Recaps

Li Fuchan survived after a gardenia restored his ravaged body, then gambled on transforming Li Thunder through the concept of bullying. As Contrary Thunder joined him and Gu Tong urged Quan Yong to strike, Quan Yong hesitated before the flower’s protection.

• A gardenia appeared on Li Fuchan’s shoulder, halted Qu Chengong’s sword essence, ruined Gu Tong’s Talisman Register, and restored Li Fuchan’s body.
• Li Fuchan recalled the Wisdom King’s promise concerning the Porcelain Womb and realized that the gardenia had given him another chance to transform Li Thunder.
• Li Fuchan reasoned that Li Thunder’s latent variable was its connection to bullying, and he used that opening to pursue its transformation.
• Three Nothing and Quan Yong noticed Li Fuchan’s changed appearance, while Three Nothing asked how Li Thunder could have a variable.
• The final ray of Contrary Thunder entered Li Fuchan’s Great Gate Mansion, and Gu Tong shouted for Quan Yong to kill him.
• Quan Yong hesitated because the gardenia still protected Li Fuchan and Contrary Thunder had joined him.

Li Fuchan transformed Li Thunder into the new aspect Muffled Crow in Ambush and learned that Three Nothing was the remnant of Yangshe Xu. After refusing Three Nothing’s offer of cooperation, Li Fuchan watched the young man in azure robes die, leaving the cause of his death unexplained.

• Li Fuchan awakened a pupil-less eye of righteous lightning, declared Li Thunder must change, and shattered his lightning-struck wood aspect to form Muffled Crow in Ambush.
• Three Nothing revealed himself as an evil spirit born from Yangshe Xu’s divine ability, and Li Fuchan recognized the history behind the stolen name.
• Three Nothing offered to help Li Fuchan reach Purple Mansion in exchange for his release, but Li Fuchan refused and threw A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales to the ground.
• Quan Yong considered bargaining with Li Fuchan, but then saw the young man in azure robes behind the Stone Stele collapse as the white flowers on his shoulder dissolved.
• A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales turned to a page bearing the words, “What a pity.”

Li Fuchan chose to restart with his consciousness intact, inheriting the transformed “Li Thunder” and concealing the changes that had drawn dangerous attention. Back at the Ning Family courtyard, he planned to use the knowledge from his previous Tribulation Divination to avoid past entanglements and form his own register qi before risking another divination.

• Li Fuchan chose consciousness, causing the Lightning-Struck Wood Yang Aspect to shatter and granting him a Silver-White thunder eye and a blessing of Dao Attainment.
• Li Fuchan saw that thunderfire was refining his death scene into tribulation qi, but resolved to combine it with his original destiny before attempting another Tribulation Divination.
• Li Fuchan recalled that killing Xu Xuan, transforming “Li Thunder,” and attracting the attention of powerful forces had made continuing the previous divination too dangerous.
• Li Fuchan recognized that Three Nothing and Huici’s hidden karmic bond also threatened to control or harm him, so he restarted to conceal himself.
• Li Fuchan returned to the point when he had entered the Ning Family with Li Hua and planned to use his gathered intelligence to avoid the schemes involving the Compassionate Womb Blessed Land and the Wisdom King.

Li Fuchan planned how to cultivate his transformed “Li Thunder” aspect by secretly entering dangerous conflicts and striking down evil, while rebuilding his Ancient Arts. At Warm-Cool Mountain, Ning Xiufu waited to escort him to Lakeside Market, but Li Hua appeared instead and was recognized as suspicious by Ning Xiufu.

• Li Fuchan concluded that his transformed “Li Thunder” required him to plunge into tangled conflicts, subdue evil, and build Dao Attainment through results rather than quiet meditation.
• Li Fuchan planned to cultivate the Myriad Transformations at Will Register and Thunder Escape Sword Art, avoid the incomplete Fu Ying Contemplation and Perception Sutra, and conceal his “Li Thunder” cultivation as he advanced his Yang Aspect.
• Ning Xiangyi ordered Ning Xiufu to take Li Fuchan to Lakeside Market the next day and advised him to use the visit to get to know the Thunder Cultivator.
• Ning Xiufu waited outside Li Fuchan’s courtyard until noon, then encountered Li Hua dressed as a servant and remarked that he looked familiar.
• Li Hua denied being anyone Ning Xiufu might recognize, while Ning Xiufu chose not to expose him and implied that he knew Li Hua was plotting within Ning territory.

