Recaps

Lu Bai eliminated the remaining Parasitic Organisms and Deathmatch contestants, ending the second Deathmatch Showdown as the last one standing. Back in the hall, he checked his rewards and found that he could permanently retain one ability from the showdown.

• Lu Bai killed seven Parasitic Organisms during a discussion about their surrender.
• Lu Bai found a couple of Deathmatch contestants at a mountain overlook and turned them to dust, earning enough points to finish in first place.
• Lu Bai left a defensive clump of energy inside Chu Yapeng before the Deathmatch Showdown ended.
• Lu Bai returned to the hall, where the Deathmatch System listed his rewards and the ability Flash Time.

Lu Bai reviewed his Deathmatch Showdown rewards, upgraded his titles, and kept Ink Dye rather than Five Immortals Sealing. At the school’s results announcement, the staff revealed that Lu Bai had ranked first, leaving Chen Li stunned and angry at Liang Fuzhong.

• Lu Bai replaced Decapitation Butcher with Frenzied Slaughter and combined titles to upgrade his equipped titles.
• Lu Bai chose to keep Ink Dye instead of Five Immortals Sealing and checked his updated personal interface.
• Staff members announced the students’ Deathmatch Showdown results while Chen Li and the counselors listened.
• A staff member announced that Class 05B’s Lu Bai had earned a title and ranked first, shocking the venue.
• Chen Li confronted Liang Fuzhong and said he would verify Lu Bai’s result himself.

Lu Bai claimed he had placed first in two Deathmatch Showdown rounds, but Chen Li and the counselors accused him of lying and threatened to expel him. The database confirmed Lu Bai’s claim, prompting the school’s leaders to prepare an apology while Lu Bai left the venue and approached a pair of siblings.

• Students and faculty crowded around Lu Bai after he ranked first in the third round, and Chen Li dismissed the result as unconfirmed.
• Lu Bai told Chen Li he had also placed first in the first round, but Chen Li and several counselors called him a liar and threatened to expel him.
• Lu Bai gave a staff member the arena numbers for both rounds, then left after Chen Li waved him away.
• A staff member checked the database and confirmed that Lu Bai had placed first in both rounds, leaving Chen Li stunned.
• Vice Principal Guan escorted Chen Li to the principal’s office and said the school would need to apologize to Lu Bai.
• Lu Bai quietly left the venue, passed the crowd at the campus gate, and headed toward a pair of siblings.

After Lu Bai won first place in the Deathmatch Showdown for three consecutive rounds, his counselor and Vice Principal Guan rushed to find him and persuade him to stay at Zudian Campus. Guan offered him two million Livability Coins, and the chapter ended with Principal Pu Xueli arriving to meet him.

• Lu Bai waited at the school gates with Lu Qingyan and Lu Ziyi, expecting school staff to bring him money.
• Counselor Liang Fuzhong found Lu Bai and brought him and his siblings to a reception room.
• Vice Principal Guan Yongxiao reassured Lu Bai that he could remain at Zudian Campus and promised the school would deal with Chen Li.
• Guan offered Lu Bai two million Livability Coins for his results, startling Lu Qingyan and Lu Ziyi.
• Principal Pu Xueli arrived with Chen Li and introduced himself to Lu Bai.

After Zudian Campus apologized and paid Lu Bai, he shared some of the money with Lu Ziyi and received offers from three stronger campuses. He declined them, then went to practice his breathing exercises, leaving Livability City after balking at an overpriced Coke.

• Principal Pu Xueli had Chen Li apologize to Lu Bai, and Lu Bai accepted while keeping up a cordial front.
• Lu Bai transferred a million to Lu Ziyi, and Zudian Campus paid him another two million.
• Lu Bai received enrollment offers from Chuzhong, Yuji, and Zhaoxiku, then politely declined them.
• Lu Bai shared a meal with Lu Ziyi and Lu Qingyan before heading out to practice breathing exercises.
• Lu Bai stopped at a high-end convenience store for Coke, but left when the cashier charged ten yuan for a bottle that cost three yuan elsewhere.

After placing first in two consecutive rounds of the Deathmatch Showdown, Lu Bai drew attention at school but remained wary of people trying to approach him. He returned to his routine and prepared for his third round, while Lu Ziyi and Lu Qingyan argued at home.

