Ming is a young boy whose family was executed and home destroyed by the empire. To seek revenge, he eventually assumes the identity of a prominent family’s son, but his story truly begins seven years earlier while on the run.
Currently, Ming is fleeing through a dangerous, monster-filled forest, pursued by a squad of executioners. Despite his impressive speed, the squad uses fireworks to coordinate their hunt, eventually ambushing him and knocking him to the ground. Refusing to surrender, Ming disarms one attacker, uses the stolen blade to kill him, and skillfully cuts down the remaining guards.
As he stops to loot their bodies, an explosive arrow forces him to dodge. Looking up, Ming is shocked to see two warriors from the Ministry of Justice. When he questions why they are targeting him, they reveal his charges: seven years ago, his father committed treason, resulting in the execution of his entire family. Since Ming managed to escape, they are here to finish the job.
Refusing to die, Ming throws rocks to buy time, but the enemy archer pins him down with arrows. When the barbarian woman grabs his ankle to slam him, Ming uses a special technique to rearrange his leg bones and break free. Barely able to stand, he drinks a stolen health potion. As the barbarian charges again, Ming imbues his blade with energy, shattering her weapon and quickly stabbing her in the neck.
Enraged by his comrade’s death, the archer attacks. Realizing his opponent is a terrifying chi cultivator using talismans, Ming flees but is knocked to the edge of a waterfall by a lightning strike. When the archer lunges, Ming drags him over the edge into the lake below. During a fierce underwater struggle, Ming slips out of the archer’s grip and traps him in a fatal chokehold until he drowns.
Later, Ming washes ashore near two old men who have discovered a dying young man with a massive hole in his chest. The men lament that this young master of the B family had great cultivator potential, stressed over their now-failed mission to escort him to the Savage Ghost Sect for his spiritual awakening.
The tall man suggests fleeing, but they can’t. They took payment from the Bai family and swallowed a poison pill that guarantees their death in six months if they fail to report back. Frustrated, the tall man fires an energy blast that accidentally strikes the rock where Ming is hiding.
Realizing they have a witness, the men try to kill him. However, Ming instinctively defends himself with an energy shield, shocking them because his technique strongly resembles the Bai family’s. Inspecting him further, they note Ming‘s solid energy foundation and striking resemblance to the dead young master. They offer to spare and heal Ming on one condition: he must assume the dead boy’s identity and follow their orders. Having no other choice, Ming agrees.
While traveling to the Savage Ghost Sect for the spirit awakening ceremony, Ming worries his lack of strength will expose his disguise. The men assure him he will be fine; the sect doesn’t know his face, and utilizing the energy techniques they taught him will ensure he passes the exam.
They explain that the ceremony allows cultivators to gather massive amounts of chi. Reaching the condensation stage makes one a spirit disciple with boundless potential. When Ming asks why they haven’t awakened their own spirits, they sadly reveal the harsh reality: the highly dangerous process costs a fortune, relies on secret techniques exclusive to the five major factions, and must be completed before the age of twenty.
Arriving at the exam site, the two men force Ming to swallow a “heart-relaxing pill” before entering. Ming knows it is actually a lethal poison meant to ensure his compliance, but with the threat of being exposed as a wanted criminal hanging over him, he has no choice but to take it.
Inside, Ming encounters powerful cultivators who quickly recognize his assumed identity. He realizes his public image is terrible, as the Bai family’s young master is widely known as a useless failure. Soon, the exam instructor, Fang, arrives to lead the participants to the ceremony.
Suddenly, ghosts ambush the group and begin choking the participants. Ming leaps to the ceiling to assess the situation. When someone begs Fang for help, the instructor coldly reminds them that this is the Savage Ghost Sect, and they must survive on their own. The stronger cultivators easily defeat the specters and advance to the next phase.
Along the way, a suspicious man offers to form an alliance with Ming. Ming cautiously agrees, keeping his guard up as they walk through a tunnel. The man reassures him there are no ambushes ahead, but then suddenly steps back as restrictive purple energy wraps around Ming. Betraying him, the man reveals this is the second stage: the sacrificial cage. Because spots are limited, one person must be sacrificed to the energy drain so the other can advance. Furious, Ming threatens the traitor with the Bai family’s wrath, but the man simply brushes it off as the rules of the game.
Since the spiritual awakening is inherently deadly, deaths are expected, and the declining Bai family couldn’t retaliate anyway. Relieved that killing has no consequences here, Ming effortlessly breaks free from the energy chains. Terrified by this display of power, the traitor realizes the real Kongshin could never do this and deduces Ming is an impostor. Ming is surprised but unconcerned, as the man won’t live to tell the tale.
Preparing to fight, the traitor suddenly feels a sharp pain and struggles to move. Ming reveals he preemptively poisoned him the moment they met. In a fit of rage, the careless man lunges, gets ensnared by the purple chains, and is entirely drained of his energy.
Ming reaches the exit, joining the surviving cultivators. Fang congratulates them but warns that the real test—the awakening—is just beginning in this multi-group arena. Ming is shocked that over half the participants have already died, knowing the upcoming risks are even greater.
Seeing people already seated in the energy circles, the group learns they are Savage Ghost Sect members. Fang unfairly reserves three of the five circles for his own sect, leaving the outsiders to squeeze into the remaining two despite their families paying heavily. Uncaring about their outrage, Fang gives them an ultimatum: accept his rules or leave. Forced to comply, everyone settles into the final circles.
Ming notices a beautiful girl across from him and briefly feels smitten, but quickly grounds himself, remembering his dire situation as a wanted criminal. Surprised that her spiritual charms failed on him, the girl takes an interest in Ming. However, distractions quickly fade as the awakening begins, flooding each pathway with dense liquid energy.
As the circles fill, the formations activate, releasing immense spiritual pressure. Weaker cultivators collapse almost instantly, but the skilled ones endure. Despite his lack of experience, Ming uses his taught energy control techniques to stabilize his spirit and begins absorbing energy to open his meridians.
Meanwhile, the eight branch leaders of the Savage Ghost Sect gather to observe the candidates. The sect leader is impressed by this year’s participants and mentions a dispute between Shu and Lin over a specific recruit. Lin argues that since she discovered the girl with the legendary Nightmare Body, she deserves to take her as a disciple. The other leaders are skeptical until Lan manifests her Nightmare Body right before their eyes. Though she currently only has six veins, her exceptional control convinces the sect leader of her immense value to the sect.
When asked about his recruitment plans, Gui states he prefers not to compete for the sect’s internal disciples and will instead choose from the foreign awakeners. The sect leader warns that foreigners rarely awaken more than three veins, but Gui accepts this, asking only that his fellow leaders don’t steal his recruits if any actually succeed.
Suddenly, Lin points out Ming, noting his potential to reach the legendary nine veins. The sect leader is impressed by his energy levels but predicts his downfall; lacking proper channeling techniques, Ming‘s body will inevitably explode from the overwhelming power, much like the failing candidates behind him. Struggling under the heavy strain, Ming temporarily seals his spirit veins to hold the energy in, though Gui notes this trick will only delay his inevitable death.
Attention then shifts to another foreign participant, Chong, who successfully unlocks a nine-vein spirit. Gui is thrilled, having already called dibs on the foreigners, but his celebration is cut short when the final branch leader, Lei, arrives. He announces that Chong is his nephew and immediately claims him as his own disciple.
Lei argues he is best suited to teach Chong‘s thunder attribute. Disappointed but powerless, Gui agrees to let the talented disciple go, provided he can keep the remaining foreign awakeners. The sect leader and other branch leaders agree. Suddenly, another participant stuns everyone by awakening an unheard-of twelve spirit veins. Gui quickly reminds them of their agreement, but the sect leader pulls rank and claims the prodigy for himself.
Dejected, Gui looks at the remaining candidates with low expectations. However, he is intrigued to see Ming still alive and struggling to contain his energy, having expected him to explode by now. Ming‘s underdeveloped core cannot handle the nine spirit veins he manifested. Instead of dispelling the excess energy, he takes an unprecedented risk: using his spirit power to forcefully compress the nine veins until they fit. Miraculously, he succeeds.
When the ceremony ends, Ming is left with only three spirit veins, but due to his compression method, they are incredibly massive compared to the thin veins of the others. Gui arrives to collect the remaining unwanted foreign awakeners, instructing his assistant, Shai, to lead them to his branch.
