Recaps

Wang Quan returned to the Drowning Dao Lower Court and learned that Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face had created lanterns that could protect people from evil and anomalies. He received one and prepared to test its defenses against a dying Foundation Establishment Ancestor.

• Wang Quan learned that the Lower Court was celebrating the creation of a Little Sun by Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face.
• Wang Quan greeted the gathered clan heads and reunited with Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face.
• Senior Sister Round Face explained that their lanterns used copies of the People-Crossing Scripture and Sun Flower Spirits and could establish stable safe zones.
• Qian Xiuyue gave Wang Quan a lantern and summoned a dying Foundation Establishment Ancestor so he could test its resistance to spells.

Wang Quan tested a lantern’s ability to resist curses and repel evil beings, finding that it grew stronger by absorbing objects dropped by them. When he entered the Fourth-Layer World, he found it had transformed into an apparently ordinary, bustling world, unlike the darkness he remembered, and returned to the Real World to contact the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court.

• Wang Quan tested curses on a Foundation Establishment Ancestor holding a lantern, then paid him to leave; the ancestor went home, divided his wealth, and died while arguing with his descendants about selling his body.
• Wang Quan entered the Third-Layer World with a lantern and found Yang Spirits using lanterns and Sun Gourds to expand a small safe zone.
• Wang Quan tested the lantern outside the safe zone and found that it burned evil beings and absorbed their dropped objects, gradually increasing its range and power.
• Wang Quan used the Self-Crossing Scripture to clear evil beings while collecting more objects for the lantern.
• Wang Quan entered the Fourth-Layer World and found blue skies, sunlight, and a bustling Drowning Dao Lower Court where he remembered only darkness and powerful evil beings.
• Wang Quan returned to the Real World and contacted the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court after sensing that the Fourth-Layer World’s transformation was abnormal.

Wang Quan’s report prompted the Dao Court to investigate strange places in the Third and Fourth Layers, while he tested the lantern’s power against Underworld ghosts and ghost gods. He learned that the lantern could destroy ghosts but used more power against them than against evil, and a ragged ghost god broke down in tears over the organizations that had repeatedly enslaved him.

• The Dao Court traced Wang Quan’s report to hundreds of similar incidents and sent Dharma Form Cultivators to investigate, warning him not to enter the strange places.
• Wang Quan returned to Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face, discussed the lantern’s test results, then set off for Stone City through the Underworld.
• When ghosts and descendants of ghost gods attacked him, Wang Quan raised the lantern, which destroyed the ghosts and badly burned the descendants.
• Wang Quan compared the lantern’s power against Underworld creatures and concluded that ghosts were more numerous and dangerous than evil.
• Wang Quan found a ragged ghost god and asked to test the lantern on him, prompting the ghost god to recount how the Western Ghost Emperor, Reincarnation, Afterlife, and Future had each made him toil for thousands of years.

Wang Quan tested the lantern on the down-and-out ghost god, then restored some of its power and continued toward Stone City. He returned to a jubilant welcome from Ruo Jinghong and the city’s inhabitants, carrying the lantern that gathered sunlight on its own.

• Wang Quan shone the lantern on the down-and-out ghost god, whose pain was severe but whose injuries were minor, and saw the lantern’s power rapidly diminish.
• Wang Quan worshipped the stars and the Great Sun to restore his divine ability and lantern, then left the down-and-out ghost god, who disguised himself as a mountain and went to sleep.
• Wang Quan used his divine ability to return to Stone City in one day and discovered that sunlight was streaming into the lantern on its own.
• Sand eagle monsters spotted Wang Quan and rushed to Stone City to announce his return, where the city had prepared a festive welcome.
• Ruo Jinghong met Wang Quan on Yellow Steed, and the two rode toward Stone City while Yellow Steed Tongtong joked that Wang Quan should eat Ruo Jinghong instead of her.

