Chapter Summaries

Ink Academy held a grand graduation ceremony for its 140th Cohort, with Xu Yuanqing using his fire skills to escort six students onto the platform. The graduates posed for a photograph, and Yu Sheng finally smiled naturally as they stood together.

• Xu Yuanqing announced that Yu Sheng, Zhao Zicheng, Sun Wen, Mu Yu, A Tai, and Lin Xiaoxiao were graduating from Ink Academy.
• Xu Yuanqing created a blazing road and a giant lotus with his Phoenix and fire skills for the ceremony.
• Yu Sheng and the others crossed the fire road and gathered on the platform as younger students watched in awe.
• The graduates reflected on their hardships and felt calmer as they stood together before the students.
• Yu Sheng asked the others to take a picture, and he smiled sincerely when the teacher took it.

Xu Yuanqing gave his graduating students three final wishes for their happiness, freedom, and safety, then accepted their thanks and departed in his familiar shameless manner. He quietly resolved that, when the time came, he would seek a difficult fight and die without regret.

• After the graduation photo, Xu Yuanqing reminded the students that the Torch Inheritance Road passed on humanity’s backbone and undying flame.
• Xu Yuanqing wished the students peace and joy, the freedom to follow their hearts, and safety year after year, then bowed to them.
• The students returned Xu Yuanqing’s bow and thanked him for caring for them throughout their years at Ink Academy.
• Xu Yuanqing turned away, demanded payment for his special effects, and departed while the students called him shameless.
• As he left, Xu Yuanqing reflected that the students had fulfilled the graduation dream he had lost and planned to die in a difficult battle when he could no longer advance.

As the graduates prepared to part ways, Yu Sheng said he would stay at Ink Academy while waiting for someone, but Yu Mo arrived to forbid him from entering the Demon Domain. Yu Sheng got permission by threatening to call powerful contacts who backed him.

• Sun Wen, Zhao Zicheng, A Tai, Mu Yu, and Lin Xiaoxiao each said where they planned to go after leaving the Mountains and Seas Realm.
• Yu Sheng said he would stay at Ink Academy and wait for someone, but clarified that the Old Principal had rejected his request to become a teacher.
• Yu Mo warned Yu Sheng and the others to avoid the Demon Domain and the Four Great Passes unless a major emergency threatened the Human Race.
• Yu Sheng insisted he needed to go to the Demon Domain and prepared to call Yu Sanshui when Yu Mo refused.
• Yu Sheng showed Yu Mo the number of the ninth-awakening person in charge behind the Black Market, and Yu Mo immediately agreed to let him go to the Demon Domain.

Yu Sheng and his companions said goodbye to one another outside Ink Academy after visiting Xu Wenxuan's grave. As they went their separate ways, Yu Sheng returned to the academy alone, while Xu Yuanqing watched from nearby and complained that Sun Wen had left without giving him money.

• Yu Mo warned Yu Sheng not to get himself killed, then left after Zhao Zicheng suggested joining the Demon Domain because his father led Mobei City's Guard Department.
• The group visited Xu Wenxuan's grave, where Sun Wen left a backpack of supplies and departed with A Tai.
• Lin Xiaoxiao left on Big White, asking everyone to visit the mountains, and Mu Yu departed alone with his coffin after saying he would win next time.
• Zhao Zicheng said he would wait for Yu Sheng in Mobei City and left, declaring that the Blood-Colored Twin Fiends would never leave the table.
• Yu Sheng returned to Ink Academy alone as Xu Yuanqing watched from a tree, then cursed Sun Wen for not leaving him a thank-you gift.

Yu Sheng resumed intense cultivation while the Gold Ingot Group and his friends’ lives changed over the following months. When Shi Guang returned and scheduled her Graduation Ceremony, Yu Sheng learned she had reached her sixth awakening and prepared to leave with her that night.

• Yu Sheng hired an array master, filled his room with energy from Demon Crystals, and cultivated beside the egg, whose shell cracks healed as it absorbed energy.
• The Gold Ingot Group expanded its projects, Sun Wen and A Tai gained public attention, Mu Yu disappeared, and Lin Xiaoxiao and Zhao Zicheng kept the group chat lively.
• Shi Guang returned to Ink Academy and arranged a Graduation Ceremony for that afternoon; Yu Sheng asked whether she had reached her sixth awakening, and she confirmed that she had.
• Shi Guang told Yu Sheng they could leave that night, so he packed his gear and the egg, brought two strong cheetahs, and left the others in the Mountains and Seas Realm.

After Shi Guang's subdued graduation, she and Yu Sheng left Ink Academy together and traveled to Autumn Water City to confront Shen Yanchang, the general Shi Guang had waited sixteen years to kill. They studied the city's defenses and planned to act on the eighteenth, while Shi Guang's memories of the night she last saw Shen Yanchang resurfaced.

