Chapter Summaries

Lu Qing reached Profound Heaven City hoping to join Profound Heaven Dao Academy and learned that its disciple selection would begin the next day. His Calamity Avoidance Skill warned him of a chain of dangers at the inn, so he followed its safe hexagram and slept through the night, waking after the trouble had passed.

• Lu Qing recalled how his Calamity Avoidance Skill had guided him through perilous journeys as he traveled to Profound Heaven City to seek cultivation.
• Lu Qing learned from an inn attendant that Profound Heaven Dao Academy recruited disciples every three years and planned to hold its selection in the city.
• Lu Qing received ominous hexagrams warning that eavesdropping, waking at midnight, or visiting the neighboring room would bring disaster, while sleeping until nine would keep him safe.
• Lu Qing shut his window, stuffed his ears with cotton, and went to bed, ignoring disturbances throughout the night.
• Lu Qing woke after nine in the morning and told the inn servant to leave his washbasin, towel, and breakfast outside his door.

Lu Qing went to the Dao Academy’s aptitude assessment after learning that the Liu Family’s son had been murdered outside his inn. The mirror judged Lu Qing to have Superior Aptitude, and he was selected to proceed to the Dao Academy.

• Lu Qing learned from the waiter that the Liu Family’s son had been killed outside the inn and that the Dao Academy had taken in people suspected of involvement.
• Lu Qing went to the Dao Academy’s assessment site, where a white-robed young cultivator sent a pleading applicant flying.
• The assessors found one applicant with Superior Aptitude and another with Earth-grade Aptitude, whom the young cultivator immediately led away.
• The old man tested Lu Qing with a mirror and declared that he had Superior Aptitude.

During the Dao Academy’s aptitude selection, Lu Qing followed a calming divination and bowed to ask about the next trial, narrowly avoiding a Demonic Path attack that struck the high platform. The old man Mo Youyu fought the attacker while Lu Qing stayed alive and resolved to remember his enemy.

• Lu Qing watched as the old man assigned youths their aptitudes, and a determined youth with Trash Aptitude begged to join the Servant Academy.
• The old man declared the candidates probationary disciples and warned that a second trial awaited them at the Dao Academy.
• When the candidates were given time to see their families, Lu Qing’s Calamity Avoidance showed danger whether he left the platform or stayed, but safety if he bowed and asked Mo Youyu a question.
• Lu Qing asked what the second trial involved, and Mo Youyu explained that it tested character and background.
• A Demonic Path attacker struck the platform, but Lu Qing survived by keeping his head bowed as the blow smashed the wall behind him.
• Mo Youyu rose to fight the attacker while Lu Qing, shaken but alive, vowed to remember him.

After an attack by a Demonic Cultivator left several recruits missing, Lu Qing traveled with the other youths toward the Profound Heaven Dao Academy and learned about its divisions and training. The Flying Boat arrived at the Academy, where Elder Mo took the recruits to the Disciple Hall for their second assessment.

• Mo Youyu returned without visible injuries, and the recruits realized that several people, including the final Superior Aptitude genius, were missing after the attack.
• Lu Qing met Li Jiuming and Liu Er aboard the Flying Boat, and Li Jiuming explained how the Dao Academy divided its disciples between the Outer and Inner Academies.
• When other recruits considered cultivating early before the Entry Trial Tournament, Lu Qing advised them to wait until they understood the Academy's requirements, and Li Jiuming agreed.
• Elder Mo observed the recruits' conduct during the journey and approved of Lu Qing's calmness.
• The Flying Boat stopped at a mountain platform, and Elder Mo used a token to transport the recruits to the Disciple Hall for their second assessment.

Lu Qing passed the Profound Heaven Dao Academy’s illusory assessment and received his disciple Jade Token, while secretly hearing powerful Elders discuss the candidates. He chose a quiet, nameless Dao Peak in the Outer Academy and began inspecting the materials issued to him.

• Elder Lin tested the new disciples in an illusory realm while Elders secretly watched and assessed them.
• Lu Qing resisted the illusions, dismissed the false vision of becoming a peerless prodigy, and overheard the Elders’ discussion without revealing it.
• Elder Mo announced that the disciples had passed, and Lu Qing received and registered his Jade Token, though no one was taken as a disciple.
• A senior brother explained how Dao Peak assignments worked, gave Lu Qing his entry supplies, and led him to choose a nameless peak.
• Lu Qing entered his new courtyard, dismissed the ordinary workers, and used a Jade Slip to read about the Profound Heaven Dao Academy.

