Chapter Summaries

Yise and Jielusi defeated Granville’s elite soldiers, then found a message from Graves saying Katharine was safe. Meanwhile, Su Ming and Zijin confirmed the baby was not Xialike’s child and heard Katharine explain the Temple of Light’s investigation into the Spirit Cloud incident; the group continued traveling with the temple’s wanted order still in effect.

• Yise and Jielusi used illusions and shadow magic to kill Granville and rout his soldiers, then treated their wounds and made a shelter in the snow.
• Yise found Graves’s tracking crystal and read his message that Katharine was in his hands but would be returned in a few days.
• Su Ming and Zijin used a bloodline analysis array and confirmed the baby was not Katharine’s child with Xialike.
• Su Ming, Zijin, and Katharine agreed to share the baby’s care and discussed the Truth Cult of the Plundering Clock and its alleged plans.
• Katharine told Su Ming and Zijin that the Temple of Light had identified the Plundering Clock as the force behind the Spirit Cloud plan, but the Council of Cardinals had not lifted the wanted order for the necromancers.

Su Ming and Zijin prepared to travel to Tukuman for supplies while Katharine recovered and agreed to help rescue prisoners from the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison. At Si Ran’s grave, Miao Xin spotted a young man bearing an unusually clear resentment mark, while the Youth Civilization continued its journey across the icefield.

• Katharine agreed to provide intelligence, supplies, and personnel for the rescue and planned to return to Bubing City.
• Su Ming traded ten thousand gold coins for Katharine’s spellbook and a device that could record part of its contents.
• Miao Xin failed to find Si Ran’s soul at the cemetery, then noticed a young man at the grave with an exceptionally clear resentment mark.
• The Youth Civilization reached Nuoxia Lake, where Su Ming scanned ahead and found Tukuman holding a market before the Winter Solstice Festival.
• Su Ming decided to go shopping for supplies and Nie Silver coating, and Zijin chose to accompany him.

Su Ming and Zijin traveled toward Turkmen City in disguise while discussing the White Bone Mark’s hidden traps and their unequal bond. After Zijin discovered that Su Ming had deciphered all seven layers, they clarified their personal boundaries and spotted local fishermen whose livelihood supported the nearby salt mine.

• Zijin disguised herself and Su Ming as a married couple, and Hansite asked Su Ming to find him a six-stringed instrument for a possible return to battle.
• While Zijin drove the snowmobile, she revealed that she had planted a trap in the White Bone Mark and could still counter Su Ming if he tried to control her.
• Zijin realized Su Ming had deciphered all seven layers of the White Bone Mark with help from Earth’s computing tools, including the traps she had hidden.
• Su Ming told Zijin to respect his boundaries as a young man, and Zijin asked him to keep reminding her when she crossed them.
• Su Ming and Zijin saw fishermen working on Nuoxia Lake, and Zijin explained that their catch supplied Turkmen City and its salt mine.

Su Ming and Zijin entered Turkmen City to gather supplies and then followed the White Graupel Cavalry to its camp to learn about the force. Zijin wanted to capture its commander over Master Newman’s death, but she agreed to leave after spotting a group of powerful mages.

• Su Ming learned that Turkmen City belonged to Brenlev Tuck and asked Zijin about Saint Rank experts in the Northern Lands; she said the injured Leoni Alva was no longer Saint Rank.
• Su Ming and Zijin entered Turkmen City using stolen merchant papers, bought supplies, and found two cans of Star Empire newborn formula for Katharine.
• Zijin recognized three White Graupel Cavalry soldiers and persuaded Su Ming to follow them out of the city toward their camp.
• Su Ming used a drone to survey the well-organized camp and estimated that it held a full-strength unit of roughly two thousand people.
• Zijin told Su Ming that Master Newman had died after being pursued by the White Graupel Cavalry, whose commander, Price, claimed Newman was already dead when found.
• Zijin considered attacking the camp to capture Price, but she spotted several Grand Magi and agreed with Su Ming to leave the plan for later.

Su Ming and Zijin returned from Turkmen City after discussing Divine Hearts and Zijin’s newly mastered Natural Rhythm Domain, while Father Zephlin struggled to investigate the abductions in Lisi City. Rupert arrived seeking Zephlin’s help to enter the Dawn Territory, and the chapter ended with the group preparing to depart by train as Zijin was stopped from feeding fish cake to little Tuanzi.

