Chapter Summaries

Li Xingkong secretly followed Xingci and learned that she needed help retrieving a researcher who had defected to Arc-27 before the Axiom Arc’s Change Era. The group agreed that they had to investigate before deciding whether to intervene, since saving Xingci’s family could doom countless lives in Arc-27.

• Li Xingkong left the spaceship and secretly watched Xingci’s group arrive at her castle.
• Xingci introduced her daughter Xingxi, whom Shutra and Tataru immediately played with.
• Xingci explained that a key researcher had defected to Arc-27, putting her star system at risk of catastrophe during the coming Change Era.
• Xingci asked the group to retrieve the researcher because her daughter and family might not survive the era change.
• After Xingci left, Old Yu and Shutra urged the group to investigate her account and consider the consequences for Arc-27’s civilization.
• Tataru lamented that the mission posed a trolley problem.

Li Xingkong secretly followed Old Yu and Tataru as they investigated Xingci, while Albert and Shutra went to the Arc-27 Star System. After discovering that their spaceship had been bugged and a mysterious intruder had appeared inside it, Old Yu planned an escape route and told Tataru to sell their cargo for a new ship.

• Li Xingkong placed Divine Sense on Albert and Shutra, then secretly followed Old Yu and Tataru as they gathered information about Xingci.
• Tataru noticed something was wrong aboard the spaceship and persuaded Old Yu to leave without discussing their findings.
• Tataru told Old Yu that Xingci's subordinates had planted listening devices and that a strange man had appeared and vanished inside the ship.
• Tataru reported that the mysterious intruder had made small objects on the table float, leading Old Yu to suspect powerful mental abilities.
• Old Yu decided they needed an escape route and told Tataru to sell their cargo to buy a new spaceship.

Albert reunited with Tataru and Old Yu, then revealed to Li Xingkong and the others that he had repeatedly been reborn to undo failures. He admitted that a new crisis had exceeded what he could handle alone and said he had met Li Xingkong in the future.

• Old Yu led Tataru through a courtyard, where Albert revealed his disguise and asked Li Xingkong to show himself.
• Li Xingkong appeared, and Shutra prepared to attack until Albert assured everyone that Li Xingkong was not an enemy.
• At Albert’s request, Li Xingkong isolated the courtyard so they could speak privately.
• Albert revealed that he had repeatedly killed himself to return to an earlier checkpoint whenever the group’s plans went wrong.
• Albert said he could no longer solve the current problem alone and explained that he had met Li Xingkong in the future.
• Tataru recognized Li Xingkong as the mysterious figure from the spaceship and explained that she had found him by seeing the memories of its instruments.

Albert explained how Xingci’s deception, the axiom arc’s pursuit, and his repeated timeline rewinds had trapped him in the current star system. Li Xingkong realized that the time anomaly project might give him a way to bring Albert to safety.

• Albert said that in the first timeline, he and Shutra kidnapped an Arc-27 scholar after Xingci falsely claimed the scholar’s research was being violently seized.
• Albert explained that the scholar died after they brought him back, and that the group became wanted; in the next timeline, they refused Xingci, but she had already used the magic power in their bodies for a world-destroying modification plan.
• Albert said an envoy of the axiom arc had pursued him through repeated timeline rewinds and resisted the memory erasure, while Li Xingkong had once intervened and later told him to come earlier.
• Li Xingkong considered using the Kingdom of Fixed Light’s time anomaly project as a reason for his true body and Guapilong to arrive and take Albert away.

Li Xingkong brought Albert and his companions aboard the Heavenly Palace Above the Clouds and used his Axiom Arc bracelet to secure their removal from the star system. The Axiom Arc approved his request to take them to the Kingdom of Fixed Light and ordered the star system preserved for research.

• Li Xingkong and Guapilong set off for the Arc Thirty-Five Galaxy to pick up Albert and the others.
• Li Xingkong explained that he could appear and disappear by converting himself into an information state.
• The Heavenly Palace Above the Clouds appeared above the squad, pulled them aboard, and Li Xingkong met them in person.
• Li Xingkong revealed that he would rely on his bracelet’s authority to protect the squad and take them away.
• The Axiom Arc accepted Li Xingkong’s request to bring the temporally anomalous group to the Kingdom of Fixed Light for the time reset point project.
• The Axiom Arc ordered Xingci to suspend her operation and sealed the star system’s current state as a research sample.

