Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Feifei falls into a coma after eating half an Immortal Peach from Little Doudou. Shen Bing learns that Feifei had already eaten an Immortal Peach and roughly fifty or sixty portions of his spiritually potent Cat Food.
• Little Doudou doubts Feifei is becoming a cat demon: there is no sign of the usual spiritual-qi storm. Shen Bing suspects Earth’s extremely low spiritual qi may be preventing Feifei from completing an evolution.
• Since the Gate to the Immortal Realm cannot transport living creatures, Shen Bing decides to test his theory on Earth rather than take Feifei there.
• He has Lu Xian build an airtight room lined with Super Freshness Film, which can slow the escape of spiritual qi. Shen Bing uses Spirit Water from the Source of the Celestial River to fill the room with spiritual qi, leaving Feifei on a raised platform above the water.
• When the water reaches several feet deep, a faint vortex appears over Feifei. It strengthens into a blue spiral that draws in spiritual qi and channels it into the cat. Feifei’s breathing improves slightly, though it remains unconscious.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing moves from irritation and uncertainty to cautious, practical action. Though he jokes about Feifei’s cost and refuses to risk himself in the experiment, he shows genuine concern and monitors the test closely.
• Little Doudou feels responsible because it gave Feifei the Immortal Peach, but cannot explain the coma from its inherited knowledge.
• Lu Xian efficiently carries out Shen Bing’s instructions, including the risky task of pouring Spirit Water into the sealed room.
• Shen Bing questions Little Doudou about Feifei’s diet and possible transformation; he then relies on Lu Xian and the surveillance feed to conduct the experiment safely.

Significant themes

• Care and attachment: Shen Bing’s concern for Feifei grows beyond practical or financial reasons, despite his joking references to the cat’s value.
• Experimentation under uncertainty: Unable to confirm the cause of Feifei’s coma, Shen Bing tests a plausible explanation step by step.
• The limits of the environment: Earth’s scarcity of spiritual qi may obstruct supernatural evolution, making a character’s survival dependent on access to a suitable environment.

Key events

• Feifei, Shen Bing’s cat, enters a transformation after consuming Immortal Realm “cat food,” two weakened Immortal Peaches, and a large amount of Spirit Water. Shen Bing believes she has only just met the requirements to become a demon, and that the process demands far more spiritual energy than she has absorbed so far.
• Curious about the science behind demon transformation, Shen Bing orders Lu Xian to collect Feifei’s blood and cell samples and monitor her body. He hopes the Divine Puppet Artisan may eventually help explain the process.
• Shen Bing and Little Doudou discuss Feifei’s chances. Little Doudou confidently predicts she will become a powerful cat demon, prompting Shen Bing to tease him about his own inflated sense of importance.
• In Japan, construction begins on a huge geothermal power station near Tokyo, though public attention has shifted to the opening of seventeen Nancy Mall stores.
• Nancy Mall uses Phantom Vision TVs to draw customers: shoppers earn points by buying selected products, mostly electronics, to gain priority to purchase a television. Sony products are conspicuously excluded, steering demand toward competitors.
• The striking displays make customers eager to obtain a Phantom Vision TV. On opening day, Nancy Mall’s Japanese stores record about $1 billion in sales, while Sony’s global revenue plunges below $50 million. More seriously, major clients begin seeking to end their supply agreements with Sony.
• Fang Yuanming tells Shen Bing of the success. His effort to retaliate against Sony for targeting his daughter has also given Nancy Group a strong foothold in Japan, advancing its plan to become a pan-Asian commercial hub.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shifts from practical concern for Feifei to scientific ambition, viewing her transformation as a chance to investigate demonhood—and perhaps reproduce it through technology. He also balances curiosity with affection and humor.
• Little Doudou displays confidence and pride, but quickly backtracks when Shen Bing mocks his claims of greatness. His praise of Shen Bing softens Shen Bing’s teasing.
• Fang Yuanming achieves more than personal revenge: his action against Sony unexpectedly supports Nancy Group’s expansion.
• Shen Bing directs Lu Xian’s research efforts, while the banter between Shen Bing and Little Doudou highlights their familiar, teasing master-and-servant relationship.

Significant themes

• Science and the supernatural: Shen Bing assumes magical phenomena can ultimately be investigated and explained scientifically.
• Power, ambition, and competition: The chapter juxtaposes Feifei’s uncertain transformation with Nancy Mall’s rapid commercial rise.
• Economic disruption: A single coveted product can redirect consumer behavior and threaten an established global company.
• Personal motives with wider consequences: Fang Yuanming’s desire for revenge produces a major strategic win for Nancy Group.

