Chapter Summaries

Cha Huan returned to the Royal Academy by striding through the sky in the Flying Boots, deliberately drawing the attention of Flame Capital’s residents to deter an ambush. He relished the prospect of confronting his pursuers as the crowd watched.

• A tremor shook Flame Capital, and residents fled their homes in alarm.
• Cha Huan walked through the sky toward the Royal Academy, his thunderous footsteps and glittering clothes drawing crowds.
• Cha Huan ignored Qin Leyin and Yan Yi’s advice to avoid the ambush site, choosing instead to make the confrontation public.
• Cha Huan used the Illusionary Divine Weapon Flying Boots to fly and the Qi Harmony Combat Arts to amplify his footsteps, hoping to discourage the attackers.
• Cha Huan recalled escaping three Martial Pillars thirty years earlier and urged his pursuers not to run.

The Grand Steward rallied the attackers by turning their fear of death into confidence, then led them to invade the Imperial Academy and pursue Qin Leyin and the Holy Sword Huiyao. At the first intersection, a mysterious sign offered them a choice between the Platinum Tower and a side quest at the male teacher dormitory.

• The Grand Steward described the National Salvation and Relief Society’s burial services, easing the attackers’ fear of dying.
• Le Yu recognized the Grand Steward as a top-priority capture target and asked the Huiyao Four Guards’ Commander for help, but received only a brief reply.
• The Grand Steward named the Platinum Tower, Qin Leyin, and the Holy Sword Huiyao as the attackers’ targets and ordered the operation to begin.
• The attackers crossed into the Imperial Academy and followed the map toward the Platinum Tower.
• At an intersection, the attackers found a strange road sign labeling the Platinum Tower route a difficult main quest and the male teacher dormitory route an easy side quest.

Le Yu covertly helped Qin Leyin’s attackers through a trap-filled approach to the Imperial Academy while feeding their chosen route to Junzuo. After the Grand Steward rallied the group, Xianchan Chenchen received the route and ordered the Nightmare Tide Plan.

• A man in black smashed a road sign, triggering an explosion that plunged the attackers into darkness.
• Le Yu used bees and timed streetlamp blackouts to drive the attackers through gunfire, injuring half the group and killing two.
• The Grand Steward organized the attackers, identified the ambush’s tricks, and won their trust.
• Le Yu secretly licked Bee-Attracting Scented Honey from his hand and sent the attackers’ planned route to Junzuo through the Heart of Nayser.
• The Grand Steward led the group toward the Nightmare and Disaster campus districts, and Xianchan Chenchen ordered the Nightmare Tide Plan.

The attackers tried to cross the Nightmare Teaching Building, where Grass Cutter Emissaries fought off marksmen before a hidden Prairie Fire formation struck them from the classroom wall. The enemy escaped after killing the Grass Cutter Emissaries, leaving the Grand Steward’s group to face another ambush and a deadly loss.

• The Grand Steward assigned the factions positions and kept the unaffiliated fighters, including Le Yu, in the center while his trusted groups watched the four directions.
• The group chose to cross the Nightmare Teaching Building’s second floor rather than risk an ambush in the dark woods or on the exposed road below.
• Three marksmen opened fire as Grass Cutter Emissary reached the second floor, and two Grass Cutter Emissaries advanced with Void Slash to trap them.
• Prairie Fire Martial Artists burst through a classroom wall with a coordinated spear formation, killing the Grass Cutter Emissaries and knocking them from the second floor.
• Curse Hunter and the unaffiliated fighters searched a nearby classroom, but the marksmen and Prairie Fire Martial Artists escaped through the windows.
• The Grand Steward stopped the others from moving and confirmed that the Grass Cutter Emissaries had died.

The Grand Steward led the attackers through the Nightmare Teaching Building after the Yantong defenders killed two Grass Cutter Emissaries in an ambush. When Le Yu used the darkness and suspended corpses to make the attackers believe they were facing ghosts, panic erupted.

