Recaps

Jing Jiu struggled to study the sciences of the Galaxy Alliance and reflected on questions about years and robots. He decided to publish the story of Jingyang to draw out fellow cultivators who had ascended, especially Snow Ji, while searching for an answer to who he was.

• Jing Jiu abandoned his physics studies and switched to mathematics, only to become engrossed in university topics such as number theory and algebraic geometry.
• After his nine-day study period ended, Jing Jiu wondered why he could not learn everything as quickly as he once had and wrote down the words "Year" and "Robot."
• Jing Jiu scanned Zhong Lizi's irises and asked how to send a message across the universe; Zhong Lizi suggested novels as a way to attract readers.
• Jing Jiu told Zhong Lizi he would write a story about Jingyang and publish it to attract ascended cultivators, particularly Snow Ji.
• When Zhong Lizi asked what he was seeking, Jing Jiu said he wanted to know who he was.

Jing Jiu finished a massive portion of his novel, Great Dao Toward Heaven, and Zhong Lizi read it, offered criticism, and tried to help it find readers. After mastering the academy’s available physics and mathematics materials and earning perfect scores on seven tests, Jing Jiu agreed to attend school, while Zhong Lizi’s coughing illness remained hidden from him.

• Jing Jiu wrote the ending of volume seven of Great Dao Toward Heaven, and Zhong Lizi helped him post twenty thousand characters under her academy network account.
• Zhong Lizi read the novel overnight, cried over its characters, and later told Jing Jiu that its prose was strong but its emotional impact, plot connections, and Jingyang’s characterization needed work.
• Zhong Lizi tried to promote the novel among her classmates, but it received little attention beyond rumors about its author.
• Jing Jiu finished the academy network’s physics and mathematics textbooks and earned full marks on seven test papers, astonishing Zhong Lizi.
• Zhong Lizi invited Jing Jiu to attend school so he could use its internal library database, and he agreed.
• Jing Jiu followed Zhong Lizi into her bedroom and saw her coughing beneath her blanket.

Jing Jiu helped Zhong Lizi obtain a black-market wristband and discovered that her leukemia was severe, though he temporarily stabilized her condition. After stealing gold coins from an underground arcade owner, he followed Zhong Lizi up to the surface and saw New Era Academy and a warship in the sky.

• Jing Jiu examined Zhong Lizi while she slept, diagnosed severe leukemia, and used sword intent to stabilize her condition.
• Zhong Lizi took Jing Jiu to Mr. Dan’s shop, where he paid two gold coins for a wristband and destroyed the iris lens used to collect his data.
• The arcade owner discovered that three gold coins had vanished from his safe and questioned his lackeys about the theft.
• Jing Jiu and Zhong Lizi climbed to the top of the cliff, where they saw the grounds of New Era Academy and a warship’s silhouette in the artificial sky.

Jing Jiu enrolled as an auditor at New Era Academy and secretly absorbed vast amounts of data from its library until the database failed. At lunch, Zhong Lizi faced classmates’ mockery and an apology from Lu Shuiqian, whom Jing Jiu judged to be lying.

• Zhong Lizi registered Jing Jiu as an auditor, obtained his library card, and left him at the library before heading to class.
• Jing Jiu shielded himself from observation and absorbed data through a library terminal’s cable until the library database failed.
• Jing Jiu waited for Zhong Lizi, then went with her to the cafeteria and declined her offer to introduce him to her classmates.
• Students mocked Zhong Lizi, who ignored them and brought Jing Jiu real vegetables and steak.
• Lu Shuiqian apologized to Zhong Lizi for revealing her childhood story, and Jing Jiu told Zhong Lizi that Lu Shuiqian was lying.

Jing Jiu investigated the differences between this world and the Chaotian Continent, deducing that Ping Yongjia was an artificial intelligence and that both civilizations shared the same origin. He continued researching the cosmos and the Dark Matter Sea, still searching for the connection between the two worlds.

