Chapter Summaries

Chen Chuan defeated Huan Jie and her two teammates on the elevated bridge, using his domain field to anticipate their attacks and misdirect Huan Jie's final strike. After Huan Jie died, Convergence Boundary's airships arrived to support him, and he walked toward his private car.

• Huan Jie and her two teammates attacked Chen Chuan together, but he repeatedly paralyzed the men by catching their arms and wrists.
• Chen Chuan cut the two men apart with the Snow Monarch Blade as Huan Jie avoided his descending strike.
• Huan Jie unleashed her full strength and threw both spikes at Chen Chuan, but he used his bio-field to misdirect her aim and snapped her neck.
• Huan Jie asked why her final strike had missed, and Chen Chuan explained that he had fed her false domain field information.
• Two airships bearing the Fusion Boundary Corporation's emblem arrived, and Chen Chuan realized Huan Jie had ended her own life before walking toward his private car.

After the attack on Meng Shu’s convoy was stopped, she took charge of the Fusion Boundary Corporation and Chen Chuan learned that the Ferris Wheel Company was suspected of organizing the assault. The Handling Bureau continued investigating, while Chen Chuan was warned that the company might target him again.

• Chen Chuan warned Meng Shu and Yan Yi to remain inside the armored car while security forces and airships finished eliminating the militants on the bridge.
• Meng Shu ordered captured mercenaries sent to the Handling Bureau and arranged for the company to cover its share of the bridge damage.
• Chen Chuan accompanied the convoy to headquarters, where Meng Shu completed the handover and officially took charge of the Fusion Boundary Corporation.
• Director Wu told Chen Chuan that clues pointed to the Ferris Wheel Company and that the attack may have been aimed at him.
• Director Wu warned that the Ferris Wheel Company was seeking to join the Enterprise Joint Collaborative, while the Handling Bureau continued its investigation.

Chen Chuan prepared for an upcoming Defense Task while considering the Union’s influence and arranging his weapons in his villa. After Lao Qi revealed that gang members were pursuing him over Esoteric Sect materials, Chen Chuan set out to help.

• Chen Chuan moved his weapons from Wuyi Academy to the villa’s collection room and displayed them.
• Chen Chuan searched for security products, considered the Paper Doll Company and Origin Company, and wondered about his family’s connection to Origin.
• Chen Chuan registered for the Defense Plan, and Secretary Ji said he would receive an assignment within three days.
• Chen Chuan notified Gao Ming, Wu Bei, Tan Zhi, and Lao Qi that he might soon be away on a task.
• Lao Qi told Chen Chuan that gangs had taken his supplier and were trying to trace the Esoteric Sect materials, forcing Lao Qi to hide with Xiao Qi.
• Chen Chuan called home, then drove to Lao Qi’s location.

Chen Chuan traced the people targeting Lao Qi to a Plague Gang outpost and arranged for the City Patrol to detain the gang members watching Lao Qi’s home. He then went to the bar where Lao Qi’s friend had been taken, and the chapter ended as armed men closed in on him.

• Chen Chuan met Lao Qi and learned that gang members were watching his home because of secret cult materials, leaving Lao Qi and Qi Qi unable to return safely.
• Chen Chuan used Wu Bei’s signal trace and Lutong Logistics’ information to identify the Plague Gang’s nearby outpost and learned about its cult-like members.
• Chen Chuan alerted the City Patrol, which intercepted the gang members heading for Lao Qi and detained them for questioning.
• Wu Bei told Chen Chuan that Lao Qi’s missing friend had been taken to the bar and had not been moved, so Chen Chuan went there to investigate.
• At the bar, Chen Chuan noticed his Second Self blur near a sealed decorative wall and asked the bartender about the captive.
• A well-dressed man arrived with armed men, ordered the bar closed, and approached Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan rescued Hao Zhuo from Mr. Ai’s bar and learned that Hao Zhuo had fled after secretly selling materials from a gang warehouse. Suspecting the Plague Gang wanted to recover a problematic shipment, Chen Chuan arranged for Hao Zhuo and Lao Qi to hide while he focused on his Defense Task.

• Mr. Ai returned Hao Zhuo to Chen Chuan, who carried him out after destroying a hidden statue in the bar as an explanation for taking him.
• Chen Chuan brought Hao Zhuo to Lao Qi, who treated his injuries and confirmed that the attackers had drugged him.
• Hao Zhuo explained that he had sold off materials from a gang warehouse and fled after the supplier discovered a shortage.
• Chen Chuan suspected the Plague Gang was trying to recover a problematic batch of materials and advised Lao Qi and Hao Zhuo to lie low.
• Chen Chuan arranged a safer place for Lao Qi and a transfer to a new school for Qiqi, then left to handle his other matters.

