Recaps

Elder Ji demonstrated how to plant and tend the second-tier Blazing Sun Flower, then let the disciples take turns helping him. Xiong Yinxiu impressed him with her skill, and Li Ye stepped forward to take the next turn.

• Elder Ji brought Li Ye, Yao Shaohui, Gu Daojin, and Xiong Yinxiu into his second-tier spirit field and explained how to care for the Blazing Sun Flower.
• Xiong Yinxiu volunteered to go first and endured the dense Spiritual Qi by forcibly controlling her Law Power.
• Elder Ji planted a seedling while explaining the Blazing Sun Flower’s needs, then had Xiong Yinxiu assist with planting more.
• Xiong Yinxiu handled the work precisely, earning Elder Ji’s praise and confidence in her ability to tend the spirit field.
• Elder Ji divided the field into four areas and invited the next disciple to try, so Li Ye stepped forward to assist him.

Li Ye assisted Elder Ji in planting Blazing Sun Flowers and quickly impressed him with his skill, then encouraged Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin to take a turn. Elder Ji praised all three, while Xiong Yinxiu left the spirit field and vomited blood from the Law Power she had suppressed.

• Elder Ji initially viewed Li Ye coldly for waiting to adapt to the Spiritual Qi, but let him assist with planting a Blazing Sun Flower.
• Li Ye planted the seedling without mistakes, gained experience, and impressed Elder Ji with his increasingly smooth work.
• Li Ye suggested that Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin should also assist, and both planted seedlings successfully after observing him and Elder Ji.
• Elder Ji praised the group and ended the day's work, while Xiong Yinxiu left the spirit field and vomited blood as her suppressed Law Power battered her meridians.

After tending Elder Ji’s Spirit Plants, Li Ye used his experience to advance his alchemy and talisman skills, then practiced making talismans. The next day, he left for the market to buy a Pill Furnace.

• Li Ye finished planting the Blazing Sun Flowers and left the spirit field, while Yao Shaohui admired his skill and composure.
• Li Ye studied his panel, considered planting long-lived spirit trees for recurring rewards, and spent experience to advance alchemy and talismans to first-tier lower grade.
• Li Ye practiced talisman-making and produced thirteen talismans, including Fireball and Cold Breath Talismans.
• Li Ye finished tending the spirit field the next morning, spoke with Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin, and set out for the market with his Spirit Stones to buy a Pill Furnace.

Li Ye visited the Hundred Treasures Pavilion to buy a beginner’s Pill Furnace and negotiated a deal after finding a flaw in its construction. Yue Quan honored the shop’s policy and hoped to build a relationship with Li Ye, while warning his attendant against attacking a Purple Profound Sect disciple.

• Li Ye asked Yue Quan to show him a beginner’s Pill Furnace at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Li Ye inspected a low-grade furnace, identified a weak point, and negotiated its price down to fifty Spirit Stones with a Qi and Blood Pill Formula included.
• Li Ye paid for the furnace and formula, and Yue Quan saw him off while inviting him to sell pills at the shop in the future.
• Yue Quan explained to his attendant that the deal followed the shop’s policy and that befriending Li Ye could bring them a steady supply of pills.
• The attendant suggested capturing Li Ye, but Yue Quan slapped him and warned him that attacking a Purple Profound Sect disciple could bring ruin upon their Lineage.

Li Ye was ambushed on his way back from the market, but he killed the masked attacker and discovered the man had been controlled by a Gu worm. After examining the attacker’s notes, Li Ye suspected the Hundred Treasures Pavilion had arranged the attack and realized a woman he had recently provoked might be involved.

• Li Ye bought herbs, talisman supplies, and pill-refining tools, then cautiously set out for the Purple Profound Sect with his remaining Spirit Stones dwindling.
• Li Ye sensed he was being followed and prepared talismans as he traveled toward a mountain ravine.
• Iron-Devouring Gu attacked Li Ye, and a masked man struck at him with a saber, but Li Ye froze the attacker with Cold Breath Talismans and burned him with fireballs.
• Li Ye questioned the masked man, but a United Hearts Gu killed him before he could reveal who sent him; Li Ye collected the Gu and the man’s belongings.
• Li Ye found a booklet describing the Gu worms and inferred that the attack might be connected to a woman he had recently provoked.

Li Ye returned unharmed after Xiong Yinxiu arranged an ambush, and he alerted Elder Ji to her scheme. Xiong Yinxiu was exposed while sending bloodsucking worms to ruin the spirit fields, then died from her injuries, and Elder Ji gave Li Ye her Storage Bag.

• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin praised Li Ye's spirit fields, while Xiong Yinxiu wondered how he had survived his encounter with Old Zhao.
• Li Ye recognized Xiong Yinxiu's reaction as evidence that she had sent the burly man to ambush him, and decided to prepare for her next move.
• Xiong Yinxiu sent bloodsucking worms toward Li Ye's spirit field and the Blazing Sun Flowers, planning to frame him for damaging the crops and later kill him.
• Elder Ji attacked Xiong Yinxiu and activated the formation, which swept through the fields and destroyed all the worms.
• Li Ye told Xiong Yinxiu that he had reported everything to Elder Ji, and she died from her internal injuries.
• Elder Ji condemned Xiong Yinxiu for colluding with an outsider and trying to destroy his spirit medicines, then let Li Ye take her Storage Bag.

After Xiong Yinxiu’s death, Li Ye studied the Gu Technique inheritance and shared a book of spirit-flower cultivation methods with Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin. They withdrew from the competition, leaving Li Ye in charge of Elder Ji’s back-mountain spirit fields, where tending Blood Li Rice earned him experience and Blood Li Spiritual Essence.

• Li Ye studied the Gu Technique inheritance from Xiong Yinxiu’s Storage Bag and decided to focus on alchemy before investing in Gu refinement.
• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin read Xiong Yinxiu’s spirit-flower cultivation records, thanked Li Ye for sharing them, and offered to withdraw from the competition.
• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin agreed to look after Li Ye’s friend Zhang Liangfu when they returned to the spirit medicine garden.
• Elder Ji accepted their withdrawals and rewarded them, making Li Ye the disciple responsible for tending the back-mountain spirit fields.
• Li Ye tended Blood Li Rice, gaining experience and obtaining Blood Li Spiritual Essence.

After Blood Li Rice began yielding Spiritual Essence, Li Ye sought a body refining method and received advice at the Scripture Pavilion. He chose Elephant Armor Force and was told its cost and restrictions.

• Li Ye collected a hundred strands of Blood Li Spiritual Essence and visited Old Man Luo to ask for a body refining method.
• Old Man Luo took Li Ye to the Scripture Pavilion, where Niu Ba explained the available methods.
• Niu Ba recommended Elephant Armor Force for Li Ye’s wood Spirit Root and contrasted it with Iron Body Art.
• Li Ye chose Elephant Armor Force, and Niu Ba quoted its price and required him to swear not to pass it on to outsiders.

Li Ye began practicing Elephant Armor Force with Blood Li Spiritual Essence and felt his body grow stronger after his first session. Meanwhile, Zhang Liangfu struggled in the spirit medicine garden until Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin arrived with a Jade Slip and an offer of help from Li Ye, leaving a fellow disciple startled to learn they were friends.

• Li Ye studied Elephant Armor Force, judged its high resource costs worthwhile, and memorized its introductory fist techniques.
• Li Ye practiced the routine while circulating Law Power, then refined Blood Li Spiritual Essence and felt his body and Qi and Blood strengthen.
• Zhang Liangfu tended precious Spirit Plants and wondered how Li Ye was doing, but hesitated to visit him because of their changed status.
• Yao Shaohui and Gu Daojin brought Zhang Liangfu a Jade Slip from Li Ye and offered to answer his questions.
• A fellow disciple realized Zhang Liangfu was friends with Li Ye and blurted out, "You're friends with Li Ye? Why didn't you tell me!"

Li Ye improved his alchemy and talisman skills, then used his new expertise to refine Qi Condensation Pills and attempt the more valuable Wood Essence Pill. He succeeded in producing one finished Wood Essence Pill, leaving him poised to profit from his advancing alchemy.

• Li Ye received experience feedback from the Spirit Fields and found his Jade Sprout and Blood Li Spiritual Essence supplies had grown substantially.
• Li Ye raised alchemy and talisman-making to first-tier middle grade using his accumulated experience.
• Li Ye refined a batch of Qi Condensation Pills with seven finished pills, establishing that the recipe was now easy for him.
• Li Ye carefully prepared and refined a batch of Wood Essence Pills, but excessive heat burned away some of the medicinal liquid.
• Li Ye collected six pills from the furnace, including one finished Wood Essence Pill and two substandard pills.

Li Ye refined Wood Essence Pills with Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence, producing one pill with a marking that helped him break through to the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer. He sold pills at Hundred Treasures Pavilion, where Yue Quan eagerly offered to buy his Wood Essence Pills and asked what he thought of the Yue Household.

