Chapter Summaries

Neji received marriage overtures from both Prince Longshi’s faction and Prince Huangyu’s faction, but he used his lingering injuries and obligations to avoid choosing either side. He returned to Amaterasu Palace knowing the balance would not hold indefinitely and that he needed greater strength or a way to break the political deadlock.

• Neji received Huiyao’s invitation to a private banquet and Prince Longshi’s proposal to meet Ōtsutsuki Ruri as a potential bride.
• Neji accepted Huiyao’s invitation and told Longshi that his injuries and unstable cultivation made him unfit for a marriage alliance for now.
• At Huangyu Palace, Huiyao and her uncle presented the Conservative Faction’s views and made clear their interest in recruiting Neji, including through marriage.
• Neji praised Huangyu and Huiyao but cited his injuries and debt to Longshi to postpone choosing a faction or accepting a marriage alliance.
• Neji returned to Amaterasu Palace and decided he needed to strengthen himself and find a way to disrupt the pressure from both factions.

Neji established a mutually beneficial connection with the Research Faction by meeting Duke Workshop and exchanging insights for foundational technical materials. He returned to Amaterasu Palace with new knowledge, still wary that the political balance around Longshi and Huangyu would not last.

• Neji sent Duke Workshop analysis diagrams of the Silicon-Based Civilization's Hive Energy Network and a Windwhisper Crystal sample to attract his interest.
• Workshop replied with an analysis of the crystal and an invitation to an academic salon at a secluded Research Outpost, which Neji accepted.
• Neji attended the salon, where his insights into ancient restrictions and energy structures impressed Workshop and the other researchers.
• Workshop offered Neji access to foundational technical materials in exchange for future analysis and shared discoveries, and Neji agreed to regular exchanges.
• Neji returned to Amaterasu Palace with an encrypted crystal core of technical materials and resolved to strengthen himself before the fragile political balance collapsed.

Neji prepared for the opening of the Divine Tree Ancestral Land Secret Realm, drawn by rumors of a King-Rank Legacy despite the dangers. After entering the realm, he slipped away from the other competitors into a quiet forest, where the hundred-day hunt began.

• Neji maintained ties with Duke Workshop and strengthened his underground cave abode with resources sent from Azuremist Star while factions continued to watch him.
• A bloodline summons announced that the Divine Tree Ancestral Land Secret Realm would open, with rumors of newly accessible regions and a King-Rank Legacy.
• Neji decided to enter, then refined Void-Escape Talismans and Concealment Pendants, tempered his Nascent Soul, and gathered protective and detection devices.
• Neji joined the Main House members at the Ancestral Grounds gate, where he saw Rhino, Xuan, Jiqiao, Ōtsutsuki Huiyao, and elite members of the Radical Faction.
• Neji entered the secret realm with the crowd and arrived in a world rich with Divine Tree essence, where he sensed greed and killing intent from other entrants.
• Neji chose a relatively calm forest away from the main groups and vanished beneath its giant trees as the hunt began.

Neji found a Divine Tree Scion guarded by Golden-Scaled Giant Pythons and several rival groups. While the others fought, he disrupted the lake’s protective energy, took three of the scion’s spheres and a small branch tip, and escaped into the Fluorescent Forest.

• Neji traveled through the Fluorescent Forest and discovered a Divine Tree Scion growing in a golden lake, watched by rival Counts and hidden ambushers.
• Three Counts attacked the lake to provoke its guardians, and three Golden-Scaled Giant Pythons emerged and struck at the competitors.
• A gray-cloaked traveler attempted to seize the scion but was blasted into the forest by a python.
• Neji subtly disrupted an energy weak point beneath the shore, briefly confusing the scion and its guardians.
• Neji reached the scion, calmed it with Chaos True Essence, took three spheres and a branch tip, then escaped into the forest.

Neji discovered a spatial anomaly in a crystal-filled region of the Ancestral Grounds and was ambushed by three Radical Faction Counts. He killed two, crippled their leader, and vanished as the anomaly grew increasingly unstable.

• Neji sealed away the Divine Tree Scion spoils and traveled deeper into the Ancestral Grounds, avoiding powerful beasts and dangerous terrain.
• Neji found a stable spatial ripple atop a stone platform among energy crystal hills, where three Radical Faction Counts ambushed him.
• Neji triggered the platform’s spatial disturbance and killed the battle-axe-wielding Count with Chaos Break.
• Neji used the spatial turbulence and a Tenseigan restraint technique to kill the pale-fingered Count.
• Neji stopped the three-eyed Count’s escape, crippled his vertical eye and power with an illusion and a strike, then disappeared into the crystal mountains as the spatial ripple grew unstable.

Neji hid in the Death Stone Forest and absorbed the Divine Tree Scion spheres, uncovering the origins of the First-Generation Divine Tree and the Ancestral Root. He chose to enter the Ancestral Grounds’ dangerous core in search of the Ancestor Root Remnant and the King-Rank Legacy.

