Chapter Summaries

Chapter 81 Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Xuan asks Scripture Repository elder Yu Xian about Spirit Pupils he can open temporarily for around five thousand Spirit Stones. Yu Xian describes three Dharma Eyes:
  • Five Spirits: boosts five-element spells and can disrupt enemy five-element magic.
  • Nether Soul: reveals and manipulates shadows and Soul Spirits.
  • Firmament Heaven: grants one aspect of the sky’s power, such as wind or lightning, but the result is uncertain.
• Jiang Xuan initially favors the powerful Nether Soul Eye, but a sudden spiritual warning stops him from committing. Back in his own Scripture Repository, he realizes he must consider compatibility, not just raw strength.
• He concludes the Firmament Heaven Eye may suit him best, since the spiritual liquid’s effect could align with his own talent. The Five Spirits Eye is his safer alternative, thanks to his understanding of five-element energies.
• Jiang Xuan decides to gamble on the Firmament Eye. He asks Su Wanyi to arrange for the Su Household to obtain Firmament spiritual liquid from the Yi Household and deliver it to Four Seasons Valley.
• While waiting, he cultivates Heaven-Observing Aura Sight intensively. With the Repository’s spiritual resonance, his accumulated insights, and restorative spiritual soup, he reaches Third Realm: Minor Mastery in roughly a day and completes the seventh advancement requirement for Qi Refiner: Observe Heaven.
• Only the Spirit Pupil requirement remains. At noon, Liu Hui arrives at Jiang Xuan’s courtyard with the Firmament spiritual liquid.

Character developments

• Jiang Xuan shows growing confidence in his advancement plan, but also a more strategic understanding of how power works: compatibility and long-term usefulness matter as much as immediate strength. He is willing to risk an uncertain outcome because this career is not his only route to growth.
• His rapid progress in Heaven-Observing Aura Sight demonstrates how effectively he combines study, spiritual support, and disciplined cultivation.
• Elder Yu Xian serves as a knowledgeable guide, explaining the options and their limitations without pressuring Jiang Xuan toward a choice.

Character interactions

• Jiang Xuan consults Yu Xian respectfully and receives detailed guidance about Spirit Pupils and their acquisition methods.
• He turns to Su Wanyi to have the Su Household handle the purchase and delivery of the Firmament spiritual liquid.
• Liu Hui personally brings the requested liquid, setting up Jiang Xuan’s final step toward advancement.

Significant themes

• Compatibility over raw power: The strongest ability may be a poor choice if the user cannot fully wield it.
• Risk and informed choice: Jiang Xuan weighs uncertainty against potential reward rather than choosing the safest or most obviously powerful option.
• Preparation and accumulated learning: His breakthrough comes through sustained study, prior cultivation experience, and the support of the Scripture Repository.
• Career advancement as transformation: Jiang Xuan expects advancement requirements to become defining abilities, so his Spirit Pupil choice may shape the future of his Qi Refiner career.

Section 82 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Liu Hui delivers Su Wanyi’s warning to Jiang Xuan: using an excessively powerful external item to open his Spirit Eye during the second assessment is forbidden, and discovery would invalidate his results. Jiang Xuan assures her that he does not intend to rely on it.
• Liu Hui secretly investigates Jiang Xuan’s residence before reporting back to Su Wanyi. She reveals that Jiang Xuan possesses an unusually large private courtyard and pavilion, far beyond what an ordinary disciple should have.
• Su Wanyi recognizes this as evidence of Jiang Xuan’s exceptional status and orders Liu Hui to summon Linyin for further instructions.
• Jiang Xuan examines the Vault-of-Heaven spirit liquid, a single floating blue-green drop containing the power of the skies and cosmos.
• Rather than applying it to his brow as expected, Jiang Xuan performs a purification and shamanic Feast Ritual, intending to “eat” and fully assimilate the spirit liquid.
• Upon swallowing it, he experiences countless sensations representing the transformations of heaven and earth. The experience also consolidates the insights he gained from the Mountain of Books, Sea of Texts.
• The spirit liquid transforms both his body and soul. It creates numerous new heavenly scriptures within his Memory Palace and advances his Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Art to the Fourth Realm.
• At this stage, Jiang Xuan’s mana can circulate outside his body in a Cosmic Cycle, continuously drawing in and refining ambient spiritual energy. He no longer needs to rely solely on breathing to cultivate and can form spiritual energy shields.
• The power accumulating between his brows forms a blue-green eye-shaped mark: his Vault-of-Heaven Dharma Eye.
• Jiang Xuan discovers that the ability awakened is not control over ordinary celestial phenomena such as wind, rain, lightning, sunlight, or ice. Because of his modern understanding of the universe, he instead awakens control over gravitational forces, including attraction and repulsion.
• He demonstrates this power by floating in the air and pulling a heavy book toward himself from a distance.
• Jiang Xuan realizes that the Dharma Eye’s power is temporary and is gradually dissipating because it comes from an external spirit liquid. However, the temporary activation fulfills the final requirement for his profession advancement.
• The system confirms that he has opened a Spirit Eye and completed all requirements for advancing the Qi Refiner profession, Observe Heaven.
• Jiang Xuan immediately chooses to advance. The seven completed advancement requirements merge into a powerful stream of light that cleanses and tempers his body and soul.
• The system reports that his body receives a minor enhancement, while his soul gains a major one.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan demonstrates confidence and self-control by refusing to depend on the spirit liquid for the assessment, using it instead to complete his own long-term advancement.
• His unusual ritual, culinary approach, and ability to assimilate the Vault-of-Heaven power show how uniquely his Gourmet profession shapes his cultivation.
• His modern scientific knowledge gives him an entirely different interpretation of “the vault of heaven.” Rather than seeing it as merely the sky or weather, he understands it as the universe and its fundamental forces.
• Jiang Xuan’s cultivation advances substantially: his Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Art reaches the Fourth Realm, he gains an operational Spirit Eye, and he begins advancing into the Observe Heaven profession.
• Su Wanyi becomes increasingly suspicious and impressed by Jiang Xuan’s exceptional resources and accomplishments. Her decision to investigate him further suggests that she may seek to recruit, monitor, or make use of him.
• Liu Hui acts as Su Wanyi’s loyal informant, carefully observing Jiang Xuan and reporting even minor details about his residence and behavior.

Significant Themes

• Power versus dependence: Jiang Xuan uses an external treasure, but only as a catalyst. His true strength comes from his own comprehension, professions, and cultivation.
• Science and cultivation: His previous-life knowledge allows him to interpret cosmic power in a way no native cultivator can, leading to the awakening of gravitational abilities.
• Transformation through integration: The Feast Ritual allows Jiang Xuan to absorb not only energy but also knowledge, experience, and cosmic principles, transforming both body and soul.
• Temporary opportunity and lasting progress: Although the Dharma Eye’s power will fade, Jiang Xuan has already gained permanent benefits by fulfilling his advancement requirements.
• Hidden talent and social attention: Jiang Xuan’s extraordinary courtyard and rapid accomplishments attract Su Wanyi’s attention, hinting that his growing reputation may create new alliances or threats.

Character Interactions

• Liu Hui and Jiang Xuan: Liu Hui warns him about the assessment rules before handing over the spirit liquid. Jiang Xuan responds calmly, showing that he understands the risks.
• Liu Hui and Su Wanyi: Liu Hui secretly surveys Jiang Xuan’s residence and gives Su Wanyi a detailed report. Her information changes Su Wanyi’s perception of Jiang Xuan.
• Jiang Xuan and the Vault-of-Heaven spirit liquid: Through ritual purification and the Feast Ritual, Jiang Xuan treats the spirit liquid as something to be fully consumed and assimilated, rather than merely used as a conventional cultivation aid.
• Jiang Xuan and the system: Once the Spirit Eye is opened, the system recognizes that all advancement conditions are complete. Jiang Xuan accepts the advancement without hesitation, beginning his transition into the Observe Heaven profession.

Chapter 83 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan completes his advancement from Novice Qi Refiner to Qi Refiner: Observe Heaven, a Purple Premium Grade profession.
• The Dao Foundation Contract improves, increasing its binding capacity from one cultivation technique to three. Jiang Xuan binds the Four Seasons Reincarnation Scripture and leaves the other slots open.
• His passive Qi Perception evolves into Heaven’s Perception, allowing him to sense spiritual-qi flows, spiritual-vein nodes, elemental purity, grades, and impending natural disasters.
• A new soul-based artifact, the Heavenheart Mirror, forms within him. It overlaps with his existing Clearheart Mirror, suggesting that the two may eventually merge.
• The Heavenheart Mirror grants:
  • Witness Heaven and Earth, which reflects surrounding environments within his soul.
  • Insight, enabling him to see through ordinary barriers, illusions, and even observe distant locations by following the “veins” of heaven and earth.
• Jiang Xuan gains:
  • Heavenheart Perception, which provides stronger warnings of danger and calamity.
  • Heaven’s Inquiry, a divination technique capable of asking heaven about fortune, misfortune, blessings, and disasters.
• These abilities combine into a powerful defensive and scouting system: he can sense danger, divine its source, and investigate enemies from more than ten li away.
• The profession’s final and most important transformation is the condensation of the Nether Abyss Dharma Eye, a Golden Legendary Grade spirit eye.
• The Dharma Eye allows him to manipulate attraction, gravity, and repulsion, as well as perceive gravitational and attractive fields. However, his current cultivation and body cannot safely unleash its full power.
• Despite obtaining a Golden Legendary skill, the profession remains Purple Grade because a Golden Grade profession requires overall perfection across spiritual power, soul, body, skills, spells, and talents—not merely one exceptional ability.
• Jiang Xuan realizes that the Dharma Eye’s name refers to the terrifying, all-devouring nature of a black hole: an abyss whose attraction allows nothing, not even light, to escape.
• After the advancement, a vertical “eye” mark appears between his brows. When activated, it reveals a bottomless black void radiating an ominous suction.

