Chapter Summaries

Ronan confronted Gong Qi through a remote projection in Cloud End, while Snake Tongue watched from within the sealed realm. Gong Qi raised his Extraordinary Domain, but Ronan exposed his hidden effort to sense and reclaim his Solidified Configuration, leaving Gong Qi silent and shaken.

• Snake Tongue recognized Ronan as the person who had trapped her at Cloud End, while Gong Qi challenged Ronan and asked where Ouyang Chen and Wu Zhao were.
• Gong Qi slashed Ronan’s dust-formed human face apart, recognizing it as a remote projection, then spread his Extraordinary Domain through the dust storm.
• Ronan continued communicating through the Domain and questioned why Gong Qi had not built a Configuration in Cloud End’s self-contained Abyss Zone.
• Ronan accused Gong Qi of secretly sensing for his Solidified Configuration in Earth’s Abyss Zone and using the Extreme Domain and Cloud End’s rising sun to find his way back.
• Gong Qi stopped speaking and stared into the storm, disturbed by Ronan’s accusations.

Ronan used his conversation with Gong Qi to reveal that he knew about Gong Qi’s hidden refuge and the preparations made against him. While Gong Qi raged helplessly in the Cloud Top World, Ronan began the next stage of his plan by sending Raven toward the Volcanic Archipelago.

• Gong Qi reconsidered his understanding of Ronan and decided he needed to gather more intelligence from him.
• Ronan guessed that Gong Qi could not rebuild his Solidified Configuration because his physical body and spirit had to remain balanced, then questioned him about Earth and his secluded island refuge.
• Ronan shaped a miniature Earth from dust and sand, highlighted the Volcanic Archipelago, and warned Gong Qi about the Feast prepared there.
• Gong Qi exploded in fury in the Mist Labyrinth, but his attack could not affect Earth’s Local Time-Space.
• Yin Le told Ronan that Madam had reached the designated position, and Ronan confirmed he knew.
• Raven let Ronan’s Soul Cape take over her perspective, locked onto the Volcanic Archipelago, and vanished with the assembly case.

During a rainy patrol of Volcano Island, Woolf and his subordinates discussed the vacant 13th District, the search for a New Plane, and plans to monitor Gong Qi’s retreat area. A dark-red ray and an ape-like Aberrant Species then appeared, leaving Woolf facing a powerful shockwave that triggered alarms across the island.

• Woolf took Assistant A and Assistant B on a patrol of Volcano Island’s reef area and led them through the empty 13th District.
• The three discussed the New Plane search, the High Seas Auction, and the proposed surveillance upgrade to Gong Qi’s retreat area.
• A dark-red ray struck near the island, and Woolf learned that a fully evolved B-Rank Aberrant Species had appeared underwater.
• The Aberrant Species leaped out of the sea and roared, sending a shockwave through the barriers and triggering alarms across Volcano Island.

Woolf recognized the giant ape as a possible New Plane creature, but Ms. Dahle’s barrier failed to hold it and it escaped. As the disturbance revealed signs of a New Plane projection, Raven began Ronan’s teleportation plan in Gong Qi’s seclusion room, where a dark red ray struck the Life Support Pod’s protective barrier.

• Woolf ordered Group 1 to capture the giant ape alive after realizing it might be a creature from the New Plane.
• Ms. Dahle activated Volcano Island’s main barrier and trapped the ape in a time-stopping cage, but it broke through and fled.
• Dahle explained that the ape could interfere with both the spiritual and material layers, while Vice President Maren joined the pursuit.
• Woolf recalled a similar misty phenomenon from months earlier and concluded that the New Plane was being projected.
• Raven assembled the Teleportation Array in Gong Qi’s seclusion room as Ronan’s plan began, and a dark red ray struck the Life Support Pod’s protective barrier.

Raven broke through Gong Qi’s seclusion defenses and completed the attack that transformed him into a blood-flamed, inhuman being. As Maren moved to investigate, three Electric Light Spears struck Volcano Island and engulfed the Extraordinary Species in electric fire.

