Chapter Summaries

Zhang Xuezhou discussed the life-extending medicine and the Mental Strengthening Chapter with Changkong Luo, who sought his help with the Luo Household’s teachings. After learning that Ren Yisheng had drafted a flawed sixth chapter, Zhang considered trying it himself.

• Zhang Xuezhou advised Changkong Luo to monitor the life-extending medicine’s effects and warned against taking more before its dosage and duration were understood.
• Changkong Luo asked Zhang to share Ren Household material on the Mental Strengthening Chapter, but Zhang declined because of the risks and the difficulty of verifying the teachings.
• Changkong Luo and Zhang discussed the medicine and Zhang’s research paper, while Zhang inferred that Luo Tianming was testing different cultivation methods at the Twilight Years Mansion.
• Zhang spoke with Ren Anran, who told him Ren Yisheng had completed a preliminary sixth chapter but was still correcting flaws in it.
• Ren Anran revealed that Ren Yisheng had warned her not to give Zhang the draft, but Zhang decided his recent mental steadiness might let him help and considered cultivating it.

Ren Anran used the faith orb from the Tuer God Shrine and encountered the emperor, who warned her to leave before driving her from the vision with golden lightning. After the orb dimmed, a voice warned her to stay away from an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, leaving Ren Anran worried that both the emperor and Yu were inside her and prompting her to seek Zhang Xuezhou’s help.

• Ren Anran sent Zhang Xuezhou the notes despite Ren Yisheng’s objections, while Ren Yisheng warned that Zhang was following Hongku’s path rather than innovating.
• Holding the faith orb, Ren Anran experienced a vision of the emperor, who urgently signaled for her to leave and then drove her away with golden lightning.
• Ren Anran woke after sitting motionless all night and found the orb dimmed, along with a hollow feeling inside.
• An unfamiliar voice warned Ren Anran to avoid an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon and hold fast to her true heart; she suspected the voice was Yu and that the emperor was inside her too.
• Ren Anran examined her Realm Technique and sensed that its lights might lead to an unfathomable danger, so she decided Zhang Xuezhou might understand what was happening to her.

Zhang Xuezhou advanced to the sixth chapter of the Mental Strengthening Chapter and tested his stronger mental power with the Yellow Sand Body-Entangling Technique. He then helped Ren Anran understand the lingering will of Yu inside him and urged him to grow strong enough to resist both Yu and the Emperor, while reaffirming his own resolve to fight the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.

• Zhang Xuezhou advanced his mental power to the early stage of the sixth chapter, gaining more precise control and a greater capacity for Technique Methods.
• Zhang Xuezhou tested the Yellow Sand Body-Entangling Technique, using sand to erode a wooden stake faster and across a wider area than before.
• Ren Anran told Zhang Xuezhou that the pearl was an object of faith belonging to Yu, whose lingering will had invaded him.
• Zhang Xuezhou advised Ren Anran to use the Emperor's and Yu's influence to grow stronger until he could suppress them.
• Zhang Xuezhou said he would keep strengthening himself to defeat the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon and would kill himself rather than let it take over his body.

Zhang Xuezhou examined Ren Anran and found a weakening mark of the Emperor’s Law Power, but no trace of Yu. After Ren Anran pressed him about marriage, she took over Zhou Yueyan’s treatment while Zhang prepared to treat Zhou Rihui.

• Zhang Xuezhou found a faint mark of the Emperor’s Law Power in Ren Anran’s right pupil and judged it too weak to control her for many years.
• Zhang Xuezhou found no trace of Yu and said Yu’s broken object of faith made his return difficult.
• Ren Anran asked Zhang Xuezhou when they would get a marriage certificate, but he tried to dissuade her from starting a family with him.
• Zhou Rihui called out from the research institute for treatment, and Ren Anran agreed to treat Zhou Yueyan instead.
• Zhang Xuezhou welcomed Zhou Rihui and Zhou Yueyan, and Zhou Yueyan learned that Ren Anran had been the holy maiden Tuer.

