Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Li Anshan returns home after becoming a “user,” drawing attention from people eager to approach him. His father, Li Luyuan, has asked the local police to watch the house, but Li Anshan’s opportunistic second uncle has volunteered instead.
• Father and son avoid visitors by leaving through the back gate to tend the family graves. On the way, Li Luyuan warns Anshan not to be swayed by relatives or townspeople, and to judge people for himself.
• At the grandfather’s grave, they find the mound freshly cleared and three seemingly unlit incense sticks already burning faintly. Anshan tries to relight them, but the lighter’s flame bends away as if blocked by an unseen force.
• Anshan feels a powerful, chilling gaze settle on him. It seems to recognize him, then becomes calm and fades.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Anshan is wary of the attention surrounding his new status. Though he listens to his father, he appears to be withholding a concern. At the grave, his curiosity brings him face-to-face with a supernatural presence.
• Li Luyuan is protective and pragmatic. He resents the relatives’ opportunism, advises his son to remain independent, and treats the grave visit as a source of comfort rather than something that can control fate.
• The second uncle has shifted from distant hostility to conspicuous helpfulness, seemingly hoping to benefit from Anshan’s new position.
• The third uncle’s eldest son, Li Yun, is introduced indirectly: he sometimes returns to tend the grandfather’s grave and has quietly sent the family red envelopes. His recent visit may explain the fresh incense, though its strange condition remains unexplained.

Significant themes

• Opportunism and privacy: Anshan’s newfound status makes him a target, even within his extended family.
• Self-reliance and uncertainty: His father urges him to assess people himself and accept that his unusual circumstances may be either a blessing or a curse.
• Family legacy and unresolved tensions: Old disputes shape present relationships, while the grandfather’s grave—and Li Yun’s connection to it—hints at concealed family history.
• The supernatural: The incense and unseen gaze signal that Anshan’s experience may involve forces beyond ordinary human attention.

Chapter Summary: “Potions”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After returning from the mountain, Li Anshan realizes he has become strangely absent-minded. He vaguely remembers sweeping the graves but feels that something about the ritual—possibly lighting incense—was missing. His memories quickly settle into a normal, unquestioned version of events, suggesting a supernatural influence or memory alteration.
• His father notices his dazed state and warns him to stay indoors and avoid the people gathered outside, implying that the family is already in danger or under observation.
• That evening, Li Anshan secretly gathers his parents and reveals a palm-sized bottle of Second-Tier Life Potion, obtained from his mysterious Potion Chest.
• He explains that the potion can strengthen the body and extend a person’s life by roughly five or six healthy years. Although he has never tested it, he insists that his parents drink it before its effects dissipate.
• Once opened, the potion releases an extraordinary fragrance that refreshes Li Anshan and attracts animals. The family dog, cats, birds, and possibly other creatures outside become agitated and move toward the house, creating an increasingly ominous atmosphere.
• Li Anshan divides the potion between his parents. Despite their hesitation and concern that he should drink it himself, both parents consume their portions.
• The potion immediately improves their condition. His mother feels warmth and renewed energy, while his father also experiences an unusually strong sense of well-being. Li Anshan is relieved and deeply moved that the potion benefits them.

Character Developments

• Li Anshan: Becomes more protective and responsible toward his parents. Although he tries to appear casual about the potion, his anxiety and insistence reveal how precious he considers it. His emotional reaction shows his deep love for his family and his desire to repay them.
• Li Anshan’s father, Li Luyuan: Remains cautious and observant, but he ultimately trusts his son. His complicated, grateful expression suggests that he understands the sacrifice involved in giving up such a valuable item.
• Li Anshan’s mother: Initially hesitates because she believes the potion is too precious for her, demonstrating her selflessness and concern for her son. She accepts it only after he repeatedly urges her.
• The parents together: Their willingness to trust Li Anshan strengthens the sense of family unity while also emphasizing the unusual burden he is carrying.

Significant Themes

• Filial love and sacrifice: Li Anshan willingly gives his parents a rare magical treasure instead of keeping it for himself.
• Family trust: Despite the potion’s unknown nature, his parents follow his instructions because they trust his intentions.
• Supernatural uncertainty: The distorted memories surrounding the grave-sweeping and the strange reactions of animals suggest forces beyond Li Anshan’s understanding.
• Hidden danger: The warnings to remain indoors, the activity outside the house, and the animals’ response to the potion create a growing sense that danger is approaching.
• The value of health and longevity: The potion symbolizes the hope of protecting loved ones from aging, illness, and the hardships of ordinary life.

Character Interactions

• Li Anshan’s father teases him about looking dazed but also warns him not to expose himself to outsiders.
• Li Anshan privately reveals the potion to both parents, treating them as trusted family members rather than concealing his power from them.
• His mother protests that he should use the potion himself, but he firmly insists that she and his father drink it.
• Li Anshan encourages his mother to drink first and reassures her that he and his father are present, showing his protective role.
• After the potion takes effect, he examines and even pinches his father’s face to confirm the changes, while his father expresses astonishment at feeling better than ever.
• The chapter ends with Li Anshan laughing through tears, satisfied that the potion has genuinely helped his parents.

Chapter Summary: “What He Saw”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After the family opens the curtains, they witness animals—including cats, dogs, and rats—crowding around the house, attracted by the lingering scent of the Life Potion. The creatures scratch at doors and climb walls for over half an hour before dispersing.
• The incident makes Jing Yuan’s family realize how valuable and dangerous the potion is. His father warns him not to go outside casually.
• The family drinks the remaining “Bottle-Rinsing Water,” exhausting the potion’s effects. Li Luyuan preserves and buries the crystal bottle as a precious object.
• Although the family tries to remain private, rumors spread rapidly through their small hometown. Neighbors initially come to ask questions, but Li Luyuan turns them away.
• On the third day, the town’s mayor and deputy mayor visit with gifts and exaggerated politeness. They pretend to offer assistance but ultimately ask Li Anshan to meet with higher-level officials, share his experience, and possibly establish local liaison or training programs.
• Their visit reveals that county and city authorities view Li Anshan as a potentially valuable source of advanced technology and economic development. They hope to benefit from his connection to the mysterious “Main God Users.”
• The chapter explains that governments and businesses are competing to contact these users, whose resources may be behind emerging technologies such as “human evolution drugs” and advanced prosthetics.
• Li Anshan, already warned by the customer-service system, politely refuses the officials’ proposals by citing his poor health, need for recovery, and official regulations.
• The officials leave their contact information, but Li Luyuan suspects the pressure will continue.
• Meanwhile, the potion’s effects become increasingly visible in Li Luyuan: his gray hair is darkening, his wrinkles are easing, and his vitality has noticeably returned.

Character Developments

• Li Anshan demonstrates caution and maturity by resisting local officials’ attempts to recruit or exploit him. He follows the prepared advice and avoids revealing more than necessary.
• Li Luyuan becomes more protective and vigilant. He recognizes the family’s danger and the political and economic implications of the potion, while also personally experiencing its rejuvenating effects.
• The family shifts from treating the potion as a private miracle to understanding it as a dangerous and highly sought-after resource.

Significant Themes

• The danger of valuable secrets: Extraordinary resources inevitably attract attention, making privacy difficult to maintain.
• Government and economic competition: Officials and corporations seek access to Main God Users and their technology to gain power, wealth, and influence.
• The limits of hiding in modern society: Surveillance systems, financial tracking, medical records, and big-data analysis make true anonymity increasingly difficult.
• Small-town opportunism and unequal competition: Local authorities use personal connections and emotional appeals because they cannot compete with the resources offered by major cities.
• Rejuvenation and its consequences: The potion restores Li Luyuan’s health, but its benefits also expose the family to increasing danger.

Character Interactions

• Jing Yuan’s father warns him to stay indoors after seeing animals attracted to the potion.
• The family cooperates in consuming the leftover liquid and securing the bottle.
• Neighbors attempt to question the family, but Li Luyuan blocks them.
• The two mayors flatter and pressure Li Anshan, presenting their demands as friendly assistance while seeking access to his resources.
• Li Anshan maintains a courteous but firm refusal, while Li Luyuan recognizes that the officials’ visit is only the beginning of further attempts to influence the family.

