Chapter Summaries

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong endured painful cultivation as they suppressed their True Essence, while Ye Changqing kept watch and discovered they had stolen nutrient solution from the Nutrient Pods. The two finished their training and showered, leaving Ye Changqing furious over their theft.

• When icy power refilled their Dantians, Zuo Xiaoduo began his tenth suppression and Li Chenglong began his second.
• The two howled through two hours of painful cultivation while Ye Changqing rushed over and watched them.
• Li Chenglong compressed the Origin Qi in his Dantian to one-quarter of its volume, completing his second suppression.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong finished cultivating, argued over the smell, kicked each other, and went to shower.
• Ye Changqing saw them drink bottled nutrient solution and realized they had stolen it from the Nutrient Pods.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong went to school after a restful night while Hidden Dragon High Martial traced the money transfers connected to the threat against them. The trail led to the Upper Capital and the Wendao Alliance, and the chapter ended with Hidden Dragon High Martial capturing the entire alliance.

• Zuo Xiaoduo drank Spirit Liquid, sang in the bathroom, and teased Ye Changqing until Ye Changqing returned home in exasperation.
• Xiang Kuangren, Wen Xingtian, Ye Changqing, and the others traced large transfers to two Upper Capital companies and the Wendao Alliance in Fenghai.
• Minister Nan named the investigation Operation Blue Sky and ordered the authorities to act, promising to abolish the Central Plains King's Manor if the Central Plains King was involved.
• Ye Changqing ordered Hidden Dragon High Martial cultivators of Infant Transformation or above to assemble and sent them to seize the Wendao Alliance.
• Hidden Dragon High Martial captured all 1,753 Wendao Alliance members within half an hour without missing anyone.

Hidden Dragon High Martial and the Star Shield Bureau arrested the Wendao Alliance and investigated its members under Minister Nan’s orders. As lower-ranking members were released and others were executed, the inquiry closed in on the alliance’s senior leaders and the secret they feared would be uncovered.

• Ye Changqing told Brother Qiu that Hidden Dragon High Martial was acting on Minister Nan’s orders, and Brother Qiu and the Central Plains King’s Manor steward withdrew.
• The military unit withdrew, while the Star Shield Bureau mobilized its headquarters and began interrogating the Wendao Alliance’s members and families.
• Investigators killed members implicated in serious crimes, while more than three thousand lower-ranking members were released before morning.
• The alliance’s eleven senior members were kept from interrogation as investigators read out accumulating evidence against them.
• Executions began in front of the senior members as interrogation questions approached the alliance’s core and the secret its leaders feared.

Hidden Dragon High Martial’s interrogation exposed the Wendao Alliance’s limited role in the tragedy that struck Vice Principal Cheng’s family and in the attempt against Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing. The alliance leaders had been controlled with Seven-Year Spring, but the person behind them remained unidentified, though Ye Changqing and Wen Xingtian suspected a connection to the Upper Capital.

• A Wendao Alliance confidant confessed that Hall Master Zhu might have known about what happened to Vice Principal Cheng’s family, prompting Zhan Xiaofei to question the prisoners more directly.
• As interrogation records came in, Vice Principal Cheng trembled, and Ye Changqing urged him to stay calm and pursue the people responsible to their roots.
• Zuo Xiaoduo visited Grandma Shi’s home at lunchtime but found her away.
• After a day of questioning, Hidden Dragon High Martial learned that the Wendao Alliance had managed the attack on Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing under orders, but its leaders could offer few clues about their hidden controller.
• Wen Xingtian confirmed that the Wendao Alliance leaders had been poisoned with Seven-Year Spring, a drug that forced users to keep taking it or die within seven days after its seven-year effect ended.
• Ye Changqing and Wen Xingtian concluded that the controller likely came from the Upper Capital and considered investigating the people behind the Everlasting Spring Pill scandal.

