Recaps

Old Ancestor Guo told Zhao Hao about the Li Fire Sect’s alchemy inheritance and tasked him with winning entry to its secret realm and bringing back a copy of the lineage. After passing the earlier alchemy assessments, Zhao Hao faced the Alchemy Grand Assembly’s final round, where the judges revealed an ancient pill for contestants to reverse-engineer.

• Old Ancestor Guo explained that Zhao Hao’s karmic sin could help him cultivate the Crimson Li Karma Fire and revealed that he had secured Zhao Hao a trial quota for the Li Fire Sect’s secret realm.
• Old Ancestor Guo required Zhao Hao to complete the Alchemy Grand Assembly and reproduce any inheritance he brought back for Ten Thousand Immortal City.
• Zhao Hao left the City Lord’s Mansion and realized his Enhancement System might let him exploit the final round’s incomplete-formula challenge.
• Over the next three days, Zhao Hao passed the second-rank middle-grade and high-grade pill assessments five times in a row, earning the crowd’s respect.
• The Alchemy Grand Assembly began its final innovation contest, and the manager revealed a third-rank low-grade Crimson Origin Pulse-Forging Pill for the contestants to study.

Zhao Hao used the incomplete Crimson Origin Pulse-Forging Pill formula and his system to advance his alchemy skills during the competition. After five failed batches, he reached the level of a third-tier alchemist, while the contest continued.

• The steward explained the pill's effects, handed each alchemist a furnace and incomplete formula, and began the competition.
• Zhao Hao used his system to identify thirteen missing ingredients and wrote down a rough refining sequence.
• He collected the thirteen herbs and additional ingredients, then deliberately failed his first refinement to record the complete pill formula in his system.
• Zhao Hao used the recorded formula to strengthen his alchemist level, advancing through second-tier ranks as successive batches failed.
• After the fifth batch turned to ash, Zhao Hao's alchemist level rose to Third Tier Beginner.

Zhao Hao used repeated failed attempts at refining the Crimson Origin Pulse-Forging Pill to improve his third-tier Alchemist proficiency, then successfully refined six pills with his own skill. He left the alchemy space and saw that Fairy Xuan Su and Li Ming had already finished, realizing he faced formidable rivals.

• Zhao Hao learned third-tier alchemy techniques, then deliberately used his remaining furnace attempts to practice and strengthen his Alchemist entry.
• Old Ancestor Guo watched Zhao Hao’s repeated failures through a water mirror and grew increasingly displeased.
• After eight failed enhancements, Zhao Hao successfully strengthened his Alchemist entry to third-rank proficiency.
• Zhao Hao refined his tenth batch without system assistance and produced six Crimson Origin Pulse-Forging Pills: one mid-grade and five low-grade.
• Zhao Hao exited the alchemy space and saw Fairy Xuan Su and Li Ming waiting below the high platform, having completed their pills earlier.

After learning about the Li Fire Sect Secret Realm and spotting the injured Lu Gui in Ten Thousand Immortal City, Zhao Hao left him pills and Spirit Stones despite Lu Gui cursing him for an unpaid debt. Zhao Hao returned to his Cave Abode and began cultivating.

• Zhao Hao recalled losing the alchemy competition to Xuan Su and agreed with her and Li Ming to explore the Li Fire Sect Secret Realm for Old Ancestor Guo’s promised instruction and formulas.
• Zhao Hao overheard that the Heavenly Sword Sect had badly defeated the Extreme Yin Sect and recognized the injured Lu Gui among the refugees.
• Zhao Hao followed Lu Gui to a slum Cave Abode and prepared two top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills and ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones to repay his old support.
• Zhao Hao heard Lu Gui curse him for failing to repay the thousand Spirit Stones, became angry, then tossed the storage pouch at Lu Gui’s door and left without revealing himself.
• Lu Gui cautiously retrieved the pouch, while Zhao Hao returned to his rented Cave Abode, swallowed a Green Origin Pill, and began cultivating.

Zhao Hao attended the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion auction to see how his twenty top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills would sell. The first pill sparked a bidding frenzy, and Zhao Hao watched with satisfaction as its price climbed.

