Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• While Chen Shu is unconscious after his advancement, Xiaoxiao looks after him in his three-year-old state. She patiently comforts him, replaces his dropped ice cream, and follows his requests to play on the swing, meet the cat Peach, eat candy, and make mud.
• Zhang Suannai repeatedly provokes the child—first telling him that his mother has abandoned him, then encouraging him to pee in the dirt to make mud. Xiaoxiao stops the latter, and Suannai flees over the wall. Xiaoxiao and Chen Shu then play in the mud until they fall asleep.
• Ning Qing returns to find the yard and her flowers ruined. She scolds Xiaoxiao, who insists they had fun and reminds Ning Qing that the child would have cried if she had been in charge. Ning Qing sends Chen Shu, still asleep, up to her bedroom with magic.
• Chen Shu wakes later, fully recovered from a successful breakthrough to the Seventh Tier, the start of the High Tier. He discovers major gains in Spirit Power, flight speed and endurance, physical strength, and the Spirit Sage’s mark, which now converts gathered Spirit Power into Divine Power. He can also alter his height, build, and appearance within limits.
• Xiaoxiao sees him awake and seems suddenly shy and flustered. Chen Shu, unaware of what happened while he was unconscious, wonders why she is acting strangely.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiaoxiao embraces her role as Chen Shu’s caretaker, taking pride in earning his trust and having him call her “Big Sister Xiaoxiao.” Her growing affection shows in her patience and protectiveness, especially when she confronts Suannai.
• Zhang Suannai acts mischievously, deliberately upsetting the child and filming the chaos, but backs down when Xiaoxiao catches her.
• Ning Qing is exasperated by the destruction, yet handles Chen Shu gently, bathing him and carrying him to bed.
• Chen Shu reaches a transformative new level of power but has no memory of his childlike episode, leaving him oblivious to Xiaoxiao’s newfound closeness and embarrassment.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts immense magical advancement with domestic comedy: Chen Shu’s power grows dramatically while the others contend with the chaos of caring for him as a child.
• Care and affection are expressed through role reversal: Xiaoxiao experiences the satisfaction of looking after someone who once cared for her.
• Trust, attachment, and teasing shape the relationships, with Suannai’s provocations revealing how strongly the child depends on Xiaoxiao.

Plot points and events

• Chen Shu wakes after advancing to a new cultivation tier, still adjusting to his stronger body and briefly foggy mind. Ning Qing tells him only two days have passed and shows him the last flowers she’ll allow to bloom this half-year.
• His memories return: while mentally regressed after advancing, he was left with Xiaoxiao and Zhang Suannai. He accuses Ning Qing of setting him up; she points out that he asks her to tutor him every day and shows no remorse.
• Chen Shu and Zhang Suannai spar through Ning Qing’s phone, each using embarrassing footage and threats as leverage. Neither gives in, so they settle into an uneasy truce.
• In the group chat, members discuss a planned international effort to stop Cao Ci and suppress the Dream Moon Cult. The group leader explains that countries must coordinate and that believers should be judged individually: punish the guilty, educate the innocent, and leave alone those who cannot be persuaded but have committed no crimes.
• Ning Qing agrees to help, though she is too lazy to reply herself. Chen Shu speaks for her, and the group teases the couple about their relationship. The leader stresses that Ning Qing’s support will make the operation safer, and urges everyone to advance to Seventh Tier.
• Later, Chen Shu playfully tries to persuade Ning Qing to cultivate away her sexual desire. She dismisses the idea and instead asks him to make her favorite foods for her upcoming birthday, as she plans to cultivate her sense of taste. She tolerates his affectionate advances without responding.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Shu is more at ease about his embarrassing post-advancement behavior than Ning Qing expects. He jokes, flirts, and uses humor to defuse tension, while showing growing confidence in his new strength.
• Ning Qing remains cool and teasing, openly admitting she engineered the awkward situation with Zhang Suannai. She also shows quiet affection: she speaks for Chen Shu in the group chat, accepts his closeness, and makes a personal birthday request.
• Zhang Suannai and Chen Shu maintain a combative but mutually cautious relationship, trading blackmail material without escalating into a public feud.
• The group members combine serious cooperation against the Dream Moon Cult with playful gossip and banter about Chen Shu and Ning Qing.

Significant themes

• Justice tempered by discernment: The coming crackdown should target people’s actual crimes, not merely their affiliation or beliefs.
• Power and responsibility: The group’s plans depend on international cooperation, careful investigation, and cultivators becoming stronger.
• Intimacy expressed through teasing: Chen Shu and Ning Qing’s mock arguments, private jokes, and everyday requests reveal their closeness.
• Memory and embarrassment: Chen Shu treats his childish behavior during advancement as a fleeting, laughable episode rather than a lasting shame.

Key plot points and events

• In a spell-design class at Yujing University, students work in groups on a spell that can heat objects quickly. Chen Shu, newly advanced to Seventh Tier, sits idle because he is preoccupied with his powerful Great Blazing Sun Art and lacks a safe place to test it. He plans to return to the Spirit Sect, where he can try it—and enjoy flying there.
• A classmate asks Chen Shu for advice on choosing between two heat-generating Runes. Chen explains that a suitable Third-Level Rune is generally preferable, even if the spell’s structure must be adjusted to accommodate it. The student takes his advice back to the group.
• After class, Chen Shu jokes with Teacher Shi Qian about lunch. They head for goose in clear broth, and Chen Banxia arrives: she has recently been hired by the university’s Pharmaceutical College.
• The three eat together. Banxia explains that she is a pharmaceutical researcher and assistant professor, currently observing classes before she begins teaching next semester. Shi Qian recognizes that her research talent makes this a suitable role.
• Once alone with Chen Shu, Banxia eagerly demands that he call her “Teacher Chen.” She boasts about being addressed as a teacher and praised by students, while Chen Shu teases her and urges her to prepare carefully for teaching.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is powerful but thoughtful about the dangers of his abilities; he also remains approachable, offering classmates technical guidance despite his boredom. With Banxia, he is playful but gives her sincere advice about teaching responsibly.
• Chen Banxia is excited and proud of her new academic position, though still inexperienced and nervous around senior colleague Shi Qian. With her brother, she relaxes into affectionate teasing and seeks recognition for her achievement.
• Teacher Shi Qian is a calm, supportive mentor. He lets Chen Shu handle student questions, shares lunch with the siblings, and responds respectfully to Banxia’s credentials.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: Chen Shu’s new art is too destructive to test casually, underscoring the need to consider its impact.
• Tradition and modernization: The explanation of Rune naming shows how cultivation practices have adapted to increasingly complex spells and computer-based design.
• Expertise and mentorship: Chen Shu advises classmates, while Shi Qian recognizes Banxia’s strengths and the value of balancing research with teaching.
• Family pride and teasing: Banxia’s excitement over becoming “Teacher Chen” creates a warm, comic sibling dynamic, tempered by Chen Shu’s concern that she not disappoint her students.

