Recaps

Yuan Mingzi sought the Blood Demon True Lord’s help against the Gongsun and Qu Clans, warning that their campaign threatened all of Tai Prefecture’s Demonic Path. He offered the Nine Demon Palace’s complete allegiance, but Li Wuyou hesitated, weighing the dangers and gains before deciding whether to accept.

• Yuan Mingzi arrived at Myriad Bone Mountain and requested an audience with the Blood Demon True Lord.
• Yuan Mingzi warned that the Gongsun and Qu Clans had seized part of the Nine Demon Palace’s territory and could threaten the Snow Robe Demonic Cult next.
• Yuan Mingzi argued that the Governor of Yang Province might also target the cult after the Nine Demon Palace fell.
• Yuan Mingzi offered to place the Nine Demon Palace, its territories, its disciples, and himself under the Snow Robe Demon Venerable’s command.
• Li Wuyou considered the offer’s enormous benefits and the danger of inheriting the Nine Demon Palace’s enemies, and did not accept immediately.

Yuan Mingzi brought the Nine Demon Palace under the Snow Robe Demon Venerable's command, uniting Tai Prefecture's Demonic Path as the Gongsun and Qu Clans prepared their offensive. Zhao Wujiu failed to break through to the Divine Mansion Realm, but Li Xinge reassured him and sent Elder Jiang and the Snowy Guard to Tai Prefecture.

• Yuan Mingzi submitted the Nine Demon Palace to the Snow Robe Demon Venerable, who appointed him Left Protector and ordered the forces to prepare for the Gongsun and Qu Clans.
• The Snow Robe Demon Venerable revealed himself as Li Xinge, and Li Wuyou discussed the Li Family's growing control of Tai Prefecture with him.
• Zhao Wujiu emerged from seclusion after failing to reach the Divine Mansion Realm, and Li Xinge promised the Li Family would support another attempt.
• Li Xinge ordered Elder Jiang to take the Snowy Guard to Tai Prefecture and follow Carefree's orders.
• The Nine Demon Palace's submission to the Snow Robe Demonic Cult shocked the Gongsun and Qu Clans and made their planned offensive more difficult.

Gongsun Boming and Qu Mingmei agreed to continue their campaign for Tai Prefecture despite the Snow Robe Demon Venerable, while Li Xinge sent Zhao Wujiu to aid the Snow Robe Demonic Cult. Li Qinglin broke through to the Qi and Blood Realm and worried about Li Qingshi’s progress, resolving to help his younger brother in the upcoming competition.

• Gongsun Boming and Qu Mingmei agreed to press their attack on Tai Prefecture and prepare to confront the Snow Robe Demon Venerable if necessary.
• Li Xinge revealed that the Li Family secretly supported the Snow Robe Demonic Cult and sent Zhao Wujiu to help it resist the Gongsun and Qu Clans.
• Li Qinglin used a Superior Qi and Blood Pill to break through to the Qi and Blood Realm after two months of cultivation in the Ancestral Land.
• Li Qinglin reflected that his achievement was ordinary among the Ancestral Land’s young cultivators and worried that Li Qingshi might not reach the Qi and Blood Realm in time.
• Li Qinglin resolved to lend Li Qingshi a hand in the coming Ancestral Land competition.

After Li Qinglin broke through to the Qi and Blood Realm, Li Yanfeng took him to meet Dou Changgeng and arranged for him to marry Dou Yunwan. As they flew home, Li Yanfeng revealed that Dou Yunwan’s brother was the Li Family Head’s confidante, explaining the match’s significance.

• Li Yanfeng congratulated Li Qinglin on breaking through and took him to the Dou Family residence in Baihe County Town.
• Dou Changgeng welcomed Li Yanfeng and Li Qinglin, praised the young man’s cultivation, and asked him to call him Uncle.
• Li Yanfeng proposed a marriage between Li Qinglin and Dou Changgeng’s granddaughter, Dou Yunwan, and Li Qinglin agreed to honor the arrangement.
• Dou Changgeng accepted the match, and the two elders tentatively set the wedding for early spring of the following year.
• After leaving, Li Yanfeng told Li Qinglin that Dou Yunwan’s brother was the Li Family Head’s confidante.

