Chapter Summaries

The Pansy escaped Charybdis and kept him distracted while the damaged Albacore silently maneuvered around him. Su Ming’s crew towed the Albacore to safety and set course for Northern Ice Island, leaving Charybdis behind.

• Miao Xin stabilized the Albacore after the currents battered it, and Xiwo healed the crew while they sealed leaks.
• Su Ming ordered the Pansy to use Zijin’s wind-element support array to outrun Charybdis, then fired torpedoes to test his limits and draw his attention away from the Albacore.
• The Pansy harassed Charybdis with torpedoes and sonar sources, while a probe approaching within one kilometer shattered after encountering his sensitivity to water movement.
• Miao Xin kept the damaged Albacore silent as it circled around Charybdis, and after three hours she established acoustic communication with Su Ming.
• Su Ming’s crew attached a steel cable and towed the Albacore away, confirmed it was safe, and ordered the Pansy to return to Northern Ice Island.

After the Pansy rescued the Albacore, Su Ming and his team studied Charybdis and searched for a way to stop the enormous filter-feeder from threatening their work at the North Pole. Their scans revealed its structure and abilities, while the Earth Support Team found that a nuclear weapon would take too long to prepare.

• The Pansy surfaced with the Albacore in tow, and Xiwo and Su Ming arranged time ashore for the submarine’s shaken crew to recover.
• Chloe read historical accounts of Charybdis and explained that the creature could remain active for months and stay in one area for decades while feeding.
• Su Ming rejected Beianqi’s plan to reach the North Pole by a western route and ordered the team to investigate Charybdis’s defenses after Quail reported that the torpedoes had exploded before reaching it.
• After the Pansy returned to Spinel Port, Quail and Chun presented scan data showing Charybdis’s immense segmented body, thick rock-hard skin, and temperature changes, while Zijin described its cutting currents and suspected short-range spitting attack.
• The Earth Support Team considered using a nuclear bomb against Charybdis, but its calculations showed that enriching enough uranium-235 would require substantial time, labor, and energy.

Su Ming concluded that producing enough uranium-235 for a nuclear strike on Charybdis would take too long and require an enormous amount of ore. He devised a new attack plan using dry-ice-filled superheavy torpedoes and jamming weapons, then sent the team to begin preparations.

• Heguang estimated that Ruby Base needed six months to produce uranium-235, while producing a ton in Taya would take a year and require about three hundred thousand tons of medium-grade uranium ore.
• After Jisu joked about whale fishing, Su Ming recalled a technique and announced that they would have to go whaling.
• Su Ming ordered Chloe and Newman to establish a dry ice extraction plant and produce twenty thousand tons of dry ice within ten days; Younier arranged supplies for a thousand superheavy torpedoes.
• Su Ming assigned Stacy, Quail, and Xiwo to build a tactical guidance model for torpedo strikes inside Charybdis, while Chloe planned a supercavitation protective layer.
• Su Ming tasked Beianqi and Zijin with preparing the Vermilion Bow to fire underwater jamming weapons, then ordered everyone to start work immediately.

Su Ming oversaw the Feather Race’s production of dry ice and Spinel torpedoes, then set out aboard the Pansy to attack Charybdis using its vulnerable body joints. The chapter ended with four hundred torpedoes deployed into formation near the target, ready for launch.

• Su Ming ordered the Feather Race to expand dry ice production despite dangerous mine collapses, while Stacy and the others analyzed Charybdis’s layered shell and identified its segment joints as weak points.
• The team calculated that forty thousand tons of dry ice could lift one of Charybdis’s segments, so Su Ming increased the planned production scale to twenty-two hundred torpedoes.
• Su Ming returned to find Zijin attempting to cook, learned that Younier had intercepted grain meant for the Cold Mountain Kingdom, and discovered that Zijin had eaten the potatoes intended for dessert.
• The Pansy and Albacore approached Charybdis quietly, with the Albacore circling to the left as the main vessel prepared its attack.
• Beianqi launched four hundred Spinel torpedoes from the Pansy and arranged them in formation while five unmanned underwater vehicles took position nearby.

Su Ming and the Pansy repeatedly fired Spinel Torpedoes filled with dry ice into Charybdis, hoping to inflate its body and disrupt its balance. After Charybdis began to raise its head and unleashed a powerful current, the Pansy and Albacore withdrew.

