Chapter Summaries

Xu Feng attempted to kill Chen Zhong, but Qin Ze intervened, killed Chen Zhong, and looted his gear. Xu Feng fled wounded, then confronted Number Three and died after launching a final attack.

• Chen Zhong revealed his peak level-five strength and badly wounded Xu Feng with his Martial Artifact gauntlets.
• Xu Feng poisoned Chen Zhong with blood needles and tried to escape after an executor restrained him, but Qin Ze stopped Chen Zhong's explosive attack and killed him.
• Qin Ze looted Chen Zhong's gauntlets, belt, and ring, then returned to the Shelter Space as Teacher Yao and Zither Woman discussed the assessment.
• Number Three recognized the wounded Xu Feng and ordered him to surrender, but Xu Feng lamented his failure to avenge Xiaoyue and charged.
• Number Three closed his eyes and shot Xu Feng.

After Number Three killed Xu Feng, the Executor closed the case and prepared to present Number Three as a hero, while the Hell Vanguard commander took Xu Feng’s body away. Qin Ze later spoke with Tony, who explained the tragic story of the woman Qin Ze had failed to save.

• Number Three examined Xu Feng’s body, but the Executor dismissed his concerns and told him to prepare to speak at a press conference and take the Judge assessment.
• The Hell Vanguard commander arrived, took Xu Feng’s body, and left after insulting the Executor; Number Three walked away bewildered by their apparent hostility.
• Aries watched the scene, judged the assessment a failure, and teleported away after Fishes called him back for Virgo’s next operation.
• Qin Ze recognized the commander as Wen Jing’s brother and realized Xu Feng’s case involved several powerful groups.
• Qin Ze met Tony by the river, learned that the woman and her younger sister had been sold to a club and that the woman had tried to redeem herself, then heard that Tony planned to open a hair salon in Shi'an.

Qin Ze shared a late-night meal by the Cangze River with Number Three, who revealed that he had killed Xu Feng and doubted his own sense of justice. They made oaths to uphold justice and use their strength responsibly, while a mysterious ice tree acknowledged Qin Ze; the next morning, Qin Ze received a meeting message from Teacher Yao and spotted Xiao Lingyu on the news.

• Number Three told Qin Ze that he had killed Xu Feng, questioned what had turned a former Abyss hero into a criminal, and said the case had shaken his faith in justice.
• Qin Ze explained that Xu Feng's revenge had endangered innocent people and suggested that the world itself was at fault, while affirming that Number Three had not been wrong to stop him.
• Number Three revealed his name was Xiao Lingyu and swore to defend justice, law, order, and human rights; Qin Ze swore not to bully the weak or feel superior because he was a martial artist.
• The ice tree in the Northern Territory flickered as the old man beneath it said that the world still had hope.
• Qin Ze returned to the dorm at daybreak, received Teacher Yao's invitation to meet at eight that night, and saw Xiao Lingyu on the Sea Capital morning news.

After Xu Feng’s attack, Earth Company used Chen Zhong’s death to call for its own armed force, while Qin Ze wondered what role the Law Enforcement Department and war zone had played. As the Hundred Schools Competition approached, Fatty told Qin Ze that their team was among the seeded teams invited to a training camp.

• News footage reported that Xu Feng had killed Chen Zhong and many others before law enforcement officers shot him dead, and Wen Jing hurried away after seeing Xu Feng’s photograph.
• At Chen Zhong’s funeral, an Earth Company representative argued that the company needed its own armed force and said the chamber of commerce had submitted an emergency proposal to the Alliance Council.
• Qin Ze suspected that Xu Feng’s rampage had given Earth Company an excuse to push for armed forces and wondered what role the Law Enforcement Department had played.
• Qin Ze, Fatty, and Huai Xu headed to class as the school promoted the approaching Hundred Schools Competition.
• Fatty told Qin Ze that a training camp was being organized for the National Competition’s seeded teams and said their team was one of them.

At Xu Feng’s grave, Wen Jing declared that he wanted to join the military, while Qin Ze learned more about the company’s growing influence and agreed to attend the seed team training camp. That night, Teacher Yao brought Qin Ze to a hidden space called Stars.

• The flat-topped man visited Xu Feng’s grave, promised to bring down the company, and told Wen Jing that he was not worthy of joining the military.
• Wen Jing said he would prove himself and join the military, then returned to school in a bad mood.
• Qin Ze agreed with Lu Tongtong to attend the seed team training camp and read the group’s discussion of how the company had used Xu Feng’s case to gain influence.
• Qin Ze left a clone in the dormitory and went out of the city to meet Teacher Yao, who brought him to Stars.

