Chapter Summaries

Ronan suppressed the Deformed Planet’s God Rule Fragments and sent the Visiting Group and other people back to their destinations. While studying Liang Lu’s Skull and its Dynamic Spacetime Map, he discovered that the map came from the Abyssal Illumination mechanism and learned how it gathered information across spacetime.

• Ronan and Raven used the Death Announcer Bird and Relay Station’s rules to suppress the Deformed Planet’s fragments and open a passage to Earth Local Time-Space.
• Ronan sent the Visiting Group back to Huai City, returned High Priest Lanier to Lake City, and arranged separate assignments for Snake Language, Wu Jun, Long Qi, and Yuan Wuwei.
• Ronan returned to the Deformed Planet’s spherical interior with Raven and asked Auntie Kui whether the Dynamic Spacetime Map came from the External Neuron’s Database or an outside source.
• Auntie Kui confirmed that the map and the Abyssal Illumination’s design were external information recorded from the mechanism, and Ronan learned the information did not come from the Database or Inner Universe Simulator.
• Ronan found that the Abyssal Illumination spread an incomplete Great Lord Level rule imprint through carriers, using it to accumulate information and construct the Dynamic Spacetime Map.

Ronan studied Liang Lu’s Dynamic Time-Space Map to understand its markers and the Gates of Rebirth. He verified the abandoned and experimental gates, then turned his attention to the remaining markers, including “Temporary Carrier” and “Pioneer.”

• Ronan reconsidered whether Liang Lu had concealed his death and reviewed the map’s nine markers.
• Ronan selected “Gate of Rebirth (Abandoned)” and found its marker inside the Stone Shell Sun in Thirteenth District.
• Ronan selected “Gate of Rebirth (Experimental)” and found it near the Fire God Ant Nest at the Priceless Gold Battlefield Ruins.
• Ronan inferred that the existing and abandoned Gates of Rebirth might predate Liang Lu’s experiments and could connect to the Rebirth Divine Artifact above the Cloak.
• Ronan set aside two less useful markers and prepared to investigate “Temporary Carrier” and “Pioneer.”

Ronan used the Dynamic Time-Space Map to identify Dean Wan as the “Temporary Carrier” and reconsidered Liang Lu’s research into rebirth. He suspected the Martial Emperor was the “Pioneer,” then began examining why the map’s markers differed in precision and control.

• Ronan opened the “Temporary Carrier” marker and saw Dean Wan, Wan Ta, at the Lan Town Welfare Institute.
• Ronan considered whether Liang Lu had become an Uploader, but concluded that a rebirth experiment better explained the “Temporary Carrier” and “Gate of Rebirth” markers.
• Ronan found that the “Pioneer” marker could not be accessed and suspected the Martial Emperor had escaped the map’s surveillance.
• Ronan examined the Rotten Bone Star marker and saw only a distant view of the Deep Blue World.
• Ronan compared the markers’ varying levels of detail and control, then touched the manifested map marker and recognized something.

Ronan and Raven studied the Dynamic Time-Space Map and the Abyssal Radiance mechanism, uncovering clues that the Three Cats Under the Cape might function as a womb and that Raven could decode information hidden in the Great Lord Rule Imprints. Ronan connected her origins to forbidden experiments and the Spirit Roaming method, but the chapter left him still weighing what Liang Lu had planned.

• Ronan tested the Dynamic Time-Space Map and asked Raven what she thought of it.
• Raven warned Ronan that the Gate of Rebirth was fragile and might collapse, then described the bright region as a womb connected to the Rebirth Divine Artifact.
• Raven explained that she had caught fragmentary information in the Great Lord Rule Imprint and could piece it together while moving through the Mist Labyrinth in a Form-Spirit Blending state.
• Ronan wondered whether Liang Lu had scattered information for a destined person to decode and considered Raven's possible connection to the Bloodline Project.
• Ronan recalled Madam Harold's Heart Burning Blade and the Spirit Roaming method, then connected Raven's origins to forbidden experiments and the history of the Sky Abyss Empire.

