Chapter Summaries

Zhou Leng reached Divine Communion in his true qi during the Ancient River Jade Stele’s anomaly, then underwent questioning and learned more about his growing powers. After rejoining his companions, he received advice to choose his future Innate cultivation method carefully.

• Zhou Leng cultivated before the Ancient River Jade Stele as Zhao Nandi guarded him, and his true qi formed six stalks of purple bamboo before returning to his body.
• Zhao Nandi secretly passed Zhou Leng an object, later identified as the Jade Tiger, while the director and soldiers investigated the stele’s unexplained anomaly.
• Zhou Leng demonstrated that his Divine Communion true qi could lift a sheet of paper, then sensed new changes in his cultivation, including the embryonic power of a Force Extraordinary Body.
• Zhou Leng and Zhao Nandi returned to their companions, who recognized that Zhou Leng’s true qi had reached Divine Communion.
• Song Juesi and Zhang Feng advised Zhou Leng to choose an excellent Innate cultivation method rather than rush into a poor one, and Song Juesi asked whether he had chosen his Innate path.

After learning that Zhang Xiaoxiao had vanished following her grandmother’s murder, Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie suspected that No. 59 Middle School’s leadership was covering up connected cases. The Ancient River Trial then opened, and Zhou Leng joined the orderly line to enter Pit No. 9, still waiting to find Zhao Nandi.

• Zhang Xinglie learned that his grandmother had been murdered and Zhang Xiaoxiao was missing, and Zhou Leng contacted Deng Zhijue for details.
• Deng Zhijue told Zhou Leng that Zhang Xiaoxiao had been demonized and fled with black wings while a demonic martial artist pursued her.
• Zhang Xinglie reasoned that No. 59 Middle School’s leadership might be hiding evidence, and he and Zhou Leng agreed to investigate if the Martial Guard failed to uncover the truth.
• The Ancient River Trial gates manifested, and Zhao Nandi told Zhou Leng to find her before entering so she could give him an Ancient River Token.
• Zhou Leng and the others queued at Pit No. 9 and approached the Ancient River Sect gate, but Zhao Nandi had not yet appeared.

Zhou Leng entered the Ancient River Sect trial with Zhao Nandi and the other participants, where they investigated a bronze furnace covered in Divine Script. As Zhao Nandi used Zhou Leng’s interpretations to guide the experts, Zhou Leng began memorizing eight mysterious inscriptions while the group waited for a way into the Transmission Hall.

• Zhao Nandi arrived with the Divine Script experts and secretly hung an ancient jade pendant around Zhou Leng’s neck before they entered the trial site.
• The experts warned the participants not to follow Blood of Tyranny, then gathered around the bronze furnace while Zhou Leng recorded its inscriptions and relayed Elder Song’s interpretations to Zhao Nandi.
• Zhao Nandi presented her interpretation of the first eight inscriptions to the experts, while Zhou Leng focused on memorizing the characters and sensing their unusual power.
• A martial artist was disintegrated after approaching the hall, prompting Zhao Nandi to urge everyone to be patient and act as guests rather than bandits.
• Zhou Leng told Zhao Nandi that the furnace likely required a sacrifice to activate the trial and that the hall was the Outer Sect Transmission Hall.
• The experts realized Zhao Nandi was learning more than she could have deciphered herself and, noticing her conversations with Zhou Leng and his exchanges with Song Juesi, concluded that Song Juesi was the source.

Zhou Leng and the Divine Script experts devised and performed sacrifices to open the Ancient River Sect’s Transmission Hall, but their first two attempts failed. They began a third ritual with Zhou Leng serving as a possible holy son, hoping it would succeed.

• Zhao Nandi announced that the bronze furnace inscription indicated the Ancient River Sect required a sacrifice before transmitting its teachings.
• Zhou Leng studied the plaza and its sealed Transmission Hall, then shared his research with Zhao Nandi and the Divine Script experts to develop a six-step sacrificial procedure.
• Zhao Nandi presided over the first sacrifice in white Hanfu, but the ritual produced no response.
• The experts revised the procedure and performed a second sacrifice, which also failed.
• Zhou Leng suggested the failure might stem from the lack of an Ancient River Sect member, and Zhao Nandi proposed that he act as the current generation’s holy son because he had experienced the Ancient River Illusion Realm.
• The group prepared a third sacrifice, reusing none of the previous offerings, and began it with hopes that it would work.

