Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Technique True Meaning”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• He Wu recruits Zhou Hao and Lu Sandao into the Extreme Dao Mountain Academy. Su Xinghe chooses not to leave with them, explaining that he still has unfinished matters in the Demon Suppression Bureau and cannot abandon Gong Hao’s past kindness.
• After the academy members depart, Wu Cangqing prepares to take the rescued children and newly selected apprentices back to the Demon Suppression Bureau.
• Lin Fan reveals that although he passed the Extreme Dao Mountain Academy’s talent test by awakening Martial Dao Will, he cannot join because the academy is far away and does not allow disciples to bring family members. Since his village was destroyed and he must care for his younger siblings, he decides to remain in Qingzhou and join the Demon Suppression Bureau.
• Lin Fan thanks Yi Thirteen—Su Xinghe in disguise—for saving him and his siblings. Su Xinghe entrusts him to Wu Cangqing and encourages him to train diligently.
• Su Xinghe uses his Core Qi Domain and Spatial Severing to transport more than twenty apprentices and guards back to the Demon Suppression Bureau. The journey greatly exhausts him.
• At the Bureau, Commander Shangguan Jing appears and selects Lin Fan’s four younger sisters as her disciples, causing Lin Fan to panic. Wu Cangqing reassures him that being chosen by Shangguan Jing is fortunate and offers to personally guide Lin Fan’s martial training.
• Su Xinghe returns home rather than immediately investigating military developments. While examining the True Essence left in his arm by He Wu, he discovers that it possesses a vitality absent from his own cultivation.
• He realizes this vitality comes from Technique True Meaning, an artistic conception that can infuse martial techniques and cultivated energy with life-like qualities. He suspects that the Extreme Dao Mountain Academy and other super first-rate powers possess advanced systems based on such concepts.
• Reflecting on the overwhelming strength of the great powers and the limitations of the Demon Suppression Bureau, Su Xinghe begins questioning his own martial path. He considers joining the Heavenly One Sword Sect or Extreme Dao Mountain Academy, but postpones the decision until he can better understand the situation and give Gong Hao an explanation.

2. Character Developments

• Su Xinghe: Demonstrates loyalty by refusing to abandon the Demon Suppression Bureau despite the opportunity to join a stronger power. He also displays growing insight into higher martial principles after discovering Technique True Meaning. His confidence in the Bureau’s future—and in his own path within it—begins to waver.
• Lin Fan: Develops from a frightened orphan into a determined young martial artist. Although he possesses exceptional talent through his awakened Martial Dao Will, family responsibility leads him to sacrifice the opportunity to join the Extreme Dao Mountain Academy. His gratitude toward Su Xinghe and decision to join the Bureau establish his motivation for future growth.
• Wu Cangqing: Acts as Lin Fan’s protector and mentor. He is eager to recruit promising talent and relieved when Shangguan Jing takes responsibility for Lin Fan’s sisters, reducing the burden on the Demon Suppression Bureau.
• Shangguan Jing: Shows her authority and unpredictability by instantly selecting Lin Fan’s four younger sisters, despite their young age and lack of martial training.
• He Wu and Zhou Hao: Their departure emphasizes the growing divide between Su Xinghe and the Extreme Dao Mountain Academy, while Zhou Hao’s recruitment marks his advancement toward a stronger martial environment.

3. Significant Themes

• Duty versus personal advancement: Su Xinghe must choose between remaining loyal to those who helped him and pursuing opportunities offered by stronger powers.
• Family responsibility and sacrifice: Lin Fan gives up a prestigious future to protect and provide for his siblings, illustrating how personal obligations shape martial destinies.
• The hierarchy of martial cultivation: The chapter contrasts the Demon Suppression Bureau with the super first-rate powers, revealing that the latter possess deeper techniques and more sophisticated methods.
• The meaning behind techniques: Martial arts are shown to involve more than movements or energy conversion. True Technique Artistic Conception can fundamentally alter the quality of a practitioner’s power.
• Uncertainty about the future: Su Xinghe’s doubts suggest that his current path may not be sufficient, setting up a possible transition or major decision.

4. Character Interactions

• Su Xinghe and He Wu: Their respectful farewell reflects Su Xinghe’s gratitude and his unwillingness to abandon the Bureau casually.
• Su Xinghe and Lin Fan: Su Xinghe saves Lin Fan’s family, accepts his thanks, and places him under Wu Cangqing’s guidance, becoming an important benefactor in Lin Fan’s life.
• Lin Fan and Wu Cangqing: Wu Cangqing recruits Lin Fan and promises to personally guide him, forming a mentor-student relationship.
• Lin Fan and Shangguan Jing: Shangguan Jing’s sudden abduction—or recruitment—of Lin Fan’s sisters leaves Lin Fan anxious, though others view it as a great opportunity.
• Su Xinghe and Shangguan Jing: Their brief exchange shows mutual familiarity and trust. Su Xinghe leaves the choice of apprentices to her, while she appears confident in acting independently.
• Su Xinghe and Gong Hao: Though Gong Hao is absent from most of the chapter, Su Xinghe’s thoughts about owing him an explanation influence his decision to remain patient before joining another power.

Summary: “Meeting Chang Chengfeng”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Lu Sandao returns from meeting Elder Chengfeng and confirms that Zhou Hao’s selected place has been secured. Whether Zhou Hao can enter the Divine Ape Lineage of Golden Baleful Peak will be decided after further assessment at Extreme Dao Mountain Academy.
• Lu Sandao and Su Xinghe reflect on the difficulties of their journey. Lu plans to return to the Great River Gang for the New Year, while Su Xinghe remains uncertain about joining Extreme Dao Mountain Academy.
• Lu strongly praises the academy, revealing that it possesses more than a thousand Martial Saint experts—an astonishing foundation comparable to the entire Zhou Martial Sage Dynasty.
• Four days later, Su Xinghe arrives at the military camp at Ten-Mile Slope, where the selected disciples are gathering. He is warmly welcomed by He Wu.
• He Wu reveals that Su Xinghe and Zhou Hao are descendants connected to Saint Lan, a powerful figure and pillar of the Divine Ape Lineage.
• Su Xinghe enters a hall containing numerous powerful martial artists, including Zhou Hao and Elder Chang Chengfeng, the leader of the group and overseer of the Black Tortoise Lineage at Golden Baleful Peak.
• Chang Chengfeng tests Su Xinghe indirectly through his overwhelming Killing Intent. Su Xinghe realizes that Chang’s Martial Dao Will has developed vitality, making it far more powerful than ordinary Fourth-Rank Baleful Intent.
• Impressed by Su Xinghe’s composure and his awakened domain prototype, Chang treats him as a potential future Martial Saint and invites him to sit.
• Chang begins persuading Su Xinghe to abandon his reservations about joining Extreme Dao Mountain Academy, emphasizing its thousands of years of stability and superiority over the political powers of the Zhou Martial Sage Dynasty.

