Chapter Summaries

Ronan spoke with Yilan Shang about his growing ties to Wei Su Yi and the risks of traveling to Plane Six, where the Myriad Gods Hall could expose him. As he prepared to leave the Thousand Threads hub, a spacetime disruption delayed all shuttle services.

• Ronan answered Yilan Shang’s call and listened as the employer angrily questioned his actions around Wei Su Yi.
• Ronan explained that Wei Su Yi’s Domain Machine Core and shared permissions had made it difficult for him to attack her, and suggested she might suspect he was Backpack.
• Ronan told Yilan Shang that Wei Su Yi had recommended he register for Network Transfer on Plane Six, where the Myriad Gods Hall might identify him as a Shadow Domain assassin.
• Ronan persuaded Yilan Shang to help him manage the risks and ended the call, planning to contact him again after reaching Plane Six.
• The Thousand Threads hub announced that spacetime instability had delayed shuttle services to all Functional Planes by three to five hours.

Ronan observed a managed spacetime disturbance during his trip to Plane Six, then went to Phonetic City and assessed its surveillance systems. While his Original Body practiced in a mech training facility, he sent a Flesh Avatar carrying the Fire Seed out through the shadows.

• Ronan sensed and reviewed a nearly three-hour spacetime disturbance, concluding that it was predictable and handled by a high-level mechanism, though he suspected Plane Three might be involved.
• Ronan arrived on Plane Six and went to Phonetic City instead of heading directly to the City of Eternal Darkness.
• Ronan gauged how the city's surveillance network, the Abyssal Spirit Net, and the Spider Web reacted to his movements.
• Ronan called Huwali, learned the Flowing Scenery repairs were unfinished, and arranged to meet him the next day before traveling to the City of Eternal Darkness.
• Ronan booked a mech training ground and practiced in his Exoskeleton Armor while a portion of the Backpack's flesh escaped as a Flesh Avatar carrying the Fire Seed.

Ronan used the Pitfall Fire Hell’s methods to explore survival in the Shadow Domain, pushing his understanding of freedom and the boundary between self and world. His growing Fire Seed sensed another nearby, and the chapter ended with Willow burning the forehead of a man who cowered before her.

• Ronan prepared to receive the Pitfall Fire Hell’s techniques for disguising his Rebirth Body as a proper Celestial.
• Ronan entered the shadow world and learned to survive by narrowing his existence to himself and the Non-Self.
• Ronan connected Demon Rune’s former state to the Shadow Domain and considered what it might mean to reverse the forces controlling it.
• Ronan’s Fire Seed grew through the Backpack’s flesh and sensed another Fire Seed hidden nearby.
• Willow pressed a burning incense-like object against a cowering man’s forehead, charring his face.

Ronan interrupted the Pitfall Fire Hell ritual meant to transfer sealed information to Little Fear, leaving Willow weakened and exposed. Willow realized Little Fear had caught her using a scapegoat, and the information handoff remained unresolved.

• A man crawled through the ritual as the human vessel for a sealed information handoff, while his Fire Seed grew and his life began to burn away.
• Ronan entered the room and broke the Ritual Space, causing the man to collapse before the transcription was complete.
• Willow recognized that an upper echelon had overwhelmed her Fire Seed and drained her vitality.
• Willow sensed Little Fear and explained that she had been sent to unseal the information through contact between their Fire Seeds.
• Willow understood that Little Fear knew the purpose of the handoff and had discovered she used the unconscious man as a scapegoat.

Willow underwent a terrifying transfer of information as Mr. Fear used her Fire Seed to expose her memories and thoughts. After she regained consciousness, Spati questioned her and planned further examinations, while Willow was left fearful and strangely drawn to the Fire Seed within her.

