Chapter Summaries

Stone Mama impressed the human researchers with a grand illusion of Black Tortoise, then bargained with them over Little White’s turtle eggs in exchange for sharing the Black Tortoise Breathing Technique. Zhang Ming left part of the team to negotiate and took the others to meet Old Bai Ze as a stronger candidate to lead the Great Academy of Sciences.

• Old Zhang and Zhong Yunlong introduced Stone Mama to the researchers as an expert on the Black Tortoise Breathing Technique, while Zhang Ming explained the uses of his Spirit Language.
• Stone Mama used Spirit Language to summon an elephant carrying a giant turtle and created an imposing illusion of a Black Tortoise that awed the humans.
• Stone Mama demanded that the humans produce turtle eggs, and an old professor explained that Little White’s limited sperm supply made a hundred million eggs impossible.
• Stone Mama lowered his demand to ten million eggs, and Zhang Ming left some experts behind to continue negotiating.
• Zhang Ming took the remaining team to meet Old Bai Ze, whom he considered a better candidate to lead the Great Academy of Sciences than Stone Mama.

Zhang Ming brought human researchers to meet Bai Ze, a remnant soul from the Shanhai Realm, and introduced them to the Lushu descendants and Bai Ze’s knowledge. The researchers rested in the canyon while Zhong Yunlong and another Statesman discussed their difficult negotiations with Stone Mama.

• Zhang Ming led the group through the canyon, where Lushu descendants carried them toward Bai Ze’s territory.
• Zhang Ming warned the younger members to wait behind, then brought the researchers to meet Bai Ze, whose enormous goat head frightened them.
• Bai Ze explained his origins, abilities, and methods for improving the forest, while the researchers introduced themselves and asked questions.
• Zhang Ming stopped the researchers’ discussion and urged them to rest; Zhong Yunlong arranged night watches in the valley.
• Zhong Yunlong spoke by satellite phone with the Statesman surnamed Sun, who described the challenge of negotiating with Stone Mama, and suggested offering him free slots for turtle eggs.

Zhang Ming persuaded Bai Ze to become director of the Great Knowledge Institute and planned foundational resources for both research institutions. He realized Stone Mama also needed a directorship and found that the Space-Time Worm’s eye crystals could store powerful training materials.

• Zhong Yunlong let the exhausted experts rest, then settled down with his Lushu companion for the night.
• Zhang Ming convinced Bai Ze to accept the directorship of the Great Knowledge Institute, with human assistants to help him manage it.
• Zhang Ming planned to divide the Sages’ and Xian’s legacy pieces between the Great Academy of Sciences and the Great Knowledge Institute, while assigning Stone Mama a directorship without real authority.
• Zhang Ming entered the Red Moon to seek lasting foundational assets for the institutions.
• Gourd Lady pointed out that the Space-Time Worm’s crystalline eye spheres could store Dream Seeds and Spirit Language illusions for student training.

Zhang Ming established the Great Academy of Sciences and the Great Knowledge Institute in the Western Continent, funding their construction and selecting Bai Ze and Stone Mama to lead them. Two years later, the institutions were ready to be unveiled as Lin Fangqiang and other diners watched the United Government’s prime-time news replace their usual program.

• Zhang Ming chose a quiet forest between a port city and a vast forest on the Western Continent as the site for the two institutions, and Little Gourd offered to disguise the crystal balls and turn them into dream-based computers.
• The United Government and corporate giants backed Zhang Ming’s plan, and he raised funds by selling rare ores while Council Speaker Liu Ye sent Great Xia Railway Industry to build the infrastructure.
• Bai Ze and Stone Mama were selected as directors, and the institutions’ buildings were completed after nearly two years of construction.
• Lin Fangqiang chatted with his wife and diners about the rumored Great Academy of Sciences, recalling that his brother Lin Fangzheng had gone to work on a major project in the western forest.
• At six in the evening, the United Government’s important news broadcast replaced the regular program “1818 Uncle,” drawing complaints from diners.

