Chapter Summaries

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.

Zhong Lizi noticed her body felt unusually strong and worried about Jing Jiu, who spent several rainy days sleeping on the Star Gate University lawn. After Jing Jiu offered to teach her cultivation, she revealed her illness and underwent an examination that suggested her earlier diagnosis might have been wrong.

• Zhong Lizi woke feeling unusually energetic, found her water glass in the trash, and asked Jing Jiu what he had done to her, but he brushed off her questions and she left for school.
• Jing Jiu slept on the rainy campus lawn, and Zhong Lizi left an airflow umbrella beside him before leaving class to check on him.
• After several days of resting outdoors, Jing Jiu offered to teach Zhong Lizi more useful cultivation methods, but she declined and told him she was ill and might not be able to learn yet.
• Jing Jiu reassured Zhong Lizi that her illness would not be a problem, and she told him they would soon visit the university's main campus and undergo physical examinations.
• At the university hospital, Zhong Lizi's test results conflicted with her diagnosis as a blood type four, Y class patient, and the doctor said she might not have the condition.
• After reviewing her records and running further tests, the doctor congratulated Zhong Lizi, leaving her trembling and in tears.

After Zhong Lizi’s illness was cured, she decided to enter the Priestess Selection, while Jing Jiu investigated the bishop who had encouraged her. He discovered that the bishop had been ordered to serve him because the hidden authority believed Jing Jiu might be the new god they were seeking.

• Zhong Lizi learned that her illness had been cured, thanked Jing Jiu for changing her life, and decided to fulfill her vow at the Fire-Passing Tower.
• Jing Jiu met Tanggu outside the Administration Bureau and asked whether anyone had accessed his archive materials; Tanggu said no and asked to follow him.
• Zhong Lizi told Jing Jiu she would enter the Priestess Selection, and Jing Jiu later broke into the bishop’s home to search his memories.
• Jing Jiu saw the bishop kneel before a gray curtain and heard a hidden voice order him to serve Jing Jiu, whom it suspected might be the new god.

Zhong Lizi entered the Priestess selection despite Teacher Cui warning that no one from below had ever succeeded, while Jing Jiu accompanied her on a visit to Star Gate University’s surface campus. Their visit ended when the giant mecha Thunder God unexpectedly began moving, and Jing Jiu’s ring glowed faintly.

• Jiang Yuxia encouraged Zhong Lizi before Zhong Lizi registered for the Priestess selection, telling Teacher Cui she believed in miracles.
• Jing Jiu and Zhong Lizi joined Jiang Yuxia and other students on a trip to the university’s surface campus, where the group watched the Sun rise over the grasslands.
• The visiting students toured the main campus and learned that Space Elevator Seven supplied food from the university-run factory.
• The students entered Laboratory Three of the Mecha Department and saw Thunder God, the giant mecha damaged in the Battle of Tingmen and recently repaired.
• Jing Jiu watched Thunder God as his ring glowed, and the mecha suddenly activated and raised its left arm toward the sky.

Jing Jiu secretly activated Thunder God to study its systems, then joined the students’ visit to the Priest Lineage, where Zhong Lizi learned Jiang Yuxia was the lineage head’s daughter. Jing Jiu later crossed the grassland to a vast tower-like building and saw the place where the Priestess was staying.

• Jing Jiu stopped Thunder God by withdrawing his control after its sudden activation caused panic in the laboratory.
• Jing Jiu reflected that he could easily destroy Thunder God now that he understood its systems, then left with the visiting students.
• Director Cui took the Priestess Selection candidates to the Priest Lineage manor, where they met its head, Mr. Xia.
• Jiang Yuxia told Zhong Lizi that the manor was her home, astonishing her.
• Jing Jiu crossed the grassland and saw the enormous tower-like building where the Priestess was inside.

Jing Jiu infiltrated Star Gate Planet’s sanctuary and questioned its priestess about the ancient civilization and the prophesied new god. She revealed that the priestesses had awaited him because he was omnipotent and came from another world.

• Jing Jiu crossed the ruined grassland and traveled underground to reach the sanctuary, where he emerged from an old well.
• Jing Jiu spoke to the priestess through a gray curtain and asked whether she believed in gods and why she had sought him.
• The priestess explained that generations of priestesses preserved the ancient civilization’s knowledge through oral transmission and memorization.
• The priestess said the ancient god had ordered humanity to await a new god, and that she had recognized Jing Jiu as that figure because he was omnipotent and came from another world.