Chapter Summaries

Zuo Xiaoduo broke through to the Embryonic Breath Realm, astonishing Ye Changqing by blooming nine lotuses during his cultivation. He examined the red pearl formed in his Dantian and realized his explosive power had increased dramatically.

• Ye Changqing watched in disbelief as Zuo Xiaoduo formed and bloomed nine lotus flowers during his breakthrough.
• Zuo Xiaoduo completed nine hundred and ninety-nine circulations, condensed a red-gold fetal formation in his Dantian, and entered the Embryonic Breath Realm.
• Zuo Xiaoduo released a powerful breath that punched through the window and nearly struck Ye Changqing, who was standing guard outside.
• Zuo Xiaoduo inspected his Dantian and saw nine layers of red clouds surrounding a slowly rotating red pearl.
• Zuo Xiaoduo tested the pearl's power and estimated his explosive strength had increased at least a dozen times, while Ye Changqing inwardly objected to his boast.

After breaking through to the Embryonic Breath Realm, Zuo Xiaoduo went to school and proudly announced his new strength to Class One. Wen Xingtian caught him showing off and ordered him to clean the whiteboard and pick up the marker.

• Zuo Xiaoduo quickly cleaned himself with spiritual qi and discovered he could draw a heavy chair into his hand.
• Zuo Xiaoduo arrived at Class One and dramatically announced that he had broken through to the Embryonic Breath Realm.
• Zuo Xiaoduo boasted that he could beat everyone with one hand and wrote a self-praising poem on the whiteboard.
• Wen Xingtian ordered Zuo Xiaoduo to return, clean the whiteboard, and pick up the marker he had thrown.

Zuo Xiaoduo demonstrated his swordsmanship in a spar with Teacher Zhang Wencheng, impressing the rotating teachers with his mastery of the Silk Rain Sword. The match continued as Zuo Xiaoduo forced Zhang Wencheng to raise his sword intent to the Dan Origin Realm, while Wen Xingtian insisted that this still would not be enough.

• Zuo Xiaoduo wiped the whiteboard clean, apologized to Wen Xingtian, and returned to his seat as the class laughed.
• Wen Xingtian explained that Zuo Xiaoduo was too strong to spar with his classmates, prompting Teacher Zhang Wencheng to challenge him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo accepted the match and drew a borrowed longsword, gathering his Sword Heart and displaying his water-element sword intent.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Zhang Wencheng fought within the rain and mist conjured by the Silk Rain Sword.
• Zhang Wencheng raised his sword intent to the Dan Origin Realm, and Wen Xingtian said that still would not be enough.

Zuo Xiaoduo’s extraordinary swordsmanship forced Teacher Zhang Wencheng to keep raising his cultivation during their lesson. After Zuo nearly killed him with Sword Flight Technique, Zhang stopped the attack with overwhelming power and was left stunned by his student’s skill.

• Zuo Xiaoduo’s dense, powerful sword attacks overwhelmed Zhang Wencheng, who repeatedly raised his cultivation to keep up.
• Zuo Xiaoduo unleashed a succession of varied sword styles, forcing Zhang to reach the high Infant Transformation stage to suppress him by strength alone.
• Zhang Wencheng urged Zuo Xiaoduo to demonstrate Sword Flight Technique, and Zuo launched himself at Zhang with Body and Sword as One.
• Zhang raised his cultivation to the Cloud Transformation Realm and struck Zuo more than thirty meters back, breaking his sword and barely avoiding death.
• Zhang Wencheng and the two other teachers stared in shock at Zuo Xiaoduo’s skill and the damage to Zhang’s clothes.

Zhang Wencheng assessed Zuo Xiaoduo’s swordsmanship as exceptionally orthodox and practical, with no flaws for him to correct. He recommended that Zuo Xiaoduo continue tempering his sword intent and train in extreme gravity as he grows stronger.

• Zhang Wencheng told Wen Xingtian that Zuo Xiaoduo had mastered the sword and formed a sword heart that outside forces could hardly shake.
• Zhang Wencheng said Zuo Xiaoduo’s practical swordplay bore the mark of his former teacher, Qin Fangyang, and that Zuo Xiaoduo could develop several martial skills at once.
• Zhang Wencheng advised Zuo Xiaoduo to keep tempering his sword intent and heart, then train in a hundredfold Gravity Room, possibly while wearing weights.
• Zuo Xiaoduo approached Zhang Wencheng for advice, praising him for breaking through his sword-control state and sending him flying.
• Zuo Xiaoduo named Qin Fangyang as his former swordsmanship teacher, and Zhang Wencheng praised the foundation Qin had laid while Zuo Xiaoduo recalled his harsh training.

Madam Gao confronted Vice Principal Gao about the Gao Lineage’s run of disasters and his role in undermining Hidden Dragon High Martial. She warned him that officials were watching for the powerful figures behind him, leaving him to face the consequences of his choices.

