Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• As the Immortal Peaches ripen, their powerful fragrance stirs many visitors into a near-mad frenzy. Pan Long is largely unaffected thanks to the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art, and pulls his grandfather, Ren Anmin, away from the crowd.
• A foul-smelling bundle is thrown into the gathering, driving people away and ruining their appetites. The visitors cope with the aftermath through awkward jokes and complaints, briefly easing the tension.
• Ren Changsheng invites those who still want peaches to offer something in return for the Immortal Peach Tree. This follows a dispute over whether the Ren Family has the right to decide who receives fruit from a tree that grew on its own.
• A young man offers to find spiritual soil, and a cultivator offers to use a growth technique on the tree; each is promised one peach. Other offers are rejected.
• Pan Long proposes helping the tree survive a future astral-wind tribulation. Ren Changsheng accepts the gamble, earning Pan Long a peach—though the chapter ends without showing him eating it.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long shows good judgment and concern for his grandfather, while thinking through the peach fragrance’s suspicious effects. He eventually puts forward an imaginative offer based on his own abilities.
• Ren Anmin recognizes the danger and tries to resist the fragrance, but relies on Pan Long to help him retreat.
• Ren Changsheng responds to criticism by insisting on a fair exchange with the tree, balancing the Ren Family’s position with his authority as its protector.
• The crowd’s initial competition and agitation give way to shared disgust, humor, and then renewed rivalry over what counts as a worthwhile contribution.
• Jiang Bei gives a polite laugh at a weak joke, helping others follow suit and loosening the mood.

Significant themes

• Temptation and self-control: The peach fragrance tests visitors’ judgment, distinguishing those who recognize danger from those swept along by desire.
• Fairness and obligation: The chapter questions who has the right to distribute the peaches and frames access as an exchange rather than a privilege.
• Humor amid tension: Complaints and awkward jokes provide comic relief after the crowd’s near-chaos.
• Long-term risk and reward: Pan Long’s accepted proposal is a wager on a future event, trading immediate benefit for the tree’s possible survival.

Plot points and events

• A monk offers to chant sutras for the Immortal Peach Tree. Ren Changsheng says the monk’s cultivation is too shallow, but promises that if he can bring a Golden Body Arhat to awaken the tree, all its future peaches will go to the monk’s people. The monk recognizes the offer as a lesson rather than a realistic bargain, withdraws, and resumes chanting.
• Pan Long understands that Ren’s proposal has helped the monk see how little he values his own time and effort. Fan Yan introduces himself to Pan Long and Sun Yuntao.
• Several people make extravagant offers to earn peaches, but Ren Changsheng sees through their unreliable promises and turns them away.
• A skinny young man privately makes an offer that Ren accepts, granting him a peach. The others keep their distance until Fan Yan tells Pan Long that the man belongs to the Demon Gate, a secretive and formidable faction with a reputation for clashing with the rest of the Martial World.
• Jiang Bei, despite the risks of associating with the Demon Gate, warmly approaches the young man.
• A Qingcheng Daoist trades a rare Spirit Jade for a peach, with the condition that it remain beneath the tree only until the Daoist’s death, when it must be returned to his sect.
• The six peaches go to Fan Yan, Sun Yuntao, Pan Long, the Demon Gate disciple, Jiang Bei, and the Daoist. Ren leads them away, while his disciples serve the remaining guests ordinary peaches.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long becomes more perceptive: he understands the monk’s lesson and recognizes why Ren accepted the Demon Gate disciple’s offer. He is curious about Jiang Bei’s friendliness toward the disciple but chooses not to get involved.
• Ren Changsheng shows discernment and generosity. He rejects empty promises, offers the monk a chance for personal growth, and prioritizes the tree’s welfare over his own feelings about the Demon Gate.
• The monk gives up his bid for a peach after recognizing the flaw in his approach.
• Fan Yan reveals his pride and caution, keeping his distance from the Demon Gate disciple while discreetly warning Pan Long.
• Jiang Bei stands out for treating the Demon Gate disciple warmly despite the faction’s reputation.
• The Demon Gate disciple shows nerve by disclosing his identity to Ren, though the offer itself remains undisclosed.

Significant themes

• Self-worth and discipline: The monk’s episode suggests that valuing one’s time and effort is essential to spiritual progress.
• Trustworthiness over grand promises: Ren judges people by the substance of their offers, not their dramatic wording.
• Prejudice and risk: The Demon Gate’s reputation shapes how others treat its members, even when their morality is not simply good or evil.
• Opportunity and choice: The crowd’s disappointment reflects that people must accept the consequences of what they were—or were not—willing to offer.

