Recaps

Wang Chen began his banishment in the Demon Cave, enduring dangerous conditions and exhausting prison-guard duties. During a night patrol, he and an elderly guard encountered an imprisoned Great Demon-level Mountain Ghoul, which attacked the cell bars and then insulted them.

• Wang Chen learned that the Demon Cave was a grim, perilous prison where Yin Sha energy and evil qi corroded the guards.
• Changsun Yong assigned Wang Chen to inspect formation nodes, deliver meals to imprisoned monsters, and take night patrol shifts.
• An elderly prison guard showed Wang Chen how to use a Green Sun Lamp and warned him not to let it go out.
• The guards illuminated the cell of a Great Demon-level Mountain Ghoul, which lunged at them but was stopped by the talisman-covered bars.
• The Mountain Ghoul recovered from the shock and shouted an insult at the elderly guard, who laughed.

Wang Chen completed his first night inspection of the Demon Cave under the old jailer’s guidance, encountering dangerous prisoners and learning the patrol route. Afterward, he hosted the old jailer in his quarters and shared his spirit wine.

• The old jailer used the cell’s Thunder rune to punish the Mountain Ghoul, then showed Wang Chen the punitive runes on the bars.
• The old jailer led Wang Chen past numerous prisoners and warned him about a demon lord imprisoned in a cell at Yongle Immortal City.
• The white-robed demon lord read a letter delivered by the old jailer’s Paper Crane, turned to Wang Chen, and smiled eerily, but Wang Chen remained unfazed.
• The old jailer warned Wang Chen not to provoke a graceful woman in another cell, and Wang Chen left when she introduced herself as Hua Li.
• After finishing the inspection, Wang Chen returned to his quarters with the old jailer and treated him to spirit wine.

Wang Chen learned how the old jailer had survived decades in the Demon Cave before a wormhole appeared and interrupted their farewell. After the old jailer left, Wang Chen encountered more wormholes throughout the Demon Cave, whose strange presence remained unexplained.

• The old jailer told Wang Chen he had survived forty-eight years in the Demon Cave by spending his wages on Meridian Clearing and Evil Banishing Pills, and urged him to live well.
• Wang Chen followed the old jailer for two more days, learning the Demon Cave’s layout, formation nodes, prison cells, and inmates.
• A wormhole appeared in a rock wall, and Wang Chen pulled the old jailer away from it before the old jailer left.
• Wang Chen tested the wormhole by throwing a Spirit Stone into it, then left without entering.
• Two days later, Wang Chen found another wormhole and studied it without discovering how it worked.
• Wang Chen continued finding wormholes and learned from other jailers that they were appearing in locations throughout the Demon Cave.

Wang Chen killed a monster that emerged from a wormhole, but the wormhole swallowed him and sent him to a vast, desolate graveyard. As he prepared to explore, a skeleton attacked him from beneath the ground.

• Wang Chen heard that veteran guard Lu Yanyi had gone missing and later noticed that the wormholes had vanished.
• While patrolling a secret passage, Wang Chen encountered a wormhole glowing with strange light and a blue-faced monster emerged from it.
• Wang Chen broke the monster’s claw, beheaded it with the Dragon Abyss Sword, and gained 826 points of Human Virtue.
• A black hole suddenly dragged Wang Chen through and deposited him in a vast graveyard beneath a gray sky.
• When Wang Chen tried to leave the graveyard, a skeletal claw seized his ankle, so he pulled the skeleton from the earth and struck it with his fist.

Wang Chen was pulled into a wormhole graveyard and slaughtered its skeletal legion, earning a large amount of Human Virtue. The wormhole vanished and returned him to the passageway, leaving him to confirm that the dungeon run had been real.

• Wang Chen smashed the first skeleton and watched more skeletons emerge from the ground around him.
• Wang Chen used Mystic Fire Flying Crows and Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm to destroy waves of skeletons and gain Human Virtue.
• Wang Chen discovered that an air-restriction ward prevented him from flying out of the skeletons’ reach.
• Wang Chen unleashed Nine Heavens Divine Thunder across the graveyard, replenishing his Mana from the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil as he attacked.
• An irresistible force carried Wang Chen back to the passageway, where he confirmed through the Cultivation Panel that his Human Virtue had increased.

Wang Chen reunited with Lu Yanyi, who gave him a protection talisman and shared his prison-guard knowledge before leaving the Demon Cave. Later, Wang Chen was suddenly teleported away again from the place where he had found a wormhole.

