Chapter Summaries

Hermes saw Polka Kakami struggle with the prospect of becoming a Star Master and believed he could guide her toward his preferred future. He welcomed Binchotan, Elk, and Floze, then heard Floze assess Xiangling’s cooking and the limits of her Gourmet Path.

• Polka Kakami wrestled with whether to accept the growth that could make her a Star Master, while Hermes saw her inner conflict as a sign of possibility.
• Hermes warmly welcomed Binchotan, who ran into his arms and told him she thought about him every day.
• Elk shyly greeted Hermes as Floze brought her forward by the hand.
• The Head Maid brought out food prepared by Xiangling, and its golden light caught Floze’s attention.
• Floze praised Xiangling’s skill and said her different Gourmet Path inspired her, but her foundation could not match the chefs of Floze’s world.

Floze critiqued Xiangling’s cooking as brilliant but overly shaped by alchemy, while Hermes considered how she might advance her Gourmet Path. After sharing cake with Binchotan and Elk, Hermes arranged for Polka Kakami to take them to meet children their own age, leaving the two little ones unsure whether they would find companions they could relate to.

• Floze judged Xiangling’s dishes to show extraordinary skill but to resemble alchemy more than cooking, suggesting her Culinary Path might have reached a dead end.
• Hermes reasoned that Xiangling had learned from Morax and was drawing on alchemy to find a way forward in her Gourmet Path.
• Hermes shared fruit cake with Binchotan and Elk, and the two little ones happily offered some to him and Floze.
• Hermes asked Polka Kakami to take Binchotan and Elk downstairs to meet playmates their own age.
• Binchotan asked whether there were companions who could play with them, while Elk hesitated because she expected other children to share their unusual abilities and habits.

Hermes brought Elk and Binchotan to meet other children while he and Floze discussed her decision to pursue the Gourmet Path beyond her home world. He moved Gourmet Earth into the Star Crown Garden and created a vast dimensional world to provide the fertile ground Floze had said it lacked.

• Hermes reassured Elk and Binchotan that they could find friends among the children of the Great Universe, and they left with portable food cabinets.
• Hermes praised Xiangling's cooking, while Floze said Xiangling had reached a remarkable peak despite having no clear path ahead.
• Floze explained that she wanted companions who could share and discuss the Gourmet Path, since no one on Gourmet Earth or among the Gourmet Gods could do so with her.
• Hermes used Food Sovereignty to bring Gourmet Earth and its star system into his grasp, leaving the Gourmet Universe undisturbed.
• Hermes created a dimensional world as vast as a Great Universe and asked Floze whether its soil was fertile enough now.

Haibara Ai learned that she could not expel the Astral Express Crew, who were stranded in her world after running out of fuel. Meanwhile, Zhou Zhe asked the Group Leader for a story script about his life and was offered a custom anime titled My Father Zhou the Heavenly Emperor?

• Haibara Ai asked Himeko whether the Astral Express had arrived through the Chat Group and whether she could send its members away.
• March 7th explained that the Astral Express Crew had run out of fuel and needed to Trailblaze the world to gather more.
• Luo Qianqiu told Haibara Ai that she could not expel the Astral Express Crew because they were not Chat Group members and she did not rule her world.
• Haibara Ai accepted the answer but privately distrusted the Chat Group members and chose to study the group on her own.
• Zhou Zhe asked Luo Qianqiu for a plot script about his world, and she offered to make an anime called My Father Zhou the Heavenly Emperor?

Zhou Zhe rejected Hermes’s suggestions for dangerous stories and sought a stronger enhancement through the Group Mall. Meanwhile, Hermes announced a Gourmet God Championship, and Hexi, Kaisa, and Liang Bing worked to build the Angel Race’s Trans-Spacetime Supercomputer Creation: Source of Holy Light.

• Zhou Zhe decided his Southern Heavenly Gate was too weak for the dangers of his world and planned to find a powerful enhancement in the Group Mall.
• Hermes announced the first Gourmet God Championship, inviting group members and promising prizes for participants.
• Luo Qianqiu warned that competing against chefs such as Floze would make the entrants seem like cannon fodder, while Chen Nan planned to send children to observe.
• Hexi declared that the Angel Race would enter the competition with its technology-driven culinary methods.
• Kaisa recognized the immense power of accumulated faith after Hexi introduced her to faith techniques from the Chat Group.
• Hexi directed the construction of the Source of Holy Light as Liang Bing and Kaisa helped correct errors and coordinate the work.

The Three Kings of Angels created the Source of Holy Light, elevating Angel Civilization with a new supernatural system and triggering alarm across the Known Universe. As other civilizations prepared to catch up, Hexi credited Ruan Mei’s guidance with revealing the vast scope of super biological computer technology.

