Recaps

Zuo Xiaoduo warned Qin Fangyang that Shen Tienan and five other students were fated to die on their mission after Shen rejected his advice and took back the divination fee. Qin Fangyang tracked them down and broke their legs to stop them from going deeper into danger.

• Zuo Xiaoduo told Qin Fangyang that Shen Tienan had severed their karmic connection by taking back the divination fee, leaving him unable to change her fate.
• Zuo Xiaoduo arranged for his team to gather facing the eastern purple qi before their mission to improve their protection.
• Qin Fangyang overheard Shen Tienan and the other five students planning to leave early and travel deeper into the dangerous area for meteorites and other finds.
• Qin Fangyang broke both legs of all six students, believing their injuries would heal before long.

Qin Fangyang broke the legs of six students to keep them from joining the next day’s field training, then warned their parents not to let them go. Shen Tienan and the others persuaded Shen Yushu to help them recover overnight, and he arranged to take them to the Meng Group’s high-grade Healing Pods.

• Qin Fangyang beat six students, left them injured, and called their parents to tell them to keep the students from field training.
• Shen Tienan and the other students insisted they still needed to join the next day’s field training, despite their broken legs.
• Shen Yushu agreed to find a way to heal the students overnight after they argued the training was important to their progress.
• Shen Yushu called President Meng and secured access to two High-Grade Star Soul Liquid Healing Pods.
• Shen Yushu took the six injured students toward the Meng Group’s Chen Yu Tower.

Zuo Xiaoduo left to train outside the city after eating an enormous breakfast, while Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting discussed supporting his missions and preparing a smithy. The chapter ended with Zuo Changlu revealing that Wu Tiejiang would arrive the next day, though he had little money to acquire a shop.

• Shen Yushu impressed the children by settling matters with Phoenix City's richest man, and Shen Tienan proudly admired his father's power.
• Zuo Xiaoduo ate a huge breakfast from the iron basins Wu Yuting had prepared for him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo took his hidden weapons bag and a three-hundred-and-fifty-jin saber and left to train outside the city.
• Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting discussed the cost of feeding and supporting Zuo Xiaoduo as he began going on missions.
• Zuo Changlu told Wu Yuting that Wu Tiejiang would arrive the next day, and admitted he had little money to buy a neighboring shop for the smithy.

Zuo Xiaoduo met up with Wan Lixiu and the others, then led them out of Phoenix City for their wilderness training. The group crossed the city barrier and found the land beyond it devastated by meteors.

• Wu Yuting told Zuo Changlu that Xiao Nian had given her six hundred thousand from two Space Rings, and Zuo Changlu calmed down about the money.
• Wan Lixiu persuaded her father to recall the martial artists assigned to guard her, and the group greeted Zuo Xiaoduo, mistaking his great saber for an axe.
• Zuo Xiaoduo led Wan Lixiu, Long Yusheng, Li Chenglong, Li Changming, and Yu Moyan north out of the city and through the barrier with a school-issued Jade Talisman.
• The six saw the wilderness beyond Phoenix City, where meteors had battered the trees and left the landscape in ruins.

Zuo Xiaoduo’s team began its first field-training mission, while Zhao Changjun’s and Bai Bingbing’s teams tested the route predictions Zuo had written for them. Both teams found that his directions matched their journeys exactly, leaving them astonished by his accuracy.

• Zuo Xiaoduo’s team collected venomous snakes, but Li Chenglong explained that refining ten thousand snakes of the same species earned only one contribution point, so Zuo discarded them.
• Zhao Changjun’s team changed course to test Zuo Xiaoduo’s prediction and later found that his slip accurately described their route and safe, modest gains.
• Bai Bingbing’s team checked its own slip and realized Zuo Xiaoduo had precisely predicted their westward turn, later northwest turn, and return due north.

Bai Bingbing and the other girls schemed over how to win Zuo Xiaoduo’s attention, while other teams praised the accuracy of his predictions. Zuo Xiaoduo’s team pressed deeper into the meteorite field after escaping a dangerous shower and finding little valuable material.

• Bai Bingbing’s teammates teased her about pursuing Zuo Xiaoduo, and Yanzi admitted she found him attractive.
• Other teams checked Zuo Xiaoduo’s predictions against events and discussed getting memberships for his fortune-telling services.
• Zuo Xiaoduo pulled Wan Lixiu and the others away when a meteor shower struck, while a rebounding meteorite hit Li Chenglong on the head.
• The team dug up the fallen meteorites, but Zuo Xiaoduo found only one that might contain lower-grade star soul jade.
• Li Chenglong urged the team to head farther into the field, and all six raced more than fifty li into the desolate area.