• Raven used her attack to overload and shatter the barrier around Gong Qi’s Life Support Capsule, letting a red beam strike his forehead.
• Gong Qi’s body ignited with blood-red flames, burst the capsule, and began taking on a humanoid shape as Raven checked the Teleportation Array.
• Ms. Dahle turned Area 1’s barrier into an inward lockdown while she, Monroe, and Maren sensed danger inside the collapsing seclusion chamber.
• Maren began descending through the barrier to investigate, but he and the other two Extraordinary Species stopped when blue light tore through the clouds above Volcano Island.
• Three Electric Light Spears shot down and engulfed the three Extraordinary Species in electric fire.

Maren, Ms. Dahle, and Monroe fought an unseen opponent in the Abyss Zone, but their misjudgment let it seize the initiative and escape with precise timing. They found Gong Qi’s Quiet Room in ruins and learned that the New Plane cloudscape had vanished before the lightning strike, leaving the opponent’s identity unknown.

• Ms. Dahle reported that Gong Qi’s Life Support Capsule was damaged and Xing Hai was missing, while Monroe noted that the concealed figure had apparently set fires.
• Monroe, Ms. Dahle, and Maren realized their opponent was increasing the efficiency of its power integration and had taken the initiative.
• Maren forced a counterattack with his Qi and Blood, and Ms. Dahle and Monroe joined him.
• The Other Side withdrew from all three combatants at once, evading their counterattack with near-microsecond precision.
• Maren’s redirected punch smashed into the ruins of Gong Qi’s Quiet Room, where he found signs of spacetime disturbance and scorching but no Deep Blue Walker.
• Woolf reported that the New Plane cloudscape illusion over Volcano Island had disappeared before the lightning strike.

Gong Qi recovered his composure in the Mist Labyrinth and used clues linking it to the Cloud Top World to search for a way out. After removing Snake Tongue’s Veil of Silence, he sent her spirit-body core into the storm as a diversion and fled in the opposite direction.

• Gong Qi seized Snake Tongue but relented, then reasoned that Ronan was occupied with trouble at Volcano Island Reef.
• Gong Qi fled through the Mist Labyrinth, convinced that Ronan had missed his chance to kill him.
• Gong Qi studied the domain fragments and their connection to the sun in the Cloud Top World, treating the hidden sun as another equation to solve.
• The dust-and-mist storm intensified and stripped away the Veil of Silence, exposing Snake Tongue’s weakened spirit body.
• Gong Qi used his aura to protect Snake Tongue briefly, then launched her spirit-body core into the storm and concealed himself with her Veil of Silence as he fled the other way.

Snake Tongue faced destruction after Gong Qi used her to delay Ronan, but she begged Ronan to save her and survived within a symbolic realm of his power. As she was drawn toward the Sun Wheel Spiderweb, she noticed another, much thicker chain crossing her own.

• Snake Tongue realized Gong Qi’s Protective Shield was wearing away and that he had used her to mislead Ronan’s pursuit.
• As her body and consciousness began to collapse, Snake Tongue pleaded with Ronan to save her and offered everything in return.
• Snake Tongue’s final thought endured, and she awakened alive in a symbolic space, bound by a chain connected to a vast web surrounding a blazing sun.
• Snake Tongue laughed with relief as Ronan allowed her emotions to run freely while she was drawn closer to the Sun Wheel Spiderweb.
• Snake Tongue saw a second, thicker chain crossing her own, carrying dense blood-red light into the void.

Gong Qi analyzed the Mist Labyrinth’s connection to Earth Time-Space and searched for a way back, settling on the Spring City region as his likeliest route. He found blood-red Fire God Ants emerging from spatial ripples, confirming his suspicions about a nearby interference zone.

