Recaps

Lu Qing cultivated in the quiet mountain gate while the Dao Academy fought the Demonic Path, and he remained wary despite reports of victories. Guo Yongheng then revealed that the front lines had discovered a Minor Thousandfold World, leaving Lu Qing shocked.

• Lu Qing planted Red Fang Rice and Dragon Fang Rice in his spirit fields, then spent days honing his techniques instead of rushing into Foundation Establishment.
• Dao Academy disciples attacked the Demonic Path's lair, and Outer Academy messages praised the fighting and the rewards found on the front lines.
• Lu Qing noticed the mountain gate had grown unusually quiet, learned the White Crane Clan had gone to the front lines, and warned the White Crane Boy to be careful.
• Lu Qing continued cultivating the Cloud-Riding Water Arrow and Concealment Art, and planned to learn the Geng Metal Finger to protect his spirit crops.
• Guo Yongheng told Lu Qing that his friend at the front lines had reported the discovery of a Minor Thousandfold World, shocking Lu Qing.

Lu Qing advanced to Foundation Establishment, First Layer, just as a distant battle shook the Profound Heaven Dao Academy. He learned that a deadly explosion at the Demon-Slaying Battlefield had killed many cultivators and nearly destroyed the entrance to the Minor Realm.

• Guo Yongheng told Lu Qing that he was leaving for the Demon-Slaying Battlefield, where the higher-ups had opened a land-reclamation system and confirmed the Minor Realm's location.
• A new senior brother arrived the next day, settled the accounts, and left without speaking much to Lu Qing.
• After four months of cultivation, Lu Qing used a Foundation Establishment Spirit Item to form a golden lake of Spiritual Power and enter Foundation Establishment, First Layer, gaining Divine Consciousness.
• Lu Qing claimed his Foundation Establishment reward through the Mission Hall, then sensed a distant battle and saw the academy's formations activate as blood-red clouds gathered toward the Demon-Slaying Battlefield.
• White Crane Boy told Lu Qing that demonic cultivators had detonated a Spirit Vein during a battle, killing many and nearly destroying the Minor Realm's entrance; he later sent messages mourning the dead.

After discovering that the massive explosion had killed Bai Yunqing, Yan Langyu, and many other disciples, Lu Qing entered the Four-Sided Arena to test his combat skills. His battles perfected his Water Arrow technique and steadied his Dao Heart, and he left the arena to return to farming.

• Lu Qing found Bai Yunqing, Yan Langyu, and other names from his Divination among those killed by the explosion.
• Lu Qing decided to test his fighting techniques and entered the Four-Sided Arena.
• Lu Qing fought Shen Chang'an, and their spear and water-arrow techniques clashed.
• Lu Qing defeated a series of opponents, perfected his Water Arrow, and drained the Spiritual Power in his dantian.
• Lu Qing stopped fighting with his name among the final hundred rankings and returned to farming with his Dao Heart clearer.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Lu Qing cultivated at the mountain gate and hosted White Crane Boy for tea, receiving a protective feather in return. White Crane Boy described the deadly Earth Vein explosion, and Lu Qing was left considering the outside assignments Foundation Establishment cultivators faced.

• Lu Qing reached the third level of the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture and continued cultivating at the mountain gate.
• White Crane Boy visited Lu Qing, praised his clear tea, and gave him a feather whose aura could protect his Spirit Field from pests and calamities.
• White Crane Boy explained that rival Demon cultivators had caused an Earth Vein explosion, damaging a Minor Realm and killing disciples while injuring elders.
• White Crane Boy praised Lu Qing for staying away from the disaster, then flew off after they chatted.
• Lu Qing considered the stationed assignments expected of Foundation Establishment cultivators and the Profound Heaven Dao Academy's role throughout the twelve provinces.

After settling into life on Nameless Dao Peak, Lu Qing studied formations and advanced to the Foundation Establishment Third Layer. He successfully developed and activated his own Cloud Mist Formation, leaving his cultivation and formation experiments progressing in quiet seclusion.

• Lu Qing studied the duties of Foundation Establishment disciples and the Dao Peak’s formations, then decided not to rush into an assignment.
• Lu Qing completed his spirit rice quota, received his payment, and learned that the cold Senior Brother who had overseen the work was a sword cultivator.
• Lu Qing heard returning disciples report that the demon-slaying mission had ended with the Minor Realm destroyed and many disciples dead, likely leading to compensation and ranking changes.
• Lu Qing cultivated, studied formations, and advanced to the Foundation Establishment Third Layer while the White Crane Boy occasionally brought him news and supplies.
• Lu Qing activated his self-developed Cloud Mist Formation over several hundred meters, then dispersed it and confirmed that it worked.