Character Developments

• Su Xinghe: Shows increasing confidence and power after reaching the Fifth Rank Core Embrace realm. He can now withstand the pressure of ordinary Fourth-Rank Baleful Intent, though Chang’s living Killing Intent still overwhelms him. His uncertainty about joining the academy remains, but his potential is recognized as exceptional.
• Lu Sandao: Feels relieved after completing the academy master’s mission and reveals a more optimistic view of Extreme Dao Mountain Academy. He remains loyal to his former gang and intends to return home.
• Zhou Hao: His future is secured through the selection process, and he is visibly excited to see Su Xinghe, though he restrains himself because of the formal setting.
• He Wu: Becomes increasingly warm toward Su Xinghe after learning of his connection to Saint Lan, suggesting that Su’s background carries significant prestige.
• Chang Chengfeng: Emerges as a powerful and perceptive elder. He recognizes Su Xinghe’s rare potential and immediately begins trying to recruit him.

Significant Themes

• The vastness of the martial world: The revelation of Extreme Dao Mountain Academy’s enormous number of Martial Saints expands Su Xinghe’s understanding of the world beyond Qingzhou and the Zhou dynasty.
• Power and potential: Su Xinghe’s domain prototype marks him as a possible future Martial Saint, demonstrating that talent can earn respect even before full achievement.
• Institutional strength versus political authority: Chang argues that the ancient sects possess deeper and more enduring power than the dynasty’s major families and government agencies.
• Heritage and legacy: Connections to Saint Lan and the Zhou family influence how others view Su Xinghe and Zhou Hao, linking their futures to powerful historical lineages.
• Choice and uncertainty: Su Xinghe must decide whether to remain independent or enter the academy, whose resources could dramatically accelerate his path.

Character Interactions

• Lu Sandao and Su Xinghe discuss their futures, with Lu urging Su to recognize the opportunities offered by Extreme Dao Mountain Academy.
• He Wu welcomes Su Xinghe into the camp and expresses admiration for his connection to Saint Lan.
• Su Xinghe and Zhou Hao share a restrained but emotional reunion.
• Chang Chengfeng evaluates Su Xinghe through his Killing Intent, then shifts from testing him to treating him as a promising equal and potential future powerhouse.
• Chang directly addresses Su Xinghe’s hesitation and begins presenting the academy as the true path to understanding the wider world.

Chapter Summary: “Stirring of the Heart, Outer Battlefield”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Elder Chengfeng’s explanation of the Outer Battlefield causes Su Xinghe to recognize that his previous pursuit of safety and advancement within established systems has limited his growth.
• He realizes that institutions such as the Demon Suppression Bureau and Qingzhou Academy are controlled by higher powers and create invisible barriers that prevent lower-ranked martial artists from rising freely.
• Su Xinghe gains a new understanding of Lu Xuanji’s choices, concluding that Lu had also perceived these restrictions and sought power through his family and the Peaceful Heaven Sect, though he ultimately remained trapped within the Zhou Martial Royal House’s broader schemes.
• Chang Chengfeng offers Su Xinghe an elite disciple position in the Golden Baleful Peak’s Black Tortoise Lineage. Before Su can respond, members of the Heavenly One Sword Sect arrive to challenge Chang Chengfeng for him, leading to a confrontation between powerful factions.
• After leaving the military camp, Su Xinghe firmly decides to “go out” and escape Qingzhou’s stagnant environment. This realization frees him psychologically from the pressure that had been weighing on him.
• At the Demon Suppression Bureau, Su asks Gong Hao and Shangguan Jing about applying to serve in the Outer Battlefield. Gong Hao warns him that it is extremely dangerous and requires at least three years of service, often involving battles with Greater Demons and exploration of forbidden regions.
• Despite the danger, Su insists that he needs a faster route to improve his strength. Gong Hao agrees to submit the application, though Su must wait until his appointment as a commander is finalized.
• Upon returning home, Su encounters Cao De, the father of Cao Mao and a Core Embrace Grandmaster associated with Princess Red Lotus.
• Cao De explains that he has come on the princess’s orders to clarify that Chu Shibai’s attack was not authorized by her. Instead, Chu was secretly aligned with Empress Xiao and the Peaceful Heaven Sect’s Blood Refining Branch.
• The revelation implies that Su’s killing of Chu Shibai removed a hidden enemy from Princess Red Lotus’s faction, and Cao De suggests that the princess owes Su thanks.

Character Developments

• Su Xinghe: Experiences a major shift in worldview. He recognizes that remaining within Qingzhou’s systems will keep him confined and decides to seek danger and opportunity in the Outer Battlefield. His confidence and independence grow, and he becomes more willing to challenge established power structures.
• Chang Chengfeng: Demonstrates his interest in recruiting Su by offering him a prestigious elite disciple position. His willingness to confront the Heavenly One Sword Sect shows the value he places on Su’s talent.
• Gong Hao: Though concerned for Su’s safety, he acknowledges Su’s exceptional potential and ultimately supports his decision to apply for the Outer Battlefield.
• Shangguan Jing: Maintains a warm, familiar relationship with Su and observes his request within the Demon Suppression Bureau.
• Cao De: Appears outwardly friendly and conciliatory but is clearly acting as a representative of Princess Red Lotus. He provides crucial political information about Chu Shibai and the Peaceful Heaven Sect.
• Lu Xuanji: Does not appear directly, but Su’s reflection on him deepens the understanding of his motivations and tragic position within the political power structure.

Significant Themes

• Breaking free from institutional limits: Su realizes that hard work alone is insufficient if it occurs inside a framework designed to restrict advancement.
• Safety versus growth: Qingzhou offers relative stability but has become a stagnant environment. Su chooses danger and uncertainty in exchange for the possibility of genuine advancement.
• Invisible control by the powerful: The chapter emphasizes how academies, bureaucracies, families, and royal factions manipulate opportunities and constrain talented individuals.
• Awakening and liberation: Su’s decision to leave Qingzhou is portrayed as both a practical choice and an inner release from fear and self-imposed limitations.
• Political intrigue and hidden loyalties: Chu Shibai’s connection to Empress Xiao and the Peaceful Heaven Sect reveals that apparently personal conflicts are tied to deeper factional struggles.

Character Interactions

• Su Xinghe and Chang Chengfeng: Chang attempts to recruit Su into the Golden Baleful Peak’s Black Tortoise Lineage, but the offer is interrupted by a rival sect’s claim.
• Su Xinghe and Gong Hao: Su requests permission to enter the Outer Battlefield. Gong Hao warns him about the danger but agrees to support his application.
• Su Xinghe and Shangguan Jing: Their familiar greeting highlights Shangguan’s goodwill and Su’s established relationship with the Bureau’s senior figures.
• Su Xinghe and Cao De: Cao De approaches him as a seemingly welcoming elder, but Su remains cautious because of Cao’s ties to Princess Red Lotus and Cao Mao. Cao ultimately reveals the truth behind Chu Shibai’s allegiance and the princess’s involvement.

