Recaps

Chen Lingxi discovered that the Concealed Edge Method could shield his qi and blood from Dragon-Drawing Powder’s poison, allowing him to refine its abundant spiritual energy and accelerate his cultivation. After Lin Longyue’s summons took precedence over Steward Zhao’s, Chen Lingxi went to the East Hall, where he learned that her floral arrangement had earned the Noble Consort’s praise and a precious Wind-Riding Elixir.

• Chen Lingxi tested Dragon-Drawing Powder and used the Concealed Edge Method to block its poison while refining a small dose of its spiritual energy.
• Chen Lingxi’s spirit qi grew stronger, his meridians broadened, and his qi and blood neared the completion of Copper Scarlet.
• A servant summoned Chen Lingxi on Steward Zhao’s behalf, but Liuzhu arrived with Lin Longyue’s summons and took him to the East Hall instead.
• Chen Lingxi suspected Zhao Yong’s summons was connected to Wang Kong’s disappearance and decided he needed to make himself more useful to Lin Longyue.
• The Yunhe Commandery Princess told Lin Longyue that the Noble Consort admired Chen Lingxi’s locust branch arrangement and had rewarded Lin Longyue with a Wind-Riding Elixir that could help her reach the completion of Silver Bones.

Yunhe Commandery Princess gave Sun Ninghu to Lin Longyue to help her prepare for her wagered duel with Chu Linzi, while Chen Lingxi received praise for his flower arrangements. After learning Chu Linzi had noticed Chen Lingxi at the prefectural yamen, Yunhe Commandery Princess ordered Sun Ninghu to break one of his legs and allowed him to resist.

• Yunhe Commandery Princess gave Sun Ninghu, a young Copper-Red Realm fighter, to Lin Longyue as a fierce combatant for her duel with Chu Linzi.
• Lin Longyue praised Chen Lingxi for the flower arrangement sent to Consort Chun, then ordered him to send a novel arrangement to the Mirror Palace every five days.
• Liu Que reported that Chu Linzi had wanted Chen Lingxi to serve in her courtyard before learning he belonged to the Baosu Marquis Residence.
• Yunhe Commandery Princess explained that Chu Linzi could sense vital energy and blood, prompting Lin Longyue to reconsider Chen Lingxi's martial potential.
• Yunhe Commandery Princess ordered Sun Ninghu to break Chen Lingxi's leg and told Chen Lingxi he was permitted to resist.

Chen Lingxi defeated Sun Ninghu in front of Lin Longyue and Yunhe Commandery Princess, prompting Lin Longyue to question how he reached the Copper Scarlet Realm in less than two months. Chen Lingxi explained that his unusually strong foundation and his reaction to Zhao Yong’s medicine tests had accelerated his cultivation, and Lin Longyue offered him a reward.

• Chen Lingxi evaded Sun Ninghu’s attacks, then used the Seven Forms of Ceasing War to overcome him and knock him down.
• Lin Longyue questioned Chen Lingxi about reaching the Copper Scarlet Realm in less than two months, and he confirmed that he had done so.
• Chen Lingxi explained that his father had paid for years of medicine to strengthen his constitution before the Chen Family’s downfall.
• Chen Lingxi revealed that Zhao Yong’s poisonous medicine made him feel stronger, while the other medicine slaves who took it became ill and died.
• Lin Longyue accepted Chen Lingxi’s explanation and invited him to name the reward he wanted.

Chen Lingxi secured new privileges and a promise from Lin Longyue to elevate his status, while recognizing that her favor depended on his usefulness. Zhao Yong then revealed that Liu Changle had survived the poison and been freed, and offered Chen Lingxi the same possibility.

• Chen Lingxi asked Lin Longyue for permission to leave the residence and enter the library, and she granted him two monthly trips out and access to its first three floors.
• Lin Longyue placed Chen Lingxi under her direct authority, raised his monthly allowance to thirty taels, and promised to elevate him from an official slave to a fan household.
• Chen Lingxi left East Hall resolved to increase his cultivation and escape the Baosu Marquis Residence and the Capital Circuit.
• Zhao Yong confronted Chen Lingxi near his courtyard and told him that Liu Changle had left the residence.
• Zhao Yong explained that the poison had transformed Liu Changle’s foundation, freed him, and suggested he could spare Chen Lingxi as well.

