Recaps

Song Wen coerced Steward Qin into arranging a large purchase of Silverhorn Grass and Beast Brocade Pills, then threatened his family to ensure he kept the deal. As Song Wen struggled to develop a stronger Blood Qi Pill, Qin Ge and Madam Qin learned of the danger and were told to leave the market.

• Song Wen abducted Steward Qin and demanded at least fifteen stalks of Silverhorn Grass and a hundred Beast Brocade Pills, offering twenty percent above their quoted prices.
• Steward Qin agreed to deliver the goods in seven days, and Song Wen warned him that his wife and son at Number 109, East District could be harmed if he broke their agreement.
• Song Wen had the Sacred Beetle Gu monitor Steward Qin's family and repeatedly failed to develop a more potent Blood Qi Pill, even after buying a sturdier pill furnace.
• Song Wen's Black Armor Gu reported that Ji Ruxue had slipped out at night and entered the Spring Night Tower through its back door.
• Qin Ge received a letter from Steward Qin warning him and Madam Qin to leave the market, and he stopped his mother from speaking aloud after she read it.

Song Wen uncovered Steward Qin’s plot, killed him and his accomplices, and learned that Heng Cheng managed the Silverhorn Grass fields at the Beast Taming Sect. The chapter left Song Wen with a new lead: Heng Cheng’s concubine Jing Yu lived in the market’s eastern district.

• Qin Ge and Madam Qin collapsed unconscious after Song Wen secretly incapacitated them, and Song Wen realized Steward Qin was not acting honestly.
• Steward Qin arrived at the mountain Cave for the planned meeting, where Song Wen revealed Elder Huang’s head and warned that the others who had accompanied him were dead.
• Steward Qin denied knowing Elder Huang and failed to produce the promised Silverhorn Grass and Beast Brocade Pills, so Song Wen subdued and killed him.
• Song Wen searched Steward Qin’s memories and learned that Heng Cheng oversaw the Silverhorn Grass spirit fields and kept a concubine named Jing Yu in Courtyard No. 87.
• Song Wen burned the four men’s corpses to ashes and scattered them with the Gale Art.

After killing Qin mother and son and disposing of Steward Qin’s spirit beasts, Song Wen watched the investigation spread through the market. He then followed Jing Yu to a clandestine meeting with her lover, Brother Zheng, where she asked him to take her away from Heng Cheng.

• Song Wen released a spirit deer and a gray wolf from stolen spirit beast pouches, and the Sacred Beetle Gu devoured both before retreating into his body to digest.
• Neighbors discovered Qin mother and son murdered, and the Beast Taming Sect’s investigation connected their deaths to Steward Qin, Elder Huang, and other missing cultivators.
• Luo Liangong struggled to solve the killings as Che Wanying pressured the Law Enforcement Hall over the deaths of her two personal disciples.
• Song Wen watched the crowd at the Qin courtyard and followed Jing Yu as she visited shops and entered an inn courtyard with a young boy.
• Jing Yu met her lover Brother Zheng, left the boy playing with toys, and asked Brother Zheng to take her far away from Heng Cheng.

Song Wen witnessed Xu Zheng and Jing Yu plot to use their son to extort Heng Cheng, then marked the family and changed his plans. Three days later, Heng Cheng found a ransom letter and confronted Xu Zheng at a tavern.

• Xu Zheng persuaded Jing Yu to leave East Birch Market by abducting their son and demanding spirit stones from Heng Cheng, and she reluctantly agreed.
• Song Wen watched the pair through the Black Armor Gu, marked Xu Zheng, Jing Yu, and the child with divine-sense marks, and reconsidered his plan.
• Three days later, Heng Cheng arrived at Jing Yu's locked courtyard and found a letter claiming that she and her son had been kidnapped.
• Heng Cheng followed the letter's instructions to a cultivator tavern and confronted Xu Zheng, who admitted that Jing Yu and her son were in their hands.

Heng Cheng paid Xu Zheng ten thousand spirit stones to secure Jing Yu’s return, but Xu Zheng kept their child hostage until he could deliver the money to his companions. Heng Cheng reunited with Jing Yu and learned the child was still in the bandits’ hands.

