Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu returned to Taishu Fort after destroying the Pursuit Corps and urged Taishu Yong to make the battle public, pushing the Taishu Family into an open stand against the Federation Comprehensive Academy. Taishu Yong agreed, while Qiu Shanyu remained stunned by Chen Mu’s claim that the Corps had been annihilated.

• At Heart Garden, Chen Mu agreed to personally test Boyd Jennings for recruitment into Taishu Yong’s forces.
• Chen Mu returned to Taishu Fort, asked the Old Chief Steward to summon Taishu Yong, and told him to watch for a visitor.
• Qiu Shanyu confronted Chen Mu about attacking the Pursuit Corps, and he told her that all its members were dead.
• Taishu Yong returned and learned from Chen Mu’s Recording Card that Chen Mu and his companions had destroyed the Pursuit Corps.
• Chen Mu asked Taishu Yong to release the Recording Card publicly, arguing that the Taishu Family should openly align with Tiandongli District’s Grand Alliance.
• Taishu Yong accepted Chen Mu’s proposal, despite fearing the Federation Comprehensive Academy’s retaliation.

After Chief Steward White annihilated the Pursuit Corps, Tang Hanpei, Jia Yingxia, Tan Yuwen, and the wider Federation reacted to the news. Jia Yingxia sent Bai Yue to protect the Taishu Family in East Rui City and investigate White, while a new rumor began sweeping across the Federation.

• Tan Yuwen and Ji Zhihao discussed Tang Hanpei’s strategy and recognized that the Pursuit Corps’ presence in East Rui City could create an opportunity for them.
• Tang Hanpei reorganized the military camp into the better-equipped Tang Camp, and Shao Xue informed him that the Pursuit Corps had been wiped out.
• Tan Yuwen and Ji Zhihao watched the recording of the Pursuit Corps’ corpses, while Jia Yingxia showed it to Bai Yue and praised Chief Steward White’s feat.
• Jia Yingxia ordered Bai Yue to go to East Rui City, protect the Taishu Family, and seek an opportunity to contact Tan Yuwen.
• Illusion platforms offered enormous bounties for anyone who could explain how Chief Steward White won, but no one solved it before a new rumor spread across the Federation.

Chen Mu’s identity as the creator of the Digital Series Cards became a widespread rumor, drawing Card Adepts to the Taishu Family and prompting Ji Zhihao to suspect Chen Mu had leaked it to build momentum. As Chen Mu continued expanding his forces, his urgency to help Bagnell and the others drove him to meet six level seven Card Adepts.

• Evidence linking Chief Steward White to [029. Explosive Bomb] spread, and Card Adepts rushed toward East Rui City to join the Taishu Family.
• Ji Zhihao told Tan Yuwen he suspected Chen Mu had released the rumor himself to strengthen his influence and protect himself from attack.
• Taishu Yong reported that 756 Card Adepts had qualified that day, including six level seven recruits who wanted to meet Chen Mu.
• Taishu Yong told Chen Mu that Bai Yue of Frostmoon Cold Isle would arrive in about seven days.
• Chen Mu admitted to Wei'a that he was worried about Bagnell and the others, then set out to meet the level seven Card Adepts.

Chen Mu negotiated three-year bodyguard contracts with six level seven card adepts, then reorganized training for his growing force while struggling to manage the workload. After learning that Star Academy tactician Luo Xiju had analyzed the destruction of the Pursuit Corps, Chen Mu watched the broadcast as Luo addressed him directly.

• Chen Mu offered the six level seven card adepts suitable Digital Series Cards in exchange for three years of service, and all six agreed to become his bodyguards.
• Wei'a overwhelmed the six recruits with killing intent, leaving them convinced that Chen Mu had an unseen expert far stronger than they were.
• Chen Mu revised the troops' training plan, appointed Sang Hanshui chief instructor, and assigned Xiao Bo to train the younger card adepts.
• Chen Mu worked long hours making cards, studying strategy, and overseeing training, and his perception broke through the level seven barrier.
• Chen Mu saw a program announce that Luo Xiju had analyzed how Chen Mu defeated the Federation Comprehensive Academy's Pursuit Corps.
• Luo Xiju's recorded analysis began with a greeting to Chief Steward White.

