Recaps

After Puppet Show moved the audience and won the judges’ praise, Si Jingyu explained that the deity’s unique performance had made the play decisive. The Emperor Peak Drama Club secured a commanding victory, while Si Huaruo challenged Si Jingyu to focus on her upcoming dance finals.

• The puppet burned away in the flames, and the old man wept as he delivered the play’s final line.
• Si Ming broke the audience’s silence with applause, and the crowd soon erupted in praise for Puppet Show.
• Si Shuiyun scolded Si Ming for his applause tactic, but Si Jingyu predicted the Emperor Peak Drama Club would win because only Si Huaruo and a deity could perform the play’s fire scene.
• Puppet Show received a score that decisively surpassed the other plays, and Si Jingyu regretted that the script could not be saved for the grand finals.
• Si Huaruo arrived and warned Si Jingyu that she might lose her reigning dance title in the upcoming finals.

Si Ming read sensational newspaper coverage of Emperor Peak Academy's unexpected success at the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling, along with critics' interpretations of the play 'Puppet Show.' The chapter left the play's meaning open to competing readings of how the puppet both sustained and ruined the old man's life.

• Si Ming read headlines exaggerating the drama club's victory and calling its young performers veterans.
• Si Ming reflected that the flourishing arts scene had encouraged an increasingly sensational and unscrupulous news industry.
• Newspapers highlighted the club's last-minute lead change, rewritten script, ancient dramatic form, and unprecedented summoning of a god to perform.
• A critic described 'Puppet Show' as a tale of an old man who sacrificed his life to puppetry and regretted it too late.
• Another critic argued that the puppet had both kept the old man company and trapped him in a life of destitution.

Si Ming learned that Si Jingyu’s enemy was Shi Muyan, the White Night Divine Sword, who was the Si Clan ancestor’s rival in love. Si Jingyu then checked Si Ming’s progress in Water Moon Precious Mirror, leaving him wary of her serious attention.

• Si Ming agreed to help Si Jingyu and learned that her enemy was Shi Muyan, the White Night Divine Sword and the Si Clan ancestor’s rival in love.
• Si Jingyu explained that modern surveillance and allied Spirit Transformation experts made Shi Muyan’s usual assassination tactics difficult, though she still had not acted.
• Si Jingyu told Si Ming that the Si Clan had three supreme arts, but the Eternal Barrier had greatly weakened or nullified two of them.
• Si Jingyu asked Si Ming to circulate the body-tempering force from Water Moon Precious Mirror so she could check his cultivation, while he suspected she had another reason for examining him.

Si Jingyu helped Si Ming practice the Water Moon Precious Mirror, but became flustered while touching his back and realized she might have fallen in love at first sight. Si Shuiyun suspected Si Ming had bewitched her, while Si Ming remained unaware of the commotion and sneezed as Si Huaruo checked on him.

• Si Jingyu guided Si Ming through repeated circulations of the Water Moon Precious Mirror, making him repeat the exercise nine times before she suddenly left.
• Si Jingyu rushed to her room, tried to calm herself, and asked Si Shuiyun what it meant when a woman blushed and her heart raced around a man.
• Si Shuiyun explained that the symptoms could indicate love at first sight, and Si Jingyu wondered if she had finally fallen in love.
• Si Shuiyun panicked and accused an unknown person of planting an Infatuation Gu in Si Jingyu, while Si Jingyu denied that anything had happened.
• Si Ming sneezed, and Si Huaruo asked whether he had caught a chill.

Si Ming abandoned the idea of a romance script and decided to write a Western-style story about a girl knight for the final. A month earlier, Qingyan struggled to find work at the Crimson Eye Society because people blamed him for the deaths and disasters surrounding his previous clients.

• Si Huaruo explained the final’s voting rules and said most of the judges were women, making romance a likely choice for the other contestants.
• Si Ming decided a Mary Sue romance would not impress the judges and chose to avoid competing in a genre he was bad at.
• Si Ming learned that innovative foreign settings appealed to the judges and proposed writing a Western-style story about a girl knight.
• Qingyan asked the Crimson Eye Society for an assignment, but was told clients avoided hiring him because they thought he brought death to his employers.
• Qingyan recalled that his former clients and Huyan Lü had suffered misfortunes, though he insisted the events were coincidences and one assignment had already been canceled.

The Crimson Eye Society’s red-haired leader arranged to exploit the Lu Lineage’s Spirit Transformation expert’s death to infiltrate Tea-Tasting Manor and manipulate the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling Competition. He planned to post a public assassination job against Lu Ling as cover, unaware that Qingyan had already accepted it.

