Recaps

Wang Yan learned that he could begin making the Spell Collection Card by copying an existing design, and Card Fairy started teaching him the process. He then joined Ye Shisan and the Ye Family Stockade’s escort party carrying Black Iron Divine Weapons, unaware that masked cultivators were preparing an ambush along their route.

• Wang Yan and Card Fairy agreed that he would learn Artifact Refining, Talisman Refining, and Formation Arts by replicating the Spell Collection Card, and she began explaining its construction.
• Ye Mingtian arranged for Shi Nu to escort the shipment of Black Iron Divine Weapons and secretly discussed whether Wang Yan could be trusted to help.
• A group of masked cultivators chose a mountain route to ambush the transport party and left five members to wait there.
• Wang Yan agreed to escort the weapons so he could travel for cultivation supplies and Fire Spirit Stones, then set out with Ye Shisan, Shi Nu, and the other clansmen.
• As the party crossed a dangerous mountain trail, Wang Yan studied a piece of hide while the hidden ambush awaited them.

Masked cultivators attacked the Ye Family Stockade, blasting through its gate and slaughtering its defenders. Ye Mingtian arrived at the gorge mouth and confronted the attackers after knocking away their flying knives.

• Masked cultivators killed two guards and triggered the alarm after their ambush revealed fine black threads connected to the cliff.
• The tall, slender masked cultivator blasted open the Ye Family Stockade's gate with a dark green skull-shaped attack and ordered the group forward.
• The cultivators killed Ye Long, Ye Hai, and more than twenty other martial artists from the Ye Family Stockade as they charged to defend the stockade.
• Ye Mingtian raced up from below the cliff and knocked away the attackers' flying knife magic artifacts with his two battle-axes.
• Ye Mingtian faced the masked cultivators and roared in fury at the sight of his slain clansmen.

Ye Mingtian fought the masked cultivators at the canyon entrance, but their female leader proved far stronger. Before she could seize the Ye Family Stockade, Ye Mingtian triggered a hidden mechanism that brought down the canyon walls and began destroying the stockade and Spirit Valley.

• Ye Mingtian killed two masked cultivators and held the narrow canyon entrance against the others.
• The masked cultivators' female leader offered to spare Ye Mingtian if he surrendered the Ye Family Stockade, but he attacked after hearing villagers scream.
• The leader evaded Ye Mingtian's attack and revealed herself to be a Core Condensation Realm cultivator.
• Ye Mingtian struck a buried iron block with his axes, triggering mechanisms that shook the valley and sent enormous boulders crashing down.
• The leader pierced Ye Mingtian's chest with her spear as the stockade split apart, and he fell into the valley while murmuring, "Thirteen."
• The leader realized Ye Mingtian had caused the destruction of the Spirit Valley and descended in fury.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan discovered a group of masked cultivators preparing a night ambush and fought back. As the attack spread to the cave, Shi Nu stabbed Ye Shisan in the back.

• Wang Yan completed the first step of drawing runes on an animal hide while Ye Shisan meditated nearby.
• Wang Yan pretended to agree to spar with Ye Shisan, then struck a hidden intruder with a fireball after the Card Fairy warned him.
• Four masked cultivators attacked Wang Yan, who used the Fire Spirit Sword to fight them and dodged their flying knives.
• Ye Shisan charged the masked leader with his Black Mother Iron staff as screams came from the cave.
• Shi Nu appeared behind Ye Shisan and drove his spear into Ye Shisan's back.

Shi Nu betrayed the Ye Family Stockade, killing its mortal warriors and helping the masked cultivators knock Ye Shisan into the rocks. Wang Yan fled through the woods and, cornered by his pursuers, unleashed a storm of arrows from the Golden Bow and Arrows.

