Chapter Summaries

After receiving Victoria’s Breath of Kings, Chen Qi handed the treasured sword to Vina and prepared to leave for Columbia with his crew. Theresia’s unexpected gesture as he departed left Theresis hopeful that her soul was recovering and that she felt affection for Chen Qi.

• Chen Qi learned from Chen Huijie that Wei Yenwu wanted him to make a film in Lungmen, but he arranged to travel to Columbia first because he had a year to complete the project.
• The Duke of Windermere and the Duke of Wellington allowed Vina to leave with Chen Qi’s crew and gave Chen Qi the Breath of Kings as payment for Yes, Prime Minister.
• Chen Qi received a powerful enhancement from the Breath of Kings, then handed the sword to Vina because it belonged to Victoria and mattered to her.
• When Chen Qi asked about the Steam Knight, the Duke of Windermere explained that the knight had been buried and that the Sarkaz would help rebuild Londinium in exchange for Victoria’s support rebuilding Kazdel.
• Theresis assured Chen Qi that the Sarkaz would remain his allies as Chen Qi prepared to leave with Talulah and Vina.
• Theresia tugged at Chen Qi’s clothes as he departed, and Theresis took the gesture as a sign that her soul was recovering and had grown fond of Chen Qi.

Chen Qi’s party encountered fourteen Campaign Knights ambushing their landship on the way to Columbia, and Młynar recognized that the knights had been forced to serve the Commercial Federation. As the fighters prepared to face them, Chen Qi asked Młynar to spare some so they could be questioned, then Talulah and FrostNova stepped forward to join the fight.

• Kristen told Chen Qi about her Columbia preparations for filming To the Moon, while Talulah assured him she was not jealous of Theresia.
• Chen Qi’s Mini-map revealed mines and fourteen Campaign Knights in ambush, so he ordered Talulah to ready the Art Troupe and Patriot’s Shield Guards.
• Zuo Le learned Chen Qi had already left Londinium and hurried after him, while Theresis sent the Bloodborne Archon and five Confessors to watch over Chen Qi.
• Patriot’s Shield Guards and the Art Troupe formed a defensive line after Chen Qi stopped the landship short of the mines.
• The Campaign Knights confronted Chen Qi, and Młynar recognized that the Commercial Federation had coerced them into the attack.
• Chen Qi asked Młynar to capture some knights for questioning, and Młynar agreed to handle three as Talulah and FrostNova stepped forward.

Chen Qi’s crew defeated the Kazimierz Campaign Knights, while the Bloodborne Archon and Yan’s Imperial Calendar Bureau arrived and revealed how many powerful allies Chen Qi had. Zuo Le delivered Yan’s invitation for Chen Qi to make a film, leaving Chen Qi to hear the commission and decide what to film.

• Talulah, FrostNova, Patriot, and Młynar fought the fourteen Campaign Knights, while Nian and Xi stood ready to support them.
• The Bloodborne Archon restrained the Campaign Knights with Bloodfiend Originium Arts and asked Chen Qi how he wanted them dealt with.
• Zuo Le arrived with the Imperial Calendar Bureau and declared that Great Yan’s emperor had placed Chen Qi under his protection.
• Kristen wondered whether Chen Qi had connections in Yan, and Chen Qi said he was familiar with Lungmen’s ruler.
• Nian feared the Imperial Calendar Bureau would take her and Xi away, but Chen Qi promised to vouch for them.
• Chen Qi approached Zuo Le, who greeted him and prepared to deliver Yan’s commission.

Chen Qi accepted Great Yan’s commission to make a martial arts film, Kung Fu Hustle, and arranged for Wei Yenwu and Madam Wen Yue to participate. When his Protection skill revealed an Aslan beast-king phantom and stopped an attack, the Bloodborne Archon and Zuo Le concluded that Chen Qi was a Feranmut, and Zuo Le and the Archon offered him their support against Kazimierz.