Summary of “Trifles and Weight”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Anshan’s return and apparent success bring a sudden wave of relatives and acquaintances to his family’s home. Though many of them are normally distant, they temporarily behave like a close-knit family in order to associate with him.
• Relatives praise Anshan’s new “identity” and the Li family’s success, but quickly follow their compliments with requests: jobs for their children, financial help, or access to the same mysterious “qualification” Anshan possesses.
• Anshan repeatedly explains that he is only beginning and lacks the authority or ability to help them. The pressure leaves him exhausted and anxious, while his parents recognize that this social burden is only beginning.
• More distant relatives arrive the following day, repeating the same pattern of flattery, forced familiarity, and attempts to introduce their children to Anshan.
• Anshan distributes candy to the children. He notices one considerate, intelligent boy helping a younger child open his candy and learns that the boy is his cousin, the son of Third Uncle.
• This encounter triggers vague memories of an estranged cousin and a past conflict between Third Uncle and Old Master Li. Anshan senses that he saw something significant at his grandfather’s grave, but the memory disappears again, leaving behind only a faint feeling of discord.
• News of Anshan’s change spreads rapidly. Relatives, neighbors, old friends, classmates, and even barely remembered elementary-school classmates begin contacting him through Tencent.
• After struggling to remember one former classmate—whose only real connection to him was being punished alongside him for unfinished homework—Anshan declines an invitation to meet and reflects on how completely his life has changed.
• By the end, he develops a clearer understanding of his newfound social “weight” as a Main God User: his status now attracts attention, expectations, and opportunistic relationships.

Character Developments

• Li Anshan becomes increasingly aware that his new power and identity have consequences beyond the supernatural. He is uncomfortable with the attention and resents being treated as someone capable of solving everyone’s problems, yet he remains polite and patient.
• His interaction with the children reveals that, despite his irritation, he is still considerate and capable of kindness. He rewards the thoughtful cousin with attention and casually helps ease the awkward family gathering.
• Anshan’s mother sympathizes with his distress and criticizes her husband for not defending him more actively.
• His father takes a pragmatic view, believing Anshan must learn to endure these social obligations because family ties and reputation make them unavoidable.
• The relatives are characterized as opportunistic and flattering. Their sudden warmth exposes how quickly people change their behavior when they believe someone has gained influence or wealth.
• The intelligent young cousin is presented as notably considerate, contrasting with the adults’ self-serving behavior.

Significant Themes

• The social burden of success: Achievement attracts not only admiration but also demands, expectations, and exploitation.
• Family ties versus self-interest: The relatives invoke kinship while primarily seeking practical benefits from Anshan.
• Loss of the ordinary past: Anshan’s former relationships, including childhood friendships, suddenly acquire new meaning because of his changed status.
• Growing awareness of power: He begins to understand that being a Main God User gives him influence and “weight” in the eyes of others, even if he does not yet feel capable or powerful.
• Memory, mystery, and hidden history: The recurring inability to remember what he saw at his grandfather’s grave suggests supernatural interference or an unresolved family secret.
• Change and irreversibility: Anshan realizes that his life can no longer return to the simple existence of an ordinary college student.

Important Character Interactions

• Relatives crowd around Anshan, praising him before pressing him for favors, forcing him to repeatedly deny that he can arrange jobs, money, or qualifications.
• His mother expresses concern for him, while his father insists that enduring such treatment is part of growing up and bearing the Li family name.
• During the second family gathering, Anshan is pushed into interacting with younger cousins. He gives them candy and speaks with the thoughtful boy who helps a smaller child.
• Anshan’s brief interaction with Third Uncle and the cousin revives memories of old family tensions surrounding Old Master Li.
• His attempted contact with former classmates demonstrates how far his reputation has spread and how strangers from his past now seek renewed connections with him.

Chapter Summary: “Changes Among Users”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fang Yishu returns to Ning Yu’s room disguised from head to toe, startling Ning Yu and her cat, Yuanbao.
• She recounts an extraordinary meeting with the university’s vice dean, dean’s secretary, and president. Rather than processing a normal leave of absence, they offer her and Ning Yu special academic privileges:
  • Retention of student status with flexible attendance
  • Exams treated as a formality
  • Direct graduate-school recommendations
  • Freedom to choose top advisors
  • Priority for studying abroad
  • Possible future university positions
• Ning Yu and Fang Yishu realize the university is attempting to secure their loyalty because they are now Main God Users. The school’s generosity is effectively an investment intended to gain their future assistance.
• Fang explains that returning to campus was difficult because students now treat her as a celebrity and suspect she is a Main God User. She barely escaped by using a Psychic Crystal to cast Psychological Invisibility.
• Fang plans to absorb the crystal and advance to the Second Tier. She has also been advised not to combine too many unrelated psychic enhancements, despite the availability of abundant resources after the opening of new trial planes.
• The chapter ends with Fang and Ning Yu continuing along their different enhancement paths: Fang developing psychic abilities and Ning beginning to raise a companion for her Druid Apprentice path.

Character Developments

• Fang Yishu becomes more aware of the social and political consequences of being a Main God User. Although she is tempted by the university’s benefits, she recognizes that such favors could create obligations and future restrictions.
• Fang’s increasing fame has made ordinary life difficult. She must disguise herself and use supernatural abilities to avoid attention from classmates and acquaintances.
• She shows growing trust in the advice of the mysterious young man with glasses, following his warning about maintaining a focused psychic development path. Her blush and embarrassment when thinking of him hint at possible romantic feelings.
• Ning Yu remains playful and emotionally supportive but demonstrates practical insight into the university’s motives. She is also beginning her own supernatural development as a Druid Apprentice and is preparing to choose a long-term companion.
• Yuanbao, the black cat, remains wary of Fang but is successfully lured out by dried fish. Her reactions provide comic relief and reinforce Fang’s lack of natural appeal to animals despite her psychic talent.

Significant Themes

• Power attracts investment and exploitation: The university’s generosity reflects how institutions attempt to bind powerful individuals through favors and loyalty.
• Freedom versus security: The academic arrangement offers comfort and excellent opportunities, but accepting it may limit the women’s independence.
• The loss of ordinary life: As Main God Users, Fang and Ning can no longer interact with school normally. Their abilities and reputation attract unwanted attention.
• Specialization and disciplined growth: Fang’s decision to avoid miscellaneous psychic enhancements highlights the importance of choosing a coherent path rather than pursuing rapid but potentially unstable advancement.
• Diverging personal paths: Although Fang and Ning remain close friends, each is developing in a different direction—psychic cultivation for Fang and druidic bonding for Ning.

Character Interactions

• Ning teases Fang about the university officials’ exaggerated attention, comparing the meeting to receiving a Nobel Prize.
• Fang and Ning openly discuss whether the university’s offer is worth accepting, balancing immediate advantages against possible future demands.
• Ning comforts and feeds Yuanbao while Fang’s sudden entrance frightens the cat. Later, Fang grabs and aggressively pets Yuanbao, prompting the cat’s distressed protests.
• Their conversation shows a close friendship built on humor, honesty, and mutual concern, especially as both confront the consequences of entering the world of Main God Users.

Chapter Summary

Chen Ruiping enters the Cemetery District, a bleak, death-filled wasteland, accompanied by two masked guides. His intense curiosity immediately gets him into trouble: he investigates a half-buried skeleton, samples poisonous vegetation, and briefly suffers severe swelling and discoloration. Demonstrating the resilience of a newly advanced Third-Tier cultivator, he expels the poison himself rather than accepting Holy Water.
The chapter explains Chen’s unusual background. Formerly Chen Jingqiu, he has been identified by the Main God Platform as possessing a rare Innate Sword Body (Pseudo). Using only a low-spiritual-energy environment and the publicly available Geng Metal Sword Art, he rapidly advanced to Third Tier. Researchers closely monitored and experimented on his cultivation, but eventually released him when the environment could no longer support further progress. His achievement is especially remarkable because cultivation-based enhancement systems consume enormous resources compared with other forms of power.
After arriving in the district, Chen becomes involved in a confrontation with foreign users. He knocks down a blond Korean fighter, who protests that the area is protected Korean territory and threatens retaliation. Chen ignores the man’s complaints, mocks his dyed hair for resembling the color of Chen’s brass sword, and strikes him again, leaving him injured and tangled with a Rotten Corpse.
Chen’s attention soon shifts entirely to a fog-filled depression where he senses traces of metal qi. Excited by the possibility of finding a natural ore vein suitable for cultivation, he eagerly moves toward it, comparing the discovery to an irresistible temptation. His two guides follow helplessly, clearly accustomed to—and exasperated by—his reckless, childlike behavior.

