Recaps

Xu Yi won the poetry gathering’s first two rounds with extraordinary poems, then composed a moving poem about love that left the crowd stunned and brought Xia Zimo to tears. The chapter left Xiao Fuchen and Second Young Master Zhu facing Xia Zimo’s demand that they pay the two hundred thousand gold they had wagered.

• Xia Zimo urged the contestants to finish writing, while Li Xiuluo conceded that Xu Yi’s first poem was beyond comparison and Jiang Nanxun and Liu Jiubian withdrew.
• Second Young Master Zhu announced the prompt “The ends of the earth,” and Xu Yi wrote a poem that stunned the gathering and defeated Xiao Fuchen’s hopes of winning.
• Xu Yi offered to end the contest after two rounds, but the crowd insisted on hearing the third poem, and Second Young Master Zhu revealed the prompt was “Love.”
• Xu Yi composed a poem about love and parting, moving Xia Zimo to tears and leaving everyone amazed.
• Xu Yi stopped Shaoguang from interrupting and took a ring from Xiao Fuchen, prompting Xiao to accuse him of insulting him.
• Xia Zimo confronted Xiao Fuchen and Second Young Master Zhu over their wager and demanded the two hundred thousand gold, which neither could afford.

Xu Yi and Xia Zimo joined the bidding for the plaque after Second Young Master Zhu traded the Auspicious Duck to settle his debt. The bidding shifted when Li Xiuluo presented a Yin Extremity Bead, and Jiang Nanxun challenged Young Master Zhu to think twice before accepting it.

• Xiao Fuchen tried to make Xu Yi pay his family's debt, but Xu Yi pressed him to explain himself, and Xiao Fuchen stayed silent to protect the Golden Box.
• Second Young Master Zhu offered the Auspicious Duck to settle the two hundred thousand gold debt, then took the duck and put it in a Spirit Beast Pouch.
• Young Master Zhu reprimanded Second Young Master Zhu and sent him away before announcing that the plaque would go to the highest bidder.
• Xia Zimo gave Xu Yi her remaining banknotes so they could combine their money to compete for the plaque.
• Li Xiuluo presented a Yin Extremity Bead as a birthday gift, and Xu Yi recognized it as resembling the Yin Extremity Scripture he possessed.
• Jiang Nanxun warned Young Master Zhu that the bead was not the Yin Extremity Scripture and admitted he had also taken an interest in the bidding.

Jiang Nanxun offered ten Divine Essence Pills for the sole license, but Xu Yi countered with an intact Upper Three-Rank Snake Demon corpse. Xu Yi proposed wagering all three treasures on a contest to decide who would receive the license, and suggested poetry as the contest.

• Jiang Nanxun offered Young Master Zhu ten Divine Essence Pills for the license.
• Xu Yi presented an intact Upper Three-Rank Snake Demon corpse, leaving Young Master Zhu unable to choose between the competing treasures.
• Xu Yi proposed that the Yin Extremity Bead, the Snake Demon corpse, and the Divine Essence Pills become stakes in a wager for the license.
• Li Xiuluo asked Xu Yi what contest he wanted, and Xu Yi proposed a contest of poetry.

At the Duke’s Mansion celebration, Xu Yi accepted Jiang Nanxun’s contest to launch a two-thousand-pound iron ball with True Qi. Jiang Nanxun sent his ball nine zhang and two chi into the air, and Xu Yi began his attempt.

• Jiang Nanxun proposed a round-robin Martial Arts contest and challenged Xu Yi to send a Heavy Iron ball higher than his.
• Xia Zimo pointed out that Jiang Nanxun was at the peak of the Qi Sea Realm, while Xu Yi was only at the middle stage.
• Jiang Nanxun used eight successive walls of Qi to launch his iron ball nine zhang and two chi high.
• Xu Yi stepped forward and formed a five-clawed wave of Qi toward the other iron ball.

