Recaps

Wang Chen used his flying sword and talismans to rout the Maitreya army and protect civilians fleeing toward Nanshao City. He killed the Maitreya army’s leader with Five Suns Dry Thunder, triggering the collapse of the entire force.

• Wang Chen cut through the Maitreya followers and opened a path for civilians to flee toward Nanshao City.
• The Maitreya commander ordered archers to fire on the fleeing civilians, but Wang Chen scattered many arrows with Wind Summoning Talismans and attacked the archers with fireballs and Fire Crows.
• Wang Chen flew above the main force as the Maitreya army’s crossbows failed to reach him, and its leader offered him ten spiritual items to stop the attack.
• Wang Chen recalled the Fire Crow Sword and struck the Maitreya leader with Five Suns Dry Thunder, blasting him into charred cinders despite his Protection Talisman.
• The Maitreya followers lost faith and fled, and the retreat spread into a rout of the entire army.

After Wang Chen escaped Nanshao, Cao Chengping was ordered by a Guiyuan Sect cultivator to capture him and set out to pursue him. Cao Chengping ambushed Wang Chen in the mountains, and the chapter ended with Wang Chen caught in the range of a powerful lightning spell.

• A Guiyuan Sect cultivator blamed Cao Chengping for the deaths of five disciples and ordered him to capture Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen traveled north from Nanshao on Big Green Donkey while weighing his options for life as a Rogue Cultivator.
• After entering Guang'an Commandery, Wang Chen stopped to cook lunch and dodged a sudden attack with Shrink Ground into Inch.
• Cao Chengping revealed himself as Wang Chen's attacker and demanded that he surrender.
• Wang Chen mocked Cao Chengping for serving Guiyuan, so Cao Chengping struck the forest with Five Suns Dry Thunder while Wang Chen was still within its range.

Wang Chen fought Cao Chengping, a Purple Mansion master, and killed him after surviving his lightning assault and overpowering him at close range. Wang Chen was badly injured in the fight and began recovering after taking a Healing Pill.

• Cao Chengping attacked Wang Chen with a storm of lightning, but Wang Chen blocked a strike with his Mystic Iron Tortoise Shell Shield and escaped its destruction.
• Wang Chen counterattacked with the Fire Crow Sword, forcing Cao Chengping into the air and weakening his Protective Magic Armor.
• Wang Chen struck Cao Chengping with Vajra Fist, knocking him from the sky and preventing him from using Wang Chen's Soul Tablet to turn the fight.
• Cao Chengping's Jade Amulet blocked a fatal punch, but Wang Chen landed three more blows and left him defenseless.
• Cao Chengping pretended to beg for mercy while preparing a sneak attack, but Wang Chen's Fire Crow Sword pierced his skull and killed him.
• Wang Chen coughed up blood from his injuries, swallowed a Healing Pill, and began recovering.

After killing Cao Chengping, Wang Chen looted his belongings, buried him with exorcism rites, and continued north while recovering from his injuries. He left Great Qian and remained on the long journey back to the Cultivation World, following the road once traveled by his father, Wang Shaoyuan.

• Wang Chen recovered from his internal injuries and reflected on how he had narrowly defeated Cao Chengping, earning five hundred Heavenly Merit points.
• Wang Chen searched Cao Chengping's belongings, found only modest supplies and a few Magic Tools, then burned the corpse and used ten Exorcism Talismans to lay him to rest.
• The Big Green Donkey rejoined Wang Chen unharmed, and Wang Chen rode north while healing and assessing the resources he had collected.
• Wang Chen spent three hundred Heavenly Merit to raise his Physique, comprehension, and Divine Soul by one point each.
• Wang Chen traveled through Guang'an Commandery, skirted Qian Capital, and left Great Qian, with tens of thousands of miles still separating him from the Cultivation World.

Wang Chen reached Ascension Town and prepared to cross the Great Marsh of the Eastern Wilderness to reach the Cultivation World, avoiding the risks of traveling through Qian Capital. His display of strength earned the martial wanderers’ respect as he settled in for the night.

• Wang Chen arrived at Ascension Town and booked a superior room at the inn.
• Wang Chen ordered the attendant to prepare porridge from his own Spirit Rice and Demonic Beast Meat while he watched the distant Great Marsh of the Eastern Wilderness.
• Wang Chen recalled that Ascension Town marked the start of the Ascension Road and that Wang Shaoyuan had crossed the marsh to reach the Cultivation World.
• Wang Chen decided to take the Ascension Road because he feared the Guiyuan Sect might be hunting him and doubted the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce route was safe.
• Wang Chen pinched a gold bar in half, impressing the martial wanderers, and paid the attendant before finishing his porridge.

