Chapter Summaries

Jiang Donghua and Lin Xiuyuan tried the academy’s department talent assessments, but failed at formations and talismans. Jiang qualified for the Alchemy Department with his Fire affinity, leaving Lin Xiuyuan stunned and envious.

• Jiang Donghua learned from Lin Xiuyuan that students could take talent assessments to transfer into the Alchemy, Formation, or Talisman Departments.
• Lin Xiuyuan led Jiang to the Formation Department, where an elder rejected him for weak Soul Force, and a talisman instructor dismissed Jiang’s unsteady drawing.
• Lin Xiuyuan despaired over his failed assessment, then realized Jiang had Fire affinity and dragged him to the Alchemy Department.
• Jiang touched the Alchemy Department’s crystal ball, which glowed red and qualified him to enter.
• Lin Xiuyuan reacted with shock as Jiang joked that his luck was good.

Jiang Donghua entered the Alchemy Department and began its second test under steward Mo Xuan, learning to balance Fire and Wood spiritual power to form alchemy fire. He successfully produced a stable flame and was left concentrating on maintaining it for a quarter of an hour.

• Jiang Donghua entered the Alchemy Department hall and met Mo Xuan, a Fifth-grade Alchemist and steward overseeing the second test.
• Mo Xuan brought Jiang Donghua to the alchemy hall, where a freshman failed to control a furnace and was sent to meditate for three days.
• Mo Xuan instructed Jiang Donghua to ignite a pill furnace with Fire-attribute Battle Qi and keep it burning for a quarter of an hour.
• Jiang Donghua summoned a crimson flame on his first attempt, then searched his body for Wood attribute spiritual power.
• Jiang Donghua guided the Wood energy into the furnace, transforming the unstable flames into a steady blue-red alchemy fire.
• Mo Xuan told Jiang Donghua to maintain the balanced flame, and Jiang Donghua focused on controlling both energies.

Jiang Donghua chose to learn the difficult Bone-Mending Pill, while Mo Xuan gave him ten batches of ingredients and warned him he would be expelled if he could not make a pill within a year. After Lin Xiuyuan congratulated him and treated him to a meal, he pointed out how costly the ingredients and equipment would be.

• Jiang Donghua chose the Bone-Mending Pill over two easier healing medicines, and Mo Xuan gave him ten batches of herbs with a one-year deadline to succeed.
• Jiang Donghua absorbed the prescription’s alchemy knowledge and worried that hostile apprentices might sabotage his practice.
• Lin Xiuyuan waited outside the Alchemy Department, learned Jiang Donghua had been accepted, and struggled with envy before inviting him to eat.
• Lin Xiuyuan listed the high prices of the Bone-Mending Pill’s ingredients and warned that a first-tier medicine cauldron cost a hundred thousand gold coins.

Jiang Donghua searched for Yan Feng, who had fled to escape the effects of the Body-Burning Incantation, then returned to class and discovered he had eidetic memory. He began planning to improve his cultivation before focusing on pill refining, while wondering whether the AFK System had granted him the memory.

• Jiang Donghua searched the training ground, rear mountain, and instructors’ dormitory for Yan Feng, finding signs that he had fled.
• Yan Feng hid from the wicked fire stirred by the Body-Burning Incantation, whose warning said excessive yang energy could make cultivation dangerous.
• Jiang Donghua read the manual, panicked at its implications, and decided to find another way to obtain the medicine cauldron.
• Jiang Donghua checked the AFK System and realized that reaching beginner level in Bone-Mending Pill refining would take more than twenty days.
• Jiang Donghua decided to focus on reaching the Dou Master realm first so he could gain another cultivation clone.
• Jiang Donghua found that he could recall every detail in the Herbal Compendium and wondered whether the system had given him eidetic memory.

Jiang Donghua intervened when Chen Xiao, Chu Feibai, and Liu Shiqing harassed Liu Yuting and Liu Mingyu, but Instructor Lin stopped the confrontation before it turned into a fight. Afterward, the three students plotted to cripple Liu Mingyu that night, counting on an unknown backer to protect them from Jiang Donghua.

• Jiang Donghua found Liu Yuting surrounded by Chen Xiao, Chu Feibai, and Liu Shiqing while Liu Mingyu was being blocked and beaten.
• Jiang Donghua challenged the three students, but Instructor Lin intervened and ordered everyone to disperse.
• Instructor Lin warned Liu Yuting to seek her help if the harassment happened again, while Jiang Donghua asked Liu Mingyu for the students' names.
• Chen Xiao, Chu Feibai, and Liu Shiqing discussed Jiang Donghua's strength and their failed attempt to get information about the Ice Control Art.
• Liu Shiqing proposed crippling Liu Mingyu, and Chen Xiao agreed that they would act that night.

