Chapter Summaries

Shen Qian climbed the exam’s stone steps, defeating Feng Kong and Cao Wen before reaching the tenth stair, where Li Jiaqi nearly overpowered him. He activated Real-Time AFK Mode, and the system defeated Li Jiaqi by copying her ancient martial arts technique, allowing Shen Qian to advance to the eleventh stair while warning that its energy was running low.

• Shen Qian defeated Feng Kong on the first stair and realized that his higher realm gave him an advantage while controlling the standard physique.
• Shen Qian fought Cao Wen on the second stair, raised his strength control rate above 90%, and defeated her with a powerful kick.
• Shen Qian advanced to the tenth stair and encountered Li Jiaqi, who used Ancient martial arts, Butterfly Leg to overwhelm him.
• Shen Qian activated Real-Time AFK Mode after the system warned that the session would leave its energy below 50%.
• The system took control of Shen Qian, copied Li Jiaqi’s Mountain Collapse Strike, and defeated her before advancing him to the eleventh stair.

Shen Qian’s system-guided climb ended on the twenty-first floor, where he defeated a mirror copy and earned a perfect score in practical combat, completing an unprecedented 300-point grand slam. Minister Ma Gongzuo then urged him to delay announcing his National Martial Champion title until autumn, warning that the honor would attract challengers and dangerous attention, leaving Shen Qian unsure what to choose.

• The system defeated successive geniuses on the twelfth through twentieth floors, including Zhao Keyi and Cao Qian, before ending its autopilot after defeating Luo Yi.
• Shen Qian discovered the twenty-first floor and fought a mirror copy of himself, with the system helping him win and shatter the Regalia Mirror.
• Ma Gongzuo appeared and confirmed that Shen Qian had earned perfect scores in all three exam subjects, making him the first 300-point grand slam champion.
• Ma Gongzuo explained that the champion’s title would make Shen Qian a target for challengers and external threats, and advised him to postpone its announcement until autumn.
• Ma Gongzuo offered Shen Qian the usual champion rewards and additional compensation if he waited, while Shen Qian struggled to decide whether to accept.

Shen Qian chose his path after discussing the dangers of the world with Ma Gongzuo, while examinees waited outside the stadium for the practical exam to end. Cao Wen and Li Jiaqi defended Shen Qian from Geng Qianqiu, and Cao Qian revealed that Shen Qian had defeated him in the Ladder Battle.

• Shen Qian asked Ma Gongzuo about a past examinee who scored 299 points and died, then said he had found his answer.
• Cao Wen waited outside the stadium for Shen Qian, and Li Jiaqi joined her as more examinees gathered.
• Geng Qianqiu mocked Shen Qian, prompting Cao Wen and Li Jiaqi to defend him; Li Jiaqi defeated Geng in a brief fight, and Cao Wen knocked him down as well.
• Cao Qian arrived and stopped Geng from continuing the fight.
• Cao Qian told Cao Wen that he had fought Shen Qian in the Ladder Battle and lost.

After Shen Qian emerged from the examination, Cao Qian, Li Jiaqi, and the others realized he had been far stronger than they expected. Shen Qian rejected the Thousand Stars Society’s assessment-based invitation, just as a divine dragon appeared and the Hundred Kings Hall invited him to join.

• Cao Qian admitted that Shen Qian had defeated him, and he left with Cao Wen while Li Jiaqi stayed to confront Shen Qian.
• Li Jiaqi added Shen Qian as a communication contact and promised to settle things with him another day.
• Shen Qian met Ouyang Fei and the others, learned what had happened outside, and agreed to join them at Nine Heavens Pavilion.
• Sun Ping offered Shen Qian an invitation to be assessed for the Thousand Stars Society, but Shen Qian rejected it as an insult.
• A storm formed above the stadium, a seven-colored divine dragon emerged, and the Hundred Kings Hall invited Shen Qian to join.

Shen Qian accepted the Hundred Kings Hall’s invitation and learned that it was founded by three of China’s first-generation Kings to connect and develop peerless geniuses. After three days of celebrations, he began his journey back to Jing City with the other candidates and entered the Hall’s vast palace to receive its information.

