Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou warned the new emperor that the King of Huainan might be behind an attempt to replace the Red Empyrean Sword and advised him to strengthen his Fortune Techniques. The new emperor resolved to deal with the King of Huainan eventually, while deciding the fake sword could waste Liu An’s time if he studied it.

• The new emperor angrily learned that an expert from Liu An’s shadows had inspected the fake Red Empyrean Sword and considered the possibility that the King of Huainan had a sword of his own.
• Zhang Xuezhou suggested that Jin Chang had come to inspect the genuine sword because he doubted the stolen one or could not understand it, and warned the emperor to improve his Fortune Techniques.
• The new emperor explained that Liu An’s Vast and Brilliant gave him an advantage in Fortune Techniques, while Zhang Xuezhou admitted he had read it and received a jade pendant from the King of Huainan.
• The new emperor warned Zhang Xuezhou that the pendant could expose him to the King of Huainan’s misfortune and advised him to remove it once the king was finished.
• Zhang Xuezhou predicted Liu An would study the sword to gain Gaozu’s abilities, and the new emperor was relieved it was fake because it could keep Liu An occupied for years.

Zhang Xuezhou opened the Pill Furnace and took the gray pill he had refined, discovering that it healed wounds through a powerful reaction between poison and antidote. The pill proved stronger than a normal Life-Creating Fortune Pill, but its poison made it dangerous for seriously ill users.

• Gongsun Hong asked Zhang Xuezhou why he seemed troubled, and Zhang Xuezhou admitted he was afraid to check the pill he had refined.
• At Gongsun Hong's urging, Zhang Xuezhou opened the Pill Furnace, ate the gray pill, and felt poison and healing effects clash inside his body.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Wei Shao'er to stab him so he could test the pill, but his wounds healed quickly.
• Wei Shao'er attacked Zhang Xuezhou with the Fish Intestine Sword, and a wound in his palm vanished as the pill's power activated.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized his pill provided potent, inexhaustible vitality but could poison a critically ill person before its healing effects took hold.

Wei Shao'er agreed to learn Liu Xuan's risky Sword-Guiding Technique so she could become stronger and impress Dongfang Shuo. As Liu Xuan prepared to teach her, he reflected on his search for Qin Er Shi's lost treasure and hoped the Han-Xiong conflict would draw the Three Realms' powers into a war that could restore Great Qin's strength.

• Liu Xuan explained that the Sword-Guiding Technique drew on local forces to strengthen a sword strike, but that its dangers could injure the practitioner.
• Wei Shao'er reluctantly agreed to try learning the technique so she could show Dongfang Shuo her abilities.
• Wei Shao'er promised to earn money singing and spend it on hidden-object guessing, while Liu Xuan hoped to find antiques from Great Qin and Qin Er Shi's treasure.
• Liu Xuan recalled that finding the Marquis of Sui's Pearl might stabilize his body and help him regain his former strength.
• Liu Xuan hoped the Han-Xiong conflict would involve the Three Realms' Sacred Lands and create a chance for Great Qin's forces to defeat their enemies.

Zhang Xuezhou discussed his dangerously potent imitation of the Life-Creating Fortune Pill with Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying, then considered improving its quality to reduce its poison. He left planning further tests before moving on to other longevity pills.

• Zhang Xuezhou met Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying in Old Tree Alley to discuss how his pill poisoned before healing and could kill ordinary users.
• Chunyu Tiying tested Zhang Xuezhou's poisoned blood on a snakefish and confirmed that the poison was potent, while Zhang Xuezhou admitted he could withstand only three to five pills at once.
• Zheng Wukong and Chunyu Tiying suggested that improving the pill to mid-grade or higher might contain its poison and make it safer to take.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided to refine more pills with a longer nourishing period and told them to meet again next month.

