Recaps

Song Wen followed Lei Tianyu after he abducted Sun Ru, connecting the Lei Clan’s suspicious activities to her cultivation of Palm Thunder. He tracked Lei Tianyu to a hidden cavern beneath a lake, where a bloodstained altar and a pit of human and demon-beast bones revealed a sinister secret.

• Song Wen refined a stronger Blood Qi Pill that rapidly increased his cultivation.
• Song Wen detected Lei Tianyu entering Sun Daxiong’s home and watched him break Sun Ru’s defensive formation and abduct her.
• Song Wen marked Sun Ru and sent a Black Armor Gu after Lei Tianyu, then followed them beyond the market and into a lake.
• Lei Tianyu used a disk to open a concealed entrance beneath the lake and carried Sun Ru into a dry cavern.
• Song Wen discovered a bloodstained altar surrounded by formation patterns and a pit filled with human and demon-beast bones.

Lei Tianyu used a blood formation and the lightning altar to extract Sun Ru’s talent, killing her and greatly strengthening his Palm Thunder. Song Wen entered the Lake after Lei Tianyu left and used the Black Armor Gu to search the sealed underwater cave for another way out.

• Lei Tianyu placed the unconscious Sun Ru on the altar, restrained her, and activated the formation with spirit stones and his blood.
• The altar tore away Sun Ru’s flesh and soul, extracting her talent as she died.
• Blood snakes entered Lei Tianyu, causing him intense pain before his Palm Thunder became several times stronger.
• Lei Tianyu discarded Sun Ru’s shriveled corpse and left the cave, while Song Wen waited until he was gone before diving into the Lake.
• Song Wen could not open the stone wall without Lei Tianyu’s disk, so he sent the Black Armor Gu to search the vast cave for another exit.

Song Wen entered the underwater cave, examined the altar used to steal Sun Ru’s thunder arts talent, and concealed the route to it. Two days later, Sun Daxiong returned to find his daughter missing, while the market’s law enforcement team found no clues.

• Song Wen found a hidden tunnel into the underwater cave and reached the altar and the formation Lei Tianyu had used to devour Sun Ru’s thunder arts talent.
• Song Wen examined Sun Ru’s corpse and the remains of a demonic beast, then sealed the tunnel and returned to East Birch Market.
• Two days later, Sun Daxiong returned from hunting and discovered that Sun Ru was gone and the protective formation in her room had been forcibly broken.
• Sun Daxiong alerted the market law enforcement team, whose members questioned neighbors and investigated the courtyard but found no useful clues.
• The law enforcement team classified Sun Ru as missing and left, while Sun Daxiong blamed himself for her disappearance.

Song Wen bought spirit beast pills and discovered a stallholder secretly trading human essence blood. After extracting the Ghost Market’s location from the stallholder’s memories, Song Wen headed there, knowing the market opened only at night and was hidden by disorienting mist.

• Song Wen bought two bottles of first-grade high-quality spirit beast pills after learning that shops in East Birch Market did not sell second-grade pills.
• Song Wen witnessed a stallholder sell three bottles of human essence blood to a scholar-like Rogue Cultivator, then saw the stallholder send a message.
• Song Wen followed the stallholder out of the market and confronted him in the forest, learning that the Ghost Market lay four hundred miles east and charged two spirit stones for entry.
• Song Wen left the stallholder, then returned and killed him before using the Soul Search Technique to uncover the Ghost Market’s nighttime hours and dangerous mist.
• Song Wen consumed the stallholder’s soul and essence blood, disposed of his corpse, and set out for the Ghost Market with a Swift Travel Talisman.

Song Wen entered the Misty Ghost Market seeking Profound Yin Stones and met a gaunt cultivator who knew where to find them. The cultivator asked him to join an attack on a Foundation Establishment family, and Song Wen pressed him for more information.

• Song Wen crossed the mist-filled valley, paid two spirit stones to the ghost market guards, and entered the market.
• Song Wen visited an unmarked shop and asked its Foundation Establishment Middle Stage owner about Profound Yin Stones.
• The gaunt cultivator said he knew where the stones were but would not sell the information, then described his feud with a family that slaughtered his hometown.
• The gaunt cultivator asked Song Wen to join thirteen other cultivators in attacking the family in exchange for a chance to obtain Profound Yin Stones.
• Song Wen refused to risk a fight based only on the cultivator’s claims and used his response to probe for details about the family.

