Chapter Summaries

Huo Qubing’s effortless mastery of Infant Transformation drew attention from the Confucian scholars, while Zhang Xuezhou considered adapting the technique to his own cultivation. The chapter ended with Zhang Xuezhou sensing a hostile observer circling his residence in the night sky and suspecting Donghua had sent someone after him.

• Huo Qubing explained that he had learned to settle his spirit in the Niwan Palace by following what he saw through inner vision, though he could not explain the process further.
• Zhang Xuezhou examined Huo Qubing and found that his Infant Transformation had strengthened his Qi and Blood despite his unopened Acupoints.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Huo Qubing to draw the technique, but his poor artwork left the method incomplete; Gongsun Hong then wrote to notify Dong Zhongshu.
• Wei Shao'er checked Huo Qubing’s condition while Zhang Xuezhou considered fusing Infant Transformation into his Realm Technique and reaching the True Self Realm.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed hostile eyes watching from the night sky and suspected Donghua had sent someone to kill him.

Zhang Xuezhou used the spiritwood staff to destroy a hostile Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation that had been watching him. He identified its owner as Dou Ying, the Marquis of Weiqi, and set out to learn why Dou Ying had turned against him.

• Zhang Xuezhou realized his Realm Technique would have limited effect on a True Self Realm cultivator and tried to summon Wei Shao'er and Gongsun Hong for help, but neither came downstairs.
• Zhang Xuezhou coordinated his mental power with the spiritwood staff and struck the hidden opponent with Realm Suppression.
• The enemy's Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation collapsed and fled as a streak of blood-red light, which Zhang Xuezhou pursued through the air.
• Zhang Xuezhou traced the light to Dou Ying's residence and recognized the Marquis of Weiqi as the owner of the incarnation.
• Zhang Xuezhou recalled his past exchange with Dou Ying and wondered why the once-amiable marquis had become hostile.

After his Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation was slain, Dou Ying blamed Li Shaojun and tried to recover from the backlash while plotting to save Guan Fu by stealing the Red Empyrean Sword. Zhang Xuezhou overheard Dou Ying’s fears that corrupt ministers were endangering the Great Han Dynasty and moved closer when Dou Ying produced a secret decree.

• Zhang Xuezhou found Dou Ying suffering from the backlash after his Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation was slain.
• Dou Ying suspected Li Shaojun had attacked him, took a Qi and Blood Fortune Pill, and explained that he planned to steal the Red Empyrean Sword to clear Guan Fu’s name.
• Dou Ying’s trusted personal eunuch warned him that stealing the sword would bring trouble, but Dou Ying named several people he might frame with it.
• Dou Ying told the eunuch that the Great Han Dynasty was threatened by sinister ministers and that the Empress Dowager might send elite troops to die in the northwest.
• Zhang Xuezhou listened from a beam as Dou Ying took out a scroll containing a secret decree, then moved closer to inspect it.

Dou Ying read Emperor Jing’s secret edict and lamented how hard it was to protect the Great Han court, while Zhang Xuezhou watched from the roof, mistaken for Sima Tan. After Zhang hinted that Guan Fu had been framed over the Red Empyrean Sword, Dou Ying became determined to uncover the truth.

• Dou Ying reviewed Emperor Jing’s secret list of dangerous figures and discussed how difficult it was to keep the Great Han Dynasty from collapsing.
• Zhang Xuezhou became wary of Li Guang after learning that the True Martial Sacred Land master had served as a court official.
• Dou Ying mistook Zhang Xuezhou for Sima Tan and wrote the character for loyalty on his chest, hoping the grand astrologer would record his virtue.
• Zhang Xuezhou imitated Sima Tan and told Dou Ying that Emperor Jing had intended to use the Red Empyrean Sword against certain people and that Guan Fu had been framed.
• Dou Ying concluded that Tian Fen’s retainers might have switched the sword and resolved to find the real Red Empyrean Sword and clear Guan Fu.

After surviving an attack by Dou Ying’s Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation, Zhang Xuezhou scolded Wei Shao'er for failing to notice the fight and asked her to watch Dou Ying. He continued nurturing his spiritwood staff and realized that damaging a Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation might both weaken its owner and sacrificially refine the staff.

• Zhang Xuezhou returned to his body and reprimanded Wei Shao'er for not noticing the attack, while she explained that she had mistaken the sounds for someone using the privy.
• Zhang Xuezhou urged Wei Shao'er to improve her speed so she could keep up with him, and she complained about their son Bing'er causing trouble at the Imperial Academy.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Wei Shao'er to shadow Dou Ying and investigate his activities and the whereabouts of the fake Red Empyrean Sword.
• Zhang Xuezhou resumed nurturing his spiritwood staff and noticed it had grown more vigorous and cooperative.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that destroying Dou Ying's Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation may have injured his soul and discovered a possible way to sacrificially refine the staff by attacking such incarnations.

