Chapter Summaries

Zhao Haili explained sequence talents and introduced the Blasphemer's Diagram as a cultivation method for Awakened. Xu Ye quickly mastered the diagram and discovered that Alice could absorb spiritual energy too.

• Zhao Haili explained that sequence talents became scarcer at higher levels, meaning Awakened might eventually have to kill others to advance.
• Zhao Haili presented the Blasphemer's Diagram, which could compress secondary personalities into one and help Awakened absorb spiritual energy.
• Xu Ye noticed the diagram's figure was connected to four spirit beasts by tentacle-like bonds resembling his own.
• Xu Ye practiced alone, traced the complete diagram within minutes, and began absorbing spiritual energy.
• Alice revealed that she had visualized the diagram and discovered she could absorb spiritual energy as well.

Xu Ye encouraged Alice to cultivate independently, then joined his fellow trainees at the Crimson Training Camp for dinner before Instructor Jian Fang called them out for drills. After the trainees completed their punishment, Jian Fang began teaching them how to use spiritual energy.

• Alice complained that cultivating on her own was exhausting, and Xu Ye urged her to train so she could grow stronger.
• Xu Ye went to the cafeteria, where he discussed the Forbidden Zone with Lu Mingwang, Zhu Dalong, and Chen Qiansui, and Chu You'an joined their table.
• A whistle summoned the trainees from dinner, and they ran to the field while Chu You'an reluctantly followed.
• Jian Fang assigned push-ups to the late trainees and extra repetitions to Zhu Dalong for complaining.
• After the trainees finished their push-ups, Jian Fang began teaching them how to use spiritual energy.

Jian Fang tested the recruits’ ability to cover their bodies with spiritual energy, while Shen Xinghai and Lin Tao discussed a suspected Shenchuan Family spy. Xu Ye formed spiritual energy into a pillar and struck Jian Fang, leaving the result unclear.

• Shen Xinghai and Lin Tao discussed the Shenchuan Family spy and Lin Tao’s decision to remain away from the front lines.
• Jian Fang taught the recruits to coat their bodies and fists with spiritual energy, then challenged them to hit him.
• Jian Fang sent recruit after recruit to run weighted laps, while Li Yunyao impressed him by covering her fist with spiritual energy.
• Lu Mingwang made a confused remark about possibly being a woman and was ordered to run twenty weighted laps.
• Xu Ye formed his spiritual energy into a pillar and punched Jian Fang, who shouted a warning before a bang and a graceful curse followed.

Xu Ye impressed the instructors with his spiritual energy, then witnessed the grim return of veterans carrying the ashes of hundreds of fallen soldiers. Back at his dorm, he found a threatening note addressed to him.

• Xu Ye produced a pillar of spiritual energy on his first attempt, surprising the instructors and prompting Shen Xinghai to suspect he had helped thwart the Shenchuan Family's plan.
• Jian Fang ordered the new students to keep running, and Xu Ye spoke with Zhou Ye and Li Yunyao before Jian Fang reprimanded Chu You'an for wearing the wrong clothes.
• Veterans brought back a coffin filled with the ashes of hundreds of soldiers who had died on the front line, and Xu Ye told Chu You'an she would never have to go there.
• Xu Ye returned to his dorm, saw the scars covering Mo Bei's body, and prepared to sleep after declining an invitation to socialize.
• Xu Ye found a note that read, "I've come to kill you! Heehee!"

Xu Ye and the other trainees were drawn into a Dreamscape, where Chief Instructor Yang Chang announced that their nightly training would test their willpower through a barehanded climb up a sheer cliff. The exhausted trainees struggled at its base, while Xu Ye resisted Yang Chang’s intimidating gaze and caught the instructor’s attention.

• Xu Ye and Alice found an eerie note in Xu Ye’s dorm, but Xu Ye dismissed Mo Bei and the Shenchuan Family as likely suspects and destroyed it.
• After the trainees returned late at night, an invisible ripple made everyone except Xu Ye fall asleep; Xu Ye stopped resisting and asked Alice to keep watch.
• Xu Ye and more than two hundred trainees awoke in a Dreamscape beside a mud pit and a towering cliff.
• Chief Instructor Yang Chang explained that the Dreamscape would train their willpower and ordered them to climb the cliff without using talents or physical strength.
• The trainees struggled with weakness caused by lack of sleep, while Xu Ye met Yang Chang’s gaze without looking away and impressed him.

Xu Ye and the other trainees climbed a cliff inside Yang Chang’s dream, where willpower replaced stamina and anyone who fell into the mud had their thoughts broadcast. Xu Ye fell after someone stepped on his hand, leaving him in the mud with his private thoughts at risk of being exposed.