Humanity learned that Zhang Ming had returned and established the Great Academy of Sciences and the Great Knowledge Institute with Bai Ze and Stone Mama. The announcement laid out the institutes’ leadership, research resources, admissions examinations, and working conditions, leaving scholars eager to apply and the public debating the arrival of two Divine Beast leaders.

• Air raid sirens sent residents home to watch the news, where banners announced Zhang Ming’s return and the establishment of the two institutes.
• Mr. Liu Ye addressed humanity on behalf of eighteen nations and praised Zhang Ming, Bai Ze, and Stone Mama for founding the institutes.
• The public learned that Bai Ze and Stone Mama, both Divine Beasts, would lead the institutes, prompting widespread debate and opposition from some racists.
• The announcement promised researchers access to vast stores of rare materials, subject to strict management and audits.
• The institutes set three admissions examinations covering professional competence, morals and ideals, and an in-person assessment with Bai Ze’s veto.
• The institutes offered free room and board, free medical services, average per capita pay, and open access across disciplinary barriers.

Zhang Ming introduced the Great Academy of Sciences and Great Knowledge Institute as havens for idealistic researchers, then Stone Mama used Spirit Language to deliver a dramatic address that inspired people worldwide. The chapter left the launch event with Stone Mama’s performance going viral and the internet erupting in praise.

• Netizens discussed the Academy’s guaranteed support for researchers, its funding from International Consortiums and Giant Enterprises, and the Dean’s authority to remove freeloaders.
• Zhang Ming spoke at the completed Western Continent buildings, recounting his return from the Demon God's Sea and explaining why he founded the Academy and Institute.
• Stone Mama concealed itself inside an enormous Black Tortoise constructed from Monster Bones and scales so it would appear imposing to the public.
• Stone Mama addressed a reporter with a classical verse, and its Spirit Language conjured a vision of a Dao Seeker’s lifelong journey for audiences around the world.
• Zhang Ming suspected Little White had helped Stone Mama devise its showy address, and Little Gourd admitted she had designed the concise speech and vision.

Stone Mama and Bai Ze presented humanity with improved breathing research and the Clear-Mind Bodhi Technique, sparking worldwide excitement about knowledge and human advancement. After the institutes restricted entry to those who passed a knowledge assessment, Sun Taidou qualified and closed his martial arts school to pursue further study.

• Stone Mama’s Spirit Language broadcast caused a global internet surge, and the host announced that Stone Mama had developed a preliminary Human Breathing Technique with six-percent greater efficiency.
• Bai Ze gave humanity the Clear-Mind Bodhi Technique, whose recitation could calm distracting thoughts and potentially help people develop their mental attributes.
• Zhang Ming and Zhong Yunlong tested the technique, while Gourd Lady explained that overcoming the mental bottleneck could bring a greater lifespan increase than overcoming the physical one.
• People flocked to pursue knowledge, but the research institutes required visitors to pass the first knowledge assessment instead of admitting tourists.
• Sun Taidou passed the assessment, donated half his assets to his apprentices, and closed his martial arts school so he could continue studying at the Great Knowledge Institute.

Li Guangda’s breakthrough and the institutes’ growing influence inspired people to pursue paths beyond money and status, while Zhang Ming gained substantial source from reshaping human history. He reviewed promising candidates for the institutes, including researchers devoted to mathematics, superconductivity, and cataloguing runes.

• Li Guangda announced that he had moved to the Great Knowledge Institute, described his peaceful life there, and revealed that he had become a Grandmaster.
• The Great Academy of Sciences and Great Knowledge Institute changed public ideas of success and inspired people around the world.
• Zhang Ming calculated that the institutes had earned him 166 points of space-time tidal energy in a month and could bring about 500 points of source over the year.
• Li Xianfeng showed Zhang Ming assessment results for candidates, including a mathematician surnamed Chen, two Crucible Immortals surnamed Li and Jin, and compilers of a Rune Dictionary.
• Zhang Ming supported bringing the dedicated candidates to the institutes, where they could pursue valuable long-term research.

