Chapter Summaries

After Huan Luan Middle School’s battles ended, Zhou Ming’s bored classmates urged him to lead them against Feng Luan Middle School. He instead proposed renovating their school, leaving the class ready to raise money and help.

• Luo Xiao Pang served grilled skewers made from Ji Xiaoyue’s pet rabbit, and the boys worried about how she would react.
• Lei Zuo urged Zhou Ming to lead the class to Feng Luan Middle School after its students insulted him and bullied a classmate.
• Zhou Ming rejected a group brawl and suggested settling the conflict through one-on-one arena matches.
• Zhou Ming pointed out the damage to Huan Luan Middle School and proposed using his Spirit Coins and the classmates’ earnings to renovate it and add facilities.
• The classmates agreed to mobilize students to work and raise money for the school’s improvements.

Zhou Ming and the students of Huan Luan Middle School transformed the campus by building a gymnasium and library with their labor and donations. When the school doubled tuition and claimed the money would fund campus renovations, Zhou Ming gathered his allies to confront those responsible.

• Zhou Ming designed campus improvements, and Class Two students transplanted trees, laid grass, and planted flowers around the school.
• Zhou Ming contributed two million Spirit Coins toward a gymnasium, while students, alumni, and others raised enough to cover the remaining cost.
• Huan Luan Middle School completed a large gymnasium and used extra funds to build a library stocked with free cultivation manuals.
• Zhou Ming refused to start another fundraising drive for teaching buildings, saying future generations should have room to improve the school further.
• After advancing to third year, Zhou Ming discovered that tuition had doubled under the name of a Campus Environment Renovation Fee.
• Zhou Ming gathered his brothers and vowed to show who had the final say at Huan Luan Middle School.

Zhou Ming confronted Principal Xing over Huan Luan Middle School’s tuition increase, accusing him of exploiting the students’ work and pocketing their money. Faced with a massive student protest, Xing Jingwen abandoned the increase, and tuition remained unchanged.

• Zhou Ming demanded that Xing Jingwen restore tuition to 10,000 Spirit Coins and refund the excess, arguing that students had paid for the campus improvements themselves.
• Xing Jingwen defended the increase by citing plans to hire teachers and improve school facilities, but Zhou Ming accused him of lying and keeping the money for himself.
• When Xing Jingwen offered to lower the increase by 5,000 and asked to negotiate privately, Zhou Ming seized him and held him over the office window.
• Xing Jingwen saw more than a thousand angry students below and shouted that tuition would not increase.
• Zhou Ming threw Xing Jingwen out the window, and the tuition controversy ended with the students’ victory.

After Xing Jingwen sold Huan Luan Middle School, he exposed Zhou Ming's connection to the Bai family, prompting the Shui family to attack the school and sparking a conflict that ended with the Shui family destroyed and Huan Luan Middle School preserved. Zhou Ming declined an offer to attend Wu Hua Academy, and two months later the college entrance examination began.

• Xing Jingwen sold Huan Luan Middle School to Zhou Ming's family, then discovered Zhou Yuan was connected to the Bai family and sold that secret to the Shui family.
• Shui Wu Jun sent five thousand soldiers to surround Huan Luan Middle School, but Zhou Ming and the students defeated them, suffering more than a hundred casualties and losing over ten students.
• Zhou Ming led students to the Shui estate, killed Shui Wu Jun, and helped the other five great families destroy the Shui family.
• The five remaining great families moved to disband Huan Luan Middle School, but three immortal senior brothers returned and secured a Non-Aggression Pact that preserved the school.
• Zhou Ming declined a senior brother's invitation to apply to Wu Hua Academy, choosing instead to apply to Da Xian Academy.
• Two months later, the annual college entrance examination began.

Zhou Ming stunned the college entrance examiners and candidates with extraordinary cultivation, then scored 698 out of 700 when the results were announced. With every Cultivation Academy competing to recruit him, he invited his brothers to Xuan Qing City to celebrate and check their results.

