Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Cai Jingwen unveils Origin World, emphasizing that it is a real, independent world rather than a game, simulator, or VR experience.
• The system contains fifty instance worlds, each with its own environment, history, factions, NPCs, and storylines. Users enter at their real cultivation level, and their choices, skills, and risk-taking affect their progress. Time passes at the same rate as in reality; death imposes a one-year cooldown.
• Simulated sparring lets users train against tailored opponents or an exact copy of themselves, allowing them to study and correct their weaknesses. Users can also spar with friends or compete in the realm-based Training Pavilion rankings. The rankings currently cover realms up to the indestructible battle body; nirvana and higher are unavailable.
• Laboratory mode recreates real-world physical laws with atomic-level precision. Users can test martial arts, formations, pills, artifacts, talismans, and scientific experiments at no cost. Successful results can be reproduced in reality.
• Origin World also has a currency and commerce system: Origin World Coins are pegged one-to-one to Huaxia currency, and each account can open up to three stores to trade physical or virtual goods.

Character developments and interactions

• Cai Jingwen methodically presents the system’s capabilities, pausing to let the audience absorb especially consequential revelations.
• The audience reacts according to its members’ interests: a martial arts hall founder recognizes the value of fighting a copy of himself; Special Affairs Department official He Weiguang notices that the Training Pavilion excludes the highest realms; and research director He Weiguang is visibly focused on the laboratory announcement.
• Professor Liu, a veteran energy-materials researcher, is shaken by the prospect of unlimited, cost-free experimentation. A colleague notices his trembling hands and checks on him; he waves them off, overwhelmed by thoughts of the decades of research that might have gone differently.
• Entrepreneurs and tech executives recognize that Origin World’s pegged currency and immersive shops could create a major new economy and threaten existing online platforms.

Significant themes

• Risk and reward: Instance worlds offer different paths to advancement, but meaningful danger—including a year-long penalty for death.
• Training through self-knowledge: Fighting an exact duplicate turns personal weaknesses into something users can directly confront.
• Scientific transformation: Cost-free, repeatable experimentation could remove one of research’s greatest barriers and reshape innovation.
• Economic disruption: Origin World is not just a training or research tool; its currency and stores establish it as a potentially powerful commercial ecosystem.
• Hope and regret: Professor Liu’s reaction highlights both the promise of the technology and the lost opportunities of the past.

Key plot points and events

• Cai Jingwen concludes the Origin World presentation, outlining sales plans: only 10,000 units in the first batch, reserved for current High Martial Arts School students through a lottery. Broader sales will come later, once production increases.
• Three students demonstrate the system live. One fights an AI opponent in the Training Pavilion, while another enters a Primordial Era cultivation instance and battles a flying-sword practitioner. Their realistic movement, energy effects, and limited pain feedback convince the audience that the experience is genuine, real-time combat—not scripted animation.
• The demonstration ends with spontaneous applause. Guests quickly begin networking instead of heading straight to the banquet, eager to discuss the technology and its implications.
• At the banquet, attendees gather in small groups to consider how the Origin World may affect their institutions and future plans. Cai Jingwen remains busy in her office, anticipating the reactions below.

Character developments and interactions

• Cai Jingwen presents the product and its restricted launch with calm confidence, then leaves the audience to absorb its significance.
• The testers show that the system can reproduce combat convincingly. The young woman is visibly shaken and needs several seconds after removing her helmet to recover.
• Chen Siyao remains composed, taking notes during the event. When Qin Xiaoyu says she wants to enter the Origin World immediately, Chen tells her to wait.
• Qin Xiaoyu is eager to try the system, then turns to serious discussions with two school vice principals.
• Ying Wenjie and Wu Tian are surrounded by Special Operations Department officials seeking technical details; their connection to Chen Hao gives them influence beyond their formal ranks.
• Yang Wanqing, overwhelmed by the demonstration, asks Chen Siyao whether she is dreaming. Later, she approaches the withdrawn Ye Chendong and asks him to share a macaron; he quietly complies.
• Ye Chendong stays apart from the networking, eating pastries and observing the crowd.

Significant themes

• Technological transformation: The Origin World’s realism is presented as a leap beyond ordinary incremental progress.
• Scarcity and power: Limited initial supply makes access highly valuable and prompts institutions to consider their strategic position.
• Reality and simulation: The demonstration blurs the line between virtual experience and physical combat through lifelike movement, exertion, and pain.
• Ambition and adaptation: The guests’ immediate shift from celebration to negotiation shows how quickly they recognize that the technology may reshape their work and status.

