Recaps

Xu Yuanqing announced the Light Group advancement assessment, but the vice principal took over and explained its rules: veterans would team with first-years, who would evaluate them. Sun Wen approached Li Zi to form a team, while the assignments remained to be settled.

• Xu Yuanqing announced that students would spend six months gaining experience in the Light Group, working in pairs and writing evaluations.
• Xu Yuanqing proposed pairing veterans with newcomers, and Sun Wen paid him two hundred thousand to avoid being paired with Li Zi.
• Xu Yuanqing introduced the first-years and began a selection game before the vice principal relieved him of his examiner duties.
• The vice principal said teams would be assigned by drawing lots, except for Yu Sheng and Shi Guang, and clarified that only newcomers would evaluate veterans.
• Sun Wen approached Li Zi and offered to team up, citing his money and their shared resemblance to Wang Youcai.

Li Zi and Sun Wen agreed to partner for the assessment, and the other students formed teams while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang were assigned together with increased difficulty. After the students received old phones and were ordered to avoid contact for three months, the Vice Principal’s secret test was noticed by Xu Yuanqing, who demanded twenty credits for his silence.

• Li Zi accepted Sun Wen as her partner after reasoning that seniors and freshmen would likely become opponents in the assessment.
• Wang Youcai offered Mu Yu logistical support, and the remaining students formed teams, leaving Yu Sheng and Shi Guang together.
• The Vice Principal assigned Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to the same team with a harder assessment, then ordered all teams to surrender their phones and avoid contacting one another for three months.
• Xu Yuanqing’s examiner status was restored, and he told the students to collect replacement phones and find their missions on them.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang collected old phones from a young woman at the Academic Affairs Office and left without questioning her.
• The Vice Principal watched the office through surveillance and mocked the students’ lack of suspicion, but Xu Yuanqing appeared at his window and demanded twenty credits to keep quiet.

Xu Yuanqing secured a raise from the Vice Principal by offering him the complete, uncut version of Seven-Colored Fairy. Meanwhile, Yu Sheng and Shi Guang arrived in Ink City to join the Light Group, where Yu Mo expected them to work at the level of full-fledged team members.

• Xu Yuanqing demanded a raise from the Vice Principal and persuaded him to double his salary by offering Seven-Colored Fairy.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang left for Ink City, deciding not to bring their cart.
• Yu Mo explained that Ink Academy students were being sent to several cities and said Yu Sheng and Shi Guang should be trained as full-fledged team members.
• Yu Mo privately hoped pressure would prepare Yu Sheng to shoulder the Ink Pavilion and Shi Guang to become an emotionless replacement after his death.
• At the station, Yu Sheng and Shi Guang found a pickup sign instructing them to reach Sky Group Headquarters by 10:35 and warning that lateness would cost them a month's salary.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang ignored the long-haired man’s hidden clues and waited out his attempt to test them, then confronted him at the pickup sign. Yu Sheng argued that he had followed the stated rules and warned that poor leadership would make dangerous work not worth the rewards, leaving the long-haired man asking how Yu Sheng would rate him.

• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang found no taxi driver who recognized Light Group, suspected the pickup sign marked a test, and chose to eat rather than search for clues.
• The long-haired man waited by a billboard, expecting the newcomers to follow his clues, then returned to the station pickup sign after they failed to appear.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang watched the long-haired man from the restaurant and approached him after he stopped at the pickup sign.
• Yu Sheng pointed out that the rules had not required them to follow his clues and said he had already paid the appropriate penalty for arriving late.
• Yu Sheng warned that if the long-haired man retaliated out of humiliation, he would ask the Ink Academy to withdraw him from the advancement assessment because an unintelligent leader increased the death rate.
• The long-haired man admitted that he had ended up being tested himself and asked Yu Sheng what score he would give him.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang traveled with the long-haired man to the Light Group headquarters, where Yu Sheng repeatedly tested the man with questions he could not answer. Yu Mo welcomed Yu Sheng as a temporary member and hinted that Lin Siyuan was capable but unlucky.

