Chapter Summaries

The Dark Pavilion's returning Pavilion Master broke the silence of the captured Evil Cult members through brutal interrogations, and their confessions gave Yu Mo leads to investigate. Yu Mo sent the leads back to the Dark Pavilion, where the Pavilion Master ordered a crackdown on its failures as the arrest operations began.

• The Pavilion Master returned to the Dark Pavilion and rebuked its interrogators for discussing the prisoners and failing to extract confessions.
• The Pavilion Master interrogated a Seventh Awakening prisoner until the man agreed to reveal what he knew, then continued interrogating other senior Evil Cult members over three days.
• The Dark Pavilion sent the resulting confessions to the Ink Pavilion, where Yu Mo sorted through the details and identified several possible covert posts.
• Yu Mo ordered the Dark Pavilion to observe locations in Huai City, Elm City, and Lucky City before making arrests.
• The Pavilion Master criticized the Dark Pavilion's senior officers for allowing suspects to escape and warned that anyone who let even one person get away could not remain in the organization.

Over a fortnight, Yu Mo’s campaign destroyed the Evil Cult’s bases and agents, while students from several academies fought alongside the older generation and brought Spirit Mind Academy renewed respect. After the operation ended, the Human Race Grand Exam began, with the Three Major Universities watching candidates while Ink Academy remained occupied with its own affairs.

• Yu Mo’s orders led to the Evil Cult’s hidden bases, planted agents, and death warriors being rooted out, though its Goddess remained missing.
• Students from Ink Academy and the 140th Cohort helped fight the Evil Cult, and Xu joined Sun Wen’s team and defeated several enemies.
• The Dark Pavilion’s chief became notorious among netizens, while Spirit Mind Academy drew attention with its blood-red uniforms and students’ bravery.
• Qi Changshan urged Spirit Mind Academy’s students to prove themselves; about a hundred withdrew, and 138 students died fighting across the Human Race’s territory.
• The campaign ended, the academies returned to their studies, and Spirit Mind Academy cut off internet access to keep students focused.
• The Human Race Grand Exam began, and the Three Major Universities sent admissions teachers to follow the candidates while Ink Academy stayed occupied with its own affairs.

During the Human Race Grand Exam in Mobei City, Shi Guang led the students up a sheer mountain while Zong Ren followed her route. She reached a perilous stretch near the halfway mark and used her crossbow, rope, and shovel to hang from the cliff with no footholds nearby.

• The supervising teacher announced that the first student to reach the summit would win, and the students hesitated at the sheer cliff.
• Shi Guang began climbing with a rope, an entrenching shovel, and a large backpack, while Zong Ren followed behind her.
• The supervising teacher revealed that students who fell would not die, then marked the students who had started climbing before hearing this.
• Shi Guang pulled ahead by using her shovel and rope, while Zong Ren stopped copying her route and searched for his own footholds.
• Near the halfway point, Shi Guang fired a crossbow bolt into a rock crack, swung upward, and drove her shovel into the cliff as she began to fall.

Shi Guang crossed a seemingly impossible gap during the trial, then faced a goshawk and a giant python on the mountainside. Meanwhile, Xu Yuanqing pressed Yu Sheng for Lawless Outlaws' location, and Yu Sheng accidentally reached him by phone, discovering that he was on the run.

• Shi Guang used an entrenching shovel and two daggers to cross the gap as other students fell from the cliff.
• A goshawk swooped at Shi Guang as a giant python blocked the path ahead.
• Xu Yuanqing tried to persuade Yu Sheng to help him find Lawless Outlaws, but Yu Sheng showed that the listed phone number was supposedly out of service.
• Xu Yuanqing left after learning Yu Sheng had no useful information, while Yu Sheng forgot to hang up the call.
• Lawless Outlaws answered through the supposedly deactivated number and explained that he had kept its prized number by changing the ringback tone.
• Yu Sheng asked why Lawless Outlaws was shouting if he was in danger, and the call fell silent.

Yu Sheng repeatedly called Lawless Outlaws to demand the promised money, then used clues and a map to guess where he was hiding. Lawless Outlaws offered forty million in Demon Crystals, plus twenty million for Shi Guang, and Yu Sheng drove off to collect the payment.