Key plot points and events

• The Special Operations Department receives a batch of thirty Origin Worlds, while the High Martial Arts School asks when production will expand. Cai Jingwen estimates six months.
• Haoyue Si has twenty-three other requests pending, including government letters from fourteen countries. Cai declines them all, citing limited production capacity.
• At Treasure Sky City, Chen Hao’s five disciples—Ying Wenjie, Qin Xiaoyu, Wu Tian, Ye Chendong, and Yang Wanqing—try their Origin Worlds. They are absorbed in the experience for around forty minutes.
• Qin Xiaoyu describes a Guixu World battle in which an enemy’s precise counters forced her to improvise. Ying Wenjie predicts that the training could triple his cultivation progress, though Chen Hao cautions that its benefits will diminish as they become accustomed to combat.
• Chen Hao reviews each disciple’s coursework, spotting subtle errors in their talismans, formations, and pills. He tells Yang Wanqing that a week of slacking erased half her recent progress and instructs her to make it up next month.
• Ye Chendong orders a carefully planned dinner that accommodates everyone’s tastes. The group eats and talks more casually than they did at the launch event.

Character developments and interactions

• Cai Jingwen handles demand pragmatically, using a truthful capacity shortage to refuse requests without creating grounds for dispute. The dean’s subdued reaction suggests the six-month wait matters to the school.
• Chen Hao remains a demanding but attentive teacher: he explains the limits of the new training tool, diagnoses each disciple’s technical mistakes, and holds Yang Wanqing accountable for her lapse.
• The disciples are energized by the Origin Worlds, but their responses differ: Ying Wenjie is decisive and focused on measurable gains; Qin Xiaoyu is struck by the need to adapt; the others quietly reflect on the experience.
• Yang Wanqing acknowledges her lack of discipline rather than making excuses.
• Ye Chendong shows attentiveness through his thoughtful meal order. Wu Tian notices and responds by filling his teacup. Qin Xiaoyu and Chen Siyao discuss school matters efficiently, showing an established working rhythm.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and responsibility: Haoyue Si must ration a valuable new product amid broad institutional demand.
• Learning through challenge: Combat training promotes improvisation, but repeated practice brings diminishing returns.
• Discipline and incremental progress: Small technical errors can impede advancement, while even a short lapse can undo hard-won gains.
• Care expressed through practical gestures: The disciples’ attentiveness to one another helps create a relaxed, close-knit atmosphere.

Plot points and events

• At dinner, Yang Wanqing asks Chen Hao about the rules for Origin World instances. He explains that dying in an instance means waiting a year to try again, so players should heed the system’s difficulty rating.
• The group disperses: Ying Wenjie, Qin Xiaoyu, Wu Tian, and Ye Chendong leave for a mission. Qin Xiaoyu also asks about using Origin Worlds as teaching aids; Chen Hao directs her to Cai Jingwen.
• Yang Wanqing describes testing an advanced AI opponent in the Training Pavilion. Despite fighting at a lower level, the AI learned her habits quickly and adapted its counters. Chen Hao calls this basic training and says he has already tried the advanced AIs himself.
• As the household settles for the night, Chen Hao and Chen Siyao discuss preparations for Origin World’s first sale. Server capacity has been tripled for the release of 10,000 units.
• The next morning, Cai Jingwen oversees the sale from Haoyue Si’s operations center. More than five million people are online when the sale opens at 10 a.m. The servers strain under the demand, but emergency backup clusters come online before the load reaches the critical limit. The passage ends two minutes into the sale.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Wanqing is curious about the risks of instance play and impressed—if unnerved—by the AI’s ability to adapt. Her playful teasing and laughter provide a relaxed counterpoint to the pressure surrounding the sale.
• Chen Hao is blunt and practical, emphasizing personal responsibility in choosing instance difficulty. He also shows confidence in the Training Pavilion and the company’s preparations.
• Chen Siyao quietly studies the reactions and connections made at the launch event, suggesting she is attentive to business and political undercurrents. She trusts the preparations enough to sleep soundly before the sale.
• Cai Jingwen takes charge of the launch operations, questioning optimistic forecasts and responding decisively when demand exceeds expectations.
• The household’s familiar, teasing exchanges contrast with the engineers’ tense coordination during the high-stakes sale.

Significant themes

• Risk and responsibility: Players must make informed choices rather than blame the system for entering dangerous instances.
• Adaptation and training: The AI’s rapid analysis shows how demanding the Training Pavilion is—and how much growth it may offer.
• Technology under pressure: A wildly popular product tests whether careful preparation can withstand real-world demand.
• Anticipation and scale: The sale’s enormous audience establishes Origin World as a phenomenon, while its outcome remains unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• All 10,000 Origin World units were allocated through a lottery, with 5.3 million people competing. The launch drew enormous attention, and customer-service inquiries quickly surged as people asked about future batches.
• The selection results sparked a social-media frenzy. Unbound helmets could be resold before activation, and prices climbed sharply—reaching an average of 3.2 million. Only 47 of the 10,000 units were sold.
• Most selected buyers kept their helmets, viewing Origin World as a cultivation tool rather than an ordinary device. One student sold his unit to cover the costly treatment of his gravely ill father; commenters responded with sympathy rather than criticism.
• A week later, Magic City High Martial Arts student Liao Fan eagerly awaited his delivery, skipping classes because he could not focus. A drone delivered the helmet and accompanying Holographic Projection Wristband.
• Liao Fan activated the wristband and discovered it could open and close its holographic interface through thought alone, with virtually no delay.

