Chapter Summaries

Xianchan Chenchen and Zhaoye Bai investigated Bai Yu’s gruesome death, and Chenchen recalled Bai Yu’s past as a kind, relationship-building Ritual Guard walker. The chapter ended with Chenchen meeting the bandaged Qin Leyin and struggling to hold back his anger at Qin’s teasing.

• Xianchan Chenchen examined Bai Yu’s corpse while Zhaoye Bai teased him and directed the Statistics Department agents to search for the assassin’s route of entry.
• Zhaoye Bai explained that Director Xie had assigned her to assist and keep an eye on Xianchan Chenchen after his failed attempt to frame Qin Leyin.
• Xianchan Chenchen recalled how Bai Yu had favored building relationships and exchanging intelligence, while the other guards preferred direct violence.
• Zhaoye Bai suggested that Chenchen regretted Bai Yu’s death, but Chenchen did not answer.
• Qin Yueyang led Xianchan Chenchen and Zhaoye Bai to Qin Leyin, who teased Chenchen from his bandaged chaise longue and nearly provoked him into attacking.

Le Yu reunited with Xianchan Chenchen, traded insults with him, and learned that the attacker who had pursued the sword scabbard left no clues. The Heart of Nayser then revealed that Le Yu had become a Propriety Guard Direct Walker, and the chapter ended with Xianchan Chenchen threatening to kill him.

• Xianchan Chenchen lunged at Le Yu, but Shi Huaifeng and Zhaoye Bai restrained him while Qin Yueyang caught the orange cat.
• Le Yu and Xianchan Chenchen exchanged taunts, and Xianchan Chenchen accused Le Yu of blaming him for Bai Yu's death.
• Xianchan Chenchen said the Statistics Department could not identify the bandaged attacker, who had died without leaving a trace after targeting the sword scabbard.
• Zhaoye Bai introduced herself as an operative of the Statistics Department and a Righteousness Guard disciple called Xiangzhao.
• Le Yu activated Bai Yu's Heart of Nayser and learned that he was now a Propriety Guard Direct Walker, tasked with cooperating with the Righteousness Guard on ranking-list affairs.
• Le Yu threw Xianchan Chenchen a mango pit he had licked, prompting Xianchan Chenchen to vow to kill him.

Le Yu learned that the Radiance Four Guards used Heart of Nayser replicas to communicate with the hidden Commander, then confronted Xianchan Chenchen after he threatened the Qin siblings. The two reached a tense truce over the Sword Quest for Succession, though both promised that their conflict was far from over.

• Le Yu discovered that the Radiance Four Guards' Heart of Nayser replicas let members communicate secretly with the Commander and used the system to report Xianchan Chenchen's threat.
• The Commander approved Le Yu's request to make Xianchan Chenchen come over so Le Yu could rub his head, and Xianchan reluctantly obeyed.
• Le Yu grabbed Xianchan by the neck and warned him against making another mistake; Xianchan declared Le Yu his Tribulation and accused him of enjoying righteous excuses to bully others.
• Xianchan agreed not to harm Qin Yueyang or Qin Yueshi and offered Qin Yueyang a place among the Righteousness Guard, while warning that Le Yu's fate depended on the Sword Quest for Succession.
• Le Yu declared that Xianchan had passed his test, and the two shook hands despite Xianchan calling him a Mad Dog.

Le Yu negotiated the Righteousness Guard’s terms for cooperating on the rankings and recognized that the Statistics Department wanted to build lasting authority by judging the world. He then used the planned criminal bounty ranking to advertise his abandoned book, leaving a wanted notice for its author.

• Zhaoye Bai explained that the Righteousness Guard had three demands: no personal bias, an independently controlled criminal bounty ranking subject to review, and no Statistics Department figures on any ranking.
• Le Yu realized the Statistics Department wanted to use the rankings to gain prestige and establish itself as an authority that judged the world.
• Le Yu asked whether he could use the Statistics Department’s name to place a bounty, and Zhaoye Bai said he could if he paid at least fifty Gold Coins and gave a reliable reason.
• Le Yu placed a 100 Gold Coin bounty on Tree Man for disappearing midway through serializing the banned book Echoes of the Future.
• Shi Huaifeng praised Le Yu’s plan to capture authors who stopped writing, while the others assumed Le Yu was merely rich and bored.

Le Yu directed the Statistics Department to create rankings of martial artists and legions, using labels and scores to influence public opinion and curb military ambitions. He hoped the rankings would delay expansion across the districts until he could take the stage as Radiance’s loyal minister.