• Yu Sheng asked whether the long-haired man had lived in the Reserve Corps, then clarified that he meant to ask whether the man was returning to Ink Academy; the man became irritated when Yu Sheng said he was not going back for now.
• As the long-haired man drove, Yu Sheng gave him more than thirty difficult workplace dilemmas, and the man failed to settle on an answer to any of them.
• The long-haired man asked whether Yu Sheng had invented the questions or found them in an ancient book, and Yu Sheng said he had found them in a book with no answers.
• At the Light Group headquarters, the long-haired man welcomed Yu Sheng, who declined to shake his hand.
• Yu Mo wheeled out of the building, gave Yu Sheng a box, and welcomed him to the Light Group on a temporary basis.
• Yu Mo told Yu Sheng that Lin Siyuan was good at getting things done but sometimes unlucky.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang joined the Light Group and were shown to their lodgings, while Zong Ren settled An An into a new home in Willow City and watched over her as she adjusted to life there. The chapter ended with An An looking forward to visiting Grandma Liu once her eyes recovered, and Zong Ren promising to take her.

• Yu Mo welcomed Yu Sheng to the Light Group, gave him a promised gift, and sent him with the long-haired man to the rest area.
• The long-haired man teased Yu Sheng about their work, but Yu Sheng and Shi Guang showed little interest in his hints.
• Zong Ren left An An at their new home in Willow City, and she carefully learned the rooms and cleaned while he watched from outside.
• Zong Ren checked the neighborhood, bought groceries, and returned to cook dinner for An An.
• An An asked whether Grandma Liu would miss them, and Zong Ren said she had called and promised to take An An to visit once her eyes recovered.

Zong Ren marked a Demon Core shop before leaving, while Lin Siyuan took Yu Sheng and Shi Guang on their first Light Group mission to the Veterans' Camp. The mission began with an old man ordering Lin Siyuan to leave when he asked for Lü Wei, but Lin Siyuan calmly repeated his question.

• Zong Ren watched An An sleep, then marked the wall outside a Demon Core shop with a crooked line and a dot.
• Lin Siyuan introduced himself as captain of the Light Group's Third Squad and explained Yu Sheng and Shi Guang's temporary assignment and salary.
• Lin Siyuan drove Yu Sheng and Shi Guang out of Ink City to the Veterans' Camp for a supposedly low-risk mission.
• Lin Siyuan asked an old man at the camp entrance where Lü Wei was, and the old man recognized his Light Group badge and told him to get lost.
• Lin Siyuan remained bent over and politely asked the old man again where Lü Wei was.

Lin Siyuan came to the Veterans' Camp to take Lü Wei for questioning after investigators found his name in Wan Yu's remittance records, but the veterans refused to let him go. Lü Wei finally emerged from his home and agreed to accompany Lin Siyuan.

• An old veteran challenged Lin Siyuan over Ink Pavilion's investigation of Wan Yu, and Lin explained that the inquiry concerned suspected profiteering and was required by procedure.
• Lin Siyuan revealed that Lü Wei's name had appeared frequently in the remittance records, prompting the old man to protest that Lü had no reason to want the money.
• The Veterans' Camp veterans gathered and warned Lin Siyuan that they would not let him take Lü Wei without proper authority.
• Lü Wei came out of his house, told the other veterans to stop arguing, and agreed to go with Lin Siyuan.

Lin Siyuan escorted Lü Wei from the Veterans' Camp after Pang Qianqiu warned the Ink Pavilion to treat the old veterans fairly. At a secret meeting, Yu Mo asked Zhong Yushu to apologize publicly and hand his company over to the state, and Zhong Yushu agreed despite the political cost.

• The veterans tried to stop Lin Siyuan from taking Lü Wei, but Pang Qianqiu ordered them to stand down and demanded a fair explanation from Yu Mo and Sun Yingxiong.
• Lü Wei saluted Pang Qianqiu, apologized for causing trouble, and left with Lin Siyuan, Yu Sheng, and Shi Guang.
• Yu Mo told Zhong Yushu to apologize in an internet-wide livestream, disclose his company's earnings and uses, and turn the company over to the state.
• Zhong Yushu agreed because the Human Race needed it, even though the apology would stain his record and end his prospects of becoming the next Ink Pavilion Head.
• Zhong Yushu suggested Yu Mo had planned for him to lose the chance at the position, while Sun Yingxiong watched silently.

