Recaps

Wang Quan’s Dharma Power grew beyond four hundred strands, and he began refining his Yin Spirit while continuing to handle the booming funeral business. During a funeral procession in the winter snow, his gathered sunlight suddenly weakened, and a rooster spirit monster warned him that an anomaly had appeared.

• Ying Jiaren persuaded the youth to keep studying the Daoist Scriptures instead of rushing into action.
• Wang Quan’s Dharma Power exceeded four hundred strands, while the Officiant Daoist Nun explained that many New-Method Cultivators died from backlash after dismantling Fundamental Methods.
• By December, Wang Quan had more than five hundred strands of Dharma Power and decided to begin refining his Yin Spirit into a Yang Spirit.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun persuaded Wang Quan to keep attending funerals because the work paid well and cultivators were booking burials to avoid becoming anomalies.
• Wang Quan gathered gentle sunlight to refine his Yin Spirit during a funeral procession, but the sunlight abruptly dwindled and a rooster spirit monster warned him of an anomaly.

Wang Quan's funeral procession encountered an anomaly who demanded the coffin, but he defeated her and destroyed her remains before continuing to the Drowning Dao Lower Court. New-Method Cultivators later found that his iron-hooped burial mound was difficult to turn into an anomaly.

• Wang Quan refused to hand over the coffin to the anomaly who recognized him as the Daoist who had buried her, and his spirit monsters attacked her procession.
• The anomaly fled as black smoke, but Wang Quan froze and shattered her with Yin Lightning.
• Wang Quan buried the coffin, reinforced the mound with iron hoops, then went to the anomaly's grave and had her remains ground to bone meal and destroyed.
• New-Method Cultivators arrived and complained that the anomaly had been destroyed before they could use her.
• The cultivators found Wang Quan's iron-hooped mound and learned that undoing its protections required deciphering scriptures they could not afford to have read.

With funeral work drying up, Wang Quan left the Lower Court’s month-long storm to find stronger sunlight for refining his yin spirit. He reached a sunny region and began gathering sunlight, which stung his spirit and drew out black smoke, but caused no apparent harm.

• As cultivators rushed into the funeral business, Wang Quan found less work and focused on advancing his yin spirit toward a yang spirit.
• Wang Quan decided to travel a thousand li beyond the wind and snow to gather stronger sunlight, bringing his paper people, the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box], and a thousand pairs of kidneys.
• Wang Quan paid or fought off roadblockers and reached the boundary between the snow-covered land and dry ground.
• Wang Quan gathered sunlight with the [Great Sun Across the Sky Art], and it burned his yin spirit while black smoke rose from it.
• Wang Quan gradually increased the sunlight he gathered, and nothing went wrong.

Wang Quan rapidly advanced his Yin Spirit toward becoming a Yang Spirit by refining it with sunlight and engraving the [Yang Spirit Scripture]. In the Second-Layer World, his emerging strength helped him clear Cafeteria evils with fewer recitations, and he prepared to leave after a cultivator asked why he was going early.

• Wang Quan adapted to thousands of strands of sunlight in half a day and began engraving the [Yang Spirit Scripture] onto his Yin Spirit.
• Wang Quan engraved one hundred Dao characters, while the growing cost of each new character led him to accept that the transformation would take time.
• Wang Quan entered the Second-Layer World, where the matching [Yin Spirit Scripture] appeared and his Yin Spirit began repelling the darkness.
• Wang Quan recited the People-Crossing Scripture five times to disperse a paper-cut [joy] evil, then cleared two more evils with two and three recitations.
• A cultivator asked Wang Quan why he was leaving the Cafeteria so early.

Wang Quan rapidly carved his [Yang Spirit Scripture] but found progress slowing after reaching three thousand Dao characters, so he chose to pursue a supreme-grade Yang Spirit. When he learned Qin Feng had left the Lower Court for the Market Ward, Wang Quan set out to kill him and arrived at the Drowning Dao Lower Court.

