Chapter Summaries

After returning to Central City, Chen Chuan made plans for a family cruise and arranged his next official commitments, including a visit to the Linax Federation. The chapter ended when Mister Zhuan warned him that headquarters representatives would arrive soon and might question him.

• Cheng Shang and Cheng Zicheng left Jiao Mountain without finding Cheng Zishun, and Cheng Shang vowed that the Cheng family would keep searching.
• Chen Chuan told Director Lei that he would propose adding him to the Safety Decision Team and discussed preparations for growing dangers and the coming great collision.
• After briefing Qi Weizhao and others, Chen Chuan returned home and planned a Haidong Province cruise with Yu Wan, Nian Fuli, and the children.
• The Fighter Council offered to raise Chen Chuan's safety protocol by one level, and he arranged to meet its representatives before departing.
• Qiao Yang added Chen Chuan to the second Visiting Delegation to the Linax Federation, and Chen Chuan chose the October departure.
• Mister Zhuan warned Chen Chuan that headquarters representatives would arrive by the next day and advised him not to answer every question they asked.

Zhan Jiyue traveled to Jibei Province as the Purity Faction’s special envoy to discuss Chen Chuan’s accomplishments and the faction’s divided views on how to reward and trust him. After meeting Chen Chuan and his colleagues at a warehouse base, Zhan Jiyue asked to speak with Chen alone.

• Zhan Jiyue reviewed Chen Chuan’s achievements and considered the headquarters debate over whether to support him or remain cautious.
• News that Chen Chuan had sealed an ancient Old Sin delayed Zhan Jiyue’s arrival in Jibei Province by a day.
• Zhan Jiyue chose to meet the branch members outside Central City and traveled to a converted warehouse in the industrial zone.
• Zhan Jiyue greeted Chen Chuan, Mister Zhuan, Mister Tang, and Xu Chan, while Masked Mister criticized his polite manner.
• Zhan Jiyue asked to speak with Chen Chuan alone, and Mister Zhuan and the others left the room as Masked Mister warned Chen not to trust him.

Chen Chuan received a promotion, development authority, and the cultivation method he needed from Zhan Jiyue, who also explained how Zhao Zhenye’s defection had reshaped the Purity Faction’s trust and support policies. Chen Chuan left with an agreement to consider, while Mister Zhuan and Mask promised to seek him more support.

• Mister Zhuan and Mask discussed the Purity Faction’s disputes and agreed that Chen Chuan’s growing influence was forcing the faction to respond.
• Zhan Jiyue offered Chen Chuan a higher council rank, Level One Development Authority for the Jibei Province branch, political support, and help with his cultivation.
• Chen Chuan received the cultivation method for his next level, though Zhan Jiyue said its secret transmission from the Profound Sky True Fate could only be perceived by someone ready for it.
• Zhan Jiyue explained that Zhao Zhenye’s defection had intensified long-standing mistrust within the faction and presented Chen Chuan with an agreement that could earn him greater support.
• Mister Zhuan promised to seek additional support from senior faction members, and Mask urged Chen Chuan to accept their help.

Chen Chuan reviewed the Purity Faction’s new authority for him and rejected an agreement that would bind him to headquarters. He then examined the secret transmission in Mr. Zhan’s cultivation booklet and discovered it was designed to destroy Mutated Tissue.

• Zhan Jiyue asked to tour the Jibei Province Branch Office, and Chen Chuan arranged for Chang Dong to show him around.
• Chen Chuan told Xu Chan that he would travel overseas and leave Central City’s affairs to him, with the two Zalniks staying to assist.
• Chen Chuan reviewed his elevated council authority and the autonomy granted to the Jibei Province Branch Office.
• Chen Chuan read Mr. Zhan’s agreement, decided not to sign it, and opened the Cultivation Methods booklet.
• Chen Chuan discovered the Purity Spirit Light secret transmission and noted its possible connection to Profound Sky Fire.

Chen Chuan studied the Profound Cave Observation Realm and considered how to obtain the resources needed to cultivate it. He then signed a renewed Fighter Council agreement, gaining stronger resistance to Other Side World contamination, and left while awaiting a possible new post and title from the capital.

• Chen Chuan read about the Profound Cave Observation Realm and learned that advancing would require specialized resources, which he planned to seek through Wansong Entrusted Company and Mister Zhuan.
• The Fighter Council invited Chen Chuan to Sawtooth Building, where Miao and other familiar representatives met him to renew his agreement.
• Chen Chuan signed the ritual scroll and discovered that the agreement permanently increased his resistance to Other Side World contamination.
• Miao explained that Chen Chuan's merits could qualify him for a two-level promotion, but the agreement allowed promotion only once every two years.
• Chen Chuan left the building, knowing the capital might offer him a new post and title after his upcoming trip.

