Chapter Summaries

Jing Jiu left the damaged Military Command Building after Shen Yunmai agreed to a sixty-day truce, then used Redpine True Person’s data-terminal glasses to monitor the forces pursuing them. As Ran Handong explained Shen Yunmai’s background and restlessness, Jing Jiu recognized him as a gifted Green Mountain descendant but concluded that he lacked confidence.

• Shen Yunmai promised to release everyone and leave Jing Jiu alone for sixty days, and Jing Jiu departed with Ran Handong.
• After Jing Jiu left, Shen Yunmai kept his hands raised because his mangled arms hurt, though he said the pain felt wonderful.
• Jing Jiu used his glasses to access the military network, saw the surrounding forces and returning warships, and continued walking with Ran Handong.
• Ran Handong described Shen Yunmai’s military and scientific achievements, his interest in cultivation and the novel Jing Jiu wrote, and his dislike of life.
• Jing Jiu admired Shen Yunmai’s combined cultivation and technological abilities, then said Shen Yunmai had no goal and lacked confidence because even the Dark Matter Sea was part of the universe.

After Jing Jiu and Ran Handong returned to the Small Tower, news spread that he had nearly killed Shen Yunmai during the attack on the Military Command Building. Ran Handong told the Sacrificial Hall and her brother that Jing Jiu demanded a meeting with the person behind Shen Yunmai, and Jing Jiu said three days was too long to wait.

• Jing Jiu returned to the Small Tower, rested, and watched the news report that the Military Command Building had suffered a terrorist attack with no deaths.
• Ran Handong smoked as she recalled Jing Jiu nearly killing Shen Yunmai and feared the consequences for the Galaxy Alliance.
• General Ran and Sacrificial Hall bishops confronted Ran Handong and questioned why Jing Jiu had gone to the Capital Special District.
• Ran Handong said Shen Yunmai had nearly died and gave the person behind him three days to agree to meet Jing Jiu.
• Jing Jiu told Ran Handong that three days was too long, and she offered to brew him fresh tea.

Jing Jiu traveled to the Capital Planet’s northern plateau to meet That One, whose recognition the Star Gate Priestess believed would confirm him as the prophesied new god. Inside the ancient civilization ruins beneath a vast gravitational field, he encountered That One, who explained why she had chosen to live there.

• Jing Jiu watched Zhong Lizi, Jiang Yuxia, and Flower Creek discuss his extraordinary actions and Jiang Yuxia’s feelings for him.
• The Galaxy Alliance responded to the attack on the Military Command Building with crackdowns and military deployments as officials made preparations amid hidden dangers.
• Three days after the Cloud Gathering crossed the Yinhai Nebula, Jing Jiu accepted an invitation from the Sacrificial Hall and left for That One’s residence with Ran Handong.
• Jing Jiu and Ran Handong flew through the huge gravitational field surrounding the northern plateau, where Alliance officials and generals waited for news of That One’s decision.
• Jing Jiu crossed the lake and entered an empty ancient city, where a girl emerged from a black car and said she lived there because it was the world she had first experienced and missed most.

Jing Jiu met Fei through an artificial body in a restored city and questioned her about the origins of standard time and his world. Their exchange ended with Fei asking whether he was trying to convince her that they were alike.

• Jing Jiu followed the girl through the mist to a courtyard and hot spring, where she revealed her name was Fei.
• Jing Jiu asked where standard time and the standard month came from, and Fei said they followed the rules of the Ancient Civilization's home planet and its companion.
• Jing Jiu asked where his world was, but Fei said even gods could only discover worlds, not create them, and refused to give him a precise answer.
• Jing Jiu put his feet in the hot spring and told Fei that, unlike the other Ascension Ones, he could not feel its warmth.
• Fei asked whether Jing Jiu was trying to convince her that they were the same.

Jing Jiu spoke with the mysterious girl about cultivation, existence, and why she should trust him, then left without reaching an agreement. Ran Donglou and the other leaders decided to study the game and watch how the opposing forces reacted as the Cloud Gathering approached.

• Jing Jiu told the girl that cultivation helped him exist and that he did not believe existence was meaningless or time would end.
• The girl recalled Shen Yunmai's despair and demanded that Jing Jiu bring her someone's head to prove his trustworthiness.
• Jing Jiu refused to seek the girl's recognition, saying her civilization needed him to preserve its independence from the ascension ones.
• The girl invited Jing Jiu to return for another drink, and he left the hot spring courtyard with Ran Handong.
• Ran Donglou told the assembled leaders to proceed with their plans and collect data from the widely distributed game.
• The clan head warned that only fifty days remained under Shen Yunmai's promise, and the Cloud Gathering would soon arrive on the Capital Planet.

