Recaps

Zhang Yuan accepted the East Sea Dragon Lord’s method for cultivating a mystic wonder and tried to comprehend it, but the text yielded no insight. Chu Qingyuan then arrived at night on the Chu Family’s orders to speak with him and report back to her father.

• The East Sea Dragon Lord gave Zhang Yuan a method and said he could guide him after three months, when others were less likely to watch him.
• Zhang Yuan suspected the Dragon Lord’s golden position involved stillness and considered whether it was the same position sought by Li Houjin and Wenren Qihan.
• Zhang Yuan gave Ao Xiu pastries, then repeatedly read the method without gaining any insight and wondered if the East Sea Dragon Lord had given him a fake.
• Chu Qingyuan visited Zhang Yuan at night and said her lineage had sent her to speak with him so she could report back to her father.

Chu Qingyuan questioned Zhang Yuan, learned that he was a young cultivator from the Bian Kingdom, and agreed to help make him a Guest Elder to conceal his presence. The next morning, she told her worried family that she had already visited Zhang Yuan and returned safely, with more information to share.

• Chu Qingyuan asked Zhang Yuan about his reason for staying, his origins, and whether he would harm the Chu Family, and Zhang Yuan agreed to become a Guest Elder.
• Zhang Yuan said he was from the Bian Kingdom, had not carried out massacres, and was old enough for the capping ceremony; Chu Qingyuan realized he was about twenty and suggested calling him Brother Zhang.
• Chu Qingyuan returned to her courtyard, wrote down their conversation, and went to report to Chu Dalong the next morning.
• Chu Dalong, Chu Zhankuo, and Chu Siniu worried about how to send Chu Qingyuan to Zhang Yuan, but she revealed that she had visited him the night before.
• Chu Qingyuan reassured her family that Zhang Yuan had done nothing to her and said she had learned something.

Chu Dalong and Chu Siniu decided that Chu Qingyuan should marry Zhang Yuan to bind the powerful young cultivator to the Chu Family. When Chu Qingyuan asked Zhang Yuan about the proposal, he dismissed it and told her to leave.

• Chu Qingyuan told Chu Dalong, Chu Zhankuo, and Chu Siniu that Zhang Yuan came from the Bian Kingdom, had agreed to serve as a Guest Elder, and was only twenty.
• Chu Dalong ordered Zhang Yuan to receive the highest stipend, and he and Chu Zhankuo speculated that Zhang Yuan was a prodigy from a powerful lineage.
• Chu Dalong proposed that Chu Qingyuan marry Zhang Yuan, and Chu Qingyuan said she would leave the decision to her father.
• Chu Qingyuan visited Zhang Yuan the next day and told him that her father wanted him to marry into the Chu Family.
• Zhang Yuan asked whom he would marry, learned Chu Qingyuan meant herself, then rejected the proposal and pointed her toward the gate.

Chu Qingyuan returned to Zhang Yuan’s courtyard and confronted him about keeping others at a distance because he feared they would be harmed through their ties to him. She asked him to marry her, but he said he would be leaving soon, and she departed without pressing him further.

• After several quiet days, Chu Qingyuan slipped into Zhang Yuan’s courtyard at night and asked whether he would marry a woman he liked.
• Chu Qingyuan guessed that Zhang Yuan avoided forming close ties because he feared those connected to him would lose their lives.
• Zhang Yuan fell silent as Chu Qingyuan said she would willingly accept the risk and asked him to marry her.
• Zhang Yuan told Chu Qingyuan that he would be leaving soon, and she said that did not matter.
• Chu Qingyuan left the courtyard, teasing Zhang Yuan to ask her to stay.

Zhang Yuan sensed an opportunity at Treasure-Gathering Cliff and left the Chu Family to investigate Geng Metal. He concealed himself above the stormy cliff and found no other cultivators nearby, leaving him uncertain whether he was the only one who had sensed the treasure.