Chen Chuan took Aunt's family on a sea voyage and visited the He siblings on Red Crown Island, where he told them he would soon travel to the Linax Federation. After rejoining the cruise, he met Wilderness School member Lu Tuo on the An Ying Islands and heard why the school was adapting its traditions to changing times.

• Chen Chuan left the cruise ship to visit He Zhilan and He Ruihai on Red Crown Island, where they showed him the growing training hall and treated him to grilled black spotted boar.
• Chen Chuan told the He siblings he would travel to the Linax Federation in two months, then flew back to the cruise ship and joined Aunt's family at a concert.
• Several days later, Chen Chuan stayed on the beach at the An Ying Islands while Aunt's family toured Central City and watched young people ride modified jumping fish.
• Lu Tuo introduced himself to Chen Chuan as a member of the Wilderness School and explained that its members increasingly took paid missions to obtain cultivation resources.

Chen Chuan discussed the Wilderness School’s plans for reform and possible ties with the Purity Faction with Lu Tuo. After Lu Tuo shared the history of a Yingzhou-born predecessor, he gave Chen Chuan the predecessor’s book, which Chen Chuan began reading.

• Lu Tuo explained that he favored reforming the Wilderness School and described the faction’s debate over whether to change or seek shelter with one of the Five Great Factions.
• Lu Tuo said the Wilderness School had settled on the Purity Faction as its best option, but its efforts to approach the faction had stalled.
• Chen Chuan listened as Lu Tuo described the Wilderness School’s wilderness expeditions and demonstrated its fighting techniques.
• Chen Chuan recognized Yingzhou influences in Lu Tuo’s techniques, and Lu Tuo explained the faction’s ties to Yingzhou First People and the Linax Federation.
• Lu Tuo gave Chen Chuan a book written by a former Wilderness School Fist Saint from Yingzhou, and Chen Chuan began reading it after adding Lu Tuo as a contact.

After returning from his trip, Chen Chuan began preparing for Profound Cave Observation cultivation and bought a cultivation booklet from Wan Song Company. When he examined it again, he discovered hidden spiritual intent that made his Second Self begin turning incorporeal.

• Chen Chuan returned to Jibei Province, received notice of his coming appointment, and learned that Mister Zhuan was trying to secure a cultivation resource for him.
• Chen Chuan used Platform Coins to buy Wan Song Company's most complete Profound Cave Observation cultivation methods and asked about purchasing the required resources.
• A man at Wan Song Company's Fengde District branch ordered the Female Secretary to deliver a forbidden booklet to Chen Chuan, then decided to meet him personally later.
• Chen Chuan received the booklet, read its spiritually revealed contents, and found that it offered a useful perspective alongside the Purity Faction's teachings.
• Chen Chuan turned the booklet upside down and uncovered aggressive strands of spiritual intent, causing his Second Self to begin turning incorporeal.

Chen Chuan read a book containing contaminated cultivation impressions from earlier practitioners and gained insight into how to break through Profound Cave Observation. After cleansing the contamination from his body, he suspected Wan Song Company had knowingly provided the book, but decided to focus on growing stronger.

• Chen Chuan identified the book’s strange impressions as cultivation experiences left by previous readers and chose to expose himself to them by shutting off his Second Self.
• Chen Chuan read the impressions page by page, enduring voices, visions, and escalating contamination while learning from the predecessors’ successes and failures.
• Chen Chuan used a radiance like the Great Sun to cleanse the contamination, then replaced the small amount of Mutated Tissue that had transformed and expelled the remaining impurities.
• Chen Chuan concluded that breaking through Profound Cave Observation could require both mental and physical cultivation, and that the predecessors’ impressions had revealed this in advance.
• Chen Chuan suspected Wan Song Company had deliberately given him the book because it believed he could handle its contents, but resolved to grow stronger before concerning himself with the company’s motives.

Chen Chuan received a capital appointment as a National Security Affairs Department Committee Member, along with a personal calligraphy gift and official rewards. Back home, he inspected the rewards and discovered that the antique-style armor was an External Implant Body, which wrapped around him when he entered it.

• Chen Chuan studied Profound Cave Observation and practiced Purity Spirit Light while waiting for his cultivation resources.
• Qiao Yang summoned Chen Chuan to the Administrative Building, where a concealed Chongming-class Dispatch Airship arrived from the capital.
• Specialist Cheng appointed Chen Chuan as a National Security Affairs Department Committee Member and delivered the Chief Administrator’s calligraphy and other rewards.
• Chen Chuan returned home and examined his new uniforms, weapons, and antique-style armor.
• Chen Chuan entered the armor’s back opening, and the External Implant Body sensed him and wrapped around him.