Jing Jiu absorbed immortal qi in space to prepare for the return of the Cloud Gathering and General Li, while the Alliance watched his meteor-like flight back to the Capital Planet. At the Priestess's Manor, he recognized Sha Yu on a visitor list and learned that Sha Yu had collected data at Mr. Donglou's request.

• Jing Jiu told Ran Handong that the Priestesses and the Galaxy Alliance needed him to change the Ascension Ones' rule, and said his power outweighed the damage he had caused.
• Jing Jiu absorbed light from a star while resting on a military satellite, restoring the immortal qi he had spent in battle.
• Jing Jiu flew back to the Capital Planet like a meteor, and observers watched without trying to stop him.
• Ran Handong reported that candlelight processions had begun and that most believers might accept the new god within twenty standard days.
• Jing Jiu noticed Sha Yu's name on the visitor list, and Sha Yu said he had collected data at Mr. Donglou's request.

Jing Jiu used Great Dao Toward Heaven to search for Ascension Ones from Chaotian, then met a mysterious girl on Green Mountain and secured her cooperation in exchange for the Azure Sky Mirror. The chapter ended with General Li arriving at the simulated Green Mountain.

• Jing Jiu connected Sha Yu’s data chip to the game and searched thousands of suspicious player accounts for Ascension Ones, but found neither True Person Tan nor Snow Ji.
• Jing Jiu and Ran Handong narrowed the accounts to more than thirty suspects, and Jing Jiu investigated them through the Starfield Network.
• Jing Jiu returned to Sword Peak, where a girl in a white dress questioned him about Ping Yongjia and whether he would return to the other side.
• Jing Jiu argued that Green Mountain had no reason to reject him, and the girl agreed to cooperate if he gave her the Azure Sky Mirror.
• Jing Jiu waited among the simulated Green Mountain peaks until General Li walked out of the Thatched Hut, and he bowed to him.

Jing Jiu met General Li, learned he was his great-grandmaster True Person Chunyang, and discussed Green Mountain’s history and the events in Jing Jiu’s novel. After leaving the game, Jing Jiu sought solitude in the Capital Planet’s magma, where the chapter left him sinking beneath its surface.

• Jing Jiu recognized General Li as Li Chunyang, the former Green Mountain sect master True Person Chunyang and his great-grandmaster, and bowed to him.
• Li Chunyang spoke with Jing Jiu about True Person Daoyuan, Liu Ci, the Southern Sea villain, and Jing Jiu’s meeting with a woman; Jing Jiu answered that he and Liu Ci had killed the villain together and that nothing had come of the meeting.
• Li Chunyang asked whether Jing Jiu had subdued Yunmeng Mountain, and Jing Jiu said he thought so; Li Chunyang praised him for achieving what the elders had failed to accomplish.
• Li Chunyang said he would arrive the next day to discuss matters in person, then left the game; Jing Jiu exited too and departed with Zhong Lizi.
• Jing Jiu went to a quiet underground area on the Capital Planet and soaked in magma to ease his vexation.
• After watching the magma erupt in fiery sprays, Jing Jiu closed his eyes and sank completely beneath its surface.

Jing Jiu told Zhong Lizi that he distrusted the people of this world and gave her a paper crane to burn if anything happened to him. The next morning, he traveled with Ran Handong to the planet’s southern ice fields to meet the one person who could control the entire Military.

• Jing Jiu returned to Zhong Lizi and asked how her studies were going; she explained that she learned through the Priestesses’ secret inheritance.
• Jing Jiu said that the Priestess did not trust humanity, including Zhong Lizi, and admitted that he did not trust them either.
• Jing Jiu gave Zhong Lizi a yellow paper crane and told her to burn it if something happened, while keeping her distant from his affairs.
• Before dawn, Jing Jiu left with Ran Handong to meet someone, leaving Zhong Lizi worried behind at the Manor.
• Ran Handong realized that only the person who controlled the entire Military could have hidden their journey from surveillance, and Jing Jiu confirmed that he was going to see him.

Jing Jiu met General Li beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet and explained his theory of how the Chaotian Continent was created as a refuge and experiment amid humanity’s war with the Dark Matter Sea. General Li confirmed that his account was roughly correct, and Jing Jiu concluded that everyone was an experimental subject.

• Jing Jiu walked through the closed Galaxy Art Museum with Ran Handong, who guided him through its exhibits before they parted ways at the black-oil installation.
• Jing Jiu went to the cliff beyond the museum, where General Li waited in silence as they watched the Antarctic daylight reveal the universe beyond the sky.
• General Li asked Jing Jiu what conclusions he had reached about the relationship between the main universe and the Chaotian Continent.
• Jing Jiu described how an ancient god had discovered the Chaotian Continent, placed humans and other life there, and hoped they might evolve to defeat the Dark Matter Sea.
• General Li said Jing Jiu’s account was roughly correct, and Jing Jiu concluded that they were all experimental subjects.

