Chapter Summaries

Ronan halted the Bull Demon’s transformation to address Takar, whose powers had surged as he tried to learn their operation. When Ronan stopped him from pursuing an opportunity he could not digest, a mass of flesh emerged from Takar’s body.

• Ronan’s unseen influence made the Bull Demon’s body swell and contract as the Extraordinary Species observed its orderly transformation.
• Star Witch and Constance discussed Ronan’s apparent conversion of faith incense into living energy, while Blood Demon questioned Wan Liuhua about Takar.
• Takar’s powers surged, and he begged Wan Liuhua not to interrupt as he believed he had found an opportunity to advance.
• Ronan told Takar he could not digest the power and paused his work on the Bull Demon to clear Takar’s head.
• Ronan crooked a finger, and a mass of bright-red flesh forced its way from Takar’s mouth as crimson strands emerged from his body and joined it.

Ronan extracted the Scarlet Fleshy Tumor from Takar, destroying Takar’s attempt to preserve his path to extraordinary power. As Black Lion approached Ronan to reclaim the tumor, Ronan questioned him about its origins, prompting a tense response about the Extraordinary Species’ ignorance of the road ahead.

• Ronan extracted the Scarlet Fleshy Tumor from Takar, causing Takar’s vital-energy pattern to collapse, and Wan Liuhua knocked him unconscious.
• The Extraordinary Species turned their attention to the tumor, and Black Lion tried to claim it before Blood Demon stopped him.
• The tumor drifted toward Ronan, and Black Lion crossed the pool on a small swan float to approach him without seeming hostile.
• Ronan caught the tumor and asked Black Lion whether its creators had supplied an instruction manual, explaining that only Li Wei could make such a reactor on Earth.
• Black Lion said the creators probably thought that people unable to see the road ahead would not understand an instruction manual anyway.

Ronan examined Black Lion’s modified reactor and demonstrated how he could dismantle and recreate its living structures, while probing Black Lion about his work with Li Wei. Black Lion denied any research partnership and said he had assumed the reactor was spoils from the Deep Blue World.

• Ronan challenged Black Lion’s modest account of altering the reactor, and Black Lion asked how Ronan had made it work.
• Ronan opened the reactor and explained its cultivation chamber and collector, demonstrating how he could separate and reassemble its quasi-living tissue by hand.
• Ronan said Li Wei’s design collected new aberrant components, then asked Black Lion to explain how he had transformed it into a hub.
• Black Lion claimed his modification came from luck and said he had thought the reactor was spoils from the Deep Blue World.

Ronan questioned Black Lion about the Deep Blue World and learned how Li Wei controlled access to it, along with details about the competing approaches to Extraordinary Power research. At a gathering with the other Extraordinary Species, Ronan heard how Orthodox Evolution had once flourished and how Blood Demon and Wan Liuhua had risen during that period.

• Ronan asked Black Lion about the Deep Blue World, and Black Lion explained that only Poseidon could travel there freely while Li Wei controlled what visitors could see.
• Black Lion said Old Elers had come to the trade fair because Wang Yu promised early Bloodline Project results and help extending his life.
• Black Lion identified the three major research paths as Orthodox Evolution, Aberration Technology, and the Bloodline Project, then invited Ronan to join the others for refreshments.
• Ronan returned to Blood Demon and Wan Liuhua as attendants served the guests and the Extraordinary Species looked for a chance to question him.
• Blood Demon and Wan Liuhua discussed how Orthodox Evolution research had helped some people rise to the level of Extraordinary Species, while many Body Cultivators had broken down.

Black Lion explained how Prototype Format and the Deep Blue Project displaced evolution research, then described the growing market for controllable aberration technology. He left Ronan with the warning that some investors and powerful circles increasingly viewed aberration as a form of awakening.

• Black Lion recounted how accidents weakened evolution research and how the Deep Blue Project absorbed its talent and results, leading to the Burners.
• Black Lion argued that deeper genetic research into Format Theory could advance beyond the Burners’ limitations.
• Ronan asked whether aberration and bloodline research followed the same investment logic, and Black Lion described their commercial prospects.
• Black Lion said controllable aberration technology was attracting investment because Aberration Infection had spread, mutated, and become harder to track.
• Black Lion told Ronan that some capital circles, members of the Ruling Circle, and Inner World groups were beginning to treat aberration as a new kind of awakening.