• Heng Cheng suppressed his fury when Xu Zheng threatened the lives of Jing Yu and their child, then agreed to pay ten thousand spirit stones.
• Heng Cheng exchanged one hundred medium-grade spirit stones for ten thousand low-grade ones at the Lei Clan’s pill shop and let Xu Zheng inspect and take them.
• Xu Zheng refused to reveal where the child was, warning Heng Cheng not to track him, and said the child would be released after he delivered the spirit stones safely.
• Xu Zheng paid an old cultivator to check for a spiritual sense mark; the old man found none on Xu Zheng or the storage pouch.
• Heng Cheng returned to his courtyard, comforted Jing Yu, and asked her to explain the kidnapping and the bandits’ hiding place.

Heng Cheng tried to find his kidnapped son after Jing Yu claimed robber cultivators had taken him, but he was misled by her hidden scheme and a mysterious letter. At Black Rock Mountain, he mistook Song Wen for the kidnappers’ leader and ordered his poisonous toad to attack.

• Jing Yu told Heng Cheng that cloaked kidnappers had taken their son and released her, while secretly coordinating with Xu Zheng to delay Heng Cheng.
• Heng Cheng found a letter demanding spirit items at Black Rock Mountain and hinting that someone he knew had orchestrated the kidnapping.
• Elder Wang refused to lend Heng Cheng manpower to search the market town’s underground chambers.
• Heng Cheng went alone to Black Rock Mountain, where the disguised Song Wen denied any robber cultivators were involved and accused Jing Yu of conspiring with her lover.
• Heng Cheng dismissed Song Wen’s claim, summoned his poisonous toad, and ordered it to capture him.

Song Wen fought Heng Cheng after Heng Cheng attacked him, then wounded the Beast Taming Sect elder with help from his Cold Moon Blade and Sacred Beetle Gu. Heng Cheng’s wife, Rong Jingyun, arrived and negotiated a truce, saving him while Song Wen demanded supplies and a Soul Oath.

• Song Wen used Kui Yin Heavy Water to defend against Heng Cheng’s toad, then fought back with his Cold Moon Blade and Sacred Beetle Gu.
• Song Wen endured the toad’s poisonous fumes and pierced Heng Cheng’s waist with the Cold Moon Blade, leaving him gravely wounded.
• Rong Jingyun arrived and asked Song Wen to spare Heng Cheng, warning that she could summon nearby Beast Taming Sect disciples with her Jade Slip.
• Song Wen agreed to let Rong Jingyun treat Heng Cheng in exchange for Silverhorn Grass, Beast Brocade Pills, other compensation, and a Soul Oath never to reveal him.
• Rong Jingyun treated Heng Cheng with spiritual energy and a golden-yellow pill, bringing him back from the brink of death.

Rong Jingyun and Heng Cheng paid Song Wen and swore soul oaths to learn their child’s whereabouts. After Song Wen revealed where the child had been left, the couple flew to rescue him and resolved to rely on each other and raise the child together.

• Rong Jingyun and Heng Cheng gave Song Wen the promised silverhorn grass and Beast Brocade Pills, then swore soul oaths not to reveal him.
• Rong Jingyun offered Song Wen pill-refining insights in exchange for the child’s whereabouts, and Song Wen handed over a Jade Slip and explained where the child was trapped.
• Heng Cheng rejected Song Wen’s account, but Song Wen told them the child was in a cave west of the market and warned that he had gone without water for two days.
• Rong Jingyun took Heng Cheng aboard her flying vessel and set out to rescue the child while helping him recover.
• Heng Cheng apologized for keeping a mistress, and Rong Jingyun said she would treat his innocent child as her own.

Heng Cheng and Rong Jingyun rescued Heng Cheng’s son, tracked down Jing Yu and Xu Zheng, and brought them back after Jing Yu died during their escape. Song Wen refined a stronger batch of Blood Qi Pills and headed into the mountains to test one on a demonic beast.

