Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yuanqing and the other trainees arrived at Qin Feng Academy for an advanced study class, where Xiahou Aotian became class monitor and the group toured the academy and Mermaid Lake. The chapter ended when a strange song drifted over the lake.

• Zhang Yuanqing reunited with Sun Miaomiao, Zhao Chenghuang, Yuan Ting, and other familiar trainees, while Zhu Mingxu and Zhao Feiwen showed hostility toward him.
• Principal Li Yanqi introduced the academy staff and named Zhang Yuanqing as his proposed class monitor, but Xiahou Aotian objected and declared himself the destined candidate.
• Zhang Yuanqing endorsed Xiahou Aotian, and Principal Li Yanqi appointed him class monitor.
• Song Man led the trainees around Qin Feng Academy and explained its facilities, fees, and rules about Mermaid Lake.
• During the boat tour, Zhang Yuanqing showed off Princess Yinyao and Blood Rose, and Song Man warned the trainees about mermaids and told them how Ling Jun had once angered the Mermaid Queen.
• A melodious song drifted into the trainees' ears as they traveled across Mermaid Lake.

Zhang Yuanqing toured Qin Feng Academy’s islands with the advanced study class, then set out at night to find the stone door beneath Mermaid Lake. He found it below Beast Island, but sensed something approaching just as he prepared to open it.

• Sirens’ song stirred the trainees’ desires until the administrator drove the sirens away, and Three Yang Opens Madam broke down before the class.
• In Fuzhou, Love of Summer Trees and the Taiyi Sect elders investigated the Pure Yang Sect Leader’s murders and learned that a Lunar Power Sovereign was concealing his aura.
• Song Man led Zhang Yuanqing and the trainees around the academy islands, where Red Chicken Bro ate poisonous fruit and later provoked the Tiger King by stealing a chicken.
• Zhang Yuanqing returned to the dormitory, rejected Song Man’s advances, and waited until night to sneak out toward Mermaid Lake.
• Zhang Yuanqing found the stone doors beneath Beast Island and hid when an unusual undercurrent approached.

Zhang Yuanqing abandoned his attempt to enter the stone gate after an armored intruder drew the merfolk’s attack, then returned to his dorm and wondered whether the stranger was an enemy or ally. Dean Li Yanqi summoned the students to investigate the lake intrusion and began questioning them, stopping at Zhang Yuanqing.

• An armored figure examined the stone gate on Beast Island, and Zhang Yuanqing watched unseen from the lakebed.
• The mermaid queen and her warriors attacked the armored figure, who escaped; Zhang Yuanqing then left the lake without entering the stone gate.
• Back in his dorm, Zhang Yuanqing told Princess Yinyao what had happened and considered how to identify the armored intruder.
• The Mermaid Lake caretaker reported the incident to Dean Li Yanqi, who ordered the teachers to investigate and summoned all students.
• At Splendor Library, Li Yanqi had the students searched and questioned Zhao Chenghuang, then asked Zhang Yuanqing whether he had entered Mermaid Lake.

Zhang Yuanqing avoided suspicion when the dean investigated the Mermaid Lake intrusion, but the armored intruder remained unidentified. The next morning, he joined the other trainees for breakfast and learned that the lake concealed a secret important to powerful factions, before heading to his first academy classes.

• Dean Li Yanqi questioned the trainees about the Mermaid Lake intrusion, but Zhang Yuanqing used the Ghost Mirror's cost to conceal his emotional fluctuations and passed the investigation.
• Song Man reported a misunderstanding, and the dean dismissed most trainees while taking Zhao Chenghuang, Sun Miaomiao, Xie Lingzhou, Zhao Feiwen, Liu Yushu, Zhu Mingxu, and Xiahou Aotian aside.
• Zhang Yuanqing discussed the unidentified armored intruder with Princess Yinyao, who suggested the intruder might be a Night Wanderer or an academy teacher, while Zhang argued the intruder seemed to be scouting the lake.
• The next morning, Sun Miaomiao borrowed Little Doubi for the day, and Red Chicken Bro started a brawl with a cafeteria chef over breakfast.
• All Under Heaven Returns to Fire speculated that the dean's investigation concerned a powerful secret beneath Mermaid Lake, and Zhang Yuanqing suggested a student or teacher might be seeking it.
• The trainees went to the library for their scheduled lessons, beginning with Spirit Realm History.

Li Yanqi taught the Saints about the history of the Spirit Realm, ancient practitioners, and mysteries that scholars had failed to solve. When Zhang Yuanqing claimed he knew clues about three of the mysteries, he offered to share them for a million per student.

