Recaps

Lotus City Light Institute began its tournament match against Saigon City College, a much weaker team, with Shu Yushan taking three opponents in a row before handing the 1v1 matches to Tong Zhou. The team battle was about to begin, and spectators wondered whether Lotus City would field its first-year substitutes.

• Xi Min told Lotus City Light Institute's players to rest and focus on Saigon City College, warning them not to underestimate their opponents.
• Xiao Xiao and Peak Bro introduced Lotus City Light Institute's lineup and highlighted its captain's talent and the discussion around its first-year starter.
• Shu Yushan defeated three Saigon City College players in succession, then surrendered and passed the baton to Tong Zhou.
• The commentators and livestream audience remarked on the gulf in strength as Saigon fielded its fifth player while Lotus City had used only two.
• The break ended, and spectators speculated about Lotus City's lineup for the team battle, especially whether its first-year substitutes would play.

Xu Zhi and the Lotus City team entered the match against Saigon, whose defensive formation Qiu Hou disrupted with his [Opening] ability. As Shu Yushan attacked Saigon’s commander, Xu Zhi sensed that something had fixed its gaze on her.

• Xu Zhi picked up her saber and followed her teammates into the arena, where the crowd cheered.
• Tong Zhou declared that the match would end quickly, and the Lotus City team charged Saigon as the match began.
• Xu Zhi avoided using the [Eye of Secrets] so the arena’s surveillance would not reveal her ability.
• Qiu Hou unraveled a supernatural knot and disrupted Saigon’s formation, opening a gap for Shu Yushan’s attack.
• Shu Yushan struck Saigon’s commander, who blocked with [Forge] but suffered a badly fractured arm.
• Xu Zhi watched the fight and sensed that something had fixed its gaze on her.

Xu Zhi countered Saigon’s attempt to switch her out of position and wounded its support player, then overpowered him in a sword fight. The support lost his weapon as Xu Zhi revealed she had been toying with him.

• Saigon’s support used Shifting Forms, Swapping Shadows to switch places with Xu Zhi, but Qiu Hou altered the ability so the support appeared in Qiu Hou’s position instead.
• Xu Zhi stabbed the support through the abdomen while Qiu Hou was attacked by Saigon’s team.
• The support used [Immobilization] and swung at Xu Zhi, but she resisted the effect and dodged before striking his face and arm.
• Xu Zhi repeatedly battered the support’s sword with heavy blows, worsening his wound and forcing him backward.
• Xu Zhi knocked the support’s sword from his hand, and he realized she had deliberately been toying with him.

Lotus City Light Institute defeated Saigon in its opening match and continued winning without fielding Xu Zhi or Chu Xiao Yue. As the finals narrowed to eighty teams, Xi Min prepared Chu Xiao Yue to play against Mijiang City College.

• Xu Zhi feigned exhaustion while Lotus City eliminated Saigon’s remaining fighters and won the match 8:1.
• Lotus City placed thirteenth on the leaderboard but focused on gathering information and preparing tactics rather than chasing points.
• Lotus City won five more matches without fielding Xu Zhi or Chu Xiao Yue as the finals narrowed to eighty teams.
• Xi Min decided Chu Xiao Yue would take the field in the next match, against Mijiang City College.

Xu Zhi watched Lotus City Light Institute face Minjiang, suspecting the matchup was not a coincidence and that Minjiang’s contestants might be connected to [Cup]. Chu Xiao Yue crushed Minjiang’s [Forge] contestant in the opening 1v1, while Xu Zhi remained convinced that trouble had yet to surface.

• Xu Zhi questioned whether Lotus City Light Institute had been deliberately matched against Minjiang, given Lotus City’s suspected role in Minjiang’s crisis and her concerns about [Cup].
• Before the match, Xi Min warned the contestants about Minjiang’s [Heart]-attribute girl and told Chu Xiao Yue to surrender if anything felt seriously wrong.
• Chu Xiao Yue entered her first match as Lotus City Light Institute’s main carry, drawing attention from the spectators and commentators.
• Minjiang sent out a sixth-year [Forge] contestant, but Chu Xiao Yue slowed him with her power and pierced him with her frost-covered sword in a crushing defeat.
• Xu Zhi doubted that Minjiang’s contestants were truly safe and suspected that the match still concealed a problem.

Xu Zhi joined Lotus City Light Institute’s team battle against Minjiang after sensing that something was wrong, and used the [Eye of Secrets] to observe the opposing team. The match began with her teammates targeting Minjiang’s [Heart] users, while Xu Zhi watched for signs of trouble.

