Chapter Summaries

Katharine told Yise how her parents concealed her identity after her mother died protecting her father, and Yise confessed that she liked Su Ming before asking him to keep his distance. The next day, Su Ming opened the Victory Day celebration, where Zijin’s Spirit Rain brought blessings to the city, though the chapter ended with Su Ming recalling a private battle from the previous night.

• Katharine explained that Waliwei died protecting Meiwu'er after nobles attacked him over his role in poisoning Lorenzo, and that Meiwu'er and Katharine faked Yise’s death to keep her safe.
• Su Ming visited Jielusi in the hospital, where Qiluo treated her and said the Fairy Spirit Tribe might know how to address Lai'aoniya’s presence in her soul.
• Yise told Su Ming she liked him, then asked him not to get too close and left after hugging him.
• Su Ming realized Yise had hugged him within the range of Zijin’s Omniscient Vision and suspected she had done it deliberately.
• Su Ming opened the Victory Day celebration in the Radiant Holy City, and the Star Sand priests cast Zijin’s Spirit Rain over the crowd.

Su Ming oversaw the Pansy's refit and transferred nuclear fuel and reactor components between Earth and Taya, while Sangzi pursued a breakthrough in digital communication. He also learned that the Yinglong mecha's upgraded Spellflame Turbofans could deliver immense thrust, just as Miao Xin prepared to test the aircraft.

• At Sapphire Port, Beianqi supervised the Pansy's refit as its weapons were removed to make room for a satellite-launch system, leaving the ship with a displacement exceeding 30,000 tons.
• At the Earth Support Base, Su Ming transferred six tons of nuclear fuel to Taya, separating zirconium from hafnium in the process, and Hechun asked to study the leftover hafnium powder.
• Sangzi told Su Ming she was nearly confident she could achieve two-way digital communication, and Su Ming agreed to sort out the satellites first.
• Miao Xin prepared to test the Yinglong mecha, while Fengshou described its flight configurations and revealed that no pilot besides Miao Xin could currently fly it.
• Su Ming asked Hechun about upgrading the Yinglong's engines into Spellflame Turbofans, then told Fengshou the upgrade could raise thrust to 140 tons.
• Miao Xin completed preparations for the test after being told to remove her gum and nail extensions, and Su Ming confronted Fengshou about the Yinglong's concealed weapon-loadout mode.

Miao Xin and Su Ming oversaw the Zhurong reactor and Yinglong mecha tests, then Miao Xin learned that Jackal had engineered the car crash that killed her mother. She demanded that Jin Rongjia tell her where the Jackals were.

• Miao Xin excitedly examined the Yinglong's proposed blade weapons while Fengshou explained its support and targeting role.
• Su Ming investigated a reactor alarm with Fengshou, and the Zhurong passed its medium-power test at rated output despite minor fuel-assembly deviations.
• Miao Xin successfully landed the Yinglong mecha and asked officials to retrieve records of her parents' fatal car crash.
• After reviewing surveillance footage, Miao Xin identified signs that the car's safety systems had been deliberately made to fail.
• Miao Xin called Jin Rongjia, who confirmed that Jackal had engineered the crash, and she demanded to know where the Jackals were.

Alituo and Aisaikena returned to Earth to inspect the spatial guidance array, and Alituo decided that the world had to die rather than let himself be killed. After Su Ming and Zijin identified the likely Jackal advance team, Miao Xin found a lead to Ling Wen in Orchid City and persuaded Su Ming to go after the Jackals despite Jin Rongjia’s objections.

• Alituo and Aisaikena drove toward Pinecone Hamlet, discussing reinforcements and blaming Qingming before Alituo declared that he would let Earth die to save himself.
• Su Ming told Zijin about Miao Xin’s growing power and Jin Rongjia’s refusal to share details of Ling Wen’s mission, and they deduced that Alituo and Aisaikena were likely on Earth.
• Miao Xin searched Ling Wen’s dorm room, found scuff marks and a waterproof phone pouch, then called Brother Liu and learned that Ling Wen was operating in Orchid City under the nickname “Clever Little Piggy.”
• Miao Xin planned to escape the patrols and mislead Jin Rongjia, then asked Su Ming whether they should pursue Alituo and help Ling Wen’s team.
• Su Ming agreed to go with Miao Xin, and the two high-fived in the mental world.

