Chapter Summaries

Ryan persuaded V Asia's administrators to overwrite Alura with an uncontaminated backup consciousness, while Alura's separated consciousness waited with Luo Weina for the protocol to release her. Commissioner Qu and the Resistance Organization prepared to take Alura for the Spring Dawn Operation.

• Alura refused to cooperate with the Esoteric Ritual Group, and its members alerted V Asia's leadership.
• Ryan argued that Alura might be contaminated and that replacing her was necessary to prevent prisoners escaping the Lockdown Hall; the administrators approved the overwrite by majority vote.
• Alura told Luo Weina that her plan to separate from her original body had succeeded, but she needed the backup consciousness to take control before she could escape completely.
• Alura explained that the Lockdown Hall crisis would distract Central City's leadership while the Da Shun Delegation's interference equipment concealed her from detection.
• Commissioner Qu waited for the Resistance Organization's pickup team and prepared to take Alura, whose knowledge could help their planned central cities develop into defenses against new Rifts.

Fighters at the Carleigh Fighting District escaped after the Resistance Organization disrupted the city's control signals, while the resulting chaos pulled security forces toward the Lockdown Hall. At the Da Shun Delegation, Chen Chuan recognized Alura and learned that Great Shun had covert interests in the Resistance Organization as Luo Weina prepared to leave.

• Fighters emerged from their unlocked ant nests, followed a leader out of the Carleigh Fighting District, and set out to free people from other arenas.
• The Resistance Organization disrupted the fighters' Implant Body signals, while Alura's consciousness transition crippled Central City's domain field and disrupted its security forces.
• White Rock Hall's administrators concentrated resources and defenders at the Lockdown Hall as terrifying entities began breaking free.
• Luo Weina signed the training hall agreement and left the negotiation room with Alura attached to her; Chen Chuan recognized Alura and told Head Xie what he had seen.
• Head Xie told Chen Chuan that Great Shun had long funded the Resistance Organization and advised him not to get involved; Chen Chuan suspected Alura was the real target.
• A vehicle arrived to take Luo Weina and her party away, and the delegation asked Head Xie and Chen Chuan whether to let them leave.

Chen Chuan accepted Luo Weina’s dojo and received combat data from Alura as Luo Weina’s convoy escaped Central City. Beneath the Lockdown Hall, Kaliopates broke free of his cell and advanced toward the front hall, though further seals still stood between him and escape.

• Luo Weina handed the dojo over to Chen Chuan, then departed with her team while Alura sent Red Dust combat data for Chen Chuan.
• Alura explained that her plans had required constant adjustments, and Luo Weina used a secret technique to pass Central City checkpoints in a youthful, falsified identity.
• The resistance convoy left Central City, and Head Qu received the news before sending a secret telegram.
• Kaliopates broke his ritual shackles, escaped his cell beneath the Lockdown Hall, and walked toward the front hall despite further sealing rituals ahead.

Kaliopates, calling himself Kapa, escaped through Lockdown Hall’s rituals and captivated the trapped visitors with music and stories while unseen effects began damaging the hall. Outside, Ryan and the management team waited for Alura’s consciousness coverage to finish, unaware of how far the danger had progressed.

• Kaliopates studied the broken rituals as he crossed Lockdown Hall, calmed the living tissue in Wanderer's Corridor, and reached Amber Hall.
• Kaliopates formed a harmonica from Mutated Tissue, introduced himself as Kapa, and played music that eased the trapped visitors’ anxiety.
• Kapa entertained the visitors with cutting remarks and stories about royal histories, drawing them into a growing crowd around him.
• Kapa’s music and speech sent invisible ripples through Amber Hall, cracking its walls and stirring the Mutated Creatures inside.
• At White Rock Long Hall, management received more warnings but could not locate the problem or adjust the rituals before Alura’s coverage was restored.
• Ryan checked his watch and remained calm, believing the outer rituals would hold until Alura was fully restored in five minutes.

Alura identified the Blood-Colored Skull as the likely cause of the ritual instability, while Ryan arranged to have it stolen from the Ancient Museum. As the Lockdown Hall’s amber walls broke apart and released xenomorphs, Kapa calmed the creatures with his bone harmonica, and the prisoners were evacuated; Kapa slipped past screening as something more conspicuous remained inside.

• Alura’s restored consciousness identified the Blood-Colored Skull as the likely source of the ritual instability, and Ryan decided to arrange its theft to remove it from the city.
• Alura restored control over the domain field, suppressing the fighting-zone uprising and stabilizing the wider crisis.
• Amber walls in the Lockdown Hall cracked open and released xenomorphs, but Kapa silenced the crowd and drove the creatures out with his bone harmonica.
• Alura confirmed that Kaliopates, the Other Side World entity, and Arthur Covington remained confined, and management ordered the trapped people released.
• Kapa left the Lockdown Hall with the rescued crowd and passed through identity screening after a false instruction prevented the officer from checking him.