Zuo Xiaoduo’s squad pushed farther into the wasteland, where Li Chenglong used Star Beast dung to identify nearby creatures and infer that Star Soul Continuity Grass grew in the area. The squad began searching for the valuable plant.

• Zuo Xiaoduo led his squad deeper into the wasteland while Qin Fangyang and another teacher watched from above and praised the team’s balanced lineup.
• Li Chenglong examined Star Beast dung and identified signs that a One-Horned Deer had been nearby.
• Li Chenglong studied another pile of dung and concluded that a Three-Legged Python had recently eaten Blackbone Snakes and Three-Eared Rabbits.
• Li Chenglong inferred that Star Soul Continuity Grass must grow nearby because both creatures needed it, and Zuo Xiaoduo asked whether the grass was worth money.

Li Chenglong deduced from the local Star Beasts that valuable Star Soul Continuity Grass grew nearby, and Zuo Xiaoduo’s team searched the turf. They found nine mature stalks, and Li Chenglong continued examining the overturned grass.

• Li Chenglong explained that the Blackbone Snakes’ age indicated a nearby nest and mature Star Soul Continuity Grass.
• Zuo Xiaoduo ordered the team to dig up the grass roots across the likely search area.
• Qin Fangyang and another teacher praised Li Chenglong’s knowledge and his place in Zuo Xiaoduo’s team.
• Zuo Xiaoduo spotted pale-purple plants among the roots, and Li Chenglong identified them as Star Soul Continuity Grass.
• Li Chenglong found nine stalks at least sixty years old, stored them carefully, and continued searching the turf.

Zuo Xiaoduo and his team harvested Star Soul Continuity Grass, drove off the Blackbone Snakes, and released their king to protect the colony. After Li Chenglong counted their valuable haul, Zuo Xiaoduo declared that the team would divide the contribution points equally, rejecting the custom of giving the captain a larger share.

• Zuo Xiaoduo and the others gathered Star Soul Continuity Grass while fending off Blackbone Snakes, and Li Chenglong told them to spare the snakes because their droppings fertilized the plants.
• Zuo Xiaoduo released the Blackbone Snake King after Li Chenglong explained that the colony needed its protector, then gave it a pill before it slithered away.
• Li Chenglong counted their haul of Star Soul Continuity Grass and estimated that the team would earn more than a thousand contribution points.
• Li Changming asked Zuo Xiaoduo how they would divide the contribution points, and Zuo Xiaoduo proposed an equal split among the team.
• Zuo Xiaoduo rejected the custom of giving the captain a larger share and said that anyone who went out alone or in a smaller group could keep what they collected.

Zuo Xiaoduo’s team agreed to split all mission gains equally, while Qin Fangyang praised the fairness and authority this gave their leader. Qin and another teacher watched Zhao Changjun’s team fight for a Red Jade Spirit Ginseng, and Zhao called out to Qin after the group killed the Star Beast.

• Zuo Xiaoduo set equal sharing as the rule for his team, and all five others agreed.
• Zuo Xiaoduo joked with Wan Lixiu and Long Yusheng, then rallied the team to aim for ten thousand contribution points.
• Qin Fangyang told another teacher that Zuo Xiaoduo’s equal-sharing rule reassured him and that the team did not need further supervision.
• Qin Fangyang and the other teacher watched Zhao Changjun’s team fight a Star Beast for a mature Red Jade Spirit Ginseng.
• Zhao Changjun’s team killed the Star Beast, and Zhao called out to find Qin Fangyang.

Qin Fangyang learned that Shen Tienan and her squad had ventured deep into the Wasteland despite his efforts to keep them away, so he rushed after them to try to save them. The chapter then followed Shen Tienan's squad as they entered the dangerous area, confident after their miraculous recovery and dismissive of the warnings.

• Zhao Changjun told Qin Fangyang that Shen Tienan and her squad had gone north into the Wasteland's interior.
• Qin Fangyang recalled Zuo Xiaoduo's warning that the six students were in mortal danger and realized they had ignored his attempts to stop them.
• Qin Fangyang and another teacher hurried into the fog to search for Shen Tienan's squad.
• Earlier, Shen Tienan led her squad through the barrier, and the students bragged about her father's influence and their rapid recovery from serious injuries.
• The students mocked Qin Fangyang for contacting their families and speculated that he and Zuo Xiaoduo were trying to make money from face readings.