Jiang Donghua agreed to join Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting on an academy assessment mission after they offered to split the rewards. Finding the Shadow Wolf Habitat crowded and picked clean, the three followed the migrating wolf pack beyond the academy’s safety zone.

• Jiang Donghua, Liu Mingyu, and Liu Yuting suspected that Chen Xiao and his companions had targeted the siblings because of their ties to Black Iron City.
• Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting recruited Jiang Donghua for their assessment mission, agreeing to split the rewards four-three-three and let Liu Mingyu choose rare materials first.
• Chen Xiao, Chu Feibai, and Liu Shiqing found Liu Mingyu’s dormitory empty and vowed to search for him the next day.
• The trio reached the Shadow Wolf Habitat and found it packed with hunters who had already searched the area for magical beasts.
• After hearing wolves howl toward a deeper gorge beyond the academy’s safety zone, Jiang Donghua persuaded Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting to follow the pack, and they left the crowded hunting ground.

Jiang Donghua, Liu Mingyu, and Liu Yuting camped overnight in the forest before following a trail deeper into the woods. They detected and killed a camouflaged Withered Leaf Snake, then found its valuable parts intact but no magic core.

• Liu Mingyu set up camp with Jiang Donghua and Liu Yuting, and they agreed to take turns keeping watch.
• Liu Yuting said she felt watched, but the group passed the night without incident.
• At dawn, the three packed up and followed tracks left by other student teams into the forest.
• Jiang Donghua recognized a pile of leaves as a Withered Leaf Snake's camouflage, and Liu Mingyu sensed the snake beneath it.
• The three worked together to kill the One-star Dou Zhe Withered Leaf Snake and recovered its intact venom sac and gallbladder, but found no magic core.

Jiang Donghua, Liu Mingyu, and Liu Yuting encountered a wounded Yellow Earth Python and fled across a ravine, only to discover it was being hunted by an Azure Wing Demonic Eagle. The eagle swallowed the python and nearly found the three hiding in a cave before a distant explosion drew it away, leaving them shaken but alive.

• Jiang Donghua carried Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting away from a crashing beast, using Cloud-Chasing Steps to leap across a ravine.
• The three recognized the creature on the opposite bank as a wounded Yellow Earth Python at Battle Master Peak.
• A roar from the forest frightened the python into burrowing underground, and the three hid in a cave while concealing their auras.
• An Azure Wing Demonic Eagle dragged the python from beneath the earth and swallowed it whole.
• The eagle turned toward the cave, but a distant explosion lured it away before it could reach the three.

Jiang Donghua, Liu Mingyu, and Liu Yuting discovered a nest of sub-adult Wood Swallowing Rats and killed them to complete the academy’s assessment. Their hunt drew two enraged adult Wood Swallowing Rats into the cave, and the three students began fighting for their lives.

• Jiang Donghua investigated noises in the cave and found a nest of sub-adult Wood Swallowing Rats.
• Jiang Donghua killed the rats while Liu Yuting collected their bodies for the academy assessment, and Liu Mingyu explained what they had been eating.
• Jiang Donghua found no magic cores in the rats and prepared to leave with the others.
• Two adult Wood Swallowing Rats entered the cave, smelled the blood on the students, and attacked them.
• Jiang Donghua struck one rat with his sword and Blazing Palm, while Liu Mingyu knocked the other away from Liu Yuting with an Earth-attribute stone fist.

Jiang Donghua helped Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting defeat two giant rats, and the siblings found Wood Element magic cores worth a fortune. After the battle, both broke through their cultivation bottlenecks, leaving them deeply grateful to Jiang Donghua as the three prepared to leave the cave.

• Jiang Donghua killed one giant rat while Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting practiced coordinating their attacks against the other under his guidance.
• Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting killed the second giant rat together, and they found a Wood Element magic core in each rat's skull.
• Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting began breaking through, so Jiang Donghua guarded the cave entrance while they meditated.
• Liu Mingyu advanced to the ninth stage of Dou Qi, and Liu Yuting reached the eighth stage.
• Liu Mingyu thanked Jiang Donghua, and the three collected the corpses while he resolved to value their bond.

After surviving a deadly beast tide, Jiang Donghua, Liu Mingyu, and Liu Yuting returned to Jia Nan Academy with valuable spoils and turned in their mission. They celebrated their good fortune with a feast at the dining hall.

