Chapter Summaries

Chen Shouyi mastered the Thirty-Six Forms and began combining them with the hardening exercises, drawing in Primal Force as his body strengthened. Meanwhile, refugees arrived at Hedong Railway Station, where Deng Shiming pressured Xu Dahu to serve the church and threatened his family.

• Chen Shouyi focused on practicing the Thirty-Six Forms and gradually pushed through more of the sequence despite exhaustion.
• After four days of intense training, Chen Shouyi completed all thirty-six forms and felt Primal Force surge through his body.
• Chen Shouyi repeated the forms until they became familiar, then began practicing the complete Thirty-Six Forms of Hardening and absorbed Primal Force into a vortex in his dantian.
• Refugees from occupied regions arrived at Hedong Railway Station as part of a campaign to reclaim parts of Ningzhou, and soldiers directed them onto Steam Trucks.
• Deng Shiming warned Xu Dahu that the church held his family and threatened to expose him if he betrayed them, while another man urged Xu Dahu to cooperate to stay alive.

Chen Shouyi saw three fighter jets flying over Hedong, renewing his hope that humanity could oppose the Barbarian God. He then returned books to Guan Miao, who angrily told him not to visit her again, leaving him confused.

• Chen Shouyi noticed his Strength and Will had improved after practicing the third optimized cultivation method.
• Chen Shouyi frightened some children who were splashing passersby, and they decided to go dig for cicada nymphs in the park.
• Chen Shouyi and the pedestrians watched three fighter jets fly over Hedong, and he believed their return offered hope against the Barbarian God.
• Chen Shouyi gave Guan Miao her books and asked about the bruise on her face.
• Guan Miao claimed she had bumped into a door, told Chen Shouyi not to visit again, and walked away while he wondered what he had done wrong.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter introduces the concept of "Shell Girls," human-like robots designed for companionship, and the annual "Shell Girl Election" where people vote for their favorite models.
• The protagonist, Kaito, discovers a mysterious, damaged Shell Girl named "Coco" in his backyard.
• Kaito decides to repair Coco and enter her in the election to win the grand prize, which could help him pay for his ailing mother's medical expenses.

Character Developments

• Kaito: Initially apathetic and struggling with his mother's illness, Kaito becomes driven and caring as he takes responsibility for Coco.
• Coco: Initially unresponsive and damaged, Coco gradually exhibits signs of self-awareness and emotion as Kaito repairs her.

Significant Themes

• Humanity and identity: The chapter explores what it means to be human through Coco's development and the reactions of those around her.
• Responsibility and care: Kaito's decision to take care of Coco shows his growth in responsibility and empathy.
• The consequences of technology: The Shell Girls raise questions about the ethical implications of advanced AI and the potential for exploitation.

Character Interactions

• Kaito and Coco: Their relationship develops from Kaito's initial curiosity and obligation to a genuine bond as Coco becomes more sentient.
• Kaito and his mother: Their relationship is strained due to her illness, but Kaito's actions with Coco show his desire to care for her.
• Kaito and his friends: They initially laugh at Kaito's decision to enter Coco in the election but later show support as they see Coco's growth.

Chen Shouyi trained his growing durability and learned that cultists were being hunted across the safe zone. As soldiers tightened their search, the fugitive cultists Deng Shiming and Xu Dahu killed a couple and attacked soldiers while escaping into a crowded street.

• Chen Shouyi repeatedly hurled himself into a boulder to toughen his skin and internal organs, eventually shattering it.
• Chen Shouyi checked that the energy vortex in his dantian remained and considered cultivating in the other world.
• A soldier inspecting Chen Shouyi recognized his master-level Martial Artist Certificate and explained that soldiers were hunting cultists across the district.
• Deng Shiming and Xu Dahu discussed their failed recruitment efforts and decided to hide rather than flee through the guarded streets.
• When soldiers began checking rooms, Deng Shiming ordered Xu Dahu to kill the couple they had tied up, and the two concealed the bodies.
• Deng Shiming and Xu Dahu jumped from a balcony, killed two soldiers who confronted them, and fled into the crowded streets.

Chen Shouyi stopped Deng Shiming and Xu Dahu from killing people in the street, then set off on a short trip after telling Chen Xingyue to inform their parents. The chapter left him riding toward the city center with a backpack and quiver.