Character developments

• Cai Jingwen manages the intense public response and follows Chen Hao’s instruction to give consistent, cautious answers about future batches.
• Liao Fan is shown as impatient and excited about receiving Origin World; his reaction to the wristband reveals his immediate amazement at its advanced interface.
• The student who sells his helmet faces a painful choice between a rare cultivation opportunity and his father’s urgent medical costs. The story presents his decision without shaming him.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and public hype: Competition for a limited supply turns the launch into a major cultural event.
• Cultivation as practical advantage: Buyers see Origin World as a way to advance in cultivation, making early ownership especially valuable.
• Money and difficult choices: The resale boom contrasts with the financial hardship that drives one student to sell.
• Technology and consciousness: The wristband’s thought-controlled interface suggests a new, unusually direct relationship between people and devices.

Character interactions

• Cai Jingwen reports to Chen Hao that the lottery has ended without server failures and relays the expected time for announcing results.
• Online users react to selected buyers with envy and escalating resale offers, while company procurement staff seek units through student networks.
• The student seller calls home after receiving payment; online commenters offer encouragement and reassurance.
• Liao Fan interacts with the delivery system through identity verification, then tests the wristband by opening and dismissing its interface with his thoughts.

Plot and events

• Liao Fan discovers that his new wristband is controlled by thought. In minutes, he transfers his old apps and personal accounts without moving a finger.
• Curious about the Origin World, he puts on its helmet and creates an account under his real name.
• He explores the system’s features: the Lingxi assistant, social profile, cultivation information, shop, laboratory, rankings, and AI-based Training Pavilion. The world is already attracting users and sellers, though few matches are underway.
• At Lingxi’s suggestion, he takes an assessment match against a speed-focused opponent at his own cultivation level. The combat feels strikingly real, with physical sensations and pain at roughly thirty percent intensity.
• The AI learns Liao Fan’s predictable attack pattern, earning him a C+ assessment. After Lingxi identifies the flaw, he varies his timing and rhythm, lands three punches, and wins a second match.

Character development

• Liao Fan is curious and methodical: rather than immediately entering a specialized activity, he surveys the platform’s functions first.
• His first match exposes a tactical weakness—he changes direction at predictable intervals—but he adapts quickly once he receives feedback.
• He treats the experience as more than a game, recognizing the realism of its movement and combat.

Character interactions

• Lingxi appears as a small black cat with a soft, androgynous voice. It offers to track Liao Fan’s habits and weaknesses, recommends an assessment match, and provides practical coaching.
• Liao Fan cooperates with Lingxi’s guidance, using its analysis to improve against the AI opponent. The AI, in turn, adapts to his fighting patterns.

Significant themes

• Technology and immersion: Thought-controlled interfaces and realistic simulated combat blur the line between virtual and physical experience.
• Learning through feedback: The AI exposes Liao Fan’s habits, while Lingxi helps him turn that information into improvement.
• A growing virtual society: Shops, social features, rankings, and laboratories suggest the Origin World is developing into a broad community, not merely a combat game.

Key plot points and events

• After two successful AI sparring sessions, Liao Fan enters ranked matchmaking and faces Green Mountain, a late-stage Body-Tempering fighter wielding a short blade.
• Liao Fan loses the first round to Green Mountain’s fast, unpredictable attacks. Lingxi advises him to be less passive, create distance, and use his reach and kicking skills.
• He applies that advice in the second round, keeping the blade fighter at range and knocking the weapon from his arm before finishing with a punch. He loses the third round in a narrow alley, where the confined space limits his kicks, and finishes with a 1–2 record, ranked thirty-first in his bracket.
• After discovering that seven hours have passed and realizing he skipped lunch, Liao Fan researches instance worlds. He learns that high-risk worlds can be dangerous, death brings a one-year cooldown, and lower-risk worlds offer slower gains.
• He chooses the medium-risk Thirty-Three Heavens: Primordial Era Immortal Cultivation Civilization instance and enters. He awakens in a well-furnished old-fashioned room, dressed in a fine brocade robe.

Character developments

• Liao Fan shows growing adaptability in combat: he learns from his first-round defeat and changes his strategy for the second.
• Though initially frustrated by his loss, he is pleased with his first ranked result and remains eager to explore the Origin World.
• He makes a cautious, informed choice about his first instance rather than gambling on a high-risk world.

Character interactions

• Liao Fan and Green Mountain: Their match exposes the contrast between Green Mountain’s erratic, vital-targeting blade style and Liao Fan’s reach and kicking advantage.
• Liao Fan and Lingxi: Lingxi gives practical advice after the first-round loss, which Liao Fan successfully applies.
• Liao Fan and the online community: Guides and commenters help him understand instance risks, spawn locations, and the potential uses of safer worlds.

Significant themes

• Adaptation through defeat: Liao Fan turns a loss into a tactical adjustment.
• Preparation and risk: Research and caution matter when choices carry lasting consequences.
• Immersion and realism: The Origin World’s passage of time and convincing environments blur the line between virtual experience and ordinary life.

