Recaps

Fang Cheng practiced Ma Jianguo’s Visualization Method in the Water Prison, using his martial will to confront and overcome a succession of inner demons. When the deep-blue and crimson forces from his consciousness joined against him, the Ma Family Ancestors’ inscriptions resonated with his will and helped him fight back.

• Fang Cheng visualized his crimson-gold spirituality fire and began purifying his intent by suppressing his true qi and facing buried thoughts.
• Fang Cheng defeated illusions of an ancient beast, murderous treasure seekers, and an emperor’s throne, earning meditation experience and strengthening his mind.
• Fang Cheng faced the deep-blue will and Crimson Eye, which joined forces to restrain and attack him.
• The Ma Family Ancestors’ inscriptions glowed and sent their martial spirit into Fang Cheng’s consciousness, breaking the blue will’s hold and restoring his fighting spirit.
• Fang Cheng shattered the Crimson Eye’s tentacles and damaged its defenses while tearing through the deep-blue space, gaining meditation experience and spirit.

Fang Cheng defeated the visions of the Blue Phantom and Crimson Eye, then synthesized Meditation and Speed Reading into the exclusive skill Visualization. He began shaping his Inner Scenery World with Solar True Fire and used the Crimson Eye’s life essence to strengthen his body, ending as a golden eye opened within the fire.

• Fang Cheng destroyed the Crimson Eye in his consciousness and realized he had established intent, gaining spirit and Meditation experience.
• Fang Cheng guided his memory palace into his domain of light and triggered the synthesis conditions for Visualization.
• Fang Cheng combined Meditation and Speed Reading, creating Visualization Lv3 with the effects Solar True Fire and Inner Scenery World.
• Fang Cheng fused the Golden Orb with his spirituality fire and began shaping his Inner Scenery World by circulating true qi.
• Fang Cheng used Solar True Fire to purify and digest the Crimson Eye flesh, expanding his world and strengthening his body with its life essence.
• Fang Cheng completed a greater heavenly circuit as a golden pupil emerged within the Solar True Fire and opened its eye.

Fang Cheng consumed the Crimson Eye’s life essence to rebuild his body, raise all four attributes past 60, and complete the formation of his Inner Scenery World and true self. As his transformation ended, strange clouds gathered above Back Mountain, while Lao Wang rushed to Ma Jianguo with news of an uncanny omen.

• Fang Cheng’s body and Inner Scenery World evolved together as he refined the Crimson Eye’s flesh, and his Constitution broke through 60 points.
• Fang Cheng expanded the Inner Scenery World with wish power from people connected to the Golden Orb, completing a self-sustaining cycle of essence, qi, and spirit.
• Fang Cheng’s newly formed inner world resonated with the greater world, releasing a towering column of water vapor from the Water Prison and drawing clouds over Back Mountain.
• Ma Jianguo waited at home for Fang Cheng to finish his five-day seclusion and imagined him becoming a grandmaster of the Thunder Fire Cauldron.
• Lao Wang pounded on Ma Jianguo’s gate and told him that blue smoke was rising from his ancestral graves.

Fang Cheng completed his secluded cultivation in the Water Prison, reaching a new level of spiritual and physical power. His breakthrough sent a striking resonance across the world, attracting the attention of a mysterious fisherman in the Permafrost Land, who recognized the Ma Family essence and anticipated change.

• Ma Jianguo and Lao Wang saw a towering column of steam rise from Back Mountain as dark clouds gathered over the village.
• A mysterious man fishing at the Polar Ice Lake sensed a powerful resonance from the Eastern Continent and recognized the Ma Family Tai Chi essence in Fang Cheng’s breakthrough.
• Fang Cheng awoke in the Water Prison after completing his cultivation, with Empty Room Sparks revealing his mastery of Refining Qi into Spirit.
• Fang Cheng read a poem carved into the Water Prison walls and realized he had followed in the footsteps of a powerful predecessor.
• Fang Cheng reviewed his gains, including the Exclusive Skill [Visualization], greatly increased attributes, a larger and purer reserve of true qi, and less reliance on Potential Activation.