• Su Ming learned that Katharine’s Divine Heart was Chastity and Zijin’s was spirituality, and Zijin said Su Ming had helped compensate for her tactical weakness.
• Zijin revealed that she had mastered the Natural Rhythm Domain and reached Saint Rank, then proposed training Su Ming to fight against a Saint Rank opponent.
• Zephlin found that Akosita’s home had been cleared and burned, and learned that Lord Bunanlunfu had died, leaving him without a solid lead in the abduction investigation.
• Rupert told Zephlin that he had been dismissed and flogged after Bennyfinn’s death, and asked Zephlin to vouch for him so he could move to the Dawn Territory.
• Su Ming and Zijin returned to the Youth Civilization, where Katharine questioned why the White Graupel Cavalry camped far from Bubing City and the group prepared the train.
• Zijin tried to feed a piece of fish cake to little Tuanzi, but Younier and Su Ming stopped her.

Su Ming and Katharine discovered that the White Graupel Cavalry were searching for her, and Katharine reunited with the troops before leaving with little Tuanzi to return to Bubing City. Su Ming then contacted Miao Xin, who found a strange gemstone in Little Spiky Head’s artificial eye as he researched area-effect firefighting rockets.

• Su Ming detected several White Graupel Cavalry search groups and Zijin found a hidden tracking array in a milk powder can, confirming they were following Katharine.
• Katharine flew to the search party, learned they had tracked the milk powder while looking for the missing prince, and arranged to return to Bubing City with little Tuanzi.
• Su Ming and Zijin agreed to help Katharine with the Divine Might Prison plan, and Qiluo escorted her and the child away from the Youth Civilization.
• After Katharine departed, Su Ming contacted Miao Xin, who reported finding Resentment Marks on frozen geese and a gemstone hidden in Little Spiky Head’s artificial eye.
• Su Ming searched for firefighting rockets and explained to Miao Xin that they could be loaded with explosives for use against people.

Su Ming prepared the Youth Civilization’s weapons while talking with Miao Xin about their lives and shared appetite for danger. When the White Graupel Cavalry attacked Katharine and Qiluo, he used the White Bone Mark to rebuild Zijin’s magic system, leaving her ready to unleash a vastly empowered spell.

• Su Ming told Miao Xin to acquire firefighting rocket bodies and launch platforms, then listened as she described her difficult life and why she enjoyed their adventures.
• Zijin warned Su Ming that Katharine and Qiluo were fleeing, so he ordered the group to prepare support while Hansite started the locomotive and Younier launched two drones.
• Su Ming used a drone to locate Katharine and Qiluo, who were carrying little Tuanzi and being pursued by Grand Magus Mages and cavalry from the White Graupel Cavalry.
• Zijin set up an amplification array, but warned that her weak dark element and the White Bone Mark’s limits made a long-range attack too dangerous.
• With Zijin’s consent, Su Ming took deep control of her and used the White Bone Mark to restructure its runes into a more efficient system.
• Zijin regained control, found her dark element dominating her magic cycle, and unleashed Six-Pointed Star · Saint · Divine Edict toward the pursuers.

Su Ming, Zijin, and Qiluo rescued Katharine with a long-range mirror-reflected spell, then escaped aboard the Youth Civilization while Katharine helped plan a route around Bubing City. The train headed toward Red Fruit Slope, and Katharine revealed that the Cold Mountain Kingdom’s forces had apparently lured her into an ambush for reasons she could not understand.

• Zijin’s reflected beams tore through the pursuing mages and cavalry, killing three Grand Magus Mages and scattering the White Graupel Cavalry; Qiluo collected the fallen mages’ magical belongings.
• Katharine recognized that the octagonal aircraft had used magic-crystal mirrors backed with celestial gold to redirect Zijin’s spell, and she worried that Ailisha would charge her for the materials.
• Qiluo brought Zijin back to the Youth Civilization as it departed across Nuoxia Lake, and Zijin told Su Ming that the spell had strained her body beyond its limits.
• Katharine thanked Zijin and Su Ming, then warned that the train’s planned route would pass Bubing City, where the kingdom’s city guards and mage corps could overwhelm them.
• Katharine explained that the White Graupel Cavalry had tried to lure her and Qiluo into a valley ambush; Su Ming plotted a detour through the old river channel and Returning Bird Bay.
• Katharine discussed the pursuit and her injuries, then told Zijin that Atiya was in Dragon Valley with Misaila; Zijin agreed to visit her.