Key plot points and events

• Liao Fan enters the Origin World instance as a sixteen-year-old mortal, though in reality he is in the late Body-Tempering Realm. The instance converts his real cultivation into a Medium talent rating, meaning he must cultivate from scratch.
• He wakes in the role of the Liao family’s third son. A lively maid explains that the Star River Sect is recruiting disciples and that his family has secured him a recommendation.
• Traveling with his in-world father, Liao Fan observes a richly detailed setting where people—farmers, children, and cultivators alike—behave naturally, making the NPCs seem genuinely alive.
• Over three days inside the instance, he passes the sect’s first two recruitment rounds, ranks among the top ninety candidates, and joins the Star River Sect’s outer sect. He receives a private cultivation room and a basic manual.
• After eleven hours in the instance, he exits to find that his real body has rested through the night. He feels unusually refreshed but hungry, realizing that higher-realm cultivators may be able to remain in the instance much longer.
• Online discussion shows the Origin World’s growing popularity: users share guides, marketplace profits, combat improvements, rankings, and strategy groups. Liao Fan’s roommates ask about his experience, and he hints that it has revealed a new possibility for his future.

Character developments and interactions

• Liao Fan shifts from confusion about his unfamiliar identity to curiosity and active observation. His experience shows him that the instance offers more than entertainment: it provides a parallel route for growth, despite resetting his cultivation.
• The maid treats Liao Fan with familiar concern, briskly choosing his clothes and explaining the family’s plans.
• Liao Fan’s in-world father accompanies him to the sect recruitment, reinforcing the importance the family places on his opportunity.
• The roommates approach him after his first session, eager to hear how the Origin World works. His thoughtful response suggests the experience has affected how he views his prospects.

Significant themes

• Second chances and potential: The instance turns existing cultivation into talent, giving users a fresh path to develop.
• Reality and artificial life: The convincing behavior of the NPCs blurs the boundary between simulated and real people.
• Unequal opportunity: Better talent and higher cultivation may provide greater advantages, while the virtual world also creates new avenues for progress.
• Changing society: The online trends and discussions show the Origin World rapidly reshaping training, competition, and everyday ambitions.

Plot points and events

• Liao Fan tells his three roommates about entering the Thirty-Three Heavens instance and becoming an outer disciple of the Star River Sect. He is impressed by how lifelike its NPCs seem, though hunger follows him back into the real world.
• At breakfast, he sees that the Origin World has become a global sensation. Online, some players are developing romantic feelings for NPCs; Liao Fan insists he enters only to cultivate, though he admits a senior sister is attractive.
• With a one-year cooldown encouraging caution, Liao Fan plans to seek a secret realm during his next visit.
• In the United States, the president demands results from a team investigating an Origin World helmet. Researchers report that its circuitry has an unfamiliar three-dimensional structure, its operation is beyond their understanding, and some components disintegrated when exposed to air.

Character developments and interactions

• Liao Fan remains focused on cultivation but is increasingly absorbed by the instance’s realism. His roommates tease him about the NPCs, especially the attractive senior sister.
• The players and online commenters show how quickly the technology is changing people’s expectations of relationships, with some treating NPC affection as emotionally meaningful.
• The US research team is unable to explain or reproduce the helmet’s technology. The president’s frustration grows as he confronts their lack of progress; Professor Hals and researcher Kevin Chen can only describe how little they understand.

Significant themes

• Reality and artificiality: NPCs may be code, but their lifelike behavior can provoke genuine emotional responses.
• Technological imbalance and mystery: The Origin World’s technology appears far beyond conventional science and resists investigation.
• Caution versus temptation: Players face a long cooldown, yet the instance worlds’ appeal continues to spread.
• Status and access: Owning a helmet is both a costly privilege and a visible social marker.

Key plot points

• The United States realizes that Huaxia’s cultivation technology is widening the gap between them. Although some devices have reached the U.S. through black-market channels, they are scarce and cannot prevent American Evolvers from falling behind.
• Faced with Huaxia’s growing lead—and the emergence of the Origin World—the U.S. president formally proposes a Human Alliance, reversing years of American opposition.
• The proposal quickly becomes a global news story. Public discussion centers on whether the alliance can unite humanity and how its influence would be divided, with Huaxia expected to hold the largest share.
• At the Treasure Sky City apartment, Yang Wanqing learns that her master, Chen Siyao’s brother, has begun a long cultivation retreat using the Guixu Pearl. He may be gone for six to ten months.
• Yang Wanqing admits she is unsettled not because she fears being left unsupervised, but because she is used to having him around. Chen Siyao says long periods of seclusion will become normal as Evolvers grow stronger.
• The two discuss the Human Alliance. Chen Siyao believes it will probably be established because future advances—and humanity’s expansion into space—will require cooperation among nations.

Character developments and interactions

• The U.S. president shifts from resisting Huaxia’s influence to accepting that cooperation may be the only way for the United States to keep pace.
• Yang Wanqing reveals her emotional attachment to her master through her discomfort at his absence.
• Chen Siyao offers a pragmatic perspective on both cultivation and global politics, while quietly using the same reasoning to reassure herself about her brother’s long absences.
• The two young women move from discussing a personal absence to the larger question of humanity’s future, connecting their private lives with the chapter’s political developments.