• Li Yanqi explained how ancient practitioners and Spirit Realm Walkers fit into history, and Zhu Mingxu described the Spirit Realm’s regions and the progression of ancient dynasties.
• Li Yanqi discussed Nuwa Sovereign and the uncertain origins of mythologies, while Zhang Yuanqing connected Nuwa’s Embrace to the secrets behind the stone door at the High Plain of Heaven.
• Li Yanqi recounted the hardships faced by early Spirit Realm Walkers and listed four enduring mysteries, including spiritual energy depletion and the unopened District Three.
• Zhao Feiwen suggested spiritual energy had run out of resources, and Liu Yushu relayed his family’s theory that an alien civilization created the Spirit Realm.
• At Xiahou Aotian’s urging, Zhang Yuanqing claimed to know clues about three mysteries and demanded a one-million tuition fee from each student who wanted to hear them.

Zhang Yuanqing explained his theories about the sealed Third District and a recurring world-ending catastrophe, then learned Star Official techniques from Starry Sky Observer. The lesson’s examples and his own suspicions left him questioning whether the Demon Lord, his father, and other supposed coincidences were part of a hidden plan.

• Zhang Yuanqing collected twenty-two million in tuition and told the class that the Third District likely corresponded to Norse mythology and that a past catastrophe had depleted spiritual power.
• Zhang Yuanqing revealed that the Light Compass had foretold another catastrophe, then speculated that the Spirit Realm might fall dormant after each disaster.
• Zhang Yuanqing agreed to Zhao Chenghuang’s private lesson and traveled with him and Starry Sky Observer to Chicken Heart Island.
• Starry Sky Observer taught Zhang Yuanqing about Star Official combat techniques, Astral Physiognomy, and how Stargazing Arts could help Star Officials plan around danger.
• Starry Sky Observer described manipulating events around Ling Jun, prompting Zhang Yuanqing to suspect that his father, the Demon Lord, and several recent events might be part of a larger scheme.

Starry Sky Observer taught Zhang Yuanqing about specializing in Night Wanderer powers, and Zhang’s extraordinary control of spirits and talisman skills astonished him and Zhao Chenghuang. Later, Dean Li Yanqi introduced karmic items and revealed that Moral Value was a high-rank causality-type item, leaving Zhang to reconsider the significance of his own possessions.

• Starry Sky Observer explained Night Wanderer specialization, secret techniques, and why he did not recommend focusing on solar power.
• Zhang Yuanqing controlled nearly a hundred vengeful spirits at once and demonstrated his ability to draw several spirit talismans, shocking Starry Sky Observer and Zhao Chenghuang.
• Zhang Yuanqing charged Starry Sky Observer and Zhao Chenghuang tuition to teach them the Soul-Control Technique, then used the Beast King Bracelet to scout the mermaids guarding Beast Island.
• Zhang Yuanqing considered how to enter the stone door safely, then flew to Spirit Plant Island and startled Peony Fairy and the other students with his urge to return to nature.
• Dean Li Yanqi taught the academy students about item classifications and revealed that karmic items were extremely rare, prompting Zhang Yuanqing to realize Perfect Skin was one.
• Dean Li Yanqi identified Moral Value as a high-rank causality-type item that every Spirit Realm Walker encountered.

Director Li Yanqi taught the trainees about karmic items and item classifications, while Zhang Yuanqing’s abundance of rare items surprised the class. After an extravagant afternoon tea and a rowdy return to class, Xiahou Aotian and Red Chicken Bro were punished as the next lesson began.

• Li Yanqi explained the theory that Moral Value was a karmic item, warned the trainees not to investigate such matters prematurely, and taught them how item levels, quality, and rules worked.
• Zhang Yuanqing revealed that he had encountered six or seven rule-based items and stored more than a dozen Saint-quality items, leaving Li Yanqi and the trainees stunned.
• Zhang Yuanqing offered to treat the trainees to barbecue and drinks, then made Sun Miaomiao pay the cafeteria bill by threatening to take back the Infant Spirit.
• Xiahou Aotian told Zhang Yuanqing that Zhao Feiwen and Zhu Mingxu had tried to recruit him against Zhang, and recounted how he had encouraged them to attack so he could play the hero.
• Li Yanqi reprimanded the tipsy trainees after class, and Xiahou Aotian tried to wake the snoring Red Chicken Bro with a rifle before the other trainees restrained him.
• Li Yanqi punished Xiahou Aotian and Red Chicken Bro at the podium, then had Zhao Chenghuang distribute a list of Spirit Realm Walker classes across the two major regions.

