Recaps

Lin Qing met Demon Ember Guild leader Chu Lingxi, completed the Fire-Fusing Stance Technique, and headed into the Ten-Thousand Mountains to make money. He deliberately drew out the people who coveted his treasures, then set off to hunt them instead.

• Su Lan brought Lin Qing to meet Chu Lingxi, the Demon Ember Guild leader and a Fourth Tier martial artist ranked third on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.
• Lin Qing returned to secluded cultivation and completed the Fire-Fusing Stance Technique after twelve days, reducing his breakthrough time to 350 days.
• Needing money to support his cultivation, Lin Qing bought a black iron saber and spent his remaining silver on Third-Tier Blood-Qi Pills.
• Lin Qing left Wildgoose City in a conspicuous display of speed, drawing attention from martial artists and prompting several forces to pursue him.
• Lin Qing realized the pursuers had taken his bait and prepared to turn the tables on them.

Lin Qing waited deep in the forest for the pursuers and swiftly killed three of the four Third-Tier Martial Artists who attacked him. The Fourth-Tier leader was left shaken and disbelieving as Lin Qing’s blade flashed toward him.

• Lin Qing traveled more than a thousand li into the forest and waited for his pursuers while raising the progress of the Lunar Visualization Art.
• The first pursuers arrived: a black-clad Fourth-Tier Martial Artist and four Third-Tier Martial Artists, who mocked Lin Qing and demanded to know whether he regretted waiting for them.
• Lin Qing asked whether they had brought money, and the leader ordered his men to attack.
• Lin Qing killed one Third-Tier Martial Artist with a slash, crushed another beneath his foot, and cut down a third as he fled.
• The last surviving subordinate reached the Fourth-Tier leader, who was stunned by Lin Qing’s speed and slaughter.
• Lin Qing sent a dazzling blade gleam toward the leader as he laughed in disbelief.

Lin Qing slaughtered the teams hunting him, then reunited with Chu Lingxi, Shen Xingci, Song Shiye, and Su Lan in the mountains. He killed a Fourth-Tier Black-Patterned Mystic Tiger in one strike, and three days later the group returned to Wildgoose City carrying its corpse, where onlookers assumed Lin Qing had reached the Fourth Tier.

• Lin Qing hunted down and killed successive groups of pursuers, including a young man from the Frost Crow Guild, and collected their useful belongings.
• Chu Lingxi, Shen Xingci, Song Shiye, and Su Lan found Lin Qing in the forest and prepared to return with him to Wildgoose City.
• A Fourth-Tier Black-Patterned Mystic Tiger appeared, and Chu Lingxi moved to hold it back while the others escaped.
• Lin Qing charged the tiger and killed it with one blade strike, stunning the group and leading them to believe he had reached the Fourth Tier.
• After resting and preparing the tiger's body for three days, the group arrived at Wildgoose City's northern gate with the corpse, drawing astonished attention from passing martial artists.

Lin Qing sold the Fire-Fusing Heart Stance and bought three techniques for the remaining organs, along with ten martial arts manuals from Skyvault Pavilion. After recording his purchases in the system, he returned to his courtyard to cultivate, while the Demon Ember Guild celebrated the return of Su Lan’s uncle with another Fourth-Tier savage beast.

• Song Shiye excitedly recounted Lin Qing’s feat of slaying a savage beast to the Demon Ember Guild.
• Lin Qing visited Skyvault Pavilion, sold the Fire-Fusing Heart Stance for three million taels, and bought the Wood-Nurturing Spring Stance, Thick Earth Suppression Stance, and Profound Water Abyss Stance.
• Lin Qing also bought five Mystic-Tier Low Grade and five Mystic-Tier high-grade martial arts manuals.
• Lin Qing learned that Su Lan’s uncle had returned with another Fourth-Tier savage beast, making it the guild’s second in just a few days.
• Lin Qing recorded his new manuals in the system and returned to his courtyard to cultivate.