Luo Xiju reconstructed how Chief Steward White defeated the Pursuit Corps, revealing his tactical brilliance to military leaders across the Federation. He publicly invited Chief Steward White to visit the Star Academy, thrusting Chen Mu into the center of attention.

• Wei Yueqing assembled the First Legion's staff and ordered them to study Luo Xiju's analysis, calling Luo Xiju the First Legion's greatest enemy.
• Luo Xiju explained that he had mobilized the Star Academy's intelligence department to investigate Chief Steward White and assessed the strength of White and his companions.
• Luo Xiju deduced that Chief Steward White had ambushed the Pursuit Corps at Cold Fir Town after calculating its route and the depleted energy in its cards.
• Luo Xiju reconstructed how Chief Steward White used the weather, explosive energy constructs, and precise timing to prevent the Pursuit Corps from replacing its cards and defeat it.
• Luo Xiju praised Chief Steward White's calculations and invited him to the Star Academy, shocking Chen Mu and the other viewers.

Tang Hanpei ordered Shao Xue to recruit card machinery experts and establish a research institute before he left the Capital, while Xie Yanbai took charge of Zhongda Academy and began reforming its legacy system. Chen Mu’s forces continued to grow, and Taishu Yong welcomed Bai Yue to East Rui City.

• Tang Hanpei told Shao Xue to bring every prominent Federation card machinery expert to the academy and establish a research institute, then said he would leave for a while.
• Xie Yanbai became Zhongda Academy’s new academy head and ordered most legacies opened to all students, with competitions planned in three months.
• Xie Yanbai summoned Lian Ge to protect his teacher and then flew out of the academy to find someone.
• Chen Mu supervised training as card adepts joined in greater numbers following Luo Xiju’s recording.
• Taishu Yong waited through the snow outside East Rui City and welcomed the swiftly arriving Bai Yue.

At Star Academy, Luo Xiju told Nick that Chief Steward White was Chen Mu, the creator of the Digital Series Cards, and might possess Rosenberg’s lost Planning Card technology. In the Jungle, Bagnell’s battered force pressed on after the Blood Hammer Division collapsed, and the survivors finally reached a city.

• Luo Xiju and Nick discussed the Federation’s major powers and the possibility that new technology could upset the Six Great Academies’ dominance.
• Luo Xiju revealed that Chief Steward White was Chen Mu and that he might carry Rosenberg’s work, including the lost Planning Card technology.
• Su Liu Cherou reported that three wounded men had died, while Jiang Liang confirmed that the bodies had been buried.
• Bagnell explained that Wu Yan and most of the Blood Hammer Division’s experts had died in their raid, leaving Shi Fengfei and a few others to lead a desperate pursuit.
• After three days without meeting enemy card adepts, Bagnell ordered his force to advance at full speed, and after ten days of travel they saw a city.

Bai Yue secured Frostmoon Cold Isle’s backing for the Taishu Family and went to meet Chen Mu at the training camp. After the recruits disrupted training to greet her, Chen Mu enforced harsh punishments, and the chapter ended with the recruits enduring them rather than quitting.

• Bai Yue promised Taishu Yong that Frostmoon Cold Isle would support the Taishu Family’s admission to the Tiandongli District Alliance Council.
• Bai Yue asked Taishu Yong to take her to Chief Steward White, and he led her to the East Rui City Guard Bureau training camp.
• The Card Adepts abandoned formation and cheered when Bai Yue arrived, prompting Chen Mu to order standing punishment and lashes for those who had broken discipline.
• Bai Yue asked Chen Mu to excuse the recruits, but Chen Mu refused and had Sang Hanshui turn off the energy shield.
• The Card Adepts endured the punishment through repeated fainting and treatment, while none asked to withdraw; Chen Mu watched them with growing confidence.

