Chapter Summaries

As the Human Race Unified Exam began, Lou Shisui entered the examination area disguised as Chen Xiao and prepared to find Chen Haoyu under orders from the Chen Family. Meanwhile, the Chen Family planned a move against the Reformist Faction on the first night of the exam.

• Li Jie and Song Haomiao waited for their realm tests, and Li Jie encouraged Song Haomiao to stay hopeful about the exam.
• Li Jie passed the test at the middle stage of the first realm, then heard that Chen Xiao had passed at the peak of the second realm.
• Chen Family members confirmed that Chen Xiao had entered without being noticed and ordered staff to strengthen secrecy around the Hidden Realm Ring and monitor Owl.
• The Chen Family learned that neutral noble families were shifting toward its side after the Reformist Faction took promising talents, and decided to act after nightfall on the first day.
• Lou Shisui, disguised as Chen Xiao, passed the security check and entered Examination Area Three, where he planned to use the Hidden Realm Ring to find Chen Haoyu.
• As the exam was about to begin, Shisui made himself inconspicuous and waited inside the barrier.

The unified entrance exam began, and Chen Haoyu’s group encountered Huang Mingze’s team while seeking prey. Chen Xiao slaughtered Huang Mingze and his companions in seconds, then left their Radiant Feathers behind as the Chen Family moved on to gather points.

• The exam began, and proctors and outside factions watched examinees compete across the examination grounds.
• Chen Haoyu gathered the Yin City Chen Family examinees into a team, while Chen Xiao kept a low profile among them.
• Chen Haoyu arranged for the surveillance cameras to look away and ordered his group to attack Huang Mingze’s team.
• As Huang Mingze tried to retreat with his outnumbered companions, Chen Haoyu signaled Chen Xiao to attack.
• Chen Xiao killed Huang Mingze and eight other examinees in under three seconds, left their Radiant Feathers behind, and returned to Chen Haoyu’s group.

Xie Wutong, Mu Li, and Gong Lingling hunted secret realm beasts before rushing to aid Reformist Faction examinees attacked by Li Gao and the Aristocratic Faction. Xie Wutong confronted Li Gao, but as she ordered her companions to retreat, an unseen attacker grabbed her and slammed her into the ground.

• Xie Wutong, Mu Li, and Gong Lingling trapped and killed secret realm creatures, earning points.
• Xie Wutong decided to aid Reformist Faction teams attacked by aristocratic scions and led her companions toward the nearest request for help.
• Li Gao and the Aristocratic Faction besieged examinees, including Li Jie and Song Haomiao, while the exam's life-protection mechanism remained disabled.
• Xie Wutong arrived after a barrage had devastated the examinees and challenged Li Gao for attacking members of their own race.
• Xie Wutong attacked Li Gao, sensed something was wrong, and ordered her companions to retreat, but an unseen attacker seized her and slammed her into the ground.

Lou Shisui helped sever the examination secret realm from the outside world, trapping two hundred thousand examinees while the great families began their purge. As the chaos spread, he prepared to hunt the conspirators and waited for another hidden force to reveal itself.

• Lou Shisui planted a Radiant Feather and used spatial energy to sever the secret realm's connection to the outside world as evening fell.
• Examinees lost access to their scores and contact with proctors, while officials and parents panicked over the missing two hundred thousand young people.
• Xie Wutong ignited her life force in a final attack, and Li Jie used his last strength to awaken Song Haomiao, who carried Li Jie's corpse away.
• Lou Shisui scattered Radiant Feathers to track the great-family scions and learned that they planned to kill unaffiliated examinees and blame the Beastfolk.
• Lou Shisui revealed that he had permanently cut off the secret realm and placed teleportation feathers across it, then waited for the hidden force to emerge.

Zhang Guangzong opened a spatial wormhole that brought Beastfolk into the Unified Exam Secret Realm, and Lou Shisui revealed his true identity and slaughtered Chen Haoyu, Li Gao, and their companions. After finding the First Realm examinees offered him little Psychic Energy, Shisui headed toward the beast tide to wait for more prey.

• Zhang Guangzong used his life force to open a spatial wormhole, allowing groups of Third and Fourth Realm Beastfolk to enter the Unified Exam Secret Realm and overwhelm his pursuers.
• Shisui discovered that the Beastfolk were outsiders and realized the aristocratic families' plan to frame the Reformist Faction had been turned against them.
• Lou Shisui dropped his disguise, shattered his admission brooch, and revealed his Kakugan and predatory organs.
• Shisui's Steel Feathers cut Chen Haoyu in half and killed several nearby lackeys, while his aura terrified Li Gao and the others.
• Shisui slaughtered the group, then abandoned the First Realm examinees as poor sources of Psychic Energy and headed toward the beast tide.

