Chapter Summaries

He Yuanyue explained that her health was failing and entrusted Second High School’s future to its staff before revealing four lifelong regrets. She left her colleagues with wishes tied to the Witch Alliance Continent, her missing brother, and enemies she could not kill herself.

• He Yuanyue said she might have at most another year of clarity and asked everyone to hear her arrangements.
• He Yuanyue entrusted Second High School to Li Changjiang, named Hu Ruoyun as her successor, and urged the staff to prevent Witch Alliance infiltration, support poor students, and prepare students more rigorously.
• He Yuanyue asked others to help fulfill her personal wishes if they had the opportunity.
• He Yuanyue described her regret at never entering the Witch Alliance heartland to fight its forces.
• He Yuanyue said two of the three enemies who had crippled her cultivation remained at large, and she regretted being unable to kill them herself.
• He Yuanyue revealed that her brother He Yijian vanished on the Witch Alliance Continent after leading soldiers there to find a cure, and that she regretted being unable to search for him.

He Yuanyue urged Second High School’s leaders to nurture a peerless talent, while Qin Fangyang realized she was trying to keep him from following her and dying. Meanwhile, Zuo Xiaoduo restrained an imminent breakthrough as his cultivation surged, leaving him stronger but under mounting pressure.

• He Yuanyue recalled He Yijian’s legendary deeds and called on Second High School to produce a defining talent, clarifying that Ling Nian belonged to the Kunlun Dao Sect.
• After the meeting, Qin Fangyang understood that He Yuanyue had invoked his regrets and hopes to keep him from following her, and he stood watching the sunset in silence.
• Lanlan saw Qin Fangyang’s bleakness, and he did not go outside the Gravity Room to wait for his students that afternoon.
• Zuo Xiaoduo trained in the Gravity Room, consumed twenty-seven pieces of middle-grade star soul jade, and repeatedly forced his surging spiritual energy back from the Innate barrier.
• As Zuo Xiaoduo suppressed his breakthrough and continued training, his dantian stretched larger while replenished true essence rapidly filled it again.

Zuo Xiaoduo struggled to suppress his rapidly recovering True Qi in the Gravity Room and learned from Teacher Gu to relax instead of tensing his body. After the exhausted group emerged, Zuo Xiaoduo revived them with cold water, then noticed something unusual about Long Yusheng.

• Zuo Xiaoduo held back his approaching breakthrough five times during cultivation and left the Gravity Room drenched in sweat.
• Teacher Gu questioned Zuo Xiaoduo’s tense posture and told him to relax so he could control his True Qi.
• Teacher Gu dragged Wan Lixiu and the others out, noting that they were close to breaking through, then kicked Li Changming awake when he kept sleeping.
• Zuo Xiaoduo dunked the exhausted group in cold water, and they recovered enough to stand and laugh together.
• Zuo Xiaoduo scrutinized the group and frowned when he looked at Long Yusheng.

Zuo Xiaoduo warned Long Yusheng that his family faced a place-bound calamity and urged him to get them away from their ancestral home for four days, but they refused to believe the warning. He proposed that Wan Lixiu use her ties to the Long Family to arrange a gathering that would draw both families away, and the chapter ended before she acted.

• Zuo Xiaoduo sent Li Changming, Li Chenglong, and Yu Moyan away so he could speak privately with Long Yusheng and Wan Lixiu.
• Long Yusheng told Zuo Xiaoduo that his family had dismissed his warning and would not leave their ancestral home.
• Zuo Xiaoduo said Long Yusheng’s growing black qi foretold a calamity within four days and insisted that his family stay away from home.
• Zuo Xiaoduo suggested that Wan Lixiu persuade her father to arrange a gathering for both families, giving the Long Family a reason to leave home.

Zuo Xiaoduo used his Celestial Person Eye and discovered that Long Yusheng's Lineage would be destroyed in a battle tomorrow night, so he rushed to find a way to get the whole family to safety. He brought Long Yusheng and Wan Lixiu to Zuo Changlu's shop to ask for a piece of dragon skin.

• Wan Lixiu explained that it would be difficult to get Long Yusheng's entire family away from home because her father, the governor, was too busy to arrange an outing.
• Zuo Xiaoduo used his Celestial Person Eye and saw that Long Yusheng's Lineage would be destroyed tomorrow night in the fallout of a great battle.
• Long Yusheng told Zuo Xiaoduo about the Silver Dragon Heart Method and its twelve levels, and Zuo Xiaoduo assured him he would reach the Innate stage.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Long Yusheng that his family had to leave home before dinner the next day and stay away until the following morning.
• Zuo Xiaoduo brought Long Yusheng and Wan Lixiu to Zuo Changlu's Star Soul Stone shop and asked for a piece of dragon skin.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Changlu planned to destroy the Long Family’s house to keep the family away from danger overnight. Zuo Changlu then persuaded Wu Tiejiang to contribute rare materials for Xiao Duo’s hammers and chain, leaving Wu Tiejiang aghast at the loss of his treasured Jiaolong Tendon.