Su Ming and Katharine assessed the forces surrounding the Youth Civilization and discussed why Katharine had been targeted. Katharine revealed that her efforts to spread Ailisha’s New Divine Language among commoners had helped create the Northern Stream, while a flashback showed Zijin’s reckless attempt to restore ancient inscriptions.

• Younier told Su Ming that loose rocks had damaged the train’s steering blades, and he said Earth’s design studio was preparing flexible replacements for the next overhaul.
• Su Ming found Celestial Gold and Magic Crystal Cores hidden in Zijin’s bed, moved her, and successfully cast a soundproofing barrier.
• Katharine mapped a three-sided encirclement by the White Graupel Cavalry, the Bubing City garrison, and the Northern Lands Lords’ Alliance, while she and Su Ming prepared for a possible battle.
• Su Ming pressed Katharine to explain why the factions were pursuing her, and she revealed that she had secretly spread textbooks on Ailisha’s New Divine Language to commoners, helping the Northern Stream form.
• In a flashback, Zijin told Su Ming that she had used Reverse Object Reversion on ancient Divine Language inscriptions to recover their original form.

Su Ming learned how Zijin and Katharine spread colored Divine Language and how Katharine’s actions helped provoke the Temple of Light and the Northern Lands’ factions. As Zijin adjusted to her upgraded White Bone Mark, she discovered she could communicate directly with Miao Xin while Su Ming slept.

• Zijin explained that restoring the colors of Divine Language revealed its grammar, and that the Temple of Light tried to detain her after she shared her findings.
• Katharine revealed that she wrote Colorful Wording, spread the new Divine Language among commoners, and impersonated Ailisha as the saintess of Pale New Words.
• Katharine admitted that the Cold Mountain Royal Family and the Temple of Light had agreed to dismantle the Lord Autonomy Alliance, while she denied responsibility by blaming her alias.
• Zijin woke beside Su Ming, discovered he had hidden her Celestial Gold and crystal cores, and chose not to wake him to confront him.
• Zijin studied her upgraded White Bone Mark and found she could speak directly with Miao Xin, who was shopping in a warehouse and preparing another transfer of goods from Earth.

Miao Xin infiltrated a Light Machinery Factory to transfer firefighting rockets and launchers to the Youth Civilization, while Su Ming prepared the weapons and Katharine planned to capture an enemy for intelligence. The chapter ended with Katharine returning with a captured mage as the group began preparing for battle.

• Miao Xin disabled the factory's security systems, then helped Su Ming transfer firefighting rockets and launcher materials to the Youth Civilization.
• Zijin lent Su Ming a bracelet to restore his strength, and he arranged for Zijin and Hansite to have the zombies load explosives into the rockets.
• Su Ming assigned Qiluo to watch for enemy scouts, then began designing a fire-extinguishing bomb launcher for the Youth Civilization.
• Katharine proposed capturing an enemy for intelligence and ambushed two scouting mages, killing one and capturing the other.
• Katharine caught up with the Youth Civilization with the prisoner, and she ate water chestnut cake while Qiluo complained that someone had hidden an extra piece.

After confirming that the Cold Mountain Royal Family and the Lords' Alliance were pursuing them, Su Ming and Katharine weighed their options for breaking through the encirclement while preparing a new weapon. The chapter ended with Katharine abandoning plans to retreat and agreeing to attack Jimite's army at Returning Bird Bay, after Su Ming asked her to command the assault.

• Katharine interrogated a captured mage, and Qiluo confirmed that his memories had not been altered by magic.
• The mage's hidden alchemical device drained his life and sent signals that let Jimite's forces track the White Bone Train's route and speed.
• Jimite ordered the Lords' Alliance troops to rush toward Returning Bird Bay and prepare an interception, while Su Ming's group discussed the risks of their options.
• Katharine concluded that attacking through Bubing City or fighting at Returning Bird Bay would carry serious risks, and she favored turning back against the depleted White Graupel Cavalry.
• Su Ming insisted that the group continue toward the Divine Bird Prison and proposed crushing Jimite's army before deceiving Bubing City and hiding again.
• Katharine agreed to advance and asked Su Ming to explain the capabilities of his new weapon.