• Neji found a secluded stone pillar, sealed its entrance, and examined the Divine Tree Scion spheres and branch tip.
• Neji absorbed the spheres and received memories suggesting that the First-Generation Divine Tree was an incomplete creation seeded by a higher existence.
• Neji learned that the Ancestral Root was a sealed remnant of the distorted Divine Tree and that loosened seals might connect it to the King-Rank Legacy.
• Neji decided to cross the Death Stone Forest and head for the Ancestral Grounds’ core despite the danger.
• Neji removed his concealment restrictions and entered the deeper darkness with his Divine Eye open.

Neji reached the Ancestral Root Remnant and discovered that taking its Divine Tree Heart Fragments by force triggered deadly backlash. He joined forces with Huiyao to control the battlefield and safely claim three fragments, but an ancient, malicious presence began to awaken within the root.

• Neji crossed Death Stone Forest and found the Ancestral Root Remnant, surrounded by valuable Divine Tree Heart Fragments and rival competitors.
• Three Radical Faction Earls attacked for a fragment, but the leader who seized it was drained of his life and died.
• Neji warned Huiyao that the fragments’ connections to the root had to be severed or soothed, and they formed a bloodline oath to work together.
• Huiyao and the Conservative Faction engaged their rivals while Neji studied the fragments’ energy connections.
• Neji severed the connection nodes of the three highest-quality fragments and began drawing them in as Huiyao shielded him.
• A surge of vitality within the Ancestral Root Remnant awakened an ancient, malicious presence just as the fragments were about to be claimed.

Neji escaped the awakening will of the Ancestor Root Remnant with three major Divine Tree Heart Fragments, then survived the Ancestral Grounds and returned to the Mother Star. After turning in a lesser fragment, he received major rewards from Prince Longshi, including access to an Astral Hall cultivation chamber.

• The Ancestor Root Remnant's awakening froze the void, and Neji fled with three major fragments while fending off attacks from the gray-cloaked man and two lone Earls.
• Neji escaped into the Fluorescent Forest, recovered in hiding, and kept his most valuable fragments concealed while gathering resources until the hundred-day period ended.
• Neji and fewer than thirty other survivors returned to the Mother Star, where he saw Huiyao, the gray-cloaked man, Rhino, Xuan, and Jiqiao among the survivors.
• Neji turned in gathered resources and one medium-quality Divine Tree Heart Fragment while hiding his greatest treasures.
• The merit announcement awarded Neji one hundred thousand merit points, a threefold expansion of Azuremist Star, a Main House War Bastion, and thirty days in an Astral Hall cultivation chamber.

Neji cultivated in Astral Hall, used stellar energy and an ancient Divine Tree Heart Fragment to advance to the Late Nascent Soul stage, and learned of rising tensions around the Mother Star. Prince Longshi then ordered him to lead a dangerous scouting mission against the Void Spirit Clan, leaving Neji to prepare for departure.

• Neji detected a hidden recorder in his Astral Hall meditation chamber and concealed his cultivation methods while studying the Divine Tree Heart Fragment’s stellar and spatial knowledge.
• Duke Workshop informed Neji that the Void Spirit Clan had attacked Longshi’s forces and that Prince Phoenixfeather’s delegation might be contacting the Neutral Merchant Alliance.
• Neji used the chamber’s stellar energy to break through to the Late Nascent Soul stage and reviewed Duke Workshop’s proposed exploration of an ancient forbidden region.
• Prince Longshi ordered Neji to lead a Vanguard Scout Team, select five Earls, and depart in three days to locate the Void Spirit Clan’s Nest and destroy its key nodes.
• Ironedge Marquis gave Neji the mission dossier and star map, and Neji considered the dangers of mental corrosion and energy parasitism on his way back to Amaterasu Palace.

Neji led a five-member team into the Shadow Starfield to locate a Void Spirit Clan Nest and gather intelligence. The team found a large Nest in the Darktide Corridor, but five Void Spirit hunters detected them and charged their ship.

• Neji studied the attacks and traced their likely connection to the Darktide Corridor.
• Neji assembled a team of Ōtsutsuki Night Owl, Flame Calamity, Stoneforce, Shadowweave, and Ōtsutsuki Xuan, then departed aboard the Phantom Shadow Ship.
• Xuan identified an approaching dark-energy low tide, and Neji ordered the ship to avoid known attack sites and wait for a safe infiltration window.
• Night Owl detected Void Spirit Clan outposts, and Xuan's analysis showed they formed a warning network around the Darktide Corridor.
• Neji guided the ship into the corridor during the low tide, where Shadowweave confirmed a large Nest containing Void Spirit Clan energy bodies and parasitized life signatures.
• Five Void Spirit Clan hunters detected the team and charged the Phantom Shadow Ship.