Plot and key events

• Pan Long and five others follow Ren Changsheng through protective formations to a small, ancient peach tree bearing six Immortal Peaches. Ren speculates it may be a descendant of the legendary Flat Peaches, though its full potential—and whether it could ever confer immortality—remains unknown.
• Ren explains that he propagated the tree for more than two centuries. Its first four offspring produce only modestly restorative fruit, while grafts and cuttings have yielded even less. The long wait for this new crop has cost generations of people.
• The peaches’ overpowering fragrance fades once they are picked. A demonic-sect disciple eats his peach quickly and leaves, apparently wary of provoking suspicion. The others eat theirs and retreat beyond the formation to absorb their effects.
• Pan Long quietly endures a surge of spiritual energy after entering the formation. Once he eats the peach and meditates in a hastily built hut, its power transforms his body: his constitution, aptitude, perception, spirituality, and spirit improve, and he gains the talent Acquired Spiritual Root.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long conceals his unusual reaction to the peach tree’s spiritual energy, relying on the self-control he has developed through the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art. He remains outwardly composed, then cultivates in private and receives a major advancement.
• Ren Changsheng is both knowledgeable and reflective. His account of the tree’s slow growth turns nostalgic and sorrowful as he considers the generations that have passed.
• Fan Yan cautions against dreaming of a future, more powerful peach: such a prize would attract forces far beyond their reach. He accepts the present fruit as fortunate enough.
• The demonic-sect disciple avoids extended contact by eating and departing immediately; Fan Yan and Daoist Minghe recognize the prudence of his choice.
• Sun Yuntao asks about propagation methods, prompting Ren to describe his failed experiments. The group generally treats the peaches as valuable cultivation resources, despite their ordinary taste.

Significant themes

• Time and mortality: The tree’s slow growth and Ren’s long wait underline how fleeting human lives are beside ancient natural processes.
• Power and access: A truly immortal-making peach would invite conflict among powerful institutions, while the present fruit is a rare but attainable benefit for the group.
• Patience and limits: Ren’s centuries of effort produce little success, and the characters acknowledge that some wonders may remain beyond their reach.
• Hidden transformation: Pan Long’s profound change is invisible to his companions, emphasizing the gap between his outward appearance and private cultivation progress.

Plot points

• Pan Long reflects on the outdated theory that only people born with Spirit Roots can cultivate. He concludes that his immortal peach has given him an Acquired Spiritual Root, which should be enough to begin cultivation and may eventually be refined into an Innate one.
• After recovering, he finds his share of the peach feast waiting and eats four peaches. He and Fan Yan share osmanthus honey wine, exchange warm farewells, and Fan Yan invites him to visit the Green Brother Society.
• Ren Anmin says the others have already left and explains that their ancestor’s closed door signals he does not want a formal goodbye. Pan Long leaves the mountain with his grandfather.
• The old patriarch advises Pan Long to be cautious around certain visitors but not to judge people solely by whether they belong to orthodox or demonic groups. He urges him to stay flexible and use his own judgment.
• The patriarch examines Pan Long’s sword and gives him a pair of protective bracers, one containing a small storage space, as a practical replacement for relying on his conspicuous Bag of Holding.
• Pan Long tells his relatives about the immortal peach and its extraordinarily slow growth. The next day, family members gather to see him off, and he rides away, ending his peaceful visit.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long gains confidence in his cultivation prospects: even without a strong Innate Spirit Root, his Acquired one offers a viable path forward. He also receives a valuable weapon accessory from the patriarch.
• Fan Yan shows a convivial, generous side. Pan Long accepts his wine and invitation, and their brief exchange turns an earlier impression of arrogance into one of guarded friendliness.
• Ren Anmin supports Pan Long and interprets the ancestor’s silence for him, then helps him depart.
• The old patriarch acts as a cautious mentor, offering both worldly advice and a useful gift. His humor about death suggests he is unafraid of it.
• The extended Ren family’s send-off reflects a shift in attitude: even relatives who opposed Pan Long’s visit acknowledge the deed now that it is done.

Significant themes

• Cultivation and opportunity: Innate talent matters, but acquired ability, effort, and suitable methods can also open a path.
• Independent judgment: Group labels do not reliably distinguish good from bad; people and circumstances must be assessed individually.
• Family ties and changing respect: Pan Long’s visit strengthens his connections with the Ren family, while success softens earlier resistance.
• A journey’s transition: His departure closes a calm family interlude and returns him to the wider road of cultivation.

Key plot points and events

• Pan Long leaves the main road and finds a secluded mountain cave to secretly open an Illusory World.
• After reviewing possible rewards, he decides he needs neither treasure, new skills, nor combat experience. His priority is gathering the Earthly Baleful and Heavenly Dipper energy required to cultivate the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art.
• He enters a world hoping to find those energies in abundance and arrives in a vast, scorching desert.
• A rapidly strengthening sandstorm forces him to flee. His Cockroach Sprint skill lets him race over the shifting sand and escape the storm.
• After resting and navigating toward a distant landmark, he reaches the buried ruins of a metal-built city.
• A huge crimson tentacle erupts from beneath the ruins and attacks. Pan Long escapes into the open desert as more tentacles tear through the city. He decides not to return, despite the approaching night.

Character development

• Pan Long shows careful strategic thinking: he weighs the risks and benefits of different Illusory World rewards before choosing a goal that directly supports his cultivation.
• He remains resourceful under pressure, using his supplies, terrain awareness, and specialized sprinting skill to survive.
• The attack confirms his willingness to abandon a promising destination when the danger is too great; survival matters more than pressing on.

Significant themes

• Practical cultivation: Pan Long seeks steady accumulation rather than dramatic breakthroughs.
• Adaptability and preparation: His abilities and supplies help him respond to unfamiliar hazards.
• The danger of the unknown: The desert appears empty, but both its weather and its buried ruins conceal lethal threats.
• Risk and survival: Entering an Illusory World may protect his possessions, but the experience itself can still be deadly.

