Chapter Summaries

Xianyu accidentally bought Jingliu a huge moon lamp, which she carried into her courtyard after removing the door. Jingliu arranged dinner with Xianyu and Jing Yuan, while studying advice from her friends about how to pursue someone and wondering whether to prepare flowers.

• Xianyu discovered that the moon night-light he bought for Jingliu was two meters tall and intended for public spaces.
• Jingliu moved the giant lamp into her courtyard herself, removing the door to get it inside, and told Xianyu she liked it.
• Jingliu invited Xianyu to dinner and chose a barbecue restaurant near the Divination Commission, saying Jing Yuan would join them.
• Jingliu reviewed her friends' dating advice and considered whether to buy flowers for the man she loved.

Jingliu asked an online flower seller what she could buy for Xianyu and learned that her 100,000-Strale budget could pay for an extravagant bouquet. As she considered their relationship and the Luofu custom of proposals, she accidentally paid for a 9,999-rose proposal bouquet.

• Jingliu asked a flower seller whether men could receive flowers and added AAA Luofu Flower Delivery 24h as a friend.
• Jingliu recalled how Xianyu had cared for her and Baiheng after a Starskiff accident, and reflected on the qualities that drew her to him.
• Jingliu weighed flower prices against the support she gave Baiheng and Yingxing, then chose an uncommon bouquet over inexpensive daily flowers.
• The seller explained that 9,999 roses cost 100,000 Strale and could be used for a proposal.
• Jingliu wondered whether it was too early to think about proposing, then noticed she had already paid for the bouquet.

Jingliu followed a guide on winning Xianyu over, thanked him for his gift on social media, and decided to give him Strales rather than an expensive present. She invited Jing Yuan to dinner with them near the Divination Commission, leaving him trapped when Dan Feng exposed his invented plans.

• Jingliu decided to give Xianyu a few hundred thousand Strales instead of a million-Strale gift, then posted a photo of her courtyard and Moon Lamp to thank him for his present.
• Baiheng, Jing Yuan, Dan Feng, and Yingxing commented on Jingliu's post, and Jingliu wondered whether Baiheng knew about her and Xianyu.
• Jingliu went to the Drill Ground, where General Teng Xiao cut his address short after a Vidyadhara whispered to him.
• Jingliu ordered Jing Yuan to practice swordsmanship, then invited him to dinner with her and Xianyu near the Divination Commission.
• Jing Yuan tried to claim he had dinner plans with Dan Feng, but Dan Feng appeared and denied knowing about any plans, leaving Jing Yuan embarrassed.

Dan Feng explained the Alchemy Commission’s flawed Psychological Test and Teng Xiao’s insistence that it be redone carefully, while Jing Yuan sought Baiheng’s help avoiding being a third wheel at Jingliu and Xianyu’s engagement. Jing Yuan’s attempted rescue began to unravel when Baiheng unexpectedly met Xianyu at a restaurant, and Xianyu asked where Jingliu was.

• Jingliu and Jing Yuan asked Dan Feng why he had come to the Cloud Knights’ territory, and he explained Teng Xiao had summoned him over the Alchemy Commission’s Psychological Test.
• Dan Feng recounted how his subordinates had rushed out more than six hundred questions, how Teng Xiao ordered him to supervise a careful rewrite, and how his gift of Thousand-Year Ginseng was refused.
• Dan Feng noticed Jing Yuan suffering as he accompanied Jingliu to her engagement and assumed Jingliu’s romance was progressing well.
• Jing Yuan messaged Baiheng, asking her to call in ten minutes with an urgent excuse so he could escape being a third wheel.
• Baiheng agreed, but Xianyu arrived at the barbecue restaurant where she was working, and he asked her where Jingliu was.

At a barbecue dinner, Baiheng discovered that Xianyu and Jingliu had begun spending time together and then tried to help her restaurant-owner friend pursue Xianyu. Xianyu declined to share his contact details, and his suggestion for refusing Baiheng’s friend left Jingliu asking when he had gotten a girlfriend.

• Xianyu brought drinks to the barbecue restaurant and waited with Baiheng for Jingliu and Jing Yuan.
• Jingliu arrived alone, and Baiheng realized she and Xianyu had been spending time together without her.
• Baiheng learned from Jing Yuan’s messages that General Teng Xiao had called him away for overtime.
• Baiheng’s restaurant-owner friend asked her to approach Xianyu about dating, so Baiheng asked whether he planned to date anyone.
• Xianyu guessed Baiheng was asking for her friend and refused to give her his contact details, saying he was not ready to meet anyone new.
• Xianyu offered Baiheng two ways to turn her friend down, beginning with claiming he had a girlfriend, and Jingliu asked when he had gotten one.

