Recaps

Crown Prince Yan arrived at the Divine Bookstore seeking help to reclaim the throne from Yan Xun. Ma Feifei gave him Han Feizi and told him the book could help him regain power.

• Crown Prince Yan entered the bookstore after Ma Feifei recognized him as someone involved in the mission.
• Ma Feifei left Crown Prince Yan waiting while he went to explain his lesson to the students at Green Grassland.
• Crown Prince Yan surveyed the bookstore and searched for Luan Feng, whom he suspected might be in a private room.
• Ma Feifei told Crown Prince Yan to follow his instructions if he wanted to reclaim the throne.
• Ma Feifei handed Crown Prince Yan Han Feizi and said it could help him regain the throne.

Ma Feifei learned that Li Bieli had sacrificed his life force to evolve three Pokémon and had only half a year to live. He suggested a medical text and urged Li Bieli to compete for the bookstore’s tournament prize, leaving him with a possible way to seek help.

• Ma Feifei brought Li Bieli into the bookstore’s back courtyard and told him there was no instant way to gain the power needed for revenge.
• Li Bieli explained that activating a Moon Stone with life force had evolved Clefairy and Bulbasaur, but left him with a withered arm and little time to live.
• Li Bieli revealed that he had also helped Jiang Yibei evolve a Pokémon, and that using the Moon Stone on three Pokémon had exhausted his life force.
• Ma Feifei suggested Li Bieli read Thousand Gold Formulas, though he doubted it could restore lost life force.
• Ma Feifei encouraged Li Bieli to enter the Pokémon tournament in two months for a chance to win a yellow-grade book, and Li Bieli agreed.

Ma Feifei offered Li Bieli access to the Bookstore’s books, while Crown Prince Yan studied Han Feizi. When The Art of War triggered the Book World, a projection showed Luan Feng commanding an army in a Qin–Yan battlefield.

• Ma Feifei let Li Bieli read any book in the Bookstore for eight Spirit Crystals a day and told him to rest before studying.
• Crown Prince Yan became absorbed in Han Feizi and its ideas about ruling and governing a state.
• Ma Feifei sensed a reaction from private room number two and found The Art of War turning its pages before a golden beam shot through the roof.
• Cultivators gathered outside the Divine Bookstore to see the enormous projection, and Crown Prince Yan joined them.
• The projection showed Luan Feng leading the red army against a black army on a Warring States battlefield, confirming onlookers’ suspicions that she was a general.

Ma Feifei opened bets on the Qin-Yan battle, and Yun Qingyang wagered ten million Spirit Crystals on Great Qin because she distrusted his advice. As the armies prepared to clash, the Qin soldiers used a formation to boost their strength, while Luan Feng’s spear raised the Yan soldiers to the Spirit Master realm.

• Ma Feifei opened betting on the Qin and Yan armies, drawing wagers of seven million Spirit Crystals on Yan and twelve million on Qin.
• Ma Feifei urged Yun Qingyang to bet on Yan, but she wagered ten million Spirit Crystals on Qin because she believed he was lying.
• Yun Qingyang refused to change her bet and threatened to beat Ma Feifei to death if she lost.
• The Qin Army shouted in unison and used a formation that raised its hundred thousand soldiers to at least the Spirit Master Third Stage realm.
• Luan Feng led the Yan Army into a triangular wedge and raised her spear, causing all one hundred thousand Yan soldiers to reach the Spirit Master realm.

Luan Feng used a shifting formation to lead the Yan Army from encirclement to victory over the Qin Army. After the battle, The Art of War sent a golden beam into her, and the Sacred Beast Hong Luan carried her into the sky.

• Luan Feng led the Yan Army in a wedge charge, but the Qin Army stopped its advance and surrounded it.
• Luan Feng signaled a change to the Nine-Character Interlocking Formation, which disrupted the encirclement and turned the battle in the Yan Army's favor.
• Luan Feng led the Yan Army to rout the Qin Army, cutting down its soldiers from atop her white horse.
• The Art of War flew from the Bookstore and struck Luan Feng with a pillar of golden light.
• The Sacred Beast Hong Luan carried Luan Feng into the sky.

Luan Feng broke through to Half Saint after The Art of War vanished, and Ma Feifei learned she needed to win a campaign to become a true Martial Saint. He secured her agreement to help him and then announced the results of the Qin-versus-Yan army bets, provoking an ominous sound of ice forming.