Upon crossing a portal to begin their training, the intense density of the temple’s energy causes all the new disciples to faint—except for Ming. An old man sitting nearby is impressed by Ming‘s resilience and assures him it isn’t a trap; the others simply couldn’t handle the pressure. He suggests Ming take basic levitation, fire, and wind spell scrolls. When Ming questions this restriction, the man explains that advanced scrolls are reserved for disciples personally chosen by branch leaders, mocking Ming for being a “weak three-vein loser.” However, noticing Ming‘s unusually strong mental power, the old man decides to test him, asking him to channel energy into a crystal. Before complying, Ming senses that the old man has malicious intentions.
Cautious about revealing his true strength, Ming uses only a third of his power for the test. Even so, the old man, Ryan, is shocked by his mental strength and offers him a special translated cultivation technique. When Ming asks to see the ancient original text, Ryan gets offended, claiming his translation guarantees a smooth progression to the middle stage of mastery without any bottlenecks. Ming accepts the gift but is sternly warned to keep it a absolute secret or face deadly consequences.
Meanwhile, two other foreign awakeners meet secretly in a cave. Revealed to be undercover spies for the Ministry of Justice, they find it highly suspicious that the notoriously useless Bai family son survived the awakening. They decide to carefully test him without blowing their own cover. Back in his cabin, Ming begins his training. Though he still distrusts Ryan, he uses the old man’s technique out of necessity to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
Months later, the new cultivators return to the main complex for an evaluation tournament. Meeting with Shai, the other disciples admit they have barely progressed. To avoid drawing attention, Ming hides his own rapid growth and lies, claiming to be struggling just as much as they are. Ming notices their incredibly small group, and Shai sadly explains that their branch is the most neglected of the eight. He urges everyone to do their best to win tournament rewards, such as cultivation-boosting pills. Just as the branch leader, Gui, begins a speech declaring that the path of cultivation requires strict diligence, an incredibly lazy cultivator suddenly crashes down from the sky.
The man who crashed down is Zhu, a hungover master arriving late to assess the students. After composing himself, he warns the disciples not to mimic his laziness and reveals their potential prizes: gourds filled with a rare liquid that dramatically boosts cultivation speed and mental power.
The tournament begins with the newbies facing off against two of the branch leader’s direct disciples, Fang and Chang. Despite being told to keep it a friendly match, Fang arrogantly mocks the new disciples for being pathetic “three-vein losers.”
When the fight starts, Fang easily bodies the chubby newbie and shrugs off the girl’s weak wind blade attack. Enraged, Fang charges the girl with lethal intent, but Ming quickly uses his levitation technique to pull her to safety. Watching from the sidelines, Gui and the other leaders are highly impressed by Ming‘s quick thinking and battle instincts, lamenting that such talent is wasted on a three-vein spirit.
Annoyed by the interference, Fang targets Ming, but despite his higher cultivation level, he completely fails to land a hit. Ming counterattacks with a wind slash, but Fang relies on pure brute force to smash through it. Seeing Ming effectively hold his ground, the other newbies rally to his side, using their own wind attacks to distract Fang while Ming sneaks in solid hits.
The leaders marvel at Ming‘s adaptability, as his hit-and-run tactics perfectly compensate for his inferior strength. Feigning exhaustion, Cheng drops to his knees. The chubby newbie falls for the trap, stepping into melee range instead of using his ranged fireballs, and is swiftly defeated. Cheng then backhands the girl out of the match, leaving only Ming standing.
As Cheng charges, Ming suddenly points out that his opponent’s technique doesn’t belong to the Savage Ghost Sect. Startled that his undercover identity might be blown, Cheng hesitates. Ming seizes the opening, punches him square in the chest, and immediately surrenders, knowing he can’t win a fair one-on-one fight.
Furious, Cheng accuses Ming of cheating via distraction, but Ming counters that Cheng just did the exact same thing by faking an injury. When Cheng demands a rematch, the leaders silence and scold him for his carelessness, noting that Ming‘s punch could have been fatal in a real battle. Forced to back down, Cheng is now certain Ming is an impostor and vows to uncover his secrets. Similarly, Ming remains suspicious, vaguely recognizing Cheng‘s martial arts style.
Gui gives the newbies a short rest before facing their next opponent, Fang. To intimidate them, Fang unleashes a massive wind slash that terrifies the other two newbies into quitting. Left to fight alone, Ming refuses to back down.
Arrogantly claiming he only needs one finger to win, Fang conjures a complex intermediate ice spike spell, impressing the leaders. When Ming dodges, Fang actively redirects the projectile. Though the leaders worry the volatile spell might severely injure Ming, Gui assures them it will only cause physical pain. Realizing the spikes aren’t enough to breach Ming‘s defenses, Fang summons a massive ice wall. Forced onto the offensive, Ming draws his weapon and charges.
The leaders are highly impressed with Ming‘s strength. They believe he chose the standard Ghost cultivation technique, which limits future growth, making his choice seem hasty. In reality, Ming is using Ruan‘s Netherbone technique, which closely mimics the Ghost technique. As long as he hides his true power, it serves as the perfect cover.
Knowing he could easily defeat Fang if he went all out, Ming intentionally takes a hit from the ice spikes, using his bone-shrinking technique to avoid fatal injury before surrendering to avoid suspicion. However, Cheng recognizes this bone-shrinking technique, deepening his suspicions about Ming.
The tournament ends, ranking Ming as an upper-middle cultivator while the other newbies are labeled inferior. A female leader, taking a liking to Ming, heals his wounds and gifts him three valuable shield talismans.
During the tournament’s final match, Sin fights a talisman user. Sin blocks devastating fire talismans with a diamond shield and summons a skeleton. Ming is amazed, but Shai explains that summoning contracts are based entirely on luck. Sin got incredibly lucky by summoning a powerful White Bone Demon, rendering the fire talismans useless. Frustrated, the talisman user obliterates the skeleton with explosive talismans, but the undead creature simply regenerates and continues its assault. While the onlookers are awed, Shai warns that summoning is a double-edged sword; Sin‘s obsession with refining his summons severely stunted his actual cultivation progress.
Seeing the talisman user outmatched, Gui ends the fight and officially concludes the tournament. After congratulating the disciples, Gui dismisses everyone. As the newbies part ways, Ming realizes that his raw cultivation speed will never match the direct disciples, meaning he must seek out real combat experience to keep up.
Seeking combat experience, Ming pays a hefty fee of one spirit stone from his meager monthly stipend to use the main compound’s training simulator. Facing a summoned bone demon, he blocks its swift strike with his new shield talisman, retaliates with a fireball, and finally destroys it with a solid punch. Amazed by the skeleton’s resilience, he resolves to learn the summoning technique.
Returning home to bathe, Ming is startled to find a woman named Mu casually waiting beside his tub. She reveals that their families arranged for them to marry and become cultivation partners if both survived the awakening. Surprised that he isn’t acting like the notoriously degenerate Bai young master, she questions his restraint. Ming quickly excuses his behavior by claiming he is entirely focused on his training and has no time for romance.
When Ming mentions his goal to learn spirit summoning, Mu explains that he first needs Yin souls to form a refining core. Seeing he has no idea where to find them, she invites him on a date to the sect’s largest trading hub, the Gray Market. Ming is awestruck by the bustling market but is immediately targeted by a con artist selling fake talismans. Fortunately, Mu steps in to save the clueless newcomer from being scammed.
Ming accidentally bumps into a boar head at a meat shop. The angry owner explains that eating magical beast meat increases cultivation, but since one must eat fifty times the normal amount for noticeable results, Mu advises against buying it.
When a sleazy con man tries selling Ming a useless rock, Mu loses her patience and threatens to report him to the sect leader, forcing the scammer to flee. Warning Ming about the market’s many scammers, Mu takes him to the reputable but expensive Wu Bao store.
Ming asks the owner for Yin souls. Learning that even a low-grade soul costs three spirit stones—leaving him with almost no money for the rest of the month—he unsuccessfully begs for a discount. Mu offers to lend him the funds, but Ming declines, pays for the soul, and thanks her for guiding him.
Before they part, Mu advises him to catch a high-grade Yin soul at the sect’s soul pond to create a better refining core. Ming notes that entering the pond requires sect contribution points, which he lacks. To help him out, Mu suggests he join her team for an upcoming sect mission to earn the needed points. Ming gratefully agrees, and they plan to meet the next morning.
After Ming leaves, Yu steps out of hiding and asks Mu for a status update. Reminding her of his agreement with her family, he demands her cooperation in investigating Ming. However, Mu admits she hasn’t noticed anything suspicious; despite being betrothed to the young master of the Bai family, this was actually their very first time meeting in person.
Mu finds Yu to be the suspicious one for obsessively investigating someone who hasn’t caused any trouble. However, Yu remains convinced that the young master is hiding something and resolves to investigate independently.