Zhang Yuanqing studied overseas Spirit Realm professions and organizations as President Li Yanqi explained their powers and histories. The lesson ended with the revelation that the Fear Heavenly King had once belonged to the Five Elements Alliance.

• Zhang Yuanqing reviewed overseas Orderly professions, including Wind Mages, Punishment Knights, Queens, Sirens, Merchants, and Judges.
• Zhang Yuanqing read about overseas Evil professions, including Mutants, Disorderly Ones, and Apostles of the Abyss.
• President Li Yanqi described the overseas organizations, including Heaven's Punishment, the Goddess of Beauty Association, the Merchant Guild, and several Evil factions.
• Yuan Ting asked which Five Elements Alliance figures had come from Heaven's Punishment, and Li Yanqi named the White Tiger Corps marshal and the Fear Heavenly King.
• Xiahou Aotian asked how the Fear Heavenly King could have belonged to the Five Elements Alliance despite being a Bewitching Demon.

Zhang Yuanqing learned that Fear Heavenly King had once been a Scout in the Five Elements Alliance, then used a lakeside barbecue to draw attention and observe who might be targeting the stone gate. He planned to send Princess Yinyao through Mermaid Lake the next day while he stayed behind with an alibi.

• Headmaster Li Yanqi revealed that Fear Heavenly King had once been a Scout in the Five Elements Alliance before becoming a Bewitching Demon, and Zhang Yuanqing refused to disclose how Orderly Professions could turn evil.
• Zhang Yuanqing and the trainees attended Red Chicken Bro's lakeside barbecue, where Zhang Yuanqing gave Three Yang Opens Madam dating advice and joked that he was a virgin.
• All Under Heaven Returns to Fire told Zhang Yuanqing that he wanted to leave the Red Fire Gang and join the White Tiger Corps because the gang's leaders wanted to change his temperament.
• Zhang Yuanqing told Princess Yinyao that she would enter Mermaid Lake and explore the stone gate during the next day's classes while he maintained an alibi.
• Zhang Yuanqing explained that he had organized the barbecue to increase lakeside surveillance and watch for anyone interested in the stone gate, then prepared to recall the trainees' behavior.

Zhang Yuanqing used his rewind ability to identify trainees who had watched Mermaid Lake, then attended an artifact-refining class where the Mirror of Fate answered the trainees’ questions. Meanwhile, Princess Yinyao reached the stone gate on Beast Island and opened it with the jade disk, leaving what lay beyond unknown.

• Zhang Yuanqing replayed the barbecue party in his mind, identified eight suspicious trainees, and ruled out Yuan Ting and Xiahou Aotian while deciding to watch the others.
• Princess Yinyao warned Zhang Yuanqing that his spirit body was damaged, and he explained that it had been shattered and repaired.
• Zhang Yuanqing entrusted Princess Yinyao with his valuable Spirit Realm items before attending Mo Pan’s artifact-refining class.
• Mo Pan showed the trainees the Hundred Flowers Society’s display room and explained how the Mirror of Fate worked.
• Red Chicken Bro learned the mirror predicted two divorces, Xiahou Aotian received an insult, Sun Miaomiao saw herself pregnant, and Three Yang Opens Madam was told he would have neither happiness nor a partner.
• Princess Yinyao used Sleep Talismans on two merfolk guards, inserted the jade disk into the stone gate, and opened it.

Zhang Yuanqing explored the secret realm beneath Beast Island and discovered a heavily guarded underground palace called Longevity Palace, but its terracotta warriors forced him to retreat. Back in the artifact-refining room, he decided to try the Mirror of Fate and seek another way forward.

• Teacher Mo Pan explained that the native Orderly Professions of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were linked, while Zhang Yuanqing recalled the Yin-Yang Turntable's origins.
• After Princess Yinyao opened the stone door, Zhang Yuanqing entered the flooded secret realm and used Zombie Suppressing Talismans to immobilize two corpse fiends.
• Zhang Yuanqing sent the Ghost Bride ahead through a trapped passage and followed her to a vast cavern containing a terracotta army and the Longevity Palace.
• The terracotta warriors attacked Zhang Yuanqing with crossbows and swords, and he discovered that their clay bodies could reform and that a Brass Mirror could expose him during Night Roaming.
• Unable to overcome the palace guards, Zhang Yuanqing fled and returned to the artifact-refining room, where he stopped carving merman tear pearls and asked to try the Mirror of Fate.

Zhang Yuanqing recruited four allies to explore Qin Feng Academy’s hidden underground palace, but the Mirror of Fate warned that his lifespan was only three months. The team entered the palace and Xiahou Aotian used his Sovereign-grade cannon to destroy the terracotta soldiers, though each shot cost a fortune.

