Chapter Summaries

Zhang Zhi, Liu Wanwan, and Liu Xiaoxiao explored Fengjing University's Student Activity Center, discovering its vast alien-world markets and a free shop benefit for students. At a newly opened shop, Zhang Zhi accepted an invitation from a cat-eared girl offering herself as a free gift, then passed it to Liu Wanwan, who was told her gift was Tiger Youth.

• Liu Wanwan and Liu Xiaoxiao asked Zhang Zhi whether Professor Confucius had summoned him because he noticed something wrong with their Mental Power, and Zhang Zhi said he did not know why the professor had called him.
• Liu Xiaoxiao invited Zhang Zhi to explore the Student Activity Center, and the three found its hallways connected to alien worlds and filled with unusual shops.
• The three explored the card market and learned that Fengjing University students could obtain a shop for free and connect it to the Teleportation Array in their courtyard.
• The three entered the higher-level trading venue, where shops sold cards, Heaven Materials, Earthly Treasures, and divine essences.
• Zhang Zhi accepted an invitation from a cat-eared girl who said the shop's free gift was herself, then handed the invitation to Liu Wanwan.
• Liu Wanwan offered to take the cat-eared girl with her, and the girl said Liu Wanwan's free gift was Tiger Youth.

Zhang Zhi, Liu Wanwan, and Liu Xiaoxiao explored a shop selling powerful creatures and discovered a sealed beast with a scar that might be a Three-Eyed Divine Eye. They decided to buy it and investigate its identity, while the Cat-Eared Girl continued to misjudge their status and abilities.

• Liu Wanwan, Liu Xiaoxiao, and Zhang Zhi entered the creature shop and saw that it sold Legendary- and Deity-Realm beings, including foreign races hostile to humanity.
• Zhang Zhi noticed a Deity-Realm vampire priced at five hundred wisps of destiny, but he and Liu Wanwan considered the price too high and moved on.
• Liu Xiaoxiao found a sealed, six-limbed creature with a neat scar between its brows, and Zhang Zhi suspected the scar might be a vertical pupil formed by cultivating the Three-Eyed Divine Eye.
• Liu Wanwan and Zhang Zhi agreed to buy the creature before investigating whether it was an Intelligent Lifeform and how it had obtained the eye.
• The Cat-Eared Girl reflected on how she had mistaken Zhang Zhi for an inexperienced visitor and concluded that he and the two girls must come from a powerful family.

Zhang Zhi bought a rare Six-Legged Beast and a vampire at the high-end market, then brought Professor Confucius back to the shop. After returning to his courtyard and checking his Small World, he learned that more than three hundred people had died exploring beyond it.

• The Cat-Eared Girl explained how to make a purchase, and Zhang Zhi pressed the price tag for the Deity Realm Six-Legged Beast.
• A golden shop representative explained that the beast’s third eye could immobilize weaker creatures, and Zhang Zhi negotiated to buy it and a vampire for four hundred wisps of fortune.
• Zhang Zhi left Liu Wanwan and the other girl waiting, then returned with Professor Confucius, whom the shop staff welcomed respectfully.
• The Cat-Eared Girl realized Zhang Zhi and the two girls were students of Fengjing University and hurried to follow Liu Wanwan after Zhang Zhi corrected her.
• Zhang Zhi cleared contamination from his Consciousness Space and found his Small World stable, but an exploration leader reported that more than three hundred people had died outside it.

Zhang Zhi investigated a deadly expedition disaster caused by the strange ones and ordered Fang Zetian to devise better countermeasures. He then explored whether strange ones could be collected or controlled before visiting Fang Yun and Fang Long, whose experiments in Qi Refiner pills had run into a shortage of suitable ingredients.

• Zhang Zhi questioned Fang Zetian about the deaths and disappearances among the explorers, and Fang Zetian traced most of the casualties to strange ones and named Ghoul Eleven, Ghoul Fourteen, and Ghoul Fifteen as suspects.
• Zhang Zhi told Fang Zetian to prepare a comprehensive plan for dealing with strange ones and identifying the culprit.
• Zhang Zhi asked Zixia whether strange ones could be devoured by chaos or gathered and used by a faction or Cultivation Path, but she knew of no such rumors.
• Zhang Zhi went to Medicine City to see Fang Yun, who had been working with Fang Long to develop pills for Qi Refiners.
• Fang Yun and Fang Long discovered that Qi Refiner pills required ingredients related to spiritual qi, which no existing living beings contained, but Fang Long's plant-crossbreeding Innate Divine Ability might help them grow suitable medicinal ingredients.

