Recaps

Chen Yu gathered enough contribution points to exchange for high-grade spirit essence, but Elder Sun refused and offered only low-grade spirit essence at an inflated price. After repaying his loan, Chen Yu searched for another way to obtain high-grade spirit essence and stopped accepting sparring matches, until Lü Yanyan told him that someone was offering a piece of high-grade spirit essence as the stake.

• Chen Yu brought 500 contribution points to Elder Sun, hoping to exchange them for high-grade spirit essence.
• Elder Sun refused the exchange, claiming high-grade spirit essence was no longer available and offering low-grade spirit essence for 200 points each.
• Chen Yu declined the offer and repaid Elder Sun 330 contribution points in principal and interest.
• Chen Yu considered learning to refine spirit essence himself and resolved to seek high-grade spirit essence by any means necessary.
• Chen Yu turned away the disciples seeking sparring matches and told Lü Yanyan he would not receive visitors.
• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that someone wanted to spar with him and had offered a piece of high-grade spirit essence as the stake.

Chen Yu accepted an inner sect disciple’s sparring challenge, suspecting she knew too much about his need for high-grade spirit essence and his connection to Lü Yanyan. At Ten Thousand Mountains Peak, Ding Yiliu revealed her interest in Wu Wenjie, and Chen Yu told her Elder Sun had refined him into spirit essence.

• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that an inner sect disciple had offered high-grade spirit essence as a sparring wager, and Chen Yu agreed to meet her at Ten Thousand Mountains Peak.
• Chen Yu went to Ten Thousand Mountains Peak the next day, prepared to investigate the challenger and protect his secrets.
• Ding Yiliu introduced herself and led Chen Yu to a quiet, deserted spot.
• Ding Yiliu asked whether Chen Yu knew Wu Wenjie and how he had died.
• Chen Yu told Ding Yiliu that Elder Sun had refined Wu Wenjie into spirit essence, and Ding Yiliu reacted with fury.

Chen Yu told Ding Yiliu how Wu Wenjie died and revealed that he had secretly preserved Wu’s ashes, then pressured her to explain how she had learned about him. After she offered only that a powerful organization was interested in him, Chen Yu returned to the Immortal Ruins and tested a mid-grade spirit essence on the figure in the corridor.

• Ding Yiliu gave Chen Yu a mid-grade spirit essence after he explained that Elder Sun had refined Wu Wenjie into spirit essence.
• Chen Yu questioned Ding Yiliu about her knowledge of him and openly threatened her; when she drew her sword, he revealed he had Wu’s ashes.
• Ding Yiliu said an organization had gathered information about Chen Yu and might invite him if he showed enough potential; she asked to exchange spirit essence for Wu’s ashes.
• Chen Yu agreed to meet Ding Yiliu at Emerald Cloud Peak the next day so she could collect Wu’s ashes.
• Chen Yu returned to the Immortal Ruins and hurled the mid-grade spirit essence at the figure in the corridor.

Chen Yu completed the side hall’s challenge when the last fragment of spirit essence struck the woman’s figure, clearing the black miasma and granting him access. He found the Poison Scripture and four refreshed poisons, and began inspecting the hall’s treasures.

• Chen Yu threw high-grade spirit essence down the corridor, and its final fragment reached the figure before vanishing.
• A message told Chen Yu that he had completed the challenge, removed the black miasma, and could claim the side hall’s treasures upon reaching the golden core realm.
• Chen Yu entered the side hall, took four Detoxification Pills, and read that Hong Lian of the Nether Ruins Sect had left behind the Poison Scripture.
• Chen Yu found the Poison Scripture difficult to understand and examined four jade bottles labeled with descriptions of poisons.

Chen Yu used Poison No. 38 to cultivate the Foundation Establishment Chapter of the True Essence Profound Canon, gaining enough experience to reach its cultivation limit and liquefy some of his true qi. After leaving the Immortal Ruins with Senior Brother Wu’s ashes, he met Ding Yiliu, who came to collect them.

• Chen Yu took Poison No. 38 with heart-calming grass and discovered that its compressive effect let him cultivate the Foundation Establishment Chapter of the True Essence Profound Canon.
• Chen Yu followed a note from another version of himself and repeatedly cultivated until the technique reached its temporary limit and he had 20 allocatable experience points.
• Chen Yu allocated the experience points, causing some of his true qi to liquefy, and decided he would next cultivate the True Yang Technique.
• Chen Yu burned Senior Brother Wu’s remains into ashes, placed them in a wooden box, and left the Immortal Ruins.
• Ding Yiliu arrived to collect Senior Brother Wu’s remains, and Chen Yu gave her the box; she offered him two pieces of spirit essence.

