Chapter Summaries

Thorn bushes spread around the security center as an unseen attacker targeted the facility, and Song Bu'er shot down nine members of the Zhao Household. Zhu Liangping was then possessed or afflicted by the transparent bead’s power again, and he recognized that it had returned for him.

• Thorn bushes grew across the grounds outside the security center, and the Sequence Holders suspected that someone had manipulated the wind and rain to carry the seeds.
• A figure in a black raincoat ran over the bushes toward the bronze turtle but was shot dead, followed by another attacker.
• Song Xianzhong suspected Song Bu'er was firing from West District Eight, and Song Bu'er later reported that the dead attackers belonged to the Zhao Household in Changqing City before withdrawing.
• Zhu Liangping accused the others of laying a trap, then began acting strangely as Ren Yisheng assessed him and prepared the Dragon Elephant Combat Technique.
• Zhu Liangping said the transparent bead from Changqing City had returned for him and described reliving Zhu Wei's death over what felt like more than ten days.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others discovered that Huang Daoxian had induced Zhu Liangping and Zhao Keqing from afar, making their trap unreliable. They ordered an immediate rocket strike, but the launch caused catastrophic explosions at the security center as Qimeng Haige chased someone into the darkness.

• Zhu Liangping asked to be shackled and caged like Zuo Jin so he would not endanger the others.
• Zhang Xuezhou reported finding Zhao Keqing scattering seeds in a trance and said Huang Daoxian had likely induced him.
• Zhu Bufan left to confront the intruders, while Song Xianzhong went out to snipe another person approaching through the thorns.
• Zhang Xuezhou urged the group to open fire, and Ren Yisheng approved the attack on the bronze tortoise's location.
• Li Yingbo gave the order and Xu Shian triggered the rocket launch, but several rockets exploded or went out of control, damaging the security center.
• Qimeng Haige spotted someone sneaking away and vanished into the darkness to pursue them.

After an explosion rocked the security center, Zhang Xuezhou freed Zuo Jin and demanded lucky ornaments to counter Huang Daoxian’s arrival. Grabbing Zuo Jin’s flower triggered a Fortune Technique contest, which Zhang won, leaving him holding four golden chips that Zuo Jin called his core.

• An explosion swept through the security center, and Zhang Xuezhou endured the blast before rushing to Zuo Jin’s cell.
• Zhang Xuezhou found Zuo Jin alive and demanded lucky ornaments, but Zuo Jin became fixated on how Zhang resisted his illusion.
• Zhang Xuezhou opened the cage’s meal hatch and grabbed Zuo Jin’s flower, triggering a Fortune Technique contest between them.
• Zhang Xuezhou attacked Zuo Jin’s motionless Gladiolus Grass Fortune Body until it withered, then broke the contest.
• Zhang Xuezhou found four golden chips in his palm as Zuo Jin screamed that Zhang had taken his core.

After defeating Zuo Jin in a Fortune War, Zhang Xuezhou learned that the flowers on their enemies were their vulnerable functional cores. Amid the chaos at the security center, he answered Ren Anran’s warning about the living thorn bushes and infiltrators, then hurried into the corridor to find Huang Daoxian.

• Zhang Xuezhou found Zuo Jin aged and weakened after the Fortune War, and the four chips he had won appeared to have no effect.
• Zuo Jin briefly recognized Zhang Xuezhou as Associate Professor Zhang, asked where his son Zuo Teng was, and revealed that breaking the enemies’ flower cores would rapidly weaken them.
• Zhang Xuezhou called Zuo Teng, who said the security center was still in chaos after the rocket artillery bombardment and that he could not help his father.
• Ren Anran told Zhang Xuezhou that the thorn bushes were attacking their side and asked him to warn Ren Yisheng, then cautioned that around a hundred infiltrators had entered the security center.
• Zhang Xuezhou pocketed the chips and left Zuo Jin in the cage as he plunged into the disordered corridor.

After an explosion and a sudden flood threw the security center into chaos, Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng assessed the attack and the abnormal rain. Suspecting the rain had been borrowed from Southward-Gazing Lake, they headed for the barracks to launch rockets at the lake.

• Zhang Xuezhou pulled Ren Yisheng from the debris and treated his injuries after the explosion.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Yisheng that more than a hundred infiltrators had approached and that the thorns seemed able to recognize people.
• Ren Yisheng ordered Li Yingbo to restore power, eliminate attackers, and report on the bombardment site.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng discovered that the rain was localized around the security center and that water had risen nearly to their calves.
• Ren Yisheng reasoned that the abnormal rain might have been borrowed from elsewhere, and Zhang Xuezhou identified Southward-Gazing Lake as the nearest large body of water.
• Zhang Xuezhou led Ren Yisheng across the flood toward the barracks to bombard Southward-Gazing Lake with rockets.

