Recaps

Lu Zhen’s victory at East City stunned the Xiao Family and forced the Eastern Islander commanders to reconsider their campaign. Fujiwara Zhai persuaded the other leaders that Lu Zhen had to be killed immediately, even if they avoided a wider massacre.

• A scout reported that Lu Zhen had slaughtered more than fifty Eastern Islander Grandmasters, killed Guasheng Tieye, and forced the army to retreat, leaving Xiao Changyuan and the elders stunned.
• Xiao Yuqing received the same news at West City, while Xiao Ran celebrated Lu Zhen’s victory and privately imagined becoming one of his women.
• Fujiwara Zhai berated Miyamoto and Zaixin for the defeat and proposed total war against the Xiao Family and Ocean City.
• Zaixin and Miyamoto warned that attacking the city would violate the Gengshen Treaty and risk retaliation from Xiao Zhengyan, Yang Chongwu, and Great Xia.
• Fujiwara Zhai argued that Lu Zhen’s growing strength made him too dangerous to leave alive, and the others agreed to join the fight to kill him.

After Lu Zhen denied being the mysterious Faceless Asura, four Transformation Force Grandmasters emerged from the Eastern Island army, prompting Xiao Zhengyan to manifest his overwhelming Dharma Heaven and Earth. Fujiwara Zhai demanded that the Xiao Family hand over Lu Zhen or face war, leaving Xiao Zhengyan’s decision unresolved.

• Lu Zhen dismissed Chu Yunshu’s suspicion that he had been Faceless Asura and warned the defenders that the enemy could attack again.
• Lu Zhen sensed four Transformation Force Grandmasters rising from the Eastern Island army and looked to the Xiao Family Ancestor for help.
• Xiao Zhengyan arrived and manifested an eight-meter Dharma Heaven and Earth, confronting the Eastern Island army’s smaller phantom.
• Fujiwara Zhai threatened to destroy Ocean City but claimed he would withdraw if the Xiao Family handed over Lu Zhen.
• The defenders, soldiers, and onlookers waited for Xiao Zhengyan to decide whether to surrender Lu Zhen or risk war.

Yang Chongwu intervened to stop the Eastern Islanders from attacking Ocean City, settling the standoff by giving Guangnan Division three of the Xiao Family’s Cloud Forest Cave places. Lu Zhen suspected the settlement concealed deeper motives, while Xiao Zhengyan reflected on how few talented martial artists ever reached the peak.

• As Fujiwara Zhai prepared to attack Ocean City, Yang Chongwu appeared with a twenty-one-meter Dharma Image and demanded that Guangnan Division honor its agreement.
• Yang Chongwu offered Guangnan Division three of the Xiao Family’s Cloud Forest Cave places, and Fujiwara Zhai and Xiao Zhengyan accepted the deal.
• The Eastern Island army withdrew, and Ocean City’s people cheered Yang Chongwu while Lu Zhen questioned why the conflict had ended so easily.
• In the Xiao Family’s rear courtyard, Xiao Zhengyan told Seventh Great-Uncle that Lu Zhen had talent but faced a difficult path to mastery.
• Xiao Zhengyan recalled his own stalled cultivation and noted that even Yang Chongwu had failed to reach Control Realm’s third layer, Mastery.

After Lu Zhen rejected Xiao Changyuan’s implied offer of marriage and returned home, he considered the danger posed by the Eastern Islanders and planned to strike back as the Faceless Asura. The chapter left him preparing to turn the tables on his enemies.

• Xiao Changyuan awarded Lu Zhen ten thousand Merit Points and hinted that he could ask for anything, but Lu Zhen declined further requests and left the Xiao Family Mansion.
• Xiao Yuqing felt relieved that Lu Zhen had not accepted her as a bargaining chip, while Xiao Ran privately scolded him for missing the marriage hint.
• Lu Zhen returned to his courtyard, where his family welcomed him with a mixture of relief, awe, and disbelief.
• Lu Zhen recalled the Fujiwara Clan grandmaster’s hostile look and concluded that the Eastern Islanders would likely try to assassinate him.
• Lu Zhen planned to adopt the identity of the Faceless Asura and attack the Eastern Island grandmasters to throw Ocean City into chaos.