Chapter Summary: Desolate Alliance Ban, Returning Home

Key Plot Points and Events

• Su Xinghe reflects on the attempted assassination and the forces behind it, particularly the Blood Refining Branch, Empress Xiao, and their possible connection to the Crown Prince. Rather than becoming directly involved, he decides to let these factions conflict while he strengthens himself in the Outer Battlefield.
• The Cao Family attempts to win him over. Cao De presents him with thirty thousand Treasure Notes as a congratulatory gift for reaching the Grandmaster realm. Su accepts the gift but remains wary of the family and its princess.
• During the following days, Su continues cultivating and experimenting with self-created Water Conception secret arts. He practices manipulating water and ice through spiritual techniques, gradually developing dozens of minor abilities that can enhance daily tasks and combat.
• Yue Shan, a Martial Saint of the Heavenly One Sword Sect, visits Su and offers him access to the sect’s 108 basic water-element Mental Secret Arts. This is a major recruitment offer, especially because Su has been exploring similar techniques independently.
• Su declines the Heavenly One Sword Sect’s recruitment, explaining that he has already applied to enter the Outer Battlefield. Yue Shan accepts the decision, though his reaction suggests the Outer Battlefield has special importance.
• Su later learns that the Desolate Alliance forbids any force from preventing its martial artists from entering the Outer Battlefield. This explains why neither the Heavenly One Sword Sect nor other powers can forcibly recruit or restrict him.
• After the major sects depart, Su decides not to participate in the year-end ranking battles. Having reached the Grandmaster realm and possessing an Yi Thirteen Token, he is unlikely to be challenged, and his attention has shifted toward the Outer Battlefield.
• Before leaving, Su hosts Xia Xiaoqi, Zhan Yun, and others, then invites the Demon Suppression Bureau manager and Wu Cangqing to a final meal. He buys several Starry Sky Empire items to bring home.
• Su and Lu Sandao return to Niu Family Village through the snow-covered Scarlet Cloud Mountain Range. They encounter Zhang Whiskers and his companions sheltering and training in a ruined temple.
• The villagers excitedly confirm that Su’s mission succeeded. Su notices that many familiar people have advanced significantly in cultivation, including Elder Xie, who has broken through after twenty years of stagnation.
• Su is especially pleased to reunite with his younger brother, Haitao, who has reached the newly entered Ninth Rank and visibly grown stronger through diligent training.

Character Development

• Su Xinghe: Becomes more cautious and politically aware after learning more about the conspiracy surrounding the assassination attempt. He refuses to be tied to any single top-tier faction and instead chooses the Outer Battlefield as the best path for growth and freedom. His independent understanding of Water Conception also continues to develop.
• Yue Shan: Demonstrates the Heavenly One Sword Sect’s desire to recruit Su by offering him foundational secret arts. Though disappointed, he respects Su’s decision because the Desolate Alliance protects the right of martial artists to enter the Outer Battlefield.
• Cao De and the Cao Family: Reveal their intention to cultivate a relationship with Su through a substantial gift, signaling that they view him as a valuable future ally.
• Zhan Yun: Appears to understand the significance of the Outer Battlefield and the Desolate Alliance’s rules, though she avoids explaining them directly.
• Elder Xie: Makes a major breakthrough after decades of stagnation, proving that the people in Su’s homeland are progressing rather than remaining dependent on him.
• Haitao: Has matured physically and martially, reaching the Ninth Rank and showing that he has worked hard during Su’s absence.
• The younger generation: Yu Renqing has already become a Grade Martial Artist, while the White Ape Martial Academy’s students continue to grow, suggesting the village’s overall strength is rising.

Significant Themes

• Independence versus affiliation: Su rejects recruitment by powerful factions and chooses to chart his own path rather than become tied to the Heavenly One Sword Sect, the Cao Family, or other forces.
• Political maneuvering and hidden conflict: The Blood Refining Branch, Empress Xiao, the Crown Prince, and the Cao Family all represent larger power struggles operating behind the scenes.
• Freedom protected by larger laws: The Desolate Alliance’s prohibition against blocking entry to the Outer Battlefield gives individual martial artists a degree of autonomy against powerful sects and institutions.
• Self-reliance and innovation: Su’s attempts to create his own Water Conception techniques emphasize his talent and determination to develop beyond inherited traditions.
• Growth through separation: While Su has been away, his friends, family, and fellow martial artists have continued improving, showing that his return is not merely a rescue but a reunion with people who are becoming stronger on their own.
• Homecoming and belonging: The return to Niu Family Village shifts the chapter from political intrigue and cultivation ambition to warmth, community, and family.

Important Character Interactions

• Su Xinghe and Cao De: Cao De offers Su a large monetary gift on behalf of the Cao Family, attempting to establish goodwill and alliance.
• Su Xinghe and Yue Shan: Yue Shan offers Su the Heavenly One Sword Sect’s secret arts, but Su politely refuses in favor of entering the Outer Battlefield. Their exchange is respectful but carries the tension of competing interests.
• Su Xinghe and Zhan Yun: Su asks Zhan Yun why Yue Shan accepted his decision so readily. She remains evasive, while Xia Xiaoqi secretly explains the Desolate Alliance’s rule to him.
• Su Xinghe and Xia Xiaoqi’s group: He hosts them before leaving and reveals his plans, marking the end of his current period among the top-tier forces.
• Su Xinghe and Lu Sandao: The two return home together and share amused reactions while observing Zhang Whiskers and his companions struggling with both hunger and cultivation.
• Su Xinghe and the villagers: Their reunion reveals the successful outcome of Su’s mission and allows him to witness the progress of the people he cares about.
• Su Xinghe and Haitao: Their emotional reunion highlights their brotherly bond. Su praises Haitao’s improvement, while Haitao eagerly welcomes his older brother home.

Chapter Summary: Return to Lin County

Key Plot Points and Events

• Su Xinghe returns home to Lin County with his younger brother, Su Haitao, carrying Little White Bat and other luggage. He reunites warmly with his parents, Su Cheng and Chen Guilan, his sister-in-law Yang Huaiyu, and his nephew Bajin.
• During a family meal, Su Xinghe enjoys familiar foods and briefly reconnects with the ordinary domestic life he has left behind.
• He learns from Zhou Yingjun that Lin County has effectively fallen under the control of the Peaceful Heaven Sect’s Red Lotus Branch. Their presence has spread through the county, including the Black Market at Luhua Village.
• Zhou Yingjun and other key figures escaped to Niu Family Village before the occupation. The White Ape Martial Academy has joined them, and Elder Xie, a Seventh-Rank Transformation Realm Martial Warrior, now serves as their strongest pillar.
• Su Xinghe visits the academy’s pill-refining workshop, where he encounters Yu Miaomiao and Zhao Jing. He gives Zhao Jing a letter from her younger sister, Xiaoya, who is studying at the powerful Hundred Flowers Pavilion, along with a hundred-tael Treasure Note.
• The following day, Su Xinghe secretly enters Lin County. He observes that the city remains active and prosperous despite the Lu Family’s disappearance and the Peaceful Heaven Sect’s influence.
• He revisits locations tied to his past, including the former Beheading Gang and White Ape Martial Academy sites. Seeing that his former achievements have disappeared leaves him emotionally weary.
• In the northern forest, he shares a New Year meal with Zhang Baichuan, head of the Inspection Bureau and an old acquaintance. Zhang becomes drunk, recognizing that Su Xinghe’s rise to Grandmaster represents a level of achievement Zhang may never reach.
• Su Xinghe remains with his family through the New Year and Lantern Festival before reluctantly departing.
• He returns to Qingzhou Prefecture City and reports to Gong Hao at the Demon Suppression Bureau. Since his promotion to Commander and assignment to the Outer Battlefield have not yet arrived, he begins another period of closed-door cultivation.

