Recaps

Chu Qing secured two sets of mutant resources and protection from Old Woman Wu Jue in exchange for helping the Martial Academy, then began forging an Ancient Divine Treasury with seven hundred and twenty acupoints. The process revealed three Heaven-Connecting Paths and a unique foundation tied to his Dragon Sinews, which Old Woman Wu Jue concluded could not be replicated.

• Chu Qing learned that martial artists who became mutants always died within thirty years, and Old Woman Wu Jue explained why great clans still pursued the transformation.
• Chu Qing accepted two sets of mutant resources and made Old Woman Wu Jue promise to stop mutants who came to kill him.
• Chu Qing asked the Martial Academy to prepare seven hundred and twenty acupoints so he could forge an Ancient Divine Treasury using the ancient method.
• Chu Qing spent several days infusing the metal acupoints with Heart Blood, Spirit, and Energy, causing patterns from his Four Great Realms to appear.
• Old Woman Wu Jue discovered three Heaven-Connecting Paths among the patterns, but recognized Chu Qing's Dragon Sinew foundation as the true source of his strength and decided it could not be replicated.

Chu Qing completed and activated an external Divine Treasury, a massive metal structure built from his seven hundred and twenty acupoints. He demonstrated its growing power by dropping it toward the Imperial Capital, then stopped it above the ground and asked the onlookers what they thought.

• Chu Qing used Old Woman Wu Jue's support to assemble his tempered acupoints into a metal Divine Treasury and formed a connection with it through cultivation.
• Chu Qing lifted the Divine Treasury into the air, astonishing the Martial Masters, while Old Woman Wu Jue celebrated its transformation into a strange treasure.
• At Old Woman Wu Jue's request, Chu Qing drew on the Divine Treasury's power and punched a deep pit into the ground; she said its strength could rival a top Third Limit martial artist's full-force strike.
• Chu Qing raised the Divine Treasury a thousand meters into the sky, where it absorbed gale winds and grew stronger even without his cultivation.
• When Martial Masters approached to question him, Chu Qing sent the Divine Treasury plunging toward the Imperial Capital, alarming its residents and experts.
• Chu Qing stopped the Divine Treasury just above the ground, rose onto it, and asked everyone what they thought of it.

Chu Qing cultivated the Ancient Divine Treasury while his example spread through the Great Gan Empire, inspiring people to rebel and commit violence. When Consort Mei arrived from the Imperial Palace, Chu Qing welcomed her warmly and said they had time to talk.

• Chu Qing imagined using restored minor realms to build a sky city and rule the world.
• People across the empire envied Chu Qing or tried to imitate him, and unrest spread as rebels attacked officials, aristocratic families, and towns.
• Chu Qing repeatedly tempered the Ancient Divine Treasury in the sky and underground, growing its strength as the Martial Academy supplied him with resources.
• Consort Mei arrived with several female officials, and Chu Qing greeted her happily.
• Consort Mei recalled their meeting in the barren mountains, and Chu Qing told her he now had time to talk with her.

Consort Mei approached Chu Qing on the Princess's behalf, but he rejected the offer to cooperate because he had no need for the status or resources she could provide. Consort Mei grew close to him and revealed an Unorthodox Path that could preserve beauty and extend lifespan; after spending a day together, they discussed her limited ability to cultivate it.

• Consort Mei dismissed the female officials and told Chu Qing that the Princess wanted to cooperate with him after dealing with the officials involved in the Martial Academy incident.
• Chu Qing refused the Princess's offer of an official post, saying he lacked nothing and would consider cooperating only after she became King.
• Consort Mei continued talking with Chu Qing, confessed that she wanted to grow closer to him, and held his hand.
• Consort Mei told Chu Qing about an Unorthodox Path that could preserve beauty and extend lifespan, and Chu Qing spent the day with her as they discussed martial arts and cultivated intimacy.
• Chu Qing learned that Unorthodox Paths resembled Otherkin systems but required vast resources, and Consort Mei said she only wanted to use hers to extend her lifespan.

Chu Qing sought the Unorthodox Path as a way to contend with the Gifted and went to the Underground Imperial Capital to ask the Princess Consort about acquired Gifted. There, Young Master Heaven learned of Chu Qing’s plans and intended to weaken him by drawing him into officialdom.