Zhang Xuezhou treated Zhou Rihui’s injuries with God Grace, restoring much of his strength and establishing a basis for mutual support. Zhou Rihui agreed to help find the blood agents Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian needed, then explained how high-Sequence fighters develop tailored techniques by filling gaps in their abilities.

• Zhou Rihui endured a painful treatment, passing out three times before Zhang Xuezhou exhausted his God Grace and stopped.
• After seeing photos of his unconscious reflexes knocking Zhang Xuezhou down, Zhou Rihui asked to pay for reliable future treatments.
• Zhou Rihui discovered that the treatment had eased his old injuries and improved his ability to coordinate his body for attacks.
• Zhang Xuezhou said future treatments would require an exotic Egret Bird or its blood agent, and asked Zhou Rihui to help find blood agents for him and Zhang Manqian.
• Zhang Manqian explained that she wanted to advance beyond the Third Sequence, and Zhou Rihui said higher-Sequence techniques had to be tailored to the individual.
• Zhou Rihui explained that most fighters advanced by developing well-rounded abilities and exchanging techniques to fill gaps in their inherited Lineages.

Zhang Xuezhou advised Zhang Manqian on strengthening her abilities, and she decided to travel with Ren Anran to Tuer District to practice the Poison Avoidance Art. At Twilight Years Mansion, Changkong Luo traded information about life-extending medicine with Luo Tianming, who revealed that the Mental Strengthening Chapter might be a fragmented version of the secret Luo Zhong used to survive.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Zhou Rihui discussed how Gene Fighting Techniques did not guarantee an advantage in the Fourth or Fifth Sequence, easing Zhang Manqian’s worries about stronger fighters.
• Zhang Xuezhou suggested Zhang Manqian combine Realm Techniques with fighting techniques and recommended the One Hundred and Eight Thousand Acupoints technique and Ning Que’s advice.
• Zhang Manqian chose to accompany Ren Anran to Tuer District to practice the Poison Avoidance Art and improve her Supreme Purity True Technique.
• Changkong Luo told Luo Tianming that life-extending medicine had been developed and that Changkong Yinghao controlled the paper about it.
• Luo Tianming agreed to share information about the Mental Strengthening Chapter in exchange for the medicine, explaining that Luo Zhong’s version had let him survive as only a head and that Ren Yisheng’s version was fragmented.

Zhang Xuezhou cultivated while trying to understand the green-headed duck's power and the link between Mental Strengthening and the Eighth Sequence. Meanwhile, Luo Tianming and Changkong Luo suspected the Heavenly God General Plan combined Mental Strengthening with a medicine, and Luo Tianming grew suspicious of Luo Hui after hearing blood plasma had been sent to the A9 Laboratory.

• Zhang Xuezhou cooked Black-Tipped Chickens into medicinal dishes and relied on them to advance his sequence while waiting for several matters to unfold.
• Zhang Xuezhou used Huang's object of faith but failed to make his body transparent, though he sensed the green-headed duck's Demon Power or an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.
• Zhang Xuezhou cultivated the sixth chapter of the Mental Strengthening Chapter and noticed his mental power beginning to affect physical objects.
• Luo Tianming and Changkong Luo discussed Luo Zhong's strength and considered that Mental Strengthening might have been part of the Heavenly God General Plan and helped people withstand its medicine.
• Luo Tianming admitted he no longer had the Heavenly God General Medicine, then became suspicious that Luo Hui was acting behind his back after Changkong Luo said clues pointed to the Luo Household.
• Luo Tianming decided to leave Twilight Years Mansion and investigate the large quantities of blood plasma sent to the A9 Laboratory.

Zhang Xuezhou gave the weakening Ferocious Beast Belt to Song Sijia, then learned that Luo Tianming was leading a search of the Luo Household’s laboratories over suspected Heavenly God Drug production. As Luo Tianming’s team arrived, reports said he had entered an old-age state, and two figures raced toward Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia’s laboratory.