• A seven-colored divine dragon delivered the Hundred Kings Hall’s invitation to Shen Qian, and only he heard its voice; Sun Ping later reported the event to his minister, who suspected they had misjudged Shen Qian.
• Shen Qian celebrated with his friends and classmates for three days, then learned from Ling Xiao about Scavenger outposts, human-friendly demon beast clans, and the marriage privileges of Kings and Marquises.
• Shen Qian and the Jing City candidates departed Mingcheng with the Southwest Army’s Changyou Camp, where he greeted Song Ben, who had helped wipe out a Scavenger outpost.
• Shen Qian used the golden orb to enter the Hundred Kings Hall’s strange space and met attendant Wan Ning, who explained that three of China’s first-generation Kings had established the Hall.
• Shen Qian agreed to join, and Wan Ning became his exclusive attendant before leading him into the Hall’s vast palace and beginning a presentation of its information.

Shen Qian learned the Hundred Kings Hall’s history, membership rules, Star Council, and contribution system, discovering that new members received a year of Mountain Sea guard protection. After realizing he could earn contribution points by submitting martial skills, he prepared to meet the Hall’s other members.

• Shen Qian learned that the Hundred Kings Hall had been founded by the first-generation Three Kings to guide young geniuses toward becoming Kings, and that members had to reach the Mountain Sea Realm before thirty to retain their membership.
• Wan Ning explained that thirteen King-level former members made up the Star Council, while the first-generation Three Kings held separate seats.
• Shen Qian browsed the exchange system and learned that he could hire Mountain Sea guards with contribution points, but new members received one year of guard protection for free.
• Wan Ning explained the four ways to earn contribution points: buying them, advancing in cultivation, completing other members’ bounty tasks, and submitting resources to the treasury.
• Shen Qian realized that martial skills could be submitted as resources and considered using his system-enhanced comprehension to earn contribution points before sitting on his throne to meet the other members.

Shen Qian joined the Hundred Kings Hall, where Zhao Keyi posted a bounty to identify the mysterious opponent who had defeated him in the practical exam. After Shen Qian sensed a brief disturbance while riding back to Jing City, the armored convoy suddenly stopped in the wind and sand.

• Shen Qian shaped a throne and entered the Hundred Kings Hall, where the numbered members welcomed him and teased No. 97, Zhao Keyi.
• Shen Qian revealed that he was a First Stage Elementary Martial Artist, surprising the hall’s members, who speculated about his age and secrets.
• Shen Qian saw Zhao Keyi’s 100-contribution-point bounty seeking the identity of the mysterious opponent from the practical exam and agreed to keep an eye out in the southwest.
• Shen Qian sensed the system’s brief restlessness, logged off, and asked Song Ben about dangers along the convoy’s route; Song Ben said the patrol zone was regularly cleared.
• Gu Zifang told Shen Qian he planned to earn a Hunter badge, while Ouyang Fei planned to take an Alchemist qualification exam, and Shen Qian considered developing a side profession.
• The armored vehicle suddenly braked, and Shen Qian saw that something in the wind and sand was blocking the convoy.

A spreading supernatural blizzard forced Shen Qian and the convoy to abandon their vehicles and trek toward Mingcheng City, where they became lost and found a field of dead Scavengers. The group reached Buya Valley and discovered nine cloaked figures around an ice platform, while Shen Qian sensed a greater danger in a strange light above it.

• Sun Fang ordered the convoy to turn back after Song Ben measured temperatures below minus one hundred degrees, but the advancing blizzard soon forced everyone to abandon the vehicles.
• Sun Fang organized the teachers, students, and soldiers into groups and led them toward Mingcheng City before their protective suits ran out of energy.
• After nearly three hours of walking without reaching Kunning Mountain, Shen Qian told the others that the group had become lost.
• The scouts and Shen Qian found thousands of dead Scavengers in the snow, then a scout identified a valley ahead as Buya Valley.
• The group reached the valley, where the blizzard abruptly stopped and nine cloaked figures stood around an ice platform.
• Shen Qian sensed danger and spotted a strange light above the platform, slowly breaking free from an unknown void.

Shen Qian and the others witnessed a ritual opening a dangerous Door near Mingcheng City, while Sun Fang led the Advanced Martial Artists and Changyou Camp soldiers into a desperate fight against thousands of Walking Corpses. As soldiers and teachers sacrificed themselves to reach the altar, Shen Qian chose to join the battle and leaped into the valley.