On the day of the mission, Ming meets Mu at the site, assuming the material-gathering task will be easy. Mu warns him that sect missions are rarely simple, which is why she brought extra help: Du, Wu, Mei, and unexpectedly, Yu. Though Ming distrusts Yu, he has no choice but to accept his volunteer presence.
To safely gather the blood fruit, they must avoid swarms of aggressive black butterflies. Mu provides spirit-attracting powder to Wu and Mei, assigning them the dangerous task of acting as decoys. Equipped with speed talismans, the pair should easily be able to outrun the swarm.
While the decoys lure the butterflies away, the rest of the team will climb the mountain to harvest. Everyone needs to collect at least twenty-five fruits, though any extras can be sold for a profit. When Ming asks how to handle stray butterflies, he is told to simply kill them; they are weak individually and only dangerous in swarms. Once Wu and Mei successfully draw the main swarm away, the others begin their harvest.
Elsewhere, a high-level cultivator named Tianmei flies through the area on her sword, searching for something. Meanwhile, Ming successfully scales the mountain using his makeshift soul-refining rope, gathering plenty of fruit. However, moving a boulder accidentally unleashes a hidden group of black butterflies. Fortunately, it’s only a small cluster, and Ming easily dispatches them with his chain and a fireball.
Just as Ming thinks he can relax, Cheng captures him with an anti-cultivator binding spell, completely cutting off his spiritual energy. When Ming demands an explanation, Cheng smugly replies that he just wants some answers, noting that no one would miss a lowly three-vein cultivator if he disappeared in the mountains.
Cheng interrogates him about his connection to Shan Island, pointing out that Ming‘s bone-shrinking technique from the tournament is exclusive to that region. Realizing his cover is blown, Ming lies, claiming he learned the skill from a manual found on a fugitive’s corpse. Before Cheng can press further, a terrifying Liquid Yin Condensation Rat Beast suddenly attacks them.
Knowing he stands no chance, Cheng cowardly flees, throwing Ming at the monster as a distraction. He smiles as he flies away, thrilled to finally have a perfect excuse for Ming‘s death. Left alone and severely outmatched, Ming is slammed into a rock. Refusing to die without a fight, he summons his spirit weapon at full strength, charging the beast to slash its torso and sever its tail. However, the rat strikes back fiercely, and Ming knows his body can’t hold out much longer.
Just in time, Tianmei arrives and rains down lightning swords to assist him. When the startled beast tries to flee, she summons a massive whirlwind to trap it, inadvertently sucking Ming into the sky as well. Ming regains his balance using his nimbus cloud, but the desperate rat snags him with its tongue, attempting to drink his blood to regenerate. Fortunately, Tianmei swiftly slices off the tongue, sending the wounded beast scurrying away in pain.
Needing bait to track the beast, Tianmei forcibly grabs Ming and tosses him into the rat’s escape route, knocking him unconscious. When Ming wakes up, the rat launches a volley of spikes at him. He raises his shield, but Tianmei suddenly leaps in, using an artifact to absorb the attack.
The rat turns its aggression toward Tianmei. When a spike narrowly misses her face, she furiously retaliates with a barrage of lightning swords. Seeing the heavily injured beast still clinging to life, she executes a secret technique, summoning a massive lightning blade that obliterates its body. As the rat’s soul fragments attempt to flee, Ming tries and fails to catch them, but Tianmei effortlessly destroys the remnants with her swords and collects the beast’s remains.
Witnessing this, Ming realizes the staggering power gap between himself and high-level cultivators. Tianmei bluntly calls his fighting skills pathetic but acknowledges his usefulness as bait. As a reward, she allows him to scavenge any rat parts that fell into the ravine.
Before departing, she questions his cultivation method. When Ming lies and claims it is the Ghost Spirit technique, she sees right through it. She warns him that whoever taught him his actual technique made a massive mistake, leaving it with a fatal flaw. Refusing to elaborate further, she simply tells him it’s his problem to deal with and flies away.
Meanwhile, at the mountain’s base, Cheng tells the rest of the team about the monster attack, claiming it likely ate Ming while conveniently omitting his own cowardly betrayal.
Mu is shocked by the monster’s appearance but recalls sensing a strong presence earlier, correctly assuming a high-level cultivator intervened. The rest of the team wonders why Ming couldn’t escape with his skills, doubting anyone would be sinister enough to use him as bait. Covering his tracks, Cheng claims he saw the rat chase Ming while they were fleeing, but smoothly denies any involvement in his assumed death.
Saddened but focused on their mission, Mu tallies their blood fruit. Having only sixty of the required hundred, she orders the team back out to meet their quota and tells them to keep an eye out for Ming just in case.
Meanwhile, Ming searches the ravine for the rat’s remains. Finding mostly worthless pieces, he feels scammed until he spots a twitching remnant that looks incredibly valuable. However, the moment he picks it up, the rat’s residual energy violently surges into his head, causing him to scream in agony.
Elsewhere, as Tianmei leaves the mountains, a fellow Daoist named Yan intercepts her. He feigns ignorance, but she knows he recognized her immediately. When Yan expresses surprise that a powerful cultivator like her was hunting a mere demon rat, she reveals it was no ordinary beast—it was on the verge of reaching the crystal formation stage. This leaves Yan speechless, as a successful breakthrough would have cost countless lives. To prove it, Tianmei shows him a piece of the rat’s gem. Convinced but curious about how a simple rat grew so strong, Yan asks her to hand over the body parts for testing just as she turns to leave.
Tianmei declines Yan‘s request, explaining that she already intends to give the rat’s body to Senior Cold Moon, whose research skills far outclass his.
Meanwhile, Ming spends hours frantically scanning his body for the dark energy he felt enter him, but he finds no trace of it. He debates returning to the sect for a checkup, knowing it will alert Yu, who definitely won’t leave him alone after trying to kill him. Although Ming briefly considers faking his death to escape further investigation, he realizes he desperately needs the sect’s resources to cultivate. Furthermore, he needs to confront Ruan about the major flaw Tianmei mentioned in his technique. Left with no other option, he flies back on his nimbus.
At the rendezvous point, the team is stressing out. Tianmei‘s destructive battle buried most of the harvest under rubble, leaving them nineteen fruits short of their quota. Suddenly, Ming arrives, completely shocking Yu. When Mu asks what happened, Ming claims a high-ranking cultivator saved him from the beast but that he was knocked unconscious by the crossfire, explaining his delay. Fortunately, Ming still has the twenty-four blood fruits he gathered earlier, giving the team exactly what they need to finally meet their quota.
Relieved by their success, the team prepares to return, and Du kindly offers Ming a ride back so he can recover. Before Yu can leave, Mu confronts him. Suspecting he tried to assassinate Ming in the mountains, she sternly reminds him that her family only agreed to monitor the sect, not commit murder. Yu defends his actions by claiming Ming threatens the Imperial Court’s mission. Mu counters that if Ming were truly plotting against them, he would have stayed hidden and let Yu believe he was dead. She fiercely warns Yu that if he ever attacks Ming again, he will have to answer to her.
Later, Du delivers Ming‘s share of the mission rewards. Before leaving, he cryptically advises Ming that since strength is everything in cultivation, he might want to re-evaluate his betrothal to Mu. Soon after, Mu arrives. When Ming questions if their betrothal is a sham, she asks him to follow her to a private mountain to talk.
Once alone, Mu drops a bombshell: she has known he is an impostor since they first met. She finds it amusing he thought she wouldn’t recognize her own fiancé, but admits she actually prefers Ming‘s maturity over the real, spoiled Kongqian. When Ming asks why she didn’t expose him to Yu, she explains her arranged marriage was supposed to grant her a secret cultivation technique to become a spirit master. With the real heir dead, that deal is ruined—unless Ming helps her. Ming admits he knows nothing about the family’s secrets, but Mu points out that his assumed identity will eventually give him access to useful information. She promises to keep his secret safe as long as he helps her get what she needs.
Over the following days, Ming resumes his intense training. Running low on the recovery pills he won from the tournament, he decides it is time to shift his focus and practice something new.
Back in his room, Ming examines the rat demon’s remains, realizing the bone fragments that pierced Tianmei‘s shield will make excellent weapons. Remembering that monster meat boosts cultivation, he roasts a piece and eats it. A massive surge of spiritual energy floods his body, allowing him to reach the halfway point of the Dark Bone technique’s second stage in just a single day.
While eating the rest of the meat would easily push him to the third stage, Ming hesitates. Remembering Tianmei‘s warning about the technique’s fatal flaw, he resolves to uncover the truth first. Knowing Ruan would just lie to him, Ming decides his best option is breaking and entering.