Character interactions

• Pan Long has no direct interaction with other people. His main encounters are with the desert’s sandstorm and the unseen creature beneath the ruined city.
• He reflects on the contrasting methods of his ancestors and father—herb gathering and life-or-death combat—while deciding on his own approach.

Plot points and events

• Pan Long escapes a ruined city after a gigantic, tentacled creature attacks. He considers whether the world resembles a famous desert-planet science-fiction setting, but rejects the idea because the ruins and creature do not quite match.
• Following a star as a guide, he travels west through the desert and reaches a green mountain range. From its summit, he spots a swamp emitting visible black vapor: Earthly Baleful Force.
• Eager to use the force for body tempering, he makes a fortified wilderness camp, rests, and secures his valuable belongings in storage items.
• At the swamp, Pan Long uses the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art to separate the poisonous force from the air and swallow it. He then returns to camp and circulates it through his body, enduring severe pain as it corrodes and tempers his flesh.

Character development

• Pan Long is frightened by the monster but quickly shifts from panic to practical observation, using his knowledge of fiction and survival to assess his surroundings.
• His priorities are clear: he avoids contact with this world’s inhabitants and focuses on cultivation. He is also cautious and resourceful, preparing a secure camp and protecting his possessions before taking a major risk.
• His willingness to endure intense pain shows his determination to strengthen his body.

Character interactions

• Pan Long has no direct encounters with other people. His main interaction is with the environment: he flees the monster, navigates the desert and mountains, prepares for the swamp’s hazards, and uses Earthly Baleful Force on himself.

Significant themes

• Survival and adaptation: Pan Long combines martial-world knowledge, a survival skill, and remembered practical advice to thrive in unfamiliar terrain.
• Cultivation through hardship: A poisonous, painful substance becomes a means of physical improvement when handled with discipline and skill.
• Caution and self-reliance: Pan Long prioritizes preparation, concealment of valuables, and independence over exploring the world’s identity or seeking its people.

Key plot points and events

• Pan Long begins his first body-tempering session, using the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art to carry corrosive Earthly Baleful Force through his entire body. He refuses to spare any part, knowing untempered areas would become dangerous weaknesses.
• The process is excruciating, especially in places he has never trained—his organs, nerves, bone marrow, and brain. Though he can end the session early or use less force, he chooses to endure the full dose.
• Pan Long struggles against repeated urges to quit, reminding himself of his choice, his perilous circumstances, and the example of Di Jiazi. He even wonders whether the art’s creator, Patriarch Toughstone, must have been mad to invent and master it.
• As the force damages his body, dead blood and tissue are expelled. Pan Long roars, bites through a branch and cracks his teeth, but keeps going until the Earthly Baleful Force is exhausted.
• The art and Pan Long’s healing ability repair the damage. He collapses and sleeps, waking to find that roughly a day and two nights have passed. Though puzzled by the dried blood, he realizes how long he must have slept.

Character development

• Pan Long’s determination is tested more severely than ever. He is frightened and repeatedly considers stopping, but ultimately chooses endurance over relief, completing the full tempering.
• His resolve is driven both by pride and by the stakes he faces: he believes he must grow stronger to survive the threat posed by the Great Xia Dynasty and protect his clan.

Significant themes

• Endurance and self-discipline: Progress demands enduring suffering rather than avoiding it.
• The cost of power: A powerful cultivation art may offer great potential, but mastering it requires extreme physical and psychological sacrifice.
• Strength through adversity: Pan Long frames his suffering as a necessary step toward becoming stronger, while the closing joke undercuts the idea that hardship is the only path to success.

Character interactions

• The chapter is largely an internal struggle, with Pan Long arguing with and berating himself to keep going.
• He imagines asking Grandmaster Taishang about Patriarch Toughstone, but cannot do so because he returned the Supreme Clarity Jade Book.
• A brief author–Pan Long exchange at the end humorously pits Pan Long’s complaints against the author’s insistence that hardship makes people exceptional.

Key plot points and events

• After tempering his body with Earthly Baleful Force, Pan Long finds himself unusually heavy and less nimble. He plans to keep cultivating until the force stored in him is exhausted, then seek Heavenly Stellar Force to balance its density and restore his normal weight.
• He reasons that the nearby mountain range may provide enough Heavenly Stellar Force, though he will wait until his current cultivation is complete.
• While tidying camp, he discovers that his strength has increased dramatically. He accidentally snaps several vines and abandons the work rather than wrecking the camp.
• Remembering the giant monster that nearly killed him, he considers returning to challenge it. He tests his new abilities first: plant thorns snap against his leg, and even powerful machete strikes barely wound him. Inner energy also cannot penetrate his hardened body.
• Convinced that the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art suits him exceptionally well, Pan Long celebrates loudly. A hostile black bear approaches, but he uproots a massive tree with his bare hands, frightening it into fleeing.

Character development

• Pan Long shifts from worrying about his increased weight to marveling at his newfound strength and near-invulnerability.
• His confidence grows rapidly: he now believes he may be capable of facing the giant monster and boasts about the effectiveness of his chosen cultivation art.
• His excitement also brings out a comic, boastful side, culminating in the nickname “Terminator.”

Significant themes

• Transformation through hardship: Earthly Baleful Force makes Pan Long heavier, but the strain brings extraordinary strength and resilience.
• Cultivation and self-discovery: Testing his body helps him recognize how powerfully the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art works for him.
• Power and confidence: His new abilities change how he views threats, though his readiness to challenge the monster hints at possible overconfidence.
• Humor through contrast: Pan Long’s practical concerns about weight and camp repairs sit alongside absurdly dramatic displays of strength.

