Chapter Summaries

Zhao Tianhua forced Wanping Province’s Youth Challenge to skip its usual rounds and have eight chosen contestants challenge Western Capital City’s champion. Zhang Xuezhou entered the arena and selected a fierce horse, leaving Zhao Tianhua curious about how he would tame it.

• Zhao Tianhua dismissed Wang Haoran’s objections and insisted that Wanping Province’s top eight challenge the champion directly.
• Wang Haoran accepted the revised format, and Song Fengying announced that the eight contestants would face the mysterious champion.
• Wang Haoran called on Zhang Xuezhou to compete, and Zhang said he was there to go through the motions and could go home early if he lost.
• Zhao Tianhua questioned Zhang’s strength and learned that he belonged to the Western Capital City Social Psychology Alliance with Wang Haoran.
• Zhang Xuezhou chose leather armor, a blank-firing gun, and a fierce Wanping horse, prompting Zhao Tianhua to ask for the livestream camera to show him taming it.

Zhang Xuezhou entered Wanping’s horseback challenge tournament, boasting that his decades of riding gave him an advantage. He defeated the first challenger with a casual shot, leaving Zhao Tianhua to watch his plan backfire as the competition continued.

• Zhang Xuezhou chose a defiant Wanping horse, tamed it with his Beast Control Technique, and mounted up for the tournament.
• Zhang Xuezhou bragged to Song Fengying’s livestream audience that he would cut down eight opponents and easily handle Wanping’s fighters.
• Zhao Tianhua signaled for the tournament to begin as the crowd cheered and the war drums sounded.
• Song Fengying introduced Zhang Xuezhou and Jin Kecha, a Third Sequence expert known for his horsemanship and saber skills.
• Zhang Xuezhou casually fired a shot while riding, striking Jin Kecha in the forehead and forcing him to leave the arena.
• Zhao Tianhua watched Zhang Xuezhou ride around the arena and realized his plan to exploit the home ground had backfired.

Zhang Xuezhou dominated the Wanping Province Youth Challenge Tournament with his effortless marksmanship, while Wang Haoran and Qin Wenhan used his performance to pressure Zhao Tianhua into taking Western Capital City more seriously. The chapter left Wanping’s younger generation shaken and Zhao Tianhua’s hostility somewhat tempered.

• Zhang Xuezhou swiftly eliminated contestant after contestant, using his accurate shooting and horsemanship to defeat Wanping Province’s competitors.
• Zhao Tianhua questioned Zhang Xuezhou’s origins and strength, then argued with Wang Haoran and Qin Wenhan over Western Capital City’s influence and cooperation.
• Qin Wenhan warned Zhao Tianhua that Western Capital City’s younger generation would grow stronger through technology and that Wanping Province risked falling behind.
• Zhao Tianhua protested that sending Zhang Xuezhou was unfair, but Wang Haoran claimed Western Capital City had many capable contestants and promised stronger matches in other tournaments.
• Zhang Xuezhou’s overwhelming victory left Wanping’s young contenders, including Zhou Bo and Zhao Meng, grim and wary of facing him.

Zhang Xuezhou swiftly won the Wanping Province Youth Challenge Tournament by shooting eight contestants, defending his title and securing the Alternate Sequence Committee Member position. After influential Sequence Holders sent huge livestream tips, Zhao Tianhua publicly welcomed him and draped Wanping’s heavy fur coat over his shoulders.

• Zhang Xuezhou fired thirteen shots, hitting eight Wanping contestants in the forehead and ending the tournament almost as soon as it began.
• Song Fengying announced Zhang Xuezhou as Western Capital City's defending champion, and viewers flooded the livestream with congratulations and tips.
• Zhao Tianhua watched his tipping rank plummet as prominent accounts, including ones suspected to belong to Twilight Years Mansion Sequence Holders, sent large tips for Zhang Xuezhou.
• Zhao Tianhua congratulated Zhang Xuezhou as the new Alternate Sequence Committee Member, and the Wanping crowd resumed cheering.
• Zhao Tianhua draped Wanping's heavy fur coat over Zhang Xuezhou and warmly declared, "Xuezhou, Wanping welcomes you!"

