Recaps

The Branch Alliance Leader explained that Chen Changan’s fame could help secure lasting support for the Heavenly Profound Sect, while the auction of his pills brought in an astonishing sum. After emerging from seclusion, Chen Changan received the ten million low-grade extreme origin stones and realized bidders had used the high prices to gain his goodwill.

• The Branch Alliance Leader told the elders that Chen Changan’s fame and prestige could help the Branch Alliance support the Heavenly Profound Sect even after he left.
• Bidders paid at least three million low-grade extreme origin stones for each of Chen Changan’s three supreme-grade Grade Four Pills, raising more than ten million in total.
• The Alliance Leader entrusted the auction proceeds to Zhan Kuang, who grew so anxious about safeguarding the stones that he stopped leaving home.
• When Chen Changan came out of seclusion, Zhan Kuang hurried over and returned the auction proceeds while describing how worried he had been.
• Chen Changan was surprised by the sale price and guessed that the bidders had wanted to get to know him; Zhan Kuang confirmed his guess.

Chen Changan declined to meet the factions interested in his Grade Four Pills and instead decided to raise his branch alliance’s rank by challenging a fourth-rank branch alliance. He prepared to head for the nearest one, the Taiming Branch Alliance, confident he could compete in pill refining.

• Chen Changan refused to meet the factions that had approached him and told Zhan Kuang he planned to challenge another branch alliance.
• Chen Changan told the Alliance Leader he would meet the factions only after he could refine Grade Five Pills.
• Chen Changan asked about challenging a fourth-rank branch alliance and learned he would compete against its strongest pill refiner.
• The Alliance Leader identified the nearest target as the Taiming Branch Alliance and warned that its best refiner might be able to refine Grade Five Pills.
• Chen Changan said he had a seventy percent chance of refining Grade Five Pills and asked for the way there so he could set off immediately.

Chen Changan left with Mu Yunyao and Da Huang to challenge another Branch Alliance, aiming to help his branch earn a promotion. The Taiming Branch Alliance Leader told three factions that Chen Changan would meet them after he could refine Grade Five Pills, leaving them intrigued by his rapid progress and mysterious origins.

• Chen Changan told Wang Ba and Guan Ao to keep cultivating, while Zhan Tian chose to train with them instead of visiting a brothel.
• Chen Changan took Da Huang along with Mu Yunyao to challenge another Branch Alliance, despite Da Huang’s protests.
• The Branch Alliance Leader told representatives of three factions that Chen Changan had left and would meet them once he could refine Grade Five Pills.
• The representatives questioned how Chen Changan could advance so quickly and wondered whether his origins were connected to a powerful background.
• The Branch Alliance Leader said Chen Changan lacked resources rather than ability, and the representatives decided to wait for his return.

Chen Changan, Mu Yunyao, and Da Huang stopped at the unusual Heavenly Water City during their long journey to the Taiming Branch Alliance. After discovering that its lone gate led to separate water and land districts, they chose to explore the water side first.

• Chen Changan told Da Huang that reaching the Taiming Branch Alliance would take at least five years and warned him not to speak because his jinxing words often came true.
• After traveling for nearly three years without incident, Chen Changan agreed to stop somewhere interesting and let Da Huang enjoy himself, as long as he did not cause trouble.
• Chen Changan found Heavenly Water City, a floating city divided between water and land, and the group decided to rest there for a few days.
• Chen Changan, Mu Yunyao, and Da Huang entered through the city's only gate and found that its road split toward the water and land districts.
• Chen Changan chose the left path to explore the water district first and told Da Huang to keep his jinxing thoughts to himself.

Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao entered Heavenly Water City’s City on the Water, where residents welcomed them warmly and revealed a rivalry with the City in the Sky. After settling in, Chen Changan asked a young man to explain the conflict, and the man began a story reaching back ten thousand years.

• Chen Changan and his companions chose the City on the Water and were greeted enthusiastically by its residents.
• Chen Changan, Mu Yunyao, and Da Huang settled into an inn, where they found that many furnishings and rooms incorporated water.
• Da Huang slipped away to explore, while Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao went out to investigate the City on the Water and its resources.
• Chen Changan stopped a young man and asked why the residents were so pleased that the group had chosen the City on the Water and what had happened with the City in the Sky.
• The young man invited Chen Changan and his companions to a restaurant and began explaining the conflict, starting ten thousand years earlier.

Chen Changan and his companions learned that the twin cities of Heavenly Water City had severed contact ten thousand years earlier, though Da Huang speculated the split resembled a breakup. After hearing about City on the Water’s rare resources, Chen Changan asked to buy some, but Da Huang was distracted by an offer to visit the Water Park.

• Da Huang pressed the City on the Water man to explain the bad blood between the twin cities.
• The man said the cities had once traded and interacted closely, but stopped communicating ten thousand years ago without fighting.
• Da Huang and Mu Yunyao suggested the rival city lords had broken up, but the man angrily insisted both men were not romantically involved.
• Chen Changan asked about rare resources, and the man said City on the Water had materials used to refine grade five pills.
• The man offered to lead Chen Changan and the others to buy resources, then mentioned a Water Park that caught Da Huang’s interest.

Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao spent a day exploring the City on the Water while Da Huang enjoyed its water park. The next day, Chen Changan began checking its resources and learned that two exceptional alchemy ingredients were not for sale.

• Da Huang rushed off to the water park after a local guide described its attractions, while Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao set out to explore the city.
• Chen Changan asked the guide to show them places where Mu Yunyao could have fun and shop, and the pair spent the day strolling around without buying resources.
• Da Huang returned delighted with the water park and said it ranked second only to brothels; Chen Changan decided to inspect resources the next day and then visit the City in the Sky.
• Da Huang headed back to the water park early, while Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao examined the City on the Water's resources with the guide.
• Chen Changan asked the price of the Holy Water Hibiscus and Heavenly Water Flower, but another person declared that they were not for sale.

Chen Changan accepted a generous gift of herbs from a shopkeeper in the City on the Water, then set out with Mu Yunyao and Da Huang for the City in the Sky. He expected a hostile reception because they had visited the City on the Water first, but the people of the City in the Sky welcomed them warmly.

• Chen Changan talked the shopkeeper into giving him ten stalks of each herb, then left the shop with Mu Yunyao and their guide.
• Chen Changan asked about visiting the City in the Sky, and the guide warned that its residents might be hostile; Chen Changan decided to go the next day after waiting for Da Huang.
• Da Huang returned the next morning, claiming he had spent the night drinking and talking with several beauties, and Chen Changan teased him about it.
• Chen Changan, Mu Yunyao, and Da Huang set off for the City in the Sky, where the residents welcomed them enthusiastically and praised their choice to visit.

Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao explored the City in the Sky while Da Huang eagerly accepted a brothel invitation. After receiving rare pill ingredients from a generous shopkeeper, Chen Changan was summoned to meet the city lord, who exposed his attempt to play the two cities against each other.

• Da Huang praised the City in the Sky after hearing it had brothels, then left with a local host while Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao stayed behind.
• Chen Changan toured the city with a local and heard that the feud between the City in the Sky and the City on the Water had no clear explanation.
• A shopkeeper offered Chen Changan forty each of two rare grade-five pill ingredients to outdo the gifts from the City on the Water.
• People from the City Lord's Mansion summoned Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao to meet the city lord.
• The city lord, whom Chen Changan suspected was a woman disguised as a man, accused him of exaggerating the City on the Water's gift and playing both sides.

Chen Changan learned why the two city lords of Heavenly Water City had fallen out and advised them to overcome their embarrassment and reconcile. The City in the Sky lord asked him to help resolve the feud, while Chen Changan insisted her remarks had all been compliments.

• Chen Changan told the City in the Sky lord that the rivalry between the cities stemmed from the city lords’ quarrel and suggested they talk things out.
• The City in the Sky lord explained that she and the other city lord had each believed the other was a man, confessed their feelings, and then discovered they were both women.
• The City in the Sky lord said an old rule requiring male city lords had forced them to disguise themselves, and Chen Changan argued that believing the rule had caused their misunderstanding and the cities’ conflict.
• The City in the Sky lord admitted that neither city lord could overcome the awkwardness of meeting again, despite there being no deep-seated hatred between them.
• The City in the Sky lord asked Chen Changan for advice because he had profited from both cities, and Chen Changan claimed her insults were compliments.

Chen Changan agreed to mediate between the City Lord of the City in the Sky and the City Lord of the City on the Water, who had both mistaken their mutual affection for romantic love and let their conflict divide the cities. After returning to the City on the Water, he urged its city lord to reconcile and reveal their true identities before their secret caused further harm.

• The City Lord of the City in the Sky asked Chen Changan to help change the strained situation between the two cities, and he realized both city lords wanted to reconcile but needed someone to break the deadlock.
• Chen Changan agreed to visit the City on the Water and speak with its city lord in exchange for a reward, then left with Mu Yunyao.
• Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao returned to the City on the Water, ignoring the locals' assumption that their city had prevailed over the City in the Sky.
• The City Lord of the City on the Water recognized that the City Lord of the City in the Sky had sent Chen Changan to her and explained that both women had mistaken their close bond for romantic love.
• Chen Changan told the city lord that friendship or family affection could also explain their connection, and urged both women to reconcile and reveal their identities before Heavenly Water City fell apart.

Chen Changan persuaded the City Lord of the City on the Water to reveal the truth alongside the City Lord of the City in the Sky. The two women confessed that they had hidden their identities and explained how their mistaken feelings caused the cities’ conflict, leaving the citizens laughing despite their lingering anger.

