Chapter Summaries

Qingque and Chu Mu learned that the returned Tingyun had not contacted Yukong, deepening their suspicions that she was an impostor. Chu Mu concealed his doubts and returned alone to the Rain-Listening Pavilion, where a purple-haired woman waited by the door.

• Qingque persuaded the Sky-Faring Commission clerks to let the Ebon Deer pass by invoking the Divination Commission's authority.
• The clerks recognized Qingque because she had played tiles with Tingyun and said Tingyun had not visited the Sky-Faring Commission or contacted Yukong.
• Qingque voiced her concern that something was wrong with Tingyun, and Chu Mu considered whether she was the real Tingyun possessed by a heliobus or a complete fake.
• Chu Mu decided not to expose Tingyun yet because she might know where the real Tingyun was, and he planned to grow stronger before confronting her.
• Chu Mu sent Qingque away with the Ebon Deer and returned alone to the Rain-Listening Pavilion, where a purple-haired woman waited by the door.

Kafka visited Chu Mu and introduced him to Blade, while Yanqing arrived seeking his teacher and revealed that he had encountered Jingliu. The chapter ended with Yanqing explaining that Jingliu wore a black veil to avoid being reminded of the past.

• Chu Mu foiled Kafka's prank, and she brought Blade to visit him.
• Chu Mu and Blade awkwardly agreed that they understood each other, despite their past misunderstandings.
• Yanqing arrived to speak with Chu Mu, and Chu Mu noticed he had lost another sword and been injured in a fight.
• Yanqing told Chu Mu that he had met Jingliu after mistaking her for a suspicious person and challenging her.
• Yanqing explained that Jingliu wore a black veil because familiar sights stirred up old feelings.

Chu Mu learned from Yanqing that Jingliu was hunting Blade and suspected Jing Yuan was quietly signaling a possible understanding over the Stellaron Hunters. After Kafka and Blade left, Blade suffered another mara-struck episode and asked whether he had hurt someone.

• Yanqing told Chu Mu that Jingliu had tried to capture Blade and explained that she was his grandmaster, who had challenged him to a single strike.
• Yanqing said Jing Yuan had instructed him to tell Chu Mu about Jingliu, and Chu Mu inferred that the general understood his concern for the Stellaron Hunters.
• Yanqing judged that Jingliu was far stronger than Blade, so Chu Mu took his contact details to pass on warnings and news.
• Chu Mu returned to the Rain-Listening Pavilion and found Kafka and Blade gone before he could warn Blade about Jingliu.
• Blade suffered another mara-struck episode, and the woman used her Word Spirit Art to calm him and make him forget the painful trigger.
• Blade woke and urgently asked whether he had hurt someone.

Blade feared that his mara-struck condition would make him a poor older brother to A-Mu and worried that his eventual death would leave the boy grieving, but Kafka reassured him that the Stellaron Hunters understood one another’s desires. At Exalting Sanctum, Qingque led the docile Ebon Deer to the Astral Express crew, who wondered about the mysterious hooded guest.

• Blade told Kafka he feared hurting A-Mu and could not stay by the boy’s side forever.
• Kafka reminded Blade that the Stellaron Hunters were bound by their understanding of one another, unlike the fragile High-Cloud Quintet.
• Qingque led the Ebon Deer through Exalting Sanctum, drawing a crowd and alarming the Astral Express crew.
• Qingque told Stelle and March 7th that the deer had knelt before the mysterious guest she was escorting.
• Welt urged the crew to stop speculating about the guest and continue along their own path.

Stelle and March 7th discussed the investigation into the Stellaron Disaster and disagreed over whether Luocha was suspicious. In the Exalting Sanctum, Guinaifen performed acrobatics on Qingque’s Ebon Deer, leaving Stelle and March awkwardly expected to perform too.

• Stelle explained that the Earth-Balance Commission was investigating who planted the Stellaron, and that Welt had noticed a traveling merchant named Luocha.
• March 7th said she had reenacted Luocha’s movements and concluded he seemed innocent, while Welt admitted he might have judged him by his appearance.
• Stelle challenged March 7th’s detective skills by recalling her mistaken suspicion of Tingyun, and the group laughed.
• Guinaifen arrived after hearing from Sushang and asked Qingque if she could film acrobatics on the Ebon Deer; Qingque agreed.
• Guinaifen completed an acrobatic routine on the deer as Qingque filmed, then Stelle and March climbed aboard and were mistaken for performers by the cheering crowd.