Zhao Yong revealed that he was a Golden Body rebel serving Wu Mohe and pressured Chen Lingxi to join him, offering him a poisonous Mohe Flower as a signal for an envoy. After Zhao Yong left, Chen Lingxi recognized the flower’s slow-acting poison and decided to exploit Zhao Yong’s false confidence to gain time to grow stronger.

• Zhao Yong used secret voice transmission to reveal his Golden Body strength and recruit Chen Lingxi into a rebellion against Great Li.
• Zhao Yong named Wu Mohe as the immortal whose cause he served, and Chen Lingxi pretended to accept the offer in exchange for a chance at revenge.
• Zhao Yong gave Chen Lingxi a Mohe Flower, instructed him to keep it alive, and left orders for him to await the envoy and obey commands.
• After Zhao Yong departed, Chen Lingxi reasoned that Zhao Yong had lied about freeing Liu Changle and concluded that the disappearance was beyond Zhao Yong’s control.
• Chen Lingxi detected concealed poison in the flower’s fragrance and realized Zhao Yong intended to use him as a medicinal catalyst.
• Chen Lingxi placed the flower by the window, confident his Concealed Edge Method would protect him and that Zhao Yong’s deception would give him time to cultivate.

After reaching Copper-Red completion, Chen Lingxi searched for clues about immortals and continued using Wandering Sight to observe Lin Suri. He witnessed Lin Suri use a wooden eye to see across great distances, and his vision settled on Inlaid Gold Mountain.

• Chen Lingxi swallowed Wang Kong's last pill and completed the Copper-Red Realm, forming Copperfire Qi Armor that he could conceal with the Concealed Edge Method.
• Chen Lingxi examined his strengthened spiritual qi and meridians, then used Wandering Sight to see Lin Suri suspended high above the ground.
• Chen Lingxi searched the Library Pavilion for records of immortals but found only vague references in old texts and a local gazetteer.
• Chen Lingxi decided to observe Lin Suri daily, and on the sixth day he saw Lin Suri burn a tiny wooden eye embedded in his pupil.
• Lin Suri's altered vision traveled beyond Yuan River Prefecture and settled on Inlaid Gold Mountain, leaving Chen Lingxi wondering what lay there.

Chen Lingxi witnessed a saber-wielder attack a royal procession on Inlaid Gold Mountain, where a young man used a treasure bottle’s purple aura to drive him off at great cost. Through Lin Suri’s Sight-Roaming, Chen Lingxi then watched Lin Suri use an incense burner to form thirteen sigils before Lin Suri left the Divine Chamber’s range.

• A black-robed saber-wielder ambushed the procession on Inlaid Gold Mountain and slaughtered much of its cavalry as he advanced on the canopied carriage.
• A figure surrounded by rainbow light arrived and fought the saber-wielder with a ray of true light, but the saber-wielder withdrew after their clash.
• The young man in the carriage used a treasure bottle to unleash purple treasure aura that trapped the saber-wielder, who broke free with a full-strength slash before escaping.
• Chen Lingxi watched Lin Suri shape thirteen sigils inside a bronze incense burner, turn incense and blood into a dark-gold liquid, and collect the resulting mist.
• Lin Suri left the estate, causing Chen Lingxi’s Sight-Roaming to shatter.

Chen Lingxi discovered that Lin Suri was refining purple treasure qi and decided to seek fragments of it at Inlaid Gold Mountain. After obtaining permission to leave the residence, he copied part of Lin Suri’s incense-burner method and prepared to capture treasure qi on his own.

• Chen Lingxi watched Lin Suri refine purple treasure qi in an incense burner and realized he could try to capture smaller fragments himself.
• Chen Lingxi asked Lin Longyue for permission to leave the city and received a travel permit, along with a warning not to flee the residence.
• Chen Lingxi used his spiritual qi to trace seven talisman seals inside an incense burner, then added his blood and incense ash to form a faint cloud of mist.
• Chen Lingxi confirmed the burner could trap treasure qi, wrapped it in cloth, and prepared to leave for Inlaid Gold Mountain the next day.

Chen Lingxi climbed Inlaid Gold Mountain to find a fragment of purple qi and captured it in Lin Suri’s incense burner. He abandoned the idea of fleeing Yuan River Prefecture and resolved to grow stronger and pursue revenge.