• A true-body cultivator urged Wang Quan to prioritize forming a high-grade Yang Spirit and said the others could wait several years for him to finish.
• Wang Quan reached three thousand Dao characters in ten days, but his Yin Spirit began resisting further additions and slowed his progress to a few dozen characters a day.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun sent Wang Quan information, including that Qin Feng had left the Lower Court for the Market Ward.
• Wang Quan prepared to pursue Qin Feng and used repeated [Moonlight Escape] spells to travel toward the Drowning Dao Lower Court.
• An old Daoist warned new seekers that the Market Ward was dangerous, then greeted Wang Quan as Fellow Daoist Flower-Scatterer when he arrived.
• Wang Quan told the old Daoist that he was looking for an aggrieved party to help with a funeral and scatter flowers.

Wang Quan used a water mirror to show the newcomers how he could attack distant enemies, then unleashed Yin Thunder and paper-cutting techniques on Qin Feng and a New Method gathering. Qin Feng and most of the cultivators died in the blasts, while a handful survived amid the ruins.

• The old Daoist asked Wang Quan to demonstrate his abilities for the newcomers, and Wang Quan agreed to teach them a lesson.
• Wang Quan contacted the Officiant Daoist Nun about disposing of a corpse, then used sandalwood incense and a water mirror to locate Qin Feng at a gathering.
• Wang Quan sent several kinds of Yin Thunder through the water mirror, killing many cultivators and badly injuring Qin Feng.
• Qin Feng repelled some paper maidens with Biting Chill Wind, but their Great Yin Yin Thunder charges exploded and tore him apart.
• More paper maidens attacked Qin Feng, and the final explosions destroyed the hall, leaving Qin Feng dead and only a handful of cultivators alive.

Wang Quan killed Qin Feng of the Miscellaneous Goods Hall and returned to cultivate, choosing a defensive spell to counter lightning and fire. He began refining [Seventy-Two Paths of Smoke and Dust], leaving it hidden in his hair as he focused on strengthening his Yin Spirit.

• Wang Quan told the Officiant Daoist Nun that he had killed Qin Feng, and she warned him not to expose himself.
• Wang Quan spoke to the gathered youths about the dangers of immortal cultivation before the old Daoist led them away.
• Wang Quan returned to his cultivation site and decided to learn [Seventy-Two Paths of Smoke and Dust] to defend against lightning and fire.
• Wang Quan gathered seventy-two strands of smoke and dust and wove them into a cloud sturdy enough to support him.
• Wang Quan hid the newly formed spell among his hair and returned his attention to cultivating his Yin Spirit.

Wang Quan learned that his Yin Spirit’s progress toward becoming a Yang Spirit had stalled, then chose to pursue the [Spirit Refinement +1] trait and traded Dharma Power for stellar essence to gain heavenly opportunity. The Round-Faced Daoist Nun warned him that news of Qin Feng’s death had spread and that the New-Method Alliance could pose a danger.

• Wang Quan told a cultivator he had branded over three thousand Dao characters onto his Yin Spirit, but learned that only special spirit medicines and magic artifacts could speed his path to becoming a Yang Spirit.
• After hearing that the required supplies cost ten million Green Beetles per set, Wang Quan examined the [First-Rank Dao Seal] traits and decided he wanted [Spirit Refinement +1] as his second trait.
• Wang Quan decided to sell one hundred strands of Dharma Power for ten strands of essence and arranged a trade with the Round-Faced Daoist Nun.
• Wang Quan and the Round-Faced Daoist Nun exchanged the Dharma Power and stellar essence in the Lower Court’s coffin district.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun warned Wang Quan that news of his killing Qin Feng had spread and that the radical New-Method Alliance might threaten him.

Wang Quan discovered that Spirit Refinement +1 greatly improved his cultivation, while cultivators at the Drowning Dao Lower Court argued over the aftermath of his attack and whether to seek revenge. The orthodox cultivators prepared to investigate the Seven Maidens Mountain Estate as they worried that Wang Quan might strike again.