• The attackers found the two Grass Cutter Emissaries dead, and the Grand Steward explained how Yantong had used the corridor to set an effective trap.
• The Grand Steward restored the attackers' morale and led them up to the third floor, where his group cautiously advanced through classrooms toward the gunners.
• The building's lights went out as the Iron-Masked Man pursued a fleeing gunner, and gunfire sounded from across the way.
• The Grand Steward ordered the attackers to throw flares, revealing suspended corpses outside the third floor and leaving the group frozen in fear.
• Le Yu blew a cold breath behind a nearby attacker’s ear, prompting a scream of “Ghosts!”

Le Yu’s group fought through the Platinum Tower ambush as the Grand Steward’s plans and the attackers’ fear of ghosts gave way to a chaotic battle. Elsewhere, Cha Huan faced eight assassins until Faceless, also known as White Night Walker Nilü, arrived, while a gray-haired fighter at the tower identified himself as Imperial Academy teacher Wei Weiwei.

• The Grand Steward used the Soul-Calming Stone Bell to expose the paper ghosts and led the group out of the Nightmare Teaching Building.
• The Grand Steward ordered the streetlights destroyed and the group to charge toward the Platinum Tower, where Flame Command ambushers attacked from the front and rear.
• Xianchan Chenchen crippled a Curse Hunter and fought the Iron-Masked Men, but the battle remained unsettled as gunfire and explosions filled the darkness.
• Cha Huan revealed that Sheng Shengsheng had once ambushed him, then faced eight attackers who raised a City-Guarding Barrier around the residence.
• Faceless arrived carrying the heads of the Grass Cutter Emissaries and identified himself as White Night Walker Nilü.
• At the Platinum Tower, the gray-haired fighter helped Xianchan Chenchen escape and said his name was Wei Weiwei, an ordinary teacher at the Imperial Academy.

The Grand Steward’s attackers entered the Platinum Tower, where they discovered a Blood Essence Stone could revive Number Two and learned the tower’s defenses made their first plan impossible. The Sword Bearer revealed that he had infiltrated them using the Grass Barbarian art Kindred, then began a deadly game: the attackers could leave if they completed their mission, but otherwise none would survive.

• The Grand Steward burned a rare dragon book and learned that only two attackers had died, while Number Two was restored with a Blood Essence Stone.
• The Grand Steward explained that the Platinum Tower was reinforced as one connected structure and directed the group toward its spiral staircase.
• The attackers found that their group contained one more person than their memories accounted for, and the Grand Steward suspected a Grass Barbarian infiltration art was responsible.
• The Sword Bearer identified himself as a user of Three Crows’s Kindred art, which had let him pass among the attackers as a companion.
• The Sword Bearer said he knew who stood behind the Grand Steward and asked the group to withdraw, but the Grand Steward insisted on reaching the tower’s highest floor, capturing Qin Leyin, and finding Holy Sword Huiyao.
• The Sword Bearer proposed a game in which the attackers would be sent away safely if they completed their mission, but none would leave alive if they failed.

Yan Yi explained how Qin Leyin had turned the Platinum Tower into a layered trap to exhaust and disorient the criminals before Yan Command attacked them. The criminals had reached the tower’s trap-filled lower floors, where explosions signaled that the plan was underway.

• Yan Yi described how the second floor’s fake traps would waste the criminals’ time and wear down their morale before a gunpowder trap on the stairs to the third floor.
• Explosions shook the Platinum Tower, and Yan Yi said the collapsed staircase and traps below could kill or incapacitate many criminals.
• Yan Yi explained that the third floor’s mirrored dressing room would blind the criminals while Yan Command agents waited beyond the glare.
• Yan Yi revealed that Yan Command had brought a miniature Radiant Stone Focusing Cannon to attack the blinded criminals.
• Yan Yi said the remaining criminals would face armed Yan Command agents on the fourth floor and summarized Qin Leyin’s plan to exhaust them.

