat for himself.
• Su Shijie reflected that strength let people earn and hold onto valuable resources, and resolved to grow stronger.

Su Shijie used the proceeds from selling a molting Evolutionary Tier crab to buy Spirit Crystal Ore, then spent eight days cultivating aboard the Prosperity and reached the late fourth level of the Transformation Tier. After learning that the Evil God Cultists were hunting Yu Yi and might have Evolutionary Tier members, he insisted on going to Penglai Island to find her.

• Su Shijie sold the crab materials to Penglai Island’s governor’s family for thirty million and arranged for them to store the ingredients.
• Su Shijie used thirty million to buy fifteen units of Spirit Crystal Ore from the Prosperity, and Captain Henry approved the purchase after checking his transaction records.
• Su Shijie cultivated for eight days and completed the genetic compilation for the late fourth level of the Transformation Tier, gaining six Virtual Organs.
• The Prosperity began sailing toward the central region of the Great Concave Valley, and Su Shijie read Yu Yi’s messages saying the Evil God Cultists were searching for them both.
• Yu Yi said she was still on Penglai Island and suspected Evolutionary Tier cultists had arrived, while the island’s authorities were avoiding involvement.
• Su Shijie told Yu Yi to give him her location or he would search the island himself.

Su Shijie rescued the badly injured Yu Yi in a seaside lava cave and learned about her sister and her past. As he prepared to take her to safety, a powerful Destruction Church nun found him and attacked, leaving Su Shijie to face her while Yu Yi recovered.

• Yu Yi sent Su Shijie her location, and he found her in the flooded lava cave and gave her healing medicine.
• Yu Yi told Su Shijie that her sister had bought her octopus balls and that she had killed her sister after she lost control.
• Su Shijie learned that the Church of Destruction had at least one Evolutionary Tier Shikigami and prepared to take Yu Yi aboard the Prosperity.
• Su Shijie's telekinesis clashed with a powerful materialized will, and its owner demanded to know where Yu Yi was.
• Su Shijie revealed that the Destruction Church was looking for him, and a furious nun charged into his telekinetic range.
• Su Shijie told Yu Yi to keep recovering and went to confront the nun.

Su Shijie fought a powerful Nun and her Evolutionary Tier octopus, but Yu Yi appeared in a state the Nun called Sanctification. Su Shijie then manifested his own virtual wings and declared that he would protect Yu Yi.

• Su Shijie fled the Nun while the Penglai Island governor and Captain Henry debated whether they could help him.
• An Evolutionary Tier octopus burst from the sea, severed Su Shijie's telekinetically controlled weapons with black mist, and forced him to fight at close range.
• Su Shijie pretended to be disoriented by the Nun's illusion while searching for a chance to kill the octopus.
• Yu Yi arrived with eight wings and attacked the octopus with chaotic power, prompting the Nun to identify her as Sanctified and call her a future divine maiden.
• Su Shijie manifested six black wings covered in eyes and invoked his own Sanctification, declaring that Yu Yi's life was under his protection.

Su Shijie used Yu Yi’s Sanctification as a model to control her contamination, amplify his own power, and defeat the Destruction Church’s High Priest and the contaminated octopus. After withdrawing his new form, he treated Yu Yi, who accepted him as her master.

• Su Shijie extracted contamination from Yu Yi’s fully unfurled Virtual Organs and replaced it with his own, transforming her and gaining a sixfold boost.
• Su Shijie used his amplified strength to destroy the crazed Nun and drain her evil spirit, then sliced the contaminated octopus into pieces.
• Su Shijie realized his will had materialized, giving him the hallmark ability of an Evolutionary Tier lifeform.
• Su Shijie withdrew his contamination and Virtual Organs, then gave medicine to the weakened Yu Yi.
• Yu Yi knelt before Su Shijie and vowed to obey his divine decree.

Su Shijie returned to Penglai Island with Yu Yi, his newly bound Spirit Wind Knight follower, and learned more about the Spirit Wind Knights. He planned to collect compensation from the Penglai Governor and Captain Henry, while Yu Yi revealed the order’s size, base, and leadership.

• Su Shijie bound Yu Yi to secrecy, stopped her from hugging him, and flew back toward Penglai Island with her.
• Su Shijie concealed himself near the volcano, reconnected with Dawn, and told her the target had been dealt with.
• Dawn canceled the rescue order and asked whether Su Shijie would pursue the Penglai Governor and Captain Henry for ignoring it.
• Su Shijie decided to seek Spirit Crystal Ore from the governor and Captain Henry, then told Yu Yi to accompany him to the governor’s residence.
• Yu Yi told Su Shijie that the Spirit Wind Knights had over two hundred official members, thirteen Evolutionary Tier members, and a base in Spirit Wind City near the Abyssal Trench.

