Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yao learned from Shopkeeper Sun that low-rank Skill Books could be upgraded, then studied the Overview of Rodos to learn about the world's geography, races, and power levels. After realizing how far he was from reaching Heaven Tier, Zhang Yao was interrupted by Luo De, who reminded him to eat.

• Shopkeeper Sun advised Zhang Yao to learn any Skill Books he found and revealed that low-rank skills could be upgraded into high-rank ones through diligence.
• Zhang Yao returned to his cabin and read the Overview of Rodos until nightfall.
• Zhang Yao learned that Rodos had two continents, many races, and power stages that placed Heaven Tier at levels 20 and above.
• Zhang Yao wondered about Lancelot's strength and what came after level 29, then groaned at how low his own level was.
• Luo De knocked on Zhang Yao's door and reminded him that he had not eaten all day.

Zhang Yao shared a lively dinner aboard the Nightglow with Doreze and Luo De, then accepted two daggers Doreze had recovered from the Plachy Brothers. He and Doreze exchanged gifts as tokens of friendship, leaving their relationship on warmer terms.

• Doreze welcomed Zhang Yao to dinner while Luo De demanded food and provoked him into a food-hall brawl.
• Luo De and Doreze called a truce when the sailors brought out dinner, then continued bickering as they ate.
• Doreze gave Zhang Yao the two daggers he had recovered from the Plachy Brothers, and Zhang Yao accepted them as a gift from a friend.
• Zhang Yao gave Doreze a gem from Sea Wolf as a token of friendship, and Doreze accepted it.

Zhang Yao declined Doreze’s offer to become first mate and chose to go with Luo De to join the Free Pirates. After reaching Andal Harbor, Luo De guided him through the town to a guarded courtyard, where he announced himself at the door.

• Luo De asked Zhang Yao for a friendship gem, and he and Doreze fought until both were bruised and exhausted.
• Doreze offered Zhang Yao a first mate position, but Zhang Yao declined and said he would seek him out if he ever left piracy.
• Luo De promised to bring Zhang Yao to the Free Pirates’ captain for approval to join their crew.
• The Moonlight reached Andal Harbor, and Doreze landed Zhang Yao and Luo De on a secluded shore before sailing away.
• Luo De led Zhang Yao through woods, alleys, and patrols to a rundown courtyard, then identified himself through the gate.

Luo De introduced Zhang Yao to the crew of the Freedom and recounted his failed mission after a naval force appeared with a Heaven Tier expert. Zhang Yao confirmed the story, then threatened Guleiya with a dagger when she tried to touch him, leaving the crew to react to his wariness and skill.

• Maluk brought Luo De and Zhang Yao into the Freedom’s meeting room, where Luo De introduced Captain Wells and the rest of the crew.
• Wells thanked Zhang Yao for saving Luo De and briefly shook his hand.
• Guleiya asked Luo De about his mission, and he described how a naval force with a Heaven Tier expert had interrupted his talks with Sea Wolf.
• Zhang Yao confirmed Luo De’s account when the crew doubted him.
• Guleiya approached Zhang Yao and tried to touch his cheek, but he vanished into the shadows and held a dagger to her neck before withdrawing it.

Luo De recommended Zhang Yao for the Free Pirates after their alliance with the Sea Wolf Pirates fell through. Amelia explained that Zhang Yao had to prove his strength by lasting ten minutes against Maluk, and the chapter ended with her expecting him to be beaten.

• Captain Wells announced that the planned alliance with the Sea Wolf Pirates had fallen through.
• Luo De urged the Free Pirates to recruit Zhang Yao, praising his strength and loyalty.
• Guleiya asked Amelia to explain the Free Pirates' strict joining conditions to Zhang Yao.
• Amelia said Zhang Yao had to fight Maluk and last ten minutes to pass the first requirement.

Zhang Yao refused Amelia’s demand that Maluk test him and left the Freedom, deciding its risks and strict rules did not suit him. Luo De then prepared to leave as well, and Maluk let him go after seeing how firmly he had made up his mind.