• Chen Lingxi left the Baosu Marquis Residence before dawn and climbed Inlaid Gold Mountain, where he found the spiritual qi was unusually scarce.
• Chen Lingxi suspected the incense burners Lin Suri distributed drew in spiritual qi and continued westward, guided by the burner’s reaction.
• Chen Lingxi found a fragment of purple qi wedged in a crack in a cliff and contained it inside the incense burner.
• Chen Lingxi returned down the mountain and considered fleeing Yuan River Prefecture, but decided to stay, cultivate, and seek revenge.

Chen Lingxi failed to refine the purple qi, but months of cultivation and his final dose of Dragon-Drawing Powder brought him to the Third Spirit-Qi Level. He then used the Seven Forms of Ceasing War to break through to the Silver Bone Realm.

• Chen Lingxi repeatedly tried to refine the purple qi in the incense burner, but its sharp aura scattered his spirit qi each time.
• Chen Lingxi settled into a routine of visiting Benevolence Hall for costly medicinal baths and cultivating at the Marquis's residence.
• After swallowing his last Dragon-Drawing Powder, Chen Lingxi broke through to the Third Spirit-Qi Level and discovered that his spirit qi could temper his bones.
• Chen Lingxi found that his Azure Edge Method had grown stronger and could be used several times before exhausting his spirit qi.
• Chen Lingxi practiced Mountain-Winding, River-Entering, and City-Crushing, compressing his blood and qi until silver marrow formed in his bones and he entered the Silver Bone Realm.

Chen Lingxi assessed his new strength after reaching the Qi Circulation Third Floor and refining Purple True Treasure Aura, then considered how to advance despite running out of cultivation supplies. The next morning, Liuzhu told him that Miss was taking him to meet the Crown Prince, who had arrived at the Yuan River palace.

• Chen Lingxi found that his Divine Chamber had expanded to two thousand zhang in every direction, while Total Perception remained at 99% Essence Replenishment.
• Chen Lingxi tested Purple True Treasure Aura with the Azure Edge Method and saw that it greatly sharpened the attack.
• Chen Lingxi worried about Jiang Yuan's absence and recognized that he needed a true formula and more cultivation resources to progress.
• Chen Lingxi considered using Zhao Yong's interest in him and the Mohe Flower to seek an opportunity, while continuing to cultivate through the night.
• Liuzhu told Chen Lingxi that Miss had summoned him to pay respects to the Crown Prince at the Yuan River palace.

Chen Lingxi accompanied Lin Longyue to the Crown Prince’s beast-fighting banquet at Mangyang Mountain, where nobles gathered to inspect young martial artists and their fighters. He concealed his true cultivation among the contestants as Chu Linzi and Yang Zhuri waited inside the palace.

• Chen Lingxi noticed Yunhe Commandery Princess drawing a faint strand of spiritual aura from Lin Longyue, then heard Lin Longyue explain that she planned to defeat Chu Linzi before the Crown Prince.
• Chen Lingxi understated his cultivation to Lin Longyue as minor accomplishment in the Copper-Red Realm, and Lin Longyue ordered Liu Que to prepare the carriages for Mangyang Mountain.
• Chen Lingxi traveled with Zheng Qingya and Zhou Xian to the Beast-Fighting Palace, where he sensed that a meditating elder on the mountain might have reached the legendary Jade-Qi Realm.
• Chen Lingxi entered the hall with Lin Longyue and saw Yunhe Commandery Princess, Chu Linzi, and Yang Zhuri among the gathered nobles and young martial artists.
• Chen Lingxi realized that the nobles were inspecting the young martial artists as potential beast-fighting champions, then concealed his silver-bone cultivation and azure qi.

At the Crown Prince’s banquet, Qiu Chihu intimidated the beast fighters by inspecting their teeth before a eunuch announced that their trial would end with only one survivor. Chen Lingxi entered the black gate with Zheng Qingya and Zhou Xian, where he discovered that the space beyond was an entire world.