Character Development

• Jiang Xuan’s survival and reconnaissance abilities improve dramatically, making him extremely difficult to ambush or surprise.
• He becomes more confident, believing he can now defeat or evade nearly anyone within his realm.
• He also recognizes the limitations of his new profession: it excels at perception and defense but offers little direct offensive power.
• His earlier decision to select a special spirit eye proves highly rewarding, as the Nether Abyss Dharma Eye preserves its Golden Legendary Grade despite the profession’s Purple rating.
• Jiang Xuan demonstrates increased understanding of the requirements for Golden Grade professions and the difference between possessing a single powerful skill and achieving comprehensive perfection.

Significant Themes

• Specialization versus completeness: A profession may possess one extraordinary ability while remaining imperfect overall.
• Perception as power: Knowledge, foresight, divination, and remote observation can provide strategic advantages equal to direct combat strength.
• Survival and preparation: Jiang Xuan’s new abilities create a layered defense against ambushes, calamities, and hidden enemies.
• The limits of power: Even with a legendary ability, his physical body and cultivation restrict how much power he can safely use.
• Cosmic and natural forces: Gravity, attraction, repulsion, black holes, and the structure of heaven and earth are reinterpreted through cultivation concepts.

Character Interactions

• The chapter contains no major interactions with other characters; it focuses almost entirely on Jiang Xuan’s internal examination of his profession change.
• Jiang Xuan interacts indirectly with the system through its notifications and analyzes the relationship between the Heavenheart Mirror and Clearheart Mirror.
• His “interaction” with heaven and earth becomes central to his new abilities, allowing him to observe, question, and interpret the surrounding world.

Section 84 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan successfully awakens the Abyssal Dharma Eye, a terrifying power that allows him to manipulate gravity, attraction, repulsion, and other forces.
• By opening the Dharma Eye, he lifts himself and the books in the Scripture Repository into the air, demonstrating its immense potential.
• Although he briefly considers challenging Su Xingying again, confident he can now defeat her without self-destruction, he suppresses the impulse because the Three-Academy Joint Examination is the next day.
• Jiang Xuan realizes that his weak body and limited spiritual power restrict the Dharma Eye’s strength. Prolonged use causes severe bodily pressure and risks crushing his fragile physique.
• He merges the Clearheart Mirror and Heavenheart Mirror, creating a stronger mirror that grants him exceptionally detailed insight into his meridians and Apertures.
• Through painstaking searching, he locates several previously hidden Apertures, eventually reaching the 100th Aperture. However, finding the final Apertures becomes dramatically more difficult.
• During the night, Jiang Xuan discovers that the Abyssal Dharma Eye can accelerate spiritual-energy absorption by creating a gravitational singularity in his Origin Sea Spirit Pivot.
• He then develops a new method for opening hidden Apertures: by manipulating gravitational lines linking the Spirit Pivot and the Apertures, he can slowly pull concealed Apertures out from the fog created by the laws of heaven and earth.
• The next morning, he arrives at the Star Daoist Academy for the examination, where most students are nervous while Qin Feng, Xie Hanyan, and Fang Xiao appear confident and surrounded by supporters.

Character Development

• Jiang Xuan gains greater confidence after awakening the Abyssal Dharma Eye, recognizing that he now possesses power capable of challenging stronger opponents.
• Despite his excitement and aggressive urge to test his strength, he demonstrates improved restraint by prioritizing cultivation and the upcoming examination.
• His intelligence and adaptability become central to his progress. Rather than relying only on brute force, he studies the Dharma Eye’s nature and discovers its applications in cultivation and Aperture Opening.
• Jiang Xuan’s frustration over his low-grade Spirit Root and slow progress turns into inspiration when he realizes that gravity can reveal hidden Apertures.
• He also becomes more aware of his physical limitations: his body, rather than his spiritual power, is currently the greatest restriction on his abilities.

Significant Themes

• Power versus physical limitations: Jiang Xuan possesses an extraordinary ability, but his weak body prevents him from using it freely.
• Ingenuity and innovation: His breakthroughs come from applying familiar principles—such as planetary gravity—to cultivation problems.
• Persistence against innate disadvantage: Although his Spirit Root is poor and Aperture Opening is extremely difficult, Jiang Xuan continues experimenting instead of accepting his limitations.
• The broader uses of power: The Abyssal Dharma Eye is not merely a combat technique; it can also enhance cultivation, absorb spiritual energy, and expose hidden structures.
• Preparation over recklessness: Jiang Xuan’s choice to improve himself before challenging Su Xingying reflects growing discipline and strategic thinking.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Xuan has no direct confrontation with Su Xingying in this section, but he mentally compares his current strength with hers and believes he could now defeat her.
• At the academy, he observes Qin Feng, Xie Hanyan, and Fang Xiao, each surrounded by students and displaying confidence before the examination.
• The contrast between these confident figures and the anxious student body highlights the competitive atmosphere and Jiang Xuan’s detached focus on his own cultivation.

Key plot points and events

• After awakening the Abyssal Dharma Eye, Jiang Xuan realizes he could have started using it sooner. With the Three-Academy Joint Examination imminent, he withdraws to a quiet corner and uses the eye to reveal hidden Apertures.
• The Star Daoist Academy’s students worry that only six of the eighteen examination slots will go to their academy. Many form temporary alliances, hoping to secure a place before competing among themselves. Their cooperation is fragile because everyone ultimately wants a slot for themselves.
• Dong Hao tries to recruit Xie Hanyan to lead a team, but she refuses: she is focused on winning first place and doubts that a hastily assembled group would reliably support her against the strongest rivals.
• Dong Hao gathers other acquaintances and seeks Jiang Xuan’s help. When Su Linyin approaches Jiang Xuan, Dong Hao rushes over, fearing she will recruit him first.
• Jiang Xuan explains that Su Linyin’s mother offered him five thousand Spirit Stones to bring her through the examination, so she will join his team. His phrasing—and Su Linyin’s quiet deference—makes clear that Jiang Xuan, not she, is leading.
• Dong Hao is stunned to discover how much stronger and more influential Jiang Xuan has become. Jiang Xuan reassures him that he has no intention of abandoning him, and Dong Hao accepts the arrangement.
• By the end of the morning, the academy’s students have formed teams. Jiang Xuan’s group is modest in size but includes capable contenders Dong Hao and Su Linyin. Others are puzzled that a Cold Gate student leads it.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Xuan is focused on exploiting his newly awakened power, but he also shows loyalty to Dong Hao. He accepts Su Linyin’s mother’s offer without treating it as a reason to discard an old ally.
• Dong Hao shifts from trying to organize and control the group to recognizing that he has badly underestimated Jiang Xuan. His initial bitterness gives way to relief and laughter once Jiang Xuan assures him of his loyalty.
• Xie Hanyan remains independent and ambitious. She rejects teamwork because she distrusts others’ motives and believes relying on her own strength is safer.
• Su Linyin joins Jiang Xuan’s team and appears willing to accept his leadership, though the chapter gives little direct insight into her thoughts.
• Jiang Xuan’s exchanges with Dong Hao reveal an old debt of gratitude: Dong Hao previously invested Spirit Stones in him, making his continued inclusion meaningful to both.

Significant themes

• Power and changing status: Jiang Xuan’s concealed strength overturns Dong Hao’s assumptions and challenges the academy’s social expectations about a Cold Gate student.
• Trust versus self-interest: Alliances offer a practical advantage, but the students recognize that cooperation can collapse when individual rewards are at stake.
• Loyalty and obligation: Jiang Xuan’s continued partnership with Dong Hao reflects gratitude, while the enormous payment from Su Linyin’s family tests how money and prior loyalty coexist.
• Leadership and control: Xie Hanyan sees a group as difficult to command; Jiang Xuan’s team, by contrast, forms around his demonstrated authority and Su Linyin’s acceptance of it.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan continues cultivating at the training ground, using the Abyssal Dharma Eye to extract hidden Apertures from the surrounding fog. He focuses on drawing them out rather than refining them immediately.
• At around ten in the morning, Lecturer Song Zhou summons all students who have opened thirty-six Apertures and condensed a Spirit Pivot onto a jade flying boat. Jiang Xuan travels with the qualified students to the assessment site.
• During the journey, other students question Su Linyin about why she follows Jiang Xuan despite his modest background and mid-grade Spirit Root. She carefully defends the idea that talent and Spirit Roots do not determine everything.
• Several groups attempt to recruit Su Linyin and Dong Hao, but both reject the offers. Su Linyin remains with Jiang Xuan because she trusts her mother’s judgment and believes Jiang Xuan may provide her significant benefits.
• At the assessment grounds, Jiang Xuan notices that many spectators are parents of participating students, including Su Linyin’s mother, Su Wanyi.
• Students from the Star, Tiger, and Rooster Daoist Academies gather. Competition between the academies is far more hostile than the rivalry within the Star Academy.
• Song Zhou secretly tells the Star Academy students that the other academies are true enemies and that the supposed message of “friendship first, competition second” is merely a public façade. He urges them to fight aggressively, win resources, and eliminate their opponents.
• In public, Song Zhou immediately resumes a cordial and flattering manner toward the lecturers from the other academies, revealing the political and strategic duplicity surrounding the assessment.
• The assessment will take place inside the Path of Purgatory, a special node of the Mirage Mirror: Three Thousand Realms. However, Rooster Academy lecturer Zhu Jin claims that she accidentally set the formation’s difficulty incorrectly, delaying its activation.
• The delay gives the students extra time to rest. Jiang Xuan alone uses the opportunity to meditate and organize his cultivation, while the others study their opponents.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin become concerned after observing the opposing academies, especially the highly unified Tiger Daoist Academy.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan remains intensely focused and disciplined. He ignores attention, spectators, and the hostile atmosphere, concentrating entirely on cultivation and preparation.
• Su Linyin demonstrates loyalty and political caution. Although she still has doubts about Jiang Xuan, she trusts her mother’s decision to invest in him and refuses recruitment attempts from other groups.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin show growing awareness of the strategic situation. They recognize that the Tiger Academy’s organization may be more dangerous than the strength of individual opponents.
• Song Zhou is revealed as both a mentor and a shrewd strategist. In private, he encourages ruthless competition; in public, he maintains polite relations with the other lecturers.
• Chen Qianjun is established as the dominant figure of the Tiger Academy. His strength has allowed him to unite its students under his command.
• Su Wanyi’s presence as an observer hints at her influence and continuing interest in Jiang Xuan’s progress.

