An old man sitting in a chair suddenly speaks up, expressing his surprise that Liu Ming didn’t faint like the others. Ming suspects it might be a trap, but the old man assures him there’s no danger—the energy within the temple is just so dense that most newcomers lose consciousness instantly.
The old man then advises Ming to take the Levitation, Basic Fire, and Basic Wind techniques. Ming accepts the advice but wonders why he’s only allowed to access those specific scrolls. The man warns him that most of the scrolls here are too advanced for beginners, and warns Ming not to act recklessly. Only those personally chosen by the branch leaders are allowed to study the highest-level techniques.
He then mocks Ming, calling him a weak “three spirit veins loser.” However, he quickly realizes that Ming possesses unusually strong mental power for someone with such a limited foundation. Curious, the old man decides to test him. He pulls out a crystal and asks Ming to channel his energy into it. But Ming, sensing that the man is not trustworthy, holds back and only uses a third of his power. Still, even this limited display shocks the old man—he’s never seen such mental strength from a newcomer and acknowledges that Ming has the potential to go far.
Impressed, the old man offers him a special cultivation technique. The original version was written in ancient Cayman Chinese, but this one has been personally translated onto bamboo by the old man himself. Ming asks if he can see the original version, which offends the old man—he says it took him years to translate, and someone like Ming wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway. He claims the technique can take Ming all the way to the middle stage of mastery without any bottlenecks—something even the faction’s secret techniques cannot do. However, if Ming doesn’t want it, he’ll gladly take it back.
Realizing his mistake, Ming apologizes and gratefully accepts the technique. Before he leaves, the old man warns him not to tell anyone about this gift—otherwise, the consequences will be deadly.
Meanwhile, in a cave near the sect, two Spirit Awakeners meet in secret. One asks how many foreign spirit awakeners survived. Aside from the two of them, only Zile and the Bi Family’s young master remain. However, there’s suspicion surrounding Bi, who is widely known as the “useless son”—rumored to have been sent here just to be discarded. They doubt someone like that could survive spirit awakening.
They decide to test him to see if he truly is who he claims to be, but they must proceed cautiously to avoid blowing their cover. They are operatives from the Ministry of Justice, sent to infiltrate the Savage Ghost Sect’s inner circle—failure is not an option.
Elsewhere, Ming isolates himself in a cabin to focus on training. He still doesn’t trust Old Man Ruan’s cultivation method, as the man doesn’t strike him as the charitable type. However, if Ming wants to grow stronger quickly, he has no choice but to use it.
Months pass, and it’s time for the new cultivators to return to the main complex for evaluation. When Ming and the others arrive, they meet Shei, who asks about their progress. Most of them admit they’ve barely improved, as they’ve had no guidance and had to rely on self-teaching.
They ask Ming how he’s doing. In truth, he has progressed far beyond them, but not wanting to stand out, he lies and says he’s struggling just as much. Looking around, Ming notices how few people are present and asks Shei if this is everyone from the Jurane Branch. Sadly, she confirms it—this branch is the most neglected of all eight.
They’re lucky to even be allowed to participate in a tournament like this. One of the seniors tells everyone to try their best to win as many rewards as possible to boost their cultivation journey. At the mention of rewards, everyone’s eyes light up, and they eagerly ask what kind of rewards he’s talking about.
He replies that he’s heard there should be Huyan Pills and other resources that can significantly speed up cultivation, though he’s not sure about the full list of prizes. In any case, he urges everyone to give it their all because the tournament is about to begin.
Shortly after, the Branch Leader arrives and gives a brief speech, emphasizing that the path of cultivation requires diligence and that lazy people will never succeed. Ironically, just as he says this, the laziest cultivator imaginable crashes down from the sky.
This man is Master Zu, one of the sect’s instructors, and he’s clearly suffering from a massive hangover after a night of heavy drinking. After composing himself, Zu warns the students not to be like him—otherwise, he’ll beat the laziness out of them. He then explains that he’s here to assess their cultivation levels, and those who impress him will be rewarded generously.
At first, the students don’t seem particularly excited—until Zu reveals several glowing gourds. He tells them the liquid inside has the same effect as a Huyan Pill, rapidly increasing cultivation speed and mental power. This gets everyone fired up, and they’re now eager to prove themselves.
The tournament soon begins, with the newcomers set to go first. Two Direct Disciples under the Branch Leader, Fang and Chang, are chosen to fight against three new recruits. However, they’re reminded this is just a friendly spar between fellow disciples, and they must stop once they’ve proven their point.
Liu Ming is surprised he’s being asked to face direct disciples so early on. Meanwhile, Fang seems delighted at the opportunity to beat down the so-called “three spirit vein trash.” His arrogance angers the others, and although they believe they can handle Fang with a 3-on-1 advantage, things don’t go as expected.