Wang Chen drove off a night intruder, then killed seven martial artists who followed him into the Great Marsh of the Eastern Wilderness to demand his porridge recipe. As he traveled farther into the marsh, the fog began feeding moisture into the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram and raising its Unsealing Points.

• Wang Chen sensed a Night Walker on the inn roof and chased him away with a shout before resuming cultivation.
• Wang Chen left the inn at dawn on the Big Green Donkey and confronted seven masked martial artists who had followed him into the Great Marsh of the Eastern Wilderness.
• The martial artists demanded the recipe for Wang Chen's porridge, and Wang Chen told them it used White Corn and spotted pig meat.
• When the leading Innate Martial Artist signaled an attack, Wang Chen killed all seven with the Fire Crow Sword and cremated their bodies.
• As Wang Chen rode into the foggy marsh, he took out the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram, which absorbed moisture and steadily gained Unsealing Points.

Wang Chen stayed in the Great Marsh of the Eastern Wilderness while the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram absorbed water vapor and unsealed. The diagram revealed the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art, a cultivation method that could reach the Nascent Soul realm.

• Wang Chen discovered the diagram gained unsealing points from the marsh’s water vapor and decided to stay overnight.
• Wang Chen built a stone shelter, cooked dinner, and frightened off approaching Great Marsh Wolf Beasts with a shout.
• Wang Chen cultivated through the night to strengthen his Qi Condensation foundation.
• Wang Chen found that the diagram had unsealed and that its displayed points had risen to 100,000.
• Wang Chen channeled Mana into the diagram and received the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art as a Spiritual Light Law Seed.
• Wang Chen believed the art was a good recompense for saving hundreds of thousands of mortals, despite receiving no Merit Points.

Wang Chen mastered the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art and discovered that the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram could capture living creatures and carry him through the air. After spending half a month refining the treasure, he used it to cross the Great Marsh of the Eastern Wilderness and emerged onto plains where Heaven and Earth spiritual energy was present.

• Wang Chen stayed in the Great Marsh to study the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram and learned the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art.
• After the diagram's points reached 100,000, Wang Chen refined it with the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art and captured Big Green Donkey inside it.
• Wang Chen spent half a month cultivating and refining the diagram, then stored Big Green Donkey inside it before departing.
• Wang Chen used the diagram to fly across the Great Marsh, lowering his altitude when he felt the marsh pulling him down and stopping to replenish the treasure's energy.
• After seven days of flying, Wang Chen left the Great Marsh and reached plains with sparse Heaven and Earth spiritual energy.

Wang Chen returned to the Cultivation World and headed toward Yunyang City, hoping to find cultivation resources and learn what happened to his nominal master. After two Guiyuan Sect disciples recognized him and attacked, he killed them, concealed the evidence, and approached the city in disguise.

• Wang Chen returned from the Mortal World, stored Big Green Donkey in the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram, and traveled north toward Yunyang City.
• Two Guiyuan Sect cultivators intercepted Wang Chen and recognized him as a Yunyang Sect disciple.
• Wang Chen killed both cultivators with the Fire Crow Sword and Body Immobilization Technique, then took their Flying Shuttles and Storage Bags.
• Wang Chen fled a hundred li, burned the corpses, and used the Thousand Transformations Mask to change his appearance.
• Wang Chen circled around for a thousand li and reached the outskirts of Yunyang City disguised as an ordinary Rogue Cultivator.

Wang Chen returned to Yunyang City and found it under Guiyuan Sect’s control, with the Myriad Treasures Pavilion and Four Seas Chamber of Commerce gone. Unable to buy the cultivation technique he sought and seeing the city’s disorder, he left, resolving not to return.

• Wang Chen entered Yunyang City, saw his own wanted notice, and paid the unchanged entrance fee.
• Wang Chen found the city crowded and tense, with Guiyuan Sect’s influence apparent and its cultivators rarely present.
• Wang Chen discovered that the Myriad Treasures Pavilion and Four Seas Chamber of Commerce had closed, ruining his plan to buy the Innate Five Elements Technique.
• Wang Chen learned from an old cultivator that the Myriad Treasures Pavilion had withdrawn three months earlier, then considered the danger facing the former Yunyang territory.
• Wang Chen witnessed a Guiyuan Sect cultivator assault a teahouse waiter and force the proprietor to hand over Spirit Stones.
• Wang Chen paid his bill, left the teahouse and city, and decided he would never return.

