Recaps

After defeating Qi Hong, Li Chen reflected on the limits of his Vector Manipulation and learned he might be Canglan Academy’s only individual tournament entrant. The group headed to see Ji Mumu’s ability, where they met Su Zhe, who had advanced to the Withered Sea Realm.

• Li Chen told Jianping that only someone with the King's Power could store the Demon Blade inside their hand, disappointing Jianping’s hope of using the same method for his sword.
• Qi Hong recognized the gap between himself and Li Chen, resolved to cultivate, and admitted that his pride had been shattered by the fight.
• Su Xian and Ji Shao explained that the team competition came before the individual competition and that Li Chen might represent Canglan alone in the individual event.
• Jianping said he would not enter the individual competition because he was focused on the Path of the Kings, leaving Li Chen worried about carrying Canglan’s reputation by himself.
• Su Zhe appeared after entering the Withered Sea Realm and excitedly brought up the Academy Tournament with Li Chen.

The group entered the Fire Door of the Secret Realm to test Ji Mumu's flame ability. After she launched a powerful golden arrow that used up much of her energy, Li Chen assessed her condition as she prepared to keep fighting.

• Su Zhe explained that his ability had advanced to A-rank Devour and demonstrated it by absorbing a small tree and digesting it into energy.
• The group reached the Secret Realm, chose the Fire Door, and entered its flame-filled landscape.
• Ji Mumu summoned golden flames and a giant golden bird, then floated into the air as Li Chen stepped in to test her ability.
• Ji Mumu fired a fast, powerful flaming arrow at Li Chen, but his invisible barrier blocked it without harming him.
• Li Chen observed that the attack had consumed more than half of Ji Mumu's energy, while she gathered flames again despite feeling pressure from him.

Li Chen tested Ji Mumu after her golden flames triggered a transformation and a rise to the Looking River Realm, then urged Ji Shao to help her control her power. Meanwhile, Yu Qingnian and Cang Lao discussed the Academy Tournament and the uncertain fate of the previous class returning from practical training.

• Su Xian and Ji Shao watched Li Chen battle Ji Mumu and discussed how his ability countered energy-producing beings.
• Ji Mumu was engulfed by golden flames and advanced to a higher realm, emerging with a changed appearance and a golden-flame dress.
• Ji Mumu attacked Li Chen with flame arrows and a flaming sword, but Li Chen stopped her attacks and called off the test.
• Li Chen approved Ji Mumu for the Academy Tournament and told Ji Shao to teach her to control her flames; Ji Mumu burned Su Zhe in the face after his remark about her appearance.
• Yu Qingnian told Cang Lao he had persuaded the younger students to enter the Academy Tournament, and Cang Lao wondered how many students from the previous class would return safely.

As the Academy Tournament approached, Li Chen trained in the Darkness Door and met Mu Hen, heir to the Xia Kingdom’s gravekeeper family. Mu Hen asked him to feed dark energy to his growth-type Precept Stele, but the amount it required left Li Chen stunned.

• Jianping entered seclusion to pursue the Withered Sea Realm, while the others trained for the Academy Tournament.
• Li Chen practiced in the Darkness Door, summoning more than a hundred dark-energy blades as he struggled to break through his limits.
• Mu Hen entered the Darkness Door, introduced himself to Li Chen, and asked him to help draw dark energy into his ability.
• Mu Hen revealed his Precept Stele and explained that it needed dark energy rather than his body needing it.
• Mu Hen said the Precept Stele required about half the energy in the Darkness Door, and Li Chen realized he could not control such a vast amount.

Li Chen invited Mu Hen to join his Academy Tournament team, and Mu Hen chose to bring the Tomb-Keeper Clan out of hiding. Li Chen began feeding dark energy into Mu Hen’s Precept Stele, but they stopped after Mu Hen absorbed enough for the day.

• Li Chen learned that Mu Hen had reached the Withered Sea Realm and invited him to join his Academy Tournament team.
• Mu Hen reflected on his family’s sacrifices and decided the Tomb-Keeper Clan should step into the light.
• Mu Hen accepted Li Chen’s invitation and asked him to fill the Precept Stele with dark energy.
• Li Chen drew dark energy into the Precept Stele, which transferred the energy to Mu Hen.
• Li Chen stopped when Mu Hen said the stele had absorbed enough for the day and he needed time to digest the energy.

