Chapter Summaries

The Anomaly Investigation Bureau investigated the unknown fighter who defeated the Polaris Team and considered whether he was Zhang Ming or an infiltrator from another civilization. Zhong Yunlong assembled a team and rare weapons to confront the fighter, but the chapter ended as they sought authorization to deploy satellite weapons.

• Jin Kaixuan received a Dream Seed from the Bureau and was ordered to record and report what he experienced.
• Beishan awoke aboard the plane, learned the Polaris Team had lost, and discussed the unknown fighter's abilities with his teammates.
• Zhong Yunlong convened the Bureau's supreme council and explained that the rescued survivor's Light and Shadow Stone contained information about breakthrough dreams and the Blue Era.
• Three national champions refused to join the investigation, while Zhong Yunlong and two others considered whether the fighter was Zhang Ming or an infiltrator.
• Zhong Yunlong, Thor, and Sun Minghan prepared innate Strange Objects and other weapons, then applied for authorization to deploy satellite weapons.

Zhang Ming returned to Tiepan City and visited his parents’ graves, reflecting on his family and the life he had built since leaving home. As he wandered through the rain afterward, he saw two children playing in puddles.

• Zhong Yunlong, Sun Minghan, and Thor prepared to find the mysterious person and divined that they were in Tiepan City, Zhang Ming’s hometown.
• Zhang Ming finished sparring with Gourd Lady in a dream, then arrived at Tiepan East Station and explored the old city.
• Zhang Ming realized he could not remember where his former home was and asked for directions to the public cemetery.
• Zhang Ming visited his parents’ graves, left white chrysanthemums, and told them about his companions and how he was doing.
• Zhang Ming wandered through the rain and watched a boy and girl get off a bus and splash barefoot through puddles.

Zhang Ming returned to the ginkgo tree his sister had planted and found the golden turtle charm and letter she had buried for him. He met descendants of his sister, including Zhang Chenhao and Zhang Yueyue, who realized that the soaked stranger was the legendary Old Zhang.

• Zhang Ming reached the ginkgo tree, embraced it, and dug up a golden turtle charm buried beneath its roots.
• Zhang Ming read his sister’s letter, which welcomed him home and urged him to find a meaningful purpose and live happily.
• Zhang Ming met Zhang Chenhao, who mistook him for a homeless relative, and saw Zhang Yueyue, who resembled his sister.
• Zhang Ming entered Zhang Chenhao’s home and found the Lin Family siblings there, though they did not recognize him.
• Zhang Ming gave his name and said he was a descendant’s relative, and Zhang Chenhao and Zhang Yueyue identified him as the famed Old Zhang.

Zhang Ming reunited with his descendants, convinced them of his identity, and began cooking for them. As he settled into family life, powerful people arrived to investigate him, while his descendants remained too intimidated to greet him properly.

• Zhang Yueyue, Zhang Chenhao, Lin Yuyu, and Lin Fangzheng debated whether Zhang Ming was their legendary ancestor and worked out their family relationships.
• Zhang Ming proved his identity by changing his appearance and showing old family photographs and letters supplied by the Little Gourd.
• Zhang Ming went to cook while noting that powerful people had already arrived outside to find him.
• Zhang Chenhao and Zhang Yueyue argued about whether their ancestor's status would make them wealthy, while Lin Fangzheng learned that the King Fish was a giant squid.
• Lin Yuyu joined Lin Fangzheng in the kitchen, and the family’s conversation grew livelier.

Zhang Ming reunited with the Lin Family siblings and cooked them crystalline crayfish while the Anomaly Investigation Bureau watched, unsure whether he was truly the legendary Zhang Ming. He noticed the surveillance drone and decided to prepare food for the observers as well.

