Chapter Summaries

Su Ming offered Dafulin a tunnel through the Dome Mountains in exchange for help hiding the White Bone Fortress as it approached the Sacred Mountain Divine Might Prison. Dafulin revealed the Green Bridge Hanging River project and accepted the bargain’s importance, while Su Ming began proposing a false report of conflict between their sides.

• Dafulin learned that Mr. Graves was Su Ming, recognized him as the Grand Scholar Bone King, and sent her guards away before asking to visit the White Bone Fortress.
• Su Ming led Dafulin and the others to the hidden train, where she excitedly examined its machinery and discussed her interest in All-Natural Alchemy.
• Su Ming told Dafulin that his group intended to rescue undead scholars from the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison and asked her to conceal their whereabouts.
• Su Ming offered to dig a five-kilometer tunnel through the Dome Mountains, prompting Dafulin to reveal the Green Bridge Hanging River project and eagerly accept the proposal.
• Dafulin explained that Master Newman had been killed while protected by General Price’s troops, and Su Ming noted how their forces had been drawn into fights that disrupted their real missions.
• Su Ming proposed pretending that their sides had fought and suffered losses, then leaking the story, while Zijin left the carriage after hearing something outside.

Su Ming arranged a cover story with Dafulin and negotiated for the Cold Mountain Kingdom’s necromancers in exchange for extending a tunnel. After Zijin explained the accident behind her feud with the Temple of Light, the group prepared to repair their locomotive, while Miao Xin reached Kong Ruifeng’s factory to inspect it and arrange a new boiler.

• Su Ming and Dafulin agreed to fake the group’s departure east while secretly traveling west to raid the Holy Mountain Divine Might Prison, and Dafulin proposed extending the tunnel through the mountain.
• Dafulin offered all 120 of the Cold Mountain Kingdom’s undead-working scholars and mages for the extension, and Su Ming consulted Zijin before asking for time to calculate the work.
• Zijin returned after beating General Price, and Dafulin agreed to add revenge against Price and Katharine to the group’s public cover story.
• Zijin told Su Ming that her hair-growth spell had caused impotence among the Temple of Light’s Divine Covenant Faction, provoking the cardinals’ pursuit of her.
• Zijin repaired the communications tower and sorted skeletons for the White Bone Fortress while Su Ming assessed the locomotive’s damage and decided to arrange a new boiler.
• Miao Xin used Tranquility: Trace the Past to locate Kong Ruifeng’s factory and went to a nearby hospital to observe the area before entering.

Miao Xin and Su Ming learned that Ling Wen had replaced key people with decoys while investigating the mysterious attack in Vietnam, and that a strange porcelain dish and an unidentified human were found at its center. Ling Wen revealed a plan to lure the unknown enemy, then took them to Precision Machinery Heavy Industries to inspect the factory supporting Su Ming’s locomotive repairs.

• Miao Xin discovered that the factory she had been watching was not Kong Ruifeng’s workplace, and Ling Wen explained that Kong Ruifeng and Millet Studio were being used as bait.
• Ling Wen showed Su Ming and Miao Xin evidence from the Vietnam explosion: an unscathed dish marked with the oracle-bone character for “calamity” and a human with unusual gene sequences.
• Ling Wen revealed that Miao Mu and Su Ming’s parents had been moved into hiding and replaced by decoys as part of an operation to draw out the unknown enemy.
• Ling Wen collected Miao Xin’s communication devices so operatives could impersonate her and Su Ming and expose themselves as bait across multiple locations.
• Su Ming explained that his locomotive had been destroyed and that he needed parts manufactured on Earth, so Ling Wen drove him and Miao Xin to Precision Machinery Heavy Industries.
• At the factory, Miao Xin put on work clothes, a safety helmet, and an on-site representative badge before entering the production area with Ling Wen.

Su Ming inspected a massive apocalypse locomotive at Ling Wen’s factory and worked with Xiao Cheng to modify its design for the Youth Civilization’s needs. The factory began preparing the train and ammunition, but the lack of reliable propellant left the CS/LM5 machine gun’s ammunition unresolved.

