Chapter Summaries

Yu Shuying became friends with Hongdou, then explained to Si Ming why Hongdou and Murong Qing were unaffected by her Mind-Reading Technique. Their conversation shifted to whether academic achievement proved intelligence, and Si Ming realized Yu Shuying’s argument exposed how comforting excuses could make parents underestimate their children’s problems.

• After leaving the underground art studio, Si Ming congratulated Yu Shuying on becoming friends with Hongdou.
• Yu Shuying said Hongdou, Yao Bilian, and Murong Qing did not care that she had the Mind-Reading Technique.
• Yu Shuying explained that Murong Qing’s uprightness made her indifferent to others knowing her thoughts, and admitted she hated her.
• Yu Shuying argued that Hongdou was smart despite her average grades, contrasting her with Murong Qing, who studied hard for her high rankings.
• Si Ming recognized that phrases excusing a child’s poor performance as a lack of effort could falsely reassure parents and make them neglect the problem.

Si Ming and Yu Shuying tried to make friends with Ying Zhou, who insisted that strength and achievement attracted people but admitted he did not need friends. Yao Bilian invited them to Yuezheng Yao’s concert; Yu Shuying and Hongdou declined, leaving Si Ming to decide whether to go.

• Yu Shuying and Si Ming discussed Hongdou’s intelligence and Murong Qing’s work ethic before abandoning Liu Qingqing as a friendship target.
• Ying Zhou dismissed Yu Shuying and Si Ming’s attempt to befriend him, then claimed that achievement and strength naturally drew people to him.
• Yu Shuying confronted Ying Zhou about whether his admirers were really his friends, and he angrily pushed the pair out of his room.
• Si Ming suggested befriending Murong Qing’s younger brother, but Yu Shuying refused to seek an elementary schooler’s pity.
• Yao Bilian offered to obtain good tickets for Yuezheng Yao’s concert, while Yu Shuying and Hongdou declined to attend because they disliked crowds.
• Hongdou said she would take her new work to Auntie Liu and rest, and Si Ming began to say that he would decide what to do.

Qingyan accepted a mission to assassinate Yuezheng Yao during her concert, while Captain secretly arranged for the assassination to fail and recruited Xia Guanxue to stop the employer. Xia Guanxue took the employer’s information after learning that a terrorist attack was also planned.

• Qingyan presented his pork-selling honors to Captain and accepted a mission to assassinate Yuezheng Yao during her concert.
• Qingyan said he would infiltrate the concert crew using his lighting and sound certifications, and Captain promised him triple the usual payment.
• Xia Guanxue questioned Captain’s decision to assign Qingyan the mission, and Captain said Qingyan lacked heaven’s mandate.
• Captain gave Xia Guanxue the employer’s information and asked him to kill the employer so the assassination mission would be canceled.
• Captain revealed that the employer had also hired terrorists to attack the concert and planned to blame the Blood Pupil Society, so Xia Guanxue took the information and left to stop him.

After passing the foreign entrance exam, Si Ming went to Master Hongdou's art exhibition and found Auntie Liu being pursued by a persistent middle-aged man. He helped drive the man away by boasting about his level nine cultivation, then continued on toward the train station.

• Si Ming said he was confident he had passed the exam, and Yao Bilian left him a train ticket before departing with Xiaomei.
• Si Ming spotted a poster for Master Hongdou's Works Exhibition and decided to visit before heading to the train station.
• At the crowded exhibition, Si Ming found Auntie Liu talking with a persistent middle-aged man and realized she wanted help getting away from him.
• The middle-aged man offered to use his connection to a vice dean to help Si Ming enter Linked Mountains University, but Auntie Liu rejected the offer as dishonest.
• Si Ming mocked level six cultivation and revealed his own level nine presence, embarrassing the middle-aged man into leaving.

Si Ming's successful reader meet-and-greet drew a far larger crowd than expected, and after hours of signing he met a masked woman who presented a record of Wind of Freedom. The woman's identity and reason for approaching him remained unknown.

• Si Ming's Gods and Ghosts of the Three Kingdoms: Wu State Arc received mixed reviews, while the Shu State Arc became a major hit.
• Auntie Liu arranged a meet-and-greet for Si Ming, and a crowd of readers gathered with help from the Mohist Knight Guard.
• Si Ming signed books and spoke with readers for seven hours as the crowd grew to about a thousand people.
• After the last readers reached his table, a masked woman showed Si Ming a Wind of Freedom record and said she liked that rather than his novels.