Fang Cheng completed his secluded cultivation by creating an Inner Scenery World and condensing his true self, establishing a foundation for the martial path ahead. He awoke in the Water Prison dehydrated, hungry, and naked, then found the Blue Canvas Satchel he had left at the entrance.

• Fang Cheng explored his Inner Scenery World, shaping its land and weather and discovering that his bedroom and the Water Prison had become memory anchor points.
• Fang Cheng sat on the palace throne and sensed that he was connected to every part of the Inner Scenery World and to the thoughts of his believers.
• Fang Cheng understood that condensing his true self had united his essence, qi, and spirit, creating a cycle that would gradually strengthen his body and expand his Inner Scenery World.
• Fang Cheng awoke in the Water Prison, realized that his cultivation had left him severely thirsty and hungry, and decided to leave for food and drink.
• Fang Cheng noticed that the solar true fire had burned away his clothes and found his Blue Canvas Satchel at the Water Prison entrance.

After completing his transformation in the Ma Family’s Water Prison, Fang Cheng carved an inscription, sealed the training ground, and walked into the rain wearing only red underwear. Meanwhile, Ma Donghe brought Wei Zheng to Tianxin Village to meet a martial arts prodigy, and Wei Zheng spotted Fang Cheng approaching from the Back Mountain.

• Fang Cheng found his bag and clothes ruined by the heat, put on his surviving fire-resistant underwear, and carved an inscription on the Water Prison wall.
• Fang Cheng left the cave, saw rain over Tianxin Village while the nearby city remained sunny, resealed the Ma Family’s training ground, and scattered the remains of his bag.
• Ma Donghe drove with Wei Zheng toward Tianxin Village and told him about his Special Search Team entrance exam and his powerful friend.
• Wei Zheng advised Ma Donghe to stay cautious on missions and lamented that traditional martial artists were being sidelined in the Special Search Team.
• Ma Donghe stopped to buy liquor while Wei Zheng waited by the roadside, and Wei Zheng spotted bare-chested Fang Cheng walking down from the Back Mountain.

Fang Cheng emerged from secluded cultivation, impressed Wei Zheng with his strength and appetite, and revealed that he had begun building an Inner Scenery World. Wei Zheng invited him to the Special Search Team’s selection exam, but Fang Cheng declined, and Ma Jianguo urged him to reconsider after Wei left.

• Wei Zheng mistook the nearly naked Fang Cheng for a dangerous stranger until Ma Donghe recognized Fang Cheng and broke the tense standoff.
• Fang Cheng devoured a lavish meal while Ma Jianguo explained that his five-day cultivation and Thunder Fire Cauldron Visualization Method had left him needing to replenish his vitality.
• Fang Cheng told Ma Jianguo that he had established his intent, visualized a sun, begun constructing his Inner Scenery World, and touched the threshold of Condensing the True Self.
• Ma Jianguo explained how to develop the True Self and achieve Inner Scenery External Manifestation, while Wei Zheng learned that Fang Cheng’s cultivation was exceptionally advanced.
• Wei Zheng invited Fang Cheng to take the Special Search Team selection exam, but Fang Cheng declined, citing his desire for freedom and Ma Donghe’s mention of his unusual family circumstances.
• Wei Zheng left for home, and Ma Jianguo encouraged Fang Cheng to give joining the Special Search Team serious thought.

Ma Jianguo urged Fang Cheng to join the Special Search Team, convinced that his extraordinary martial talent could restore the Ma family's influence and advance traditional martial artists. Fang Cheng remained undecided and resolved to focus on strengthening himself rather than relying on the team’s resources or protection.

• Ma Jianguo explained his family’s history with the Special Search Team and encouraged Fang Cheng to apply, while Ma Donghe teased his father and pointed out Fang Cheng’s background-check problem.
• Ma Jianguo described the team’s cultivation resources and family protections, but Fang Cheng said he would consider joining and then left to reassure his family.
• Ma Jianguo and Ma Donghe filled Fang Cheng’s car with medicinal ingredients and soup to help restore his vitality after his secluded cultivation.
• After Fang Cheng drove away, Ma Jianguo admitted he wanted his gifted disciple to rise within the Special Search Team and help restore the Ma family’s standing.
• Ma Donghe revealed that he had brought Wei Zheng to meet Fang Cheng because he thought the team suited him and could help keep his training from becoming dangerous.
• Fang Cheng weighed the team’s benefits against its internal conflicts and decided that his own strength mattered more than outside support.

