Recaps

Ji Yu learned that Chu Bai had earned an Upper A rating in Spirit Absorption and discussed his talent with Zhou Changkong. At the Scripture Repository, Chu Bai chose and copied the Origin Return Formula, preparing to switch techniques.

• Ji Yu praised Chu Bai's Spell Arts and spiritual-energy control, and Zhou Changkong revealed that Chu Bai had earned an Upper A rating in Spirit Absorption.
• Ji Yu and Zhou Changkong agreed that Chu Bai showed promise, while Ji Yu noted that it was too early to settle on his main cultivation path.
• In the queue for the Scripture Repository, Jiang Kuo warned Chu Bai that the Origin Return Formula could slow his progress, but Chu Bai said its ability to accommodate different energies suited him.
• Chu Bai saw Li Han among several wealthy clan youths; Li Han flinched, looked away, and moved behind them.
• Chu Bai entered the Scripture Repository, found the Jade Slip for the Origin Return Formula, and copied the technique.

Chu Bai faced Dong Feng’s challenge at the Prefectural Dao Academy, then ignored the rivalry to cultivate with the Origin Return Formula. After completing his first Greater Celestial Circuit, he transformed his Spell Power and began working toward greater mastery of the method.

• Dong Feng confronted Chu Bai outside the Scripture Repository, challenged his reputation, and learned Chu Bai was willing to compete in future assessments.
• Jiang Kuo intervened and led Chu Bai away, then explained that Dong Feng resented losing to him after receiving Grade B in Heart Inquiry.
• Jiang Kuo and Zhou Tong warned Chu Bai that Dong Feng might try to hinder him during academy assessments, but Chu Bai chose to focus on cultivation.
• Chu Bai studied the Origin Return Formula and guided his Spell Power through its meridian route, drawing on his experience with the Minor Qi Gathering Technique.
• Chu Bai completed his first Greater Celestial Circuit, transforming his Spell Power and advancing the Origin Return Formula to Skilled.

Chu Bai spent more than a month studying cultivation, practicing spell arts, and improving his cultivation at the Prefectural Dao Academy. As he and his roommates prepared for their first practical combat class, he recognized that future progress would also require money and resources.

• Chu Bai attended general studies classes and learned about cultivation paths, spirit herbs, and talisman-making.
• Ji Yu guided Chu Bai in refining his Spirit Water Needle, and he gradually learned to make it more nimble.
• Chu Bai cultivated with the Origin Return Formula, raising his realm progress to 16 and restoring the formula to the proficient level.
• At lunch, Chen Shi, Jiang Kuo, and Zhou Tong discussed their upcoming practical combat class and teased Chu Bai about his progress.
• Chu Bai considered how his changing spiritual qi might let him balance other attributes, then noted the importance of money for spirit cuisine and access to the Scripture Repository's higher floors.

Class Three began practical combat training under Lei Lie, and Chu Bai defeated his roommate Zhou Tong with precise spell control and combat instincts. Lei Lie praised Chu Bai and called the students who had performed well to stay for another round.

• Lei Lie introduced Zhang Shan as his assistant and ordered the students to fight without holding back.
• Jiang Kuo defeated Wang Meng by absorbing his fireballs with the Thick Earth Formula and knocking him out of the ring.
• Chen Shi won his match by enduring his opponent's attacks and counterattacking after wearing down their spiritual energy.
• Chu Bai dodged Zhou Tong's Wind Blade Spell, forced him to evade three Spirit Water Needles, and won when Zhou Tong conceded.
• Lei Lie praised Chu Bai's combat instincts and ordered the students who had performed well to remain for another round.

Zhang Shan overwhelmed the new students in a combat lesson until Chu Bai pushed him into using a dangerous killing move. Lei Lie stopped the attack, and the battle ended with Chu Bai’s performance earning close attention.

