Chapter Summaries

Yu Long briefed Qingqing on Chen Mu’s past and tasked her with pursuing him and the unknown treasure he possessed, while warning that Tang Hanpei had helped his group. In the Snow Silk Worm Valley, Xiao Bo’s supply convoy came under attack, and he killed five masked card adepts before confronting their airborne leader.

• Yu Long recounted Chen Mu’s cardmaking career, his escape from the Zuo Family, and a sighting of a group resembling him near Oak Tree Town, which led Star Academy to suspect he had entered the Snow Region.
• The principal and Yu Long told Qingqing to enter Tiandongli District and seek the treasure hinted at in Mr. Haina’s diary, then warned her that Tang Hanpei had arranged Chen Mu’s group’s passes.
• Qingqing asked whether Hundred Abyss Prefecture and Zhongda Academy were cooperating, and the principal confirmed the report.
• Chen Mu continued adjusting his plans with Jiang Liang, whose perception had recovered to eighty percent, while Xi Ping organized supplies and Xiao Bo led the shuttlecraft convoy to Chile City.
• Five masked card adepts ambushed the convoy, but Xiao Bo struck each of them in the throat with an amber ray.
• The airborne card adept attacked Xiao Bo with countless tiny energy constructs, and their collision produced a bizarre scene.

Xiao Bo fought a Card Adept whose [Snowflake Domain] slowed energy attacks and formed a defensive sphere. He defeated him with [Wheel Timed Detonation] and then ordered the others to loot their opponents.

• The Card Adept used [Snowflake Domain] to slow Xiao Bo's amber rays and reshape the defense into a sphere.
• Xiao Bo gathered his amber rays into a light ball and sent it into the sphere, where it appeared to stop moving.
• Xiao Bo taunted the Card Adept and left him distracted as the light ball slowly brightened again.
• The light ball exploded inside the sphere, defeating the Card Adept and leaving a crater.
• Xiao Bo explained how [Wheel Timed Detonation] used the [Wheel] to time the explosion, then spotted a Wrist Device on a severed arm and ordered the others to strip the five opponents.

Chen Mu’s forces completed Valley Nest and began preparing for the next stage of his plan after Xiao Bo’s group was attacked. The chapter left Chen Mu assembling the Card Adepts, while Wenzuofu sent covert killers to harass them.

• Chen Mu named his perception training approach the Snow Pit Method, and Jiang Liang regained his former upper fourth-level perception.
• Xiao Bo reported that he had defeated attackers on the road and confiscated their cards, including a Snowflake Domain card.
• After learning that Xisi and five Card Adepts had been killed, Wenzuofu ordered ten members of the Dark Mist Group to harass Chen Mu’s forces.
• Bu Erna completed Valley Nest and concealed Starfish Fortresses along the valley’s mountain walls, and Chen Mu ordered Bagnell to move everyone in and strengthen defenses.
• Chen Mu assembled the Card Adepts to begin putting his plan into action.

Chen Mu ordered his Card Adepts to begin the dangerous Snow Pit Method and monitored their first training attempt as several lost consciousness. Elsewhere, Star Academy investigated a mysterious five-year-old lead, while its principal wondered what Qingqing’s journey to Tiandongli District would bring.

• Chen Mu ordered the Card Adepts to practice the Snow Pit Method, and the team leaders and their members entered the snow pits despite the danger.
• Chen Mu used his perception to monitor the training, and Unibrow Man and others rescued unconscious Card Adepts while Su Liu Cherou treated them.
• Two powerful students from Star Academy’s Inner Academy delivered a request for assistance to East Guard Academy’s principal.
• At Star Academy, the old man and Yu Long discussed an unverified lead that had occupied the academy for five years and might be a trap.
• The old man left Chen Mu to Qingqing and worried that she disliked her life and might be burdened with taking over Star Academy.
• The old man wondered what had made Heiner Vincent so eager and what Qingqing would encounter in Tiandongli District.

Wei'a killed the Dark Mist infiltrators who tried to enter the valley, while Chen Mu oversaw the Card Adepts’ first Snow Pit Method training. The next morning, Chen Mu learned of the attack and met Qiao Fei, the bold boss lady of Qiao Family Fort.

• Wei'a silently killed the Dark Mist Card Adepts as they infiltrated the valley, then ambushed the last survivor at the entrance with an icicle.
• Two observers outside the valley concluded the attackers had probably died and discussed reporting the arrival of a formidable group to Qiao Fei.
• Chen Mu supervised the Snow Pit Method trial, where fifty-two Card Adepts lasted twenty minutes before the group dwindled to none by thirty-five minutes.
• Chen Mu reviewed Jiang Liang’s reports the next morning and learned that someone had attacked the valley during the night.
• Bagnell introduced Qiao Fei, the boss lady of Qiao Family Fort, to Chen Mu, and she greeted him with a hug before asking for a whole hind leg of lamb.

