Chapter Summaries

After the Sequencer Grand Gathering, Zhang Xuezhou received invitations to join teams exploring the dangerous Qinmeng Ruins but did not commit to a trip. Tuer Kalanduo explained the ruins’ creature tides and the extreme threat posed by ferocious beasts.

• Zhang Xuezhou received invitations from Luo Gaogao, Zuo Teng, Zhu Kuang, Zhou Tianhao, Changkong Shenguang, and Changkong Weiguang to explore the Qinmeng Ruins, but politely left the possibility open.
• Zhang Manqian pointed out that Zhang Xuezhou’s seven-day cycle could help him explore without needing sleep, while warning that human hunters were a danger in the lawless ruins.
• Tuer Kalanduo described how an exotic beast tide had destroyed her lineage’s laboratory and explained that such events could produce mutant beasts and ferocious beasts.
• Tuer Kalanduo explained that mutant beasts had enhanced physical abilities, while ferocious beasts exceeded ordinary means of combat.
• Tuer Kalanduo revealed that the Alliance States had studied an ant nearly half a person’s height, whose speed, steel-biting jaws, and two-ton strikes could threaten even Zhou Xin.

Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian reviewed Tuer Kalanduo’s database and decided to build a private laboratory for their own needs while exploring communications research. The chapter ends with Zhang Manqian reminding Zhang Xuezhou that Director Wen Yishan had invited him to visit the production crew for The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.

• Zhang Xuezhou found laboratory guides and drug-manufacturing records in Tuer Kalanduo’s database, and Zhang Manqian saw how much she would need to learn.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that their laboratory could not legally sell drugs without a quota, but argued that they needed it to avoid dependence on outside suppliers as they advanced in Sequence Tier.
• Zhang Manqian agreed to focus on research related to their needs, while Zhang Xuezhou suggested Wang Li work on communications equipment using information from Tuer Kalanduo.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered communications research a long-term investment despite the Alliance States’ regional monopolies and slow technological development.
• Tuer Kalanduo said she had no further information about novels or film and television, and Zhang Manqian recalled that Director Wen Yishan had invited Zhang Xuezhou to visit The Smiling, Proud Wanderer production crew.

Zhang Xuezhou visited the set of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer to film his brief role as Hou Renying, while learning that the drama’s broadcast dividends would depend on screen time. He regretted choosing such a small part when Zuo Teng estimated his share would be far less than the money available for larger roles.

• Zhang Xuezhou arrived at the Western Capital City filming base, where Wen Yishan was struggling to direct the lead actor under intense production pressure.
• Wen Yishan arranged to shoot Zhang Xuezhou’s scenes as Hou Renying, and Zhang Xuezhou agreed to perform the character’s somersaults himself.
• Zhang Xuezhou watched clips of the cast and learned that Song Fengying was filming Ning Zhongze on location and his father was playing Danqingsheng.
• Zuo Teng arrived as Lin Pingzhi and told Zhang Xuezhou that cast members would share broadcast dividends according to their characters’ screen time.
• Zuo Teng estimated Zhang Xuezhou would earn only eight hundred thousand to a million, leaving Zhang Xuezhou regretting his choice of a minor role.

Zhang Xuezhou declined a major share of the adaptation’s profits and took a minor role in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, then surprised the cast and director with his fierce performance. The chapter left Wen Yishan wondering who Zhang Xuezhou really was and imagining him in much more imposing roles.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Zuo Teng he lacked the ability and time to take a major role, so he would play Hou Renying instead.
• Zuo Teng lamented that Zhang Xuezhou had missed out on the profits because he lacked reliable information and connections.
• Wen Yishan coached Zhang Xuezhou and the actor playing Hong Renxiong through their tavern scene after they had been reciting numbers.
• Zhang Xuezhou smashed the prop table and delivered Hou Renying’s lines with such ferocity that the actor playing Linghu Chong froze in fear.
• After viewing the scene, Wen Yishan was shaken by Zhang Xuezhou’s imposing bearing and thought he could play much more formidable characters.