Character Development

• Su Xinghe: His return reveals both his continued attachment to his family and his growing distance from his former life. He is now a powerful Grandmaster, yet the destruction of his old organizations makes him feel tired and reflective. He remains responsible and generous, helping former acquaintances while focusing on mastering his martial techniques.
• Su Haitao: He supports his elder brother by carrying the luggage, showing their close and cooperative sibling relationship.
• Zhao Jing: She has improved her circumstances through Su Xinghe’s connections and the White Ape Martial Academy, but she remains conscious of her past choices and regrets not committing to martial cultivation earlier. Her reaction to Xiaoya’s letter reveals lingering insecurity and longing.
• Yu Miaomiao: She admires Su Xinghe’s advancement and is visibly flustered by his transformation from fellow disciple into a renowned young Grandmaster.
• Zhang Baichuan: His drunken celebration reflects genuine affection for Su Xinghe but also his awareness of the vast gap between their current positions and futures.
• Zhou Yingjun and the academy leaders: They have adapted to the threat from the Peaceful Heaven Sect by relocating and joining forces with the White Ape Martial Academy.

Significant Themes

• The cost of change: Lin County’s political and martial landscape has been transformed, erasing many of Su Xinghe’s former achievements.
• Home and belonging: Family meals, familiar foods, and reunions contrast with Su Xinghe’s dangerous and increasingly isolated martial career.
• Power and impermanence: Organizations and influence can disappear quickly, while stronger factions replace them.
• Regret and missed opportunities: Zhao Jing’s feelings highlight how difficult it is to recover from past hesitation, while Su Xinghe’s success emphasizes the consequences of decisive action.
• Separation and growth: Su Xinghe’s departure from his family marks another step away from his origins as he prepares for greater challenges.
• Preparation for the future: His return to cultivation shows that the chapter functions as a pause before his next major assignment and advancement.

Important Character Interactions

• Su Xinghe shares a tender reunion with his parents and family, caring for his nephew and enjoying a traditional meal.
• He receives a serious report from Zhou Yingjun about the Peaceful Heaven Sect’s occupation of Lin County.
• Yu Miaomiao and Zhao Jing react differently to him: Yu with admiration and romantic embarrassment, Zhao with gratitude, guilt, and regret.
• Su Xinghe delivers Xiaoya’s letter to Zhao Jing, strengthening the connection between the sisters and demonstrating his continued concern for old companions.
• His banquet with Zhang Baichuan recalls their shared past while emphasizing how far Su Xinghe has advanced.
• He reports to Gong Hao before resuming solitary cultivation, transitioning from family reunion back into his martial responsibilities.

Chapter Summary: The Forgotten Man

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ten days after emerging from seclusion, Su Xinghe visits Gong Hao, expecting news of his promotion to Commander. However, the appointment never arrives, leaving him excluded from January’s Qi-Gathering Pill allocation.
• The same situation continues through March and April. Headquarters provides no explanation, and Su Xinghe realizes he has effectively been ignored or deliberately blocked.
• With no official action available to him, he returns to secluded cultivation in the Guardian Tower.
• Over several months, he makes significant progress:
  • His Water Conception becomes much more refined.
  • His psychic combat method advances through repeated practice.
  • His Ascending Dragon Stance reaches Peak Perfection, greatly strengthening his body and Qi-Blood.
  • His physical strength rises to more than three hundred thousand jin.
  • His Fifth-Rank Core Embrace cultivation continues advancing despite the lack of Qi-Gathering Pills.
• Su Xinghe concludes that his promotion was likely obstructed by powerful figures who fear his growth, most probably the Crown Prince’s faction. Although his official advancement has been delayed, he resolves to keep improving his combat power.
• He estimates that he is already invincible among ordinary Grandmasters and could suppress even a Psychic Power user such as Shangguan Jing.
• He prepares to continue cultivating Water Conception, hoping to break through to the legendary Water Domain.
• Before he can begin, an unidentified psychic entity appears above the Guardian Tower. It releases an overwhelming domain-like force field and enters his room as an invisible or illusory humanoid phantom.
• Su Xinghe, alarmed but composed, draws his alloy saber and activates his defensive force field. The chapter ends as he confronts the mysterious intruder.

Character Developments

• Su Xinghe: Becomes stronger, more disciplined, and more politically aware. Though frustrated by being denied his promotion and resources, he channels his resentment into cultivation rather than acting recklessly. His body, martial techniques, psychic abilities, and Water Conception all improve dramatically. He also becomes more cautious, concealing his true physical strength and cultivation progress.
• Gong Hao: Appears uncomfortable and possibly sympathetic when Su Xinghe visits, but he has no power to resolve the promotion issue.
• Little White Bat: Remains fearful of Su Xinghe’s increasingly dangerous flying-sword techniques, emphasizing how intimidating his abilities have become.
• The Unknown Intruder: Demonstrates psychic power vastly exceeding ordinary levels, possibly approaching or surpassing the pressure of a Martial Saint. Their identity and motives remain unknown.

Significant Themes

• Suppression and political obstruction: Su Xinghe’s promotion is likely being deliberately blocked by a powerful faction threatened by his potential.
• Persistence through adversity: Despite being denied official support and cultivation resources, he continues improving through patience, discipline, and ingenuity.
• Hidden strength: Su Xinghe conceals his true abilities, allowing others to underestimate him while he quietly builds overwhelming power.
• Limits and breakthroughs: His goal of comprehending the Water Domain represents his attempt to surpass established cultivation boundaries and challenge the limits of what is considered possible.
• Imminent danger: The mysterious psychic intruder introduces a new threat and interrupts Su Xinghe’s peaceful cultivation.

Character Interactions

• Su Xinghe and Gong Hao: Su Xinghe seeks information about his delayed promotion, but Gong Hao’s complicated reaction confirms that the matter is politically sensitive and likely beyond his control.
• Su Xinghe and Little White Bat: The bat reacts with fear to Su Xinghe’s flying swords, showing the destructive power of his refined psychic techniques.
• Su Xinghe and the mysterious phantom: Their first encounter is immediately hostile and tense. The intruder invades Su Xinghe’s room with overwhelming psychic pressure, while Su Xinghe responds defensively, preparing for combat despite being unable to perceive the entity directly.

Chapter Summary: “We Need You”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xu Ling, a mysterious figure from the Mending Heaven Pavilion, appears before Su Xinghe as a mass of light and shadow. He uses advanced technology to display a detailed dossier containing nearly all of Su Xinghe’s personal information, martial techniques, affiliations, and connections.
• Xu Ling identifies himself as Su Xinghe’s guide to the Outer Battlefield and explains that the Mending Heaven Pavilion has no involvement in Su Xinghe’s actions within the Zhou Martial Sage Dynasty.
• Xu reveals that this is their second encounter. He had previously investigated the disappearance of a military guerrilla general and happened to witness Su Xinghe fighting at the time.
• Su Xinghe realizes that the mysterious token he recovered from a corpse may have connected him to Xu Ling and the Mending Heaven Pavilion, making him cautious about handling unknown objects in the future.
• When Su Xinghe asks why he was not arrested, Xu Ling answers that the organization needs him, particularly because of what he accomplished in Lin County. However, he refuses to explain further.
• Xu orders Su Xinghe to prepare for departure. Su Xinghe gathers his saber, supplies, pills, notes, clothing, and the sleeping Little White Bat.
• Before leaving, Su Xinghe requests time to say goodbye. He visits Commander Shangguan Jing and Gong Hao at the training grounds.
• Shangguan Jing gives him a restrained but sincere farewell, while Gong Hao provides a bundle containing a booklet and medicinal pills and tells him to find the Director at the Outer Battlefield.
• Su Xinghe entrusts Lin County to Gong Hao and says farewell to his acquaintances, encouraging them to meet him again at the Outer Battlefield.
• Xu Ling transports Su Xinghe through the air at extraordinary speed using an earth-elemental domain. They quickly pass Qingzhou Prefecture City and approach the Ghost Market.