• At lunch, Jing Jiu told Zhong Lizi that beautiful flowers needed thorns, while deciding not to retaliate against the students who mocked her.
• After the library closed, Lu Shuiqian questioned Jing Jiu about his relationship with Zhong Lizi and her exchange-student prospects; he frightened her into running away.
• Watching students test their strength, Jing Jiu compared their martial cultivation with the cultivation of the Chaotian Continent and found them much weaker than its Ascension Ones.
• At home, Jing Jiu tested the durability of his body and calculated that physical laws differed between the worlds, then concluded that Ping Yongjia was an artificial intelligence.
• The next day, Jing Jiu studied astronomy and cosmic data at the library, investigating the Dark Matter Sea and concluding that this world and the Chaotian Continent were the same civilization, separated for countless years.

Jing Jiu considered how the Galaxy Alliance and Chaotian Continent might have developed from separate preparations made by an ancient civilization, then broke into the Hidden Web to study its secrets. After a hidden data stream traced him, he escaped its pursuit and destroyed the recording disk that could expose his studies.

• Jing Jiu reasoned that the Galaxy Alliance and Chaotian Continent followed different paths and wondered whether an ancient civilization had prepared both worlds before its destruction.
• Jing Jiu studied advanced computer knowledge, breached Star Gate Base's upper-level network, and entered the Starfield Network and its Hidden Web.
• Jing Jiu discovered a disguised, moving data symbol in the Hidden Web, but the data stream detected him and pursued his consciousness through the networks.
• Jing Jiu used false digital markers to delay the pursuer and severed three information jump bridges before it could trace him further.
• Jing Jiu left the library, crushed the latest recording disk, and watched the students playing on the other side of the lawn.

Jing Jiu built a pair of computers, gave one to Zhong Lizi, and used the other to return to the Hidden Web. There he tracked down the elusive Wild Hare and revealed that he was hiding aboard a warship, though Jing Jiu withheld its location.

• Jing Jiu decided he needed a computer as a safety valve and stole the components he needed from the arcade.
• Jing Jiu assembled two silver computers, gave one to Zhong Lizi, and warned her not to take it to school or tell anyone about it.
• Jing Jiu set up false digital identifiers and information relays, then returned to New Era Academy's library to access the Hidden Web.
• Jing Jiu confronted Wild Hare, who mocked him for fleeing during their previous encounter, and then pursued him through the network.
• Jing Jiu returned to the Hidden Web room and said he had found Wild Hare aboard a warship, but did not reveal its location.

Jing Jiu questioned the Galaxy Alliance’s Cloud Ghosts through the Hidden Web, but their experts could not answer several of his questions. After his attempt to access a military warship’s network was stopped, he returned to the school and destroyed the Vital Energy Testing Instrument while Zhong Lizi was being reprimanded.

• Jing Jiu entered a Hidden Web room, caught Wild Hare, and asked the Cloud Ghosts a series of questions that they could not answer.
• Researchers and specialists across the Galaxy Alliance puzzled over Jing Jiu’s unanswered questions, while a girl on a warship severed its information channel to stop him from gaining control.
• Jing Jiu left the library and saw Zhong Lizi being scolded by a teacher over her studies and cultivation.
• Jing Jiu destroyed the Vital Energy Testing Instrument, starting a fire and sending the teachers and students fleeing.
• Jing Jiu returned to the apartment, where Zhong Lizi quietly ate while he pretended to sleep, then watched her close her door.

Jing Jiu watched Zhong Lizi struggle with cultivation and secretly helped her recover by repairing the thermostat and giving her Yuan Qi. The next morning, Zhong Lizi felt energetic and hopeful as she headed to school, while Jing Jiu wondered whether his help had created a spirited girl.