Zhang Zhi visited Medicine City and Mount Buzhou, assessing the Small World's growing institutions and cultivation branches. He saw Qi Refiner sword cultivators emerge as a powerful new path, likely soon to become the third cultivation branch.

• Fang Yun and Fang Long concluded they needed to address cultivation aptitude first, with Fang Yun seeking a method to improve Mental Power and Fang Long searching for plants altered by spiritual qi.
• Zhang Zhi offered to search for treasures that could improve Mental Power, then toured Medicine City and considered adding its medical and crafting disciplines to Higher Education.
• Zhang Zhi visited the Immortal Fruit Garden, noted its vast and increasingly valuable fruit-tree stocks, and considered creating a contribution system for exchanging Spirit Fruits.
• At Mount Buzhou, Zhang Zhi watched Qi Refiner spell cultivators and body cultivators fight and observed that body cultivators had gained the advantage.
• Zhang Zhi saw Qi Refiner sword cultivators use spiritual qi and Man and Sword as One to cut through spells, and judged that sword cultivation would soon become the Qi Refiner Path's third branch.

Zhang Zhi learned that a rumor claiming Lord Confucius would accept him as a disciple had spread through Fengjing University, putting him at risk while he was still only a potential candidate. He considered publicly denying the claim to protect his life, but Yun Wuxia advised him to seek Lord Confucius's help first.

• Zhang Zhi told the Twelve Dynasties officials to prepare a proposal for a merit and Contribution System in the Small World, then finished his inspection and returned to the Main World.
• Yun Wuxia told Zhang Zhi that someone had offered him ownership of the Fengjing Third Research Institute, then revealed that news of Lord Confucius's intention to accept him as a disciple had spread through Fengjing University.
• Yun Wuxia warned Zhang Zhi that the rumor could expose him to attacks while he remained in the Assessment Period, and advised him to stay cautious and strengthen his cultivation.
• Zhang Zhi agreed that Yun Wuxia should reject the Research Institute transfer for now, then said he might deny being Lord Confucius's disciple because survival mattered more to him than the opportunity.
• Yun Wuxia urged Zhang Zhi to consult Lord Confucius before publicly refuting the rumor, and Zhang Zhi said he would try to ask him to speak out.

After learning that a leak had put nearly every suspected disciple of Lord Confucius in danger, Zhang Zhi decided to publicly dispel the rumors that he was undergoing Confucius’s Assessment Period. He and Zixia examined who could have leaked the information but could not explain how the leaker knew so much.

• Zhang Zhi realized Lord Confucius was unlikely to be reachable and chose to give up the chance to become his disciple rather than risk being killed.
• Zhang Zhi told Liu Wanwan and Liu Xiaoxiao about Yun Wuxia’s warning, and they urged him to announce that he was not undergoing the Assessment Period.
• Zhang Zhi reasoned that the leak might have come from someone who noticed his admission or knew about his recent actions involving the Three-Eyed Race, and he considered speaking with the person who had questioned him at the school gate.
• Liu Wanwan advised Zhang Zhi to raise his cultivation before confronting anyone, and he went to his Small World to ask Zixia for advice.
• Zixia pointed out that neither the gate guard nor someone acting over the Three-Eyed Race incident could plausibly have known all the leaked details, leaving Zhang Zhi and Zixia unable to identify the source.

Zhang Zhi decided to use his hidden Dao Protector to deter whoever was targeting him and went with Liu Wanwan and Liu Xiaoxiao to ask Instructor Yun about registering her as a companion student. He revealed that the supposed clone from the Cloud Mist Deity’s Consciousness Space was actually the Cloud Mist Deity, though her power had not yet recovered.

• Zhang Zhi and Zixia considered whether the person targeting him was an alien, and Zixia offered to enter the Main World as his Dao Protector if he could resolve the obstacle at Fengjing University.
• Zhang Zhi devised a plan to report his Dao Protector as an alien companion student, hoping to provoke whoever was secretly targeting him and discourage further attacks.
• Zhang Zhi told Liu Wanwan and Liu Xiaoxiao that the clone he met during the Cloud Mist University Exchange Meeting was actually the Cloud Mist Deity, who had agreed to serve as his Dao Protector for five hundred years.
• Zhang Zhi explained that the Cloud Mist Deity had not regained her Half-Step Main Deity Realm power and that he planned to ask Instructor Yun to register her as a companion student.
• Zhang Zhi, Liu Wanwan, and Liu Xiaoxiao visited Yun Wuxia, and Zhang Zhi asked whether his Dao Protector could become a companion student.