Ye Changqing, Wen Xingtian, and Xiang Kuangren investigated the Wendao Alliance’s attacks, but the trail led to dead ends and apparent involvement from the Dao Alliance Continent. After the captives were dealt with, Xiang Kuangren provoked Vice Principal Gao, prompting Wen Xingtian to snap at him.

• Minister Nan reported that Guangjin and Fenghe personnel had been arrested, but their senior managers and financial staff died from Soul-Calling poison during interrogation.
• The Wendao Alliance’s leaders said they had received remote assignments through concealed email accounts traced to the Dao Alliance Continent, while its leader gave an ambiguous account of Qiu Xiaoqian’s involvement.
• Most Wendao Alliance members were released, while a hundred and thirty core members were left to the affected families; Cheng Xiaosong killed all of them.
• Wen Xingtian and Xiang Kuangren kept the Wendao Alliance’s leader and other senior members in custody for further interrogation, while Xiang Kuangren killed the surviving attackers who had targeted Xiang Bing and Xiang Chong.
• Xiang Kuangren taunted Vice Principal Gao about looking pale, and Wen Xingtian angrily told Xiang Kuangren to stop provoking people.

Wen Xingtian and Ye Changqing considered involving Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong in the investigation, while Vice Principal Cheng agreed to wait one more night before pursuing the Snake King. Grandma Shi returned home to find Xiao Duo’s food and note, and decided she wanted to keep watching over the child for a few years.

• Wen Xingtian asked Ye Changqing to let Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong try questioning the suspects, and Ye Changqing said they must be told the risks and allowed to refuse.
• Vice Principal Cheng said he would search for the Snake King, but Wen Xingtian and Ye Changqing persuaded him to wait one night.
• Grandma Shi found Xiao Duo’s note and food carrier at her door and smiled at his message about winning first place in the trial.
• Grandma Shi brought the food inside, poured drinks for herself and her old man, and said she wanted to watch Xiao Duo for a few more years.

After the upheaval at Hidden Dragon High Martial, Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong returned to the villa and discovered a popular online post documenting their encounters with prominent students and lineages. The post focused largely on Zuo Xiaoduo, who read the comments about his ties to the Wu and Gao Lineages and his meeting with Gao Qiao'er.

• Grandma Shi sighed over her exhaustion, then fell asleep at her desk as Principal Shi's portrait rested against her shoulder.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong returned to the villa, where Li wondered why Xiang Chong and Xiang Bing had not appeared yet.
• Li Chenglong found an online post called “The Cult Leader's High Martial life” featuring photographs of him fighting Xiang Bing and of Zuo Xiaoduo with various people.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong watched a video of Zuo Xiaoduo speaking with Wu Yunhai, while commenters speculated about the Wu Lineage's relationship with him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo scrolled to a photograph of Gao Qiao'er looking at him, and commenters speculated that she and the Gao Lineage were trying to win him over.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong discussed the suspicious online attention surrounding Zuo Xiaoduo, then Zuo Xiaoduo reassured a jealous Zuo Xiaonian during a phone call. Zuo Xiaonian ended the call in the Upper Capital and resumed her cool, aloof demeanor.

• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong noticed that online searches and posts about the Sword King had exploded and suspected someone was steering public opinion.
• Zuo Xiaonian called Zuo Xiaoduo and questioned him about his pictures with Gao Qiao'er and her reputation as one of Fenghai's beauties.
• Zuo Xiaoduo disparaged Gao Qiao'er and the other girls around him to reassure Zuo Xiaonian that none of them threatened her.
• Zuo Xiaonian told Zuo Xiaoduo that her work and missions were going well, and he pretended to believe her while they talked.
• Zuo Xiaonian warned Zuo Xiaoduo to behave, ended the call, and walked out of the Nine Heavens Pavilion with a cool, aloof expression.

Zuo Xiaonian led her seven team members on a mission and swiftly defeated the targets, leaving them to collect the evidence and rewards. Her team discussed how her overwhelming strength made their missions safe and profitable but left them no chance to fight, and they wondered when she would advance and leave their group.

