Recaps

Li Yao learned about Yu Xuerou’s ties to the Shangguan Family and Ye Xiao’s mysterious strength, then used the system to acquire a Qi-Explosion Pill and break through to Ninth Rank Martial Master. After the semifinals, the three finalists drew lots, and Ye Xiao advanced by default.

• Li Wenbin told Li Yao that Yu Xuerou was closely connected to the Shangguan Family and described Ye Xiao’s unknown origins and powerful cultivation technique.
• Li Yao used the system to exchange 1,000 Background Value for a Qi-Explosion Pill, then spent his remaining 10,000 Background Value to reach Ninth Rank Martial Master.
• Ye Xiao easily defeated Zhao Tiezhu, while Yu Xuerou also won and Li Yao advanced by default, leaving all three in the tournament’s top three.
• As the referee announced the Finals rules, Li Yao broke through during cultivation, drawing the crowd’s attention.
• Ye Xiao drew the lot that let him advance by default.

Li Yao defeated Yu Xuerou in the tournament semifinal and advanced to the finals. Yu Xuerou surrendered after her injuries left her unable to stand, and Li Yao received 5,000 Background Value.

• Li Yao confronted Yu Xuerou about her connection to Shangguan Yan before they began their match.
• Yu Xuerou attacked Li Yao with her Sky-Piercing Palm, but his Heaven-Breaking Fist met it head-on.
• Yu Xuerou launched her Wind-Thunder Palm, and Li Yao countered with a stronger Heaven-Breaking Fist that left her badly injured.
• Li Yao taunted Yu Xuerou, who tried and failed to stand before surrendering.
• The system announced that Li Yao had advanced to the finals and awarded him 5,000 Background Value.

After defeating Yu Xuerou, Li Yao challenged Imperial Capital University's top-ranked Ye Xiao and used the Qi-Explosion Pill to land a powerful blow. The chapter ended with Li Yao on one knee and Ye Xiao still standing, blood at the corner of his mouth.

• Yu Xuerou conceded, and Shi Jian provisionally ranked Ye Xiao first, Li Yao second, and Yu Xuerou third.
• Li Yao challenged Ye Xiao, and Ye Xiao agreed to fight him.
• Li Yao attacked Ye Xiao with the Heaven-Breaking Fist, but Ye Xiao easily deflected his first strike and drove him back.
• Ye Xiao unleashed his strength and knocked Li Yao down, but Li Yao rose and waited for another opening.
• Li Yao used the Qi-Explosion Pill and struck Ye Xiao with a powered-up Heaven-Breaking Fist, drawing blood from him.
• Li Yao knelt, gasping for breath, and asked Ye Xiao what he thought of the move.

Li Yao faced Ye Xiao in the arena, where both revealed the power of their Heaven-Rank Cultivation Techniques. After Ye Xiao overwhelmed him with Myriad Forms Return to Origin, Li Yao learned from the system that the technique had a weak point, leaving him ready to risk everything on one strike.

• Ye Xiao revealed that he cultivated a Heaven-Rank Cultivation Technique, drawing greedy attention from people on the raised platform.
• Ye Xiao absorbed Spiritual Power and unleashed an aura more than twice as strong as before, while Li Yao used the Nine-Turn Profound Art and fought back with Heaven-Breaking Fist.
• Ye Xiao revealed that he had been suppressing his cultivation, then used Myriad Forms Return to Origin to strike Li Yao down.
• Li Yao asked the system about his chances, and it identified the second joint of Ye Xiao's left index finger as the technique's weak point.
• Li Yao resolved to attack Ye Xiao's weak point and risk everything to win.

Li Yao defeated Ye Xiao by striking the weakness in Myriad Forms Return to Origin, then stabilized Ye Xiao’s Spiritual Power and offered to be his friend. Shi Jian declared Li Yao the Superpower Competition champion, and Li Yao celebrated his reward and the chance to leave behind part of his former reputation.

• Li Yao struck the weak point in Ye Xiao’s Myriad Forms Return to Origin, causing Ye Xiao’s Spiritual Power to leak away.
• Ye Xiao conceded, and Shi Jian realized Li Yao had understood the technique well enough to target its weakness.
• Li Yao offered to repair Ye Xiao’s technique and channeled Spiritual Power into him to stabilize it; Ye Xiao accepted his help.
• The system awarded Li Yao 10,000 Background Value and 50,000 for completing the championship quest.
• Shi Jian announced Li Yao as the Superpower Competition champion, and the crowd cheered.

