Recaps

Ji Jue demonstrated his improved spirit essence techniques and used Fluid Alchemy to create a mercury creature and truck to challenge Professor Ye. The chapter ended with him resisting her powerful punch in a crude mercury armor modeled after Lou Da Shao’s Spirit Essence Shaping technique.

• Ji Jue named the Bone Blade Mercy and showed Professor Ye that he could repeatedly extract and transplant spiritual intelligence.
• Ji Jue used his blood and Spiritual Substance to animate mercury, then shaped it into a creature that Professor Ye effortlessly shattered with compressed air.
• Ji Jue formed the mercury into a truck and attacked Professor Ye, who destroyed it and then blocked his follow-up strikes with hardened air.
• Professor Ye punched through Ji Jue’s attacks, but Ji Jue endured the blow inside a rough mercury armor inspired by Lou Da Shao’s technique.

Ji Jue tested his improvised armor against Ye Xian in class, using hidden techniques to surprise her despite losing the fight. Ye Xian recognized his newly manifested Spirit Essence Hand and the rapid growth of his Blessings, while Ji Jue revealed that Mercury's Sage Remnant seemed to possess its own spirit.

• Ye Xian assessed Ji Jue's cobbled-together armor as crude but unexpectedly functional as he charged her with four mechanical arms.
• Ye Xian quickly dismantled Ji Jue's armor and mechanical limbs, overpowering his attacks and sending him crashing to the edge of the field.
• Ji Jue revealed a concealed Spirit Essence Hand that struck at Ye Xian, startling her and earning her acknowledgment of his surprise.
• Ye Xian examined Ji Jue's transformed Blessings and realized he had developed a powerful new application of Non-Aggression through spirit essence manipulation.
• Ji Jue told Ye Xian that Mercury's Sage Remnant seemed to possess a spirit of its own, and she replied, “Why wouldn't it?”

Ye Xian warned Ji Jue not to waste Mercury’s lingering favor or give Fluid Alchemy away to the Taiyi Ring, then began training him with his Spirit Essence Refinement. The lesson ended with Ye Xian using Mercury to capture Ji Jue’s tool spirit inside a bead, leaving him stunned by the possibility that this was Fluid Alchemy.

• Ye Xian explained how Chosen Ones, Celestial Beings, and Sages were connected to Supreme Goodness, and warned Ji Jue not to squander Mercury’s remaining spirituality.
• Ye Xian told Ji Jue to pursue Modern Alchemy, avoid registering as an Artisan through Fluid Alchemy, and use the technique to build his own influence within the association.
• Ye Xian returned Ji Jue’s repaired Soul Calling Bell and asked him to demonstrate his Spirit Essence Refinement.
• Ji Jue summoned the mutated physician spirit and sent it to attack Ye Xian, but it could not break through her defenses.
• Ye Xian used a drop of Mercury to draw in and seal the physician spirit, and Ji Jue exclaimed that the bead looked like a Poké Ball and asked whether it was Fluid Alchemy.

Ye Xian taught Ji Jue how to use hardened mercury to contain spirit essence, then gave him a nominal post at Coast Automobile Factory that granted access to military equipment and blueprints. She also assigned him to a dangerous expedition to Quancheng, while a call from Yan Xueqian revealed that Ji Jue's actions had caused another small shift from Evil Folly toward Superior Virtue.

• Ye Xian showed Ji Jue how to harden mercury into a vessel for containing spirit essence and told him to study the technique.
• Ye Xian gave Ji Jue identification and employee documents naming him deputy director at Coast Automobile Factory, whose military qualification allowed him to carry weapon prototypes and access lower-class military blueprints.
• Ye Xian told Ji Jue that he would accompany her to Quancheng in seven days to help rebuild fortifications and reinforce the seal around Evil Folly.
• Ji Jue called Lu Feng to recruit him and Laila for a job, then set off with Little Cow and Horse to upgrade the vehicle's armor and equipment.
• Yan Xueqian told Ye Xian that tests showed a fourth Virtuous Karma Transformation, with Superior Virtue strengthening slightly and Evil Folly weakening after the Time Ruins incident.
• Ye Xian refused to tell Ji Jue about his role in the change and ended the call, privately wondering whether being his teacher had always been this exhausting.