Song Wen learned that Wang Yi and twelve other cultivators planned to attack the Heavenly River Li Clan, then secretly observed their gathering through the Black Armor Gu. The thirteen prepared to strike that night, while Song Wen discovered their target was rumored to refine ghost artifacts using Profound Yin Stone.

• Wang Yi invited Song Wen to join a gathering to discuss attacking a Foundation Establishment family, but Song Wen left without committing.
• Song Wen searched the ghost market and found many forbidden demonic-path goods, but none of the items he urgently needed or any second-rank spirit beast pills.
• Five days later, thirteen cultivators gathered at the confluence of three rivers and announced their plan to attack the Heavenly River Li Clan at midnight.
• Nie Qian declared her hatred for the Li Clan, which had killed thirty-two members of her family and left a saber scar across her face.
• Wang Yi told Elder Li that a mysterious cultivator he had invited had not arrived, and Elder Li warned him not to expose their plan to anyone connected to the Li Clan.
• Song Wen watched the gathering through the Black Armor Gu and learned that Elder Li believed Li Chenggu had used Profound Yin Stone to create two powerful ghost generals.

Thirteen avengers attacked the Li Clan residence, seeking revenge for its past slaughter. Li Chenggu killed the seven Qi Refinement attackers, but Wang Yi and the other four lured him into the Five Elements Rotation Formation and unleashed its Geng Metal blades on his Ghost Generals.

• The thirteen avengers infiltrated the Li Clan grounds and slaughtered more than a thousand people before a warning brought the clan into a battle.
• Li Chenggu arrived and ordered the five Li Clan Foundation Establishment cultivators to kill the seven remaining Qi Refinement attackers, while he faced Wang Yi and the other four avengers.
• Li Chenggu summoned two powerful Ghost Generals, and Elder Li revealed that the avengers had secretly planted nine formation flags.
• Elder Li and the other four raised the Five Elements Rotation Formation, trapping Li Chenggu and both Ghost Generals inside.
• Elder Li activated Geng Metal, sending a torrent of sharp blades toward the Ghost Generals as they covered themselves in condensed ghostly armor.

Old Li and the others used the Five Elements Rotation Formation and a series of fire dragons to wear down Li Chenggu and his ghost generals, while Song Wen secretly attacked the Li family cultivators with Black Armor Gu. The Li family finally shattered the formation, leaving Li Chenggu exposed as the fire dragon closed in.

• Old Li drove back Li Chenggu’s two ghost generals with a Geng Metal Blade Torrent, then summoned a Ding Fire dragon to attack them.
• A Li family Foundation Establishment cultivator identified the barrier as a Five Elements Rotation Formation and directed the clan to attack it with water-element techniques.
• Song Wen sent his Black Armor Gu to kill Li family cultivators, distracting them and easing the pressure on the formation.
• Old Li summoned another fire dragon, forcing Li Chenggu to withdraw his weakened ghost generals and defend himself with Kui Yin Heavy Water.
• The fire dragon drove Li Chenggu into the formation barrier, while the Li family’s water-element attacks shattered the barrier.

Song Wen followed Li Chenggu to an underground hall and killed him before he could recover his ghost generals. After finding two Profound Yin Stones and devouring the blood in the hall’s pool, Song Wen turned his attention to the eight ghost banners.

• Elder Li broke the formation, and Wang Yi and Nie Qian pursued the wounded Li Chenggu as the Li Clan’s cultivators held off their allies.
• Li Chenggu fled into an underground hall and sent his weakened ghost generals into a soul-refining formation to devour yin souls.
• Song Wen ambushed Li Chenggu with the Cold Moon Blade and Netherworld Claw, killing him within a few dozen breaths.
• Song Wen failed to use the Soul Search Technique, devoured Li Chenggu’s soul and blood essence, and burned his body.
• Song Wen found two Profound Yin Stones in Li Chenggu’s storage ring, stationed his corpse puppet and Black Armor Gu to guard the entrance, and devoured the blood in the pool.
• With combat still raging outside, Song Wen turned his attention to the eight ghost banners.

