Recaps

Qiluo helped transfer supplies to the White Triangle, while Su Ming and Zijin redesigned the Youth Civilization for its snowfield journey. Their changes increased the train’s simulated top speed to twenty kilometers per hour and its maximum range to 6,000 kilometers.

• Qiluo stopped the Flounder, put its crew to sleep, and had zombies transfer its cargo to the White Triangle, where Younier found that Qiluo had ordered twenty tons of food.
• Su Ming and Zijin reviewed the route north and worked with a design studio to reduce the locomotives’ and freight cars’ weight.
• Zijin proposed magical insulation and steam-water recovery, allowing the train to carry less water and shed more weight.
• Su Ming and Zijin replaced the train’s wheels with sled runners and added a snow compactor, then redesigned it with sixty smaller cars.
• Zijin proposed using Nether Shield beneath the runners to reduce friction, and Su Ming’s simulation showed the train could reach twenty kilometers per hour and travel 6,000 kilometers.

Su Ming’s boiler order was built with the wrong alloy, forcing him to revise his plans while Zijin helped him recognize that returning to Earth required a long-term foundation of personnel, territory, and power. He and Zijin reaffirmed their commitment to their shared research and dangerous plans.

• Miao Xin received the boiler from Kong Ruifeng, but Su Ming discovered the manufacturer had used pearlitic heat-resistant alloy instead of the specified Q245R carbon steel.
• Unable to wait for a replacement, Su Ming ordered Kong Ruifeng to build a 50-megawatt steam turbine unit using Q245R steel and gave him two months.
• Miao Xin relayed a message from her father, and Su Ming told Zijin that the boiler problem had disrupted the plan but that they could still attempt the prison break.
• Zijin proposed having local alchemists reproduce materials from Earth to reduce the magic Su Ming spent assembling equipment.
• Su Ming realized he needed to build a supply chain supported by personnel, territory, and power instead of seeking a shortcut to reopen the portal; Zijin suggested Polar City as a possible base.
• Su Ming and Zijin affirmed that they were willing to face the risks together, then returned to calculating the equipment configuration.

Su Ming dismantled the White Triangle’s propulsion boiler for materials and continued modifying a new boiler for the locomotive while the group sheltered near the Giant Horn Peninsula. After a crab feast and preparations for the journey inland, they uncovered a statue of the Heavenly Father that matched an image in Zijin’s temple textbook.

• Su Ming anchored the White Triangle near the frozen Giant Horn Peninsula and had Younier’s zombies dismantle its propulsion boiler for materials.
• On Earth, Miao Xin buried Kong Ruifeng’s boilers, and Su Ming used Summoning of All Things on one without drawing a reaction from the plane’s will.
• Su Ming and Zijin installed and began magically modifying a new boiler for the Qianjin Class locomotive, while Qiluo persuaded them to catch king crabs.
• Su Ming lowered a baited bone crab pot, and the group hauled up more than thirty king crabs for dinner.
• Hansite and Qiluo found a sheltered bay and brought back lampreys, while Qiluo and the others preserved greenhouse produce for the journey.
• Qiluo and Younier cleaned a statue to weigh down the pickled vegetables, and Su Ming recognized it as the Heavenly Father statue shown in Zijin’s temple textbook.

Su Ming and his companions brought the White Triangle ashore on the Northern Continent and transferred supplies to the newly assembled Youth Civilization. After preparing the snow-ready train for its first road test, they made a mishap while starting the coupled locomotives.

• Su Ming and the others discovered that Zijin had stolen a hollow imitation of the Heavenly Father of the Gospel, while Zijin suspected someone had framed her by taking the real statue.
• Zijin guided the White Triangle through a tidal channel and beached it on the Northern Continent, where Su Ming and the zombies unloaded supplies and equipment.
• Su Ming and Zijin dressed for the cold, and Zijin gave Su Ming a pendant enchanted with Blur and Refraction for camouflage.
• Su Ming left most of the White Triangle and its equipment submerged, selected twenty zombies to accompany the expedition, and set a radio beacon to mark the hiding place.
• Su Ming, Zijin, Hansite, Heilou, and Younier inspected the Youth Civilization and prepared its two snow-track locomotives for a road test.
• Qiluo took the controls of the No. 2 locomotive, but both locomotives reversed at once and crashed together before Su Ming stopped them.