Ten years after Zhang Ming and Li Xianfeng established the research institutes, the Spirit Language Research Team finally discovered a way to encode and translate Spirit Language. Professor Farting demonstrated the breakthrough, opening the possibility of communication across civilizations and with intelligent animals.

• Zhang Ming and Li Xianfeng discussed recruitment, the institutes’ limited staff, and the need to expand gradually while preserving Earth’s universities and companies.
• Zhang Ming reflected on the looming catastrophe and the vast darkness threatening humanity, then resolved that humanity needed to develop quickly.
• Over the following decade, the two research institutes produced steady results, while Zhang Ming supported their work and maintained their academic environment.
• Professor Farting realized that Spirit Language could be represented through phonetic symbols and celebrated by running through the institute on a Lushu descendant’s back.
• After two more months of work, Professor Farting presented a system of 426 Spirit Language syllables, explaining that soul resonance was necessary to use them.
• Professor Farting demonstrated a microcurrent device that let him speak Spirit Language, and his audience understood his greeting and learned that the system could enable basic translation between beings with shared concepts.

Humanity presented Spirit Language as a way to teach mental abilities and advanced work on a project that could make physical breakthroughs far easier. Zhang Ming proposed screening candidates and teaching character-shaping abilities as officials weighed the risks of greatly increasing the number of Grandmasters.

• Professor Farting demonstrated how Spirit Language could impart knowledge and taught the audience the human-created mental ability “Bamboo and Stone.”
• Zhang Ming visited Spirit Language trainees Zhang Yueyue and Lin Yuyu, then went to the presentation for the Human Systematic Breakthrough Project.
• Professor Hong Quanxin said the project had passed 50% completion and could eventually make breakthroughs ten times easier, potentially multiplying the number of Grandmasters by ten.
• Zhong Yunlong and a general discussed the risks of giving more people great power, while Zhang Ming proposed moral screening and more mental abilities that could shape people’s dispositions.

Zhang Ming anticipated that new mental abilities and technology would transform Human Civilization and bring him a large future yield of Source. He planned to prepare for a looming disaster, visit the Macrosteel People, and help the Black Tortoise Race find refuge within thirty years.

• Zhong Yunlong and Zhang Ming discussed how mental abilities such as “Bamboo and Stone” could let people shape their personalities and reduce crime.
• Zhang Ming learned that Spirit Language and advances in human physique research could yield an estimated 1,200 units of Source over the next twenty years.
• Miss Gourd complained about her workload, but Zhang Ming offered her the Source, which she declined while explaining that destroying a powerful civilization could yield far more.
• Zhang Ming considered ways for children to benefit from humanity’s academic environment and said he sensed a distant, unfolding threat.
• Zhang Ming planned to visit Gui Gui and the Macrosteel People, then use a future space-time tunnel to help the Black Tortoise Race evacuate if disaster spread to their world.

Thirty years of scientific and social progress had made Earth Civilization more prosperous, and Zhang Ming reflected on the work that had helped humanity reach this golden age. As he prepared for the possibility of leaving Earth someday, he remained stalled at a bottleneck in his own development while waiting for research into the Demon God's Third Rule.

• The parliamentary speaker celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the Great Academy of Sciences and the Great Knowledge Institute, reporting reduced Superpower-related crime and a rise to one million S-Class experts.
• The speaker praised advances in biology, trade with the Snake People Civilization, cancer treatment, organ cloning, and environmental protection, including the protection of Black Tortoise-descended turtles.
• Zhang Ming asked Earth's Gaia Consciousness for a snowflake, and the Ice Crystal Tree began materializing one before he told it to keep nurturing the snowflake because he was not leaving yet.
• Zhang Ming considered eventually integrating the Demon God's Third Rule after Li Xianfeng's team completed its research and he accumulated more Space-Time Tidal Energy.
• Zhang Ming reflected on creating the Heart Source Flow Method and remained unable to break through his 12,000-point attribute limit because his abilities offered no further path forward.