Chen Chuan joined the Defense Department as a First-Level Executive and traveled from Central City into the Convergence Zone. He arrived at a fortress built to guard against hostile creatures, with the nature of those creatures still unknown.

• Chen Chuan filed a report about the cult materials and prepared for his mission to the Defense Zone.
• Counselor Pei informed Chen Chuan that his rank had risen to First-Level Executive and escorted him to an underground train station.
• Chen Chuan traveled with Counselor Pei through a passage into the Convergence Zone, where they discussed its origins and the dangers of crossing between worlds.
• Chen Chuan noticed what seemed to be a moving mountain as the train passed through the strange, desolate region.
• Chen Chuan and Counselor Pei reached a snowbound fortress, where Counselor Pei explained that the facility defended against creatures hostile to humans.

Chen Chuan met his assigned teammates, Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque, and attended an orientation on the dangers of the Confluence Zone. The briefing warned that organs—especially the brains of Third Limit Fighters—could become autonomous, and it left Qin Qingque asking whether anything besides the brain could be activated.

• Counselor Pei brought Chen Chuan to the briefing, where he met his assigned teammates Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque.
• Tian Yu showed images of infected people and explained that organs could develop independent thoughts, while activated brains could imitate their hosts.
• Tian Yu explained the Activation Index and gave each Executive an Activation Thread to monitor their readings and share them with teammates.
• Tian Yu warned that an activated Third Limit Fighter's brain could take over a nearby teammate's body and described methods to suppress activation.
• Qin Qingque asked Tian Yu whether the brain was the only part of the body that could become activated.

Chen Chuan and his teammates settled into the garrison, learned about Activity Indexes, and began their first night of training in the Confluence Zone. After drinking special medicine, Chen Chuan sensed nearby disturbances, redirected them to his Second Self, and returned his Activity Index to zero.

• Tian Yu explained Activity Index readings, and Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, and Qin Qingque shared their readings and contact information.
• Chen Chuan reviewed his teammates' backgrounds, then invited Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque to eat and formally welcomed them onto his team.
• The three completed their garrison procedures, received uniforms and weapons, and moved into their assigned dormitory rooms.
• Chen Chuan drank special medicine, sensed strange presences and watched his Activity Index rise, then shifted the disturbances to his Second Self and returned the index to zero.
• Yuan Qiuyuan called his sister before going to the training room, while Qin Qingque cultivated until her Activity Index settled at one.

Chen Chuan and his teammates learned about the dangers of activation, Implant Bodies, and the World Ring during their first lessons at the garrison. Their training was interrupted when Ding Mou arrived to assign their squad an urgent mission.

• Chen Chuan found enormous quadruped footprints near the fortress, but the officers recorded them without determining what had made them.
• Instructor Zhai taught Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, and Qin Qingque the Breathing Method and explained how Implant Bodies could protect against activation and combat injuries.
• Tian Yu explained that the World Ring was formed by the connected domain fields of the Central Cities and warned that unauthorized crossing would bring lethal punishment.
• Qin Qingque asked who their enemies were, and Ding Mou arrived to deliver their operational assignment.
• Ding Mou told Chen Chuan that the other squads had deployed forward, leaving his squad as the only available combat unit, so their lessons might end early.

Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, and Qin Qingque learned that their mission was to counter Iron Demon, a mounted commander from the Old Dynasties who raided their rear under cover of dangerous wilderness nights. Advisor Rao warned them that Qu Mohu was an exceptionally powerful Fighter, leaving the newly formed group facing a threat they were only beginning to understand.

• Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, and Qin Qingque boarded a train with their Tactical Squad and Advisor Rao, who introduced Iron Demon as their target.
• Advisor Rao explained that Old Dynasties descended from people who fled into the Convergence Zone were hostile to their forces and had repeatedly sabotaged their rear defenses.
• Advisor Rao described Iron Demon, also known as Qu Mohu, as an Enshrined Elite Warrior who led mounted raiders using Dragon-Nose Horses and striking when defenses were thin.
• Qin Qingque asked why advanced technology had not stopped the raiders, and Advisor Rao explained that they had informants, exploited nighttime wilderness abnormalities, and could resist activation through several means.
• Advisor Rao warned that some Old Dynasty fighters were complete activated forms and said Iron Demon might himself be a demon or ghost.
• Advisor Rao said the group’s task was to drive Iron Demon’s forces away or monitor them, and revealed that Qu Mohu was a Commandant likely nearing perfection in both mind and body.