Su Ming and the crew tested the heavily modified Youth Civilization, struggling to get the loaded train moving before refining their technique and systems. After Zijin taught Su Ming Shadow Jump, the train climbed a steep slope successfully, leaving the group celebrating their progress toward the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison plan.

• Su Ming and the drivers repeatedly failed to start the train, so Zijin told him to take a break when she noticed his impatience.
• Su Ming and Zijin sparred in a freight car, where she demonstrated Shadow Jump and gave him temporary runes to practice the skill.
• Su Ming, Hansite, Qiluo, and the crew got the Youth Civilization moving and tested it across the snowfield, identifying a steering problem and high coal consumption.
• Su Ming ordered the train to climb a slope rather than detour, and the crew adjusted the steam and traction as its speed dwindled.
• The 1,800-ton Youth Civilization reached the top of the slope, and Su Ming celebrated by using Shadow Jump to hug Zijin.

Su Ming’s first snow-train test nearly ended in disaster when the brakeless cars and locomotives slid down a steep slope, but the group used magic and quick thinking to prevent worse damage and recover the train. After Su Ming designed safety upgrades and arranged for parts, he woke the next evening with a minor cold, which Zijin treated.

• Su Ming ordered the train’s brakes released and the cars separated, then used the White Bone Mark to steer and slow the rear cars while Hansite and Qiluo struggled to control the locomotives.
• Younier stopped an air leak between the locomotives, Hansite steered locomotive one around a boulder, and Qiluo sacrificed locomotive two’s tracks to keep it from overturning.
• Li raised an earthen platform to stop most of the runaway cars, while Zijin and the bone dragon halted the library and alchemy cars; Su Ming found Zijin in the snow, and Hansite found the injured but stable Younier.
• Su Ming admitted that his design had been careless, then worked through the night to design snow brakes, locomotive steering, and course-correction systems and gave Miao Xin a parts list to procure.
• After sleeping through the day, Su Ming learned that the parts order was on track, joined Zijin and the others for dinner, and received a Disease Removal Spell from Zijin for his minor cold.

Su Ming oversaw the train project’s supply orders, then spoke with Zijin about rescuing Stacy and with Miao Xin about her parents and her control over resentment. Miao Xin passed Su Ming’s test but revealed how terrified she was of losing control and disappearing into the Abyss.

• Su Ming checked Miao Xin’s warehouse progress, arranged additional equipment and machining orders, and transferred the industrial control computer and parts for debugging.
• Su Ming learned that Younier had fractured two ribs, thanked Zijin and the others for supporting the project, and discussed their planned journey across the Dome Mountains to rescue Stacy.
• Unable to sleep, Su Ming connected to Miao Xin and asked how he could comfort his parents after their son had left home.
• When Su Ming deliberately provoked Miao Xin to test her control, she began to lose control but calmed herself without his sealing spell.
• Miao Xin told Su Ming that losing control could mean dying again and that she feared her resentment would draw her into the Abyss.

Su Ming and Miao Xin began exploring the Resentment Marks system while Su Ming’s crew repaired the Youth Civilization and its locomotives. After Zijin explained that the locomotives’ Thought Entities could potentially become artifact spirits, Su Ming urgently asked Miao Xin to obtain cryogenic cylinders.

• Su Ming apologized to Miao Xin and explained that he and Zijin had disagreed over whether she should try the Resentment Marks system, and Miao Xin decided to explore it carefully.
• Miao Xin and the crew gathered supplies while Su Ming installed steering and braking systems on the train and transferred the remaining equipment to the other world.
• Miao Xin told Su Ming that she had sensed Thought Entities in the steam locomotives, and Zijin explained how accumulated thoughts could form spirits within objects.
• Su Ming trained with Zijin, used Shadow Jump and concealment techniques to evade her, and revealed that he could alter the apparent color and visibility of his spells by adjusting their runes.
• Su Ming learned that nurturing the locomotives’ Thought Entities into artifact spirits could take decades, so he asked Miao Xin to urgently find cryogenic cylinders after she had secured a high-pressure air pump.