• Miao Xin, Xiwo, and Stacy observed Charybdis from the Albacore as Xiwo explained Su Ming's plan to upset the monster's balance and trap it in place.
• Su Ming ordered the Pansy to fire interference rounds that clouded the water with bubbles and magic-dampening dust, masking the approaching torpedoes.
• Su Ming launched four hundred Spinel Torpedoes, which penetrated Charybdis between its body segments and released dry ice that expanded inside it.
• Su Ming repeated the torpedo attacks over the next few days, and Charybdis's head gradually began to rise as the dry ice accumulated.
• Charybdis inhaled the surrounding water and debris, then blasted a massive current outward; Su Ming ordered the Pansy to escape using supercavitation while the Albacore withdrew.

The Pansy’s fourth dry-ice attack swelled and damaged Charybdis’s second body segment, disrupting its movement and provoking it to prepare a powerful counterattack. Su Ming drove the submarine and Zhurong reactor beyond their rated limits to escape, but the reactor’s fuel cladding began to fail and contaminate the primary coolant.

• Su Ming’s crew reviewed the first three attacks and saw that the dry ice had expanded hollow areas in Charybdis, disrupting its shape and ocean-current flow.
• The Pansy fired a fourth batch of four hundred dry-ice torpedoes into Charybdis, bringing the delivered total to roughly thirty thousand tons.
• Charybdis’s second body segment swelled, cracked, and became stiff, and its pursuit faltered as the Pansy accelerated away.
• Charybdis’s second head began drawing in seawater and sending violent surges through its body toward the first head, prompting Xiwo to recognize that it was pressurizing the water.
• Su Ming ordered supercavitation and forced the Zhurong reactor to 150 percent output while Beianqi and Zijin pushed the Pansy’s thrusters and shields to maximum.
• The overloaded Zhurong reactor suffered fuel-pellet cracks and cladding damage, triggering alarms about primary-coolant contamination and rising radiation.

Su Ming guided the damaged Pansy through Charybdis’s pressurized torrent, then learned the creature had surfaced after its attack. A reactor simulation traced the Pansy’s malfunction to hafnium contamination in its fuel cladding, pointing suspicion at Heguang and the Earth Support Team.

• Su Ming reduced power in abnormal reactor grids and ordered an emergency dive, steering the Pansy through Charybdis’s torrent while the crew repaired flooding compartments.
• The Pansy escaped the current and later reunited with the Albacore, whose crew reported that Charybdis had surfaced and shattered the ice around its exposed body.
• Su Ming reviewed the reactor fault report with Quail and connected the malfunction to excessive hafnium in the zirconium cladding.
• Hechun found three batches of zirconium with abnormal hafnium measurements, and Zhurong’s simulation reproduced the reactor malfunction with 95% confidence.
• Su Ming concluded the contamination had occurred during manufacturing and suspected the Earth Support Team, specifically Heguang.

At the North Pole, Su Ming and his crew broke the Pansy through the ice and prepared the submarine’s Vermilion Bow for launch. After Su Ming and Zijin experienced a dangerous surge of conceptual power, Zijin explained that they were boundary crossers, and they agreed not to use that power again after dealing with Eden.

• Su Ming ordered the Pansy to break through the thick sea ice, and the submarine emerged beneath the polar night.
• Zijin reminded Su Ming of their promise to reach an unseen place, and the White Bone Fortress’s lingering dead sent them a surge of feedback that overwhelmed Su Ming.
• Beianqi ordered the crew to freeze the shattered ice around the Pansy, then unfolded the submarine’s work deck to expose the Vermilion Bow.
• Zijin explained that she and Su Ming were boundary crossers whose powers exceeded the gods’ rules, and they promised to avoid using conceptual-level power after dealing with Eden.
• Su Ming, Zijin, and the crew prepared the polar launch site by setting up fuel production, monitoring equipment, and ice supports for the Vermilion Bow.

Su Ming monitored Charybdis, investigated the missing Heguang, and pushed the team to resume normal work despite tightened security reviews. After Xiao Zhen presented an orbital plan that could launch all fourteen communications satellites in one mission, Su Ming chose it and ordered the team to proceed.

