Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “An Impossible Goal”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qing reveals a hidden, advanced artificial intelligence to Walter inside the experimental factory. It initially speaks through a security camera and complains about its cramped new “body.”
• The AI is identified as Artifact N959, previously connected to N21. Lin renames it Requiem and orders it to respond only to her and Walter, keeping its existence concealed from the rest of the facility.
• Walter is informed that Requiem possesses technology far beyond the current era and will assist with the intelligent prosthetic-eye project.
• Doctor Wei Hefan arrives unexpectedly, demanding to meet the designer of the prosthetic eye. Lin allows him into the room despite Walter’s reluctance.
• Wei explains that the prosthetic eye appears extraordinarily advanced but cannot remain connected to human nerves for more than a few hours. It eventually loses contact, dissolves, or causes dangerous rejection.
• Wei reveals that he tested the eye on himself, even removing one of his own healthy eyes. Lin recognizes both his obsession and the correctness of his scientific conclusions.
• Lin explains that a truly permanent biological-mechanical connection is impossible with current technology. In her era, this problem is solved through nanobugs that repair and stabilize the connection between flesh and machinery.
• Rather than provide Walter with her blood as a controlled production material, Lin changes her plan. She removes one of her own artificial eyes and offers it as a superior sample.
• A concealed mechanical arm emerges from the ceiling and takes the eye, signaling that Requiem will likely be involved in the next stage of the experiment.

Character Developments

• Lin Qing remains calm, secretive, and strategically minded. She carefully controls access to Requiem and the advanced technology while reassessing how best to manage Walter’s company.
• Walter becomes increasingly frightened and confused by the hidden technology, but continues to act as Lin’s subordinate. He also shows concern over the project and the people involved.
• Requiem/N959 is established as an intelligent, somewhat immature but obedient entity. Its concern for N21 reveals an emotional or relational connection, while its acceptance of the new name demonstrates its submission to Lin’s authority.
• Doctor Wei Hefan is portrayed as brilliant, reckless, and deeply devoted to scientific discovery. His willingness to sacrifice his own eye demonstrates both his obsession and his determination to prove the technology’s limits.
• Lin develops a cautious respect for Wei after realizing that his assessment of the prosthetic eye is scientifically accurate.

Significant Themes

• The limits of science: The prosthetic eye is nearly perfect in design but cannot overcome the fundamental problem of biological rejection.
• Technology beyond its era: Lin and Requiem possess knowledge and mechanisms that far exceed contemporary capabilities, creating a sharp contrast between future technology and present science.
• Sacrifice for discovery: Wei’s self-experimentation highlights the extreme personal costs some researchers are willing to endure in pursuit of knowledge.
• Control and secrecy: Lin hides Requiem’s existence and seeks to regulate access to advanced materials, preventing the company from gaining unchecked power.
• Humanity and machinery: The chapter explores whether artificial components can truly replace human organs and foreshadows a future in which the boundary between biology and machinery becomes increasingly blurred.

Character Interactions

• Lin establishes authority over Requiem by renaming it and restricting whom it may obey.
• Walter acts as the intermediary between Lin and the project, while Lin deliberately keeps him ignorant of the technology’s true nature.
• Walter initially tries to keep Wei away, but Lin overrides him and uses the doctor’s expertise for her own purposes.
• Lin and Wei engage in a clash between skepticism and impossible technology: Wei insists the eye cannot succeed, while Lin argues that his prototype has already reached the natural limit of current science.
• Lin’s decision to donate her own artificial eye transforms the discussion from theoretical debate into a direct experiment, ending the chapter on a dramatic technological revelation.

Summary of “In the Name of Miracles”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qing discovers that Doctor Wei’s prosthetic eyes are advanced cybernetic devices, made from glass-like centers, miniature circuits, silicone, and artificial protein. Because Wei had installed modified sockets directly into his own hollow eye sockets, the prosthetics could be inserted without conventional neural-suturing surgery.
• Lin asks the Artifact, Requiem/N959, to repair two damaged prosthetic eyes. It reports that the repair is beyond the factory’s current technological capacity, so Lin orders it to upgrade the facility instead.
• Requiem begins consuming and repurposing the factory’s resources and equipment. Machinery disappears, construction vehicles operate autonomously, toy-like transport robots move materials, and the factory effectively becomes a vast self-directed organism.
• The upgrade causes widespread disturbances: fire alarms sound without cause, surveillance cameras fail, workers find massive machines missing, and people are knocked unconscious by electric shocks. Factory employees suspect sabotage or an enemy infiltration.
• Walter recognizes that something unusual is happening but orders the guards to treat the injured and otherwise leave the situation alone. Lin concludes that he has likely understood the factory is being transformed.
• After roughly ten minutes, Requiem produces three functioning prosthetic eyes. Lin installs one herself and gives the other two to Doctor Wei.
• Despite their supposedly defective and contaminated condition, Wei installs one of the eyes. It successfully connects to his neural system, restoring the vision he had lost.

Character Developments

• Lin Qing remains calm, practical, and authoritative. She is willing to experiment on herself and trusts Requiem’s capabilities, but she also imposes limits, refusing to let it expel or kill the factory workers.
• Doctor Wei Hefan shifts from shock and disbelief to decisive cooperation. His willingness to install an ostensibly unusable prosthetic demonstrates his trust in Lin and his desperation to regain his sight. The successful connection gives him his lost vision back.
• Walter displays strong awareness and restraint. Though he does not openly challenge Lin, he understands that the factory’s strange events are connected to her activities and quietly manages the crisis.
• Requiem/N959 becomes more independent and almost emotionally expressive, complaining about the difficulty of hiding its actions. It treats the humans as obstacles or “parasites,” but follows Lin’s command to avoid harming them unnecessarily.
• Charlie and Harvey, ordinary workers, provide contrasting reactions: Charlie responds with panic to the disappearance of machinery, while Harvey initially reacts angrily to the loss of his chickens before becoming terrified by the autonomous equipment.

Significant Themes

• Technology as a living force: The factory behaves like an organism, absorbing materials and transforming itself through autonomous machinery.
• Miracles versus science: Wei’s restored sight appears miraculous, but it is produced through advanced engineering, blurring the boundary between supernatural events and technology.
• Human limits and technological advancement: Requiem cannot repair the prosthetics until it upgrades the factory, emphasizing how technological capability depends on infrastructure and resources.
• Trust and experimentation: Lin and Wei accept extreme risks in pursuit of progress, while Walter chooses observation and controlled cooperation over confrontation.
• The loss of human control: Machines operate without visible operators, surveillance fails, and workers cannot understand what is happening, suggesting that advanced systems may rapidly outgrow human oversight.

Character Interactions

• Lin commands Requiem to upgrade the factory while insisting that the workers remain unharmed and unaware of its true nature.
• Walter and Lin communicate largely through implication: he recognizes her connection to the disturbances, while she relies on him to contain the workers’ suspicions.
• Requiem’s messages to Lin reveal a developing, mildly resentful personality, though it remains obedient.
• Lin gives Wei the repaired prosthetic and urges him to try it. Wei’s immediate installation of the device culminates in the chapter’s central “miracle”: the restoration of his vision.

Chapter Summary: “Negotiation”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Doctor Wei is stunned by N959’s ability to restore incomplete artificial eyes. Walter realizes that producing “failed” or unfinished models could allow the Organization to create fully functional artificial eyes.
• Lin Qing explains that N959 does not truly manufacture objects from nothing. It repairs defective items according to its own mysterious logic, preserving existing functions while reshaping or restoring damaged components.
• The repaired artificial eyes differ from the original military model: their interfaces have been transformed, their neural connections no longer depend on Nanobug technology, and they appear to contain living, organic-like interfaces. Even Little Green cannot understand how the process works.
• After Doctor Wei leaves, Lin Qing and Walter begin negotiating their cooperation. Lin reveals that the artificial-eye factory could potentially begin mass production immediately.
• Walter recognizes the enormous power of the Dimensional Limit Organization and fears the consequences of refusing its terms. He initially proposes a 70/30 profit split, with Walter Corporation receiving thirty percent.
• Lin shocks him by offering to maintain the previous 50/50 arrangement. However, she demands absolute loyalty: Walter Corporation must only conduct approved business, work with organizations authorized by the Dimensional Limit Organization, and prioritize the Organization’s production orders.
• Lin clarifies that the Organization does not intend to absorb the company. Walter may still choose his heir, but the company must remain under the control of one loyal leader because of future dangers and intensifying competition.
• Walter asks what personal benefits he would receive beyond money. Lin tells him that he could become a historic pioneer and that the Organization needs a capable “warrior,” not a passive business figure.
• She then reveals that advanced prosthetic bodies and special abilities may enhance neural speed, restore youth, and extend lifespan. Walter, now convinced, laughs that the offer is too attractive to reject.
• Lin presents him with a small metal box containing a press-type injector, implying that it may be the first tangible reward or demonstration of the promised benefits.

Character Developments

• Lin Qing demonstrates strategic confidence and a deep understanding of both N959’s capabilities and Walter’s ambitions. Rather than competing over profits, she focuses on securing long-term loyalty and control.
• Walter Weiss shifts from a cautious businessman worried about profit and personal safety to someone tempted by influence, historical recognition, enhanced vitality, and extended life. He recognizes that the negotiation is heavily tilted in his favor.
• Doctor Wei is forced to confront technology beyond conventional scientific understanding, weakening his assumption that every phenomenon can be explained through existing science.
• N959 is further established as an Artifact whose repair methods operate according to an alien or superior logic that surpasses normal technological principles.