• Shi Guang briefly attended her Graduation Ceremony and left Ink Academy without showing much emotion.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang rode out of Jiangcheng together, leaving Ink Academy behind.
• Yu Sheng told Shi Guang what he had learned about Shen Yanchang and negotiated a price for his intelligence network.
• Yu Sheng promised to help Shi Guang kill Shen Yanchang for free, and they discussed waiting until the eighteenth to act.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang studied a detailed map near Autumn Water City, while Shi Guang recalled Shen Yanchang watching her from afar, his face covered in blood.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang prepared to kill Shen Yanchang, the man responsible for trapping Shi Guang in Sin City, and watched as he escorted prisoners toward the city. Just after the convoy passed through a canyon without incident, an explosion rang out.

• Yu Sheng asked Shi Guang whether their revenge required killing Shen Yanchang in one blow or confronting him with taunts, and she said only the result mattered.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang returned to Autumn Water City and hid in a tree to watch for Shen Yanchang.
• Shen Yanchang flew out of Autumn Water City and escorted a dozen prisoners toward Sin City while scouting from the air.
• Yu Sheng followed the convoy along a mountain path, and Shi Guang later took another route.
• Shen Yanchang led the soldiers and prisoners through a canyon, checked for an ambush, and continued toward Sin City.
• After the convoy emerged from the canyon and the soldiers relaxed slightly, a deafening boom rang out.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang lured Shen Yanchang away from the Reserve Corps and attacked him, while explosions kept the soldiers and Autumn Water City's City Lord from interfering. As Shen Yanchang neared defeat, he recognized Shi Guang and realized she was the one behind his grudge.

• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang used explosions to separate Shen Yanchang from the Reserve Corps, then Shi Guang knocked the soldiers and prisoners unconscious.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang attacked Shen Yanchang from multiple directions, wounding him as he tried to stall for help.
• The City Lord of Autumn Water City rushed toward the fight, but Yu Sheng set off more explosions on the city's outskirts and forced him to stop.
• Shen Yanchang asked what he had done to deserve the attack and threatened Yu Sheng and Shi Guang with being wanted or exiled to Sin City.
• Shen Yanchang noticed the mole by Shi Guang's eye and recognized her, saying, "So... so it was you..."

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang killed Shen Yanchang in revenge for her parents, then surrendered themselves to Autumn Water City’s Guard Bureau. While awaiting the consequences, they tried to fulfill another wish by asking for dinner there.

• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang defeated Shen Yanchang, and Shi Guang fatally wounded him after he admitted he had sacrificed her parents.
• Yu Sheng killed the dying Shen Yanchang with his sword, and he and Shi Guang voluntarily surrendered to the Autumn Water City Lord.
• Yu Sheng cited his Four-Pattern Cloud Merit and asked the City Lord to take the unconscious soldiers to Sin City while he and Shi Guang reported to the Guard Bureau.
• Yu Sheng texted someone about evidence, then entered the Guard Bureau with Shi Guang and announced they had killed Shen Yanchang.
• Yu Sheng checked their wish list and politely asked the alarmed guards whether they could have dinner.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang waited at the Guard Bureau after learning there were no staff meals, and added beating up Chu Huai to their wish list. Yuan Qingshan confirmed that Shen Yanchang had ties to the Demon Domain, and Yu Sheng revealed that he and Shi Guang had killed all the informants who entered Sin City; the chapter left the Qiushui City Lord deciding whether they could leave.

• A guard told Yu Sheng and Shi Guang that the Guard Bureau had no staff meals, so Shi Guang crossed that item off their wish list and added beating up Chu Huai.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang waited quietly at the Guard Bureau until the Qiushui City Lord returned and ordered them taken into custody.
• Yuan Qingshan called the Qiushui City Lord and revealed that Shen Yanchang had ties to the Demon Domain, had killed a deputy general's family, and had planted informants in Sin City.
• Yu Sheng explained that 1,362 people had entered Sin City during Shen Yanchang's rotations, only 158 remained by the time they arrived, and they had killed them all.
• The Qiushui City Lord and Yuan Qingshan were stunned by Yu Sheng's account, and Yu Sheng asked whether they could leave.

Yu Sheng left the Guard Bureau after the City Lord of Autumn Water City accepted his account and agreed to trust him. Yu Mo explained that he believed Yu Sheng completely because Shen Yanchang had long been marked for execution, though he insisted the law would apply even to Yu Sheng if he were guilty.