Yun Wuxia helped Zhang Zhi register the Cloud Mist Deity as his study companion and learned that she was his Half-Step Main Deity Dao Protector. After Zhang Zhi submitted the application, Yun Wuxia returned delighted, having informed the university of the powerful guardian.

• Yun Wuxia began filling out a study companion application for Zhang Zhi’s foreign-race Dao Protector, Zixia of the Cloud Mist Race.
• Yun Wuxia was shocked when Zhang Zhi said Zixia was a Half-Step Main Deity and identified her as the current Cloud Mist Deity.
• Zhang Zhi explained that Zixia had severed her karma with the Divine Body at Cloud Mist University, which represented the Cloud Mist Deity’s former self.
• Zhang Zhi said he wanted to avoid wasting time on his schemers, and Yun Wuxia recorded that they had sworn an oath by clapping hands as the basis for their bond.
• Zhang Zhi signed the application, and Yun Wuxia submitted it to the university’s Late Stage Management Office.
• Zhang Zhi received notice that the application had been submitted, and Yun Wuxia returned laughing about the officials’ reactions.

Zhang Zhi’s Half-Step Main Deity Dao Protector, the Cloud Mist Deity, stunned Professor Confucius and other Main God Realm Existences, who speculated about Zhang Zhi’s extraordinary fortune and potential. After returning to his courtyard, Zhang Zhi learned that an insect race had attacked his Exploration Team on the Main World Wreckage, causing more than seventeen hundred casualties.

• A school messenger informed Professor Confucius that Zhang Zhi had applied for study-companion status for his Dao Protector, the Cloud Mist Deity, a Half-Step Main Deity who had severed her Karma with Cloud Mist University's Divine Body.
• Professor Confucius and the other Main God Realm Existences discussed Zhang Zhi’s fortune and whether he had Potential to become a Main Deity.
• Zhang Zhi returned to his courtyard, planned to bring Zixia back to the Main World later, refined a Purple Card, and accepted an invitation to eat at Liu Wanwan’s place.
• Zhang Zhi entered the Small World and learned that an insect race had attacked all thirteen Forward Camps on the Main World Wreckage, breaching five and causing more than seventeen hundred casualties.
• Zixia explained that the attackers were likely a branch of a powerful insect race, and that some could use Protective Shields and cause Mental Pollution.

Zhang Zhi learned that some insects possessed Mental Pollution and discussed with Zixia whether the insect race had destroyed the Jing race. He decided to keep exploring the Main World Wreckage and fight the insects there rather than risk an invasion of their Small World.

• Zhang Zhi examined sixteen insect corpses and confirmed that their Mental Pollution could still attack those who looked at them.
• Zixia explained that the abilities of an insect race came from its Insect Queen, and considered how Mental Pollution might explain the destruction of the Jing race’s Main World.
• Zixia pointed out that the insect race’s absence from ancient records left the cause of the Jing race’s destruction uncertain.
• Zixia warned Zhang Zhi that the insects would keep searching for them because they needed flesh and blood.
• Zhang Zhi decided to repel the insects on the Main World Wreckage instead of letting them invade their Small World.

Zhang Zhi prepared the Small World for a prolonged war against the Zerg by expanding military forces and relying on Zixia to protect troops from Mental Pollution. After questioning where the Zerg’s contaminating Negative Emotions came from, he went to examine their corpses and began cutting one open with a Spiritual Energy Annihilation Sword.

• Zhang Zhi urged the Twelve Dynasties to expand their camps on the Main World Wreckage, enlarge their armies, and adopt compulsory military service, while Zixia agreed to protect the troops from Mental Pollution.
• The Small World’s leaders organized reinforcements for Forward Camp, including cultivators from several realms, Qi Refiners, and two hundred Shang Kingdom mecha.
• Zhang Zhi worried that the Small World lacked enough combat power and resolved to seek Liu Wanwan and Yun Wuxia’s help obtaining the Main World’s advanced technology for the mecha project.
• Zhang Zhi asked Zixia where the Zerg’s Mental Pollution originated, then reasoned that it could not depend on a Mental Link because dead insects still spread it.
• Zhang Zhi went to the palace containing the insect corpses, found their carapaces difficult to cut, and summoned a Spiritual Energy Annihilation Sword.