After Li Yao won the tournament, Wang Lei challenged Yu Xuerou for her third-place ranking. Wang Lei turned the fight around with a concealed attack, and Yu Xuerou conceded after being badly injured.

• Shi Jian announced the tournament rewards and led Li Yao, Ye Xiao, and Yu Xuerou away, but Li Yao began suffering from the Qi-Explosion Pill's backlash.
• Wang Lei invoked the challenge rule and challenged Yu Xuerou, who accepted.
• Li Yao began recovering and recognized Wang Lei's strength and advantages in defense and endurance.
• Yu Xuerou attacked Wang Lei with Frost Palm and Frost Storm, but Wang Lei secretly gathered power for Heaven-Shattering Stone Fist.
• Wang Lei struck Yu Xuerou with Heaven-Shattering Stone Fist and advanced to finish the fight, so Yu Xuerou conceded.

After winning the competition, Li Yao received an Earth-Rank technique and a Special Operations Bureau recommendation token, then gave the technique to Wang Lei. The system revealed it had copied techniques from Li Yao and awarded him Background Value, though Li Yao remained annoyed by its stinginess.

• Shi Jian awarded Li Yao, Ye Xiao, and Wang Lei prizes for placing first, second, and third, giving Li Yao Mountainous Body and a Special Operations Bureau recommendation token.
• Li Yao found Mountainous Body and Ye Xiao's Myriad Forms Return to Origin on his system panel and discovered the system had copied them without telling him.
• Li Yao gave Mountainous Body to Wang Lei, who accepted it and agreed to call Li Yao Boss.
• Ye Xiao declined Li Yao's invitation to eat, while Li Yao took Wang Lei out for a meal.
• Li Yao learned his current Background Value was 60,000, gained 12,000 points for the copied techniques, and heard that cumulative Background Value counted toward his goal.

After Li Yao’s tournament victory revealed strength comparable to a Martial Venerable, Lin Yun feared his original plan would fail and asked his father for another expert. He arranged to lure Li Yao to the Yang Family by falsely claiming it had gathered the Spirit Stones, intending to ambush and kill him.

• Lin Yun read a report about Li Yao’s victory and worried that one Martial Venerable would not be enough to defeat him, especially with Li Wenbin nearby.
• Yang Xiaoran urged Lin Yun to bring more people, and he decided to ask his father to send another expert.
• Lin Yun called his father, who agreed to send Lin Feng to join the first Martial Venerable.
• Lin Yun told Yang Xiaoran to spread word that the Yang Family had gathered enough Spirit Stones and invite Li Yao to collect his debt, planning to ambush him.

Yang Xiaoran and Lin Yun spent the night together, while Yang Mingyou realized his plan to offer her to Li Yao was ruined. After winning the Martial Arts Tournament, Li Yao prepared to attack the Yang Family the next day and reclaim what he believed they owed him.

• Yang Mingyou summoned Yang Xiaoran and, seeing she had been intimate with Lin Yun, abandoned his plan to have her submit to Li Yao if Li Yao lost.
• Yang Mingyou put his hopes in Lin Yun as Yang Xiaoran returned to bed, unaware of her father's concerns.
• Li Yao finished calls with his parents and Li Fuhai, then asked Li Wenbin whether preparations to confront the Yang Family were complete.
• Li Wenbin reported that one Martial King was at the Yang Family residence and two more were standing by to protect Li Yao.
• Li Yao decided to attack the Yang Family the next day, take back what Yang Xiaoran had received from him, and end the family's existence.

Yang Mingyou waited anxiously at the Yang Family residence as Lin Yun and Yang Xiaoran mocked Li Yao for supposedly coming alone. Li Yao headed there with Li Wenbin, confident that his three Martial Kings would overwhelm Lin Yun's two Martial Venerables.

• Yang Mingyou reflected on his late wife and worried about the consequences of his alliance with Lin Yun.
• Lin Yun and Yang Xiaoran dismissed Li Yao as a coward, while Yang Mingyou reconsidered his decision to trust Lin Yun.
• A bodyguard reported that Li Yao was approaching the Yang Family residence with only Li Wenbin, delighting Lin Yun and easing Yang Mingyou's fears.
• Li Yun told Li Wenbin that Lin Yun had summoned another Martial Venerable, then said his three Martial Kings would easily defeat Lin Yun's forces.
• Li Yao joked with Li Wenbin about Lin Yun's reaction when he revealed the three Martial Kings.

Li Yao arrived at the Yang Family estate to collect the debt, demanding the family surrender its assets if it could not pay in Spirit Stones. Lin Yun challenged him and summoned powerful allies, leaving two terrifying auras filling the main hall.

