Recaps

Qin Yan and Ba Wei accompanied Yun Qiji to his remote village to confront its mountain god, but the villagers defended the creature because they willingly sacrificed one child each year in exchange for protection and prosperity. Yun Qiji was devastated to learn his younger brother had been offered up, while the villagers surrounded the three outsiders to stop them from disrupting the village’s peace.

• Qin Yan asked Yun Qiji about the mountain god, and Yun Qiji said it was a powerful lizard.
• Qin Yan, Ba Wei, and Yun Qiji entered the village, where the village chief and armed villagers confronted them.
• Yun Qiji announced that Qin Yan and Ba Wei had come to get rid of the mountain god, turning the villagers hostile.
• Yun Qiji accused the village chief of allowing the mountain god to eat his younger brother and other children.
• The village chief explained that the villagers sacrificed one child each year in exchange for the mountain god’s protection and refused to let the outsiders interfere.
• The villagers armed themselves with farm tools and surrounded Qin Yan, Ba Wei, and Yun Qiji.

Qin Yan killed the Lizard Mountain God despite the villagers’ pleas, then promised to take them from the mountain and give them land, education, and a life of dignity. The villagers were left to confront the loss of their protector and Qin Yan’s offer of a new future.

• The villagers attacked Qin Yan, Ba Wei, and Yun Qiji, but Ba Wei subdued them with his presence.
• Qin Yan led his companions to the mountain god temple while the village chief and villagers hurried after them.
• Yun Qiji asked Ba Wei to kill the Lizard Mountain God, who admitted he had eaten village children after the villagers offered them to him.
• Qin Yan explained that he wanted to kill the Lizard Mountain God because he saw him as a marauder preying on his kin.
• The village chief and villagers begged Qin Yan to spare the Lizard Mountain God, but Qin Yan destroyed the temple and killed him with the power of the Magnetic Field.
• Qin Yan told the villagers he was lord of Yunzhou and promised to give them land, food, education, and dignity.

Qin Yan investigated Yunxi Village, suspecting its Man-Faced God had been created by the Yinluo Way. He effortlessly restrained the god, but Yinluo Way figures surrounded the temple, led by an imposing fisherman.

• Qin Yan had the Yunqi County magistrate prepare land near Yunqi County for the relocated villagers.
• Qin Yan and Ba Wei concluded that the Yinluo Way had likely established Yunxi Village and created its Man-Faced God using the Incense-Fire Divine Dao.
• Qin Yan and Ba Wei entered Yunxi Village, where Qin Yan sensed abundant incense aspiration power and recognized signs of the Yinluo Way among the villagers.
• The Man-Faced God sensed the intruders, but Qin Yan appeared before it and immobilized it while questioning how it came into being.
• Ba Wei noticed powerful figures surrounding the temple, and an old fisherman warned Qin Yan that he should not have come there.

Qin Yan confronted the Yinluo Way, displaying his power by breaking down its experts and forcing the fisherman to kneel. When Granny Tang arrived and recognized him from Qinghe Town, Qin Yan sealed the village and ordered the remaining Yinluo Way disciples killed, leaving Granny Tang alive but afraid to move.

• Qin Yan questioned the fisherman about the Wind God and the mysterious presence within him, then revealed Divine Blood from the Lizard Mountain God.
• Qin Yan broke the Yinluo Way experts beside the fisherman into molecular-scale particles and forced the fisherman to his knees.
• Granny Tang arrived, recognized Qin Yan as the former boy from Qinghe Town, and realized how far his strength had surpassed hers.
• Qin Yan sealed the village with his Magnetic Field, and Ba Wei killed the trapped Yinluo Way disciples while Granny Tang stayed still.
• The village was left filled with corpses, and a black flag fluttered at its entrance.

Qin Yan defeated the fisherman’s ambush, destroyed the Ink Dragon Banner’s flood-serpent spirit, and seized the forbidden artifact from Granny Tang. He turned the fisherman’s own net against him as Granny Tang and the Man-Faced God attacked.