Key plot points

• After his call with Fang Yuanming, Shen Bing leaves the unconscious Feifei undisturbed. He finds no missions at the Gate to the Immortal Realm, so he searches the Sea of Rebirth for Most Sacred Spirit Bones and finds two more “Dog Bones.”
• The next day, Shen handles company paperwork quickly and surveys Phantom Immortal Technology’s expanding industrial park. He spots Gao Jingchuan arriving with four companions and calls him up.
• Gao introduces He Tianhan, deputy director of the Military Science and Technology Commission. He explains that the military has tested phones Shen previously supplied and was impressed by their unusually long-lasting batteries.
• He asks whether the company can make customized batteries for a robot project whose main unresolved problem is battery life. Shen agrees to custom orders and notes that the batteries are particularly suited to larger equipment.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen remains relaxed and self-assured, treating cultivation searches and company duties as routine. His confidence in his technology shows in his matter-of-fact response to the military’s interest.
• Gao and Shen trade familiar jokes: Gao teases Shen about his extravagant headquarters, while Shen playfully suggests improving Gao’s workplace. Gao immediately asks him to “go easy” on him, and their companions try not to laugh.
• Gao shifts from joking to business, introducing He Tianhan and bringing the battery request to Shen.
• He Tianhan is cautious but direct, laying out the military’s need and the specifications it may require.

Significant themes

• Everyday life alongside the extraordinary: Shen moves between supernatural exploration and managing a vast technology company with little fuss.
• Technology and practical problem-solving: The batteries’ potential reaches beyond consumer phones to advanced military robotics.
• Power, wealth, and familiarity: Shen’s corporate success impresses visitors, but his easy rapport with Gao keeps their relationship informal.

Key plot points

• Director He and his colleagues ask Shen Bing to supply high-performance batteries for military robots used in dangerous work such as mine clearance and nuclear-contamination handling.
• Shen agrees readily, explaining that Phantom Immortal Technology already makes high-voltage batteries suited to their needs. The parties agree to arrange a purchase through his energy subsidiary.
• The discussion turns to Shen’s robotics plans. He says the company intends to build humanlike robots with advanced movement, AI, and specialized expertise—potentially capable of working as doctors or teachers—and estimates a finished product by year’s end.
• His timeline and ambitions astonish the visitors. Shen says the Dragon Scale Intelligent Core will keep the robots loyal and controllable, with a self-destruct safeguard that erases its code if its AI becomes too advanced.
• Director He sees potential for future cooperation. After the meeting, Shen complains to Gao Jingchuan about bringing every prospective deal directly to him; Gao defends the choice and notes that Shen has revealed an important project to him.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing comes across as confident, generous, and casually provocative. He jokes about pricing, openly shares ambitious plans, and treats human replacement by robots as an opportunity for people to pursue art, research, and other higher goals.
• Gao Jingchuan trusts Shen’s understated descriptions more than Director He does. He presses for details, recognizes that Shen’s “progress” may be extraordinary, and challenges him over what humans would do if robots took over their work.
• Director He begins focused on obtaining batteries, then becomes impressed but skeptical of Shen’s robotics claims. His main concern is whether the robots can be controlled.
• Their banter and laughter keep the meeting cordial, even as Shen’s predictions unsettle the visitors.

Significant themes

• Automation and human purpose: The chapter asks whether machines could make people economically unnecessary; Shen imagines that freedom from material work might enable higher pursuits.
• Trust and control of AI: The Dragon Scale core’s loyalty and self-destruct mechanism are presented as safeguards against machine autonomy.
• Ambition and skepticism: Shen’s sweeping vision contrasts with the visitors’ awareness of how difficult humanlike movement and balance remain.
• Business and public service: Shen’s willingness to supply useful technology reflects a cooperative approach, while the government representatives emphasize fair compensation for private research.

Key plot points

• Shen Bing meets Phantom Immortal Technology’s senior executives over lunch. They report that business is progressing well: the Dream Glass projects are advancing, Spirit Vision Telescope sales are leveling off, and photolithography machines are driving strong growth in Huaxia’s chip industry.
• The company has shifted its own chipmaking toward internal needs while expanding its precision-optics business. Its logistics and security subsidiaries remain focused on internal operations.
• Back in his office, Shen Bing receives a mandatory quest from the Gate to the Immortal Realm. Thousand-Mile Eye Gao Jue wants him to steal a Peach of Immortality.
• The quest was accepted automatically, cannot be canceled, and carries a punishment whose severity depends on Gao Jue’s mood. Shen Bing tries to open the quest, but it does not teleport him, leaving him unsure how to proceed.

Character development and interactions

• Shen Bing remains a reluctant, irreverent protagonist: he takes work reports in stride but reacts to the quest with anxious profanity and dark humor.
• The executives—Wang Sheng, Yuan Yi, Zhang Zi’an, and others—use lunch to brief Shen Bing, reflecting his informal but practical approach to management.
• Gao Jue’s earlier promise to Shen Bing becomes leverage: despite being on the lowest rung of the Immortal Realm, Gao Jue’s wish forces Shen Bing into a dangerous mission.

