Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• After crossing an unusual, sparse forest, Chen Siyao, Yang Wanqing, Chen Hao, and their animal companions reach an immense blue-green sea.
• The calm water is startlingly clear, the white sand is fine and warm, and the shoreline stretches beyond sight. Siyao records the discovery for viewers, who react with excitement.
• Wanqing eagerly wades into the shallows, joking that she is “spiritually” swimming. Siyao joins her briefly.
• Their delight turns to unease when they find no fish, plants, shells, or other signs of life—not in the shallows or along hundreds of meters of beach. Viewers and marine experts speculate about the sea’s chemistry, extreme conditions, or a predator, but no explanation is found.

Character developments

• Chen Siyao responds to the sea with quiet wonder, then shifts into careful observation when its emptiness becomes apparent.
• Yang Wanqing is initially playful and thrilled, but becomes concerned as she recognizes that the sea appears lifeless.
• Chen Hao stays inland with Fuzhu and Xiao Yue, observing while the others explore.

Significant themes

• Wonder and mystery: The sea’s beauty and vastness make it feel otherworldly.
• The limits of knowledge: Its scale and lack of visible life raise questions the travelers cannot answer.
• Beauty mixed with unease: The pristine landscape seems idyllic, yet its complete absence of life makes it unsettling.

Character interactions

• Siyao and Wanqing share the excitement of entering the water, with Wanqing teasing Siyao and joking for the audience.
• Their shared exploration leads them to notice the sea’s strange emptiness and discuss it.
• The livestream audience reacts to the discovery and offers scientific theories, adding a public perspective to the group’s observations.

Key plot points

• While exploring a barren coastline, Yang Wanqing and Chen Siyao spot a steady wisp of smoke rising from nearby hills—evidence of a controlled fire rather than a natural blaze.
• With Chen Hao, Xiao Yue, and their white deer mounts, they approach the source and find a small cave shelter. Roughly made bamboo water containers, stored firewood, a stone knife, sharpened wooden sticks, and a fire inside indicate that someone lives there.
• The discovery electrifies the livestream audience, whose numbers exceed 450 million. Researchers and viewers debate whether the inhabitant is intelligent and what its tools suggest.
• Yang Wanqing calls into the cave twice. No one answers, but footsteps move toward the entrance. The chapter ends as everyone waits to see who—or what—will emerge.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Wanqing is frustrated by the empty shore, then becomes eager and impulsive when she sees the smoke. Despite Chen Siyao’s caution, she approaches the cave and initiates contact.
• Chen Siyao remains observant and careful, recognizing the smoke as evidence of a maintained fire and assessing the objects as signs of deliberate habitation. She tries to restrain Yang Wanqing but joins her in examining the cave.
• Chen Hao follows calmly and agrees to investigate, but his slight frown at the cave hints that he may have reservations or notice something the others do not.
• The group’s discovery turns their casual exploration into a potential first-contact encounter, while the livestream audience watches and speculates alongside them.

Significant themes

• First contact and the unknown: The cave’s inhabitant could represent humanity’s first encounter with intelligent life in this world.
• Evidence of humanity: Fire, tools, water storage, and shelter distinguish purposeful life from ordinary wildlife.
• Curiosity versus caution: The prospect of discovery drives Yang Wanqing forward, while Chen Siyao’s hesitation underscores the risks of approaching an unknown resident.
• Public spectacle and scientific scrutiny: The livestream makes a private exploration a global event, blending excitement, speculation, and academic analysis.

Plot points and events

• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing discover that the person emerging from a cave is Fu Zhaojie, their fellow student from Blue Star. He has been stranded in this unfamiliar world for a month.
• Overwhelmed at finally seeing familiar people, Fu breaks down crying. He recognizes Chen Hao as a “High God,” while Chen Hao remains notably calm.
• Fu explains that he and his roommates went searching for a legendary legacy site on Yellow Mountain. Guided off the main trails, they found a hidden cave containing ancient murals of a white-headed, dog- or fox-like beast and the beast’s enormous skeleton.
• A pearl rested on a Jade Altar before the skeleton. When one of Fu’s roommates touched it, the pearl shattered and a black hole appeared above the bones. Inside it, the sun and moon rapidly alternated. The excerpt ends as Yang Wanqing reacts in shock.

Character developments

• Fu Zhaojie is revealed to be a stranded survivor rather than a stranger or alien. His account shows how he became caught up in the legacy-seeking trend despite being reluctant to follow the crowd.
• Chen Siyao shifts from surprise at recognizing Fu to calmly reassuring him and asking how he arrived.
• Yang Wanqing shares the shock of recognizing Fu and actively prompts him to continue his story.
• Chen Hao stays composed throughout Fu’s appearance, suggesting he may have sensed him before the others did.

Significant themes

• The sudden appearance of a familiar classmate makes the other world feel connected to Blue Star, raising questions about how people cross between worlds.
• The search for ancient legacies is dangerous: curiosity around mysterious relics can trigger forces no one understands.
• Relief and companionship stand in contrast to isolation, emphasized by Fu’s emotional reaction after a month alone.