• The City Lord of Autumn Water City trusted Yu Sheng despite still doubting that Shen Yanchang had ties to the Demon Domain, and Yu Sheng left with Shi Guang discussing food.
• The City Lord of Autumn Water City set aside his confusion and prepared to request another Sixth Awakening expert to replace Shen Yanchang.
• Yu Mo told Yuan Qingshan that revealing his identity to the City Lord of Autumn Water City could have made Yu Sheng look guilty of using connections to secure his release.
• Yu Mo argued that the law must apply even to Yu Sheng, because excusing wrongdoing based on merit would corrupt the Human Race.
• Yu Mo declared that he believed Yu Sheng completely and revealed that Shen Yanchang had been on his blacklist and had committed crimes warranting execution.
• Yuan Qingshan questioned why Yu Mo had not simply shown him the evidence against Shen Yanchang instead of explaining at length.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang traveled together to fulfill wishes from their old notebook, encountering several disappointments and helping a woman remember Zhao Mazi. They then confronted Chu Huai at the Light Group and asked whether the food at the Guard Bureau was good.

• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang enjoyed paomo in Firefly City and set out for Starry Sky City, where they learned its nightly lantern festival had ended years earlier.
• In Ink City, Yu Sheng and Shi Guang visited the red-light street and learned that Zhao Mazi had died seven years earlier while thinking of Huang Li.
• A woman led Yu Sheng and Shi Guang to Huang Li, and Yu Sheng recounted Zhao Mazi's story to her before they marked the wish as completed.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang went to the Light Group, where Yu Mo welcomed them and they hauled Chu Huai out of his room.
• Yu Sheng asked Chu Huai whether the food at the Guard Bureau was good, while Shi Guang blocked his retreat.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang confronted Chu Huai over a boast he had made years earlier and beat him for three minutes. Chu Huai returned to the meeting room and cursed Yu Mo, who had Confucian Scholar drag him away for another beating, leaving Chu Huai absent from work for three days.

• Yu Sheng read Chu Huai a note recording his old claim about the Guard Bureau's food and his early days in Sin City, then waited outside with Shi Guang.
• Chu Huai went outside, confident that his Sixth Awakening made him stronger than Yu Sheng and Shi Guang.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang used their Awakening Objects to beat Chu Huai for three minutes, then considered continuing before letting him go.
• Chu Huai returned to the meeting room and cursed Yu Mo for stripping him of authority and sending him after Soul Hunt.
• Yu Mo smiled as Confucian Scholar dragged Chu Huai away and beat him for half an hour, and Chu Huai missed work for the next three days.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang completed nearly every task in their Notebook, leaving only their revenge against their fathers, which they postponed until Yu Sheng reached the Ninth Awakening. As Yu Sheng admitted he might have no reason to live after fulfilling his wishes, Shi Guang said her own wish was to help him fulfill them and that she would go wherever he went.

• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang crossed off their final completed task and found the remaining entry: killing their fathers, Shen Yanchang and Yu Sanshui.
• Shi Guang asked when Yu Sheng might reach the Ninth Awakening and whether Yu Sanshui would still be alive; Yu Sheng said he would keep cultivating and they agreed to put the task on hold.
• Yu Sheng wondered what he would do after fulfilling his wishes and said he might kill himself, protect others, or fight in the Demon Domain.
• Shi Guang said Yu Sanshui was still alive and revealed that her own wish was to help Yu Sheng fulfill all his wishes.
• Shi Guang told Yu Sheng she would go with him, even if he chose to slaughter the Demon Domain.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang gathered weapons and armor before asking Yu Mo for permission to enter the Demon Domain together, but he initially insisted that only one of them could go. Recognizing that pressure would only drive them away, Yu Mo let them leave and began planning a gentler way to keep Yu Sheng connected to the Human Race.

• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang visited the Gold Ingot Group, where Sun Wen showed them hidden weapons that Yu Sheng stored in the Mountains and Rivers Bottle, and they each put on beast-hide armor.
• Yu Sheng stopped at the Light Group and asked Yu Mo to let him and Shi Guang go to the Demon Domain together; Yu Mo refused, saying the Human Race needed one of them to survive.
• Yu Mo reconsidered after seeing Yu Sheng's reaction and acknowledged that forcing either of them to serve the Human Race would only provoke resistance.
• Yu Mo told Yu Sheng he could become the Ink Pavilion Head if he stayed under the Human Race's protection rules, but Yu Sheng left with Shi Guang without stopping.
• After they departed, Yu Mo devised a plan to approach Yu Sheng more warmly, while the Light Group's employees talked about how Yu Sheng and Shi Guang had beaten up its leaders.

Ji Hong explained to Old White Ape that they should undermine the Eight-Tailed Fox by proving themselves to the Demon Gods rather than plunging Skyvault Ravine into open war. Their scheming ended in an argument when Old White Ape realized Ji Hong’s discarded tea had flavored his wine for two years.