Zhang Xuezhou discussed how the court could create more paths for people to advance, even if doing so meant replacing the incompetent and corrupt. He and Rong Tianding also compared the Shijiao School’s teachings on life and death with the experience needed to reach a domain, leaving Zhang Xuezhou with a growing understanding of how to obtain one.

• Zhang Xuezhou visited Mao Mausoleum and explained to Rong Tianding that people without hope of advancement lacked motivation, while the court could guide them toward better opportunities.
• Rong Tianding considered how trapped he might have felt if he had stayed in Hibiscus City, and Zhang Xuezhou predicted that war and anti-corruption efforts would lead to many people being replaced or killed.
• Rong Tianding recognized that the upheaval of the era might help him understand the Shijiao School’s principles of life and death and advance his cultivation.
• Zhang Xuezhou compared Rong Tianding’s account of the Corpse Jiao Canon with Shi Wudao’s experience of Great Qin’s rise and collapse, and explained that lived experience differed from imagining events.
• Zhang Xuezhou reflected on the Shijiao School’s teachings and Shi Wudao’s domain-like power, and began to understand how to obtain a domain.

Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding discussed how Control and domains distinguished true cultivators from those whose realms were flawed, and they considered whether cultivation could extend beyond the True Self Realm. Zhang Xuezhou led Rong Tianding above the clouds, where Rong gained a new understanding of firsthand experience and saw another cultivator nearby.

• Zhang Xuezhou explained to Rong Tianding how Control and domain power could make cultivators of the same realm differ greatly in strength.
• Rong Tianding recited Shi Wudao’s words about space and time and sensed a level of cultivation beyond the True Self Realm, while Zhang Xuezhou recalled Daoist Hongjun.
• Zhang Xuezhou flew up from Mao Mausoleum, and Rong Tianding followed him through the cold air and thick clouds.
• Rong Tianding broke through the clouds and saw the radiant sky above them, realizing that firsthand experience revealed what observation alone could not.
• As Rong Tianding began to tire, he and Zhang Xuezhou noticed another cultivator above the clouds.

Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding encountered the tired Kong Ning while flying and invited her to rest at their home. After she drank water and asked for food, Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding served her stewed meat and talked about cultivation and family.

• Zhang Xuezhou recognized Kong Ning and reminded her that she had once taught him and Wu Chao a technique.
• Kong Ning said she had traveled a long way without accomplishing what she had hoped, then accepted Zhang Xuezhou's invitation to rest at his home.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding descended from the clouds with Kong Ning following behind them.
• Kong Ning rested in Rong Tianding's courtyard, drank a jar of water, and asked for food.
• Rong Tianding offered Kong Ning the stewed game meat, while Zhang Xuezhou joked about adding Soul-Severing Powder and Rong Tianding's pregnant wife.

After Kong Ning fled to Chang'an City, she told Zhang Xuezhou that the Western Sect and Kunlun planned to destroy Zhu Jiuyin’s Sacred Land and capture him. Zhang Xuezhou considered how Donghua’s plans might benefit him and decided Li Shaojun could watch the Western Sect and relay news.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding questioned Kong Ning about her long flight, and she admitted she had traveled to the Western Aparagodaniya Continent to find her father.
• Kong Ning said she refused to return to the Sacred Land and wanted to live in Chang'an City, so Zhang Xuezhou offered to help her settle there.
• Kong Ning revealed that the Western Sect and Kunlun intended to target Zhu Jiuyin and capture her as a mount if the Sacred Land fell.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered Donghua’s meeting with the Western Sect and wondered whether Donghua sought the Eight Treasures Merit Pool and its spring to gain longevity or youth.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided Li Shaojun could keep watch at the Western Sect and use Venerable Lei to carry news between east and west.

Zhang Xuezhou persuaded Li Shaojun to travel west and help trigger a clash between powerful holy lands by delivering news about the battle at Mayi. Li Shaojun agreed to go with Venerable Lei, while Zhang Xuezhou planned to follow if events unfolded.