Character interactions

• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing recognize Fu and address him as a classmate; he recognizes them in turn.
• Chen Siyao reassures Fu and guides his account with questions, while Yang Wanqing adds questions and reactions.
• Fu’s respectful recognition of Chen Hao establishes Chen Hao’s elevated status in this setting.

Key plot points and events

• Fu Zhaojie recounts how a black hole appeared in a mountain cave on Blue Star. It drew in wind, sand, and stones, swallowing two of his roommates before pulling him in as well.
• He awoke alone in a sea cave in the other world. A head-sized black hole remained on the wall, but he could not pass back through it. After hearing enormous, frightening cries from farther inside the cave, he fled and stayed on a nearby hillside.
• Online viewers speculate that a white-headed beast was a Tiangou and that it transported Fu Zhaojie. Chen Hao rejects this explanation but asks whether the black hole is still there.
• Chen Hao orders Fu Zhaojie to lead the group to the cave. Fu Zhaojie is afraid but agrees, steadied by Chen Hao’s calm presence.
• The group reaches the sea cave and descends through a damp, narrow passage. In the cavern where the black hole had been, they find only wet rock and natural cracks.

Character developments

• Fu Zhaojie reveals the trauma of losing his roommates and surviving alone for a month. Though still fearful, he finds the courage to guide the others back to the cave.
• Chen Hao remains composed and decisive, dismissing the Tiangou theory without explanation and directing the group toward the cave.
• Chen Siyao considers the black hole’s possible connection to Blue Star and investigates with the Recording Crystal.
• Yang Wanqing shares the group’s concern about what may be hidden in the cave.

Significant themes

• Survival and trauma: Fu Zhaojie’s scars, isolation, and fear show the lasting cost of the disaster.
• Mystery and competing explanations: Viewers interpret the event through mythology, while Chen Hao’s response suggests they may be mistaken.
• Courage through trust: Fu Zhaojie acts despite his fear because Chen Hao’s steadiness reassures him.
• Uncertainty and discovery: The cave may hold a passage between worlds, but the black hole has vanished, leaving the group with more questions.

Character interactions

• Fu Zhaojie recounts his ordeal to Chen Siyao and answers her questions about his missing roommates and the cave.
• Chen Siyao consults Chen Hao about the Tiangou theory; he rejects it and questions Fu Zhaojie about the black hole.
• Chen Hao insists the group investigate. Fu Zhaojie hesitates, then leads them, repeatedly checking that Chen Hao is following.
• Chen Siyao, Yang Wanqing, Chen Hao, and Xiaoyue accompany Fu Zhaojie into the cavern, where they discover the black hole is gone.

Key plot points and events

• Fu Zhaojie finds that the mark he remembered on the cave wall has vanished. Before he can explain, Chen Hao hears a growl from a deeper passage.
• The group follows the sound through a narrow, increasingly foul-smelling tunnel into a vast underground chamber, lit by faint blue-green rock.
• They discover a colossal beast with a tiger’s body, eight tails, and eight human-faced heads. An online researcher identifies it as Tianwu, the water god described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
• Four of Tianwu’s heads awaken and roar. Instead of focusing on the whole group, they fix their fury on Fu Zhaojie, suggesting a personal connection or past grievance.
• Chen Hao calmly tells Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing to retreat. Fu Zhaojie also scrambles behind them, while Tianwu charges Chen Hao with all eight mouths open.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao remains composed in the face of danger. He notices the cave’s unnatural silence, leads the group onward, and appears to recognize something about Tianwu’s reaction to Fu Zhaojie.
• Chen Siyao senses the danger and is uneasy about Chen Hao advancing alone, but obeys his order and pulls Yang Wanqing back.
• Yang Wanqing prepares to defend the group with her halberd and reluctantly retreats.
• Fu Zhaojie is terrified, yet follows the group into the chamber. Tianwu’s intense hatred toward him makes his past with the beast an immediate mystery.