• Mr. Fear used Willow’s Fire Seed to extract her memories and cognition, leaving her unable to resist.
• Willow lost consciousness and later woke in the hotel room as staff checked her condition.
• Spati questioned Willow about the incident and told her to return for treatment and a deeper examination.
• Willow rejected Lady Fire’s claim that Mr. Fear’s arrival was a divine favor and accused the others of following her blindly.
• Willow sensed the Fire Seed like an eye watching her and found herself calmly looking toward it.

Ronan used Willow’s capture to study Pitfall Fire Hell’s control methods and organization, then pieced together the Shadow Domain Celestials’ ecological niche. He concluded that their freedom and rapid growth depended on predation, but would eventually run into resource limits, leaving the Six Heavens God Calamity as their best path to survival.

• Ronan watched Pitfall Fire Hell’s medics transfer Willow onto the Flying Shuttle, while his plan to draw out a higher-ranking figure failed.
• Ronan compared Willow’s faith with New Wildfire’s, found Spati’s control method useful, and learned more about Pitfall Fire Hell’s organization on Plane Six.
• Ronan used information from Willow, Backpack, and the Fire Seed to clarify how Shadow Domain Celestials gained freedom and power by invading others’ fields and consuming their energy.
• Ronan reasoned that limited resources and diminishing returns would make Shadow Celestials’ hunting more brutal as they grew stronger.
• Ronan concluded that the Six Heavens God Calamity offered Shadow Domain Celestials the most sustainable route to survival, while Order World’s rule-makers could also turn toward it if their advantages failed.

Ronan contemplated the ancient struggle between the Order World and the Shadow Domain, then felt a profound Imbalance between them through the River of Time. He recognized that the Shadow Domain’s predatory way of life conflicted with the Self Line cultivation he needed, leaving him questioning what the Self could mean if it consumed everything external.

• Ronan traced the ecology of the Order World and the Six Heavens God Calamity back to experiments and struggles involving the Ancient Gods and New Gods.
• Ronan considered whether the opposing sides could end their seesaw struggle by seizing lasting power or escaping through Transcendence.
• Ronan’s contemplation connected him to forces in the Shadow Domain and Order World, making the Nine Palace Grid in his mind sway with a powerful sense of Imbalance.
• Ronan received fragments from the River of Time involving Genetic Species, Eternal Species, Deities, and Divine Sins, and Mirror Appraisal updated his Fictional Spacetime.
• Ronan realized that the Shadow Domain’s predatory way of life hindered his Self Line cultivation and questioned whether survival through feeding on others could define the Self.

Ronan weighed the risks of the Shadow Domain’s fast cultivation path against the lack of alternatives in the Central Star Zone and decided he had to keep moving forward. When his Flesh Avatar approached his Rebirth Body to reunite, their changed states began violently repelling each other.

• Ronan concluded that the Myriad Heavens Divine Kingdoms and the Six Heavens God Calamity formed opposite ends of a seesaw, leaving him little time to seek another path.
• Ronan accepted that Wei Su Yi had chosen a realistic fast road for Little Fear and decided to continue along Pitfall Fire Hell’s path for now.
• Ronan’s Flesh Avatar entered the training base and approached his Rebirth Body, which was still wearing Lao Pu’s identity and sitting in armor.
• Ronan’s Flesh Avatar felt intense hunger toward the Rebirth Body, while the Rebirth Body felt empty because its Fire Seed had been assigned to the avatar.
• Ronan recognized that his main body and Flesh Avatar had become mutually repulsive after his cognition changed, and that simple reunion could no longer resolve their imbalance.

Huwali reached the ruined training base and saw Lao Pu calmly dealing with the aftermath of a battle between two Celestial-level powerhouses. While disguised as Lao Pu, Ronan secretly spoke with Yilan Shang, discussed his ongoing Network Transfer, and sensed that someone was beside Yilan Shang.