Jing Jiu and General Li discussed the ancient god’s experiments, the Dark Matter Sea, and the Ascension Ones’ plans to lead humanity. General Li pressed Jing Jiu about what he intended to do after meeting him, as the wind and snow intensified.

• Jing Jiu and General Li considered how the ancient god had prepared a separate world as a refuge and testing ground for humanity.
• General Li said the Ascension Ones had a responsibility to lead humanity by their own free will, while Jing Jiu said he only wished to stay alive.
• General Li explained that the Dark Matter Sea’s black energy infected life and that the Starlink Plan aimed to contain it.
• General Li said the Ascension Ones needed control of the Galaxy Alliance and demanded that the Priestess obey them, but Jing Jiu called their struggle childish.
• General Li asked whether Jing Jiu trusted them and what he had intended to do after meeting him, while the wind and snow outside the cliff grew violent.

Jing Jiu confronted General Li over the tests and attacks on the Chaotian cultivators, learned the Green Mountain Patriarch was nearing death, and confirmed Cao Yuan and Xilai were alive. Meanwhile, an unidentified professor investigated Professor Gou and entered a game, while two monitored people approached the Capital Planet as Jing Jiu and Ran Handong traveled north.

• Jing Jiu demanded an accounting from General Li, who explained that the tests were meant to ensure Ascension Ones would obey the Galaxy Alliance and said Green Mountain needed obedient hired muscle.
• General Li told Jing Jiu that the Green Mountain Patriarch was in poor condition and had little time left, and that Cao Yuan was recovering while Xilai underwent special training.
• Jing Jiu burned the black oil in the art museum's swimming pool, and General Li left; elsewhere, a black warship and an old man on a cratered planet raised questions about whether General Li trusted Jing Jiu.
• The old director delivered a chip of academic personnel records to an unidentified professor, who focused on Professor Gou, called him the Bai Household's son-in-law, and entered a game through the Starfield Network.
• As Jing Jiu traveled with Ran Handong toward the priest's manor, he asked how many monitored people had come; Ran Handong reported seventeen anomalous movements and said two people were just outside the Capital Planet's atmosphere.

Jing Jiu chose to accept General Li’s terms and returned to the Manor, where he told Zhong Lizi he was leaving and revealed that Great Dao Toward Heaven was his story. Zhong Lizi recognized him as True Person Jingyang and asked whether his journey was safe.

• Jing Jiu tracked two suspicious Digital Identifiers to a warship and prepared to attack if the talks with General Li broke down.
• Jing Jiu decided not to strike, since the talks had not collapsed, and agreed to accept General Li’s terms.
• Jing Jiu returned to the Manor and told Zhong Lizi that he was leaving.
• Jing Jiu told Zhong Lizi that Great Dao Toward Heaven was his story, and she guessed he was True Person Jingyang searching for his companions.
• Jing Jiu confirmed that he had found his companions and reassured Zhong Lizi that going to meet them was safe.

Jing Jiu chose to leave the Priestess's Manor with Flower Creek and accepted General Li's summons, while Zhong Lizi and the Alliance's leaders watched him depart. He reached the Military Command Building and met General Li, who questioned his choice of companion.

• Zhong Lizi warned Jing Jiu not to trust the Ascension Ones and asked to go with him, but he refused and told her to keep his Paper Crane safe.
• As Alliance leaders gathered at the Priestess's Manor, Jing Jiu chose Flower Creek to accompany him instead of Ran Handong or Jiang Yuxia.
• Flower Creek reluctantly packed Jing Jiu's backpack and followed him, while Zhong Lizi said goodbye and told him she liked the novel he had written.
• Jing Jiu and Flower Creek left the Manor in a military convoy sent by General Li, as the gathered officials and clergy watched them go.
• The convoy entered the heavily guarded Military Command Building, where Jing Jiu left Flower Creek outside and went to meet General Li.
• General Li asked Jing Jiu whether Flower Creek was a child of the Flower Household and called her an interesting choice.

Jing Jiu visited the Flower Household to see the original Sunflowers before joining the Military fleet bound for the Jiali Starfield and the Dark Matter Sea. Aboard the Blazing Sun, he traveled with Flower Creek and asked whether she could kill people.

• General Li told Jing Jiu that the Flower Household possessed the original Sunflowers, and Jing Jiu said he would visit before joining the fleet.
• Jing Jiu and Flower Creek visited the Flower Household, where Jing Jiu found a bloodstained lace ribbon binding the flowers in the original painting.
• Jing Jiu and Flower Creek boarded the Blazing Sun, where Captain Jiang Zhixing told him the investigation had ended and that he was now Chief Military Command Advisor.
• Jiang Zhixing said Shen Yunmai had been demoted to commander-in-chief of the Stellar Core Fleet, and the Blazing Sun departed with an escort fleet for the Jiali Starfield.
• As Jing Jiu and Flower Creek watched the stars, he said he wanted to see the Dark Matter Sea and asked whether she could kill people.