• Zuo Changlu rejected Zuo Xiaoduo’s idea of luring the Long Family away with a false dragon treasure and suggested destroying their house instead.
• Zuo Xiaoduo agreed and left with the others to find Qin Fangyang’s help, asking Zuo Changlu to save him dinner.
• Zuo Changlu visited Wu Tiejiang and invited him to dinner, saying Yu Ting wanted to discuss materials for Xiao Duo’s hammers.
• Wu Tiejiang agreed to provide eternal iron for the hammer faces, despite privately grieving over the valuable material.
• Zuo Changlu proposed using Wu Tiejiang’s Jiaolong Tendon with the eternal iron for the hammer chain, and Wu Tiejiang pleaded against giving up the treasure.

Zuo Changlu pressured Wu Tiejiang into forging weapons for his children, claiming materials and labor as favors owed to family. Wu Tiejiang agreed to the requests and resolved to finish quickly and flee before Zuo Changlu could ask for anything else.

• Zuo Changlu claimed the Dragon Tendon belonged to him and negotiated with Wu Tiejiang to use a hundred meters of it for two hammers, leaving the rest with the smith.
• Wu Tiejiang agreed to make a scabbard for his niece from the Black Ice Vermilion Bird hide and feathers he had acquired.
• Zuo Changlu said the scabbard should be discreet so others would not recognize it and steal it from his niece.
• Zuo Changlu then claimed Wu Tiejiang had agreed to coat the scabbard with Dark Demon Silver, and Wu Tiejiang protested before pleading with him not to involve his sister-in-law in the shop.

Zuo Changlu secured Wu Tiejiang’s promise to coat the swords with Dark Demon Silver, then Zuo Xiaoduo persuaded Qin Fangyang to demolish Long Yusheng’s family home to prevent a disaster. Afterward, Zuo Xiaoduo continued suppressing his Innate True Qi without knowing how many times would be enough.

• Zuo Changlu gave Wu Tiejiang a bottle of ordinary erguotou after arranging for the swords to be coated with Dark Demon Silver, Jiaolong Tendon, Ice Phoenix Wing, and Eternal Iron.
• Wu Tiejiang drank the liquor and returned to work on the two nearly formed swords.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and the others asked Qin Fangyang to demolish Long Yusheng’s old family home, including its basement, because lives were at stake.
• Long Yusheng knelt and begged Qin Fangyang to help, and Qin Fangyang agreed after questioning Zuo Xiaoduo’s warning.
• Zuo Xiaoduo went home for dinner, then suppressed his Innate True Qi repeatedly during evening cultivation, unsure how many repetitions he needed.

Mu Yanyan reunited with four fellow disciples, but Zuo Xiaonian urgently warned her that a new calamity was approaching. Zuo Xiaoduo’s divination pointed to White Tiger Baleful Intent striking from the southeast, with Mu Yanyan bearing the first danger.

• Mu Yanyan welcomed Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, Fifth Junior Brother, and Seventh Junior Brother to Chen Yu Tower and invited them to dinner.
• Meng Chenyu met the four martial uncles, then hurried off to tell Zuo Xiaonian about their promised gifts.
• Mu Yanyan received a message from Zuo Xiaonian, grew concerned, and stepped away from dinner to call her.
• Zuo Xiaonian warned Mu Yanyan that Zuo Xiaoduo had divined White Tiger Baleful Intent approaching from the southeast and that Mu Yanyan would face the calamity first.

Mu Yanyan told her senior and junior brothers that Zuo Lingnian’s dangerous breakthrough might coincide with the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact, and they agreed to help defend her from the Witch Alliance. Meanwhile, Meng Chentian and a group of Qi-Reading Adepts examined a map of Phoenix City after someone secretly altered its peaks and the Wenshui’s course.

• Mu Yanyan concealed her fear after learning that the White Tiger’s baleful intent would strike in the southeast, where the Kunlun Dao Sect stood.
• At a welcoming feast, Mu Yanyan told Fang Zheng and her other fellow disciples about Ling Nian’s innate phoenix physique, the approaching Phoenix Vein Soul Impact, and the Witch Alliance’s presence in Phoenix City.
• Mu Yanyan’s fellow disciples agreed that protecting Ling Nian’s breakthrough would be a hard battle and pledged to help her.
• Ning Suifeng and Meng Tianyue met at Meng Group Headquarters to study a projection of Phoenix City with Meng Chentian and a dozen Qi-Reading Adepts.
• Meng Chentian pointed out that someone had secretly changed two peaks and reversed the Wenshui’s flow, and the adepts began investigating the alteration.