• Shi Nu ambushed Ye Shisan after the masked cultivators killed the other Ye Family Stockade warriors, and the leader kicked Ye Shisan into a cliff face.
• Wang Yan blasted two masked cultivators with fireballs and escaped into the woods as the remaining pursuers gave chase.
• Wang Yan activated the Water-Fire Blast Card while dodging the leader's flying knives, but held back from using its attack.
• A second masked cultivator cut Wang Yan off, and Wang Yan drew the Golden Bow and Arrows and fired a rain of golden arrows at him.

Wang Yan used the Thousand Spirit Arrow and a feigned mistake to defeat the masked leader, then recovered after the battle. A scream from farther away warned him that someone else was still in danger.

• Wang Yan fired the Thousand Spirit Arrow and killed a wounded masked cultivator while the masked leader watched.
• Wang Yan fled into the woods, doubled back, and discovered that his arrows could not penetrate the leader’s Golden Light Barrier.
• The leader’s flying knife wounded Wang Yan and knocked the Thousand Spirit Arrow from his hands.
• Wang Yan let the leader believe he had lost his advantage, then struck after the leader withdrew the Golden Light Barrier with his Water-Fire Blast Technique, killing him.
• Wang Yan took a Qi-Returning Pill, then heard a distant scream and hurried to his feet.

Wang Yan returned to the cliff and found Ye Shisan in a cultivation-induced frenzy, but a rock Ye Shisan had smashed knocked him unconscious. As Wang Yan treated Ye Shisan’s wounds and prepared to wait for him to recover, Wang Yan suddenly collapsed with his back rotting away.

• Wang Yan collected the dead masked cultivator’s talisman, weapons, and Storage Bags, then turned back when he worried about Ye Shisan and heard sounds from the cliff.
• Wang Yan and Card Fairy found Ye Shisan pounding Shi Nu’s body and recognized that he had suffered cultivation deviation.
• Ye Shisan attacked the surrounding rocks with the Black Mother Iron Rod, and a flying rock fragment struck him unconscious.
• Wang Yan treated Ye Shisan’s head and chest wounds with ointment and planned to let him rest before helping dispel his heart demon.
• Wang Yan clutched his shoulder, collapsed in pain, and Card Fairy discovered that his back was rotting away.

Wang Yan treated the poison from a masked cultivator’s flying knife and escaped with Ye Shisan and the Black Iron Divine Weapons. While hiding in a cave, he learned from Card Fairy about a Magic Artifact Fusion Card that could let him use the poisoned flying knives.

• Wang Yan found an antidote in a green bottle and treated the poisoned wound on his shoulder.
• Wang Yan and Card Fairy suspected the masked cultivators had targeted the Ye Family Stockade’s spiritual energy, with Shi Nu possibly acting as an insider.
• Wang Yan used a branch to lift a masked cultivator’s face covering, triggering poisonous vapor that rotted the corpse’s head.
• Wang Yan carried the unconscious Ye Shisan away, then returned to retrieve the Black Iron Divine Weapons from the cave.
• In a concealed cave, Wang Yan examined six poisoned flying knife artifacts, and Card Fairy told him he could eventually craft a Magic Artifact Fusion Card to use them.

Wang Yan learned how a Magic Artifact Fusion Card could control multiple magic artifacts, then practiced crafting Immortal Cards while Card Fairy helped him treat Ye Shisan’s cultivation deviation. He began refining his first Immortal Card, but a sudden slap startled him just as the card was about to form.

• Card Fairy explained that a Magic Artifact Fusion Card could combine magic artifacts and let Wang Yan control them without matching elemental magic power, but it could not fuse the spirit-artifact Thousand Spirit Arrow.
• Card Fairy took control of Wang Yan’s body and used blood-red runes to draw the inner demons out of Ye Shisan, who gradually improved.
• Wang Yan used his materials to make a dozen or so half-finished Immortal Cards and prepared to attempt the final refining step.
• Wang Yan poured magic power into a half-finished card and activated his Immortal Card Artifact, causing red light to gather into a nearly finished Immortal Card.
• Someone suddenly slapped Wang Yan’s back, startling him and jolting the magic power in his body.

