Recaps

Jiang Liu harvested a treasure sapling and Sky-Piercing Bees, then cultivated with Fifth Rank Beast Cores until he advanced to the sixth rank. After testing his increased speed and mental strength, he planned to investigate the Deep Pool Giant Crocodile and its suspected treasure.

• Jiang Liu dug up the sapling, collected the surviving Sky-Piercing Bees, and counted twenty-three ordinary Fifth Rank Beast Cores and one peak fifth-rank core.
• Jiang Liu built a nest high in a tree and cultivated for three days with Fifth Rank Beast Cores.
• Jiang Liu broke through to Martial Artist Sixth Grade and considered challenging the Deep Pool Giant Crocodile for the treasure he suspected it guarded.
• Jiang Liu tested his increased speed by racing through the forest, then found that his consciousness could reach about fifty meters and last for half an hour without tiring him.
• Jiang Liu decided to leave the sapling intact and investigate the frigid pool the next day.

Jiang Liu lured a giant crocodile out of a deep pool and fought it, but could not penetrate its defenses before it escaped back underwater. He went deeper into the mountain range in search of stronger beasts and encountered a Sixth-Grade exotic beast in a thicket.

• Jiang Liu subdued a group of Fire-Breathing Monkeys with his essence energy and threw them into the deep pool to lure out the giant crocodile.
• Jiang Liu attacked the giant crocodile with his blade and Ice Blades, then used fire to exploit its Ice Attribute and keep it at bay.
• The giant crocodile endured Jiang Liu's attacks and retreated into the deep pool before he could seriously injure it.
• Jiang Liu abandoned the hunt and headed deeper into the mountain range to find other Sixth-Grade exotic beasts.
• Jiang Liu entered a massive thicket, where a giant tree suddenly fell toward him.

Jiang Liu killed a Giant Strength Demonic Ape while searching deeper in the West Mountain Range, then narrowly escaped two exotic beasts above Seventh Grade. Nearby, Mu Qing and Hao Rutian fought over a Jade Fruit, with Hao Rutian taunting her about her master.

• Jiang Liu fought the Giant Strength Demonic Ape with Tiger Subduing Fist and Frost Nether Palm, then killed it with an Ice Blade and took its beast core.
• Jiang Liu continued deeper into the mountains, collecting Fourth Grade beast cores with Ice Blade as such prey grew scarce.
• Jiang Liu nearly got hit by a wind blade from two exotic beasts above Seventh Grade and fled several li away.
• Jiang Liu decided to continue searching the West Mountain Range for the deep pool and its rare Ice Attribute treasures.
• Hao Rutian challenged Mu Qing over the Jade Fruit and insulted her master, White Fan Zhenren.
• Mu Qing and Hao Rutian exchanged Water and Earth Attribute attacks, but neither Sixth Grade fighter gained the upper hand.

Mu Qing defeated Hao Rutian with her poisoned whip and took the Jade Fruit, but Jiang Liu appeared and demanded it from her. After Mu Qing attacked him with poisoned needles, Jiang Liu killed her and took her belongings before leaving.

• Mu Qing struck Hao Rutian with her poisoned whip, forcing him to retreat with a poisoned wound.
• Jiang Liu emerged after Hao Rutian left and demanded that Mu Qing surrender the Jade Fruit.
• Mu Qing attacked Jiang Liu, who dodged her whip and fought her without drawing his blade.
• After Mu Qing challenged Jiang Liu to fight seriously, she launched poisoned needles at him, and he killed her with an Ice Blade.
• Jiang Liu took Mu Qing's bundle, pills, Identity Jade Token, needles, and whip, then left her corpse behind.

Jiang Liu examined Mu Qing’s belongings and tested a set of poisoned needles before returning to attack the giant crocodile at the cold pool. After poisoning and injuring it, he drove it back into the pool, but the beast escaped into its depths.

• Jiang Liu dug a tree hollow to rest and counted the beast cores he had collected.
• Jiang Liu opened Mu Qing’s bundle and found pills, money, a Jade Fruit, and two beast cores.
• Jiang Liu tested the poisoned needles by firing one through two massive trees.
• Jiang Liu lured the giant crocodile ashore with dead exotic beasts and ambushed it with poisoned needles, Ice Blades, and a sword technique.
• Jiang Liu attacked the giant crocodile again, and it fled into the depths of the pool while firing ice pillars at him.

