Chapter Summaries

Dan Heng recovered enough of Dan Feng’s memories to use the Sea-Splitting Technique and reveal the Palace Ruins beneath the Ancient Sea. Jing Yuan led the subjugation squad inside, while Chu Mu waited behind for Phantylia to appear.

• Jing Yuan recounted Dan Feng’s attempt to alter the Dragon Transformation Wonderful Art, the creation of the Evil Dragon, and the events that led to Dan Heng inheriting part of Dan Feng’s power and memories.
• Dan Heng pieced together his fragmented memories as he entered the great hall and recalled how to wield the High Elder’s power.
• Fu Xuan told Chu Mu that Dan Heng was the reincarnation of the former Vidyadhara High Elder, but Chu Mu warned her that betting on him alone was unwise.
• Dan Heng rose above the Palace Ruins and split the Ancient Sea with the Sea-Splitting Technique, revealing the submerged ruins and the path blocked by the Ambrosial Arbor’s Mysterious Root.
• Jing Yuan left Fu Xuan to guard the passage and led Dan Heng, Welt, Stelle, March 7th, and a green Doppelganger into the ruins, while Chu Mu stayed behind to wait for Phantylia.
• The ground shook violently, and Phantylia appeared.

Chu Mu and the others confronted Phantylia at the Ambrosial Arbor’s final sealing site, where she used the Arbor’s power to create a gigantic body. As Jing Yuan, Dan Heng, Welt, Stelle, and March 7th fought her, Chu Mu failed to take control of her body, and Jing Yuan held back from using Divine Foresight.

• Chu Mu’s group found Phantylia waiting beside the Stellaron at the Ambrosial Arbor’s roots.
• Phantylia revealed a giant flesh body created by the Ambrosial Arbor and attacked with golden lotuses.
• Jing Yuan led the assault while Welt and Dan Heng protected Stelle and March 7th.
• Chu Mu tried to control Phantylia’s body, but the combined power of Phantylia and the Ambrosial Arbor repelled his threads.
• Jing Yuan, Dan Heng, and Welt struck Phantylia together, but failed to seriously injure her.
• Dan Heng urged Jing Yuan to have Divine Foresight attack, but Jing Yuan told him to wait.

Chu Mu opened a passage to the Plane of the Red Sun and brought its immense presence over the battlefield, frightening Phantylia into staying put. He then asked Jing Yuan and the others to charge the Red Sun with their attacks, leaving them confused about his plan.

• Chu Mu sent the Abundance Ebon Deer into the Red Sun to replenish his energy, and Phantylia sensed his Silken Thread again before shaking it off.
• Phantylia drew down a meteor and crushed it, forcing the others to endure the strike while Welt warned Stelle and March 7th to stay behind him.
• Chu Mu opened a passage between Planes, bringing the Red Sun's presence over Scalegorge Waterscape and making Phantylia fear it might absorb her.
• Phantylia decided to stay still, believing Chu Mu would not risk harming the Xianzhou by casting the Red Sun into the battlefield.
• Chu Mu asked Jing Yuan to have the Divine Foresight strike the Red Sun and requested a full-power attack from everyone to charge it.

Chu Mu and the others attacked Phantylia with the Red Sun, which absorbed their strikes and threatened to devour her. When Phantylia forced the Ambrosial Arbor to lend her more power, she broke free of Chu Mu’s threads and turned the battle in her favor, leaving Jing Yuan to provoke her.

• Chu Mu and the others struck the Red Sun, but their attacks only increased its power, and Jing Yuan realized it could absorb energy beyond the force they could muster.
• Phantylia recognized the Red Sun as a threat and tried to bluff, while Jing Yuan explained that heliobi often did so when they were afraid of dissipating.
• Chu Mu’s threads began stiffening Phantylia’s body, so she demanded that the Ambrosial Arbor give her all its remaining power.
• The Ambrosial Arbor hesitated until Phantylia threatened to bring Destruction’s armies to the Xianzhou, then sent her a vast surge of power.
• Phantylia deflected Chu Mu’s threads and claimed victory as Jing Yuan and the others ran out of strength.
• Jing Yuan mocked Phantylia as a first among the Lord Ravagers, enraging her.

