Recaps

During his physical assessment, Chen Jue's unusually dense hair and tough nails led him to consider how bodily tissues and Martial Dao Gang Qi could adapt and transform. He refined his control of Gang Qi by trimming a nail with precision, then moved on to bodily fluid collection.

• Chen Jue's hair samples startled the staff with their weight, and he wondered whether hair could develop stem-cell-like potential for transformation.
• Chen Jue reflected that changing bodily tissues to suit different environments was a principle of life's evolution.
• Academician Huang explained that ordinary nail clippers might not work on Chen Jue's hardened nails.
• Chen Jue used a fine strand of scarlet-gold Gang Qi to cut his nail with remarkable precision, demonstrating finer control of the energy.
• Academician Huang marveled at the possible medical uses of fine-scale Gang Qi manipulation, and Chen Jue asked what sample came next.
• Academician Huang said the next step was bodily fluid collection.

Chen Jue underwent bodily-fluid collection, but his extraordinary strength and toughness made ordinary equipment inadequate. After he drew his own blood using Martial Dao Gang Qi, Academician Huang realized that Chen Jue had demonstrated a reversible conversion between matter and energy.

• Chen Jue worried that bodily-fluid samples could be used to produce descendants or clones, until Academician Huang clarified that they needed only saliva, urine, and blood.
• Chen Jue accidentally broke a sampling cup with his spit, then collected saliva more gently and provided a urine sample.
• A staff member could not tie a tourniquet tightly around Chen Jue's arm or pierce his skin with a blood-drawing needle, and Chen Jue bent the needle when he tried himself.
• Chen Jue used Martial Dao Gang Qi to pierce his fingertip from within, filled a collection tube with blood, and closed the wound afterward.
• Academician Huang examined the blood's scarlet-gold flecks and concluded that Chen Jue's ability to break Gang Qi down into blood demonstrated the interconversion of matter and energy.

After Academician Huang connected Chen Jue’s martial dao gang qi to the mass-energy equation, Chen Jue gained new ideas about refining his cultivation and overcoming the gap between the transcendent and void levels. He chose to study in the library before meeting more experts, while samples collected from him were rushed to a testing center.

• Academician Huang explained how Chen Jue’s martial dao gang qi appeared to demonstrate the conversion between matter and energy.
• Chen Jue compared his bodily growth to the universe’s expansion and considered how to reduce the energy losses in his martial dao gang qi.
• Chen Jue recorded his new insights, which gave him a clearer direction for addressing the shortcoming between the transcendent and void levels.
• After finishing the sample collection, Academician Huang joked that physicists would want to discuss Chen Jue’s discovery with him.
• Chen Jue told Liu Chengdong he would spend a few days in the library before meeting the other experts, and Liu Chengdong took him to the cafeteria.
• Several samples collected from Chen Jue were rushed to a testing center in the base.

Chen Jue’s unusual bodily samples shocked the base’s technicians, while his thoughts about the Sun led him to resolve to reach the Void Level. After devouring books in the library, he found a religious text that seemed to echo his ideas about the void.

• Technicians found Chen Jue’s hair unusually tough and heavy, while tests of his saliva and blood produced astonishing readings.
• Chen Jue ate a huge dinner with Liu Chengdong, then walked outside and shared a sunset photo on WeChat Moments.
• Watching the Sun, Chen Jue connected its energy and longevity to Void Level cultivation and resolved to measure up to the stars.
• Chen Jue went to the expanded library, rapidly memorized the second-floor books, and began reading religious philosophy on the third floor.
• Chen Jue paused over The Scroll of Awakening Through Hard Practice and reflected on its references to Wusheng Laomu, True Emptiness, and the void.

After studying ancient cultivation texts and modern scientific research, Chen Jue reached the edge of a new understanding of the Void Level. Examining a flower on the base grounds, he saw the void within its cells and finally grasped the meaning of the Buddha holding up a flower and smiling.

• Chen Jue studied Patriarch Luo's scriptures and concluded that the ancient cultivation path left him just short of the Void Level.
• Chen Jue spent two days and nights reading the base's ancient texts, then rested before turning to modern scientific research.
• Chen Jue used his privileged computer access to read more than a hundred thousand scientific papers over three days.
• Chen Jue raised his Brain Domain attribute to 4.00, clearing his mental fatigue and sharpening his perception.
• Chen Jue sat beneath a tree, examined a small white flower, and saw the cellular voids within its petals as miniature universes.

