Chapter Summaries

Feng Jun returned to Blue Star and offered Lin Beauty a large donation of gold to help Xia Nation promote its currency as a reserve standard and reduce reliance on the Mairui Dollar. He asked that some protective forces be withdrawn, and Lin Beauty agreed to report his proposal while asking how much gold he could provide.

• Feng Jun returned to Luo Hua, showed Yang Yuxin and Zhong Lijing two enormous Qi Refining Stage insects, and had everyone prepare them for a meal.
• Lin Beauty visited Feng Jun to ask about the Thunderstone battery, and Feng Jun gave her three more samples for research.
• Feng Jun explained that gold was a natural currency and offered to donate a batch to Xia Nation for its currency and de-Mairui Dollarization efforts.
• Lin Beauty asked whether Feng Jun wanted anything in return, and he said he had no personal demands except that some protective forces be withdrawn.
• Lin Beauty promised to report Feng Jun's offer and asked how much gold he could provide.

Feng Jun offered to provide hundreds of thousands of tons of gold to support linking Xia Currency to the Gold Standard, while warning that cooperation should be handled sincerely. After more than a month of negotiations, Lin Beauty returned, and Feng Jun made clear that a failed deal would cost him little.

• Feng Jun told Lin Beauty he could initially provide three hundred thousand tons of gold, with several million tons possible later if matters went smoothly.
• Lin Beauty's pendant alerted her watchers, who urged her to treat Feng Jun's offer as urgent, while she asked about the gold's purity and delivery.
• Feng Jun explained that he had seventy-percent-purity Gold Nugget and rejected Lin Beauty's clumsy question about guards' gender or appearance.
• A helicopter took Lin Beauty away twenty minutes later, and Feng Jun told Yang Yuxin that future visitors should face obstacles so they understood access was not automatic.
• More than a month later, Lin Beauty returned to meet Feng Jun, who said he was unconcerned if the Gold Standard deal fell through because he did not depend on gold.

Feng Jun and Lin Beauty agreed in principle on using his gold to support a currency reform, and he selected an abandoned mine shaft in Jinzhou as the storage site. After authorities secured the location, Feng Jun arrived with gold prepared for delivery and shut off the mine's lights.

• Lin Beauty explained that currency reform required extensive preparation, and Feng Jun apologized for rushing her.
• Lin Beauty said the reform had been approved in principle and asked Feng Jun to provide gold as its stabilizing pillar.
• Feng Jun chose an abandoned mine shaft in Jinzhou from seven proposed sites, and Lin Beauty arranged for him to transport the gold the following night.
• Authorities took over the mine project, sent troops to secure the area, and prepared to build barracks.
• Feng Jun prepared gold cubes in the Hasala Desert and traveled to the mine shaft the next night.
• Feng Jun inspected the spacious underground area and pulled the breaker to turn off the lights.

Feng Jun’s gold discoveries drew the attention of Luo Hua and Xia Nation, and he allowed Luo Hua’s people to collect gold sand while considering the country’s request for more of his reserves. After receiving official recognition for his donation, he faced the prospect of Xia Nation managing his gold supply, and accepted that he could not keep control of it.

• Feng Jun cut power to the construction site, and workers discovered the tunnel floor covered in gold nuggets the next morning.
• Li Shishi asked to collect gold sand, so Feng Jun took Luo Hua’s people to gather nearly twenty tons of fragments, which he gave them as a benefit.
• Yin Mingyue handled refining the gold sand, while people who noticed the gold deferred to Feng Jun’s ownership.
• Lin Beauty brought Feng Jun an official receipt for his donation of more than 430,000 tons of gold nuggets and explained that Xia Nation had begun producing industrial-grade gold components.
• Lin Beauty asked Feng Jun to turn over his remaining gold so Xia Nation could manage its reserves and establish a Gold Standard peg.
• Feng Jun argued that the gold should not be shown to other countries, then acknowledged that he could no longer retain control of the reserves.