Significant themes

• Corporate growth and national development: Phantom Immortal Technology’s equipment helps strengthen Huaxia’s semiconductor industry.
• Powerlessness under opaque systems: Shen Bing must obey a mandatory quest despite unclear consequences.
• Risk and temptation: The Peach of Immortality is an alluring but perilous prize, and Shen Bing recognizes that stealing it will be far harder than the legendary Sun Wukong’s theft.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing realizes his system quest requires him to steal the Peaches of Immortality. Although the quest has no time limit, he suspects there is a hidden catch and decides to act quickly.
• He visits Sun Wukong on Mount Huaguo, hoping to recruit the experienced former Peach Garden supervisor and learn how to get in.
• Shen Bing tries to tempt Wukong with a trip to the Heavenly Court. Wukong admits he still craves the peaches and regrets not taking more during his earlier Peach Garden raid.
• Wukong warns that the garden is now protected by a powerful Immortal Array and guarded by the Four Duty Merits Officers, who could alert the Heavenly Court. He considers stealing them too dangerous and suggests there are other ways to obtain peaches.
• Shen Bing insists that he must steal them. He proposes that they devise a plan together, while he carries it out alone and shares the spoils. Wukong objects, but Shen Bing jokingly reframes attempting the impossible as the mark of a sage.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is determined to fulfill the quest despite the risks. He uses flattery, temptation, and wordplay to draw Wukong into helping, though he remains willing to proceed alone.
• Sun Wukong is bored and still strongly attached to Peaches of Immortality, but past trouble has made him cautious about returning to the garden. He is candid about his earlier greed and concerned that Shen Bing is courting disaster.
• Their lively exchange blends Shen Bing’s scheming persistence with Wukong’s exasperated pragmatism; neither persuades the other by the chapter’s end.

Significant themes

• Determination versus caution: Shen Bing prioritizes the quest even when the odds seem poor, while Wukong argues that recklessness is not wisdom.
• Temptation and enduring nature: Wukong’s appetite for the peaches persists despite his spiritual transformation, suggesting that old desires remain.
• Humor and wordplay: Shen Bing’s mock-philosophical defense of his plan turns a dangerous undertaking into a comic debate about foolishness, virtue, and wisdom.

Shen Bing visited Sun Wukong at Mount Huaguo to recruit him for stealing the Peaches of Immortality. Sun Wukong warned that the Peach Garden was heavily guarded, but Shen Bing remained determined to steal the peaches himself.

• Shen Bing decided to seek Sun Wukong's advice on stealing the Peaches of Immortality and traveled to Mount Huaguo.
• Sun Wukong complained of boredom and said the Demon Realm was off-limits because of its unusual situation.
• Shen Bing tried to entice Sun Wukong with a visit to the Peach Garden, and Sun Wukong admitted he still craved its peaches.
• Sun Wukong explained that powerful immortal arrays and the Four Duty Merits Officers guarded the Peach Garden, making a theft likely to alert the Heavenly Court.
• Shen Bing asked Sun Wukong to help plan the theft and promised to share the peaches, but Sun Wukong warned him against attempting the impossible.

Shen Bing receives a reusable Water Mirror Talisman from Sun Wukong, who hints that he has done all he can to help with the Peaches of Immortality scheme. Back on Illusory Void Island, Shen Bing activates it and discovers a map of the Immortal Realm marking places important to Sun Wukong, including the Peach Garden. By checking the map after teleporting to Hell, he realizes its green dot tracks his own location. He then heads toward the Heavenly Court, using Thousand-Mile Eye’s residence as a convenient destination because Thousand-Mile Eye was the one who proposed stealing the peaches.
The journey is so slow that Shen Bing grows bored of piloting the Skyflying Shuttle. He appoints the recovering Nine-Headed Worm—whom he calls Little Nine—as his full-time driver, jokingly redefining a servant or mount as a chauffeur. Little Nine objects to the indignity but accepts his master’s command. Shen Bing then logs out, leaving Little Nine to fly toward the Peach Garden and call him when they arrive.
Meanwhile, in the mortal world, Shen Bing travels to Shanghai aboard his company’s unusually large private jet, the Little Bird. He and Wang Sheng discuss the company’s expanding production facilities: they plan to move the Dream Glass factory and establish machinery workshops in Shanghai, with other production lines potentially following once phone sales stabilize. Wang Sheng suggests buying cargo ships to serve the company’s island production base.
Character developments and interactions: Sun Wukong gives Shen Bing practical assistance while keeping the plan discreet. Shen Bing shows resourcefulness by figuring out how to use the map, then delegates the tedious flight to Little Nine. Their master-servant relationship is played for comedy, as Little Nine recognizes Shen Bing’s “driver” job as a way to avoid work. In the business discussion, Shen Bing and Wang Sheng agree on consolidating production, while Wang Sheng raises the next logistical challenge: sea transport.
Themes: The chapter mixes fantasy with modern technology and humor, especially in Shen Bing’s use of a tracking map and a “designated driver” in the Immortal Realm. It also emphasizes practical problem-solving, delegation, and the logistical demands of the company’s rapid expansion.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing tells Wang Sheng that Phantom Immortal Logistics will not focus on crowded ocean-shipping or rail markets. Its ambitions extend beyond Earth—to lunar and Martian transport.
• Shen reveals that his company has already developed advanced aerospace technology, potentially allowing aircraft to travel between Earth and the moon, and predicts the company could achieve major spaceflight milestones within two or three years.
• Wang Sheng urges him to keep the technology secret and work with the state, warning that access to space and extraterrestrial resources will invite international competition. Shen confirms that the government supports his research and says a mysterious weapon recently deterred the United States.
• Shen’s group arrives in Shanghai and turns to the branch company’s affairs. Shen declines a government-hosted meal because he has an important task at Fudong Port.
• At the passenger port, Shen meets Liu Jin and his father, Liu Hongyuan, chairman of the Hongyuan Oceanic Trade Group. Liu Hongyuan praises Shen and invites him to lunch; Shen accepts, anticipating business discussions.
• Liu Jin shows Shen a 150-meter yacht he arranged for him. Liu Hongyuan has already paid for it as a welcoming gift.