Character Development and Interactions

• Chen Ruiping: Established as powerful, impulsive, highly curious, socially oblivious, and fascinated by cultivation materials. Despite his Third-Tier strength, he behaves more like an enthusiastic child than a disciplined swordsman.
• The two guides: Function as cautious handlers, attempting to protect or supervise Chen but unable to control him. Their shared helplessness emphasizes how unpredictable he is.
• The blond Korean fighter: Acts as Chen’s immediate opponent, relying on insults and territorial claims but proving physically outmatched.
• Researchers/Main God Platform: Their interest in Chen highlights his rarity and value as a living cultivation experiment.

Significant Themes

• Power versus maturity: Chen possesses extraordinary strength but lacks restraint and common sense.
• The cost of cultivation: The chapter emphasizes that immortal and sword-cultivation paths require vastly more resources than many other enhancement systems.
• Scientific observation versus individual freedom: Chen’s breakthrough was enabled by institutional experimentation, but his release marks the limits of controlling a uniquely gifted person.
• Curiosity and danger: Chen’s willingness to taste poison, explore corpses, and pursue mysterious metal qi drives both the humor and the potential danger of the chapter.
• Cultural and territorial conflict: The fight with the Korean users introduces rivalry between international groups within the Main God Platform’s world.

Summary: “A Strange Special Terrain”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ruiping and his two masked guides, “Stork” and “Raven,” encounter a group of Korean-side users occupying a nearby area.
• The group had initially acted aggressively, but Chen effortlessly defeated them with his sword scabbard. Even their Second Tier fire-using leader was badly overwhelmed.
• The guides warn Chen not to enter a nearby bowl-shaped depression filled with mysterious, mist-like negative energy. The area is considered dangerous and is known for petrifying users who remain inside too long.
• Several previous explorers have been transformed into gray, stone-like remains, fused with the black earth.
• Despite the danger, Chen becomes interested in the terrain because he believes the mist resembles “Golden Sha,” a type of external energy useful for strengthening swordsmanship.
• He tests the mist by touching it with a finger surrounded by golden energy. The mist attempts to erode and engulf him, but his energy resists it, though the glow is slightly weakened.
• Rather than retreating, Chen concludes that the area is ideal for “grinding” or tempering his sword and proposes staying there.

Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping: Demonstrates overwhelming combat power, defeating an entire hostile team without drawing his sword. He is fearless, curious, and unusually willing to expose himself to danger for cultivation. His unconventional “ancient” sword-training methods and ability to reach the Third Tier make him a mysterious and abnormal figure.
• Stork and Raven: Act as cautious guides who understand the danger of the terrain. Their concern contrasts sharply with Chen’s reckless enthusiasm. They are increasingly baffled by his behavior and cannot persuade him to follow safer plans.
• Korean-side leader and team: Their initial arrogance collapses into fear and submission after Chen defeats them. The more sensible leader cooperates and explains the area’s dangers, while the golden-haired member remains more hostile and foul-mouthed.

Significant Themes

• Recklessness versus caution: The guides view the depression as a lethal hazard, while Chen sees it as a valuable training opportunity.
• Unconventional cultivation: Chen’s outdated-sounding ideas of Qi induction, body tempering, and absorbing external energies contrast with the standardized systems of the Main God Platform.
• Power and intimidation: Chen’s effortless victory establishes his dominance and shows how quickly arrogance can turn into submission.
• Danger as opportunity: The same negative energy that petrifies ordinary users may provide Chen with a means of strengthening his body and swordsmanship.
• Mystery and abnormality: Chen’s methods, strength, and apparently inexplicable cultivation progress make him an “unsolved mystery” to those observing him.

Character Interactions

• Stork attempts to prevent Chen from entering the dangerous area and urges him to visit a safer outpost.
• Raven explains the nature of the terrain and its erosive effects.
• Chen questions the defeated Korean users, who respond submissively after his earlier assault.
• Chen directly tests the mist despite the guides’ warnings, leaving both masked men stunned when he interprets the lethal zone as a training ground rather than a threat.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ruiping, a Third Tier sword cultivator, draws his heavy brass longsword and demonstrates its power to two Special Investigation Bureau colleagues.
• He focuses his aura and releases a massive golden sword arc into the gray mist. The strike cuts through the mist and penetrates deep underground.
• Through the sword’s resonance, Chen senses a huge, extremely pure metal object buried less than ten meters below the surface. It does not feel like a corpse or ordinary ore vein.
• Excited by the discovery, Chen suggests that the team has found a potentially valuable “big job” and asks the two guides whether they want to investigate it.
• Using the Fourth Tier [Fire-Glaze Lamp] to temporarily disperse the mist, several dozen people begin excavating the black soil.
• The soil becomes increasingly dense and alloy-like with depth, revealing bones and remains embedded within it.
• Chen assists the excavation by slicing through hardened soil and stone with precise strands of sword aura. He also destroys undead creatures awakened by the digging and shapes the excavation walls to prevent collapse.
• His effectiveness leaves the observers stunned; they jokingly compare him to a self-propelled construction laser and undead exterminator.
• Raven finally accepts that Chen can genuinely “level up by chopping things,” while his colleague jokes that Raven should have saved more money for a higher-level cultivation technique.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping is established as both a powerful and highly practical sword cultivator. His technique is not merely combat-oriented: he uses it for mining, construction, excavation, and monster extermination.
• His choice of the supposedly inferior Geng Metal Sword Art is vindicated. Though cheap, difficult to cultivate, and unsuitable for nurturing life, it gives him an exceptional ability to sense metal aura and underground materials.
• Chen’s past experience as a food-delivery rider and apparent familiarity with civil engineering work further emphasize his adaptable, grounded personality.
• The two Bureau guides move from concern and disbelief to admiration and resignation as they witness Chen’s abilities.
• Raven’s skepticism is replaced by reluctant acceptance, while his colleague’s teasing highlights the consequences of Raven’s earlier reluctance to invest in a stronger cultivation method.

3. Significant Themes

• Unexpected value in “inferior” abilities: A technique dismissed as low-grade becomes highly useful because it perfectly matches Chen’s interests and circumstances.
• Practical applications of cultivation: Swordsmanship is portrayed not only as a method of combat but also as a tool for labor, exploration, rescue, and construction.
• Resourcefulness and specialization: Chen’s metal-sensing ability allows him to identify opportunities others would miss, showing how specialized skills can become decisive.
• Humor through contrast: The majestic image of a sword cultivator is contrasted with the mundane work of mining and civil engineering.
• Progress through unconventional means: The chapter reinforces the idea that Chen can grow stronger through practical “chopping,” turning ordinary labor into cultivation and advancement.

4. Character Interactions

• Chen politely but confidently orders the two colleagues to step back before testing his sword strike.
• After sensing the buried object, he openly shares his conclusion and invites the guides to participate in the discovery.
• During excavation, Chen works alongside the team rather than remaining a distant combatant, using his sword aura to support their labor.
• The onlookers silently shift from astonishment to numb acceptance as Chen repeatedly demonstrates impossible levels of precision and efficiency.
• Raven and his colleague provide comic commentary, with Raven marveling at Chen’s ability to gain strength through chopping and the other man joking that Raven should have invested in a better technique.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Excavation beneath the depression continues for a long time, with workers digging through increasingly dark, metallic-smelling soil.
• At a depth of eight or nine meters, the team strikes an enormous, extremely hard metallic object.
• The discovery attracts nearly everyone in the camp, while foreign users are prevented from approaching.
• As more dirt is removed, the object is revealed to be a gigantic metal hand, severed cleanly at the wrist. It is nearly ten meters long and several meters wide.
• The hand is heavily damaged, rusted, scorched, and covered in a gray-white substance resembling the shell or calcium deposits found on the strange statues outside.
• This substance appears to have grown from within the metal and formed disturbing vein-like patterns and tumor-like protrusions, especially in the palm.
• Chen Ruiping notices that the hand is holding—not an object—but a strange spherical pattern.
• Looking closely at the pattern causes his body to begin petrifying or stiffening rapidly. He narrowly saves himself by unleashing sword qi and scraping the affected skin from his exposed body.
• He urgently warns everyone not to look at the pattern from below, though fortunately the others have not yet directly seen it.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping displays exceptional curiosity and enthusiasm, treating the excavation as an extraordinary discovery rather than merely an archaeological find.
• His unusually powerful energy system and sharp eyesight allow him to inspect the hand more closely than anyone else, but those same abilities make him the first person endangered by the palm’s pattern.
• He demonstrates quick reflexes and combat control by using sword qi to remove the petrifying layer from his skin, though the process leaves him bloodied.
• His warning reveals both his danger and his willingness to protect the other workers.
• The excavation leader and the elderly expert show intense excitement and professional interest, while the rest of the camp becomes increasingly invested in uncovering the object.

