Recaps

Yang Qing refused to accept the Sacred Bone Token just to meet Wood’s clansmen, forcing Wood to lead him and his companions to the Hidden Clan. The group passed through a concealed well entrance and reached the clan’s homes, which stood above a vast wetland.

• Yang Qing questioned Wood about his companions and started to leave when Wood insisted he accept the Sacred Bone Token first.
• Wood relented and led Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou to a well on the shaded side of the hill.
• Wood revealed that his Hidden Clan lived beneath the well and raised a wooden bucket to carry them down.
• Bu Er opened a concealed stone door, and the group passed through another door that dusted them with the clan’s cleansing powder.
• Yang Qing and his companions discovered that the Hidden Clan’s houses stood on tall wooden posts above wetlands.

Wood brought Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou into the Hidden Clan and introduced them to its Clan Chief, who recognized the significance of their journey through the Underground Palace and Yang Qing's refusal of the Sacred Bone Token. After inviting them into his hut, the Clan Chief acknowledged that the clan would not have brought them there this way if it had had another choice, while Yang Qing sensed danger inside.

• Wood led Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou through the wetlands as Hidden Clan members gathered around them.
• The Clan Chief attacked Yang Qing, but Jiang Zhizhou blocked his strike and forced him back.
• Wood told the Clan Chief that the guests had come through the Underground Palace and that Yang Qing had refused the Sacred Bone Token.
• Wood explained that Yang Qing and his companions had exposed his concealment, leaving him unable to return to his former duties aboveground.
• The Clan Chief brought the three guests into his hut, where Yang Qing felt his blood stir and sensed an elusive danger.
• The Clan Chief said he would not have invited them there in this manner if the Hidden Clan had another choice.

Yang Qing learned that the Hidden Clan had ties to the Immortal Thunder Kingdom and needed his help to save their people from exposure. The Old Clan Chief revealed that Yang Qing carried the kingdom’s dormant bloodline inheritance, but Yang Qing remained wary of the clan’s intentions as they went to rest.

• Yang Qing asked why the Hidden Clan had drawn them into the search for the Immortal Thunder Kingdom’s Underground Palace.
• The Old Clan Chief explained that the Hidden Clan descended from the Immortal Thunder Kingdom’s people and faced disaster if its bloodline was exposed when its Concealment Formation failed.
• The Old Clan Chief said Yang Qing could help resolve the clan’s crisis and hinted that the Hidden Clan could aid him against the Sacred Emperor.
• The Old Clan Chief revealed that Yang Qing had inherited the Immortal Thunder Kingdom’s bloodline, which had not yet awakened, and asked whether he wanted to unify the world.
• Yang Qing said he only wanted to restore peace and would see his own entanglement through to the end; the Old Clan Chief then sent him and his companions to rest.
• At the stilt house, Yang Qing told his companions they could trust some of the Old Clan Chief’s words, but that the clan expected something in return.

Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou joined the Old Clan Chief in a blood ritual to awaken their Divine Bloodlines. The Old Clan Chief collapsed after sacrificing his blood, leaving the three awakened and newly bound to the Hidden Clan’s hopes.

• Wood served Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou breakfast and took them to the Old Clan Chief.
• The Old Clan Chief used his bloodletting knife to raise their stone platform high above the water.
• The Old Clan Chief explained that the three had inherited the Divine Bloodline and that the ritual would awaken it.
• The Old Clan Chief asked Yang Qing to look after the Hidden Clan as he bled to complete the sacrifice.
• The Old Clan Chief collapsed, and inscription-like patterns appeared on the three visitors, confirming that their Divine Bloodlines had awakened.

After the Old Clan Chief died, Yang Qing accepted the Sacred Bone Token and the responsibility of saving the Hidden Clan. Wood agreed to accompany him outside, but first insisted they visit the Immortal Thunder Kingdom's Treasure Vault to retrieve something essential.

• The Old Clan Chief collapsed after awakening the Divine Bloodlines of Yang Qing, Bu Er, and their companion, and the Hidden Clan members carried his body away.
• Wood gave Yang Qing the Sacred Bone Token and explained that the clan had only one month left to live and regarded Yang Qing as their last hope.
• Yang Qing agreed to do what he could for the Hidden Clan, whose members dispersed after accepting his decision.
• Wood told Yang Qing that the clan could not safely appear before the world, then agreed to leave with him and his companions.
• Wood revealed that the Hidden Clan knew the location of the Immortal Thunder Kingdom's Treasure Vault and said Yang Qing had to take one particular item from it.