• Zhang Xuezhou gave Song Sijia the Ferocious Beast Belt and accepted her offer to get him a customized firearm.
• Luo Gaogao warned Zhang Xuezhou that the committee suspected the Luo Household of making the banned Heavenly God Drug and was searching its laboratories.
• Zhang Xuezhou concluded that Luo Tianming had learned Luo Zhong’s head was missing and decided not to interfere with the search of the A9 Laboratory.
• Explosions and clashes sounded outside, and someone shouted that Luo Tianming had entered an old-age state.
• Song Sijia showed off her Song 237th Edition firearm, which accidentally fired through a wooden dummy behind Zhang Xuezhou.
• A red figure and a black figure raced between the laboratory buildings and turned toward Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia after hearing the gunshot.

Luo Tianming confronted Professor Luo Hui over the missing Heavenly God General Medicine and ordered searches of his laboratories. An explosive device destroyed the A9 Laboratory, leaving Luo Tianming badly injured and giving Professor Luo Hui a chance to turn against his adoptive father.

• Luo Tianming arrived near Shengteng Academy and confronted Professor Luo Hui, then searched the academy laboratory for the Heavenly God General Medicine.
• Luo Tianming rejected Professor Luo Hui's claims that he knew nothing about the medicine and redirected the search to the A9 Laboratory in North Rehe.
• Technicians discovered a hidden compartment at the A9 Laboratory, and Professor Luo Hui hurried away after his long-lived lab mouse sensed danger.
• The technicians triggered explosives while opening the compartment, and the blast destroyed the A9 Laboratory.
• Professor Luo Hui saw Luo Tianming emerge badly injured, realized he had entered his twilight years, and turned toward him with steel needles in hand.

Luo Tianming survived the A9 Laboratory explosion but was poisoned and pursued by Professor Luo Hui, who had turned against him. Their chase led them into Zhang Xuezhou’s B13 Research Institute, where Zhang and Song Sijia hid as the two Sixth Sequence Holders approached.

• The explosives Luo Burang had planted at the A9 Laboratory detonated, killing many technicians and badly injuring Luo Tianming.
• Professor Luo Hui attacked Luo Tianming with poisoned steel needles and called on North Rehe residents to help kill him.
• Luo Hui pursued Luo Tianming toward the B13 Research Institute, hoping to recruit someone to help him finish the fight.
• Luo Tianming entered the B13 Research Institute to use its medical facilities and obstacles to his advantage.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia hid in the institute after Song Sijia’s gunshot drew Luo Tianming and Luo Hui inside.

Luo Tianming searched the B13 Research Institute for medicine and found a chicken farm, where he fought Professor Luo Hui by throwing Black-Tipped Chickens. After taking a basic first-aid kit, Luo Tianming spotted an adjoining institute’s training ground and set his sights on its stronger medicines.

• Luo Tianming entered the B13 Research Institute and found its main building filled with Black-Tipped Chickens instead of the medicine he needed.
• Xu Shengzhi mistook the naked, bloodstained Luo Tianming for a lunatic and offered him chickens, while Professor Luo Hui pursued him into the greenhouse.
• Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui threw chickens at each other as they fought, and Xu Shengzhi sent them a first-aid kit along the feed conveyor belt.
• Luo Tianming grabbed the kit and used its hemostatic tablets and disinfectant, though their effects were weak on a Sixth Sequence Holder.
• Luo Tianming spotted a man and woman with a gun at an adjoining institute’s training ground and decided its medicines might be more effective.

Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia took shelter at the B13 Research Institute as Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui fought their way inside. The two older men accused each other of treachery and old-age decline, while Zhang Xuezhou realized their conflict might be tied to the missing Luo Zhong.