• Yan Yunqing wasted spiritual energy trying to surpass 3,000 on the strength test, then performed poorly on his remaining exams.
• Zhou Ming repeatedly raised his attack reading until it surpassed 5,000, then immediately filled the spiritual energy storage crystal ball despite not recovering.
• Zhou Ming filled the soul power crystal ball and kept one hundred floors of the output tower lit for ten minutes, astonishing the examiners and candidates.
• Half a month after the exam, Zhou Ming scored 698 out of 700, becoming the likely top scorer of Huan Luan City and the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation.
• Cultivation Academies rushed to recruit Zhou Ming, and he invited his brothers to Xuan Qing City to have fun and check their results.

Zhou Ming hosted his classmates at the White family residence while they compared Imperial Examination scores and chose academies. After the admission notices arrived, he and his friends boarded a plane to report to their schools, leaving Zhou Ming eager to reach Da Xian Academy.

• Zhou Ming welcomed Chen En and his classmates to the White family residence and reassured them that he was still their boss.
• Chen En and Luo Xiao Pang chose Jin Yan Academy to stay near Zhou Ming, while Wu Yilang confessed his feelings to Ji Xiaoyue and chose Red Abyss Academy to be with her.
• Zhou Ming learned that Zhang Yu had scored 601 points and that Lu Qingchen had scored 612, while He Sifang planned to attend Wu Hua Academy.
• The admission notices confirmed that Zhou Ming, Chen En, the Lei Zuo Lei You Brothers, and Zhang Yu had entered Da Xian Academy, while their other classmates received places at Jin Yan Academy or Red Abyss Academy.
• On August 28, Zhou Ming invited ten classmates bound for Da Xian Academy or Jin Yan Academy onto the White family's passenger plane and flew toward their schools.

Zhou Ming enrolled at Da Xian Academy, settled into campus life, and became class monitor, but his cultivation stalled at a bottleneck. He used a special crystal card to gain access to the library’s restricted fiftieth floor to seek answers.

• Zhou Ming arrived in Town Lin City and enrolled at Da Xian Academy, paying the first-year tuition for Chen En, the Lei Zuo Lei You Brothers, and Zhang Yu.
• Chen En joined the Wind Department, the Lei Zuo Lei You Brothers joined the Metal Department, Zhang Yu joined the Fire Department, and Zhou Ming chose the Metal Wood Department and Artifact Refinement as his elective.
• Zhou Ming impressed his classmates with cultivation advice and was elected Class 1’s monitor with forty-two votes.
• Zhou Ming rented a three-story villa near the academy and settled into a peaceful routine of classes, cultivation, and time with friends.
• Zhou Ming remained stuck at the peak of the late Liquid Condensation stage and went to the library’s fiftieth floor for information.
• The old gatekeeper recognized Zhou Ming’s crystal card and let him enter the restricted floor.

Zhou Ming chose to attempt a two-month seclusion to break through from the late Liquid Condensation stage, avoiding cultivation-method changes and elixirs because he feared their risks. After repeated failures, he used three 10% Probability Cards and began forming a mysterious crystal in his Upper Dantian, drawing in spiritual energy as his breakthrough began.

• Zhou Ming studied breakthrough methods in the library and decided to try seclusion before resorting to elixirs or changing cultivation methods.
• Zhou Ming applied for two months of seclusion and bought a personal Spirit Gathering Tower capable of concentrating spiritual energy to 150 times the normal level.
• After a month in seclusion, Zhou Ming failed ten breakthrough attempts and used ten 1% Probability Cards without success.
• Zhou Ming began using his 10% Probability Cards and, after the third one, sensed a mysterious crystal in his Upper Dantian.
• The crystal absorbed Zhou Ming's spiritual energy and began drawing in energy from the surrounding area, forming an invisible vortex above his villa.