Kapa waited to see whether the Lockdown Hall’s crisis would help him recover his remaining mutated tissue and escape. As the three ritual stars converged, ancient ritual columns outside Central City awakened and drew the city’s psychic power away, while Chen Chuan and others sensed something emerging from beyond.

• Kapa hid in his assigned residence with only a small portion of his mutated tissue, hoping the conspicuous prisoners in the Lockdown Hall would create a chance to recover the rest.
• Mutated creatures escaped the Lockdown Hall, but Alura’s targeted rituals and perimeter defenses subdued them.
• The Emperor from the Old Era, Arthur Covington, and the entity broke free together and fled in three directions, forcing Central City to divert its domain field resources against them.
• As the three stars converged at eleven, the ritual effects intensified and suppressed some prisoners, but ancient columns around Qiyuan Lake began glowing with golden light.
• The Chan Practitioners sensed the awakened columns, and a spreading light outside Central City drew the city’s psychic power away from the three escapees.
• Dayer Rosad sensed an approaching danger, while Chen Chuan saw ritual fluctuations gather and an enormous silhouette of light seeming to pull something in from beyond.

As the Three Stars Convergence disrupted Central City’s defenses, the West Coast managers and the Federation sought help to protect the Lockdown Hall. Dayer Rosad confronted the escaped Cawington, while the Da Shun delegation prepared to send Chen Chuan to assist.

• Alura estimated that the field ritual could hold for only fifteen to eighteen minutes, and Ryan said the imprisoned Fighters had been weakened and cut off from drawing energy outward.
• Central City requested Dayer Rosad’s help, and he flew to the Lockdown Hall while Olin and Cassian obtained the Governor’s authorization to seek aid from the Da Shun delegation.
• Jiang Hongzhi approved sending Chen Chuan a telegram asking him to assess the danger and act only if it was feasible, while Fan Zhentong went to protect the visiting delegation.
• Rosad arrived at the Lockdown Hall and encountered Cawington, who asked whether Rosad had voted to imprison him.

Chen Chuan accepted the First Visiting Delegation’s request to defend the Lockdown Hall after learning that former consul Cawington was among the prisoners breaking free. Rosad struck Cawington hard, but Cawington revealed that he could still use mental pressure, leaving Rosad unable to attack again.

• Chen Chuan inspected the Lockdown Hall’s ritual fields and identified a prisoner he had encountered before as a threat he would not allow to escape.
• The First Visiting Delegation asked Chen Chuan to help defend the Lockdown Hall and revealed that one prisoner was former Federation consul Cawington, whose imprisonment had been concealed from the public.
• Chen Chuan accepted the commission and flew toward the Lockdown Hall.
• Rosad confronted Cawington and explained that he had learned the former consul had swallowed a forbidden object and become a monster.
• Cawington claimed he had taken that step because the Federation was certain to lose, but Rosad doubted his motives and attacked him, blasting a hole through his torso.
• Cawington used mental pressure to stiffen Rosad’s aberrant tissues and stop him from attacking again, despite the restraints suppressing his power.

Cawington revealed that he had joined the Fusion Faction and borrowed power from a being from the other side to regain his abilities. After Rosad’s assault helped him shed the sealing Lost Objects, Cawington overwhelmed Rosad and prepared to strike him down.

• Cawington told Rosad that he had swallowed a forbidden object and used power from a being from the other side in an attempt to gain a new path for humanity.
• Rosad broke free of Cawington’s mental intimidation and attacked him alongside his Spirit Manifestation.
• Cawington endured Rosad’s repeated blows as the Esoteric Ritual Group struggled to maintain the ritual amid the destruction.
• Cawington stopped Rosad’s fist, rebuilt his body, and revealed that the sealing Lost Objects had fallen away after his mind temporarily attached to the being’s.
• Cawington gathered ghastly white light in his fists and brought one down on the kneeling Rosad.

Rosad struggled to hold off Cawington as the battle turned against him, while Central City’s management prepared to release Free Stars Academy’s Active Consciousness Entity. Just as Cawington was about to finish Rosad, a hooded figure wielding a long blade intervened and blocked his Spiritual Impact.

• Rosad used a Lost Object medal to break free of Cawington’s mental suppression, blasted him with a Spiritual Impact, and fled after tearing off his trapped lower leg.
• Cawington recovered rapidly and overwhelmed Rosad’s Spiritual Aspect, which collapsed while shielding him from Cawington’s thin limbs.
• Rosad contacted White Rock Long Hall and urged them to release Free Stars Academy’s Active Consciousness Entity, while Ryan persuaded the management to begin preparations with High-Energy Nutrients.
• Cawington’s renewed body resisted absorbing more energy, but he pursued Rosad and struck him out of the air with his many arms.
• Cawington prepared a finishing Spiritual Impact against Rosad, but a hooded figure with a long blade appeared and blocked it with platinum Spiritual Light Flames.

