Recaps

Li Chen and his companions began taking Special Affairs Bureau assignments in Neon District while Blood Charm fled there with Pandora’s Box. The chapter left Blood Charm hiding in the district as Li Chen told Su Zhe that changing its rules would require enough strength to break them.

• Li Chen, Su Zhe, and Jianping arrived in Neon District, reviewed the Bureau’s assignments, and decided to start with local tasks.
• Wounded Blood Charm fled a masked Horse Squad member while carrying Pandora’s Box, and the pursuer clashed with the Ninth Seat of the God-Binding Cult.
• Blood Charm avoided opening Pandora’s Box, chose to preserve his life, and realized he had reached Neon District.
• Li Chen and his companions watched a street fight without intervening, and Li Chen explained to Su Zhe that changing the district’s rules would require greater strength.

Li Chen, Jianping, and Su Zhe confronted Blood Charm when he attacked a crowd with Pandora's Box. As Blood Charm tried to awaken the box, it triggered Li Chen's violent heartbeat and agitation, and Li Chen and Jianping rushed to stop it from opening.

• Li Chen and his companions watched a street brawl until Blood Charm appeared and revealed his skeletal hands, prompting them to prepare for a fight.
• Blood Charm seized a bystander and killed him, then slaughtered fleeing civilians while Li Chen and Jianping attacked and Su Zhe evacuated the crowd.
• Li Chen's light blades and Jianping's Demon Blade forced Blood Charm to take the three young Sequence Users seriously.
• Blood Charm brought out Pandora's Box, causing Li Chen to hear a whisper and feel his heart pound violently.
• Blood Charm used the victims' blood to try to open Pandora, and Li Chen shouted that they had to stop it as Jianping charged.

Blood Charm opened Pandora’s Box, which connected to the pitch-black Door inside Li Chen and released a terrifying creature. Li Chen sent Jianping away and approached Pandora, resisting the whispers that urged him to get someone as Su Baozi found the wounded Jianping.

• Blood Charm used smoke and his bone blade to stall Li Chen and Jianping while his blood opened Pandora’s Box.
• Li Chen and Jianping unleashed a barrage of attacks, but Blood Charm survived inside armor formed from his bones.
• Pandora opened, and Li Chen realized it was connected to the pitch-black Door inside him; he warned Jianping to flee because a creature was coming through.
• Li Chen pierced Jianping with blades of light and sent him flying away from Pandora, then Blood Charm abandoned the opened box and escaped.
• Li Chen resisted the whispers and walked toward Pandora, wondering why the voice wanted him to get someone.
• Su Baozi found the wounded Jianping after the blades of light carried him away from Li Chen.

As Shenzhou City burned in the battle with the God-Binding Cult, Pandora pulled Li Chen into an endless darkness where a masked figure told him to keep searching for his road. Li Chen returned as the Black Mist receded, while Jianping and Su Zhe charged inside to find him.

• The Ninth Seat extinguished the Horse Squad member’s blue flames, then reacted excitedly when a black pillar of light appeared and announced that the Cult Leader had succeeded and Pandora had found the child of destiny.
• Li Chen wandered through endless darkness after touching Pandora, then met the white figure he had seen before, who told him to leave and continue looking for his road.
• The white figure said that one of fate’s shackles had broken and wondered whether humanity could still resist the Elder Gods now that the Reincarnation Authority’s power was exhausted.
• The white figure revealed Pandora’s Box in the shape of a strange key after Li Chen disappeared.
• As the Black Mist began to recede on Neon Street, Jianping charged into it to search for Li Chen, and Su Zhe followed him.

Jianping and Su Zhe fought through grotesques inside the shrinking Black Mist and found Li Chen lying in a crater as the mist flowed into him. Outside, the cult retreated and the Special Affairs Bureau and Canglan Academy converged on the site while the Ninth Seat sent a report to the sect master.

• Jianping and Su Zhe encountered grotesques formed from people killed by the cult, and fought them as they followed the retreating Black Mist.
• The cult organization withdrew after the black pillar of light appeared, leaving the Special Affairs Bureau to confront the dead and the many civilian casualties.
• A Wuma Team member called Wuxie confirmed that the captain had arrived and learned the Ninth Seat was heading toward him, prompting preparations to close the net.
• Cang Lao and Yu Qingnian searched for students still inside the Black Mist while the Ninth Seat sent an illusory paper crane to report events to the sect master.
• Jianping found Li Chen lying in a crater as the Black Mist flowed into his body, but Li Chen showed no reaction.