• Zhang Xuezhou warned Xu Shengzhi to stay away from the fight between Luo Tianming and Luo Hui, but Xu Shengzhi reported that Luo Tianming had reached the institute’s backyard.
• Luo Tianming crawled through a shattered window, wounded and demanding medicine, while Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia tried to flee.
• Professor Luo Hui followed Luo Tianming into the institute and warned Zhang Xuezhou that Luo Tianming had gone mad from old-age decline.
• Luo Tianming accused Professor Luo Hui of planting explosives and scheming to seize the Luo Household, while Professor Luo Hui insisted he had acted because Luo Tianming had become dangerous.
• Luo Tianming suspected that the missing Luo Zhong had revealed a secret or that another crisis had pushed Professor Luo Hui into rebellion.

Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia were trapped between Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui as the two men accused each other of old-age confusion and prepared to fight to the death. Zhang Xuezhou secured a brief chance to take cover, but both men still watched them as potential factors in the battle.

• Luo Tianming accused Professor Luo Hui of stealing Luo Zhong's secret, while Professor Luo Hui called Luo Tianming confused and demanded that Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia recognize it.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized that whichever side he and Song Sijia chose, the other man would treat them as enemies, so he asked for time to find cover and decide who was confused.
• Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui allowed Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia to move, but warned that they had to remain nearby and could not escape the fight.
• Zhang Xuezhou sensed danger as they approached the training room door, changed course, and crouched with Song Sijia behind a wooden counter.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Song Sijia that they needed to hide their gun and shoot whichever man was confused, while Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui remained locked in a tense standoff.

Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia became dangerous variables in the standoff between Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui, who tried to persuade them to choose sides while accusing each other of planting the A9 Laboratory explosives. Luo Tianming began explaining his claim that the last emperor, Luo Zhong, had survived his beheading, and left Professor Luo Hui rattled by calling him Zhu Hui.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia took cover behind the refreshment counter, leaving Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui unable to tell whom Zhang Xuezhou was targeting.
• Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui accused each other of planting the explosives that killed Changkong Yinghao, Changkong Yinglian, and more than a hundred engineers.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked about Luo Zhong after the two men argued over him, then said he would listen before making a judgment.
• Luo Tianming claimed that the beheaded last emperor had survived because his head had been preserved in a warm jade box with Jade-Severing Paste.
• Luo Tianming called Professor Luo Hui by his former name, Zhu Hui, and Professor Luo Hui nearly released the flying needle in his hand.

Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui disputed the truth about Luo Zhong while Zhang Xuezhou stalled them with a demonstration of the Song 237th Edition and waited for Luo Gaogao to check evidence. Just as the group anxiously awaited Luo Gaogao’s reply, Zuo Teng messaged Zhang Xuezhou that he had reached the Third Sequence.

• Luo Tianming accused Professor Luo Hui of lying about Luo Zhong, but Professor Luo Hui demanded physical evidence and said the claims could not be verified without Luo Zhong’s head.
• Luo Tianming told Zhang Xuezhou to ask Luo Gaogao to retrieve materials from a safe in his residence, and Zhang messaged him.
• Zhang Xuezhou had Song Sijia explain the Song 237th Edition, then demonstrated its angled shot to keep Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui from knowing whom he might target.
• Professor Luo Hui urged Zhang Xuezhou to tell Luo Gaogao what was happening, and the group waited anxiously for a reply.
• Zuo Teng messaged Zhang Xuezhou that he had reached the Third Sequence and that the R32 Catalyst had exceeded expectations.

Zhang Xuezhou used an empty shot and a communicator notification to mislead Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui, triggering their deadly close-range fight while he and Song Sijia tried to stay out of danger. As they hid, Zhang considered his limited ways to intervene and quietly shared a plan with Song Sijia.

• Zuo Teng's message notification led Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui to misjudge the situation, while Professor Luo Hui prepared to kill Luo Tianming.
• Zhang Xuezhou fired an empty shot, making both men hesitate before they exchanged flying needles and began fighting at close range.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia crawled backward and decided not to try opening the door or shooting while they could not distinguish the fighters.
• Zhang Xuezhou assessed that suppression and the Song 237 were his best options, then whispered instructions to Song Sijia.
• Song Sijia wondered whom Zhang Xuezhou had locked onto with the gun and how she could be sure to hit someone.