Li Xingkong negotiated for Albert to become a partner in the Axiom Arc’s experiments rather than a captive test subject, while planning to delay his participation and send a clone back with the group. Their plans were interrupted when an aggressive mechanical woman arrived to claim Albert, and Li Xingkong confronted her.

• Li Xingkong told Albert and the others that the Axiom Arc knew of his time powers, but he had negotiated a partner status that let Albert refuse experiments.
• Li Xingkong proposed sending a clone with the group to the Kingdom of Fixed Light while he and Guapilong continued their journey, and they agreed to meet later near the project.
• Li Xingkong detected an approaching figure whose ring-shaped ripple swept away his Divine Sense, so he left the ship to block her path.
• The newcomer, a mechanical woman, identified Li Xingkong and claimed Albert belonged to her because she had found him first.
• Li Xingkong rejected her claim, insisting Albert could decide for himself, and challenged her aggressive behavior.

Li Xingkong fought a condescending newcomer from the Axiom Arc who tried to take him away. After escaping her spatial maze and gaining the upper hand, he devised a plan to punish her without killing her or giving up his identity as an Axiom Arc member.

• Li Xingkong refused to hand himself over and attacked the newcomer with the Ten Thousand Swords Art and the Nine Revolutions Golden Core.
• The newcomer swallowed his flying swords through a black gate and trapped him inside a spatial maze created by a sphere.
• Li Xingkong used the Thousand Mountains Method to calculate possible routes and escaped the maze in nine steps.
• Li Xingkong struck the newcomer with Divine Light, but her rings and spatial tools let her evade or absorb his attacks.
• Li Xingkong recognized that the newcomer relied on items and decided to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Li Xingkong defeated Bingyou by trapping her in a spatial labyrinth made from her own beads. Fenye appeared, freed her, and confined her in his ring after reprimanding her, then apologized to Li Xingkong.

• Bingyou angrily attacked Li Xingkong with several beads, but he seized her when she became distracted.
• Li Xingkong let the beads trap both of them in a spatial labyrinth, then escaped and left Bingyou confined inside.
• Bingyou demanded to be released and claimed she was the daughter of the Arc's Great Sage Fenye.
• Fenye appeared, pulled Bingyou out of the labyrinth, and scolded her for causing trouble and neglecting her coursework.
• Fenye put Bingyou inside his ring and apologized to Li Xingkong for her behavior.

Fenye made Li Xingkong a non-staff deacon of the Axiom Arc and arranged for him and Albert to work on a project. The system explained that Fenye was an embodiment of the rules, while Albert received a bracelet that made him an Axiom Arc candidate.

• Fenye gave Li Xingkong a bracelet for Albert and changed Li Xingkong's bracelet, appointing him a non-staff deacon of the Axiom Arc.
• Fenye said he would send Li Xingkong and Albert to work on a project for three to five years, then vanished.
• The system revealed that Fenye was the Axiom Arc's rule-based weapon, an embodiment of the rules who had begun the Dao Integration path.
• The system explained the differences between the Nascent Soul and Dao Integration paths, and Li Xingkong returned to the spaceship.
• Li Xingkong gave Albert the bracelet from Fenye, and Albert wondered which senior had sent it.

Li Xingkong and the members of Dawn prepared for a three-to-five-year delay while they joined the time reset point project. After Xingci died and Xingxi was left in their care, they faced a new problem before departing.

• Albert and the others planned to retrieve their ship and prepare for their return to the Kingdom of Fixed Light.
• Guapilong agreed to wait for Li Xingkong, who gave him cultivation methods and supplies before the journey was put on hold.
• Li Xingkong strengthened his ship and prepared it as a safe place for Guapilong.
• The members of Dawn returned and told Li Xingkong that Xingci had taken her own life after they confronted her.
• Tataru brought Xingxi along, and Old Yu questioned whether anyone in Dawn could care for the child.

Li Xingkong and Albert were sent by Great Sage Fenye to an Axiom Arc laboratory for an investigation into a time reset point. There, Kan Yun showed them the joint space station and introduced the factions working in it, including the Li Insects.

• Li Xingkong explained that Xingxi had been brought along because she deserved a chance to leave her home and live happily, and the group agreed to take care of her at Dawn.
• Great Sage Fenye appeared, immobilized Li Xingkong and Albert, and sent them through a portal to the laboratory before leaving the others behind.
• Guapilong decided to focus on cultivation, while the others encouraged one another to grow stronger.
• Li Xingkong and Albert arrived at a vast laboratory, where logistics deacon Kan Yun welcomed them and explained that their research would involve finding a time reset point.
• Kan Yun led them through the joint space station and identified the Kingdom of Fixed Light, the Holy Church of Truth, and a coalition of second-tier civilizations, where Li Xingkong spotted the Li Insects.