• Luan Feng rose into the sky as a heavenly omen appeared, and The Art of War burned into golden characters that flew to her as she gained a domain.
• Luan Feng thanked Ma Feifei, and the system gave him a side quest to have her win a campaign and become a Martial Saint.
• The system explained that Luan Feng was only a Half Saint and needed to win a campaign to reach the Spirit Saint realm.
• Ma Feifei connected the quest to the main quest, Usurper, and offered to forgive the lost book and help Luan Feng if she did something for him; she agreed.
• Ma Feifei announced that bettors who chose the Yan Army could collect double rewards, then heard ice forming beside him.

Ma Feifei learned that Luan Feng had reached the Half Saint realm after fully comprehending The Art of War and earning its book spirit, which caused the system to burn the book. As news of her breakthrough spread through Dubian Town, Chang Kong realized that Luan Feng had become a Spirit Saint in her early thirties, while he was already over a hundred.

• Ma Feifei escaped Yun Qingyang's anger by returning to Private Room One, then asked the system why The Art of War had burned up.
• The system explained that Luan Feng had fully comprehended The Art of War, gained its book spirit, and made the now-ordinary book burn up.
• Ma Feifei learned that book spirits gave system books their special effects and wondered what higher-grade book spirits could do.
• That night, Chang Kong and Zhang Yunji heard tavern patrons discuss Luan Feng's rise to sainthood and the recent breakthroughs of women cultivators.
• Chang Kong recognized Luan Feng as the God of War of Great Yan and reflected that she had become a Spirit Saint in her early thirties, while he was over a hundred.

Chang Kong and Zhang Yunji learned that a yellow-quality book from the Divine Bookstore had helped someone reach Spirit Saint, so they planned to win the Pokémon tournament for its prize. They persuaded Liu Ying to enter with her Jigglypuff, whose Hypnosis could defeat opponents despite her inability to level up or attack.

• Zhang Yunji envied the cultivator who had reached Spirit Saint, while Chang Kong and Zhang Yunji listened to others speculate that the burned copy of The Art of War had exacted a price.
• Chang Kong and Zhang Yunji realized the Pokémon tournament offered a chance to win a yellow-quality book without paying to read at the Divine Bookstore.
• Zhang Yunji and Chang Kong told Liu Ying about the book prize and asked her to enter the tournament in two months.
• Liu Ying explained that Jigglypuff could not level up and had no offensive ability besides Hypnosis, which put allies and enemies to sleep alike.
• Zhang Yunji argued that Jigglypuff could defeat any tournament opponent with Hypnosis, and Liu Ying agreed to enter.

Ma Feifei warned bookstore readers against causing trouble, checked Crown Prince Yan’s progress, and then assigned the three thousand students a journey across the Azure Dragon Continent to understand the Analects. The students would depart the next day and needed to grasp three of its eight principles to complete the task.

• Readers rushed for the yellow-quality books, and one cultivator was tripped and fell in the dust.
• Ma Feifei warned the bookstore’s readers that anyone who caused trouble would be blacklisted and banned.
• Ma Feifei asked Crown Prince Yan about his reading, and Yan said the book had taught him new ways to govern but had not yet discovered how to complete his task.
• At the Green Grassland, Ma Feifei told the three thousand students that they would travel across the Azure Dragon Continent with the Analects for two months.
• Ma Feifei said the students had to understand three of the Analects’ eight principles, and their journey would begin the next day.

Zhou Zhuling encouraged Zhou Guanyu to approach his travel assignment as a chance to seize an opportunity, telling him how Luan Feng had tamed the Sacred Beast Hong Luan. The next day, Ma Feifei sent the three thousand students to begin their trial, which was projected above the Bookstore for Dubian Town to watch.

• Zhou Guanyu worried that his weak cultivation and poor understanding of the Analects would keep him from succeeding in the travel assignment.
• Zhou Zhuling recounted how Luan Feng had tamed Hong Luan by offering her blood and urged Zhou Guanyu to face the trial courageously.
• Ma Feifei explained that the students needed their Analects to activate teleportation, would be watched by Dubian Town, and might face interference from Divine Bookstore readers.
• Ma Feifei teleported the three thousand students away, and the Epic-grade Analects projected the trial above the Bookstore as cultivators gathered to watch.