• Ling Wen led Su Ming and Miao Xin through the factory and showed them a huge tracked locomotive designed for apocalyptic conditions.
• Xiao Cheng explained the locomotive’s electric-drive system and backup boiler, and Ling Wen said the factory would finish building it the next day.
• Su Ming revised the locomotive’s blueprints to suit his available materials and magic system while Xiao Cheng and factory engineers handled the technical details.
• Ling Wen and Xiao Cheng arranged CS/LM5 ammunition, but Su Ming explained that his world’s inconsistent alchemical explosives made local ammunition unsafe.
• Ling Wen warned that the machine gun required precisely manufactured rounds, leaving Su Ming without a reliable way to supply its ammunition.

Su Ming coordinated weapons and locomotive upgrades with Earth while preparing the White Bone Fortress and investigating Miao Xin’s mysterious loss of control. As the group celebrated the Frostflame Festival, Zijin reflected on her long isolation, and Su Ming learned that General Price’s forces had routed Jimite’s troops in the Black Territory at some cost.

• Su Ming discussed mechanized ammunition production with Xiao Cheng, then requested materials for a Cloud Arrow thermobaric bomb from Ling Wen.
• Su Ming and Zijin planned the locomotive upgrade, considered searching ancient scripts and the Plundering Clock’s documents, and reviewed Princess Dafulin’s roster of necromancers.
• Su Ming and Zijin questioned why Dafulin was urgently offering help with the tunnel, and Su Ming said the tunnel and the attack plan on Divine Might Prison might need a complete upgrade.
• Qiluo, Hansite, and Younier set out for Bubing City’s Frostflame Celebration after learning that the buffet’s Light Blessing Mark prevented repeat meals.
• Zijin declined to go to the festival and helped Su Ming plan magic arrays for the upgraded locomotive, then told him General Price’s forces had routed Jimite’s troops in the Black Territory but suffered losses.

Su Ming prepared a plan to counter the Temple of Light with cheap, provocative fiction and illustrations, while the locomotive upgrades and supply arrangements continued. In Bubing City, Qiluo brought artwork to a publisher, where its manager began examining an illustration of Su Ming beside the locomotive.

• Zijin reported that the Lords' Alliance army had escaped after losing most of its supplies, and Su Ming selected metal goods from Price's captured stock for shipment.
• Ling Wen warned Su Ming that the team that upgraded the White Bone Mark had used extensive resources and that someone would soon explain the related complications.
• Su Ming used Sangzi Studio's locomotive software to calculate that the journey could be shortened by at least twenty days, giving the workshop more time to dig tunnels.
• Su Ming asked Miao Xin to commission short novels from his outlines, and Ling Wen revised the plan into sensational investigative-style books with illustrations for readers across the social classes.
• In Bubing City, Qiluo found Sang River Illustration and offered the manager a stack of artwork, including a picture of Su Ming and the locomotive.

Qiluo arranged to publish her censored war illustrations under her Melancholy Cavalryman name, while Katharine reunited with Yise and revealed that Su Ming had rescued her. After Yise learned that Graves was Su Ming of the White Bone Fortress, Su Ming and Zijin set off to visit a nearby village for Frostflame Festival night.

• Qiluo revealed herself as Melancholy Cavalryman, signed a confidential publishing contract, and requested paper and ink from the shop owner.
• Katharine showed Yise her claw wounds and confirmed that Graves was an alias for Su Ming, who had rescued her.
• Yise realized Su Ming belonged to the White Bone Fortress and rushed out, while Katharine decided Jielusi should seal her shadow abilities and change classes to healer.
• Su Ming agreed to accompany Zijin to the nearby village for Frostflame Festival night and brought along the sick snow eagle to seek advice from hunters.
• After failing to ride a Frostmane Giant Wolf, Su Ming flew with Zijin on her broom toward the village.

Su Ming and Zijin discovered that the snow eagle they had found belonged to the Feather Race and used it to seek out its owner, hoping to learn Jimite’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, Katharine uncovered a plot involving Green Bridge Hanging River, and Yise chased down Qiluo and caught her carrying invitations to a Temple of Light prayer gathering.