• Wang Chen noticed that time seemed to pass much faster in the wormhole space than in the Demon Cave and kept the discovery to himself.
• Wang Chen saw Lu Yanyi in the dining hall, where the aged prison guard avoided explaining his disappearance.
• Lu Yanyi told Wang Chen he was leaving the Demon Cave, gave him a peachwood protection talisman, and passed on his prison-guard experience through voice transmission.
• After Lu Yanyi left, Wang Chen continued his patrols and hung the talisman at his waist.
• Wang Chen returned to the former wormhole site and suddenly vanished as he was teleported away again.

Wang Chen fought through his second run of the wormhole space dungeon, defeating waves of flying zombies with divine thunder, flames, his Dragon Abyss flying sword, and his palm strikes. After the surviving zombies fled underground, the dungeon expelled him, leaving him hoping for more opportunities to return.

• Wang Chen stamped the ground to draw out his opponents, and three winged zombies emerged from a grave and attacked him.
• Wang Chen destroyed two flying zombies with Nine Heavens Divine Thunder and sliced the third apart with the Dragon Abyss flying sword.
• Dozens of flying zombies burst from their graves and overwhelmed Wang Chen with a storm of corpse claws, piercing the first two layers of his Resplendent Shield.
• Wang Chen engulfed himself in flames and sent the Dragon Abyss flying sword through the zombies, killing most of them as they attacked or fled.
• Wang Chen smashed the few zombies that landed with Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm, and the last survivors retreated into their graves.
• The wormhole space expelled Wang Chen, who hoped he would get another chance to enter.

On his rest day in Yongle Immortal City, Wang Chen encountered Yu Fei, the Joyous Union Sect cultivator whose prison escape had led to his banishment to the Demon Cave. Yu Fei tried to offer him a dao companion and ask a favor, but Wang Chen refused, and she left without his agreement.

• Wang Chen left the Prison Department on his monthly rest day and enjoyed breakfast amid the bustle of Yongle Immortal City.
• Yu Fei, disguised as another cultivator, joined Wang Chen and revealed herself as the Joyous Union Sect prisoner who had escaped from the dungeon.
• Yu Fei asked whether Wang Chen wanted a dao companion and offered to introduce him to her junior sister, but Wang Chen told her he would rather have Yu Fei herself as his companion.
• Yu Fei said she had sworn not to surrender her virginity before forming her Nascent Soul, and Wang Chen recognized that she was teasing him.
• Yu Fei asked Wang Chen for a favor, but he refused to help, so she left without securing his promise.

Wang Chen enjoyed a day off eating and drinking in Yongle Immortal City before Wan Ying, a Joyous Union Sect cultivator, approached him with a request to help a demon imprisoned in the Demon Cave. He refused to risk another punishment and questioned why the sect needed him, leaving Wan Ying’s motives and the demon’s situation unresolved.

• Wang Chen spent his monthly rest day sampling Yongle Immortal City's food and ended his evening feast at Rong Ji.
• Wan Ying visited Wang Chen and introduced herself as a Joyous Union Sect disciple who wanted to meet him.
• Wang Chen asked whether Yu Fei had sent Wan Ying, but Wan Ying said she had come on her own and hoped to earn the freedom to choose her cultivation partner.
• Wan Ying revealed that the Joyous Union Sect wanted Wang Chen to help a demon imprisoned in the Demon Cave survive.
• Wang Chen refused, citing the danger of interfering with prison affairs, and challenged Wan Ying to explain why the sect needed his help.

Wang Chen began his three-day duty guarding the West Sha Eye, learning to navigate its dangerous baleful winds and reaching the enormous vortex to record it. As an Evil Spirit ambushed him on his retreat, the dense Yin Sha energy made his Nine Heavens Divine Thunder fail.

• Wang Chen received a three-day mission to guard the West Sha Eye and traveled through the underground passage to its safe house.
• Wang Chen used the safe house to wait out the baleful wind, then explored the area and learned to recognize the wind's pattern.
• By the third day, Wang Chen reached the Sha Eye, recorded it with an Imprint Stone for one hundred breaths, and retreated.
• An Evil Spirit ambushed Wang Chen as he withdrew, but its first pounce missed.
• Wang Chen tried to cast Nine Heavens Divine Thunder three times, but the dense Yin Sha energy interfered with his spells as the Evil Spirit closed in.