Shen Tienan led her team into the fog to search for treasures, but they encountered a pack of Three-Tailed Tigers and were killed. Qin Fangyang and another teacher found the aftermath and slew the beasts, but no students survived.

• Shen Tienan dismissed Qin Fangyang’s warnings and led five others deeper into the fog to collect treasures.
• The six students found valuable items, and Shen Tienan uncovered a huge Star Soul Stone.
• A Three-Tailed Tiger appeared behind Shen Tienan, and more than a dozen beasts emerged as the students cried for help.
• Qin Fangyang and another teacher found the students’ remains among the Three-Tailed Tigers and killed the beasts.
• Qin Fangyang searched the beasts’ bellies, found only fragments of the students’ bodies, and sighed.

Qin Fangyang explained that Zuo Xiaoduo had accurately foreseen Shen Tienan’s team would die, and that his attempts to keep them from field training had failed. Meanwhile, Zuo Xiaoduo’s group followed Li Chenglong’s clues to several valuable plants and kept calling him to inspect animal droppings.

• Qin Fangyang told Teacher Luo that Zuo Xiaoduo had predicted Shen Tienan’s team would face mortal danger and that Qin had tried to stop them from attending field training.
• Teacher Luo warned Qin Fangyang that Shen Yushu might seek revenge for his son’s death, but Qin said he had a clear conscience and would try to appease him.
• Qin Fangyang revealed that he had killed thousands of people on the front lines, leaving Teacher Luo stunned.
• Zuo Xiaoduo’s group urged Li Chenglong to examine piles of droppings as they searched for clues to rare plants.
• Li Chenglong found black blood vine and three dragon whisker ginseng plants, then objected when Li Changming asked him to inspect what appeared to be human droppings.

Zuo Xiaoduo's group searched near the gray mist for valuable creatures and herbs, guided by Li Chenglong's knowledge of the local wildlife. They uncovered a centipede nest, where Li Chenglong spotted advanced centipedes and urged Boss Zuo to deal with a venomous eleven-section one.

• Zuo Xiaoduo warned the group to keep left and then right, avoiding the gray mist as they approached the perimeter warning line.
• Wan Lixiu caught a Six-Clawed Snake, and Li Chenglong explained how the snakes were linked to Nine-Section Centipedes and Revival Star Grass.
• Li Chenglong told the group how sunlight could reveal Revival Star Grass, so they overturned rocks and searched the area for a centipede nest.
• Zuo Xiaoduo flipped up a large stretch of ground, exposing thousands of Nine-Section Centipedes that died in the sunlight.
• Wan Lixiu spotted three centipedes still moving, and Li Chenglong identified advanced ten-section and eleven-section centipedes before telling Boss Zuo to catch the venomous eleven-section one.

Zuo Xiaoduo's team gathered valuable centipedes and revival star grass, bringing their haul close to eight thousand contribution points. As they celebrated, Zuo Xiaoduo sensed danger approaching and ordered everyone into formation.

• Zuo Xiaoduo killed an eleven-section centipede while keeping its body intact, and the team collected thousands of centipedes for contribution points.
• Li Chenglong identified how to find revival star grass, and Zuo Xiaoduo used his cultivation to dry the surrounding turf until the herbs stood out.
• The team found 123 stalks of revival star grass and calculated that their total earnings were close to eight thousand contribution points.
• Zuo Xiaoduo noticed ill fortune gathering over the team, called everyone back, and ordered them to form the Triangle formation.
• Wan Lixiu said she had also felt a sudden, unsettling wave of unease.

Zuo Xiaoduo and his companions were confronted by the Phoenix City Three Young Masters, who demanded their gathered treasures. Zuo Xiaoduo challenged Teng Hao to a fight, but as they clashed, he warned his friends that another danger was approaching.

• A saber bearing red silk announced the arrival of Teng Hao and the other two Phoenix City Three Young Masters.
• Teng Hao demanded half the Revival Star Grass and the Nine-Section Centipedes, and Wan Lixiu refused.
• Zuo Xiaoduo challenged Teng Hao to settle the dispute through combat and told the others to watch for more danger.
• Teng Hao blocked Zuo Xiaoduo's heavy saber strikes and sent him flying with a powerful counterattack.
• Zuo Xiaoduo unleashed the Flame Sun True Scripture, scorching the air around Teng Hao before their next clash hurled Zuo Xiaoduo into the air and left him spitting blood.