Lu Qing learned more about the Profound Heaven Dao Academy and traveled to his first cultivation class at Martial Arts Peak. There, he reunited with Li Jiuming and heard that exceptionally talented disciples, including Heaven-grade prodigies, would attend the Outer Academy.

• Lu Qing read the Jade Token booklet, learned about the Academy’s domains, cultivation realms, and formations, and decided that joining the Academy had been the right choice.
• Lu Qing hired White Crane Boy to take him to Martial Arts Peak and witnessed Elder Yu’s alchemy furnace explode along the way.
• White Crane Boy explained how Lu Qing could summon him through the Jade Token, then left Lu Qing at Martial Arts Peak.
• Lu Qing met Li Jiuming at the lecture plaza, where Li Jiuming described classes, missions, and the Jade Token Space.
• Disciples discussed the arrival of Earth-grade and Heaven-grade prodigies, including Gu Xuantian, the Gu Family’s Qilin heir, who had also joined the Outer Academy.

Lu Qing attended a cultivation lecture where he learned that talented newcomers would compete with Outer Sect disciples for resources, then entered the Meridian Opening Realm through Divine Visualization. After the lesson, he prepared to begin learning spells as his cultivation journey officially started.

• Gu Xing revealed that the talented newcomers would undergo the Entry Trial Tournament and compete for rankings and stipends, though many already had Inner Sect masters.
• Lu Qing gained ten years of lifespan from a skill effect and watched more than ten celebrated young cultivators take the front seats.
• Elder Yu taught the disciples to visualize a magma diagram, and Lu Qing felt its heat flow through his meridians and bones.
• Lu Qing entered the Meridian Opening Realm, while other disciples succeeded at different times and Elder Yu departed.
• Lu Qing recognized that his new disciple protection period might be ending and began considering which spells to learn.

Lu Qing visited the Library Tower and spent his limited Spirit Stones on the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture, a steady cultivation method suited to a new disciple. He returned to his distant Nameless Dao Peak and began cultivating.

• Lu Qing entered the Library Tower and used its search function to find foundational methods within his budget.
• Lu Qing rejected the incomplete Carefree Formula after reading seniors’ warnings about it.
• Lu Qing chose the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture, paid for it with Spirit Stones, and received its imprint in his disciple Jade Token.
• Lu Qing met the White Crane Boy, who offered to carry him on a future visit, but Lu Qing said he was nearly out of Spirit Stones.
• Lu Qing returned to Nameless Dao Peak, settled into the cultivation chamber, and began cultivating the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture.

After entering the Qi Nourishment Realm, Lu Qing explored the Jade Token Space’s Mission Hall and considered earning Spirit Stones. The Ominous Hexagram warned that either accepting or refusing Bai Yunqing’s recruitment would lead to his death on a mission, so Lu Qing chose to remain on Nameless Peak and suspected an old Demonic Path thief was behind the danger.

• Lu Qing cultivated with the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture and entered the Qi Nourishment Realm.
• Lu Qing discovered the Mission Hall inside the Jade Token Space, learned how disciples accepted and settled missions, and returned to his body without taking one.
• Lu Qing’s Ominous Hexagram warned that accepting or refusing Bai Yunqing’s recruitment would lead to his death during an internal mission, while staying on Nameless Peak for a month would be safe.
• Lu Qing recalled that the Spirit Plant irrigation missions were located in the remote Servant Academy and suspected the unfamiliar enemy was the old Demonic Path thief.

Lu Qing avoided the Outer Academy’s turmoil for a month, learned that Bai Yunqing served Yan Langyu, and focused on cultivation. He reached Qi Nourishment, Third Layer, and mastered a powerful but slow Spirit Sword Technique as the Academy’s shifting news continued to arrive.

• Lu Qing declined Li Jiuming’s invitation and bought a dossier on the Outer Academy to investigate Bai Yunqing and the factions around him.
• Lu Qing learned that Bai Yunqing was Yan Langyu’s errand-runner and that Yan Langyu was a powerful Outer Sect disciple gathering talented followers.
• Lu Qing stayed on Nameless Dao Peak for a month, cultivating and learning the Minor Cloud Rain Technique while avoiding the turmoil below.
• Lu Qing demonstrated his Spirit Sword Technique by piercing a distant boulder, then judged the technique too slow to rely on except as a surprise attack.
• Lu Qing reached Qi Nourishment, Third Layer, and saw that the Jade Slip’s news feed constantly updated with a mixture of true and false reports.