• A yellow-faced woman helped the red-haired man kill the Lu Lineage’s Spirit Transformation expert in the Hide-and-Seek Forest, then demanded help meeting the Si Clan’s young clan head.
• The red-haired man revealed that his subordinate was an Anomaly capable of impersonating the dead elder.
• The red-haired man outlined a plan for the Anomaly to take control of the Lu Lineage and invite the Si Clan’s young clan head to the manor during the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling Competition.
• The yellow-faced woman refused further help and left, insisting she would take revenge herself.
• The red-haired man ordered a public job posted to assassinate Lu Ling and warned his adviser to keep Crimson Eye Society members from accepting it by mistake.

Si Ming attended the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling tea art competition with Si Jingyu and Si Shuiyun, offering advice on making dance more popular before spotting the novelist Arteta Dengbulishao among the judges. The chapter ended as the tea competition began, with contestants preparing to brew tea under close scrutiny.

• Si Ming advised Si Jingyu to promote accessible social and health dances, and she decided to advance the idea secretly before presenting it as a reluctant concession.
• Si Ming noticed that Si Jingyu kept her distance from him, but she blamed her mood and refused to explain further.
• Si Ming, Si Jingyu, and Si Shuiyun entered the competition venue as invited Si Clan representatives, and Si Ming prepared to compete in the semifinals.
• Si Ming recognized Arteta Dengbulishao, a former Western Luo Continent magician who had settled on the Sea Continent and become a famous novelist.
• The tea art competition began with contestants brewing in groups of ten, while judges scored both their technique and the tea they produced.

Si Ming used his Blazing Sun True Qi and flawless technique to brew tea that clung to the bowl, impressing the judges at the competition. Before he could serve it, Si Shuiyun told him that the young lady had been lured away by someone impersonating a Lu Lineage steward and had disappeared.

• Si Ming ignored the girl surnamed Lu’s taunts and began brewing tea with the utensils provided.
• Si Ming used his sense of heat to judge the water, then whisked the tea until its white froth rose above the bowl and clung to its walls.
• The judges recognized Si Ming’s bowl as an exceptional result, and he finished before the other contestants.
• Si Shuiyun pulled Si Ming away and reported that the young lady had vanished after following a false Lu Lineage steward into Tea-Tasting Manor.

Si Jingyu was abducted during the tea art competition and faced Shi Muyan, who sought revenge on the Si Clan for the wrongs she blamed on Si Jingxi. As Shi Muyan prepared to kill her, Si Jingyu pointed out that her opponent’s age and lingering injuries had weakened her.

• Si Ming urged Si Shuiyun to seek help from the Lu Lineage, and the Lu woman searched for Si Jingyu’s scent but could not isolate it amid the competition’s crowds.
• Si Ming asked to borrow the Tea-Tasting Manor’s Heaven-Howling Art so he could learn it and track Si Jingyu himself.
• Si Jingyu confronted Shi Muyan in the stone forest and learned that Shi Muyan claimed the Lu Lineage had helped arrange the abduction.
• Shi Muyan revealed her scar and recounted how she believed Si Jingxi had betrayed their sworn sisterhood, ruined her face, and destroyed her family.
• Shi Muyan raised her Sword Qi and declared that Si Jingyu would die because she shared Si Jingxi’s blood.
• Si Jingyu warned Shi Muyan that her leaking Primal Qi, approaching death, and unhealed injury might prevent her from winning.

Si Jingyu fought Shi Muyan through the valley, using modified techniques, agile footwork, and clever tactics to survive their clash despite her opponent’s greater strength. After Shi Muyan recognized her mastery of Countercurrent Divine Gang, Si Jingyu revealed a vicious new palm technique that began to damage Shi Muyan’s meridians.

• Shi Muyan attacked Si Jingyu, but Si Jingyu used the Phoenix-Coming Fuxi Dance and a modified Mirror Reflection Technique to evade and redirect her strikes.
• Shi Muyan unleashed sword-infused sand and cut down statues to corner Si Jingyu, who used the stone figures and her footwork to escape.
• Si Jingyu used a statue to distract Shi Muyan and narrowly dodged her giant Qi sword, but Shi Muyan struck her and sent her flying while Countercurrent Divine Gang stopped the follow-up attack.
• Shi Muyan praised Si Jingyu’s skill but argued that the Si Clan’s defensive arts could not hurt her, so Si Jingyu attacked with Meridian-Shattering Goosefoot Heart Palm.
• Shi Muyan felt the palm technique’s vicious force seep into her meridians and asked Si Jingyu what martial art she had used.