Significant themes

• Changing global power: The rise of Evolvers has made conventional military strength less decisive and elevated Huaxia’s influence.
• Cooperation versus national rivalry: The Human Alliance may be necessary for humanity’s survival and progress, but disputes over power-sharing remain.
• The cost of advancement: Greater cultivation brings longer periods of isolation, requiring loved ones to adapt to absence.
• Humanity’s shared future: The possibility of becoming an interstellar civilization makes global unity increasingly important.

Plot and events

• Chen Siyao explains to Yang Wanqing that a Human Alliance is likely necessary to coordinate interstellar expansion and shared resources. It would sit above national governments rather than replace them, though countries will likely argue over influence and authority.
• They discuss plans for a lunar robot factory, which could restore regular travel between the moon and Blue Star. That would let Yun Wanlan visit, exciting Yang Wanqing, who imagines showing her Pengcheng, Huaxia, and its food and attractions.
• Meanwhile, inside the Guixu Pearl, Chen Hao completes seven months of extreme body tempering and reaches the peak of the Indestructible Battle Body. The earth core profound ice marrow continuously heals the damage, allowing him to temper without breaks.
• Chen Hao knows the next body-cultivation stage, Nirvana, requires integrating a Great Dao—but he has already integrated the Spatial Great Dao through qi cultivation. Traditionally, attempting to integrate a second Dao causes both to repel and the cultivator to die.
• To consolidate his new strength, he enters the Endless Fire Domain. There, he notices that his body’s expected resistance to another Great Dao—the Way of Fire—seems weaker than it should be.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Wanqing is openly enthusiastic and affectionate about Yun Wanlan’s anticipated arrival, while Chen Siyao remains calm and gently tempers her excitement.
• Chen Siyao gives Yang Wanqing a pragmatic explanation of the Alliance and the likely return of moon travel; their relaxed conversation contrasts with Chen Hao’s intense cultivation.
• Chen Hao reaches a major physical milestone, but the unusual response to fire suggests that the ancient prohibition against cultivating with two Great Daos may not apply to him in the usual way.

Significant themes

• Cooperation amid national differences: A shared future requires coordination, even if political bargaining complicates it.
• Progress through technology: Robotics and improved lunar transport may reconnect distant communities.
• Perseverance and support: Chen Hao’s breakthrough depends on enduring repeated bodily destruction, made possible by the marrow’s restorative power.
• Limits and possibility: Chen Hao’s discovery challenges a supposedly irreversible rule of cultivation and raises the possibility of combining body and qi paths.

Key plot points and events

• While cultivating in the Guixu Pearl, Chen Hao discovers that the Way of Fire can now coexist briefly with the Spatial Great Dao inside his body. Their fundamental repulsion has weakened, though pushing the Fire Dao too far still triggers dangerous warning signs.
• He identifies Flame Spirit Stones—new ores that appeared after Blue Star’s mysterious resurgence—as the likely reason. Their energy leaves behind a medium that reduces the conflict between Great Daos.
• A Flame Spirit Stone helps him draw the Way of Fire farther into his body, but not enough to safely integrate it. Chen Hao concludes he needs a more potent resource: flame spirit marrow, and ends his cultivation to search for it.
• Back in the real world, he learns that the cargo passage between Blue Star and the moon has opened, while the passenger passage is expected to open the following month. The government is preparing plans for identifying and resettling Sushen tribespeople from the moon.
• Chen Hao leaves the decision to his sister, Chen Siyao, telling her to handle the matter as she sees fit.

Character developments

• Chen Hao makes a breakthrough in understanding how he might advance beyond his previous body-refinement limits. He remains cautious, stopping when his body signals that further progress could be catastrophic. He is also content to entrust practical affairs to his sister.
• Chen Siyao is taking an active role in policy planning and appears capable of managing sensitive government matters. She has missed her brother during his seven-month cultivation retreat.
• Qin Zheng has matured into a composed deputy minister, shaped by a demanding workload. He knows Chen Hao’s habits and expects him to defer matters his sister can handle.
• Yang Wanqing is openly affectionate and enthusiastic, greeting Chen Hao as her master and immediately remarking on his long absence.

Character interactions

• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing greet Chen Hao eagerly when he emerges from the study; Siyao takes his wrist, while Wanqing rushes over with concern and excitement.
• Qin Zheng formally consults Chen Hao about the Sushen tribespeople, given Chen’s connection to Yun Wanlan and the Yun Tribe.
• Chen Hao responds by trusting Siyao with the decision, and Qin Zheng accepts this without surprise.

Significant themes

• The limits of cultivation—and the possibility of surpassing them: Chen Hao’s discovery challenges the old belief that integrating one Great Dao permanently prevents another.
• Adaptation to a changed world: New resources and the opening lunar passage create opportunities as well as new social and political responsibilities.
• Trust and delegation: Chen Hao’s confidence in Siyao reflects both their family bond and her growing competence.
• Power balanced by restraint: Chen Hao pursues a dangerous breakthrough but stops when the risk becomes too great.