Wood explained that the Hidden Clan needed the Spirit-Passing Treasure Pearl to escape its deadly bloodline and said it lay somewhere in the Immortal Thunder Kingdom Underground Palace beneath the Lake. Yang Qing and his companions entered the filthy water with Wood, beginning their search before their Water-Repelling Garments expired.

• Wood told Yang Qing that the Spirit-Passing Treasure Pearl could let the Hidden Clan live normally for ten years and allow it to have normal descendants.
• Yang Qing realized the Hidden Clan had likely served as a barrier protecting the Immortal Thunder People, and Wood confirmed the Pearl was inside the Underground Palace beneath the Lake.
• Wood explained that the Pearl could change its appearance, but would sense Yang Qing's awakened Immortal Thunder Kingdom bloodline.
• Wood gave Yang Qing and his two companions Water-Repelling Garments and warned they had only a quarter of an hour to reach the passage entrance.
• Wood led them into the Lake, and Bu Er slipped an extra filth-warding garment over Yang Qing before they plunged beneath the surface.

Yang Qing, Bu Er, Jiang Zhizhou, and Wood entered the Immortal Thunder Kingdom Underground Palace to search for the Spirit-Communing Pearl, while Wood warned them of legends about surviving Immortal Thunder Kingdom people. After exploring many preserved cave dwellings, they found one that Bu Er said was different.

• Yang Qing, Bu Er, Jiang Zhizhou, and Wood found the palace entrance underwater, left their Water-Repelling Garments behind, and entered.
• Wood warned the others to stay close and explained that legends spoke of Immortal Thunder Kingdom people still living in the palace.
• Wood told them that the lake had once turned clear on the Mid-Autumn Festival of every leap year, revealing silhouettes walking along its bed, though it had not done so for years.
• The group reached a settlement of preserved caves and inspected their simple furnishings without touching anything.
• After searching several similar caves, Bu Er noticed that one cave was different.

Yang Qing and his companions discovered that a cave marked with an inscription led to another realm, where a wasteland had suddenly become a recently harvested Wheatfield. As indistinct figures began harvesting invisible wheat around them, Yang Qing realized they had entered a dangerous situation.

• Bu Er, Yang Qing, and Jiang Zhizhou examined a cave with swaying gauze curtains and a faint light, but their tests revealed no obvious formation or trap.
• Yang Qing noticed an inscription above the cave and reasoned that the light beyond it marked a passage; Bu Er searched nearby caves and confirmed that none had the same inscription.
• Bu Er scouted through the cave and found it quiet, so Yang Qing and the others followed him into another realm.
• The group emerged into a Wheatfield where Bu Er had seen wasteland less than an incense stick earlier, and Yang Qing found freshly cut stalks with wet roots.
• Indistinct figures carrying curved sickles approached and repeatedly harvested wheat that was not there, leaving Yang Qing and his companions facing an unexplained danger.

Yang Qing and his companions discovered that cutting the silk ribbons caused strange ears of wheat to grow, and the Immortal Thunder Kingdom people began eating them and approaching with red eyes. Yang Qing identified them as the Underground Palace’s Living Dead and prepared to confront them to reach whatever lay beyond the Wheatfield.

• Jiang Zhizhou suspected the strange harvesters were people from the Immortal Thunder Kingdom, while Wood recalled that his ancestor had reached the far end of the Wheatfield.
• Yang Qing proposed cutting the silk ribbons to test whether they concealed a mechanism, and Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou cut away a large section.
• Ears of wheat grew across the field, and Bu Er cut off two for Yang Qing, who found red beadlike grains inside that dissolved into water.
• The harvesters discarded their sickles, ate the ears of wheat, and approached Yang Qing and his companions with vivid red eyes.
• Wood recognized the approaching figures as Immortal Thunder Kingdom people, and Yang Qing concluded they were Living Dead guardians and destroyers of the Underground Palace.
• Yang Qing said they would have to deal with the Living Dead to explore beyond the Wheatfield, then reached out and lightly patted one of them.

Yang Qing discovered that his bloodline could make the wooden-looking Immortal Thunder Kingdom people disappear, while Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou subdued others who blocked the cave entrance. As they searched for the Spirit-Passing Treasure Pearl, Wood realized the group might have encountered the Yin-Yang Person.

