Chapter Summaries

Qin Fangyang explained that practical missions carried a high risk of death and gave six new students liability waivers to sign. After the six signed, Zuo Xiaoduo tried to add his insurance details and pitched fortune readings to the class, leaving Qin Fangyang exasperated.

• Qin Fangyang warned the six newcomers that about a hundred students died each year and told them they could refuse to sign and leave the martial path.
• Long Yusheng, Wan Lixiu, and Yu Moyan signed immediately, while Li Changming and Li Chenglong read the waiver carefully before signing.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked about the yearly death toll, then tried to buy insurance before signing; Qin Fangyang ordered him to sign, and Zuo Xiaoduo added his policy details to the waiver.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told the class he could use fortune-telling to help them avoid danger and offered readings for a thousand yuan.
• Qin Fangyang ordered Zuo Xiaoduo to sit down, but Zuo continued urging the students to consider insurance.

After Qin Fangyang punished Zuo Xiaoduo, Zuo led his group through class sparring to claim the top ranks. The group then studied the school's reward system, and Qin clarified that they could use weapons even before choosing their Life-Bound Weapons.

• Qin Fangyang beat Zuo Xiaoduo for talking back, then gave the class ten minutes to recover before sparring.
• Despite his swollen injuries, Zuo Xiaoduo led Long Yusheng, Yu Moyan, Wan Lixiu, Li Changming, and Li Chenglong into the top six, then took first place in their internal bouts.
• Li Chenglong defeated Li Changming with an unfamiliar flurry of punches, while Yu Moyan worried that Li Chenglong might target him next.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and the others studied the exchange list and learned they could earn contribution points by turning in valuable materials or completing certified work.
• When Zuo Xiaoduo asked how they should handle weapons, Qin Fangyang said they could use weapons but could not yet settle on their Life-Bound Weapons.

Zuo Xiaoduo’s rapid progress with concealed weapons convinced He Yuanyue and Qin Fangyang that he had survived a deadly fight, while He Yuanyue warned that the Witch Alliance was targeting him and that tomorrow’s training expedition lacked adequate protection. Before the expedition, Zuo Xiaoduo was authorized to read the students’ faces and offered his classmates discounted readings, though he charged five hundred each.

• Zuo Xiaoduo’s improved concealed-weapon skills surprised He Yuanyue and Qin Fangyang, who suspected that he had gained experience in a deadly fight the previous night.
• He Yuanyue told Qin Fangyang that the Witch Alliance had repeatedly tried to assassinate Zuo Xiaoduo and warned that the students’ training expedition would be dangerous without stronger protection.
• He Yuanyue instructed Zuo Xiaoduo to read the faces of the students going on the expedition and warn anyone who seemed to be in danger.
• Qin Fangyang announced that Zuo Xiaoduo would offer face readings to the class, and Zuo Xiaoduo set a discounted price of five hundred for each reading.

Qin Fangyang set Zuo Xiaoduo’s face-reading fee at fifty per squad captain, and Zuo examined the captains before their teams left on independent missions. When he saw that Shen Tienan’s entire squad faced signs of certain death, he stopped the readings and warned her that something was seriously wrong.

• Qin Fangyang cut Zuo Xiaoduo’s proposed fee to fifty, prompting eight squad captains to pay for readings.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Zhao Changjun his squad would face minor injury at most and handed him a slip indicating their direction.
• Zuo Xiaoduo predicted smooth, rewarding trips for Jia Shinan and the fourth squad, and warned Song Zihao that Zhou Xiaoma risked a leg injury.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked Shen Tienan to gather her entire squad, then saw that all six members showed signs of a death calamity.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Shen Tienan that something was very wrong.

Zuo Xiaoduo warned Shen Tienan’s team that they faced a death calamity, but she rejected his advice and took back her money. After Bai Bingbing’s team left with his good-fortune prediction, Qin Fangyang asked whether Shen Tienan’s team was in danger.

• Zuo Xiaoduo told Shen Tienan and her teammates to abandon their mission or stay within the designated area to avoid a death calamity.
• Shen Tienan dismissed his warning, reclaimed her fifty Star Origin Coins, and left with her team; Qin Fangyang watched her go without intervening.
• Zuo Xiaoduo assured Bai Bingbing’s all-girl team that they would be safe and gain a lot, then dodged her attempts to hold his hand for a palm reading.
• Bai Bingbing and her teammates teased Zuo Xiaoduo before leaving with his direction note.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Li Chenglong and the others that their group would face a scare but no danger, then wiped his hand after Bai Bingbing had held it.
• Qin Fangyang asked Zuo Xiaoduo whether he had seen danger for Shen Tienan’s team.

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.