Wei Zheng told Shi Chengyi about Fang Cheng, whose extraordinary martial arts talent convinced Shi that the traditional martial artist faction might regain influence. Shi then learned Fang had never applied to the Special Search Team because his father’s death in a fire was tied to the unresolved Guangwu Gate shooting.

• Shi Chengyi warned Wei Zheng to avoid competing for promotion and urged him to rest amid factional pressure within the Special Search Team.
• Wei Zheng recalled his training under Shi Chengyi, who lamented the decline of traditional martial arts and the loss of support for their faction.
• Wei Zheng described Fang Cheng’s rapid cultivation, Heaven-Man Resonance, and celestial phenomenon, prompting Shi to see him as a possible champion of the Martial Path.
• Shi Chengyi demanded that Wei bring Fang Cheng to meet him, but Wei explained that Fang had never applied to the Special Search Team.
• Wei Zheng revealed that Fang’s father had died in a fire seventeen years earlier while suspected in a serial murder case connected to the Guangwu Gate shooting.

Shi Chengyi recalled how the Guangwu Gate shooting case had been politically buried and suspected Fang Cheng’s father had been made a scapegoat. He decided to visit the Ma Family immediately to discuss Fang Cheng’s background, while Fang Cheng’s chess game with his maternal grandfather ended in a sneeze that scattered the pieces.

• Shi Chengyi remembered the failed investigation into the Guangwu Gate shooting, which had pointed toward the mutant organization Utopia before Ling Shaofeng took over and declared the case solved.
• Shi Chengyi concluded that Fang Cheng’s father might have been an innocent scapegoat and weighed the danger of challenging Ling Shaofeng against the value of supporting Fang Cheng.
• Wei Zheng told Shi Chengyi that the case files did not prove Fang Cheng’s father had directly participated in the shooting and showed unresolved questions about his alleged crimes.
• Shi Chengyi decided to go to Tianxin Village immediately to speak with Jianguo and ordered Wei Zheng to keep the matter secret.
• Fang Cheng sneezed during his chess game with his maternal grandfather, scattering the red and black pieces across the board.

Fang Cheng visited his family in Wanghu Town, replenished his true qi with ancient remains, and reviewed the upgraded abilities of his Grandmaster-level Visualization skill. He tested his new Consciousness Descent ability by entering his Inner Scenery World and taking the throne in its Golden Palace.

• Fang Cheng joked with Li Zhenhua, who teased him about several women, before Li Biyun called them to lunch.
• Fang Cheng shared a meal with his mother and grandfather, stopped Li Zhenhua from drinking too much, and then cleaned the house while his mother prepared mugwort.
• Fang Cheng recalled returning to his apartment after leaving Ma Jianguo, where he cleaned, ate a large meal, and absorbed energy from two ancient remains until his true qi was replenished.
• Fang Cheng reviewed his upgraded Visualization effects, learning that Solar Mental Network could detect hostile emotions, read linked targets' surface thoughts, refine wish power, and forcibly draw linked minds into his Inner Scenery World.
• Fang Cheng entered his Inner Scenery World and appeared on the throne inside the Golden Palace.

Fang Cheng explored the Solar Mental Network and tested Mind Manifestation by summoning two witnesses from the Noah Tower battle into his Inner Scenery World. After granting them Divine Grace Seeds and strengthening their links, he considered using the ability to create secret meetings and training trials for the Illumination Society.

• Fang Cheng surveyed the Solar Mental Network, observed the linked people, and found that ability users had weaker connections because their mysterious sources interfered.
• Fang Cheng chose two ordinary witnesses from the Noah Tower battle and used Mind Manifestation to draw them into his palace.
• Zhang Wei and Li Ming recognized Fang Cheng as the figure who had defeated the monster and knelt before him, believing he was a god.
• Fang Cheng showed them the battle from above, granted each a Divine Grace Seed, and sent them back to their dreams.
• Fang Cheng saw their stars brighten and concluded that Mind Manifestation could support secret meetings and create trials for the Illumination Society.