Chen Chuan confronted Cawington at the Lockdown Hall and overwhelmed him with precise, devastating attacks, leaving the watching administrators and Rosad stunned. Cawington lay pulverized in a crater, but Chen Chuan questioned whether that was the limit of his strength.

• Rosad recognized Chen Chuan, who stopped Cawington’s Spiritual Impact and told Rosad he would handle the fight.
• Rosad warned Chen Chuan that Cawington carried power from the entity in the Lockdown Hall, while Ryan and the administrators watched warily.
• Chen Chuan calmly intercepted Cawington’s rapid limb attacks without using his Second Self, then seized one limb and pulled Cawington toward him.
• Chen Chuan struck Cawington through the chest and head, then hauled his ruined body back and slammed it into the ground, damaging the ritual-protected area.
• The administrators, ritual experts, and Rosad witnessed the destruction as Chen Chuan stood over Cawington’s remains and asked if that was his limit.

Chen Chuan fought Cawington as he transformed into the soul-devouring variant Sowaquel, whose exotic power drained the vital essence of everyone nearby. Chen Chuan resisted the ongoing drain and struck back with Spiritual Impact, then channeled his spiritual fire into the Snow Monarch Blade as the battle continued.

• Chen Chuan defeated Cawington’s initial attack and noticed that he was using the fight to buy time while scraps of his body burrowed underground.
• A huge cocoon-like creature emerged from the ground, and its corrosive domain field weakened Rosad and threatened Chen Chuan’s Second Self.
• The creature revealed itself as a headless, many-faced monster that Chen Chuan recognized as the variant appearance Sowaquel.
• Sowaquel lashed at Chen Chuan and siphoned vital essence from people across an area more than ten kilometers wide.
• Chen Chuan struck Sowaquel with Spiritual Impact, but its spiritual fire sealed the wound, so he channeled his own spiritual fire into the Snow Monarch Blade.

Chen Chuan destroyed Cawington and erased the remnants that could have allowed him to regenerate. He then went to help Mr. Weiss hold back the other entity, confronting it before it could escape.

• The administrators learned that Mr. Weiss had only three spare bodies left and that Mr. Krosal would not arrive for fifteen to eighteen minutes.
• Chen Chuan evaded Cawington's attacks and gathered spiritual fire while Cawington prepared a powerful blast.
• Chen Chuan's blade light overwhelmed Cawington's attack and split the Throne Fighter apart.
• Chen Chuan expanded the Great Azure Void Style and Great Bright Light Style, dissolving Cawington's fragments and preventing him from regenerating.
• Rosad realized Chen Chuan had defeated him without using his Spirit Manifestation and accepted that he had lost.
• Chen Chuan appeared before the entity threatening Mr. Weiss and challenged it to continue their unfinished conversation.

Chen Chuan battled the Wanderer, a powerful being whose corrosive Domain Field was suppressed by the ritual in the city. Finding the Wanderer an exceptionally skilled opponent, Chen Chuan escalated the fight and left their clash raging in the blazing night sky.

• Chen Chuan probed the Wanderer's strength and learned it was far stronger than Cawington, even with a Lost Object suppressing its spirit.
• The Wanderer offered Chen Chuan a deal if he let it retreat, but Chen Chuan refused when it would not return on its own and attacked.
• The Wanderer split apart to escape, but Chen Chuan used his Great Bright Light Style to reveal and intercept its humanoid form.
• Chen Chuan and the Wanderer traded dozens of attacks, while Mr. Weiss found he could neither interfere nor keep up with their movements.
• Chen Chuan invoked the Heaven and Earth Furnace Breathing Method, then unleashed the Great Azure Void Style and Great Bright Light Style as the Wanderer matched his rising power.

Chen Chuan used Purity Spirit Light to intensify his assault on the Wanderer, driving him out of Central City’s ritual and pursuing him toward Qiyuan Lake. Kapa took advantage of the battle to recover some strength and headed for the Ancient Museum, while Chen Chuan prepared to unleash more of his power outside the city.

• Chen Chuan’s Purity Spirit Light ignited the Wanderer’s scattered crystalline mist and tissue as their battle intensified above Central City.
• Kapa used the shaken ritual to transfer mutated tissue into his current body, then left the hotel for the Ancient Museum.
• Chen Chuan struck the Wanderer beyond the ritual’s boundary, opening a large gap that forced the administrators to call on Alura, Mr. Weiss, and Mr. Rosad to stabilize the ritual.
• Ryan concluded that no one could catch the fleeing combatants and placed his hopes in Mr. Chen stopping the Wanderer.
• Chen Chuan followed the Wanderer toward Qiyuan Lake and shattered the traces of rifts forming behind him.
• Chen Chuan’s purple qi surged through his mutated tissue, letting him catch up and punch toward the Wanderer’s head.