Ronan listened as Black Lion and the Extraordinary Species debated Aberration Technology, its role in awakening, and the danger of unstable genes. Asked to give his opinion, Ronan considered how contamination and continual genetic change could undermine a civilization’s cultivation, but he had not yet answered aloud.

• Black Lion explained that he kept a low profile about Aberration Technology because radical adoption could diminish the value of experimental regions, and he described Old Elers as deeply conservative.
• Ronan asked about Li Wei’s position, and Black Lion pointed to gene-editing advances derived from the Bloodline Project as evidence of Li Wei’s attitude.
• Constance argued that the debate depended on what had triggered the Aberration Era, while Blood Demon rejected the idea that Extraordinary Power came from scrambled genes and Wan Liuhua warned against introducing new variables.
• Ronan concluded that most established Extraordinary Species favored orthodox evolution and distrusted Aberration Genes, while some Diamond Sequence beings were more reckless.
• Star Witch asked Ronan to state his position, and he reflected on how Karmic Poison and unstable genomes could force civilizations to continually revise their cultivation methods.

Ronan argued for cautious, foundational research into human evolution while Extraordinary Species debated the Body Cultivator path, the Mental Side, and competing theories. A sudden insight about material mediums led him to question whether the conditions behind the X Factor would persist or change in the future.

• Ronan said that genetic reconstruction should be called modification or recombination, while uncertain mutation from exogenous genes was better described as aberration, and he urged careful research before practice.
• Star Witch challenged Ronan's cautious approach, while Blood Demon and Wan Liuhua defended the changing scope of foundational research into Extraordinary Power.
• Wan Liuhua, Constance, and Blood Demon discussed Configuration and Cage Theory, shifting the debate toward the Mental Side and the Body Cultivator path.
• Ronan recalled the Evil Poison environment at the Relay Station and realized he might have misunderstood the role of material mediums in Magneto-Optical Mica's survival.
• Ronan asked whether the X Factor's conditions would continue or change, and whether any future changes could be controlled.

Ronan worried that Earth’s primitive understanding of Extraordinary Power left it vulnerable to a future crisis and suspected Li Wei was deliberately misleading people. As the auction and Round Table Conference approached, Abner faced mounting evidence implicating Ronan in Gong Qi’s murder and asked whether Connie had sent new information.

• Ronan reflected on the danger that Earth might develop the Sky Abyss Empire’s catastrophic illness without stronger scientific foundations, and considered opposing Li Wei’s influence.
• Black Lion noticed Ronan’s change in mood, but Ronan waved away his concern while keeping his new sense of responsibility to himself.
• Abner reviewed the seven criteria for identifying Gong Qi’s murderer and recognized that Ronan now matched all seven.
• Abner recalled how Ronan’s public actions had rapidly increased his influence and disrupted Abner’s plans to steer the conflicts at the Round Table Conference.
• Romanus delivered a revised agenda, and Abner asked whether Connie had sent back any new information.

Abner reviewed Constance’s assessment of Ronan’s formidable abilities and postponed the Round Table Conference while considering the Covenant Lord’s intentions and Mystic Eye’s agenda. As Abner and Romanus flew toward Emerald Light, they encountered an immense, concealed power within the clouds that might have belonged to Ronan.

• Abner reviewed Constance’s assessment, which placed Ronan among the world’s most difficult Extraordinary Species to kill, and reconsidered Ronan’s threat level.
• Abner changed the Round Table Conference time to ten o’clock and asked Romanus what the Covenant Lord was doing.
• Abner discussed Blood Demon and Wan Liuhua’s alignment with Ronan and examined Mystic Eye’s proposed report on Abyss Zone research.
• The aircraft encountered high-altitude turbulence and entered a vast cloud layer as Abner and Romanus flew toward Emerald Light.
• Abner and Romanus sensed a deeply concealed power within the clouds, and Romanus suggested that Ronan might be responsible.

Abner arrived aboard the Emerald Light and studied Constance’s recording of Ronan’s demonstration, which strengthened his interest in Ronan’s techniques. Constance urged him not to risk conflict with Ronan, but Abner remained determined to involve more people, then learned that Wang Yu was absent and speaking from a night fishing trip.

• Constance met Abner on the Emerald Light and showed him a recording of Ronan’s demonstration with the Bull Demon from Slope City.
• Abner questioned Constance about the Bull Demon’s origins and examined the recording for evidence of Ronan’s apparent mass-energy conversion technique.
• Constance told Abner that Ronan was open and that there was no need to risk going to war with him.
• Abner and Romanus watched Ronan’s orderly aura transformations in the clouds, which Abner regarded as evidence of a mature theoretical foundation.
• Abner asked Romanus to summon Wang Yu, but Constance said Wang Yu had run off or might never have come aboard.
• Wang Yu called Abner and said he was accompanying his grandfather on a night fishing trip and had little involvement because he had only loaned the ship.

