Chapter Summaries

As the humans fought the Ferocious Beasts in Qinmeng, they realized the beasts belonged to an intelligent civilization and feared the snake king might ally with them. Ren Yisheng used mental expression to appeal to the snake king, urging it to join the humans against their common enemies.

• Changkong Luo and the others concluded that an outside civilization had come to Qinmeng, possibly aboard an earlier Fire Meteor, and realized there could be more intelligent Ferocious Beasts nearby.
• Song Xianzhong shot at the Ferocious Beast leader atop a stone pillar, drawing attention away from the humans, and Changkong Luo ordered the group to change positions.
• The upright tiger Ferocious Beast removed the blade pinning the snake king, prompting Changkong Luo to fear an alliance; the group debated attacking the snake king but rejected the plan.
• The Ferocious Beasts turned their attacks on the humans, and Changkong Luo urged Ren Yisheng to kill the cub before the group was overwhelmed.
• Ren Yisheng used mental power to speak to Huang Snake, explaining that the humans sought revenge on the ferocious tigers and proposing they join forces against them.

Changkong Luo's group allied with the snake king against the Ferocious Beasts, while Ren Yisheng was shaken by the revelation that humanity was a vassal of powerful beings and resolved to help his family explore a wider world. The fight took a dangerous turn when several members of the group began losing control of their bodies and minds, possibly because of the snake-repelling poison.

• The snake king accepted Ren Yisheng's attempt to communicate and joined forces with Changkong Luo's group against the Ferocious Beasts.
• Changkong Luo ordered the group to attack the scattered Ferocious Beasts as the snake king climbed the stone pillars and the winged Ferocious Beast leader flew away.
• Ren Yisheng realized that his ambitions had been too limited after hearing the tiger's message about humanity's enslavement, and resolved to help Ren Anran and Zhang Xuezhou advance.
• A gunshot interrupted Ren Yisheng's thoughts, and he saw Song Xianzhong turn a heavy rifle toward the others as Bi Dazhi and Li Qi also struggled to control themselves.
• Changkong Luo ordered the group to restrain anyone showing symptoms while he too felt the poison's effects disrupting his thoughts.

Zhang Xuezhou pursued the wounded winged tiger Ferocious Beast leader, wearing it down with false sounds of pursuers before attacking it with the Infinite Gun. The leader recognized that Zhang Xuezhou had prepared multiple methods to hunt it, and a cutting sound made it afraid.

• Zhang Xuezhou judged the injured winged tiger's flying ability and pursued it after telling Wang Haoran what to do.
• Zhang Xuezhou imitated the voices of Changkong Luo, Zhong Rang, Li Qi, and Song Xianzhong to frighten the leader into repeated flights and exhaust it.
• After pursuing the leader for more than three hours and 180 li, Zhang Xuezhou found it on a grassy slope and fired a needle-thin bullet from the Infinite Gun.
• The leader spoke to Zhang Xuezhou through mental expression, declaring that he had angered it.
• Zhang Xuezhou fired a rapid stream of steel needles that obstructed the leader's eyes, while an approaching cutting sound finally frightened it.

Zhang Xuezhou wore down the Ferocious Beast leader’s protective defense with relentless attacks, while enduring threats and pleas for mercy. After the leader destroyed the Infinite Blade and charged, Zhang Xuezhou evaded him in flight and began a countdown, but the leader’s final wind attack sent him plunging downward.

• Zhang Xuezhou fired more than fifteen hundred bullets at the Ferocious Beast leader, then attacked him with the Infinite Blade while searching for a vulnerable spot.
• The Ferocious Beast leader threatened Zhang Xuezhou, then begged him to stop and offered a ransom as his protection weakened.
• The leader used a weapon-breaking technique to shatter the Infinite Blade twice, but Zhang Xuezhou repaired it and resumed attacking.
• The Infinite Blade finally cut into the leader’s flesh, and he seized it, destroyed it, and charged at Zhang Xuezhou.
• Zhang Xuezhou evaded the leader in the air and began counting down, but the leader sent a blade-like gust at him before he reached zero, and Zhang Xuezhou plunged downward.