• Li Ye added four strands of Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence while refining Wood Essence Pills, improving the fusion and purity of the medicinal potency.
• Li Ye produced ten pills, including one with a marking, and realized the Jade Sprout Spiritual Essence could improve other forms of refinement as well.
• Li Ye swallowed the marked Wood Essence Pill and broke through to the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer, though he noted how difficult his Low-Grade Earth-Wood Spirit Root made cultivation.
• Li Ye brought Qi Condensation Pills and a Wood Essence Pill to Hundred Treasures Pavilion and asked Yue Quan about selling the Wood Essence Pill.
• Yue Quan confirmed the pill was a genuine Wood Essence Pill, offered to buy as many as Li Ye could supply, and asked what he thought of the Yue Household.

Yue Quan tried to recruit Li Ye into the Yue Household, but Li Ye refused and instead sold pills and bought a defensive artifact at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. There, Li Ye encountered Li Zongyin and Zhang Jingjing, who provoked him before Yue Quan intervened and drove them away.

• Yue Quan offered Li Ye a guest Alchemist position, protection, marriage prospects, and help with his grievances, but Li Ye declined and proposed doing business instead.
• Li Ye sold Qi Condensation Pills and a Wood Essence Pill for over a hundred Spirit Stones, then bought a small shield Law Artifact at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Li Ye encountered Li Zongyin and Zhang Jingjing at the shop entrance, and Zhang Jingjing insulted him while Li Zongyin confronted him.
• Li Zongyin urged Li Ye to apologize to Cai Shiwei and accept scraps of his favor, but Li Ye rejected his condescending advice.
• Yue Quan stepped in and threatened to remove Li Zongyin and Zhang Jingjing from the shop, so they left without challenging him.
• Li Ye thanked Yue Quan, who asked him to bring more pills to sell, and Li Ye joked that he would try to refine another Qi Condensation Pill.

Li Ye advanced to the Gray Hide stage of Elephant Armor Force and steadily expanded his pill business while cultivating in seclusion from sect affairs. After tending Elder Ji’s Blazing Sun Flowers, he obtained Blazing Sun Spirit Essence.

• Li Ye bought cultivation supplies at several shops and considered diversifying where he sold pills to avoid being tied to any one faction.
• Li Ye broke through to the Gray Hide stage of the first layer of Elephant Armor Force and tested his improved defense against the Blackwood Sword.
• Li Ye settled into a routine of tending his spirit fields, selling pills, and exchanging cultivation knowledge with Old Man Luo, Yao, Gu, and Zhang.
• Rumors spread that Cai Shiwei was preparing for Foundation Establishment and that Li Qiushuang was rising within the sect, while Li Ye remained focused on his fields.
• Li Ye tended Elder Ji’s Blazing Sun Flowers, whose vitality increased and yielded Blazing Sun Spirit Essence.

Li Ye received Elder Ji’s Qi Refining cultivation insights after earning praise for tending the Blazing Sun Flowers. Studying Ji Qing’s account of breaking through to Foundation Establishment, Li Ye resolved to strengthen his physique and Law Power, then discovered he had no safe way to use the Blazing Sun Spirit Essence he had gathered and headed to the talisman-making room.

• Li Ye received feedback from more Blazing Sun Flowers, and Elder Ji praised his work while noting his poor aptitude and declining to take him as a disciple.
• Elder Ji gave Li Ye a Jade Slip of his Qi Refining insights and promised another reward if more than nine hundred Blazing Sun Flowers survived to maturity.
• Li Ye studied Elder Ji’s Foundation Establishment breakthrough and concluded that he needed to temper his spirit, physique, and Law Power before attempting the hurdle.
• Li Ye gathered two complete portions of Blazing Sun Spirit Essence from the first two hundred and fifty flowers but realized he could neither refine them safely nor make suitable pills.
• Li Ye recalled his earlier idea and went to the talisman-making room.

Li Ye celebrated his first New Year in the cultivation world, returned to the Purple Profound Sect, and tended his Spirit Fields while reflecting on his growing abilities. Meanwhile, Cai Shiwei was summoned to meet the patriarch, but he attacked and escaped the sect, prompting the patriarch to place the highest bounty on him.