• Chu Qing asked Old Woman Wu Jue about the Unorthodox Path and learned that its cultivation demanded resources the Martial Academy would not provide.
• Chu Qing told Old Woman Wu Jue he wanted a way to resist the Gifted, and she gave him a token to access the Unorthodox Path manuals while warning him not to neglect the Ancient Cultivation Method or the Millennial Tribulation.
• Chu Qing went to Peach Blossom Dock to find the Princess Consort, learned from Zhao Hongxiu that she had gone to the Underground Imperial Capital with Zuo Yan, and headed there to ask about acquired Gifted.
• Young Master Heaven learned that Chu Qing had contacted the Princess and that his agents had intercepted her female officials, then ordered an investigation into what post she planned to give Chu Qing.
• Young Master Heaven decided that officialdom would sap Chu Qing’s fighting spirit and give him leverage to control Chu Qing.

Chu Qing learned that Outsider treasures required immense resources and considered whether resource scarcity might explain the Millennial Tribulation, before the Princess Consort urged him to train in forbidden zones. He left still postponing that journey and learned that Zuo Yan was helping Xiao Tianyi seize territory, while the Princess Consort wanted the owner of Chu Qing’s Divine Treasury found so she could take its treasure embryo.

• Chu Qing asked the Princess Consort whether martial artists who became Outsiders through Outsider Bone could suddenly die, and she said she had never seen it happen.
• The Princess Consort explained that true strange treasures took centuries or longer to refine and consumed enormous resources, prompting Chu Qing to wonder whether resource scarcity caused the Millennial Tribulation.
• Chu Qing shared his theories about the tribulation and forbidden zones, but the Princess Consort told him people could only adapt and advised him to temper himself in a forbidden zone.
• Chu Qing said he would wait until reaching the New Realm before entering a forbidden zone, and the Princess Consort said Yu Ji had already gone to one.
• After Chu Qing returned to ask about Zuo Yan, the Princess Consort said she was helping Xiao Tianyi seize territory and asked Chu Qing to find the owner of the bird’s-nest-like treasure so she could take it.

Chu Qing learned that Others might target his Divine Treasury and decided to forge the Shackle Realm early. When he told Old Woman Wu Jue he had broken through 720 First Limit barriers, she rushed to inform the Martial Academy’s Old Ancestor Dean, who reacted with astonishment.

• The Princess Consort examined Chu Qing’s Divine Treasury, warned that Others could seize it, and told him to carry her thought-containing bead for protection.
• Chu Qing asked Old Woman Wu Jue to prepare to forge his Shackle Realm, despite her warning that rushing could damage his foundation.
• Old Woman Wu Jue agreed to begin preparing materials for the shackles and asked how many First Limit barriers Chu Qing had broken through.
• Chu Qing revealed that he had broken through 720 barriers, leaving Old Woman Wu Jue horrified.
• Old Woman Wu Jue descended to the Martial Academy’s underground chamber and told Old Ancestor Dean about Chu Qing’s achievement.
• Old Ancestor Dean grabbed Old Woman Wu Jue by the neck and laughed after she confirmed Chu Qing had broken through 720 barriers.

The old principal and Old Woman Wu Jue decided to funnel the Martial Academy’s resources into Chu Qing so he could advance, despite the backlash this would cause. After the academy announced sweeping resource cuts, furious students and lineage heirs began gathering to confront Old Woman Wu Jue.

• The old principal ordered Old Woman Wu Jue to support Chu Qing’s advancement and let him face enemies who could temper him.
• Old Woman Wu Jue warned that Chu Qing needed enormous resources, and the old principal ordered the academy to divert resources from other students to him.
• Old Woman Wu Jue offered Chu Qing the choice of cultivating slowly or taking resources quickly, and Chu Qing demanded the resources and welcomed anyone who challenged him.
• The Martial Academy canceled servants’ resources, cut Martial Masters’ and students’ allocations, and restricted Heaven-Connecting Resources.
• Furious geniuses and lineage heirs threatened the academy’s leadership, gathered fighters, and set out to confront Old Woman Wu Jue.