Ji Jue joined the military convoy heading into the wilderness with his teacher, Ye Xian, and his heavily modified, unusually sentient vehicle, Little Cow and Horse. After the convoy set out, an explosion, gunfire, and a terrible scream signaled that disaster had struck.

• Ji Jue arrived at Yacheng Garrison Base and reunited with Little An, Tong Hua, Wen Wen, and Lao Zhang, who wished him a safe trip.
• Ji Jue showed off Little Cow and Horse, an armored vehicle he had modified from a small scooter, and Wen Wen and Tong Hua reacted with disbelief.
• Ji Jue met Ye Xian at the assembly point, where she questioned the explosive supplies and dubious equipment packed into his vehicle.
• Ye Xian left in a luxurious RV, while Ji Jue followed the convoy in Little Cow and Horse and soothed its jealousy of the RV.
• A disaster warning sounded as the convoy traveled through the wilderness, and Ji Jue saw smoke rise from the mountains as gunfire and a piercing scream followed.

Ji Jue watched Yu Hanguang and a military squad destroy a disaster beast, then received a gift from Yu as an apology for their past encounter. He accepted the beast bone’s Blessing and traveled with Professor Ye toward the Catacomb Frontline, where old Quancheng appeared in the night.

• A giant disaster beast charged the convoy, and a six-unit Terrorstorm squad and Yu Hanguang defeated it with gunfire, missiles, and lightning.
• Ji Jue recognized Yu Hanguang, considered shooting him, but held back because witnesses could expose him.
• Yu Hanguang awkwardly apologized to Ji Jue and left him a box containing disaster beast bone with the Metal and Iron Essence Blessing.
• Professor Ye told Ji Jue to keep the gift and suggested he demand more from Yu Hanguang when apologizing; Ji Jue borrowed Ball Bro to process the bone.
• The convoy reached the Observation Station, where the lights of old Quancheng appeared beyond the mountain road.

Ji Jue finished refining the Metal and Iron Essence Blessing into crystal-structured mercury, then accompanied Ye Xian to report at the Quancheng camp. He sensed the Heavenly Origin Lineage’s vast Realm of Encirclement and briefly hoped a Celestial could resolve Spring City’s crisis, but the chapter ended with his confidence shattered.

• Ji Jue and Devil-Crafted Ball tested the refined mercury, which resisted a powerful strike before breaking, and identified its structure as an imitation of Minerva’s crystals.
• Ji Jue soothed Little Cow and Horse after neglecting it, then convinced it that its sacrifices were for their future together.
• Ji Jue reported his preliminary work to Ye Xian, who praised the result before taking him to report at the camp.
• Ye Xian explained that Quancheng Ruins was nearing a fall into the Vortex and that the Heavenly Origin Lineage’s Realm of Encirclement controlled the surrounding region.
• Ji Jue felt reassured by the Realm of Encirclement and imagined a Celestial might save Spring City, but ten minutes later he regretted believing the situation was manageable.

Ji Jue learned why Tao Cheng had become Hai Zhou’s Garrison Commander despite his dementia, then followed Ye Xian into a Taiyi Ring meeting where she confronted Master Zhou over Quancheng’s reconstruction plans. The chapter ended with an explosion in the lounge where the apprentices had gathered, while Ye Xian calmly called it normal.

• Ye Xian explained that Tao Cheng had held Quancheng alone for at least two hours during its fall, sacrificing much of his soul before later becoming Hai Zhou’s Garrison Commander.
• Ye Xian told Ji Jue not to investigate why Quancheng had fallen, and he agreed to follow her advice.
• Ye Xian took Ji Jue to a Taiyi Ring meeting, where Master Zhou tried to pressure her into sharing her Spirit Essence Refinement technique.
• Ye Xian agreed to oversee the plan but demanded that Master Zhou reveal his Workshop’s Myriad Sources Convergence technique, then dismissed a minor craftsman who tried to speak.
• A staff member reported that apprentices were fighting in the lounge, and a moment later an explosion shook the building as Ye Xian calmly drank her tea.