• Xu Zhi asked Xi Min to let her compete in the team battle, and Xi Min agreed after Xu Zhi attributed her concern to her [Lamp] instinct.
• Xu Zhi chose to replace Tong Zhou, then learned that Xi Min wanted the team to attack Minjiang if anything unusual happened.
• Lotus City Light Institute sent Xu Zhi onto the arena, surprising Minjiang’s contestants, the commentators, and the audience.
• Xu Zhi activated the [Eye of Secrets] as the team battle began and assessed Minjiang’s double-[Heart], double-support lineup.
• Chu Xiao Yue and Qiu Hou moved to disrupt and attack a Minjiang [Heart] user, while Shu Yushan and Su Ran supported the opening assault.

Minjiang’s support disrupted Lotus City’s senses, but Chu Xiao Yue’s domain turned the match in Lotus City’s favor. As Minjiang’s team bled, Xu Zhi recognized signs of [Cup]’s influence and ordered her team to retreat, leaving the players transforming into believers in front of the cameras.

• Minjiang’s support blurred the arena and disrupted the opponents’ senses, while Xu Zhi warned Qiu Hou of the enemy carry’s dive.
• Chu Xiao Yue released her domain, boosting Lotus City’s team and weakening Minjiang until its competitors were badly wounded.
• Xu Zhi sensed something wrong with Minjiang’s blood and ordered her teammates to seek decisive strikes rather than inflict more wounds.
• Red tendrils spread from the Minjiang players’ hearts through their bodies, prompting Xu Zhi to order an immediate retreat and Chu Xiao Yue to withdraw her domain.
• The Minjiang players realized they were becoming [Cup] believers and suspected someone had colluded with [Cup] to transform them in public.

Xu Zhi and her teammates faced five Mijiang players transformed by [Cup] during a league match, while the organizers let the confrontation continue and the broadcast fueled public suspicion. As the Lotus City team struggled against their opponents’ regeneration, Xu Zhi identified their circuit cores as the quickest way to stop them.

• Xu Zhi warned her teammates to avoid the transformed players’ blood and recognized that the Mijiang team had become powerful [Cup] believers.
• The five believers attacked, and Xu Zhi fought back while concluding that [Cup] had exposed its influence through the live match.
• The commentators continued the broadcast as viewers noticed the Mijiang players’ strange abilities and began accusing them of being connected to [Cup].
• Shu Yushan kicked away a believer charging Xu Zhi, but it recovered immediately and attacked again.
• Shu Yushan asked Xu Zhi how to fight the regenerating believers, and she told him to destroy their circuit cores.

Xu Zhi guided her teammates in targeting the circuits of the Cup believers, while Lotus City fought to subdue them and demonstrated Lamp’s power against Cup. As the battle continued, Xu Zhi deliberately held back her strongest abilities to show Lamp’s restraint over Cup and avoid drawing suspicion to herself.

• Xu Zhi identified the Cup believers’ circuits and directed her teammates to shatter them instead of relying on decapitation.
• Chu Xiao Yue froze a believer’s circuit with her sword and moved on to attack another, though she found the Cup’s vitality unusually difficult to overcome.
• Shu Yushan, Su Ran, and Qiu Hou fought the other believers, while Xu Zhi used Lamp’s aura to disrupt the attacker facing her.
• Xu Zhi chose not to use Cursed Speech or release Little One, aiming to demonstrate Lamp’s power over Cup without disturbing her plans or attracting suspicion.

Xu Zhi and the Lotus City's Light Institute defeated Mijiang City College’s Cup believers, after which tournament officials executed the surviving believers and outside forces took control of Mijiang. The incident spread worship of Cup, while powerful figures discussed finding a traitor and preventing Cup’s return.

• Xu Zhi pierced a believer with her blade and used Lamp energy to destroy his circuit, which caused his body to burn from within until he died.
• A tournament referee apprehended the two surviving believers, announced Mijiang’s collusion with Cup, and executed them before the broadcast cameras.
• The referee praised the Lotus City's Light Institute, and Xu Zhi suspected Lotus City had helped arrange the incident.
• Xu Zhi learned that Lotus City and Lingzhou had seized political power in Mijiang under the pretext of purging Cup.
• Secret sects of desperate people began worshipping Cup after the match was broadcast.
• Powerful figures on a tower blamed a worm within their ranks, discussed Cup’s return, and questioned whether the escaped Examiner was dead.