Su Ming and Zijin used a low-temperature array and high-pressure air to produce liquid oxygen, then filled the Gospel statue and discovered that cooling it activated its artifact spirit and revealed its superconducting material. With Gospel awakened, Su Ming asked Zijin to investigate whether the statue could receive the longing from the Forward's locomotive, advancing their plans for the planar teleportation array.

• Zijin calculated that she could create the needed low temperature with a small magic array, while Miao Xin obtained cryogenic cylinders for Su Ming.
• Su Ming and Zijin built the array, cooled five cylinders of compressed air, and extracted liquid oxygen as Qiluo and Hansite watched.
• Bai Lou poured the liquid oxygen into the statue, where it cooled a concealed component until Su Ming's magnet hovered above the statue and Gospel awakened.
• Gospel identified itself as the servant of the Heavenly Father, and Zijin celebrated while Qiluo lamented losing her pickling stone.
• Su Ming explained that the statue's floating relied on superconductivity and the Meissner effect, not magic, and Zijin agreed to examine its spirit-core circuitry for a way to infuse it with the Forward's locomotive longing.

Su Ming, Zijin, and Qiluo merged the Heavenly Father of the Gospel with the steam locomotive’s thoughts, giving the Youth Civilization an expert driver. As the train resumed its journey toward the Sang River, Zijin proposed disguising it as a Plateau Bearfolk caravan to avoid attracting attention.

• Zijin examined the Heavenly Father of the Gospel, realized it had faked dormancy, and held back from damaging it after Su Ming reminded her it was valuable.
• Qiluo materialized the locomotives’ thoughts with moonlight, and Zijin merged the thought form into the Heavenly Father of the Gospel.
• Over three days, Su Ming and Zijin completed carriage modifications while the Gospel learned to operate the Qianjin Class locomotive.
• The Youth Civilization set off again, and the Gospel drove the heavily loaded train smoothly across the snowy plain.
• Su Ming said the train was heading for the frozen lower reaches of the Sang River, and Hansite warned that nearby villages might spot it.
• Zijin proposed disguising the train as a Plateau Bearfolk caravan, and Hansite volunteered to create mammoth calls for the disguise.

As the Youth Civilization traveled south across the Sang River, Su Ming spent New Year's Eve missing home and received a snowmobile from Miao Xin. The train stopped for maintenance, where Hansite explained why he had left Brown Gold Island, while Gospel ended the chapter with an unexpected song.

• Su Ming and Zijin rested aboard the train, and Su Ming baked cookies that Qiluo devoured before demanding more.
• Miao Xin contacted Su Ming for New Year's, and he saw his lonely parents through their home camera before asking her to send them an AI-generated greeting.
• Miao Xin warned Su Ming that contacting his parents could endanger them while the International Services Department investigated, and she gave him a snowmobile for the other world.
• Su Ming summoned the snowmobile, then stopped the Youth Civilization beside the Sang River to maintain the train and let the White Bone Mark recover.
• Qiluo left to buy food, while Hansite told Younier about the trouble underground on Brown Gold Island and how a butterfly had led him to Su Ming and Zijin.
• Gospel sang an Earth song instead of a hymn, making Zijin laugh.

Su Ming searched for Qiluo after she failed to return and discovered that she had followed a trail of kidnappings across nearby villages. He found her message near the fourth village and learned that she had deliberately let the traffickers capture her so she could rescue their other prisoners.

• Su Ming rode a snowmobile to Rick Village and learned that Qiluo had gone looking into reports of missing girls.
• Su Ming followed Qiluo’s trail through two more villages and learned that the traffickers had abducted three young women from the surrounding area.
• Zijin explained that the lord’s people had little protection, while Hansite warned that Qiluo might have let the traffickers take her rather than escape.
• Su Ming found signs of activity near the fourth village and followed the animal-drawn sled tracks after discovering Qiluo’s hidden note.
• Su Ming read Qiluo’s message and learned that she had disguised herself as a frail girl and allowed the kidnappers to capture her to reach their hideout and rescue the other girls.

