Chapter Summaries

Jing Jiu and Flower Creek visited the municipal activity center, where Jing Jiu registered for piano lessons and Flower Creek waited in the reading room. On their way home, a masked man rode the subway with them and later appeared outside their window, leaving Flower Creek to recognize him as a neighbor.

• Jing Jiu and Flower Creek traveled to the municipal activity center with Snow Ji, where Ms. Eve helped them register.
• Flower Creek told Ms. Eve that Jing Jiu wanted to learn piano, while she planned to wait in the reading room.
• Jing Jiu attended his first piano class, listened quietly, and left with Ms. Eve after the teacher encouraged him to ask questions.
• Ms. Eve reunited the siblings and gave them pastries before they took the subway home.
• A tall, thin man in a beige trench coat and black mask sat opposite Jing Jiu and Flower Creek on the subway, then appeared in their flower bed after they returned to 720.
• Flower Creek spotted the man through the kitchen window, assumed he lived in the compound, and nodded to him.

Fang Lian tracked two siblings to their home in Mist Mountain, but Cold Cicada killed him with sharpened snowflakes. Snow Ji discovered a psychic shard in his corpse and continued wondering whether Jing Jiu was truly an idiot, while Jing Jiu decided he wanted to learn Go.

• Fang Lian followed Flower Creek and Jing Jiu to their building and planned to kill them and use it as a hideout.
• Cold Cicada appeared outside, and Fang Lian fled before snowflakes pierced his body and killed him.
• Cold Cicada returned indoors to make ice cream for Snow Ji, while Snow Ji examined a shard from Fang Lian's corpse and recognized it as a hair from Shen Green Mountain that emitted psychic power.
• Snow Ji wondered whether Jing Jiu had truly become an idiot and considered whether helping him might earn her another sword.
• Jing Jiu announced that he wanted to learn Go, then resumed miming piano playing as Flower Creek and Snow Ji returned to their activities.

Snow Ji tried and failed to remove the green cord from Jing Jiu’s wrist, while a hidden beetle carried a piano to his home and Jing Jiu happily played it. On the Capital Planet, Zhao Layue settled into the Ran Household’s sky-high ancestral hall and described her bond with Jing Jiu as a comrades-in-arms intimacy that went beyond romance.

• Snow Ji checked Jing Jiu’s headache, tugged at the green cord on his wrist, and then nestled back into his arms.
• A snow-white beetle carried a black piano through Wushi City to Jing Jiu’s home, where Jing Jiu found it at breakfast and played a few notes.
• Zhao Layue ate with Ran Handong, Jiang Yuxia, and Zhong Lizi on the Ran Household’s sky platform, which had become her temporary palace.
• Ran Handong asked whether the Military Command should adjust nearby satellites, but Zhao Layue told everyone to eat.
• Zhao Layue explained that she and Jing Jiu differed in their attitudes toward killing and death, and said he stood higher than she did.
• Zhong Lizi asked whether Zhao Layue liked Jing Jiu, and Zhao Layue called their bond something beyond man and woman, like comrades-in-arms.

Zhao Layue explained that her affection for Jing Jiu had endured because they had shared 150 years together, then went skateboarding in the Capital Special District with Ran Handong. A handsome young monk drew her away from the gathering, and in orbit he identified himself as the Great Compassion Monk, now named Joy.

• Zhao Layue told Jiang Yuxia that her feelings for Jing Jiu had lasted because their time together had been long, even though he had spent much of it asleep.
• Zhao Layue and Ran Handong arrived at a skateboarding gathering, where Shen Yunmai’s growing fame and Zhao Layue’s status as an idol were discussed.
• A handsome, bald young monk arrived at the gathering, and Zhao Layue stopped Ran Handong from firing at him before flying away with him on their hoverboards.
• Zhao Layue and the monk sped through the city and escaped into space, while Ran Handong and others failed to catch them.
• Zhao Layue asked the monk if he was the Great Compassion Monk, and he said he had changed his Dharma name to Joy after witnessing True Person Chunyang’s struggle with the Western Sea Sword God.

