Recaps

Zuo Xiaoduo risked his life to keep fighting Zhou Yunqing, helping him advance through a rare sword epiphany. As Zhou Yunqing’s Sword Qi reached perfection, Zuo Xiaoduo intensified his attacks and seemed to draw out the No-Return Sword’s killing intent.

• Gu Qianfan and the referees realized Zuo Xiaoduo was deliberately refusing to retreat so Zhou Yunqing could continue his sword epiphany.
• Zuo Xiaoduo faced Zhou Yunqing’s uncontrolled, greatly strengthened attacks and countered with multiple sword arts, refining his own Sword Heart and Sword Qi along the way.
• Gu Qianfan celebrated as Zhou Yunqing’s Sword Qi reached a perfect stage and said he owed Zuo Xiaoduo an enormous debt of gratitude.
• Zuo Xiaoduo changed his swordsmanship and unleashed a fiercer, wave-like counterattack, astonishing Gu Qianfan with the danger he risked for Zhou Yunqing.

Zuo Xiaoduo risked his life to help Zhou Yunqing transform his No-Return Sword, then ended their perilous duel and watched Zhou Yunqing collapse after recovering his senses. The teachers celebrated Zhou Yunqing’s breakthrough and joked about replacing Zuo Xiaoduo’s shredded uniform.

• Zhou Yunqing’s Sword Qi turned savage in response to Zuo Xiaoduo’s attacks, and his combat strength rose more than tenfold as the duel became increasingly dangerous.
• Zuo Xiaoduo continued pressing Zhou Yunqing with the Spirit Cat Sword, intending to help him reach the greatest possible breakthrough.
• Gu Qianfan recognized that Zhou Yunqing had surpassed his limits, and Zuo Xiaoduo unleashed 999 sword strikes before soaring out of the combat range.
• The six referee-teachers restrained Zhou Yunqing and guided him through Qi Recovery, after which Ding Xiulan dissipated his remaining strength.
• Zhou Yunqing thanked Zuo Xiaoduo, then collapsed into a deep sleep; Zuo Xiaoduo returned in a fresh outfit and joked that Zhou Yunqing should pay for his ruined uniform.
• Zhan Xiaofei, Cui Shangyan, and Ding Xiulan offered to replace Zuo Xiaoduo’s uniform, while the teachers recognized that he had risked his life to help Zhou Yunqing transform his swordsmanship.

After Gu Qianfan formally conceded the Dragon-Tiger Ranking championship to Phoenix City Second High School, he publicly thanked Zuo Xiaoduo and said he owed him a favor. The broadcast audience remained confused about the match, and accusations of rigging spread online.

• Ding Xiulan grew furious at Gu Yuanhang and sent him hundreds of messages.
• Zhan Xiaofei answered a call from Principal Gu Qianfan and put it on speakerphone.
• Gu Qianfan announced Shuicheng First High School's concession, thanked Zuo Xiaoduo, and said he owed him a favor.
• Online viewers questioned how the match had turned around and accused the schools of rigging the result.
• A Shuicheng First High School teacher quietly told the principal that people online were calling the match rigged.

Phoenix City Second High School won the Dragon-Tiger Ranking championship, and Zuo Xiaoduo and the others rushed home to present the trophy to Grandma He and honor their former principal. Gu Qianfan rejected demands for explanations and began handling calls from High Martial schools seeking to recruit Zhou Yunqing.

• Gu Qianfan dismissed calls to explain why he had conceded and ordered festive decorations for Yunqing and the others’ return.
• Gu Qianfan refused to answer recruitment calls from High Martial schools and said he would contact Ancestral Dragon High Martial himself because Zhou Yunqing must never attend it.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and the other Phoenix City Second High School students celebrated their championship and honored their former principal from the award platform.
• Zuo Xiaoduo used Qi-Viewing Technique and saw that Li Chenglong and the others’ fortune had greatly increased.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Ding Xiulan that the group wanted to take the trophy to Grandma He, and Phoenix City Second High School set off for home immediately.
• Zhan Xiaofei, Cui Shangfeng, and the other High Martial teachers carried the group home at full speed.

After winning the Dragon-Tiger Ranking, Zuo Xiaoduo and his teammates honored He Yuanyue at her grave before discussing their plans for high martial schools. Ancestral Dragon High Martial’s Ding Xiulan lamented that Gu Yuanhang’s actions had cost the school its chance to recruit the team and Zhou Yunqing.