Ding Yiliu thanked Chen Yu for returning Wu Wenjie’s remains, gave him spirit essences and a cultivation manual, and urgently warned him to enter the Inner Sect. After Lü Yanyan feared Chen Yu had disappeared, he shared one spirit essence and the manual with her so she could cultivate faster.

• Ding Yiliu gave Chen Yu two spirit essences and a cultivation manual in gratitude for bringing back Wu Wenjie, then warned him to enter the Inner Sect as soon as possible.
• Ding Yiliu described registered and Outer Sect disciples as livestock, ordered the gathered Emerald Cloud Peak disciples to leave, and departed with Wu Wenjie’s remains.
• Chen Yu wondered why Ding Yiliu had warned him and decided to advance his cultivation faster while avoiding drawing the sect elders’ attention.
• Lü Yanyan arrived in tears, embraced Chen Yu, and was relieved to learn Ding Yiliu had not come to challenge him.
• Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan a spirit essence and the cultivation manual, urging her to raise her cultivation quickly, and she accepted them gratefully.

Chen Yu studied the True Yang Technique but could not figure out how to ignite its fire seed without a fire spirit embryo, so he searched the Poison Scripture for help. After emerging from the Immortal Ruins, he met Lü Yanyan, who rushed over to tell him that something big had happened.

• Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and began studying the True Yang Technique, but realized he lacked the fire spirit embryo needed to cultivate it properly.
• Chen Yu searched the Poison Scripture for a poison that could help ignite the technique’s fire seed, though he found no solution before leaving the Immortal Ruins.
• Chen Yu emerged in the evening and found that the Emerald Cloud Peak disciples had stopped gathering outside his residence after Senior Sister Ding’s reprimand.
• Lü Yanyan hurried over to Chen Yu and told him that something big had happened.

After learning that Ding Yiliu died challenging Elder Sun, Chen Yu took the warnings about danger in the Outer Sect seriously and prepared to advance. He reached the peak of the fourth layer of qi refining and entered the Immortal Ruins to study the Poison Scripture for clues about the True Yang Technique.

• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that Ding Yiliu had challenged Elder Sun and been refined into spirit essence after losing.
• Chen Yu urged Lü Yanyan to focus on cultivation and transferred his 199 contribution points to her for Grain-Avoidance Pills.
• Xiang Baiwei told Chen Yu that her organization had given up recruiting him and urged him to leave the Outer Sect for the Inner Sect before it was too late.
• Chen Yu used the Qi-Concealing Art to reach the peak of the fourth layer of qi refining.
• Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and continued searching the Poison Scripture for a way to cultivate the True Yang Technique.

Over four months, Chen Yu watched hidden factions withdraw members from the Dao Sect’s Outer Sect while the sect ignored the unusual surge in Inner Sect promotions. He continued cultivating and making poisons, and the chapter ended with several untested toxins prepared in the Immortal Ruins.

• Five obscure Outer Sect disciples advanced to the Inner Sect in the first two months, and Chen Yu suspected factions were withdrawing their hidden members.
• Chen Yu’s apparent cultivation reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining, while Senior Sister Lü also broke through; Liu Jun died after falling into debt to Sun-Zheng Lending.
• Four more Outer Sect disciples advanced during the next two months, while the Dao Sect still showed no response.
• Senior Sister Lü visited Chen Yu to announce her progress, discovered his cultivation was at least as strong as hers, and later returned to the inn to cultivate.
• Chen Yu prepared Poison No. 49, Poison No. 53, and Poison No. 41 in the Immortal Ruins, but had not tested their effects.

Chen Yu abandoned his attempt to cultivate the True Yang Technique with poison and discovered that Elder Sun’s new rules had transformed Emerald Cloud Peak. Lü Yanyan survived her cultivation inspection but returned with a message that Elder Sun wanted Chen Yu to come over.

• Chen Yu tested Poison No. 61, suffered intense pain, and decided that cultivating with poison was too dangerous.
• Chen Yu visited the mission board and saw Elder Sun’s new rules burdening the disciples of Emerald Cloud Peak.
• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that the three disciples inspected the previous month had died and feared she would be next.
• Chen Yu reassured Lü Yanyan, but she transferred her 93 contribution points to him before going to Elder Sun.
• Lü Yanyan returned safely from her inspection and told Chen Yu that Elder Sun wanted him to come over.