• Zhang Ming learned that the Lin Family siblings’ parents were alive and working in Cloudsea City, then stopped them from calling their parents to announce his return.
• Zhang Ming brought out stored crystalline crayfish, and the Lin Family siblings helped him prepare them for roasting with baijiu and his secret sauce.
• The Anomaly Investigation Bureau monitored the house, detected more than a thousand souls within Zhang Ming, and debated whether he was the legendary Zhang Ming and how to approach him.
• Zhang Ming sent everyone out of the crowded kitchen, let Little Gourd ask to talk with the young people, and chopped monster meat after spotting the surveillance drone.
• Zhang Ming said all who came were guests and prepared a portion for the uninvited observers.

Zhang Ming prepared a meal from powerful creatures while the Anomaly Investigation Bureau watched and tried to reach Wang Fumin. After the Pelican Captain appeared on television, Zhong Yunlong, Sun Minghan, and Thor visited Zhang Ming, who suspected they had come to recruit him.

• Zhang Ming used electricity, Diamond's golden light, salt, and vigorous kneading to soften tough monster meat for cooking.
• The Anomaly Investigation Bureau failed to contact Wang Fumin, and Zhong Yunlong decided to visit Zhang Ming with Sun Minghan and Thor after watching him cook.
• Zhang Ming served lobster and other dishes while the television showed the Pelican Captain, named Huahua by reporters, attacking a presenter who called her that.
• Zhang Ming told the youngsters that he had brought the Pelican Captain to Earth and that she was powerful, then spoke about other companions living in the great forest.
• Zhong Yunlong, Sun Minghan, and Thor arrived at Zhang Ming's door, and Zhong introduced himself as a neighborhood office director and asked whether Zhang Ming had returned from the Demon God's Sea.

Zhang Ming welcomed government officials into his home after learning he had received six hundred million in awards and dividends, then explained away the abnormal readings of his soul. As humanity celebrated his return, news of a spreading World Cluster disaster darkened the mood, while dinner left his descendants exhausted and revealed his bewildering place in their family tree.

• Zhong Yunlong delivered Zhang Ming identity cards and a bank card containing about six hundred million in prize money and dividends, and Zhang Ming invited him and his companions to dinner.
• Thor asked why the Soul Eye detected an abnormality in Zhang Ming's soul, and Zhang Ming adjusted his Soul Clones so the scan showed a powerful but human soul.
• Humanity's leaders, generals, the Snake People, and Honggang Civilization learned that Zhang Ming had returned, while Honggang warned that a mysterious disaster was spreading through the neighboring World Cluster.
• Zhang Yueyue and the other young people ate a little Monster Meat and became too drowsy to stay awake, so Zhang Ming carried them to bed.
• Gourd Lady worked out that Zhang Ming was the young people's great-great-grandfather's great-uncle, and the visitors asked about her companion, Pelican.

Zhang Ming hosted Zhong Yunlong, Thor, and their colleague, discussing humanity’s preparations for a threat expected to reach them within a century and demonstrating his power. Gourd explained that Transcendents could strengthen themselves by paying a price, leaving their battles unpredictable and dangerous.

• Zhang Ming shared soul-beneficial lobster meat and learned from Zhong Yunlong that Old Wang had quit over thirty years earlier after a provocation, causing deaths and unrest.
• Zhong Yunlong invited Zhang Ming to a Honggang Civilization meeting about a neighboring world cluster’s destruction and disaster, and said humanity needed to prepare within fifty years.
• Zhong Yunlong described plans for faster travel and the need for a vast Spatial Strange Object; Zhang Ming said he would look for a solution and explained that he could not confirm whether the sandy world held reverse entropy technology.
• Thor asked about Zhang Ming’s strength, and Zhang Ming demonstrated violet lightning dragons that turned red, alarming Thor before Zhang said he could not predict how he would fare against other Transcendents.
• Zhang Ming left Gourd to answer questions while he prepared more monster meat, and Gourd explained how strong idealist rules enabled Transcendents to increase their power by paying costs, making combat outcomes uncertain.

The Gourd explained how Transcendents controlled strong rules by exploiting rule defects, then described her civilization and how she had created the Light and Shadow Stone. Zhang Ming learned that Earth’s agencies and companies had prepared a huge range of requests and invitations for him, leaving him overwhelmed as Zhong Yunlong presented several hundred more.