Stone City welcomed Wang Quan’s return with a lavish feast staged with cannon fire, dancing, and food. As the celebration lasted three days, visitors from other cities admired Wang Quan’s standing and considered inviting him to become their city lord.

• The Officiant Daoist Nun fired a giant cannon and coordinated volleys from Stone City’s cannons, filling the sky with flowers, dream scenes, and golden-lotus imagery.
• Mei Niang and Fairy Qin led groups of women in a dance-off while monsters and spirit monsters prepared and served food for the feast.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun announced Wang Quan’s return, and Wang Quan arrived atop the city wall riding Yellow Steed and carrying a lantern.
• Mei Niang explained that the grand spectacle displayed Wang Quan’s status and could deter trouble from other cities, while the Officiant teased him about Ruo Jinghong.
• Stone City’s beings celebrated for three days and nights, and visiting beings praised Wang Quan’s standing before one suggested inviting him to rule their city.

Wang Quan learned that the [Madmen] organization, led by the immortal [Time Madmen], had established the Drowning Dao Lower Court as a base to harvest the Fourth-Layer World. After the Dao Court pledged support and stationed guards, Wang Quan accepted that conflict with the [Madmen] would likely come and wondered how he would fare against them.

• Wang Quan received the Dao Court’s warning that the [Madmen] organization had created the Drowning Dao Lower Court and should not be confronted lightly.
• Wang Quan watched memories of a Primordial Spirit Cultivator entering the safe zone, where the [Madmen] welcomed him before overpowering and eating him because pure-blooded humans strengthened their modified bodies.
• The Dao Court explained that the [Madmen] altered themselves and needed pure-blooded human flesh to stabilize their bloodlines and cultivation.
• The Dao Court asked Wang Quan to link the worlds and promised resources while arranging guards around the Drowning Dao Lower Court in the Third-Layer and Fourth-Layer Worlds and in the Real World.
• Wang Quan accepted the Dao Court’s request, anticipated a future clash with the [Madmen], and wondered whether he could defeat them.
• Mei Niang, Ruo Jinghong, the Officiant, and the others came to ask Wang Quan why he looked troubled.

Wang Quan and the cultivators discussed the benefits of the cloud pillar linking five worlds and the threat posed by the [Madmen] in the Fourth-Layer World. Although Wang Quan would eventually have to defend the Drowning Dao Lower Court, the group agreed to open a safe zone in their corresponding Fourth-Layer World first.

• Wang Quan observed that the cloud pillar had strengthened Stone City, improved cultivators and descendants, and begun producing valuable materials.
• Wang Quan shared a Primordial Spirit’s memories about the powerful [Madmen], prompting several cultivators to argue against confronting them.
• Mei Niang pointed out that the [Madmen] could descend to the Drowning Dao Lower Court, which Wang Quan had to protect, so he would eventually need to strike first.
• Wang Quan said the group should build a safe zone in their Fourth-Layer World before the [Madmen] arrived and noted that the Dao Court had sent resources for their use.
• The cultivators agreed to open up the Fourth-Layer World, with some eager to refine the [Madmen] into Dao Soldiers or use their bodies and souls in cultivation.

Wang Quan and the Dao Seal Golden Cores planned a safe zone in the Fourth Layer and discussed making Little Suns from local demons and spirit monsters. In the Underworld, Wang Quan learned that Black Hand was supplying evils as labor, then inspected the slow construction of his [Bygone Days] Title before heading to the Second Layer.

• Wang Quan and the Dao Seal Golden Cores studied projections of Fourth-Layer dangers and planned to establish a safe zone corresponding to Stone City.
• Mei Niang suggested waiting for Little Suns from the Drowning Dao Lower Court, but Wang Quan proposed voluntary procedures for refining more from local expendables.
• Wang Quan visited City No. 95 and learned that Black Hand had brought evils there to be bled and carved for Magic Treasure materials.
• Wang Quan inspected the [Bygone Days] Title construction site and heard that Black Hand had left after learning about the Pinnacle of the Mountain Range.
• Wang Quan declined to rush the Title's construction and then went to the Second Layer of the Underworld.