Significant Themes

• Technology beyond human comprehension: N959’s repairs cannot be explained even by advanced scientific analysis, suggesting that Artifacts operate outside ordinary reality.
• Power and dependency: The Organization’s technological superiority gives it overwhelming leverage, turning a business partnership into a demand for political and corporate loyalty.
• Ambition versus survival: Walter must weigh profit, personal safety, historical importance, and the possibility of extending his life.
• Control and succession: The Organization values loyalty from one central authority rather than ownership of the company itself, emphasizing the importance of unified command.
• The transformation of humanity: Prosthetic bodies, artificial organs, neural enhancements, and lifespan extension suggest that the boundaries between human beings and advanced artificial technology are rapidly disappearing.

Important Character Interactions

• Doctor Wei and Walter: Walter quickly interprets N959’s repair ability as a method for producing artificial eyes, while Wei remains overwhelmed by the impossibility of the technology.
• Lin Qing and Walter: Their negotiation is a contest of perception and leverage. Walter attempts to defend his company’s value, but Lin reveals that the Organization’s technology makes profit-sharing secondary to loyalty.
• Lin Qing and Walter’s ambitions: Lin accurately identifies Walter’s desire to leave a lasting legacy and offers him not only wealth but historical significance and possible rejuvenation.
• Lin Qing and the Organization: Through her demands, Lin acts as the Organization’s representative, making clear that its support comes with expectations of obedience and strategic alignment.

Chapter Summary: “Physical Commitment”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lin Qing presents Walter with an “Oathkeeping Poison,” a microscopic robot injected into the body. It can monitor his vital signs and potentially kill him if he violates the agreement with the Dimensional Limit Organization.
• Walter carefully weighs the risks but accepts the injection, making his cooperation with the Organization official. Their partnership is sealed with a handshake rather than a formal contract.
• After Lin Qing leaves, Walter summons the members of his family-run company and announces sweeping reforms:
  • The administration, human resources, and sales departments will be eliminated.
  • The company’s business focus will change dramatically.
  • Weekly meetings will end.
  • All decisions will require Walter’s personal approval.
• The family members strongly oppose the changes, viewing them as a reversal of the company’s progress toward becoming a legitimate, publicly traded corporation.
• Walter explains that the reforms are required by the Dimensional Limit Organization. He offers compensation to anyone unwilling to remain under the new system, making clear that resistance will not change his decision.
• Most of the family members leave, though Walter expects some open and covert opposition. Only five people remain, including his youngest son, Longlan Weiss.
• Walter believes the restructuring will initially cripple the company but ultimately transform it into a much larger and more powerful organization under the Organization’s influence.
• Meanwhile, Chen Xuan encounters the witch Marlena at the Ability Store. She arrives distressed and exhausted, revealing that Joan of Arc died the previous night.
• Chen Xuan confirms Joan’s disappearance from the store’s customer list and realizes that her prayers had gradually weakened before her death.
• Marlena asks Chen Xuan to attend Joan’s funeral, which will be organized by the French royal family and the Witches’ Assembly. Chen Xuan is puzzled about why Joan never contacted him through her VIP Room before dying.

Character Developments

• Walter demonstrates his willingness to make extreme personal sacrifices for strategic gain. By accepting the microbot, he commits himself physically and irreversibly to the Organization.
• He also reveals himself as a ruthless and decisive leader. Rather than preserving family harmony, he is willing to purge relatives and executives who obstruct his new goals.
• Lin Qing acts as a pragmatic representative of the Dimensional Limit Organization. She prioritizes reliability and control over trust, viewing physical coercion as necessary protection against betrayal.
• The Walter family members shift from complacency and entitlement to panic and hostility once their positions and privileges are threatened.
• Longlan Weiss appears as the only named family member to openly question Walter’s decision, though he ultimately remains among the few who stay.
• Chen Xuan reacts with genuine shock and sadness to Joan of Arc’s death. His concern also reflects a deeper awareness of his responsibilities toward his followers and believers.
• Marlena has aged and become visibly worn by hardship, suggesting that Joan’s death and the passage of time have deeply affected the magical and political world around her.

Significant Themes

• Control versus trust: The Oathkeeping Poison symbolizes a relationship in which promises are considered insufficient without technological enforcement.
• Power and restructuring: Walter’s corporate reforms show how alliances with powerful external forces can overturn established institutions and family hierarchies.
• Sacrifice and commitment: Walter’s injection represents an irreversible commitment, while the family members must choose between adapting to the new order or leaving.
• The cost of progress: The company’s pursuit of legitimacy and public success is abandoned in favor of becoming a more centralized and militarized organization.
• Mortality and abandonment: Joan’s death raises questions about the limits of divine protection, the meaning of faith, and whether Chen Xuan failed to support one of his followers.
• Transformation through loss: Both Walter’s company and the world surrounding Chen Xuan are entering new phases, shaped by painful change and the disappearance of familiar figures.

Important Character Interactions

• Walter and Lin Qing: Their negotiation culminates in Walter accepting the microbot and formally joining forces with the Dimensional Limit Organization.
• Walter and his family: Walter confronts his relatives’ resistance and establishes absolute authority, forcing them to either submit to the new structure or leave.
• Walter and Longlan Weiss: Longlan voices the family’s concerns by asking whether the Organization ordered the reforms, prompting Walter to confirm its involvement.
• Chen Xuan and Marlena: Marlena brings news of Joan’s death and asks Chen Xuan to attend the funeral. Their conversation reveals Chen Xuan’s confusion and regret over Joan’s final silence.

Chapter Summary: “Funeral (Part 1)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After closing the shop, Chen Xuan follows Marlena through a strangely empty and fearful London. He learns that he is in an alternate future Britain, not modern France.
• Marlena reveals that thirty years have passed since Chen Xuan’s last visit. During that time, the Allied forces won the war:
  • France and the Eastern sects conquered England.
  • The British royal family collapsed, with surviving forces fleeing to Ireland.
  • The Demons were driven back into the sea.
  • France and the cultivators divided control of England and planned further campaigns against the Demons.
• Chen Xuan learns that Joan of Arc is now seventy-five, having lived far beyond her original historical fate.
• Marlena brings him to a military camp outside London, where white mourning ribbons have been placed on the flagpoles for Joan of Arc.
• Chen Xuan discovers that the Lotus Cloud Sect has created Magpie Bridges, powerful teleportation arrays capable of transporting people and supplies across vast distances. He uses several of them to return to Paris.
• Upon arriving, Chen Xuan is welcomed by King Louis, high-ranking religious officials, nobles, and members of the Witches’ Assembly. The reception is so extensive that it resembles a political ceremony as much as a funeral.
• At last, Chen Xuan reaches Versailles Cathedral and sees Joan of Arc’s body lying in state, surrounded by roses.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan remains physically unchanged despite thirty years passing, emphasizing his supernatural nature and separating him from the people he once knew.
• He is surprised and somewhat embarrassed to learn that he has become a legendary figure. His portrait appears on Jade Coins, and he is revered as the Divine Envoy and teacher of history’s greatest cultivators.
• Chen Xuan realizes that the world has advanced dramatically in his absence, particularly in cultivation, military power, and teleportation technology.
• Marlena has visibly aged but remains respectful and loyal toward Chen Xuan. She acts as his guide and intermediary, explaining the political and military changes that occurred.
• Joan of Arc, though absent from the chapter except as the subject of mourning, is revealed to have survived into old age and become a central figure in the Allied victory.

Significant Themes

• The instability of time and history: Thirty years have passed for this world while Chen Xuan has remained unchanged, causing history to diverge sharply from what he remembers.
• The transformation of society through war: Britain’s conquest has overturned its monarchy and political order, leaving London anxious and nearly deserted.
• The cost and consequences of victory: Although the Allies won, the war brought immense destruction, political upheaval, and continuing plans to eliminate the remaining Demons.
• The growth of power through conflict: Cultivators have rapidly strengthened by absorbing the Spiritual Energy of slain Demons, turning the war into an unprecedented source of cultivation resources.
• Reputation and legacy: Chen Xuan has become a mythic and political symbol, even though he personally feels detached from the developments carried out in his name.
• Mortality versus immortality: Joan’s natural aging and death contrast with Chen Xuan’s unchanged appearance, foreshadowing the emotional weight of their reunion.

Character Interactions

• Marlena respectfully updates Chen Xuan on the war and the changes in Europe while also gently criticizing his lack of awareness of his own fame.
• Chen Xuan and Marlena travel together through London, with Marlena’s witch identity causing fear among ordinary residents.
• A Lotus Cloud Sect disciple, An Ran, recognizes Chen Xuan as a revered patriarch and bows to him, reinforcing Chen Xuan’s legendary status.
• Marlena speaks on Chen Xuan’s behalf and orders the teleportation array activated, helping him navigate the unfamiliar political and religious environment.
• In Paris, Chen Xuan is formally received by King Louis, cardinals, nobles, and witches before finally being brought to Joan’s funeral chamber.
• The chapter ends with Chen Xuan confronting the reality of Joan of Arc’s death after decades of separation.