Chen Jue discovered that the true void within the body lay in the empty space between atomic nuclei and electrons, and his perception expanded beyond the microscopic world. His [Five Senses and Six Perceptions Skill] reached [Perfection], awakening [Ālayavijñāna] and unlocking the [Time-Space Seal], leaving him poised to break through the barriers of time and space.

• Chen Jue used the cells in a flower petal to realize that the void within the body existed between atomic nuclei and electrons.
• Chen Jue entered meditation and used [Inner Vision] to perceive the atomic world within his body, losing his ordinary sense of time and space.
• Chen Jue's [Five Senses and Six Perceptions Skill] surged to [Perfection], awakening the [Ālayavijñāna] status.
• The progress of [Unknown Seal] rose to 100 percent, and Chen Jue unlocked the one-time [Time-Space Seal] status.

Chen Jue mastered the microscopic void through his eighth consciousness and understood how to advance from the transcendent level to the void level. He left the base after giving Liu Chengdong and Elder Zhong electronic and handwritten cultivation methods, promising to return after his breakthrough.

• Chen Jue realized that Ālayavijñāna let him control his body's microscopic world and revealed the path from the transcendent level to the void level.
• Chen Jue went to the cafeteria and told Liu Chengdong and Elder Zhong he was leaving to cultivate and would return after breaking through.
• Chen Jue promised to complete the theory for advancing to the void level and the follow-up methods for the Ten Body-Tempering Forms.
• Chen Jue rapidly typed the cultivation material on a high-spec computer and wrote out a handwritten copy for Liu Chengdong and Elder Zhong.
• Chen Jue declined to meet the archaeology experts, saluted Liu Chengdong and Elder Zhong, and left the base.

Chen Jue traveled from the base toward Hangzhou while contemplating how to cross the threshold into the Void Level. Exploring his body’s atoms on the train, he discovered that its elements resembled those found in stars.

• Chen Jue left the base with his belongings and an Aerospace Combat Suit, then traveled by high-speed train toward Hangzhou.
• At the station, Chen Jue saw ordinary people practicing the Body-Tempering Exercise and hoped it would reduce sickness and suffering.
• On the train, Chen Jue reflected that he understood the Void but still lacked a way to interfere with the vacuum inside atoms and enter the Shatter the Vacuum realm.
• Chen Jue used [Perspective] to examine his atoms and identified oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and helium in his body.
• Chen Jue realized that the elements making up his body closely resembled those found in stars like the sun.

Chen Jue connected the microscopic nature of his body to nuclear fusion and found a possible path to Shatter the Vacuum through laser confinement. After reaching Hangzhou, he reunited with his old roommate Jiang Fan, who suspected Chen Jue had written the Ten Body-Tempering Forms.

• Chen Jue concluded that nuclear fusion, rather than nuclear fission, could let him intervene in his body's atoms and achieve Shatter the Vacuum.
• Chen Jue studied the base's research on laser confinement fusion and planned to attempt the technique somewhere deserted after returning home.
• Chen Jue withdrew his microscopic Perspective as the train arrived in Hangzhou and messaged his old roommate Jiang Fan to meet.
• Jiang Fan picked Chen Jue up at East Station and explained that his wife had recently given birth to their second child.
• Jiang Fan asked Chen Jue whether he was the author of the Body-Tempering Exercise because the author shared his name.

After revealing that he created the Body-Tempering Exercise, Chen Jue went with Jiang Fan to visit his newborn children in Hangzhou. He left with their gifts prepared: two custom gold longevity locks bearing their names.

• Jiang Fan recognized Chen Jue as the creator of the Body-Tempering Exercise and excitedly questioned him about his identity.
• Jiang Fan brought Chen Jue to a Hangzhou hospital to meet his newborn children and joked that their roommates would be godfathers.
• Chen Jue searched a jewelry store for a suitable gift but rejected its lightweight locks and high workmanship fees.
• Chen Jue withdrew 8,888 yuan for a red envelope and bought twenty 100-gram investment gold bars at a bank.
• Chen Jue asked Jiang Fan for his children's names, then used Martial Dao Gang Qi to shape two gold bars into engraved longevity locks and threaded them with red cords.

