Chapter Summaries

Zhao Ruiming learned that the United Standing Council had branded the Qi Refining Formula demonic bewitchment and ordered the execution of the students who cultivated it. After protesting their deaths, he began to suspect that the council’s resolution concealed a larger purpose.

• Zhao Ruiming prepared to travel to United Great City to report the Qi Refining Formula’s results.
• The office director warned Zhao Ruiming that Enforcement Hall officers had arrived to arrest demonic rebels and had cut off communications.
• Enforcement Hall questioned Zhao Ruiming about Jiang Yang’s report, the demons, and the Qi Refining Formula he had given the students.
• Enforcement Hall announced that the council had declared the formula demonic bewitchment, ordered twelve students executed, reprimanded Zhao Ruiming, and stationed officers at the university.
• Zhao Ruiming learned the students had already been executed, smashed his table in anger, and demanded to see the standing councilors.
• Zhao Ruiming began to suspect that the council had a hidden reason for condemning the formula.

The Enforcement Hall searched the library for evidence related to the Qi Refining Formula, but found nothing and removed every book. Outside Third City, Jiang Yang’s squad survived an attack by a profound-rank demon, only to be detained by the Enforcement Hall.

• The Enforcement Hall left Zhao Ruiming’s office and began investigating the school after he was caught distributing the Qi Refining Formula.
• Enforcement Hall officers searched the library and took all its books away after finding no evidence.
• Jiang Yang’s squad was attacked by a profound-rank demon, which killed a senior and injured several students before they managed to return to Third City.
• The Enforcement Hall asked for Jiang Yang, then ordered the city guards to take the injured students away for questioning.

After the United Standing Council ordered Third Cultivation University sealed and banned the Qi Refining Formula, Zhao Ruiming and others questioned the crackdown as Zhang Gu secretly cultivated the supposedly demonic technique and found it beneficial. Half a month later, the campus remained locked down, while Gu Yuan closed the library for a month so he could rest.

• Zhao Ruiming learned that the United Standing Council had ordered the university to cooperate with its investigation, then suspected the council might be compromised by demons.
• Gu Yuan prompted Zhang Gu to cultivate the Qi Refining Formula, and Zhang Gu arrested nearby people before secretly testing the technique in the cultivation room.
• After two hours of cultivation, Zhang Gu found the Qi Refining Formula improved his strength and spiritual energy without harming him, and decided to keep cultivating it.
• Jiang Yang finished his interrogation, wondered whether the Qi Refining Formula was connected to his own technique, and hurried away to investigate it.
• Zhao Ruiming discovered that a high-ranking student had reported the university, but remained troubled that the United Standing Council had acted without informing him.
• After Third Cultivation University stayed sealed for half a month, Gu Yuan had Enforcement Hall personnel restore the library, then told Wang Chi to close it for a month.

After the Enforcement Hall’s investigation disgraced Third Cultivation University, Zhao Ruiming secretly approached the Rescue Gang and took control of it. He renamed it the Salvation Sect, declared himself its Sect Master, and began spreading the Qi Refining Formula through its members.

• The Enforcement Hall’s investigation concluded, reporting that demons had beguiled more than ten freshmen and that Zhao Ruiming had been demoted to acting president.
• Zhao Ruiming resolved to continue spreading the Qi Refining Formula by changing his methods, then disguised himself in a black robe and went to Third Great City.
• Zhao Ruiming used a coded exchange at a fruit shop to meet members of the Rescue Gang in its cold storage, where they ambushed him.
• Zhao Ruiming subdued the gang members, renamed their group the Salvation Sect, and proclaimed himself its Sect Master.
• The Salvation Sect members accepted Zhao Ruiming’s leadership; he killed those who refused and gave the others the Qi Refining Formula.

Jiang Yang used simulations to learn that keeping a low profile got him beaten to death, while fighting openly earned him fame and a sword technique manual. Meanwhile, Gu Yuan followed Zhang Gu to United Great City and secretly gave Sun Wei a cultivation technique, which Sun Wei began practicing under the pretense of investigating it.

• Jiang Yang simulated keeping a low profile, was mobbed by freshmen and older students, and died from his injuries.
• Jiang Yang simulated fighting back and challenging students, defeated freshmen and second-years, then lost to a third-year genius and became famous as the Freshman King.
• Jiang Yang received a sword technique manual from the simulation and headed to the cultivation room to practice.
• Gu Yuan followed Zhang Gu to United Great City and observed its formidable walls, runes, and Profound-rank soldiers.
• Gu Yuan bestowed the Human Race Qi Refining Formula on Sun Wei, who recognized it as a demonic technique but secretly cultivated it through the night.

Zhao Ruiming relocated the Salvation Sect and appointed Ma Fang as its Vice Sect Master while Jiang Yang’s growing reputation led him to accept a challenge from a second-year student. At the library, Wang Chi revealed himself as its honorary director, but Gu Yuan barely reacted.