Chen Chuan tested the External Implant Body he had received and prepared for his visit to the Linax Federation next month. He invited his team to accompany him, began assembling the delegation, and decided to resolve one person’s situation before departure.

• Chen Chuan tried on the External Implant Body, tested it with his weapons and techniques, and found it offered strong protection and useful information support.
• Chen Chuan prepared supplies and cultivation resources for the trip while waiting for news from Mister Zhuan.
• Chen Chuan invited Wei Changan, Luo Kaiyuan, Feng Xiaoqi, Wu Han, and the others to join the visit, promising the Inspection Team would cover equipment and part of their cultivation resources.
• Chen Chuan called Senior Apprentice Ren and gave them until the end of the month to decide whether to go.
• Chen Chuan reviewed his personnel list, left his aunt and her family off it because the trip could be dangerous, and decided to handle one person's situation before leaving.

Chen Chuan arranged Yang Ling’s future placement and left instructions for Lu Fang to give Chen Xiaojin a training booklet before his departure abroad. He then oversaw the Linax Federation delegation’s arrival, where Prabhakar sensed Chen Chuan’s formidable presence, and Chen Chuan noticed a languid figure watching him.

• Chen Chuan visited Yang Ling in detention and offered her a choice between joining a Defense Department unit or the Esoteric Sect Bureau; she chose the bureau.
• Chen Chuan used his National Security Affairs Department position to arrange Yang Ling’s transfer and resolved to deal with Lianwei Heavy Drive later.
• At Lu Fang’s Fighting Hall, Chen Chuan watched Chen Xiaojin train and gave Lu Fang a booklet for him, promising to teach him if he entered Wu Yi Academy.
• Chen Chuan arranged security for the Linax Federation delegation’s arrival and decided the existing safeguards were sufficient.
• Chen Chuan saw Prabhakar aboard the approaching delegation airships, and Prabhakar admitted that Chen Chuan’s presence unsettled him.
• After the escort mission ended, Chen Chuan sensed and spotted a languid figure standing nearby and smiling at him.

Chen Chuan met Teacher Xue, who handed over responsibility for escorting the Linax Federation delegation and advised him on finding resources for the Profound Cave Observation Realm. Teacher Xue left to remain in Jibei Province, while Chen Chuan departed with new cultivation leads to consider.

• Chen Chuan met Teacher Xue, who explained that the delegation’s return journey through Haidong Province and West Bank Party territory would require heavy security and entrusted the task to him.
• Teacher Xue gave Chen Chuan the unfinished Sustained Principles, a record of fighting arts ideas that might aid his cultivation.
• Teacher Xue advised Chen Chuan to seek resources at the First People’s Sacred Valley holy sites and through the Celestial Mystery Sect’s religious assemblies.
• Teacher Xue explained that oath-binding could trade away future lifespan or other needs for cultivation power, and urged Chen Chuan to decide deliberately if he chose that path.
• Teacher Xue said he would remain in Jibei Province to keep watch, then left, and Chen Chuan departed the square.

Chen Chuan studied a cultivation treatise and chose to pursue a difficult path that balanced breakthroughs of the mind and body. He then met Tao Huiya, who asked him to help retrieve sensitive intelligence and control a suspected traitor during the Visiting Delegation’s trip to the Linax Federation.

• Chen Chuan read the Outline’s argument for breaking through the mind and body together and resolved to follow that path.
• Chen Chuan stored the treatise, fed Zhao Ming, and accepted Lao Feng’s invitation to meet Commissioner Cao about the Visiting Delegation.
• Tao Huiya told Chen Chuan she would travel to the Linax Federation undercover to retrieve intelligence from a missing colleague.
• Tao Huiya warned Chen Chuan that someone in the delegation was passing information to the Federation and sent him a dossier on its members.
• Chen Chuan promised Tao Huiya he would bring the suspected informant under control as soon as they identified them.

Before leaving with the Da Shun Delegation, Chen Chuan revisited his old martial arts home and shared a final morning with Lu Ke. He then returned to Central City, where Mister Zhuan arrived with a case of high-quality jade bone paste for his journey.

• Chen Chuan returned to the Fist Home, trained with his old gauntlets, and reminisced with Lu Ke about their teacher and the old quarter.
• Lu Ke gave Chen Chuan a group photograph and described how he planned to grow Lutong Logistics as the neighborhood awaited redevelopment.
• Chen Chuan said goodbye to Lu Ke and left Yangzhi City after briefly visiting Wu Yi Academy.
• Chen Chuan flew to the South City Industrial Zone and waited at the station for Mister Zhuan.
• Mister Zhuan and Masked Mister met Chen Chuan and gave him a case of the highest-quality jade bone paste, secured with support from their school headquarters.