Chen Jue visited Jiang Fan’s family after the birth of his godson, bringing handmade gold Longevity Locks and reflecting on the newborn’s primordial qi and the mysteries of life. Over dinner, Jiang Fan confided his worries about family and money, while Chen Jue concluded that ordinary people only needed to be alive; Jiang Fan then passed out after asking him to help train his children.

• Chen Jue gave Jiang Fan and his wife red envelopes and handmade gold Longevity Locks engraved with their children’s names, then held his newborn godson.
• While holding the baby, Chen Jue sensed its remaining primordial qi and wondered about the origins of consciousness, souls, and life.
• Chen Jue spent time with Jiang Fan’s family and later joined him for dinner at a Northwestern-style restaurant.
• Jiang Fan described the pressures of raising children, paying a mortgage, and working overtime, while Chen Jue said ordinary people only needed to be alive.
• Jiang Fan showed Chen Jue a pocket edition of the Body-Tempering Exercise, asked him to train his children if they could not pass it, and passed out; Chen Jue signed the book.

After returning to Chen Village, Chen Jue prepared to attempt his Void-Shattering True Art, a dangerous breakthrough meant to transcend the limits of martial dao. He climbed Leigong Peak and began the technique in an abandoned stone temple, directing a thread of gang qi into his dantian.

• Chen Jue returned to his hometown, gave the rural minivan driver over 1,000 yuan as advance fare, and settled into his old home.
• Chen Jue reviewed his martial arts and body with [Inner Vision], then wrote down calculations and a hypothetical diagram for nuclear fusion inside his body.
• Chen Jue left home at dusk, placed wildflowers at Old Mr. Huang's grave, and climbed Leigong Peak.
• Chen Jue reached the summit and found an abandoned stone temple whose couplet invited seekers to pursue awakening and mystery.
• Chen Jue cleared the temple, sat facing west, and began shrinking his scarlet-gold martial dao gang qi before piercing it into the Shangqu Acupoint below his navel.

Chen Jue ignited nuclear fusion within his body to achieve the Void Level and transform into an energy state. As his body’s heat summoned a storm over Leigong Peak, lightning struck him in the stone temple.

• Chen Jue pierced the Blood Gate in his dantian with a Gang Qi needle, using the acupoint and the hydrogen-rich bladder nearby to trigger fusion.
• He confined hydrogen atoms in his bladder with Mind Energy, and a brief microscopic fusion reaction successfully ignited.
• Chen Jue extended the process throughout his body, using Gang Qi needles to spark fusion at his acupoints, blood vessels, tissues, and cells.
• His body became a blazing, star-like energy state, while his Attribute Panel displayed new bonuses and began updating.
• The heat rising from the stone temple formed dark clouds over Leigong Peak, and blue-violet lightning struck Chen Jue.

Chen Jue absorbed repeated lightning strikes as his breakthrough drove a controlled nuclear fusion reaction, while villagers watched the storm over Leigong Peak. Across the ocean, Eagle Country detected the reaction and suspected China had achieved controlled nuclear fusion.

• Chen Jue's breakthrough created a storm cloud above Leigong Peak, and he discovered that his body absorbed the lightning striking him to replenish its energy.
• Wang Dalong drove villagers through the storm, and they watched lightning repeatedly hit Leigong Peak as he told them stories about immortals there.
• Eagle Country's nuclear monitoring system detected an unusual reaction in coastal Jiang Province in China.
• Jonathan and the researchers examined the results, and Jonathan concluded that China might have mastered controlled nuclear fusion ignition technology.

Jonathan warned the White House that a detected ignition reaction suggested Eagle Country’s rival had achieved stable controlled nuclear fusion, while Chinese officials prepared to investigate the reaction near Chen Village. Chen Jue completed shattering the atomic vacuum in his brain, but his body still lacked enough energy and remained dangerously hot.

• Jonathan called the White House and reported that the Atomic Energy Research Center had detected an unusual nuclear ignition reaction that might signal stable controlled fusion.
• The White House asked Jonathan to bring a detailed report and said it would arrange a meeting with the president and Energy Department Director George.
• Chinese officials, already aware of the unusual transcendent human near Chen Village, followed nuclear response procedures and sent Deputy Director Liu Chengdong by transport plane.
• Chen Jue shattered the last atomic vacuum in his brain and paused his cultivation after lightning energy entered his body.
• Chen Jue realized the lightning could not fill the vast energy deficit in his body, then leaped from Leigong Peak into Chen Village Reservoir to cool down.

