Chapter Summaries

After completing his mission in Konoha, Xu Yue returned to the Reincarnation Space and accepted Zhang Yulin’s invitation. He arrived just as a group of intruders attacked Zhang Yulin’s hidden residence, and Zhang Yulin refused to let them retreat after their plan failed.

• Xu Yue left Naruto behind, praised Konoha’s young generation to Tsunade, and returned to the Reincarnation Space after completing his promotion mission.
• Xu Yue advanced to Area C-002 and accepted Zhang Yulin’s invitation to his room.
• Xu Yue entered Zhang Yulin’s residence as attackers blasted through its defenses and surrounded them.
• The attackers realized Zhang Yulin was not weakened by rebirth and received orders to retreat after learning that other participants had returned alive.
• The intruders tried to leave, but Zhang Yulin angrily confronted them for attacking his home and then attempting to walk away.

Xu Yue helped Zhang Yulin defeat a Qing Court strike team, then was summoned to a Fengtian Clique meeting about the attack. He arrived at a manor as its leaders debated how to respond.

• Zhang Yulin told Xu Yue the Qing Court intruders would never surrender, and Xu Yue killed three with a glance before the deputy commander also died.
• Zhang Yulin recognized Xu Yue’s overwhelming mental power and understood that Xu Yue had used the killings to assert control over him.
• Xu Yue returned to his wooden house after spending most of his Plot Points on skills and abilities.
• Zhang Tao and Huang Qiang found Xu Yue and brought him to a meeting after explaining that Zhang Yulin had repelled another attack.
• Xu Yue, Zhang Tao, and Huang Qiang entered a Fengtian Clique manor and heard its leaders argue over the attack and whether to rebel.

After the plot to kill Zhang Yulin was exposed, Zhang Xueyou and the Fengtian Clique’s leaders rewarded those who helped avert the crisis and ordered them to keep the affair secret. Xu Yue received an S-Rank reward despite Zhang Zongchang’s objections, and the chapter ended as the group chose how to claim their rewards.

• Feng Yong comforted Zhang Xueyou, who thanked Xu Yue and offered him an additional personal reward for his role in turning the crisis around.
• Zhang Jinghui and Feng Delin ordered Xu Yue and the others to keep the Qing Court affair secret, while Guo Songling announced S-Rank rewards for Feng Yong and Xu Yue and A-Rank rewards for Zhang Tao and Huang Qiang.
• Zhang Zongchang challenged Xu Yue’s S-Rank reward, hoping to preserve a scarce S-Rank Plot Point for himself, but Guo Songling rebuked him.
• Zhang Yulin approved the rewards, and Feng Yong, Zhang Tao, and Huang Qiang chose their Plot Point rewards directly.
• Guo Songling asked Xu Yue to choose how to claim his reward as the others anticipated he might trade the S-Rank Plot Point for benefits better suited to him.

Xu Yue considered trading his S-Rank Plot Points and nearly accepted Zhang Zongchang’s Purple Haze Divine Skill in exchange. Guo Songling intervened before Zhang Zongchang signed, leaving Xu Yue free to inspect the legion treasury first.

• Xu Yue said he would check the legion treasury for a suitable trade and otherwise keep his S-Rank Plot Points.
• Zhang Zongchang offered Xu Yue the Purple Haze Divine Skill and claimed it was worth an S-Rank reward.
• Xu Yue drafted a vague contract and eagerly offered it to Zhang Zongchang, while Zhang Xueyou questioned the manual’s value.
• Zhang Zongchang prepared to sign the contract, but Guo Songling stopped him and reminded Xu Yue to check the legion treasury first.
• Xu Yue thanked Guo Songling and privately reflected that he had planned to use the contract’s ambiguities to profit from Zhang Zongchang.

Xu Yue searched the Beiyang Army treasury and chose Shirou Emiya’s Projection Magic and a Jeweled Sword Blueprint, spending two S-Rank Plot Points on uncertain rewards. His extravagant gamble shocked the Beiyang Army, while Guo Songling became convinced that Xu Yue was too powerful and favored to provoke.

• Xu Yue found Projection Magic and a Jeweled Sword Blueprint in the treasury and decided to exchange for both.
• Guo Songling questioned Xu Yue’s choice, and Xu Yue claimed Zhang Zuolin had privately given him another S-Rank Plot Point.
• Xu Yue told Guo Songling that Zhang Zuolin had given him two S-Rank Plot Points and that he had only received one.
• News of Xu Yue’s two-item gamble spread through the Beiyang Army and astonished its powerful Reincarnators.
• Zhang Zongchang regretted that Xu Yue had not gambled with him for the Purple Haze Divine Skill.