Significant Themes

• Talent versus potential: Jiang Xuan’s low-status background and average Spirit Root do not prevent him from attracting powerful allies or making rapid progress.
• Public diplomacy versus private conflict: The lecturers present cooperation and friendship publicly while privately preparing for total competition.
• Unity versus division: The Tiger Academy’s coordinated force contrasts with the looser, factional structures of the Star and Rooster Academies.
• Cultivation through focus and discipline: Jiang Xuan’s refusal to be distracted emphasizes the value of concentration amid political pressure and impending danger.
• Resource-driven competition: Victory is tied directly to cultivation speed, status, and access to valuable resources, making the assessment more than a simple test of ability.

Character Interactions

• Other students probe Su Linyin about her loyalty to Jiang Xuan, but she gives a guarded defense of him.
• Su Linyin and Dong Hao protect Jiang Xuan and remain positioned beside him on the flying boat.
• Song Zhou privately incites the Star Academy students against the other academies, then publicly exchanges compliments with Chen Chengguang and Zhu Jin.
• The three lecturers’ courteous behavior conceals their mutual suspicion and competitive intentions.
• Chen Chengguang becomes suspicious of Zhu Jin’s alleged formation error, sensing that the delay may be deliberate.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin observe the opposing students together and recognize the threat posed by Chen Qianjun’s unified force.

Chapter 87 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The cultivators of Tiger Daoist Academy reveal an openly aggressive intention to overwhelm the other academies and monopolize the examination’s resources. Their confidence and intimidating presence unsettle Dong Hao and Su Linyin.
• In response, Star Daoist Academy and Rooster Daoist Academy form an alliance. Their lecturers, Song Zhou and Zhu Jin, had deliberately created a “calibration error” to give the two academies time to coordinate.
• The alliance agrees to cooperate fully and target Tiger Daoist Academy first.
• Tiger Daoist Academy notices the alliance. A yellow-dressed girl suggests secretly disrupting it, but Chen Qianjun refuses, believing absolute strength makes schemes unnecessary.
• The girl proposes a more tactical plan: Tiger Academy should focus on eliminating one academy at a time, exploiting the fact that Star and Rooster’s alliance may collapse under pressure because their members lack deep loyalty to one another.
• While the other students scheme, Jiang Xuan remains focused on cultivation. He successfully draws out all 108 apertures connected to his Origin Sea, reaching a state of near-perfection.
• The completed aperture formation increases his body’s carrying capacity by approximately thirty percent and begins nurturing a Seed of Divine Ability. However, the apertures still require further tempering and refinement before the formation is truly complete.
• Because the Fourth Stage of the Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Art now automatically refines his apertures, Jiang Xuan can continue improving during the examination—even while sleeping or inside an illusion realm.
• With his cultivation stabilized, Jiang Xuan’s concern about Tiger Academy turns into intense anticipation and battle intent. He openly looks forward to testing himself against Chen Qianjun.
• Dong Hao returns from the alliance meeting with troubling news: Qin Feng and Fang Xiao dominate the Star Academy faction and offer everyone only two choices—follow their commands under their protection or operate independently.
• Jiang Xuan immediately chooses independence. Dong Hao fears that their small group will become an easy first target for Tiger Academy, but Jiang Xuan argues that their small size will make them harder to locate and surround.
• Jiang Xuan relies on abilities such as the Heavenheart Mirror, Heavenheart Perception, and Ask Heaven for scouting, prediction, and danger avoidance.
• Dong Hao reasons that the examination likely will not be a simple deathmatch, since the Divine Firmament Sect wants to evaluate talent and potential, not merely determine a single survivor.
• The discussion ends when Zhu Jin completes the adjustment of the Path of Purgatory’s difficulty. The lecturers order all students to sit cross-legged as the examination is about to begin.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan: Advances significantly in cultivation by extracting all 108 Origin Sea apertures. His confidence rises sharply, and he shifts from cautious preparation to eager readiness for battle. He also firmly rejects dependence on Qin Feng and Fang Xiao’s alliance.
• Dong Hao: Becomes increasingly anxious about the political and tactical situation. He understands the danger of remaining outside the main alliance but ultimately supports Jiang Xuan’s independent approach.
• Chen Qianjun: Displays overwhelming confidence in Tiger Academy’s strength and dismisses the need for deception or sabotage.
• Yellow-dressed girl: Provides the most strategically thoughtful analysis, emphasizing that intelligence and manipulation can compensate for differences in loyalty and coordination.
• Qin Feng and Fang Xiao: Establish themselves as the dominant leaders of the Star Academy coalition, demanding obedience in exchange for protection.
• Su Linyin: Shares Dong Hao’s recognition of Tiger Academy’s intimidating superiority, though she plays no major active role in the chapter.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus strategy: Tiger Academy relies on overwhelming power, while the opposing academies depend on alliances, tactical planning, and deception.
• Unity and fragile alliances: Star and Rooster cooperate against a common enemy, but their lack of shared history makes their alliance vulnerable to pressure.
• Individual cultivation versus group politics: Jiang Xuan ignores negotiations to prioritize his own breakthrough, believing true strength will render schemes irrelevant.
• Confidence and preparation: Jiang Xuan’s completed aperture formation gives him the confidence to face uncertain circumstances without restraint.
• The purpose of examinations: Dong Hao highlights the difference between testing genuine talent and simply arranging a brutal survival battle.

Character Interactions

• Star and Rooster academies: Their leading geniuses, including Qiao Yue, Tang Yinzheng, Qin Feng, Xie Hanyan, and Fang Xiao, establish a united front against Tiger Academy.
• Chen Qianjun and the yellow-dressed girl: They disagree over whether Tiger Academy should rely solely on strength or employ tactical attacks against the alliance.
• Dong Hao and Jiang Xuan: Dong Hao reports the alliance’s conditions and warns of the dangers of remaining independent. Jiang Xuan counters with confidence in their small group and his predictive abilities.
• The lecturers and students: After Zhu Jin finishes setting the Path of Purgatory, the lecturers prepare all participants for the beginning of the examination.

Plot points and events

• The examination begins when the candidates are transported to a desolate wilderness, but they remain in loose groups rather than being scattered completely.
• Su Linyin recognizes Lin Yiyi, a Tiger Daoist Academy cultivator and daughter of Lin Rongjin. Their families have a long-standing feud rooted in their mothers’ conflict.
• Outside the trial, Su Wanyi and Lin Rongjin trade barbed remarks. Lin Rongjin boasts that the Tiger Academy will win and Su Linyin will be eliminated; Su Wanyi counters that the other academies’ leaders must have prepared a response.
• A phantom Daoist announces the rules: candidates must stay within a thousand meters of him as he walks toward the finish, and rankings depend on who remains and where they are when he arrives.
• Jiang Xuan uses his power to lift himself, Su Linyin, and Dong Hao into the air. Lin Yiyi sees this as a chance to taunt Su Linyin and privately imagines using the Tiger Academy’s expected victory to humiliate her and her mother.
• Before the examination can settle into a race, the earth suddenly fractures. Candidates fall into fissures or flee as swarms of enormous venomous creatures erupt from underground. A chaotic battle begins, with many students killed or swallowed by the collapsing ground.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Xuan stays alert and questions whether the exam is really meant to be a straightforward race. His quick use of the Abyssal Dharma Eye protects himself and two companions from the initial ground collapse.
• Su Linyin responds coldly to Lin Yiyi, revealing the personal history behind their families’ hostility.
• Lin Yiyi presents herself as friendly, claiming she has no intention of targeting Su Linyin, but her private thoughts reveal a vindictive desire to torment and eventually eliminate her.
• Su Wanyi remains composed under Lin Rongjin’s provocation and openly criticizes her for relying on her husband and for shaping Lin Yiyi into someone who depends on borrowed power.
• Lin Rongjin shifts from taunting Su Wanyi to anger, then back to confidence, insisting that her academy’s superiority guarantees victory.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus intentions: Lin Yiyi’s courteous words conceal a plan for revenge.
• Family grudges and inherited conflict: The mothers’ feud shapes the daughters’ relationship and motives.
• Confidence and misjudgment: Lin Yiyi assumes victory is assured, only for an unexpected catastrophe to upend the examination.
• Survival amid chaos: The trial’s apparent race becomes a brutal fight for life, exposing how quickly rules and expectations can be overtaken by danger.