• Zuo Le delivered Great Yan’s emperor’s invitation for Chen Qi to make a film promoting Yan’s martial prowess, and Chen Qi accepted with Kung Fu Hustle as his chosen project.
• Chen Qi asked Zuo Le to send Tai Chi and Lion’s Roar Technique manuals to Wei Yenwu and Madam Wen Yue and to recruit martial arts experts for the film.
• A Campaign Knight hurled a spear at Chen Qi, but his Protection skill summoned an Aslan beast-king phantom that stopped the attack and terrified those nearby.
• The Bloodborne Archon recognized the phantom as a Feranmut’s presence and concluded that Chen Qi was an ancient Feranmut, while Zuo Le reached the same conclusion.
• Zuo Le denounced the Kazimierz Campaign Knights and promised Great Yan’s backing, while the Bloodborne Archon offered to kill them; Chen Qi then checked a new system notification.

Chen Qi let the Silvermane Knights take the traitors back to Kazimierz, then continued toward Columbia with his film crew after revealing his true form and identity as a Feranmut. At Rhine Lab, Kristen reunited with Saria through a deception and hoped that making “To the Moon” would help them understand each other.

• Chen Qi allowed the Silvermane Knight Commander to take the Campaign Knights to Kazimierz, while Zuo Le departed with the Imperial Calendar Bureau and promised to seek justice.
• Chen Qi urged the crew to resume their journey to Columbia, and Talulah explained that they trusted him regardless of his identity.
• Nian and Xi concluded that Chen Qi had likely relinquished his authority to live as a human, while Chen Qi urged everyone to hurry to Columbia.
• Kristen arranged for Muelsyse to bring Saria back to Rhine Lab by suggesting Kristen might be missing, and Saria confronted her over the deception.
• Kristen said she hoped Saria would understand her better after watching “To the Moon,” and Muelsyse guessed aloud that the film would be a clichéd science-fiction romance.

After reading Chen Qi’s script for “To the Moon,” Saria was moved to tears and agreed to act in the film. Chen Qi assigned the key roles and proposed that Alina play River opposite him as John, and Alina accepted.

• Saria asked Chen Qi to make the film’s journey to the moon more moving, then read his script and cried before agreeing to join the cast.
• Chen Qi cast Kristen as Doctor Eva Rosalene and Saria as Doctor Neil Watts, and explained that the story followed end-of-life workers helping John pursue his dream through altered memories.
• Chen Qi described River’s autism and gentle, focused nature, leading the troupe to realize Alina was best suited to play her.
• Alina worried about acting as John’s wife, but Chen Qi reassured her that the romantic scenes were innocent and suggested he play John.
• Alina considered Chen Qi’s proposal and agreed to play River opposite him.

Chen Qi began filming To the Moon, and the first scenes between John and River moved the cast to tears while Saria hoped the film would reach Kristen. Meanwhile, Grand Knight Commander Ioleta pardoned fourteen Campaign Knights and publicly accepted responsibility for the Commercial Federation’s corruption in Kazimierz.

• Chen Qi, Saria, and Kristen filmed John and River’s memories, where John could not explain why he wanted to go to the moon and River tried to communicate her wishes through a paper rabbit.
• Chen Qi and Alina performed a scene in which John played piano for River, and the crew became so absorbed that Chen Qi had to call cut himself.
• Talulah, FrostNova, Nian, and others cried over the scene, while Kristen suspected River’s unspoken dream was connected to John’s wish to go to the moon.
• Saria left Kristen, hoping the film would help her remember what Saria could not express directly.
• In Kazimierz, Grand Knight Commander Ioleta pardoned fourteen Campaign Knights convicted of treason and publicly apologized for the Supervision Committee’s failures.
• Ioleta knelt before the knights and accepted responsibility for the injustices and deaths caused by Kazimierz’s corruption.

Grand Knight Commander Ioleta exposed the Commercial Federation’s crimes and led Kazimierz’s people to destroy it, then announced a state-supervised knightly system open to all citizens. The chapter ended with Chen Qi and his crew continuing to film in Columbia while Vina helped supply Xi’s painting.