Character interactions

• Pan Long mostly interacts with his own thoughts, weighing his cultivation plans and reconsidering his earlier doubts about the art.
• His brief encounter with the black bear becomes a one-sided show of force: he uproots a tree, and the bear flees.

Plot points and events

• After driving off a black bear, Pan Long continues cultivating with the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art. He slowly refines the Earthly Baleful Force left inside his body, but the process is so slow that he worries the spiritual energy sustaining his training realm will run out.
• While watering down salty meat soup, he hits on a workaround: instead of waiting to refine the remaining force, he can collect more Earthly Baleful Force and keep tempering his body with it. Since alternating with Heavenly Stellar Force is mainly meant to maintain a useful balance, he decides to accept becoming much heavier for now.
• Pan Long makes several more trips to the black mud pool and undergoes three additional rounds of painful tempering. By the fourth round, he has become so heavy that he sinks deep into soft ground and can move only at an ordinary walking pace unless he uses a power-consuming technique.
• He notices that repeated exposure to the same Earthly Baleful Force brings diminishing effects: it causes less pain and provides less tempering, though it keeps adding weight. He realizes the art’s recommendation to use many varieties of baleful and stellar forces likely prevents such resistance and may also produce varied benefits.
• His weight makes his forest camp impractical. A pair of wooden “skis” breaks under him, and building sturdier equipment would require tools he lacks. He packs up, reinforces the camp’s barriers in case he returns, and bounds through the forest toward stony ground, smashing branches and thin trees as he goes.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long is resourceful and pragmatic: rather than accept the slow pace of refinement, he devises a risky shortcut and carefully considers its consequences before trying it.
• He is increasingly curious about cultivation’s finer effects and resolves to research the different kinds of Earthly Baleful and Heavenly Stellar Force when he returns to the Nine Provinces World. He considers asking officials, collectors, or his family.
• His main “interaction” is with the harsh environment and the consequences of his own training. The bear does not reappear; Pan Long deals instead with deep mud, fragile wooden boards, and the terrain that his growing weight makes difficult to cross.

Significant themes

• Ingenuity and risk: Pan Long finds a way to train faster, but gains a serious drawback in the process.
• Balance and trade-offs: Earthly and Heavenly forces have opposing qualities; favoring one can strengthen him while making everyday movement difficult.
• Adaptation and diminishing returns: Repeating the same training produces less benefit and pain, suggesting the need for varied methods.
• Comic self-awareness: Pan Long jokes that his “wild idea” has turned him into an “Iron Ball Hero,” undercutting the grandeur of cultivation with the absurdity of trudging—and sinking—through the forest.

Chapter summary

• Pan Long builds a secure camp on a mountainside overlooking old fortress ruins. He hopes to spot people there, since meeting locals could help him learn about the world and earn a character panel. He then returns to his slow, demanding cultivation routine.
• A few days later, Pan Long sees cooking smoke rising from the ruins. He signals back with a column of smoke, receives a response, and sets off after dark. Avoiding the forest, he crosses the mountains and desert, resting whenever his mana runs low.
• At the fortress, he grows wary and waits for his mana to recover before entering under Stealth. He finds a large camp of travelers, divided into two groups, along with several unusual nonhuman-looking people and a dozen camels.
• He overhears a masked, horned man worrying about a mission to the ancient Steel City, where the Psychic Disaster first erupted. The team hopes to find clues to curing Psychic Infection, but the man doubts both the mission’s prospects and his own ability to lead.
• Pan Long recognizes the travelers as characters from a long-delayed mobile game, realizing that the world he has entered draws on more than books and conventional video games.

Character developments and interactions

Pan Long’s curiosity pushes him to seek contact, but his past loss has made him more cautious: he signals the group, chooses a safer route, secures his valuables, and scouts the camp unseen. At the fortress, a silver-haired horned woman suspects someone is nearby, while her golden-red-haired companion dismisses the concern and suggests they investigate at daybreak. A masked man takes over the night watch as the women turn in. He later vents his anxiety about leading the mission to himself.

Significant themes

The chapter contrasts Pan Long’s patient, repetitive cultivation with his restless desire for answers. It also emphasizes caution learned through past hardship, the uncertainty of judging strangers, and the expanding boundaries of Pan Long’s world as familiar fictional characters appear within it.