Wang Chen killed an Evil Spirit and discovered it dropped a Purest Yin Qi Bead, then used the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil to capture dozens more. He collected eight additional beads and retreated to the safe house, leaving the Baleful Intent Eye’s Evil Spirits as a promising source of treasure for his coming days of guard duty.

• Wang Chen destroyed an ambushing Evil Spirit with repeated Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palm strikes and collected a Purest Yin Qi Bead.
• Wang Chen realized the bead could let him resume refining Nine-Revolutions Pure Yang Beads and advance his body-tempering cultivation.
• Dozens of Evil Spirits surged toward Wang Chen, and he cast the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil to trap them.
• Wang Chen drained the trapped Evil Spirits and collected eight Purest Yin Qi Beads from the net.
• Wang Chen resisted the urge to hunt more Evil Spirits and retreated toward the safe house.

After a month guarding the West Sha Eye, Wang Chen returned to Yongle Dungeon and was immediately ordered to guard the North Sha Eye again. He refused to accept the assignment without explanation, and the Duty Hall supervisor offered extra rewards and compensation to persuade him.

• Wang Chen reported his patrol findings, then cultivated in Anranju by drawing spiritual power from the Heavenly Dragon Evil-Exorcising Net.
• Wang Chen spent a month patrolling around the West Sha Eye and clearing many resentful-level Evil Spirits while working toward the eighth layer of Purple Mansion.
• After returning to Yongle Dungeon, Wang Chen was summoned by the Duty Hall and told to guard the North Sha Eye.
• Wang Chen challenged the reassignment, suspecting the Duty Hall was taking advantage of him, and threatened to seek arbitration.
• The supervisor cited a manpower shortage and offered Wang Chen extra rewards and compensation, prompting him to ask what they were.

After being forced to guard the North Sha Eye indefinitely, Wang Chen explored the dangerous region, found a source of mirage qi, and sheltered through a three-day Killing Intent storm. He emerged to find the area crowded with spectral shadows that all turned toward him.

• The Duty Hall assigned Wang Chen to guard the North Sha Eye until a replacement arrived, and he suspected someone was targeting him.
• Wang Chen settled into the ruined Anranju and decided to seek opportunities in his new post rather than dwell on the unfair assignment.
• Wang Chen surveyed the area, discovered an underground stream rich in mirage qi, and found that he could not safely approach within five li of the North Sha Eye.
• Wang Chen found unusually few Evil Spirits and began checking the places where Yin Sha energy gathered for anything abnormal.
• A Killing Intent storm struck on Wang Chen's fifth day, forcing him to shelter in Anranju for three days and nights.
• When Wang Chen emerged, spectral shadows surrounded Anranju and turned toward him in unison.

Wang Chen cleared Anranju of wraiths with the Evil-Exorcising Net, then encountered an intelligent demon spirit giant while searching for Purest Yin Qi Beads. After questioning the giant about the wandering souls and the cultivator once stationed there, he left the chapter awaiting its answer about the cultivator’s death.

• Wang Chen used the Evil-Exorcising Net to destroy the wraiths around Anranju and collected several Yin Qi Beads.
• Wang Chen explored farther afield in search of high-level Evil Spirits and spotted a giant demon spirit eating wraiths.
• The demon spirit giant spoke to Wang Chen through their minds and threatened him, but it backed down when Wang Chen refused to leave.
• Wang Chen asked the giant where the wandering souls came from, and it explained that the little ghosts hid in cracks between rocks and emerged after the baleful wind passed.
• Wang Chen asked how the cultivator once stationed there had died, threatened to send the giant into reincarnation, and made it give him an answer.

Wang Chen drove off the giant spirit demon, hunted Evil Spirits around the North Sha Eye, and gathered Yin Qi Beads. After cultivating while Little Cauldron refined them, he received a Second-Turn Pure Yang Bead.

• Wang Chen accepted the giant spirit demon's explanation about his predecessor's death and agreed to keep to their separate territories; the demon promptly fled.
• Wang Chen patrolled the area, killed waves of Evil Spirits with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, and found that the net's power and stored spiritual energy increased.
• Wang Chen gave the Yin Qi Beads to Little Cauldron to refine while he cultivated the Innate Five Elements Technique.
• Little Cauldron awakened Wang Chen and presented him with a Second-Turn Pure Yang Bead, which Wang Chen praised it for refining.

Wang Chen cultivated his Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma with a Second-Turn Pure Yang Bead, then went to the underground dark river to gather mirage qi for his Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram. He left with a black fish he had killed after it attacked the treasure.