• Grand Knight Commander Ioleta publicly blamed the Commercial Federation for the attack on Chen Qi and read out evidence of its crimes, rallying Kazimierz’s citizens and knights against it.
• Ioleta freed the fourteen Campaign Knights and led the furious crowd in a charge on the Commercial Federation, whose executives were overwhelmed.
• In an interview with Eureka, Ioleta announced that the Supervision Committee would take control of the Commercial Federation’s assets and preserve its industries under state oversight.
• Ioleta said knight competitions would become a Battle of Honor open to ordinary citizens and the Infected, while Młynar approved of the plan’s potential to stabilize Kazimierz.
• Chen Qi watched the news with his crew in Columbia, then returned to filming as Saria worked hard to improve production and Vina agreed to bring supplies into Xi’s painting.

Kristen questioned how John and River’s memories connected to the moon as she analyzed the clues gathered during filming. Chen Qi assured her the moon would appear in the story, though she might not be in the mood to notice it by then.

• Kristen showed Chen Qi her notes on the film’s key clues and said she still could not connect them to going to the moon.
• Kristen interpreted River’s behavior as a result of her condition and viewed John’s attraction to her as ordinary adolescent affection.
• Kristen asked Chen Qi whether To the Moon was merely a romance set in a science-fiction setting.
• Chen Qi assured Kristen that she would see the moon by the end, if she was still in the mood to pay attention to it.

Saria and Kristen tried to make John want to go to the moon, but every attempt failed, leading them to uncover a gap in his memories caused by medication. They prepared to investigate that missing memory as John’s condition worsened.

• Chen Qi told Saria and Kristen to improvise during filming, and the crew began the sequence in which they altered John’s memories.
• Saria and Kristen tried changing John’s childhood experiences and persuading him to go to the moon, but he remained content on Terra.
• The crew realized that John’s registered wish to reach the moon had no effect after he met River, though they could not understand why.
• Saria found that John had concealed his past use of high doses of beta-blockers, which could have caused memory gaps.
• As John’s heartbeat grew unstable, Saria and Kristen searched for a stimulus that could lead them into his missing childhood memory.

Kristen and Saria uncovered how John's mother, after accidentally killing Joey, raised John as Joey and suppressed his memories with blockers. In an earlier memory, young John met River beneath the stars, revealing the origin of their bond and the paper rabbits, while Kristen and Saria briefly rekindled their old warmth.

• Kristen and Saria witnessed John's mother accidentally reverse over Joey, and Kristen concluded that she had treated John as Joey and given him blockers.
• Kristen and Saria watched young John and Joey at a carnival, where their mother favored Joey and John received a stuffed platypus as a prize.
• Kristen and Saria watched young John climb a hill to look at the stars, and Kristen and Saria shared memories of Kristen's childhood stargazing with her father.
• Young River met John at the hill, and John persuaded her to sit with him and talk beneath the stars.
• John and River searched the stars for a bunny constellation, revealing why River later folded paper rabbits and hoped John would remember their childhood meeting.

Saria fought through Xi’s painted world to stop Kristen from removing River, fearing Kristen would make John go to the moon at the cost of his memories. As the painting began to collapse and carry Saria to Kristen, Saria insisted that they were forcing John into something he did not want.

• Muelsyse and the other viewers reacted emotionally as John and River’s childhood meeting revealed the memories River had treasured.
• Kristen decided that the only way to send John to the moon was to make him want to go, which meant removing River, and Saria tried to stop her.
• Kristen escaped using Xi’s machine, while Xi created painted monsters to delay Saria after Chen Qi asked her to interfere.
• Saria smashed through Xi’s painted creatures and scenery, determined to reach Kristen before she changed John’s memories.
• Xi admitted that she could not restore the painting and that it would soon collapse, sending Saria to Kristen.
• Saria shouted that they knew what John did not want, and that Kristen was forcing exactly that on him.

Kristen erased River from most of John’s memories so he could regain his brother and pursue his dream, leaving Saria and the observers grieving. John still believed he would meet River on the moon, and the chapter ended with their reunion and his spacecraft rising into the sky.

