Chapter Summaries

The author reported that the first phase of “Best Friend” had ended at 441 chapters and reflected on the story’s drift from its core. The author also described family difficulties, including his mother’s fracture, and said he was going home to care for his family.

• The author said “Best Friend” had reached 990,000 words and 441 chapters, marking the end of its first phase.
• The author admitted the story’s later conflicts between world powers had become difficult to follow and said he would keep future writing more grounded.
• The author reported that his mother had fallen and fractured her lower leg, leaving him emotionally overwhelmed.
• The author said he had recovered from a difficult period and was going home to care for his family.
• The author noted that the chapter would mark the volume division, then realized he had placed it in the VIP volume again.

Three months after returning from Romania, Li Yao discussed the growth of Cao Rui and Chen Tao’s anti-pyramid-scheme work and reviewed cultivation materials sent by the Wallfacers. He approved their expansion plans and supported Cao Rui’s idea to pursue financial investments, while reflecting on how Cao Rui had found his direction in life.

• Li Yao saw Cao Rui and Chen Tao discussing their training organization’s work against pyramid schemes.
• Chen Tao considered expanding into Lingnan and Gui Region, but Cao Rui warned him about the risks of operating there.
• Li Yao advised Chen Tao to focus on publicity, avoid establishing an organization in the region, and cooperate with relevant agencies.
• Cao Rui proposed targeting wealthy clients with financial investment products and expanding into global finance and futures.
• Chen Tao asked for Li Yao’s opinion, and Li Yao endorsed Cao Rui’s analysis.
• Cao Rui became excited about pursuing finance, and Li Yao reflected that he had finally found his direction in life.

After fully digesting the Transmutation Faction specialization, Li Yao prepared to imprint his second Specialized Magic Rune and chose the Evocation Faction. He arranged for Selma and Xisen’s group to return to China, then asked Lin Xiaowei for advice, only to be teased for showing off.

• Chen Tao and Cao Rui left to prepare the materials and ritual items for Li Yao’s next specialization.
• Li Yao gained a deeper understanding of change and fully digested the Transmutation Faction’s specialization imprint.
• Li Yao decided to imprint the Evocation Faction rune next, followed by the Necromancy School if he could choose a third specialization.
• Li Yao learned that the American Federation was undergoing a prolonged leadership transition and that its new diplomatic approach had eased pressure on other regions.
• Li Yao arranged with Ginawell for Selma, Xisen, and their companions to return to China under her management, and Ginawell decided to move her headquarters to Jinling.
• Li Yao told Lin Xiaowei he was ready for his second Specialized Magic Rune, and she accused him of showing off his talent.

Li Yao and Lin Xiaowei discussed formulas that could enhance mutants and possibly improve human spiritual sensitivity, while Lin Xiaowei oversaw the construction of an ironclad fleet. The chapter ended with Master Kentji appearing behind Lin Xiaowei and being hurt when she denied missing him.

• Lin Xiaowei told Li Yao she had developed formulas to optimize mutant blood and noted that they could affect ordinary people, though with risks of losing control.
• Li Yao and Lin Xiaowei considered whether the formulas could address humanity’s low spiritual sensitivity, and Lin Xiaowei warned that the dangers might persist or pass to future generations.
• Lin Xiaowei inspected her island shipyard, where she had used her resources and magic to build a fleet of one flagship, two cruisers, two frigates, and five destroyers.
• Lin Xiaowei’s teacher, Master Kentji, appeared behind her and asked whether she had missed him, but she said no.

Lin Xiaowei explained to Master Kentji why she was building Ironclad Ships despite their high cost, citing industrial growth, jobs, and their long-term strategic potential. She named the flagship the Kentji-class, leaving Master Kentji delighted as he prepared to show off the honor.

• Master Kentji visited Lin Xiaowei and asked about the Ironclad Ships, which were due to launch that day.
• Lin Xiaowei explained that Ironclad Ships could support industrialization, improve ordinary people’s lives, and provide strategic strength without relying indefinitely on Magic Airships.
• Lin Xiaowei privately imagined that the development of hot weapons could eventually lead to nuclear weapons.
• Lin Xiaowei named the flagship the Kentji-class and told Master Kentji that future flagships would follow his name as their standard.
• Master Kentji recorded the naming with a projection crystal, while Lin Xiaowei secretly hoped to sell naming rights without telling him.