Su Ming tracked the kidnappers to Shafeng'er Town and identified Old Luo’s house as their likely hideout. After learning that four mid-tier fighters and an unknown apprentice were inside, he prepared to attack without exposing Zijin’s identity.

• Su Ming concealed his snowmobile outside Shafeng'er Town, entered, and used a drone to survey the streets and locate the Church of Light and tavern.
• Zijin explained that the town’s clergy likely belonged to the Northern Flow Commoner Faction, a group of church commoners exiled by the Divine Covenant Faction.
• At the tavern, Su Ming bought whiskey and questioned Rupert, who told him that four outsiders had been staying at Old Luo’s house for ten days and that the house had a large cellar.
• Su Ming rejected Zijin’s offer to fly in and help, deciding that her fame would expose her identity, and went to investigate Old Luo’s house himself.
• Su Ming contacted Qiluo, who reported that the hideout held a mid-tier warrior, archer, and unusually troublesome rogue, an apprentice of unknown class, and Old Luo.

Su Ming and Qiluo attacked Old Luo’s house and killed the human traffickers, then arranged to make the archer appear responsible for the necromancy. After Qiluo questioned the victims’ souls, Su Ming destroyed them, and she asked him to warn her before using such a painful psychic attack again.

• Qiluo broke free in unicorn form and attacked the warrior while Su Ming used Silent Vision to survey the house.
• Su Ming ensnared and killed the invisible thief, then helped Qiluo defeat the archer and restrained the warrior with bone fragments.
• Su Ming killed the archer with his shotgun and crushed the warrior inside a mass of bones; skeletons seized Old Luo and the Low Rank mercenary as they tried to escape.
• The Low Rank mercenary gained strength through an evil-god power, but Qiluo dispelled his self-hypnosis and caused him to collapse.
• Su Ming corrupted the archer’s corpse to frame him as a necromancer, while Qiluo questioned the victims’ souls and Su Ming destroyed them.

Su Ming and Qiluo defeated a group of kidnappers, but Rupert and the tax escort guards tried to seize the necromancer’s bounty. After Rupert secretly urged them to leave, Su Ming and Qiluo rescued six kidnapped girls and set out to take them home.

• Su Ming finished animating the archer’s corpse, concealed his magical traces, and prepared to meet the approaching town guards.
• Rupert arrived with the guards, and Su Ming claimed he had fought the necromancers in self-defense while Qiluo explained she had been kidnapped.
• Four guards from Bennyfinn Whitaker’s tax escort arrived, and Rupert offered to claim the necromancer bounty while keeping most of it for the guards.
• Su Ming gave up the corpse rather than accept the guards’ unfair share, and Rupert revealed that the kidnapped girls would be in danger if they were left with Bennyfinn’s men.
• Qiluo cleared the cellar and rescued six frightened girls, and Su Ming found clothes for them before they all left together.

Su Ming and Qiluo escorted rescued girls across the icefield, but Bennyfinn Whitaker and his guards tried to seize them. Yise and Jielusi intervened, while Su Ming returned to town with the guards; Yise and Jielusi planned to take the girls to Dawn Territory.

• Su Ming and Qiluo led the girls through the snow, and Su Ming called Zijin when sleds carrying Bennyfinn Whitaker and his guards followed them out of town.
• Bennyfinn and the guards tried to claim the girls as maids, and Su Ming restrained himself while waiting for Zijin.
• Yise arrived and knocked Bennyfinn and his guards down, while Jielusi cited the territory convention to stop them from taking the girls.
• Su Ming left with Bennyfinn and the guards, offering them a warhammer in exchange for a ride back to Shafeng'er Town.
• Jielusi healed Qiluo's shoulder, and Yise and Jielusi decided to take the girls to Dawn Territory under an old provision for displaced people.

Su Ming used a stun grenade and other explosives to attack Bennyfinn and the town guards, killing Bennyfinn and looting his valuables. As guards searched Shafeng'er Town and a high-rank magus pursued Qiluo, Yise found Su Ming and led him toward an escape route.