• Chu Qingyuan visited Zhang Yuan and questioned whether he intended to stay with the Chu Family, and he admitted that she had guessed correctly.
• Zhang Yuan sensed a manifestation of the five aggregates and ten natures at Treasure-Gathering Cliff, divined that the trip posed no lethal danger, and decided to go.
• Zhang Yuan took the sleeping Ao Xiu and traveled through the Great Void, while Chu Qingyuan chased after him and found that he had vanished.
• Chu Zhankuo questioned Chu Qingyuan about Zhang Yuan's departure and whether she had fallen for him, and she denied it before secretly returning to the guest courtyard.
• Zhang Yuan reached Treasure-Gathering Cliff, concealed himself among the storm clouds, and spotted two golden lights, one of which appeared to be Geng Metal.
• Zhang Yuan searched the surrounding area with his divine sense and detected no other cultivators, so he continued watching from concealment.

Zhang Yuan stole Geng Metal from Treasure-Gathering Cliff and returned to Osmanthus Fragrance Mountain, where he began seclusion to refine it and Ren Water. Their conceptual images strengthened and expanded his [Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain], bringing him closer to the late Celestial Person stage.

• Zhang Yuan snatched two streaks of golden light containing Geng Metal from beneath Treasure-Gathering Cliff and escaped into the Great Void.
• Zhang Yuan returned to the guest courtyard, where Chu Qingyuan greeted him after keeping it clean during his three-day absence.
• Zhang Yuan told Chu Qingyuan he would enter seclusion and asked her to contact him if anything important happened.
• Zhang Yuan refined the Geng Metal and placed its conceptual image in the venomous vegetation of the Central Mountain, sharpening its leaves.
• Zhang Yuan refined the Ren Water and placed it in the four seas, strengthening and expanding the [Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain].

After the Chu Family destroyed the Fu Family, Chu Zhankuo went to Flowery City seeking information about Zhang Yuan and was captured by Lu Chaosheng, a powerful cultivator seeking revenge for the Fu Family. Lu Chaosheng enlisted the Shang Family to attack the Chu Family and ordered them to bring him the person living on Osmanthus Fragrance Mountain.

• Chu Dalong cautioned Chu Qingyuan not to disturb Zhang Yuan while he was in seclusion, and Chu Zhankuo decided to investigate Zhang Yuan's identity.
• Chu Zhankuo secretly traveled to Flowery City and met a young cultivator in a teahouse who asked about the person staying with the Chu Family.
• Lu Chaosheng suppressed and captured Chu Zhankuo, revealing that he wanted compensation because the Chu Family had destroyed the Fu Family.
• Ruan Jingxing arrived after Chu Zhankuo's spell set the teahouse ablaze, recognized Lu Chaosheng as his senior sect brother, and left without helping Chu Zhankuo.
• Lu Chaosheng recruited Shang Jianghuai and ordered the Shang Family to kill Chu Dalong, destroy the Chu Family, and bring him the person staying on Osmanthus Fragrance Mountain.

After Chu Zhankuo was captured by the Shang Family, Chu Dalong went to Flowery City to rescue him and also disappeared. As the Chu Family feared its destruction, Chu Qingyuan sought help from the white-robed guest, but found him gone.

• Chu Dalong learned that the Shang Family had captured Chu Zhankuo and decided to travel to Flowery City despite his brothers' warnings.
• Chu Dalong left secretly, and the scouts Chu Sanbao and Chu Siniu sent to Flowery City were intercepted and killed.
• Chu Qingyuan asked Chu Sanbao and Chu Siniu about her missing father and eldest brother, and Chu Sanbao urged her to flee.
• Chu Qingyuan searched the guest residence for the white-robed man but found him gone, then called him a liar for promising not to leave.

Zhang Yuan formed the mystic wonder [Spring Harmony Scenery], refined Taihu dragonheart grass to improve his spiritual root, and examined several items before ending his seclusion. The East Sea Dragon Lord warned him that the South Sea Dragon Clan would hunt him the next day, and he left the courtyard only to smell blood.