Qin Ze learned that Yao Yuan led the Stars, a resistance movement seeking to restore order and unite humanity against the forces threatening its survival. After explaining the organization’s mission and strength, Yao Yuan revealed that the war had already begun and that his breakthrough to level nine would decide its outcome.

• Zither Woman brought Qin Ze to the Stars’ headquarters, where Yao Yuan appeared and praised his assessment.
• Yao Yuan explained that Qin Ze had passed because he chose to stand with the Stars, whose goal was to resist those destroying order and unite humanity.
• Qin Ze agreed with the Stars’ ideals and joked about taking the center position, while Yao Yuan said he could have it once he was strong enough.
• Yao Yuan told Qin Ze that the Stars had nine million members, four Advanced Martial Artists among its Eight Vajras, and accepted people from all backgrounds who shared its ideals.
• Yao Yuan declared that the war had already begun and that his breakthrough to level nine would be the moment the Stars made their winning move.

Qin Ze cultivated intensely in the Shelter Space and broke through to level three, while his companions also made progress. After his team finished their Mystic Dream Otherworld training, they planned to choose another mission, but intensive training began and disrupted their plans.

• Teacher Yao told Qin Ze that Xu Feng had suggested using Chen Zhong for Qin Ze's assessment after declining recruitment by the Stars.
• Qin Ze spent ten days cultivating in the Shelter Space and broke through to level three, while Dharma King, Brother Devour, and Giant Overlord reached level four.
• Thousand Faces and Qin Ze's professional team members also advanced through cultivation and training.
• Qin Ze told the team he had reached level three, and they agreed to visit the mission hall the next day.
• Intensive training began and interrupted the team's plan to take a mission.

Qin Ze and his team arrived in Shi'an City for a training camp and noticed unusually heavy security around the city. He also reconnected with the group-chat Daoist, buying a bundle of talismans while the reason for Shi'an's heightened defenses remained unclear.

• Qin Ze, his teammates, Teacher Song, and teaching assistant Nangong Qianrou traveled to Shi'an City for the ten-day training camp.
• Qin Ze noticed the city's unusually strict security, which Wen Jing and the others had initially overlooked.
• Teacher Song checked the team into the hotel and reminded them to attend the mobilization meeting the following night.
• Qin Ze released several hundred clones near the hotel, then saw that Catch a Fox Spirit had emerged from seclusion in the group chat.
• Qin Ze arranged for a clone to collect one hundred of Catch a Fox Spirit's talismans and bought several varieties to test.

Qin Ze and the professional team explored Shi'an City, where they found many businesses sealed and the streets unusually quiet. His clones learned that Anomalies were reportedly causing deaths across the city, and Qin Ze called Thousand Faces and Dharma King over to investigate.

• Qin Ze discussed fox spirits and the Pure Fox Clan in the group chat, then waited for the Daoist's talismans to arrive.
• Qin Ze joined Huai Xu and the team to explore Shi'an City, while Nangong Qianrou declined their invitation.
• Qin Ze noticed several shops sealed by the City Defense Bureau and found a deserted shop in disarray without signs of blood or a fight.
• Qin Ze's clones investigated the sealed locations and gathered reports that Anomalies had haunted Shi'an City for ten days, killing people.
• Qin Ze summoned Thousand Faces and Dharma King to come to Shi'an City and investigate the reports.

Qin Ze reunited with old classmates in Shi'an, where they discussed the upcoming Hundred Schools Competition and learned how much he had advanced. After walking Xie Xueying back to her hotel, Qin Ze heard Thousand Faces announce that it had found a lead.

• Qin Ze met Xie Xueying in the hotel lobby, and she invited him and Fatty to dinner with their former classmates.
• Qin Ze and Fatty joined Xie Xueying, Fang Songhua, and Zhang San for dinner, where Qin Ze revealed that he had reached level three.
• Qin Ze walked Xie Xueying back to the hotel and learned that Fang Songhua's father had died during the beast tide and his family company had gone bankrupt.
• Qin Ze returned to his room, where Thousand Faces announced over the Local Area Network that it had found a lead.

Qin Ze and his companions investigated the hauntings in Shi'an City and learned that a Ghost-Type Exotic Beast had been attacking residents. As they prepared to deal with the threat, Qin Ze received talismans from the Daoist, who revealed that he was heading to Shi'an too.