Neji and his crew fought off a Void Spirit Clan attack, escaped detection, and treated Shadowweave’s spiritual parasitic toxin. With the Phantom Shadow Ship trapped near the Nest and conventional escape routes too dangerous, Neji decided to ambush a search squad and steal a Void Spirit Energy Core to open a path through a spatial turbulence belt.

• Neji ordered Flame Calamity to destroy the attacking Void Spirit Clan shadows while Shadowweave cut down two others, but Shadowweave was struck by spiritual parasitic toxin.
• Stoneforce annihilated the remaining hostile energy as Neji hid the damaged Phantom Shadow Ship from a swarm of searching Void Spirit Clan shadows and Parasitic Puppets.
• Neji used Chaos True Essence to remove the parasitic toxin spreading through Shadowweave and stabilize her condition.
• Xuan determined that escape required crossing a dangerous spatial turbulence belt, and Night Owl identified the belt as a possible route out.
• Neji decided to ambush an isolated search squad and take the strongest Void Spirit Clan member’s core to create a stable passage through the turbulence.

Neji and his crew ambushed a Void Spirit Clan patrol and took its leader’s core, but the kill alerted a legion that pursued them to the turbulent zone entrance. They used the core to destabilize the entrance and escaped into the turbulent zone, leaving the pursuing forces caught in a destructive vortex.

• Neji coordinated an ambush in a fold depression, where Stoneforce trapped the Parasitic Puppets, Flame Calamity attacked the leader, and Shadowweave engaged the other energy forms.
• The leading gray shadow struck Flame Calamity with a mental shock and tried to kill Neji with a concealed gray thread, but Neji stopped it with Almighty Push and shattered its core.
• Neji took the leader’s core, and the crew defeated the remaining Void Spirit Clan energy forms and Parasitic Puppets.
• Neji ordered the Phantom Shadow Ship to flee as an organized Void Spirit Clan legion converged on their position and pursued them toward the turbulent zone entrance.
• With the ship’s shield shattered, Xuan launched the core on a circuit-covered disc, triggering a chain reaction that formed a destructive vortex at the entrance.
• The vortex swallowed nearby pursuers as the Phantom Shadow Ship slipped past its edge and plunged into the turbulent zone.

The Phantom Shadow Ship endured the turbulence zone, reached a fragment that sheltered it and yielded energy blocks and an explorer’s log. The log revealed a possible route to normal space, and the crew spotted the first landmark, a Twin Counterflow Vortex.

• Neji coordinated the crew as they used a brief calm period to steer the damaged Phantom Shadow Ship past a space fragment and into temporary shelter.
• Neji sent the ship toward a large fragment with an unusual energy signature, then searched it and recovered energy blocks and a data crystal from an abandoned outpost.
• Xuan deciphered the explorer’s log, which described three energy turning points and a possible rift to normal space beyond a Vortex-Eye Interlude Zone.
• Neji ordered the Phantom Shadow Ship back into the turbulence to search for the first turning point.
• The crew spotted two enormous counter-rotating vortices ahead, identifying the first turning point as the Twin Counterflow Vortex.

Neji and the crew survived the Twin Vortices, found an ancient ruin, and reforged the ruined Phantom Shadow Ship into the Shadow-Crossing Shuttle. They reached the Dark-Energy Tidal Peak, where Neji detected a brief opening and ordered the shuttle into it.

• Night Owl sensed a narrow, temporary stable belt between the Twin Vortices, and Neji guided the Phantom Shadow Ship through it at the cost of severe damage.
• Neji led the crew to an energy island and opened an ancient ruin, where they activated a console and obtained a clearer star map to the Vortex-Eye Interlude Zone.
• Neji dismantled the damaged ship and built a smaller, sturdier Shadow-Crossing Shuttle with help from the crew.
• The crew traveled for thirty standard hours and reached the Dark-Energy Tidal Peak, the river's second turning point.
• As the shuttle drifted toward the peak, Neji detected a trough phase and ordered it to dive into the tidal energy.

Neji and his companions escaped the River of Buried Shadows through an unstable starfield bubble, but the Shadow-Crossing Shuttle was left powerless in an unfamiliar region of space. As they neared death from oxygen loss, Xuan detected a distant signal that might come from the Void Spirit Clan.

• Neji guided the battered Shadow-Crossing Shuttle through the dark energy currents of Tide Peak with Xuan's Compass readings and Night Owl's warnings.
• The group entered the Vortex-Eye Interlude Zone and searched its bubbles for a stable exit.
• When Backflow began dragging the shuttle toward its vortex, Neji chose the unstable starfield bubble, and Flame Calamity sacrificed his remaining strength to propel the ship into it.
• The shuttle emerged in an unfamiliar star region with its systems dead, leaving Flame Calamity unconscious and Stoneforce, Night Owl, and Shadowweave barely conscious.
• Xuan detected a faint, distant signal resembling an ancient Void Spirit Clan signature just as the oxygen alarm went dark.