Zhang Xuezhou struggled to capture the Ferocious Beast leader alive, repeatedly incapacitating him and cutting his tendons as he searched for a way to restrain him. The leader, Hu Hao, revealed his ability to heal new injuries instantly, but Zhang Xuezhou realized the wounds inflicted while he was unconscious did not heal.

• Zhang Xuezhou used the Yellow Sand Entangling Technique to clog the Ferocious Beast leader's airways and senses until he collapsed.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered the leader's dangerous abilities and the value of keeping him alive, then searched for a way to control him.
• Hu Hao spoke to Zhang Xuezhou, but Zhang repeatedly bound and knocked him unconscious to prevent him from recovering and striking back.
• Zhang Xuezhou cut Hu Hao's tendons and flesh while he lay unconscious, leaving permanent injuries that prompted Hu Hao to curse him and threaten revenge.
• Zhang Xuezhou noticed that cuts made after Hu Hao woke healed instantly, while injuries inflicted during unconsciousness remained, and understood the leader's ability.

After capturing Hu Hao, Zhang Xuezhou recognized a weakness in his injury-transfer ability and considered whether Hongku’s Incantation Technique had the same flaw. Hu Hao tried to buy his freedom with secrets about bloodline refinement and powerful treasures, but Zhang remained unmoved and continued weakening him.

• Zhang Xuezhou recalled Hongku’s sinister Incantation Technique and realized that its source might suffer real injuries if he lost consciousness.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided to take the injured Hu Hao back to Ren Yisheng and the others for questioning.
• Hu Hao criticized human bloodlines and offered to reveal how to cleanse marrow and refine bones in exchange for his freedom.
• Hu Hao told Zhang Xuezhou about Huang Snake’s fire seed and the Quelling Chief, but Zhang showed no interest in pursuing them.
• Hu Hao threatened that Yu would avenge him, while Zhang continued chanting an incantation that made Hu Hao struggle to breathe.
• As he neared unconsciousness, Hu Hao realized he needed to make a more suitable deal with the vulture-type human.

Zhang Xuezhou extracted a pale yellow lump from Hu Hao in exchange for the possibility of sparing his life, then left to contact his team. Hu Hao escaped while Zhang was away and fled downstream, determined to obtain the Void Furnace’s fire seed and take revenge.

• Hu Hao offered Zhang Xuezhou a lump he had cultivated over decades, but Zhang Xuezhou refused to promise that he would let him go.
• Zhang Xuezhou knocked Hu Hao unconscious with the Yellow Sand Entangling Technique and flew off to find his team.
• Hu Hao woke, endured the sand in his body, and escaped by curling into a ball and rolling down the slope.
• Hu Hao transformed into a tiger-striped fish, used a gemstone to travel downstream, and resolved to obtain the Void Furnace’s fire seed and the Heaven-Mending Stone.
• Hu Hao spotted Zhang Xuezhou flying overhead and recognized the man he wanted to make suffer.

Zhang Xuezhou searched for the escaped Ferocious Beast leader but lost its trail at a river, then returned to find the team battered and facing a standoff with the Snake King. With several committee members suffering old-age confusion, the group prepared to negotiate with the Snake King and withdraw from Qinmeng.

• Zhang Xuezhou followed the wounded Ferocious Beast leader's trail to a river, failed to find it, and gave up the pursuit.
• Zhang Xuezhou found the battlefield littered with dead and injured snakes and Ferocious Beasts, while six committee members suffered confusion and symptoms of old age.
• The Snake King remained near the battlefield with many snakes, leaving the injured committee members and surviving Ferocious Beasts in a tense standoff.
• Wang Haoran concluded that the Ferocious Beasts were organized and more intelligent than the team had expected, then urged Zhang Xuezhou to help handle the aftermath.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided not to pursue Hu Hao's Fire Seed or attack the Snake King, though he hoped to return later to gather medicinal herbs.