Significant themes

• Myth confronting reality: A legendary creature from ancient Chinese mythology appears as a physical threat.
• The uncanny and the unknown: Tianwu’s human-like faces and unnatural form unsettle both the characters and the millions watching the livestream.
• Hidden history and foreshadowing: The vanished mark and Tianwu’s personal hostility toward Fu Zhaojie hint at a connection not yet explained.
• Calm amid danger: Chen Hao’s composure contrasts with the others’ fear as the confrontation begins.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao overwhelms a five-meter juvenile Tian Wu with repeated punches and kicks, relying only on physical strength. Despite severe injuries, the creature keeps getting back up and charging.
• The group wonders whether Tian Wu is acting out of hatred or behaving like the mindless demons they have encountered before.
• Tian Wu eventually stops attacking Chen Hao directly and gathers water into a powerful arrow. It feints toward Chen Hao but sends the attack toward Chen Siyao, Yang Wanqing, and Fu Zhaojie.
• Chen Hao cuts the arrow apart—and then bisects Tian Wu—with a swordless Sword Control Art, killing it instantly.
• After the fight, the group searches the cavern and discovers a large stash of colorful crystals near the rear hollow, apparently collected by Tian Wu.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao remains calm and controlled throughout. His prolonged barehanded assault appears to test Tian Wu’s toughness; when it threatens his companions, he ends the fight decisively.
• Yang Wanqing recognizes Tian Wu’s attack and tries to defend the others, but the arrow is too fast. She is stunned by Chen Hao’s precision and power.
• Chen Siyao understands Chen Hao’s technique, identifying it as the swordless form of the Sword Control Art he used previously.
• Fu Zhaojie is left speechless by the battle and collapses to the ground in shock.
• The observers’ scrolling comments shift from speculation about Chen Hao’s restraint to amazement at the final display of strength.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Chen Hao initially uses only physical force, then reveals a far more lethal ability when the others are endangered.
• Persistence and apparent madness: Tian Wu keeps attacking despite mounting injuries, but its feint shows that it can still assess danger and plan.
• Protecting companions: Tian Wu’s surprise attack raises the stakes; Chen Hao’s intervention prevents anyone from being hurt.
• Discovery after danger: The crystal hoard hints that the cavern may hold further value or significance beyond the battle.

Plot and events

• Chen Siyao, Yang Wanqing, and Fu Zhaojie search the underground cavern for the strange black hole Fu had seen, but find only glowstones, bones, and debris.
• The cavern begins violently resonating and collapsing. Falling rocks seal their route back, while cracks allow seawater to flood in.
• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing take shelter close to Chen Hao, and Fu Zhaojie hides behind them. Chen Hao forms a three-meter spiritual shield that deflects debris and keeps the group dry and breathing as the cavern floods.
• The shield carries Chen Hao, Chen Siyao, Yang Wanqing, Fu Zhaojie, and the wolf steadily up through the water. They emerge at the sea’s surface, standing on the shield as if on a transparent platform.
• A distant, powerful roar draws everyone’s attention to the dark mountain range on the horizon. Chen Hao studies it with unusual, assessing calm.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao protects the group with controlled, powerful spiritual energy. His composure reassures the others, though his focused attention on the mountains suggests he recognizes a possible danger.
• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing show their trust in Chen Hao by moving to his sides during the collapse rather than panicking. After escaping, Yang Wanqing marvels at the shield and tests its surface.
• Fu Zhaojie, frightened by the collapse, seeks safety behind the others.
• Chen Siyao notices the subtle difference between Chen Hao’s ordinary calm and his more deliberate, evaluative manner.

Significant themes

• Protection and trust: The group’s instinctive closeness to Chen Hao reflects their confidence in him.
• Cultivation versus technology: The livestream chat marvels at a spiritual shield accomplishing what ordinary technology could not.
• Uncertainty and looming danger: Their escape brings them into a vast, unfamiliar seascape, where the roar and distant mountains hint at a new threat.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing realize the “mountain range” approaching them is an enormous, moving Tianwu—so immense that its body forms the landscape and its heads rise into the clouds.
• The Tianwu speaks in human language, accusing the humans of entering its domain of Guixu and killing its son. It vows to slaughter humanity in the Nine Provinces as a blood sacrifice. Its voice alone injures Chen Siyao and overwhelms those nearby.
• Chen Hao opens a spatial gateway and orders Siyao, Yang Wanqing, Fu Zhaojie, and Xiao Yue to return to Blue Star.
• Though Siyao wants to stay, she understands she would hinder her brother. She promises she will wait for him to return, then leads the others through the gateway.
• The group emerges in the Bahrain Desert, where Director Fang Zhiyuan and armed personnel are waiting. Siyao refuses to leave the gateway’s location and sits down to await Chen Hao; the livestream continues, watched by 530 million people.

Character developments

• Chen Siyao remains composed in the face of overwhelming danger. She chooses trust over impulsive defiance, expressing her resolve by promising to wait for Chen Hao.
• Chen Hao shows an unusually solemn determination, signaling that the threat is more serious to him than the dangers he has faced before.
• Yang Wanqing is shocked and frightened but helps Siyao evacuate.
• Fu Zhaojie is paralyzed by fear until Siyao calls him to follow.
• Xiao Yue hesitates and looks back at Chen Hao before leaving, suggesting concern for him.

Character interactions

• The Tianwu directly addresses and threatens the human intruders, turning the encounter into a broader threat against the Nine Provinces.
• Chen Hao sends the others away, while Siyao answers with a quiet promise to wait for him rather than argue.
• Siyao takes charge of the evacuation, pulling Yang Wanqing along and urging Fu Zhaojie to move.
• Back on Blue Star, Fang Zhiyuan offers help and supplies. He accepts Siyao’s decision to remain at the fissure.