Ji Jue entered a lounge where Zhou Cheng and other craftsmen tested him with a Spirit Essence puzzle, then mocked him for being from Tide Sound Workshop. After the group’s hostility turned violent, Ji Jue attacked Zhou Cheng and several others and prepared to fight the remaining opponents.

• Ji Jue reunited enthusiastically with Lou Feng, who introduced him to Zhou Cheng and the assembled craftsmen as a disciple of Tide Sound Workshop.
• Zhou Cheng offered Ji Jue a Spirit Essence puzzle, but Ji Jue solved all seven layers while Zhou Cheng struggled and triggered an explosion.
• Ji Jue challenged the group’s hostility and taunted them about their elders’ defeats at the hands of his teacher.
• A woman and a fat man insulted Ji Jue, so he struck them with a newly made silver weapon and left them badly injured.
• Ji Jue asked whether anyone else intended to withdraw, then slapped Zhou Cheng, broke his jaw, and hurled him into the fat man before promising to teach the group about tolerance.

Ji Jue fought off Zhou Cheng and the other Taiyi Ring apprentices, dismantling their attacks and beating them down while Lou Feng tried to stay out of his way. He was still demanding an apology when the doors burst open and a group of people arrived, apparently just in time to prevent the fight from turning fatal.

• Ji Jue ambushed Zhou Cheng, then used mercury armor and mechanical arms to overpower the apprentices who attacked him.
• Ji Jue disabled Xiao Lu and her allies, broke through their defenses with Disintegration Art, and struck down the remaining attackers.
• Ji Jue smacked Lou Feng, then stopped Zhou Cheng from using a dark, icy arrow by having the armored vehicle fire a warning burst beside him.
• Ji Jue repeatedly slapped Zhou Cheng for attempting an ambush and demanded that he apologize for failing to make Ji Jue use his full strength.
• Ji Jue turned toward Lou Feng, but his teacher shouted for him to stop as the doors burst open and a group of grim-faced people arrived.

Ji Jue’s fight with Zhou Cheng and the other students drew their teachers into a confrontation with Ye Xian, who exposed the insults that had provoked the beating. The gathering ended with the opposing artisans silenced and Master Duan beginning to address Ye Xian.

• Ji Jue rejected Zhou Cheng’s cry of “Grandpa,” and Zhou Zhong attacked him before Ye Xian arrived and dispersed the pressure.
• Zhou Zhong objected to Ji Jue’s violence, but Ji Jue’s deadly weapons and Little Cow and Horse’s arsenal made the onlookers reconsider how restrained he had been.
• Ji Jue showed Ye Xian a Heart Poison Arrow he had taken from Zhou Zhong, and Ye Xian explained its lethal effects as Zhou Zhong’s grandson fainted.
• A craftsman demanded an explanation for the beating, but Little Cow and Horse played a recording of the students’ insults and Ye Xian’s earlier advice to endure provocation.
• Ye Xian said the artisans had looked down on Tide Sound Workshop, and the gathering fell silent as Master Duan finally addressed her.

Ye Xian punished Ji Jue by assigning him dangerous work, then used his confrontation with the craftsmen to secure compensation for him. Afterward, she taught Ji Jue that strength determined whose choices were respected, and sent him off to work while Tao Gong quietly watched events from the Hai Zhou outpost.

• Ye Xian assigned Ji Jue to process four batches of contaminated isolation facilities as punishment, then challenged the craftsmen to decide their own consequences.
• Ji Jue hinted that the craftsmen's valuables would make suitable compensation, and they handed over Blessed Creations and other valuables to avoid harsher punishment.
• Zhou Zhong offered Zhou Cheng as a target for punishment, but Ji Jue's gun first misfired and then unexpectedly wounded Zhou Cheng, prompting Zhou Zhong to leave with his people.
• Ye Xian gave Ji Jue the Heart Poison Arrow and explained that strength, not reason or civility, allowed someone to walk their own path.
• Ji Jue surrendered the collected equipment to Ye Xian, who sent him to work; at the Hai Zhou Garrison Commander's office, Tao Gong wondered whether anything important had happened and smiled faintly.