• After nearly seven weeks of meditation, Zhang Yuan transformed [Three Calamities Returning to Origin Divine Radiance] into the mystic wonder [Spring Harmony Scenery], which progressively slowed those beneath its radiance until Heaven and Earth became motionless.
• Zhang Yuan refined the Taihu dragonheart grass, raising his spiritual root to low-grade earth-tier and increasing the connection between his Sword Qi and conceptual image.
• Zhang Yuan determined that the golden Command Token opened a secret realm he did not plan to visit, then read a silk manuscript describing the first four realms of the qi sea uniting spirit dao.
• The East Sea Dragon Lord warned Zhang Yuan that the South Sea Dragon Clan would come to hunt him the next day, and Zhang Yuan left the courtyard to avoid endangering the Chu Family.
• As Zhang Yuan stepped outside, he smelled blood.

After finding the Chu Family slaughtered, Zhang Yuan traced the massacre to the Shang Family of Vast Spirit Peak and the orders of a lord from the High Sect. He killed nearly the entire Shang Family and confronted its survivors, who identified him as the man their lord had been looking for.

• Zhang Yuan emerged from seclusion and found the Chu Family dead across Osmanthus Fragrance Mountain, while Ao Xiu worried about him.
• Zhang Yuan traced the massacre’s karma to the Shang Family and learned that a lord from the High Sect had ordered it.
• Zhang Yuan flew to Vast Spirit Peak and unleashed his celestial status, killing or driving mad nearly every Shang Family member there.
• Zhang Yuan spared the Shang Family ancestor and Shang Jianghuai, then demanded to know who had ordered the Chu Family’s destruction.
• Shang Jianghuai recognized Zhang Yuan as the man their lord had been looking for.

Zhang Yuan pursued Lu Chaosheng after identifying him as a Personal Disciple of the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect, but the South Sea Dragon Clan interrupted his chase. After Zhang Yuan wounded a white dragon and warned the others not to cross his boundary, he continued after Lu, furious over a plot that had used the Chu Family’s deaths to strike at his heart.

• Lu Chaosheng fled from Zhang Yuan, and Zhang Yuan killed the Shang Family patriarch and Shang Jianghuai before pursuing him.
• Zhang Yuan caught up with Lu Chaosheng, but a white True Dragon from the South Sea blocked his way and demanded that he hand over Ao Xiu.
• Zhang Yuan attacked the white dragon with his Divine Abilities and Sword Qi, then carved a boundary across the South Sea and warned the other dragons not to cross it.
• The South Sea True Dragons held back, while Zhang Yuan resumed his pursuit of Lu Chaosheng.
• Zhang Yuan recognized that an unknown True Lord had used the Chu Family’s deaths to provoke him and vowed to kill the plotters.

Zhang Yuan pursued Lu Chaosheng to Flowery City after destroying the Shang Family, but Lu Chaosheng escaped through the Teleportation Array to the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect. With the array destroyed, Zhang Yuan took a map of the realm and ordered Ruan Jingxing to search for any Chu Family survivors.

• Lu Chaosheng fled to Flowery City and misled Ruan Jingxing about why he needed to use the Teleportation Array.
• Lu Chaosheng activated the array and returned to the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect before Zhang Yuan arrived.
• Zhang Yuan confronted Ruan Jingxing, who revealed that Lu Chaosheng had escaped through the array.
• Ruan Jingxing found that Lu Chaosheng had destroyed the Teleportation Array, preventing Zhang Yuan from following him that way.
• Zhang Yuan took Ruan Jingxing's Geomantic Map and ordered him to find any surviving members of the Chu Family before leaving.

Lu Chaosheng returned to the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect after Zhang Yuan hunted him, believing the sect would keep him safe. Zhang Yuan arrived days later and appeared over the sect, forcing its disciples to the ground.