Significant themes

• Scale and vulnerability: The Tianwu’s unimaginable size makes human power and perception seem insignificant.
• Family loyalty and trust: Siyao’s decision to leave reflects faith in Chen Hao, while her promise to wait keeps their bond central.
• Duty versus helplessness: The characters must withdraw because they cannot meaningfully help against the approaching threat.
• A widening conflict: The Tianwu’s vow to target humanity raises the danger from a local encounter to a potential threat to the entire human world.

Key plot points and events

• During her livestream, Chen Siyao ends the broadcast after viewers react to Tianwu’s immense size, his threat to the Nine Provinces, and the possibility that he could attack Blue Star. She then waits in silence.
• At Guixu, Chen Hao faces Tianwu, the sea’s colossal eight-legged, eight-headed lord, who vows revenge for his slain son.
• Tianwu and Chen Hao recognize one another as peers: Tianwu has reached Dao Venerable True Body, while Chen Hao has reached Void Refinement and Dao Integration—different forms of cultivation that both embody the Dao.
• Tianwu attacks with his enormous paws. Chen Hao meets one with his expanding sword and manages to halt its descent.
• Chen Hao’s rapid sword strikes leave only superficial marks on Tianwu, whose Dao-infused body resists damage.
• Tianwu weaponizes Guixu’s seawater, forming a vast swarm of water dragons. Chen Hao cuts through some, but Tianwu keeps creating more.
• Chen Hao unleashes Myriad Swords Return to the Sect, summoning countless spectral swords from the sky. Tianwu forms a massive water shield, but the fourth wave breaks it, and dozens of swords pierce his body.

Character developments

• Chen Hao is revealed to be a top-tier cultivator whose power can match Tianwu’s. He stays composed under the pressure of Tianwu’s immense size and attacks, and escalates from swordsmanship to a large-scale sword technique.
• Tianwu is introduced as both a grieving father seeking revenge and a formidable Dao-level opponent. His body and control of the sea make him extraordinarily difficult to harm, though Chen Hao’s final attack begins to overwhelm his defenses.
• Chen Siyao remains silent and disengaged from the audience, choosing to end the livestream rather than address viewers’ fears or questions.

Significant themes

• Different paths to the same power: Body cultivation and qi cultivation reach the same Dao through distinct methods.
• The scale of power: Chen Hao’s ability to stop Tianwu’s paw and challenge a being of titanic size establishes the extraordinary level of the conflict.
• Nature as weapon and defense: Tianwu turns the sea into an arsenal and shield, while Chen Hao counters with a technique that draws on the sky.
• Public spectacle versus private action: Millions watch the livestream, but Chen Siyao cuts them off as the decisive battle continues elsewhere.

Character interactions

• Tianwu confronts Chen Hao over the death of his son, framing the battle as revenge.
• The two fighters recognize each other as equals, then test each other’s defenses: Tianwu attacks with brute force and water, while Chen Hao answers with sword strikes and a mass sword technique.
• Chen Siyao refuses to engage with her viewers, ending their access to the unfolding events.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao’s Samadhi True Fire engulfs the dried seabed and overwhelms Tianwu’s water-breath attack, but Tianwu’s golden Dao patterns let it endure the flames.
• Realizing ordinary attacks cannot defeat a creature whose Dao is fused with Guixu’s waters, Chen Hao puts away his sword and manifests a tiny, otherworldly point of light: the Way of Space.
• Space begins to distort around him. Air and sound vanish near the light, while black fissures spread across the sky and seabed.
• Tianwu recognizes the threat and shifts from aggression to caution. To strengthen its Way of Water, it calls the planet’s oceans back toward Guixu.
• As colossal waves converge, Chen Hao deepens his spatial attack. The fissures multiply across half the planet and appear directly beside Tianwu, bypassing distance.
• Tianwu responds by wrapping itself in immense layers of ocean water, empowered by its Dao, forming a formidable defense. The clash remains unresolved at the chapter’s end.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Hao demonstrates strategic judgment: when fire proves insufficient, he identifies the need to oppose Tianwu’s Dao with his own. His control of the Way of Space marks a major escalation in his power.
• Tianwu shifts from furious confidence to wariness after recognizing Chen Hao’s cultivation. It uses its intimate connection to Guixu to gather water and reinforce itself.
• Their interaction becomes a contest between two great ways: Tianwu’s water-based strength and home-ground advantage against Chen Hao’s power to alter space itself.

Significant themes

• Dao versus Dao: Mastery of a fundamental way can matter more than raw force or elemental attacks.
• The hierarchy of power: The chapter presents space, time, and karma as “upper ways” that govern the rules of reality rather than merely manipulating physical phenomena.
• Adaptation and escalation: Both combatants assess the other and respond with increasingly powerful techniques.
• Power’s limits: Even Chen Hao’s overwhelming spatial display has not yet defeated Tianwu, whose defenses are strengthened by its environment and Dao.