Tong Shan returned from exploring Quancheng and learned that equipment repairs would be delayed, but he knew an artisan who might help. Meanwhile, Ji Jue’s relentless work at the Recycling and Processing Department had made Lou Feng his exhausted assistant, a punishment Kong Qingyan had sent him to endure after he lost to Ji Jue twice.

• Tong Shan’s team returned from Quancheng with recovered materials and captured cultists, and Lü Yingyue advised them not to overwork themselves.
• Lü Yingyue told Tong Shan that the Taiyi Ring’s artisans were too busy to repair or replenish his team’s equipment, and he said he knew an artisan who could help.
• Ji Jue worked around the clock processing scrapped equipment, while Lou Feng assisted him and endured his nonstop singing.
• Lou Feng recalled that Kong Qingyan had sent him to work with Ji Jue so he could learn from stronger people, reminding him that he had already lost to Ji Jue twice.

Ji Jue let Lou Feng take over dismantling equipment while he reflected on his rapid progress and future goals, then encountered a stray sheepdog named CEO. When he turned over the dog tag, he recognized the mark of Sky Rail Group.

• Lou Feng angrily took Ji Jue’s tools and dismantled a sealing unit, determined to prove himself.
• Ji Jue reviewed how dismantling the Recycling and Processing Department’s equipment had rapidly advanced Deus Ex Machina and considered seeking the Axis of Domination blessing.
• Ji Jue left the workroom and found a friendly sheepdog with a broken leash and an old tag bearing the name CEO.
• Ji Jue turned over the dog tag and recognized the Sky Rail Group mark.

Ji Jue rushed to the Recycling Department Workshop after a Fiendification Pollution leak, where he found Lou Feng suppressing a mutated containment device. Ji Jue trapped the creature in mercury and began to destroy it with Disintegration Art.

• Ji Jue encountered a sheepdog wearing a Sky Rail Group tag that identified itself as the CEO, and it urged him toward the Recycling and Processing Department before vanishing.
• An explosion and alarm revealed a heavy Fiendification Pollution leak at the Workshop, so Ji Jue drove Little Cow and Horse to the scene.
• Ji Jue learned that Old Lou remained inside and used the Workshop cameras to see a mutated containment device attacking Lou Feng.
• Lou Feng struggled to pin down the creature as it broke through the Workshop’s containment, and Ji Jue crashed in with barrels of mercury.
• Ji Jue buried and sealed the mutated equipment beneath hardened mercury, then pressed his finger to its Blood Eye and unleashed Disintegration Art.

Ji Jue destroyed the corrupted containment equipment, trapped the escaping spirit essence in mercury, and helped the Recycling Department avoid serious losses. Tong Shan offered to turn the incident into a report praising Ji Jue and Lou Feng, then asked Ji Jue whether he needed a favor.

• Ji Jue dismantled the containment equipment and sealed the Mutated Creature’s escaping spirit essence inside a shrinking mercury cube, astonishing Lou Feng.
• Ji Jue told the Supervisor the accident could go unreported, then comforted the injured apprentice and arranged for Zhao Yan to treat the workers to dinner.
• Tong Shan warned Ji Jue that the alarm made the incident hard to conceal, but proposed reporting it as a battle against the Evil Transformation Cult.
• Ji Jue welcomed Tong Shan and asked who they were going to kill when Tong Shan offered to help him.

Tong Shan brought damaged survey equipment to Ji Jue for professional repairs, and Ji Jue impressed him by quickly assessing the gear and examining Tong Shan’s custom Blessed Armament. The chapter ended with Ji Jue offering to upgrade it.