Li Chen discussed how he and his teammates might reach the Withered Sea Realm, then received a challenge from someone who wanted to wager on the Academy Tournament spots. He rejected the premise and demanded to know what the challenger was putting at stake.

• Su Zhe and Mu Hen explained that eating Eerie Monster meat and receiving energy feedback from the ring stele had helped them reach the Withered Sea Realm.
• Li Chen reflected on his expanding spiritual power and the doors in his Throne Space, which he believed might open as his realm advanced.
• Li Chen and Mu Hen went to the Darkness Door while the team continued its usual cultivation.
• An unknown caller challenged Li Chen to a match and proposed wagering the Academy Tournament spots, claiming the winner should take the spot.
• Li Chen questioned why the team should risk its spots and asked what stake the challenger would offer.

Li Chen accepted a challenge against his Academy Tournament team for a thirty-million cash bet, and the group prepared to face the mysterious opponents the next day. After they discussed the challenge and its risks, Su Zhe arrived with news that Canglan had publicly announced the match.

• Li Chen refused to stake the team's Academy Tournament spots but accepted the challenge after the other side offered thirty million in cash.
• Li Chen and Mu Hen left the Darkness Door and gathered the rest of the team to explain that the challenge concerned all their tournament members.
• Su Xian agreed that refusing could damage their reputation, while Ji Mumu boasted that she could defeat the challengers and Ji Shao scolded her.
• Li Chen suspected the challengers had been waiting for the right moment to target the team.
• Su Zhe rushed over and told Li Chen that Canglan's big screen had announced their match against a mysterious team and its thirty-million stakes.

Li Chen’s team prepared for a challenge match at the Battle Institute after learning that Shi Nie had arranged it, while Shi Nie secretly obtained a Forbidden Object to stop them from entering the Academy Tournament. As the match was about to begin, Jianping arrived in the preparation area.

• Li Chen’s team agreed to treat the challenge match as practice and planned to meet at the Battle Institute the next day.
• Yu Qingnian supported his students by placing a bet on them as spectators filled the Battle Institute.
• Ji Shao told Li Chen’s team that Shi Nie had an A-rank ability called Constant Blood and that his teammates all had B-rank abilities.
• Shi Nie obtained three strange beads as a Forbidden Object and told Pan An he would take responsibility if anyone got hurt.
• Shi Nie revealed that he wanted to keep Li Chen’s team out of the Academy Tournament for his brother’s sake.
• Jianping arrived in the preparation area, and Su Zhe teased him about joining the match.

Li Chen and his teammates faced Shi Nie’s team in a heavily attended challenge match for a thirty-million wager and Academy Tournament qualification. Shi Nie stirred up the crowd against the Special Class, but Li Chen challenged the protesters to prove their claims in a fight, and Shi Nie prepared to use a Forbidden Object.

• Li Chen, Jianping, Su Zhe, and the others left the preparation area and faced cheers from the stands, while Su Zhe was startled by an enthusiastic admirer.
• Shi Nie introduced himself as the challenger and argued that his team should take the Special Class’s Academy Tournament place if they won.
• Students in the stands began protesting that the Special Class had received unfair advantages, and Li Chen recognized that Shi Nie had encouraged the outcry.
• Li Chen challenged the protesters to come down and fight him, calling them cowardly if they would not risk proving their claims.
• Jianping’s killing intent rose as he watched Shi Nie’s team, and Shi Nie told Pan An to throw the Forbidden Object when he gave the signal.

Li Chen's team fought Shi Nie's team after Su Xian transformed the arena into a lava field, splitting the battle into individual matchups. Shi Nie ambushed Li Chen, but Li Chen's powerful body and repulsive force stopped the attack and sent Shi Nie flying.

• Jianping charged Shi Nie's team and began dueling their golden-haired swordswoman.
• Su Xian and Ji Shao unleashed Lava Hell and Flame Burst, changing the arena into a lava field and separating the fighters.
• Shi Nie gave Pan An the Forbidden Object and ordered his team to restrain Li Chen while he went to attack him.
• Mu Hen revealed his Withered Sea Realm power and summoned two Tomb People to fight Pan An and two other opponents.
• Ji Shao left Su Xian's side as Jianping gained the advantage over his opponent, while Li Chen waited for Shi Nie.
• Shi Nie stabbed Li Chen with a blade of condensed blood, but Li Chen unleashed a repulsive force that sent him flying.

Jianping defeated the blonde swordswoman and left her questioning the gap between their swordsmanship. Su Zhe cornered a girl guarding the opposing team’s support, while Su Xian sealed them inside a small rocky pit and cut off her escape.