Luo Tianming collapsed after Professor Luo Hui's poison countdown, but Zhang Xuezhou and the others intervened with the Intimidation Combat Technique and gunfire. As Professor Luo Hui fell, Luo Tianming revealed his poison resistance and began counting down in turn.

• Professor Luo Hui taunted Luo Tianming and counted down as the poison in Luo Tianming's body spread.
• Luo Tianming fell to the ground, convulsing and coughing black blood, and Professor Luo Hui celebrated his apparent victory.
• Professor Luo Hui prepared to attack Zhang Xuezhou and the others, but an Intimidation Combat Technique disrupted him.
• Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia shot Professor Luo Hui repeatedly, breaking his wrist and bringing him down beside Luo Tianming.
• Luo Tianming drove a poisoned needle into Professor Luo Hui and revealed that his resistance to poison was greater than Professor Luo Hui had expected.
• Luo Tianming began a new countdown as Professor Luo Hui lay convulsing beside him.

Luo Gaogao rushed to the B13 Research Institute after learning that Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui were fighting, only to find both men gravely wounded in the training room. Zhang Xuezhou refused to save either man, leaving Luo Gaogao holding emergency medicine as the two remained near death.

• Luo Gaogao drove toward the B13 Research Institute after receiving Zhang Xuezhou's messages about the Luo Household's upheaval.
• Luo Gaogao saw the damage at the A9 Research Institute and realized Luo Burang's explosive plan had been triggered.
• Luo Gaogao forced his way into the B13 training room and found Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui badly wounded.
• Zhang Xuezhou warned Luo Gaogao not to approach the two men, but Luo Gaogao ran to them and searched for medicine.
• Zhang Xuezhou refused Luo Gaogao's plea to save Luo Tianming and Professor Luo Hui, saying both had wanted to kill him.

Luo Gaogao chose to treat Professor Luo Hui with the hemostatic medicine and his salamander-enhanced blood while leaving Luo Tianming without help. Luo Tianming reflected on the collapse of his family and, after being taken to Western Capital City, learned that toxins had ravaged his body; he resolved to cling to life despite his bleak prognosis.

• Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia refused to help Luo Tianming or Professor Luo Hui until they could safely leave, while Luo Gaogao pleaded for assistance.
• Luo Gaogao spent his remaining hemostatic medicine on Professor Luo Hui, then cut his vein to give him salamander-enhanced blood.
• Luo Tianming heard Luo Gaogao speak of leaving the family and felt abandoned by his descendants, reflecting on the failures and betrayals that had followed his schemes.
• In a Western Capital City medical room, Gao Tingsheng diagnosed widespread heavy-metal toxin damage and warned that extensive amputation might be necessary.
• Luo Tianming recalled Luo Zhong’s fate and resolved to keep living, even as his body depended on high-energy injections.

After the A9 Laboratory explosion left Luo Hui, Luo Tianming, and the Changkong siblings gravely injured, Zhou Rihui questioned Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia and sought Zhang’s help treating the siblings. Zhang secured X432 treatment and agreed to help if the Zhou Household could improve his limited God Grace, leaving Zhou Rihui to pursue the needed resources amid Qinmeng’s chaos.

• Zhang Xuezhou learned that Luo Tianming was paralyzed and Luo Hui was paralyzed and insane, while Changkong Yinghao and Changkong Yinglian had nearly died in the explosion.
• Zhou Rihui questioned Zhang Xuezhou and Song Sijia about the shooting at the B13 Research Institute, and they blamed the incident on twilight-years confusion.
• Zhou Rihui asked Zhang to treat the Changkong siblings, but Zhang said he was too distressed and requested X432 treatment instead.
• Zhou Rihui arranged X432 treatment for Zhang and Song, then offered compensation for their suffering.
• Zhang told Zhou that he might be unable to treat the siblings without stronger God Grace, and Zhou agreed to help improve it.
• Zhang gave Zhou a location where an Egret Bird exotic beast might be found, but Zhou noted that Qinmeng’s beast tide made the search unreliable.