Recaps

Wang Chen traveled to Nanshao City to take up his post as Garrison Celestial Master while Prefectural Governor Ruan Zhaoming and Master Weng plotted to test or kill him if he interfered with their plans. At the mansion, Wang Chen found a drunken gatekeeper insulting his Imperial Guards and ordered him slapped.

• Yu Feihong left an elite Imperial Guard squad with Wang Chen before departing to hunt the escaped prisoners.
• Ruan Zhaoming learned Wang Chen was approaching Nanshao, and Master Weng told him to hold Wang Chen in high regard while secretly testing him after he took office.
• Master Weng revealed that the Yunyang Sect would soon face trouble and threatened to kill Wang Chen if he disrupted their plans.
• Wang Chen, Xiao Wan, and ten Imperial Guards reached Nanshao City and rode to the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion.
• A drunken gatekeeper opened the mansion gates, cursed at the Imperial Guards, and prompted Wang Chen to order that his mouth be slapped.

Wang Chen took control of the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion and inspected the Star Observation Pavilion, restoring its defensive formation with his own Spirit Stones. He discovered the previous Celestial Master had left behind money, Pills, and Talismans, and left the household staff under Xiao Wan's investigation.

• The Elite Imperial Guards rounded up the Celestial Master's Mansion's staff, and Wang Chen immobilized the boastful Head Manager before ordering Xiao Wan to investigate their conduct over the past three years.
• Wang Chen entered the Star Observation Pavilion, cleaned its dusty floors, and explored the cultivation residence.
• Wang Chen found that the pavilion's defensive formation was nearly out of power and replaced its depleted Spirit Stones at his own expense.
• Wang Chen discovered three chests containing silver, gold, jewelry, Pills, and Talismans left by the previous Celestial Master.

Wang Chen discovered that his cultivation in the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion was progressing slowly and considered using the spiritual energy stored in the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil. After hearing Xiao Wan’s report about the Mansion’s corrupt guards, he ordered them executed and rewarded her with three Innate Pills, leaving Xiao Wan devoted to serving him.

• Wang Chen found that even with the Star Observation Pavilion’s formation, his cultivation efficiency was far worse than it had been in the Yunyang Sect.
• Xiao Wan reported that more than thirty former Mansion guards had abused their authority, committed crimes, and ruined the Mansion’s reputation.
• Wang Chen ordered the guards killed, their assets confiscated to compensate victims, and their heads sent to the prefectural yamen.
• Wang Chen gave Xiao Wan gold and silver to pay the Imperial Guards double wages and hire additional staff.
• Wang Chen gave Xiao Wan three Innate Pills to help her break through to the Innate realm, and she vowed to serve him.

Wu Da learned that the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion’s corrupt servants had been arrested and avenged his wife by beating Ximen Jin. As executions began, Wu Da was reunited with his long-lost brother Erlang, who had returned with Wu Da’s son and a woman named Jinlian.

• Aunt Li told Wu Da that the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion’s stewards and servants had been arrested and would be executed.
• Wu Da rushed to the mansion and saw Ximen Jin among the kneeling prisoners.
• Wu Da beat Ximen Jin to avenge the death of his pregnant wife, while the crowd and guards let him act.
• A guard announced that the new Garrison Celestial Master would execute the criminals and confiscate their property to compensate their victims.
• Wu Da heard someone call him Big Brother and discovered that Erlang had returned with Wu Da’s son and Jinlian.

After Wang Chen confronted Ruan Zhaoming by delivering the heads of the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion's corrupt officials, the prefectural governor sought a way to distract him and quietly called on his shamanic ally. Ruan assigned the Exorcism Hall's Evil Spirit cases to Wang Chen, but the new Celestial Master welcomed the assignment as exactly what he wanted.