• Wang Quan used Heavenly Opportunity to gain Spirit Refinement +1, then found that Dao characters merged into his Yin Spirit much faster than before.
• Wang Quan refined three strands of Dharma Power overnight and gathered more purple qi and sunlight than usual before beginning to transform his Yang Spirit.
• At the Drowning Dao Lower Court, cultivators surveyed the aftermath of Wang Quan's attack on Qin Feng and debated how to deal with the Flower-Scatter Daoist.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun offered to lure Wang Quan out while arranging the funerals, but the organizer rejected her price and continued seeking cheaper bids.
• Qin Feng's orthodox allies debated whether to retaliate, then agreed to watch the entrance, gather resources, and send a cultivator to sound out the Seven Maidens Mountain Estate.

Qian Xiuyue learned that Wang Quan had killed Qin Feng and dozens of New-Method Cultivators, leaving her companions stunned by his strength. After weeks of cultivation, Wang Quan reached nine thousand Dao characters and over seven hundred strands of Dharma Power, but powerful temptations to transform his Yin Spirit began testing him.

• Qian Xiuyue accepted a hundred thousand Green Fly Coins from a New Method cultivator and asked Wang Quan whether he intended to attack the group.
• Wang Quan said Qin Feng's death was payback for a personal grudge and promised not to pursue anyone who did not provoke him; he and Qian Xiuyue agreed to split the fee.
• Qian Xiuyue told her companions about Wang Quan's long-range attacks and killings, and they doubted they could catch up to his progress.
• Wang Quan returned to the Drowning Dao Lower Court and continued cultivating, reading scriptures, and clearing away evil instead of transforming his Yin Spirit at six thousand Dao characters.
• Over the following weeks, Wang Quan's Yang Spirit Scripture reached nine thousand characters and his Dharma Power exceeded seven hundred strands.
• Wang Quan resisted the unusually strong temptations to transform his Yin Spirit and wondered whether other cultivators faced the same test.

Wang Quan sought a way to curb his Yin Spirit’s relentless urge to transform, but neither advice nor an extreme remedy helped. He later met Ying Jiaren, who asked whether she was right to delay practicing the Fundamental Method until she discovered the benefits of mastering the Ten Thousand Scrolls Dao Canon.

• Wang Quan asked a cultivator in the Second-Layer World about his frequent urge to transform, and the cultivator suspected it might be linked to how quickly he condensed Dao characters.
• The cultivator suggested slowing down or using mind-clearing aids, while other cultivators discussed Wang Quan’s rapid progress and the rewards they hoped he would earn.
• Wang Quan asked the Round-Faced Daoist Nun about remedies, tried severing and reattaching part of his body on her advice, and found that the urge to transform remained unchanged.
• Wang Quan decided to suppress the urge and refine Dharma Power, then encountered Ying Jiaren sitting on his coffin.
• Ying Jiaren told Wang Quan that she had resisted practicing the Fundamental Method because she wanted to learn the benefits of mastering the Ten Thousand Scrolls Dao Canon first, and asked whether she was right to persist.

Wang Quan urged Ying Jiaren to follow her own path and kept the benefits of mastering the Ten Thousand Scrolls Dao Canon to himself. Meanwhile, cultivators angered by Qin Feng’s death launched a coordinated ambush against Wang Quan, whose fate remained uncertain as their attacks entered the landscape painting.

• Wang Quan told Ying Jiaren that cultivating toward immortality was lonely, and she thanked him before heading off to cultivate.
• Ying Jiaren asked whether Wang Quan had mastered the Ten Thousand Scrolls Dao Canon before spell cultivation, but he answered only, “Guess!”
• The New-Method Alliance gathered to plan revenge on Wang Quan for killing Qin Feng, but several orthodox cultivators refused to risk retaliation for someone they barely knew.
• The alliance’s leaders persuaded the reluctant orthodox cultivators to contribute thunderfire and other means, then prepared a coordinated attack using fierce winds, heavy rain, and a Light-Fixing Mirror.
• The cultivators locked onto Wang Quan’s figure in a landscape painting and sent the New-Method cultivators’ spells through the mirror’s light to attack him.

Wang Quan traced the source of a coordinated long-distance attack and fought off its spells, thunderfire charges, and spatial seal. After breaking free, he taunted his attackers and challenged them to try again.

