Chapter Summaries

Gao Jian explained his disappearance to Counselor Wang, only to learn that Elon Musk was listening beside him. After arranging to be picked up, Gao Jian encountered a skeletal homeless man living in a phone booth and wondered why he refused cigarettes.

• Gao Jian told Counselor Wang that he had toured SpaceX and been stranded by the geomagnetic storm and subsequent missile incident.
• Counselor Wang revealed that Elon Musk was standing beside him and had heard Gao Jian's explanation.
• Gao Jian admitted where he was, and Counselor Wang told him to stay out of sight until Chen could collect him.
• Gao Jian considered how to explain the External Incarnation's disappearance to Elon Musk and decided he might use a Dust-Settling Pill if necessary.
• Gao Jian found a skeletal homeless man beside the phone booth and offered him cigarettes, but the man refused them.

Gao Jian shared food and water with a homeless veteran named Don Quixote, who told him a strange account of knights, a king, dragons, and his life after military service. Old Chen arrived to take Gao Jian back to the consulate after photos of him went viral, while Gao Jian left Don Quixote with his treasured revolver.

• Gao Jian gave Don Quixote leftover space corn and water, and Don Quixote offered him his revolver in return.
• Gao Jian accepted the revolver and heard Don Quixote explain that he had served in the Silver Cross Crusader Knights and was still waiting for orders from his missing superior.
• Don Quixote described losing his allowance and discharge gold, leaving the port, and surviving as a homeless man in San Leon.
• Old Chen arrived and told Gao Jian that he had become a major online topic and needed to return to the consulate before the FBI found him.
• Gao Jian left in Old Chen's Cadillac and used his voice to tell Don Quixote to keep the revolver.

Gao Jian helped keep Don Quixote alive, then rode with Old Chen toward the freeway while reflecting on homelessness and concealing what had happened to him. When two cars pursued them, Gao Jian used the wind to disable them and discovered that his spiritual power had fully recovered after twenty-four hours of rest.

• Gao Jian infused Don Quixote with life-sustaining spiritual light and watched him return to his phone-booth home.
• Gao Jian hid the truth about his scorched hair and broken phone from Old Chen as they drove through San Leon.
• Old Chen spotted two Fords tailing the Cadillac after they entered the freeway and accelerated to evade them.
• Gao Jian summoned a violent gust that blew sharp stones beneath the Fords, causing both cars to lose control and stop.
• Gao Jian realized that his spiritual power had replenished through rest, though his capacity and output rate remained unchanged.

Gao Jian returned to the Consulate General in Houston as the FBI surrounded it and sought to arrest him over the failed lunar mission. With Elon Musk’s help, the officials arranged a secret escape plan, but Counselor Wang accidentally drank the memory-blurring pill Gao had meant for Elon.

• Clerk Zhou told Gao Jian that Elon Musk had waited at the consulate since the previous day, and Gao prepared a Dustless Memory Pill to keep his identity as a cultivator secret.
• Elon warmly greeted Gao Jian and claimed they were close friends, while the Consul General explained that the FBI had named Gao a prime suspect and was demanding access to him.
• Gao Jian secretly dropped a Dustless Memory Pill into a cup of tea intended for Elon, then listened as the officials discussed how to get him out of the country.
• Elon offered aircraft, private airports, and staff to help Gao escape Texas, while Counselor Wang and the Deputy Consul General planned to evade FBI surveillance.
• Counselor Wang vowed to protect Gao Jian and drank the tea containing the Dustless Memory Pill, leaving Gao horrified.

Gao Jian’s memory-blurring pill made Counselor Wang act confused after he drank tea, prompting the consulate to suspect an attack and lock down. The consul general ordered Elon Musk and Gao Jian to relocate, while they both avoided looking at each other.

• Counselor Wang repeatedly forgot who Gao Jian was and rambled about an escape plan after drinking tea.
• The consul general suspected the tea might have been intended for Elon Musk and ordered the consulate sealed and searched.
• The ambassador instructed the consulate to protect Elon Musk and arrange Gao Jian’s return home.
• Counselor Liu reported that Counselor Wang had fallen asleep and could not be awakened, though he showed no clear signs of poisoning.
• Gao Jian suggested Counselor Wang might be allergic to West Lake Longjing, but the consul general dismissed the idea and ordered an immediate relocation.
• Gao Jian and Elon Musk agreed to relocate.