• Luo De objected when Amelia chose Maluk to test Zhang Yao, warning that the fight could leave Zhang Yao gravely injured or dead.
• Zhang Yao said he specialized in assassination, rejected Amelia’s taunts, and announced he would pass on joining the Freedom before leaving.
• Wells rebuked Amelia and Guleiya for pushing Zhang Yao too far, while the crew members left Amelia and Guleiya alone.
• Guleiya comforted Amelia, who wondered whether she had done something wrong, and admitted inwardly that they had gone too far.
• Luo De packed his belongings and left a letter and his remaining loot for Wells, but Maluk initially grabbed his arm to stop him.
• Luo De insisted that no one could change his decision, and Maluk loosened his grip and let him go.

After declining Wells’s offer to rejoin the Freedom, Zhang Yao settled into an inn and cultivated through the night, discovering that Rodos’s dense spiritual energy accelerated his progress. He also found that learning battle aura had created a wisp of nine nether true qi around his heart, then woke with his dantian too full to continue cultivating and heard a knock at the door.

• Zhang Yao refused Wells’s invitation to join the Freedom, and Wells pointed him toward an inn while assuring him that Amelia and Guleiya were good people.
• Zhang Yao rented a private suite at the inn and began cultivating, finding that its spiritual energy was as dense as the energy in the Chosen One’s Hall.
• Zhang Yao realized his cultivation could progress far faster in Rodos and discovered a wisp of nine nether true qi around his heart.
• Zhang Yao deduced that his nine nether true qi had assimilated the battle aura he had learned, then directed some spiritual energy toward the qi around his heart.
• Zhang Yao cultivated until morning, stopped when his dantian reached its capacity, and heard someone knock while he was washing up.

Luo De left the Free Pirates and joined Zhang Yao, then brought him to the hidden Bounty Hunters' Guild branch in Andal Harbor to sell information about Lancelot. As they ate, a man approached their table, apparently responding to the information Luo De had submitted.

• Luo De told Zhang Yao that he had left the Free Pirates and asked to join him, and Zhang Yao gave him a gemstone as a token of their friendship.
• Luo De took Zhang Yao to a shabby restaurant and revealed that it was the underground Bounty Hunters' Guild branch in Andal Harbor.
• Luo De submitted information about a Heaven Tier expert for sale, and Zhang Yao realized it concerned Lancelot.
• After Zhang Yao and Luo De began eating, a weathered man approached their table.

Zhang Yao and Luo De sold the Bounty Hunters' Guild branch head news about Lancelot for two Purple Crystal Coins and received Bounty Hunter Badges. Back at the inn, Zhang Yao said he planned to focus on training, while Luo De asked about his plans.

• The branch head offered Zhang Yao and Luo De two Purple Crystal Coins for the news they had been discussing.
• Luo De told the branch head that Lancelot had killed Sea Wolf and wiped out the Sea Wolf Pirates.
• The branch head gave Zhang Yao and Luo De two Bounty Hunter Badges before hurrying away to verify the report.
• Luo De split the Purple Crystal Coins and badges with Zhang Yao, who equipped his Black Iron Tier badge.
• At the inn, Zhang Yao said he wanted to train to become stronger, and Luo De asked what he planned to do next.

Luo De told Zhang Yao he planned to join Doreze's smuggling voyage and invited him along, while Zhang Yao focused on finding ways to grow stronger. Zhang Yao discovered that spending his true qi through his skills let him cultivate it back in greater quantity, giving him a promising path toward reaching the second layer of the Nine Nether Art.

• Luo De explained his plan to sail with Doreze and invited Zhang Yao to join him as first mate, but Zhang Yao said he would decide later based on his progress.
• Luo De, exhausted from a night without sleep and errands at the Bounty Hunters' Guild, went to bed while Zhang Yao studied his character attributes.
• Zhang Yao realized that leveling up and learning skills were difficult ways to improve in Andal Harbor, and worried that his swollen dantian was preventing further progress.
• Zhang Yao noticed that Concealment Technique and Basic Battle Aura consumed true qi and decided to use them to empty his reserves before cultivating again.
• After exhausting his true qi with both skills and cultivating, Zhang Yao raised his true qi from 90 to 92 and increased both skills' proficiency.
• Zhang Yao concluded that the method could help him open the lesser celestial circuit and reach the Nine Nether Art's second layer within a year.