Zhao Layue met the Monk of Joy on the Capital Planet and learned that he wanted humanity to surrender to the Dark Matter Sea, believing Snow Ji might have changed it. The Monk of Joy argued that Snow Ji could become ruler of its monsters, while Zhao Layue questioned whether that was possible.

• The Monk of Joy revealed himself to Zhao Layue and took aim at her with the Capital Planet’s defense forces.
• Zhao Layue summoned the Unthought Sword, and the Monk of Joy displayed the Great Nirvana as they faced each other.
• The Monk of Joy privately told Zhao Layue that he wanted to surrender to the Dark Matter Sea and invited her to surrender with him.
• The Monk of Joy explained that he believed the Dark Matter Sea might be developing consciousness because no one could find Snow Ji.
• Zhao Layue considered that Snow Ji might rule the Dark Matter Sea’s monsters, and the Monk of Joy asked why she could not.

Zhao Layue rejected the Monk of Joy’s proposal to make Snow Ji humanity’s sovereign and continued waiting for Jing Jiu to wake. Meanwhile, Snow Ji stayed close to Jing Jiu as his condition worsened, and his piano playing suggested he was nearing a moment that could mean either awakening or death.

• The Monk of Joy argued that Snow Ji might offer humanity a new path, but Zhao Layue rejected his plan and insisted no one would take hold of Jing Jiu.
• The Monk of Joy left, and Zhao Layue learned from Ran Handong that a solar storm had disrupted the Wangyou Star System and that Cao Yuan had been there.
• Snow Ji watched the stars outside Zone Seven, then returned to Jing Jiu and held him as his headache eased; Cold Cicada fell asleep on her head.
• Flower Creek found that the heating had failed again, and Jing Jiu ate breakfast before playing the piano by the window.
• Jing Jiu played music that conveyed grandeur despite its lack of warmth, suggesting he was close to waking or dying.

Jing Jiu and Flower Creek continued their daily routines in the sealed Living Area while Snow Ji explored her new bookshelves and clothing. Meanwhile, Zhong Lizi’s graduation reached the Star Gate, where Tong Yan arrived before the Star Gate Priestess.

• Jing Jiu and Flower Creek attended their classes, and Flower Creek bought bright-red clothes at Snow Ji’s request.
• Jing Jiu struggled to write a poem while Flower Creek tended her flowers and Snow Ji fashioned a cloak and flew among the bookshelves.
• Jing Jiu watched a report announcing that Zhong Lizi had graduated from the Priest Academy and would become the Star Gate Priestess next year.
• The Star Gate Priestess and the Sacrificial Hall watched footage of Zhong Lizi’s graduation ceremony on the Capital Planet.
• Tong Yan arrived at the Star Gate, identified himself as the one among the Great Dao’s fifty and Heavenly Evolution’s forty-nine, and absorbed information from a flower petal.

Tong Yan used Zhao Layue’s petals and the Star Gate archives to plan a takeover of the Star Gate Base and proposed upgrades to Jing Jiu’s game. Meanwhile, Zhao Layue traveled with Ran Handong and Zhong Lizi to a remote planet, where they found Cao Yuan and asked why he had come there if he could not help Jing Jiu.

• Tong Yan studied the Star Gate archives, identified people to distrust, and devised plans for the Sacrificial Hall and government.
• Tong Yan gave the Star Gate Priestess a list of people to summon and called for upgrades to the Great Dao Toward Heaven game’s dialogue system.
• Zhao Layue left the Capital Planet with Ran Handong and Zhong Lizi to visit a distant, unnamed planet.
• Zhao Layue and her companions found a temple modeled on the Fruitful Accomplishment Temple and followed the pilgrims’ route into the snowy mountains.
• Zhao Layue met Cao Yuan in a small temple, where he said he could not help Jing Jiu, and she asked why he had come there.

Zhao Layue questioned Cao Yuan about his role in protecting humanity and urged him not to sacrifice Jing Jiu, while Cao Yuan showed her how ordinary people’s faith helped them endure and survive. The chapter ended with Cao Yuan noting that Jing Jiu would die in a few dozen days, as a number appeared in the lake’s reflection.