Song Wen seized Li Chenggu’s Soul Refining Formation and collected its eight Ghost Banners, then escaped the battle at the Li Clan and traveled to a remote hill. There, he prepared to refine Wu Ren’s corpse into a Corpse Puppet and learned how Li Chenggu had built the clan’s strength through demonic arts and murder.

• Song Wen used Li Chenggu’s formation disk to draw the yin souls and two ghost generals into the eight Ghost Banners, then collected them and fled the cave with his Corpse Puppet.
• Song Wen found the battle still raging, took the souls and bodies of dead Li Clan cultivators, and left as Wang Yi warned Nie Qian not to provoke him.
• Song Wen escaped through the Sky River, traveled more than three thousand li, and landed on a remote hill to refine Wu Ren’s corpse into a Corpse Puppet.
• Song Wen examined Li Chenggu’s records and learned that Li Chenggu had used corpse, ghost, and blood arts to strengthen the Li Clan, while ghostly qi and depleted vitality led him to practice corpse arts as well.

Song Wen refined Wu Ren into a pseudo-third-rank corpse puppet, combined eight ghost banners into a low-grade spirit artifact Yin Soul Banner, and made three substitute-death puppets. After spending two months hidden in a cave, he returned to his courtyard in East Birch Market and learned Ai Kun had been watching over it.

• Song Wen set up the Nine-Palace Yin-Transforming Formation and refined Wu Ren's corpse for seventeen days until it became a pseudo-third-rank corpse puppet.
• Song Wen studied the Yin Soul Banner method and merged eight ghost banners into one low-grade spirit artifact with eight banner flags and two obedient ghost generals.
• Song Wen used corpses of Li Clan cultivators to refine three substitute-death puppets, then collapsed the cave and left with the Black Armor Gu.
• Song Wen returned to his courtyard in East Birch Market, where Ai Kun questioned his two-month absence and said Zhao Dapeng might have taken the courtyard.
• Song Wen learned Little Stove had told Ai Kun of his return and teased Ai Kun about looking after Widow Zhu and her son.

Song Wen accepted Ai Kun’s invitation to the East Birch Market auction and learned that the Blissful Union Sect was opening a brothel there. After gaining entry as a Rogue Cultivator, Song Wen recognized Lei Tianyu bidding on a Thunder-Pattern Stone, leaving him attentive to the auction.

• Song Wen agreed to attend the annual auction after Ai Kun said he could obtain two Rogue Cultivator invitations.
• Song Wen broke through to the fifth layer of Qi Refinement while refining pills and cultivating.
• Ai Kun told Song Wen that the Blissful Union Sect had bought a building in the market to open a brothel staffed by its disciples.
• Song Wen and Ai Kun lined up for nearly two hours, received invitations, and verified their spirit stones to enter the auction.
• Song Wen lost interest in the auction until Lei Tianyu bid eight thousand spirit stones for a Thunder-Pattern Stone.

At the auction, Lei Tianyu tried to win Kou Chang a Foundation Establishment Pill, but he ran short of spirit stones and she lost the final pill to her senior sister Gan Yue. Lei Tianyu then promised to seek a pill from his clan for Kou Chang.

• Lei Tianyu bought Kou Chang a Thunder-Pattern Stone, then promised to bid on a Foundation Establishment Pill for her.
• The first two Foundation Establishment Pills sold for forty-three thousand and forty-six thousand spirit stones, beyond Lei Tianyu's means.
• Kou Chang lent Lei Tianyu ten thousand spirit stones so he could keep bidding on the last pill.
• Gan Yue outbid Lei Tianyu at forty-nine thousand spirit stones, and Kou Chang's warmth toward him turned cold.
• Lei Tianyu said he would ask his eldest uncle for one of the Foundation Establishment Pills recently refined by his clan and give it to Kou Chang.