Thirty years of research brought major advances in human cultivation, materials science, and Snowflake’s technology, while Zhang Ming reunited with old friends and family for New Year’s dinner. The chapter ended with Zhang Yueyue discussing work and the aging of her relatives as the gathering continued.

• The Heart Source Flow Method expanded humanity’s mental abilities and helped Statesmen emerge more frequently, while the improved Human Breathing Technique raised its efficiency by 40%.
• Researchers developed a superalloy and advanced Snowflake’s sealing technology into the Ultra-Cryogenic Laser, and Li Xianfeng told Zhang Ming that the spaceplane was nearly finished.
• Zhang Ming invited Li Xianfeng to New Year’s dinner and arranged to withhold the next batch of research materials unless he attended.
• Wang Fumin arrived with Stone Mama, who urged him to keep cultivating and compete with Zhong Yunlong, before Wang greeted Zhang Ming.
• Zhang Yueyue joined the gathering, joked with the family, and told Zhang Ming that her children were teenagers and that she envied his lasting youth.

Zhang Ming discussed humanity’s prosperity and the threat of a possible Demon God disaster before deciding to leave Earth and visit the Honggang Civilization. On Friendship Island, human investigator Jin Junhang and Snake People investigator Kui Ran talked about their civilizations as they surveyed the sea.

• Zhang Yueyue complained to Zhang Ming about teaching students who took the Clear-Mind Technique for granted, and Zhang Ming explained that the golden age could not last forever.
• Zhong Yunlong reported large migrations of super lifeforms and fish from west to east, raising fears that danger was approaching from the Demon God's Sea.
• Zhang Ming said humanity could not defeat an awakened Demon God without an Ultimate Weapon, and learned that the available weapons and Snowflake supplies were inadequate.
• Zhang Ming announced that he would visit the Honggang Civilization after spending thirty-two years advancing Earth Civilization.
• On Friendship Island, Jin Junhang and Kui Ran investigated seawater and marine life while discussing human progress, holidays, and the rigid mating customs of Snake People society.

Marine investigators Jin Junhang and Kui Ran encountered a Giant Dolphin that showed them a vision of a catastrophic spacetime storm driving floating worlds and creatures from a neighboring World Cluster. The Polaris Team concluded that transported civilizations might already be in the Demon God's Sea, but they did not know where to search for them.

• Jin Junhang and Kui Ran measured the Demon God's Sea and noted that fish were migrating east, super lifeforms were appearing more often, and waves had grown stronger over the past twenty years.
• A Giant Dolphin overturned the investigators' boat, played with Jin Junhang, and accepted his request to set the boat upright.
• The Giant Dolphin showed Jin Junhang and Kui Ran a psychic vision of a spacetime storm as floating lands and fleeing creatures poured out of its vortex.
• Kui Ran told Jin Junhang that a rumored disaster in a neighboring World Cluster might reach them in fifty to a hundred years, so they returned to report what they had seen.
• The Anomaly Investigation Bureau sent the Polaris Team, whose members reasoned that civilizations from the neighboring cluster might have been transported into the Demon God's Sea.
• Saiya and the Polaris Team recognized that finding those worlds could reveal the nature of the disaster, but they did not know where the Giant Dolphin had encountered them.

After the Snake People and humanity sent a message toward the Giant Dolphin’s route, Zhang Ming confirmed that the creature was an old acquaintance and told the search teams not to pursue it. He then visited West Shanghai and inspected the Northwind Group’s nuclear-powered Aerospace Plane prototypes, leaving humanity poised to explore the Demon God’s Sea with stronger technology.

• The Snake People and humanity spent three days discussing the risks before transmitting a peace-and-cooperation message toward the Giant Dolphin’s direction.
• Beishan told Zhang Ming that they had intercepted a garbled reply but could not send another signal without risking exposure of humanity’s Main Base; Zhang Ming recalled the Giant Dolphin from the Blue Crystal People’s territory and said not to pursue it.
• Zhang Ming reassured himself that humanity had grown into a mid-tier civilization and drove to West Shanghai during the New Year holiday with Little White and his companions.
• Zhang Yueyue took Little White, Lord Stone Mama, and Bai Ze to explore the city while Zhang Ming went to meet Li Xianfeng.
• Li Xianfeng showed Zhang Ming five first-generation Aerospace Plane prototypes powered by four Nuclear Engines each and explained their speed, construction, and piloting systems.