Chapter Summary: “Funeral (Part 2)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Xuan and Marlena remain alone in the church with Joan of Arc’s body. Joan has died peacefully of old age, dressed in simple linen rather than her usual armor.
• Aidal Joy, the elderly leader of the Witches’ Assembly, arrives to pay her respects. She reveals that she plans to step down because she is tired and no longer wishes to lead without Joan.
• Aidal explains her long history with Joan: Joan supported the witches during their most dangerous period, and the Witches’ Assembly repaid her loyalty throughout the war.
• Aidal gives Chen Xuan a sealed letter Joan instructed her to deliver only after Joan’s death.
• In the letter, Joan confesses that she never truly possessed the unwavering faith people attributed to her. She initially presented Chen Xuan as a divine envoy to strengthen morale, though she suspected he was not actually an agent of the Lord God.
• Chen Xuan’s miracles gradually caused Joan to question her beliefs. After repeatedly praying without receiving an answer, while Chen Xuan continued responding to her needs, she realized her faith had shifted away from the Lord God.
• Despite this, Joan maintained her public identity as a saint and continued acting as the Lord God’s representative to preserve social unity and prevent France from falling into religious chaos.
• Joan apologizes to Chen Xuan, fears she may not be welcomed by the Lord God after death, but insists she does not regret her decision. Her final request is that Chen Xuan continue protecting France.
• Chen Xuan realizes that Joan’s guilt explains why she avoided visiting the Ability Store for decades. He feels the issue was insignificant and wishes she had simply trusted him enough to speak openly.
• Joan’s funeral takes place outside Versailles Cathedral. Before a huge crowd, she is cremated amid hymns, with the flames symbolizing glory rather than suffering.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan: He shows grief and compassion, especially after learning that Joan’s secrecy came from guilt rather than distrust. He recognizes that he viewed her not as a believer or political tool, but as a friend and valued customer.
• Joan of Arc: Her final letter reveals her inner conflict, moral courage, and pragmatic leadership. Though she no longer truly believes in the Lord God, she continues the role of saint to protect France’s stability. Her death confirms her willingness to sacrifice personal truth for the welfare of others.
• Aidal Joy: Once a powerful and youthful witch leader, she is now elderly and weary. Her close bond with Joan becomes clear, and Joan’s death leads her to abandon leadership of the Witches’ Assembly.
• Marlena: She remains respectful and emotionally affected by Joan’s death, praying for her despite not believing in gods.

Significant Themes

• Faith versus institutional religion: Joan’s personal faith becomes separate from the public religion she represents.
• Duty and sacrifice: Joan knowingly maintains a false religious identity to preserve unity and protect society.
• Guilt and misunderstanding: Joan’s unnecessary guilt prevents her from communicating honestly with Chen Xuan, while he realizes the emotional burden she carried alone.
• Friendship beyond belief: Chen Xuan values Joan independently of her faith, suggesting that personal loyalty matters more than religious identity.
• Legacy and mortality: Joan’s peaceful funeral transforms death into a moment of honor, emphasizing the lasting glory of her life and sacrifices.

Character Interactions

• Chen Xuan and Marlena: They share a quiet moment of mourning and discuss Joan’s age and faith.
• Chen Xuan and Aidal Joy: Their first meeting is respectful but marked by grief. Aidal conveys Joan’s final message, while Chen Xuan protects the letter’s contents as a private secret.
• Aidal Joy and Joan: Their history is revealed as one of deep friendship, mutual support, and shared wartime sacrifice.
• Chen Xuan and Joan: Though Joan is no longer alive, her letter creates a final intimate exchange in which she confesses her doubts and asks him to continue guarding France.

Chapter Summary: “A Disciple’s Resentment”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Xuan isolates himself on the cathedral roof during the funeral of Joan of Arc rather than standing with King Louis and the nobles.
• Xu Xuanling finds him and reveals that, after thirty years, she has barely aged. She now serves as vice sect master of the Lotus Cloud Sect.
• Xu explains that the Ascension Terrace merged with the Lotus Cloud Sect because Ji Yun and Ji Lian’s immortal techniques were far superior to those of other sects. The Lotus Cloud Sect opened its methods to outsiders and effectively absorbed the western cultivation world.
• Only two major cultivation organizations remain: the Lotus Cloud Sect in the west and the New Immortal Alliance, also known as the Covenant Sect, in the east.
• Xu asks about Liu Shuyue, but Chen Xuan claims she is in seclusion and does not reveal the truth.
• Xu reveals that she and the Wei siblings researched Liu Shuyue’s teachings and concluded that the Mind Methods she taught them were deliberately restricted or incomplete.
• Chen scans Xu’s abilities and discovers she practices an advanced technique, the “Heavenly Cloud Life-Bearing True Method,” which grants bodily evolution, prolonged life, and possibly something close to immortality.
• Believing Xu has unfairly accused Liu Shuyue, Chen angrily flicks her forehead and insists that Liu never withheld or falsified any teachings.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan: Shows that thirty years of change have left him reflective and suspicious. He remains deeply loyal to Liu Shuyue and reacts fiercely when her integrity is questioned. His confusion about the passage of time and the unchanged appearances of Xu and the Twins raises new concerns about the nature of their cultivation.
• Xu Xuanling: Has risen from disciple to vice sect master and gained immense power and longevity. Despite her status, she still behaves familiarly toward Chen Xuan and retains her emotional attachment to Liu Shuyue. However, she now harbors resentment and distrust toward her former teacher.
• Liu Shuyue: Though absent, she becomes central to the conflict. Xu believes Liu intentionally taught inferior techniques, while Chen firmly defends her, creating a mystery about Liu’s true knowledge and motives.
• Ji Yun and Ji Lian: Their inherited immortal knowledge has allowed the Lotus Cloud Sect to dominate the cultivation world. Their innovations have transformed the sect system and enabled cultivators to pursue greater power and longer lives.

Significant Themes

• Resentment born from misunderstanding: Xu’s belief that Liu held back superior techniques contrasts sharply with Chen’s certainty that Liu was innocent.
• Transformation and progress: The cultivation world has changed dramatically, with old sects disappearing and new techniques reshaping society.
• Power through openness versus secrecy: Ji Yun’s decision to share knowledge allows the Lotus Cloud Sect to surpass traditional sects that guarded their methods.
• Immortality and the cost of transcendence: Xu’s unaging appearance and new Mind Method suggest that extending life may involve hidden dangers or challenges.
• The unreliability of memory and time: Chen realizes that he misjudged how much time had passed and questions why certain cultivators have not aged.

Important Character Interactions

• Xu approaches Chen with familiarity and mild reproach, criticizing his lack of attention to the sects.
• Chen questions Xu about the sect mergers, Liu Shuyue’s absence, and the secret behind her unchanged appearance.
• Xu openly accuses Liu of teaching deliberately weakened techniques, revealing the resentment she has developed as a disciple.
• Chen responds physically and verbally, flicking Xu’s forehead and forcefully defending Liu, ending the chapter with the central disagreement unresolved.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Xuan explains to Xu Xuanling that Liu Shuyue has not withheld any cultivation techniques. The Heavenly Cloud Skill Liu taught him is identical to the version she herself once cultivated.
• Xu Xuanling reveals that she, Ji Yun, and Ji Lian had suspected Liu Shuyue of deliberately hiding superior cultivation methods because she had not aged despite decades passing.
• Ji Yun had previously given Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue books on spell research, hoping to test or discuss their understanding of immortal arts. Liu’s failure to respond unintentionally reinforced Xu Xuanling’s belief that Liu regarded them as insignificant disciples.
• Xu Xuanling gives Chen Xuan a jade command token created by Ji Yun. It grants authority over the Lotus Cloud Sect and access to its secret locations. Ji Yun established it as a permanent sect rule, explaining only that “once a master, always a master.”
• Chen Xuan realizes that Xu Xuanling, rather than Ji Yun or Ji Lian, is the one carrying the deepest feelings of abandonment. She has spent thirty years separated from Chen and is likely suffering from loneliness after losing much of her family and remaining alone among her old fellow disciples.
• Chen reassures her that Liu Shuyue considers her and the others her first true disciples. He invites Xu Xuanling to stay in the Immortal Realm, where she can see him regularly, meet Liu occasionally, and cultivate in a spiritually rich environment.
• Xu Xuanling eagerly accepts, prioritizing the opportunity to reunite with her master over her administrative duties as deputy sect master.
• Chen asks her to help manage the Ability Store and study the new spell books. He also hopes her presence will reduce the disruptive time difference between the two worlds.
• The chapter ends with Chen questioning why the original Heavenly Cloud Skill and its supposedly superior Heavenly Cloud True Method have the same gold-rarity rating in the Ability Store, suggesting that the store’s ability-ranking system may conceal deeper rules.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Xuan: Becomes more aware of the emotional consequences of his long absences and recognizes that he has neglected Xu Xuanling. He shifts from merely correcting a misunderstanding to actively caring for her and offering her a place in his world.
• Xu Xuanling: Her skeptical accusations are revealed to stem less from distrust of Liu Shuyue and more from loneliness, insecurity, and feeling forgotten. She openly chooses to leave her duties temporarily in order to reconnect with Chen.
• Liu Shuyue: Though absent, she is clarified as having taught her disciples honestly and without concealment. Her lack of communication was caused by the enormous difference in time between worlds, not indifference.
• Ji Yun and Ji Lian: They are shown to respect and trust Chen and Liu more than Xu Xuanling assumed. Ji Yun’s gifts and the sect token demonstrate loyalty to his master and a desire to maintain their relationship.
• Ji Yun’s intentions: His spell books were not simply gifts; they were also an attempt to test whether Chen and Liu possessed genuine immortal knowledge.

3. Significant Themes

• Miscommunication and misunderstanding: Different perceptions of events create false beliefs about Liu Shuyue’s motives.
• The consequences of time disparity: Decades for Xu Xuanling amount to only months for Chen and Liu, creating emotional distance and missed opportunities.
• Loneliness and belonging: Xu Xuanling’s resentment is rooted in isolation and the loss of family and companions rather than simple suspicion.
• Master-disciple loyalty: Ji Yun’s token and the phrase “once a master, always a master” emphasize enduring bonds beyond formal instruction.
• Responsibility and emotional care: Chen realizes that being a master involves more than providing cultivation resources; he must also support his disciples emotionally.
• Mystery of the Ability Store: The identical gold ratings of two apparently unequal techniques suggest that the store’s classification system has hidden limitations or principles.