• Lawless Outlaws explained that he was on the run and refused to transfer Yu Sheng twenty million while his accounts were being watched.
• Yu Sheng kept calling until Lawless Outlaws agreed to pay Shi Guang as well, but then hung up and left him waiting.
• Yu Sheng marked locations on a map and guessed that Lawless Outlaws was hiding in Xiao'an Village.
• Lawless Outlaws offered forty million in Demon Crystals and told Yu Sheng where to collect it, along with twenty million for Shi Guang.
• Yu Sheng realized he had made sixty million and drove away in a beat-up car from the Ink Academy parking lot.

Shi Guang reached the summit of the assessment cliff and secured first place, while Zong Ren used the cracks she had made to cross the blank stretch and claim second. As students awaited the Human Race Grand Exam rankings, Spirit Mind Academy launched an aggressive recruitment campaign and became a popular choice amid rumors about its resources.

• Shi Guang endured repeated Demon Beast attacks and climbed to the summit, earning first place before vanishing from the assessment space.
• Zong Ren forced his fingers into a crack Shi Guang had made, climbed across the blank stretch despite losing the use of his right arm, and secured second place before letting himself fall.
• Other students saw Zong Ren’s method, but they either failed to grip the cracks or released them in pain and fell.
• The Three Major Universities publicized themselves while students waited for the Human Race Grand Exam rankings.
• Spirit Mind Academy promoted an education comparable to Ink Academy’s and drew interest from gifted students who could not apply to Ink Academy.
• Rumors about Yuan Qingshan and Spirit Mind’s resources spread online, making Spirit Mind Academy the most anticipated school that year.

Ordinary University announced that it would win the Freshman Competition, drawing widespread mockery online. At Ink Academy, Yu Sheng discussed money and student concerns with Sun Wen, while Bai Haitang carried off Zhao Zicheng after their fight.

• Ordinary University declared that it would take the crown in the Freshman Competition, and online commenters ridiculed the obscure academy.
• Yu Sheng told Sun Wen that he had collected money, then admitted to Shi Guang that he had received forty million and agreed to hold her money for eighteen days under Sin City's rules.
• Shi Guang called Yu Sheng repeatedly after their conversation, but he switched off his phone.
• Sun Wen told Yu Sheng that Lin Xiaoxiao was overworking herself by spending all her points in the energy room, and Yu Sheng said everyone had to choose their own path.
• Bai Haitang chased Zhao Zicheng around the field, then hung him from her blade and carried him out through Ink Academy's gates.

Yu Sheng, Zhao Zicheng, and Sun Wen prepared in their own ways for Ink Academy’s incoming students, while Yu Sheng continued gathering gray aura from people he unsettled. Applications for the new intake finally opened.

• Bai Haitang hung Zhao Zicheng from Ink Academy’s signboard until evening, and he returned to campus in his underpants without embarrassment.
• Yu Sheng repeatedly unsettled senior students with bizarre performances, causing them to avoid him and generating gray aura that strengthened him.
• Yu Sheng proposed personally welcoming the new students, while Sun Wen brought supplies to sell them at low prices.
• Zhao Zicheng considered ways to help the newcomers, then chopped apart Xu Yuanqing’s dormitory door and wrote on it before slipping away.
• Yu Sheng visited a driving school and silently gathered gray aura from its instructors and principal.
• Applications for Ink Academy’s new intake finally opened.

Sun Wen and A Tai tried to prepare for Ink Academy’s newcomer assessment but discovered Zhao Zicheng had changed the announcement time. At Jiangcheng’s gate, Zhao’s stress-relief punching bag drew in new students, and his encounter with Qi Tian ended with Zhao recognizing the boy’s grandfather.