The Houston Consulate General staged a coordinated convoy to get Gao Jian out while FBI agents pursued him, and Elon Musk arranged a police helicopter for his escape. Gao Jian boarded the helicopter and discovered its pilot was Colonel Robert, whose Heart-Binding Curse he could no longer sense.

• Counselor Liu reported that Counselor Wang had lost his memories of the past week, and the Consul General ordered everyone to stop investigating the cause.
• The consulate sent six identical Cadillacs and civilian vehicles through multiple exits to confuse FBI surveillance as Gao Jian left in Old Chen's car.
• FBI agents and State Police pursued the convoy, but Elon Musk directed Gao Jian to a police helicopter arranged through his friend, the police chief.
• Gao Jian boarded the helicopter while Old Chen drove away, and the Consul General told him to trust Elon Musk.
• Gao Jian recognized the helicopter pilot as Colonel Robert and realized he could no longer sense his Heart-Binding Curse on him.

Gao Jian discovered that the pilot taking him away was an impostor who had killed and impersonated the real Robert. After extracting the impostor’s memories and destroying its soul, Gao Jian learned that it had been probing him on behalf of unknown man-eating creatures.

• Gao Jian examined Robert and noticed that his Heart-Binding Curse had disappeared, then questioned him about their destination.
• When Robert insisted on taking him to an airport, Gao Jian cut off his mouth, seized his memories, and discovered that they began only twenty-seven hours earlier.
• Gao Jian saw memories showing that the creatures had tortured, dismembered, and eaten the real Robert, and he burned the impostor’s soul to ashes.
• Gao Jian used the Wind Control Art to recover the pilotless helicopter before it crashed, then learned the impostor had planned to have the FBI and Federal Police arrest him.
• Gao Jian found that the impostor’s memories included a conversation among the suited diners who had eaten Robert, though their faces remained unseen.

Gao Jian learned that Allen, Ron, and Jim were alive and in the White House, while confirming that the Robert he had killed was a humanlike impostor. Troubled by the possibility that such creatures had infiltrated human society, he boarded a plane bound for Shanghai, hoping to return home safely.

• Gao Jian overheard the impostors discuss the three Astronauts, the CNSA observer, and their plans against China, and learned that Allen, Ron, and Jim were in the White House.
• Gao Jian concluded that the Robert he had burned was a humanoid monster that had copied Robert's appearance and memories, and vowed to hunt beings carrying the spiritual effects of the Hundred Herbs Life-Renewing Pill.
• Gao Jian landed at an airport owned by Elon Musk and repeatedly scanned the ground crew, unable to tell with certainty whether people around him were human or impostors.
• Gao Jian learned that Cole had stayed behind to delay the FBI and accepted the crew's assurance that their boss would try to rescue him.
• After checking and eating the food prepared for him, Gao Jian boarded a passenger plane bound for Shanghai and decided to return home before reporting what he had discovered.

After flying safely from Texas to Shanghai, Gao Jian was met by a large official convoy and taken to a restricted complex, where Bian Xia questioned him about his actions in the United States. Gao Jian blamed Elon Musk for using him to expose NASA’s rocket-fueling dispute, but Bian Xia remained angry that he had opened fire publicly.

• Gao Jian flew from Texas to Shanghai on an Airbus A319 while worrying that the journey might bring danger.
• At Pudong Airport, Bian Xia and officials from several departments met Gao Jian and escorted him away in an armored convoy.
• The convoy brought Gao Jian to a restricted complex near the boundary between Han Dong Province and Taidong Province.
• Bian Xia asked Gao Jian what he had done during his days in the United States and told him that Counselor Wang had lost his memory.
• Gao Jian said Elon Musk had used him to reveal that the SLS rocket was not fully fueled as part of a conflict between SpaceX and NASA.
• Bian Xia rebuked Gao Jian for opening fire, while Gao Jian insisted that Musk had manipulated him into acting.

Bian Xia told Gao Jian that the Chang'e Program had been suspended, then State Security officials subjected him to examinations and prolonged questioning. At two in the morning, Officer Liu ended the investigation and told Gao Jian he could go home, where his grandfather was waiting.