• Lei Lie sent Zhang Shan to demonstrate combat, and Zhang Shan defeated Jiang Kuo with wood spells before swiftly defeating Chen Shi and the other standout newcomers.
• Chu Bai faced Zhang Shan and evaded his thorn vines with precise footwork, then deflected wooden thorns using Spirit Water Needles.
• Chu Bai interrupted Zhang Shan’s spells and held out in a prolonged exchange, impressing Lei Lie and the watching students.
• Zhang Shan unleashed the powerful Greenwood Bone-Piercing Nail, but Lei Lie knocked it down before it could strike Chu Bai, deciding the outcome.

During a practical combat class, Chu Bai survived Zhang Shan’s uncontrolled killing move and activated his Seven Killings in the Fate Palace destiny. After the lesson ended, Zhang Shan apologized and gave Chu Bai pills, while Chu Bai resolved to learn more spell arts.

• Zhang Shan’s final Greenwood Bone-Piercing Nail nearly killed Chu Bai, but Lei Lie stopped the fight and checked that Chu Bai was unharmed.
• Chu Bai’s Seven Killings in the Fate Palace destiny activated after the life-threatening battle, granting him heightened combat intuition and explosive power.
• Lei Lie criticized Zhang Shan for losing control and told Chu Bai to strengthen his fundamentals and learn more techniques.
• After class, Zhang Shan apologized to Chu Bai and offered him Greenwood Life-Nourishing Pills, which Chu Bai accepted without holding a grudge.
• Chu Bai decided to focus on learning additional spell arts as he continued cultivating toward the Qi Refining Second Layer.

After learning how students earned Dao Merit through instructor assignments and academy bounties, Chu Bai heard Zhang Shan explain how cultivation gaps shaped access to resources. Zhang Shan offered to recommend him for a potentially well-paying job with Supervisor Chen, leaving Chu Bai eager to learn more.

• After class, Zhang Shan apologized to Chu Bai for the danger during their battle and mentioned earning Dao Merit as a teaching assistant.
• Chu Bai asked Zhang Shan about other ways to earn Dao Merit, and Zhang Shan explained that instructors and academy officials offered better-paying assignments than general odd jobs.
• Zhang Shan said he had earned twenty points of Dao Merit for assisting Instructor Lei Lie and explained how cultivation differences affected students' access to good assignments and resources.
• Zhang Shan offered to recommend Chu Bai for work with Supervisor Chen, who would not hire students who had reached the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Chu Bai accepted a monitoring task from Supervisor Chen, who assessed his spiritual qi and said he could form the Dao Foundation [Misty Dew]. After learning that the task paid two Dao Merit points each day for recording spiritual qi fluctuations while cultivating, Chu Bai realized it suited him perfectly.

• Zhang Shan brought Chu Bai to Supervisor Chen’s secluded office and warned him to speak only when asked.
• Supervisor Chen examined Chu Bai’s cultivation and spiritual qi, identified the possible Dao Foundation [Misty Dew], and gave him the task’s Jade Slip.
• Chu Bai left the office and considered how spiritual qi composition determined the type and grade of a Dao Foundation.
• Zhang Shan explained that Supervisor Chen had cultivated the metal-aspected Unorthodox Dao Foundation [Spirit-Slaying Thread].
• Chu Bai read the task requirements and learned he could earn two Dao Merit points daily by cultivating at three locations and recording spiritual qi fluctuations.

After months of cultivation and patrol work, Chu Bai demonstrated how much his Spell Arts had improved at the Dao Academy’s practice ground. Instructor Ji Yu confirmed that his Spirit Water Needle had reached mastery, leaving Tao Mingzhi stunned by how far Chu Bai had surpassed him.