• Zhang Xuezhou visited Li Shaojun, who had been preparing to flee Chang'an City and feared retaliation from Xiong State's holy lands.
• Zhang Xuezhou urged Li Shaojun to travel to Kunlun and Western Sect holy lands, where he said an opportunity might arise.
• Li Shaojun agreed to go and take Venerable Lei, despite warning that the distant journey would make quick communication difficult.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that Li Shaojun should let news of what happened at Mayi reach the Western Sect and Kunlun, potentially prompting them to attack Zhu Jiuyin and the Xieluosi River Holy Land.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Li Shaojun to choose a cover identity, act cautiously around powerful cultivators, and have Venerable Lei bring back word of any developments.

Zhang Xuezhou prepared to return to reality after sharing his insights on cultivation and domain formation, and reassured Yi Shuo that her medical skills could support cultivators and grow through practice. The new emperor arrived with a proposal to pursue the True Self, leaving Zhang Xuezhou on the verge of another discussion before he logged out.

• Zhang Xuezhou comforted Yi Shuo about her doubts over her role and encouraged her to combine medical theory with practical experience.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that physicians were essential to cultivation groups and could help Alchemists make better pills.
• Yi Shuo began to understand how her medical skills could develop and contribute to the One Hundred and Eight Thousand Acupoints Technique.
• The new emperor knocked on the side hall door and asked Zhang Xuezhou to discuss pursuing the True Self before he fell unconscious.

The new emperor explained to Zhang Xuezhou how a guiding technique could use terrain and momentum to strengthen a cultivator’s abilities, crediting Huo Qubing for the idea. Zhang Xuezhou remained unsure how to apply it, while the new emperor planned to discuss it with Wei Qing and seek the empress dowager’s guidance once her condition allowed.

• The new emperor hurried to Zhang Xuezhou and explained that guiding techniques could draw on terrain to produce greater power and help cultivators understand higher realms.
• Zhang Xuezhou struggled to connect the Sword-Guiding Technique with the Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven Technique and asked where the new emperor had learned the idea.
• The new emperor said Huo Qubing had taught him the guiding principle, and Zhang Xuezhou questioned whether there would be time to use it during a fight.
• The new emperor defended the technique, said he would discuss it with Wei Qing, and praised Huo Qubing’s tendency to question outdated teachings.
• The new emperor said he hoped to seek the empress dowager’s guidance after the foreign merchant delivered the antidote, but her injuries left her too weak to receive him.

After returning to the small world, Zhang Xuezhou discussed the prerequisites for developing a domain with Ren Anran and considered how personal experience, strength, and the Seventh Sequence might contribute. The conversation left them resolved to pursue a sustainable, widely accessible path for human evolution through the Gene Sequence.

• Zhang Xuezhou returned to the small world on schedule and told Ren Anran what he had learned about domains and the experiences that might help develop one.
• Ren Anran and Zhang concluded that domains were not necessarily tied to reaching the True Self Realm, and that personal abilities and experience could affect a cultivator’s potential.
• The Ren Anrans identified the Seventh Sequence and its Resistance Layer as important supports for a domain, while Zhang recognized that his lack of one might limit his power of Control.
• Ren Anran expressed confidence that technology could advance the Gene Sequence and proposed having Luo Burang study how the human body could develop a Resistance Layer.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Anran agreed that the Gene Sequence offered a more sustainable and accessible route for widespread evolution than relying on Ferocious Beasts, Realm Techniques, or Mental Strengthening.

Zhang Xuezhou asked Ren Wuyang to help adapt the Sword-Guiding Technique, then rushed toward an alarm at the Zuo Household’s A6 Research Institute. There, a nearly ten-meter-tall creature appeared after Committee Member Zhao transformed into a Ferocious Beast, leaving Ren Wuyang injured and frozen in fear.