• Gong Qi traveled through the dust-mist sandstorm for more than ten hours, stabilizing his damaged spirit body and concluding that he had shaken off Ronan.
• Gong Qi reasoned that the Cloud Top World resulted from interference between the shattered space and Earth Time-Space, and that the interference zones shifted over time.
• Gong Qi considered Ronan’s family research and chose Spring City over Xia City as a safer potential point of entry to Earth.
• After circling a suspicious area for hours, Gong Qi found an insect-like fragment and sensed spatial ripples nearby.
• Gong Qi saw blood-red ant-like creatures emerge from the ripples and identified them as Fire God Ants, a specialty of the Spring City region.

Gong Qi followed a passage built from Fire God Ant corpses through the space-time interference point and returned to a Lava Space in Earth Time-Space. There, the Fire God Ant colony activated a powerful Blood Flame Order, and an unseen speaker announced that they had been waiting for him on Mister Luo’s orders.

• Gong Qi watched Fire God Ants sacrifice themselves until their remains formed a bridge that widened and stabilized a passage to Earth Time-Space.
• Gong Qi used Veil of Silence to travel through the passage and emerge in an underground lava cave beside a vast Fire God Ant nest.
• Gong Qi celebrated his return and considered capturing the colony’s queen, but recognized that the nest’s design was familiar.
• The Fire God Ants’ collective consciousness stirred the lava into a high-temperature, high-pressure cycle and unleashed the Blood Flame Order against Gong Qi.
• An ethereal voice told Gong Qi that, by Mister Luo’s orders, it had been waiting for him.

Gong Qi fought Madam Harold inside the Blood Soul Temple Field, where she used the temple’s power and the Heart Burning Blade to attack him. He struck her down but could not break the field, and realized the battle had already cost him more than expected.

• Gong Qi recognized the Lava Cave as a battlefield governed by the Blood Soul Temple Field and identified Madam Harold as its controller.
• Madam Harold emerged from the lava and attacked Gong Qi with the Heart Burning Blade, forcing him to defend against both her strikes and the Abyss Zone storm.
• Gong Qi countered with his blue-gray vital essence, and the two exchanged more than thirty clashes that nearly tore apart the field and collapsed half the Lava Cave.
• Gong Qi struck Madam Harold into the lava, but her Forced Control kept her from losing her balance, and the Blood Soul Temple structure remained intact.
• Madam Harold burned her vital essence and flesh to continue fighting, while Gong Qi worried about how Ronan had drawn her into risking her life.

Gong Qi struggled against Madam Harold in the Blood Soul Temple Field and discovered that her relentless recovery might be connected to his own losses. The chapter left him suspecting that an unseen intermediary was stealing his power and converting it into energy for her.

• Gong Qi realized the Blood Soul Temple Field’s rules formed a closed loop that suppressed him, and he tried to conserve strength while studying Madam Harold.
• Madam Harold attacked with the Killing Style, burning through her own flesh and blood as she forced Gong Qi into a prolonged fight.
• Gong Qi unleashed his Extraordinary Domain to disrupt the field’s energy passages, but Madam Harold’s recovery continued and her attacks grew stronger.
• Madam Harold landed a Heart Burning Blade strike on Gong Qi’s Mental Layer and calmly counted it as her first hit.
• Gong Qi sensed a connection between his expenditure and Madam Harold’s recovery, and suspected an intermediary was stealing his power and returning it to her.

Gong Qi recognized that Ronan’s trap used fear and sacrifice to empower Madam Harold, but he steadied himself and began tearing apart the Blood Soul Temple Field. As he prepared to escape, an ominous presence proliferated at the boundary of the clashing domains and established an order even Gong Qi could not disrupt.

• Gong Qi realized the Blood Soul Temple Field was part of a sacrifice framework fueled by fear, with Madam Harold and the Blood Flame Order serving as its willing offerings.
• Gong Qi admitted that he feared Ronan’s schemes, then rebuilt his mental defenses and rejected Madam Harold’s attempt to unsettle him.
• Gong Qi unleashed his Extraordinary Domain, battered Madam Harold, and damaged the Blood Soul Temple Field and the surrounding Fire God Ant swarm.
• Gong Qi found no other detectable Trump Card from Ronan and prepared to destroy the field so he could escape using his Teleportation technique.
• An ominous shadow rapidly proliferated at the boundary between Gong Qi’s domain and the Blood Soul Temple Field, survived his attack, and formed a powerful order that Gong Qi could not shake.