Character Developments

• Su Xinghe becomes increasingly aware of the enormous power and technological sophistication of the wider world. He is impressed by Xu Ling’s dossier-projection device but remains wary of the Mending Heaven Pavilion.
• His caution deepens when he realizes the organization has investigated his secrets and that the token he took from a corpse may have attracted their attention.
• Su Xinghe also demonstrates maturity and emotional attachment through his insistence on saying goodbye before departing. Despite the suddenness of the journey, he takes responsibility for Lin County and maintains confidence in his fellow martial artists’ futures.
• His developing psychic power becomes an important point of reflection. Xu Ling’s humanoid psychic manifestation makes Su Xinghe consider whether he might eventually create psychic clones or similar projections himself.
• Xu Ling is established as calm, powerful, secretive, and somewhat impatient. Although he reassures Su Xinghe that the Mending Heaven Pavilion is not targeting him, he reveals only what is necessary.
• Shangguan Jing shows conflicted feelings, including regret and helplessness, because political struggles prevent her from assisting Su Xinghe.
• Gong Hao acts as a concerned elder and mentor, offering practical supplies and emotional support before Su Xinghe leaves.

Significant Themes

• The vastness of the world: Su Xinghe discovers that forces such as the Mending Heaven Pavilion possess abilities and technology far beyond his previous understanding.
• Surveillance and hidden power: His complete dossier demonstrates that influential organizations can uncover even his deepest secrets, emphasizing his vulnerability despite his growing strength.
• Uncertain alliances: The Mending Heaven Pavilion claims neutrality regarding Su Xinghe’s past but also admits that it needs him, creating an atmosphere of mystery and possible danger.
• Departure and responsibility: Su Xinghe’s journey represents a transition into a larger stage. His farewells highlight both the emotional cost of leaving and his continuing duty toward Lin County.
• Growth through observation: Su Xinghe carefully studies Xu Ling’s psychic and domain abilities, turning even a threatening encounter into an opportunity to learn.
• Mentorship and human connection: The gifts and farewells from Shangguan Jing and Gong Hao show the importance of bonds formed before Su Xinghe enters the unknown Outer Battlefield.

Important Character Interactions

• Su Xinghe and Xu Ling: Their exchange establishes a wary relationship between a powerful recruiter and a reluctant but valuable candidate. Xu Ling controls the conversation, while Su Xinghe tries to understand why he has been selected.
• Su Xinghe and Shangguan Jing: Their brief farewell reveals mutual respect and Shangguan Jing’s inability to protect or accompany him.
• Su Xinghe and Gong Hao: Gong Hao provides both material support and a final reminder to seek out the Director. Su Xinghe responds by entrusting Lin County to him.
• Su Xinghe and the martial artists at the training grounds: His farewell to Kong Yuan, Yu Zhuo, Wu Cangqing, and the others reflects his continuing concern for their development and his hope that they will eventually join him at the Outer Battlefield.

Su Xinghe traveled with Xu Ling across the desolate land surrounding a massive breach in the sky, where fragments fell from the abyss and Guardian Towers protected the region. Xu Ling brought him through the breach to Southguard Pass, a vast military outpost beneath the darkened sky.

• Su Xinghe learned that Xu Ling was a Martial Apex Psychic Master who had not broken through to Stellar-Tier because the martial and psychic paths demanded different methods.
• As they traveled, Su Xinghe saw increasing numbers of Outer Demons and learned that Xu Ling's domain could destroy them.
• Xu Ling took Su Xinghe into a barren desert, where Su Xinghe saw an enormous abyssal breach in the sky and learned it was why Mending Heaven Pavilion existed.
• Su Xinghe watched a mountain-sized object fall from the breach and break apart before Xu Ling carried him into the abyss.
• Xu Ling brought Su Xinghe through the darkness to Southguard Pass, where Su Xinghe saw Guardian Towers, barriers, ruined buildings, and crowds of armed people at a vast military camp.

Chapter Summary: The Crumbling Great Zhou Small World

Key Plot Points and Events

• Su Xinghe and Xu Ling emerge from the “Abyss Black Hole” and discover that it is actually a massive rupture in the Great Zhou Small World’s outer shell. The surrounding ring-shaped mountain range is the rim of an enormous impact crater.
• Su Xinghe realizes that the world is literally breaking apart. Rocks, clouds, and fragments of the world continually pour through the rupture, while the sky above is filled with destruction.
• Xu Ling explains that the vast Ashen Zone they crossed is the deadening outer territory of Great Zhou. Over the past 6,800 years, more than 40,000 li of land have been lost, including regions once rich in heaven-and-earth essence.
• The world’s decline is not solely the result of war with the Outer Demons; Great Zhou itself is gradually collapsing.
• Xu Ling reveals that Great Zhou exists within a Small World formed from the shattered fate core of a deceased Immortal-Tier powerhouse. The four major powers of the Zhou Martial Sage Dynasty each guard one of the four major ruptures in the world barrier.
• Only nine Small Worlds in the explored Desolate Region can still support ordinary life. Great Zhou, the Starry Sky Empire, and the Beast Taming Sect remain under the control of the Hundred Clans, while six others are controlled by the Demon Race.
• The Sky Patrol Palace predicts that if no one comprehends all five elemental laws within a century, Great Zhou will lose all cultivable land and seas within roughly a thousand years. Ordinary people will eventually perish, leaving only powerful Martial Warriors alive.
• Xu Ling invites Su Xinghe to join the effort to preserve the world. Su Xinghe, shaken by what he has witnessed, begins abandoning his former factional detachment.
• Xu Ling describes higher realms beyond the known martial path: Stellar-Tier, Stellar-Core Tier, Star Radiance, Constellation, and Galaxy-Tier, after which one may become an Immortal God.
• The Mending Heaven Pavilion seeks to delay the Small World’s destruction and nurture a new Immortal God capable of transferring ordinary life into a sustainable inner world.
• No one has yet reached the Immortal-Tier. The Pavilion’s strongest known expert is only at Stellar-Core Tier Ninth Rank.
• The chapter and first volume conclude, setting up the next arc: the Desolate Region Prison.

