Recaps

Elder Zheng explained the dangers of Aberrant Contamination and the ways cultivators could suppress or fight it. Li Qing left Jixia Academy for White Dragon Shoal to seek a treasure, but a suspicious lantern-lit boat appeared on the river ahead.

• Elder Zheng described Dao Lineage rituals, protective treasures, and the dangerous gamble of luring down and destroying Aberrant Contamination.
• After Li Qing left, Elder Zheng detached his head, drank through his neck, replaced it, and went to sleep as if nothing had happened.
• Li Qing decided to search for the treasure in Ye Baizhen's grave at White Dragon Shoal and quietly left Jixia Academy the next morning.
• Li Qing traveled downstream on the Taihe River in disguise and told the boatman to keep away from a strange pleasure boat.
• The suspicious boat's lights suddenly went out, and the music and other sounds aboard it ceased.

Li Qing investigated White Dragon Shoal for the tomb of the tyrant Ye Baizhen, using Shadow Paper Dolls to search underwater. As he paused to eat, a mysterious Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator appeared at the shore, carrying immense Qi Fate and an aura resembling Calamity Qi.

• Li Qing and the boatman watched the ghostly Orchid Garden flower boat disappear into the mist, and the boatman recounted its tragic history and haunting.
• Li Qing reached White Dragon Shoal, sent three Shadow Paper Dolls underwater, and made an underground hideout to search for Ye Baizhen’s tomb.
• Li Qing searched the shoal’s underwater terrain for half a day but found no promising burial site.
• Li Qing roasted a large white fish beside the shore while continuing to study feng shui and burial sites.
• A pale, handsome cultivator appeared beside White Dragon Shoal, and Li Qing sensed his immense Qi Fate and a strange aura like Calamity Qi.

Li Qing sensed that the unconscious man at White Dragon Shoal was entangled with dangerous fate and fled before the man’s pursuer arrived. The rescued man woke in a young lady’s carriage, while Li Qing followed from hiding to see what would happen next.

• Li Qing used his Heaven-Earth Wheel Transformation Calamity Qi to sense danger around the unconscious man, destroyed his campfire, and escaped thirty miles away.
• Li Qing watched through a Shadow Paper Doll as Guard Wang found the man and, at the young lady’s order, carried him into her carriage.
• Li Qing followed the carriage, and a ghostly figure arrived at White Dragon Shoal, realized the man had been rescued, and pursued them.
• The rescued man woke in the carriage, saw the young lady and her maid, and asked where he was.
• The young lady explained that she had found him washed ashore and ordered her servant to rescue him.

Li Qing’s Shadow Paper Doll witnessed a woman use the Yin-Yang Divine Void Escape Technique to flee with a wounded man from a Samsara Hall pursuer, then resumed searching beneath the Taihe River. Following river monsters, he discovered a shabby water palace and watched dancers in the main hall of General Wave-Divider Mansion.

• The wounded man warned the young lady that a ghost cultivator from Samsara Hall was pursuing him, and she used a Jade Talisman to teleport herself, her maid, and the man away as the attacker destroyed their carriage.
• Li Qing’s Shadow Paper Doll concluded that he should avoid meddling in other people’s affairs and noted that the injured man had survived despite his grave wounds.
• Li Qing kept his true body hidden while his Shadow Paper Doll searched the Taihe River and observed patrols of Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals.
• Li Qing followed a squad of river monsters about ten li to a run-down stone water palace and slipped inside unnoticed.
• Li Qing found the plaque identifying the main hall as General Wave-Divider Mansion and saw Shell Maidens singing and dancing within.

Li Qing discovered that the Carp King was searching for Ye Baizhen’s tomb and the Soul-Fixing Pearl, then investigated his palace and forces. After learning the Carp King served the Taihe Dragon Palace under a Dragon Grandson, Li Qing decided he could use him.