Chen Yu went to meet Elder Sun, who tried to refine him into spirit essence despite his improved cultivation. An urgent summons from Elder Wu interrupted the attack, and Chen Yu returned determined to kill Elder Sun before he could try again.

• Lü Yanyan worriedly sent Chen Yu to Elder Sun and waited for him to return.
• Chen Yu concealed Poison No. 57 in his sleeve in case Elder Sun attacked him.
• Elder Sun questioned how Chen Yu had advanced, rejected his plan to exchange contribution points for spirit essence, and began refining him.
• An inner sect disciple summoned Elder Sun to see Elder Wu, forcing him to stop and leave after threatening to summon Chen Yu again next month.
• Chen Yu put away the poison and resolved to prepare a more reliable ambush because Elder Sun intended to kill him.

Chen Yu decided to kill Elder Sun before the elder could summon him again, and prepared to use poison and hidden weapons to overcome the stronger cultivator. He left Lü Yanyan with 300 contribution points and began planning his attack inside the Immortal Ruins.

• Chen Yu concluded that Elder Sun intended to kill him and chose to take the initiative rather than wait a month for another summons.
• Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan 300 contribution points and told her to focus on cultivating; she accepted his help without pressing him for answers.
• Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and assessed Elder Sun’s strength, deciding that a direct fight would be too risky.
• Chen Yu planned to combine Hidden Arrows with an array of poisons, using everything at his disposal to trap and kill Elder Sun.

Sun Shengcheng obtained spirit embryo essence in advance and hurried back to his cottage to use it to break through his cultivation bottleneck. After discovering signs that someone had entered, he dismissed the danger—only to find a dark figure inside his room.

• Sun Shengcheng recalled that two more pieces of spirit essence would earn him spirit embryo essence and considered asking Elder Wu for it early.
• Sun Shengcheng persuaded Elder Wu to advance him the spirit embryo essence, agreeing to pay an extra fifty pieces of spirit essence.
• Sun Shengcheng returned to his cottage, drove away disciples waiting to repay their loans, and ordered two days of undisturbed seclusion.
• Sun Shengcheng opened the wooden box containing the spirit embryo essence but paused after noticing disordered bedding and pale-yellow powder.
• Sun Shengcheng decided the powder was harmless dust and turned toward his meditation cushion, where he saw a dark figure in the room.

Chen Yu infiltrated Sun Shengcheng’s cottage and used his concealed presence and Poison No. 57 to make the elder believe he was a powerful cultivator. After questioning Sun Shengcheng, Chen Yu revealed his voice, leaving the elder to recognize him.

• Chen Yu emerged in Sun Shengcheng’s cottage, where Sun Shengcheng mistook his undetectable cultivation for that of a formidable senior.
• Sun Shengcheng found yellow powder where Chen Yu had appeared and decided to report the mysterious intruder to Elder Wu.
• Chen Yu appeared again and passed Sun Shengcheng slips of paper asking his name and position, cultivation, martial skills, and how many disciples he had killed.
• Sun Shengcheng grew suspicious of the questions and demanded to know who Chen Yu was.
• Chen Yu told Sun Shengcheng to guess, and the elder recognized his familiar voice.

Chen Yu confronted Sun Shengcheng at the Thatched Cottage and tested the elder’s strength while pretending to be restrained. He tricked Sun Shengcheng into approaching, then broke through his true qi restraints and struck him with a filthy hand.

• Sun Shengcheng recognized Chen Yu by his voice and build, and Chen Yu revealed himself and proposed that Sun Shengcheng die in his place.
• Sun Shengcheng bound Chen Yu with his true qi and demanded to know how he had appeared and disappeared inside the Thatched Cottage.
• Chen Yu secretly assessed Sun Shengcheng’s seemingly weak true qi but chose to stick to his cautious plan rather than fight head-on.
• Chen Yu baited Sun Shengcheng with an object supposedly in his hand, then showed him an empty, dust-stained palm.
• Chen Yu broke through Sun Shengcheng’s restraints and swung his hand at the elder, ending the chapter with a sharp smack.

Chen Yu prepared to kill Sun Shengcheng after poisoning him and evading his furious attacks. He reappeared and attacked with a sword, and Sun Shengcheng realized something was wrong when their weapons collided.

• Chen Yu slapped Sun Shengcheng twice, then vanished into the Immortal Ruins as Sun Shengcheng unleashed his full strength and raged at the empty air.
• Chen Yu dispelled Sun Shengcheng's strengthened true qi binding and reviewed his poison-based plans while preparing poisoned weapons.
• Chen Yu returned to the Thatched Cottage and attacked Sun Shengcheng with his modified Standard Longsword.
• Sun Shengcheng countered with a sword formed from true qi, but his expression changed when the two weapons collided.

