Chapter Summaries

Ling Yi learned about the global virtual survival show and grew suspicious of its purpose, especially after discovering he had been selected, tracked, and bound by an agreement. He arrived at the production site in Dragon Capital and entered the ordinary guests’ elevator, leaving him with no choice but to participate.

• Ranran explained that the first global virtual variety show would pair ordinary guests with entertainers to survive virtual movie worlds, with rankings determining prizes and future participation.
• Ling Yi noticed that 197 countries were taking part and that world leaders had visited the Ancient Country, deepening his suspicions about the show.
• Ranran and the burly man told Ling Yi that he had been randomly selected, signed a confidentiality agreement, and could not withdraw without a penalty.
• The burly man revealed a tracker implanted in Ling Yi’s left arm and confirmed that the production team had identified him correctly.
• Ling Yi arrived at the production building in Dragon Capital, where director Yan Tian sent celebrity guests to one elevator and ordinary guests to another.
• Ling Yi entered the elevator on the right with the other five ordinary guests.

Ling Yi entered the virtual survival program and learned its rules before being randomly paired with Meng Yanyi in a realistic forest. As they set out to find higher ground and signs of habitation, Ling Yi discovered that throwing stones earned him diligence points and skill experience.

• Lin Ran explained that the program used randomized film-and-television worlds, offered no starting tools, and eliminated both partners if either one was eliminated.
• The guests entered the machines, and Ling Yi reluctantly put on his helmet and was transported into the virtual world.
• Ling Yi recovered in a sparse, cold forest and met his assigned partner, Meng Yanyi.
• Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi decided to climb toward higher ground to survey the area and search for somewhere inhabited.
• Ling Yi picked up stones for reassurance, then saw a message awarding him diligence points and throwing skill experience for throwing them.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi reached a mountaintop and found themselves on an island with a volcano, snowy mountains, and sea all around, leaving them to plan how to survive. Ling Yi’s throwing skill leveled up and activated his system, giving him a powerful new advantage as they headed to look for a safe place to build shelter.

• Ling Yi noticed messages awarding him diligence points and throwing experience as he tossed pebbles, while Meng Yanyi explained she had joined the show without realizing how real its virtual world would feel.
• Ling Yi questioned whether they were truly in a virtual world, and Meng Yanyi worried about the pain of injuries and the difficulty of quitting.
• Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi reached the mountaintop and saw a smoking volcano, snowy mountains, forest, and sea surrounding them, suggesting they were on an island.
• Meng Yanyi wondered if they were on Ice and Fire Island, and Ling Yi warned her about Xie Xun’s conduct toward Yin Susu in the original novel.
• Ling Yi’s throwing skill leveled up, officially activating his system and sharpening his strength, eyesight, and throwing ability.
• Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi agreed to find a safe, elevated place for a shelter rather than build near the river, where floods and wild animals posed dangers.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi reached a riverside after descending a mountain, where Ling Yi drew the Breathing Technique and saved Meng Yanyi from a black snake with his throwing skill. They headed toward another mountain as a separate scene revealed Xie Xun fighting Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu on Ice and Fire Island.

• Ling Yi caught Meng Yanyi when she slipped on the steep descent, and they reached the grassland beside a small river.
• Ling Yi leveled up his climbing skill, spent 100 Diligence Points on a draw, and received the Breathing Technique.
• Meng Yanyi washed her smudged makeup in the river while Ling Yi watched over her.
• Ling Yi threw a pebble that struck and killed a black snake lunging at Meng Yanyi, then demonstrated his throwing skill by hitting a fish.
• Ling Yi urged Meng Yanyi to cross the river and climb another mountain to find a place to build shelter.
• Xie Xun fought Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu at the foot of a snowy mountain on Ice and Fire Island.

Ling Yi built a basic shelter with Meng Yanyi while gaining experience in Logging and Construction, then went to find food and water. He blinded a wild boar with thrown pebbles and waited for it to die before approaching.

• Xie Xun overpowered Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu, took Yin Susu hostage, and ordered Zhang Cuishan to find food.
• Ling Yi used a rock to fell thirty trees, leveling up his Logging Skill as Meng Yanyi gathered firewood.
• Ling Yi assembled the trunks and branches into a shelter, earning Construction Skill experience while Meng Yanyi watched.
• Ling Yi set off alone to find food and water, leaving the hungry and thirsty Meng Yanyi at the shelter.
• Ling Yi blinded a wild boar with two pebbles, then waited until it lay motionless before approaching.