Feng Jun and Lin Beauty argued over how much gold Xia Nation needed to establish and maintain the Gold Standard, but Feng Jun committed to supplying his planned amount for five years rather than promise more. After Lin Beauty left, Chief Officer warned her to respect Feng Jun’s limits and avoid making Xia Nation dependent on him.

• Feng Jun told Lin Beauty he would provide another hundred thousand tons of Gold Nugget before the end of the year and continue supplying the same amount annually for five years.
• Lin Beauty explained that Xia Currency might need far more gold to support global circulation, but Feng Jun refused to guarantee supplies beyond five years.
• Feng Jun argued that Xia Nation could manage currency issuance and should let others earn achievements rather than rely entirely on him.
• Lin Beauty ended the discussion when her pendant heated up and confirmed that the power would be cut before their next meeting.
• Chief Officer told Lin Beauty that Feng Jun likely had vast gold reserves but that Xia Nation needed to restrain itself and avoid depending on him.

Feng Jun tested his Obsidian knowledge-transfer method on Zhang Caixin, leaving her in agony and unable to deliver the second batch of gold. He assigned Yu Qingzhu to transport it to Jinzhou, while she accepted the task eager to prove her place in Luo Hua.

• Feng Jun and the Guardians examined his Obsidian pieces and selected five that set safe limits for transferring knowledge.
• Feng Jun transmitted the Insectoid World language to Zhang Caixin, who suffered for hours and remained bedridden the next day.
• Feng Jun reflected on his former unrequited feelings for Yu Qingzhu and how his priorities had changed as he advanced in cultivation.
• Feng Jun asked Yu Qingzhu to deliver the second batch of gold to Jinzhou in Zhang Caixin's place, and she readily agreed.

Feng Jun helped Lin Beauty assess plans for destroying Thunderstone as Xia Nation’s gold reserves and possible Gold Standard stirred international turmoil. After his Divination impressed the experts, he brushed off a question about his calculations by saying he was a humanities monk.

• Yu Qingzhu delivered the gold smoothly, and Feng Jun gradually shared information about the Insectoid World while taking greater care after Zhang Caixin’s experience.
• Persia, North Xianluo, and other countries made moves and statements about gold as Xia Nation’s currency and reserves, while Mairui Country denied that a new refining method existed and warned that gold was radioactive.
• Xia Nation announced a rich gold deposit and said it was considering putting the Xia Currency on the Gold Standard, as intruders were caught near an abandoned coal mine in Jinzhou and foreign harassment of gold-industry workers increased.
• Lin Beauty told Feng Jun that Thunderstone could not be synthesized and asked him to assess self-destruction plans for a piece intended as bait; Feng Jun agreed to perform Divination on site.
• Feng Jun examined the plans in Cultural Town and estimated their explosive yields, impressing the experts, then replied to a question about his method by saying he was a humanities monk.

Feng Jun defended his divination of explosive yields to skeptical experts, while a stolen prototype battery was linked to the destruction of a Mairui Country research vessel. A materials scholar then asked Feng Jun to divine a way past his stalled research project, leaving Feng Jun doubtful of the scholar’s sincerity.

• Feng Jun told the experts that his predictions came from Changes Numerology and Six Lines, and one scholar from a distinguished lineage said he believed him because mysticism had produced repeatable results.
• A Xia Nation research institute discovered that an unknown prototype battery had astonishing performance, detained it for an explanation, and later found it missing from a safe.
• Ten days later, a Mairui Country research vessel exploded and sank; Mairui Country blamed a terrorist organization and accused Xia Nation of leaking the ship’s route, while Brui Country newspapers highlighted electromagnetic interference.
• A materials scholar who had previously met Feng Jun visited him because his six-year research project had stalled and he suspected the stolen battery was connected to Feng Jun’s earlier evaluation.
• The scholar asked Feng Jun to divine the material composition and synthesis process, and Feng Jun questioned whether the scholar had come to him only as a last resort.