Key plot points and events

• Tianwu’s water defenses are progressively erased by Chen Hao’s spatial rifts. Rather than keep replenishing the water wall, Tianwu compresses it and charges through the rifts, sustaining severe wounds.
• The growing number of rifts destabilizes space, creating a voidstorm that tears apart much of the planet’s surface and surroundings.
• Tianwu survives the storm and begins swallowing matter, seawater, and even fragments of space. He compresses all the planet’s remaining seawater into a gigantic sphere of plasma-like energy.
• He launches the sphere at Chen Hao. Chen Hao calmly sends a tiny point of light through it; the sphere fractures and explodes, releasing enough force to blast apart the voidstorm and strip the surface of half the planet.

Character developments

• Tianwu shifts from defensive endurance to a desperate, all-in attack. He accepts immense bodily damage and internal strain, relying on his Dao of Water to keep regenerating.
• Chen Hao remains composed in the face of catastrophic destruction. His precise, seemingly minimal response defeats Tianwu’s overwhelming attack.

Significant themes

• Escalation and devastation: The battle transforms from a clash of techniques into planetary-scale destruction.
• Endurance versus precision: Tianwu uses overwhelming mass and force, while Chen Hao counters with a small, exact strike.
• The power and cost of cultivation: Tianwu’s Dao sustains his body, but his attacks demand extreme sacrifice and risk.

Character interactions

• Tianwu presses the attack directly against Chen Hao, enduring the rifts and voidstorm to get a decisive blow within reach.
• Chen Hao waits without retreating and answers Tianwu’s enormous sphere with a point of light that causes it to detonate.

Key events

• Chen Hao’s spatial singularity detonates inside Tianwu, erasing much of the enormous water-being’s body and leaving a vast void where it stood. Tianwu is defeated, and the resulting devastation reshapes much of the planet.
• Tianwu warns that the Nine Provinces will fall after Chen Hao dies. Chen Hao understands the threat: Tianwu can eventually reform as long as the Great Dao of Water endures, though rebirth may take thousands of years. Tianwu’s plan is to outlast him.
• Before leaving, Chen Hao finds a fist-sized Guixu Pearl in a seabed fissure. It contains highly condensed Water Dao essence and is a supreme treasure for body refinement, potentially helping him advance from the peak of the chaos battle body toward the indestructible battle body.
• Chen Hao stores the pearl and opens a Spatial Passage.
• Meanwhile, in the Bahrain Desert’s Rift, Chen Siyao waits for him. Yang Wanqing wonders whether he might get distracted exploring the Guixu world; Siyao trusts that he will return because he knows she is waiting.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao remains composed after the battle. He recognizes that defeating Tianwu physically has not ended the long-term danger, and he seizes an opportunity to further his cultivation.
• Tianwu meets defeat without rage, expressing confidence that time is on his side and that he may return.
• Chen Siyao shows steadfast faith in her brother. Yang Wanqing is restless and concerned, but accepts Siyao’s reassurance.

Significant themes

• Mortality and time: Even powerful beings face eventual limits, but Tianwu sees longevity as a weapon.
• Defeat versus final destruction: A body can be destroyed while its Dao preserves the possibility of return.
• Power and cultivation: The Guixu Pearl represents a chance for Chen Hao to overcome a major cultivation bottleneck.
• Trust and loyalty: Siyao’s certainty that Chen Hao will come back contrasts with Wanqing’s anxious speculation.

Key events

• Chen Hao returns safely after defeating the enormous Tianwu. He says it will not reappear for several thousand years, though Chen Siyao realizes this likely means it is not permanently dead.
• Siyao and Yang Wanqing ask whether they can return to the Guixu World. Chen Hao says they can train there whenever they reach a cultivation bottleneck; much of the world remains unexplored.
• The group spends the last day of the holiday sightseeing in the Western Regions, then flies home on the Three Blue Birds.
• Siyao guesses that Chen Hao found something valuable in the Guixu World because he is in a good mood. He postpones explaining until they are home.
• At home, Chen Hao takes out the Guixu Pearl and enters it, leaving the pearl hovering on the balcony. Xiao Yue searches the apartment for him, then settles beneath the pearl; the Three Blue Birds joins her.
• Inside the pearl, Chen Hao discovers that it contains multiple distinct realms. He begins in the lightning-filled Thunder Plains, then moves into a crushingly deep ocean, and finally reaches the Fire Domain.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao reassures Siyao with affection and confirms he can safely return to the Guixu World. His decision to enter the pearl alone suggests he intends to investigate or cultivate there privately.
• Chen Siyao is relieved to see her brother unharmed but remains perceptive and thoughtful: she recognizes the implication of the Tianwu’s delayed return and detects Chen Hao’s good mood.
• Yang Wanqing is enthusiastic about visiting the Guixu World again, especially to see “Little Mengmeng,” and eagerly plans both future training and their sightseeing day.
• Xiao Yue and the Three Blue Birds respond to Chen Hao’s disappearance by searching for him, then keep watch beneath the pearl together.
• Fang Zhiyuan briefly checks that Chen Hao has returned safely and lifts the alert.