Chen Zongqing discovered that Chen Village Reservoir had mysteriously dried up overnight, leaving behind dead fish and a huge crater despite its sluice gates remaining closed. Investigators found no explanation, and the reservoir eventually refilled, leaving the mystery unsolved.

• Chen Zongqing inspected Chen Village Reservoir during heavy rain, then heard a loud splash as he left.
• Chen Zongqing returned the next morning and found the reservoir dry, with dead fish scattered across its cracked bed.
• Chen Zongqing reported the strange occurrence to the county water bureau, and Director Zhou arrived with technicians to investigate.
• Technicians found the sluice gates closed and unable to account for the water loss, while other staff discovered a deep crater and signs of boiling along the shore.
• Director Zhou called county leaders, and geology and cultural relics experts searched for meteorite fragments but found none.
• The mystery remained unsolved until the reservoir refilled, and the water bureau warned the nearby temple's monks against encouraging worshippers to throw strange things into it.

After breaking through to the void level, Chen Jue overheated and evaporated a reservoir, then flew to the East China Sea to cool himself in its depths. He rested on the seabed, marveling at his new ability to survive extreme environments and wondering how his body and status panel had changed.

• Chen Jue's overheated body boiled away the reservoir and killed the aquatic life living in it.
• Chen Jue leaped into the sky and discovered he could fly by expelling hot air beneath his feet.
• Chen Jue flew to the Yun River's mouth and plunged into the sea to cool down.
• Chen Jue descended more than 2,300 meters to the bottom of the East China Sea, where the cold water gradually lowered his body temperature.
• Chen Jue sat on a rock among seabed creatures and used [Inner Vision] to examine his strangely evolved body.

After breaking through to the void level, Chen Jue examined the plasma filling his cells and found new ways to manipulate energy and matter. Back home, he reshaped his combat suit into ordinary clothes and began testing whether household electricity could fuel his cultivation.

• Chen Jue used [Inner Vision] to inspect his transformed cells and realized his newly opened bodily space was only about 2% filled with plasma.
• After stabilizing his body, Chen Jue returned to Chen Village, retrieved his Aerospace Combat Suit, and reassured Liu Chengdong, who said the breakthrough had triggered nuclear alerts around the world.
• Chen Jue melted and reshaped the Aerospace Combat Suit into a sturdy black shirt and shorts using plasma and mind energy.
• After noticing his phone charger, Chen Jue pressed his fingers to a wall socket and absorbed its electricity, tasting what he thought was a coking-coal flavor.

After breaking through to shatter the vacuum, Chen Jue tried cultivating by absorbing household electricity, which his body converted into plasma. He drained more than 36,000 kilowatt-hours overnight and paid the bill, then considered how to obtain a stronger supply of electricity.

• Chen Jue used Inner Vision to watch household current transform into plasma as his body absorbed it.
• Finding the current too weak, Chen Jue connected several extension reels and absorbed electricity through exposed wires without feeling pain.
• Chen Jue grew tired from his breakthrough, placed the wires on his body, and fell asleep while continuing to absorb current.
• Chen Jue woke to a power-grid message reporting more than 36,000 kilowatt-hours of use and 19,368 yuan in charges.
• Chen Jue found that his old electricity meter had reset three times, paid the bill, and topped up his State Grid account with 100,000 yuan.
• Chen Jue considered getting an industrial power line but wondered whether the high-voltage lines nearby could provide another solution.

Chen Jue traveled to South Korea and secretly absorbed electricity from the Kori Nuclear Power Plant’s transmission cables to replenish his body. His enormous power drain caused widespread outages and partially paralyzed Busan’s power system.

• Chen Jue chose the Kori Nuclear Power Plant as his destination so he could absorb electricity without burdening China’s power supply.
• Chen Jue swam and flew from the Yun River to Busan, mastered Korean along the way, and reached the Kori plant disguised as a tourist.
• Chen Jue followed an underground transmission line to a hillside, dug into its conduit, and separated two cables without cutting them.
• Chen Jue wrapped the cables around his hands and absorbed more than 800 kilowatt-hours of electricity per second.
• Chen Jue’s power drain caused outages and tripped circuits across Busan, leaving parts of the city’s power system paralyzed.