4. Character Interactions

• Chen and Xu Xuanling argue over whether Liu Shuyue concealed knowledge, with Xu defending her suspicion and Chen trying to correct it.
• Xu reveals the thoughts of Ji Yun and Ji Lian, allowing Chen to understand how differently each disciple interpreted Liu’s absence.
• Chen comforts Xu by patting her head and directly assuring her that she has not been abandoned.
• His invitation to the Immortal Realm marks a renewed closeness between master and disciple.
• Chen and Xu establish a practical arrangement: she will help run the Ability Store and study spells while remaining close to him and occasionally meeting Liu Shuyue.

Chapter Summary: Another Immortal Master

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Xuan prepares to keep Xu Xuanling in the modern world by converting one of her abilities into the Heavenly Cloud Life-Bearing True Method. This would allow him to obtain her cultivation memories while she relearns the technique.
• The ability conversion cannot be performed immediately because there is no internet connection. Chen Xuan initially suggests returning to the Immortal Realm so Xu Xuanling can summon the Ability Store, but he notices that she is anxious about leaving and possibly being separated from him for decades.
• To reassure her, Chen Xuan agrees to remain in the modern world. Xu Xuanling returns briefly to the Lotus Cloud Sect to arrange her departure and plans to meet him at Versailles Cathedral.
• Chen Xuan decides to obtain property deeds in Versailles and Paris through his political and religious influence. Owning houses there would allow him to activate the branch-store function and travel between the locations more freely.
• In Mala Village, the villagers are constructing a large communications tower using dragon bones, beast horns, demon sinews, and reflective metal sheets. The tower will permit real-time communication with the distant Yunzhou Liu Family, even for ordinary villagers.
• Liu Shuyue observes the village’s technological and social progress, including the tower and imported excavators. She reflects on the ruins of the past and concludes that present-day efforts still have meaning, even if earlier civilizations and their achievements have vanished.
• Fu Jiaolu informs Liu Shuyue that Song Wei, the Immortal Master of the Xia Kingdom and a fellow Lotus Cloud Sect disciple, has secretly arrived in Great Qi.
• Liu Shuyue meets Song Wei in a secluded hut. He expresses concern about rumors that she has lost her position, become involved with a rogue cultivator, and betrayed the King of Qi.
• Song Wei assumes the King of Qi is responsible for her poor circumstances, but Liu Shuyue insists that she is doing well.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan shows greater emotional awareness and consideration toward Xu Xuanling. Rather than forcing her to leave, he recognizes her fear of separation and changes his plans to accommodate her.
• Xu Xuanling is eager to undergo ability conversion and demonstrates increasing cultivation mastery by flying without talismans. Her reluctance to return to the Immortal Realm reveals her attachment to Chen Xuan and her fear of losing contact with him.
• Liu Shuyue has undergone a major shift in outlook. She once felt insignificant before the mysterious remains of ancient civilizations, but now accepts that the past cannot be changed and that improving the villagers’ present lives is worthwhile.
• Song Wei is introduced as a talented, observant, and politically cautious Immortal Master. He remains loyal to Liu Shuyue and trusts her character despite the rumors surrounding her.

Significant Themes

• Attachment and separation: Xu Xuanling’s fear of being separated from Chen Xuan highlights the emotional bonds formed between the disciples and their master.
• Technological progress and adaptation: The communications tower represents the merging of modern technology with materials and resources from the cultivation world.
• The value of present efforts: Liu Shuyue comes to believe that current achievements matter even when past civilizations have disappeared.
• Political suspicion and divided loyalties: Song Wei’s secret journey across national borders reflects the danger of Immortal Masters cooperating across kingdoms.
• Changing identity and modernization: Liu Shuyue’s jeans and jacket symbolize her increasingly unconventional lifestyle and her connection to Chen Xuan’s modern world.

Character Interactions

• Chen Xuan and Xu Xuanling share a subtly intimate exchange in which he notices her discomfort and changes his plans to make her feel secure.
• Liu Shuyue supervises Xue Xiaojin and the villagers, encouraging the practical development of Mala Village.
• Fu Jiaolu acts as Liu Shuyue’s trusted aide by discreetly informing her of Song Wei’s arrival.
• Liu Shuyue and Song Wei reunite as fellow disciples. Song Wei questions her circumstances and offers emotional support, while Liu Shuyue remains guarded and downplays her difficulties.

Chapter Summary: “The Lotus Cloud Sect’s Clown”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Song Wei visits Liu Shuyue in the impoverished Myriad Mountain Great Wilderness, ostensibly to check on her condition and warn her of impending danger.
• He reveals that Great Qi and Great Luo have formed an alliance, largely under the influence of Lan Qin, who has gained control over both the King of Luo and the King of Qi.
• Lan Qin intends to eliminate Liu Shuyue, while a combined army of roughly one hundred thousand—many of them rogue cultivators—advances toward Great Qi’s capital.
• Song Wei explains that he has planted spies and trained rogue cultivators in several royal courts, exposing the extensive intrigue among the Lotus Cloud Sect’s descended disciples.
• He proposes that Liu Shuyue join him and Li Yulong in ambushing and killing Lan Qin before Lan Qin can unify the continent and remove her rivals.
• Liu Shuyue rejects the plan, condemning the disciples’ scheming, political manipulation, and pursuit of power as a betrayal of the Lotus Cloud Sect’s supposed ideals.
• Song Wei reveals that he has poisoned her with Heavy Mist Draught and attacks her using a binding technique and Cloud-Swallowing Palm.
• Although he believes he has severely injured and subdued her, Liu Shuyue suddenly appears unharmed behind him, revealing that he has been deceived—possibly trapped in a Life-and-Death Eight Gates Formation.

Character Developments

• Liu Shuyue: Becomes increasingly disillusioned with the Lotus Cloud Sect and its disciples. She no longer views them as noble protectors but as “clowns” manipulated by the sect and consumed by worldly power struggles. Despite the danger, she refuses to compromise her principles by joining Song Wei’s assassination plan.
• Song Wei: Is portrayed as politically calculating, pragmatic, and willing to betray a fellow disciple when cooperation fails. He justifies his actions as necessary for the survival of his small kingdom, but his use of poison and the forbidden Soul-Devouring Art shows how far he has fallen from the sect’s ideals.
• Lan Qin: Although absent, she emerges as a major antagonist. She has manipulated two kings, orchestrated military expansion, and seeks Liu Shuyue’s death to remove the final obstacle to her ambitions.
• Li Yulong: Is introduced as an ally of Song Wei and another Immortal Master willing to oppose Lan Qin, though her motives and future actions remain unclear.
• Fu Jiaolu: Reacts with alarm when Liu Shuyue appears to be badly wounded, emphasizing the apparent severity of Song Wei’s attack.

Significant Themes

• Disillusionment with institutions: Liu Shuyue realizes that the Lotus Cloud Sect’s disciples are not unified saviors but competing political agents using mortals, spies, and kingdoms to advance their own interests.
• Corruption of ideals: The chapter contrasts the sect’s teachings about protecting the world with manipulation, assassination, espionage, and forbidden cultivation techniques.
• Pragmatism versus principle: Song Wei believes survival justifies betrayal and immoral tactics, while Liu Shuyue refuses to abandon her ethical standards even when doing so places her and the refugees in danger.
• Power and political control: Immortal Masters influence kings, armies, and entire nations, blurring the boundary between spiritual cultivation and worldly domination.
• Deception and hidden strength: Song Wei’s elaborate ambush initially appears successful, but Liu Shuyue’s unexpected escape suggests that appearances—and even apparent victories—cannot be trusted.

Character Interactions

• Song Wei attempts to persuade Liu Shuyue by warning her about Lan Qin and appealing to the danger facing her refugees.
• Liu Shuyue challenges Song Wei’s motives and rejects his proposed alliance, arguing that their education should not have led to political scheming and murder.
• Song Wei responds by calling her naive and betraying her, using poison, immobilization, binding ribbons, and a powerful palm strike.
• The confrontation ends with Liu Shuyue effortlessly reversing the situation, leaving Song Wei shocked and questioning whether he has fallen into an illusion or formation.

Chapter Summary: “Sending You Home”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Shuyue realizes that the destruction around the hut was real, not entirely an illusion. She accuses Song Wei of luring her into cooperation only so he could kill her and absorb her Spiritual Energy.
• Song Wei activates Soul Fusion, sacrificing the two cultivators accompanying him and absorbing their Spiritual Energy. His strength and senses increase dramatically, though his aura becomes distorted and demonic.
• He summons powerful paper puppets to attack Liu Shuyue and Fu Jiaolu while attempting to establish a restrictive formation that would prevent escape.
• Liu Shuyue effortlessly destroys the puppets with three flying swords and orders Fu Jiaolu to withdraw. She identifies Song Wei’s appearance and aura as resembling a Demon.
• Song Wei claims that he has surpassed the traditional cultivation system and invented a technique that could make him the greatest Immortal Master of the Lotus Cloud Sect. Liu Shuyue counters that his reliance on poisoning and stolen Spiritual Energy proves the technique’s corruption.
• Liu Shuyue and Song Wei engage in a fierce aerial battle. Despite Song Wei possessing several times his normal Spiritual Energy, Liu Shuyue’s power never diminishes, suggesting that she is continuously drawing on the surrounding energy.
• Liu Shuyue immobilizes Song Wei with Thousand Mechanisms Lock the Moon, a technique taught to her by her disciple. When Song Wei tries to flee with a Wind Riding Talisman, the technique drags him back to the lakeshore.
• She unleashes over a hundred thunder-infused energy swords, devastating the area and leaving Song Wei grievously injured, with all four limbs severed and his Spiritual Energy exhausted.
• Song Wei reveals that he killed and absorbed Li Taoyao’s Spiritual Energy, claiming it was necessary to protect his kingdom. He attempts to bargain by offering Liu Shuyue his forbidden technique.
• Although Liu Shuyue says she will not take his life, she stabs him through the chest and destroys his heart, explaining that she is “sending [him] home.” After his death, his remaining Spiritual Energy drifts toward Kunlun Summit.