Plot points and events

• While Chen Shu and Ning Qing head to the farmers’ market, his older sister, Chen Banxia, offers to drive them. Chen Shu tells her to follow on her own motorcycle or go home; she is left behind, annoyed at his dismissiveness.
• Ning Qing’s cultivation of Tongue Desire has made her appetite unusually strong. At the market, she follows Chen Shu as he buys ingredients for meals she will enjoy, finding quiet happiness in their ordinary outing.
• Chen Banxia catches up and helps carry the groceries. Chen Shu admits he was only pretending to know how to select a duck, choosing the one that felt meatiest; Ning Qing is amused by his bluff.
• On Ning Qing’s twenty-fourth birthday, the household shares rice noodles with large intestines and broth-simmered intestine knots, prepared by Chen Shu. Ning Qing enjoys the food, and Chen Shu plans more dishes tailored to her tastes.
• That evening, Chen Shu watches news about Lanya’s prolonged, costly war in Duqin and thinks wistfully of Brother Cat, with whom he has lost touch.
• Ning Qing joins him in bed. Their teasing turns into Chen Shu’s claim that kissing lessons will help her cultivate Tongue Desire. She does not accept his reasoning, but lets him proceed, and they become intimate.

Character developments

• Ning Qing grows more sensitive to food and appetite through her cultivation. She also recognizes the emotional comfort food can carry: with no memories of her family’s cooking, Chen Shu’s meals are the taste of home for her.
• Chen Shu shows care through cooking and planning meals around Ning Qing’s preferences. His playful, opportunistic nature also appears in his excuse to turn kissing into a “lesson.”
• Chen Banxia is affectionate and eager to join her brother, but is exasperated by his bluntly sending her away.
• Chen Shu’s thoughts of Brother Cat reveal lingering sadness over their fading contact.

Significant themes

• Food as affection and belonging: Cooking and shared meals express care, intimacy, and a sense of home.
• Ordinary life as beauty: Ning Qing finds meaning in a mundane market trip because she shares it with Chen Shu.
• Desire and intimacy: Ning Qing’s cultivation heightens her appetite, while Chen Shu playfully stretches its meaning toward romance.
• War and personal loss: The news highlights the human and political cost of conflict, prompting Chen Shu to remember an absent friend.

Character interactions

• Chen Shu teases and dismisses Banxia, who later reunites with the couple and helps carry their purchases.
• Ning Qing quietly follows Chen Shu through the market, enjoying both his company and his enthusiasm for choosing ingredients.
• The household celebrates Ning Qing’s birthday around Chen Shu’s cooking.
• Chen Shu and Ning Qing’s familiar banter turns into a flirtatious, intimate exchange, with Ning Qing’s reluctant tolerance balancing his cheeky insistence.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Qing bites Chen Shu’s tongue during an intimate moment. He mock-scolds her and jokes about teaching her a “secret” tongue technique; she responds with cool skepticism.
• Chen Shu completes his nightly cultivation. His Spirit Sage Mark, connected to the Plane Origin, transforms his Spirit Power with Divine Power.
• He feeds his Crystal newly cultivated energy. For the first time, it reacts faintly, suggesting that Spirit Power infused with Divine Power can replenish it—though only negligibly. Chen Shu realizes the Crystal’s energy may be even more powerful than the Plane Origin and reflects on the Sacred Ancestor’s hopeless longing to return home.
• In bed, Chen Shu asks whether government-trained cultivators can progress without divine marks. Ning Qing explains that deities can distribute multiple marks over time; some people may already have them, and others may receive them later. Chen Shu wonders whether the growing number of marked people will lead to a struggle for Godhood.
• The next morning, Ning Qing says she has finished cultivating Heavy Tongue Desire, crediting Chen Shu. Chen Shu plans a two- or three-day visit to the Spirit Sect to test spells.
• After breakfast, Chen Shu leaves the city and takes off once he is beyond the no-fly zone.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu continues investigating the relationship between Spirit Power, Divine Power, the Plane Origin, and the Crystal. His findings sharpen his suspicions about the Crystal’s immense energy and future competition for Godhood.
• Ning Qing remains reserved and dryly humorous, but her shared routines with Chen Shu reveal quiet affection. She answers his questions despite pretending to be tired, and their morning ritual makes her feel that the day is lovelier.
• Their intimacy is playful and teasing: Chen Shu jokes and seeks closeness, while Ning Qing rebuffs him physically or with silence.
• Xiaoxiao waters her sister’s flowers halfheartedly when Chen Shu leaves. Their neighbor Zhang watches from the courtyard wall and continues his helpful habit of providing breakfast.
• The chapter also shows Chen Shu’s easy, familiar banter with Xiaoxiao and Zhang.