Zhang Xuezhou joined Wen Yishan’s production of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer and chose to play Zuo Lengchan after Wen praised his ability to portray a fearsome villain. The crew prepared to film his roles while Wen continued searching for actors suited to the story’s other powerful characters.

• Wen Yishan urged Zhang Xuezhou to take a villain role, explaining that his intimidating gaze made him suited to the part.
• Zuo Teng supported Wen and reminded Zhang that his mental strength made his fierce expressions especially frightening.
• After comparing Ren Woxing’s and Zuo Lengchan’s screen time, Zhang chose Zuo Lengchan for the larger role and its share of the profits.
• Zhang filmed Hou Renying scenes, and Wen praised his performance during the Qingcheng confrontation.
• Wen planned to prepare Zuo Lengchan’s costume, makeup, and scenes around Zhang’s seven-day filming interval, while worrying about casting Ren Woxing, Dongfang Bubai, and Feng Qingyang.

Zhang Xuezhou spoke with Luo Tianming about their transaction, while Zuo Teng overheard and grew wary of how much leverage Zhang seemed to have over the powerful elder. The filming continued, and Zuo Teng performed his fight scene as Lin Pingzhi while Zhang Xuezhou finished playing a victim and wondered whether his Black-Tipped Chickens could help advance his genes.

• Luo Tianming reached Zhang Xuezhou by communicator and objected to paying in advance, but Zhang pointed out that Professor Luo Hui had not delivered his prepaid crane-bird blood serums either.
• Zuo Teng overheard their conversation, warned Zhang Xuezhou that Luo Tianming might retaliate after the transaction, and wondered what Zhang could offer that the elder needed.
• Zuo Teng took his place as Lin Pingzhi and acted out the scene in which he confronted Yu Renhao and swiftly defeated his opponents.
• A crew member told Zhang Xuezhou his scene was over, and Zhang got up and cleaned the chicken blood from his skin.
• Zhang Xuezhou wondered how his Black-Tipped Chickens were doing and whether eating them could improve his genes and reduce his need for crane-bird blood serum.

Zhang Xuezhou checked on the Black-Tipped Chicken breeding project at the North Rehe Research Institute and learned it would take months to produce a flock. He then inspected the stones collected from Sinkhole No. 2, hoping to find living liquid to study himself.

• Zhang Xuezhou left the production set after agreeing to act as Hou Renying if Wen Yishan could arrange filming within a few days.
• Zuo Teng concluded Zhang Xuezhou would not team up with him for the Qinmeng Ruins and resolved to see who advanced farther.
• Zhang Xuezhou learned that the Black-Tipped Chickens would need another seven or eight months to become a useful flock.
• Xu Shengzhi reported that the institute had collected 9,627 stone specimens from Sinkhole No. 2, and Zhang Xuezhou approved of the effort.
• Zhang Xuezhou entered the specimen room and searched the stones for heat, hoping to find the liquid he planned to study.

Zhang Xuezhou selected five heat-sensing stones at the North Rehe Research Institute and proposed studying their long-term effects on Black-Tipped Chickens. He then collected twenty doses of crane-bird blood preparation from Professor Luo Hui's laboratory and began explaining Ren Yisheng's Mental Strengthening to the Luo Household and other listeners.

• Zhang Xuezhou chose five stones from the 9,627 specimens and told Xu Shengzhi to make them the focus of research alongside the Black-Tipped Chickens.
• Xu Shengzhi agreed to build a practical pen with the stones and became eager about researching their connection to the chickens.
• Zhang Xuezhou drove back to Western Capital City after finishing most of his business at the North Rehe Research Institute.
• Luo Tianming told Zhang Xuezhou that Professor Luo Hui's laboratory had prepared twenty doses of mid-grade crane-bird blood preparation, and Zhang Xuezhou said he would collect them that day.
• Zhang Xuezhou arrived at Professor Luo Hui's laboratory, received the preparations, and began explaining Mental Strengthening while Luo Tianming, Professor Luo Hui, Song Xianzhong, Changkong Luo, and a head in culture fluid listened.