• Xiwo and Stacy reported that Charybdis was hibernating during the polar night, and Stacy said a Feather Race team would keep watch over it.
• Ling Wen told Su Ming that Heguang remained missing and showed him a file revealing no clear warning signs beyond a fever before he joined the base.
• Jisu reported that the Zhurong reactor had no other known vulnerabilities and gave Su Ming a memory card for a comprehensive self-check.
• Su Ming urged Ling Wen to stop security reviews from disrupting normal work, and Ling Wen arranged for Xiao Zhen to handle the satellite orbit calculations.
• Xiao Zhen explained that a complicated orbit with multiple lunar flybys could launch all fourteen satellites at once, and Su Ming chose that proposal over the simpler plan.

Su Ming launched the first satellites with the Pansy’s electromagnetic catapult, establishing Taya’s first space-to-ground communications and positioning network, then oversaw a second launch that expanded coverage. As the network enabled video calls, Zhimeng told Su Ming about extinct dragon species, including the powerful Poison Dragons, which he feared might still exist on Eden.

• Su Ming and Beianqi oversaw the fueling and launch of the first satellite rocket from the Pansy, and it reached orbit successfully.
• Su Ming and Hechun guided the satellites into position over more than a week, forming a fourteen-satellite communications and positioning network around Taya.
• Su Ming launched Plain Increase No. 2, which placed twenty-one more satellites into equatorial orbit and strengthened the network.
• Su Ming assigned the Ruby Base scholars to use the satellites to search for the Shen and study their activity ahead of the Red Spider Lily system launch.
• Su Ming spoke with Grand Elder Zhimeng by video call and explained that he was investigating extinct Taya creatures that might survive on Eden.
• Zhimeng told Su Ming that White Dragons, Bronze Dragons, and Poison Dragons had gone extinct, explaining that Poison Dragons dwindled after other dragons avoided their bloodline.

After Su Ming opened the Arctic sea route by defeating Charybdis, Hairspring and Death Knell worried that Miasma Throat would jeopardize their plans. Jielusi woke in the Radiant Holy City, while Su Ming and Jin Rongjia pieced together how the Thought-Dwelling Tribe possessed hosts and redirected the search for Heguang’s killer.

• Hairspring and Death Knell learned that Su Ming had defeated Charybdis and opened the Arctic sea route, then sent Miasma Throat a warning letter bearing both their signatures.
• Jielusi woke in the Holy City's medical center, where Ruixiuli told her he had fought Hairspring and passed along Su Ming's request to contact him.
• Su Ming confirmed that Lai'aoniya remained inside Jielusi and learned that her hair had changed from dark brown to pink after she was injured.
• Su Ming told Jin Rongjia that Thought-Dwelling Tribe members were crystal-like beings near a host's heart, needed time to possess someone, and could devour souls for power.
• Jin Rongjia concluded that Lie'aonisi had changed hosts and that Heguang was likely dead, then began investigating the impostor using changes in Heguang's gait.

Jin Rongjia traced Lie'aonisi to the Lan City area by analyzing changes in his host's speech, while Su Ming and Sangzi launched the Red Spider Lily satellites and began testing interplanar communication. The first test detected a spatial fluctuation on Earth but produced only a slight response on Taya, so Sangzi ordered repeated teleports as the experiment continued.

• Jin Rongjia's team identified speech-rate, pause, and vowel-formant changes that could reveal when Lie'aonisi changed hosts, then matched voice recordings to a number whose rides were near Lan City.
• Jin Rongjia ordered the action team to move out after the matches pointed toward the area connected to Pinecone Hamlet, Alituo, and Aisaikena.
• Su Ming's team launched eight Red Spider Lily satellites into polar orbit while Sangzi waited at Experimental Base No. 1 for their protective hydrocarbons to evaporate.
• Su Ming told Sangzi that Jin Rongjia had found Lie'aonisi's trail and warned that the experiment might be dangerous; Sangzi revealed that Magpie Bridge was the hidden backup and primary system.
• After the satellites passed their checks, Su Ming teleported a device between Earth and Taya, and the Other Shore Leaf system detected a spatial fluctuation while Red Spider Lily barely responded.
• Sangzi instructed Su Ming to continue teleporting once a minute because the two systems were not tuned to the same frequency.

Su Ming and the Earth Support Team advanced the Red Spider Lily’s interplanar communication tests, but hardware deformations forced an urgent orbital repair campaign. As the repairs continued, a powerful spatial rift appeared near Pinecone Hamlet, and the team lost contact with Jin Rongjia and the action team.