• Rumors about Yu Sheng, Shi Guang, Chu Huai, and Yu Mo spread through the Light Group, irritating Yu Mo when they threatened his image.
• Old White Ape asked Ji Hong whether they should fight the Eight-Tailed Fox or proceed slowly, since its remaining loyalists would resist desperately.
• Ji Hong said the Demon Gods viewed their rivals as hounds and that he and Old White Ape should make the Eight-Tailed Fox seem unfit to remain Hound King.
• Ji Hong explained that they could gain the Demon Gods’ favor by provoking the Eight-Tailed Fox into actions that displeased its masters.
• Old White Ape learned that Ji Hong had poured tea into a stream that flowed back around, and that the water had been used to make his wine.
• Old White Ape cursed Ji Hong for giving his wine a tea flavor.

Ji Hong tested Old White Ape’s strength and reinjured him, then learned the White Ape Clan’s bloodline was secure. After three days of planning, they chose Barbarian City as the first target in their bid to gain influence in the Outer Domain.

• Ji Hong confirmed Old White Ape was at the seventh level and painfully reopened his injuries, saying the treatment would spare him from another ordeal for two years.
• Ji Hong asked about the White Ape Clan’s surviving members, and Old White Ape revealed that a male and female had continued the bloodline and had their bloodlines strengthened with rare treasures.
• Old White Ape returned to Skyvault Ravine, where his reputation and Ji Hong’s backing helped him conduct business without being challenged.
• After three days of discussions, Ji Hong and Old White Ape agreed to seek influence in the Outer Domain by taking control of three nearby Demon Clan cities, starting from Eagle Ravine Mountain.
• Old White Ape proposed targeting Barbarian City, a chaotic city nominally controlled by the Eight-Tailed Fox, as the site of their first contest.

Old White Ape announced a plan to send three level-six Azure Birds to bring order to Barbarian City, provoking Eight-Tailed Fox into accepting the contest and preparing a show of force. Eight-Tailed Fox sent three Cheetahs and ordered killings to remind Skyvault Ravine that it still held authority.

• Ji Hong and Old White Ape chose Barbarian City for a contest of wits and selected three level-six Azure Birds to represent their side.
• Old White Ape publicly condemned Eight-Tailed Fox and announced that Azure Bird (One), Azure Bird (Two), and Azure Bird (Three) would put Barbarian City in order within a month.
• Seven-Tailed Fox urged Eight-Tailed Fox to punish Old White Ape for the provocation, but Eight-Tailed Fox decided to accept the challenge and demand an appearance fee.
• Eight-Tailed Fox ordered Seven-Tailed Fox to announce Cheetah (One), Cheetah (Two), and Cheetah (Three) as its representatives and to kill several outspoken opponents without harming anyone from the God Race.
• Eight-Tailed Fox wondered whether Ji Hong would raise the cultivation technique and questioned whether Ji Hong's heart still belonged in the Demon Domain.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang took a back route out of the Demon Domain to avoid the Ink Pavilion’s one-percent service fee, while Zhong Yushu tried to defend the charge. After Shi Guang explained why she had previously paid the full fee, Yu Sheng offered Zhong Yushu a secret half-percent bribe, and Zhong Yushu stepped aside.

• The Eight-Tailed Fox declared that every living being in the Demon Domain was its piece and that Ji Hong and Old White Ape would eventually disappear.
• Zhong Yushu asked Yu Sheng and Shi Guang why they had not left through the Demon-Suppressing Pass, and Yu Sheng said they were avoiding its one-percent service fee.
• Zhong Yushu learned that Shi Guang had paid the full fee on previous trips and worried that the Ink Pavilion might lose her goodwill.
• Shi Guang said she had refused a personal discount because it would break the rules and make her a target.
• Yu Sheng said they were taking the back door because no one would see them, then offered Zhong Yushu a half-percent bribe.
• Zhong Yushu silently stepped aside, and Yu Sheng thanked him.

Yu Sheng and Shi Guang entered the Thousand-Li Demon Plain and agreed to split their gains equally despite Shi Guang offering him a larger share. Yu Sheng disguised himself as a White Ape to lure Demon Beasts into Shi Guang’s path, and she quickly killed five fourth-level beasts.

• Zhong Yushu realized Yu Sheng’s arrangement could earn him money and tried to justify accepting it, then sat alone on the mountaintop.
• Yu Sheng and Shi Guang reached the Thousand-Li Demon Plain and debated how to divide their spoils, with Shi Guang proposing sixty percent for herself because she knew the area better.
• Yu Sheng demonstrated his strength and the Mountains and Rivers Bottle’s storage space, but agreed to split the spoils evenly without explaining why.
• As they traveled deeper into the plain, Yu Sheng put on a White Ape hide and posed as a fourth-level Demon Beast while Shi Guang pursued him.
• Yu Sheng lured several Demon Beasts away from their herd, and Shi Guang killed five fourth-level beasts in sixteen minutes.