• Ruan Zhaoming examined the heads Wang Chen had delivered and summoned Old Wu, a shaman who had helped him retain power.
• Ruan Zhaoming refused Old Wu's offer to attack Wang Chen for now, while Old Wu took the heads to raise gu and demanded ten pairs of virgin boys and girls for a coming sacrifice.
• Ruan Zhaoming ordered his subordinate to transfer the Exorcism Hall all Evil Spirit case files from the past ten years to keep Wang Chen occupied.
• The next morning, Zuo Yongjun, a Hundred-Household Officer of the Nanshao Exorcism Hall, arrived with Banner Officer Wu Song and explained the transfer to Wang Chen.
• Wang Chen realized Ruan Zhaoming's countermeasure gave him the Evil Spirit cases he wanted.

Wang Chen studied a decade of Evil Spirit cases in Nanshao Prefecture and decided to use his Heavenly Net to Punish Evil to support his cultivation while protecting the region. He equipped the Exorcism Hall with newly made talismans and ordered Zuo Yongjun to investigate recent incidents.

• Wang Chen reviewed the Exorcism Hall’s case files and learned that Evil Spirit attacks had grown more frequent across Nanshao Prefecture.
• Wang Chen realized that refining Evil Spirits could replenish the spiritual energy he needed for cultivation and earn him Human Virtue.
• Wang Chen spent a day making three hundred Essence Blood Talismans and discarded his predecessor’s deteriorated stock.
• Wang Chen gave the talismans to Zuo Yongjun, explained their uses, and ordered him to investigate Evil Spirit incidents from the past half year.
• Zuo Yongjun thanked Wang Chen on behalf of the Exorcism Hall’s 127 guards for the life-saving talismans.

Wang Chen secluded himself to study Five Suns Dry Thunder, then disguised himself and traveled to Falling Lightning Peak to begin drawing lightning into his body. After reaching the storm-struck summit, he discovered faint spiritual energy there and began cultivating as a bolt struck nearby.

• Wang Chen entrusted the remaining work at the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion to Xiao Wan and spent three days comprehending Five Suns Dry Thunder.
• Wang Chen disguised himself with the Thousand Transformations Mask and slipped past those watching the mansion.
• Wang Chen traveled southwest to Falling Lightning Peak, where he planned to temper his meridians and Mana with lightning.
• Wang Chen reached the summit and sensed a faint trace of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy in the otherwise mundane world.
• Wang Chen sheltered beside a boulder and began absorbing the surrounding power of lightning after a bolt struck nearby.

Wang Chen cultivated Five Suns Dry Thunder at Falling Lightning Peak and learned to unleash Palm Thunder. Meanwhile, Zuo Yongjun and Wu Song investigated Wu Family Village, where Wu Song's family had died in an Evil Spirits attack, and sudden fog rose around the ruins.

• Wang Chen absorbed thunderous power at Falling Lightning Peak, tempering his body and gaining insight into Five Suns Dry Thunder.
• Wang Chen cast Palm Thunder for the first time, blasting a notch into a rock, and recognized that the technique consumed substantial mana.
• Wang Chen resolved to pursue greater cultivation and seek Evil Nests as resources.
• Zuo Yongjun led Wu Song and a squad of Imperial Guards to Wu Family Village, where Wu Song's parents and other villagers had been killed seven years earlier.
• Wu Song searched the ruined village with the squad but found no trace of Evil Spirits, then mourned his parents before a collapsed house.
• Fog suddenly rose within Wu Family Village as Zuo Yongjun prepared to leave.

Zuo Yongjun and the Imperial Guards fought through the evil spirits and walking corpses in the fog, then Zuo Yongjun stayed behind to face a gigantic monstrosity while Wu Song led the others out. Wu Song sent up a signal flare, which Wang Chen saw from Falling Lightning Peak.