• Chu Bai’s patrol assignment earned him more than 150 Dao Merit points and taught him about spiritual energy across the Dao Academy.
• Chu Bai recalled losing cultivation and Spell Arts assessments to Lin Xuewei and Tao Mingzhi, then defeating Tao Mingzhi in actual combat with a precise Spirit Water Needle.
• Tao Mingzhi split an Ironwood puppet with his Blazing Sun Saber during practice.
• Chu Bai pierced a puppet’s Spiritual Power Core with a spiraling Spirit Water Needle and demonstrated an invisible hand that lifted and crushed a stone weight.
• Instructor Ji Yu announced that Chu Bai’s Spirit Water Needle had reached mastery, and Tao Mingzhi was stunned.

After months of practice, Chu Bai advanced his Spirit Water Needle to Proficient and developed the Formless Cloud Hand to cover his close-range weaknesses. While monitoring an abandoned library at night, he detected unusually thin spiritual qi and a faint tremor in the Academy Monitor Jade Slip, suggesting a possible Law Net irregularity.

• Chu Bai celebrated reaching Proficient mastery of the Spirit Water Needle, which gained greater power, control, and the ability to coordinate six needles.
• Chu Bai reflected on choosing the Formless Cloud Hand to control nearby enemies and complement his ranged attack.
• Chu Bai reviewed his progress panel, noting his Qi Refining First Layer cultivation had reached 41/100 and the Formless Cloud Hand had reached Practiced.
• Chu Bai began a nighttime monitoring assignment at an abandoned library and noticed its spiritual qi was thinner than usual.
• Chu Bai saw the Academy Monitor Jade Slip tremble out of rhythm, stopped cultivating, and suspected a possible Law Net irregularity.

Chu Bai detected and reported Killing Intent seeping through the Law Net, earning ten Dao Merit points and learning more about its reach. After the Dao Academy announced the second monthly exam, he joined his roommates in preparing to compete for first place in Spell Arts as well as combat.

• Chu Bai sensed impurities in the spiritual qi, verified that the anomaly persisted, and stopped cultivating while he gathered monitoring records.
• Chu Bai reported the abnormal readings to Supervisor Chen, who confirmed that Killing Intent was seeping through several Law Net nodes and awarded him ten Dao Merit points.
• Chu Bai learned that the Law Net recorded cause and effect, good and evil, and wondered whether these concepts related to his Fate Destiny.
• Zhou Changkong announced that the second monthly exam would take place in ten days, with assessments in cultivation, precise Spell Arts control, and combat.
• Jiang Kuo proposed that Room Seven, Yi Block practice together, and Chu Bai decided to aim for first place in Spell Arts as well as combat.

During the second monthly examination, Chu Bai stunned the students and instructors by dominating both spell arts stages, surpassing Lin Xuewei and taking first place. His performance left Lin Xuewei bewildered and Tao Mingzhi struggling to accept how quickly Chu Bai had advanced.

• Lin Xuewei retained first place in the cultivation assessment, while Chu Bai placed third behind Tao Mingzhi.
• Instructor Ji Yu introduced the spell arts assessment, which tested precision by threading spell needles through moving rings and carving Water Cloud Spirit Crystal without physical contact.
• Tao Mingzhi passed all nine rings with a fire needle, but Lin Xuewei completed the stage faster and carved a lifelike seven-petaled lotus, earning an A in both stages.
• Chu Bai controlled three Spirit Water Needles through all nine rings in seventy percent of Lin Xuewei's time and received an A-plus for the first stage.
• Chu Bai used [Formless Cloud Hand] to carve a lifelike twelve-petaled lotus and earned full marks, taking first place in spell arts.
• Lin Xuewei looked defeated and bewildered, while Tao Mingzhi clenched his fists and wondered at Chu Bai's rapid improvement.

Chu Bai defeated Tao Mingzhi and another elite student in the practical combat assessment, securing first place in both Spell Arts and combat. He planned to use his Dao Merit to improve further, while recognizing that his cultivation still lagged behind the Aristocratic Clan students.