Old Woman Wu Jue redirected the angry lineage scions to Chu Qing, who violently silenced their demands over the resource cuts. He explained that the Martial Academy had reduced their resources because his Ancient Cultivation Method consumed too much, then warned them to endure the shortage while making clear he would kill for resources himself.

• Old Woman Wu Jue led the pursuing lineage scions to Chu Qing’s door and blamed him for their reduced resources.
• Chu Qing burst through the gate and crushed the neck of a scion who demanded an explanation.
• The other scions backed down, and Chu Qing told them the Martial Academy had cut their resources to support his Ancient Cultivation Method.
• Chu Qing told the scions to endure the shortage, while warning that he would kill for resources if he had to.
• The scions decided to endure for now because they feared Chu Qing’s strength.

Chu Qing advanced his Ancient Cultivation Method by mastering hundreds of shackles, gaining a substantial increase in power. As Outsiders coveted the bird’s-nest-like embryonic Divine Treasury formed by his cultivation, one Outsider sent followers to try to acquire it.

• Chu Qing began imprinting and tempering the 720 shackles required by the Ancient Cultivation Method, relying on the Martial Academy to supply enormous amounts of resources.
• After fifteen days, Chu Qing had mastered more than 360 shackles and discovered that merging them into his body strengthened his Spirit, Energy, and Four Great Realms.
• A gigantic bird's nest patrolled the Imperial Capital, and Outsiders recognized it as the embryonic form of a strange treasure created by the Ancient Divine Treasury.
• The Martial Academy continued buying up resources, including enough black gold to sweep away nearly one-fifth of the Imperial Capital's supply.
• An Outsider ordered his followers to contact Chu Qing and offer him Outsider Materials in exchange for his Divine Treasury realm, warning that other Outsiders were competing for it.

Chu Qing rejected repeated attempts by Outsiders to buy his external Divine Treasury and later confronted a group of impostor maidservants who threatened his Peach Blossom Dock. He killed their leader and realized the women were not human.

• A Third Limit student asked Chu Qing to trade his external Divine Treasury for Outsider materials, but Chu Qing said the offer was too small.
• More than a hundred Outsider lobbyists tried to persuade Chu Qing, and he sent them away without killing anyone.
• A group of eighteen unfamiliar maidservants entertained Chu Qing, and their leader offered him power in exchange for his external Divine Treasury.
• When Chu Qing refused, the leader threatened to destroy Peach Blossom Dock and harm his acquaintances.
• Chu Qing pierced the leader's forehead, causing her body to collapse into a skin, and realized the maidservants were not human.

Chu Qing discovered that the Skeleton Society’s curse had marked him to attract anomalies, but he planned to turn it into a source of Anomaly Division points and anomaly items. At Peach Blossom Dock, Zuo Yan learned of the curse and told him it could make him rich.

• After Chu Qing defeated the paper figures, he found a sinister curse pattern on both hands and confirmed that replacing a severed hand did not remove it.
• Chu Qing decided he could hunt anomalies for Anomaly Division points once the Martial Academy no longer supported his cultivation, and set off overnight for Peach Blossom Dock to collect Zhao Hongxiu’s Golden Toad Money.
• A headless woman tried to ambush Chu Qing in an alley, but he vanished before she could catch him.
• At Peach Blossom Dock, Zhao Wuji led a growing community whose residents farmed, practiced martial arts, and remained loyal to the settlement.
• Zuo Yan sensed a terrifying killing intent approaching her bath, then discovered it belonged to Chu Qing when he entered her room.
• Chu Qing told Zuo Yan that the otherkind had cursed him, and she said the curse could help him earn points and obtain valuable anomaly items.

Chu Qing searched for a way to remove the Imperial Capital anomalous being’s curse and found an Unorthodox Path ritual that could reflect it back. Before he could prepare the ritual, a letter transformed into the beauty who had cursed him, demanding the Divine Treasury and threatening to destroy him.

• Chu Qing used more than three hundred Golden Toad Money coins to weaken the curse on his hands, but could not remove it completely.
• Zuo Yan challenged Chu Qing to a saber fight, and he defeated her peak strike with a tangible feather of Saber Light formed through the Divine Blade Technique.
• Chu Qing returned to the Martial Academy and searched the Unorthodox Path secret inheritances for ways to counter curses.
• Chu Qing rejected a sun-based cleansing method and a soul-dragging counter-curse ritual, then chose a Mirror Image ritual that could reflect the curse back at its caster.
• A letter transformed into the beauty with a pipa, who demanded that Chu Qing hand over the Divine Treasury and threatened to curse him again.