• Lu Chaosheng told Wangyou True Person that a Demon Realm Earth Immortal had pursued him, and she told him to stay inside the sect.
• Lu Chaosheng spent several days safely in the sect, then encountered Chi Xiao and Ge Xuanxuan while wandering.
• A voice called out from beyond the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect, and Lu Chaosheng recognized the danger.
• The sky darkened and divine radiance appeared as a white-robed Zhang Yuan descended above the sect.
• Zhang Yuan's pressure forced the sect's disciples to the ground, while Chi Xiao struggled to protect Ge Xuanxuan.

Zhang Yuan arrived at the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect to kill Lu Chaosheng, but Wangyou True Person refused to defend her disciple and withdrew into the sect. Zhang Yuan was left outside the formation after his attacks failed to break it.

• Zhang Yuan reached the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect and pressured its cultivators with his aura until the sect’s formation rose to protect them.
• Wangyou True Person, True Person Hecong, and Lu Zhang emerged, and Zhang Yuan identified himself as [Return to True] and demanded that they hand over Lu Chaosheng.
• Lu Zhang attacked Zhang Yuan, who struck back and grievously wounded him with sword qi and divine abilities.
• Wangyou True Person declared that Lu Chaosheng’s trouble had nothing to do with her, then returned behind the sect’s formation; True Person Hecong followed her.
• Zhang Yuan tried to attack the formation with streaks of three-colored qi light, but its barrier absorbed them.

Zhang Yuan trapped the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect behind his Dao Domain while waiting for the sect’s absent elders to return, determined to kill Lu Chaosheng. In the main hall, an intelligence report about Zhang Yuan made Wangyou True Person turn on Lu Chaosheng and whip him.

• Zhang Yuan used [Spring Harmony Scenery] and his [Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain] to wear down the sect’s formation and seal the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect inside its grounds.
• Zhang Yuan entered the central Immortal Palace and waited, suspecting the sect was stalling until its powerful senior cultivators returned.
• Lu Chaosheng explained how his actions had led Zhang Yuan to pursue him, and True Person Hecong whipped him for disrupting the north bank’s balance of power.
• Wangyou True Person told True Person Hecong to wait for intelligence about Zhang Yuan, and Situ Wu brought in a report from the [Eastern Sunken Pavilion].
• After reading the report, Wangyou True Person seized an Artifact Iron Whip and savagely lashed Lu Chaosheng.

Wangyou True Person spared Lu Chaosheng and learned that Zhang Yuan had devastated powerful clans before besieging the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect. Seven days later, a young man spread a false rumor that Zhang Yuan was a Demon Realm scout preparing the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm for invasion, crediting the Eastern Sunken Pavilion for his information.

• True Person Hecong stopped Wangyou True Person from killing Lu Chaosheng, and Wangyou ordered him to accept punishment in the Disciplinary Hall.
• Wangyou True Person read a report on Zhang Yuan’s massacres at Mount Junya and Cloud Brocade Mountain and worried about his siege of the sect.
• Wangyou True Person hoped the sect master and ancestor would return before she had to fight Zhang Yuan.
• Seven days later, a young man in a teahouse claimed Zhang Yuan was a notorious Demon Fiend from the Central Demon Realm.
• The young man speculated that Zhang Yuan was scouting the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm ahead of a full-scale invasion and promoted the Eastern Sunken Pavilion as his source.

Xiao Yuanjun rescued the blinded Chu Qingyuan after the Shang Family destroyed the Chu Family, then learned that Zhang Yuan was in the central lands confronting the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect. She decided to take Chu Qingyuan to find him, though Chu Qingyuan still wanted to pay her respects to her family first.

• A young man left the tea house after sensing that Zhang Yuan's situation at the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect had grown out of hand.
• Xiao Yuanjun and the blind Chu Qingyuan entered the tea house disguised as beggars, and Chu Qingyuan recalled how the Shang Family had slaughtered her family and blinded her while she fled.
• Chu Qingyuan asked Xiao Yuanjun to take her as a disciple, but Xiao Yuanjun refused, explaining that Zhang Yuan was her only disciple and her final one.
• After hearing that Zhang Yuan had overwhelmed the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect, Xiao Yuanjun decided to find him and offered to bring Chu Qingyuan along so he might heal her eyes.
• Chu Qingyuan wanted to visit her family's dead before leaving the northern shore and tell them she was still alive.