Xie Chen took first place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, enraging Crown Prince Xiao Jingyuan, who ordered an investigation into him. Meanwhile, Lin Qing perfected his final Fourth-Tier technique and discovered that he could passively absorb spiritual energy to temper his body.

• Song Shiye announced that Xie Chen had claimed first place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, and the Demon Ember Guild celebrated.
• Crown Prince Xiao Jingyuan smashed a table in anger and ordered his shadow guards to investigate Xie Chen and everyone connected to him.
• Lin Qing perfected the Profound Water Abyss Stance and expelled impurities from his body.
• Lin Qing sensed spiritual energy flowing into him and realized it could temper his body without consuming his Qi and Blood.
• Lin Qing concluded that perfecting all his Fourth-Tier techniques had let him absorb spiritual energy and enter a new level of cultivation.

After completing the mortal cultivation arts, Lin Qing gained the Innate Profound Embryo and unleashed qi and blood powerful enough to startle Wildgoose City. The Crown Prince summoned him to the palace using the safety of his acquaintances as leverage, and Lin Qing accepted the edict while secretly intending to make the Crown Prince pay.

• Lin Qing learned that completing the mortal cultivation arts had granted him the Innate Profound Embryo, which continuously strengthened his body.
• Lin Qing’s qi and blood surged above Wildgoose City, drawing attention from across the city and shocking Su Lan, Chu Lingxi, and the others.
• An Eastern Palace envoy arrived at the Demon Ember Guild with the Crown Prince’s edict summoning Lin Qing to the palace.
• The envoy addressed Lin Qing as Xie Chen, but Lin Qing’s threatening composure made him read the edict without forcing Lin Qing to kneel.
• Lin Qing accepted the summons because he feared the Crown Prince would target the people close to him, then packed his belongings and left for the Imperial City.
• As the royal procession departed, Lin Qing resolved to make the Crown Prince understand the price of threatening him.

Seventh Prince Xiao Jingming learned that Lin Qing had reached the capital and moved to recruit him, while Lin Qing sought martial arts manuals and intelligence on the princes. After accepting Xiao Jingming’s invitation, Lin Qing recognized that the seemingly unambitious prince was concealing his political ambitions.

• Xiao Jingming ordered a hidden guard to approach Lin Qing with an invitation, reasoning that the Crown Prince’s coercive recruitment had created an opening.
• Lin Qing secretly traveled to Skyvault Pavilion, bought two Earth Rank martial arts manuals, and requested confidential dossiers on the Summer Kingdom’s princes.
• The Crown Prince, angered by the eunuch’s report of Lin Qing’s defiance, ordered a banquet at Misty Rain Tower in three days and threatened to have Elder Mo kill Lin Qing if he refused to submit.
• Lin Qing returned to Clear Radiance Post Station and read the dossiers, while Xiao Jingming’s hidden guard arrived with an invitation to meet the Seventh Prince.
• Lin Qing saw through Xiao Jingming’s reputation for indifference to power and accepted the invitation.

Lin Qing met with the Seventh Prince and secured his promise to handle the aftermath if Lin Qing killed the Crown Prince, then attended a banquet where the Crown Prince publicly offered him a humiliating position as a personal attendant. The chapter ended with Lin Qing facing the Crown Prince’s insult before the assembled nobles.

• Lin Qing met the Seventh Prince at the Misty Rain Tower and asked whether he could handle the aftermath of Lin Qing killing the Crown Prince.
• The Seventh Prince agreed, and the two arranged protection for Lin Qing’s acquaintances and discussed their plans against the Crown Prince.
• Two days later, Lin Qing attended the Crown Prince’s banquet and was seated at the lowest table, where he calmly ordered mapo tofu.
• The Crown Prince arrived with a powerful elderly expert, then addressed the guests and praised Lin Qing’s talent.
• The Crown Prince offered Lin Qing a place as his personal attendant, ordering him to grind ink and pour wine.

At the Misty Rain Tower, Lin Qing rejected the Crown Prince’s attempt to humiliate him and killed Elder Mo with one punch. He then pursued the fleeing Crown Prince and crushed his bones in the Imperial City, leaving him barely alive as he sat and watched.