Xu Yi revealed his Boundless Sea cultivation by raising the iron ball, forcing Jiang Nanxun to acknowledge his strength and leave. Li Xiuluo then challenged Xu Yi to escape a Three Talents Formation, and Xu Yi entered it but froze when black fog overwhelmed his mind.

• Xu Yi used the Return to Origin Palm and waves of Qi to propel himself into the air and send the iron ball soaring above the flagpole before it crashed into the ground.
• The crowd realized Xu Yi had reached the Boundless Sea, and Young Master Zhu apologized for his earlier hostility.
• Xu Yi asked Jiang Nanxun whether he was satisfied, and Jiang Nanxun admitted defeat before leaving while promising to fight him fairly another day.
• Li Xiuluo challenged Xu Yi to escape a Three Talents Formation within the time it took one stick of incense to burn, and Xu Yi accepted.
• Xu Yi entered the fog-shrouded formation, spotted a path out, then froze when a mass of black fog left his mind blank.

Xu Yi recognized Li Xiuluo as a Ghost King and pursued him to ask for Ghost King's Saliva, which he needed to break the restriction on the Yin Extremity Scripture. Li Xiuluo explained that the saliva was essential to his survival, and Xu Yi accepted his refusal, but Li Xiuluo stopped him as he was leaving.

• Xu Yi chased Li Xiuluo to Ba Bridge and invited him to drink in a pavilion.
• Li Xiuluo revealed his ghostly nature and attacked Xu Yi, but Xu Yi absorbed his black Qi with the Three Yin Wood.
• Xu Yi explained that he had seen through Li Xiuluo because of his Yin Eye, while his Ghost Fangs marked him as a Ghost King.
• Xu Yi asked Li Xiuluo for Ghost King's Saliva, and Li Xiuluo explained that he had only three drops and needed them to survive.
• Xu Yi stood to leave after accepting Li Xiuluo's refusal, but Li Xiuluo called him back.

Xu Yi heard Li Xiuluo’s tragic past and wrote a poem for his dead wife, earning Ghost King's Saliva in return. He then hurried to meet Lu Shanren, who told him that his poems had made him a coveted figure among the capital’s officials.

• Li Xiuluo told Xu Yi how a Wen family young master had killed him and his wife, and how he had become a Ghost King while seeking revenge.
• Xu Yi promised not to forget Li Xiuluo’s grievance and wrote a poem for his late wife at Li Xiuluo’s request.
• Li Xiuluo gave Xu Yi a small pot containing two drops of Ghost King's Saliva and promised to help him if needed.
• Xu Yi received an urgent signal from his golden token and ran to meet Lu Shanren at Xuanwu Gate.
• Lu Shanren told Xu Yi that his three poems from Duke Cheng's Mansion had reached the Third Prince and might have reached the Son of Heaven, prompting ministers to compete for him.

Xu Yi arranged to stay away from palace duties while preparing to cultivate, as Li Xiuluo and Marquis Xiao discussed new schemes against him. Xu Yi returned to find that Tianmao had been renamed Zimo Xuan.

• Lu Shanren reassured Xu Yi that the Commander of the Imperial Guard would not try to claim his allegiance and agreed to excuse him from palace duty until the Dragon Ascension List ceremony in three months.
• Xu Yi headed for Tianmao after parting from Lu Shanren, while Li Xiuluo entered a hidden palace beneath Azure Dragon Mountain and apologized to the Blood Bat Demon skeleton for failing to obtain the license.
• Marquis Xiao arrived and argued with Li Xiuluo before the Blood Bat Demon skeleton attacked him and swallowed his blood.
• Li Xiuluo told the Blood Bat Demon skeleton about Xu Yi, and Marquis Xiao requested permission to eliminate Xu Yi because he had become a Boundless Sea.
• The Blood Bat Demon skeleton gave Marquis Xiao a drop of Nine Nether Saliva, and Marquis Xiao outlined a second plan that required more resentment and hostility.
• Xu Yi arrived at his shop at dusk and discovered that its sign had changed from Tianmao to Zimo Xuan.

