Recaps

Su Bai explained the sect’s missions to his disciples, then recruited at Cloudwater City’s gates and discovered that applicants were spies or too frightened of the Lingxiao Sect to join. The chapter left the Heavenly Dao Sect facing isolation until it could overcome the Lingxiao Sect’s intimidating reputation.

• Zhuge Feng, Xiao Yan, Xiao Lingxi, and Ye Qingyao chose missions, and Xiao Lingxi comforted Ye Qingyao by calling her a little sister and the sect their household.
• Su Bai went to Cloudwater City’s gates to recruit disciples, rejected a bribe, and declared that even those with a Mortal Body could achieve great things in the Heavenly Dao Sect.
• Su Bai’s loyalty test rejected Ma Xiaohu and nine other applicants, and he learned that Ma Xiaohu was a Tiger Might Sect spy sent to investigate the sect.
• Passersby said the Lingxiao Sect might retaliate for the destruction of its subordinate Jade Spirit Sect, and Su Bai realized fear of the Lingxiao Sect was keeping ordinary people from joining.

Su Bai encouraged Xiao Yan and the other disciples as they pushed themselves to grow stronger, then rewarded Xiao Yan for completing his training task. Three days later, Xiao Yan entered the First-Level Flesh Realm and Ye Qingyao successfully began Qi Refining at an extraordinary speed.

• Xiao Lingxi and Ye Qingyao finished cleaning and decorating the sect, while Zhuge Feng broke through to the Mid-Stage Qi Refinement.
• Xiao Yan described his intense training and his determination to protect his father and the Xiao Household and surpass Liu Yanran.
• Zhuge Feng, Xiao Lingxi, and Ye Qingyao declared that they would also give everything to change their fates, and Su Bai encouraged them.
• Xiao Yan completed ten li carrying a hundred jin and one hundred weighted push-ups, so Su Bai gave him Body-Tempering Spirit Liquid.
• Three days later, Xiao Yan broke through to the First-Level Flesh Realm, and Ye Qingyao entered Qi Refining after only eight and a half days.

Zhuge Feng, Xiao Lingxi, Xiao Yan, and Ye Qingyao prepared to undertake a bandit-clearing mission, choosing weapons from Su Bai’s collection. The disciples set out for the stronghold, while Su Bai secretly followed them.

• Su Bai agreed to let his four disciples accept the Fifth-Level Qi Refinement mission to destroy a bandit stronghold outside Cloudwater City.
• Su Bai offered the disciples spirit artifacts confiscated from the Jade Spirit Sect, and they chose a staff, a sword, and a dagger.
• Xiao Yan could not find a weapon heavy enough, so Su Bai revealed the Mystic Iron Ruler he had specially obtained for him.
• Su Bai warned the disciples not to let their guard down, and the four solemnly promised to heed him.
• The four disciples departed for the bandit stronghold, and Su Bai silently followed them.

Xiao Yan, Zhuge Feng, Xiao Lingxi, and a hidden fourth disciple ambushed the bandits of Black Wolf Stronghold and killed all but their leader. The bearded leader remained alive at Fifth-Level Qi Refinement as the battle reached its final confrontation.

• A band of more than a dozen bandits returned to Black Wolf Stronghold with stolen goods and an unconscious young woman.
• Xiao Yan blocked the stronghold entrance and revealed himself as a disciple of the Heavenly Dao Sect.
• Xiao Yan killed a First-Level Qi Refinement bandit with one blow of the Mystic Iron Ruler.
• Zhuge Feng and Xiao Lingxi joined Xiao Yan to fight the attacking bandits, while a fourth disciple emerged from underground and struck from behind.
• The four disciples killed every bandit except the bearded leader, who had Fifth-Level Qi Refinement.

Xiao Yan, Zhuge Feng, Xiao Lingxi, and Ye Qingyao confronted the Black Wolf Gang and learned that the White Wolf Sect protected it. The captive girl awakened with a terrifying Demonic Flame, and the disciples escaped with her before the White Wolf Sect arrived, leaving Su Bai to suspect she had an extraordinary constitution.