• Chen Hao reaches the peak of the Indestructible Battle Body but has not yet found a path to advance. His current priority is locating flame spirit marrow, which he suspects lies deep inside Flame Spirit Stone veins.
• Qin Zheng reports that Huaxia has accepted a U.S. diplomatic note concerning the proposed Human Alliance, with a preliminary framework expected the following week. Chen Hao shows little interest, leaving political matters to others, though he asks whether the country’s Flame Spirit Stone mines have revealed anything like the marrow.
• Chen Siyao checks with the Resources Department and learns that twelve veins are being developed, but none has yielded a chalcedony-like substance. The nearest major site is Mount Luofu, so Chen Hao decides to investigate it. Yang Wanqing eagerly joins, excited both by the trip and by the mountain’s historical attractions.
• The group travels from Treasure Sky City aboard a new business aircraft supplied by Pengcheng High Martial Arts. En route, Yang Wanqing observes how much Pengcheng has changed: organized air lanes now carry private aircraft, public flying buses, delivery drones, and personal flying boards. Chen Siyao explains that low-altitude passenger routes have improved commuting efficiency.
  Character developments and interactions: Chen Hao remains reserved and focused on cultivation, while Yang Wanqing is curious, enthusiastic, and eager to accompany him. Chen Siyao is practical and composed, handling research and logistics and gently teasing Yang Wanqing. Their easy banter contrasts with Chen Hao’s single-mindedness; Yang Wanqing also hints that Chen Siyao may be one of the few things he cares about.
  Themes: The chapter contrasts personal cultivation with large-scale political change, showing Chen Hao’s indifference to the Human Alliance. It also emphasizes technological transformation: Pengcheng’s new aerial transport system reflects how society is adapting to the mysterious resurgence and its resources.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao, his apprentice Yang Wanqing, and Chen Siyao travel by aircraft from Pengcheng toward Mount Luofu. During the flight, they try artificially produced beef, which tastes remarkably like natural meat. Chen Hao recognizes that cheaper artificial food could transform interstellar logistics by allowing food production beyond Blue Star.
• On a nearby aircraft, actress Du Ling spots the school aircraft and wonders if Chen Hao is aboard. Her friend Lin Jiaxing suggests it is probably a school official, since Chen Hao has been in seclusion.
• The group arrives at Mount Luofu, where a military-secured mining site surrounds a major Flame Spirit Stone vein. Resource Department official Qiao Yue greets Chen Hao and begins explaining the mine’s history, including its connection to an inheritance incident at Chongxu Ancient Temple.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao remains reserved, but thinks strategically about how technological advances such as artificial food could reshape society.
• Yang Wanqing is enthusiastic about the food and the journey, teasingly encouraging Chen Hao to eat and eagerly observing the mining site. Chen Siyao balances her excitement with practical explanations.
• Du Ling has become a celebrated star, yet she is uninterested in the wealthy suitors pursuing her. Her thoughts remain fixed on Chen Hao, whom she regards as far beyond her reach. She cuts off Lin Jiaxing’s attempt to discuss him, then privately admits her feelings through a sigh.
• Qiao Yue takes on the role of guide, formally welcoming Chen Hao and introducing the mine.

Significant themes

• Technological change and social transformation: Affordable artificial food could remove a major barrier to space development.
• Longing and distance: Du Ling’s fame and options have grown, but her admiration for Chen Hao leaves others seeming insignificant.
• Power and infrastructure: The heavily guarded Flame Spirit Stone mine illustrates the strategic importance of rare resources and the state’s control over them.

Key plot points and events

• Qiao Yue explains that Ge Hong’s inheritance descended at Chongxu Ancient Temple two years earlier, granting young local Zhong Zhenyu a dramatic rise in cultivation. The energy surge that accompanied the inheritance led investigators to discover a flame spirit stone vein beneath the temple.
• The group visits the temple, where Yang Wanqing examines a stele recording Ge Hong’s alchemical insights.
• They enter the restricted mine and descend through increasingly energy-dense levels. Mining robots extract and sort the ore, while soldiers guard the site.
• At the vein’s core, Chen Hao senses that the richest deposits lie far below, including high-grade flame spirit stone and an intensely hot region. He tells Chen Siyao to wait, then merges into the mineral vein and vanishes into its depths.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Hao reveals, almost casually, that he once met the historical Ge Hong and gave him pointers. He also shows confidence in navigating the dangerous vein without protective gear.
• Yang Wanqing is curious and eager for knowledge, asking about Ge Hong and comparing his talent with Ye Chendong’s. Chen Hao’s claim leaves her astonished; his sudden disappearance then shocks her.
• Chen Siyao is intrigued by Chen Hao’s connection to Ge Hong and later focuses on the mine’s instrument readings. He asks her to stay behind before entering the vein.
• Qiao Yue guides the group and explains the inheritance, the vein’s discovery, and the safety equipment required underground.