• The Three Kings of Angels formed the Source of Holy Light around the Divine Core [Angel], and Holy Light spread through the Great Universe as Angel Civilization entered a new era.
• Carl sensed Angel Civilization’s breakthrough, worried it would attract the Ultimate Fear, and decided to warn them for Liang Bing’s sake.
• Pan Zhen realized Angel Civilization’s advance could leave Leiyang Civilization behind and considered bringing Leona back early.
• Luo Qianqiu praised Hexi’s Source of Holy Light, while Asuka Kudō resolved to begin another round of special training.
• Hexi explained that Angel Civilization had combined existing technology with faith and divine-path arts, then recalled how Ruan Mei’s super biological computer technology had shocked and guided her.

Hexi’s Trans-Spacetime Supercomputer: Source of Holy Light received praise from Hermes, who compared it favorably with other geniuses’ creations. Polka Kakami gave Binchotan an even more powerful supercomputer, leaving the little girl hesitant but reassuring her that it was only a toy and could be upgraded later.

• Hermes praised Hexi’s supercomputer as a remarkable creation, while explaining that Ruan Mei’s galaxy-wide supercomputer had been far more advanced.
• Luo Qianqiu asked Hermes whether Herta or Sissikarr was better at building supercomputers, then clarified that she planned to hire the more affordable Herta.
• Aozaki Touko said she envied Luo Qianqiu’s prospect of owning a supercomputer built by Herta.
• Binchotan told the Chat Group that Polka Kakami had offered her a supercomputer called [Omniscient Celestial Phenomenon: Causality Retrospection].
• Outside Mondstadt, Polka Kakami reassured Binchotan that the supercomputer was a small toy compared with the technology she had received from Hermes, and told her to return for an upgrade later.

Polka Kakami developed a supercomputer using the Star Lord Path, impressing Hexi and inspiring Zhang Chulan to ask Zhang Zhiwei to get him one. The chapter ended with Zhang Chulan eagerly waiting to hear whether his grandmaster’s attempt had worked.

• Hermes recognized that Polka Kakami had grasped the Star Lord Path and begun following Ruan Mei’s Mind-Image Courtyard path.
• Luo Qianqiu encouraged Binchotan to accept Polka Kakami’s gifts, and Floze sent her off to play with Klee and Elk.
• Hexi examined Polka Kakami’s Omniscient Celestial Phenomenon: Causality Retrospection and took pride in her own progress building a supercomputer.
• Zhang Zhiwei recalled that Zhang Chulan had begged him to obtain a supercomputer after hearing what one could do.
• Zhang Chulan asked Zhang Zhiwei whether he had managed to get the supercomputer.

Zhang Zhiwei considered using a supercomputer to help Longhu Mountain’s disciples cultivate after deciding that none of them could become Immortal on their own. He rejected giving the technology to humanity and planned to use it as a cheat for his world.

• Zhang Zhiwei considered sending Zhang Chulan to work for Chat Group members, while also thinking Zhang Lingyu could make a capable manager.
• Zhang Chulan interrupted Zhang Zhiwei’s suspicious stare, fearing his grandmaster planned to send him away for labor.
• Hermes remembered that Alice Louise Of Nafar had visited Star Crown Garden and said he had once meant to visit the Campione world.
• Ning Qingyu asked Zhang Zhiwei whether he was interested in supercomputers and intended to change his world.
• Zhang Zhiwei told the Chat Group that Zhang Chulan had persuaded him to stop relying on natural development, since none of Longhu Mountain’s disciples seemed able to become Immortal unaided.
• Zhang Zhiwei decided against giving the supercomputer to the nation or humanity because he feared its power would undermine civilization’s autonomy.

Asuka Kudō agreed to help purchase a supercomputer, and Zhang Zhiwei used a Dimensional Pearl to glimpse the Lord of Wisdom’s vast, unfinished presence. Realizing the supercomputer could bring that existence into the present, Zhang Zhiwei chose not to reject its descent.

• Hexi explained that Angel Civilization could not build a celestial-level computer soon, so Asuka Kudō offered to find a supercomputer within the requested budget.
• Haibara Ai envied the prospect of owning a supercomputer, while Zhou Zhe imagined turning one into a malignant ghost before remembering he could not afford it.
• Luo Qianqiu asked about Lumine, and Zhang Zhiwei redirected the conversation to Li Hanyi’s breakthrough.
• Zhang Zhiwei’s Cross-Constant Insight activated, and he used Hermes’s Dimensional Pearl to view the Lord of Wisdom from a high-dimensional perspective.
• Zhang Zhiwei recognized that buying the supercomputer could help the Lord of Wisdom enter the present, punched Zhang Chulan off Longhu Mountain, and wondered whether he should still buy it.
• Zhang Zhiwei concluded that, having seen the Lord of Wisdom, he found its descent hard to refuse.

