Recaps

Gongsun Qiong uncovered a Spirit Crystal Vein Mine beneath Mangcang Town, astonishing everyone who saw it. She said it could yield around ten million Spirit Crystals a year and was enough for the townspeople to cultivate with, then revealed she would give the mine to them.

• A Qin State border official considered locating Gongsun Qiong in the Qi State but abandoned the idea when told it would take time.
• Gongsun Qiong and the others dug until they uncovered a Spirit Crystal Vein Mine beneath Mangcang Town.
• The townsmen remembered how poverty had driven their community into violence and felt that the mine might give them a new start.
• Gongsun Qiong estimated the mine could yield around ten million Spirit Crystals annually and said it was enough to support the residents' cultivation.
• The eleven unruly townsmen realized Gongsun Qiong intended to give the mine to Mangcang Town's residents.

Gongsun Qiong offered Mangcang Town’s residents the Spirit Crystal Vein Mine, but required the exiled residents to study with her before they could reclaim their status. The chapter left the townspeople and onlookers stunned by her unexpected plan.

• Gongsun Qiong announced she would give Mangcang Town’s residents the Spirit Crystal Vein Mine, prompting Chu Liuxiang and Chu Huaixiang to debate whether her generosity could reform the unruly people.
• Chu Liuxiang compared the residents’ supposed ingratitude to Qi State’s relationship with Great Chu and deliberately insulted Qi’s people where others could hear him.
• Gongsun Qiong had eleven residents spread word of the mine and her offer, stirring excitement among more than ten thousand people.
• Ergouzi told the exiled residents they had to complete a task, regain their place on the town register, and receive identity cards before sharing the mine’s proceeds.
• Ergouzi revealed that their task was to study with Gongsun Qiong, and Ma Feifei praised the clever plan.

Gongsun Qiong persuaded Mangcang Town’s unruly residents to return and offered them a share of the Spirit Crystal Vein Mine’s profits if they read The Analects and became residents. The chapter ended with her warning that she would destroy the mine if they failed to meet her requirements within two months.

• The residents abandoned their resistance and followed Ergouzi back to Mangcang Town, while the five-person team blended into the crowd.
• Gongsun Qiong addressed the townspeople and announced that the mine could produce around ten million Spirit Crystals a year.
• Gongsun Qiong offered the mine’s profits to town residents and said they had to read The Analects to qualify.
• Cultivators watching the projection doubted that Gongsun Qiong’s white-covered copy could enlighten the townspeople.
• Gongsun Qiong gave the residents two months to understand The Analects and threatened to destroy the mine if they failed.

After the Bookstore closed, Crown Prince Yan faced capture by the Qin State and Chu Kingdom, but he awakened an imperious Sovereign Domain that matched Qin Shi Huang's presence. As Chu Qiao moved to seize him, a woman in red arrived with a powerful display of flames.

• Gongsun Qiong distributed copies of The Analects to the commoners of Mangcang Town, and the Bookstore closed for the day.
• Crown Prince Yan emerged from the Bookstore and realized that powerful figures from the Chu Kingdom and Qin State had discovered him.
• Yun Qingyang refused to let Crown Prince Yan return inside, then shut the door on the approaching dignitaries.
• Qin Wu and the Fourth Prince both sought to take Crown Prince Yan to their residences, and Crown Prince Yan asserted his royal standing.
• Crown Prince Yan awakened the Sovereign Domain, and the Fourth Prince ordered Chu Qiao to seize him.
• A woman in red arrived amid a sweeping presence and a long streak of flame.

Luan Feng defeated Qin Wu and escorted Crown Prince Yan away, while Dubian Town became caught up in Pokémon fever ahead of the championship. Crown Prince Yan neared his Emperor’s Aura goal, and Ma Feifei was left with two side quests involving Luan Feng.

• Luan Feng overwhelmed Qin Wu with her domain, sent him flying, and took Crown Prince Yan away without opposition.
• The influential figures who arrived in Dubian Town began catching and leveling Pokémon, fueling interest in the upcoming Pokémon Championship.
• Businesses and cultivators across town embraced Pokémon fever by offering training, protection, medicines, equipment, and outfits.
• Luan Feng accompanied Crown Prince Yan to the bookstore each day as his Emperor’s Aura value reached ninety-five.
• Ma Feifei focused on his two side quests concerning Luan Feng: Path of the Martial Saint and the bookstore’s third employee.

Ma Feifei searched for a way to recruit Luan Feng, realizing Gongsun Qiong might be his best chance, while Gongsun remained occupied with her training task. Crown Prince Yan’s Emperor’s Aura reached one hundred, and Ma Feifei discussed the resulting monarch’s majesty with Yun Qingyang.