• Wang Quan sensed an attack carried by unnatural wind and rain, then used the Backtracking Art to locate the cultivators behind it.
• Wang Quan summoned paper palace maidens and decoys, but a spatial seal stopped his Moonlight Escape as spells rained down on him.
• A female cultivator identified Wang Quan and hurled dozens of thunderfire charges at him, while other cultivators joined the attack.
• Wang Quan swallowed the thunderfire charges with smoke and dust and countered the incoming spells with Great Yin Yin Thunder.
• Wang Quan's yin spirit cast Hundred Boats Vie for the Current and shattered the spatial seal, allowing him to break free and taunt his attackers.

Wang Quan counterattacked the cultivators who had tried to kill him across space, overwhelming them with Yin Lightning and Nightmare-Subduing techniques. The survivors prepared another attack while one of their number began a ritual targeting Wang Quan.

• After recognizing that Wang Quan was counterattacking instead of fleeing, more than a dozen orthodox cultivators escaped the hall.
• Wang Quan struck the hall with Illusory Moon Yin Thunder and over a hundred more blasts, killing more than a dozen New-Method Cultivators and disorienting the rest.
• The female cultivator used her landscape painting to absorb Wang Quan's next attacks, while an orthodox cultivator broke the others out of their illusions.
• When the cultivators prepared to attack Wang Quan across space again, his Yin Spirit's Nightmare-Subduing Technique killed one New-Method Cultivator.
• The wind-summoning cultivator bound the group with protective ribbons, but a cultivator whose ribbon failed died as he tried to flee.
• A companion began a Nightmare-Subduing ritual against Wang Quan using an incense altar, eggs, and blood.

Wang Quan survived the cultivators’ attacks and returned to the Lower Court, then turned the tables on those who had tried to kill him. The landscape painting’s female cultivator was left wounded inside the Lower Court, where its Yin Spirits refused to intervene.

• The Nightmare-Subduing Technique cultivator repeatedly shot Wang Quan’s egg-born doubles, but Wang Quan remained alive and killed a cultivator with Yin Lightning.
• The Light-Fixing Mirror cultivator found that Wang Quan had returned to the Lower Court, then saw him leave and return to the mountain to attack the group.
• Wang Quan killed the Nightmare-Subduing Technique cultivator with his own Nightmare-Subduing Technique before he could use eggs to escape death.
• The landscape painting’s female cultivator fled toward the Lower Court, but Wang Quan ruined her painting and wounded her along the way.
• The female cultivator reached the Lower Court and collapsed, but its Yin Spirits said they would not intervene because her wounds had been inflicted outside.

Wang Quan killed several orthodox cultivators who attacked him outside the Lower Court, then prepared to settle his remaining grudges. He left to demand his wages, warning that he might kill more people if they refused to pay.

• A female cultivator realized Wang Quan’s Illusion Art had trapped her and died after failing to escape.
• Wang Quan emerged from moonlight, collected the corpses in a magical box, and erased the traces of the battle.
• Wang Quan returned to his coffin and rebuilt his paper-effigy death-substitution defenses.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun noticed the resentment clinging to Wang Quan and advised him to learn the Record of Wrongs Cleansed spell.
• Wang Quan asked her for high-grade Illusion Art and Nightmare-Subduing Technique materials, saying he was going to collect his wages and might kill people if they refused.

Wang Quan demanded overdue wages from the Blissful Union House, while the New-Method Alliance’s leaders argued over whether to pay him or kill him. He seized a steward’s jade pendant and threatened the Alliance, then demonstrated his resolve by blasting apart walls in the house.

• Wang Quan went to the largest Blissful Union House and told a greeter he had come to collect his wages as the Flower-Scatter Daoist.
• A steward received warnings that Wang Quan had killed members of Branch 96, then read conflicting orders from Alliance leaders about whether to pay him or attack him.
• Wang Quan took the steward’s jade pendant, erased its mark, and joined the leaders’ discussion to demand payment and threaten to curse New-Method Cultivators to death.
• Wang Quan explained that the Blissful Union House and the Zhao Household had withheld wages related to burying Zhao Fei and the others, and said paying him would prevent further attacks.
• When an Alliance leader asked what would happen if they refused, Wang Quan blasted through walls on the Blissful Union House’s seventh floor with Yin Lightning.

