Recaps

Ronan entered the Secret Vault under royal permission and confronted its guardian, the red dragon Gregory. After Gregory attacked him, Ronan revealed his power and shaped a golden Dragon Slaying Spear, leaving Gregory enraged and shaken.

• Ronan introduced himself to Gregory and showed the royal permit, but Gregory rejected it and demanded Ronan's ring before ordering him to leave.
• Ronan taunted Gregory, provoking the red dragon to unleash its Dragon Domain, but Ronan blocked it with his own Domain.
• Gregory tried to negotiate after realizing Ronan was a Legend, but Ronan drew his revolver and shot Gregory six times in the head.
• Gregory took to the air and blasted Ronan with dragon breath, but Ronan stopped the flames with Psionic Power and melted gold coins into liquid metal.
• Ronan shaped the molten gold into a rune-covered spear, and Gregory recognized it as a Dragon Slaying Spear and reacted with rage and fear.

Ronan forced the red dragon Gregory to request a truce under the Legendary Treaty, then negotiated a ten-year payment of dragon materials instead of taking treasures from the vault. Gregory paid the first year's share, and Ronan left with a continuing source of valuable alchemical materials.

• Ronan formed and threw a Golden Spear, grazing Gregory's tail and demonstrating the weapon's power.
• Gregory requested a truce under the Legendary Treaty and explained that Legends could end a conflict by paying an agreed price.
• Ronan refused Gregory's offers of vault treasures and demanded Dragon Blood, dragon scales, and Dragon Teeth instead.
• Ronan and Gregory haggled over the terms and signed a truce agreement requiring Gregory to make payments over ten years.
• Gregory gave Ronan fifty kilograms of blood and one hundred scales as the first year's payment.

Ronan moved into his seventeen-story Alchemy Tower and prepared to establish an avatar in the Blood Moon Realm. He successfully used Red Dragon Potions to awaken Dolores and Janice as Extraordinary beings.

• Ronan moved into the completed Alchemy Tower in Ceres and outfitted it with a massive laboratory for researching alchemy and potions.
• Ronan decided to construct an avatar in the Blood Moon Realm, carefully considering the risk of dividing his Divine Soul again.
• Five years after arriving in the Blood Moon Realm, Ronan gave Dolores and Janice Red Dragon Potions he had developed from Gregory's blood.
• Janice breathed fire while Dolores began to transform with dark-red scales, showing that the potions had awakened their Extraordinary Strength.
• Ronan determined that Dolores had awakened as an Extraordinary warrior and Janice as a spellcaster, then congratulated and embraced them.

Ronan divided his soul and transferred it into the dragon-infused clone, leaving the Blood Moon Realm as his original body returned to the Haotian Realm. Wang Chen recovered in the Immortal Alliance Cave Mansion, advanced to the peak of Nascent Soul, and emerged to meet the relieved Xiong Liangpeng.

• Ronan entered his hidden laboratory and prepared to transfer his soul into the perfect clone he had created.
• Ronan endured the pain of splitting his Divine Soul, activated the Blood Moon Ring, and sent his main soul through a spatial vortex into the clone.
• The newly awakened Ronan shattered the glass vessel and emerged from the torrent of water with a crimson ring on his left hand.
• Wang Chen's consciousness returned in the Immortal Alliance Cave Mansion, where he spent nearly half a month stabilizing his Divine Soul.
• Wang Chen used the Origin of the World to reach the peak of Nascent Soul, then spent two more months consolidating his cultivation.
• Wang Chen left the Cave Mansion and reassured Xiong Liangpeng, who had waited for him for two years.

Wang Chen traded Origin of the World for the Myriad Transformation Sword Seed, helped the Xiong clan protect Xiong Zhaoyuan as he formed a Nascent Soul, and returned to the Xuan You Immortal Mansion. Bai Susu explained that Wang Chen needed to refine his mortal heart before advancing to Spirit Transformation, leaving him to consider returning to the Mountain Sea Realm for that cultivation.

• Wang Chen exchanged one shu of Origin of the World for Xiong Liangpeng's Myriad Transformation Sword Seed and accepted the Xiong clan's hospitality in Yan Mountain City.
• On Wang Chen's seventh day in the city, Xiong Zhaoyuan successfully formed a Nascent Soul, and Wang Chen stayed through the clan's Ascension Ceremony before returning home.
• Wang Chen reunited with Bai Susu, Xu Xinlan, and Su Ziling, then gave Bai Susu a shu of Origin of the World that she refined during seven days of dual cultivation.
• Bai Susu told Wang Chen that heart refining was the final step before Spirit Transformation and advised him to do it in his birthplace.
• Wang Chen decided the Mountain Sea Realm was the likely place for heart refining, spent time with his companions, and fused the Myriad Transformation Sword Seed into the Dragon Abyss Sword to raise it to Tier 5.

