Recaps

Chen Yu broke through to the second layer of Foundation Establishment and tested whether his five spirit seeds could strengthen one another through the cycle of the five elements. He began cultivating his manuals again to see if the cycle would accelerate his progress.

• Lü Yanyan told Chen Yu she was building a fence around their homes after feeling watched, and he realized she had sensed his divine sense.
• After learning Lü Yanyan had not seen Shen Fei, Chen Yu decided to seek him out after breaking through so he could give up the position of Nine-Bend Peak's Senior Master Brother.
• Chen Yu finished cultivating the Yi Wood Heart Sutra, used his experience points, and formed a wood spirit seed as he advanced to the second layer of Foundation Establishment.
• Chen Yu considered learning escape techniques for the other elements after mastering the Water Escape Technique.
• Chen Yu linked his five spirit seeds in the cycle of the five elements generating one another and began cultivating his manuals to test the effect.

Chen Yu discovered that the five-element cycle let his system train six cultivation manuals at once, but cultivating the True Essence Profound Canon with Poison No. 38 repeatedly erased his short-term memory. Lü Yanyan realized he was testing the poison on himself and left determined to give him a proper boost that night.

• Chen Yu realized that the five spirit seeds made the system count all six manuals as cultivating, and he expected to advance quickly through the Foundation Establishment realm.
• Chen Yu swallowed a quarter of Poison No. 38 and cultivated the True Essence Profound Canon, repeatedly forgetting Lü Yanyan’s visits and questions.
• Lü Yanyan noticed Chen Yu kept asking why she was tying bells to the fence and checked that the work had changed, confirming the scene was not repeating in a loop.
• Lü Yanyan confronted Chen Yu about his memory loss, and he explained that it was a temporary effect of testing a new poison on himself.
• Lü Yanyan left after Chen Yu reassured her, quietly deciding to give him a proper boost that night.

Chen Yu tried to arrange for Shen Fei to poison him so he could relinquish the position of Nine-Bend Peak's Senior Master Brother. Shen Fei instead admired Chen Yu's skill and generosity, and the group headed to Chen Yu's residence with Cao Jun and Li Wei as witnesses.

• Chen Yu finished cultivating the True Essence Profound Canon to its limit, converted his Experience Points into cultivation, and went to visit Shen Fei.
• Shen Fei told Chen Yu he had stopped adding poison to his meals and had turned his attention to studying the Poison Path.
• Shen Fei showed Chen Yu his Soft-Bone Powder formula, and Chen Yu suggested replacing red-tailed scorpion tail powder with Ghost King Scorpion Corpse Powder.
• Chen Yu offered to give Shen Fei Ghost King Scorpions and invited Cao Jun and Li Wei to come along, hoping they would witness Shen Fei poisoning him at his residence.
• Shen Fei followed Chen Yu, convinced that the position of Nine-Bend Peak's Senior Master Brother rightfully belonged to him.

Chen Yu displayed poisonous creatures from Black Mist Marsh and deliberately presented himself as weakened from testing poison on his own body, hoping Shen Fei would seize the chance to poison him. Shen Fei instead admired Chen Yu’s supposed devotion to the poison path, and Chen Yu went inside with the others, ready to create another opportunity.

• Shen Fei, Cao Jun, and Li Wei admired the rare poisonous creatures Chen Yu had left drying outside his residence.
• Shen Fei praised Chen Yu’s courage in gathering the creatures, then warned Cao Jun and Li Wei that the carcasses remained dangerous even when dried.
• Lü Yanyan brought Chen Yu spirit ginseng and pigeon soup, and Shen Fei realized Chen Yu was not injured.
• Chen Yu claimed he had tested a new poison on himself and explained his supposed method of carefully learning from its effects.
• Shen Fei and the other disciples admired Chen Yu’s self-discipline, while Chen Yu went inside with them and planned to create an opening for Shen Fei to poison him.

Chen Yu tried to make Shen Fei reclaim the position of Nine-Bend Peak's Senior Master Brother by engineering an apparent poisoning, and Shen Fei eventually realized Chen Yu had staged the incident. After the others left, Chen Yu revealed he was unharmed and celebrated being free of the position.