Lu Zhen consumed all sixteen Blood Bodhi, raised his physique to Limb Regeneration, and prepared to strike as Faceless Asura. He entered the Yaksha branch’s underground passage in Ocean City, with no Transformation Force aura detected inside.

• Lu Zhen spent 100,000 General Experience to raise Daily Settlement to Lv.8 and broke through to Physique Lv.9, gaining Limb Regeneration.
• Lu Zhen calculated that his combined strength could reach eighteen million jin with his secret techniques and Control Realm power.
• Chu Yunshu watched Lu Zhen leave from the neighboring courtyard, and he suspected she would recognize him as Faceless Asura but decided not to confess.
• Lu Zhen disguised himself with the Faceless mask, traveled to Chen's Clock Shop in West City, and detected no Transformation Force aura inside.
• The old man at Chen's Clock Shop recognized Faceless Asura and opened a hidden passage, which Lu Zhen entered.

Lu Zhen chose the Zheng Family Ancestor, Zheng Qianqiu, as his next bounty target to obtain a Spirit Medicine. At the Zheng family estate, Zheng Yunfei exploited his newfound status to pressure Liu Qingqing, then was ambushed and subdued by a mysterious figure.

• Lu Zhen selected Zheng Qianqiu, an early Transformation Force Grandmaster, from the Yaksha bounty ledger.
• Zheng Yunfei took advantage of the Zheng family's mourning and his increased standing to demand that Liu Qingqing meet him privately.
• After Liu Qingqing left, Zheng Yunfei headed toward the side courtyard, intending to accost the maids there.
• A tall, silent shadow grabbed Zheng Yunfei from behind, clamped his mouth shut, and paralyzed him by gripping his neck.

Lu Zhen infiltrated the Zheng Family, killed Zheng Qianqiu with a surprise attack, and stole a red sandalwood box from the family treasury. Fujiwara Zhai and his allies failed to catch the fleeing attacker and dismissed the possibility that he was Lu Zhen.

• Lu Zhen interrogated and killed Zheng Yunfei, learning that Zheng Qianqiu was meditating at the Cold Pool and that the treasury lay beneath the Ancestral Hall.
• Lu Zhen launched a surprise attack on Zheng Qianqiu with the Nine Nether Flying Sword, mortally wounding him before cutting off his head.
• Lu Zhen took a brass key, entered the Zheng Family treasury, seized a red sandalwood box, and escaped into the night.
• Fujiwara Zhai, Miyamoto, and Zaixin pursued the fleeing aura, but Fujiwara Zhai could not catch up and suspected its owner had reached the peak of the Control Realm Second Layer or beyond.
• Miyamoto argued that Faceless Asura might be Lu Zhen, but Fujiwara Zhai and Zaixin rejected the idea, believing Lu Zhen was too young and too weak.

After killing Zheng Qianqiu, Lu Zhen traveled to the Provincial Capital to claim his bounty and met Yaksha’s regional head at Falling Star Lake. The regional head handed him a fourth-tier Samsara Blood Jade Leaf, leaving Lu Zhen with the reward in hand.

• Fujiwara Zhai, Miyamoto, and Zaixin divided the Zheng Family’s property and business interests among themselves.
• Lu Zhen carried Zheng Qianqiu’s head from Ocean City toward the Provincial Capital, reflecting on the strength of the city’s garrison commander and his own abilities.
• At Yaksha’s Provincial Capital branch, Lu Zhen demanded his bounty and learned that the regional head wanted to deliver it personally at Falling Star Lake.
• Lu Zhen checked the area around Falling Star Lake for an ambush, then met the masked regional head in the Lake Heart Pavilion.
• The regional head gave Lu Zhen a fourth-tier, low-grade Samsara Blood Jade Leaf, which Lu Zhen examined before accepting.

Lu Zhen traded an ancient painting to Ji Bo for two Spirit Medicines and escaped, while news spread that the Faceless Asura had killed Zheng Qianqiu. The Xiao Family suspected the Faceless Asura was Lu Zhen’s master and resolved to strengthen their ties with Lu Zhen.