After finding his resolve to become stronger, Li Chen absorbed the Black Mist and used it to destroy the monsters around him. He and his companions escaped the mist, answered the Special Affairs Bureau’s questions, and left for hot pot.

• Jianping stopped Su Zhe from rushing toward Li Chen and told him they had to wait for the Black Mist to disperse.
• Inside his Spirit World, Li Chen decided that gaining strength was the only way to uncover the mysteries around him and control his own life.
• Li Chen absorbed the Black Mist, returned to consciousness, and used swirling black blades to kill the approaching monsters.
• Li Chen apologized to Jianping for carrying him away earlier, and the three of them left the Black Mist together.
• Yu Qingnian and the Special Affairs Bureau questioned Li Chen about the monsters and the cultist who had spread the Black Mist.
• After giving their statements, Li Chen, Su Zhe, and Jianping left the Bureau, with Su Zhe urging them to get hot pot.

After the cult organization brought Black Mist into Shenzhou, Elder Wei arrived to clear it while the Cult Leader praised the Ninth Seat and discussed finding the Forbidden Door. A month later, the Canglan Tournament resumed, and Li Chen and his teammates prepared to continue competing.

• At Special Affairs Bureau headquarters, Wuxie met Elder Wei, who agreed to eliminate the Black Mist that day and noted the Twelve Zodiac was holding the inland regions against the cult organization.
• In Imperial Capital City, the Cult Leader praised the Ninth Seat and said Pandora's Box had found the child of destiny who could lead them to the Forbidden Door.
• A month later at Canglan Academy, Li Chen defeated a student with a swift blade attack as Su Zhe and Jianping watched.
• Jianping told Li Chen and Su Zhe that the Canglan Tournament would resume where it had stopped, with teams having had a month to improve.
• Li Chen and his teammates watched the ongoing ranking battles until their Student Badges beeped, and Li Chen declared that the competition had only just begun.

Yu Qingnian changed the resumed Canglan Tournament so teams with Looking River Realm students would face multiple Dripping Water Realm teams, arguing that the academy needed to raise its standards and prepare students for a dangerous world. Li Chen’s team received their match assignment and waited as the revised competition began.

• Yu Qingnian proposed eliminating Dripping Water Realm students from the tournament, but Cang Lao and the dean agreed instead to let them experience the gap in strength through a revised format.
• Three days later, the Canglan Tournament resumed at the Battle Institute before a large crowd, and Yu Qingnian announced that teams with Looking River Realm students would face two or three Dripping Water Realm teams.
• Li Chen’s team received number five and learned they would face three teams; Li Chen dismissed the challenge, while Jianping told Su Zhe to stand aside and cheer.
• A woman watching with Ji Shao called the new arrangement unfair to Dripping Water Realm students, and Ji Shao silently reflected that fairness favored the strong.

Li Chen single-handedly defeated three Dripping Water Realm teams in the tournament, leaving spectators and rival teams shocked by his power. As his team advanced, Su Xian learned that Li Chen’s ability was only B-rank and prepared for his own match.

• Li Chen and his teammates entered the arena to face three Dripping Water Realm teams on mountainous terrain.
• Li Chen sent green blades after the opposing teams, piercing their protective gear and forcing several students to surrender.
• Li Chen crushed all three teams without his teammates needing to fight, while Ji Shao and Qingyu watched and reassessed his strength.
• Su Xian’s informant reported that Li Chen’s ability was B-rank, and Su Xian told his group to prepare for their upcoming match.
• Li Chen left the arena after the final opponent surrendered, while Su Zhe remarked that winning without fighting felt great.

The competition’s final stage began with all twenty remaining teams entering the Heart-Questioning Road, a staircase that tested them with Calamity Realm pressure. Li Chen discovered he could take on much of the pressure for his teammates as they started climbing toward the summit.

• Li Chen noticed that one team made up entirely of Dripping Water Realm students had advanced, while Yu Qingnian announced that the competition’s final stage would be the Heart-Questioning Road.
• Luo Lin explained that the teams would enter an illusion and compete in a free-for-all focused on teamwork, then the arena revealed a black staircase built into a wall marked “Dawn Pass.”
• Cang Lao and the dean watched as Yu Qingnian ordered the twenty teams to enter and declared that the first team to reach the summit would win.
• Li Chen and his teammates stepped onto the staircase and felt Calamity Realm pressure weighing them down as other teams struggled to climb.
• Li Chen began climbing, and much of the pressure on Su Zhe and the others eased; Jianping urged Su Zhe to keep moving.