Significant themes

• Ancient inheritance and modern institutions: A legendary Daoist inheritance becomes the cause of a contemporary cultivation breakthrough and a government investigation.
• Hidden power beneath the familiar: The small, historic temple conceals a vast, valuable vein—and the vein itself contains still deeper mysteries.
• The gap between ordinary understanding and Chen Hao’s knowledge: His personal connection to Ge Hong suggests extraordinary longevity or experience, while his abilities far exceed what the others expect.

Plot points and events

• Chen Hao’s companions wait in the mine while he searches for flame spirit marrow. Yang Wanqing chats with mining robot Forty-Seven, asking if robots might rebel against humanity. Forty-Seven says its programming makes rebellion impossible, then tells a joke about robots forgetting their uprising plans after charging.
• Chen Hao returns with two drops of reddish-gold flame spirit marrow, but says they aren’t enough. He uses an old copper coin to divine where more can be found.
• The divination points southwest, to the Shu Region. Chen Hao recognizes the destination and immediately orders the group to go there.
• During the flight, Yang Wanqing recalls that Shushan is the cave they visited before—and that Xiong Er is still there.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Wanqing is restless during the wait and turns her curiosity toward Forty-Seven. Her playful questions and laughter bring warmth to the otherwise tense, quiet scene.
• Forty-Seven responds politely and humorously, explaining its limits while revealing that an engineer added the joke to handle repeated questions about robot rebellion.
• Chen Siyao works on the Sushen Tribe’s resettlement plan while waiting. She is eager to learn whether Chen Hao found the marrow and notices his subtle surprise after the divination.
• Chen Hao remains composed and decisive. Though he finds only a small amount of marrow, he uses divination to identify the next lead and quickly directs the group toward it.

Significant themes

• Human control and artificial intelligence: The conversation about robot rebellion raises the possibility of machines challenging humanity, but Forty-Seven frames its inability to rebel as a matter of programming and constraints.
• Faith, mystery, and discovery: Chen Hao’s divination links the flame spirit marrow to a new location, blending practical pursuit with supernatural methods.
• Duty amid downtime: Chen Siyao continues working on resettlement plans even while the others wait, while the group’s brief conversation and recollection give the journey a more personal, relaxed tone.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao returns to an old cave in Shushan after divination reveals that its Flame Spirit Stone vein extends far beyond the section he explored years ago.
• Yang Wanqing recognizes the mountain and cave. When Chen Hao removes his old concealment formation, the group enters and meets Xiong Er, a black bear who has remained there.
• Xiong Er greets the visitors warmly, especially Yang Wanqing, and follows them deeper into the cave.
• The cave opens onto a vast, untouched wall of Flame Spirit Stone. Chen Hao suspects the real treasure lies beneath it and enters the vein by compressing himself into a thin line that passes through the stone.
• Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing wait behind. Siyao resumes work while Wanqing chats with Xiong Er and wonders whether Chen Hao will find what he is seeking.

Character developments

• Xiong Er has advanced from an ordinary bear with no cultivation to the Golden Body Realm, astonishing Yang Wanqing. Despite his power, he remains affectionate, gentle, and obedient.
• Yang Wanqing is impressed and a little unsettled by Xiong Er’s rapid, self-taught progress. She remains playful and curious, but accepts that she cannot communicate with him in words.
• Chen Hao is focused and confident, using his unusual ability to pass through solid matter in pursuit of the hidden treasure.
• Chen Siyao remains calm and practical, explaining Chen Hao’s technique as likely related to spatial principles and trusting that he will succeed.

Significant themes

• Unexpected growth: Xiong Er’s advancement shows that cultivation can flourish even without formal teaching.
• Hidden depths and discovery: The cave’s untouched vein hints that the greatest rewards lie beyond what Chen Hao previously found.
• Power alongside gentleness: Xiong Er’s fearsome roar and Golden Body cultivation contrast with his affectionate, submissive behavior.
• Trust and companionship: The group comfortably divides tasks, while Siyao and Wanqing wait with confidence in Chen Hao.

Character interactions

• Yang Wanqing greets Xiong Er like an old friend, pets him, and uses him as a comfortable seat; he responds with happy grunts and obediently follows the group.
• Xiong Er instinctively exposes his belly when he recognizes Chen Hao, showing submission, then gravitates toward Yang Wanqing.
• Chen Siyao reassures Yang Wanqing about Chen Hao’s ability and expresses confidence in his success.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Hao descends far below the Shushan mining tunnels, where the Flame Spirit Stone ore grows increasingly pure and the heat becomes extreme.
• An unusually dense energy field slows his divine sense. Beyond a natural rock wall, he discovers a vast underground lake of flame spirit marrow, a resource he previously found only in tiny quantities.
• He calculates that the marrow can buffer the conflict between the way of space and the way of fire during Nirvana cultivation. The lake contains far more than he needs, even allowing for many failed attempts.
• Chen Hao stores the entire lake in the Guixu Pearl, which can preserve its energy.
• The discovery intensifies his suspicion that his cultivation path and the appearance of resources may be guided by destiny or karma. His attempt to divine the cause reveals nothing, so he decides to leave the question unresolved.
• He returns to Chen Siyao, confirms they have enough marrow, and leads the group out of the cave. Yang Wanqing, who had been dozing beside Xiong Er, hurries after them.