• Zhang Yuanqing asked the Mirror of Fate whether the planned operation would succeed and learned it would be dangerous, then asked how long he would live and received the answer: three months.
• After fate interference caused chaos in artifact-refining class, Zhang Yuanqing invited Sun Miaomiao, Zhao Chenghuang, All Under Heaven Returns to Fire, and Xiahou Aotian to join his secret expedition.
• Zhang Yuanqing explained the hidden mission beneath Mermaid Lake, and the group agreed on their roles and how to divide the underground palace’s treasures.
• The five explorers and Princess Yinyao subdued the mermaids, opened the stone door, and crossed the sword-qi passage into the cavern.
• Xiahou Aotian assembled his cannon and fired into the charging terracotta soldiers, destroying them while Zhang Yuanqing revealed that each shot cost 8 million.

Zhang Yuanqing's team defeated and collected the terracotta soldiers guarding the palace approach, then reached the First Emperor's bedchamber. The two giant guards attacked after a wave of intimidation, and one split Zhao Chenghuang in half.

• Zhang Yuanqing led the group in defeating the remaining terracotta soldiers and warned them that the stronger guards on the steps could reassemble after being smashed.
• Sun Miaomiao drew two guards out, and All Under Heaven Returns to Fire fought one before Princess Yinyao saved him from its sword; the team broke the guard apart and stored it in Zhao Chenghuang's box.
• Xiahou Aotian examined a fragment and guessed that the soldiers contained the legendary material Resting Earth, prompting the group to collect the remaining guards for Zhao Chenghuang.
• The group reached the ceremonial archway, left its bronze mirror untouched, and climbed to the bedchamber, where Zhang Yuanqing saw fatal danger in Zhao Chenghuang's physiognomy.
• The two giant terracotta guards used an intimidating mental wave, and one charged Zhao Chenghuang and split his body in two.

Zhang Yuanqing and his team returned to the Hall of Longevity, defeated the two terracotta warriors by exploiting Ghost-Face Vines and the Thunderstorm Cannon, and entered the First Emperor’s sleeping quarters. The chapter ended as they opened the brightly lit rear hall and heard someone—or something—gulping nearby.

• A terracotta warrior killed Zhao Chenghuang’s substitute, then wounded Zhang Yuanqing and routed the team before Zhao Chenghuang revealed he had survived with a substitute-death item.
• The team retreated, treated their injuries, and devised a plan to use Sun Miaomiao’s Ghost-Face Vine seeds, enhanced by Princess Yinyao’s Mountain God Scepter, to suppress the terracotta warriors’ remains.
• The team returned to the Hall of Longevity, where Zhang Yuanqing’s group battled the terracotta warriors; the cannon barrage shattered one, and the Ghost-Face Vines stopped its remains from regenerating.
• A spear-wielding terracotta warrior impaled Sun Miaomiao, but Zhang Yuanqing used the Thunderstorm Cannon to destroy it and injected her with Life Source Fluid to save her.
• After the vines suppressed both warriors’ remains, the team entered Longevity Palace and found the front hall empty.
• Zhang Yuanqing and All Under Heaven Returns to Fire opened the rear hall’s bronze doors, revealing a candlelit room as gulping sounds came from within.

Zhang Yuanqing and his companions explored the treasure vault, finding ancient materials, cultivation manuals, and artifacts that supported their theory about the Nüwa Sovereign. Zhang Yuanqing claimed the Twin Dragon Jade and discovered a powerful Scout-exclusive cloak, while Zhao Chenghuang identified another piece of the Heaven-Worship Set.

• Xiahou Aotian appraised the vault's valuables as the group calmed their greed by taking turns holding the Ghost Mirror.
• The group found nine types of Sovereign-grade materials and ancient cultivation manuals covering the Orderly and Evil Professions.
• Zhang Yuanqing discovered that the Twin Dragon Jade contained the Nüwa Sovereign's divine blood, claimed it, and inferred that the First Emperor had built the underground palace around the High Plain of Heaven Jade Disc.
• Zhang Yuanqing and his companions recognized clues in the shrine painting that connected the Nüwa Sovereign to Nuwa, the Holy Infant, and Lian Sanyue's Hundred-Forged Furnace.
• Zhang Yuanqing opened a chest and found the Court Swordmaster Cloak, a Sovereign-grade item that enhanced Scouts', Swordsmen's, and Puppeteers' skills by 40%.
• Zhao Chenghuang identified an Azure Emperor Jade Belt as part of the Heaven-Worship Set, which included the Empress Earth Boots.