• Zhao Hao checked his cultivation progress, put on a Bronze Mask, and went to the auction.
• A maid escorted Zhao Hao to a private room as cultivators filled the auction hall.
• Su Mei began the auction and sold several ordinary magical items before presenting twenty Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Su Mei revealed that the pills were top-grade, prompting a frenzy among the bidders.
• Cultivators rapidly raised their bids for the first pill, and Zhao Hao calmly drank tea as the price soared.

Zhao Hao watched the auction of Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills before competing bidders drove the price of a Soul-Devouring Jade far beyond its starting bid. As the bidding reached thirty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, Zhao Hao abruptly raised the price to fifty thousand.

• The first five Top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills sold for between sixteen thousand five hundred and twenty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones each.
• Su Mei introduced the Soul-Devouring Jade and explained its ability to nourish and repair the divine soul and resist divine sense attacks and illusions.
• Buddhist cultivators, a Ten Thousand Soul Hall soul cultivator, Xuan Su, and an unknown bidder competed for the jade, pushing its price upward.
• Zhao Hao waited as the bids reached thirty thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones, then bid fifty thousand.

Zhao Hao won the Soul-Devouring Jade at auction for 60,100 Low-grade Spirit Stones, provoking a furious Ten Thousand Soul Hall cultivator. Back in his secured Cave Abode, Zhao Hao prepared to strengthen the jade into a second-grade spiritual artifact.

• Zhao Hao outbid the Thousand Buddha Temple monk and the Ten Thousand Soul Hall cultivator for the Soul-Devouring Jade, then taunted the cultivator when he demanded Zhao Hao's funds be verified.
• The Ten Thousand Soul Hall cultivator tried to attack Zhao Hao, but a Golden Core ancestor's divine sense warning forced him to stand down.
• Su Mei swiftly closed the auction at 60,100 Low-grade Spirit Stones, and Zhao Hao paid for and collected the Soul-Devouring Jade.
• Zhao Hao left Heavenly Treasure Pavilion through its hidden passage, took a roundabout route through the inner city, and returned to his Cave Abode.
• Zhao Hao activated the Cave Abode's restrictive formations and considered strengthening the first-grade Soul-Devouring Jade into a second-grade spiritual artifact.

Zhao Hao bound the Soul-Devouring Jade and repeatedly enhanced it, greatly strengthening his soul and divine sense at the cost of most of his Spirit Stones. He discovered the artifact rapidly consumed its stored soul power and turned his attention to the Ten Thousand Soul Banner as a possible source of more.

• Zhao Hao bound the Soul-Devouring Jade and found it let his divine sense extend beyond its former limit without strain.
• Zhao Hao spent thousands of Low-grade Spirit Stones upgrading the jade from a first-rank supreme-grade magic artifact to a second-rank high-grade spiritual artifact.
• Zhao Hao tried to enhance it further, but he had only 121,120 Low-grade Spirit Stones left, leaving the success rate at 18.5%.
• Zhao Hao found that the upgraded jade extended his divine-sense range by a zhang, but its stored soul power would last only three months.
• Zhao Hao wondered where to find more souls and looked toward the Ten Thousand Soul Banner in his storage pouch.

Zhao Hao refined yin souls from the Ten Thousand Soul Banner into Yin Soul Nails and strengthened them into powerful weapons. He finished with two dangerous nails in his sea of consciousness and prepared to use them against future enemies.

• Zhao Hao used the Soul-Devouring Jade to consume nearly a hundred early first-rank yin souls from the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
• Zhao Hao refined a first-rank perfection yin soul into a Yin Soul Nail and tested its soul-piercing power.
• Zhao Hao used twenty-five mid first-rank yin souls to strengthen the Yin Soul Nail to second-rank low grade.
• Zhao Hao consumed most of the banner’s remaining yin souls to strengthen the nail again to second-rank middle grade.
• Zhao Hao refined the last first-rank perfection yin soul into another nail, then strengthened it to second-rank low grade with more yin souls and spirit stones.
• Zhao Hao stored the two Yin Soul Nails in his sea of consciousness and resolved to use them against anyone who opposed him.