• Huwali passed through the roadblock by claiming to be Pu Ren and presenting a police summons, then learned that Lao Pu had fought a Shadow Domain Celestial and destroyed the training base.
• Huwali saw Lao Pu being treated and questioned beside Ruin and Fall Priests, and wondered how he remained so composed.
• After questioning, Ronan accepted a hidden connection from Yilan Shang, who praised his performance and revealed that Priest Jirosi was one of their allies.
• Ronan told Yilan Shang that he planned to continue his Network Transfer, while Yilan Shang said he wanted evidence of Wei Su Yi's connection to a Shadow Celestial and threatened to withhold the final payment if the scene was not recorded.
• Ronan ended the exchange and sensed that someone was beside Yilan Shang.

After surviving a costly struggle between his main body and Flesh Avatar, Ronan stabilized a new balance between their distinct powers and returned to the City of Eternal Darkness. He left the avatar outside and headed to the Heavenly Human Guild, while remaining unsure whether the Abyssal Spirit Net could detect traces linking the two bodies.

• Ronan suspected Yilan Shang had acted too calmly and considered that a Myriad Gods Hall priest might be monitoring him.
• Ronan's main body endured autophagy and rebuilt its structure, while the Flesh Avatar retained the Pitfall Fire Hell elements taken from it.
• Ronan established a temporary balance between the avatar's Shadow Domain elements and the main body's Corrupted Blood Sect cultivation.
• On the fourth day of the forty-eighth week of New Era Year 1305, Ronan and Huwali returned to the City of Eternal Darkness before the police summons deadline.
• Ronan left his Flesh Avatar outside, cleared the Third District Police Station summons, and took public transport to the Heavenly Human Guild.

Ronan visited the Heavenly Human Guild to complete Lao Pu's Network Transfer assessment, undergoing initial procedures and preparing for the major tests. As he stored Shi Fan's borrowed machine core, someone recognized him as Pu Ren.

• Ronan flew from the maglev stop to the Heavenly Human Guild, where Kang Ji greeted him and explained her internship assignment.
• Kang Ji guided Ronan through the assessment procedures and described the Abyss Zone power enhancement and Abyssal Spirit Net authority adaptability tests.
• Ronan considered the Network Transfer route Wei Su Yi had chosen for Lao Pu and the risks of missing a critical step.
• Ronan entered a scanning room for Form and Spirit Framework modeling after authorizing Mother God Company to use his personal model data.
• Kang Ji told Ronan to remove his equipment, and he took out Shi Fan's Domain Machine Core and placed it in a storage box.
• Someone patted Ronan on the shoulder and recognized him as Pu Ren.

Ronan faced an unexpected encounter with Mang You during the Celestial Network Transfer Assessment and used the situation to combine two tests. As he began the Merger Test under the Abyssal Spirit Net’s close control, he relayed information to Lao Pu’s real body through his hidden Flesh Avatar.

• Ronan recognized Mang You, Lao Pu’s former superior, and suspected the encounter was an extra test aimed at Lao Pu’s identity.
• Ronan spoke with Mang You about his failed attempt to remain in the army, then requested that the next two assessments be combined.
• Kang Ji approved Ronan’s request, and Ronan passed the scan and entered the testing ground.
• Ronan used the Corrupted Blood Sect’s Self Logic Framework to connect with the Abyss Zone while the Abyssal Spirit Net imposed its rules and scrutiny.
• Ronan contacted his Flesh Avatar near Phonetic City, which relayed information through Willow to Lao Pu’s real body on Plane Six.

Ronan studied the principles of tearing and self-devouring while testing how his body interacted with the Abyssal Spirit Net and the Divine Cloak. He sensed a vast new structure containing information routes that partly lay beyond the known systems of Plane Six, but could not yet define what this surplus was.

• Ronan considered how ancient gods became stronger through chaotic self-devouring that produced a more ordered structure.
• Ronan observed that the exchange of information between his original body and avatar revealed a stable structure despite their distance.
• Ronan used the Corrupted Blood Sect framework to receive Celestial permissions and Abyss Zone power during a dual assessment.
• Ronan let the Divine Cloak interact with his body and the Abyss Zone power, drawing inspiration from the relation between immense structures and individuals.
• Ronan sensed information moving through a vast structure in unusual routes that seemed to jump beyond the known systems of Plane Six.
• Ronan found that a small portion of the structure remained apart from the material universe, the Mental Ocean, and known power frameworks, and he could not define it.