Jiang Liu killed the Deep Pool Giant Crocodile and found a Frost Jade Pearl at the bottom of its pool. More than ten days later, he struggled to find suitable beasts to hunt and checked his progress after refining the pearl and a Jade Fruit.

• Jiang Liu killed the Deep Pool Giant Crocodile, recovered his poison needles, and took its Sixth-Grade beast core.
• Jiang Liu dived to the bottom of the pool and found a jade pearl inside a dead giant clam, but left the enormous shells behind.
• Jiang Liu returned to shore with the Frost Jade Pearl and his belongings.
• More than ten days later, Jiang Liu found middle-grade exotic beasts scarce and viewed his Auxiliary System status.
• Jiang Liu reflected that refining the Frost Jade Pearl and Jade Fruit had greatly increased the qi he refined with his completed mental cultivation methods.

Jiang Liu left the West Mountain Range and traveled toward the commandery city, stopping for the night at Zengjue Temple. After the temple’s young monk drugged his meal and reported that he had fallen asleep, Jiang Liu slipped out to investigate the temple’s secrets.

• Jiang Liu left the West Mountain Range after failing to find any mid-grade exotic beasts and reached a hunting village, where a woman gave him directions and clothes.
• Jiang Liu followed the road toward the commandery city and tested Wind Walk, discovering that his vital energy recovered while he ran.
• Jiang Liu found Zengjue Temple and asked a young monk for a room and vegetarian food for the night.
• The young monk watched Jiang Liu fall asleep after eating, then reported to the abbot and went to collect his reward.
• Jiang Liu realized the temple had drugged his meal, used his consciousness to check that no one was watching, and left his room to investigate.

Jiang Liu investigated Zengjue Temple and discovered its monks secretly catered to guests seeking illicit entertainment. After forcing them to lead him to the hidden entrance beneath a room in the rear courtyard, he was about to descend into the underground passage.

• Jiang Liu followed a little monk to the rear courtyard and saw him enter a room after being told he could collect a reward.
• Jiang Liu drew the temple’s monks away, overpowered them with his aura, and killed the abbot and another monk while demanding an explanation about the carriages.
• A Third Rank monk told Jiang Liu that the temple provided guests with forbidden forms of entertainment.
• Jiang Liu forced the surviving monks to take him to the rear-courtyard room, where the Third Rank monk revealed a hidden underground passage behind a Buddha painting.

Jiang Liu discovered that Zengjue Temple’s secret chambers were used to exploit and torture women, so he rescued the surviving victims and subdued the men beating them. He waited at the passage entrance as the monks and wealthy visitors gathered there.

• Jiang Liu followed the monks through a passage and entered four chambers where people engaged in gambling, sexual games, and brutal fights.
• Jiang Liu found injured women locked in enclosures in the fourth chamber, treated those he could, and discovered that two had died.
• Jiang Liu knocked down the men beating the women and listened as the survivors explained how Zengjue Temple had abducted them or seized them for wealthy clients.
• Jiang Liu gave the women medicine and went to wait at the passage entrance while the Third Rank monk gathered the monks and other visitors from the chambers.

Jiang Liu slaughtered the people in Zengjue Temple’s underground chamber and killed a monk who had abused one of the rescued women. He kept three servant monks to gather valuables and watched the temple, where he killed a woman who tried to escape.

• Jiang Liu killed more than a hundred people in the secret chamber and freed the women held there.
• Jiang Liu killed the temple steward, stopped five novice monks from fleeing, and questioned them about their backgrounds.
• One woman identified a novice monk as someone who had violated her, and Jiang Liu killed him.
• Jiang Liu sent the remaining three servant monks to collect the temple’s valuables while he considered what to do with the rescued women.
• Jiang Liu caught and killed a woman from the third room as she tried to sneak out of the temple.

Jiang Liu organized the women rescued from the temple, sent those with homes on their way, and offered the remaining survivors a place to stay and martial arts manuals to cultivate. He left them to begin training while he meditated and refined his qi, nearing Seventh Grade.

