Chapter Summaries

Rivers and Mountains Martial Arts School faced elimination as Murong Qing defeated Yue Xuan, whose resolve brought a breakthrough in his martial arts realm. After the match, Ke Chajing and Hu Jixian discussed Si Ming and Murong Qing’s hidden strength and looked ahead to facing the martial arts club.

• Yue Xuan accepted that Rivers and Mountains Martial Arts School had little chance of winning after learning Ke Chajing and Hu Jixian were also formidable opponents.
• Yue Xuan’s calm acceptance of the situation led him to break through in his martial arts realm before facing Murong Qing.
• Murong Qing unleashed her True Qi and fought Yue Xuan, steadily suppressing him before winning with an ultimate technique.
• Nie Wanzhi and Ke Chajing recognized that Murong Qing had grown far stronger, while Si Ming said he had not deliberately hidden his abilities.
• Hu Jixian revealed that he had supported establishing the Second Martial Arts Club because he had recognized Si Ming and Murong Qing’s potential.
• Ke Chajing grew eager to face the martial arts club, but Hu Jixian reminded her that the match was already over.

After the Second Martial Arts Club qualified for the selection tournament, the team debated how to choose a reliable faculty adviser, and Si Ming volunteered to find one. Liu Qingqing then asked Si Ming to partner with her on a divine arts assignment tied to the Saintess Candidates, and he joined her and the other candidates the next day.

• The Second Martial Arts Club swept through the remaining qualifier matches, while Chen Shimi's mysterious reputation grew after an opponent forfeited against him.
• Ke Chajing explained that the club needed a faculty adviser and worried that an unsuitable adviser could interfere with the team.
• Si Ming offered to find a suitable adviser, intending to ask Yuezheng Yao, and Ke Chajing accepted his help.
• Liu Qingqing told Si Ming that she needed a partner for a divine arts assignment and that they would leave at noon the next day.
• Si Ming asked whether the assignment involved the Saintess Candidates, and Liu Qingqing said she did not know the details.
• Si Ming arrived the next day and met Liu Qingqing, the other Saintess Candidates, and their partners; sixteen people had gathered.

Si Ming and Yue Xuan became friends as they traveled with the Saintess Candidates and their partners to East Spirit Island for a military trial. Xing Daozhuang announced that they would purify an island’s earth veins, a task they would repeat annually, though unexpected dangers could arise.

• Si Ming reunited with Yue Xuan, who explained that he had accepted blame for the Rivers and Mountains Martial Arts School’s defeat and introduced his sister Yue Han.
• Yue Xuan told Si Ming that the candidates’ partners had to be people they trusted completely, so most participants had brought family members.
• Si Ming, Liu Qingqing, Yue Xuan, and the other partners traveled by boat to East Spirit Island, where they met the famous martial arts expert He Jinyin.
• Xing Daozhuang welcomed the group to the military base and ordered them to stay in their assigned dormitories until the mission began.
• After a night sharing a room with Liu Qingqing, Si Ming heard Xing Daozhuang announce that the trial required them to purify an island’s earth veins, with possible unexpected dangers.

Si Ming and the Saintess Candidates purified a cursed island, where he suspected the black mist was related to the Black Tide from the Barbarian Continent. When a giant centipede attacked Bai Jingjing and Yu Tianqi, Bai Jingjing’s divine art began melting its shell, but it suddenly lunged at Yu Tianqi.

• Si Ming resisted the island’s decaying force, while Liu Qingqing cast Clear Water Reflects the Heart and the other Saintess Candidates followed her example to purify the land.
• The Candidates’ overlapping divine arts manifested the Goddess of Mercy, whose power cleared the black mist and restored life across a large area.
• Si Ming considered whether the island’s black mist was the Black Tide and whether Liu Qingqing’s divine art might help those suffering on the Barbarian Continent.
• The eight Saintess Candidates split up and purified half the island before Bai Jingjing stopped to rest with Yu Tianqi.
• A giant black centipede attacked Bai Jingjing, and Yu Tianqi’s saber could not cut through its shell.
• Bai Jingjing’s divine art began melting the centipede, but it suddenly sprang at Yu Tianqi, who used Waning Moon Form.