Zhang Yuanqing obtained the Azure Emperor Jade Belt and discovered that the Heaven-Worship Set’s description had changed, then tested its three-piece set effect and divided the treasures with his teammates. The next day, their academy combat class was interrupted when Xia Chaoxue was found dead.

• Zhang Yuanqing examined the Azure Emperor Jade Belt, claimed it as his priority selection, and learned that the Heaven-Worship Set now promised communication with the Vast Heaven rather than the secret of immortality.
• Zhang Yuanqing and his teammates divided the Sovereign-grade treasures, stored their haul in Little Red Riding Hood, and secretly returned to their dormitory after agreeing to keep the operation quiet.
• Zhang Yuanqing equipped the Yin-Yang Robe, Empress Earth Boots, and Azure Emperor Jade Belt, activating a powerful set effect that granted him enhanced skills from four classes for up to five minutes.
• The next morning, Zhang Yuanqing, Sun Miaomiao, and Zhao Chenghuang kept their secret from Yuan Ting, then joined the students for combat training with Luo Lesheng.
• When Xia Chaoxue failed to appear at the dock, Cattle-Pen Mountain Little Fairy checked the girls’ dormitory and returned with the news that Xia Chaoxue was dead.

After Xia Chaoxue was found murdered, Zhang Yuanqing helped investigate while secretly trying to protect the underground palace team’s secret. He passed the academy’s lie detector, but the dean’s follow-up question suggested the armored man knew someone had left the dormitory during the night.

• Cattle-Pen Mountain Little Fairy reported Xia Chaoxue’s death, and Zhang Yuanqing organized the trainees’ response while arranging for the Ghost Mirror to reach Princess Yinyao.
• Zhang Yuanqing and the other investigators found Xia Chaoxue’s body, learned she had been killed with little resistance after intercourse, and discovered that her spirit body had been erased.
• The dean suspended classes and questioned the students, while Yuan Ting noted that Xia Chaoxue had no obvious lover among the academy’s students.
• Zhu Mingxu accused Zhang Yuanqing and other Night Wanderers of the murder, but Zhang Yuanqing passed the dean’s lie-detector test by denying that he had visited the girls’ dormitory, killed Xia Chaoxue, or assaulted her.
• The dean asked Zhang Yuanqing whether he had stayed in his dormitory all night, leading Zhang Yuanqing to suspect that the armored man knew the stone gate had been opened.

Zhang Yuanqing and the others investigated Xia Chaoxue’s murder, but lie detection failed to identify a culprit, and suspicion shifted toward the dean and the armored man. By retracing his memories, Zhang Yuanqing discovered that the armored man had marked the stone door to detect whether it had been opened, though the reason he knew to check it remained unclear.

• Zhao Chenghuang defended Zhang Yuanqing during the dean’s questioning, and Yuan Ting’s lie about not liking gossip triggered the little brown horn.
• The group’s lie-detection tests found no murderer, so the dean ordered them to record their movements and stay in pairs; Zhang Yuanqing also made the dean undergo the test, which he passed.
• Zhang Yuanqing and his companions discussed whether the dean was the armored man, then concluded the murder and the armored man’s knowledge of the opened stone door remained unexplained.
• Zhang Yuanqing used his ability to revisit the night the armored man searched for the stone door and saw him smear an invisible substance around its keyhole.
• Zhang Yuanqing inferred that the armored man had detected traces showing the door had been opened and returned to the lake regularly to check for them.

Zhang Yuanqing and the Underground Palace team investigated Xia Chaoxue’s murder while evading the academy teachers’ inquiries. After Starry Sky Observer explained how perfected Lunar Power could conceal others, Zhang Yuanqing deduced that a Dark Night Rose member had infiltrated the trainees and prepared to tell the academy.

• Zhang Yuanqing theorized that the armored man had tampered with the stone door and that the killer had secretly investigated Mermaid Lake during the night.
• The dean reviewed the students’ alibis, ordered Starry Sky Observer to question Yuanshi Tianzun and Zhao Chenghuang, and directed the teachers to investigate the armored man’s motive.
• Starry Sky Observer confronted Zhang Yuanqing and Zhao Chenghuang, but Zhang Yuanqing passed the lie-detection test by truthfully saying he had given Zhao Chenghuang a Spirit Talisman manual.
• Starry Sky Observer said he suspected the killer was the person who had infiltrated Mermaid Lake and explained that perfected Lunar Power could conceal others from lie detection and Insight.
• Zhang Yuanqing deduced that the armored man was likely a Dark Night Rose member hidden among the trainees and told Starry Sky Observer he had guessed the killer’s identity.