As the battle starts, Fang completely overwhelms the chubby disciple. The girl tries to intervene with a Wind Blade attack, but it doesn’t faze Fang at all. He then charges at her with dangerous intent, and Ming, realizing she won’t survive the impact, uses his Levitation Technique to pull her out of harm’s way. The instructors are impressed with Ming’s quick thinking. One of them, Gu, even comments that it’s unfortunate someone as creative as Ming only has three spirit veins.
Frustrated by the interruption, Fang targets Ming next. Despite Fang’s superior cultivation level, he’s unable to land a single hit—Ming keeps dodging every attack. Ming retaliates with a Wind Slash, and although it’s more powerful than the girl’s, Fang smashes through it effortlessly and charges again. The other two newcomers join the fight, launching more Wind Slashes to distract Fang, while Ming uses the openings to land a few solid hits.
The leaders continue to be impressed by Ming’s adaptability. He uses hit-and-run tactics perfectly to compensate for his lack of strength, and if the group can maintain this strategy, Fang will eventually run out of energy.
Moments later, Fang drops to his knees, and the chubby disciple assumes he’s finally exhausted. Instead of attacking from range with a Fireball, the boy rushes in to finish him off—only to get taken down instantly. With him out, Yu now targets the girl and backhands her as if she had just served him cold food. Now only Ming remains standing.
As Yu charges at him, Ming suddenly points out that the technique Yu used to defeat the chubby disciple isn’t from the Ghost Sect. This startles Yu, worried that his identity might have been exposed. Ming takes advantage of his hesitation and lands a clean punch to his chest before immediately surrendering—knowing he wouldn’t stand a chance in a full one-on-one.
Furious, Yu storms up and accuses Ming of cheating by distracting him mid-fight. But Ming calmly reminds him that he used the same tactic earlier—pretending to be injured just to lure the chubby disciple in. Yu then turns to the leaders and demands a rematch with Ming, eager to settle the score.
However, the leaders immediately silence the argument and begin scolding Yu for being so careless. They tell him that if this had been a real battle, Ming’s punch could have seriously injured him. They order Yu to accept the outcome and reflect on his actions so he doesn’t repeat the same mistake. With no choice, Yu obeys, but in his mind, he becomes even more convinced that Ming isn’t the real Bi. Now more suspicious than ever, he’s determined to uncover what Ming is hiding.
Meanwhile, Ming also feels something is off. He recognizes Yu’s martial arts style, and he’s sure it’s not one of the Ghost Sect’s techniques—but he can’t remember exactly where he’s seen it before.
Gu advises the three new disciples to rest and recover their strength, as their next opponent will be Fang Shiya, someone just as strong as the last. Fang Shiya starts warming up, unleashing a powerful Wind Slash that’s so intimidating, the other two immediately forfeit out of fear. Now, Ming is the only one left to face Fang, but he doesn’t back down. He steps forward and tells the leaders he’s ready to begin.
Fang is extremely confident in his skills and arrogantly declares that he’ll defeat Ming using just a single finger. He then conjures an Ice Spike, a complex intermediate-level spell. The leaders are impressed, recognizing the difficulty of mastering such a technique—it’s a sign that Fang has put in considerable effort.
Fang hurls the Ice Spike at Ming, who narrowly avoids it by moving his head. But Fang had anticipated this and quickly redirects the spike mid-air. Some of the leaders begin to worry—controlling Ice Spike mid-flight is extremely tricky, and Ming could get seriously hurt. However, Gu reassures them that this version of the spell only causes physical pain, not permanent damage.
Realizing the Ice Spikes won’t be enough to penetrate Ming’s defense, Fang creates a massive Ice Wall, forcing Ming to go on the offensive. Ming draws his weapon and begins attacking. The leaders are once again impressed by Ming’s combat ability and note that he appears to be using the Ghost Sect’s cultivation technique.
However, while the Ghost Cultivation Technique isn’t weak, it’s known to have growth limitations in the long term. The leaders worry that Ming may have chosen it too hastily.
What they don’t know is that Ming never actually used the Ghost Technique. The cultivation method he learned from Ruan is called the Netherbone Cultivation Technique—a method that closely resembles the Ghost Technique. By pretending to use the more common Ghost Technique, Ming avoids suspicion. As long as he keeps his true abilities hidden, no one will know he’s cultivating something far more advanced.
Ming knows he could defeat Fang if he went all out, but doing so would draw too much attention. So, he lets himself get hit by Ice Spikes, using the Bone-Shrinking Technique to minimize damage. Then, he voluntarily surrenders to end the match.
However, Yu notices something—he recognizes the Bone-Shrinking Technique, and this only deepens his suspicions about Ming.
With the tournament now concluded, the masters announce the final rankings. Ming is labeled an Upper-Middle Cultivator, while the rest are classified as Inferior.
One of the leaders, a female master who’s taken a liking to Ming, calls him over. She offers to heal his injuries, which Ming gratefully accepts. But that’s not all—she also gives him three Shield Talismans. While Ming isn’t sure how valuable they are, he trusts that anything given by a master must be worth keeping.
Leave a Reply