Chapter Summaries

Jing Jiu considered the doomed fate of the Ancient Civilization’s Escape Faction and learned more about the Dark Matter Sea’s monsters from Shen Yunmai. After seeing the remains of a person and cat on planet 857, he realized General Li and the Green Mountain Patriarch expected him to help solve the Dark Matter Sea problem, and the girl asked what choice he would have made as humanity’s leader.

• Jing Jiu reflected that the Escape Faction could not cross the immense distances between galaxy groups and recalled the Priestess’s argument that the departed had long since died.
• Jing Jiu asked Shen Yunmai about Outsider Heavenly Demons, and Shen Yunmai explained that dark matter produced monsters whose strongest forms, Mother Nests, could overwhelm even a Night-Bearing Realm expert.
• Jing Jiu found a person and a cat preserved beneath black crystalline grains; when he gently touched the cat, both remains crumbled into ash.
• At the base on planet 857, Jing Jiu asked the girl why General Li had shown him the files and the planet, and she guessed that General Li wanted him to help solve the problem.
• Jing Jiu concluded that General Li and the Green Mountain Patriarch had placed their hopes in him, and the girl asked what choice he would have made when humanity first encountered the Dark Matter Sea.

Jing Jiu discussed humanity’s fate and his choices with Flower Creek, then went to investigate Shen Yunmai’s dangerous night run across the wasteland. He left Shen Yunmai with a blunt remark about his ruined clothes.

• Flower Creek asked Jing Jiu what choice he would make, and he said he would first try to solve the Dark Matter Sea problem once and for all.
• Jing Jiu said he would repeat the ancient decision if the mathematical model required it, would leave if the problem could not be solved, and would not sacrifice himself because humanity would live if he lived.
• Flower Creek asked about Jing Jiu’s interests and the base’s entertainment, while he resumed reading Dark Matter Sea materials.
• Jing Jiu heard Shen Yunmai racing through the night, flew out of the base, and watched him run roughly seven hundred kilometers across the dangerous wasteland.
• Shen Yunmai returned to the summit and asked Jing Jiu why he was there, and Jing Jiu said Shen’s clothes were not up to the job.

Jing Jiu visited the underground research institute to begin lessons on humanity’s war against the Dark Matter Sea, where he recognized True Person Tan disguised as Professor Long. When the experts prepared to teach him the vast body of relevant knowledge, Jing Jiu told them to teach everything at once.

• Shen Yunmai discussed clothing and whether to change his sexual characteristics with Jing Jiu, who offered calm advice and suggested keeping his hair for beauty.
• After returning to the Ring-Shaped Base, Jing Jiu remembered Jing Li's Wife and wondered if he had grown old.
• Two military officers escorted Jing Jiu to the research institute seven kilometers underground, where staff gathered to greet him.
• Jing Jiu recognized Professor Long as True Person Tan, formerly the Zhongzhou Sect Master, but did not reveal that he knew him.
• The institute’s experts began preparing lessons about the Dark Matter Sea, its monsters, humanity’s weapons, and the long war.
• Jing Jiu ended their debate over which subject to teach first by telling them to teach everything at once.

Jing Jiu rapidly studied the Dark Matter Sea and the ancient civilization’s weapons with the experts, then completed a learning project expected to take sixty days in nine. After contacting Ran Handong and seeing Huaxi return, he flew to meet Shen Yunmai, who had lost his left arm.

• Jing Jiu separated the experts into cubicles and questioned them through their light screens as he studied the war against the Dark Matter Sea.
• Jing Jiu asked what weapon the ancient civilization had used on the planet, and the experts said it might have been a substellar weapon powerful enough to destroy a planet, though they had no proof of its identity.
• Jing Jiu spent most of his time watching the black wasteland while organizing what he had learned, and Huaxi brought him tea as Shen Yunmai remained away with the Stellar Core Fleet.
• Jing Jiu finished the experts’ study program in nine days, then contacted Ran Handong, who reported that Zhong Lizi and the Galaxy Alliance were doing well.
• Jing Jiu left through the window and flew to the southern peak, where he found Shen Yunmai with an empty left sleeve and asked if it had been severed.