• Le Yu ordered the Martial Artist Ranking to list fighters with public battle records and position nearby rivals close together to encourage challenges and conflict.
• Le Yu designated Lan Yan as the top martial artist, while Xianchan Chenchen explained that the Flame Command knew little about the Assassin Organization and feared its reach.
• Le Yu proposed a Legion Ranking that would summarize each army with a trait, strengths, weaknesses, and a combat score.
• Le Yu explained that simplified rankings could shape civilians’ and soldiers’ decisions, making wars more cautious and turning victories or defeats into major shifts in morale and popular support.
• Le Yu said the rankings would restrain ambitious leaders and buy him six months before he entered history as Radiance’s loyal minister.

Le Yu helped finalize the first issue of the martial rankings and committed to entering Sword Quest for Succession despite warnings that it could cost him his life. Qin Yueshi returned home determined to move out and avoid her elder brother once the Royal Academy opened.

• Le Yu and the others rejected several ranking ideas, then planned paid beauty and warrior-ranking editions with collectible cards and limited bonuses.
• The group arranged to submit its proposal to Director Xie, while Shi Huaifeng prepared shops, a warehouse, and distribution for sales.
• Xianchan Chenchen and Linu warned Le Yu about the dangers of Sword Quest for Succession, but Le Yu said he would pursue his ambitions rather than regret doing nothing.
• Shi Huaifeng joked that Le Yu should marry and leave an heir before entering the academy, and Le Yu beat him until he looked like a pig's head.
• Qin Yueshi arrived home, dismissed Shi Huaifeng's explanation for his injuries, and decided to study at the Royal Academy and look into renting a place near Senior Sister Qian.

Qin Yueshi reflected on what the Royal Academy meant to her and thanked Qin Leyin before setting off for her first day. Qin Leyin accompanied her to the academy gates, passed through with his own card, and then vanished into the arriving crowd, leaving her wondering where he had gone.

• Qin Yueshi woke excited for her first day at the Royal Academy after realizing how much its traditions and her fellow students’ ambitions mattered to her.
• Over breakfast, Qin Yueshi thanked Qin Leyin, but he vomited at her words and then gave her a Gold Coin as a first-day blessing.
• Qin Leyin told Qin Yueyang to manage matters at home and followed Qin Yueshi toward the academy carrying a large trunk.
• At the academy gates, Qin Leyin passed through using his own card, surprising Qin Yueshi, who had thought she would be rid of him.
• Several high-end cars arrived with students, including President Shuangli, and Qin Yueshi turned back to find Qin Leyin had disappeared.

Le Yu began his new post as an elective-course teacher at the Royal Academy, where he learned about the academy’s Mental Sea and met its principal, Cha Huan. The opening ceremony ended with Ming Shuangli revealing that she and six other royal heirs were all candidates for the Radiant throne and fellow students.

• Le Yu arrived at the Royal Academy, met his neighbor Wei Weiwei, and explained that his elective course would cover East Sun politics and the Silver Blood Society.
• Wei Weiwei showed Le Yu how the principal used the Platinum Tower and the academy’s Mental Sea to punish students and defend the school.
• Le Yu joined the teachers and learned the identities of several academy leaders before principal Cha Huan addressed the opening ceremony.
• Cha Huan invited Xia Shuangli to speak, and she announced that she had inherited the Ming name and become an heir to the Radiant throne.
• Ming Shuangli revealed that six other legitimate heirs were also studying at the Royal Academy, making all seven candidates classmates with the students.

At the Royal Academy, Ming Shuangli revealed her candidacy for emperor and urged the students to help shape Radiance’s future, winning their support with a rousing speech. She invited the Sword Sheaths to choose which Sword Seeker to follow, while Le Yu remained unsettled because Jun Zuo had not told him who his Sword Master was.

• Le Yu recognized a confident, long-braided teacher as a Sword Sheath and realized Ming Shuangli had exposed her identity to gain protection and recruit supporters at the Royal Academy.
• Principal Chahuan silenced the gathered students, and Ming Shuangli described Radiance’s crisis and her desire to become a reforming empress rather than a puppet emperor.
• Ming Shuangli asked the students to help determine Radiance’s future and led them in chanting, “Make Huiyao Great Again!”
• Ming Shuangli explained that the Sword Seekers could become emperor and invited the Sword Sheaths to choose whom to follow, directing a pointed remark toward Le Yu.
• Le Yu worried that Ming Shuangli was recruiting him, while Jun Zuo still had not revealed his Sword Master’s identity.

After the opening ceremony, Le Yu sparred with the new teacher Nieruo, then encountered Ming Shuangli and Qin Yueshi at the Dog Food Cafeteria. Qin Yueshi introduced Le Yu to her classmates as her big brother, leaving Qian Yuya curious about him.

