Chapter Summaries

Chloe returned her books and discussed Old Humanity’s survival on Northern Ice Island with Scholar Heron, who revealed that Xialike had asked him to officiate their wedding. At the royal library, Chloe discovered Feather Race blood on Saimusi’s shoe and, with Xialike, began investigating whether he was conducting experiments on Feather Race members.

• Chloe returned her books and the sealed translation of Master Newman’s ancient text commission to the Ancient Language Research Association.
• Chloe told Scholar Heron about evidence that Old Humanity had lived on Northern Ice Island twelve thousand years ago, and they discussed how the group might have survived the harsh climate.
• Scholar Heron congratulated Chloe on becoming the future crown princess and said Xialike had invited him to officiate their wedding.
• At the royal library, Chloe saw Saimusi collecting books about the Feather Race and noticed dark red liquid on his shoes; she later tested a trace on her skirt and identified it as Feather Race blood.
• Chloe told Xialike what she had found, and Meiwu'er reported that Saimusi lived in a lakeside laboratory arranged by Emperor Lorenzo.
• Xialike ordered Meiwu'er to investigate Saimusi and the lakeside villa, while Chloe worried that their inquiries might attract Lorenzo’s attention.

Chloe and Xialike uncovered evidence that Saimusi was holding Feather Race captives and experimenting on them in a palace villa under Lorenzo’s orders, but chose to investigate cautiously. Meanwhile, Chloe confronted Newman after tracing his secret commission to a treasure chamber, and she began discussing how to settle matters with him.

• Xialike, Chloe, and Meiwu'er learned from palace servants that Saimusi had not left the palace, received Feather Race-appropriate food and alchemical supplies, and was guarded by a squadron of forty shadow guards.
• Chloe thanked Xialike for the information but warned that digging further could endanger them, and Xialike urged her to get to the bottom of the matter while protecting themselves.
• Dafulin visited Newman for guidance, shared her flatbread with him, and delivered a commission envelope from the Ancient Language Research Association.
• Newman found Chloe’s note explaining that she had identified his rubbing as clues to an Ash City Dynasty treasure chamber, inspected the construction site, and reported the water seeping into its foundations.
• Chloe arrived at Newman’s home with Meiwu'er, confronted him about arranging the secret commission, and sent Dafulin away before asking how they should settle the matter.

Chloe and Newman investigated a scholar’s villa in the Star imperial palace and discovered a vast underground facility. Using a swiftlet to contact a prisoner inside, Chloe learned that the captive was Yu Yao, the missing queen of the Feather Race, and the story left her and Xialike departing with the revelation.

• Chloe told Newman that Dafulin was the Cold Mountain Kingdom’s second princess and a political hostage, then asked him to investigate Saimusi’s palace villa.
• Newman agreed to keep the Deep Soul Cocoon commission secret and promised Chloe twenty percent of the treasure’s sale proceeds.
• Newman examined the villa from across the lake and identified a large underground structure with a ventilation shaft hidden in a well.
• Chloe used a rune-ringed swiftlet to enter the shaft and eventually received a response from a prisoner during a guard shift change.
• The prisoner identified herself as Yu Yao and recognized Chloe as the little bookworm she had known as a child.
• Yu Yao began recounting what had happened before guards interrupted the contact, and Chloe and Xialike left after the swiftlet escaped.

Death Knell met Hairspring in Tear Reflection City, where he warned her against reckless missions and Wangshe summoned them to the Plundering Clock’s headquarters. There, Hairspring outlined plans to infiltrate the Gravel Scale Tribe and other peoples, while the group prepared to expand its operations toward the orcs and await Abigai.

• Death Knell ate a lavish meal with Hairspring, who cautioned her that her reckless attack on Gepegong could jeopardize their mission in Taya.
• Wangshe reprimanded Death Knell and Hairspring for violating the commandment against gluttony, then summoned them to headquarters and explained the importance of gathering resources to build the Plane Gate.
• Leonite reported that the Plundering Clock had acquired five thousand Gravel Scale lizardman eggs, and Hairspring proposed raising and educating them to infiltrate and control their tribe.
• The Plundering Clock agreed to use the Gravel Scale Tribe plan as a model for infiltrating other marginal groups, and Hairspring advocated targeting the orcs on Water Chestnut Island.
• Wangshe revealed that Abigai would arrive during the next crossing window, then ended the meeting and concealed that Death Knell had been sent instead because the unstable rift made Abigai’s crossing too risky.