Character development

• Wang Sheng begins skeptical of Shen’s far-reaching plans, but the revelations about the company’s technology and government backing deepen his understanding and begin to reshape his worldview.
• Shen Bing comes across as a visionary strategist who trusts Wang Sheng and deliberately pushes him to think beyond conventional business horizons. He balances ambitious research with concern for the company’s security.
• Liu Jin remains informal and self-deprecating, while Shen’s public praise affirms his loyalty and straightforward nature. Liu Hongyuan is deferential toward Shen and supportive of his son’s friendship with him.

Significant themes

• Vision beyond conventional limits: Shen insists that the company’s future lies in space, not merely in Earthbound logistics.
• Technology, security, and geopolitical rivalry: Spaceflight could open access to valuable resources, making secrecy, strength, and state cooperation essential.
• Trust and changing perspective: Shen’s confidence in Wang helps him reconsider what the company—and humanity—might achieve.
• Friendship and patronage: Liu Jin’s help and Liu Hongyuan’s gift show how personal loyalty and business relationships reinforce one another.

Character interactions

• Shen challenges Wang’s limited expectations, then shares sensitive information and listens to Wang’s strategic concerns.
• Wang responds with caution rather than blind enthusiasm, and Shen reassures him about domestic support and deterrence.
• Liu Hongyuan and Shen exchange mutual praise; Liu Hongyuan chides Liu Jin, and Shen defends him, strengthening their bond.
• Liu Jin assists Shen by securing the yacht, while his father’s gift signals a desire to welcome Shen and cultivate a business relationship.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing visits Great Gold Island aboard a luxury yacht gifted by Liu Hongyuan. Liu Jin enthusiastically shows off the vessel and offers to commission an even more extravagant one, but Shen Bing declines.
• Liu Jin argues that yachts are for enjoyment and status, prompting Shen Bing to quip that his own name is the most extravagant way to show off. Liu Jin concedes the point.
• The group reaches Great Gold Island, where factories are complete but expansion work has only begun. Shen Bing’s planned “land reclamation” will use connected, adjustable floating structures anchored to the seabed, rather than conventional dredging and fill.
• Shen Bing intends the island’s factories to mass-produce these structures, using imported ores and the company’s advanced processing technology. They will eventually extend the island and transform its shallow-water harbor into a deep-water port.
• Shen Bing meets the Shanghai branch’s management team, hears their reports, and assigns routine production duties while giving more detailed instructions on island management and reclamation.
• After inspecting the facilities, Shen Bing decides to spend the night on the island. Late that night, he mysteriously appears by the sea to attend to a matter that is revealed as his real priority for the visit.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing remains composed and practical, unimpressed by luxury for its own sake. His confidence reflects the enormous power and prestige of Phantom Immortal Technology. Though he publicly presents the branch inspection as his purpose, his nighttime activity suggests a separate, important agenda.
• Liu Jin is energetic and eager to impress Shen Bing with the yacht, but he recognizes that Shen Bing’s business success outweighs material displays. His casual attitude toward extravagance contrasts with Shen Bing’s preference for utility.
• Liu Hongyuan is portrayed as perceptive: the yacht gift is a shrewd gesture that acknowledges the greater value of the business Shen Bing may bring.
• Wei Changjia demonstrates competence by managing the new branch smoothly and guiding Shen Bing through the facilities.