• Wang Chen used the Second-Turn Pure Yang Bead to cultivate his Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma and gained experience.
• Wang Chen stored the bead, cooked dinner, and decided not to hunt Evil Spirits so their numbers could recover.
• Wang Chen went to the underground dark river and used the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram to absorb mirage qi while cultivating the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art.
• A black fish leaped from the river and spat mist at Wang Chen's treasure, so Wang Chen killed it with the Dragon Abyss Sword.
• Wang Chen stored the fish's head and planned to cook the head with chopped peppers and the body as pickled cabbage fish.

Wang Chen settled into his routine guarding the North Sha Eye, cultivating and hunting while the Duty Hall ignored his messages. Steward Sima unexpectedly visited Anranju and hinted that Wang Chen could return if he cooperated, leaving Wang Chen wary after discovering his supplies had been cut.

• Wang Chen cooked chopped pepper fish head with fresh ingredients and ate five bowls of Spirit Rice.
• Wang Chen continued patrolling the Sha Eye, clearing demon spirits and Evil Spirits, collecting Yin Qi Beads, and cultivating three techniques.
• Wang Chen sensed someone inside Anranju and found Steward Sima reading a Daoist book.
• Steward Sima asked whether Wang Chen wanted to return and hinted that his release depended on something, but Wang Chen pretended not to understand.
• Steward Sima left a Storage Bag and departed, after which Wang Chen checked the rooms and suspected that Sima had searched them.
• Wang Chen found that the Storage Bag held about one-third fewer supplies than before and questioned why Steward Sima had visited him.

After Steward Sima revealed his hostile intentions, Wang Chen grew more vigilant and pushed deeper into the Sha Eye’s outer ring to hunt stronger evil spirits. He lured Three-Eyed Monsters from their caves and captured several, but their counterattack and a sudden attack from thorned vines interrupted his hunt.

• Wang Chen decided to hunt closer to the Sha Eye, where the evil spirits and their Yin Qi Beads were stronger.
• Wang Chen lured Three-Eyed Monsters from their caves with thrown stones and captured them one at a time using the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil.
• After Wang Chen captured the fourth Three-Eyed Monster, more than a dozen Three-Eyed Monsters attacked him with Black Sha Arrows, which he smashed with his fists.
• Wang Chen cast the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil again, but a fissure opened beneath him and thorn-covered vines sprang out and bound him.
• Wang Chen summoned the Heavenly Dragon Dharma Image to break free, then used the Dragon Abyss Sword to slice through the emerging vines.

Wang Chen fought the demon spirit giant after it broke their agreement and attacked him. Using the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, he trapped the newly advanced Fierce-level demon and began draining its power, ignoring its plea for mercy.

• Wang Chen cut through the underground vines with the Dragon Abyss flying sword and crushed them with his Vajra Palm.
• Wang Chen confronted the demon spirit giant, which denied their agreement and revealed its desire to kill him.
• The Fierce-level demon spirit giant attacked Wang Chen, but he deployed the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil.
• Wang Chen held the net’s cord as it bound the giant and siphoned away its evil power.
• The weakened demon spirit giant begged Wang Chen to spare it and offered to become his slave, but Wang Chen ignored its plea.

Wang Chen killed the Fierce-level Demonic Spirit Giant with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil and learned that its Demonic Spirit Bead was a valuable treasure. After focusing on cultivation for half a month, he advanced to the eighth layer of Purple Mansion and recognized that preparing for Core Condensation would be difficult.

• Wang Chen suppressed the Demonic Spirit Giant with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil until its escape attempts failed and its body and soul were destroyed.
• Wang Chen collected the Demonic Spirit Bead and returned to Anranju to recover from the battle.
• Little Cauldron explained that the third-grade Demonic Spirit Bead could be refined into a powerful Soul Puppet or used to enhance a Magic Treasure, but not refined into a Pure Yang Bead.
• Wang Chen kept the Demonic Spirit Bead and spent the following days cultivating instead of hunting demonic spirits and evil spirits.
• Wang Chen advanced to the eighth layer of Purple Mansion and began considering the resources he would need for Core Condensation.

Wang Chen upgraded the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, then used it to advance deeper into the North Sha Eye and earn a rapidly growing number of Human Virtue points. He returned to Anranju and found Sima Changming demanding his treasures in exchange for a place in the Yongle Immortal Registry and a residence in Yongle Immortal City.