Neji guided the failing Shadow-Crossing Shuttle to the remains of an enormous ancient Void Spirit Clan being and brought the group inside to escape the lethal void. The survivors reached a chamber with air and faint energy, where Neji collapsed and began meditating to recover.

• Neji used Chaos True Essence to stabilize the others and transform the shuttle wreckage into a crude thruster and protective shell.
• Neji guided the wreckage through the void and into a nebula of shattered celestial remains, where he found a gigantic decaying Void Spirit Clan corpse.
• Neji steered the wreckage through an opening in the corpse and into a chamber with thin air, slightly warmer temperatures, and faint energy.
• Neji checked Flame Calamity and the others, fed them his remaining medicinal pills, and collapsed from exhaustion.
• Shadowweave approached Neji, but he signaled her to conserve her strength and began meditating to recover.

Neji, Shadowweave, and Xuan traveled deeper into the remains toward the signal source, while Flame Calamity, Stoneforce, and Night Owl stayed behind unconscious. Neji found a Purification Pool guarded by an ancient skeleton and learned that it contained the Void Spirit Clan’s Source Devouring; he touched the Purifying Source Crystal as the chapter ended.

• Neji examined the gelatinous chamber, then left Flame Calamity, Stoneforce, and Night Owl in a protected corner while he, Shadowweave, and Xuan followed the signal deeper into the remains.
• The three reached a honeycomb-like chamber filled with ancient wreckage and found the signal centered on three enormous black pillars.
• Neji spotted a disturbed opening behind one pillar and went down alone, telling Shadowweave and Xuan to retreat with the others if he did not return within half an hour.
• Neji followed the tunnel to a chamber containing a pool of dark-silver liquid connected to the remains by gelatinous tubes.
• Neji found a skeleton holding a cracked dark-gold crystal and sensed a fragmented warning about the Purification Pool, the Source Devouring, and a Purifying Source Crystal.
• Neji saw the pool suppressing writhing shadows of the Void Spirit Clan’s Source Devouring and touched the Purifying Source Crystal.

Neji uncovered the Silver Civilization’s history and learned that the Purification Pool could restrain the Void Spirit Clan. After recovering his companions, he led them to seek an exit as Source Devouring corruption stirred deep within the remains.

• Neji touched the Purifying Source Crystal and received memories of the Silver Civilization, the war against Source Devouring, and the Poolkeeper’s final duty.
• Neji absorbed some purified pool water, collected samples and the Purifying Source Crystal, then returned to the upper chamber.
• Neji used the pool water to revive Flame Calamity, Night Owl, and Stoneforce and help Shadowweave and Xuan purge lingering corruption.
• Neji explained the Purification Pool and Source Purification Power, then told the group to find the Shadow-Crossing Shuttle wreckage and the hidden Observation Passage.
• The remains trembled as Xuan detected stronger Source Devouring corruption, and Neji ordered everyone to leave before the suppressed threat awakened.

Neji led the group through the collapsing remains to the Poolkeepers’ Observation Passage, where they activated its ancient console with Purifying Pool water. They could either make a risky short-range jump immediately or wait thirty standard hours for a precise jump along the marked route.

• Neji guided the group back through the remains as its structure convulsed and collapsed, but they found the Shadow-Crossing Shuttle too damaged to use.
• Neji led the group upward toward the remains’ stable spine, and Stoneforce and Flame Calamity broke through a wall to reach the outer void.
• The group climbed the remains’ exterior and found the Observation Passage entrance in a fissure marked by ancient Poolkeeper designs.
• Neji placed the Purifying Source Crystal in the silver door, and the group entered an observation chamber containing a star map and console.
• Xuan discovered that the console needed high-purity Source Energy, so Neji poured in Purification Pool water to activate it.
• Xuan explained that they could jump immediately to a random destination or wait thirty standard hours for a precise jump along the marked route.

Neji and the others escaped the Source-Devouring Remains with a random jump, landing far from any known star map. As they hid in the observation station and investigated their surroundings, a battle-scarred spacecraft appeared nearby and seemed to detect them.

• Neji chose a random jump rather than wait inside the dangerous remains, and Xuan activated the observation station's jump engine.
• The jump carried the group to an unfamiliar starfield far beyond Mother Star's sphere of influence, leaving them without a known route home.
• Neji ordered the group to assess the station, recover, and restore its detection and communication systems while he studied the Purifying Source Crystal.
• Xuan detected distant, violent energy signals, including one partly matching the Void Spirit Clan's frequency.
• A nearby spacecraft emerged from a spatial jump behind an asteroid belt and aimed toward the observation station, which Neji had ordered into silent mode.