Miao Xin escaped the base and joined Ling Wen in Orchid City, where they prepared to pursue Jackal Curse and Aisaikena. Ling Wen recounted how her team traced Calamity-marked smoked geese to a frozen house in Pinecone Hamlet, leaving the investigation focused on the missing homeowners and what had happened there.

• Miao Xin fooled the base’s guards by disguising herself as a worker and an office visitor, then rode to Ling Wen after ten hours.
• Ling Wen warned Jin Rongjia that Miao Xin had arrived before her operation and agreed to let her stay for three days as a support team member.
• Miao Xin and Ling Wen shared intelligence about Alituo and Aisaikena while Ling Wen explained that her team was waiting for their targets in Orchid City.
• Eight months earlier, Ling Wen’s team investigated smoked geese bearing traces of Calamity after Jackal Curse killed Chai Zhan and escaped with Aisaikena.
• Ling Wen ordered her team to search for nearby incidents rather than trace the geese through the crowded Spring Festival market.
• The team found that a couple’s home in Pinecone Hamlet had frozen into an ice cave after a water pipe burst, and learned the couple had gone to Orchid City.

Ling Wen concluded that Alituo had used Calamity to drive the Pinecone Hamlet couple away because they had seen something while guiding a forest survey, then arranged for Chai Zhan to kill them in Orchid City. As the team waited for this year’s survey to draw the Jackal Organization back toward the mountain, a secretary-bird-egg delivery led them to Alituo and Aisaikena, but the suspected complaint proved false.

• Ling Wen’s team learned that Chai Zhan had murdered the elderly couple in Orchid City after they left Pinecone Hamlet, and Ling Wen deduced that the first Calamity had been meant to drive them out of the hamlet.
• Ling Wen connected the couple’s annual work guiding forest surveys to the Jackal Organization’s need to conceal something they had seen near Pinecone Hamlet.
• Ling Wen explained that her team was monitoring Orchid City’s roads and restaurants while waiting for the upcoming forest survey to bring Alituo and Aisaikena back toward the mountain.
• Alituo and Aisaikena reached Orchid City, ordered takeout, and unknowingly ate food containing secretary bird eggs, which the team used to identify possible Eden or Tayan visitors.
• Ling Wen’s team surrounded the hotel after a customer complaint, but Ling Wen found that the guests had only wanted to escape paying for their order, and the team stood down.

Ling Wen’s task force pursued Alituo and Aisaikena across Orchid City, but their supernatural abilities disabled surveillance and equipment as they fled toward the train station. Miao Xin intercepted them and fought to stop Alituo, then emerged from beneath the rubble with her Nether Sea taking on an aura resembling his.

• Ling Wen mobilized her task force after reports of gastrointestinal complaints led them to Alituo and Aisaikena, who escaped the hotel after detecting snipers.
• Aisaikena blinded nearby pursuers with Gaze Echo, while Alituo used Chaos Weaving Law to black out parts of Orchid City and disable drones and mechanical dogs.
• Alituo and Aisaikena headed for the train station, but Miao Xin revealed her combat form and attacked them, demanding to know whether they had killed her mother.
• Miao Xin resisted Alituo’s negative-energy magic and pressed him in battle, while Ling Wen fired at the fighters but was blinded by Aisaikena.
• Alituo brought down street fixtures and an LCD billboard onto Miao Xin, then fled toward the station with Aisaikena.
• Miao Xin cut her way out of the rubble and resumed pursuing Alituo as her soul flame turned white and her Nether Sea began echoing his aura.

Miao Xin and Alituo’s battle ended when two J-5 pilots crashed their planes into the fighters, killing Alituo and Aisaikena. Miao Xin left the devastated battlefield after learning that many people had died, while rescue teams began restoring order in Orchid City.

