Recaps

Li Chen and the other Canglan Academy students struggled to understand Ruined City’s merit system and found that walking through the city drained their stamina and mental power. They met Wei Laoda, who explained that Lord Main Brain had assigned them accommodations and converted their Student Badges into Ruined City phones.

• Li Chen and the others searched Ruined City for a way to earn merit and find lodging, but encountered no living people.
• Su Zhe and Jianping became exhausted as each step drained their stamina and stirred sword force around Jianping, while Li Chen realized the city consumed mental power.
• Wei Laoda approached the group and introduced himself as one of the few humans left in Ruined City.
• Li Chen told Wei Laoda that they were Canglan Academy students on a training trip and asked where they could stay.
• Wei Laoda said Lord Main Brain had assigned them accommodations, then used his device to convert their Student Badges into Ruined City phones.

Li Chen and his companions learned how Ruined City’s Merit system and energy-absorbing streets worked before heading to their accommodations for training. In Ruined Pass, Yu Qingnian and a lab-coated man discussed the Eerie Monsters’ growing intelligence and the rising threats at the border and inland.

• Wei Laoda explained that residents earned Merit by killing Eerie Monsters and that Ruined City’s special metal roads absorbed and returned energy.
• Li Chen checked his upgraded Student Badge, found the group’s accommodations on its map, and led them toward them to rest before training.
• In a Ruined Pass laboratory, Yu Qingnian praised the man in a lab coat for transforming Ruined City, while the man reported that the students had supplied over one trillion units of energy.
• The man showed Yu Qingnian footage of Eerie Monsters combining into massive creatures and said their increasingly intelligent attacks had breached Dawn Pass.
• Yu Qingnian warned that cult organizations were spreading inland, and the man vowed to destroy anyone who caused the pass to fall.

Li Chen tested the mysterious King's Power and joined the Special Class for training in Ruined City. After students complained about their difficult arrival, Instructor Yu Qingnian challenged them to decide whether to stay or return inland.

• Li Chen found that the King's Power let him reach into his own body, though he felt only emptiness, and vowed to uncover the secrets of the strange space and masked man.
• Li Chen, Su Zhe, and Jianping traveled north through Ruined City, where the city drained their energy; Li Chen dragged the exhausted Su Zhe with a cloud of energy while Jianping studied sword force.
• Li Chen met Su Xian and A Jin at the training site, where they speculated that the group might eventually go to Ruined Pass but probably would not go that day.
• Yu Qingnian addressed the students' complaints about their lack of lodging and difficult training, then offered them vehicles and told them they could leave if they could not endure it.
• The students fell silent after Yu Qingnian told them that staying or returning inland was their choice.

Yu Qingnian led the students into a training facility inside Ruined Pass, where they were tasked with fighting Eerie Monsters alongside robots. As the gate prepared to open, Li Chen held back to assess the danger and reflected on the difficulty of advancing in the Looking River Realm.

• Yu Qingnian opened an illusory door and led the students through a passage displaying recorded Eerie Monsters and information about their weaknesses.
• Su Zhe asked whether evolving Eerie Monsters could gain intelligence, and Jianping and Li Chen warned that an intelligent species would threaten humanity.
• The students entered a hall filled with turrets, robots, and a bloodstained gate that Li Chen guessed led outside the pass.
• Yu Qingnian told the students to clear out the Eerie Monsters alongside the robots and explained that their kills would be recorded on their Student Badges.
• Su Zhe rushed toward the training while Jianping sat down to comprehend force, and Li Chen stayed back to gauge the threat and ponder his progress in the Looking River Realm.
• Roars sounded, the robots gathered behind the students, and the gate was about to open.

Li Chen fought the Eerie Monster horde and discovered that absorbing a black substance from the creatures made them treat him as one of their own. He suspected this power could change the world order, but decided to keep it secret until he was strong enough to protect himself.

• Le Yi played her zither while Ji Shao charged into the Eerie Monsters, inspiring the students to fight.
• Li Chen joined the battle with his light blades and saw the monsters' flesh regenerate around black bandages only he could see.
• Li Chen pulled a writhing black substance from an Eerie Monster, and it seeped into his hand, leaving a fading pattern beneath his tattoo.
• The Eerie Monsters grew calm toward Li Chen, and he confirmed that absorbing more of the substance extended the pattern and made them more docile.
• Li Chen wondered whether his ability could let people move among the Eerie Monsters, but chose to conceal it until he had enough strength.

Li Chen tested King's Power on the battlefield, then withdrew as robots cleared the remaining Eerie Monsters. Yu Qingnian announced that the students’ real training would begin tomorrow at the No. 2 Slaughter Ground, while Jianping showed signs of progress in comprehending momentum.

