Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu broke free from Baluojia’s sound-wave attack by using [Pressure] to make him retreat, then relied on his improved perception to read the air currents and predict Baluojia’s movements. The chapter ended with Chen Mu’s blue-green energy spear threatening to pierce Baluojia’s ankle, leaving Baluojia stunned by the precise counterattack.

• Chen Mu unleashed [Pressure], startling Baluojia into retreating and buying time to regain control of his body.
• Chen Mu turned [Pressure] inward to stimulate his body and recover from Baluojia’s sound-wave attack.
• After a tense standoff, Chen Mu closed his eyes and used his perception to track the air currents around Baluojia.
• Chen Mu charged low as before, prompting Baluojia to fly above the Competition Arena.
• Chen Mu predicted Baluojia’s flight and sent a long blue-green energy construct toward his ankle, leaving Baluojia horrified.

Chen Mu defeated Baluojia and the defensive Card Adept, earning the respect of the tournament guests and advancing to the final four. The remaining finalists were Huo Jiang, Jiang Shan, Luo Qing, and Chen Mu, leaving everyone wondering who Chen Mu would face next.

• Baluojia struck his own chest to shatter Chen Mu's blue-green attack, but Chen Mu evaded the resulting shock wave and forced him to concede.
• Rong Ming praised Chief Steward White, while Baluojia accepted defeat and returned to the stands for treatment.
• Taishu Cheng celebrated Chen Mu's victory, while Taishu Shen resented the loss; Jiang Ling and her bodyguard arrived, and Jiang Yu told the bodyguard to win Tan Yuwen's bracelet.
• Chen Mu reflected on his first use of Xize-style combat techniques as the tournament's other matches continued and Huo Jiang, Jiang Shan, and Luo Qing won their bouts.
• Chen Mu used [Patterned Shuttle] to break the defensive Card Adept's Energy Shield, prompting his opponent to surrender.
• Chen Mu, Huo Jiang, Jiang Shan, and Luo Qing became the final four, disrupting the expected tournament lineup.

At the competition, Chen Mu spoke with Tan Yuwen, who hinted that she recognized the influence of Xize in his fighting style and warned him not to let her bracelet fall into the wrong hands. Masked Assassin Card Adepts then attacked the guests and targeted the Taishu Family, but Chen Mu used uncanny intuition to kill the attackers who reached him and protect Taishu Cheng and his companions; the surviving assassins withdrew, leaving the crowd frightened of him.

• Tan Yuwen told Chen Mu that his fighting style reminded her of a powerful senior, then quietly warned him not to let her bracelet fall into someone else's hands.
• Huo Jiang and Jiang Shan unleashed their [Bamboo-Segment Spear Card] and [Deep Blue Arc] attacks, whose collision blinded and deafened the spectators.
• Ten masked Assassin Card Adepts attacked the audience, while three charged at Taishu Cheng and his companions.
• Chen Mu sensed the assassins intended to capture the Taishu Family, then killed the attackers who confronted him and pulled Taishu Cheng, the other brothers, and Xu Jia out of danger.
• Rong Ming and Luo Qing stopped several other attackers, and the remaining assassins retreated as the guests stared at Chen Mu in fear.

After the Taishu banquet attack, Chen Mu learned that Faya was behind the assault and suspected it was seeking the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus because Devil Woman might still be alive. He decided to investigate Faya with Wei'a while reflecting on the zero style state and its role in his victory.

• The Taishu Family and its guests sent Chen Mu a flood of gifts, and he accepted Xu Jia's invitation to dinner.
• Wei'a told Chen Mu that Faya had arranged the attack and that the woman Chen Mu had bitten was with them, though they likely had not followed him to East Rui City.
• Chen Mu suspected Faya wanted the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus to help Devil Woman, possibly still alive, remove the Green Line, and decided to probe Faya's situation with Wei'a that night.
• Chen Mu reviewed the banquet fight and studied the zero style state, recognizing that his current version was an early, simplified stage of Xize's technique.

Chen Mu and Wei'a infiltrated Madam’s residence in Flower Forest Town to investigate Faya before reinforcements arrived. Bronze Mask Man detected the intruders, and the chapter ended as one of them shattered his Energy Shield with a punch.

• After an awkward meal with Xu Jia, Chen Mu turned down little Bu Mo’s request to join him and Wei'a, promising the boy he could fight alongside them once he grew stronger.
• Chen Mu and Wei'a traveled to Number 169, Eleventh Street, and slipped past the courtyard’s Card Machinery Mechanisms.
• Chen Mu overheard guards discuss Faya’s incoming reinforcements and Madam’s anger over Qiao Yuan, then heard Madam speak with Bronze Mask Man about Zhuo Qing, Xiao Man, and Yu Guo.
• Bronze Mask Man sensed the intruders and blasted holes in the wall, but Chen Mu and Wei'a launched a surprise attack through the dust and debris.
• One intruder shattered Bronze Mask Man’s Energy Shield with a punch while he protected Madam.