Si Ming discovered that Yu Shuying had secretly become the boss of the Green Snake Gang and followed her into a gang confrontation. The rival gangs surrounded her, and their leaders mocked her as a woman in charge of an underworld organization.

• A masked woman from the Nation of Beauty praised Si Ming's work and asked him to write her words of encouragement, which he did without revealing that he recognized her.
• Yao Bilian told Si Ming that Yu Shuying had been acting mysteriously and asked him to follow her.
• Si Ming secretly followed Yu Shuying through the bus district and saw gang members treat her like their superior.
• Yu Shuying confronted Fatty Ji of the Liuzi Gang over extortion on Green Snake Gang territory, but Fatty Ji brought in the East Star Society and North Point Gang as reinforcements.
• Fatty Ji and the North Point Gang's boss insulted Yu Shuying and challenged her authority as a woman leading a gang.

Yu Shuying summoned Si Ming to help her defeat the Liuzi Gang, North Point Gang, and East Star Society, clearing the way for the Green Snake Gang to take control of Tange City's underworld. She ordered her followers to punish the defeated bosses and handed them a prepared schedule for collecting protection fees.

• Fatty Ji offered the Green Snake Gang members rewards to betray Yu Shuying, but they stayed with her despite their fear.
• Yu Shuying called for Si Ming, explaining that she had guessed the administrator would send him to investigate.
• Si Ming dismissed the three gangs as weak and knocked down their hundreds of fighters with his fists.
• Yu Shuying ordered the Green Snake Gang to bind the gang leaders, cripple their martial arts, and publicize their misconduct.
• Si Ming destroyed Fatty Ji's Qi sea when the gang members could not cripple his cultivation, and Yu Shuying gave them a booklet of protection-fee amounts.

Yu Shuying explained her plan to build the Green Snake Gang into a legal, influential organization and outlined how she would expand it through low protection fees and a ban on drugs. Si Ming recognized her strategy as a price war and realized she planned to outlast rival gangs by seeking influence rather than profit.

• Yu Shuying said she had controlled more than a hundred underlings with poison pills and planned to seize the other three major gangs’ turf.
• Yu Shuying asked Si Ming to lend her his Monster Race follower as a fighter, and she explained how the follower could strengthen her position.
• Yu Shuying said she would expand into Linked Mountains City before university began, then manage gang affairs alongside her studies.
• Yu Shuying proposed lowering protection fees and banning drug trafficking to win merchant support and favor from the government.
• Si Ming recognized that Yu Shuying’s approach was a price war, and she said rival gangs could not outlast her because she wanted influence rather than profit.

Yu Shuying asked Si Ming to help the Green Snake Gang find a steady, legal source of income after its rapid expansion left it short of funds. Si Ming suggested gray-area debt collection and eviction work, but Yu Shuying dismissed those as temporary fixes, leaving him searching for a sustainable business idea.

• Yu Shuying explained that she needed money to support the Green Snake Gang’s growing membership, and Si Ming agreed to brainstorm with her.
• Yu Shuying said she consulted Si Ming because his unconventional thinking could produce ideas that business experts might overlook, and she counted the consultation as a favor owed.
• Si Ming suggested debt collection and forced evictions as possible sources of income, while Yu Shuying insisted the gang could only operate in legal gray areas.
• Si Ming proposed using pressure tactics for debt collection and partnering with the government on compensation claims and demolition projects.
• Yu Shuying said those jobs would be short-lived because the government planned to adopt a rule allowing demolition with ninety-five percent approval, and Si Ming continued searching for a lasting business.

Si Ming and his companions attended Yuezheng Yao’s concert at Linked Mountains University after Yu Shuying warned that someone might sabotage it. As the group searched the crowded venue, a band of killers prepared an attack from a nearby building, but their operation was suddenly interrupted by a burst of Sword Qi.

• Si Ming and his companions entered the packed concert arena after he passed Yu Shuying’s warning to the Mohist Knight Guard, though the threat remained unverified.
• Si Ming divided the six companions into two groups to search for suspicious activity.
• In a nearby building, a middle-aged man watched the stadium while his disguised killers waited in a dark office.
• The man lamented that he could not witness the coming bloodshed up close.
• The doors behind him exploded, and a storm of Sword Qi killed more than a dozen of his men.