• Cao Yuan told Zhao Layue that curiosity had driven him to ascend and explained that Chen Ya had made him the Coffin Keeper after their battle.
• Zhao Layue paid her respects to General Li’s remains in the transparent coffin, then followed Cao Yuan up the snow mountain.
• Cao Yuan showed Zhao Layue and the others ordinary ascetic monks surviving the perilous ice peak through abilities that might be tied to faith.
• Cao Yuan said humanity had always sought different ways to survive and improve, and Zhao Layue affirmed that humanity deserved to live on.
• Zhao Layue argued that Jing Jiu was part of humanity and should not be made to die for it, while Cao Yuan acknowledged the right of everyone to keep striving to live.
• Beside a great lake, Cao Yuan said Jing Jiu would die in a few dozen days, and the lake reflected a number marking the days.

Zhao Layue asked Cao Yuan to help her understand why souls and dead people could persist inside the Azure Sky Mirror, then proposed using it to let Jing Jiu live apart from his weapon-like body. Meanwhile, the Green Mountain Patriarch received reports about the Galaxy Alliance’s preparations and, after hearing that Snow Ji and Jing Jiu might be together, called for Tong Yan.

• Zhao Layue met Cao Yuan beside the lake and asked whether he knew the Great Compassion Monk wanted to surrender.
• Zhao Layue brought out the Azure Sky Mirror, and Fire Carp and the Azure Bird appeared as she explained that souls and people who had died seemed able to persist inside it.
• Cao Yuan understood that Zhao Layue wanted Jing Jiu to live as a soul within the Azure Sky Mirror, since he could not wake and would otherwise die within weeks.
• The Green Mountain Patriarch heard reports about the Dark Matter Sea, the Scorpion Tail Nebula blockade, and Zhao Layue’s visit to Cao Yuan, while Chen Ya asked about preparations for White Ghost.
• Chen Ya reported that the Great Compassion Monk had gone to the Mining Planet region and raised the possibility that Snow Ji and Jing Jiu were together, prompting the Green Mountain Patriarch to say, “Tong Yan.”

The Green Mountain Patriarch discussed Tong Yan and Jing Jiu with Zhuo Rusui, then revealed his plans to enter the endless abyss and asked Zhuo Rusui to preserve his ancient records if he never returned. After learning that the moon had been hollowed out and turned into a defense base, Zhuo Rusui asked the Patriarch to spare someone.

• The Green Mountain Patriarch named Tong Yan as a potential threat, and Chen Ya said he would kill him as soon as possible.
• Zhuo Rusui joined the Patriarch and admitted he disliked both Tong Yan and Jing Jiu, while the Patriarch asked how he would respond if Jing Jiu were targeted.
• The Green Mountain Patriarch explained that Jing Jiu's story recorded his past and that he himself planned to enter the endless abyss, asking Zhuo Rusui to organize his research if he did not return.
• The Green Mountain Patriarch told Zhuo Rusui that the moon was hollow and had become part of the Ancestral Star's defense system.
• Zhuo Rusui asked the Green Mountain Patriarch to let someone live.

Zhuo Rusui pleaded with the Green Mountain Patriarch to spare Tong Yan and Jing Jiu, but learned the Patriarch would only spare Jing Jiu if he returned the sword. Meanwhile, Chen Ya confronted the Star Gate Priestess and Mr. Dan over the changes to Great Dao Toward Heaven, while Tong Yan searched a hidden laboratory at Northwest University and found evidence of his master's past.

• Zhuo Rusui asked the Green Mountain Patriarch to spare Tong Yan and Jing Jiu, but the Patriarch demanded his sword back from Jing Jiu.
• Chen Ya arrived at Star Gate Base and accused the Star Gate Priestess of betrayal and of helping change Great Dao Toward Heaven.
• The Star Gate Priestess said banning the game would require shutting down the Starfield Network, and Chen Ya warned that Tong Yan and the others could not escape.
• Chen Ya visited Mr. Dan, who revealed that Tong Yan had gone to Big Horn Star, prompting Chen Ya to suspect he was headed for the Monster Base.
• At Northwest University, Tong Yan entered a hidden laboratory and confirmed that his master had researched the Nuclear Reactor there under the identity Professor Gou.
• Tong Yan left the underground passage and emerged in a field of rapeseed flowers before approaching a bus stop.

