Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan outpaced the Star River Martial Academy Prodigies during the Devouring Locust purge, revealing his extraordinary precision and overwhelming efficiency. After the purge, the rankings showed that he had earned more than ninety-nine percent of the life cores, leaving the other Prodigies shaken and humiliated.

• Gao Peng and the other Prodigies pushed themselves to their limits chasing Chen Fan, but he swept the battlefield far ahead of them without slowing down.
• Lei Ao recognized that Chen Fan was using exceptionally precise control of his Undying Divine Fire, not a secret treasure, and was shocked by his rapid progress.
• Chen Fan stopped after gathering enough life cores for his first step of adding fuel and asked why the others were so slow.
• Lei Ao displayed the contribution rankings, which placed Chen Fan first by an enormous margin and Gao Peng second with only a fraction of his points.
• Lei Ao announced that more than ninety-nine percent of the life cores belonged to Chen Fan, and the shared spoils flowed into Chen Fan's Student Badge.

After the Prodigies formed a hundred-person Battle Formation to catch up with Chen Fan, he far outpaced their contribution points and reached the nest’s central hall first. He confronted the Locust Devourer Queen while the exhausted allied force remained frozen by her pressure, and asked whether her life core would be harder to burn.

• Lei Ao announced that the mission’s second phase was to destroy the mother nest and eliminate every elite-grade Devouring Locust and above.
• Gao Peng argued that Chen Fan’s powerful attack must consume too much energy to use endlessly, and the Prodigies formed an allied Battle Formation.
• The allied force charged into the nest and rapidly killed elite Devouring Locusts, but Chen Fan raced ahead and sent his contribution points soaring far beyond theirs.
• The exhausted Prodigies reached the central hall and found a Locust Devourer Queen whose overwhelming aura immobilized them.
• Chen Fan, already seated beside the queen’s throne, tapped her carapace and asked Gao Peng and the others whether her life core would resist burning.

Chen Fan effortlessly annihilated the Locust Devourer Queen, claimed her Life Core, and left the stunned Prodigies behind. Lei Ao arrived to find the mission completed with an SSS+ rating and Chen Fan far ahead in contribution points, then sent the defeated alliance back to the starship.

• The Locust Devourer Queen unleashed a Mental Storm and charged Chen Fan, but neither attack affected him.
• Chen Fan stopped the queen's charge with a casual gesture and erased her, leaving only her Life Core.
• Chen Fan took the core, told the Prodigies the mission was over, and vanished to return to burning firewood.
• Lei Ao arrived and found Gao Peng and the other Prodigies motionless and dazed beneath the queen's empty throne.
• Lei Ao checked the Light Screen, saw the SSS+ mission rating and Chen Fan's overwhelming contribution lead, then teleported the Prodigies back to the starship.

Chen Fan began using the Life Cores from his SSS+ mission to strengthen his golden Undying Divine Fire, while Wen Yuan guarded his secluded cultivation. After ten days, the Divine Fire had devoured tens of thousands of ordinary cores, leaving only the Mother Empress Core.

• Chen Fan returned to the Life School and showed Wen Yuan the dark golden Mother Empress Core, whose life source was nearly seventh-grade Immortal Realm quality.
• Wen Yuan sealed a secluded cultivation chamber and left Chen Fan to begin adding Kindling.
• Chen Fan summoned tens of thousands of Life Cores, and his Divine Fire formed a Taotie phantom that swallowed them all at once.
• Wen Yuan sensed the terrifying energy vortex as the Myriad Dao Furnace Scripture refined the cores into pure life essence for the Divine Fire.
• After ten days, the ordinary cores were gone, and the enlarged Divine Fire Taotie filled the chamber while the Mother Empress Core remained untouched.

Chen Fan completed the second step of cultivating his Divine Fire by devouring the Mother Empress Core, then learned he needed to understand death to refine his Divine Fire into gold. He accepted a mission to guard Annihilation Seven Star for three months and left, while Wen Yuan wondered whether Chen Fan would overcome the one-year Betting Agreement well before its deadline.

• Chen Fan's Divine Fire Taotie devoured the Mother Empress Core and crushed the core's powerful remnant will.
• After a month of refining, Chen Fan emerged with his kindling full and asked Wen Yuan how to complete the final step.
• Wen Yuan explained that Chen Fan needed to fuse the intents of life and death into a Life-and-Death Furnace to refine his Divine Fire.
• Wen Yuan showed Chen Fan a mission to guard Annihilation Seven Star and collect Deathly Silent Crystals for three months.
• Chen Fan accepted the mission and departed for the teleportation point, leaving Wen Yuan to reflect on the one-year Betting Agreement.