Yu Mo persuaded Zhong Yushu to publicly confess to misusing his position, while Sun Yingxiong revealed the Ink Pavilion was nearing financial collapse. After Zhong apologized, Yu Mo confirmed the investigation and announced that the Light Group would temporarily manage Ink Pavilion affairs as Sun prepared to break through.

• Yu Mo told Zhong Yushu that an apology would make it easier to address fraudulent fundraising without provoking public unrest.
• Sun Yingxiong explained that the Ink Pavilion had surrendered profitable industries to support the public and risked running out of funds within three years.
• Yu Mo urged Zhong Yushu to take the first step and promised the Veterans' Camp would not be treated unjustly; Zhong agreed to hold a press conference.
• Zhong Yushu apologized in a live broadcast for using his position to establish a private disc-selling company and said he would hand it over to the Light Group.
• After public accounts questioned Zhong's confession, Yu Mo confirmed the Light Group's investigation and announced that it would manage Ink Pavilion affairs for a month while Sun Yingxiong attempted to reach the ninth awakening.

After Yu Mo’s statement sparked public outrage against the Light Group, Lin Siyuan assured Lü Wei and the other elder that they would try to clear Elder Zhong’s name. Yu Sheng challenged Yu Mo’s decision to exclude him from the next assignment, and the chapter ended with Yu Mo allowing Shi Guang to stay back while Yu Sheng accepted the conditions of his special privileges.

• Lin Siyuan visited Lü Wei and another elder in the Interrogation Room, where they asked him to clear Elder Zhong’s name.
• Lin Siyuan left the room shaken, then asked Yu Sheng what he thought of the events; Yu Sheng said the situation did not fit the Ink Pavilion’s rules without an eventual reversal.
• Lin Siyuan ordered Yu Sheng to rest and took Shi Guang with him, but Yu Sheng caught up, citing his Four-Pattern Cloud Merit and special privileges.
• Yu Mo questioned Yu Sheng by phone, and Yu Sheng said he did not want to follow the order because this was not the Ink Pavilion he remembered.
• Yu Mo allowed Shi Guang to stay back but required Yu Sheng to create more benefits in exchange for the privileges he would retain.
• Yu Sheng accepted Yu Mo’s rules and left with Shi Guang to rest while Lin Siyuan continued on alone.

Lin Siyuan announced the arrests of two retired officers and began a crackdown on profiteering, drawing fierce public condemnation of the Light Group and Yu Mo. He led Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to arrest a well-connected trafficker, warning them to stay back as the team arrived at their target’s city.

• Lin Siyuan announced that Lü Wei and Wan Yu had been detained and their assets confiscated, and declared a month-long crackdown on profiteering.
• Zhong Yushu told Sun Yingxiong that Yu Mo was shielding the Ink Pavilion Head’s credibility, while Sun resolved to keep serving the Human Race by pursuing the ninth awakening.
• The public and Reserve Corps condemned Yu Mo and Lin Siyuan and demanded evidence that the retired officers had committed crimes.
• The Light Group arrested a well-regarded philanthropist in a nearby city, intensifying public anger.
• Lin Siyuan explained that the target was a Fifth Awakening Person who had used his family’s military honors to traffic supplies and people into the Demon Domain.
• Lin Siyuan urged Yu Sheng and Shi Guang not to get involved, but they followed him out of the vehicle toward the arrest.

Lin Siyuan and Yu Sheng arrested Boss Qiu despite his efforts to negotiate, as locals mistook the Light Group for greedy parasites. Lin Siyuan saw Yu Mo reflected in Yu Sheng, though their chosen paths led in opposite directions.

