Chapter Summaries

Wen Xingtian and Xiang Kuangren arranged to deliver three captured operatives to their boss and secretly investigate who was funding them. Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing recovered from the shock of nearly being killed while Zuo Xiaoduo chastised them for losing their composure.

• Wen Xingtian stopped Xiang Kuangren from acting rashly and reminded him that the three captured operatives were the only ones they had taken alive in over twenty years.
• Xiang Kuangren took the prisoners in the Annihilation Sky Pagoda to report to their boss, while Wen Xingtian planned to bring Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing back in the pagoda afterward and treat them as dead to buy time.
• Wen Xingtian ordered Xiang Kuangren to have people monitor the banks and trace whoever was paying the operatives, and warned him to keep the secret from everyone else.
• Xiang Kuangren left with the captives, grumbling that Wen Xingtian showed him no respect.
• Zuo Xiaoduo found Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing trembling in the woods and scolded them for failing to stay composed, while Xiang Chong admitted that they forgot what they had learned when the danger became personal.

Wen Xingtian reflected on the students’ lack of experience and suspected a mole had helped five intruders enter the Trial Grounds. After securing Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing in the Annihilation Sky Pagoda, he consulted Zuo Xiaoduo, who urged him not to assume the traitor was one of the homeroom teachers and to wait for the interrogation.

• Wen Xingtian judged that Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing had reacted poorly because they lacked real-world experience and resolved to strengthen the students’ training.
• Wen Xingtian concluded that at least one of the school’s twenty-four homeroom teachers was likely a mole, though he hoped the traitor was among the locally recruited teachers.
• Xiang Kuangren brought the Annihilation Sky Pagoda to Wen Xingtian, who used it to secure Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing.
• Wen Xingtian invited Zuo Xiaoduo to help plan the next steps, recognizing his ability to think ahead.
• Zuo Xiaoduo argued that the intruders could have been planted in the Trial Area before the exercise and advised Wen Xingtian to wait for testimony before suspecting anyone.

Wen Xingtian discussed Zuo Xiaoduo’s cautions about investigating the plot against the Xiang siblings and left with the Annihilation Sky Pagoda. Zuo Xiaoduo resumed the trial, intent on securing first place, and hunted Star Beasts for points and valuable spoils.

• Zuo Xiaoduo urged Wen Xingtian to let the Xiang Family believe Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing were dead, and warned that the plotters might be operating from outside Fenghai and monitoring their phones.
• Wen Xingtian agreed to raise the school’s inadequate preparation for the dark side of the world at a meeting and borrowed Zuo Xiaoduo’s Annihilation Sky Pagoda.
• Wen Xingtian teased Zuo Xiaoduo by proposing to requisition the pagoda for half a year, and Zuo Xiaoduo hurried away after nearly agreeing to give it up.
• Zuo Xiaoduo resumed the trial and hunted Dan Origin Realm Star Beasts, selling some for contribution points and keeping valuable pelts and meat.
• Zuo Xiaoduo struggled against two Star Soul Golden-Armored Lions and killed them with Sledgehammer, lamenting the lost school credits.

Zuo Xiaoduo plundered the Dan Origin Realm trial areas until his storage ring was nearly full, then broke into the Infant Transformation Realm territory to seize Thunderbolt White Tiger cubs. He escaped, leaving a homeroom teacher to face the enraged tigers and seek help.

• Zuo Xiaoduo swept through the Dan Origin Realm trial areas, taking Star Beasts and leaving Ximen Daqing with nothing to hunt.
• Zuo Xiaoduo saw that Zuo Xiaonian’s ring was nearly full and decided to raid the Infant Transformation Realm territory.
• A homeroom teacher sensed the disturbance and chased after Zuo Xiaoduo into the restricted territory.
• Zuo Xiaoduo rushed past the teacher carrying seven or eight Thunderbolt White Tiger cubs and asked him to hold off their pursuers.
• A thousand enraged Thunderbolt White Tigers charged out and pursued the teacher, who fled while calling for help.

Zuo Xiaoduo returned from stealing nine Thunderbolt White Tiger cubs and tried to sell them to the girls in his class. The cubs drew an eager crowd, while the teachers began pursuing Wen Xingtian after suspecting he had covered up the theft.

• Wen Xingtian arrived and drove the enraged Thunderbolt White Tigers back with his aura and Sword Qi.
• The teachers suspected Wen Xingtian had intervened because a student from his class had stolen the cubs, then chased after him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo hurried back carrying nine adorable tiger cubs and called out to the beauties he passed, hoping to sell them.
• Zhen Piaopiao and Yu Yan'er chased after Zuo Xiaoduo, and the Class One students gathered around to see what he was carrying.
• A girl rushed over, captivated by the little white tiger cubs.