Zhang Zhiwei agreed to let Lord of Wisdom enter the Mythic Domain, setting a new future in motion. Hermes then arrived in Li Hanyi’s world and found her battling Heavenly Mandate, who intended to devour her and take her identity.

• Zhang Zhiwei decided that Lord of Wisdom could enter the Mythic Domain and pursue Heavenly Immortal attainment.
• The God of Fate wove a new future as past, future, reincarnation, and singularity collapsed together.
• Hermes allowed the King of All Machines to vanish from the multiversal river of time and followed the Group Link to Li Hanyi’s world.
• Heavenly Mandate struck Li Hanyi and declared her intention to devour her, gain divinity, and take her name.
• Li Hanyi attacked with Iron Horse Ice River, and she and Heavenly Mandate resumed their clash of Dao and principles.
• Luo Qianqiu questioned the fighters’ grand bearing compared with the scale of their actual feats.

Hermes explained that he had come to study martial arts because he could not settle for a derivative or half-finished Martial Dao System. After discussing possible paths with Luo Qianqiu, he considered Dragonless Martial Artists and Other Shore Martial Artists as references, but remained unsure how to create a truly original system.

• Hermes told Luo Qianqiu that Martial Dao had left him stuck because he could not cobble together an ordinary system from existing ideas.
• Luo Qianqiu teased Hermes for being too perfectionist to accept a half-baked result, then asked what direction he wanted his Martial Dao System to take.
• Luo Qianqiu listed many branches of Martial Dao, but Hermes rejected them as ordinary paths that already had origins in other worlds.
• Luo Qianqiu suggested Dragonless Martial Artists and Other Shore Martial Artists, and Hermes said both could serve as references.
• Hermes reflected that Cosmic Truths could create their own realms and stack them freely, so the realm-stacking feats of Dragonless Martial Artists did not impress him.

Hermes explained that becoming a Dao Ancestor required creating a system rooted in one’s own path, while Luo Qianqiu rejected the Chat Group’s offer to help her pursue it. Hermes then proposed adapting Saint Seiya into a stellar Martial Dao system, leaving Luo Qianqiu questioning whether Saint Seiya could be called martial arts at all.

• Hermes told Luo Qianqiu that copying another world’s system would make her a porter rather than a Dao Ancestor, who had to build a system from personal understanding and experience.
• Luo Qianqiu asked the Chat Group about becoming a Dao Ancestor, and it offered her thousands of Phoenix-related research documents and encouraged her to begin the long path.
• Luo Qianqiu muted the Chat Group after deciding that becoming a Dao Ancestor still sounded like too much studying and struggle.
• Hermes told Luo Qianqiu that Saint Seiya could inspire his Martial Dao because its Cosmo drew on constellations while developing the practitioner’s soul and will.
• Luo Qianqiu pointed out that Saint Seiya’s superpowers and divine patrons did not seem to have anything to do with martial arts.

Hermes explained how the Saint Seiya path could be considered Martial Dao and connected the Star Lord System to rewriting one’s Heavenly Mandate. As the Heaven-Intercepting Sword Principle and Heavenly Mandate King Fist clashed, Mo Yi witnessed the battle and glimpsed the coming Mythological Era.

• Hermes argued that Saint Seiyas followed an orthodox Martial Dao path despite their extraordinary power and rapid cultivation.
• Hermes explained that Star Lords could gain control over their Heavenly Mandate, while Star Masters could compose their own.
• Luo Qianqiu accused Hermes of treating Heavenly Mandate inhumanely, and Hermes rapped her on the head.
• The Heaven-Intercepting Sword Principle and Heavenly Mandate King Fist entered a fierce clash that shook the world.
• Mo Yi observed the battle, named the emerging realm Heavenly Venerate, and glimpsed the future Mythological Era.

Hermes and Luo Qianqiu watched the Mythological Era arise from Luo Qianqiu’s joke, with Li Hanyi as its Heavenly Venerate. As Li Hanyi fought the mandate of heaven, she absorbed countless versions of her own insights and advanced toward replacing it with her sword principle.

• Luo Qianqiu named Li Hanyi’s future era the Mythological Era, and Hermes saw Li Hanyi as its Heavenly Venerate.
• Li Hanyi understood that her role and era originated from Luo Qianqiu’s joke, while Hermes saw that the timeline ended before it could become real.
• Luo Qianqiu regretted that no Heavenly Emperor appeared to challenge Hermes, then warned him that Li Hanyi’s fight was underway.
• Hermes observed that Li Hanyi’s path of intercepting the mandate of heaven complemented the mandate’s power to absorb the world’s rules.
• Li Hanyi drew on insights from countless selves who had fought the mandate of heaven in True Simulation and resolved to replace it with her own sword principle.