Yu Lin was captured by Bagnell’s force, which learned about a nearby Blood Card Adept Corps base and sent Jiang Liang to attack it. Meanwhile, Chen Mu refused Bai Yue’s invitation to join Frostmoon Cold Isle and prepared to leave Dongrui, while Qiu Shanyu offered a price she claimed he could not refuse.

• Yu Lin told Bagnell that a Blood Card Adept Corps base with five or six hundred people stood near the river, and Bagnell ordered Jiang Liang to lead five hundred Card Adepts against it.
• Bai Yue asked Chen Mu to join Frostmoon Cold Isle, but Chen Mu refused to join any institution and said he would soon leave Dongrui.
• Chen Mu ended the Taishu Family’s recruitment, took half the recruited Card Adepts, and accepted a year of salaries and two billion Odi for military expenses from Taishu Yong.
• Chen Mu promised Taishu Yong and Bai Yue copies of his standardized training guidelines, and Taishu Yong offered another two billion in supplies.
• Qiu Shanyu asked to buy Chen Mu’s training plan for two billion Odi, then declared that she could offer a price he would not refuse.

Chen Mu accepted Qiu Shanyu’s offer to have Faya pressure the Blood Card Adept Corps in exchange for the Training Guidelines, then secretly led two thousand card adepts out of East Rui City. The chapter ended with Jiang Liang’s forces capturing a Blood Card Adept Corps branch in Lijiang City, where Bagnell and Xi Ping opened its warehouse.

• Chen Mu agreed to give Qiu Shanyu the Training Guidelines if Faya launched probing attacks and troop movements against the Blood Card Adept Corps, regardless of whether Faya destroyed it.
• The Taishu Family prepared two billion Odi’s worth of supplies, and Chen Mu led two thousand experienced card adepts out of East Rui City under cover of darkness.
• Bai Yue and Taishu Yong watched Chen Mu’s contingent leave, while Ji Zhihao and Tan Yuwen discussed his departure and Tan Yuwen reaffirmed her determination to achieve her goal.
• Jiang Liang’s contingent wiped out a Blood Card Adept Corps branch in Lijiang City and established its base as a Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps camp.
• Bagnell and Xi Ping arrived at the captured base’s warehouse and opened its doors.

Xie Yanbai reunited with Cao Zhengqiu, a former military tactics instructor whose strategic analysis impressed him, and appointed him director of Zhongda Academy’s Tactics Room. Meanwhile, Chen Mu led his rapidly advancing force into the Jungle, determined to rely on his own plans as other factions watched their strength.

• Xie Yanbai visited Cao Zhengqiu and found him designing war games while struggling to make a living.
• Cao Zhengqiu predicted that Tang Hanpei would consolidate power and attack Shanggan District, and outlined a strategy of centralized resistance and prolonged defense.
• Xie Yanbai revealed that he had become Zhongda Academy’s Academy Head, then appointed Cao Zhengqiu director of its Tactics Room.
• Chen Mu’s force trained through rapid marches as its Card Adepts discussed their equipment, growth, and the Young Guard’s brutal training.
• Chen Mu maintained strict discipline, considered the threat of infiltrators, and chose to follow his own plan rather than rely entirely on Qiu Shanyu.
• The unusually powerful force passed the factions along its route without stopping and entered the Jungle.

Su Heiming learned of the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps’ victory and ordered an investigation while considering the Mohadi Domain’s uncard-flow techniques. Meanwhile, Chen Mu equipped the Young Guard with [Waveburst Bomb] cards, and the force prepared to test them against approaching Snowwave Bats.

• Su Heiming watched a report on the destruction of the Blood Hammer Division and the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps’ attack on the Blood Card Adept Corps’ branch in Lijiang City.
• Zhu Heng demonstrated an Air Technique, and Su Heiming ordered him to investigate the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps.
• Chen Mu trained his perception, made tailored cards for the Level Seven Card Adepts, and completed one hundred [Waveburst Bomb] cards for the Young Guard.
• A Fern Disk detected Snowwave Bats approaching, and Xiao Bo put the Young Guard into formation and directed them to aim their [Waveburst Bomb] cards.
• Xiao Bo ordered the Young Guard to fire as the Snowwave Bats arrived.