• Su Ming sold the warhammer and Thorn Staff to distract the guards, then triggered the M84 stun grenade.
• Su Ming shot the disoriented guards and Bennyfinn, destroyed Bennyfinn's soul, and took his staff, pouches, necklace, and rings.
• Su Ming left white phosphorus bombs behind as he escaped, while Rupert kept the town guard from intervening.
• A high-rank magus chased Qiluo, and Su Ming directed her toward Zijin before hiding from the search teams.
• Yise approached Su Ming and led him through Shafeng'er Town, avoiding the weaker search parties.

After killing Bennyfinn, Su Ming escaped with Yise and hid from the tax protection squad in Shafenger. They left the church cellar when the search approached and moved to an attic, where Su Ming contacted Zijin and learned that Qiluo had reunited with her.

• Yise led Su Ming to a church, where Jonas concealed them in a cellar beneath the altar.
• Su Ming and Yise rested in the cellar, shared food, and discussed her work as a Watcher and his supposed profession as an alchemy scholar.
• Su Ming awkwardly tried to confess to Yise, who rejected him because her heart belonged to the Light.
• Jonas warned Yise that the searchers were nearing the church, so she led Su Ming out through the back and into a searched house's attic.
• Su Ming used his tablet to check the city and contacted Zijin, who told him to use Yise as a distraction if he was discovered.

Su Ming escaped the city with Yise’s help, reunited with Zijin and Qiluo, and returned to the moving train. There, Zijin identified the stones taken from Bennyfinn as valuable magic power crystal cores and demanded them for herself.

• Su Ming and Yise forced Rupert to smuggle them past the city gate, then Su Ming left Yise and rode his snowmobile to Zijin’s hiding place.
• Su Ming, Zijin, and the injured Qiluo traveled together through the night; Zijin drove while Su Ming fell asleep and Qiluo rode in the cargo bed.
• Su Ming woke aboard the Youth Civilization the next morning and learned Yise had secretly planted a tracker in his hair.
• Qiluo and Hansite assessed the battlefield spoils, and Zijin recognized Bennyfinn’s ring as magical while Hansite valued it highly.
• Su Ming unpacked Bennyfinn’s sealed stones, and Zijin identified them as rare magic power crystal cores and tried to claim them.

Su Ming trained with Zijin to learn how his thorn weapon could transmit contact spells from a distance, giving him a way to overcome heavily armored opponents. After struggling to construct new spells, he turned to Miao Xin on Earth, who had received drone firmware and flight-control software from her father.

• Su Ming read the God of Light’s doctrine and learned that its faith granted real powers, while Zijin and Qiluo bickered over their religions and fought in the workshop.
• Zijin advised Su Ming on fighting well-equipped enemies, then showed him how to cast a contact spell through the thorn weapon in whip form.
• Su Ming practiced transmitting spells through the whip and later studied Arcane Collapse and Wondrous Item Disjunction, but could not get their spell flows to work.
• Hansite told Su Ming that Lady Lilima had arranged for the train to be ready before Su Ming returned the previous night, leaving him quietly pleased.
• Su Ming contacted Miao Xin, who told him her father had obtained drone firmware and flight-control software for her.

Su Ming and Zijin played a cooperative cooking game while Qiluo tried to charm them with moon magic, but the spell instead led to a fight and Qiluo’s punishment. Later, Miao Xin found hidden assets belonging to the arrested director of Pine Mountain Sanatorium, and a conversation about death helped Su Ming make progress in his cultivation.

• Su Ming asked Miao Xin to find a casual cooperative computer game, and he and Zijin began playing a cooking game together.
• Qiluo cast Moon’s Amorousness and then Moon Divine Art: Lust on Su Ming and Zijin, but their arguments over the game continued until Zijin kissed Su Ming and then beat him after the spell wore off.
• Zijin and Su Ming tied Qiluo up above a pot of braised meat, and Zijin ordered Su Ming to watch her as punishment.
• Miao Xin found keys, identity documents, bank cards, and other items hidden by the director of Pine Mountain Sanatorium, then asked Su Ming to teach her to drive.
• While Miao Xin watched a funeral procession and wondered about her own funeral, Su Ming reflected that death treated everyone equally and made progress in his magic practice.