A Beastfolk-controlled beast tide swept through the secret realm, killing examinees as the aristocratic families tried to flee. Ma Li'ao and Yang Liuliu sacrificed ordinary examinees to slow the pursuit, but a mysterious predator shot down their airship and approached the survivors.

• The Beastfolk unleashed a vast beast tide that hunted down examinees while the aristocratic family faction outside delayed the restoration of contact with the secret realm.
• Ma Li'ao piloted the Ma Family airship as Yang Liuliu used the Seeking Spirit compass to locate ordinary examinees.
• Ma Li'ao's group bound the ordinary examinees and flew on, leaving them in the beast tide's path.
• Song Haomiao recognized the crest on the fleeing airship and led the trapped examinees to stand and fight.
• A shadow shot down the airship, and a terrifying killing intent made the beast tide pause as an unknown danger approached.

Lou Shisui killed Ma Li'ao and Yang Liuliu before tearing through the Beastfolk tide, while assassins silenced an All-School Alliance official and Fan Rongchang failed to reach him in time. Fan Rongchang left to pressure Zi City's decision-makers to reconnect the secret realm space sooner.

• Lou Shisui destroyed Ma Li'ao and Yang Liuliu's airship, then killed them as they fled the wreckage.
• Lou Shisui charged into the Beastfolk tide, slaughtering enemies with his Owl Wings and other kagune while absorbing psychic energy and evolving midair.
• An assassin killed a mid-level All-School Alliance official in his office, and an accomplice erased the traces.
• Fan Rongchang arrived to find the official gone and confronted Fang Yulan, who calmed his anger before departing.
• Fan Rongchang left Alliance headquarters to pressure Zi City's decision-makers to reconnect the secret realm space.

Lou Shisui advanced to the Early Fourth Realm and hunted the scattered Beastfolk, arriving just as a team of examinees was overwhelmed. After saving them, he killed the survivors too and decided to clear the area before pursuing more prey.

• Lou Shisui emerged from his cocoon, advanced to the Early Fourth Realm, and flew through a spatial rift toward the fleeing Beastfolk.
• A team of ten examinees lured a rhinoceros Beastfolk into a trap and killed it, but a laser attack then killed three of them and wounded the rest.
• More than a hundred flying Beastfolk and three Mid Fourth Realm vultures surrounded the seven survivors as they prepared to make a last stand.
• Lou Shisui burst from a spatial rift and slaughtered the Beastfolk, then killed the seven examinees who had thanked him.
• Lou Shisui scattered spatial feathers and decided to clear the area before hunting further.

Fang Yulan arranged for Beastfolk to be hidden among the rescue team while ensuring the examinees' safety, and the Human Race sent reinforcements into the secret realm. After reaching the Half-Step Fifth Realm, Shisui hid from the rescuers and decided to attack two separated Fifth Realm experts.

• Fang Yulan learned the rescue team was being assembled and ordered an operative planted among its Fifth Realm experts, with additional Beastfolk hidden in the team.
• Ji Feijie led three hundred Fourth Realm soldiers and three Fifth Realm experts through the portal, warning Cai Bin to watch the Yang Family expert.
• Lou Shisui completed his final Metamorphosis below the Fifth Realm and reached the Half-Step Fifth Realm.
• Shisui sensed the rescue team entering the secret realm and used a Radiant Feather to assess its strength.
• Shisui saw that two Fifth Realm Mid-Stage experts had separated from the Fifth Realm Peak expert and flew toward them.

Lou Shisui ambushed Yang Fuwen and Cai Bin inside an isolated space and defeated them with his Kagune and bone-deep venom. After absorbing the two cultivators, he left to confront the Fifth Realm Peak expert.

• Yang Fuwen and Cai Bin flew through the forest together while Lou Shisui followed them from below.
• Lou Shisui used [Absolute Severance] to trap Yang Fuwen and Cai Bin in an isolated zone of space.
• Yang Fuwen identified Lou Shisui as their attacker, and Cai Bin used [Growth Acceleration] to turn the forest's plants against him.
• Lou Shisui overwhelmed their defenses, poisoned Yang Fuwen and Cai Bin, and killed them within a minute.
• Lou Shisui absorbed the two cultivators, suppressed his urge to kill, and stepped through a spatial rift to seek out the Fifth Realm Peak expert.