• Deng Shiming and Xu Dahu attacked people in the street, killing a soldier and sending the crowd into panic.
• Chen Shouyi intercepted Deng Shiming, shattered his arm with a single strike, and knocked him unconscious.
• Xu Dahu surrendered to Chen Shouyi and was taken into custody by soldiers, including Wang Yue.
• Chen Shouyi left the scene and reflected on his honorary government post and the freedom he had as a private-sector Martial Master.
• The next morning, Chen Shouyi told Chen Xingyue he was going away for a few days and gave her money to pass the news to their parents.
• Chen Shouyi bought a bicycle and rode toward the city center.

Chen Shouyi returned to the Space Channel and used his Martial Master Certificate to enter the Otherworld before dawn. There, he discovered that becoming a divine creature let him perceive souls, repel weak Nature Spirits, and summon powerful winds.

• Chen Shouyi rode through the expanding industrial district, passed his deserted old home, and reached the guarded Space Channel.
• The second lieutenant initially refused to let Chen Shouyi enter before dawn, but relented after seeing his Martial Master Certificate and consulting battalion commander Yue Long.
• Chen Shouyi entered the Otherworld, where his divine presence frightened the soldiers accompanying him.
• Chen Shouyi saw countless Nature Spirits and watched a weak one flee and vanish near him.
• Chen Shouyi summoned a whirlwind over ten meters high, then leapt from the steps and used a gust of wind to slow his fall before landing unharmed.

Chen Shouyi entered the Otherworld with Shell Girl, killed a giant wolf, and settled into the Fluorite Cave to cultivate. The chapter ended when he received a vision of a Barbarian tribe sacrificing to him as the God of Calamity.

• Chen Shouyi crossed the dark forest, where his aura dispelled weak Nature Spirits, while Shell Girl nervously urged him to return.
• A giant wolf ambushed Chen Shouyi, but he killed it with his Long Sword and carried its body to the Fluorite Cave.
• Chen Shouyi made the cave his shelter, while Shell Girl gathered nectar in the morning and he cooked the wolf's meat.
• After a night of cultivation, Chen Shouyi found that his Agility and Constitution had each increased by one point.
• Chen Shouyi saw a vision of several hundred people praying to the God of Calamity, and recognized them as the Barbarian tribe from the Dongning Space Channel.

Chen Shouyi discovered that his Book of Knowledge had changed as the barbarians’ faith in him spread across the tribe. The tribe abandoned the powerless Tree God and turned to the God of Calamity, leaving its survival under a new faith as winter approached.

• Chen Shouyi blocked the cave entrance, entered the Book of Knowledge, and saw that its space had expanded beneath a newly starry sky.
• Chen Shouyi recognized a bright star as a praying barbarian and suspected the stars represented his believers.
• More than two hundred barbarians prayed to a crude statue of the God of Calamity as the young shaman completed a blood sacrifice, expanding the Faith Domain and driving away the Nature Spirits.
• The Tree God lost its divine power, and the tribe faced dwindling food supplies, a harsh winter, and the deaths of elders attacked by Nature Spirits.
• The new chieftain led the tribe to abandon the Tree God and adopt Chen Shouyi as their god.

Chen Shouyi spent nearly ten days cultivating in the Otherworld, rapidly improving his attributes before deciding to return home. Before leaving, he crushed a crystal Shell Girl had found and suspected it had been a valuable diamond.

• Chen Shouyi found that the ritual’s starlight had faded and left the Book of Knowledge’s space without gaining strength or abilities from the believers.
• Chen Shouyi stomped down several holes to kill the Giant Beasts Shell Girl had spotted near the cave.
• After six days and nights of cultivation, Chen Shouyi raised his strength to 15.6 and agility to 15.4, bringing him close to the martial artist examination’s strength standard.
• Shell Girl showed Chen Shouyi a clear octahedral crystal, and he dismissed it as worthless before secretly picking it up.
• Chen Shouyi accidentally crushed the crystal and cut his fingers on its powder, making him suspect it was a diamond.
• Chen Shouyi told Shell Girl they were going home and set off through the Otherworld.

After returning from ten days in the wilderness, Chen Shouyi reunited with his family and accompanied Chen Xingyue to register at Jiangnan Martial Arts Academy. He arranged for her to avoid the dangerous Martial Artist assessment, then headed home with her.