• The fisherman attacked Qin Yan with his fine-threaded net and fishing line while Granny Tang used the Ink Dragon Banner to send its flood serpent after Ba Wei.
• The flood serpent shattered Ba Wei’s staff attack, but Qin Yan blocked the fisherman’s net and pierced the serpent with lightning.
• Qin Yan intercepted the banner, took it from Granny Tang, and erased its soul imprint to claim preliminary control of the artifact.
• The Man-Faced God unleashed a wind blade, but Qin Yan’s Magnetic Field kept it from reaching him.
• Qin Yan controlled the fishing net and tightened it around the fisherman, slicing his flesh as he screamed.

Qin Yan and Ba Wei defeated the Yinluo Way’s forces in the village, and Qin Yan questioned the captured Granny Tang about Divine Blood and the group’s activities. After she revealed the Yinluo Way’s plans in Qingzhou but claimed ignorance about Lizhou, Qin Yan began torturing her to force the truth out.

• Qin Yan killed the fisherman while Ba Wei prevented Granny Tang from using her copper pot, and Qin Yan struck down the fleeing Man-Faced God with a blood-red palm.
• Ba Wei defeated Granny Tang and threw her, badly injured, before Qin Yan.
• Granny Tang explained that the Yinluo Way had received Divine Blood from the Dao Lord and used it to awaken creatures that could gather Incense Aspiration Power as local guardian gods.
• Qin Yan asked about the Yinluo Way’s activities in Lizhou, but Granny Tang claimed not to know what its other members were doing.
• Qin Yan accused Granny Tang of hiding something and began repeatedly peeling away and healing her skin and flesh to make her talk.

Qin Yan learned that the Yinluo Way was preparing to resurrect a mysterious being whose blood could create gods, then summoned the Descending Cloud God to investigate whether he was one of those creations. The Descending Cloud God doubted his origins as Qin Yan offered to help him.

• Granny Tang told Qin Yan that the Yinluo Way’s leaders were preparing to resurrect a mysterious being, whose blood might be the source of the faction and its Divine Blood.
• Qin Yan killed Granny Tang and the Man-Faced God, taking another drop of Divine Blood from the monster.
• Qin Yan summoned the Descending Cloud God from Yunqi County and confirmed that Divine Blood was present in his soul body.
• Qin Yan told the Descending Cloud God that he might have been created by the Yinluo Way using a century of worship and Divine Blood.
• The Descending Cloud God rejected Qin Yan’s claim but began to doubt his origins, and Qin Yan offered to help him.

Qin Yan subdued the Descending Cloud God and tasked him with pursuing Divine Dao cultivation and killing Wild Gods in Qingzhou. After returning to Qinghe Town with Ba Wei, Qin Yan refined several treasures, including a Netherworld halberd that he remade into a small flying sword.

• Qin Yan trapped the Descending Cloud God with a force field, then told him to explore Divine Dao breakthroughs and help kill Qingzhou's Wild Gods for their Divine Blood.
• The Descending Cloud God accepted Qin Yan's orders, resolved to grow stronger, and received a Sound Transmission Jade Slip.
• Qin Yan returned to Qinghe Town with Ba Wei after killing three Wild Gods, each of whom carried Divine Blood.
• Qin Yan reassured Ba Wei and gave him ten Spirit Crystals to support his cultivation.
• Qin Yan assessed his acquired treasures, turned the fisherman's silver-thread net into a binding treasure, and reforged the Netherworld Artifact Halberd into a pitch-black flying sword.

Qin Yan cultivated Qinghe First-Generation Spirit Rice and ordered it planted on a large scale while planning to turn his expanded deep-mountain base into Secluded Mountain Academy. As Huang Chao’s campaigns and Qin Yan’s support fueled unrest across Great Li, Qin Yan continued strengthening Yunzhou’s academies, industry, and army.