Key plot points and events

• Pan Long recognizes the horned man from memories of a tower-defense game, though he cannot recall the game’s name or summon a useful character panel. He suspects that several worlds may have merged, potentially bringing dangerous powers and beings into this world.
• After spending the night outside the fortress ruins, Pan Long returns at dawn and is welcomed by the horned man, who calls himself Big Horn. Pan Long shares breakfast with the expedition and claims he has survived in the desert by eating bark and wild fruit.
• The expedition identifies Pan Long as a rare Native Human, a people reputedly immune to the madness and mutation caused by psionic exposure. Pan Long worries that the curious Rabbitfolk scholar, Anshir, may want to study him.
• Pan Long learns that the group is searching for Scolop, an ancient desert city believed to hold records that could help treat psionic infection. Their mission is driven by Zion’s commitment to helping the infected.
• When Pan Long says he has seen the city—and a gigantic tentacle capable of threatening the fortress—the team debates whether to proceed. Franka urges caution, while Electric Snake insists the potential discovery is worth the risk.
• Pan Long offers to join the expedition, demonstrating his strength by piercing solid stone and crushing it. He says he wants revenge on the creature that tried to eat him.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long is resourceful and guarded, concealing his uncertainty about the world and presenting himself as a fortunate survivor. Though initially suspicious of the expedition’s friendliness and curious about his ancestry, he comes to respect their willingness to risk themselves for others. His final offer to help also reveals a personal, hot-blooded streak.
• Big Horn is warm and welcoming, offering Pan Long food and rest. He also leads the group through its difficult decisions.
• Anshir is an earnest, observant scholar, fascinated by Pan Long’s unusual human heritage.
• Du Ling is blunt and practical, asking whether the group can retreat.
• Electric Snake is determined and emotionally invested in finding a cure for psionic infection, but becomes discouraged when Franka challenges her assumptions.
• Franka acts as a cautious counterbalance to Electric Snake, urging the team not to risk their lives on uncertain hopes.
• Langier explains the rarity and unusual psionic resistance of Native Humans.

Significant themes

• Compassion and duty: The expedition’s search is motivated by a desire to help people suffering from psionic infection, even at great personal risk.
• Prudence versus hope: The debate over Scolop pits Electric Snake’s determination against Franka’s insistence on weighing danger and uncertainty.
• Survival and luck: Pan Long’s jokes about using up his luck reflect the group’s shared understanding that staying alive matters most.
• Identity and a changing world: Pan Long’s memories of another fictional world, the altered name “Big Horn,” and the revelation of his rare human status suggest that the world has been reshaped by the merging of different realities.

Key plot points and events

• Pan Long travels with the Zion expedition across the desert, unable to walk normally because he sinks into the sand. Du Ling devises a way to tow him on a wooden board.
• Pan Long uses the journey to practice the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art and follows underground ley lines to navigate, reassuring the party that they are unlikely to get lost.
• After several days of difficult travel, the guides spot the ruins of Scolop on the horizon. Big Horn prevents Electric Snake from rushing ahead, reminding everyone to save their strength for the mission.
• The party camps about two kilometers from the partly buried city, wary of a giant beast that may be lurking there.
• Pan Long learns that Scolop was a mobile city, likely abandoned during a disaster. Big Horn hopes the danger is over, but Pan Long suspects it remains nearby—and expects a fight when they enter the ruins.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long adapts to his physical limitation with humor and resourcefulness. His ley-line sensitivity makes him the expedition’s navigator, and his experience with the beast leaves him more wary than the others.
• Du Ling finds a practical solution for transporting Pan Long, then quickly falls asleep during the rest stop and complains about the punishing heat.
• Big Horn shows caution and responsibility, balancing the group’s excitement with concern for its safety. He recognizes Pan Long’s exceptional strength but stresses that the rest of the party cannot face the beast so easily.
• Electric Snake is eager to reach the ruins but accepts Big Horn’s warning to conserve his energy.
• Anshir is curious about Pan Long’s unusual ability to sense the earth’s energies and asks whether Du Ling’s people share it.

Significant themes

• Endurance and cooperation: The harsh journey tests the party, while shared effort and practical solutions keep them moving.
• Strength and vulnerability: Pan Long is powerful but physically ill-suited to the sand; the others must account for their own limits.
• Fear and despair: The narration emphasizes that hopelessness can be as deadly in the desert as thirst or heat.
• Uncertainty and impending danger: The abandoned mobile city hints at a catastrophe whose cause may still threaten the expedition.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Pan Long and six Zion agents enter the ruined city of Scolop in combat formation, seeking the enormous creature believed to dwell beneath it. The city’s visible upper levels conceal a vast underground structure.
• Crimson tentacles erupt from the ground and attack. Langier’s warnings and tactical commands help the group avoid several strikes, but the agents struggle to damage the creature or withstand its strength.
• Big Horn is hurled through a wall, and Du Ling draws a tentacle’s attention to give Anshir time to rescue him. Franka and Electric Snake wound another tentacle, but Franka is poisoned by its gray-red fluid and collapses. Anshir disinfects her while Du Ling catches her with a wind spell.
• As Electric Snake is trapped between two tentacles, Pan Long abandons his attempt to build up a single, fully powered strike. He rushes in and punches one tentacle, shattering its tip and forcing the creature to withdraw its appendages.
• The group retreats, but the behemoth then rises from the city’s center: a gigantic, eight-tentacled, octopus-like creature. Its wounds—including the tentacle Pan Long destroyed—heal rapidly.
• The creature makes a strange gesture with its tentacles, and thunderclouds gather over the previously clear desert sky. Du Ling identifies it as a Celestial Spirit, a legendary being said to have brought Psionic Power.

Character developments

• Pan Long shows both caution and compassion. He recognizes that the creature is far beyond an ordinary beast, but risks striking before he is ready when Electric Snake is about to die. His powerful blow reveals his extraordinary strength, though the behemoth’s regeneration makes victory uncertain.
• Langier proves to be an experienced, decisive battlefield leader. The others—including nominal captain Big Horn—follow his commands, and his warnings repeatedly prevent worse casualties.
• The agents demonstrate discipline, teamwork, and courage despite being badly outmatched. Big Horn endures a devastating hit and later saves Du Ling; Electric Snake fights while protecting Franka; Du Ling risks herself to distract the creature and rescue her; Anshir remains calm and competent while treating Franka.
• Franka’s confidence and eagerness to finish off a wounded tentacle nearly cost her her life. Her injury highlights the danger of overextending, even for a skilled fighter.