• Chen Shouyi left the otherworld, ate breakfast, and unexpectedly met his former teacher Wang Ruyue.
• Chen Shouyi returned home, where his parents scolded him for disappearing for ten days and told him to accompany Chen Xingyue to register at the nearby academy.
• Chen Shouyi and Chen Xingyue rode to Jiangnan Martial Arts Academy and found crowds of applicants waiting to register.
• A Martial Arts Teacher recognized Chen Shouyi as Chief Chen and offered to arrange Chen Xingyue's registration.
• Chen Shouyi asked the teacher to keep Chen Xingyue out of the risky Martial Artist assessment, and the teacher suggested she could pursue a safer educational position.
• Chen Shouyi called Chen Xingyue away from the queue, and she teased him for claiming he knew no one at the academy.

Chen Shouyi watched the war against the barbarians escalate before accepting a mission to locate the Barbarian church’s leaders in Ningzhou. He arrived behind the front lines and was met by Li Weiguo, who was taking him to headquarters.

• Chen Shouyi read reports of the army’s advance into Ningzhou and later reached a thousand kilograms of strength after several days of cultivating on Earth.
• Chen Shouyi visited his family’s restaurant, where Mother Chen joked with a customer about finding him a girlfriend.
• Bai Xiaoling told Chen Shouyi that the fighting in Ningzhou had stalled and asked him to locate the Barbarian church’s leaders for an airstrike.
• Chen Shouyi agreed to the mission and was told that Colonel Xiao Changming had been missing in Ningzhou for three days.
• Chen Shouyi flew into Ningzhou by helicopter and met Li Weiguo, who escorted him toward headquarters.

Chen Shouyi learned that the barbarians' main base in Ningzhou was still uncertain and that the army was prepared to destroy Dongning if the Barbarian God appeared. After witnessing the slaughter at the front, he crossed into barbarian-controlled territory to search for the lair.

• Wang Jianfeng and Staff Officer Xing briefed Chen Shouyi on the suspected barbarian base and gave him a laser pointer to guide a bombing run once he found it.
• An officer told Chen Shouyi that Dongning was under blockade and that nuclear forces were waiting to strike if the Barbarian God appeared; Chen Shouyi revealed he was from Dongning.
• A tattooed barbarian attacked soldiers at the front, but Chen Shouyi killed him inside a nearby building.
• Chen Shouyi leaped across buildings and slipped past the front line into territory controlled by the barbarians.
• Chen Shouyi watched an armed squad of puppet troops pass and then moved onto a nearby rooftop.

Chen Shouyi infiltrated a city controlled by the Savage God Church while disguised as an old man and searched for the military intelligence target. He reached Baocheng District at dusk, where he needed to locate the target before daybreak.

• Chen Shouyi entered an empty house, took down a silk painting, and wrapped his Long Sword in it.
• Chen Shouyi altered his face and then disguised himself as an elderly man after noticing that the streets held only elderly pedestrians.
• Chen Shouyi avoided the church of the God of Hunting, but two savage guards pursued him; he killed both and hid their bodies in a sewer.
• Chen Shouyi reached Baocheng District around five o’clock and hurried to search for the target identified in the military intelligence.

Chen Shouyi discovered that humans served the barbarians as priests and soldiers, deepening his hatred of the collaborators. He broke into a church and confronted the human priest Cao Weizhong, whose faith remained firm as Chen Shouyi threatened him.

• Chen Shouyi overheard barbarians discuss a human Chief Priest and their resentment toward human rule within the Hunting God’s faith.
• Chen Shouyi hid from fighter jets, then concluded that human traitors were even more detestable than the barbarians.
• Cao Weizhong reflected on his devotion to the God of Hunting and worried that the Government Army’s escalating campaign could destroy the god.
• Chen Shouyi entered Cao Weizhong’s bedroom, held a sword to his throat, and challenged his belief in the god’s power and the Divine Kingdom.
• Cao Weizhong recognized Chen Shouyi but refused to respond to his demand, believing that betraying his faith would fail God’s test.

Chen Shouyi killed Cao Weizhong, found documents pointing to a former hotel as a possible Savage God Church meeting site, and went there. He killed the barbarian waiting inside and hurried away as the dying enemy tried to warn others.