Yue Xuan fought a girl who wielded the Water-Severing Sword Art and overwhelmed his Rain-Covering Sword Technique. He struggled to evade her attacks as she repeatedly disrupted his moves and left him badly wounded.

• Yue Xuan used Wind and Rain from Eight Directions to surround the girl with three doubles and attack her.
• The girl countered with Flowing Water Pays Homage to the Source, absorbing most of Yue Xuan's Sword Qi and striking back.
• The girl's Sword Qi destroyed Yue Xuan's doubles and pierced him in several places.
• Yue Xuan fought on with his sword and used the World-Treading Leg Technique to dodge her lethal attacks.
• The girl kept interrupting Yue Xuan's strikes and breaking his rhythm, leaving him unable to link his moves together.

Yue Xuan was defeated by a monster that had devoured the people on the island and stolen their abilities, but Si Ming arrived and destroyed its first form. The monster regenerated as He Jinyin and attacked again, while Si Ming stopped its sword with one finger and challenged it to make him use a second.

• The monster defeated Yue Xuan with the Water-Severing Sword Technique and Rolling Thunder Chopping Hand, then threatened him and his unconscious sister, Yue Han.
• When Si Ming and Liu Qingqing approached, the monster disguised itself as a frightened girl and tried to lure Si Ming into a sneak attack, but Yue Xuan warned him.
• The monster's claws scratched Si Ming's chest, and Si Ming blasted it apart with one punch before it could use Rolling Thunder Chopping Hand.
• The monster reformed as a python, swallowed Si Ming, and then exploded; it gathered its remains and took on He Jinyin's appearance.
• Yue Xuan warned Si Ming that the monster had devoured the island's people and gained their abilities, while Liu Qingqing said the Holy Maiden's first trial was not meant to be dangerous.
• The monster attacked with He Jinyin's sword technique, but Si Ming stopped its blade with one finger and challenged it to force him to use a second.

Si Ming defeated the monster by repeatedly destroying it until its regeneration weakened, then trapped it and had Liu Qingqing strike it with a purification beam. The monster was left howling as the holy radiance melted away nearly half its body.

• Si Ming kept blasting the monster apart until its restoration slowed and it could recover only half its body.
• The monster escaped Si Ming’s grasp by turning slippery and fleeing toward cracks in the rocks.
• Si Ming used Dragon-Elephant Stomp to disorient the monster, caught it with Monkey Scoops the Moon, and rolled it into a black ball.
• Si Ming ordered Liu Qingqing to use Clear Water Reflects the Heart, and its holy radiance melted away almost half the monster’s body.

Si Ming and Liu Qingqing discovered that the monster on the trial island had been deliberately created and sent to target the Saintess Candidates, but it self-destructed before revealing its maker. After the survivors returned, Xing Daozhuang confronted a representative of the Remote Heaven Society, accusing them of crossing a line.

• The monster began to identify its creator, but an implanted mechanism made it explode; Si Ming shielded Liu Qingqing, while Yue Xuan was knocked unconscious.
• Si Ming and Liu Qingqing suspected someone had arranged the attack to target the Saintess Candidates and ended the trial, carrying the unconscious Yue siblings back to the shore.
• Si Ming reported the incident to the instructor, who accepted that an attack had occurred; Xing Daozhuang arrived with investigators and sealed off the island.
• Five of the eight Saintess Candidates had died, while Liu Qingqing, Yue Han, and another candidate survived.
• That night, Xing Daozhuang confronted the Nether Lord of the Remote Heaven Society at the naval base and attacked him with a thunderous palm.