Significant themes

• Power and divine hierarchy: Marks, deities, and Plane Origins are not one-to-one, raising the possibility of future conflict over Godhood.
• Limits and longing: The Crystal’s near-imperceptible replenishment echoes the Sacred Ancestor’s despair at being unable to reach home.
• Intimacy in everyday life: Teasing, shared cultivation, morning routines, and small acts of neighborly care provide warmth alongside the chapter’s larger cosmic questions.

Plot points and events

• Chen Shu flies from Jade Capital to the Spirit Sect on his spell, Rising with the Wind. The trip takes about an hour and a half, though he strays off course and overshoots his destination.
• He collects a new cultivator’s navigator from the sect and sets it to use a cheerful voice pack. The Vice Sect Master finds him experimenting with it, learns that he has come to test the Great Blazing Sun Art, and agrees to observe.
• At a sect testing ground, Chen Shu casts the Great Blazing Sun Art. The enormous spell creates an explosive blast and spreading spirit-powered flames that consume the terrain and begin burning through the barrier. Chen Shu cannot extinguish them; the Vice Sect Master intervenes, puts out the fire, and encourages him to continue practicing.
• Meanwhile, in Jade Capital, the little girl works on an artificial bird based on her sister, Ning Qing. She explains that most of its components are purchased and that she must still program its intelligence and personality. Ning Qing asks for an artificial insect to protect her roses, but the girl says the technology is not yet available.
• The girl asks for takeout and teases Ning Qing for not eating while her absent “brother-in-law” is away, calling women in love foolish. Ning Qing starts walking toward her, and the girl braces for trouble.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is enthusiastic about flight and curious about new technology, but the power of his spell leaves him genuinely overwhelmed. He accepts the Vice Sect Master’s guidance and continues training.
• The Vice Sect Master is supportive and observant: he approves of Chen Shu’s flying speed, watches the spell test, and steps in when the flames threaten the barrier.
• The little girl shows technical skill and independence through her artificial-life project, while remaining playful and mischievous with her sister.
• Ning Qing is cool and restrained, but her refusal to eat suggests she misses the absent Chen Shu. Her stern approach to her sister contrasts with the girl’s teasing.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: Chen Shu’s spell is impressive but dangerous, requiring supervision and careful control.
• Technology as collaboration: The artificial bird illustrates that innovation builds on many shared technologies, even when its core design is the girl’s own.
• Affection expressed through teasing: The sisters’ banter exposes Ning Qing’s attachment to Chen Shu and their familiar, affectionate dynamic.
• Modern convenience alongside cultivation: Flight spells, navigation devices, and artificial-life engineering coexist in the chapter’s world.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Shu successfully casts the Great Blazing Sun Art on his first attempt, producing a glowing, heat-filled crystal. The Vice Sect Master praises his progress and says the Spirit Sect will join a nationwide operation against the Dream Moon Cult’s followers. Chen Shu agrees to follow the sect’s arrangements but plans to return to Jade Capital for school and his relationship.
• After three days at the Spirit Sect, Chen Shu departs using the steadier, less demanding Cloud-Sky Art.
• Back home, Ning Qing has little appetite because her cultivation has reduced her need for food. Xiaoxiao and Zhang Suannai notice her eating very little, and Xiaoxiao worries about her. Ning Qing perks up when Chen Shu arrives.
• In a comic domestic episode, Xiaoxiao washes Chen Shu’s hair and gives him a haircut. She is confident despite limited experience, but when he requests a quiff, she cannot manage it and gives him a buzz cut instead. Chen Shu kindly pretends to like the result. Xiaoxiao then offers Peach a haircut, and Peach runs away.

Character developments

• Chen Shu demonstrates strong cultivation and modestly attributes his success to practice and luck. At home, he is patient and indulgent, reassuring Xiaoxiao after her haircut goes wrong.
• Xiaoxiao shows her affection for Ning Qing through her concern, and for Chen Shu through enthusiastic, attentive service. Her confidence exceeds her hairstyling skill, but she responds to the mishap with embarrassment and determination.
• Ning Qing remains reserved and sharp-tongued, yet her reduced appetite leaves her subdued. Chen Shu’s return visibly lifts her spirits. She watches Xiaoxiao’s haircutting efforts with quiet amusement.
• Zhang Suannai and Peach remain part of the household’s warm, humorous routine; Peach shares the concern over Ning Qing and later avoids Xiaoxiao’s scissors.

Significant themes

• Cultivation and ordinary life: Powerful magical progress coexists with school, relationships, meals, hair washing, and household jokes.
• Care expressed through teasing and service: The characters show affection through concern, banter, and practical attention rather than earnest declarations.
• Kindness and patience: Chen Shu protects Xiaoxiao’s confidence by praising a haircut he did not want.

Character interactions

• The Vice Sect Master mentors Chen Shu, assesses his strength, and briefs him on the sect’s role in the planned campaign.
• Xiaoxiao and Zhang Suannai notice Ning Qing’s poor appetite; Xiaoxiao jokes with her, while Chen Shu’s arrival brings Ning Qing renewed attention and energy.
• Xiaoxiao treats Chen Shu as a customer during the shampoo and haircut, while Ning Qing heckles from the side. Chen Shu’s gentle response turns Xiaoxiao’s failed quiff into a shared comic moment.

Plot points and events

• Chen Shu and Ning Qing share peaches from New Orthodox Temple. Their teasing turns to Ning Qing’s progress in cultivating “Tongue Desire”: she has completed the stage but needs time to absorb what she learned before beginning the next.
• Chen Shu tells her their internships begin after the Dragon Boat Festival. Both placements are near Jade Capital, and he expects to be able to fly home from his.
• Their conversation about the exam and their student days brings up Chen Shu’s viral post-exam fame and the passage of four years.
• On Dragon Boat Festival, neighbor Zhang Suannai returns from her graduation ceremony. Over dinner, Chen Banxia asks about her plans; Zhang is considering work, including food delivery, sword instruction, or being a hired fighter. Chen Shu keeps his sister’s newly acquired lecturing habit in check.
• After the holiday, Chen Shu’s class arrives at a Talent Training Center outside Jade Capital for an internship in collaborative Spell development and testing. When students invite him into their groups, he joins the class monitor’s team after being promised he can coast.