Chapter 89 Summary

Key plot points and events

• As fissures split the ground and demons emerge, Jiang Xuan keeps Dong Hao and Su Linyin safely afloat. Watching the other students struggle below, both feel relieved—and increasingly confident that following Jiang Xuan was the right choice.
• Su Linyin takes particular satisfaction in seeing Lin Yiyi, who had previously seemed assured and superior, caught in the chaos while she herself remains safe in the air.
• Lin Yiyi recognizes Su Linyin’s gaze but hides their personal hostility, urging her Tiger Daoist Academy classmates to focus on regrouping and rescuing one another.
• Some classmates ignore her caution and attack Jiang Xuan, assuming his ability to fly is his only advantage. Jiang Xuan effortlessly destroys the first fireball with Repulsive Impact.
• When one attacker mocks him, Jiang Xuan secretly uses his abilities to make the youth stumble into a fissure. A classmate rescues him with a rope, but Jiang Xuan then uses gravity to pull both students back into the pit, where demons kill them.
• The Tiger Daoist students realize Jiang Xuan caused the deaths and accuse him. He openly admits it, pointing out that they chose to attack him and cannot expect to face no retaliation.
• As the students invoke Chen Qianjun’s name, Jiang Xuan silences one with crushing pressure and declares that they will die. His gaze alone overwhelms the group, making breathing difficult.

Character developments

• Jiang Xuan remains calm and detached, but reveals a ruthless willingness to retaliate against anyone who attacks him. His power and composure make clear that the Tiger Daoist students badly underestimated him.
• Su Linyin moves from lingering despair over Lin Yiyi to renewed confidence and satisfaction at their changed positions.
• Lin Yiyi shows restraint and leadership by prioritizing her classmates’ safety over her personal grudge, though she cannot control their arrogance.
• The Tiger Daoist students shift from confidence and mockery to alarm once they see the consequences of provoking Jiang Xuan.

Significant themes

• Underestimating power has consequences: The attackers mistake Jiang Xuan’s flight for his only strength and pay for their misjudgment.
• Retaliation and hypocrisy: Jiang Xuan challenges their belief that they may attack others without being attacked in return.
• Contrasting perspectives in crisis: Jiang Xuan’s group is protected above the chaos, while the students below face constant danger.
• Restraint versus arrogance: Lin Yiyi urges caution, but her classmates’ pride and desire to impress her escalate the conflict.

Character interactions

• Su Linyin silently contrasts her safety with Lin Yiyi’s predicament, deepening their rivalry.
• Lin Yiyi tries to redirect her classmates toward cooperation and rescue, but they act independently.
• The Tiger Daoist students provoke Jiang Xuan; he responds first with effortless defense and then with lethal force.
• Jiang Xuan’s final words and overwhelming presence turn the confrontation into an immediate threat to the entire group.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan unleashes overwhelming gravitational pressure on the disciples of Tiger Daoist Academy. Their bodies become more than seven times heavier while the ground collapses and demon beasts surge from underground.
• Unable to move, the disciples—including Liang Xun and most of his group—are swallowed by fissures and devoured by demon beasts. Their final regret is directed toward Liang Xun for provoking Jiang Xuan.
• Jiang Xuan advises Su Linyin and Dong Hao to prepare for rapid movement. Having witnessed his power, both become deeply intimidated and more respectful toward him.
• Jiang Xuan encounters Chen Qianjun, Tiger Daoist Academy’s strongest student, returning through the collapsing wilderness. Chen’s Spell Power armor and overwhelming physical strength allow him to smash through the terrain and demon beasts.
• Jiang Xuan decides not to attack Chen. A direct confrontation would be difficult and could benefit their rivals, while Jiang Xuan believes his power will continue increasing as his cultivation progresses.
• Chen rescues Lin Yiyi, the only survivor of the earlier collapse. Although a confrontation seems likely, Lin Yiyi and Su Linyin deliberately minimize what happened, preventing an immediate conflict.
• Jiang Xuan, Su Linyin, and Dong Hao overtake the other examinees and approach the mysterious Daoist leading them through the Path of Purgatory.
• The examination becomes far more dangerous than expected: the earth continually fractures, demon beasts emerge in waves, and most students cannot fly long enough to escape the ground-level danger.
• Because survival becomes everyone’s priority, the students temporarily abandon the rivalries and schemes they had planned before the examination, creating an unexpected period of cooperation and peace.
• Outside the examination, Tiger Academy instructor Chen Chengguang protests the increased difficulty. Rooster Academy instructor Cheng Jin admits that she intentionally intensified the trial to better test the students, while Star Academy instructor Song Zhou argues that the change affects all three academies equally.
• Despite this apparent fairness, the new conditions favor Tiger Academy because its students are united under Chen Qianjun, whereas Rooster and Star Academies remain divided.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan demonstrates immense control and confidence. He destroys a large group without directly attacking and shows strategic restraint by refusing to fight Chen Qianjun prematurely.
• Su Linyin and Dong Hao gain a new understanding of Jiang Xuan’s strength. Their awe makes them more cautious and respectful toward him.
• Chen Qianjun is established as Jiang Xuan’s primary rival. His physical strength, armor, and ability to ignore the collapsing environment show that he is powerful enough to resist Jiang Xuan’s terrain-based tactics.
• Lin Yiyi survives the disaster but chooses diplomacy rather than blaming Jiang Xuan, recognizing the danger of escalating the conflict.
• Su Linyin likewise avoids exploiting the incident, showing political intelligence and restraint.
• Cheng Jin is revealed to be bold and willing to alter the examination rules without prior approval.
• Song Zhou appears outwardly reasonable but subtly uses the situation to preserve the advantage of his own academy.

Significant Themes

• Power and restraint: Jiang Xuan’s strength is clear, but his greatest advantage is his ability to choose when not to fight.
• Strategic survival: The characters recognize that temporary cooperation and avoiding unnecessary conflict are more valuable than revenge during the examination.
• Regret and consequences: Liang Xun’s group realizes too late that provoking Jiang Xuan has led directly to their deaths.
• Unity versus division: Tiger Academy’s organization gives it a major advantage, while the other academies’ internal fragmentation weakens them.
• Fairness versus hidden advantage: Although the increased examination difficulty applies equally to everyone, equal rules do not produce equal circumstances.
• Growth through pressure: Jiang Xuan views the dangerous trial as an opportunity to strengthen his cultivation, while the examination itself is designed to test endurance and true ability.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Xuan calmly instructs Su Linyin and Dong Hao after eliminating the Tiger Academy group, reinforcing his leadership.
• Jiang Xuan and Chen Qianjun encounter one another but avoid fighting, each recognizing the risks of a direct battle.
• Chen rescues Lin Yiyi, and she gives him a deliberately vague explanation of her fall to prevent conflict.
• Lin Yiyi and Su Linyin tacitly cooperate to suppress the truth, prioritizing the examination over personal hostility.
• Jiang Xuan observes that their restraint does not eliminate the future rivalry: he and Chen Qianjun are still expected to fight once the examination ends.
• Outside the trial, Chen Chengguang confronts Cheng Jin over the altered rules, while Song Zhou mediates in a way that conceals the strategic benefit Tiger Academy gains from the situation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Three-Academy Joint Examination becomes far more difficult when the trial’s rules shift from team combat to surviving and escaping a massive natural disaster filled with monsters, demons, and ghosts.
• Tiger Daoist Academy’s tightly organized military formation, once an advantage, becomes a liability because its large size makes the group slow, conspicuous, and difficult to maneuver.
• The other academies’ scattered groups—especially those led by Jiang Xuan, Qin Feng, and Fang Xiao—are better suited to the chaotic survival test. Since they are not responsible for a large team, they can abandon weaker members and preserve themselves.
• Chen Qianjun refuses to do so. As Tiger Daoist Academy’s leader, he repeatedly returns to rescue endangered disciples, including Lin Yiyi, while slaughtering monsters and shielding his companions.
• Chen Chengguang recognizes that Chen Qianjun’s continued fighting is exhausting his stamina and true essence. He believes Qianjun should abandon the weaker disciples, preserve his strength, and rely on his perfected Origin Sea Apertures and powerful Divine Ability Seed to win individually.
• Because Song Zhou and Cheng Jin have allied under the examination’s voting rules, Chen Chengguang is powerless to challenge their decision to increase the trial’s difficulty. Their justification—that everyone faces the same increased danger—is technically unassailable.
• Inside the trial, Lin Yiyi and the other disciples urge Chen Qianjun to stop protecting them and focus on surviving. Qianjun refuses, declaring that the examination began because of him and that he will honor his promise to secure resources for everyone.
• His resolve intensifies, and he launches himself back into the beast horde, fighting with even greater ferocity.
• Most cultivators from Star Daoist Academy and Rooster Daoist Academy fight independently. Many members of both academies are eliminated early, while Tiger Daoist Academy survives longer because of Qianjun’s protection.
• Outside the trial, Su Wanyi and Lin Rongjin argue over whether their daughters will survive. Su Wanyi predicts that Chen Qianjun’s pride and self-sacrificing leadership will cause him to exhaust himself, after which Lin Yiyi will also be eliminated. Lin Rongjin counters that the newly dangerous skies may doom Su Wanyi’s daughter as well.
• The survivors reach the second checkpoint. The landscape transforms from wilderness into a vast volcanic mountain range, and violent eruptions begin raining magma and flaming volcanic rocks upon the contestants.

Character Developments

• Chen Qianjun: Demonstrates extraordinary strength, leadership, loyalty, and personal responsibility. Rather than treating the examination as an individual competition, he remains committed to his promise and his followers. However, his refusal to conserve his strength may become a fatal weakness.
• Chen Chengguang: Understands the strategic danger facing Qianjun but is emotionally torn between pride in his nephew and fear that Qianjun’s ideals will cause his defeat. He hopes Qianjun will become more pragmatic.
• Lin Yiyi: Shows concern for Qianjun and recognizes that his protective behavior is harming his chances. She tries to persuade him to stop sacrificing himself for the group.
• Jiang Xuan: Remains largely overlooked by the observers, who mistake him for an ordinary participant. His actual strength has been carefully concealed, and the chapter hints that his abilities may allow him to handle the upcoming terrain despite its apparent disadvantages.
• Su Wanyi and Lin Rongjin: Their rivalry continues through a verbal exchange over their daughters’ prospects, revealing their confidence, defensiveness, and concern as the trial grows more dangerous.
• Qianjun’s father: Appears calmly in the spectator stands, suggesting confidence in his son and contrasting with Chen Chengguang’s anxiety.

