Chapter Summaries

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.

Xu Zhi led Lotus City Light Institute in a surprise all-out attack against Lotus City College, crushing them in a brief finals match. After Xu Zhi and Little One eliminated Chu Minghe, the watching teams realized Lotus City Light Institute had been hiding its strength.

• Tong Zhou replaced Qiu Hou, and Xu Zhi persuaded Xi Min to let Ji Muge play so the team could attack without a support position.
• Xu Zhi released Little One as the match began, and the team charged Lotus City College together.
• Little One disrupted the opposing formation, while its resistance to Chu Minghe’s [Moth] ability let it and Xu Zhi pursue her relentlessly.
• Xu Zhi and Little One overwhelmed Chu Minghe, who was seriously injured and eliminated in under a minute.
• Lotus City Light Institute routed its opponents, leaving watching teams afraid to face them.

Xu Zhi and Lotus City Light Institute won the league championship, securing rewards that she planned to use to strengthen herself and the Little Aberration. As her teammates celebrated, Xu Zhi felt lonely and understood that the victory marked the end of a stage of her life.

• After Lotus City Light Institute's overwhelming victories discouraged further challengers, the finals ended with the institute still in first place.
• Xu Zhi calculated how to use the league and institute rewards to advance [Moth] and [Lamp], then planned to take the Little Aberration into the Lost Land to devour the [Cup].
• The host declared Lotus City Light Institute the champion, and Xu Zhi and her teammates went onstage to receive the trophy amid golden rain and cheers.
• While her teammates celebrated around her, Xu Zhi smiled but felt alienated and lonely, thinking of the people she wished could share the moment and the memories she would keep.

After Lotus City’s teams placed highly in the league, Xu Zhi returned from Freedom City with her teammates and traded her prosthetic reward for [Lamp] Attribute Cores. She arrived at her home in Lotus City, where a gentle woman welcomed her back.

• Lotus City’s league success discouraged its opponents from provoking it, while Xu Zhi anticipated further trouble involving the [Proxy] and the [Cup].
• During the break in Freedom City, Xu Zhi exchanged most of her rewards for [Moth], [Lamp], and [Blade] Attribute Cores before returning with her team.
• Xi Min explained that the students could seek teacher protection for their Lost Land slots and announced the council’s reward of a custom TC-8600 unrestricted prosthetic for each student.
• Xu Zhi chose to sell her prosthetic opportunity and exchange it for [Lamp] Attribute Cores, while Ji Muge wanted to replace her hand.
• Xu Zhi parted from her teammates and reached home, where a woman opened the door and warmly welcomed her back.

Xu Zhi consumed the cores she had acquired to rebuild her strength and advance toward Named, while wondering why Jiang Qing’s presence had seemed appetizing to her. After reaching Immortality Level Four, Xu Zhi’s progress slowed because the remaining step required her to pass the Great Dream trial and earn her own Title.

• Xu Zhi inspected her house, confirmed Qi Yanxin had not entered her room, and suspected whoever left blood food there knew her whereabouts.
• Xu Zhi fed high-purity [Blade] Attribute Cores to Little One and began absorbing [Lamp] and [Moth] Attribute Cores herself.
• Xu Zhi wondered why Jiang Qing’s aura seemed unusually tempting and recalled that Jiang Qing had looked at her as if they had met before.
• Xu Zhi spent a month consuming cores, recovering from injuries, restoring her former abilities, and curing her nearsightedness as her [Moth] attribute reached Immortality.
• Xu Zhi sold her prosthetic body quota for more cores and advanced to Immortality Level Four before her progress slowed.
• Xu Zhi realized that advancing to Named required her to pass the Great Dream trial and obtain her own [Title].

After raising both [Lamp] and [Moth] to Longevity Level Four, Xu Zhi entered Mansus to undergo her first true trial to advance to [Named]. She found her lantern in the fog, but entering a wooden cabin sent her back to the starting point and made the lantern disappear.

• Xu Zhi waited until [Moth] reached Longevity Level Four, then accepted Mansus's powerful pull and entered the Great Dream.
• Xu Zhi awoke in a foggy forest with no visible path and chose a direction to walk.
• Xu Zhi found her lantern hanging from a tree and took it, causing the fog around her to recede.
• Xu Zhi came upon a new wooden cabin and pushed open its door.
• Xu Zhi returned to the foggy starting point, and the lantern vanished from her hand.