After Zhang Xuezhou won the Youth Challenge Tournament, Zhao Tianhua warmly welcomed him and hosted a lavish banquet in Fengdu City. Zhao hoped to learn about Zhang’s genetic development and his ties to Western Capital’s influential elders, and concluded Wanping needed to build closer ties with Western Capital.

• Zhang Xuezhou learned from Wang Haoran that Zhao Tianhua’s sudden friendliness followed support from people at the Twilight Years Mansion.
• Zhao Tianhua welcomed Zhang Xuezhou and the other committee members, then insisted on delaying the next tournament to hold a victory banquet.
• Zhao Tianhua hosted the group at the Golden Goblet Palace and offered them wine, food, and rooms.
• Zhao Tianhua worried about Wanping Province falling behind Western Capital and decided its committee members needed to pursue closer integration with it.

Zhang Xuezhou agreed to play finger-guessing with Zhao Tianhua, who hoped drinking would help him draw out information. Zhang Xuezhou won round after round, leaving Zhao Tianhua drinking heavily and insisting they would not go home sober.

• Zhao Tianhua toasted Zhang Xuezhou and proposed that the loser of their finger-guessing game drink, answer a question, or pay ten million.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to the wager and learned the local rules of the game from Zhao Tianhua.
• Zhang Xuezhou quickly read Zhao Tianhua's playing patterns and won twenty rounds in a row, forcing Zhao Tianhua to drink and arrange transfers through Zhao Meng.
• Zhao Tianhua urged everyone to keep drinking and claimed he had once drunk seventy bowls of liquor in one night.

At the Golden Goblet Palace banquet, Zhang Xuezhou beat Zhao Tianhua repeatedly at finger-guessing until the drunken general collapsed and the game ended. The Western Capital delegation departed after inviting Wanping’s leaders and young contestants to visit, leaving the province’s people eager and uneasy about what lay beyond their borders.

• Zhao Tianhua lost fifty-five of fifty-nine finger-guessing rounds to Zhang Xuezhou while drinking forty-seven bowls of liquor and wagering ten million at a time.
• Zhao Tianhua collapsed onto the table, and Zhang Xuezhou called off their unfinished game as Zhao Meng and others helped the general away.
• Zhou Bo restored order at the banquet, and the Wanping elders and guests raised their cups to Zhao Tianhua’s health.
• Wang Haoran invited Wanping’s Sequence Committee Members and top contestants to Western Capital City, while Qin Wenhan and Zhong Zhenzhen spoke about genetic development and its proper use.
• Zhang Xuezhou bid the guests farewell, and the crowd answered, with Wanping’s young people looking forward to visiting Western Capital City.

Zhang Xuezhou explained how the Youth Challenge Tournament had made Zhao Tianhua wary of Western Capital City by encouraging him to suspect it had hidden Sequence experts. As Zhang left Wanping Province, he discussed the difficulty of Realm Technique cultivation and the promise it held for his companions, who remained close to reaching the True Spirit Realm.

• Wang Haoran told Zhang Xuezhou that Zhao Tianhua feared Western Capital City might have powerful hidden Sequence experts, and that the tournament had made him less likely to act recklessly.
• Wang Haoran and Qin Wenhan praised Zhang Xuezhou’s ability and discussed how combining Realm Techniques with Gene Sequences could yield powerful results.
• Zhang Xuezhou reassured Wang Haoran, Qin Wenhan, and Song Bu’er that their Realm Technique progress was steady despite how far he and Ren Anran had advanced.
• Zhang Xuezhou explained that reaching the True Spirit Realm would let them project Law Power and improve their combat ability within their Sequences.
• Qin Wenhan vowed to keep enduring his cultivation, while he, Song Bu’er, Li Yingbo, and Zhu Liangping continued following Ren Yisheng’s guidance.

Zhang Xuezhou returned from Wanping Province to Zhenxiong Province, where he brushed off the attention surrounding his tournament victory and livestream tips. As he headed for Western Capital City, Song Fengying and Zhang Weimeng argued over whether Gene Sequences or internal force offered a better path to strength.