Zhang Zhi and Zixia discovered that the insect race had powerful shells and used a special organ to turn Evil Creatures' Negative Mental Power into contamination. After considering whether the insects could be used to make Biological Armor, Zhang Zhi ordered their study and went to assess the Small World's readiness, beginning with the Shang Kingdom on Heroes' Commemoration Day.

• Zhang Zhi tested the insects' shells and learned from Zixia that the elite insects could rival demons in combat.
• Zhang Zhi dissected an insect and found an organ containing part of an Evil Creature, which Zixia identified as the source of the insects' Negative Contamination Mental Power.
• Zhang Zhi and Zixia considered using the insects' shells and contamination organs to create Biological Armor.
• Zhang Zhi ordered Fang Ke to organize a study of the insect corpses and directed the Small World to carry out its crisis preparations.
• Zhang Zhi inspected reports on the Small World's nations and went first to the Shang Kingdom, where Heroes' Commemoration Day was being celebrated.

After the Insectoid Attack, Zhang Zhi mobilized the Twelve Dynasties to honor fallen cultivators and inspected the Shang Kingdom’s wartime production. He discovered that shortages of skilled workers, Artifact Forging Masters, and Array Masters prevented production from increasing, then set out for the Zhou Kingdom.

• Zhang Zhi celebrated Heroes' Festival across the Small World and visited families of fallen cultivators, finding that the Six Paths of Reincarnation Law helped them face their losses.
• Zhang Zhi ordered officials from the Twelve Dynasties to develop hero recognition and compensation plans and required cities to commemorate recognized heroes at their Memorial Monuments.
• Zhang Zhi inspected Shang Kingdom’s factories and confirmed that their reported production figures were accurate, though he considered the output barely sufficient for the war.
• Zhang Zhi identified shortages of skilled workers, Artifact Forging Masters, and especially Array Masters as the main bottlenecks limiting production of Spiritual Energy Annihilation Cannons, mechas, and other supplies.
• Zhang Zhi left for the Zhou Kingdom after concluding that the talent shortage could only ease gradually over time.

Zhang Zhi inspected the Zhou Kingdom and realized he had neglected the Immortal Cultivation Path’s auxiliary disciplines, including arrays, alchemy, talismans, beast taming, and spirit-plant cultivation. He then found that the Ten Thousand Races Region had many trained specialists who could help produce mecha and cannon components, and summoned Fang Ke and Fang Qi to discuss using them.

• Zhang Zhi reflected that his bias toward cultivation paths pioneered in his small world had led him to neglect the Immortal Cultivation and Fantasy Paths, and resolved to treat all paths fairly.
• Zhang Zhi discovered that the Zhou Kingdom had promising array masters, alchemists, talisman practitioners, a small Beast Taming faction, and cultivators growing spirit plants near their immortal caves.
• Zhang Zhi realized that many people in the Ten Thousand Races Region had learned arrays, artifact forging, alchemy, and talismans from materials he had made public.
• Zhang Zhi concluded that tasks for mecha and Spiritual Energy Annihilation Cannon components could draw those specialists into producing parts for his small world.
• Zhang Zhi called Fang Ke and Fang Qi to discuss the mecha and array situation.

Zhang Zhi issued artifact-forging and array missions to cultivators in the Ten Thousand Races Region, drawing hundreds of thousands of Artifact Forgers and thousands of Array Masters into the effort to strengthen the Small World. His relief was cut short when four camps in the World Wreckage came under attack by a new logistical insect race that stole their spiritual energy.

• A cultivator discovered the new unlimited artifact-forging and array missions and left the Trial Tower to alert his family and neighboring factions.
• Zhang Zhi offered missions for equipment and arrays, as well as for resources and techniques that could protect against Mental Power.
• Over twelve hours, more than 213,000 Artifact Forgers and 7,100 Array Masters accepted missions, surprising Zhang Zhi with the Ten Thousand Races Region's expertise.
• After leaving the Trial Tower, Zhang Zhi learned that four camps in the World Wreckage were under attack and reviewed a report listing thirty-seven injured and two dead.
• Zhang Zhi learned that a noncombat logistical insect had entered camps under cover, devoured their spiritual energy, and escaped; the report suspected these insects had been present in earlier attacks too.