Xu Yi agreed to let Xia Zimo fund his shop and secretly mastered the Yin Extremity Scripture before traveling to Wen Manor to watch Second Young Master Zhu and a young man named Brother Wen leave. The chapter ended with Brother Wen ordering a steward to prepare a carriage.

• Xia Zimo offered three hundred thousand gold to take a stake in Xu Yi's shop, and Xu Yi accepted while naming it Zimo Xuan and refusing to claim dividends.
• Xu Yi asked Yuan Qinghua to approach Shopkeeper Shen and Shopkeeper Luo about joining the business, then studied the Yin Extremity Scripture and learned its three arts.
• Yuan Qinghua hired five apprentices, and Xu Yi left the shop after learning Xia Zimo had gone to look for a storefront.
• Xu Yi traveled to Wen Manor and listened as Second Young Master Zhu praised a beautiful woman to Brother Wen, who said he planned to take her as a concubine.
• After Second Young Master Zhu left, Brother Wen ordered a steward to prepare a carriage.

Xu Yi secretly took Young Master Wen’s blood, then returned to help Yuan Qinghua open Zimo Xuan. He walked with Xia Zimo to Ba Bridge as she told him she had to leave, unaware that Xiao Fuchen and the Head Butler were preparing to kill them.

• Xu Yi tracked Young Master Wen to a brothel, knocked him unconscious, and collected his blood before healing his finger.
• Xu Yi met Shopkeeper Shen and Shopkeeper Luo at Zimo Xuan and welcomed them as employees, offering to double their salaries.
• Xu Yi and Yuan Qinghua visited the new Zimo Xuan on Shenwu Main Street, where Xia Zimo was overseeing the sign’s installation.
• Xu Yi and Xia Zimo walked to Ba Bridge, where she told him she was leaving for a distant place; he gave her a voice-transmission orb and promised to wait.
• Xiao Fuchen and the Head Butler watched from vultures above, planning to kill Xu Yi and Xia Zimo before their flight rights expired.

Xu Yi and Xia Zimo survived the Heavenly Thunder Pearl blast, but Xia Zimo was gravely wounded while shielding him with her wings. After Xu Yi killed Xiao Fuchen and the Head Butler, he escaped the arriving Sky Patrol Knights and used the Python Bile Pearl to revive Xia Zimo, who woke in his arms.

• Xia Zimo shielded Xu Yi from the King Scorpion Needles with her enormous wings and took dozens of needles in her back.
• Xiao Fuchen dove toward Xia Zimo, but Xu Yi tore apart his vulture, struck him down, and killed the Head Butler with Cloud Burst Arrows.
• Xu Yi gave Xia Zimo pills, killed Xiao Fuchen when he could not provide an antidote, and found the Python Bile Pearl among his belongings.
• Xu Yi fled with Xia Zimo into the forest before the Sky Patrol Knights arrived, then carved a shelter with the Head Butler's saber.
• Xu Yi gave Xia Zimo the Python Bile Pearl, and she gradually woke and coughed up blue-black filth.

As Xia Zimo lay poisoned in Xu Yi’s arms, she revealed that she was the half-human, half-monster daughter of Xia Xingguang and explained why she had sought him out. By dawn, the Python Bile Pearl had suppressed the poison, and Xia Zimo’s condition began to improve.

• Xia Zimo confessed that she had lied to Xu Yi and described the strange changes that had overtaken her.
• Xia Zimo recounted how a letter from Xia Xingguang revealed her parents, her birth, and the seal that broke on her twenty-fifth birthday.
• Xia Zimo explained that she had traveled to find Xu Yi, deliberately gotten hurt to stay near him, and renamed Tianmao as Zimo Xuan to leave a mark on his world.
• Xia Zimo told Xu Yi she had been happy to die in his arms, then fell asleep while Xu Yi kept watch.
• The Python Bile Pearl helped suppress the Nine Nether Liquid, and the King Scorpion Needles fell from Xia Zimo as her breathing steadied.