Wang Yan successfully refined a Spell Collection Card, though the process left him drained. After Ye Shisan woke, Wang Yan learned Shi Nu had infiltrated the Ye Family Stockade and warned that it might already be under attack, but Ye Shisan rushed back to help.

• Ye Shisan woke just as Wang Yan was refining a card, and Wang Yan’s magic power surged into his Immortal Card Artifact before he expelled a red Spell Collection Card.
• Card Fairy confirmed Wang Yan had succeeded, and Wang Yan hid the card’s nature from Ye Shisan while telling him to rest.
• Ye Shisan learned he had been unconscious for four or five days and grieved after Wang Yan confirmed Shi Nu had betrayed the Ye Family Stockade.
• Wang Yan explained that Shi Nu had likely been planted as a spy to steal the stockade’s spiritual energy, then realized the stockade might also be in danger.
• Ye Shisan recalled that Shi Nu’s master planned to attack the Ye Family Stockade and hurried back, while Wang Yan followed despite his depleted magic power.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan met Grandpa Blacksmith, who told them the Ye Family Stockade had been destroyed and Ye Shisan’s father was dead. After Wang Yan explained that Shi Nu had betrayed them, Ye Shisan tried to rush back, but Grandpa Blacksmith warned that a core condensation realm cultivator was there.

• Wang Yan returned Ye Shisan’s Black Mother Iron Rod, and the two continued toward the Ye Family Stockade before stopping to rest at a stream.
• Card Fairy urged Wang Yan to abandon the rescue, but Wang Yan decided to see what had happened before giving up.
• Grandpa Blacksmith arrived and told Ye Shisan that his father and the people of the Ye Family Stockade were dead.
• Grandpa Blacksmith accused Wang Yan of leading the cultivators to the stockade, but Ye Shisan defended him and blamed Shi Nu.
• Wang Yan recounted the ambush, and Grandpa Blacksmith accepted that Shi Nu had betrayed the stockade.
• Ye Shisan ran toward the stockade to save his father, but Grandpa Blacksmith stopped him and warned that a core condensation realm cultivator was there.

Wang Yan stopped Ye Shisan from rushing blindly to the Ye Family Stockade and helped him prepare to scout it safely. After recovering their strength, the three reached the valley and chose to enter through Blacksmith Ye’s old mine rather than confront the masked guards at the entrance.

• Ye Shisan charged toward the stockade, but Wang Yan kicked him into a stream and warned that he could not face a Core Condensation Realm cultivator alone.
• Wang Yan urged Ye Shisan to stay alive and avenge his father if necessary, and Ye Shisan agreed to follow Wang Yan’s lead.
• Blacksmith Ye explained that the Clan Chief had activated the Mountain-Destroying Mechanism, that he had escaped from a collapsed mine, and that he had found Ye Shisan by following the stockade’s scent marker.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan took Qi-Returning Pills and rested while Blacksmith Ye prepared fish, then the group set out with Ye Shisan carrying the old man.
• After reaching the valley, Ye Shisan recognized four masked cultivators guarding the entrance, but Wang Yan stopped him from approaching and led the group toward the mine.

Wang Yan, Ye Shisan, and Blacksmith Ye entered a hidden mine tunnel beneath the mountain and found a way into the stockade chief’s residence. Wang Yan and Ye Shisan reached a storeroom full of black mother iron ore, and Wang Yan began secretly packing it into his Storage Bags.

• Blacksmith Ye led Wang Yan and Ye Shisan through a concealed entrance beneath a boulder and into an old mine tunnel.
• The group found the blocked passage and learned that a side tunnel led to a storeroom beneath the stockade chief’s residence.
• Wang Yan gave Ye Shisan the Fire Spirit Sword to quietly dig through the wall while Blacksmith Ye kept watch.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan opened the storeroom, where they found weapons and a large supply of black mother iron ore.
• Wang Yan sent Ye Shisan up through the hatch to keep watch, then began putting the ore into his Storage Bags.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan encountered Black-Clad Masked Cultivators after discovering the Ye Family Stockade’s dead, and Ye Shisan attacked in a rage. Red Second Madam overwhelmed them in battle, leaving Ye Shisan badly wounded as her flying knives closed in for another strike.

• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan advanced through a passage and overheard cultivators say that everyone at the Ye Family Stockade had been killed.
• Ye Shisan’s rage exposed their presence, and he charged through the shattered doorway toward Red Second Madam.
• Wang Yan joined the fight, but Red Second Madam dodged his attacks and drove Ye Shisan back with her flying-knife magic artifacts.
• Wang Yan blasted a nearby Black-Clad Masked Cultivator and hurled him into the knives’ path, but Red Second Madam redirected them toward Ye Shisan.
• A flying knife pierced Ye Shisan’s chest and sent him crashing into the mountain wall, while Red Second Madam ordered her knives to attack him again.

Blacksmith Ye sacrificed himself to save Ye Shisan, allowing Wang Yan to escape with him as Red Second Madam pursued them. After tending Ye Shisan’s wounds, Wang Yan tried to persuade him to flee, but the masked cultivators broke through the storeroom door before they could decide what to do.

• Blacksmith Ye threw himself in front of Ye Shisan and was torn apart by Red Second Madam’s flying knife, then his corpse exploded as Wang Yan led Ye Shisan into the passage.
• Wang Yan collapsed the passage behind them with fireballs and carried the unconscious, poisoned Ye Shisan back through the storeroom.
• Red Second Madam ordered the Black-Clad Masked Cultivators to clear the passage while she flew around the mountain to search for another entrance.
• Wang Yan refused to leave through the entrance for fear Red Second Madam would spot them, treated Ye Shisan’s wounds, and woke him.
• Ye Shisan demanded revenge for Blacksmith Ye and his father, while Wang Yan struggled to answer; then a crash signaled that the masked cultivators had broken through the storeroom door.

Wang Yan tried to keep Ye Shisan from charging at the pursuers by promising that the dead could be resurrected, then led him deeper into the mine in search of an escape. As Red Second Madam caught up, Wang Yan and Ye Shisan collapsed the tunnel behind them, but she deflected the falling rocks and closed to within a few dozen yards.

• Ye Shisan prepared to fight to the death, but Wang Yan stopped him and claimed that people could be resurrected through immortal cultivation.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan searched for another way out as their pursuers entered the mine, and Ye Shisan remembered a sealed passage leading to an underground river.
• Red Second Madam taunted Ye Shisan about his father, and Wang Yan blasted the tunnel ceiling to bring rocks down between them and their pursuers.
• Wang Yan told Ye Shisan to use the Black Mother Iron Rod to collapse the passage, but Ye Shisan struck the rocks around them and endangered Wang Yan.
• Red Second Madam caught up and used her Dark Green Long Spear to deflect the falling rocks, reaching within a few dozen yards of Wang Yan and Ye Shisan.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan fled Red Second Madam through the mountains, but Wang Yan was wounded and fell into a hidden underground river. Red Second Madam retrieved her Dark Green Spear and pursued them into the flooded passage.

• Ye Shisan smashed rocks at Red Second Madam, but she destroyed them with her Dark Green Spear and defended herself against Wang Yan’s Thousand Spirit Arrow with a Red Jade barrier.
• Red Second Madam struck Wang Yan through his Golden Light Shield Defense Talisman, piercing his shoulder and sending him through a rock wall into a bottomless pit.
• Ye Shisan leaped after Wang Yan, while Wang Yan caught himself on a jutting rock and fired his Thousand Spirit Arrow at Red Second Madam, wounding her shoulder and thigh.
• Wang Yan fell into the darkness, and Ye Shisan plunged after him; Red Second Madam followed them down the pit to recover her Dark Green Spear.
• Red Second Madam retrieved her spear from the mouth of a river passage, raised a Golden Light Shield Defense Talisman, and entered the passage after Wang Yan and Ye Shisan.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan escaped Red Second Madam by swimming upstream through the underground stream, then discussed Ye Shisan’s wish to resurrect his family and their plans for revenge. The chapter ended with Ye Shisan revealing that he might already have reached full completion of the Cultivation Realm.

