Chapter Summaries

Horned Demon endured the True God's destructive search of the Saltwater Lake and feared the power coursing through the Fusang Divine Tree System. A transport plane returned with Luo Yuan, who plunged into the lake and greeted the True God.

• The True God repeatedly ravaged the Saltwater Lake, destroying the strange structures he was trying to find, then widened his search to a radius of fifty kilometers.
• Horned Demon and the other two became relay stations for the expanded search, as the power nearly overwhelmed their bodies and souls.
• A transport plane circled over the Saltwater Lake, and a man jumped from its cargo hatch without a parachute or flight equipment.
• The falling man's body slowed and contorted in midair, revealing the familiar face of Luo Yuan.
• Luo Yuan resumed his fall, crashed into the lake near shore, and greeted the True God as Horned Demon and Jing Xin dodged the spray.

Luo Yuan arrived at the Saltwater Lake wasteland and confronted the True God and Horned Demon over the failed scheme involving Wu Jun and the Luo Yuandao Laboratory. After tearing off Horned Demon's arm as punishment, he pointed the others toward the laboratory’s location.

• Yin Le and Ronan watched Luo Yuan arrive, while Ronan concealed his sensory network and monitored him cautiously.
• Luo Yuan spoke with the True God, who was possessing Fei Long, and calmed the True God’s agitation.
• Luo Yuan summoned Horned Demon and confronted him for spreading news about Wu Jun and the laboratory.
• Luo Yuan ripped off Horned Demon’s right arm and examined its recovery before telling him to pay for medical repair.
• A transport plane dropped a colored-smoke beacon, and Luo Yuan advised the group to follow it toward the laboratory.

Luo Yuan brought the survivors and the arriving visitors to the hidden entrance of Luo Yuandao Laboratory. The group descended on the newly revealed opening, with their conflicts and plans still unresolved.

• Luo Yuan drove Fei Long, Jing Xin, Horned Demon, and Hua Dian toward the beacon in Gardner's off-road vehicle and reassured them that they could settle their business inside the laboratory.
• Luo Yuan warned Fei Long that the disorder could jeopardize the auction and make the True God's Pope Father look bad.
• Anthony and Wan Ta arrived near the beacon, and the True God's Will assessed their unusual abilities.
• Luo Yuan told everyone to stop making trouble outside and explained that his former work at the laboratory gave him a way to locate its entrance.
• Luo Yuan identified the site as Format 70 Research Institute, and the ground opened beside him to reveal the laboratory entrance.

Luo Yuan led the group into the hidden Wilderness Laboratory, while Ronan used the Horned Demon’s senses to understand how the entrance had been concealed. Inside, they found the stripped-down observation room and a strange, turbulent mass beyond its blocked window, leaving Ronan transfixed.

• Luo Yuan explained that Bu Qingwen’s portal required solid ground and included a hazard-avoidance function.
• The Horned Demon tasted the soil and rock near the entrance, confirming the laboratory’s location, while Ronan mirrored his reactions and realized the laboratory’s structure had been reorganized.
• Ronan reconstructed the terrain and portal’s Configuration, then used the Horned Demon’s viewpoint as Luo Yuan and the others descended into the laboratory.
• Luo Yuan described the laboratory as an observation point and showed the group its empty semicircular room and dismantled equipment.
• Yin Le saw what looked like a violent underground sandstorm beyond the room’s gray, dirty interface and found Ronan staring blankly at the image.

Luo Yuan explained how Bu Qingwen built the laboratory from fragments in the sandstorm and led the group through its dangerous Safe Zones. Horned Demon questioned how Luo Yuan had survived and acquired a vast fragment, and Luo Yuan said the answer involved a private arrangement with the Goddess of Fate.

• The True God examined the observation window as Luo Yuan described how Bu Qingwen and the Luo family assembled the laboratory from fragments of the sandstorm.
• Luo Yuan explained that the laboratory had three rules: avoid contacting the sandstorm, remain within understandable space, and pray because unstable areas could appear without warning.
• Luo Yuan showed the group a room where warped spacetime could make people and objects disappear, then described the unfinished Tree Hole Plan and the laboratory's Safe Zones.
• The True God questioned whether the Treating Guests Plan relied on a boy inheriting Bu Qingwen's blood to overcome the laboratory's dependence on luck, and Luo Yuan explained that this was only a gamble.
• Horned Demon asked how Luo Yuan had obtained and used an enormous fragment, and Luo Yuan said his arrangement with the Goddess of Fate was private.

Ronan recognized that the Horned Demon’s madness had affected him and noticed a change in the Psychic Map that seemed to resonate with the distant storm. After the Horned Demon investigated a sealed laboratory door, Ronan prepared to return to Xia City, leaving Yin Le uncertain about his plans.