Xia Zimo left Xu Yi after he could not accept their love, then learned from Auspicious Duck that her mother might be in the Western Ox Continent. As Old Wen tracked her demonic aura, Xu Yi returned to Futuo Mountain and found Yan Zi training at the forge.

• Xia Zimo left Xu Yi in the snowstorm, and he stayed behind, unable to overcome his feelings about loving a demon.
• Auspicious Duck told Xia Zimo that the Western Ox Continent was the Demon Race's holy land and that her mother might be there.
• Xia Zimo fled with Auspicious Duck when Old Wen arrived and searched the area with a Demon Searching Disk.
• Old Wen examined their tracks and decided to follow Xia Zimo from a distance before choosing what to do.
• Xu Yi returned to Futuo Mountain and found Yan Zi forging a short blade; he urged her to rest, but she said she was beginning to improve.

Xu Yi summoned the wraith of a Wen family retainer and obtained the first three levels of the Undefeated Golden Body after promising to help the man’s unborn son. After half a month of cultivation, Xu Yi reached the Late Qi Sea Realm.

• Xu Yi used the Yin Extremity Bead and the Wen family young master’s blood to summon a wraith in Willow Spring Street.
• Xu Yi learned that the wraith was a Wen family retainer who wanted him to visit his pregnant wife and pass the Undefeated Golden Body method to their son if she bore one.
• Xu Yi swore to fulfill the wraith’s request, and the wraith taught him the first three levels before entering the Yin Extremity Bead.
• Xu Yi returned to Futuo Mountain and secluded himself to study and practice the cultivation method.
• After half a month, Xu Yi broke through to the Late Qi Sea Realm.

Xu Yi mastered the third turn of the Undefeated Golden Body and reached the Late Qi Sea Realm, allowing him to use the Hidden Edge Style. His first full-power strike destroyed the Green Flat and sent the banquet guests fleeing into his cave abode.

• Xu Yi spent fifteen days refining weapons and consuming ninety-eight Top-grade Essence Restoration Pills to master the second and third turns of the Undefeated Golden Body.
• Xu Yi reached the Late Qi Sea Realm and tested his resilience by entering his own wall of qi.
• Xu Yi practiced the Hidden Edge Style on the Green Flat and found that six circles produced the strongest combined strike.
• Xu Yi unleashed twelve vortices that merged into a Qi Dragon and smashed through the Stealth Array before collapsing the Green Flat.
• The banquet guests rushed into Xu Yi's cave abode, and Young Master Zhu ordered everyone to leave.

Young Master Zhu discovered that Xu Yi lived across from him and went to apologize, hoping to settle their feud. When Xu Yi revealed that he had killed Xiao Fuchen, Zhu feared Xu would silence him and found himself trapped at the cave entrance.

• Young Master Zhu bribed the chief steward of Futuo Mountain to inspect the guest register and learned Xu Yi lived across from him.
• Young Master Zhu went to Xu Yi's cave to smooth over their past conflict, while Xu Yi pretended his destructive strike had been an accident.
• Young Master Zhu offered to punish his younger brother and Xiao Fuchen, but Xu Yi revealed that Xiao Fuchen was already dead and showed his Sumeru Ring.
• Young Master Zhu panicked and tried to move, but Xu Yi blocked the cave entrance and asked whether he planned to report him.

Xu Yi forced Young Master Zhu to provide a confession and a token proving his affair with the Third Prince's Consort, then asked him to obtain blood from someone in the Jiang Household. Xu Yi visited Zimo Xuan, saw how well the shop was doing, and reviewed its accounts.

• Xu Yi caught Young Master Zhu trying to send a Voice Transmission, broke the pearl, and made him plead for his life.
• Young Master Zhu gave Xu Yi a jade token and a blood-written confession to prove his affair with the Third Prince's Consort, then agreed to obtain blood from someone in the Jiang Household.
• Xu Yi sent Young Master Zhu away and rode to the city, where he visited Zimo Xuan and spoke with Shopkeeper Shen about its thriving business.
• Yan Zi showed Xu Yi around the shop and brought him the ledgers.
• Xu Yi reviewed the accounts and found that Zimo Xuan had earned over three and a half million gold in net profit, most of which he had spent.