• Jianping broke the blonde woman’s sword and defeated her, then hurried toward the other fights as she struggled to accept her loss.
• Su Zhe found the opposing team’s support but was struck by a girl wearing a red headband who stepped in to defend him.
• The girl insulted Su Zhe, and he drew his hammer and moved to attack her and reach the support behind her.
• Su Zhe struck the ground, releasing magma and forming a pit around himself and the girl.
• Su Xian raised the surrounding ground and cast a barrier over the pit, leaving the girl trapped with Su Zhe.

Su Zhe defeated Shi Nie’s teammate after surviving her powerful Haymaker, while Li Chen faced Shi Nie’s blood-based attacks. Shi Nie swallowed a Three Lives Pearl to gain power, beginning to distort into an Eerie Monster as he planned to force the remaining pearls into Li Chen.

• Su Zhe used his black holes to withstand the girl’s attacks and draw her in, but she charged a golden Haymaker and struck him into a crater.
• The exhausted girl collapsed, and Su Zhe climbed out with only a sore waist, revealing he had been prepared for her attack.
• The crowd recognized Li Chen’s team as overwhelmingly strong, and Li Chen remarked that Su Zhe had improved.
• Shi Nie sent blood weapons at Li Chen, but a powerful force stopped them and turned them into blood.
• Shi Nie swallowed a Three Lives Pearl to boost his power, and his body began to swell and distort as he prepared to attack Li Chen.

Li Chen stopped Shi Nie’s mutation during their challenge match and discovered that his King's Power could take and return another person’s ability. The Three Lives Pearl’s side effects overwhelmed Shi Nie, who fell as his ability returned and his transformation was halted.

• Li Chen sensed Forbidden Substance in the blood mist and dispersed it, revealing Shi Nie’s mutation as Yu Qingnian and Faluo watched.
• Shi Nie attacked Li Chen in a crazed state, and Li Chen summoned a black umbrella and unleashed blades of Forbidden Substance.
• Li Chen vanished before Shi Nie could reach him and plunged his hand into Shi Nie’s chest, absorbing his blood-controlling ability.
• Li Chen returned the ability to Shi Nie, then Shi Nie fell as the Three Lives Pearl’s side effects overwhelmed him.

After defeating Shi Nie, Li Chen discovered that King's Power could copy and retain other people’s abilities, a secret he resolved to keep hidden. That night, his team celebrated their victory, while Li Chen reflected on why he had chosen Canglan and the dangerous answers he still needed to find.

• Li Chen realized King's Power had copied Shi Nie’s blood-control ability and could replenish it, then withdrew Ink and decided to conceal the power.
• Shi Nie’s defeat prompted his remaining teammates to surrender, and the referee declared Li Chen’s team the winner.
• Qi Hong saw Ji Mumu with Li Chen’s team, accepted that they had grown apart, and left the stands.
• Li Chen’s team celebrated their prize money and gathered around campfires, where Ji Mumu asked why Li Chen did not take Su Xian’s top position.
• Ji Shao asked why Li Chen had come to Canglan, and Li Chen said he had wanted a peaceful life while privately recognizing he needed to grow stronger and uncover the secrets surrounding him.

Li Chen struggled with the isolation and fear caused by his blood-control ability as he traveled with Canglan’s team to the Academy Tournament, where he was the only one from his group in the individual competition. In the Imperial Capital, Elder Gu revealed that the Godless Cult and God-Binding Cult were preparing to move against Canghai Pass and that a Half God Realm monster had emerged from the Black Mist.

• Li Chen sensed that he could control the others’ bodies through blood and feared his secrets would endanger the peaceful life he had found.
• Three days before the Academy Tournament, Li Chen learned he was the only member of his group entering the individual competition, while the others would compete as a team.
• Faluo drove Li Chen and the team toward Canghai City and warned him that people could die at the tournament, urging him to return safely.
• Elder Gu told Yu Qingnian that the Godless Cult and God-Binding Cult were preparing to attack Canghai Pass and explained that a Half God Realm monster had appeared in the Black Mist.
• Elder Gu said the Human Race had to face the coming age of chaos, while Yu Qingnian remained troubled that he could not go to Canghai Pass.

Su Zhe and the others arrived in Canghai City ahead of the Academy Tournament, found a hotel, and explored Antique Street. The chapter left them haggling over a jade pendant that Mu Hen suspected was unusual.