Zhang Xuezhou reviewed his dealings with Luo Tianming and discussed Ren Yisheng’s prospects for restoring his body through the Tomb Scripture and other techniques. He learned that Ren Wuyang had gone to Qinmeng to hunt exotic beasts and asked Ren Anran to tell him that he wanted to go there too.

• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that he had limited what Luo Tianming learned about Mental Strengthening and had safely obtained crane blood serum while Luo Tianming remained confined.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Ren Yisheng about the situation, and Ren Yisheng admitted that Mental Strengthening remained difficult to promote despite his improvements to it.
• Zhang Xuezhou suggested that Ren Yisheng recite the Tomb Scripture, and Ren Yisheng agreed to try it because it posed no apparent risk.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered ways to help Ren Yisheng’s Yang Corporeal Soul and resolved to search for more techniques and knowledge.
• Ren Anran told Zhang Xuezhou that Ren Wuyang had gone to Qinmeng with Zhu Shengnan to hunt exotic beasts and pursue the Fifth Sequence.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Ren Anran to tell Ren Wuyang that he wanted to visit Qinmeng and become familiar with the terrain.

Tuer Kalanduo watched Zhang Xuezhou enter his otherworldly state while Zhang Manqian kept her under surveillance and turned to study. Zhang Xuezhou then awoke in the Northern Border, where Dong Zhongshu pressed Governor Li Guang to treat his ailments and revealed that the emperor had died.

• Tuer Kalanduo sensed Zhang Xuezhou had gone to another world again and wondered whether he was a god or divine messenger.
• Tuer Kalanduo watched Zhang Xuezhou's body while Zhang Manqian monitored her and chose to focus on studying.
• Zhang Xuezhou awoke before Li Guang, Dong Zhongshu, and Li Jiao in the Northern Border.
• Dong Zhongshu asked Li Guang to use the Jade Purity True Technique to suppress his ailments, but Li Guang hesitated over how Dong Zhongshu had learned about it.
• Dong Zhongshu told Li Guang that the emperor had died and warned that refusing to help could endanger soldiers and the route through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

Li Guang pressed Zhang Xuezhou for the route through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, while Dong Zhongshu urged them to cooperate. After Zhang Xuezhou demanded that Li Guang address their problems first, Li Guang learned that Emperor Jing had died and realized he might soon lose command, leaving him unable to wait.

• Dong Zhongshu warned Zhang Xuezhou that Li Guang might use him and then discard him, while Li Guang dismissed the Confucian School and called for Li Jiao.
• Zhang Xuezhou clarified that he had only come to collect payment for treating Zhou Cang and Zhao Mu, and that he had never agreed to guide Li Guang through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
• Zhang Xuezhou described the route’s eighty-one changing passages and their shifting schedules, revealing knowledge Li Guang had failed to obtain in more than twenty years.
• Li Guang offered to use the Jade Purity True Technique to suppress Dong Zhongshu’s conflicting powers and teach Zhang Xuezhou the Supreme Purity True Technique in exchange for being taken to the mountains.
• Zhang Xuezhou insisted that Li Guang solve their problems first, then left with Li Jiao to find food while Dong Zhongshu stayed behind to urge Li Guang to show compassion.
• Li Guang learned that Emperor Jing had died and feared the new emperor would replace him, so he decided he had to reach the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains before losing command of the Northern Frontier Legion.

Zhang Xuezhou negotiated with Li Guang for treatment of Dong Zhongshu and Zhao Liang and instruction in the Supreme Purity True Technique in exchange for guiding him through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. Li Guang agreed and began teaching Zhang Xuezhou as they rode out, while Zhang shared knowledge about the technique’s harmful effects.