Chloe and Xialike discovered that Lorenzo had captured Yu Yao to force her to develop the Formless Dove, a poison that could trigger mass poisoning through ordinary food and support his campaign of conquest. Tests revealed the poison in shipments sent across several regions, while Hairspring confirmed that contaminated peas had poisoned Death Knell and other victims.

• Chloe told Xialike that Lorenzo had captured Yu Yao and forced her to complete the Formless Dove, which he planned to use against neighboring lands.
• Chloe explained that the poison made normally tolerable food toxins dangerous, then found traces of it in peas shipped to the Sea Clearing Kingdom, Troll Territory, and southern Cold Mountain Kingdom.
• Xialike concluded that Lorenzo was targeting the Plain of Despair, and Meiwu'er feared another war would begin there.
• In Tear Reflection City, Hairspring investigated Death Knell's poisoning and found a bag of roasted peas among her belongings.
• Hairspring fed the peas and shellfish to separate groups of slaves, confirming that the peas triggered shellfish-toxin poisoning; he suspected an unknown ingredient from the Star Empire.

Chloe, Xialike, and Meiwu'er learned that Lorenzo planned to frame the Feather Race for poisoning by sacrificing his own people, and they began working to stop him and rescue Yu Yao. After ordering efforts to neutralize the poisoned peas, Xialike agreed to join Chloe in a desperate plan against Lorenzo.

• Hairspring told Death Knell that Saimusi might be in the City of Radiance and offered to recommend her for an investigation.
• Chloe, Xialike, and Meiwu'er contacted Yu Yao, who warned that Lorenzo planned to use her stolen notebook to blame the Feather Race for the poisoned peas and a four-way war.
• Yu Yao gave Chloe the Formless Dove's ingredients and a way to neutralize it, then supplied Saimusi with a new formula for a potion meant to work on trolls.
• Chloe neutralized the poison coating the peas, and Xialike ordered the Star Feather Chamber of Commerce to make the antidote and intercept bean shipments headed toward the Plain of Despair.
• Chloe declared that she would kill Lorenzo to save Yu Yao and protect the Feather Race, and Xialike agreed to join her in a desperate fight against his father.

Xialike and Chloe attended a tense lunch with Emperor Lorenzo and Empress Casimir, where Lorenzo ordered a grand ball to introduce Chloe to the court. Meanwhile, Death Knell investigated the missing pharmacist Saimusi and accepted Princess Janet’s invitation to a court banquet as a chance to learn whether he was in the palace.

• Xialike told Chloe that his mother had threatened suicide over their marriage and Grand Duke Flint had threatened to disown him, then explained that Lorenzo was likely preparing to confront her family.
• At lunch, Lorenzo supported Xialike and Chloe as they discussed the wedding preparations, while Meiwu'er assessed the emperor’s formidable security.
• Lorenzo instructed Casimir to hold a grand ball in one week to formally introduce Chloe, and Casimir accepted reluctantly.
• Death Knell learned that lizard eggs were selling well and questioned Jiasihuo about Saimusi, who had reportedly vanished after contact with someone resembling a palace attendant.
• Janet met Death Knell at the restaurant and invited her to a court banquet, intending to use her to curry favor with a grand duke.
• Death Knell accepted Janet’s invitation as an opportunity to investigate the imperial palace, despite Jiasihuo’s warning about provoking the empire.

Chloe and Xialike recruited Xinmilai to help them counter the Formless Zhen Poison and devise a way to kill Emperor Lorenzo. Xinmilai demonstrated the first stage of Yu Yao’s “Seven Absolutes,” leaving them with a method for keeping mixed substances from reacting.

• Death Knell asked Jiasihuo to make banquet guests fall ill so Saimusi might be sent out of the palace.
• Chloe tried on her midnight-blue banquet gown and told Xialike that her plan had only a fifty-fifty chance of success.
• Chloe revealed the Formless Zhen Poison plot to Xinmilai, who agreed to help rather than let his and Yu Yao’s research become a tool of war.
• Xinmilai explained that ordinary poisons would be detected by the emperor’s poison testers, so Chloe asked him about Yu Yao’s “Seven Absolutes.”
• Xinmilai used spells to keep baking soda and magnesium sulfate from reacting after they were mixed, demonstrating what Chloe called “Two Absolutes.”