Li Chen and his team climbed the Heart-Questioning Road at Dawn Pass, enduring the Calamity Realm’s pressure and reaching a bloodstained gate. Beyond it, they witnessed a battlefield where Sequence Users fought a tide of monsters, and the chapter left them facing the reality of the border war.

• Li Chen recognized the stairs as an illusion of Dawn Pass, one of humanity’s four great passes against the monsters.
• Su Xian used his ability to advance, and Ji Shao told Xiaowan that the Heart-Questioning Road had only begun.
• Li Chen carried the pressure for most of the climb until Jianping took his place, and the team reached the end of the stairs ahead of many others.
• Li Chen opened the bloodstained gate, revealing a battlefield where Sequence Users and monsters fought around a distant, glowing gate.
• Li Chen and his teammates watched the human fighters charge into the monster tide and understood what the border defenders were protecting.

After witnessing an illusion of Sequence Users sacrificing themselves at the border, Li Chen and his team entered the third checkpoint, where illusion-born monstrosities attacked. Li Chen began gathering energy for a bomb as Yu Qingnian worried he might damage Cang Lao’s illusion, and Ji Shao’s team spotted the growing energy mass.

• Li Chen and his companions watched Sequence Users die fighting monstrosities, and Li Chen resolved to visit the border they had defended.
• Li Chen’s group passed through the Door to the third checkpoint, where an aged voice announced that a second wave of monstrosities was preparing to attack.
• Li Chen’s blades passed through the phantom monstrosities, while Meng Xi summoned dreamlike knights to block them.
• Li Chen began compressing energy in his palm to create a bomb, and Yu Qingnian contacted Cang Lao with concerns that it might damage the illusion.
• The little loli warned Ji Shao that a mass of energy was gathering nearby and seemed likely to explode.

Li Chen’s explosive attack nearly damaged Cang Lao’s illusion, while Su Xian’s magic dispelled the lingering black mist. As the third wave began, Yu Qingnian explained that the Heart-Questioning Road was meant to expose students to the harsh realities facing the human race, and Li Chen discovered how to harm the illusionary creatures by gathering the energy around them.

• Li Chen blasted the strange creatures and dispersed the black mist, but Yu Qingnian warned him that his attack nearly damaged the illusion and could hinder the teams behind him.
• Su Xian used his magic to break the illusion’s lingering darkness, drawing the attention and resentment of the other teams.
• The aged voice announced the third wave, and black mist filled the space again as new illusionary creatures appeared.
• Yu Qingnian told Cang Lao that he had opened the Heart-Questioning Road to show students the border’s dangers and strengthen their understanding of their responsibilities.
• When Su Zhe’s attacks failed to hit an illusionary creature, Li Chen shot it with gathered energy and began drawing in the energy surrounding them.

Li Chen and his teammates cleared the illusion trial and reached the top of the Heart-Questioning Road, where a barrier stopped them from advancing. Su Xian then appeared and openly asked Li Chen to help his team compete for first place.

• Li Chen used blades of light to destroy the illusion monsters, while Meng Xi's summoned knights helped clear the remaining enemies.
• After Instructor Yu told them they had passed, Li Chen led his team through the black mist and back to the torchlit staircase.
• Li Chen found an invisible barrier blocking the opening at the top of the staircase, and Su Zhe failed to break it with his hammer.
• Su Xian and his teammates emerged through a nearby door, and Su Xian introduced himself to Li Chen.
• Su Xian asked Li Chen to lend his team a hand in competing for first place, and Li Chen questioned him about it.

Su Xian offered Li Chen a Forbidden Object and Study Points to join his team in the fight for first place, but Ji Shao's arrival exposed their rivalry over the Academy Tournament spot. After learning the tournament rewards, Li Chen began considering competing for the spot himself, though Su Xian raised his offer and left Li Chen weighing a safer deal against his own plan.

• Su Xian offered Li Chen Study Points and Forbidden Objects in exchange for helping him win first place, and Li Chen's teammates left the decision to him.
• Li Chen agreed to consider Su Xian's offer and asked about the Forbidden Object, so Su Xian offered Revival, which healed injuries but needed daily morning dew.
• Ji Shao emerged with her teammates and accused Su Xian of recruiting Li Chen; A Jin attacked her, but she melted his spear before Su Xian ordered him to stop.
• Su Xian and Ji Shao argued over first place, and Luo Lin explained that the rewards included the Academy Tournament team-battle spot, 50,000 Study Points, and the Forbidden Object Lunar Eclipse.
• Li Chen realized both teams wanted the Academy Tournament spot and considered winning it himself, then selling it to one of them while keeping the other rewards.
• Su Xian raised his offer to include a Forbidden Object and 50,000 Study Points, leaving Li Chen to choose between joining him and pursuing his own plan.