Chen Chuan prepared to leave Great Shun for the Linax Federation, securing his weapon collection and saying farewell to those who had helped and supported him. He boarded the airship with his security team and the Visiting Delegation, and the group departed across the ocean.

• Chen Chuan accepted resources from Masked Mister and Mister Zhuan, then returned to Golden Maple Garden to prepare for his trip abroad.
• Chen Chuan sealed his collection room with a ritual and received a contact signal from the Wan Song Company for its services in the Linax Federation.
• Chen Chuan woke early, prepared food and water for Zhao Ming, and set out with Gao Ming, his aunt's family, and his assigned security personnel.
• At the Mooring Tower, Chen Chuan met Xie Xinmin, Lu Guangde, and He Yishan and confirmed details of the delegation's itinerary and security duties.
• Chen Chuan said goodbye to Yu Wan, Nian Fuli, and his younger cousins, then boarded the airship with the delegation.
• The airships departed from Jiyang District and headed across the ocean toward the Linax Federation.

Chen Chuan reviewed secret instructions and a warning that the Linax Federation invitation might have been arranged by hostile forces as Great Shun’s Visiting Delegation crossed the ocean. The delegation reached Haidong Province, where a large military escort assembled to meet it.

• Chen Chuan read Head Xie’s confidential briefing, requested cultivation resources, and considered how he would handle the danger posed by forces possibly connected to Origin Company.
• Chen Chuan reviewed the delegation’s three young Fighters and learned that the West Bank Party might threaten the group on its return journey.
• Wang Tongshan and Bian Zhijie discussed Chen Chuan’s strength and their hopes of advancing their careers in the provinces.
• The airship formations reached Haidong Province, where more than a hundred Combat Airships, over twenty warships, and three Fighters assembled near the An Ying Islands.

Chen Chuan and Great Shun’s forces escorted the Linax Federation delegation across the seas, while Federation officials secured his promise of help after they entered Federation territory. After more than twenty days, the fleet reached the Federation’s border, where a formation of Federation airships approached.

• Feng He Shou, Hu Kan, and a Canglong Company Fighter greeted Chen Chuan as Great Shun displayed its overseas military strength.
• Wang Tongshan, Bian Zhijie, and Gui Zihan sensed Chen Chuan’s overwhelming presence and returned to their cabins shaken.
• Cassian Whitaker and Olin Blackwood discussed the delegation’s security and requested Chen Chuan’s assistance for their return journey through the West Coast.
• Chen Chuan agreed to ensure the delegation’s safety in Great Shun and provide assistance in Federation territory under reasonable conditions.
• After more than twenty days, the fleets left Great Shun’s waters and neared Gessefetu Continent, where Federation airships emerged ahead of them.

Great Shun’s diplomatic fleet refused to change course when the Linax Federation assembled a hostile force in its path. Chen Chuan advanced at the head of the fleet, and the Federation held its fire after recognizing him as a Mystic Hall Fighter; the fleets passed through each other without fighting.

• Head Xie consulted his officers and Chen Chuan, then ordered Great Shun’s fleet to maintain its course despite the Federation’s threatening formation.
• Olin and Cassian watched Great Shun refuse to yield and decided to follow its lead while their cooperation remained necessary.
• Chen Chuan entered the External Implant Body, took the lead of Great Shun’s fleet, and frightened the Federation’s Strange Eyes with his domain field.
• General Richard Z. Harrington ordered the Federation forces not to fire after receiving the report identifying Chen Chuan as a Mystic Hall Fighter.
• Great Shun’s airships passed through a gap in the Federation formation as both sides held their fire.
• Harrington’s adjutant reported that the attempt to intimidate Great Shun had failed and conveyed the general’s greetings to the Saint.

The Da Shun Delegation avoided a confrontation with the Federation fleet, but Head Xie and Chen Chuan expected further tests as they continued toward the West Coast. Meanwhile, the New Light Sect’s ritual unleashed a blood-tinged figure among a First People tribe, and the delegation’s airships entered an abnormal fog where Prabhakar sensed danger.

• Bian Zhijie and Wang Tongshan discussed Chen Chuan’s External Implant Body after the opposing airships withdrew.
• Head Xie received the Federation’s apology, and he and Chen Chuan agreed that the incident might be followed by more tests.
• Chen Chuan ordered Red Dust to record what they saw on the journey and considered why this delegation had provoked the West Bank Party.
• New Light Sect followers performed a ritual that corrupted the First People tribe’s nature spirit, causing a strange mist to kill the tribespeople and form a blood-tinged figure.
• The Da Shun Delegation detected a vast abnormal fog, coordinated the fleet, and entered it under floodlights.
• Prabhakar watched the fog and said that the torrent was upon them and could not be avoided.