• Su Ming and Zijin celebrated the Frostflame Festival in a village, where Zijin secretly helped a priest make holy water and Su Ming caught her hiding a raw potato.
• A villager directed Su Ming and Zijin to Old Claw, who fed the snow eagle and used herbs and his blood to reveal the direction of its Feather Race owner.
• Su Ming cast Trance Spell on Old Claw and flew with Zijin in the direction the snow eagle indicated, hoping its owner Castor could lead them to Jimite.
• Katharine contacted the withdrawn Yise with Eternal Echo, then learned from Ge'enda'er that the assassination attempt was part of a plan involving Green Bridge Hanging River and decided to meet Princess Dafulin.
• Yise spotted Qiluo in the festival crowd, chased her into an alley, and took three Temple of Light prayer gathering invitations from her pocket.

Qiluo and Yise headed to the Frostflame Festival banquet while Abigai and Ruogejin advanced the Plundering Clock’s plan to gather girls as puppets. Su Ming and Zijin defeated Jimite’s group, and Jimite revealed that Princess Dafulin, not Empress Katharine, had been the assassination target from the start.

• Qiluo invited Yise to the prayer meeting banquet, while Abigai rejected Yise as a potential puppet because the young Watcher was too recognizable.
• Abigai told Ruogejin to continue procuring suitable girls for the Plundering Clock’s prison-break plan, and he planned to trade with traffickers in Wazhuang Town.
• Su Ming and Zijin attacked the gathered Feather Race group, defeating their fighters with spells and gunfire before capturing Jimite and his followers.
• Su Ming questioned Jimite, who said he had taken a back route to Red Fruit Slope to summon the Black Graupel False Shadows.
• Jimite revealed that Princess Dafulin had been the intended assassination target, and that Empress Katharine’s unexpected arrival forced them to revise their plan and kidnap both women.

Su Ming and Zijin learned that Jimite’s forces had mistaken them for conspirators and that the Lords’ Alliance had tried to kill Dafulin to stop her plan for the Northern Lands. Dafulin told Katharine she no longer needed the Hanging River project, while Jimite revealed that his group had killed Master Newman and produced a Deep Soul Cocoon.

• Jimite explained that his forces had pursued Katharine because they thought Su Ming and Qiluo were involved in Bulenleifu’s death, and Su Ming asked why Jimite had tried to assassinate Dafulin.
• Dafulin explained to Katharine that the Hanging River project would cause ecological disaster, but that the royal family could now reclaim the Northern Lands through ordinary political and military measures.
• Katharine asked Dafulin why Master Newman had joined the Hanging River project.
• Jimite revealed that the Lords’ Alliance had kidnapped Master Newman, lured the White Graupel Cavalry to the White Bone Fortress, and killed Newman to stop Dafulin’s investigation.
• Zijin beat Jimite for his role in the scheme, and Jimite revealed a Deep Soul Cocoon containing a sleeping cluster of lights.

Su Ming and Zijin outmaneuvered Jimite, recovered Newman's soul, and brought Jimite to Newman's grave, where Dafulin explained the Hanging River Project and negotiated over the Eternal Night Territory. Zijin then revoked Dafulin's scholar qualification, but Su Ming signaled her to let Dafulin keep the badge Newman had given her.

• Zijin's illusion tricked Jimite into thinking he held Newman's soul, while Su Ming and Zijin recovered the real soul cocoon and killed the disguised corpses hidden in the snow.
• Dafulin told Katharine that she had concealed the underground river's true course from Newman, and that Jimite and the others had killed him after he began investigating the project.
• Dafulin visited Newman's grave, where Su Ming and Zijin brought Jimite; Dafulin thanked them and Zijin demanded the Eternal Night Territory in exchange for their help.
• Dafulin agreed to bring Zijin's request for formal recognition and autonomous rights over the territory to the king, while Zijin privately planned to trade it to the Feather Race.
• Zijin announced that two titled scholars had revoked Dafulin's scholar qualification and demanded her badge, but Su Ming signaled that she should let Dafulin keep the badge Newman had awarded her.

Zijin and Su Ming revived Newman as a skeletal ally after Dafulin honored his grave and agreed to continue their Green Bridge Project deal. Back at the dining car, Younier’s disastrous cooking left Qiluo choking and vomiting before the group finally ate Su Ming’s noodles.