• Yang Mingyou waited anxiously outside the estate while armed bodyguards guarded the gate against Li Yao.
• Li Yao arrived with Li Wenbin, and Yang Mingyou ordered the bodyguards to holster their guns before welcoming him inside.
• Li Yao found Lin Yun and Yang Xiaoran together in the main hall and demanded the ledger of the Yang Family’s debt.
• Yang Mingyou admitted the family could not pay, so Li Yao demanded its assets and threatened to erase the Yang Family from the Imperial Capital.
• Lin Yun mocked Li Yao, claimed he would not leave the estate, and clapped his hands to summon help.
• Two terrifying auras engulfed the main hall.

Lin Yun’s ambush against Li Yao failed when Li Yao’s Martial King protectors arrived and subdued the room. Li Yao confronted Lin Yun and Yang Mingyou, then asked whether he should kill Yang Mingyou.

• Lin Yun slapped Li Yao and threatened to kill Li Wenbin while the two Martial Venerables held them down.
• Li Yao called in Uncle Fu and Uncle Ming, whose Martial King pressure freed him and Li Wenbin and forced everyone else to their knees.
• Li Yao revealed that his family had known about Lin Yun’s plot and explained that he had called the protectors back from the border.
• Li Yao taunted Lin Yun for his failed ambush, then confronted Yang Mingyou about betraying him.
• Yang Mingyou admitted he was wrong, and Li Yao asked whether he should kill him.

Li Yao rejected Yang Mingyou’s request for another day to repay the debt and ordered Lin Yun and the Lin Family elders crippled. Yang Mingyou took his own life after asking Li Yao to spare his daughter and instructing Yang Xiaoran to repay what the Yang Family owed.

• Lin Yun begged Li Yao for mercy, blamed Yang Xiaoran, and struck her before dragging her to apologize.
• Yang Mingyou offered ten thousand Spirit Stones in interest and asked Li Yao for another day, but Li Yao refused.
• Uncle Ming broke the Lin Family elders’ limbs and sealed their Dantians, while Li Wenbin crippled Lin Yun and sealed his Dantian.
• Yang Mingyou asked Li Yao to spare Yang Xiaoran and told her to repay the debt after his death.
• Yang Mingyou forced energy backward through his meridians and died as a framed photograph fell and shattered beside him.

After Yang Mingyou severed his meridians and died, Li Yao broke down with guilt but chose not to kill Yang Xiaoran. He then headed for the Lin Family with Lin Yun and two others in custody, while Li Shan stayed behind to watch the Yang Family.

• Yang Mingyou died after severing his meridians, and Yang Xiaoran cried over his body and swore revenge on Li Yao.
• Li Yao vomited and wept, blaming himself for Yang Mingyou's death until Li Wenbin helped him regain his composure.
• Li Yao ordered Uncle Fu to release Yang Xiaoran and decided to visit the Lin Family with Lin Yun and two others in custody.
• Uncle Fu warned Li Yao that Yang Xiaoran might seek revenge, but Li Yao refused to kill her unless she came after him.
• Li Shan met the group, heard what had happened, and agreed to watch the Yang Family while Li Yao continued toward the Lin Family.

Li Yao brought Lin Yun back to the Lin Family estate to confront Lin Yuntian over Lin Yun’s attempt to kill him. Lin Yuntian agreed to pay One Hundred Thousand Spirit Stones for his son, but Li Yao revealed two more captives and prepared to demand payment for them as well.

• Li Yao insisted that his group go straight to the Lin Family estate despite his distress over Yang Mingyou’s death.
• At the Lin Family gates, Lin Yun woke and threatened Li Yao, who ignored him and demanded to see the family head.
• Lin Yuntian greeted Li Yao and learned that Lin Yun had joined forces with the Yang Family to try to kill him.
• Li Yao demanded One Hundred Thousand Spirit Stones to release Lin Yun, and Lin Yuntian ordered a guard to fetch the First Elder and the payment.
• Li Yao stopped the guard and revealed two more captives, saying he had additional gifts to discuss with Lin Yuntian.

Li Yao brought the injured Lin Yun and two Lin Family elders to the Lin Family estate and demanded compensation, while Lin Yuntian’s father urged him to avoid a fight. Li Yuntian paid Li Yao three hundred thousand Spirit Stones, and Li Yao left with his companions.