• Students whispered about Lu Bai's results and the near-expulsion, while school factions waited to learn more about him.
• At the combat training arena, a gaunt old man praised Lu Bai and hinted that someone wanted information about him; Lu Bai questioned him, and the old man left without reporting to anyone.
• The gaunt old man watered a plant and hoped his warning had made Lu Bai more cautious now that he was a hot commodity.
• Lu Bai resumed commuting between school and Livability City, and media interest faded after he and Lu Ziyi refused interviews.
• The night before Lu Bai's third Deathmatch Showdown round, Lu Ziyi told Lu Qingyan to go to bed, and Lu Qingyan teased her about buying bad meat until Lu Bai withdrew to the bathroom.

Lu Bai entered the third round of the Deathmatch Showdown and chose Late-stage Expert from the Ability Pool. After arriving in a dark forest arena, he encountered a strange black Snake coiled around an ancient tree.

• Students gathered at the venue, where they recognized Lu Bai as a two-time first-place contestant and gave him space.
• Deputy Director Liang Fuzhong delivered a speech, and the third round began.
• Lu Bai hid his secondary titles, reviewed the three abilities offered, and selected Late-stage Expert.
• Lu Bai explored the forest arena and heard an unexplained whisper.
• Lu Bai found a pitch-black Snake watching him with reddish-brown, slit-pupiled eyes.

Lu Bai escaped a hostile black-scaled great serpent in the forest and reached a wary village, where a young girl offered him lodging. Inside her bare house, he noticed a finely crafted miniature replica of the building beside an incense burner.

• The black-scaled great serpent attacked Lu Bai, but he used darkness and [Flash Time] to evade it until it retreated beneath a cloud of poison mist.
• Lu Bai left the forest and reached a shabby village, where the villagers grew frightened after learning he had come from Qinggang Forest.
• The village elder allowed Lu Bai to choose a household to stay in, and a dark-skinned young girl invited him into her home.
• Lu Bai entered the girl's house and examined a miniature replica of it standing beside a porcelain incense bowl.

Lu Bai learned from Xiao Li that supernatural powers were organized under the Four Great Sects and that people had recently disappeared after Grandmother Wang San vanished. That night, as the village grew quiet under the fog, a strange figure appeared on the stone path outside his room.

• Lu Bai calmed the frightened Xiao Li and asked about the miniature shrine called the God of Wealth Tower.
• Xiao Li explained the ranks of immortals and warned Lu Bai that people had gone missing and that traveling alone after dark was dangerous.
• Xiao Li cooked Lu Bai noodles and prepared a bed for him.
• Lu Bai considered how to find other Deathmatch Showdown participants, then noticed the nearby insects had fallen silent.
• Lu Bai saw a naked figure with unusually long arms standing on the mist-covered stone path.

Lu Bai confronted a Fox Immortal at Xiao Li's house and met Tao Gui, an Incense Officer investigating the village's disappearances. Tao Gui began tracking the immortal as villagers gathered, but the village elder arrived before the search concluded.

• Lu Bai resisted the Fox Immortal's bewitching sighs and approached it, but it escaped after a farmer and three youths arrived.
• The Fox Immortal left a male villager unconscious, and the farmer stopped his apprentice from touching him.
• Tao Gui used incense to detect that the immortal was still moving around the village, then introduced himself to Lu Bai as an Incense Officer under Lord Bai the Fourteenth.
• Lu Bai told Tao Gui that the Fox Immortal was connected to the recent disappearances, and Tao Gui resumed the search.
• Villagers gathered outside, and the village elder asked Tao Gui whether he had found the evil spirit.

Tao Gui gathered Liu Family Village’s residents to draw out the Fox Immortal, and his ritual revealed a gray fox among the crowd. When the farmwife launched a surprise attack on Tao Gui, Lu Bai kicked her to stop it.

• Tao Gui asked the village elder to gather the villagers after his apprentices failed to locate the Fox Immortal with incense.
• Tao Gui performed Gaze Incense healing, while Liu Sheng explained the incense methods to Lu Bai.
• Tao Gui and his apprentices trapped and exposed a gray fox spirit, which attacked the villagers with a storm of sand and stones.
• The farmwife suddenly attacked Tao Gui from behind, and Lu Bai kicked her before she could kill him.