Xu Hao and Xiaosa woke in an abandoned psychiatric hospital and received a nightmare trial requiring them to retrieve a file from the fourth-floor Dean’s Office before dawn. After Xu Hao’s loud attempt to escape drew hostile patients, the pair agreed to follow the rules and search for the stairs.

• Xu Hao woke in the Eastern Capital Seventh Psychiatric Hospital and met Xiaosa in the lobby.
• A set of nightmare trial instructions appeared, directing them to retrieve the Patient Zero File from the Dean’s Office before dawn and warning them about the hospital’s dangers.
• Xu Hao kicked the iron entrance door, attracting several twisted patients, and fought them while Xiaosa dodged another attacker.
• Xu Hao rescued Xiaosa, and Xiaosa concluded that the patients could be stopped by striking vital spots on their heads.
• Xu Hao agreed to follow Xiaosa’s plan to find the emergency stairwell, with Xu Hao leading and Xiaosa following behind.

Xu Hao and Xiaosa encountered lethal dangers in the asylum after a mirror nearly lured Xu Hao in and a flickering-light alarm revealed a hall full of patients. They split up, and Xu Hao reached the Second Floor alone, where a nurse wounded him and pursued him into a room, leaving her blade thrust through the iron door inches from his face.

• Xu Hao nearly followed his reflection into a mirror, but Xiaosa pulled him away and reminded him not to trust reflections.
• When the lights flickered and the alarm sounded, Xu Hao and Xiaosa closed their eyes; afterward, they found a hall full of patients and quietly retreated.
• Xu Hao and Xiaosa argued over whether to proceed cautiously or fight, then split up, with Xu Hao taking the route toward the Registration Hall.
• Xu Hao fought through several groups of patients and reached the Second Floor, where he found no stairs to the Third Floor and became lost in the twisting corridors.
• Xu Hao attacked a nurse, but her mental assault and giant scalpel badly wounded him, forcing him to flee into a room as the alarm and flickering lights returned.
• The nurse struck the iron door several times, then stabbed her long blade through it until its tip stopped less than a centimeter from Xu Hao's nose.

Xiaosa rescued Xu Hao from a knife-wielding nurse, and the two teamed up to reach the third floor, where the Attending Doctor attacked them. Just as the doctor prepared to kill them, the world fell into eerie silence.

• Xiaosa dropped into the laboratory and helped Xu Hao kill the nurse by igniting oxygen released from a cylinder.
• Xu Hao and Xiaosa worked together to find the stairs to the third floor, where they encountered operating rooms and the Attending Doctor.
• The Attending Doctor immobilized the two men and injected Xu Hao with a syringe of dark red liquid.
• Xiaosa struck the Attending Doctor's Beak Mask with a Bone Saw, cracking it, and Xu Hao held the doctor long enough for Xiaosa to attack.
• The Attending Doctor hurled both men against a wall and approached with the syringe, but time seemed to stop just as they braced for death.

After Xu Hao and Xiaosa woke from the nightmare trial, they received messages confirming it was real and that another trial would begin in seven days. Fang Cheng revealed he had created the trial in his Inner Scenery World and planned to use such trials to train members of the Illumination Society.

• Xu Hao woke in the Midnight Forest Bar and learned that his next trial would begin in seven days.
• Xiaosa analyzed his trial experience, recognized how the Great Sun Burning Body Art had helped him survive, and resolved to contact the President.
• Fang Cheng entered the frozen psychiatric hospital and dissolved its monsters before clearing away the mist.
• Fang Cheng assessed Xu Hao and Xiaosa’s growth and decided that trial scenarios could train and strengthen the Illumination Society.
• Fang Cheng wondered about the golden pupil in his Inner Scenery World and prepared to conduct an important test in reality.

Fang Cheng tested his enhanced body by sprinting around YuLong Lake in the rain and pushed through the sound barrier. He ended the chapter exhilarated as his speed reached a new peak.