• Ding Xiulan blamed Gu Yuanhang for driving Zuo Xiaoduo and the other team members away from Ancestral Dragon High Martial, and she concluded that the school had lost its chance to recruit them and Zhou Yunqing.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and the others placed their first-place trophy before He Yuanyue’s grave and thanked her for the dream they had fulfilled.
• The team stayed at He Yuanyue’s grave until midnight, then Hu Ruoyun asked them which schools they planned to attend.
• Yu Moyan chose Yuyang High Martial Arts School to pursue greater resources, while Li Chenglong said he would follow Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Wan Lixiu said she and Long Yusheng planned to attend Cloud High Martial, and Li Changming chose Dragon Soul to pursue the Great Dream Divine Art.

Hu Ruoyun warned Zuo Xiaoduo and the other students about the dangers of traveling alone to their High Martial Academies and gave Zuo Xiaoduo advice before parting. As Zuo Xiaoduo raced home, Mu Yanyan intercepted him and beat him.

• Hu Ruoyun told the students they had to travel to their High Martial Academies without escorts and warned that their studies would expose them to deadly dangers.
• Hu Ruoyun urged Zuo Xiaoduo to keep a low profile at Hidden Dragon, stay cautious about his enemies, and keep his teachers informed; she asked Li Chenglong to look out for him.
• Hu Ruoyun and Luo Lie returned to school with the trophy, while Zuo Xiaoduo and the others watched them leave before going their separate ways.
• Zuo Xiaoduo hurried home, celebrating his return and thinking about Nian Nian Cat.
• Mu Yanyan called out to Zuo Xiaoduo, kicked him out of the air, and then attacked him with a barrage of kicks.

Mu Yanyan punished Zuo Xiaoduo with a beating, and Zuo Xiaonian healed him before beating him again for insulting her and stealing her sunflower seeds. They discussed their plans: Zuo Xiaoduo would still go to Hidden Dragon High Martial despite the dangers, while Zuo Xiaonian planned to join the Nine Heavens Pavilion.

• Mu Yanyan beat Zuo Xiaoduo and brought him back to Zuo Xiaonian, who treated his bruises.
• Zuo Xiaonian beat Zuo Xiaoduo again after he called her a silly girl.
• Zuo Xiaonian thrashed Zuo Xiaoduo after he stole her shelled sunflower seeds.
• Zuo Xiaoduo said he still intended to attend Hidden Dragon High Martial despite the enemies waiting for him in Fenghai City.
• Zuo Xiaonian said she would probably work for the Nine Heavens Pavilion instead of going to Phoenix Cry.
• Zuo Xiaoduo studied Zuo Xiaonian’s physiognomy and future, then reassured her that her strength would keep her safe.

Zuo Xiaoduo urged Zuo Xiaonian to use her Top-Grade Star Soul Jade by pretending he had discovered a huge mine and offering her more if she cultivated hard. Their warm conversation continued past midnight, ending when Zuo Xiaonian asked whether she looked pretty.

• Zuo Xiaonian told Zuo Xiaoduo she had joined the Nine Heavens Pavilion as its youngest woman member in many years, though she still needed training before taking missions.
• Zuo Xiaoduo falsely claimed he had found a mine containing at least a million pieces of Top-Grade Star Soul Jade and offered Zuo Xiaonian more jade if she used hers through cultivation.
• Zuo Xiaoduo set a condition that Zuo Xiaonian had to suppress her surging True Essence more than fifteen times during her dan origin realm breakthrough to qualify for the reward.
• Zuo Xiaonian accepted the challenge and resolved to reach the required cultivation goal.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian chatted peacefully past midnight, and Zuo Xiaonian stood up and asked him whether she looked pretty.

Zuo Xiaonian asked Zuo Xiaoduo to choose among three versions of her height, but he misunderstood what she meant and got beaten. Meanwhile, Gu Yuanhang reached the Upper Capital after being repeatedly attacked on his way back and headed to Ancestral Dragon High Martial.

• Zuo Xiaonian changed her height twice and asked Zuo Xiaoduo which of her three versions looked best.
• Zuo Xiaoduo failed to understand what Zuo Xiaonian wanted him to notice, so she beat him and returned angrily to her room.
• Gu Yuanhang was ambushed by three pursuers after leaving South Ji City and fled back into the city for safety.
• Gu Yuanhang tried to escape by plane, but a streak of sword light cut off one of its wings, so he carried the plane to Fenghai airport and landed it.
• A black-clad attacker fought Gu Yuanhang for two hours near the Upper Capital before retreating, and Gu Yuanhang then went to Ancestral Dragon High Martial.

Phoenix City Second High School celebrated its championship-winning team and graduated its Innate students, sending many on to High Martial Academies. After the ceremony, Hu Ruoyun sat alone in He Yuanyue’s former office and watched the graduates leave.