• The Crown Prince ordered Elder Mo to break Lin Qing’s bones after Lin Qing calmly approached him.
• Lin Qing defeated Elder Mo with one punch, destroying his arm and leaving him mortally wounded.
• The Crown Prince fled through a window, but Lin Qing struck him down on a street in the Imperial City.
• Lin Qing ignored the Crown Prince’s threats and smashed his fingers, limbs, ribs, spine, and skull with a broken bench leg.
• Lin Qing sat before the barely breathing Crown Prince and silently watched him near death.

Lin Qing killed Crown Prince Xiao Jingyuan in the Imperial City and overwhelmed Emperor Xiao Xuanyue and four royal elders, who let him leave unharmed. After Lin Qing departed the Summer Kingdom, the updated martial rankings named him first on both the Hidden Dragon Ranking and Heaven Ranking, while he traveled into the Ten-Thousand Mountains.

• Emperor Xiao Xuanyue arrived with four Peak Fourth Tier elders and found Xiao Jingyuan dying before Lin Qing.
• Xiao Xuanyue and the elders unleashed their Qi and Blood Realm energy, but Lin Qing's scarlet aura shattered their combined attack, and Xiao Jingyuan died.
• Lin Qing left the Imperial City in a carriage arranged by the Seventh Prince, while Xiao Xuanyue did not dare stop him.
• The Summer Kingdom's court and people remained silent about Xiao Jingyuan's death.
• The updated Hidden Dragon Ranking and Heaven Ranking both placed Lin Qing first, making the sixteen-year-old youth number one on both rankings.
• Lin Qing left the Summer Kingdom and entered the Ten-Thousand Mountains.

After three months in the Ten-Thousand Mountains, Lin Qing encountered a Fifth-Tier giant lizard and used his Blood Qi Return to Origin state to evade its poisonous attacks. He escaped the beast’s pursuit, leaving it behind in the forest.

• Lin Qing sensed a bloodthirsty Baleful Intent and confronted a five-zhang purple-black giant lizard.
• Lin Qing entered Blood Qi Return to Origin and dodged the lizard’s poisonous water spheres.
• Lin Qing realized the Fifth-Tier beast used Divine Sense to track his true body through his Phantom Dustless Step afterimages.
• Lin Qing retreated under the lizard’s barrage, then turned and fled through the forest.
• The giant lizard pursued Lin Qing for several li but gave up when it could not catch him.

After more than five months in the Ten-Thousand Mountains, Lin Qing completed both Visualization Arts, awakened Divine Sense, and silently broke through to the Fifth Tier, though he lacked a proper cultivation method to progress further. As he relaxed by a moonlit pool, a startled cry came from the forest across the river.

• Lin Qing reviewed his cultivation after the Body-Tempering Marrow stopped affecting his body.
• Lin Qing completed the Solar and Lunar Visualization Arts, awakened Divine Sense, and broke through to the Meridian-Opening Realm.
• Lin Qing tested his new Divine Sense and perceived the surrounding landscape and spiritual energy.
• Lin Qing reflected that he could not advance further without a proper Fifth Tier cultivation method and remained cautious of people in the mountains.
• A soft, shy cry of alarm came from the forest across the river as Lin Qing rested by the pool.

After five months alone in the Ten-Thousand Mountains, Lin Qing met Yun Nian and her Sunset Glow Valley disciples and accepted their offer to travel with them and join their sect. He left the mountains for Azure Province, beginning a new life in the outside world.

• Lin Qing and Yun Nian unexpectedly met at a mountain pool, and her fellow disciples rushed in and mistook him for a threat.
• Yun Nian explained the misunderstanding, introduced herself, and invited Lin Qing to leave the mountains with her group.
• At the camp, Yun Nian offered Lin Qing a place in Sunset Glow Valley, and he agreed to join the sect.
• The next morning, Lin Qing traveled with the disciples out of the Ten-Thousand Mountains and reached the open lands of Azure Province.