After completing his assessment, Ronan joined Mang You and Kang Ji for dinner, where he tested his memory-sharing with Lao Pu and considered how to strengthen the strange external brain behind it. Mang You then brought up Grand Duke Paino, whose uncertain new post connected to the power struggle over Luande, but he had not yet explained further.

• Ronan finished the assessment, received praise from Kang Ji and Mang You, and accepted Mang You’s invitation to dinner.
• Kang Ji changed out of her work uniform, then joined Ronan and Mang You at a nearby high-end restaurant.
• While Mang You discussed their military past, Ronan used the conversation to test how he could extract and transmit Lao Pu’s memories.
• Ronan concluded that the external, ethereal brain behind the shared memories might need further tearing and autophagy to grow stronger.
• Mang You recalled that Grand Duke Paino had once been their superior, and Ronan connected the name to the planned struggle over Luande’s transfer of power.
• Mang You said Paino had stepped down at the beginning of the year but still had not received confirmation of a new post.

Ronan, Mang You, and Kang Ji discussed Grand Duke Paino’s plans to form a venture, possibly an independent fleet, and the difficulty of entering the crowded Red Silicon Star System. The conversation turned to Wei Su Yi’s possible visit to commemorate the Battle of the River Styx, while Kang Ji probed Ronan’s connection to her and asked about Paino’s plans.

• Mang You told Ronan that General Haas had invited him to join Grand Duke Paino’s new venture and asked whether he was interested.
• Ronan declined to leave, explaining that he wanted to repay Wei Su Yi for the Domain Machine Core and would remain in the Boundary Curtain district for her tour concert.
• Kang Ji asked whether Wei Su Yi would visit the Han Guang Autonomous Region for the anniversary of the Battle of the River Styx and described her research into the deaths of Grand Dukes and Great Almighties.
• Kang Ji suggested Ronan’s relationship with Wei Su Yi differed from public assumptions, but Ronan and Mang You laughed and avoided the subject.
• Kang Ji asked whether Paino would really go to the Red Silicon Star System, and Mang You explained that the Xi Corporation and Great Horn Fleet already controlled the area and its Isolated Star System opportunity.

Ronan listened as Mang You and Kang Ji discussed factional politics in the Circumference Star System and the influence of the famous Solo Knight Zhuo Da. Their conversation turned to powerful families considering leaving the Boundary Curtain region to establish themselves elsewhere.

• Mang You explained that the Xi Corporation might be backing a new heir in the Red Silicon Star System and that political balance could be shaping appointments in Circumference.
• Kang Ji asked whether Wei Su Yi had returned to lobby for Luande’s retirement, and Ronan said he had not seen her do so.
• Mang You told Ronan that Kang Ji’s brother, Priest Kang Feng, was a prominent Soul-Weaving Crowd member who was rotating through the Sky Patrol System.
• Kang Ji returned from a phone call excitedly and told Mang You and Ronan that the celebrity Solo Knight Zhuo Da was nearby.
• Mang You speculated that Zhuo Da might join Grand Duke Paino’s team, potentially strengthening the Great Thoroughfare System’s influence in Circumference.
• Kang Ji said some Boundary Curtain teachers believed powerful families wanted to migrate outward, and Mang You asked if she meant founding a state elsewhere.

Ronan researched the Star Alliance’s Covenant State system as Kang Ji and Mang You discussed rumors of new founding quotas and Grand Duke Paino’s ambitions. Mang You concluded that the Red Silicon Star System would be an ideal place for a new state, if Paino’s group chose to migrate outward and found one.