• Locals denounced the Light Group as its vehicle headed for Boss Qiu, whom they believed was a generous man.
• Boss Qiu ordered an old man to destroy their records of cooperation with the Demon Domain before the Light Group arrived.
• Lin Siyuan ordered Yu Sheng to arrest Boss Qiu, who tried to persuade Lin Siyuan to change course.
• Yu Sheng suppressed Boss Qiu's power, handcuffed him, and silenced him with a hood and gag.
• Yu Sheng told Lin Siyuan that people had to choose their own paths, and Lin Siyuan thought Yu Sheng resembled Yu Mo while following a different path.

Lin Siyuan and Yu Sheng took Boss Qiu Fanrui into custody, but the citizens protested because they believed he was innocent. After Lin Siyuan endured their hostility and they left the city, Boss Qiu mocked his faith in protecting people, while Yu Sheng gagged him again.

• Shi Guang returned with an unconscious elderly man and reported that the documents had been destroyed.
• Lin Siyuan led Boss Qiu Fanrui out of the building, where a hostile crowd demanded his release and proof of his crime.
• Yu Sheng offered Boss Qiu a chance to win over the crowd, and Boss Qiu urged the citizens to trust the Light Group and wait for its findings before Yu Sheng gagged him again.
• Lin Siyuan faced the crowd without retaliating, and the citizens let the group pass while demanding evidence and a final outcome.
• In the car, Boss Qiu mocked Lin Siyuan for protecting people who had attacked him and claimed the Human Race would turn against him without evidence.
• Yu Sheng frowned and gagged Boss Qiu again as gray aura rose from his head.

Boss Qiu argued that the Human Race’s ideals and sacrifices were wrong, but Lin Siyuan defended the people who stood up for Yu Sheng and explained the Light Group’s role. As Boss Qiu panicked over Yu Sheng’s recorded confession, Shi Guang, Yu Sheng, and Lin Siyuan calmly discussed how to bury him, leaving his resolve close to breaking.

• Boss Qiu condemned his ancestors and argued that trading humans to the Demon Domain would let the Human Race live comfortably.
• Yu Sheng revealed he had called an Ink Pavilion reporting hotline, which automatically recorded Boss Qiu’s confession.
• Lin Siyuan defended the citizens who spoke up and described the Light Group as executioners who eliminated threats from the shadows.
• Shi Guang asked whether Boss Qiu would need to be buried, and she, Yu Sheng, and Lin Siyuan debated cremation and burial while Boss Qiu listened.
• Boss Qiu struggled against his restraints as the group considered burying him in a pit, and his resolve began to collapse.

Yu Mo launched a second move in the Light Group’s crackdown, asking Sun Yingxiong to set an example through his grandson, Sun Wen. After watching Yu Mo and Sun Yingxiong’s appeal, Sun Wen agreed to hold a major press conference, whose purpose remained unclear as public speculation grew.

• The Light Group arrested wealthy locals and prominent businesspeople across the Human Race, deepening public contempt for the organization.
• Yu Mo told Zhong Yushu that the arrests were only his first move and asked Sun Yingxiong to set an example through Sun Wen.
• Sun Wen’s captain delivered Yu Mo’s video, in which Yu Mo and Sun Yingxiong asked Sun Wen to do something momentous despite the cost to his Gold Ingot Group.
• After spending an hour alone, Sun Wen emerged and ordered his captain to arrange the biggest, most prestigious press conference.
• News of Sun Wen’s upcoming press conference spread online, and people speculated that he might oppose Yu Mo and the Light Group.

Sun Wen transferred his Gold Ingot Group shares to the Light Group, followed by companies and wealthy individuals facing a sweeping crackdown as Yu Mo pursued his plan to hold the Human Race together. The chapter ended with Yu Mo telling Zhong Yushu that a third step was no longer necessary because the Black Market had sent the Light Group a large shipment of supplies.