Chen Yu fought Elder Sun, revealing his Foundation Establishment cultivation but struggling against Sun Shengcheng’s superior martial skills. He sprang a hidden arrow trap, but Sun Shengcheng dodged it and seized Chen Yu’s sword, discovering the tiny mechanism and yellow powder on its hilt.

• Chen Yu’s attack matched Sun Shengcheng’s foundation establishment true qi, revealing that Chen Yu had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.
• Sun Shengcheng drew the Crimson Devourer Sword and used varied martial skills to drive Chen Yu into a disadvantage, while Chen Yu relied on the Wind-Riding Art and escapes into the Immortal Ruins.
• Sun Shengcheng concluded that Chen Yu’s inexperience would cost him and tried to make him surrender, but Chen Yu insisted he would win.
• Chen Yu’s sword concealed an arrow that shot at Sun Shengcheng, who narrowly dodged it.
• Sun Shengcheng rushed Chen Yu, took his Standard Longsword, and found the tiny arrow hole and yellow powder on its hilt.

After a poisoned concealed arrow struck Sun Shengcheng, he severed his own arm to survive and prepared a profound-rank attack against Chen Yu. Chen Yu’s poison paralyzed him before he could attack, and Chen Yu began testing another poison on him.

• Sun Shengcheng fired Chen Yu’s concealed-arrow longsword, but the arrow shot backward and struck his left arm.
• After a Detoxification Pill failed to stop the poison, Sun Shengcheng cut off his left arm and vowed to kill Chen Yu.
• Sun Shengcheng began gathering power for a profound-rank martial skill while Chen Yu waited for Poison No. 57 to take effect.
• As Sun Shengcheng reached the peak of his attack, poison paralyzed his body and left him unable to move or speak.
• Chen Yu retrieved the arrows, made Sun Shengcheng inhale white powder that caused his true qi to dissipate, and took out more poison bottles.

Chen Yu killed Elder Sun with Poison No. 53, concealed the evidence, and discovered that Elder Sun’s corpse vanished after briefly reviving inside the Immortal Ruins. He looted Elder Sun’s Storage Ring and found a booklet explaining how to refine spirit essence from Qi Refining cultivators, then turned to examine a wooden box.

• Chen Yu confirmed that Poison No. 49 dissipated Elder Sun’s true qi and Poison No. 53 killed him, then stored the corpse and severed arm in his Storage Ring.
• Chen Yu cleaned the Thatched Cottage, removed traces of blood and footprints, scattered odor-removing powder, and sprinkled Poison No. 57 near the threshold.
• Chen Yu overheard two disciples say Elder Sun had announced he would enter secluded cultivation, then returned to his residence and entered the Immortal Ruins.
• Elder Sun’s corpse revived, reattached its severed arm, and vanished inside the Immortal Ruins while Chen Yu watched.
• Chen Yu searched Elder Sun’s Storage Ring, found a booklet on refining spirit essence from Qi Refining cultivators, and looked at a wooden box.

Chen Yu absorbed a mysterious red stone that turned out to be Spirit Embryo Essence, improving his false spirit embryo into a five-attribute mixed spirit embryo. After learning that Elder Sun had disappeared and that the sect was seeking clues about him and the essence, Chen Yu realized the essence might help him cultivate the True Yang Technique.

• Chen Yu opened a green birchwood box in the Immortal Ruins and absorbed the red stone inside after it transformed into ribbons and merged into his body.
• The system showed that Chen Yu's Spiritual Root had improved from a false spirit embryo to a five-attribute mixed spirit embryo.
• Chen Yu tried to cultivate the True Yang Technique but found his mixed spirit embryo was still too weak to support it.
• Chen Yu spent the next several days researching poisons, specialized weapons, and ways to cultivate the True Yang Technique in the Immortal Ruins.
• Seven days later, Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that Elder Sun had disappeared and might be dead, and that the sect was offering Contribution Points for clues.
• After Lü Yanyan mentioned the missing red stone called Spirit Embryo Essence, Chen Yu recognized it as what he had absorbed and realized how he might cultivate the True Yang Technique.

Elder Wu relayed the Sect Master's orders to investigate Sun Shengcheng's disappearance and appoint a successor to Emerald Cloud Peak, then privately assigned Elder Yun to eliminate three spies. Elder Yun examined poison found at Sun Shengcheng's residence and identified it as a lost formula from the Nether Ruins Sect, leaving the elders uncertain who had used it.