Xu Yi learned that Yuan Qinghua had organized a pill-only auction for Zimo Xuan and decided to make it a major event by adding rare treasures. After entrusting the publicity to the shopkeepers, Xu Yi returned to Futuo Mountain to cultivate, still short of the pills he urgently needed.

• Yuan Qinghua told Xu Yi that Blood Artifacts were selling quickly and explained the plan for Zimo Xuan to hold an auction accepting pills as payment.
• Xu Yi judged the planned auction too small and brought out six Cloud Burst Arrows, a High-grade Blood Artifact, and a Dragon Beard to draw attention.
• Shopkeeper Luo, Shopkeeper Shen, and Yuan Qinghua recognized the treasures and eagerly agreed to use them to make the auction grand.
• Xu Yi recorded the treasures with an Imprint Pearl, returned them to his Sumeru Ring, and told the shopkeepers he would deliver them on auction day.
• Xu Yi returned to his cave abode with Yan Zi and summoned his remaining possessions in the cultivation room.

Xu Yi prepared for Zimo Xuan’s auction, discovered the crimson talisman hidden in the Xiao family letter, and inspected the treasures gathered for sale. The chapter ended with an old man insisting that his broken formation was a treasure after Shopkeeper Luo dismissed him.

• Xu Yi examined the crimson talisman concealed in the letter and saw it react to the Wailing Stick before he put it away.
• Yan Zi proudly showed Xu Yi the low-grade Blood Artifact she had forged, and Xu Yi later made three more Blood Artifacts himself.
• Yuan Qinghua told Xu Yi that more than five hundred bidders had secured plaques and that Zimo Xuan had collected over a hundred treasures.
• Xu Yi found thirteen Heaven Thunder Pearls in the auction storehouse, and Yuan Qinghua offered to sell them to him at thirty percent above market price.
• Xu Yi asked about formations, but Yuan Qinghua said none had been submitted for auction.
• Shopkeeper Luo ordered attendants to remove an old man who claimed his broken formation was a treasure, and Xu Yi questioned Luo’s treatment of him.

Xu Yi met with the old man in hemp clothes, who offered to sell him a Lesser Flame Formation and revealed that it relied on spiritual energy and spirit stones. When Xu Yi showed him a red card made of mid-grade Talisman Paper, the old man asked whether he came from the outside world, and Xu Yi confirmed that he did.

• Xu Yi brought the old man in hemp clothes to a private room and invited him to explain his offer.
• The old man in hemp clothes showed Xu Yi three flags and called them a Lesser Flame Formation, asking for a million gold.
• The old man described killing formations and said the flags could not be tested because Dayue had too little spiritual energy and few spirit stones.
• Xu Yi bargained with the old man, who revealed that the formation was worth at least ten low-grade spirit stones.
• Xu Yi showed the old man a red card, which he identified as mid-grade Talisman Paper, and confirmed that Xu Yi came from the outside world.

Xu Yi met Liu Qi, an exile from his homeland who had spent thirty years seeking a way back and believed an opportunity lay in the far west. After Liu Qi warned that this world placed a limit on cultivation and lifespan, Xu Yi agreed to join his search for the road home.

• Liu Qi told Xu Yi that he had been transported here from the Golden Talisman Sect and had struggled to survive while searching for a way home.
• Xu Yi pretended to remember a spiritually abundant homeland and demonstrated his Late Qi Sea Realm cultivation, convincing Liu Qi that they were countrymen.
• Liu Qi explained that his salvaged maps pointed to a possible opportunity in the Heavenly Buddha Kingdom, nearly a million miles away, and offered Xu Yi his Lesser Flame Formation if he joined him.
• Xu Yi refused at first but questioned Liu Qi about cultivation and learned that Soul Sensing Realm was the highest realm attainable in this world.
• Liu Qi warned Xu Yi that his talent and lifespan would be wasted if he stayed, and Xu Yi agreed to search for the road home with him.