Fortunately, Ruan is distracted in the library meeting with the sect master, who warns Ruan that he will die in ten years if he doesn’t advance his cultivation. Seizing the opportunity, Ming punches through an outer wall into a secret passage. By staying perfectly quiet, he sneaks past a group of blind skeleton guards and locates Ruan‘s hidden notes.
Reading the journal, Ming uncovers a horrific truth: while the first three stages of the Dark Bone technique are safe, Ruan has absolutely no idea how the fourth stage works. To figure it out and save his own life, Ruan has been tricking unsuspecting students into practicing the flawed technique, selfishly using them as disposable, dying test subjects.
Infuriated that he was tricked into becoming a human sacrifice, Ming‘s heart rate spikes. The sudden bodily noise alerts the blind skeletons, who immediately swarm him. Ming fights back defensively, but quickly realizes these are no ordinary henchmen.
Ming narrowly avoids being knocked out by the unexpectedly armed skeletons. Knowing their lack of intelligence is his only advantage, he uses his soul rope to control one skeleton into attacking another, creating enough of a distraction to escape the room. However, his exit alerts two more guards.
As Ming flees, the mysterious dark energy from earlier violently surges, crippling his movement. His attempts to seal it fail. Just as a pursuing skeleton prepares to punch a hole through him, Ming‘s energy reacts, and he instantly finds himself trapped in an empty, black fog.
Baffled that he was just in the secret library, Ming tries to escape. He walks, only to be blocked by an invisible barrier. He flies into the sky, but the barrier extends there too, completely trapping him. Accepting he will be stuck for a while, he pulls out an hourglass and begins relentlessly practicing his spells.
Since casting efficiency depends purely on practice time rather than raw spiritual power—and this strange space prevents him from ever feeling hungry or tired—Ming trains non-stop for sixty straight days. His spells become incredibly powerful, yet they still can’t shatter the barrier, leaving him wondering if he is trapped forever.
Suddenly, on the sixtieth day, Ming is teleported back into his physical body. Shockingly, he wakes up in the exact same position and moment he was in before being trapped in the fog. But now, armed with the results of his sixty days of non-stop training, his vastly improved spells effortlessly destroy the remaining skeletons, allowing him to escape with ease.
Shortly after, Ruan and the sect master arrive at the scene. Shocked that someone easily destroyed his skeletons, Ruan concludes the intruder must have been a Spirit Master, completely unaware that a mere Spirit Disciple like Ming is now capable of such power.
The sect master warns Ruan that his dangerous research has attracted unwanted attention and strictly forbids him from teaching the Dark Bone technique to anyone else. As for the students Ruan already tricked, the master callously dismisses them as a lost cause.
Later, Ming visits Master Bing to have the mysterious dark energy removed. However, Bing finds absolutely no trace of evil. Instead, he notes Ming‘s unusually dense spiritual energy and assumes Ming is faking an illness just to meet the beautiful Lan. Annoyed, Bing demands his consultation fee and throws him out. Right after hitting the ground, Ming bumps into Lan. Her naturally seductive eyes nearly hypnotize him, but he forces himself to stay focused and look away, leaving her highly impressed by his resistance.
Back home, Ming decides to stop worrying about the undetectable dark energy for now. Using the high-quality spirit recovery medicine he swiped from Ruan, he spends two months meditating. The pills are incredibly effective, boosting his energy higher than ever. Reflecting on Ruan‘s notes, he reminds himself that while the first three stages of the Dark Bone technique are safe, the fourth stage is entirely lethal, meaning he must tread carefully.
Heading out to train, Ming encounters three suspicious men on the road. Hoping to avoid a scene, he tries to walk past them, but they immediately mark him as an easy target. As soon as his back is turned, a thug named Big Mac launches a blast, demanding Ming hand over all his valuables. Quickly assessing the threat, Ming realizes these guys are incredibly weak. He effortlessly gut-punches one thug so hard he spits up blood, and when Big Mac tries to attack, Ming simply knocks him out cold.
The final thug freezes Ming‘s feet with an ice spell, but Ming retaliates by launching fireballs. When the thug tries to flee, Ming yanks him back with his soul chain and knocks him out cold. Freeing himself, Ming happily loots their unconscious bodies as payback for the ambush.
Mu then flies in, having heard Ming was in trouble, though she sees he handled it just fine. When he asks how she found him, Mu admits she’s been keeping tabs on him. She warns him that Yu has also been aggressively investigating the Bai family and strongly suspects Ming is an impostor. Though Ming points out that Yu has absolutely no proof, Mu cautions that Yu is impulsive enough to attack him regardless of the sect rules.
Taking her warning to heart, Ming hurries home and spends the next few months cultivating intensely. He finally breaks through to become a mid-level spirit disciple, sending an energy ripple that completely shocks the branch leaders. They had written the new recruits off as useless, but this sudden display of talent gives them hope for the upcoming inter-branch tournament.
With his newly enhanced power, Ming is ready for Yu‘s inevitable shenanigans—which arrive in the form of a flaming, ten-ton boulder hurled directly at his house. Ming leaps up to block it, demanding an explanation. Yu feigns innocence, sarcastically claiming the boulder was just a heavy “knock” on the door so they could talk.
Yu openly accuses Ming of being an escaped criminal posing as the Bai family heir. Ming plays it cool, brushing off the baseless accusations since there is zero evidence. Frustrated, Yu tries to beat a confession out of him by smashing the boulder into Ming‘s head. However, Ming calmly blocks the strike and effortlessly slices the rock in half with a wind spell. Utterly shocked by this sudden display of power, Yu begins to panic, realizing that if Ming is growing this strong this quickly, he will soon be impossible to stop.
As Ming tries to leave, Yu recklessly attacks him mid-air, completely ignoring the sect’s strict rules. Knowing he would struggle to defeat Yu alone, Ming is relieved when a senior passes by and intervenes. To avoid further complications, Ming covers for his attacker, claiming it was just a friendly spar. Though highly skeptical, the senior drops the issue and summons them to see the branch masters. Yu begrudgingly follows, knowing his assassination attempt is foiled for now.
At the main hall, they join Fang. The branch leaders reveal that the three of them have been chosen for an unexpected tournament against the Nine Apertures branch. Zhu explains that three new disciples from each side will compete on Subdued Dragon Island for highly coveted spirit fruits. These fruits contain jade essence, which can drastically boost cultivation speed. Enticed by the reward, the trio eagerly agrees to participate.
Gui orders Zhu and Zhang to escort them to the island. Upon arrival, they meet Master Dazi of the Nine Apertures branch and his team. Zhu notices that only two opposing disciples are present, prompting Dazi to angrily call down his missing third disciple, Jin. Dazi apologizes for the boy’s wild disrespect, explaining that Jin grew up alone in a forest and doesn’t know their customs.
With everyone gathered, the elders unseal the entrance, revealing a volcano containing three magically sealed spirit trees. Each tree holds ten fruits and is surrounded by unique terrain. The elders remain outside to stabilize the volcano while the disciples are paired off and teleported into the spirit arena. The tournament has officially begun!
The three Nine Apertures competitors deploy snake puppets and launch their coordinated attacks using special controlling techniques. When the first snake lunges, Ming uses his chain to ensnare it, expertly striking its joints to disable it. Fang secures an easy victory by effortlessly shattering his opponent’s magic stone with an ice spear.
However, Yu struggles significantly. Trying to bypass the puppet, he attacks its master, Fei, with a fireball, but she easily blocks it with a high-level fire-repelling talisman. Zhu is shocked by a lowly disciple possessing such an item and accuses Master Dazi of cheating by supplying them. Dazi calmly clarifies that Fei’s wealthy grandfather, Great Master Ying, provided the talismans, and she only joined their branch out of a love for puppetry. Regardless, her endless supply of powerful, grandfather-funded talismans leaves Yu with zero chance of winning.
The other Nine Apertures disciples also reveal hidden tricks. Ming‘s opponent turns out to be a body cultivator—a difficult path where progress drastically slows later on, but one that makes a fighter practically unbeatable against equal-level opponents. Convinced of a clean sweep, Dazi is warned by Zhu that Fang won’t fall easily. Seeing Fang use the Withered Wood technique to boost his strength, Dazi realizes his feral disciple, Jin, will struggle. He grants Jin permission to use a “secret weapon”: a highly advanced, second-grade praying mantis puppet.
Zhu immediately calls out the obvious cheating, but Dazi smugly insists the advanced puppet is perfectly legal. Fang fights valiantly, but Jin’s mantis easily counters his ultimate technique. Exhausted and defenseless, Fang is targeted for a lethal strike, forcing Zhu to surrender to save his life. A similar scenario plays out between Yu and Fei, with Zhu forced to concede on Yu‘s behalf as well.