With the Li Clan Grand Competition approaching, Little Stone followed Sage Xuanji’s advice to face a Qi and Blood Realm beast in hopes of forcing a breakthrough. He fled the Silver Back Bear’s attack and returned to his cave badly wounded, still short of the breakthrough.

• Little Stone hunted a Black Striped Tiger and worried that he could not reach the Qi and Blood Realm before the upcoming competition.
• Sage Xuanji said Little Stone needed mortal danger to awaken his potential and directed him to challenge a Silver Back Bear.
• Little Stone found the Silver Back Bear and launched a surprise attack, but it reacted swiftly and sent him crashing through trees.
• Little Stone fled as the Silver Back Bear pursued him, using his movement technique to escape through the mountains.
• Little Stone returned to his cave at dusk covered in wounds and collapsed onto the tiger pelt.

Li Qingshi trained against a Silver Back Bear, broke through to the Qi-Blood Realm, and returned to Stone County. He secured permission to join the Ancestral Land Grand Competition, leaving for the Ancestral Land with the branch family’s other prodigies once the envoy arrived.

• Little Stone repeatedly fought the Silver Back Bear until he could exchange a move with it, then sensed a breakthrough approaching.
• Little Stone swallowed the Qi and Blood Pill Li Qinglin had given him and broke through into the Qi-Blood Realm under Sage Xuanji’s guidance.
• Little Stone said goodbye to the Silver Back Bear and returned home to reassure his mother before visiting the Stone County Branch Family.
• Little Stone asked Li Nanfeng and the elders to let him compete in the Ancestral Land Grand Competition, then revealed his Qi-Blood Realm cultivation.
• The elders approved Li Qingshi’s participation and planned to travel with him to the Ancestral Land after the envoy arrived.

Li Qingshi joined the Shi County Branch Family disciples traveling to the Ancestral Land for the Grand Competition, where the escort administrator discovered he had reached the Qi and Blood Realm at seventeen. The revelation surprised the clan, and Sage Xuanji noted that the Ancestral Land had some capable cultivators.

• The Shi County Li Family gathered to send its selected disciples to the Ancestral Land, while clan members compared Li Qingshi unfavorably with the young clan head.
• Li Nanfeng welcomed the Ancestral Land’s Cloud Boat and introduced the participants to escort administrator Li Xingdong.
• Li Xingdong inspected the roster, noticed Li Qingshi, and learned that he was seventeen and had reached the Qi and Blood Realm.
• The Branch Family members were stunned to discover Li Qingshi’s cultivation, and Li Xingdong became interested in the young disciple.
• Sage Xuanji told Little Stone that Li Xingdong had reached Qi and Blood Great Perfection just after turning thirty, then remarked that the Ancestral Land had some depth.

Little Stone left Stone County aboard the Ancestral Land’s Cloud Boat, traveling with young cultivators from the Li family’s branch families toward the clan competition. As the boat gathered more participants, he saw how formidable his rivals might be and rejected Li Nanfeng’s belated attention.

• Li Xingdong ordered the Stone County Branch Family’s young participants and leaders aboard the Cloud Boat, which took off for the Ancestral Land.
• Little Stone watched Stone County disappear below and, after speaking with Sage Xuanji, resolved to keep broadening his horizons on the cultivation path.
• The Cloud Boat collected young disciples from several branch families, and Little Stone grew anxious after sensing that some of them were far stronger than he had expected.
• Li Nanfeng approached Little Stone, but Little Stone coldly addressed him as Family Head and walked away, remembering how Li Nanfeng had only valued his talent.
• Li Xingdong’s companions praised his son’s chances in the competition, and Li Xingdong hinted that an even more extraordinary young contender had just become eligible to compete.

Little Stone arrived at Green Maple Valley with the Stone County Branch Family, reunited with Li Qinglin, and learned how formidable the Ancestral Land’s young cultivators were. As the brothers discussed the competition, a gigantic Demonic Tiger charged toward them.