Zhang Xuezhou reached the eighth level of the Nurturing Method and entered Green Radiance’s memories, discovering the spirit wood staff’s long, unlucky history. As he tried to reassure it, Green Radiance turned the tables and began tempting and overwhelming him.

• After nearly two days of struggle, Zhang Xuezhou united his thoughts with Green Radiance and began seeing its memories.
• Zhang Xuezhou witnessed a man and woman nurture the vine and harvest a water gourd, then saw them killed after a dispute over a trade.
• The vine withered, was cut apart and burned, but its roots endured and eventually grew into a sentient spirit wood staff.
• Zhang Xuezhou saw the vine’s later encounters with his face and the Water Gourd, then sympathized with its miserable fate and promised it a better life.
• Green Radiance flooded Zhang Xuezhou’s senses with emerald light and began tempting him, leaving him fearing that it would overpower and devour him.

Zhang Xuezhou entered a mental world where the giant tree communicated with the Spirit Wood Staff, and he tried to resist its influence while hoping to share in its benefits. After waiting through an exchange that seemed to ignore time, he was pulled back when the flower house appeared, realizing this journey differed from the previous ones.

• Zhang Xuezhou used Moonfall to calm the tempting illusions and saw the giant tree connected to the Spirit Wood Staff in his mental world.
• He realized the giant tree and the Spirit Wood Staff were the true participants in the exchange, while he was only a passive observer.
• Zhang Xuezhou transformed into his Realm Tree and called for the giant tree to grant him benefits, but it ignored him.
• As the exchange continued, Zhang Xuezhou worried that years or decades might pass and repeatedly tried to break free with Moonfall.
• The flower house appeared, shattering the mental scene and returning Zhang Xuezhou to awareness; he recognized that this journey was different from the earlier ones.

Zhang Xuezhou encountered the awakened giant tree’s Subspecies during traversal and debated whether reaching the light beyond the darkness meant salvation or exploitation. The ancient tree grew despondent as Zhang challenged its hopeful view, leaving their conversation unresolved.

• Zhang Xuezhou discovered that the giant tree had awakened and regained its former intact shape during his traversal.
• Zhang Xuezhou heard a voice he recognized as Hongjun’s, then met the ancient tree that handled the transition and learned it was a Subspecies.
• The ancient tree said it wanted to understand the world beyond the darkness, while Zhang Xuezhou named several beings who might have come from Heaven Beyond Heaven.
• The ancient tree described life-bearing planets as seeds and stars as fire seeds that could lead living beings toward eternal light.
• Zhang Xuezhou argued that beings who reached the light might exploit or destroy those below, citing the spirit wood, and the ancient tree’s mental fluctuations grew despondent.

Zhang Xuezhou tried to persuade the ancient tree to face the unknown world with hope, then learned that a heavenly fire was consuming it. The tree said it had about six thousand days left, giving Zhang Xuezhou far more time than he had feared to seek help.

• Zhang Xuezhou urged the ancient tree to find beauty in life and suggested they could grow stronger together, but the tree refused to nurture another inheritor after its past failure with Donghua.
• The ancient tree revealed that it was dying because an unquenchable heavenly fire was burning its spirit and trunk.
• The tree showed Zhang Xuezhou a tiny red fragment embedded in its body, which reminded him of Nagesi's Doomsday Fragment.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed asking Hongjun to remove the fragment, though the ancient tree doubted Hongjun would help and said it had little time left.
• When Zhang Xuezhou asked how long the tree could survive, it estimated six thousand days, which Zhang Xuezhou realized was about five hundred years.

Zhang Xuezhou and Mallard failed to exchange places and were forced to sign the ancient tree’s contract, which required them to “break out of the darkness.” The tree extended their souls’ lifespans by six thousand days, leaving Zhang Xuezhou to reckon with the contract’s pressure and the danger of outliving his body.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Mallard appeared on the ancient tree’s trunk and learned that they had to make a contract or risk having their souls banished into the void.
• The ancient tree set the contract’s condition as “break out of the darkness,” and Zhang Xuezhou suspected it meant crossing dimensions.
• Zhang Xuezhou signed the contract, and Mallard followed; green light bound both their souls and began to drive them toward fulfilling the condition.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized the contract was changing his thoughts and understood that Donghua’s failure to cross dimensions had left him anxious and trapped.
• The ancient tree revealed that the contract had extended their souls’ lifespans by six thousand days, or five hundred years by Zhang Xuezhou’s travel cycle, though it could not preserve their physical bodies.