• Lü Yanyan brought Chen Yu spirit ginseng and pigeon soup, and Shen Fei arrived with Cao Jun and Li Wei to discuss his Soft-Bone Powder formula.
• Chen Yu gave Shen Fei a chance to poison him, but Shen Fei instead protected Chen Yu's dinner and carefully prepared the powder.
• Chen Yu arranged for Shen Fei to accidentally scatter the Soft-Bone Powder onto him in front of Cao Jun and Li Wei, making it appear that Shen Fei had poisoned him to reclaim the senior position.
• Chen Yu pretended to collapse and declared that Shen Fei had regained the position, while Lü Yanyan rushed in with her sword drawn and Chen Yu later took a Detoxification Pill.
• After Shen Fei, Cao Jun, and Li Wei left, Chen Yu admitted to Lü Yanyan that he had been pretending and celebrated his release from the position.
• Shen Fei told Cao Jun and Li Wei that Chen Yu had deliberately caused the incident, then left them bewildered.

Chen Yu reached the peak of Foundation Establishment’s third layer and found himself one experience point short of the Golden Core Realm, which he believed required a Core Formation Secret Art. Preparing for Wei Yang’s possible resurrection, he tried to refine a Spirit-Restoring Pill but ran out of supreme heart-calming grass and went to Purple Bamboo Peak to seek more.

• Chen Yu studied the Poison Scripture and Array Dao Manual, and his cultivation advanced to the peak of Foundation Establishment’s third layer, leaving him one experience point short of the Golden Core Realm.
• Chen Yu concluded that he needed a Core Formation Secret Art to gain the final experience point and resolved to prepare for Wei Yang’s resurrection before breaking through.
• Chen Yu reviewed the Spirit-Restoring Pill’s role in Wei Yang’s scheme and decided to refine one, hoping to make Wei Yang revive inside a dog that had taken the Child Pill.
• Chen Yu failed several attempts to refine the pill, then switched to a gathering spirit jade for a steadier flame but still produced a blackish-yellow pill.
• Chen Yu ran out of supreme heart-calming grass and left for Purple Bamboo Peak to find more.

Chen Yu headed to Purple Bamboo Peak to obtain supreme heart-calming grass and accepted three spirit essences from Shen Fei to pay for it. Since the route passed Emerald Cloud Peak, he stopped there to visit Zhang Jiuge and continued up the mountain.

• Shen Fei gave Chen Yu three high-grade spirit essences as thanks for his help with a poison formula, and Chen Yu agreed to trade him more Ghost King Scorpion corpses later.
• Zhao Meng challenged Chen Yu for still being addressed as Senior Brother, so Shen Fei slapped him and declared Chen Yu the true Senior Master Brother of Nine-Bend Peak.
• Chen Yu crossed the ravine by Heavenly Chasm Peak and headed toward Purple Bamboo Peak with the spirit essences.
• Chen Yu decided to visit Zhang Jiuge at Emerald Cloud Peak because it lay along his route, and the disciples there respectfully greeted him as an Inner Sect Disciple.

Chen Yu returned to Emerald Cloud Peak and found its disciples strained by new rules and Dispatch Mission incentives. After Senior Zhang Jiuge warned him that the peak master had returned, Chen Yu left and sensed a powerful Golden Core aura, then encountered Senior Brother Li on the way to Purple Bamboo Peak.

• Chen Yu saw that Emerald Cloud Peak's disciples faced stricter assignment rules and pressure to volunteer for Dispatch Missions.
• Chen Yu found Senior Zhang Jiuge frail and learned from him that the peak master had returned, so he decided to leave.
• Chen Yu told Senior Zhang Jiuge that Elder Jin, who had taken over a female disciple's body and practiced the True Essence Profound Canon, was dead.
• Senior Zhang Jiuge thanked Chen Yu for the news and murmured, "Little Lei..."
• Chen Yu left Emerald Cloud Peak, sensed a surge of true qi at least as powerful as the second layer of Golden Core, and hurried toward Purple Bamboo Peak.
• Chen Yu encountered Senior Brother Li on the way, and Senior Brother Li greeted him in surprise.

Chen Yu returned to the Outer Sect for supreme heart-calming grass and learned that Peak Master Gao had made life difficult for Elder Li and the disciples. Back at Nine-Bend Peak, Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and successfully refined a Spirit-Restoring Pill on his fourth attempt.