Character Developments

• Su Xinghe: His worldview is profoundly shaken. Once focused on avoiding factional involvement, he now recognizes the scale of the crisis and the responsibility of saving billions of people. He also discovers that his current strength and knowledge are insignificant compared with the wider martial universe.
• Xu Ling: Acts as Su Xinghe’s guide and reveals the hidden history of Great Zhou, the structure of the greater martial realms, and the Mending Heaven Pavilion’s mission. His solemn explanations show both his dedication and his awareness that the world may ultimately be beyond saving.
• Su Xinghe and Xu Ling: Their relationship develops from guide and traveler into one based on trust and shared purpose, with Xu Ling treating Su Xinghe as a potential future asset because of his talent and elemental comprehension.

Significant Themes

• A dying world: The ruined landscapes and collapsing sky symbolize the inevitable decline of civilizations and worlds.
• Responsibility versus detachment: Su Xinghe must decide whether to remain uninvolved or accept responsibility for the survival of countless lives.
• The limits of power and knowledge: Even powerful figures in Great Zhou are merely beginning to understand the vast hierarchy beyond their world.
• Preservation and sacrifice: The Mending Heaven Pavilion cannot fully restore Great Zhou, only delay its destruction and seek a new refuge for its people.
• Inheritance and mortality: Great Zhou is revealed to be the remnant of an ancient Immortal’s shattered fate core, emphasizing how even seemingly eternal powers can decay.

Character Interactions

• Xu Ling answers Su Xinghe’s questions about the Ashen Zone, the origin of Great Zhou, the fate core, the martial realms, and the world’s impending destruction.
• Su Xinghe responds with increasing shock and seriousness as Xu Ling reveals the fate of Great Zhou and its billions of inhabitants.
• Their conversation culminates in Xu Ling urging Su Xinghe to join the Mending Heaven Pavilion, while Su Xinghe begins seriously considering cooperation rather than maintaining factional distance.

Xu Ling invited Su Xinghe to join the Mending Heaven Pavilion, gave him secret arts, and explained the limits imposed by his damaged source and the Zhou Dynasty’s military service requirement. Su Xinghe accepted the Pavilion’s token and was taken to register at Southguard Pass before his three years of service.

• Xu Ling explained that Stellar-Tier cultivation required rare source energy and invited Su Xinghe to join the Mending Heaven Pavilion.
• Xu Ling gave Su Xinghe the earth-element Third-Rank true art Thousand Blades to pass to Xu Lie, and warned that Su Xinghe’s damaged source might prevent him from reaching Stellar-Tier.
• Xu Ling told Su Xinghe that he would have to serve three years in the Military Department before freely entering and leaving the Great Zhou Small World.
• Su Xinghe accepted Xu Ling’s All Beings Forest 72 Arts and the Mending Heaven token, which identified him as an Apprentice Seventh Rank Psychic Master.
• Xu Ling showed Su Xinghe the Pavilion’s sparse map of the Southern Regions and carried him to Southguard Pass to register.

Key plot points and events

• Su Xinghe and Xu Ling leave a small-world rift and approach Southguard Pass, where foul, radiation-tainted air makes protection by Internal Force essential.
• A Military Department patrol checks Xu Ling’s transfer authorization and Su Xinghe’s Martial Dao Bureau token. Su’s token is updated, and the guards formally welcome him to the pass.
• Inside the barrier, Su senses a large concentration of powerful Martial Warriors. Commander Huo Min, a Stellar-Tier Third Rank warrior, arrives to greet Xu Ling and notices Su’s youth and Grandmaster status.
• Xu Ling explains that Southguard Pass is one of four military-controlled gateways into the Great Zhou Small World. Though the pass itself is relatively safe, nearby resources are scarce, and most warriors must travel farther afield or risk forbidden zones.
• Xu tells Su of the disastrous Eastern Sea Pass Incident four years earlier, in which many defenders and three Martial Saints died, while a Starry Sky Ninth Rank warrior disappeared.
• They reach a busy square behind the massive defensive wall, where teams prepare expeditions and return with materials. The chapter ends as Su observes the pass’s military activity.

Character developments

• Su Xinghe is alert and observant, noticing the radiation, the scrutiny of other warriors, and the immense strength of those around him. He also realizes that his transfer paperwork was delayed by the Military Department, though he does not yet know why.
• Xu Ling remains composed and experienced, guiding Su through the formal entry process and explaining the pass’s structure and dangers.
• Huo Min is introduced as Southguard Pass’s formidable commander, whose physical presence and aura impress Su.

Character interactions

• The patrol treats Xu Ling respectfully but strictly verifies both visitors’ credentials. Its ceremonial welcome marks Su’s official arrival.
• Huo Min greets Xu Ling, while other warriors quietly assess Su and speculate that he may have been sent to the outer battlefield prematurely.
• Xu Ling answers Su’s unspoken questions by explaining the pass’s command structure, resource situation, and history of danger.

Significant themes

• Duty and militarized order: Entry into the pass is controlled and ceremonial, reflecting the Military Department’s authority.
• Danger beneath apparent safety: The barrier shields the settlement, but exploration beyond it remains deadly.
• Youth and potential: Su’s age and rank attract both curiosity and concern about whether he is ready for the battlefield.
• Scarcity and competition: The explored regions offer little left to claim, pushing warriors toward distant or forbidden territory.

Plot points and events

• Su Xinghe and Steward Xu Ling arrive at Mending Heaven Pavilion’s Southguard Pass branch, a battered spacecraft used as a base and supply point for the Outer Battlefield.
• Xu Ling learns that Elder Liu is away investigating Southern Site 2903. Although the site was opened, Bonewing Tribe Greater Demons appeared there, raising suspicion that a hidden passage to another small world may exist.
• Xu Ling registers Su Xinghe as an Earth-rank member, tells Liu Ming to arrange his lodging, and says he will assign Su Xinghe’s duties after his three-year Military Department service. He then leaves to investigate.
• Liu Ming welcomes Su Xinghe and leads him through the spacecraft-like base to Rest Room 3887, showing him how to unlock it with his membership token. Su Xinghe checks the room and finds nothing amiss.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Xinghe arrives confident that his Grandmaster-level strength makes him more than ordinary fodder in the Outer Battlefield. He is observant, quickly understands the access system, and remains politely reserved when Liu Ming asks why he still wears a Demon Extermination Guard uniform.
• Xu Ling acts decisively: he secures Su Xinghe’s Earth-rank status, delegates his reception, and hurries toward the suspected danger at Site 2903.
• Liu Ming, an Earth-rank member and exceptionally talented young martial artist, initially regards Su Xinghe with curiosity, impressed by his appearance and Xu Ling’s personal escort. Once Xu leaves, she becomes friendly and informal. She and Su Xinghe establish a courteous, potentially collegial rapport.

Significant themes

• Danger at the frontier: The branch serves as a foothold in the Outer Battlefield, where Martial Saint-level Greater Demons pose a serious threat.
• Rank, talent, and resources: Su Xinghe’s Earth-rank appointment marks him as unusual, while Liu Ming’s rapid advancement highlights the role of powerful backing and material support.
• Tradition alongside technology: The base combines an advanced, spacecraft-like structure and token-operated doors with simple furnishings and martial-world customs.