After Qiao Fei offered Chen Mu a job and behind-the-scenes support against the Kawashita Alliance, Chen Mu turned to strengthening his forces. Xi Ping and Bagnell advised him to seek a stable source of income, and Chen Mu left Bagnell to form a Card Adept Corps while they continued looking for a profitable business model.

• Qiao Fei offered Chen Mu a place in her organization, but he declined; she then gave him her contact information and offered limited paid assistance against Wenzuofu and the Kawashita Alliance.
• After Qiao Fei left, Chen Mu teased Bagnell and Xiao Bo for staring at her.
• Chen Mu decided to focus on increasing his strength and asked Xi Ping and Bagnell for advice.
• Xi Ping explained that their funds were running low and that they needed a stable way to make money; Bagnell proposed creating a Card Adept Corps.
• Chen Mu assigned Bagnell to organize the corps while ensuring the valley remained defended, and Xi Ping said Chen Mu's cards could bring in income but offered no other immediate ideas.

Chen Mu investigated the valuable purple glimmer ore and spent 150 million Odi on equipment to build a machine for processing it. The machine finally produced a few drops of metallic liquid, though its purpose remained unclear.

• Chen Mu asked Brenton to take him to the purple glimmer ore, and Brenton explained how his perceptive olfaction differed from mineral prospecting.
• Chen Mu ordered Xi Ping to buy metal-processing equipment, and Xi Ping spent 150 million Odi on the requested supplies.
• Xi Ping returned to the Valley Nest and found the new machines dismantled into parts as Chen Mu assembled a huge, improvised machine.
• Chen Mu fed purple glimmer ore into the machine, which produced small amounts of metallic liquids in several colors.

Xi Ping received the liquid metals Chen Mu extracted from purple glimmer ore and began investigating their value, while Wenzuofu learned that a new Card Adept Corps had registered in Snow Silk Worm Valley. Bagnell’s corps attracted its first potential client, and Xiao Bo demonstrated a mist shaped like a bird to impress her.

• Chen Mu sent five bottles of extracted liquid metal to Xi Ping, who ordered his subordinates to gather information about purple glimmer ore.
• Wenzuofu learned that the group in Snow Silk Worm Valley had eliminated his ten Dark Mist Card Adepts and decided their new presence threatened him.
• Yisong told Wenzuofu that the group had registered the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps anonymously with two hundred members.
• Bagnell waited for the newly registered corps to receive work and welcomed a woman who came looking to hire manpower.
• Bagnell called Xiao Bo over to demonstrate the corps’s strength, and Xiao Bo formed a lifelike bird from pale blue mist that captivated the woman.

Bagnell rejected a lucrative commission because he suspected the hired corps would serve as cannon fodder and refused to risk his team members’ lives. Xi Ping then recognized the purple glimmer ore in their possession as valuable, prompting Bagnell to intensify training.

• Xiao Bo impressed the visiting beauty with his Perception control, and she offered to hire seven Card Adept Corps for a dangerous assignment.
• The beauty revealed that the commission paid one hundred million Odi per corps, with an additional fifty million Odi for the greatest contribution.
• Bagnell suspected the corps would be used as cannon fodder and refused the commission to protect his team members.
• Xi Ping dismissed the Illusion Card about purple glimmer ore until he noticed an image resembling the purple liquid metal they had in abundance.
• Xi Ping cried out in surprise at the ore’s price, and Bagnell ordered the team’s training load raised by fifteen percent.

Chen Mu and Xi Ping discovered that purple glimmer ore could bring enormous profits, so they arranged to mine it secretly and expand their defenses. Brenton joined them, and Chen Mu accompanied Bagnell to recruit Card Adepts in Chile City, where they entered a large black building.

• Xi Ping told Chen Mu that refined purple glimmer ore sold for extremely high prices, and Chen Mu agreed to mine it discreetly.
• Chen Mu offered Brenton the choice of joining the group or staying in the valley, and Brenton chose to join.
• Chen Mu arranged for Bagnell to return with Card Adepts and recruit more people, while mining preparations began in the valley.
• Bagnell sent back a hundred and fifty Card Adepts, kept forty-five with him, and transferred ten of Lu Xiaoru’s Card Adepts to his force.
• Chen Mu traveled to Chile City with Lu Xiaoru, Wu Yu, and One-Brow, then followed Bagnell to watch him recruit Card Adepts.
• Chen Mu entered a striking black building with Bagnell and looked around its crowded, orderly hall.

Bagnell recruited Card Adepts and accepted a lucrative escort commission, while Chen Mu returned to the valley to oversee production. Xi Ping secured a buyer for their high-quality Purple Glimmer extract at a premium price.