Significant Themes

• Leadership versus self-preservation: Qianjun’s leadership is based on protecting others, but the examination rewards those who abandon weaker companions and survive alone.
• The burden of reputation: Qianjun cannot easily retreat because his authority and prestige depend on remaining loyal to those who follow him.
• Loyalty and promises: Qianjun’s determination is driven by his promise to provide resources and lead everyone forward, even at the cost of his own survival.
• Strategy versus principle: The chapter contrasts pragmatic calculation—cutting losses and preserving strength—with moral commitment and personal honor.
• Hidden strength and misjudgment: Jiang Xuan’s true abilities remain unnoticed because observers focus only on famous competitors and overlook quiet, inconspicuous fighters.
• Manipulation and institutional unfairness: Song Zhou and Cheng Jin exploit the examination’s voting system to impose extreme difficulty while maintaining a technically defensible appearance of fairness.

Character Interactions

• Chen Chengguang silently urges Qianjun to abandon the weaker disciples and rely on his superior individual power.
• Lin Yiyi and several Tiger Daoist Academy disciples openly ask Qianjun to stop rescuing them, insisting they can survive independently.
• Qianjun rejects their pleas and reaffirms his promise to protect and lead them.
• Su Wanyi taunts Lin Rongjin that Qianjun’s arrogance will doom Lin Yiyi, while Lin Rongjin responds that the new aerial dangers may eliminate Su Wanyi’s daughter instead.
• Song Zhou and Cheng Jin privately share amusement at Chen Chengguang’s frustration, confident that their manipulation of the examination cannot be challenged.
• Jiang Xuan and Qin Feng enter the volcanic second checkpoint just as the trial escalates into a barrage of erupting magma and falling volcanic debris.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Xuan, Dong Hao, and Su Linyin enter an extremely dangerous volcanic region during the Path of Purgatory assessment.
• The area is threatened by falling meteors, lava lakes, sudden underground fire eruptions, and numerous fire-based demonic beasts attacking from land, sea, and air.
• Because flying would attract too much attention and Jiang Xuan must protect two companions, the group proceeds on foot.
• Jiang Xuan reassures Dong Hao and Su Linyin, promising to escort them safely because they paid him for protection.
• Within minutes, nearly a hundred students from the three academies die. Others suffer severe injuries, including Zeng Jun, who loses an arm while being rescued by his subordinates and protected by Xie Hanyan.
• Unlike everyone else, Jiang Xuan’s group moves through the volcanic region completely unharmed. The surrounding disasters and beasts seem to avoid them.
• Jiang Xuan uses the Heavenheart Mirror Secret Art to perceive the entire environment: he predicts meteor impacts, detects underground lava movements, and guides the group around danger.
• He uses the Abyssal Dharma Eye’s invisible gravitational force to interfere with demonic beasts. He causes fire-spitting beasts to close their mouths, making their own flames explode inside them.
• Against beasts attacking with claws or flaming feathers, he redirects their attacks toward other students or temporarily restrains them, allowing his group to escape unnoticed.
• The chapter ends as Jiang Xuan continues manipulating the battlefield, even leaving other students to distract hostile beasts when necessary.

Character developments

• Jiang Xuan demonstrates exceptional battlefield awareness and control. His abilities are not limited to direct combat; his predictive vision, subtle manipulation, and strategic thinking allow him to create a safe path through a deadly environment.
• He reveals a pragmatic but dependable side. Although protecting Dong Hao and Su Linyin is partly repayment of past favors, he takes his promise seriously and carefully safeguards them.
• Jiang Xuan’s confidence in the Heavenheart Mirror and Abyssal Dharma Eye grows as he discovers how effectively they work together outside formal combat.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin begin the journey tense and fearful, but Jiang Xuan’s calm guidance gradually reassures them. Their astonishment at their effortless survival makes them recognize the enormous gap between themselves and Jiang Xuan.
• Zeng Jun is shown as powerful but vulnerable, suffering a devastating injury despite receiving help from his subordinates and remaining near Xie Hanyan.

Significant themes

• Perception and preparation: Complete awareness of the battlefield is portrayed as more valuable than raw strength. Jiang Xuan survives by predicting danger before it appears.
• Hidden power and subtle control: The most effective techniques are often invisible. Jiang Xuan does not overpower every enemy directly; he quietly redirects events and causes opponents to destroy themselves.
• Survival amid chaos: The volcanic region emphasizes the randomness and brutality of the assessment, where even strong students can die through misfortune or a momentary lapse in attention.
• The widening gap between cultivators: Dong Hao and Su Linyin’s inability to understand Jiang Xuan’s methods highlights his rapid advancement and superior mastery.
• Pragmatism and moral ambiguity: Jiang Xuan protects his companions but is willing to redirect danger toward other students or use them as distractions, prioritizing survival and his obligations.

Character interactions

• Jiang Xuan calmly instructs Dong Hao and Su Linyin to follow his guidance and trust him completely.
• Their fear gradually turns into amazement as they realize he has created a nearly invisible sanctuary around them.
• Dong Hao reflects on Zeng Jun’s injuries, contrasting the dangers faced by ordinary students with the safety provided by Jiang Xuan.
• Jiang Xuan’s actions indirectly pit demonic beasts against other students, allowing him to protect his group without revealing his techniques.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan guides Dong Hao and Su Linyin safely through the volcanic wasteland of the Path of Purgatory. Using the Heavenheart Mirror to survey the surroundings and the Abyssal Dharma Eye to control threats secretly, he avoids calamities and neutralizes demonic beasts before they can attack.
• Their relaxed progress contrasts sharply with the other students’ desperate struggles, causing spectators to suspect that Jiang Xuan and his companions are cheating.
• Lin Rongjin publicly accuses the trio of using illicit methods. The accusation alarms lecturers Song Zhou, Cheng Jin, and Chen Chengguang, since cheating in examinations is treated as a serious offense by the Divine Firmament Sect.
• The lecturers initially cannot detect Jiang Xuan’s subtle interventions because his Orthodox-Grade Spirit Pupil operates beyond their ability to perceive.
• Su Wanyi harshly rebukes Lin Rongjin for making an uninformed accusation. Mu Shu intervenes to prevent Lin Rongjin from being humiliated further and explains that Jiang Xuan is using advanced detection techniques rather than cheating.
• Mu Shu argues that Jiang Xuan’s focus on detection likely means he lacks strong frontal combat ability. She predicts that once the trial becomes more difficult and surviving students begin eliminating competitors, Jiang Xuan and Su Linyin will be forced out.
• Mu Shu also reveals that the Chen Household has arranged for Chen Qianjun to avoid exhaustion and grow stronger through continued battle, ensuring that Lin Yiyi will reach the upper ranks.
• As the trial progresses and its difficulty rises by a major tier, Mu Shu confidently declares that Su Linyin is about to be eliminated.
• Within the trial, Lin Yiyi is the first student to recognize that something unusual surrounds Jiang Xuan, partly because she previously experienced the overwhelming pressure of his gaze and therefore understands that he is far more formidable than he appears.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan: Demonstrates extraordinary perception, control, and composure. His ability to manipulate threats without being detected establishes him as much stronger and more versatile than the spectators assume.
• Su Linyin and Dong Hao: Their growing reverence for Jiang Xuan deepens as they realize that their safe passage is entirely due to his protection.
• Lin Rongjin: Reveals herself to be impulsive and quick to accuse others without sufficient evidence. Though embarrassed, she is easily reassured by Mu Shu’s explanation and becomes invested in Su Linyin’s elimination.
• Su Wanyi: Shows her sharp judgment and fierce loyalty by immediately defending Su Linyin and Jiang Xuan. Her hostility toward Lin Rongjin reflects their longstanding rivalry.
• Mu Shu: Acts as a political mediator while also revealing her confidence in the Chen Household’s hidden preparations. She manipulates Lin Rongjin’s expectations by emphasizing Jiang Xuan’s supposed weakness.
• Chen Qianjun: Although not the central focus of the chapter, he is revealed to be following a deliberate strategy in which apparent exhaustion conceals a mechanism that allows him to grow stronger.
• Lin Yiyi: Displays better observation and judgment than her mother. Her previous encounter with Jiang Xuan has made her particularly sensitive to his true strength.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: Jiang Xuan’s leisurely advance appears suspicious because spectators cannot see the hidden effort behind it. Likewise, Chen Qianjun’s apparent exhaustion conceals his real condition.
• The danger of premature judgment: Lin Rongjin’s accusation demonstrates how quickly people condemn what they do not understand.
• Hidden strength and strategic concealment: Jiang Xuan and the Chen Household both rely on concealed abilities and plans rather than openly displaying their power.
• Competition and political rivalry: The examination is shaped not only by individual combat but also by tensions among the academies, the Chen Household, and the Su faction.
• Perception as power: Jiang Xuan’s detection abilities give him control over the battlefield, while Lin Yiyi’s past experience allows her to perceive what others overlook.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Xuan, Dong Hao, and Su Linyin: Jiang Xuan protects the other two while they follow him safely through the trial, strengthening their trust and admiration.
• Lin Rongjin and the spectators: Her accusation triggers widespread suspicion and draws attention to the trio’s abnormal progress.
• Song Zhou and Cheng Jin: Their exchange reflects the rivalry between the academies after Chen Qianjun’s decline appears imminent; each suspects the other of interfering.
• Su Wanyi and Lin Rongjin: Su Wanyi openly humiliates Lin Rongjin for her reckless accusation, renewing their antagonism.
• Mu Shu and Lin Rongjin: Mu Shu rescues Lin Rongjin from further embarrassment, then reassures her by explaining the hidden advantages held by Chen Qianjun and Lin Yiyi.
• Lin Yiyi and Jiang Xuan: Lin Yiyi’s prior encounter with Jiang Xuan gives her an unusual awareness of his overwhelming strength, positioning her as the first student likely to understand the truth behind his calm progress.