• Yang Qing struck a wooden-looking man, who vanished, and suspected his bloodline was responsible when another disappeared the same way.
• Yang Qing concluded that the trapped people shared his ancestry and told Bu Er they could not wipe them all out.
• The red-eyed people retreated to the silk-hung cave and blocked its entrance, prompting Yang Qing to suspect one of them carried the Spirit-Passing Treasure Pearl.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou thrust their swords at the wooden-looking people, who dropped to their knees without resisting.
• Yang Qing demanded that the kneeling people reveal the pearl's location, but they stared blankly at him.
• Wood pulled Yang Qing toward the wheat field and warned that the group might have encountered the Yin-Yang Person.

Wood pulled Yang Qing away from the cave before the people there transformed into dangerous yin-yang people. Yang Qing realized the Wheatfield might be free of their deathly aura and suspected the Spirit-Communicating Pearl lay at the center of a formation within it.

• Wood dragged Yang Qing into the Wheatfield, and Bu Er followed and demanded an explanation.
• Wood explained that some Immortal Thunder Kingdom people divided their souls, becoming yin-yang people who could lose their reason and infect others through touch.
• The people by the cave transformed, and Yang Qing realized Wood had saved him from being infected by their deathly poison.
• Wood said the Spirit-Communicating Pearl would not be carried by the yin-yang people because it rejected the aura of death.
• Yang Qing suspected the Wheatfield was untainted by that aura, recognized a Yin-Yang Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Formation, and told Bu Er to search it with Xiao Zhou.

Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou broke the Eight Trigrams formation in the Wheatfield to search for the Spirit-Communicating Pearl. When the pearl burst out, Wood used a strange whistle-like object to suppress it, and stopped Yang Qing from touching it.

• Jiang Zhizhou sensed no unusual aura inside the formation, but agreed with Yang Qing that the Spirit-Communicating Pearl was likely somewhere in the Wheatfield.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou disrupted the formation’s Yin-Yang balance while Yang Qing and Wood guarded its perimeter.
• A brilliant light shot out of the Wheatfield, and Wood used a silent whistle-like object to slow and suppress it.
• Yang Qing recognized the light as a fragrant pearl and reached toward it, but Wood slapped his hand away and warned him not to touch it.

Yang Qing retrieved the Spirit-Communicating Pearl by bleeding into its special box, despite the danger to his health. With the pearl secured and the Underground Palace beginning to tremble, the group hurried to escape.

• The Spirit-Communicating Pearl emerged from the Eight Trigrams Formation, and Wood confirmed it was the real pearl.
• Wood warned Yang Qing that the special box required heart's blood and could harm anyone unable to subdue it.
• Yang Qing fed blood from one finger into the box, then had Jiang Zhizhou cut his other hand when the box had not fully opened.
• The box transformed and opened just before the one-hour limit, safely containing the Spirit-Communicating Pearl.
• Wood warned that taking the pearl might cause the Immortal Thunder Underground Palace to collapse, and Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou supported Yang Qing as they hurried out of the wheat field.

Yang Qing, Bu Er, Jiang Zhizhou, and Wood escaped the collapsing Underground Palace through a flooded passage. They reached shore, where Jiang Zhizhou revealed that a horned, turtle-like creature had bitten Bu Er and left him in grave danger.

• Yang Qing and the others fled Wheatfield as the Underground Palace shook and its passages began collapsing.
• A surge of lake water swept Bu Er out of the passage before he could finish putting on his Water-Repelling Garment, and Jiang Zhizhou went after him.
• Yang Qing and Wood reached the lake’s surface first, then Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou emerged safely, though Jiang Zhizhou said Bu Er was badly injured.
• Jiang Zhizhou brought Bu Er to shore and told Yang Qing that a turtle-like creature with a horn had bitten him underwater.
• Wood rinsed Bu Er’s wounds with clean water as Jiang Zhizhou described the creature as at least as large as a chessboard.

Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou told Yang Qing that a horned turtle had attacked Bu Er in the Lake, leaving Yang Qing to wonder whether it guarded the Immortal Thunder Underground Palace’s buried treasures. Yang Qing set the mystery aside and focused on using the Spirit-Communicating Pearl to lead the surviving Hidden Clan members out, while the interim Clan Chief privately resented him and hoped he and his companions would die.