• The bearded leader identified the attackers as members of the Heavenly Dao Sect and summoned the White Wolf Sect while holding the unconscious girl hostage.
• He revealed that the White Wolf Sect protected the Black Wolf Gang in exchange for a share of its plunder, and its experts approached as the disciples hesitated over the hostage.
• Su Bai decided he might need to intervene, but the girl woke and unleashed Demonic Flame that burned the bearded leader to death after Zhuge Feng and Xiao Lingxi attacked him.
• The girl fainted again, and Ye Qingyao caught her as the White Wolf Sect's riders neared.
• Zhuge Feng led the disciples away with the girl, while Su Bai examined the Demonic Flame traces and suspected she had an extraordinary constitution.

Su Bai’s disciples returned from wiping out Black Wolf Stronghold, and he reprimanded them for failing to adapt their plan when they discovered hostages. After a strange flame erupted from the rescued girl, Su Bai identified her Heavenly Demon Physique and warned that the Nine Nether Demon Flame would kill her when she turned eighteen.

• Zhuge Feng reported that the disciples had destroyed Black Wolf Stronghold, but its leader had threatened them with a hostage and nearly escaped with help from the White Wolf Sect.
• Su Bai questioned Zhuge Feng, Xiao Yan, and Xiao Lingxi about their failure to rescue the hostage first, then deducted and restored ten mission points as a lesson and reward.
• The rescued girl awoke, and her Nine Nether Demon Flame erupted, scorching the surrounding grass, trees, and ground before Su Bai suppressed it with a talisman.
• Su Bai identified the flame as one of the ten Primordial Fires, and Xiao Lingxi explained the legendary power of Primordial Fires.
• Su Bai recognized the girl as possessing the rare Heavenly Demon Physique and warned that the Nine Nether Demon Flame would erupt when she turned eighteen and end her life.

Su Bai learned that Mu Lingxian had two years to reach Foundation Establishment and form a Demonic Dao Platform to survive, but her sect loyalty remained too low to join the Heavenly Dao Sect. Meanwhile, True Person Yuan led a massive Lingxiao Sect force to Cloudwater City and sent a mountain crashing toward the Heavenly Dao Sect.

• Su Bai explained that Mu Lingxian could survive only if she reached Foundation Establishment before turning eighteen, and he ordered his disciples not to tell her about her condition.
• Xiao Lingxi comforted Mu Lingxian and learned that bandits had destroyed her merchant caravan, leaving her as the sole survivor; Mu Lingxian's sect loyalty rose to twenty.
• People at Cloudwater City's Hundred Sects Assembly discussed how the Lingxiao Sect's withdrawal had prompted many other sects to stop recruiting there.
• True Person Yuan arrived with the Lingxiao Sect's war chariot and a vast army, declared that the sect would annihilate the Heavenly Dao Sect, and uprooted a mountain.
• True Person Yuan hurled the mountain toward the Heavenly Dao Sect, while the people of Cloudwater City feared the sect was finished.

Su Bai emerged to confront True Person Yuan and the Lingxiao Sect after he destroyed their mountain attack. With three Golden Core True Persons and thousands of disciples arrayed against the Heavenly Dao Sect, Su Bai warned them not to advance.

• True Person Yuan’s mountain attack stopped above the Heavenly Dao Sect, and beams from the sect shattered it.
• True Person Yuan recognized Su Bai as a Golden Core True Person and demanded that he come out and die.
• Su Bai appeared in midair and faced True Person Yuan, Linglang True Person, and Liu He, who each threatened him.
• Thousands of Lingxiao Sect disciples joined the three Golden Core True Persons, alarming the people of Cloudwater City.
• True Person Yuan demanded Su Bai surrender, but Su Bai dismissed him and warned that another step would turn heaven and earth upside down.

Su Bai lured the Lingxiao Sect forces into the ten-li range of the Heavenly Dao Sect, then revealed his overwhelming power by freezing them all in place. True Person Yuan realized Su Bai was not a Golden Core cultivator but a Nascent Soul.

• True Person Yuan charged Su Bai with his blood saber, and Su Bai pretended to be driven back behind the Heavenly Dao Sect's defensive barrier.
• True Person Yuan, Liu He, Linglang True Person, and several thousand Lingxiao Sect disciples attacked the barrier but failed to break it.
• Su Bai reassured Zhuge Feng, Xiao Yan, Xiao Lingxi, and the other disciples that he was playing cat and mouse until the last enemy entered his range.
• Su Bai withdrew the barrier and froze Linglang True Person, Liu He, True Person Yuan, and the surrounding forces with a snap of his fingers.
• True Person Yuan stared at Su Bai in horror and recognized that he had reached the Nascent Soul Stage.