Kou Chang agreed to accompany Lei Tianyu to the Lei Clan in hopes of obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill, and she accepted his Thunder-Pattern Stone as a betrothal token. After the Azure Bull swallowed the stone and began advancing, Kou Chang and Lei Tianyu left the auction and ran into Gan Yue, who had bought the last Foundation Establishment Pill.

• Lei Tianyu promised to seek a Foundation Establishment Pill for Kou Chang from his uncle and proposed that they become Dao companions after she established her foundation.
• Kou Chang agreed to visit the Lei Clan with Lei Tianyu, though she avoided committing to the marriage, and accepted his Thunder-Pattern Stone as a betrothal token.
• Lei Tianyu persuaded Kou Chang to feed the Thunder-Pattern Stone to the Azure Bull so he could watch it advance.
• The Azure Bull swallowed the stone and began to advance, releasing electricity that shattered a chair in the private room.
• Kou Chang and Lei Tianyu left with the Azure Bull and encountered Gan Yue, who revealed she had bought the last Foundation Establishment Pill for a clansman and insulted Kou Chang.

Song Wen followed Lei Tianyu and Kou Chang to the Lake, where Lei Tianyu and Lei Hong revealed their plot against Kou Chang and the dormant Azure Bull. Lei Hong detected a follower and struck at Gan Yue, who escaped as he pursued her.

• Kou Chang boasted to Gan Yue that Lei Tianyu had proposed to her, then left with him for the Lei Clan.
• Song Wen sent a Beetle Gu after Lei Tianyu and Kou Chang, then secretly followed them toward the altar cave after learning the Azure Bull had gone dormant.
• At the Lake, Lei Tianyu revealed that Lei Hong was waiting and admitted that he had plotted for a year to seize the Azure Bull and dispose of Kou Chang.
• Lei Hong's pressure forced Kou Chang to her knees, and he explained that Lei Tianyu had been reckless because someone had followed them.
• Lei Hong's Great Cavern Divine Thunder struck the forest and exposed Gan Yue, who sacrificed her flood python to escape on her sword.
• Lei Hong chased Gan Yue to prevent her from revealing the Lei Clan's practice of devouring the spiritual essence of others' lightning arts.

Lei Tianyu revealed that the Lei Clan used a mysterious altar to steal lightning spiritual essence, then prepared to devour the Azure Bull’s power. Lei Hong ambushed him and seized the opportunity, leaving Kou Chang and Lei Tianyu dying beside Gan Yue’s corpse.

• Lei Tianyu crippled Kou Chang and carried her and the slumbering Azure Bull into the underwater cave.
• Lei Tianyu bound the Azure Bull to the altar and explained that it let the Lei Clan steal lightning spiritual essence to cultivate lightning arts.
• Lei Tianyu activated the altar, and Lei Hong arrived carrying Gan Yue’s corpse.
• Lei Hong ambushed Lei Tianyu, destroyed his dantian, and declared that he would take the Azure Bull’s power for himself.
• Kou Chang laughed at Lei Tianyu before Lei Hong struck her down and left her beside Gan Yue’s corpse.

Song Wen ambushed Lei Hong as he prepared to drain Azure Bull’s spiritual essence, but Lei Hong’s lightning arts overwhelmed his attackers. After Black Armor Gu disrupted Lei Hong’s spellcasting, Lei Hong unleashed Thunder Explosion, scattering his enemies while Song Wen pressed forward.

• Lei Hong explained that he planned to devour Azure Bull’s lightning spiritual essence to improve his cultivation, then threatened to drain Lei Tianyu as well.
• Song Wen’s silver corpse attacked Lei Hong, but Lei Hong struck it with Great Cavern Divine Thunder.
• Song Wen ambushed Lei Hong with two ghost generals and the Cold Moon Blade, but Lei Hong destroyed one ghost general and wounded the other while repelling Song Wen.
• Song Wen, the silver corpse, the red-haired ghost general, and two Black Armor Gu attacked Lei Hong from multiple directions, interrupting his lightning spellcasting.
• Lei Hong used Thunder Explosion to destroy the Gu and blast back the silver corpse and Cold Moon Blade as the ghost general fled, but Song Wen kept advancing.

