Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• After leaving the Time Tower, Li Wen heads straight to the Soul Origin Tower, convinced his Primordial Spirit is ready to break through.
• In meditation, his Primordial Spirit Manifestation reaches ten thousand zhang and gains a sacred halo—the sign that he has entered the Star Lord realm. His Primordial Spirit Power fully transforms into golden Willingness Power.
• Li Wen tests his new power by controlling Youying, a First-Order Star Lord-level Primordial Spirit saber. Driven by Willingness Power, it can shift between solid and illusory forms, making its attacks unusually unpredictable and potent.
• He spends the remainder of his training-room time stabilizing his breakthrough, then conceals the change in his aura.
• At the end-of-trial gathering, Instructor Blood Edge announces the final rankings: Li Wen is first, Kains Radiance second, and Lauen Make third. Pato Ironscale reacts bitterly to Lauen’s placement.
• Blood Edge privately recognizes Li Wen’s breakthrough and invites him to join the Source Network’s internal training program. Li Wen accepts immediately, surprising the instructor.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Wen makes a major leap in power and essence, gaining Willingness Power and greater control over Primordial Spirit artifacts. Despite the achievement, he remains composed, modest, and focused on consolidating his realm.
• Lauen Make is relieved and pleased with third place, especially after surpassing a rival from the Monroe Family. Li Wen congratulates him, while Lauen jokes that the ranking matters little beside Li Wen’s dominance.
• Blood Edge is impressed by Li Wen’s concealed transformation and recognizes his rare talent. He offers sincere praise and tries to recruit him; Li Wen’s quick acceptance catches him off guard.
• Pato Ironscale shows resentment at Lauen’s third-place ranking, while the other trainees respond to Li Wen with awe and respect.

Significant themes

• Growth through discipline: Li Wen’s breakthrough is followed by deliberate testing and careful stabilization rather than indulgence.
• Talent and opportunity: His achievement reflects exceptional insight, while the Soul Origin Tower and the Source Network’s resources provide crucial support.
• Power and restraint: Li Wen’s new abilities are immense, but he keeps his breakthrough hidden and maintains his calm demeanor.
• Recognition and ambition: The rankings close the trial, while Blood Edge’s invitation points toward the next stage of Li Wen’s ascent.

Key plot points and events

• Li Wen confirms that he will join the Source Network. Chief Instructor Blood Edge eagerly presents an inner-member Soul Contract, and Li Wen signs it with a soul imprint infused with newly formed Willingness Power.
• That night, Li Wen condenses a Willingness Power Avatar inside his Sea of Consciousness. It shares his memories and core will while experiencing the world through a second, independent perspective.
• The avatar begins dangerously weak, so Li Wen uses Wish Stones to strengthen it. By morning, it has reached First-Order Primordial Spirit Star Lord strength—but the process consumes roughly 30,000 stones, worth about 150,000 Primordial Stones.
• The expense underscores how quickly cultivation resources disappear. Li Wen has spent much of Patriarch Changjia’s ten-million-stone gift on artifacts and Wish Stones, and he expects future advancement to cost far more.
• At the trial’s end, the trainees gather to part ways. Li Wen says he will go to the Source Network branch on Arka Imperial Star for centralized training and assignments. He and Lauen Make promise to stay in touch through the Virtual Universe, then the group departs with Blood Edge.

Character developments

• Li Wen commits to the Source Network, judging its resources and opportunities essential to his ambitions. He also demonstrates the growing complexity of his cultivation by successfully creating and empowering a second form of himself.
• Blood Edge is delighted and relieved to recruit Li Wen, seeing him as a potential future leader and anticipating both rewards and lasting recognition for bringing him into the organization.
• Lauen Make treats Li Wen with sincere respect and warmth. Though saddened that their paths are diverging, he remains optimistic about preserving their friendship.
• The other trainees regard Li Wen with awe and envy, recognizing that his achievements have made him the trial base’s leading legend.

Significant themes

• Power depends on resources: Advancement, artifacts, and specialized cultivation all demand enormous wealth; Li Wen’s dual paths make the burden even greater.
• Ambition and institutional support: Joining the Source Network is a practical step toward the freedom, resources, and backing Li Wen needs to pursue greater heights.
• Identity and multiplicity: The avatar creates two simultaneous perspectives while remaining part of one self, expanding Li Wen’s conception of his own existence.
• Rivalry and fellowship: The trainees compete, but shared hardship and ability also foster mutual respect and lasting connections.