• Ma Feifei concluded that recruiting Luan Feng would be difficult because she would likely remain in Yan State and barely spoke to him.
• Ma Feifei noticed Luan Feng used many special numbers and suspected she had an extraordinary relationship with Gongsun Qiong.
• Ma Feifei learned that Gongsun Qiong was still teaching more than ten thousand people in Mangcang Town, so he had to wait for her training task to end.
• Ma Feifei reviewed the students’ cultivation rewards and noted that Zhou Zhuling, her younger brother, and Zhao Xiaodao were still completing a shared filial-piety task.
• The system announced that Crown Prince Yan’s Emperor’s Aura had reached one hundred, and Ma Feifei sensed his increased majesty.
• Yun Qingyang claimed she also had a king’s majesty because her father was a king, then pointed to the sky when Ma Feifei asked where it was.

Ma Feifei asked Luan Feng to help Crown Prince Yan reclaim the throne, but she hesitated and explained why the succession had been contested. She revealed that the previous King Yan had truly named Prince Yan Xun as heir after testing both princes’ plans for dealing with the other kingdoms.

• Crown Prince Yan admitted he was confident he could reclaim the throne, though Ma Feifei doubted him.
• Ma Feifei asked Luan Feng to accompany Crown Prince Yan to the Yan State and help him regain the throne.
• Luan Feng asked to speak with Ma Feifei alone and said her loyalty was to Great Yan, not to Crown Prince Yan; she opposed the royal family fighting over the throne.
• Luan Feng revealed that the previous King Yan had passed the throne to Prince Yan Xun after testing both princes’ strategies for the coming conflict among the kingdoms.
• Luan Feng explained that Crown Prince Yan wanted to align with Qin, while Prince Yan Xun proposed an alliance against Qin and eventual unification of the Azure Dragon Continent.

Ma Feifei learned why King Yan had chosen Yan Xun as his successor and asked Luan Feng to help Crown Prince Yan take the throne. Luan Feng agreed on the condition that Ma Feifei write her a military strategy book, and he promised to do so if they succeeded.

• Luan Feng explained that King Yan had named Yan Xun his successor because Yan Xun’s plan to resist Qin suited the coming war, while Crown Prince Yan’s plan risked Yan State being swallowed by Qin.
• Luan Feng said Crown Prince Yan could govern well but was too weak-willed to rule securely, and Ma Feifei asked whether she would support him if he changed.
• Ma Feifei told Luan Feng he had to help Crown Prince Yan become ruler to complete his system’s main quest.
• Luan Feng agreed to help Crown Prince Yan ascend the throne if Ma Feifei wrote her a book on military strategy like The Art of War.
• Ma Feifei thought of the system’s Six Secret Teachings reward and promised to write Luan Feng a book if they succeeded.

After Crown Prince Yan and Luan Feng left to pursue their paths, Ma Feifei waited for the final Main Quest while teasing Yun Qingyang. Yun Qingyang’s shy approach led Ma Feifei to mistake her intentions and bargain for access to her treasures, but she challenged his reasoning by bringing up General Luanfeng’s storage ring.

• Crown Prince Yan left to complete his Path of the King, and Luan Feng left to complete her Path of the Martial Saint, leaving the final Main Quest to Ma Feifei.
• Yun Qingyang came out after closing the Bookstore, and Ma Feifei teased her for not helping with the cleaning.
• Yun Qingyang approached Ma Feifei shyly, and he mistook her blush for romantic interest.
• Ma Feifei demanded that Yun Qingyang obey him and share the treasures in her storage ring, claiming his sacrifice would justify it.
• Yun Qingyang questioned why Ma Feifei had refused the treasures in General Luanfeng’s storage ring, leaving him dumbfounded.

Ma Feifei tried to figure out what kind of book Yun Qingyang wanted, but she rejected his suggestions until he hit on the idea of writing her a ghost story. The chapter ended with Ma Feifei asking if she wanted to read one.

• Yun Qingyang asked Ma Feifei to write her a book because she found the Bookstore's books boring and difficult to understand.
• Ma Feifei suggested several kinds of stories and drew characters to explain them, but Yun Qingyang rejected each one.
• Yun Qingyang showed some interest in Ma Feifei's detective story but turned it down because it seemed too complicated.
• Ma Feifei ran out of ideas, then suddenly proposed writing Yun Qingyang a ghost story.

Ma Feifei bought the Epic-grade Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio and gave it to Yun Qingyang, but its arrival seemed to bring an unsettling change to the night. After sensing movement near the well, he turned and struck at a sudden sinister wind with his Spirit Fist.