Over two months, Zhao Hao exploited Old Ancestor Guo’s lessons to learn most of his third-tier pill formulas and then pressed for a fourth-tier formula and a secret art. Old Ancestor Guo finally gave him a jade slip and sent him away for the next month, leaving Zhao Hao pleased with his gains.

• Old Ancestor Guo reflected on how quickly Fairy Xuan Su and Li Ming were progressing, but Zhao Hao’s relentless pursuit of pill knowledge gave him the greatest headache.
• Zhao Hao arrived, drank Old Ancestor Guo’s spirit tea, and asked for new formulas while his system showed that he had reached the Great Accomplishment stage of third-tier alchemy.
• Zhao Hao asked to study a fourth-tier pill formula, then used Old Ancestor Guo’s explanation about stronger flames to press for the Li Fire minor divine ability secret art.
• Zhao Hao offered to join the City Lord’s Mansion and sign a Heavenly Demon Contract, but Old Ancestor Guo worried that Zhao Hao’s Karmic Retribution could endanger the mansion.
• Old Ancestor Guo recorded something on a jade slip, gave it to Zhao Hao, and told him not to come back for the next month.
• Zhao Hao happily accepted the jade slip and left, while Old Ancestor Guo gave up on asking him to join the City Lord’s Mansion.

After reading Old Ancestor Guo’s jade slip, Zhao Hao learned how divine ability seeds were formed and realized he could use low-grade seeds as strengthening material. He practiced the Li Fire Secret Technique with earthfire and, five days later, revealed that he had condensed five Earth-Li Spirit Seeds.

• Zhao Hao read Old Ancestor Guo’s jade slip and learned the risks, grades, and cultivation process of divine ability seeds.
• Zhao Hao decided to begin with ordinary earthfire rather than risk the dense Karmic Retribution on his body.
• Zhao Hao practiced the Li Fire Secret Technique and condensed a first-grade Earth-Li Spirit Seed.
• Zhao Hao spent five days condensing more seeds and revealed that he had five Earth-Li Spirit Seeds in his sea of consciousness.

After three months of strengthening his cultivation and gear, Zhao Hao arrived with Old Ancestor Guo at the Li Fire Secret Realm, where rival sects had gathered. He recognized Wu De and the sword cultivator who had killed Lin Yaoyao, then received a talisman for surviving danger inside the realm.

• Zhao Hao reviewed his improved cultivation, artifacts, and wealth after anonymously selling Foundation Establishment Pills, despite Old Ancestor Guo's warning about the falling prices.
• Old Ancestor Guo brought Zhao Hao and two others to the Li Fire Secret Realm, where factions from several sects had gathered.
• Zhao Hao recognized Wu De among Ten Thousand Soul Hall's demonic cultivators and spotted the Heavenly Sword Sect swordsman who had killed Lin Yaoyao.
• The Heavenly Sword Sect elder said the Extreme Yin Sect had fallen and Corpse Heart Old Demon had escaped, while Zhao Hao considered killing Wu De in the secret realm.
• A monk questioned the heavy Karmic Retribution on two of Guo Ming's disciples, and Guo Ming defended Ten Thousand Immortal City's neutrality before giving each disciple a protective Space Escape Talisman.

Zhao Hao and the other sect disciples entered the Li Fire Sect secret realm after the nine forces opened its barrier. Randomly teleported into a volcanic region, Zhao Hao found no treasures near a Black-scaled Fire Lizard and fled instead of fighting it.

• The Joyous Union Sect arrived and flirted with the gathered disciples until Lei scolded his Spirit Beast Sect juniors and challenged the women to face him instead.
• Zhao Hao assessed the eight Northern Lands forces gathered for the secret realm and recalled that he, Li Ming, and Xuan Su only needed to complete the Alchemy Lineage trial.
• The nine Golden Core leaders combined their jade tokens to open the Li Fire barrier, and Zhao Hao entered the secret realm with Li Ming and Xuan Su.
• Zhao Hao was separated from Li Ming and Xuan Su by a random teleport and found himself among active volcanoes.
• A peak Foundation Establishment Black-scaled Fire Lizard attacked Zhao Hao near a lava waterfall, but he detected no nearby treasures and fled.