Chapter Summary: My Profession Could Be Infinitely Upgraded

Key Plot Points and Events

• During the Scorched Earth Purgatory trial, Jiang Xuan moves through the disaster-filled region in complete safety. Lin Yiyi realizes that this “pure land” is not natural but created by Jiang Xuan’s hidden techniques.
• Other cultivators notice the safe area and assume Jiang Xuan has discovered a shortcut. Many gather around him, demanding that he share it or accusing him of selfishly hiding it.
• Jiang Xuan allows them to follow because their presence is useful: the extra cultivators attract Demonic Beasts and share the danger, reducing the pressure on him.
• The Trial Road’s rules cause the large gathering to attract even more Demonic Beasts. Jiang Xuan secretly manipulates gravity through his Abyssal Dharma Eye, redirecting the beasts’ attacks toward the newcomers while protecting only Dong Hao and Su Linyin.
• The attackers become confused as Jiang Xuan’s group remains unharmed while everyone else is bombarded. Some cultivators realize that Jiang Xuan personally created the safe zone and begin flattering him.
• One panicked cultivator accuses Jiang Xuan of using demonic sorcery. Others immediately defend Jiang Xuan, hoping to gain his favor and avoid becoming targets.
• The accuser is ultimately burned to death by the beasts. Outside the trial, he realizes that offending Jiang Xuan has likely ruined his future at the Daoist Academy, since others will punish him indirectly to curry favor with Jiang Xuan.
• After several foolish or hostile cultivators are eliminated, the remaining followers become respectful and obedient. Jiang Xuan maintains the group at a convenient size: large enough to serve as shields and bait, but not so large that they become a burden.
• Jiang Xuan continues protecting the group selectively and effortlessly. His Heavenheart Mirror neutralizes threats such as falling meteors and erupting fire springs, while his advanced Spell Power allows him to affect the surrounding environment without exhausting himself.

Character Development

• Jiang Xuan: Demonstrates increasing control, ruthlessness, and strategic intelligence. He calmly exploits the surrounding cultivators as disposable protection while preserving his own strength. His mastery of gravity, the Abyssal Dharma Eye, Heavenheart Mirror, and the Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Art reveals how overwhelming his power has become.
• Lin Yiyi: Her admiration and awe toward Jiang Xuan deepen as she correctly recognizes that his safety is the result of deliberate action rather than luck.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin: Remain close to Jiang Xuan and are the only people he consistently protects. Their decision to defer to him shows their trust and recognition of his authority.
• The surrounding cultivators: Shift from suspicion and entitlement to fear, humility, and flattery once they understand Jiang Xuan’s true strength. Their behavior highlights how quickly people adapt when survival and status are at stake.
• The eliminated accuser: His panic causes him to misjudge the situation. His death and subsequent regret emphasize the consequences of insulting a powerful figure without understanding the circumstances.

Significant Themes

• Power and hierarchy: Jiang Xuan’s strength establishes an unquestioned social hierarchy. Once others recognize it, they immediately seek his protection and approval.
• Survival and opportunism: The cultivators’ willingness to flatter Jiang Xuan, abandon their former companion, and use one another as shields reflects the ruthless logic of the trial.
• Appearances versus reality: The supposed “shortcut” is actually Jiang Xuan’s personal technique. The chapter repeatedly contrasts what observers assume with the hidden truth.
• Strategic protection: Jiang Xuan does not act out of compassion. His protection is calculated and practical, creating a useful temporary team while conserving his own energy.
• The danger of ignorance: Those who fail to understand Jiang Xuan’s abilities or the trial’s rules are quickly punished, while perceptive cultivators survive by adapting.
• Control through invisible force: Jiang Xuan’s manipulation of gravity symbolizes his complete command over the battlefield. He can alter events without revealing his methods or appearing to act.

Character Interactions

• The gathered cultivators pressure Dong Hao and Su Linyin for access to Jiang Xuan’s safe route, but both defer to Jiang Xuan’s decision.
• Jiang Xuan silently permits the cultivators to follow, using them as additional targets for the Demonic Beasts.
• When one cultivator insults him, the others immediately turn against the offender and defend Jiang Xuan, exposing the group’s opportunism.
• The surviving cultivators treat Jiang Xuan as a superior protector, while Jiang Xuan views them as useful temporary guards and bait.
• Jiang Xuan’s relationship with Dong Hao and Su Linyin is distinct from his relationship with the others: he protects the two personally, while the rest receive only limited, conditional assistance.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan guides a growing group of cultivators through the Scorched Earth Purgatory, using the Abyssal Dharma Eye to manipulate gravity and attraction without openly fighting.
• He subtly disrupts demon beasts’ movements, causing them to expose fatal weaknesses. He also pulls endangered cultivators away from claws, flames, and other attacks.
• Zeng Jun, despite having lost an arm and suffering severe injuries, is saved when Jiang Xuan alters a red tiger’s leap. The tiger overshoots him and exposes its belly, allowing Zeng Jun to kill it.
• Jiang Xuan’s battlefield awareness, aided by the Heavenheart Mirror, allows his group to suffer very few casualties—far fewer than Chen Qianjun’s group.
• Survivors increasingly gather around Jiang Xuan, making his group large and powerful. Dong Hao and Su Linyin remain close to him and benefit from his protection.
• Other cultivators become grateful and admiring toward Jiang Xuan, but intensely jealous of Dong Hao and Su Linyin, believing the two may be carried directly into the top eighteen.
• Jiang Xuan continues using minimal Spell Power to avoid interfering with the cultivation and tempering of his Apertures. As a result, powerful prodigies underestimate him, mistaking his restrained techniques for the full extent of his abilities.
• The trial’s difficulty suddenly rises. Multiple volcanoes erupt, releasing enormous Late Spirit Pivot demon beasts—including a Crimson Flame Tiger, a winged poisonous serpent, and Lava Stone Demons—that block the students’ path.
• The students realize they do not need to kill the monsters, only break through them, but the prospect of passing beneath their watch remains extremely dangerous. The chapter ends as others look toward Jiang Xuan’s group, seemingly expecting or mocking their response.

Character Development

• Jiang Xuan: Demonstrates exceptional battlefield control, tactical awareness, and growing mastery of gravity and attraction. He begins to view combat itself as a form of cultivation, using real battles to deepen his understanding of his Spell Arts. Though widely underestimated, he quietly proves more effective at protecting and coordinating people than even powerful frontal fighters.
• Zeng Jun: Moves from despair and helplessness to renewed confidence after Jiang Xuan creates an opening that lets him kill the red tiger. His experience shows how Jiang Xuan enables weaker or injured cultivators to survive.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin: Their privileged position beside Jiang Xuan becomes increasingly obvious. The jealousy of others causes them to cling even more closely to him. Dong Hao feels reassured that his earlier investment in Jiang Xuan was correct.
• Chen Qianjun: Remains an exceptionally powerful and courageous direct combatant, but his lack of wide-range battlefield oversight results in significantly heavier casualties.
• The elite prodigies: Qin Feng, Qiao Yue, and others dismiss Jiang Xuan as someone relying on clever but weak techniques. Their judgment is based on incomplete information and their failure to recognize that he is deliberately conserving power.

Significant Themes

• Hidden strength and misjudgment: Jiang Xuan’s true abilities are concealed because he avoids flashy attacks, leading stronger cultivators to underestimate him.
• Support versus individual power: The chapter contrasts Jiang Xuan’s battlefield control and protective abilities with Chen Qianjun’s overwhelming frontal strength, suggesting that survival depends on more than raw combat power.
• Cultivation through experience: Jiang Xuan realizes that manipulating his techniques during real combat is itself a legitimate and highly effective form of cultivation.
• Favoritism, gratitude, and jealousy: Those saved by Jiang Xuan admire and revere him, while resenting the two companions who receive his closest protection.
• Survival and unequal opportunity: The chapter highlights how proximity to a powerful protector can determine who survives and advances in the trial.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Xuan indirectly saves Zeng Jun by manipulating the tiger’s leap, allowing Zeng Jun to deliver the killing strike himself.
• He protects many surrounding cultivators without directly killing their opponents, creating a relationship based on gratitude and dependence.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin stay at Jiang Xuan’s side, drawing envy from the surrounding survivors.
• The broader group compares Jiang Xuan with Chen Qianjun, debating whether battlefield control and rescue ability should be valued alongside direct strength.
• The elite students dismiss Jiang Xuan’s abilities, unaware that he is deliberately holding back.
• When the powerful Late Spirit Pivot beasts block the road, the students’ attention turns toward Jiang Xuan’s group, setting up a likely confrontation or test of his concealed capabilities.