Si Jingyu and Shi Muyan fought using their opposing martial arts, with Shi Muyan relying on her superior Foundation and Si Jingyu enduring injuries to strengthen her Cultivation Body. Si Jingyu revealed that she had taken the True Scripture of Sinful Punishment from the Eight Asura Sin Lord’s corpse, while Shi Muyan discovered its hidden force had been secretly damaging her Cultivation Body.

• Shi Muyan and Si Jingyu exchanged accusations about whether their martial arts were evil as they traded attacks and aggravated each other’s injuries.
• Shi Muyan pressed her advantage in a direct contest of Foundations, but Si Jingyu used an afterimage to strike her back with the Meridian-Shattering Goosefoot Heart Palm.
• Si Jingyu’s Cultivation Body grew stronger as her injuries worsened, and Shi Muyan recognized the Sin-Exterminating Divine Mutilated Body and named her the Eight Asura Sin Lord’s successor.
• Si Jingyu said she had taken the True Scripture of Sinful Punishment from the Eight Asura Sin Lord’s corpse and explained that its hidden force secretly consumed an opponent’s Cultivation Body.
• Shi Muyan examined herself and found blood-red strands of hidden force gnawing away at her Cultivation Body.

Si Ming arrived after Si Jingyu defeated Shi Muyan, then protected his sister when the badly injured Shi Muyan tried to unleash another supreme move. Shi Muyan’s attack collapsed before it could harm him, and she fell, believing her revenge had failed.

• Si Jingyu and Shi Muyan’s supreme moves clashed, and both women were gravely wounded.
• Si Jingyu admitted Shi Muyan had won, but Shi Muyan tried to kill her before Si Ming arrived and crushed her Sword Qi.
• Si Ming mocked Shi Muyan while feeding Qi into Si Jingyu to stabilize her injuries.
• Shi Muyan launched Heart Dead as Ash, Severing Clouds and Smoke, while Si Shuiyun carried Si Jingyu away and Si Ming prepared to defend himself.
• Shi Muyan’s injuries caused her supreme move to collapse, and she fell to the ground, lamenting that she could not obtain revenge.

Si Jingyu revealed that Tang An, not Si Jingxi, had avenged his father by poisoning Shi Muyan’s household, while Si Jingxi had taken the blame and scarred Shi Muyan herself. Si Jingyu and her companions left the injured Shi Muyan behind, then discussed the Lu Lineage’s damaged formation and whether it had aided the ambush.

• Si Jingyu told Shi Muyan that Tang An had secretly poisoned her household to avenge his father, whose escort agency had been ruined by Shi Muyan’s father.
• Si Jingyu explained that Si Jingxi had scarred Shi Muyan and taken the blame to protect Tang An, and Shi Muyan fell silent as she reconsidered her revenge.
• Si Jingyu decided to leave Shi Muyan, judging that her injuries would keep her from recovering for three to five years.
• Si Shuiyun suspected the Lu Lineage had colluded with Shi Muyan, while Si Ming explained that he had broken through the active formation by destroying its obstacles.
• Si Jingyu defended Si Ming’s practical method of breaking the formation, prompting Si Shuiyun to complain that Jingyu had undermined her.

Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo argued over whether Sikong Ming should stay to protect the injured Si Jingyu or help the Emperor Peak Drama Club rehearse its new play. Si Jingyu tricked Si Huaruo into agreeing to share his time, leaving Sikong Ming committed to both women’s plans.

• Si Ming agreed to remain with the Si Clan until Si Jingyu recovered, mentioning that he still needed to help Hongdou with her travel paperwork.
• Si Jingyu and Si Huaruo disputed who needed Sikong Ming more, with Si Huaruo insisting that his guidance was essential for rehearsals and her bid for the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling crown.
• Si Huaruo openly said Sikong Ming was important to her and that she enjoyed being with him.
• Si Jingyu pretended to cough blood until Si Huaruo agreed that Sikong Ming would spend three hours each day rehearsing with the drama club.
• Si Huaruo realized Si Jingyu had tricked her again and stormed out.

After the literature awards, Si Ming met Western mage Dengbulishao and asked him about the Luo Continent’s Dou Qi cultivation system. Dengbulishao took him to his villa so they could discuss Eastern and Western cultivation in private.