Key plot points and events

• Su Xinghe explores his new quarters aboard a huge, damaged warship. Its Star Calendar dates to 7621, confirming he is far from the Great Zhou Small World; sealed windows and ventilation ducts reflect the dangers of the Outer Battlefield.
• Liu Ming explains that the Desolate Region preserves the wreckage of a war fought roughly 7,000 years ago. At least 100 million Stellar-Tier or stronger combatants—and perhaps 100 billion ordinary troops—were involved before the gods destroyed the opposing forces.
• Su asks how vast the region is. Liu recounts an expedition in which a peak Stellar-Core expert sent five Psychic Power avatars in different directions; each traveled for a thousand years without reaching a boundary. Their journeys suggest the Desolate Region is roughly 0.6 light-years across.
• Liu guides Su through the warship’s lower level, which functions like a vast indoor complex with training arenas, storage, trading and rest areas, dining facilities, and washrooms. He learns that Mending Heaven Pavilion has around eight million members across the Desolate Region, about 20,000 at Southguard Pass, and roughly 3,000 stationed there permanently; most are at Southern Sky Base.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Xinghe is startled by the scale of the ancient war and the Desolate Region, connecting Liu’s account to the Rift-Sky Mother Empress’s description of the place as a “prison.” He also uses his analytical abilities to calculate the implications of the Psychic avatars’ speed.
• Liu Ming enjoys impressing newcomers with alarming facts, especially talented young arrivals. She teases Su, calls him “Little Su,” and offers to show him around. Su objects to the nickname but accepts her help because the warship is so large and she knows the place.

Significant themes

• Scale and isolation: The vast warship, ancient casualties, and seemingly boundless Desolate Region make Su’s new world feel immense and confining.
• A clash of civilizations: Technological relics from the Starry Sky Empire coexist with powerful martial arts, Psychic abilities, and gods.
• Revealing the world through discovery: Liu’s explanations expand Su’s understanding of the battlefield, its history, and the organizations operating there.

Key plot points

• Su Xinghe and Liu Ming explore Mending Heaven Pavilion’s Free Trade Zone, browsing medicines, weapons, beast materials, and mysterious, unusable technological relics.
• Little White becomes excited by demon-beast food. Liu Ming recognizes it as a rare Rift-Sky Bat pup and asks to have it. After persistent pleading, Su agrees—conditionally—provided Little White is willing.
• Liu Ming eagerly buys food for the bat, spending over 500 Pavilion contribution points. Su feels indebted and treats her to an expensive exotic-beast meal.
• Liu Ming reveals she lives in room 3888, across from Su’s room 3887. As they part, Little White slips into Su’s room with the food bag, despite Liu’s protests.
• Su reflects on his priorities: an upcoming Military Department call-up, cultivation resources, and a major merit he needs to investigate. He then opens Gong Hao’s parting gift: two bottles containing twenty valuable Fifth Rank Qi-Gathering Pills, which move him deeply.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Xinghe remains attached to Little White and is reluctant to give it up, but yields to Liu Ming’s enthusiasm to avoid upsetting her. He is practical about his limited resources and grateful for Gong Hao’s generosity.
• Liu Ming shows a playful, affectionate side. She is starved for companionship among the largely male population at Southguard Pass and becomes instantly devoted to Little White, spoiling it with food.
• Little White is still a slow-growing juvenile, but its appetite and preference for Su are clear: despite Liu Ming’s attention, it sneaks back to its owner’s room.
• Su and Liu Ming build an easy rapport through teasing, bargaining, shopping, and sharing a meal; their rooms being opposite suggests their acquaintance may continue.

Significant themes

• Affection and loyalty: Su’s bond with Little White is tested, but the bat’s return reassures him.
• Scarcity and privilege: Rare cultivation goods and beast materials are costly, while Liu Ming’s casual spending contrasts with Su’s limited means.
• Gratitude and obligation: Su feels indebted for Liu’s purchases and is touched by Gong Hao’s substantial gift.
• A frontier’s strange abundance: Southguard Pass offers exotic goods and experiences, yet Su’s attention remains on practical concerns—service, cultivation, and survival.

Plot and key events

• Su Xinghe finds a booklet of the Baleful-Breaking Gold-Severing Formula among his gifts. The secret art, copied by someone named Piaoxue, teaches Psychic Masters to refine Blood Baleful Qi from Demon Beasts.
• The chapter explains that Fourth-Rank Martial Warriors need purified, affinity-matched Baleful Qi to advance. It also reveals why Lu Xuanji sought help from the Peaceful Heaven Sect: without access to Demon Beasts or a powerful patron, he obtained impure qi and went astray.
• Su Xinghe uses his Fate Panel and Psychic Power clones to learn the formula quickly. He extracts metal-type Baleful Qi from Demon Beast meat, but the small amount available is insufficient to form even half a Blood Baleful Pill. The process consumes much of Little White Bat’s food.
• He then cultivates in the Desolate Region, where the chaotic ambient energy stings his meridians. His Unyielding trait helps them recover. After using twenty Qi-Gathering Pills, he raises his Fifth-Rank progress by one percent and reaches Peak Perfection in the Demon-Slaying Blade cultivation method, improving his energy-refining efficiency.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Xinghe demonstrates rapid learning and growing resourcefulness, while acknowledging that he does not yet know his elemental affinity with certainty.
• Little White Bat protests when Su Xinghe consumes its meat, but Su Xinghe continues refining it and later returns what remains.
• The account of Lu Xuanji shows how lack of backing forced him into a risky alliance, with lasting consequences for his cultivation.

Significant themes

• Access and power: Advancement depends not only on skill but also on access to rare materials and influential allies.
• Preparation and purification: Raw power can be harmful if impurities are not removed.
• Persistence and adaptation: Su Xinghe compensates for limited resources through diligence, specialized traits, and efficient cultivation.

Plot points and events

• After eating, Su Xinghe studies two secret arts. He records Thousand Blades, but recognizes that its elemental affinity is a poor fit compared with his perfected metal-element Demon-Slaying Blade.
• He tests the All Beings Forest 72 Arts, a mental art that creates duplicates. Combining it with his psychic-power methods, he develops seventy-two copies in his Consciousness Space. This lets him practice the art seventy-two times at once, dramatically increasing his training speed.
• Excited by the breakthrough, he heads to the Demon Suppression Bureau to spend his points on cultivation pills.
• He learns that most Bureau personnel are stationed far beyond Southguard Pass, so Director Xu Lie is unlikely to be there. At the branch, Su Xinghe exchanges all 50,000 points for 500 Qi-Gathering Pills.
• He asks about Xu Lie and discovers that Xu and his people left two months earlier for the distant Southern Twenty-Ninth Region in response to a Demon Beast tide.

Character development

• Su Xinghe shows a practical approach to cultivation: he sets aside a powerful art that does not suit him and prioritizes methods that complement his abilities.
• His ingenuity is evident in how he adapts his existing psychic-power techniques to master the All Beings Forest art and multiply his practice.
• He is increasingly focused on rapid advancement, spending every available point on pills rather than saving resources.

Character interactions

• A guard at the Bureau explains that most personnel operate from outlying Ruins Towns, beyond the second ring.
• A counter attendant initially doubts that a white-robed visitor needs commander-level Qi-Gathering Pills. Su Xinghe briefly reveals his Core Qi Domain, prompting the attendant to treat him with respect and complete the exchange.
• The attendant provides news of Xu Lie’s departure and the Demon Beast crisis.