Shen Yunmai told Jing Jiu about the catastrophe in which Dark Matter Sea contamination turned twenty thousand soldiers into monsters and cost him an arm. After restoring his arm, Shen Yunmai took Jing Jiu to meet the badly injured Mr. Zeng.

• Shen Yunmai shared reproduced liquor with Jing Jiu and explained that his missing arm could be replaced, though the repair was costly.
• Shen Yunmai described how seventeen warships were invaded by the Dark Matter Sea, turning twenty thousand soldiers into monsters and killing more than a hundred Military powerhouses.
• Shen Yunmai asked how quickly a chicken leg could become contaminated, and Jing Jiu estimated that it could happen within two hours.
• Shen Yunmai flew back to a warship and told Jing Jiu he would introduce him to someone and some stars the next day.
• Jing Jiu met Shen Yunmai at the research institute, where he recognized the severely injured middle-aged professor as Mr. Zeng.

Jing Jiu met Zeng Ju at Base 857 after the Ascension Ones’ assessment of him ended, and Zeng Ju led him and Shen Yunmai toward the secret humanity had prepared as its answer to the Dark Matter Sea. They descended through the planet’s interior, passed a prison holding dark-tainted monsters, and emerged onto a terrace facing a vast mist-filled space that revealed a starry sky.

• Jing Jiu recognized Zeng Ju, who explained that humanity’s factions shared a common goal against the Dark Matter Sea and declared the assessment of Jing Jiu over.
• Jing Jiu asked what came next, and Zeng Ju promised to show him the real secret that might be humanity’s only answer.
• Zeng Ju led Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai down a concealed passage through the mantle toward the planet’s core.
• The group passed an ancient super energy reactor and entered a guarded passage lined with cells holding terrifying dark-tainted life-forms.
• Jing Jiu followed Zeng Ju and Shen Yunmai onto a cliff terrace, where the mist dispersed to reveal a starry sky.

Jing Jiu learned that the blue butterfly nebula marked the site where an ancient god ignited the stars to destroy the Dark Matter Sea. Zeng Ju left him with the ancient civilization’s method for fighting the threat, though Jing Jiu still had no way to defeat it himself.

• Jing Jiu recognized the simulated star chart as a real-time map of the Local Group and asked Zeng Ju where the answer was.
• Zeng Ju pointed out a vast pale-blue nebula that Jing Jiu recognized as the blue butterfly symbol associated with the Cocoon Breakers.
• Zeng Ju asked whether Jing Jiu had found a way to defeat the Dark Matter Sea, and Jing Jiu answered that he had not.
• Zeng Ju explained that the dimensional fissures could be ablated by extreme heat, but that doing so would require making stars explode.
• Zeng Ju revealed that the ancient god had ignited every star in the ancient civilization’s most concentrated starfield, where the Dark Matter Sea first appeared.
• Zeng Ju said the Dark Matter Sea vanished after the stars were ignited, ending the ancient civilization and leaving the blue nebula behind.

Jing Jiu learned that humanity planned to migrate beyond the Dark Matter Sea’s projected expansion and then ignite stars to destroy it. He was asked to determine how and in what order to ignite the stars, and he recognized the galaxy as a vast Go position.

• Jing Jiu watched the Sea-Seal Nebula and learned that it had formed when tens of thousands of stars and their inhabited planets exploded over a hundred thousand years earlier.
• Zeng Ju explained that the Dark Matter Sea would engulf the Galaxy Alliance’s main region of space in roughly three hundred years, making migration within the Local Group futile.
• Shen Yunmai revealed that the military’s Starlink Plan was public propaganda and that the true plan was to move humanity to a neighboring region of space before igniting stars to destroy the Dark Matter Sea.
• Zeng Ju and Shen Yunmai told Jing Jiu to calculate the order and method of ignition, saying they trusted his strength, intuition, and ability demonstrated in his Go game against Tong Yan.
• Jing Jiu saw the stars as white stones and the Dark Matter Sea as black stones in an immense Go position, and wondered what move white should make.