Zhao Hao witnessed a Joyous Union Sect cultivator use charm arts to turn two Spirit Beast Sect disciples against each other, then discovered she had noticed him watching. He confronted her from a distance, protected by his Soul-Devouring Jade, and readied his Fire Phoenix Sword as she tried to seduce him.

• Zhao Hao sensed nearby cultivators and hid underground before spying on a Joyous Union Sect woman confronting two Spirit Beast Sect disciples.
• The woman’s charm made the disciples argue over who would join her, but the senior brother revealed he had been pretending and tried to capture her.
• The junior brother stabbed the senior brother in the dantian, then the woman used him to replenish herself until he became a husk.
• Zhao Hao tried to leave, but the woman spotted him and invited him to stay; he revealed himself and asked how she had detected him from afar.
• The woman sent a seductive force toward Zhao Hao, but his Soul-Devouring Jade blocked it, and he raised his Fire Phoenix Sword with Li Fire Power blazing on its blade.

Zhao Hao killed a Joyous Union Sect cultivator and two Spirit Beast Sect disciples, then escaped underground with their possessions. He began sorting through the three Storage Bags in a hidden cave dwelling.

• Zhao Hao attacked the Joyous Union Sect woman with his Fire Phoenix Sword and destroyed her Immortal-Binding Silk.
• Zhao Hao tricked the woman with his Ten Thousand Soul Banner, killed her as she tried to use a Space Escape Talisman, and absorbed her soul.
• Zhao Hao absorbed the soul of the drained Spirit Beast Sect disciple, then told the crippled surviving disciple he could pass on in peace and absorbed his soul too.
• Zhao Hao gathered the three cultivators' Storage Bags and scattered spiritual artifacts, packed the corpses, and escaped with Earth Escape Art.
• Zhao Hao reached a temporary cave dwelling a hundred li away, activated its protective restrictions, and began inspecting the three Storage Bags.

Zhao Hao looted three Storage Bags, discovered the Spirit Muscle Shape-Shifting Art, and used it to disguise himself as a Ten Thousand Soul Hall disciple named Wang Lin. He joined a standoff over phantom soul grass and ended the negotiations by launching an attack, leaving the two sects on the brink of battle.

• Zhao Hao inspected the three Storage Bags, set aside their spirit stones, and found the Spirit Muscle Shape-Shifting Art among the contents.
• Zhao Hao mastered the art, then killed a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator from the Ten Thousand Soul Hall and used Soul-Searching Art to obtain his memories and identity.
• Zhao Hao disguised himself as Wang Lin and joined ten Ten Thousand Soul Hall cultivators facing seven Heavenly Sword Sect disciples over a patch of phantom soul grass.
• Senior Brother Zhou and Lin Yi argued over who had the right to claim the spirit herbs, while Zhao Hao decided the delay had gone on long enough.
• Zhao Hao swept his Ten Thousand Soul Banner, released a swarm of first-tier ghosts, and urged the Ten Thousand Soul Hall group to attack.

Zhao Hao sparked a battle between Ten Thousand Soul Hall and Heavenly Sword Sect, then used the chaos to steal the Phantom Soul Grass. His false claim that Senior Brother Zhou had planned the theft sent the Ten Thousand Soul Hall disciples fleeing, leaving Zhou cornered by Lin Yi and the sword cultivators.

• Zhao Hao released swarms of weak ghosts and provoked the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples, prompting Senior Brother Zhou to order Ten Thousand Soul Hall into battle.
• Zhao Hao inflamed both sides by invoking Heavenly Sword Sect’s humiliation over Extreme Yin Sect, then used more ghosts to cover his escape underground.
• Zhao Hao reached the Phantom Soul Grass, resisted its illusions with his Soul-Devouring Jade, and uprooted the entire patch into his storage pouch.
• After the strange mist dispersed, Zhao Hao shouted that the spirit grass was secured and told Senior Brother Zhou to withdraw according to the original plan.
• Ten Thousand Soul Hall’s disciples mistook Zhao Hao’s words for a real plan and fled, while Lin Yi and the others trapped Senior Brother Zhou.