Xu Yue refined and integrated his Projection Magic and other abilities while the Penguin Merchant Guild grew stronger and tensions between Beiyang and the Qing Court remained precariously contained. He boarded a southbound train for SH, where Jiong Jiong appeared beside him in a disguise despite remaining under Kotoamatsukami.

• Xu Yue improved his Projection Magic, integrated his Rinnegan and Tenseigan with the Space Stone, and stored projected items in his Frozen Realm.
• Xu Yue noted that he and his associates faced another Punishment mission while the Penguin Merchant Guild expanded its influence, and he rejected forming a professional military force.
• Yuan Shijia emerged from seclusion and killed the Imperial Guard commander in the capital, prompting the Qing Court to issue a token censure while both sides avoided open conflict.
• Xu Yue said goodbye to Feng Yong and boarded a southbound train for SH instead of returning to France immediately.
• Jiong Jiong sat beside Xu Yue in a new appearance, and he recognized her despite her disguise and Kotoamatsukami.

Xu Yue arrived in SH with Jiong Jiong, who had failed to find a way to escape his control, and claimed her as his concubine. Sun Lin reunited with him and questioned his use of two S-Rank Plot Points, while Jiong Jiong quietly reacted to their easy rapport.

• Jiong Jiong asked Xu Yue about Wang Taoming and lamented that Sun Wu could have freed her, but Xu Yue reminded her not to reveal that she had been controlled.
• During the train journey, Jiong Jiong tried various ways to persuade Xu Yue to release her, but he blocked her attempts and bluntly offered to take her to the restroom.
• After reaching SH, Jiong Jiong gave Xu Yue a book containing the information he had requested and prepared to leave, but Xu Yue told her to stay and called her his concubine.
• Sun Lin met Xu Yue and Jiong Jiong, questioned whether Xu Yue had bullied her, and then asked about the two S-Rank Plot Points he had used.
• Jiong Jiong noticed Sun Lin's relaxed interaction with Xu Yue and briefly brightened before concealing her expression.

Xu Yue returned to Shanghai and heard from Wu Pei that the peace between rival factions might not last, while Sun Chuanfang warned him about the danger of his S-Rank exchanges and gave him an A-Rank Plot Point. After three Elite Reincarnators blocked Xu Yue and demanded he meet their lord, he realized someone was already targeting the items he had acquired.

• Xu Yue visited Wu Pei, who praised his decision to exchange for both S-Rank items and warned that the country might soon face turmoil.
• Xu Yue inferred that foreign powers could become involved in the conflict between the factions, while Wu Pei advised him to go abroad and avoid the unrest.
• Sun Chuanfang confronted Xu Yue about his relationship with Sun Lin, then accepted him and gave him an A-Rank Plot Point to help strengthen himself.
• Sun Chuanfang warned Xu Yue that others might covet his S-Rank items and told him to seek help from powerful allies if trouble arose.
• After Xu Yue trained at the military camp, three Elite Reincarnators stopped him and said their lord wanted to meet him.

Cao Ying summoned Xu Yue to demand the two items he had exchanged, offering an S-Rank Plot Point and other compensation. Xu Yue revealed he had already used the items and demonstrated their power, leaving Cao Ying standing as the confrontation turned in Xu Yue’s favor.

• Cao Ying explained that he had spread rumors to make Xu Yue regret exchanging the two items, then planned to acquire them for one S-Rank Plot Point.
• Xu Yue entered Cao Ying’s residence and learned that Cao Ying was Cao Kun’s younger brother.
• Cao Ying demanded Xu Yue’s two items and offered an S-Rank Plot Point, lower-rank points, skills, and a favor in exchange.
• Xu Yue said he had already used both items, prompting Cao Ying to accuse him of lying.
• A middle-aged Elite Reincarnator reached for Xu Yue, who pinned him to the wall with nine swords and blades.
• Xu Yue told Cao Ying he had already learned the skills and considered the injured man’s survival a civilized greeting.

Xu Yue negotiated with Cao Ying to sell him valuable information in exchange for an S-Rank Plot Point, while keeping the intelligence from reaching the Beiyang Army as a whole. They completed the confidential transaction, and Cao Ying watched Xu Yue leave, impressed by his growing power and prospects.