Lu Qing learned that Qian Wanan wanted to take over Cloudmist Peak, but the older disciple who accompanied him realized Lu Qing had already reached Foundation Establishment. The two White Crane riders arrived to discuss an exchange, leaving Qian Wanan stunned by Lu Qing’s cultivation.

• Lu Qing read Jade Slip messages and learned about the Outer Academy’s vacant Dao Peaks and the upcoming Grand Tournament.
• Qian Wanan asked his cousin, who worked in the Mission Hall, whether Cloudmist Peak was unclaimed.
• Qian Wanan’s cousin found that Cloudmist Peak belonged to Lu Qing, a Superior Aptitude disciple who had entered the sect half a year earlier.
• Qian Wanan and his cousin flew to Cloudmist Peak, claiming they had come to exchange Dao Peaks.
• Lu Qing sensed no danger and invited the pair up, while his cousin recognized the aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Qian Wanan’s cousin realized Lu Qing had reached Foundation Establishment, and Qian Wanan stared in disbelief.

Qian Wanan and his cousin visited Lu Qing to discuss exchanging Dao Peaks, but Lu Qing’s Foundation Establishment aura made Qian Wanan retract his greedy proposal. His cousin befriended Lu Qing and gave him a high-grade formation diagram, while arranging a dangerous assignment for Qian Wanan; Lu Qing later reflected on the gift and his formations’ role in the misunderstanding.

• Qian Wanan’s cousin brought him to meet Lu Qing, whose Foundation Establishment aura startled them both.
• Qian Wanan apologized for his proposal to exchange Dao Peaks, and his cousin praised Lu Qing’s Cloud Mist Formation.
• Lu Qing’s cousin gave him a high-grade formation diagram to apologize and build a friendship.
• After leaving, Qian Wanan’s cousin assigned him to replace a disciple on an experience mission involving the Red Civet Clan.
• Qian Wanan’s cousin explained that Lu Qing had exceptional promise in cultivation, formations, and Spirit Plants.
• Lu Qing examined the formation diagram and realized that his formations had caused Qian Wanan to sense unusually rich spiritual energy.

Lu Qing studied the Golden Light Formation, a superior defensive formation inscribed on the body, and discovered that its cultivation depended on an elusive element of luck. The diagram revealed a recorded inheritance scene that let him begin practicing, though he had not yet entered the path.

• Lu Qing examined the Golden Light Formation diagram and learned that it turned the cultivator’s body into a defensive formation, but that few people could comprehend it.
• Lu Qing reflected that his long lifespan gave him time to pursue the formation, despite lacking confidence in his comprehension.
• As Lu Qing studied the diagram, a scene appeared in his Sea of Consciousness, showing a green-robed man demonstrate the formation’s cultivation method.
• Lu Qing memorized the man’s movements and imitated them with his formation disk, tracing golden formation lines through the air.
• After the inheritance scene ended at dawn, Lu Qing realized he had not entered the path but had improved his chances of succeeding.

Lu Qing advanced to Foundation Establishment Fourth Layer and heard that new disciples would soon be assigned garrison missions because the Spirit Vein explosion had caused a shortage of manpower. A lottery overseen by the Outer Academy’s three chief elder stewards would decide the assignments, leaving Lu Qing ready to test his Calamity Avoidance.

• Lu Qing emerged from a month of seclusion at Foundation Establishment Fourth Layer, with his Spiritual Power gathered into a vast golden lake.
• White Crane Boy brought Lu Qing Water Dragon Fruits in exchange for tea and told him how he had acquired them from travelers near the White Sea.
• White Crane Boy marveled that Lu Qing had reached Foundation Establishment in less than half a year despite his Superior Aptitude.
• White Crane Boy told Lu Qing that Foundation Establishment cultivators had to serve a garrison mission and that his batch’s protection period had been shortened because the Spirit Vein explosion had caused manpower shortages.
• White Crane Boy said the assignments would be decided by lottery, and Lu Qing suspected his Calamity Avoidance might activate.

Lu Qing cultivated to the Eighth Layer of Foundation Establishment, then went to the Mission Hall to draw his garrison assignment. As he examined the available lots, his divinations revealed many possibilities, but the chapter ended before he chose one.