Chu Mu destroyed the Ambrosial Arbor and killed Phantylia by trapping her in the Red Sun, where her scattered fragments were consumed as well. The chapter ended the Luofu volume, then the author explained that the novel was nearing its promised million-character milestone and likely had only one volume left.

• Chu Mu used the Red Sun to pull the Ambrosial Arbor away from the Xianzhou and burn it, ending the Luofu's ancient threat.
• After absorbing the Ambrosial Arbor's power, Chu Mu defeated Phantylia and trapped her in a Doppelganger inside the Red Sun.
• Phantylia's scattered fragments turned crimson and dissipated, while her largest fragment died after finding Nanook blocked by a man in a crimson smiling mask.
• The author reflected on the Luofu volume, the declining earnings, and the challenges of writing original material in fanfiction.
• The author said the story was nearing its million-character goal and asked readers to continue with Lion through its final stretch.

After the Xianzhou Luofu’s Stellaron Disaster ended, Chu Mu reunited with the Astral Express Crew, and Dan Heng explained the history that had led Fu Xuan to mistake him for Shuhu. Fu Xuan stormed off after realizing Jing Yuan had known the truth, while Jing Yuan joked with Chu Mu about delaying his retirement.

• The Astral Express Crew emerged from the Palace Ruins and reunited warmly with Chu Mu, leaving Fu Xuan, Qingque, and Sushang stunned.
• Fu Xuan realized that assuming Chu Mu was Shuhu had caused her to waste time and fall behind Jing Yuan.
• Dan Heng explained that Shuhu had died seven hundred years earlier and recounted how Shuhu’s flesh had transformed Yingxing into an immortal being who became Blade of the Stellaron Hunters.
• Fu Xuan concluded that Jing Yuan had known the hidden history all along, called him a scoundrel, and left in embarrassment.
• Jing Yuan defended Fu Xuan’s temperament, and Chu Mu teased him about how she might treat him after taking over; Jing Yuan then said he would delay handing over his position.

Jingliu, Blade, and the other survivors of the High-Cloud Quintet gathered in Scalegorge Waterscape to confront their past and account for their crimes. Jingliu turned herself in and revealed that she had revived the Ambrosial Arbor as a warning about Abundance, hoping to steer the Xianzhou toward Nanook in the coming conflict between gods.

• Jingliu arrived with Yanqing and asked Jing Yuan to hear her confession, while insisting that Dan Heng stay and wait for someone else.
• Kafka and Blade arrived, and Blade went to join Jingliu, Jing Yuan, and Dan Heng in the hall where the High-Cloud Quintet had once gathered.
• Chu Mu reflected that Dan Heng could not escape Dan Feng's past, while Bailu was a new life rather than Baiheng reborn.
• Jingliu named Dan Feng and Yingxing as offenders in the disaster and confessed that she had succumbed to mara, killed her comrades, and betrayed their fellowship.
• Jingliu admitted that she had placed the Stellaron in the Ambrosial Arbor, explaining that she meant to remind the Xianzhou of Abundance's danger and prepare them to side with Nanook against it.

Chu Mu reflected on the danger posed by Yaoshi’s blessings and questioned whether Abundance could remain pure if Yaoshi fell. Remembering how Yaoshi had helped him, he began to suspect she had granted his wishes without expecting a bargain.

• Chu Mu recalled how Propagation’s uncontrolled Swarm had threatened the Sea of Stars and why the other Aeons had brought Propagation down.
• Chu Mu considered how Yaoshi’s blessings had created the Denizens of Abundance, whose unchecked growth drove people to seek Yaoshi’s fall.
• Chu Mu wondered whether Abundance without Yaoshi could still be Abundance, drawing on his encounters with her from Belobog’s Underworld to Sand Sea Planet.
• Chu Mu remembered that Yaoshi had restored his sight after he asked for it, despite never answering him about their supposed bargain.
• Chu Mu concluded that Yaoshi might have granted his wish without needing a bargain at all.