• Miao Xin used the Myriad Phenomena Prism to project her misfortune power onto Alituo and Aisaikena as five planes dove toward them.
• Alituo’s Chaos Weaving Law disabled the planes, but the crude J-5s kept coming, and two pilots stayed at the controls despite losing sight and being ordered to bail out.
• The two J-5s crashed into Alituo and Aisaikena, killing them; Nether Sea swallowed Alituo’s soul while Aisaikena’s soul dissipated under the World Serpent’s mark.
• Su Ming and Miao Xin confirmed the enemies’ deaths as rescue teams approached the blast zone and Orchid City began recovering from the destruction.
• Jin Rongjia ordered Miao Xin to return, and Ling Wen told her that the aftermath and casualties would be handled by those who remained.
• Miao Xin asked how many action team members had died, then left the scene with an escort without receiving an answer.

Su Ming oversaw the Spellflame Turbofan’s successful afterburner test and learned from Yisaile that Bay Owl had wielded considerable influence over Galio before the White Bone Fortress was teleported. He traveled with Zijin to Sapphire Port, where the rebuilt Pansy was ready to depart as a nuclear-powered submarine.

• Quail completed the Spellflame Turbofan’s afterburner test and approved its assembly with the Yinglong mech for full-machine testing by Beianqi and Miao Xin.
• Yisaile identified an uneven third-stage turbine blade and told Su Ming that Bay Owl had ordered Galio and his apprentices around during the White Bone Fortress’s teleportation.
• Su Ming agreed to keep Yisaile on the team but told Rupert to watch him closely and use him with caution.
• Zhimeng flew Su Ming and Zijin toward Sapphire Port, where they discussed the Dwarf Kingdom’s leadership and Su Ming’s suspicions about Zijin’s past.
• Beianqi showed Su Ming and Zijin the rebuilt Pansy, which Su Ming identified as a nuclear-powered submarine.

Su Ming set the Pansy on course for the North Pole to deploy satellites and advance plans to open a passage between planes, while explaining to Zijin why Earth needed to understand magic and prepare for Eden. Meanwhile, Hairspring returned to Water Chestnut Island after the Gravel Scale Desert fell and focused on holding the island until Eden’s Plane Gate opened.

• Su Ming ordered the Pansy to depart Sapphire Port submerged, then briefed the crew on deploying satellites at the North Pole and assigned their preparations for the Arctic mission.
• After the meeting, Zijin confronted Su Ming about the Divine Favor Scepter, and he explained that opening a passage to Taya was necessary for Earth to understand magic and face Eden’s threat.
• Hairspring returned to Plundering Clock headquarters wounded and told Death Knell that Bay Owl and the Executioner had killed the others who retreated from the Gravel Scale Desert.
• Death Knell reported that Water Chestnut Island’s rebellion was contained and its smuggling routes were under patrol, while Hairspring resolved to hold the island until the Plane Gate opened.

Hairspring and Death Knell planned to obstruct Su Ming’s journey to the North Pole by luring Charybdis there. Meanwhile, the Albacore delivered supplies and received intelligence from Water Chestnut Island’s resistance before continuing north.

• Hairspring and Death Knell decided to lure Charybdis to the North Pole to stop Su Ming, while keeping Water Chestnut Island defended.
• Xiwo brought the Albacore to Water Chestnut Island and met a half-bush dogman contact from the Wild Fang That Will Never Be Enslaved.
• The resistance transferred three hundred tons of supplies from the submarine to the clifftop while avoiding detection by three patrol boats.
• The half-bush dogman gave Xiwo intelligence reports about Plundering Clock’s military deployments and recent supply movements, then asked him to suspend further deliveries.
• Xiwo and the Albacore left the island and set a course for Northern Ice Island.

Su Ming learned that the Plundering Clock had discovered the Pansy was heading to the Arctic and watched Rupert expose spies planted in Ruby Base. After the arrests, Su Ming arranged a rough dragon ride for Rupert as payback for an embarrassing incident.

• Xiwo told Su Ming that the Plundering Clock had moved personnel and supplies north, and Su Ming ordered the fleet tracked.
• Rupert woke the Security Department and questioned Yisaile, who revealed that three people had paid him for information.
• Rupert identified two low-level employees and a senior researcher as spies, and the Security Department arrested them.
• Zijin and Quail explained that Yisaile had been a figurehead while a capable assistant did the actual research, leaving Su Ming mortified.
• Su Ming approved a bonus for the Security Department and arranged for Rupert to ride a dragon that would toss him around for an hour.

