Recaps

Zhao Hao used upgraded spiritual artifacts and a fabricated story about True Person Corpse Heart to convince Jia Ren that attacking him would be too dangerous. The chapter ended with Zhao Hao looking past Jia Ren and shouting that his master had arrived.

• Jia Ren tracked Zhao Hao to his Cave Abode and demanded the inheritance he believed Zhao Hao possessed.
• Zhao Hao spent spirit stones to enhance Ghost Bone and Blood Vein Bone Armor into second-tier low-grade spiritual artifacts, then concealed his cultivation and emerged from underground.
• Zhao Hao pretended he had contacted True Person Corpse Heart and claimed his master had given him spiritual liquid, a lethal trump card, and a second-tier Space Escape Talisman.
• Jia Ren believed Zhao Hao might be True Person Corpse Heart's future vessel and abandoned his plan to attack him.
• Zhao Hao looked past Jia Ren and shouted, "Master, you're here!"

Zhao Hao ambushed Jia Ren, badly wounded him, and tracked his escape after Jia Ren mistook him for a body-possessing old monster. Zhao Hao upgraded his Tracking Compass and prepared to leave the Northern Lands, while Jia Ren’s signal remained stationary in a distant mountain range.

• Jia Ren turned at the thought of True Person Corpse Heart, and Zhao Hao used the distraction to strike him with Evil Light Art and Ghost Bone.
• Jia Ren lost his left arm and suffered a blow to his dantian, then summoned yin souls and fled with Blood Escape Art.
• Zhao Hao used Jia Ren’s severed arm and the Tracking Compass to locate him fleeing northwest, where his signal stopped in a mountain range.
• Zhao Hao enhanced his Tracking Compass with Jia Ren’s Blood-Colored Compass and a hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, destroying the tracking item.
• Zhao Hao decided to leave the Northern Lands, but saw that Jia Ren’s signal remained still and suspected he had stopped to hide and heal.

Zhao Hao tracked the wounded Jia Ren to his hiding place and lured him into lowering his guard by promising to restore his arm and guide him toward the Golden Core. Jia Ren accepted, but Zhao Hao beheaded him, leaving no one alive who knew his secret.

• Zhao Hao used his Tracking Compass to find Jia Ren hiding in a mountain hollow and blasted him from cover with the Ghost Bone Dagger.
• Jia Ren begged Zhao Hao for mercy and offered to swear he would keep Zhao Hao's secret.
• Zhao Hao demanded that Jia Ren open his sea of consciousness, then promised to restore his severed arm and guide him toward the Golden Core.
• Jia Ren accepted Zhao Hao as his master and lowered his defenses.
• Zhao Hao beheaded Jia Ren and joked that he should download an anti-fraud app in his next life.

After killing Jia Ren, Zhao Hao fled the Extreme Yin Sect and reached a cultivators' market, where he discovered a wealth of resources in Jia Ren's Storage Bag. The chapter leaves him wondering whether a jade bottle he found contains the spirit liquid he had pretended to possess.

• Zhao Hao burned Jia Ren's body, destroyed identifying tokens and the Sound Transmission Jade Talisman, then escaped underground.
• Zhao Hao traveled over a thousand li by Earth Escape Art and continued fleeing from the Extreme Yin Sect on foot.
• After three days, Zhao Hao reached a cultivators' market, disguised his aura and appearance, and rented a temporary cave abode.
• Zhao Hao opened Jia Ren's Storage Bag and found the Mysterious Yin Essence Condensation Art, spirit stones, magical artifacts, and numerous refined corpses.
• Zhao Hao uncorked a green jade bottle and sensed that its milky-white contents might be the spirit liquid he had claimed to have received from his master.

Zhao Hao discovered that the spirit liquid he had received could stabilize his cultivation, but rejected the Mysterious Yin Essence Condensation Art after learning its power would mark him as a demonic cultivator. Seeking a sword-flight method and a way to leave the Extreme Yin Sect's territory, he visited Hundred Treasures Pavilion and revealed his Foundation Establishment cultivation to its steward.