• Li Chen slaughtered even Looking River Realm Eerie Monsters with King's Power, earning merit points before retreating because he feared absorbing too much black substance.
• The steel gate began to close, and armed robots precisely shot down the remaining Eerie Monsters while avoiding the students.
• Yu Qingnian told the students their first day was only an introduction and that tomorrow they would train at the No. 2 Slaughter Ground.
• Jianping opened his eyes after continuing to comprehend momentum, then blocked Su Zhe when he nearly touched him because Su Zhe smelled too much.
• Li Chen used a ball of energy to clean Su Zhe.

Li Chen discovered that the black substance had fused with his body and granted him Eerie Monster-like healing, leaving him worried about what he was becoming. Wei Laoda told him how Ruined City and Ruined Pass were born from a devastating Eerie Tide, then revealed that he had died in the battle and could no longer return to his hometown.

• Li Chen deliberately pierced his palm with a blade of light and watched it rapidly heal after the black substance fused with his body.
• Wei Laoda appeared in his mechanical body, and Li Chen dismissed his blades of light before asking why he had come.
• Wei Laoda explained that Ruined City was named after the battle ten years earlier, when an Eerie Tide attacked Ruined Pass during its construction.
• Wei Laoda described how ordinary people and Sequence Users fought the Eerie Monsters until humanity won and completed the pass.
• Wei Laoda told Li Chen that he had died in that battle and no longer had the heart or face to return to his hometown.

Li Chen and the other trainees entered the No. 2 Slaughter Ground for their second training session, where they faced a far more dangerous horde than before. Five Withered Sea Realm Eerie Monsters emerged, forcing Su Xian to retreat with the trainees as Li Chen noticed their black bandages and seemed to form an idea.

• Elder Wei urged Li Chen to fight bravely against humanity's enemies, then disappeared into the wind.
• Su Zhe showed Li Chen his upgraded hammer, which had a gravity system and had left him owing a thousand merit points.
• Yu Qingnian sent the trainees into the No. 2 Slaughter Ground, where they found robots battling a massive horde of Eerie Monsters.
• The robots stopped firing and announced that the slaughter operation would begin in an hour, but Eerie Monsters attacked the trainees almost immediately.
• Su Xian led the trainees back beside the robots when five Withered Sea Realm Eerie Monsters emerged from the corpse piles.
• Li Chen studied the black bandages on the powerful Eerie Monsters and appeared to come up with an idea.

Li Chen and the students fought the Withered Sea Realm Eerie Monsters while Su Zhe rallied the frightened students to join the battle. Li Chen silenced and wounded the big-eyed Eerie Monster, but it evolved and unleashed a sound attack that stopped his blades and cracked its eye.

• Jianping charged into the Eerie Monsters, and Li Chen and the top ten students joined the fight.
• Li Chen attacked the big-eyed Eerie Monster, while Ji Shao's little girl used Sound Shield to protect him from its roar.
• Su Zhe stepped forward to fight the smaller Eerie Monsters, and his words encouraged the fallen students to stand and join the battle.
• Li Chen rose into the air, used energy to silence the big-eyed Eerie Monster, and cut off its thrashing tentacles.
• The Eerie Monster grew masses of tiny eyeballs and stopped Li Chen's Compressed Bomb-enhanced blades with a piercing sound, breaking his mute effect and cracking its eye.

Li Chen absorbed the big-eyed Eerie Monster’s Black Mist and collapsed after reaching a mysterious bottleneck in his Forbidden Power. As Su Zhe rushed to protect him and Jianping continued fighting, the monster’s Black Mist dissipated and its body fell.

• Li Chen overcame the Eerie Monster’s mental force and plunged his right hand into its body to absorb the black substance.
• The black substance flooded into Li Chen, transforming his body and causing him to lose consciousness as the big-eyed Eerie Monster withered and died.
• The Black Mist receded, and Su Zhe ran to save the fallen Li Chen while the werewolf took his place against the Eerie Monsters.
• Jianping noticed Li Chen falling but kept fighting, cutting a deformed variant apart with his Demon Blade.
• Su Xian struck the dismembered variant with a fireball as Jianping sheathed his Demon Blade.

During the Slaughter Arena battle, Li Chen collapsed as his qi and blood continued to rise, leaving him trapped in the strange space of his consciousness. There, the blood-red door began to open, revealing a scarlet aura.