Significant themes

• Personal fit over prestige: A high-ranked technique is not automatically the best choice; suitability to one’s attributes matters.
• Ingenuity and accelerated progress: Su Xinghe turns a difficult mental art into a powerful training advantage through adaptation.
• Preparation amid danger: His push to strengthen himself takes place in a vast, militarized frontier facing distant threats.

Summary

• Su Xinghe meets Zi Lin, the Qingzhou Demon Suppression Bureau’s Jia-San Commander, at the bureau while asking when Director Xu Lie will return. Zi Lin probes him psychically, but his Water Conception blocks her. She is startled by the strength of his ability. She says she has only recently returned, though her encounter with Su appears to have been planned.
• Su Xinghe then goes to the Southguard Pass Military Department headquarters, a vast, heavily fortified tower where he senses the presence of more than a dozen Martial Saints. The immense crowds and recruitment lines reveal the scale of the military presence on the Outer Battlefield.
• After a long queue, he registers for service. Although his identity token still lists him as an Eighth-Rank warrior, his records identify him as a Fifth-Rank Core Embrace Grandmaster. The military system assigns him to Camp Fifty-Two, Squad Eighty-Eight, and orders him to report to Ruin No. 9 in the Southern Seventeenth Domain before January 1, Star Calendar 7622. He is advised to join the camp first and visit another ruin to familiarize himself with the battlefield.
• Since the assigned domain is over a million li away, Su learns he can travel free on military transport ships, which depart on the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth of each month. He decides he must take the ship on the fifteenth to arrive on time.
• His token is updated with his unit, ID, and ten Merit Points. The registration clerk explains that Su has been classified as a Grade-B captain and receives ten points monthly as base pay, though Su still does not know how the points are spent.

Character development and interactions

• Su Xinghe demonstrates growing psychic strength by effortlessly resisting Zi Lin’s probing. He moves from seeking information about Xu Lie to formally entering military service, while remaining practical and curious about its rules.
• Zi Lin is introduced as a capable, direct commander with a fire-type Mental Secret Art. Her surprise at Su’s Water Conception suggests she recognizes that his ability is unusually powerful.
• The military staff treat Su courteously during registration, though the entrance guard is initially puzzled by the mismatch between Su’s rank token and his actual cultivation.

Significant themes

• Expanding military scale: The crowds, distant deployments, and Martial Saints at headquarters emphasize the vastness and danger of the Outer Battlefield.
• Power and recognition: Su’s true ability exceeds what his outdated token suggests, highlighting the gap between official records and personal strength.
• Duty and bureaucracy: Military assignments, deadlines, transport schedules, ranks, and Merit Points show how service is organized—and how Su’s next stage is governed by the system.

Plot points and events

• Su Xinghe spends his newly issued Military Merit on a calendar-equipped wristband, outdoor combat gear, and injury-treatment pills. The supplies are useful, though the ten points buy little by military standards.
• He finds the Fifty-Second Battalion’s fortress and reports to the Eighty-Eighth Squad, presenting his Martial Dao Bureau token.
• The battalion’s supervising officer, a Third-Rank Martial Saint, verifies Su Xinghe’s identity with Psychic Power and orders General Li Zhen to test him.
• Li Zhen abruptly attacks with Blood Baleful Qi. Su Xinghe withstands the blow, using Water Conception to expel the invading energy.
• Li Zhen escalates, unleashing his full domain over the training ground and endangering the soldiers there. The supervising officer intervenes, declares Su Xinghe has passed, and orders his registration completed.

Character developments

• Su Xinghe shows practical judgment in choosing equipment and pills. He also reveals formidable resilience: despite being a Fifth-Rank Core Embrace practitioner, his strength and technique let him endure an attack powerful enough to threaten an ordinary Grandmaster.
• Li Zhen comes across as arrogant and volatile. When his initial strike fails to impress Su Xinghe, he escalates rather than backing down.
• The supervising officer is authoritative and restrained, but steps in when Li Zhen’s recklessness threatens the troops.
• The guards’ fear highlights how vulnerable ordinary soldiers are around powerful, unstable officers.

Significant themes

• Military hierarchy and power: Newcomers must prove themselves, while rank and authority shape every interaction.
• The cost of military service: Military Merit offers modest compensation, and even routine drills can be dangerous.
• Restraint versus recklessness: Su Xinghe remains controlled under provocation, while Li Zhen’s temper endangers those around him.
• Power’s collateral damage: The soldiers are exposed to danger caused by the powerful, even away from the battlefield.

Character interactions

• Su Xinghe reports respectfully to the guards and officers, but meets Li Zhen’s aggression with a cold, steady response.
• Li Zhen’s test turns into a public contest of authority and strength.
• The supervising officer halts the escalation, protects the training ground’s soldiers, and ensures Su Xinghe can proceed with registration.

Plot points and events

• After completing his registration with the Military Department, Su Xinghe is appointed captain of the Eighty-Eighth Squad and allowed to live independently rather than in the crowded camp. He plans to keep a low profile and avoid General Li Zhen during his three-year assignment in the Southern Seventeenth Domain.
• Back at the Mending Heaven Pavilion, Liu Ming briefly visits, mainly to spend time with Little White Bat.
• Su Xinghe finds a hundred-tael Treasure Note concealed in his new uniform. It warns that identification number B-5288109 should board the transport ship departing on December 5 to avoid being killed. Because the note was planted without his noticing, he suspects its source is far more powerful than he is. He considers possible enemies, including General Li and the person connected to Han Zhi, but cannot determine who sent it.
• Rather than dwell on the mystery, Su Xinghe cultivates intensely. In two days and nights, he refines 200 Qi-Gathering Pills, aided by his exceptionally efficient Demon-Slaying Blade and the figures in his Consciousness Space.
• On December 5, he decides to board the ship. He reasons that the warning is likely a sign that another faction is observing or trying to alert him, and that he may as well face the danger while serving his assignment. He leaves his remaining pills to refine during the journey.
• Outside Southguard Pass, a huge crowd gathers to await transport. At noon, an enormous Transport Airship emerges from the clouds; several more appear in the distance.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Xinghe remains cautious and pragmatic. The hidden warning heightens his sense of danger, but he responds by training, weighing the evidence, and ultimately choosing to proceed rather than act on speculation.
• Liu Ming is eager to see Su Xinghe and reluctant to part, but their brief, awkward conversations are interrupted by distraction and his focus on cultivation. She leaves with Little White Bat.
• The Military Department guards now treat Su Xinghe with deference after seeing his strength, and his captaincy gives him greater independence.
• General Li Zhen remains a possible threat in Su Xinghe’s mind, though the chapter offers no proof that he is behind the warning.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Su Xinghe’s impressive cultivation does not protect him from threats posed by unseen, stronger actors.
• Uncertainty and trust: The anonymous warning could be a trap or an attempt to help; Su Xinghe must decide without knowing who sent it.
• Preparation under pressure: Faced with limited time and danger, he focuses on cultivation and makes a calculated choice to keep moving toward his assignment.
• Parting and duty: Liu Ming’s reluctance to separate contrasts with Su Xinghe’s commitment to the journey ahead.