Yun Nian brought Lin Qing to Sunset Glow Valley and introduced him to Valley Master Shen Yurong, who explained the upcoming Great Qi Dynasty Heavenly Prodigy Tournament. Lin Qing agreed to join the sect and represent it in the tournament, and Shen Yurong granted him true disciple status.

• Yun Nian returned to Sunset Glow Valley with Lin Qing and led him to meet Shen Yurong.
• Shen Yurong examined Lin Qing and asked whether Yun Nian had told him about the Heavenly Prodigy Tournament.
• Yun Nian explained that the tournament would select five martial artists to represent Great Qi at the Cloudrise Immortal Sect entrance examination.
• Lin Qing agreed to join Sunset Glow Valley and compete in the tournament on its behalf.
• Shen Yurong ordered Yun Nian to complete Lin Qing's entry procedures and arrange a true disciple identity token for him.

Lin Qing studied the Azure Orchid Continent’s cultivation system and practiced martial arts in his Sunset Glow Valley courtyard. When Yuan Heng confronted him over Senior Sister Yun Nian, Lin Qing beat him down and turned his threat into a death sentence.

• Lin Qing reviewed the continent’s geography and learned that cultivation progressed from the Mortal Realm into the Spirit Realm, with five safe Meridian-Opening Methods.
• Lin Qing used the Scripture Repository’s martial arts manuals to raise his Body Control rating to Earth-Tier High Grade.
• Yuan Heng arrived at Lin Qing’s courtyard and warned him to stay away from Senior Sister Yun Nian.
• Lin Qing called Yuan Heng an idiot and slammed his face into the ground when Yuan Heng tried to seize him.
• Yuan Heng threatened revenge, and Lin Qing said he had earned the qualification to die by his hand.

Lin Qing killed Yuan Heng after defeating him and hearing his threats, then went with Yun Nian to Sunset Glow Hall to face the sect’s judgment. Shen Yurong ruled that Lin Qing had acted in self-defense, while Yuan Kun’s unexpected lack of objection helped settle the matter and turned the elders’ attention to Lin Qing’s potential.

• Lin Qing ignored the disciples’ pleas and killed Yuan Heng with a stomp despite Yun Nian’s attempt to stop him.
• Yun Nian hurried Lin Qing to Sunset Glow Hall, where Jing Rong testified that Yuan Heng had provoked and attacked first, then threatened retaliation.
• Elder Yuan Kun said he would leave the decision to Shen Yurong and had no objection to Lin Qing’s punishment, surprising everyone in the hall.
• Shen Yurong ruled that Yuan Heng had brought about his own death and that Lin Qing was not at fault.
• After the disciples left, Yuan Kun praised Lin Qing’s strength and potential, and the elders began considering him a major prospect for the Heavenly Prodigy Tournament.

After a month of secluded cultivation, Lin Qing left Sunset Glow Valley with Yun Nian and three other disciples to compete in the Heavenly Prodigy Tournament. As Shen Yurong flew the group toward Azure Province City, Elder Yuan Kun explained the tournament format and warned them about powerful rivals.

• Lin Qing mastered every Earth Rank cultivation method in Sunset Glow Valley's Book-Collection Tower, and his Divine Sense expanded to a radius of fifty zhang.
• Yun Nian told Lin Qing that the tournament team needed to leave early to travel to Azure Province City and then the Great Qi capital.
• Lin Qing joined Yun Nian, Jing Rong, Yun Chong, and Xing Mian at the mountain gate, where Shen Yurong arrived with Elder Yuan Kun and another elder.
• Shen Yurong enlarged her spirit treasure flying sword, and the group departed Sunset Glow Valley amid the disciples' cheers.
• Elder Yuan Kun explained that the tournament began with a ring-defense round for five hundred competitors, followed by individual elimination among the top twenty.
• Elder Yuan Kun warned the disciples to avoid risking defeat against prodigies from Great Qi's six top-tier powers as they traveled toward Azure Province City.

Lin Qing visited the Harmony Prosperity Trading Association with his Sunset Glow Valley companions and bought cultivation methods, spells, and a storage pouch. After returning to Sunset Glow Estate, he began studying the dangers and history of opening meridians.