Wang Quan received two million Green Beetles in overdue wages after threatening to destroy the New-Method Alliance’s property, then returned to the Lower Court and sorted the spoils from several dozen corpses. He kept useful pills, pouches, and high-quality training materials while selling the rest, including the female cultivators’ clothing to a shop in the outer market.

• Orthodox cultivators praised Wang Quan’s destructive tactics, while New-Method Foundation Establishment Ancestors protested that he was ruining their property and killing their people.
• A female orthodox cultivator who supported the New Method warned that Wang Quan needed to be dealt with carefully, so the Foundation Establishment Ancestors paid him two million Green Beetles in wages and interest.
• Wang Quan abandoned his plan to kill more people, exchanged pleasantries with the New-Method Foundation Establishment Ancestor, and drifted toward the Drowning Dao Lower Court.
• At the Miscellaneous Goods Hall, Wang Quan asked the Round-Faced Daoist Nun to help sort his valuables and released corpses from a box.
• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun taught Wang Quan how to sort the corpses’ belongings, and together they stripped and processed several dozen bodies.
• Wang Quan sold damaged artifacts, excess pouches, and low-quality training materials, while keeping pills, useful pouches, and high-quality spell-training materials.

After growing wealthy from selling spoils, Wang Quan struggled with uncontrollable thoughts of transformation as he condensed the [Yang Spirit Scripture]. He sought help from Dream Nun, but she failed to drain his yang energy and declared his condition incurable.

• The Round-Faced Daoist Nun settled Wang Quan’s share of the spoils at over nine million Green Beetles, while Wang Quan kept the pills and corpses for his own use.
• Wang Quan’s progress reached 9,500 Dao characters, and his restless Yin Spirit and thoughts of transformation began disrupting his cultivation.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun suggested that Fairy Qin or Dream Nun could relieve Wang Quan’s excess yang energy, and Wang Quan agreed to visit Dream Nun.
• Wang Quan arrived at Dream Nun’s room and discovered that spirit creatures were lining up to sell their yang energy.
• Dream Nun repeatedly tried to suck out Wang Quan’s yang energy but drew only cold air, then told him his condition was incurable and even Fairy Qin could not cure him.

Wang Quan discovered that a Daoist scripture explained his Yin Spirit’s resistance to transformation and revealed how he could surpass the supreme-grade Yang Spirit. He arranged to grow haze grass on a nearby mountain to suppress the transformation urge, leaving the Scripture Repository to prepare the site.

• Wang Quan left Dream Nun’s room puzzled that her [Nine Yin Devouring the Sun] could not draw out his yang qi, while the Spirit Monsters speculated about his resilience and Dream Nun vowed to drain him again.
• At the Scripture Repository, Wang Quan found a passage explaining that enduring his Yin Spirit’s rejection while engraving the [Yang Spirit Scripture] would let him surpass the supreme-grade Yang Spirit, and that haze grass could weaken the urge to transform.
• Wang Quan asked Round-Faced Daoist Nun to find haze grass and arrange for Spirit Monsters to grow it, then told Ying Jiaren he would be away for a few days.
• Wang Quan rode [Seventy-Two Streams of Smoke and Dust] to a barren nearby hill that suited haze grass and could be reached safely from the Lower Court.

Wang Quan hired cultivators and spirit monsters to prepare his hill and plant haze grass, hoping it would help him refine the [Yang Spirit Scripture]. When the workers’ growth spell proved too slow, he cast a far more powerful [Spring Rain Germination Art] and ordered them to join in.

• Wang Quan confirmed the planting contract with the cultivators, agreeing to pay one million Green Beetles upfront and ten thousand each month to cover the hill with haze grass.
• The cultivators surveyed the hill while spirit monsters smashed rocks, turned the soil, cleared rubble, and spread dung to prepare the ground.
• A cultivator sowed haze grass and spirit vein grass seeds, and the spirit monsters buried and fertilized them as the cultivators cast the [Spring Rain Germination Art].
• When a female cultivator said the seeds would sprout within three days, Wang Quan complained that this was too slow and cast his superior version of the spell across the hill.
• Wang Quan told the surprised cultivators to cast the spell alongside him and get the haze grass growing as soon as possible.