Ronan and Raven investigated the Dynamic Spacetime Map and used Raven’s power to bring Hundun to the Abyssal Illumination mechanism, planning to remake it and uncover the map’s secrets. The chapter then shifted to Deng Chun, who received a difficult assignment to classify the cult’s masks using the Twelve Kingdoms model.

• Ronan asked Raven to report any information she gathered from the Great Lord Rule Imprints, and she explained that the Dynamic Spacetime Map linked its markers to real-world locations through permissions and verification.
• Raven reasoned that Abyssal Illumination could serve as a way to present their abilities to the map, and Ronan agreed to bring Hundun to it for assessment and investigation.
• Raven drew Hundun to them using the Service Demon Scroll, and Ronan decided to return it to the Abyssal Illumination mechanism so he could rebuild it using Mirror Appraisal and the map’s information.
• Ronan wondered whether they could increase the pressure on the map themselves as they prepared to investigate its hidden mechanisms.
• Deng Chun stayed cautious after his father Deng Yunwei’s death and helped Lao Yao navigate the Hundun Cult’s social circles while waiting for the deity’s judgment.
• Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wen Huilan gave Deng Chun and Lao Yao an assignment to classify every mask in the cult according to the Twelve Kingdoms model.

Wen Huilan, Deng Chun, and Lao Yao planned how to restructure the Hundun Cult around the Twelve Kingdoms while confronting illicit businesses and dangerous figures. Meanwhile, Gao Wenfu weighed the political fallout of Ronan’s expanding plans and discussed the Hundred Peaks Monarch’s movements with Qiu Wanshan.

• Wen Huilan explained that the Twelve Kingdoms represented systems of rules and Blessing Power, and proposed limiting Green Zone leadership to twelve representatives while restructuring the middle ranks.
• Deng Chun suggested classifying the Hundred Peaks Monarch’s physical resources by kingdom, and Lao Yao proposed cracking down on businesses that traded cult masks and related services.
• Wen Huilan warned that Luo Yuan, a dangerous Transcendental Species tied to a Wilderness Gene Exchange branch, backed those businesses, and said she would handle Gao Wenfu’s likely reaction.
• Gao Wenfu observed that uncertainty over Ronan’s An-Xia Line plans had stalled negotiations in Jin City, while rumors spread that the Pingjin Line might follow.
• Qiu Wanshan told Gao Wenfu that the Hundred Peaks Monarch was stirring again, and Gao compared the threat in Lake City with the situation in the Volcanic Zone.

Gao Wenfu discussed Ronan and the Twelve Kingdoms with Qiu Wanshan, while Ronan continued organizing the God Rule Fragments in the Fog Maze. The chapter left Ronan’s new classification system operating within the Relay Station as the Deformed Planet’s crust neared collapse.

• Gao Wenfu asked Qiu Wanshan about Ronan, and Qiu described Ronan as amiable, careful, and able to see the world differently.
• Ronan reassured Shuqing Luo by phone and video that he would return before the holiday.
• Ronan inspected the weakening Deformed Planet’s crust and the Smoke Mist surrounding the Relay Station.
• Ronan’s reforged Hundun bowed to him beside the Abyssal Illumination device.
• Ronan used Hundun and the device to classify active God Rule Fragments into twelve kingdoms based on the recorded systems of gods and Great Monarchs.

Ronan used the Abyssal Radiance Mechanism and Rotten Bone Star’s power to test whether he could operate the Dynamic Time-Space Map. He reached through its Temporary Carrier marker into a room with Dean Wan and Old Hand, though neither noticed him.

• Ronan prepared a temporary Perfect Body using an Exoskeleton frame and the Service Demon Direction, then borrowed power from the Abyssal Radiance Mechanism.
• The borrowed power made the Smoke Mist recede briefly, revealing a vast hall with a chained Sun Wheel and numerous statues.
• Ronan used Great Comprehension and Mirror of Appraisal to interact with the Dynamic Time-Space Map’s Temporary Carrier marker.
• Ronan reached through the map projection into a room where Dean Wan was talking with Old Hand, without disturbing either of them.