• Heng Cheng and Rong Jingyun found Heng Cheng’s bound, unconscious son in a cave and treated him before searching for Jing Yu.
• Rong Jingyun used her requisition Jade Slip to mobilize the market enforcement squad, which tracked down Jing Yu and Xu Zheng; Jing Yu returned dead, while Xu Zheng faced Heng Cheng’s wrath.
• Song Wen studied Rong Jingyun’s pill-refining insights and experimented with the Blood Qi Pill formula for more than twenty days, producing three unusually large pills.
• Song Wen left the market to test the new pills on a demonic beast and encountered a crimson fox at the Qi Refining seventh layer.

Song Wen tested his new Blood Qi Pills on a demon fox and two robbery cultivators, all of whom died from the pills’ effects. After swallowing one himself, he broke through to the sixth level of Qi Refining and confirmed the pill’s power before someone knocked at his door.

• Song Wen fed a newly refined Blood Qi Pill to a demon fox, which shriveled, swelled, and exploded.
• Two robbery cultivators attacked Song Wen, but he swiftly defeated them and forced each to swallow a Blood Qi Pill.
• Both robbery cultivators died after their essence blood was depleted, and Song Wen concluded that ordinary Qi Refining cultivators could not withstand the pill’s medicinal power.
• Song Wen returned home, refined five more pills, and swallowed one, using the spiritual power it released to break through to the sixth level of Qi Refining.
• Song Wen finished cultivating after using all five pills, and someone knocked at his door.

Song Wen cultivated six Sacred Beetle Gu, advanced his Longevity Art to the ninth level of Qi Refining, and began successfully refining Beast Brocade Pills to strengthen his Gu. He remained curious about Zhao Dapeng’s long-running attempt to turn his younger brother into a living corpse.

• Ai Kun visited Song Wen and noticed that Song Wen had reached the sixth level of Qi Refining.
• Song Wen evolved a second Black Armor Gu into a Sacred Beetle Gu, bred the pair, and raised their offspring until he had six Sacred Beetle Gu.
• Over nearly two years, Song Wen advanced his Longevity Art to the ninth level of Qi Refining and kept watching Zhao Dapeng, whose younger brother had endured corpse qi for more than two years without dying or becoming a corpse zombie.
• Song Wen bought spirit herbs and, after months of trying, successfully refined his first batch of Beast Brocade Pills to strengthen his Sacred Beetle Gu.

Song Wen bid farewell to Ai Kun, then left East Birch Market to establish his foundation with a Heavenly Spirit Fruit. After cultivating in seclusion, he turned to Rong Jingyun’s notes to seek a second-tier pill that could improve his cultivation.

• Ai Kun told Song Wen he was leaving East Birch Market to retire with the Su Clan of Clearpeace Mountain, and departed two days later.
• Song Wen continued cultivating until the Longevity Art reached the consummate Qi Refinement stage, then secluded himself in a valley south of the market.
• Song Wen used a Heavenly Spirit Fruit instead of a Foundation Establishment Pill and successfully established his foundation after more than a month.
• Song Wen spent three months cultivating lightning arts and found that Blood Qi Pills no longer improved his Foundation Establishment cultivation enough.
• Song Wen studied Rong Jingyun’s notes, found the second-tier Bloodburst Pill, and decided to find one to test its effects.

Song Wen was targeted by the Su Clan and pretended to submit until he was outside East Birch Market, then killed his captors and fled. The Su Clan’s Foundation Establishment pursuers attacked him with a colossal sword, while the Beast Taming Sect’s Golden Core guardian noticed the disturbance.

• Three Su Clan members broke into Song Wen’s courtyard, mistook him for Zhang Cheng, and announced they were taking him to become a talisman master.
• Song Wen let the Su Clan members bind and escort him out of the market, avoiding a fight in front of the law enforcement team.
• Once outside the market, Song Wen shattered his bonds, beheaded the three Su Clan members, and escaped into the forest using the Thunder Escape Technique.
• Three Foundation Establishment Su Clan cultivators pursued Song Wen, and their Foundation Establishment Middle Stage leader unleashed a colossal spiritual-energy sword at him.
• Song Wen dodged the strike and used his Great Lu bell to withstand the aftershock, while the Beast Taming Sect’s Golden Core guardian noticed the disturbance from her cave abode.