Character interactions

• Blood Edge enthusiastically welcomes Li Wen and guides him through the contract-signing process.
• Li Wen and his avatar communicate without words, sharing a core will as they examine the new form and its costly growth.
• At the farewell gathering, Lauen congratulates Li Wen and asks about his plans; they part on friendly terms, agreeing to stay connected.

Key plot points and events

• As the trainees depart the interstellar port, Li Wen and Instructor Blood Edge part from them. Blood Edge tells Li Wen that an escort will arrive in ten days to take him to the Imperial Star.
• During the wait, a black meteorite approaches Blue Star. A faint crimson mark awakens on it, accompanied by a powerful, predatory will that wants to consume souls, foreshadowing a threat to the planet.
• Executive Leo Lieyang arrives to escort Li Wen. He is a Fifth-Order Star Lord and Killing Centurion, and treats Li Wen warmly after hearing of his achievements.
• Li Wen asks Leo to take a detour through the River of Time so he can bring his Willingness Power Avatar to Blue Star. The journey takes half a day aboard the Source Network’s high-grade ship.
• Seeing Blue Star again after two years, Li Wen senses how rapidly it has developed: technology and martial cultivation now flourish side by side.
• He reunites with his parents and the Li Clan at the family manor. After a little over an hour, he leaves his avatar behind to accompany his family and protect Blue Star, while his original body departs to continue his urgent journey.

Character developments

• Li Wen remains focused on his larger responsibilities, but his return reveals his deep attachment to his family and home. Despite his growing power and status, he behaves warmly and without arrogance.
• Li Hong and Wang Juan have grown younger, healthier, and stronger, reaching the Flying Star Realm through the resources Li Wen left them. Their pride and affection are clear during the reunion.
• Blood Edge shows personal concern for Li Wen, entrusting him to a trusted escort and seeing him off.
• Leo Lieyang is introduced as a capable, decisive official and formidable fighter. His friendliness reflects both genuine respect and an understanding of Li Wen’s promise.

Significant themes

• Parting, distance, and connection: The vastness of space separates the young trainees, while the Virtual Universe remains their likely means of meeting again.
• Family and responsibility: Li Wen’s brief homecoming offers comfort, but his obligations force him to leave again; his avatar bridges that separation.
• Growth and transformation: Li Wen’s family and Blue Star have advanced markedly in his absence, while Li Wen himself has risen to a much higher level of power.
• A looming danger: The soul-hungry meteorite suggests that Blue Star’s flourishing future may soon face a serious threat.

Character interactions

• Li Wen and Blood Edge exchange a respectful farewell, with Blood Edge offering guidance and support.
• Li Wen and Leo quickly establish a cordial relationship during the escort journey, with Leo accommodating Li Wen’s request to visit Blue Star.
• Li Wen’s reunion with his parents is emotional: Li Hong expresses pride, Wang Juan embraces him tearfully, and the clan greets him with awe and celebration.
• Li Wen reassures his family that his avatar will remain with them and protect the planet, while they accept his departure despite their sadness.

Key plot points and events

• Li Wen returns to Blue Star after two years and reveals that he has advanced from the peak Saint realm to a First-Order Primordial Spirit Star Lord.
• He confirms he will leave behind a willingness-power avatar to protect Blue Star while his true body continues his journey. He gives Ye Qin and Star-Whirl Virtual Universe access helmets, and they exchange news about Blue Star’s progress and Li Wen’s travels.
• While waiting, Deacon Leo Lieyang discovers that an eye-shaped meteorite creature—actually a Fourth-Order Star Lord—is heading toward Blue Star. He keeps the discovery quiet until Li Wen is aboard the ship.
• When the starship is forced out of the River of Time, Li Wen realizes the monster threatens his homeworld and urgently asks Leo to intervene.
• Leo reveals his Fifth-Order Star Lord power with a single punch, completely erasing the monster. Li Wen is stunned by the gulf between their abilities.
• Ten days later, the starship reaches the Arka Imperial Star, where Li Wen is awed by the immense scale of Arka Planet.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Wen has grown dramatically stronger and more self-assured, but his attachment to Blue Star remains central. The threat to his family, friends, and home briefly overwhelms his composure, showing how much he still has at stake.
• Ye Qin and Star-Whirl are astonished by Li Wen’s breakthrough and relieved that his avatar will guard Blue Star. Their warm welcome and hopeful conversation underscore their trust in him.
• Leo Lieyang displays overwhelming strength and a calculated understanding of how favors work. He deliberately lets Li Wen learn about the danger and witness its destruction, making his intervention memorable and encouraging Li Wen’s gratitude.