• Sun Wen announced that he had voluntarily transferred his Gold Ingot Group shares to the Light Group, then privately texted an unfamiliar number and collapsed backstage.
• Yu Mo received Sun Wen's message, and more than a dozen corporate groups, including the Five Leading Enterprises, donated large portions of their shares to the Light Group.
• Yu Mo admitted to Zhong Yushu that he had forced the companies to donate and said he believed his actions could keep the Human Race's internal affairs together for another fifty years.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang arrested four people during the continuing crackdown, while more companies and wealthy individuals faced investigations and arrests.
• Yu Mo told Zhong Yushu that a third step was no longer needed because the Black Market had proactively sent the Light Group a large shipment of supplies.

Yu Mo prepared the Light Group for a major operation after the Black Market unexpectedly cooperated, and he suspected Yu Sheng was its Spokesperson. The group set out through Ink City as its livestream drew a hostile crowd, while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang stayed behind to handle the bodies.

• Yu Mo and Zhong Yushu discussed the Black Market’s cooperation, and Yu Mo guessed that Yu Sheng might be its Spokesperson.
• Yu Mo addressed the Light Group members at headquarters, thanked them, and led them into a convoy for their operation.
• Yu Mo told Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to stay behind and avoid cameras, but they insisted on coming to deal with the bodies.
• The Light Group’s convoy drove through Ink City, attracting citizens who cursed and followed it.
• The Light Group’s website posted a link to a black livestream screen, where viewers argued about Yu Mo and trusted Sun Yingxiong to stop him.

Old White Ape and Ji Hong watched the Human Race’s affairs while discussing Yu Mo and Ji Hong’s past as his teacher. They waited in a tree near the Demon-Suppressing Pass for Yu Mo’s livestream to begin, leaving Old White Ape boasting that the Demon Clan would eventually overpower the Human Race.

• Old White Ape used a phone to show Ji Hong news about Yu Mo, whose willingness to risk his life left Ji Hong despondent.
• Ji Hong revealed that Yu Mo had been his withdrawn student, and reflected on how he had once taken the child under his wing.
• Old White Ape complained about the poor signal, and he and Ji Hong moved to a tree twenty li from the Demon-Suppressing Pass to await Yu Mo’s livestream.
• Old White Ape admitted he had a mole among the Human Race but refused to identify the person, then joked that he was still a juvenile by Demon Clan standards.
• Old White Ape claimed that the Demon Clan’s youth would eventually let them crush the Human Race, while Ji Hong listened in silence.

Yu Mo publicly declared the Light Group’s executions a record of its work and invoked the Yu Clan’s inherited merit to sentence Zhao Rui to death. Lin Siyuan carried out the execution as viewers disputed Yu Mo’s claims and demanded evidence.

• Ji Hong asked Old White Ape to adopt a different persona, and Old White Ape settled into a grave, detached manner as the broadcast began.
• Yu Mo addressed viewers from Ink City’s central square, introduced the Light Group’s purpose as killing, and called the event a documentary.
• Yu Mo accused more than a hundred chained prisoners of threatening the Human Race and said their ancestors’ merits had not given them the strength to keep their wealth.
• After a prisoner mocked him, Yu Mo ordered an investigation of the man’s descendants and identified him as Zhao Rui, accused of profiteering from supplies and selling intelligence to the Demon Clan.
• Zhao Rui expected his father’s merit to spare him from death, but Yu Mo displayed the Yu Clan merit badge and pronounced judgment; Lin Siyuan killed Zhao Rui with a cleaver.
• Viewers reacted with shock, questioned the accusations, and demanded evidence and intervention from Elder Sun.

Yu Mo oversaw a mass execution in Ink City, killing prisoners while the public watched and feared him. After the first batch died, he ordered another group into the square, leaving the executions still underway and the city’s people painfully aware of their helplessness.

• Yu Mo read names from a list as the Light Group executed prisoners, turning the square into a scene of bloodshed that horrified the gathered residents and livestream viewers.
• The executions continued for nearly two hours, while members of the Reserve Corps were away on live combat exercises and Yu Mo retained near-total control.
• A boy vowed to grow stronger and kill Yu Mo, and Yu Mo told the youths they were powerless and had survived only because he allowed it.
• Yu Mo reflected that the youths must not learn the truth behind his actions, then warned them that the executions were only beginning.
• Yu Mo ordered another batch of hooded prisoners into the square and began reading names for the next round of executions.