• The Cloud Boat reached Green Maple Valley, where the arriving disciples saw the Green-Eyed Snake Lord guarding the valley and entered through its luminous barrier.
• Little Stone reunited with Li Qinglin, then greeted Li Nanfeng, and Li Qinglin took them to the Stone County Branch Family’s lodging.
• Li Qinglin told Little Stone that the Ancestral Land’s geniuses were far stronger than expected and that he hoped to place in the top hundred.
• A giant Demonic Tiger charged toward the brothers while fleeing from someone who ordered it to stop.

Li Qinglin and Li Qingshi encountered Little Hao, a child strong enough to subdue a Demonic Tiger who could also sense Sage Xuanji’s Divine Soul. The Ancestral Land Competition began, and Little Stone and the Stone County Branch Family headed to the Martial Arts Peak as thousands of participants gathered.

• Little Hao grabbed a Demonic Tiger by the tail and smashed it into a mountainside after it tried to flee with his meat.
• Little Hao sensed the faint aura of a Divine Soul on Li Qingshi, but Li Qinglin distracted him by pointing out the escaping tiger.
• Sage Xuanji explained that Little Hao had extraordinary senses and urged Li Qingshi to befriend him.
• The bell rang seven times to announce the start of the Ancestral Land Competition, and Green Maple Valley’s formation lit up.
• Little Stone joined Li Nanfeng and the Stone County Branch Family disciples as they made their way to the Martial Arts Peak among thousands of competitors.

The Ancestral Land tournament drew powerful guests and disciples to Martial Arts Peak, where Little Stone searched for Li Xingzong. After discovering Xingzong had reached the Innate Realm and watching Li Wuyou return, Wei Wuyang wondered whether the Li Family was full of monsters.

• Little Stone arrived at Martial Arts Peak with the Stone County Branch Family and waited among the tournament participants.
• Dozens of Innate Realm experts arrived at the main stand, where Wei Wuyang praised the Li Family’s young talents and asked about Li Xingzong.
• Sage Xuanji sensed that Li Xingzong had reached the Innate Realm despite being under twenty.
• Li Wuyou returned to the tournament, teased Li Xingzong, and greeted Li Xuantong and the other elders.
• Wei Wuyang sensed a dangerous aura from Li Wuyou and marveled at the Li Family’s extraordinary members.

At the Li Family Grand Competition, Sage Xuanji was astonished by the clan’s young geniuses and discovered that its Family Head, Li Xinge, was an exceptionally powerful Divine Mansion expert. Li Xuantong then announced the tournament rules and officially started the competition.

• Sage Xuanji told Little Stone that a young girl on the viewing platform had reached the late-stage Innate realm and possessed a powerful physique, leaving Little Stone questioning his own talent.
• Li Xinge arrived, addressed the gathered Li Family members, and took his place as Family Head.
• After Little Stone said Li Xinge had entered the Divine Mansion Realm at twenty-nine, Sage Xuanji secretly probed him, but Li Xinge detected the intrusion and forced Sage Xuanji to retreat into the Soul Nurturing Bead.
• Li Xuantong explained the arena elimination and top-hundred rounds, along with the tournament’s rules and penalties.
• The First Elder declared the first Li Clan Grand Competition of the Yang Province Li Clan officially begun.

At the Li Clan competition, Li Qinglin and Little Stone watched the Ancestral Land’s powerful contenders advance before choosing their own opponents. They left the chapter facing Branch Family fighters, following the family’s strategy of picking easier targets.

• Li Qinglin told Little Stone to observe the competitors before taking a platform, and they watched the Ancestral Land’s leading contenders claim spots.
• The crowd identified Li Qiyu, Li Yanqiao, and Li Wu as powerful competitors, while Li Wu’s reputation discouraged anyone from challenging him.
• Li Dazhong challenged Li Xingyue, but his punch bounced off Xingyue’s protective aura, revealing Xingyue’s Qi and Blood Great Perfection.
• Li Dazhong conceded, and Li Wu, Li Xingyue, Li Qiyu, and other unchallenged fighters advanced to the second round.
• As the matches intensified, Li Qinglin and Little Stone each took a platform and faced an opponent from a Branch Family.