• Sun Wen learned that the assessment announcement said eight the next morning, blamed Zhao Zicheng for changing the time, and headed to Jiangcheng’s gate with A Tai to sell Demon Crystals.
• Zhao Zicheng invited an eighteen-year-old girl to punch his sandbag, and she began crying as sorrowful memories surfaced.
• Two boys attacked Zhao Zicheng after accusing him of harassing the girl, but they also struck the sandbag and ended up sobbing.
• Qi Tian arrived in golden armor, declared he would subdue Zhao Zicheng, and attacked with his golden staff, briefly creating a duplicate of himself.
• Zhao Zicheng dodged Qi Tian’s surprise attack, then seized him and asked whether his grandfather was Qi Changshan.

At Jiangcheng’s city gate, Zhao Zicheng turned his punch-for-money stall into a way to help Qi Tian strengthen his awakening, while publicly intimidating him into paying. Zhao then offered the tearful girl a deal to keep punching, and she agreed and asked to add him on WeChat.

• Qi Tian bragged about becoming the Human Race’s next legend, but Zhao Zicheng punched him and made him pay ten thousand for a punch at the sandbag.
• Zhao threatened to strip Qi Tian and hang him outside Ink Academy Gate, so Qi Tian punched the sandbag and transferred the money.
• Zhao encouraged Qi Tian to keep punching, and Qi Tian landed 127 punches as his awakening object and crystal sockets showed signs of advancing.
• Qi Tian paid Zhao and introduced himself as a Dark Pavilion group leader who had earned his money through catching thieves, then sat down to absorb energy and prepare for more punches.
• Reporters photographed Zhao’s unusual city-gate business as he offered the girl a deal: she could punch now and pay him twenty credits if she entered Ink Academy.
• The girl accepted Zhao’s offer and shyly asked to add him on WeChat, and Zhao agreed while maintaining his helpful upperclassman persona.

Zhao Zicheng, Sun Wen, and Mu Yu turned Ink Academy’s arrival into a booming business by selling students training contracts, uniforms, and exam guides. As reporters covered the commotion, Yu Sheng revealed another service: a luxury car offering new students rides for ten credits each.

• Zhao Zicheng persuaded students to sign contracts and punch a sandbag, using Qi Tian’s rapid progress to draw a long line of customers.
• Sun Wen sold Ink Academy uniforms, suggesting they might be part of the entrance exam and offering signed versions at higher prices.
• Mu Yu arrived with an exam guide she claimed was compiled by Xu Yuanqing, and students who had already bought uniforms crowded around to buy booklets too.
• Qi Tian returned to Zhao Zicheng’s stall to ask about paying with credits and received a VIP membership that let him skip the queue.
• Reporters photographed the stalls as Ink Academy’s arrival dominated the news, while Yu Sheng sat in a luxury car advertising rides for new students at ten credits per person.

Sun Wen and Zhao Zicheng took advantage of incoming students by selling them rides, contracts, and Demon Crystals before Yuan Zhong arrived in Jiangcheng. Yuan Zhong bought a 200-credit contract, punched Zhao Zicheng’s sandbag, and was then accidentally knocked into a tree by Yu Sheng.

• Yu Sheng drove a crowded van of new students so wildly that they mistook the ride for an Ink Academy test.
• Sun Wen sold students uniforms, guides, and supposedly pure Demon Crystals with contracts for 20 credits, while Zhao Zicheng ran his sandbag-punching attraction.
• Yuan Zhong, the grandson of Yuan Qingshan, entered the city and drew Sun Wen’s attention with his conspicuously tacky outfit.
• Zhao Zicheng invited Yuan Zhong to punch the sandbag, and Qi Tian taunted him while demonstrating how punching it increased his energy.
• Yuan Zhong signed a contract for 200 credits and punched the sandbag, then Yu Sheng accidentally struck him into a tree, leaving him hanging from its branches with tears in his eyes.

Yuan Zhong tried Zhao Zicheng’s miraculous sandbag, only to learn it was just a stress-relief toy, while Zhao Zicheng and Sun Wen cornered him over his grandfather’s past attack. Qi Tian escaped by chartering Yu Sheng’s van, but Yu Sheng’s reckless driving left him barely able to crawl out at Ink Academy.