Zhang Xuezhou returned to the battlefield, and his presence made Huang Snake retreat and agree to let the group leave. As the snakes cleared a path, Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng each privately envied the other's abilities.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Wang Haoran reached Ren Yisheng's group, where four Ferocious Beasts still clung to life and several elderly Sequence Holders were in twilight-years confusion.
• Ren Yisheng waited for Zhang Xuezhou, hoping his return would change the standoff with Huang Snake and help resolve the group's disputes over the afflicted Sequence Holders.
• Huang Snake sensed the Realm Technique's power as Zhang Xuezhou approached and began to retreat.
• Ren Yisheng asked Huang Snake to recall its snakes so the group could leave, and the snake king nodded as its snakes cleared a passage.
• Zhang Xuezhou envied Ren Yisheng's mental communication and learning ability, while Ren Yisheng envied how Zhang Xuezhou had changed Huang Snake's behavior.

Zhang Xuezhou struggled to recover his Law Power after treating injured people and Ferocious Beasts, and he failed to learn how to communicate with Huang Snake well enough to ask it to carry the group’s prey. The group dragged the beasts slowly away from the snake den, but as night fell, a distant tiger roar warned of a possible attack by the dangerous hairless tiger.

• After the standoff with Huang Snake ended, Zhang Xuezhou treated the injured Ferocious Beasts and people, but his Law Power and mental strength ran low.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that he had hoped to speak with Huang Snake and hire it to transport the Ferocious Beasts, but he had failed to learn Ren Yisheng’s method of mental communication.
• Ren Yisheng said the group would have to drag the Ferocious Beasts by force, so Zhang Xuezhou joined the grueling work.
• Qimeng Haige asked Changkong Luo and the others for a share of the Ferocious Beasts, then tried to prod the white elephant forward with a sewing needle and made it more agitated.
• The group traveled only a few li from the snake den by sunset, and a distant tiger roar left Changkong Luo and the others fearing a nighttime attack by the hairless tiger.

The group continued through the night, wary of the hairless tiger and other Ferocious Beasts as they moved away from the Snake King. Near the third watch, a long-armed creature attacked from atop the stone forest, and the group fought back as the ambush began.

• Changkong Luo and Zuo Lianguang discussed the danger of hunting Ferocious Beasts and the hairless tiger's mental attacks.
• Zhang Xuezhou judged that the hairless tiger would likely wait until the group was far from the Snake King before striking, and stayed near the white elephant for cover.
• Near the third watch, rocks thrown from above struck Changkong Luo and sent him flying, prompting him to warn the group.
• Changkong Yinghao spotted a long-armed creature on the stone forest hurling rocks, while Changkong Yinglian pulled Changkong Luo out of danger.
• Zhou Rihui leaped up toward the attacker, and Zhang Xuezhou and Wang Haoran fired and sent a flying blade toward it as the Ferocious Beasts launched their counterattack.

Zhang Xuezhou and the group repelled a giant ape’s night attack, and he judged that the wounded beast would make another attack unlikely. At dawn, Zhong Rang awoke lucid and apparently rejuvenated, with only a hazy memory of the Qinmeng Secret Stone and someone beside it.

• Changkong Yinghao took command after Changkong Luo was injured, and the group illuminated the attacker, revealing a giant ape that transformed into a tiger cub and fled.
• Zhou Rihui threw rocks after the fleeing beast, while Zhang Xuezhou fired Song Xianzhong’s armor-piercing rifle and apparently wounded it.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Yisheng that the hairless tiger was unlikely to attack again that night, though Ren Yisheng kept the group vigilant.
• At dawn, Changkong Yinglian cried out as the unconscious Zhong Rang woke without signs of late-life confusion.
• Zhong Rang described hazy memories of fighting snakes and a Ferocious Beast, noticed that his body had regained its youth, and recalled a massive stone with someone beside it.

After Zhong Rang recovered from his coma in remarkably good health, the Twilight Years team learned that a Qinmeng Secret Stone might be inside the snake den and debated whether to seek it. Changkong Luo reflected on Qimeng Haige’s difficult life and concluded that Zhou Xin had the strongest chance of reaching the Eighth Sequence.