• Yu Qingnian refused to intervene in the Slaughter Arena, trusting his students to face the Withered Sea Realm Eerie Monsters on their own.
• Jianping attacked the Eerie Monsters with blood-red sword arcs while Su Xian and Ji Shao continued fighting despite their exhaustion.
• Su Zhe carried Li Chen behind a robot and sent Yu Qingnian a message after sensing Li Chen’s qi and blood rising without limit.
• Li Chen entered the strange space and questioned whether he was someone else’s chess piece, but received no answer.
• Li Chen smelled blood and saw the blood-red door open more than halfway, spilling out a scarlet aura.

Li Chen climbed the blood-red staircase in the Throne Space and questioned the masked man, who revealed that the space contained Authorities and that he had given Li Chen King's Power to eventually free him. The masked man vanished after warning Li Chen that Elder Gods watched the universe and that only Forbidden Power could oppose them.

• Li Chen climbed hundreds of steps on the blood-red staircase before a gust of red aura brought the masked man before him.
• The masked man called himself Li Chen and explained that the space was once called the Throne Space and its thrones were Authorities.
• The masked man said Li Chen’s arrival had changed the fate of a world he had once destroyed, and that they would not meet many more times.
• The masked man explained that he had developed King’s Power while sealed to help Li Chen free him, and identified the black substance as Forbidden Substance.
• As he began to disappear, the masked man told Li Chen he had found his path and warned that Elder Gods watched from the other end of the universe, with only Forbidden Power able to contend with them.

Li Chen escaped the Throne Space and awakened in Slaughter Field No. 2 with his body transformed by Forbidden Substance. He named his new black umbrella Ink and discovered that its aura attracted Eerie Monsters and that its blades could draw Forbidden Substance from them.

• In the Throne Space, Li Chen sensed a path back to his body, escaped, and vowed to explore the red staircase another day.
• Li Chen awoke beside Su Zhe, announced that he would end the battle, and shaped Forbidden Substance into a black umbrella he named Ink.
• Li Chen approached the fighting students as the Eerie Monsters turned toward him and went berserk, drawn by Ink's Forbidden Substance.
• Li Chen sent four black blades into a Withered Sea Realm Eerie Monster and watched Forbidden Substance spread through its body.
• Li Chen realized he could use Ink's blades to draw Forbidden Substance from the monsters and potentially make them attack one another.

Li Chen used his strange abilities to make the Withered Sea Realm Eerie Monsters lose control of the Forbidden Substance inside them, turning the battle in the trainees’ favor. After the robots wiped out the remaining monsters, Yu Qingnian ended the training and privately summoned Li Chen.

• Li Chen's black blades disrupted the Forbidden Substance inside the Eerie Monsters, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from their own kind.
• One Withered Sea Realm Eerie Monster lost control of the Forbidden Substance, and the trainees attacked as the Looking River Realm Eerie Monsters swarmed it.
• Robots fired energy-charged bullets and killed the remaining Eerie Monsters while the trainees took cover and rested.
• Yu Qingnian criticized the trainees' poor teamwork, then announced that the day's training had ended and tomorrow's would take place in the same slaughter ground.
• Yu Qingnian called Li Chen aside, and Li Chen followed him after speaking to Su Zhe and Jianping.

Li Chen revealed that his second ability let him control the dark matter found in Eerie Monsters, which Gu Cheng identified as the source of Forbidden Objects. Yu Qingnian warned that Li Chen’s power must remain secret, while Gu Cheng anticipated how it could strengthen humanity.

• Yu Qingnian asked Li Chen how he had controlled dark matter, and Li Chen explained that his Vector Manipulation complemented a previously unknown second ability.
• Li Chen manifested the dark matter as Ink, a black umbrella, and Gu Cheng touched it without being affected by its black mist.
• Gu Cheng identified the substance as dark matter and said it was suitable for making Forbidden Objects.
• Yu Qingnian explained that humans could extract dark matter from Eerie Monsters but that contact usually caused mutation and madness, and that the substance was the origin of Forbidden Objects.
• Yu Qingnian warned that Li Chen’s ability must stay hidden because its discovery could disrupt the peace and threaten him.
• Gu Cheng anticipated that Li Chen’s power could provide enough dark matter to greatly increase the number of Forbidden Objects and help humanity face the black mist.

Li Chen extracted a large amount of dark matter from Looking River Realm Eerie Monster corpses in the laboratory, impressing Yu Qingnian and Gu Cheng. When Gu Cheng offered him payment, Li Chen considered what he wanted but had not yet answered.