Chen Mu attacked Faya’s elite Card Adepts while Wei'a fought the Bronze Mask Man, and Chen Mu overcame his wavering resolve to kill two attackers. The Bronze Mask Man unleashed a field of peach-red Energy Blades around Wei'a and named his technique the Flower Realm.

• Wei'a pursued the Bronze Mask Man after he seized Madam Faya, but the man escaped his first attack and set her down to fight freely.
• Chen Mu entered the Zero Style State and attacked Faya’s Card Adepts, drawing recognition from Madam Faya and the Bronze Mask Man.
• The Bronze Mask Man fired peach-red beams that filled the air around Wei'a with Energy Blades, forcing Wei'a to halt.
• Chen Mu steadied himself despite conflicting feelings of control and danger, then deflected a coordinated attack and killed two Close-Combat Card Adepts.
• The Bronze Mask Man’s peach-red blades surrounded Wei'a as the Bronze Mask Man softly named the technique the Flower Realm.

Wei'a fought the Bronze Mask Man inside Flower Realm, endured his Flower Realm: Snowfall attack, and countered with a barrage of Air Bullets. As their battle reached a stalemate, Chen Mu spotted an opening in his own fight.

• Wei'a attacked the Bronze Mask Man with an Air Slash, but Flower Realm's petals cut it apart.
• The Bronze Mask Man transformed Flower Realm into Snowfall and wounded Wei'a with the whirling Energy Blades.
• Wei'a stopped dodging and unleashed rapid Air Bullets that forced the Bronze Mask Man to defend himself with a spherical net of snowflakes.
• Chen Mu saw Wei'a regain the upper hand and turned back to his own battle, where he spotted an opening.

Chen Mu used zero style to unleash [Chess Cage Thousand Cuts], killing many of Madam’s guards and leaving the survivors shaken. As the Bronze Mask Man prepared to turn the fight around, Wei'a seized on his moment of unease and shattered his Energy Shield, disrupting his control of the snowflakes.

• Chen Mu trusted his zero style intuition, dodged [Bind], and escaped behind the Close-Combat Card Adepts.
• Chen Mu unleashed [Chess Cage Thousand Cuts], striking down more than a dozen Card Adepts and devastating the guards’ morale.
• The Bronze Mask Man recognized Chen Mu’s improved strength and prepared to commit himself to ending the fight.
• Wei'a sensed the Bronze Mask Man’s shift in mindset and compressed three Air Bullets into a single attack.
• Wei'a shattered the Bronze Mask Man’s Energy Shield and severed his control over the snowflakes, leaving him unable to regain the battle’s rhythm immediately.

Chen Mu outmaneuvered Faya’s guards and trapped them in his new energy-cage technique, [Bubble Hall], before collapsing after reaching Madam Faya. Wei'a rescued the unconscious Chen Mu from a blinding explosion, with Chen Mu still clutching someone in his arms.

• Wei'a attacked the Bronze Mask Man with eight stones, but the man used Flower Realm Separation to make the stones vanish in a burst of light.
• Chen Mu targeted Madam Faya while evading attacks from ten ranged Faya guards, relying on the zero style state and his physical stamina.
• Chen Mu formed spherical energy cages around the guards, trapping them as their attacks made the barriers absorb more energy; he named the technique [Bubble Hall].
• With his perception and stamina exhausted, Chen Mu lunged toward Madam Faya and grabbed someone before losing consciousness.
• A blinding explosion swept toward Chen Mu, but Wei'a appeared, seized him, and vanished.

Chen Mu and Wei'a escaped after fighting the Bronze Mask Man and captured Madam Faya. After Chen Mu removed her mask and learned her name was Qiu Shanyu, she offered compensation for her earlier behavior.

• Chen Mu asked Wei'a about his fight with the Bronze Mask Man, and Wei'a said neither had won.
• When Madam Faya began to wake, Wei'a knocked her unconscious again and carried her and Chen Mu to an abandoned warehouse.
• The Bronze Mask Man reflected on Qiao Yuan's powerful air techniques and how the battle had challenged his beliefs about Uncard Flow.
• Chen Mu recovered in the warehouse, removed Madam Faya's mask, and saw her face as she woke.
• Chen Mu demanded Madam Faya's name and threatened her, so she identified herself as Qiu Shanyu and offered compensation.

Chen Mu confronted Qiu Shanyu about Faya’s attack on the Taishu Family and learned she recognized the green flower on his arm as “biaoqing.” When approaching pursuers forced Wei'a to knock Qiu Shanyu unconscious and flee with them, he carried Chen Mu and Qiu Shanyu into the wilderness.