After the match, Xu Zhi’s actions convinced observers that she was a [Lamp] transcendent and could not be connected to [Cup], while Lotus City’s Chair quietly advanced her own plans. As the league’s top forty teams emerged, [Dingchan]’s rapid growth drew suspicion from Xu Zhi.

• Observers concluded that Xu Zhi was not connected to [Cup] because [Lamp] remained its natural enemy and she had killed a believer in the arena.
• Lotus City rapidly attacked Minjiang, while public opinion turned against Minjiang and supported Lotus City.
• The Chair dismissed suspicions that she was connected to [Cup] and ordered low-grade prosthetics sold cheaply in the lower districts so residents could resist believers.
• Xi Min warned her teammates that killing [Cup] on livestream might expose them to retaliation, while Xu Zhi suspected that the league’s next round of scrutiny would not stop [Cup] from causing trouble.
• After several days of competition, [Dingchan] advanced to the top forty, and Xu Zhi questioned how its members had improved so quickly despite passing the organizers’ tests.

Xu Zhi watched Dingchan face Deer Isle in the round of 40 to 20 and grew suspicious of the team's rapid advancement. Deer Isle dominated the 1v1 matches, but during the team battle Xu Zhi noticed they seemed intent on making Dingchan bleed rather than ending the fight.

• Lotus City Light Institute's students gathered to watch Dingchan face Deer Isle, another dark horse backed by Gods Heavy Industries.
• Chu Xiao Yue predicted that Deer Isle would win based on paper strength, while noting that Dingchan's repeated upsets suggested something was amiss.
• Deer Isle won the 1v1 round overwhelmingly with five Forges.
• Xu Zhi reviewed Dingchan's records and noticed that its members mastered new abilities and maintained coordination unusually quickly after ranking up.
• Deer Isle charged Dingchan head-on in the team battle, and Xu Zhi used the Eye of Secrets to observe the fight.
• Xu Zhi noticed Deer Isle deliberately inflicting wounds on Dingchan instead of taking chances to finish the match.

Xu Zhi deduced that Deer Isle, backed by [Gods Heavy Industries], had deliberately collected Dingchan students’ flesh and blood during their match before conceding. As the league continued, she prepared for the unrest ahead and anticipated a revealing clash between Council Academy and Dingchan Academy.

• Xu Zhi concluded Deer Isle had staged its apparent collapse to gather Dingchan students’ flesh and blood, and suspected [Gods Heavy Industries] knew something about Dingchan’s secret.
• Dingchan won after Deer Isle retreated, and the team’s reputation surged as Xu Zhi prepared to strengthen Little Aberration and secure the resources she needed.
• Xu Zhi learned her team would face Qi City next, while Dingchan Academy had drawn Lotus City College again.
• Xu Zhi predicted Council Academy would field its hidden main carry against Dingchan Academy, believing both teams would reveal something in their next match.

Xu Zhi watched the Council Academy’s previously unseen [Moth]-attribute main carry dominate the 1v1 match with strange, lethal abilities. The Council Academy won easily, while Xi Min and Tong Zhou began analyzing how to counter her.

• Xu Zhi saw the Council Academy’s delicate, easily overlooked main carry and recognized her [Moth] attribute.
• The commentators explained that [Moth] users were rare in the league and seldom served as main carries, especially in 1v1 matches.
• The Council Academy main carry used an ability that distorted the Dingchan contestant’s perception, making him mistake her for safety and expose his back.
• The [Moth] pierced the Dingchan contestant’s chest with her glowing fingertips, disrupting his control of his body and energy until he collapsed.
• Tong Zhou called the abilities troublesome, and Xi Min analyzed how the main carry’s perception-altering and contact-based attacks worked together.

Lotus City Academy’s Chu Minghe used a domain ability to pressure Dingchan in a team fight, then accused a Dingchan player of an impossible mid-battle breakthrough. Xu Zhi realized the accusation was a staged attempt to turn public outrage against the league organizers and ultimately target the Executor.

• Chu Minghe secured four kills in a 1v1 match but deliberately left before completing a five-man streak, prompting Xu Zhi to suspect Lotus City wanted a team fight with Dingchan.
• Chu Minghe used her moth-shaped domain to force eye contact and overwhelm Dingchan’s players with hallucinogenic, toxic scale powder.
• A first-year Dingchan player broke through during the battle, shocking viewers and prompting suspicions that something was wrong with him.
• Chu Minghe publicly accused the player of cheating and claimed Dingchan had deceived the league, while Xu Zhi recognized that her speech had been prepared to exploit the incident.
• Xu Zhi saw trending topics blaming the organizers and questioning the Executor, realizing that the scheme’s real target was the Executor.