Zuo Xiaoduo showed Thunderbolt White Tiger cubs to his classmates and turned their excitement into a chance to sell them for a fortune. The girls pressed him to name a price, and he insisted the rare cubs were worth Star Soul Jade.

• Zuo Xiaoduo cradled the Thunderbolt White Tiger cubs as his female classmates crowded around to admire them.
• Zuo Xiaoduo tried to shield the cubs while explaining their rarity and future strength, and Wen Xingtian realized the girls would not let them go easily.
• Zuo Xiaoduo announced that the cubs were for sale, prompting the girls to compete to reserve one.
• Zuo Xiaoduo praised the cubs as powerful, beautiful companions and said their value should be measured in Star Soul Jade.
• The girls demanded that Zuo Xiaoduo name his price.

Zuo Xiaoduo auctioned the white tiger cubs to the gathered girls, and the bidding quickly climbed into the tens of thousands of upper-grade star soul jade. Five cubs were sold, leaving four as the girls who had not won grew even more eager to bid.

• Zuo Xiaoduo refused to give away the cubs and announced an auction, with bidding starting at one piece of upper-grade star soul jade.
• Yu Yan'er urged the girls to stop driving up the price, then won the first cub for seventeen thousand pieces.
• Zhen Piaopiao bought the second cub for seventeen thousand pieces, and a girl from Class Two secured the third for twenty-four thousand after bidding intensified.
• The fourth cub sold for twenty-five thousand pieces, and the fifth sold for thirty thousand.
• The five winning girls played with their cubs while the remaining girls stroked them and became eager to buy one.

Zuo Xiaoduo sold all nine white tiger cubs to the girls, earning 286,888 upper-grade star soul jade as bidding drove the prices far beyond his expectations. The homeroom teachers recognized that the cubs would likely be confiscated at the checkpoint, but acknowledged that Zuo Xiaoduo had obtained them through his own strength.

• After Yu Yan'er and Zhen Piaopiao bought the first cubs for 17,000 each, the remaining girls bid against one another, pushing the final cub's price to 68,888.
• Zuo Xiaoduo collected IOUs from the buyers and totaled 286,888 upper-grade star soul jade for all nine cubs.
• The girls gathered around their cubs and pleaded with Zuo Xiaoduo to get them more, but he refused.
• The homeroom teachers discussed the sale and said the cubs would be confiscated at the inspection checkpoint because taking Star Beast cubs from the trial area violated the rules.
• The teachers acknowledged that Zuo Xiaoduo had crossed into Infant Transformation Realm Star Beast territory and taken the cubs through his own strength, so they let him act beyond the limits.

Zuo Xiaoduo sold the nine Thunderbolt White Tiger cubs to the girls, leaving Hidden Dragon High Martial unable to confiscate them without causing trouble with their Lineages. After earning a fortune, he recruited Li Chenglong to provide the buyers with advice on raising and training their cubs.

• The teachers realized that the girls’ purchased White Tiger cubs had become private property and that Hidden Dragon High Martial could no longer seize them.
• A teacher complained that Zuo Xiaoduo had used him as unpaid labor when he intervened to protect him from the Thunderbolt White Tigers, while Wen Xingtian privately praised his student’s cunning.
• The girls stopped catching Star Beasts and gathered to discuss feeding, housing, training, and bonding with their cubs.
• Li Chenglong arrived in torn clothes, looking satisfied with his own harvest.
• Zuo Xiaoduo called the buyers together and asked Li Chenglong to explain how to care for Thunderbolt White Tigers.
• Li Chenglong recalled what he knew about the cubs and began his presentation after Zuo Xiaoduo encouraged him.

Li Chenglong finished teaching the students how to care for their Thunderbolt White Tiger cubs, then argued with Zuo Xiaoduo about his debt. As the classes returned to Hidden Dragon High Martial, the absence of Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing and the grim mood suggested that something serious had happened to the siblings.

• Li Chenglong explained the Thunderbolt White Tigers' abilities, growth, and care to the girls who had bought cubs and those who had missed out.
• After the trial ended, Li Chenglong asked Zuo Xiaoduo for payment, but Zuo Xiaoduo only reduced his Space Ring debt by one percent.
• The students fed their tiger cubs before Wen Xingtian ordered the classes to assemble and leave the trial grounds.
• Li Chenglong noticed Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing were missing, and Zuo Xiaoduo told him they would discuss it after returning.
• Li Chenglong pressed Wen Xingtian about the siblings, but Wen Xingtian said the matter was serious and they would talk later.
• The students returned in a tense silence, while Li Chenglong walked in fury and grief, quietly shedding tears.

At Hidden Dragon High Martial, Class One mourned Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing as rumors spread that something had happened to them. Zuo Xiaoduo’s enormous haul secured him the Trial’s top spot, but the classmates left school grieving over their missing friends.