• Madam Gao shielded Vice Principal Gao from reports of forty-five accidents and disputes, eight bankrupt companies, thirty-two deaths, and several serious injuries among the Gao Lineage.
• After a day without new bad news, Vice Principal Gao wondered whether someone had been setting him up, and Madam Gao accused him of harming Hidden Dragon for power.
• Madam Gao demanded to know whom Gao Zhiyun had approached and reminded him that Zuo Xiaoduo’s warnings about the Feng Shui Formation had proved accurate.
• Gao Zhiyun admitted that Zuo Xiaoduo had been right, but he stayed silent about whom he had gone to.
• Madam Gao warned that government departments were monitoring him and waiting for the powerful figures behind him to emerge.

Madam Gao confronted Gao Zhiyun about how his actions had made him a tool for treason and demanded that he repent or divorce her. Shaken, Gao Zhiyun went to the Gao Lineage’s Ancestral Instructions Stele and heard his descendants complain about their duty to kneel.

• Madam Gao warned Gao Zhiyun that his conduct could bring treason charges upon their families and said she would divorce him if he refused to repent.
• Madam Gao condemned the Gao Lineage for abandoning its military traditions and left Gao Zhiyun alone with his shame.
• Gao Zhiyun rose from his bed and headed toward the newly re-erected Ancestral Instructions Stele.
• Gao Zhiyun heard his descendants grumble about kneeling and dismiss their ancestors’ instructions.
• The Gao Lineage’s descendants fell silent and straightened up when Gao Zhiyun entered.

Gao Zhiyun reaffirmed the Gao Lineage’s military teachings and later met secretly with Ye Changqing before a covert operation destroyed a Qi-Reading Adept’s stronghold. Zuo Xiaoduo spent a week training in the Hundredfold Gravity Room, fretted over his dwindling School Credits, and continued refusing to share his Fortune Points with Little Dragon.

• Gao Zhiyun knelt before the Legacy Inscription Stele, renewed his commitment to the Gao Lineage’s ancestral teachings, and ordered its adult male Martial Artists to train and enlist alongside Hidden Dragon’s front-line trial.
• Two nights later, Gao Zhiyun secretly visited Ye Changqing, and a covert operation wiped out a renowned Qi-Reading Adept’s stronghold in the Upper Capital.
• Zuo Xiaoduo trained for a week in Hidden Dragon High Martial’s Hundredfold Gravity Room, using five hundred jin of weights and spending three thousand five hundred School Credits.
• Zuo Xiaoduo considered challenging Wen Xingtian and Ye Changqing over his School Credit reward but held back because his submitted prey had been defective.
• Zuo Xiaoduo repeatedly chased Little Dragon away and teased it with his Fortune Points, refusing to share them despite its desperate need to replenish Fenghai City’s Dragon Vein.

Zuo Xiaoduo struggled to build up his Fortune Points while collecting star soul jade powder and unknowingly driving up the price of upper-grade star soul jade. Meanwhile, a group of enemies discussed how difficult it was to find a safe opportunity to attack him.

• Zuo Xiaoduo collected star soul jade powder from Boss Sun and other scrap dealers, and the Annihilation Sky Pagoda absorbed it as tiny green shoots appeared inside.
• Zuo Xiaoduo recharged the Dragon Blood Flying Knife with Star Beast vitality, while Hidden Dragon High Martial remained peaceful and Vice Principal Gao continued recovering at home.
• Upper-grade star soul jade became scarce and rose to a hundred school credits per piece because Zuo Xiaoduo had bought up much of the supply.
• Several enemies met in secret and concluded that Zuo Xiaoduo's guarded home, school, and visits to Principal Shi's wife left them few chances to attack.

Four assassins struggled to find a safe opportunity to kill Zuo Xiaoduo, while he pushed himself to cultivate despite his Golden Pearl absorbing nearly all the spiritual energy he gathered. The assassins settled on watching his route to Old Madam Shi’s home, and Zuo Xiaoduo’s cultivation continued consuming vast quantities of star soul jade.

• The four assassins concluded that attacking Zuo Xiaoduo was too dangerous, since he had grown stronger and any attacker might die without killing him.
• The assassins discussed their failed attempt on Gao Zhiyun and blamed the survival of the injured man on his luck and Wu arriving in time.
• The assassins decided to keep watching Zuo Xiaoduo and consider attacking while he traveled to or from Old Madam Shi’s home.
• Zuo Xiaoduo sensed that the Golden Pearl converted the spiritual energy he absorbed into only a faint wisp of cloud in his dantian.
• Zuo Xiaoduo cultivated with upper-grade star soul jade and his Dragon Blood Flying Knife, exhausting five hundred pieces in one week.