• Wang Haoran said Zhao Tianhua's mantle protected them from administrative trouble, and the trip to Wanping Province had improved the situation in the Scarlet Alliance State.
• Qin Wenhan showed Zhang Xuezhou the publicity surrounding the Youth Challenge Tournament and Song Fengying's livestream tips, but Zhang said the attention would fade.
• After changing aircraft at military sites in Wanping Province, Zhang Xuezhou reached Zhenxiong Province, said goodbye to Wang Haoran, and waved to Song Fengying before heading to the airport ticket office.
• Song Fengying urged Zhang Weimeng to improve his Gene Sequence and work toward the Fourth Sequence, while he argued that Gene Sequences overtaxed the human body and praised internal force.
• Song Fengying and Zhang Weimeng ended their argument without agreement and went off to call other people.

While preparing to return to Western Capital City, Zhang Xuezhou discussed Gene Sequences and cultivation with Zhang Weimeng and Song Fengying, then discovered his father had quietly reached the True Spirit Realm. Zhang Weimeng demonstrated his hundred-meter internal power and concluded that Zhang Xuezhou’s divine arts were a better path than Gene Sequences.

• Zhang Weimeng and Song Fengying asked Zhang Xuezhou to weigh in on their opposing views of Gene Sequences, and he acknowledged their risks while defending their usefulness in a disaster.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized Zhang Weimeng had reached the True Spirit Realm and had reasoned out cultivation principles through his martial arts novels.
• Zhang Xuezhou offered Zhang Weimeng the Soaring Firmament Secret Manual and Lesser Formless Divine Art, explaining how cultivation could help him use internal power and resist poison.
• Zhang Weimeng fired ten shots from a toy air gun and hit every difficult target after Zhang Xuezhou explained how internal power could guide his aim.
• Zhang Weimeng recognized that his hundred-meter internal power was real and decided that Zhang Xuezhou’s divine arts were the true way forward, while Gene Sequences were crooked paths.

Zhang Xuezhou considered whether Gene Sequences could overcome the human body's limits and began planning to strengthen his own body before advancing further. He also negotiated with Changkong Luo about life-extending medicine, agreeing to brew more for Twilight Years Mansion while hoping to secure support for his future plans.

• Zhang Xuezhou reasoned that the Seventh Sequence might mark the body's capacity limit and concluded he needed to prepare to strengthen his body.
• Zhang Xuezhou considered seeking Spirit Jade and Spiritual Qi in Qinmeng, while weighing his other urgent plans involving East Mountain's Fortune, Huang Daoxian, Qimeng Haige, and a falcon-sparrow exotic beast.
• Zhang Xuezhou asked Changkong Luo and the others to handle brewing life-extending medicine themselves, but Changkong Luo said their experiments had failed to reproduce it.
• Changkong Luo offered to provide help within Twilight Years Mansion's power, and Zhang Xuezhou promised to brew medicine for them after returning to North Rehe.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided he needed to refine an improved version of the life-extending medicine to help Twilight Years Mansion and gain Qimeng Haige's agreement on the R33 Catalyst.

Zhang Xuezhou experimented with a second version of the life-extending medicine and brought the untested pill to Changkong Luo at Twilight Years Mansion. Changkong Luo eagerly agreed to test it, leaving the medicine’s effects unknown.

• Zhang Xuezhou returned to the research institute and used water soaked with Emperor Fu of Luo's Tea Jade to brew an orange-yellow version of the life-extending medicine.
• Zhang Xuezhou took one pill and felt only a slight soothing effect in his throat.
• Zhang Xuezhou traveled to Twilight Years Mansion and delivered medicine to Changkong Luo through a conveyor belt.
• Changkong Luo explained that the former committee members had supported Zhang Xuezhou to counter Zhao Tianhua and protect their own interests.
• Zhang Xuezhou told Changkong Luo that he was developing a second version of the medicine and could not yet determine its effects.
• Changkong Luo eagerly accepted the orange-yellow pill for testing, reasoning that he could withstand it after Zhang Xuezhou had taken one without trouble.