Xianyu wondered whether Jingliu liked him, but set aside his uncertain feelings and left the meal before her. Jingliu stayed behind with Baiheng and quietly offered to pay.

• Baiheng chose to tell Jingliu that Xianyu had not brought his Jade Abacus rather than ask Jingliu for her contact information.
• Xianyu chatted with Jing Yuan, who explained that he was stuck revising an illogical novel at the General's Residence.
• Xianyu caught Jingliu watching him with an amused smile and wondered if Jing Yuan was trying to bring them together.
• Xianyu decided he would not date anyone and could not determine whether he liked Jingliu.
• Xianyu paid for the meal and left after Jingliu said she would return with Baiheng later.
• Baiheng remarked that Xianyu was popular, and Jingliu stood up and said she would pay.

Baiheng and Jingliu left the restaurant after Baiheng pretended Jingliu and Xianyu were dating to deflect her friend's suspicions. That night, Baiheng learned Jingliu liked Xianyu and realized she had repeatedly tried to set him up with other women without knowing it.

• Jingliu defended Xianyu when Baiheng's friend called him a scumbag, and Baiheng claimed Jingliu was his new girlfriend.
• Jingliu hid her blushing face, then declined to tell Baiheng what she had wanted to say earlier.
• Unable to sleep, Baiheng asked Jing Yuan, Dan Feng, and Yingxing in a group chat whether Jingliu had been acting strangely.
• Dan Feng and Yingxing realized they had all assumed someone else would tell Baiheng, then tried to blame Jing Yuan.
• Yingxing told Baiheng that Jingliu liked Xianyu, and Baiheng recalled her attempts to match Xianyu with other women and regretted them.

Baiheng learned that Jingliu had fallen for Xianyu and joined Dan Feng, Yingxing, and Jing Yuan in planning ways for Jingliu to pursue him. Their friends settled on having Jingliu bring Xianyu a meal, but when she asked which of them could cook, they realized none of them knew how.

• Baiheng learned what she had missed while drunk and felt guilty that she had not understood Jingliu's feelings for Xianyu.
• Dan Feng invited Baiheng, Jing Yuan, and Yingxing over, and the three explained that they had already made Jingliu a guide to pursuing a man.
• Baiheng criticized the guide's copied advice and suggested that Jingliu make a meal for Xianyu instead.
• Dan Feng offered Thousand-Year Ginseng for the meal, and the four agreed on the plan.
• Jingliu arrived the next day, asked which of them knew how to cook, and left the group at a loss.

Jing Yuan rallied his friends to cook a meal, but their confidence in their kitchen skills quickly faltered. Dan Feng arrived with ingredients and attendants, leaving the group to face their grandly staged cooking preparations.

• Yingxing persuaded Dan Feng, Yingxing, and Jingliu to take on cooking tasks by joking about their respective skills.
• Baiheng took Jingliu aside, offered her tail for comfort, and urged her not to give up on Xianyu; Jingliu said she would let things take their course.
• Yingxing snapped Dan Feng's thousand-year ginseng while washing it, and Jing Yuan suggested using it to make ginseng water for hot pot.
• Jingliu learned that Dan Feng had gone to fetch ingredients and change clothes, and realized his germaphobia explained his behavior.
• Dan Feng returned with changed clothes and eight attendants carrying gift boxes, prompting his friends to marvel at the spectacle and urge him to hurry.

The five friends tried to prepare a nourishing meal for Xianyu, but their disastrous cooking led them to order hot pot instead. After they all fell unconscious, Xianyu ate the delivered food and was told by the great ice figure that he had been poisoned.

• Dan Feng told Jing Yuan stories about the Former Marshal while the others attempted to prepare fish and ginseng.
• Jing Yuan tried to stop the others from cooking fish with its scales and innards, but the pot filled the room with a foul smell.
• Baiheng ordered hot pot delivery, and the five sent Xianyu a meal before eating their own hot pot together.
• The five friends became drowsy and collapsed unconscious after eating and drinking.
• Xianyu ate the meal Jingliu had sent him, fell asleep, and heard the great ice figure say he had been poisoned.

Fuli sent Xianyu into memories of The Hunt, where he managed Yaoqing as its general and tried to address his subjects’ problems. He learned that aid to other Xianzhou had stalled the Colossus Project for centuries, and proposed rebelling so he could become emperor.