• Li Ye celebrated the New Year with Zhang Liangfu and other friends before returning to the Purple Profound Sect.
• Li Ye inspected his Spirit Fields, tended the Blood Li Rice and Blazing Sun Flowers, and anticipated receiving more experience and Spirit Essence.
• Cai Shiwei, having advanced to Foundation Establishment with startling speed, was summoned by the patriarch at Jiao Jinhan's urging.
• Cai Shiwei attacked the patriarch and fled through the sect's grand formation using a talisman that disabled its restrictions.
• The patriarch declared Cai Shiwei the target of the sect's highest bounty and promised to accept whoever killed him as a personal disciple.

After Cai Shiwei’s failed assassination attempt left High Person Purple Profound’s condition uncertain, Li Ye worried that the attack could destabilize the Purple Profound Sect and implicate him because of his past dealings with Cai. The Law Enforcement Hall summoned Li Ye, and he agreed to go with its disciples.

• Boy Xiangyang told Li Ye that Cai Shiwei had attacked High Person Purple Profound and escaped, leaving the sect’s grand array on alert.
• Li Ye concluded that Cai Shiwei’s rise in the sect had been part of a scheme and suspected that a powerful faction had supplied him with a means to injure the patriarch and escape.
• Li Ye worried that High Person Purple Profound had been seriously hurt and that Cai Shiwei’s backers might trigger turmoil in the Huan Kingdom.
• Boy Xiangyang reassured Li Ye that Elder Ji Qing knew about his past connection to Cai Shiwei and would protect him from unfair punishment.
• Three law enforcement disciples arrived, summoned Li Ye to the Law Enforcement Hall, and Li Ye agreed to go with them.

During the sect’s lockdown, Li Ye was brought to the Law Enforcement Hall and questioned about his connection to Cai Shiwei. After his account matched the evidence and Ji Qing vouched for him, he was released, leaving Li Zongyin to realize how far Li Ye had surpassed his expectations.

• Li Ye was escorted through the sealed Purple Profound Sect to the Law Enforcement Hall, where several disciples linked to Cai Shiwei were being held.
• Li Zongyin accused Li Ye of introducing him to Cai Shiwei and called him an accomplice, but the elder silenced him.
• The elder questioned Li Ye under a mind-piercing technique, and Li Ye explained his past dealings with Cai Shiwei and his refusal to join him again.
• Li Zongyin watched in despair as Li Ye’s account exposed how closely he had served Cai Shiwei, while Li Ye remained composed.
• The elder confirmed Li Ye had told the truth and that Ji Qing had vouched for him, then allowed him to leave.
• Li Zongyin wondered when Li Ye had gained such influence and capabilities.

Li Ye thanked Ji Qing for protecting him and returned to the spirit fields, while the Purple Profound Sect launched a broad campaign against Cai Shiwei and the forces behind the attack. The Li Household abandoned Li Zongyin and urged its members to support Li Ye, then faced the Zhang Household's demand to dissolve Zhang Jingjing's engagement to Li Zongyin.

• Li Ye thanked Ji Qing for guaranteeing his release, promised to stay within the sect, and headed back to tend the Spirit Plants.
• The Purple Profound Sect sent Foundation Establishment elders across the region and joined other powers in hunting Cai Shiwei.
• The Li Household's Ancestor refused to intervene for Li Zongyin and ordered the family to disown him, while telling them to support Li Ye.
• The Zhang Household's head arrived with Zhang Jingjing and asked the Li Household to end her engagement to Li Zongyin.

Li Ye used the rewards from harvesting Blood Li Rice to improve his talisman and Gu Technique skills, then prepared for the coming turmoil by cultivating Gu insects and making talismans. He successfully drew a second-tier Blazing Sun Fire Serpent Talisman, giving himself a powerful new defensive weapon.

• Li Ye harvested all four mu of Blood Li Rice and received experience and spiritual essence.
• Li Ye spent experience to raise Talismans to first-tier upper grade and Gu Technique to first-tier lower grade.
• Li Ye stayed in the sect, nurtured Gu insects, replenished his talisman supplies, and prepared higher-grade talisman paper.
• Li Ye used Blazing Sun Spirit Essence and beast-hide talisman paper to draw a Fire Serpent Talisman.
• Li Ye recognized that the completed Blazing Sun Fire Serpent Talisman had reached the second tier.

After Hu Zhiquan was killed while pursuing Cai Shiwei, Li Ye refused to leave the sect and sent talismans to aid Hu’s family. Cai Shiwei escaped another ambush, and the Flying Feather Sect invaded Huan Kingdom, plunging the region into war.