• Zuo Xiaonian raced ahead to the mission site while her seven team members struggled to keep up.
• After probing the area with her Divine Sense, Zuo Xiaonian attacked and quickly froze the enemies and their courtyard.
• Zuo Xiaonian ordered her team to clean up, then left using Skyflight.
• The team verified the targets' identities and collected valuables while joking about their easy missions and Zuo Xiaonian's intimidating coldness.
• The team speculated that Zuo Xiaonian was nearing an advance, though she had repeatedly suppressed her cultivation.

Zuo Xiaonian’s extraordinary luck and icy reputation became a topic of discussion at the Nine Heavens Pavilion, while Zuo Xiaoduo continued cultivating with the Dragon Blood Flying Knife. Wen Xingtian then summoned Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong for an important matter, and Zuo Xiaoduo asked about the Top-Grade Star Soul Jade needed to heal the principal.

• The Nine Heavens Pavilion members recalled Zuo Xiaonian’s rare good fortune and carefully cleaned up after their mission.
• Zuo Xiaonian shut herself inside her spacious private quarters, and passersby avoided disturbing her because of the frost pouring from her door.
• The pavilion members joked that Zuo Xiaonian’s code name should have been Ice and Snow and recalled how her cold presence had frightened a young master.
• Zuo Xiaoduo stayed in his room to cultivate with the fully charged Dragon Blood Flying Knife while Li Chenglong researched online.
• Wen Xingtian arrived, asked Zuo Xiaoduo to come with him, and led him and Li Chenglong outside.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked Wen Xingtian for details about the Top-Grade Star Soul Jade needed to heal the principal.

Wen Xingtian explained that only Earth-Core Star Soul could cure the principal’s damaged heart meridians, while top-grade Star Soul Jade merely suppressed the injury. Zuo Xiaoduo fainted after realizing the cost of buying enough jade, and Wen Xingtian mistook his financial distress for concern for the principal.

• Wen Xingtian told Zuo Xiaoduo that the Heavenly Meridian Hand had damaged the principal’s heart meridians and that Earth-Core Star Soul was the only cure.
• Wen Xingtian explained that powerful enemies had blocked top-grade Star Soul Jade from reaching Fenghai City and driven its price as high as 1.2 billion Star Origin Coins per piece.
• Wen Xingtian said the principal had fewer than ten pieces left and might survive only three more years if the jade ran out.
• Wen Xingtian estimated that a thousand pieces could keep the principal stable for twenty years, but such a supply was nearly impossible to find.
• Zuo Xiaoduo calculated that a thousand pieces would cost 1.2 trillion and fainted, prompting Wen Xingtian to catch him and assume he was grieving for the principal.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong were summoned to Hidden Dragon’s secret chamber, where Ye Changqing asked Zuo Xiaoduo to use his fortune-telling ability to help the school’s senior leaders. The chapter ended as Zuo Xiaoduo prepared to examine Vice Principal Liu’s chances of recovery.

• Wen Xingtian praised Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong for caring about the principal, while Li Chenglong suspected Zuo Xiaoduo was really lamenting his Star Soul Jade.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong entered the secret chamber and met Ye Changqing, Xiang Kuangren, Vice Principal Liu, and Vice Principal Cheng.
• Ye Changqing asked Zuo Xiaoduo to assess the leaders’ fortunes, including Vice Principal Liu’s recovery and the directions to search for several enemies.
• Zuo Xiaoduo warned Ye Changqing that the leaders’ cultivation levels might make them difficult to read, then agreed to examine Vice Principal Liu first.

Zuo Xiaoduo read Vice Principal Liu’s prospects and predicted that he could recover when Hidden Dragon rose, while warning that four enemies from the Upper Capital stood in his way. Vice Principal Cheng then removed his face covering, revealing terrible wounds that Xiang Kuangren identified as the Kingly Way Sword.