Significant themes

• Power and scale: Li Wen’s rapid advancement is extraordinary, yet Leo’s effortless victory reveals how vast the hierarchy of strength remains.
• Protection and responsibility: Li Wen continues onward only after arranging a guardian for Blue Star, and the meteorite attack tests whether that protection will be enough.
• Strategic generosity: Leo’s rescue is not merely practical; he understands that a favor witnessed and appreciated can carry greater weight.
• Home and ambition: Li Wen pursues a wider cosmic journey while remaining emotionally bound to the people and planet he leaves behind.

Plot points and events

• Li Wen and Leo arrive at Arka Imperial Star, whose immense gravity and unusually stable space sharply restrict Li Wen’s movement and divine sense.
• Li Wen witnesses Ninth-Order Star Lords and then an Immortal Powerhouse, whose colossal form shrinks to human size before entering the planet. Leo explains that Immortals stand above Star Lords and can alter their divine bodies.
• They travel across the Imperial Star, a vast, prosperous cultivation hub where even Venerables are commonplace and lower-level cultivators struggle to survive.
• Leo brings Li Wen to the Source Network branch. Li Wen completes registration, receives an internal-member badge and new-member guide, and is assigned a villa in the branch’s protected residential district.
• The villa—worth hundreds of millions of Primordial Stones—is a housewarming gift registered to Li Wen under his Soul Contract, though he cannot sell or transfer it. Leo departs, and Li Wen uses his badge to enter and places the villa’s systems under Star Nexus’s control.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Wen is awed and humbled by the scale of the Imperial Star and the power of Immortals. He also begins adapting to his new status as an internal Source Network member, though the villa’s immense value—and restrictions—surprise him.
• Leo Lieyang acts as Li Wen’s knowledgeable guide, explaining the planet’s hierarchy, the Immortal’s significance, and the Source Network’s rules. He teases Li Wen about the villa’s price, then leaves him to settle in.
• Li Wen expresses sincere gratitude to Leo for his help, especially in light of Leo’s support during Blue Star’s crisis. Star Nexus responds to Li Wen’s instructions and establishes control of the villa’s systems and network access.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: Arka Imperial Star’s environment and population show how radically status depends on cultivation strength.
• Awe and ambition: Encountering an Immortal reveals the vast distance between Li Wen’s current level and the universe’s highest beings.
• Privilege with limits: Li Wen receives extraordinary property and membership benefits, but these come with institutional rules and obligations.
• Adaptation to a larger world: Li Wen leaves the familiar scale of Blue Star behind and begins navigating the resources, customs, and power structures of the empire’s center.