Xinmilai and Chloe asked White Pheasant to compound Yu Yao’s elaborate Seven Absolutes poison for a plan to kill Emperor Lorenzo, and he agreed to help before the empress’s banquet. At the palace, servants prepared the hall and inspected the lizard eggs that would be served at the banquet.

• Xinmilai showed Xialike and Chloe Yu Yao’s Seven Absolutes design and explained that its complex Rest array made the poison difficult to produce.
• Bai and Stacy visited Beckmann’s grave, where Chloe, Xialike, Meiwu'er, and Xinmilai joined them and explained their plan to assassinate Lorenzo.
• White Pheasant objected to making poison because of his medical ethics, but after hearing the plan, he agreed to prepare the Seven Absolutes before the banquet.
• White Pheasant proposed involving the costly, noncombatant Moon Chanter, Hansite, to improve the plan’s chances.
• Palace servants lit fireplaces and inspected the lizard eggs for the banquet; the poison tester found no poison, and the chef confirmed the eggs were fresh and high quality.

At the imperial banquet, rival plots involving poisoned food, incense, and firewood collided, leaving the guests incapacitated and the hall in chaos. Lorenzo ordered the windows blown open, but the griffin egg intolerance then took effect.

• Jiasihuo reported that he had replaced the lizard egg contents with untreated griffin egg whites, while Death Knell praised his plan to cause stomach trouble at the banquet.
• Empress Kamixier arranged for Flame Dew Incense, while Xialike and Chloe arranged for Dusk Camphor firewood to weaken the guests.
• Janet tried to drug Death Knell with a hallucinogen hidden in a pea cake, but Death Knell dropped the poisoned piece and ate another.
• At the banquet, Death Knell realized the first cake she had eaten contained Formless Zhen Poison, while Chloe and Xialike wondered why the Dusk Camphor was having no effect.
• Lorenzo arrived, identified the Flame Dew Incense, and ordered it removed; the Dusk Camphor and griffin egg effects then combined, making the guests groggy and unsteady.
• Janet collapsed, a physician declared that she appeared poisoned, and Lorenzo ordered the windows blasted open to clear the air.

A poisoning panic erupted at Lorenzo’s banquet, and he accused Xialike and his companions while trying to secure the supposed Seven-Colored Sacred Elixir. Death Knell attacked for the medicine, and the chapter ended as Hansite cast a domain over Lorenzo and Death Knell after both had drunk the potion.

• Guests, including the empress, collapsed with stomach pains, and the imperial physicians identified the symptoms as dizziness and laxatives while Xialike and his companions tried to leave with Stacy.
• Lorenzo stopped Xialike, Chloe, Meiwu'er, and Stacy, saw his palm turn black, and blamed Xialike for poisoning him.
• Xinmilai identified Stacy’s bottles as the Seven-Colored Sacred Elixir, and Lorenzo took one while ordering Meiwu'er to drink another after it passed a second poison test.
• Death Knell attacked for the last bottle, fought Zhapulai, Xialike, Chloe, and Meiwu'er, and drank the potion she seized while Lorenzo drank his own bottle.
• Hansite began playing his folding harp and cast Moon-Boiling Spirit Domain over Lorenzo and Death Knell, then invoked Moonlight: Seven Absolutes Concerto.

After Lingna escaped the banquet, Xialike’s allies concealed Lorenzo’s poisoning and death, and Xialike became emperor. Three months later, Chloe left for the Feather Race with Yu Yao’s ashes and egg, then recruited Newman to help demolish Lorenzo’s mausoleum.

• Death Knell escaped after poisoning Lorenzo and the others, while Meiwu'er, Zhapulai, and Xialike failed to catch her; Stacy stabilized Meiwu'er.
• Xialike and Zhapulai agreed to present Lorenzo’s death as a terrorist attack, and Zhapulai revealed that he had known the truth but chose not to interfere.
• Xialike became emperor and married Chloe, who questioned why Yu Yao’s remains could not be returned to her homeland; Xialike said it was necessary for political reasons.
• Three months later, Zijin reviewed Galio’s teleportation research and Chloe’s paper on chelation, praising Chloe’s chances of becoming a Titled Scholar.
• Chloe left a letter for Xialike, took Yu Yao’s ashes and egg Wu Ling, and departed with more than a hundred Feather Race members for Northern Ice Island.
• Chloe recruited Newman to plant explosives in Lorenzo’s mausoleum, threatening to blame him whether or not he agreed.