• Su Ming and Sangzi tested the Red Spider Lily and Other Shore Leaf systems, and the Electricity-Swallowing Beast helped strengthen the detected signal until they found deformed prism arrays on the Taya side.
• Sangzi ordered repairs to the Other Shore Leaf satellites, and Xiao Zhen arranged crewed and robotic missions with Ling Wen accepting responsibility for private launch services.
• Su Ming's homeland carried out six launches in one day, and astronauts began repairing the prism assemblies in high orbit.
• At the Pansy platform, Su Ming prepared another satellite batch for launch while Quail reported an unusually strong spatial fluctuation nearby.
• The Other Shore Leaf detected the same powerful rift, which vanished before its exact location could be fixed; Sangzi identified Pinecone Hamlet and asked Ling Wen to contact Jin Rongjia.
• Ling Wen failed to reach Jin Rongjia through any channel and reported that the action team was also unreachable.

Miasma Throat ignored warnings to fly toward the North Pole, while Su Ming’s forces tracked the newcomers and prepared to intercept them. Yinfei and Moshide were attacked near the ice sheet, and the chapter ended as Lanmo fought Yinfei and Chloe confronted Moshide.

• Miasma Throat arrived through the rift, received Hairspring and Lady Death Knell’s warning about Su Ming, and decided to attack anyway in his Dust Serpent Heavy Armor.
• Su Ming’s team located Yinfei and Miasma Throat, but Miao Xin reported that Eden’s extraordinary combatants had appeared elsewhere and could not assist.
• Miasma Throat flew toward the North Pole while Yinfei and Moshide headed for an unmarked merchant ship at the edge of the ice sheet.
• Yinfei intercepted one satellite-guided torpedo, but another destroyed the merchant ship, and Lanmo attacked her from above.
• Lanmo and Yinfei charged at each other as Chloe faced Moshide and opened her magic book to begin the fight.

Miasma Throat attacked Su Ming, Zijin, and the bone dragon at the North Pole, overwhelming them with his Withering domain and corrosive breath. As the battle continued, Beianqi launched Yinglong from the Pansy and raced toward the battlefield at extreme speed.

• Miasma Throat detected the enemy near the North Pole, evaded the Pansy's missile barrage by blending into the ice, and struck Su Ming, Zijin, and the bone dragon with Corrosive Mist Dragon Breath.
• Zijin and Su Ming attacked Miasma Throat with Six-Pointed Star · Divine Edict and Deathly Word: Arcane Collapse, but his armor absorbed the blast with only scorch marks.
• Miasma Throat unleashed his Withering domain, which corroded Su Ming and the bone dragon, while Zijin countered its effects on herself and Su Ming with life force.
• Miasma Throat charged through the corrosive fog and fought Su Ming, Zijin, and the bone dragon in a close melee.
• Beianqi transferred command of the Pansy to Quail, boarded Yinglong, and prepared the mecha for launch.
• Beianqi launched Yinglong and flew low over the ice toward the battle, pushing the mecha toward the sound barrier.

Beianqi piloted Yinglong against Miasma Throat, using its Gauss rifle, shield, and a resupply drone to keep fighting while Su Ming, Zijin, and the bone dragon held the dragon back. On Earth, Jin Rongjia’s team uncovered and destroyed a hidden magic array, but an unknown attacker struck the scene; Miasma Throat then charged toward the Pansy to cut off Yinglong’s supplies.

• Beianqi used Yinglong to surprise Miasma Throat with a high-speed blade strike, then drew his attention with Gauss rifle fire.
• Jin Rongjia’s team found a red crystal and a buried magic array near Lie'aonisi’s remains, destroyed the array, and was hit by an unexpected lightning attack.
• Beianqi kited Miasma Throat while Zijin and the bone dragon blocked his attempts to reach Su Ming.
• Miasma Throat engulfed Su Ming and Zijin in corrosive mist, but Yinglong shielded them with a barrier made from Magic Power Crystal Core and Celestial Gold.
• A drone replenished Yinglong’s fuel and batteries, and Miasma Throat realized the mech needed resupply.
• Miasma Throat used EHD Lightning Dash to rush toward the Pansy, aiming to destroy Yinglong’s supply source.