• Dafulin visited Newman’s grave, and Su Ming confirmed that their deal over the Green Bridge Project still stood.
• Zijin and Su Ming used the White Bone Mark and Deep Soul Cocoon to restore Newman’s soul in his halfling skeleton.
• Newman rejoined Zijin and Su Ming, and they discussed Dafulin’s past, her visit, and her responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
• At the dining car, Qiluo choked on Younier’s heavy, brightly colored buns, then wailed after eating a bowl of ginger disguised as red-braised pork.
• Su Ming cooked noodles, but Qiluo ate a pot meant for constipated Frostmane Giant Wolves and vomited while Younier explained the mistake.

Zijin and Su Ming prepared a workshop and coordinated modifications to a massive locomotive intended to rescue their companions from Divine Might Prison. Newman joined the project as an engineering expert, while the group gathered materials and continued preparations for the dangerous prison break.

• Su Ming granted Newman access to the White Bone Fortress's materials, and Newman built a workshop shed and helped install its utilities.
• Zijin told Newman that the group planned to break into Divine Might Prison, then assigned him to process magic-array materials for the project.
• Su Ming inspected the locomotive's third section while Miao Xin monitored the area, and Xiao Cheng reported the schedule for transporting its three sections.
• Qiluo emerged from her room, cooked a pot of rice with sausage, and then pushed Newman into the shed to wash him with hot water and steam.
• Su Ming and Zijin studied the locomotive's technical documents together while Newman sorted magic materials and Qiluo examined recovered magical items.
• Zijin found Celestial Gold hidden among the seized carriage's belongings, and Newman recognized the wooden chest as sense-severing wood.

Su Ming and his companions welcomed Newman, gathered supplies, and celebrated before Su Ming teleported the Doomsday Locomotive’s third section from Earth. The section arrived safely, and the group began modifying its auxiliary systems.

• Su Ming found Newman testing and improving ammunition, while Qiluo, Younier, and Zijin returned with food for a welcome feast.
• General Price reported that the supplies had arrived, and Zijin led Younier and the frost wolves to retrieve them; Zijin then ordered the military equipment dismantled for materials.
• The group celebrated with a lavish dinner, and Qiluo agreed to deploy her Consecration Aura so Su Ming could teleport the locomotive components.
• Su Ming used the Summoning of All Things to transfer the third section from Earth, while Newman and Zijin worried about the strange power nearing Su Ming’s limit.
• After the section arrived, Su Ming said they would modify its auxiliary boiler and generator systems, and Zijin put Newman to work applying heat-reflective coating.

Su Ming teleported the second locomotive section to Earth, then nearly lost himself in the aurora as his power advanced, but Zijin’s fragrance and intervention brought him back. After recovering, he fell asleep with her scarf; meanwhile, Rupert and Zephlin investigated a suspicious building in Bulendi Town while avoiding dangerous leads.

• Su Ming completed the auxiliary boiler system and teleported the second locomotive section to Earth, where the strain left him dizzy and Zijin lent him a bracelet to replenish his magic power.
• Su Ming went out into the snow and, while watching the aurora, entered a dangerous state as his power advanced and the bracelet broke apart.
• Zijin found Su Ming collapsed in the snow and brought him back to his room, where she explained the breakthrough and gave him the Purple Corridor bracelet.
• Su Ming remembered that Zijin’s scarf fragrance had pulled him back from the vision, clutched it as he confronted his fear, and eventually fell asleep.
• In Bulendi Town, Rupert rejected Zephlin’s proposals to pursue the leads involving Princess Dafulin and the Bulenleifu puppet, then investigated a brightly lit building with him.

Zephlin and Rupert raided a trafficking den, rescued eleven kidnapped girls, and uncovered a lead on the buyer in Wazhuang Town. Meanwhile, Su Ming completed the transfer and assembly of the Doomsday Locomotive’s final section, then learned that the Light’s northern branches were investigating the same trafficking network.

• Zephlin and Rupert attacked a suspected trafficking house, killed most of its mercenaries, and rescued eleven of twelve kidnapped girls.
• Zephlin learned that the traffickers planned to meet their buyer in Wazhuang Town, and Rupert persuaded him to request Judgment Squad support while they investigated nearby towns.
• Su Ming’s companions assembled the locomotive’s second and third sections as he explained to Zijin how gravity affected the Magic Power needed for levitation.
• Su Ming successfully transferred the locomotive’s final component, and the team completed its mechanical assembly before beginning magical modifications.
• Katharine introduced Jielusi and Ge'enda'er as liaison officers, then told Su Ming that northern branches were investigating kidnappings and the buyer.