Wang Quan’s Spring Rain Germination Art made the haze grass sprout across the mountain, easing the urge of his Yin Spirit to transform. With Spirit Monsters tending the plants, he successfully branded the Yang Spirit Scripture onto his Yin Spirit and resolved to pursue a level beyond supreme grade.

• Wang Quan cultivated haze grass with Spring Rain Germination Art, and its growth eased the restlessness of his Yin Spirit.
• Wang Quan paid the cultivators in full, then asked them to leave their best Spirit Monsters to tend the plants.
• The Spirit Monsters asked Wang Quan for identity plaques, and he crafted them from fine jade engraved with “Flower-Scatter Daoist.”
• The Spirit Monsters tended the haze grass while Wang Quan repeatedly cast Spring Rain Germination Art over the mountain.
• Wang Quan branded the Yang Spirit Scripture onto his Yin Spirit after the growing haze grass reduced the interference.

Wang Quan advanced the [Yang Spirit Scripture] and completed its ten-thousandth Dao character, but the strange patterns that appeared on his Yin Spirit made him avoid the Second-Layer World. Meanwhile, Dream Nun began seclusion to pursue Foundation Establishment, promising to invite him to a night banquet afterward.

• Dream Nun told the Officiant Daoist Nun she planned to use her savings to perfect [Nine Yin Devouring the Sun] and seek a Foundation Establishment quota from the Lower Court.
• Wang Quan’s [Yang Spirit Scripture] progressed rapidly, and by March he had accumulated 1,001 strands of Dharma Power while nearing its final Dao character.
• In July, Dream Nun told Wang Quan she was entering seclusion to strive for Foundation Establishment and would invite him to a night banquet if she succeeded.
• In August, Wang Quan imprinted the ten-thousandth Dao character, causing black and gold patterns to appear across his Yin Spirit.
• Wang Quan decided not to enter the Second-Layer World until the abnormal patterns vanished or his Yin Spirit transformed, and he began condensing the ten-thousand-and-first Dao character.

Wang Quan continued struggling to imprint the final Dao character on his Yin Spirit while cultivating with haze grass, and learned that Dream Nun had reached Foundation Establishment. He sold a wisp of hazy mist to a group of cultivators and agreed to seek their help in the future, leaving him wondering whether they would quarrel over the magic artifact they hoped to make.

• Wang Quan steadily brought the final Dao character closer to his Yin Spirit, convinced that completing it would create a Yang Spirit beyond supreme grade.
• Dream Nun told Wang Quan she had reached Foundation Establishment and invited him to a banquet, and he agreed to attend and ask about her experience.
• Wang Quan considered his own future Foundation Establishment attempt but decided to finish transforming his Yin Spirit first.
• A group of cultivators arrived after discovering Wang Quan's hazy mist and asked to buy some for refining a mind-calming magic artifact.
• Wang Quan sold them one wisp for thirty thousand Green Beetles and agreed to seek their help if he needed it later.

Dream Nun explained that she had reached Foundation Establishment with the Lower Court’s help and invited cultivators to join her in establishing a new Drowning Dao Lower Court. She revealed the assignment’s high death toll and asked everyone to decide by the next day, then shared her Foundation Establishment experience.

• Wang Quan arrived at Dream Nun’s courtyard and found Officiant Daoist Nun, Qian Xiuyue, Fairy Qin, and other cultivators waiting.
• Dream Nun appeared and said she had reached Foundation Establishment three days earlier, using a quota provided by the Lower Court in exchange for three hundred years of labor.
• Dream Nun invited cultivators to help establish a new Drowning Dao Lower Court and offered cultivation benefits, access to resources, and authority within the new court.
• Dream Nun disclosed that a third of the Foundation Establishment cultivators and two-thirds of their helpers had died during the Lower Court’s founding more than five thousand years earlier.
• The cultivators weighed the risks, and Dream Nun asked them to discuss the offer and give her their answers the next day before sharing her Foundation Establishment experience.