• Tong Shan asked Ji Jue to repair damaged equipment from the Artisan Association, and the two joked about Ji Jue’s habit of cursing the Governor online.
• Tong Shan discussed developments at the outpost with Ji Jue until Ji Xue arrived carrying crates of damaged survey gear.
• Ji Jue examined the protective suits, pollution masks, camp equipment, and electronic devices, then asked whether the weapons were also coming for repair.
• Tong Shan handed Ji Jue his dual-blessing banner, and Ji Jue recognized its craftsmanship and explained how its blessings enhanced Tong Shan’s abilities.
• Tong Shan offered to provide any needed materials, and Ji Jue asked whether he wanted the banner upgraded.

Ji Jue restored and customized Tong Shan's team's equipment, impressing Tong Shan and Ji Xue enough that they urged him to join their expedition to Quancheng. After Professor Ye gave Ji Jue permission to go, Lou Feng refused—then showed up at the meeting point the next morning.

• Ji Jue returned the team's equipment spotless and upgraded Ji Xue's protective suit for speed while strengthening Tong Shan's armor.
• Tong Shan tested his reinforced suit and used the restored Blessed Armament to stop Little Cow and Horse's machine-gun fire with precise telekinesis.
• Ji Xue urged Tong Shan to recruit Ji Jue after seeing the extensive repairs and spare parts, and Tong Shan invited Ji Jue to join the team in Quancheng.
• Ji Jue called Professor Ye, who told him to go on his own, then asked Lou Feng to come along; Lou Feng refused.
• Lou Feng arrived at the meeting point the next morning carrying bags and wearing a scowl.

After a sweeping security purge uncovered spies, criminals, and Evil Transformation Cult believers, Ji Jue’s team set out for Quancheng with Lou Feng joining them. Lou Feng’s teacher had challenged him to leave the safety of his privileged life and seize his own future, but the journey began with him feeling out of place among Ji Jue’s easygoing companions.

• Lü Yingyue ordered a sweeping operation at the outpost, where security teams uncovered wanted criminals, Empire spies, false-identity profiteers, and Evil Transformation Cult believers.
• Ji Jue prepared for the Quancheng expedition with Little Cow and Horse, while Tong Shan assured Lou Feng that the team would protect his evacuation if trouble arose.
• Kong Qingyan told Lou Feng that his hesitation showed he had not understood his colleagues, then challenged him to compete for what he needed rather than remain safely dependent on his family.
• Kong Qingyan cut off Lou Feng’s supply of materials, telling him to live like a stray dog and seize his own future.
• Ji Jue, Lou Feng, Tong Shan, Ji Xue, and Ji Liu traveled toward Quancheng, where Ji Jue quickly joined the group’s banter and left Lou Feng feeling homesick.

Ji Jue joined Tong Shan’s advance team as they entered Quancheng, where the team evaded a huge shadowy creature and then became trapped in a repeating street pursued by a smiling face. The vehicle stopped before a ruined doorway as the face urged Ji Jue to come inside and eat.

• Ji Jue sold and handed out trial gifts to Tong Shan’s team while learning that he was the weakest member by cultivation rank, though Lou Feng had recently advanced to Metamorphosis.
• Tong Shan led the team into Quancheng and concealed both vehicles with precise telekinetic control.
• Xu Guan warned the team to stop when a towering shadow creature swept through the ruins, but Tong Shan’s concealment kept it from finding them.
• After the creature departed, Ji Xue explained that Quancheng held many strange hazards, and the team continued toward an anomaly-dense zone.
• Ji Jue saw a vision of prosperous Quancheng before the ruined streets returned, and a repeating route led the team past a doorway whose smiling face invited them to eat.
• The vehicle stopped in front of the doorway as the face pressed against the window and asked Ji Jue to eat with it.

Ji Jue and the scouting team escaped a relentless ghostly apparition in Quancheng, then learned that the city was haunted by remnants of its fallen citizens. When the apparition left a mark on Ji Liu, Ji Jue removed it with his bone blade without injuring him.