• Li Qing overheard the Carp King order General Xie to keep searching for Ye Baizhen’s tomb and learned that the King wanted the Soul-Fixing Pearl.
• The Carp King tore off an Aberrated tentacle and destroyed it, while Li Qing watched and assessed how deeply Aberration had affected him.
• Li Qing left a Shadow Paper Doll to spy on the Carp King and sent more dolls to search the underwater region for the Great Tomb.
• Over the next two days, Li Qing’s Shadow Paper Dolls revealed that the Carp King ruled the Wave-General Mansion’s territory under the Taihe Dragon Palace, backed by a Dragon Grandson.
• After reviewing the gathered information on the Jade Tablet, Li Qing decided he could make use of the Carp King.

Li Qing used the Jade Tablet to deduce that Ye Baizhen’s Great Tomb had been built beneath the river from a passage on land and concealed within a water-vein formation. By mapping the underground water veins, he found the sealed chamber containing the tomb.

• Li Qing set aside the Fish King as a future target and focused on locating Ye Baizhen’s tomb.
• Li Qing deduced that Ye Baizhen had dug a passage through a forest near White Dragon Shoal and built the tomb at a Taihe River water-vein node.
• Li Qing sent Shadow Paper Dolls through the riverbed and mapped the underground water veins.
• Li Qing noticed that a formation had altered the water veins and used the Jade Tablet to pinpoint the tomb’s location.
• A Shadow Paper Doll broke through the earth at a water-vein junction and entered a sealed underground chamber.
• Li Qing found Ye Baizhen’s magnificent tomb at the center of the chamber.

Li Qing failed to get the Shadow Paper Doll past the Great Tomb’s guardians, so he devised a plan to use the Carp King to enter it and weaken his forces. After Xia Jiao reported the tomb, the Carp King led his soldiers toward it, unaware that Li Qing had prepared a trap.

• Li Qing tested the Shadow Paper Doll near the Tomb Guardian Beasts and retreated when they began to stir.
• Li Qing used Heavens Civilization Torrent to recruit Xia Jiao and ordered him to tell the Carp King about a mysterious underwater building.
• Li Qing tainted the entrance at the Water Vein Node with Calamity Qi, then hid nearby.
• Xia Jiao told the Carp King about the Great Tomb and claimed he remembered where to find it.
• The Carp King led more than a hundred water soldiers toward the tomb while Li Qing watched from a concealed Shadow Paper Doll.

The Carp King led his demons into a hidden tomb and fought its Tomb Guardian Beasts while Li Qing watched from the shadows. When the Carp King slipped, one guardian beast flew toward the demon formation, leaving Li Qing pleased that Tribulation Qi had caused the mishap.

• The Crab General confirmed that Xia Jiao's waterway led to a huge tomb, and the Carp King ordered the demons inside.
• Xia Jiao showed the Carp King how to pass through a concealed wall, while Li Qing's Shadow Paper Doll followed the demons into the tomb.
• The Carp King formed up the Shrimp Soldiers and attacked the Tomb Guardian Beasts with his Trident after they awakened.
• Li Qing's strange wind failed to harm the Tomb Guardian Beasts, and the Carp King cracked their bodies with repeated blows.
• The Carp King slipped on wet ground, and his falling Trident knocked a Tomb Guardian Beast toward the demon formation.

Li Qing watched as his Calamity Qi caused heavy losses among the Carp King’s troops, then saw the Carp King break the tomb entrance’s restriction and lead the survivors inside. The soldiers reached a second restricted bronze gate, while Li Qing continued watching from the shadows.

• The Tomb Guardian Beasts exploded, killing more than twenty Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals and injuring many others.
• The Carp King ordered the troops to assemble, but the entrance restriction hurled two Shrimp Soldiers into stone shards, and he cut them down in anger.
• The Carp King used his soldiers’ vital essence to break the restriction on the black gate.
• The Carp King sent Shrimp Soldiers through the dark passage, where they reached a bronze gate covered by another restriction.
• The Carp King ordered the Shrimp Soldiers farther inside as Li Qing watched from the shadows.