Character developments

• Ning Qing remains composed and self-possessed, while showing a more playful side in her banter with Chen Shu. She has finished one cultivation stage but is not rushing into the next.
• Chen Shu is nostalgic about how much time has passed, yet his familiar boastfulness and humor remain. He is also eager to avoid internship work.
• Zhang Suannai has officially graduated and is beginning to consider employment, though she has not chosen a path.
• Chen Banxia has taken on a more instructive, teacherly manner, prompting Chen Shu to push back.

Significant themes

• Time and change: Four years have passed since Chen Shu’s exam, even as his relationship with Ning Qing remains steady.
• Cultivation and patience: Ning Qing’s next step depends on absorbing what she has learned rather than simply advancing quickly.
• Work and practical learning: The internship introduces students to real-world Spell development, while Zhang Suannai faces the question of what to do after graduation.
• Everyday companionship: Shared meals, teasing, and domestic routines anchor the characters’ relationships.

Character interactions

• Chen Shu and Ning Qing exchange affectionate teasing about cultivation, their pasts, and their upcoming internships; their ease with each other conveys lasting closeness.
• Chen Banxia questions Zhang Suannai about her future, while Zhang defends her school and suggests several possible jobs. Chen Shu interrupts Banxia’s lecturing with food and playful resistance.
• Chen Shu quickly bonds with the class monitor, enthusiastically accepting an invitation that lets him avoid contributing much to the group.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Shu finishes his first day at the Trainee Base and flies across Jade Capital to get home, skirting a flight-restricted zone and ignoring the map’s warning to land near his destination.
• At home, he finds the little girl pacing while working through homework assigned by Qingqing. She admits she cannot sleep until she solves it. Chen Shu jokingly offers to confront Qingqing on her behalf.
• Qingqing is dressed in traditional clothes and sitting on the bed. Chen Shu discovers she has already completed four hours of cultivation while he was away.
• After joking and teasing each other, they discuss his day at the base. Qingqing warns him that flying violates the ban and could get him detained.
• They cuddle and kiss. Qingqing quietly begins contemplating Body Desire, the desire for tactile sensations, while Chen Shu touches and embraces her.
• Chen Shu asks to take their intimacy further, but Qingqing refuses for now. She says she wants to experience the sensations gradually and calmly, and promises they can take the final step on the last day.
• They stay close until late. Chen Shu falls asleep without completing his usual daily cultivation, the first time he has broken the routine.

Character developments

• Chen Shu remains playful and affectionate, but his cultivation routine has become important enough that missing it leaves him uneasy. He is also increasingly attentive to Qingqing’s cultivation and emotional cues.
• Ning Qing (Qingqing) shows growing openness to physical intimacy while maintaining firm control over its pace. Her contemplation of Body Desire gives her a new way to experience touch and closeness.
• The little girl is shown as dutiful and determined despite her blank, unusual manner; she treats solving her homework as essential before sleep.

Significant themes

• Intimacy and consent: Qingqing welcomes affection but sets a clear boundary, and Chen Shu accepts her decision.
• Self-discipline and routine: Chen Shu’s discomfort at missing one day of cultivation shows how quickly a habit can become part of his sense of stability.
• Cultivation as lived experience: Qingqing’s practice of Body Desire is tied directly to sensory awareness and emotional closeness, rather than abstract training alone.
• Playful domestic life: Teasing, homework, and shared routines balance the chapter’s cultivation and romantic elements.

Character interactions

• Chen Shu jokes with the little girl about Qingqing’s homework and her intimidating reputation.
• He teases Qingqing about cultivating secretly; she responds with dry remarks and affectionate gestures.
• Qingqing warns Chen Shu about the legal danger of flying, while he tries unsuccessfully to outmaneuver her teasing.
• Their nighttime closeness becomes a shared exploration of touch, with Qingqing setting the pace and Chen Shu respecting her refusal to go further.

Plot points and events

• Chen Shu wakes beside Ning Qing, recounting a dream in which he loses his ability to fly. Qingqing encourages him to test it, but he would rather linger with her; he later confirms he can still fly.
• The couple trade affectionate, teasing remarks and share a good-morning kiss. Qingqing gets dressed, and they head out for breakfast with Xiaoxiao and the cat.
• Back at home, Chen Shu tries to cultivate while Qingqing playfully distracts him. She eventually leaves him alone, and he settles into his practice. Because cultivation leaves him mentally exhausted for nearly a day, he decides to shift his usual evening sessions to daytime while Qingqing cultivates Body Desire at night.
• That afternoon, Chen Shu flies to his traineeship. His classmates welcome him, and he brings milk tea and snacks as thanks for the class monitor’s help.
• Chen Shu learns he missed a useful morning lesson on commercializing Spells. The afternoon’s basic Spell-design material is mostly too elementary for him. He also discovers the monitor covered for his absence during attendance.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is deeply content in his relationship with Qingqing, but remains playful, physically affectionate, and easily distracted by her. He is also trying to adapt his cultivation schedule to support her training.
• Ning Qing shows affection through closeness and a shared kiss, while retaining her usual composure. She deliberately teases Chen Shu during his cultivation, then steps away so he can focus.
• Chen Shu and Ning Qing balance intimacy with banter, drawing on their long familiarity and their growing life as a couple.
• The class monitor treats Chen Shu considerately without making a show of deference, covers his attendance, and helps him settle in. Chen Shu repays the group with refreshments.