Wang Yu withdrew from the escalating contest over the Appraisal Meeting, leaving Abner to reassess his own strategy before the Round Table Conference. Romanus suggested that Ronan’s real focus might be Li Wei, not the conference agenda.

• Abner confronted Wang Yu, who apologized for the failed arrangement and explained that he was cutting his losses to avoid turning cooperation into a gamble.
• Wang Yu pointed out that the trade fair could still proceed, and Abner ended the call, recognizing that Wang Yu had limited his losses with a prepared fallback.
• Abner considered how his ambitions for the Appraisal Meeting and Gong Qi’s death had shaped his decisions, then admitted he envied Wang Yu’s decisive withdrawal.
• Romanus warned Abner that they needed to understand Ronan’s attitude before setting the conference agenda.
• Romanus concluded that Ronan seemed to be measuring himself against Li Wei rather than focusing on the matters Abner’s side had prioritized.

Romanus warned Abner that Ronan was provoking Li Wei and advised shifting the conference agenda while still forcing Ronan to admit responsibility for Deputy Secretary Gong Qi’s death. Meanwhile, Ronan focused on refining Mica and reconsidered his assumptions about Magneto-Optical Mica’s forms.

• Romanus told Abner that Ronan was trying to appear as powerful and unpredictable as Li Wei, and might be provoking Li Wei into acting.
• Abner worried that he and his allies could become a shield for Li Wei, so he asked Romanus for advice.
• Romanus recommended keeping the conference but shifting its focus, using Covenant Lord as a bridge, and seeking Ronan’s admission to killing Deputy Secretary Gong Qi.
• Ronan sensed hostility from Abner’s side but returned his attention to refining Mica before the auction and Round Table Conference.
• Ronan searched Mica’s clouds for electric and magnetic phenomena and compared his experiences with the Magneto-Optical Mica model.
• Ronan realized he had mistaken Magneto-Optical Mica’s cloudlike appearance for its essence and noted that its mutated, lawful, and primordial forms differed.

Ronan realized his Magneto-Optical Mica was only a workshop for producing soul magnetic force, and that faith was needed to create the proper Culture Dish. He began adjusting Bull Demon's believers while continuing to develop the Mica, as observers watched the changing clouds and Bull Demon.

• Ronan concluded that Magneto-Optical Mica arose from faith power, mutation, and a special Living System, and that its true body was quasi-magnetism.
• He recognized that his Mica was only an incomplete production line and that the essential output had to come from living beings' imagination and faith.
• Ronan decided to use Bull Demon's Osawa Order as a temporary Culture Dish and planned to redirect its mixed faith power with his Ronan Ruler and Demon Runes.
• Ronan divided his attention between studying the Mica in the sky and probing the foundations of Bull Demon's believer system through Manipulation Threads.
• People aboard the Emerald Light watched the sky's changing clouds, while unseen observers remained near Bull Demon.

Ronan prepared for the Round Table Conference while considering how to cultivate the First Beam of Light, then encountered representatives of Fushan Auction House seeking to apologize. He identified their crest and examined an auction contract signed by a consignor labeled Horned Demon.

• Ronan continued adjusting his Configuration design and set himself the goal of nurturing the First Beam of Light that night.
• Zhang Yingying told Ronan the Round Table Conference was scheduled for 22:00 in East-West District 12 and shared its tentative agenda.
• Blood Demon arrived as a lobbyist and urged Ronan and Zhang Yingying to head to the venue and visit the Free Trade Fair.
• A formally dressed woman and her companions bowed to Ronan and apologized in the elevator lobby.
• Ronan took the woman's folder and corsage, recognized the Fushan Auction House crest, and found an auction contract signed by a consignor identified as Horned Demon.

Ronan rejected the Slope City representatives’ attempt to withdraw the flawed auction item and learned that Abner was using Blood Demon to seek mediation over Gong Qi’s death. He then reviewed Covenant Lord’s agenda on the X Factor and focused on its proposal to study the Abyss Zone.