Li Fuchan met Ning Xiufu and refused to accompany him to the Lakeside Market, asking him to investigate Qifu Essence Marrow instead. After seeing the kind-hearted Ning Xiuqing express his desire to cultivate thunder, Li Fuchan recalled his death and resolved that he still had to die.

• Li Fuchan received Ning Xiufu after making him wait, while Ning Xiufu quietly unsettled Li Hua by saying he had never claimed to be a second young master.
• Ning Xiufu invited Li Fuchan to the Lakeside Market and revealed that the Yang Family had Qifu Essence Marrow, but Li Fuchan declined and asked him to inquire on his behalf.
• Ning Xiufu gave Li Hua written authorization to trade at the Lakeside Market and left without threatening him again.
• Ning Xiuqing asked Ning Xiufu to help him learn Li Thunder so he could support the Ning Household, and Ning Xiufu promised to speak to their father.
• Li Fuchan watched Ning Xiuqing from his courtyard, remembered the youth dying in a past life, and concluded that he still had to die.

Li Fuchan kept to his cultivation while Ning Xiufu and Huang Jihai repeatedly visited him, and he drove them away by secretly dosing them with tea. Ning Xiuqing then visited for three days and suffered the same fate, while Ning Xiangyi returned and learned what had happened to his household attendants.

• Li Fuchan reasoned that the Yang Family had chosen Ning Xiuqing as their target because his death would destabilize the Ning Family and intimidate them.
• Ning Xiufu visited Li Fuchan repeatedly to assess him, but Li Fuchan gave him tea that left him sick for several days.
• Huang Jihai replaced Ning Xiufu as a visitor, and Li Fuchan secretly dosed him after enduring his long visits.
• Ning Xiuqing visited Li Fuchan for three days, then drank a bottle of Li Fuchan's spiritual tea and staggered away with stomach trouble.
• Ning Xiufu told Ning Xiangyi about the tea, and Ning Xiangyi gave him a Pill to send to Huang Jihai.

Ning Xiangyi and Ning Xiufu discussed their suspicions about Guest Li and planned to test whether he truly cultivated Li Thunder. Later, Ning Xinping summoned Ning Xiangyi and began explaining his thoughts about the Yang Family’s invitation, leaving his warning unfinished.

• Ning Xiufu told Ning Xiangyi that Guest Li seemed unusually quiet and questioned whether he truly cultivated Li Thunder.
• Ning Xiangyi proposed that Ning Xiufu accompany Guest Li when demonic cultivators were driven toward a nearby market to test his abilities and protect ordinary people.
• Ning Xiangyi and Ning Xiufu discussed the Yang Family’s ambitions and agreed the Ning Family should avoid getting involved if possible.
• Ning Xinping summoned Ning Xiangyi to Yellow Locust Villa after Ning Xiufu left.
• Ning Xiangyi urged Ning Xinping not to visit the Yang Family, fearing Yang Houjia would detain him and use the Ning Family.
• Ning Xinping said he was speaking as an old man, not as the Ning Family’s ancestor, and asked Ning Xiangyi to hear him out.

Ning Xinping revealed to Ning Xiangyi that his breakthrough and unusual Dao Fruit came from a secret sacrificial art that required him to devour his own child and surrender his fortune. He said he had nowhere left to retreat as he faced being held by the Yang Family.