• Zuo Yongjun steadied the Imperial Guards against the spirits’ illusions and led them to fire essence-blood-coated bolts, destroying more than a dozen wandering souls.
• Walking corpses, including Wu Song’s relatives from Wu Family Village, clawed out of the ground, and Zuo Yongjun ordered the group to fight its way onward.
• Zuo Yongjun used an Evil-Breaking Blood Talisman to open a passage through the fog and told Wu Song to lead the Imperial Guards to find the Immortal Master.
• Zuo Yongjun stayed behind to face a gigantic monstrosity as Wu Song and the Imperial Guards escaped the fog.
• Wu Song launched a talisman flare into the sky, and Wang Chen noticed it from Falling Lightning Peak.

Zuo Yongjun fought off a horde of walking corpses while battling the Corpse Centipede in the mist. As the monster lunged at him and he prepared to strike back, a blazing flame descended from the heavens and pinned it to the ground.

• The Corpse Centipede withdrew into the mist and sent walking corpses and skeletons to attack Zuo Yongjun.
• Zuo Yongjun used a ring of swords and his martial arts to cut down the corpse horde.
• The Corpse Centipede sprayed venom at Zuo Yongjun, but he deflected it and threw a blood-infused sword into the mist, injuring the monster.
• The enraged Corpse Centipede revealed itself and swept its skeletal tail at Zuo Yongjun, then lunged at him in midair.
• A blazing flame pierced the Corpse Centipede's head and pinned it to the ground just before Zuo Yongjun and the monster struck each other.

Wang Chen arrived at Wu Family Village in time to save Zuo Yongjun, then destroyed the Corpse Centipede and cleared the village of evil spirits. He recovered a Yin Qi Bead and left Zuo Yongjun and the Imperial Guards chastened for risking their lives unnecessarily.

• Wang Chen used the Distress Talisman signal to reach Wu Family Village and pull Zuo Yongjun out of the Corpse Centipede's attack.
• Wang Chen battered the Corpse Centipede with Exorcism Talismans and the Fire Crow Sword, then drained its evil power with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil and destroyed it.
• Wang Chen found a Yin Qi Bead inside the Evil-Punishing Net and wondered whether it counted as a spiritual treasure owed in tribute.
• Wang Chen hunted down the remaining evil spirits until the village's mist and Yin Evil Aura vanished.
• Zuo Yongjun and the Imperial Guards thanked Wang Chen, who scolded them for confronting the evil spirits instead of protecting themselves.

Wang Chen stopped at a roadside melon stall, where he exposed and defeated Old Zhang and his grandson, who had been possessed by Evil Spirits. After discovering and cremating their victims, he continued toward Datong County, his last destination in Southern Shao.

• Wang Chen arrived at Old Zhang’s shack with his donkey and accepted tea and an offer of melons.
• Wang Chen recognized Old Zhang as inhuman, exposed the poisoned tea, and trapped him with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil.
• Old Zhang’s grandson attacked Wang Chen, who knocked him down and used the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil to capture him as well.
• Wang Chen found several dozen corpses buried behind the shack and burned them while reciting the Rebirth Incantation.
• Wang Chen fed the donkey and set off along the official road toward Datong County.

Wang Chen entered Datong County, witnessed a Maitreya Cult procession, and investigated a haunted opera stage where Evil Spirits had made people disappear. After watching a ghostly performance, he confronted the unseen presence and declared his purpose.

• Wang Chen entered Datong County and watched the Maitreya Cult lead a fervent procession through the streets.
• Wang Chen paid a little beggar to guide him to the abandoned opera stage in the south of the city.
• The little beggar warned Wang Chen that Daoist Masters who entered the stage area had never returned, and Wang Chen left him with the big green donkey.
• Wang Chen used Spirit Eye Technique to see evil qi covering the opera stage, then waited there as ghostly performers and an audience appeared at night.
• After the spectral audience dispersed, an unseen voice asked Wang Chen why he had come, and he said he was there to slash evil and exorcise Evil Spirits.

Wang Chen destroyed an Evil Nest in the Marketplace with Five Suns Dry Thunder and the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil, obtaining a Yin Qi Bead and enough spiritual power to attempt the ninth layer of Qi Condensation. At dawn, he left the little beggar a gold ingot and a martial arts manual before riding away.