The Mysterious Bookstore projected Liu Changsheng’s Epic-grade trial in Zhao State, where he had to sell fish for seven days. Ma Feifei recruited two patrons to interfere with Liu Changsheng, and they appeared at the neighboring stall in the West Market.

• A projection above the Mysterious Bookstore showed Zhao State’s capital and revealed Liu Changsheng as the protagonist of the Epic-grade book.
• Liu Changsheng received a mission to sell fish at the West Street fish market for seven days, while the projection displayed the mission to the crowd.
• The book offered two patrons a cultivation reward for disrupting Liu Changsheng’s fish-selling trial without attacking him.
• Ma Feifei signed up two Spirit King cultivators and handed them mission Badges before they were transported to Zhao State.
• Liu Changsheng rented a stall at the West Market and noticed two sixth-stage Spirit King cultivators setting up at the neighboring stall to sell fish.

Liu Changsheng tried to sell fish while restraining his temper, but two Spirit King cultivators repeatedly undercut him. The projection then shifted to Mangcang Town in Qi State, where Gongsun Qiong appeared in danger among hostile locals.

• Liu Changsheng greeted two Spirit King cultivators who said they had come to sell fish, then silently recited the Analects to keep from fighting when they taunted him.
• A woman arrived at the fish market, but the two Spirit Kings intercepted her and gave her a rainbow trout for free, taking Liu Changsheng’s potential customer.
• Liu Changsheng confronted the pair, but he restrained his anger; the cultivators watching the projection wondered why the Analects had assigned him a fish-selling task and an obstruction task.
• The projection changed to Mangcang Town, a remote settlement in Qi State near the Death Desert, and a local identified the place.
• Gongsun Qiong appeared in the projection, and the person from Qi warned that Mangcang Town’s impoverished locals often robbed outsiders.

Gongsun Qiong arrived in Mangcang Town in Qi State and faced an attack from three armed locals while Ma Feifei discovered Crown Prince Yan was comprehending the Emperor’s Aura. As the crowd grew eager to seize Gongsun Qiong’s treasures, four strange people arrived and interrupted the fight.

• Gongsun Qiong realized she was in Mangcang Town in Qi State, but three Spirit Master Stage Five men blocked her and demanded her valuables.
• Ma Feifei learned from the system that Crown Prince Yan had begun comprehending the Emperor’s Aura, which needed to reach one hundred percent before he could return to Yan State and seize the throne.
• Three attackers struck Gongsun Qiong, but her fifth-order Energy Shield stopped their blades as onlookers gathered and coveted her possessions.
• Gongsun Qiong feared she would fail her first trial as the three men prepared to break through her shield and kill her.
• A flying sword forced the attackers back, and Gongsun Qiong saw four oddly dressed newcomers approaching, including the team from the first attempt at the Overlord Dungeon.

Azi returned to Mangcang Town and vowed to reform its violent residents with Gongsun Qiong, who received a mission to help her. Five book friends took a mission to obstruct Gongsun Qiong, and after introducing themselves outside town, they were left to figure out how to proceed.

• Azi confronted three townsmen who had threatened an outsider, and Second Mother whipped them away while Azi insisted she would reform the residents.
• Gongsun Qiong received a mission to reform Mangcang Town, while five book friends took a mission to obstruct her without attacking her.
• Ma Feifei teleported the five mission participants to Mangcang Town, then secretly pocketed a dropped storage bag.
• Gongsun Qiong learned how Azi and her companions had tried to curb the residents' robberies, and she joined Azi in planning to reform them.
• Azi led Gongsun Qiong into town as residents fled and called her the great demon king.
• Outside town, Wan Chengnan, Chi Chengzi, Bai Yishui, Lin Taiji, and Yu Chengxian introduced themselves; Yu revealed his sect had no location or disciples yet.

Wan Chengnan’s team planned to disguise themselves and infiltrate Mangcang Town, while spectators debated whether they or Gongsun Qiong would succeed. Ma Feifei persuaded Yun Qingyang to run a betting pool, then borrowed her Spirit Crystals to change the odds before betting closed.

• Wan Chengnan’s team agreed to take clothes from the dead townsfolk, disguise themselves, and enter Mangcang Town.
• Spectators argued over whether Gongsun Qiong could civilize the townsfolk or the five-person team would sabotage her mission, then proposed a betting pool.
• Ma Feifei convinced Yun Qingyang to act as the bookie, and twenty thousand cultivators wagered over one hundred million Spirit Crystals.
• Ma Feifei borrowed twenty million Spirit Crystals from Yun Qingyang and bet them on Gongsun Qiong, bringing the wagers on both sides to sixty million and the odds to 1:1.
• Ma Feifei announced that betting had closed, while Yun Qingyang watched him with a slight smile.