Lu Bai protected Grandpa Tao while he summoned Lord Bai the Fourteenth to deal with two Fox Immortals. After defeating them, Lord Bai took an interest in Lu Bai and invited him to visit the next day.

• Lu Bai kept the Fox Immortal at bay while Grandpa Tao prepared to summon Lord Bai the Fourteenth.
• The woman tried to distract Lu Bai, but he held his ground until Grandpa Tao entered a trance.
• Lord Bai the Fourteenth warned the two Fox Immortals to leave, but they attacked him instead.
• Lord Bai used two hairs to kill the gray fox and pierce the white shadow fleeing from the woman.
• Lord Bai asked Lu Bai his name, then invited him and Grandpa Tao to visit the next day before leaving Grandpa Tao's body.

Lu Bai traveled with Grandpa Tao to Lord Bai the Fourteenth’s temple in the county seat, learning that the spirit wanted to meet him as a potential incense officer. The chapter ended with Lu Bai standing before Lord Bai’s portrait inside the temple.

• Grandpa Tao led Lu Bai and his three apprentices through the woods, using incense and a respectful greeting to ward off unseen spirits.
• Grandpa Tao explained that Lord Bai the Fourteenth had many incense officers and wanted to meet Lu Bai, while Lu Bai remained uneasy about being possessed.
• The group reached the county seat near dusk and went straight to Lord Bai the Fourteenth’s temple.
• Grandpa Tao explained the three steps of becoming an incense medium and warned Lu Bai that contact with immortals could trigger the separation stage.
• Grandpa Tao led Lu Bai into the temple’s main hall, where Lu Bai studied Lord Bai the Fourteenth’s portrait above the shrine.

Lu Bai agreed to become Lord Bai the Fourteenth’s Incense Officer, but Lord Bai’s attempt to perform Take Method was interrupted when Chang Shengtian claimed Lu Bai had already been chosen for his own ritual. The two immortals argued over Lu Bai and ended on Lord Bai’s proposal that Lu Bai offer incense to both the Bai and Liu sects.

• Lord Bai the Fourteenth asked Lu Bai to become his Incense Officer, and Lu Bai agreed.
• Lord Bai began Take Method, but the process hit a snag and he abruptly disappeared from the hall.
• Lord Bai confronted Chang Shengtian in the mansion’s back courtyard and demanded to know why he was on his territory.
• Chang Shengtian said he needed an Incense Officer and revealed that his ritual was nearly complete, with only Open Top remaining.
• Lord Bai argued that Lu Bai should serve both the Bai and Liu sects, while Chang Shengtian insisted Lord Bai had arrived later.

Lu Bai became the Incense Officer of both Lord Bai the Fourteenth and Chang Shengtian, then went with Grandpa Tao to stay at his county-town home. As Lu Bai weighed his next steps, he resolved to hunt Deathmatchers despite having no way to locate them yet.

• Lu Bai learned that Chang Shengtian had already performed the Take Method on him, and Lord Bai the Fourteenth completed the process so both immortals could possess him.
• After leaving Lord Bai the Fourteenth's residence, Lu Bai accepted Grandpa Tao's offer to stay at his home and revealed that he could already produce white mist as an Incense Officer.
• Grandpa Tao told Lu Bai that Lord Bai the Fourteenth might soon assign him a territory and warned him about trouble among Incense Leaders in nearby villages.
• Lu Bai asked Grandpa Tao to keep an eye on Liu Family Village, while Grandpa Tao mistakenly assumed he meant a girl from the village.
• Grandpa Tao drank with Lu Bai, warned him to stay in the county town for safety, and Lu Bai carried him to bed before considering how to find and kill Deathmatchers.

Lu Bai practiced incense techniques for several days before meeting Incense Master Shi and his two adult apprentices at a restaurant. Lord Bai the Fourteenth urgently contacted his Incense Officers, leaving Lu Bai and Shi wondering what had happened.

