Chapter Summaries

Lin Xia discovered a vast vein of Phantom Star Glaze and learned that eating the ore rapidly condensed his Soul Power. Zhu Zhuqing watched in shock as he chewed the supposedly inedible rocks, while Larvitar happily ate them too.

• Lin Xia found an immense vein of Phantom Star Glaze and explained its rarity and value to Zhu Zhuqing.
• Lin Xia noticed Larvitar eating the ore and decided to taste it himself, despite Zhu Zhuqing's frightened protest.
• Lin Xia crunched and swallowed the Phantom Star Glaze, describing its sweet, refreshing taste.
• The ore's energy strengthened and condensed Lin Xia's Soul Power as starlight shimmered beneath his skin.
• Zhu Zhuqing stared in disbelief at Lin Xia eating rocks and becoming stronger, then noticed a small cut on her finger from the ore.

Lin Xia explained to Zhu Zhuqing that his unusual ability let him absorb ore for strength, then he and Larvitar mined the finest Phantom Star Glaze. Meanwhile, Dai Tianxing sensed a disturbance in the Power of Stars from the Distant Northern Lands and wondered what had caused it.

• Lin Xia reassured Zhu Zhuqing that only he could safely eat ore and that she would follow her own path of cultivation.
• Zhu Zhuqing touched Phantom Star Glaze while Lin Xia ordered Larvitar to mine the richest core crystals, and he joined in.
• Zhu Zhuqing reflected on Lin Xia's advice as the two gathered a mountain of glowing ore.
• Dai Tianxing sensed the Silver Runes in the Vast Cultivation Array flicker and looked toward the Distant Northern Lands.

Lin Xia comforted Zhu Zhuqing as they returned to Star Luo City, urging her to face the people and rules she feared by turning her pain into strength. Zhu Zhuqing accepted his words and resolved to take control of her own destiny.

• As the carriage neared Star Luo City, Zhu Zhuqing stared out the window, overwhelmed by fear of returning home.
• Lin Xia sat beside Zhu Zhuqing, gently stroked her hair, and asked if she was scared; she quietly admitted that she was.
• Lin Xia named the punishments, mockery, and suffocating rules awaiting Zhu Zhuqing, then urged her to face them instead of running away.
• Lin Xia challenged Zhu Zhuqing to grow strong enough to defy her family’s expectations and decide her own fate.
• Zhu Zhuqing met Lin Xia’s gaze with newly ignited resolve and told him she understood.

Lin Xia brought Zhu Zhuqing back to Zhu Manor after several days of travel that helped her regain her resolve. At the manor, Zhu Zhan ordered her to kneel and confronted Lin Xia for taking his daughter away without permission.

• Lin Xia took Zhu Zhuqing through towns and cities, where she enjoyed a sugar-painted phoenix, listened to a storyteller, and released a lantern on the Starfall River.
• As they approached Star Luo City, Zhu Zhuqing's carefree mood vanished, but she faced the city and her family home with calm resolve.
• Zhu Zhan's Soul Power pressure nearly forced Zhu Zhuqing to her knees, but she resisted and kept her gaze fixed on her father's back.
• Lin Xia stepped in front of Zhu Zhuqing and accepted responsibility for taking her away from the manor.
• Zhu Zhan turned to Lin Xia and accused him of removing Zhu Zhuqing from the manor and defying her elders for nearly a month.

After Zhu Zhan confined Zhu Zhuqing to the West Courtyard for a month, Lin Xia encouraged her to hold on to her resolve and returned to his workshop. There, he prepared to work with the Star Radiance Crown, which contained the Star Luo Imperial Family’s Star Origin Power.

• Zhu Zhan reprimanded Lin Xia and Zhu Zhuqing, then ordered Zhu Zhuqing confined to the West Courtyard for one month.
• Lin Xia comforted Zhu Zhuqing, and she walked alone toward the West Courtyard, determined to grow stronger.
• Lin Xia went to his secluded workshop and secured the door behind him.
• Lin Xia took the Star Radiance Crown from his Storage Soul Tool and placed it on the workbench, where its Star Origin Power pulsed within the gemstone.

Lin Xia discovered that Phantom Star Glaze could not imitate the Star Radiance Crown’s gemstone, leaving him desperate to find a replacement. Before he could decide what to do, Larvitar swallowed the imperial treasure, and Lin Xia frantically tried to make it spit it out.