• Qin Yan harvested Qinghe First-Generation Spirit Rice, which contained gentle Spiritual Qi and yielded up to eight or nine hundred jin per mu, and ordered Qin Xiaoyi to collect seeds for large-scale planting.
• Qin Xiaoyi reported that martial arts education had uncovered increasing numbers of talented people across Yunzhou, including rare geniuses entering the Qi-Blood Realm within days.
• Qin Yan announced that he would rename the deep-mountain base Secluded Mountain Academy and educate children in ideas, martial arts, and academic knowledge.
• Huang Chao’s brutal resurgence alarmed the King of Chu, Youzhou, and the imperial court, while Qin Yan secretly supplied uprisings with weapons, armor, grain, and funds.
• Qin Yan converted two grotto-heavens and blessed lands into academies, expanded his army to 120,000 troops, and directed factories and mines toward the war effort.

Qin Yan released the Qi Circulation General Compendium Version Two for free across Yunzhou to break the martial sects’ control over cultivation and draw talented people into his army and academies. As sect disciples secretly adopted the stronger technique and began leaving their sects, the martial factions feared for their future.

• Qin Yan explained to Han Chen that the public technique was only a basic version, while advanced arts would be earned through military merit.
• Qin Yan distributed the Qi Circulation General Compendium Version Two through the army and academies.
• Jianghu sect leaders cursed Qin Yan after discovering that his published technique surpassed their treasured arts.
• Sect disciples secretly cultivated Qin Yan’s technique, finding that it improved their Qi circulation and foundations.
• Sect leaders confiscated the manuals and banned cultivation, prompting many disciples to resent their sects and leave for Qin Yan’s army.
• Famous martial factions realized that Qin Yan’s technique threatened their ability to recruit disciples and preserve their lineages.

On his eighteenth birthday, Qin Yan reunited with Xia Chengqian, who asked for his help securing his position as Great Li’s crown prince. Qin Yan left the alliance request unanswered until the next day.

• Qin Yan turned eighteen and told his friends he had no plans to marry while he focused on growing stronger.
• Qin Yan learned that Xia Chengqian had arrived in Youshan Prefecture and went to meet the Great Li crown prince.
• Xia Chengqian saw the peace and prosperity of Qin Yan’s domain and greeted him after two years apart.
• Qin Yan teased Xia Chengqian about his father favoring his younger brother, who had become Immortal Master Yunchen’s disciple.
• Xia Chengqian asked Qin Yan to help him deal with the Dao One Immortal Sect in exchange for intelligence on Great Li, and Qin Yan said he would answer tomorrow.

Qin Yan secretly allied with Crown Prince Xia Chengqian, giving him spirit stones in exchange for help and access to Great Li’s secrets. Xia Chengqian used the resources to build support at court and within the Dao One Immortal Sect, securing a foothold as the Hongwen Emperor noticed his growing influence.

• Qin Yan decided to help Xia Chengqian and saw the crown prince’s position as a valuable source of intelligence about Great Li.
• Qin Yan and Xia Chengqian formed a secret alliance, agreeing to exchange support and benefits.
• Qin Yan gave Xia Chengqian spirit stones and explained how they could accelerate cultivation and help him gather followers.
• After returning to the capital, Xia Chengqian resumed court duties and befriended Daoist masters with the spirit stones.
• The Dao One sect master named Xia Chengqian his personal disciple and tested the power of the spirit stones.
• Xia Chengqian gained support in court and the sect, while the Hongwen Emperor noticed his rising maturity and reputation.

Qin Yan sent his reorganized forces to conquer Qingzhou while Huang Chao’s Heaven-Soaring Army attacked Youzhou. The Red Shadow Army and Red Edge Army seized much of Qingzhou, and Zong Xiaoshan arrived at Yunqing Prefecture to confront the powerful Xie Lineage.