• Shen Qian saw a woman carrying a newborn approach an altar as nine hooded figures chanted around a writhing blotch of light, which Sun Fang identified as an out-of-control Door.
• Sun Fang’s sniper shot failed to affect the Door, and he led the Advanced Martial Artists into the valley while ordering the soldiers to support them.
• Thousands of Walking Corpses rose from beneath the snow and attacked; the dead kept getting back up, and the Psionic Cannons had little effect.
• The woman placed the baby on the altar, causing the Door to expand and a pale hand to reach through as Sun Fang ordered the Changyou Camp soldiers to clear a path at any cost.
• Changyou Camp soldiers sacrificed themselves to push toward the altar while other units defended the students, and Shen Qian, overcome with frustration, leaped into the valley to fight.

Shen Qian joined Changyou Camp’s desperate battle, used blazing flames to cut through the Walking Corpses, and helped the soldiers reach the altar and rescue the baby. After the ritual resumed and Shan Hai reinforcements arrived, Shen Qian accused them of allowing the danger to unfold and leaped into the sky to kill He Yanfeng despite their orders, leaving the strike unresolved.

• Shen Qian accepted the system’s AFK request, leaped from the cliff, and landed unharmed while Ouyang Fei and other students descended by rope.
• Shen Qian wielded deep-blue flames to destroy Walking Corpses, reached Changyou Camp, and helped the fighters break through to the altar, where Huang Tao took the baby.
• The nine slain Scavengers rose as powerful cloaked Walking Corpses, and a new horde emerged; Sun Fang and the others tried to hold the altar while ordering Shen Qian to escape.
• He Yanfeng fled, causing soldiers to die, then returned the baby to the altar and spilled his blood on the monster’s arm, accelerating its emergence from the door.
• Four Shan Hai experts arrived and restrained the Walking Corpses, but Shen Qian accused them of protecting He Yanfeng and allowing the monster to emerge; one expert lifted He Yanfeng out of reach.
• Shen Qian leaped through the sky after He Yanfeng and brought his saber down on him despite the Shan Hai expert’s warning.

Shen Qian killed He Yanfeng after demonstrating that he could move through the air, then confronted the Mountain Sea Martial Artists who had tried to stop him. Ling Xiao and Shi Dingyan arrived and exposed the Martial Law Department’s hidden array, leaving its officers arguing over their authority to seize Shen Qian and the Abyssal Ghost.

• Shen Qian used a midair slash to kill He Yanfeng, whom a Mountain Sea powerhouse had lifted while trying to save him.
• Shen Qian accused the Mountain Sea powerhouse of letting Changyou Camp soldiers die and vowed that he would kill him someday.
• Ling Xiao arrived with a wooden sword at a Mountain Sea Martial Artist’s throat, and Shi Dingyan soon joined him.
• Shi Dingyan subdued the Abyssal Ghost, while the hillside observers realized Shen Qian was connected to powerful senior figures.
• Tang Shengzong identified himself as a Martial Law Department officer and accused Shen Qian of murder, but Ling Xiao challenged why his division had been in the restricted zone.
• Shi Dingyan revealed a Four Symbols Dragon Trapping Array, and Ling Xiao accused Tang Shengzong’s group of hiding while Changyou Camp was attacked; Tang Shengzong then demanded the Abyssal Ghost and insisted on apprehending Shen Qian.

After Shen Qian provoked Tang Shengzong into retreating, he fainted and woke two days later in Jing City, where his senior brothers explained the dimensional doors and the spiritual energy revival. He went to see Gao Wenyuan, while Shi Dingyan and Liu Changqing suspected their teacher had anticipated the Martial Law Department’s likely retaliation.

• Shen Qian dared Tang Shengzong to arrest him, threatened to kill him someday, then collapsed after Ling Xiao and Shi Dingyan urged him to stand down.
• Shen Qian dreamed again of the White-robed Man and woke in Ji Ruoshui’s care, discovering his deathly energy had disappeared and that she had made him new clothes.
• Shen Qian toured his renovated residence and heard from Liu Changqing and Shi Dingyan that Tang Shengzong had left without taking the Abyssal Ghost or the formation flags.
• Shi Dingyan and Liu Changqing told Shen Qian that the dimensional doors led to other worlds, that they had appeared after the mysterious comet, and that they were a source of Earth’s spiritual energy.
• Shen Qian headed upstairs to see Gao Wenyuan, while Shi Dingyan and Liu Changqing discussed whether their teacher had a plan for the Martial Law Department’s likely retaliation.