• Red Second Madam emerged from the waterfall and searched for Wang Yan and Ye Shisan, unaware they had stayed inside the mountain.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan climbed out of the underground stream after traveling upstream, while Red Second Madam searched outside for them.
• Wang Yan comforted Ye Shisan over the deaths of his family and admitted he had never seen his own parents.
• Ye Shisan vowed to follow Wang Yan and help make a talisman to revive the people of the Ye Family Stockade, including his father and Grandpa Blacksmith.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan agreed to recover their strength, seek revenge later, and go to the Firecloud Sect after reaching full completion of the Cultivation Realm.
• Ye Shisan told Wang Yan that he might already have reached full completion of the Cultivation Realm.

Wang Yan reached full completion of the Cultivation Realm and drew an Ironwood Shield Card, a mid-grade Spirit Artifact card, from the Lottery Cube. After testing the shield, he heard Ye Shisan urgently calling to him outside the cave.

• Wang Yan used the remaining fire-type Spirit Stones in a formation to break through to full completion of the Cultivation Realm.
• Wang Yan recalled how Ye Shisan had reached full completion while forcing his way through the underground stream, and how their hidden cave had abundant spiritual energy.
• Wang Yan asked Card Fairy to activate the Lottery Cube and drew an Ironwood Shield Card.
• Card Fairy explained that Wang Yan could use the Ironwood Shield with certain other cards but could not yet combine it with the Water-Fire Blast Card.
• Wang Yan activated the Ironwood Shield and tested its swift movement before Ye Shisan urgently called to him from outside the cave.

After reaching full completion of the Cultivation Realm, Wang Yan and Ye Shisan escaped their underground refuge and searched the mountains for a route to the Firecloud Sect. They found black-clad cultivators sheltering in a cave, and Wang Yan confronted them.

• Ye Shisan caught a Great Snowfish, and Wang Yan roasted it; its chaotic spiritual energy forced them to meditate for more than two hours.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan left the underground stream, plunged from the waterfall into a pool, and fled through the rain and darkness.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan debated where to find the Firecloud Sect, then followed Card Fairy's suggestion to seek a map and shelter from the rain.
• After spotting a fire among the cliffs, Wang Yan changed his mind and led Ye Shisan toward it, suspecting the occupants were Black-Clad Masked Cultivators.
• Four black-clad cultivators discussed their search for Wang Yan and Ye Shisan and gossiped about Red Second Madam before Wang Yan's voice rang out, threatening to turn them into ghosts.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan ambushed the black-clad cultivators occupying the Ye Family Stockade and questioned the sole survivor about their plans. After learning of the Guileful Poison Sect’s scheme and Shi Nu’s role, Wang Yan urged Ye Shisan to avenge his father as the captive attacked.

• Ye Shisan drew the four black-clad cultivators out of their cave while Wang Yan ambushed them with the Thousand Spirit Arrow, badly wounding all four.
• Wang Yan killed one attacker who tried to fight back and blocked another’s flying knife with the Ironwood Shield.
• Ye Shisan tried to kill the last survivor, but Wang Yan stopped him and demanded answers about the Ye Family Stockade.
• The captive identified himself as a disciple of the Guileful Poison Sect and said the sect planned to seize the Azure Spirit Mountain Range as a foothold for an attack on the Cloud Nation.
• The captive revealed that Shi Nu had been planted in the Cloud Nation Imperial Family and activated the mechanism that destroyed the stockade after the sect learned its people could forge powerful weapons.
• After promising to spare the captive, Wang Yan told Ye Shisan to avenge his father; the captive lunged at Wang Yan, and Wang Yan argued that Ye Shisan—not he—would kill him.

