Recaps

After forming a first-grade Golden Core, Wang Chen learned that he had to leave Qingqiu and received Hu Jiaojiao’s promise that they would meet again at Nascent Soul. The Fox Queen read Wang Chen’s farewell poem and permitted him to stay in Qingqiu for ten more days.

• Wang Chen examined his Cultivation Panel and saw his attributes and lifespan increase, while his techniques and virtue records were simplified or reset.
• The Fox Queen congratulated Wang Chen on forming a top-grade Golden Core and used a Jade Tablet to confirm that his Pill Formation was first-grade.
• The Fox Queen told Wang Chen to leave Qingqiu, and a little girl delivered Hu Jiaojiao’s message that they would meet again at Nascent Soul.
• Wang Chen wrote Hu Jiaojiao a poem promising they would reunite, and the Fox Queen intercepted the little girl to read it.
• The Fox Queen let the little girl go and allowed Wang Chen to remain in Qingqiu for ten more days.

Wang Chen used his ten-day stay in the Green Hill Library Pavilion to master Daoist arts and store the texts he read in the Primordial Dao Stele. After the Fox Queen sent him away, he returned to Thousand Stars Immortal City and headed home to see how Su Ziling was doing.

• Wang Chen used Spiritual Rhinoceros Finger to animate a wooden puppet, then recalled its spirituality and cleared away the pieces.
• Wang Chen discovered that the Primordial Dao Stele stored and organized the True Script Runes he imprinted from Daoist books.
• Wang Chen spent the rest of his ten days reading books in the pavilion, with their contents accumulating in the Primordial Dao Stele.
• The Fox Queen's force sent Wang Chen out of the pavilion, and he thanked her before flying toward Thousand Stars Immortal City.
• Wang Chen arrived in the city before sunset and headed home, wondering whether Su Ziling had been safe.

Su Ziling was threatened by two Golden Hook Gambling House guards over her dead father's gambling debt, but Wang Chen returned to the Magic Tool shop as a Golden Core True Person and saved her. He drove the guards away after proving Su Ziling had been sold to him and burning the gambling contract.

• Su Ziling mourned Wang Chen's year-long absence while guarding the nearly empty shop.
• Two Golden Hook Gambling House guards demanded one hundred thousand Spirit Stones from Su Ziling and tried to take her when she could not produce proof that she had severed ties with her father.
• Wang Chen appeared, cut off one guard's hand, and struck the other as Su Ziling recognized her master.
• Wang Chen revealed his Golden Core cultivation and showed the onlookers Su Ziling's contract of sale, establishing that she was under his protection.
• Wang Chen learned that Su Wenhui was dead, burned the gambling contract, and ordered the guards to leave.

After learning that Su Ziling’s father had died in an underground gambling den and been discarded at the Chaos Burial Mound, Wang Chen accompanied her there and destroyed the zombie his corpse had become. When they returned to Thousand Stars Immortal City, Wang Xinchen of the San Qun Wang Family was waiting outside Wang Chen’s shop.

• A thug from the Golden Hook Gambling House told Su Ziling that her father, Su Wenhui, had been beaten to death after being caught cheating at an underground gambling den, and his corpse had been dumped at the Chaos Burial Mound.
• Su Ziling declined Wang Chen’s offer to avenge her father, and Wang Chen offered to accompany her to perform rites and settle their karma.
• Wang Chen used Su Ziling’s blood to trace her father’s remains, then told her to wait while he followed the Spiritual Light into the burial mound.
• Wang Chen found that Su Wenhui had become a zombie, destroyed it with a Fire Crow spell, and performed the Rebirth Incantation.
• Wang Chen and Su Ziling returned to the city, where they found Wang Xinchen and a group of people waiting outside the Magic Tool shop.

Wang Chen accepted an extravagant congratulatory gift from Wang Chenming, a Golden Core member of the Third Quadrant Wang Clan, and attended his banquet at Wangjiang Tower. After Wang Chen made clear he did not intend to join the ancestral clan, Wang Chenming revealed his real offer: to sponsor him for the Thousand Stars Gathering.

• Wang Xinchen delivered Wang Chenming’s congratulatory gifts and invited Wang Chen to meet his master at Wangjiang Tower.
• Wang Chen accepted the invitation but decided to remain cautious about Wang Chenming’s motives.
• Wang Xinchen escorted Wang Chen to Wangjiang Tower, where Wang Chen met Wang Chenming and attended a lavish banquet.
• Wang Chen told Wang Chenming he had no intention of returning to the ancestral clan.
• Wang Chenming dismissed the attendants, raised a soundproof barrier, and offered to sponsor Wang Chen for the Thousand Stars Gathering.