After a rocket artillery explosion injured people at the camp, Zhang Xuezhou treated the wounded and pressed ahead with a test shot aimed at Southward-Gazing Lake. He took responsibility for adjusting the launcher himself, but could not guarantee the rocket would hit its target or avoid residential areas.

• Zhang Xuezhou proposed firing rocket artillery at Southward-Gazing Lake, and Ren Yisheng worried the inaccurate rockets could hit residents.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Supreme Purity True Technique to treat the wounded while Zhen Mei organized the response to the explosion.
• Ren Yisheng reassessed Zhang Xuezhou, then helped persuade Zhen Mei to cooperate with the test firing.
• Zhen Mei relayed the order to fire toward Southward-Gazing Lake, but the gunner feared the rocket could miss and cause casualties.
• Zhang Xuezhou took responsibility, adjusted the launcher with the gunner's calculations, and prepared to fire without knowing whether he could hit the target.

Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng fired rockets toward Southward-Gazing Lake, and the bombardment stopped the strange rain as they set out to investigate. Back at camp, Zhen Mei’s wounds mysteriously healed just as bean-like attackers stormed the camp and began killing its personnel.

• Zhang Xuezhou used his aerial perspective to aim a rocket at Southward-Gazing Lake, then directed twelve more rockets toward the same area after the rain began to weaken.
• The rain and wind stopped after the rockets exploded, and Ren Yisheng sent Qin Zhong and others to search Southward-Gazing Lake while he and Zhang Xuezhou stayed near the copper turtle.
• Qimeng Haige warned Ren Yisheng that a black-clad attacker he had shot turned into a large bean, and he urged Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng’s family to beware of bean-like foes.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng sped across the waves toward the impact area as Zhen Mei called for lights and searchlights at the camp.
• Zhen Mei discovered that her wounds had healed, then saw black figures leap into the camp and attack the personnel.
• Zhen Mei smashed one attacker into a bean with Giant Ape Force and charged into the fight after seeing another attacker shatter a man’s bones.

Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng waited near the bombed crater for Huang Daoxian’s people, while Ren Yisheng reflected on the failures of the Luo'an Province investigation. Zhang Xuezhou discovered that one of the men searching for the bronze turtle was a flesh puppet and found a message that could help them track their enemies.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng avoided the bean soldiers and hid near the crater where the rocket attack had struck.
• Ren Yisheng heard infiltrators discuss using the Zhao Household people as artillery bait and reconsidered how the Sequence Committee had handled the Zhang Qiao'en incident.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Ren Yisheng to make the searching men believe they had found the bronze turtle, and Ren Yisheng agreed.
• The men announced that they had found the turtle and sent a message ordering the bean soldiers and bean generals to withdraw in ten minutes.
• Zhang Xuezhou approached the man who sent the message, shot him, and pulled a tendril from his body, recognizing him as a flesh puppet.

Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Yisheng investigated the unusual abilities of Huang Daoxian’s followers, tracked Hu Jiaquan, and coordinated with the other Sequence Committee Members. They stayed beside the bronze turtle, where Ren Yisheng believed the final contest would take place if Huang Daoxian could get past the others.

• Zhang Xuezhou burned the vine that had taken Zuo Luo’s form and plucked the red flower that emerged from it.
• Ren Yisheng concluded that the other four men carried parasitic vines, then left them alive after knocking them unconscious; Zhang Xuezhou said he had struggled to suppress the man he killed.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Luo Gaogao to track Hu Jiaquan’s communicator and learned that Hu was moving toward Hui’an Road after leaving early.
• Ren Yisheng contacted Zhong Rang and the others to coordinate their pursuit, while Song Xianzhong asked him to use Divine Grace to save injured people at the camp.
• Ren Yisheng and Zhang Xuezhou remained by the bronze turtle, expecting the final contest to occur there if the other committee members could stop Huang Daoxian.

A rocket launcher explosion rocked the security center, prompting Ning Que to recognize his limitations and sense a connection to the bronze turtle statue through the ability Song Sijia had taught him. Song Sijia refused to help him investigate and fled downstairs, where she encountered her father, Song Bu'er.

• A rocket launcher exploded near the security center, shattering windows, cutting the lights, and injuring Lin Qingyu.
• Ning Que reflected that his Gene Fighting Technique could not protect him from military weapons, then sensed a connection to the bronze turtle statue while reciting what Song Sijia had taught him.
• Ning Que restrained Song Sijia to explain his unusual feeling, but she refused to join him and tried to find a place to hide.
• Song Sijia ran down the stairwell and was stopped at gunpoint by a masked figure who searched her.
• Song Sijia recognized the figure's gun and realized he was her father, Song Bu'er.