Chapter 96 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Path of Purgatory trial proves to be a test of genuine strength rather than clever tricks. All participants must keep up with the mysterious guide or be eliminated.
• Qin Feng hopes Jiang Xuan will fail, since Jiang Xuan’s cautious strategy has made Qin Feng’s own lack of achievements more obvious. Qin Feng’s followers have dwindled, and some now view him with disappointment.
• Chen Qianjun takes the initiative when more than ten Late Spirit Pivot demonic beasts block the path. He burns his blood and qi essence, forms armor, and charges the Scarlet Flame Vicious Tiger to create an opening for the Tiger Daoist Academy’s disciples.
• Chen’s bravery inspires his companions to fight alongside him. Qin Feng and Tang Yinzheng criticize this as reckless, while Xie Hanyan condemns their cautiousness as hypocrisy.
• Qin Feng, Tang Yinzheng, and several other students form a smaller group to reduce danger. A hidden rule reveals that larger groups attract multiple demonic beasts, making the trial much more dangerous.
• Jiang Xuan leads his remaining companions toward a Lava Giant Demon. The creature attacks with a massive lava boulder aimed at the center of the group.
• Jiang Xuan’s first defensive barrier is destroyed because he deliberately uses minimal power. He then redirects the boulder with several angled Repulsive Force barriers rather than meeting it directly.
• Although Jiang Xuan avoids the attack, the boulder explodes after impact, killing two students and terrifying the others. The group scatters, unintentionally reducing the pressure on Jiang Xuan by distracting the demon.
• Lin Rongjin believes Jiang Xuan’s apparent retreat proves he lacks real power, but Mu Shu recognizes that Jiang Xuan deliberately used the scattered group to divide the demon’s attacks.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan: Continues concealing his true abilities and demonstrates tactical intelligence. Rather than overpowering the Lava Stone Demon, he uses timing, positioning, and redirected force to survive. His earlier protection of others also gives him an advantage by allowing them to serve as distractions.
• Qin Feng: Becomes increasingly resentful and insecure as Jiang Xuan’s performance draws comparison. He values self-preservation and attempts to justify abandoning others as wise judgment rather than selfishness.
• Chen Qianjun: Shows courage and leadership by risking himself to protect his academy’s students. His actions reveal a willingness to sacrifice for his companions, contrasting sharply with Qin Feng’s cautious individualism.
• Xie Hanyan: Remains direct, fearless, and contemptuous of hypocrisy. She openly challenges Qin Feng’s criticism of Chen and immediately enters the battle herself.
• Lin Rongjin: Takes pleasure in Jiang Xuan’s apparent difficulties and assumes they expose his weakness.
• Mu Shu: Provides the more perceptive assessment, recognizing the strategy behind Jiang Xuan’s movements.

Significant Themes

• True strength versus clever survival: The trial raises the question of whether strength means overwhelming an opponent directly or using intelligence and technique to survive.
• Courage versus self-preservation: Chen Qianjun’s sacrifice contrasts with Qin Feng’s cautious calculations.
• Leadership and loyalty: Chen earns loyalty by protecting others, while Qin Feng loses followers because his behavior appears selfish.
• Appearances versus reality: Jiang Xuan seems to be fleeing and struggling, but his actions are calculated. Likewise, Qin Feng presents selfish choices as rational wisdom.
• The cost of misjudgment: Students who fail to understand the monsters’ power are killed, while those who adapt quickly have a chance to survive.

Character Interactions

• Qin Feng and Tang Yinzheng jointly criticize Chen Qianjun’s reckless charge.
• Xie Hanyan sharply rebukes them for disguising selfishness as lofty principles.
• Several students abandon Jiang Xuan’s group for Qin Feng, believing Qin Feng to be stronger, but the trial’s rules soon force the groups to separate.
• Lin Rongjin mocks Jiang Xuan’s apparent weakness, while Mu Shu correctly identifies the tactical purpose behind his actions.
• Jiang Xuan’s relationship with his companions remains indirect: although many flee when threatened, their presence unintentionally helps him divide the Lava Stone Demon’s attacks.

Section 97 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan’s group approaches the powerful Late Spirit Pivot Lava Stone Demon, leader of the Stone Demon Tribe and an Elite-Grade Demon Beast.
• The demon summons dozens of Lava Stone Demons and launches a devastating area attack. It stomps the ground, causing earthquakes, shockwaves, and over a hundred earthfire fountains to erupt.
• Jiang Xuan uses flight and the Heavenheart Mirror to avoid the attacks and moves toward the main demon while carrying the injured Dong Hao and Su Linyin.
• He intends to exploit the other students as distractions, allowing everyone to survive and pass through the trial more easily. However, the trial’s hidden backlash rule is triggered.
• The Lava Stone Demon locks exclusively onto Jiang Xuan, Dong Hao, and Su Linyin, abandoning all other targets. It launches over a hundred explosive Lava Spears and personally attacks Jiang Xuan with its massive hand.
• Jiang Xuan is trapped in an apparently hopeless situation. Outside the trial, Lin Rongjin explains that the backlash rule was created to prevent powerful lineage descendants from unfairly guaranteeing entry into the academy.
• Rather than flee, Jiang Xuan confronts the demon and activates his Orthodox-Grade spirit eye, the Abyssal Dharma Eye.
• The eye dramatically increases his spiritual weight and generates an overwhelming gravitational pressure, suppressing the surrounding battlefield and even affecting his companions.
• As the Lava Spears close in, Jiang Xuan presses his palms together and begins forming an invisible gravitational field to counter the attack. The chapter ends as this ability is activated.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan: Demonstrates tactical intelligence by attempting to use the group’s formation to reduce danger, but also reveals his courage and confidence when directly targeted. Instead of panicking under overwhelming pressure, he chooses to fight head-on and unveils the terrifying power of the Abyssal Dharma Eye.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin: Their presence burdens Jiang Xuan and limits his mobility. They become extremely frightened when he is singled out, but remain under his protection as he deliberately shields them from the eye’s strongest pressure.
• Lin Rongjin: Recognizes Jiang Xuan’s strategy and becomes frustrated that he may exploit the trial’s mechanics. Once the backlash rule activates, she realizes his situation has become far more dangerous.
• Mu Shu: Calmly understands that Jiang Xuan will not pass easily because the trial’s backlash has been triggered. Her awareness contrasts with Lin Rongjin’s initial frustration.
• The Lava Stone Demon: Reveals high intelligence and combat instinct by abandoning every other target and maintaining an absolute lock on Jiang Xuan.

Significant Themes

• Fairness versus privilege: The trial’s hidden backlash rule exists to prevent influential or powerful descendants from gaining an unfair advantage, though its secret nature places Jiang Xuan in danger without explanation.
• Pressure and adversity: Jiang Xuan’s strategy collapses when the trial specifically targets him, forcing him to confront the danger personally.
• Calm defiance: Jiang Xuan’s refusal to retreat reflects his growing confidence and willingness to overcome obstacles through overwhelming power.
• Hidden rules and manipulation: The trial contains mechanisms unknown to the participants, suggesting that success depends not only on strength but also on navigating concealed systems.
• The terrifying nature of power: The Abyssal Dharma Eye is shown to affect gravity, bodies, souls, and mana merely through its passive pressure, establishing it as an exceptionally formidable ability.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Xuan attempts to help the other students gather and survive, intending to share the demons’ pressure among them.
• The Lava Stone Demon ignores the wider group and focuses entirely on Jiang Xuan, Dong Hao, and Su Linyin.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin rely on Jiang Xuan’s protection but are nearly immobilized by the residual pressure of his Abyssal Dharma Eye.
• Lin Rongjin and Mu Shu observe the battle from outside the trial, discussing Jiang Xuan’s exploitation of the trial’s mechanics and the consequences of the backlash rule.

Chapter 98 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan defends himself from the Lava Giant Demon’s barrage of more than a hundred Lava Spears.
• Using Myriad Phenomena · Cosmic Cycle Circulation, combined with the gravitational power of the Abyssal Dharma Eye, he slows, redirects, and forces the spears to orbit around him.
• The rotating gravitational field tears apart the spears before they can unleash their full strength. However, the demon detonates them, creating a massive explosion that appears to engulf Jiang Xuan and his companions.
• The surviving Cultivators and the observers outside the trial assume Jiang Xuan, Dong Hao, and Su Linyin have been killed. Su Wanyi is especially shaken, while Lin Rongjin initially celebrates what he believes is Jiang Xuan’s defeat.
• Jiang Xuan’s technique absorbs and restrains the explosion instead. The flames form a gigantic rotating tornado, with Jiang Xuan and the others safely positioned in its calm center.
• He then transforms the defensive vortex into Myriad Phenomena · Origin Return, concentrating the surrounding flames and spiritual energy into a massive, increasingly compressed fireball.
• The fireball becomes powerful enough to threaten even the Lava Giant Demon, which recognizes that it could destroy both its body and core.
• The demon launches a desperate attack, striking at Jiang Xuan with its enormous palm. However, Jiang Xuan’s opened Abyssal Dharma Eye greatly increases the gravitational pressure on the demon, slowing its movement.
• Jiang Xuan realizes that his physical transformation is incomplete and that he cannot maintain his current state for long, so he decides to end the battle quickly.
• The chapter closes by emphasizing that the Lava Giant Demon’s greatest advantages—its enormous, heavy lava body, strength, and defense—also make it particularly vulnerable to Jiang Xuan’s gravitational techniques.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan demonstrates increasingly sophisticated control over gravity and battlefield momentum. He evolves from merely defending against the demon’s attacks to absorbing and converting them into offensive power.
• His understanding of black-hole mechanics deepens, allowing him to use rotation, tidal-force-like tearing, and gravitational compression in combat.
• Jiang Xuan also reveals a limitation: his transformed physical state cannot be sustained indefinitely, creating urgency to finish the fight.
• The Lava Giant Demon is shown to be powerful but inflexible. Its immense strength and explosive attacks are ineffective against Jiang Xuan’s vortex-based techniques, while its massive body makes it slow and vulnerable to gravity.
• Su Wanyi becomes visibly concerned for Jiang Xuan, recognizing both the danger of the trial and the fact that he has already fought exceptionally well.
• The surrounding Cultivators and observers shift from assuming Jiang Xuan’s death to being stunned by his survival and overwhelming technique.