• Yuan Zhong confronted Yu Sheng after falling from a tree, then asked Zhao Zicheng for permission to hit the sandbag.
• Yuan Zhong punched the sandbag repeatedly but gained no energy, and Zhao Zicheng refused his demand for a refund while pretending to arrest him.
• Yuan Zhong admitted that Yuan Qingshan was his grandfather, prompting Sun Wen to demand compensation for an attack by two old men.
• Qi Tian climbed into Yu Sheng’s car and signed an agreement to charter it at the nine-seat rate.
• Yu Sheng sped off in the van, and Qi Tian emerged at Ink Academy looking so shaken that the onlookers regarded him as a brave warrior.

Shi Guang tried to earn credits by selling motion-sickness pills to the new students, using Yu Sheng’s reputation to persuade them to sign contracts. When Sun Wen admitted the candidates to Ink Academy for five credits, they saw a powerful sixth-awakening student working at the gates and began to suspect they had been scammed.

• Yu Sheng gave Shi Guang the key and address to her rental, then drove off to make money and immediately crashed into a tree.
• Shi Guang offered the candidates ordinary pharmacy motion-sickness pills for twenty credits each and warned that Yu Sheng would drive them back if they refused.
• Qi Tian and the other candidates signed Shi Guang’s contracts and bought pills, while Yu Sheng continued ferrying students to Ink Academy.
• Yuan Zhong arrived on the roof of Yu Sheng’s car, and the candidates compared their ordeal with his forlorn appearance.
• Sun Wen offered the gate staff five credits to open Ink Academy, and Xu Yuanqing appeared in flames after defeating several students at the entrance.
• Sun Wen told the candidates to assemble at eight the next morning for the assessment, leaving them stunned by the academy’s powerful student workers and suspicious that they had been scammed.

Sun Wen disqualified three applicants for abandoning an injured girl during the scramble for uniforms, and Zhao Zicheng offered the remaining students a chance to advance by challenging Mu Yu. Yuan Zhong attacked Mu Yu using a silver bell to teleport, but Mu Yu’s Gravestone forced him to retreat before he charged again.

• Sun Wen disqualified three students for neglecting a girl they had knocked down while scrambling for uniforms, then explained that Ink Academy would not accept people who put themselves ahead of the Human Race.
• A Tai threw the three students out, and Sun Wen entered Ink Academy after dismissing the protest of one student who had placed third in the Tiannan Provincial Exam.
• Mu Yu returned and told Zhao Zicheng that the girl had only suffered a few scrapes and that he had paid compensation; Zhao then offered the applicants a chance to advance by defeating Mu Yu.
• Shi Guang considered challenging Mu Yu, but Yu Sheng warned her that Mu Yu was very strong, so she held back.
• Qi Tian stepped forward to challenge Mu Yu, but Yuan Zhong charged first and used a silver bell to teleport in front of him; Mu Yu swung the Gravestone, forcing Yuan Zhong to dodge and retreat.
• Yuan Zhong put on brass knuckles and charged at Mu Yu again.

Mu Yu defeated Yuan Zhong and Qi Tian outside the Ink Academy while Zhao Zicheng and Sun Wen watched. After Mu Yu collected his promised five hundred thousand, Sun Wen covered the exhausted grandsons’ heads with a sack and kicked them in revenge.

• Zhao Zicheng kicked Qi Tian into Mu Yu’s fight with Yuan Zhong, and Mu Yu’s Gravestone kept both of them from reaching him.
• Shi Guang considered attacking Mu Yu, but Yu Sheng explained that Mu Yu could have been last year’s Ink Academy Rookie King before leaving with her.
• Mu Yu’s Gravestone knocked Qi Tian and Yuan Zhong flat, and Zhao Zicheng entered the academy after taking a group photo with the fallen students.
• Sun Wen sent Yuan Qingshan and Qi Changshan a recording and teased them about their grandsons, but they blocked him after he refused to help keep the boys out of the exam.
• Mu Yu collected five hundred thousand from Sun Wen, who then put a sack over Qi Tian and Yuan Zhong and kicked them while A Tai recorded.

Sun Wen took revenge on Yuan Zhong and Qi Tian by beating them before the assessment, then presided over the next morning’s registration at Ink Academy. The students entered for roll call, while Shi Guang’s familiar stance caught Sun Wen’s attention.