Li Chen refused Su Xian’s proposal to use him to secure an advantage, then wondered whether he should compete for first place in the Canglan Tournament. Meanwhile, Dean Gu learned that Dawn Pass was failing and sent Jian En back to hold it, while Jian En rejected the call to return home.

• Li Chen declined Su Xian’s proposal, and Su Xian accepted his decision and left to meet him at the summit.
• Ji Shao listened quietly and relaxed after Li Chen spoke, while Li Chen wondered whether he should try for first place.
• Jian En told Dean Gu that gaps had appeared at Dawn Pass and dozens of Withered Sea Realm experts had died trying to seal them.
• Dean Gu promised to send the Fifth Sequence to suppress the threat and asked Jian En to hold on for a few more days.
• Dean Gu asked Jian En whether he would return to his family, but Jian En left, saying he would see the path of the sword through to the end.

Li Chen’s team won the Canglan Tournament by realizing the Heart-Questioning Road’s summit was an illusion and tearing a way out. Afterward, Li Chen tried to transfer their Academy Tournament qualification, but Cang Lao required him to compete individually and place in the top ten.

• The five remaining teams began climbing toward the summit, but Li Chen suspected the final stage was another illusion.
• Li Chen tore open the illusion, and his team emerged in the arena as Yu Qingnian confirmed they had won the championship.
• Li Chen asked Yu Qingnian whether the team could transfer its Academy Tournament qualification, and Yu Qingnian explained the conditions.
• Cang Lao pressured Li Chen to choose between transferring the qualification and competing, then required him to enter the individual competition and place in the top ten.
• Li Chen agreed to compete individually, and Cang Lao told Yu Qingnian to register him.

After the Canglan Tournament ended, Li Chen considered selling his Academy Tournament spot while the academy’s students prepared to train harder. A month later, he learned that the Special Class had been summoned for special training and wondered what the academy was planning.

• Cang Lao registered Jianping for an Academy Tournament spot and warned Su Zhe that the tournament carried a risk of death.
• Su Xian and Ji Shao emerged after the tournament, and Su Zhe celebrated receiving ten thousand Study Points.
• Li Chen considered selling his tournament spot to Su Xian or Ji Shao and expected the academy to enter a period of intense cultivation.
• At Dawn Pass, defenders fought off an attack by Great Wilderness Eerie Monsters, while two comrades worried about a crack at the foot of the pass.
• A month later, Su Zhe told Li Chen that Instructor Yu was taking the Special Class for training that required them to sign an agreement, and Li Chen wondered what the academy intended.

Yu Qingnian took Li Chen and the Special Class outside Shenzhou City for a training exercise, where a Special Affairs Bureau agent mistook them for suspicious cult members. Li Chen attacked the agent before Yu Qingnian arrived and cleared up the misunderstanding.

• Yu Qingnian sent the Special Class to a training location outside Shenzhou City, and an inspector noticed that several groups were heading there.
• The inspector suspected a cult gathering and requested the Special Affairs Bureau's intervention while Li Chen and the others continued on foot.
• A Special Affairs Bureau agent watched the students, and Jianping and Li Chen sensed that someone was following them.
• Li Chen attacked the hidden agent with a blade of light, forcing him to reveal himself and reach for his Ghost-God Needle.
• Yu Qingnian arrived, recognized the agent as Xiao Lin, and explained that the group was his students on a training exercise.
• Xiao Lin filed the notification and hurried away after Yu Qingnian let him go.

Yu Qingnian gathered the students for an unexplained training and waited for a mysterious ride to arrive. The students boarded a futuristic bus called the Silver Flash, and Su Xian remarked that Yu Qingnian was no ordinary man.

• Yu Qingnian told the students they would learn the purpose of their training when they reached their destination and had them rest while they waited for someone to arrive.
• Li Chen and Su Zhe discussed Yu Qingnian, while Su Zhe warned Li Chen to conduct himself properly.
• Su Xian and Ji Shao joined Li Chen’s group and continued vying for his Academy Tournament qualification.
• Yu Qingnian noticed a vehicle approaching, and a silver bus arrived at the students’ camp.
• Yu Qingnian led the students aboard the high-tech bus, and Su Xian identified it as the Silver Flash.

Li Chen and the other students traveled by Silver Flash to Ruined City, where Yu Qingnian announced their month of training would begin by clearing out nearby monsters. As grotesque creatures attacked the buses’ defenses, the students prepared to fight.