The Bookstore’s projection showed Liu Changsheng failing his task after he copied two fish sellers and gave away his fish, while the two sellers advanced three stages. The projection then shifted to Mangcang Town, where Gongsun Qiong stood before a gathered crowd with her team.

• The Bookstore closed for the day, and Yun Qingyang guarded the betting table overnight to protect the Spirit Crystals.
• Liu Changsheng moved his fish stall to escape two Spirit King cultivators who kept following him and stealing his customers.
• Liu Changsheng offered his fish for free, but the task judged him a failure for imitating behavior that harmed other sellers.
• The two Spirit King cultivators advanced from the sixth to the ninth stage of the Spirit King realm, while Ma Feifei learned why Liu Changsheng had failed.
• The projection showed Gongsun Qiong, Azi, and their three companions addressing more than ten thousand residents in Mangcang Town.

Azi announced Gongsun Qiong as Mangcang Town’s mayor, but nearly all the residents rejected the appointment. She expelled them and revealed the Qi State Nine Provinces Order, using it to officially appoint Gongsun Qiong as mayor.

• Azi ordered Mangcang Town’s residents to accept Gongsun Qiong as mayor, while a disguised five-person team objected through Yu Chengxian.
• Azi blocked Second Mother’s whip from striking Yu Chengxian and let the residents choose sides, but almost all of them moved to the side rejecting Gongsun Qiong.
• Azi noticed ten residents trapped on the accepting side and took their declarations of support at face value.
• Gongsun Qiong recognized the disguised five-person team but chose not to expose them, considering whether they could become allies.
• Azi ordered the residents who rejected Gongsun Qiong to leave Mangcang Town within an hour, then presented the Qi State Nine Provinces Order and officially appointed Gongsun Qiong mayor.

Chang Kong struggled across a sandstorm-ravaged desert without using his spiritual energy, while Ma Feifei watched and hoped he would pass the trial. After reaching an oasis, Chang Kong heard the mother and daughter who had carried water fall into the sand behind him.

• Cultivators watching the projection debated whether Chang Kong was crossing the Death Desert and wondered why he did not fly or use spiritual energy.
• Chang Kong fell into the sandstorm, was buried, and climbed back out before continuing onward without using his spiritual energy.
• Chang Kong saw a mother give water to her daughter, but chose not to take their canteen and continued walking.
• Chang Kong reached an oasis and ran toward its stream, but stopped when he heard a cry behind him.
• Chang Kong saw the little girl fall into the sand and her mother tumble in while trying to save her; both were buried.

Chang Kong rescued a mother and daughter from the desert and discovered that their bundle contained the Epic-grade book The Method of Becoming an Immortal. As they prepared to leave, he struggled against the temptation to take it, and finally called out to stop them.

• Chang Kong returned to the desert and pulled the mother and daughter from the sand, but the oasis vanished as a mirage.
• The little girl offered Chang Kong her water flask, and he drank before returning it to her.
• The mother's bundle fell open, revealing a black book titled The Method of Becoming an Immortal.
• The cultivators outside the Bookstore recognized the book as a real Epic-grade volume and urged Chang Kong to seize it.
• The mother and daughter packed the book and began to leave, and Chang Kong finally moved and called, "Wait!"

Chang Kong chose benevolence over the tempting Method of Becoming an Immortal, passed the trial, and became a Saint. Ma Feifei then received a quest to recruit Luan Feng as the Mysterious Bookstore’s third employee, with a Branch Store Construction Blueprint as the reward.

• Chang Kong followed the mother and daughter through the desert while struggling to choose between helping them and taking the Epic-grade book.
• The little girl offered Chang Kong the last mouthful of water, and her kindness reminded him of The Analects.
• Chang Kong thanked the mother and daughter for teaching him, and they vanished as the book’s golden light struck him and formed a domain.
• The cultivators in Dubian Town realized Chang Kong had become a Saint.
• Ma Feifei received the reward A Saint's Following and a new quest to recruit Luan Feng as the Mysterious Bookstore’s third employee.