Lin Xiaowei showed Master Kentji the newly built ironclad ships on Kimbaro Island, where Captain Elron praised the flagship as the Ship of Blasphemy. The Kentji-class launched successfully and led the fleet out to sea, while Kentji prepared to advance it further before the watching islanders.

• Lin Xiaowei led Master Kentji around the shipyard and introduced him to Captain Elron, the veteran sailor appointed to command the flagship.
• Captain Elron called the Kentji-class the Ship of Blasphemy, and Kentji decided to bless the flagship with a ritual before it sailed.
• Lin Xiaowei told Kentji and Elron that the new ship was about to launch, and they boarded the flagship to watch it enter the water.
• The Kentji-class floated successfully, powered out of the shipyard by its steam turbines, and led the cruisers, destroyers, and frigates into the open sea.
• Captain Elron sounded the horn as the fleet passed Kimbaro Island, drawing islanders outside to watch the imposing ships.
• Kentji floated above the deck, pleased by the crowd’s attention, and prepared to advance the Kentji-class further.

Master Kentji prepared to enchant the Ironclad Battleship, but Lin Xiaowei stopped him so it could prove ordinary people’s power to the Magic Association. She persuaded him to let the ship earn its history in battle before collecting it for a future museum.

• Master Kentji began forming a ritual to grant the Ironclad Battleship spirituality and extraordinary properties.
• Lin Xiaowei ordered Master Kentji to stop, explaining that enchanting the ship would undermine her effort to show that ordinary people could help shoulder the Magic Association’s burden.
• Master Kentji reluctantly descended and worried that the battleship might be damaged, while Lin Xiaowei considered turning his collecting interest into a battleship museum.
• Lin Xiaowei persuaded Master Kentji that the battleship would gain historical value by surviving battles before he collected it after its service ended.
• Master Kentji abandoned plans to enchant the ship with permanent defenses and imagined displaying it in a museum, while Lin Xiaowei considered building the museum and selling battleship models.

Lin Xiaowei and the fleet encountered magically protected pirate ships in the Storm Sea, prompting her to order a full-scale bombardment. The fleet began advancing under Captain Elron’s command.

• Lin Xiaowei grew bored after three days at sea, during which the fleet encountered only one small pirate fleet that fled.
• Lin Xiaowei and Master Kentji spotted an approaching fleet, and the lookout sounded the enemy alarm.
• Captain Elron ordered first-level combat readiness and directed the cruisers to approach the sailing ships.
• The cruisers fired their cannons, but a sickly green radiance from the pirate ships nullified the attack.
• Master Kentji identified strange psionic fluctuations and called the pirate vessels magical ships.
• Lin Xiaowei ordered the destroyers and flagship to surround the enemy and launch saturated bombardment, and Elron relayed the order to the fleet.

Lin Xiaowei’s Ironclad Battleships destroyed five magically enhanced Pirate Ships and uncovered a contaminating flesh-like object inside them. Master Kentji secured the samples for the Magic Association and research, while Lin Xiaowei warned Li Yao that she had run into real trouble.

• Lin Xiaowei and Captain Ailun directed the Ironclad Battleships to bombard the fast-moving Pirate Ships until their shields and masts were destroyed.
• Lin Xiaowei ordered Ailun to break apart the damaged Pirate Ships, and the fleet split all five vessels into pieces.
• Lin Xiaowei spotted a tumor-covered, green-patterned mass inside a wreck that contaminated the seawater and mutated nearby creatures.
• Master Kentji cleansed the contaminated water, contained the flesh-like samples, and told Lin Xiaowei he was the Magic Association’s investigator.
• Master Kentji refused to leave Lin Xiaowei a sample but invited her to study the remaining specimens at his Mage Tower.
• Lin Xiaowei returned to her cabin and messaged Li Yao that she might have run into trouble.

Lin Xiaowei told Li Yao that a strange contaminating force had overwhelmed several pirate ships and even challenged her Legendary Mage teacher, and asked him to test whether Earth’s energies could harm it. After agreeing to help, Li Yao planned an experiment to verify his cultivation-advancement research and proposed founding an academy, leaving its awkward name under discussion.

• Lin Xiaowei described the contaminated pirate ships and explained that her teacher had needed special methods to clear the threat.
• Lin Xiaowei asked Li Yao to test whether elements or energy from Earth could damage the bizarre beings, and he agreed to examine samples she would send.
• Li Yao reflected on the Main World’s danger, then turned to his plans for imprinting his Second Specialization and testing his cultivation research.
• Li Yao visited Big Sis Feng Li at Midnight Bar and told her he wanted to establish an academy for his experiment.
• Li Yao proposed the name “Spiritual Energy Technology Standards Application Research Academy,” and Big Sis Feng Li suggested shortening it to “Spiritual Standard Academy.”