Significant themes

• Wealth and status: Material luxury is trivial beside Shen Bing’s corporate influence.
• Innovation and ambition: Phantom Immortal Technology’s unusual floating structures promise to expand the island with less disruption than conventional reclamation.
• Practicality and long-term planning: Shen Bing’s investments are tied to industrial production and future infrastructure, not mere appearances.
• Hidden purpose: The chapter ends by suggesting Shen Bing has a more consequential objective than the official business visit.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing appears aboard the missing nuclear submarine Tiger Shark No. 1, arriving via the Immortal Carriage and making a dramatic leap onto its conning tower.
• The submarine’s former captain, Tony, and the rest of the crew now serve Shen Bing’s company, Phantom Immortal Technology. A second captured submarine remains hidden underwater.
• Tony reports that the crew has been evading U.S. reconnaissance by staying deep during the day and surfacing slowly at night.
• In the submarine’s command compartment, Shen Bing summons several subordinates and a furnace-shaped figure. He announces that they will modify the submarine for stealth and greater diving depth.
• Lu Shiwu carries materials for a prefabricated adamantium-alloy support frame. Along with a stronger replacement hull, it is intended to let the submarine descend far beyond its original limit—potentially to the deep-sea floor.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing demonstrates his extraordinary abilities deliberately, both to impress his new crew and to establish his authority. He also thanks them for their difficult work.
• Tony remains loyal and respectful but is still capable of asking practical questions about Shen Bing’s plans.
• The crew’s astonishment at Shen Bing’s leap and his sudden appearance of subordinates highlights the gulf between his powers and their ordinary expectations.

Significant themes

• Power and command: Shen Bing’s supernatural capabilities reinforce his control over the crew and their mission.
• Loyalty and coercion: The crew’s allegiance is attributed to a technology that makes them utterly loyal, though they retain their ability to think.
• Secrecy and escalation: The hidden submarines and planned stealth upgrades emphasize the need to avoid detection as Shen Bing prepares for increasingly ambitious deep-sea operations.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing concludes that ocean resources can supply Phantom Immortal Technology’s growth without harming Earth’s environment. He leaves two captured nuclear submarines with Demon Puppet Artisans to modify and begins planning machinery for deep-sea mining.
• Back on Great Gold Island, Shen Bing receives word that Little Nine has reached the Peach Garden. He approaches but realizes the group is still outside its gates; after spotting a guard, he teleports away rather than risk confronting him.
• After returning to Rongcheng on June 24, Shen Bing agrees to have Liu Hongyuan’s ocean-trade company handle shipping, leaving the details to his staff.
• Shen Bing tells Wang Sheng to prepare for the upcoming phone launch, expecting the new technology to overpower Apple.
• Rested and energized, Shen Bing returns to the Immortal Realm to pursue the mission of stealing Peaches of Immortality. Since sneaking past the Peach Garden’s defenses seems impractical, he tests whether teleportation can get him close enough to use his Heavenly Eye. He succeeds in revealing the area within a thousand li of the entrance, though he has not yet located the peaches.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing shows a long-term, environmentally conscious approach to resource extraction, while delegating technical and business work to specialists.
• He is cautious in the Immortal Realm: rather than challenge the gate guard, he withdraws, reassesses, and experiments with a lower-risk plan.
• Wang Sheng enthusiastically praises Shen Bing’s cooking and confidently promises success for the phone launch. Shen Bing keeps his cooking-related ideas private and insists that Wang Sheng focus on results.
• Shen Bing works with Little Nine, whose excitement at reaching the Peach Garden reflects the powerful appeal of the Peaches of Immortality. His sudden disappearance leaves the gate guard confused.

Significant themes

• Technological ambition and delegation: Shen Bing’s ocean-mining plan depends on coordinated robotics research, while his company’s expansion relies on capable staff and partners.
• Resource use and responsibility: He sees the oceans as a vast reserve but rejects exploiting them in ways that damage the environment.
• Caution, ingenuity, and risk: Shen Bing avoids a direct confrontation and instead tests teleportation and the Heavenly Eye to find a way around the Peach Garden’s defenses.
• Ambition and competition: The coming phone launch represents Phantom Immortal Technology’s challenge to Apple.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing searches the vast Peach Garden for a fully ripe Peach of Immortality, then uses the teleportation system to pick one and escape.
• The theft triggers the garden’s protective Immortal Array, which forms a Heavenly Net around the spot—but Shen Bing has already vanished.
• The Duty Marshal arrives, finds the peach missing, and realizes he will likely be blamed for the breach. The Queen Mother’s Envoy comes to investigate.
• While the two immortals are talking, Shen Bing tries to pick another peach. The system blocks him, warning that the item cannot be collected outside a mission. The second Heavenly Net catches nothing, and this time no peach is missing.
• Shen Bing accepts that his first peach must be turned in for his mission. Its description says it can make a mortal immortal and extend life by a thousand years, though Shen—already a Golden Immortal—has little use for it unless he can bring it into the real world.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing is clever, quick, and increasingly bold, trusting the system and his enhanced reflexes to evade the Peach Garden’s defenses. His eagerness to exploit the opportunity briefly leads him to test the limits of what he can steal.
• The Duty Marshal is furious and anxious about the missing peach, then privately pleased when the Envoy’s investigation also proves fruitless.
• The Queen Mother’s Envoy reprimands the Duty Marshal, only to be baffled when the apparent second breach yields no stolen peach.
• Shen Bing observes the immortals from afar through the map, remaining invisible to them and treating their confusion with mischievous satisfaction.