• Kristen had River taken away from John’s childhood and began overwriting John’s memories, prompting Saria to condemn her decision.
• Xi displayed paintings of John’s life without River, showing him grow up with Joey and pursue his dream of going to the moon.
• John joined the Rhine Lab Aerospace Department, where Kristen and Saria learned that River had arrived as a new recruit.
• Kristen realized John’s own belief had brought River back into his life, and John and River met again.
• John played “To the Moon” for River, and the chapter ended with them fulfilling their dream as the spacecraft rose beyond the barrier.

After filming “To the Moon,” Chen Qi learned that Kristen and Muelsyse planned a charitable project that could also expand his influence. Meanwhile, Chongyue and Huai Tianpei rushed to Lungmen after Yan detected that Sui was moving against the city, where Zuo Le began explaining that the crisis was tied to Chen Qi’s martial arts film.

• The crew finished “To the Moon,” and Muelsyse decided she wanted to fund treatment for children with mental illnesses.
• Nian questioned Chen Qi about his experience, and he said he could write works on nearly any subject.
• Kristen told Chen Qi that “To the Moon” would be released in Columbia and other friendly countries, then showed him a charity plan proposed by Muelsyse.
• Chongyue practiced Tai Chi at Jade Gate, and Huai Tianpei decided to leave for Lungmen to meet Chen Qi and test his martial arts.
• Zuo Le arrived with the emperor’s order for Chongyue to go to Lungmen because the Imperial Calendar Bureau had detected Sui’s next move there.
• As Chongyue, Huai Tianpei, and Zuo Le traveled by landship, Zuo Le said the crisis began with Chen Qi’s martial arts film commissioned by the emperor.

Rhodes Island and audiences across Terra watched Chen Qi’s film “To the Moon,” whose story revealed the moon and left the viewers deeply moved. At Rhodes Island, Saria’s appearance alongside Kristen unsettled Silence, while the film’s ending brought the gathered leaders and researchers to tears.

• A week after its announcement, “To the Moon” opened across multiple countries, drawing prominent viewers and prompting Rhodes Island’s leadership to gather for a screening.
• Kal'tsit explained that Saria had asked Silence, Ifrit, Ptilopsis, and Mayer to understand her through the film, which also featured Kristen and Muelsyse.
• Silence said she would focus on the film’s knowledge rather than Saria’s role, and Kal'tsit started the videotape for Rhodes Island’s leaders and Elite Operators.
• As the story unfolded, Ifrit’s excited comments faded and the conference room grew quiet while the viewers watched.
• The film ended with the two characters holding hands as one life ended, and Ifrit, Silence, Mayer, Ptilopsis, Warfarin, and Amiya wept.

After the premiere of "To the Moon," Kal'tsit moved Rhodes Island to support Rhine Lab's new foundation for Infected people and children with autism, while Saria resigned from Rhine Lab and planned to travel with Chen Qi's crew. In Columbia, the foundation gained international backing, Chen Qi received a rare item, and Saria joined the crew as they prepared to head to Lungmen.

• Kal'tsit sent Amiya to Columbia to make Rhodes Island the first organization to partner with Rhine Lab's foundation, and she offered Silence a treatment plan in exchange for staying at Rhodes Island to help develop medicines.
• Saria submitted her resignation to Kristen, explained that she wanted to travel with Chen Qi's crew and protect his mission, and said she would leave for Lungmen in half a month.
• Chen Qi's donation and the foundation drew support from Rhodes Island, the Sarkaz, Victoria, Laterano, and Syracuse.
• Chen Qi received the rare item "A Group Photo of Hope" after gathering the foundation's first supporters for a group photo.
• Saria agreed to join Chen Qi's crew as a planner and assist with filming, procurement, and security, prompting Nian to protest that she would be replaced.

Chen Qi arrived in Lungmen aboard Saria’s enormous Rhine Lab landship, where Huai Tianpei challenged him and was driven back by the power he mistook for the Lion’s Roar Technique. Chongyue, Wei Yenwu, and Lee recognized Chen Qi’s Feranmut power, while Huai Tianpei remained eager to fight him.