Su Ming and the Taya World Trade Union launched a vast maritime search for the Plundering Clock, tightening ship registration rules and deploying naval forces. After the Pansy intercepted smugglers and the First Sunrise Republic’s fleet attacked fishmen, Feimaina spotted a five-ship fleet whose coordinated sailing suggested it was not a merchant convoy.

• Su Ming ordered a joint maritime search, and the Taya World Trade Union required merchant ships to display identifying marks and report their routes and positions.
• The Pansy intercepted three unregistered ships, discovered a smuggling fleet, and released its compliant captains after fines while sending a stubborn captain into custody.
• Su Ming continued the search while the First Sunrise Republic and Feather Race fleets fought fishmen along the northern coast.
• Feimaina led the Second Fleet in an attack on the Frost Scale Clan, using depth charges to scatter the fishmen.
• Feimaina spotted five cargo ships with newly painted names and synchronized sailing, recognized that they were not ordinary merchant ships, and ordered their registration checked.

Feimaina exposed and attacked a flotilla sailing under false identities, but the Plundering Clock’s leaders escaped aboard the Reverse Swing. Su Ming pursued them aboard the Pansy and captured their ship by surfacing beneath it, then confronted the stranded cultists.

• Feimaina confirmed that the flotilla’s ships were still registered in port, surrounded them, and defeated the fleet, though the Reverse Swing escaped with the Plundering Clock’s principal members.
• Feimaina’s captured ships revealed that the Plundering Clock had set out from Water Chestnut Island and was carrying ritual components while seeking the fishmen.
• Su Ming concluded that the Plundering Clock was targeting the Frost Scale Clan and asked Xialike to investigate possible dwarf involvement using spies and a team from Dragon Valley.
• Beianqi calculated the Reverse Swing’s likely route, and Su Ming ordered the Pansy to pursue it at full speed underwater.
• The Clock Priest ordered the Reverse Swing to burn through its remaining magic crystals and head toward the Thousand Cellars Domain, invoking Jörmungandr’s protection.
• The Pansy surfaced beneath the Reverse Swing and lifted it onto its deck; Zijin suppressed the Clock Priest’s magic, and Su Ming recognized the ship and announced that he had caught the Plundering Clock.

Chloe captured Saxon after the Plundering Clock’s rescue attempt failed, but suspected the organization was still infiltrating the Feather Race. Su Ming arrived at Northern Ice Island aboard the Pansy, where preparations began to modify the ship and test the Yinglong, while Miao Xin confirmed that Alituo’s soul had been consumed by the Nether Sea.

• Chloe intercepted Saxon’s escape attempt, arrested a driver connected to the Plundering Clock, and learned that guards had uncovered three contact points and captured a Provisional Quarter Hand.
• Chloe told Saxon that the Plundering Clock had lost a super dragon, two Pseudo-Saint Ranks, and Clock Hand Nitelai, then used him as bait despite his protests.
• Chloe told Lanmo that the Plundering Clock’s continued infiltration suggested they had missed something, even after multiple cleanup operations.
• Su Ming and his companions arrived at Northern Ice Island aboard the Pansy, and Chloe and Zijin arranged its insulation, magic arrays, and icebreaking ray modifications.
• Su Ming gave Lanmo a memory card for a game disguised as a physics-themed adventure, while the crew prepared the Yinglong for its first field test.
• Miao Xin told Su Ming she had attended funerals for Orchid City’s fallen Heroes and said the Nether Sea had consumed Alituo’s soul.

Miao Xin tested the Yinglong mech’s flight and plasma sword, while Su Ming began setting up equipment for the rift teleportation array. Chloe explained how Zijin’s soul core and the White Bone Mark had worked, leaving Su Ming with the assurance that nobody could control Zijin against her will.

• Miao Xin explained that Nether Sea’s power changed with her understanding, and Su Ming compared it to Zijin’s Divine Favor weapon.
• Miao Xin piloted the Yinglong through flight and weapons tests, then used its plasma sword to cut through an iron pillar.
• Su Ming and Lanmo sent Saxon flying so Miao Xin could test the Yinglong in a chase against him.
• Su Ming summoned remote-sensing and satellite-observation equipment at the rift array site, and Chloe agreed to lead a trained operating team.
• Chloe told Su Ming that Zijin had remained beyond Galio’s control during her imprisonment and would choose death rather than let anyone control her against her will.