Song Wen escaped a Su Clan pursuit only to be chased by Golden Core cultivator Daoist nun Qingyan, who wanted to capture him for Su Gan. He used the Life-Substitution Technique to evade her, but she tracked his Kui Yin Heavy Water and caught up again as he fled through a forest.

• Su Xingyuan told Daoist nun Qingyan that Su Gan had ordered the Su Clan to capture young cultivators of the Longevity Art for his Devouring Essence Array, and she agreed to pursue Song Wen.
• Song Wen fled from Qingyan, blocked her Binding Spirit Rope with the Kui Water Shield and bronze Great Lu, then used the Life-Substitution Technique to escape beyond her spiritual-sense range.
• Qingyan recognized the Life-Substitution Technique and took Song Wen's Kui Yin Heavy Water to trace him.
• Song Wen reappeared behind a hill, healed himself, and fled into a dense forest, relying on the Sacred Beetle Gu's greater detection range to stay ahead.
• Qingyan spotted Song Wen moving through the forest and pursued him with the Binding Spirit Rope as he raced away using the Thunder Escape Technique.

Song Wen escaped Daoist Nun Qingyan and learned that the Su Clan planned to use cultivators who practiced the Longevity Art as living sacrifices for its Devouring Essence Array. After buying detailed information about the Su Clan, he traveled to its territory to investigate and encountered Ai Kun in the Northern Lands Market.

• Song Wen used the Blood Escape Technique to evade Daoist Nun Qingyan, severed his connection to the kui yin heavy water, and escaped down the Sky River.
• Daoist Nun Qingyan learned from Su Xingyuan that only the Su Clan's ancestor and a few core members knew about the Devouring Essence Array, then ordered Su Xingyuan to find other Longevity Art cultivators as sacrifices.
• Song Wen recovered in a concealed river cave, disguised himself, and bought detailed information about the Su Clan from a Ghost Market shop.
• Song Wen learned the Su Clan's strength and traveled to the Northern Lands Market, where he surveyed the area while disguised as an elderly cultivator.
• Song Wen encountered Ai Kun while strolling through the Northern Lands Market.

Song Wen ambushed Ai Kun and Su Axiu, then learned that Ai Kun had betrayed him to the Su Clan in exchange for pills that could restore his vital essence. After searching both their souls and killing them, Song Wen confirmed that the Su Clan was hunting cultivators of the Longevity Art but learned nothing more about its motives.

• Song Wen followed Ai Kun and Su Axiu away from the market and struck them down with the Cold Moon Blade in a secluded forest.
• Song Wen confronted Ai Kun, who admitted that he had revealed Song Wen's identity as a cultivator of the Longevity Art to the Su Clan for two vital-essence-restoring pills.
• Ai Kun told Song Wen that the Su Clan sought young Longevity Art cultivators with high cultivation, but he did not know why they were being captured.
• Song Wen searched Ai Kun's soul and confirmed his confession before killing him.
• Song Wen searched Su Axiu's soul and learned that she had persuaded Ai Kun to betray him, then killed her.
• Song Wen reflected on Ai Kun's betrayal as he looked at Ai Kun's dried corpse.

Song Wen, posing as the alchemist Yuan Cheng, joined the Su Clan after passing an alchemy test. He began his life at Clearpeace Mountain under strict limits on where outsiders could go.

• Song Wen arrived at Clearpeace Mountain and told guard Su Shan that he could refine Qi-Gathering Pills and Blood Qi Pills.
• Su Shan escorted Song Wen to the Pill Chamber, where steward Su Huayue tested his ability to refine Qi-Gathering Pills.
• Song Wen failed with his first batch using earth fire but succeeded with his second, producing five pills.
• Su Huayue accepted Song Wen as a level-two alchemist, offering him a monthly stipend and a quota of eighty Qi-Gathering Pills.
• A maid led Song Wen to his residence and explained the layout of Clearpeace Mountain and the restrictions on outsiders.