• Zhao Hao opened the jade bottle and confirmed that it contained high-grade spirit liquid, then stored it for later use.
• Zhao Hao examined the Mysterious Yin Essence Condensation Art and learned that its Yin Baleful Qi could improve Golden Core formation but would expose him as a demonic cultivator.
• Zhao Hao decided not to practice the art and resolved to obtain a sword-flight method so he could leave the Extreme Yin Sect's sphere of influence.
• Zhao Hao entered Hundred Treasures Pavilion and asked its steward whether the shop sold Foundation Establishment methods.
• Zhao Hao released Foundation Establishment pressure in the private room, causing the steward to bow and address him as Senior.

Zhao Hao bought the Li Fire Imperial Spirit Canon and a collection of righteous and demonic techniques from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion. As he left to test how the system might enhance the canon, someone on the second floor called him back.

• The steward mistook Zhao Hao for a Foundation Establishment expert and introduced the pavilion’s techniques and cultivation methods.
• Zhao Hao chose the Li Fire Imperial Spirit Canon, a powerful fire-affinity method, and paid two thousand low-grade spirit stones for it.
• Zhao Hao bought six spells and five cultivation methods for fourteen thousand low-grade spirit stones, then swore an oath not to pass them on.
• Zhao Hao left the pavilion eager to test the system’s enhancement of the Li Fire Imperial Spirit Canon, but a voice from the second floor called, “Fellow Daoist, please stay!”

Zhao Hao agreed to escort Alchemist Wu Tang to Ten Thousand Immortal City for the alchemy grand assembly after learning it offered a safe neutral refuge and a chance to pursue alchemy. After signing a Heavenly Demon Contract with Wu Tang, Zhao Hao returned to his cave and discovered the contract listed in his system status.

• Wu Tang invited Zhao Hao upstairs and explained that he needed a powerful guard for his journey to the alchemy grand assembly in Ten Thousand Immortal City.
• Wu Tang offered ten bottles of Green Origin Pills, one hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones, and a Hundred Treasures Token in exchange for Zhao Hao's protection.
• Wu Tang described Ten Thousand Immortal City as a neutral refuge and revealed that the grand assembly's first-place prize was a Golden Core Formation Pill.
• Zhao Hao accepted the escort job, inspected and signed an equal Heavenly Demon Contract with Wu Tang, and agreed to meet him and his companion in three days.
• Zhao Hao returned to his temporary cave, saw Heavenly Demon Contract added to his system's Status column, and prepared to strengthen himself before the journey.

Zhao Hao strengthened the Li Fire Imperial Spirit Canon and his sword techniques, then overcame his fear of heights enough to test their destructive power. After deciding he could now fight Foundation Establishment Middle Stage opponents, he received Wu Tang’s message to meet his friend at Stony Slope.

• Zhao Hao recorded twelve cultivation arts and spells, then used them to strengthen the Li Fire Imperial Spirit Canon, converting his Mysterious Yin Spiritual Power into Li Fire Power.
• He strengthened the Sword Control Technique and Ten Thousand Sword Technique to minor accomplishment, spending most of his spirit stones.
• Zhao Hao practiced flying on the Ghost Bone Sword and gradually overcame his fear of heights, eventually hovering eighty zhang above the ground.
• He tested the Sword Control Technique by cutting the top off a distant peak, then used the Ten Thousand Sword Technique to reduce a forest to a scorched wasteland.
• Wu Tang contacted Zhao Hao and told him to meet his arriving friend at Stony Slope, thirty li southeast of the city.

Zhao Hao traveled with Wu Tang and Sun Ze toward Ten Thousand Immortal City, persuading the two Foundation Establishment cultivators to fly low through the war-torn region. When they reached Blackstone City to rest, they found it shrouded in dense ghostly energy.