• Shen Yurong arrived at Sunset Glow Estate in Azure Province City and left Yuan Kun to arrange the disciples’ stay.
• Yuan Kun gave the five young disciples fifty Spirit Stones each and told Lin Qing to watch over the others as they explored the city.
• Lin Qing led the group to the Harmony Prosperity Trading Association, where his cold glance silenced taunts from Fierce Tiger Hall disciples.
• Lin Qing sold Mystic Stone Condensate and bought five Five-Element Meridian-Opening Methods, Essentials of Meridian Opening, five basic spells, and a storage pouch.
• After returning to Sunset Glow Estate, Lin Qing settled into his courtyard and began reading Essentials of Meridian Opening.

Lin Qing used his knowledge of Five-Element Generation and Restraint to open all five elemental meridians, overcoming the continent’s cultivation limit. He completed a circulating Five-Element spiritual-energy cycle in his courtyard, achieving an unprecedented feat.

• Lin Qing studied the Essentials of Meridian Opening and realized that the fixed rules for opening meridians followed Five-Element Generation and Restraint.
• Lin Qing decided to open all five meridians and memorized the methods for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
• Lin Qing opened the water meridian, then the wood meridian, using their generating relationship.
• Lin Qing dispersed the spiritual energy in each earlier meridian and endured intense pain as he opened the fire, earth, and metal meridians in sequence.
• Lin Qing completed all five meridians, and the five attributes circulated together in a flawless spiritual-energy cycle.

Lin Qing discovered that his five meridians had formed the beginnings of a Spirit Sea, placing him in an unusual early Spirit-Sea Realm despite his weak Meridian-Opening foundation. He planned to cultivate all five Meridian-Opening Methods evenly before the Great Qi Dynasty Prodigy Tournament, then set out with the other participants for the capital.

• Lin Qing examined his body and found that the five elemental meridians converged on a spiritual-energy vortex in his dantian, the embryonic form of a Spirit Sea.
• Lin Qing realized he could cultivate the fifth and sixth tiers in parallel if he obtained a Sixth-Tier cultivation art, but such arts were controlled by Great Qi’s six top powers.
• Lin Qing checked his system panel and decided to raise all five Meridian-Opening Methods at the same pace to keep the five elements balanced.
• Lin Qing planned to complete the Breath-Concealment Technique and cultivate around the clock before the tournament.
• Yuan Chong called Lin Qing to assemble, saying the participating forces would depart together for the Great Qi Capital, and Lin Qing went to the front courtyard.

Lin Qing and the other Azure Province contestants departed for the Great Qi Capital aboard a trading association vessel, where they joined a deck trading fair. Lin Qing helped Xing Mian buy a Heaven-Rank Whip Technique, securing the chance to borrow it and leaving the story with him poised to benefit from the purchase.

• Shen Yurong briefed the contestants on travel dangers and warned them not to strike first in conflicts with rival factions before leading them to the Harmony Prosperity Trading Association’s Flying Vessel.
• The Flying Vessel departed for the Great Qi Capital, and Lin Qing later agreed to accompany Yun Nian and the others to a trading fair on deck.
• Lin Qing found he could not identify obscure treasures, but a seller named Wu Changlin drew a crowd by offering a Heaven-Rank Whip Technique for bidding.
• Xing Mian recognized the whip technique as suited to her, but lacked the Spirit Stones to meet its starting bid.
• Lin Qing and the other disciples lent Xing Mian Spirit Stones, allowing her to win the technique for one hundred and eighty Spirit Stones after which Lin Qing asked to borrow it.

Lin Qing and Sunset Glow Valley became entangled in a high-stakes wager after Pinecloud Abbey challenged them over the Heavenly Prodigy Tournament, with Fierce Tiger Hall joining against them. Lin Qing entered seclusion aboard the Flying Vessel as it continued toward the Great Qi Capital.