Chen Chuan’s group traveled to Number 73 Fortress to intercept Iron Demon, whom Advisor Rao expected to attack there. After a report claimed Iron Demon’s forces had crossed the river at Number 104 Fortress, Advisor Rao insisted the report was likely a diversion and that Number 73 remained the target.

• Chen Chuan’s group reached a small garrison and learned from Advisor Rao about the natives, the dangers beyond the railway, and the likely routes Iron Demon could take.
• Advisor Rao predicted that Iron Demon would break through at Number 73 Fortress, so Chen Chuan’s group hurried there and met its commander, Hai Cheng.
• Chen Chuan learned that a local boy had stayed at the fortress to avenge his brother, who had been killed by Iron Demon, and arranged for him to learn the surrounding terrain.
• After two days without seeing Iron Demon, Chen Chuan’s group received a report that a small force had crossed the river near Number 104 Fortress.
• Advisor Rao dismissed the report as a likely diversion and insisted that Iron Demon’s real target was still Number 73 Fortress.

Chen Chuan kept his team at Number 73 Fortress despite mounting pressure, trusting Advisor Rao’s assessment that Iron Demon’s attacks in the rear were a diversion. The reports proved to be a feint: Iron Demon’s main force had secretly reached the fortress’s weak rear and prepared to attack.

• Chen Chuan rejected the option of pursuing Iron Demon and ordered his team to hold its position at Number 73 Fortress.
• Reports arrived of patrols, communications stations, and fortresses being attacked along a route leading deep into the rear, prompting garrison leaders to question the team’s inaction.
• Chen Chuan argued that Iron Demon’s obvious trail and the risk of losing his elite forces made a deep advance unlikely, and Advisor Rao agreed to share their reasoning with the Intelligence Operations Room.
• Chen Chuan remained at Number 73 Fortress despite another harsh demand for an explanation from a garrison higher-up.
• Iron Demon’s main force, having split off from a smaller unit that laid the false trail, reached the rear of Number 73 Fortress after traveling by night through creature territories.
• Iron Demon’s Cavalry Soldiers dismounted, strapped cages of beetle-like creatures to their backs, and began approaching the fortress’s lightly defended rear.

Chen Chuan and the defenders discovered that Iron Demon’s Mounted Warriors had approached Number 73 Fortress, but Iron Demon withdrew after evading an attempted shot. Believing Iron Demon would keep pressuring the fortress, Chen Chuan led Qin Qingque and Yuan Qiuyuan into the wilderness to draw him out.

• A patrol alerted the defenders to tethered spears climbing Number 73 Fortress’s wall, and Garrison Hai identified them as Iron Demon’s forces.
• Chen Chuan and the others spotted Iron Demon at a distance, but he evaded Qin Qingque’s shot and rode away.
• Chen Chuan reasoned that Iron Demon would attack nearby patrols or outposts to lure the defenders into the wilderness.
• Chen Chuan decided to pursue Iron Demon, and Qin Qingque and Yuan Qiuyuan volunteered to go with him.
• After preparing, Chen Chuan, Qin Qingque, and Yuan Qiuyuan drove away from the fortress, following the traces of Iron Demon’s main force.

Chen Chuan’s team continued pursuing the Iron Demon’s convoy and spent the night in the Convergence Zone wilderness, relying on secret cult rituals and the Breathing Method to survive its abnormalities. After reaching morning, they found signs of a huge creature’s passage and resumed the pursuit, hoping to force the Iron Demon to respond.

• Chen Chuan chose to continue the pursuit despite the danger of spending the night in the wilderness, and Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque agreed to stay with him.
• Advisor Rao reported the team’s decision to operations command and accepted responsibility for it.
• Chen Chuan’s team made camp, and Chen Chuan used secret cult materials and ritual patterns to protect their vehicle and cloaks.
• The Iron Demon’s force stopped about thirty li away, and the masked commander ordered his rider to wait.
• During the night, enormous unseen creatures battered and shifted the vehicle, while Chen Chuan told Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque to control their Activity Indexes with the Breathing Method.
• At dawn, the team found the vehicle displaced and damaged beside a huge track-like pit, reported their situation to Number 73 Fortress, and set out to continue the pursuit.

Chen Chuan’s squad used Advisor Rao’s intelligence deception to lure Iron Demon into a prepared confrontation. Iron Demon and two Enshrined Warriors advanced through Qin Qingque’s gunfire, and one hurled a spear at Chen Chuan.