After Zhou Ming broke through to the Core Solidification Stage, powerful cultivators failed to identify him, and he returned to school while hiding his strength. Sun Qi challenged him to an arena match, convinced he would defeat Zhou Yuan.

• Powerful cultivators searched the villa district for the source of the spiritual energy vortex but dismissed Zhou Ming as too young to be the breakthrough cultivator.
• Zhou Ming reflected on his breakthrough and its effects, including increased power, flight, and a five-hundred-year lifespan, and resolved to keep his cultivation secret.
• Zhou Ming returned to school on November 20, and his classmates crowded around him to ask about his secluded cultivation.
• Sun Qi grew jealous when Zhou Yuan’s classmates gathered around him again, despite Sun Qi’s efforts to win their favor during Zhou Yuan’s absence.
• During practical class, Sun Qi challenged Zhou Yuan to an arena match, and Zhou Yuan accepted with a smile.

Zhou Ming defeated Sun Qi in a sparring match and regained the respect of Class One. After becoming famous for his wealth and inventions, he spent much of his money on research and left a cash box at school so students would stop asking him for loans.

• Zhou Ming dodged Sun Qi's sword attacks and repeatedly kicked him down, winning their sparring match without drawing his sword.
• Class One rallied around Zhou Ming, impressed by his strength, guidance, and wealth.
• Zhou Ming modified two Sky-Soaring Sets, won a flying competition, invented the Wired Telegram, and sold its patent for one billion Spirit Coins.
• Zhou Ming donated five hundred million Spirit Coins to Da Xian Academy for national Contribution Points and took leave to escape reporters.
• Students from Da Xian Academy and other departments repeatedly asked Zhou Ming for loans, so he spent two hundred million Spirit Coins on villas, a research lab, and materials.
• Zhou Ming placed more than two hundred million Spirit Coins in a school plaza cash box with a sign inviting anyone who needed money to take what they wanted, ending the loan requests and boosting his reputation.

As the academy’s summer break began, Zhou Ming chose the dangerous Ancient Temple Murders mission, hoping to uncover its secrets while traveling to Azure Orchid City for a martial arts match. He set off with Chen En, the Lei Zuo Lei You Brothers, and Zhang Yu, and the group paused to rest after a long flight.

• Zhou Ming reviewed the academy’s summer practice missions and became interested in the red-level Ancient Temple Murders task, which had claimed many lives and remained unsolved.
• Despite his classmates’ warnings, Zhou Ming chose the mission and recruited Chen En, the Lei Zuo Lei You Brothers, and Zhang Yu as his team.
• Zhou Ming’s team prepared to travel to Azure Orchid City, where he also planned to fulfill a three-year martial arts agreement.
• On June 28, Zhou Ming and his partners flew east from Town Lin City in their Sky-Soaring Sets.
• After the others complained that Zhou Ming’s faster flight had exhausted them, Zhou Ming agreed to land on a mountain peak and rest.

The Eighth Task Force prepared for its final attempt to solve the Ancient Temple Murders before the authorities destroyed the temple. Zhou Ming’s group gradually joined the investigation, and as Darkness Day approached, Zhou Ming told them to wait in Yongshui Village, predicting that the temple’s illusion array would expand there.

• Tan Ke and the Eighth Task Force discussed their dwindling manpower and their last chance to destroy the ancient temple before the higher-ups sent a Spiritual Essence Warship to flatten it.
• Zhou Ming and four other Da Xian Academy students arrived to help, but Tan Ke assigned them camp chores and ordered them to stay outside the cordon before Darkness Day.
• Chen En complained about the labor, but Zhou Ming took him aside and persuaded him to apologize and finish the task.
• The Eighth Task Force began sharing information and discussing the case with Zhou Ming’s group, though Tan Ke and the others hesitated to accept Zhou Ming’s radically different theories.
• On July 25, Zhou Ming rejected his friends’ plan to sneak into the temple’s illusion array and said they would wait in Yongshui Village because he expected the array to expand there.