Three years after leaving Yan Mountain City, Wang Chen asked Xiong Liangpeng to help him reach the Mountain Sea Realm for Mortal Realm Heart Refining. After learning that the realm was sealed amid a prolonged calamity, Wang Chen pursued a risky alternative, and five years later Zhang Sihai offered him a World-Crossing Pearl that could be used once more.

• Wang Chen returned to Yan Mountain City and told Xiong Liangpeng he wanted a lower-realm quota to visit the Mountain Sea Realm for Mortal Realm Heart Refining.
• Xiong Liangpeng traveled to Nine Provinces Immortal City and returned with information that the Mountain Sea Realm was suffering a calamity and its teleportation array was closed.
• Xiong Liangpeng told Wang Chen that smuggling into the realm with a linked treasure was the only alternative, and Wang Chen agreed to wait while his friend searched for one.
• Five years later, Wang Chen met Xiong Liangpeng, Zhao Xinfang, and Zhang Sihai in Nine Provinces Immortal City.
• Zhang Sihai offered Wang Chen his World-Crossing Pearl, which was linked to the Mountain Sea Realm and had one use remaining, and asked what Wang Chen would pay for it.

Wang Chen returned to the Mountain Sea Realm as a mortal to undergo Mortal Realm Heart Refining and settled in Qing'an County. He opened the Wang Clan School and began teaching seven young students.

• Wang Chen arrived in Qing'an County after traveling south through the Mountain Sea Realm, with his cultivation and Nascent Soul sealed in his Qi Sea Dantian.
• Wang Chen bought a residence with help from the innkeeper and completed the paperwork to settle in the county.
• Wang Chen told the innkeeper he planned to open a private school and agreed to teach the innkeeper's five-year-old son.
• The innkeeper arranged for a room in Wang Chen's home to be converted into a classroom and helped recruit seven students.
• Wang Chen opened the Wang Clan School and taught the children the Thousand Character Classic.

Wang Chen opened Wang Clan School to poor children in Tongluo Alley, accepting Chen Ergou as a student and renaming him Chen Yijian. After the school filled with students, a Qing'an County tax clerk demanded payment, and Wang Chen paid ten taels for the year.

• Wang Chen taught his students characters and the Thousand Character Classic, then accepted Chen Ergou after the boy offered three copper coins for tuition.
• Wang Chen renamed Chen Ergou Chen Yijian, recognizing the boy's unusual potential and fate.
• News that Wang Clan School accepted poor students spread, and Wang Chen enrolled children from Tongluo Alley and nearby streets until the classroom filled.
• A Qing'an County tax clerk accused Wang Chen of operating an untaxed school and rejected his Xiucai certificate as insufficient for an outsider.
• Wang Chen paid the clerk ten taels in annual taxes and watched him leave.

Li Jin died with Madam Li in a fire after greedily extorting silver from an outsider scholar, while Wang Chen’s school grew into a haven for poor children despite local teachers’ hostility. A year passed, and an uninvited guest arrived at the Wang Clan School.

• Li Jin returned home drunk with food and wine, boasted to Madam Li that he had extorted ten taels of silver from an outsider scholar, and planned to exploit him further.
• Li Jin knocked over an oil lamp, and the fire killed him and Madam Li; the county yamen ruled their deaths accidental and closed the case.
• After Li Jin and Madam Li’s daughters fought over the inheritance, the county yamen’s adviser settled the funeral arrangements, leaving both daughters poorer and estranged.
• Wang Chen accepted fifty more students at the Wang Clan School, then closed enrollment because the small school had reached its limit.
• Wang Chen’s reputation spread as he taught poor children cheaply, provided free lunches, and taught basic martial arts, while hostile academy teachers mocked his students as “Wang students.”
• Another year passed, and an uninvited guest arrived at the school in Tongluo Alley.

Wang Chen turned down several marriage proposals before learning that the county magistrate’s praise had made him a desirable match. Accepting the innkeeper’s offer to find him a suitable wife, he went fishing as usual to provide food for his students.