• Chen Yu met Elder Li, who explained that Peak Master Gao had returned and was now harshly restricting him.
• Chen Yu visited Purple Bamboo Peak and saw that the Heavenly Union Association's headquarters had been demolished and replaced with spirit fields.
• Chen Yu spent one piece of high-grade spirit essence to obtain four stalks of supreme heart-calming grass.
• Chen Yu told Lü Yanyan about the Outer Sect's changed conditions, then returned to his residence and entered seclusion.
• Chen Yu reviewed the Spirit-Restoring Pill recipe and failed at his first three attempts before successfully refining the pill on his fourth.

Chen Yu gave Shen Fei Ghost King Scorpion Corpse Powder and learned that he and four other disciples would represent Nine-Bend Peak in the Three-Sect Grand Competition in three months. He encouraged Lü Yanyan to cultivate for the competition, then returned to the Immortal Ruins to prepare poisons and formations for the threat in the Pill Hall.

• Chen Yu stored the Spirit-Restoring Pill and came out of seclusion to meet Shen Fei, who had waited outside with Lü Yanyan.
• Chen Yu gave Shen Fei a bottle of Ghost King Scorpion Corpse Powder, and Shen Fei told him that the Three-Sect Grand Competition would take place in three months.
• Chen Yu learned that he, Shen Fei, Cao, Li, and Lü Yanyan would represent Nine-Bend Peak in the competition.
• Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan a piece of high-grade spirit essence and urged her to improve her cultivation before the competition.
• Chen Yu entered the Immortal Ruins and decided to prepare poisons first for the Coffin in the Pill Hall.

Chen Yu tested No. 88 Poison on the mysterious person in the coffin, then prepared a Spirit-Restoring Pill plan by turning a stray dog into a spirit beast. After studying formations for a week, he discovered an intruder had become trapped near his residence in the Star-Dipper Maze Formation.

• Chen Yu poured No. 88 Poison into the coffin and heard a thump from inside, confirming that something within could be affected.
• Chen Yu caught a stray dog, fed it a Spirit-Restoring Pill, and tethered it outside his residence; Lü Yanyan named it Big Yellow.
• Chen Yu spent seven days developing No. 93 Poison and studying the Array Dao Manual while Lü Yanyan grew close to Big Yellow.
• Big Yellow barked at a furtive figure wandering outside Chen Yu's residence, and Chen Yu recognized that the Star-Dipper Maze Formation had trapped the intruder.
• Chen Yu stepped outside to confront the intruder while Lü Yanyan returned to her room.

Chen Yu trapped Li Zhe in the Star-Dipper Maze Formation and used divine pressure to uncover that he was an Azure Void Society member sent to recruit him. After wondering whether the upcoming Three-Sect Grand Competition prompted the sudden invitation, Chen Yu confronted Li Zhe and asked why the Society wanted him now.

• Chen Yu noticed Li Zhe wandering near his residence and realized the Star-Dipper Maze Formation had trapped him.
• After hours of failing to reach or escape the house, Li Zhe heard Chen Yu's voice and claimed he had come to visit Chen Yu.
• Chen Yu accused Li Zhe of belonging to the White Lotus Sect or the Azure Void Society, and Li Zhe confessed he belonged to the Azure Void Society.
• Under Chen Yu's questioning, Li Zhe revealed that the Society wanted to invite Chen Yu to join.
• Chen Yu considered whether the upcoming Three-Sect Grand Competition had prompted the invitation, then appeared before Li Zhe and demanded to know why the Society had approached him now.

Chen Yu questioned Li Zhe about the Azure Void Society’s invitation and learned that it had approached Dao Sect disciples set to compete in the Three-Sect Grand Competition. After Li Zhe tried to threaten him, Chen Yu killed him and refined his remains into a normal spirit essence.

• Li Zhe accused Chen Yu of using tricks, then claimed joining the Azure Void Society would save him from the Dao Sect’s destruction and let him enter the Evergreen Sect or Jade Void Sect.
• Chen Yu rejected the offer and asked whether it was connected to the upcoming Three-Sect Grand Competition.
• When Li Zhe threatened him, Chen Yu snapped both of his arms and forced him to reveal that the Azure Void Society had gathered the competitors’ names and sent people to invite most of them.
• Li Zhe begged for mercy, but Chen Yu used true qi to make him explode and refined his remains into a normal spirit essence.