• Qin Yan recognized that Xia Chengqian’s alliance with the Dao One Immortal Sect had shifted the balance of power at court and left the Hongwen Emperor reliant on the second prince’s maternal relatives.
• After learning that Huang Chao’s Heaven-Soaring Army had broken through toward Youzhou, Qin Yan ordered the Red Shadow Army, Divine Machine Battalion, and thirty thousand Red Edge Army troops to prepare to take Qingzhou.
• In June, the Red Shadow Army seized Tao'an Prefecture, while the Red Edge Army attacked in three columns using firearms and artillery to overwhelm Qingzhou’s defenses.
• Qin Xiaoyi reported that the Red Shadow Army had taken three prefectures in three days and that half of Qingzhou was under Qin Yan’s control.
• Zong Xiaoshan led the Red Shadow Army to Yunqing Prefecture, where the Xie Lineage controlled much of the land and local government; Qin Yan had ordered the Lineage wiped out.

Zong Xiaoshan led the Red Shadow Army to confront Xie Jiuying, the Xie Lineage's ancestor, and rejected his offer to submit because Qin Yan had ordered the lineage exterminated. Zong Xiaoshan killed Xie Jiuying and ordered the army to leave no one alive.

• Xie Jiuying recognized the approaching Red Shadow Army and flew out to meet Zong Xiaoshan, offering the Xie Lineage's support to Qin Yan.
• Zong Xiaoshan declared that Qin Yan had ordered the Xie Lineage's extermination and attacked Xie Jiuying.
• Xie Jiuying fought back, blaming Qin Yan for valuing commoners over the lineage's wealth and power.
• Xie Jiuying unleashed a tiny gray beast in a surprise attack, but the treasure Qin Yan had given Zong Xiaoshan stopped it.
• Zong Xiaoshan shattered the beast, beheaded Xie Jiuying, and ordered the Red Shadow Army to exterminate the Xie Lineage without leaving anyone alive.

After conquering Qingzhou with little resistance, Qin Yan secured the people’s support through disciplined soldiers and land redistribution, then went to Cloud Allure City to oversee the new territory. Qin Xiaoyi reported rapid recruitment and an influx of martial heroes, and Qin Yan revealed that an infiltrator had slipped in.

• Zong Xiaoshan followed Qin Yan’s orders as the Red Shadow Army breached Cloud Allure City and exterminated the Xie Lineage, confiscating enormous wealth and many cultivation texts.
• Qin Yan’s army took all of Qingzhou in a month, winning the people’s allegiance with strict discipline, aid, and promises fulfilled, while suffering only a few hundred casualties.
• Qin Yan consolidated control of Qingzhou, distributed fertile land, and traveled to Cloud Allure City to keep officials and soldiers in check.
• Qin Xiaoyi reported that Qingzhou had supplied twenty thousand recruits in three days and that many martial heroes, including Xiantian and Grandmaster-level experts, had joined.
• Qin Yan listened to Qin Xiaoyi’s report and said that a rat had infiltrated them.

Qin Yan faced an assassination attempt by six revenge-seeking fighters and Blood Knife, a Supreme Grandmaster assassin. After defeating the attackers, Qin Yan let Blood Knife flee briefly before catching him and taking him captive.

• Qin Yan dismissed Qin Xiaoyi’s alarm and chose to face the approaching assassins himself.
• Blood Knife failed to kill a personal guard, and a Supreme Grandmaster emerged to crush three attackers and gravely wound the survivors.
• Blood Knife attacked Qin Yan at close range, but Qin Yan dodged every strike and offered him ten breaths to escape.
• Blood Knife fled into the darkness, convinced he could get away and vowing to kill Qin Yan someday.
• Qin Yan caught Blood Knife with a massive palm strike, then dragged the unconscious assassin away.

Qin Yan forced Blood Knife to abandon his suicide attempt and serve him, then placed a Restriction on him and assigned him to stay at his side before going to the Hidden Dragon Platform. After more than half a month in Qingzhou, Qin Yan continued pursuing land reform to curb powerful Lineages and shift the people toward technology and the Martial Dao.

• Qin Yan revealed that he had removed Blood Knife's poison capsule and threatened to turn him into a Corpse Puppet if he died.
• Blood Knife agreed to serve Qin Yan rather than die, and Qin Yan placed a Restriction on him that erased any thoughts of rebellion.
• Qin Yan healed Blood Knife's injuries and told him to stay at his side before later going to the Hidden Dragon Platform.
• Ba Wei asked Qin Yan why he had not placed a Restriction on him, and Qin Yan said it was because Ba Wei was his brother.
• After more than half a month in Qingzhou, Qin Yan pursued land reform to limit local Lineages and encourage progress in technology and the Martial Dao.