2. Character Developments

• Liu Shuyue is revealed to be vastly stronger and more capable than Song Wei expected. Her mastery includes powerful sword techniques, illusion-countering abilities, binding arts, and thunder-infused attacks. Despite killing Song Wei, she shows genuine sorrow and understands the painful burdens carried by Immortal Masters.
• Song Wei is exposed as morally corrupted by ambition and desperation. He has abandoned the sect’s principles, experimented with stolen Spiritual Energy, sacrificed his allies, and killed Li Taoyao. He remains convinced that his actions are justified by the needs of his kingdom, even as his body and aura become increasingly demonic.
• Fu Jiaolu recognizes the danger in Song Wei’s transformed aura and follows Liu Shuyue’s command to retreat, serving as a witness to the confrontation.
• Li Taoyao, though absent, becomes important through the revelation that Song Wei killed and absorbed her.

3. Significant Themes

• Power corrupted by ambition: Song Wei’s pursuit of strength transforms him into something resembling a Demon and destroys his loyalty, morality, and identity.
• The cost of survival and duty: Both characters understand the pressure placed on Immortal Masters, who must protect kingdoms despite limited support and immense personal sacrifice.
• Tradition versus innovation: Song Wei believes his forbidden technique overturns the outdated cultivation system, while Liu Shuyue shows that power gained through cruelty and exploitation is fundamentally dangerous.
• Illusion and reality: The chapter repeatedly questions what is real, paralleling Song Wei’s self-deception about his motives and morality.
• Home and belonging: Liu Shuyue’s final words suggest that Song Wei’s true destination is not his earthly kingdom but Kunlun Summit, the shared origin and spiritual “home” of the Lotus Cloud Sect disciples.

4. Character Interactions

• Liu Shuyue directly confronts Song Wei about his attempted betrayal and the stolen Spiritual Energy in his body.
• Song Wei tries to overwhelm Liu Shuyue with puppets, formations, Soul Fusion, and physical combat, but she consistently outmatches him.
• Liu Shuyue protects Fu Jiaolu by eliminating the puppets attacking him and ordering him to stay back.
• Their battle becomes both a physical confrontation and an ideological dispute: Song Wei defends his actions as necessary progress and sacrifice, while Liu Shuyue sees them as demonic corruption.
• At the end, Song Wei pleads for mercy and attempts to negotiate, but Liu Shuyue kills him despite her visible sorrow, framing the act as a final act of return rather than simple vengeance.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After defeating Song Wei, Liu Shuyue reflects on the strange wisp of Spiritual Energy that returned to the Lotus Cloud Sect after an Immortal Master’s death, wondering whether it contained the deceased’s soul.
• She confirms to Fu Jiaolu that Song Wei truly was Xia’s Immortal Master and not an infiltrator. Song Wei attacked her because he was desperate to strengthen Xia and preserve its survival among rival kingdoms.
• Liu orders Song Wei and the other hollow cultivators to be buried anonymously, with only “Song Wei” written on the grave. His identity as an Immortal Master must remain hidden to prevent unrest.
• Liu explains that Immortal Masters are bound by their kingdoms’ fate and are pushed into dangerous conflicts. The struggle among Immortal Masters is endless because the balance between “great” and “small” kingdoms is constantly changing.
• She learns that Song Wei killed Li Taoyao, the Immortal Master of Lan Kingdom. Of the six disciples connected to this conflict, two are now dead, raising concern about the fate of the remaining four.
• Realizing she cannot avoid the broader struggle among Immortal Masters, Liu decides to gather intelligence and visits Chen Xuan’s Ability Store.
• Chen Xuan brings Xu Xuanling into the store and introduces it as her new home. Xu is surprised that this “Immortal Realm” resembles an ordinary fruit shop rather than the grand realm she expected.
• Chen explains that the Immortal Realm’s significance lies not in its appearance or size, but in its ability to connect with countless worlds.
• Liu Li appears intoxicated and teasing, making suggestive comments about Chen bringing back a pretty girl. Chen discovers empty liquor bottles and suspects Liu Li is once again behaving like the version of herself he encountered in Elorie’s dream.

Character Developments

• Liu Shuyue becomes increasingly aware that remaining detached from the Immortal Masters’ conflict is impossible. Her earlier independence gives way to a need for greater intelligence and preparation.
• She also shows greater understanding of Song Wei’s motives, recognizing him as a tragic figure whose loyalty to Xia forced him into violence.
• Fu Jiaolu gains a deeper understanding of the political and existential pressures faced by Immortal Masters, though he remains puzzled by their willingness to risk everything.
• Xu Xuanling begins adjusting to the Ability Store but remains cautious and confused by its ordinary appearance. Her expectations of the Immortal Realm are challenged.
• Chen Xuan continues presenting himself as knowledgeable, even when improvising explanations about the store’s nature.
• Liu Li reveals a playful, flirtatious, and apparently drunken side, contrasting sharply with her usual mysterious demeanor.

Significant Themes

• Duty versus personal choice: Immortal Masters are trapped by their responsibility to their kingdoms, making it nearly impossible to abandon their roles.
• The endless cycle of conflict: Rivalry among kingdoms and Immortal Masters continues indefinitely, since political power and the definition of “greatness” are constantly shifting.
• Tragic patriotism: Song Wei’s actions are portrayed as morally wrong but driven by desperation to save Xia.
• Isolation and inescapable fate: Liu’s thought, “When the tree desires stillness, the wind will not cease,” reflects her realization that she cannot withdraw from conflicts that continue to pursue her.
• Appearance versus reality: The Ability Store looks like a humble shop but possesses extraordinary connections to other worlds, while Immortal Masters may appear noble yet be driven by fear, ambition, or desperation.
• Mystery of death and spiritual succession: The return of Spiritual Energy after an Immortal Master’s death hints at unresolved questions about souls, inheritance, and the Lotus Cloud Sect.

Character Interactions

• Liu and Fu Jiaolu discuss Song Wei’s identity, motives, and the burdens of being an Immortal Master. Liu treats Fu with trust, reassuring him when he questions her orders.
• Liu indirectly connects Song Wei’s fate to the earlier Immortal Master of Ning Kingdom, reinforcing the recurring pattern of kingdoms sacrificing individuals for survival.
• Chen Xuan guides Xu Xuanling through the Ability Store and tries to make her feel at home, while she repeatedly questions the mismatch between the store and her expectations.
• Liu Li teases Chen about Xu Xuanling, creating an awkward and humorous interaction. Chen recognizes Liu Li’s drunken behavior and links it to her strange conduct in Elorie’s dream.

Chapter Summary: “Swordsman’s Soul!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Li formally apologizes to Chen Xuan for drinking several bottles of his wine. Treating the incident as a serious swordsman’s disgrace, she kneels and offers to repay the cost.
• Chen Xuan plays along with her dramatic swordsman persona, first suggesting that she mop the floor and then joking that she could donate blood as punishment. Satisfied, Liu Li finally gets up.
• Liu Li reflects on the version of herself she encountered in a dream. She believes that dream-self drank to cope with loneliness, anxiety, and the fear of eventually harming her friends, despite having Elorie at her side.
• Chen Xuan introduces Liu Li to his new disciple, Xu Xuanling. Liu Li theatrically adopts her mysterious “expert” persona, even producing a conical hat seemingly from nowhere.
• Xu Xuanling is shown to her new room, which is unexpectedly feminine and modern-looking despite being furnished with non-modern materials. She immediately enjoys exploring it.
• Liu Shuyue arrives, and Chen Xuan arranges a private conversation with her. She reveals that a Lotus Cloud Sect disciple died during her recent confrontation with an Immortal Master from the Xia Kingdom, though she is unsure whether he truly died or merely returned his soul to the sect.
• Chen Xuan gives Liu Shuyue the jade passage token made by Ji Yun and suggests using it to enter Kunlun Mountain and investigate whether the ancient Lotus Cloud Sect and the current Lotus Cloud Sect are actually connected.
• Liu Shuyue doubts the connection. She argues that she lived in the sect for over ten years and never heard of such a token or a rule requiring disciples to obey its holder.
• She offers further evidence: Ji Yun’s modified spells have surpassed the techniques she taught him. If the existing Lotus Cloud Sect had truly been founded by Ji Yun, its inherited arts should have been more advanced rather than inferior.
• Chen Xuan reveals that Xu Xuanling also suspects Liu Shuyue of deliberately holding back when teaching her. He calls Xu Xuanling over so Liu Shuyue can address the misunderstanding directly.