• Ma Feifei searched the System Shop and purchased Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio for ten million Spirit Crystals or Book Qi Points.
• Ma Feifei brought the book to Yun Qingyang, who was surprised that it was Epic-grade and took it inside to read.
• A sinister wind blew through the courtyard, making Ma Feifei feel that ghosts and monsters might be haunting the world.
• After dinner, Ma Feifei sensed something moving in the well but found only clear water reflecting the moon.
• A sinister wind swept over Ma Feifei, and he spun around and attacked it with a Spirit Fist.

Ma Feifei suspected that something had escaped from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio after hearing of a Spirit King’s gruesome death. The Analects then sent Zhou Zhuling, Zhou Guanyu, and Zhao Xiaodao out with greatly increased cultivation, while Gongsun Qiong’s trial remained unfinished.

• Ma Feifei smashed the courtyard well after sensing something behind him, but Yun Qingyang noticed nothing unusual while reading Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
• A shadow appeared inside the broken well after Ma Feifei and Yun Qingyang went to bed.
• Ma Feifei heard that a possessed Spirit King had killed people at Yihong Tower before dying with his heart torn out, and suspected the incident was connected to the book.
• The Analects sent Zhou Zhuling, Zhou Guanyu, and Zhao Xiaodao out of the trial; Zhou Zhuling had reached peak Spirit King ninth stage, while the other two had become Spirit Kings.
• The projection showed Mangcang Town as Ma Feifei prepared to watch Gongsun Qiong’s final trial mission.

After two months of teaching The Analects, Gongsun Qiong prepared to finish her trial mission as Mangcang Town’s residents transformed and earned shares of the Spirit Crystal Vein Mine. The residents’ final recitation triggered a powerful reaction from the Epic-grade book, and a fluorescent glow shot toward Nine Heavens Mountain.

• Gongsun Qiong announced that the residents would receive identity cards and shares of the Spirit Crystal Vein Mine’s profits, then said she would step down as mayor.
• Gongsun Qiong tested Ergouzi on The Analects, and he explained how a gentleman should learn, choose friends, and correct mistakes.
• Gongsun Qiong told the residents that teaching The Analects had been her trial mission and asked them to recite it with her for her teacher.
• More than ten thousand residents recited The Analects as a vast white current gathered overhead, merged with faint golden gas, and surged toward Gongsun Qiong.
• The Epic-grade copy of The Analects blazed with golden light, Ma Feifei tried to grab it, and a fluorescent glow shot toward the depths of Nine Heavens Mountain.

Gongsun Qiong left the Bookstore after refusing the Fourth Prince’s invitation to the state banquet, while Chu Huaixiang tried to approach Yun Qingyang and was sent flying. Yun Qingyang then exposed Ma Feifei’s disguise and announced that it was time to divide their betting winnings.

• Gongsun Qiong said she had gained no cultivation from comprehending the Epic-grade book, but promised to explain her changes once she understood them.
• Chu Liuxiang invited Gongsun Qiong to the state banquet, but she refused and left with Zhao Xiaodao and Chu Hongyuan.
• Chu Huaixiang blocked Yun Qingyang to greet her, and she struck him and sent Chu Qiao flying with him.
• Yun Qingyang dragged the disguised Ma Feifei out of the crowd and blew away his mask.
• Ma Feifei berated Yun Qingyang for exposing him, and she grinned and said the betting was over and it was time to divide the loot.

After Gongsun Qiong won her trial mission, Ma Feifei and Yun Qingyang paid out the winning bets and split the remaining stakes, while Chu Huaixiang grew more hostile toward Ma Feifei. Ma Feifei later discovered Yun Qingyang had tricked him by replacing the spatial bags he thought held twenty million Spirit Crystals with one crystal, and realized she had gotten smarter.

• Ma Feifei took over the betting table and paid the winning bettors, leaving forty million Spirit Crystals to divide with Yun Qingyang.
• Yun Qingyang rejected Ma Feifei's offer of twenty million and snatched the other spatial bags before darting into the Bookstore.
• Zhou Wuji thanked Ma Feifei for helping cure Zhou Zhuling, and the two exchanged compliments as Chu Huaixiang and Chu Liuxiang left in displeasure.
• Ma Feifei opened the spatial bag Yun Qingyang had given him and found that it contained only one Spirit Crystal.

At Gongsun Manor, Gongsun Qiong set the Pokémon Championship opening for the same day as the state banquet and prepared for the risk of another assassination. An invisible attacker struck the group, but Gongsun Qiong revealed a woman in mourning clothes and Chu Hongyuan destroyed her with Spiritual Power.