Zuo Xiaoduo met Little Dragon in a dream to bargain over Fortune Points and the locations of rare treasures. Neither trusted the other enough to offer something first, and Zuo Xiaoduo ended the exchange by claiming Little Dragon owed him compensation for modifying the pagoda.

• After exhausting himself with training in the Annihilation Sky Pagoda, Zuo Xiaoduo decided to speak with Little Dragon about a possible Top-Grade Star Soul Jade lead.
• Little Dragon asked Zuo Xiaoduo for Fortune Points, but Zuo Xiaoduo put them away and asked whether Little Dragon had found the treasures he had shown him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo realized Little Dragon had not searched for the treasures and that their mutual reluctance to give first had stalled their deal.
• Zuo Xiaoduo reasoned that he had no urgent need to find the star soul jade mine while he remained unable to leave safely and Old Man Ye could last several more years.
• Little Dragon offered his pagoda modifications as a favor in exchange for Fortune Points, but Zuo Xiaoduo denied owing him thanks and claimed Little Dragon owed him compensation.

Zuo Xiaoduo drove a hard bargain with Little Dragon, who began searching for rare medicinal herbs to negotiate over. At Hidden Dragon High Martial’s Monday meeting, Vice Principal Gao asked to send Gao Lineage descendants to the Sun Moon Pass battlefield with the school’s students, leaving Xiang Kuangren and Wen Xingtian baffled.

• Little Dragon rejected Zuo Xiaoduo’s offer of one drop per medicinal-herb type and demanded ten drops per plant, so Zuo Xiaoduo repeatedly kicked him out of the dream.
• Little Dragon studied the copied Compendium of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, then set off to search for valuable herbs.
• Zuo Xiaoduo woke and reflected on Little Dragon’s strange existence while continuing to investigate dragon veins.
• Vice Principal Gao asked at the Monday meeting for Gao Lineage descendants to accompany Hidden Dragon High Martial’s students to the Sun Moon Pass battlefield and join the army there.
• Xiang Kuangren and Wen Xingtian wondered why Gao would send his own descendants to the front lines.

Vice Principal Gao, Gao Zhiyun, committed three hundred descendants of his lineage to trials at Sun Moon Pass and wagered with Xiang Kuangren over whether one would become a general. Xiang bet that one would, while Gao bet that none would, with a Three Continents' Top Feast at stake.

• Ye Changqing agreed that descendants of the Gao Lineage could accompany Hidden Dragon students on their December trials.
• Gao Zhiyun said his lineage needed its descendants to earn their own meals and insisted that a hereditary military house should send them to war.
• Xiang Kuangren mocked the Gao Lineage for not producing a general in a century, and Gao challenged him to wager on the fate of three hundred descendants at Sun Moon Pass.
• Gao and Xiang agreed to stake a Three Continents' Top Feast on whether a Gao descendant would become a general within three years.
• Wen Xingtian volunteered to judge, and Xiang bet that a general would emerge while Gao bet that none would.

Vice Principal Gao arranged for young lineage descendants to receive recruit training at Hidden Dragon before the winter border trials, then asked to teach staff technique to second-year students. Ye Changqing approved the teaching assignment but shut down Vice Principals Wei and Wu when they tried to follow suit, and turned the meeting to the New Student Competition.

• Xiang Kuangren agreed to train the young lineage descendants before the border trials and called for other families to send their youngsters as well.
• Ye Changqing reminded Gao Zhiyun and Xiang Kuangren to settle their bet after the meeting and said the school was not a gambling den.
• Gao Zhiyun asked to teach staff technique, and Ye Changqing assigned him to the second years to gain teaching experience.
• Vice Principals Wei and Wu rose to request teaching roles, but Ye Changqing refused and told the Martial Dao Department to begin preparations for the New Student Competition.

Ye Changqing set the rules for the New Student Competition, school missions, and challenges between High Martial schools, while barring Zuo Xiaoduo from competing. He left the second- and third-year directors under pressure to defend Hidden Dragon High Martial against powerful rivals.

• Wen Xingtian asked whether Zuo Xiaoduo would compete, and Ye Changqing barred him while allowing Li Chenglong to enter.
• Ye Changqing scheduled the New Student Competition for a week later and ordered another New Student Trial so students could earn school credits.
• Ye Changqing opened missions to students at the Dan Origin Realm and above and ordered Hidden Dragon High Martial instructors to return from leave.
• Ye Changqing ordered the school to prepare for nationwide challenges after the Spring Festival and warned that any class that accepted a challenge and lost would face consequences.
• When the second-year director worried about facing Ancestral Dragon and Cloud End, Ye Changqing threatened to make the second-year homeroom teachers square-dance if they lost.
• After the meeting, Vice Principal Wu and Vice Principal Gao left to talk, while Xiang Kuangren asked Ye Changqing about Gao Zhiyun and was told to watch his tone.