• Faluo's battered van broke down after reaching Canghai City, and he left the group to find their own way around.
• Su Xian led the others to a hotel, where they paid ten thousand for three nights because the city was crowded with tournament visitors.
• The group visited Antique Street, where Jianping identified a stall owner's sword and its supposed sword intent as fake.
• Mu Hen picked up a jade pendant and asked the stall owner its price; after the owner demanded one million, Mu Hen offered fifty thousand.

Mu Hen used his knowledge of antiques and Sequence Users to obtain a jade pendant without buying it, then revealed that it was a key to King Kui’s tomb and showed the group his ability to copy it with dark energy. The group learned that Mu Hen’s family had long sought the key but had never entered the tomb.

• Mu Hen challenged the stall owner’s price for the jade pendant, then used his Sequence User ability to make it float and left without buying it.
• The stall owner realized Mu Hen was a Sequence User, dispersed the crowd, and packed up his stall to move elsewhere.
• At a teahouse, Mu Hen told Su Xian and the others that he recognized the pendant as belonging to a Sequence User his family had dealt with.
• Mu Hen explained that the pendant was a key to King Kui’s tomb, which his family knew the location of but could not enter without the key.
• Mu Hen produced an identical black jade pendant using dark energy, and Li Chen tried to copy it with water energy but made a plain, patternless version.

Mu Hen explained that his family sought King Kui’s tomb for its treasure and the Demon Blade rumored to be inside, while Su Zhe eagerly wanted the blade despite its dangers. At the Chess-Viewing Tower, the Daoist Family’s Holy Son solved every chess problem and confronted the Fox Family’s Holy Maiden over their wager.

• Mu Hen said King Kui had died in battle fifteen years earlier and that his tomb was rumored to contain a Demon Blade and great treasure.
• Su Zhe volunteered to enter the tomb for a Demon Blade, but Li Chen warned him that Demon Blades had side effects.
• Su Xian recognized a pale-haired Daoist playing chess as the Daoist Family’s Holy Son.
• The Holy Son solved all ten chess problems, then asked the Fox Family’s Holy Maiden whether their wager still stood.
• The Holy Maiden called the Holy Son family, but he insisted the wager stood and said he would leave.

The Fox Family saintess invited Li Chen and Su Xian upstairs to probe Canglan Academy’s contestants and needle Su Xian about opposing his brother. Li Chen rejected her attempts to unsettle them and learned that the Imperial Capital families intended to preserve the tournament’s balance; afterward, the saintess wondered about Li Chen’s true power and why Su Xian followed him.

• The Fox Family saintess learned that Canglan Academy’s contestants were in her teahouse and sent someone to invite them upstairs.
• Su Xian explained the Imperial Capital families’ contestants and said he wanted to defeat the person who had always surpassed him.
• Su Xian and Li Chen accepted the invitation, while Su Zhe left with Mu Hen and Jianping stayed behind.
• The saintess taunted Su Xian about his brother, but Li Chen dispelled her alluring aura and refused to withdraw from the Academy Tournament.
• The saintess told Li Chen that Canglan and the Imperial Capital had to preserve the balance by facing each other after eliminating the other academies.
• After Li Chen and Su Xian left, the saintess questioned Li Chen’s ability and wondered why Su Xian followed him.

Sword Elder brought Li Chen and Jianping to Canghai Pass to show them the Eerie Monsters beyond it, then unleashed a powerful slash across the sea. After a pass official warned that the monsters would riot, Sword Elder said they had seen what they came to see and left the path ahead to his disciples.

• Sword Elder examined Li Chen's Demon Blade, confirmed it had recognized Li Chen as its master, and returned it to him.
• Sword Elder explained that he had brought Jianping and Li Chen to see the state of Canghai Pass and the world beyond it.
• Sword Elder split the sea with a slash, killing countless Eerie Monsters and sending their bloodied water cascading into the rift.
• A black-robed man arrived and warned Sword Elder that his attack could make the Eerie Monsters riot again.
• Sword Elder told Jianping and Li Chen that they had seen what they came to see and that they would have to walk their own road ahead.

Old Man Sword brought Li Chen to a mysterious courtyard, where an old man revealed a hidden world and challenged him to a game of Go. The old man opened with a white stone at the board’s center, unleashing an illusion whose aura reminded Li Chen of the Calamity Realm.