• Bagnell arranged interviews with eighty-seven Card Adepts at the service center and was offered up to 250 million Odi for an escort commission by the cold beauty and her bespectacled companion.
• Bagnell agreed to take the commission for a month and a half, with travel arrangements under his control, while Chen Mu urged him to be careful and bring enough people.
• Chen Mu browsed the shopping center and bought Ru Qiu a set of card-making pens for one and a half million Odi.
• Chen Mu checked the valley's Purple Glimmer Ore machines and found they had kept working without problems.
• A Medical Card Adept and five nurses arrived to help Su Liu Cherou.
• Stender praised Xi Ping's Purple Glimmer extract, offered to pay twenty percent above market price, and invited Xi Ping to meet his influential friends.

Chen Mu secured a major buyer for Snow Silk Worm Valley’s purple glimmer extracts and arranged equipment to expand production. After preparing for a possible threat from Wenzuofu, he assembled four Separators but was left with a huge pile of unused parts.

• Chen Mu learned from Ru Qiu that purple glimmer extracts were valuable card inks and additives, and promised her some for research once production increased.
• Qiao Fei confirmed that Chen Mu was producing purple glimmer red, warned him that Wenzuofu’s Card Adept forces were unusually active, and offered to pay for extracts with equipment.
• Chen Mu accepted Qiao Fei’s offer of four equipment sets in exchange for extra extract and told Jiang Liang to prepare for a possible attack.
• The equipment arrived the next day, and Chen Mu assembled four Separators, increasing daily production capacity fourfold.
• Chen Mu realized that most of the purchased equipment consisted of unused parts worth about six hundred million Odi and did not know what to do with them.

Chen Mu considered how to use a massive pile of parts while Wenzuofu prepared to attack the Valley and Qiao Family. Meanwhile, Faya’s Combat Shuttlecraft devastated the Federation Comprehensive Academy’s forces, and Faya announced that any faction could buy the machines, leaving the Federation’s powers scrambling to respond.

• Chen Mu sat among six hundred million Odi’s worth of parts and tried to think of a use for them.
• Wenzuofu learned that the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps had left and planned to attack the Valley in three days before turning against the Qiao Family.
• The Federation Comprehensive Academy’s board took control of academy affairs, weakening Pafuchake’s faction as Di Bo’s forces continued fighting.
• Faya and Zhongda Academy struck together, and fifty thousand Combat Shuttlecraft split Di Bo’s army and devastated its Card Adepts.
• Di Bo was killed as Zhongda Academy pursued him, and the Federation Comprehensive Academy’s defeat became certain.
• Faya announced that any faction could purchase Combat Shuttlecraft, prompting an uproar across the Federation.

Chen Mu created and tested the Fern Disk, a fast scouting device that revealed Wenzuofu’s approaching force. After learning about Faya’s mass-produced Combat Shuttlecraft and their devastating firepower, Chen Mu put Jiang Liang in command of the valley’s defenses.

• Chen Mu realized he could design machinery around its component parts and built a scouting device called the Fern Disk.
• Chen Mu tested the Fern Disk and used it to spot Wenzuofu leading about fifteen hundred Card Adepts toward the valley.
• Chen Mu warned Jiang Liang about the approaching unit, and Jiang Liang estimated it would arrive in two hours.
• Xi Ping showed Chen Mu and Jiang Liang footage of Faya’s Combat Shuttlecraft destroying a Federation Comprehensive Academy unit and reported that Faya was selling the craft.
• Jiang Liang assessed the defenders’ advantages and urged Chen Mu to alert Qiao Fei.
• Chen Mu placed Jiang Liang in overall command, and the valley mobilized for battle.

Wenzuofu led a force toward Snow Silk Worm Valley, where Heta and Jiang Liang’s trap destroyed all three hundred Combat Shuttlecraft and plunged the attackers into chaos. Chen Mu used the confusion to eliminate Card Adepts before slipping away, while Wenzuofu finally began to recover from the shock.

• Wenzuofu advanced on Snow Silk Worm Valley with fifteen hundred Card Adepts and three hundred Combat Shuttlecraft, intending to destroy the valley before turning against the Qiao Family.
• Heta activated linked Card Machinery Mechanisms that detonated across the valley, destroying the Combat Shuttlecraft and scattering the attackers.
• Wenzuofu’s guards carried him above the flames as Yisong realized the mechanisms had destroyed their entire fleet of Combat Shuttlecraft.
• The surviving combat Card Adepts tried to regroup while inexperienced Card Adepts panicked and fired energy projectiles at random.
• Chen Mu moved through the confused attackers, shattering Energy Shields and knocking Card Adepts unconscious with Tail-Shedding Shuttles.
• Chen Mu descended without raising an Energy Shield, escaped into the snow, and left Wenzuofu beginning to recover from the shock.