Su Bai revealed himself as a Nascent Soul expert and destroyed Linglang True Person and the Lingxiao Sect forces, establishing the Heavenly Dao Sect’s power and earning it a flood of reputation and wealth. As crowds gathered to join the sect, Su Bai considered how to handle the influx of disciples.

• True Person Yuan identified Su Bai as a Nascent Soul expert, terrifying Linglang True Person and the other Lingxiao Sect members.
• Su Bai burned Linglang True Person to ashes after refusing his plea for mercy.
• Su Bai wiped out the remaining Lingxiao Sect forces, while the Heavenly Dao Sect’s reputation surged and Cloudwater City celebrated its rise.
• Su Bai harvested the enemies’ storage rings and pouches, then reviewed his greatly increased wealth in the main hall.
• Zhuge Feng told Su Bai that crowds had gathered at the mountain gate hoping to join the Heavenly Dao Sect, and Su Bai began considering how to accept them.

Su Bai explained that Heavenly Dao Sect’s Heaven-Ascending Ladder judged candidates by their loyalty and sincerity rather than talent or Spirit Roots. When a Rootless girl climbed to the ninetieth step and challenged a High-Grade Spirit Root’s contempt for Mortal Bodies, Ye Qingyao demonstrated a fireball and asked who said they could not cultivate immortality.

• Su Bai told Zhuge Feng that disciples could receive one free Immortal Art and that the Guardian Spirit would detect and punish anyone who shared its incantations.
• Su Bai created the Heaven-Ascending Ladder, assigning disciple generations according to the number of steps climbed, and Zhuge Feng went to arrange the assessment.
• The assessment drew a huge crowd, but nearly everyone failed to climb even ten steps, and frustrated candidates complained about the ladder.
• Ye Qingyao, the Rootless girl rejected at the Hundred Sects Assembly, climbed to the ninetieth step and told the crowd that sincere hearts could enter Heavenly Dao Sect.
• A High-Grade Spirit Root mocked Mortal Bodies, so Ye Qingyao summoned a fireball and challenged his claim that they could not cultivate immortality.

Ye Qingyao revealed that she had achieved Qi Refining despite her Mortal Body, inspiring the crowd, while Xiao Yan defeated a Second-Level Qi Refinement genius from the Cloud Heaven Sect. The crowd rushed to join the Heavenly Dao Sect, and Su Bai watched with satisfaction as the two disciples showed how far they had come.

• Ye Qingyao demonstrated the Fireball Technique and announced that her Mortal Body had not stopped her from seeking immortality, stunning the crowd with her rapid Qi Refining progress.
• A High-Grade Spirit Root genius revealed that he had reached Second-Level Qi Refinement and challenged Ye Qingyao, but Xiao Yan stepped forward to fight him instead.
• The genius identified himself as a Cloud Heaven Sect disciple and attacked Xiao Yan with the Cloudsky Art.
• Xiao Yan struck the genius with his Mystic Iron Ruler, sent him flying, and forced him to leave after threatening Xiao Yan with a confrontation at the Immortal Alliance Assembly.
• The crowd became eager to join the Heavenly Dao Sect after seeing Xiao Yan and Ye Qingyao succeed, while Su Bai approved of their progress from the mountaintop.

Mu Lingxian climbed to the fifty-ninth level of the Heavenly Ladder, then stopped as Su Bai discovered she was trapped in a spiritual world. He entered it and comforted her as she relived the demonic flames that had killed her adoptive parents, but a new scene began before she could respond to his encouragement.

• Mu Lingxian climbed steadily to the fifty-ninth level, inspiring the other candidates to press higher.
• Su Bai noticed that Mu Lingxian had entered a spiritual world and sent a spiritual incarnation inside.
• Su Bai found Mu Lingxian surrounded by demonic flames, and she warned him to stay away because she feared she would kill him.
• Su Bai endured Mu Lingxian’s flames unharmed, then listened as she described her adoptive parents’ deaths and her despair.
• Su Bai soothed Mu Lingxian and asked whether she wanted to control her flames, encouraging her to believe she could.
• The flames vanished, the spiritual world turned bitterly cold, and Su Bai saw a child version of Mu Lingxian curled outside a family’s door.