After killing the last black-robed cultivator, Wang Yan and Ye Shisan set out for the Firecloud Sect, with Ye Shisan seeking a path to avenge the Ye Family Stockade and Wang Yan urging him to grow stronger first. As they neared Firecloud Market, a flying cultivator suddenly turned and headed toward them.

• Ye Shisan killed the black-robed cultivator, and Wang Yan gathered the spoils and burned the bodies.
• Wang Yan left the grieving Ye Shisan to follow, then explained that the Wicked Poison Sect was too powerful for them to confront and insisted they continue to the Firecloud Sect.
• Wang Yan persuaded Ye Shisan not to warn the other households about the Wicked Poison Sect and gave him a Storage Bag with Spirit Stones and pills.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan searched their maps for the route to the Firecloud Sect, then traveled through a dangerous, mist-covered mountain range toward Firecloud Market.
• A Core Condensation Realm cultivator flew past, turned around, and shot toward Wang Yan and Ye Shisan.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan traveled toward the Firecloud Market to register for the Firecloud Sect, whose recruitment was closing soon. They met Situ Lou Lou, a Core Condensation Realm cultivator who gave them directions, but Wang Yan suspected his friendliness concealed a scheme.

• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan learned that Firecloud Sect recruitment would close in three or four months and that they should register at the Firecloud Market.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan traveled to the Six-Finger Mountain Range and encountered Situ Lou Lou, a Core Condensation Realm cultivator.
• Situ Lou Lou asked if they were heading to the Firecloud Market, then warmly introduced himself as Martial Uncle Situ.
• Situ Lou Lou gave Wang Yan and Ye Shisan directions, and they thanked him before setting off along the route he indicated.
• Wang Yan told Ye Shisan he suspected Situ Lou Lou had an ulterior motive, while Situ Lou Lou flew away, pleased that he had completed two more tasks.

Wang Yan and Ye Shisan traveled to Firecloud Market, where Wang Yan remained wary of the major sects' recruitment and their connection to the Cloud Mountain Treasure Land. At the market entrance, Wang Yan avoided the line for cultivators at full completion of the Cultivation Realm, and a Firecloud Sect cultivator stopped them as they reached the toll point.

• Wang Yan suspected the five major sects were recruiting disciples to enter the Cloud Mountain Treasure Land, but decided to investigate further before committing.
• Ye Shisan spotted the road to Firecloud Market, and Wang Yan warned him to keep their meeting with Senior Situ Lou Lou and the talisman secret.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan traveled several hundred miles to the enormous Firecloud Market, listening to cultivators discuss the benefits of joining the Firecloud Sect.
• At the entrance, Wang Yan steered Ye Shisan away from the short line for cultivators at full completion of the Cultivation Realm after noticing a red-robed Core Condensation Realm woman handing them red talismans.
• Wang Yan and Ye Shisan reached the faster line, where the sign required five spirit stones per person, but a voice stopped Ye Shisan as he approached.

Wang Yan tried to keep Ye Shisan out of trouble at Firecloud Market, but Huā Tiánlíng pressured them to accept Firecloud Sect recruitment talismans. Suspicious of the recruitment and the rival cultivators distributing the talismans, Wang Yan discarded every talisman and led Ye Shisan away.

• A market guard demanded five Spirit Stones from each visitor, and Wang Yan paid for himself and Ye Shisan before shoving his argumentative junior inside.
• Wang Yan scolded Ye Shisan for nearly provoking a Firecloud Sect cultivator, then sealed Ye Shisan’s acupoints to stop him from speaking.
• Huā Tiánlíng intercepted them and insisted they join Firecloud Sect, giving them red talismans after Wang Yan claimed they came from the Ma Family of Azure Spirit Mountain.
• Wang Yan told Huā Tiánlíng that Situ Lou Lou had already given them talismans, but she ordered them to discard his and report under her name instead.
• Wang Yan collected the talismans from Ye Shisan and his Storage Bag, pressed all four into a stone, and threw it over a cliff.