• Fang Cheng warmed up with a steady run around YuLong Lake before accelerating to test his new strength, agility, and constitution.
• Fang Cheng increased his speed past 300 meters per second as air resistance, heat, and pressure began damaging his body.
• Fang Cheng relied on his Gale Force skill to ease the wind resistance while pushing his body toward its limit.
• Fang Cheng drove himself forward, broke the sound barrier, and created a sonic boom over YuLong Lake.
• Fang Cheng felt the shock wave scatter the rain and watched his speed reach a new peak.

Fang Cheng survived the strain of briefly breaking the sound barrier, recovered in a lake, and resolved to keep increasing his physical attributes until he could control that speed. After continuing his morning training, he passed joggers puzzling over the damage he had left on Lake Road and planned to visit his father's grave.

• Fang Cheng used his true qi and willpower to stop after exceeding the speed of sound, then submerged himself in a lake to cool down and recover.
• Fang Cheng received 100 Running Experience and concluded that his current constitution, strength, and agility were not enough to make supersonic running safe or sustainable.
• Fang Cheng returned to Mountain Forest Park, trained his fitness skills, and gained experience while running along Lake Road.
• Fang Cheng saw joggers debate whether footprints or an excavator had damaged the road, agreed with the excavator theory, and jogged away.
• Fang Cheng decided to go home, shower, and prepare to visit West Mountain Mausoleum to tend his father's grave.

At his father Fang Shijie's grave, Fang Cheng vowed to protect his mother and uncover the truth behind his father's death. Shi Chengyi then drew Fang Cheng aside and argued that the purpose of martial arts was self-cultivation, not simply defeating or killing an enemy.

• Fang Cheng, Li Biyun, and Li Zhenhua visited Fang Shijie's grave, where Li Biyun mourned and insisted she did not believe he was a murderer.
• Li Zhenhua recalled Fang Shijie's honesty and kindness, and Fang Cheng resolved to care for his mother and clear his father's name.
• Wei Zheng arrived with Shi Chengyi and Xiao Zhang, and Shi Chengyi politely asked Fang Cheng to discuss martial arts with him.
• Shi Chengyi led Fang Cheng to a pavilion and asked what the strongest martial art was; after rejecting Fang Cheng's answer, he said martial arts existed for self-cultivation.

Shi Chengyi explained the martial path and tested Fang Cheng in a contest of martial intent, then advised him on developing his sun-themed Inner Scenery World. He invited Fang Cheng to join the Special Search Team and offered protection for his family, leaving Fang Cheng’s decision unresolved.

• Shi Chengyi taught Fang Cheng that martial arts strengthened the body and refined the true self, while dependence on technology and experiments created unstable fighters.
• Shi Chengyi challenged Fang Cheng to a contest of martial intent, and Fang Cheng’s golden sun absorbed Shi Chengyi’s mountainlike will, prompting Shi Chengyi to concede.
• Fang Cheng asked how to develop his lifeless Inner Scenery World, and Shi Chengyi advised him to unite knowledge and action through the life-giving and dominating aspects of the Way of the Sun.
• Shi Chengyi formally invited Fang Cheng to join the Special Search Team and argued that the nation and martial path needed him.
• Shi Chengyi offered the highest level of security for Fang Cheng’s mother and maternal grandfather, while Fang Cheng remained silent and considered the offer.

Shi Chengyi urged Fang Cheng to join the Special Search Team, revealing that his father’s death might be tied to the long-buried Guangwu Gate shooting case. Fang Cheng gave no answer, while Shi Chengyi left believing the revelation would lead him to consider joining.

• Fang Cheng declined Shi Chengyi’s invitation, saying he wanted a peaceful life and an ordinary office job.
• Shi Chengyi questioned the official account of Fang Shijie’s death and explained that Special Search Team investigators had linked him to the Guangwu Gate shooting case and a wanted criminal.
• Shi Chengyi told Fang Cheng that powerful political forces had buried the truth and urged him to join the Special Search Team so he could grow strong enough to challenge them.
• Fang Cheng remained silent as Shi Chengyi left white chrysanthemums at Fang Shijie’s grave and departed with Wei Zheng and Xiao Zhang.
• Wei Zheng asked whether Fang Cheng had agreed, and Shi Chengyi said he had not but believed the revelation would prompt him to choose what served his own interests.