Zuo Xiaoduo trained relentlessly in the Gravity Room while Li Chenglong’s bullying and the class’s infighting drove Wen Xingtian to punish the students. Meanwhile, Xiang Kuangren’s harsh drills exposed the Gao descendants’ poor performance, prompting Vice Principal Gao to beat them and threaten to expel anyone who disgraced the family again.

• Zuo Xiaoduo pushed himself to meet Wen Xingtian’s demanding standards while training under a thousand-jin load.
• Li Chenglong bullied his classmates until Wen Xingtian sent him to train in the Fiftyfold Gravity Room.
• Xiang Chong and Hao Han fought during Wen Xingtian’s theory lesson, and Xiang Bing attacked Zhen Piaopiao, setting off a class-wide brawl.
• Wen Xingtian sent the entire class to the Nutrient Pods, leaving the training ground empty for the next combat lesson.
• Xiang Kuangren complained to Gao Zhiyun about the Gao descendants’ poor training, and Vice Principal Gao beat his grandsons and threatened to expel anyone who disgraced the family again.

While Zuo Xiaoduo remained trapped in the Gravity Room during the New Student Competition, Zuo Xiaonian and the Spirit Cat Squad continued cultivating and completing missions. Zuo Xiaonian’s icy presence drove off a young man who tried to court her, and the chapter revealed that she had been exchanging her mission rewards for rare deep-sea black ice.

• Li Chenglong entered the New Student Competition and eagerly claimed a tournament platform while Zuo Xiaoduo stayed inside the Gravity Room, refusing to give the Feng Family head a chance to extend the story.
• The Spirit Cat Squad turned in a large haul of missions, including several second- and third-level missions and a Military Department mission that they had completed along the way.
• A young man brought Zuo Xiaonian flowers, but her cold cultivation room and indifferent gaze frightened him away and left him dejected.
• The young man returned to the Martial Dao Arena and told his companions that Zuo Xiaonian made him feel she was completely out of reach.
• The chapter revealed that Zuo Xiaonian had exchanged nearly all her mission rewards for deep-sea black ice and cultivated in a special Black Ice Room.

Zuo Xiaonian continued compressing her spiritual qi in the Dan Origin Realm while using Deep Sea Black Ice to strengthen her cultivation. After collecting another huge piece of black ice from her team, she returned to her room as onlookers speculated about her cultivation level.

• Zuo Xiaonian worked on her sixth round of spiritual qi compression and resolved to surpass nine suppressions so Zuo Xiaoduo would never catch up to her.
• Zuo Xiaonian received a group message saying her team had collected their rewards and that her exchanged Deep Sea Black Ice had arrived at their shared office.
• Zuo Xiaonian left her room, and the cold spilling into the corridor drew curious onlookers from around the building.
• Zuo Xiaonian collected the huge piece of black ice and hurried back to her room while people tried and failed to get a clear look at her.
• Onlookers debated Zuo Xiaonian's cultivation, and someone identified her as being at the Dan Origin Realm peak.

Cloud High Martial’s new-student competition came down to Zhou Yunqing, Long Yusheng, and Wan Lixiu. Zhou won the championship after Long and Wan both conceded, leaving the other students grumbling that they had seen little but a couple’s devotion.

• Long Yusheng defended his arena against challengers and emerged as one of Cloud High Martial’s three strongest new students, alongside Zhou Yunqing and Wan Lixiu.
• Zhou Yunqing defeated Long Yusheng in a brutal fight, leaving Long badly injured and Zhou heavily wounded.
• Wan Lixiu conceded to Zhou, explaining that she did not want to claim victory over an injured opponent and needed to care for Long.
• Zhou Yunqing accepted the championship without feeling honored, while the students below laughed at his complaints about being forced to watch the couple’s devotion.
• Long Yusheng and Wan Lixiu both conceded the contest for second and third place, prompting Cloud High Martial’s new students to lament their disappointing tournament.

Long Yusheng and Wan Lixiu discussed how to strengthen themselves after the arena matches, while Yu Moyan won the Yuyang High Martial competition and reaffirmed his resolve to protect what he cherished. The chapter left Yu Moyan alone beneath the setting sun, holding to the Jade Pendant and He Yuanyue’s charge.

• Long Yusheng and Wan Lixiu resolved to keep compressing their True Essence in hopes of surpassing Zuo Xiaoduo, then Wan Lixiu beat Long Yusheng after he teased her about an embarrassing video.
• At Dragon Soul High Martial, others tried and failed to wake the sleeping Li Changming for the New Student Competition.
• Yu Moyan fought his way to champion at Yuyang High Martial, growing more withdrawn as his swordsmanship and murderous aura sharpened.
• Yu Moyan sat alone after the competition, held the Jade Pendant, and vowed to use his slaughter to protect his home, country, brothers, and sisters.