Wang Chenming explained that cultivators had to repay Heaven and Earth karma before forming Nascent Soul, which could be done by harvesting Spirit Communicator from lower realms. He offered Wang Chen a chance to descend to an unexplored small world if he joined the Third Quadrant Wang Clan, and Wang Chen left the decision open.

• Wang Chen refused Wang Chenming's invitation to join the Thousand Stars Gathering because he wanted to remain independent.
• Wang Chenming told Wang Chen that cultivators had to repay Heaven and Earth karma to form Nascent Soul, or risk a heavenly tribulation.
• Wang Chenming explained that repaying karma involved descending to lower realms and harvesting Spirit Communicator, though access to those worlds was difficult and limited.
• Wang Chen recalled the Mist Mountain Realm and wondered whether he could return there, while suspecting that harvesting Spirit Communicator involved hidden dangers.
• Wang Chenming offered Wang Chen a slot in an unexplored small world if he joined the Third Quadrant Wang Clan, in exchange for half the Spirit Communicator he harvested.
• Wang Chen asked for time to consider the offer, and Wang Chenming agreed.

Wang Chen weighed his options for reaching Nascent Soul while continuing to refine spiritual artifacts and supporting Su Ziling’s cultivation. Just as he settled into a quiet routine, an imposing visitor named Lu arrived at his shop, and Wang Chen sensed trouble.

• Wang Chen returned to his residence, reassured Su Ziling about her cultivation, and restrained his desire to protect her future Dao path.
• Wang Chen sent a message to the Qingqiu Fox Queen asking about Nascent Soul formation, then resumed refining spiritual artifacts at his reopened shop.
• The Qingqiu Fox Queen warned Wang Chen that he could not safely return to the Mist Mountain Realm for Spirit Communicator and advised him to join a great sect to form Nascent Soul.
• Wang Chen rejected the great sect route as impractical and decided to set aside the Nascent Soul question while he was still at the first layer of Golden Core.
• An imposing man named Lu visited Wang Chen’s Magic Tool shop, and Wang Chen immediately sensed that trouble had arrived.

Lu Huaizhen tried to recruit Wang Chen into the Lu Family, using the Wang Clan’s precarious position to persuade him. Wang Chen refused to join either clan, but Wang Chenming arrived soon after and admitted that Lu Huaizhen’s claims about the Wang Clan were true.

• Lu Huaizhen offered Wang Chen a Golden Core guest elder position and promised him a lower-realm quota.
• Lu Huaizhen claimed the Wang Clan’s Nascent Soul ancestor was near death and that Wang Hongyi needed Spirit Communicators to attempt forming a Nascent Soul again.
• Wang Chen decided not to join the Lu Family, the Wang Clan, or any other great family clan.
• Wang Chenming hurried over and asked whether Lu Huaizhen had visited Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen challenged Wang Chenming about the Wang Clan’s situation, and Wang Chenming admitted Lu Huaizhen’s claims were true.

Wang Chen left Thousand Stars Immortal City with Su Ziling to avoid being drawn into the Wang Clan and Lu Family’s conflict, and searched the mountains for a secluded place to cultivate. After finding a promising valley, he sensed something hidden beneath its pool and prepared to fight.

• Wang Chen decided to leave after realizing the Wang Clan and Lu Family were treating him as a bargaining chip in their struggle.
• Su Ziling quickly packed their belongings, and Wang Chen bought supplies before they departed Thousand Stars Immortal City.
• Wang Chenming hurried after them but arrived too late to stop Wang Chen’s Flying Ship from disappearing into the distance.
• Wang Chen searched the mountains for several days and found a secluded valley with a pool and an underground stream.
• Wang Chen sensed something watching him from beneath the pool, stored Su Ziling in the Grand Mystic Mirage Dragon True Form Diagram, and drew the Dragon Abyss Sword when the hidden presence failed to emerge.

Wang Chen killed a black python in the pool and discovered a hidden cavern with abundant spiritual energy. He decided to make the cavern his new home with Su Ziling.

• Wang Chen used the Dragon Abyss Sword to kill the black python and gained 3000 Human Virtue.
• Wang Chen disintegrated the python’s corpse, refined its demon core, and gave the water-element core to Su Ziling to aid her cultivation.
• Wang Chen and Su Ziling descended into the pool, where the demon core repelled the water around them.
• Wang Chen found a submerged cave entrance and let its suction pull him and Su Ziling into a hidden cavern.
• Wang Chen explored the cavern, saw its rich spiritual energy, and told Su Ziling it would be their home.