• Gongsun Qiong learned that the Pokémon Championship had more than two thousand sign-ups and scheduled it to begin on the twenty-fifth, the day of the state banquet ceremony.
• Gongsun Qiong assigned Zhao Xiaodao to host the competition and told Chu Hongyuan to return afterward to protect her from possible assassins.
• Gongsun Qiong sensed someone outside the hall, and an unseen attacker blew out the lamps and knocked Zhao Xiaodao into a pillar.
• Gongsun Qiong took Chu Hongyuan's spiritual sword and slashed at the attacker, making a woman in mourning clothes appear.
• Chu Hongyuan struck the woman with Spiritual Power, which devoured her and made her vanish.

Gongsun Qiong concluded that the invisible woman was an incorporeal being connected to a cultivator’s strange death. At the Mysterious Bookstore, Yun Qingyang used a spell from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, leading Ma Feifei to fear that the book’s ghosts and monsters had entered Dubian Town.

• Gongsun Qiong told Zhao Xiaodao and Chu Hongyuan that the invisible woman was not human but an incorporeal being.
• Gongsun Qiong connected the woman to the unexplained death of a cultivator at Yihong Tower and told the others to keep watch.
• Yun Qingyang disturbed Ma Feifei by killing a chicken at night to use its blood for a talisman from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
• Yun Qingyang explained that the spell was meant to reveal ghosts and monsters that were normally invisible.
• Ma Feifei recalled the strange feeling he had the previous night and worried that ghosts from the book had escaped and endangered Dubian Town.

Yun Qingyang tried to make talismans from a maple branch and chicken blood, while Ma Feifei worried when she left the Bookstore alone the next morning. Gongsun Qiong reported that reading The Analects had awakened a powerful force she called Righteous Qi, which let her see and slay a ghost; Ma Feifei asked the system what it was.

• Yun Qingyang fashioned a wooden sword from a maple branch and drew talismans with chicken blood, refusing to let Ma Feifei inspect Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
• Ma Feifei discovered that Yun Qingyang had left the Bookstore early, then listened as Gongsun Qiong reported the Pokémon Championship plans.
• Gongsun Qiong told Ma Feifei that after reading The Analects she could sense the emotions of things around her and felt a powerful force within her.
• Gongsun Qiong said she had used a spirit sword to slay a pale ghost in mourning clothes, and Ma Feifei explained that it had escaped from a book in the Bookstore.
• Ma Feifei learned that Gongsun Qiong's mysterious force had helped her strike the ghost, then asked the system about Righteous Qi.

Ma Feifei explained Gongsun Qiong’s newly acquired Righteous Qi and learned that mysterious deaths had been troubling Dubian Town. Yun Qingyang prepared to hunt ghosts, while two cultivators discussed the killings and the upcoming Pokémon Championship.

• Ma Feifei explained that Gongsun Qiong’s comprehension of The Analects had granted her Righteous Qi, which repelled malicious ghosts.
• Gongsun Qiong left to handle affairs at the merchant guild, and Ma Feifei noticed Yun Qingyang had not returned to the Bookstore.
• Yun Qingyang arrived dressed as a Daoist and announced she planned to catch the ghosts behind Dubian Town’s mysterious deaths.
• That night, two cultivators in a tavern discussed six Spirit Ancestors found dead and the Limitless Spirit Emperor’s unsuccessful investigation.
• Brother Wang told Brother Qian that many Pokémon Championship competitors had level-four Pokémon with several Beast Skills.

A monstrous creature disguised as the waiter A Bin attacked a tavern, killing Qian and escaping the cultivators’ assault. As the creature remained nearby, Yun Qingyang and a strangely dressed woman arrived to hunt it.

• Wang and Qian discussed Pokémon with multiple Beast Skills and the Sword Sect elders training near Nine Heavens Mountain.
• A Bin served Qian and Wang wild ox meat that contained crawling creatures, then killed Qian and swallowed his heart.
• The tavern guests attacked A Bin, but only a twisted piece of human skin remained after their combined spiritual power blasted apart the tavern.
• A chilling wind revealed the creature was still nearby, and the cultivators prepared to defend themselves.
• A man and woman carrying wooden swords, a mirror, and a luopan rushed toward the ruins, and the guests recognized the man as the shopkeeper and the woman as Lord Saint.

Ma Feifei and Yun Qingyang hunted down a fierce ghost at the ruined tavern, and Ma Feifei obtained a Tianshu Fragment. The system revealed the requirements and dangers of collecting Tianshu, then assigned Ma Feifei an unlimited-time mission to obtain it.