Significant themes

• Intimacy and everyday companionship: Domestic routines, teasing, and small gestures convey the couple’s closeness.
• Discipline and compromise: Chen Shu reorganizes his cultivation around Qingqing’s needs while recognizing the limits imposed by mental fatigue.
• Status and social tact: The monitor knows Chen Shu is an expert and handles the imbalance respectfully, without overt flattery.
• Expertise and learning: Chen Shu’s advanced ability makes the traineeship’s basic material redundant, though he still regrets missing a lesson relevant to his interests.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Shu adjusts to a packed routine: morning cultivation, traineeship duties, research into automatic defense for the Tracer Technique, and nightly massages to help Ning Qing cultivate. The massages become a daily habit, and Chen jokes that he may be doing them for life.
• Chen makes progress on an automatic-defense approach, which he hopes to compare with Teacher Shi Qian’s research.
• On May 22, he confronts Ning Qing about taking unusually long to complete the Body Desire stage of cultivation. He suspects she is prolonging it because she enjoys being pampered. Ning admits she never agreed to remind him that it was the final day, only to be reminded on that day itself.
• The pair tease each other about whether Chen will “eat” her the next day. They then switch roles: Ning gives Chen a massage, though her technique is less polished.
• On the final day of the traineeship, students present the civilian spells they developed. Chen’s group demonstrates a commercially viable cooling spell that could be adapted for refrigerators or air conditioners. The class monitor presents it confidently and earns a strong score. Chen is credited as one of the core rune-array designers, though he is surprised to find himself included.
• Another group presents an air-purification spell. After the review, the traineeship ends; Chen’s classmates go to lunch, while Chen flies home.

Character developments

• Chen Shu balances cultivation, work, research, and caring for Ning Qing. He is playful and observant, and his contributions to the cooling spell show that he is more technically capable than he initially realizes.
• Ning Qing remains reserved and cool in manner, but her repeated requests for massages and willingness to return the favor suggest increasing comfort and intimacy with Chen. She avoids directly answering his accusations about dragging out her cultivation.
• The class monitor demonstrates strong leadership and presentation skills, while sharing credit appropriately and directing technical questions to the relevant group members.
• Song Rentou is identified as a major contributor to the cooling spell and as a talented Spirit Sect student.

Significant themes

• Romance through everyday intimacy: The massages, teasing, and role reversal show affection developing through routine and playful banter.
• Balancing ambition and daily life: Chen tries to fit cultivation, research, work, and personal relationships into an increasingly crowded schedule.
• Practical applications of cultivation: The traineeship emphasizes marketable civilian spells and the possibility of earning a living while pursuing cultivation.
• Recognition and collaboration: The review highlights how group work combines different strengths, while Chen’s unexpected credit marks a small step toward recognition.

Character interactions

• Chen and Ning tease each other throughout the massage, with Chen probing her motives and Ning responding dryly or withholding an answer. Their playful argument ends in a quiet exchange of care as they switch roles.
• During the presentation, the class monitor credits each member’s responsibilities, including Chen’s design work. The instructor rewards the group’s strong spell and polished presentation, while the class monitor handles questions by inviting knowledgeable teammates to respond.

Key events

• After an intimate night together, Ning Qing gets up early and leaves Chen Shu to change and wash the bedding. Chen Shu jokingly laments that she has become cold toward him now that their cultivation of Body Desire is complete.
• The little girl watches two sparrows in the persimmon tree and wonders whether they are the same birds she has known for years. Seeing Chen Shu hang out the bedding, she decides to wash her own as well, filling the rooftop with laundry.
• As Ning Qing begins cultivating Selfless Desire, Chen Shu returns to his university dormitory. He reunites with Meng Chunqiu, and their teasing shows how comfortable Meng has become with Chen Shu.
• Chen Shu receives the class’s internship arrangements and graduation-advisor information. He chooses Shi Qian, a familiar, patient teacher, as his advisor. Students may submit either a thesis or a Graduation Project.
• Chen Shu considers drawing on his work improving Thunder Magic or his research into the Tracer Technique for his graduation requirement. Both could be groundbreaking, but they involve sensitive military or secret research, so he cannot readily present them.
• Worried about the work ahead, Chen Shu tries to shift his anxiety to Meng, then warns Jiang Lai that a long thesis will be difficult alongside his studies and the Martial King Tournament. Jiang Lai begins to feel anxious too.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu and Ning Qing: Their relationship is affectionate but teasing; Chen Shu seeks more closeness, while Ning Qing is practical and self-possessed.
• Chen Shu and Meng Chunqiu: Their banter reflects a marked change in Meng, who has grown used to Chen Shu’s jokes and now plays along.
• Chen Shu and Jiang Lai: Chen Shu gives Jiang practical advice, inadvertently passing his own graduation anxiety on to him.
• The little girl: Her reflection on the sparrows suggests a quiet attachment to familiar things and the passage of time.

Significant themes

• Time and change: The sparrows, the nearing end of university, and the characters’ shifting relationships all emphasize how time passes.
• Intimacy and everyday life: Romance is shown through domestic humor and practical routines as much as through affection.
• Ambition versus constraint: Chen Shu’s research could make a major academic impact, but secrecy limits what he can share.
• Anxiety and procrastination: Graduation forces Chen Shu—and, by extension, Jiang—to confront looming responsibilities.