Xia Guanxue killed Wu Qiansuan and learned that cultists had infiltrated the stadium to stage a massacre. At the venue, Si Ming’s group suspected a cleaner was secretly protecting the guests, while Qingyan remained confused about their conversation.

• Xia Guanxue killed the men in black and struck down Wu Qiansuan, who revealed that his people had infiltrated the stadium.
• Xia Guanxue found a letter linked to Wu Qiansuan’s cult and told Captain about the planned attack.
• Captain ordered Xia Guanxue to reach the stadium and stop Qingyan from assassinating Yuezheng Yao so the Blood Pupil Society would not be blamed.
• Si Ming’s group patrolled the stadium and Hongdou recognized a cleaner as the man who had once sold breakfast.
• Si Ming and the others concluded that the cleaner had secretly entered to protect the guests, while Qingyan wondered whether his assassination attempt had been exposed.
• Yu Shuying read Qingyan’s confusion and chose not to reveal her suspicions, then Si Ming introduced Qingyan to Murong Qing and Ying Zhou.

Si Ming and his companions identified Yuezheng Yao’s backstage crew as the most likely place for the criminals to hide and rushed behind the stage as the concert began. They entered a workroom and found no suspects there, but a staff member challenged them.

• Qingyan agreed to help Si Ming investigate and said he had seen several unfamiliar backstage workers hired without pay.
• Yu Shuying realized Yuezheng Yao’s band, dancers, support staff, guests, and assistants had not been checked as potential infiltrators.
• The group hurried toward the backstage area, and Si Ming disabled four guards while Murong Qing kept them from raising an alarm.
• Liu Qingqing used Goumang’s divine power to silence approaching Mohist Knight Guard patrols as the others advanced.
• Si Ming had Yu Shuying check the workers in a dressing room, and they found no criminals among the professional staff.
• A heavily made-up woman confronted the group and ordered them out of the backstage area.

At Yuezheng Yao’s concert, Si Ming and Yu Shuying discreetly identified and paralyzed six terrorists before their accomplices realized the plan had been disrupted. The chapter ended as an attacker dropped from a crossbeam and charged Yuezheng Yao, while Qingyan rushed in to intercept him.

• Yu Shuying identified a terrorist controlling the smoke, and Si Ming found him distracted by Yuezheng Yao’s singing.
• Si Ming and Yu Shuying agreed to neutralize the terrorists discreetly, using Si Ming’s Dragon-Elephant Stomp to create openings for Yu Shuying’s poisoned needles.
• The pair paralyzed six workers involved in the plot, but the stage effects failed when the person handling the props could not move.
• The terrorists’ accomplices noticed their plan had been sabotaged and attacked as Yuezheng Yao’s performance reached a climax.
• An attacker leapt from a crossbeam and charged Yuezheng Yao, but Qingyan swept in from the side.

During Yuezheng Yao’s concert, Murong Qing fought a terrorist hidden inside general’s armor while Qingyan attempted to assassinate Yuezheng Yao and discovered her strength was unfathomable. Qingyan abandoned the mission and left with Xia Guanxue, while Murong Qing killed the armored terrorist.

• Qingyan killed a terrorist who attacked him from the beams with a short sword and sleeve dart.
• A terrorist hidden inside general’s armor attacked Yuezheng Yao, and Murong Qing intercepted him as Yuezheng Yao continued performing.
• Qingyan launched a strand of Sword Qi at Yuezheng Yao, but it vanished; after their eyes met, he fled the gymnasium in fear.
• Xia Guanxue told Qingyan the mission had been canceled, and Qingyan agreed to abandon it because Yuezheng Yao was beyond his ability to defeat.
• Murong Qing pierced the armor with an ice-tipped spear and killed the terrorist hiding inside.

After a terrorist was killed onstage during Yuezheng Yao's concert, Si Ming and his companions disguised the crisis as part of the performance while the Mohist Knight Guards secured the attackers. The concert continued, and Si Ming reunited with former teammates Ke Chajing and Hu Jixian, who invited him to join the university martial arts team and bickered over their relationship.