• Lu Qing perfected the Minor Cloud Rain Technique, harvested Phoenix Rice, and submitted his mission for a little over two hundred Spirit Stones.
• Lu Qing entered seclusion and, after more than two months, advanced to the Eighth Layer of Foundation Establishment.
• Lu Qing received the order to report to the Mission Hall and went there to accept a garrison mission.
• Lu Qing examined the lot-drawing cylinder and saw that it concealed countless possible assignments.
• Lu Qing considered the dangers facing garrison cultivators and studied the many divinations surrounding the available lots.

Lu Qing drew Spirit Terrace County as his garrison post, prepared for the journey, and left the Profound Heaven Dao Academy. In Spirit Terrace County, the local powers discussed the incoming garrison cultivator and wondered what kind of person he would be.

• Lu Qing used Calamity Avoidance to choose a wooden slip that assigned him to Spirit Terrace County in New Peace Prefecture.
• Lu Qing bought the Windchaser Art, Thousandfold Waves, and travel necessities, then cultivated the movement art to minor mastery.
• Lu Qing dismantled his formations, said farewell to White Crane Boy, and departed the Profound Heaven Dao Academy.
• In Spirit Terrace County, Chen Sheng told the county magistrate and four great clans that he knew little about the incoming cultivator beyond his name.
• The clans heard that the new garrison cultivator was a recently established Foundation Establishment cultivator, and some members felt reassured.

Lu Qing traveled to Spirit Terrace County, reaching the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment during the journey. He arrived to take over the Dao Academy’s stationing mission as Chen Sheng and the four great Lineages welcomed him.

• Steward Zhou recognized Lu Qing as the cultivator who had killed a Sixth Layer Foundation Establishment demonic beast and treated him deferentially aboard the ship.
• Lu Qing contemplated the Spirit Terrace River and Spirit Prefecture’s ruined earth veins while his cultivation grew more solid.
• Steward Zhou told fellow merchants that Lu Qing was a cultivator dispatched from above, prompting their envy and respect for the Profound Heaven Dao Academy.
• The ship docked, and Lu Qing broke through to the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment.
• Chen Sheng and the four great Lineages gathered at the county gates to welcome Lu Qing, while hidden onlookers watched without daring to interfere.
• Chen Sheng greeted Lu Qing and said the stationing mission was his to take over, and Lu Qing asked whether Chen Sheng would leave that day.

Lu Qing arrived in Spirit Terrace County as its new resident cultivator and impressed the four great families with his power. He settled on Spirit Terrace Mountain, where he personally established formations to conceal his residence and gather spiritual energy, leaving the county residents to recognize him as a formation master.

• Lu Qing sent Chen Sheng away, then told the four great family heads to keep the county's existing arrangements and took them to Chen Sheng's former residence.
• Lu Qing rejected the conspicuous manor and asked for a secluded mountain residence on Spirit Terrace Mountain, which the Bai Clan arranged within a day.
• Lu Qing installed the Cloud Mist Formation around Green Bamboo Courtyard, hiding the mountain and making intruders wander away without reaching it.
• Lu Qing created a Spirit-Gathering Formation himself, drawing spiritual energy into his dantian until his newly reached realm began to be tempered.
• The county residents saw the vast cloud formation and concluded that Lu Qing was a formation master.

Lu Qing strengthened his defenses and stabilized his Foundation Establishment cultivation while waiting for the right moment to advance. At year’s end, he glimpsed a path toward the Purple Mansion Realm and decided to enter secluded cultivation.

• Bai Shoucai told his eldest son that Lu Qing was so powerful that even the four Lineage leaders together might not match him, and planned to send him another gift after their next trade.
• Lu Qing successfully engraved the Golden Light Formation into his body, giving himself constant protection against attacks.
• Lu Qing continued refining his Spiritual Power and tempering his body while studying the path to the Purple Mansion Realm.
• Lu Qing observed the county’s New Year preparations and caught a fleeting flash of Spirit Light that revealed a direction for his next breakthrough.
• Lu Qing decided to begin secluded cultivation, drawing on the cultivation experiences recorded in Jade Slips.

As Lu Qing underwent a Lightning Tribulation, the people of Spirit Terrace County realized he was advancing beyond Foundation Establishment. He survived the nine bolts, opened his Purple Mansion, and briefly used his Divine Soul to survey the county before withdrawing it.

• Young masters from Spirit Terrace County gathered at a tavern and complained that their families had kept them home to cultivate.
• Dark thunderclouds gathered over Lu Qing’s mountain, and witnesses recognized that he was undergoing a Lightning Tribulation.
• Bai Shoucai and others realized Lu Qing had likely reached the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment and was attempting to enter the Purple Mansion Realm.
• Lu Qing endured nine bolts of lightning and used the tribulation to temper his body.
• Lu Qing opened his Purple Mansion, surveyed Spirit Terrace County with his Divine Soul, and then drew his thoughts back inside.