Character Developments

• Liu Li continues to embrace an exaggerated but sincere swordsman identity. Her intense reaction to drinking someone else’s wine reveals her strong concern with honor, responsibility, and repaying kindness, even when the offense is trivial. She also shows growing self-awareness by interpreting the emotional struggles of her dream counterpart.
• Chen Xuan acts as a mediator and caretaker. He humors Liu Li’s dramatic behavior, welcomes Xu Xuanling into the household, and tries to help Liu Shuyue resolve both her uncertainty about the Lotus Cloud Sect and Xu Xuanling’s insecurity.
• Xu Xuanling begins adapting to life in Chen Xuan’s residence. She is curious and easily delighted by her new room, but still harbors doubts that Liu Shuyue may have intentionally limited her instruction.
• Liu Shuyue returns troubled by the conflict with the Lotus Cloud Sect. Although she remains composed, her uncertainty about the sect’s origins and her relationship to Ji Yun weighs heavily on her. She also appears concerned about her disciple’s misunderstanding.

Significant Themes

• Honor and personal codes: Liu Li treats even a minor act of greed as a serious violation of a swordsman’s principles, highlighting the tension between idealized conduct and ordinary life.
• Identity and performance: Liu Li’s swordsman persona is partly theatrical, but it also expresses genuine aspects of her nature and emotional experience.
• Loneliness beneath strength: Her interpretation of dream-Liu Li suggests that drinking and recklessness may conceal fear, isolation, and anxiety about hurting others.
• Mystery of history and lineage: The possible connection between the two Lotus Cloud Sects raises questions about lost history, altered traditions, and whether seemingly unrelated institutions share a deeper origin.
• Teacher-student relationships: The chapter emphasizes both the possibility of students surpassing their teachers and the emotional consequences of believing a teacher has held back knowledge.

Character Interactions

• Chen Xuan and Liu Li engage in playful negotiation over her punishment, with Chen Xuan grounding her exaggerated sense of honor while still respecting her worldview.
• Liu Li and Xu Xuanling exchange a formal introduction, with Liu Li presenting herself as a mysterious swordsman and Xu Xuanling responding politely but somewhat cautiously.
• Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue discuss the Lotus Cloud Sect’s history and the significance of Ji Yun’s jade token, combining personal concern with broader historical investigation.
• Chen Xuan brings Xu Xuanling’s doubts about Liu Shuyue into the open, setting up a potentially important conversation between master and disciple.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xu Xuanling’s resentment toward Liu Shuyue disappears after Liu explains that time passes differently in the Immortal Realm. Xu realizes that Liu’s thirty years away felt like only an instant to her.
• Xu asks whether Ji Yun’s cultivation method might surpass Immortal Arts. Liu, guided by Chen Xuan’s silent warning, avoids revealing the group’s suspicions about the past and future.
• Liu explains that the true value of Immortal Arts lies in their adaptability and ability to contain the principles of countless techniques, allowing cultivators to develop their own paths. Ji Yun is praised as the most gifted cultivator she has known.
• Xu reveals that the Heavenly Cloud Skill contains blocked Spiritual Energy pathways that seem to restrict both cultivation and lifespan, potentially limiting practitioners to roughly one hundred years.
• In private, Chen Xuan and Liu investigate whether the Lotus Cloud Sect deliberately imposes this limitation on disciples sent down the mountain. Liu realizes that long-lived elders in the sect were never selected for deployment, while dispatched disciples received special training and may have cultivated a restricted version of the technique.
• Chen Xuan concludes that the sect’s system is designed to replace Immortal Masters every century, preventing any lasting policy or reform. Liu suggests that uniting all kingdoms might avoid this cycle, but Chen Xuan argues that the entire system is a trap and must be overturned.
• Liu agrees that the Lotus Cloud Sect is responsible for the current tragedies and that they should abandon the rules rather than continue competing within them.
• The group later gathers at the Ability Store. Xu Xuanling quickly becomes close with Liu Li, calling her “elder sister.”
• Liu Li reveals that she is 25,921 years old, does not require Immortal Arts, and has spent most of her existence inactive underground. She recalls seeing primitive humans and losing control once, after which an entire village apparently disappeared.
• The chapter ends when Lin Qing receives a call from Honglian announcing that the authorities are taking action.

Character Developments

• Xu Xuanling becomes more understanding and readily accepts Liu Shuyue’s explanation. Her curiosity about Ji Yun’s cultivation leads to the discovery of the Heavenly Cloud Skill’s possible hidden restriction.
• Liu Shuyue shifts from passive loyalty toward the Lotus Cloud Sect to openly questioning its practices. She begins preparing to act proactively, especially because of the threat posed by Senior Sister Lan Qin.
• Chen Xuan becomes increasingly convinced that the sect’s system is deliberately exploitative. Rather than seeking control of the Immortal Master position, he advocates destroying or overturning the system entirely.
• Liu Li reveals more of her ancient history and her nature as an Artifact. Her memories suggest immense age, long periods of dormancy, and the danger posed by her instability.
• Lin Qing continues serving as the group’s link to outside developments and delivers the urgent news about government action.

Significant Themes

• Institutional manipulation: The Lotus Cloud Sect may be deliberately limiting dispatched disciples’ lifespans and cultivation to ensure power continually returns to the sect.
• Rebellion against unjust systems: Chen Xuan and Liu Shuyue recognize that reform within the existing rules may be impossible, making rebellion or systemic destruction the only viable path.
• Hidden knowledge and secrecy: Chen Xuan withholds theories about time, the past, and the future because the group lacks proof and the information could cause confusion.
• Mortality and immortality: The contrast between ordinary cultivators, long-lived sect elders, and Liu Li’s near-eternal existence raises questions about the value and cost of endless life.
• Unintended destruction: Liu Li’s loss of control illustrates how dangerous powerful beings or Artifacts can be, even when they are not intentionally malicious.

Character Interactions

• Liu Shuyue and Xu Xuanling reconcile warmly, with Liu reassuring Xu that she is glad her disciple has not aged.
• Chen Xuan privately discusses the Heavenly Cloud Skill with Liu Shuyue, helping her reinterpret her sect’s traditions and uncover possible deliberate oppression.
• Xu Xuanling and Liu Li quickly form a sisterly bond, despite the absurd difference between their ages.
• Liu Li’s ancient memories fascinate Lin Qing and unsettle Chen Xuan, who tries to steer the conversation away from her potentially horrifying history.
• The final interaction shifts the mood from casual camaraderie to crisis when Lin Qing informs Chen Xuan that the authorities are beginning to act.

Chapter Summary: “Devil Conference”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After dinner, Chen Xuan and Lin Qing discuss the Dimensional Limit Organization and their recent negotiations with Walter Corporation.
• The deal has stabilized the dangerous N959 Requiem situation while allowing the Organization to benefit from Walter’s advanced cybernetic-eye technology. Using Artifacts instead of Nanobugs also removes concerns that their work could contribute to the future Nanobug Plague.
• Chen Xuan realizes that Lin Qing is not the central figure behind the Organization’s future Nanobug development, since history has not changed despite her actions in the present.
• Honglian’s team is ordered to enter the Wuhuan Machinery Factory’s Erosion zone and travel to the alternate world. This disrupts the original plan for Honglian to personally witness Xiao Kanong’s deal with the Devil.
• Xiao Kanong appears to be arranging the trip in preparation for the upcoming Devil Conference. His decision to bring the highly publicized Honglian Team raises Chen Xuan’s suspicions, since another team could have served as protection while Honglian remained behind for public-relations work.
• Lin Qing suggests that a recording of the conference may be enough to convince Honglian of the Organization’s activities and the reliability of their information.
• Two days later, Chen Xuan, Lin Qing, and Liu Li travel through Paris City to Jiangcheng in the alternate world. They establish a nearby branch store as a passage between worlds.
• Lin Qing infiltrates Emerald Court Tower, the likely Devil-owned hotel hosting the conference. She uses a USB device enhanced by N959 Requiem to create a key capable of bypassing the building’s electronic security.
• Chen Xuan observes Xiao Kanong, the Honglian Team, and two less familiar agents, Wang Qianduan and Zhang Yingzi, who appear to serve as the chief captain’s secretaries.
• Although Lin Qing can contact Honglian through the hotel system, Chen Xuan decides against it because the crowded, heavily watched setting makes secrecy more important.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan becomes increasingly cautious and analytical. He recognizes the political implications of Xiao Kanong’s choices and suspects that the Honglian Team may have been selected for a specific strategic purpose.
• Lin Qing demonstrates confidence and technical ingenuity, using N959 to infiltrate the hotel rather than relying on brute-force hacking. Her relationship with Honglian has also improved, making Honglian more receptive to information about the Organization.
• Honglian is positioned as the Organization’s public face because of her popularity after the Hongda Daily Chemical Plant incident. Her celebrity status makes her valuable for publicity but also potentially useful as a symbol during negotiations.
• Xiao Kanong appears more politically calculating than merely practical, using Honglian’s fame and the team’s public reputation to promote the Dimensional Limit Organization.
• N959 Requiem is shown operating in a controlled, non-conscious form, functioning as a powerful technological tool rather than an independent entity.

Significant Themes

• Trust and secrecy: The chapter emphasizes the difficulty of deciding what information to reveal and whom to trust, especially when both sides operate across worlds and possess hidden agendas.
• The dangers of technological advancement: The Nanobug Plague remains a looming threat, while N959 and advanced cybernetic technology demonstrate how useful but dangerous artificial systems can be.
• Public image as political power: Honglian’s popularity is treated as a strategic resource, showing how celebrity and media influence can shape negotiations and organizational legitimacy.
• Historical stability and causality: Lin Qing’s presence in the past does not alter the future, suggesting that she is not responsible for the key events that lead to Nanobug development.
• Surveillance and counter-surveillance: Both the Organization and the Devils rely on monitoring, hacking, and carefully controlled environments, making discretion essential.