• Le Yu failed to get a response from his Sword Master and met Nieruo, who challenged him to a sparring match.
• Le Yu and Nieruo fought fiercely until the Platinum Tower interrupted them; Nieruo said Le Yu was stronger than the two other sword sheaths he had faced.
• At the Dog Food Cafeteria, Le Yu overheard Ming Shuangli discussing politics with classmates, and she glared at him from across the crowded room.
• Qin Yueshi rejected Le Yu's offer to join his class and sat with Kui Nianruo, Li Ying, Lin Xue, and Qian Yuya.
• Qin Yueshi complained that Le Yu had become a teacher at the Royal Academy, and Qian Yuya grew curious when she learned he was the brother Qin Yueshi had mentioned before.

Le Yu adapted a romance story for Qing Lan before the Commander summoned him to the Forest of Myriad Forms. There, he found Ming Shuangli and Nieruo beside the legendary Holy Sword Huiyao, apparently waiting for someone to claim it.

• Le Yu wrote an outline that recast a town’s destruction as an attack by Lan Yan’s Coastal Army, then finished a paper romance for Qing Lan.
• The Commander ordered Le Yu to go to the Forest of Myriad Forms, so he dressed for night combat and left the dormitory.
• Le Yu saw Ming Shuangli and Nieruo enter the forest and followed them into a clearing.
• Ming Shuangli led Nieruo to the hovering Holy Sword Huiyao, which Le Yu recognized as Radiance’s legendary divine weapon.

Ming Shuangli completed the oath ceremony with Nieruo, then explained that the contract bound scabbards to their Sword Seekers and could alter their wills. She urged the hidden scabbards and her sisters to reject the ceremony and end the Sword Quest for Succession by supporting her, leaving them to decide whether to choose again.

• Ming Shuangli touched the replica of Holy Sword Huiyao and received a twin-carp mark, then had Nieruo swear allegiance and receive a storm-vortex mark.
• Ming Shuangli explained that the oath created a master-servant contract that prevented scabbards from harming their Sword Seekers and gave them one absolute command.
• Ming Shuangli said the court wanted to end the Sword Quest quickly and claimed she was its designated new emperor.
• Ming Shuangli asked the scabbards and her sisters to abandon the oath-taking ceremony, support her, and avoid fighting one another.

Xianchan Chenchen explained to Zhaoye Bai how scabbards could support whichever Sword Seeker seemed most likely to win, while Le Yu watched Ming Shuangli offer the competitors a chance to abandon the contest. Ming Dailan refused, but her young scabbard was badly wounded by Nieruo, who had unleashed the Madness Mask’s speed.

• Xianchan Chenchen told Zhaoye Bai that scabbards could win by pledging allegiance to the strongest candidate and suggested that, with multiple suns, each sun-facing flower might choose its own sun.
• Ming Shuangli offered to let the Sword Quest for Succession end peacefully if everyone stayed silent until the replica Holy Sword Huiyao burned away.
• Ming Dailan refused to give up, explaining that she wanted to become empress and marry many handsome men.
• Ming Dailan’s fifteen-year-old scabbard appeared, demonstrated Triple Armament, and charged Nieruo so she could reach the Holy Sword Huiyao.
• Nieruo used the Madness Mask to defeat the youth’s spear attack, break through his three layers of Light Armor, and wound him, while Ming Dailan called out to offer help.

Ming Shuangli’s sisters rejected her offer to end the Sword Quest for Succession early and chose to compete, but Nieruo’s Madness Mask drove him to attack them indiscriminately. Ming Shuiyun was cornered by Nieruo until a red-haired man rescued her and declared that she now had a sword sheath.

• Ming Taolang, Ming Yueyan, and Ming Shuiyun insisted on competing, and Ming Shuangli allowed the sisters to continue the Sword Quest for Succession.
• Nieruo pursued the sword sheaths after they attacked him, then suddenly turned on Ming Dailan as the Madness Mask made him unable to distinguish friend from foe.
• Youth warned the fleeing sisters that Nieruo would prioritize those with the right to swear allegiance, while Ming Shuiyun ran alone through the forest.
• Nieruo cornered Ming Shuiyun and raised his blade to kill her.
• A red-haired man attacked Nieruo, drove him back, and told Ming Shuiyun she now had a sword sheath.

Le Yu fought off Nieruo and then helped Ming Shuiyun complete an oath ceremony, earning a mark on his hand. The chapter ended with Le Yu hiding the mark, which he identified as a Sickle and Hammer.

• Nieruo attacked Le Yu, but Le Yu used the Veil of Discord to wound him and force him to retreat.
• Le Yu suspected Nieruo was using the Madness Mask as an excuse to defy Ming Shuangli while carrying out her wishes.
• Le Yu agreed to perform an oath ceremony with Ming Shuiyun, but her copied oath failed to produce a mark.
• Ming Shuiyun refused to reveal her dream, so Le Yu led her through a vow to remain together until death.
• Golden threads engraved marks on both their hands, and Le Yu hid his mark beneath a strip of cloth, calling it a Sickle and Hammer.