After the trial incident, Si Ming and Yu Shuying suspected the arrested brigadier general was a scapegoat, but they had no way to pursue the case. Si Ming focused on his busy campus life and the Martial Dao League, where Chu Gengyin asked him to help reconcile the Second Martial Arts Club with the main club.

• Yu Shuying judged that the dead brigadier general was a scapegoat and suggested Heaven-Defying Society might be involved, but she and Si Ming could not investigate further.
• Si Ming returned to his studies, performances with Yuezheng Qiong, Mutual Aid Society work, and the Martial Dao League as the Second Martial Arts Club advanced to the final four.
• Chu Gengyin summoned Si Ming and offered tea as an apology for the rule barring first-years from competing.
• Si Ming told Chu Gengyin that he held no grudge over the rule and that Ke Chajing was the person Chu needed to persuade.
• Chu Gengyin offered to apologize publicly, rescind the rule, and even surrender his presidency if Si Ming would help bring the clubs together.

Si Ming and the Second Martial Arts Club prepared to compete on their own terms after Chu Gengyin failed to persuade him to hold back. Si Ming then brought club members to Yuezheng Yao’s birthday celebration, still wary of possible danger and unprepared to bring a gift.

• Si Ming rejected Chu Gengyin’s attempt to settle the dispute, and Chu privately decided to ask someone else to intervene.
• Si Ming told the Second Martial Arts Club that he had turned Chu down, while Murong Qing said she had declined the student council’s invitation to focus on the competition.
• Yuezheng Yao announced that the club was invited to celebrate her birthday two days later.
• On the way to the Yuezheng Lineage’s home, Hao Shuai pledged his loyalty to Si Ming, who secretly carried the Wheel-Turning King Sword in case the banquet was dangerous.
• Ke Chajing questioned Si Ming for not bringing a present, and Hongdou discovered that the promised cake outing was actually a birthday celebration.

Si Ming and the others arrived at Yuezheng Yao’s seaside villa for her birthday, where their jokes and awkward gift-giving enlivened the gathering. Yuezheng Qiong appeared at the end, and Hao Shuai realized the sisters were twins.

• Hongdou confronted Si Ming after Murong Qing explained that birthday guests were expected to bring presents, but Si Ming defended his empty-handed approach as martial training.
• Hao Shuai offered Hongdou one of his paired jade fish, and she pointed out that he had bought only one gift because he lacked money.
• The group arrived at the Leyao Lineage’s seaside villa, where Hao Shuai tried to bond with Nie Wanzhi and learned that her family had once owned a similarly large vacation house.
• Yuezheng Yao welcomed the guests to her quiet birthday gathering and demanded presents, so Si Ming gave her a crumpled chicken feather as a token of affection.
• Yuezheng Qiong joined the group, and Ke Chajing corrected Hao Shuai when he mistook the sisters for two people with the same title.

At Yuezheng Yao and Yuezheng Qiong’s birthday banquet, Si Ming presented Hongdou’s painting to Yuezheng Qiong and discovered that the twins had switched identities. The guests then began a staged deduction game about a missing chef, where Hongdou accused Si Ming after spotting matching chicken feathers.

• Si Ming gave Yuezheng Qiong a birthday painting by Hongdou, while Yuezheng Yao complained that he had only brought her a chicken feather.
• Yuezheng Qiong and Yuezheng Yao revealed their identity swap, and Yuezheng Yao asked the guests to keep her older sister’s existence secret.
• The guests exchanged birthday gifts and joked with Si Ming before a maid’s scream led them to the kitchen for a deduction game.
• Ke Chajing mistook chicken blood for evidence of murder, but Hu Jixian pointed out the chicken nearby and challenged her theory.
• Hongdou noticed the chicken’s feathers matched Si Ming’s and declared him the murderer.

At Yuezheng Qiong’s birthday banquet, Si Ming correctly deduced that the chef had gone to find onions and the maid had chased a runaway chicken, not that a murder had occurred. During the ensuing drinking, Liu Qingqing’s unusual alcohol tolerance made her presence grow so strong that everyone focused on her and overlooked Si Ming.

