Chapter Summaries

The Inner Academy Selection Competition drew a huge crowd as Hu Gan announced a new final-round format. Xia Mo joined the other finalists in the arena, where they were told to compete in a free-for-all elimination match.

• Xia Mo and his group entered the packed plaza through a guarded passage with Instructor Ruo Lin.
• Hu Gan addressed the crowd and said the fifty finalists would compete for their Inner Academy ranks.
• Wang Bo, Luo Yan, and the other finalists entered the arena amid loud cheers, and Xia Mo joined them.
• Hu Gan announced that the final round would be a free-for-all elimination match in which contestants could use any means, including forming teams.

Xia Mo waited apart from the melee as contestants formed teams and the five seeded contestants cleared out weaker groups. The five strongest teams finally surrounded Xia Mo, setting up the chapter’s climactic clash.

• Hu Gan announced the start of the final elimination round, and contestants scattered into chaotic fights across the arena.
• After several contestants were eliminated, participants began forming temporary alliances to protect themselves.
• Xia Mo stayed alone at the edge of the arena, confident that the chaos would settle into rival factions.
• The five seeded contestants gathered the strongest teams and drove out or absorbed the smaller groups.
• The five major teams joined forces to surround Xia Mo as the stands erupted in cheers.

Xia Mo faced the five seeded contestants at once, and their combined attacks devastated the arena. He emerged from the dust unharmed, leaving the crowd and his opponents stunned.

• Xia Mo revealed an aura beyond the Da Dou Shi level, and Wang Bo judged his fighting strength comparable to a Dou Ling.
• Luo Yan, Wang Bo, Sun Hao, Mu Yun, and Li Er Niu sent their followers away and prepared to fight Xia Mo together.
• The five unleashed their strongest Dou Techniques, and their attacks converged on Xia Mo in a deafening explosion.
• Hu Gan said the match was already over as the dust revealed a ruined plaza and a deep pit.
• Xia Mo appeared in Purple Gold Armor and walked out of the dust with his black robes still neat.

Xia Mo dominated the Inner Academy Selection Competition, emerging unscathed after the other five leading competitors attacked him together. The judges ended the event without ranking the participants and granted an extra Library Pavilion quota, while Xia Mo reunited with Xiao Yi Xian and the others before leaving the plaza.

• Xia Mo withstood the combined attacks of Sun Hao, Wang Bo, Luo Yan, Li Er Niu, and Mu Yun, then asked whether they wanted to continue fighting.
• The five competitors admitted they could not defeat Xia Mo, and the judges decided to end the competition and add a Library Pavilion quota.
• The judges announced Xia Mo, Wang Bo, Luo Yan, Sun Hao, Li Er Niu, and Mu Yun as the top six without assigning rankings.
• Xia Mo stepped down from the arena and reassured Xiao Yi Xian that he was unharmed.
• Instructor Ruo Lin praised Xia Mo, and he credited her help before leaving the plaza with Xiao Xun'er, Xiao Yi Xian, and the others.

After his victory in the selection tournament, Xia Mo trained to master the strength of his whole body and developed powerful close-combat techniques. Instructor Jin Hua then arrived to notify him that he would enter the Library Pavilion that afternoon.

• Xia Mo ignored the attention his tournament victory brought him and continued his daily routine at the academy.
• Xia Mo practiced the Ancient Dragon Fist and realized he could coordinate his muscles, joints, tendons, and bones to control his strength more precisely.
• Xia Mo spent three days mastering close-combat methods he grouped into Shock, Collapse, Lock, Pierce, and Twist, and demonstrated his strength by shattering a tree trunk with a shake.
• Xia Mo learned that he and the other top six students would enter the Library Pavilion as a tournament reward.
• Instructor Ruo Lin introduced Instructor Jin Hua, who told Xia Mo that he would enter the Library Pavilion that afternoon.

Hu Gan summoned Xia Mo and the five strongest students from the Outer Academy, advising them to cooperate in the Inner Academy. He led the six to the Library Pavilion, where Elder Qian and Elder Bai appeared before its entrance.