Xu Zhi walked the muddy path again, resisting its temptations, oppressive rain, and thunder until she reached the cabin. Inside, she found herself in her destroyed home in Cloud City, where the Lantern had become a Game Console, and realized she was undergoing the Great Dream's trial.

• Xu Zhi decided to walk the path again, and the fog revealed the longer trail and her Lantern.
• Xu Zhi resisted the temptation to turn back as the path grew harder, and the Lantern sheltered her from the rain and cold.
• Xu Zhi reached the cabin and opened the door without returning to the starting point.
• Xu Zhi found herself in her old home in Cloud City and realized the scene was an illusion in the Great Dream's trial.
• Xu Zhi wiped her fingers and reached for the Game Console on the coffee table.

Xu Zhi rejected the Game Console’s offer to rest and continued through the Great Dream, pushing past an invisible barrier even after her extraordinary energy ran out. A bolt of lightning struck her, and she was left in agony as something was forced into her mind.

• The Game Console told Xu Zhi she could become Named by waiting in the cabin, but she refused to believe it and chose to leave.
• Xu Zhi recognized the cabin’s comfortable sofa as a trap that drained her will, opened the door, and stepped into a new forest path.
• The path consumed Xu Zhi’s [Moth] and [Lamp] energy until an invisible wall stopped her and the ground began pulling her into mud.
• Xu Zhi struggled against the barrier, broke through it, and crawled forward despite being nearly buried and exhausted.
• A silver-white bolt of lightning struck Xu Zhi, causing intense pain as something was forced into her mind.

After surviving the lightning, Xu Zhi woke as a Named One and discovered that the Mansus had given her two unique true names, [Everlasting Lamp] and [Moth Fluttering Inside the Skull]. She studied the powers and meaning of her names, then found that her appearance had not changed as she expected.

• Xu Zhi absorbed the lightning through strange patterns in her body, and her talent circuits consumed its energy before she collapsed into sleep.
• Xu Zhi woke the following evening and realized that she had advanced to the Named stage as information flooded into her mind.
• Xu Zhi learned that Named Ones received unique true names from the Mansus and discovered that she had two: [Everlasting Lamp] and [Moth Fluttering Inside the Skull].
• Xu Zhi wrote [Everlasting Lamp] on paper and felt a subtle connection form between herself and the name.
• Xu Zhi checked her reflection and found that, despite reaching the Named life level, her hair and appearance had not changed as she expected.

After becoming a Named One, Xu Zhi discovered that her body had changed and her abilities had grown stronger. She awakened [Remnant Land], a power that recreated a tiny fragment of the shattered Federation as a world she could rule.

• Xu Zhi found that she no longer needed to breathe and could channel extraordinary energy through her body, which held the lightning that had struck her in the Great Dream.
• Xu Zhi used [Authority] to contact her Familiars in the Lost Land and told them she would soon join them, then severed the connection before Midnight's mark could perceive her.
• Xu Zhi discovered that [Moth] had gained [Remnant Land], which could draw people into a world where she set the rules for up to three minutes.
• Xu Zhi activated [Remnant Land] and found herself in a miniature version of the old Federation, created from the shattered world's final gift to her.

After advancing to [Named One], Xu Zhi reflected on how the Great Dream had tested her acceptance of her past and found that she had never doubted her chosen path. She created a Spirit Vessel in the Lower District to prepare for the coming fog while her main body set off for the Lost Land.

• Xu Zhi realized that the Great Dream had tested whether she accepted her past and affirmed her choices, and she concluded her self-chosen path had made the trial easy.
• Xu Zhi used her Authority and nearly all her Transcendent energy to create an attribute-less Spirit Vessel in the Lower District.
• Xu Zhi adapted to controlling two bodies and inspected the abandoned home where she had once lived, tidying it before waiting for an opportunity.
• Xu Zhi told Qi Yanxin that she was leaving on a long journey and instructed her to say that Xu Zhi had gone to the Lost Land if anyone asked.