Zuo Xiaoduo defeated the Phoenix City Three Young Masters with the Flame Sun True Scripture after they attacked him and tried to take his spoils. Though badly injured himself, he approached the helpless trio and began questioning why they were in an area outside First High’s designated territory.

• Zuo Xiaoduo’s heated saber strike badly burned Teng Hao’s insides and knocked him down.
• The other two young men joined forces to block Zuo Xiaoduo, but his attack severely burned them as well, leaving all three incapacitated.
• Yu Moyan and Long Yusheng helped Zuo Xiaoduo up as he used the Dragon Blood Flying Knife to recover.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told the terrified trio that he had taken a fancy to them, then said he wanted to know why they were outside First High’s designated territory.

Zuo Xiaoduo concluded that the three men had targeted him specifically, then stripped them of their possessions and made them sign documents promising further gifts. The chapter ended with him arranging to collect from the Phoenix City Three Young Masters every week.

• Zuo Xiaoduo explained to Li Chenglong why the three men had come to make trouble for him rather than simply robbing the group.
• Zuo Xiaoduo searched the three men and took their gains, money, weapons, Star Soul Jade, phones, and watches.
• Zuo Xiaoduo forced the three men to sign documents giving him their possessions and promising him future gifts each week.
• Zuo Xiaoduo pocketed the signed documents and told the Phoenix City Three Young Masters he would visit them if they failed to come see him.

Zuo Xiaoduo and his companions were ambushed by hidden attackers after dealing with Teng Hao, Xiao Fei, and Han Ping. Liu Jiansheng’s group drove the attackers off in pursuit while Zuo Xiaoduo and the others tended to their wounds.

• Zuo Xiaoduo joked with Teng Hao, Xiao Fei, and Han Ping about joining his gang and bringing him crisp new bills.
• Zuo Xiaoduo sensed danger, shouted for everyone to get down, and dragged his companions away from a volley of hidden weapons.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and his companions fled the attack, but Zuo Xiaoduo was hit in the back and the others suffered dart and blade wounds.
• Liu Jiansheng and seven of his brothers appeared and chased the attackers, leaving Eight and Nine behind.
• Li Chenglong realized Zuo Xiaoduo’s call to Teacher Qin had briefly bluffed the attackers, then teased Long Yusheng about treating Wan Lixiu’s injury.

After a violent attack left Zuo Xiaoduo and the others wounded, they suspected Mu Yunfeng’s involvement, while Zuo Xiaoduo puzzled over why his ability had not foreseen the danger. He Yuanyue then secretly summoned Jiang Changbin and asked how much force he could mobilize, leaving him braced for a major crisis.

• Wan Lixiu treated her own wounds after Zhongzhong’s remark embarrassed her, while Long Yusheng and Zuo Xiaoduo scolded Li Chenglong for his crude words.
• Li Chenglong identified the throwing dart as Mu Yunfeng’s, and Zuo Xiaoduo worried that the attack would implicate the Witch Alliance and delay Teng Hao and the others’ release.
• Li Changming treated Zuo Xiaoduo’s severe back wound, and Zuo Xiaoduo wondered why his foresight had failed to predict the attack.
• He Yuanyue met privately with Jiang Changbin, who helped her sit down and massaged her as they discussed an important, sensitive matter.
• He Yuanyue had Sister Lan seal off her office, then asked Jiang Changbin how much force he could mobilize.

He Yuanyue told Jiang Changbin that Phoenix City lacked enough trustworthy strength to confront the Witch Alliance and revealed an ominous trace of its aura within the Governor's Residence. She began identifying a person connected to the day of the incident at Second High School, leaving Jiang Changbin poised to learn more.

• Jiang Changbin listed the Star Shield Bureau's forces and proposed recruiting cultivators and personnel from the Governor's Residence and City Guards Prefecture, but He Yuanyue rejected those options as insufficient or untrustworthy.
• He Yuanyue explained that even with additional veteran teachers, Qin Fangyang, and Sister Lan, their forces would still fall short, and Jiang Changbin said the Dragon Blood Team could not be secured.
• He Yuanyue revealed that her Qi-Viewing Technique had detected an icy trace of the Witch Alliance's aura intertwined with the fortune of the Governor's Residence.
• He Yuanyue warned Jiang Changbin not to act rashly, because failure could bring catastrophe upon Phoenix City and its people.
• He Yuanyue asked Jiang Changbin to recall who had sat beside him in Li Changjiang's principal's office, then described a tall, thin old man in a gray robe with broom-like eyebrows.