• Ji Liu crushed and burned one apparition, but a doorway appeared and another copy tried to drag him inside.
• Ji Jue restrained the ghostly figures with mercury while Tong Shan drove the car away, though the apparition’s hidden source remained unknown.
• Ji Xue explained that ghosts and other strange remnants were everywhere in Quancheng, born from the city’s catastrophe and its victims’ suffering.
• Ji Liu discovered a black fingerprint on his protective suit, and Ji Jue used his bone blade to erase the mark without cutting him.

Ji Jue’s team was trapped by a swarm of residual spirit conglomerates that accused them of running someone over and demanded payment. Ji Jue transformed his protective suit and stepped out to confront them, leaving the creatures stunned by the sight of his bloodied, grinning form.

• Ji Jue healed Ji Liu and sealed the contaminated handprint he removed from Ji Liu’s protective suit.
• Ji Jue learned that Xu Guan was mapping Quancheng while Tong Shan coordinated their route, and he began writing notes on Fluid Alchemy after hearing that Ye Chun had been sharing stories about him.
• Xu Guan and Tong Shan ordered the vehicle to stop when blood spread beneath its wheels and a shrieking spirit accused them of running it over.
• Tong Shan explained that the apparitions were residual spirit conglomerates that attracted more Things, as the creatures swarmed the vehicle and disabled its engines.
• Ji Jue asked Tong Shan to let him try, transformed his protective suit into a bloodstained, corpse-like form, and stepped out to face the spirits.

Ji Jue used his Quancheng doctor authority to overpower a ghostly figure, perform brutal treatment, and drain it and the surrounding shadows of their blood and spiritual substance. The vehicle escaped the dark maze and reached the permanent exploration team's base.

• Ji Jue recognized the ghostly figure as a patient and pinned it down, using the Bone Blade to amputate limbs and remove its organs.
• Ji Jue ordered the surrounding ghostly shadows to donate blood, while Little Cow and Horse consumed the blood and he refined the gathered substance into a crimson crystal.
• Ji Jue announced the patient's rescue was successful and demanded payment, leaving the passengers stunned by his actions.
• Lou Feng insisted Ji Jue was an exception among Artisans, while Xu Guan suspected he belonged to the Evil Transformation Cult.
• Ji Liu drove the group through the maze-like darkness until they reached the permanent exploration team's base.

Ji Jue discovered that the outpost was a trap set for the reinforcements, and he warned Tong Shan just before the attack began. Tong Shan revealed the enemy’s hidden assault and unleashed Yesterday Once More, leaving the disguised attacker shattered as the base began to collapse.

• Ji Liu and Tong Shan completed the outpost’s verification, and Old Tian let the advance team enter the injured camp.
• Lou Feng learned that Commander Lou was his aunt, while Ji Jue secretly accessed the signal tower and found messages revealing a plan to ambush the reinforcements.
• Ji Jue warned Tong Shan that the cargo contained explosives, prompting Tong Shan to send others to help unload and Xu Guan to move near him.
• Tong Shan launched Old Tian away with telekinesis, then used his banner to expose the ruined base and unleash Yesterday Once More against the illusion.
• A disguised attacker lunged at Tong Shan but was crushed by the recreated destruction, and Tong Shan’s banner split the ground as the base began to collapse.

Tong Shan and the team fought the Evil Transformation Cult after exposing its trap, while Ji Jue unveiled homemade rocket artillery that devastated the attackers. The surviving cultists charged Jiang Xuan, who took up a heavy machine gun and opened fire.

• Tong Shan destroyed the illusion and the Secret Rite prison cage, then confronted Yan Chong and Ling Zhi as the two Rebirth-rank cultists attacked him.
• More than twenty cultists emerged from hiding, and Ji Liu ordered the team to retreat while Jiang Xuan raised an iron wall to shield them.
• Ji Jue fired a homemade rocket cluster launcher, killing more than half the attackers and scattering the survivors.
• A giant lizard-like cultist and the remaining cultists charged Jiang Xuan, making him their target.
• Ji Jue handed Jiang Xuan a heavy machine gun, and Jiang Xuan smiled and pulled the trigger.