Meng Chentian asked a group of Qi-Reading Adepts to investigate whether the Wenshui River flowing backward had harmed the feng shui of the Meng and Ning Clans. They found no apparent effects, leaving Chentian unconvinced as the group praised the clans’ supposedly unshakable feng shui arrangements.

• Meng Tianyue warned the Qi-Reading Adepts that the reversed Wenshui River might disrupt the feng shui shared by the Ning and Meng Clans.
• Meng Chentian said his discomfort had alerted him to a disturbance, but Brother Feng suggested that projections could not reveal everything and proposed inspecting the site.
• Meng Tianyue sent Meng Chentian with Ning Suifeng and the adepts while he stayed behind.
• Brother Feng and the other adepts examined the area from above and concluded that the river’s reversed course had not weakened Phoenix City’s feng shui or affected the clans’ fortunes.
• Meng Chentian pressed the adepts to confirm their findings, and Brother Feng said the clans’ feng shui configurations would remain stable unless the earth veins underwent a major upheaval.

Meng Chentian and Ning Suifeng consulted Qi-Reading Adepts, who concluded that Phoenix City's feng shui formation could not be broken from either outside or within. Though they reassured the Meng and Ning families, both men privately suspected the Wenshui's reversal concealed another purpose, while a second group found that it seemed to have no visible effect on the Phoenix Vein.

• A Qi-Reading Adept explained that reversing the Wenshui's flow could not break Phoenix City's formation, while doing so from within would require demolishing Meng Group headquarters and relocating the Ning Lineage's ancestral graves at once.
• Meng Chentian told Ning Suifeng he remained uneasy and suggested asking Blind Hong to inspect the situation, but Ning Suifeng publicly reassured him.
• Ning Suifeng privately resolved to find Blind Hong and examine the ancestral graves again, suspecting that someone had a hidden plan.
• Ning Suifeng told Meng Tianyue that the two families' feng shui formation remained safe, and Meng Tianyue thanked him.
• A second group arrived above Phoenix City, and Elder Ge observed that the Wenshui's reversed flow should have affected the feng shui configuration but appeared to have no effect.

The Witch Alliance discussed how Shen Yushu’s accidental fire had strengthened the Phoenix Vein and warned that hidden feng shui implements could still disrupt their plans. Later, a black-clad swordsman demolished Long Family Manor, leaving its residents in ruins and confusion.

• Elder Ge told the Witch Alliance that the fire had given the Phoenix Vein a faint chance to soar and urged them to search for hidden implements.
• Elder Ge named Marshal Dongfang, Master Daogen, and a person from the Witch Alliance as the only people he knew who could find the implements, then mentioned that Blind Hong might have done so at the cost of his remaining life.
• At around three in the morning, a black-clad figure rode a streak of sword light to Long Family Manor.
• The black-clad figure unleashed sword strikes that destroyed the manor’s buildings and collapsed its basement.
• Dozens of people rose from the ruins, shouting and screaming as the manor caved in.

A disguised black-clad man accidentally razed the Long Family’s ancestral compound while seeking revenge against someone else, then apologized and left. Old Master Long ordered the family to relocate and told Long Yusheng to bring a generous gift to Master Zuo, whose warning about a coming calamity had proved accurate.

• The black-clad man realized he had attacked the Long Family by mistake, apologized, and vanished into the sky.
• Old Master Long ordered the family to treat the wounded and move into a hotel while salvaging their valuables.
• Old Master Long forbade his family from seeking revenge, saying the powerful attacker’s misunderstanding had to be accepted.
• Old Master Long recalled that Long Yusheng’s classmate had warned them about a calamity and urged them to move away.
• Old Master Long told Long Yusheng to bring Master Zuo a generous gift and ask for advice on rebuilding.

After Zuo Xiaoduo’s warning proved accurate when the Long Family home was destroyed, powerful families and factions began searching for the Divine Physiognomist. Jiang Changbin prepared to launch an operation and sought reinforcements, while He Yuanyue told him to have Zuo Xiaoduo read their qi.

• The Long Family moved its belongings to a hotel and planned to stay away until its home was rebuilt, while Long Yusheng concealed that Zuo Xiaoduo had been the one to destroy it.
• Phoenix City’s influential families and the Witch Alliance searched for the Qi-Observing Art, and Wan Pingyuan urged Wan Lixiu to befriend Zuo Xiaoduo after hearing his warning had come true.
• Wan Pingyuan told Wan Lixiu that an expert had flattened the Long Family home with one sword stroke, and she left for school after he lectured her about treating Zuo Xiaoduo respectfully.
• Jiang Changbin told He Yuanyue that he had secured two Cloud Transformation experts from the Dragon Blood Team and wanted to move against their enemy.
• He Yuanyue offered Qin Fangyang and Sister Lan as reinforcements and told Jiang Changbin to have Zuo Xiaoduo read their qi instead of doing it herself.