Stelle and the others prepared to enter the Alchemy Commission, where poisonous smoke from burning Great Medicine had halted the Cloud Knights’ advance. Fu Xuan tasked the Astral Express Crew with shutting down the alchemy furnaces so they could open the route to Scalegorge Waterscape.

• The Ebon Deer’s sudden restlessness let Stelle and March 7th escape the crowd, and Bailu asked Stelle whether she had made progress on her commission concerning Banxia.
• Fu Xuan contacted the group at dawn and ordered them to set out for the Alchemy Commission, while Dan Heng fell behind after Stelle forgot their meeting arrangements.
• Stelle, March 7th, Welt, Tingyun, and Chu Mu’s doppelganger traveled to the Alchemy Commission by starskiff, while Chu Mu followed with Qingque aboard the Ebon Deer.
• Chu Mu saw that poisonous white smoke from alchemy furnaces blocked the way to the Ancient Sea Dock, where the remaining Disciples of Sanctus Medicus were resisting.
• Fu Xuan explained that the burning Great Medicine could turn Cloud Knights mara-struck and assigned the Astral Express Crew to shut down the furnaces.

Chu Mu learned that a Lord Ravager had allied with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and might be hiding on the Luofu as Tingyun, while Fu Xuan revealed the tragic truth of Banxia and Liang Mu. In the Netherworld’s trial, Banxia finally severed her attachment to Liang Mu by killing him.

• Fu Xuan told Chu Mu that Dan Shu’s memories confirmed a hidden Lord Ravager had promised to destroy the Xianzhou if the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus failed.
• Chu Mu suspected the Lord Ravager was the one who secretly fomented unrest and learned that Yukong was coming to identify whether Tingyun was genuine.
• Fu Xuan explained that Banxia had met Liang Mu in the Prison of Deep Seclusion and that he had deceived her for the sake of immortality.
• A Judge found Liang Mu guilty of inducing Banxia to become mara-struck and other grave crimes, while Banxia died still believing in their love.
• In the Netherworld’s trial, Banxia fought Liang Mu, declared that she had already died for him, and severed his head.

As the Astral Express Crew shut down the furnaces in the Alchemy Commission, the remnants revealed that Lord Ravager Phantylia was involved. Chu Mu exposed Phantylia, who had been disguised as Tingyun, and the chapter ended as she asked whether he was familiar with her body.

• The Astral Express Crew fought through the white smoke and shut down all three furnaces while Chu Mu's double watched them.
• The remaining Disciples of Sanctus Medicus retreated to the Supreme Truth Elixir Chamber and called on Lord Ravager Phantylia to fulfill her promise.
• Welt believed the disciples were telling the truth and prepared to face an Emanator so Stelle and March 7th could escape.
• Chu Mu confronted Tingyun and revealed that he knew she was Phantylia.
• Tingyun smiled at Chu Mu and asked whether he was familiar with her body.

Phantylia tried to provoke Chu Mu by exploiting his history with Tingyun, whom she possessed, and aimed to drive him into madness by destroying her body. She attempted to snap Tingyun’s neck, but an unseen restraint stopped her.

• Chu Mu reflected on how the amnesiac Tingyun had preserved his humanity during their year together on Sand Sea Planet.
• Phantylia addressed Chu Mu by name, startling him and the Astral Express crew; Welt suggested she had learned it when Stelle asked about him.
• Phantylia taunted Chu Mu with his attachment to Tingyun and said she wanted to see him abandon reason and go mad.
• Phantylia declared that Chu Mu should accept her blessing of Destruction and tried to snap Tingyun’s neck, but an invisible restraint prevented her.

Chu Mu learned that Phantylia had possessed Tingyun and claimed she had died after steering a ship into a sun, though Phantylia admitted she had not witnessed her death. Phantylia then set her fake body ablaze to demonstrate a Heliobus host’s spontaneous combustion, leaving Chu Mu with ash and no proof of Tingyun’s fate.

• Chu Mu bound Phantylia’s fake body with Silken Thread and demanded to know where Tingyun was.
• Phantylia said she had possessed Tingyun, who had supposedly sacrificed herself by steering a ship toward a sun during warp.
• Chu Mu inferred that Phantylia had not seen Tingyun die and concluded Tingyun was no longer in her control.
• Phantylia revealed her blue-green flames and made her body spontaneously combust, leaving only ash.
• Chu Mu recognized Phantylia as a powerful Heliobus empowered by Nanook.