• Instructor Lei Lie announced Chu Bai's rematch with Tao Mingzhi, who had advanced to the threshold of Qi Refining Second Layer.
• Chu Bai dodged Tao Mingzhi's Blazing Sun Slash, redirected his follow-up with Formless Cloud Hand, and struck him down.
• Chu Bai defeated a wood-element specialist by dismantling his vine formation with precise palm strikes.
• Chu Bai placed first in Spell Arts and practical combat and third in cultivation realm, earning twenty Dao Merit.
• Chu Bai counted his remaining fifty Dao Merit and planned to save for another cultivation art or a defensive spell while trying to advance his cultivation.

Zhou Changkong announced that the Midyear Examination would bring the top ten students into the Spirit Pavilion to choose spiritual qi and earn other rewards. After dining on Spirit Cuisine with Jiang Kuo and his friends, Chu Bai crossed paths with Dong Feng, leaving their rivalry unresolved.

• Zhou Changkong told Class Three that the Midyear Examination would pit more than three hundred students against one another, with the top ten earning Spirit Pavilion access, Dao Merit, and a Spell Art.
• Chu Bai considered how rare spiritual qi could strengthen his Origin Return Formula and remembered Zhang Shan's warning that high rankings opened better opportunities in the second year.
• Jiang Kuo treated Chu Bai, Zhou Tong, and Chen Shi to Spirit Cuisine after placing tenth, and Chu Bai rapidly refined the meal's spiritual energy.
• Dong Feng arrived on the dining hall's second floor, exchanged a tense look with Chu Bai, and neither challenged the other because private duels were forbidden.

Chu Bai and his companions left the dining hall after a meal, where they encountered Li Han and heard his attempt to justify betraying Chu Bai to curry favor with Dong Feng. Chu Bai rejected Li Han’s explanation and declared that they would treat each other as strangers from then on.

• Chu Bai noticed Li Han eating alone as he descended from the dining hall’s second floor with Jiang Kuo, Zhou Tong, and Chen Shi.
• Li Han hurried after Chu Bai and apologized for exposing him to Dong Feng, claiming he had acted to survive in Class Two and help their fellow Anping students.
• Jiang Kuo accused Li Han of using Chu Bai as a shield to win favor with Dong Feng and challenged his claim that he had acted for others’ sake.
• Chu Bai told Li Han that they no longer had anything to do with each other and that they should treat one another as strangers at the Dao Academy.
• Chu Bai and his companions left, while Li Han remained in the doorway under the gaze of the other students.

Chu Bai strengthened his combat abilities and broke through to Qi Refining Second Layer after months of disciplined cultivation. With the Half-Year Grand Competition approaching, he set his sights on winning a high ranking and securing a place in the Spirit Pavilion.

• Chu Bai chose the Origin Guard Shield as his defensive spell art, completing a set with Spirit Water Needle and Formless Cloud Hand.
• Chu Bai spent his dao merit on daily Spirit Cuisine and saved the rest to buy pills as he steadily improved his cultivation.
• After more than two months of intense training, Chu Bai used Qi-Gathering Powder on Lone Peak and broke through to Qi Refining Second Layer.
• Chu Bai's spell power more than doubled, and his divine sense expanded from thirty feet to a hundred feet.
• Chu Bai resolved to fight for a high ranking in the Half-Year Grand Competition and earn a place in the Spirit Pavilion.

Chu Bai broke through to Qi Refining Second Layer and tested how his stronger Divine Sense and spells had improved. After reporting increased spiritual qi fluctuations near the Withered Well, he received Supervisor Chen’s advice about choosing a spiritual qi foundation before the Midyear Examination began.

• Chu Bai reached Qi Refining Second Layer, discovered his Divine Sense could sense details within ten zhang, and tested his strengthened Spirit Water Needle, Formless Cloud Hand, and Origin Guard Shield.
• Jiang Kuo, Zhou Tong, and Chen Shi noticed Chu Bai’s breakthrough, and Zhou Tong compared his progress with Lin Xuewei and Dong Feng.
• Chu Bai gave Supervisor Chen his monitoring report, noting increased fluctuations and three instances of node resonance near the Withered Well on the Back Mountain.
• Supervisor Chen recognized Chu Bai’s progress and warned him to consider his spiritual qi choice if he pursued the Scattering Spirit Dust path; Chu Bai said he would likely choose Pure-Origin Spiritual Qi.
• Supervisor Chen credited Chu Bai with another Dao Merit reward as a Teleportation Formation was assembled on the Martial Training Ground for the new students’ first contest.