Su Bai guided Mu Lingxian through memories of her childhood, learning how the Demonic Flame isolated her and destroyed her home, and offered to teach her to control it in the Heavenly Dao Sect. Mu Lingxian passed the trial, resolved to become an immortal capable of resurrecting her adoptive parents, and bowed to Su Bai as her master.

• A physician couple found the feverish Mu Lingxian abandoned outside their home, adopted her, and raised her as their daughter.
• As Mu Lingxian grew older, her Demonic Flame repeatedly lost control, frightening the people around her and forcing her into isolation.
• When Mu Lingxian was sixteen, a great fire destroyed her home and killed her adoptive parents.
• Su Bai calmed the flames in Mu Lingxian's memories and promised to teach her to control them if she joined the Heavenly Dao Sect.
• Mu Lingxian climbed to the eightieth step and asked whether powerful immortals could resurrect the dead.
• After Su Bai said immortality might offer a way to reverse life and death, Mu Lingxian climbed to the eighty-first step and bowed to him as her master.

Mu Lingxian chose the Heavenly Demon Transformation at the Immortal Arts Pavilion and received guidance on pursuing immortality. After the day's assessment ended, Li Chang Kong, an elder of the Immortal Alliance, arrived with Yan'er to meet Su Bai, while Yan'er began climbing the Heaven-Ascending Ladder.

• Mu Lingxian reached the ninetieth level of the Heavenly Ladder and became a second-generation disciple, then went with Xiao Lingxi and Ye Qingyao to the Immortal Arts Pavilion.
• The Guardian Spirit gave Mu Lingxian the Qi Refining Chapter of the Heavenly Demon Transformation to help suppress the Nine Nether Demon Flame.
• The Guardian Spirit told Mu Lingxian that becoming immortal depended on the person rather than the technique, and she memorized the chapter.
• The day's assessment ended without anyone besides Mu Lingxian reaching the sixtieth level, though the other climbers resolved to keep trying.
• Li Chang Kong arrived at the Heavenly Dao Sect with Yan'er, identified himself as an elder of the Immortal Alliance, and sent her to climb the ladder.
• Su Bai appeared before Li Chang Kong, and Yan'er reached the ladder's tenth level.

Su Bai rejected an invitation from an Immortal Alliance elder, refusing to let the Heavenly Dao Sect pay a share of its income for the Alliance’s protection and benefits. The elder and Yan'er departed with the sect’s future still uncertain, while Su Bai left the Heavenly Dao Sect’s gates open to Yan'er.

• Yan'er failed to climb beyond the tenth step of the Heavenly Dao Sect’s entrance examination, and Su Bai explained that the test measured affinity rather than talent.
• Su Bai told Yan'er and her grandfather that the sect welcomed people of upright character and affinity regardless of Spirit Root, age, or wealth.
• The old man invited the Heavenly Dao Sect to join the Immortal Alliance and described its trading channels, protection, and annual fees.
• Su Bai questioned the fees, including the forty percent of annual income required from Nascent Soul-level factions, and asked what would happen if he refused.
• The old man warned that powerful factions might eventually use the sect’s independence as an excuse to attack it, but Su Bai firmly refused to join the Immortal Alliance.
• Yan'er praised Su Bai and admitted she disliked the Alliance’s atmosphere, and Su Bai told her she would always be welcome at the Heavenly Dao Sect.

Su Bai welcomed Li Shiyan into the Heavenly Dao Sect after the Immortal Alliance elder warned that others might come to recruit the sect. The next morning, Su Bai discovered his disciples had advanced in cultivation and approved Zhuge Feng’s leave, learning that Zhuge Feng planned to avenge his parents.