• Ronan cursed the Goddess of Fate and realized that the Horned Demon’s emotions and madness were influencing him.
• Ronan saw the Psychic Map’s storm grow denser and concluded that the map and the distant events were connected.
• The Horned Demon examined the sealed door in the Right Pincer Corridor while Detective Hua Dian tried to question him.
• The Horned Demon struck the door’s wheel and left, while Hua Dian backed away from him.
• Ronan ordered Yin Le to prepare the Teleportation Array, put on his Exoskeleton Armor, and said he would collect auxiliary materials before returning to Xia City.

Ronan returned to North Shore Gear and received an invitation to Fushan Auction House’s High Seas Auction, where Luo Yuandao Laboratory coordinates and equipment data would be sold. He entered the Mist Labyrinth with Raven to test whether his newly built Ambush Circle connected to the laboratory, but the chapter ended as he prepared to fight her there.

• Ronan returned to North Shore Gear through the Cloud Top World and ignored the Smart Brain’s reports.
• Ronan read Fushan Auction House’s invitation to board the Emerald Light and attend the May 16 auction featuring Luo Yuandao Laboratory coordinates and equipment data.
• Ronan summoned Raven and traveled with her through the Cloud Top World into the Mist Labyrinth.
• Ronan entered his thirty-meter Ambush Circle, which he had built from Configuration fragments using the method associated with Bu Qingwen.
• Ronan tested whether his Ambush Circle had a deeper connection to the laboratory, while the Mist Labyrinth’s pressure intensified and disrupted his Exoskeleton Armor.
• Ronan took a fighting stance and invited Raven to warm up with him, warning her not to copy his swearing.

After sparring with Raven, Ronan revised the Ambush Circle and returned to Tree Hollow Space to investigate whether it was connected to the Tree Hole Plan. Finding no hidden Configurations, he reconsidered the space’s past renovation and began to suspect that another person might be involved.

• Ronan ended his sparring session with Raven and asked her to have the Standard Bearer analyze his damaged armor and request ten sets of zero-components.
• Ronan revised the Block Assembly Rules, stabilized the Ambush Circle, and completed his first verification of the two sandstorms.
• Ronan returned to Tree Hollow Space and searched its structure for Configuration fragments connected to the Tree Hole Plan, but found none.
• Ronan recalled that Tree Hollow Space had been secretly renovated around year 87 and considered whether Luo Yuan had used it as a refuge, then rejected the idea.
• Ronan thought of another possible person connected to the renovation, closed the Viewing Window, and sat in the dark.

Exhausted after days of pressure and work, Ronan fell asleep at the table while looking at his mother’s photograph. Jerry woke him and lifted his spirits, but as the two watched Ronan’s Virtual Work Area, he noticed that Jerry’s body felt unusually warm.

• Ronan stared at his mother’s projected photograph, asked her for a hint, and fell into a deep sleep from exhaustion.
• Jerry entered the Tree Hollow through its underwater tunnel and found Ronan at the table.
• Ronan dried Jerry’s wet fur with carefully controlled electricity and let the muskrat climb onto the table.
• Jerry gestured for Ronan to enlarge the image, so Ronan opened his Virtual Work Area on the tree wall.
• Ronan joked that he should call Jerry Mouse, then noticed the little animal’s body temperature had risen.

Ronan examined Jerry as its fever revealed a hidden Configuration structure in its body, then adjusted it until Jerry projected a framework onto the Virtual Work Area. The work area displayed a system in the writing of the Brain of Emptiness, which Ronan identified as a general knowledge test simulation system's Centennial Sequence Acceptance Version.

• Ronan examined Jerry as its temperature rose, finding that the muskrat remained vigorous and that its body contained traces of a higher-level Configuration.
• Ronan studied Jerry's nervous system and used the God Wheel and Body Wheel to adjust the scattered Configuration elements in its body.
• Ronan directed Jerry toward the Virtual Work Area, where the little fellow projected a wondrous framework.
• The Virtual Work Area opened a blank drawing page, and an unfamiliar interface appeared in the writing of the Brain of Emptiness System.
• Ronan selected the interface's first option and saw the title General Knowledge Level Test Simulation System, followed by Centennial Sequence Acceptance Version.

Ronan unlocked a hidden examination in the External Neuron’s Database and passed, revealing a birthday message from his father, Luo Zhongheng. The message named Li Wei as an Extraterrestrial Uninvited Guest, and Ronan was left alone with his anger and a plea for his father to appear.