Chen Chuan destroyed the Wanderer and sealed the Rift, while the Old Emperor searched the Ancient Museum for his former regalia to continue his plan. The Old Emperor found the items he had worn before his capture and saw them waiting in an illuminated display case.

• Chen Chuan relentlessly attacked the Wanderer, forcing him to burn through his strength and lose the ability to escape.
• The Wanderer tore open the Rift and launched a desperate all-out attack, but Chen Chuan met him with a punch that shattered his body.
• Chen Chuan used the Snow Monarch Blade to destroy the Wanderer's flickering core and erase the Rift.
• The Old Emperor entered the Ancient Museum and searched for the mutated tissue while its guards, combat creatures, and Puppets lay incapacitated.
• The Old Emperor found his jeweled sword, robes, crown, scepter, and other belongings in a display case, and they seemed to call out to him.

Kapa encountered Lukanio and A Leiya, descendants of the Novilian Imperial Family who had come to help him escape, and formally made them Royal Court Guards. After sending them away with a portion of his Mutated Tissue, he reclaimed his imperial relics and awakened the Dragon Heart.

• Kapa recognized the Novilian tattoos on Lukanio and A Leiya and learned that they had come with a Lost Object to help him escape the Lockdown Hall.
• Lukanio and A Leiya gave Kapa the object, which could conceal his Mutated Tissue from ritual scrutiny.
• Kapa used the Cross Longsword to confer the title of Royal Court Guard on the siblings, activating their Oath-Keeping Tattoos.
• Kapa placed a drop of his Mutated Tissue in the box and sent Lukanio and A Leiya away with it.
• Kapa gathered his imperial relics, and a cracked stone fell from his brow as his power began to recover.
• Kapa poured his blood onto the Dragon Heart, causing its stone casing to crack and reveal a scarlet object.

Kapa recovered his strength by taking a heart from the Ancient Museum and escaped the ritual as the Three Stars Overlap ended. Chen Chuan avoided pursuing him, but a hostile stranger confronted him on his way back to Central City.

• Kapa absorbed the heart, replenished his mutated tissue, and exceeded the ritual's restraint limit.
• Alura informed the administrators that Kapa had appeared in Hall Eight, where he disrupted the domain field's surveillance.
• Kapa burst through the museum and ritual barriers and fled toward the distant sky as the Three Stars Overlap neared its end.
• Chen Chuan spotted Kapa fleeing but continued toward Central City, intending to examine the mental information he had received from the Wanderer inside a ritual's range.
• The Three Stars Overlap ended, and a glowing figure fell from the sky in front of Chen Chuan and asked whether he was Chen Chuan of the Da Shun Delegation.

Chen Chuan faced down Drian Krosal after defeating two escaped prisoners, then met Federation Fighter Rosad, who explained his ties to Tawatiniya and the coming arranged battle. Rosad asked Chen Chuan to treat their fight as a personal contest, and Chen Chuan agreed to meet him in two days without holding back.

• Drian Krosal challenged Chen Chuan over his role in the prisoners' escape, but Fan Zhentong intervened and offered to fight Krosal instead.
• Krosal refused to spar, then destroyed the Ritual Columns as he left; Fan Zhentong explained that Krosal resented Great Shun's negotiations with the East Coast.
• Fan Zhentong departed, and Chen Chuan returned to martial-law-stricken Central City, where Rosad invited him to talk.
• Rosad recounted how he came from Tawatiniya, became a Federation Fighter, and felt compelled to aid his homeland, while insisting their arranged battle was personal.
• Chen Chuan said tensions between the countries would likely worsen but that he held no hostility toward Tawatiniya's people, and Rosad asked him to meet in two days and fight without holding back.

After reporting the Federation’s provocation, Chen Chuan received a disturbing vision from the Wanderer and resolved to pursue his own path. Meanwhile, V Asia Central City contained the Lockdown Hall disaster, while Team Leader Lu led escaped Fighters toward a hidden settlement in Ying Land.

• Chen Chuan briefed Head Xie and demanded that the First Visiting Delegation lodge a solemn protest over Krosal’s provocation.
• Chen Chuan saw colossal beings in the Wanderer’s message, inferred it was recruiting him to defect, and chose to continue his cultivation instead.
• Alura reported damage to the Lockdown Hall ritual, and the administrators decided against an expensive pursuit of Fighters who had escaped into the mountains.
• Team Leader Lu led more than a hundred Fighters into the Central Rift Mountain Range and told them they would travel to the East Coast before joining a hidden Central City in Ying Land.