• Li Chen told Yu Qingnian and Gu Cheng he could provide dark matter in exchange for something of equal value.
• At Li Chen's request, Gu Cheng had Xiaowei bring several intact Looking River Realm Eerie Monster corpses to the laboratory.
• Li Chen extracted forbidden substance by reaching into each corpse, then poured the resulting dark matter into a container.
• Gu Cheng was astonished that Li Chen produced five hundred milliliters, more than Gu Cheng normally extracted in a year.
• Gu Cheng offered to obtain whatever Li Chen wanted as payment, and Li Chen began considering what to ask for.

Li Chen received 100,000 Merit from Gu Cheng and learned from Yu Qingnian that his second awakening must remain secret, while hints of other species and dangers in the Black Mist emerged. After Gu Cheng and Yu Qingnian discussed Li Chen's potential and the threat watching from the mist, Li Chen returned to the apartment to find Su Zhe and the others joking over stolen skewers.

• Li Chen asked Gu Cheng for 100,000 Merit and another useful item, and Gu Cheng agreed after Yu Qingnian urged him to accept the bargain.
• Yu Qingnian told Li Chen the Merit would reach his Student Badge, warned him to keep his second ability secret, and remarked that no human had ever undergone a Second Awakening.
• Yu Qingnian left Li Chen, who reflected that he wanted the Merit to exchange for money and had secured a useful connection with the commander of Ruined Pass.
• Gu Cheng told Yu Qingnian that Li Chen's potential frightened him, and Yu Qingnian said they should keep Li Chen's identity from the inland while creatures watched from the Black Mist.
• Li Chen entered the apartment and found Su Zhe, A Jin, the werewolf, Jianping, and others; Su Zhe complained that A Jin and the werewolf had stolen his skewers.
• A brilliant flame hurtled toward Su Xian as he quietly watched the group.

After half a month of training and absorbing Forbidden Substance, Li Chen’s physical strength had risen dramatically, and Gu Cheng invited him to help create a Forbidden Object. They began the process in a hidden laboratory, with Li Chen controlling the Forbidden Substance as it flowed into a broken black stick.

• Li Chen reflected on his rapid physical improvement and his slow progress in mental power as the students’ training at No. 2 Slaughter Ground neared its end.
• Su Zhe accompanied Li Chen through the city, then went back alone when Li Chen said he had something to do.
• Li Chen met Gu Cheng in the laboratory, where Gu Cheng examined his condition and explained that he would show him how a Forbidden Object was born.
• Gu Cheng led Li Chen to a hidden chamber filled with instruments, Creeping Black Eerie Vines, and caged animals and weakened Eerie Monsters.
• Gu Cheng placed jars of Forbidden Substance into an instrument holding a broken black stick and asked Li Chen to control the substance while he contained it behind a screen of light.
• Li Chen directed the Forbidden Substance into the stick and kept controlling it as Gu Cheng’s barrier prevented it from escaping.

Li Chen and Gu Cheng created and tested a new Forbidden Object by fusing forbidden substance with a black rod, which showed signs of emotion and could grow heavier. Gu Cheng then discovered that an Eerie Tide was approaching Ruined Pass.

• Li Chen and Gu Cheng used the apparatus to fuse forbidden substance into the deteriorating black rod, repairing it and turning it into a Forbidden Object.
• Gu Cheng tested the rod against Eerie Monsters, which feared it, but it remained inactive and proved durable.
• Li Chen handled the rod and sensed sorrow, a black aura, and a sudden increase in its weight, with possible side effects tied to emotions.
• Gu Cheng sent the rod back inland for further testing and praised Li Chen's growing skill at manipulating dark matter.
• Gu Cheng detected trouble at Ruined Pass and sent Li Chen away, then joined Yu Qingnian, Wei Laoda, and others atop the pass as energy readings rose in the black mist.
• Gu Cheng warned that the Eerie Monsters were attacking after Dawn Pass and declared that the Eerie Tide was coming.

The Eerie Tide attacked Ruined City, and Li Chen and the students at No. 1 Slaughter Arena prepared to defend the pass. After the gate fell and their escape route closed, Li Chen and Lin Hua fought the Eerie Monsters while the students tried to protect the robots.

• Su Zhe told Li Chen that war had begun and that Instructor Yu had split the students between the two Slaughter Arenas.
• Li Chen and Su Zhe arrived at No. 1 Slaughter Arena, where fewer than a third of the Special Class had gathered.
• A tentacle pierced the steel gate, and the Eerie Monsters broke through as the robots opened fire.
• Di Li urged the students to defend the robots, while Li Chen told Su Zhe to stay close and call for help if needed.
• Li Chen charged into the Eerie Monsters and used Vector to destroy one and absorb its forbidden material.
• Lin Hua fought alongside Li Chen, declaring that he had become strong too.