• Ronan found that only the Configuration section of the hidden Database was available and began its placement test.
• Ronan completed the timed examination, recognizing that his knowledge of life sciences and materials was weak but his Space-Time research gave him an advantage.
• Ronan solved the final Space-Time Module design problem quickly and submitted the test.
• The system declared Ronan had passed and displayed a message from Luo Zhongheng, dated June 18, 2090, wishing him a happy birthday and naming Li Wei.
• Ronan realized the message had been left near his younger self and shouted for Luo Zhongheng to come out, offering to consider forgiving him.

Snake Tongue endured Gong Qi’s surveillance above the clouds while secretly relying on her other half’s life in Ban City to sustain her spirit. After the expected summoning failed to arrive, she was left without the vitality she needed to survive.

• Gong Qi studied the time-space interference in the clouds and told Snake Tongue that it might reveal a way to escape.
• Snake Tongue dismissed Gong Qi’s encouragement and concealed that her other half in Ban City was replenishing her spirit’s vitality during moments of Soul-Flesh Unification.
• Snake Tongue reflected on her two existences, choosing the ordinary life in Ban City over the fading spirit trapped with Gong Qi.
• Snake Tongue resolved to hide her secret from Gong Qi and watched for the daily summoning that brought her vitality.
• Twenty hours passed without the expected summoning, leaving Snake Tongue without a fresh supply of vitality.

Snake Tongue survived the Veil of Silence’s attempt to consume her and realized Gong Qi had spared her because he wanted to investigate the vitality linked to Earth. Meanwhile, Ronan reviewed the structures he had acquired and learned that Yuchuan Yingjie would inspect the venue for Mo Ya’s Fan Club Gathering.

• The Veil of Silence nearly overwhelmed Snake Tongue, but its infiltration paused long enough for her to rebuild her defenses and avoid becoming an artifact spirit puppet.
• Snake Tongue realized Gong Qi had not completed the refinement because he was interested in the vitality accumulating in her spiritual core and its connection to Earth.
• Gong Qi admitted his interest in Snake Tongue’s vitality and the channel through which it came.
• Yin Le told Ronan that Mo Ya would arrive in Ban City and that Yuchuan Yingjie would inspect the Yugawa Family-owned Cultural Center during her Fan Club Gathering.
• Ronan reviewed information on Yuchuan Yingjie and the Jade Appraisal Association, then laughed at the organization’s list of names and backgrounds.

Cat's Eye and Tang Yi assessed the security situation in Ban City while the Jade Appraisal Association tried to provoke Ronan through Zong Qiu. The chapter ended when Cat's Eye and Tang Yi encountered Bai Xinyan near the Cultural Center where Mo Ya was rehearsing.

• Zong Qiu begged Cat's Eye to get Ronan to answer the Jade Appraisal Association's invitation and warned that his debts could ruin him.
• Cat's Eye warned Zong Qiu that Ronan could kill him, then wondered where Ronan had gone after nearly a week away from North Shore Gear.
• Cat's Eye and Tang Yi agreed the Jade Appraisal Association was trying to bait Ronan, and Tang Yi took Cat's Eye out to inspect Ban City's surroundings and evacuation routes.
• Tang Yi described her close friendship with Mo Ya as the two women walked through Ban City.
• Cat's Eye and Tang Yi spotted Bai Xinyan at an open-air tea terrace near the Cultural Center, and Bai Xinyan invited them for a drink.

Cat's Eye encountered Bai Xinyan and Tang Yi at the Cultural Center, where they met Liyin Century executive Yuchuan Yingjie. A call from He Yueyin revealed that Mister Luo had flown east into the open sea on the Flying Devil Fish, and Cat's Eye watched footage confirming his bizarre departure.

• Bai Xinyan greeted Tang Yi, recalled that they had both followed the Martial Emperor, and invited her and Cat's Eye to make trouble with her.
• Cat's Eye noticed Liyin Century executives arriving for an inspection, then led Tang Yi and Bai Xinyan into the Cultural Center despite Bai Xinyan insisting on joining them.
• Yuchuan Yingjie approached the women, admitted he was looking for beautiful women to invite aboard the Emerald Light, and then hurried away after receiving a communication.
• He Yueyin told Cat's Eye that Mister Luo had ridden the Flying Devil Fish east into the open sea, leaving his whereabouts unknown.
• Cat's Eye watched He Yueyin's video with Tang Yi and Bai Xinyan and saw the Devil Fish flying high above the ground with a figure standing on it.

Yuchuan Yingjie studied footage of Ronan’s flight over Xia City, but intelligence agencies lost track of him after he disappeared beneath the sea. As rumors spread that Yuchuan had invited Mo Ya to Ban City and the Cage Instructor was coming, Yuchuan faced mounting pressure and calls from powerful figures.