Katharine and Star Sand’s forces attacked Ke'er site’s camp, using defected soldiers, dragon allies, priests, and Fierce Model war machines to turn the battle against the Holy See. Ke'er site unleashed Sin-Cleansing Silence, but the machines transformed into autonomous combat robots and opened a devastating barrage.

• Ke'er site ordered his forces to attack Star Sand the next day while concealing the Holy City’s fall and the true purpose of the campaign.
• Katharine and Gelie attacked the camp as soldiers marked with yellow cloth revealed that they had defected to Star Sand.
• Gelie’s Stone Domain disrupted the ascetics while Katharine, Silver Mask, Ge'enda'er, Qingfeng, and Star Sand’s priests attacked Ke'er site and his guards.
• Three Fierce Models joined the battle and used machine-gun fire to break the Holy See’s advantage, while their barriers withstood Ke'er site's Light of Judgment.
• Ke'er site drank a mental amplification potion and used Sin-Cleansing Silence to suppress both armies, but the ascetics resisted by turning themselves into emotionless weapons of god.
• The Fierce Models transformed into autonomous robots and unleashed autocannon and machine-gun fire, suddenly shifting the battle in Star Sand’s favor.

After Ke'er site was killed in the battle for the Holy City, Su Ming organized the expansion of his forces across the Radiant Jurisdiction and planned new weapons to confront Death Knell. He left the chapter preparing to meet Xialike while his allies secured the conquered territory and began developing a custom mech and aircraft.

• The Fierce Models exhausted their ammunition firing at Ke'er site, allowing Gelie, Qingfeng, and Katharine to attack and kill him.
• Su Ming learned that Katharine's raid had captured many Holy See officers, while Stacy had used Desecration Spirit Pivot to capture Ke'er site's soul.
• Su Ming assigned troops and Star Sand members to secure nearby cities, tasked Feikasi with restoring order in the Holy City, and sent Yuya and the dragons to spread their policies.
• Su Ming directed engineers to develop a custom Yinglong mech for Miao Xin and chose the Trickster as her combat-test opponent.
• Su Ming approved a conventional turbofan transport plane, the Chubby Girl, and promised Miao Xin a new body after he dealt with Xialike.

Su Ming and Xialike negotiated the Star Empire’s support for the First Sunrise Republic and agreed to establish the Taya Economic and Trade Community. They also planned a joint campaign against the Plundering Clock in the Gravel Scale Desert, where Xialike committed sixty thousand troops.

• Su Ming and Xialike disputed ownership of Midwinter Island and Midsummer Island before discussing the proposed Taya Economic and Trade Community.
• Su Ming agreed in principle to the trade community and secured a thirty-million-gold-coin loan from the Star Empire using Temple of Light assets as collateral.
• Su Ming named the new nation the First Sunrise Republic.
• Zhapulai reported that Death Knell and the Plundering Clock had taken control of the Gravel Scale Desert, making an invasion necessary.
• Su Ming offered to provide water and desert trucks, and Xialike committed four elite divisions and two logistics support regiments, totaling around sixty thousand troops.

Su Ming expanded his plans across the Radiant Jurisdiction while overseeing uranium enrichment and reactor preparations. He decided to use the submarine Pansy to transport a satellite-launch system beneath Taya’s Arctic ice.

• Su Ming planned to send Bone Machine battalions, a Star Sand battle group, and a Feather Race legion to support the takeover, while Ainuobia recommended bringing Forest Dragons for desert logistics.
• Yuya sent Star Sand members to address city residents, coordinate with local allies, and identify administrators who resisted the takeover.
• Su Ming and Zijin saw Xialike and his party depart, then found Newman and Miao Xin rebuilding Saint Lan Cathedral by joining its wreckage with bones; Zijin knocked Newman down when he joked about the repairs.
• At Ruby Base, Quail reported that 230 centrifuges were enriching uranium, and Su Ming learned they could produce a ton of four-percent-enriched uranium in about half a month.
• Su Ming required Heguang to report the Zhurong reactor’s specifications and ordered a full inspection before it was transferred for installation aboard the Pansy.
• Su Ming told Jin Rongjia he planned to take the Pansy beneath the Arctic ice to transport and launch the Vermilion Bow satellite rocket.