Key plot points and events

• Li Wen explores his new villa on Arka Imperial Star, then receives an unexpected visitor: Isabel, whom he recently defeated in the combat arena.
• Isabel reveals that she belongs to the secluded Moon Spirit Clan and serves as its Moon Oracle Envoy. The clan knows of Li Wen’s homeworld, Blue Star, and of Patriarch Changjia.
• She explains that Changjia saved the Moon Spirit Clan from extinction a hundred thousand years ago. In gratitude, the clan’s leader gave him a token marked with “荐” and established a binding pledge: if a descendant of Changjia’s homeworld presented it, the current Moon Oracle Envoy would marry him, and the clan would support him.
• Li Wen produces the token Changjia gave him, confirming the pledge. Flustered, Isabel says the agreement is in effect and leaves before he can respond.
• Meanwhile, Safis Yingge, a proud young Star Lord of the Shadow Song Lineage, learns from his informant Huo Qi that Isabel visited a newcomer’s villa. Safis identifies the residence as Zone B Villa No. 11 and pays five million Primordial Stones to obtain confidential information about its occupant. The chapter ends before he learns—or acts on—the details.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Wen moves from suspicion about Isabel’s visit to shock at her knowledge of Blue Star and Changjia. He realizes Changjia’s “recommendation” token is actually tied to a marriage-and-alliance pledge, leaving him uncertain and unsettled.
• Isabel arrives without hostility and explains her clan’s history and obligation. Though she states the pledge formally, her blush and hurried departure suggest personal embarrassment or nervousness.
• Safis is introduced as arrogant, ambitious, and possessive toward Isabel. Her visit to another man provokes jealousy and suspicion, prompting him to use his resources to investigate.
• Huo Qi serves Safis as a timid, obsequious informant, eager to deliver news of Isabel’s movements and earn his master’s approval.
• Li Wen and Isabel’s conversation shifts from guarded politeness to a revelation linking their lives through Changjia’s past. Safis’s unseen surveillance sets up a likely future confrontation.

Significant themes

• Debts and inherited obligations: Changjia’s act of kindness creates a promise that shapes the lives of people generations later.
• Destiny versus personal choice: The token imposes a marriage arrangement on Li Wen and Isabel before either has chosen it for themselves.
• Hidden histories and connections: Li Wen’s isolated homeworld proves connected to powerful forces beyond his understanding.
• Power, status, and jealousy: Safis’s wealth and influence contrast with his insecurity and possessiveness, foreshadowing conflict.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Safis receives a detailed report on Li Wen’s rapid rise: at only forty years old, Li Wen has reached the eighth floor of the Heaven-Piercing Tower, defeated prominent fighters including Ares and Isabel, and begun approaching the Time Law. Learning Isabel visited Li Wen alone, Safis becomes consumed by jealousy and hatred.
• Safis vows to punish Li Wen and claim Isabel for himself, then unleashes a powerful Shadow-energy attack against the protective wall of his cultivation chamber. Li Wen remains unaware of Safis’s investigation and hostility.
• Li Wen checks his new Source Network inner-member benefits. His basic monthly allotment includes limited access to the Time Tower and several other cultivation facilities. He books the earliest Time Tower session, hoping to overcome his stalled progress in the Time Law.
• On the way, Li Wen encounters Ares Titan and Naraku, old rivals who have become friends. They welcome him warmly and arrange to celebrate after his training.
• Inside the Imperial Star’s Time Tower, Li Wen raises the flow of time to its maximum of two hundred times normal speed. His [Eternal Heart] protects him from the strain, while [Absolute Focus] lets him perceive and study the Time Law’s patterns.
• After more than eight hundred hours of subjective cultivation—only four hours outside—Li Wen breaks through to Initiation into the Time Law, forming a silver Dao Seed. He stabilizes his new understanding before leaving the tower.

Character developments

• Li Wen demonstrates patience and discipline as well as extraordinary talent. He uses his abilities strategically, choosing to stabilize his breakthrough before pursuing further advancement toward the physical Saint Realm.
• Safis is revealed as possessive, entitled, and dangerously jealous. His fixation on Isabel turns Li Wen’s success into a personal grievance.
• Ares and Naraku show how far their relationships with Li Wen have changed: former opponents now greet him as a friend, with Naraku’s earlier arrogance replaced by familiarity and warmth.

Character interactions

• Safis’s one-sided rivalry with Li Wen is driven by his resentment over Isabel’s visit, though Li Wen does not yet know about him.
• Li Wen and Ares exchange friendly teasing, while Naraku joins in with affectionate reproach. They share news and cultivation insights before agreeing to meet again.
• Li Wen’s interaction with the Time Tower is central to the chapter: he combines its powerful temporal environment with his skills to overcome a long-standing obstacle.

Significant themes

• Jealousy and possessiveness: Safis treats Isabel as something he is entitled to and responds to her independence with hostility.
• Discipline and growth: Li Wen’s breakthrough comes from focused effort, careful use of resources, and stabilizing his progress rather than rushing ahead.
• Opportunity and unequal power: The Imperial Star’s advanced facilities offer Li Wen a new level of support, while Safis’s status and lineage foreshadow a potential threat.
• Rivalry becoming friendship: Ares and Naraku’s warm welcome reflects the bonds Li Wen has built through competition.