After two months of Zhang Yuan’s [Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain] weakened the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect, he broke through its formation and prepared to kill Lu Chaosheng. Just as he moved to strike, a Golden-Armored Deity arrived and warned him that he had crossed the line.

• Cultivators from across the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm gathered thirty-five thousand li from the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect, where Venerable Youkong warned them not to speak Zhang Yuan’s Dao Epithet.
• Zhang Yuan observed that [Spring Harmony Scenery] had severely slowed the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect’s cultivators and weakened its Sect-Protecting Grand Formation.
• Sensing that the sect’s High Cultivator was about to return, Zhang Yuan breached the formation with Three-Colored Qi Light and reached for Lu Chaosheng.
• Lu Zhang confronted Zhang Yuan’s enormous hand of qi light to give Lu Chaosheng time to escape, while Zhang Yuan entered the sect and drew the [Primordial Form-Converging Sword].
• Zhang Yuan concluded that [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts] was behind the plot and prepared to strike Lu Chaosheng, but a Golden-Armored Deity arrived from the South Sea and told him he had crossed the line.

Zhang Yuan used the Beaded Bracelet’s Profound Mystery to try to hold off the Golden-Armored Deity long enough to kill Lu Chaosheng, but the deity effortlessly stopped him and struck him into the Outer Chaos. Zhang Yuan then seemed to splash back into the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm.

• Zhang Yuan retreated to the Central Immortal Palace, then doubled back with Chen Xinqiao’s Beaded Bracelet to try to kill Lu Chaosheng.
• The Golden-Armored Deity dispelled the bracelet’s protection and annihilated Zhang Yuan’s attacks, but Zhang Yuan attacked again with nearly every means at his disposal.
• The Golden-Armored Deity declared that he would show no mercy and summoned a massive golden hand that shattered Zhang Yuan’s Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain.
• Zhang Yuan tried to defend himself with Pre-Heaven Supreme Treasures and other methods, but the golden hand struck him into the Outer Chaos.
• Zhang Yuan heard water splashing and seemed to be slapped back into the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm.

After the Golden-Armored Deity sent Zhang Yuan flying, Zhang Yuan emerged unharmed in an underwater microcosm far from the Central Land. Following the Five-Direction Banners’ resonance through a stone gate, he found the Central Five-Direction Banner and completed his collection of all five banners.

• Zhang Yuan checked himself and Ao Xiu after landing and found them both unharmed, concluding the Golden-Armored Deity had held back.
• Zhang Yuan surveyed the underwater microcosm and realized he was far from the Central Land and would need the great void to return quickly.
• The three Five-Direction Banners resonated with a stone gate, while the golden Command Token revealed a karmic connection to the secret realm.
• Zhang Yuan judged the realm’s danger manageable, used the Command Token to open the gate, and entered with the Primordial Form-Converging Sword concealed in his sleeve.
• Zhang Yuan found and took the [Central True-Origin Emperor Banner], completing his set of all five Pre-Heaven Five-Direction Banners.

Zhang Yuan found the [Central True-Origin Emperor Banner] but became trapped in a sealed chamber, where a mysterious figure identified himself as Great Luo. At the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect, the Golden-Armored Deity secretly decided Zhang Yuan might be trusted and assigned Lu Chaosheng to hunt him for six months.

• Zhang Yuan claimed the [Central True-Origin Emperor Banner], but the stone door shut behind him and resisted his attempts to break it.
• Zhang Yuan entered a burial chamber, struck the stone coffin, and was confronted by an immense figure who called himself Great Luo.
• The Golden-Armored Deity returned to the Grand Hua Jade Heaven Sect and told Lu Chaosheng that Zhang Yuan had survived their encounter.
• The Golden-Armored Deity recognized the Long Halberd Zhang Yuan possessed as a credential and planned to contact him secretly.
• The Golden-Armored Deity tasked Lu Chaosheng with finding Zhang Yuan within six months, promising to make him his Personal Disciple if he succeeded.