• Yuchuan Yingjie reviewed recordings of Ronan riding the Flying Devil Fish from North Shore Gear to Xia City and examined analysts’ estimates of its speed, distance, and abilities.
• Yuchuan learned that Ronan and the Flying Devil Fish had vanished after diving into the sea, leaving the monitoring systems unable to locate them.
• Takemoto Shigeru warned Yuchuan that unfavorable rumors about him were circulating, but Yuchuan pressed him for Ronan’s location.
• Councilman Kondo told Yuchuan that the Governor was concerned the Cage Instructor might enter the country and expected Yuchuan to relay that concern through his connections.
• Takemoto Shigeru said the Jade Appraisal Association may have leaked news that Yuchuan invited Mo Ya to the Music Festival, while speculation grew about what Ronan might do.
• Yuchuan watched footage of Ronan leaving North Shore Gear and considered whether Ronan had staged the flight to create uncertainty as calls and reports overwhelmed him.

As Yuchuan Yingjie struggled with the fallout from Ronan’s actions, Ronan gathered power through the Altar Spiderweb while Yin Le discovered his body radiating intense heat. Ronan explained that he was Gathering Qi, and his system continued collecting Negative Emotions from people stirred by the news.

• Yuchuan Yingjie fielded calls about Ronan and the hurricane, then admitted he had underestimated Ronan’s capabilities.
• Yuchuan Yingjie imagined himself caught in a spiderweb and recognized that many people would have to revise their impression of Ronan.
• On the Ray Number Yacht, Yin Le noticed Ronan had returned from Xia City and appeared to be sleeping after more than forty hours without rest.
• Yin Le sensed unusual heat around Ronan, saw his skin turn dark red, and worried that something had gone wrong with his cultivation.
• Ronan opened his eyes and told Yin Le that he was Gathering Qi.
• Ronan’s Altar Spiderweb drew power from the Negative Emotions of people stirred by the news.

Ronan used the Altar Spiderweb’s accumulated power to prepare his next move, recruiting Madam Harold for a dangerous opportunity and assigning Yin Le to release the contained Devil Fish at North Mountain Lake. Meanwhile, Gong Qi deduced that an outside force might connect the Cloud Top World to Earth, just as Snake Tongue’s consciousness began showing a strange vision.

• Ronan gave Yin Le a Crystal Ball containing the Aberrant Devil Fish and instructed her to let it hunt around North Mountain Lake while avoiding troublesome Aberrant Species.
• Ronan asked Yin Le how far Madam Harold would go to break through her cultivation bottleneck, then contacted Madam Harold and offered an opportunity that might cost her life.
• Ronan marked Di City and a location on the south-central Asian plateau on a global sandbox, telling Madam Harold to travel there and warning that success would depend on waiting and luck.
• Gong Qi told Snake Tongue that someone in Earth’s Local Time-Space might have connected with her soul through her physical body, potentially revealing a path home from the Cloud Top World.
• Snake Tongue insisted that the connection had been cut off, but a hazy mist suddenly spread through her spiritual consciousness and showed a strange scene, drawing Gong Qi’s attention.

Snake Tongue’s desperate plea for rescue coincided with a mysterious force pulling her out of the Cloud Top World, but Gong Qi followed her through. They ended up in a strange Dark Seclusion where Snake Tongue’s weakened spirit body began to come apart.

• As the Mirage Mist Wall separated Snake Tongue from Gong Qi, she begged her distant lord to save her while Gong Qi attacked through the mist.
• Gong Qi broke through the wall and tried to crush Snake Tongue, but an opening in the void swallowed her at the last moment.
• Gong Qi rushed through the opening after Snake Tongue, then retreated when the passage vanished and left them in a dust-filled Dark Seclusion.
• Snake Tongue found herself still near Gong Qi, but her weakened spirit body began to scatter in the unfamiliar place.

Gong Qi identified the sandstorm as a maze of domain fragments and reasoned that his hidden enemy lacked the strength to attack directly. As the enemy finally appeared in the dust, Snake Tongue recognized the face as Ronan.

• Gong Qi gave Snake Tongue vital energy to stabilize her spirit body and examined the strange sand around them.
• Gong Qi recognized the particles as domain fragments and suggested they were trapped in the remnants of a destroyed world.
• Gong Qi concluded that the enemy was using the maze to weaken him because the enemy lacked the strength to confront him directly.
• The swirling dust disrupted Snake Tongue's perception, then formed a glowing human face before her.
• Snake Tongue recognized the face as Ronan.