• Bian Xia questioned Gao Jian about his ties to Elon Musk and warned him to report everything he had seen and heard.
• Bian Xia told Gao Jian that the Chang'e Program had been suspended and its pre-2030 lunar landing goal canceled.
• State Security officials took Gao Jian to a special observation room, where doctors examined him and sent his results to the capital.
• Investigators questioned Gao Jian late into the night, and he maintained his prepared account while pretending to become confused from exhaustion.
• Officer Liu arrived at two in the morning, ended the investigation, and told Gao Jian to go home and rest because his grandfather was waiting.

Gao Jian stayed at a hotel after his interrogation and assessed his cultivation and possessions, realizing he still needed spiritual energy to advance. After seeing a Buddhist symbol flash on the moon, he inventoried his combat artifacts and repaired his damaged shield with glue.

• Gao Jian declined to go home that night, stayed at a nearby hotel, and meditated after securing his room with a formation barrier.
• Gao Jian found that his cultivation had not advanced without spiritual energy, then saw an auspicious Buddhist symbol flash on the moon and disappear.
• Gao Jian laid out his cultivation supplies and reviewed his combat artifacts, including the Hundred-Soul Banner, Thunderfire Fan, and Green Bamboo Sword.
• Gao Jian examined the fragments of his damaged Azure-Light Tortoise Shell Shield, ordered heavy-duty glue, and pieced the shield back together.

Gao Jian inventoried his magical supplies and regretted having almost no pills or spirit stones left. After discovering he could refill a spirit stone with his own spiritual power, he excitedly told Officer Liu he wanted to go home.

• Gao Jian reviewed his powerful talisman treasures and considered buying firearms and explosives on a future trip to the United States.
• Gao Jian found that nearly all his pills were gone and that he had only three depleted spirit stones to cultivate with.
• Gao Jian channeled his spiritual power into a spirit stone and watched its energy refill, then shouted in excitement.
• Officer Liu rushed to Gao Jian's door with his handgun, and Gao Jian said it was daylight and urged him to go home.

Gao Jian returned to his grandfather’s home in Jingzhou City after the State Security Bureau released him, and he reflected on his new method for advancing his cultivation. After reading A Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty, he asked his grandfather whether the Jiajing Emperor had really practiced immortal cultivation.

• Officer Liu dropped Gao Jian outside the city and refused to drive him the remaining kilometer home.
• Gao Jian rode a shared bicycle to his grandfather’s residential compound and entered the house.
• Gao Jian told his grandfather that Elon Musk had used him as a pawn and that Officer Liu had brought him back after the authorities cleared him.
• Gao Jian took A Chronicle of the Ming Dynasty from his grandfather and read the entire book at cultivation speed.
• Gao Jian asked his grandfather whether the Jiajing Emperor had really practiced immortal cultivation.

Old Mr. Gao explained how Jiajing’s conflict with civil officials shaped his pursuit of immortality and blamed officials for the Ming dynasty’s failures. He gave Gao Jian a history book, then left while Gao Jian stayed home to rest.

• Old Mr. Gao told Gao Jian that Jiajing’s civil officials held the real power and encouraged the emperor to avoid court through immortal cultivation.
• Old Mr. Gao blamed the civil officials for the Ming dynasty’s decline, including the suppression of Zheng He’s voyages and the sabotage of Tao Chengdao’s rocket experiments.
• Old Mr. Gao gave Gao Jian a copy of 1587, A Year of No Significance and described its author’s broad approach to history.
• Uncle Qi called to check that Gao Jian had returned safely, and Gao Jian reassured him.
• Old Mr. Gao left to attend to an errand and told Gao Jian to stay home and rest for a couple of days.

Gao Jian explored his old bedroom and pieced together more of the original owner's personality from his belongings, books, computer, and diary. He ended the chapter reading the diary's cheeky greeting to anyone who might open it.

• Gao Jian searched online and discovered that Old Master Gao had held several powerful provincial posts, explaining why officials had treated him with deference.
• Gao Jian cleaned his dusty bedroom and examined the original owner's youthful decorations, books, and posters.
• Gao Jian concluded from the original owner's sparse memories and possessions that he had been a quiet, well-behaved science student with broad interests.
• Gao Jian started the old computer, found childhood-sweetheart romance videos in its bookmarks, and deleted the browsing history.
• Gao Jian found the original owner's middle-school diary and read its final-page greeting to the gentlemen reading it.

Gao Jian found a burned fragment hidden in the original owner's diary, revealing that the original owner had uncovered a steam-engine account in the Yongle Encyclopedia and faced threats after investigating it. He resolved to pursue the people behind the original owner's death, then cultivated for the first time in two years and reached the peak of early Foundation Establishment.

