Chapter Summaries

Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei learned that Bai Ze’s mind-energy overload had caused its illness, then followed the recovered beast into its crystal-filled cavern. There, they uncovered an ancient Bai Ze Diagram whose power awakened a new Bai Ze aspect in Yun Xiaomei’s Intent of Ten Thousand Beasts.

• Chen Jue realized Bai Ze’s broken horns were supernatural organs that detected energy fluctuations, and Yun Xiaomei explained that excessive mind energy had overwhelmed its brain.
• Yun Xiaomei befriended Bai Ze, and the beast led her, Chen Jue, and Little Parrot into its cavern.
• Chen Jue found that the cavern’s natural mind crystals held untainted energy, while Bai Ze’s enormous crystal bed radiated it in overwhelming abundance.
• Bai Ze dug up a bronze scroll depicting thousands of exotic beasts, and Chen Jue recognized it as the legendary Bai Ze Diagram.
• Yun Xiaomei’s breath activated the diagram, which formed a virtual Bai Ze from mind energy and sent its power into her, adding Bai Ze to her Intent of Ten Thousand Beasts.

Chen Jue used the Bai Ze Diagram to learn the Bai Ze Guiding Technique and absorbed so much mind energy that he developed extraordinary mental perception. He discovered that his brain cells were becoming abnormal and dividing, leaving him fearing he had given himself brain cancer.

• Yun Xiaomei absorbed the Bai Ze Diagram's mind energy, merged with Bai Ze's true essence, and lay down to rest with Bai Ze's help.
• Chen Jue activated the bronze scroll and learned the Bai Ze Guiding Technique as mind energy strengthened his brain and filled his Heavenly Eye.
• Bai Ze warned Yun Xiaomei that Chen Jue was absorbing too much mind energy, but he was too immersed in cultivation to hear her.
• Chen Jue's Five Senses and Six Perceptions Skill reached Lv8 and awakened Manas Consciousness before painful pressure forced him to stop cultivating.
• Chen Jue's new mental field mapped the entire cavern, but he saw that his brain cells were becoming abnormal and dividing, and feared he had developed brain cancer.

After Chen Jue’s brain began changing in an uncertain way, he discovered that his new Manas Consciousness heightened his perception of time and space. The Bronze Mask boosted brain cultivation but worsened his swelling pain, and Bai Ze offered to lead the group to the desert place where it had found the mask and a bronze scroll.

• Chen Jue examined his transforming brain and feared that uncontrolled cell growth could become dangerous, but he found no immediate way to manage it.
• Chen Jue reviewed his updated attributes and learned that his Intelligence measured his brain domain, while Manas Consciousness enhanced his perception of changes in time and space.
• Yun Xiaomei told Chen Jue that eight hours had passed during his epiphany and that Little Parrot was resting after flying.
• Bai Ze recognized the Bronze Mask as its own, and Yun Xiaomei explained that a red bird had later taken it.
• Chen Jue inserted a Mind Crystal into the Bronze Mask, which drew in mind energy and increased his brain cultivation, though it worsened his head pain.
• Yun Xiaomei tried the mask, and Bai Ze told her it and the bronze scroll had come from a special desert location where it could lead them to find more things.

Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei entered radioactive ruins in the desert and discovered a bronze mural that Chen Jue's Gang Qi activated. Yun Xiaomei recognized its depiction of an ox sacrifice as an ancient Derung ceremony.

• Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei rode Bai Ze across scorching black sand to a ruined stone fortress, where their devices detected dangerous radiation.
• Bai Ze explained that it could not enter the fortress, so Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei went inside to investigate.
• They followed a long, carved passage into a dark chamber containing a bronze tree-like structure and murals.
• Chen Jue lit the chamber with Gang Qi, which flowed into and activated a bronze mural.
• The illuminated mural showed humanoids sacrificing a one-legged Kui Ox, and Yun Xiaomei identified the scene as the Derung's ox-slaughtering sacrifice to heaven.

Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei deciphered murals that linked ancient myths to the Alien Planet’s history, including the Battle Against Chi You and a catastrophe that formed the moon. Their exploration ended abruptly when a Vermilion Bird appeared at the rock fortress, pinning Little Parrot beneath its claws as Bai Ze confronted it.

• Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei studied murals depicting Derung-like people making Kui Ox Drums and using them against Chi You’s army.
• Yun Xiaomei identified Fuxi and Nüwa in another mural, and Chen Jue noticed the deities had seven-colored gems between their brows and intertwined snake tails.
• Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei interpreted murals of Gonggong’s catastrophe, Nüwa mending the sky, and two celestial bodies merging to form the moon.
• Chen Jue concluded that the murals recorded an advanced civilization’s history, but the remaining murals were unfinished and revealed nothing of its fate.
• The stone chamber shook, and Chen Jue led Yun Xiaomei outside, where they found a Vermilion Bird confronting Bai Ze with Little Parrot beneath its claws.

Chen Jue learned that the Vermilion Bird suffered from energy building up in its body and saw that its physical form was becoming energy-like, much like the Gang Qi he cultivated. The discovery raised questions about the limits of his cultivation, and he resolved to study Daoist knowledge more systematically once he returned to Earth.

• The Vermilion Bird released Little Parrot after Bai Ze agreed to let it use the seven-colored gemstones in Bai Ze's nest to treat its illness.
• Yun Xiaomei translated that the Vermilion Bird could not control the energy within its body, which had damaged its physical form.
• The Vermilion Bird gave Chen Jue a feather whose gelatinous, energy-filled structure resembled his martial dao gang qi.
• The Vermilion Bird warned Chen Jue that his similar energy might cause the same illness as his cultivation advanced.
• Chen Jue asked whether the Vermilion Bird could fly beyond the planet, and Yun Xiaomei explained that its energy would disperse if it flew too high.
• Chen Jue wondered whether the Vermilion Bird's energy-like body approached the Void Level and recognized that he lacked the knowledge to understand the process.

Chen Jue traveled with Bai Ze and Yun Xiaomei to the Vermilion Bird’s irradiated nest and acquired a sun-shaped bronze disc. By observing the Vermilion Bird cultivate, Chen Jue learned the Vermilion Bird Guidance Technique and began absorbing its energy, leaving his body transforming rapidly.

• Chen Jue and Yun Xiaomei followed the Vermilion Bird across a scorching, radioactive desert to its nest in a vast crater.
• The Vermilion Bird exchanged its collection for Bai Ze’s Mind Energy crystals, and Bai Ze selected a bronze disc that Yun Xiaomei recognized as a sun symbol.
• Back at Bai Ze’s lair, Chen Jue watched the Vermilion Bird absorb a crystal to restrain the unstable energy in its body, and Yun Xiaomei explained that excess in any part of the body-mind-energy balance caused imbalance.
• Chen Jue gained insight into the Vermilion Bird’s breathing and created the Vermilion Bird Guidance Technique through his Attribute Panel.
• Chen Jue resonated with the Vermilion Bird, drawing its excess energy through a Gang Qi bridge while the bronze disc flickered and absorbed some of the aura.
• The Vermilion Bird’s energy stimulated Chen Jue’s blood, bone marrow, and heart, causing his constitution attribute to rise as heat radiated from his body.

After a radiation-fueled transformation greatly increased Chen Jue’s power, he discovered that it had also caused a dangerous mutation and sharply reduced his lifespan. He decided to return to Earth to study the cultivation path, leaving Yun Xiaomei and the Exotic Beasts behind with a promise to come back.