Ronan investigated the Temporary Carrier and Gate of Rebirth markers, discovering that the latter’s dreamlike framework surrounded the Space-Time Scar beneath the Volcanic Zone. By forcing his Great Comprehension through the framework, he reached the Tattered Divine Cloak and sent power through its folds, though his Form and Spirit Framework was under strain.

• Ronan recognized that the Temporary Carrier marker could create a temporary framework between reality and illusion, then postponed testing it on Dean Wan.
• Ronan reached toward the Gate of Rebirth marker and found an existing dreamlike framework around the Space-Time Scar at the Jin Buhuan Battlefield ruins.
• Ronan entered a dreamlike passage formed from memories associated with Neo and Jin Buhuan, but the framework did not activate because the Window Period had passed.
• Ronan intensified his Great Comprehension, causing the dream and Developer Mode to overlap and revealing the Tattered Divine Cloak as a heavy Veil blocking his path.
• Ronan felt his Form and Spirit Framework begin to tear, then reached toward the Veil and sent his Great Comprehension through its folds.

At a Xia City Branch gathering, Ability Users discussed how Dream Game and its accelerated training were changing the world and widening the gap between generations. Ronan had not yet arrived when Master Jin unexpectedly appeared, saying he had been unable to get away and would return to normal next month.

• Paper Cut, Red Fox, and Bamboo Pole discussed Frost River Reality’s merchandise plans and the newcomers whose Dream Game training was rapidly advancing.
• Gao De and Qin Yikun joined the group and asked about Ronan, who was still speaking with Dean Wan at the Lan Town Welfare Institute.
• Paper Cut complained about the Martial Emperor’s slow funding decisions and asked why Old Jin was not driving Ronan; Zhang Yingying said Old Jin had gone on vacation.
• The group heard a commotion and expected Ronan to arrive, while Tian Si rose to greet him and Zhang Yingying tugged her back.
• Master Jin entered the room, and when Zhang Yingying asked about his vacation, he said he had been unable to get away and asked everyone to forgive him.

Ronan proposed taking the gathering attendees into a Dream Game Instance Dungeon instead of giving a conventional class, and led them into a dream to present a history lesson. The lesson began with a message from a father to his son and an image of the Withered Tree at Zhi Xing Institute.

• Old Jin joined the gathering, where Xie Junping and the others discussed Dream Game aromatherapy and potential business opportunities.
• Ronan arrived and proposed that Xie Junping explore a bioenergy solution with Tianjing Planting as an alternative supplier to commercial Fusion Reactors.
• Zhang Yingying pressed Ronan to teach a class for the branch, but Ronan suggested running an Instance Dungeon for the attendees instead.
• Ronan offered to bring willing participants into the dream without devices, and Zhang Yingying approved the event and arranged to have Auntie Kui record it.
• Ronan led the attendees into a dark dream space, where they watched an animated history lesson framed as a gift from a father to his son.
• Zhong Man recognized the Withered Tree in the lesson's illustration as the tree on Withered Tree Sandbar beside North Shore Gear at Zhi Xing Institute.

Ronan gave the class a dreamlike history lesson about the Ancient Gods and the Central Star Zone, leaving the students immersed in the experience. He then asked Master Jin about the battlefield where Jin Buhuan’s life changed, seeking to learn whether the past had become a dream for him.

• Zhong Man recognized Ronan in the lesson and wondered whether its account of the Ancient Gods and the Central Star Zone was hidden truth or game lore.
• Ronan used Fictional Spacetime to immerse the students in a sketchy, overwhelming history lesson, while noting that he was still struggling with the War of All Gods material himself.
• Ronan approached Master Jin, suggested they prepare another setting, and guessed that the Martial Emperor had sent Jin to guide and restrain him.
• Ronan projected the Southwest Volcano Area battlefield and asked Master Jin about his memories of fighting there as Jin Buhuan.
• Master Jin said he remembered facing an opponent, but could only think that the enemy had been a Modified Human.