Gong Qi was ambushed by Ronan’s allies and fought Jin Tong, only to discover that his opponent’s shifting face resembled his own. As Ronan’s mind and time-space traps closed around him, Gong Qi launched a final attack but was swept into a river of decay, where he glimpsed the girl who had drawn him to Xia City.

• Gong Qi escaped the first lightning strike, but Madam Harold attacked him as Jin Tong emerged from the lightning and battered his spirit body at close range.
• Gong Qi abandoned his spirit-body structure and fought Jin Tong with essence energy until a strange flame disrupted Jin Tong’s assault, letting Gong Qi pierce his armor.
• Gong Qi saw the face beneath the armor repeatedly change between Jin Tong’s and his own, and Madam Harold bound him while Ronan’s mental attack deepened his fear and confusion.
• Gong Qi realized Ronan was orchestrating the attack, then saw Ronan’s domain fragments merge with the Blood Soul Temple Field and recognized the framework consuming him.
• Gong Qi gathered his remaining power and attacked Ronan, but Ronan stepped beyond his strike and Gong Qi was swept into a current that drained his life and thoughts.
• Gong Qi glimpsed the girl who had drawn him to Xia City as he struggled against the current.

Ronan awakened aboard the yacht after the gamble against Gong Qi ended, and his emerging power tore through the vessel as he left for the lakebed. There, he recognized how the victory had strengthened him and prepared to become a true participant in the conflicts ahead.

• Yin Le waited beside the sleeping Ronan as the yacht grew heavier and began to sink, then watched him awaken with strange, radiant eyes.
• Ronan’s movement shattered the lounge and damaged the yacht, after which he told Yin Le to clean up and passed through the hull into the lake.
• Yin Le ordered the Captain to inspect the damaged vessel while the crew endured a foggy night amid restless Aberrant Species.
• Ronan descended to the lakebed and reflected on how the rigged Altar Framework gamble had defeated Gong Qi and distributed his power among its beneficiaries.
• Ronan’s remaining Soul Power and Configuration knowledge strengthened his domain, and he resolved to enter the field as a true participant alongside the other sea tornadoes.

Yuchuan Yingjie reacted to the suspected deaths and global investigation following the conflict on Volcano Island, ordering preparations in Ban City while resenting powerful factions exploiting the crisis. After recovering from a week-long incapacitation, Snake Tongue received the Veil of Silence and learned that news of the Flying Devil Fish and Human-Shaped Infrasound Array had spread through both the Secular World and the Inner World.

• Takemoto Shigeru reported that the Emerald Light's voyage plans were faltering and that an Extraordinary Species-level conflict had occurred near Volcano Island.
• Yuchuan Yingjie learned that Gong Qi's body had been destroyed and ordered an internal investigation and preparations for Ban City's coming scrutiny.
• Yuchuan Yingjie complained that the Amaterasu Order was seeking to lead the investigation and exploit the crisis, while Ronan and Xia City remained uninvolved.
• Snake Tongue awoke after lying incapacitated for a week, bathed, and received the Veil of Silence.
• Snake Tongue reviewed reports about the Flying Devil Fish and Human-Shaped Infrasound Array, then left her residence at 9 a.m. on May 3, 2097.

Snake Tongue traveled to North Mountain Lake to pay her respects to Ronan, but Yin Le met her at the pier and relayed Ronan’s invitation to visit the Mountain Stream Band. The two women shared information about Ronan and his allies, while Yin Le worried about finding a replacement vessel for him.