Zhang Xuezhou and Mallard learned that their contract extended their divine souls’ lifespans by five hundred years, though it also bound them to the void. The ancient tree gave them a crown-shaped refuge that could heal divine souls, leaving Zhang Xuezhou considering how it might help the professor recover.

• Mallard reacted with delight and disbelief after Zhang Xuezhou told him the contract could extend his divine soul’s lifespan by five hundred years.
• The ancient tree explained that the contract both bound their divine souls and prolonged their lives, and said they would escape it if they broke through the darkness.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered how the Doomsday Fragment’s explosion might have affected Donghua and the contract before the ancient tree presented a crown-shaped refuge.
• The ancient tree entered the crown to recuperate, and Zhang Xuezhou persuaded Mallard to test the refuge’s effects.
• Mallard found the crown’s interior comfortable and restorative, and Zhang Xuezhou realized it could help the professor heal her divine soul.

Zhang Xuezhou accepted the ancient tree's contract and returned to his companions after spending time in its realm, where the tree's influence had stirred thoughts of piercing the darkness. He then helped the group resume their effort to learn how to enter and leave the area, despite their concern for his health.

• Zhang Xuezhou decided the contract's benefits outweighed its risks and urged Mallard to leave the ancient tree's crown with him.
• During their journey through the darkness, Zhang Xuezhou sensed that the idea of piercing it had taken root in his mind.
• Zhang Xuezhou awoke after twenty-four days, and Ren Anran told him he had taken nine days longer than before.
• Mengtesi Badun, Nagesi, Ren Yisheng, and Zhou Rihui discussed the risks of Zhang Xuezhou demonstrating his ability and the group's food supply.
• Zhang Xuezhou insisted he could endure hunger and encouraged everyone to imitate his control, so the group began practicing how to enter and leave the area.

Mengtesi Badun imitated Zhang Xuezhou’s Control over Fast and Slow and began analyzing how others could learn it. The group learned that using the ability severely taxed the body, leaving their hopes of escaping dependent on mastering a power they might only be able to use rarely.

• Nagesi explained that Control over Fast and Slow touched on spacetime and was exceptionally difficult to master as a domain.
• Zhang Xuezhou demonstrated his Control, and Mengtesi Badun produced a crude imitation by marking two lines on the ground.
• Mengtesi Badun said the ability directed the body through the mind to achieve extreme speed, but required long recovery periods after use.
• Li Qi and the others realized that even if they learned the Control, its physical cost would limit how often they could use it.
• Mengtesi Badun began analyzing the ability while the others waited to attempt imitating it.

Mengtesi Badun and Nagesi analyzed Zhang Xuezhou’s control over “Fast and Slow,” giving others a framework for learning it while Zhang and Ren Anran discussed whether repeated Divine Ability transformations could grant multiple kinds of control. The chapter left Mengtesi Badun seeking Nagesi’s further input as the group prepared to strengthen their control before entering the distortion.

• Mengtesi Badun analyzed Zhang Xuezhou’s “Fast and Slow” control and began mimicking its extreme speed, though it strained his body.
• Nagesi explained the fifth element and helped Mengtesi Badun organize an analysis that could guide others in learning the ability.
• Zhang Xuezhou quietly suggested to Ren Anran that transforming a technique into a Divine Ability a second time might allow multiple kinds of control.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Anran about the seven-year-old Huo Qubing’s combination of a Realm Technique and the Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation Technique.
• Mengtesi Badun asked Zhang Xuezhou for additions to the analysis, but Zhang said he did not understand the control well enough to help.
• Mengtesi Badun turned to Nagesi for further input, wary of Zhang Xuezhou but intent on strengthening the group before entering the distortion.

The group studied Control over Fast and Slow and considered ways to reach the Ninth Sequence and escape before Donghua recovered. As Zhou Rihui caught water bugs for food, he disturbed something hidden beneath the lake and felt sharp pain in his hands.

• Zhang Xuezhou, Mengtesi Badun, and Nagesi shared their knowledge of Control over Fast and Slow, while Qimeng Haige wondered whether Donghua might still be alive.
• Mengtesi Badun urged everyone to learn how to enter and leave the place and protect themselves before Donghua recovered.
• Ren Yisheng planned to bury himself and push his body close to death to try to reach the Ninth Sequence, and Qimeng Haige offered to try with him.
• Zhou Rihui chose to catch water bugs and considered using Zhang Xuezhou's catalyst to reach the Seventh Sequence.
• After pounding the lake and finding dozens of bugs, Zhou Rihui reached into the water, felt sharp stinging pains, and violently pulled up what was hidden beneath it.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others discovered a black fragment beneath the lake that stung anyone who touched it and produced fluid that rapidly bred and grew bugs. After taking a sample, Zhang Xuezhou sensed that his body resonated with the fragment, leaving its connection to him unexplained.