• Zhao Ruiming moved the Salvation Sect into a hidden underground space and provided its members with resources to cultivate the Qi Refining Formula.
• Zhao Ruiming appointed Ma Fang Vice Sect Master and tasked him with managing the sect and recruiting members.
• Jiang Yang accepted a second-year student’s challenge at the Combat Academy arena, sparking excitement and wagers across Third Cultivation University.
• Zhao Ruiming noticed the challenge news while juggling his duties at the university and the Salvation Sect.
• Wang Chi left his cleaning job, then returned disguised as an elderly man and announced he was the library’s honorary director.
• Gu Yuan responded dismissively to Wang Chi, who restored his usual appearance and settled down to watch videos on his phone.

Jiang Yang stunned Third Cultivation University by defeating the second- and third-years and challenging the fourth-years. At the United Council meeting, Gu Yuan discovered that nine of the eleven Saint-level standing councilors were demon spies.

• Jiang Yang arrived late to his challenge because the arena crowd blocked his way.
• Jiang Yang defeated Pang Zheng with one punch, then beat the second-years and the third-years, including their top genius.
• Jiang Yang challenged the fourth-years, drawing a huge crowd to Third Cultivation University.
• Gu Yuan accompanied Sun Wei to the United Council meeting and watched eleven Saint-level standing councilors arrive.
• Gu Yuan inspected all eleven standing councilors and found that nine were demon spies.

Gu Yuan uncovered demon fiend spies among humanity’s leaders and watched Song Shanhe report a mysterious Qi Refining Formula to Agula, a powerful Demon Race inspector. Agula sensed a threat beyond his ability to handle and vanished, leaving Song Shanhe alarmed about who might target him.

• Gu Yuan discovered that at least half of the department heads at the United Council meeting were demon fiend spies.
• Song Shanhe received the Qi Refining Formula in his mind, recognized its similarity to the method from Third Cultivation University, and ordered an investigation into the Enforcement Hall personnel involved.
• Song Shanhe secretly entered an underground passage and met Agula, the Demon Race Special Inspector, to report the formula.
• Agula examined Song Shanhe’s memories but could not uncover the formula’s contents, and he suspected its source was beyond his power.
• Agula sensed a danger in the specially arranged space and disappeared, while Song Shanhe feared that someone within the United Council wanted to harm him.

Gu Yuan failed to spread the Qi Refining Formula among the Demon Race after the Heaven-Permeating Great Emperor forbade its cultivation, so he turned his attention to the human race. Meanwhile, the Salvation Sect expanded under Zhao Ruiming’s leadership, and Jian Huawei joined despite fearing the consequences.

• Agula visited the Heaven-Permeating Great Emperor, who briefly heard his report before disappearing without giving further instructions.
• Gu Yuan tried giving the Qi Refining Formula to Demon Race members, but the Heaven-Permeating Great Emperor announced that anyone who cultivated it would be executed.
• Gu Yuan abandoned his attempt to reach the Demon Race and spent time at the library with Wang Chi as the Salvation Sect spread through major cities.
• Zhao Ruiming recruited Jian Huawei, the deputy city lord of the fifth great city, into the Salvation Sect and explained why the group needed to expand cautiously.
• Jian Huawei agreed that the human race’s higher-ups had suppressed powerful cultivation methods, while Zhao Ruiming argued that the Salvation Sect had to build strength from the grassroots.

Jiang Yang challenged the Human Sacred Tower again after reaching the mid-stage of Qi Refining, climbing higher than anyone from Third Cultivation University in over a century. Zhao Ruiming watched him and considered recruiting him into the Salvation Sect, while investigating whether Jiang Yang’s sudden talent came from an opportunity or something more suspicious.

• Jiang Yang left the cultivation room and headed for the Human Sacred Tower, drawing a crowd of students who began placing bets on how many floors he would reach.
• Zhao Ruiming watched in disguise and considered recruiting Jiang Yang into the Salvation Sect, but resolved to investigate his background before trusting him.
• Jiang Yang quickly passed his previous best and defeated the mid-stage Profound Rank demon guarding the thirty-fifth floor with one sword strike.
• Jiang Yang continued climbing past the fortieth floor, astonishing the students and drawing Zhao Ruiming’s increased interest.
• Zhao Ruiming reviewed Jiang Yang’s personal records, found that he had been ordinary before a possible opportunity, and decided that any confirmed suspicious identity would have to be dealt with.

Jiang Yang climbed to the sixty-second floor of the Human Sacred Tower, entering the top hundred and becoming the first student from an ordinary cultivation university to do so. After the principal summoned him, Wang Chi recognized that Jiang Yang’s rise came from an external object, while the other students were inspired to challenge the tower themselves.