Significant themes

• Threats and uncertainty: The Tianwu’s defeat offers relief, but its possible rebirth leaves a distant danger unresolved.
• Cultivation and discovery: The Guixu World is framed as a place for growth, while the pearl’s many realms open new possibilities for training.
• Family and companionship: Siyao’s concern, Wanqing’s excitement, and the animals’ search for Chen Hao emphasize their close bonds.
• A pause between dangers: The holiday sightseeing provides a light, domestic interlude before Chen Hao’s next solitary venture.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao enters the Guixu Pearl to temper his body in a region combining lightning strikes and crushing deep-sea pressure.
• His sister, Chen Siyao, and Yang Wanqing return home and find his note explaining where he has gone. They learn he is cultivating inside the pearl.
• For half a month, Chen Hao remains inside. Siyao and Wanqing carry on with daily life, while Xiao Yue waits beneath the pearl and Three Blue Birds comes and goes.
• The pearl’s light and Dao patterns accelerate, signaling a breakthrough. Chen Hao emerges, having reached the Indestructible Battle Body.
• After asking whether he is hungry, Siyao raises Tianwu’s warning about a threat to the Nine Provinces. Chen Hao says it is thousands of years away and they will deal with it when it comes.

Character developments

• Chen Hao advances his body cultivation to the Indestructible Battle Body. Though he gives off no obvious aura, his presence now suggests that his body itself has become a weapon.
• Chen Siyao remains observant and measured: she notices the deeper change in her brother and is concerned about the future threat to the Nine Provinces.
• Yang Wanqing is openly excited and envious of Chen Hao’s achievement, while keeping her playful, food-loving personality.
• Xiao Yue shows loyalty by waiting beneath the pearl throughout his absence; Three Blue Birds stays close to her.

Character interactions

• Siyao explains the Guixu Pearl and Chen Hao’s likely cultivation to Wanqing, who is curious but quickly shifts between gaming, studying, and planning food.
• Wanqing enthusiastically celebrates Chen Hao’s breakthrough and offers to order takeout.
• Siyao and Chen Hao discuss the distant danger to the Nine Provinces; he responds calmly, while she remains aware that the threat will eventually arrive.

Significant themes

• Endurance and transformation: extreme trials can forge a new level of strength.
• Devotion and companionship: Xiao Yue’s patient vigil reflects the bonds surrounding Chen Hao.
• Power and perception: Chen Hao’s breakthrough is conveyed not through a visible aura but through the sense of formidable physical presence.
• Facing the future: the Nine Provinces’ danger is distant, but not avoidable; Chen Hao chooses to meet it when the time comes.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao comforts Chen Siyao after she reflects on Tianwu’s prediction that she might live for thousands of years. She decides that this gives her time to become stronger.
• The next morning, Chen Siyao persuades Chen Hao to attend the opening ceremony of Pengcheng’s High Martial Arts School. Though he is its honorary principal and helped establish it, he has never visited.
• She appeals to his sense of responsibility—and to Yang Wanqing’s wish for him to take her to school—so he agrees.
• Chen Hao leaves Xiao Yue and Three Blue Birds at home, promising Xiao Yue a treat. The group sets out for the school, built on the former Pengcheng University campus. Wanqing describes its futuristic facilities, including robots and flying vehicles.

Character developments

• Chen Siyao moves from anxious thoughts about the distant future to a determined resolve to grow stronger. She also shows initiative and persistence in getting Chen Hao to attend.
• Chen Hao remains reserved and indifferent to public appearances, but gives in to his sister’s request and takes part in an important event connected to his work.
• Yang Wanqing is excited about the school and eager for Chen Hao’s company, while her playful, casual manner contrasts with the formal occasion.

Significant themes

• Long-term hope and personal growth: Siyao reframes an immense future as an opportunity to become stronger.
• Responsibility and commitment: Chen Hao is urged to support an institution he helped create, even if he dislikes publicity.
• Everyday affection: Family teasing, shared routines, and Chen Hao’s care for his pets ground the larger martial-arts world in domestic warmth.

Character interactions

• Chen Hao reassures Siyao, while she later playfully pressures him into joining her and Wanqing.
• Siyao and Wanqing prepare together, with Siyao helping fix Wanqing’s uniform.
• Chen Hao says goodbye to Xiao Yue and Three Blue Birds, then travels with Siyao and Wanqing toward the school.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao arrives at Pengcheng High Martial Arts with Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing, avoiding the crowded main entrance for a faculty gate.
• Security is handled by humanoid AI robots armed with real firearms. The gatekeeper identifies Chen Hao as the school’s honorary principal with the highest authorization; Siyao and Wanqing are recognized as newly admitted students.
• Chen Hao sees how radically the campus has changed: metal-clad buildings, enclosed skybridges, advanced surveillance or lighting devices, Penglai trees, driverless shuttles, and aircraft used to travel between buildings.
• Siyao and Wanqing head off to complete enrollment. Chen Hao goes alone to find his office, which Siyao has arranged in the main building.
• When he requests transport, a service robot verifies his identity and summons a personal aircraft. The chapter ends as he steps aboard.