• Lu Bai practiced controlling objects and learned to offer incense and borrow mana without mistakes.
• Lu Bai went to his usual restaurant, where its owner asked whether evil spirits might threaten the city.
• Incense Master Shi arrived with apprentices A Niu and A Ma and introduced them to Lu Bai.
• Lu Bai recognized A Niu and A Ma as Deathmatch participants and considered finding a chance to kill them.
• Lord Bai the Fourteenth contacted Lu Bai and Incense Master Shi through warmth in their palms, and Shi wondered whether something serious had happened.

Lu Bai and two Incense Masters traveled to Liu Family Village after Lord Bai the Fourteenth warned that Tao Gui's life incense had weakened. They entered the village at night, where intense yin energy extinguished their incense and torches and blocked their attempt to summon help, leaving them trapped in a loop.

• Lord Bai the Fourteenth sent Lu Bai, Incense Master Shi, and an old woman to investigate Tao Gui's weakening life incense in Liu Family Village, with Lu Bai leading the trip.
• Lu Bai insisted that Incense Master Shi bring his apprentices A Niu and A Ma, and the five set out for Liu Family Village before nightfall.
• The group approached the village through chilling winds and eerie whispers, then found its houses dark and apparently lifeless.
• Lu Bai entered the village, where the intense cold extinguished his incense and torch, and the others followed despite his warning.
• The old woman failed to Commune with Spirits because the cold prevented her incense from burning, and she discovered that she had been walking in circles.

Lu Bai led the group through Liu Family Village as an evil spirit controlled the villagers and blocked their escape. He guessed the Hu Sect was behind the mass possession and used rooster calls to disrupt its control, leaving the villagers confused and motionless.

• The old woman and Incense Master Shi asked Lu Bai to lead them, so he decided to inspect the village instead of trying to leave.
• Lu Bai and the others found the Guardian Immortal missing from Xiao Li's God of Wealth Tower, then saw hundreds of blank-faced villagers approaching.
• Lu Bai led the group around the villagers while scattering glutinous rice, and confirmed they could still use abilities that did not require burning incense.
• The evil spirit unleashed a shriek that intensified the cold and made the group struggle to move, so Lu Bai decided to fight back.
• Lu Bai inferred that the Hu Sect was controlling the villagers and had Incense Master Shi imitate a rooster's crow; the sound broke the villagers' puppet-like behavior and stopped them.

Lu Bai and the other Incense Masters confronted the village elder, who revealed himself as the evil spirit behind the villagers’ loss of control and tried to recruit them. Lu Bai drew on the power of his immortals and attacked the elder with his Materialist Iron Fist.

• The village elder emerged amid Yin wind and admitted that his plan was only beginning.
• Incense Master Shi’s blood arrows failed to harm the elder, while the old woman’s spike only pierced him slightly.
• A Niu and A Ma knelt and pledged allegiance to the elder, but Lu Bai rejected his offer to build a new order.
• The elder used illusions to daze Incense Master Shi, and Lu Bai slapped him back to his senses.
• Lu Bai covered his right arm in white spikes, wreathed his left arm in black smoke, and appeared above the elder to strike with his Materialist Iron Fist.

Lu Bai defeated the Fox Immortal possessing the village elder and learned that a faction of immortals was plotting to change the order and capture Reincarnated Demons. The chapter ended with Lu Bai destroying the Fox Immortal while reflecting that it had not considered him human.

• Lu Bai restrained the village elder and killed the two deathmatchers while A Niu and A Ma watched in shock.
• Incense Master Shi and the old woman praised Lu Bai as they examined the captured village elder.
• The Fox Immortal told Lu Bai that its faction had support from at least seventy percent of the immortals and mentioned Grandmother Wang San.
• A white-haired youth learned that Hu Jiao was in trouble and ordered the Yellow Weasel to investigate, then urged his companion to catch more Reincarnated Demons.
• Lu Bai forced the Fox Immortal out of the village elder and destroyed it.

Lu Bai and the other incense masters failed to summon Lord Bai the Fourteenth and were confronted by another powerful immortal, whom Lu Bai killed before they headed back to the county seat. There, Xiao Xueyin prepared a rebellion and urged the death fighters to seize their chance to overthrow the existing order.