• Lu Zhen bargained with Ji Bo, a presiding officer of the Yaksha Guangnan Branch, and exchanged the ancient painting for one fourth-tier, low-grade Spirit Medicine and one top-grade third-tier Spirit Medicine.
• Ji Bo watched Lu Zhen escape and admitted he had been unable to stop the swift assassin, though he was pleased to have obtained the painting.
• Ocean City residents learned that the Faceless Asura had killed Zheng Qianqiu and that the Eastern Islanders and other families had divided the Zheng Family’s territory.
• Xiao Changyuan and the elders speculated that the Faceless Asura might be Lu Zhen’s master, while Seventh Great-Uncle urged them not to investigate the connection.
• Xiao Changyuan ordered the Xiao Family to keep quiet about the suspected relationship and double their efforts to win Lu Zhen over.

Xiao Changyuan rewarded Lu Zhen with a place in the Cloud Forest Cave and considered arranging his marriage to Yuqing, while Chu Yunshu waited for Lu Zhen and offered to watch over his home. After receiving a haul of Spirit Medicines and examining a Life-Burning Blood Gu, Lu Zhen began cultivating, but a catastrophic volcanic eruption erupted hundreds of miles away and threatened the region.

• Xiao Changyuan granted Lu Zhen one of the Xiao Family's Cloud Forest Cave spots and asked Seventh Great-Uncle what he thought of Lu Zhen marrying Yuqing.
• Chu Yunshu met Lu Zhen outside his home and said she would watch over the household whenever he went out to take care of things.
• Lu Zhen's Daily Settlement rewarded him with eighteen fourth-tier low-grade Spirit Medicines and nine third-tier top-grade Spirit Medicines.
• Lu Zhen examined a Life-Burning Blood Gu from the Zheng Family treasury and learned that using it burned half his potential lifespan for a burst of power.
• Lu Zhen began refining a Spirit Medicine, then felt a powerful tremor and saw a massive volcanic eruption send magma, ash, and burning meteorites into the sky hundreds of miles away.

The Earth Vein erupted near Ocean City, promising rare treasures while unleashing a beast tide that threatened nearby settlements. As the city’s factions mobilized to fight the beasts, Little Pebble stood alone against the tide to protect his village.

• Chu Yunshu explained to Lu Zhen that the Earth Vein’s eruption was a once-in-centuries event caused by a powerful treasure emerging underground, and that its bounty could transform martial artists.
• The Xiao Family summoned its forces, and Xiao Changyuan warned that the eruption would trigger a beast tide before any treasures appeared; he ordered martial artists to defend the people and offered Merit Points for slain beasts.
• Lu Zhen and Chu Yunshu joined the Xiao Family gathering, where Lu Zhen planned to fight beasts and possibly pursue treasures as the Faceless Asura.
• Chen Shouye urged villagers north of Ocean City to flee as Little Pebble organized their escape after reaching the Force Refining Realm.
• A beast tide flooded into the village, and Little Pebble killed a Two-Headed Wolf before charging at more beasts to buy the villagers time.

Lu Zhen rescued Little Pebble and the villagers from a beast tide, then spent several days fighting beasts across Ocean City's defensive lines. As his battle record soared, dark force martial masters dismissed his achievements and said the real contest would begin when treasures emerged from the earth vein.

• Lu Zhen recognized Little Pebble, who had reached the force refining realm, and killed a swath of the beast tide with one saber strike.
• Lu Zhen ordered the villagers to flee to the city, then raced from village to village, slaughtering beasts as he went.
• Lu Zhen saw soldiers, students, and martial arts school members evacuating civilians while logistics workers recorded his kills and removed beast carcasses.
• After several days of fighting, Lu Zhen topped Ocean City's battle achievement rankings by a wide margin.
• Several dark force martial masters said Lu Zhen's accomplishments were minor compared with the treasures and battles awaiting Transformation Force Grandmasters.

Fujiwara Zhai, Miyamoto, and Zaixin discussed Lu Zhen’s strength and the power of Dharma Images before setting out to find him outside Ocean City. Fujiwara Zhai ordered his men to locate Lu Zhen without alerting him so he could kill him with one decisive strike.