• Advisor Rao received confirmation that Chen Chuan’s group was safe and requested authorization to initiate intelligence deception.
• Iron Demon learned that more enemy squads were approaching and ordered his cavalry to move against Chen Chuan’s squad.
• Chen Chuan anticipated the attack, changed locations, and prepared with Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque beside a river.
• Iron Demon and two Enshrined Warriors approached Chen Chuan’s position while the rest of the cavalry spread out around them.
• Qin Qingque repeatedly shot the three approaching men, but they kept advancing, and one Enshrined Warrior threw a spear at Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan and Iron Demon clashed in a contest of strength while Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque held off the two Enshrined Warriors. As the fight intensified, Iron Demon suddenly overcame the force that should have slowed him and thrust his spear toward Chen Chuan’s face.

• Yuan Qiuyuan deflected a javelin aimed at Chen Chuan, while Qin Qingque kept firing at the approaching enemies.
• Iron Demon and the two Enshrined Warriors linked their Domain Fields, pressuring the group, so Chen Chuan met them and used his own Domain Field to resist.
• Chen Chuan traded repeated blows with Iron Demon, enduring the warrior’s powerful attacks as their weapons drove them into the mud.
• Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque engaged their opponents and patiently held them at bay while Chen Chuan monitored their progress.
• Chen Chuan and Iron Demon gradually increased their strength, and Iron Demon suddenly spun Chen Chuan’s blade aside before thrusting his spear toward Chen Chuan’s face.

Chen Chuan and Iron Demon fought to a standstill, each enduring the other's attacks with powerful defenses and seemingly vast reserves. After their weapons broke and their armor was ruined, they faced each other again, preparing to continue the duel.

• Chen Chuan used his Second Self to transfer the force of Iron Demon's attacks and pressed him with a relentless series of slashes.
• Chen Chuan realized Iron Demon's explosive techniques disturbed his domain field, and he planned to wear down his opponent's reserves.
• Chen Chuan and Iron Demon moved away from the other fighters and traded powerful blows, while Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque regained their strength.
• After more than twenty minutes of clashes, Iron Demon's spear snapped, and both men ignored defense to attack each other with the broken weapon and Snow Monarch Blade.
• Chen Chuan and Iron Demon disengaged, discarded their damaged armor and clothing, and readied themselves to resume the fight.

Chen Chuan gained the upper hand over Iron Demon as his Furnace Breathing Method let him maintain his strength longer. Iron Demon transformed and unleashed new attacks, but Chen Chuan adapted and continued wounding him.

• Chen Chuan outlasted Iron Demon in their exchange, forcing him onto the defensive as his strength and weapons failed him.
• Iron Demon surged with power, then exposed tendrils of mutated tissue that formed a whip and reinforced his broken spear.
• Chen Chuan overlapped with his Second Self and noticed Iron Demon's unstable bio-field before approaching him with the Snow Monarch Blade.
• Chen Chuan dodged Iron Demon's whip and used rapid changes in direction to land a heavy punch and drive him backward.
• Chen Chuan exploited Iron Demon's imbalance to slash his skirt armor, then struck his chest and shoulder, severing tendrils and cracking the bones beneath.

Chen Chuan defeated and beheaded Iron Demon, then crushed the living creature that emerged from his body. When Chen Chuan reached the ongoing fight, the Enshrined Warriors lost heart at the sight of their commandant’s head, allowing Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque to kill their opponents.

• Chen Chuan exploited Iron Demon’s failing coordination, wounded him repeatedly, and depleted his ability to heal.
• Chen Chuan slammed Iron Demon into the ground until he could no longer fight, then beheaded him with a short knife.
• A living creature emerged from Iron Demon’s eye and attacked Chen Chuan, who caught and crushed it.
• Chen Chuan carried Iron Demon’s head toward the riverbank while the four fighters continued battling nearby.
• The Enshrined Warriors’ formation collapsed when they saw Iron Demon’s head, and Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque killed their opponents.

Chen Chuan and his squad defeated Iron Demon’s remaining Mounted Warriors, secured the evidence, and gave up pursuing the scattered survivors. Advisor Rao received confirmation of their victory and prepared to report it to the Command Department.

• Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque regrouped with Chen Chuan after he killed Iron Demon, and the three watched their Activity Indexes.
• Qin Qingque spotted cavalry carrying grappling lines, so Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque drove toward them and used the machine gun to stop their charge.
• Chen Chuan reflected on Iron Demon’s inability to coordinate his spirit, physique, strength, and technique as the squad dealt with the bodies and collected evidence.
• Chen Chuan’s squad found the remaining cavalry had dispersed, abandoned the pursuit, and sent a telegram to the garrison thanking Advisor Rao.
• Advisor Rao confirmed Iron Demon’s death and dictated a report naming Chen Chuan, Yuan Qiuyuan, Qin Qingque, and himself among the squad members.