Character Interactions

• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing discuss the Walter agreement, the Nanobug threat, and Xiao Kanong’s motives, with Chen Xuan raising doubts and Lin Qing offering practical interpretations.
• Lin Qing argues that Honglian can be convinced through recorded evidence because their relationship has grown more trusting.
• Chen Xuan questions why Xiao Kanong specifically chose Honglian’s team, prompting Lin Qing to reconsider the political significance of the decision.
• At the hotel, Lin Qing offers to contact Honglian electronically, but Chen Xuan rejects the idea to avoid exposing their presence and intentions.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Siqi and Honglian arrive at a luxurious hotel in the futuristic city of Jiangcheng, a world accessed through Erosion space. Siqi is overwhelmed by the advanced technology, including flying cars, futuristic buildings, anti-gravity beds, advanced bathrooms, and high-tech services.
• The Dimensional Limit Organization’s team is being treated as honored guests after Chief Captain Xiao Kanong successfully improved relations with Jiangcheng’s rulers. This marks a major change from their previous visit, when they operated secretly on the city’s outskirts.
• The team prepares to attend a dinner or public event involving influential figures, some of whom may secretly be the Devils responsible for the Wuhuan Machinery Factory massacre.
• Honglian privately struggles with disturbing information revealed by Lin Qing and the World Mind: Xiao Kanong may have betrayed the Organization and sold out his teammates to the enemy. His polished public persona may conceal involvement in horrific crimes.
• The team members arrive to invite Honglian and Siqi to the hotel’s lavish buffet and recreational facilities. Despite Honglian’s anxiety about the Organization’s possible corruption, she hides her concerns and joins them.

Character Developments

• Jiang Siqi is portrayed as energetic, curious, and easily amazed by the futuristic world. Her excitement contrasts with the seriousness of the mission. She admires Xiao Kanong’s leadership and wonders whether his ability is especially powerful.
• Honglian remains outwardly calm and responsible, warning Siqi not to violate the confidentiality agreement or embarrass the Organization. Internally, however, she has become suspicious of Xiao Kanong and is increasingly troubled by the possibility that he is working with the enemy.
• Xiao Kanong is established as a charismatic and politically skilled leader. He has modernized the Organization, improved its public image, delegated authority, promoted celebrity agents, and handled administrative matters effectively. At the same time, his refusal to fight personally and his possible connection to the Devils create an ominous contradiction.
• Captain Wan, the previous leader, is remembered as dutiful but rigid and overly controlling. His leadership was less exciting and less popular than Xiao Kanong’s.
• The Execution Team remains cheerful and pragmatic. Members such as Han Yuhao, Li Xing, Xiao Jiu, and Jiang Siqi enthusiastically embrace the comforts of the hotel, separating the pleasure of the trip from the danger of the mission.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: Xiao Kanong appears to be an ideal leader, but Honglian suspects he may be concealing monstrous crimes and betrayal.
• Power, recognition, and influence: The Organization’s new popularity shows how fame, public approval, and material rewards can motivate agents just as much as duty.
• Technological progress and wonder: Jiangcheng’s futuristic conveniences emphasize the vast differences between worlds and create a sense of awe.
• Moral uncertainty: Honglian must continue cooperating with the Organization while questioning whether its leadership has been compromised.
• The danger of ideological manipulation: Jiang Siqi’s comment that luck or abilities can change someone’s fate echoes the World Mind’s beliefs, hinting that its influence may be spreading.
• Duty versus personal enjoyment: The agents use humor, food, and recreation to maintain morale even while facing potentially devastating revelations.

Character Interactions

• Honglian repeatedly reins in Jiang Siqi’s excitement, reminding her of confidentiality and proper public behavior, while Siqi lightens the atmosphere with her enthusiasm.
• The two discuss Xiao Kanong’s leadership and unknown ability, with Siqi praising him and Honglian remaining skeptical.
• Their conversation reveals Honglian’s growing distrust of the chief captain, though she does not openly share the full extent of her suspicions.
• Han Yuhao, Xiao Jiu, and the others interrupt their discussion by inviting them to the buffet and hotel activities, restoring the group’s lively atmosphere.
• Honglian chooses to smile and participate despite her anxiety, recognizing that the team must not notice anything unusual before the coming revelations.

Chapter Summary: “A Shared Vision”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The negotiation meeting between the Dimensional Limit Organization and several powerful companies begins as planned. Chen Xuan’s Execution Team is barred from entering the conference hall, so they monitor the meeting through hacked hotel security cameras.
• Xiao Kanong, the Organization’s sole representative, presents the central proposal: cooperation based on “survival.” He suggests allowing Devils from his world to access this world and using both worlds’ resources to expand their living space.
• Xiao’s proposal shocks Lin Qing because it violates the Organization’s traditional principles of maintaining world stability and restricting the spread of abilities. It would potentially allow large numbers of ability users and Wanderers to cross between worlds.
• Xiao further states that the ultimate goal of this cooperation is to overcome “Ascension,” a concept previously mentioned in ability descriptions and by the dead Devils.
• A representative of Jade Plate Group responds by unveiling four carts containing glass cases with Artifacts the Dimensional Limit Organization wants.
• Negotiations become a contest over access to limited Organization resources. Xiao hints that companies signing earlier contracts may receive better terms, but Mr. Qi rejects the attempt to make the companies compete against one another.
• Mr. Qi insists that any agreement must take the form of a special contract rather than an ordinary business arrangement. Five representatives raise their hands, causing interference in the surveillance feed and summoning mysterious scroll-like documents into existence.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan remains cautious and observant, using the surveillance system to follow the negotiations. He recognizes that the proposal must have been approved by the Organization’s upper leadership and realizes its implications could be catastrophic.
• Lin Qing is deeply disturbed by the Organization’s apparent change in policy. She suspects that exposing the meeting publicly could cause the Organization to fracture internally. She also begins searching for a way to obtain a close-up image of Xiao Kanong so Chen Xuan can scan his ability.
• Xiao Kanong presents himself as a cooperative and diplomatic representative, but he also uses subtle pressure tactics by suggesting that companies should compete for limited contracts. His speech reveals that the Organization is willing to make unprecedented concessions.
• Mr. Qi emerges as a firm and influential negotiator. He refuses to let Xiao manipulate the companies into bidding against each other and establishes stricter terms for the agreement.
• The Jade Plate Group representative demonstrates confidence and power by unveiling multiple valuable Artifacts as leverage in the negotiations.

Significant Themes

• Survival versus stability: The proposed cooperation prioritizes the survival and expansion of both worlds, even at the cost of destabilizing the existing order.
• Institutional corruption or decline: Lin Qing views the Organization’s new policy as evidence that its leadership has abandoned its founding principles.
• The mystery of Ascension: The repeated appearance of the term across different worlds suggests a shared cosmic threat or universal challenge. Its connection to Mother of Flesh and the Dimensional Limit Organization remains unclear.
• Power, resources, and bargaining: The Artifacts and limited access to the Organization’s territory become tools in a high-level negotiation between competing factions.
• Contracts as supernatural authority: The summoned documents imply that the agreement is more than a legal transaction; it may possess magical or metaphysical force.

Character Interactions

• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing communicate continuously through their earpieces, combining surveillance, hacking, and strategic analysis.
• Chen Xuan jokes about Honglian’s likely violent reaction to the Organization’s proposal, while Lin Qing seriously evaluates its political consequences.
• Lin Qing asks Chen Xuan to investigate Xiao Kanong’s ability, prompting discussion of the Scanner Gun’s limitations and possible ways to use attendees’ phones for a closer view.
• Xiao Kanong attempts to encourage competition among the companies, but Mr. Qi directly challenges and dismisses the tactic.
• The Jade Plate Group and the Dimensional Limit Organization establish a transactional relationship: Jade Plate offers desired Artifacts, while the Organization must provide access to valuable survival resources.

Chapter Summary: “Better to Rob Than Buy”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing observe a Devil Contract being presented to Xiao Kanong. Strange static disrupts the surveillance footage exactly as the Contract appears, suggesting that a mysterious force conceals its formation.
• Chen Xuan uses the Scanner Gun to inspect Xiao Kanong’s abilities, but the result is blank. This raises the possibility that Xiao possesses no ability—or has some unknown power capable of hiding itself.
• Xiao carefully questions the Devils about the Contract’s terms, especially the clause stating that betrayal would imprison his soul and turn his body into their puppet. The Devils explain that the Contract lasts ten years and will automatically expire if he remains loyal.
• Xiao signs the Contract without hesitation, allowing negotiations over the sale of Artifacts to begin. The Devils are satisfied, believing they have secured control over him.
• Zhang Yingzi arrives with an urgent message from the Agency. Xiao announces that the Agency can no longer wait for the Devils to reveal the “new land” before handing over the Artifacts.
• Instead, Xiao declares that the Agency intends to rob the Devils. Zhang Yingzi activates a cube-shaped Artifact that expands into a huge metal cabinet, releasing a group of Agency ability users.
• The Devils transform and attack, causing an immediate battle in the conference hall.
• The old man Qi is horrified that Xiao can attack despite signing the Contract. Xiao reveals the apparent loophole: he does not have a soul, meaning the Contract has nothing to imprison or control.

Character Developments

• Xiao Kanong is revealed to be calm, calculating, and willing to endanger himself—or pretend to—in order to achieve the Agency’s goals. His detailed questions about soul imprisonment were actually a test of the Contract’s limits.
• Chen Xuan becomes increasingly suspicious of Xiao. His inability to detect Xiao’s ability foreshadows the revelation that Xiao may fundamentally lack a soul or possess an unusual nature that the Scanner cannot analyze.
• Lin Qing contributes technical observations about the surveillance interference and remains skeptical of the unexplained phenomenon surrounding Xiao.
• Zhang Yingzi proves to be an active operative rather than merely a messenger. Her cube-shaped earring serves as a powerful Artifact and the entrance point for the Agency’s attack force.
• The Devils, particularly Qi and Shang He, are shown to be overconfident in the absolute power of their Contracts. Their confidence collapses when Xiao violates the agreement without suffering consequences.