• Shen Xinghai, Lin Tao, and Jian Fang watched from the woods and explained that Yang Chang’s Sequence 6-032 [Dream Life] had drawn the trainees into a realistic dream.
• Xu Ye tested how pain worked in the dream, then started climbing the cliff alongside Chen Qiansui and the other trainees.
• Xu Ye passed several climbers, while Li Yunyao climbed steadily and Zhu Dalong struggled behind him.
• Zhu Dalong fell into the mud, and his inner thoughts were broadcast across the cliff, revealing that he had secretly taken something belonging to Li Yunyao.
• Lu Mingwang fell while laughing at Zhu Dalong, and his broadcast thoughts embarrassed him as he scrambled back up.
• Someone stepped on Xu Ye’s hand, causing him to lose his grip and fall into the mud.

Xu Ye endured the Cliff’s soul-draining climb and reached its summit after Yang Chang pushed the trainees through the ordeal. As Xu Ye leaped over the top, he recalled surviving the brink of death in his previous life and smiled at having been reborn again.

• Xu Ye reasoned that the Swamp revealed only his current thoughts and repeated that Shen Xinghai was a lecherous old bastard to keep his thoughts focused.
• The trainees found that repeating a thought helped them climb, but the ascent steadily drained their minds and caused many to fall and recover from their injuries.
• Yang Chang shot Simon through the head in the Dreamscape to demonstrate how fear could disrupt a person’s thoughts, then ordered the trainees to continue climbing.
• Xu Ye climbed past eighty meters while thinking about the Fallen Knights and the danger they posed after seeing his special ability.
• Xu Ye reached the final meter, found a foothold, and leaped over the Cliff’s top as he remembered struggling to survive in his previous life.

Xu Ye recovered after climbing the Cliff as Yang Chang described how Awakened could lose control and undergo aberration, then shot Xu Ye in a training exercise. Later, Yang Chang tried to meet the elusive Chief Captain in Sky City, but an unseen force sent him back to his hotel balcony.

• Xu Ye woke beneath the rising sun and felt his strength and will recover after reaching the top of the Cliff.
• Yang Chang told Xu Ye he had once undergone aberration and returned through willpower, warning him that many Awakened became level-three Aberrants after losing control.
• Yang Chang ordered Shen Xinghai and two other instructors to climb the Cliff with one hand and one leg, then shot Xu Ye, calling it a man's romance.
• Yang Chang went to a garden in Sky City to deliver his master's letter and request an audience with the Chief Captain of the Dawn Blade.
• A voice from the courtyard told Yang Chang to leave the letter, but when he tried to advance with his spear, he reappeared on the hotel balcony and suspected a spatial Sequence Talent.

Xu Ye woke after the Chief Instructor’s deadly training and found a fresh note threatening to kill him in six hours, but its prediction said Anderson would die instead. After a brutal night of training, the group gathered for Zhao Haili’s class on contamination and aberration.

• Xu Ye recovered from the Chief Instructor’s training and noticed his spiritual energy had become more condensed and easier to control.
• Xu Ye found a fresh red note threatening to kill him in six hours, and his simulation predicted that Anderson would die instead.
• Zhu Dalong and Lu Mingwang described repeatedly dying during the Cliff training, while Mo Bei left the dorm without joining the others.
• Xu Ye and the others discovered their point balances had increased based on their climbing results and went to the large classroom.
• Chu You'an approached Xu Ye to show off her changes, and Zhao Haili arrived to teach about contamination and aberration.

Zhao Haili taught the trainees about pollution and explained that Aberrants of level 3 and above were new intelligent life-forms born through human bodies. After class, an exhausted Anderson returned to the dormitory alone, where he woke from a strange episode and spotted a pale face watching him from beside his bed.

• Zhao Haili explained that pollution was unpredictable, was most severe in the Land of Exiles, and could cause catastrophic Aberrant incidents.
• Zhao Haili shared Doctor Chen's finding that level 3 and above Aberrants were new intelligent life-forms gestated through human bodies, and described Chief Instructor Yang's experience of resisting Aberration.
• After class, Xu Ye noticed Anderson heading back to the dormitory alone while Mo Bei followed him.
• Anderson fell asleep in the quiet dormitory, then woke from a paralysis-like episode after hearing a voice and feeling unable to move or speak.
• Anderson turned to get water and saw a pale face with a blood-red eye peeking over the edge of his bed.

Anderson faced Zhang Feng, an Awakened trainee whose jealousy had driven him into a grotesque aberration, and pretended to panic while preparing to fight back. As Zhang Feng began a second transformation, a Black Blade pierced him from behind, and Anderson thanked Brother Ye for saving him.