• Jing Jiu watched Zhong Lizi practice the basic cultivation movements and heard her despair over being unable to reach the sixth level before her assessment.
• When Zhong Lizi asked how to enter the Observing Fire Realm, Jing Jiu told her to watch the fire from across the river, and she mistook his advice for indifference.
• That night, Jing Jiu checked that Zhong Lizi’s blood toxins were stable, put her into a deep sleep, repaired the thermostat, and sent Yuan Qi into her body.
• Jing Jiu accidentally burned his tracksuit with Sword Flame and planned to get new clothes.
• The next morning, Zhong Lizi woke feeling unusually energetic, declared that she felt hope, and went to school determined to succeed.

Jing Jiu tried to use his novel, Great Dao Toward Heaven, to attract hidden Ascension Ones, then secretly pushed a game adaptation through Xuan Yu’s approval process. The chapter ended with Zhong Lizi waking him to announce that she had passed level five.

• Jing Jiu searched forums for reactions to Great Dao Toward Heaven but found little discussion and no messages from potential media partners.
• After students began discussing the novel, Jing Jiu changed its forum copyright notices and traced a reader to an employee at Xuan Yu who wanted to recommend it for a game adaptation.
• Jing Jiu hacked into Xuan Yu’s network and forged approvals from seven department heads and the chairman to move the studio’s report forward.
• Jing Jiu returned home in a good mood, offered his ale to Zhong Lizi, and continued reading while she cultivated.
• At midnight, Zhong Lizi rushed to Jing Jiu and excitedly told him she had passed level five.

Zhong Lizi passed her grading examinations after Jing Jiu helped her advance, surprising the academy with her level-six vitality. The chapter ended with her searching the crowd for Jing Jiu before spotting him watching from a distant doorway.

• Zhong Lizi broke down crying over her insecurities, and Jing Jiu silently offered her a bottle of beer.
• On examination day, Zhong Lizi passed the low-gravity bodily-control assessment despite classmates mocking her background.
• A game company sponsored a new vitality tester, and Zhong Lizi's reading revealed that she had reached level six of the Observing Fire Realm.
• Zhong Lizi entered the final combat assessment, searched the crowd for Jing Jiu, and spotted him in white by a distant doorway.

Zhong Lizi won the academy’s placement assessment and celebrated with Jing Jiu, who revealed that he had solved every solvable physics problem in her world. The next day, the academy denied her the Star Gate University exchange spot, and as she left the principal’s office in anger, a Xuan Yu Company aircraft landed on the school lawn.

• Zhong Lizi defeated her opponent in the placement assessment, while Jing Jiu left the Gymnasium after seeing that she could manage on her own.
• Zhong Lizi treated Jing Jiu to barbecue and expensive wine to celebrate her first-place finish and exchange opportunity; Jing Jiu said he had solved every physics problem in her world that could be solved.
• After Zhong Lizi got drunk, she thanked Jing Jiu for helping her, and he told her that he was using her.
• The academy announced that a second-year male student, not Zhong Lizi, would go to Star Gate University, and Zhong Lizi challenged the principal’s explanation and demanded to see the rejection notice.
• Zhong Lizi warned the principal that she could report him for sexual harassment if he touched her, then left his office and slammed the door.
• A Xuan Yu Company aircraft landed on the academy lawn as Zhong Lizi wondered whether knowing someone at the company could change her situation.

Gao Shu restored Zhong Lizi’s exchange-student slot after learning that the Chairman wanted Xuan Yu Company to quietly acquire her novel’s rights. Zhong Lizi thanked Jing Jiu over dinner, drank too much rice wine, and he carried her away from the barbecue stall.

• Gao Shu confronted the principal about denying the exchange-student slot to the top-ranked student and demanded that the list be amended for Zhong Lizi.
• Gao Shu recalled that the President had ordered him to secure the rights to Zhong Lizi’s novel quietly, and he had reserved a slot for her before hearing that the academy rejected her.
• Gao Shu pressured the principal by explaining that Xuan Yu Company and its powerful partners supported Zhong Lizi, and the principal hurried to call her back.
• Zhong Lizi told Jing Jiu that Xuan Yu Company’s intervention had restored her slot, but she had refused its offer for the novel’s game rights.
• Jing Jiu told Zhong Lizi to accept the offer because the company wanted to please her, then warned her that he was using her.
• After Zhong Lizi drank three cups of rice wine and became tipsy, Jing Jiu hoisted her onto his shoulder and carried her away.