Zhang Zhi and Zixia concluded that energy-starved insects were awakening to attack the camps and might be traced to their nest. The danger spread beyond the World Wreckage when a patrol discovered signs of the Insectoid Attack in the chaos near the Small World.

• Zhang Zhi deduced that energy-seeking insects had awakened some of their dormant kind and realized their tracks might lead to the Insect Lair.
• Zhang Zhi summoned Zixia, who agreed with his theory and warned that the latest attack was likely a test involving fewer than a tenth of the insects from the previous assault.
• Zixia returned to the World Wreckage to watch for another attack and planned to investigate the nest after following the insects' traces.
• Zhang Zhi decided to leave the spiritual-energy formations in the camps in place, then inspected the Han Kingdom and the Qin Kingdom's Underworld.
• A patrol team discovered traces of the Insectoid Attack in the chaos near the Small World, and Zhang Zhi rushed to the Council Hall of the Twelve Dynasties to review the report.

Zhang Zhi and the Twelve Dynasties discovered and destroyed three Zerg Transport Insects, while Zixia warned that an awakened Insect King might be directing a far larger swarm toward the Small World. The chapter leaves Zixia searching for the Insect Lair as patrols increase inside and outside the Small World.

• Zhang Zhi ordered three Blue Rank Magic Boats to bombard the three Transport Insects with Spiritual Energy Annihilation Cannons, weakening them until the attack was suspended.
• The patrol team investigated the remains and confirmed that the insects had transported other Zerg, while Zhang Zhi arranged to move their corpses to a nearby World Wreckage Fragment for research.
• Zixia told Zhang Zhi that an Insect King likely knew the Small World's general location and that other Zerg teams could converge there.
• Zixia left to search for the Insect Lair, and the Twelve Dynasties increased patrol frequency and range to more than three times their previous levels.
• Zhang Zhi continued checking the Small World and found that the Qi Sect on Mount Buzhou had sent many Qi Refiners to join internal patrol teams.

Zhang Zhi managed urgent Small World preparations as the Zerg vanished, while Zixia uncovered evidence that their army was abnormal. Elsewhere, Professor Confucius and Huang Zi examined a jade gate linked to the Three-Eyed Race inheritance land and questioned its origins.

• Zhang Zhi changed Trial Tower task conditions to speed artifact-forging and formation work, then rested after exhausting his mental power.
• Zixia reported that the Zerg nest was empty and unlike ordinary nests, and Zhang Zhi found no Zerg anywhere in the Small World.
• Zixia described the Zerg's unusual Mental Pollution, resistant shells, and strange nest, then proposed searching the World Wreckage for clues.
• Zhang Zhi reviewed Trial Tower submissions and doubled rewards for Array Masters before returning to the Main World to seek science materials from Liu Wanwan.
• Huang Zi explained that the jade gate could appear anywhere in the Multiverse and that the Three-Eyed Race had attached its one-way inheritance land to it.
• Professor Confucius asked whether the jade gate had been artificially made and whether an identical gate could appear elsewhere in the Multiverse.

Huang Zi proposed bringing a second jade gate to the school to test whether the gates would resonate and fuse, and Confucius agreed to bring it and Zhang Zhi the next day. Meanwhile, Zhang Zhi inspected the Small World’s insect research and Trial Tower progress, where he found that fifteen people could already take missions to forge Purple Legendary Rank artifacts.

• Huang Zi explained that the jade gate resonated with other gates and reacted most strongly to Underworld Energy, then proposed bringing Confucius’s second gate to it.
• Confucius and the gathered scholars agreed to try fusing the gates, and Confucius said he would bring the other gate and Zhang Zhi to the school the next day.
• After the others left, Huang Zi wondered whether people would flee from or seek out the gate if they knew it required the power of the Six Paths of Reincarnation to activate.
• Zhang Zhi returned to his residence, spent the day refining cards, and arranged for Liu Wanwan to gather information about technology companies and research institutions in Fengjing City.
• Zhang Zhi inspected the Small World’s research on the Leviathan and learned that the insects appeared to lack brains, while no two insects were exactly alike.
• Zhang Zhi checked the Trial Tower and found that more than three thousand people had reached Tier 3 artifact-forging missions, over two hundred had reached Tier 4, and fifteen could accept Tier 5 missions.