After emerging from a month of seclusion, Lu Qing learned that the Blood Demon connected to his ominous divination had been killed and registered for the new disciples’ Entry Trial Tournament. He arrived at the gathering place as the tournament approached, where the Trial Micro-Realm’s dangers and opportunities awaited.

• Lu Qing read Outer Academy news, registered for the Entry Trial Tournament, and learned that the Painting Academy’s head had killed the Blood Demon.
• Lu Qing realized the Blood Demon had targeted talented Immortal seedlings in Profound Heaven City and concluded that going there himself would have led to disaster.
• Three days later, Lu Qing rode with the White Crane Boy to the tournament gathering place, owing him one Spirit Stone.
• Lu Qing read messages explaining that the tournament would take place in a dangerous Trial Micro-Realm and checked that his Ominous Situation Panel had not appeared.
• A group of young disciples arrived riding impressive spirit beasts, and the gathered disciples fell silent.

Lu Qing entered the Dao Academy’s Entry Trial Tournament, held in a dangerous Trial Micro-Realm where contestants competed for points by collecting items. After following a Calming Hexagram north to avoid immediate danger, he set out west to seek rewards.

• Lu Qing rebuffed Lin Zixuan’s attempt to ask about Bai Yunqing, while Li Jiuming apologized for the awkward exchange.
• A purple-robed Elder explained the tournament’s points system and announced that the Trial Micro-Realm would close in seven days.
• Lu Qing saw an ominous hexagram warning that collecting a spirit herb would lead to death, so he followed its safe direction north after landing alone.
• After the Calming Hexagram was completed, Lu Qing chose to travel west and concealed his aura as he searched for gains.

Lu Qing found and consumed a Snow Spirit Fruit, improving his comprehension and advancing to the Fourth Layer of the Qi Nourishment Realm. After overhearing disciples arguing over a spirit beast, he detected a deadly omen involving a Purple Mansion Venom Python and fled south toward his landing place.

• Lu Qing stole a ripened Snow Spirit Fruit from a disguised, weak demon beast and consumed it before its medicinal effect faded.
• The fruit cleared Lu Qing's cultivation doubts, strengthened his Spiritual Power absorption, and helped him break through to the Fourth Layer of the Qi Nourishment Realm.
• Lu Qing explored the Trial Microcosm for five days, gathering spiritual herbs and avoiding powerful demon beasts with his Calamity Avoidance Talent.
• Lu Qing overheard three groups of disciples confronting one another over a spirit beast and a fruit, then slipped away when one group invoked Senior Brother Chang.
• Lu Qing received a Greatly Ominous Hexagram warning that a Purple Mansion Venom Python could kill him and a Calming Hexagram directing him south to his landing place.
• Lu Qing unleashed his Spiritual Power and raced south as countless rays of Spirit Light appeared beneath the distant clouds.

Lu Qing survived the demon beast’s rampage in the Trial Micro-Realm and watched a Dao Academy elder defeat it. He returned to the plaza with the other survivors as the trial ended and the academy promised compensation.

• Lu Qing killed an ambushing black Snake Demon and wondered what danger the Divination’s slight Cause and Effect foretold.
• A Purple Mansion Realm demon beast rolled over, shaking the land and covering the sky with dust.
• A trial elder arrived and unleashed a sea of sword light that tore through the darkness.
• Lu Qing heeded the order to leave the Trial Micro-Realm and returned to the plaza with his gathered spirit herbs and demon beast corpses.
• The purple-robed elder officially ended the trial, explained that an unforeseen event had caused the disaster, and promised the disciples extra Spirit Stones.

After returning from the Trial Micro-Realm, Lu Qing learned that the other disciples had been injured while pursuing a demon beast guarding a Foundation Establishment Spirit Item. He visited the Cultivation City to accept a nearby Spirit Plant mission, then continued cultivating and prepared to submit surplus items.

• Lu Qing watched the injured disciples return and concluded that their losses were severe, though he was pleased with his own gains and cultivation breakthrough.
• The disciples discussed how a guardian demon beast and the Foundation Establishment Spirit Item within it had drawn several groups into a confrontation.
• Lu Qing went to the Cultivation City and accepted an Outer Academy mission watering Water Lotus at the Spirit Plant Garden beside Shallowwater Lake.
• Lu Qing summoned the White Crane Boy and left the city after choosing the mission for its nearby location, standard reward, and chance to practice the Minor Cloud Rain Technique.
• After cultivating overnight, Lu Qing felt his senses and Spiritual Power improve, then selected items that were useless to him to submit through his disciple Jade Token.