Ronan questioned Old Jin about the Tattered Divine Cloak and learned that its entrance opened on a three- or four-month cycle. They traveled to the Volcanic Zone, where Old Jin revealed that the inlay plate in his body might be the one he destroyed in a fight with a Modified Human, whose memories and experiences seemed to have merged with his own.

• Ronan pressed Old Jin for details about the Tattered Divine Cloak, and Old Jin said it opened during a Window Period every three or four months.
• Old Jin explained that the cycle involved someone who was dead but not yet still, though he did not understand the Martial Emperor's explanation.
• Ronan brought Old Jin to the Volcanic Zone, where Old Jin burned his hand on lava but still could not tell whether the place was real or an instance dungeon.
• Ronan opened a passage descending toward the crust-mantle boundary and led Old Jin toward the place where the Window might open.
• Old Jin said the inlay plate had belonged to a Modified Human he fought and destroyed, then admitted that the Modified Human seemed to be inside him and that their memories were tangled together.

Ronan questioned Old Jin about the blurred boundaries between his identity and a Modified Human, and learned that Old Jin became an Extraordinary Species through a risky Cultivation Plan acquired via the Balance of Truth. As they traveled toward the Space-Time Scar, Old Jin recalled the day he first encountered someone unusual at U-Cave Market.

• Ronan theorized that Old Jin’s confusion came from a traumatic encounter with True Illusion during a Window Period that had disrupted his Form and Spirit Framework.
• Old Jin explained that he had exchanged for a Cultivation Plan through the Balance of Truth in early 1986, becoming an Extraordinary Species through a shortcut with lasting flaws.
• Old Jin recounted searching for Wanderer tribes and Fugitives while building ties with the Justice Cult, as Ronan considered whether the cult’s leaders had been influenced by the Gate of Truth.
• Old Jin recalled visiting the Vagrant Exchange at U-Cave Market in Spring City to gather information about nearby tribes.
• Old Jin remembered seeing a cloaked figure with an unusual aura emerge from a shop selling mechanical parts.

Ronan followed Old Jin’s memory of Luo Yuan into the volcanic passage and through the veils, where Old Jin encountered visions linked to the Dream God Abomination and Lord of Illusory Nightmares. Ronan uncovered evidence that the Balance of Truth had exchanged Old Jin with a Fugitive’s transferred Cultivation Plan, and the Fugitive’s shadow continued deeper behind the veil.

• Old Jin recalled following Luo Yuan from U-Cave Market to the Fire God Ant Nest, where Luo Yuan sent the ants into the lava before leaving.
• Ronan guided Old Jin through the scorching passage and lifted a veil, leading Old Jin into layers of partitions filled with clouds, mist, and damaged statues.
• Old Jin saw visions of space battles and heard the titles “Dream God Abomination” and “Lord of Illusory Nightmares,” while a shadow separated from his body.
• Ronan recognized the Balance of Truth in the shadow’s memories and realized Old Jin had exchanged more than an Inlay Plate: he had received the Cultivation Plan of a Fugitive from the Thirteenth District.
• The Fugitive’s shadow passed through another veil as Ronan followed, while the clues pointed toward answers beyond the Tattered Divine Cloak.

Ronan used the Balance of Truth to trace the Replacement between Jin Buhuan and the Fugitive from the Thirteenth District, uncovering the source of the information that had helped Jin become a Transcendental Species. The chapter left Ronan aware that the Fugitive’s information could be captured and guided across the Tattered Divine Cloak.

• Ronan recognized that the shadow was moving through the veils toward the closed window as if something beyond the Tattered Divine Cloak were guiding it.
• Ronan withdrew Cloud Qi and used the Balance of Truth to reverse-trace the Replacement process between Old Jin and the shadow.
• Ronan and Mirror Appraisal restored the Balance of Truth, while Demon Rune and the Altar Spider Web supplied the missing exchange through Replacement.
• Ronan shaped the recovered information into a vision of the Fugitive and his companions being captured and brutally modified in the Thirteenth District.
• Ronan discovered that the modified prisoners were ordered to patrol, track, reconnoiter, and relay messages, explaining how the Fugitive’s information could cross the boundary and be captured.
• Ronan learned that this information had been transformed into the Cultivation Plan and catalyst that helped Jin Buhuan become a Transcendental Species.