Significant themes

• Power and limits: Shen Bing’s teleportation makes a heavily guarded celestial site vulnerable, but the system imposes rules to prevent unlimited exploitation.
• Audacity and consequence: His successful theft demonstrates his ingenuity, while the alarm and investigation show that even a single transgression can create serious trouble.
• Value depends on context: The peach is extraordinary to mortals, but its usefulness to Shen depends less on its stated powers than on whether he can take it into the real world.

• Key plot points: After giving up on claiming the Peach Garden, Shen Bing confirms that the Peach of Immortality cannot be analyzed because it is a quest item. He delivers it to Thousand-Mile Eye, Gao Jue, and claims he picked it up while passing through the garden. Gao Jue accepts the peach gratefully but offers no extra reward. He explains that if anyone had witnessed the theft, Shen Bing would never have reached his residence. Shen Bing then returns to Illusory Void Island, where he notes that he has completed fifteen quests and needs five more to upgrade the Gate to the Immortal Realm. He resolves to finish them within a month. Finally, he analyzes Great Sage Sun’s Water Mirror Talisman and obtains two technologies: Holographic Imaging and Quantum Information Transmission. After transferring them, he is especially impressed by the latter, whose Quantum Communication Module promises extremely fast, long-distance communication without the capacity bottlenecks of conventional networks.
• Character developments: Shen Bing remains ambitious and technically curious, but his thoughts reveal growing cynicism about Gao Jue’s motives and his lack of compensation. He is also eager to advance the Gate and acquire new technology. Gao Jue appears anxious to receive the peach and deferential toward Shen Bing, though his explanation shows he trusts Heavenly Court security more than Shen Bing’s assurances.
• Significant themes: The chapter explores technological progress and the limits of existing infrastructure, contrasting ordinary network capacity with quantum transmission. It also emphasizes Shen Bing’s pursuit of advancement, the transactional nature of favors, and the gap between what characters say and what they privately think.
• Character interactions: Shen Bing gives Gao Jue the peach while disguising the theft as a grateful gift; Gao Jue accepts and thanks him but provides no further reward. Their polite exchange contrasts with Shen Bing’s private resentment and suspicion. Later, Shen Bing’s engagement with Great Sage Sun’s talisman turns that earlier gift into a major technological discovery.

Key plot points and events

• Shen Bing recognizes that mature quantum communication technology could outperform 5G in speed, security, and reliability, with potential applications from autonomous vehicles to a global—and eventually space-based—communications network. He transfers the technology, along with another newly acquired technology, into Qiuqiu’s database for analysis.
• He buys an Aperture-Opening Pill and assigns it to Han Hao, Rox’s assistant, whom he puts in charge of developing an intelligent bionic robot. Han Hao is given broad authority to recruit researchers and draw on other teams’ expertise.
• Shen Bing visits Bunier, who has developed a Mental Enhancement Device based on Mental Tempering Technology. It improves concentration and willpower and may greatly reduce fatigue, though Bunier still cannot explain what the mind is.
• Bunier reports that he has mastered Basic Brain Development Technology. The process uses brainwave stimulation and medication to increase neural activity and expand the cerebral cortex, potentially bringing a person’s intelligence close to Einstein’s level after about six months.
• Shen Bing considers using the technology on the Underground Base’s 5,000–6,000 residents. Around twenty devices would suffice, but production is blocked by a rare Deep-Sea Fish Oil that even the Demon Puppet Artisan cannot synthesize into an effective substance.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing continues turning extraordinary technologies into practical projects, while thinking ambitiously about mass-producing scientific talent. He also becomes more suspicious of the limits—and possible hidden rules—governing the Demon Puppet Artisan.
• Han Hao eagerly accepts leadership of the robot project, confident in the base’s resources and Shen Bing’s broad authorization.
• Bunier shows both scientific competence and enthusiasm: he has advanced quickly in brain research and independently built a device to improve mental performance. His description of the mind as a “substance” prompts Shen Bing to reflect on its possibly spiritual nature.
• Shen Bing treats Bunier’s claims seriously but steers the conversation from the Mental Enhancement Device to the brain-development project. Bunier explains the technology’s promise and its key material obstacle.