After a month of secluded cultivation, Zhang Yao had greatly improved his attributes and skills while Luo De gathered news around Andal Harbor. Luo De returned with word that Lancelot had arrived aboard a Sea King-class warship, setting the stage for renewed turmoil with the Ironblood Brotherhood.

• Zhang Yao spent a month cultivating, raising his true qi to 500 and both Concealment Technique and Basic Battle Aura to level 3.
• Luo De spent his days gathering information about Andal Harbor and shared it with Zhang Yao over dinner.
• Zhang Yao decided he would soon return to his original world and planned to tell Luo De he was entering secluded cultivation.
• Luo De rushed back to the inn and told Zhang Yao that Lancelot had returned aboard a Sea King-class warship.
• Zhang Yao recalled how the Ironblood Brotherhood had seized merchants’ shops, defeated the Dora Merchant Alliance’s security force, and fought the garrison to a draw.

After the Free Pirates ran into Zhang Yao and Luo De at an inn, Luo De learned they still could not find a crew willing to accompany them to the Death Sea. Zhang Yao prepared to enter seclusion, and a knock at their door interrupted their conversation.

• Zhang Yao told Luo De he planned to leave for several days of seclusion and warned him to stay out of trouble in Andal.
• Zhang Yao and Luo De met Maluk, Yaliansi, Guleiya, and Amelia of the Free Pirates at the inn and shared dinner with them.
• Yaliansi said the Free Pirates had not found a crew to join them on a dangerous journey to the Death Sea, and Luo De offered to help.
• After dinner, Luo De escorted the Free Pirates outside and admitted he would have to get used to being apart from them.
• Zhang Yao and Luo De drank tea in their room until someone knocked at the door.

Wells left Amelia in Zhang Yao and Luo De’s care for about two months as he prepared to take the Freedom’s crew into the Death Sea. Luo De explained Wells’s search for their missing father, then asked Zhang Yao what he thought they had encountered.

• Wells asked Zhang Yao and Luo De to look after Amelia while he took everyone into the Death Sea, and they agreed.
• Amelia cried after Wells left, but Zhang Yao’s warning eventually stopped her, and Luo De comforted her until she fell asleep.
• Zhang Yao asked Luo De why Wells was heading into the Death Sea, and Luo De recounted how their father, Carmel, vanished while searching for the Holy Light Empire’s treasure.
• Luo De said Wells had found an old sailor who identified where Carmel disappeared, and then asked Zhang Yao what they had encountered.

Luo De told Zhang Yao how Captain Wells’s crew encountered undead pirates in the Death Sea and why Wells planned to return with allied crews. After comforting Luo De, Zhang Yao spent the night cultivating before preparing to leave the next morning.

• Luo De explained that his crew first escaped undead pirates in the Death Sea by chance, then returned prepared but lost crewmates while retreating from the overwhelming undead.
• Luo De said Captain Wells had sent him to ally with the Sea Wolf Pirates for another voyage into the Death Sea, and Zhang Yao realized Wells’s next trip seemed dangerous.
• Zhang Yao comforted Luo De and said he would leave in the morning, while Luo De promised to look after Amelia.
• Luo De and Zhang Yao prepared to sleep in the sitting room so Amelia would not be left alone, and Zhang Yao began cultivating.
• Zhang Yao cycled between cultivating and practicing the Concealment Technique and battle qi until the sky began to lighten.

Zhang Yao returned from Rodos to the Original World for a six-day visit and reunited with his family on Lunar New Year's Eve. After helping with the holiday preparations, he heard his aunt and her family arrive for dinner.

• Zhang Yao left Luo De before breakfast and used the Attribute Panel to return from Rodos, paying six hundred gold coins for six days in the Original World.
• Zhang Yao woke in his bedroom and confirmed that his equipment had returned to his Spatial Ring while his Rodos skills and abilities remained usable.
• Zhang Yao's parents and grandfather welcomed him home, and his father said Rodos had explained his absence as studying with Teacher Luo.
• Zhang Yao helped his mother prepare vegetables while his grandfather and mother urged him to find a wife and have children.
• Zhang Yao helped his family prepare for Lunar New Year's Eve, then heard his aunt and her family arrive for dinner.