Yan Yi and Ning Xinyuan discussed guarding the Stone Forest Disaster Zone as Cha Huan fought his former classmate, who wore Blade Armor. After the classmate fired a cannon at Cha Huan, Cha Huan killed him and declared that Xie Liting was the only one left.

• Yan Yi explained that she had no special arrangements for the fifth floor, while Ning Xinyuan remained perched upside down and armed.
• Cha Huan struck a black-clad Martial Pillar warrior one hundred times in midair, depleting the damage-reflecting Blade Armor without hurting him.
• The black-clad man urged Cha Huan to join his side and recalled their past friendship, but Cha Huan rejected his appeal.
• The black-clad man fled to a hidden Radiant Stone Focusing Main Cannon and fired it at Cha Huan, while Nilü held off the other black-clad men.
• Cha Huan approached the black-clad man, crushed his cervical vertebrae, laid him down, and said Xie Liting was the only one left.

Yan Yi and Ning Xinyuan confessed their fears and feelings for each other on the fifth floor of the Platinum Tower before five surviving criminals arrived. Yan Yi attacked to stop them from advancing, while Lei Huan confronted her and Number One charged toward the hidden shooter.

• Yan Yi told Ning Xinyuan that she feared being abandoned, and Ning admitted she doubted Yan Yi's vows and believed she was holding her back.
• Yan Yi recalled how she had fallen for Ning and insisted she wanted a future with her; they agreed to invite the principal to dinner if they survived.
• The Grand Steward and four injured companions reached the fifth floor, and he persuaded Yan Yi to let them pass toward the sixth floor.
• Yan Yi fired at the ceiling to trigger falling stone pillars, then attacked the hooded man and declared she would defend the Imperial Academy.
• A hidden shooter wounded the Grand Steward's ear, and he sent Number One toward the ceiling while the others continued onward.
• Lei Huan fought Yan Yi, criticized her lightning, and challenged her to kneel beneath his Majestic Heavenly Might.

Yan Yi fought Lei Huan while Ning Xinyuan supported her with the Overlord Butterfly, but Lei Huan overwhelmed them both and targeted Ning Xinyuan to exploit Yan Yi’s fear for her companion. The chapter left Yan Yi wounded and clinging to Lei Huan’s ankle as he pierced her wrist.

• Ning Xinyuan used the Overlord Butterfly’s archer mode to wound the Iron-Masked Man and help Yan Yi.
• Yan Yi clashed with Lei Huan, using Vortex to break his wrists before he restored them with lightning and blasted her away.
• Lei Huan drove Yan Yi into a corner, but Ning Xinyuan’s gunshot gave her a chance to escape.
• The Iron-Masked Man struck Ning Xinyuan and sent her crashing through stone pillars.
• Lei Huan injured Yan Yi while threatening to kill Ning Xinyuan, then kicked Yan Yi aside and moved to attack her companion.
• Yan Yi grabbed Lei Huan’s ankle, and he pierced her wrist with his claws.

Yan Yi analyzed Lei Huan’s lightning-enhanced Seven Emotions Combat Arts and, after appearing paralyzed, used her sister’s rescue to replenish her energy and awaken a new lightning form. She revealed that she had crossed the Emotion Stirred threshold through love and attacked Lei Huan.

• Yan Yi realized Lei Huan’s thunder came from his pride and arrogance, and that he used lightning to stimulate his body and enhance his abilities.
• Though paralyzed by Lei Huan’s lightning, Yan Yi forced herself to sense her body and began enduring the electric currents.
• Lei Huan turned back when Yan Yi groaned, but the Black-Robed Sniper was thrown toward her by the Iron-Masked Man and carried her toward a window.
• Lei Huan pursued the Black-Robed Sniper and Yan Yi, but Yan Yi suddenly opened her eyes and sent him crashing into the broken floor.
• Yan Yi revealed her lightning armor and tail, named the form Lei Fox, and told Lei Huan she had crossed the Emotion Stirred threshold through love before lunging at him.