• Wei Yenwu defeated Huai Tianpei in a sparring match and credited Chen Qi’s Tai Chi with improving his martial arts.
• Saria piloted Chen Qi and his crew to Lungmen aboard a massive landship gifted by Kristen, and Talulah reunited with Chen Huijie.
• Lee invited Chen Qi to his agency for a meal, but Huai Tianpei rushed in and attacked him to test his abilities.
• Chen Qi instinctively unleashed a lion-shaped burst of power that repelled Huai Tianpei, who praised him as a peerless master.
• Chongyue, Wei Yenwu, and Lee concluded that Chen Qi’s defense came from his Feranmut power, and Chongyue judged him stronger than Nian and Xi.

Chen Qi recruited Lungmen figures to help cast and film Kung Fu Hustle while the city prepared for a possible threat from Sui. He assigned Wei Yenwu and Wenyue important roles, leaving their reactions to the casting plan as the chapter ended.

• After agreeing to a match with Huai Tianpei, Chen Qi asked him to play a villain in Kung Fu Hustle and planned to use their fight as the film’s final scene.
• Zuo Le warned Chen Qi that Lungmen was crowded with martial artists and secretly watched for signs that Sui might possess him.
• Chen Qi chose Rat Stronghold as a filming location and asked the Rat King to arrange access and provide gang members as extras.
• The Rat King asked Chen Qi to cast Lin Yuxia, and Chen Qi invited the Rat King to play a martial arts master.
• Zuo Le reported that The Emperor wanted a role, while Lee asked Chen Qi to include Waai Fu; Chen Qi agreed to cast Waai Fu and found a role for Lee.
• Chen Qi assigned Wei Yenwu and Wenyue two important roles, and Wei Yenwu rose to accept them.

Chen Qi recruited Lungmen martial artists as extras for "Kung Fu Hustle" and assigned roles to Lin Yuxia and several powerful figures. After Second Brother tried to persuade Chen Qi to distrust humans, filming began with an opening scene showing the Axe Gang overwhelming the Lungmen Guard Department.

• Wei Yenwu and Wenyue discovered that Chen Qi had cast them as a landlady and landlord, and Wei Yenwu fired sword energy at Chen Qi in annoyance.
• Chen Qi invited the martial artists gathered in Lungmen to join the film as extras, and they eagerly accepted.
• Chen Qi cast Lin Yuxia as the Mute Girl, then encountered Second Brother, who warned him that humans would eventually betray him; Chen Qi rejected his argument and resolved to strengthen his Buddha's Palm.
• The emperor of Yan received reports about the filming and learned that Wei Yenwu, Wenyue, Huai Tianpei, Zuo Le, Tai He, and others had joined the cast.
• Chen Qi filmed the opening of "Kung Fu Hustle," in which Uncle Dong played a gang boss who was confronted by Lee as the Axe Gang leader while Chen Huijie appeared as Inspector Chen.

Chen Qi filmed scenes in Rat Stronghold that revealed martial artists hidden among ordinary residents, while Xi realized how far she had drifted from everyday life. Wei Yenwu objected to being portrayed as the Landlord, but Chen Qi persuaded him to continue, leaving the filming ready to resume.

• Chen Qi filmed Waai Fu, Tai He, and Shang Zhong working in Rat Stronghold, and Chongyue and Huai Tianpei recognized the martial skill hidden in their ordinary tasks.
• Xi felt left out of the filming, and Chongyue advised her to see more of everyday life to improve her painting.
• Wei Yenwu appeared in yellow pajamas as the Landlord, and the onlookers laughed until Chen Qi stopped the take.
• Wei Yenwu confronted Chen Qi over the humiliating portrayal, but Chen Qi explained that the emperor wanted to see him make a fool of himself.
• Wei Yenwu accepted that the role could help appease the emperor, then left as Chen Qi told Talulah and Chen Huijie to enjoy the rare chance to laugh at him.
• Filming resumed with Wei Yenwu’s Landlord established as a petty, lecherous man who enjoyed being treated with respect.