As Yu Mo continued executing prisoners on a livestream, Shi Guang prepared to bury the bodies while Yu Sheng questioned Yu Mo’s motives. Elsewhere, Ji Hong rejected Old White Ape’s attempts at friendship and remained wary of his ally.

• The livestream’s viewers watched the executions continue, while public opinion remained divided over whether to intervene.
• Shi Guang accepted the task of digging a pit in the square and refused an offer of help.
• Yu Sheng asked Yu Mo whether he wanted the crowd to remember and hate him, and Yu Mo replied that he wanted them to look at their own ancestors.
• Old White Ape suggested that Ji Hong’s disciple was ruthless enough to assassinate and tried to discuss their potential friendship.
• Ji Hong asked whether Old White Ape would spare the Human Race or him if he became lord of Skyvault Ravine, and Old White Ape admitted he would spare neither.
• Old White Ape watched Shi Guang dig and lamented that he could not absorb the prisoners’ blood essence to heal his injuries.

As Yu Mo’s overnight purge ended, he sent corrupt prisoners into exile and prepared for a hostile group expected to reach Ink City in two days. Exhausted but determined, he left with Lin Siyuan while his team trusted that he would survive the coming danger.

• Old White Ape switched phones and resumed watching Yu Mo’s livestream as Ji Hong listened until dawn.
• Yu Mo ended the livestream after announcing that the remaining offenders would be exiled to Sin City, leaving viewers silent and afraid.
• At the prison, Yu Mo explained that the prisoners’ corruption threatened the Ink Pavilion and the Human Race, then ordered Lin Siyuan to send them away.
• Yu Mo learned that a group coming to kill him would arrive in two days and ended the Reserve Corps’ temporary drill.
• Yu Mo refused to let Lin Siyuan leave him, and Lin Siyuan assured the Second Team’s captain that Yu Mo would survive until their unfinished work was done.

Yu Mo prepared to face the Judgment Squad and refused to deny responsibility for his actions, while negotiating with Yu Sheng over Shi Guang’s future. As the crowd confronted him on Ink Pavilion’s rooftop, Yu Mo calmly accepted that he had acted alone and said he had tried to overturn the world despite knowing he might not be able to.

• Yu Mo woke, reviewed his schedule, and asked his assistant to bring Yu Sheng to meet him.
• Yu Mo told Yu Sheng that giving up his plans for Shi Guang would require both Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to offer something in return; they spoke privately before Yu Sheng left.
• Yu Mo dismissed his longtime assistant and waited at Ink Pavilion as the Judgment Squad and a retired Seventh Awakening Reserve Corps general approached.
• Yu Mo went to the rooftop, where the Judgment Squad found him after his assistant revealed his location.
• Senior Zhang questioned Yu Mo, who denied being brainwashed or threatened, claimed he had acted for fame and profit, and said he had tried to overturn the world despite knowing he might not succeed.

Sun Yingxiong intervened when a civilian group moved to punish Yu Mo, then publicly promised an impartial Ink Pavilion judgment the next day. Yu Mo arranged to be taken into custody to redirect public anger, while Yu Sheng and Shi Guang quietly prepared their gear at the Light Group dormitory.

• The old man offered Yu Mo a chance to admit his wrongdoing, but Yu Mo denied he had done anything wrong, and the group prepared to kill him.
• Sun Yingxiong appeared and stopped the Sixth Awakening fighters, then promised to handle Yu Mo’s case publicly and impartially the next day.
• Sun Yingxiong offered to explain Yu Mo’s actions, but Yu Mo refused so Sun Yingxiong and the Ink Pavilion would not lose credibility.
• Yu Mo asked Sun Yingxiong to arrest him publicly, and Ink Pavilion staff escorted him toward the Guard Bureau as onlookers celebrated.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang organized their backpacks and cleaned their daggers, fishing line, and iron nails in a Light Group dormitory.