Lu Qing received his small-competition rewards, including Spirit Stones and a rare Crescent Foundation Establishment Spirit Item, then went to the Spirit Plant Garden for a Water Lotus irrigation task. He used the Minor Cloud Rain Technique to refill the pond and complete the task.

• Lu Qing discovered that he had placed twelfth in the small competition and received three rewards: a cultivation technique selection, one thousand Spirit Stones, and a Crescent Foundation Establishment Spirit Item.
• Lu Qing restrained his excitement about the Foundation Establishment Spirit Item and decided to visit the Spirit Plant Garden before choosing a cultivation technique.
• Lu Qing traveled to Shallowwater Lake and followed a Servant Academy disciple into the outer perimeter of the Spirit Plant Garden.
• Lu Qing found the Water Lotus pond below its marked water level and learned that the lotuses needed constant irrigation.
• Lu Qing cast the Minor Cloud Rain Technique over the pond until its water level rose to the required level, completing the irrigation task.

Lu Qing began cultivating beside the Water Lotuses in the Spirit Plant Garden while the Entry Trial Tournament’s results remained unsettled. At a banquet, Outer Academy disciples discussed the tournament and the injuries suffered by its leading contestants as Li Jiao considered recruiting promising disciples.

• Lu Qing found no sign of the Spirit Plant Garden’s hidden plants, noticed the pond’s water level barely changing, and decided to cultivate beside the Water Lotuses until they bore fruit.
• Lin Tiannan complained that he and his companions had ranked outside the top twenty and said a contestant had obtained a Foundation Establishment Spirit Item.
• Li Jiao asked Lin Tiannan to identify the dark horses near the top of the rankings so he could befriend them.
• The disciples discussed how a Purple Mansion Realm demonic beast had been killed by a supervising Elder, leaving many leading contestants injured.
• Li Jiao reflected on his aptitude and his Lineage’s plan to use Inner Academy resources to advance him and benefit the Lineage.

Lu Qing cultivated in the Spirit Plant Garden, advanced to the Qi Nourishment Fifth Layer, and practiced his Minor Cloud Rain Technique while ignoring the Outer Academy’s arena challenges. After completing his task and receiving a reward technique, he mastered Minor Cloud Rain Technique at Shallowwater Lake.

• Li Jiao considered which new disciples to recruit and dismissed Lu Qing as a poor, unpromising cultivator.
• Lu Qing practiced his Minor Cloud Rain Technique in the Spirit Plant Garden and advanced to the Qi Nourishment Fifth Layer.
• Lu Qing read about the Outer Academy’s arena challenges but decided to keep cultivating rather than join them.
• An Outer Academy disciple collected the Water Lotus fruits and transferred Lu Qing his reward and contribution points.
• Lu Qing exchanged a reward for Cloud-Riding Water Arrow and practiced Minor Cloud Rain Technique at Shallowwater Lake.
• Lu Qing gained an insight and mastered Minor Cloud Rain Technique.

Lu Qing advanced to the Qi Nourishment Sixth Layer, finished his Spirit Plant Garden assignment, and returned to Nameless Dao Peak. He mastered the Cloud-Riding Water Arrow Technique to minor mastery and began considering how to conceal his aura for more effective ambushes.

• Lu Qing cultivated for fourteen days and broke through to the Qi Nourishment Sixth Layer.
• Lu Qing completed his assignment at the Spirit Plant Garden, received his rewards, and returned to Nameless Dao Peak.
• Lu Qing reviewed his resources and began studying the Cloud-Riding Water Arrow Technique.
• Lu Qing achieved minor mastery of the spell and tested its fast, concealed attacks in the training plaza.
• Lu Qing considered learning an aura-concealment spell to improve his ability to ambush enemies.

Lu Qing cultivated a Concealment Art and went to an Elder’s lecture, where he found Outer Academy disciples arguing over the privileged cloud couches. He learned that Cheng Du had taken a seat despite being challenged, and the lecture had not yet begun.

• Lu Qing exchanged Spirit Stones for a Concealment Art and practiced it while cultivating at dawn and dusk.
• After three more days, Lu Qing received notice of an Elder’s lecture and traveled there with White Crane Boy.
• White Crane Boy urged Lu Qing to spar in the arena, but Lu Qing said he had no interest in fighting for fame.
• At the lecture site, Lu Qing saw a dispute over the fifteenth privileged cloud couch between Cheng Du and Senior Brother Liu.
• Cheng Du refused to give up his seat, and Senior Brother Liu yielded after the disciples revealed Cheng Du’s aptitude and ties to the Inner Academy Elder giving the lecture.