• Jiang Liu questioned the three lay monks, learned they had fled famine, and ordered them to remove the temple sign, clear the secret chambers, and bury the dead.
• Jiang Liu assigned literate women to register the survivors and arranged for the group to prepare food.
• Jiang Liu divided the women into six groups, gave travel expenses to those returning to their families, and allowed the homeless to remain.
• Jiang Liu told visitors that the monks had fled and that he had taken over the temple, then had the courtyard cleaned and the temple's signs removed.
• Jiang Liu distributed martial arts manuals for the remaining survivors to copy and cultivate, and told them they could ask him for guidance.
• Jiang Liu sat in meditation to refine his qi as he approached Seventh Grade.

Jiang Liu left the courtyard and broke through to Seventh Grade, gaining a wider consciousness range and stronger Wind Walk. He returned to cultivate, confident he could now protect himself in Cloud Sun City but determined to keep advancing.

• After seven peaceful days, Jiang Liu went alone to a secluded spot so his breakthrough would not harm the women or the young monk servants.
• Jiang Liu compressed his Primal Qi into a sphere, and the system's feedback helped him produce his first drop of liquid Essence Particles, completing his breakthrough to Seventh Grade.
• Jiang Liu discovered that his consciousness could reach one hundred and fifty meters and that Wind Walk had become faster, though he still could not fly.
• Jiang Liu returned to the main courtyard, refined his Primal Qi Liquid, and checked the auxiliary system, which listed him as a Seventh Grade Martial Practitioner.
• Jiang Liu judged that few people in Cloud Sun City could threaten him, but resolved to keep cultivating toward greater strength.

Jiang Liu continued overseeing cultivation and prepared medicinal decoction while planning to seek a flying movement technique in the commandery city. Meanwhile, the Hai Family searched for its missing head, unaware that steward Hai Renhui had been meeting secretly with Madam Hai.

• Jiang Liu watched the women cultivate, planned to select those with better aptitude, and prepared medicinal decoction to help them progress.
• Jiang Liu considered his need for a flying movement technique and planned to visit the commandery city once matters settled down.
• Grand Elder Hai learned that the family head had gone to Zengjue Temple instead of his daughter-in-law’s maternal home and ordered Hai Renhui to search for him.
• Hai Renhui reported that the search party had vanished, and the Hai Family elders decided to search for the family head together the next day.
• Hai Renhui secretly entered Madam Hai’s room, where they complained about the family head and hoped he would die outside.

Jiang Liu faced the Hai family elders after they came to Zengjue Temple looking for their family head and found Jiang Estate in its place. He killed their Grand Elder, then demanded payment from the rest of the group and told them he would collect it the next day.

• Hai Renhui led the Hai family elders to Zengjue Temple while Jiang Liu finished brewing medicinal baths and reached Minor Accomplishment in Alchemy.
• The Hai family found that Zengjue Temple had become Jiang Estate and barged inside to search for their family head.
• Jiang Liu killed the Grand Elder with one palm, then warned the remaining Hai family members that they had trespassed.
• Hai Renhui claimed the family had come only to find their head, but Jiang Liu refused to let them leave without paying for the trespass.
• Jiang Liu let the Hai family discuss what their lives were worth and told them to return with details so he could collect payment the next day.

Hai Renhui offered to help Jiang Liu take control of the Hai Family, and Jiang Liu went to the family estate to demand compensation. After the Second Elder offered the family’s wealth to spare their lives, Jiang Liu killed the Third Elder Hai and silenced the remaining elders.

• The Hai Family returned home shaken by Grand Elder Hai’s death and learned that Jiang Liu came from Zengjue Temple.
• Hai Renhui visited Jiang Liu at night and offered to help him take control of the Hai Family, explaining his connection to the family head’s wife.
• Jiang Liu accepted Hai Renhui’s proposal, then traveled to the Hai Family estate the next morning in a carriage sent for him.
• The Second Elder Hai offered Jiang Liu ten thousand taels each, but Jiang Liu threatened the family with his elemental energy pressure.
• The Second Elder Hai offered all the Hai Family’s wealth in exchange for their lives, and Jiang Liu killed the protesting Third Elder Hai with an Ice Blade.