Ling Yi returned from the river with a wild boar and water, gaining Hunting and Weaving Skill experience as he processed the meat and fashioned a leaf container. Back at the shelter, he unlocked Fire-Making Skill, started a fire, and boiled water for Meng Yanyi, leaving them with food, clean water, and a fire for the night.

• Ling Yi processed the wild boar by the river and raised his Hunting Skill to level 1.
• A pack of wolves encircled Ling Yi, but he struck several in the eyes with pebbles, and the pack retreated after a distant howl.
• Ling Yi folded two enormous leaves into a water container, gaining Weaving Skill experience, then returned to the shelter, where Meng Yanyi had been frightened waiting alone.
• Ling Yi unlocked Fire-Making Skill, made a fire, and built a bark pot to boil river water.
• Ling Yi cooked boar meat over the fire and gave Meng Yanyi a hollow grass stem to drink the boiled water.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi discussed surviving on Ice and Fire Island and agreed to keep competing while seeking a way off the island. Elsewhere, Zhang Cuishan fled with an injured Yin Susu after Xie Xun recovered from poisonous mushrooms, leaving their pursuers’ danger unresolved.

• Meng Yanyi praised Ling Yi’s skills, and he asked her to stop repeating the compliments.
• Ling Yi told Meng Yanyi he wanted to win the show and asked whether she would keep going; she promised not to withdraw voluntarily.
• Ling Yi used his Cooking skill to process the wild boar into smoked meat with Meng Yanyi’s help.
• Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi wondered whether they were on Ice and Fire Island from the Heavenly Sword World and discussed the risks of escaping or encountering Xie Xun.
• Zhang Cuishan carried the pale, injured Yin Susu away from Xie Xun, but he faltered and spat blood as they tried to get farther away.

Ling Yi drew a Storage Ring, a Team-Up Card, and a Pet Card, then used the Team-Up Card on the sleeping Meng Yanyi and taught her the Breathing Technique. After cultivating through the night, he grew stronger and considered how to develop his combat skills.

• Ling Yi used three lottery draws to obtain a Storage Ring, a Team-Up Card, and a Pet Card, then tested the ring’s eight-cubic-meter storage space.
• Ling Yi activated the Team-Up Card on Meng Yanyi, creating a connection that let him end their team whenever he wished.
• Ling Yi cultivated the Breathing Technique for much of the night, gaining diligence points, skill experience, and improvements to his attributes.
• Meng Yanyi woke to take care of her personal needs, returned embarrassed, and asked Ling Yi about his meditation.
• Ling Yi taught Meng Yanyi the Breathing Technique, and her practice also increased his diligence points.
• Ling Yi checked his updated system interface and resolved to improve his Throwing skill and learn additional combat techniques.

After Meng Yanyi advanced her Breathing Technique and gained strength, she and Ling Yi worked together to build a two-story wooden house on Ice and Fire Island. With the house’s frame finished, Ling Yi left to hunt wolves and sheep for skins while Meng Yanyi stayed behind to prepare their meal.

• Meng Yanyi woke after cultivating through the night and discovered that Ling Yi had gathered logs, dug a clear-water pit, and caught fish; Ling Yi explained that she had reached the second realm of the Breathing Technique.
• Ling Yi praised Meng Yanyi as a one-in-ten-thousand genius, and she began grilling fish, gaining a cooking skill through the Diligence System.
• Ling Yi outlined plans for a two-story wooden house, tools, animal skins, salt, and exploring the island, while offering to teach Meng Yanyi martial arts; they agreed to call each other senior brother and junior sister.
• Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi dismantled their crude shelter and worked together to build the wooden house, gaining construction-related skills and improving their coordination.
• As evening approached, the two completed the house’s basic frame, and Ling Yi headed down the mountain to get wolfskins and sheepskins while Meng Yanyi stayed to grill fish.

Meng Yanyi realized the world was not virtual and trusted Ling Yi as she learned Qinggong from him. While they practiced, Ling Yi activated and leveled up Fighting, ending with a spinning kick that amazed Meng Yanyi.

• Meng Yanyi suspected the world was real and decided to trust Ling Yi as her senior brother and powerful ally.
• Ling Yi returned with animal hides and mutton, then processed the hides while Meng Yanyi smoked the meat.
• Ling Yi demonstrated Qinggong and taught Meng Yanyi its breathing and movement techniques; he caught her after she jumped too high.
• Meng Yanyi practiced Qinggong while Ling Yi trained nearby, gaining experience until his Fighting skill leveled up.
• Ling Yi performed a spinning kick that created sonic booms, and Meng Yanyi asked to learn it.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi finished building a fortified shelter and explored Ice and Fire Island, where they followed signs of a battle to a cave. They found two injured strangers inside, leaving their identities and intentions unknown.

• Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi trained through the night, ate their fill, and planned to finish the shelter and make salt.
• Over the next three days, they strengthened the shelter, built a tall log stockade, expanded their pond, and gathered wild goats and cattle.
• The pair explored a distant valley and found signs of a powerful fight, including felled trees, a fire site, and a trail of blood.
• Ling Yi tracked the trail to a cave, where he and Meng Yanyi smelled blood and medicinal herbs.
• They found an injured man and woman meditating beside a campfire, and the strangers opened their eyes as Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi approached.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi found Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu on Ice and Fire Island and offered to help them return to the Central Plains in exchange for Yin Susu guiding their journey. After healing with Ling Yi’s pills, the group left the cave, where Xie Xun suddenly appeared and charged at them.

• Ling Yi learned that Xie Xun was on the island and proposed that he and Meng Yanyi build a boat while Yin Susu guided them to the Central Plains.
• Ling Yi gave Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu Minor Rejuvenation Pills, and both recovered much of their strength after taking them.
• Zhang Cuishan thanked Ling Yi and agreed to leave the cave with the others, while Yin Susu privately warned him to be cautious.
• As the four left the cave, Xie Xun appeared with the Dragon-Slaying Saber and rushed toward them.
• Meng Yanyi questioned how Xie Xun could find them despite being blind, and Ling Yi explained that his internal power sharpened his perception.

Ling Yi drove Xie Xun away with a powerful pebble throw, then beat Zhang Cuishan in a contest of lightness arts and won an internal cultivation method. The group continued toward their shelter, with Yin Susu offering more methods and Ling Yi inventing a story about how he and Meng Yanyi came to Ice and Fire Island.

• Ling Yi hurled a pebble that sent Xie Xun crashing through trees, and Xie Xun fled into the woods.
• Ling Yi and Zhang Cuishan raced after Yin Susu set a leaf as the starting signal, and Ling Yi outran him by several thousand meters.
• Zhang Cuishan conceded the contest and agreed to give Ling Yi an internal cultivation method; Yin Susu offered to write out other methods as well.
• Ling Yi told Zhang Cuishan that he and Meng Yanyi had been stranded on Ice and Fire Island after a storm wrecked their voyage to the Central Plains.
• Meng Yanyi laughed at Ling Yi's sudden bookish manner, then claimed she had remembered a joke when he asked what was funny.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi brought Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu back to their shelter, where they discussed building a ship and learned more about the couple’s history with Xie Xun. Ling Yi then asked Zhang Cuishan to explain the basics of internal cultivation, and the system recorded the knowledge as traditional Chinese medicine skill experience.

• Yin Susu warned that changing monsoon winds could make a voyage dangerous, so Ling Yi promised to build a large ship that could withstand storms.
• Ling Yi, Meng Yanyi, Zhang Cuishan, and Yin Susu returned to the shelter, where Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were astonished by its defenses and Meng Yanyi’s strength.
• Zhang Cuishan warned that Xie Xun had killed at least two hundred people and would likely seek revenge, while Meng Yanyi’s question about their sworn brotherhood made the couple uncomfortable.
• Ling Yi changed the subject and asked Zhang Cuishan to teach him about acupoints, meridians, and the dantian, explaining that he and Meng Yanyi wanted to study Central Plains martial arts.
• Zhang Cuishan explained the basics of internal cultivation, and Ling Yi’s system automatically gained traditional Chinese medicine skill experience.

Ling Yi gained knowledge from Zhang Cuishan, advanced his skills, and used a large draw to obtain system items while he and Meng Yanyi continued cultivating. After finding a suitable place to build a ship, Ling Yi decided they needed Xie Xun’s Dragon-Slaying Saber to cut the logs.

• Zhang Cuishan taught Ling Yi about meridians and the dantian, raising Ling Yi’s traditional Chinese medicine skill to level 4 and earning him experience.
• Meng Yanyi speculated about Zhang Cuishan, Yin Susu, and Xie Xun, but Ling Yi dismissed her gossip and they practiced the Breathing Technique.
• Ling Yi reviewed his attributes and skills, then performed three hundred draws and received pills, cards, and other items for his storage ring.
• The next morning, Meng Yanyi cooked while Zhang Cuishan went to find Ling Yi, who had scouted a sloped shore suitable for launching a ship.
• Ling Yi told Zhang Cuishan they lacked cutting tools and proposed borrowing Xie Xun’s Dragon-Slaying Saber.

Ling Yi used a Map Card to locate Xie Xun and forcibly took the Dragon-Slaying Saber, intending to use it as a tool. After discovering that saber swings raised both Logging and Saber Technique experience, he began considering how one action could train multiple skills.