• Granny Wang offered Wang Chen a wealthy man’s daughter as a bride, but he sent her away, and Chen Yijian warned him that she was known as Chen Bachi.
• Wang Chen reflected on Chen Yijian’s talent and leadership among the fifty students at the Wang Clan School.
• Grannies Zhang and Sun also came to propose matches, and the innkeeper explained that Yu Heqian’s praise had made Wang Chen seem like a promising prospect.
• Wang Chen asked the innkeeper to find him a gentle and virtuous wife because completing Mortal Realm Heart Refining required him to marry and have children.
• Wang Chen mounted his donkey and went to the Clear Water River to fish for the students’ next meal.

Wang Chen caught a large haul of carp on the Clear Water River and wounded a lurking water monster that had been attacking people. Back at his academy, he agreed to teach Chen Yijian’s younger brother, then experienced a sudden resurgence of memories beneath the moonlight.

• Wang Chen caught carp after carp in the Clear Water River, then struck a hidden water monster with a pebble and drew blood.
• Wang Chen returned to Qing'an County Town and gave a carp to a gate guard before riding back to Tongluo Alley.
• Chen Yijian helped Wang Chen unload the fish, and Wang Chen told him to take one home.
• Chen Yijian asked Wang Chen to teach his younger brother, and Wang Chen agreed despite having no room in the schoolhouse.
• Wang Chen went to his study after dinner, saw the bright moon, and became entranced as memories sealed in his Divine Soul resurfaced.

Wang Chen agreed to meet Ye Dai, the illegitimate daughter of Qing'an County Assistant Magistrate Ye Xiangming, after the innkeeper arranged a match between them. At the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival, Wang Chen and Ye Dai met for the first time beside Xinhe Bridge.

• The innkeeper told Wang Chen about Ye Dai and arranged for them to meet at the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival.
• Chen Yijian offered to investigate Ye Dai, but Wang Chen told him to focus on his studies and not meddle.
• Wang Chen dressed for the festival, carried a lantern to Xinhe Bridge, and spotted Ye Dai and her maid by their agreed lantern designs.
• Wang Chen and Ye Dai introduced themselves beside the bridge as fireworks burst overhead.

Wang Chen and Ye Dai enjoyed a successful Mid-Autumn blind date, and Ye Xiangming approved of their match. Their correspondence grew closer until unwelcome visitors suddenly arrived at the school in Tongluo Alley.

• Wang Chen and Ye Dai met beside the Fangxia River, where Wang Chen recited the opening lines of a poem during the fireworks display and promised to send Ye Dai the complete piece.
• Ye Dai told her father, Ye Xiangming, that she liked Wang Chen, and he agreed to arrange their marriage while warning her about the Cao Family and unsettled streets.
• Wang Chen sent Ye Dai the complete poem two days later, and she treasured its words and thought of their meeting.
• Wang Chen and Ye Dai exchanged increasingly frequent letters, and Ye Dai grew deeply attached to him.
• A group of unwelcome guests arrived at the school in Tongluo Alley.

Cao Jin'an threatened Wang Chen and ordered him to leave Qing'an County because he coveted Ye Dai, then died suddenly while drinking at Wangchun Tower. The gang leaders’ sons with him also died in bizarre ways, leaving the tower in chaos.

• Cao Jin'an and two Cangshui Gang fighters barged into Wang Chen’s courtyard, struck Chen Yijian, and threatened Wang Chen over Ye Dai.
• Wang Chen told Chen Yijian to treat his injuries, then repaired the damaged gate as he coldly watched the courtyard.
• At Wangchun Tower, Cao Jin'an complained about Ye Xiangming refusing his marriage proposal and raged over Ye Dai’s match with Wang Chen.
• Cao Jin'an attacked a courtesan, but a sudden piercing pain struck his head and killed him.
• The gang leaders’ sons at the gathering began screaming and dying in bizarre ways, while the courtesans fled and Wangchun Tower descended into chaos.

After Cao Jin'an and twelve others were mysteriously killed at Wangchun Tower, Qing'an County's officials and Cao Xiong struggled to investigate a possible cultivator's involvement, but the killer was never found. Months later, Wang Chen formally proposed to Ye Dai, and the two awaited their wedding.

• Sun Huai'an sealed off Wangchun Tower while County Magistrate Yu Heqian and County Assistant Magistrate Ye Xiangming arrived to investigate the thirteen deaths.
• The coroner found no external wounds or detectable poison and suggested the victims might have been killed by a cultivator's method.
• Yu Heqian ordered the investigation to continue, but Cao Xiong accepted that the bodies would be held at the yamen and the inquiry would proceed cautiously.
• The killer remained unidentified, the Cangshui Gang kept a low profile, and county residents celebrated Cao Jin'an's death as retribution.
• Before the New Year, Wang Chen sent a matchmaker to propose to Ye Dai, and the couple became engaged while awaiting their wedding.