• Phoenix City Second High School held a ceremony honoring its six Dragon-Tiger Ranking Tournament champions and paying tribute to He Yuanyue.
• Li Changjiang announced that 177 of the school’s 237 Innate students had earned admission to their chosen High Martial Academies, while the rest could pursue vocational training, enlist, or repeat a year.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and the other five competitors received recognition, and Li Chenglong’s tooth-baring face stole the spotlight in the class photograph.
• The graduating students received their certificates, said farewell to Second High School, and were given ten days off.
• Hu Ruoyun visited He Yuanyue’s former office and watched the graduates leave, reflecting on how painful and worthwhile it was to send them off.

Zuo Xiaoduo and the other five completed the third touch of their Three Touches, Five Evaluations in the Star Soul Tower, where they faced choices about killing or saving a close friend from the Witch Alliance. The others finished their trials, but Zuo Xiaoduo’s encounter ended with his wounded friend asking him to kill or surrender him.

• Zuo Xiaoduo and the other five returned to invite Hu Ruoyun and the other teachers to dinner and complete their overdue evaluations.
• Hu Ruoyun arranged for Li Changjiang to join her in sending the six students into the Star Soul Tower for the third touch.
• Yu Moyan and Li Chenglong killed their Witch Alliance sworn siblings without hesitation, while Wan Lixiu, Long Yusheng, and Li Changming killed theirs after anguished hesitation.
• Yu Moyan and Li Chenglong earned grade A, while Wan Lixiu, Long Yusheng, and Li Changming received grade B.
• Zuo Xiaoduo befriended a Witch Alliance man without becoming his sworn brother, and the wounded man revealed his identity and asked Zuo Xiaoduo to kill or hand him over.

Zuo Xiaoduo rescued a wounded man, helped him escape across the border, and was carried into the Witch Alliance Lands after the man knocked him unconscious to prevent him from returning. Li Changjiang and Hu Ruoyun waited for his preliminary assessment, which appeared as four question marks.

• Zuo Xiaoduo treated the man's injuries, hid him, supplied him with medicine and provisions, and helped him flee.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and the man swore brotherhood before fighting their way across the border, where Zuo Xiaoduo's identity was exposed.
• Zuo Xiaoduo refused to join the man in the Witch Alliance Lands, but the man knocked him unconscious and carried him there.
• Li Changjiang and Hu Ruoyun watched the trial end and worried that Zuo Xiaoduo's actions would make him appear to be a traitor.
• Hu Ruoyun and Li Changjiang saw Zuo Xiaoduo's preliminary assessment appear as four question marks.

After Zuo Xiaoduo received an inexplicable assessment result, Hu Ruoyun and Li Changjiang celebrated the students’ graduation with a tearful dinner. Zuo Xiaoduo gave Hu Ruoyun fifty pieces of top-grade star soul jade, and he and Zuo Xiaonian continued training afterward.

• Hu Ruoyun and Li Changjiang found four question marks where Zuo Xiaoduo’s assessment result should have been, then praised him when he came to take them to dinner.
• Hu Ruoyun and Li Changjiang dined with the six students, and Hu Ruoyun wept as she faced their departure for higher education.
• Li Changjiang discovered that Zuo Xiaoduo had given Hu Ruoyun fifty pieces of top-grade star soul jade, and Hu Ruoyun asked him to return them.
• Zuo Xiaoduo refused to take the gift back and told Li Changjiang to make sure Hu Ruoyun used every piece.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian continued cultivating and training together in deserted places.

After returning home, Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian reunited with Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting and told them about their recent experiences. As the siblings prepared to leave for school in three days, Zuo Xiaonian noticed that their parents had aged and asked them why.

• Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian came home exhausted, saw the lights on, and rushed upstairs to find Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting waiting for them.
• Zuo Xiaoduo hugged and spun Wu Yuting around while Zuo Xiaonian greeted Zuo Changlu, and the family sat down to talk.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian described their recent experiences, while Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting listened without revealing they already knew about them.
• Wu Yuting asked about the siblings leaving for school in three days, and Zuo Xiaoduo urged his parents to move with them to Fenghai.
• Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting said they would remain in Phoenix City, and Zuo Xiaonian noticed they had aged and asked why.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian learned that their parents were aging as part of a Mortal World Trial, and the family prepared for the siblings to leave for university. Zuo Xiaonian departed before breakfast, unable to face a farewell.

• Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting told Zuo Xiaoduo that their rapid aging was part of returning to cultivation, and Zuo Xiaonian identified it as a Mortal World Trial.
• Wu Yuting said the parents planned to move near King Qi's Tomb after the siblings left, though Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian suspected there was another reason.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian spent several days with their parents, who repeatedly sent them out to practice and told them to leave for university.
• The siblings talked together through the night before parting, and Zuo Xiaonian beat Zuo Xiaoduo after he stole a kiss.
• Zuo Xiaonian left early the next morning without staying for breakfast, and Wu Yuting said she was probably crying on the road.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong left Phoenix City for Hidden Dragon High Martial, sharing a final look back at home before entering the dangerous Falling Star Plains. They chose to cross the meteor-struck wilderness as a trial, and Zuo Xiaoduo asked Li Chenglong what caused the showers.

• Zuo Xiaoduo said goodbye to Wu Yuting and Zuo Changlu, who hid their grief until he left.
• Zuo Xiaoduo met Li Chenglong outside Phoenix City, and they set out together.
• The two looked back toward their homes from a mountain before heading into the Falling Star Plains.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong avoided the protected road and traveled through the meteor-struck wilderness with their trial devices activated.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked Li Chenglong about the cause of the meteor showers, and Li Chenglong said he did not know for certain.

Li Chenglong proposed that the endless meteor shower came from a distant planet breaking apart, while Zuo Xiaoduo challenged his theory. After Zuo Xiaoduo extracted a huge piece of middle-grade star soul jade from a fallen meteorite, Li Chenglong envied his windfall and argued over sharing it and repaying his debt.

• Li Chenglong argued that the meteor shower came from a distant planet breaking apart and explained how the star soul jade supported his theory.
• Zuo Xiaoduo questioned Li Chenglong's reasoning by pointing out that Star Soul Continent had star soul jade with the same composition.
• Zuo Xiaoduo dodged a falling meteorite, split it open with his Spirit Cat Sword, and uncovered a huge piece of middle-grade star soul jade.
• Li Chenglong envied Zuo Xiaoduo's prize, but Zuo Xiaoduo explained that his strength, Flame Sun Divine Art, and Spirit Cat Sword had let him retrieve it.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked Li Chenglong when he would repay his debt, and Li Chenglong refused and demanded half the star soul jade.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong traveled through the meteorite field, quarrelling over their finds and the debt Li Chenglong owed for his Space Ring. As they approached the Official Road to rest, they heard someone calling for help and went to investigate.

• Zuo Xiaoduo agreed to count a patch of Star Ginseng seedlings toward Li Chenglong’s Space Ring debt, but only as one ten-thousandth of what he owed.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong continued their journey, with Li Chenglong struggling under nearly twenty thousand jin of weight while searching for treasures.
• Zuo Xiaoduo suggested they rest on the Official Road, and Li Chenglong agreed after traveling another two hundred li.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong heard cries for help near the road and headed toward them to assess the situation.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Li Chenglong that protagonists like himself naturally encountered trouble wherever they went.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong found Ji Weiran and a caravan surrounded by a vast horde of Star Beasts. Zuo Xiaoduo used a Top-Grade Star Soul Jade to draw the horde toward himself, but the largest beasts stayed behind.

• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong came upon thousands of Star Beasts surrounding a group guarded by Merchant Alliance Grandmasters.
• Zuo Xiaoduo recognized Ji Weiran among the trapped people and decided he could not leave him to die.
• Zuo Xiaoduo exposed a Top-Grade Star Soul Jade, releasing a surge of spiritual energy that attracted the Star Beasts.
• The horde charged toward Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong, while nearly one hundred large Star Beasts resisted the jade's lure and remained in the center.

Zuo Xiaoduo used a piece of Top-Grade Star Soul Jade to send Li Chenglong running with a horde of Star Beasts, then approached the remaining Winged Sword Tigers and recognized an old acquaintance among them. He offered the tigers cooked meat, opening a strange and potentially useful encounter while the people trapped inside the ring of fire remained in danger.

• Zuo Xiaoduo gave Li Chenglong Top-Grade Star Soul Jade and ordered him to remove his weights and lure the Star Beasts away.
• Li Chenglong fled with thousands of Star Beasts chasing him, while Zuo Xiaoduo emerged from underground and found that only the more dangerous beasts remained.
• Zuo Xiaoduo walked unharmed through the Winged Sword Tigers and recognized the tigress he had met during an earlier trial.
• The tigress hid behind a large tiger and told him that Zuo Xiaoduo had bullied her before.
• Zuo Xiaoduo offered the tigers cooked meat, and the tigress and nearby large tigers began eating.