• Ronan left the auction folder and brooch on Executive Director Kawahara’s back, refusing to entertain the representatives’ plea.
• Blood Demon explained that Abner was trying to delay the dispute over Gong Qi’s death and avoid taking responsibility at the Round Table Conference.
• Ronan asked Blood Demon about Covenant Lord’s agenda, then reviewed materials proposing deeper research into the X Factor by observing the Abyss Zone.

Ronan reviewed Covenant Lord’s Abyss Zone research and then explored the aberration technology fair, where he learned the auction had lost a major demonstration. Blood Demon proposed adding a Portrait Card of an Extraordinary Species to the auction to promote his revised Card Deck.

• Ronan skimmed Covenant Lord’s detailed Abyss Zone observations and decided to compare them with the External Neuron Database.
• Ronan returned with Blood Demon and Zhang Yingying to the District C Exhibition Hall and surveyed the fair’s demonstrations and auction preparations.
• Bai Xinyan joined Ronan and Zhang Yingying, explaining that her demonstration project had failed and the auction hall was in disarray.
• Blood Demon suggested that Ronan and the others help the auction by submitting a Portrait Card of an Extraordinary Species.

Ronan and Blood Demon discussed adding a Door God card segment to the troubled auction, but Poseidon threatened Blood Demon after he proposed revealing its image. At the auction, Ronan arrived at the Martial Emperor’s private box and turned Blood Demon’s promotional idea into a plan for a commemorative reprint edition.

• Blood Demon proposed that Ronan make Door God cards for a new auction segment, then suggested using Poseidon as the portrait subject.
• Poseidon sent a restrained but overwhelming warning through Scaredy-Cat, pinning Blood Demon in place and objecting to the proposed public image reveal.
• Ronan considered whether Poseidon’s widespread oceanic Faith could help his future plans and asked Blood Demon whether Poseidon could take him into the Deep Blue World.
• Ronan and the others reached the auction, where Meng Chong told Ronan that the Martial Emperor had arrived in her private box.
• Ronan noticed the auction remained chaotic and told Blood Demon he had an idea for the card promotion, asking him to choose between two options for a commemorative reprint edition.

Kawahara Machiko risked her career to meet Ronan aboard the Emerald Light and help carry out his plans. After arranging what he requested, she turned to her subordinates and demanded they prove their resolve, leaving their loyalty pointedly ambiguous.

• Kawahara Machiko ignored repeated calls from the Auction House vice president and led her subordinates to Ronan's private room.
• After a call from the Blood Demon, Kawahara Machiko entered and watched Ronan discuss pressing the General Association while relying on the Covenant Lord's support.
• The Blood Demon questioned Ronan's aggressive approach, and Ronan said he might help with the Covenant Lord's plans without going off topic.
• Ronan gave Kawahara Machiko instructions, and she agreed to notify him five minutes before the next step.
• Kawahara Machiko left the room and told her subordinates that it was time to test their resolve, hinting that their loyalty might be to her rather than the Auction House.

Ronan took the auction stage as a specially invited guest and began addressing the bidders, hinting that he knew about dangers and undercurrents they did not. He started to introduce himself before presenting the auction item.

• Ronan prepared to create something live, while Blood Demon warned him that improvising could leave details exposed.
• Ronan left the private room with Kawahara Machiko, and the Martial Emperor told Blood Demon that Ronan acted on instinct and was difficult to predict.
• Ronan appeared onstage, and the auctioneer introduced him as a specially invited guest before Ronan’s clothes transformed into a formal suit resembling the auctioneer’s.
• Ronan took over the auction platform and told the audience that those who could still laugh knew nothing, then began introducing himself.

Ronan explained to the auction hall why he opposed the sale of the Wilderness Laboratory and demanded that buyers respect his wishes, while acknowledging his unconventional methods. The Ability User Association observers judged that his public remarks breached Inner World procedures but could be managed, and the Death Witch doubted he would cooperate.

• Ronan identified himself as a seventeen-year-old student and explained that the auctioned equipment and Wilderness Laboratory had belonged to his family and their colleagues, so he did not want them sold.
• Ronan said he had come to meet the buyers and make his feelings and decisions known, and warned that he would use unconventional methods to achieve his goals.
• Ronan addressed Mister Fushan through the livestream, treating the disruption as interest owed and saying he might forgive the auction house.
• Abner, Constance, Star Witch, Romanus, and the Death Witch watched the broadcast and discussed whether Ronan's remarks violated Inner World procedures.
• Romanus said most of the audience had clearance to know and that the remaining issues could be handled, while the Death Witch concluded that Ronan did not seem inclined to cooperate.