Li Hanyi’s Sword Principle began rewriting the world’s laws as she neared victory over the Heavenly Mandate, stirring Li Changsheng to consider pursuing Martial Dao again. The Heaven-Intercepting Sword Master explained that the world was moving toward Ning’s Comprehensive Martial Arts spacetime, while Luo Qianqiu discovered Prisoner Mo had transported someone else’s Zodiac Twelve Palaces Sanctuary.

• Li Hanyi’s Sword Principle flooded the world and began reorganizing its laws around her Dao.
• Li Changsheng recognized that his disciple’s actions had changed the rules of heaven and earth, and Luoshui urged him to resume pursuing Martial Dao.
• The Heaven-Intercepting Sword Master told Luo Qianqiu that the world was moving toward the Comprehensive Martial Arts spacetime where fellow Daoist Ning was.
• Luo Qianqiu turned to consult Prisoner Mo and found that he had transported someone else’s Zodiac Twelve Palaces Sanctuary.

Hermes explained that no single Great Power ruled the origins of every world, while Li Hanyi fused with her counterpart and gained the Heavenly Heart Imprint. To protect her world from future dangers, she asked Hermes to establish the Zodiac Twelve Palaces, whose cultivation system looked suspiciously borrowed from others.

• Hermes told Luo Qianqiu that supposed masters of time, space, and Destiny were fantasies, since no one governed those forces across all worlds.
• Li Hanyi fused with the Heaven-Intercepting Sword Master and absorbed Principles through the Heavenly Heart Imprint, steadily strengthening her aura.
• Hermes asked Li Hanyi why she had chosen to transform, and she explained that she wanted her world to gain a powerful protector after sensing its frightened, helpless World Will.
• Hermes created the Zodiac Twelve Palaces and inscribed cultivation methods for the future Holy Paladins.
• Luo Qianqiu recognized similarities between Hermes's new system and several existing cultivation paths, including Saint Seiya and Human Immortal Martial Dao, and questioned whether he was copying them.

Hermes revealed his six Cosmic Truths and used them to refine the Zodiac Twelve Palaces into a super server cluster, while his overwhelming charm affected Luo Qianqiu and Li Hanyi. He then explained that he planned to build a “Pinduoduo version” of the Martial Dao rather than create a rival path from scratch, leaving Li Hanyi intrigued by his plan.

• Hermes lamented that Emperor Zhu had taken credit for his incarnation’s achievements and explained that the rivers behind him were manifestations of his six Cosmic Truths.
• Hermes’s revealed form overwhelmed Luo Qianqiu and Li Hanyi with his charm, but Li Hanyi recovered by summoning her Only Self, Only Truth sword intent.
• Hermes used his six Cosmic Truths to refine the Zodiac Twelve Palaces into a super server cluster, then withdrew his manifestations.
• Li Hanyi asked Hermes about the Zodiac Twelve Palaces after sensing their pull.
• Hermes said he would build a “Pinduoduo version” of the Martial Dao instead of creating a competing path from scratch, and Li Hanyi listened with growing interest.

Hermes discovered that the martial-arts world Emperor Zhu had been managing had tangled timelines and a Heavenly Dao Gold List despite lacking a Heavenly Dao. After Ruan Mei examined the world, she judged its collapsing timeline could lead to an immeasurable kalpa.

• Emperor Zhu celebrated that Hermes had taken over the troublesome martial-arts world but suspected its Great Powers had a deeper purpose.
• Hermes sensed Emperor Zhu’s doubts and investigated the world, finding a Heavenly Dao Gold List and timelines collapsing into a tangled knot.
• Ruan Mei brought Hermes plum blossom wine, which he praised for its unusual flavor and warmth.
• Hermes showed Ruan Mei the world, mentioning that Herta had once sent an avatar there.
• Ruan Mei compared the world’s collapsing timeline to the Final Death Calamity and concluded it pointed toward an immeasurable kalpa.

Hermes and Ruan Mei discussed the Immeasurable Kalpa and the worlds and projects taking shape around them, while Ruan Mei agreed to enter the first Gourmet God Championship. Phanes arrived in the Garden looking displeased, followed by a triumphant Kiana, who thanked her Big Sister for helping her become Complete Kiana.

• Ruan Mei described the Immeasurable Kalpa as an almost ultimate form of death, and Hermes said he would watch events unfold rather than investigate further.
• Hermes considered the Zodiac Twelve Palaces Supercomputing Cluster as a branch server for the Virtual Universe and imagined players creating martial arts together.
• Hermes asked Ruan Mei to visit the world, but she declined for the moment and agreed to compete in the Gourmet God Championship.
• Phanes strode into the Garden with a displeased expression.
• Kiana followed Phanes and celebrated becoming Complete Kiana, crediting her Big Sister with giving her a great surprise.