• Qiu Shanyu asked Chen Mu why he hated her, and he revealed he had seen her in Luoyou City with Yu Guo and Xiao Man, when he was known as Cao Dong.
• Qiu Shanyu recognized Cao Dong as the creator of the Digital Series Cards and deduced that he was also behind the communication technology and Chief Steward White.
• Qiu Shanyu explained that Faya had attacked the Taishu Family to gain voting influence in Frostmoon Cold Isle’s planned Tiandongli District alliance.
• Chen Mu realized Faya’s attack had nothing to do with the Devil Woman and looked down at the green flower growing on his arm.
• Qiu Shanyu recognized the mark as biaoqing, but Wei'a warned that pursuers were approaching and knocked her unconscious.
• Wei'a carried Chen Mu and Qiu Shanyu out of East Rui City and deep into the wilderness.

Chen Mu learned that the Biaoqing implanted in him was a rare plant from Hundred Abyss Prefecture that could control its host, and Qiu Shanyu revealed Faya’s ancient ties to that region. Qiu Shanyu offered to help him find the woman who implanted it in exchange for her life, leaving Chen Mu to decide what to do with his new ally.

• Chen Mu destroyed Qiu Shanyu’s tracking necklace and ordered her to remove her remaining accessories.
• Qiu Shanyu explained Biaoqing’s properties and said only a royal clan in Hundred Abyss Prefecture knew how to activate it.
• Qiu Shanyu revealed that Faya’s contact with Hundred Abyss Prefecture predated the Federation’s discovery of the Path Window.
• Qiu Shanyu offered to help Chen Mu find the woman who implanted Biaoqing in exchange for staying alive until she could meet her, and Chen Mu accepted with a warning.
• Wei'a said he had remembered fighting, while Qiu Shanyu identified the Bronze Mask Man as her uncle and one of the Federation’s strongest card adepts.
• Chen Mu reaffirmed that survival came before revenge and wondered what to do with Qiu Shanyu.

Chen Mu brought Qiu Shanyu back under guard and learned that she might help him find Devil Woman and treat Biaoqing. Her account of Qingqing’s identity left him questioning Star Academy’s motives for sending her to East Guard Academy.

• Chen Mu gave Qiu Shanyu one of Wei'a’s pills, then took her into the city and kept watch while she changed and concealed her identity.
• Chen Mu destroyed Qiu Shanyu’s discarded clothes and brought her to his training room, where she questioned his search for Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus.
• Chen Mu told Qiu Shanyu about Biaoqing and his encounter with Devil Woman, and she agreed to consider how to find her.
• Qiu Shanyu reacted to news of Qingqing’s battle with Devil Woman and revealed that Qingqing was the only person in decades to graduate from Star Academy’s Inner Academy.
• Chen Mu connected Qingqing’s presence at East Guard Academy to the exchange program and wondered what Star Academy had been pursuing.

After reviewing the battle and recovering, Chen Mu heard Qiu Shanyu’s plan to find the Devil Woman by broadcasting an illusion-card advertisement of the Biaoqing pattern across the Federation. He then hurried to meet Xiao Bo, who had arrived in East Rui City, and saw the halo floating behind him.

• Chen Mu recovered from the battle, noticed his perception had improved, and reflected on the powerful techniques used by Wei'a and the Bronze Mask Man.
• Qiu Shanyu proposed broadcasting the Biaoqing pattern as an illusion-card advertisement, though the cost and the risk of attracting the Six Great Academies remained concerns.
• Chen Mu brushed off Xu Jia’s complaint about his distraction and hurried away after learning Xiao Bo had arrived in East Rui City.
• Chen Mu met Xiao Bo outside the Abinia Grand Hotel, where Xiao Bo teased him about his mask and his fiftieth-place ranking on the Black Line Star Ranking.

Chen Mu discovered that the advanced combat machine called the Energy Glove used technology from the Undercity, raising fears that something had happened to Alfonso and the others. He asked Janette where the plans had come from, while Xiao Bo sensed danger in Chen Mu’s calm demeanor.

• Chen Mu and Xiao Bo went to a card shop, where Xiao Bo chose a chrysanthemum mask and showed off his Sequence Wave Wheel.
• Janette welcomed Chen Mu and called Tappster over after learning he wanted card-making and card machinery materials.
• Tappster recognized Chen Mu and presented him with an Illusion Card containing plans for the Energy Glove, a combat machine more advanced than Faya’s Combat Shuttlecraft.
• Chen Mu recognized the Energy Glove’s data as genuine technology from the Undercity and worried about Alfonso and the others.
• Chen Mu casually asked Janette where the Energy Glove plans came from, and Xiao Bo sensed danger in his manner.