Character developments

• Chen Hao is struck by the scale and technology of the modern campus, comparing it with his own school days, but remains composed and reserved. He prefers exploring alone.
• Chen Siyao confidently guides him around and has already arranged his office, showing her familiarity with the school and practical concern for him.
• Yang Wanqing is enthusiastic about the aircraft and campus innovations, contrasting with Chen Hao’s quieter reaction.
• The robots are presented as capable, polite, and integrated into everyday campus life.

Significant themes

• Change across generations: Chen Hao’s memories of ordinary school life highlight how dramatically education and technology have advanced.
• Technology and security: AI, automated transport, and armed campus guards make the school feel both futuristic and highly controlled.
• Adjustment and belonging: Chen Hao holds a prestigious position at a place he is visiting for the first time, while his companions begin their lives as students.

Character interactions

• Siyao explains the campus’s transport and technology to Chen Hao, while Wanqing adds her excitement.
• Chen Hao calmly declines Siyao’s offer to accompany him, reflecting his independence and her familiarity with his habits.
• He interacts politely with the service robot, which treats him with deference because of his status.

Key plot points

• Chen Hao arrives at Pengcheng High Martial Arts School’s Honorary Principal’s Office after the opening ceremony, taking in the school’s futuristic campus.
• He meets three teachers, including Ning Shu, a Special Affairs Bureau field-team member who recognizes Chen as the legendary “High God” and recalls seeing him during the Mount Lao and Penglai incidents.
• Chen asks about the students’ abilities. Of 14,000 students, one has an unprecedented 13.5% absorption rate: Yun Wanlan, a 19-year-old woman from an ordinary family in Western Guangdong.
• After learning her name, Chen spots Yun in the hallway as he heads to the elevator. Though he does not recognize her face, his senses identify her as the student with the exceptional rate.
• Chen arranges to meet his sister, Chen Siyao, and Yang Wanqing in the cafeteria. The two begin looking for him after the ceremony.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao remains composed and reserved, but Yun’s talent catches his attention. He quietly commits her name to memory and notices her presence.
• Ning Shu is visibly thrilled to meet Chen, speaks eagerly about the school’s student data, and asks for a photo for his admiring daughter. Chen agrees.
• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing search for Chen together. Siyao uses the school map on her phone, while Wanqing scans the crowd and asks where he might be.
• Yun Wanlan is introduced indirectly through her remarkable statistics and brief appearance, setting her up as someone Chen may take an interest in.

Significant themes

• Exceptional potential: Yun’s absorption rate surpasses anything previously recorded publicly, hinting at a new level of talent.
• The future of cultivation: The school’s technology, training facilities, and promotional imagery present martial arts education as modern and rapidly advancing.
• Recognition and reputation: Chen’s fame inspires awe, while he himself remains understated and focused on the people and abilities around him.

Key plot points and events

• Yun Wanlan, Pengcheng High Martial Arts’ other celebrated campus beauty, approaches Chen Siyao and asks to spar. With a 13.5% energy absorption rate and little formal training, Yun wants to test herself against someone she senses is similarly talented.
• Chen declines because she has an appointment with the principal and dislikes fighting. Yun accepts the refusal without hostility.
• Chen reflects that Yun might beat her if they had started from the same position: Chen’s own 15.3% absorption rate has been developed through her brother Chen Hao’s intensive training and resources, while Yun appears to have relied on natural affinity alone.
• Chen and Yang Wanqing go to the cafeteria, where Chen Hao is waiting. He already knows about Yun’s challenge and says she has considerable potential.
• Principal Zhou Dehai, vice principal Ji Yan, and Ning Shu join them. Ji asks Chen whether she has considered becoming a specially appointed teacher at the school.

Character developments

• Chen Siyao shows humility and self-awareness, recognizing that talent and training are different and admitting she is unsure she could beat Yun under equal conditions.
• Yun Wanlan is introduced as quiet, self-possessed, and sincerely driven to measure her abilities rather than provoke Chen.
• Yang Wanqing remains lively and curious, teasing Chen about her guarded answers and trying to understand her interest in Yun.
• Chen Hao appears perceptive and composed; his approval of Yun’s potential reinforces his role as an experienced mentor.
• Ji Yan renews his effort to recruit Chen as a specially appointed teacher.

Significant themes

• Talent versus training: Yun’s natural ability contrasts with Chen’s cultivated strength.
• Ambition and self-testing: Yun seeks a spar not for status or conflict, but to discover her limits.
• Humility and uncertainty: Chen does not assume her higher absorption rate guarantees victory.
• Privacy and restraint: Yun avoids publicity, while Chen is reluctant to explain her thoughts fully.