Su Ming and Zijin discussed the truth about their first meeting, revealing that Zijin had staged Galio’s apparent return to test Su Ming and later chose him as her partner. They ended by uncovering unresolved questions about Galio’s behavior and the Spirit Awakening Technique.

• Miao Xin tested the Yinglong’s high-heat piercing mode, then loosened its containment and accidentally unleashed arcs that struck Saxon before Beianqi called the mech back to recharge.
• After finishing orbital calculations, Su Ming joined Zijin on the deck, and they discussed their earlier kiss and the feelings Zijin had struggled to understand.
• Su Ming deduced that Galio had died on Earth and that Zijin had staged the resurrection and lich transformation to test his abilities; Zijin confirmed his account.
• Zijin explained that Su Ming’s restraint, resourcefulness, and morality had led her to trust him as a partner and hope for reaching Saint Rank, and she admitted she had staked everything on him.
• Zijin questioned why Galio had taken the truck’s impact instead of dodging and how the Spirit Awakening Technique appeared after his soul had disintegrated; Su Ming proposed that Galio might have sacrificed himself on Earth to awaken him.
• Su Ming and Zijin sat together beneath the night sky, agreeing to solve the remaining mysteries one at a time.

Su Ming and his allies learned that the Plundering Clock planned to use the Eden-born sea beast Charybdis against him, then searched for it in a vast blue-tide zone where marine life had declined. As the investigation continued, Su Ming began building a mineral purification factory beneath Northern Ice Island’s ice sheet.

• Zijin explained that Charybdis was the sole surviving Deep Sea Abyssal Devourer, born in Eden and sent to Taya by Jörmungandr five thousand years earlier.
• Chloe, Zijin, and Su Ming found that the Plundering Clock had planned to lure Charybdis into Su Ming’s Arctic shipping route, but knew little about the creature beyond its enormous size.
• Feimaina’s fleet found no trace of Charybdis in the unnaturally clear sea, where plankton levels were abnormally low.
• Feimaina reported that the blue tide had spread across 800,000 square kilometers and that Frost Scale Clan fishmen had seen fish and shrimp disappear over thirty years.
• Su Ming ordered Feimaina to investigate the blue tide’s cause while he supervised construction of an underground mineral purification and packaging factory on Northern Ice Island.

Su Ming helped establish the Feather Race and Final Bone Mad Machines’ joint industrial park on Northern Ice Island, while the Yinglong mech’s testing moved from Saxon to Lanmo. The chapter ended with Xiwo detecting an unexplained five-centimeter rise in sea level.

• Su Ming installed a methane generator that powered the White Spinel Industrial Park, and Wu Ling announced its establishment as Feather Race workers celebrated.
• During Yinglong testing, Miao Xin and Beianqi accidentally vaporized Saxon with the plasma blade, so Su Ming arranged for Lanmo to become the mech’s next sparring partner.
• Miao Xin fought Lanmo in simulated combat, and Beianqi warned her that the Yinglong needed its shield because it could not repair itself after damage.
• Xiwo checked the harbor’s sea-level records with Hechun and found that the water stood five centimeters above normal after tides and other causes were ruled out.

Su Ming’s submarine expedition encountered Charybdis, a colossal deep-sea creature that charged after the Pansy. The Pansy escaped its direct pursuit, but the Albacore was swept tens of kilometers away by the currents as Charybdis passed beneath it.

• Su Ming ordered the Pansy and Albacore to continue their Arctic under-ice survey after investigators noted a five-centimeter rise in sea level.
• Miao Xin piloted the Albacore ahead of the Pansy, where she and Xiwo spotted unusually slow sleeper sharks before detecting faint movement along the seafloor.
• Xiwo identified the immense moving target as a flat creature, and the Pansy’s sonar measured it at about twenty-one kilometers long and over three kilometers wide.
• Zijin recognized the creature as Charybdis, and Su Ming ordered the Albacore to launch a probe and both submarines to retreat when Charybdis accelerated toward the Pansy.
• Su Ming turned the Pansy away to draw Charybdis off while Miao Xin drove the Albacore upward, but Charybdis’s passage swept the Albacore tens of kilometers away.