Kan Yun brought Li Xingkong and Albert to Axiom Arc’s laboratory data-loading point, where they began absorbing the project’s research. As Li Xingkong reviewed the findings, he realized the factions were seeking to create another Dao Integration existence, and he felt fortunate to be part of the project.

• Kan Yun introduced the data-loading point, gave Li Xingkong and Albert access to their resting quarters, and urged them to study the project’s discoveries.
• Albert doubted that the laboratory’s researchers were as ruthless as he had expected, while Li Xingkong explained that they were proud scholars focused on their research.
• Li Xingkong connected multiple interfaces to speed up his data transmission, while Albert’s mana ran low and he climbed into a life-support pod.
• Li Xingkong reviewed the project’s vast records and learned that its research had produced working prototypes for time stops, brief reversals, and time machines.
• Li Xingkong inferred that the researchers intended to create another Dao Integration existence and recognized the vast gap between their ambitions and those of lower civilizations.

After rapidly absorbing the Axiom Arc’s research, Li Xingkong learned that researchers still could not change the past and that a time reset point remained undiscovered. He agreed to investigate unusual space-time activity near Earth Star, where the Holy Church of Truth had been active for a century, and hurried to protect his homeworld and the people he cared about.

• Li Xingkong finished absorbing the Axiom Arc’s research and learned that the grandfather paradox and the unknown time reset point still blocked genuine changes to the past.
• Li Xingkong contacted Kan Yun, who was astonished by how quickly he had absorbed the material and found him a task near Earth Star.
• Kan Yun told Li Xingkong that the Holy Church of Truth had sent scholars to investigate unusual space-time data near Earth Star a hundred years earlier.
• Li Xingkong worried about Earth Star and the people he cared about, including his sworn younger sister and Ji Nanzhi, and accepted the investigation.
• Kan Yun began preparing documents to transfer primary investigative authority to Li Xingkong, while he set off for Earth Star without waiting.

Li Xingkong returned to the Divine Land to gather intelligence about Earth Star and learned that the Holy Church of Truth had sealed off the Solar System and manipulated its people. He prepared to take over Earth Star’s administration under the Convention, while the threat there had grown into the Extradomain Heavenly Demons.

• Li Xingkong arrived at the Thirty-Three Heavens to learn what had happened on Earth Star.
• Li Xingkong found Zhang Yumeng and told her that he was now affiliated with one of the three major factions and could gain authority over Earth Star under the Convention.
• Zhang Yumeng activated the institute’s emergency procedures and sent Li Xingkong intelligence on Earth Star.
• Li Xingkong learned that three Holy Church of Truth members had sealed off the Solar System more than a hundred years earlier, allowing people to leave but forbidding entry.
• Li Xingkong learned that the Holy Church had used mental techniques to control people on Earth Star, eventually giving rise to inner demons known as Extradomain Heavenly Demons.

Li Xingkong returned to the Divine Land and learned that its senior cultivators had left to seek ways to protect Earth Star from the Holy Church of Truth. He met Ji Qiu in the Heavenly Court’s computational core and discovered that Ji Qiu had stripped away his emotions in pursuit of the Dao.

• Zhang Yumeng told Li Xingkong that Tang Cheng was guarding the front near Earth Star, while Old Tang and many other seniors had gone searching for a way to counter the Holy Church of Truth.
• Zhang Yumeng led Li Xingkong to the Thirty-First Heaven to meet Ji Qiu, the cultivator who had left Earth Star twenty years earlier.
• Ji Qiu recognized Li Xingkong but showed almost no emotion, explaining that he had cultivated by severing the Good Corpse and Evil Corpse and abandoning his true self.
• Li Xingkong realized that Ji Qiu’s method had left him an emotionless seeker of the Dao rather than the person he had once been.

After hearing Ji Qiu describe Earth Star’s war-torn cultivation world and the heavenly demons’ influence, Li Xingkong decided to go there ahead of the documents and investigate. He reached the Solar System, found it sealed off and saturated with Baleful Qi, and saw that its people were locked in constant conflict, though reincarnation still functioned.