Yan Yi fought Lei Huan and the Iron-Masked Man to protect Ning Xinyuan, pushing her body to its limits with lightning. Just as both enemies closed in and Yan Yi prepared to die holding Ning Xinyuan, a pale-haired criminal arrived and killed them.

• Yan Yi used lightning-enhanced combat arts to defeat Lei Huan, then entered Nine-Tailed Thunder Fox Form to attack the armored Iron-Masked Man.
• The Iron-Masked Man survived Yan Yi's blows, crushed her ribs, and carried her toward Ning Xinyuan while Lei Huan returned to the fight.
• Lei Huan struck Ning Xinyuan unconscious, and Yan Yi tore the Iron-Masked Man apart before Lei Huan forced her back from her sister.
• With both enemies closing in and her body failing, Yan Yi dispersed her lightning coat and embraced Ning Xinyuan, accepting that they might die together.
• A new criminal appeared and broke the necks of Lei Huan and the Iron-Masked Man, then revealed pale hair and said he had arrived too late.

Le Yu defeated Lei Huan and the Iron-Masked Man, then used the Soul-Cleansing Demonic Sword to heal the gravely wounded Yan Yi before rushing to the sixth floor. Yan Yi stayed with Ning Xinyuan, tasted the candy Le Yu had left behind, and watched Lei Huan die by his own hand.

• Le Yu explained that the darkness had weakened Lei Huan’s lightning but that the Seven Emotions Martial Artists could still use their powers, and he suspected the Brotherhood had produced them in numbers.
• Yan Yi questioned the white-haired Hidden Sword Assassin, and Le Yu joked that she could repay him by guarding his fiancée.
• When Yan Yi began coughing blood, Le Yu healed her with the Soul-Cleansing Demonic Sword and told her to stay put and play dead if anyone came upstairs.
• Yan Yi told Le Yu that the Grand Steward, the Iron-Masked Man, and someone carrying a serrated cleaver had gone up to the sixth floor, so Le Yu hurried after them.
• Yan Yi found candy Le Yu had dropped, and Lei Huan used his lightning to turn his hand into a blade and stab his own heart before she could finish him off.
• Yan Yi put the candy in her mouth, embraced Ning Xinyuan, and smiled as she said it was sweet.

Le Yu joined the Grand Steward and Xianchan Chenchen in heading to the seventh floor, leaving Bone-Stinger to guard the captive Qin Leyin. After the others departed, Bone-Stinger attacked the captive, who revealed himself as Qin Yueyang and fought back against Bone-Stinger’s curse.

• The Grand Steward and Xianchan Chenchen agreed to delay handing Qin Leyin over until they learned whether Cha Huan had died.
• Le Yu chose to go with the Grand Steward and Iron-Masked Man to search the seventh floor, while Bone-Stinger stayed behind with the captive.
• Bone-Stinger froze the sixth floor in his Frigid Despair Realm and attacked the captive Yantong agents.
• The captive broke free, dodged Bone-Stinger’s cleaver, and revealed himself as Qin Yueyang in disguise.
• Bone-Stinger explained that his curse trapped Qin Yueyang in an eternal frozen world and claimed the cold would bury him.
• Qin Yueyang recalled the bitter winter of his childhood, then used flames to melt the frost covering his body.

Le Yu, Xianchan Chenchen, the Grand Steward, and the Iron-Masked Man searched the Platinum Tower’s seventh floor for the Holy Sword Huiyao but found no obvious trace of it. The Grand Steward hinted that the sword’s supposed presence there concealed a deeper secret, leaving Xianchan questioning what their search had actually revealed.

• Le Yu considered sabotaging the mechanical lift to cripple the men with him, but the Grand Steward’s remarks distracted him until they reached the seventh floor.
• The group found the seventh floor empty, and Xianchan said the Holy Sword Huiyao did not appear to be there while warning the Grand Steward she would not refund his money.
• The Grand Steward examined Cha Huan’s office and speculated that the Holy Sword might be hidden as a bookmark in a book about Emperor Gaozu.
• The Grand Steward challenged Xianchan to ask why they had been certain the Holy Sword was in the Platinum Tower, then repeated that it was there without explaining further.