Chu Mu failed to stop Phantylia from escaping toward the Ambrosial Arbor and struggled to stay focused while protecting the Xianzhou. Yukong learned that the Tingyun who had returned was an impostor, and remembered how the real Tingyun had chosen to become a merchant despite losing her memories.

• Phantylia’s borrowed body combusted, and she escaped as a ghostly flame toward the Ambrosial Arbor.
• Chu Mu considered summoning the Red Sun into the real Xianzhou but rejected the plan because it could endanger Kafka, Stelle, March 7th, and the ship.
• Stelle told Yukong that the returned Tingyun was not real and that the real Tingyun remained somewhere in the sea of stars.
• Yukong grieved and recalled raising Tingyun alongside her adopted daughter after losing her pilot friend in war.
• Yukong remembered that the amnesiac Tingyun had asked to become a merchant so she might meet someone again, though she never recovered her memories.

Yukong recalled how Tingyun became a merchant and spent years searching the stars for the man who had protected her, while repeatedly refusing Yukong’s pleas to stay on the Xianzhou. Grieving that Tingyun had vanished before she could fulfill her promise to succeed Yukong, Yukong decided to search for her herself.

• Yukong taught the amnesiac Tingyun trade, and Tingyun learned to imitate her former self as a merchant.
• Tingyun sailed dangerous, remote routes in search of the man who had protected her, returning to Yukong without finding him.
• Yukong urged Tingyun to become her successor as chief commissioner, and Tingyun eventually promised to take responsibility for the Sky-Faring Commission after Yukong was gone.
• After Tingyun disappeared, Yukong grieved that their promise could no longer be fulfilled and rejected Phantylia’s claim that Tingyun was dead.
• Yukong decided to prepare her long-unused starskiff and search for Tingyun herself.

Chu Mu resolved to kill Phantylia as the group prepared to confront her at Scalegorge Waterscape, while Jing Yuan planned around Dan Heng’s inherited High Elder powers. Dan Heng reached the Alchemy Commission and set out alone for the Vidyadhara homeland, where his past awaited him.

• Chu Mu left Yukong to grieve and vowed to uncover the truth and kill Phantylia.
• Jing Yuan joined the group’s journey to Scalegorge Waterscape, where Phantylia and the revived Ambrosial Arbor awaited them.
• Jing Yuan expected Dan Heng to draw on Dan Feng’s inherited High Elder power and believed Blade’s arrival would force him to awaken it.
• Dan Heng reached the Alchemy Commission with Luocha and Sushang after Xueyi departed, but found that Stelle’s group had gone ahead.
• Dan Heng parted from Luocha and Sushang and went alone toward Scalegorge Waterscape, where his fragmented memories connected him to Dan Feng’s past.

Dan Heng and Sushang headed for Scalegorge Waterscape, where Dan Heng expected to face the madman who had pursued him for years. When the Stellaron Hunters appeared at the ferry dock, Dan Heng sent Sushang away on the boat and stayed behind to confront them.

• Luocha left to complete a transaction, while Dan Heng agreed to travel with Sushang to Scalegorge Waterscape and warned her not to get involved if trouble arose.
• Dan Heng and Sushang found an unmanned boat with a route to Scalegorge Waterscape, arranged in secret by Jing Yuan.
• A brooding man approached Dan Heng, bringing back memories of years spent fleeing his relentless attempts to treat Dan Heng as Dan Feng.
• Dan Heng recognized the approaching figures as wanted Stellaron Hunters, and Sushang asked whether they were the unexpected trouble he had anticipated.
• Dan Heng activated the boat's autopilot with Sushang aboard, then leapt back onto the dock as it began to depart.

Blade and Yanqing fought at the Dock after Kafka released Blade’s suppressed memories, while Dan Heng tried to explain he was not Dan Feng. The fight ended with Blade’s thrown sword piercing Dan Heng’s chest.

• Sushang sped away on the Jade Abacus, leaving Dan Heng at the Dock as Blade and Kafka arrived.
• Kafka lifted the Word Spirit Art’s suppression, and Blade confronted Dan Heng over Dan Feng’s past.
• Yanqing arrived to arrest Blade and Kafka, then challenged Blade to a sword fight.
• Blade and Yanqing fought evenly until Blade threw his sword past Yanqing and struck Dan Heng in the chest.

Dan Heng awakened as Imbibitor Lunae after Blade stabbed him, and Yanqing recognized him as the exiled High Elder blamed for a past rebellion. Dan Heng tried to avoid a fight, but Yanqing demanded that he come to the Prison of Deep Seclusion, so Dan Heng asked Blade to stop him.