After Seven Colors threatened Chu Qing for his Divine Treasury, he prepared an Unorthodox Path ritual to drag her into the underworld and kill her. The ritual stripped them of their Strange Arts, and Seven Colors faced a massive furnace as Chu Qing’s attack approached.

• Seven Colors’s paper figure threatened Chu Qing, but he destroyed it and ordered his maids to gather ritual materials.
• Seven Colors considered killing Chu Qing but feared the other otherworlders would attack her and take her embryonic exotic treasure.
• Otherworlders watched Chu Qing arrange an Unorthodox Path ritual, while they discussed the mysterious deaths of martial artist otherworlders.
• Chu Qing activated the ritual and was pulled through flames and black smoke into a dark space.
• Seven Colors was dragged into the same darkness and found she could not use her Strange Arts.
• Seven Colors saw streaks of fire and a massive furnace rushing toward her.

Martial Arts Outsider Seven Colors died mysteriously, terrifying the other Martial Arts Outsiders and drawing their attention away from Chu Qing. The Emperor made her a Rainbow God Demon in hopes of uncovering how she died, while the King gave the Princess responsibility for governing the empire.

• Martial Arts Outsiders discovered that Seven Colors had died silently ten days earlier, without wounds, resistance, or signs of another Martial Arts Outsider’s attack.
• Martial Arts Outsiders feared they could also die or vanish inexplicably, but they dismissed the possibility that Chu Qing had killed Seven Colors and concluded his ritual only strengthened him.
• Martial Arts Outsiders asked the Emperor to make Seven Colors a God Demon so she might recover her consciousness and reveal the culprit.
• The Emperor granted Seven Colors investiture as the Rainbow God Demon and ordered the people of the empire to make offerings to her.
• The King lamented the Millennial Tribulation and handed government affairs to the Princess, telling her to test whether people could conquer Heaven.

Chu Qing endured the ritual’s ongoing drain of Spirit and Energy while completing the ancient-law Shackle Realm, but he remained desperate for resources to advance further. Old Woman Wu Jue revealed that natural-born Outsiders were meeting in fear after one died mysteriously, while Chu Qing pressed her to speed up preparations for the Third Limit.

• After returning from the underworld, Chu Qing found the ritual continually draining his Spirit and Energy, and he spent days replenishing it with secret medicine.
• Chu Qing forged the final shackle and merged it with his visualized shackle, completing the Shackle Realm and gaining a new source of strength.
• Chu Qing requested large quantities of resources to nourish the Shackle Realm and prepare for the three minor realms of the Third Limit.
• Old Woman Wu Jue visited and learned that Chu Qing had mastered the Shackle Realm, then explained that the resources for the Third Limit were still being gathered.
• Old Woman Wu Jue told Chu Qing that a natural-born Outsider had died without a trace and that Outsiders across several regions were meeting in fear.
• Chu Qing urged Old Woman Wu Jue to hurry the preparations, but she suggested he advance through conventional methods and cultivate the Third Limit later.

Chu Qing demanded resources from Old Woman Wu Jue and learned that the empire’s gifted people were preparing for trouble while the Unique Association expanded its power. After a million-man army entered the forbidden zone to weaken the Millennial Tribulation, Chu Qing declared he would sacrifice any number of people to survive.

• Chu Qing threatened to part ways with the Martial Academy unless Old Woman Wu Jue provided resources, and she promised to gather them within three months while warning him not to leave the academy.
• Old Woman Wu Jue told Chu Qing that the Unique Association had moved forces into the empire and might target him, while Chu Qing resolved to recover his strength before the gifted people traced him.
• Wu Feitu reported that the Princess had gained civil authority, the Unique Association had absorbed major organizations and clans, and the King had raised a million-man army.
• Old Woman Wu Jue told Chu Qing that the army had crossed Eternal Night and was about to enter the forbidden zone, sacrificing its soldiers to reduce the Millennial Tribulation’s force.
• Chu Qing said that if other people’s deaths were necessary for him to survive, he would sacrifice millions or even destroy a city or empire.