• Li Chenglong returned to Hidden Dragon High Martial grieving for Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing, while the school remained tense over Vice Principal Xiang Kuangren’s furious arrival.
• Zuo Xiaoduo submitted 45,678 Star Beasts, stunning the teachers and students with his haul.
• Zuo Xiaoduo left after learning that his Dragon Blood Flying Knife was fully charged and that he had earned over 280,000 upper-grade Star Soul Jade.
• Li Chenglong placed second in the haul rankings, and Meng Changjun placed third, giving Class One the top three spots.
• Li Chenglong broke down in tears over Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing, and Wen Xingtian dismissed the somber class.
• Zuo Xiaoduo warned his classmates that surviving reunions could become rare as the years passed.

After Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing went missing, Zuo Xiaoduo pushed Li Chenglong to hide his grief and urged their classmates to train rather than mourn helplessly. Meanwhile, Wen Xingtian and Ye Changqing traced the kidnappings to the Wendao Alliance and decided to capture its members alive, while Xiang Kuangren asked that the victims’ families join the operation.

• Zuo Xiaoduo rebuked the class for mourning without the strength to avenge Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing, then kicked Jia Kuang away when he challenged him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo privately reassured Li Chenglong that he knew he was hurting, and Li Chenglong revealed he had understood Zuo’s act before returning to his display of grief.
• Wen Xingtian learned from Ye Changqing that the captured suspects had named a Wendao Alliance hall master as the source of the information.
• Ye Changqing and Wen Xingtian chose to wait for the money transfer and then arrest the Wendao Alliance’s members alive, so they could trace the conspiracy without letting anyone escape.
• Xiang Kuangren requested that the Shi Family Sisters-in-law, the Liu Family Sisters-in-law, and Old Cheng's family be allowed to participate in the operation.

Ye Changqing, Wen Xingtian, and Xiang Kuangren prepared to secretly arrest suspects after uncovering a possible Wendao Alliance connection to old cases. Meanwhile, Li Chenglong analyzed the trial incident with Zuo Xiaoduo and concluded that a third faction was likely behind it, leaving them to investigate a wider web of schemes.

• Ye Changqing agreed to deploy the school leadership and teachers to make arrests while keeping their movements secret and monitoring them from above.
• The Xiang Family mourned publicly and spread its divine sense across Fenghai City, prompting rumors that Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing had died during the trial.
• After learning Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing were safe, Li Chenglong asked Zuo Xiaoduo to recount the trial in detail and recorded his account.
• Li Chenglong analyzed the incident and judged that it was probably a separate scheme by a third faction rather than part of Vice Principal Cheng's old case.
• Li Chenglong began mapping links among Hidden Dragon High Martial, its vice principals' past cases, and Fenghai City's major Lineages and gangs.

Li Chenglong tried to connect clues about the Witch Alliance and Forgetting River Water while Zuo Xiaoduo took him to sell Star Beast goods at Heaven First-Class. The school teachers discovered the Trial's Star Beasts were weakened and decided to pass the discounted haul to the Affairs Department, while Zuo Xiaoduo began negotiating a sale of over a hundred thousand jin of fresh meat.

• Li Chenglong mapped clues linking Forgetting River Water in Fenghai to a possible Witch Alliance foothold, but Zuo Xiaoduo dismissed his unfinished analysis.
• Zuo Xiaoduo took Li Chenglong to Heaven First-Class to sell goods and enlist his eloquence.
• Teachers inspecting the Trial haul found the Star Beasts' pelts, bones, inner cores, and other materials had about a third less energy than expected.
• Zhan Xiaofei persuaded the teachers to have the Affairs Department take delivery and handle the sale rather than report the problem to Finance and School Affairs.
• At Heaven First-Class, Zuo Xiaoduo told the receptionist he wanted to sell more than a hundred thousand jin of fresh Star Beast Meat and asked whether the business could handle it.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong brought a vast haul of Star Beasts to Heaven First-Class to sell, and Manager Cai agreed to buy it. While discussing payment, Zuo Xiaoduo learned that Hidden Dragon High Martial had bought up Fenghai’s Top-Grade Star Soul Jade to treat Principal Ye’s heart meridians, leaving him wondering about the illness.

• Manager Cai recognized Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong and escorted them to a courtyard to assess their Star Beasts.
• Zuo Xiaoduo produced hundreds of giant pythons and then filled the courtyard with countless more Star Beast carcasses.
• Li Chenglong recited Heaven First-Class’s listed purchase prices as Manager Cai prepared to tally the haul.
• Zuo Xiaoduo requested half payment in Star Origin Coins and half in high-grade star soul jade, preferably Top-Grade Star Soul Jade.
• Manager Cai explained that Hidden Dragon High Martial had bought Fenghai’s supply of Top-Grade Star Soul Jade to treat Principal Ye’s heart meridians, surprising Zuo Xiaoduo.