Chu Mu reflected on why mortals blamed Yaoshi for the costs of immortality while condemning the Aeon despite their kindness. At Scalegorge Waterscape, Luocha arrived carrying a coffin and confessed that he had placed the Stellaron in the Ambrosial Arbor.

• Chu Mu argued that Yaoshi was unfairly hated for granting mortals longevity and questioned why people feared other Aeons more than they feared Yaoshi.
• Luocha arrived at Scalegorge Waterscape carrying an ornate coffin, and March 7th recognized him.
• Stelle confirmed that the visitor was Luocha, while Welt watched him gravely and introduced himself.
• Luocha greeted Welt and said he was a traveling merchant passing through the Luofu.
• March 7th asked why Luocha had come, and he claimed he had come to surrender as Jingliu's accomplice and had placed the Stellaron inside the Ambrosial Arbor.
• Stelle joked that March 7th must have read the script, and Kafka clarified that March 7th was not Elio.

Dan Heng rejected Jingliu’s attempt to make him confront his past as Imbibitor Lunae and left the gathering. Jingliu revealed that her surrender was a scheme to reach the Xuling and persuade the Xianzhou’s leaders to join a plan against Abundance.

• Luocha admitted that his power came from Abundance but said he was Yaoshi’s enemy, while Dan Heng prepared to leave.
• Jingliu called Dan Heng Imbibitor Lunae and urged him to stop running from the past, but he left without turning back.
• Jing Yuan argued that Dan Heng should choose his own future, while Jingliu believed he and Blade would find release after Abundance fell.
• Jingliu explained that she had surrendered so the Ten-Lords Commission would escort her to the Xuling for a joint trial before the Reignbow’s six generals or the Marshal.
• Luocha and Jing Yuan recognized that Jingliu’s confession was part of a plan to enlist the Xianzhou leaders in a campaign against Abundance.

Jingliu and Blade fought over the promised strike, and Blade briefly found the peaceful death he longed for before reviving. Chu Mu learned from Kafka that Blade’s despair began with Yingxing’s long devotion to Baiheng and deepened after her death.

• Jing Yuan refused to trust Luocha and prepared to take Jingliu and Luocha away from the Main Hall.
• Blade demanded the strike Jingliu had promised him, and Jingliu accepted his challenge.
• Blade knocked away Jingliu’s Black Veil, but Jingliu released her restraints and struck him down.
• Chu Mu chose not to use Silken Thread on Blade, who soon revived and returned to suffering.
• Kafka told Chu Mu that Blade wanted death, and the chapter recounted how Yingxing built his life around Baiheng before learning of her death.

Chu Mu and Kafka discussed how the deaths and grudges of the High-Cloud Quintet had kept Jingliu, Blade, and Dan Heng trapped in the past for seven hundred years. Chu Mu questioned whether Kafka had given Blade a role among the Stellaron Hunters to help him find a reason to live beyond revenge.

• Chu Mu reflected that Yingxing became Blade after Jingliu awakened his hatred and he turned himself into a weapon.
• Kafka explained how Baiheng’s death, Dan Feng and Yingxing’s attempt to resurrect her, and Jingliu’s later actions prolonged the High-Cloud Quintet’s feud for seven hundred years.
• Kafka warned Stelle and March 7th that the Stellaron Hunters and Astral Express should not repeat the Quintet’s mistakes.
• Chu Mu considered how Jingliu’s revenge had driven Blade into madness and left him distant from his family.
• Chu Mu asked Kafka whether she had assigned Blade a role in the Stellaron Hunters to help him move beyond his hatred and find a new reason to live.

Chu Mu told Kafka, Stelle, and March 7th that his fate led him back to Deep Blue Star, where he would take the Black Sun into himself and risk becoming an Aeon. After leaving Scalegorge Waterscape, Dan Heng agreed to stay on the Luofu briefly to help Bailu, while Kafka defended Blade when Jingliu dismissed Bailu’s medicine.