Wang Chen created skeletal servants to help Su Ziling clean the Cave Mansion, then risked taking control of its powerful formation. After spending most of his Spirit Stones, he claimed the Six Harmonies Great Seal and concealed and protected the dwelling.

• Wang Chen animated five skeletons as servants and gave them to Su Ziling to command while she cleaned the Cave Mansion.
• Wang Chen investigated the Cave Mansion's formation and discovered that its core lay in the cultivation chamber and that destroying it could collapse the dwelling.
• Wang Chen connected his Divine Sense and true essence to the formation, learning that it was the weakened Six Harmonies Xuan Yuan Great Formation.
• Wang Chen poured Spirit Stones into the altar's sacrificial basin until the formation's control art was complete and the Six Harmonies Great Seal appeared.
• Wang Chen used the seal to conceal the valley and activate the Cave Mansion's defenses, securing control of the formation.

Wang Chen cultivated in Nameless Valley, entrusted Su Ziling with greater responsibility for her safety, and investigated a mysterious Teleportation Array hidden beneath the pool. Low on Spirit Stones, he left to seek resources and test his strength, leaving Su Ziling behind to cultivate.

• Wang Chen completed his morning cultivation and told Su Ziling to focus on advancing her cultivation instead of serving him every day.
• Wang Chen gave Su Ziling a seal that let her enter the Cave Mansion and control part of the Six Harmonies Xuan Yuan Great Formation.
• Wang Chen placed more Spirit Stones into a Teleportation Array in a secret chamber but found that he still lacked enough to activate it.
• Wang Chen told Su Ziling to stay home, then flew into the mountains to search for wealth and test his combat strength.

While exploring the mountains around Thousand Stars Immortal City, Wang Chen discovered the hidden Lingyou City and entered under a disguised identity to rest and look for business opportunities. At a tavern, he noticed a hungry old cultivator staring at his wine and paid for a pot for him.

• Wang Chen searched the mountains for several days but found no valuable mineral deposits.
• On the fourth day, Wang Chen spotted a concealed Immortal City after seeing streaks of escaping light.
• Wang Chen disguised himself as a Purple Mansion peak cultivator and entered Lingyou City after paying the gate fee.
• Wang Chen ordered Hundred Flowers Drunk and two house specialties at a bustling tavern.
• Wang Chen saw a white-haired old cultivator eyeing his wine and paid the attendant to give him a pot.

Wang Chen bought several jars of Hundred Flowers Drunk, then led the cultivators tracking him to Lingyou City’s Marketplace and set up a stall. His fair-priced goods sold rapidly, leaving him with several hundred thousand Spirit Stones as he replenished his stock.

• Wang Chen bought all the tavern’s available Hundred Flowers Drunk and paid three hundred Medium Spirit Stones for three jars.
• Wang Chen noticed several cultivators following him and led them through the main streets to the Marketplace without confronting them.
• Wang Chen rented a protected stall and displayed pills, materials, Talismans, and spirit artifacts from his storage rings.
• Wang Chen refused to bargain, and customers bought nearly half his goods in less than an incense stick’s time.
• Wang Chen collected several hundred thousand Spirit Stones and replenished his stall as business continued to boom.

Wang Chen’s profitable Marketplace stall drew greedy pursuers, so he lured them into a mountain forest and revealed that he was a Golden Core True Person. He slaughtered the Purple Mansion cultivators who tried to rob him, earning Heavenly Merit as they fled.

• Wang Chen sold most of his goods in Lingyou City, attracting attention with nearly a million Lower Spirit Stones in turnover.
• Wang Chen left the city and fled south as dozens of cultivators pursued him, demanding his Storage Bag.
• Wang Chen used a Talisman to speed away, then dived into a forest as the pursuers attacked.
• More than a dozen Purple Mansion cultivators surrounded Wang Chen in a clearing, but he remained calm and asked if that was all of them.
• Wang Chen unleashed Golden Core pressure, immobilized the cultivators, and killed one with a single palm strike.
• The remaining cultivators tried to flee, but Wang Chen’s sword cut them down and earned him Heavenly Merit.

Wang Chen killed the Purple Mansion cultivators who had pursued him, then refused Lingyou Jingyun’s offer to become a retainer of Lingyou Immortal City. Back in Nameless Valley, he fed more than a million Spirit Stones into the Teleportation Array and received incomplete information that might explain how to control it.