Summary

• Jiang Lai’s victory: Chen Shu and Meng Chunqiu watch Jiang Lai compete in the Martial King Tournament. Though ranked twentieth in the world and facing a much larger, eighteenth-ranked Barbarian fighter, Jiang spends most of the match defending and absorbing blows to temper his body. When his opponent attempts a decisive charge, Jiang meets it head-on with a burst of force from his Sun-Moon Runes and knocks him down. The crowd erupts, and Jiang wins.
• Jiang’s changing approach: After the match, Jiang says he has gained enough experience and popularity from fighting defensively. Since those bouts no longer help him improve much, he plans to fight more aggressively and give audiences more exciting matches.
• His path to advancement: Jiang expects to reach the Seventh Tier by year’s end. Because he has no Spirit Sea, he faces no Spirit Sea Lock; the Royal Family also plans to grant him and Yan honorary titles and supply the Otherworldly Beast Cores needed to accelerate their Breakthroughs.
• Final exams begin: Two days later, Chen arrives at his exam just before it starts and finds only a front-row seat. The paper is mostly basic multiple-choice and true-or-false questions, and he completes it confidently.
• A second exam: At Ling’an Academy, a little girl delays entering her exam room so she can think in peace. She arrives as papers are being handed out, finds the questions easy, but pauses over the final long-answer question.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Lai is increasingly successful: he has risen to the tournament’s top twenty, become a popular young competitor, and earned institutional support for his future advancement. His control during the match shows both his strength and his deliberate restraint.
• Chen Shu remains relaxed and irreverent, joking with Meng about appearances and later about Jiang turning the tournament into an exhibition. He is also confident about his exams.
• Meng Chunqiu admires Jiang’s rise and teases Chen in return. Their easy banter reflects their close friendship.
• Jiang discusses his plans openly with both roommates, who respond with curiosity and humor.

Themes

• Discipline and strategic growth: Jiang’s defensive match is purposeful training, but he recognizes when that approach has stopped helping and plans to adapt.
• Recognition and public spectacle: Jiang’s hard-won ranking and popularity make his success a shared event, while also prompting him to consider what spectators want to see.
• Power and privilege: The Royal Family’s access to rare Beast Cores highlights how resources and sponsorship can shape a cultivator’s advancement.
• Composure: Chen’s unhurried arrival and the girl’s preference for quiet thought both show characters handling exams in their own, self-assured ways.

Key plot points and events

• A student in the Artificial Life Engineering program takes her final exam. Instead of answering most questions, she uses the space for the last one to describe a breakthrough: repeatedly spiritualized Purple Spirit Crystal can support two-nanometer rune fabrication, making it a more powerful, stable, energy-efficient substrate than the current Joint Pulse driver.
• Professor Feng Jin reads her answer and realizes it may transform biomimetic-driver technology. He contacts Ning Ji to verify the discovery and plans to pursue a patent and public announcement if it proves genuine.
• Meanwhile, Jiang Lai’s recent victory over a Northern Continent martial artist has made him famous. His friends tease him with praise and suggest he could become Martial King, while he struggles to stay humble. Alone in the bathroom, he gives in briefly to searching for videos about himself, then deletes the app to protect his training.
• On June 6, Chen Shu finishes his final exam and attends a class farewell dinner. Afterward, he reflects that the gathering may be one of the group’s last ordinary moments together before graduation and their separate futures.

Character developments and interactions

• The student: Shows confidence and originality, willing to disregard the exam’s expected format to present a major technical insight. Her detailed answer also suggests trust in Professor Feng.
• Professor Feng Jin: Values inspiration alongside formal knowledge and sees teaching as a shared process. He responds to the student’s discovery with seriousness, curiosity, and delight.
• Jiang Lai: Balances growing pride in his public success with a sincere determination to remain disciplined. Chen Shu and Meng Chunqiu encourage and tease him, exposing the vanity he is trying to control.
• Chen Shu: Joins in the teasing of Jiang Lai, then later experiences the class dinner as a quiet, poignant farewell.
• Classmates: Their warm banter and goodbyes make clear their affection for one another, even as they recognize they may soon lose touch.

Significant themes

• Innovation and shared learning: Progress depends on bold ideas as well as expertise, and teachers and students can advance one another’s work.
• Humility amid recognition: Jiang Lai’s fame tests his self-discipline, even as his friends’ admiration makes his achievements difficult to ignore.
• The understated nature of parting: The class’s separation comes not through a dramatic farewell but through an ordinary dinner, emphasizing how relationships can quietly fade as people move on.

Plot points and events

• After his final exams, Chen Shu returns to the courtyard and talks with Ning Qing. He admits he is a little sad to leave his classmates, though the sadness seems tied more to the passing of his student years than to any particular friend.
• Ning Qing’s younger sister, Xiaoxiao, comes home late from working on a research project. She has one exam left and plans to continue working with her professor over break. Excited about a new technology she has patented, she boasts that she will soon be richer than Ning Qing. Ning Qing jokingly offers to keep her money safe; Xiaoxiao is outraged, but Ning Qing walks away before she can respond.
• The next morning, Chen Shu returns to the dorm while his friends Meng Chunqiu and Jiang Lai take their final exams. He packs most of his belongings but leaves his bedding behind so the room will not feel abandoned to Meng.
• A short-video announcement reports that a Ling’an Academy student has developed an improved Driver Rune Carrier. Chen Shu suspects the unnamed student is Xiaoxiao.
• Chen prepares a farewell meal for Meng and Jiang. Over dinner, they share a bottle of aged rice wine and discuss Jiang’s plans to rent near the research institute. Chen suggests he move to the same neighborhood, while Meng notes that Jiang may receive a house if awarded an Honorary Peerage. When Jiang suggests Chen could seek one too, Chen declines, quipping that he already lives off his girlfriend.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is reflective about graduating and considerate of his friends, especially Meng, whom he does not want to leave feeling alone in the dorm. His easy banter with Ning Qing and Xiaoxiao shows his familiarity with her family, while his final joke reinforces his relaxed dependence on Ning Qing.
• Ning Qing remains reserved and perceptive, understanding that Chen’s sadness is about the end of an era. She also teases and effortlessly frustrates Xiaoxiao by offering to manage her future fortune.
• Xiaoxiao is ambitious and proud of her research, anticipating that her patented discovery will make her wealthy. Her playful confidence clashes with her sister’s dry teasing.
• Meng Chunqiu takes pride in his old wine and offers practical insight into the rare Honorary Peerage system.
• Jiang Lai is anxious about his exam and uncertain about post-graduation housing, but he is preparing to begin work at a research institute.