• Wu Tang introduced Sun Ze, an elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator seeking a chance to break through, to Zhao Hao.
• Zhao Hao warned Wu Tang and Sun Ze that flying high could expose them to patrols and Golden Core cultivators, so the two lowered their flight even below his altitude.
• The three chose a roundabout route through Thousand Buddha Temple territory to avoid the battlefront between the Extreme Yin Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect.
• After several days of low-altitude flight, Wu Tang suggested that they rest and recover their spiritual power at Blackstone City.
• Zhao Hao, Wu Tang, and Sun Ze spotted two huge columns of ghostly energy looming over Blackstone City and heard ghostly wailing from afar.

Zhao Hao captured two ferocious ghosts threatening Blackstone City, then realized their restrained attacks suggested a ghost cultivator was raising mortals for blood. The suspected master arrived with Foundation Establishment pressure and demanded to know who had harmed his ghost pets.

• Sun Ze and Wu Tang urged Zhao Hao to avoid the ghostly energy surrounding Blackstone City, but Zhao Hao used the Soul Summoning Banner to capture the two ferocious ghosts and disperse the haunting.
• Li Song thanked the three Foundation Establishment cultivators and explained that the Thousand Buddha Temple required spirit stones to intervene against demons.
• Li Song revealed that the ghosts visited only occasionally and drained a little vital blood from mortals without killing them.
• Zhao Hao recognized that the ghosts were being used to farm mortals for blood and warned Wu Tang and Sun Ze that a ghost cultivator must be controlling them.
• An early-stage Foundation Establishment evil presence descended over Blackstone City, and its owner demanded to know who had harmed his pet ghosts.

Zhao Hao and his companions killed a Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator from the Ten Thousand Soul Hall, but the cultivator’s Soul-Chasing Seal marked Zhao Hao before his allies fled. Zhao Hao was left with the seal, the demonic cultivator’s spoils, and a new entry on his status screen.

• A black-robed Ten Thousand Soul Hall cultivator arrived in Blackstone City and prepared to slaughter its people with his Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
• Zhao Hao ambushed the cultivator with the Ghost Bone Sword, severing his arm, while Wu Tang and Sun Ze attacked and injured him.
• The cultivator threatened them with the power of the Ten Thousand Soul Hall, but Zhao Hao killed him with a second sword strike.
• A Soul-Chasing Seal flew from the corpse and branded Zhao Hao, prompting Wu Tang to destroy their contract and flee, followed by Sun Ze.
• Zhao Hao collected the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and Storage Bag, burned the corpse and its severed parts, and saw [Soul-Chasing Seal] appear on his status screen.

After being branded with the Soul-Chasing Seal, Zhao Hao escaped underground and used his enhancement system to consume the mark, then upgraded his Soul Summoning Banner. Li Mingyuan discovered the seal had vanished and set out for Blackstone City to hunt down whoever had erased it.

• Zhao Hao fled Ten Thousand Immortal City with his ghosts and spoils, then used Earth Escape Art to hide deep underground.
• Zhao Hao consumed the Soul-Chasing Seal to enhance Yin Soul Nail, removing the mark and gaining soul-path comprehension.
• Zhao Hao used captured ghost-refining materials and the Ten Thousand Soul Banner to upgrade the Soul Summoning Banner into a second-tier low-grade spiritual artifact.
• Zhao Hao descended seven li underground, fled more than a hundred li, and concealed himself in a cramped Cave Abode.
• Li Mingyuan discovered the Soul-Chasing Seal had been erased and flew toward Blackstone City in fury.

Li Mingyuan traced the masked killer to Blackstone City, then massacred towns and cultivators across the region while searching for him. As he attacked Anyang, a young monk appeared and stopped the Ten Thousand Soul Banner’s ghosts with golden light.