3. Significant Themes

• Curiosity versus danger: The team’s fascination with the discovery drives them to ignore the increasingly obvious supernatural threat.
• The limitations of perception: Chen’s superior eyesight, normally an advantage, becomes a liability because it allows him to see the dangerous pattern clearly.
• The fusion of life and machinery: The organic-looking shell growing from the metal suggests that the object is not simply artificial, but connected to biological or supernatural processes.
• Buried history and ominous power: The enormous severed hand, its signs of battle, and the lingering scent of blood imply a violent and possibly ancient conflict.
• Human ambition in the face of the unknown: Despite bodily stiffness and fear, the workers continue digging because of the significance of what they may uncover.

4. Character Interactions

• The excavation leader repeatedly orders the workers to slow down and handle the object carefully, coordinating the increasingly large operation.
• Experts and camp personnel are summoned as the hand emerges, while outsiders are forcibly kept away.
• Chen initially assists by clearing dangerous encrustations with sword qi, then joins the workers directly with a shovel and pickaxe.
• His discovery of the spherical pattern leads him to shout a warning to everyone nearby.
• Although his reaction nearly injures his colleagues, his intervention prevents others from suffering the same petrifying effect.

Chapter Summary

• Discovery of the petrified construct: Chen Ruiping and the older members of the expedition examine a strange pattern he sketched after being rescued from the excavation pit. The design resembles an abstract eye or vortex, leading them to compare it to the legendary eyes of Medusa because of the nearby gray-white human statues and signs of petrification.
• Identification of a possible golem: The team realizes that the enormous object beneath the pit may be part of an artificial Western-fantasy-style golem. A single severed hand is roughly ten meters tall, suggesting that the complete creature was immense and extraordinarily powerful. Its dark-red metal body has survived severe corrosion, and the material gives off intense “metal qi,” making it extremely valuable for research and cultivation.
• Chen’s reaction and character development: Although badly injured and wrapped in bandages, Chen remains energetic, talkative, and fascinated by the discovery. He is tempted to break off some of the rare metal to improve his cheap brass sword, but recognizes that the artifact is too important for him to claim. His priorities shift from personal gain to exploring elsewhere, though his reckless curiosity remains intact.
• Conflict at the excavation site: A group of twenty or thirty outsiders gathers beyond the camp’s perimeter after noticing the excavation and the disappearance of the previous occupants. They represent varied backgrounds and styles, including robed figures, modern adventurers, and a tattooed, heavily built man. Their presence creates a tense standoff with the expedition’s guards, who insist that the site is closed.
• Competing claims and rising tension: A mustached foreigner politely claims that the discovery should belong to all humanity, but refuses to withdraw. The expedition members reject this diplomatic pretense, recognizing that the outsiders are likely waiting for an opportunity to seize the find. The situation threatens to turn violent because there are no enforceable territorial rules.
• Chen confronts the intruders: Chen walks into the standoff in his conspicuous “Dumpling Man” bandage outfit, drawing everyone’s attention. Instead of defusing the situation, he mocks the outsiders’ clothing and appearances, calling them a group attending a cosplay convention. He sits directly in the path leading to the excavation, making it clear that they will not pass.
• Challenge implied: The tattooed strongman responds aggressively, causing the ground to tremble as he steps forward. Chen meets his intimidating stare with irritation rather than fear and sarcastically asks whether he wants to challenge him to a duel, ending the chapter on the brink of confrontation.

Key Themes

• Discovery versus ownership: The golem’s value raises questions about who has the right to claim ancient or supernatural discoveries.
• Curiosity and restraint: Chen’s desire to obtain the metal conflicts with the artifact’s broader scientific and strategic importance.
• Humor amid danger: Chen’s irreverent jokes and bold attitude undercut the ominous atmosphere while emphasizing his fearlessness.
• Power and intimidation: The standoff demonstrates that politeness and legal arguments are superficial; in this dangerous world, strength ultimately determines who controls valuable discoveries.
• The unknown past: The massive golem, its battle scars, and the petrified remains hint at a powerful ancient conflict whose full nature remains unclear.

Chapter Summary: “One Slash”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ruiping and his group defend their claim to a mysterious excavation site in unclaimed territory.
• A rival group, led by a short-bearded man and including the muscular, face-painted Ralph/Yulafu, arrives to demand access. They argue that the discovery should be shared because no country or organization officially controls the area.
• The rivals propose cooperation, offering to share the risks and assist with excavation. The bandaged swordsman among Chen’s group rejects the offer, accusing them of arriving only to seize the rewards after others have done the dangerous work.
• The exchange grows increasingly hostile. Ralph attempts to assert himself, but Chen verbally shuts him down.
• During Chen’s gesture, the bandaged man unleashes or reveals an extraordinary sword-like ability. Yulafu experiences the sensation of being invisibly cut from head to torso, despite suffering no visible injury.
• Yulafu’s reaction reveals that he is a powerful Second Tier user, but the apparent slash leaves him shaken and wary. The opposing group realizes that the bandaged man is far more dangerous than he appears.
• The short-bearded leader questions whether the bandaged man is a supernatural ability user or an Eastern “cultivator.” He warns that more people may soon arrive and that Chen’s group may not be able to keep the site.
• The bandaged man refuses to be intimidated, telling them to return with reinforcements if they want, but challenging them to fight immediately if they intend to make trouble.
• When he brings his damaged sword sheath forward, the rival group becomes visibly nervous. Their numbers are large but poorly coordinated, and the leader hesitates over whether to attack or retreat.
• The rivals are especially reluctant to leave because the excavation site contains a valuable-looking red lamp and unusual energy fluctuations. Their insect-like scouting creatures sensed danger within the pit and subsequently became sluggish or died, suggesting that something powerful and threatening lies below.
• The chapter ends with the rival group caught between fear of the defenders and greed for whatever treasure or secret is buried in the pit.

Character Developments

• The bandaged swordsman is established as an exceptionally dangerous combatant despite his injuries and seemingly weakened state. His invisible slash demonstrates precise, terrifying power and gives him psychological control over the confrontation.
• Chen Ruiping shows confidence and aggressive leadership. He deliberately provokes the opposing group and reinforces his side’s authority, especially by confronting Ralph.
• Yulafu/Ralph is revealed to be a Second Tier expert, but his involuntary retreat shows that even a strong fighter can be overwhelmed by the swordsman’s ability. His fear undermines the confidence of his allies.
• The short-bearded leader emerges as cautious and calculating. He attempts negotiation first, assesses the relative strength of both groups, and recognizes that his followers are not unified enough for a straightforward assault.
• The rival group is shown to be opportunistic rather than loyal or cohesive. Many members are motivated by personal gain and instinctively protect themselves when the swordsman displays his power.

Significant Themes

• Power over negotiation: The rival group presents cooperation as a fair arrangement, but the confrontation reveals that force ultimately determines who controls the site.
• Hidden strength and deception: The bandaged swordsman looks injured and vulnerable, yet possesses an ability capable of terrifying a Second Tier expert. Appearances are repeatedly shown to be unreliable.
• Greed and opportunism: The newcomers did not discover or excavate the site themselves, but still seek the rewards. Their desire for the red lamp and whatever lies below drives them to consider risking a fight.
• Fear as a weapon: The swordsman’s attack causes no physical injury, but its realism and speed create overwhelming psychological pressure. The demonstration is enough to make the opposing group reconsider attacking.
• Uncertainty and danger: The mysterious pit, energy fluctuations, and failed insect scouts suggest that the true threat may come not from the rival humans but from what is buried beneath the excavation site.

Character Interactions

• The short-bearded leader attempts to reason with Chen’s group, while the bandaged swordsman responds with mockery and contempt.
• Chen and Ralph engage in a brief verbal clash, with Chen immediately asserting dominance.
• The swordsman’s invisible slash silently intimidates Yulafu and changes the entire atmosphere of the standoff.
• The short-bearded man shifts from negotiation to veiled threats after recognizing the defenders’ strength.
• The swordsman refuses to negotiate further and openly challenges the rivals to fight, forcing their leader to weigh pride and potential treasure against the danger of defeat.