Significant themes

• Technology’s transformative potential: Quantum communications, robotics, and brain enhancement could reshape society and scientific progress.
• Limits of scientific understanding: The nature of the mind remains uncertain, and some technologies work even when their underlying mechanisms are unclear.
• Talent at scale: Shen Bing imagines that developing many people’s intelligence could make collective research more powerful than relying on isolated geniuses.
• Unexplained constraints: The Deep-Sea Fish Oil’s effect cannot be reproduced despite an identical molecular structure, suggesting that some substances and technologies depend on properties science cannot yet account for.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing learns that the Deep-Sea Fish Oil needed for Bunier’s experiments must come from Mariana lionfish, which live more than 8,000 meters below the surface.
• Since existing submersibles cannot safely reach that depth, Shen orders Lu San to build a custom, ellipsoidal submersible from adamantium alloy, equipped with a nuclear reactor and Superpower Engine. Its design also includes a way to catch fish.
• Meanwhile, the White House is frustrated that the group it had been pursuing in Syria has repeatedly escaped, despite surveillance and a nearby American Carrier Strike Group. The group’s disappearance ruins a covert effort the United States hoped would help counter Huaxia’s technological advantage.
• Reluctant to risk domestic backlash or further antagonize Huaxia—and Phantom Immortal Technology, whose Cancer Cure No. 1 is politically important—the President lets the fleet pass Syria without intervening.
• The chapter ends with a new complication: the mercenary group Blade announces it will retaliate for the Pyramid operation on behalf of an unnamed Egyptian tycoon, targeting not only those directly involved but also their decision-makers and contacts.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Bing responds to the difficult request with characteristic confidence and humor, joking that he will have to go “chat with SpongeBob SquarePants” before deciding to solve the problem through new engineering.
• Bunier explains the oil’s required source and says Qiuqiu previously supplied a specimen from a laboratory. Shen accepts the explanation and promises to obtain more.
• Shen bypasses Rox and gives Lu San direct instructions to build the specialized submersible, showing his hands-on approach to urgent research needs.
• The American President’s confidence gives way to caution. He must weigh military ambitions against public opinion and dependence on Huaxia’s medical technology.

Significant themes

• Technology and resourcefulness: Shen turns an extreme biological requirement into an engineering challenge.
• Power and vulnerability: The United States’ military reach is undercut by its failure to capture the fugitives and by its dependence on Huaxia’s cancer treatment.
• Political consequences: Scientific and military advances affect public opinion, diplomacy, and presidential power.
• Escalating retaliation: Blade’s announcement suggests that the Pyramid incident may provoke a broader cycle of vengeance.

Plot points and events

• After American agents involved in the Pyramid operation are found dead beside an Ancient Egyptian warning, the U.S. President suspects the Blade Mercenary Corps—especially the feared Godslayer Mercenary Squad—was responsible.
• Intelligence confirms that Godslayer, which previously thwarted an American kidnapping operation and destroyed a U.S. research base, has joined the Blade Corps. The President orders evidence of his involvement destroyed and issues a gag order, then considers ways to eliminate the squad.
• A week later, Shen Bing is enjoying the summer while several developments strengthen his company:
  • Thorne recruits more than twenty Japanese nuclear-energy experts, paying each a large lump sum. They are brought to the Underground Base, where the Immortal Carriage frightens them into wondering if they have boarded a spacecraft.
  • The Blade Corps delivers the unusual insect recovered from the Pyramid. Shen Bing plans to study its genetic sequence; its capture also deprives the Americans of a potential route to creating Gene Warriors.
  • Phone production begins, Phantom Immortal Biotechnology is established, and the rollout of Cancer Cure No. 1 reduces cancer cases in Huaxia.
  • Shen Bing completes another Gate to the Immortal Realm quest, bringing him to only four quests from an upgrade.
• As the July 3 product launch approaches, Shiqiao Town fills with reporters seeking nearby accommodation and early access to news about Phantom Immortal Technology’s announcement.

Character developments and interactions

• The U.S. President moves from dismissing the mercenaries’ warning to fearing their capabilities. He responds by covering up his role and plotting against them.
• Shen Bing remains relaxed and optimistic, pleased by his company’s progress and by anything that weakens the Americans. He sees the insect chiefly as a research opportunity and a strategic setback for the U.S.
• Thorne and the recruited experts complete a successful recruitment trip. The experts accept lucrative contracts despite uncertainty about their new employer, then react with alarm upon seeing the Immortal Carriage.
• The Godslayer Squad is portrayed through the President’s fear and past defeats: its reputation for completing seemingly impossible missions makes it a serious threat.
• Reporters and Shiqiao’s residents are drawn together by the upcoming launch, transforming the small town into a crowded media destination.

Significant themes

• Fear and retaliation: The President’s attempt to conceal his actions and destroy the mercenary threat shows how power can turn into insecurity.
• Rapid technological change: Shen Bing’s discoveries, businesses, and facilities are reshaping industry and medicine at extraordinary speed.
• Strategic competition: Scientific breakthroughs and the control of rare biological material serve as tools in the rivalry between Shen Bing’s organization and the United States.
• The extraordinary becoming routine: The Immortal Carriage shocks the experts, while Shen Bing treats it—and other remarkable developments—as part of everyday business.