• Zhong Rang and other team members woke from their comas, and Zhong Rang’s recovery prompted questions about Zhang Xuezhou’s medicine and the Qinmeng Secret Stone.
• Changkong Luo asked Zhang Xuezhou where the Qinmeng Secret Stone was, and Zhang directed him to the underground palace beneath the snake den.
• Qimeng Haige denied possessing a Qinmeng Secret Stone and argued that enduring hardship had helped him live long and reach the Eighth Sequence.
• Changkong Luo saw a possible path to the Eighth Sequence in Qimeng Haige’s resilience and realized Zhou Xin had already chosen a similar path.
• Changkong Luo concluded that Zhou Xin would have the best chance among the Scarlet Alliance State members of becoming an Eighth Sequence Holder, aside from Ren Yisheng.

Changkong Luo left Twilight Years Mansion and chose to remain in Qinmeng to strengthen himself and pursue the Eighth Sequence. Meanwhile, Qimeng Haige sought permission from Ren Yisheng to enter the Scarlet Alliance State, leaving Ren inclined to welcome the Eighth Sequence Holder’s help.

• Changkong Luo announced that he would stay in Qinmeng and follow Zhou Xin’s path rather than return to Twilight Years Mansion or seek the Qinmeng Secret Stone immediately.
• Changkong Yinglian asked Changkong Luo whether she and Changkong Yinghao could still reach the Seventh Sequence, and he said they could only try their luck.
• Changkong Luo left the heavy trucks midway through their journey and disappeared into the mountain forest.
• Qimeng Haige reflected that strengthening his Sequence foundation could help him approach the Eighth Sequence ability of Control, which he had begun to understand by watching Zhang Xuezhou use Tuer God Grace.
• Qimeng Haige asked Ren Yisheng to let him enter the Scarlet Alliance State and offered to obey its laws and elderly conduct rules.
• Ren Yisheng agreed to welcome Qimeng Haige, hoping to use his strength against Huang Daoxian.

Aboard the freighter, Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian reasoned that Mental Strengthening was the main trunk connecting the Realm Technique and Gene Sequence, and that it might guide a cultivator beyond the Seventh Sequence. Zhang Xuezhou concluded that they would need to return to Qinmeng for the Fire Seed and grow stronger quickly.

• Zhang Manqian worried that Changkong Luo had died in Qinmeng, and Zhang Xuezhou suggested he was pursuing the Eighth Sequence and another way to extend his life.
• Zhang Manqian proposed that steadfastness, calm, and endurance might be needed for the Eighth Sequence, prompting Zhang Xuezhou to compare the experiences of Qimeng Haige and Ren Yisheng.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian concluded that Mental Strengthening could connect the Realm Technique and Gene Sequence and potentially help cultivators advance further.
• Zhang Manqian wondered whether Ren Yisheng might become the world's first Ninth Sequence Holder, and Zhang Xuezhou described the Ninth Sequence as control over an absolute domain.
• Zhang Xuezhou recalled Hu Hao's disdain for current Sequence development and decided they would have to return to Qinmeng to obtain the Fire Seed.

After the hunting party returned with six Ferocious Beasts, Zhang Xuezhou recruited Zhao Tianhua for a new expedition to Qinmeng. Zhao agreed to lead the team, which Zhang planned to launch within the year after arranging personnel and supplies.

• The oceangoing freighter carried six captured Ferocious Beasts home, while Zhang Xuezhou checked that their injuries would not prove fatal.
• Zhang Xuezhou visited a frustrated Zhao Tianhua and suggested that the elusive hairless tiger might be a bear in disguise.
• Zhang Xuezhou invited Zhao Tianhua to lead a younger hunting team, promising they could search for the hairless tiger and other Ferocious Beasts in Qinmeng.
• Zhao Tianhua accepted the offer, and Zhang Xuezhou said they would prepare the team and set out within the year.
• Zhang Xuezhou planned for either Ren Yisheng advancing to the Seventh Sequence or the team needing to rely on stealthy ambushes.

Zhang Xuezhou returned from the world-switching darkness to Soul-Severing Ridge, where he found his abilities greatly diminished but his body transformed into a remarkably durable form. He accepted his condition and resolved to rely on his resilience as he continued cultivating.