Ji Feijie repaired spatial linking devices until Shisui ambushed him, forcing the two into a fight in the forest. Shisui killed Ji Feijie and absorbed the Psychic Energy, breaking through to the Early Fifth Realm.

• Ji Feijie reset a spatial linking device and raced toward the next repair site.
• Shisui ambushed Ji Feijie with his Kagune while Ji Feijie was low on Psychic Energy.
• Ji Feijie retreated into the forest and tried to use its terrain to turn the fight in his favor.
• Shisui shattered Ji Feijie's weapon, pierced his foot with a hidden Rinkaku, and activated [Bone-Deep Rot].
• Shisui killed Ji Feijie, bathed in the Psychic Energy, and advanced to the Early Fifth Realm.

Lou Shisui advanced into the extraordinary realm, escaped the secret realm through a space link device, and reached Chen City. Yang Fuwu investigated the aftermath and warned the maintenance team that a powerful spatial intruder had fled there.

• Lou Shisui emerged from his biological egg after consolidating his early Fifth Realm cultivation and sensing that humans would detect his evolution.
• Lou Shisui found the last functioning space link device, destroyed it, and forced open a wormhole to escape the secret realm.
• Yang Fuwu arrived at the ruined device, concluded that an intruder far stronger than the Fifth Realm had passed through, and reported the escape route to the maintenance team.
• Yang Fuwu fled the examination site while Lou Shisui reached Chen City, his new Feeding Ground.

Ye Luo survived the night after a young man rescued her from pursuing Beastfolk, while Song Haomiao helped at a temporary aid station before giving his account of the unified exam to Wei Yi. The incident report recorded tens of thousands of deaths and injuries, with one examinee missing.

• Ye Luo fell while fleeing with other examinees, but a young man killed the Beastfolk pursuing her and rescued her as dawn broke.
• Song Haomiao, recovering from severe injuries, volunteered to transport supplies at the temporary aid station.
• The All-School Alliance established the aid station because spatial instability made the teleportation array unsuitable for moving injured examinees.
• After hearing his name announced, Song Haomiao went to the information collection office to give a statement.
• Wei Yi used a strange rhythm in his voice as Song Haomiao recounted what he had experienced during the exam.
• The incident report attributed the disaster preliminarily to a Beastfolk invasion and noted a suspected Seventh Realm awakened one, recording 85,575 deaths and one missing examinee.

Human Race leaders gathered to address the deaths of more than eighty thousand examinees and debate who was responsible for the bloody joint examination. New testimony implicated the Li Family and other aristocratic families, leaving the council to decide how to punish them without splitting the Human Race.

• Human Race leaders convened an emergency council meeting to limit the fallout from the bloody joint examination and assign responsibility.
• Fang Yuanmao called for unity against the Beastfolk and denied the accusations against his family, but the Reformist Faction's silent reaction made him suspect something had gone wrong.
• Fan Rongchang presented an examinee's testimony claiming that Li Jie and other aristocratic scions attacked 108 people, while Mu Li and Gong Lingling were killed and Xie Wutong sacrificed himself to help the witness escape.
• Fan Rongchang accused the Li Family and other aristocratic families of plotting the attack, and several families backed a motion to punish the Li Family.
• The Grand Speaker ordered soldiers to remove the Li Family representative before he could respond, and the meeting continued.

After the unified exam disaster, the Human Race’s leaders debated punishment, compensation, and public trust, then issued a highest-level wanted notice for Eight-Tailed Owl. Lou Shisui read the notice in Chen City and returned to his guesthouse, confident he could still move unnoticed among humans.

• Fan Rongchang pushed for an expedition against the Beastfolk of the Spirit Resonance Rainforest, and Fan Yuxin volunteered to lead it.
• The council approved the expedition and debated victims’ compensation, repairs, and measures to restore public trust.
• The Human Race published its investigation report, announced punishments for the Li Family of Zi City, and issued a highest-level wanted notice for Eight-Tailed Owl.
• Lou Shisui bought the Chen City Morning News, read his wanted notice, and concluded the Human Race had not begun actively hunting him.
• Lou Shisui returned to his guesthouse in Chen City after retrieving the Lou Family’s Spatial Ring and considered what to eat.