• Jiang Yang fought through the tower and reached the sixty-second floor before exhaustion forced his teleportation out.
• The students discovered Jiang Yang had tied for ninety-first place in the Human Sacred Tower rankings and celebrated his achievement.
• A Combat Academy counselor summoned Jiang Yang to the principal’s office, and Jiang Yang accepted the invitation.
• Wang Chi told Gu Yuan that Jiang Yang’s talent was insufficient and identified the source of his rise as an external object.
• Gu Yuan and Wang Chi returned to the library, while the fired-up students rushed into the tower to compete.

Jiang Yang received his Sacred Tower rewards from Zhao Ruiming, who questioned him about the demon incident before letting him go. Afterward, Gu Yuan appeared through the glowing history book, warned Zhao Ruiming that nearly all humanity’s higher-ups were traitors, and empowered the book as a magical treasure, leaving Zhao Ruiming to consider the dangers facing humanity.

• Zhao Ruiming praised Jiang Yang for reaching the sixty-third floor of the Human Sacred Tower and gave him a spatial ring of rewards.
• Zhao Ruiming asked Jiang Yang to evaluate the recent demon incident, then dismissed him before Jiang Yang could say much.
• After Jiang Yang left, the book in Zhao Ruiming’s office glowed and displayed messages from Gu Yuan, who warned that demons ravaged the world and nearly all the higher-ups were traitors.
• Gu Yuan infused the book Humanity Eternal with early Void-Shattering power, turning it into a magical treasure capable of killing experts above the Saint rank.
• Zhao Ruiming realized the demons’ infiltration was worse than he had suspected and began reading the history book, wondering how far the Salvation Sect and humanity could go.

After Gu Yuan left, Zhao Ruiming set out to accelerate the Salvation Sect’s development. In United Great City, Song Shanhe ordered a purge of suspected demon spies, and Sun Wei fled the United Guards after they tried to arrest him for treason.

• Zhao Ruiming regretted not asking Gu Yuan which higher-ups were demon spies, then left through a hidden passage to visit the Salvation Sect.
• Song Shanhe ordered the arrest of eighteen people on a list, using treason against humanity as the charge.
• United Guards stormed the Enforcement Hall and moved to seize Sun Wei while he was practicing the Qi Refining Formula.
• Sun Wei dodged an execution attempt and escaped the Enforcement Hall, using his newfound strength to elude pursuit.
• The United Guards searched United Great City for Sun Wei, who hid in a basement, concluded the formula was a demon cultivation method, and continued practicing it to grow stronger.

After the Qi Refining Formula triggered a manhunt in United Great City, Zhao Ruiming considered how to protect the Salvation Sect while Jiang Yang’s simulation revealed a possible demonic plot around a freshmen hunting competition. Jiang Yang was left weighing whether to warn the principal, while Gu Yuan suspected the demons planned to hunt humans.

• United Great City launched a manhunt after Sun Wei escaped, and Song Shanhe ordered the United Guards to investigate the Enforcement Hall.
• Gu Yuan identified Yun Tian as a Guard who still cared about humanity and gave him a cultivation technique, while Yun Tian remained unwilling to turn himself in.
• Zhao Ruiming learned that someone in United Great City had cultivated the Qi Refining Formula and resolved to keep expanding the Salvation Sect rather than rely on the higher-ups.
• Jiang Yang’s simulation showed a Third Great City wall commander meeting a handsome, inhuman figure and discussing a ferocious beast hunting competition before Jiang Yang was discovered and killed.
• Jiang Yang considered warning the principal about the commander and possible demons, while Gu Yuan wondered whether the competition was a demon hunt targeting humans.

Gu Yuan questioned Wang Chi about the Heaven-Permeating Great Emperor and the Demon Race, while Jiang Yang finally reported the suspicious conversation he had overheard about the hunting competition to Zhao Ruiming. Zhao Ruiming investigated Jiang Yang’s movements and began to suspect the garrison general, but then wondered whether the recent arrests over the Qi Refining Formula were part of a conspiracy.

• Gu Yuan reflected on the Demon Race’s strange restrictions on humanity and asked Wang Chi about the Heaven-Permeating Great Emperor, but Wang Chi said he knew nothing and cared little about another world’s fate.
• Several days later, Jiang Yang visited Zhao Ruiming and reported overhearing the garrison general and an unknown person discussing the ferocious beast hunting competition and killing.
• Zhao Ruiming agreed to investigate, then checked records confirming that Jiang Yang had left the city on an assigned mission and returned after his supposed chance encounter.
• Zhao Ruiming recalled past attacks on students and suspected the garrison general had ties to the plot surrounding the competition.
• Zhao Ruiming considered testing his strength with the Qi Refining Formula, then suddenly wondered whether the recent arrests over it were part of a conspiracy.