Changkong Luo took Zhang Xuezhou’s pill, but it made him cough up blood and severely damaged his throat. When Gao Tingsheng tried to cut out the injury, Changkong Luo’s roar overwhelmed the medical team and cut off Zhang Xuezhou’s monitor, leaving the outcome unclear.

• Changkong Luo swallowed Zhang Xuezhou’s pill after they signed a contract, then began coughing up blood.
• Zhang Xuezhou and the Twilight Years Mansion residents argued over how to help Changkong Luo, while the medical team rushed into his room.
• Gao Tingsheng restrained Changkong Luo and decided to cut open his throat despite Changkong Luo’s protests.
• Gao Tingsheng used a vibrating electric scalpel on Changkong Luo, who roared so loudly that Gao collapsed and Zhang Xuezhou’s monitor went black.

After Changkong Luo collapsed from taking Zhang Xuezhou’s version 2.0 life-extension drug, Zuo Quan arrived to investigate while Zhang waited outside the room. Zuo Teng encouraged Zhang to follow them, and they headed toward Changkong Luo as Zuo Quan focused on the emergency.

• Changkong Luo’s cries lasted two minutes, prompting a medical team and patrol to rush to his room as Zuo Quan ordered them to clear and seal the area.
• Zhang Xuezhou left the room with his contract and remaining pills, and learned that Changkong Luo was still on the ground while Gao Tingsheng and others had been carried out in spasms.
• Zuo Quan arrived with Zuo Teng and asked what had happened, while the patrol captain cautiously suggested Changkong Luo might have become ill or taken something he developed.
• Zuo Teng identified Zhang Xuezhou to his father and urged him to follow, hoping Zuo Quan would come to trust or need Zhang.
• Zhang Xuezhou greeted Zuo Teng and followed him and Zuo Quan toward Changkong Luo’s room.

Zhang Xuezhou entered the Twilight Years Mansion as Changkong Luo convulsed after taking the life-extending medicine. After Zuo Quan blamed Gao Tingsheng and went to fetch stomach-pumping equipment, Zhang Xuezhou secretly treated Changkong Luo, whose throat had adapted enough for him to use his Seventh Sequence ability again.

• Zhang Xuezhou joined Zuo Teng and Zuo Quan in the underground laboratory, where they found Changkong Luo convulsing amid the remains of his failed medicine experiments.
• Zuo Quan blamed Changkong Luo's condition on Gao Tingsheng and removed the electronic shackles while Zuo Teng and Zhang Xuezhou accused the doctor of misconduct.
• Zhang Xuezhou suggested pumping Changkong Luo's stomach, and Zuo Quan left to retrieve the equipment.
• After Zuo Quan departed, Zhang Xuezhou used the Supreme Purity True Technique to calm Changkong Luo's convulsions and suppress his coughing and blood-spitting.
• Changkong Luo realized that the life-extending medicine had eased his throat problem and helped him use his powerful Seventh Sequence ability again.

After the second-generation drug unexpectedly cured Changkong Luo’s throat, the elders at the Twilight Years Mansion discussed its risks and their growing dependence on Zhang Xuezhou’s research. As their influence waned and their options narrowed, Changkong Luo suggested that they might eventually have to fight their way into Qinmeng and settle there.

• Changkong Luo recovered from the drug trial but was placed under a lower risk alert, barring him from going outside.
• Changkong Luo told Zhu Bufan and the others that Zhang Xuezhou’s second-generation drug had cured his throat and changed his voice, though it had also made him cough up blood.
• Li Qi asked to test Changkong Luo’s remaining pill, while Changkong Luo warned him about the drug’s effects and urged the group not to discourage Zhang Xuezhou from researching.
• Zhong Rang and Li Qi praised Zhang Xuezhou’s marksmanship and urged the elders to maintain good relations with him; Changkong Luo warned that the Sequence Committee’s expansion was diminishing their influence.
• Zuo Lianguang complained that the elders had to survive, invest strategically, seek Ferocious Beast extracts, and remain confined; Changkong Luo said they might eventually need to enter Qinmeng and settle there like Zhou Xin.