• Instructor Mo Cang killed the Azure Wing Demonic Eagle with one strike, calmed the freshmen, and warned them to retreat if they encountered anything unusual.
• Jiang Donghua, Liu Mingyu, and Liu Yuting witnessed Mo Cang's Battle Qi Wings and made their way through the devastated camps back to safety.
• Jiang Donghua registered more than a dozen Wood Swallowing Rats and two Wood Element magic cores with the Enforcement Team.
• At the Merit Pavilion, the three turned in seventeen Wood Swallowing Rats and two Wood Element magic cores, surprising the registrar with their haul.
• Jiang Donghua, Liu Mingyu, and Liu Yuting celebrated their survival and mission rewards with a meal and drinks at the dining hall.

After a Tier 3 Demonic Eagle appeared in the Trial Area, Jia Nan Academy’s mentors suspected the Blood Demon Sect was involved. Jiang Donghua persuaded Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting to return to the Trial Area for another hunt, and the three entered the quiet forest at daybreak.

• New students and older students at Jia Nan Academy discussed the Tier 3 Azure Wing Demonic Eagle that Mentor Mo Cang had brought back from the Trial Area.
• Mo Cang told the mentors that dark-element energy remained in the eagle’s body, prompting them to suspect the Blood Demon Sect.
• Jiang Donghua convinced Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting that the academy would clear out high-level Demonic Beasts and promised to stay near the Trial Area’s outskirts.
• Jiang Donghua woke before dawn, used his AFK System’s automatic cultivation, and headed back to the Trial Area with the Liu siblings.
• The three entered the unusually quiet forest, where Jiang Donghua warned that Tier 2 Demonic Beasts might still remain deeper inside.

Jiang Donghua led Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting deeper into the Trial Area, where they found few beasts and encountered a powerful student team. They discovered that team fighting a rampaging Crimson Flame Demonic Tiger, and Jiang Donghua fled with the Liu siblings while claiming he would fetch reinforcements.

• Jiang Donghua defended his team from other students' taunts and warned Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting to stay close.
• A bespectacled youth and his team killed a Shadow Wolf with a single arrow and left after sizing up Jiang Donghua's group.
• After finding few beasts along their route, Jiang Donghua persuaded the Liu siblings to follow the experts deeper into the forest in search of prey or treasure.
• The trio found the bespectacled team badly injured while fighting a Crimson Flame Demonic Tiger whose eyes had turned black.
• When the tiger unleashed a sea of fire, Jiang Donghua used Cloud-Chasing Steps to escape with the Liu siblings, shouting that he would get reinforcements.

Jiang Donghua drew students to help defeat a Two-star Dou Master Crimson Flame Demonic Tiger, then learned the beast’s presence might point to trouble in the Trial Area. The Liu siblings and Jiang returned toward the academy as instructors sealed off the entrance.

• Jiang Donghua carried Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting through the forest while warning nearby students about the Crimson Flame Demonic Tiger, drawing them toward the fight.
• Chen Mo, Ye Han, Chen Yuqing, and Li Tieshan fought the tiger until students gathered and overwhelmed it with a coordinated siege.
• Jiang Donghua and the Liu siblings received thanks and praise from the students, and Jiang introduced himself to Chen Mo’s group.
• Jiang Donghua and the Liu siblings suspected the four older students were on an instructor’s task and wondered how the tiger had entered the Trial Area.
• Jiang Donghua led the Liu siblings back toward the academy as instructors hurried over and sealed the Trial Area entrance.

Lei Tian and the Outer Court leaders discovered a Blood Demon Sect corpse behind the demonized beasts and placed Jia Nan Academy on alert, suspecting a wider scheme. Meanwhile, Jiang Donghua defeated Liu Shiqing, Chu Feibai, and Chen Xiao, then left with the Liu siblings while Instructor Lin began investigating the fight.

• Lei Tian and the instructors cleared demonized beasts from the Trial Area and discovered the corpse of a Blood Demon Sect expert in a concealed cave.
• Lei Tian ordered a martial lockdown, an investigation of suspicious people, and the activation of Jia Nan Academy's Guardian Array as the leaders considered the Blood Demon Sect's likely scheme.
• Jiang Donghua confronted Chen Xiao, Chu Feibai, and Liu Shiqing, overpowering all three after they tried to attack him.
• Instructor Lin arrived with the Enforcement Team and reprimanded Jiang Donghua, while Liu Mingyu and Liu Yuting explained that the three men had harassed and ambushed them.
• Instructor Lin said she would investigate and that Jiang Donghua must accept punishment; Jiang Donghua left with the Liu siblings as Chen Xiao vowed revenge.