Jing Jiu watched a rerun of a district preliminary selection for Star Gate’s new Priestess with Zhong Lizi, who hoped an exchange-student place would let them attend the October Water Ritual. As the selection ended, Zhong Lizi’s favorite candidate was eliminated, and Jing Jiu noticed the striking black-haired girl who had drawn the greatest attention.

• Zhong Lizi asked whether Jing Jiu wanted to use his novel to attract powerful people, and he told her to stop reading novels.
• Zhong Lizi recognized a rerun of the Priestess preliminary selection and hoped an exchange-student place would let them watch the October Water Ritual in person.
• Jing Jiu wrote “month” beneath “year” and “robot” and wondered why years had twelve months and 365 days.
• Zhong Lizi watched the preliminary rounds, answered questions aloud, and asked whether Jing Jiu knew all the answers; he murmured that he did.
• The second round tested candidates’ ability to deconstruct and reconstruct space, while Jing Jiu found the tasks simple and returned to his papers.
• When Zhong Lizi’s favorite candidate was eliminated, she called the selection rigged, and Jing Jiu noticed the popular black-haired girl in the middle.

Zhong Lizi left the Underground District for Star Gate University, while Jing Jiu stayed behind and secretly made his way upward through the steel platforms. As Zhong Lizi entered the sunlit world, Jing Jiu reached the city just as the morning sun rose.

• Jing Jiu refused to let Zhong Lizi rent out the apartment and transferred credit points to her for school and gene optimization.
• Zhong Lizi hugged Jing Jiu before packing her belongings and leaving for Star Gate University.
• Zhong Lizi rode an aircraft out of the Underground District and saw the sun for the first time, wondering whether she would fall back like a whale from a documentary.
• Jing Jiu waited for the sunlight to pass, then climbed through the steel framework while evading surveillance cameras and scanners.
• Jing Jiu crossed the Magnetic Barrier and walked toward the distant city as the morning sun rose.

Jing Jiu explored the Second Layer, visited the Gabei Opera House and Star Gate Museum, and secretly entered a sealed storeroom beneath the museum. There he found an ancient mecha buried in soil and silently faced it.

• Jing Jiu walked through the Second Layer and learned how its cities and population had shifted underground after the Dark Matter Sea catastrophe.
• Jing Jiu attended an opera at the Gabei Opera House and left after listening for ten minutes.
• Jing Jiu toured the Star Gate Museum, passed through its exhibits, and went down to the third basement level.
• Jing Jiu bypassed the storeroom’s surveillance and locks, then opened a sealed chamber behind an alloy wall.
• Jing Jiu found an ancient mecha preserved inside a glass cube of soil and stood silently before it.

Jing Jiu explored Shou'er Metropolitan District, confirmed the ancient civilization had existed, and built a network relay filter before visiting Zhong Lizi at her hotel. He gave her a wooden chair carving to use if she encountered danger, leaving her puzzled by its shape.

• Jing Jiu found a buried mech in the Star Gate Museum and concluded that the ancient civilization was real.
• Jing Jiu studied a sunflower painting copied by a Priestess and wondered why the original flowers' binding had been left out.
• Jing Jiu entered a network security company, created a new identity, and assembled a ring that filtered and relayed network signals.
• Jing Jiu worried that Snow Ji might reach Zhong Lizi and kill her, so he went to find her at Star Gate University.
• Jing Jiu entered Zhong Lizi's hotel room and gave her a wooden chair carving, telling her to show it to anyone who threatened her.