• Ning Xinping told Ning Xiangyi that Yang Houjia intended to keep him at the Yang Family because of a secret that could destroy him and the Ning Family.
• Ning Xinping explained that after forming a Dao Fruit, his cultivation had stopped advancing, then recounted how King Zhou used “Mist Veiling the River” to restrain the Northern Marquis.
• Ning Xinping revealed that a Dharma master taught him a sacrificial method that let him break through by offering up his child, virtue, fortune, Life Force, and future.
• Ning Xiangyi understood that Ning Xinping’s “unchaste offering” was a sacrifice rather than a Dao Fruit, and he could not bring himself to comfort his ancestor.
• Ning Xinping told Ning Xiangyi that he had nowhere left to retreat.

Ning Xinping left the Ning Family after warning Ning Xiangyi to endure the consequences of his departure and entrusting him with the ancestral lamp. At Lakeside Market, Li Fuchan sent Li Hua to confront Demonic Cultivators, then sensed something hidden within Ning Xiuqing as a storm approached.

• Ning Xinping told Ning Xiangyi that leaving would spare the Ning Family from being dragged into the Wisdom King's journey north, but warned that Ning Family members might die until he returned.
• Ning Xinping rekindled the Ancestral Hall lamps, gave one to Ning Xiangyi, and left into the night.
• Huang Jihai told Li Fuchan that Demonic Cultivators had invaded a northern Ning Family Market Ward where two Direct Lineage disciples, including the second young master, remained.
• Li Fuchan summoned Li Hua and ordered him to kill the Demonic Cultivators, using pressure on his shoulder to make Li Hua agree.
• Huang Jihai left after Li Fuchan offered him tea, and Ning Xiuqing visited; Li Fuchan sensed something concealed within him and said thunder was coming.

Li Hua fled north and uncovered a Curse Shamanism trap behind the Demonic Cultivators attacking the Market Ward. As he tried to escape, an unseen enemy confronted him, claiming the attack had ruined Hu's business.

• Li Hua fled north toward the Zhao Kingdom, avoiding the southern dangers and traveling cautiously toward the Market Ward.
• Three Demonic Cultivators ambushed Li Hua near the Market Ward, but he blasted them away with his Dharma Power.
• The attackers' leader recognized Li Hua and revealed that they had been told the Market Ward lacked a powerful cultivator guarding it.
• Li Hua spotted Gu Worms in the leader's eyes and recognized them as vessels of Curse Shamanism, realizing the attackers had been controlled.
• The Gu Worms sprang toward Li Hua, who killed their leader and tried to retreat before a voice accused him of ruining Hu's business.

Li Fuchan anticipated that Li Hua and Hu Shan would meet, giving him a chance to disrupt Hu Shan’s gu ritual and draw out the Three-Passage Gu. Meanwhile, Ning Xinping met Yang Houjia, who unexpectedly said Ning Xiu Cong need not die after learning of his connection to Azure Fish Peak.

• Li Fuchan reasoned that Li Hua’s planned escape route would lead him to Hu Shan and create an opening to interfere with the Three-Passage Gu.
• Li Fuchan planned to draw both demonic cultivators beneath storm clouds and use thunder to complete the form of his yang aspect.
• Yang Bozhuo welcomed Ning Xinping at the foot of Mount Huayu and guided him toward Yang Houjia.
• Yang Houjia proposed taking Ning Xiu Cong as his disciple, but Ning Xinping declined, saying the peak master of Azure Fish Peak wanted him.
• Yang Houjia reacted with surprise to the Azure Fish Peak connection and told Ning Xinping that Ning Xiu Cong need not die.

Yang Houjia questioned Ning Xinping about the Ning family’s heirs as the Yang Family maneuvered to pressure the clan. At Li Fuchan’s guest courtyard, Ning Xiuqing sought to learn Thunder Arts, but Li Fuchan revealed that he was dying; after Ning Xiuqing left a letter asking him to protect his family, the Three-Passage Gu sounded and killed him.