Pleased with her victory, Fei heads toward a spirit tree to claim her prize. Dazi mocks Zhu, joking that his group will leave completely empty-handed. However, Zhu firmly reminds him that the tournament isn’t over yet: Ming is still fighting.
Ming maintains his distance from the body cultivator using fire spells. Feigning exhaustion, he baits his opponent into lunging forward, only to unleash a devastating triple fireball. The first two blasts obliterate the cultivator’s sword, leaving him completely defenseless. To save his student’s life, Dazi surrenders, and Ming safely diverts the final fireball into the mountains.
Overjoyed, Zhu celebrates the win, but a bitter Dazi demands a rematch. Zhang initially refuses, but Dazi sweetens the pot with a hundred pieces of refined iron, tempting Zhu‘s gambling spirit. To convince Ming to risk his life again, Zhu pulls him aside and offers two extra spirit liquids. After some quick negotiation, Ming secures an additional two sticks of calming incense as a bonus.
Before facing the feral Jin, Zhang secretly hands Ming a protective talisman, warning him of the danger ahead. The match begins with Jin firing a lightning bolt to distract Ming while his mantis puppet attacks. When Ming effortlessly outmaneuvers it, Jin summons a swarm of mantis clones. Ming clears the clones with a wind slash and attempts to capture the original puppet with his soul chain.
Jin retracts the mantis, but Ming aggressively counters by casting and actively redirecting multiple wind slashes. Jin deploys a turtle puppet for defense, but the rapid strikes still inflict heavy damage. Amazed by Ming‘s spell mastery, Dazi briefly considers recruiting him, though Zhu immediately shuts the idea down.
Refusing help from his teammates, Jin discards his cloak to reveal hidden winged armor, drastically boosting his mobility to match Ming‘s speed. Outraged, Zhu recognizes the legendary turtle armor, noting that even he couldn’t break it in his youth.
Zhu complains that giving the turtle armor to a disciple is unfair, but Dazi calmly clarifies that no rules were broken. He explains that he still possesses the original armor; Jin actually crafted this replica himself. Zhang is highly impressed that Jin mastered such advanced mechanical craftsmanship in only two years. Dazi proudly notes that Jin‘s mechanical intuition already far surpasses his own at that age.
With his speed advantage neutralized, Ming struggles to survive. Jin fires a magically reinforced spider web, forcing Ming to evade while simultaneously dodging the mantis. No longer able to hold back, Ming reveals his third-form sonic attack to repel the puppet.
Shocked that Ming was hiding his true power, Yu grows even warier of him. While Dazi is impressed, he predicts the energy-draining technique will quickly be Ming‘s downfall. However, Zhang remains entirely confident in Ming‘s victory.
Creating a dust cloud by slashing the ceiling, Ming cleverly uses his levitation technique to hurl rubble at Jin. Seeing the levitation spell shocks everyone, especially Yu, as it seemingly confirms his suspicions about Ming‘s true identity.
Ming launches a fireball, but Jin‘s turtle blocks it and suddenly transforms into a deadly laser cannon aimed right at Ming. Refusing to use Zhang‘s protective talisman to avoid disqualification, Ming blasts the ground to launch himself into the air. Having cleverly anchored his soul chain to his own ankle, he swings mid-air to land perfectly behind Jin and secure the win.
Overjoyed, Zhu gleefully rubs the victory in Dazi‘s face. Though disappointed, Dazi respects Ming‘s brilliant strategy and honors their bet, allowing Ming to harvest all the spirit fruits.
While Ming collects his prize, Zhang privately asks Dazi why he made such an uncharacteristically risky gamble for the fruits. Since he lost them all anyway, Dazi decides he might as well reveal his secret to her.
Dazi confesses to Zhang that he desperately wanted the spirit fruits because they are highly sought after by the Sea Clan Market, which is miraculously reopening for the first time in over a century. While Dazi is thrilled about the legendary treasures that will soon be available, Zhang suspects the sudden reopening is part of an elaborate scheme. Before they can debate further, the disciples cry out in panic. Now that the fruits have been harvested, the spirit trees suddenly burst into flames, rapidly degrading the island’s magic barrier.
Zhang orders Zhu and Dazi to activate the teleportation circle, but it completely fails. Zhu grimly realizes the destruction of the spirit trees has shattered the island’s entire formation. Knowing what this means, Dazi screams at the disciples to fly upward immediately. Moments later, a terrifying red dragon erupts from the magma. Zhang is horrified, recognizing it as the legendary beast supposedly slain to create the island. Dazi reveals that Master Fujio was actually too heavily wounded to kill it back then and merely sealed it away. To make matters worse, the dragon has now broken through to the Crystal Formation stage.
Noting that the dragon’s energy is still unstable from breaking the seal, the elders decide to team up and distract it so the disciples can escape. Zhang deploys her magical umbrella to drastically boost Zhu and Dazi‘s power, and they launch a barrage of attacks to draw the beast’s aggro. However, Dazi is shocked when his spells harmlessly bounce right off the dragon’s impenetrable scales. When the beast tries to fly up and escape the volcano, Zhu uses his energy to bind it in place while Dazi casts a massive red sealing formation to trap it.
Their plan seems to be working perfectly until the dragon suddenly materializes a sword in its mouth. Absorbing the weapon’s dark power, the beast unleashes a barrage of devastating sword blasts. The sheer force of the attack easily shatters the sealing formation and inflicts massive damage on Dazi, tearing right through his protective turtle puppet.
The dragon turns its deadly attention toward the fleeing disciples. Zhang desperately orders them to run, warning that they cannot block the beast’s immense sword energy. Fang escapes using wind magic, Yu blasts a hole in the cave wall, and Ming takes off on his nimbus cloud. Meanwhile, Jin burns through his remaining puppets to shield his teammates from the onslaught. Out of puppets and out of time, Wu makes the ultimate sacrifice, heroically shoving Jin and Fei into a safe cave before taking the brunt of a final, fatal blast himself.
Elsewhere, Ming is targeted by several locked-on sword blasts. Just in time, Zhang intervenes, throwing up a powerful magic barrier that buys Ming the crucial seconds he needs to dive into a cave. Exhausted from the effort, Zhang is ordered by Zhu to retreat outside. Zhu then grimly informs Dazi that fighting the dragon head-on is now pointless; having consumed Wu‘s blood, the beast has grown even stronger. Their only remaining option is to try and reseal it within the volcano.
Navigating the dark cave system, Ming is suddenly ambushed and restrained by Yu, who cruelly mocks him for falling for his trap a second time. With no masters around to intervene, Yu ruthlessly beats Ming to a bloody pulp, savoring every second. Stepping on the battered Ming‘s head, Yu demands the location of the treasures stolen by his father. Having recognized Ming‘s flawless levitation technique during the tournament, Yu smugly confirms his true identity: the wanted fugitive Liu Ming. He sadistically taunts Ming about the day his entire family was massacred, recalling the pathetic look on his father’s face before he was beheaded, and wishing he had been the one to end their wretched bloodline himself.
These horrific taunts ignite a blinding rage within Ming, causing the mysterious dark energy inside his body to violently awaken and take over. In a split second, Ming shatters his restraints. Though surprised, an overconfident Yu charges forward for the kill. However, a furious, unrestrained Ming instantly shatters that confidence with a devastating gut punch. Desperately trying to fight back, Yu quickly realizes he is now completely outmatched. Ming mercilessly overpowers him and brutally snaps his right arm.
Yu desperately tries to fend Ming off with an energy kick, but Ming effortlessly vaults over him, blasting him in the back with a fireball. Grabbing Yu by the throat, Ming unleashes a brutal flurry of wind blades, slicing him hundreds of times until he is a bloodied, broken mess. Realizing his impending doom, a terrified Yu begs for his life, nervously claiming it was all “just a prank” and promising to leave Ming alone forever. Unmoved, Ming offers absolutely no mercy. In a desperate last-ditch effort, Yu lunges forward to strike. Ming easily dodges, and before Yu can even react, he is entirely engulfed in flames, burning to death in seconds.
With his revenge complete, the dark energy recedes, leaving Ming completely exhausted just as the cavern begins to collapse. With magma rapidly closing in from all directions, Ming is moments away from death when Zhang suddenly swoops in, grabbing his hand and pulling him to safety just as the ceiling caves in. She reveals that she only managed to find him in time by tracking the protective talisman she had secretly given him. When she asks what happened to Yu, Ming genuinely cannot answer; the dark energy clouded his mind, leaving him with only foggy memories of the brutal beatdown and a splitting headache whenever he tries to remember. Seeing his agonizing pain, Zhang drops the subject and rushes him back to Zhu so the group can escape before the dragon spots them.