• Murong Qing and Si Ming reasoned that the chef had left to catch the escaped chicken, but Si Ming identified the Sorrowful Ecstasy Rice and concluded the chef had gone to find onions while the maid chased the chicken.
• The old butler confirmed Si Ming’s deduction, and Si Ming received a flute said to have belonged to an ancient Spirit Transformation expert.
• Yuezheng Qiong ordered various wines brought out and led the guests in drinking without using Internal Cultivation to dispel the alcohol.
• Liu Qingqing drank seven jars of Monkey Wine without seeming drunk, and Si Ming noticed that her presence grew increasingly strong.
• The other guests gathered around Liu Qingqing and overlooked Si Ming, who wondered if her heightened presence worked like a support skill.
• A warm body pressed against Si Ming from behind as orchid-scented breath brushed his ear.

At Yuezheng Yao’s birthday banquet, Hongdou got drunk, confessed her loneliness to Si Ming, and nearly stripped before Yuezheng Yao subdued her. After returning home, Si Ming told Yu Shuying that he suspected Yuezheng Yao was the Remote Heaven Society member in the peacock mask and considered testing her.

• Hongdou drunkenly accused Si Ming of neglecting her, confessed that he was all she had left, and began trying to strip in front of the banquet guests.
• Si Ming and Murong Qing tried to restrain Hongdou, but Yuezheng Yao knocked her unconscious with a strike to her acupoint.
• Si Ming ended the banquet and left with Hongdou, while suspecting that Yuezheng Yao had concealed formidable cultivation.
• After returning from the banquet, Si Ming told Yu Shuying that Yuezheng Yao was likely the peacock-masked Remote Heaven Society member and asked whether they should test her.

Si Ming learned from Yan Jinghong's letter that Yuezheng Yao was a spy for their side and decided to avoid interfering while focusing on the Martial Dao League. At the final four at the God-Sealing Platform, the draw paired the Linked Mountains University Martial Arts Club against the Linked Mountains University of Medicine and Martial Arts Martial Arts Club, while Si Ming's team faced the Glacier Martial Arts School.

• Yu Shuying delivered Yan Jinghong's letter, and Si Ming deciphered its message that Yuezheng Yao was one of their allies.
• Si Ming decided to pretend he knew nothing about Yuezheng Yao and concentrate on winning the Martial Dao League championship.
• Lulu and Mantou introduced the God-Sealing Platform and its history during the final-four broadcast.
• The draw matched the Linked Mountains University Martial Arts Club against the Linked Mountains University of Medicine and Martial Arts Martial Arts Club, and the Glacier Martial Arts School against the Linked Mountains University Second Martial Arts Club.
• Ke Chajing left the day's match to Si Ming, while Hu Jixian warned that the Glacier Martial Arts School was a formidable opponent.

The Second Martial Arts Club chose Liu Qingqing to face Glacier Martial Arts School’s fiery Mei Yan, and Liu Qingqing used stealth, wind techniques, and a prophecy-infused arrow to fight back. Mei Yan pressured her at close range, leaving Liu Qingqing in a difficult but not yet hopeless position.

• Hu Jixian explained Glacier Martial Arts School’s history, its supreme arts, and its four fighters, while Si Ming decided the club would compete fairly and selected Liu Qingqing for the first match.
• Mei Yan impatiently forced the match to begin, then searched for Liu Qingqing as hidden arrows and a screen of maple leaves obscured her opponent.
• Mei Yan dispelled the leaves and struck what appeared to be Liu Qingqing, but the target vanished as an afterimage.
• Liu Qingqing invoked the Divine Art: Bowstring Never Misses and shot an arrow high into the sky, making Mei Yan uneasy.
• Mei Yan rushed Liu Qingqing and unleashed a sweeping whip assault, while Liu Qingqing dodged with the Wenlin Formless Art’s wind currents and countered with arrows.