On New Year's Eve, Wang Chen met his future father-in-law Ye Xiangming, who approved of him and urged him to treat Ye Dai well. Later, Wang Chen married Ye Dai in a lively neighborhood wedding and entered the bridal chamber with her.

• Wang Chen sent Chen Yijian home and celebrated New Year's Eve alone before Ye Xiangming arrived unannounced.
• Ye Xiangming spoke with Wang Chen, offered him a chance to seek help in the yamen, and asked him to cherish Ye Dai; Wang Chen said he preferred teaching and promised not to disappoint her.
• Wang Chen's neighbors helped arrange his wedding, and he led the procession to the Ye Clan to bring Ye Dai home.
• Wang Chen and Ye Dai completed their wedding rites before the neighbors, while Ye Xiangming did not attend.
• After the feast, Wang Chen dismissed Xiao Yu, lifted Ye Dai's veil, and shared nuptial wine with her before carrying her to the bed.

Wang Chen learned that rice prices were rising sharply and suspected the hot, dry weather might signal a drought. He reassured Ye Yu and Ye Dai that he had enough money to cover the school’s expenses, then carried Ye Dai to the bedroom.

• Ye Yu told Wang Chen that rice prices had climbed from three coppers to five per jin and worried about the school’s rising grain costs.
• Wang Chen noticed the prolonged hot, rainless weather and connected it to the surge in rice prices.
• Ye Yu went to Ye Dai to complain about Wang Chen’s spending, and Ye Dai offered to use her untouched dowry to help.
• Wang Chen refused Ye Dai’s offer, relying on the silver he had secretly obtained from the Cangshui Gang’s treasury.
• Wang Chen carried Ye Dai into the bedroom despite her protests.

Wang Chen reassured Ye Dai that his cultivation prevented them from having children and promised to break through within three years. After discovering a worsening drought outside Qing'an County, he brought his father-in-law Ye Xiangming a design for a self-flowing waterwheel to help save the rice fields.

• Ye Dai worried that she could not bear children, and Wang Chen told her that his cultivation was the cause and promised it would be resolved within three years.
• Wang Chen went fishing at the Clear Water River and found that low water levels had left nearby rice fields dry and withering.
• Farmers told Wang Chen that newly built waterwheels could no longer reach the river and that drought and rising rice prices were worsening across the region.
• Wang Chen went to the county yamen and asked Ye Xiangming to organize craftsmen to build self-flowing waterwheels from his design.

Wang Chen persuaded Qing'an County's officials to fund and build a Self-Flowing Waterwheel, then supervised its construction and installation. The wheel successfully lifted water from the Clear Water River, bringing relief to drought-stricken farmers.

• Wang Chen offered to pay for the first Self-Flowing Waterwheel, easing Ye Xiangming's concerns about the county yamen's responsibility.
• Ye Xiangming consulted County Magistrate Yu Heqian, who approved building one waterwheel and promised more if it worked.
• Wang Chen supplied the design and funds and supervised the Official Workshop's craftsmen as they built the wheel.
• Wang Chen and the county officials watched as the waterwheel was assembled beside the Clear Water River amid a crowd of anxious farmers.
• Yu Heqian started the waterwheel, and it carried river water into the dry channel, prompting villagers to cheer as their crops were saved.

As the drought drove nearly ten thousand refugees to Qing'an County, Wang Chen advised Ye Xiangming on relief measures and then joined Ye Dai in distributing food outside the city. When hungry refugees surrounded them and attackers threatened violence, Wang Chen killed two men with his sword.

• The drought worsened, refugees flooded toward Qing'an County, and the county yamen shut the gates while arranging porridge relief.
• Ye Xiangming asked Wang Chen for advice, and Wang Chen proposed work-for-relief, gathering food, and seeking aid from higher authorities.
• Ye Dai asked to help the refugees, so Wang Chen's household made flatbreads and took them outside the city to distribute.
• The food ran out, and desperate refugees surrounded Wang Chen, Ye Dai, and their companions as some threatened violence.
• Wang Chen beheaded a man who incited the crowd, then killed another attacker who tried to ambush him.