Zhou Leng’s thoughts awakened the bronze furnace and summoned the Ancient River Sect’s martial preceptor, who recited a cultivation method that only Zhou Leng could partly understand. After memorizing its first four Divine Script characters, Zhou Leng gathered the Divine Script experts for an important meeting.

• Zhou Leng completed the ritual by mentally reciting the eight Divine Script characters, causing the bronze furnace to ring and summon a tiny old man from the Transmission Hall.
• The old man identified himself as the Ancient River Sect’s martial preceptor and taught the crowd the Star-Gazing Formula, but Zhou Leng was the only one who understood even part of the Divine Script.
• The Divine Script experts and other trial-takers failed to understand the teaching, while Zhou Leng repeatedly memorized the first four characters of the formula.
• Song Juesi advised the others that Zhou Leng’s comprehension, luck, and experience with the Heavenly Stair might help him pass the pronunciation test.
• After stabilizing the four characters in his mind, Zhou Leng read Song Juesi’s warning and gathered the Divine Script experts for a meeting.

Zhou Leng and the others struggled to learn the incomplete Star-Gazing Formula while the Ancient River Sect Martial Master grew dismayed at their ignorance. After days of study and training, Song Juesi gained a trace of insight and gathered everyone to demonstrate his newly comprehended Wave-Stacking Palm.

• Zhou Leng translated the Star-Gazing Formula’s four remembered Divine Script characters, and the group asked Song Juesi to study the incomplete technique while they investigated the characters.
• The Martial Master tested the trial-takers, punished one for failing to recite the formula, and lamented that only Zhou Leng could understand any Divine Script, though Zhou Leng knew just four characters.
• Song Juesi gained uncertain insight after a day of study, while Zhou Leng shared his preliminary translation with the Divine Script experts and the others trained or sparred.
• After several days, Song Juesi asked Zhou Leng to gather everyone and announced that he would demonstrate the trace of Martial Dao he had comprehended through the Wave-Stacking Palm.

Song Juesi’s demonstration of the Wave-Stacking Palm helped Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie reveal their extraordinary martial talent, and Martial Master appointed Zhou Leng to oversee the trial. Zhou Leng and the others translated the Star-Gazing Formula with Martial Master’s guidance, leaving Song Juesi and the Divine Script experts studying the newly corrected method.

• Song Juesi demonstrated the Wave-Stacking Palm, inspiring Zhou Leng to approach the realm beyond the Extreme Realm and drawing Martial Master’s attention to Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie’s talents.
• Martial Master appointed Zhou Leng temporary senior eldest disciple and revealed the Star-Gazing Formula, then struck a trial-taker with lightning for trying to photograph its Divine Script.
• Zhou Leng translated the Star-Gazing Formula with help from Song Juesi, Zhao Nandi, Zhang Xinglie, and the other Divine Script experts, while Martial Master corrected his interpretation.
• After three days of instruction, Martial Master approved Zhou Leng’s revised translation for cultivation, and Zhou Leng shared it with Song Juesi and the Divine Script experts.

Zhou Leng helped Elder Song and Zhang Xinglie complete and teach the first translation of the Star-Gazing Formula’s general outline, then mastered the full cultivation art and transformed his true qi. He left the chapter translating the full text and earning praise for his precise Martial Dao understanding.

• Elder Song explained how the Star-Gazing Formula’s general outline had changed his internal cultivation, and Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie helped him revise its translation.
• Zhou Leng announced the completed first-edition translation, and Elder Song, Zhang Xinglie, and Zhou Leng each taught their understanding of the general outline.
• As Zhou Leng expounded the Dao, his voice carried subtle Divine Script Pronunciation, prompting Elder Song and Zhang Xinglie to notice an unusual charm in his explanation.
• After memorizing all eighty-one Divine Script characters of the main text, Zhou Leng cultivated the Star-Gazing Formula successfully and his Sea-Calming True Qi began transforming.
• Zhou Leng translated the full text and shared it with Song Juesi and Zhang Xinglie, who praised his unusually precise Martial Dao comprehension.

Zhou Leng completed a detailed translation of the Star-Gazing Formula and taught it to the group before Blood of Tyranny arrived and revealed the method’s second half. After Zhou Leng helped him consult Martial Master, Martial Master recognized the voice behind Blood of Tyranny’s inheritance and produced a conch shell that recorded it.