• Qiu Chihu inspected the beast fighters’ teeth and singled out Chen Lingxi for praise, revealing his grisly interest in using human teeth in flower arrangements.
• A eunuch announced that everyone entering the Beast Fighting palace would fight to the death and only one person would live.
• The eunuch’s voice overwhelmed several beast fighters, and the group began entering the palace.
• Zheng Qingya walked toward the doors, followed by Zhou Xian and Chen Lingxi.
• Chen Lingxi entered the black gate and found an entire world beyond it.

Chen Lingxi entered the Beast-Fighting Palace, recognized it as a cauldron artifact, and hid in a tree while learning that its fighting beasts gained strange lights after killing. He watched Qiu Chihu arrive with ten lights and later confront Sun Ninghu beneath his hiding place, now bearing fifteen lights.

• Chen Lingxi recognized the jade bottle overhead and the ancient aura as signs that the Beast-Fighting Palace was a cauldron artifact with its own rules.
• Chen Lingxi watched a saber-wielder kill a spearman and saw a pale glow rise from the corpse and follow the victor.
• Chen Lingxi concealed his aura in an ancient locust tree and waited as battles and new glows appeared throughout the forest.
• Qiu Chihu passed beneath the tree with ten lights hovering above him, while Chen Lingxi stayed hidden.
• Sun Ninghu killed a passerby beneath the tree, then faced Qiu Chihu, who now had fifteen lights and declared himself the real tiger.

Qiu Chihu killed Sun Ninghu and searched the mountain for the last surviving fighting beast, Chen Lingxi. Their battle escalated when Chen revealed his Silver Bones and an unfamiliar Azure Edge technique, leaving Qiu Chihu astonished.

• Qiu Chihu severed Sun Ninghu’s arm and killed him, absorbing the radiance and True Light that drifted from his dissolving corpse.
• Qiu Chihu discovered Chen Lingxi in the locust canopy, and Chen leaped down to face him.
• Chen Lingxi shattered Qiu Chihu’s first saber slash with Mountain-Crushing Force, revealing his Silver Bones.
• Qiu Chihu struck Chen Lingxi with Bone-Penetrating Force, then unleashed the seven slashes of the Radiant Gold Saber Method.
• Chen Lingxi met Qiu Chihu’s seventh slash with the Azure Edge Method, making Qiu Chihu’s treasured saber tremble and revealing an unfamiliar technique.

Chen Lingxi used the Concealed Edge Method to lure Qiu Chihu into an all-out saber strike, then killed him with Purple True Treasure Aura. He rejected Qiu Chihu’s offer of reconciliation and beheaded him, leaving the consequences of killing the Capital Guard commander’s son and the Crown Prince’s favored fighter ahead.

• Chen Lingxi concealed his strength and pretended to weaken while Qiu Chihu pressed him with the Radiant Gold Saber Method.
• Qiu Chihu committed to his strongest saber strike, and Chen Lingxi charged into it and spat out Purple True Treasure Aura.
• The purple light pierced Qiu Chihu’s chest and left him gravely wounded as his saber fell from his hand.
• Qiu Chihu invoked his father and the Crown Prince, then offered to let the fight end as a sparring match, while secretly harboring killing intent.
• Chen Lingxi took Qiu Chihu’s treasured saber and beheaded him after saying he did not like people looking at his teeth.

After killing Qiu Chihu, Chen Lingxi sought a way to survive the consequences and awakened a new ability by channeling spiritual qi and blood into the earth. The cauldron vessel manifested a face that declared the beast-fight’s sacrifice and asked what form its opportunity should take.

• Qiu Chihu’s corpse dissolved, and his thirty-five beams of radiance flew to Chen Lingxi, who found pills and a jade pearl containing spiritual qi among his belongings.
• Chen Lingxi realized that killing Qiu Chihu left him facing death from either the Qiu Family or the Crown Prince, and considered how much control the Crown Prince held over the cauldron vessel.
• Chen Lingxi sent spiritual qi and blood into the earth, causing the vessel’s spiritual opportunities and ancient aura to surge.
• The ancient aura completed Chen Lingxi’s Total Perception ability, revealing that it could bring a real item back from its evolution.
• A face formed from mist and light, declared that thirty-five lives had nourished the Purple True Treasure Bottle, and asked what the cauldron vessel’s opportunity should become.