• Si Jingyu told Si Shuiyun she would become a good-for-nothing after Miss Huaruo left in a rage.
• Si Ming learned that Ghosts and Gods Metropolis had been nominated for the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling Literature Award and attended the ceremony.
• Si Ming discovered his novel’s scattered communist ideas and its suppression by the Su State government had helped secure its nomination.
• Si Ming met Dengbulishao after the ceremony and asked him about the Luo Continent’s Dou Qi cultivation system.
• Dengbulishao brought Si Ming to his luxurious Western-style villa to discuss cultivation systems.

Dengbulishao was suddenly possessed by a powerful force of sin, and Si Ming fought to keep it from corrupting them both. Si Ming’s bandaged right hand devoured most of the Qi of sin, leaving Dengbulishao in control again.

• Dengbulishao’s body erupted with black Qi of sin, and he warned Si Ming to stay away as he lost control.
• Si Ming restrained Dengbulishao and used Blazing Sun True Qi against the black Qi, but the stronger force overwhelmed him and invaded his body.
• Si Ming’s bandaged right hand began absorbing the Qi of sin, giving him enough clarity to expel it with Solar Prominence Eruption.
• Dengbulishao clung to the bronze ding to keep from damaging more furniture as he gradually regained control.
• Si Ming sealed his acupoints and used his right hand to drain most of the Qi of sin from Dengbulishao before the hand went back to sleep.

Si Ming returned from Dengbulishao’s home with his Internal Cultivation at peak level seven, new martial arts, and knowledge that the Source of Sin gave birth to Anomalies. After rapidly mastering the two techniques, he wondered whether his strength had already reached the Spirit Transformation level.

• Si Ming stopped absorbing the Source of Sin when Dengbulishao warned that removing it completely would shorten his life.
• Dengbulishao explained that the Eternal Barrier had suppressed the Source of Sin’s supernatural power and speculated that the southern Barbarian Continent had become a world of Anomalies.
• Si Ming returned with the Radiant King Fist and the Blazing Flame Lion King Sword, two elite Dou Qi martial arts suited to his Cultivation Body.
• Si Ming learned that Dou Qi cultivated Jing Essence through physical training, unlike True Qi and Internal Cultivation.
• Si Ming practiced the two techniques and reached their fifth layer in one night, then wondered if he had attained Spirit Transformation level.

Si Ming supported Si Huaruo and the Emperor Peak Drama Club before their final against the Heavenly Dream Drama Troupe, then used arguments planted among the spectators to shape expectations around the contest. The Heavenly Dream Drama Troupe performed first, leaving Si Huaruo’s club to take the stage afterward.

• Si Ming visited Si Jingyu, but she refused to get out of bed or help him assess his abilities against a Spirit Transformation expert.
• Si Ming encouraged the Emperor Peak Drama Club backstage as they prepared for the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling finals, while the members teased Si Huaruo about her feelings for him.
• The Heavenly Dream Drama Troupe’s leading actress, Ms. Qin, criticized the club for preparing for only ten-odd days, and Si Ming argued that the club had more talent and focus.
• The teams drew lots, and the Heavenly Dream Drama Troupe was assigned to perform first while the Emperor Peak Drama Club would perform last.
• Si Ming watched as spectators discussed the disadvantages of performing second, having arranged for them to spread pessimistic arguments about his club’s chances.

Si Ming and Si Shuiyun watched the Heavenly Dream Drama Troupe’s play, a love story about a swordswoman torn between a resourceful man and the city lord’s devoted son. After the swordswoman chose to flee with the resourceful man, both she and the city lord’s son were badly wounded, and the man carried her to a Daoist temple.

• Si Ming defended his campaign to shape public opinion, while Si Shuiyun said he should focus on the performance and explained that she had come as the Si Clan’s representative while worrying about Si Jingyu.
• The play opened with a swordswoman confronting a mysterious man in white, then revealed that she had to complete four trials to win the city lord’s consent to marry his son.
• The swordswoman completed two trials, and the man in white helped her solve the third before joining her journey; their growing closeness drew the audience in.
• The swordswoman was gravely injured during the fourth trial, and the man in white carried her through a snowstorm while insisting he would get her back to the city lord’s son.
• The city lord exposed the man in white as a fiend, but the city lord’s son secretly let him escape; the man later killed the city lord after surviving an ambush.
• The swordswoman rejected the city lord’s son’s ultimatum and fought her way out with the man in white; after the battle left her and the city lord’s son badly wounded, the man fled with her to a Daoist temple.

Si Ming’s Emperor Peak Drama Club began its play, Wind of Freedom, with an unfamiliar Western-style setting and a seemingly perfect village romance that disappointed the audience. The chapter ended as the second act began, poised to overturn their expectations.