Little Stone and Li Qinglin defended their rings against increasingly difficult challengers, but Li Qinglin’s match exposed Li Mo as a Demonic Cultivator. Li Xinge turned his attention to the Anping County Branch Family, and its patriarch Li Fuan died of fright under his gaze.

• Little Stone defeated Li Yu, then beat Li Zhongping after a spear-and-saber fight, earning two consecutive victories.
• Li Qinglin defeated his first challenger and faced Li Mo, whose vicious claw attacks targeted his vital points.
• Li Qinglin used the Profound Light Chasing Wind Sword, forcing Li Mo to unleash demonic energy in front of the crowd.
• The spectators recognized Li Mo as a Demonic Cultivator, and Li Xinge asked the First Elder which branch family he belonged to.
• Li Xinge looked toward the Anping County Branch Family’s patriarch, Li Fuan, who died of fright.
• Li Xinge asked the First Elder whether he was really that scary.

The Li Family’s arena competition continued as Li Qinglin defeated Li Mo and Little Stone’s winning streak ended. That night, Sage Xuanji revealed that Li Xinge had nearly detected him and suspected the clan head was a reincarnated Heavenly Human, leaving Little Stone worried about what the discovery might mean.

• Li Xuantong ordered Li Xuanzhong to investigate whether anyone was behind Li Mo’s cultivation of demonic arts, while a steward struck Li Mo down and the Hall of Law Enforcement took him away.
• Li Qinglin was declared the winner over Li Mo and left the arena to recover.
• Little Stone won his third match but lost his fourth to an Ancestral Land disciple, saving his trump card for the second round.
• At the end of the first day, all seventeen qualifiers were Ancestral Land disciples, and Li Xuantong announced that the competition would resume the next morning.
• Sage Xuanji told Little Stone that Li Xinge had nearly traced their connection, so he had sealed himself away to evade detection.
• Sage Xuanji suspected Li Xinge was a reincarnated Heavenly Human and explained that he himself had reached the Heavenly Human Realm; he believed Li Xinge was not yet an immediate threat.

Li Xinge ordered Li Mo punished and the Anping County Branch Family removed from the Li Clan Record after confirming Li Mo had secretly practiced demonic arts. He then confronted Sage Xuanji, recruited him to help repair the Li Family’s Clan Protection Array, and left Sage Xuanji stunned by his connection to the Heavenly Palace’s Saint Lord.

• Li Xuanzhong reported that Li Mo had found demonic scriptures and pills in a mountain cave, cultivated them in secret, and acted alone.
• Li Xinge ordered Li Mo’s cultivation crippled and sentenced him to life in the Cold Pool, while the Anping County Branch Family was removed from the Li Clan Record until one of its descendants reached the Innate Realm.
• Li Xinge appeared in Little Stone’s room and summoned Sage Xuanji from the Soul Nurturing Bead to explain himself.
• Sage Xuanji revealed that he was a remnant soul who had survived a failed Heavenly Human Tribulation and swore he would not endanger Qingshi or the Li Family.
• Li Xinge offered to nourish Sage Xuanji’s Divine Soul if he helped renovate the Clan Protection Array, and Sage Xuanji agreed.
• When Li Xinge mentioned that the Heavenly Palace’s Saint Lord was an old acquaintance, Sage Xuanji was shocked and wondered who Li Xinge had been in his previous life.

Little Stone advanced to the Li Family tournament’s second round and faced Ancestral Land disciple Li Xingming in the Top Hundred Rankings. Li Xingming’s powerful Crimson Sun Palm overwhelmed the arena, while Little Stone relied on his speed to evade the attacks.