Lu Qing broke through to the Purple Mansion Realm, reshaped his Purple Mansion, and planted a tea tree at Green Bamboo Courtyard. His breakthrough was witnessed across Spirit Terrace County, where local lineages hurried to congratulate him and present gifts.

• Lu Qing sensed that his dantian had expanded into an ocean of Spiritual Power and used his Divine Consciousness to survey Spirit Terrace County.
• Lu Qing planted his tea tree in Green Bamboo Courtyard and nourished it with water and spiritual qi.
• The people of Spirit Terrace County saw the lightning tribulation end and realized Lu Qing had become a Purple Mansion cultivator.
• The Bai, Zhao, Li, and Chen Clans prepared congratulatory gifts for Lu Qing.
• Bai Shoucai and his eldest son brought the Bai Clan’s gift up the mountain, and Lu Qing welcomed them.

Lu Qing accepted the families’ gifts and told them to manage Spirit Terrace County themselves, asking only that the Dao Academy’s allotted share be paid. He studied the formation diagrams they had brought and began combining formations with the Windchaser Art.

• Lu Qing told the Bai Clan and the other families not to seek him out unless something important happened, while warning them not to short the Dao Academy’s share.
• Bai Shoucai explained to his eldest son that Lu Qing’s indifference to family affairs did not mean he was an ascetic cultivator who would punish them for every offense.
• Lu Qing inspected the gifts and found chests filled with formation diagrams, explanations, books, and Jade Slips about formations.
• Lu Qing studied basic formations and carved a Killing Formation in the bamboo forest to complement his practice of the Windchaser Art.
• Lu Qing tested the formation and his perfected Windchaser Art, moving unseen through the bamboo forest before appearing among the rustling leaves.

Lu Qing created the Gale Formation and used it to reveal a hidden Cultivation Cave in Spirit Terrace Mountain. Inside, he found the remains and records of Carefree Master, a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Grand Heaven Domain, and began learning about that domain.

• Lu Qing modified a fragmentary formation into the Gale Formation and decided to pair it with the Cloud Mist Formation.
• Lu Qing detected a weakening hidden formation in Spirit Terrace Mountain and remotely triggered it while staying concealed.
• Lu Qing used the Gale Formation to destroy the remaining mechanisms and reveal a desolate valley with Spirit Fields and a thatched hut.
• Lu Qing explored the hut and found the bones of Carefree Master, who had died after reaching the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment.
• Lu Qing read Carefree Master's records and Jade Slips, learning about his past and the Grand Heaven Domain.

Lu Qing discovered Ancient Tree Spirit Liquid in Carefree Master’s abandoned cultivation cave and refined it to strengthen his Divine Soul. Afterward, a strange occurrence began in Spirit Terrace County when something surfaced beneath the Spirit Terrace River.

• Lu Qing searched Carefree Master’s cave, found Ancient Tree Spirit Liquid hidden inside a dead tree, and brought it back to his cultivation chamber.
• Lu Qing examined the records, confirmed the Spirit Liquid was safe, and began refining it to nourish his Divine Soul.
• After seven days of cultivation, Lu Qing’s Divine Soul grew stronger and gained the ability to split his consciousness while his body remained alert.
• Lu Qing tested the new ability, then withdrew his Divine Soul and recovered from the slight fatigue it caused.
• Half a month later, river lanterns on the Spirit Terrace River illuminated something rising from beneath the water.

Lu Qing investigated a bloodied skull and white mist that had trapped boats and caused returning cultivators to drown. His divinations warned him against leaving or sealing the Blood Skull, so he attacked it with a formation and surging river water, though the consequences had yet to appear.

• Bai Shoucai told Lu Qing that the mist trapped boats and the Blood Skull resisted the combined attacks of the city's Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• A local recalled that the river had once been called the Dragon King River and was said to have belonged to a Dragon King ten thousand years earlier.
• Lu Qing ordered everyone near the river to return to the city and received divinations warning that the Blood Skull carried dangerous entanglements if left or sealed.
• Lu Qing chose to destroy the Blood Skull, unleashing Thousandfold Waves, the Gale Formation, and a rain of Spiritual Power arrows against it.

Lu Qing destroyed the eerie threat in the Spirit Terrace River and returned to Green Bamboo Courtyard, where he learned the Outer Academy Grand Tournament had been postponed. The delay left him considering the possibility of entering the Inner Academy himself.