Chapter Summary: “Gathering Manpower”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• At the excavation site, Raven and his group continue guarding the mysterious “big thing” they uncovered. A hostile group, described as “hyenas,” has withdrawn slightly but remains nearby, clearly waiting for reinforcements before making another attempt to seize it.
• Raven warns Bai Shan and the others to stay alert. The group recognizes that peaceful negotiations are no longer possible and that they must either transport the discovery elsewhere or continue investigating it under dangerous conditions.
• Their greatest problem is manpower: both sides are gathering additional people to strengthen their positions.
• The scene shifts to a nightclub, where Xia Chenggang arrives with several intimidating men. He forces his way through the club and enters a private room occupied by his younger brother, Xia Guangjie, and a group of intoxicated revelers.
• Xia Chenggang violently clears the room and reprimands Xia Guangjie for his irresponsible behavior. He informs him that their father has ordered him to participate in a Large-scale Newcomer Trial Plane involving skeletons the following morning.
• Authorities are recruiting inactive users because valuable discoveries have appeared in the trial plane. Xia Guangjie is not necessarily expected to accomplish anything; he is mainly required to answer the call and create a record of participation.
• After being warned not to embarrass their father, Xia Guangjie agrees to go and leaves with Xia Chenggang.

2. Character Developments

• Raven demonstrates caution and strategic judgment. Rather than recklessly attacking the rival group, he assesses the stalemate and understands that reinforcements will determine the next stage of the conflict.
• Bai Shan and the other guards remain on defensive duty, protecting the excavation site while awaiting further developments.
• Xia Chenggang is presented as stern, disciplined, forceful, and possibly connected to military or government authority. His posture and behavior suggest that he values order, reputation, and obedience.
• Xia Guangjie appears immature, decadent, and rebellious, spending his time drinking and partying. However, he is not entirely defiant: after hearing the order, he quickly agrees to participate, suggesting either respect for his family’s authority or an interest in the opportunity.
• The contrast between the brothers becomes clear: Xia Chenggang is controlled and duty-bound, while Xia Guangjie is careless, pleasure-seeking, and provocative.

3. Significant Themes

• Manpower and strategic advantage: The central conflict depends less on immediate action than on which side can gather more capable people.
• Risk versus profit: Raven’s group weighs the potential value of the mysterious discovery against the danger of remaining exposed and understaffed.
• Authority and obligation: Xia Guangjie is compelled to join the trial plane because of his family and the authorities’ demands, showing how personal choices are shaped by institutional power.
• Order versus decadence: The nightclub’s disorder and excess sharply contrast with Xia Chenggang’s rigid discipline, emphasizing the opposing lifestyles of the two brothers.
• Hidden value and competition: The valuable objects discovered in the trial plane—and the mysterious item at the excavation site—attract conflict, suggesting that future struggles will be driven by competition over powerful or profitable discoveries.

4. Character Interactions

• Raven instructs Bai Shan to remain vigilant, reinforcing Raven’s leadership over the excavation team.
• Raven’s group and the hostile “hyenas” maintain a tense standoff, with neither side willing to retreat or risk attacking without reinforcements.
• Xia Chenggang confronts Xia Guangjie in the nightclub, humiliating and physically intimidating him before delivering their father’s orders.
• Xia Guangjie responds casually and provocatively at first, but ultimately accepts his brother’s command. Their exchange establishes a strained but functional sibling relationship dominated by family authority and contrasting personalities.

Chapter Summary: “The Situation and the Unexpected”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ce exchanges 3,000 Universal Points and three Common Exchange Cards to advance from the Second Tier to the Third Tier of Force enhancement.
• The Main God Platform produces an unusually large and prolonged white light pillar, attracting widespread attention. Observers speculate that the exchange involves a rare or especially valuable advancement.
• Other users discuss the growing inequality between early participants and newcomers. Veterans benefited from higher Newcomer Trial rewards, better Blind Box items, and easier access to Universal Points, giving them a major resource advantage.
• Inside the light pillar, Li Ce experiences intense spiritual pain and a profound transformative sensation. He eventually crosses an unclear threshold and completes the enhancement.
• Afterward, Li Ce’s appearance remains nearly unchanged, but his temperament and presence become noticeably more powerful. For a moment, he unconsciously exerts an attraction that draws nearby people’s attention.
• Testing his abilities, he discovers that the Force now resonates more strongly with the environment. His mental power has increased significantly, his physique reaches approximately 2.0, and he suspects that he can perform a wider range of Force techniques, possibly with limited influence on the real world.
• The enhancement consumes nearly all his resources and leaves him relying on external debt, effectively reducing him to poverty again.
• Before he can fully examine his new abilities, Li Ce receives an urgent message: a serious situation has developed in the Cemetery District, and support is required.
• Despite just completing an expensive breakthrough, Li Ce immediately departs for the Cemetery District, ruefully accepting that he is destined to remain busy.

Character Developments

• Li Ce advances to the Third Tier of the Force, marking a major increase in both spiritual strength and potential.
• His relationship with the Force evolves from using it as a tool to being fundamentally changed by it. His body, mind, temperament, and presence are all subtly affected.
• He demonstrates discipline and decisiveness by overcoming hesitation before the exchange and enduring the painful transformation.
• His reaction to the urgent summons reveals his strong sense of responsibility and willingness to act, even when exhausted and financially depleted.
• His self-deprecating comment about being “born to toil” reinforces his pragmatic, weary, but dependable personality.

Significant Themes

• Power and transformation: Advancement requires more than numerical improvement; it reshapes Li Ce’s spirit, body, and connection to reality.
• Resource inequality: Early Main God users possess enormous advantages over later entrants, creating a widening gap that is difficult for newcomers to overcome.
• The cost of progress: Li Ce’s breakthrough grants major power but consumes his savings and creates debt, emphasizing that strength comes at a severe material price.
• Fate and responsibility: Even after achieving a major milestone, Li Ce is immediately pulled into another crisis, suggesting that power brings obligations rather than rest.
• Pioneers versus latecomers: The chapter highlights how timing within the Main God system determines access to opportunities, resources, and long-term growth.

Character Interactions

• Li Ce has no direct conversation during the enhancement, but his breakthrough becomes a public spectacle that prompts surrounding users to speculate about his identity and status.
• The crowd’s discussion contrasts veterans and newcomers, reflecting widespread resentment toward those who entered the system earlier.
• After the enhancement, curious users are poised to approach Li Ce, recognizing him as a newly established powerhouse, but he leaves before any interaction occurs.
• His most significant interaction is with the Main God system itself, which grants the enhancement and then immediately delivers an urgent summons concerning the Cemetery District.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Yun receives a late-night call from Li Jiye concerning growing international and organizational interest in the Cemetery District and the mysterious Golem’s Severed Hand.
• Li Yun explains that the situation is likely more than a simple competition over resources. The arrival or deployment of additional personnel suggests that outside powers are deliberately displaying their willingness to intervene.
• He argues that possessing power is different from merely claiming to have it: to secure a share of the benefits, their side must visibly demonstrate strength and resolve without necessarily provoking open warfare.
• Li Jiye’s military rank has effectively drawn him into this confrontation. Li Yun points out that, as a lieutenant, refusing to participate would be difficult. Li Jiye then reveals that he has recently advanced to the Second Tier and has already been promoted.
• At the Golem’s Severed Hand, a heavily bandaged figure nicknamed “Rice Dumpling” continues absorbing the golden aura around the pit. His body is hardening like stone, but he remains visibly excited and continues enduring the pain.
• Sharp sword qi radiates from Rice Dumpling and appears to be cutting through invisible marks or restrictions in the air. His sword is also beginning to harden and emit a low hum, implying that his strange cultivation or transformation is progressing.
• Because the severed hand is too large and valuable to move, personnel rotate through the pit to study it, make rubbings, and gather data while Rice Dumpling remains stationed at the entrance.
• At seven in the morning, users are transported into the trial world. An unusually large number arrive simultaneously, creating confusion and immediate tension.
• Experienced users quickly organize themselves through signals, national flags, organizational symbols, and prearranged meeting points. Countries, official groups, and private factions begin gathering members and allies.
• Rookies, lone wolves, and unaffiliated users are left confused, but many learn about the pit and begin heading toward it. Numerous groups appear to be converging on the same location.
• Li Jiye’s team and other domestic groups join the movement toward the pit. Although they appear to be cooperating openly, the atmosphere is highly competitive and distrustful.
• The chapter ends with the pit becoming the center of attention for multiple Second-Level Users livestreaming the situation. Rice Dumpling is effectively blocking the entrance, turning the warning line into the immediate point of confrontation.