• Wang Chen used Control to immobilize a fleeing Purple Mansion cultivator, killed him with the Dragon Abyss Sword, and confirmed that no other pursuers remained nearby.
• Wang Chen confronted Lingyou Jingyun, who criticized his methods but decided against fighting after recognizing the promise of his Golden Core; she offered him a retainer position, which he declined.
• Wang Chen sent wooden figures to gather the dead cultivators’ belongings and brought the collected Storage Bags back to Nameless Valley for Su Ziling to sort.
• Wang Chen poured over a million Spirit Stones into the Teleportation Array, which brightened and returned fragmented information that he suspected described how to control it.

Su Ziling broke through her final aperture and opened her Purple Mansion under Wang Chen’s protection, then began stabilizing her new realm. Wang Chen traveled to Lingyou City to sell his accumulated goods, where True Person Jingyun bought them and questioned whether he feared the city’s formation.

• Wang Chen activated the Six Harmonies Xuan Yuan Great Formation and helped Su Ziling prepare to break through.
• Su Ziling swallowed an Acupoint Breaking Pill, opened her top Dantian acupoint, and formed her Purple Mansion.
• Su Ziling joyfully embraced Wang Chen, who told her to stabilize her realm before he left her to cultivate.
• Wang Chen checked the formation at Nameless Valley, flew to Lingyou City, and sold his goods to True Person Jingyun at a fifteen percent discount.
• True Person Jingyun asked whether Wang Chen feared she would trap him with the City Protection Array, and he smiled without answering.

Wang Chen negotiated with True Person Jingyun over custom artifact commissions and agreed to refine Magic Treasures in exchange for a spark of Southern Bright Li Fire. He left the bargain with the fire promised to him and valuable experience in Magic Treasure refining ahead.

• True Person Jingyun recognized Wang Chen’s skill from the high-grade spirit artifacts he had brought and asked him to accept custom commissions.
• Wang Chen explained that he lacked earth fire and was reluctant to refine custom spirit artifacts, while True Person Jingyun offered him access to Lingyou City’s earth-fire chambers.
• True Person Jingyun revealed a spark of Southern Bright Li Fire and offered it for five custom-made Magic Treasures, but Wang Chen initially refused.
• Wang Chen counteroffered three Magic Treasures in return for five sets of materials, and True Person Jingyun added thirty custom spirit artifacts to the deal.
• True Person Jingyun accepted the bargain, and Wang Chen secured the Southern Bright Li Fire in exchange for the refining work and materials.

After signing a Dao pact with True Person Jingyun, Wang Chen completed thirty spirit artifacts and received a spark of Southern Bright Li Fire along with Magic Treasure materials. He fused the fire into the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron and began refining Magic Treasures, while Little Cauldron eagerly offered to help.

• Wang Chen and True Person Jingyun signed a Dao pact to exchange thirty high-grade spirit artifacts for Southern Bright Li Fire and Magic Treasure materials.
• Wang Chen received the materials ten days later and delivered thirty custom spirit artifacts two months afterward, earning the fire spark and five sets of Magic Treasure materials.
• Wang Chen returned to Nameless Valley, where Little Cauldron urged him to let it absorb the Southern Bright Li Fire.
• Wang Chen and Little Cauldron spent three days and nights refining the fire into the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron, leaving Wang Chen exhausted.
• After recovering, Wang Chen began forging Magic Treasures himself and ignored Little Cauldron's offer to do the work.

Wang Chen failed in his first attempt to refine the Azure Sun Crown, then reviewed his work and tried again. After nine days and nights of artifact refinement, he successfully created his first Magic Treasure.

• Wang Chen refined the Azure Sun Crown's components and engraved its True Script Runes before beginning the final artifact refinement.
• After seven days and nights, the Azure Sun Crown self-destructed, and Wang Chen lost the materials he had invested.
• Wang Chen rejected Little Cauldron's offer to help, washed and changed, then drank and reviewed his first attempt.
• Wang Chen cleaned the Life-Giving Creation Cauldron, restored himself over three days, and began a second Azure Sun Crown.
• Wang Chen refined the second crown with more practiced techniques and spent nine days and nights completing the artifact refinement.
• The Life-Giving Creation Cauldron released a radiant Daoist Crown, and Wang Chen successfully claimed his first Magic Treasure.

Wang Chen advanced Nine Directions Artifact Refining to Grandmaster, endured the backlash, and spent two months crafting three medium-grade Magic Treasures for True Person Jingyun. She was astonished by his work and promised to repay his favor.