After Ye Dai witnessed soldiers massacre refugees, Ye Xiangming warned Wang Chen that drought, a drought demon, and political turmoil threatened Qing'an County. The Santai refugees formed a vast bandit army, which eventually surrounded Qing'an County Town and forced its leaders to assemble a desperate defense.

• Wang Chen took Ye Dai and his household home after Ye Xiangming's soldiers killed refugees to suppress a disturbance.
• Ye Xiangming scolded Ye Dai and Wang Chen, then told Wang Chen that disaster and unrest across Changyi Prefecture required them to plan an escape.
• Santai County refugees captured their county town, formed a roving bandit army, and spread across Changyi Prefecture.
• The bandits breached Yongping County Town, prompting panic, flight, and worsening disorder in neighboring Qing'an County.
• The bandit army surrounded Qing'an County Town with fifty or sixty thousand fighters, and Yu Heqian and Ye Xiangming organized a force of about three thousand five hundred defenders.

Wang Chen joined Ye Xiangming on Qing'an County Town's walls as a huge bandit army launched its first assault. Wang Chen killed the attackers' elite fighters and survived an expert's ambush, while the bandits eventually withdrew, leaving the defenders wary that worse attacks would follow.

• Wang Chen refused to flee Qing'an County with his family, and Ye Xiangming accepted that they would have to fight.
• Ye Xiangming directed the defenders as the bandits charged the walls, and the county soldiers used arrows, stones, and logs to repel them.
• Wang Chen used his powerful bow to kill more than thirty elite bandits hidden among the attackers.
• A bandit expert scaled the wall and attacked Wang Chen, but Wang Chen struck him dead before he could land a blow.
• The bandits sounded their retreat and fled, prompting cheers from the defenders while Qing'an County's leaders recognized that the siege had only begun.

Wang Chen and Ye Xiangming helped Qing'an County Town withstand five days of attacks by the Ping Tian Army, whose leader, Li Zili, tried to secure peace by demanding Wang Chen's head. The defenders rejected the scheme, but the next assault caused heavy casualties and left the town nearly out of supplies.

• Wang Chen shot a bandit who was about to stab the exhausted Ye Xiangming, helping the defenders repel another attack after five days of siege.
• The Ping Tian Army sent a letter offering to withdraw if Qing'an County delivered Wang Chen's head, and Yu Heqian recognized it as an attempt to sow discord.
• Yu Heqian reassured Wang Chen, while Ye Xiangming shot the messenger through the ear to reject the demand.
• The Ping Tian Army launched its fiercest assault the next morning, and Wang Chen and Ye Xiangming rushed between threatened sections of the walls to help hold them.
• Qing'an County suffered more than a thousand casualties, its supplies and arrows dwindled, and the Ping Tian Army moved closer without showing signs of retreat.

As Qing'an County Town’s defenses faltered, County Magistrate Yu Heqian and local elites betrayed Wang Chen, hoping to save the town by handing him over to King Ping Tian’s forces. Wang Chen killed the conspirators, leaving Ye Xiangming to arrive in the bloodied hall.

• After three days of relentless attacks, Qing'an County’s exhausted defenders struggled to hold the walls, and Yu Heqian summoned Wang Chen to the county office.
• Yu Heqian revealed that he had conspired with the town’s elites and King Ping Tian’s army, bringing Xiao Zhan and two other experts into the city to kill Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen exposed the poisoned tea as harmless to him and killed a gentryman with the tea he spat out.
• Xiao Zhan attacked Wang Chen, but Wang Chen broke his saber with a punch and killed him with the broken blade.
• Wang Chen struck down the remaining conspirators with porcelain shards and killed Yu Heqian before Ye Xiangming rushed into the hall.

Wang Chen survived a plot by County Magistrate Yu Heqian and Qing'an County’s gentry, while Ye Xiangming covered up their deaths and took control of the city. The bandit army withdrew after suffering heavy losses, and Wang Chen returned home to his family.

• Ye Xiangming found Yu Heqian and more than a dozen local figures dead in the county office, and Wang Chen claimed bandit experts had killed them.
• Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen agreed to blame the massacre on the bandits, and Wang Chen returned to the city wall while Ye Xiangming handled the aftermath.
• Ye Xiangming purged Yu Heqian’s confidants, seized provisions by raiding several wealthy households, and took control of Qing'an County Town.
• Li Zili withdrew the bandit army after its assaults caused heavy losses, and the defenders celebrated Qing'an County’s survival.
• Wang Chen returned home and spent three days and nights with Ye Dai and Xiao Yu.