• Gao Jian reflected on the similarities between himself and the original owner and recalled how he had transmigrated into the original owner's body in the ICU.
• Gao Jian found a cryptic note in the diary and tried several chemical methods to reveal hidden writing, but they failed.
• Gao Jian accidentally tore the diary and caught a burned fragment describing a steam engine from the Yongle Encyclopedia.
• Gao Jian read the original owner's message on the fragment, which described online threats and provided an account and secret key for viewing his research.
• Gao Jian decided to avenge the original owner, sealed his room with talismans, and cultivated using three spirit stones until he reached the peak of early Foundation Establishment.

Gao Jian uncovered the original Gao Jian’s hidden research notes and followed his instructions to reveal writing concealed with tannic acid. The notebook’s pages were covered in blue-black text, and Gao Jian realized he had used his own blood instead of an iron-ion solution.

• Gao Jian logged into CryptPad and reviewed the original Gao Jian’s notes about the moon landing and his discovery of a fragment from the Yongle Encyclopedia.
• Gao Jian examined the fragment describing the Fire Wheel Engine, which he believed was a steam engine, while the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Bamboo Sword wondered if it was a cultivation scripture.
• CryptPad instructed Gao Jian to use blood to reveal the notebook’s hidden writing, and an audio clip played in his own voice telling him not to hesitate.
• Gao Jian cut his finger with the Ten-Thousand-Year Green Bamboo Sword and spread blood across the notebook, revealing blue-black writing through a reaction between iron ions and tannic acid.
• Gao Jian revealed the hidden text across nearly every page, then heard another recording explaining that he could have used an iron-ion solution instead of blood.

Gao Jian read the surviving Yongle Encyclopedia pages and the original owner’s messages, which described a hidden history of materialist thought and urged him to find more evidence. A page outlining three stages of materialist cultivation left him wondering whether he had discovered an actual cultivation method.

• Gao Jian compared a notebook passage attributed to Wang Yangming with its familiar version and found that the notebook described materialism instead of subjective idealism.
• Gao Jian read the notebook’s claims that the sages upheld materialism, that Western learning had been lost, and that pages of the Yongle Encyclopedia had been hidden before the Ming dynasty fell.
• Gao Jian read the original owner’s messages about concealed allies, suspected Freemasonry and civil bureaucracy, and the need to find more evidence in the surviving pages.
• Gao Jian examined a digital image of another Yongle page, which described the stages of falsehood recognition, delusion breaking, and truth realization.
• Gao Jian wondered whether the page described cultivation and questioned why its method required someone to become a staunch materialist.

After struggling to practice the Mind-State Cultivation Method, Gao Jian reached the falsehood recognition realm and learned to perceive the material world apart from reflected light. He discovered that living beings carried auras and that his grandfather’s aura was unusually powerful, then met his grandfather’s gaze.

• Gao Jian read the Mind-State Cultivation Method, which rejected immortals and spirits and demanded logical reasoning and empirical verification.
• Gao Jian practiced through the night but initially failed to advance beyond the falsehood recognition realm.
• Gao Jian awakened to a perception that separated light from matter and revealed objects’ physical structures beneath their apparent colors.
• Gao Jian observed colorless auras around living things and saw a clear blue aura around himself.
• Gao Jian left his room and saw a thick, deep-white aura surrounding Old Mr. Gao, who noticed him and met his gaze.

After discovering that his grandfather was a powerful cultivator, Gao Jian investigated whether other officials shared that ability and found none. As he left Jingzhou for the capital, he saw that the Customs staff guarding the airport were all cultivators, standing watch at the nation’s gateway.

• Gao Jian learned that his grandfather had delayed calls from the Space Administration so Gao Jian could rest, but Gao Jian insisted on returning to work soon.
• Gao Jian sensed his grandfather’s immense qi and realized that his grandfather had reached the falsehood recognition realm.
• Gao Jian recalled the threats the original Gao Jian had received after posting a Yongle Encyclopedia fragment online and wondered how his grandfather had learned to cultivate.
• Gao Jian searched the State Government grounds and found no other mental-state cultivators among the officials he observed, including Governor Li, Governor of Shazhou, and Hou Liangping.
• Two days later, Gao Jian left Jingzhou for the capital and saw that the Customs workers at the airport were all mental-state cultivators guarding the border.