• The Gourd explained that incomplete rules were easier to control, and that rule defects weakened a power but had to be kept secret from opponents.
• The Gourd told Zhong Yunlong and the others that she came from the Gourd Civilization and had created the Light and Shadow Stone.
• Zhang Ming revealed that he had brought Huahua and several other beings to Earth to increase species diversity, and agreed to visit the Ice Crystal Tree when he had time.
• Zhong Yunlong listed requests from Earth’s teams and agencies, including training the Polaris Team, measuring Zhang Ming’s physical data, and discussing abilities and trade with the Snake People Civilization.
• Zhong Yunlong handed Zhang Ming a thick book containing several hundred invitations from companies and other organizations, and Zhang Ming grew hostile at the pile of demands.

Zhang Ming turned down invitations from dignitaries and discussed the future of his restaurant with the Anomaly Investigation Bureau before reconnecting with Wang Fumin. Their conversation left them reminiscing about family members they had lost and how they had learned to let the younger generations live their own lives.

• Zhang Ming set aside invitations from national leaders and companies, saying he was not interested in them, and asked Zhong Yunlong what he thought the meal should cost.
• Zhong Yunlong praised Zhang Ming’s cooking but warned that customers would be too intimidated to eat at his restaurant if they knew who he was.
• Zhong Yunlong, Sun Minghan, and Thor left, then discussed how to stay in contact with Zhang Ming and decided to recruit relatives he knew to help liaise with him.
• Zhang Ming planned to stay one night with his younger relatives before buying a house, then browsed the Zhang family genealogy and reflected on the privileges of being his relative.
• Zhang Ming contacted Wang Fumin through Gaia Consciousness, and Wang was delighted to learn that Zhang had returned to Earth.
• Wang Fumin spoke about losing his wife, daughter, and descendants, while Zhang Ming praised him for accepting that younger generations had to make their own way.

Zhang Ming spoke with Wang Fumin about humanity, social privilege, and the vanished Blue Era before settling into a quiet night at home. When Gourd Lady offered him a choice between a short-lived human avatar and a spatial gourd capable of holding an aerospace carrier, he chose the carrier.

• Wang Fumin explained his efforts to curb the privileges of powerful families and revealed that he had joined the Discipline Supervision Committee after Blue Era vanished.
• Zhang Ming told Wang Fumin that humanity was decent but lacked high-end combat strength, and learned that Li Xianfeng had not contacted him.
• Zhang Ming relaxed on the rooftop and jokingly asked Gourd Lady to arrange for young women to wear beige wool sweaters, but she offered to hypnotize his relative Zhang Yueyue and Lin Yuyu.
• Gourd Lady said she could create a human avatar within a year or a spatial storage gourd for an aerospace carrier in forty to fifty years.
• Zhang Ming rejected the short-lived avatar and chose the aerospace carrier.

Zhang Ming negotiated with Gourd Lady for an Aerospace Carrier Spatial Storage Device, bought a lakeside villa, and sought Stone Mama’s help advancing human breathing techniques. After Stone Mama demanded a huge turtle-breeding program in exchange for teaching, Zhang Ming called Bai Ze and asked how he was settling in.

• Zhang Ming caught Gourd Lady after pretending he would spend lifespan to activate the Eye of Space-Time, then talked her into giving him the Aerospace Carrier Spatial Storage Device instead of the Beige Wool Sweater.
• Zhang Ming bought a furnished lakeside villa and used his ordinary Zhang Ming identity for convenience.
• Zhang Ming asked Stone Mama to teach Human Civilization the authentic Black Tortoise Breathing Technique, but Stone Mama demanded that humans cultivate a hundred million turtle eggs bearing black tortoise bloodline.
• Stone Mama threatened to raise the demand to a billion or even ten billion eggs if humans refused, and Zhang Ming agreed to present the offer to them.
• Zhang Ming contacted Bai Ze through the Gaia Consciousness and asked whether his stay had been pleasant.