After learning that the three major assassin organizations were targeting his allies, Qin Yan traced the Assassin Alliance to a restaurant in Longtai City. He forced the location of its headquarters from the proprietor’s memories and killed him, leaving the Alliance’s fate unresolved.

• Blood Knife warned Qin Yan that the Blood Rain Tower and possibly the Blood Edge Association and Assassin Alliance were preparing to target Zong Xiaoshan, Han Chen, and other allies.
• Qin Yan ordered Blood Knife to warn the Blood Rain Tower’s master and declared that he would deal with the other assassin organizations.
• Using secrets from Blood Knife, the Hidden Dragon Platform located Assassin Alliance contact points in Qingzhou.
• Qin Yan and Ba Wei entered Fufeng Pavilion in Longtai City, where Qin Yan’s presence alarmed the Assassin Alliance members inside.
• Qin Yan immobilized the proprietor with his Slaughter Realm, read his memories to learn the Alliance headquarters’ location, and killed him.

Qin Yan crushed the Assassin Alliance assassins who had targeted his people and threatened to destroy the families of anyone who harmed them. As news spread, the Blood Rain Tower canceled its commissions against Qin Yan, while the Blood Edge Association chose to hide and wait; Qin Yan continued toward the Assassin Alliance’s lair, taking down its establishments along the way.

• Qin Yan killed the Assassin Alliance members in a restaurant and warned the survivors that he would wipe out the family of anyone who harmed his people.
• A surviving assassin sold news of the incident to the Listening Wind Tower, whose manager recognized the feud as a major event in the jianghu.
• The chapter described how Qin Yan’s academies and army offered people paths to learn martial arts and advance, drawing both commoners and jianghu families.
• The Blood Rain Tower canceled all commissions concerning Qin Yan and his forces, including those it had already accepted.
• The Blood Edge Association leader and Elder Chen suspected Qin Yan had captured Blood Knife and ordered the organization to freeze its commissions and conceal its members.
• Qin Yan headed for the Assassin Alliance’s lair and took down its establishments along the way.

Qin Yan discovered the Assassin Alliance’s headquarters in Silent Valley and sent Zheshen Ghost to destroy everything living there. Zheshen Ghost began slaughtering the valley’s demon wolves and other creatures.

• Qin Yan traced over eighty percent of the Assassin Alliance’s strongholds and brought Blood Knife and Ba Wei to its headquarters in Silent Valley.
• Blood Knife identified the demon wolves guarding the valley and explained that they carried the deadly poison Heavenly Red Snow.
• Zheshen Ghost appeared beside Qin Yan, revealed that he had reached Ghost Abyss Level, and offered to kill the valley’s inhabitants.
• Qin Yan ordered Zheshen Ghost to kill every living thing in the valley.
• Zheshen Ghost killed three demon wolves with Fold-Life Hell and began slaughtering the rest of the valley’s creatures.

Qin Yan led Ba Wei, Blood Knife, and the Zheshen Ghost in a raid on the Assassin Alliance’s underground headquarters, slaughtering its members as they advanced. The attack ended with Assassin Alliance leader He Xiao facing Qin Yan and his companions.

• Qin Yan discovered the Assassin Alliance’s cavern headquarters and used the Ink Sun Bow to collapse several tunnels, sealing escape routes.
• Qin Yan ordered the Zheshen Ghost, Ba Wei, and Blood Knife to kill everyone inside while leaving the bodies intact.
• The Zheshen Ghost, Ba Wei, and Blood Knife cut through the assembled assassins, killing them as they fought through the underground complex.
• He Xiao sensed the intruders, emerged from his secret chamber, and confronted the Zheshen Ghost, Blood Knife, and Ba Wei.
• The three attackers stepped aside as an exceptionally tall figure’s oppressive presence swept over He Xiao.