Jiang Changbin assembled a trusted team for a dangerous operation in Phoenix City, which he said would target a likely Star Lord that night. He briefed Mu Yanyan, then asked about her fellow disciples who had arrived in the city.

• Jiang Changbin contacted teachers Mu and Qiu and asked Director Sun to recruit his brother Sun Baijiang, an Infant Transformation cultivator, for the operation.
• Director Sun agreed to speak to Sun Baijiang after Jiang Changbin claimed he might die that night.
• Jiang Changbin decided against recruiting more people because he feared an unknown recruit could be a spy, and he calculated that his team would have nine members.
• Mu Yanyan arrived at the Star Shield Bureau, and Jiang Changbin took her to a secret room to explain that they would likely face a Star Lord that night.
• Jiang Changbin warned Mu Yanyan that the mission would be extremely dangerous and asked whether her fellow disciples, who had arrived the day before, were in Phoenix City.

Mu Yanyan agreed to bring her fellow disciples into Jiang Changbin’s operation against the Witch Alliance, while privately wondering whether they were connected to Zuo Xiaonian’s warning. As the team prepared to act that night, Jiang Changbin went to the Governor’s Residence and learned that Shang Qingyun expected the Governor to be away until after dinner.

• Jiang Changbin persuaded Mu Yanyan to ask her fellow disciples to join the operation, and she agreed while deciding the battle could reveal whether they were a danger to Zuo Xiaonian.
• Jiang Changbin gathered the group, briefed them on the mission, and had them plan their battle formations for an attack that night.
• Han Song assessed that the target would likely be no stronger than early Cloud Transformation and that their group could defeat him.
• Jiang Changbin went to the Governor’s Residence and told Shang Qingyun he had come to invite the Governor for a drink.
• Shang Qingyun told Jiang Changbin that the Governor had gone to Long Family Manor and likely would not return until after dinner.

Jiang Changbin talked Shang Qingyun into leaving the Governor's Residence for drinks, and the two reminisced about meeting nineteen years earlier. The chapter ended with Shang teasing Jiang about his early baldness as they headed to a restaurant.

• Jiang Changbin repeatedly urged Shang Qingyun to come drinking, offering him six bottles of three-hundred-year-old Plum Blossom Drunk to take home.
• Jiang Changbin dragged Shang Qingyun out of the Governor's Residence, telling the staff to work, sleep, or sneak home as they pleased.
• Shang Qingyun finally agreed to drink with Jiang Changbin, who boasted that wine made him feel like he owned the Star Soul Continent.
• Jiang Changbin asked Shang Qingyun what impression he had made when they first met nineteen years earlier.
• Shang Qingyun joked that he had mistaken Jiang's early bald spot for snow, then said he had chosen a nearby restaurant for their meal.

Jiang Changbin took Shang Qingyun to a restaurant run by his brother-in-law’s brother, where they drank together, and only later remembered that he had meant to ask Zuo Xiaoduo to read his aura before the battle. Meanwhile, Zuo Xiaoduo’s family discussed warning Teacher Mu about an impending calamity as he devoured steamed buns.

• Jiang Changbin explained to Shang Qingyun why he had chosen a roadside restaurant, then revealed his connection to its owner and booked the whole place.
• After Jiang Changbin and Shang Qingyun had drunk three rounds, Jiang Changbin remembered that he had forgotten to have Zuo Xiaoduo read his aura and face before the battle.
• Jiang Changbin concealed his worry from Shang Qingyun and continued drinking, telling him that he had remembered a bureau matter too late to handle that night.
• At dinner, Zuo Xiaoduo confirmed that Zuo Xiaonian had reminded Teacher Mu about her coming calamity and said she could avoid it.
• Zuo Xiaoduo ate twelve steamed buns in moments, prompting Wu Yuting and Zuo Changlu to joke that they had become pig farmers.

At dinner, Zuo Xiaoduo repeatedly forced his surging True Qi back into his dantian, while Zuo Xiaonian revealed that her own failed breakthrough attempts had been accumulating power for months. The chapter left the family astonished by how much strength she might gain when she finally broke through.

• Zuo Xiaoduo endured another sudden surge of True Qi and forced it back into his dantian before resuming his meal.
• Zuo Xiaonian admitted she had reached the breakthrough threshold months earlier but her attempts kept returning to her dantian.
• Zuo Xiaonian said she had made around twenty attempts and expected to make about forty before breaking through.
• Zuo Xiaoduo envied how the Phoenix Vein made Zuo Xiaonian's repeated accumulation effortless, and Wu Yuting and Zuo Changlu exchanged glances at her potential strength.