• Wang Chen equipped the Azure Sun Crown and used 3,999 Human Virtue to raise Nine Directions Artifact Refining to Grandmaster, suffering a severe Divine Soul backlash.
• Wang Chen spent three days digesting his new knowledge, then refined several top-grade Spirit Artifacts and planned True Person Jingyun's three Magic Treasures.
• Wang Chen spent two months refining a Flying Sword, a Tortoise Shield, and Flowing Rainbow, while Nameless Valley's formation contained the tribulations each treasure triggered.
• Wang Chen traveled to Lingyuan City and presented the three medium-grade Magic Treasures to True Person Jingyun.
• True Person Jingyun expressed her satisfaction, accepted the treasures, and promised to repay Wang Chen's favor.

After a year of secluded cultivation, Wang Chen advanced his Golden Core technique and emerged from the meditation chamber. He rewarded Little Cauldron for finishing a batch of Spirit Artifacts, then took Su Ziling with him to Lingyou City.

• True Person Jingyun sincerely thanked Wang Chen for the three mid-grade Magic Treasures, and Wang Chen asked her to buy materials and sell the Spirit Artifacts he made for a share of the profits.
• Wang Chen gave the materials to Little Cauldron and devoted himself to cultivation, telling Su Ziling to keep practicing while he secluded himself for a year.
• Wang Chen completed a year of steady cultivation, bringing his Innate Five Elements Technique · Golden Core to the first layer with 125 experience points.
• Su Ziling greeted Wang Chen after his seclusion and told him she had reached the Purple Mansion second layer and wanted to visit Lingyou Immortal City.
• Little Cauldron presented Wang Chen with several dozen finished Spirit Artifacts, and Wang Chen rewarded it with five high-grade Spirit Stones.
• Wang Chen brought Su Ziling out of the Cave Mansion at the bottom of the pool and flew with her toward Lingyou City.

Wang Chen sold a batch of spirit artifacts to True Person Jingyun in Lingyou City while Su Ziling went shopping. A brocade-robed cultivator tried to harass Su Ziling, but just as he threatened to seize her, a powerful pressure enveloped him.

• Wang Chen entered Lingyou City with Su Ziling, gave her Spirit Stones to shop, and went to meet True Person Jingyun.
• Wang Chen sold True Person Jingyun his spirit artifacts at seventy percent of market price, and she asked him to sell her future works as well.
• Su Ziling visited a tailor shop and chose dresses and Daoist robes for herself and Wang Chen.
• A brocade-robed cultivator approached Su Ziling, blocked her way, and used a Golden Core talisman plaque to intimidate the shop's customers.
• The brocade-robed cultivator reached for Su Ziling's veil and threatened to keep her from escaping, but a powerful pressure suddenly enveloped him.

Wang Chen rescued Su Ziling from True Person Jingyun’s unruly nephew, and Jingyun apologized and gave Su Ziling a hairpin. After Wang Chen left Lingxi City, Jingyun brought her nephew home, where his grandmother blamed her for taking the outsiders’ side.

• Su Ziling used her bracelet bead to summon Wang Chen after True Person Jingyun’s nephew threatened her in a tailor shop.
• Wang Chen prepared to strike the brocade-robed cultivator, but True Person Jingyun arrived and slapped her nephew unconscious when he reached for a talisman plaque.
• True Person Jingyun apologized to Wang Chen and gave Su Ziling a phoenix-headed hairpin, while warning that people might covet her Profound Yin Physique.
• Wang Chen accepted the apology and left Lingxi City with Su Ziling.
• True Person Jingyun carried her nephew to the family estate, where he woke and complained to his grandmother, who accused Jingyun of siding with outsiders.

True Person Jingyun tried to stop Lu Yanqing and his ancestral grandmother from provoking Wang Chen over Su Ziling, warning that Wang Chen’s artifact-refining ability could earn him a Nascent Soul patron. Though the ancestral grandmother backed down, Lu Yanqing was confined, and Jingyun suspected the matter would continue.

• Lu Yanqing begged his ancestral grandmother to make Wang Chen give up Su Ziling, promising to cultivate diligently if he could take her as his Dao companion.
• The ancestral grandmother ordered True Person Jingyun to negotiate with Wang Chen, who replied, “Wishful thinking.”
• The ancestral grandmother grew angry, but True Person Jingyun displayed the Magic Treasures Wang Chen had made for her and warned that he could seek protection from a Nascent Soul True Immortal.
• Lu Yanqing revealed that Su Ziling had the Profound Yin Physique and could help him repair his Dao foundation and condense a Golden Core.
• The ancestral grandmother agreed the Lu family could not risk provoking Wang Chen, but Lu Yanqing threatened to leave the family.
• True Person Jingyun slapped Lu Yanqing, sealed his cultivation, and ordered the guards to lock him in the Hall of Repentance for three years.