Song Bu'er fled a powerful shadow pursuer and asked Song Sijia for help, leading her to summon Ning Que and Jin Shixue. Ning Que balked after learning the pursuer might require a Sixth Sequence opponent, while Jin Shixue accepted Song Bu'er's formal request for assistance.

• Song Bu'er found Song Sijia while fleeing the shadow man and urgently asked her to get him two guns.
• Song Sijia decided Ning Que was their best hope and rushed upstairs with Song Bu'er to ask him for help.
• Ning Que welcomed Song Sijia and Song Bu'er, but shut the door when Song Bu'er described the shadow man's strength.
• Song Bu'er recognized Jin Shixue as a Fifth Sequence expert and requisitioned his help as a committee member.
• Jin Shixue accepted Song Bu'er's request, seeing the fight as a chance to earn the Western Capital City Sequence Committee's trust.

Ning Que and the others fought a powerful, featureless figure that pursued Song Bu'er through the reception room. After Song Sijia exposed its inhuman face, Jin Shixue spotted a possible weakness and joined Ning Que in an attack.

• Ning Que, Jin Shixue, and the others prepared to defend themselves as the figure approached the reception room.
• Ning Que struck the figure with a chair and attacked its leg, but its great weight and resilience defeated his grappling; Jin Shixue's belt and Song Sijia's Dragon Might Combat Technique also failed to stop it.
• The figure ignored everyone but Song Bu'er, who admitted he had killed sixteen similar creatures and was running low on ammunition.
• Lin Zimo pointed out the figure's fixation on Song Bu'er's color-changing clothes, while Lin Qingyu recognized its scorched-soy smell and Min Ziyan associated it with Emperor Li of Luo's Mausoleum.
• Song Sijia shone a light on the figure and revealed that it had no facial features; Jin Shixue noticed a possible weakness and attacked it alongside Ning Que.

Ning Que, Song Bu'er, and Jin Shixue fought a strange, powerful attacker in the security center, eventually knocking him down and restraining him with Jin Shixue’s belt. The attacker vanished into a fist-sized black bean, while the group remained wary of other threats outside.

• Ning Que fought the shadowy attacker while Song Bu'er used his unfastened color-changing field uniform as bait.
• Song Sijia threw a chair at the attacker, distracting Ning Que and forcing Song Bu'er to step in; Song Bu'er was badly injured as the attacker grabbed his uniform.
• Ning Que tripped the attacker, and Jin Shixue used his tough belt to whip him into a spinning, helpless position.
• Jin Shixue and Ning Que noticed the attacker’s unusual body and questioned whether he was a Sequence Holder, while Song Sijia tried to contact Zhang Xuezhou.
• Song Bu'er warned that more strange attackers were outside, and Song Sijia confirmed the rain had stopped.
• Jin Shixue’s belt missed, and the attacker disappeared, leaving a fist-sized black bean on the floor.

Ren Yisheng and Zhang Xuezhou waited for their plan to unfold, but setbacks and bad luck left them uncertain how to proceed. Zhang learned that Song Sijia had found a bean likely connected to Hu Jiaquan and went to investigate, while Ren discovered a way through the thorn thicket.

• Ren Yisheng asked Zhang Xuezhou whether Hu Jiaquan would return if his pursuers failed to find the bronze turtle, and Zhang blamed their setbacks on bad luck.
• Zhang found that two of Zuo Jin’s chips had turned gray and explained that Zuo Jin was too diminished to help them.
• Ren tried to learn the Tomb Scripture and open a Fortune Eye, but Zhang stopped him after hearing several mispronunciations.
• Ren guided a man who could control the thorns, and the man accidentally discovered that walking made the thorny plants part to clear a path.
• After reading Song Sijia’s message that she had found a fist-sized bean, Zhang suspected Hu Jiaquan had not reached Hui’an Road and left to investigate.

Zhang Xuezhou found Hu Jiaquan at the security center and subdued him, disrupting the plan to use him as bait at Hui'an Road. After the Bean Soldiers vanished, Song Sijia gathered the battered group to join Zhang Xuezhou, while Ning Que left the reception room ahead of them.

• Zhang Xuezhou climbed to the eighth floor of the dark security center and found Hu Jiaquan muttering about Bean Soldiers, Bean Generals, and Song Bu'er's treasured garment.
• Zhang Xuezhou intimidated Hu Jiaquan and knocked him unconscious, then sent Ren Yisheng a photo and reported that the planned bait had gone off course.
• Ren Yisheng offered to control Zhu Youpeng and send him to Hui'an Road, but Zhang Xuezhou told him to come pick them up instead.
• Zhang Xuezhou called Song Sijia and told her to guard Hu Jiaquan; Song Sijia explained that the Bean Soldiers had vanished after Zhang subdued their master.
• Song Sijia helped the injured Song Bu'er and gathered the others to go with Zhang Xuezhou, while Ning Que left the reception room without looking back.