Chen Mu learned that Tan Yuwen’s Energy Glove plans had drawn the attention of East Rui City’s shops and that Faya had stolen one of her notebooks to develop the Combat Shuttlecraft. Qiu Shanyu’s account linked Tan Yuwen’s technology to ancient ruins in the Jungle, while Chen Mu concluded the Energy Gloves were unrelated to Alfonso and the others; a knock interrupted the group.

• Janette told Chen Mu that Tan Yuwen had offered a bounty for anyone who could produce the Energy Gloves, and Chen Mu said he could not make them.
• Chen Mu brought Xiao Bo to Wei'a’s Training Room, where Wei'a proposed capturing Tan Yuwen and Chen Mu realized he was anxious about Alfonso and the others’ safety.
• Chen Mu questioned Qiu Shanyu about Tan Yuwen, and she explained that Mei Ji and a mysterious force protected her and that Faya had sought her technology.
• Qiu Shanyu revealed that Faya had stolen one of Tan Yuwen’s five notebooks, which helped them develop the Combat Shuttlecraft, and described a legend about a Rosenberg disciple’s card-machinery laboratory in the Jungle.
• Chen Mu connected the legend to the Undercity and concluded that Tan Yuwen’s Energy Glove technology was unrelated to Alfonso and the others.
• A knock sounded at the door, bringing the conversation to a halt.

Chen Mu met Taishu Yong, who recognized him as Qiao Yuan and agreed to provide the Taishu Family’s Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus in exchange for a favor. The chapter ended with Chen Mu asking what Taishu Yong wanted him to do.

• Sang Hanshui told Chen Mu that Taishu Yong had arrived with Taishu Cheng and Connally.
• Chen Mu recognized Connally as a dangerous level-seven-perception Card Adept and met Taishu Yong while Sang Hanshui and Connally faced off.
• Taishu Yong exposed Chen Mu’s identity as Qiao Yuan, startling Taishu Cheng and the Card Adepts watching nearby.
• Chen Mu admitted he had come to obtain the Taishu Family’s Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus.
• Taishu Yong agreed to deliver the fungus immediately if Chen Mu did the family a favor, and Chen Mu asked for his terms.

Chen Mu agreed to help the Taishu Family compete for a seat on the Tiandongli Alliance Council in exchange for the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus. The chapter ended as Taishu Yong gave him the fungus, stored in an ancient Purple Maplewood Box.

• Taishu Yong sent Taishu Ying to fetch a purple wooden box, and Taishu Cheng realized his father had secretly favored Ying.
• Taishu Yong explained that the Taishu Family's Alliance Council vote was at risk and asked Chen Mu to compete in the Tiandongli District Card Adept Elite Tournament.
• Chen Mu asked how Taishu Yong had identified him, and Taishu Yong explained that news of the Faya base raid had spread through East Rui City.
• Taishu Yong said he had given Chen Mu an alibi, and Chen Mu agreed to do his best in the tournament without guaranteeing a result.
• Taishu Ying returned with the purple wooden box, and Taishu Yong handed it to Chen Mu, explaining that it contained the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus.

Chen Mu’s group discussed Qiu Shanyu’s fate and the danger of provoking Faya while struggling to survive in the coming winter. The chapter ended with Chen Mu promising that Faya would pay for Yang An’s death, but insisting that survival came before revenge.

• Chen Mu examined the strange black, gold-marked organism Taishu Yong had brought him.
• Su Liu Cherou trained herself to control two hundred energy needles, worrying that her skill still would not be enough to treat the green line in Chen Mu’s body.
• Qiu Shanyu saw Chen Mu’s Communication Matrix and considered how Faya could benefit from its technology.
• Chen Mu told Bagnell and Xi Ping that he planned to keep Qiu Shanyu alive, and both men ultimately supported his decision despite their hatred of her.
• Chen Mu promised that Faya would pay for Yang An’s death, then warned his companions that surviving the coming winter mattered more than pursuing revenge.

Chen Mu drank the golden liquid from the Golden-Spotted Soft Jelly Fungus to counter the Biaoqing Green Line inside him. The fungus restrained the Green Line and strengthened his body enough for him to use Air Technique, though Su Liu Cherou could only guess how it worked.

• Su Liu Cherou confirmed the fungus was genuine and told Chen Mu to drink its golden secretion within one minute, while Qiu Shanyu warned she knew of no reaction with Biaoqing.
• Chen Mu drank the secretion, felt intense heat, and discovered that it had spread through his muscles without initially reaching the Green Line.
• Wei'a told Chen Mu to perform the Body-Strengthening Exercise, and after five sets Chen Mu found a golden layer surrounding the Green Line and preventing it from reacting to his perception.
• Chen Mu told Su Liu Cherou that the Green Line had become unresponsive, and everyone celebrated the fungus's apparent restraint of Biaoqing.
• Wei'a told Chen Mu to try Air Technique, and Chen Mu sliced the air with his hand; Su Liu Cherou guessed that the fungus had tempered his body.