Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chulan brought Feng Baobao to Zhuge Qing at the Bureau of Anomalous Phenomena Management and Coordination, fearing the visit was a test. After learning that Zhang Chulan had suspected him, Zhuge Qing asked about Feng Baobao, and Zhang Chulan told him her history; the chapter ended with Zhuge Qing asking Feng Baobao what he should do with her.

• Xu San drove Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao to the Bureau of Anomalous Phenomena Management and Coordination and warned Zhang Chulan to keep them both safe.
• Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao entered the Bureau and followed a staff member to Zhuge Qing's office.
• Zhang Chulan told Feng Baobao to beg Zhuge Qing for mercy, and her awkward performance made Zhuge Qing laugh.
• Zhuge Qing asked whether Zhao Fangxu had advised Zhang Chulan, and Zhang Chulan admitted that he had sought the former chairman's guidance.
• Zhang Chulan recounted Feng Baobao's lost memories, her life as A-Wu, and her search for her origins with Na Dou Tong.
• Zhuge Qing approached Feng Baobao and asked what she thought he should do with her.

Zhuge Qing accepted Feng Baobao’s explanation and decided she was not a threat, easing Zhang Chulan’s fear that she would be captured. He led Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao through the vast organization he commanded and brought them to the Body Cultivation Furnace to investigate Feng Baobao’s secret.

• Feng Baobao told Zhuge Qing that she trusted Zhang Chulan’s judgment and wanted to understand her own past, just as Zhuge Qing did.
• Zhuge Qing said immortality was only a byproduct of seeking truth and agreed that Feng Baobao was right.
• Zhang Chulan relaxed and followed Zhuge Qing with Feng Baobao out of the office.
• Zhang Chulan saw scientists, military officers, researchers, and Outsiders show Zhuge Qing deep respect, revealing the scale of his organization.
• Zhuge Qing led Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao into a vast chamber containing the Body Cultivation Furnace.

Zhuge Qing explained how Double Full Hands and the Body Cultivation Furnace could manipulate and analyze Primordial Qi. Feng Baobao entered the activated furnace so it could investigate what had happened to her, leaving Zhang Chulan to watch anxiously.

• Zhuge Qing described how cultivation developed new senses for perceiving Primordial Qi and how Double Full Hands directly shaped life and destiny.
• Zhuge Qing explained that the Body Cultivation Furnace recorded and processed the Primordial Qi touched by Double Full Hands.
• Feng Baobao realized the furnace might uncover what had happened to her and asked to enter it.
• Zhuge Qing asked Ma Xianhong to prepare the furnace, and Ma Xianhong readied the equipment.
• Feng Baobao entered the furnace as its alloy doors closed and its runes lit up.

The Body Cultivation Furnace exploded while testing Feng Baobao, whose energy proved unusually fluid and adaptive, leaving her unharmed and the researchers eager to study her. Zhuge Qing received an invitation to the World Outsider Conference and an encrypted request from Zhao Fangxu to resolve a confrontation with the Tang Sect.

• Ma Xianhong activated the Body Cultivation Furnace and discovered that Feng Baobao's energy adapted constantly to its surroundings.
• The furnace overloaded and exploded, but Feng Baobao emerged unharmed and denied responsibility.
• Researchers crowded around Feng Baobao, and Zhuge Qing told Zhang Chulan to take her back while the tests were halted.
• Zhuge Qing considered the strength he needed to pursue his ambitions at the World Outsider Conference, which Japan would host.
• Zhuge Qing read Zhao Fangxu's email saying the Tang Sect had refused to share its cultivation methods and clashed with the company's negotiators, prompting Zhao to ask him to intervene.

Zhuge Qing confronted Tang Sect’s leaders with the failing finances of their martial arts school and argued that preserving its lethal methods required adapting to the modern era. Tang Miaoxing acknowledged the sect had reached a dead end and asked Zhuge Qing to show them a way forward.

• Tang Miaoxing and Zhang Wang resisted Zhao Fangxu’s request for Tang Sect to submit its methods, while Tang Miaoxing waited for someone else to arrive.
• Zhuge Qing entered the reception hall, and Zhao Fangxu introduced him to Tang Miaoxing, Zhang Wang, and Tang Qiushan.
• Zhuge Qing explained that Tang Sect’s martial arts school was losing money because its killing techniques had little appeal or practical use for modern students.
• Zhuge Qing warned that Tang Sect could not preserve its lineage by clinging to its old ways, leaving the three leaders shaken.
• Tang Miaoxing bowed to Zhuge Qing and asked him to point Tang Sect toward a path forward.