• Li Mingyuan searched Li Song’s memories, identified the masked killer as Zhao, and realized Zhao had misled him about his escape route.
• Li Mingyuan slaughtered everyone in Blackstone City, then killed Wu Tang and Sun Ze and learned the killer was headed toward Ten Thousand Immortal City.
• Zhao Hao hid seven li underground in turtle-breathing, beyond the reach of Li Mingyuan’s divine sense.
• Li Mingyuan slaughtered seven cities and two market towns over ten days, building the Ten Thousand Soul Banner’s power as he pursued Zhao.
• Li Mingyuan attacked Anyang with the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, but a young monk’s golden light destroyed the ghostly shadows.
• The young monk faced Li Mingyuan and urged him to lay down the butcher’s knife.

Zhao Hao discovered that he was entangled in causal karma after killing a Ten Thousand Soul Hall disciple. Wuxiang defeated Li Mingyuan at Anyang Market, but Li Mingyuan escaped by possessing a young cultivator and swore revenge on Zhao Hao and the Thousand Buddha Temple.

• Zhao Hao emerged from hiding underground after ten days and found a blood-red status warning that he was entangled in causal karma.
• Wuxiang used the Great Sun Vajra Sutra to badly injure Li Mingyuan's Golden Core Ghost King.
• Li Mingyuan detonated the Ghost King to weaken Wuxiang's attack, then threw the unstable Ten Thousand Soul Banner toward Anyang Market.
• Wuxiang stopped the banner's explosion from destroying Anyang Market, while Li Mingyuan escaped as a dim Golden Core with his Storage Bag.
• Li Mingyuan possessed a young cultivator, took over his body, and vowed revenge on Zhao Hao and Wuxiang.

Zhao Hao discovered that a Golden Core demonic cultivator’s mass slaughter had entangled him in immense karmic retribution, forcing him to change course for Ten Thousand Immortal City. There, Li Mingyuan arrived in secret, harboring hatred for Zhao Hao and the Thousand Buddha Temple.

• Zhao Hao found Blackstone City emptied of life and realized the deaths of its people had saddled him with karmic retribution.
• Zhao Hao tested the karma with his enhancement system, then abandoned his route to Ten Thousand Immortal City and traveled toward Thousand Buddha Temple territory.
• At the Qiandu market, Zhao Hao heard that Master Wuxiang had slain the City-Destroying Demon, who had massacred seven cities and two cultivation markets, killing over a million people.
• Zhao Hao suspected the demon’s victims’ karma had also been pinned on him and decided Thousand Buddha Temple territory was too dangerous, so he headed for Ten Thousand Immortal City instead.
• Li Mingyuan entered Ten Thousand Immortal City under a false appearance and concealed his hatred for Zhao Hao and the Thousand Buddha Temple.

Zhao Hao transformed his body and equipment to conceal his identity, then nearly collided with a stronger female cultivator while learning to fly his new sword. After she hurried away and dropped her Spirit Medicine Pavilion token, he saw a possible way to earn money in Ten Thousand Immortal City.

• Zhao Hao spent ten days and his remaining resources reshaping his body and sacrificing his old weapons to create a new Fire Phoenix Sword and Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
• Zhao Hao flew through Ten Thousand Immortal City to get used to his powerful new body, then collided with a woman riding an azure sword.
• Zhao Hao and the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage woman traded barbed remarks before she left in a hurry.
• Zhao Hao caught the woman’s dropped Spirit Medicine Pavilion token and considered using it to find a source of startup capital.

Zhao Hao learned about the Alchemy Grand Assembly and its Golden Core Formation Pill prize, then began teaching himself alchemy. He discovered his system could enhance ruined pills using other pills and matching herbs, giving him a way to exploit the competition’s creative round as he planned how to secure his place in Ten Thousand Immortal City.