Su Ming had Dodder design a conventional Albacore-based scouting submarine to accompany the nuclear-powered Pansy, settling on lead-acid batteries and underwater recharging. The design took shape with a small crew and somewhat less cramped quarters, while Su Ming remained annoyed at Jin Rongjia’s earlier bluff about his expertise.

• Jin Rongjia realized the nuclear reactor would power the Pansy and celebrated the prospect of deploying satellites in the other world, while Su Ming explained the Pansy refit was already underway.
• Su Ming insisted on an active submarine expert, and Jin Rongjia brought in Dodder, a former senior submarine design engineer whose conventional submarine project had been cut.
• Su Ming and Dodder chose the stolen Albacore’s teardrop hull and rejected lithium batteries in favor of 500 tons of lead-acid batteries, which would provide only about an hour at full speed.
• Dodder calculated that the submarine could travel about 960 kilometers at eight knots and remain submerged for roughly 64 hours, so Su Ming approved it as a scouting vessel that could recharge from the Pansy underwater.
• Su Ming planned for Miao Xin and seven or eight support crew to operate the submarine, and Dodder designed underwater docking and charging systems so the Albacore and Pansy could back each other up.
• After Dodder and Jin Rongjia described the cramped conditions aboard submarines, Su Ming ordered a larger crew compartment, and Jin Rongjia’s comments prompted Su Ming to smack his shoulder for pretending to be an expert.

Su Ming confronted the huge zirconium requirement for the Zhurong nuclear reactor and prepared to travel to the First Sunrise Republic while investigating a weapons-data leak from the Dwarf Kingdom. On the Kunpeng Transport Aircraft, Wu Ling reported the Feather Race’s progress in the Golden Autumn Archipelago and agreed that its special territory would fall under the Republic’s jurisdiction.

• Heguang told Su Ming that the Zhurong reactor needed 120 tons of zirconium, and Su Ming began looking for an accessible deposit in Taya.
• Lilishan arranged Su Ming’s trip to the First Sunrise Republic, while Rupert showed him factory mold data for shells found in the pope’s office ruins.
• Su Ming suspected that the dwarves had leaked the weapons information to Pope Augustus and decided to investigate further.
• Su Ming boarded the Kunpeng Transport Aircraft with Elder Mo Yuan, spoke with Miao Xin about training and future plans, and met Wu Ling aboard.
• Wu Ling reported that the Feather Race had taken control of Golden Autumn Main Island and nearby islands, and confirmed that the Golden Autumn Special Territory would accept the Republic’s jurisdiction.

Su Ming arrived in Radiant Holy City aboard Kunpeng, where he found the city adapting to the First Sunrise Republic and its new religious stories. He reunited with Zijin and reviewed the growing military forces, while the remaining scattered enemy troops were expected to be dealt with within ten days.

• Su Ming finalized Golden Autumn Island’s autonomy framework with Wu Ling and appointed Ainuobia foreign minister before flying east aboard Kunpeng.
• Miao Xin guided Kunpeng to a landing at Radiant Holy City, where Su Ming disembarked and checked that no one had thrown coins into its engines.
• Su Ming questioned Yuya about priests reciting the Poem of the Bone Saint, and Yuya explained that people across the First Sunrise Republic eagerly requested it at Mass.
• Zijin reunited with Su Ming and showed him crates of sacred relics she had buried twenty years earlier, which priests began sorting.
• Yise reported that the uprising’s forces and the surrendered Expeditionary Crusaders Fleet totaled 340,000 troops, with about 80,000 scattered enemy troops left to address.

Su Ming uncovered evidence that the dwarves had helped the Divine Covenant Faction arrange the failed assassination at Red Ridge Mine. With trade between the First Sunrise Republic and the dwarves booming and other urgent plans underway, he hesitated to disrupt the relationship, leaving his response undecided.

• Su Ming ordered the army reduced in stages, redirected released soldiers to local administration, and appointed Newman to lead nationwide infrastructure work.
• Zijin announced a provisional government with the head-of-state position vacant and appointed leaders across the central and local authorities.
• Su Ming and Zijin explored the Holy City, visited Zijin’s old house, and decided to stay there for the night.
• After returning to Ruby Base, Su Ming received Rupert’s report suggesting the dwarves had used double agents to feed false orders to the Divine Covenant Faction’s assassins at Red Ridge Mine.
• Su Ming explained the suspected scheme to Zhimeng, then considered the growing trade with the dwarves and the Republic’s other priorities before deciding not to act yet.