After Dingchan was disqualified for violating the rules, Xu Zhi suspected Council Academy had orchestrated the match to force a Representative to respond to the growing crisis of trust in the league. The organizing committee decided to seek help from the [Winter] Representative, while recognizing that many powerful people might welcome his downfall.

• The league committee issued a warning, and a referee struck down the Dingchan freshman and accused him of taking a shortcut that had drained his lifespan.
• The referee disqualified Dingchan and stripped its past results, giving Lotus City College the victory.
• Xu Zhi suspected Council Academy had staged events to turn public anger toward the committee and Representatives and force one of them to appear.
• The organizing committee argued over the Oath Circuit and the league's mounting problems as public and participating cities condemned the committee.
• The committee decided to ask the Representative to resolve the crisis, knowing that the plot targeted him and that rivals might seize his position if he fell.

Xu Zhi concluded that the Council and Lotus City were helping [Cup] draw out the [Winter] Executor, and the league announced that an Executor would attend the finals. As the teams prepared for the new challenge-based finals, Xu Zhi worried that the Executor might see through her disguise.

• Xu Zhi reasoned that the Minjiang and Dingchan incidents were connected and that Lotus City might be helping [Cup] kill the [Winter] Executor.
• The league suspended matches, then announced that an Executor would visit Freedom City, recreate the Oath Circuit, and attend the finals.
• Xu Zhi worried that the attending Executor would recognize her disguise as public anticipation for the finals surged.
• Xi Min explained the top-ten finals rules and said Lotus City Light Institute ranked sixth while Council Academy ranked ninth.
• Tong Zhou declared that the team would aim for first place, and Xi Min urged the students to perform well before the watching Executor and other important figures.

Xu Zhi watched Winter’s mysterious [Proxy] during the grand finals and concluded that he had not detected her unusual dual circuits. As the competition began, Crane River City Academy challenged a higher-ranked team, though its target had not yet been revealed.

• Xu Zhi saw the hooded chief referee in the referees’ area and suspected he was Winter’s [Proxy].
• Xu Zhi used the [Eye of Secrets] cautiously and concluded that the [Proxy] had not noticed anything unusual about her.
• Xu Zhi considered transferring Moth’s circuit into a [Spirit Vessel] if she were discovered, but kept her circuits intact when the matches began.
• The ten teams started the finals, with ten minutes for a team to issue a challenge each round.
• Crane River City Academy, ranked fourth, issued the first challenge, and the commentators awaited its choice of opponent.

The finals saw Lingzhou Light Institute defend first place against Crane River City Academy and Heaven-Answering City Academy, while several lower-ranked teams also challenged. As Lotus City Light Institute challenged Lingzhou, Xu Zhi stepped forward and teased Jiang Qing about wanting to be defeated by her team.

• Crane River City Academy challenged Lingzhou Light Institute, but Lingzhou won after Crane River forced them to reveal several methods.
• White Bird City College defeated Sang Luo City Academy, and Heaven-Answering City Academy later challenged Lingzhou but lost narrowly.
• Lingzhou City Academy challenged Crane River City Academy and won, leaving Lingzhou teams ranked first and fourth.
• Lotus City Light Institute challenged Lingzhou Light Institute and sent first-year Xu Zhi onto the main stage.
• Xu Zhi asked Jiang Qing whether her remark about first place belonging to the strong meant she wanted Xu Zhi’s team to defeat her.
• Jiang Qing looked stunned and suggested her teammate might not have meant it that way.

Xu Zhi’s team began its match against Lingzhou, and Xu Zhi used [Eye of Secrets] to guide her teammates through Jiang Qing’s dangerous domain. Rather than stay in support, Xu Zhi charged at Jiang Qing and easily blocked a [Forge] contestant’s kick, leaving the fight underway.

• Xu Zhi activated [Eye of Secrets] as the match began, while Jiang Qing’s domain filled the arena with cold mist, ice, dazzling light, and illusions.
• Qiu Hou sealed one of Jiang Qing’s abilities, and Lingzhou’s team moved to attack him so they could free it.
• Xu Zhi saw through Jiang Qing’s illusions, called out danger points for her teammates, and charged toward Jiang Qing with her saber.
• A [Forge] contestant kicked at Xu Zhi, but she blocked the blow without moving and then slashed at him.