Song Wen joined the Su Clan’s alchemists for dinner, learned about the clan’s internal power struggle and its interest in Longevity Art cultivators, then spent several days refining pills. He left the Pill Chamber to explore Clearpeace Mountain’s surroundings and reached a town where Su Clan members with poor cultivation aptitude lived.

• Song Wen met Duan Jie and several outside alchemists at dinner, but they lost interest when they learned he only refined Blood Qi Pills and Qi-Gathering Pills.
• Qi Xiong boasted that he had refined Profound Qi Pills and would receive a Realm-Breaking Pill from Su Huayue to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refinement.
• Song Wen learned that Qi Xiong cultivated the Longevity Art and suspected the Su Clan had an important reason for seeking its practitioners.
• Duan Jie explained that Patriarch Su Anping and First Elder Su Wenshi were competing for power, with the Sixth Elder now vying with Su Huayue for excess pills.
• Song Wen refined pills for three days, then skipped the Pill Chamber on the fourth day to investigate the area around Clearpeace Mountain.
• Song Wen reached a town at the foot of the mountain where Su Clan members without spiritual roots or with poor aptitude lived.

Song Wen, posing as Alchemist Yuan, toured the Su Clan town with guard Su Shan and learned that Su Shan was the patriarch’s neglected son with little hope of advancing. Song Wen hinted that demonic arts could offer a shortcut to power, leaving Su Shan alone and considering where to find them.

• Song Wen met Su Shan in town and gave him ten Qi-Gathering Pills as thanks for guiding him to the Pill Chamber.
• Su Shan showed Song Wen around town and brought him home, where Song Wen met Su Shan’s pregnant wife, Chen Hong.
• Su Shan explained that his third-grade spiritual roots limited his cultivation and that his mortal wife gave their descendants little chance of having good spiritual roots.
• Su Shan revealed that his father was patriarch Su Anping, who had hundreds of children and had barely acknowledged Su Shan or his mother.
• Song Wen told Su Shan rumors about demonic cultivation techniques and the Mountain Ravine Ghost Market, prompting Su Shan to ask where nearby techniques were sold.
• After Song Wen left, Su Shan sat in the courtyard so long that he did not hear Chen Hong call him to lunch.

Song Wen investigated the Su Clan's guarded valley and discovered that it received more than seventy chained Longevity Art cultivators. Later, while scouting the Su Clan's Crimson Blood Spirit Crystal mine, he encountered six Foundation Establishment cultivators and was exposed by their Shadowless Mouse.

• Song Wen sent the Sacred Beetle Gu to scout Su Gan's valley and watched the Su Clan flying vessel deliver more than seventy chained Rogue Cultivators, whom he suspected were Longevity Art cultivators.
• Song Wen returned to refining pills for two days, then disguised himself and traveled to the Su Clan's Crimson Blood Spirit Crystal mine.
• Song Wen used his Gu to scout the mine and discovered six Foundation Establishment cultivators secretly observing it, including one at the Late Stage.
• Song Wen followed the six, but a Shadowless Mouse spotted him and raced back to the frail scholar leading the group.
• The scholar told the others that their pursuer was a lone Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator, and the group prepared to deal with Song Wen as he arrived.

Song Wen learned that the Rogue Cultivators planned to attack the Su Clan’s Crimson Blood Spirit Crystal Mine, then secretly waited near the mine while refining Blood Qi Pills. The raid began after midnight, led by Jing Lu, as the attackers struck the formation protecting the compound.

• Song Wen approached the scholar and five Rogue Cultivators, admitted he hoped to profit from their attack, and was invited to meet them three days later.
• After the six left, Song Wen used his Sacred Beetle Gu to discover they planned to raid the mine within the next few days.
• Song Wen requested three days of leave from Su Yuehua, disguised himself, and set up a hidden camp ten li from the mine.
• Song Wen refined Blood Qi Pills until his Sacred Beetle Gu spotted more than ten Foundation Establishment Rogue Cultivators approaching the mine.
• Jing Lu led the Rogue Cultivators in attacking the courtyard’s formation with a late second-rank Ghost General, and the Su Clan cultivators emerged to confront them.
• Jing Lu accused the Su Clan of destroying his sect and killing his disciples, then ordered the Rogue Cultivators to break the formation.