• Lin Qing joined Shen Yurong and her companions as Daoist Gui Shan confronted Sunset Glow Valley over the Flying Vessel's room assignments.
• Daoist Gui Shan challenged Shen Yurong to wager their core markets on which force's disciple would rank higher in the Heavenly Prodigy Tournament, and Shen Yurong accepted after Lin Qing nodded.
• Hu Wanshan of Fierce Tiger Hall joined the wager on Pinecloud Abbey's side, putting up his own hall's core market, and Shen Yurong accepted both wagers.
• Hu Wanshan told Fierce Tiger Hall's disciples that Pinecloud Abbey was backed by Autumn Mountain Sect and planned to claim Sunset Glow Valley's industries after its defeat.
• Lin Qing returned the Heaven-Rank Whip Technique to Xing Mian, instructed Yuan Chong and the others not to disturb him, and began seclusion aboard the Flying Vessel.

Lin Qing completed the Five-Element Meridian-Opening Method before a Sixth-Tier black eagle attacked the Flying Vessel, forcing the disciples to flee into a forest. There, a Fifth-Tier Peak assassin from the Darknight Demon Court ambushed Lin Qing and his companions, and Lin Qing drew the assassin away with a feigned retreat and a Divine Sense distraction.

• Lin Qing perfected five Meridian-Opening Methods, which merged into the Five-Element Meridian-Opening Method.
• Elder Yuan Kun told the disciples that a Sixth-Tier Monster Beast was attacking and ordered them to scatter after the Flying Vessel landed.
• The disciples saw a black eagle battling more than twenty elders, then fled into the forest as the vessel touched down.
• Lin Qing led Yun Nian and the others through the woods, where his Divine Sense detected a black-clad outer disciple of the Darknight Demon Court approaching.
• The assassin attacked Lin Qing with a wind blade, and Lin Qing urged his companions to split up before dodging and sending a Divine Sense spike to lure the man after him.

Lin Qing killed the black-clad Fifth-Tier cultivator who had pursued him, then returned to the survivors at the wrecked Flying Vessel. The elders discovered the attack had been a planned ambush, and the battered vessel set off for the Great Qi Capital with the dead aboard.

• Lin Qing lured the black-clad cultivator away from Yun Nian and the others, then killed him at close range and took his Storage Ring.
• Lin Qing cleared away traces of the fight and saw reinforcements arriving in the sky before heading back toward the Flying Vessel.
• A black-clad man in the Heavenly Harmony Dynasty learned that the mission had failed and crushed the cracked jade plate.
• Lin Qing reunited with Yun Nian, Yuan Chong, and the other survivors, then returned with them to the forced-landing site.
• The elders recovered the dead and concluded that humans had planned the ambush, using a Sixth-Tier eagle-type demonic beast to distract them.
• The cultivators repaired the Flying Vessel enough to fly, loaded the dead, and departed for the Great Qi Capital.

Shen Yurong brought the Sunset Glow Valley disciples safely into the Great Qi Capital, where they settled in while the King of Qi learned that the Darknight Demon Court had attacked three Flying Vessels. Lin Qing opened the dead attacker’s Storage Ring and learned the Beast Communication Technique before preparing to explore the capital with Yuan Chong and the others, three days before the Heavenly Prodigy Tournament.

• Shen Yurong thanked Senior Sun for rescuing and escorting the Sunset Glow Valley disciples, and he left to investigate the Flying Vessel attack.
• Shen Yurong led the disciples to the sect’s secluded courtyard in the capital, where they rested for several days.
• An elder told the King of Qi that three Flying Vessels had been attacked and more than fifty disciples killed, and the King ordered the matter reported after learning the Darknight Demon Court was responsible.
• Lin Qing mastered his recorded techniques, developed minor spells, and kept his growing divine sense concealed in the capital.
• Lin Qing opened the dead attacker’s Storage Ring, found more than three thousand two hundred Spirit Stones and a mid-tier Beast Communication Technique, and recorded the spell in his system.
• With three days left before the Heavenly Prodigy Tournament, Lin Qing, Yuan Chong, and three others arranged to tour the capital.