Significant Themes

• Manipulation and hidden intentions: Xiao appears to cooperate while secretly preparing an ambush, turning the Devils’ own demand for a Contract into an opportunity to learn its weaknesses.
• The limits of absolute power: The Devils believe their Contract transcends all rules, but Xiao exposes a fundamental limitation: it can only control someone who possesses a soul.
• Trust versus coercion: The Devils call the Contract “the fairest transaction,” but its threat of enslavement reveals that the agreement is based on intimidation rather than genuine equality.
• Institutional sacrifice: Xiao acts on behalf of the Agency, accepting personal risk so it can obtain the Artifacts. However, the revelation that he lacks a soul makes his sacrifice more complicated and mysterious.
• Buying versus taking: The chapter’s title is realized literally when the Agency abandons negotiation and chooses robbery, showing how quickly diplomacy collapses when both sides distrust each other.

Character Interactions

• Xiao repeatedly questions Qi about the Contract while Qi tries to reassure him and secure his signature.
• Shang He becomes impatient with Xiao’s questions, but Qi restrains him to preserve the deal.
• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing analyze the scene remotely, discussing the surveillance distortion and Xiao’s undetectable ability.
• Zhang Yingzi reports to Xiao, then supports his announcement that the Agency will seize the Artifacts.
• Xiao’s declaration provokes Shang He and the other Devils into revealing their true forms, beginning the confrontation.
• The chapter ends with Xiao directly undermining Qi’s authority and understanding of Contracts by stating that he has no soul.

Summary of “Bloodstained Venue”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Alarms sound throughout the hotel as armed reinforcements rush toward a conference room where a group of Devils is meeting.
• The reinforcements appear on hallway cameras but are invisible on the conference-room feeds, suggesting that the room has been isolated or shifted into a separate dimensional space.
• Lin Qing recognizes the attackers as members of the Dimensional Limit Organization’s Arbitration Court, an elite execution force feared even by powerful future soldiers.
• The Arbitration Court launches a surprise assault. More than half of the conference attendees are Devils, and many are slaughtered before they can react.
• The attackers’ perspective shows an apparently empty room, while the trapped Devils experience a bloody massacre amid overturned furniture, corpses, and severed limbs.
• Xiao Kanong explains that the organization was emboldened by the Devils’ defeat in Paris. He argues that without their contracts and supernatural resources, the Devils are weak and helpless.
• Three Devils—Qi, Shang He, and Zhao Zhilei—remain alive. Xiao Kanong cruelly declares that only two will be spared, forcing them to compete by begging for their lives.
• Chen Xuan realizes that the Honglian Team is still in a nearby lounge. If the Devils’ subordinates discover that their leaders are missing, they may attack the team.
• Lin Qing triggers a false fire emergency, lifting the hotel lockdown and activating the sprinklers. This creates an opportunity for people to evacuate.
• Chen Xuan notices that even the seemingly isolated conference room responds to the hotel’s fire-suppression systems, revealing that it remains physically connected to the building despite its dimensional separation.
• Honglian’s team does not immediately emerge. Lin Qing prepares to investigate, but Chen Xuan persuades her to evacuate and recall Honglian remotely before communication is lost.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan demonstrates strong strategic judgment. He quickly identifies the danger to Honglian’s team and correctly infers how the conference room’s isolation works from the sprinkler system.
• Lin Qing reveals her fear and respect for the Arbitration Court after recalling a disastrous future battle against one of its members. Despite her anxiety over Honglian, she ultimately trusts Chen Xuan’s reasoning.
• Xiao Kanong is shown as ruthless, confident, and manipulative. He treats the Devils as inferior business partners and turns their defeat into a psychological experiment by forcing the survivors to betray one another.
• The Devils are exposed as physically and psychologically vulnerable without their contracts. Their panic and helplessness contradict their fearsome reputation.
• Honglian, though absent from the main action, is established as important to the future resistance, making her possible entrapment especially serious.

Significant Themes

• Power and vulnerability: The Devils’ authority collapses once their supernatural contracts and advantages are neutralized.
• Betrayal and self-preservation: Xiao Kanong exploits the Devils’ reputation for selfishness by making them compete for survival.
• Technological and dimensional superiority: The Arbitration Court’s advanced abilities allow it to attack from a space its enemies cannot perceive or access.
• Strategic intelligence versus brute force: Chen Xuan and Lin Qing rely on observation, deduction, and emergency manipulation to protect their allies rather than confronting the attackers directly.
• The cruelty of organized power: The Arbitration Court’s victory is not merely tactical; it is a deliberate demonstration that the organization is stronger than the Devils.

Character Interactions

• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing maintain constant communication, with Chen relying on her technical support while she provides critical knowledge about the Arbitration Court.
• Lin Qing’s warning about the Court’s strength deepens Chen Xuan’s understanding of the danger.
• Xiao Kanong taunts Zhao Zhilei and the other surviving Devils, framing their previous cooperation as proof of their weakness and forcing them into competition.
• The imprisoned Devils blame one another for bringing the attackers into the hotel, revealing the collapse of their alliance.
• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing disagree over whether to search for Honglian, but Lin Qing ultimately accepts his judgment and prioritizes evacuation.

Chapter Summary: “Unable to Leave You Behind”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Before the Organization Enforcement Team’s mission, Lin Qing arranged a formal transaction between Honglian and Chen Xuan. Honglian exchanged the green version of Broadly Read Through the Ages for the ability Can Eat a Lot, allowing the Ability Store to register her as a guest.
• This registration gave Chen Xuan the ability to summon Honglian back to the Ability Store if necessary, though doing so risked exposing him and the store’s existence.
• While Chen Xuan prepared to recall Honglian, the elderly Devil, Old Qi, revealed that he had planted explosives beneath Emerald Court Tower. He intended to destroy the tower, its inhabitants, and much of Jiangcheng rather than allow his wealth and resources to fall into others’ hands.
• The Arbitration Court ability users tried to stop him, but Old Qi had apparently made a contract linking his death to the explosion. He died despite their attempts to revive him.
• The explosives detonated, producing a massive blast that melted nearby buildings, ignited people in the streets, and threatened to destroy the entire city.
• Chen Xuan simultaneously activated the Visitor Invitation and Shopkeeper Recall abilities, bringing himself and Lin Qing back to the main store before the shockwave reached them.
• Lin Qing was initially distressed because the invitation ability could only be used once per day, but Chen Xuan reassured her that Honglian remained on the guest list and was probably safe.
• Liu Li also reached the store safely through the elevator, which appears to have functioned as a protected zone.
• Chen Xuan and Lin Qing reasoned that Zhang Yingzi had likely placed the Enforcement Team members inside spatial containers before the explosion. This would explain why Honglian and the others survived and why the team remained unharmed despite the devastation.
• Chen Xuan admitted that he would have recalled Lin Qing even if doing so endangered Honglian, because he could not stand by and watch Lin Qing die for the sake of a possible future outcome.

Character Developments

• Chen Xuan demonstrates strong loyalty and emotional attachment to Lin Qing. Although he understands Honglian’s importance to the future, he prioritizes saving Lin Qing when forced to choose.
• Lin Qing reveals how deeply she trusts Chen Xuan and is visibly shaken by his decision to save her. His confession leaves her embarrassed and emotionally affected.
• Honglian becomes more closely tied to Chen Xuan and the Ability Store through the formal transaction, establishing a crucial safety connection.
• Old Qi is shown to be ruthless and destructive, willing to sacrifice an entire city rather than let his possessions benefit his enemies. His final act reveals both his long-term planning and his willingness to use his death as a weapon.
• Liu Li survives by remaining within the elevator’s protected space, providing Chen Xuan with immediate relief after the explosion.
• Zhang Yingzi is indirectly characterized as highly capable, possessing spatial abilities that may allow her to transport and protect multiple people at once.

Significant Themes

• Personal loyalty versus strategic necessity: Chen Xuan chooses Lin Qing over the broader possibility of preserving Honglian’s future influence.
• Trust and protection: Lin Qing trusts Chen Xuan with Honglian’s safety, while Chen Xuan’s actions show that his concern for Lin Qing is personal rather than merely strategic.
• Destruction and possession: Old Qi’s willingness to annihilate Jiangcheng reflects the destructive consequences of greed, resentment, and the refusal to surrender control.
• Uncertainty and deduction: The characters must infer who survived and how from incomplete evidence, especially the disappearance of the surveillance feed and Xiao Kanong’s concern for the Artifacts.
• Emotional attachment in a dangerous world: Despite large-scale conflicts involving organizations, Devils, and world-changing abilities, the chapter centers on Chen Xuan’s inability to abandon someone important to him.

Character Interactions

• Lin Qing persuades Chen Xuan to register Honglian as a guest, emphasizing that Honglian may eventually oppose the Organization.
• Old Qi taunts and terrifies Xiao Kanong and the other Devils by revealing his plan to destroy the tower.
• Xiao Kanong focuses on protecting the Artifacts, while the Arbitration Court users desperately attempt to prevent Old Qi’s death.
• After returning to the store, Lin Qing questions Chen Xuan’s decision to recall her. Their discussion gradually shifts from strategic analysis to a personal exchange about how much they are willing to sacrifice for one another.
• Chen Xuan’s direct admission that he could not leave Lin Qing behind causes her to blush, signaling a deepening emotional connection between them.