• Chen Jue’s three-day transformation filled his body with Martial Dao Gang Qi and changed his blood, but his Attribute Panel revealed [Radiation Mutation] and a lifespan loss of more than a hundred years.
• Chen Jue realized that imitating the Exotic Beasts’ cultivation techniques had exposed him to dangerous radiation, even as his strength and Gang Qi storage increased dramatically.
• Chen Jue told Yun Xiaomei he would return to Earth to study the transition from manifestation to the void level, and she encouraged him to go while she continued her own training.
• Little Parrot returned with supplies and clung affectionately to Chen Jue, while Yun Xiaomei gave him the Sun Wheel on Bai Ze’s behalf.
• As Chen Jue prepared to leave, Yun Xiaomei kissed his cheek, and he promised to return before flying out of the nest.

After returning to the Safe Zone, Chen Jue prepared to leave Second Home and travel back to Earth, while learning that Sun Wu and Luo Qiong had reached the Transcendent Level. As Chen Jue’s return capsule departed the Moon, the sun disc began to glow, and Earth’s base rushed to receive him.

• Chen Jue returned to the Safe Zone and found that the camp had built cabins, cultivated farmland, and begun firing bricks for a fortress.
• Chen Jue showed the camp members the sun disc and described the ruins and inscriptions he had discovered; Sun Wu and Luo Qiong congratulated him on their martial progress and thanked him for his guidance.
• After resting, Chen Jue set off through the Wormhole Tunnel carrying the sun disc and life ore, then reached his return capsule on the Moon.
• Chen Jue contacted the Ground Base and launched toward Earth, but the sun disc began humming and glowing reddish-gold as the capsule entered space.
• Elder Zhong and Liu Chengdong hurried to the Monitoring Hall after receiving word that Chen Jue was returning.

On his return from the moon, Chen Jue asked the base to gather specialists and equipment to investigate the radiation mutation threatening his body. As his Golden Body Skill reached perfection, the Sun Wheel he carried triggered an anomalous solar flare, disrupting spacecraft and cutting off his capsule’s communications just before atmospheric entry.

• Chen Jue examined the Sun Wheel, then spoke with Liu Chengdong and Elder Zhong, who congratulated him and promised to arrange equipment and experts for his return.
• Chen Jue asked for radiation-monitoring and MRI equipment, specialists in nuclear physics, biology, and archaeology, and explained that he needed help resolving his Radiation Mutation.
• During the return journey, Chen Jue trained until his Mortal World Golden Body Skill reached perfection, granting him the Immaculate Golden Body status and greatly strengthening his bones.
• With less than two hours until landing, Chen Jue switched the return capsule to autopilot as the ground team monitored its approach to Earth.
• The Sun Wheel emitted a powerful signal toward the sun, which erupted in an unusual flare that sent electromagnetic waves and particles toward Earth.
• The solar disturbance disabled satellites and the Space Station, then knocked out Chen Jue’s console and severed communications with the Ground Base.

A solar storm disabled communications and damaged the return capsule carrying Chen Jue, sending it into an uncontrolled early descent. The Monitoring Hall calculated that it would land in Eagle Country’s Area 15, and Elder Zhong contacted the Beidu Office to report the emergency.

• A powerful solar flare knocked out the return capsule’s electronics and cut communications with Chen Jue, the Space Station, and satellites across the Northern Hemisphere.
• Elder Zhong ordered staff to inspect recordings and restore contact, while the emergency teams began rebooting the spacecraft and satellites.
• The Space Station restored emergency power, but the return capsule’s communications and engine control chips failed, leaving it unable to correct its shifted orbit.
• The Supercomputer predicted that the capsule would avoid other spacecraft but land in a Nevada desert region of Eagle Country.
• Liu Chengdong recognized the landing site as Area 15, and Elder Zhong called the Beidu Office to report the situation.

After an electromagnetic disaster sent Chen Jue’s return capsule off course, he landed in Eagle Country’s Area 15 and found himself surrounded by troops ordered to capture him. Chen Jue escaped their attack by flying away at more than four times the speed of sound, leaving the soldiers unable to hit him.