Zhang Yuan met an ancient female Great Luo who recognized Ji Guang’s influence on him and removed much of its effect. She explained that she planned to possess Zhang Yuan because her true body was injured and trapped while fleeing a relentless attack, and he backed away warily as she insisted it was an opportunity.

• The ancient female Great Luo identified Ji Guang’s profound mystery in Zhang Yuan and eased its influence on his anger.
• She told Zhang Yuan that she intended to borrow his body, and he asked whether he could refuse.
• The Great Luo recounted how a short girl’s attack injured her five hundred years earlier and pursued her through the Five Realms.
• She said she had hidden a strand of divine sense in a cave abode in the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm while her true body continued fleeing.
• Zhang Yuan sympathized with her plight, then retreated when she said she would possess him.

Zhang Yuan questioned a blurred True Lord about her offer and received the Azure Vault Vast Sea Art, learning about the Boundless Southern Heaven Realm’s cultivation path and its origins. He remained wary of being possessed as she offered him another inheritance to secure his cooperation.

• Zhang Yuan asked whether the True Lord’s opportunity involved an inheritance or the risk of inheriting her memories, and she accused him of being dishonest.
• The True Lord explained the qi sea uniting spirit dao and gave Zhang Yuan the Azure Vault Vast Sea Art, which she had picked up at the Eastern Cen Palace of the Azure Sea.
• Zhang Yuan studied the manual, learned the path’s nine realms, and questioned why its fifth realm was called Spirit Transformation.
• The True Lord explained that a cultivator from the Dust-Dyed Realm had created the qi sea uniting spirit dao using that realm’s method of gathering qi to prove the Dao.
• The True Lord offered Zhang Yuan an inheritance of Primordial Era formations if he would let her possess him.

Zhang Yuan refused the blurred figure’s demand that he become her vessel and tried to take her Five Elements Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation. When she attacked, his [Immaculate Primordial Spirit] blocked her from entering his sea of consciousness, so she infiltrated his Dao Domain instead, putting the foundation of his Celestial Person Dao Path at risk.

• Zhang Yuan rejected the blurred figure’s invitation to become her disciple and offered to capture someone else for her.
• The blurred figure boasted that her formation hid the microcosm, but Zhang Yuan focused on the array plate and climbed onto her stone coffin to take it.
• The blurred figure attacked Zhang Yuan’s sea of consciousness, but his [Immaculate Primordial Spirit] prevented her divine sense from entering.
• The blurred figure recognized Zhang Yuan and tried to persuade him to let her in, but he refused and told her to reconsider his proposal.
• The blurred figure used [Unimpeded Foot] to slip her divine sense into Zhang Yuan’s Dao Domain, threatening the foundation of his Dao Path.

Chi Guanguan entered Zhang Yuan's Dao Domain after failing to enter his sea of consciousness and decided to stay in its Immortal Palace. Zhang Yuan could not force her out, so he tried to negotiate with the True Lord, whose true name and epithet he learned before she caught his rude thoughts.

• Chi Guanguan entered Zhang Yuan's Great Grotto Yin-Scenery Immortal Domain and was startled by its ominous appearance.
• Chi Guanguan refused to leave and headed for the Immortal Palace, resisting Zhang Yuan's attempts to expel her.
• Chi Guanguan lit the palace's lamps and made seats from Wu Earth, then told Zhang Yuan she wanted to live in his Dao Domain so he could carry her divine sense outside.
• Chi Guanguan questioned Zhang Yuan about his Dao Domain and cultivation, while he asked what she wanted and how to be rid of her.
• Zhang Yuan learned that the hazy figure was Dust-Treading Cosmos True Lord, Chi Guanguan, and she struck him for his rude thoughts.