Character interactions

• Langier directs the team’s retreat and coordinates their roles under pressure; the agents trust and obey his judgment.
• Du Ling’s spell gives Anshir the chance to rescue Big Horn, and later saves Franka from falling. Big Horn repays that aid by knocking a tentacle off course before it can strike Du Ling.
• Electric Snake carries the poisoned Franka to safety and warns the others not to touch the fluid.
• Pan Long intervenes to save Electric Snake, earning Big Horn’s praise, before taking the rear of the retreat to watch for further danger.
• The group’s grim reactions to Du Ling’s revelation show that the Celestial Spirit’s connection to the origin of Psionic Power makes the threat far more ominous than a powerful monster alone.

Significant themes

• Teamwork under extreme danger: The agents’ coordinated actions save lives, even when their strength cannot match the enemy’s.
• Power and vulnerability: Exceptional skill and weapons can wound the behemoth, but its strength and rapid healing make it seem nearly impossible to defeat.
• Duty and self-sacrifice: Pan Long risks himself to save an ally, while Du Ling, Electric Snake, and Big Horn each put themselves in danger for others.
• Escalating mystery and dread: The creature’s supernatural weather-making and legendary status transform the encounter from a fight with a monster into a confrontation with a force tied to the world’s powers.

Key plot points and events

• Pan Long realizes the giant octopus may be strong enough to withstand a true full-strength blow. Eager to test his limits, he begins gathering power rather than rushing into another attack.
• The approaching octopus focuses most of its overwhelming aura on Pan Long. As the distance closes, his own aura is pushed back, and the octopus’s presence nearly smothers him.
• Pan Long keeps gathering strength despite the pressure. A concentrated dark-red aura emerges from him, pushing the octopus’s influence away from his body.
• Langier tries to help by firing a rapid volley of arrows, but the octopus’s aura stops every shot in midair without the creature even acknowledging them.
• The Zion operatives watch in alarm, unsure whether Pan Long can defeat the creature—or whether any of them will survive.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long is exhilarated by the prospect of facing an opponent who might endure his full power. Though he recognizes the danger, he stays focused and shows unusual resilience: even when the octopus disrupts his normal breathing, he continues gathering strength through his skin.
• Langier acts on his concern for Pan Long, risking the octopus’s attention to support him with his bow. His arrows prove useless, but his effort reflects loyalty and courage.
• The Zion operatives discuss Pan Long’s extraordinary strength and compare it with powerful members of other races. They speculate that Zion might give him a rating beyond its current six-star scale.
• Big Horn, previously optimistic, loses confidence after seeing the octopus casually halt Langier’s arrows. Anshir, Du Ling, Electric Snake, and Langier’s conversation also clarifies that Zion’s star ratings reflect potential, not simply present strength.

Significant themes

• Strength and its limits: Pan Long finally encounters an opponent capable of testing power he has never been able to measure.
• Courage and solidarity: Langier intervenes despite the danger, while the team watches and hopes Pan Long can protect them.
• Power beyond conventional weapons: The octopus’s aura affects the physical world, stopping arrows before they can reach it and emphasizing the vast gap between it and ordinary fighters.
• Potential versus achievement: The operatives’ discussion of star ratings contrasts their assessed potential with Pan Long’s apparently exceptional, hard-to-classify ability.

Plot points and events

• Pan Long faces a colossal octopus in the ruins of a desert city. Hardened by repeated exposure to Earthly Baleful Force, he remains calm and waits until the beast is close enough.
• He launches a full-force charge. The octopus’s tentacles nearly tear him apart, but his once-per-day Life-Protection Art negates the blow, letting him reach the creature.
• Pan Long uses Collapse Strike to strip away the octopus’s supernatural abilities. Without them, its body is too heavy for its tentacles to support on land, and the hot, dry air quickly damages its gills.
• He restrains the weakened beast until it can no longer move, then kills it. The Zion team confirms the danger is over and begins searching the city for information.
• The lizardfolk guides worship the corpse and eat pieces of its poisonous flesh. They collapse, alarming Big Horn, but Pan Long assures him they are still alive. He notices that the guides’ health bars now indicate hostility toward him.
• The chapter ends with Pan Long frustrated that a program is stuck in its “exploration stage” and will not let him log in.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long demonstrates patience, tactical preparation, and confidence under pressure. His plan relies not just on strength but on understanding the octopus’s biology and identifying the supernatural power that lets it survive on land.
• Big Horn worries about the guides after they eat the poisonous flesh, though Pan Long realizes he is also concerned about keeping his spotless work record. Big Horn checks one guide and confirms Pan Long was right: they are alive.
• Langier explains that the guides believe eating the octopus will grant them power. Their actions show how differently they understand the creature’s death.
• The Zion operatives move on to searching the ruins once the immediate threat is gone.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as power: Pan Long wins by exploiting the octopus’s dependence on supernatural support and the basic limits of aquatic biology.
• Preparation and resourcefulness: His costly investment in Collapse Strike proves decisive, while his other abilities help him survive long enough to use it.
• The absurdity of survival and responsibility: The guides escape death in battle only to collapse after eating poisonous flesh, and Big Horn initially fears the effect on his record as much as for their safety.
• Unresolved consequences: The guides’ sudden hostility toward Pan Long hints that the victory may have created a new problem.