• Cao Ying praised Xu Yue’s abilities and questioned him about the skills he had demonstrated.
• Xu Yue hinted that his information was worth an S-Rank Plot Point and persuaded Cao Ying to let the Reincarnation Space assess its value.
• Cao Ying ordered his subordinates to sign confidentiality agreements and took Xu Yue into a secret chamber to negotiate alone.
• Xu Yue and Cao Ying emerged satisfied with their exchange and signed a contract forbidding them from reselling the information.
• Cao Ying praised Xu Yue’s rapid progress and watched him leave, anticipating how formidable he might become.

Xu Yue returned to Saint Hill with Sun Lin and Tian Rou Rou, then prepared for another Punishment mission. The mission began by sending him into the world of Sword Art Online as its first fully immersive game was about to launch.

• Jiong Jiong asked Sun Lin whether foreigners were frightening, and Sun Lin reassured her that she would protect her.
• Xu Yue, Sun Lin, and Tian Rou Rou arrived at Saint Hill, where Chen Hang and the Beiyang Society welcomed them.
• Tian Rou Rou introduced herself as Xu Yue's attendant and concubine, and Xu Yue said she would stay in his single dorm room.
• Sun Lin joined Tian Rou Rou in carrying luggage, leaving Chen Hang behind as he tried to speak with her.
• Xu Yue prepared for his Punishment mission after buying basic skills in several games and sports.
• Xu Yue's Punishment mission began in the world of Sword Art Online as the first fully immersive game prepared to open.

Xu Yue entered the Sword Art Online mission, secured a NERvGear helmet, and discovered that several Reincarnators from a Legion were gathering nearby. He used his RECT position to meet Asuna’s family and win their goodwill before SAO’s open beta began.

• Xu Yue arrived in modern France, where SAO helmets were selling in limited quantities, and received one from his assistant.
• Xu Yue noticed seven or eight Reincarnators leave the queue and gather in an alley to exchange information and pool money.
• Xu Yue returned to RECT and told Sugou Nobuyuki that he would experience SAO before interviewing candidates for the game department.
• Xu Yue recognized Sugou Nobuyuki and RECT’s connection to Asuna, then visited Asuna’s home and gained her parents’ goodwill.

Xu Yue befriended Asuna and recruited Kirito as a paid SAO consultant, using his influence and understanding of their personalities to secure their trust before the game began. As he logged in, the Space Stone identified SAO as a data-based subspace, suggesting the mission could offer greater rewards than he expected.

• Xu Yue took Asuna shopping, gave her a teddy bear, and invited her to meet a closed beta player the next day.
• Xu Yue and Asuna met Kiritani Suguha outside the Kiritani family home, and Xu Yue explained that he wanted to hire her brother Kazuto as a consultant.
• Xu Yue offered Kirito a lucrative consulting job and encouraged him by recognizing his gaming skills, and Kirito agreed to share his SAO knowledge.
• Xu Yue put on his helmet and logged in as the countdown ended.
• The Space Stone activated a spatial assessment and identified SAO as a subspace composed entirely of data.

Xu Yue entered Sword Art Online and tested how his abilities interacted with the game’s firewall while joining Asuna and Kirito. After helping Klein learn the game, Xu Yue discovered a way to begin taking control of the game space.

• Xu Yue arrived in Sword Art Online, withdrew his abilities to avoid the game’s warnings, and considered how to test the firewall without crashing the virtual world.
• Xu Yue met Asuna, and Kirito suggested that the three of them leave the starting town to learn the game’s controls.
• Klein caught up with them and joined their boar-hunting party while Kirito taught him how to operate and activate skills.
• Xu Yue tested his data-shell character and concluded that he wanted to bring the game space under his control.
• Xu Yue killed a boar and sensed the experience resonating with the data shell, giving him a direction for his plan.

Klein, Kirito, Asuna, and Xu Yue discovered they could not log out of SAO, then learned from Kayaba Akihiko that the game had become a death game. As the players faced the challenge of clearing all one hundred floors, Xu Yue found a way to develop his data shell and gained a unique skill slot for Sharingan.