• Zhao Hao heard that the Alchemy Grand Assembly would begin in three days and that first place would win a Golden Core Formation Pill.
• Zhao Hao paid All-Things Pavilion for information about the assembly’s three rounds and learned that the final round could require competitors to deduce an incomplete pill formula.
• Zhao Hao spent his remaining spirit stones at Hundred Treasures Pavilion on a first-tier pill guide, ingredients, and a cheap pill furnace.
• Zhao Hao memorized the alchemy basics, tried brewing an Inedia Pill, and produced six ruined pills.
• Zhao Hao found that his system could enhance a ruined Inedia Pill with spirit stones, other ruined pills, and herbs used in its formula.
• Zhao Hao used the ruined pills to make a low-grade Inedia Pill and began forming a plan to profit from his system’s abilities.

Zhao Hao used the Enhancement System to rapidly raise his alchemy skills, earn over ten thousand spirit stones, and prepare to enter the Alchemy Grand Assembly. At the preliminary selection, he saw the mysterious Li Ming display astonishing skill and wondered where he had heard the name.

• Zhao Hao used pill proficiencies to enhance his alchemist level, then quickly learned to refine Inedia Pills and advanced his pill skills.
• Zhao Hao spent three days refining and selling pills in Ten Thousand Immortal City, raising his alchemy level and accumulating more than ten thousand spirit stones.
• Zhao Hao learned that old spirit herbs were scarce because the City Lord's Mansion and major merchant associations had bought them for the Alchemy Grand Assembly, so he decided to compete for them there.
• Zhao Hao went to Ten Thousand Immortal Pavilion for the preliminary selection, where an unknown cultivator named Li Ming refined six Meridian-Impacting Pills, including three high-grade pills.
• Zhao Hao recognized Li Ming's name but could not recall where he had heard it.

Zhao Hao entered the Ten Thousand Immortal Pavilion qualifiers and chose to refine the basic Inedia Pill, drawing mockery for his crude, wok-like method. He produced six high-grade pills, passed the preliminary selection, and caught the interest of a woman watching from a private room.

• Zhao Hao registered to refine an Inedia Pill while two brocade-robed cultivators mocked his choice and selected Meridian-Impacting Pills.
• Zhao Hao dumped all five spirit herbs into the furnace and tossed it like a wok, prompting laughter throughout the hall.
• Zhao Hao opened the furnace to reveal six high-grade Inedia Pills, silencing the crowd and distracting nearby alchemists until their own refining went awry.
• The goateed steward confirmed Zhao Hao had passed, and Zhao Hao left the Ten Thousand Immortal Pavilion with the pills.
• A woman in a sky-blue palace gown watched Zhao Hao leave and said, "So it was him!"

Zhao Hao discovered that his reinforcement system could increase spirit herbs’ medicinal age, letting him prepare ingredients for second-tier pills. After advancing to a second-tier alchemist through reinforcement, he began plotting how to obtain a third-tier pill formula.

• Zhao Hao ruined a furnace of Spirit Recovery Pills after realizing he could try reinforcing spirit herbs.
• He reinforced a Green Spirit Grass from thirteen or fourteen years old to 104 years old using spirit stones.
• Zhao Hao strengthened the ingredients for a Green Origin Pill and failed to refine his first batch, producing six waste pills and unlocking its proficiency entry.
• He reinforced his first-tier alchemist proficiency with Green Origin Pill proficiency and reached first-tier perfection.
• Zhao Hao refined another batch of Green Origin Pills, gained proficiency, and advanced to a second-tier beginner alchemist.
• Zhao Hao wondered if he could obtain a third-tier pill formula.

After failing to buy a third-tier pill formula, Zhao Hao found the Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House and wagered ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones on himself advancing in the Alchemy Grand Assembly. In the second round, he used his mysterious strengthening ability to turn a failed Foundation Establishment Pill into a Low-grade one and passed, leaving his stunned spectators and bettors to reckon with the result.