Ronan weighed the risk that the Thought Star Cluster had learned about Earth through Jin Buhuan and decided to let a concealed fragment of the Fugitive’s information cross the Veil. The fragment passed through into darkness dotted with distant lights, where Ronan sensed no immediate armada but could not determine how far his perception reached.

• Ronan reasoned that the Thought Star Cluster might have used Modified Human Fugitives to transmit information across spacetime, and that Jin Buhuan’s 1994 encounter with the Gate of Rebirth may have exposed Earth.
• Ronan considered whether Martial Emperor had hidden her abilities and contained the consequences, but he could not know whether she had succeeded.
• Ronan chose to let the shadow continue beyond the Veil, cutting away information that could reveal Earth and the Deep Blue World.
• Ronan imitated the Dream God Abomination’s method to conceal a trace of virtuality and reality within the shadow’s fragile information structure.
• The shadow passed through the Veil, and Ronan sensed darkness and scattered lights without detecting a fleet ready to attack within his limited range.

Ronan returned home exhausted after the gathering and went to sleep, burdened by his decision and the danger it might bring to ten billion people. In his dream, he slowly pieced together information from a fragile dream beyond the boundary and glimpsed a lizard-like creature uncovering a broken metal face.

• Ronan watched the Old Battlefield gathering end in confusion and told Zhang Yingying to rest and digest what had happened.
• Ronan arrived home, told Old Jin to take the next day off, and spoke briefly with Luo Shuqing, Mo Peng, and Raven.
• Ronan asked Raven to handle anything that came up while he slept and then went to bed, exhausted by the pressure of distorted rules.
• Ronan reflected on the consequences of his decision before falling asleep and fighting through a chaotic dream with the Three Cats.
• Ronan connected with a fragile dream beyond the boundary and slowly assembled its scattered information into a clearer picture.
• Ronan saw a lizard-like creature uncover half of a metal face beneath dirt and ash, its eye socket glowing faintly red.

Ronan followed the carrier’s dreams through the lizard’s mutations and the Fugitive’s destruction, then uncovered the memories of Wildfire and the split that created New Wildfire. He learned that New Wildfire had survived by parasitizing the lizard and had spent years resisting Old Wildfire while preserving the Fugitive’s cross-boundary gravity.

• Ronan observed a lizard consume energy blocks from sealed containers and mutate after metal wreckage infiltrated its body.
• Ronan watched the Fugitive’s memories reveal that it had been divided into three, and that Jin Buhuan had destroyed one part and the Commander during a battle.
• Ronan resisted acting on the dream and waited for further memories to clarify the carrier’s origins and the Commander’s destruction.
• Ronan entered Wildfire’s memories and learned how the Thought Star Cluster member grew disillusioned with the Six Heavens God Calamity, defected, and later joined the Solar System Reclamation Corps.
• Wildfire discovered an anomaly in the Solar System, but a tearing attack severed his downloaded consciousness from his temporary Cloud End and created New Wildfire.
• New Wildfire drew in the mutated lizard, parasitized it with the Fugitive’s remnant, and later stole resources from Old Wildfire while keeping the cross-boundary gravity and battle memories secret.

Ronan awoke from Wildfire’s long, disordered dream and considered the mysteries it had revealed, then joined his family for a Mid-Autumn gathering at the sanatorium. The chapter ended with the clouds parting and the family raising their cups beneath the moon.

• Raven woke Ronan at five in the afternoon after sensing that he was not doing well, and Ronan said the dream had lasted too long.
• Ronan sketched a jade ribbon winding around mountains, recognized it as possibly depicting Yingying Jie’s “White Rainbow,” and added the Martial Emperor to the image.
• Ronan and Mo Peng prepared a family meal on the sanatorium platform while Mo Ya and Raven joined them.
• Ronan reflected on Wildfire’s influence and the fragility of family memories as his relatives gathered to talk beneath the cloudy sky.
• The clouds thinned, the moonlight illuminated the platform, and Uncle Mo Haihang led the family in a toast.