Zhang Yao tried to avoid his cousin Li Qing'er, who had once tricked him into fighting a group of punks, but she followed him to his room and teased him. The chapter ended with Li Qing'er threatening to complain to his uncle after Zhang Yao refused to respond to her.

• Li Qing'er greeted Zhang Yao's family for the New Year and collected lucky money while Zhang Yao hurried away to avoid her.
• Li Qing'er knocked on Zhang Yao's door and threatened to tell his uncle about his previous fight, forcing him to let her in.
• Zhang Yao recalled how Li Qing'er had lured him into fighting punks outside her school, then vanished while he dealt with the aftermath.
• Li Qing'er teased Zhang Yao about enjoying the fight, but he turned away and refused to talk to her.
• Li Qing'er pretended to be hurt and threatened to tell Zhang Yao's uncle when he remained unresponsive.

Zhang Yao spent New Year's with his family, then adjusted his cultivation plans after finding spiritual energy scarce in his home world. The next morning, he practiced in the snow until something suddenly flew toward the back of his head.

• Li Qing'er left Zhang Yao's room upset, and Zhang Yao's mother questioned him about it before dinner.
• Zhang Yao took his New Year's money from Li Tian and traded barbs with Li Qing'er during the family meal.
• Zhang Yao lit firecrackers at midnight, then cultivated the Nine Nether Art and refined his true qi despite the world's scarce spiritual energy.
• Zhang Yao went outside after discovering the snow and practiced a variety of moves with his improved physical abilities.
• Zhang Yao heard something cutting through the air behind his head and bent down, preparing to draw his dagger and charge.

Zhang Yao spent the New Year at home before leaving to return to Rodos, where he resumed hiding his identity and cautiously rejoined Luo De. He found Amelia waiting in their room and was asked about his training.

• Zhang Yao and Li Qing'er had a snowball fight, after which Li Qing'er caught a cold and Zhang Yao's mother scolded him.
• Zhang Yao told his father he had to return to Teacher Luo's that night and would not come home again until the college entrance exams.
• Zhang Yao used the Attribute Panel to return to the Transit Station, then reappeared in the alley and checked that it was safe before heading to the inn.
• Luo De welcomed Zhang Yao excitedly, but Zhang Yao dodged his attempt to hug him and went into their room.
• Zhang Yao noticed Amelia in the room, settled into his usual shadowed corner, and threatened Luo De with the Drowned Ghost Dagger before Luo De asked how his training had gone.

Zhang Yao sent Luo De out to gather news while he cultivated, aiming to build up enough True Qi to break through every acupoint along his conception and governing vessels at once. When Amelia later insisted on going downstairs to eat, Zhang Yao dismissed her, and she began to sob just as Luo De returned.

• Amelia asked to accompany Luo De, but Zhang Yao told her to stay at the inn for her safety, and she angrily retreated to her bedroom.
• Luo De thanked Zhang Yao and left, promising to ask around for important news.
• Zhang Yao cultivated in Rodos's abundant spiritual energy and continued preparing to accumulate five thousand True Qi before breaking through his acupoints.
• Amelia interrupted Zhang Yao after sunrise and demanded to eat in the dining hall, but he told her to order food or go hungry.
• Amelia began sobbing, and when Luo De returned, she threw herself into his arms.

Luo De brought Amelia food and showed Zhang Yao wanted posters that revealed rising tensions in Andal between the Free Alliance and the Ironblood Brotherhood. Worried about a possible citywide search, Zhang Yao agreed to wait before leaving, but refused Luo De’s plan to hunt a bounty target.

• Luo De comforted Amelia with desserts and hot cakes, and she took the basket to her room after accusing Zhang Yao of keeping her from eating.
• Zhang Yao told Luo De he was eighteen, surprising Luo De, who had thought he was much older.
• Luo De showed Zhang Yao wanted posters for figures connected to the Ironblood Brotherhood and the Free Alliance, then described how both sides were tightening security in Andal.
• Zhang Yao asked whether they should leave the city, and Luo De advised them to watch the situation for another day or two before deciding.
• Luo De tried to persuade Zhang Yao to capture a wanted target for the bounty, but Zhang Yao went downstairs for breakfast and refused as Luo De offered increasingly favorable splits.