Li Yao and Big Sis Feng Li chose Bagua Continent as the site for their Spiritual Research Academy and accepted the use of Shi Sui Pavilion as a temporary base. Mr. Fu Qinghua offered to join their work on making cultivation accessible to everyone.

• Li Yao rejected Big Sis Feng Li’s proposed academy name and suggested calling it the Spiritual Research Academy.
• Li Yao asked Big Sis Feng Li to find a suitable location, and she agreed to handle it.
• Five days later, Li Yao and Big Sis Feng Li visited Shi Sui Pavilion on Bagua Continent, which they considered suitable for the academy.
• Big Sis Feng Li introduced Mr. Fu Qinghua’s research background and said they could work at his estate until the academy was built.
• Mr. Fu Qinghua gave Li Yao and Big Sis Feng Li the estate keys and asked to participate in their research into making cultivation methods accessible to Gifted Ones.

Li Yao gathered prominent esper cultivators to discuss establishing an academy and a new cultivation system, but some scholars challenged his qualifications. He refused to let them test him and told Fu Qinghua to reject them, leaving the group chat awaiting Fu Qinghua’s response.

• Fu Qinghua gathered prominent esper cultivators in the provincial capital to discuss Li Yao’s plans for an academy.
• Feng Li, Zhuge Feng, Yun, and Guo Changshi offered support and resources, while Zhuge Feng, Yun asked to teach at the school.
• Fu Qinghua proposed an academic seminar after scholars from many factions arrived and questioned Li Yao’s qualifications.
• Li Yao told Fu Qinghua to reject the scholars who wanted to test him and said he would not bring them along.
• Fu Qinghua opened the seminar group chat and announced that he had spoken with Li Yao, prompting a flood of messages.

Li Yao rejected a gathering with the mystic arts experts, so Fu Qinghua confronted them in the group chat and organized an academic seminar instead. At the seminar the next day, Gu Xinting introduced Li Yao to his daughter Gu Qingli and hinted they were a good match.

• Li Yao refused to attend the experts’ preliminary gathering, and Fu Qinghua announced his refusal in the group chat.
• Fu Qinghua told the group that Li Yao would no longer deal with the people who had pressured him and ordered them to leave the group themselves.
• Fu Qinghua warned that Wallfacers were involved and participants would have to sign a Confidentiality Agreement, after which Liu Quanshu and Zuo Xinping left the group.
• Li Yao agreed to hold the academic seminar the next day, and Fu Qinghua and the others left to prepare.
• Fu Qinghua brought scholars to Shi Sui Pavilion, where Gu Xinting introduced Gu Qingli to Li Yao and remarked that they looked well-matched.

Li Yao rejected Gu Xinting’s attempt to set him up with Gu Qingli, then escaped the gathering upstairs. Lu Xingshen arrived at Shi Sui Pavilion, where a furious voice from the second floor confronted him.

• Li Yao realized Gu Xinting wanted him to become Gu Qingli’s father and quietly told him he treated him as a friend.
• Gu Qingli explained her father’s behavior, and Li Yao joked that his looks, talent, and wealth made Gu Xinting’s idea understandable.
• Gu Qingli relayed Li Yao’s words to Gu Xinting, who agreed with him, leaving her exasperated.
• Li Yao slipped upstairs to rest while guests at Shi Sui Pavilion socialized and exchanged knowledge.
• Lu Xingshen arrived with Ye Yu, and the gathered guests bowed to greet him.
• A loud voice from upstairs accused Lu Xingshen: “You still have the nerve to come see me!?”

Li Yao confronted Lu Xingshen over Chen Xi’s departure, then presented his new universal method for advancing metahuman cultivation to the gathered experts. The chapter ended with Guo Changshi asking what Li Yao had written on the whiteboard.

• Li Yao shouted at Lu Xingshen and challenged him to earn his respect.
• Lu Xingshen nearly drew his Dragon Snake Longsword, but Ye Yu stopped him from escalating the confrontation.
• Lu Xingshen invited everyone inside, and Li Yao joined them in the hall.
• Lu Xingshen said he had come to learn about Li Yao’s universal advancement method and offer suggestions.
• Li Yao covered half a whiteboard with unfamiliar writing and drawings, prompting Guo Changshi to ask what they were.