• Zhang Xuezhou gave Ren Wuyang the Sword-Guiding Technique to study, and Ren Wuyang agreed to work on it despite his doubts about the manuscript.
• Ren Wuyang told Zhang Xuezhou that Song Sijia kept challenging him in committee-sponsored contests and asked about Zhang Xuezhou’s strength.
• An alarm sounded at the North Rehe research park, and Zhong Rang hurried toward the Zuo Household’s A6 Research Institute while Zhang Xuezhou disappeared from sight.
• Zuo Denggao and Zuo Teng fled the institute and warned Ren Wuyang that Committee Member Zhao had transformed into a Ferocious Beast.
• A giant creature shattered the institute’s explosion-proof glass, injuring Ren Wuyang with flying shards and leaving him too frightened to move.

Zhao Tianhua transformed into a giant humanoid Ferocious Beast after Luo Burang injected him with an experimental drug, and Zhang Xuezhou joined Zhong Rang to confront him. The chapter ended with Zhao Tianhua taking flight, attacking Zhang Xuezhou, and unleashing a roar that injured people nearby.

• Zuo Teng told Ren Wuyang that Luo Burang had injected Zhao Tianhua with seven liters of an experimental drug, transforming him into a giant creature.
• Zhong Rang asked Zhang Xuezhou to help stop Zhao Tianhua, warning that the drug's effects could grow stronger and that Zhao had lost his reason.
• Luo Burang explained that Zhao's transformation was still developing and urged Ren Wuyang to find Zhang Manqian's painting, which seemed to depict the creature.
• Zhao Tianhua sprouted membranous wings, watched Zhang Xuezhou hover, and then rose into the air.
• Zhao Tianhua lunged at Zhang Xuezhou, who dodged him, before Zhao's roar caused Zuo Teng to bleed from the nose and lose his vision in waves.

Zhang Xuezhou lured Zhao Tianhua, transformed by a volatile mix of Ferocious Beast genes, toward the uninhabited mountains of North Rehe while trying to exhaust him and assess his abilities. After Luo Burang reported that Zhang Manqian’s painting resembled Zhao’s current form, Zhang considered targeting the creature’s wings or beak to weaken him or restore his senses.

• Changkong Luo used the Power of Moulan against Zhao Tianhua, and Zhang Xuezhou endured the attack before fleeing and firing a tranquilizer dart into Zhao’s wounds.
• Zhong Rang told Zhang that Zhao carried genes from eight Ferocious Beasts and described their possible abilities, prompting Zhang to keep his distance from the ground.
• Zhang continued provoking and shooting Zhao as he led him away from the research institute toward the barren mountains of North Rehe.
• Luo Burang relayed that Zhang Manqian’s hallucination painting resembled Zhao’s transformed body and suggested his wings or beak might be weak points or keys to restoring his senses.
• Zhang examined Zhao’s pursuing form and decided to test the wings and beak, though he did not know how they might help.

Zhong Rang and the other Seventh Sequence Holders debated how to subdue Zhao Tianhua without killing him while Zhang Xuezhou kept leading him on a long aerial chase. Zuo Lianguang attacked Zhao Tianhua with his electrified claws, was knocked unconscious by the current, and saw Zhao Tianhua’s enormous body begin to shrink.

• Zhong Rang organized the Seventh Sequence Holders to help Zhang Xuezhou subdue Zhao Tianhua, while Cai Guoli warned them not to treat him as a Ferocious Beast.
• Zuo Lianguang joined the fight and clawed Zhao Tianhua’s wing, but held back from tearing into it.
• Zhao Tianhua struck Zuo Lianguang with quill-like hairs, and Zuo Lianguang pulled them out and tried to retreat.
• Zhong Rang called Zuo Lianguang back, and Zuo Lianguang used his electrified claws on Zhao Tianhua’s wound.
• The current overwhelmed Zuo Lianguang, who fell toward the ground as Zhao Tianhua’s huge body rapidly shrank.

Zhao Tianhua survived the serum experiment but suffered severe bodily changes and a weak consciousness, leaving Luo Burang unable to derive a human Resistance Layer from the results. Zhang Xuezhou proposed improving the Ferocious Beast extract instead, and the group began preparing for a possible hunt with the Aomeijia Alliance.