Zhang Ming gave humanity a Spatial Artifact and inspected its growing technological capabilities before learning that the Snake People had discovered a strange nearby world. He joined a joint human–Snake People expedition conference, where the investigation began after the world failed to respond to their signals.

• Zhang Ming showed Li Xianfeng the emerald-green Spatial Artifact, which Miss Gourd explained could hold a vast interior space but had strict limits on cargo, heat, and damage.
• Zhang Ming toured Northwind Group’s giant Powered Armor, weapons research, and efforts to study Old Bai Ze’s Divine Beast treasures, and felt reassured that humanity could keep progressing without him.
• Beishan told Zhang Ming that the Snake People’s Flying Snakes had discovered a strange world about five hundred thousand kilometers away, shaped like a soap bubble and apparently devoid of living creatures.
• The United Government assembled more than thirty thousand investigators and a large fleet, while the Snake People prepared eight ships and over twenty thousand people for a joint investigation.
• At the bilateral conference on Friendship Island, Mo Mang explained that the Snake People had sent birds to scout the unresponsive world, and Zhang Ming examined information showing its enclosed continent was only about a hundred thousand square kilometers.

Human and Snake People leaders investigated a strange, apparently lifeless metal continent and sent it a Spirit Language greeting, but received no reply. They began considering whether its civilization had gone extinct and whether the unclaimed world could be valuable to them.

• The conference viewed the continent through a Ghost Crow, which fled in panic, and Mo Mang suggested that danger might be hidden there.
• Zhong Yunlong proposed greeting the unknown civilization, and the leaders approved using a Spirit Language message recorded in a Light and Shadow Stone.
• A Snake People Wind King carried the sound device across the boundary and dropped it near the continent's center despite its fear.
• After half an hour without a reply, the leaders considered that the civilization might be extinct or reduced to a few survivors or robots.
• Human and Snake People leaders speculated that the seemingly ownerless world could offer a new home, resources, technology, and possibly the Source of the World.

The humans and Snake People negotiated how to investigate and claim a mysterious continent, while Zhang Ming planned to seek the world will’s approval with his World Little Tree. A Snake People squad entered the world at night and encountered a terrifying threat before it could begin scouting.

• Mo Mang proposed that the humans and Snake People jointly investigate the continent and negotiate how to develop it, while Zhang Ming explained their veiled diplomatic language to Miss Gourd.
• Zhong Yunlong briefed senior officials on the possibility of finding the world will and moving the continent, and Zhang Ming offered to bring his World Little Tree to communicate with it.
• Zhang Ming returned to the Great Academy of Sciences, while Governor Mo Mang sent ten Snake People and their beasts into the world to scout for its world consciousness.
• Hei Hui’s squad entered the dark world and found that their beasts were panicking and that the black fog blocked their vision.
• A deathly pale arm burst from the metal floor, seized a scouting bird, and dragged it underground, terrifying the Snake People.

Hei Hui’s expedition into the dark world was wiped out by Rule Monsters, though three Snake People escaped with a crystal ball recording the attack. Humans and Snake People shared the evidence and asked Zhang Ming to investigate, leaving him eager to explore the dangerous New Continent.

• Hei Hui sent a bomb-equipped scouting bird into the darkness, but it fell to a mental attack and vanished after the bomb exploded.
• Black mist engulfed the Snake People’s ship, killing their beasts and trapping the crew as Hei Hui tried to escape.
• Hei Hui used a Berserk Potion, threw the crystal ball and several teammates clear, then went mad and was dragged into an Alternate Space.
• Only three Snake People survived; their report and crystal ball brought the humans and Snake People together to study the threat.
• After a month of failed robotic exploration, the human and Snake People leaders asked Zhang Ming to examine the footage and help investigate the Rule Monsters.