Zhuge Qing offered the Tang Sect a future by proposing that its methods train soldiers created with the Body Cultivation Furnace. He left Tang Miaoxing and Zhang Wang stunned by adding that military backing could free the person held in the Tang Tomb.

• Zhao Fangxu realized Tang Miaoxing had been waiting for Zhuge Qing to offer the Tang Sect a lifeline.
• Zhang Wang confronted Tang Miaoxing for compromising the sect’s honor, while Tang Miaoxing said he would seek forgiveness from their ancestors.
• Zhuge Qing explained that the Tang Sect’s assassination methods clashed with modern society but could be suited to military use.
• Zhang Wang objected that the few Outsiders available could not form an organized special forces unit.
• Zhuge Qing revealed that the Body Cultivation Furnace could create ordinary people with supernatural abilities and proposed that Tang Sect experts train soldiers to use its methods.
• Zhuge Qing said military backing could let the person held in the Tang Tomb walk out openly and honorably.

Zhuge Qing secured the Tang Sect’s inheritance and arranged military cooperation, including the use of its practical combat techniques. Two months later, he led Zhang Chulan, Wang Ye, and company fighters aboard a private jet to attend the World Outsider Conference on Nathan Island.

• Zhuge Qing revealed that he knew the Tang Sect’s secret about Xu Xin, convincing Tang Miaoxing to hand over the sect’s inheritances and accept cooperation with the military.
• Tang Miaoxing explained how Tang Sect disciples’ poison-trained bodies made Dan Devour possible and dangerous, while Zhuge Qing reviewed the sect’s techniques.
• Zhuge Qing mediated an agreement between the Tang Sect and military representatives to apply techniques such as Instant Strike, Five Treasures Bodyguard, and Phantom Body Miasma.
• Zhao Fangxu left to carry out the company’s changes, while Zhuge Qing turned his attention to the World Outsider Conference on Nathan Island.
• Two months later, Zhuge Qing gathered Zhang Chulan, Wang Ye, Xiao Zizai, Black Pipe, and other company fighters at Beijing Capital International Airport and led them onto a private jet bound for the conference.

Zhuge Qing briefed the team on Nathan Island, whose God Tree made every child born there an Outsider, and revealed that Behemoth had sent three carrier strike groups toward the island. The team’s mission was to persuade the newly enthroned Nathan King to ask for their help so they could intervene through cooperation.

• Er Zhuang explained that Nathan Island’s God Tree granted Outsider abilities to every child born there, prompting Zhang Chulan to compare it to the Body Cultivation Furnace.
• Wang Ye speculated that the God Tree might explain how the Eight Extraordinary Skills had been obtained.
• Black Pipe asked about the mission, and Zhuge Qing revealed Behemoth’s fleets approaching Nathan Island.
• Zhuge Qing said Behemoth had likely timed its mobilization to exploit a possible transition of power on the island.
• Zhuge Qing told the team to make the new Nathan King voluntarily request their help, allowing them to intervene through cooperation rather than force.

Zhuge Qing and the others arrived in Japan for an international Outsider gathering, where Zhuge Qing’s past defeat of Behemoth’s Hero Shawn drew attention and Ron tried to recruit him. The banquet’s mood shifted when the president of the Fish Dragon Society entered with the King from Nathan Island.

• Zhuge Qing’s group arrived at their hotel, where Wang Ye set up a Qimen formation and Zhuge Qing contacted Er Zhuang for information about the conference.
• At the banquet, Black Pipe told Zhang Chulan that Zhuge Qing had once defeated Behemoth’s Hero Shawn alone during a rescue mission in Europe.
• Ron greeted Zhuge Qing, offered him a job at Behemoth for three times his pay, and then introduced him to leaders of foreign Outsider organizations.
• The Fish Dragon Society’s president entered the banquet hall with the King from Nathan Island, prompting the crowd to fall silent.

The King of Nathan arrived at the banquet, where Ron of Behemoth paraded her before the assembled Outsider organizations. As Zhuge Qing asked her about Li Muxuan, a strange electronic song began playing throughout the hall and an explosion erupted beneath it.

• The King of Nathan entered the banquet, surprising Zhang Chulan and the other guests with her youthful appearance.
• Ron introduced himself to the King and took her around the hall to meet representatives of Outsider organizations.
• Ron brought the King to Zhuge Qing, who asked whether she knew Li Muxuan, prompting her to show curiosity.
• The hall darkened as electronic devices began playing a distorted nursery rhyme, alerting the Outsiders to an attack.
• A chain of explosions struck beneath the banquet hall, shaking the hotel and cracking the marble floor.