• Bonat and Jenny learned that Chen Jue’s capsule would land in Area 15 and mobilized troops to capture him for intelligence about Second Home.
• Chen Jue used the capsule’s mechanical controls to land safely, then emerged into a wasteland and spotted approaching Eagle Country forces.
• When the soldiers ordered him to surrender, Chen Jue escaped his Spacesuit, unfolded his wings, and leapt into the air.
• Bonat saw Chen Jue take flight and canceled the capture-alive order, authorizing all units to fire.
• Chen Jue accelerated past Mach 4 and outran the soldiers’ bullets, while they reported that their fire could not catch him.

Chen Jue outran Eagle Country’s pursuit and evaded an F-35 formation with a sudden vertical maneuver, then used their missiles to destroy one fighter and clung to another. The remaining pilots watched in shock as Chen Jue landed on Jimmy’s aircraft.

• Bonat ordered radar tracking, F-22 interceptors, and a base-wide deployment after Chen Jue flew beyond gun range at more than Mach 4.56.
• Bonat and Jenny relayed Chen Jue’s course to west coast bases and requested a cross-regional joint operation while Chen Jue continued west and sensed fighters pursuing him.
• Eight F-35s intercepted Chen Jue, launching three missiles and firing their cannons as he approached head-on.
• Chen Jue braked in midair and shot vertically upward, evading the cannon fire and missiles before the missiles turned back toward him.
• Chen Jue maneuvered past an F-35, causing the missiles to strike and destroy it, then landed on another F-35 and pierced its wings with his fingers.

Chen Jue overwhelmed an Eagle Country F-35 squadron, captured Jimmy’s fighter, and flew it toward a West Coast naval and air base before the military remotely disabled it. He escaped the fighter’s destruction by diving into the harbor, where the pursuing aircraft lost track of him underwater.

• Jimmy and the other F-35 pilots encountered Chen Jue, whose speed and heat signature made him difficult to target, and George died in the first attack.
• Chen Jue climbed onto Jimmy’s fighter and punched through its rear panels to reach the cockpit, prompting Jimmy to eject in terror.
• Chen Jue commandeered the canopyless F-35 and flew west, while the remaining pilots reported that he had captured the aircraft.
• Pentagon generals ordered the captured fighter shut down, and the disabled aircraft plunged toward a naval and air base as its defenses opened fire.
• Chen Jue leaped from the fighter, dodged antiaircraft fire with Gang Qi, and plunged into the harbor as the F-35 exploded.
• The pursuing pilots reported that Chen Jue had gone underwater and disappeared from their radar and heat sensors.

Chen Jue evaded Eagle Country’s sonar pursuit, cut the towed sonar arrays, and cleared a naval minefield by leaping through the air. He headed toward the Third Fleet after spotting Japan’s Izumo among the ships.

• Eagle Country mobilized ships, aircraft, and sonar equipment to locate Chen Jue after he swam offshore.
• Sonar operators detected Chen Jue moving underwater at over eighty knots, and commanders ordered mines and torpedoes deployed to intercept him.
• Chen Jue turned toward the pursuing ships and severed more than twenty towed sonar cables, disabling their arrays.
• Chen Jue accelerated past the slower torpedoes and leaped over a minefield as the torpedoes struck it and exploded.
• Chen Jue cut the sonar cables trailing three antisubmarine helicopters, then stepped onto the resulting wave and headed toward the Third Fleet after spotting Japan’s Izumo.

Chen Jue broke through the First Carrier Battle Group’s torpedoes and depth charges with his sword qi and reached the Japanese warship Izumo. As the fleet’s commander struggled to respond, Chen Jue cut the Izumo in half from bow to stern.