Zhang Xuezhou learned that Ning Que and Jin Shixue could sense the bronze tortoise through their altered recitation of Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity, and encouraged them to develop the ability. Before leaving, he offered to help those who contributed gain access to genetic medicines, while Song Bu'er urged Song Sijia to stay close to Zhang Xuezhou for a chance to advance.

• Zhang Xuezhou praised Song Sijia for revising Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity and Ning Que for learning it and sensing the bronze tortoise from miles away.
• Ning Que asked Zhang Xuezhou to redirect his recitation so he could help others, and Zhang said it might work for one person before agreeing to let him try helping more.
• Song Sijia asked to go to the bronze tortoise's location, but Zhang warned that poisonous brambles blocked the way, and she gave up.
• Jin Shixue told Zhang he could also recite the altered text and faintly sense the bronze tortoise, then accepted Zhang's offer of help obtaining genetic medicines for those who contributed.
• After Zhang left, Song Bu'er told Song Sijia to stay close to Zhang Xuezhou while he stayed close to Old Ren, hoping their connections would help them reach the Seventh Sequence.

Zhang Xuezhou discovered that Zuo Jin’s chips drew Huang Daoxian into a Fortune Technique battle, where he hid from the vastly stronger nine-petaled flower. He evaded Huang Daoxian’s Ten Thousand Flower Search, but Huang Daoxian prepared another attack.

• Ren Yisheng told Zhang Xuezhou that he had cleared a three-li path through the thorns before learning the others could pull the bronze tortoise from afar.
• Zhang Xuezhou examined the four purple chips taken from Zuo Jin and saw purple light surge from one of them.
• Huang Daoxian appeared as a nine-petaled flower and confronted Zhang Xuezhou, demanding to know who had defeated Ba'ergu.
• Zhang Xuezhou concealed his fish-dragon Fortune Body in the darkness while Huang Daoxian searched for him and accused him of ruining his plans.
• Huang Daoxian used Ten Thousand Flower Search, multiplying his petals into thousands, but Zhang Xuezhou evaded the attack.
• Huang Daoxian announced that he would use Gloomy Bewitching Incense next.

Ren Yisheng discovered Zhang Xuezhou had suddenly collapsed and gathered the committee members to seek answers, while they struggled to find Huang Daoxian after the attacks. The search widened into a sweeping investigation, but Zhang Xuezhou’s condition remained unexplained.

• Ren Yisheng found Zhang Xuezhou unresponsive and hurried to contact Ren Anran and the other experts for help.
• Ren Yisheng, Zhong Rang, Li Yingbo, Qimeng Haige, and others discussed the failed search for Huang Daoxian and considered deploying more forces.
• Regular forces joined the search, while officials arrested and questioned survivors found in the bombed security center compound.
• The committee members debated searching the Zuo Household, East Mountain, and Luo'an Province as they intensified their investigation.
• When someone raised Zhang Xuezhou's condition, the discussion fell silent because no one had an answer.

Ren Anran kept Zhang Xuezhou in place and sought help to determine why he had collapsed. As she tried to find a way to help him, she remembered the guests Zhang Xuezhou had gathered to study the Tomb Scripture and called Song Sijia for details.

• Ren Anran refused to move Zhang Xuezhou and called Zhang Manqian, hoping Huang could assess his condition.
• Qimeng Haige suggested bringing medical equipment to Zhang Xuezhou, and Ren Anran contacted Ren Yisheng about setting up a temporary hospital.
• After Qimeng Haige left, Ren Anran reasoned that Zhang Xuezhou must have anticipated the danger and remembered the Tomb Scripture and its guests.
• Ren Anran called Song Sijia and told her to finish breakfast, then come over and explain everything Zhang Xuezhou had discussed with them.

At the locked-down security center, Song Sijia recounted the previous night while Ning Que asked Ren Anran to change Zhang Xuezhou’s recitation plan so he could help with the bronze turtle. Ren Anran worked out new words for him, and the chapter ended as she called Ning Que over to explain them.

• Song Sijia told Ren Anran and Ning Que what had happened the previous night, and Ning Que confirmed her account.
• Ren Anran agreed to let Lin Qingyu recite closer to the bronze turtle, while Ning Que asked for a different plan because Zhang Xuezhou’s arrangements could not help him meet the requirements.
• Ning Que explained that he wanted to contribute and believed helping could open the Alliance States’ doors to him, so Ren Anran tried to refine new instructions in the unfamiliar language of Great Han.
• Jin Shixue told Ning Que that the recitation’s sound frequency acted like a code unlocking a Gene Sequence, while he watched the sky uneasily for fish-scale lights.
• Song Sijia advised Ning Que that close-range Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity would make recitation easier, and Ren Anran called him over to explain the changes she had worked out.