• Kafka admitted she wanted to help someone change, and Chu Mu said he had little time before he had to return to Deep Blue Star and take in the Black Sun.
• Stelle urged Chu Mu to stay, but he said his fate led him back to Deep Blue Star and that he could not escape it.
• After Dan Heng and Blade returned, the group left Scalegorge Waterscape and encountered Bailu treating wounded soldiers at the Alchemy Commission.
• Bailu asked Dan Heng to take the High Elder position, and he agreed to remain on the Luofu for a few days to teach her to use the power and speak with the Dragon Preceptors.
• Blade gave Dan Heng a six-month reprieve, and Bailu recognized him and offered him medicine for his sword wounds.
• Jingliu said Bailu’s medicine could not heal Blade’s deeper wounds, but Kafka handed him the medicine and defended him.

Jingliu left Blade to the Stellaron Hunters, and the Xianzhou residents adjusted to life without the Ambrosial Arbor by accepting a virtual replacement. While the crew waited for the Star Rail to be recalibrated, Stelle and Sushang stopped the IPC from taking over Aurum Alley and began trying to revive it.

• Jingliu left Blade with Kafka after recalling how Yingxing had earned her respect and later become bound to endless suffering.
• After Chu Mu uprooted the Ambrosial Arbor, the Xianzhou authorities projected a virtual one, reassuring residents who feared losing their long-lived constitutions.
• Pom-Pom estimated that recalibrating the Star Rail after the Luofu Stellaron's removal would take about three days.
• Stelle told the others that the IPC might ruin Aurum Alley before buying it cheaply, and Sushang feared for Guinaifen's beloved neighborhood.
• Stelle and Sushang blocked the IPC's contract with the Aurum Alley Merchants' Guild and launched a revival effort, but Chu Mu doubted their flyers and delivery-route improvements would be enough.

Chu Mu helped Fu Xuan revive Aurum Alley while Dan Heng taught Bailu to control her High Elder power and protected her from a Dragon Preceptors assassination attempt. To free Bailu from their control, Dan Heng and Blade killed the Vidyadhara Dragon Preceptors, leaving the Luofu’s Vidyadhara without any.

• Fu Xuan announced policies to attract businesses to Aurum Alley and promote its cultural heritage, bringing merchants back to the district.
• Dan Heng taught Bailu the Dragon Transformation Wonderful Art, allowing her to wield her High Elder power without losing control.
• The Dragon Preceptors arranged to assassinate Bailu in Scalegorge Waterscape, but Dan Heng intercepted the attacks and killed the assassins.
• Dan Heng brought Bailu to the Rain-Listening Pavilion, then told Chu Mu he intended to kill the Dragon Preceptors; Blade insisted on joining him.
• Dan Heng and Blade attacked the Vidyadhara settlement together and killed the Dragon Preceptors, leaving none of their souls for the Ten-Lords Commission to recover.

Stelle, Sushang, and Guinaifen’s ghost-hunting livestream at Fyxestroll Garden found no ghosts because the escaped heliobi willingly returned to containment after witnessing Phantylia’s destruction. The Ten-Lords Commission then invited them to educate the Luofu about heliobi through a collaboration featuring Huohuo and the heliobus Tail sealed to her.

• Stelle joined Guinaifen and Sushang for a ghost-hunting livestream at Fyxestroll Garden, but they found nothing during the night.
• Hanya explained that escaped heliobi had caused the ghost sightings after the Creation Furnace cracked, then willingly entered Containment Devices after Phantylia was destroyed.
• The Ten-Lords Commission invited Guinaifen, Stelle, and Sushang to help educate the public about heliobi through entertainment.
• The Commission introduced Huohuo, an apprentice judge with a heliobus sealed at the base of her tail, as the focus of the collaboration.
• Tail recalled how he had possessed Huohuo out of hunger and how their uneasy companionship had grown into a rare symbiosis.