Liu Qingqing defeated Mei Yan with a concealed Divine Arts arrow and a Sword Tribulation, winning the first match for the Second Martial Arts Club. The next match began with unexpected pairings, while Lulu reprimanded Mantou for highlighting her mistaken prediction.

• Mei Yan pressured Liu Qingqing with her whips and cold, leaving her little room to counterattack.
• Liu Qingqing's falling arrow exploded into cutting winds, distracting Mei Yan long enough for Liu Qingqing to pierce her defense with Illusory Moth Sword Tribulation.
• Mei Yan admitted defeat, and the referee declared Liu Qingqing the winner of the first match.
• Lulu and Mantou discussed how Divine Arts and weapons differed between youth and adult matches, then predicted the second match's fighters.
• The Glacier Martial Arts School sent Song Caishuang and Liang Fan, while the Second Martial Arts Club sent Chen Shimi and newcomer Hongdou.
• Lulu scolded Mantou for saying she had guessed wrong instead of sharing the mistake with her.

Hongdou faced Song Caishuang and Liang Fan on the God-Sealing Platform and used Painting School Martial Arts to withstand their attacks and send them flying. The pair recovered near the platform’s edge and cautiously approached her again, while the spectators struggled to explain what they had seen.

• Song Caishuang and Liang Fan opened the match with their strongest saber and sword techniques, freezing Hongdou in a mass of ice and Sword Qi.
• Hongdou burst out of the ice unharmed, warmed herself with a fire she drew on the ground, and revealed her use of Painting School Martial Arts.
• Song Caishuang and Liang Fan attacked Hongdou again, but she thrust out her hands and sent them tumbling almost to the edge of the platform with a powerful current of air.
• Spectators and commentators speculated that Hongdou had used an illusion divine art, while Song Caishuang and Liang Fan remained baffled by the attack.
• Song Caishuang and Liang Fan cautiously approached Hongdou again, and Hongdou thrust out her hands and cried, "Hey!"

Yu Shuying exposed Song Xiaoshuang’s secret during their match, leaving him panicked and unable to fight effectively. She explained that public suspicion would eventually reveal proof, while Song Xiaoshuang struggled to deny her claim.

• Song Xiaoshuang tried to hide his nervousness and prepare an attack, but Yu Shuying repeatedly anticipated his moves.
• Yu Shuying dodged Song Xiaoshuang’s sword strikes and told him she knew his secret.
• Song Xiaoshuang nearly dropped his sword, then denied being a man and demanded proof.
• Yu Shuying said his request for proof had confirmed her guess and explained that public doubt would lead others to uncover evidence.
• Song Xiaoshuang attacked in a panic, leaving openings that Yu Shuying easily exploited.

Yu Shuying defeated Song Caishuang in a conspicuously staged bout, giving the Second Martial Arts Club another 3–0 victory, while Si Ming sensed someone nearby was plotting against him. The day’s other semifinal ended with Linked Mountains University defeating Linked Mountains Medical and Martial University 3–1, but a severe injury left the teams at odds before the next day’s matches.

• Yu Shuying threatened Song Xiaoshuang into obeying her, then defeated Song Caishuang as the spectators cheered and the Second Martial Arts Club maintained its undefeated record.
• Si Ming sensed a cold, sinister threat nearby and suspected the culprit was watching from the stands, so he planned to ask Yu Shuying to use her Mind-Reading Technique.
• Yu Shuying teased Si Ming about dressing as a woman, and Si Ming urged her to appreciate her remaining school days before the next match began.
• Linked Mountains University defeated Linked Mountains Medical and Martial University 3–1, but one of its fighters severely injured an opponent during the fourth bout.
• The organizers prevented the teams from brawling, and the first day of the semifinals ended with Glacier Martial Arts School set to face the medical and martial university the following day.