Recaps

Xu Yang faced Huo Xiaochэнь’s threat, refused the Kong Family’s marriage condition, and secretly earned Spirit Currency through pill sales and deadly encounters. When Chu Nangui began the Second Dragon Ascension selection, Xu Yang fought off Huo Xiaochэнь’s allies and killed Li Yunzhou, leaving the contest underway.

• Xu Yang rose to ninety-eighth on the Cloud Ascension Rankings as Huo Xiaochэнь ranked fourteenth, and Fang Xinghai arranged for Li Yunzhou to cripple him if they were matched.
• At the Kong Family banquet, Xu Yang rejected Kong Shuyuan’s demand that he marry into the family, then outperformed the other guests in comprehending Kong Cheng’s sword technique and allied with Zhang Jun and Liu Rumei against Huo Xiaochэнь.
• Xu Yang refined and sold Dragon-Tiger Great Golden Pills, killed Xie Jin after the man ambushed him, and later killed Zhang Baoqing when they both tried to rob each other.
• Xu Yang ambushed and killed Jiang Wang after he left the Xiao Family estate, then concealed the body and returned to the Violet Sun Gate’s quarters.
• Xu Yang refused the Demon Sect’s offer and turned down Gu Qingfeng’s paid protection, while he and Sun Tao prepared for the Second Dragon Ascension selection.
• Chu Nangui imposed a fifteen-minute elimination trial, and Xu Yang’s group fought Huo Xiaochэнь’s allies as Sun Tao confronted Lin Jingyu.
• Xu Yang forced Huang Xiao, Luo Ying, and two Yellow Maple Valley disciples to surrender, then evaded Li Yunzhou’s ambush and killed him when he tried to flee.

Xu Yang survived the Second Dragon Ascension selection, defeated Fang Xinghai, and entered Heavenly Strategy Academy with Sun Tao and their allies. At the academy, the new students learned its rules and the challenge posed by the Spirit Bone Prodigies.

• Xu Yang and Sun Tao defeated Lin Jingyu in the first selection trial, and Lin Jingyu died after surrendering while Huo Xiaochэнь survived their attack.
• The survivors entered Heavenly Strategy Academy’s next trials, where Xu Yang passed the gateway, Spirit Stele, and Eight Extremes Mountain-Crushing Fist assessments.
• Xu Yang perfected the Blood Prison Heart Saber Scripture, then killed Fang Xinghai when Fang Xinghai pursued him outside Cloud Province City.
• Xu Yang placed twenty-sixth and Sun Tao fourteenth on the final Cloud Ascension Rankings, and they left for the academy with Li Chuyang and Jiang Fan.
• Xu Yang registered at the academy, received eighty credits, and moved into courtyard 192, while he and Sun Tao declined Han Yingjie’s banquet invitation.
• Xu Yang improved his bone root and began studying academy methods, while Cao Guan and Hu Ping failed to persuade him to exchange his credits.
• Teacher Jin Yu explained cultivation methods and challenge rules to Junior Class A, and Jiang Fan advised Sun Tao to seek methods comparable to spirit bone cultivation methods.

Xu Yang cultivates powerful body and concealment arts, defeats Du Ziming and Wan He, and prepares for the end of the academy’s protection period. The new students begin challenging the Battle Tower, where the Spirit Bone Prodigies reach the eleventh floor and Huo Xiaochэнь enters.

• Xu Yang chooses the Dragon Elephant Heart Sutra and the Azure Dragon Tyrant Body, then studies the Formless Thousand Illusions Art to conceal his identity and cultivation.
• Xu Yang leaves the academy in disguise, kills Yang Zheng and three ambushers, and plunders the Crouching Tiger Gang’s treasury before escaping its rampaging tiger.
• Xu Yang defeats Du Ziming and Wan He in arena challenges, rising to nineteenth place on the Cloud Ascension Rankings.
• Xu Yang cultivates for another month, develops dragon qi, and learns that Huo Xiaochэнь has mastered the Azure Dragon Tyrant Body.
• Xu Yang brings the Formless Thousand Illusions Art to great completion and decides to delay developing a spirit bone until after the Battle Tower challenge.
• Qi Ning and the other Spirit Bone Prodigies reach the eleventh floor and secure the top rankings, while Lu Wei and several other students stop at the tenth.
• Huo Xiaochэнь enters the Battle Tower as onlookers expect his Azure Dragon Tyrant Body and second top-tier technique to carry him to the eleventh floor.

Xu Yang advanced his cultivation, survived a deadly attack at the Jade Waters Cold Pool, and rose through the Battle Tower rankings. After refusing Ye Qiuling’s request for credits, he left the academy and confronted the Crouching Tiger Gang, where Pang Xiong attacked him.

• Xu Yang cleared the Battle Tower to the ninth floor, then developed his spirit bone and learned to conceal it.
• Xu Yang chose a Demon Suppression Bureau assignment at the Jade Waters Cold Pool, where Ma Daxing’s men attacked the guards and tried to seize the Blackwater Spirit Loach King.
• Xu Yang killed an attacker, signaled for help, then took a Blackwater Spirit Loach and refined its vital essence while Jin Yu investigated the attack.
• Xu Yang claimed the Heavenly Origin Chapter of the Blood Prison Heart Saber Scripture, cultivated in the Spirit Tower, and broke through to third Heavenly Origin.
• Xu Yang cleared the Battle Tower’s ninth floor and rose to eighty-fourth place, while Li Chuyang fell to eighty-fifth.
• Xu Yang refused Ye Qiuling’s request for fifty academic credits, then left the academy as Fang Xu urged Huo Xiaochэнь to kill him.
• At the Crouching Tiger Gang compound, Xu Yang heard Pang Xiong discuss the Fang Family’s plan to kill him, destroyed the hall with a punch, and evaded Pang Xiong’s saber attack.