• Wang Chen thanked the woman in green for her performance, then attacked her and the other Evil Spirits with Five Suns Dry Thunder.
• Wang Chen captured the woman in green with the Heavenly Net to Punish Evil and drained her until she vanished, leaving behind a Yin Qi Bead.
• Wang Chen used four Exorcism Talismans to clear the lingering evil aura and watched the opera stage collapse.
• Wang Chen returned to find the little beggar asleep beside his donkey, thanked him for watching it, and offered him gold.
• Wang Chen refused the little beggar’s request to become his disciple but left him the gold and a martial arts manual before riding away.

Wang Chen returned to Nanshao City after killing six Maitreya Cult bandits, helped Xiao Wan break through to the Innate realm, and entered seclusion to advance his cultivation. Meanwhile, the Yunyang Sect launched a surprise assault on the Guiyuan Sect, beginning an all-out war that shocked the surrounding cultivation sects.

• Wang Chen killed six bloodstained riders who tried to force him to meet their Holy Maiden and continued toward Nanshao City.
• Wang Chen urged Xiao Wan to attempt her breakthrough, and two days later she emerged from the Star Observation Pavilion in the Innate realm.
• Wang Chen activated the formation and entered underground seclusion to advance from the eighth to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation.
• The Yunyang Sect's flying ships destroyed a Guiyuan Sect mine's defenses, killed its guards, and sent disciples to seize the ore.
• The Yunyang Sect attacked Guiyuan Sect mines and mineral deposits across the Tianyun Mountain Range and surrounded the Guiyuan Outer Sect with an ultimatum.
• The surrounding cultivation sects watched as the surprise assault ignited a major conflict between Yunyang Sect and Guiyuan Sect.

Ji Guantao rejected the Nine Peaks Sect’s demands and revealed that Yunyang had secretly prepared a fourth-rank formation. With the sect’s preparations still three days from completion, he kept True Person Yin captive and declared that Yunyang would break free from the Nine Peaks Sect’s control.

• True Person Yin delivered Zhao Hongxi’s decree demanding that Yunyang stop attacking Guiyuan, pay compensation, surrender mines and cultivators, and return the Yunshan Yin Family.
• Ji Guantao refused True Person Yin’s demands, and True Person Yin reached for a fourth-rank talisman to escape.
• Ji Guantao activated the Golden Gate Immortal Locking Array, trapping True Person Yin and taking his talisman.
• Ji Guantao’s Grand Uncle-Master said Yunyang’s preparations would take three more days, and Ji Guantao kept True Person Yin captive until then.
• Ji Guantao declared that Yunyang would break free from its cage in three days.

Bai Susu prepared to leave the Demon Suppression Cave as Ji Guantao and a plain-clothed old man activated a formation that drained spiritual energy and fortune toward Taihao Peak. When a Nascent Soul True Immortal attacked the peak, Mu Qingqiu wounded the assailant and Ji Guantao broke through to Nascent Soul, triggering tribulation lightning.

• Bai Susu told Ji Guantao she would keep her promise as long as he kept his, and said they were about to leave the Demon Suppression Cave.
• The plain-clothed old man activated the formation around eight Yunyang Sect true disciples, drawing on their fortune and pulling spiritual energy toward Taihao Peak.
• The formation shook Taihao Peak and the surrounding peaks, while the Dingyang Bells rang and cultivators across the region felt the spiritual energy being drained.
• Ji Guantao absorbed the converging spiritual energy in Cloud Dragon Hall as Mu Qingqiu guarded him, revealing that he had reached Golden Core perfection.
• A Nascent Soul True Immortal attacked Taihao Peak, but Mu Qingqiu's Sword Light pierced the attack and wounded the assailant.
• Ji Guantao's Golden Core shattered and formed a nascent soul, and tribulation lightning descended from the heavens.