Su Ming tested compressed-air launchers fitted with shaped-charge ammunition while Katharine and Zijin prepared for the coming pursuit. At Red Fruit Slope, Katharine’s patrols convinced Jimite that the White Bone Train had stopped, but he realized too late that Liya and Bone King had slipped away over the mountains and his vanguard had encountered them.

• Su Ming and Zijin tuned the launchers, raising their firing speed and rate of fire, while Su Ming explained how the lightweight shaped charges could pierce armor.
• Qiluo challenged Su Ming to prove the ammunition’s effectiveness, then fled when she realized he meant to test it on her; Zijin lent Katharine the Mirage Set, and Su Ming demanded records about Gospel’s creation.
• Katharine ambushed scouts near Red Fruit Slope, but one captive died from poison; she later killed two soldiers and let a mage escape with news of the train’s position.
• Jimite believed the White Bone Train had stopped to prepare for battle, ordered his forces to encircle it, and sent the Shadow Corps to block its retreat.
• After reports said the train remained at Red Fruit Slope, Jimite learned that his vanguard had encountered Liya and Bone King; he realized the train’s apparent stop was a ruse and ordered the vanguard to retreat.

Su Ming and the Youth Civilization used a fake train and a false estimate of their speed to lure Jimite’s forces into splitting up, then ambushed the noble army’s vanguard. The White Bone Train’s fire-extinguishing bomb launchers devastated the vanguard as the attack began.

• Jimite realized the Youth Civilization had crossed the mountains earlier than expected and that the train at Red Fruit Slope had been a decoy.
• Su Ming recalled how Katharine had deliberately slowed the train so the enemy would underestimate its speed, enabling the deception to succeed.
• Su Ming and Zijin ambushed two sentry squads, killing their members before flying to a ridge overlooking the noble army’s vanguard.
• The vanguard commander ordered his soldiers, archers, and mages to attack Su Ming and Zijin, but the White Bone Train emerged and blocked their spells and arrows with its shield.
• Su Ming activated the train’s fire-extinguishing bomb launchers, which killed most of the vanguard’s hundred-man unit in just over ten seconds.

Su Ming and Zijin destroyed the vanguard regiment with the Youth Civilization, then advanced toward the noble army’s third echelon. At night, Su Ming used synthetic aperture radar to locate concealed artillery positions, and the chapter left him preparing a higher-resolution scan of the enemy’s hidden forces.

• Su Ming used the train’s launchers to kill many of the vanguard regiment’s mages and soldiers, while Zijin transformed into the White Bone Mark’s bone dragon form and raised the dead as skeleton warriors.
• Zijin ended the pursuit after gathering more than a thousand skeletons, and Su Ming learned that soldiers in the Northern Lands did not surrender because prisoners were ordinarily killed or abandoned without food and warmth.
• After the Youth Civilization reached Peacock Gully, Su Ming bypassed the scattered second echelon and continued toward the third echelon, where Jimite’s supplies and artillery were concentrated.
• At night, Zijin’s soldiers and a drone found no signs of the concealed third echelon, so Su Ming deployed a positioning station and used synthetic aperture radar to reveal suspected artillery positions and foxholes more than three kilometers off the road.
• Su Ming upgraded the drone’s heat-retention array and power source before sending it back to scan the suspicious area at higher resolution.

Su Ming used the Youth Civilization’s rocket launchers to ambush and rout Warlord Fyodor’s concealed force, though faulty rockets and delayed skeletons complicated the assault. As Zijin struggled against a powerful Feather Race magister, Su Ming pursued him alone, and the two began exchanging spells.

• Su Ming and Younier studied the SAR scan, marked enemy positions, and prepared the Youth Civilization and skeleton forces for the attack.
• Su Ming stopped the train at the edge of the enemy artillery’s range and fired 400 rockets at Fyodor’s concealed position.
• Rocket strikes destroyed artillery and defenses, while Zijin raised new skeleton warriors from the dead and helped break the enemy line.
• A Feather Race magister disrupted Zijin’s forces and harassed the retreating soldiers, so Su Ming flew out to confront him while Zijin stayed to control the battlefield.
• The magister turned to fight Su Ming, who deflected his fireballs with Elemental Fade and counterattacked with magic orbs.

Su Ming and Zijin finished destroying the Feather Race force and searched the battlefield for supplies and intelligence. As they prepared to continue toward the Northern Lands, Zijin worried that her actions might violate Earth’s laws if she went there.