Wang Chen returned to Sunset Peak and found his former home and Peach Blossom Valley devastated, but he reunited with Changchun, who explained why Yunyang Sect had fled to the Upper Realm and warned that a thousand-year Spirit Tide was bringing a devastating calamity. Changchun urged Wang Chen to reach the higher realm after advancing his cultivation, leaving him facing the prospect that most people in the Mountain Sea Realm would not survive.

• Wang Chen found Sunset Peak and his estate ruined, with its spiritual energy greatly diminished.
• Wang Chen discovered that Peach Blossom Valley had been devastated and Changchun's late wife's grave had disappeared.
• Changchun appeared, and Wang Chen removed his Thousand Transformations Mask and greeted his master.
• Changchun explained that Ji Guantao had taken his people to the Upper Realm while he had chosen to remain behind.
• Changchun described how Nine Peaks Sect had exploited Yunyang Sect and said Ji Guantao's plan had preserved its bloodline.
• Changchun warned Wang Chen that the rising thousand-year Spirit Tide would bring a great calamity and urged him to seek the higher realm after advancing his cultivation.

Changchun ended his master-disciple bond with Wang Chen, gave him a jade pendant and imparted the Four Seasons and Longing sword arts before challenging the Guiyuan Sect. After demonstrating his hidden strength and injuring a Golden Core True Person, Changchun vanished, leaving Wang Chen to continue on his own path.

• Changchun gave Wang Chen a jade pendant marked with the character "Meng" and imparted the Four Seasons and Longing sword arts before ending their master-disciple bond.
• Changchun challenged the Guiyuan Sect at Sunset Peak, and Wang Chen disguised himself and hid to watch.
• Changchun revealed his Thunder Sound Sword Qi and killed more than twenty Guiyuan Sect cultivators, including an arriving Purple Mansion cultivator.
• Changchun revealed he was a Golden Core True Person and used the Four Seasons Sword to destroy True Person Chen's attack while passing the sword's insight to Wang Chen.
• Changchun used the Longing sword to wound True Person Chen, then recalled his sword and vanished.

Wang Chen settled into Dongwu Stockade and listened for news while cultivating, finding little beyond rumors about the Yunyang Sect and Guiyuan Sect. After offering osmanthus cakes to a hungry little girl, he quietly left the teahouse and headed home.

• Wang Chen walked through Dongwu Stockade, where he had settled half a month earlier to cultivate under the protection of its Purple Mansion stockade chief and formation.
• Wang Chen visited his usual teahouse, paid for Spiritual Tea and osmanthus cakes, and listened to the patrons’ conversations for useful information.
• The tea drinkers repeated rumors about the Yunyang Sect’s departure for the Upper Realm and blamed the Guiyuan Sect for the Human Hunting Case.
• Wang Chen saw a young girl sheltering from the rain with a little girl, and he offered the little one his plate of osmanthus cakes.
• The little girl thanked Wang Chen, but he had already left the teahouse and walked home through the rain.

Wang Chen settled into his hidden chambers beneath his new home in Dongwu Stockade and found that he had run out of Vajra Butter for body cultivation. When three cultivators came demanding payment for the former owner's debt, Wang Chen drove them off and learned they belonged to the Three Rivers Society.

• Wang Chen returned to his new home, entered the underground passages he had dug, and cultivated the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma with his last bottle of Vajra Butter.
• Wang Chen decided to search the Marketplace for more Vajra Butter after realizing the fourth level required more than one bottle per session.
• Wang Chen saw someone pounding on his door through the Duck Mirror and went upstairs to confront three cultivators.
• The burly cultivator claimed Wang Chen owed five hundred Spirit Stones because the former owner, Zhong Xing'an, had fled, but Wang Chen shouted the three men into retreat.
• Wang Chen's neighbor warned him that the men belonged to the Three Rivers Society, and Wang Chen resolved to remember the group.

Wang Chen spent the night digging a hidden escape tunnel beneath his home in Dongwu Stockade, then began his morning with breakfast before heading to the Marketplace. He planned to set up a stall there, while continuing to build a network of underground passages for the approaching calamity.

• Wang Chen used his Earth Stone Technique and emptied Storage Bags to extend his second escape tunnel north beneath the mountains.
• Wang Chen rested in his secret chamber until dawn, then washed up using habits from his Previous Life.
• Wang Chen greeted his neighbor, Fellow Cultivator Chen, and hurried away as residents brought out night-soil buckets for collection.
• Wang Chen ate beast-meat flatbreads, Fried Evil Spirits, and sweet tofu pudding at the breakfast stall whose owner he had taught to make fried dough sticks.
• Wang Chen paid for breakfast and headed to Dongwu Stockade's Marketplace to set up a stall.