Ji Guantao and the Yunyang Sect used their grand formation to help him survive his Nascent Soul tribulation while killing the Nine Peaks Sect Nascent Soul. The chapter ended with Taihao Peak rising into the sky as the Yunyang Sect leadership abandoned the disciples left behind.

• The Yunyang Sect activated its layered grand formation to shield Ji Guantao from tribulation lightning and trap the Nine Peaks Sect Nascent Soul.
• Ji Guantao, Mu Qingqiu, and the grand formation combined their attacks with the tribulation lightning, killing the Nine Peaks Sect Nascent Soul.
• The Nine Peaks Sect Nascent Soul's death produced the Light of Immortal Fall and blood rain, much of whose life essence strengthened the Yunyang Grand Array.
• Ji Guantao checked on the badly weakened Mu Qingqiu, then ordered the formation to rise.
• Taihao Peak lifted off with the sect's leaders and accumulated wealth, leaving hundreds of thousands of Yunyang Sect cultivators stranded behind an invisible barrier.

Ji Guantao and the Yunyang Sect escaped into the Upper Realm aboard Taihao Peak after Old Hu and Fairy Bai helped them break through the realm barrier. Far away, Wang Chen reached the ninth layer of Qi Condensation but sensed that something had been lost.

• The Mystic Tortoise shrank and leaped into a river as Taihao Peak rose into the sky.
• Two Nascent Soul True Immortals arrived and restrained Taihao Peak, but Old Hu burned his Golden Core to break their hold and died.
• Fairy Bai, a White Python pinned to the mountain by a Golden Cudgel, helped Taihao Peak accelerate toward the nine heavens.
• Ji Guantao shattered the realm barrier, and Taihao Peak and the freed White Python escaped into the spatial rift while the two True Immortals arrived too late.
• Wang Chen advanced to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, sensed an unsettling loss, and used the Mandarin Duck Mirror to inspect the scene outside.

Wang Chen discovered that the Nanshao City Guard Army had surrounded the Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion after the Imperial Guards and Exorcism Hall withdrew. He warned the soldiers to leave, then killed their commander with lightning, sending the army fleeing.

• Wang Chen learned from Xiao Wan that the City Guard Army had blockaded the mansion and that the Imperial Guards and servants had departed.
• Wang Chen read Yu Feihong’s letter warning that the Yunyang Sect was in trouble and that the Exorcism Hall was withdrawing to the Imperial Capital.
• Xiao Wan declared her loyalty to Wang Chen, and he led her to the mansion gates to confront the surrounding soldiers.
• Wang Chen gave the soldiers a quarter of an hour to retreat and returned inside the mansion.
• A bolt of lightning struck and killed a centurion who challenged Wang Chen, and the soldiers scattered in panic.

Wang Chen entered the Prefectural Governor's Mansion and swiftly killed Old Wu and a gray-clad Innate Martial Artist. He left Ruan Zhaoming alive for now because he wanted answers.

• Ruan Zhaoming raged at his guards for fleeing from Wang Chen, and Old Wu advised him to withdraw his forces and wait.
• Old Wu claimed the Blood Fiend Thousand Gu Array could stop Wang Chen and asked Ruan Zhaoming for ten veteran soldiers to strengthen it.
• Wang Chen appeared in the front hall, and Old Wu unleashed his gu insects before trying to activate the array.
• Wang Chen burned Old Wu with a Fire Crow and knocked the gray-clad Innate Martial Artist to his death with a sleeve strike.
• Wang Chen killed more than a dozen guards with a flash of Sword Light, and Ruan Zhaoming dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.
• Wang Chen told Ruan Zhaoming he was overthinking it, as Wang Chen intended to question him before deciding what to do.

After learning that the Yunyang Sect had abandoned its disciples and that Guiyuan Sect would take over the Nanshao Garrison Celestial Master's Mansion, Wang Chen prepared to leave rather than serve the new rulers. He sent Xiao Wan away with a task and supplies, then received another falcon message.