• Su Ming marked the Feather Race magister’s shield with Dark Beacon and used guided, armor-piercing Bone Spears to wound him, then Zijin killed him with a dark-element beam.
• Zijin pursued fleeing soldiers and helped kill around seven hundred more, while Su Ming destroyed the enemy’s supplies and used a drone to locate hidden supply pits.
• Su Ming and Zijin returned to the Youth Civilization, where Su Ming noticed that three of Zijin’s ribs were not keeping pace with her upgraded dark-element power; she said she had lost the original bones at Hard Rock Canyon near Galio and Russell’s old base.
• Su Ming found the dead commander, Warlord Fyodor, but his soul had been protected by a soul-sending spell, and the command post’s documents had been destroyed.
• Su Ming and Zijin questioned prisoners, confirmed that Jimite was leading the second echelon, and planned to leave skeletons and explosive traps behind to hinder the fleeing soldiers.
• While flying over the battlefield, Zijin turned a surviving soldier into a skeleton, prompting Su Ming to suppress his nausea; she then worried that her different understanding of things might lead her to break Earth’s laws.

Su Ming and Zijin uncovered Bulenleifu’s plot to assassinate Princess Dafulin by reviewing Quasimodo’s memories, then prepared the Youth Civilization to attack the noble army’s second echelon. Meanwhile, Dafulin joined General Price’s forces as they moved to investigate the unknown troops near Red Fruit Slope.

• Su Ming and Zijin found that Quasimodo’s soul retained memories, and Zijin used Soul-Tracing Reflection to examine them.
• Su Ming and Zijin discovered that Bulenleifu had plotted to frame others for Dafulin’s murder, but Qiluo and Su Ming’s intervention had disrupted his scheme and led to his death.
• Su Ming learned that the noble army’s second echelon carried mostly supplies, then reorganized the train and set course to attack it near dawn.
• Dafulin arrived at General Price’s camp and authorized an official military operation to investigate the unusual troop movements, postponing discussion of Price’s disobedience.

Dafulin and the White Graupel Cavalry prepared to investigate Liya’s return, while Su Ming’s Youth Civilization located Jimite’s retreating second echelon and was caught by a precisely placed mine. After Jimite revealed that the White Graupel Cavalry was approaching, Su Ming discovered that the advancing force was the powerful First Regiment.

• Dafulin approved Price’s plan to wait for reconnaissance, then learned that Liya had returned to Peacock Gully aboard a White Bone Train and ordered an elite squad to investigate.
• Su Ming used drones to find Jimite’s second echelon camp, but avoided attacking because its scattered, sheltered camp was difficult to strike effectively.
• A mine destroyed the Youth Civilization’s lead locomotive, and Su Ming realized Jimite had predicted Gospel’s route choices by studying the train’s tracks.
• Su Ming’s crew salvaged the damaged locomotive and prepared to leave, but Jimite’s enchanted snow eagle warned that the White Graupel Cavalry was coming.
• After Price’s reconnaissance squad was ambushed, Dafulin and Emilio decided to mobilize their forces and advance toward Peacock Gully.
• Su Ming’s drone spotted about eight hundred cavalry riders, and Jimite identified them as the White Graupel Cavalry First Regiment from Bubing City.

Su Ming saw through Jimite’s attempt to provoke him into fighting the White Graupel Cavalry, and Katharine arrived to confirm that the Cold Mountain Royal Family had been framed. After reuniting with the genuine cavalry and Princess Dafulin, Su Ming sought an alliance to continue his expedition to Divine Might Prison.

• Su Ming recognized Jimite’s taunts as a trap, captured the controlled snow eagle, and learned that Jimite’s apparent location was only a relay magic array.
• Su Ming ordered the Youth Civilization to retreat, and Katharine arrived to warn him that Jimite had framed the Cold Mountain Royal Family.
• Katharine concealed the train with Water Curtain Heavenly Splendor while Su Ming and Katharine went to meet the White Graupel Cavalry and Princess Dafulin.
• Emilio confirmed Katharine and little Tuanzi were safe, and Dafulin rode out to meet them and learned that Jimite and the Lords’ Alliance were behind the affair.
• Dafulin sent Emilio to deal with Jimite, but Su Ming asked that Jimite be kept alive so he could question him.