In Chen City, Lou Shisui selected Xu Xiao, a fox woman who had just lost her job, as his next victim. After abducting and killing her in her apartment, he left the kitchen burning and departed through a spatial rift.

• Lou Shisui spotted Xu Xiao on Fuhua Commercial Street and attached a Radiant Feather to her clothes to track her.
• Xu Xiao returned to her apartment, lamented losing her job, and fell asleep after deciding she would eventually return home.
• The Radiant Feather fell off, and Lou Shisui emerged from a spatial rift and rendered Xu Xiao unconscious with toxin.
• Lou Shisui found Xu Xiao’s dismissal notice and job postings, then killed and butchered her in the kitchen.
• Lou Shisui opened another spatial rift and left as flames spread through Xu Xiao’s apartment kitchen.

After a deadly apartment fire prompted plans for stricter fire-safety inspections, Lou Shisui went to Youhe Trading Company and, disguised as Yue Jian, secured a cargo-escort job. He accepted a low-paid trial position because he wanted to join the company’s caravan and use its permits to travel and trade across the territories of the three races.

• A fire consumed several floors of an apartment building in Chen City, but firefighters extinguished it without finding any casualties.
• The Southern District Fire Brigade announced that it would inspect fire safety across its jurisdiction, prompting merchants to complain about fines and required equipment.
• Lou Shisui surveyed the commercial street and applied to Youhe Trading Company for a caravan cargo-escort job under the alias Yue Jian.
• Lou Shisui claimed to be a middle-stage Sixth Realm cultivator from a settlement outside Huaihuang Continent and accepted a three-month trial at a monthly salary of three thousand yuan.
• Lou Shisui went to move cargo, intending to use the job to get onto Youhe Trading Company's caravan, which had permits to travel and trade across the territories of all three races.

Lou Shisui traveled with a Youhe Trading Company caravan past Chen City and the historic Wunu Embankment, where he noticed the Wunu River’s Psychic Energy had become unusually abundant. He suspected something had changed in the Ten-Thousand-Blade Mountain Range and grew eager to continue toward Demon Race territory.

• Lou Shisui rode with driver Yan Xu in a caravan bound for Demon Race territory.
• Yan Xu told Shisui about the Wunu Embankment and the treaty that ended the three races’ fighting more than 150 years earlier.
• The caravan reached the Wunu River, where crowds had gathered to see the colorful plateau fir forest and travel to the Three Races Friendship and Exchange Conference.
• Lou Shisui sensed that the river’s Psychic Energy was overflowing, far beyond what historical records described.
• Shisui suspected a change in the Ten-Thousand-Blade Mountain Range had caused the river’s energy surge and looked forward to reaching Demon Race territory.

Shisui arrived in Qiongfang City with the Youhe Trading Company caravan and suspected the Demon Race was preparing to attack the two races downstream despite the Wunu River Treaty. He used his delivery job to enter noble residences and secretly spread Radiant Feathers, beginning to gather information while avoiding suspicion.

• The caravan reached Qiongfang City, where Shisui sensed the city's powerful defenses and estimated that the Demon Race had amassed forces beyond what was needed to defend it.
• Zhou Runfeng assembled a delivery team, and Shisui accepted a route serving ordinary nobles in the city's middle and lower districts.
• Shisui chose the route to gain legitimate access to noble residences while avoiding the scrutiny that would come with posing as a higher-realm courier.
• At Viscount Tangtai's residence, Shisui scattered Radiant Feathers among servants and the household before delivering the package and leaving for his next stop.

Lou Shisui used a late-night delivery as cover to infiltrate the Outing Family villa and slaughter its defenders. He left the villa after turning Baron Outing and two servants into puppets, intending to puppet the rest of the family and spread his weapons through the city.

• Lou Shisui arrived at the Outing Family villa posing as a deliveryman and followed a rude servant inside.
• Lou Shisui killed Baron Outing and two people in the study, then used Radiant Feathers to trap the family's Ninth Realm awakened one.
• Lou Shisui pierced the Ninth Realm awakened one with his scorpion tail and killed him with venom, revealing that he had reached the Eighth Realm Peak after recently being in the Sixth Realm.
• Lou Shisui turned Baron Outing into a puppet, then made two servants puppets and ordered them to gather the Outing Family in the main hall.
• Lou Shisui left the villa after consuming the Ninth Realm awakened one's Psychic Energy, planning to puppet the family and spread Blade Scales and Radiant Feathers.