Chu Qing cultivated in seclusion while the Princess launched labor relief and the Imperial Capital descended into a bloody struggle over the Unique Association’s expansion. The anomalous humans debated intervening after learning that Young Master Heaven’s ancestor had served as Left Prime Minister during the Great Emperor Era, and wondered whether the Unique Association aimed to rebuild the Demon God Empire.

• Chu Qing swallowed secret medicine and cultivated, expecting to repay the ritual’s cost within a month and receive materials for the first realm of the Third Limit.
• The King conscripted over a million soldiers to march toward the forbidden zones, while the Princess ordered relief work in exchange for labor and purged provincial, prefectural, and county aristocratic families that resisted.
• More than a hundred million ordinary people worked on roads, canals, reservoirs, wells, and reclaimed land, while the empire seized grain and wealth from aristocratic families and Rebel Army forces dwindled.
• The Unique Association, built around Human World, In the Red Dust, and Moon-Inviting Tower, tried to consolidate Imperial Capital families and expand toward the fifty-five major cities; the Zuo Family, the Thousand Eyes Alliance, and other groups resisted, plunging the capital into violence.
• As corpses and new anomalies overwhelmed the Imperial Capital, anomalous humans blamed the Unique Association and debated wiping it out, but learned that Young Master Heaven’s ancestor had been the Great Emperor Era’s Left Prime Minister.
• The anomalous humans wondered whether the Unique Association intended to rebuild the Demon God Empire, but none knew for certain.

The Unique Association’s growing power and its alliance with Young Master Heaven led to a split inside the Martial Academy between the Gu Family and the Zuo Family. Gu Weiwo urged Zuo Qianqiu to join a plan to overthrow the Great Gan Empire and have the people worship revived Gods and Devils, while Zuo rejected his claims.

• Outsiders learned that Young Master Heaven had ties to the Great Emperor Era and stopped threatening to destroy the Unique Association.
• The Unique Association expanded its influence, suppressed rival groups and Rōnin, and drew Chu Qing’s attention to turmoil within the Martial Academy.
• A maid told Chu Qing that the Martial Academy had split into factions led by the Gu Family and the Zuo Family.
• Gu Weiwo confronted Zuo Qianqiu and defended the Unique Association’s plan to rely on Gods and Devils to overcome the Millennial Tribulation.
• Zuo Qianqiu challenged Gu Weiwo’s claims, and Gu urged him to persuade his Lineage to help overthrow the Great Gan Empire.

Gu Weiwo challenged Zuo Qianqiu to a duel as the Unique Association and its opponents stood on the brink of violence in the Martial Academy. Zuo Qianqiu unleashed the Divine Blade Technique, but Gu Weiwo drew on the power of his bloodline and the Heaven-Piercing Heavenly Prides whose skins he wore, leaving Zuo Qianqiu disarmed and bloodied.

• Gu Weiwo declared he would kill Zuo Qianqiu, and a Vice Principal announced that the Unique Association's rules now governed the Martial Academy.
• Zuo Qianqiu stepped forward to fight Gu Weiwo, confident that his study of Chu Qing's Saber Light had perfected his Divine Blade Technique.
• Zuo Qianqiu's feather-like Saber Light overwhelmed Gu Weiwo's saber techniques and forced him to burn his Zuo Family bloodline and physique.
• Gu Weiwo activated the bloodlines, physiques, and Heaven-Connecting Paths restored by the three human skins he wore.
• Gu Weiwo's divine saber shattered Zuo Qianqiu's Saber Light, knocked his saber away, and sent him flying as blood spattered across the sky.

Gu Weiwo defeated Zuo Qianqiu and declared that the Unique Association had taken control of the Martial Academy, but Chu Qing arrived and stopped him. Chu Qing left Gu Weiwo beaten and declared that everyone in the Academy would follow his rules.