• Bu Er stayed silent when Yang Qing asked where the turtle had hurt him, so Jiang Zhizhou joked that Bu Er had nearly lost his chastity.
• Yang Qing questioned Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou about the turtle, then speculated that it might have appeared to draw their attention or guard the Underground Palace’s treasures.
• Yang Qing decided to leave the turtle’s whereabouts alone and prioritize leading the surviving Hidden Clan members out with the Spirit-Communicating Pearl.
• The interim Clan Chief recalled losing the position he had coveted and privately hoped Yang Qing and his companions would die while searching the Lake.

Yang Qing realized the Hidden Clan's old man had obtained a life-extension secret art by taking blood from a Yin-Yang Person, while secretly gathering clan members who opposed leaving the Lake. Wood was alarmed by the danger to his people, and the group was left to investigate the old man's plans and the turtle's unexplained bite.

• Wood and Jiang Zhizhou brought Bu Er to the old man, who said the turtle's bite could not be treated because the Old Clan Chief's medicinal herbs had disappeared.
• Wood accused the old man of taking the herbs, and the old man claimed he could strengthen the Hidden Clan and had found a life-extension secret art in the Immortal Thunder Underground Palace.
• Yang Qing noticed the old man's red-veined eyes resembled those of the Yin-Yang Person and stopped Wood from confronting him further.
• Bu Er said his wound felt strange, and Jiang Zhizhou guarded the doorway while Yang Qing explained that the old man and his followers had likely taken a Yin-Yang Person's blood.
• Wood realized that the old man had put the Hidden Clan in danger by making people drink the Yin-Yang Person's blood.

The Hidden Clan split over whether to follow the Old Clan Chief’s plan or stay with the Great Elder and use the Life-Extension Secret Art. Yang Qing arranged to lead the unaffected clansmen away while he and his companions dealt with those tainted by Yin-Yang Blood, and he suggested a turtle beneath the water might help save them.

• More than half of the Hidden Clan chose to stay with the Great Elder and learn the Life-Extension Secret Art, while the rest supported leaving with Yang Qing and his companions.
• The Great Elder turned the clansmen against Wood when he tried to warn them about the Yin-Yang People and the danger of their blood.
• Yang Qing urged Wood to take the unaffected clansmen somewhere separate and leave at dawn, while he and his companions handled those remaining.
• Wood realized the Great Elder had obtained the Demon Pearl, which let him suppress Yin-Yang Blood and control the tainted clansmen.
• Yang Qing explained that something supremely yang and pure might counter the Yin-Yang Blood, then suggested the turtle beneath the water.

Wood used two drops of Bu Er’s blood to cure his closest friend of Yin-Yang Blood poison, but the man betrayed him and led Hidden Clan members to capture Bu Er. As footsteps approached their lakeside room at night, Wood realized his friend had helped bring danger to them.

• Wood proposed using Bu Er’s blood to counteract Yin-Yang Blood poison and brought his closest friend to be treated.
• Bu Er gave the man two drops of blood, curing him, and the man thanked them before leaving.
• Yang Qing worried that Bu Er could not provide enough blood for the hundreds of poisoned Hidden Clan members and said they still needed to find the turtle.
• At night, Jiang Zhizhou heard many people approaching, and Wood recognized his supposedly cured friend urging the Hidden Clan members to capture Bu Er.

Wood and Yang Qing faced a clan group that had surrounded Wood’s house to seize Bu Er’s mutated blood. Wood confronted his former sworn brother, who defended the plan as a way to improve the clansmen’s lives.

• Wood realized Bu Er’s apparent recovery had been an act and that his blood had awakened the dormant Bloodthirst Factor.
• Yang Qing stopped an enraged Wood from rushing outside, and the group decided to wait and see what their pursuers intended.
• Old Yang’s men broke down Wood’s door, but Wood stopped Old Yang with his Soft Whip and rendered him unable to speak.
• Wood warned the crowd not to enter his house, and his former sworn brother stepped forward to accuse him of siding with foreigners over the clan.
• Wood rejected his former brother’s claim that seizing Bu Er’s blood would fulfill the Old Clan Chief’s hopes for the clansmen.

Wood fought the Hidden Clan members who tried to seize Bu Er’s blood, while Yang Qing’s companions joined the struggle. As the attackers’ Yin-Yang Blood activated and turned them feral, Jiangli stopped a sword aimed at Yang Qing and appeared to offer a box.