• Old Man Sword took Li Chen and Jianping from Canghai Pass, then disappeared with Jianping after leading Li Chen to a courtyard.
• A little girl named Qiuqiu opened the door and brought Li Chen inside after her grandfather called for him.
• Li Chen stepped into the courtyard and found a sunlit paradise with a pond and pavilion, where an old man waited.
• The old man asked Li Chen to play Go, and Li Chen created chairs and bowls of stones with his ability.
• The old man chose white and placed a stone on the center point, producing a fierce human-shaped illusion that shocked Li Chen.

Li Chen learned that the old man had taught Yu Qingnian and had crossed time to see Li Chen as the Human Race’s hope, but Li Chen broke under the pressure of being expected to save humanity. The chapter ended with the old man staking everything on Li Chen as the lone figure who would rise amid the coming battle between dawn and darkness.

• Li Chen conceded the chess game, and the old man revealed that Yu Qingnian had learned to play from him.
• The old man told Li Chen that he knew his secrets and had seen him as a glimmer of hope in a dark future.
• The old man compared Li Chen’s retreat in chess to the Human Race yielding ground to the Eerie Monsters and warned that giving up could doom humanity.
• Li Chen protested that he was an ordinary person and could not bear the burden others had placed on him.
• The old man said the Human Race needed a new beginning and that he could only stake everything on Li Chen.

Li Chen chose to pursue godhood on his own terms after the Lord of Rules revealed that he had become the Weird God of Rules and urged Li Chen to continue his unfinished path. Elder Gu later explained that he had little time left and had forced Li Chen into the conflict to change the future.

• A voice in Li Chen's mind urged him to pursue godhood and confront the Elder Gods, but Li Chen declared that he would choose his own path and become a god.
• The masked man revealed that he was identical to Li Chen and had exhausted the power of the Reincarnation Authority; he warned Li Chen not to enter the final Forbidden Door in the Throne Space before fading away.
• Li Chen told Elder Gu that the Human Race would not be wiped out, even if the world fell into ruin.
• At ten thousand meters in the air, Jianping asked Sword Elder why he had brought Li Chen to meet Elder Gu, and Sword Elder said the plan had been Elder Gu's idea.
• After Li Chen disappeared, Elder Gu summoned Yu Qingnian and explained that the boundary of time would not let him remain in that spacetime much longer.
• Yu Qingnian questioned whether making Li Chen a god was the only way forward, and Elder Gu asked whether a special agent should sacrifice their individual self or fulfill their greater self.

Li Chen absorbed the Forbidden Substance leaking from the Forbidden Door and advanced into the Withered Sea Realm, gaining a glimpse of the world’s monstrous true form. The next morning, he arrived at the Academy Tournament gathering, where the Imperial Capital contestants and a mysterious white-haired woman took notice of him.

• Li Chen absorbed Forbidden Substance from the Forbidden Door and broke through to the Withered Sea Realm, developing an eye in his palm and sensing the world’s true, monster-filled state.
• Li Chen spent the night stabilizing his cultivation in a deserted place, then headed to Canghai City’s center after receiving a call about the Academy Tournament.
• Su Xian, Su Zhe, Ji Shao, Mu Hen, and Jianping gathered at the tournament transfer point and discussed the upcoming matches in a Secret Realm.
• The seven Imperial Capital contestants arrived in the air, including Ji Yuzhao, the Fox Family’s Holy Maiden, and a white-haired woman not listed in the information.
• Li Chen flew into the gathering, and the Imperial Capital leader asked someone to identify him while the white-haired woman recognized his growing aura.

Li Chen and the Canglan team entered the Academy Tournament venue amid tension with Imperial Capital Academy, and the tournament officially began with a spectacular opening display. As the teams awaited the rankings and Miracle Fruits, Mu Hen’s participation drew concern from his family in Sinful Pass.

• Li Chen arrived beside Su Zhe, and the Canglan team entered the venue after an encounter with the Imperial Capital team.
• Su Xian explained that the tournament was jointly hosted by major organizations and families, while the teams took their assigned positions in the arena.
• Cang Lao and the other officials announced the tournament’s start, and Cang Lao’s illusion revealed a real tree bearing Miracle Fruits for participants to claim after the rankings were settled.
• Ji Mumu and Su Zhe admired the Miracle Fruits, while Jianping focused on winning first place and Su Xian watched Mu Hen.
• Elders near Sinful Pass questioned Mu Hen’s father about letting him compete, and his father warned that he would retaliate if the older generation’s affairs endangered his son.