Zhao Hao disguised himself as Wang Lin and killed the fleeing Ten Thousand Soul Hall disciples after deceiving Cui Zhiping. Senior Brother Zhou survived the Heavenly Sword Sect’s attack, only to discover that every other disciple had vanished from his Unity Compass.

• Zhao Hao followed Cui Zhiping after the Ten Thousand Soul Hall disciples scattered, then posed as Wang Lin and convinced Cui that Senior Brother Zhou’s apparent defeat was part of a plan.
• Zhao Hao lured Cui to a secluded rocky area with a promise to show him a treasure, killed him, and took his Storage Bag.
• An hour later, Zhao Hao had collected the corpses of all eight fleeing Ten Thousand Soul Hall disciples in his underground cave abode.
• Senior Brother Zhou escaped the seven Heavenly Sword Sect disciples after sacrificing three high-grade spiritual artifacts and burning his lifespan with a forbidden technique.
• Senior Brother Zhou used the Unity Compass to search for his scattered junior brothers, but it showed only his own location.

Zhao Hao enhanced his supreme-grade fire spiritual root into an immortal-grade fire spirit body with an innate divine ability, triggering a vast heavenly phenomenon over the Li Fire Secret Realm. Cultivators rushed toward the vortex, while the Golden Core experts outside the realm called for their Nascent Soul ancestors.

• Zhao Hao disguised himself as Wu De and enhanced a Space Escape Talisman to ensure he could escape even a Golden Core cultivator.
• Zhao Hao used five cultivator corpses to enhance his fire spiritual root, which merged with his body and became immortal-grade.
• Zhao Hao discovered he had gained a low-grade fire spirit body and the sixth-grade divine ability Fire Spirit Affinity, which drew spiritual energy into him automatically.
• The spiritual energy gathered above Zhao Hao's cave into a massive vortex, shocking cultivators throughout the Li Fire Secret Realm.
• Cultivators raced toward the vortex, while the nine Golden Core powerhouses outside the realm contacted their Nascent Soul ancestors for aid.

Zhao Hao’s rapid cultivation in the underground cave drew a crowd, and a fleeing cultivator falsely claimed he had swallowed a peerless treasure herb. As more than a hundred cultivators attacked to seize the supposed treasure, a Golden Core patriarch’s pressure froze everyone, but Zhao Hao resisted it with the Soul-Devouring Jade.

• Zhao Hao’s cultivation surged until a spiritual disturbance warned him that someone was approaching his cave, so he gathered his belongings and prepared to flee.
• A cultivator spotted Zhao Hao underground, fled toward the surface, and shouted that Wu De from the Ten Thousand Soul Hall had swallowed a heaven-defying spirit herb.
• Zhao Hao chased the cultivator aboveground and found more than a hundred cultivators from the Northern Lands’ sects waiting there.
• A Yellow Maple Valley disciple urged the crowd to bleed Zhao Hao for the herb’s medicinal power, and cultivators launched spells and spirit weapons at him.
• A Golden Core patriarch’s spiritual sense froze the attackers, while the Soul-Devouring Jade restored Zhao Hao and let him evade the uncontrolled spells.

Zhao Hao, disguised as Wu De, discovered that Li Ming was actually the supposedly dead Golden Core elder Li Mingyuan, who intended to help him escape the secret realm. Zhao Hao’s loud warning exposed Li Mingyuan to the crowd, and while Senior Brother Zhou fled with Zhao Hao, cultivators surrounded Li Mingyuan; the real Wu De remained hunted elsewhere.