Chang Kong reached the Spirit Saint realm after the bookstore’s golden light emerged from a book, and he thanked Ma Feifei as his teacher. Ma Feifei then turned his attention to recruiting Luan Feng as the bookstore’s third employee, though he decided to learn more about her before visiting.

• A golden beam from the projection sent Chang Kong out after he reached the Spirit Saint realm, astonishing the cultivators who witnessed it.
• Chang Kong bowed to Ma Feifei and thanked him, while Ma Feifei wondered why the system’s reward had not made Chang Kong pledge himself to the bookstore.
• Ma Feifei asked whether Chang Kong had comprehended three Great Daos, congratulated him, and watched him hurry home to share his news.
• Ma Feifei considered how to recruit Luan Feng, who had once exhausted a copy of The Art of War and left him her address in Dubian Town.
• Ma Feifei decided to ask someone about Luan Feng’s habits before approaching her, then admired his reflection in a bronze mirror.

After Chang Kong’s breakthrough to Spirit Saint spread, powerful figures from across the region gathered outside the Mysterious Bookstore to meet Ma Feifei. Ma Feifei welcomed them while trying to hide his nerves, then asked Yun Qingyang to help him go inside.

• News of Chang Kong’s Spirit Saint breakthrough brought the Sword Sect master, princes, city lords, and other important figures to Dubian Town.
• Ma Feifei emerged from the bookstore and found the visitors seated outside while Yun Qingyang slept at the counter.
• Chang Kong greeted Ma Feifei as his teacher and explained that the visitors had come to learn about the book that had helped him break through.
• The gathered figures stood and saluted Ma Feifei, who returned their greeting and invited them to sit.
• Ma Feifei sent Chang Kong back to his seat, then called Yun Qingyang over and asked her to help him inside.

The five-person team struggled to build homes with Mangcang Town’s exiled residents while plotting to control the group’s leaders and undermine Gongsun Qiong’s mission. Their plans were interrupted when Gongsun Qiong, Azi, Second Mother, and ten residents left Mangcang Town heading north.

• The exiled residents settled on a nearby mountain and organized themselves, forcing the five-person team to chop trees and build houses without revealing their cultivation.
• Bai Yishui argued that the residents were too afraid of death to riot, while Yu Chengxian and Wan Chengnan discussed how to make Gongsun Qiong fail her instruction mission.
• Chi Chengzi proposed bringing the residents under the team’s control, and Lin Taiji suggested using his mind-controlling technique on their leaders.
• The five agreed to secretly control the leaders and wait for an opportunity to thwart Gongsun Qiong.
• A resident spotted Gongsun Qiong leaving Mangcang Town with Azi, Second Mother, and ten residents carrying farming tools as they headed north.

Gongsun Qiong led the unruly commoners past the farmland to a small plain and ordered them to dig, while observers wondered what she was planning. The chapter left them digging with spiritual power after Azi urged them to work faster.

• Wan Chengnan led Chi Chengzi, Yu Chengxian, and Lin Taiji north to see where Gongsun Qiong was taking the commoners.
• Chang Kong explained to the Sword Sect's master and the other big shots that the projection showed tasks and that completing them could earn rewards from the black book.
• Chu Huaixiang told Chu Liuxiang that the book's power was still uncertain, and Chu Liuxiang teased him about his earlier certainty regarding the tomb in Grave Robbers' Chronicles.
• Gongsun Qiong passed the farmland without stopping and led her group to a small plain, where she told ten commoners to dig ten meters into the ground.
• Azi scolded the commoners for digging too slowly, and they infused their hoes with spiritual power to speed up.

Gongsun Qiong's digging revealed a Spirit Crystal Vein Mine, and she appeared to be using it to draw Mangcang Town's unruly commoners into her plan to educate them. The five-person team abandoned thoughts of claiming the mine and watched as Ergouzi ran toward Gongsun Qiong.

• Gongsun Qiong left the farmland and ordered people to dig, while the five-person team considered staying behind to watch her.
• An unprocessed Spirit Crystal flew from Gongsun Qiong's direction and struck an unruly commoner, who realized a Spirit Crystal Vein Mine lay nearby.
• Chi Chengzi, Yu Chengxian, and the rest of the five-person team recognized the mine's value but concluded they could not seize it while being watched live.
• Wan Chengnan decided not to kill the commoner who had found the crystal, and the five agreed to return and observe Gongsun Qiong's next move.
• Ergouzi ran down from the hill toward Gongsun Qiong, calling out that he had arrived.