Shen Qian met with Gao Wenyuan, who returned his death energy and advised him to create a martial technique suited to himself. After Gao warned him to stay indoors, Shen Qian endured a string of mishaps before witnessing a funeral procession that stirred memories of a battlefield.

• Shen Qian met Gao Wenyuan, who explained that death was a Dao beyond Shen Qian's current abilities and returned the death energy in a bottle.
• Gao Wenyuan encouraged Shen Qian to create his own martial technique and warned him to go out less for the next few days.
• Shen Qian slipped on a banana peel, while Liu Changqing photographed the fall and teased that he would sell the embarrassing pictures.
• Shen Qian faced a series of unlucky accidents in the streets, including narrowly avoiding a thrown cactus.
• Shen Qian watched soldiers escort an Ice Coffin in a funeral procession and remembered a fallen comrade from the battlefield as they sang an ancient ballad.

After grieving Song Ben and confronting the rumors surrounding his exam performance, Shen Qian secluded himself at Jiuzhou Martial Arts Hall to refine death energy. He emerged three days later vastly stronger, just before the college entrance exam results were released.

• Shen Qian told Huo Ling'er about Song Ben's death, his guilt, and the criticism he faced over the college entrance exam, and she listened and reassured him.
• Shen Qian read a forum post predicting Jing City's steep decline in the annual city ranking and realized the public's resentment might have turned the fortune attached to him into bad luck.
• Shen Qian went to Jiuzhou Martial Arts Hall, measured his strength at 1209 kg, and began cultivating with death energy in a sealed sauna room.
• Shen Qian cultivated for three days and refined roughly three-quarters of the death energy before waking on the morning the exam results were due.
• Shen Qian tested his strength at 1703 kg, recognized that he had advanced beyond the First Stage of Elementary Martial Artist, and prepared to leave while waiting for results to become available.

Shen Qian was harassed by reporters, then learned that the Martial Law Department had placed him on its Black List, threatening his university admission. A heavenly flower phenomenon revealed that he was Jing City’s top liberal arts scorer, and four Mountain Sea experts arrived to congratulate him.

• Shen Qian brushed off reporters who questioned and insulted him, then cursed at them on camera outside his home.
• Shen Qian’s parents comforted him after neighborhood gossip and media coverage upset Wang Xiaojuan.
• Song Ye told Shen Qian that the Martial Law Department had issued an arrest warrant accusing him of slaughtering his own kind and added him to the Black List, potentially affecting university admission.
• Shen Qian declined Song Ye’s suggestion to seek help from Marquis Jingcheng, then went to the rooftop when a bright halo appeared over Xingfu Residential Area.
• A halo scattered flowers around Shen Qian, and a resident identified the phenomenon as a sign that he was the top liberal arts scorer.
• Four Mountain Sea experts arrived in the sky to congratulate Shen Qian and announce plans to erect a stele and archway in his honor.

Shen Qian received provincial honors as the academic champion, but Tang Shengzong arrived with ten Martial Law Department enforcers to arrest him. In North Capital, the Ministry of Education named Shen Qian the national Martial Champion, awakening the Wugu Star and drawing kings and marquises toward Jing City.

• Four Mountain Sea Martial Artists congratulated Shen Qian, gave him a provincial gift, and erected a Champion Stele and Champion Arch outside his residential area.
• Reporters crowded around Shen Qian, but Tang Shengzong arrived with ten enforcers and announced that Shen Qian was wanted for murder on Duke Tianning's orders.
• Chai Haotian challenged the arrest, while Tang Shengzong refused to back down; Shen Qian and the onlookers waited for the Marquis of Jingcheng to intervene.
• At the Sky-Reaching Tower, Gao Wenyuan reassured Ji Ruoshui that Shen Qian would be fine, while Gao and Shi Dingyan watched events unfold.
• At the Ministry of Education, Ma Gongzuo raised the Wu Zhao Platform after officials noticed Southwest First Province's champion was missing from the roll call.
• Ma Gongzuo inscribed Shen Qian as the national Martial Champion, awakening the Wugu Star and prompting kings and marquises to head toward Jing City.