• Yang Houjia asked Ning Xinping which of the Ning family’s three heirs would die, while Ning Xinping recognized that the Yang Family intended to use the family’s hesitation to force its hand.
• Ning Xiuqing told Li Fuchan that his young servant had been missing, then asked to cultivate the Purple Firmament Thunder-Script Treasure Register.
• Li Fuchan questioned Ning Xiuqing about whether family or country came first and explained that only the dead could not cultivate an art.
• Ning Xiuqing discovered that he was bleeding black blood, asked Li Fuchan to save him, and learned that nothing could be done.
• Ning Xiuqing wrote a letter asking Li Fuchan to protect his father and elder brothers, then understood that his death was meant to pressure the Ning Family.
• The Three-Passage Gu sounded and killed Ning Xiuqing, and Li Fuchan removed the Gu and placed it beside the letter.

Hu Shan discovered that his Gu Worm had been restrained and insisted that Li Hua accompany him to the Ning Family to investigate Ning Xiuqing. As dark clouds gathered nearby, Li Hua tried to flee, but a voice called him out for capturing an evil spirit practicing blood-consuming cultivation.

• Hu Shan failed to sense his Gu Worm and feared that Ning Xiuqing’s fate and his curse scheme had been exposed.
• Li Hua suspected Hu Shan’s Gu had been affected by the Ning Family’s Li Thunder Cultivator and refused to go with him to the Ning Family.
• Hu Shan ordered Li Hua to take the heads of three Demonic Cultivators to the Ning Family and find out whether Ning Xiuqing was dead.
• Li Hua spotted vast Dark Clouds gathering nearby, and Hu Shan recognized that something was wrong with them.
• Li Hua turned to flee as a voice behind him mocked him for capturing an evil spirit practicing blood-consuming cultivation.

Li Fuchan revealed that he cultivated Concealing Thunder and Quelling Lightning, then attacked Li Hua and Hu Shan after Hu Shan accused him of stealing his Gu Worms. The chapter ended with Li Fuchan calling them evil spirits and raining dark lightning down on them.

• Li Hua realized Li Fuchan did not cultivate Li Thunder, while Hu Shan accused him of stealing his Gu Worms.
• Li Hua warned Li Fuchan to leave, but Li Fuchan destroyed Hu Shan’s Three-Passage Gu from afar, weakening him.
• Li Hua restrained Hu Shan and declared his loyalty to Li Fuchan, hoping to avoid a fight.
• Li Fuchan struck at Li Hua, who dodged the lightning and demanded to know whether he intended to fight to the death.
• Li Fuchan vanished into the Dark Clouds, declared that he practiced Concealing Thunder and Quelling Lightning to punish evil spirits, and unleashed dark bolts of lightning.

Li Fuchan used concealed Li Thunder and sword techniques to defeat Li Hua, who had mistaken his false body for his true one. After killing Li Hua and Hu Shan, Li Fuchan completed the form of Muffled Crow in Ambush and reached minor attainment of Outer Scenery.

• Li Hua unleashed his blood qi and tried to kill Li Fuchan with a Mountain-Piercing Yin Arrow, but the arrow struck Li Fuchan's false body.
• Li Fuchan battered Li Hua with hidden lightning and sword strikes until Li Hua collapsed, then approached with Hu Shan.
• Li Hua begged to live, but Li Fuchan burned Hu Shan to ashes and rejected Li Hua's offer.
• Li Fuchan killed Li Hua with lightning as Li Hua challenged his claims of upholding righteousness.
• Li Fuchan completed the form of Muffled Crow in Ambush and settled at minor attainment of Outer Scenery.

Ning Xiufu arranged for Ning Xiu Cong to lead the Ning Family’s Direct Lineage south, preserving the clan’s future while he remained behind to shoulder its present dangers. As the procession departed Warm-Cool Mountain, Li Fuchan watched and found that his register qi was close to taking shape.

• Ning Xiufu rejected inviting Li Fuchan back and told Ning Xiu Cong that the Ning Family must escape the Yang Family’s schemes.
• Ning Xiufu planned to send the Direct Lineage south with Ning Xiu Cong and Ning Xiu Rang, then use the crisis to persuade the ancestor to lead them north.
• Ning Xiu Cong agreed to leave with the Lineage after Ning Xiufu insisted that he represented the clan’s future.
• Five days later, Ning Xiu Cong departed Warm-Cool Mountain with six hundred Direct Lineage members disguised as Clan Troops.
• Ning Xiufu asked Ning Xiu Cong to tell the ancestor of his vow to give his life for the Household and clan.
• Li Fuchan watched the departing Ning Family procession and realized that his register qi was about to take shape.