Plot and key events

• Li Wen goes to the Imperial Star’s Star Marrow Chamber to advance from the Venerable Realm to the Saint Realm. Using [Absolute Focus], he precisely integrates the time-law patterns from his dao seed throughout his body while absorbing the chamber’s dense energy.
• His breakthrough succeeds smoothly. His body becomes much stronger, his true essence transforms into primordial power, and his time dao seed remains as a core source of strength.
• Li Wen tests his new time-law ability: it can briefly slow nearby energy, potentially creating an opening against Venerables, though it is nearly ineffective against experienced Saints. He recognizes that mastering dedicated Time Law Secret Techniques will be necessary to wield the law fully.
• After stabilizing his realm, he contacts Ares, who invites him to a lavish welcoming feast for new Source Network internal members.
• At the gathering, the Imperial Star geniuses congratulate Li Wen. A former critic apologizes for his earlier arrogance, and Li Wen graciously accepts.
• Ares probes Li Wen about joining the Imperial Titan Lineage. Li Wen politely declines to commit, saying he will focus first on strengthening himself and climbing the Source Network rankings. He notes that his main immediate need is better combat practice.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Wen demonstrates exceptional control and composure, makes a rapid, low-risk breakthrough, and remains courteous and unresentful toward those who once slighted him. He is ambitious but cautious about choosing political or factional ties.
• Ares has shifted from an arrogant opponent to a warm admirer and host. He celebrates Li Wen’s success and openly tries to recruit him for the Titan Lineage.
• The former critic acknowledges Li Wen’s superiority and apologizes; Li Wen responds with magnanimity.
• Isabel appears shy and flustered around Li Wen, apparently affected by the recommendation token’s ancient vow and her role as a Moon Oracle Envoy. Li Wen notices but does not draw attention to her reaction.
• Naraku and the other geniuses welcome Li Wen and treat him with respect, marking his acceptance into their circle.

Significant themes

• Mastery through focus: Li Wen’s breakthrough succeeds because of precise control and concentration.
• Power and humility: His new strength brings confidence, but he remains gracious toward former rivals.
• Ambition versus allegiance: Li Wen prioritizes personal growth and evaluates the Imperial Star’s factions before choosing a patron.
• The long path of cultivation: Becoming a Saint is a major milestone, yet Li Wen understands that his grasp of time law and combat skill remains incomplete.

Key plot points and events

• Li Wen says the King Rank of the Virtual Martial Arena no longer offers him meaningful opponents. Raymond agrees, noting that Li Wen has surpassed the younger generation’s Venerable-level fighters; even defeating Ares had made the arena little more than a warm-up.
• Ares reveals that the Universe Peak Genius Tournament is about to begin. Held every thousand years and open to human geniuses under 200, it brings together contestants from across humanity’s territory. The Arka Advanced Empire will select its strongest thousand to represent it.
• The group discusses likely contenders, especially Safis Yingge, a prodigy who became a First-Order Star Lord at age 100. They expect Li Wen to place highly in the empire’s selection, while Ares jokingly asks him to go easy if they meet.
• Back at his villa, Li Wen uses the Star Nexus to verify the tournament’s details. Registration opens the next morning. He sees the event as a chance to earn enormous experience points through high placements and raise his Martial Artist level rapidly.
• The empire’s preliminary competition has two stages: mass battles across a thousand virtual battlefields, after which only the top 100 from each advance; then 100,000 qualifiers compete for the empire’s 1,000 places in the universe-wide final. Rankings are announced after both stages, offering Li Wen further opportunities to gain experience.
• Li Wen is also drawn to the final’s rewards, particularly Source Network Core Member status for the top 1,000—an honor that brings resources capable of supporting advancement toward the Immortal realm.
• Registration officially opens at 8 a.m. The announcement electrifies humanity’s territory, and a vast ranking board appears in the Virtual Universe. Li Wen cannot find the registration portal, so he accepts a teleportation invitation from Ares to get help.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Wen remains outwardly composed around the other geniuses but privately burns with ambition. He views the tournament not chiefly as a stage for fame, but as a major opportunity to strengthen himself through experience and secure crucial resources.
• Raymond has grown humble after Li Wen’s earlier effortless victory over him and now openly acknowledges Li Wen’s superiority.
• Ares is enthusiastic about the tournament and eager to test himself against powerful rivals. He treats Li Wen as both a formidable peer and a friend, teasing him about helping him advance.
• Isabel provides a clear explanation of the tournament, while the other Imperial Star Geniuses discuss contenders and voice confidence in Li Wen’s prospects.