• Captain Izu Taro learned that the target was a humanoid weapon that had destroyed two F-35s, then ordered the Izumo to advance as an antisubmarine escort.
• The First Carrier Battle Group launched torpedoes and depth charges, but Chen Jue detonated them with golden sword qi while swimming underwater.
• Rear Admiral Barton watched the target breach multiple interception lines and froze, unable to devise a response.
• Chen Jue recognized the Izumo by its golden Chrysanthemum insignia and swam beneath its bow as its crew fired machine guns.
• Chen Jue drove a scarlet-gold gang qi sword through the Izumo’s hull and dragged it from bow to stern, splitting the ship in half.

Chen Jue split the Izumo in half with a Gang Qi longsword, leaving the ship sinking and its crew in chaos. He then approached the Nimitz-class carrier, where the crew discovered that all four propellers had been cut off.

• Chen Jue sliced the Izumo from bow to stern, triggering explosions and sending the ship's two halves tilting into the sea.
• Izu Taro ordered the crew to abandon ship after learning the Izumo was split and its emergency team had died; he then shot himself, while Major Gis fled.
• Chen Jue surfaced, assessed the Gang Qi he had spent, and submerged again to approach the carrier at the center of the 1st Carrier Strike Group.
• General Barton ordered defensive precautions as Chen Jue neared the carrier, but the ship shuddered and stopped instead of suffering a laser strike.
• A soldier reported that the enemy had cut off all four of the carrier's propellers.

Chen Jue disabled the Nimitz-class carrier and its escorting warships by cutting off their propellers, while killing the frogmen sent to attack him. The 1st Carrier Strike Group was left stranded in the Pacific, and General Barton collapsed after learning the entire fleet had been paralyzed.

• Chen Jue cut off all four propellers of the Nimitz-class carrier, leaving it without propulsion.
• Thirteen Eagle Country frogmen fired underwater rounds at Chen Jue, who returned the rounds and killed them.
• Chen Jue swam toward the nearest cruiser as General Barton reported the carrier's propulsion failure to the Pentagon.
• Barton learned that all thirteen frogmen had died, while the carrier's hull remained undamaged.
• Alerts revealed that every escorting warship and the Clark-class supply ship had also lost their propellers, and Barton collapsed from a stroke.

After Chen Jue crippled Eagle Country’s carrier strike group and sank the Izumo, Eagle Country blamed the sinking on an onboard accident while China identified him as the culprit. Chen Jue swam across the Pacific and, finding radioactive seawater near an unfamiliar shore, realized he had reached Japan.

• Eagle Country’s operations commander ended the failed interception, ordered a report on Chen Jue, and prepared to brief the president.
• Eagle Country announced that the Izumo had sunk in an ammunition-magazine accident, reported 223 Japanese personnel rescued, and restricted the rescued crew from revealing what happened.
• Satellite analysts discovered that Eagle Country’s carrier group was stranded, while Chinese officials traced the Izumo’s destruction to Chen Jue and learned he was still somewhere in the western Pacific.
• Experts arrived at Area 15 and examined the Sun Wheel Chen Jue had left in his return capsule, learning that it was more than 7,600 years old.
• Chen Jue swam and flew west across the Pacific, entered radioactive seawater near an unfamiliar shore, and concluded that he had reached Japan.

After crossing the Pacific, Chen Jue landed on Japan’s coast, concealed his gear, borrowed clothes, and ate at an izakaya while learning Japanese. He followed a group of gangsters to a dockside warehouse, where he attacked them by firing a toothpick through their leader’s eye and brain.

• Chen Jue buried his Aerospace Combat Suit, Tang Dao, and javelins on a remote beach, then stole a business suit and slippers from a nearby house.
• Chen Jue ate at an izakaya, watched news of the Izumo’s sinking, and quickly learned enough Japanese to understand and order food.
• When eight drunken men in black left the izakaya, Chen Jue followed them and rode atop one of their minivans without paying his bill.
• At a warehouse, armed men mistook Chen Jue for an accomplice and confronted the gangsters who had brought him there.
• Chen Jue taunted the men in broken Japanese, then launched a toothpick through the leading gangster’s eye and out the back of his head.