He Yuanyue told Jiang Changbin that Shang Qingyun, the Governor's Residence head steward and a legendary expert, was almost certainly a Witch Alliance agent and possibly its highest-ranking leader in Phoenix City. She concluded that the alliance had been planning to seize the phoenix vein power for at least sixty-one years, while their own side had suppressed the matter for forty years.

• Jiang Changbin recounted Shang Qingyun's role in defeating the Blackwater Wolf Bandits and saving Wan Pingyuan's household.
• He Yuanyue told Jiang Changbin that Shang Qingyun was more than ninety percent likely to belong to the Witch Alliance and might lead it in Phoenix City.
• Jiang Changbin reeled at the revelation and realized he had no reliable way to eliminate Shang Qingyun without risking his own people.
• He Yuanyue warned that Shang Qingyun's true strength and the Witch Alliance's forces in Phoenix City could exceed Jiang Changbin's estimates.
• Jiang Changbin said Shang Qingyun had been in Phoenix City for sixty-one years and eleven months, leading He Yuanyue to conclude that the Witch Alliance had long targeted the phoenix vein power.

He Yuanyue explained that the Witch Alliance was targeting Phoenix City's accumulated Phoenix Vein fortune, and Jiang Changbin resolved to seek reinforcements for the coming fight. He then urged He Yuanyue to give someone close to her another chance, but she answered that time eventually eroded every memory and bond.

• He Yuanyue told Jiang Changbin that the Witch Alliance wanted Phoenix City's Phoenix Vein fortune as a foothold for dominating the Star Soul Continent.
• Jiang Changbin recognized the danger and vowed to obtain help from the Dragon Blood Team because Phoenix City's forces were too weak.
• He Yuanyue promised that Sister Lan would assist Jiang Changbin when the decisive battle came.
• Jiang Changbin stayed behind and challenged He Yuanyue for refusing to give someone close to her a chance.
• He Yuanyue explained that the passage of time caused people to forget love, family, and even their own lives.

He Yuanyue refused to remind the returning man of their past, believing it would prolong his suffering, and learned she had just over a year to live. Sister Lan revealed her suspicion that the Phoenix Mansion lay beneath the city and that the Ning and Meng families might be involved.

• He Yuanyue told Jiang Changbin that reviving the man's memories would deepen his pain, and Jiang Changbin left feeling drained.
• He Yuanyue asked Sister Lan how long she had to live, and Sister Lan estimated one year and thirty-seven days.
• He Yuanyue pressed Sister Lan about the Phoenix Mansion and admitted she could not die peacefully before completing that search.
• Sister Lan said she suspected the Phoenix Mansion was inside the city, possibly concealed by buildings, and named the Ning and Meng families as suspects.
• Sister Lan revealed that Ning Suifeng was nearly two hundred years old and that Ning Qingcheng, aged nineteen, was his biological daughter.

He Yuanyue weighed whether the Meng and Ning families were pursuing the Phoenix Vein and asked Sister Lan to investigate their ties to the Witch Alliance, the Phoenix Mansion, and the girls’ origins. She ordered several meetings and a renewed survey of Phoenix City before accepting that Heavenly Origin Root would shorten her already limited lifespan.

• Sister Lan argued that Ning Qingcheng and Meng Chenyu might have been born with exceptional aptitudes to serve as Phoenix Vein candidates, and urged He Yuanyue to accept either girl’s success if neither family served the Witch Alliance.
• He Yuanyue said she could not decide without learning whether the families had Witch Alliance ties, and gave Sister Lan ten investigations and arrangements, including verifying the girls’ birth details and meeting Mu Yanyan, Zuo Xiaoduo, Blind Hong, Ning Suifeng, and Meng Tianyue.
• He Yuanyue ordered Sister Lan to take her to Phoenix Looking Back after the night’s rain and to have Zuo Xiaoduo go there as well.
• He Yuanyue requested Dragon Soul Liquid and Heavenly Origin Root to sustain her through the next two months.
• Sister Lan warned that the dose of Heavenly Origin Root would shorten He Yuanyue’s remaining lifespan by two months, leaving her with less than eleven months.