Chapter Summaries

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.

He Yuanyue resolved to uncover the truth behind her life’s work, while Zuo Xiaoduo’s injured team stopped training and Qin Fangyang learned how narrowly they had escaped death. Mu Yunfeng, hiding near the training grounds after being expelled from Phoenix City, had secretly killed two students and was now evading pursuit.

• He Yuanyue told Sister Lan to prepare Soul Dream Grass so she could hold on long enough to pave the way and investigate how she might have been deceived or used.
• Zuo Xiaoduo called the class together to recover after all six members of his team suffered serious injuries.
• Qin Fangyang arrived, heard Li Chenglong explain that Mu Yunfeng had attacked them, and realized how close the students had come to dying.
• Liu Jiansheng and the others returned without catching Mu Yunfeng, while Class Nineteen assembled.
• Mu Yunfeng hid in the grass near the training grounds, recalling that he had been expelled from Phoenix City and had secretly killed two Second High School students before deciding to flee.

Zuo Xiaonian killed Mu Yunfeng after he escaped his pursuers, then confronted Meng Chenyu for failing to stop the assassin from attacking Zuo Xiaoduo. She accused Meng Chenyu of wanting Xiaoduo dead and pressed her to explain why, but Meng Chenyu remained silent.

• Mu Yunfeng escaped Liu Jiansheng and the other pursuers, then tried to flee through the grass.
• Zuo Xiaonian ambushed Mu Yunfeng with her freezing technique, killed him, and took his head.
• Meng Chenyu praised Zuo Xiaonian's cultivation technique, and Zuo Xiaonian slapped her for neglecting her duty to protect Xiaoduo.
• Zuo Xiaonian accused Meng Chenyu of knowingly letting Mu Yunfeng attack and escape, and asked whether she wanted Xiaoduo dead because he disrupted her brother's plan.
• Meng Chenyu fell silent instead of answering Zuo Xiaonian's accusation.

Zuo Xiaonian confronted Meng Chenyu over using family resources to pressure her into meeting Meng Chentian and accused her of deliberately failing to protect Zuo Xiaoduo. The chapter ended with Zuo Xiaonian alleging that Meng Chenyu had watched Mu Yunfeng attack and escape so he could try to kill Xiaoduo again.

• Meng Chenyu argued that Zuo Xiaonian owed her family for providing resources that helped Zuo Xiaoduo break through.
• Zuo Xiaonian explained that Master had arranged Xiaoduo's access to the resources and that she had agreed to dinner only to avoid further complications.
• Zuo Xiaonian challenged Meng Chenyu for treating the dinner as a romantic date and for assuming she should give Meng Chentian a chance.
• Zuo Xiaonian accused Meng Chenyu of volunteering to guard Xiaoduo so she could watch him die, citing her inaction when the Phoenix City Three Young Masters and Mu Yunfeng threatened him.
• Zuo Xiaonian claimed Meng Chenyu had let Mu Yunfeng escape so he could ambush Xiaoduo again, expecting to evade serious punishment by calling it a failed mission.

Zuo Xiaonian took Meng Chenyu to confront their master about the reason behind her attack, while Qin Fangyang treated the students and worried that Mu Yunfeng had been involved in earlier murders. After Zuo Xiaoduo’s fortune-telling proved accurate when Zhou Xiaoma was badly injured, Bai Bingbing approached Xiaoduo, leaving him wary of her sudden attention.

• Zuo Xiaonian seized the silent Meng Chenyu and flew off to bring her before their master, while Mu Yunfeng’s headless corpse disappeared in the desolate grass.
• Qin Fangyang treated the students and wondered whether Mu Yunfeng had also been behind the earlier student murders.
• Song Zihao’s team encountered Star Beasts while chasing a Spirit Beast, and Zhou Xiaoma suffered a severe leg injury that might leave him disabled.
• Song Zihao’s teammates remembered Zuo Xiaoduo’s prediction about Zhou Xiaoma’s leg and were shaken by its accuracy.
• Bai Bingbing’s teammates urged her to pursue Zuo Xiaoduo, and she walked over to speak with him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo panicked at Bai Bingbing’s sudden approach, checked his face in his mirror, and looked for Zuo Xiaonian.

After the battle, Zuo Xiaoduo dodged Bai Bingbing’s attempts to treat his wound and helped his group tally their training contribution points. The injured students were taken away for treatment and interrogation while the teams compared their earnings.

• Bai Bingbing offered to treat Zuo Xiaoduo’s back wound and give him Muscle-Regenerating Powder, but he refused and fled under the pretense of needing the toilet.
• Luo Lie took Zhou Xiaoma back for treatment, while Teng Hao and two others were escorted away for interrogation over their connection to Mu Yunfeng and the Witch Alliance.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and his group calculated that they had earned close to nine thousand contribution points, or more than sixteen hundred per person among the six of them.
• Zhao Changjun reported at least sixty-three points for his team, Jia Shinan reported fifty-nine, and Song Zihao said his team had only twenty-three after Zhou Xiaoma’s injury.
• Bai Bingbing said her girls’ team had earned seventy-seven points, drawing envious reactions from the others.