• Ling Yi told Zhang Cuishan he wanted to borrow the Dragon-Slaying Saber and left with him to find Xie Xun, while Meng Yanyi and Yin Susu stayed behind to gather weaving materials.
• When Xie Xun was missing from the cave, Ling Yi activated a Map Card and followed its marker toward the volcano with Zhang Cuishan.
• Ling Yi found Xie Xun in a tree and snatched the Dragon-Slaying Saber from him, then tested its strength and sharpness.
• Xie Xun charged at Ling Yi, but Ling Yi projected his force past Xie Xun’s cheek and warned him off without killing him.
• Ling Yi chopped down a nearby tree with one stroke of the Dragon-Slaying Saber and gained experience in both Logging and Saber Technique.

After Xie Xun fled, Ling Yi and the others began preparing a large ship to leave the island, with Zhang Cuishan and Meng Yanyi taking on supporting tasks. Zhang Cuishan taught Ling Yi about internal cultivation, and Ling Yi’s Breathing Technique reached level 5, revealing a scientific explanation of internal force and suggesting he and Meng Yanyi could draw on Heaven and Earth Genki without opening their meridians.

• Xie Xun fled after sensing Zhang Cuishan’s killing intent, and Zhang Cuishan let him go.
• Ling Yi cut timber for the ship while Zhang Cuishan made rope and Meng Yanyi gathered hemp for weaving mats.
• Ling Yi planned a large vessel and asked Zhang Cuishan to find a suitable keel, Meng Yanyi to weave sails and canopy mats, and Yin Susu to learn salt-making.
• Zhang Cuishan gave Ling Yi a written internal cultivation method and explained the stages of martial cultivation.
• Ling Yi gained enough Breathing Technique experience from Zhang Cuishan’s instruction to reach level 5 and learned that his and Meng Yanyi’s trained force could let them draw on Heaven and Earth Genki directly.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi cultivated while Zhang Cuishan secretly killed Xie Xun, then discussed how urgently they needed to grow stronger before the show forced them back to the real world. As the group prepared to sail for the Central Plains, Ling Yi’s rapidly improving attributes let him invent powerful fighting techniques, and he planned to test more ideas.

• Zhang Cuishan left the shelter and killed Xie Xun, then returned and reassured Yin Susu that he had not been injured.
• Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi ended their cultivation, and Ling Yi concluded that Xie Xun was dead and that they should reach the Central Plains to find more cultivation methods.
• Meng Yanyi told Ling Yi she would keep his secrets, while recognizing that his mysterious system had given her an Omniscience and Omnipotence System.
• The group spent two more days gathering shipbuilding materials, with Ling Yi chopping trees, Zhang Cuishan searching for a keel, and Meng Yanyi weaving and teaching Yin Susu to make salt.
• Ling Yi’s skills and attributes rose sharply, and he discovered he could DIY fighting techniques inspired by anime and martial-arts stories that improved as he used them.

Ling Yi used Saber Force to fell and transport giant trees, then began building a ship with Zhang Cuishan on Ice and Fire Island. In the real world, host Lin Ran discussed the contestants and the rushed, poorly regulated setup of the global survival show.

• Ling Yi cut down three giant trees with Saber Force and hurled them several thousand meters to the shipbuilding site, astonishing Zhang Cuishan.
• Ling Yi used Saber Force as a set of tools to assemble the logs and planks into a ship, while Zhang Cuishan went to help Yin Susu.
• Host Lin Ran reported that fewer than 300 contestant teams remained, seven of the fifteen virtual worlds had closed, and Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi were expected to win.
• Lin Ran explained that viewers needed helmets to watch livestreams and dismissed claims that Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi were cheating.
• Lin Ran reflected that the show’s rules, viewing system, and victory conditions had been established piecemeal, leaving the production rushed and unregulated.

Ling Yi and Meng Yanyi finished preparing a giant ship and set sail from Ice and Fire Island with Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu. As the ship headed out to sea, Ling Yi teased Meng Yanyi about singing, and she claimed she had improved.

• Ling Yi finished the hundred-meter ship while Meng Yanyi steadily gained skills and Diligence Points by grinding.
• The group packed provisions and discussed whether to leave Ice and Fire Island, with Meng Yanyi saying she was content to stay there.
• Ling Yi launched the ship across the shallows with a forceful shove, frightening Meng Yanyi, Zhang Cuishan, and Yin Susu.
• The four raised the sails and watched Ice and Fire Island recede as Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu shared a tender moment.
• Ling Yi asked Meng Yanyi to sing, and she said her singing had improved after grinding her singing skill.