Significant themes

• Escalating ambition and challenge: Li Wen has outgrown local competition and now seeks a stage spanning all human territory.
• Strength through competition: The tournament offers both formidable opponents and a mechanism for rapid personal advancement.
• Practical ambition alongside glory: While others emphasize honor and rankings, Li Wen focuses on experience gains and the resources needed for his long-term ascent.
• Camaraderie among rivals: Ares’s friendly teasing and the group’s shared excitement make competition feel both fierce and social.

Key plot points and events

• Li Wen arrives in the Virtual Universe palace, where Ares explains that tournament registration will open at noon—not when the Golden Ranking first appears. The group discusses the coming competition before dispersing.
• Li Wen spends the remaining hours cultivating in the Time Tower, working to stabilize his new Saint Realm physique and deepen his understanding of the Time Law.
• At noon, he registers for the Universe Peak Genius Tournament. The live registration count rapidly climbs into the billions, underscoring the competition’s scale.
• Because his Saint Realm transformation interferes with ordinary scans, Li Wen must undergo an in-person bone-age check at the Source Network’s Imperial Star branch.
• At the verification center, Li Wen encounters Safis Yingge, a powerful Star Lord and prominent heir of the Shadow Song Lineage. Safis skips the queue, confronts Li Wen, and warns him to stay away from Isabel. Li Wen calmly withstands Safis’s pressure.
• The surrounding contestants recognize Li Wen from his earlier achievements and speculate about the conflict. Ares, Isabel, Raymond, and Naraku then arrive for their own verification. Ares explains Safis’s standing and his well-known interest in Isabel, clarifying the reason for the hostility.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Wen remains focused and disciplined, making use of even a few hours to cultivate. At the verification center, he responds to Safis’s provocation with composure, though he finds the accusation baffling until Ares explains it.
• Safis Yingge is introduced as arrogant, influential, and possessive toward Isabel. He views Li Wen as a romantic rival despite their having never met.
• Ares acts as Li Wen’s guide, first explaining the registration process and later providing context about Safis and Isabel. His teasing manner contrasts with the tension of the confrontation.
• Isabel quietly watches Li Wen and greets him with warmth and slight shyness. She reproaches Ares for discussing Safis’s feelings but does not deny them.
• The other geniuses shift from curiosity about Li Wen’s tournament prospects to fascination with the emerging rivalry.

Significant themes

• Competition and ambition: The enormous registration surge shows the tournament’s scale and the fierce contest facing its entrants.
• Preparation and discipline: Li Wen uses time acceleration to keep improving even while waiting to register.
• Power and privilege: Safis’s status lets him bypass the queue and intimidate others, while gossip emphasizes the advantage of his powerful lineage.
• Reputation and rivalry: Li Wen’s past accomplishments make him recognizable, and his connection to Isabel quickly turns him into the focus of speculation and conflict.

Key plot points and events

• Safis leaves the certification center after spotting Li Wen with Isabel, glaring at him with obvious jealousy and hostility. Li Wen dismisses the threat, confident that the Source Network’s protected grounds keep him safe.
• Li Wen passes his Star Lord certification. The instrument measures his bone age at just 57 and reacts strangely to the Time Law Dao Seed in his dantian, startling the high-order Star Lord operating it. His registration for the Universe Peak Genius Tournament is confirmed.
• That evening, Li Wen receives an urgent summons to a virtual meeting of Source Network internal members in the Arka Advanced Empire.
• Ares introduces several major tournament contenders: Karon (“Rock”), a top-five defensive specialist; Aelia (“Thousand Faces”), a formidable illusionist; and Barton (“Blood Butcher”), the branch’s strongest member and top regional seed, who has earned the Killing Tower’s Slaughter Centurion title.
• The meeting is led by Blazing Ash, a Ninth-Order Star Lord recognized by the Fire Law’s origin. He announces that the Arka qualifiers begin in one month. Tournament rankings will determine future Source Network resources, while anyone who finishes in the universe’s top thousand will become a Source Network Core Member—a position associated with a near-certain path to Immortality.