Plot points and events

• Pan Long notices that the unconscious guides now have enemy health bars. He concludes they may have been transformed or corrupted, and warns Big Horn and Langier not to approach them.
• The three agents decide to stay and guard the guides—and the injured Franka—while Big Horn tells their colleagues searching the ruins to hide rather than return.
• The guides awaken in grotesquely twisted forms, then ignore the agents and bow toward the dead giant octopus, chanting.
• Langier realizes the chant is a spell and shoots the guides. Even with their heads pierced, they keep chanting, so he targets their mouths and finally silences them.
• Green light gathers around the octopus, which changes color and begins to revive. Its tentacle attacks, and Pan Long’s punch meets it in a massive explosion.
• The blast drives Pan Long back and hurls Big Horn and Langier away, leaving both badly injured. Pan Long is left alone to face the revived monster.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long trusts the health-bar warning over appearances and treats the guides as potential enemies, though he initially struggles to understand their chant and the octopus’s revival.
• Big Horn insists they should not attack unless the guides show hostility, holding to a principle of restraint even as danger mounts. Once the chant continues after their apparent deaths, he panics and flees.
• Langier draws on his long experience with psychic disasters and cult activity. He identifies the chant as an evil invocation and acts decisively, first shooting the guides and then silencing them by targeting their mouths.
• Big Horn and Langier trade dark jokes about their dangerous careers and the risks of acting on principle, briefly easing the tension before the guides awaken.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The guides look dead but continue chanting, while their altered bodies signal that they may no longer be human—or themselves.
• The limits of familiar rules: Pan Long’s game-inspired assumptions help him recognize danger, but the events exceed what he expects: killing the chanters does not stop the spell.
• Principle versus survival: Big Horn’s refusal to strike first clashes with the practical need to stop a supernatural threat.
• Sacrifice and purpose: Langier reflects that joining Zion gave meaning to a life already marked by repeated brushes with death.

Plot points and events

• Pan Long’s Collapse Strike, an A-rank skill, clashes evenly with the octopus’s green power. He concludes that even apparently absolute abilities have limits and that strength depends on the power behind them.
• He reviews the skills he has purchased and decides his choices were sensible: he values protection and practical versatility over spending most of his remaining points on another S-rank skill.
• Unable to attack the octopus directly, Pan Long activates Cockroach Sprint, rushes in, and lands a blow—but the creature barely reacts. It retaliates by firing green, spear-shaped projectiles from its halo.
• Pan Long keeps moving to evade the barrage. He tests whether the octopus will spare the guides’ corpses, but it attacks indiscriminately, shredding the bodies.
• The assault gradually weakens the octopus: its halo shrinks and dims, and its movements slow. Pan Long survives by continuing to run until the projectiles stop.
• The octopus collapses and disappears amid gray-red smoke. Its green power dissipates, leaving six green crystal pillars and the damaged ground behind. Pan Long wins by enduring the transformation rather than overpowering it.
• He resolves to investigate what is truly happening in this world. A closing author’s note explains that a computer failure delayed the update.

Character developments

• Pan Long shows tactical restraint: he recognizes that his A-rank attack cannot overcome the transformed octopus and switches to evasion instead of forcing a losing fight.
• He remains focused on survival and protecting others, while also thinking critically about how to spend his limited insight points.
• His confidence is tempered by fear and caution; even when victory seems close, he avoids assuming the danger has passed.

Significant themes

• Endurance over force: Pan Long wins by lasting through the enemy’s exhausting attack.
• Limits of power: No ability is truly absolute; skills and supernatural effects can be resisted when matched by sufficient strength.
• Practicality and survival: Pan Long favors a versatile set of useful skills over a single powerful but costly ability.
• The cost of transformation: The octopus’s powerful barrage drains its halo and slows it, revealing a weakness Pan Long can exploit.

Character interactions

• Pan Long confronts the giant octopus directly, first testing its defenses and then evading its relentless projectiles.
• He briefly tests whether the octopus feels any attachment to the guides who revived it, but its indiscriminate attack confirms it shows no mercy.
• No other living characters participate in the battle; the guides’ corpses underscore the creature’s brutality.

Key plot points and events

• After the battle, Pan Long is exhausted, while Big Horn and Langier suffer serious blast injuries. Franka is unharmed because rubble shielded her; Electric Snake and Du Ling are safe, and Anshir has only a minor cut.
• Pan Long treats Big Horn and Langier with mysterious green herbs from an old man he once rescued. Their condition improves quickly, though Anshir says they will need weeks of rest.
• While examining the six green pillars, Electric Snake and Du Ling recognize them as Psionic Crystals—immensely powerful energy sources associated with psionic eruptions.
• Electric Snake explains that the crystals form only in eruptions that kill many people; greater loss of life produces larger and more numerous crystals. Pan Long suspects they may be created from the victims, perhaps even causing the eruptions.
• Since only Original Humans can handle the crystals safely, Electric Snake asks Pan Long to sell them to Zion and transport them. He agrees and packs them into a protective case.
• Pan Long feels a cold, invasive force from the crystals, which his Earthly Baleful Force resists. He uses the Hero System’s Light-Attribute Power to cleanse the residue from his skin, comparing Psionic Power to miasma and worrying that widespread use of it may bring disaster.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long’s endurance and growing abilities are evident: he survives the battle’s demands and can resist the crystals’ corrupting influence. He also readily agrees to help the group.
• Electric Snake and Du Ling demonstrate caution and knowledge by testing the pillars from a distance before identifying them.
• Anshir acts responsibly as the group’s medic, but Langier and Big Horn respond to their near-death experience with jokes, frustrating Anshir and creating a lighthearted exchange.
• Electric Snake is embarrassed by the burden she places on Pan Long, while he reassures her and accepts the responsibility.