Significant themes

• Graduation and the passage of time: Chen’s departure prompts reflection on youth, friendship, and the end of student life.
• Home and belonging: Chen leaves the dorm partly to preserve its familiar feel for Meng, while his life with Ning Qing has become his new home.
• Ambition and independence: Xiaoxiao’s research success and hopes for wealth contrast with her sister’s joking attempt to control her money.
• Status versus contentment: The prospect of an elite title and luxury home is treated as less important than Chen’s comfortable life with Ning Qing.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Shu and Peach say goodbye to Meng and Jiang after graduation, then return to the Small Courtyard.
• Chen Shu gives Ning Qing a warm crystal left by his first use of the Great Blazing Sun Art. She stores it safely after noting that its spirit-power radiation could affect ordinary creatures.
• While unpacking his belongings, Chen Shu decides what to keep, repurpose, or take home. As his possessions fill the house, Ning Qing realizes it is becoming a shared home.
• Ning Qing surprises Chen Shu by asking to hug him, despite still cultivating Selfless Desire. She explains simply that she wants to.
• Half a month into summer vacation, Chen Shu stays in the Jade Capital to cultivate and refine an automatic-defense version of the Tracer Technique. He continues testing it with help from Ning Qing and Zhang Suannai, though it remains too slow and unreliable against fast, multiple, or small attacks.
• Chen Shu visits the Spirit Sect to have his internship report stamped, borrows another book on Reverse Rune Studies, and flies back to the Jade Capital in an hour.
• At home, Chen Banxia surprises him with a JZ-300 gaming pod she bought with her new income—and has secretly bought three in total.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is affectionate, practical, and deeply attached to familiar belongings. He is pleased by Banxia’s gift and keeps working steadily on his spell research.
• Ning Qing remains emotionally restrained, but finds increasing joy in building a shared home with Chen Shu. Her choice to hug him signals a personal shift: she wants closeness even while Selfless Desire remains active.
• Chen Banxia enjoys her new freedom as a university teacher and is delighted to spend her earnings on her sister and brother-in-law. Her gift is partly loving and partly a playful attempt to make Ning Qing more indulgent toward her.
• Peach eagerly follows Chen Shu home and remains curious about the household’s activities.
• Chen Shu and Ning Qing share a quiet domestic rhythm: they organize his things together, tease each other about affection, and settle into life under one roof.

Significant themes

• Home and belonging: Ordinary possessions gradually turn the Small Courtyard into a home shared by Chen Shu and Ning Qing.
• Love beyond physical desire: Ning Qing’s happiness and wish to hug Chen Shu arise despite—or apart from—sensual desire.
• Care expressed through gifts and daily acts: Chen Shu gives Ning Qing the crystal; Banxia uses her new income to buy Chen Shu something he wants.
• Persistence and improvement: Chen Shu’s ongoing experiments show that technical progress takes repeated testing and refinement.

Plot points and events

• Chen Shu, Ning Qing, and Xiaoxiao move three new gaming pods into the Quiet Chamber and connect them through the household spirit network.
• They enter Ultimate Ancient Cultivator, a fighting game that imitates cultivator combat while simplifying its mechanics.
• In a three-player free-for-all on the Bamboo Sea map, Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao team up against Ning Qing. Ning Qing deftly evades their attacks, eliminates Xiaoxiao, and wears Chen Shu down from a distance, winning the round.
• They switch to team mode on the Northwest Devil City map. Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao face Ning Qing together, with Chen Shu choosing a close-combat sword class and Xiaoxiao a Traditional Sword Cultivator.
• Ning Qing uses the terrain and night to ambush Xiaoxiao, but Xiaoxiao’s stored Sword Lights weaken her. Chen Shu then defeats the injured Ning Qing, giving the alliance a win.
• Meanwhile, Peach returns to the Small Courtyard with a Chubby Sausage and realizes the house appears empty.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is eager to test the pods and chooses the games and maps. Though a formidable cultivator, his resistance to illusion makes the simulation feel less immersive. He plays alongside Xiaoxiao and adapts his class choice to support their alliance.
• Ning Qing remains calm and highly skilled, outmaneuvering both opponents in the first match and exploiting stealth and terrain in the second. Her composure contrasts with the younger players’ determination to beat her.
• Xiaoxiao enthusiastically joins Chen Shu against her sister. After being overwhelmed in the first round, she returns determined to improve, helping weaken Ning Qing in the rematch.
• Their playful rivalry becomes an “alliance against the demon queen sister”: Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao repeatedly cooperate against Ning Qing, while Ning Qing anticipates their tactics and turns them to her advantage.
• Peach is briefly separated from the others and searches the house when she finds it empty.

Significant themes

• The chapter centers on playful competition and family-like camaraderie, with teasing alliances and rematches replacing any serious conflict.
• It contrasts real cultivation with simulated combat: the game borrows classes and abilities from the real world but simplifies their workings for balance.
• Skill, strategy, and adaptation matter more than raw power: Ning Qing wins through precision and positioning, while Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao succeed together by changing tactics.