Li Qing watched the Carp King’s troops fall into a deadly frenzy caused by the passage’s green lamps, then saw them enter a vast chamber after the Carp King extinguished the lights. Meanwhile, Dragon Grandson Ao Ming arrived at General Wave-Divider Mansion and learned its guards did not know where the General had gone.

• An unseen force from the green oil lamps made the Shrimp Soldiers, Crab Generals, and Xia Jiao mistake their companions for monsters and attack them.
• The Carp King briefly restored the troops’ senses with a spell, then used Decay Mist to extinguish the lamps and a luminous pearl to clear the remaining influence.
• After more than ten soldiers died and the survivors were wounded, the Carp King ordered them to reform their battle array and opened the bronze door.
• Li Qing received an image of Ao Ming arriving at General Wave-Divider Mansion in a shell carriage accompanied by twelve Yakshas.
• Ao Ming’s Yaksha demanded to know where General Wave-Divider was, and the guards said they did not know and feared the King would kill them if they spoke.

Ao Ming pursued Li Qing’s disguised shadow toward the tomb, hoping to find the Carp King, while Li Qing planned to lure the Taihe Dragon Palace forces into the ruins. At the burial chamber, the Carp King’s attack awakened hundreds of Golden Armor Soldiers, who charged through his corrosive mist.

• Ao Ming killed two Shrimp Soldiers after they admitted they only knew that the Carp King had gone to a waterway containing a Great Tomb.
• Ao Ming spotted Li Qing’s armored shadow and followed it, using his Void-Piercing Divine Pupils to identify it as a spell rather than a soldier.
• Li Qing decided to lead Ao Ming and his companion into the tomb so he could use them to scout it and later capture them.
• The Carp King reached the burial chamber and found at least three hundred Golden Armor Soldiers standing in the hall.
• The Carp King attacked with dark-green breath, awakening the Golden Armor Soldiers, then swung his trident as they charged toward him.

The Carp King’s army was wiped out by the tomb’s Golden Soldiers, while Ao Ming entered the tomb and recognized the guards as Platinum Divine Armor Dao Soldiers from Ye Baizhen’s era. After Ao Ming headed deeper in search of the tomb’s secrets, Li Qing’s Shadow Paper Dolls began salvaging the armor and valuable lamp oil.

• The Carp King and his exhausted Monster soldiers fought through the Golden Soldiers, but the battle ended with his army dead and the Carp King missing.
• Ao Ming summoned the twelve Yakshas, sent them into the Water Vein Node to check for danger, and then entered the tomb with them.
• Ao Ming found the battlefield’s corpses and identified the golden armor as Platinum Divine Armor once used by Ye Baizhen’s Dao Soldier army.
• Ao Ming concluded that the tomb belonged to Ye Baizhen and followed a passage deeper into it with the Yakshas.
• Li Qing’s Shadow Paper Dolls collected the green lamp oil and undamaged Platinum Divine Armor to sell for a profit.

Li Qing followed Carp King into a tomb chamber where an illusion made him and two Yaksha unaware that a monster was draining their essence. Ao Ming entered another door with four Yaksha and found himself in an illusion of ruling beside the East Sea Dragon Palace princess he desired.

• Carp King recovered with an Essence Blood Pill, chose the left door by doing the opposite of where his Trident pointed, and entered the chamber while Li Qing followed in his shadow.
• A monster disguised itself as dragon maidens in Carp King's illusion and began draining his essence as he lay unaware.
• Two Yaksha entered Carp King's chamber and were also enthralled and drained by mummified corpses.
• Ao Ming deduced that the three doors were dangerous, chose to explore the right door first, and entered with four Yaksha as Li Qing's Shadow Paper Doll followed them.
• A dazzling light engulfed Ao Ming and his Yaksha, and Ao Ming awoke in an illusion where he sat on a throne and saw the East Sea Dragon Palace princess.