Jiang Liu let Hai Renhui pursue control of the Hai Family while he explored its cultivation manual tower and claimed several manuals and supplies. The Hai elders accepted his demands, and he called for Hai Renhui.

• Jiang Liu warned Hai Renhui against betraying him and allowed him to approach Madam Hai about taking charge of the Hai Family.
• Jiang Liu overpowered the four guards at the cultivation manual tower and entered despite their Primal Qi pressure.
• Jiang Liu recorded Eight Steps of Trampling and Howling Wind Art, and memorized the Primal Qi Flight Art.
• Hai Dayi assured Jiang Liu that the Hai Family would honor its agreement to let him take manuals from the tower.
• Jiang Liu ordered the Hai Family to copy and pack the manuals, prepare one hundred portions of herbs for Body Refinement martial artists, and summon Hai Renhui.

Jiang Liu secured the Hai family’s cooperation and departed after they prepared supplies for him. He discovered that flying let him travel quickly, but it consumed far more Primal Qi than he could afford, leaving him eager to grow stronger.

• Hai Renhui told Jiang Liu that Madam Hai had agreed to cooperate if he protected her and her son, and Jiang Liu instructed him to arrange a meeting and prepare supplies.
• Hai Renhui announced that Hai Jie would become family head, and all five Hai family elders voted in favor after he argued that supporting Jiang Liu could benefit the family.
• The Hai family prepared supplies for Jiang Liu, who accepted them and left the estate without staying for their hoped-for banquet.
• Jiang Liu flew back to Jiang Estate, thrilling at his speed before discovering that the short journey had cost him two hundred points of Primal Qi reserves.
• Jiang Liu realized he could not fly for long with his current reserves and felt compelled to return to the West Mountain Range to hunt exotic beasts and improve his strength.

After spending more than a month cultivating and arranging for the Hai family to protect the women he had rescued, Jiang Liu set out for the commandery city. He left the women with supplies and instructions, promising to help them again once he found a place to settle.

• Jiang Liu grew annoyed with the Hai family’s repeated attempts to curry favor and eventually made them rein themselves in.
• Jiang Liu cultivated his techniques, guided the women’s training, and helped those interested in alchemy learn to brew medicine.
• Jiang Liu decided to leave the women in the Hai family’s care, leaving them cultivation methods, medical texts, and medicinal-herb references.
• Jiang Liu promised the Hai family he would help them return to the commandery city when the time was right, and the family enthusiastically agreed to look after the women.
• On the eighteenth day of the fifth month in the third year of Chengping, Jiang Liu departed for the commandery city in a carriage pulled by three Unicorn Steeds.

Jiang Liu arrived in Wind City after a half-month journey and settled into a private courtyard at Youfu Inn. He planned to rest before investigating the Physician Pavilion and the White Lotus Sect, and he told the coachman he could return the next day.

• Jiang Liu reached Wind City, paid the entrance fee, and rode through the crowded county seat.
• Jiang Liu chose to stay at Youfu Inn and rented its private courtyard for three days.
• Jiang Liu asked the coachman about returning to the Hai family, then told him to leave the next day if he had nothing else to do.
• Jiang Liu checked his belongings, washed up, and began his usual cultivation routine.

Jiang Liu heard rumors about the White Lotus Sect’s conflict with the Chen, Li, and Wang families, then subdued a gang of street thugs and questioned them about the sect’s challenges. After leaving, he killed the four surviving thugs with vital energy so they could not reveal what they had seen.

• Jiang Liu went to the main hall and overheard talk of the White Lotus Sect’s challenges against the Chen, Li, and Wang families, along with other rumors around the city.
• Jiang Liu left the inn and was targeted by a gang that planned to lure him into Anliu Alley and rob him.
• Jiang Liu knocked out the gang, dragged its five members into an alley, and killed Monkey with a slap.
• Jiang Liu questioned the surviving thugs and learned that the White Lotus Sect had fought the three families until the Martial Prohibition Hall intervened and arranged challenges at the arena outside South City.
• Jiang Liu left the alley, then sent four bolts of vital energy back to kill the four remaining thugs.