An onmyoji attack trapped the hotel’s Outsider gathering in a barrier and unleashed deadly shikigami, but Zhuge Qing’s Samadhi flames protected the guests while Wang Ye broke the barrier. Zhang Chulan and the others located the attackers, and Black Pipe arrived with orders to capture them alive.

• An explosion shook the hotel’s top floor as blood and shikigami emerged, and the onmyoji barrier suppressed the guests’ powers.
• Black Pipe identified the monsters as shikigami, while Ishikawa Shin recognized the barrier’s threat to the gathered Outsider leaders.
• Zhuge Qing burned the shikigami with Samadhi flames and ordered Wang Ye and the others to find the attackers.
• Wang Ye spread his Qimen formation across the top floor and broke the onmyoji barrier from within.
• The leading onmyoji spat blood as the barrier collapsed, and Zhang Chulan appeared behind the group.
• Black Pipe blocked the room’s exit and told Zhang Chulan to take the onmyoji alive.

After Zhuge Qing and Wang Ye helped stop the attack on the conference banquet, the Bihua Ninja plot was exposed and Nathan Island announced a royal succession ceremony. Behemoth sent a fleet to seize the island, and Zhuge Qing led his team to meet Leng Feng aboard a cargo ship as they prepared to set out.

• Wang Ye broke the barrier, allowing the Outsiders to regain their abilities, and Zhuge Qing's Samadhi True Fire helped destroy the shikigami.
• Ron blamed Ishikawa Shin for the attack, while Xiao Zizai and Black Pipe brought captured Onmyoji to aid the investigation.
• Black Pipe reported that the Bihua Ninja had orchestrated the attack to kill senior representatives and create a power vacuum.
• The King of Nathan announced that the Golden Bough had been recovered and that the coronation would take place on Nathan Island in three days.
• Behemoth condemned the ceremony and sent a carrier fleet to Nathan Island, revealing its plan to take control of the island.
• Zhuge Qing led Zhang Chulan, Wang Ye, Xiao Zizai, and Black Pipe to a cargo ship, where Leng Feng reported for orders.

Zhuge Qing sent Zhang Chulan, Wang Ye, Xiao Zizai, and Black Pipe to Nathan Island, tasking Zhang with finding Li Muxuan and delivering a pouch to the King. As the team approached the island, Ron rejected Na Dou Tong’s request for a humanitarian corridor and ordered Behemoth’s forces to begin their advance toward the ancient royal city.

• Zhuge Qing assigned Zhang Chulan, Wang Ye, Xiao Zizai, and Black Pipe to land secretly on Nathan Island and gave Zhang a pouch for the King.
• Zhang Chulan accepted responsibility for finding Li Muxuan and making contact with the King of Nathan.
• Leng Feng prepared a speedboat, and the four set off for Nathan Island while Zhuge Qing went to the freighter’s command room.
• Gade told Ron that Na Dou Tong had requested a humanitarian corridor to evacuate its nationals from the island.
• Ron refused the request and declared that anyone landing on Nathan Island without authorization would be treated as an enemy.
• Ron ordered Behemoth’s squad commanders to begin the operation, sending their forces toward the ancient royal city.

Behemoth invaded Nathan Island, overwhelmed the Nathan Guard, and captured the King of Nathan after Elijah betrayed them. Ron discovered an Eastern identification card among the King’s belongings, leaving him startled by the Easterners’ involvement.

• Zhuge Qing learned that Ron had rejected communication and confirmed to Er Zhuang that the new equipment was ready to deploy.
• Behemoth’s forces attacked Nathan Island, and the Nathan Guard initially halted their advance with their powers.
• Ron sent Behemoth’s heroes into battle, and Elijah’s betrayal helped them break the Nathan Guard’s defense and capture the royal city.
• Ron confronted the captured King of Nathan, while Elijah demanded that Ron honor his promise.
• The King of Nathan tried to retrieve a dark Purple brocade pouch, but a soldier took it and Ron found an Eastern identification card inside.

Zhuge Qing sent Leng Feng and his armored forces to Nathan Island after Behemoth refused to release the Nathan King, while Er Zhuang crippled Behemoth’s carrier systems. The chapter left Ron’s forces under attack and Gade staring at the disabled USS George Washington as the operation collapsed.

• Ron rejected Zhuge Qing’s demand to release the Nathan King, and Zhuge Qing ordered the operation to begin.
• Leng Feng and the armored unit teleported from the cargo ship to Nathan Island and attacked Behemoth’s ground forces.
• Ron ordered his troops to regroup around the royal city and protect the excavation of the God Tree.
• Gade warned Ron that a cyberattack had disabled the carrier’s propulsion and fire-control systems, then lost contact after an explosion.
• Er Zhuang defeated the Hound Unit, and a Behemoth frigate rammed the USS George Washington while firing on it.
• Gade watched the bridge screens go dark and realized Behemoth’s operation had failed.