• Zhou Leng studied the Star-Gazing Formula with Song Juesi and Zhang Xinglie, completed a translation exceeding a hundred thousand words, and lectured alongside them as listeners increasingly favored his instruction.
• Blood of Tyranny arrived, demanded the translation, and learned from the Divine Script experts that Zhou Leng had communicated with Martial Master.
• Blood of Tyranny asked Zhou Leng to explain the formula’s first half, then shared his own translation and martial understanding of its second half.
• Blood of Tyranny asked Zhou Leng to present ten questions to Martial Master, who questioned him about the source of his inheritance.
• Blood of Tyranny described hearing a woman recite the second half at Ancient River Ruins, and Martial Master recognized her voice through a conch shell.

Zhou Leng memorized the latter half of the Star-Gazing Formula and used the completed method to strengthen his Sea-Calming True Qi. After he cleared Song Juesi’s blocked meridians, Song Juesi began advancing toward Body-Refining, and Zhou Leng called for a barrier to hide the breakthrough.

• Blood of Tyranny exchanged the latter half of the Star-Gazing Formula with Zhou Leng, who later saw his feed full of mangled poems.
• Zhou Leng learned that the group struggled to memorize Divine Script, then explained its possible restrictions and answered their questions about the Star-Gazing Formula.
• Over three days of cultivation, Zhou Leng advanced to the Force-Generating Middle Stage while Zhang Xinglie, Song Juesi, and the others made major progress.
• Blood of Tyranny sent Zhou Leng an image and audio of the latter half of the Star-Gazing Formula, which Zhou Leng memorized in a day and night before stopping when its Innate-level information overwhelmed him.
• Zhou Leng focused on the first half until his dantian expanded and his Sea-Calming True Qi grew comparable to that of a newly advanced Innate.
• Zhou Leng sent true qi through Song Juesi’s body, opened his blocked meridians, and prompted Song Juesi to begin advancing toward Body-Refining.

Song Juesi broke through to the Body-Refining limit with Zhou Leng and Zhao Nandi’s help, then the Ancient River Sect disciples exchanged cultivation advice before Martial Master assessed their progress. The assessment separated the disciples into three groups, leaving Rao Mingxing unsettled when he saw Rao Mingxian among the upper-grade cultivators.

• Zhou Leng gathered pills for Song Juesi, and Zhao Nandi provided the Grandmaster-level Heavenly Origin Pill that restored his body and raised his cultivation to the Body-Refining limit.
• Song Juesi thanked Zhou Leng and Zhao Nandi, asked everyone to keep his breakthrough secret until he reached Grandmaster, and accepted their invitation to a feast after they left the Ancient River Sect.
• At Martial Master's request, Zhou Leng organized a Q&A session and lectures, where Ren Yuan asked about Zhou Leng's unusual lecture and added him on Wuxin.
• After the disciples deepened their understanding of the Star-Gazing Art, Martial Master assessed their cultivation and sorted them into lower-grade, average, and upper-grade groups.
• Rao Mingxing saw Rao Mingxian and the others around him in the upper-grade group, while Zhou Leng was also among the top cultivators.

Zhou Leng advanced to the second trial after Martial Master recognized his mastery of the Divine Script, while the other disciples realized his lectures had helped many of them progress. The chapter ended as Zhou Leng approached Flying Moon Hall and witnessed a vision of young disciples speaking the Divine Script.

• Martial Master praised Zhou Leng for learning the complete Divine Script, explained the importance of Song Juesi and Zhang Xinglie to their civilization, and allowed Zhou Leng to enter the second trial ahead of the others.
• Zhou Leng entered the left gate with Zhao Nandi after asking him to encourage the others to keep cultivating.
• Song Juesi confirmed that Zhou Leng understood the original Divine Script best, and the disciples realized that attending Zhou Leng's lectures had helped them advance in the trial rankings.
• People across the Ten Realms learned that the Ten Realms Youth War had doubled its entry slots, but Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie were already inside the Ancient River Trial and could not be contacted.
• The red dragon ordered Jade Wing to attend the Youth War and added another Dragon-Scale Vermilion Fruit to his collection despite his protests.
• At Flying Moon Hall, Zhou Leng saw a misty vision of young disciples speaking Divine Script and watched three prominent children enter, including an eldest senior brother and Senior Sister Shen.