• Su Xian identified the bus as the Silver Flash, and it sped toward Ruined City while Yu Qingnian remarked that its creator had improved it.
• At Ruined City, Lord Main Brain ordered the southern gate opened and monsters lured into the city as a gift for Yu Qingnian.
• The Silver Flash reached Ruined City, and Yu Qingnian explained that the students would train there for a month near Ruined Pass.
• Yu Qingnian spotted monsters outside, then told the students to clear them out and retreat behind the buses’ light screens if they were in danger.
• Li Chen, Su Zhe, Jianping, and the other students left the buses as monsters surrounded the defenses and attacked the light screen.

Li Chen and the Canglan Academy students fought off the Eerie Monsters outside the curtain of light, but a Withered Sea Realm monster emerged and began breaking through their defenses. As Ji Shao and the others defended students from a renewed swarm, Li Chen and Su Xian confronted the powerful monster, and Su Xian struck it with a fireball.

• Jianping and the other students attacked the Eerie Monsters while Li Chen held back, and Yu Qingnian watched from the carriage despite noticing a Withered Sea Realm monster among them.
• After the students cleared the first wave, Su Xian used Purification to clean the blood from them.
• A huge Eerie Monster attacked the curtain of light, and Li Chen, Su Xian, and Ji Shao moved to confront it as Su Xian raised a second protective barrier.
• When other teams called for help against returning Eerie Monsters, Ji Shao, Jianping, and the students went to their aid while Li Chen and Su Xian went outside to face the huge monster.
• Li Chen pierced one of the monster’s claws with concentrated energy, and Su Xian followed with Spell Ignite, sending a fireball crashing into it.

Li Chen, Su Xian, and Jianping fought an Eerie Monster that absorbed nearby corpses and rapidly regenerated. They destroyed its remains, but Yu Qingnian watched from the carriage and noted that Li Chen had not yet used his full strength.

• Li Chen sensed that the fallen Eerie Monster was still alive, and Su Xian realized it was absorbing the corpses of other Eerie Monsters.
• Li Chen asked Su Xian to stall the monster, but Jianping volunteered and charged in while Su Xian froze the monster's feet.
• Jianping severed one of the monster's arms but was struck away, and Su Xian slowed his fall as Li Chen prepared a powerful attack.
• Li Chen's blade blasted the monster apart, but he sensed its energy gathering again and sent Micro-Energy Bombs at its remains.
• Su Xian burned the writhing flesh, and Jianping hacked apart the remaining arms while the Demon Blade spoke to him.
• Yu Qingnian watched from inside the carriage and remarked that Li Chen had not used his full strength.

Blood Charm challenged the Godless Cult’s members after they rejected him, while the Seventh Seat chose not to attack Ruined City directly. Li Chen’s Special Class finished fighting an unusually powerful Eerie Monster, leaving him wondering how Lin Hua had managed to grow a plant in the desert.

• Blood Charm told the Godless Cult that he had brought them information and that their cult leader had agreed to accept him, but the masked members still rejected him as a traitor.
• Blood Charm left the Godless Cult and reflected that he trusted himself rather than a god who had never protected him.
• The Seventh Seat refused to launch a direct assault near Ruined Pass, citing the danger of new abilities and the many powerful humans gathered at the border, then disappeared into the yellow sand.
• Su Zhe celebrated the Special Class’s victory over the Eerie Monsters, while Li Chen noted that the defeated monster had seemed to be in the Withered Sea Realm.
• Su Xian said he was exhausted from using too much mental energy to purify the group, and Li Chen told him to rest.
• Li Chen wondered how Lin Hua had grown a plant beneath the sand to strangle an Eerie Monster.

Li Chen climbed farther up the white staircase in his strange inner space and received something called King's Power, which left a wing-and-sword mark on his hand and changed how he saw the world. After arriving in Ruined City, he and the other students learned they had to find their own lodging and await training missions.

• Li Chen climbed four hundred steps on the white staircase, where the masked man on the shattered throne declared that King's Power was his.
• A white wing-and-sword mark appeared on Li Chen's right hand, and he began seeing white bandage-like lines on people and objects; a voice urged him to reach into Su Xian's body, but he resisted.
• Yu Qingnian announced that the bus had reached Ruined City, where robots inspected and verified the students as they disembarked.
• Li Chen noticed the strange white lines on Su Zhe and wondered what King's Power did, while Yu Qingnian disappeared.
• The students received Yu Qingnian's message saying they had to find their own accommodations because ordinary currency was not accepted, and that she would send training missions through their Student Badges.
• Li Chen, Su Zhe, Jianping, and the newly awakened Su Xian were left unsure where to go in Ruined City.