The Grand Steward explained that the Holy Sword Huiyao could be summoned rather than kept as a physical object, and revealed that the president was preparing to call it through the Imperial Academy's Mental Sea. As the plan reached its final stage, Le Yu revealed that he was Qin Leyin and confronted the Grand Steward.

• The Grand Steward reasoned that the Holy Sword Huiyao existed everywhere but could only be summoned by its wielder.
• Le Yu suggested that the Holy Sword would be easiest to summon at the imperial court, but the Grand Steward said the Sword Quest for Succession had chosen the Imperial Academy.
• An explosion at the top of the Platinum Tower stirred the Imperial Academy's Mental Sea and made Le Yu's ice blood boil.
• The Grand Steward revealed that the president had taken control of the Mental Sea and needed the sword-scabbard's Holy Sword mark to summon Huiyao.
• Le Yu removed his disguise and revealed himself as Qin Leyin, then thanked the Grand Steward for sending him home.

The Grand Steward deduced that Qin Leyin and Xianchan Chenchen were cooperating because the Flame Capital Statistics Department served the Huiyao Four Guards. Le Yu and Xianchan Chenchen launched a sudden attack on the Iron-Masked Man and the Grand Steward.

• Xianchan Chenchen ambushed the Grand Steward with a poisoned blade, but his strike drew no blood.
• The Grand Steward questioned why Le Yu and Xianchan Chenchen cooperated despite their apparent grudge and lack of mutual benefit.
• Le Yu joked about a medicine that could make Xianchan Chenchen grow taller, while Xianchan Chenchen considered whether he should have betrayed Le Yu later.
• The Grand Steward concluded that rules explained their cooperation and identified the Statistics Department as an organization under the Huiyao Four Guards.
• Le Yu attacked the Iron-Masked Man as Xianchan Chenchen rushed at the Grand Steward from behind.

Le Yu fought the Iron-Masked Man and discovered that his opponent could use the same combat arts, including the Eight Rice Flow’s Thousand Two Hundred Eleven Style. Drawing on what he had learned from Cha Huan, Le Yu countered the old version and launched the updated secret art himself.

• Inspector Xianchan and the Grand Steward fought while Lin Nu joined the attack.
• The Iron-Masked Man overwhelmed Le Yu by matching his combat arts and striking with Tremor Combat Arts.
• The Iron-Masked Man used the Eight Rice Flow secret art Thousand Two Hundred Eleven Style to immobilize Le Yu and close in.
• Le Yu recalled the technique’s weaknesses from the Blood-Drinking and Blood-Thorn Eight Rice Flow manuals, then threw the Iron-Masked Man off balance.
• Le Yu used Cha Huan’s updated version of Thousand Two Hundred Eleven Style to advance on the Iron-Masked Man.

Le Yu fought the Iron-Masked Man with the Forbidden Thousand Two Hundred Eleven Style, enduring the technique’s strain until he overcame his opponent. After the Iron-Masked Man shared advice on combat arts, Le Yu killed him and thanked him for the guidance.

• Le Yu unleashed the Forbidden Thousand Two Hundred Eleven Style, tearing through the Iron-Masked Man’s protective Light Armor and badly mutilating him.
• The Iron-Masked Man survived and charged again, while Le Yu forced himself to keep fighting despite his injuries and depleted Mental Power.
• Le Yu’s Biting Combat Arts Bite overwhelmed the weakened Iron-Masked Man, and Le Yu pierced through his spine with a claw strike.
• The Iron-Masked Man used Qi Harmony Combat Arts to explain how Cosmic Chant, Yellow Sigh, and Wild Bite could counter close combat.
• Le Yu tore through the Iron-Masked Man’s throat, killing him, and thanked him for the guidance.