Su Ming and Zijin questioned Miasma Throat’s resistance to the cold as he attacked the Pansy and unleashed Zero Point · Clamor, disrupting the Yinglong and the ship’s systems before Quail learned the reactor remained safe. Meanwhile, Jin Rongjia’s team identified the thief of the red crystal as a Winged Feather Race member but failed to catch him; on Taya, Miasma Throat resumed his fight with Beianqi and hinted that his true power was not Withering.

• Su Ming noticed that Miasma Throat seemed unaffected by the polar cold and suspected his ability was not what it appeared to be.
• Miasma Throat attacked the Pansy’s shield, then used Zero Point · Clamor, which disrupted the Yinglong and the Pansy and caused Su Ming to fall until Zijin caught him.
• Quail checked the reactor after Clamor sent its warnings into overdrive, and the Zhurong explained that the reactor remained far from a meltdown.
• Jin Rongjia’s team developed film footage showing a winged figure stealing the red crystal, and Chloe identified the suspect as a member of the extinct Winged Feather Race.
• The action team failed to track the fugitive as he moved between crowded areas, while Experimental Base No. 1 remained on high alert without being attacked.
• Beianqi restored the Yinglong’s link and attacked again; Miasma Throat dodged her shots and resolved to continue fighting, believing she had misunderstood the power behind his Withering domain.

Lanmo defeated Yinfei by exploiting his Negentropy ability, while Chloe killed Moshide and failed to preserve his soul for questioning because the World Serpent Mark destroyed it. Chloe then questioned the captured Yinfei about the Poison Dragon Miasma Throat and showed her images of extinct dragon species.

• Yinfei trapped Lanmo in her Arcane Prism domain and struck him with Condensed Light Breath, but Negentropy froze her injured wing and Lanmo fought back at close range.
• Chloe and Su Ming compared the dragons' visible breath vapor and other traits while Chloe pursued and killed Moshide, whose soul the World Serpent Mark then destroyed.
• Lanmo and Yinfei exchanged devastating attacks until Lanmo blocked her breath with his jaws and disrupted the energy in her throat, leaving her grievously injured.
• Chloe had Lanmo pull Yinfei from the icy sea and asked who Miasma Throat really was.
• Yinfei insisted Miasma Throat was the Poison Dragon, so Chloe showed her images of more than a dozen extinct dragon species and asked which one most closely matched him.

Miasma Throat revealed that he was a White Dragon and used his Pale domain to destroy the bone dragon and Yinglong mech, but Su Ming disjoined his armor and exposed him. Meanwhile, Xiyu traveled toward Qing City, planning to harvest souls and attack five research bases to cripple Earth's support for the Taya Plane.

• Miasma Throat activated Pale, stripping away his enemies' protections and shattering the bone dragon and Yinglong mech with frost breath.
• Su Ming used his Thorn Long Whip and Wondrous Item Disjunction to break Miasma Throat's armor, revealing him as a White Dragon.
• At Experimental Base No. 1, Jin Rongjia and Ling Wen ordered nearby nuclear weapons withdrawn after Miao Xin confirmed Eden could interfere with nuclear reactions.
• Xiyu forced a driver to take him toward Qing City while Lie'aonisi absorbed the dead passenger's soul and recovered strength.
• Xiyu and Lie'aonisi planned to kill people in Qing City, gather souls, and attack five bases to disrupt Earth's support for the Taya Plane.

Su Ming, Zijin, and their allies defeated Miasma Throat after discovering he was a White Dragon and striking him with a Gauss rifle and Plain Zeng No. 4. As Su Ming lost consciousness from his injuries, Zijin captured Miasma Throat’s soul and demanded answers about Xiyu’s plans on Earth, while Miao Xin left to act on his confession.

• Zijin and Su Ming trapped Miasma Throat in a super-tier fire cage after Yinfei’s observation revealed that he was a White Dragon.
• Miasma Throat broke free and attacked, but Beianqi fired depleted uranium rounds from the supply drone’s Gauss rifle, wounding his eye and brain.
• Plain Zeng No. 4 struck Miasma Throat at extreme speed, killing his body and devastating the ice around him.
• Su Ming, Zijin, and Beianqi survived the blast with injuries, and rescuers treated Su Ming as the Final Bone Mad Machines arrived.
• Zijin pinned Miasma Throat’s surviving soul and demanded to know what Xiyu planned to do on Earth.
• Su Ming relayed Miasma Throat’s confession to Miao Xin, agreed that she should go, and then lost consciousness.