Character Developments

• Li Yun demonstrates strategic insight and a detached understanding of international power struggles. He recognizes that political signaling and controlled confrontation are necessary to secure influence.
• Li Jiye is pulled more deeply into the conflict because of his military rank and recent advancement to the Second Tier. His promotion increases both his usefulness and his obligations.
• Rice Dumpling shows remarkable endurance and apparent enjoyment of extreme physical suffering. His continued absorption of the golden aura and the changes to his body and sword suggest an important breakthrough or transformation.
• The various user groups shift from scattered individuals into organized factions, revealing the extent to which the trial world is becoming militarized and politically structured.

Significant Themes

• Power must be demonstrated, not merely possessed: Li Yun emphasizes that visible willingness to act determines whether others take a faction seriously.
• Political conflict beneath resource competition: The pit and the severed hand are valuable, but the struggle also represents national influence, territorial control, and diplomatic positioning.
• Individual identity versus institutional obligation: Li Jiye’s nominal military status forces him to participate regardless of his personal preferences.
• Transformation through suffering: Rice Dumpling’s painful hardening and sword changes suggest that dangerous trials may lead to extraordinary power.
• Information and organization as weapons: Signals, livestreams, intelligence networks, and prearranged alliances allow groups to mobilize quickly and gain an advantage.

Character Interactions

• Li Yun and Li Jiye have a familiar, teasing conversation, but beneath the humor Li Yun offers serious strategic advice about military and political maneuvering.
• Li Yun frames Li Jiye’s promotion and rank as obligations that make neutrality impossible.
• Domestic teams and affiliated groups gather around Li Jiye, accompanying him toward the pit while presenting a united front.
• Independent users debate whom to trust and whether to join an organized faction, while national and private groups actively recruit their own people.
• The gathering factions are not yet openly fighting, but their hostile stares, guarded behavior, and Rice Dumpling’s blockade establish the pit as the likely site of an imminent confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Start Chopping!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ruiping, a masked and bandage-covered swordsman, sits before a mysterious black pit surrounded by corpses. He has already defeated more than a dozen challengers and is clearly enjoying himself.
• Rumors spread that he is a Third-Level User, prompting many spectators and potential enemies to hesitate. Rather than attacking him all at once, the gathered users settle into a gauntlet-style challenge, sending fighters forward one group at a time.
• Chen easily defeats several opponents:
  • He destroys mud hands summoned beneath his feet by an Asian man, frightening him into retreat.
  • He kills three synchronized Eastern European fighters—a shield bearer and two gunmen—before they can effectively attack.
• Chen claims the shield and other items left behind by defeated challengers, though he dismisses the First-Level defensive shield as “useless junk.”
• The spectators recognize that ordinary firearms and conventional tactics are nearly useless against him. His speed, sword aura, reflexes, and combat instincts allow him to evade gunfire, explosives, and coordinated attacks.
• The chapter emphasizes that the conflict centers on the mysterious black land and a massive “giant hand” buried beneath it. The discovery is important enough that many powerful users have gathered, and the situation is unlikely to end peacefully.

Character Development

• Chen Ruiping: Displays growing confidence, cruelty, and battlefield dominance. He treats the fights almost casually, using minimal movement and mocking weak opponents. Despite his arrogance, he remains cautious, especially when handling items that might contain hidden explosives. His combat style is revealed as extremely well-rounded, combining speed, perception, sword aura, and precise technique.
• The challengers and spectators: Their attitude changes from aggression to fear and respect after witnessing Chen’s effortless victories. Even those who advocated attacking him collectively begin backing away. They now view him as a formidable Third-Level opponent rather than an ordinary fighter.
• The wider group of Users: They become increasingly opportunistic, copying Chen’s bandaged appearance and waiting for others to weaken him rather than risking direct confrontation themselves.

Significant Themes

• Power and intimidation: Chen’s strength transforms a hostile crowd into cautious observers, demonstrating how overwhelming ability can control a battlefield without requiring authority or persuasion.
• The limits of conventional weapons: Guns, coordinated tactics, and basic explosives prove ineffective against advanced supernatural abilities, highlighting the growing gap between ordinary users and high-level combatants.
• Opportunism and survival: The spectators avoid helping Chen or attacking him directly, preferring to benefit from others’ failures and collect abandoned items.
• Mystery and escalating danger: The buried giant hand and strange black earth suggest a larger supernatural secret. The gathering of powerful users implies that the current fights are only the beginning of a much more dangerous confrontation.
• Public performance and reputation: Because the battles are livestreamed, fighters must consider their image and “martial honor.” Chen’s masked identity and the crowd’s concern for appearances show how combat has become both a physical and public spectacle.

Character Interactions

• Chen humiliates the mud-user by destroying his attack instantly, forcing the man to retreat without further resistance.
• He engages the three Eastern European fighters with technical precision: he deflects the shield bearer’s strength, disrupts the formation, and kills all three before their firearms can be used.
• The spectators observe Chen’s victories from a distance, deliberately avoiding involvement because they recognize that interfering would only hinder him or lead to their own deaths.
• Chen’s dismissive comments toward the defeated fighters and their equipment reinforce his superiority, while his decision to keep the shield reveals his practical, opportunistic side despite his contempt for its quality.

Chapter Summary: “Battle Thrills and the New Arrival”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Li Ce and an older companion observe Chen Ruiping defending the entrance against a stream of challengers. They are struck by the mismatch between Chen’s apparently modest energy level and his extraordinary swordsmanship and sword energy.
• A series of opponents attack Chen using increasingly deceptive tactics:
  • A hooded fighter attempts a poisoned knife attack from a low angle.
  • A woman launches three ice projectiles, which Chen deflects back toward the crowd.
  • Two ninjas use smoke, hidden senbon, shuriken, and caltrops, but Chen detects and defeats them with his heightened senses and sword energy.
• The system warns Chen after his counterattack accidentally injures newcomers in the crowd. Chen realizes that the challengers are deliberately using newcomers as shields or “test stones” to exploit the rules and provoke him.
• Several observers, including Li Ce and a taciturn ally, discreetly protect the crowd from blood and debris, suggesting that they are monitoring the situation rather than directly joining the battle.
• A hastily assembled North American team attacks Chen with coordinated abilities: earth manipulation, electricity, and beast transformation. Chen disrupts their teamwork and defeats them one by one:
  • He interrupts the earth-user’s casting with sword energy.
  • He destroys the transformed beastman from within.
  • He defeats the electrical fighter with a physical kick instead of using his conductive brass sword, avoiding the opponent’s planned counterattack.
• Although Chen appears victorious and mocks the defeated attackers, a new and apparently powerful figure suddenly arrives, challenging him to continue fighting and implying that Chen may already be running low on strength.

Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping demonstrates overwhelming combat skill, adaptability, and composure. He handles poison, hidden weapons, ranged attacks, stealth tactics, and coordinated superhuman abilities without losing control.
• Chen also shows strong tactical intelligence. He recognizes traps, avoids using his sword when it would benefit the electrical fighter, and deliberately targets weaknesses in the enemy team’s coordination.
• His arrogance and theatrical personality become increasingly visible. He taunts opponents, imitates flashy martial-arts techniques, and treats the battles as entertainment despite their lethality.
• Li Ce remains an observant commentator rather than a participant. His remarks emphasize how abnormal Chen’s abilities are and suggest that he understands more about Chen’s true strength than most spectators.
• The attackers are portrayed as cunning opportunists. Many rely on poison, ambushes, hostages, or risky gambles rather than direct strength.
• The final newcomer appears confident, provocative, and likely powerful enough to pose a genuine challenge to Chen.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus appearances: Chen’s visible energy level does not reflect his actual combat ability, making him difficult for others to evaluate.
• Cunning and exploitation: The challengers repeatedly use hidden weapons, poison, crowds, and newcomers to bypass the rules or force Chen into unfavorable situations.
• Combat as performance and gambling: Many fighters take calculated risks, wagering their safety on surprise attacks or counterattacks. Chen, meanwhile, turns combat into a spectacle through taunts and exaggerated techniques.
• Rules and unintended consequences: The system’s warning highlights the tension between deliberate violence and collateral damage. Even defensive actions can become punishable if repeated.
• Control amid chaos: Chen’s ability to protect himself and limit collateral damage shows his precision and growing mastery, while the surrounding fighters struggle to control their own abilities.