• Hu Gan warned Sun Hao, Wang Bo, Mu Yun, Li Er Niu, and Luo Yan that life in the Inner Academy would be difficult and urged them to befriend Xia Mo.
• Hu Gan told the students that the Selection Competition was behind them and that they should cooperate rather than make enemies.
• Xia Mo arrived, and Hu Gan announced that the top five competitors and one additional student could enter the Library Pavilion.
• Hu Gan revealed a hidden passage and led Xia Mo, Sun Hao, Wang Bo, Luo Yan, Mu Yun, and Li Er Niu through it to the Library Pavilion.
• Hu Gan asked the elders to open the pavilion, and Xia Mo noticed Elder Qian and Elder Bai sitting before the entrance despite not having seen them earlier.

Hu Gan brought Xia Mo and the other five students to the Library Pavilion, where its grey-robed guardians opened the Spatial Lock and explained the rules for choosing a treasure. The students entered the pavilion, while Hu Gan learned that the guardians had identified Xia Mo as a Magic Beast and agreed to keep his identity secret.

• The grey-robed guardians recognized Xia Mo as a Magic Beast and suspected that his flames were a Heavenly Flame, then asked Hu Gan why six students had come.
• Hu Gan explained the circumstances and requested that the guardians open the Spatial Lock, which they did with hand seals.
• Hu Gan explained that each student could take only one item if they could pass through its energy layer, and warned them not to force their choice.
• The six students approached the Library Pavilion, resisted the plaque's strange influence, and entered before its doors closed behind them.
• Hu Gan told the grey-robed guardian that Xia Mo had been found in the Monster Mountain Range and posed no threat to the academy.
• The grey-robed guardian told Hu Gan not to reveal Xia Mo's identity and to inform Su Qian so he could handle the matter.

Xia Mo and the others entered a vast room where treasures shot from energy barriers, and Luo Yan caught a cultivation method. Xia Mo used his soul perception to seek valuable treasures and seized a fiery red light, recognizing what it contained.

• Luo Yan, Sun Hao, and the others asked Xia Mo to stick together in the Inner Academy, and Xia Mo told them to focus on finding opportunities.
• A blue light shot from an energy barrier toward Luo Yan, and she caught it, revealing a Profound-tier mid-grade Water Element Art cultivation method.
• Treasures burst from the barriers, and Xia Mo caught a cluster of Jade Sand but released it because he already had Purple Essence Gold.
• Sun Hao caught a golden light cluster containing an Earth-tier Dou Technique, but its rebounding force knocked him down and sent the treasure back into an energy barrier.
• Xia Mo used his soul perception to wait for valuable treasures, then caught a fiery red light before Wang Bo and the others could reach it.
• Xia Mo examined the fiery red light and recognized that it contained something valuable.

Xia Mo searched the Library Pavilion and retrieved several valuable cultivation arts, Dou Techniques, and a Monster Core, setting some aside for his companions. The chapter ended with him obtaining the Profound-tier high-grade sound-wave Dou Technique, Lion Tiger Shattering Gold Chant.

• Xia Mo retrieved the Earth-tier mid-grade Nine Heavens Phoenix Fire Art and decided to keep it as an alternative.
• Xia Mo found the Earth-tier low-grade Myriad Poisons Heart-Piercing Palm and set it aside for Xiao Yi Xian.
• Xia Mo collected a sixth-tier Monster Core and gave Li Er Niu the Profound-tier high-grade Purple Lightning Art.
• Xia Mo sensed a rare energy fluctuation, raced to intercept a transparent ball of energy, and retrieved the Profound-tier high-grade sound-wave Dou Technique, Lion Tiger Shattering Gold Chant.

Xia Mo traded treasures with the other five visitors in the Library Pavilion before escaping as its barriers closed. The group left with Hu Gan, and Xia Mo reflected on the strength of the pavilion’s guardians and Spatial Folds.

• Xia Mo offered Sun Hao the Myriad Poisons Heart-Piercing Palm in exchange for help extracting it, then arranged a trade with Mu Yun for the Spirit Vermillion Fruit and a fourth-grade low-grade Alchemical Formula.
• Xia Mo exchanged scrolls with Luo Yan and Wang Bo, then gave them the Lion Tiger Shattering Gold Chant and Cold Spirit Liquid.
• As the Library Pavilion’s energy barrier began pulling the light spheres back, Xia Mo tossed out the Demonic Core, took the Nine Heavens Phoenix Fire Art, and led the others through the dark passage.
• Xia Mo and the other five emerged from the pavilion, where a grey-robed elder warned them to keep its interior secret.
• Hu Gan led the group through the Spatial Folds, and Xia Mo watched the entrance disappear behind a solid wall of folds.