Wang Chen set up a stall in Dongwu Stockade to sell talismans and find Vajra Butter for cultivating the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma. After failing to attract a seller all day, he met a woman who offered to demonstrate a family-inherited Dragon Tiger Strength Soup Recipe instead.

• Wang Chen paid for a stall near the City Lord's Mansion and advertised his talismans while offering to buy Vajra Butter.
• A cultivator bought ten talismans, and Wang Chen's stall drew steady customers until he sold his entire stock.
• Wang Chen extended his stall hours, but no one offered Vajra Butter, leaving him worried that he could not continue body-refinement cultivation without a substitute.
• A burly woman approached Wang Chen and asked whether he sought Vajra Butter for the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma.
• The woman said she had no Vajra Butter but offered to make Wang Chen a serving of her Dragon Tiger Strength Soup so he could test its effectiveness.

Wang Chen tested Dragon Tiger Spirit Strengthening Soup and planned the cultivation work ahead of him, then tried to settle his restless thoughts with tea and old notes. The next morning, Auntie Lu approached him with a marriage proposal, but Wang Chen refused.

• Wang Chen drank the soup and refined its medicinal power with the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma.
• Wang Chen studied the eight soup recipes, memorized them, and burned the paper.
• Wang Chen reviewed his cultivation goals and worried about the dangers he would face on the path to the higher realm.
• Wang Chen could not sleep, so he drank Spiritual Tea and read his predecessors' notes until dawn.
• Auntie Lu offered to match Wang Chen with her cousin's daughter, but Wang Chen declined; she then suggested making the woman his concubine.

Wang Chen escaped the matchmaking attempts in Dongwu City Stronghold and used the Yunyang Ten Thousand Li Terrain Map to travel to Wind Thunder Valley to cultivate Five Suns Dry Thunder. When Five Peaks Mountain cultivators claimed the valley and tried to search him, Wang Chen struck first and beheaded one of them.

• Wang Chen refused several matchmaking offers from his neighbors and pretended to enter seclusion so he could leave the stronghold unnoticed.
• Wang Chen used the Yunyang Ten Thousand Li Terrain Map to choose Wind Thunder Valley and flew there on the Silver Spirit Shuttle.
• Two Five Peaks Mountain cultivators stopped Wang Chen and claimed that the valley had become their dojo.
• After Wang Chen began to retreat, the cultivators accused him of being a Yunyang remnant and demanded to inspect his Storage Bag.
• Wang Chen attacked the ninth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator with a pale-golden sword gleam and beheaded him.

Wang Chen fled after defeating two Five Peaks Mountain sentries, but a swift Sword Cultivator pursued him into the forest. He fought the woman in white at close range and shattered her Protection Shield with a Vajra Fist, leaving their duel unresolved.

• Wang Chen beheaded one Five Peaks Mountain cultivator, repelled the other with his Fire Crow Sword, took a Storage Bag, and fled southwest.
• A Five Peaks Mountain Sword Cultivator chased Wang Chen, forcing him to dive into a mountain forest and evade her attacks.
• Wang Chen hurled the Storage Bag away, and the woman in white destroyed it before confronting him.
• The woman in white attacked Wang Chen with her Flying Sword, damaging his Fire Crow Sword in their clash.
• Wang Chen closed in and struck the woman in white with his Vajra Fist, shattering her Protection Shield and sending her flying.

Wang Chen fought and killed a powerful Five Peaks Mountain prodigy, though her self-destruction left him injured and forced him to flee. A grieving middle-aged cultivator arrived at the scene as Wang Chen escaped deep into the mountains.

• Wang Chen pressed his close-range attack against the woman in white, but she stabbed him in the back with her Flying Sword.
• Wang Chen wounded the woman in white with Grand Completion level Gengjin Finger, and she exploded herself before he could finish her.
• Wang Chen took the Flying Sword, swallowed Healing Pills, used talismans to disrupt the Heavenly Secret, and fled through the mountain forest.
• A middle-aged cultivator arrived at the explosion site, recognized the woman as Yingxiu, and erupted in grief and fury.
• Wang Chen, already a hundred li away, looked back as the wound on his back throbbed.

After killing Liu Yingxiu, Wang Chen recovered from his injuries and learned that Five Peaks Mountain suspected Guiyuan Sect was responsible for her death. He prepared to conceal and suppress Liu Yingxiu’s spiritual flying sword, while worrying that Five Peaks Mountain might use the Heavenly Secret Art to find him.