• Su Bai invited the Immortal Alliance elder and Li Shiyan to join the Heavenly Dao Sect, and the elder warned him that the alliance might soon send other representatives.
• The elder told Li Shiyan about humanity’s early cultivation history and the founding of his long-dissolved sect.
• Su Bai saw that Zhuge Feng, Xiao Lingxi, and Mu Lingxian had all advanced in cultivation overnight.
• Zhuge Feng presented Su Bai with an eight-page, ten-thousand-word leave request and explained that Xiao Yan and Xiao Lingxi would cover his duties.
• Su Bai approved Zhuge Feng’s leave and told him to add simple leave rules to the sect regulations.
• Zhuge Feng left the mountain, determined to avenge his parents.

Xiao Yan reported his progress to Su Bai and resolved to defeat Liu Yanran, while Zhuge Feng prepared to avenge his parents by confronting the Ouyang Household. At Old Master Ouyang’s birthday banquet, Zhuge Feng burst into the estate bearing a mysterious gift.

• Xiao Yan told Su Bai that he had grown stronger and vowed to defeat Liu Yanran, then returned to training.
• Su Bai watched his disciples practice and was pleased with their diligence.
• Zhuge Feng mourned his parents at their graves and swore to punish the Ouyang Household for their deaths.
• At Old Master Ouyang’s sixtieth-birthday banquet, Ouyang ordered a servant killed for breaking a cup.
• Zhuge Feng sent two guards flying through the gates and announced that he had come bearing gifts.

Zhuge Feng attacked the Ouyang Estate during Ouyang Shuai’s birthday celebration to avenge his parents, whom Ouyang Shuai had ordered killed a year earlier. After revealing an iron coffin and giving the guests a chance to leave, Zhuge Feng faced a crowd that Ouyang Shuai had persuaded to join forces against him.

• Zhuge Feng struck down Ouyang Shuai’s four guards and flung Ouyang Shuai aside, revealing that he was a Fifth-Level Qi Refinement cultivator.
• Zhuge Feng told Ouyang Shuai that his parents had been killed on Ouyang Shuai’s orders after his mother broke a teacup at the previous year’s birthday banquet.
• Zhuge Feng unveiled an iron coffin, threatened to bury anyone who remained, and stopped a merchant who had mocked his parents from leaving.
• Ouyang Shuai urged the guests to kill Zhuge Feng and divide the cultivation opportunity and Immortal Arts they believed he possessed.
• The guests agreed to unite against Zhuge Feng, who warned that they were seeking death.

Zhuge Feng attacked the Ouyang Estate to avenge his parents, while Ouyang Shuai stayed out of the fight and hoped to profit from the slaughter. At Heavenly Dao Sect, Su Bai noticed Zhuge Feng had exchanged for an Explosive Qi Pill and prepared an Instant Teleportation Talisman as Zhuge Feng overwhelmed nearly a hundred attackers.

• Zhuge Feng fought through the crowd at the Ouyang Estate, declaring that he would avenge his parents himself.
• Ouyang Shuai hid at the back and planned to seize the survivors’ assets regardless of who won.
• At Heavenly Dao Sect, crowds gathered for the assessment, and Xiao Yan announced that it had begun.
• Su Bai saw that Zhuge Feng had exchanged for an Explosive Qi Pill and considered using an Instant Teleportation Talisman to reach him.
• Zhuge Feng wielded his iron staff to defeat nearly a hundred attackers and leave the Ouyang Estate in ruins.

Zhuge Feng confronted Ouyang Shuai over his parents’ murder, but Ouyang Shuai’s ally Elder Huang, a Ninth-Level Qi Refining elder of the Yellow Sand Sect, overwhelmed him. After Elder Huang tried to seize Zhuge Feng’s spiritual artifact, Zhuge Feng used an Explosive Qi Pill to raise his strength to Seventh-Level Qi Refining, and Elder Huang demanded a higher payment from Ouyang Shuai.

• Zhuge Feng attacked Ouyang Shuai, but a flying sword from Ouyang Estate blocked his strike and forced him back.
• Ouyang Shuai revealed Elder Huang and his son, while Elder Huang agreed to help in exchange for the immortal art and one thousand taels of gold.
• Elder Huang revealed his Ninth-Level Qi Refining strength and struck Zhuge Feng through a courtyard wall, leaving him badly injured.
• Elder Huang noticed Zhuge Feng’s spiritual artifact and tried to seize it, but Zhuge Feng struck him back after taking an Explosive Qi Pill.
• Elder Huang recognized Zhuge Feng’s boosted Seventh-Level Qi Refining aura and demanded five thousand taels of gold from Ouyang Shuai.