• Miyamoto warned that Lu Zhen could match about seventy percent of a Transformation Force Grandmaster’s strength, but Fujiwara Zhai dismissed the threat.
• Fujiwara Zhai explained that his eight-meter Dharma Image wielded forty-eight million jin of power and could replenish itself by drawing on the Power of Heaven and Earth.
• Zaixin asked about the ancient battle between the Eight Great Empires and Huaxia’s great sects, and Fujiwara Zhai described the War Machines and hinted that the empires had since unearthed even stronger ones.
• Fujiwara Zhai ordered Miyamoto and Zaixin to help find Lu Zhen, promising to strike personally once they confirmed his location.
• Fujiwara Zhai, Miyamoto, and Zaixin scattered into the wilderness outside Ocean City to search for Lu Zhen.

Lu Zhen used the Faceless mask and his beast network to find the Eastern Islander Grandmasters hunting him, then killed Miyamoto in a sudden attack. He stayed behind to face Fujiwara Zhai, whose Dharma Image drew the attention of nearby martial artists.

• Lu Zhen sensed a Transformation Force Grandmaster nearby, hid his aura with the Faceless mask, and learned through his animal informants that several Eastern Islander powerhouses were searching for him.
• Lu Zhen decided to ambush the searchers and raced toward the nearest aura of Transformation Force.
• Miyamoto spotted the Faceless Asura and tried to alert Fujiwara Zhai, but Lu Zhen struck him down and beheaded him.
• Lu Zhen chose to remain beside Miyamoto's corpse, hoping to witness the power of a Control Realm Grandmaster and find inspiration for his own breakthrough.
• Fujiwara Zhai arrived and summoned an eight-meter Samurai Dharma Image, while nearby martial artists recognized the Faceless Asura and watched him prepare to face the Control Realm Grandmaster.

Lu Zhen fought Fujiwara Zhai’s Dharma Image, suffered a grave injury, and escaped after learning how the Control Realm’s Dharma Heaven and Earth worked. Shen Jue and Zuo Kuang then pursued him, hoping to claim the bounty on the Faceless Asura.

• Lu Zhen’s flying sword pierced Fujiwara Zhai’s Dharma Image, but the energy body quickly regenerated.
• Fujiwara Zhai struck the ground with a forty-eight-million-jin punch, and its shock wave badly wounded Lu Zhen.
• Lu Zhen used the rebound to flee, and his Limb Regeneration began repairing his injuries as he reflected on the Control Realm.
• Shen Jue and Zuo Kuang watched the fight and discussed taking the bounty on the Faceless Asura.
• Shen Jue and Zuo Kuang set off after Lu Zhen, planning to trap him with their Combined Strike Dharma Image.

Lu Zhen fled Fujiwara Zhai and was pursued by Zuo Kuang and Shen Jue, forcing him to hide beneath a cliff with Xiao Yuqing. After the pursuers passed, Xiao Yuqing realized he had been protecting her, though she compared the Faceless Asura with Lu Zhen and wondered about her feelings.

• Zuo Kuang and Shen Jue combined their strength to strike Lu Zhen, but he unleashed the Eight-Headed Serpent Blood Burn Secret Technique and escaped at great speed.
• Lu Zhen spotted a cliff, suppressed his inner force, and hid among the rocks and brush to evade his pursuers.
• Lu Zhen found Xiao Yuqing resting beneath the cliff and tackled her into the brush to keep her from being discovered.
• Zuo Kuang and Shen Jue searched nearby, failed to find Lu Zhen, and eventually moved on.
• Xiao Yuqing understood that Lu Zhen had hidden her to protect her and privately compared the Faceless Asura with Lu Zhen.

After recovering from Fujiwara Zhai’s attack, Lu Zhen advanced his spiritual cultivation and gained control over the power of heaven and earth. He condensed a seven-meter Dharma Image while still at mid-stage Dark Force, leaving him eager for a rematch with Fujiwara Zhai.

• Xiao Yuqing saw Lu Zhen’s wounds healing at an extraordinary rate, then returned with herbs and medicine to thank him for saving her.
• Lu Zhen used the Great Sun Pure Yang Technique to purge the lingering force from Fujiwara Zhai’s punch and realized it had helped him approach Control Realm Second Layer.
• After his daily settlement, Lu Zhen spent over twenty-four thousand General Experience to raise the Nameless Spirit-Refining Art to level seven.
• Lu Zhen sensed and commanded the power of heaven and earth, then combined it with his strength and secret technique to condense a seven-meter swordsman Dharma Image.
• Lu Zhen recognized that his thirty million jin of power brought him close to Fujiwara Zhai’s strength and vowed to see who would kill whom in their next encounter.