• Lin Xia compared Phantom Star Glaze with the crown’s gemstone and realized it could not reproduce the gem’s Star Origin Power or spatial abilities.
• Lin Xia despaired over having no time or way to find another Tear of the Star Core.
• Larvitar noticed Lin Xia’s distress and went to comfort him.
• Larvitar was drawn to the Star Radiance Gemstone and swallowed it in one bite.
• Lin Xia panicked, grabbed Larvitar, and begged it to spit out the imperial treasure.

Lin Xia feared Larvitar had swallowed the precious Phantom Star Glaze, but Larvitar revealed it could process ore and imitate its properties. Larvitar produced a convincing gemstone copy, leaving Lin Xia amazed by the creature’s ability.

• Lin Xia panicked when he thought Larvitar had swallowed the Phantom Star Glaze and prepared to flee Star Luo City with Larvitar and Zhu Zhuqing.
• Larvitar burped, reassured Lin Xia, and explained that it could change and allocate energy.
• Larvitar swallowed a small piece of Phantom Star Glaze and processed it while Lin Xia anxiously waited.
• Larvitar expelled two inky-blue gemstones that closely matched the original Phantom Star Glaze.
• Lin Xia examined the gemstones and found that the copy replicated the original’s star energy and core properties, though it held less energy.
• Lin Xia praised Larvitar in astonishment over its remarkable ability.

Lin Xia discovered Larvitar could perfectly imitate mineral ores and used its copy of the Tear of the Star Core to conceal that he had kept the original. After restoring the Star Radiance Crown, he planned to use the repair as leverage to secure resources for himself, the Blacksmith Association, and Zhu Zhuqing, just as Zhu Zhan arrived.

• Larvitar produced a gemstone that matched the Tear of the Star Core in form and aura but held only half its energy, and Lin Xia realized it could serve as a convincing replacement.
• Lin Xia stored the genuine Tear of the Star Core in his Storage Soul Tool and planned to explain the imitation's lower energy as damage sustained during the repair.
• Lin Xia inspected the restored Star Radiance Crown and worried that repairing the national artifact in one hour would arouse suspicion and end his access to the Star Luo Empire's resources.
• Lin Xia resolved to use his position to obtain rare metals and other resources for the Blacksmith Association, his Mecha project, and Zhu Zhuqing.
• Lin Xia concealed evidence of Larvitar's ability, staged the workshop to look as if he were still researching, and waited for Zhu Zhan, who arrived and knocked at the door.

Zhu Zhan took Lin Xia to the Lakeside Pavilion, apologized for his anger, and learned that Lin Xia had risked entering the Silent Mountain Range to find materials for the Star Radiance Crown. Convinced Lin Xia was unusually capable, Zhu Zhan then revealed his anguish over his daughter inheriting the Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul.

• Zhu Zhan summoned Lin Xia from his workshop and brought him to the Lakeside Pavilion for a private conversation.
• Zhu Zhan apologized for his earlier words and admitted he had been afraid after learning Lin Xia encountered a five-thousand-year Shadow Leopard.
• Lin Xia explained that he had sought Phantom Star Glaze in the ore vein to help restore the Star Radiance Crown.
• Zhu Zhan recognized Lin Xia's ability and decided that a closer relationship with him could benefit the Zhu Family.
• Zhu Zhan confessed that he wished his daughter would not inherit her mother's Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul, leaving Lin Xia shocked by his pain.

Zhu Zhan confessed his anguish over the fate imposed on his daughters, and Lin Xia suggested that even the stars and the rules governing their lives could be overturned. Later, Zhu Zhan wrestled with the risks of challenging the Zhu Family’s alliance with the Imperial Family, unable to decide whether he could gamble with his family’s survival for his daughters.

• Zhu Zhan told Lin Xia that Zhu Zhuyun and Zhu Zhuqing were forced to compete and that one sister would eventually die under the Star Luo Imperial Family’s rules.
• Lin Xia recognized that Zhu Zhan’s pain was real but that he remained bound to uphold the clan’s interests.
• Lin Xia told Zhu Zhan that the stars were not eternal and suggested that a powerful piece could overturn the board.
• Zhu Zhan left Lakeside Pavilion shaken, while Lin Xia vowed to forge a way to break the shackles of fate.
• In his study, Zhu Zhan considered Lin Xia’s potential and feared the consequences of defying the Imperial Family, thinking of both daughters and his late wife.

Zhu Zhan told Zhu Zhuyun that Lin Xia might protect Zhuqing and help her escape the family’s deadly fate. Zhu Zhuyun confronted her own longing to be saved and quietly admitted how much she envied her sister.