Zhuge Feng defeated Elder Huang by burning his Spirit Root, a sacrifice that set his own life to expire, and turned to take revenge on Ouyang Shuai. The chapter ended as Zhuge Feng brought his iron staff down on Ouyang Shuai.

• Ouyang Shuai promised Elder Huang five thousand taels of gold to kill Zhuge Feng, and Elder Huang attacked with his Fire Dragon Palm.
• Zhuge Feng shattered the fire dragon, but Elder Huang used his flying sword and close-range attacks to overpower him.
• Zhuge Feng recalled how Ouyang Shuai had ordered his parents beaten to death and resolved to survive until he could destroy the Ouyang Household.
• Zhuge Feng burned his Spirit Root, shattered Elder Huang's flying sword, and killed him, though Elder Huang sent a signal summoning Yellow Sand Sect experts.
• Ouyang Shuai shoved his son in front of Zhuge Feng's attack, killing him, then tried to flee before Zhuge Feng pinned his ankle with a sword fragment.
• Zhuge Feng told Ouyang Shuai that only his death mattered and swung his iron staff down at him.

Zhuge Feng avenged his parents by killing Ouyang Shuai, but the Yellow Sand Sect arrived to seize his Immortal Arts as his life neared its end. Su Bai saved him from self-destruction and killed the Yellow Sand Sect members who threatened him.

• Zhuge Feng beat Ouyang Shuai to death, avenging his parents and the people of Yellow Earth Town.
• The Yellow Sand Sect deputy sect master and his disciples arrived at Ouyang Estate and demanded that Zhuge Feng hand over his Immortal Arts.
• Zhuge Feng refused, prepared to self-destruct, and said he had no regrets except that he would not return to the Heavenly Dao Sect.
• Su Bai teleported to Zhuge Feng, stopped his spiritual power from erupting, and declared that the Heavenly Dao Sect would protect its disciple.
• Su Bai unleashed a Golden Core magical treasure and killed the deputy sect master and the Yellow Sand Sect disciples.

Su Bai rescued Zhuge Feng from sacrificing his life for revenge and used a miraculous pill to begin restoring him. As Zhuge Feng underwent rebirth, Xiao Lingxi’s family arrived at the Heavenly Dao Sect, alarming her.

• Su Bai stopped Zhuge Feng’s life-burning and teleported him back to the Heavenly Dao Sect, spending points to bring him along.
• Xiao Lingxi gave Zhuge Feng pills, but he refused them and apologized to Su Bai, believing he was near death.
• Zhuge Feng’s loyalty reached 100, earning him a Nine-Turn Creation Immortal Pill and Su Bai a Future Pill.
• Su Bai gave Zhuge Feng the immortal pill, and a multicolored Creation Lotus enveloped him as it began remaking his body.
• The head of the Xiao Household arrived at the sect, and Xiao Lingxi realized her family had found her.

Xiao Tianlong came to the Heavenly Dao Sect to take Xiao Lingxi back and marry her off to Zhao Baoxiao, but she refused and exposed how he had controlled her life. Su Bai defended her against her father, and Xiao Tianlong threatened to disown her, leaving Xiao Lingxi feeling that all hope of his affection had vanished.

• Xiao Tianlong asked Su Bai whether Xiao Lingxi was cultivating at the Heavenly Dao Sect, and Xiao Lingxi affirmed that she had joined it.
• Xiao Tianlong tried to seize Xiao Lingxi with spiritual power, but Su Bai shattered his attack and warned him not to act arrogantly in the sect.
• Xiao Lingxi confronted Xiao Tianlong about her harsh upbringing and his plan to make her Zhao Baoxiao’s concubine for the Xiao Household’s benefit.
• Xiao Tianlong insisted that the arrangement was for Xiao Lingxi’s own good and questioned what the Heavenly Dao Sect could offer her.
• Su Bai challenged Xiao Tianlong’s implication that the Heavenly Dao Sect was inferior to the Lingxiao Sect, and Xiao Tianlong apologized rather than provoke him.
• Xiao Tianlong threatened to sever their father-daughter bond if Xiao Lingxi refused to return, and she felt her remaining hope for his affection disappear.