As Chu Mu prepared to leave the Xianzhou, he encountered Yukong, Stelle, and March 7th holding a memorial rite for Tingyun, whose fate remained unknown. The rite left Chu Mu grieving and questioning whether Tingyun could still be alive, while Kafka revealed that Elio had lost sight of her after she became Phantylia.

• Guinaifen uploaded the first of her heliobi videos, which quickly drew heated discussion and praise from fans.
• Chu Mu prepared to leave the Xianzhou after the spatial data was adjusted, while Stelle and March 7th helped Yukong hold a memorial rite for Tingyun.
• Yukong and the others placed Tingyun's keepsakes in a starskiff, and Qingque added her Imperial Jade tiles before it departed.
• Chu Mu arrived at the rite and understood why Stelle and March 7th had kept it from him, though he remained weighed down by grief.
• Kafka told Chu Mu that Elio had last seen Tingyun after she had already become Phantylia, and that she had wanted to return to the Xianzhou to regain her former self.

After the Xianzhou Luofu memorial, the Astral Express Crew received the Alliance’s thanks as they prepared to leave. Fu Xuan gave Chu Mu a powerful Warship, while Jing Yuan stopped Dan Heng and Blade to demand a farewell.

• Yukong thanked the memorial attendees and silently recognized Chu Mu’s grief as Kafka left with Stelle.
• Jing Yuan gave Stelle an Alliance Jade Abacus, securing the Astral Express Crew the Luofu’s support in return for Chu Mu’s role in the Stellaron crisis.
• Kafka worried that Chu Mu’s unexpected appearance had disrupted Elio’s script and reflected on his plan to return to Belobog and then Deep Blue Star.
• Fu Xuan asked whether Chu Mu would return to the Luofu and gave him a compact, fully equipped Warship as a personal thank-you from the authorities.
• Stelle joked about releasing the Warship aboard the Express, and Welt warned her not to risk damaging the train.
• Jing Yuan stopped Dan Heng and Blade as they boarded the Express; Dan Heng apologized, while Blade remained silent.

Bailu stayed on the Luofu to lead the Vidyadhara, while Jing Yuan prepared to take the prisoners to the Jade Abacus before continuing to Xuling. The Astral Express then departed for Belobog with Kafka and Blade aboard, and Chu Mu learned that Silver Wolf was eager to see him but wanted to recover her banned accounts herself.

• Bailu chose to remain on the Luofu and used the Dragon Transformation Wonderful Art to earn the Vidyadhara's respect.
• Jing Yuan said he would bring the prisoners to the Jade Abacus Xianzhou so General Rongtao could investigate them before they went to Xuling.
• Qingque mourned her return to Divination Commission overtime as Fu Xuan took back the card she had lent her.
• Kafka and Blade boarded the Astral Express, and Dan Heng retreated into the Data Bank while Pom-Pom reviewed the train's rules.
• Chu Mu gave Kafka the Warship, and Kafka explained that Sam was collecting Silver Wolf, who wanted to see Chu Mu in Belobog.
• Kafka told Chu Mu that Herta had banned Silver Wolf's accounts and warned him not to help, since Silver Wolf wanted to recover them on her own.

The Astral Express returned to Jarilo-VI, and Chu Mu wrestled with his fears about revisiting the people he considered family. As the crew prepared to visit Belobog during the Paskonja Festival, he recalled how the holiday had been celebrated in the Underworld.

• Stelle searched every train carriage for Sampo before the Astral Express warped away from the Xianzhou without finding him.
• The train arrived at snow-covered Jarilo-VI, where Kafka still held Chu Mu's hand after the warp.
• Chu Mu reflected on Belobog as his home and decided not to waste the time he had left before his journey to Deep Blue Star.
• Stelle and March 7th were assigned to accompany Chu Mu on his visit, while Dan Heng withdrew because Blade was in the party.
• Chu Mu explained the Paskonja Festival's history and remembered sharing his meager festival meal with Younger Sister in the Underworld, leaving Stelle silent.