During the team battle, Xu Zhi held her own against Jian Fei and endured Jiang Qing’s devastating domain attack, then rapidly healed and kept fighting. The chapter ended with Xu Zhi lamenting that the attack had shattered the glasses she had gone into debt to buy.

• Xu Zhi blocked Jian Fei’s full-force axe strike and countered so quickly that Jiang Qing had to intervene through her domain.
• Chu Xiao Yue wounded Jiang Qing, while Jiang Qing realized Xu Zhi was the battle’s unexpected variable and retreated to unleash her area attack.
• Jiang Qing’s golden threads pierced Xu Zhi and injured her, while the rest of Chu Xiao Yue’s team avoided most of the damage.
• Xu Zhi’s wounds rapidly healed, and she blocked Jian Fei’s opportunistic attack despite his disbelief that she could still move.
• Xu Zhi noticed her shattered glasses and regretted that she had gone into debt to buy them.

Xu Zhi turned the battle against Lingzhou Light Institute by confronting Jiang Qing, suppressing her domain with [Cursed Speech], and overwhelming her in a brutal fight. The chapter ended with Xu Zhi in a Bloodlust state, badly wounded but eager to attack Jiang Qing after killing Xiao Ling.

• Jiang Qing used her third extraordinary ability to bring forward Qiu Hou’s future, severely injured self, and Lingzhou’s team rushed Lotus City’s backline while Xu Zhi charged Jiang Qing.
• Xu Zhi stabbed Jiang Qing with [Cursed Speech] and weakened her domain, giving Lotus City’s other contestants room to turn the fight around.
• Jiang Qing and Xu Zhi clashed at close range as Xu Zhi’s strength and healing overwhelmed Jiang Qing despite her attacks.
• Xiao Ling joined the fight, but Xu Zhi entered Bloodlust and killed her with a full-force strike, breaking her saber in the process.
• Xu Zhi stood wounded but exhilarated and turned her attention back to Jiang Qing.

Xu Zhi’s brutal instant kill of a Lingzhou contestant stunned the league audience and made her an overnight sensation. Though regrouping with her teammates would be the sensible choice, she chose to keep fighting Jiang Qing, even while badly injured.

• Xu Zhi instantly killed a Lingzhou contestant, shocking the commentators and viewers.
• Viewers praised Xu Zhi’s strength and debated whether she should regroup with her teammates or continue fighting Jiang Qing.
• The commentator noted that Xu Zhi’s self-focused choices might still help Lotus City win, while her performance had already made her famous.
• Xu Zhi recognized that rejoining her teammates was the conventional best choice but decided against it.
• Despite her chest wound and labored breathing, Xu Zhi smiled at Jiang Qing and prepared to keep fighting without retrieving Xiao Ling’s dropped knife.

Xu Zhi defeated Jiang Qing after a brutal fight, then was unsettled by a strange hunger she felt toward her opponent. Her teammates arrived and Su Ran healed her as the host declared Lotus City Light Institute victorious.

• Xu Zhi fought Jiang Qing barehanded, while Jiang Qing used her domain and Future Sight to keep up despite her dwindling energy and injuries.
• Jiang Qing severed the tendons in Xu Zhi's left hand and launched a final attack at the wound in Xu Zhi's chest.
• Xu Zhi used her supposedly ruined hand to block Jiang Qing's sword, then struck her heart and killed her.
• Xu Zhi wondered why Jiang Qing's blood had seemed tempting and whether the sensation was connected to Jiang Qing or Lamp.
• Xu Zhi's teammates arrived, Su Ran healed her, and the host announced victory for Lotus City Light Institute.

After Xu Zhi led Lotus City Light Institute to victory over Lingzhou, she became the focus of public attention while remaining calm about her rising status. Several teams made their moves in the finals before ninth-ranked Lotus City College challenged Lotus City Light Institute, setting up a rare same-city matchup.

• Xu Zhi's victory over Lingzhou made her a major public sensation, and other teams regarded her with wariness.
• Tong Zhou asked Xu Zhi whether she was excited about her future prospects, but she brushed off his questions and focused on recovering.
• White Bird City College failed in its attempt to climb the rankings, while Lingzhou and Tu Prefecture City College held back from challenging.
• Several teams issued challenges, but none targeted first-ranked Lotus City Light Institute.
• Lotus City College challenged Lotus City Light Institute, creating a rare city-internal battle in the finals.