• Thousand Faces reported that a Ghost-Type Exotic Beast had caused the hauntings and killed twenty-one people in an apartment building.
• Thousand Faces said two level-five adjudicators had failed to see or catch the Ghost Type, and that the Law Enforcement Department had sought help from a martial arts master specializing in the mind.
• Qin Ze told the group not to risk their brains by confronting the Ghost Type, while Dharma King and the others joked about attacking it.
• Qin Ze opened a package from the Daoist and examined the Divine Travel, Healing, Evil-Warding, Golden Bell, and Five Elements Talismans.
• The Daoist told Qin Ze that the talismans should be used sparingly and said he was heading to Shi'an.

Qin Ze and the other seeded students attended the opening meeting for Shi'an's training camp, but a security guard possessed by a Ghost Type attacked and died before the creature appeared. Law enforcement began checking everyone for possession, leaving Qin Ze convinced the Ghost Type was still at large.

• Qin Ze learned in the group chat that a Daoist was heading to Shi'an City to deal with a Ghost Type exotic beast.
• Teacher Wang explained the one-week training camp schedule to the assembled seeded teams.
• A blood-eyed security guard lunged at a student, and Teacher Wang pinned him to the wall with an invisible force.
• The guard convulsed and died without the Ghost Type appearing, while Qin Ze moved his team toward an exit in case a fight broke out.
• Teacher Wang and a Judicator arranged checks with a magic tablet, and law enforcement began searching the hotel's guests for signs of possession.
• Qin Ze returned to his room as the training camp group chat received an announcement about the incident.

After a guard died in a suspected ghost-type attack, Qin Ze and his clones began searching Shi'an City while the training camp continued. The Daoist arrived to investigate, but his compass could not locate the beast, and the chapter ended with a law enforcement officer reporting that he had successfully infiltrated.

• Qin Ze read Little Deer's account of the auditorium attack and discussed whether the unseen creature could be a ghost-type with an unusual ability.
• Dharma King urged the clones to capture the creature and claim its Soul Orb, so Qin Ze ordered his clones to watch for signs of it across Shi'an City.
• The seeded contestants traveled to Shi'an Academy for two days of theory classes taught by veterans of the Abyss Battlefield.
• The Daoist arrived in Shi'an City, tried to locate the ghost-type with his bagua compass, and found that its needle spun without stopping.
• A law enforcement officer escorted the Daoist to the Law Enforcement Department and secretly reported, “Successfully infiltrated.”

Qin Ze’s crew used Thousand Faces to infiltrate the Shi'an Law Enforcement Department and keep the Daoist close as he investigated the apparent Ghost Type attacks. After the Daoist found no traces of a Ghost Type despite examining every crime scene and corpse, Thousand Faces announced that the Ghost Type had appeared.

• Qin Ze’s crew abducted an officer, and Thousand Faces took his appearance to infiltrate the Law Enforcement Department.
• Thousand Faces escorted the Daoist to the adjudicator, then joined teams one and two as they followed the Daoist to investigate the crime scenes.
• The Daoist searched the restaurant and other crime scenes with talismans, a compass, and white powder, but found no Ghost Type traces.
• The Daoist examined the victims’ corpses and found brain atrophy consistent with Ghost Type attacks, leaving him unable to explain the evidence.
• Thousand Faces rushed into the morgue and told the Daoist that the Ghost Type had appeared.

Qin Ze followed the Taoist’s investigation of a suspected Ghost Type to Shi'an No. 1 Middle School, where a possessed student had attacked a teacher. After the boy exploded during Qin Ze’s attempt to strike him, a translucent ghost lunged at Qin Ze.

• Qin Ze declined Xie Xueying’s invitation to dinner and left with Dharma King to investigate the incident at Shi'an No. 1 Middle School.
• A scarlet-eyed student attacked a teacher at the school before fleeing across the sports field, and the teacher later died from severe brain atrophy.
• The Taoist and a Level Five Adjudicator arrived with law enforcement officers, identified the threat as a Ghost Type, and began searching the school.
• Qin Ze entered the campus under cover of the Shelter Space and found the thin boy crouching in the gymnasium.
• Qin Ze fired lightning at the boy, who dodged it and then self-destructed; a translucent ghost immediately lunged at Qin Ze.