Chen Lingxi realized the Crown Prince used Beast-Fighting Banquets to sacrifice martial artists and nurture the Purple True Treasure Bottle, then tested the Cauldron Venerable’s power and claimed his Cauldron Vessel opportunity. He left the Beast-Fighting Palace with a new Universe Bag, while the old eunuch reacted with a flicker of surprise.

• Chen Lingxi deduced that the Crown Prince used beast fights to gather sacrifices and grant Cauldron Vessel opportunities through the Cauldron Venerable.
• Chen Lingxi entered his Divine Chamber with Total Perception and asked the Cauldron Venerable to bestow his opportunity on a musk-deer hide pouch.
• The Cauldron Venerable infused the pouch with ancient aura, turning it into a six-foot-square Universe Bag.
• The thirty-five rays above Chen Lingxi flowed into the Purple True Treasure Bottle, strengthening its purple waterfall as he realized most of the treasure fragments had been reclaimed from Inlaid Gold Mountain.
• A gateway appeared, and Chen Lingxi left the Beast-Fighting Palace and returned to the main hall.
• The old eunuch saw Chen Lingxi and briefly showed surprise before regaining his composure.

Chen Lingxi emerged from the Beast-Fighting Palace alive and claimed purple qi had swallowed Qiu Chihu and the other beast-fighters. The Crown Prince brought him to the East Hall, where they recognized each other as cultivators from the Dao-Below Academy and the Calamity Sea, leaving their shared world and uncertain memories newly exposed.

• Chen Lingxi emerged from the Beast-Fighting Palace, while Qiu Chihu and the other beast-fighters remained missing.
• Yang Zhuri questioned Chen Lingxi about Qiu Chihu, and Chen Lingxi blamed a surge of purple qi from a precious vase.
• The Crown Prince ordered Chen Lingxi imprisoned, then changed his mind after sensing Chen Lingxi's faint spiritual-qi ripple and summoned him to the East Hall.
• The Crown Prince addressed Chen Lingxi as a Fellow Daoist, and Chen Lingxi said he came from the Dao-Below Academy.
• The Crown Prince described the Dao-Below Academy's Dao Master and revealed that his own master came from the Calamity Sea, whose Heaven-Marrying True Lord wielded the Heaven-Marrying Ladder.

Chen Lingxi traded knowledge of the Ancestral Mountain Mother Qi for the Crown Prince’s Dragon Roar Technique and agreed to join forces to seek the Spirit Aperture opportunity. After Chen Lingxi left, the Crown Prince secretly ordered Eunuch Zhuo to intercept and kill him.

• The Crown Prince discussed powerful native figures with Chen Lingxi, who proposed exchanging information for a killing art.
• Chen Lingxi drew out the Crown Prince’s true origins, and the Crown Prince admitted his lineage came from the Southern Azure Domain.
• Chen Lingxi revealed that Ancestral Mountain Mother Qi would emerge in Yuan River Prefecture and could nurture a Spirit Aperture.
• The Crown Prince gave Chen Lingxi a jade pendant containing the Dragon-Chant Wondrous Art, and they agreed to join forces when the Mother Qi appeared.
• After Chen Lingxi departed, the Crown Prince wrote an order for Eunuch Zhuo to intercept and kill Beast-Fighting Chen Lingxi.

After Lin Longyue and Chen Lingxi left the palace, a jade-colored blood storm ambushed their carriage, killing Chen Lingxi and leaving Lin Longyue unconscious. Chen Lingxi’s Total Perception ended, but he returned to the Beast-Fighting Palace with a Universe Bag, enhanced the Gold-Slaughtering Saber, and stepped through the Cauldron Artifact Gate.

• The old eunuch escorted Chen Lingxi out of the palace with Lin Longyue, and she declared that he was no longer a slave in her West Courtyard.
• A mysterious attacker unleashed a jade-colored blood storm on the carriage, wounding Chen Lingxi and knocking Lin Longyue unconscious before a voice ordered the attacker not to harm the “great medicine.”
• The storm killed Chen Lingxi, ending his Total Perception and causing the two treasure mirrors to shatter.
• Chen Lingxi chose the Universe Bag from three possible rewards and returned to the Beast-Fighting Palace, where Qiu Chihu’s corpse had vanished.
• Chen Lingxi directed the Cauldron Vessel opportunity into the Gold-Slaughtering Saber, whose silver patterns turned golden, then stored it and other valuables in the Universe Bag.
• Chen Lingxi cultivated the Dragon Roar Technique, judged his progress sufficient, and stepped through the Cauldron Artifact Gate.