A scholar sought Feng Jun’s help with a stalled research project, and Lin Beauty coached him on conditions that might appeal to Feng Jun. Feng Jun accepted the proposal in principle while warning Lin Beauty against interfering again, and the scholar arrived at the mountain gate with a container truck.

• Feng Jun sent the scholar away after he offered money and suggested listing them jointly as inventors.
• Lin Beauty told the scholar that Feng Jun did not need money and suggested licensing the patent first to Xia Nation companies, charging foreign companies more, and donating part of the fees to Cultural Town.
• The scholar returned three days later and proposed those conditions, including donating one-fourth of collected licensing fees to Cultural Town.
• Feng Jun questioned how much Lin Beauty had charged for her advice, then warned her not to interfere recklessly again.
• The scholar arrived at the mountain gate with a container truck and said he had an appointment to see Boss Feng.

Feng Jun used Divination to derive two distinct synthesis processes for new materials, and tests confirmed both approaches worked. As the scholar prepared to leave, Lin Beauty warned him to forget his visit to Zhengyang and Luo Hua, but he wondered whether Feng Jun’s hidden importance lay in cancer treatment.

• Feng Jun spent a day performing Divination and gave the scholar a USB drive containing military and civilian synthesis plans.
• Lin Beauty insisted that her organization receive the test results first, and the scholar arranged for the files to be escorted and tested overnight.
• The scholar explained to Lin Beauty that Feng Jun had devised two approaches using different catalyst series, which she attributed to his Divination ability.
• On the third day, tests confirmed that both processes produced materials with identical compositions but different properties.
• Lin Beauty told the departing scholar to forget his visit to Zhengyang and Luo Hua, and he tentatively asked if Feng Jun’s importance involved cancer treatment.

Feng Jun learned that officials had arranged security for his parents and agreed to help Lin Beauty with three divinations. When she asked about a Plasma Cannon, he offered to provide an actual single-soldier-grade weapon, leaving Lin Beauty eager to learn where he had obtained it.

• Lin Beauty reported Feng Jun's importance to her superiors, who scolded her, while Feng Jun later heard that the experiment had succeeded.
• Feng Wenhui told Feng Jun that a new security team had set up a checkpoint near the family home, and Feng Jun explained they were there to protect his parents.
• Feng Jun told Feng Wenhui that he had participated in the Gold Standard matter and asked him to keep it private.
• Feng Jun confronted Lin Beauty about the security team, then agreed to provide three divinations if each involved a physical object and was not too large a project.
• When Lin Beauty asked whether he could divine a Plasma Cannon, Feng Jun offered to give her an actual single-soldier-grade one and said Gazi would deliver it and explain its precautions.
• Lin Beauty promised that Feng Jun would not be asked to help with Plasma Cannon research, then asked where he had obtained the weapon.

Feng Jun’s influence shielded him from an investigation into his Plasma Cannon, while Yang Yuxin proposed using Soul Search to acquire communications expertise for Gu Jiahui and Mortal Communications. The chapter ended with Lin Beauty’s faction realizing Feng Jun’s divination services had become a hot potato as more people sought his help.

• After testing Feng Jun’s Plasma Cannon, officials failed to question him and tried to press Gazi for answers, but Gazi refused to explain its origins and drank more than fifty people under the table.
• Feng Jun’s many businesses and Xia Currency’s Gold Standard project made his protective network too powerful for the Plasma Cannon investigation to challenge.
• Yang Yuxin urged Feng Jun to use Soul Search on two disgraced communications executives, whose knowledge could help address the Kunhao Realm’s shortage of communications experts.
• After graduating from Tsinghua–Peking, Gu Jiahui pursued communications work and asked Feng Jun to obtain expertise for her through Soul Search and Obsidian.
• Feng Jun located the two targets, performed divination for Lin Beauty’s faction, and prepared to Soul Search the executive planning to immigrate to Mairui Country.
• As more researchers sought Feng Jun’s divination help, Lin Beauty and her colleagues realized their effort to manage access had created a hot potato.