Xu Yi agreed to let the old man in hemp clothes stay while he trained before attempting a return to their homeland, and learned the Spirit Guiding Art. At the auction, his Cloud Burst Arrows and green Jade Slip sold for high prices, while the Dragon Beard’s bidding began at a staggering fifty top-grade pills and left the crowd silent.

• Xu Yi accepted the Lesser Flame Formation from the old man in hemp clothes and agreed to cover the cost of their future journey through the Space Gate.
• The old man taught Xu Yi the Spirit Guiding Art, which drew spiritual energy from spirit stones, and agreed to stay as his guest.
• Xu Yi arrived at the auction and learned that the six Cloud Burst Arrows had sold for ten top-grade pills, with the final arrow fetching three.
• The green Jade Slip sold for seventeen top-grade pills, exceeding Xu Yi’s expectations.
• Shopkeeper Luo opened bidding on the Dragon Beard at fifty top-grade pills, but the crowd remained silent, and Xu Yi questioned its value.

Yao Junchi forcibly took the Dragon Beard and disrupted Zimo Xuan’s auction, prompting Xu Yi to promise a new auction and review the shop’s proceeds. After learning how many Supreme-grade Pills the event had earned, Xu Yi asked whether he could keep them all, shocking his partners.

• Yao Junchi seized the Dragon Beard and left after his pressure forced Xu Yi’s chair to collapse.
• Shopkeeper Shen identified the intruder as Yao Junchi, a Mid Soul Sensing Stage powerhouse, while Xu Yi resented his brute-force seizure.
• Xu Yi sent Yuan Qinghua to promise the crowd another auction in two months, and Yuan Qinghua calmed the dissatisfied bidders.
• Yuan Qinghua and Shopkeeper Luo reported the auction’s sales and commissions, while Shopkeeper Shen tallied Zimo Xuan’s expenses.
• Xu Yi confirmed the proceeds totaled 516 Supreme-grade Pills, including 251 for the shop, then asked if he could keep them all.
• Yuan Qinghua, Shopkeeper Luo, and Shopkeeper Shen protested that keeping the pills would damage Zimo Xuan’s reputation, and Xu Yi asked them to hear him out.

Xu Yi tried to borrow enough money to keep the auction’s top-grade pills, but Delong Money House initially offered only three million gold. After learning Xu Yi’s identity, the Second Shopkeeper approved the full eight-million-gold loan.

• Xu Yi admitted he could not pay the eight million gold needed to keep the pills, and Shopkeeper Shen suggested borrowing from Delong Money House.
• Shopkeeper Luo estimated that Zimo Xuan could borrow at most three million gold because it had operated for less than a month.
• Xu Yi and Yuan Qinghua met Delong Money House’s Second Shopkeeper and requested an eight-million-gold loan.
• When the Second Shopkeeper offered only three million gold, Xu Yi presented the wicked Daoist’s Yin Corpse as collateral.
• After a Green Bird delivered information identifying Xu Yi, the Second Shopkeeper approved the full eight-million-gold loan.

Xu Yi secured an eight-million-gold loan from Delong Money House by promising future assistance and writing a couplet, while his growing literary fame brought attention to Zimo Xuan. He then asked Liu Qi to test the Lesser Flame Formation with a defective mid-grade Spirit Stone.

• The Second Shopkeeper offered Xu Yi an eight-million-gold loan in exchange for a promise of future help and a couplet for the Donghua Immortal Temple, and Xu Yi agreed.
• Xu Yi wrote a couplet praising upright conduct, and the Second Shopkeeper processed the loan and promised to keep Xu Yi's identity confidential.
• At Zimo Xuan, Shopkeeper Shen rushed upstairs after Yuan Qinghua quieted the commotion, convinced Xu Yi's writing would make the shop famous.
• Xu Yi found Liu Qi sweeping snow in the courtyard and showed him a defective mid-grade Spirit Stone.
• Liu Qi confirmed the Spirit Stone could activate the Lesser Flame Formation, and Xu Yi proposed testing it.