Lin Xuanqing and Wen Yuan reflected on Wen Yuan’s ruined cultivation and pinned their hopes on Chen Fan. Chen Fan reached a death-shrouded planet and found a nearly broken outpost, where a desperate young man rushed out to meet him.

• Lin Xuanqing praised Chen Fan’s fearless cultivation, then asked Wen Yuan whether his destroyed Dao Foundation and damaged Divine Fire could be healed.
• Wen Yuan told Lin Xuanqing there was no hope for his injuries, but reminded him that they still had Chen Fan.
• Chen Fan arrived on a desolate planet and sensed his Undying Divine Fire resonating with the aura of death.
• Chen Fan followed his Student Badge’s coordinates to a failing outpost and sensed a faint living presence inside.
• A deranged young man stumbled from the outpost, grabbed Chen Fan, and shouted that the planet’s silence had driven him to the brink of madness.

Chen Fan took over the crystal-gathering task in the mine and discovered that refining Deathly Silent Crystals strengthened his Undying Divine Fire and understanding of death. He ventured deeper to gather more and was surrounded by a vast swarm of Deathly Stillness Creatures.

• A young man transferred Guardian Authorization to Chen Fan, explained that he had to collect ten thousand Deathly Silent Crystals each month, and left using his teleportation device.
• Chen Fan entered the mine and effortlessly pulled more than a hundred Deathly Silent Crystals from the walls.
• Chen Fan refined the crystals' Origin of Death into his Undying Divine Fire, deepening his understanding of the Great Dao of Death and slightly strengthening his Divine Fire.
• Chen Fan continued deeper into the mine, refining every crystal he encountered because the crystals near the entrance were insufficient for his needs.
• Countless Deathly Stillness Creatures emerged from the darkness and surrounded Chen Fan, who remained calm.

Chen Fan overwhelmed the Deathly Stillness Creatures with his Undying Divine Fire and forced them to mine Deathly Silent Crystals for him. After a month of cultivation and mining, a hundred-meter mountain of crystals had accumulated before him.

• Chen Fan killed the Undying Realm-level Deathly Stillness Creature leader with a spark of Undying Divine Fire.
• Chen Fan unleashed his aura of life, terrifying the remaining Deathly Stillness Creatures into surrendering.
• Chen Fan ordered the creatures to mine, and they dug up Deathly Silent Crystals and piled them before him.
• Chen Fan cultivated and comprehended the Death Dao while the creatures mined for a month, building a hundred-meter-high pile of crystals.

Chen Fan continued cultivating on Annihilation Seven Star while commanding deathly silent creatures to mine crystals, but he still could not break through the alchemy bottleneck. After a month of consuming vast amounts of death origin, his Divine Fire became immense, yet the barrier remained and irritation began to grow.

• Chen Fan sensed the academy logistics team arrive on Annihilation Seven Star as he watched the creatures mine.
• Liu Zhen warned Zhang Tao about the planet's deadly aura and told him they were there to collect ten thousand crystals.
• Liu Zhen and Zhang Tao found tens of thousands of deathly silent creatures mining in perfect order under Chen Fan's command.
• Chen Fan signaled the creatures, and their leader delivered exactly ten thousand top-grade crystals to the stunned visitors.
• Liu Zhen and Zhang Tao left the planet in shock, while Chen Fan resumed cultivating.
• Over the next month, Chen Fan consumed enormous quantities of death origin and expanded his Divine Fire, but he remained unable to break through the alchemy bottleneck.

After months of cultivating on Annihilation Seven Star, Chen Fan realized that he had treated death only as a resource rather than something to understand. He freed the mine’s deathly silent creatures and walked into the mine’s deepest darkness, where his Divine Fire began to falter and his senses vanished.

• Chen Fan emerged from cultivation and wondered why the supreme-grade Deathly Silent Crystals no longer mattered to him.
• Wen Yuan worried that Chen Fan might not condense Undying Golden Blood within a year, but Lin Xuanqing said he expected Chen Fan to surpass every standard.
• Chen Fan realized that he had used death to strengthen himself without understanding it, and his frustration disappeared.
• Chen Fan released the deathly silent creatures from his command and walked unprotected into the mine’s absolute darkness.
• The darkness swallowed Chen Fan, stripped away his perceptions, and left his Divine Fire on the verge of collapse.

Chen Fan let his Divine Fire and body perish, then experienced countless forms of death until he understood death as a return that nurtured new life. He formed a life-and-death furnace, revived with a new body on Annihilation Seven Star, and began preparing to pursue a different path to gold refinement.