• Yun Qingyang used her peachwood sword and a talisman to reveal and destroy a faceless fierce ghost at the ruined tavern.
• Ma Feifei received a Tianshu Fragment from the ghost and learned that Tianshu was the Mysterious Bookstore's Eternal-grade treasure.
• The system listed the requirements for obtaining Tianshu, including reaching Immortal Realm, upgrading the bookstore, and gathering ninety-nine Tianshu remnant pages.
• The system explained that ghosts and fox spirits would emerge from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio every five days until Ma Feifei gathered ninety-nine Tianshu Fragments.
• Ma Feifei triggered the Tianshu Collector mission, which tasked him with collecting ninety-nine Tianshu remnant pages for the Eternal-grade book Tianshu.

Ma Feifei planned how to collect Tianshu Fragments and recruit readers, realizing he would need to offer rewards. He arranged to buy Yun Qingyang’s ghost-revealing talismans and headed to find Gongsun Qiong to put his plan into action.

• After a night of hunting ghosts with Yun Qingyang yielded no Tianshu Fragments, Ma Feifei considered how chance-based drops and the lack of reader rewards could make collecting ninety-nine fragments difficult.
• Ma Feifei drafted a plan at the bookstore, hoping to gather fragments from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio and stop its malevolent ghosts from harming people.
• Ma Feifei found Yun Qingyang making talismans from chicken blood and offered to buy them for ghost hunting.
• Yun Qingyang gave Ma Feifei the talismans for free in exchange for an unlimited supply of paper from the checkout counter.
• Ma Feifei agreed to pay Yun Qingyang ten Spirit Crystals per talisman and left to find Gongsun Qiong and carry out his plan.

Ma Feifei devised a million-crystal bounty for Tianshu Fragments, planning to recoup the cost by selling Yun Qingyang’s ghost-revealing talismans. After the Wantong Trading Market posted the mission, cultivators rushed to buy the limited supply of talismans.

• Ma Feifei planned to offer one million Spirit Crystals for each of the ninety-nine Tianshu Fragments and use talisman sales to cover the expense.
• Ma Feifei learned that Gongsun Qiong and Zhao Xiaodao had gone to Nine Heavens Mountain, then heard that he had authority to make decisions for the Wantong Trading Market.
• The Wantong Trading Market posted the Mysterious Bookstore’s bounty mission, offering one million Spirit Crystals for an Orange Fragment obtained by killing a fierce ghost.
• Cultivators learned that fierce ghosts had caused the recent mysterious deaths and hurried to buy talismans from the official trading shop.

After a thousand talismans sold out, cultivators crowded Dubian Town hoping to claim the million-Crystal bounty for killing vengeful ghosts. A fight over an Orange Fragment spread through the town until Mayor Zhou Wuji suppressed everyone with his Spirit Emperor presence.

• Cultivators filled Dubian Town’s streets, waiting to ambush anyone using a talisman to reveal a vengeful ghost.
• The Burning City Manor and the Heavenly Fiend Pavilion trapped a vengeful ghost, which died and left an Orange Fragment behind.
• The Heavenly Fiend Pavilion’s master and the Burning City Manor’s lord led their factions into a fight over the fragment.
• More cultivators joined the battle, and the struggle spread until nobody knew where the Orange Fragment had gone.
• Zhou Wuji appeared and suppressed every cultivator using Spiritual Power, bringing Dubian Town to a sudden quiet.

Ma Feifei sought a way to keep the bounty mission running without letting the cultivators destroy Dubian Town, and the system revealed that his ballpoint pen could turn his talismans into an Alternate Dimension Battlefield. He persuaded Yun Qingyang to stop making talismans for sale and offered her a million Spirit Crystals for every Tianshu Fragment she earned hunting vicious ghosts.

• Zhou Wuji asked Ma Feifei to stop the million-Spirit Crystal bounty mission because the cultivators gathering in Dubian Town threatened to destroy it, and Ma Feifei promised to find a solution.
• Ma Feifei consulted the system and learned that talismans he drew by hand with the bookstore's ballpoint pen could trigger an Alternate Dimension Battlefield.
• Ma Feifei saw Yun Qingyang's huge pile of sale-bound talismans and worried about the Spirit Crystals he would owe her, so he called her over to propose a different deal.
• Ma Feifei offered Yun Qingyang a million Spirit Crystals for each Tianshu Fragment she obtained by hunting vicious ghosts.
• Yun Qingyang accepted and decided to hunt ghosts at night while drawing talismans during the day.