• Zhang Xuezhou rejected Li Jiao’s initial persuasion, then explained that treating Dong Zhongshu and Zhao Liang and letting him study the Supreme Purity True Technique would cost Li Guang little.
• Zhang Xuezhou recounted how the Golden Toad Dharma King’s grotto-heaven treasure pearl and his past experiences with Zou Bugui had led him to learn the paths through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
• After Zhang Xuezhou finished eating, Li Jiao took him to Li Guang, who said he had already cast spells on Dong Zhongshu and Zhao Liang.
• Li Guang offered to teach Zhang Xuezhou the Supreme Purity True Technique while Zhang guided their journey, then pulled him onto his white horse and began explaining the technique.
• Li Guang warned Zhang Xuezhou that the technique could damage the bodies of injured people, and Zhang shared knowledge about how proper nutrition could reduce those effects.

Zhang Xuezhou guided Li Guang through a secret route in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains toward the Xieluosi River Holy Land, revealing how quickly its demons could reach Shanggu Commandery City. As they crossed the mountains and prepared to cross a frozen lake, Li Guang sensed an ominous warning from Zhang Xuezhou’s battered blade but could not identify its cause.

• Zhang Xuezhou led Li Guang along the route the Golden Toad Dharma King had once taken, and Li Guang realized the Xieluosi River Holy Land was close enough to threaten Shanggu Commandery City quickly.
• Li Guang spotted a bat demon guarding Great Yin Mountain and shot it with an arrow as they rode past.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Li Guang reached a lake inhabited by Flood Dragon Fish, where Li Guang hunted the fish and Zhang Xuezhou helped prepare them.
• Li Guang saw Zhang Xuezhou using a battered treasured blade to gut fish and recognized it as the Deer-Slaying Blade, regretting that Emperor Jing had never possessed it.
• As ice spread across the lake, Li Guang sensed an ill omen reflected from the blade but could not determine who or what might threaten him.

Li Guang forced Zhang Xuezhou to hand over the Deer-Slaying Blade in exchange for letting him leave before the Xieluosi River Holy Land. Li Guang then reached the Swan Demon’s spring and waited for a chance to shoot the Tiger Strength Demon King, but his attention shifted to the white fox and her five-colored treasure garment.

• Li Guang pressured Zhang Xuezhou to guide him closer to the Xieluosi River Holy Land and repeatedly demanded his Deer-Slaying Blade.
• Zhang Xuezhou handed Li Guang the blade and escaped before guiding him across the final two mountain peaks.
• Li Guang stealthily approached the spring, where the Tiger Strength Demon King courted a white fox who wore a protective five-colored treasure garment.
• After hearing the fox explain that her great-grandfather had warned her not to remove the garment, Li Guang aimed his arrow at her instead of the Tiger Strength Demon King.
• The white fox finally removed the garment, and Li Guang loosed his waiting arrow.

Zhang Xuezhou tried to cross the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains while hiding his connection to Li Guang’s attack, but a crow’s death and a messenger bird’s alarm exposed him. As demon birds closed in, a giant demon crane arrived and interrupted his latest disguise.

• Zhang Xuezhou flew through the mountains, struggled against the bitter Bixi wind, and found the crow he had encountered dead beside a white-feathered demon bird.
• Zhang Xuezhou pretended to be the crow’s distant cousin and claimed he planned to carry the body to their ancestor for burial.
• After the demon bird flew away, Zhang Xuezhou abandoned the body and tried to flee, but learned that the bird had raised the alarm about the dead messenger of Peak 278.
• Dozens of demon birds surrounded Zhang Xuezhou, and he claimed he was Black Feather’s cousin when they asked about the crow.
• A giant demon crane descended before Zhang Xuezhou could finish his excuse, leaving him without the crow’s body to use as cover.

Zhang Xuezhou met Feiyu in the mountains and learned that his godfather was too busy making pills for Lu Baibai to help him cultivate. Feiyu sent his demon birds to search for Li Guang, while Zhang Xuezhou headed toward the Xieluosi River Holy Land with Lingyu, uneasy about what awaited him.