Su Shijie confronted Penglai Island governor Inoue Kojiro over his failure to follow Dawn’s orders, but Inoue responded with theatrical apologies and no money. Captain Henry paid twenty pieces of Spirit Crystal Ore to settle the matter, and Su Shijie secretly left an Evil God Cultist symbol on the island before departing with Yu Yi.

• Inoue Kojiro apologized to Su Shijie, threatened to commit seppuku, then shaved his head and bowed in dogeza.
• Su Shijie asked Inoue Kojiro for ten pieces of Spirit Crystal Ore, but Inoue refused and pleaded poverty.
• Captain Henry offered to pay twenty pieces of Spirit Crystal Ore to resolve the dispute, and Su Shijie accepted.
• Su Shijie warned Inoue Kojiro and Henry to keep his identity as a Dawn Special Commissioner confidential.
• Su Shijie left the island secretly with Yu Yi and planted an Evil God Cultist symbol in a hidden location.

Su Shijie used Yu Yi’s apparent defection to infiltrate the Destruction Church and gain influence over its branch on the Shattered Islands. After the church found evidence that its High Priest had died, Su Shijie arranged for Yu Yi to remain there while he sought Taotie’s help overseeing the branch.

• Su Shijie revealed his identities to Yu Yi and considered using her to remotely control the Destruction Church.
• Su Shijie and Yu Yi met Koizumi Yuta and the other Destruction Church believers, claiming Yu Yi had fallen and that the missing High Priest might have pursued the assassin.
• Su Shijie suggested searching for the High Priest together and inviting Taotie to oversee the church branch.
• The believers searched for several days and found fragments of the guardian Shikigami, leading them to conclude that the High Priest was probably dead.
• Su Shijie offered to leave Yu Yi with the Destruction Church and contacted Taotie, while Koizumi Yuta welcomed Yu Yi as a promising new believer.

Su Shijie traded his firearms for Spirit Crystal Ore and used it to advance to early level six of the Transformation Tier. After restoring his resolve and running short of ore and money, he prepared to dive into the Great Concave Valley to hunt Contamination Sources.

• Su Shijie traded his modified Gauss rifles to Henry for thirty more pieces of Spirit Crystal Ore, bringing his total to fifty.
• Su Shijie spent a month cultivating and reached early level six of the Transformation Tier with eight complete virtual organs.
• Su Shijie regained his determination by remembering the tragedies he had failed to prevent and the fact that he had saved Yu Yi.
• With Henry refusing to sell more ore, Su Shijie decided to gather it himself and set his sights on the remaining Contamination Sources in the Great Concave Valley.
• Yu Yi sent Su Shijie thirty-five hundred after he discreetly asked her for money, and he then dove from the platform as wary hunters watched.

Su Shijie explored the deep waters of the Great Concave Valley, where an advanced Contamination Source made the sea dangerous and hid its location from his senses. After killing a contaminated squid, he rescued two mining teams from a huge Evolutionary Tier contaminated whale shark, then suspected his sanctified form had attracted the beast.

• Su Shijie descended to the five-thousand-meter seabed and used his enhanced telekinesis to search while concealing his eight wings.
• He killed a contaminated Transformation Tier squid that threatened the hunters and observed two large teams mining Spirit Crystal Ore.
• Su Shijie abandoned the slow search for ore and decided to hunt Spirit Beasts to earn money instead.
• A gigantic contaminated whale shark sucked seawater and nearby hunters toward its mouth, prompting Su Shijie to warp in and split it in two.
• The whale shark’s death sent violent currents through the deep sea, killing some hunters, and Su Shijie wondered whether his Spirit Caller sanctified form had attracted it.

Su Shijie warned returning hunters about unusual activity on the seafloor, then pursued a concealed presence and confronted a blue-armored figure who mistook him for an Evil God Cultist. After the figure revealed ties to a faction that had contacted Su Shijie about Federal Heavy Industry, the fight escalated into a powerful armor detonation, leaving the sea swelling beneath Su Shijie as he escaped.