Tong Yan visited Tianpu Star, found Mr. Dan’s daughter Chen Dan, and sent Mr. Dan a letter about her before meeting Zhao Layue in the game Great Dao Toward Heaven. They discussed the dwindling time left for Jing Jiu, and Zhao Layue smashed Tong Yan’s countdown clock.

• Tong Yan met Chen Dan at a bus stop, learned she was Mr. Dan’s daughter, and exchanged contact details with her.
• Tong Yan wrote and mailed Mr. Dan a letter about Chen Dan, then entered Great Dao Toward Heaven using another identity.
• Tong Yan met Zhao Layue in White City, where she showed him a virtual place resembling the White City on Chaotian Continent.
• Tong Yan showed Zhao Layue a clock displaying forty-seven days, the time Jing Jiu had left.
• Zhao Layue smashed the clock into pieces.

Tong Yan left Tianpu Star aboard a smuggling spacecraft and secretly reached the planet that housed the Shen Household. He slipped past its defenses but encountered a Biochemical Human resembling the Green Mountain Patriarch.

• Tong Yan told Zhao Layue that he intended to visit the Shen Household to find the warship, despite the danger.
• Tong Yan left Tianpu Star on a smuggling spacecraft and secretly disembarked before it reached its destination.
• Tong Yan traveled through space to an unlisted planet where the Shen Household lived and sensed numerous powerful auras.
• Tong Yan bypassed the planet’s Night-Bearing Realm guards and Grand Formation by exploiting his expertise in breaking formations.
• A Biochemical Human resembling the Green Mountain Patriarch appeared before Tong Yan, who lifted the old man’s Bamboo Hat.

Tong Yan forced his way into the Shen Household’s old residence after reaching its Chess Pavilion, while Jing Jiu struggled to learn Outer Space Military Chess under Snow Ji’s harsh training. Snow Ji later turned to teaching him Gomoku as she worried about Shen Green Mountain and Jing Jiu’s failure to awaken.

• Tong Yan passed eight chess trials and reached the Chess Pavilion, where the old man in the bamboo hat said solving its enormous game could earn him entry to the old residence.
• Tong Yan said Shen Yunmai must have left a chance for survival, then threatened to destroy the planet unless the old man took him inside.
• Jing Jiu lost an Outer Space Military Chess match to a child at the Chess Club and left amid the other children’s mockery.
• Snow Ji began drilling Jing Jiu in Outer Space Military Chess, striking him whenever he made a mistake and refusing to let him stop for dinner.
• Snow Ji examined the Thin Ice Shard from Shen Green Mountain and worried that Jing Jiu had not awakened; she then began teaching him Gomoku.

Jing Jiu enjoyed winning a board-game competition and later earned third prize for his piano performance, while Flower Creek began remembering that she was not his real sister. After Eve left during their movie, Jing Jiu stayed behind watching a space-horror film whose monsters and Mother Nest seemed strangely familiar to him.

• Jing Jiu won the board-game competition, then went home with Flower Creek and played the piano with newfound emotion.
• Flower Creek told Cold Cicada she remembered being a wealthy young lady and suspected Jing Jiu had abducted her, so Cold Cicada alerted Snow Ji.
• Snow Ji secretly added cold to Flower Creek’s nightly ice block, then returned to Jing Jiu and continued treating him.
• Jing Jiu won third prize at a children’s arts showcase, and Eve asked what present he wanted; he chose to see a movie.
• Eve took Jing Jiu to an old cinema and gave him a flower, but left after receiving an urgent work message.
• Jing Jiu continued watching the film alone and found its Mother Nest and monsters inexplicably familiar.