Character developments

• Li Wen remains composed under Safis’s hostility and focused on preparing for the tournament. His certification reveals exceptional youth and an unusual connection to the supreme Time Law. He also recognizes that, despite his new Primordial Spirit Star Lord strength, he is not yet ready to match the most seasoned competitors.
• Ares acts as Li Wen’s guide, sharing knowledge of the strongest contenders and showing both pride and caution around them.
• Safis displays mounting jealousy toward Li Wen and Isabel, establishing an ongoing threat.
• Blazing Ash demonstrates the immense authority and power behind the Source Network’s leadership, while using the tournament’s stakes to motivate its internal members.

Significant themes

• Protection and ambition: The Source Network shields its members, but expects them to prove their worth.
• Merit, competition, and advancement: Tournament performance determines access to resources and a chance at elite status.
• Power requires experience: Li Wen has rare gifts, yet understands that established fighters’ battle experience and proven strength remain formidable.
• The road to Immortality: The chapter frames tournament success as a possible first step toward transcending mortal limits.

Character interactions

• Li Wen avoids discussing his earlier conflict with Safis in public, partly to spare Isabel embarrassment; Safis later reinforces the tension through his hostile stare.
• Ares, Naraku, and the others welcome Li Wen into the virtual conference, where Ares briefs him on their likely rivals.
• The competitors’ reputations shape the room’s mood: Barton’s arrival silences the crowd, while Blazing Ash’s appearance inspires awe and his promise of rewards ignites their competitive drive.

The Universe Peak Genius Tournament began as clans and prodigies across the Arka region prepared to compete, while Li Wen entered its first round. He found that his real-world strength had been replicated and assessed the rules of the thousand-person free-for-all.

• Lauen Make, Kains Radiance, and Pato Ironscale each received their clans’ tournament expectations, while recognizing the gulf between themselves and Li Wen.
• A gray-clad youth mastered his Nihilation Sword Dao under his master’s guidance and was told to contend with Barton for first place in the Arka region.
• On April 4, 250, Li Wen entered the tournament’s Virtual Universe preparation space, where he met Ares Titan and Isabel.
• The tournament teleported Li Wen and the other entrants into a primitive world and announced that the top 100 participants in each thousand-person world would advance after 30 days.
• Li Wen reviewed the rules, chose not to hunt immediately, and confirmed that his Saint Realm physical strength and First-Order Star Lord-level primordial spirit matched his real-world state.

Li Wen entered World 13, killed Xindier by using his newly mastered Time Rift, then chose to build a primordial spirit defense instead of hunting for more points. As Lanyin spectators tracked his progress, his rank fell over the next three days, drawing mockery from other empires.

• Li Wen activated Absolute Focus and Berserk, then confirmed his skills worked in the Virtual Universe.
• Xindier sensed Li Wen, rushed in, and attacked with an earth-law-powered club, but Li Wen dodged using Time Rift and killed him with a single punch.
• Li Wen gained a point and decided to spend several days constructing the Star-Origin Barrier rather than hunt for more opponents.
• Lanyin spectators found Li Wen in World 13 and watched his ranking fall into the hundreds of millions over three days while his points remained at two.
• A spectator mocked Li Wen as unfit for the grand stage, while Radiant Clan spectators urged Kains Radiance to reach the top thousand.

Li Wen completed the Star-Origin Barrier and drew four opponents to him by openly scanning the area with his divine sense. He killed all four, including top-thousand contender Carlos, and rose to 812th place in World 13.

• Li Wen finished constructing the Star-Origin Barrier and spread his divine sense across a hundred-li radius, alerting nearby contestants.
• Four contestants converged on Li Wen, while spectators recognized him and watched as the opponents surrounded him.
• Li Wen used Time Rift to kill the red-haired man and the woman, then pursued and eliminated a third opponent.
• Li Wen chased down Carlos after Carlos fled and begged for mercy, then broke through his defenses and killed him.
• Li Wen's points surged, carrying him to 812th place in World 13.