After Wenzuofu’s forces suffer heavy friendly-fire casualties, he gives Hivent command and marches on Snow Silk Worm Valley. Chen Mu’s hidden Starfish Fortresses ambush the attackers, and Jiang Liang’s first volley devastates the airborne Card Adepts, leaving the survivors terrified.

• Wenzuofu halts his panicked troops, appoints Hivent commander, and learns that more than a hundred Card Adepts died and over two hundred were injured, mostly by friendly fire.
• Chen Mu, Wei'a, and Jiang Liang monitor the approaching force from a concealed Starfish Fortress, while Jiang Liang reflects on his gratitude to Chen Mu and the ambush he arranged.
• Wenzuofu and Hivent reach Snow Silk Worm Valley, and Hivent sends two hundred Card Adepts into the air to scout over a peak.
• Jiang Liang orders Fortresses 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 to fire, and their Energy Shuttles bring down more than twenty attackers.
• The surviving airborne Card Adepts deactivate their Energy Shield Cards, but another volley knocks more than twenty of them from the sky and frightens the rest.

Jiang Liang's forces devastated Wenzuofu's Card Adepts with a surprise barrage, while Hivent sent combat Card Adepts to flank the Starfish Fortress. Chen Mu and Wei'a's group encountered the raiding party beneath the snowdrifts, leaving a battle about to begin.

• Wenzuofu ordered Hivent to wipe out the defenders after the enemy's attacks inflicted heavy casualties on his forces.
• Hivent assembled explosive attackers and ordered five squads to assault the peak as Jiang Liang readied his units.
• Jiang Liang's more than eighty Energy Shuttles killed over eighty enemy Card Adepts, and explosions exposed several enemy bunkers.
• Hivent sent forty combat Card Adepts around the flank while Wenzuofu forced six hundred reinforcements forward.
• Chen Mu and Wei'a led Lu Xiaoru, One-Brow, and the others across the peak, where they encountered the enemy raiding party beneath the snow.

Lu Xiaoru and her companions ambushed Robert’s approaching force, killing many before the survivors launched a counterattack. As the outnumbered ambushers began to fall, Lu Xiaoru distracted Robert and helped set up another attack that left him dying with a dagger in his chest.

• Lu Xiaoru and the others concealed themselves and waited for Robert’s force to approach the mountain.
• Lu Xiaoru disrupted the enemy with [Soundbind]-Infrasound while One-Brow, the boss, Wei'a, and the other ambushers killed fifteen Card Adepts and wounded two.
• Robert’s surviving Card Adepts regrouped and attacked the nine ambushers, killing four and wounding Lu Xiaoru.
• Lu Xiaoru smiled at Robert, and another attack struck him with infrasound and a dagger to the chest.

Chen Mu and Wei'a turned the battle against the Kawashita Alliance’s elite combat Card Adepts, while Lu Xiaoru collapsed from exhaustion. As Chen Mu pursued the last enemy, an unexpected energy fluctuation appeared ahead and changed his expression.

• Chen Mu and Wei'a emerged from concealment and killed several Kawashita Alliance Card Adepts, then hid again to wait for another opening.
• Chen Mu used the [Big Loach] Airflow Card and rapid changes of direction to evade Perception locks and kill more opponents, while Wei'a felled enemies with swift, forceful attacks.
• Lu Xiaoru spent her remaining strength in a final strike, wounded two enemies, and collapsed unconscious as her allies continued fighting.
• Chen Mu grew more confident as he adapted to the battle and killed enemy Card Adepts, unaware that they were professionally certified combat Card Adepts.
• Chen Mu crept up on the last enemy and launched an attack from ten meters away, but a faint energy fluctuation arose ahead and made him react sharply.

Chen Mu survived a Card Adept’s devastating self-detonation but woke in a Treatment Unit with severe back injuries. He learned that the Kawashita Alliance had fallen and agreed to share its supplies with Qiao Fei’s forces, leaving the division of its forts for after his recovery.

• Chen Mu fled as the remaining Card Adept unleashed a massive self-detonation, then took painful wounds across his back in the blast.
• Chen Mu passed out from his injuries and later woke inside a Treatment Unit while Su Liu Cherou watched over him.
• Su Liu Cherou checked Chen Mu’s condition and summoned Jiang Liang to report on events outside.
• Jiang Liang told Chen Mu that Qiao Fei’s forces had defeated the Kawashita Alliance, killed Wenzuofu, and captured its thirty-five forts.
• Chen Mu accepted Qiao Fei’s proposal to divide the alliance’s supplies equally and postponed discussing the forts until he recovered.
• Su Liu Cherou urged Jiang Liang to let Chen Mu rest, and Jiang Liang left them alone together.