Li Yao explained how ordinary symbols could gather spiritual energy by interacting with the Astral Realm and Spirit Realm, using demonstrations and scientific analogies to challenge established cultivation assumptions. He left the audience considering how his discovery could make cultivation methods universal.

• People found that tracing Li Yao’s symbols stirred the spiritual energy in their bodies, and Lu Xingshen sensed power gathering around the writing.
• Yang Tong and others inspected the whiteboard and marker, found nothing unusual, and confirmed Li Yao had not used spiritual energy to write the symbols.
• Li Yao explained that he had refined the symbols from ancient texts to direct spiritual power, then demonstrated how a simple cardboard tube could guide a flame and enhance convection.
• Li Yao described spiritual energy as a pervasive form of energy and explained that reality, the Astral Realm, and the Spirit Realm overlapped with varying degrees of interaction.
• Lu Xingshen opened glimpses of the Spirit Realm and Astral Realm, and Zhuge Feng, Yun connected their relationship to the boundary between water and air.
• Zhen Zhiyin asked how Li Yao’s explanation related to making cultivation methods universal.

Li Yao proposed using runes and potions to help ordinary people wield spiritual power, then let the gathered cultivation experts debate how to make the idea work. The discussion ended with Guo Changshi suggesting rune-based tools that could receive energy from the outside world.

• Zhen Zhiyin asked how Li Yao’s runes could help ordinary people wield spiritual power, and Li Yao proposed inscribing runes on people to increase the spiritual energy in their bodies.
• Guo Changshi compared the idea to Weapon Refinement, while Gu Xinting said the human body could be tempered like a cauldron vessel.
• Li Yao said potions might open the door to the Esper World for ordinary people, but admitted that the method still needed exploration.
• Gu Xinting proposed using Medicine King Valley prescriptions with runes, and Zhen Zhiyin countered that visualization and mental power could build spiritual strength.
• Gu Xinting and Zhen Zhiyin argued over the merits of medicine and mental cultivation until Guo Changshi suggested refining rune-based tools to receive outside energy for cultivation.

Li Yao helped the scholars resolve their dispute over cultivation research and taught them his new runes. As researchers bought up property on Bagua Continent, he revealed his plan to buy it back cheaply because the continent belonged to him.

• Lu Xingshen praised Li Yao’s new symbolic system and invited him to join the Wallfacers, but Li Yao refused and promised to protect them if they ever needed it.
• Li Yao proposed that the scholars establish several majors, recruit volunteer researchers, and compare their methods before promoting mature systems.
• Li Yao explained that his runes covered matter, energy, the mind, and metaphysical concepts, then taught the scholars the system he had developed.
• Gu Xinting and other scholars bought property on Bagua Continent, driving up housing prices and frustrating Lu Xingshen.
• Li Yao told Lu Xingshen that the entire continent belonged to him and that he planned to buy the properties back cheaply from their wealthy new owners.

Li Yao prepared to imprint the Evocation School as his Second Specialization and completed the procedure with Lin Xiaowei watching over a video call. He left the process successfully stabilized in his soul and Magic Spirit Pool.

• Li Yao asked Big Sis Feng Li whether Bagua Continent could be renamed, but she explained that changing a city's name would cost too much.
• Li Yao continued his studies and alchemical work while scholars on Bagua Continent researched different approaches to metahuman cultivation.
• Li Yao told Lin Xiaowei he planned to imprint the Evocation School, and she offered to share her school's notes and watch over him.
• Li Yao prepared a magic array in his room at Shi Sui Pavilion and drew in the Evocation School's power of rules.
• Li Yao connected the Specialized Magic Rune to his Magic Spirit Pool and completed his Second Specialization imprint as Lin Xiaowei watched.

After imprinting his Second Specialization, Li Yao struggled with the dangerous clash of rule auras but decided he would keep pursuing power so he could someday defeat Lin Xiaowei. Once he recovered enough to test his new abilities, he discovered that Frost Ray had become faster, stronger, more efficient, and easier to control.

• Lin Xiaowei warned Li Yao that imprinting more specializations would increase the danger and advised him to advance to Intermediate Rank instead.
• Li Yao joked that he wanted more specializations so he could beat Lin Xiaowei, prompting her to end their call.
• Li Yao slept, then meditated for over an hour to settle the chaotic energy in his soul.
• Li Yao tested Frost Ray and found that his specializations improved its speed, power, efficiency, and control.
• Li Yao froze a cup of water with Frost Ray and suddenly remembered a skill he had not used in a long time.