• Zhang Xuezhou told Feiyu he had entered the mountains to seek his godfather's help with his cultivation, and Feiyu introduced his daughter Lingyu.
• Feiyu asked whether Zhang Xuezhou had seen Li Guang, leader of the Northern Frontier Legion, but Zhang denied encountering him.
• Feiyu explained that Zhang Xuezhou's godfather was making ten thousand pills for Lu Baibai and warned that Li Guang might have followed Zhang into the mountains.
• Feiyu ordered the demon birds to search for Li Guang and sent Lingyu to collect Black Feather's corpse and take it to the Alchemy Chamber.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to walk with Lingyu toward the Xieluosi River Holy Land after using up most of his Demon Power.

Zhang Xuezhou used the Person-Fixing Technique on Lingyu and discovered that it let him glimpse fragments of her memories. He realized the Technique could help predict behavior but carried serious risks, and Lingyu was still waiting to learn when her bloodline would return to its ancestral form.

• Zhang Xuezhou worried that his new Physiognomy skills made everyone seem ominous and decided to practice on Lingyu.
• Lingyu agreed to let Zhang Xuezhou use the Person-Fixing Technique so he could tell her when she might become a demon crane.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Technique and saw scenes from Lingyu's life, from hatching to learning demon Techniques.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that the Person-Fixing Technique peered into memories and could lead to confusion or dangerous counterattacks.
• Lingyu came out of her muddled state and asked Zhang Xuezhou again when her bloodline would return to that of her ancestors.

Zhang Xuezhou used the Person-Fixing Technique to gain Lingyu’s trust and learn details about the Xieluosi River Holy Land, while worrying that most of his powerful skills were too dangerous to use openly. When they arrived, they found the Holy Land in chaos after Li Guang’s attack, and the Venerable One confronted him from the lake.

• Zhang Xuezhou drew secrets about Feiyu and the Xieluosi River Holy Land out of Lingyu by using the Person-Fixing Technique.
• Zhang Xuezhou reflected that his many inherited skills were difficult to use in public and worried that he had no normal combat Technique to show.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Lingyu reached the Holy Land, where demons reported that Li Guang had killed or gravely wounded several powerful figures.
• Lingyu reassured the hiding demons that Zhang Xuezhou was her cousin, Black Feather, while they mistook him for the Flying General.
• The Venerable One threatened Li Guang from the lake, and Li Guang answered as an arrow struck the water, leaving the demons afraid of his long-range skill.

Li Guang confronted His Eminence at the Xieluosi River Holy Land but left after keeping the demons pinned down until daylight. Zhang Xuezhou and Lingyu entered His Eminence’s palace, where Zhang noticed that His Eminence’s Yang Corporeal Soul had taken form.

• Li Guang taunted His Eminence from concealment, but neither expert emerged to fight the other directly.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Lingyu took shelter in Lingyu’s nest while the demons watched for Li Guang to attack.
• At sunrise, His Eminence announced that Li Guang had left, and the demons complained about the Flying General without daring to pursue him.
• Zhang Xuezhou left the nest, and Lingyu accompanied him toward the lake’s center after the water opened a passage.
• His Eminence brought Zhang Xuezhou and Lingyu into his palace, where Zhang recognized that His Eminence’s Yang Corporeal Soul had taken form.

Zhang Xuezhou deflected the Venerable One’s anger by praising his Dharma body and suggesting that he share its method so others might improve it. The Venerable One decided to teach the technique and ordered work to begin on changing the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains’ formation to trap Li Guang.

• Zhang Xuezhou praised the Venerable One’s Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma body and asked whether its weakness could be fixed.
• The Venerable One explained that the Dharma body was vulnerable to spell-breaking techniques and arrows, and that other techniques could not improve on it.
• Zhang Xuezhou suggested sharing the Dharma body method, and the Venerable One decided to teach it widely in hopes that others would find a solution.
• The Venerable One ordered Zhang Xuezhou to refine ten thousand pills with his foster father and told him to have his father invite the Dao Lord and Nine Spirits Primal Sage to help change the mountain formation.
• The Venerable One swept Zhang Xuezhou and Lingyu away, then planned to use the altered formation to leave Li Guang disheveled if he tried to sneak in again.