Jing Jiu considered the Dark Matter Sea’s threat and the connections between Chaotian and the wider universe, then watched Shen Yunmai test his new Mechanical Arm and a Miniature Nuclear Reactor. Shen Yunmai revealed that the third reactor had been intended for Jing Jiu.

• Jing Jiu dismissed Zeng Ju’s proposals for delaying the Dark Matter Sea and returned to the surface with Shen Yunmai.
• Jing Jiu studied the stars and realized the nebula was a wound left by the Ancient Civilization, while the True Sun and the Sea-Seal Nebula formed a stable spatial structure around Chaotian Continent.
• Jing Jiu left the suite when the ground trembled and followed Shen Yunmai’s sword light as he tested his Mechanical Arm and military weapons.
• Jing Jiu realized Shen Yunmai’s sword flight was powered by a Miniature Nuclear Reactor and inferred that Base 857’s Ancient Civilization technology had helped develop it.
• Shen Yunmai invited Jing Jiu to test a reactor, and military experts delivered a crate containing the third production model.
• Shen Yunmai told Jing Jiu that the reactor in the crate had been intended for him.

Shen Yunmai gave Jing Jiu a miniature nuclear reactor, and Jing Jiu tested its power by flying into space. After they landed on a cold asteroid, Shen Yunmai offered him a bottle containing an illegal chemical agent.

• Shen Yunmai fastened the miniature reactor around Jing Jiu’s waist and explained that he had once used several kinds of weapons before settling on a laser main cannon and other weapons.
• Shen Yunmai explained why the Alliance fought the Dark Matter Sea and recalled that, as a child, he had been excited by the prospect of finding a way to destroy it, before concluding that the ultimate question remained unanswered.
• Jing Jiu activated the reactor, synchronized it with his Sword Heart, and flew from the cliff into the night sky as a bright ball of light.
• Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai flew more than a hundred thousand kilometers into space, where their clothes burned away; two warships turned their surveillance equipment aside to avoid recording them.
• Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai landed on a cold asteroid, where Shen Yunmai offered him a bottle of a severely illegal chemical agent, but Jing Jiu refused.

Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai discussed the difficulty of returning to the Chaotian Continent, then decided to travel together to the Sky-Ruler Star System, which was about to be swallowed. Back at the Ring-Shaped Base, Jing Jiu told Flower Creek about the trip and left to visit Zeng Ju.

• Shen Yunmai explained that he yearned to learn where the Chaotian Continent was, and Jing Jiu pointed out the distant white star where it lay.
• Jing Jiu warned Shen Yunmai that those who left the Chaotian Continent could not return, and that abandoning his body would not solve the problem because his consciousness depended on his brain.
• Shen Yunmai said he was heading to the front as commander of the Stellar Core Fleet to see the Sky-Ruler Star System being swallowed, and Jing Jiu decided to go with him.
• Jing Jiu returned to the Ring-Shaped Base, told Flower Creek about the trip, and invited her to see the miniature Nuclear Reactor.
• Jing Jiu set out to visit the earth's core and speak with Zeng Ju while Professor Long emerged from his laboratory and patted the smooth wall beside a window.

Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai discussed the destruction of a broken planet, where 31,620,000 people had died. Shen Yunmai revealed that his father had given the final order to destroy it.