Jian En investigated the increasingly frequent Eerie Tides while the Special Affairs Bureau refused to send help to Ruined Pass. Miss Cang ordered a secret recording of the Bureau’s debate sent to cities near the frontier passes, aiming to provoke chaos as she thought of Li Chen.

• Jian En read a report about the Eerie Tide attacking Ruined Pass and wondered whether Eerie Monsters had developed intelligence.
• Kuangfu tried to persuade Jian En to rest, but Jian En put on his red mask and left to kill Eerie Monsters.
• At Special Affairs Bureau headquarters, the chief urged the Bureau to help Ruined Pass, but a suited man argued that the interior and its cities needed protection more.
• A hidden camera recorded the meeting, and a black-haired girl told Miss Cang that Xie Feng had infiltrated the Bureau and influenced the meeting.
• Miss Cang ordered the video sent to cities connected to the four great frontier passes, despite the danger it posed to civilians and the Canglan Family.
• Miss Cang wondered whether Li Chen remembered her, then declared that he belonged to her and no one could take him away.

Dean Gu learned that intelligent humanoid Eerie Monsters appeared in the Black Mist and seemed to control the Eerie Tide at Ruined Pass. As Gu Cheng blasted the invading monsters, a voice in the Great Wilderness announced that a taboo would arrive when the stars converged.

• Dean Gu and Sword Elder received Yu Qingnian’s projection showing humanoid figures in the Black Mist near Ruined Pass, and Yu Qingnian reported that they appeared intelligent and controlled the Eerie Tide.
• Dean Gu considered whether Eerie Monsters were evolving and sent a reply through the mechanical origami crane after hearing that Gu Cheng wanted a few days off.
• At Ruined Pass, Yu Qingnian questioned how the humanoid Eerie Monsters controlled the invading creatures, while Gu Cheng thought of Li Chen as an even more formidable humanlike being.
• Gu Cheng fired a powerful RPG missile into the Black Mist, killing more than half the Eerie Monsters in a single strike.
• In the Great Wilderness, a humanoid voice declared that vessels were prepared and that a taboo would arrive when the stars converged.

Li Chen and the other students fought the flood of Eerie Monsters at Ruined Pass as multiple Slaughter Arenas came under attack. The chapter ended with Jianping continuing his slaughter and viewing the outbreak of war as an opportunity to advance.

• Li Chen killed Eerie Monsters while wondering how the Forbidden Substance and the monsters had originated, then focused again on the battle.
• Lin Hua compared his strength with Li Chen's and resolved to kill as many monsters as he could.
• Su Zhe fought with his upgraded hammer and worried that the students could not hold the Slaughter Arena if the influx continued.
• After a nearby robot collapsed and students scattered, Su Zhe joined the fighting instead of contacting Instructor Yu.
• At another Slaughter Arena, Jianping held his ground alone, reached the bottleneck of the Looking River Realm, and called the battle an opportunity.

The cult gathered outside Ruined City as the Eerie Tide raged, prompting Gu Cheng to activate the city's defenses while Yu Qingnian prepared to defend it. In the Slaughter Arena, Li Chen continued fighting and wondered about the origins of Eerie Monsters and Forbidden Substance.

• A black-robed group led by a man and a woman waited outside Ruined City for a chance to enter during the Eerie Tide.
• The Ninth Seat questioned the Fifth Seat about his abilities, but the Fifth Seat warned him not to probe and then vanished after spotting Ruined Pass.
• Gu Cheng learned that the cult was approaching and activated Ruined City's defense system, sealing the city behind a barrier.
• Yu Qingnian went to defend Ruined City and told Gu Cheng to let the students endure for another half quarter-hour before releasing them from the Slaughter Arena.
• Li Chen kept slaughtering Eerie Monsters and pondered why their bodies contained so little Forbidden Substance and where it had come from.

Yu Qingnian confronted the cultists outside the Ruined City, but their arrival and plans remained mysterious. In Slaughter Arena No. 1, Slaughterer robots took over the fight, leaving Li Chen uneasy about what might be happening at the other arena.

• Yu Qingnian blasted cultists out of hiding and confronted the Seventh Seat, who withdrew without fighting.
• The unconscious cultists swelled and exploded before Yu Qingnian could question them.
• Li Chen held back the Eerie Monsters at the steel gates until the arrival of the Slaughterer robots gave the trainees a chance to rest.
• The Slaughterers cut down the Eerie Monsters while Li Chen withdrew and noted that he had absorbed a large amount of forbidden substance.
• Li Chen worried that something might have happened at the other Slaughter Arena as the trainees rested and treated their injuries.
• A healing trainee offered to treat Li Chen, then healed the sleeping Su Zhe instead, making him talk in his sleep.