Li Qing watched as the Carp King and Ao Ming became trapped in deadly illusions inside the tomb chambers. He struck the Carp King with a stone to wake him just as the monster was draining his life, leaving the Carp King facing the horror around him.

• The Shadow Paper Doll revealed that two of Ao Ming’s subordinates had died and four Yaksha were being drained while trapped in an illusion.
• Li Qing decided to let the dangers weaken Ao Ming’s group before waking Ao Ming and the Carp General.
• The Carp King dreamed of conquering the East Sea Dragon Palace as the tentacled monster slowly absorbed his vital essence.
• Li Qing identified the monster as likely belonging to Ye Baizhen’s concubine and realized the Carp King was close to death.
• The Shadow Paper Doll struck the Carp King’s head with a stone, jolting him awake amid the writhing tentacles.
• The Carp King roared in terror and covered himself with dark green energy.

Carp King fought a Baleful Intent-level monster and killed it with the Trident, while Li Qing watched from the shadows. In another burial chamber, Li Qing awakened Ao Ming, who then confronted a grotesque creature formed from dark green radiance.

• Carp King covered himself in black-light armor and used corrosive mist to destroy the monster’s tentacles and corpses.
• The monster struck back with pink radiance that nearly trapped Carp King in an illusion, but he stabbed his arm to stay alert and charged with the Trident.
• Carp King split the monster’s face with the Trident, causing its tentacles to decay and leaving a crimson pearl among the ashes.
• Li Qing awakened Ao Ming in another burial chamber, where a grotesque creature formed from radiance and attacked him with countless hands.
• Ao Ming unleashed a torrent of black water that spread patches of ice across the creature, while Li Qing recognized the spell as resembling Dragon Spits Water.

Ao Ming destroyed the illusion-casting Anomaly with black water, then clashed with the Carp King after they met inside the tomb. Li Qing watched from hiding and considered recruiting both as future pawns, while the rivals argued over the Carp King’s betrayal and possible refuge in another Dragon Palace.

• Ao Ming froze the Anomaly with black water, survived its illusion, and swallowed a Blood Pill to restore his strength.
• The Carp King and Ao Ming emerged from separate tomb chambers and immediately fought with spells, a trident, and a golden dragon saber.
• Li Qing observed their battle and considered using Ao Ming and the Carp King as agents within and outside the Dragon Palace.
• After exhausting themselves, Ao Ming accused the Carp King of hiding the tomb and defying him, while the Carp King said he would leave the Taihe Dragon Palace and seek refuge in the Pu River Dragon Palace.

Ao Ming and the Carp King agreed to enter Ye Baizhen’s burial chamber and battle its golden guards, while Li Qing secretly sent the Shadow Paper Doll to record books into the Jade Tablet. The guards held off the two intruders as Li Qing gathered information and realized that knowledge in this world was graded.

• Ao Ming and the Carp King put aside their argument long enough to agree to search Ye Baizhen’s burial chamber and divide what they found.
• Ao Ming and the Carp King entered the chamber and saw a golden coffin covered in carvings of a mysterious armored figure amid a battlefield of corpses.
• Li Qing observed the golden guards and bookshelves from the doorway, then suspected Ye Baizhen’s death might have served another purpose.
• The Carp King and Ao Ming split up to fight the four golden guards, whose golden radiance resisted their attacks.
• Li Qing sent the Shadow Paper Doll to the bookshelf, where it recorded the books into the Jade Tablet, and he concluded that information in the world was graded.

Li Qing uncovered how Corpse Repository Temple had manipulated Ye Baizhen into becoming a water corpse, and realized his own interference with hidden schemes could bring enormous trouble. He resolved to build an information network across North Continent, while Carp King and Ao Ming approached the coffin in the tomb.