• Li Mingyuan used divine-sense pressure to subdue the cultivators and secretly told Zhao Hao, whom he mistook for Wu De, to escape with Zhou Yun and the others.
• Zhao Hao recognized Li Mingyuan as the City-Destroying Demon and realized the elder had mistaken his disguise for Wu De.
• Zhao Hao shouted that their Martial Uncle could not hold out alone, drawing the crowd’s attention to Li Ming, then fled on his Fire Phoenix Sword.
• Senior Brother Zhou followed Zhao Hao, while the formation detected Li Mingyuan’s Golden Core aura and the other cultivators surrounded him.
• Senior Brother Zhou caught up with Zhao Hao and offered him protection and a Space Escape Talisman; Zhao Hao took out a sinister black banner.
• The real Wu De hid in a ravine while a White-robed Sword Cultivator continued searching for him.

Zhao Hao entered the Li Fire Ascension Tower disguised as Wu De and was recognized as a core disciple with an immortal-grade fire spiritual root, beginning its alchemy trial under the name Zhao Ritian. In the Spirit World, the Li Fire Sect discovered him and began planning to bring him and the tower there.

• Zhao Hao reached late-stage Foundation Establishment, disguised himself as an ordinary young man, and entered the Li Fire Ascension Tower.
• Zhao Hao gave the tower the name Zhao Ritian, was assigned core disciple status, and chose the alchemy legacy trial.
• The tower transported Zhao Hao to an alchemy chamber and supplied the recipe and procedure for a second-tier Clear Essence Pill.
• In the Spirit World, Elder Shen discovered the tower had identified a disciple with an immortal-grade spiritual root in the Azure Cloud World.
• The Li Fire Sect's Sect Master and Elder Shen decided to use the two towers to open a passage and bring Zhao Hao, the tower, and its sect to the Spirit World.

Nascent Soul True Lords learned from Li Mingyuan that Wu De had absorbed a tremendous amount of spiritual energy and decided to seize him as a living precious medicine. Wu De remained hidden inside the secret realm, unaware that powerful cultivators were coming for him.

• The City Lord of Ten Thousand Immortal City summoned Li Mingyuan from the secret realm after Old Ancestor Guo reported a strange phenomenon and a missing disciple.
• Li Mingyuan emerged wounded and cursed Zhao Hao and Wu De, but the City Lord subdued him with overwhelming pressure.
• Li Mingyuan told the Nascent Soul True Lords how Wu De had absorbed spiritual energy, prompting them to agree to capture him and divide the spoils.
• Wu De hid in a rocky crevice, trembling and unaware that the Nascent Soul True Lords considered him a priceless ingredient.

Zhao Hao escaped the collapsing secret realm just before the Li Fire Ascension Tower absorbed it and carried the Li Fire Sect through an ascension passage. He landed injured in the Azure Cloud World, where two Joyous Union Sect cultivators discussed using him to advance a junior sister’s cultivation and ensnare her lover, Ye Fan.

• Zhao Hao abandoned his attempt to refine a fourth-tier pill and used an enhanced Space Escape Talisman to flee the violently shaking secret realm.
• The Li Fire Ascension Tower absorbed the entire secret realm, repelled the nine Nascent Soul True Lords, and opened an ascension passage to carry the Li Fire Sect away.
• Zhao Hao emerged in a mountain forest in the Azure Cloud World, badly injured by the talisman’s spatial force.
• Two Joyous Union Sect cultivators found Zhao Hao, and the senior sister urged her junior sister to use him to break through her cultivation bottleneck and lure Ye Fan back to the sect.

Zhao Hao escaped the ambush, broke the Heavenly Demon Contract, and destroyed his accumulated loot to erase anything that could expose him. After disguising himself as his former self, he learned the Northern Lands had plunged into chaos and boarded a flying boat to leave.

• Zhao Hao used healing pills, then killed the junior sister and her fleeing senior sister with his crimson sword before escaping underground.
• Zhao Hao destroyed the Heavenly Demon Contract through the System, freeing himself from its hold.
• Zhao Hao fed the captured souls into the Soul-Devouring Jade and enhanced it and his Ten Thousand Soul Banner, using his other possessions as materials.
• Zhao Hao erased his identity as Alchemist Zhao Hao and Wu De by changing his appearance and destroying his remaining loot.
• Three days later, Zhao Hao heard that the Li Fire Secret Realm had vanished and the Northern Lands had become chaotic.
• Zhao Hao obtained a black-iron token from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and boarded a departing flying boat.