• Chen Shouyi beat Cao Weizhong for information, killed him when he refused to cooperate, and searched the bedroom's filing cabinet.
• Chen Shouyi found documents signed by Luo Zongshan and a month-old meeting notice naming the God of Hunting Church Building at the former Limei Grand Hotel.
• Chen Shouyi crossed Ningzhou after the fighter jets left and reached the hotel, where dust suggested nobody had visited for at least a week.
• Xiao Changming confronted Chen Shouyi in barbarian form and said the human Chief Priest had predicted another prey would come.
• Chen Shouyi killed Xiao Changming with a sword strike and hurried away while Xiao Changming tried to shout an enemy attack warning.

Chen Shouyi discovered the cult’s lair was in a nearby subway station, then used a laser designator to guide fighter jets into bombing the area. After escaping the blast zone, he killed a priest and the human night patrolmen who tried to arrest him.

• Chen Shouyi ambushed and slaughtered seven barbarians, then realized their heavy patrols suggested the cult’s lair was nearby.
• He used the memory world to learn that the cult’s lair was in a nearby subway station and escaped onto the rooftops when barbarians found him.
• Chen Shouyi used a laser designator to guide fighter jets toward the lair, then fled as the bombing turned the area into a sea of fire.
• After running several kilometers, Chen Shouyi encountered a priest who shouted for help and killed him with a slap.
• Human night patrolmen tried to arrest Chen Shouyi, but their bullets failed to hurt him, and he killed the remaining patrolmen with his Long Sword.

After finishing his mission, Chen Shouyi was confronted by the wounded barbarian who had hunted him in the virtual memory world. Their fight left Chen Shouyi badly injured, but he recovered enough to stand and face the barbarian again.

• Chen Shouyi survived close-range rifle fire, judged his mission complete, and prepared to leave the burning battlefield.
• The barbarian emerged and attacked Chen Shouyi, who tricked him by shouting about a plane and fled through nearby apartments.
• Chen Shouyi stopped running and wounded the barbarian across the abdomen with Sword Qi.
• The barbarian stunned Chen Shouyi with a phantom beast and struck him through a building, breaking his chest.
• Chen Shouyi recovered from his injuries and advanced toward the wounded barbarian, taunting him to keep fighting.

Chen Shouyi fought a brutal battle with a barbarian devoted to the God of Hunting and finally killed him, though he was badly injured. He left the devastated street as the city’s residents feared the war was turning against them, still carrying his battlefield observer’s pass.

• Chen Shouyi and the barbarian continued their fight through a building and into the street, where they accidentally killed a patrol squad caught in their path.
• As both fighters weakened, Chen Shouyi stalled to recover while the barbarian refused to let him go.
• Chen Shouyi launched another attack, drove his Long Sword into the barbarian’s shoulder, and cut through most of his chest, killing him.
• Chen Shouyi walked away in agony while nearby residents and soldiers watched from a distance and worried about the retreating front lines.
• At dawn, Chen Shouyi checked his pockets and found that his temporary battlefield observer’s pass was still with him.

After returning from his mission to destroy the cult’s lair, Chen Shouyi learned that the enemy forces were collapsing and reunited with Shell Girl at home. He ended the chapter worrying that the powerful Beast Soul Warriors he faced on Earth could be even more dangerous in the Other World.

• Chen Shouyi left the battlefield under escort after submitting to identification and an anti-cult inspection, then handed in his mission report at the command center.
• After resting, Chen Shouyi learned that puppet troops were surrendering and Ningzhou had fallen into chaos following the cult’s defeat.
• Chen Shouyi returned home by helicopter and found Shell Girl hiding beneath the covers; he gave her two Crystal Balls.
• Chen Shouyi recalled fighting a powerful Beast Soul Warrior and wondered whether such warriors could wield even stronger abilities in the Other World.

Chen Shouyi gave Chen Yuwei advice on beginning martial arts, while Chen Xingyue explained his improved method for Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self. After breakfast, he tested his growing Sword Qi and decided to keep training his will.

• Chen Yuwei asked Chen Xingyue for help with a sword technique, and Chen Xingyue suggested asking Chen Shouyi instead.
• Chen Shouyi advised Chen Yuwei to focus on the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms and Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self before pursuing combat techniques.
• Chen Xingyue explained Chen Shouyi's improved method of Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self, and she and Chen Yuwei went upstairs to practice.
• Chen Shouyi checked his Status Panel and saw that his will had increased by 0.2.
• Chen Shouyi tested his Sword Qi on a chopstick and found that it could reach nearly seven centimeters, then decided to keep training his will.