• Li Yao presented Lin Yuntian with Lin Yun and two elders, all injured and with their cultivation sealed, provoking Lin Yuntian to summon his fighters.
• Li Fu and Li Ming countered the pressure from Lin Yuntian’s powerful subordinates, while Li Yao quietly prepared to flee if a fight began.
• Lin Chen secretly told Lin Yuntian to endure the insult, pay Li Yao, and wait until Li Fuhai was dead before striking at the Li Family.
• Li Yao demanded three hundred thousand Spirit Stones for Lin Yun and the two elders, and Lin Yuntian reluctantly agreed.
• Li Wenbin stored the Spirit Stones, and Li Fu carried Li Yao and his companions away as Lin Yuntian warned Li Yao against greed.

After confronting the Lin Family, Li Yao rewarded his allies and returned home to rest. Lin Chen reprimanded Lin Yuntian for acting against Li Yao before Li Fuhai died, then said the Li Family would be vulnerable once Li Fuhai’s worsening injuries killed him.

• Lin Yuntian ordered the unconscious elders and Lin Yun carried into the Lin Family hall after Li Yao and his group left.
• Li Yao gave Li Wenbin Spirit Stones for cultivation and the men who had helped, and gave Li Fu and Uncle Ming more for their service.
• Li Fu told Li Yao that the two Lin Family elders’ cultivation would be gone within a month, and Li Yao sent another twenty thousand Spirit Stones for Uncle Shan.
• Li Yao decided to return home instead of visiting the Yang Family, leaving Uncle Shan to handle matters there.
• Lin Chen removed the restraints from Lin Yun and the two elders, then scolded Lin Yuntian for provoking the Li Family while Li Fuhai was still alive.
• Lin Chen told Lin Yuntian that Li Fuhai’s injuries were worsening and ordered him to prepare the three injured men for work after they recovered.

After waking, Li Yao learned that Yang Xiaoran had returned the Yang Family’s debts and that she and Shangguan Yan had fallen out. He received a system reward and decided to consider joining the Special Operations Bureau, leaving that plan for after he rested.

• Li Yao woke late, ate breakfast, and heard from Li Wenbin that the border was unsettled and Uncle Fu, Uncle Ming, and Uncle Shan had returned there.
• Li Wenbin reported that Yang Xiaoran had returned 230,000 Spirit Stones and the borrowed treasures, and Li Yao ordered her watched while offering her a chance to live peacefully.
• Li Wenbin told Li Yao that Shangguan Yan had rejected Yu Xuerou after Yu Xuerou failed to cripple Li Yao at the Martial Arts Tournament.
• The system rewarded Li Yao with 50,000 Background Value, bringing his balance to 122,000, and he told Li Wenbin to warn Yang Xiaoran against causing trouble.
• Li Yao considered visiting the Special Operations Bureau, and the system issued him a mission to join it for a 20,000-point reward.
• Li Yao decided to sleep before pursuing the mission.

Li Yao arrived at the Special Operations Bureau and discovered that its shabby farmhouse entrance concealed a vast realm. After learning how the Bureau operated, he registered as a trainee administrator and received his badge and uniform, while his system rewarded him for joining.

• Li Yao reached the Bureau, where stone lions turned their heads and Bai Yu greeted him after emerging from a teleportation array.
• Bai Yu led Li Yao through the Bureau’s hidden realm and explained its duties, promotion requirements, and benefits.
• Li Yao filled out his registration form, received his trainee administrator badge and uniform, and learned that his assignment schedule began the next day.
• Bai Yu learned that Li Yao was a Ninth Rank Martial Master and said his strength placed him among the best interns.
• Li Yao’s system announced that he had completed the mission of joining the Bureau and awarded him 20,000 Background Value, raising his balance to 142,000.

Li Yao settled into the Special Operations Bureau trainee dorms, joined the bureau app and trainee group, and accepted a mission to investigate a suspected monster in the Imperial Capital’s western outskirts. He planned to return home and have Li Wenbin look for the monster’s traces.

• Bai Yu showed Li Yao how to connect to the Pocket World’s Wi-Fi, install the bureau app, and join the trainee administrator group.
• Li Yao introduced himself in the group as a Ninth Rank Martial Master and a third-year student at Imperial Capital University, prompting other trainees to recognize him from the university tournament.
• Bai Yu registered Li Yao for room 208, gave him the key, and left him to settle in.
• Li Yao browsed the mission board and accepted a trainee mission to find traces of a monster suspected of causing villagers to go missing in the western outskirts.
• Li Yao asked Bai Yu how to leave the Pocket World, learned to scan his ID badge at the access gate, and decided to go home and ask Li Wenbin to search for the monster.