Character Interactions

• Li Ce and his companion discuss Chen’s suspiciously high capabilities while watching the fight.
• Chen directly taunts and verbally humiliates several opponents, especially the ninjas and the electricity user.
• The attackers use the crowd against Chen, prompting him to communicate silently with nearby allies and prevent them from intervening unnecessarily.
• Li Ce and another associate cooperate to stop blood from splashing onto spectators, revealing a subtle alliance with Chen or at least a shared concern for maintaining order.
• The chapter ends with a new challenger confronting Chen in a confident, almost playful manner, shifting the scene from a one-sided defense to the possibility of a serious duel.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ruiping is confronted by a previously unknown Third-Tier mental-type fighter, a large, bandaged man who calls himself “Rat.”
• Rat begins the encounter with a mental pressure attack that makes the air feel viscous and restricts movement. Chen narrowly avoids an invisible strike by relying on his unusually sharp combat instincts.
• The two exchange guarded conversation while probing each other’s abilities. Rat reveals that Chen’s earlier paralysis was ineffective because Chen had deliberately pretended to be affected.
• Rat launches a second, more dangerous attack using Psychokinesis and a hidden polymer cutting wire. The apparent wall of wind is only a distraction; the real attack is an almost invisible, razor-thin line.
• Chen detects the deception, uses sword qi to deflect the wire, and barely escapes. He suffers several shallow wounds, loses part of his sleeve, and narrowly avoids being cut in half.
• Realizing that Rat is a highly technical and ruthless mental fighter, Chen spreads sword qi around himself to prevent further surprise attacks. The spectators recognize that the battle has escalated and retreat.
• Rat stops holding back. He combines crushing mental pressure, floating stones, invisible force attacks, psychological interference, and the cutting wire into a three-dimensional assault intended to kill Chen in one move.
• Under extreme pressure, Chen experiences a strange flash of familiarity, recalling the sensation of being helplessly beaten. This triggers a breakthrough in his swordsmanship.
• He abandons elaborate techniques and releases a single, exceptionally concentrated sword strike. The slash cuts through Rat’s defensive badge, summoned protection, arms, torso, and the polymer wire’s assault.
• Rat is split cleanly in two and killed. Chen survives, battered and bleeding, then faces the surrounding spectators and coldly asks, “Is that all?”

Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping: Demonstrates extraordinary reflexes, battle instincts, resilience, and tactical awareness. He shifts from playful verbal sparring to complete seriousness as Rat’s attacks become lethal. His final sword strike represents a moment of refinement: rather than relying on complex forms, he condenses all his intent into one pure, devastating slash.
• Rat: Revealed to be far more dangerous than his harmless, weary “office worker” appearance suggests. He is a precise Psychokinetic combatant who uses deception, hidden weapons, mental attacks, and environmental manipulation. His confidence turns into genuine shock when Chen repeatedly evades his attacks.
• The spectators and colleagues: Initially curious and entertained, they gradually recognize the danger and retreat. Some observers analyze the fight as a lesson in mental enhancement, while others are stunned by Chen’s strength.

Significant Themes

• Instinct versus conscious technique: Chen’s survival depends on deeply ingrained reflexes developed through repeated life-or-death battles.
• Appearance and deception: Rat looks like a physically powerful melee fighter but is actually a highly technical mental-type user. His apparent wind attacks conceal the true cutting wire.
• Underhanded combat and survival: The chapter emphasizes that real battles are decided by deception and killing intent rather than formal “martial ethics.”
• 突破 through pressure: Chen’s near-death experience and vague traumatic memory help him discard unnecessary techniques and reach a purer, more powerful form of swordsmanship.
• Sword versus mental manipulation: The battle contrasts Chen’s direct, refined cutting power with Rat’s invisible, layered, and highly deceptive Psychokinesis.
• The danger of emerging elites: The appearance of an unknown Third-Tier fighter reflects how rapidly powerful new users are emerging in the trial planes.

Character Interactions

• Chen and Rat maintain superficially polite conversation while covertly assessing each other and repeatedly launching surprise attacks.
• Their banter highlights their opposing personalities: Rat is outwardly weary and practical, while Chen responds with dry sarcasm and growing hostility.
• Chen’s colleagues comment on the battle and suggest replacing him, but he refuses, choosing to continue despite his injuries.
• Spectators react with disbelief to Chen’s enormous sword-qi field and gradually withdraw as the duel becomes a genuine life-and-death confrontation.
• The final exchange reverses the initial power dynamic: Rat’s elaborate assault fails, while Chen’s single sword strike ends the battle instantly.

Summary: “Reactions and the Orator”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The battered swordsman, known as “Ghostface,” continues defending the gate after fighting more than twenty opponents in succession.
• Several experienced third-tier users notice a subtle but profound change in him. Although he appears increasingly exhausted and injured, they sense that he may be approaching a breakthrough from the Third Tier to the Fourth Tier.
• The crowd realizes that continuing to attack him could inadvertently help him complete this transformation. The confrontation was originally intended as a political and military-style demonstration to establish competing users’ influence, territorial claims, and control over the giant metal hand in the nearby crater.
• A bald, well-dressed second-tier man abruptly enters the arena and calls for the fighting to stop. Presenting himself as a reasonable mediator, he praises Ghostface’s victories and argues that defeating an exhausted fighter would be dishonorable.
• Through an elaborate speech filled with references to warriors, Sparta, and Thermopylae, the orator subtly gives Ghostface permission to withdraw and recover without losing face. He also uses the livestream and Ghostface’s visibly severe injuries as further justification.
• Behind the public performance, tensions emerge between the supernatural users and the Federal Government. A congressman angrily objects that the interruption contradicts their plan to crush the opposing side’s morale.
• Eugene Hope restrains the congressman while insisting that the situation has changed. As a veteran third-tier user, Eugene recognizes the danger posed by Ghostface, especially after witnessing a sword strike that recalls an earlier, deeply oppressive encounter.

Character Developments

• Ghostface/the young swordsman: Despite severe injuries and fatigue, he displays signs of nearing a qualitative transformation. His endurance and combat ability shift the crowd’s perception from seeing him as a spectacle to recognizing him as a genuine threat and possible future Fourth Tier.
• The orator: Revealed as an effective manipulator and public speaker. He disguises a strategic retreat as an honorable gesture, protecting Ghostface’s dignity while preventing the battle from pushing him into a breakthrough.
• Eugene Hope: Demonstrates superior judgment and situational awareness. He understands Ghostface’s potential danger more clearly than the political officials and takes control of the situation by physically restraining the congressman.
• The congressman: Represents rigid political interests and fails to understand the supernatural battlefield. His desire to follow the original plan exposes the conflict between governmental strategy and the users’ survival instincts.
• The observing third-tier users: Their attitudes change from detached amusement and opportunism to anxiety and caution once they realize Ghostface may be on the verge of ascending.

Significant Themes

• Transformation through suffering: The chapter emphasizes the idea that near-death combat and accumulated pressure can force a breakthrough in power.
• Fear beneath apparent weakness: Ghostface’s injuries initially make him appear vulnerable, but experienced observers recognize that his weakening body may conceal imminent evolution.
• Political maneuvering and controlled appearances: The confrontation is not merely a fight; it is a negotiation over territory, influence, and status. Public gestures of honor conceal strategic calculations.
• The gap between civilians and superhuman elites: Government representatives attempt to impose a political plan, but experienced users understand realities that ordinary officials cannot perceive.
• Saving face as a weapon: The orator’s speech provides Ghostface with a dignified way to retreat, showing how rhetoric can alter the outcome of a confrontation as effectively as force.

Character Interactions

• The crowd’s whispering reveals a shared but uneasy recognition that Ghostface is approaching a higher level.
• The orator addresses Ghostface with exaggerated respect while indirectly urging him to leave the arena.
• He also appeals to the spectators, framing continued attacks as cowardly and dishonorable.
• The congressman protests the change in strategy, but Eugene Hope restrains him and orders him to accept the revised plan.
• Eugene’s reaction to Ghostface’s swordsmanship suggests a deeper connection to or fear of the swordsman’s power, possibly linking him to a previous encounter that left Eugene intimidated.