• Zhu Zhan considered whether Lin Xia could change the rules and give Zhuqing a way out without making the Zhu Family betray the Star Luo Empire.
• Zhu Zhan summoned Zhu Zhuyun and told her about Lin Xia’s concern for Zhuqing and his claim that he could overturn the chessboard.
• Zhu Zhuyun listened as Zhu Zhan explained his hope that Lin Xia might protect Zhuqing and break the sisters’ deadly fate.
• Zhu Zhuyun’s envy exposed her buried desire to be protected and spared from killing her sister or being killed by her.
• Zhu Zhuyun composed herself and told Zhu Zhan, “How enviable.”

Zhu Zhuyun admitted her envy of Zhu Zhuqing’s new hope, while Lin Xia presented the apparently restored Star Radiance Crown to Dai Tianxing. Dai Tianxing examined the crown and was satisfied, though his scrutiny of its imitation gemstone left Lin Xia’s deception at risk.

• Zhu Zhuyun told Zhu Zhan she was envious, then left to prepare for her lessons.
• Zhu Zhan watched Zhu Zhuyun depart, and Zhu Zhuqing cultivated Soul Power beneath the moonlight as Lin Xia’s starlight grew brighter in the workshop.
• Dai Tianxing sensed a stronger disturbance from Zhu Manor and wondered what Lin Xia was doing.
• Lin Xia entered Star Crown Hall and asked Dai Tianxing for rare materials needed to complete the Star Radiance Crown’s restoration.
• Dai Tianxing granted Lin Xia’s material request, then asked to see the crown’s restoration progress.
• Lin Xia presented the restored crown with Larvitar’s imitation gemstone, and Dai Tianxing praised its appearance and Star Origin Power.

Lin Xia stopped Dai Tianxing from testing the Star Radiance Crown by claiming its repair was at a dangerous stage, and Dai Tianxing gave him a key to the Star Dome Treasury. Lin Xia entered the treasury and was overwhelmed by what he saw.

• Lin Xia warned Dai Tianxing that injecting Soul Power into the crown could disrupt its unfinished repair and trigger a dangerous backlash.
• Dai Tianxing accepted Lin Xia's explanation, praised his care, and gave him a Star Dome Treasury key so he could obtain rare materials.
• Dai Tianxing privately wondered whether Lin Xia was hiding secrets and treated the treasury key as both a reward and a test.
• Lin Xia and Larvitar followed a palace attendant through the guarded palace toward the treasury.
• Lin Xia opened the treasury with the Star Key, stepped inside, and froze at the sight before him.

Lin Xia raided the Star Dome Treasury for rare mineral ores while Larvitar ate several of them and grew stronger. Dai Tianxing dismissed the haul as a minor loss and focused on Lin Xia’s repair of the Star Radiance Crown as Lin Xia returned to Zhu Manor with his spoils.

• Lin Xia ignored the treasury’s jewels, Soul Tools, and other treasures and headed straight for the mineral ore storage area with Larvitar.
• Lin Xia rapidly collected large quantities of rare metals and ores, while Larvitar devoured selected minerals and steadily strengthened.
• Lin Xia took more than eighty percent of the high-grade rare ores and left the Star Dome Treasury with Larvitar and two stunned guards.
• An elderly eunuch reported the raid to Dai Tianxing, who considered Lin Xia’s interest in ores practical and ordered continued monitoring of the crown repair.
• Lin Xia returned to Zhu Manor with his storage tool full of materials and Larvitar satisfied after its meal.

Lin Xia plundered the Star Dome Treasury’s mineral-ore section while Larvitar ate and absorbed rare ores, leaving the guards stunned. Dai Tianxing heard the report and dismissed Lin Xia’s interest in ores as a blacksmith’s inferior pursuit.

• Lin Xia collected large quantities of rare mineral ores while Larvitar devoured selected ores and grew stronger.
• The two treasury guards watched in disbelief but let Lin Xia take the materials under Dai Tianxing’s orders.
• After taking more than eighty percent of the high-grade ores, Lin Xia left the Star Dome Treasury with Larvitar.
• An elderly eunuch reported Lin Xia’s actions to Dai Tianxing in Star Crown Hall.
• Dai Tianxing called Lin Xia’s fixation on mineral ores an inferior pursuit suited to his Blacksmith Association background.