Li Yao learned about the realms beyond Ninth Rank Martial Master and the talent needed to advance. Back in his room, he exchanged Background Value for a Basic Thunder-Type Superpower and a Marrow-Cleansing Pill, which he swallowed.

• Li Yao returned to Li Family Manor and told Li Wenbin about the Special Operations Bureau and its intern group chat.
• Li Wenbin explained the Martial Venerable Realm, how Spiritual Liquid was stored in the Dantian, and the talent needed to reach the Martial King Realm.
• Li Wenbin told Li Yao that his father had reached a hundred-zhang Spiritual Liquid radius when he became a Martial Venerable, surpassing Li Wenbin's grandfather.
• Li Yao used 25,000 Background Value to exchange for a Basic Thunder-Type Superpower, then learned that upgrading it would cost 250,000 Background Value.
• Li Yao exchanged 10,000 Background Value for a Marrow-Cleansing Pill and swallowed it.

After surviving the Marrow-Cleansing Pill, Li Yao followed a new system mission to Heyu Village in the western outskirts, where a suspected giant Snake Demon had driven the villagers indoors. The chapter ended with a young woman letting Li Yao and Li Wenbin into her home.

• Li Yao endured the Marrow-Cleansing Pill’s painful effects overnight, then discovered his meridians, Spiritual Power recovery, and physical capabilities had improved.
• Li Wenbin gave Li Yao photographs of giant scales and trails that pointed to a huge Snake Demon in the western outskirts.
• The system assigned Li Yao a check-in mission in the western outskirts and threatened a penalty if he refused.
• Li Yao and Li Wenbin traveled to Heyu Village, where the streets were deserted and every household was shut up.
• Li Yao hurried to a young woman’s door, and she let him and Li Wenbin inside before closing it in relief.

Li Yao and Li Wenbin learned that security officers had vanished after pursuing the Snake Demon into the mountain, and Li Yao used the system to detect demons nearby. Yan Ling recalled a centipede legend in her grandfather’s manuscript and went to find it.

• Yan Ling told Li Yao and Li Wenbin that the first security officers who chased the Snake Demon had died and that another group had not returned from the mountain.
• Yan Ling introduced herself and teased Li Yao while explaining why she had let the two strangers inside.
• Li Yao received the Demon Detection Function and used the system’s One-Time Exploration Function to detect a Deep-Sea Snake Demon and a Flying Centipede nearby.
• Li Yao asked Yan Ling about local legends involving centipedes, and she remembered a manuscript written by her grandfather.
• Yan Ling searched a storage room for the manuscript and announced that she had found it.

Li Yao learned that a Flying Centipede thought dead had returned to the mountain behind Heyu Village, and decided to investigate after revealing his ability to transform Spiritual Power. He accepted a system quest to kill the demon and headed out, despite warnings about the danger.

• Yan Ling gave Li Yao her grandfather's notebook, which recounted the Flying Centipede's history and its supposed death a century earlier.
• Li Yao told Li Wenbin that a Flying Centipede, probably in the Demon Venerable Realm, was in the mountain behind Heyu Village.
• Li Yao said he would contact the Special Operations Bureau and go investigate, but Li Wenbin tried to stop him and offered to go instead.
• Li Yao shaped Spiritual Power into a great saber, showing Li Wenbin that he could use Spiritual Power Transformation without having reached the Martial Venerable Realm.
• The system issued Li Yao a quest to kill the Flying Centipede, offering 20,000 Background Value, and Li Wenbin agreed to let him go while warning him to flee if necessary.
• Yan Ling asked where Li Yao was going, and he said he was going to slay the beast.

Li Yao followed the demon map into the hills behind Heyu Village, where he discovered the Flying Centipede had killed a public security officer. The Demon Venerable detected Li Yao and turned toward him, leaving him exposed to the monster.

• Li Yao learned the Flying Centipede was roughly three li away and hesitated over whether to confront a Demon Venerable.
• A wounded public security officer warned his captain that the Flying Centipede was hunting officers and urged the bureau not to send more people.
• The Flying Centipede taunted the officer and let him attack with Tiger Fist, then killed him with a single blow.
• Li Yao followed the sound of the strike and found the officer dead while the Flying Centipede fed on his body.
• The system identified the woman as the Demon Venerable Realm Flying Centipede and revealed that lightning and a spot below her navel were her weaknesses.
• The Flying Centipede noticed Li Yao hiding nearby and called him another Ninth Rank Martial Master who had come to die.