• Chen Fan severed his Divine Soul connection to the Divine Fire and calmly watched his body dissolve into deathly stillness energy.
• An invisible force drew Chen Fan's Divine Soul into a world where he experienced countless deaths, eventually becoming each dying being rather than merely observing them.
• Chen Fan understood that deathly stillness nurtured new life, and a life-and-death furnace began forming in his Dantian universe.
• Deathly stillness energy gathered to rebuild Chen Fan's body, while a green shoot emerged from scorched soil on Annihilation Seven Star and formed a mysterious connection with him.
• Chen Fan examined his life-and-death furnace and decided his gold refinement would differ from the method taught by Lin Xuanqing.
• Chen Fan sat cross-legged before the mountain of crystals to begin his gold refinement.

Chen Fan refined the forces of life and death on Annihilation Seven Star into Life-and-Death Dao Blood and broke through to the Sixth Grade Undying Realm. After realizing he had exceeded his garrison duty, he requested to return, while Wen Yuan and Lin Xuanqing worried about his prolonged absence and the dangers of comprehending death.

• Chen Fan drew life from a tiny shoot and death from the planet's core, refining both concepts in his Life-and-Death Furnace.
• Chen Fan fused the refined forces into Life-and-Death Dao Blood, which transformed his body and brought him to the Sixth Grade Undying Realm.
• The shoot on Annihilation Seven Star absorbed Chen Fan's life Dao resonance and unfurled a second leaf.
• Chen Fan concealed his new power, discovered that five months had passed, and sent a request to return from his mission.
• Wen Yuan told Lin Xuanqing he feared Chen Fan's extended stay on the harsh planet had harmed his state of mind, and Lin Xuanqing acknowledged the peril of comprehending death.

Chen Fan returned from the Deathly Silence two months late, and Lin Xuanqing and Wen Yuan assumed he had failed and tried to console him. The chapter ended with Chen Fan interrupting them to ask who had said he failed.

• Wen Yuan received Chen Fan’s brief message requesting permission to return, and he and Lin Xuanqing assumed Chen Fan had failed at alchemy.
• Lin Xuanqing approved the request, and the school’s Teleportation Array brought Chen Fan back.
• Chen Fan saw Lin Xuanqing and Wen Yuan looking grave and asked whether something had happened at home.
• Wen Yuan and Lin Xuanqing comforted Chen Fan, praising his perseverance and urging him not to dwell on his supposed failure.
• Chen Fan interrupted Lin Xuanqing and asked who had told them he failed.

After three months of cultivating his Life-and-Death Dao Blood, Chen Fan emerged as the Life School’s grand competition began on the World Tree. The other schools’ instructors mocked Lin Xuanqing and awaited Chen Fan’s appearance as the Golden Body Realm matches ended.

• Chen Fan cultivated in seclusion for three months, growing his Life-and-Death Dao Blood from one drop to eighty and sensing that he needed fierce battles to prove his Dao.
• Lin Xuanqing announced the annual grand competition and created the World Tree as its battleground, teleporting Golden Body Realm disciples to its lowest platforms.
• The chief instructors of the other Nine Great Schools gathered in the void and mocked the Life School, questioning whether Chen Fan could meet Lin Xuanqing’s one-year agreement.
• The Golden Body Realm disciples fought one-on-one matches, while the visiting instructors criticized the Life School’s fighting style.
• A Life School disciple narrowly defeated his final opponent and claimed first place in the Golden Body Realm competition.

Lin Xuanqing ended the Golden Body Realm competition and entered Chen Fan in the Undying Realm competition, drawing outrage and mockery from the other instructors. Chen Fan remained unafraid as Lin Xuanqing announced that the last competitor standing would win.

• Lin Xuanqing healed a victorious Life School disciple after the Golden Body Realm competition.
• The Chief Instructors of the Ancient Martial Arts School and New Martial Arts School mocked the disciple and questioned Chen Fan's absence.
• Lin Xuanqing summoned hundreds of Undying Realm disciples to a new Combat Platform and placed Chen Fan among them.
• Old Freak Wang and the other instructors condemned or mocked Lin Xuanqing for exposing Chen Fan to the stronger competitors.
• Chen Fan showed no fear and remarked that the Undying Realm disciples did not seem very strong.
• Lin Xuanqing silenced the crowd and began the competition, declaring that the last one standing would win.

Chen Fan collected rare treasures in the World Tree grotto-heaven, while the mentors outside were shocked to discover that he had achieved flawless Undying Golden Blood in less than a year. After the three-day trial, Chen Fan placed 97th and entered the school's top hundred.

