Recaps

Meng Zhao entered the Ascending Heaven Tower and found himself in Li Zheng’s powerless body in Little Cold Village, where he built strength and maneuvered against Wen San. After secretly killing Crippled Li and framing Wen San, Meng Zhao faced the village elders and denied involvement, leaving Wen San unsettled.

• The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord used Zhu Shisan’s Mechanical Martial Saint to draw out the Time Blade, but Zhu Shisan was swept away through a space-time gate as the Palace Lord recruited Holy Infant Child to seek Yellow Springs Water.
• Meng Zhao and Aunt Hong reached the Ascending Heaven Tower, where Meng Zhao entered alone and awoke in Li Zheng’s body, unable to cultivate or use most of his former powers.
• Meng Zhao defeated Ma Feng and Yang Xiaoshu, then accepted Widow Zhou’s offer to teach him martial arts in return for becoming her subordinate and dealing with Wen San.
• Meng Zhao and San Gouzi killed Crippled Li, stole his valuables, and planted Wen San’s ring to implicate him.
• Villagers found Crippled Li’s body and debated the evidence, while Wen San’s account of Li Zheng’s sudden skill led Old Blade Wu to call him a martial arts prodigy.
• When the villagers summoned Meng Zhao, Wen San accused him of murder and framing, but Meng Zhao denied involvement and rebuked Wen San for disrespecting the elders.

Meng Zhao secured Chen Xiaotao’s Cloud Gathering Skill and began building his strength while learning that the Mountain Dragon on Little Cold Mountain held a Dragon Pearl sought by powerful factions. He agreed to watch over the creature for Zhou Zhihan, intending to use the years before its transformation to prepare for his own plans.

• Meng Zhao ambushed Wen San and his companions as they fled Little Cold Village, admitted killing Crippled Li, and defeated them before Wen San revealed the Dragon Pearl rumor and Wen San’s group died.
• Meng Zhao stayed in the village, investigated Chen Xian’s possible hidden martial arts manual, and confronted Chen Xiaotao, who exchanged the Cloud Gathering Skill and Cloud Ascending Pills for his martial techniques.
• Meng Zhao cultivated the Cloud Gathering Skill, created the Heavy Cloud Lock to temper his Cloud Seed, and discussed martial arts and Little Cold Mountain with Zhou Zhihan.
• Zhou Zhihan told Meng Zhao that the Mountain Dragon had formed by devouring Little Cold Mountain’s dragon vein qi and that the court and Star Palace sought its Dragon Pearl.
• Zhou Zhihan explained that the Star Palace planned to use the Eight Desolations Lock and God Slaying Spear to kill the Mountain Dragon during its vulnerable transformation, several years away.
• Zhou Zhihan asked Meng Zhao to watch over the Mountain Dragon in her absence in exchange for access to Star Palace resources, and Meng Zhao agreed while considering how he might seize the divine weapons.
• After Zhou Zhihan left, Meng Zhao resolved to strengthen himself during the years before the Mountain Dragon transformed.

Meng Zhao infiltrated Kaiyan County’s factions, killed Xiong Fei, and began assembling martial arts for his Three Points Return to One Qi. With Fang Han and Qi Fang’s help, he lured Fang Zijun into a trap and confronted Uncle Wen to obtain the Fang Family’s cold-style skill.

• Meng Zhao joined Su Dinglun and Su Dingyu in robbing illicit gold, then killed them, Su Can, Old Ma, and other witnesses before hiding the treasure.
• Meng Zhao approached Cai Qi for the Wind Blade Tribulation, agreed to help kill Xiong Fei, and devised Divine Wind Force by combining the technique with Raging Waves Art.
• Meng Zhao helped Cai Qi ambush Xiong Fei, pierced Xiong Fei’s eye with a hidden needle, and watched Cai Qi finish him before receiving the secret medicine formula.
• Meng Zhao developed new martial arts and tested them on young people, then recruited Fang Han to help obtain the Fang Family’s Seven Revolutions Cold Toad Swallowing Spirit Skill.
• Meng Zhao and Fang Han enlisted Qi Fang, arranged for Fang Han to kill her gambler husband and Boss Zhu, and used her as bait to draw Fang Zijun out.
• Fang Han convinced Fang Zijun to visit Qi Fang, and Meng Zhao and Qi Fang left their refuge after the Fang Family forced them out.
• At the ruined Land God Temple, Meng Zhao subdued Fang Zijun, killed eight guards, and faced Uncle Wen after he dispelled the mist.
• Meng Zhao rejected Uncle Wen’s offers of other techniques and fought him with Cloud Dispelling Palm, prolonging the battle to study the cultivation method that could help him create Three Points Return to One Qi.

Meng Zhao acquired the Fang Family’s Seven Revolutions art, recruited Yan Congke, and protected Hong Minghui while investigating her father’s murder and the hunt for the missing Mechanism Diagram fragment. He traced the suspected plot to Ren Tianxing and reached Cao Quan'an at Misty Rain Villa, where he overheard Cao Quan'an tell Chunsheng that Ren could act in his name.

• Meng Zhao forced Fang Zijun to teach him the Seven Revolutions Cold Toad Swallowing Spirit Skill, then developed Three Points Return to Origin and its Origin Seed.
• When the Little Knife Society abducted Grandpa Zhang, Meng Zhao rescued him, found Yan Congke, defeated him in a swordsmanship wager, and hired him.
• Zhou Zhihan brought Hong Minghui and her daughter to Meng Zhao, who assembled eight pieces of the Mechanism Diagram and agreed to shelter her while investigating the missing fragment and Hong Chengtong’s murder.
• Meng Zhao sent Yan Congke to investigate the Hong Sect, killed eight attackers who demanded Hong Minghui, and spared one to lead him toward the people behind the pursuit.
• Yu Si’s assassination attempt failed, and Meng Zhao forced the assassin to guide him to the pawnshop and Boss Xu, who revealed that Cao Quan'an’s loyalists were hunting Hong Minghui.
• Meng Zhao learned that Cao Quan'an might have been coerced through his surviving son and suspected Hong Chengtong’s former disciple Ren Tianxing of directing the faction against Hong Minghui.
• Yan Congke found that Cao Quan'an was staying at Misty Rain Villa, where Meng Zhao slipped past the guards and overheard Cao Quan'an tell Chunsheng that Ren Tianxing could represent him and make decisions.