• As the audience mistook the killing for staged action, Si Ming told Murong Qing to keep the performance going with a sword dance, then threw Ying Zhou onstage to spar with her.
• Yuezheng Yao switched to “Saber and Sword Smile,” while Si Ming alerted the venue organizers and they adjusted the program.
• Ke Chajing and Hu Jixian revealed they were Mohist Knight Guards, and Ke Chajing's team arrested the poisoned and paralyzed terrorists.
• Ke Chajing invited Si Ming to join the Linked Mountains University martial arts team and warned him that other students might pursue Murong Qing.
• When Si Ming teased Ke Chajing about her relationship with Hu Jixian, Hu told her she was a good person but they were not right for each other, prompting her to protest.

Murong Qing began university and faced a crowd of boys hoping to confess to her, but she rejected their romantic approach with practical questions and criticism. She left for the girls' dormitory, while the would-be suitors backed off.

• Murong Qing encountered several boys waiting to confess to her on her first day at Linked Mountains University.
• A thin boy read Murong Qing a love letter and waited for her answer.
• Murong Qing questioned the boy about his grades, Internal Cultivation, plans, and achievements, then condemned his lack of drive.
• The other boys abandoned their plans to confess after realizing Murong Qing was a rationalist.
• Murong Qing dragged her luggage into the girls' dormitory, and the senior students hesitated to follow.

Si Ming learned that the Primordial Venerable Sect was targeting him after he disrupted its human-sacrifice plot, so he arranged protection for people close to him. He accompanied Hu Jixian to the martial arts club but found a queue of more than five hundred people outside.

• Si Ming called Yao Bilian and contacted Jiang Zhengtai, Pan De, and the Mohist Knight Guard to watch over his friends and family.
• Si Ming told Hu Jixian he wanted to hear about future activity by the Primordial Venerable Sect so he could help eliminate it.
• Hu Jixian commented on Si Ming's surprising strength, and Si Ming considered resuming practice of the Supreme Plain Decay True Scripture.
• Si Ming and Hu Jixian reached the martial arts club, where a queue of over five hundred people kept them from entering.

Si Ming watched Nie Wanzhi provoke and defeat a succession of freshmen at the martial arts club while he quietly completed his enrollment. The chapter ended with the university’s opening ceremony, where the principal finished his speech to thousands of students.

• Si Ming and Hu Jixian saw Nie Wanzhi challenge students who resented her being admitted to the martial arts club through the back door.
• Nie Wanzhi defeated challengers and provoked the crowd again, drawing more students onto the platform while Si Ming watched.
• Si Ming completed his club enrollment without trouble as Nie Wanzhi continued fighting.
• Thousands of freshmen attended the opening ceremony, where the principal delivered his concluding wishes for the students, teachers, and school.

Si Ming watched Nie Wanzhi defend Murong Qing from vicious gossip, even though she had just criticized her herself. Later, he learned Yuezheng Yao would teach at Linked Mountains University, and he entered a classroom with Hao Shuai only to find Nie Wanzhi sitting there in silence.

• Murong Qing gave a formal speech as Linked Mountains University's freshman representative, drawing criticism from Nie Wanzhi and nearby students.
• When one girl spread cruel rumors about Murong Qing, Nie Wanzhi rebuked her and frightened her into wetting herself with a thunderous shout.
• Teachers scolded Nie Wanzhi, and Murong Qing and Nie Wanzhi became the university's biggest topics of conversation.
• Si Ming declined Hao Shuai's invitation to sign up for Yuezheng Yao's music class, though he agreed to go with him later.
• Si Ming and Hao Shuai entered a quiet classroom and saw Nie Wanzhi sitting among the students.

Si Ming attended his first Ancient Pattern Studies classes, where Nie Wanzhi’s fearsome reputation kept her classmates at a distance, and he became interested in the subject. He then met Murong Qing, Liu Qingqing, Hongdou, and Yu Shuying for lunch, where they described their first days at Linked Mountains University.

• Nie Wanzhi’s classmates avoided sitting beside her, and her glare frightened Hao Shuai after he whispered about her fighting ability.
• Si Ming listened closely to the professor’s lessons on ancient patterns and asked him questions after class, earning book recommendations.
• Hao Shuai invited Si Ming to lunch and offered him a secret manual for picking up girls, but Si Ming declined because he had plans to meet people from home.
• Si Ming met Murong Qing, Liu Qingqing, Hongdou, and Yu Shuying, who shared their impressions of their first classes and chosen majors.
• Murong Qing told Si Ming her classmates had chosen her as class monitor, while Liu Qingqing said her name had again been missed during roll call.