Lu Zhen used his newly formed seven-meter Dharma Image to ambush Shen Jue and Zuo Kuang while they were guarding a precious meteorite. He killed both men at the rift and left the treasure behind.

• Lu Zhen judged that he could not defeat Fujiwara Zhai yet, but decided he could kill Shen Jue and Zuo Kuang with an ambush.
• Shen Jue and Zuo Kuang found a mid-grade fourth-tier geng metal star meteorite erupting from a fissure and waited for it to cool.
• Lu Zhen activated the Eight-Headed Serpent Blood Burn Secret Technique and formed a seven-meter Dark Red Swordsman Dharma Image.
• Lu Zhen sent his enlarged Nine Nether Flying Sword into Zuo Kuang, killing him before he could form a Dharma Image.
• Lu Zhen revealed himself to Shen Jue, shattered his five-meter Dharma Image, and cleaved him in two.

Lu Zhen retrieved the Geng Metal Star Meteorite and returned to Ocean City to refine powerful Spirit Medicines in seclusion. While he was away, Gu Yanzhi discovered that nearly a hundred thousand refugees had vanished and traced them to North City and South City, leaving him to investigate without Lu Zhen's help.

• Lu Zhen took the Geng Metal Star Meteorite from the Rift Valley and decided to return home to strengthen himself before competing for the Earth Vein’s future treasures.
• Lu Zhen entered Ocean City, reassured Sister Shen and Lu Fang, and shut himself away to refine the Spirit Medicines he had stored.
• Lu Zhen swallowed a Samsara Blood Jade Leaf and began refining its fierce medicinal power with the Great Sun Pure Yang Technique.
• Gu Yanzhi visited the Lu family compound, learned that Lu Zhen was in seclusion, and chose not to disturb him.
• Gu Yanzhi recalled that nearly a hundred thousand refugees had disappeared and that the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society’s informants had traced their last signs to North City and South City.
• Gu Yanzhi left to have the Iron-Blooded National Salvation Society investigate the matter without Lu Zhen.

After six days of seclusion, Lu Zhen reached a Flawless Body, gained twenty years of lifespan, and greatly increased his strength. He learned that Gu Yanzhi had come seeking him urgently and left to find out what had happened.

• Lu Zhen refined all eighteen Samsara Blood Jade Leaves and used General Experience to raise his Physique to Flawless Body Lv.10.
• Lu Zhen gained twenty years of lifespan and calculated that his full strength reached fifty-five million jin with his techniques and secret technique.
• Lu Zhen emerged from seclusion and found Lu Fang, Lu Wan, and Sister Shen training under Ding Xuan, who had all grown stronger.
• Sister Shen told Lu Zhen that Gu Yanzhi had visited urgently while he was in seclusion.
• Lu Zhen realized the visit might be connected to the upheaval in Ocean City and left the courtyard.

Gu Yanzhi and Chen Shan led a National Salvation Society assault on Yanghe Hospital to free the refugees trapped underground, but the rescue was exposed as a trap. The fighters collapsed much of the basement at terrible cost, leaving Gu Yanzhi wounded and facing two surviving samurai.

• Gu Yanzhi and Chen Shan learned that the missing refugees had been sorted and sent to places including Yanghe Hospital, where the Eastern Island Gendarmerie planned to inject Class A men with Alienation Serum.
• Chen Shan divided the team: Elder Zhou would draw the gendarmes to the hospital entrance while Chen Shan and Gu Yanzhi entered through the morgue ventilation duct.
• Gu Yanzhi and the assault team reached the second basement level, cut open the refugees' cages, and urged them to escape through the ventilation shaft.
• The hospital's lights and iron doors revealed that the rescue was a trap, and gendarmes and four Bright Force samurai opened fire on the refugees and rescuers.
• Gu Yanzhi charged the machine-gun position as Chen Shan and the death squad attacked the samurai; Chen Shan, Elder Zhou, and the other fighters died, while an explosion killed two samurai and collapsed much of the basement.
• Wounded and trapped beside the rubble, Gu Yanzhi faced the two surviving samurai with his chipped short knife.