Lin Beauty confronted Gu Jiahui after learning Feng Jun’s soul search had left a protected spy mentally impaired, while Feng Jun reflected on how the search had gone wrong. He later used a Soul-Search Talisman on another target, taking care not to repeat the mistake.

• Lin Beauty secured Feng Jun’s agreement to divine the materials project, and his results provided a synthesis process and specifications exceeding the designer’s requirements.
• Lin Beauty went to Luo Hua’s gate demanding an explanation for a protected man becoming an idiot, then spoke with Gu Jiahui at the Recovery Center.
• Gu Jiahui admitted Luo Hua was responsible and claimed the man had been used to test a secret technique because he was a spy, while Lin Beauty said she wanted to protect Feng Jun’s image.
• Feng Jun concluded his careful, repeated Soul Search had unintentionally turned the first man into an idiot while extracting his extensive communications knowledge.
• Three days later, Feng Jun used a Soul-Search Talisman on another deserving target and obtained most of the relevant knowledge.

Feng Jun weighed the dangers of relying on Soul Search and agreed to help the agricultural science system after Good Scenery appealed to him. Lin Beauty then revealed that she knew he was seeking communications experts and offered him a list of scum in exchange for help with Xia Nation’s uncertain gold reserves.

• Feng Jun recognized that Soul Search was tempting because it gave him knowledge quickly, and resolved not to use it casually again.
• Good Scenery persuaded Feng Jun to help the agricultural science system with its Divination project, while the system taunted Lin Beauty’s group for securing a fourth slot.
• Lin Beauty inferred that Feng Jun had Soul Searched Zhang Xianfeng and asked him to help in return for a list of scum, especially electronics specialists.
• Feng Jun agreed to consider the list, which mostly named people overseas, and Lin Beauty explained that foreign countries could exploit any incident involving them.
• Lin Beauty told Feng Jun that Mairui Country knew Xia Nation had substantial gold reserves but could not confirm the reported figure of one hundred thousand tons.

Feng Jun discussed Xia Nation's effort to use Plasma Cannon technology to distract attention from the Gold Standard, then gave Lin Beauty an alien curved blade to study. He revealed that a space battleship could fire weapons across hundreds of thousands of kilometers and that the alien world was at war, leaving Lin Beauty asking who the enemy was.

• Lin Beauty proposed drawing attention away from the Gold Standard by publicizing the Plasma Cannon project, and Feng Jun agreed the currency crisis justified revealing some future weapons.
• Lin Beauty pressed Feng Jun about other alien weapons, but he warned that Xia Nation was overestimating how quickly it could reproduce the technology.
• Feng Jun gave Lin Beauty an alien curved blade, explaining that its materials could advance Xia Nation's research, and refused to provide firearms because it was not the right time.
• Feng Jun revealed that a space battleship carried the longest-range weapon he knew of, which could reach several hundred thousand kilometers, and said Lin Beauty could not safely travel to the alien world.
• Feng Jun told Lin Beauty he was wanted there and described the alien world as being in an extremely brutal war.
• Lin Beauty asked whether the enemy in the war was the aliens' own kind.

Feng Jun gave Lin Beauty three energy blocks and information about the people he called scum, while revealing more about his experiences beyond the Human Race. Lin Beauty recognized that her admiration for him had changed how she dealt with him and asked to be transferred, though her superior worried that replacing her would damage their hard-won rapport with Feng Jun.

• Feng Jun told Lin Beauty that the people he had encountered were not from the Human Race and offered to provide three energy blocks for the plasma cannon project.
• Lin Beauty invited Feng Jun to watch the project test its weapons, but he refused and said he might try to bring back a space warship someday.
• Lin Beauty handed Feng Jun information about the scum, and Feng Jun gave her three energy blocks.
• After returning to her office, Lin Beauty admitted to her superior that she had developed admiration for Feng Jun and applied to leave her liaison position.
• Lin Beauty's superior warned that replacing her could cost them Feng Jun's trust, and Lin Beauty agreed to train someone while her superior urged her to adjust her mindset.