• Ji Qiu told Li Xingkong that Earth Star had become a violent cultivation world ruled by demonic forces and said Ge Baoqi and Ji Nanzhi had defected to the heavenly demons while Ji Bei followed their lead.
• Ji Qiu explained that the three heavenly demons governed infatuation, envy, and hatred, and that he had escaped the Solar System only because his Dao self lacked the emotions they sought.
• Li Xingkong left the thirty-first heaven with Zhang Yumeng and decided to reach Earth Star before the documents arrived so he could offer protection.
• Li Xingkong hurried to the Solar System and detected a membrane enclosing it, dense Baleful Qi, and three powerful presences near Earth Star.
• Li Xingkong surveyed the planets and found that technological progress had stagnated, cultivator groups were fighting across the wasteland, and most dead souls still entered reincarnation.

Li Xingkong searched the Solar System for Tang Huhu but could not find her, then tracked down Ji Nanzhi, Ge Baoqi, and Old Ox on Venus. After overhearing their plans and learning they had risen among the heavenly devils, he resolved to deal with them.

• Li Xingkong surveyed the Solar System and saw how the heavenly devils had turned its planets into killing grounds, while Venus had become a refuge for their followers.
• Li Xingkong searched for Tang Huhu but failed to find her, then spotted Ji Nanzhi, Ge Baoqi, and Old Ox on Venus.
• Li Xingkong concealed himself and overheard Ge Baoqi and Old Ox discuss human puppets, Seven Emotions Pills, and their food supply.
• Ji Nanzhi, Ge Baoqi, and Old Ox toasted their growing influence under the three saints and discussed Ji Nanzhi's place in the Holy Church of Truth.
• Li Xingkong recognized that the three former allies had become powerful under the heavenly devils and decided he would have to act against them.

Li Xingkong discovered that Ji Nanzhi, Ge Baoqi, and their companions were using a revised Scarlet Heart Art to conceal their communication and coordinate a dangerous plan. After cracking part of their connection, he learned their scheme had only a three percent chance of success, but they intended to gamble anyway.

• The system teased Li Xingkong about the Scarlet Heart Art, prompting him to realize the technique could hide connections from his Divine Sense.
• Li Xingkong studied the ancient Scarlet Heart Art and used the Hexagram to glimpse the red threads linking Ji Nanzhi, Ge Baoqi, and others.
• Li Xingkong overheard Ge Baoqi complain about his condition and learn that he planned to use Ji Qiu's evil body to handle his distracting thoughts.
• Ge Baoqi and Ji Nanzhi received word that souls in reincarnation had reached seventy-two percent, and they praised Huhu for her work at the reincarnation node.
• Ji Nanzhi estimated their chance of success at three percent, but she and Ge Baoqi agreed that one of them only needed to succeed against the three old rulers.

Li Xingkong found Tang Huhu merged with the Gate of Samsara and learned how the Resistance Alliance used the Crimson Blood One Heart Art to manage the heavenly demons’ influence. Tang Huhu began explaining that the alliance still needed a way to understand and resist the demons.

• Old Ox secretly received Ge Baoqi, Ji Nanzhi, and Tang Huhu’s desires through the Scarlet Heart Art’s red threads before leaving Venus.
• Li Xingkong entered the abandoned samsara space and followed a red thread to the Gate of Samsara.
• Li Xingkong touched the gate with his Divine Sense, and Tang Huhu appeared as an artifact spirit.
• Tang Huhu told Li Xingkong that Ji Nanzhi had advised her to merge with the gate using his jade token to escape the demons.
• Tang Huhu explained that Ji Nanzhi created the Crimson Blood One Heart Art so practitioners could transfer dangerous emotions among themselves, with Ji Qiu’s good and evil corpses serving as vessels.
• Tang Huhu said the art could preserve their true selves but could not defeat the demons, and began explaining that they first needed to learn what the demons were.

Li Xingkong learned that Huhu and the others planned to possess the heavenly demons by pooling the fortune of hundreds of millions of souls through the Record of All Living Beings Weeping Blood. He rejected the option of using the Convention’s document to drive the demons away and offered to improve the cultivation art.

• Tang Huhu explained that the heavenly demons were vessels for power bestowed by a civilization behind them, and that some defectors had joined them.
• Huhu showed Li Xingkong a hidden space where hundreds of millions of souls were linked by red threads through the Crimson Blood One Heart Art.
• Huhu explained that the souls were willingly pooling their fortune to support a possession attempt, which still had only a three percent chance of success as the three demons grew stronger.
• The system asked Li Xingkong whether he would use the Convention’s document to make the three demons leave, but he chose to help Huhu and the others instead.
• Li Xingkong used the Thousand Mountains Method to set an anchor point and asked Huhu for the Record of All Living Beings Weeping Blood, which she projected into his brow.