• Su Shijie accepted eight pieces of Spirit Crystal Ore from the hunters he had saved and urged them to return, warn others about the Evolutionary Tier Contaminated Beast, and evacuate.
• Su Shijie chased a retreating will and discovered Captain Henry fleeing upward, then detected another concealed presence that had been tailing Henry.
• Su Shijie intercepted a nearly three-meter-tall figure in blue armor, who mistook his aura for that of an Evil God Cultist and mentioned a recent effort to revoke Federal Heavy Industry's privileges.
• Su Shijie struck the blue-armored figure, recognized his blue blood as belonging to a Promethean, and seized his six spindle-shaped weapons with telekinesis.
• The Promethean attacked with the weapons and then detonated his armor, forcing Su Shijie to escape through curvature as a blast stronger than an ordinary Strategic Nuclear Bomb made the sea bulge upward.

Su Shijie escaped a Promethean’s catastrophic self-destruction, which devastated nearby hunting ships and triggered a tsunami around the Great Concave Valley. After the survivors finished rescue work, Henry suspected a nuclear blast, while Su Shijie concealed his involvement and the danger posed by the Prometheans remained unresolved.

• Su Shijie used his Spacetime Affinity to flee a Promethean’s self-destruction, which unleashed a massive underwater blast.
• The blast battered nearby ships, split two hunting ships apart, and sent a tsunami toward the Shattered Islands.
• Su Shijie realized the Promethean had recognized his spacetime-related ability and resolved to hide it from the Prometheans.
• Hunters across the blast area rescued people swept into the sea and survivors from the wrecked ships.
• After the rescue ended, Henry speculated that a nuclear bomb had caused the disturbance, while Su Shijie concealed his role in it.

Su Shijie tracked Taotie’s connection to the Sun Family and learned that Yi Yuan City had opened to hunters after a disaster at sea. He confirmed Taotie was Sun Sen and asked him for Spirit Crystal Ore as he prepared to temper his profession.

• An enormous explosion drew Yi Yuan City, the Sun Family’s Floating City, down over the sea, and Sun Mu and Sun Lin questioned Henry about what had happened.
• Su Shijie detected traces of an Evil God Cultist’s aura on the two Sun Family members and suspected Taotie was aboard the city as Sun Sen.
• Sun Mu arranged to report the incident to Dawn with Henry, while Sun Lin opened Yi Yuan City to hunters for a month.
• Su Shijie contacted Taotie through Rising Sun’s coded channel and received a reply arranging a future meeting in the city.
• Taotie agreed to meet Su Shijie, and Su Shijie asked him to provide Spirit Crystal Ore for his upcoming profession tempering.

Su Shijie met Taotie, revealed as Sun Sen, at a tea house in Yi Yuan City and received Spirit Crystals to aid his breakthrough. He used the conversation to probe Sun Sen about Federal Heavy Industry, and Sun Sen admitted the Sun family was seeking a way to deal with the company.

• Su Shijie adopted the public identity of Rising Sun and entered Yi Yuan City, where he saw the city's sharp class divide.
• A doorman let Su Shijie into a private tea house after he showed an authorization message.
• Sun Sen revealed his identity as Taotie and introduced Sun Haomiao and Ru Xue, then offered them to Su Shijie, who refused.
• Sun Sen warned that Evil God Cultists faced difficulty breaking through bottlenecks and gave Su Shijie a box containing one hundred Spirit Crystals.
• Su Shijie asked whether the church could help the Sun family against Federal Heavy Industry, and Sun Sen admitted they were seeking a way to deal with the company.

Su Shijie learned from Sun Sen that the Prometheans had resisted recruitment by churches and that Spirit Wind Knights members knew how to enter the Abyssal Trench. He warned Dawn that Contaminated Beasts might be feigning their frenzy, but Earth’s limited influence with the Skyfeather Civilization left Dawn to weigh the danger against the risks of further purges.

• Sun Sen revealed that he was a senior Evil God Cultist and discussed the Prometheans’ small population and the difficulty churches had recruiting them.
• Sun Sen told Su Shijie that two Spirit Wind Knights members could enter the Abyssal Trench safely and offered their contact information, which Su Shijie accepted.
• Su Shijie warned Dawn that the Contaminated Beasts in the Abyssal Trench might be pretending to be frantic and could launch a coordinated attack.
• Dawn explained that regular purges strained the Earth’s crust and worsened climate risks, while the Skyfeather Civilization had offered little help with stabilizing Earth.
• Dawn considered Earth’s lack of importance to the Skyfeather Civilization and the need for the Earth Federation to build its influence.