Significant themes

• Power at a human cost: Psionic Crystals may be bound to mass death, raising the possibility that they are formed from victims or linked directly to the eruptions.
• Corruption concealed by utility: Psionic Power is widely used as energy, yet Pan Long’s comparison to miasma suggests that dependence on it may be dangerous.
• Resilience and cooperation: The group survives through medical care, practical caution, and Pan Long’s willingness to protect and assist others.

Plot points and events

• After collecting the Psionic Power crystals, Zion’s agents investigate the guides’ bodies, hoping to understand why the guides went mad yet could still chant spells that revived the dead.
• While Anshir stays behind to treat the wounded and study the bodies, Electric Snake and Du Ling continue searching the vast ruins of Scolop for a rumored cure to Psionic Infection.
• Pan Long spends the quiet days cultivating with the Nine-Turn Mysterious Art. Big Horn asks to learn the technique for refining foreign energy, and eventually discovers that practicing it weakens the Psionic Power inside him.
• Electric Snake urges Franka—still recovering from poisoning and advanced infection—to learn the method. Pan Long teaches her, and she succeeds: her infection stabilizes and begins to recede.
• Realizing Pan Long’s technique may be a practical treatment, Zion’s agents abandon the search and head for headquarters to share the discovery. Big Horn calls Pan Long a savior.

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long freely shares what he knows, despite his impatience with Big Horn’s slow progress. He initially fails to grasp the significance of his cultivation method to this world.
• Big Horn shows persistence, learns the technique, and becomes the first to recognize its potential for treating Psionic Infection.
• Electric Snake shifts immediately from skepticism to urgency once she hears that Psionic Power can be weakened; she insists Franka learn, even while Franka remains composed and dryly humorous.
• Franka moves from a prolonged, weakened state to relief when her infection improves, breaking down in tears after years of facing decline.
• The Zion agents’ cooperation and commitment culminate in their decision to prioritize the proven treatment over the still-unexplored ruins.

Significant themes

• Power as both gift and danger: Psionic abilities make users extraordinarily strong, but using them worsens their infection and can lead to madness, transformation, or explosive death.
• Hope through shared knowledge: Pan Long’s martial technique, taught openly to others, offers a possible alternative to Zion’s limited, costly treatments.
• Competing responses to injustice: Zion seeks treatment and coexistence but is constrained by its principles; United advocates mass infection and uses extremism as a deterrent against persecution.
• The limits of individual rescue: Zion’s work is compared to a child trying to return stranded fish to the sea—well-intentioned, but unable to save everyone—making the discovery feel especially consequential.

Key plot points and events

• Pan Long agrees to teach Big Horn’s group his refinement method, hoping it can help people fight Psychic Infection. Big Horn is overwhelmed with gratitude and orders the group to get Pan safely to Zion, whatever the cost.
• The group burns the dead guides’ bodies and discovers their ashes contain many valuable Psionic Power fragments. The guides had apparently become severely infected after eating a little of a giant octopus and performing a brief ritual. Their families accept the deaths as a familiar risk and value the fragments—an attitude that unsettles Pan Long.
• Disturbed by the world’s apparent disregard for human life, Pan Long resolves to become the savior people need.
• The group buys two trucks and travels east for five or six days, avoiding populated areas. Their journey highlights how powerful and valuable Psionic Power fragments are as an energy source.
• They reach Zion, a mobile city and refuge for people with Psychic Infection. Guards recognize Big Horn and Franka’s infections, inspect the group and their cargo, and marvel at the large quantity of crystals. Big Horn formally welcomes Pan Long to Zion, “the Promised Land.”

Character developments and interactions

• Pan Long moves from agreeing to share his technique to embracing a larger sense of purpose. He rejects Big Horn’s attempt to kneel and show extreme deference, preferring their earlier, more equal relationship.
• Big Horn shifts from seeming unafraid of his own infection to openly revealing his deep concern for others. He prioritizes Pan’s safety and welcomes him to Zion with reverence.
• Pan Long and Big Horn work together to conceal the true scale of their crystal haul from the guards, while the guards’ friendly banter suggests an established bond with Big Horn and Langier.
• Pan Long and the guides’ families have no direct conflict, but their practical acceptance of the deaths sharply clashes with his own regard for life.

Significant themes

• Hope and responsibility: Pan Long accepts the burden of helping a world in crisis.
• The cost of survival: Psychic Infection and dangerous expeditions are treated as ordinary risks, while even the dead can be valued for the resources they leave behind.
• Dependence on a dangerous power: Psionic fragments are so useful that society struggles to give them up despite the infection they are linked to.
• Sanctuary and promise: Zion represents both a refuge for the infected and the possibility of a better future.