Chen Yu weighed the Azure Void Society’s plan to recruit Dao Sect disciples and chose to avoid getting involved, then spent a month developing poison and studying formations. When another Azure Void Society disciple came to recruit him, she claimed to offer him a way to survive, and Chen Yu questioned how long the society had existed.

• Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan the Spirit Essence and told her that a wild boar had approached their fence.
• Chen Yu decided not to join the Azure Void Society, suspecting it might be infiltrated, and postponed any decision until after the Three-Sect Grand Competition.
• Over the next month, Chen Yu developed No. 93 Poison and confirmed it worked by testing it on himself, while Lü Yanyan’s cultivation advanced to the peak of the early seventh layer.
• A qi refining eighth-layer woman entered the Star-Dipper Maze Formation and asked Chen Yu whether anyone had visited him a month earlier.
• The woman offered Chen Yu a way to survive by joining the Azure Void Society, and Chen Yu asked how long the society had existed.

Chen Yu avoided joining the Azure Void Society and continued giving Lü Yanyan spirit essence while preparing for the Three-Sect Grand Competition. Three days before the competition, Shen Fei explained the travel arrangements and warned them that three Inner Sect disciples had disappeared, leaving Lü Yanyan suspicious of Chen Yu’s source of spirit essence.

• Chen Yu reasoned that the Azure Void Society’s ordinary members were expendable and decided he must avoid ties to the society after killing Li Zhe and a female disciple.
• Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan spirit essence and encouraged her to cultivate for the Three-Sect Grand Competition, leaving her puzzled about how he obtained it.
• A month later, Chen Yu congratulated Lü Yanyan on reaching the middle stage of the Qi Refining seventh layer and gave her another piece of spirit essence.
• Three days before the competition, Shen Fei told Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan that they would travel by Flying Boat to the Eastern Continent’s central region and that Gao Xuan would lead the Dao Sect team.
• Shen Fei warned them that three Inner Sect disciples around the Qi Refining eighth or ninth layer had mysteriously disappeared, and Lü Yanyan wondered whether Chen Yu had been refining spirit essence.

Chen Yu dismantled the formation outside his home before leaving for the Three-Sect Grand Competition with Nine-Bend Peak’s other representatives. As the group gathered at Heavenly Chasm Peak, the other disciples feared their poison skills, and Chen Yu noticed something while listening with his divine sense.

• Chen Yu retrieved the Star-Dipper Maze Formation materials and encouraged Lü Yanyan, giving her poisons capable of affecting foundation establishment cultivators.
• Shen Fei, Cao Jun, and Li Wei arrived to escort Lü Yanyan and Chen Yu to the Three-Sect Grand Competition.
• The five Nine-Bend Peak disciples reached Heavenly Chasm Peak, where disciples from other peaks made way and warned each other to watch out for poison.
• Chen Yu spread his divine sense across the summit and clearly heard the conversations of the gathered disciples.
• Chen Yu suddenly noticed something among the conversations.

Chen Yu overheard Azure Void Society disciples planning to throw the Three-Sect Grand Competition to avoid a coming war, and he suspected the White Lotus Sect’s earlier mass promotion had hidden motives. As the Dao Sect’s delegation departed, Zhang Jiuge unexpectedly joined Peak Master Gao, leaving Chen Yu baffled.

• Chen Yu overheard disciples blame him for the recent deaths and learned that many Black Mist Marsh survivors had later died, prompting him to suspect the White Lotus Sect had orchestrated the mass promotions.
• Chen Yu heard Azure Void Society disciples discuss deliberately losing a match to protect themselves from the Evergreen Sect and Jade Void Sect, and decided to wait and see how events unfolded.
• Peak Master Gao arrived at Heavenly Chasm Peak and ordered the sixty-five Inner Sect Disciples aboard the Flying Boat for the Three-Sect Grand Competition.
• Zhang Jiuge hurried aboard, went into Peak Master Gao’s lounge without noticing Chen Yu, and left Chen Yu wondering why he was accompanying Gao.

Lü Yanyan recognized Zhang Jiuge as the legendary Outer Sect figure she had once seen at the Scripture Repository, and Chen Yu asked Shen Fei whether he knew him. The chapter ended with Shen Fei's connection to Zhang still unclear.