A few days later, a fully recovered Ming is summoned to Master Gui‘s mansion. Outside, he runs into Shai, who expresses relief at Ming‘s quick recovery. When Ming wonders why he was summoned, Shai hints that with Yu out of the picture, Gui might be considering taking Ming on as his new personal disciple.
Inside, Gui warmly congratulates Ming, crediting his exemplary performance for their branch’s tournament victory. True to the agreed-upon bet, Gui presents Ming with his hard-earned reward: three highly valuable bone marrow cleansing elixirs. Gui admits he would normally never bestow such precious items upon a regular disciple, but Ming‘s incredible efforts have truly earned it.
Gui hands over the bone marrow cleansing elixirs, advising Ming to exercise vigorously beforehand and use them all at once for maximum effect. Zhu also pays up, handing over the promised calming incense and spirit stones from their wager. When Ming asks to visit Master Zhang, Zhu advises against it, explaining that she is still resting and recovering in the back mountains.
Hoping to reward the tournament MVP, Zhu suggests Gui take Ming on as his new personal disciple to replace the deceased Yu. Instead, Gui takes a long look at Ming, bluntly rejects the idea, and chooses the assistant, Shai, for the position instead. Unbothered since he never wanted to train under Gui anyway, Ming politely congratulates Shai and heads home. Later, when Zhu questions the baffling decision, Gui explains his reasoning: he firmly believes Ming‘s three-meridian limit will ultimately cap his cultivation potential, no matter how skilled he is now.
Back home, Ming works up a heavy sweat before drawing a bath and pouring in the first elixir. As the magic liquid penetrates his body, he endures excruciating pain, but he can physically see the impurities being violently purged from his system. Satisfied that it’s working, he dumps in the remaining two bottles and braces himself for the grueling process.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, the sect’s twelve-meridian prodigy Chong meets secretly with an Imperial Court agent to discuss the intel left behind by the late Yu. The agent notes Yu‘s lingering suspicion that the Bai family heir is actually the wanted fugitive, Liu Ming. When Chong coldly mocks Yu for dying as a pathetic “court dog,” the agent takes fierce offense and threatens to report Chong to the elders for treason. Before the agent can even walk away, Chong violently plunges his fist straight through the man’s back, killing him instantly.
Declaring he is entirely done serving the Imperial Court, Chong resolves to protect his cushy status as a sect prodigy and proceed with his own dark ambitions. However, to ensure his secrets stay buried, he decides he must eliminate Ming first.
Having finished the grueling marrow cleansing, Ming feels completely renewed. To test his newly purified muscles and meridians, he launches a fireball, sprints ahead of it, and blocks the blast with his bare hands, walking away with only minor burns. While this massive durability boost gives him confidence for the upcoming competition, he knows he still needs a solid strategy to counter opponents with higher cultivation and superior magic. Deciding he needs a powerful combat companion, he sets his sights on obtaining a spirit pet as strong as the red dragon. A few days later, Ming visits Master Zhang, who is recovering well and immediately notices his physical growth. She apologizes that Gui passed him over for the personal discipleship in favor of Shai, but Ming humbly insists that earning her and Zhu’s recognition is reward enough. He feels guilty that she had to sacrifice her valuable treasure to save him from the dragon, but she waves it off, just glad they survived. She also reveals that the elders are already planning an expedition to hunt the beast down.
Ming then shares his plan to enter the Savage Ghost Sect’s Nether Realm to capture a spirit. Zhang thinks it is a great idea but gives him a strict rundown of the terrifying realm. She explains that it was created by the founder Sixian and is filled with dense Yin energy, divided by thirty-six pillars into an inner and outer circle. The closer you get to the center, the stronger the spirits become, with monsters classified into five tiers: pawn, fierce, general, commander, and king. Zhang insists Ming only target a pawn-level creature, as attempting to form a master-servant contract with a fierce-level spirit at his current strength is incredibly risky and could literally destroy him. Gifting him a map of the outer circle, she gives him one final, grave warning: he must absolutely avoid the realm’s two deadliest natural threats, the Soul Clouds and the Ghost Wasps.
Over the next few days, Ming meticulously prepares for his journey into the Nether Realm. He purchases five anti-specter talismans from the gray market, a talisman crossbow with specialty arrows from a senior, and various other ghost-repelling tools. Unfortunately, his luck takes a swift downturn when he tries to pack his gear; he quickly realizes the storage talisman he bought is entirely defective, meaning he was completely scammed. The following day, Ming arrives at the Nether Realm gate, where the gatekeeper, Lee, charges him a steep entry fee of one hundred contribution points. Seeing Ming’s pained expression at his dwindling funds, Lee pretends to do him a favor by offering to sell him a spirit locator compass for twenty spirit stones. Thrilled by the prospect of tracking spirits within a hundred-meter radius, Ming eagerly buys the device, completely unaware of the gatekeeper’s true intentions.
Just then, Master Bing and her disciple Jialan arrive at the gate. Despite the exorbitant fee of five hundred contribution points for masters, Bing happily pays so she can personally escort Jialan on her first trip into the realm. While Lee configures the teleportation formation, Bing recognizes Ming from his previous, confusing possession check. She is amazed by his noticeable physical growth, and when Ming explains he used Gui’s rewarded marrow cleansing liquid, she is shocked by the rare gift and promises to acquire some for Jialan as well. As the group prepares to enter the portal, Bing stops Lee, sternly reminding him to hand over Jialan’s complimentary spirit locator compass since it is her first visit. Lee nervously complies, awkwardly claiming he simply forgot, while a completely speechless Ming realizes he has just been scammed for the second time in a row. Bing’s eyes narrow as she pieces together exactly how Lee just exploited the clueless young cultivator.
Master Bing exposes Lee as a notorious con artist and warns Ming not to trust him blindly. Feeling sorry for the young cultivator, she forces a reluctant Lee to refund the twenty spirit stones before she reports him. Just as they are about to depart, Chong—the renowned twelve-meridian prodigy—suddenly arrives at the gate, claiming his master sent him to gather herbs in the Nether Realm. However, as the group steps onto the teleportation circle, Ming notices Chong glaring at him with undeniable murderous intent. Ming immediately worries that this sudden hostility is connected to Yu’s death.
When Ming regains consciousness, he finds himself in a cave alongside a short old man who manages the return teleportation circle. The man calms a defensive Ming, explaining that the rest of the group woke up earlier and has already ventured out into the realm. Shortly after, four panicked disciples rush into the cave, begging to be sent back because their one-month time limit is nearly up. The old man coldly refuses, stating he won’t waste resources and will only activate the portal for a complete group of five. Desperate, the disciples argue that if they don’t leave now, they will end up permanently trapped just like him.
This careless insult sends the old man into a blind, terrifying rage. He reveals that he was once just like them, but he sacrificed himself to save his team from a spirit attack, resulting in his permanent corruption by the realm’s Yin energy. Because he is trapped in the Nether Realm forever, he is no longer bound by the sect’s conventional rules, and he makes it clear that anyone who disrespects him is a dead man. Fortunately, Ming had already slipped out of the cave, narrowly avoiding the old man’s wrath as he sets off on his own treacherous journey into the unknown.
Unable to shake the looming threat of Chong hunting him down, Ming knows he must prepare for an inevitable clash. He journeys several miles to track down a crocodile spirit, only to find it already captured—a frustrating but expected reality since all the disciples possess spirit compasses. When his compass pings another nearby spirit, Ming rushes to a canyon and spots a lone ox spirit. However, his sharp combat instincts kick in as he notices strange red energy radiating from the creature. Ming wisely backs away just before the ox violently explodes, revealing Chong as the mastermind behind the trap. Chong drops the act, explicitly accusing Ming of killing Yu. He makes it clear he doesn’t care about avenging the idiot, but he is dangerously curious about whether Yu leaked any sensitive information regarding Chong’s true identity or secret mission before dying.
Knowing that ruthless undercover agents like Chong will never simply let him walk away, Ming decides to take the initiative. He plays dumb and hands Chong a small box as a distraction. When Chong opens it, a hidden talisman instantly binds him in place. Ming immediately follows up with a barrage of fireballs, but the restraint isn’t strong enough; Chong easily shatters the binding, absorbs the fiery magic, and blasts it right back. Using the explosion as cover, Ming retreats deeper into the canyon. Chong relentlessly pursues, bombarding the rocky landscape with spells to flush his prey out. Unfazed, Ming stays perfectly hidden, biding his time until he spots the perfect opening to launch a fierce, spell-heavy surprise attack to catch the prodigy off guard.