Character interactions

• Yun respectfully challenges Chen; Chen refuses without dismissing her, and the two leave the encounter on cordial terms.
• Yang probes Chen about Yun, while Chen gives only brief explanations.
• Chen asks Chen Hao for his assessment of Yun; he offers a concise endorsement.
• School officials show deference to Chen Hao, then Ji turns the conversation toward Chen’s possible teaching appointment.

Summary

The school proposes sending 100 students into the newly discovered Wutong Mountain Secret Realm for practical training. The Special Affairs Bureau’s survey found mostly C- and B-rank monster beasts, no demonic beasts or humans, and a variety of potentially valuable spirit plants. Chen Hao approves the plan but asks whether the realm’s contents have been verified.
Chen Siyao initially hasn’t decided whether to join; Yang Wanqing eagerly volunteers. Chen Hao agrees that both can participate, but says they should use a special channel rather than be grouped with ordinary students because of their superior cultivation. Siyao later confirms she’ll take part in the afternoon baseline assessment. Chen Hao declines to watch, confident that the expected monsters pose no danger to her, and leaves to look after the house and prepare roast goose.
After handling dorm-related errands with Wanqing, Siyao is summoned to Chen Hao’s office, where Principal Zhou Dehai, Vice Principal Ji Yan, and Ning Shu are also present. The administrators explain the secret realm’s features and the school’s plan to use it for tiered combat training. Siyao realizes they may be trying to recruit her to help organize the large exercise. The excerpt ends as Zhou begins listing the coordination work required.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Siyao is firm about refusing a teaching role, but agrees to the training exercise. She is practical, asking about humans and plants in the secret realm, and perceptive about Yun Wanlan’s intentions.
• Chen Hao is protective and decisive, trusting Siyao’s abilities while declining to supervise the assessment himself. His casual mention of making dinner shows their close, affectionate family bond.
• Yang Wanqing is enthusiastic about fighting monsters and relies on her friendship with Siyao, though her teasing and requests for help are met with Siyao’s dry humor.
• Ji Yan and Zhou Dehai seek Siyao’s participation and help in making the exercise run smoothly; Chen Hao’s presence gives their discussions added weight.
• Yun Wanlan is only discussed: Siyao believes she understands the limits of their relationship and won’t challenge her.

Significant themes

• Trust and protection: Chen Hao’s confidence in Siyao’s strength contrasts with his careful attention to her safety.
• Training and responsibility: The secret realm offers students practical combat experience, while its spirit plants add research value.
• Power and institutional needs: The school’s request hints that exceptional students may be expected to contribute beyond ordinary coursework.
• Friendship and humor: Siyao and Wanqing’s banter provides a light counterpoint to the formal planning.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Dehai and Ji Yan ask Chen Siyao to coordinate the school’s Wutong Mountain secret-realm trial. She objects, but Zhou explains that her status as Chen Hao’s sister would reassure everyone about student safety.
• Chen Hao confirms he believes she can handle the job—and admits the meeting is mostly a formality, since he has already planned for her role. Siyao accepts and agrees to revise the draft plan.
• The trial will involve 100 students selected from 14,000, divided into ten teams. Safety measures include monitored emergency wristbands, signal flares, drones, helicopters, and Special Affairs Bureau fighters. Chen Hao will secretly provide the final backup, so students remain alert.
• Siyao spends two weeks revising the plan seven times. School leaders approve nearly all of it, and staff praise its thoroughness.
• Selection proceeds in three stages: fitness tests, paired combat, and a simulated demonic-beast battle. Siyao explains that the final stage mainly tests students’ fear and willingness to act under pressure.
• The selected students include Tang Zhou, who places second, and Yun Wanlan, who places first. Seeing Yun’s name reminds Siyao of Yun’s earlier challenge. Team formation is scheduled for the following weekend.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Siyao shifts from reluctant freshman to capable coordinator, insisting on details about team assignments, scoring, emergency response, and backup protection. She remains blunt with Zhou and teasingly exasperated with her brother.
• Chen Hao supports Siyao while keeping his own involvement understated. His plan to attend covertly shows his protectiveness and concern that students not become careless.
• Zhou Dehai and Ji Yan rely on Siyao’s connection to Chen Hao, but also recognize her practical competence; their relief grows once she accepts.
• Yang Wanqing discusses the simulated trial with Siyao and admits she might be afraid, prompting Siyao to joke that Chen Hao’s presence would make her brave.
• Yun Wanlan’s top ranking brings her back into Siyao’s thoughts, reviving the unresolved question of how their abilities compare.

Significant themes

• Responsibility and competence: Siyao is pressed into a role because of her connections, but proves her value through careful planning.
• Protection versus self-reliance: The organizers build extensive safeguards, while Chen Hao’s hidden presence provides a final safety net without undermining student vigilance.
• Fear and courage: The simulated battle is designed to test not only physical skill but students’ ability to overcome fear.
• Competition and unresolved rivalry: The selection results set up future interactions, especially between Siyao and Yun Wanlan.