Chen Jue’s diversion of electricity from the Kori Nuclear Power Plant plunged Busan into a massive blackout, disrupting transport, industry, and South Korea’s financial markets. Investigators eventually ruled out a nuclear emergency and found a kitchen knife deliberately lodged in an underground transmission cable, while Chen Jue had disappeared.

• Chen Jue’s diversion of two-thirds of the electricity from the Kori Nuclear Power Plant stranded subway trains and caused control systems to fail.
• The power outage disrupted trading at the South Korea Stock Exchange, triggering a market crash and widespread panic among investors.
• The outage also affected the Port of Busan, factories, and homes, prompting public anger and an urgent response from the Electric Power Corporation.
• Electric Power Corporation engineers investigated the Kori Nuclear Power Plant and ruled out a major safety incident.
• Engineers traced the electrical fault to an underground transmission cable and found a kitchen knife lodged in it, but Chen Jue was gone.

After stealing electricity from a South Korean nuclear power plant, Chen Jue experimented with controlling the plasma energy inside him and developed a more efficient way to move. He left the beach and sped underwater toward Japan, intending to recharge at another nuclear power plant.

• Chen Jue escaped the nuclear power plant after leaving behind a metal kitchen knife, and South Korean police searched the site without understanding how the cables had been cut.
• At a beach, Chen Jue used Inner Vision to examine the absorbed energy and found that his internal storage was about 12% full.
• Chen Jue manipulated the plasma energy to draw sand into a swirling tornado, startling tourists before slipping away under cover of the blowing sand.
• Underwater, Chen Jue formed a gravitational field that held seawater away from him and propelled him forward.
• Chen Jue reshaped the field to reduce drag and accelerated to several times the speed of sound as he headed toward Japan to find another nuclear power plant.

After finding that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant had no nuclear fuel, Chen Jue decided to obtain fuel elsewhere so he could restart it and absorb its electricity. He failed to find an Eagle Country aircraft carrier and turned his attention to lost nuclear warheads.

• Chen Jue traveled underwater to Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant and discovered that its reactors had no fuel.
• Chen Jue searched the plant’s records and learned that Japan had halted fuel shipments and removed some stored fuel after blocking the plant’s restart.
• Chen Jue decided to take nuclear fuel from an Eagle Country aircraft carrier, but found no carrier at the nearby base.
• Chen Jue realized Eagle Country carriers were avoiding Asian waters because of his earlier attacks on their propellers.
• Chen Jue chose to search for nuclear warheads lost throughout history as an alternative source of enriched uranium or plutonium.

Chen Jue searched the seabed near Japan for a nuclear bomb lost by Eagle Country in 1965, intending to use it to generate power. After finding the warhead, he carried it back toward Kashiwazaki Nuclear Power Plant.

• Chen Jue chose the nuclear bomb lost from the Ticonderoga near Japan as his target and used online research to narrow down its location.
• Chen Jue dived to the ocean floor and searched the areas marked on nautical charts with his enhanced senses.
• Chen Jue detected a radioactive aerial bomb partly buried in seabed silt and confirmed it was the lost nuclear warhead.
• Chen Jue dismantled the rusted casing, removed the uranium-235 warhead, and headed back to Kashiwazaki Nuclear Power Plant with it.

Chen Jue secretly restarted the Kashiwazaki Nuclear Power Plant and absorbed its electricity to accelerate his body's evolution. After charging overnight, his internal space reached 36 percent capacity, and he considered openly seizing the plant to continue.

• Chen Jue incapacitated the two security guards and studied the plant's operating manuals so he could work without interference.
• Chen Jue restarted all seven reactor units, disconnected them from the external grid, and prepared new transmission cables.
• Chen Jue diluted enriched uranium from a nuclear warhead into reactor fuel, loaded it into the units, and began generating electricity.
• Chen Jue absorbed over 460 million kilowatt-hours overnight, increasing his internal space's utilization to 36 percent and multiplying his strength several times.
• Chen Jue considered knocking out the returning workers and openly taking control of the plant so he could keep charging.