Zuo Quan’s proposal to raise Changkong Luo’s risk rating passed quickly with Zhang Xuezhou’s testimony, and Zuo Quan took an interest in Zhang’s talents. After Zuo Quan seemed to try using an unknown power on Zhang, an interruption prevented him from completing the move, leaving Zhang to understand its purpose two hours later.

• Zuo Quan’s recommendation to raise Changkong Luo’s risk rating passed after Zhang Xuezhou testified, and the committee began issuing the necessary approvals.
• Zuo Quan praised Zhang Xuezhou’s shooting and rocket-launcher skills and invited him to visit the Zuo Household, but Zhang declined because he was tired.
• Zuo Quan spoke privately with Zhang Xuezhou while Zuo Teng started the aircraft, then moved close and seemed to use a power on Zhang.
• Zuo Teng called out that the aircraft was ready, interrupting Zuo Quan; Zhang later wondered why Zuo Quan had tried to act against him.
• Two hours later, Zhang Xuezhou understood what Zuo Quan’s attempted move could have meant.

Before traveling between worlds, Zhang Xuezhou discovered that Zuo Quan had used a Fortune Technique to bless him. The blessing improved Zhang Xuezhou’s Fortune Body but also gave him a way to locate and potentially attack Zuo Quan, and he planned to exploit Zuo Quan’s scheme by asking him for help with a misfortune.

• Zhang Xuezhou sensed a Fortune Technique mark on his clothes and saw purple fortune travel from the Eastern Mountain Imperial Mausoleums into his body.
• Zhang Xuezhou summoned his fish-dragon Fortune Body, swallowed the gathered fortune, and expelled a purple crystal-like mist that revealed Zuo Quan’s face and a blade of grass.
• Zhang Xuezhou realized the mist gave him coordinates to sense and target Zuo Quan with a Fortune Technique.
• Zhang Xuezhou inferred that Zuo Quan used blessings to create misfortune and then pose as a benefactor, gathering followers among people like him.
• Zhang Xuezhou decided to find a suitable misfortune and let Zuo Quan help him, making himself appear to become Zuo Quan’s follower.

Zuo Quan planned to use Zuo Teng to gain influence over the young Alternate Sequence Committee Members, while an opposing consciousness in his body kept him from harming his son. The chapter ended with Zuo Quan frustrated by the conflict between the two consciousnesses.

• Zuo Quan decided Zuo Teng could contact and influence the young Alternate Sequence Committee Members on his behalf.
• Zuo Quan sensed Zuo Teng hiding nearby and used his incantation to make him stumble and suffer a racing heart until he returned.
• Zuo Teng explained that he had found a monitor in the wall while searching the house and had mistaken Zuo Quan's voice for Zuo Denggao's trick.
• Zuo Quan ordered Zuo Teng to search the house for more monitors, then destroyed the device Zuo Teng had removed.
• Zuo Quan realized the other consciousness in his head had been influencing his feelings toward Zuo Teng and resisting his plans to harm or expel him.

After Zuo Teng was struck by Zuo Quan’s Heart-Seizing Incantation, he went to the Phoenix Creek Medical Club for an examination while his servants searched the villa. Zuo Quan realized the spell’s effect on Zhang Xuezhou had vanished and began investigating Zhang Xuezhou’s background.

• Zuo Teng searched Zuo Quan’s room with three household servants, worried that Zuo Quan had used an unseen method to harm him.
• Zuo Teng decided to prioritize a medical examination and left for the Phoenix Creek Medical Club, ordering the servants to continue searching.
• Zuo Quan returned and learned that Zuo Teng had gone to the medical club, then considered using Zuo Teng’s fear of death to control him.
• Zuo Quan sensed that the Heart-Seizing Incantation on Zhang Xuezhou still existed but had lost its effect, and guessed Zhang Xuezhou had survived a deadly incident by using up his Fortune.
• Zuo Quan questioned his servants about Zhang Xuezhou and learned that Zhang Xuezhou had recently become known as the Wanping Province Youth Challenge Tournament champion, though his background remained obscure.