• Key events: The Phantom Immortal Industrial Park is surrounded by reporters and technology enthusiasts camping out in hopes of learning whether the company is launching smartphones. Shen Bing sees their discomfort and, on Yan Lexuan’s advice, decides to end the uncertainty. He orders the company to announce the event on its official website: the launch is scheduled for July 3. Meanwhile, the company has already produced two million phones and begun sending them to retail experience stores. Yan points out that they have no celebrity endorser; Shen refuses to hire one, trusting the phone’s quality and customer word of mouth instead. At 3 p.m. on July 1, a new official announcement appears. Reporter Long Yunchang reads it and confirms that the product really is phones.
• Character developments and interactions: Shen comes across as confident and somewhat playful: he has deliberately let speculation build, but recognizes when to reveal the launch date. Yan acts as his practical adviser, urging him to clarify the schedule and raising the overlooked issue of advertising. Shen dismisses celebrity marketing, arguing that satisfied users will promote the phones more effectively. Long, despite being an experienced reporter, is reduced to camping in a tent and eagerly monitoring the company’s website.
• Themes: The chapter contrasts conventional promotion—celebrity endorsements and advance press outreach—with Shen’s faith in product quality and word of mouth. It also highlights Phantom Immortal Technology’s market power: despite leaving reporters to guess, the company can command enormous public attention. Suspense, anticipation, and the discomfort caused by uncertainty run throughout the chapter.

Plot points and events

• Reporter Long reads Phantom Immortal Technology’s vague announcement: it will unveil a new mobile phone on July 3 at its exhibition hall, but gives no product details or even a phone name.
• Long and his companion decide to leave their camping spot. He lets a rival news team take it without explaining that the announcement has made the wait unnecessary, partly because he recognizes the rival reporter as professionally unethical.
• The rival team soon learns the news and realizes why Long gave up the spot. Most reporters leave, though a few remain in hopes of finding a scoop.
• In the United States, Apple executives discuss the announcement. Apple’s launch is also scheduled for July 3, but because of the time difference, Phantom Immortal’s phone will debut first. Apple knows little about the device and has failed to obtain a sample.
• Chairman Bedi angrily questions marketing vice president Ted, who admits that international thieves hired to steal a phone from an experience store were caught by a single security guard. Ted proposes holding Apple’s first launch in Japan, allowing the company to unveil its product before Phantom Immortal in that market.
• At the underground base, researchers finish a deep-sea submersible capable of reaching the Mariana Trench. Its main purpose is fishing, and its mechanical arms let it catch fish at great depths.

Character developments and interactions

• Reporter Long is relieved to have concrete news and shows both practical judgment and dry humor. His decision to leave the campsite also reflects his contempt for reporters without professional ethics.
• Long’s companion shares his professional principles, accepting Long’s explanation without further objection.
• The rival reporter is eager to claim Long’s prime spot, then realizes he was outmaneuvered when the announcement is released.
• Bedi is anxious and frustrated that Apple may be overshadowed, and openly doubts Ted’s account of the failed theft.
• Ted feels unfairly blamed but offers a workaround: shift the launch location to Japan rather than publicly changing its date.
• The researchers demonstrate their technical capabilities by building the submersible, turning advanced technology toward the surprisingly ordinary task of fishing.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and uncertainty: Phantom Immortal reveals only the launch date, leaving competitors and reporters guessing about the phone.
• Competition and corporate anxiety: Apple fears being upstaged and considers how to regain control of the launch narrative.
• Professional ethics: Long’s treatment of the rival reporter highlights the chapter’s contrast between conscientious journalism and opportunism.
• High technology and comic contrast: The chapter pairs elite security, international thieves, and a trench-capable submersible with mundane motives such as camping for news and catching fish.

Plot points and events

• Shen Bing learns that the new Mariana Lionfish submarine can reach 70 knots, thanks to its advanced propulsion and adamantium-alloy structure. He orders four more, seeing them as valuable for future deep-sea resource extraction.
• Bernie transports the first submarine in the Immortal Carriage to the Western Pacific, with Jack accompanying him to catch Mariana Lionfish. The carriage’s ability to shrink and expand solves the challenge of moving the unusually large vessel.
• Public attention builds around Phantom Immortal Technology’s upcoming phone launch, scheduled for July 3—the same day as Apple’s Apple 10 launch. Apple chooses Tokyo for its event, though observers assume it intends to confront Phantom directly.
• At the Tokyo launch, Apple chairman Bedi presents the Apple 10 as a major leap in design and technology. Its standout features include a 4,890 mAh battery, an upgraded chip, and a 128 GB entry model priced at $688. The audience responds enthusiastically.

Character developments

• Shen Bing remains confident in his company’s technology and resources, and views the submarine as an investment in future capabilities.
• Bedi publicly projects confidence in Apple’s product, but privately worries that releasing so many advanced technologies at once has cost the company money and depleted its reserves. He accepts the risk, hoping to blunt Phantom Immortal Technology’s rise.

Character interactions

• Shen Bing directs Rox to build more submarines and assigns Bernie and Jack complementary roles: transport and fishing.
• At Apple’s launch, Bedi’s persuasive presentation wins the audience’s applause and excitement, strengthening the impression that Apple is making a serious comeback.

Significant themes

• Innovation and competition: Phantom Immortal Technology’s advances force Apple to accelerate its own development.
• The cost of progress: Apple’s new phone impresses consumers, but releasing several generations’ worth of technology at once carries a heavy financial and strategic price.
• Public perception and reputation: Both companies seek attention in a crowded market, where consumer trust and a successful launch may matter as much as technical capability.