The Young Guard tested the powerful [Waveburst Bomb], while Chen Mu led the group through the jungle and Wei'a returned with a Snowspike Bear. Chen Mu prepared to collect its fresh blood and frost sac for card crafting, leaving the Card Adepts braced in case the beast awoke.

• The Young Guard detonated a hundred [Waveburst Bombs] together, creating a vast blast zone and astonishing the Card Adepts.
• Chen Mu ordered Sang Hanshui to move the group on, and the narration described Raphael’s grueling Training Plan and promotion to squad captain.
• Wei'a returned with Little Bu Mo and casually dropped a captured Snowspike Bear before Chen Mu and the camp.
• Chen Mu identified the bear’s blood, teeth, claws, and frost sac as valuable card-crafting materials, then offered to make Kuang Shi an ice-aspect card.
• Chen Mu took out a specialized sampling case and asked Wei'a to restrain the Snowspike Bear while he drew its blood.

Chen Mu accidentally woke a Snowspike Bear while harvesting its blood, then subdued it with three punches as the Level Seven Card Adepts watched. Bagnell prepared the corps to march against the Blood Card Adept Corps, while Tang Hanpei’s attempt to take Tan Yuwen away was interrupted by Mei Ji, Xianluo, Bai Yue, and a hidden figure.

• Chen Mu drew blood from the Snowspike Bear’s heart, waking it, then knocked it unconscious with three punches.
• Chen Mu drained the bear’s blood, and the Level Seven Card Adepts harvested its other materials before the group ate it.
• Bagnell reviewed the corps’ reorganization and ordered the three-thousand-member force to assemble and move out at three that afternoon.
• Tan Yuwen offered four notebooks to Tang Hanpei and asked him to help Ji Zhihao, protect her from harassment in the Capital, and spare her father Mei Ji.
• Mei Ji and Xianluo confronted Tang Hanpei over Tan Yuwen and the notebooks, and Bai Yue joined them to surround him.
• Tang Hanpei called for a hidden ally, and a dark figure emerged from the shadows.

Chen Mu drilled his troops in an extensive set of tactical regulations while studying the six-star card [Eternal Night] and considering a custom Wrist Device. Meanwhile, Bagnell’s force prepared an ambush for the enemy garrison, and scouts reported that the target had appeared.

• Lu Ke ordered the third company through an attack drill against a huge troop of Long-Legged Apes as Card Adepts struggled to memorize Chen Mu’s 189 tactical regulations.
• Qiu Shanyu, Bei Ling, Fu Dong, Wenren Hong, Kuang Shi, and Wu Jie discussed the regulations and recalled the terrifying beasts Wei'a had brought back.
• Chen Mu studied [Eternal Night], weighed its limits against his other cards, and decided to try making a Wrist Device suited to himself.
• Bagnell explained to Ru Qiu and Su Liu Cherou that his veterans would lead an ambush against the garrison while the recruits gained battle experience.
• A scout reported that the target had been sighted.

Su Hanhào joined forces with Tang Hanpei and took the original notebooks while Xianluo tried to hold Tang Hanpei back. Elsewhere, Chen Mu found a new approach to mechanized card production by having machinery handle the precision work that caused human errors.

• Su Hanhào appeared and revealed that he had allied with Tang Hanpei, who handed him the four original notebooks.
• Mei Ji and Bai Yue pursued Su Hanhào while Xianluo stayed behind to confront Tang Hanpei.
• Xianluo told Tang Hanpei he would stake his life to hold him back, and Tang Hanpei left with him to fight.
• Tan Yuwen ordered You Yin to guard the room while she and Ji Zhihao remained inside.
• Chen Mu considered how to mass-produce cards and realized machinery could handle precise work that Card Crafters often got wrong.

Mei Ji and Bai Yue joined forces to trap and attack Su Hanhào, but he survived their devastating assault and escaped. As they were left too weak to pursue him, Xize suddenly struck someone with a blood-red Crescent Moon.