Zhang Ming arranged knowledge exchanges with Bai Ze and considered sharing humanity’s accumulated resources and discoveries to strengthen Human Civilization. Meanwhile, Li Xianfeng awakened to his third life in a peaceful future and decided to travel, leaving his father’s plans for him behind.

• Bai Ze agreed to exchange knowledge about mental abilities and human potential with Zhang Ming.
• Zhang Ming considered giving humanity access to lunar ore, the Yellow Sand World coordinates, and the World Stone, hoping to advance Human Civilization and gain more Source.
• Li Xianfeng awoke in a prosperous era and struggled to distinguish his past memories from his new identity.
• At twenty-two, Li Xianfeng had reached B-Class and inherited an S-Class expert’s family background and Super Thinking ability.
• Li Xianfeng told his ninety-four-year-old father that he wanted to travel, and his father agreed without realizing his son would not return.

Li Xianfeng reclaimed some of his old wealth and discovered that Yuanguang Group had gone bankrupt decades earlier. After reconnecting with Wang Fumin, he learned Old Zhang had also returned, giving him a reason to hurry to Tiepan City.

• Li Xianfeng opened a hidden basement and found gold, Strange Objects, and half a Snowflake left from his previous life.
• He read that Yuanguang Group had entered bankruptcy restructuring twenty years earlier and found that information about Wang Fumin had been blocked.
• Li Xianfeng called Wang Fumin, who initially mistook him for a spam caller before recognizing him as the founder of Yuanguang Group.
• Wang Fumin told Li Xianfeng to reach Tiepan City before seven and revealed that Old Zhang had returned.

Li Xianfeng reunited with Wang Fumin and Zhang Ming after being reincarnated as Wang Zhexuan, and they reminisced about their shared past before discussing his Reincarnator ability. Zhang Ming examined Li Xianfeng’s soul and asked the Personal Assistant to check it, but Aerospace Carrier was in Lying-Flat Mode.

• Wang Fumin picked up Li Xianfeng, who introduced himself as Wang Zhexuan, and drove him to Zhang Ming’s villa.
• Li Xianfeng and Zhang Ming reminisced about the Old Era, joked about their disagreements, and reflected on Qin Yiwei’s legacy.
• Li Xianfeng told Wang Fumin that he feared losing his memories after too many reincarnations and described his current aptitude and Super Thinking talent.
• Zhang Ming used the Eye of Space-Time to examine Li Xianfeng’s soul and asked Aerospace Carrier to check for abnormalities.
• Aerospace Carrier refused the calculation while in Lying-Flat Mode, so Zhang Ming offered to buy her computers and a phone.

Zhang Ming examined the Snowflake with his Eye of Space-Time and discovered its intricate psionic circuits, while Li Xianfeng explained his plan to become a scientist again and study its secrets. The chapter ended with Li Xianfeng stunned that Zhang Ming could see the Snowflake’s internal structure, though doing so cost lifespan.

• The Aerospace Carrier began overclocking to prepare Zhang Ming’s gift and estimated that results would be ready within an hour.
• Li Xianfeng told Wang Fumin he planned to build a business and use his knowledge from his previous life to advance Unique Technology.
• Zhang Ming offered to fund Li Xianfeng, but Li Xianfeng preferred to raise money himself and discussed how difficult it would be to recreate his former success.
• Zhang Ming served Braised Sea Cow Hoof and boiled Seashells as his friends discussed his planned restaurant and ate the rare dishes.
• Zhang Ming used the Eye of Space-Time to inspect the Snowflake and recorded its complex psionic circuits in his Memory Library.
• Li Xianfeng described his theory that the Snowflake could seal supernatural phenomena, then was astonished when Zhang Ming demonstrated that he could see its markings; Zhang Ming warned that the ability consumed lifespan.