Shen Qian became China's unprecedented National Martial Champion, while Jiang Huan challenged Duke Tianning and Wu Wei reined in the Martial Law Department. After the celebrations, Shen Qian claimed a Hundred Kings Hall bounty and prepared to inspect his gifts.

• Starlight and a series of spectacular spiritual phenomena appeared over Jing City, and the Marquis of Qingcheng and other Wang Hous congratulated Shen Qian on becoming China's Martial Champion.
• Tang Shengzong led the Criminal Justice Division away after a voice cursed him and ordered Duke Tianning to send the eight Mountain Seas to Sea Prison.
• Jiang Huan confronted the Martial Law Department and challenged Duke Tianning, but Wu Wei intervened, promised justice, cut the department's annual allocation, and abolished the Black List.
• Shen Qian received public honors and congratulations, then avoided the crowds and stayed at Shi Dingyan's place in the Sky-Reaching Tower.
• Shen Qian claimed No. 97's hundred-point bounty through the Hundred Kings Hall and went to collect the congratulatory gifts Wu Hongxu had delivered.

Shen Qian opened his awards for becoming Southwest First Province’s top scholar and discovered they had made him wealthy, then met Dao Jiu, the Mountain Sea expert assigned as his guard. Dao Jiu described how the Thousand Stars Society had helped him reach the Mountain and Sea realm, leaving Shen Qian to suspect a connection between the society and the Hundred Kings Hall.

• Shen Qian opened his provincial top scholar rewards and found golden leaves hidden in the Four Books and Five Classics, platinum study treasures, pills, cash, redemption vouchers, and ten Martial Practice Tokens.
• Shen Qian recalled receiving Wugu Starlight Infusion, then watched Jing City celebrate his achievement with fireworks and people shouting his name.
• Shi Dingyan told Shen Qian that a guard had arrived, and Shen Qian met Dao Jiu, who had walked from Liaocheng City because plane tickets were too expensive.
• Shen Qian gave Dao Jiu clean clothes and learned that Dao Jiu had joined the Hundred Kings Hall in exchange for serving as his guard for a year.
• Dao Jiu told Shen Qian that the Thousand Stars Society had recruited him at university and left him a Path that helped him become a Mountain and Sea cultivator.
• Shen Qian learned that a king had recruited Dao Jiu into the Hundred Kings Hall after his trial and began to suspect the Thousand Stars Society and the Hundred Kings Hall were connected.

Shen Qian endured three days of celebratory banquets after becoming the nation’s first Martial Champion, then accompanied the former security guard Old Hu to Jing City’s public cemetery. Old Hu revealed his past as provincial top scorer Hu Feiwei and broke down before neglected gravestones connected to the incident ten years earlier.

• Shen Qian accepted lavish congratulatory gifts, thanked Liu Simin, and agreed to visit North Capital at Wei Sijian’s invitation.
• Shen Qian left for Jiuzhou Martial Arts Hall with Dao Jiu, but Dao Jiu reacted to Old Hu waiting at the residential complex entrance.
• Old Hu changed into a military uniform and told Shen Qian that his real name was Hu Feiwei and that he had been the province’s top scorer in '53.
• Old Hu recounted his time at Jiangzhong Military University, where he stayed to be near a woman who later married someone else.
• Old Hu led Shen Qian to a neglected section of Jing City’s public cemetery and wept over the gravestones of people he said had once been the city’s pride.

Old Hu told Shen Qian how Jiang Chengye and sixteen Jing City students died in a disaster at Jiangzhong Military University ten years earlier, then asked him to return to the reopened university and uncover the truth. He led Shen Qian to a bereaved family’s home, where Shen froze at something on the wall of a young girl’s bedroom.

• Shen Qian found Jiang Chengye’s gravestone among seventeen neglected graves, and Old Hu explained that the dead had been among Jing City’s top martial arts students.
• Old Hu recounted how Jiang Chengye rose to fame, returned from a campaign with a Scavenger woman, and secretly brought her into Jiangzhong Military University.
• Old Hu said the woman used the blood of sixteen students to open an A-rank door, which destroyed much of the university and swallowed hundreds of people, including the woman and Jiang Chengye.
• Old Hu revealed that Jiang Chengye had entered the door before it closed and asked Shen Qian to investigate the reopened university because he believed Jiang Chengye might still be alive.
• Old Hu brought Shen Qian to the impoverished families of the dead students and into a young girl’s bedroom, where Shen froze after looking at the wall.