Qin Ze and a Daoist priest fought a silent apparition at the school, then discovered it was a Spirit rather than a Ghost Type. Qin Ze suspected the recent attacks had been engineered and left the school with the priest after concealing what they had learned from the Judicator.

• An Evil-Warding Talisman protected Qin Ze from the apparition, and his telekinetic Little Azure Dragon immobilized it while the Daoist priest destroyed it with a red talisman.
• Qin Ze told the priest that his uncle had sent him to investigate the supposed Ghost Type, and the priest recognized the Evil-Warding Talismans as his own work.
• The priest explained that the apparition was a Spirit formed after a person died, and Qin Ze realized an external force must have kept it active and outside its body.
• Qin Ze suspected the Ghost Type attacks were man-made and thought the company was involved.
• When the Judicator asked about the investigation, Qin Ze claimed the apparition had escaped, and later told the priest that the Judicator already knew the truth.

Qin Ze explained that someone inside the Law Enforcement Department was concealing the truth about the apparent Ghost Type attacks, and he recruited the Daoist to investigate the boy whose spirit had left his body. As the Daoist reached the boy’s home, an unseen enemy revealed that they had noticed him.

• Qin Ze told the Daoist that an insider had erased the victims’ records to buy time for the people behind the incidents.
• The Daoist agreed to investigate with Qin Ze, who directed him to the boy’s home while keeping himself and his clones out of sight.
• The Adjudicator told a man over the phone that he had kept the Daoist in the dark, then learned that a spirit had left its body and ordered people sent to the boy’s home.
• A homeless man slipped the Daoist a note with the boy’s address, and the Daoist hurried through the rain to the slum.
• The Daoist saw the boy’s worried family waiting at home, but an unseen figure called him a rat just as he approached.

The Daoist killed the four deathsworn sent by the Judge, then visited the boy’s family while Qin Ze watched from a distance. The next morning, Qin Ze learned that the Dawn Mobile Squad had been established as a company security force, as news broke of a fire at Green Manufacturing Group’s headquarters.

• The Daoist used talismans and his enchanted wooden sword to kill all four deathsworn, then covered the trench he had made and went to the boy’s home.
• The Judge learned the deathsworn had failed and ordered his organization to destroy its records and stop recruiting volunteers.
• Qin Ze had Brother Devour and the others keep watch on the Daoist, then returned to bed after the Daoist left the boy’s home.
• Qin Ze watched a report announcing the establishment of the Dawn Mobile Squad, a ten-thousand-person armed security force for Chamber of Commerce companies.
• News reported a fire at Green Manufacturing Group’s headquarters, and its president blamed the companies’ mobile squad for arriving too late.

Qin Ze guided the Daoist’s investigation into the Green Group while Thousand Faces infiltrated its building. After the training camp announced a wilderness exercise for the next day, the Son of the Version sent word back late that night.

• The Daoist told Qin Ze that four deathsworn had tried to kill a boy’s family, and that the boy’s notebook linked him to a well-paid job at the Green Group.
• Qin Ze suspected the Green Group’s records-room fire had been deliberate and told the Daoist to investigate the company’s partners, business dealings, and funding.
• Qin Ze sent Thousand Faces to search the Green Group while Dharma King and Brother Devour waited outside to provide backup.
• The Daoist discussed Qin Ze’s trial with Beast Tamer and reported that the Ghost Type trouble in Shi’an City was a trick; Fairies Don't Poop offered to help investigate.
• Teacher Song announced the next day’s wilderness training, and Nangong Qianrou’s professional team met to introduce themselves and prepare.
• The Son of the Version sent word through the Local Area Network late that night.

Thousand Faces discovered that Green Group’s Project Zero had recruited the boy as a volunteer, while the Daoist confirmed that Green Group was controlled by Black Mountain Biotechnology. Qin Ze joined the five-day Cold Mountain training hunt as a thin white mist began descending from the summit.

• Thousand Faces found a Project Zero volunteer list at Green Group and reported that the boy was on its second batch.
• The adjudicator let the chamber of commerce’s mobile squad investigate the fire, then agreed to assist the company with a secret operation.
• Teacher Wang briefed the training teams on the five-day hunt for exotic beasts and Soul Orbs on Cold Mountain.
• The Daoist told Qin Ze that Black Mountain Biotechnology directed Green Group’s projects, and said he would search for its secret research institute with help from a friend.
• Qin Ze’s professional team entered the mountain with Nangong following as their bodyguard, and white mist began spreading down from the summit.