• Chen Changan convinced the City Lord of the City on the Water that hiding the truth would worsen the fallout, and she agreed to come clean.
• Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao returned to the City in the Sky, where its City Lord readily agreed to the plan.
• The two city lords removed the barrier between their cities and announced that they were both women, shocking the citizens.
• The city lords explained how they had fallen for each other while each believed the other was a man, and the citizens began laughing despite their anger.
• The city lords said they had confessed to end the cities’ impasse and questioned whether fear of an old prophecy, rather than women ruling, had caused their decline.

Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao resolved Heavenly Water City’s dispute, earned generous rewards, and left with Da Huang for the Taiming Branch Alliance. There, Chen Changan announced that he had come on behalf of his own branch alliance to challenge the establishment and advance in rank.

• Heavenly Water City’s residents accepted the two city lords’ explanation and praised them, though the crowd teased them about their feelings for each other.
• Chen Changan collected a hundred of each alchemical ingredient and five million low-grade extreme origin stones from each city lord as promised.
• Chen Changan and Mu Yunyao left Heavenly Water City with Da Huang, who complained that the brothel had closed for a three-day celebration.
• The group traveled directly to the Taiming Branch Alliance, where alchemists recognized that Chen Changan was not one of their own.
• Chen Changan told the Taiming Branch Alliance that he had come on behalf of his branch alliance to challenge its establishment and advance in rank.

Chen Changan arrived at the Taiming Branch Alliance and challenged its alchemists to secure promotion for the Qinglin Branch Alliance. Though the Taiming alchemists dismissed him as an overconfident Green-Robed Alchemist, one of them finally volunteered to face him.

• Chen Changan insisted that he could challenge the Taiming Branch Alliance alone and target its best alchemist, while Da Huang joked with him.
• Chen Changan learned from Da Huang that their branch alliance was called the Qinglin Branch Alliance and explained that he had chosen Taiming because it was nearby.
• A Taiming alchemist escorted Chen Changan onward and warned him that not everyone would be as good-tempered as he was.
• Word of the challenge spread through the Taiming Branch Alliance, where alchemists mocked Chen Changan and debated whom to send against him.
• The Taiming Alliance Leader asked for a volunteer, and one alchemist stepped forward to test Chen Changan.

Chen Changan began a pill-refining contest against the Taiming Branch Alliance’s Fifth Elder to earn the right to challenge its strongest alchemist. Chen Changan refined far faster than the Fifth Elder, and the pill fragrance appeared before the contest had finished.

• The Taiming Branch Alliance selected the Fifth Elder, an intermediate blue-robed alchemist, to test Chen Changan before allowing him to challenge their strongest alchemist.
• The Fifth Elder chose to refine grade four pills, and Chen Changan agreed to refine Immortal Spirit Pills, with quality and then quantity deciding the winner.
• Chen Changan and the Fifth Elder began refining their pills at nearly the same time, but Chen Changan’s technique and speed surprised the onlookers.
• The Taiming Branch Alliance members worried as the Fifth Elder sped up and began sweating while Chen Changan continued refining smoothly.
• The onlookers exclaimed when the pill fragrance emerged, signaling that Chen Changan’s pills were nearly finished.

Chen Changan produced six Supreme-Grade Immortal Spirit Pills, causing the Fifth Elder's furnace to explode and securing a decisive win. He stayed at the Taiming Branch Alliance to await its absent top alchemist and offered the Fifth Elder advice on pill refining.

• Chen Changan finished refining six Supreme-Grade Immortal Spirit Pills, impressing the Taiming Branch Alliance's leader and elders.
• The Fifth Elder panicked while watching Chen Changan and exploded his furnace before completing his pills, then admitted defeat.
• Chen Changan asked to challenge the alliance's best alchemist, but learned that the alchemist had been away for about three years with no set return date.
• Chen Changan chose to wait and asked the Taiming Branch Alliance to arrange accommodations for him and his companions.
• As the Fifth Elder escorted them, Chen Changan pointed out flaws in his pill-refining process, and the Fifth Elder thanked him for the guidance.

Chen Changan explained that he had impressed the Fifth Elder to push Taiming Branch Alliance’s strongest alchemist toward refining Grade Five Pills, giving him a chance to study the formula. After learning of Chen Changan’s skill, the alliance leader decided Huo Xiu had to return quickly for the challenge, while the elders worried Chen Changan might draw customers away to Qinglin Branch Alliance.

• Chen Changan told Da Huang he had impressed the Fifth Elder so Taiming Branch Alliance would be more likely to use a Grade Five Pill formula in the challenge.
• The Fifth Elder reported Chen Changan’s advice and alchemy skill to the alliance leader, who questioned whether Qinglin Branch Alliance had produced an exceptional alchemist by chance.
• The alliance leader learned that Huo Xiu had about a fifty-percent success rate with Grade Five Pills and decided Taiming Branch Alliance had little chance of winning without attempting them.
• The elders worried Chen Changan’s reputation could attract customers and alchemists away from Taiming Branch Alliance.
• The alliance leader ordered his people to find Huo Xiu and bring him back as soon as possible, making the challenge their highest priority.