While working in the courtyard with his family, Fang Cheng weighed Shi Chengyi’s invitation to join the Special Search Team and decided that it did not yet fit his plans. He resolved to keep focusing on his strength and seek a more influential identity, then discovered that his Cleaning Skill had leveled up.

• Fang Cheng helped Li Zhenhua prepare vegetable beds while considering his cultivation and plans for the Illumination Society.
• Li Biyun asked about Shi Chengyi’s job offer, and Fang Cheng reassured her and Li Zhenhua that nothing had been decided.
• Fang Cheng weighed the Special Search Team’s resources and chance to investigate his father’s case against its restrictions and the risk of exposing his abilities.
• Fang Cheng decided not to join the Special Search Team for now and recognized that he needed a more influential social identity as a cover.
• Fang Cheng swept the courtyard and discovered that his Cleaning Skill had leveled up.

Fang Cheng maxed out Cleaning and gained Trace Back, which let him reconstruct the moments when traces were made. He tested the ability, then learned from Xiaosa that the Noah Organization had gained a powerful backer from the Xiao Family.

• Fang Cheng reached the maximum level of Cleaning and unlocked the passive and active effects of Trace Back.
• Fang Cheng used Trace Back to replay how his wet footprints and Li Biyun's quilt-folding marks had been made.
• Xiaosa called Fang Cheng and described a realistic nightmare trial in a psychiatric hospital that would begin again in seven days.
• Fang Cheng told Xiaosa the experience was a Mental Secret Realm and urged him to explore it, then asked about Chen Chen and the Red Tiger Gang.
• Xiaosa reported that Chen Chen had pulled back the Red Tiger Gang's operations after the Noah Tower incident and that the Xiao Family had met with Feng at the Noah Organization's Eastern Capital Branch.

Fang Cheng expanded the Illumination Society’s plans while continuing to train and develop his Inner Scenery World. As he considered protecting his family and investigating his father’s seventeen-year-old case, he ended the day at dinner with his family, where Li Zhenhua wondered when his absent uncle would return.

• Fang Cheng told Xiaosa that the Xiao Family’s intervention would help the Noah Organization recover publicly while drawing attention away from the Illumination Society, and he ordered Xiaosa to bring Chen Chen’s Red Tiger Gang under the Society while keeping Chen Chen as an informant.
• Fang Cheng required Chen Chen to repay his protection money and forbade the Red Tiger Gang from dealing in drugs or human trafficking.
• Xiaosa reported two possible headquarters sites and recommended Wang Li, a debt-burdened former accountant, as a potential recruit; Fang Cheng ordered a thorough background investigation before meeting him.
• Fang Cheng watched his family and the neighborhood, resolved to protect their peaceful lives and eventually investigate the serial murders and shooting that had ruined his father’s life, then practiced Tai Chi and Visualization.
• Fang Cheng reshaped his Inner Scenery World and gained Visualization experience before joining Li Biyun and Li Zhenhua for dinner; Li Zhenhua wondered why his uncle had not returned from the south.

Fang Cheng learned that his uncle Li Dingjian and the professor had gone to Tiannan Province to investigate the Chen Family Curse Case and could not be reached. After hearing about the City of Night and its connection to the Bridge of Helplessness, Fang Cheng decided to enter the hidden realm and investigate.

• At dinner, Li Biyun and Fang Cheng discussed Li Dingjian’s failure to return from Tiannan Province, and Fang Cheng resolved to ask the professor’s team about him.
• Fang Cheng called Lark, who confirmed that Crow and the professor had gone south on an important personal matter and were both unreachable.
• Lark recalled seeing Crow and the professor discuss a case file about the Tiannan Province Jewelry Tycoon Chen Family Curse Case.
• Lark explained that the Bridge of Helplessness sold intelligence and could be contacted through the City of Night, a dangerous Secret Realm accessible through a spoken incantation.
• After learning that harm to his consciousness in the City of Night could damage his real brain, Fang Cheng decided to go there and take a look.