Song Wen killed Lei Hong and activated the Lei Clan altar to devour the Azure Bull’s lightning spirituality, greatly improving his Palm Thunder. He then placed Lei Tianyu on the altar to take his lightning spirituality as well, ignoring Lei Tianyu’s threats as the altar began to tear at him.

• Song Wen traded wounds with Lei Hong, killed him, devoured his essence blood and soul, and burned his corpse.
• Song Wen learned through a soul search of Lei Tianyu that lightning power was needed to activate the altar, then fed Palm Thunder into it.
• The altar tore apart the Azure Bull and sent its blood and lightning spirituality into Song Wen, who gained a much clearer understanding of Palm Thunder.
• Song Wen formed a much larger ball of Palm Thunder and put the unconscious Lei Tianyu on the altar to devour his lightning spirituality.
• Lei Tianyu awoke as the altar began tearing his skin and begged Song Wen to spare him, invoking his father and the Lei Clan ancestor.

Song Wen killed Lei Tianyu, escaped from the Altar Cave, and hid beneath the Lake bed while Lei Yue searched for him. Unable to enter through the sealed cave entrance, Lei Yue carved a shaft through the earth and reached the Altar Cave.

• Song Wen devoured Lei Tianyu’s spirituality and the powerful divine thought attached to him, which the Black Hole in his Sea of Consciousness swallowed.
• The old man in the Lei Clan grounds sensed Lei Tianyu’s death and realized the stone disc to the Altar Cave might be lost.
• Song Wen took Lei Tianyu’s storage ring and stone disc, burned the bodies of Lei Tianyu, Kou Chang, and Gan Yue, then sealed the cave entrance behind him.
• Song Wen checked Lei Tianyu’s and Lei Hong’s storage rings, fled along the Lake bed, and hid beneath a stunned turtle demon as Lei Yue’s Divine Sense searched the area.
• Lei Yue found no trace of Song Wen and judged the cave entrance too risky to break open, so he carved a shaft through the ground and entered the Altar Cave.

The chapter revealed how the Lei Clan used an ancient altar to absorb Thunder Arts spirituality and strengthen its Nine Great Heavenly Thunder Secret Arts. Lei Yue investigated the cave but found no trace of the corpse cultivator, while Song Wen escaped and headed toward East Birch Market.

• The Lei Clan ancestor discovered the altar and Thunder Scripture, then used the altar to absorb Thunder Arts spirituality from living cultivators and demonic beasts.
• Lei Yue examined the cave, identified Lei Hong and Lei Tianyu among the dead, and used remnant soul fragments to learn that Lei Hong had killed two female cultivators and attacked Lei Tianyu.
• Lei Yue searched the cave and surrounding area for the corpse cultivator but found no clues, so he concealed the tunnel and returned to the Lei Clan residence.
• Lei Yue ordered the Lei Clan's descendants to investigate East Birch Market and the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market for signs of the corpse cultivator.
• After hiding underwater for two days, Song Wen sent a Black Armor Gu to scout, then traveled along the lakebed and made his way toward East Birch Market.

Song Wen discovered that Zhao Dapeng had rented out the courtyard where Song Wen had hidden a formation and corpse beast, then met the new tenant, Ji Ruxue, a former disciple of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect. He rented another courtyard under an alias and noticed Zhao Dapeng’s panicked reaction to his younger brother’s cry of pain.

• Song Wen found Ji Ruxue practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard he had secretly rented, confirmed his formation remained intact, and introduced himself under the name Zhang Cheng.
• Ai Kun warned Song Wen that Ji Ruxue was a castoff of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect and said the Blissful Union Sect’s pleasure house was about to open.
• Song Wen disguised himself and went to Zhao Dapeng’s residence to rent a courtyard and investigate him, while deciding not to kill him inside the market.
• Song Wen rented Courtyard Number Thirty-Six under the name Guo Tao and paid three months’ rent.
• Song Wen heard Zhao Dapeng’s younger brother cry out in pain, and Zhao Dapeng hurriedly shut the gate and sent him to the new courtyard alone.

Song Wen uncovered signs that Zhao Dapeng had turned a crippled man into a living corpse, then retrieved his corpse beast and formations from Ji Ruxue’s courtyard. After concealing his new underground chamber, he began inventorying Lei Hong and the others’ belongings and discovered a collection of Thunder Arts.