After learning that his old friend Si Ran had died, Su Ming grieved and found it easier to cast Deathly Word spells. He defeated Zijin in a sparring match by disrupting her Omniscient Vision, prompting her to remove the inscription from one eye and rely more on her natural senses.

• Su Ming recognized Si Ran’s parents at a funeral and realized from the urn’s photograph that his old friend had died.
• Su Ming stayed in the locomotive cab, where he formed the Deathly Word spell Grey Thoughts Exhaust the Heart, and Zijin clarified that Qiluo’s lust spell had controlled her and that she had no romantic feelings for him.
• Su Ming prepared to investigate Lisi City, then sparred with Zijin to drain his magic and conceal his necromancer identity.
• Su Ming used Grey Thoughts Exhaust the Heart to suppress Zijin’s Omniscient Vision, outmaneuvered her, and won the match.
• After noticing how much she had missed through reliance on magical perception, Zijin removed the inscription from her right eye and chose to preserve her natural senses.
• Hansite found Zijin by the river and suggested celebrating with an extra meal.

Su Ming tracked Old Luo’s contact, Akosita, to a house in Lisi City and disguised himself to infiltrate it as the city’s security officers arrived. As Akosita’s mercenaries prepared to flee with their captives, Yise and Jielusi learned that the raid had disrupted their planned attack.

• Su Ming recalled how Si Ran had helped him recover from his failed entrance exam by guiding him through the punishing game Hell Let Loose, and resolved to visit her grave with moth orchids.
• Su Ming and Qiluo reached Lisi City and found Akosita’s address; Su Ming sent Qiluo to report the suspected criminals to the security office.
• Su Ming disguised himself as a restaurant worker and entered Akosita’s courtyard just before Alessandro and several security officers arrived to search it.
• Akosita’s mercenaries knocked out the officers and Su Ming, then began packing to flee; Su Ming noticed their injured fighters and a small alchemical puppet heading toward the cellar.
• Yise and Jielusi woke and saw Akosita’s group preparing to escape; Zephlin explained that Alessandro, Lord Morton’s second son, had led the security officers into the house.

Su Ming and the Temple of Light rescued Princess Dafulin from Akosita’s mercenaries, but an explosion killed the girls held in the cellar and several others. As Su Ming and Qiluo fled, Yise learned that Dafulin had been traveling with Empress Katharine and asked whether she had also been attacked.

• Yise and the priests surrounded the mercenaries, but a novice took Princess Dafulin hostage.
• Su Ming shot Alessandro by mistake, then used Silent Vision to kill the mercenary holding Dafulin and carry her to safety.
• Akosita set fire to oil flowing into the cellar, and Qiluo’s Ring of Vacuum extinguished the flames.
• A priest discovered alchemical explosives, and the blast killed the captive girls, the first warning priest, and the security chief and officers; Jielusi’s Holy Protection shielded Su Ming and Dafulin.
• Su Ming and Qiluo left, while Qiluo captured Alessandro’s departing soul in a bottle.
• Yise asked Dafulin why she had been there, and Dafulin said she was accompanying Empress Katharine to Bubing City; Yise urgently asked whether Katharine had been attacked.

After learning that Katharine had escaped an attack at Galloping Horse Slope, Su Ming and the Youth Civilization hurried to cross the Lower Ridge Mountains before search parties or a blizzard could endanger them. The train climbed the mountain in stages, with Zijin’s magic helping it over steep terrain, and continued into a gentler gorge.

• Yise learned from Dafulin that Katharine had escaped an attack at Galloping Horse Slope, and she left with Jielusi to search for her.
• Su Ming told Zijin about the attack and urged the Youth Civilization to cross the mountains before the area was searched; Qiluo warned that a blizzard would arrive before dawn.
• Zephlin discovered that Alessandro’s body was a puppet controlled by a puppeteer through a soul-storage structure.
• Su Ming and the crew prepared the Youth Civilization, then used drones, terrain magic, and careful boiler management to climb the Lower Ridge Mountains.
• Zijin used Levitation to help the train start on a steep slope, then rested after the spell drained her magic power.
• The Youth Civilization crossed the alluvial fan and entered a gentler mountain gorge, where Gospel increased the train’s speed.