Qin Yan defeated He Xiao, destroyed the Assassin Alliance, and forced the other major assassination organizations to stop taking contracts against him and his forces. His growing power alarmed the martial world’s sects, while Heavenly Star Lord remained unable to divine Qin Yan’s origins.

• Qin Yan crippled He Xiao in a fight and ordered Blood Knife and his companion to hang him beside the gates of Cloud Allure City.
• Blood Knife and his companion returned with He Xiao as news spread that Qin Yan had destroyed the Assassin Alliance’s lair.
• The Blood Edge Association canceled and rejected all assignments targeting Qin Yan and his forces, while the Blood Rain Tower’s master was relieved he had heeded Blood Knife’s warning.
• The major assassination organizations announced they would no longer accept contracts against Qin Yan or his forces, shocking the martial world.
• The Dao One Immortal Sect ordered the Hongwen Emperor and its intelligence department to place Qin Yan under the highest surveillance, and the Thundering Firmament and Azure Origin Immortal Sects also reconsidered him.
• Heavenly Star Lord called Qin Yan an old man pretending to be young but could not divine his identity.

Heavenly Star Lord questioned Qin Yan’s identity while the Heavenly Heart Dao Master praised Qin Yan’s rule, and Qin Yan prepared for growing espionage and conflict among the Great Li’s powers. On the Youzhou battlefield, Huang Chao refined fallen enemies into Blood Pills that rapidly strengthened his generals.

• Heavenly Star Lord asked the Heavenly Heart Dao Master about Qin Yan, then ordered disciples to monitor developments in Yunzhou.
• Chen Ergou reported that spies from various factions had become more active, and Qin Yan ordered heightened security, especially at the arms factory.
• Qin Yan assessed his industrial and agricultural advantages and the growing rivalry among the Great Li’s five dominant powers.
• Huang Chao crushed imperial generals with his blood arts and condensed their essence into Blood Pills.
• Huang Chao gave four Blood Pills to his generals, who absorbed them and each advanced by a minor realm.

Huang Chao bribed Yue Ce into bringing the Quchang Army over to his side, helping the Heaven-Soaring Army rout the Great Li Army in Youzhou. Xia Chengqian exposed Xue Qingzhong’s embezzlement at court, but Huang Chao’s advance was checked when the King of Chu’s army entered Youzhou.

• Huang Chao gave Yue Ce five hundred thousand taels to win over the thirty thousand soldiers of the Quchang Army.
• Yue Ce switched sides during battle and led the Quchang Army in a surprise attack that defeated a hundred thousand Great Li soldiers.
• Xia Chengqian presented secret letters accusing Xue Qingzhong of stealing soldiers’ pay, rations, and fallen soldiers’ compensation.
• The Hongwen Emperor imprisoned and executed Xue Qingzhong, and officials seized six million seven hundred thousand taels from his residence.
• The King of Chu sent a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers into Youzhou, forcing Huang Chao to send reinforcements and giving the court time to establish a new defensive line.

Qin Yan learned that Xiahou Jun of the Thundering Firmament Immortal Sect planned to seize Yunzhou, so he mobilized troops and prepared for war. At the border, the Chu Army and the sect’s young cultivators invaded, only to be met by a sky-shading palm.

• Prince Xiang invaded Haizhou with two hundred thousand troops and pushed the Zheng Family’s forces toward defeat at Ya Mountain.
• Qin Yan ordered Han Chen, Han Cui, Jin Shizhong, and Guo Hai to defend the Chu Province border, while the Red Shadow Army and Divine Machine Battalion advanced.
• The Heavenly Star Lord visited Qin Yan and warned him that Xiahou Jun intended to claim Yunzhou.
• Xiahou Jun ordered the Thundering Firmament Immortal Sect’s young cultivators to follow the Chu Army and distinguish themselves by conquering Yunzhou.
• The Chu Army and immortal cultivators crossed into Yunzhou, and a palm that blotted out the sky struck down toward them.