• Little Stone recovered from the previous day, then won four matches on the second day and enough matches on the third day to advance alongside Li Qinglin.
• The first round ended with 137 disciples advancing, including 20 Branch Family disciples.
• Li Xuantong announced the Top Hundred Rankings format, and the contestants drew lots; Li Qinglin received a bye while Little Stone drew Li Xingming.
• Li Xingming opened their match with Crimson Sun Palm, and the two exchanged blows before Little Stone staggered back from the force.
• Li Xingming pressed his attack with blazing palm strikes, but Little Stone dodged them using his movement technique.
• Frustrated, Li Xingming poured more Qi and blood into his Crimson Sun Palm and unleashed a storm of palm shadows that threatened to cut off Little Stone’s escape.

Li Qingshi defeated Li Xingming to enter the winners' bracket, then forfeited against Li Xingyue because of their vast cultivation gap. As the tournament's four finalists emerged, Li Qingshi and Li Qinglin resolved to catch up to them one day.

• Li Qingshi used Mountain-Suppressing Fist to defeat Li Xingming and advance to the winners' bracket.
• Li Qingshi, Li Qinglin, and Li Zhouhuan were the only Branch Family disciples to reach the winners' bracket, with two coming from the Stone County Branch Family.
• Li Qingshi drew Li Xingyue as his opponent and jumped off the platform, conceding the match.
• Li Qinglin lost to an Ancestral Land disciple at Qi-Blood Minor Accomplishment, while Li Qingshi watched the intense winners' bracket battles.
• Li Wu, Li Xingyue, Li Qiyu, and Li Yanqiao secured places as the four finalists.
• Li Qinglin told Li Qingshi they had to catch up to the finalists, and both vowed they would stand among them one day.

Li Wu and Li Xingyue fought for first place in the Li Clan Grand Competition, with Li Wu revealing overwhelming strength and a formidable body-tempering technique. As Li Wu launched his Mountain Shaking Hammer, Li Xingyue prepared to answer with the reason he could not afford to lose.

• Li Wu and Li Xingyue were named as the finalists for first place in the Li Clan Grand Competition.
• Li Xingyue attacked swiftly, but Li Wu blocked his strikes and shattered his blade arc with a hammer blow.
• Li Xingyue struck Li Wu from behind, but Li Wu's Golden Body Child Technique left him unharmed apart from a faint mark.
• Li Wu unleashed his Mountain Shaking Hammer, forcing Li Xingyue to face the attack head-on.
• Li Xingyue admitted Li Wu was strong and declared that he had a reason he could not afford to lose.

Li Xingyue revealed a Lightning Elemental Special Physique and defeated Li Wu to win the Grand Competition’s first-place contest, while Li Xinge praised the family’s young talents. After the ranking matches and Hundred Arts Assessment, a black-robed figure entered the Li Family ancestors’ resting place late at night.

• Li Xingyue unleashed his Lightning Elemental Special Physique and clashed with Li Wu, forcing Grand Elder Li Xuantong to contain the battle’s destructive shockwaves.
• Li Wu admitted defeat, and Li Xuantong declared Li Xingyue the victor of the first-place contest.
• Li Xinge congratulated the competitors, praised the Li Family’s young generation, and helped Li Xingyue and Li Wu recover.
• The ranking matches ended with Li Xingyue first, Li Wu second, and Li Qiyu third, while Li Qingshi and Li Qinglin placed eighty-ninth and ninety-seventh.
• The Hundred Arts Assessment followed, and a slender black-robed figure entered the Li Family ancestors’ resting place late that night.

Li Qingshi mourned Li Xuanqi and vowed to carry on the road he had left unfinished. After Little Stone won first place in formations at the Hundred Arts Assessment, he and other successful branch-family disciples were invited to enter the Ancestral Land, and Li Qingshi declared his willingness.

• Li Qingshi visited Li Xuanqi’s tomb, poured out his grief, and told him he had taken first place in the Li Clan Grand Competition.
• Li Qingshi vowed to follow Li Xuanqi’s unfinished path, then stayed by the tomb drinking until dawn.
• Little Stone competed in the Hundred Arts Assessment, showed exceptional talent for formations, and took first place in the discipline.
• The First Elder announced that eligible branch-family disciples could enter the Ancestral Land to cultivate and explained the duties involved.
• Li Qingshi declared he was willing to enter the Ancestral Land, and Li Zhouhuan, Li Dazhong, and Li Zhongping followed.