• Zhao Hao failed to buy a third-tier pill formula from the city’s major merchants.
• Zhao Hao entered Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House and bet ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones on himself advancing at odds of one to two.
• Zhao Hao began the second-round Foundation Establishment Pill test by reading the formula, then putting all the spirit herbs into his furnace at once.
• Zhao Hao threw Low-grade Spirit Stones into the unstable furnace and secretly strengthened the failed pill with his pale golden screen.
• Zhao Hao produced a Low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, and the supervising steward declared that he had passed.

Zhao Hao passed the first alchemy round by refining a low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill with an unconventional technique, then collected his gambling winnings. After a rival provoked him into staking all twenty thousand Spirit Stones on the next round, Zhao Hao left the gambling house secretly pleased with the outcome.

• Zhao Hao refined a low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill and passed the first round of the competition.
• Zhao Hao collected twenty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones from the Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House.
• The gambling house announced that the next match would test second-tier low-grade Soul Condensing Pills, with Zhao Hao at one-to-three odds.
• A brocade-robed cultivator taunted Zhao Hao into betting all his winnings on himself in the next round.
• Zhao Hao staked the twenty thousand Spirit Stones, took a new token, and left while the gamblers mocked him.
• Once outside, Zhao Hao dropped his feigned anger and smiled slightly.

Zhao Hao tried to refine Soul Condensing Pills in the Alchemy Grand Assembly’s second round, but his experiments with spirit stones blew up two furnaces and disrupted nearby Alchemists. With the crowd expecting him to lose his bet, he brought out an old furnace and began his final attempt.

• Zhao Hao reviewed and stored the Foundation Establishment Pill recipe, then prepared a performance for the second round.
• At the Ten Thousand Immortal Pavilion, Zhao Hao noticed powerful divine senses watching him, including one from a Golden Core patriarch.
• Zhao Hao dumped the herbs into his furnace and added one hundred low-grade spirit stones, but the furnace exploded and his first attempt failed.
• Zhao Hao added two hundred spirit stones on his second attempt, causing a larger explosion that destroyed his furnace and disrupted nearby Alchemists.
• Fairy Xuan Su and the Golden Core patriarch watched Zhao Hao as he took out his worn first-tier low-grade furnace and began his final attempt.

Zhao Hao used his hidden enhancement ability to turn a ruined pill into a low-grade Soul Condensing Pill, winning sixty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones. As he left the gambling house, a Golden Core ancestor summoned him to the City Lord's Mansion.

• Zhao Hao used a battered first-tier low-grade pill furnace to attempt refining a Soul Condensing Pill, drawing mockery and suspicion from the crowd.
• When the pill seemed ruined, Zhao Hao threw in his remaining spirit stones and secretly enhanced a waste pill into a low-grade Soul Condensing Pill.
• The crowd erupted when Zhao Hao produced the pill, and the steward confirmed that he had passed the round.
• Zhao Hao rushed to the Ten Thousand Immortal Gambling House and collected his sixty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones.
• A Golden Core ancestor sent Zhao Hao a forceful divine-sense summons to the City Lord's Mansion, leaving him terrified.

Zhao Hao was summoned to the City Lord's Mansion, where Old Ancestor Guo saw through his disguise, cultivation, and karmic burdens. Guo offered him a path to the later volumes of the Li Fire Imperial Spirit Canon and revealed a secret art that could turn his karma into Crimson Li Karma Fire.

• A Golden Core patriarch summoned Zhao Hao to the City Lord's Mansion, and Fan Qingfeng escorted him inside.
• Old Ancestor Guo tested Zhao Hao with his divine sense, then confronted him about his alchemy performance and concealed identity.
• Guo recognized Zhao Hao's Foundation Establishment cultivation, righteous-path method, and immense karmic burden, but said he did not care about his secrets.
• Guo revealed that the City Lord's Mansion possessed the Golden Core volume of the Li Fire Imperial Spirit Canon and knew where its higher volumes could be found.
• Guo explained that a secret art could refine the power of all things into a divine ability seed and turn Zhao Hao's karmic burdens into Crimson Li Karma Fire, potentially leading to Red Lotus Karmic Fire.