Lu Zhen rescued the refugees and dying Gu Yanzhi from the Eastern Island forces, then used a Spirit Medicine to keep Gu Yanzhi alive long enough to speak. Before dying, Gu Yanzhi revealed his hopes for Lu Zhen and asked him to restore peace and the glory of Divine Land.

• Gu Yanzhi fought the samurai and bought time for the refugees to escape, but suffered mortal wounds.
• Lu Zhen arrived as Faceless Asura and killed the remaining samurai and military police, then carried Gu Yanzhi to an abandoned workshop.
• Lu Zhen used the Samsara Blood Jade Leaf to preserve Gu Yanzhi's final breath and told him he had at most half an hour.
• Lu Zhen removed his mask, and Gu Yanzhi recognized him as the famed Faceless Asura before asking him to share a drink.
• Gu Yanzhi explained that he had trained in martial arts out of longing for a glorious Huaxia and told Lu Zhen he believed he could become its hero.
• Gu Yanzhi asked Lu Zhen to restore peace and happiness to the people and bring Divine Land's martial arts back to glory.

Lu Zhen attended Gu Yanzhi’s funeral, where tens of thousands of people knelt to honor the patriot, and vowed to repay his blood debt. When an Ancient Underground Palace rose from the Rift Valley, powerful martial artists rushed inside, and Lu Zhen followed them in secret.

• Gu Wanshan mourned Gu Yanzhi at the Gu Family residence while Lu Zhen paid his respects.
• Tens of thousands of refugees and townsfolk knelt as Gu Yanzhi’s funeral procession passed, and Lu Zhen resolved to act and seek revenge on Fujiwara Zhai’s people.
• An Ancient Underground Palace rose from the Rift Valley, drawing Master Kuchan, the Lingnan Twin Fiends, the Huo Family Ancestor, Fujiwara Zhai, and other martial artists.
• Fujiwara Zhai and the other Grandmasters entered the opened palace, and Lu Zhen followed them through the gate unseen.

Lu Zhen watched the warriors fight through the Underground Palace and discovered that Fujiwara Zhai’s allies were secretly setting up a formation. After the main hall’s stone door opened to reveal a White Jade Altar and three treasures, the Lingnan Twin Fiends launched themselves into the ensuing battle.

• Alienated Mechanical Automata attacked the intruders, and the Lingnan Twin Fiends lured them toward Huo Tiannan to steal a Nether Ghost Orchid.
• Huo Tiannan was gravely wounded and escaped the Underground Palace using the Blood Burning Escape Technique, while the Lingnan Twin Fiends charged deeper inside with the orchid.
• Lu Zhen noticed that Fujiwara Zhai ignored the treasures and watched a gaunt Eastern Islander secretly plant rune-covered paper figures as formation nodes.
• More than a dozen Induction Realm grandmasters joined forces to break open the main hall’s stone door, revealing a White Jade Altar with a Sumeru Ring, a jade talisman, and an ancient corpse.
• The Lingnan Twin Fiends attacked the other grandmasters, and a melee broke out over the treasures.

Master Kuchan sacrificed himself to cripple Fujiwara Zhai, leaving Lu Zhen to face the wounded Grandmaster. Lu Zhen killed Fujiwara Zhai with the Nine Nether Flying Sword, though he was left gravely injured.

• Master Kuchan activated his Vajra Dharma Image and battled the other Grandmasters for the treasures.
• Fujiwara Zhai triggered the Yata Blood Sea Array, binding the martial artists and suppressing their qi and blood.
• Master Kuchan burned his vital essence and self-destructed, destroying part of the formation and gravely wounding Fujiwara Zhai.
• Lu Zhen entered the hall and revealed a seven-meter Dark Red Swordsman Dharma Image, surprising Fujiwara Zhai.
• Lu Zhen fought through Fujiwara Zhai’s attacks and pierced his heart with the Nine Nether Flying Sword, killing him.
• Lu Zhen dispelled his Dharma Image and collapsed to one knee as his vitality began repairing his severe injuries.