• Elder Wu announced that five elders, including Elder Du, would search the Dao Sect's territory for the spirit embryo essence, and that Inner Sect elders must recommend candidates for Emerald Cloud Peak's vacant position.
• Elder Wu privately gave Elder Yun a list of three spies and ordered him to kill Du Sheng while disguised as He You, the Poison King of the Jade Void Sect.
• Elder Wu showed Elder Yun yellow powder found at Sun Shengcheng's residence, and Elder Yun recognized it as an unusual poison.
• Elder Yun identified the powder as a lost paralyzing poison recorded in the Poison Scripture of the vanished Nether Ruins Sect.
• Elder Yun concluded that whoever made the poison was likely at foundation establishment peak or in the golden core realm, and Elder Wu let him keep the sample.

Chen Yu devised a way to cultivate the True Yang Technique by making a true essence flame himself and absorbing it into his dantian. After successfully creating and swallowing a flame, he began circulating his qi according to the technique, and the system registered that he was cultivating.

• Chen Yu studied Alchemy Advancement and the Poison Scripture to find a method for condensing a true essence flame.
• Chen Yu extracted gathering spirit jade from eight bracelets and took fire-attribute materials from the Pill Hall's materials room.
• Chen Yu filled a piece of gathering spirit jade with true qi, added fire-attribute energy from flint amber stone, and created a true essence flame.
• Chen Yu tested a flame's duration, then made another and swallowed it into his dantian.
• Chen Yu began cultivating the True Yang Technique, and the system displayed that he was cultivating.

Chen Yu cultivated the True Yang Technique with true essence flame and gained a true essence fire seed that strengthened his fire-attribute spirit embryo. He chose an earth-attribute manual to cultivate next, then encountered Xiang Baiwei in the Dining Hall.

• Chen Yu gained sixteen experience points by cultivating the True Yang Technique with true essence flame and converted them into levels.
• The experience conversion created a true essence fire seed in Chen Yu's dantian, allowing him to summon powerful true flame and refining the fire-attribute portion of his spirit embryo.
• Chen Yu chose the defensive earth-attribute Mountain-Subduing Technique and left the Immortal Ruins before beginning its cultivation.
• Chen Yu heard disciples on Emerald Cloud Peak assume Elder Sun was dead and praise whoever had killed him, while he concealed that he was responsible.
• Chen Yu entered the Dining Hall and spotted Xiang Baiwei among the diners.

Chen Yu warned Lü Yanyan not to spend her contribution points and changed both their token balances before a new elder arrived at Emerald Cloud Peak and began an audit. After Elder Li’s harsh crackdown, Chen Yu avoided scrutiny and returned to cultivating in the Immortal Ruins.

• Chen Yu suspected the Dao Sect would audit contribution points when a new elder took over, so he warned Lü Yanyan not to spend hers and changed her token balance back to 53.
• Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan another piece of spirit essence, and she caught his wrist as he was leaving, hinting that she wanted to repay his kindness.
• Three days later, Elder Li arrived at Emerald Cloud Peak and ordered a contribution-point audit, mandatory monthly meetings, and renewed enforcement against disciples whose cultivation had stagnated.
• Elder Li had more than a dozen disciples refined into spirit essence and arranged for their outstanding loans to remain payable, with one year of interest waived.
• Chen Yu escaped Elder Li’s scrutiny thanks to his low contribution-point balance and resumed cultivating the Mountain-Subduing Technique in the Immortal Ruins.

Two years after Elder Du disappeared, Chen Yu sensed that the Dao Sect’s outer sect was approaching a major upheaval as its rules tightened and disciples stopped entering the inner sect. When Lü Yanyan prepared to break through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining, Chen Yu revealed that he could break through too and decided to visit Senior Zhang at the Scripture Repository before joining her in the inner sect.

• Elder Du of Ten Thousand Mountains Peak disappeared, and Chen Yu wondered whether someone had copied his killing of Elder Sun.
• Over the next two years, the Dao Sect tightened its outer sect policies, while inner sect admissions dwindled and Xiang Baiwei entered the inner sect.
• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu that she was close to breaking through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining, and he said his bottleneck had loosened as well.
• Lü Yanyan wondered how Chen Yu kept matching her progress, but he smiled without explaining and let her leave after they shared a spell of intimacy.
• Chen Yu used the Qi-Concealing Art to appear to reach the seventh layer of Qi Refining and decided to visit Senior Zhang before entering the inner sect.