Li Fuchan refined his tribulation qi into new register qi, confronting the unresolved danger in the stolen Flood Serpent destiny and strengthening his own White Cicada destiny. After infusing the resulting Embrace-Lock Crouching Cicada into his sea of qi, he completed the intent of his yang aspect.

• Li Fuchan used one strand of tribulation qi to refine the stolen Flood Serpent destiny, forming the unchanged Jiao-Driving Lightning register and realizing that the destiny’s course remained fixed.
• Li Fuchan released the remaining tribulation qi to the White Cicada in his consciousness, which was crushed and absorbed as the Embrace-Lock Crouching Cicada register formed.
• Li Fuchan pressed the new register qi into his sea of qi, expanding the Dark Clouds and concealing the lightning within them.
• Li Fuchan’s six apertures opened, sending his nutritive qi, defensive qi, and blood qi into the Dark Clouds, where they transformed into dharma power and completed the intent of his yang aspect.

Li Fuchan discovered that a Golden Mark linked to the Flood Serpent destiny opened a sealed secret chamber called Flying Earthworm Cave, which might connect to other secret seals. After exploring it and recognizing its potential, he destroyed the Golden Mark because he decided he did not need the opportunity.

• Li Fuchan discovered a faint Golden Mark in his consciousness and was pulled into Flying Earthworm Cave when it touched Jiao-Driving Lightning.
• He used Embrace-Lock Crouching Cicada to escape the cave, then found the Golden Mark beside the restrained Jiao-Driving Lightning.
• Li Fuchan returned to Flying Earthworm Cave and explored its sealed, qi-less chamber, suspecting the Flood Serpent destiny served as a key to a network of secret seals.
• Li Fuchan inferred that the chamber was a hidden opportunity created by a powerful immortal and might eventually let him contact the owners of other secret seals.
• Li Fuchan returned to reality and used Embrace-Lock Crouching Cicada to destroy the Golden Mark, deciding he did not need the doorway.

Li Fuchan rejected the secret realm gateway as a likely trap and secluded himself to refine a Life Treasure and complete his nature root. Meanwhile, the evil spirit within Gu Liuru’s book suspected Li Fuchan’s thunder path had changed and began searching for him, prompting Li Fuchan to sense danger from afar.

• Li Fuchan recalled the dangers tied to the Flood Serpent destiny and decided to destroy the gateway rather than risk the immortal’s suspected scheme.
• Li Fuchan used a Nascent Infant Pill to begin refining his own Life Treasure and entered seclusion, expecting to complete his nature root within three months.
• The evil spirit in A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales reconsidered its plans after losing track of the Thunder Cultivator who had disrupted them.
• The evil spirit concluded that Li Fuchan’s Li Thunder had transformed and linked him to the deaths of Hu Shan and Li Hua.
• The evil spirit decided Li Fuchan was likely hiding near Great Night Lake and set out to find him.
• Li Fuchan awoke in his cave abode with a sudden sense that someone wanted to harm him.

Li Fuchan rejected using Tribulation Divination again and chose to hide while he planned his next steps. Three days later, Gu Liuru found his abandoned cave and resolved to track him down.

• Li Fuchan decided Tribulation Divination was too dangerous to use while other options remained, and he left the area.
• Li Fuchan recalled his choice in Flying Earthworm Cave, then concealed his aura and vanished into the shadows.
• Three days later, Gu Liuru entered Li Fuchan’s empty cave with the ancient book, A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales.
• The book revealed that Li Fuchan had appeared in the cave, and Gu Liuru vowed to find him as long as he stayed within Great Night Lake.