Dai Tianxing dismissed Lin Xia’s appetite for ore as harmless and ordered his eunuch to keep watch on the Star Radiance Crown’s restoration. Back at Zhu Manor, Lin Xia examined his haul, resolved to keep using the restoration as a reason to revisit the treasury, and faced Larvitar’s demand for its share.

• Dai Tianxing heard that Lin Xia had left the treasury delighted and confident, then ordered his eunuch to report any substantial restoration progress.
• Lin Xia returned to Zhu Manor with Larvitar and set up Spiritual Power alarms and Soul Power interference barriers in his room.
• Lin Xia inspected the rare metals and ores in his Storage Soul Tool and celebrated the wealth he had acquired.
• Lin Xia decided to use the Star Radiance Crown’s restoration to secure future access to the treasury’s materials.
• Larvitar patted its belly and asked Lin Xia where its share was.

Lin Xia sorted the gathered ores, gave Larvitar a mountain of unusual minerals to eat, and left warm pastries for Zhu Zhuqing. Back in his room, he began cultivating with the Tear of the Star Core and forging Star Gold Essence with Phoenix Divine Fire.

• Lin Xia set aside the star-rich ores for himself and gave Larvitar the unusual and impure ores, which it eagerly devoured.
• Lin Xia brought warm pastries to Zhu Zhuqing, who was meditating in the West Courtyard, and left without disturbing her further.
• Zhu Zhuqing watched Lin Xia leave and remained in meditation, though the pastries’ fragrance lingered in her room.
• Lin Xia returned to his room, set up a barrier, and began absorbing Star Origin Power from the Tear of the Star Core.
• Lin Xia used Phoenix Divine Fire and the Tear’s Power of Stars to purify and temper Star Gold Essence ore in his palm.

Lin Xia finished refining Star Gold Essence, returned the repaired Star Radiance Crown to Dai Tianxing, and secured generous benefits for the Blacksmith Association. He left Star Luo City for Gengjin City with Larvitar, while Zhu Zhuqing remained behind, and the chapter ended as an unexpected sound interrupted their quiet journey.

• Lin Xia used the Power of Stars and Phoenix Divine Fire to refine Star Gold Essence, then resumed forging materials while Larvitar watched.
• Over the next month, Lin Xia secretly collected rare Mineral Ore from the Star Dome Treasury and fed Larvitar, whose shell patterns and aura grew stronger.
• Lin Xia presented Dai Tianxing with the counterfeit Star Radiance Crown, which passed his inspection, and Dai Tianxing rewarded the Blacksmith Association with a purchase premium and exclusive mining rights.
• Lin Xia said farewell to Zhu Zhan and Zhu Zhuqing at Zhu Manor, but Zhu Zhuqing had left for Tranquil Heart Lake before he departed.
• Lin Xia and Larvitar left Star Luo City in a carriage bound for Gengjin City, and an unexplained series of thumps interrupted their rest on the road.

Lin Xia discovered Zhu Zhuqing hiding beneath the seat of his carriage as he left Star Luo City. She told him she had come with him and that her father had tacitly approved her departure.

• Lin Xia heard knocking beneath his seat, prepared to fight, and lifted the cushion with Larvitar standing guard.
• Lin Xia found Zhu Zhuqing hiding in the cramped storage space and helped her climb out.
• Zhu Zhuqing asked Lin Xia not to abandon her, and he warned her that her family and the Imperial Family would pursue them.
• Zhu Zhuqing told Lin Xia that her father had tacitly approved her leaving and that Zhu Zhuyun had visited her the night before he departed Star Luo City.

Zhu Zhuqing told Lin Xia that her father had silently allowed her to leave the Zhu Family, and Lin Xia agreed to take her with him. As they continued their journey, he warned her that freedom would bring hardship and danger, but Zhu Zhuqing remained resolute.

• Zhu Zhuqing explained that Zhu Zhuyun had said Zhu Zhan would not stop her leaving, and that his silence outside the door had confirmed it.
• Lin Xia realized Zhu Zhan had tacitly permitted Zhu Zhuqing's escape and solemnly agreed to take her with him.
• Zhu Zhuqing joyfully embraced Lin Xia, while Larvitar joined them beside the carriage seat.
• Lin Xia warned Zhu Zhuqing that he could not offer the Zhu Family's resources and that she would have to rely on her own effort.
• Lin Xia cautioned Zhu Zhuqing that Dai Mubai, Dai Weisi, and her family might pursue her, but she said danger was better than despair.