• Li Qing recorded the Boundless Light Dark Great Tome—Water Corpse Method and suspected Ye Baizhen had been backed by Corpse Repository Temple.
• Li Qing's Jade Tablet combined his notes with related records and revealed that Ye Baizhen had been controlled and cultivated as a water corpse through a centuries-long scheme.
• Li Qing feared that his actions had disrupted other powerful figures' plans and decided to build a broad information network centered on Dragon Path City.
• Carp King and Ao Ming defeated the four golden guards, then climbed toward the coffin as Li Qing watched from the bookshelves and prepared to withdraw if danger arose.

Li Qing stole the Soul-Fixing Pearl from Ye Baizhen’s tomb and used the chaos that followed to subdue Ao Ming and the Carp King. After escaping White Dragon Shoal, he began refining the pearl and discovered a mysterious Buddha imprint inside.

• The Shadow Paper Doll stole the Soul-Fixing Pearl while Ao Ming and the Carp King fought, awakening Ye Baizhen and unleashing black water through the tomb.
• Li Qing ambushed Ao Ming and the Carp King as they fled, overwhelmed them, and planted a spiritual imprint that made them worship the God of All Demons.
• Li Qing ordered Ao Ming and the Carp King to return to the Dragon Palace and report that Corpse Buddha Temple had built a Great Tomb to forge a water corpse.
• Li Qing left White Dragon Shoal, traveled twenty li away, and poured the Heavens Civilization Torrent into the Soul-Fixing Pearl.
• Li Qing revealed a mysterious dark-golden Buddha imprint awakening inside the pearl and attacked it before it could fully awaken.

Li Qing destroyed the Hundred Corpse Venerable’s water-corpse imprint and learned that its plan had been to contaminate the Taihe River through Ye Baizhen’s tomb. He arranged to turn the Corpse Buddha Temple and Taihe Dragon Palace against each other, then watched the tomb’s corpse transformation begin.

• Li Qing’s Heavens Civilization Torrent shattered the terrifying Buddha’s imprint and captured fragments of the Earth, Blood, and Yin Corpse Methods.
• Li Qing identified the figure as the Hundred Corpse Venerable and learned that Ye Baizhen’s water corpse was meant to contaminate the Taihe River and establish a foothold for the Corpse Buddha Temple.
• Li Qing ordered Ao Ming and the Carp King to act battered as they fled toward the Taihe Dragon Palace, intending to provoke conflict between it and the Corpse Buddha Temple.
• Li Qing refined the bright-yellow pearl into his dantian, gaining protection from Aberrant Contamination at the True Method level.
• Li Qing saw black vapor escape Ye Baizhen’s tomb and watched it turn a fleeing black carp into a zombie fish.

Li Qing watched as Ye Baizhen’s water-corpse miasma spread through the Taihe River, while Ao Ming warned Crown Prince Ao Dong that the Corpse Repository Temple had planted a water corpse in the river veins. Hundred Corpse Venerable arrived at White Dragon Shoal and captured Ye Baizhen, leaving him falling toward the last open coffin in a black pagoda.

• Black mist leaked from the water veins near Ye Baizhen’s tomb, and Hundred Corpse Venerable sensed that his brand had been broken and the water corpse had awakened early.
• Ao Ming tried to alert the Taihe Dragon King, but Crown Prince Ao Dong arrived and demanded an explanation.
• Ao Ming told Ao Dong that Ye Baizhen had been refined into a water corpse by the Corpse Repository Temple and had awakened in the river veins.
• Ao Dong ordered Ao Ming to stay behind and flew toward White Dragon Shoal.
• Hundred Corpse Venerable entered Ye Baizhen’s burial chamber and used a black pagoda to draw Ye Baizhen and the surrounding black water inside.
• Ye Baizhen fell toward the last open coffin among eight coffins inside the pagoda.

Hundred Corpse Venerable captured Ye Baizhen and investigated the ruined tomb, while Li Qing’s upgraded Shadow Paper Doll remained hidden from him. As Hundred Corpse Venerable left the grave, an unknown attacker unleashed a devastating black rain, and Li Qing watched the battle from afar.