Jiang Liu visited the Ascension Tower to learn about the commandery city and discovered that it sold information and published rankings of elite young martial practitioners. He learned that he needed to register for an Ascension Token before asking questions, and the chapter left him on the second floor.

• Jiang Liu entered the Ascension Tower and bought a copy of its Ascension Rankings from an attendant.
• Jiang Liu read the list of the ten strongest Rank 9 Martial Practitioners under thirty in the Great Qian Dynasty and dismissed their abilities.
• Jiang Liu went up to the second floor, where an attendant explained that the floors handled information about the city, the province, other provinces, and secret matters.
• The attendant told Jiang Liu that he had to register for an Ascension Token before he could ask about anything.

Jiang Liu bought a silver Ascension Token and paid for information about Wind City's major powers. He left the Ascension Tower with booklets on the nine top-tier forces and returned to the inn.

• Jiang Liu learned that Ascension Tokens granted access to different floors of the Ascension Tower and bought a silver token for ten thousand taels.
• Jiang Liu waited on the third floor, then entered a secret chamber to ask about Wind City's major forces.
• Jiang Liu bought information on the Chen Family, Li Family, Wang Family, Pang Family, Feng Family, White Lotus Sect, Sun Moon Sect, Moonfall Sect, and Hundred Craft Hall for nine thousand taels.
• Jiang Liu left the Ascension Tower, heard people rushing to see Young Master Wei arrive, and continued wandering through the city.
• Jiang Liu found the city dull and returned to the inn.

Jiang Liu visited Hundred Craft Hall to find a blade strong enough for his needs and watched Master Duan test a newly forged treasure blade. He asked whether the hall had a ready-made Rank 9 blade and offered to pay extra, leaving the purchase unresolved.

• Jiang Liu read about the White Lotus Sect's powerful leaders and decided to visit Hundred Craft Hall before exploring the Ten Thousand Mountains.
• Jiang Liu asked the shop assistant at Hundred Craft Hall for a broadsword and learned that Rank 9 treasure blades had to be custom-made.
• Jiang Liu followed the shop assistant to the rear courtyard, where Master Duan tested a blade he had spent more than three months forging.
• Master Duan's blade passed Blade-Testing Pool Ten, which the disciples said proved it could break through an Exotic Beast King's defenses in one strike.
• Jiang Liu told Master Duan he wanted a ready-made Rank 9 treasure blade and would pay extra silver.

Jiang Liu bought a Ninth Rank treasure blade from Master Duan, then was ambushed after leaving the city. He killed the first attacker but was left fighting two more men in the woods.

• Jiang Liu admired Master Duan’s special-grade blade, but learned it was not for sale and accepted an abandoned custom Ninth Rank blade instead.
• Jiang Liu tested the blade at Pool Nine, bought it for thirteen thousand taels, and had Master Duan fit it with a scabbard.
• As Jiang Liu headed toward a clothing street, an unseen attacker struck at him, and Jiang Liu pursued the fleeing figure beyond the South City Gate.
• In the woods, Jiang Liu confronted the attacker, then used his treasure blade and a condensed Ice Blade to kill him.
• Two men joined the ambush and attacked Jiang Liu from both sides; Jiang Liu knocked one man’s weapon away but had to abandon his follow-up when the other attacked his armpit.

Jiang Liu killed two attackers, prepared to enter the Ten Thousand Mountains, and exposed a would-be scammer to learn about the dangers near Wind City. He set out with a fresh warning that human predators posed a greater threat than exotic beasts.

• Jiang Liu tricked two attackers into lowering their guard, wounded them with Ice Blades, and searched their bodies.
• Jiang Liu bought clothes and medicine, stored his belongings at Ascension Tower, and left through the western city gate toward the Ten Thousand Mountains.
• At the mountain entrance, Jiang Liu followed a suspicious man into a forest and beat him until he agreed to answer questions.
• Jiang Liu questioned the man about the area near Wind City and learned that human martial practitioners often hunted one another for wealth and supplies.
• Jiang Liu resolved to stay alert as he entered the Ten Thousand Mountains.