• Fuli ignored Xianyu’s fears about dying and sent him into memories of The Hunt, where two men stopped him from visiting an unhappy widow late at night.
• Xianyu returned to the General’s Residence with the Chief Strategist and reviewed documents overnight using the system map.
• The Chief Strategist brought fruit and schoolbooks for the widow’s household, then revealed that Xianyu had spent his entire salary on the Colossus Project and sometimes lost his memory.
• Xianyu discovered that Yaoqing’s repeated military and material aid to other Xianzhou had kept the Colossus Project unfinished for three hundred years.
• Xianyu proposed rebelling so he could become emperor and the Chief Strategist could become prime minister.

Xianyu visited a Yaoqing family, mistook their gifted child for a future successor, and tried to win him over with awkward promises and gifts. Years later, the boy entered the General's Residence and found Xianyu standing over the collapsed Chief Strategist while a masked figure wondered why he was still alive.

• The Chief Strategist took Xianyu to visit the family of a fallen soldier, where residents gave Xianyu gifts along the way.
• Xianyu spotted a highly talented blue-haired boy, carried him off, and promised to raise his mother, prompting the boy to bite his hand and flee.
• Xianyu learned the household's wooden tablet honored him, then gave the boy practice exercises and a Skyward Harp as an apology.
• The boy grew up studying and entered the General's Residence to serve Xianyu.
• The boy and his senior found Xianyu protecting the collapsed Chief Strategist from a red-masked figure, who asked why Xianyu was not dead.

Xianyu saved the Chief Strategist after Aha’s Abundance fruit nearly killed them both, then invited Aha to join him in killing an Aeon for fun. Aha eagerly asked what kind of fun he meant.

• Xianyu and the Chief Strategist ate Aha’s golden fruit, which caused the Chief Strategist to collapse as his HP rapidly fell.
• Xianyu fed the Chief Strategist Matsutake Meat Rolls until he regained consciousness, while Xianyu’s UR and subordinates waited outside.
• Xianyu found that both he and the Chief Strategist had gained an immortality debuff, and his inventory identified the fruit as a gift from the Aeon of Abundance that could make its eater explode or become an Emanator.
• Xianyu asked Aha whether they had caused trouble on Yaoqing over the past three hundred years, then invited them to find some new fun.
• Aha eagerly asked what kind of fun Xianyu had in mind, and Xianyu proposed killing an Aeon for fun.

Xianyu discovered that a follower of Fuli was obstructing the Colossus Project and confronted the researcher, who warned that Neutron Annihilation could wipe out organic matter. Xianyu refused to abandon the project, then left his subordinates clamoring for him to ascend the throne while Lan wondered whether anyone on the Yaoqing was normal.

• Aha found that someone working for Fuli was obstructing Xianyu’s plan, and Xianyu sent Lan to bring the follower to him.
• The Cauldron Master examined the Chief Strategist and said overeating was the only problem, while Lan returned with the researcher.
• Xianyu learned that the researcher was a Yaoqing native who had contacted the Garden of Recollection and opposed the Colossus Project.
• The researcher warned Xianyu that Neutron Annihilation could instantly destroy all organic matter while leaving buildings intact.
• Xianyu insisted that the Yaoqing needed the technology for self-defense and ordered the researcher to withdraw from the project.
• Xianyu’s subordinates praised him and urged him to ascend the throne next month, leaving Lan silently questioning their sanity.

Lan struggled to reconcile the Yaoqing’s worship of General Xianyu with the ordinary, reckless person he met at the General’s Residence. After Xianyu offered Lan the future of the Yaoqing and threatened the Aeon Aha for him, Lan was left facing a seemingly endless stack of paperwork.

• Lan heard his colleagues praise Xianyu unquestioningly and celebrate the death of someone who had betrayed the general.
• Lan found Xianyu with the Chief Strategist and the still-present Masked Man, and heard Xianyu say their near-death experience had brought immortality and more fruit to share.
• Xianyu eagerly offered to hand the general’s position to Lan, while the Masked Man revealed they were Aha, the Aeon of Elation, and demanded power for themselves.
• When Aha suggested killing Lan to claim the throne, Xianyu threatened to kill Aha if they touched him.
• After Aha vanished, Xianyu advised Lan to humor them like a bratty child and returned to his paperwork, revealing he had written a finger-thick stack of documents.