• Zhou Rihui pulled a giant black stone from the lake and badly punctured his hands, while Zhang Xuezhou reassured him that the injuries would not kill him.
• Zhang Xuezhou suspected the stone was a fragment of the giant tree that had helped nurture the Soul-Locking Pillar.
• Changkong Yinghao touched the stone with an alloy sword and felt a painful electric shock, while Nagesi discovered that bugs could safely draw cloudy fluid from its surface.
• The group collected the fluid and discussed using it to breed food, while Zhang Xuezhou warned Zhou Rihui against continuing to eat poisonous grass for strength.
• Qin Zhong handed Zhang Xuezhou a bag of the bug-breeding fluid, and Zhang Xuezhou noticed that it resembled fluid from the North Rehe laboratory as his body resonated with the black stone.

Zhang Xuezhou and the others discovered that liquid forcibly extracted from the giant tree fragment poisoned insects, while liquid secreted naturally could promote rapid growth. They began investigating how to obtain benign liquid, and Zhang Xuezhou collected a sample that seemed only mildly toxic.

• Zhang Xuezhou tested Qin Zhong’s collected liquid on a six-legged insect, which grew rapidly before its abdomen turned purple and festered.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that the insect’s death showed the extracted liquid was poisonous, and Li Qi suggested that naturally secreted liquid might behave differently.
• Mengtesi Badun speculated that benign liquid could promote evolution or benefit people after dilution, while Zhang Xuezhou identified the boulder as a possible cultivation base or fertilizer for the giant pillar.
• The group discussed ways to obtain benign liquid and found that damaging the boulder caused a painful backlash, even when Mengtesi Badun struck it with the Transforming Ruyi Staff.
• Zhang Xuezhou rubbed the boulder and collected a few milliliters of liquid, which he judged did not seem very toxic.

Zhang Xuezhou helped Mengtesi Badun assess whether he could cross the distortion, and Badun finally risked the crossing with Ren Anran waiting outside. Afterward, Zhang and Nagesi called each other very good friends, and Nagesi began explaining his origins and past as the group prepared to investigate the Doomsday Fragment and Divine Stone.

• Zhang Xuezhou demonstrated his Control over Fast and Slow while Mengtesi Badun hesitated over crossing the distortion.
• Ren Yisheng assessed Badun’s ability, and Zhang Xuezhou told him that crossing alone should be manageable.
• Mengtesi Badun crossed the distortion, while Ren Anran waited outside to receive him.
• Nagesi said he was a descendant who inherited from a being and explained that his predecessor had died ten years earlier.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Nagesi about the Doomsday Fragment and Divine Stone, and Ren Anran confirmed that Badun was safe outside.

Zhang Xuezhou learned about Nagesi’s Doomsday Fragment and Flame Divine Stone before leaving the others to investigate the small world. After sunlight broke through months of rain, Ren Yisheng realized the world’s Spiritual Qi was rapidly increasing.

• Nagesi explained the Doomsday Fragment’s explosive power and the Flame Divine Stone’s benefits and flaw, while Zhang Xuezhou asked where the fragment came from.
• Nagesi revealed that the Flame Divine Stone came from the cave where Puresainuoru had emerged and admitted he knew of no other Doomsday Fragments.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Yisheng to handle the remaining discussions, then leaped into the sky to investigate as his fifteen-day cycle approached.
• Ren Yisheng kept Nagesi occupied while the others waited, reasoning that Mengtesi Badun’s departure had removed an unstable factor.
• Zhou Rihui spotted sunlight breaking through the clouds for the first time in months, and the group’s spirits lifted as their burn scars began to heal.
• Ren Yisheng recognized that rising Spiritual Qi, rather than the sunlight itself, was healing them as its concentration rapidly increased across the small world.

Zhang Xuezhou found a sphere that appeared to contain the small world and tested how its power could alter the surroundings. After experimenting with wind, water, and fire, he pressed the sphere against a boulder, causing it to vanish as blue-green light and rich Spiritual Qi emerged from the stone.

• Zhang Xuezhou retrieved a golden sphere from the vanished entrance to the great hall, and he and Ren Anran recognized it as a possible Origin.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the sphere to clear the clouds and reveal blue sky, while Ren Anran discovered she could not touch it.
• Zhang Xuezhou found that Law Power had no effect on the sphere, but his breath stirred wind and his water and fire tests changed the clouds and air as the sphere shrank.
• Zhang Xuezhou pressed his finger against a boulder through the sphere, which then vanished as blue-green light and rich Spiritual Qi emerged from the boulder.