Ming‘s confidence quickly shatters when he realizes his successful sneak attack only hit one of Chong‘s blood clones. Forced onto the defensive, he runs for his life under a relentless barrage of attacks. Spotting a swarm of deadly ghost bees—creatures known to kill even high-level cultivators—he takes a massive gamble and fires a spell to draw their attention. When Chong finally corners him and gloats about his imminent victory, Ming coolly points to the approaching swarm, letting Chong know that if he goes down, they both go down. Recognizing the brilliant trap, Chong admits he finally understands how Yu was defeated, but he vows to finish the job later. The two are immediately forced to scatter in opposite directions to escape the murderous insects.
Running completely out of energy, Ming crash-lands and braces himself for a horrific death. Miraculously, the ghost bees abruptly halt their pursuit. Ming realizes he has unknowingly crossed the border into the Nether Realm’s inner circle—a territory so dangerous that even the bees are too terrified to enter. Safe from the swarm but unable to retreat, his only option is to venture deeper into the perilous unknown.
Elsewhere in the inner circle, Jialan is battling a corpse soldier under Master Bing‘s close supervision. Despite her superior cultivation, Jialan is struggling heavily. Bing explains that Jialan‘s innate nightmare body technique is highly effective against humans but practically useless against ghosts, putting her at a severe natural disadvantage. To make matters worse, this particular corpse soldier is demonstrating an unusual level of intelligence compared to the standard undead they usually face.
Master Bing asks Jialan to guess why the corpse soldier is so unusually smart, leading Jialan to wonder if it is connected to the recent disappearance of several immortal sect disciples. Later that night, Ming finds a cave to set up camp, but his rest is cut short when his compass reacts and a swarm of scorpions bursts from the ground. While fleeing, he accidentally falls through a crack in the floor and slides down a narrow tunnel into a massive, open cavern. Terrified of drawing attention, Ming holds his breath and checks his compass, which surprisingly indicates only a single spirit nearby. This deeply concerns him, as spirits rarely travel alone in the Nether Realm unless they are extraordinarily powerful.
A few days later, Bing and Jialan are still flying through the inner circle investigating the missing disciples. Noticing Jialan’s guilt over slowing down the investigation, Bing suggests they take a break to rest and meditate by a fire. Their peace is shattered when Bing senses danger, warning Jialan that highly intelligent bone corpses are hunting them. Three fierce-grade corpses emerge from the sand, but Bing effortlessly freezes them in place. Sensing a hidden hidden presence, she fires a blast at a nearby rock, exposing a general-grade corpse leading the ambush. Even Master Bing is taken aback by the rare appearance of a general, strongly suspecting its presence is tied to the missing disciples they are searching for.
Knowing the situation has become far too dangerous, Bing shatters the frozen soldiers and devises an escape plan for her student. She promises to create an opening and orders Jialan to run back to the outer circle as fast as she can. Jialan desperately protests, refusing to abandon her master, but Bing firmly shuts her down. As the only disciple Bing genuinely cares about, she refuses to let Jialan get hurt, explaining that protecting her while battling a general-grade spirit will simply be impossible.
Following Master Bing’s strict orders, Jialan reluctantly flees toward the teleportation array. However, despite Bing’s best efforts to hold the undead back, one of the corpse soldiers slips past her defenses and relentlessly hunts Jialan down. Meanwhile, deep in a dark cave, Ming suddenly comes face-to-face with a terrifying, fierce-grade bone scorpion. Knowing he normally wouldn’t stand a chance, he spots a glimmer of hope when he realizes the creature is already wounded. He attempts to trap it using the spirit-binding talismans he bought from the gray market, but his terrible luck with scammers strikes again. Two of the talismans turn out to be complete fakes, and their failure instantly gives away his hiding spot. Ming tries to fight back with his crossbow to no avail, forcing him to run. The scorpion unleashes a fireball and follows up with a deadly stinger strike, but Ming barely manages to raise his shield in time and dives back into cover once the dust settles.
Knowing he cannot afford to take another massive hit, Ming plays it incredibly safe, keeping his distance until he spots a crucial opening. He notices a visible crack in the scorpion’s armored shell near its leg and accurately fires an arrow straight into the weak point, dealing massive damage. Realizing Ming is far more dangerous than he looks, the wounded scorpion actually tries to flee the battle. Refusing to let his prize escape, Ming unleashes an unrelenting barrage of every spell in his arsenal until the beast is sufficiently weakened. He binds it with his soul chain and hastily draws a spirit contract circle, hoping to overpower the fierce-grade monster while its consciousness is faint.
Just as Ming begins the ritual, disaster strikes. The mysterious dark energy within him violently acts up again, rapidly draining his spiritual energy. Terrified that the scorpion might use this opening to overpower him, Ming frantically pours all his remaining strength into sealing the dark energy away, but it completely breaks free. When Ming finally opens his eyes, he is shocked to find himself trapped inside that strange pocket dimension once again. The space is noticeably larger than his last visit, and to his absolute horror, the fierce-grade scorpion was dragged in right alongside him! Ming initially freaks out, but he quickly realizes the beast isn’t attacking him at all, meaning the master-servant contract was actually a success. While he is thrilled to finally have a powerful fierce-grade spirit pet by his side, he is now faced with a brand new problem: figuring out how to escape this mysterious prison.
Trapped in the pocket dimension, Ming spends several weeks running combat drills with his newly contracted, quick-learning scorpion. Once they are finally released back into the real world, where no time has passed, he immediately finds a skeleton for the wounded creature to consume and heal its exoskeleton. Shortly after, Ming senses someone approaching and hides in the sand, spotting Jialan frantically fleeing from a corpse soldier. Assuming she was still with Bing, he initially hesitates, fearing it might be a trap to lure out their targets. However, when the corpse soldier’s spear strikes and grounds her, Ming immediately springs into action, using his soul chain to pull her to safety. Jialan thanks him and explains that the spear’s poison is disrupting her spirit energy, leaving her unable to cast her attacks, so she begs him to buy her some time. The soldier attacks again with an illusory frontal strike while the real spear materializes beside Ming, but he successfully blocks the devastating blow using the combat skills he just honed. Impressed by the monster’s power, Ming considers taming it, but Jialan fiercely warns him that highly intelligent corpse soldiers harbor immense hatred for the living and inevitably turn on their masters. Taking her grave warning to heart, Ming resolves to destroy the creature instead. As the corpse charges through his spells and an injured Jialan weakly attempts to help, Ming orders her to stay back so he can execute his plan.
Jialan suggests retreating, but while they stall, Ming‘s scorpion sneaks up and stings the corpse soldier. Weakened by the venom, the undead is easily sliced in half by Ming‘s wind slash. However, his premature sense of victory leaves him vulnerable to the soldier’s sudden self-destruct sequence. Jialan quickly shields them both, though Ming still faints from sheer energy exhaustion. He wakes up to find Jialan healing him; she reveals he recently lost a small amount of his life force. Ming realizes the mysterious pocket dimension must have drained his lifespan to compensate for his low spirit energy. Noticing he is staring at his new pet, Jialan playfully expresses jealousy that he hasn’t asked about her injuries. After he apologizes, she explains how Bing stayed behind to fight off a general-grade spirit so she could escape. Grateful for his rescue, Jialan repays him with a special spirit pouch to comfortably transport his scorpion. Ming suggests they head to the teleportation circle together, secretly relieved that staying near Bing‘s favorite disciple will deter Chong from attacking. After safely exiting the Nether Realm, Ming immediately prepares for his inevitable rematch with Chong. He travels to the distant, combat-prohibited Wongai Market, eventually finding a trustworthy shop where he asks the clerk to appraise a box of items.
Realizing the bone fragments from the condensed essence rat are too valuable for him to handle, the shop clerk directs Ming to his boss, Yu. Inspecting the rare materials, Yu offers him seven thousand spirit stones. Thrilled, Ming uses the funds to purchase everything on his shopping list, even receiving a generous twenty percent discount. Planning his next stop at a weapon crafter, Ming suddenly notices he is being followed and ducks into an alleyway. A group of mid-level apprentice thieves corners him, but Ming effortlessly wipes the floor with them and loots their pockets in retaliation. Wondering how thieves operate so openly in a secure market, Ming senses another presence behind him and instinctively throws two fireballs. To his horror, his target is Qian, a market security official, who effortlessly extinguishes his attack with water spheres. Realizing he is completely outmatched, Ming quickly apologizes. Qian brushes off the mistake but points out that carelessly displaying his highly valuable soul pouch made him an obvious target for the thieves. She offers to teach Ming how to mask the pouch’s aura, asking only that he help her drag the unconscious thieves to jail in return, which he happily agrees to do.