Zhou Leng watched Guan Canglong, Shen Yunxian, and Qu Xinghan dominate the Long River Moon Flight trial before attempting it himself. He passed five mountains in the first stage and reached the seventh in the second, then began the final stage as a hundred moons fell into the valley.

• The Martial Master announced the three stages of the Long River Moon Flight trial, and Guan Canglong cleared them all to take first place with twenty-seven mountains.
• Shen Yunxian and Qu Xinghan also passed every stage, placing second and third, while the other disciples scored lower.
• Zhou Leng entered the Moon-Flying Diagram and broke through five trees in the Moon Flight, Tree Breaking stage.
• Zhou Leng guided the full moon through the river to the seventh mountain, but the rushing current swept it to the riverbank.
• Zhou Leng entered Moon Flight, Mountain Roaming as a hundred full moons descended into the valley.

Zhou Leng repeatedly trained in the Moon-Flying Diagram, using the True-Qi White Moon and its Spiritual Qi Limit to improve his true-qi control and reach twenty mountains. After failing to construct cultivation Divine Script, he continued cultivating and realized that the Ancient River Three Sons had surpassed Blue Star’s Martial Index limit.

• Zhou Leng was struck by a falling moon after reaching seventeen mountains, then learned from Martial Master that he could enter the Moon-Flying Diagram again.
• Zhou Leng studied the True-Qi White Moon for days, grasped the basics of externally releasing true qi, and discovered that the diagram contained a Spiritual Qi Limit that strengthened his body.
• Zhou Leng gained one mountain and improved his control of the moon, but fell short of the ninth mountain in Moon Flight, River Flow.
• Zhou Leng reached twenty mountains across three more attempts, asked Martial Master about the diagram, and recorded his insights in the Ancient River notebook.
• Zhou Leng tried to translate his insights into cultivation Divine Script but failed, then continued cultivating and recognized that the Ancient River Three Sons exceeded Blue Star’s Martial Index limit.

Zhou Leng reached twenty-three mountains in the Moon-Flying Diagram, earned Martial Master's promise of a Little Star Pill after he advanced to Innate, and then began the Innate Pavilion's basic martial arts assessment. He passed the fist technique requirement and continued toward mastering the other eight arts.

• Zhou Leng improved his Moon-Flying Diagram result to twenty-three mountains before the Spiritual Qi Limit and his body reached their training limits.
• Martial Master showed Zhou Leng a Little Star Pill and promised him the pill if he performed well in another Ancient River Ruins after reaching Innate.
• Zhou Leng met Zhang Xinglie and Song Juesi, shared his trial experience, and advised them to stop once they reached twenty-one or twenty-three mountains.
• Zhou Leng entered the Innate Pavilion, where Martial Master explained that he had to master nine basic martial arts before choosing an Innate external art.
• Zhou Leng selected fist, palm, finger, claw, leg, sword, footwork, movement, and lightness techniques, then completed six flashes on the fist technique Martial Shadow Wall.

Zhou Leng mastered most of the basic martial arts in the Innate Pavilion, memorized four mysterious Divine Scripts, and continued training toward completing the remaining techniques. Meanwhile, Zhang Xinglie and Song Juesi received Martial Master’s encouragement, and a new group of trial-takers arrived to learn about the second trial from Zhou Leng’s guidance.

• Zhou Leng learned the basic fist, palm, footwork, finger, claw, and sword techniques, reaching Six Flash or higher in most and the Extreme Realm in his footwork and palm techniques.
• Zhou Leng overheard Guan Canglong, Qu Xinghan, and Shen Yunxian discuss their chosen Martial Dao star paths and the Ancient River Sect’s looming crisis, then memorized the sounds of four Divine Scripts that he could not visualize.
• Martial Master showed Zhang Xinglie an azure pill and used gestures to explain that he could receive it after reaching the Innate Realm, then gave Song Juesi similar encouragement.
• Rao Mingxian arrived at Feiyue Hall with more than two hundred trial-takers, and Zhang Xinglie offered to explain the second trial by passing on Zhou Leng’s instructions.

Zhou Leng, Zhang Xinglie, and Song Juesi advanced their martial arts in the third trial, and Song Juesi earned recognition as an outer sect disciple and Ancient River Instructor. After choosing techniques in the Innate Pavilion, Zhou Leng learned that becoming an inner sect disciple would let him teach his friends, so he chose to attempt the dangerous Bitter Prison.