• Blade told Yanqing that the man he had been protecting was Imbibitor Lunae, and Dan Heng vanished into the Ancient Sea Waters as his wounds healed.
• Yanqing recalled the rebellion involving Dan Feng, Yingxing, Jingliu, and Baiheng, and concluded that Dan Heng and Blade should both be arrested.
• Dan Heng emerged from the water with dragon horns and took the form of Imbibitor Lunae, prompting Yanqing to raise his sword formation against him.
• Dan Heng's memories of his former life began to return, and he realized the Stellaron Hunters had forced his transformation while Blade still wanted him dead.
• Dan Heng told Yanqing he did not want a conflict, but Yanqing ordered him to come to the Prison of Deep Seclusion, so Dan Heng asked Blade to stop him.

Dan Heng left Blade and Kafka after Blade promised they would meet again, while Yanqing failed to capture the pair. At Scalegorge Waterscape, Jing Yuan and the others waited for Dan Heng to open the flooded route to the Ambrosial Arbor, and Chu Mu asked to borrow Jing Yuan's Divine Foresight.

• Dan Heng acknowledged his painful past but chose to leave Blade behind and return to the people and things he wanted to protect.
• Yanqing tried to stop Dan Heng, but Blade kept him occupied while Kafka released another layer of Blade's restraints.
• Blade and Kafka defeated Yanqing, who vowed he would capture Blade next time.
• At Scalegorge Waterscape, March 7th and Stelle waited for Dan Heng while Jing Yuan recalled the High-Cloud Quintet's tragic end and the burden of governing the Luofu alone.
• Chu Mu approached Jing Yuan and asked to borrow the Divine Foresight.

Chu Mu borrowed Divine Foresight from Jing Yuan and learned that Phantylia was likely a heliobus, a spirit the Xianzhou had found impossible to kill. Jing Yuan hoped to drive Phantylia away and seal the Ambrosial Arbor, while Chu Mu remained intent on killing her.

• Jing Yuan agreed to lend Divine Foresight to Chu Mu, who sent the frightened wight to Red Sun's plane.
• Jing Yuan thanked Chu Mu for joining the fight against Phantylia and asked that they leave her a chance to escape to protect the Luofu's civilians.
• Chu Mu asked Jing Yuan whether Phantylia was a heliobus, and Jing Yuan said the evidence pointed to that conclusion.
• Jing Yuan explained that heliobi originated as astral spirits formed from Eldbeast remains and developed consciousness by absorbing human emotions.
• Jing Yuan told Chu Mu that the Xianzhou had tried many methods but could not find a way to kill heliobi, leaving sealing as its only known solution.

Jing Yuan explained that Phantylia could not truly be killed because heliobi could only be divided and contained, but Chu Mu began considering ways to hack or drain her energy. As he and Jing Yuan left the matter unresolved, Stelle and March 7th reached shore without Dan Heng, who appeared to be flying toward them across the sea.

• Jing Yuan told Chu Mu that heliobi were energy masses whose consciousness could return if their fragments merged, making Phantylia impossible to kill through conventional means.
• Jing Yuan warned that capturing Phantylia could provoke the other Lord Ravagers and endanger the Xianzhou, while Chu Mu considered Silver Wolf's hacking methods and the possibility of draining heliobi energy.
• Chu Mu told Jing Yuan he understood, and Jing Yuan urged him to stop if his plan proved impossible.
• A boat carrying Stelle crashed onto the shore, where Fu Xuan, Stelle, and March 7th discovered that Dan Heng was missing.
• March 7th and Stelle saw a figure flying over the waves toward them, seemingly Dan Heng.

Dan Heng reunited with Jing Yuan in Scalegorge Waterscape and insisted that he was not Dan Feng, despite the memories and appearance he had inherited. Jing Yuan offered to revoke Dan Heng’s exile if he helped with one last task, then insisted that Dan Heng must do it.

• March 7th revealed that her earlier prediction about the mastermind had only been a guess, while Dan Heng arrived transformed into a figure resembling the former High Elder.
• Jing Yuan greeted Dan Heng as an old friend, but Dan Heng rejected the connection and said he wanted to live as a Nameless aboard the Astral Express.
• Jing Yuan acknowledged that Dan Heng could not change how others saw him simply by denying he was Dan Feng.
• Jing Yuan promised to revoke Dan Heng’s exile if he helped him one last time as Dan Feng.
• Dan Heng warned that he might not possess Dan Feng’s abilities, but Jing Yuan insisted that he must complete the task.