• Gu Weiwo defeated Zuo Qianqiu, seized his divine blades, and cut down several Zuo Family heavenly prides who tried to intervene.
• Gu Weiwo dismissed Zuo Qianqiu's warning about Chu Qing and claimed his three Heaven-Piercing human skins made him stronger.
• Chu Qing arrived on the Stone Man and confronted Gu Weiwo after learning that the Unique Association was trying to take over the Martial Academy.
• A Vice Principal declared the Academy under the Unique Association's jurisdiction, and Gu Weiwo tried to kill Zuo Qianqiu despite Chu Qing's warning.
• Chu Qing punched Gu Weiwo through the blade-light, knocking him down and declaring that his rules governed the Martial Academy.

Chu Qing defeated and killed Gu Weiwo, then imposed his rule over the Martial Academy. At Unique Association headquarters, Young Master Heaven rewarded his followers until a messenger arrived with terrible news.

• Gu Weiwo unleashed the combined power of his three Heaven-Piercer skins, but Chu Qing shattered his attacks and repeatedly stomped his head into the ground.
• Chu Qing ignored a Vice Principal's protest, killed Gu Weiwo, and declared that the Martial Academy would follow his orders and pay him resources.
• Young Master Heaven rewarded the Black Tiger Gang's conqueror and gave a failed Iron Foot Gang leader a secret inheritance to secure his loyalty.
• A pale, sweating messenger told Young Master Heaven that something terrible had happened, but Young Master Heaven calmly offered him tea and asked him to explain.

After Chu Qing seized the Martial Academy, Young Master Heaven ordered Zhuge Piaobo and Sima Fengchang to deal with him, authorizing them to use the power of Gods and Devils if necessary. Zhuge Hei, a five-skin God-Serving Follower, prepared to face Chu Qing and prayed to the Great Strength God-Demon for protection.

• A messenger told Young Master Heaven that Chu Qing had killed Gu Weiwo and several Martial Academy leaders, then taken control of the Academy.
• Young Master Heaven summoned his Nine Ministers and ordered Zhuge Piaobo and Sima Fengchang to persuade Chu Qing to join them or bring him back.
• Zhuge Piaobo and Sima Fengchang agreed to kill Chu Qing using experts empowered by the Gods and Devils.
• Zhuge Piaobo chose his son Zhuge Hei, a five-skin God-Serving Follower, to fight Chu Qing, while Sima Fengchang prepared to send another expert.
• Zhuge Hei went to an underground chamber and prayed to the Great Strength God-Demon for victory.

Sima Fengchang ordered Sima Zhao to kill Chu Qing, but news arrived that Chu Qing had crushed dissent at the Martial Academy and was rallying its prodigies to raid aristocratic families. Chu Qing left with a masked force of Heaven-Reaching Experts, while Sima Zhao remained under pressure to act.

• Sima Fengchang told Sima Zhao that the young master wanted Chu Qing dead and urged him to summon the Gods and Devils if necessary.
• Chu Qing killed several fleeing prodigies, Martial Masters, and two Vice Principals, then warned the survivors not to defy him.
• Chu Qing ordered the Martial Academy’s people to cover their faces and loot the families of the dead, promising they could keep the resources.
• Zuo Qianqiu covered his face, seized Gu Weiwo’s corpse, and offered to lead the raid on the Gu Family’s warehouses.
• Prodigies and Martial Masters, including some who had defected to the Unique Association, masked themselves and joined Chu Qing’s looting party.

Chu Qing led over a thousand Martial Academy Heavenly Prides in looting and burning the Gu Family after Gu Weiwo’s failed attempt to seize the Academy. With the group celebrating their haul, Chu Qing then led them toward the Hu Family of Ancient Moon to punish it for opposing him.

• Chu Qing promised the masked Heavenly Prides they could keep whatever they seized, and led them with Zuo Qianqiu to raid the Gu Family.
• When a Gu Family New Realm martial artist tried to stop them, Chu Qing and the Heavenly Prides surrounded him until he retreated.
• The Heavenly Prides overpowered the Gu Family’s counterattack, and Chu Qing threw Gu Weiwo’s corpse down and ordered the estate burned.
• The group returned to the Martial Academy with their loot, while onlookers learned Chu Qing had led the raid.
• Chu Qing led the masked Heavenly Prides out of the Martial Academy toward the Hu Family of Ancient Moon, accusing it of opposing him and calling for its destruction.