Chen Lingxi used his knowledge and a carefully maintained bluff to convince Ying Chi that he was a mysterious senior from the Southern Heaven Domain. After returning safely to the Baosu Marquis Residence, he examined the musk-deerskin pouch he had gained.

• Chen Lingxi entered the East Hall with a composed air and identified Ying Chi as a disciple of the Southern Heaven Domain.
• Chen Lingxi imitated the Dragon Roar Technique, persuading Ying Chi that he was an unfathomably powerful senior.
• Ying Chi introduced himself and invited Chen Lingxi to the capital, but Chen Lingxi put off the visit and warned him not to watch him.
• Chen Lingxi left with Lin Longyue and returned to the Baosu Marquis Residence, relieved that his bluff had worked.
• Chen Lingxi sat beneath the old locust tree, calmed himself with Azure Qi, and focused on the musk-deerskin pouch in his Divine Chamber.

Chen Lingxi examined Qiu Chihu’s spoils, strengthened his Silver Bone Realm with a qi-and-blood pill, and practiced the Dragon Roar Technique. By piecing together clues about the greater world and its powerful cultivators, he resolved to seek a path to longevity.

• Chen Lingxi tested the Gold-Slaughtering Saber’s abilities and found that it could surround him with an imposing aura or unleash destructive lightning.
• Chen Lingxi counted twelve hundred taels in silver notes and swallowed one of Qiu Chihu’s silvery-white pills, which increased the silver marrow in his bones.
• Chen Lingxi practiced the Dragon Roar Technique, learning to send a low, penetrating cry through the air with spiritual qi.
• Chen Lingxi connected clues about the greater world, the Southern Heaven Domain, and powerful cultivators, and concluded that such a place might offer abundant spiritual qi and opportunities for longevity.
• Chen Lingxi hoped to reach the greater world, where he believed he could advance through cultivation and pursue a longer life.

Chen Lingxi secretly visited Zhao Yong, witnessed Zhao Qinglou’s powerful Golden Body cultivation, and obtained the Evil-Slaying Saber Method. After practicing and taking pills for twenty-three days, he reached lesser achievement in the Silver Bone Realm and wondered whether his combined techniques could match a newly entered Golden Body cultivator.

• Lin Longyue reduced Chen Lingxi’s flower deliveries to once every ten days, and he suspected she might be a great medicine.
• Chen Lingxi visited Silver Peace Court and watched Zhao Qinglou display his formidable Golden Body cultivation.
• Chen Lingxi asked Zhao Yong for a saber technique, citing his desire to avenge his executed parents, and Zhao Yong agreed.
• A servant delivered the Evil-Slaying Saber Method, which Chen Lingxi memorized by the third day.
• After practicing the saber method and taking pills, Chen Lingxi reached lesser achievement in the Silver Bone Realm and mastered the Silver Marrow Finger.
• Chen Lingxi tested the Gold-Slaughtering Saber with his other techniques and wondered whether he could contend with someone newly entered into the Golden Body Realm.

Lin Longyue planned to host Consort Chun at the Baosu Marquis Residence, despite Yunhe Commandery Princess warning her that the consort’s tour could attract assassins. Afterward, the princess met Yang Zhuri, who wanted to seize Chen Lingxi as a great medicine and decided to report the consort’s visit to the Crown Prince.

• Lin Longyue practiced her palm techniques, and Yunhe Commandery Princess praised her progress in the Silver Bones realm.
• Yunhe Commandery Princess questioned Lin Longyue about Chen Lingxi and warned that Consort Chun’s tour could draw attacks from rebel kings and other enemies.
• Lin Longyue said she had submitted a memorial offering to receive Consort Chun at the Baosu Marquis Residence, and she refused to transfer Chen Lingxi to Yang Zhuri.
• Yunhe Commandery Princess visited Yang Zhuri, who revealed that he considered Chen Lingxi a great medicine and intended to take him, secretly if necessary.
• After hearing that Lin Longyue planned to host Consort Chun, Yang Zhuri worried that her Mirror Listening Art might expose his plans and decided to inform the Crown Prince.