After the Li Family Grand Competition, Li Nanfeng learned that his sons had become disciples of the Ancestral Land and that the Stone County Branch Family would receive substantial rewards. Li Xuanyong punished the Ping County Branch Family and announced new resource allocations, leaving Li Nanfeng celebrated by his fellow patriarchs.

• The First Elder declared the competition over, welcomed the successful disciples into the Ancestral Land, and announced rewards for the top hundred.
• Li Nanfeng returned to his courtyard with his family before an Internal Affairs Hall steward summoned him and the other Branch Family patriarchs to a meeting.
• Li Xuanyong told the patriarchs that three Branch Family disciples would become elders' personal students, then announced that the Ping County Branch Family had been struck from the Li Family Record for using demonic arts.
• The Internal Affairs Hall granted rewards and increased allocations to Branch Families whose disciples had performed well in the competition.
• The manager announced that the Stone County Branch Family would receive an eighty-percent increase in resources, advanced cultivation and martial methods, a movement technique, and twenty Qi and Blood Pills because of Li Qinglin and Li Qingshi's results.
• Li Nanfeng thanked the Ancestral Land, and other patriarchs congratulated him as the meeting ended.

A year after the Li Clan Grand Competition, the Li Family strengthened its ranks and helped Sage Xuanji recover enough to begin planning an upgrade to its clan-protection array. Li Xinge reviewed the family’s slow-growing fortune and weighed expansion into Tai Prefecture or Eastern Ridge Land, wary of provoking powerful enemies.

• Li Wu, Li Yanxiao, and Li Yanjing advanced to the Innate Realm, while Li Xuanyong failed in his attempt and continued managing the Internal Affairs Hall.
• Li Xuanyong noticed Li Qinglin’s administrative talent and began teaching him.
• Sage Xuanji thanked the Li Family for helping restore his divine soul and proposed surveying the terrain and spiritual veins before modifying its clan-protection array.
• Li Xinge reviewed the Lineage panel and noted that the Li Family’s fortune had risen to only six percent after two years of development.
• Li Xinge considered expanding into Tai Prefecture or Eastern Ridge Land, but recognized that Eastern Ridge’s two known Divine Mansion Realm experts and possible hidden forces demanded careful planning.

Huang Yuanzong gathered the Huang Family elders to decide how their diminished clan could survive after losing its ancestral lands and failing to reclaim them. He persuaded them to pledge themselves to the rising Yang Province Li Clan, and the elders agreed.

• Huang Yuanzong told the elders that the Huang Family could not return to its ancestral land and could not rely on the Gongsun Family and Qu Family to defeat the Snow Robe Demonic Cult.
• The elders blamed their losses on the failed campaign and the death of their ancestor, while Huang Yuanzong insisted they needed a new path forward.
• Huang Yuanzong argued that the Huang Family had lost its Divine Mansion cultivator and could no longer depend on its former glory or dwindling reserves.
• Huang Yuanzong proposed pledging the Huang Family to the Yang Province Li Clan, praising its powerful governor and growing influence.
• After considering the risks, the elders accepted Huang Yuanzong's plan and declared that the patriarch was wise.

Huang Yuanzong offered the displaced Huang Family’s service to Li Xinge in exchange for protection and a place to settle. Li Xinge accepted and appointed Huang Yuanzong to move the family to Eastern Continent Prefecture and defend it.

• Huang Yuanzong left the southeastern mountains to seek the Li Family’s protection after the Huang Family decided to serve Yang Province.
• Li Xuantong heard Huang Yuanzong’s account of the family’s losses and considered its offer of Spirit Stones, cultivation methods, and martial techniques.
• Li Xuantong reported the offer to Li Xinge, who accepted the Huang Family’s submission.
• Li Xinge appointed Huang Yuanzong Guardian of the Eastern Continent and ordered the Huang Family to move to Eastern Continent Prefecture.
• Huang Yuanzong pledged that the Huang Family would defend the eastern gateway against the barbarians.