• Chen Fan took the crimson-gold Dao blood and a peerless spirit herb, leaving Lu Yuan stunned.
• The nine mentors saw Chen Fan's Undying Golden Blood, and Old Freak Wang confirmed its life-and-death Dao resonance surpassed their recorded myths.
• Chen Fan ignored two senior brothers fighting over a Purple-Patterned Dragon Blood Flower and continued searching for stronger treasures.
• Chen Fan approached a peak Undying Realm Jade-Eyed Golden-Pupil Beast, which submitted to him, and took the Immortal Golden Ganoderma.
• After the trial ended, the rankings showed Chen Fan in 97th place with 12,800 contribution points.

Chen Fan watched Wen Yuan dominate the Seventh Grade Immortal Realm contest, then faced nine head instructors who tried to recruit him after acknowledging Lin Xuanqing’s victory in the Betting Agreement. Chen Fan rejected their offers and declared his loyalty to Lin Xuanqing and the Life School.

• Lin Xuanqing announced the start of the Seventh Grade Immortal Realm contest, and Wen Yuan defeated eight opponents with eight finger strikes.
• Chen Fan recognized Wen Yuan’s strength and felt his fighting spirit awaken.
• The nine head instructors descended on the platform and offered Chen Fan powerful techniques and generous terms to join their schools.
• Lin Xuanqing raged as the instructors pressured Chen Fan to leave the Life School.
• Chen Fan thanked the instructors, then declared that he would remain a member of the Life School and follow its path.

Chen Fan rejected the nine head instructors’ offers and remained Lin Xuanqing’s disciple, impressing them with his steadfast Dao Heart. After his annual talent settlement, Chen Fan consumed his accumulated resources to cultivate to the middle stage of the Sixth Grade Undying Realm, then sought Wen Yuan to find new resources.

• Chen Fan refused the nine head instructors’ offers, and Old Freak Wang and the others accepted his choice and looked forward to his performance at the Academy Grand Competition.
• Lin Xuanqing celebrated his victory, while Chen Fan collected his competition reward and returned to his courtyard, anticipating the Academy Grand Competition.
• Chen Fan’s annual settlement increased his Martial Dao Talent by 40960, bringing its total to 81910.
• Chen Fan used his competition rewards and Devouring Locust mission gains to cultivate for a month, producing 360 drops of Life-and-Death Dao Blood and reaching the middle stage of the Sixth Grade Undying Realm.
• Hungry for more resources, Chen Fan went to Wen Yuan’s residence to ask for guidance.

Chen Fan asked Wen Yuan how to obtain enough cultivation resources, revealing that he had accumulated more than three hundred drops of Dao Blood and had become hungry for energy. Wen Yuan directed him to a relatively profitable frontline war zone, then warned that the Alien Races had marked Chen Fan as a high-priority target.

• Wen Yuan discovered that Chen Fan had accumulated more than three hundred drops of Dao Blood since condensing his first drop a few months earlier.
• Chen Fan explained that absorbing ambient origin energy no longer satisfied his growing needs, and Wen Yuan recommended earning military merits on the Starry Sky Frontline.
• Wen Yuan selected War Zone No. 450, where Chen Fan could fight a numerous but individually weak branch of the Void Insect Race and collect energy cores.
• Chen Fan accepted the long-term mission to guard War Zone No. 450 and thanked Wen Yuan for his advice.
• Wen Yuan stopped Chen Fan and warned that the Alien Races had placed him on their highest-priority kill list, so enemy forces would target him rather than leave him to hunt Void Insects.

Wen Yuan gave Chen Fan a forged identity as Chen Feng and sent him to the Starry Sky Frontline to conceal his true strength. At War Zone 450, Chen Feng reported to Pioneer Team Seven and met its captain and two other members.

• Wen Yuan warned Chen Fan that the frontline was dangerous and that enemies could hide within their own ranks.
• Wen Yuan created a highly encrypted identity for Chen Fan as Chen Feng, a recent graduate assigned to War Zone 450, and gave him a new military merit insignia.
• Chen Fan used the insignia to change his appearance and aura, then entered a teleportation gate to the Starry Sky Frontline.
• A one-armed officer scanned Chen Feng's insignia, assigned him to Pioneer Team Seven, and led him to receive equipment and find the team's barracks.
• Chen Feng reported for duty to captain Lei Kun, who dismissed him as another recruit destined to die; he also met a woman cleaning a sniper rifle and a young man working at a computer.