Jing Jiu visited Zhong Lizi in her suite, agreed to accompany her to Star Gate University, and investigated an unsettling presence near the Alliance Star Gate Administration Bureau. After telling a bishop that he was God, he sensed an assassin aiming a powerful weapon at him and destroyed its High-Combustion Bullet from across the city.

• Zhong Lizi asked Jing Jiu to accompany her to register at Star Gate University, and he agreed while advising her to sign with Xuan Yu Company and expand the game's promotion.
• Jing Jiu detected an unpleasant presence near the Alliance Star Gate Administration Bureau and went to investigate the nearby Fire-Passing Tower.
• A bishop followed Jing Jiu from the tower and preached to him, so Jing Jiu said he was God before walking into a crowd.
• Jing Jiu returned to the square and traced the unsettling presence to a hidden gunman in the mountains aiming a powerful firearm at him.
• Jing Jiu raised his hand and destroyed the incoming High-Combustion Bullet, then examined the residue in his palm.

Jing Jiu survived an assassination attempt and pursued the gunman to an underground elevator, where he tried to read the assassin’s mind. After the man’s implanted device killed him, Jing Jiu destroyed the evidence and changed clothes by the Caspian Sea.

• Jing Jiu emerged unharmed from the mist after stopping the gunman’s high-incendiary bullet, then used a hover train’s wind to reach Spring Plain.
• The man in workwear descended through the maintenance elevators, planning to hide in a safe house, but Jing Jiu caught up with him.
• Jing Jiu prevented the man in workwear from killing himself and used the Profound Yin Sect’s Soul-Searching Hand to search his consciousness.
• The man in workwear’s implanted device detonated his head when Jing Jiu invaded his mind, and Jing Jiu burned the corpse and elevator with Sword Flame.
• Jing Jiu bathed in the Caspian Sea, dried himself with Sword Intent, and changed into a clean blue tracksuit.

Jing Jiu returned to the Underground Laboratory to investigate who had ordered an assassin to kill him. After tracing the laboratory’s reports and finding no evidence against its staff or other suspected parties, he concluded that an Ascension One was the likeliest culprit.

• Jing Jiu considered whether the laboratory had tracked him since he awakened and suspected it might be connected to the assassination attempt.
• Jing Jiu traveled from Shou’er City to the Underground Laboratory through the Direct Transit Passage, overhearing passengers discuss a damaged laser cannon and a recent visit by the Academy of Sciences president.
• Jing Jiu infiltrated the laboratory’s networks and accessed the physically isolated room where he had awakened.
• Jing Jiu traced reports about himself through the Alliance Academy of Sciences and Military networks, identifying seven terminals that had accessed them.
• Jing Jiu found no link between the assassin and the laboratory, Xuan Yu Game Company, or the gaming arcade owner, and suspected an Ascension One wanted him dead.

Jing Jiu investigated the work-cloth assassin through the Starfield Network, evaded a covert trace, and then reunited with Zhong Lizi at Star Gate University. Their reunion was interrupted when Jiang Yuxia approached and asked Zhong Lizi whether she had written Great Dao Toward Heaven.

• Jing Jiu learned from Tanggu that the miniature bullet was made of composite material, but found no information about it on the military network.
• Jing Jiu asked the Cloud Ghosts to identify the work-cloth assassin in exchange for doing one thing for whoever helped; Wild Hare challenged him, and Jing Jiu exposed the method used to trace him before leaving the network.
• The Academy of Sciences president learned that the Cloud Ghost newcomer had been traced to the Left Heaven Starfield, but his data assistant lost the trail after Jing Jiu detected the surveillance data dust.
• Zhong Lizi worried that Jing Jiu had disappeared, then found him waiting outside Star Gate University and hugged him.
• Jiang Yuxia arrived at Star Gate University as an exchange student, noticed Zhong Lizi with Jing Jiu, and asked whether she was the author of Great Dao Toward Heaven.