Ron realized Zhuge Qing had trapped Behemoth’s forces on Nathan Island, and Leng Feng in the Xing Tian Armor stormed the royal city hall and overwhelmed the soldiers and heroes. With defeat certain, Ron decided to deny Zhuge Qing the God Tree and aimed his pistol at the King of Nathan.

• Ron realized Phantom had seized control of Behemoth’s carrier fleet and concluded Zhuge Qing had planned to trap and eliminate the invading forces.
• Leng Feng, wearing the Xing Tian Armor, burst into the royal city hall and attacked Behemoth’s soldiers.
• Leng Feng evaded gunfire and effortlessly defeated three of Behemoth’s superpowered heroes.
• Ron accepted that Behemoth had lost and suspected Zhuge Qing sought the God Tree for himself.
• Ron drew a pistol and aimed it at the King of Nathan.

Xiao Zizai and Black Pipe stopped Ron from killing the Nathan King, and Na Dou Tong forced Behemoth’s troops to surrender. Zhuge Qing explained that Na Dou Tong wanted to preserve Nathan Island and its God Tree, then asked the king whether she had heard of the Belt and Road.

• Xiao Zizai and Black Pipe revealed themselves, disarmed Ron, and threatened him into ordering Behemoth’s forces to cease resistance.
• Ron ordered his troops to surrender, ending Behemoth’s attack on the royal city in less than thirty minutes as foreign spies fled to report Na Dou Tong’s victory.
• Zhuge Qing entered the hall, saw Ron subdued, and told the Nathan King that Na Dou Tong did not intend to claim the island.
• Zhuge Qing explained that Nathan Island and the God Tree were valuable together because cultural differences shaped how people used Primordial Qi.
• Zhuge Qing warned that future organizations would keep targeting the God Tree and asked whether the Nathan King had heard of the Belt and Road.

Zhuge Qing secured the King of Nathan’s agreement to cooperate with Na Dou Tong, which then defeated Behemoth and stunned the world’s major powers. Mayuri Kurotsuchi analyzed the God Tree’s soul-merging system and saw it as a useful reference for his Hogyoku research.

• The King of Nathan accepted Zhuge Qing’s offer after securing guarantees for her people and the God Tree, agreeing to supervised research and cultural exchange.
• Na Dou Tong operatives detained Behemoth’s defeated soldiers, while Ron recognized that his arrogance had caused the company’s catastrophic loss.
• Spies reported Behemoth’s total defeat to governments around the world, and major powers ordered their Outsider organizations to send delegations to Na Dou Tong.
• Zhuge Qing oversaw construction of a research base beside the God Tree after completing his mission.
• Mayuri Kurotsuchi studied Zhuge Qing’s analysis and concluded that the God Tree fused souls through loyalty, finding the system relevant to his Hogyoku project.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi considered how Nathan Island’s God Tree might inspire a new way to unify souls in Soul Society, then entered the Shared Space and encountered two unexpected newcomers. The chapter ended as the group began examining the memories of a young man whose computer had displayed a mysterious question about the meaning of life.

• Mayuri Kurotsuchi compared the God Tree’s system with the Hogyoku and considered building a similar faith-based system from Reishi and souls.
• Mayuri Kurotsuchi entered the Shared Space and found two unfamiliar beings alongside the familiar versions of himself.
• Mayuri Kurotsuchi learned that the white beast was an Incubator, and the others recognized it as QB and condemned its exploitation of underage girls.
• QB explained that he had severed his species’ shared connection and become an offline version.
• The group examined the young man’s memories and discovered that a mysterious pop-up had appeared on his computer asking whether he wished to understand the meaning of life.

Zhang Qi was pulled into the Main God's Space after investigating a mysterious pop-up encoded with oracle bone script and Strange Gates symbols. He awakened among a group of newcomers and met Zheng Zha, who explained that they would have to survive horror movie worlds.

• Zhang Qi tried to close the unrecognized God.exe pop-up, then discovered its code used oracle bone script and Strange Gates symbols.
• A jade-like light dragged Zhang Qi into the screen, where Zhuge Qing and Ba Dou identified the encoding as a method related to spatial teleportation.
• Zhuge Qing, Ba Dou, Orochimaru, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, and others discussed the Main God's Space and the resources they could obtain there.
• Zhang Qi woke in a metal room among eleven other newcomers and recognized the group and setting as the original Infinite Terror.
• Zheng Zha introduced himself and told Zhang Qi that the Main God would send them into horror movie worlds where they had to survive.