• Zhang Xinglie and Song Juesi demonstrated their martial arts, reaching eight and nine flashes in fist technique, and Song Juesi later achieved nine flashes across the trial’s shared arts.
• Song Juesi completed the nine walls and was promised outer sect status, the post of Ancient River Instructor, and an additional innate martial art.
• Zhou Leng, Zhang Xinglie, and Song Juesi improved their foundations, then entered the Innate Pavilion to choose external arts.
• Zhou Leng chose Space-Severing Finger after Martial Master advised him against the other finger techniques, and he memorized its first three stances’ Divine Script.
• When Zhang Xinglie and Song Juesi could not learn their chosen techniques without Divine Script, Zhou Leng learned that passing the Bitter Prison could make him an inner sect disciple and allow him to teach them.
• Despite Martial Master’s warning that the three-hundred-li Bitter Prison was unlikely to be survivable, Zhou Leng asked permission to enter it.

Zhou Leng endured all nine sufferings of the Bitter Prison without giving up, even after his body was devastated and Divine Might nearly broke his spirit. He passed the trial, and Martial Master used a starlight liquid to restore and strengthen him, while Zhou Leng’s own starlight absorbed half of it.

• Martial Master took Zhou Leng into the Bitter Prison and replaced its will trial with the Disorderly Divine Melody.
• Zhou Leng endured the Sand Blades, Eroding Mist, Disorderly Divine Melody, Cold Thought, Void Weapons, and Wind Blades with little difficulty.
• Mountain Spears pierced Zhou Leng repeatedly, crippling his arms and leaving him severely wounded, but he kept moving.
• Zhou Leng rose under the eighth suffering’s Divine Might and continued through the Red Lotus Karmic Fire despite collapsing and fainting.
• Martial Master declared that Zhou Leng had passed the Bitter Prison and summoned starlight liquid to restore him.
• The starlight liquid rebuilt Zhou Leng’s body and made him stronger, while new starlight from his body devoured half of it.

Zhou Leng advanced to inner disciple of the Ancient River Sect, learned the Indestructible Star Body, and recorded the sect’s cultivation methods while he prepared to teach Zhang Xinglie and Song Juesi. Meanwhile, the Ten Realms Youth War began without Zhou Leng or Zhang Xinglie, and its 7,309 participants appeared on a ranking list above the battlefield.

• A silver starlight needle entered Zhou Leng’s Will World, making him an inner disciple and earning him half of the Star Phoenix Restoration Art.
• After waking, Zhou Leng discovered he had mastered the introductory stage of the Indestructible Star Body, then translated Divine Script cultivation methods for Zhang Xinglie and Elder Song.
• Martial Master warned Zhou Leng not to spread the Ancient River Sect’s methods recklessly, and Zhou Leng recorded the cultivation methods in the Innate Pavilion.
• The Ten Realms Youth War opened in Water Continent Demon City, and 7,309 participants entered while Zhou Leng and Zhang Xinglie were absent.
• Chen Changyi, Chen Shouhu, and Wang Boxiong discussed the leading contenders, including Kang Lanhe, Ding Linglong, Lou Feiqiong, and Lucas Miller.
• The battlefield revealed one hundred isolated peaks and a golden ranking list displaying all 7,309 participants.

The Ten Realms Youth War began as the contestants appeared on the rankings and spread across the battlefield, while several fighters pursued their own plans. Back at the Ancient River Sect, Zhou Leng continued recording and training as Martial Master assessed the disciples and excluded Rao Mingxing from Flying Moon Hall.

• Miller saw himself ranked 102nd and vowed to climb the rankings, while Deep Dark Fury charged off to hunt a Giant.
• Shanhe Yuan found himself ranked eleventh; Lou Feiqiong and Jax parted peacefully, Gray Steel Wind sought a Dragon-Scale Vermilion Fruit, and Jade Wing hid his dragon eggs in a cave.
• Azure Scales, ranked twenty-third, reflected on his awakened Sea God bloodline, while demonized Shen Jun planned to pursue Zhou Leng and the White Lake Lotus Fruit.
• Grandmaster Tong Tianxia prepared the Huangmeng Sect's return to Ru City and spoke with a flame-riding knight about the city's coming violence.
• Zhou Leng improved his martial arts to Seven Flash while recording, and Martial Master assigned the final assessments, barred Rao Mingxing from Flying Moon Hall, and directed the disciples above eighteen mountains toward another hall.