Ming uses his soul chain to tie up the thieves, unknowingly surprising Qian‘s watching masters, who had intended to use him as bait. Suddenly, Master Lu receives dire news that the injured Red Dragon has appeared in Wei after evading capture, making the market its likely next target. Unaware of the looming threat, Ming spends the next few days waiting for his custom weapon and helping a local restaurant owner verify a genuine protection talisman. The grateful owner treats Ming to a free meal just before Jin, an apprentice from Fang‘s forge, arrives to deliver the custom needle weapon. After erecting a sound barrier, Ming inspects the needle, fully satisfied with its quality despite its three-seal limit and high energy cost. With his business concluded, Ming hurries through a brewing storm to the docks and barely boards the final departing ship. He is surprised to find Qian on deck, who explains that Master Lu assigned her to escort the vessel. Meanwhile, back at the market, Lu and his guards form a defensive barrier to hold off the approaching dragon until reinforcements arrive. However, Lu soon realizes the highly intelligent, wounded beast has unexpectedly changed its course, meaning it is no longer targeting the market and is instead heading straight for the departing ship.
Lu quickly realizes the injured dragon is avoiding the fortified market to hunt easier prey and replenish its energy, immediately deducing it is after the recently departed disciple ship. Aboard the vessel, an unaware Ming contemplates his upcoming tournament strategy, realizing he must find ways to counter formidable opponents like Chong, Lei, and Jialan, especially since someone as powerful as Qian failed to place in the top three previously. Suddenly, both Ming and Qian sense the approaching dragon. As the terrifying beast comes into view, Ming knows Qian cannot block its fiery assault and tries to warn her, but there is nowhere to run. Just before the fireball strikes, the sect elders arrive to intercept the attack.
Lu orders Qian to take the helm and magically enchants the ship’s thrusters for a desperate escape. The resulting extreme speed causes many disciples to pass out, forcing Ming and the remaining students to meditate to stay conscious while he deploys a mana talisman for extra shielding. Despite the enhanced speed, the relentless dragon easily keeps pace and fires again. After deflecting another blast, Yu and the others agree their only option is to fight. Casting a protective spell on Qian, Lu orders her to evacuate the students while they buy time. The three elders take to the sky to confront the beast, banking on the fact that its injuries currently limit it to a fraction of its true power. A fierce aerial battle ensues, but they struggle to inflict any real damage against the dragon’s impenetrable scales, knowing a single misstep against its deadly fireballs will spell their doom.
The masters manage to block the dragon’s attacks, resulting in a tense stalemate. However, a deflected fireball splinters, sending stray flames hurtling toward the departing ship. Knowing the blast will kill everyone on board, Qian ignores Lu‘s desperate warnings to flee. Refusing to abandon her peers, she exhausts her energy to conjure three overlapping water shields. The intense flames obliterate the first two barriers but are finally deflected by the third. Despite her heroic effort, the explosive impact shatters the ship’s bow and sends an unconscious Qian plummeting. Ming dives after her, catching her before she falls overboard. He summons her spirit familiar from her soul pouch, places her on the bird’s back, and commands it to fly her to safety. Waking up moments later, a horrified Qian watches the ship disintegrate as dozens of junior disciples plummet to their doom. On the crumbling deck, a helpless Ming desperately tries to save his falling peers, knowing he is far too weak to fight the beast. In the sky, the masters coordinate to bind the dragon, but Zhao realizes he is marked for death when his blood sword shatters harmlessly against its impenetrable scales. Accepting defeat, Lu orders a full retreat to save whoever they can. Locking eyes with Ming for three agonizing seconds, Lu coldly abandons him to rescue Chong instead. Ming curses the elder for leaving him as dragon food, but just as the beast moves in to devour him, Yu suddenly swoops in to his rescue.
Yu goes all out to stall the dragon, hitting it with several blasts to draw its attention. She uses her best techniques to counter the fire but is brutally defeated. Realizing he is next, Ming grabs one of Yu‘s swords and charges the beast, knowing he doesn’t stand a chance. He holds out against a torrent of fire until backup miraculously arrives to distract the monster. However, the intense flames have already overwhelmed him, and he falls into the ocean, lamenting his unfair fate. Having fought so hard to build a new life under Bai‘s identity, he refuses to let his story end here, realizing he will always truly be Ming. Mustering his remaining strength, he swims toward the surface.
He wakes up confused in a warm clinic bed on Gang Mountain. Xian arrives and assures him he is safe, explaining that a rescue team was dispatched after the attack. Tragically, she confirms that Ming is the sole survivor; everyone else perished before help arrived. Seeing his grief, Xian advises him not to overthink it, revealing that the sect has already suppressed all news of the incident. As he thanks her and rests, Ming bitterly realizes that the sect’s cover-up means the fallen disciples will simply be forgotten forever.
Ming bitterly resents the sect’s corrupt class system but knows he is powerless to change it right now. While walking through the halls, he encounters a surprised Chong, who mockingly promises to finish him off during the upcoming tournament. Suppressing his intense rage, Ming walks away to avoid a fight. He is soon approached by Qian, who sincerely thanks him for saving her life on the ship. Ming downplays his heroism, giving credit to Master Lu for getting her to safety. When Qian apologizes for her master intentionally abandoning him, Ming claims he isn’t upset, understanding that the sect prioritizes gifted disciples like her. He brushes off his survival as pure luck, claiming the protective talismans he bought saved his life.
In reality, the trauma runs much deeper. After washing ashore on a small island amidst the ship’s wreckage, a devastated Ming had discovered Master Yu‘s lifeless body. Heartbroken that she died trying to save him, he kept a shard of her shattered sword as a permanent reminder of her ultimate sacrifice.
As it gets dark, Qian prepares to leave but hands Ming a highly valuable medium-grade elixir, explaining it is an unexpected apology gift from Master Lu. She bids him farewell, casually mentioning she will see him at the competition. When a surprised Ming asks how she knew he was entering, Qian points out that someone with his hidden strength would never pass up such incredible rewards, though she strictly warns him to prepare for some truly fierce opponents. Meanwhile, other disciples across the sect are also gearing up for the deadly tournament, including one overly confident cultivator who foolishly promises to marry his partner the moment he returns—a classic recipe for absolute disaster.
Meanwhile, in the main hall, Gui and two other masters perform a special ceremony to strengthen his new personal disciple, Shi. Together, the masters break the seal on a cauldron, releasing a dark entity that attempts to flee. They manage to confine the spirit to a small sphere, giving Shi the perfect opportunity to strike and bind it with his soul chain. With the demon’s soul now enchanting his weapon, a thrilled Gui believes they finally have the power to dominate the upcoming tournament. Across the sect, other competitors are also fiercely preparing. A lightning user hones his techniques on a mountaintop, while a venom user gathers energy deep inside a snake den. To give her a crucial edge, Bing gifts Jialan one of her most prized possessions: a rare bell enchanted with soul-captivating magic. Similarly, Chong receives a deadly aura upgrade from his master, forcing him to endure excruciating pain in exchange for near-invincibility in the arena.
Out in the forest, Ming meditates, acutely aware that his current strength won’t even get him past the qualifiers, let alone help him survive Chong‘s murderous intentions. Knowing he needs a new strategy, Ming begins intense inner spirit training, running grueling mental simulations of a lethal battle against his rival. In his first few attempts, he is easily overwhelmed, brutally beaten, and quite literally vaporized by Chong‘s relentless attacks. Refusing to give up, Ming continuously runs the fatal simulations over and over. He pushes through the mental defeats until he finally manages to decipher Chong‘s fighting style, surviving a direct hit and successfully landing a devastating counterattack of his own.
While Ming makes massive progress in his simulation training, Chong successfully assimilates the Blood Slaughter aura, gaining enough raw power to send shockwaves through the ground with a simple flex. His master is highly impressed, noting that the aura—crafted from the recently slain Red Dragon’s blood—has drastically purified Chong‘s spiritual power. Secretly planning to use his student to accelerate his own dark ambitions, the master advises Chong to rest to avoid overloading his system. Supremely confident in his newly unmatched strength, Chong agrees to take a break. Meanwhile, after running countless mental battles, Ming‘s combat skills skyrocket, officially advancing him to a late-stage spirit disciple. He credits this massive growth to the mysterious dark energy inside him. Though he remains unsure if this strange power is a blessing or a curse, he puts those concerns aside; his sole priority right now is surviving his deadly clash with Chong in the upcoming tournament.