• Before switching worlds, Zhang Xuezhou told Zhang Manqian to treat Luo Burang courteously while he stayed at the B13 Research Institute.
• As Zhang Xuezhou exchanged places with the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, he sensed a mysterious medium in the darkness and wondered whether Nagesi had experienced the same thing.
• Zhang Xuezhou awoke at Soul-Severing Ridge beside the Grand Empress Dowager and accepted rabbit from Divine Lord Zhenyuan.
• Zhang Xuezhou found that he could no longer use his Technique Methods, but his transformed body possessed great strength and toughness.
• Zhang Xuezhou reassured Divine Lord Zhenyuan that losing cultivation abilities would not disrupt his standing at the Great Han court or the Kunlun Sacred Land.

Zhang Xuezhou discovered that lightning had destroyed the Myriad Longevity Fruit Tree and disrupted his plan to use its fruit to refine away the Cynomorium Law Power in his body. He and Divine Lord Zhenyuan found signs that the tree might regrow, then postponed their plans to carry the Grand Empress Dowager’s sedan chair.

• Zhang Xuezhou learned that heavenly lightning had stripped the Myriad Longevity Fruit Tree of its leaves and fruits, leaving him without a key ingredient for his Human Pill cultivation plan.
• Divine Lord Zhenyuan told Zhang Xuezhou that the tree was a unique Chaos Spirit Root and that no other Myriad Longevity Fruits existed.
• Zhang Xuezhou pointed out that a dead poison tree had grown new shoots, prompting Divine Lord Zhenyuan to inspect it and find signs of life.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Divine Lord Zhenyuan decided to leave the Myriad Longevity Fruit Tree unburied and wait to see whether it would regrow.
• Zhang Xuezhou abandoned his plan to return to Kunlun Sacred Land, while Divine Lord Zhenyuan gave up building on Soul-Severing Ridge, and they resumed carrying the Grand Empress Dowager’s sedan chair.

Divine Lord Zhenyuan and Zhang Xuezhou returned to Chang'an City with the Grand Empress Dowager's corpse, but the damaged Gold-Threaded Jade Burial Suit could preserve it for only two years. Zhang Xuezhou returned to ordinary life at the Zhang residence and learned that Yi Shuo had nearly reached the Body Transformation Realm.

• Divine Lord Zhenyuan warned Zhang Xuezhou to stay within three thousand li so he could help if trouble arose.
• Divine Lord Zhenyuan brought the Grand Empress Dowager's corpse to the Palace of Peace and Happiness and told Grand Princess Dou that the Gold-Threaded Jade Burial Suit would preserve it for only two years.
• Divine Lord Zhenyuan stayed at the palace to act as the Grand Empress Dowager's stand-in and enforcer.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned to the Zhang residence, changed out of his ruined Heavenly Robe, and tried to adjust to ordinary life.
• Yi Shuo visited Zhang Xuezhou before dawn, and he noticed that her cultivation had brought her close to the Body Transformation Realm.

Zhang Xuezhou advised Yi Shuo to stay close to the Empress Dowager, believing she might help Yi Shuo reach the Divine Ability Realm. After returning to Zhang Household Village, he tried to convince his family he was not an assassin, but his explanations only made them worry that he was a fraudulent fortune-teller.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Yi Shuo that her chance to reach the Divine Ability Realm might come through the Empress Dowager, and Yi Shuo asked him for guidance on the Grain Avoidance Instruction before leaving.
• Zhang Xuezhou reflected that the Empress Dowager might have helped the new emperor and Tian Fen advance in cultivation, and that Yi Shuo could benefit by staying close to her.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned to Zhang Household Village, where the family gathered for morning cultivation and prepared to skin a black bear for its hide and meat.
• Zhang Baojia warned Zhang Xuezhou to quit working as an assassin, while Zhang Xuezhou denied it and claimed he was a court counselor and fortune-teller.
• Zhang Xuezhou tried to prove his fortune-telling was accurate, but Zhang Baojia instead urged him to stop deceiving people before someone beat him to death.