• Snake Tongue sensed Sagaemon’s growing power at North Mountain Lake and acknowledged that both of them were now constrained by Ronan’s influence.
• At the southern breakwater pier, Snake Tongue greeted Yin Le respectfully and learned that she served Ronan as Deputy High Priest of the Blood Flame Order.
• Yin Le told Snake Tongue that Ronan had asked whether she was a fan of the Mountain Stream Band, then invited her to watch the band rehearse.
• On the drive to downtown Ban City, Yin Le explained Mo Ya’s connection to Ronan and discussed the Blood Flame Order and Ten Thousand Spirits Order with Snake Tongue.
• Yin Le said Ray Number needed at least a week in dry dock, and Snake Tongue offered her home as a possible temporary place for Ronan to stay.

At the Ban City Music Festival, the Mountain Stream Band watched the main-stage show while Mo Ya and Tang Yi discussed their past. Aboard an airship, Bai Xinyan and Yuchuan Yingjie used experimental equipment to observe the Mental Ocean, but an unknown interference disrupted the Amaterasu Order’s planned operation, which was suspended.

• Wang Mo, Huang Xiangdong, Ma Lou, and Jeff Lun spotted the kimono-clad Tang Yi onshore and recalled her harsh criticism of the Mountain Stream Band.
• Mo Ya and Tang Yi reminisced about their school days, and Tang Yi reflected on the threat surrounding Luo Zhongheng and Ban City.
• Yuchuan Yingjie told Bai Xinyan that he had stopped pursuing Ronan’s sister while Ronan remained missing.
• Bai Xinyan activated an experimental Mimicry Diagram Generator, which displayed Sagaemon’s Configuration and dark patterns resembling a tree’s roots.
• Yuchuan Yingjie and Bai Xinyan saw a bright streak interfere with the projection and received notice that the Amaterasu Order’s operation was suspended.
• Bai Xinyan suspected that an unknown Extraordinary Species had interfered with the operation, and she said the Pope would likely take no further action until the threat was understood.

After killing Gong Qi, Ronan rested in the Cloud Top World, where Raven protected him from a Rotten-Mouth Ape. He then showed Raven his reconstructed Tree Hollow and a Lens that revealed how the Mist Labyrinth, Earth Time-Space, and the Cloud Top World interacted.

• Ronan celebrated having the Cloud Top World to himself, then fell asleep after reflecting on his parents and the emptiness around him.
• A Rotten-Mouth Ape attacked the sleeping Ronan, but Raven appeared and distorted space until the beast was destroyed as Ronan woke.
• Ronan opened a passage to his Ro's Sandwich Domain and showed Raven the reconstructed Mist Labyrinth hall and Tree Hollow.
• Ronan introduced the Lens, and Raven used her Soul Power to perceive its signal waves and describe the conflicts within them.
• Ronan explained that the Lens reconstructed signals from the Mist Labyrinth and showed how the labyrinth interfered with Earth Time-Space, with the Cloud Top World at their boundary.

Yin Le returned to Ban City and gathered intelligence while preparing a yacht transaction, then dreamed of a mysterious eye that resembled Ronan’s new monocle. After Ronan returned and examined Sagaemon, he discussed flaws in the Blood Soul Temple’s design and began arranging experiments, with Yin Le and Snake Tongue ready to assist.

• Yin Le confirmed that Mo Ya had returned safely to Xia City and completed her Ban City missions as the Emerald Light departed.
• Yin Le used the yacht deal with Okudaira Yuzo to gather intelligence about the Osawa Order and learned that the Blood Flame Order faced internal threats in Di City.
• Yin Le dreamed that a mysterious eye observed her and the structure of the Blood Soul Temple, then awoke with the Devil Fish’s Crystal Ball still in her hand.
• Yin Le reached North Mountain Lake and recognized Ronan beneath Sagaemon, where he studied the tree through a floating monocle that matched the eye from her dream.
• Ronan told Snake Tongue and Yin Le that their orders’ projected Configurations had structural flaws, then said he would need their help conducting experiments in Ban City.
• Ronan requested an experimental base, equipment, raw materials, and a suitable environment, and Yin Le began recording the requirements as he asked whether Ban City had settled down.