After receiving their rewards, Xia Mo prepared to enter the Inner Academy and sought an artifact forging shop in Jia Nan City to make a new saber. The blacksmith eagerly examined Xia Mo’s Purple Essence Gold Mother Lode and Cold Spirit Liquid, but the chapter ended before he confirmed whether he could forge the weapon.

• Hu Gan warned Xia Mo and the other five students that the Inner Academy was full of talented students and told them to return in two days.
• Xia Mo gave Sun Hao and the others what he had promised, then considered how to use his rewards and decided to forge a new saber.
• Xia Mo asked Instructor Ruo Lin where he could find an artifact forging shop, and she directed him to one in the eastern district.
• Xiao Yi Xian, Hu Jia, and the other girl accompanied Xia Mo through Jia Nan City before he entered the shop alone.
• Xia Mo showed the shop owner his Purple Essence Gold Mother Lode and Cold Spirit Liquid and asked whether he could forge a heavy saber from them.

Xia Mo helped a weapon-forging shop owner melt Purple Essence Gold Mother Lode with his Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame and watched him forge a Heavy Saber. The owner completed the weapon without charging Xia Mo, who named it the Profound Breaking Saber and left the smithy.

• Xia Mo told Xiao Yi Xian, Hu Jia, and their companion to keep shopping while he stayed at the smithy to assist with the forging.
• The owner led Xia Mo to his private forging room and asked him to melt the Purple Essence Gold Mother Lode.
• Xia Mo's Dragon Phoenix Flame failed, so he summoned the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame and melted the mother lode into liquid metal.
• The owner poured the metal into a mold and hammered it into a Heavy Saber before quenching it in Cold Spirit Liquid.
• Xia Mo tested the finished saber, named it the Profound Breaking Saber, and left without paying the owner.

Xia Mo gave Xiao Yi Xian poison herbs and a technique before revealing the Pill of Poison Method as a possible way to control her Poison Body of Calamity. He reassured her that they already had one required Heavenly Flame, then left to rest before entering the Inner Academy.

• Xia Mo returned to the dormitory and shared dinner with Xiao Yi Xian, Xiao Xun'er, and Hu Jia.
• Xia Mo gave Xiao Yi Xian a Storage Ring of poison-attributed herbs and the Earth-tier technique Myriad Poisons Heart-Piercing Palm.
• Xia Mo showed Xiao Yi Xian the Pill of Poison Method, which required three Heavenly Flames, a seventh-tier Heavenly Poison Scorpion Dragon Beast Monster Core, and Bodhi Body Transformation Saliva.
• Xia Mo revealed his Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, and Xiao Yi Xian learned that it could fulfill the method's Heavenly Flame requirement.
• Xia Mo told Xiao Yi Xian to seek help from Hu Jia, Xiao Xun'er, or Instructor Ruo Lin while he was in the Inner Academy, then returned to his room.

Xia Mo and the other fifty students prepared to enter Jia Nan Academy’s secretive Inner Academy. Hu Gan escorted them by Griffon Beast toward the academy’s back mountains, where the Inner Academy was hidden.

• Xia Mo arrived at Vice Principal Hu Gan’s office and joined the other students who had passed the selection competition.
• Hu Gan congratulated the fifty-one students and explained that the Inner Academy would push their potential to its limits.
• Hu Gan arranged for Xia Mo to ride alone while Sun Hao and four others formed a team, and the students boarded the Griffon Beasts.
• Xia Mo and the other students took off with Hu Gan and three old men escorting them through the air.
• Xia Mo saw Instructor Ruo Lin, Xiao Yi Xian, Xiao Xun'er, Hu Jia, and the others waving goodbye as the Griffon Beasts flew toward the back mountains.

Xia Mo and the other newcomers reached the Inner Academy after Hu Gan and three elders fought off magical beasts and opened a hidden Space Barrier. Elder Su welcomed them and hinted that passing the selection was not the final step, then distributed black crystal chips.