• Hundred Corpse Venerable slammed Ye Baizhen into a coffin and sealed it with black chains, then collected the books and inspected the ruined tomb.
• Li Qing tested the upgraded Shadow Paper Doll, which stayed concealed as Hundred Corpse Venerable searched the cave.
• Hundred Corpse Venerable examined the tomb’s traces and tried to view its past, but karmic heavenly secret interference obscured what had happened.
• Hundred Corpse Venerable concluded that someone from the Dragon Palace may have carried a treasure that disrupted heavenly secrets, then left the grave for the water vein.
• A furious attacker summoned dark clouds and black rain that froze the surrounding area, destroying more than a dozen of Li Qing’s paper dolls as he watched from twenty li away.

Li Qing narrowly escaped the battle between Ao Dong and Hundred Corpse Venerable, then gave Ao Ming and the Carp King an artifact-refining method and equipment to build their influence in the Taihe Dragon Palace. Meanwhile, his Shadow Paper Dolls recovered the remains of a ruined tomb, and Ao Dong reported the exposed Corpse Repository Temple plot to the Dragon King.

• Li Qing used World-Walking Star-Shifting to escape a fall of corrosive blood, then watched Ao Dong drive off Hundred Corpse Venerable and judged the Dragon Palace victorious.
• Li Qing found the Natal Sacrificial Artifact Method in the Compendium of World Crafting and passed it to Ao Ming and the Carp King, along with one hundred sets of Platinum Divine Armor.
• Li Qing ordered Ao Ming and the Carp King to gather forces and resources, with Ao Ming managing internal affairs and the Carp King handling external matters.
• Li Qing's Shadow Paper Dolls entered the ruined tomb at White Dragon Shoal and retrieved four damaged golden automata and fragments of a golden coffin.
• Crown Prince Ao Dong returned to the Dragon King Hall and told the Dragon King that he had cleared the Corpse Repository Temple's hidden water-corpses and exposed its scheme.

Ao Dong ordered Ao Ming to use human officials to undermine the Buddhist Sect’s plans around the Taihe River, then granted him authority over White Dragon Shoal. Li Qing recovered the wreckage outside Dragon Path City, repaired two golden automatons, and heard that someone had died at Jixia Academy.

• Ao Dong assigned Ao Dong’s son Ao Ming to deal with the Buddhist temples through official channels without directly involving the Demon Race.
• Ao Dong granted Ao Ming a residence and government office, placed White Dragon Shoal under his management, and gave him a token to access supplies.
• Li Qing collected the golden coffin fragments and automaton wreckage outside Dragon Path City after confirming they carried no abnormal aura.
• Li Qing considered how to use his new resources and prepare his plans in Dragon Path City, then returned to Jixia Academy and sealed his room.
• Li Qing examined four golden automatons, dismantled the ruined ones for parts, and repaired two while recording their blueprints.
• The next morning, Li Qing heard a commotion outside his room as people shouted that someone had died.

After Elder Zheng was found dead, Li Qing considered the mystery surrounding his death and investigated signs of rebellion spreading across the region. He studied Fang Yaoguang’s new novel and continued planning his next moves, leaving Shadow Paper Dolls to watch and investigate potential targets.

• Li Qing found Elder Zheng’s severed head in his room, and Master ordered Jixia Academy placed under martial lockdown.
• Li Qing noticed an increase in refugees and learned that the rebel army had taken thirteen county cities under Jade City, likely with the Blood Demon Sect behind it.
• Li Qing bought and read Fang Yaoguang’s new novel, then sent a Shadow Paper Doll to watch Fang Yaoguang’s home.
• Li Qing sent another Shadow Paper Doll to fence stolen goods from a figure associated with the Corpse Repository Temple while he dined near Hundred Gates Alley.
• Li Qing had Shadow Paper Dolls investigate the city’s gangs and considered using the three major factions, which appeared connected to Dao Lineage forces, as a point of entry.