• Lu Bai had the old woman summon Lord Bai the Fourteenth, but the incense burned away without a response, making her fear that something had happened in the county seat.
• A short old man in a yellow mandarin jacket appeared at Liu Family Village and challenged Lu Bai and the other incense masters.
• Lu Bai used Flash Time and a powerful blow of immortal mana to kill the old man in one strike.
• The old woman urged Lu Bai and Incense Master Shi to leave, and Lu Bai agreed to return to the county seat.
• In the county seat, Xiao Xueyin assigned the young people roles in a plan to start fires, cause a disturbance at the county office, and open the city gates.
• Fan Ding questioned whether they had to risk everything, but Xiao Xueyin argued that killing the immortal and joining the locals' uprising could free the death fighters.

Xiao Xueyin warned Lord Bai the Fourteenth that the Hu Sect and Yellow Sect were preparing an attack, while fighters set fires across the county. The Great Gate Seal blocked Lord Bai’s summons, and Huang Yuan appeared amid the chaos, leaving Incense Master Li stunned and the city’s people fleeing.

• The Yellow Weasel collected a roast chicken from Xiao Xueyin, ordered the fighters to begin their jobs, and left the courtyard.
• Xiao Xueyin met Lord Bai the Fourteenth and reported that the Hu Sect and Yellow Sect had joined forces and planned to attack that night.
• As fires and cries broke out across the county, Lord Bai the Fourteenth tried to summon immortal allies, but the Great Gate Seal swallowed his edicts.
• Fires spread through the north of the city while Li Fuzhu tried to organize his apprentices and prepare a ritual.
• Huang Yuan emerged from a collapsed inn, crushed people in his claws, and sent the crowd fleeing as Incense Master Li froze in fear.

A giant weasel terrorized the county while Lord Bai the Fourteenth was held back by Miss Hu Jiu, and the deathmatchers set the county office ablaze. Lu Bai and his companions confronted the weasel, where a black-and-white figure struck it with enough force to send it crashing through several houses.

• Incense Master Wang rushed to attack the giant weasel, but it tore him in half with a casual swipe.
• Miss Hu Jiu blocked Lord Bai the Fourteenth from leaving while fires spread across the county.
• Fan Ding and Brother Wang realized Xiao Xueyin might be in trouble and decided to go to him.
• Incense Master Li spotted Lu Bai, Granny Yun, and Incense Master Shi entering the county and hurried after them to warn them about the weasel.
• A figure wreathed in black and white slammed into the giant weasel and sent it flying through five or six houses.

Lu Bai defeated and killed the gigantic weasel Huang Yuan, then asked Incense Master Li what had happened in the city. Meanwhile, Miss Hu Jiu revealed that Xiao Xueyin belonged to her side, while Lord Bai the Fourteenth learned that the county yamen had been burned down.

• Lu Bai used Flash Time and a white spike to defeat Huang Yuan, then killed it when it threatened him.
• Incense Master Li celebrated Huang Yuan's death, and Lu Bai asked what had happened in the city.
• Lord Bai the Fourteenth and Miss Hu Jiu sensed a mishap and argued over whether it affected their plans.
• Fan Ding entered and announced that he and Brother Wang had burned down the county yamen.
• Miss Hu Jiu seized control of Brother Wang and revealed that Xiao Xueyin was one of her people.

Lu Bai rushed toward a massive blast and found Miss Hu Jiu overpowering Lord Bai the Fourteenth while holding Xiao Xueyin and the others. He confronted Miss Hu Jiu and asked what she meant by calling him a Reincarnated Demon.

• Miss Hu Jiu blocked Lord Bai the Fourteenth from attacking Xiao Xueyin, and the two began fighting.
• Granny Yun confirmed that Lord Bai the Fourteenth was absent from his shrine, while Lu Bai considered the fires around the city.
• A huge explosion shook the county town, and Lu Bai hurried toward the mushroom cloud as the Incense Masters went to help the townspeople.
• Miss Hu Jiu beat Lord Bai the Fourteenth into his curled-up defensive form and offered to spare him if he joined her side.
• Lu Bai arrived at the crater, greeted Miss Hu Jiu and the deathmatch participants, and asked her to explain what a Reincarnated Demon was.