• Kang Ji told Mang You that the Supreme Council and Senate planned to release more Covenant State quotas, attracting interest from aristocratic clans, powerful families, and ambitious Grand Dukes.
• Mang You considered whether Grand Duke Paino might found a state with a powerful team, and Kang Ji suggested someone might be backing him.
• Ronan searched for information and learned that the Star Alliance’s Covenant States had declined from nearly two hundred to seventy-five as governance costs and Grand Dukes’ deaths weakened them.
• The Star Alliance had begun releasing occasional quotas to encourage powerful citizens to settle governance vacuums and establish new Covenant States.
• Mang You said Grand Duke Paino’s Great Thoroughfare System connections seemed better suited to commercial ventures, but agreed that the Red Silicon Star System would suit a state-founding effort.

Ronan, Mang You, and Kang Ji discussed the likely motives behind the Star Alliance’s nation-building plans before spotting Zhuo Da heading toward the Heavenly Human Guild. After parting ways, Mang You warned Ronan about life outside the military and shared an address for the Near-Capital Society.

• Mang You and Kang Ji reasoned that the Xi Corporation and the Great Thoroughfare Fleet might be preparing to build a nation in the Red Silicon Star System.
• Mang You, Lao Pu, and Kang Ji saw Zhuo Da flying toward the Heavenly Human Guild, and Zhuo Da noticed them watching him.
• Ronan exchanged contact information with Mang You and Kang Ji before they ended their meal and went their separate ways.
• Mang You told Ronan about the hardships he had faced after retiring from the army and cautioned him about what might happen if he fell out of favor with Wei Su Yi.
• Ronan wished Mang You success in starting a business with his former superior, and Mang You later shared the Near-Capital Society’s address with him.

Ronan reported his successful assessment to Wei Su Yi and pressed her about the possibility of relocating outward and founding a nation, especially through linking the Red Silicon Star System, an Isolated Star System, and Luande. Wei Su Yi explained the Near-Capital Society and the idea of Inner Universe Grand Monarchs as “Superfluous People,” leaving Ronan reflecting on his own massive structure and its stability.

• Ronan contacted Wei Su Yi, who praised his assessment and warned him that Kang Feng was ruthless and difficult to deal with.
• Ronan asked whether the Red Silicon Star System and Luande could create an opportunity for relocating outward and founding a nation, and Wei Su Yi said linking them with the Isolated Star System might be the necessary path.
• Wei Su Yi told Ronan that she was being pressured to lobby for Luande, possibly to help push its surrendered Sky Abyss Remnant Tribe Grand Duke toward death and disrupt the Pitfall Fire Hell's blood sacrifice.
• Ronan asked Wei Su Yi about the Near-Capital Society, and she described it as a gathering of Divine Favored and their aspirants that also served as a complaint convention against the Sealed Lord Families.
• Wei Su Yi explained that Inner Universe Grand Monarchs were called “Superfluous People” because their Inner Universes existed beyond the Abyssal Spirit Net's control, and Ronan connected the idea to his own massive structure.

After advising Ronan about the Near-Capital Society, Wei Su Yi asked him to receive a shipment for Shi Fan. Ronan connected the idea of a “Superfluous Person” to his cultivation research and decided to have his Flesh Avatar test a modified Inner Universe framework through the Ancient God Tearing and Autophagy Model.

• Wei Su Yi explained that the Near-Capital Society was dominated by younger Ruin and Fall System believers, and suggested Ronan make contact for its information and resources.
• Wei Su Yi told Ronan she could not visit the City of Eternal Darkness and asked him to receive Shi Fan’s shipment at the Opportunity Chain Cultivation Hall.
• Ronan linked “Superfluous Person” and “superfluous object” to Self Logic and the Brightness and Obscurity square of the Nine Palace Grid.
• Ronan reconsidered the Inner Universe route and concluded he could use Format Theory to build a limited framework without committing to the path long-term.
• Ronan decided to have his Flesh Avatar test the framework using shadow to construct order and create imbalance.