• Lu Qing unleashed his spells to destroy the threat in the Spirit Terrace River, then withdrew his formation after the ominous Divination ended.
• Lu Qing warned himself to avoid the river and declared the eerie threat eliminated, earning the cultivators’ gratitude before returning to Spirit Terrace Mountain.
• Lu Qing returned to Green Bamboo Courtyard and sensed that his cultivation was nearing the second layer of the Purple Mansion Realm.
• Lu Qing received White Crane Boy’s voice transmission and read Jade Slip messages confirming the Outer Academy Grand Tournament had been postponed, likely until midsummer.
• Lu Qing considered the tournament’s changed timing and the possibility that he might now take part as a contender for the Inner Academy.

Lu Qing’s meditation brought him to the edge of enlightenment in the Great Dao of Water, but an ominous hexagram warned him away before he could dissolve into the Dao. He emerged with the Profound Heaven Origin Scripture at the seventh layer and a deeper affinity for water, then tested his new ability in the snowy courtyard.

• Lu Qing set aside thoughts of the grand competition and focused on cultivating in his courtyard.
• Lu Qing’s insight into Thousandfold Waves led him to touch the Great Dao of Water during meditation.
• Lu Qing’s Profound Heaven Origin Scripture advanced to the seventh layer, but an ominous hexagram pulled him out of enlightenment before he could dissolve into the Dao.
• Lu Qing recognized the danger of greed and resolved to proceed cautiously on his cultivation path.
• Lu Qing used water infused with spiritual power to irrigate the tea tree and saw that it responded eagerly.
• Lu Qing left seclusion after about half a month and noticed the snow that had fallen over the courtyard.

After emerging from seclusion, Lu Qing noticed Cloud Soaring Sect’s Seven True Disciples arriving in Spirit Terrace County to search for a treasure. Their divination failed, killing Seventh, and Lu Qing realized the object they sought was connected to the Blood Bone.

• Lu Qing spotted Cloud Soaring Sect’s great ships approaching Spirit Terrace County and wondered whether their purpose involved the strange presence in the Spirit Terrace River.
• Seventh searched Spirit Terrace County with his eerie green eyes while Second questioned a local informant about the missing treasure.
• Third rebuked the informant for reporting an eerie incident instead of useful information.
• Seventh’s attempt to divine the treasure’s location killed him, and the group’s leader concluded it was not in Spirit Terrace County.
• Third and Fifth blamed an ox-nosed Taoist for misleading them, while Lu Qing recognized that the treasure was connected to the Blood Bone.

Lu Qing reflected on the Cloud Soaring Sect’s failed divination and grew wary of the mysteries surrounding the Spirit Terrace River. As he advanced his cultivation and acquired the Cloud Rain Technique, an ominous sign in an underground palace hinted that the danger had not passed.

• Lu Qing concluded that the Cloud Soaring Sect’s divination may have pointed to more than one possible outcome, and suspected the Spirit Terrace River’s entanglements were not over.
• After the black ships departed, a candle went out in a hidden underground palace, and its strange guardian wondered who had died.
• Lu Qing felt a sudden chill while cultivating on Spirit Terrace Mountain, searched with his Divine Consciousness, and suspected someone was watching or divining him.
• Lu Qing stopped dwelling on the unresolved mysteries and smoothly advanced to the second realm of the Purple Mansion Realm, aided by his understanding of the Great Dao of Water.
• Lu Qing exchanged half his Spirit Stones for the Cloud Rain Technique, hoping to cultivate it toward the divine ability to Call the Wind and Summon the Rain.

Lu Qing cultivated the Cloud Rain Technique and learned that the Outer Academy Grand Tournament would begin in early April, but decided not to register because his cultivation was too low. As the tournament stirred the Outer Academy and reshaped its rankings, he remained in Spirit Terrace County and read the latest news.

• Lu Qing used his Divine Soul's insight into the laws of heaven and earth to cultivate the Cloud Rain Technique and summon and disperse thunderclouds above Spirit Terrace County.
• Lu Qing received White Crane Boy's message about the Outer Academy Grand Tournament and declined to register, citing his shallow cultivation.
• White Crane Boy told Lu Qing that the region from the Demon-Slaying Mission was being prepared as a training secret realm for the Body Refinement Realm lineage.
• Lu Qing read intelligence about older and newly arrived disciples emerging for the Grand Tournament, which displaced many contestants from the Outer Academy rankings.