• Zhang Feng revealed that he had become an Aberrant because Anderson had ignored him, then attacked Anderson with a spiked whip.
• Anderson stalled Zhang Feng, secretly readied a Thunderblast Pearl, and threw it, but Zhang Feng dodged the blast.
• Zhang Feng began a more horrific transformation and declared that the weak deserved to be judged.
• A Black Blade pierced Zhang Feng from behind, and Anderson revealed that his fear had been an act and thanked Brother Ye.

Xu Ye and Anderson confronted Zhang Feng, who had become an Aberrant after an outside influence drove his transformation. Shen Xinghai arrived to stop Zhang Feng, but warned them to flee when Zhang Feng’s body began to swell.

• Xu Ye confronted Zhang Feng about the threatening notes and concluded that jealousy alone could not explain his sudden Aberration.
• Zhang Feng admitted he had planned to kill Xu Ye and Anderson, then escape after completing his transformation.
• Zhang Feng’s developed 9-722 [Balance] ability made everyone nearby lose their balance, and he attacked Anderson with his sharpened tongue.
• Shen Xinghai arrived, caught Zhang Feng’s tongue, and revealed that Zhang Feng was nearly as powerful as a level 3 Aberrant.
• Shen Xinghai shouted for Xu Ye and Anderson to run as Zhang Feng swelled to fill half the dorm room and exploded.

Xu Ye witnessed Zhang Feng’s aberration and explosion at Crimson's Training Camp, then learned that Shen Xinghai suspected someone had controlled him. After avoiding a dangerous attempt to examine Zhang Feng’s soul, Xu Ye was left suspecting that the Eternal Church had arranged the incident.

• An explosion confined to Anderson's room hurled Xu Ye outside, where he warned the other trainees that Zhang Feng had become an Aberrant.
• Shen Xinghai emerged with Zhang Feng’s sealed coffin and told the instructors that Zhang Feng had blown himself up as soon as he appeared, suggesting someone had controlled him.
• Shen Xinghai warned the trainees about the dangers ahead and offered those unwilling to face them the chance to leave.
• Xu Ye tried to have Alice use Soul-Seizing on Zhang Feng, but a glimpse of the future showed that the attempt would pollute Alice and kill Xu Ye, so Alice stopped.
• Xu Ye followed Shen Xinghai and suspected that the abrupt incident had been arranged by the Eternal Church.

After Zhang Feng’s aberration, Xu Ye learned that Zhang Feng’s family history was tied to Wu Shuyu and to the same Night Spirit City address where Xu Ye lived, leaving him unsettled by the growing chain of pollution incidents. Shen Xinghai then gave Xu Ye the Psionic Block he had promised as a reward for taking first place.

• Jian Fang told Xu Ye that Zhang Feng’s body had been sent to the Crimson Research Institute, and Shen Xinghai explained Crimson’s importance and partial independence from the Five Great Powers.
• At the Sixth Mental Hospital, He Li told Meng Chengfei that Zhang Feng had undergone aberration, and Meng Chengfei approved sending Zhang Feng’s files to Crimson while ordering another check on his parents and unborn sibling.
• Jian Fang and Xu Ye read the Dawn Blade’s report and learned that Zhang Feng’s family had moved to Xu Ye’s street after An Lu drove them out of Sky City.
• Xu Ye discovered that Zhang Feng’s grandmother was Wu Shuyu, the pollution source whose aberration had begun after eating dog meat, and Jian Fang raised two possible explanations for Zhang Feng’s later aberration.
• Shen Xinghai gave Xu Ye a crystal-clear Psionic Block as his reward for taking first place.

Xu Ye absorbed a Psionic Block in five minutes with 100% efficiency, astonishing Shen Xinghai and Jian Fang. They reported his results to the Chief Instructor and warned Xu Ye to keep them secret, while explaining that Crimson’s leader, Yang Jue, would take a special interest in him.

• Shen Xinghai gave Xu Ye a Psionic Block and explained how Awakened absorbed them as Xu Ye prepared to try it.
• Alice urged Xu Ye to reveal some of his potential, and Xu Ye released his restraint and began absorbing the Psionic Block at an accelerating rate.
• Xu Ye drained the Psionic Block in five minutes with 100% efficiency, grew a fourth tentacle, and saw a vision of humanity cheering him before he rejected it and woke.
• Shen Xinghai and Jian Fang checked the instrument, were stunned by Xu Ye’s results, and decided to seal the readings for the Chief Instructor.
• Shen Xinghai told Xu Ye to keep the result secret and explained that Crimson’s leader, Yang Jue, would be informed and that Crimson might keep Xu Ye from returning to the Dawn Blade.