• Bai Yue unleashed [Aurora] while Mei Ji used [Ring Prison] to seal Su Hanhào inside a shrinking energy sphere.
• Tang Hanpei fought Xianluo in East Rui City, breaking the Eight-Armed Heavenly Dragon's Wave Blades and shattering its energy-interfering vase with [Four-Corner Diamond].
• Su Hanhào used [Evil Lord's Eyes] to blast through the Ring Prison, but Bai Yue froze its interior with [Aurora Breath] as Mei Ji forced it to collapse.
• The Ring Prison exploded, devastating East Rui City, but Su Hanhào survived and fled while Mei Ji and Bai Yue were too injured to pursue him.
• Xize appeared without warning and struck someone with a blood-red Crescent Moon, cutting off a voice mid-sentence.

Bagnell’s forces annihilated an ambushed enemy unit while he explained his tactics and made Jiang Liang his student. Meanwhile, Chen Mu built a machine to automate card crafting and prepared to test it by making a Three-Star Energy Card.

• The enemy commander’s adjutant knocked him unconscious, led the remaining Card Adepts toward the northwest, and ran into a second ambush that wiped them out; Lu Xiaoru reported nineteen wounded and one dead.
• Bagnell explained that he had left an escape route to limit casualties among his recruits, then accepted Jiang Liang as his student and compared Jiang Liang’s orthodox style with Chen Mu’s unorthodox talent.
• After learning that Chen Mu had disappeared into the jungle, Bagnell ordered his unit to rest for three hours before doubling back to Lijiang City.
• Chen Mu constructed a machine that used a calibrated mold to guide perception and card ink into a blank card, then drew and marked the structural pattern for a Three-Star Energy Card.
• Chen Mu poured freshly prepared card ink into the machine and prepared to test whether his invention worked.

Xize killed Su Hanhào and took the notebooks, while Tang Hanpei’s actions and the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps’ victories fueled growing conflict across the Federation. The Star Academy’s principal warned Luo Xiju that Chen Mu and the returning wolf threatened the established order, then asked whether capturing them would excite him.

• Xize killed Su Hanhào, took [Evil Lord's Eyes] and the four notebooks, and escaped as Mei Ji and Bai Yue watched.
• Su Heim­ing ordered Zhu Heng to begin an operation, eliminate all survivors, and kill his brother.
• Tang Hanpei found Ji Zhihao dead, gave You Yin a Six-Star [Eight-Armed Heavenly Dragon], and arranged for him to study at the Federation Comprehensive Academy while caring for Tan Yuwen.
• Yang Yizhi blamed the Blood Card Adept Corps’ defeats on an exceptional commander and suspected that the Snow Silk Worm Card Adept Corps was led by the long-missing wolf of Black Hibiscus.
• Xie Yanbai and Cao Zhengqiu discussed the shifting conflicts, the notebooks in Tang Hanpei’s hands, and their plan to defend the academy.
• The Star Academy’s principal told Nick and Luo Xiju that he feared Chen Mu and the wolf more than Tang Hanpei, then asked Luo Xiju whether capturing them would excite him.

Chen Mu equipped his force with hundreds of powerful Digital Series Cards and organized a competition to test its units. After the Fifth Unit won and received the cards, Chen Mu named the force the Wood Character Camp and began reshaping it into a disciplined fighting force.

• Chen Mu emerged from his Jungle Shuttlecraft and told Sang Hanshui and Xiao Bo to hold a competition, revealing that he had made five hundred three-star cards and one hundred four-star cards in five days.
• Sang Hanshui and Xiao Bo launched a three-day competition among the units and the Young Guard while Chen Mu studied the force’s tactical protocols.
• The Fifth Unit won, and Chen Mu awarded it four hundred Digital Series Cards, giving it a hundred four-star cards and three hundred three-star cards.
• Chen Mu ordered the Fifth Unit to submit a new card tactics chart, and its captain organized an emergency meeting to develop tactics for the new equipment.
• Chen Mu named the force the Wood Character Camp and promoted the former Fifth Unit to the First Battalion as the camp began to take shape.