• Wang Chen blood-sacrificed the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, which transformed into a robe and passed new refinement methods and functions into his consciousness.
• The upgraded net let Wang Chen choose whether to bind evil spirits or extract their Evil Power, and protected him from Yin Sha Evil Power when worn as a robe.
• Wang Chen advanced toward the middle-ring region of the North Sha Eye, killing powerful evil spirits and raising his Human Virtue points past one hundred thousand.
• Sima Changming confronted Wang Chen at Anranju and demanded the treasures that he believed were protecting Wang Chen from Yin Sha energy.
• Sima Changming offered Wang Chen a place in the Yongle Immortal Registry and a residence in Yongle Immortal City if he handed over his treasures.

Wang Chen tried to deflect Sima Changming’s suspicions by claiming his resistance to Yin Sha energy came from a Buddhist body-tempering art, but Sima later returned with True Person Ye. When Ye tried to capture him, Wang Chen escaped his restraints with the Dragon Abyss Sword, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Wang Chen claimed his Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma let him withstand the Demon Cave’s Yin Sha energy, and Sima Changming left in fury.
• Wang Chen realized his unusual resilience had drawn the attention of people seeking to uncover his secret, so he stayed inside Anranju and focused on cultivation.
• Sima Changming returned with True Person Ye and demanded that Wang Chen kneel, but Wang Chen saluted Ye and fled beyond Anranju’s defensive formation.
• True Person Ye attacked Wang Chen with a giant palm and then sealed the space around him with a word.
• Wang Chen used the Dragon Abyss Sword to break through Ye’s restraint and escape, enraging the Golden Core cultivator.

Wang Chen fled toward the center of the North Sha Eye while True Person Ye pursued him, driven by the secrets he suspected Wang Chen possessed. Wang Chen broke Ye’s Golden Core domain and used the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram to counter Ye’s natal Magic Treasure as the chase continued.

• True Person Ye trapped Wang Chen with his Golden Core domain, but Wang Chen awakened the Primordial Dao Stele and used the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma to shatter it.
• Wang Chen resumed his escape toward the center of the North Sha Eye, relying on Shrink Ground into Inch and his protections against Yin Sha Evil Power.
• True Person Ye pursued Wang Chen with Horizon Step, but the hostile environment slowed him and prevented him from catching up quickly.
• True Person Ye used his bronze bell natal Magic Treasure to capture Wang Chen, who countered by flinging out the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram.

Wang Chen used the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram to withstand True Person Ye's bronze bell as they pursued each other into the core of the Sha Eye. When Wang Chen stopped and struck True Person Ye with physical strength equal to a Golden Core, True Person Ye realized he was facing a Golden Core Body Cultivator in terrain that favored close combat.

• Wang Chen used mirage energy he had gathered from an underground river to activate the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram and block True Person Ye's bronze bell.
• True Person Ye pursued Wang Chen through the Sha Eye's core, where the bronze bell scattered the evil spirits and the dense Yin Sha energy burdened both cultivators.
• True Person Ye pressed the treasured diagram down with his bronze bell, and Wang Chen suddenly stopped and attacked him with his palm.
• True Person Ye met Wang Chen's strike and was shocked to discover that Wang Chen's purely physical strength matched his own Golden Core power.
• True Person Ye realized Wang Chen was a Golden Core Body Cultivator and that the Sha Eye's core gave Wang Chen the advantage in close combat.

Wang Chen used the Sha Eye’s suppression of Dharma to trap True Person Ye in close combat and badly injure him. As True Person Ye unleashed his Golden Core, Wang Chen brought out two more Magic Treasure-grade treasures to restrain it, leaving the fight poised for another decisive attack.

• True Person Ye realized Wang Chen had lured him into the Sha Eye’s Dharma-suppressing core and tried to retreat while summoning his bronze bell.
• Wang Chen’s Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram entangled the bronze bell, allowing him to press True Person Ye with repeated Heavenly Dragon Vajra Palms.
• True Person Ye fought back with a hidden Sword Pellet, but Wang Chen countered with the Dragon Abyss flying sword and broke True Person Ye’s right palm with a powerful strike.
• True Person Ye spat out his Golden Core to drive back the Yin Sha Evil Power and create room to cast spells.
• Wang Chen used the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron and Upper Clarity Qiankun Mirror to pin True Person Ye’s Golden Core, then struck his chest with a fist.