On Darkness Day, the illusion array bypassed the operation team and swept toward Yongshui Village, where villagers had gathered to celebrate. Zhou Ming entered the controlled crowd to find the culprit and discovered the gray mist killing villagers in the village square.

• Team Eight detonated spiritual crystal bombs and destroyed the ancient temple, but a massive surge of white mist erupted from the crater.
• A gray shadow burst from the crater, the mist stopped pouring out, and Qiao Yixue spotted it moving toward Yongshui Village.
• Tan Ke realized the illusion array was targeting the village and led Team Eight back to rescue its inhabitants.
• The white mist engulfed Yongshui Village, controlled the villagers, and drew them toward the center as the celebration descended into chaos.
• Zhou Ming told Chen En and the others to wait, removed his mask, and blended into the villagers' procession.
• Zhou Ming reached the village square and saw gray mist shredding villagers into skeletons and devouring their flesh.

Zhou Ming seized the Soul Devouring Banner hidden in the mist and used his system to consume the souls within it, ending the attack on Yongshui Village. He explained that the Devil Race had emerged through a crack beneath the ancient temple, and Tan Ke’s team sealed the crack, resolving the century-old murders.

• Zhou Ming pulled the nearly completed Soul Devouring Banner from the mist, and his system devoured its souls and a powerful expert’s divine consciousness avatar.
• Zhou Ming used the banner to draw in the village’s Evil Spirits, ending the attack; the mist dispersed, revealing that around eight hundred villagers had died.
• Zhou Ming reunited with Chen En and the others at the tavern, where Tan Ke’s group found them safe and heard Zhou Ming explain the Devil Race’s role in the murders.
• Tan Ke realized that bombarding the ancient temple could widen the crack to the Devil World, then found the crack beneath the temple’s former site.
• Tan Ke’s team filled the crack with cement and covered it with a boulder, sealing the passage and ending the Ancient Temple Murders.

After completing the Summer Practice, Zhou Ming went to the Chu Estate for his scheduled duel with Chao Yuanhao, only to learn that his opponent had gone to pursue Mu Feiyan. When Chao Yuanhao injured Chu Taihu and failed to return, the Chu family abruptly decided to marry Chu Tianjiao to Zhou Ming instead.

• Zhou Ming and his companions received an A+ rating for their Summer Practice, and he declined to commit to joining the National Special Operations Bureau.
• At the Chu Estate, Zhou Ming learned that Chao Yuanhao had gone to Star Tangerine City to compete for Mu Feiyan’s hand in marriage.
• Zhou Ming threatened to cancel the alliance between the Bai and Chu families, but agreed to wait until August 5 for the duel.
• Chu Taihu returned badly injured after Chao Yuanhao struck him for trying to stop him from attending the marriage tournament.
• Chu Taihu ordered the Chu family to arrange an immediate wedding between Zhou Ming and Chu Tianjiao, and the Chu family disciples confronted Zhou Ming as he packed to leave.

Zhou Ming tried to avoid being forced into a marriage with Chu Tianjiao, but she insisted he marry her to save her grandfather, Chu Taihu. He then claimed he had a way to cure Chu Taihu, leaving Chu Tianjiao and the Chu family elder waiting for his solution.

• Zhou Ming argued that the marriage could not proceed without his parents and the proper rites, but the Chu family elder pleaded with him to marry Chu Tianjiao quickly to ease Chu Taihu's condition.
• Chu Tianjiao arrived and told Zhou Ming she would obey her grandfather's arrangements to save him.
• Zhou Ming claimed he already loved Xiao Wei and had come to cancel the marriage alliance, but Chu Tianjiao still asked him to agree to a sham wedding for Chu Taihu's sake.
• Zhou Ming refused the marriage and considered escaping by force, but decided the plan was too risky for his classmates.
• Zhou Ming announced that he had a way to cure Chu Taihu and help him recover more fully.