• Wang Chen returned to Dongwu Stockade, removed his Thousand Transformations Mask, and spent three days recovering from his injuries.
• Wang Chen resumed his Wang Xiu identity and heard teahouse patrons discuss Liu Yingxiu’s death and Five Peaks Mountain’s suspicion of Guiyuan Sect.
• Wang Chen concluded that Five Peaks Mountain might issue a warrant and feared that its experts could trace him using the Heavenly Secret Art.
• Wang Chen restored his strength, drew several dozen Sealing Talismans, and took Liu Yingxiu’s flying sword from his Storage Bag.
• Liu Yingxiu’s flying sword hummed, showed flickers of lightning, and floated into the air without Wang Chen controlling it.

Wang Chen suppressed Liu Yingxiu’s spirit sword and began refining it, while Zhang Hongwen asked Li Xuanji to use Heavenly Secret divination to identify her killer. Li Xuanji died during the divination, leaving Zhang Hongwen terrified and without an answer.

• Wang Chen sealed Liu Yingxiu’s spirit sword with Talismans, blood-sacrificed it, and began refining it as a trump card.
• Zhang Hongwen knelt outside Xuanming Cave for three days, grieving Liu Yingxiu and seeking help to find her murderer.
• Li Xuanji agreed to perform Heavenly Secret divination using a bloodstained leaf from Liu Yingxiu’s death scene.
• Li Xuanji performed the divination, told Zhang Hongwen to let it go, and died in meditation.
• Zhang Hongwen stood stunned as an unseen force enveloped him and fear overwhelmed him.

After Li Xuanji died from calculating the killer of Liu Yingxiu, his disciple’s master concealed the incident and feared further turmoil for Five Peaks Mountain. Wang Chen suspected his Heavenly Merit had blocked another divination, then finished refining Liu Yingxiu’s Wind Thunder Sword and prepared to test it.

• Zhang Hongwen told his master how Li Xuanji had calculated the heavenly secrets and died, and she ordered him to keep silent while she informed the Sect Leader.
• The woman in rainbow-feather robes mourned Li Xuanji and feared the killer who had caused Liu Yingxiu’s death could bring further danger to Five Peaks Mountain.
• Wang Chen sneezed in his secret chamber and saw that he had lost 10 Heavenly Merit, leading him to suspect his Cultivation Panel had blocked a high-level cultivator’s divination.
• Wang Chen spent three days erasing Liu Yingxiu’s imprint from the flying sword and replacing it with his own.
• Wang Chen learned that the sword was the high-grade spirit artifact Wind Thunder Sword, suited to his Thunderclap Sword Technique, and wanted to test its power.

Wang Chen settled into life in Dongwu Stockade, laying low until the danger surrounding Liu Yingxiu’s death faded. He then tested the Wind Thunder Sword in the mountains and planned to perfect his Thunderclap Sword Technique before breaking through to Open the Mansion.

• Wang Chen followed a quiet routine, sold talismans at the Marketplace, and used his earnings to buy ingredients for Dragon Tiger Spirit Strengthening Soup.
• Wang Chen earned respect as a skilled Talisman Master, and Three Rivers Society cultivators who had once troubled him came to apologize with gifts.
• Wang Chen spent nearly half a year lying low as the turmoil over Liu Yingxiu’s death subsided and Five Peaks Mountain failed to find him.
• Wang Chen left Dongwu Stockade through a secret tunnel and tested his refined Wind Thunder Sword against a lizard on a cliff.
• Wang Chen practiced the Thunderclap Sword Technique until sunset and planned to reach great perfection before preparing to Open the Mansion.

After five days of seclusion, Wang Chen discovered that Dongwu Stockade had changed under the newly established Dongwu Guard Hall, which was exploiting residents and businesses. He learned that Venerable Xin Han had appointed her new Dao Companion’s brother, Jin Liancheng, as Guard Hall Master, and feared he might have to abandon his hard-won refuge.

• Wang Chen found that his Dragon Tiger Spirit Strengthening Soup had become ineffective and that better ingredients would be difficult to obtain in Dongwu Stockade.
• At breakfast, Wang Chen watched three arrogant cultivators wearing golden hooked emblems intimidate the stall owner and learned that food prices and City Lord’s Mansion fees had risen.
• Wang Chen gave the struggling stall owner extra Shattered Spirits, then went to a teahouse to learn what had happened during his seclusion.
• Wang Chen heard that Venerable Xin Han had taken a female cultivator into her household and established Dongwu Guard Hall the next day.
• Wang Chen learned that Xin Han’s new Dao Companion’s younger brother, Jin Liancheng, led the Guard Hall, whose cultivators collected double fees and took meals without paying.