• Gao Tingsheng began cutting bone spurs from unconscious Zhao Tianhua while the others discussed the risks and rewards of experimental technology.
• Zhong Rang asked whether Zhao Tianhua was still thinking normally, and Zhang Xuezhou said his consciousness was weak and he would need a long recovery.
• Luo Burang said he could not work out how the human body generated a Resistance Layer because Zhao Tianhua's changes had spread beyond bodily fluids.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed improving the Ferocious Beast extract, and Luo Burang said he needed higher-grade materials for further research.
• Zhang Xuezhou said the group might join the Aomeijia Alliance to hunt Mengtesi Badun's Ferocious Beast spiders and warned them to prepare for venom and sticky webs.

Zhao Tianhua woke after a failed experiment had made his body gigantic and filled it with abnormal, growing tissues. As Gao Tingsheng operated to remove the mutations, Zhao learned he might still transform again and would need further treatment.

• Zhang Xuezhou asked Zhao Tianhua how he felt when he woke during surgery, and Zhao cursed Gao Tingsheng and demanded to know what had happened.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Zhao that he had nearly beaten Luo Burang to death and that Luo was receiving restorative treatment.
• Gao Tingsheng continued cutting away Zhao's abnormal growths, while Zhao discovered that much of his stomach had also been removed.
• Gao Tingsheng warned that Zhao's body had transformed extensively into spongy tissue, required several sessions of necrotizing electrotherapy, and might become gigantic again if he grew excited.
• Zhao recalled losing control after repeated injections and watched footage of the severed parts still reacting and growing, realizing the experiment had failed.

Zhang Xuezhou discussed Zhao Tianhua’s dangerous modification with Luo Burang, who was struggling with the failure of his research. Encouraged by Zhang Xuezhou, Luo Burang found a new direction in studying Fire Meteor beings, then asked Zhang Xuezhou to volunteer for experiments, but Zhang recommended Zhou Yueyan instead.

• Zhang Xuezhou visited Luo Burang at the A6 Research Institute after confirming Zhao Tianhua would survive, and agreed that the modification method carried severe risks.
• Luo Burang explained that Zhao Tianhua’s trial showed staged gene modification was possible, while Zhang discussed how Control and Domains differed from the external Gene Sequence path.
• Luo Burang recalled Luo Zhong’s failed research and grew frustrated, but Zhang encouraged him by emphasizing the institute’s broader teams and new discoveries.
• Luo Burang proposed studying Fire Meteor beings from the Thousand Islands Alliance to investigate Gene Power and how the human body develops a Resistance Layer.
• Luo Burang asked whether Zhang Xuezhou could serve as a test subject, and Zhang declined, suggesting Zhou Yueyan instead.

Zhang Xuezhou recruited Zhou Yueyan to participate in the next round of experiments on Zhao Tianhua’s mutation, offering her gene medicines and access to a Qinmeng Secret Stone mine. Zhou Yueyan agreed despite the risks, while Luo Burang observed that Zhang’s friends were unusually willing to help when they needed something.

• Zhou Yueyan complained to Zhang Xuezhou after learning Gao Tingsheng had taken Zhao Tianhua’s mutated tissue, and asked for medicine that could give her the ability to fly.
• Zhang Xuezhou let Luo Burang speak with Zhou Yueyan, but Luo’s old nickname for her provoked a furious response.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Zhou Yueyan to join the second round of experiments, and she initially refused because she feared suffering Zhao Tianhua’s publicized mutation.
• Zhang Xuezhou offered Zhou Yueyan mental-strengthening gene medicines and a future visit to the Qinmeng Secret Stone mine, persuading her to cooperate.
• Zhou Yueyan agreed to the risky experiment for Zhou Rihui’s sake, and Luo Burang reflected that few others would volunteer.