• Wang Chen received Fei Xinghe’s letter revealing that Sect Leader Ji Guantao and Yunyang Sect elites had taken Taihao Peak and ascended to the Upper Realm, leaving Wang Chen and the sect’s dependents behind.
• Wang Chen learned that Cao Chengping had surrendered to Guiyuan Sect and resolved not to remain as Garrison Celestial Master.
• Wang Chen wrote back to Fei Xinghe, thanking him for the timely intelligence.
• Wang Chen assigned Xiao Wan a task to deliver a gift to a family in Great Qian within three years, promised her freedom, and gave her Essence Blood Talismans for protection.
• Xiao Wan tearfully bid Wang Chen farewell and left the Celestial Master's Mansion; another flying falcon then arrived at the pavilion.

After receiving Cao Chengping’s edict stripping him of his post, Wang Chen refused to leave Nanshao City and chose to fight the Guiyuan Sect cultivators sent to punish him. He killed two attackers and turned his attention to the three still in the air.

• Cao Chengping’s edict condemned Wang Chen for killing Ruan Zhaoming, removed him as Protector Heavenly Master, and ordered him to await his successor in Nanshao City.
• Wang Chen dismantled the formations in the Star Observation Pavilion’s underground chamber, reclaimed the Spirit Stones, and made further arrangements at the Celestial Master Prefecture.
• Five Guiyuan Sect cultivators arrived above the Celestial Master Prefecture and demanded that Wang Chen come out to receive punishment.
• Wang Chen dodged a young Guiyuan Sword Cultivator’s strike and killed him with his Fire Crow Sword, earning six Heavenly Merit.
• Wang Chen evaded the remaining cultivators’ attacks, which destroyed the upper half of the Star Observation Pavilion, then killed the wounded middle-aged cultivator and earned eight Heavenly Merit.

Wang Chen killed Meng Zhichao and the other Guiyuan Sect cultivators, then gathered their immense haul and prepared to leave Southern Shao. As he took off, officials and local gentry begged him for help outside the Celestial Master's Mansion.

• Meng Zhichao and two surviving Guiyuan Sect disciples fled in different directions, but Wang Chen struck them down with Five Suns Dry Thunder and Fire Crow attacks.
• Meng Zhichao begged Wang Chen for mercy and offered to become his servant, but Wang Chen killed him with the Fire Crow Sword.
• Wang Chen extinguished the fire at the Star Observation Pavilion, collected the five cultivators' bodies, Storage Bags, magic tools, and supplies, and found more than seven thousand Spirit Stones.
• Wang Chen burned the corpses, performed rites for the dead, and decided to leave Southern Shao on his Willow Leaf Flying Boat.
• As Wang Chen rose above the Celestial Master's Mansion, officials and local gentry knelt and shouted for him to save them.

Wang Chen agreed to defend Nanshao City after Vice Prefect Wang Jingwen pleaded for the people and offered him a mysterious painting. He found the Maitreya Cult using civilians as a vanguard and began cutting through its forces with the Fire Crow Sword.

• Gentrymen begged Wang Chen to save Nanshao City from the approaching Maitreya Cult army.
• Wang Chen warned the petitioners that he had killed five Guiyuan Sect Heavenly Masters and no longer served as Nanshao's Protector Heavenly Master.
• Wang Jingwen declared he would risk the Guiyuan Sect's anger to protect the city and offered Wang Chen a treasured family painting.
• Wang Chen sensed something unusual in the painting, accepted it, and flew south to confront the Maitreya Cult army.
• Wang Chen saw the Maitreya Cult driving civilians toward Nanshao City as cannon fodder and attacked its vanguard with the Fire Crow Sword.
• The Maitreya Cult's Divine Mechanism Crossbows failed to penetrate Wang Chen's Protection Shield as his sword devastated the vanguard.