Third Cultivation University’s freshmen began a joint hunting competition with Fourth Cultivation University, unaware that the garrison general had secretly handed them over to Demon Race disciples as prey. An unseen attacker killed the Demon Race leader and the general just as the hunt began, leaving the disciples’ trial in disarray.

• Jiang Yang joined the freshmen traveling to the forest and watched the garrison general while looking for a safe escape route.
• Third and Fourth Cultivation Universities started the hunting competition, and two hundred freshmen entered the marked forest.
• The Third Great City garrison general left the supervising officials and met the Demon Race disciples, who prepared to hunt the freshmen for their trial.
• The general reported that all two hundred human newcomers were gathered and treated as captives for the Demon Race to dispose of.
• An unseen attacker pierced and destroyed the Demon Race leader, then beheaded the shocked garrison general.

Gu Yuan bestowed the Origin Qi Refining Formula on a powerful rat-like ferocious beast and used [Grace] to advance it to Golden Core. The newly intelligent beast began teaching other ferocious beasts, though Gu Yuan found that spreading the formula this way would be slow.

• Jiang Yang hunted ferocious beasts with single sword strikes while Gu Yuan watched the competition from the library.
• Gu Yuan bestowed the Origin Qi Refining Formula on a Great Perfection Foundation Establishment rat-like ferocious beast and used [Grace] to force its advancement.
• The rat-like ferocious beast formed a Golden Core, gained intelligence, and comprehended the Grand Qi Refining Formula.
• The rat-like ferocious beast tried to teach another ferocious beast the formula by roaring, correcting its lesson and knocking it away when it struggled.
• Gu Yuan realized that ferocious beasts would spread the formula more slowly than the Salvation Sect, but decided to build up their numbers.

Jiang Yang fought a powerful demon youth during the attack on the freshmen, while Zhao Ruiming pursued Salvation Sect business and left the late-arriving director of student affairs to rescue the students. Nearly half of the freshmen died, and Gu Yuan expected the director to be imprisoned as the deaths of protected demons sparked political fallout.

• Jiang Yang suspected Principal Zhao Ruiming of having ties to the demon attack and fought a powerful demon youth, defeating him with the Tiger Embrace Fist before collapsing.
• Zhao Ruiming met with Salvation Sect branch leaders while the director of student affairs arrived late and rescued the surviving freshmen.
• The survivors returned to the city, where only one hundred and one of the two hundred freshmen remained, and the director ordered physicians to help the wounded.
• News of the attack spread through Third Great City, and students condemned the demons while speculating about the missing garrison general.
• Wang Chi dismissed the freshmen's deaths, while Gu Yuan blamed the director's actions and anticipated that he would be imprisoned over the deaths of protected demon youths.

After the demon attack killed nearly a hundred freshmen, Zhao Ruiming blamed Director Zhang and had him detained, while the Enforcement Hall received orders to execute Zhang Jiefei and remove university leaders from office. Gu Yuan suspected the Heaven-Permeating Great Emperor was guiding Jiang Yang’s growth as part of a plan, and the chapter ended with students seeing the sweeping punishments as a sign that the authorities opposed the demons.

• Zhao Ruiming feigned outrage over the freshmen’s deaths, blamed Director Zhang, and bound him until the Enforcement Hall could take him away.
• Jiang Yang reflected on the demons’ apparent training and went to the cultivation chamber to grow stronger.
• The United Standing Council ordered Zhang Jiefei’s execution and revoked the positions of the presidents and vice presidents of Third and Fourth Cultivation Universities.
• Agula prepared to have the students killed but changed his order, sparing them and directing Song Shanhe to execute Zhang Jiefei instead.
• Gu Yuan suspected the Heaven-Permeating Great Emperor had a use for the Human Race and might be orchestrating Jiang Yang’s rise as a hero against the Demon King.
• Third Cultivation University received the enforcement orders, and students viewed the swift punishments as a firm response to the demons.

After being dismissed, Zhao Ruiming recruited Bai Meng into the Salvation Sect and secretly diverted university resources before the Enforcement Hall could inventory them. In the library, Gu Yuan considered disrupting the Demon Race’s growing strength and sent his consciousness elsewhere as he prepared to nap.

• Zhao Ruiming left Third Cultivation University after sealing the tunnels, then invited Bai Meng to join the Salvation Sect, and Bai Meng accepted.
• An Enforcement Hall team found the university resource vault mostly emptied, surveillance footage missing, and a shoe resembling one from Zhang Jiefei’s home.
• Zhao Ruiming had diverted much of the vault’s contents to support the Salvation Sect while leaving enough resources for the students.
• Gu Yuan discussed the Demon Race’s development with Wang Chi, decided he would have to act himself, and sent out a wisp of consciousness.