After Nieruo unleashed a devastating storm, Le Yu assessed the Madness Mask’s powers while Ming Shuiyun treated his severe wound. He then used her promise of three wishes to demand her blood, leaving their encounter poised to turn intimate and dangerous.

• Le Yu and Ming Shuiyun saw a destructive storm erupt in the forest, and Le Yu concluded that he could not defeat Nieruo.
• Le Yu transformed the Saint's Relic into a bootleg Madness Mask and examined its effects, including enhanced combat abilities, healing, and control through the wearer’s will.
• Ming Shuiyun bandaged Le Yu’s bleeding shoulder with torn cloth and leaves while he considered her growing attachment to him.
• Le Yu reminded Ming Shuiyun that she was his Sword Master and demanded three wishes, which she promised to grant if they were within her power.
• Le Yu claimed his first wish, restrained Ming Shuiyun, and reached for her collar as he praised the sweetness of her blood.

Ming Shuiyun returned to the dormitory after her scabbard, Le Yu, bit her and demanded that she provide him with blood. She discovered that her fellow candidates shared her room, then struggled to understand her new bond with Le Yu as he prepared a lesson on the demise of Silver Blood.

• Ming Shuiyun met Ming Qingyun, who revealed that she and Chaoyan had joined the Sword Quest and warned Shuiyun not to trust scabbards too much.
• Ming Shuiyun entered the shared dormitory and found Ming Shuangli, Ming Taolang, and Ming Dailan fighting with pillows; Ming Yueyan explained that all seven candidates would share the room.
• Ming Shuangli recognized Nieruo's blood on Ming Shuiyun, and Ming Shuiyun hid her distress while the others joked about blood.
• Alone in the shower, Ming Shuiyun recalled Le Yu biting her and making her his feeder, then wondered whether the experience was a nightmare or a beautiful dream.
• Le Yu reflected that drinking Ming Shuiyun's blood had healed his injuries and decided she would fear and obey him; he then began preparing a lesson titled “The Demise of Silver Blood.”

Qin Yueshi questioned Qin Yueyang about his work with the Statistics Department and worried that Qin Leyin’s plans at the Imperial Academy would put him in danger. After learning about the seven candidates for emperor, she decided to attend Qin Leyin’s trial lecture, while Qian Yuya revealed that Jing Zhengwei knew her.

• Qin Yueshi learned that Qin Yueyang was using a temporary identity to work with Shi Huaifeng at the Statistics Department, where Qin Leyin had a life-or-death struggle with the staff.
• Qin Yueyang warned Qin Yueshi that Qin Leyin might return home early if something happened to him at the academy.
• Qin Yueshi pondered the danger to Qin Leyin during class, then learned from Li Ying that the seven Radiant Heavenly Maidens were candidates for emperor studying at the academy.
• Qin Yueshi decided to attend the afternoon trial lecture, while Qian Yuya said she was interested in Jing Zhengwei and knew that he knew her.

Qin Yueshi and Qian Yuya attended Qin Leyin’s elective, where he introduced Jing Zhengwei-ism through a lesson on power, equality, and labor. He began a classroom-cleaning race by asking students questions that would move them away from the common starting line.

• Qin Yueshi and Qian Yuya arrived at Qin Leyin’s crowded elective and saw Ming Shuangli and other members of the Radiant Heavenly Maiden waiting outside.
• Qin Leyin arrived five minutes late by jumping down from the classroom roof and challenged the students to explain how they could hold a teacher accountable.
• Qin Leyin argued that equality depended on power and influence, described labor as the source of human value, and introduced Jing Zhengwei-ism.
• Qin Leyin asked the students to help clean the dusty classroom and proposed choosing three captains through a race.
• Qin Leyin lined the students up and began asking questions, starting with whether they attended the Yan Jing Royal Academy.

Le Yu used a classroom race to expose how the Royal Academy students’ advantages had shaped their starting lines, then challenged them to remember the hardship of those with fewer opportunities. The lesson ended with him quoting Jing Zhengwei as the students faced the unfairness of judging others from a privileged position.

• Le Yu asked the students questions about their backgrounds and had them step forward, revealing a widening gap between their starting lines.
• Le Yu called the exercise a race and named Qin Yueshi, Qian Yuya, and Ming Shuiyun the class captains after they reached the podium first.
• Le Yu told the students that attending the Royal Academy already put them ahead of most people in Radiance, and used his own achievements to explain the price of reaching the podium.
• Le Yu pointed out that Shi Wen had not moved from his starting line because he lacked family support, friends, money, and Royal Academy status.
• Le Yu admitted his criticism of the students was unfair, urged them to remember their anger and privilege, and quoted Jing Zhengwei about considering the conditions others were born with.