• Hu Gan and three elders protected the Griffon Beast formation from powerful magical beasts as it crossed the back mountains.
• Hu Gan revealed a silver gate concealing the Inner Academy, and the students and Griffon Beasts followed him through it.
• Elder Su and Elder Liu greeted the group, and Hu Gan introduced Xia Mo and the five other top-ranked newcomers.
• Elder Su silenced the older students when they mocked Xia Mo and explained how much they had improved after a year in the Inner Academy.
• Elder Su told the newcomers that their selection victory was not the end and tossed black crystal chips in front of them.

Xia Mo learned that the Fire Energy Hunt Competition let Inner Academy students attack newcomers and take the fire energy on their crystal chips. He split from Sun Hao and the others, then watched five seniors overpower a bickering group of new students while he continued wandering alone.

• Elder Su explained the crystal chips and announced the start of the Fire Energy Hunt Competition.
• Xia Mo told Sun Hao and the other four to stay together, then set off alone through the forest.
• Xia Mo found five seniors confronting five arguing newcomers and watched from a distance.
• The seniors swiftly knocked down the newcomers and demanded their fire energy.

Xia Mo entered the Fire Energy Hunt Competition forest alone and turned the tables on a group of older students who tried to rob him. After forcing them to give him a rough map and their Fire Crystal Cards, he set out to reach the end of the route and wait for more teams.

• A group led by Li Tie robbed five new students of their Fire Crystal Cards, then headed off to find more teams.
• Xia Mo approached a five-man team, and its captain reluctantly ordered the others to surround him.
• Xia Mo overwhelmed the older students in a sudden attack and demanded to know about the forest, the map, and the competing groups.
• The white-clothed captain gave Xia Mo a rough route map and explained that fifty students competed in ten teams, including the powerful Black White Twin Fiends.
• Xia Mo took the five men's Fire Crystal Cards, raising his own Fire Energy total from five to one hundred and twenty-five, then planned to reach the end and wait for more targets.

Xia Mo reached the forest’s end after taking Fire Energy from several old-student teams. He challenged the five blue-clad youths gathered there, demanding their places and Fire Energy Crystal Cards as the hillside crowd watched in stunned silence.

• Xia Mo defeated an old-student team, took their Fire Energy, and continued toward the forest exit.
• Two elderly observers praised Xia Mo’s strength and anticipated trouble for the teams ahead.
• Xia Mo emerged from the forest as the first new student to arrive, drawing the attention of the Inner Academy students and elders.
• Xia Mo walked up to the five blue-clad youths and demanded their Fire Energy Crystal Cards.
• The four youths surrounding the central student released their auras, and Xia Mo answered with a formidable aura and threatened to beat them before taking their cards.

Xia Mo faced Su Yan and the White Fiend Team over their Fire Energy Crystal Cards, then fought Su Yan without giving ground. He shattered Su Yan’s powerful spear technique with one punch, leaving the Inner Academy students stunned.

• Su Yan introduced himself as captain of the White Fiend Team and refused to hand over the Fire Energy Crystal Cards.
• Xia Mo revealed his nine-star Da Dou Shi strength, and Su Yan attacked him with his crimson spear.
• Xia Mo blocked Su Yan’s spear attacks and sent the weapon flying with a heavy saber strike.
• Su Yan unleashed the Crimson Flame Demon Breaking Spear, but Xia Mo stopped it with his fists and shattered it.
• The Inner Academy students watched in horror as Xia Mo stood amid the crimson motes.

Xia Mo defeated Su Yan and the White Fiend Team, then took over their post to challenge the incoming old students for their Fire Energy. After his Earth-tier saber technique forced Elder Su to intervene and protect the old students, Elder Su acknowledged Xia Mo’s victory.

• Su Yan and the four members of the White Fiend Team combined their fire Dou Qi against Xia Mo, but he blasted them into the rubble with one punch and collected their Fire Energy.
• Xia Mo refused to leave the pass and began testing the incoming candidates, intending to take their Fire Energy; Elder Su and Elder Liu allowed him to proceed.
• Sun Hao, Luo Yan, Mu Yun, and the other new students arrived, followed by thirty old students whom Xia Mo demanded surrender their Fire Energy Crystal Cards.
• When the old students refused, Xia Mo unleashed an Earth-tier low-grade saber technique that overwhelmed their combined Dou Techniques and devastated the rocky battlefield.
• Elder Su appeared in time to block the blade attack and protect the old students, then told Xia Mo that he had won.