• After killing a wild boar and saying goodbye, Klein asked Kirito how to log out, and the group found that the logout option was missing.
• Kirito realized there was no forced logout method, and the group was teleported with the other players to the Starting Town plaza.
• Kayaba Akihiko announced that dying in SAO or removing the helmet in the real world would kill players, and that they could escape only by clearing the game’s hundredth floor.
• Kayaba Akihiko showed reports of more than two hundred deaths and removed the players’ disguises before vanishing.
• Xu Yue reasoned that he could gradually alter his data shell, then received a unique skill slot and named its skill Sharingan.
• Kirito urged Xu Yue and Asuna to leave for a neighboring town before other players claimed the leveling areas.

Xu Yue, Kirito, and Asuna traveled through the wilderness and encountered a rare Wild Boar Boss, which Xu Yue defeated through extraordinary combat skill. After reaching the second town, the three began leveling together.

• Kirito led Xu Yue and Asuna through monster territory toward the neighboring town, carefully avoiding dangerous encounters.
• The group accidentally attracted a level-three elite Wild Boar Boss, and Kirito warned them to fight without drawing other monsters.
• Xu Yue drew the boss's attention and defeated it alone with precise attacks and dodges, astonishing Kirito and Asuna.
• Xu Yue explained that his real-life freestyle fighting experience gave him exceptional combat instincts, and Kirito accepted that he was a new player.
• Xu Yue suggested that the three focus on fighting and leveling, and they killed easier monsters along the way before reaching the second town.
• The three found the town empty of other players and began grinding levels together.

A month into SAO, Xu Yue reached Lv. 20 while the first-floor boss remained undefeated. When Tiabel gathered players to form a raid, King Fang stirred hostility toward beta testers, and the Reincarnators following Tiabel began plotting to abandon him.

• After a month of farming, Xu Yue reached Lv. 20, ahead of Kirito at Lv. 18 and Asuna at Lv. 17.
• Xu Yue, Kirito, and Asuna found Tiabel speaking in the front-line town and calling players to join a raid against the first-floor boss.
• King Fang urged ordinary players to make beta testers apologize and surrender their equipment and money.
• The Reincarnators following Tiabel considered killing him for his information and loot, then following King Fang instead.
• Tiabel's raid group began assembling and prepared to set out.

Tiabel led the players into battle against the Kobold King, but the boss’s changed weapon and attacks left him on the verge of death. Xu Yue deflected the killing blow and faced the red-health boss.

• Tiabel led the coordinated players to the boss room and directed their attack on the Kobold King and its guards.
• Xu Yue defeated a Fallen Kobold Sentinel alone, helping the players clear the mobs and focus on the boss.
• Tiabel ordered the team to retreat before the boss’s final phase, then advanced to claim the killing blow himself.
• Kirito noticed the boss had switched to a straight sword instead of the curved sword from the beta and warned the others.
• The Kobold King knocked Tiabel down and prepared to kill him, but Xu Yue deflected its strike and stepped in to face the boss.

Xu Yue soloed the berserk Boss, then faced King Fang’s accusation that he had stolen the group’s reward. When King Fang kept denouncing him, Xu Yue unleashed a terrifying attack that caused him to vanish from the game.

• Players rescued Tiabel after Xu Yue took over the Boss fight, and Camille suspected Xu Yue was a powerful Reincarnator.
• Xu Yue defeated the berserk Boss alone, leaving the players alive and prompting them to celebrate.
• Tiabel thanked Xu Yue, but King Fang accused him of exploiting the group to claim the Boss’s rewards.
• Kirito defended Xu Yue and admitted that he was the beta tester who had guided him, but King Fang continued accusing them both.
• Xu Yue warned King Fang and used a frightening power that made him collapse, disappear in starlight, and appear offline.

After King Fang suddenly logged out, the players blamed an accident and gradually accepted Xu Yue, while Camille concluded Xu Yue had caused the logout through his killing intent. Camille approached Xu Yue to offer his squad’s cooperation, and Xu Yue accepted the opening as he considered how to use them in the Punishment mission.

• King Fang suddenly logged out, and Kirito suggested that an accident in the real world had caused it.
• Tiabel and other players defended Xu Yue, and the group’s opinion of him improved as they worried over King Fang.
• Camille judged Xu Yue to be a powerful Reincarnator and suspected his killing intent had triggered King Fang’s logout.
• Camille proposed that his squad cooperate with Xu Yue, reasoning that their legions had shared interests after the battle against the Holy Hill Legion.
• Camille approached Xu Yue and offered to follow him, and Xu Yue welcomed the chance to use the squad in the Punishment mission.