Xia Nation tested drone defenses during an exercise and revealed a weapon that foreign observers mistook for a powerful electromagnetic cannon. Mairui media then claimed Xia Nation had deployed laser weapons near the Gold Standard refinery, prompting Western Continent countries to demand information and assurances.

• Lin Beauty warned that prying into Feng Jun’s secrets could make him ruthless if he turned against them, while her contact urged her to take things slowly because Feng Jun still cared about Xia Nation.
• Xia Nation held an exercise near the Lakemarta Desert to test armored formations and electronic warfare against drones, with foreign military observers watching.
• A white streak struck a drone at extreme speed, and the observers could not identify the weapon; satellite footage led the Brui people to call it a new electromagnetic cannon.
• Mairui media claimed Xia Nation had deployed laser weapons near the Gold Standard refinery and could destroy satellites, using the claim to pressure Xia Nation and rally its allies.
• Western Continent countries called on Xia Nation to disclose information about high-power laser weapons and promise not to use them casually.

Western countries argued over Xia Nation’s gold reserves and laser weapons while Mairui Country’s effort to challenge the Xia Currency lost focus amid internal disputes. Lin Beauty pressed Feng Jun for the urgently needed third batch of gold because the rabbit skin could no longer be worn.

• Leo Kingdom proposed an international inspection of Xia Nation’s Lakemarta Desert gold refinery, citing pollution, human rights, and nearby laser weapons.
• Xia Nation rejected Leo Kingdom’s demands and challenged Mairui Country over its own gold reserves.
• A Mairui legislator called for increased military spending, while Lu'er Nation urged the Western Continent to develop laser weapons.
• Rome Country and Brui Country criticized Lu'er Nation, but their remarks helped shift Mairui Country’s debate toward laser weapons.
• Lin Beauty urged Feng Jun to arrange the third batch of gold before the year ended because the rabbit skin had worn out.

Xia Nation announced plans to peg Xia Currency to gold, then followed with a series of scientific and economic announcements timed to dominate the Christmas news cycle. After the holiday, Mairui Country blamed Xia Nation for the killing of laser expert William Smith, which drew attention away from the currency reform and may have provided cover for Feng Jun.

• Xia Nation announced that it intended to consider pegging Xia Currency to gold, and Xia Currency surged as the news spread.
• Over the next four days, Xia Nation announced a cold-resistant material, rare-earth settlements in Xia Currency, drought- and salt-resistant rice, and industrial production of graphene bulletproof vests.
• After Christmas, Mairui Country learned that William Smith had been killed by a hit-and-run truck driver and accused Xia Nation of arranging his death.
• Mairui Country publicized Smith's achievements, then realized the campaign was also promoting laser weapons and struggled to return attention to Xia Currency's gold peg.
• The account explained that Smith had been hostile toward Xia Nation and suggested his death might provide Feng Jun with cover, though its wider effect remained uncertain.

After Feng Jun Soul Searched eight communications experts abroad, he returned to Chaoyang for Spring Festival with several companions. Zhang Caixin began advancing to Emergence from Dust near the small lake, forcing Feng Jun to stay and guard her; he also visited the checkpoint protecting his parents and gave its two young guards Body-Tempering Pills.

• Lin Beauty told Feng Jun to act after William Smith's death, which would help cover his actions and reduce the resulting attention.
• Feng Jun Soul Searched eight people from Mairui Country, the Western Continent, and the Leo Kingdom, then returned to Chaoyang for Spring Festival with his companions.
• Zhang Caixin sensed that she was nearing Emergence from Dust and chose to advance by the small lake, so Feng Jun sent the other families back and stayed with Red Sister and Zhong Lijing to guard her.
• Feng Jun visited the two young men guarding the checkpoint near his parents' home and gave them Body-Tempering Pills after learning how long they had been working.
• Red Sister brought a portable shower unit and water containers so the guards could wash after taking the pills.