Yang Chang discovered that Xu Ye had a hundred percent absorption rate and told his master, Yang Jue, who ordered Xu Ye’s records kept secret and granted him two Psionic Blocks a month. Yang Jue then killed an assassin in his office and reflected on his conflict with the Coexistence Faction.

• Yang Chang tried to reach the courtyard’s secluded senior, but its spatial defenses sent him into a bathhouse, where he fled after startling the women.
• After Shen Xinghai reported Xu Ye’s hundred percent absorption rate, Yang Chang called Yang Jue and relayed the discovery.
• Yang Jue told Yang Chang to keep Xu Ye’s ability quiet, change his records, and let him grow without special treatment.
• Yang Jue reviewed Xu Ye’s information, wrote down his own name, and ordered that Xu Ye receive two Psionic Blocks each month.
• A female assistant attempted to stab Yang Jue, but he snapped her wrist and crushed her head, revealing her to be a mechanical assassin.
• Yang Jue suspected the Coexistence Faction had sent the assassin and remained committed to Crimson’s fight against Great Fiends and Aberrants.

Yang Jue rejected the Twin Star Corporation leader’s plan to upload humanity into a virtual world, while Xu Ye reflected on his unusual talent and settled back into the Training Camp. Xu Ye found another threatening note at his bed, warning that someone would kill him if he left the camp.

• Yang Jue questioned the Twin Star Corporation leader about virtual ascension and switched off the computer after rejecting his proposal.
• Xu Ye considered the factions within human powers and wondered why his [Mayfly] talent seemed different from its known abilities.
• Alice told Xu Ye that Crimson belonged to the fight-to-the-death faction and mocked Meng Chengfei’s weakness.
• Xu Ye returned to the dormitory, where Mo Bei explained that he had been caught sneaking a look at the girls’ training.
• Xu Ye found a red-lettered note near his pillow threatening to kill him if he left the Training Camp.

Xu Ye received another ominous warning and used his prophetic notes to learn that he would die if he left the Training Camp, where he suspected a dangerous ambush awaited. Yang Chang urged him to become stronger, and Xu Ye resolved to use the next three weeks to prepare.

• Xu Ye and Alice discussed the blood-written note and possible enemies, then Xu Ye went to sleep.
• Xu Ye heard a girl's voice threaten to wait for him outside the Training Camp, but Alice noticed nothing.
• Xu Ye's notes predicted his death during Crimson's Outdoor Training, and repeated tests showed he died whenever he left the Training Camp.
• Xu Ye trained in the Dreamscape and told Yang Chang he wanted to handle his trouble himself.
• Yang Chang demonstrated Shen Xinghai's ability to dodge a gunshot, then shot Xu Ye in the head.

Yang Chang began Xu Ye’s special training by teaching him to fight without relying on Sequence Talents, then threw him into a lethal climb where the other trainees were ordered to stop him. Xu Ye narrowly avoided an ambush from below and a bullet from above, leaving him trapped between both threats.

• Yang Chang, Shen Xinghai, and Jian Fang taught Xu Ye to train his instincts, use weapons, and learn how Sequence Talents vary by region and individual.
• Yang Chang raised the Cliff, ordered the trainees to knock Xu Ye down, and kicked him off to begin the exercise.
• Yang Chang explained that the Shenchuan Family was seeking revenge and that Xu Ye had thwarted its plan, while Shen Xinghai and Jian Fang agreed to help draw out its spies.
• Zhu Dalong and the other trainees climbed after Xu Ye, but Xu Ye struck Zhu Dalong down into the Swamp.
• Xu Ye sensed danger and dodged a shot from Shen Xinghai, which hit Lu Mingwang instead.

Xu Ye investigated the threat against him, studied a nearby Forbidden Zone, and continued intensive training while receiving repeated blood-written warnings. He set a trap for the person leaving the notes, and the intruder found Xu Ye’s message: “Caught you, hehe.”

• Xu Ye ran a Heart Simulation that still ended in his death, then studied the Cliff Forbidden Zone and began forming a plan around it.
• Xu Ye tricked Alice into cultivating by telling her it could help her take over his body.
• Xu Ye confronted his fellow trainees about their antics and kept notes on who had joined in.
• Xu Ye trained for more than ten days with Shen Xinghai and Jian Fang while receiving repeated threats written in blood.
• A shadowy figure entered Xu Ye’s empty dorm room and found a note reading “Caught you, hehe.”