Li Fuchan fled east across Great Night Lake, suspecting an unknown pursuer who had targeted him before Tribulation Divination. Gu Liuru tracked his movements and used A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales to prepare a trap, leaving the story with an ominous invitation for Li Fuchan to step into the urn.

• Li Fuchan realized someone was pursuing him and wondered whether Huici was behind it, but dismissed the possibility.
• Li Fuchan chose not to flee west into the Buddhist Land and instead doubled back east, relying on his abilities to evade his pursuer.
• Four days later, Gu Liuru found a place where Li Fuchan had stopped and reflected that his target kept slipping away from its divinations.
• Gu Liuru decided to seize Li Fuchan by force before attempting to negotiate with him.
• Gu Liuru used A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales to form an image of a black-robed young man, inscribing the words, “Please step into the urn.”

Li Fuchan recognized the youth's staged sword-retrieval as a trap connected to Three Nothing, then tried to escape. Three Nothing used A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales to pull him back to the bridge, leaving Li Fuchan furious and face-to-face with his pursuer.

• Li Fuchan saw a youth on a bridge claiming his family's heirloom sword had fallen into the lake and recognized him as Gu Liuru's apprentice.
• Li Fuchan realized the scene was a scam and concluded that Three Nothing had been pursuing him since he arrived at Great Night Lake.
• Li Fuchan withdrew, while the youth retrieved a book from the lake and knelt on the bridge, pleading with someone unseen to buy it.
• Three Nothing used A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales to drag Li Fuchan back to the bridge, where he recognized the book's illustration becoming reality.
• Li Fuchan confronted Three Nothing and angrily accused it of flipping the table.

Li Fuchan confronted Three Nothing, exposed it as Yangshe Xu, and questioned the contrived events surrounding them. He realized Three Nothing’s apparent control could not have come from Divine Ability and decided to test his suspicion.

• Three Nothing revealed that it knew Li Fuchan’s Li Thunder had undergone Rift Transformation and tried to unsettle him.
• Li Fuchan named Three Nothing as Yangshe Xu, a Divine-Power Evil Spirit, and challenged its identity and confidence.
• Li Fuchan pointed out that the arch bridge, sword-bearing boy, and his own actions felt forced, as if following a story.
• Li Fuchan reasoned that Three Nothing could not wield Divine Ability at will and decided to test his conjecture.

Li Fuchan deduced that Three Nothing was an Evil Spirit born from the Gold-Gathering Current and relied on A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales as a medium. He tested whether the book imposed a predetermined story by sending a false body to take it, and confirmed his suspicion from what he read.

• Li Fuchan described Wandering Gold and guessed that Yangshe Xu’s second divine ability was the Gold-Gathering Current, startling Three Nothing into demanding to know who he was.
• Li Fuchan concluded that Three Nothing was an Evil Spirit born from the Gold-Gathering Current, but that the book was responsible for the spirit’s extraordinary influence over reality.
• Li Fuchan reasoned that A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales was a powerful Magical Treasure and that Three Nothing used it as a medium to affect events.
• Li Fuchan proposed that the people in the book might be bound to a predetermined story and created a false body using Mirage Pavilion, Flying Glare, and Qi Offering.
• Li Fuchan sent the false body to take A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales and read a page, then smiled when its contents confirmed his suspicion.

Li Fuchan uncovered how Three Nothing used A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales to trap him and influence his mind. He tore the illustration that sustained the illusion and escaped, free of the evil spirit’s hold.

• Li Fuchan read the story and divination in A Plea for Thirty-Six Years of Romantic Tales and realized the book had turned his fear of having his secret exposed into a trap.
• Three Nothing offered Li Fuchan a bargain, but Li Fuchan refused and challenged his interference in the Yang Family’s affairs.
• Li Fuchan recognized that the book required the power of a Divine Ability and that its incomplete illustration showed Three Nothing’s method of influencing him.
• Protected by Embrace-Lock Crouching Cicada, Li Fuchan tore the illustration in half and broke the illusion.
• Li Fuchan returned to the busy Arch Bridge with the book and walked away, leaving Three Nothing behind.