• Sun Wen beat Yuan Zhong and Qi Tian, healed them with energy fluid, and admitted he had spent fifty million to buy assessment slots because he held a grudge.
• Sun Wen asked A Tai whether he had recorded the beating, then returned to Ink Academy after the two students fled.
• A Tai gave Sun Wen VIP treatment at the entrance in exchange for Sun Wen tearing up his five-hundred-thousand IOU.
• Sun Wen closed registration at seven, announced that Lin Qi had not arrived, and sent the new students inside for roll call.
• Sun Wen noticed Shi Guang standing in a corner in a way that reminded him of someone from his own first day at Ink Academy.

Zong Ren discovered Qiu Xiaoxiao’s signal in Jiangcheng and met her to discuss forming an alliance. They agreed to cooperate and rebuild their forces while keeping each other in check, and Zong Ren left after warning her to control her desires.

• Zong Ren learned that Ink Academy was too dangerous to approach and spotted a secret signal tied to Qiu Xiaoxiao.
• Zong Ren followed a disguised Qiu Xiaoxiao to a courtyard, where she proposed that they join forces and revealed she had secretly trained several groups of deathsworn.
• Zong Ren tested Qiu Xiaoxiao by demanding she spend a night with him, but she warned that each had prepared a contingency to ensure neither could betray the other without consequences.
• Zong Ren proposed taking absolute control of their reorganized group and asked for twenty deathsworn with clean backgrounds; Qiu Xiaoxiao agreed while demanding security for her position and access to his plans.
• Zong Ren said they should monitor the Lawless Outlaws Specialty Store, then left after warning Qiu Xiaoxiao that her beauty and desires could endanger them.

Zong Ren bet everything he owned on Shi Guang to enter Ink Academy, while Sun Yingxiong learned that a trusted colleague had defected to the Evil Cult and Ink Pavilion began a sweeping purge. At Ink Academy’s entrance test, Sun Wen’s free-for-all descended into chaos as applicants targeted Shi Guang, Yuan Zhong, and Qi Tian, and he let the fight continue past the one-minute limit.

• Zong Ren used Lin Qi’s identity to bet everything he owned on Shi Guang in an underground casino’s admissions pool.
• Yu Mo told Sun Yingxiong that the Deputy Director of the Guard Bureau’s General Headquarters had defected to the Evil Cult, and Sun Yingxiong reacted with grief and disbelief.
• Ink Pavilion arrested or dismissed serving personnel and replaced them with younger staff as its Dark Pavilion cells filled with prisoners.
• Sun Wen began Ink Academy’s first entrance test, a one-minute free-for-all, and Shi Guang quickly knocked down two applicants before withdrawing to a corner.
• Yuan Zhong attacked and incapacitated one student, then fought Qi Tian after tripping, while Qi Tian was mobbed by other applicants.
• Sun Wen announced that defeating Shi Guang, Yuan Zhong, or Qi Tian would guarantee advancement, and the applicants turned on them as he let the fight continue beyond one minute.

Sun Wen extended the assessment to fifteen minutes, leaving the students exhausted and furious. After checking Shi Guang’s file, he realized she was connected to Yu Sheng and settled back to watch the chaos, where Qi Tian’s gold-plated armor was exposed.

• Sun Wen announced that the assessment would last fifteen minutes, and the students reacted with anger after having already spent their energy expecting a shorter test.
• Yuan Zhong stumbled during his escape, summoned his Awakening Object to disappear and reappear several meters away, then resumed running.
• Sun Wen asked A Tai to retrieve Shi Guang’s file and learned that she was born in Sin City and had left there the year after Boss Yu did.
• Sun Wen realized Yu Sheng had meant for him to look after Shi Guang literally and, seeing that Zhao Gaga and Mu Yu seemed unaware, eagerly resumed watching the field.
• Exhausted students continued fighting, and Qi Tian crawled over to punch and bite a boy who had joined in attacking him.
• The boy bit Qi Tian’s armor, exposing the steel beneath its gold plating, then lost his front teeth and passed out.