Eve responded to a government emergency summons after an industrial-sector explosion raised the possibility of a Spatial Fissure, while strange numbers appeared across the Galaxy Alliance to mark Jing Jiu’s predicted awakening and death. Zhao Layue returned to the Capital Planet and saw the number seventeen, then readied the Unthought Sword as she looked toward Snow Ji.

• Jing Jiu returned home after watching a film and spent the evening drawing while Snow Ji studied a sliver of ice.
• Flower Creek sensed that something was about to happen and wondered whether the Chicken-tail Warbler Jing Jiu wore tasted good.
• Eve attended a level-three government summons and learned that an explosion in a major industrial Star Sector had made a Spatial Fissure possible.
• Numbers appeared in several places across the Galaxy Alliance, marking the day Jing Jiu would awaken or die; the number on the beach was thirty-three.
• Zhao Layue returned to the Capital Planet and saw sheep form the number seventeen on the grassland, indicating that Jing Jiu would awaken and die in seventeen days.
• Zhao Layue drew the Unthought Sword and looked toward the lake where Snow Ji sat beside a hot spring.

Tong Yan confronted the Green Mountain Patriarch at the Shen Household Old Residence and secured half an hour to search for Shen Yunmai. He uncovered the residence’s formation core and descended into an ice cellar filled with human-shaped figures sealed in plastic bags.

• The Star Gate Priestess watched the departing warship and grew pale at the human-bone fragments arranged in a number on the grassland.
• Tong Yan entered the Shen Household Old Residence, identified its bamboo-hatted elders as Replicants, and found no sign of a woman or Shen Yunmai.
• Tong Yan spoke to the Green Mountain Patriarch through a Biochemical Human and demanded Shen Yunmai, then secured half an hour to search.
• Tong Yan drove the guarding Night-Bearing Realm experts away by raising the Luggage Bag and broke through the paving stones to reveal the formation’s core.
• Tong Yan followed the hidden passage into a frozen cave where human-shaped figures hung inside plastic bags.

Tong Yan uncovered Shen Yunmai’s hidden survival signal at the Shen Household Old Residence and learned that Huang Mujin had preserved it for him. After sending the signal, Tong Yan put the old residence and its inhabitants to sleep and burned the place down before departing.

• Tong Yan found the biochemical bodies in the cave abode and realized they were Shen Yunmai’s spare bodies, while Huang Mujin revealed he was the young master’s hidden safeguard.
• Huang Mujin activated a faint neutrino signal that could reach Shen Yunmai’s companion across the Local Group, explaining that even Shen Yunmai had not known the warship’s location or this final measure.
• Tong Yan explained that his bomb consisted of hundreds of Polyphase Nuclear Bombs stored inside a spatial law treasure made from the Azure Dragon’s remains.
• Huang Mujin asked Tong Yan to burn the museum, and Tong Yan used mist to put the bamboo-hatted old men to sleep before asking Huang Mujin his name.
• Huang Mujin remembered that Shen Yunmai had named him, and Tong Yan bid farewell as the Shen Household Old Residence burned; Tong Yan then flew into the dark universe.

The Green Mountain Patriarch revealed that Green Mountain’s past Ascension Ones had been exchanged for Yunmeng Mountain’s, then confronted Mr. Dan over helping Tong Yan. Mr. Dan destroyed himself to escape being used as leverage through his daughter, leaving Chen Ya amid the wreckage.

• The Green Mountain Patriarch told Zhuo Rusui that seven Green Mountain Ascension Ones had been traded for Yunmeng Mountain’s, and warned him that finding and killing Tong Yan would not be simple.
• The Green Mountain Patriarch confronted Mr. Dan through a bright pearl after Chen Ya captured him, accusing him of betrayal for helping Tong Yan locate the Shen Household Old Residence.
• Chen Ya revealed that Mr. Dan was searching for his daughter, while Mr. Dan admitted he had helped Tong Yan because he could not stand the Green Mountain Patriarch.
• Chen Ya threatened to use Mr. Dan’s daughter against him, but Mr. Dan broke his Daoist barrier and the red thread around his neck, causing his body to explode.
• Chen Ya survived the blast in the wrecked repair shop, while a bloodstained counterfeit wristband began emitting a faint signal.