Mo Xuan intervened to spare Jiang Donghua from confinement and revealed that Jiang had exceptional alchemy talent. He ordered Jiang to report to the Alchemy Department daily for personal instruction, while Chen Xiao and his companions fled in fear of Mo Xuan’s influence.

• Instructor Lin punished Chen Xiao and the other two for provoking Jiang Donghua, while ordering Jiang confined for two months and stripping him of that month’s cultivation resources.
• Mo Xuan stopped the Enforcement Team and persuaded Instructor Lin to replace Jiang Donghua’s confinement with miscellaneous work for him.
• Chen Xiao and the other two panicked when they learned Mo Xuan was a Fifth-grade Alchemist and fled, warning that they could not afford to provoke Jiang Donghua.
• Mo Xuan scolded Jiang Donghua for hunting demonic beasts instead of developing his alchemy talent, citing his rare Fire and Wood attributes and strong soul perception.
• Mo Xuan told Jiang Donghua to report to the Alchemy Department every day so he could personally teach him alchemy, and Jiang agreed.

Jiang Donghua escaped Mo Xuan’s attempt to recruit him, prompting the Alchemy Master to plot against him through the Bone-Mending Pill assessment. After learning Mo Xuan protected Jiang Donghua, Chen Ming forced his lackeys to apologize to the Liu siblings and tried to use them to reach Jiang Donghua, but Jiang arrived and called out his scheme.

• Jiang Donghua fled from Mo Xuan, who vowed to make him seek instruction and planned to use the Bone-Mending Pill assessment against him.
• Chen Xiao and two lackeys told Chen Ming that Mo Xuan had intervened on Jiang Donghua’s behalf.
• Chen Ming beat his injured lackeys and ordered them to apologize to the Liu siblings, then offered the siblings three Qi-Nourishing Pills.
• Chen Ming asked the Liu siblings to introduce him to Jiang Donghua, and Jiang appeared and accused him of scheming.

Jiang Donghua used his new status as Master Mo Xuan’s disciple to make Chen Ming apologize and keep his group from troubling the Liu siblings again. After escaping the attention of eager female students, he reassured the siblings, while Liu Yuting quietly accepted that the gap between them would grow.

• Chen Ming flattered Jiang Donghua and gave gifts to him and the Liu siblings, then apologized for offending them.
• The students learned Jiang Donghua had become Master Mo Xuan’s disciple, and female students crowded around him for attention.
• Chen Ming warned his three lackeys not to provoke Jiang Donghua or the Liu siblings and urged them to seek his favor instead.
• Jiang Donghua used Cloud-Chasing Steps to escape the crowd and led the Liu siblings to a secluded grove.
• Jiang Donghua told the Liu siblings they could rely on his name or Master Mo Xuan’s, while Liu Yuting hid her growing affection for him.

Jiang Donghua fled the Outer Academy’s sudden attention by preparing for secluded cultivation in the mountains, while Mo Xuan mistook his plans for a secret effort to improve his alchemy. Deep in the forest, Jiang Donghua survived and killed a powerful Bloodfang Demonic Wolf, then continued toward the mountain depths.

• Jiang Donghua escaped the female students crowding his classroom and decided to leave the academy for secluded cultivation.
• Jiang Donghua accepted herb-gathering missions, gathered supplies, and slipped out of the academy at night.
• Mo Xuan received news of Jiang Donghua’s missions and assumed he was secretly training to become a First-grade Alchemist.
• Jiang Donghua traveled into the dangerous forest, where a Seven-Star Battle Master Bloodfang Demonic Wolf chased him into a narrow mountain crevice.
• Jiang Donghua injured the wolf with Blazing Palm, then used his sword and Cloud-Chasing Steps to kill it.
• Jiang Donghua searched the wolf’s head for a magic core, collected valuable parts, and continued deeper into the forest.

Jiang Donghua settled into a mountain cave to cultivate and advanced to Three-star Dou Master after four days. While exploring, he found Qi Nurturing Fruit guarded by a Blackwater Mysterious Snake and fled, deciding to return after growing stronger.

• Jiang Donghua carved out a Cave Mansion in a secluded valley and began cultivating with the AFK System and its two clones.
• Jiang Donghua studied the Bone-Mending Pill formula and gathered Azure Spirit Grass and lingzhi nearby.
• Jiang Donghua broke through from Two-star Dou Master to Three-star Dou Master on the morning of the fourth day.
• Jiang Donghua discovered Qi Nurturing Fruit growing in a black pool and tried to retrieve it with a rope.
• A Blackwater Mysterious Snake attacked from the pool, and Jiang Donghua escaped before returning toward his cave to cultivate further.