• Song Wen sensed corpse qi on the rat-eyed man and concluded that someone had forcibly made him a living corpse.
• Song Wen dug an underground chamber beneath Courtyard Thirty-Six and planned to use it for concealed cultivation.
• After waiting for Ji Ruxue to leave, Song Wen found a deadly transparent thread in her kitchen, retrieved the wolf demon corpse beast and Qi-Sealing Spirit-Isolating Formation, and refilled the chamber.
• Song Wen learned that Ji Ruxue had concealed cultivation at least as powerful as Foundation Establishment and returned to his courtyard without confronting her.
• Song Wen installed the Qi-Sealing Spirit-Isolating Formation and Nine-Palace Yin-Transforming Formation, then found the Thunder Scripture among Lei Hong’s belongings.

Song Wen sorted through the storage treasures of Lei Tianyu, Gan Yue, and Kou Chang, then used Silverhorn Grass and Beast Brocade Pills to strengthen his Black Armor Gu while cultivating lightning arts. After half a month, one Black Armor Gu began its transformation, leaving Song Wen waiting to see whether it would become a Sacred Beetle Gu.

• Song Wen found Lei Tianyu's spirit stones and a low-grade spirit lance, then discovered Gan Yue's Spirit Beast Compendium, six stalks of Silverhorn Grass, and Beast Brocade Pills.
• Song Wen found ten more stalks of Silverhorn Grass and forty-eight Beast Brocade Pills in Kou Chang's storage pouch, bringing his spirit stone wealth to nearly four hundred thousand.
• Song Wen fed Silverhorn Grass to his strongest Black Armor Gu and Beast Brocade Pills to the others, then mastered the Thunder Shield Technique and returned to his courtyard as Zhang Cheng.
• After half a month of feeding the Black Armor Gu, Song Wen saw the one that had eaten thirteen stalks of Silverhorn Grass absorb spiritual energy and form a cocoon, while four others advanced in cultivation.
• Song Wen recalled the cocooned Gu and the other four into his body and returned to his courtyard under cover of night.

Song Wen watched Ai Kun leave the Blissful Union Spring Night Tower, then later raised a Sacred Beetle Gu and learned that producing more would require Silverhorn Grass. After failing to find any in the markets, Song Wen discovered that only the Beast Taming Sect possessed the herb.

• Song Wen supported Ai Kun outside the Blissful Union Spring Night Tower and learned that the establishment paid customers a spirit stone for each visit.
• More than twenty days later, Song Wen's Black Armor Gu emerged from its cocoon as a Sacred Beetle Gu, a second-tier early-stage insect that could enlarge parts of its body and craved Beast Brocade Pills and essence blood.
• Song Wen fed and stabilized the Sacred Beetle Gu, then tried for half a month to mate it with a Black Armor Gu but found they could not mate.
• Song Wen concluded that he needed a female Sacred Beetle Gu to breed more, but he had too little Silverhorn Grass to evolve another Black Armor Gu.
• Song Wen searched the market and the mountain ravine ghost market for Silverhorn Grass, but a shopkeeper told him that only the Beast Taming Sect possessed it.

Song Wen sought a way to approach the Beast Taming Sect about Silverhorn Grass, then witnessed Deacon Qin’s corrupt dealings through his family’s gambling houses and the sect. Deacon Qin departed with the month’s spirit stones, while Qin Ge remained in the marketplace after selling a debtor’s daughter and killing the debtor.

• Song Wen asked the Beast Taming Sect spirit herb shop’s maidservant to summon its manager, but left when she dismissed him.
• Deacon Qin visited the shop, changed into Rogue Cultivator clothes, and went to the Blissful Union Spring Night Tower.
• Deacon Qin learned that Qin Ge had gone to collect Hu Yun’s gambling debt and received the family’s monthly proceeds for the sect elders.
• Qin Ge returned and said he had sent Hu Yun’s daughter to Elder Huang and fed Hu Yun to his Green Wolf.
• Deacon Qin warned Qin Ge to be cautious, ate with his family, and flew back to the sect with the spirit stones.