Significant Themes

• Turning defense into offense: Jiang Xuan does not simply withstand the demon’s power; he redirects, absorbs, and transforms it into a weapon.
• Power through understanding: His techniques are strengthened by his comprehension of black holes, orbital motion, gravity, and the destructive effects of rotation.
• Strength and weakness are interconnected: The demon’s massive body grants extraordinary power and defense but also makes it heavy, slow, and especially susceptible to gravitational control.
• Appearance versus reality: The enormous explosion looks fatal to everyone watching, yet Jiang Xuan and his companions remain unharmed inside the calm “eye” of the vortex.
• Limits of power: Even as Jiang Xuan displays remarkable control, the strain on his body and incomplete transformation remind him that his abilities have a time limit.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Xuan protects Dong Hao and Su Linyin while controlling the battlefield, keeping them safe inside the vortex’s calm center.
• The Lava Giant Demon reacts directly to Jiang Xuan’s techniques: first detonating the trapped spears, then launching a desperate physical attack when its own power is converted into a deadly fireball.
• Su Wanyi emotionally responds to Jiang Xuan’s apparent defeat, while Lin Rongjin reacts with premature excitement, highlighting their contrasting attitudes toward the battle.
• The surviving Cultivators become witnesses to Jiang Xuan’s unexpected survival and growing dominance over the demon.

Chapter 99 Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Xuan uses the Abyssal Dharma Eye to impose gravity based on the Lava Giant Demon’s immense weight. Even sevenfold gravity immobilizes the Late Spirit Pivot-stage demon.
• He commands the demon to “Kneel,” increasing the gravitational pressure until it crashes to the ground and cannot rise.
• Because the demon’s defenses are too powerful for Jiang Xuan to break through directly, he activates Myriad Forms · Return to Origin, absorbing the demon’s flame energy and surrounding forces.
• He condenses the absorbed power into an extremely dangerous blazing-white fireball. The attack is so volatile that Jiang Xuan must release it slowly and carefully to avoid killing himself.
• After firing the projectile, Jiang Xuan leaves without looking back, taking Dong Hao and Su Linyin to pursue the Daoist. His calm departure makes them believe he is completely certain of victory.
• The fireball pierces the Lava Giant Demon’s defenses and detonates inside it, forming a magnificent, enormous Blossoming Flame Tree of white flames. The attack kills the Late Spirit Pivot demon outright.
• Witnesses inside and outside the battlefield are stunned. Although Jiang Xuan’s abilities specifically counter the stone demon and the attack required preparation, he has still defeated an opponent two minor realms above him.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan: Demonstrates extraordinary combat power, tactical restraint, and precise control over his dangerous abilities. His apparent composure hides the fact that he is genuinely cautious of his own unstable attack. His victory establishes him as a top-tier prodigy with possible access to Daozi Academy.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin: Become deeply impressed by Jiang Xuan, mistaking his cautious movements and refusal to look back for effortless confidence. Their respect and awe toward him increase significantly.
• Mu Shu: Her confidence in her son Qian Jun’s eventual victory is shaken. She acknowledges that Jiang Xuan’s strength may already threaten him, though she reassures herself that Qian Jun can also fight Late Spirit Pivot demons and is not specifically countered.
• Su Wanyi: Completely reevaluates Jiang Xuan. She realizes that the earlier gift of five thousand Spirit Stones was insufficient to build a meaningful connection with someone of his potential. She begins considering a marriage alliance between Jiang Xuan and Lin Yin as the best way to secure his loyalty and benefit her family.
• Lin Rongjin and the spectators: Are left speechless by Jiang Xuan’s victory, forcing even his critics to recognize his overwhelming talent.

Significant Themes

• Power versus preparation: Jiang Xuan’s victory is spectacular, but it depends on a specialized counter, environmental energy, immobilization, and careful preparation. The chapter emphasizes both his strength and the conditions that make it possible.
• Perception versus reality: Others interpret Jiang Xuan’s calm behavior as effortless mastery, while he is actually moving cautiously because his own attack could kill him. His reputation grows partly through this misunderstanding.
• Emergence of a prodigy: Jiang Xuan’s battle transforms him from a promising newcomer into someone powerful factions must investigate and court.
• Political and familial calculation: Once Jiang Xuan displays his potential, relationships become strategic. Su Wanyi immediately considers marriage and old ties as tools for securing his future allegiance.
• Beauty within destruction: The fire tree symbolizes the chapter’s contrast between devastating violence and sublime beauty.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Xuan dominates the Lava Giant Demon through command and gravity, reducing the brutal confrontation to a one-sided execution.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin witness the fight and interpret Jiang Xuan’s behavior as the conduct of an “unrivaled powerhouse.”
• The spectators and academy factions silently reassess Jiang Xuan’s standing, with several beginning investigations into his background.
• Su Wanyi mentally compares Jiang Xuan’s current status with the Jiang Clan’s former dependence on her family. She recognizes that their old master-servant relationship gives Lin Yin a possible advantage, but also admits that Lin Yin has little else to offer him now.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Su Wanyi plots to manipulate her daughter, Su Linyin, into staying close to Jiang Xuan. She views romantic feelings as unimportant compared with cultivation, status, longevity, and future power.
• Jiang Xuan’s attack, [Grain in Ear: Blossoming Flame Tree], successfully destroys the Lava Stone Demon checkpoint but unleashes a violent explosion of blazing, sword-like flowers. He escapes the blast just in time and suffers severe strain from overusing the Abyssal Dharma Eye.
• Jiang Xuan reflects that his physical body is currently his weakest point, though he expects this weakness to be resolved once his Origin Sea Apertures are fully perfected.
• Jiang Xuan, Dong Hao, and Su Linyin survive the demon checkpoint and catch up with the other surviving examination teams.
• The three academies have suffered heavy losses. The Star and Rooster Academies have fewer than ten members each, while the Tiger Academy retains more students but is demoralized because its strongest fighter, Chen Qianjun, is gravely injured.
• Qin Feng and Tang Yinzheng secretly decide to exploit Chen Qianjun’s injuries and kill him before he can recover. Their hostility toward Jiang Xuan is temporarily secondary because Chen is considered the greatest threat.
• The examination enters its third stage: a terrifying mass grave filled with tombs, Paper People, funeral paper, ghostly winds, and mournful cries.
• The mass grave’s power attacks the cultivators’ minds and souls rather than merely their bodies. Resentment, killing intent, demonic qi, and death qi begin corrupting their Dao hearts.
• Qin Feng and Tang Yinzheng order their teams to attack one another almost immediately. Instead of allowing the stage’s supernatural forces to turn the students against each other, the students’ existing rivalries cause them to begin slaughtering one another on their own.
• Jiang Xuan uses the Heavenheart Mirror, Heaven’s Perception, and Observe Heaven to recognize that this stage tests mental resilience, the soul, and the stability of one’s Dao heart.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin are corrupted by the mass grave’s killing intent and urge Jiang Xuan to kill everyone. Jiang Xuan realizes they have lost control and begins casting a protective spell to awaken them.

Character Developments

• Jiang Xuan: Demonstrates overwhelming combat ability but recognizes the limits of his physical body and the dangers of relying too heavily on the Abyssal Dharma Eye. He becomes increasingly perceptive and analytical, understanding the true nature of the third trial before the others do. He also remains morally and strategically cautious, debating whether to exploit the chaos for his own advantage.
• Su Wanyi: Reveals a cold, utilitarian view of relationships. She is willing to sacrifice her daughter’s emotional well-being if doing so can secure Lin Yin’s cultivation future through Jiang Xuan.
• Su Linyin and Dong Hao: Both become mentally influenced by the mass grave, their eyes and behavior turning savage. Their corruption shows that even experienced cultivators are vulnerable when their souls and Dao hearts are directly targeted.
• Chen Qianjun: Though badly injured, he remains the most feared combatant among the academies. His condition destabilizes the balance of power and makes him the target of an impending assassination attempt.
• Qin Feng and Tang Yinzheng: Their alliance becomes more openly ruthless. They set aside competition between their academies to eliminate Chen Qianjun, then immediately exploit the mass grave’s chaos to attack their rivals.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus emotion: Su Wanyi embodies the belief that power, longevity, and status matter more than love or personal happiness.
• Physical power and spiritual resilience: The trial progresses from bodily combat to tests of the soul and Dao heart, emphasizing that true cultivation requires mastery of essence, qi, and spirit.
• The danger of uncontrolled power: Jiang Xuan’s Abyssal Dharma Eye gives him tremendous strength but places severe pressure on his body.
• Paranoia and ruthless competition: The students’ willingness to murder one another shows how rivalry and self-interest can become more dangerous than the trial’s supernatural threats.
• Internal corruption: The mass grave does not merely attack from outside; it magnifies killing intent, resentment, and dark impulses already present within the cultivators.
• Irony of the examination: The third stage is designed to test resistance to soul-affecting evil, but the students’ preexisting hostility makes the supernatural manipulation almost unnecessary.

Character Interactions

• Su Wanyi privately considers using manipulation and Forbidden methods to bring Jiang Xuan and Su Linyin together.
• Qin Feng and Tang Yinzheng exchange covert glances and coordinate their plan to kill the wounded Chen Qianjun.
• The leaders initially ignore Jiang Xuan because Chen Qianjun represents the more immediate threat.
• Upon entering the mass grave, Qin Feng and Tang Yinzheng jointly order their subordinates to attack, triggering widespread conflict among the academies.
• Dong Hao and Su Linyin, mentally corrupted by the mass grave, urge Jiang Xuan to join the massacre.
• Jiang Xuan refuses to act blindly and instead prepares a spell to purge their mental corruption and restore their awareness.