Xianyu received a petition urging him to become king of the Yaoqing, distributed pieces of Aha’s Abundance fruit to his subordinates, and tried to stop them from staging a campaign for his ascension. He left Lan handling duties across the Xianzhou ships and returned to a quiet life, which took an alarming turn when he mistakenly buried a torpid hamster.

• Xianyu read a petition signed by his subordinates urging him to ascend the throne, then carefully divided Aha’s Abundance fruit into portions that would grant immortality and agelessness.
• UR refused the fruit, but Xianyu left the portions with the Chief Strategist to offer to the others; after their health panels showed the effects, his subordinates knelt and called him “Your Majesty.”
• Xianyu postponed becoming king until he had conquered the universe, then discovered his subordinates planned to use fox cries and a message hidden in a fish to persuade him; he warned them to abandon the scheme.
• Xianyu began pressing UR to accept a promotion and sent Lan to handle duties and fight minor threats, while he returned to leisure.
• A child gave Xianyu a hamster, and he later buried it after believing it had died; the Chief Strategist told him the hamster was merely in torpor from the cold and urged him to dig it up.

Xianyu revived a hamster, contained a heliobus, and tested the completed Colossus on a planet overrun by bugs. After the test succeeded, Lan told him that the dead researcher had been right, and Xianyu realized Erudition had shown Lan something.

• Xianyu revived the hamster, trapped the heliobus in a talisman-sealed box, and offered Lan a piece of immortality-granting fruit, which Lan threw into the fire.
• Lan questioned Xianyu about a researcher's death and the heliobus's accusations; Xianyu denied harming anyone from the Yaoqing and offered to give Lan his generalship, but Lan refused.
• After the Colossus was completed, Xianyu chose a nearby planet covered in Propagation's bugs as its test target.
• The Colossus fired a neutron stream that spread across the planet, and the project leader announced that the technology worked.
• Lan told Xianyu the researcher had been right; when Xianyu asked if Fuli had shown him something, Lan said it was Erudition.

Xianyu tried to understand what Erudition had shown Lan and promised not to use Neutron Annihilation lightly, while secretly considering more weapons and technology. Lan accepted Amos' Bow and continued serving the Yaoqing, but the chapter ended with him asking whether Xianyu thought longevity was a good thing.

• Xianyu refused the victory banquet and returned to the General's Residence with Lan, then tried to learn what Lan had seen and what Erudition wanted.
• Lan warned Xianyu that he was going to die and would face many Aeons, while Xianyu mistook the warning for a clue about the Aether-Phase Engine.
• Xianyu promised Lan he would use Neutron Annihilation only on planets that could not be saved and gave him Amos' Bow.
• Xianyu used the weapon only against doomed planets, and the Yaoqing natives revered him even more as his subordinates grew fanatical about choosing consorts for him.
• After Lan relayed the subordinates' question about how many beauties Xianyu preferred, Xianyu ordered the responsible person's bonus docked, and Lan asked whether longevity was a good thing.

Xianyu sent Lan to defeat the remaining heliobi, then dispatched him to the Luofu as Yaoqing’s representative. When Lan’s status changed to “Dormant” on the Luofu, Xianyu panicked and prepared to go after him.

• Xianyu showed Lan the remaining heliobi locations and asked him to capture them alive if possible.
• Lan led his troops to victory over the heliobi and brought back their strongest, Suihuang.
• Xianyu skipped the victory banquet and spent time alone before the Chief Strategist and Lan joined him with wine and food.
• Xianyu ordered Lan to visit the Luofu after it received a gift from the Aeon of Abundance.
• Xianyu saw that Lan had become dormant on the Luofu and vowed to pursue him with the Colossus.

Xianyu learned that Lan had been put into Slumber after destroying the Ambrosial Arbor, then confronted Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, when the Aeon appeared in the General's Residence. Fuli claimed they knew each other and warned Xianyu that he could not change ordained fate.

• Xianyu learned from the Luofu's general that Lan had shot the Ambrosial Arbor and been put into Slumber.
• Xianyu searched the system map for suspicious individuals and found a Garden of Recollection member near the Chief Strategist.
• Xianyu discovered a mysterious paper in his inventory and equipped the hypnosis item Mirror Flower, Water Moon before his subordinates returned with a suspected traitor.
• Xianyu dismissed his subordinates and confronted an apparition that the system identified as Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance.
• Fuli claimed it had met Xianyu before, touched the blade of Mirror Flower, Water Moon before he could use it, and warned him not to disrupt fate.