Jing Jiu returned to Zhong Lizi after investigating the attempted assassination and concluded that the hidden Ascension One had meant to test and warn him, not kill him. As he watched the warships in the night sky, a message arrived saying the person he wanted investigated had been found.

• Jiang Yuxia introduced herself to Zhong Lizi as an exchange student from the Divine Academy and a fan of Great Dao Toward Heaven, while concealing her Priest Lineage's plans to win Zhong Lizi's support.
• At Star Gate University, students discussed Jiang Yuxia and whispered about Zhong Lizi, while Jing Jiu spent the day lying fully dressed on the lawn.
• Zhong Lizi told Jing Jiu about university and Xuan Yu Company's project as they walked beneath the ginkgo trees, but he gave her mostly one-word replies and refused to attend a dinner with her.
• Back at the hotel, Jing Jiu sunbathed naked beneath the stars and explained that he had secretly watched for several days after searching the site of the attempted assassination.
• Jing Jiu concluded that the Ascension One's attack had been a test and warning meant to stop him from exposing Chaotian Continent, and he resolved not to let the matter rest.
• Jing Jiu entered the Starfield Network and received a message saying the person he wanted to investigate had been found.

Jing Jiu learned that the assassin Chen Xin might have been connected to a secret organization called the Butterfly, then revealed his identity to Wild Hare. Meanwhile, Ran Handong discovered that Jing Jiu had given her a false image and name, and decided to return to Star Gate Base.

• Jing Jiu met the mist-shrouded Cloud Ghost, who told him that Chen Xin had been an interstellar soldier presumed dead and described a hidden military department associated with butterfly imagery.
• The mist-shrouded woman said she believed the Butterfly organization had continued operating and might have helped Chen Xin fake his death.
• Jing Jiu completed their deal by revealing that he was Jing Jiu and showing Wild Hare his portrait.
• Ran Handong accused Jing Jiu of deceiving her with a fake image and name after finding search results for a novel instead of him.
• Ran Handong told the captain she wanted leave to return to Star Gate Base, claiming she was visiting an unwell relative.

Jing Jiu identified the distant star that was home to Chaotian Continent and considered how other Ascension Ones might have reached the Galaxy Alliance. At Star Gate University, Zhong Lizi gained attention for her novel, while Jiang Yuxia approached the reclusive Jing Jiu on the lawn.

• Gao Shu told the President that Zhong Lizi had declined the dinner invitation, and the President ordered the company to expand the game world and have her create its initial character designs.
• Jing Jiu assured Zhong Lizi that her illness would be cured, confirmed that he had found the person he was seeking, and made her fall asleep with a wave of his hand.
• Jing Jiu used military intelligence to locate the star of Chaotian Continent near Ma 31 and pondered the fate of the other Ascension Ones.
• Students began paying more attention to Zhong Lizi after Jiang Yuxia visited her and news spread that Xuan Yu Company planned to adapt her novel into a game.
• Jiang Yuxia approached Jing Jiu on the campus lawn, introduced herself, and sat beside him as he watched the sky.

Jing Jiu watched the warships above Star Gate and spent time with Zhong Lizi, who confided that she felt pressured by her studies and was ill. After she fell asleep, he swept her body with a cold strand of sword intent, leaving the water in her bedside glass frozen and the glass cracked.

• Jing Jiu ignored Jiang Yuxia’s questions and asked her to sit farther away because he disliked the water-type aura she released.
• Jiang Yuxia watched Jing Jiu beneath a ginkgo tree until Zhong Lizi arrived, and then saw Jing Jiu and Zhong Lizi leave together.
• Zhong Lizi told Jing Jiu that she felt pressured by her studies and had received seven love letters, then explained why she trusted Jiang Yuxia and had befriended Lu Shuiqian.
• Zhong Lizi told Jing Jiu that she really was ill, and he replied that he really had medicine.
• Jing Jiu reached toward the stars, then swept Zhong Lizi with sword intent as she slept, freezing the water in her bedside glass and cracking it.