Plot points and events

• Chen Shu, Xiaoxiao, and Ning Qing play five rounds of a fighting game. Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao win three rounds, but Xiaoxiao is defeated gruesomely in every match.
• At dinner, Xiaoxiao reveals she bought three JZ-300 gaming pods with money she recently earned. Chen Banxia realizes Xiaoxiao bought Chen Shu the very model she had considered buying for him, and feels she has lost a chance to show big-sister care.
• Zhang Suannai explains that she quit food delivery because the solitary work became dull and took a nearby residential-security job instead. She hopes to keep changing jobs whenever she gets bored, perhaps becoming a skydiving instructor next.
• Ning Qing sets up automatic irrigation before the group leaves town, since her potted plants need regular watering. Two days later, Chen Shu, Chen Banxia, Ning Qing, Xiaoxiao, and the cat travel to Bai City for a stay of roughly ten days to half a month.
• They visit Ning Qing’s home and find her father, President Ning, there. He notices Chen Shu and Ning Qing holding hands, recognizes that their relationship has grown closer, but says nothing.
• On the walk home, Chen Banxia worries about the strained atmosphere between Ning Qing, Xiaoxiao, and their parents. Chen Shu suggests their distant manner may suit them better than forced warmth. Back at their own home, Chen Banxia is reassured by her parents’ familiar mix of warmth and indifference.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu and Xiaoxiao bond as gaming allies and quietly protect one another at dinner. Chen Shu covers for Xiaoxiao when Chen Banxia questions the gaming pods.
• Chen Banxia is both impressed by Xiaoxiao’s generosity and disappointed that she got there first. Her concern for her friends’ family relationships contrasts with her easy familiarity with her own parents.
• Zhang Suannai shows her restless, novelty-seeking nature: she leaves a job once it stops being entertaining and readily imagines another adventurous career.
• Ning Qing and Chen Shu’s relationship is visibly more intimate; their joined hands draw President Ning’s attention.
• Ning Qing and Xiaoxiao’s interactions with their parents remain cool and restrained, in contrast to their relaxed closeness with Chen Shu and Chen Banxia.

Significant themes

• Affection expressed through practical gestures: Xiaoxiao’s gaming-pod purchase is a concrete act of care, while Chen Banxia regrets missing the same opportunity.
• Different forms of family closeness: The chapter contrasts the Nings’ emotionally distant family dynamic with Chen Banxia’s more openly affectionate home.
• Independence and changing interests: Zhang Suannai treats work as an experiment, moving on when routine replaces curiosity.
• Quiet relationship change: President Ning’s silent observation of Chen Shu and Ning Qing’s hands signals that their bond has become noticeable without requiring direct discussion.

Key plot points and events

• At home, Lawyer Wei gives Chen Shu pickled bamboo shoots meant for Ning Qing, beef for the family to cook the next day, and watermelon for Chen Banxia.
• Chen Shu peels and tastes the shoots, then shares one with Banxia. Their teasing turns into a playful argument over who owes whom a treat. Their parents ask about their plans after the semester: Chen Shu and Banxia have both joined the Spirit Sect as outer disciples, and Chen Shu may continue studying or pursue research in the Jade Capital.
• The family debates how to cook the beef, with each suggesting a different ingredient.
• The next morning, Ning Qing’s younger sister eats breakfast with their parents, President Ning and Curator An. Their silence makes the girl uneasy. She reflects on her parents’ traumatic childhoods, their shared losses, and the hardship that brought them together, while wondering whether their marriage was founded on love.
• Seeing Ning Qing join the table comforts her. After breakfast, the girl and her sister take out the trash. Watching Ning Qing walk by, the girl studies her height, then notices her boots and realizes they may account for some of the difference.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Shu is playful and self-assured, treating his Spirit Sect membership as a practical substitute for an internship and remaining flexible about his future. His easy banter with Banxia shows their affectionate sibling rivalry.
• Banxia is pleased by her own accounting of their exchange: she sees Chen Shu’s bamboo-shoot peeling as evidence that he cares about her, even after he refuses to peel more.
• The little girl appears observant and increasingly secure as she grows older, but her comfort around her parents has not come from a warmer relationship. Ning Qing’s presence gives her a sense of ease.
• The girl’s parents remain distant at breakfast, and their silence contrasts with the close, teasing family dynamic in Chen Shu’s household.

Significant themes

• Family affection expressed through small acts: Food, teasing, and everyday favors reveal bonds more readily than declarations do.
• Trauma and emotional distance: Ning Qing’s parents’ shared history explains their guardedness, but does not resolve the younger girl’s doubts about their relationship.
• Growing up and security: The girl’s reduced fear of her parents reflects her own maturation more than any change in their behavior.
• Appearance and perception: The final height comparison humorously suggests that footwear, not just natural stature, may explain why Ning Qing seems so tall.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Qing arrives at the Chen family home with Peach. The familiar clutter, food, and household routines make the place feel more like a home to her than the courtyard where her parents live.
• The family discusses a new bicycle-only greenway beside Mirror Sea. Chen Shu jokes that his parents still do romantic things together, prompting laughter and an amused exchange.
• Lawyer Wei teases Chen Banxia about being nearly thirty, lazy, and unhelpful. Banxia tries to escape to the kitchen, but Wei points out that Ning Qing is already helping. At lunch, Banxia’s attempt to get Chen Shu in trouble over his choice of stew ingredients also fails.
• After lunch, Chen Shu, Ning Qing, and Banxia visit their former school, Seventh Talent Academy. A guard recognizes Chen Shu and Ning Qing and lets them enter.
• Walking through the quiet campus, they notice what has changed and what remains familiar. Chen Shu recalls his school days with Ning Qing, especially their playful routines in the classroom.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Qing is at ease in the Chen household. Her quiet presence and effortless closeness with Chen Shu suggest deep familiarity between them.
• Chen Shu and Ning Qing share a wordless understanding as memories resurface; a brief exchange of glances conveys affection and shared history.
• Chen Banxia is playful and easily flustered, but her family’s teasing leaves her with little defense. She and Chen Shu trade jokes throughout the visit.
• Lawyer Wei is sharp and authoritative at home, teasing Banxia and keeping her from shirking chores. Professor Chen remains absorbed in his phone during the family banter.
• Peach watches the adults’ laughter in confusion. The younger girl quietly observes the family, snacks, and conversations—and is dismayed to discover she has eaten yam chips, apparently violating her own “faith.”

Significant themes

• Home and belonging: The Chen house’s lived-in details create warmth and comfort.
• Shared history and nostalgia: Returning to school brings old memories vividly back, especially Chen Shu and Ning Qing’s everyday closeness.
• Family teasing and affection: Jokes and scolding provide a lively portrait of familiar family bonds.