• Shen Fei identified the late-arriving old man as Zhang Jiuge.
• Lü Yanyan recognized Zhang Jiuge as the old man she had seen outside the Scripture Repository on Emerald Cloud Peak.
• Lü Yanyan recalled the rumors that Zhang Jiuge had taken loans to repay loans and had died at the hands of an Inner Sect elder.
• Lü Yanyan noticed that Chen Yu remained calm, then Chen Yu asked Shen Fei whether he knew Senior Zhang.

Chen Yu and the Dao Sect disciples arrived in White Emperor City for the Three-Sect Grand Competition, where Chen Yu reflected on his past as a registered disciple. After Peak Master Gao dismissed them for the day, Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan set off to explore the city while Shen Fei went to visit an old friend.

• The Flying Boat reached White Emperor City, and Chen Yu told Shen Fei and Lü Yanyan that he had once come there for the Dao Sect's registered disciple assessment.
• The Xia Kingdom's ruler welcomed the Dao Sect, and Peak Master Gao announced that the Three-Sect Grand Competition would begin at noon the next day and let the disciples spend the day as they pleased.
• Zhang Jiuge spotted Chen Yu but pretended not to recognize him before joining Peak Master Gao and the Xia Kingdom's ruler.
• Lü Yanyan invited Chen Yu to explore the city, and he agreed to take her to Noon-Midnight Street.
• Shen Fei claimed he would visit an old friend, and Cao Jun and Li Wei went with him as Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan left together.

Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan explored White Emperor City, where Lü Yanyan bought jewelry and snacks with money Chen Yu had saved. They encountered scholars preparing for the Dao Sect’s Registered Disciple assessment, whose excitement turned to disappointment when they realized the visitors were from the Dao Sect.

• Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan walked through the city in their Dao Sect robes, drawing admiring attention from the commoners.
• At a jewelry stall on Noon-Midnight Street, Chen Yu gave Lü Yanyan banknotes he had taken from the Black-Robed Men, and she bought a hairpin and other treats.
• Chen Yu sensed a wealthy wastrel nearby, but the man recognized the Dao Sect robes and backed off instead of bothering Lü Yanyan.
• Chen Yu realized that the scholars carrying books were likely heading to the Dao Sect’s Registered Disciple assessment.
• A scholar spotted Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan and cried out that immortals had arrived, but the crowd lost its enthusiasm when they learned the visitors were from the Dao Sect.

Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan visited White Emperor City, where Chen Yu met Liu Sixi, the younger brother of his former Dao Sect friend Liu Sanli, and passed on a warning against pursuing cultivation. After dining at Blessing Peace Restaurant, they discovered Evergreen Sect and Dao Sect disciples confronting each other, leaving the cause of the conflict unknown.

• Chen Yu overheard that the Xia Kingdom's assessment now offered places with the Evergreen Sect and Jade Void Sect, then learned that Liu Sixi was Liu Sanli's younger brother.
• Chen Yu told Liu Sixi that Liu Sanli had urged him to remain in the mortal world, but Liu Sixi explained that he was alone and poor and still wished to cultivate.
• Chen Yu told Lü Yanyan that Liu Sanli had been refined into spirit essence during the Dao Sect's Outer Sect assessment and explained why he had not tried harder to dissuade Liu Sixi.
• Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan ate at Blessing Peace Restaurant, then noticed five Evergreen Sect disciples and five Dao Sect disciples facing off in the main hall.

Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan watched Dao Sect and Evergreen Sect disciples clash over a private room at Blessing Peace Restaurant. The Dao Sect yielded after its senior disciples feared trouble before the Three-Sect Grand Competition, and Chen Yu left with Lü Yanyan before someone called out to stop them.

• Evergreen Sect and Dao Sect disciples argued over which group had the right to the restaurant’s last private room, and both sides prepared to fight.
• Chen Yu told Lü Yanyan that the disciples would not fight, then refused the waiter’s request to help.
• A Dao Sect Foundation Establishment senior brother urged his group to give up the room, warning that conflict could hurt them at the Three-Sect Grand Competition.
• The Dao Sect disciples yielded, and the Evergreen Sect group took the private room.
• Chen Yu and Lü Yanyan left the restaurant, but someone called, “Stop!” from behind them.