• Zhang Liangfu told Li Ye that Cai Shiwei had killed Hu Zhiquan and that the Purple Profound Sect was preparing to help Hu’s widow and children.
• Li Ye refused to leave the sect, urged Zhang Liangfu to stay as well, and gave him talismans to send to Hu’s family.
• The Purple Profound Sect and nearby forces found Cai Shiwei, but he broke through their encirclement and took more cultivators’ Essence Blood.
• Unfamiliar cultivators ambushed the pursuers, killing two Foundation Establishment elders of the Purple Profound Sect and inflicting heavy casualties on the allied forces.
• The Flying Feather Sect invaded Huan Kingdom and rapidly captured nearly half its territory before the Purple Profound Sect rallied its defenses.
• The Purple Profound Sect halted the initial advance and reclaimed some territory, but fighting over resource sites continued across the region.

Li Ye learned that the Purple Profound Sect had suffered defeats after the Qi Household and other local lineages betrayed it, and that he had been assigned to fight at the front. Before leaving, he harvested the mature Blood Li Rice and gained more Blood Li Spiritual Essence.

• Elder Ji Qing returned from the front grievously injured after the Qi Household attacked him and other lineages betrayed the Purple Profound Sect.
• Boy Xiangyang told Li Ye that the sect had suffered repeated defeats and lost another region to the enemy.
• Li Ye sought information from Old Man Luo, then learned the sect had assigned him and many lineage-backed disciples to fierce battle zones.
• With a few days before deployment, Li Ye returned to the back mountain and tended the Blood Li Rice.
• Li Ye harvested the mature Blood Li Rice and received Blood Li Spiritual Essence.

Li Ye harvested the Blood Li Rice before leaving for the battlefield, solidifying the Absorption trait and earning a huge supply of rice, experience, and Spiritual Essence. After saying farewell to Boy Xiangyang, he weighed how to spend his gains and planned to improve several skills while reserving experience for the dangers ahead.

• Li Ye asked Boy Xiangyang to preside over the Blood Li Rice harvest, and Boy Xiangyang returned with Elder Ji’s permission and a Storage Bag containing gifts and a token for the Foundation Establishment elder at the front lines.
• Li Ye harvested the Blood Li Rice and solidified the level-one Absorption trait, which gave plants he tended a chance to draw nutrients from a wider range of substances.
• Li Ye finished harvesting four mu of fields, producing nearly 2,400 jin of rice, and returned the formation token to Boy Xiangyang before leaving for his residence.
• Li Ye checked his panel and found he had gained 20,000 experience and 2,000 strands of Blood Li Spiritual Essence.
• Li Ye decided to save at least half his experience and considered improving his Planting, Pills, and Gu Technique skills before telling the panel to level him up.

Li Ye refined Qi and Blood Pills and used one to break through to the White Armor Level of Elephant Armor Force, then set out for the front lines wearing the Crimson Scale Armor. As his flying boat approached the dangerous Purple Path Forest, his gu insects sensed an approaching threat, and a sudden attack struck the vessel.

• Li Ye refined ten Qi and Blood Pills and swallowed a single-pattern pill to fuel his breakthrough.
• Li Ye advanced to the White Armor Level, gaining ivory-white skin that could harden for offense and defense.
• Li Ye equipped the Crimson Scale Armor gifted by Elder Ji before departing for the front lines.
• Li Ye traveled aboard a flying boat with Senior Brother Fei and other disciples assigned to the threatened Purple Path Forest.
• Li Ye's gu insects detected suspicious activity near the flying boat, and he prepared his talisman as blades suddenly tore into the vessel from below.

Li Ye fought off the cultivators who ambushed the Purple Profound Sect disciples, first killing a Middle-Stage Qi Refinement attacker before a Late-Stage cultivator struck him down. He lured the man close and killed him with an armored fist, while the battle between the surviving disciples and attackers continued.

• Unfamiliar cultivators ambushed the Purple Profound Sect flying boat, killing or injuring several disciples as they scattered to defend themselves.
• Li Ye killed the yellow-faced Middle-Stage Qi Refinement cultivator with his Blackwood Sword and talismans.
• A haggard Late-Stage attacker abandoned his fight with the Purple Profound Sect senior brother and attacked Li Ye with a spherical Law Artifact.
• The middle-aged cultivator repeatedly struck Li Ye and pursued him into the mountain forest, believing him helpless.
• Li Ye sprang up in ivory-white armor, dodged the sphere, and punched through the middle-aged cultivator's defenses, killing him.