Zuo Xiaoduo discovered that the Winged Sword Tigers had surrounded the Merchant Alliance group because they wanted an unidentified possession, not to eat the humans. He brought the white-eared tigress to the group to help identify what the tigers sought, leaving them facing the enormous beast.

• Zuo Xiaoduo fed the tigers and confirmed that they would let him approach the fire ring.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told the Merchant Alliance experts that the tigers wanted something from their belongings, but the group could not identify it.
• Zuo Xiaoduo returned to the tigers and persuaded the big tiger to send the white-eared tigress with him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo led the aggrieved tigress, more than ten meters long, toward the Merchant Alliance group, whose members recoiled at her bloody scent.

Zuo Xiaoduo discovered that Ji Weiran had unknowingly carried a cracked pearl containing fragments of a tiger elder’s inner core, which had drawn the tigers to the group. He fed the fragments to the tigress and the big male tiger, leaving the tigers in an uproar.

• The tigress searched the group’s belongings and identified Ji Weiran as the one carrying the hidden treasure.
• Zuo Xiaoduo noticed Ji Weiran’s pendant and asked whether he had fallen face-first, learning that he had cracked the pearl in a recent fall.
• Zuo Xiaoduo opened the pearl and revealed two fragments of a tiger inner core that the tigress had been seeking.
• Zuo Xiaoduo fed the smaller fragment and a piece of Top-Grade Star Soul Jade to the tigress, who swallowed them gratefully.
• The tigress called over the big male tiger, who swallowed the remaining fragment as the other tigers stirred.

Zuo Xiaoduo let the Winged Sword Tigers leave with the inner core fragment instead of claiming it for himself, then helped Ji Weiran and his classmates continue toward Fenghai. After exchanging contact details with Ji Weiran, Zuo Xiaoduo headed off alone and found no sign of Li Chenglong at their agreed meeting place.

• The tigress rubbed against Zuo Xiaoduo before she and the Winged Sword Tigers departed with the inner core fragment.
• Zuo Xiaoduo decided not to take the fragment, despite recognizing that it could greatly advance his cultivation.
• Ji Weiran thanked Zuo Xiaoduo and explained that he and his classmates had hired bodyguards to travel to university as a sightseeing adventure.
• Zuo Xiaoduo learned the group was headed to Fenghai, warned them to avoid such dangerous trips, and exchanged contact details with Ji Weiran.
• Zuo Xiaoduo continued onward and, after traveling more than five hundred li, still had not found Li Chenglong.

Zuo Xiaoduo found Li Chenglong, who had discovered a ruined Star Soul Musk Deer burrow that might contain valuable Orchid Fragrance Grass. Li Chenglong explained that the grass could help a Hidden Dragon High Martial vice principal, and Zuo Xiaoduo eagerly began harvesting it; the chapter ended with him emerging with a steaming clod of earth.

• Zuo Xiaoduo found Li Chenglong hiding in a deep hole after he had escaped the Star Beasts by running far from them with the Star Soul Jade.
• Li Chenglong told Zuo Xiaoduo that a Star Soul Stone had crashed into a hillside burrow, where he had detected the fragrance of a former Star Soul Musk Deer habitat.
• Li Chenglong explained that Orchid Fragrance Grass grew where the deer had lived and could cure Vice Principal Xiang's persistent stench.
• Zuo Xiaoduo lost interest when he thought the grass would earn only a few hundred thousand, but perked up when Li Chenglong suggested the burrow might hold at least ten stalks.
• Li Chenglong told Zuo Xiaoduo to harvest the grass with its soil and keep the soil above sixty degrees, then rested as Zuo Xiaoduo worked.
• Zuo Xiaoduo emerged carrying a large clod of steaming earth.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong reached Fenghai City after Zuo Xiaoduo used the lost Star Soul Jade as an excuse to make Li Chenglong serve him along the way. In the Wu Lineage, someone confirmed Zuo Xiaoduo had arrived to attend Hidden Dragon High Martial and ordered everyone not to act rashly.

• Zuo Xiaoduo found only one Orchid Fragrance Grass, while Li Chenglong admitted the Top-Grade Star Soul Jade was gone.
• Zuo Xiaoduo beat Li Chenglong and used the ring and Star Soul Jade as leverage to make him work throughout their journey.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong arrived in Fenghai City, where Li Chenglong realized Zuo Xiaoduo had used the jade as payment for his service.
• A person in the Wu Lineage confirmed Zuo Xiaoduo had come to Fenghai City for Hidden Dragon High Martial and ordered the others not to act rashly.