Character developments

• Chen Hao gains a crucial supply for advancing through the Nirvana Stage, but his success also deepens his unease about how conveniently opportunities appear. He remains practical, setting aside questions he cannot answer.
• Chen Siyao recognizes that Chen Hao has found far more than expected. She respects his privacy and does not press him for details.
• Yang Wanqing remains relaxed and lighthearted, having fallen asleep while waiting; she quickly catches up when Chen Hao returns.

Significant themes

• Destiny, coincidence, and karma: Chen Hao wonders whether his repeated good fortune is accidental or the result of unseen forces.
• Cultivation and preparation: The rare marrow provides the means to endure the risks of progressing through Nirvana.
• Limits of knowledge: Chen Hao can make some divinations, but cannot uncover the reason behind his apparent good fortune.

Character interactions

• Chen Hao gives Chen Siyao a brief confirmation that the marrow is sufficient; she understands there is more behind his words but chooses not to question him.
• Yang Wanqing wakes and calls for the others to wait, while Xiong Er follows the group out of the mine.

Key plot points and events

• As the group leaves Shushan, Yang Wanqing says goodbye to Xiong Er, who waves clumsily from the cave entrance. She and Chen Siyao tease each other about him as the aircraft returns to Pengcheng.
• Back home, Chen Hao studies the flame spirit marrow he has gathered. He decides it is enough for a breakthrough to Nirvana, but the attempt would create energy fluctuations across a huge area.
• Chen Hao concludes he must leave Blue Star for a place where the Way of Fire is intensely concentrated: Mars, once known as the Lihuo Realm.
• The next morning, he gives Chen Siyao bottles of flame spirit marrow to distribute among Yang Wanqing, Qin Xiaoyu, and their fellow disciples. He announces that he will go into seclusion on Mars for three to five years.
• Chen Hao warns that his breakthrough may cause a disturbance and asks Chen Siyao to tell the Special Operations Department not to worry. He then opens a spatial gate to Mars and departs.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Wanqing shows genuine affection for Xiong Er and is upset by the prospect of Chen Hao’s long absence. Though usually playful, she becomes serious enough to ask whether his breakthrough is dangerous and urge him to be careful.
• Chen Siyao remains composed and practical, accepting responsibility for distributing the spirit marrow and notifying Qin Zheng. Her quiet gestures reveal that Chen Hao’s departure weighs on her despite her restrained response.
• Chen Hao is decisive and focused on advancing his cultivation. He acknowledges his students’ concern but gives little explanation beyond what is necessary.
• The familiar teasing between Yang Wanqing and Chen Siyao continues at home, contrasting with the more solemn announcement of Chen Hao’s plans.

Significant themes

• Farewell and attachment: Xiong Er’s wave and the household’s reactions underline the bonds Chen Hao will leave behind.
• Duty and resolve: Chen Hao pursues the breakthrough despite the long separation and potential danger.
• Power and scale: His ability to open a spatial passage—and the vast effects expected from Nirvana—shows how far his cultivation has advanced.
• The familiar beside the extraordinary: Ordinary domestic moments frame the chapter’s dramatic departure for another planet.

Plot points and events

• After Chen Hao leaves to undergo a breakthrough on Mars, Yang Wanqing learns that advancing through the Nirvana and Dao Tribulation realms requires surviving heavenly tribulations. She jokes nervously with Chen Siyao about being struck by lightning, and the two playfully chase each other around the living room.
• On Mars—once known as the Lihuo Realm—Chen Hao finds its fire energy vastly stronger than anywhere on Earth. He descends into the planet’s core, where the Way of Fire is concentrated, and begins his first Nirvana-level breakthrough using energy from the Guixu Pearl.
• One year later, Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing are working at the Haoyue Si Group. Siyao leads development of an autonomous robot for long-term space exploration; the project is stalled by the difficulty of finding suitable materials. Wanqing proposes testing rare metals from the Moon.
• Wanqing wonders whether Chen Hao has completed his breakthrough. Before they can discuss it further, she finds a viral video claiming that a “little sun” has appeared in the night sky.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Wanqing is anxious about the dangers of future tribulations but masks her fear with humor. A year later, she is energetic and outspoken at work, and actively contributes ideas to Siyao’s research.
• Chen Siyao remains calm and teasing with Wanqing, while showing focus and responsibility as a project leader. She and Wanqing have settled into a comfortable daily routine together.
• Chen Hao is committed to a long seclusion on Mars, choosing the planet’s extraordinary fire energy as the setting for his breakthrough. His progress remains unknown to the others.

Significant themes

• Danger and perseverance: Cultivation brings life-threatening trials, and Chen Hao’s breakthrough demands confronting extreme conditions.
• Time, separation, and patience: The women face years without their master, while continuing their own lives and work.
• Scientific ambition and exploration: The robot project and lunar materials reflect humanity’s expanding reach into space.
• The extraordinary entering everyday life: The sudden report of a “little sun” hints that Chen Hao’s cultivation may have created a spectacular event visible from Earth.