After settling the bill at Heaven First-Class, Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong ran into Gao Chengxiang and Gao Chengyun while wandering through the city. The Gao brothers invited them to keep company with Gao Qiao'er, and Zuo Xiaoduo grew interested when Gao Chengyun promised a show.

• Manager Cai transferred five billion Star Origin Coins and gave Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong two Supreme VIP Cards.
• Zuo Xiaoduo gave Zhongzhong ten thousand upper-grade Star Soul Jade as a loan that Zhongzhong would have to repay with interest.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong praised Manager Cai's people skills and discussed possibly poaching him in the future.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong met Gao Chengxiang, Gao Chengyun, and Gao Qiao'er while walking through the city.
• Gao Chengyun invited Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong to have a drink and watch a show, and Zuo Xiaoduo asked what it was.

Zuo Xiaoduo told the Gao siblings that their Lineages’ feud stemmed from an older dispute whose facts they had never investigated, and refused to explain it himself. The siblings were left questioning their conflict, but decided they still had to attend the confrontation they had arranged.

• Gao Chengyun said the Gao Lineage and Wu Lineage would vent their anger on each other rather than make an enemy of Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Zuo Xiaoduo said he had never wanted to be caught between the Lineages and questioned how the Wu Lineage had become the aggrieved party.
• The Gao siblings revealed they did not know the origins of the feud, and Zuo Xiaoduo urged them to ask their own people instead of relying on him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo said he had been used as a blade, then left with Li Chenglong.
• Gao Chengxiang, Gao Chengyun, and Gao Qiao'er wondered whether their Lineages had been fighting without knowing the truth, but decided to go ahead with their planned confrontation.

At a meeting between young members of the Wu and Gao Lineages, Gao Chengxiang demanded to know why Wu Yuntian had entered the Life-and-Death Arena. A Wu Lineage leader traced the feud between their schools to Li Chengqiu crippling Hu Ruoyun and began showing footage of the events that led to Wu Yuntian’s challenge.

• Gao Chengxiang confronted the Wu Lineage and asked why Wu Yuntian had proposed the Life-and-Death Arena.
• A Wu Lineage leader explained that Li Chengqiu had crippled Hu Ruoyun over twenty years earlier, starting the schools’ feud.
• The Wu Lineage leader played footage of Li Chengqiu provoking Hu Ruoyun’s team and Wu Yuntian insulting their deceased Former Principal.
• The Wu Lineage leader began showing a second clip of the teams meeting at the hotel, where Gao Yan'er asked an insulting question about Hu Ruoyun.

Zuo Xiaoduo showed the Wu and Gao Lineages videos revealing how their predecessors provoked the deadly conflict, prompting many young members to abandon the feud. He explained that he had exposed Li Chengqiu’s role to push the two Lineages to investigate the third family involved, leaving the truth unresolved.

• The Wu Lineage showed videos of Wu Yuntian and Gao Yan'er escalating their confrontation with Zuo Xiaoduo until they challenged him to fight to the death.
• A young man from the Gao Lineage learned that Li Chengqiu had been crippled after an attempted murder, and the Wu leader said neither Lineage could go after him.
• Wu Qing and other young members from both Lineages left, condemning the feud and refusing to take part in further fighting.
• The remaining leaders from the Gao and Wu Lineages exchanged accusations, then called for wine and proposed another match.
• Li Chenglong asked Zuo Xiaoduo why he had shown the videos, and Zuo Xiaoduo said he wanted the Lineages to investigate why Li Chengqiu, the chief culprit, had escaped their attention.

Zuo Xiaoduo resolved to expose the Li Family’s past and make them answer for their debts, while Li Chenglong completed his first dantian compression. During their cultivation, Zuo Xiaoduo’s intensified Flame Sun True Scripture expelled the icy qi embedded in Li Chenglong’s meridians, transforming both their cultivation.

• Zuo Xiaoduo told Li Chenglong that he wanted the young people of the Gao Lineage and Wu Lineage to learn the truth their elders had hidden.
• Zuo Xiaoduo insisted that the Li Family still had to answer for Li Chengqiu’s offenses, despite the Wu Lineage and Gao Lineage leaving them alone.
• Li Chenglong completed his first compression on the Thorny Road, stopping when the pressure on his dantian and meridians became too intense.
• While the two cultivated together, Li Chenglong endured the greatly increased heat of Zuo Xiaoduo’s Flame Sun True Scripture, which drove a stream of icy qi from his body and froze water and nearby belongings.
• After the icy qi melted into pure spiritual qi, Zuo Xiaoduo’s dantian filled rapidly, while Li Chenglong’s opened meridians drew in energy at a greatly increased rate.