The Dao Academy began its half-year competition, the Azure Prison Trial, in a spirit realm where new students had to compete alone. Chu Bai entered the realm aware that several students were watching him as a potential target.

• Chu Bai, Lin Xuewei, and Dong Feng showed off their progress at the second layer of Qi Refining during the student assembly.
• Superintendent Su announced that the competition would take place in the Azure Prison Spirit Realm and forbade students from cooperating.
• Superintendent Su branded every student with a Mind-Link Mark to track points, combat, and rule-breaking, then distributed supplies and maps.
• Superintendent Su noticed Chu Bai's refined spiritual sense and killing aura and remarked that the trial would be interesting.
• Superintendent Su and Supervisor Chen opened a rift with a Bronze Seal, and Chu Bai entered the realm as several students fixed their gazes on him.

Chu Bai hunted Demon Beasts in the Azure Prison Minor Realm, using the Origin Return Formula to withstand the realm’s harsh environment and battle without stopping to recover. After defeating a Qi Refining boar king, he reached 98th place and prepared to keep climbing the rankings.

• Chu Bai killed three Qi Induction Greenback Wolves and learned they earned him only three points, so he headed deeper in search of stronger prey.
• Chu Bai saw a fire-attribute student forced to retreat because the realm’s conditions drained and disrupted his spiritual energy.
• Chu Bai relied on the Origin Return Formula to absorb the realm’s varied energies and replenish his dantian without resting or using pills.
• Chu Bai confronted a herd of Spineback Boars, blocked their spines with his Origin Guard Shield, and swept through the herd with Formless Cloud Hand.
• Chu Bai turned the Qi Refining First Layer boar king’s charge against it and killed it with a water needle, raising his score to 150 points and his rank to 98th.

Chu Bai used his new fate pattern to detect and defeat a Class One student who ambushed him at Sword-Washing Spring. After taking half the boy’s points, Chu Bai recovered at the spring and set his sights on a higher rank.

• Chu Bai followed his map to Sword-Washing Spring, where Seven Killings in the Fate Palace alerted him to an ambush.
• Chu Bai evaded the Class One boy’s shadow-blade attack and forced him out of hiding with Formless Cloud Hand.
• Chu Bai used three Spirit Water Needles to break the boy’s shadow escape and threatened to continue fighting.
• The boy transferred half his points to Chu Bai and used his Teleportation Talisman to leave.
• Chu Bai’s points reached 210 and his rank rose to 35th; he drank from the spring and began recovering while aiming for the top ranks.

On the second day in the Azure Prison Spirit Realm, the environment turned into a fire-filled furnace as Chu Bai sensed a powerful cultivator disrupting the Law Net. At the Magma Lake, he defeated Tao Mingzhi through endurance and the Formless Cloud Hand, rising to eighth place as the realm grew more sinister.

• The sky turned red and the air filled with extreme fire energy and baleful smoke, while Chu Bai noticed stronger fluctuations in the Law Net.
• Chu Bai headed for the Magma Lake, where Tao Mingzhi challenged him, hoping to test his strength in the fire-aspected terrain.
• Chu Bai used the Formless Cloud Hand to redirect Tao Mingzhi's attack and countered his fire with the Origin Guard Shield.
• After a prolonged fight, Tao Mingzhi admitted defeat, transferred half his points to Chu Bai, and teleported away.
• Chu Bai's score rose to 1,260 and his rank to eighth, but he sensed that the changing realm would make the assessment more difficult.