Zhang Ming proposed founding a Great Academy of Sciences to strengthen Earthlings and accelerate research, then showed Li Xianfeng an enormous stockpile of rare materials to fund it. Li Xianfeng agreed the resources were more than sufficient before collapsing from the high-energy meal, leaving Zhang Ming to carry him to bed.

• Li Xianfeng felt embarrassed about asking Zhang Ming to spend his lifespan, and Zhang Ming promised to share what he had seen.
• Zhang Ming told Li Xianfeng and Wang Fumin that he wanted to strengthen Earthlings and proposed that they establish a Great Academy of Sciences.
• Zhang Ming said the academy would recruit a hundred thousand researchers, and Li Xianfeng worried about the enormous cost.
• Zhang Ming had the Gourd Monster produce his ship and its cargo of rare materials, including Mirror Steel, Black Light, Daehan Crystal, and Eureka Six.
• Li Xianfeng declared the resources sufficient, joked about creating competing academies, and collapsed into sleep after the meal.
• Zhang Ming carried Li Xianfeng to bed, where Li Xianfeng opened his eyes and insisted he was not drunk.

Zhang Ming discussed founding the Great Academy of Sciences and the Great Knowledge Institute with Li Xianfeng and Wang Fumin, envisioning research institutions where scientists could pursue their ideals without practical worries. After learning that Li Xianfeng's achievements might influence his next life, Li remained focused on building the institutions, while Zhang left to meet the Polaris Team and a crowd gathered at the Stadium.

• Zhang Ming, Li Xianfeng, and Wang Fumin discussed creating two competing research institutions and Zhang promised he had ample resources to fund them.
• Li Xianfeng called the vision a potential sacred place on earth, and Miss Gourd told Zhang that Li's soul showed traces of space-time tidal energy that could link his achievements in one life to his next.
• Li Xianfeng remained focused on the institutions, and he and Zhang discussed recruiting Liu Ye and former Yuanguang Group colleagues, including Simonson, Li Cha, Jin Xiaojian, and Jin Quanh​uan.
• Zhang Yueyue called to say the Polaris Team, Zhong Yunlong, and over two thousand others were waiting at the Stadium, so Zhang left to meet them.
• Wang Fumin began moving the stones while Li Xianfeng fell asleep dreaming of crystals and a sacred place on earth.

Zhang Ming traveled west with the Anomaly Investigation Bureau and learned about Zhong Yunlong’s cultivation of the soul and the Fire of the Mind. The chapter ended with Zhang Ming asking Zhong to assess whether his Soul Clone had reached the Yang God level.

• Zhang Ming bought ice cream for Zhang Yueyue on their way to the stadium.
• At the stadium, Zhang Ming declined to give a speech and urged the teams and researchers to depart for the great forest in the west.
• Zhang Ming and the others flew west, carrying equipment for their expedition and the Turtle Egg Hatching Team’s work.
• During the flight, Zhong Yunlong explained the Yin Spirit, the Yang God, and how he developed the Fire of the Mind.
• Zhang Ming reflected on the deeper mechanisms behind abilities and showed Zhong Yunlong his lightning-wreathed Soul Clone, asking if it had reached the Yang God level.

Zhang Ming brought Zhong Yunlong and a large group of researchers to the Western Continent to meet his powerful nonhuman companions and seek their help for humanity. At the mountain destination, Stone Mama made a dramatic entrance beneath the full moon and welcomed the humans.

• Zhang Ming and Zhong Yunlong discussed the Yang God, higher spiritual realms, and the powerful souls of Stone Mama and Bai Ze.
• The group arrived in the Western Continent, where Zhang Ming observed its sparse development and weak defenses compared with the east.
• Zhang Ming told the Polaris Team to train with Captain Huahua and led the group by boat toward the Caspian Sea.
• At the ancient-feeling forest by the lake, Zhang Ming introduced his nonhuman friends and exchanged private banter with one of them.
• Stone Mama rehearsed a grand entrance with Little White, then appeared against the full moon and asked the humans what business had brought them there.