Su Ming and Katharine planned the raid on Divine Might Prison while the Doomsday Train and two powered railcars completed their tests. As the group prepared to leave for Compton Forest, Su Ming confronted the weakness of their weapons against powerful enemies and Newman asked to modify the train and take the two 100 mm guns.

• Su Ming welcomed Jielusi and Ge'enda'er aboard the train, then discussed the Divine Might Prison operation with Katharine and agreed to gather the keys needed for her plan.
• Katharine teased Newman about Dafulin and explained that Ailisha resented his badly designed library, while Su Ming learned that Katharine believed their group had caused a disturbance at the temple church on Frostflame Festival night.
• Three days after the Winter Solstice Festival, the Doomsday Train and two powered railcars passed their tests, but Su Ming discovered Newman had made the locomotive's tracks asymmetrical and ordered him to fix them.
• Su Ming planned to travel via Returning Bird Bay to Compton Forest for fuel, and Ge'enda'er suggested hiring local charcoal makers to produce the roughly three hundred tons of charcoal they needed.
• Su Ming allowed Newman to make the train's exterior and nonessential equipment asymmetrical, and Newman asked for the two 100 mm guns after Su Ming read a report about their weapons' inability to harm Yexiya.

Su Ming equipped the upgraded Youth Civilization with new weapons and tested its improved systems as the train resumed its journey west. While the crew began permanent magical defenses, Miao Xin obtained instruments for Hansite, and the chapter ended with Su Ming heading to breakfast.

• Ling Wen gave Su Ming a QBA221 automatic shotgun, and Su Ming ordered revolving-cylinder loading systems for two 100 mm smoothbore cannons.
• Newman recommended installing the cannons on the train for now and choosing their placement himself, and Su Ming agreed.
• The upgraded Youth Civilization traveled west through rough terrain, reaching 30 kilometers per hour as Su Ming and Hansite stood watch.
• Miao Xin used her Nether Sea domain to obtain an electric guitar, bass, amplifiers, and tutorial materials for Hansite, who learned to play them.
• After the night’s repairs, Su Ming raised the train’s speed to 35 kilometers per hour and planned to replenish charcoal at Compton Forest.
• Zijin and Newman began the second phase of magical modifications, using the remaining crystal materials to make defensive spells permanent.

The Youth Civilization reached Compton Forest, where Su Ming’s group began producing charcoal for their industrial plans. That night, Su Ming and Zijin found Galio’s concealed hideout beneath the snowy hills and opened its runic entrance.

• Ge'enda'er took over cooking as Jielusi joined Su Ming for breakfast in a striking woodland-style dress, while Zijin and Newman discussed the snowfall outside the locomotive.
• The Youth Civilization reached Compton Forest, and Zijin, Ge'enda'er, Newman, and the skeletons cleared trees and built earthen kilns to produce charcoal.
• Jielusi recruited two charcoal makers from a nearby village, and the group filled and lit four kilns while continuing to cut and haul timber.
• After dinner, Qiluo agreed to perform the midnight ritual with Jielusi’s assistance, while Su Ming returned to work on plans for the campaign against Divine Might Prison.
• Su Ming and Zijin rode a snowmobile across the moonlit plain, followed Su Ming’s magical perception to a hidden door, and descended into Galio’s hideout.

Su Ming and Zijin searched Galio’s hideout, where they studied spirit magic and found materials and books for Su Ming to take back to Earth. They discovered the Myriad Phenomena Prism was with Little Spiky Head on Earth, and returned to the Youth Civilization with their haul.

• Zijin and Su Ming read Galio’s notes and learned that he had tried the resentful spirit route before abandoning it for item-bound spirits.
• Su Ming found a spirit-decoy technique that could protect Miao Xin from mental locks and warn her of attacks, then passed the idea to her.
• Su Ming and Zijin found rare materials, including Rock Core and a substance containing neodymium, but did not find the Myriad Phenomena Prism in the hideout.
• Su Ming realized that the Myriad Phenomena Prism was with Little Spiky Head on Earth, and Zijin revealed that the gemstone was an ancient mystery suspected to contain spatial power.
• Su Ming packed Galio’s books and materials onto a levitated sled, and Zijin fell asleep on his shoulder during their slow return to the Youth Civilization.