After the field training, Zuo Xiaoduo’s team surprised the other students with their haul, though the chapter did not reveal the exact amount. On the return journey, Qin Fangyang deduced that two young women had killed Mu Yunfeng, and the group arrived at the general affairs office to redeem their contribution points.

• Zhao Changjun and Bai Bingbing comforted Zuo Xiaoduo’s team, assuming they had returned empty-handed, while Qin Fangyang warned Zuo Xiaoduo not to show off.
• Qin Fangyang ended the field training and, with Luo Lie, led the students back toward school after their injuries had mostly healed.
• The group found Mu Yunfeng’s headless corpse and noticed that the surrounding vegetation had been frozen.
• Qin Fangyang examined the scene and concluded that two young women, likely Ling Nian and her junior sister, had killed Mu Yunfeng without resistance.
• The group returned to school and went to the general affairs office to redeem their contribution points, leaving everyone there stunned.

Zuo Xiaoduo and his companions turned in rare herbs for thousands of contribution points, while Qin Fangyang later reported the deaths of six students to their grieving families. The chapter ended with Shen Yushu confronting Qin Fangyang in the Principal’s Office.

• Zuo Xiaoduo’s group exchanged their collected goods for 9,880 contribution points, astonishing Zhao Changjun, Song Zihao, Bai Bingbing, and the other returning students.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked the General Affairs Office to divide the points evenly among the six teammates, and the teacher deducted thirty points after correcting his arithmetic.
• Qin Fangyang slapped Zuo Xiaoduo into the classroom, then went to the Principal’s Office to report the six students’ deaths.
• Qin Fangyang told Shen Yushu and the six families that Three-Tailed Tigers had attacked the students’ team and that he had killed the entire pack.
• Shen Yushu stood and confronted Qin Fangyang by name.

Qin Fangyang defended himself against parents who blamed him for their sons’ deaths during field training, explaining how he had tried to stop the students from participating. The parents refused to accept his condolences, and Li Changjiang argued that Qin Fangyang had fulfilled his duties while the students and their parents had disregarded warnings and rules.

• Shen Yushu accused Qin Fangyang of letting his son die and demanded an explanation.
• Qin Fangyang said he had warned the parents, then broken the students’ legs to keep them home, but their parents had healed them and sent them to the training.
• Qin Fangyang insisted he bore no responsibility and urged the parents to focus on laying their sons to rest.
• Shen Yushu and the other parents declared the matter was not over, while Qin Fangyang accused them of failing to notify him their sons had joined the training.
• Li Changjiang defended Qin Fangyang, citing his efforts to prevent the students from going and their decision to leave early and enter a forbidden area.

After six students died in the forbidden grounds, the parents blamed Qin Fangyang despite his warnings, and He Yuanyue announced the school's limited punishment before ordering Qin to leave. Outside Second High School, Shen Yushu and the other parents mourned their sons but vowed to punish Qin Fangyang and Zuo Xiaoduo.

• The parents accused Qin Fangyang of causing their sons' deaths, while Li Changjiang tried to remind them that the students had left home despite their broken legs.
• He Yuanyue calmed the parents, cited the signed liability waiver and Qin Fangyang's warnings, and announced that Qin would receive a major demerit and lose one year's salary.
• He Yuanyue ordered Qin Fangyang to hand the students' remains to their parents and leave, and Qin complied after Shen Yushu threatened him.
• Outside Second High School, Shen Yushu blamed Qin Fangyang and Zuo Xiaoduo for his son's death and vowed not to let them escape punishment.
• The parents regretted allowing their sons to join the trial but redirected their guilt into accusations that Zuo Xiaoduo had cursed the students and Qin Fangyang had acted deliberately.

Qin Fangyang learned that Shen Yushu might retaliate against him after a student’s death, while Zuo Xiaoduo entered the fivefold Gravity Room to begin training. The chapter ended with Zuo Xiaoduo struggling under the room’s crushing gravity.

• Qin Fangyang listened as grieving parents blamed the school and worried that Shen Yushu was also targeting Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Luo Lie warned Qin Fangyang that angry parents had attacked teachers before and advised him to stay inside the school.
• Qin Fangyang realized Shen Yushu’s questions about his family might signal a threat and stayed to watch his students.
• Zuo Xiaoduo spent contribution points to enter the fivefold Gravity Room for two hours.
• Zuo Xiaoduo felt the intense gravity press down on him and make breathing difficult.