• Zuo Xiaoduo used a Fortune Point to read Vice Principal Liu and said there was hope for his recovery when the rain clouds above him were scattered.
• Vice Principal Liu wrote the character for “cloud,” and Zuo Xiaoduo interpreted it as a sign that four enemies from the Upper Capital threatened him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Ye Changqing to prepare for Vice Principal Liu’s recovery, which could come when Hidden Dragon rose into the ninth heaven.
• Xiang Kuangren asked about Ye Changqing’s injuries, but Zuo Xiaoduo evaded giving a clear timeline.
• Ye Changqing asked Zuo Xiaoduo to read Vice Principal Cheng, who removed his face covering and revealed two horrific wounds.
• Xiang Kuangren recognized Vice Principal Cheng’s wounds as the Kingly Way Sword.

Vice Principal Cheng recounted how the Central Plains King wounded him while he pursued a suspect into the king’s manor, leaving him with a deep desire for vengeance. After examining Cheng’s written character for “vengeance,” Zuo Xiaoduo concluded that the family feud might involve the imperial family and asked about a past engagement.

• Vice Principal Cheng explained that the Central Plains King struck him twice after mistaking him for an assassin in the manor, and that he fled with severe wounds.
• Ye Changqing and Wen Xingtian said the Central Plains King had been justified in defending his manor, while Cheng admitted the king’s power had overwhelmed him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo sensed Cheng’s intense resentment and asked him to write a character, which Cheng chose as “vengeance.”
• Zuo Xiaoduo interpreted the character as pointing to a family feud connected to the imperial family and asked about a girl’s past engagement.
• Cheng shuddered at Zuo Xiaoduo’s question, and Zuo Xiaoduo explained the reasoning behind his reading.

Vice Principal Cheng learned that the name Cheng Fengxiu may have helped bring about the destruction of his family. Zuo Xiaoduo explained that her name and status made her a threat to powerful factions once she became involved with the Crown Prince.

• Vice Principal Cheng recalled that Marshal Dongfang had warned him that Cheng Fengxiu's name was too grand, but he had ignored the advice.
• Vice Principal Cheng recounted Cheng Fengxiu's rise as a genius, her romance with the Crown Prince, and the tragedy that killed all five Cheng children.
• Zuo Xiaoduo wrote Cheng Fengxiu's name and explained that it suggested she could rise to the imperial family’s highest position.
• Zuo Xiaoduo said the Cheng Family's middle-ranking status and Vice Principal Cheng's role at Hidden Dragon High Martial made Cheng Fengxiu's marriage politically dangerous.
• Zuo Xiaoduo explained that powerful families would have faced public outrage if the Crown Prince made a peerless genius from one of the Three Great High Martial Schools a mere concubine.

Zuo Xiaoduo explained that Vice Principal Cheng’s family had been caught in a vast imperial-family conspiracy, making revenge against the masterminds difficult. He encouraged Cheng to begin gathering evidence and pursue the people who carried out the attack, leaving Cheng with a distant but possible path toward revenge.

• Zuo Xiaoduo told Vice Principal Cheng that the powerful Lineages would have targeted his family if one of its girls had become the principal consort, and that higher-ups might already have quietly settled parts of the affair.
• Vice Principal Cheng wept as Zuo Xiaoduo identified Marshal Dongfang’s proposed name, Duxiu, and suggested that the name might have spared the Cheng Family from disaster.
• Ye Changqing reported that the captured Wendao Alliance prisoners had led investigators toward concealed higher-ups, while Minister Nan Zhengqian would take over the follow-up.
• Zuo Xiaoduo mocked Minister Nan’s name, and Wen Xingtian rebuked him before Zuo realized that Minister Nan was Uncle Nan.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Vice Principal Cheng that he could still seek revenge by gathering evidence, dismantling the masterminds’ influence, and first pursuing those who had carried out the attack.

After Zuo Xiaoduo revealed the possible forces behind the destruction of Vice Principal Cheng’s family, the group turned to investigating the Wendao Alliance’s records. The chapter left Li Chenglong reviewing the interrogation files while Vice Principal Cheng grieved over the implications of his family’s ambition.