• Flower Creek gave Jing Jiu a reinforced backpack and clothes designed to withstand extreme energy fluctuations.
• Jing Jiu and Flower Creek left the Ring-Shaped Base aboard the Blazing Sun, while the Jiao Wei traveled alongside them before entering a curvature-rate void.
• After a journey of more than ten days, the two warships reached a broken planet and mourned its destruction.
• Jing Jiu asked Shen Yunmai about the rumors that the military had destroyed the planet, and Shen Yunmai said 31,620,000 people had lived there.
• Shen Yunmai explained that a dimensional fissure caused contamination and a crisis that escalated under Redpine True Person's heavy-handed response.
• Jing Jiu asked who gave the final order, and Shen Yunmai said his father did.

Jing Jiu deduced that the Green Mountain Patriarch had destroyed a planet with a vast formation of warships, then traveled with Shen Yunmai to the war-torn Yellow Jade Three. When Shen Yunmai prepared to search for the dimensional fissure contaminating the planet, Jing Jiu decided to go with him.

• Jing Jiu inferred that the Green Mountain Patriarch had used tens of thousands of warships as a Green Mountain Sword Formation to shatter a planet, then asked Shen Yunmai how he had styled his hair.
• Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai traveled with their fleets to Yellow Jade Three, where the Alliance was fighting to reclaim the planet and secure its rare yellow jade ore.
• A burly colonel returned to the base after a mission and learned that Commander Shen and a consultant were visiting, then angrily smashed his glass.
• Shen Yunmai explained that the military had to locate the dimensional fissure and eradicate it with fusion temperatures exceeding seven million degrees.
• Shen Yunmai prepared to go to Yellow Jade Three’s combat zone, and Jing Jiu said he would go too.

Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai traveled to a Dark Matter Sea monster nest on Yellow Jade III Planet to inspect it and activate a formation. As Shen Yunmai fought off the monsters, Jing Jiu sensed that Dai Xu had arrived, while the formation continued charging.

• Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai left Six-Star Base for the dead forest near the former capital, drawing resentment from the Starlink Fleet troops who feared losing credit for their three-year campaign.
• They entered the forest and destroyed the spores, blood thumbs, and other monsters attacking them.
• Shen Yunmai used a laser sword formation to cut apart a swarm of Dark Matter Sea creatures while Jing Jiu studied their resemblance to Chaotian Continent's demon beasts.
• Shen Yunmai cleared a multi-kilometer area with a spirit-stone incendiary bomb, then began activating the formation on the ground.
• Jing Jiu sensed Dai Xu nearby as more humanoid monsters approached, and Shen Yunmai urged him to demonstrate his abilities for the watching audience, but Jing Jiu refused.

Jing Jiu destroyed more than a hundred Dai Xu with a silent burst of sword light, then accompanied Shen Yunmai to the dimensional spatial fissure beneath the administrative capital. Shen Yunmai began eroding the fissure with a powerful particle stream, and Jing Jiu compared him to a welder.

• Jing Jiu killed the encircling Dai Xu with sword light before they could attack.
• Soldiers watching the footage were stunned, and a major questioned why Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai had not acted sooner.
• Shen Yunmai and Jing Jiu passed through the formation suppressing the fissure and reached the transparent dimensional boundary beneath the capital.
• Shen Yunmai switched off communications and began blasting the fissure with a particle stream from the newly developed reactor.
• Jing Jiu asked Shen Yunmai whether he cared about people thinking they were stealing credit, then remarked that he looked like a welder.

Shen Yunmai used the Ultrafine Particle Miniaturization Nuclear Reactor to fuse shut the spatial fissure beneath Yellow Jade III Planet while Jing Jiu supervised and defended him from monsters. After the fissure was sealed, Jing Jiu called it the real Abyss.

• Shen Yunmai endured the reactor’s dangerous, over-limit operation as he precisely welded the dimensional fissure shut, while Jing Jiu stayed beside him as supervisor.
• Monsters surged toward the fissure, and the Military attacked them with orbital weapons and Mechas.
• Jing Jiu killed the monsters that slipped through the Military’s defenses with precise Sword Light and Sword Flames.
• After a long operation, Shen Yunmai completely eroded the fissure shut and lowered his hands in weary relief.
• Shen Yunmai asked Jing Jiu whether the sealed fissure felt like the Abyss beneath the Demon-Suppressing Prison, and Jing Jiu answered that it was the real Abyss.

Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai discussed how spatial fissures exposed the universe to the Dark Matter Sea, then left Yellow Jade III after the danger there had been contained. They traveled toward the threatened Sky-Ruler Star System to see the sea as darkness swallowed more stars.

• Shen Yunmai explained that human activity and ancient weak points contributed to spatial fissures, while Jing Jiu insisted that the fissures had underlying causes and patterns.
• Jing Jiu said he wanted to see the seashore, and Shen Yunmai ordered the military engineers to finish clearing the passage so they could leave.
• Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai returned to Hexagram Base and underwent disinfection before departing.
• The Blazing Sun Warship and the Jiaowei left Yellow Jade III with Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai aboard, while most soldiers remained unaware of their visit.
• As the ships traveled toward the Sky-Ruler Star System, stars vanished from view and the surrounding universe grew darker.

Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai watched the Starlink Fleet use cockroaches to mark the Dark Matter Sea’s boundary as it swallowed a star. After the Long Ruler Star System went dark, they reflected on the resilience of humanity and the lives that had survived past cosmic disasters.

• Shen Yunmai explained that dark spores and the Dark Matter Sea had dimmed the stars, then led Jing Jiu toward the fleet’s position near the Great Aries Black Hole.
• Jing Jiu reviewed how humanity used implanted, remotely monitored cockroaches as scouts to detect the Dark Matter Sea.
• A cockroach encountered the Dark Matter Sea, became tainted, and triggered its microchip to self-destruct, prompting seven thousand warships to retreat.
• The fleet watched the Long Ruler Star System’s star fade completely from view as the Dark Matter Sea blocked its light.
• Shen Yunmai praised cockroaches as a Creator’s greatest work, while Jing Jiu answered that humans were more resilient, and the two watched the star disappear.

After humanity’s victory on Yellow Jade III Planet, Shen Yunmai took Jing Jiu and the honored Base 857 researchers on vacation to a planet of eternal day and night. The chapter ended with Shen Yunmai emerging from the sand and asking a woman whether what he wanted was ready at the hotel.

• Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai watched the Long Ruler Star System disappear into the Dark Matter Sea and then traveled together through curvature-rate voids.
• Humanity dissolved the Spatial Fissure on Yellow Jade III Planet, cleared its monsters, and awarded honors and a vacation to the Base 857 Nuclear Reactor team.
• Shen Yunmai installed a new Nuclear Reactor, left its parameters at the base, and led the researchers aboard the Blazing Sun Warship and Jiao Wei Warship toward the Turbid Flow Star System.
• The group admired the Turbid Flow Star’s stream of light before Shen Yunmai ordered the warships to take the researchers to the vacation planet.
• On the planet’s beach, Jing Jiu and Flower Creek declined a woman’s invitation to visit the night hemisphere, while Shen Yunmai emerged from the sand and asked if what he wanted was ready.

Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai toured the Night Hemisphere, where Shen Yunmai pursued increasingly dangerous sensations while Jing Jiu remained detached. After Shen Yunmai reflected on their inability to find pleasure in ordinary desires, Jing Jiu revealed that he was basking on the sun.

• Jing Jiu accompanied Shen Yunmai to the Night Hemisphere after Flower Creek refused to go, and they traveled underwater to see the Giant Wave Zone.
• Jing Jiu and Shen Yunmai crossed into the dark half of the planet and passed through its casino and strip club without stopping to enjoy them.
• At the hotel, Shen Yunmai had the Night Queen serve him a highly toxic illegal drug, while Jing Jiu declined to try it and left the room.
• Shen Yunmai later reflected that pain and stimulants were among the few sensations still available to him, then contacted Jing Jiu.
• Jing Jiu told Shen Yunmai that he was on the sun.