At the Dao Academy, Superintendent Su used his Earth Smoke Fire to raise the danger inside the Azure Prison Spirit Realm, with Supervisor Chen's approval. Chu Bai faced an approaching Qi Refining Second Layer Shadow Beast and welcomed the life-or-death challenge.

• Superintendent Su praised Chu Bai's control, while Supervisor Liu favored the combat strength and resources of Aristocratic Clan disciples.
• Supervisor Chen agreed that the students needed a harder trial and authorized Superintendent Su to unleash his Earth Smoke Fire through the Law Net.
• Superintendent Su filled the Spirit Realm with baleful gray smoke, drove the Demon Beasts into madness, and summoned ten powerful Shadow Beasts.
• The Spirit Realm's students faced the sudden escalation, and Chu Bai's Fate Destiny and Mind-Link Mark warned him of danger.
• Chu Bai resisted the strengthened fire poison and prepared three Spirit Water Needles as a Qi Refining Second Layer Shadow Beast approached.

Earth Smoke Fire turned the Azure Prison Spirit Realm into a deadly trial that eliminated most of the students, while Chu Bai fought a powerful Smoke Fire Shadow Beast. Chu Bai pierced its defenses with a compressed Spirit Water Needle attack and prepared to strike again as the supervisors watched.

• Superintendent Su's Earth Smoke Fire corrupted the Spirit Realm, and more than half of the students were eliminated by the smoke and mutated Demon Beasts.
• Supervisor Liu predicted Dong Feng could endure the trial but doubted Chu Bai would last, while Supervisor Chen expressed confidence in Chu Bai.
• Chu Bai used the Formless Cloud Hand and Origin Guard Shield to survive the Smoke Fire Shadow Beast's attacks and wait for an opening.
• Chu Bai compressed a hundred Spirit Water Needles into one attack that pierced the Shadow Beast's defenses and weakened it.
• Chu Bai prepared another attack against the wounded Shadow Beast while the supervisors watched.

Jin Changyu fled a Smoke Fire Wolf while Chu Bai recovered from killing a Giant Rhinoceros and rose to second place. As night drove the smoke-fire beasts into a deadly encirclement, Jin Changyu, Dong Feng, Lin Xuewei, and another student reached Chu Bai and begged him for help.

• Jin Changyu escaped a Smoke Fire Wolf, then drew the attention of a Shadow Beast while fleeing through the smoke.
• Chu Bai replenished his spiritual power by eating and using Breath Regulation, impressing Superintendent Su and Zhou Changkong after defeating the Giant Rhinoceros.
• Chu Bai saw that he had 2,460 points and ranked second behind Dong Feng.
• At night, the smoke-fire toxicity doubled and Demon Beasts gathered into packs, shrinking the safe area around the spirit realm.
• Jin Changyu, Dong Feng, Lin Xuewei, and an unfamiliar student fled two giant Shadow Beasts toward Chu Bai, and the unfamiliar student cried out for help.

Chu Bai discovered that the Teleportation Formation had failed after a Shadow Beast burned a student to ashes, leaving the remaining students trapped with no way to escape. He rallied Jin Changyu, Dong Feng, and Lin Xuewei to face three Shadow Beasts, then accepted Dong Feng’s Golden Scale Armor before the battle began.

• Chu Bai watched a Shadow Beast kill a student with Shadowfire Burial, and the student did not teleport away.
• Chu Bai shielded Jin Changyu from the Shadow Beast’s attack and drove it back with Spirit Water Needles, then joined forces with Jin Changyu, Dong Feng, and Lin Xuewei.
• Chu Bai learned that Lin Xuewei and Dong Feng were nearly depleted while Jin Changyu still had strength, and ordered them to recover or hold a flank as he faced two Shadow Beasts.
• Dong Feng gave Chu Bai his partly powered Golden Scale Armor, saying it could block one blow, and Chu Bai put it on before ordering the others to recover for fifteen minutes.