Jing Jiu explained why he had spared the stone man and reviewed the threats aboard the fleet as the Stellar Core Fleet appeared. When Shen Yunmai approached him in space, Jing Jiu appeared before the guqin, setting up a confrontation.

• Jing Jiu told Flower Creek that he had warned the stone man not to follow because killing was against the law, and that the man had posed little threat.
• Ran Donglou urged the young priestess to ignore the rules and kill their enemies, but she refused and sent him away.
• Ran Handong informed Jing Jiu that Zeng Ju had left the Academy of Sciences' space station and that another Ascension One was hiding in his fleet.
• Jing Jiu watched the Stellar Core Fleet arrive and told Flower Creek that he disliked the universe because it, too, would eventually end.
• An alarm rang aboard the Blazing Sun Warship, and Shen Yunmai played a guqin in space; Jing Jiu appeared in front of him.

Jing Jiu joined the Stellar Core Fleet and studied secret information about the Dark Matter Sea, including an encrypted archive revealing an Ancient Civilization city. The fleet reached the edge of the Local Group, where Jing Jiu prepared to travel to the city on a planet orbiting a dark star.

• Shen Yunmai gave Jing Jiu highly restricted information about the Dark Matter Sea and warned him that the mission could be dangerous.
• Jing Jiu read about dark matter, its effects on living things, and humanity’s limited understanding of it, then discovered that the secret archive concerned a city.
• The Stellar Core Fleet destroyed three mining ships that appeared in its path, and Jing Jiu thought of Zhong Lizi’s father and his lost mining investment.
• Twenty-seven days later, the Stellar Core Fleet joined the Starlink Fleet at the edge of the Local Group to rehearse a blockade of the Dark Matter Sea.
• Jing Jiu saw the dark star marking the edge of the Dark Matter Sea and learned that an Ancient Civilization city stood on its planet.

Jing Jiu and the fleet reached a planet where the ancient civilization’s first city had been consumed by the Dark Matter Sea. After learning how the New Humans had sealed and studied the site, Jing Jiu looked out over the silent, ruined city.

• The Blazing Sun Warship carried Jing Jiu and Flower Creek to the planet’s ring-shaped base, passing through its dark, desolate atmosphere.
• Shen Yunmai arrived with two young attendants and was greeted by officers, who acknowledged Jing Jiu as the military’s chief consultant.
• An officer explained that the city beyond the base had been the first place occupied by the Dark Matter Sea, where corrupted life became monsters and slaughtered the living.
• The New Humans had found the planet through clues from the Priestess and established strict military and research supervision to study the monsters and corruption.
• Jing Jiu stopped at a floor-to-ceiling window and silently watched the blackened, lifeless city outside.

Jing Jiu learned about the Dark Matter Sea, the ancient city preserved as a contaminated laboratory, and the monsters it produced. After asking Shen Yunmai about the ancient civilization’s weapon, he flew through the Protective Shield toward the city.

• Two officers explained how the Dark Matter Sea contaminated organic life and how the Alliance monitored spatial rifts.
• Jing Jiu and Flower Creek looked out over the preserved city, where black spores and the remains of contaminated life filled the streets.
• An officer showed Jing Jiu the five categories of contaminated organisms and the research on how to destroy them.
• Jing Jiu recognized the monsters as resembling the Yaoshou of the Chaotian Continent and thought of Snow Ji.
• Shen Yunmai told Jing Jiu that the ancient civilization had supposedly used a substellar weapon, and Jing Jiu flew toward the city as alarms sounded across the base.

Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai explored the ruins of Planet 857, where Jing Jiu proved immune to the surviving blood thumbs. As they considered the planet’s destruction and the Dark Matter Sea, Jing Jiu proposed exploring beyond the Local Group to search for other life.

• Jing Jiu flew toward the city without protective equipment, and Shen Yunmai followed after signaling the officers not to pursue.
• Shen Yunmai explained that blood thumbs had once contaminated him, while Jing Jiu revealed that their spores could not pierce his skin.
• Jing Jiu looked at the dim star and reflected on how the Ancient Civilization had destroyed and sealed Planet 857 after dark matter transformed its life and killed its inhabitants.
• Jing Jiu wondered what other life-forms had become monsters through dark matter, including Snow Ji, Outsider Heavenly Demons, and mother nests.
• Shen Yunmai said humanity appeared alone in the Local Group and that the Escape Faction’s distant journey had likely failed, but Jing Jiu said they should still go and look.