Jing Lu and the rogue cultivators attacked the Su Clan’s Redblood Spirit Crystal Mine, and Su Jingtong sent Su Yi away with a storage ring containing ten thousand Crimson Blood Spirit Crystals. To divert the attackers from the battle, Su Jingtong loudly claimed she was also carrying one hundred Crimson Blood Crystal Marrows, sending the greedy cultivators after her while Jing Lu realized the claim was a ruse.

• Su Jingtong gave Su Yi the storage ring and ordered her to escape to Clearpeace Mountain once the formation fell.
• Jing Lu and the rogue cultivators shattered the barrier and attacked the Su Clan cultivators, while Su Jingtong helped Su Yi flee.
• Su Jingtong protected Su Yi from the scholar’s Soul-Devouring Awl and Jing Lu’s ghost general as she raced toward Clearpeace Mountain.
• After Su Jingtong shouted that Su Yi carried one hundred Crimson Blood Crystal Marrows, the rogue cultivators broke off the battle and chased her.
• Jing Lu recognized Su Jingtong’s claim was false but held back from warning the others, fearing they would suspect him of keeping the treasure for himself.

Jing Lu’s Ghost General slaughtered the mine slaves, but many of their souls mysteriously vanished. Meanwhile, Su Jingtong revealed that he had released the Ghost King beneath the mine to use the Rogue Cultivators as sacrifices, leaving the Su Clan ready to capture it afterward.

• Su Jingtong and four Su Clan cultivators fled the mine, leaving Jing Lu to attack the undefended mining area.
• Jing Lu sent the Ghost General to slaughter mine slaves and used a Soul-Seizing Banner to collect their souls, but more than half had vanished.
• The Rogue Cultivators killed Su Yi, took his storage ring containing ten thousand Crimson Blood Spirit Crystals, and returned toward the mine.
• Song Wen watched from a cave and welcomed the damage to the Su Clan, though he had not taken part in the conflict.
• Su Jingtong told the four Su Clan cultivators that he had released the sealed Ghost King and explained the Ancestor’s plan to capture it with a Ghost-Controlling Banner after the Rogue Cultivators served as sacrifices.

Jing Lu watched a sealed Ghost King emerge from the mine and slaughter the Rogue Cultivators before hiding in hopes of seizing it. Su Jingtong and four Su Clan cultivators arrived to contain the Ghost King, but their banner only held it briefly as they took positions around the courtyard.

• Jing Lu paid the Rogue Cultivators their share of the Crimson Blood Spirit Crystals and sent them to search and destroy the mining district.
• A pit opened in the courtyard, releasing a black-armored Ghost King that killed the bandit cultivators while Jing Lu fled and hid nearby.
• Jing Lu realized the Su Clan had likely released the Ghost King deliberately and waited for them, hoping to take advantage of the situation.
• Su Jingtong arrived with four Su Clan cultivators and used an ultimate-grade ghost-path banner to trap the Ghost King temporarily.
• Su Jingtong ordered the four cultivators to reach the formation nodes, and they took positions at the courtyard’s corners as his banner fell back to his side.

Su Jingtong captured the armored Ghost King in his ghost banner and planned to use it to strengthen his position in the Su Clan. Jing Lu then ambushed him, but Su Jingtong unleashed a skull filled with the resentment of dead mining slaves, sweeping Jing Lu and his Ghost General into a deadly hurricane.

• Su Jingtong and four Su Clan members used the formation to drag the armored Ghost King into the pit and seal it inside the ghost banner.
• The five members exhausted their spiritual power as Su Jingtong drew the Ghost King into the banner, then he planned to refine it and contend for power in the Su Clan.
• Jing Lu and his late second-order Ghost General appeared and attacked Su Jingtong, while the other four Su Clan members fled.
• Su Jingtong tried to escape and hurled a bone-white skull refined from the resentment of dead mining slaves at Jing Lu.
• The skull exploded into a black hurricane that swallowed Jing Lu and his Ghost General, swept Jing Lu away, and left resentment covering the sky.