Chapter Summary: “I Want to Improve So Badly!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ruiping continues serving as the arena’s gatekeeper despite his severely damaged body and exhaustion. While recovering his breath and circulating sword qi, he allows a half-bald man to deliver a long, flattering speech intended to persuade him to leave the stage.
• Rather than retreat, Chen rejects the suggestion and demands that the next challenger step forward. His defiance frightens the crowd, who worry that repeatedly challenging him might allow a powerful “big boss” to emerge.
• Chen suddenly coughs up a large amount of blood and experiences severe chest pain. The spectators interpret this as proof that he is badly injured, prompting a new challenger to test him.
• A muscular man attacks from a distance using condensed red energy punches. Chen avoids the attacks with unusual footwork and deflects them with his sword, deliberately conserving strength.
• Other users attempt mental attacks and stealth tactics. Chen’s aura automatically intimidates the mental attacker, while he detects and kills an invisible assailant with a single sword strike.
• A succession of international contestants with bizarre abilities challenge him, including potion-enhanced fighters, insect users, mud manipulators, a dual Holy Light/shadow “priest,” and a woman using a hypnotic sound wave.
• Chen defeats or repels them all, though his condition steadily worsens. His brass sword becomes increasingly battered, his footing grows unstable, and he relies on clever technique rather than raw power.
• By the end, Chen leans on his sword, laughs hoarsely at the chaotic international crowd, and sarcastically remarks on how lively the situation has become.

Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping: Demonstrates an extreme desire for self-improvement. He actively seeks greater pressure and refuses to stop fighting even when severely injured. His combat style becomes more economical and cunning, using minimal strength to disrupt opponents and preserve energy. He also develops a sharp, irreverent sense of trash talk, mocking his enemies while maintaining control of the battlefield.
• The half-bald speechmaker: Tries to manipulate Chen into leaving through exaggerated politeness and flattery, but is rendered speechless when Chen abruptly orders the next challenger forward.
• The crowd and other leaders: Initially fear Chen as a potentially unstoppable powerhouse, but their perception shifts when he coughs blood. They become more willing to send weaker fighters against him, though the strongest experts remain cautious.
• The challengers: Their unusual abilities reveal creativity and unpredictability, but most lack Chen’s discipline and close-combat skill. Their willingness to attack him is driven more by opportunity and desperation than genuine superiority.

Significant Themes

• Relentless self-improvement: Chen values hardship as a means of growth and deliberately seeks stronger pressure rather than safety.
• Perception versus reality: The crowd first treats Chen like an invincible monster, then assumes he is weak after seeing him bleed. Both judgments are incomplete, as Chen remains dangerous despite his injuries.
• Endurance and willpower: Chen’s continued fighting despite internal damage, corrosion, and exhaustion emphasizes his extraordinary determination.
• Technique over brute force: As his physical condition declines, Chen relies on timing, movement, deception, and efficient swordsmanship.
• Fear and social restraint: The crowd could theoretically overwhelm him, but fear of accidentally creating or provoking something more dangerous prevents them from acting collectively.
• Chaos and international conflict: The variety of users, cultures, powers, and fighting methods creates a bizarre, almost absurd battlefield where danger and comedy coexist.

Character Interactions

• Chen rejects the speechmaker’s attempt to persuade him to withdraw, bluntly ordering him to move aside and calling for the next opponent.
• The crowd silently pressures one another not to challenge Chen too recklessly, while leaders intervene to prevent impulsive attacks.
• Chen’s apparent injury encourages the muscular energy-user to attack, but Chen defeats the assault through evasion and sword technique.
• His killing of the invisible attacker serves as a warning that surprise tactics will not guarantee safety.
• Chen responds to each opponent with dismissive comments and insults, using mockery to undermine them psychologically while fighting.
• His final laughter transforms the scene from a tense contest into a grotesque spectacle, highlighting his ability to treat the ongoing battle as both serious training and dark entertainment.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ruiping blocks the entrance and defeats or kills more than a dozen opponents, hoping to face someone strong enough to challenge him seriously. However, the ordinary users cannot push him to his limit, leaving him disappointed.
• His broken sword is finally destroyed when an opponent with acidic saliva corrodes it. With no worthy challenger appearing, Chen withdraws. His performance nonetheless gives his side an early advantage and makes influential observers realize he may be exceptionally dangerous.
• Authorities and organizations immediately begin investigating Chen, viewing him both as a valuable asset and a potential destabilizing threat.
• Elsewhere, the gentleman known as Magician completes a covert assassination. He spares Mrs. Trudy after she supplies information about a backup copy, but kills the other guests in her home. When Trudy begs to die because she fears her family will suffer for her betrayal, Magician politely grants her wish through an elaborate staged execution.
• Magician escapes through a mirror using his supernatural traversal ability and returns to a laboratory-like safehouse. His allies record the timing and distance of the journey, conduct psychological tests, draw blood, and replace the equipment hidden on his body.
• The tests reveal that the journey takes nearly seven minutes in reality, though Magician experiences only about ten seconds subjectively. His consciousness remains active during transit, but the process seems disconnected from normal bodily and brain functions.
• Magician learns that a newly emerged young man—almost certainly Chen Ruiping—has killed Sickle Weasel Andrew Capon and may be a powerful psychokinesis-enhanced operative connected to the Russian Security Bureau.
• He also discusses reports that wealthy traditionalists may be trying to revive the King’s Council, while the royal family appears to be quietly tolerating or encouraging the movement. Magician predicts that the nobles’ temporary cooperation will eventually collapse into conflict.
• The chapter ends with Magician warning that “true blue blood”—people naturally possessing supernatural elements in their blood—may soon emerge. He orders the mission footage and recovered items sent to London for study by the Royal Society, accepting that his leisure time is over.

Character Developments

• Chen Ruiping is portrayed as a battle-hungry, highly resilient fighter who remains dangerous even while severely weakened. His disappointment shows that he seeks not merely victory, but a genuinely worthy opponent.
• Magician is revealed as an elegant, highly controlled assassin and supernatural operative. His refined manners, theatrical presentation, and polite speech conceal extreme ruthlessness and technical competence.
• Magician’s abilities and professionalism are explored more deeply: he can move through mirrors, survive unusual transit conditions, maintain mental clarity, and function under intensive scientific observation.
• Mrs. Trudy is shown as remorseful and self-sacrificing. She believes her betrayal should be punished and worries more about protecting her husband and child than saving herself.
• Mr. Orne, the elderly bartender, acts as Magician’s handler or colleague. Their familiarity and understated conversation suggest a long-standing professional relationship.
• Magician’s attitude toward politics is cynical and analytical. He sees noble ideals, royal ambition, and claims of freedom as masks for power struggles.

Significant Themes

• Power attracts scrutiny: Exceptional fighters like Chen are celebrated by allies but immediately treated as possible threats by governments and organizations.
• Appearance versus reality: Chen appears nearly defeated yet remains terrifying; Magician appears courteous and civilized while committing murder; political alliances appear harmonious but conceal competing ambitions.
• Theater and performance: Magician’s clothing, gestures, mirror escape, and carefully staged execution reflect his identity as a “magician,” blurring the line between illusion and reality.
• Professionalism and reputation: Magician insists that promises and professional reputation matter, even while carrying out brutal killings.
• Emergence of a new aristocracy: The chapter contrasts old hereditary nobility with “true noble blood,” meaning individuals whose bodies naturally contain supernatural elements.
• Political upheaval and freedom: The possible revival of the King’s Council and the desire for Scottish or royal independence suggest that supernatural developments are becoming tied to national and dynastic struggles.
• Science confronting the supernatural: Magician’s abilities are measured through timing, psychological testing, blood sampling, and equipment replacement, showing an effort to study and systematize supernatural powers.

Character Interactions

• Chen’s confrontation with the crowd demonstrates his dominance over weaker opponents and exposes the fear he inspires, even when injured.
• Mrs. Trudy’s final exchange with Magician combines guilt, fear, and reluctant gratitude. Magician reassures her that he will honor his promise to spare her family, then kills her at her own request.
• Magician works closely with the bartender and the surrounding technicians, who monitor his return, document his mirror traversal, test his mental state, and prepare him for further missions.
• Magician and Mr. Orne engage in a restrained but revealing political discussion. Their shared cynicism leads them to conclude that the royal family, old nobles, and supernatural factions may temporarily cooperate but will ultimately compete for control.
• The chapter links Chen and Magician as newly prominent, exceptionally powerful figures whose abilities and identities remain poorly understood by the wider world.