• The Heavenly Dream Drama Troupe’s tragic romance moved the audience, while Si Shuiyun challenged Si Ming about its success.
• Anonymous critics accused the Heavenly Dream Drama Troupe of catering to the judges, souring several judges’ reactions.
• Si Ming revealed that Emperor Peak Drama Club’s play was called Wind of Freedom and began with Celtic music.
• Si Huaruo played a lively country girl in a peaceful village, where she already had a loving fiancé and a happy family.
• The audience criticized the opening as dull and predictable, while some praised its carefully researched Western Luo style.
• The second act began, and the audience’s expectations were about to be overturned.

Si Ming’s play followed a heroine who joined a rebellion after imperial forces destroyed her home, then led the rebels through victories and betrayal. The heroine and her comrades were captured and killed, leaving her alone to sing of freedom and revolution.

• The heroine’s home was destroyed by the invading empire, and she joined a volunteer army after a rebel leader rescued her.
• The heroine became the rebel leader’s trusted deputy, but he died after falling into an imperial trap.
• The heroine inherited his sword and helmet, sang a song of freedom, and led the rebels to repeated victories.
• The government forces secretly allied with the empire and betrayed the rebels.
• The heroine and her comrades were captured and killed, and the heroine sang alone as their voices disappeared one by one.

After the Emperor Peak Drama Club won the drama competition, Si Ming celebrated with the students at a lavish banquet and was surprised by the aristocratic customs. Zhu Xuanhuai thanked him for saving her and helping the club, then presented him with her glowing crab-stuffed oranges.

• The judges declared Wind of Freedom the champion, and Si Huaruo celebrated by embracing Si Ming.
• The Emperor Peak Drama Club held a victory banquet at a venue arranged by the school.
• Si Ming observed the aristocrats discussing decorative viewing fruits and learned that they were not meant to be eaten.
• Zhu Xuanhuai thanked Si Ming for saving her from an Anomaly and helping the club's performance.
• Zhu Xuanhuai served Si Ming glowing crab-stuffed oranges and explained how she had prepared them.

After the Emperor Peak Drama Club won an award, Si Ming received thanks and gifts from its members, including Nan Yang, and realized that many of the girls were attracted to him. The celebration ended with Si Ming burdened with gifts and entrusted with taking the drunken club president home.

• Zhu Xuanhuai served Si Ming crab-stuffed orange, and Nan Yang apologized for arguing with him before giving him a handmade sachet.
• Members of the Emperor Peak Drama Club thanked Si Ming for his help and gave him gifts, with several expressing romantic interest in him.
• Si Ming wondered why so many girls liked him and considered changing the main plot.
• At the end of the banquet, the club members told Si Ming to protect their drunken club president and teased him about taking advantage of the situation.

After Si Ming carried the drunken Si Huaruo across Weiyang Lake, she gained a brief martial insight and hinted at her feelings before running off. Si Ming returned to his training, while Si Huaruo learned that her mother expected her to challenge Si Jingyue's daughter for the clan leadership.

• Si Ming carried the drunken Si Huaruo away from the banquet and crossed Weiyang Lake with her on his back.
• Si Huaruo entered a state of martial insight as she admired the moonlit lake, and Si Ming strolled across the water to avoid disturbing her.
• At Water Mirror Manor, Si Huaruo hinted that she might accept a confession from Si Ming, but he chose not to pursue her because of his false identity and devotion to martial arts.
• Si Ming returned to his room and planned to study the Si Clan's collection of more than a thousand martial manuals.
• Si Huamu praised Si Huaruo for winning the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling crown and urged her to challenge Si Jingyue's daughter at the ancestral worship ceremony in seven days.

Si Huamu pressured Si Huaruo to take pills that would temporarily raise her Cultivation Body before their match at the ancestral worship assembly. Meanwhile, Si Ming obtained an Ice Silkworm from Water Mirror Manor’s Spirit Creature Pavilion to cultivate the Ice Silkworm Heavenly Net Hand.

• Si Huaruo questioned why her mother cared about reclaiming the clan-leader position, but Si Huamu insisted on defeating Si Jingyue to reclaim her honor and authority.
• Si Huaruo agreed to fight for her mother, and Si Huamu gave her pills to take three times a day for seven days to raise her Cultivation Body temporarily.
• Si Ming asked Steward Kui to lend him an Ice Silkworm, but she refused because both available silkworms had been reserved.
• Si Ming threatened to knock Steward Kui flat and take a silkworm himself, so she returned with the clan’s strongest Ice Silkworm.
• Si Ming told Steward Kui he planned to use the Ice Silkworm to cultivate the Ice Silkworm Heavenly Net Hand.