• Vice Principal Cheng apologized to Ye Changqing and the others for hiding Xiu'er’s connection to His Highness the Crown Prince, and Ye Changqing told him he had been right to keep it secret.
• Ye Changqing explained that the Wendao Alliance’s senior members had offered little useful information, so the group wanted help examining their statements.
• Zuo Xiaoduo declined to interrogate the prisoners and suggested Li Chenglong collate the records to find overlooked suspicious details.
• Wen Xingtian brought five stacks of files, and Li Chenglong began reading them rapidly while the others waited.
• Vice Principal Cheng drank tea and mourned as he reconsidered Zuo Xiaoduo’s deductions about his family’s ambition to produce an empress.

Li Chenglong investigated the Golden Snake Gang’s destruction and compared its timeline with the attack on Vice Principal Cheng’s family. He concluded that separate forces carried out the earlier attacks on the principals and the later Cheng family tragedy, and began tracing a plot that had involved taking control of the Wendao Alliance.

• Li Chenglong asked about the Golden Snake Gang, and Xiang Kuangren recalled that She Wang had led it around twenty years earlier.
• Wen Xingtian explained that the gang had ruled Fenghai’s underworld until it was destroyed overnight, while its leader and Five Great Snake Venerables reportedly vanished.
• Li Chenglong established that the gang fell on June nineteenth, before the Cheng family tragedy on July thirteenth, and learned that the distinguished guest had visited the Cheng home in May.
• Li Chenglong hypothesized that one group had attacked the families of Principal Ye, Principal Xiang, Principal Shi, and Principal Liu, while a separate group had targeted Vice Principal Cheng’s family and framed the first group.
• Li Chenglong noted that the gang’s leaders might have escaped, been captured, or otherwise disappeared, and reasoned that the Wendao Alliance had been brought under control in advance while its strength was still insufficient for the wider plan.

Li Chenglong linked the Golden Snake Gang’s apparent destruction to the Cheng Family massacre and argued that its senior figures may have faked their deaths to serve powerful people. He warned Vice Principal Cheng that pursuing She Wang alone would be dangerous, while the group’s investigation still seemed unlikely to expose the masterminds.

• Li Chenglong explained that the Wendao Alliance had not been involved in the earlier events and suggested the Golden Snake Gang was the more important lead.
• Li Chenglong connected the Golden Snake Gang’s downfall to the Cheng Family massacre and asked whether Vice Principal Cheng was seeking She Wang.
• Vice Principal Cheng confirmed he wanted to find She Wang, and Li Chenglong proposed that the gang’s senior figures had faked their deaths and become killers working for powerful forces.
• Li Chenglong warned that She Wang and the Five Great Snake Venerables were likely formidable, making it dangerous for Vice Principal Cheng to pursue them alone.
• Li Chenglong argued that the Wendao Alliance had been manipulated by a hidden mastermind and that the recent attackers were weaker than those involved in the old massacre.
• Li Chenglong agreed with Boss Zuo that Minister Nan’s intervention in the Upper Capital might still fail to uncover the people behind the plot.

Li Chenglong advised Hidden Dragon High Martial’s leaders to avoid investigating the Imperial Family’s role in their downfall and focus on recovering their strength. He urged them to remove the replacement vice principals to draw out the hidden forces, but Ye Changqing hesitated, insisting the school could not abandon its principles.

• Li Chenglong warned that the Imperial Family’s involvement made the tragedy surrounding Vice Principal Cheng’s family too dangerous to investigate.
• Li Chenglong told the principals and vice principals to recover their health and cultivation before pursuing other matters.
• Li Chenglong identified the vice principals who had filled the vacant posts as obvious targets and urged the leaders to drive one of them out to expose the forces behind them.
• Ye Changqing, Vice Principal Cheng, and Vice Principal Liu considered Li Chenglong’s proposal, while Xiang Kuangren eagerly wanted to act.
• Ye Changqing argued that Hidden Dragon High Martial had to uphold its duty to educate students and could not resort to excessively underhanded schemes.