Zhou Ming proposed entering Star Tangerine City's Martial Arts Tournament for Marriage to defeat Chao Yuanhao and restore the Chu family's dignity. After proving his strength and winning the Chu family's support, he traveled to Star Tangerine City, where Chen En raised the possibility that Mu Feiyan might choose him as her Dao Companion.

• Zhou Ming proposed that he enter the tournament to stop Chao Yuanhao and deal a serious blow to the Chao family.
• Chen En defended Zhou Ming's abilities, and Zhou Ming defeated more than fifty elite Chu family disciples at the training grounds.
• Chu Taihu regretted breaking the engagement with Xuan Qing City, then approved Zhou Ming's plan to preserve the Chu family's remaining dignity and cancel the marriage agreement.
• Zhou Ming boarded a passenger plane to Star Tangerine City with Chen En, Zhang Yu, other classmates, and a Chu family elder.
• Chen En asked what Zhou Ming would do if Mu Feiyan chose him after he won, then teased that Zhou Ming might prefer men; Zhou Ming shoved him away.

Zhou Ming registered for the Martial Arts Tournament for Marriage in Star Tangerine City and was placed in Group A because of the Bai Family’s wealth and strength. After the Mu Family announced rules that heavily disadvantaged Groups B, C, and D, the tournament began, and Zhou Ming faced his first opponent on Arena Number Nine.

• Zhou Ming registered under the name Bai Feiyang, representing Xuan Qing City’s Bai Family, and the steward assigned him to Group A.
• Zhou Ming and his companions moved into the Mu Family’s courtyard residence and awaited the tournament rules.
• The Mu Family announced rules that forced Groups B, C, and D to fight more matches in less time and required their champions to win additional rounds before entering Group A’s round of sixteen.
• Contestants from Groups B, C, and D protested, but the Mu Family refused to change the rules, and no one withdrew.
• The tournament began on August 8, with Mu Feiyan watching from a raised platform beside the Group A arenas.
• On Arena Number Nine, Zhou Ming’s opponent threatened him, and Zhou Ming charged forward at him.

Zhou Ming defeated Chao Yuanhao in the Martial Arts Tournament for Marriage and faced an exhausted Wang Zuxin in the final. After Wang Zuxin explained that he fought to defend his family’s standing, Zhou Ming declared him the winner because three minutes had passed.

• Zhou Ming advanced to the top sixteen while Wang Zuxin fought his way to the final through a series of grueling matches.
• In the semi-final, Zhou Ming knocked Chao Yuanhao out of the ring almost immediately, leaving Chao Yuanhao vowing to defeat him and win Mu Feiyan back.
• The Mu family moved the final up to one hour later, and Wang Zuxin agreed to fight despite his injuries and exhaustion.
• Before the match, Zhou Ming asked Wang Zuxin why he had entered; Wang Zuxin said he wanted to show the Mu family not to look down on the Wang family of Lu Chuan City.
• After three minutes passed, Zhou Ming declared Wang Zuxin the winner, stunning him.

Zhou Ming withdrew from the Marriage Martial Arts Competition after publicly denouncing Chao Yuanhao, leaving Wang Zuxin as the apparent champion and forcing the Mu family to face the crowd's anger. As Wang Zuxin also walked away, the Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor abducted Mu Feiyan from the stage.

• Zhou Ming explained that he had entered the competition to punish Chao Yuanhao for betraying Chu Tianjiao, then withdrew and left the stage.
• Wang Zuxin promised to fight Zhou Ming fairly after his injuries healed, and Mu Feiyan asked about the woman Zhou Ming loved before he rejected her invitation to remove her veil.
• Mu Zhenquan tried to avoid acknowledging Wang Zuxin as the competition's winner, while the spectators chanted for him to accept Wang as his son-in-law.
• Mu Feiyan blamed her father for rushing the competition, and Wang Zuxin rejected the prospect of marrying her and walked away.
• The Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor struck Mu Feiyan with black qi, seized her, and flew north, revealing himself as a Heretical Cultivator.