• Wood rejected the Hidden Clan members’ accusations and attacked one of them, deciding to protect Bu Er and knock the others unconscious.
• The Hidden Clan members swarmed Wood, and Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou joined the fight to help him.
• The attackers’ eyes turned red as their Yin-Yang Blood activated, making them attack like the Living Dead.
• A Hidden Clan member slipped through the melee and thrust a sword at Yang Qing, but Jiangli nudged the blade into a wooden wall with one paw.
• Jiangli waved at Yang Qing with a box in its paw and suggested there was no need to fight the muddleheaded attackers.

Jiangli used the Spirit-Communicating Pearl to give Yang Qing a way to fight the Hidden Clan members, but the pearl accidentally entered Yang Qing's body. Jiangli explained that Yang Qing now had to channel its power through his talismans to purify the Yin-Yang Blood.

• Jiangli took out the Spirit-Communicating Pearl and sent it flying into Yang Qing's mouth, where it dissolved inside him.
• At Jiangli's urging, Yang Qing drew Restraint Talismans with his sword, immobilizing the Hidden Clan members who had wanted to seize Wood.
• Yang Qing asked Jiangli what good it did to trap the Hidden Clan members, and Jiangli explained that the pearl's power now depended on Yang Qing.
• Jiangli instructed Yang Qing to clear his mind and trace the talismans with his fingers, channeling the pearl's spiritual power so the trapped members would have to confront it if they tried to escape.

Yang Qing and the others used a blood-drawn Restraint Talisman to weaken the Hidden Clan members afflicted by Yin-Yang Blood, but the giant turtle surfaced and flooded their settlement. Wood revealed that the turtle’s appearance signaled an outside enemy’s arrival and named Emperor Zetian as the only other person who could enter.

• Jiangli had Yang Qing mix his blood into the Restraint Talisman and draw a barrier inside the wooden house.
• Yang Qing, Wood, Bu Er, and the others waited outside as the talisman tripped the Hidden Clan members and diluted their Yin-Yang Blood.
• Some Hidden Clan members regained their senses and pushed their fallen clansmen onto the talisman so they could escape.
• The lake began surging, and Bu Er recognized the pitch-black shape rising from it as the giant turtle.
• Wood warned that the settlement was about to flood, and Yang Qing and the others fled to higher ground as the turtle submerged the houses.
• Wood explained that the turtle was the Hidden Clan’s Guardian Deity and said Emperor Zetian was the only other person who could enter their hidden land.

Wood and Jiangli urged Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou to awaken the legendary Black Tortoise Heavy Armor by combining their Divine Bloodline with the Divine Turtle’s blood. After Yang Qing shed blood onto the turtle’s shell, the group and the Divine Turtle vanished beneath the Lake.

• Yang Qing realized the Hidden Clan’s wards could not stop Emperor Zetian and feared an imminent confrontation.
• Wood recalled a legend linking the Divine Turtle to the Black Tortoise and told Yang Qing to climb onto its back.
• Jiangli explained that Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou could use their Divine Bloodline to awaken the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor and protect themselves.
• Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou stood on the Divine Turtle’s back as it began sinking into the Lake.
• Bu Er gave Yang Qing his dagger, and Yang Qing cut his wrist; his blood disappeared into the turtle’s shell before a thunderclap sounded and the group vanished into a whirlpool.

Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou emerged from the Lake wearing the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor, then took Wood underwater to reveal its secret. The chapter ended with golden light covering Wood as he closed his eyes and let it enter his body.

• Yang Qing and his companions rose from the Lake in glowing armor, which vanished once they reached the surface.
• Wood recognized the armor as the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor, while the Hidden Clan members eyed the group but hesitated to attack.
• Wood warned his clansmen to behave, and Bu Er pulled him along as the group disappeared beneath the Lake.
• Bu Er explained that the armor let them move underwater without Water-Repelling Garments, and Yang Qing confirmed it was the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor.
• Bu Er pushed Wood into a cramped underwater cave, where golden light covered him, and Yang Qing told him to stay still and let it enter his body.

Wood entered the cave to undergo the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor's selection despite lacking the Divine Bloodline. The armor accepted him, but as the group was drawn back toward the surface, Wood pulled Yang Qing toward a whirlpool at the bottom of the Lake.

• Yang Qing and the others waited anxiously outside the cave, fearing the armor might reject Wood and cripple him or strip them of their armor.
• The cave's golden light intensified until the cave crumbled, revealing Wood in golden armor with his eyes still shut.
• Yang Qing praised the armor's acceptance of Wood as another whirlpool formed at the bottom of the Lake.
• Yang Qing grabbed Wood's arm, but Wood pulled him toward the whirlpool, and Bu Er lunged to save them.