Wang Quan sacrificed to the Second Layer of the Underworld using a rite from the General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths, increasing his Underworld authority and seeing visions of the layer’s ancient past. He entered its safe zone and found its residents cultivating the land and worshipping the Great Sun, where his arrival prompted them to recognize him as Flower-Scatter Wang Quan.

• Wang Quan asked the Officiant Daoist Nun to prepare a five-tier Five-Colored Altar and willing monster livestock and fowl for a sacrifice.
• Wang Quan painted his body with the sacrificial victims’ blood and performed the rite from the General Compendium of Unorthodox Paths, while the Officiant Daoist Nun watched his aura turn savage and desolate.
• Wang Quan’s sacrifice revealed visions of the Second Layer’s past as a mortal world and increased his Underworld authority by one level.
• Wang Quan ended the sacrifice after a cup of tea and told the Officiant Daoist Nun he was going to the Second Layer of the Underworld.
• Wang Quan entered the safe zone and observed its residents tending the land, while Sun Flower Spirits’ prayers produced faint sunlight.
• The ghosts and monsters recognized Wang Quan as the legendary holder of Underworld authority and were prompted to bow, praise, and extol him.

Wang Quan summoned the Second Layer Ghost Gods to discuss the safe zone and the power being drawn from the sun. After they arrived, they sealed the area and rendered everyone unconscious, leaving Wang Quan readying his permissions in case they attacked.

• Ghosts outside the safe zone considered attacking Wang Quan but held back because the Manor housed powerful Ghost Gods, then began digging holes while pretending to gather sunlight.
• Wang Quan told the Manor's residents to watch for tunnels, healed them after they buried ears as alarms, and questioned the Ghost Gods about the safe zone's slow expansion.
• The Ghost Gods explained that power from the cloud pillar was being drawn to the sun and said they could contact local experts by launching a Cloud-Piercing Arrow.
• Five Second Layer Ghost Gods arrived, greeted Wang Quan, and scattered treasures that sealed a thousand li, knocked out the First Layer Ghost Gods, and trapped the other living beings in crystal.
• Wang Quan prepared to summon powerful strikes through his permissions and asked the Second Layer Ghost Gods what they meant by their actions.

Wang Quan gained the Second Layer ghost gods’ support for an eventual expedition to connect the Third Layer of the Underworld. When he returned to the Second-Layer World, he found Stone City’s safe zone transformed by the widespread worship of the Great Sun and the work of its inhabitants.

• The Second Layer ghost gods thanked Wang Quan for connecting worlds and agreed to help him reach the Third Layer, despite its dangerous inhabitants.
• Wang Quan proposed taking uncanny ghosts into the Third Layer, using his treasures and offerings to support the expedition, and set a departure window of six months to a year.
• After Wang Quan left, the ghost gods released the sealed beings, erased some of their memories, and departed unnoticed.
• Wang Quan returned to the mortal world, worshipped the sun, moon, and stars, restored his Lifebound Divine Ability, and strengthened his lantern.
• Wang Quan entered the Second-Layer World and found Stone City’s safe zone filled with Sun Flower Spirits, a spreading Fire Mulberry Tree, cultivated plants, inscribed scriptures, and cultivators reciting the People-Crossing Scripture.
• Wang Quan saw powerful evil beings disintegrate into ash as soon as they entered the safe zone.

Wang Quan learned how the Second Layer’s safe zone used the Fire Mulberry Tree to expand and protect its inhabitants, and considered whether the Totem School’s methods could help them survive Heaven’s Collapse. He discovered that the Dao Court had already created and spread a worship scripture, while the safe zone’s residents had chosen to venerate the tree instead.

• Wang Quan found that the Second Layer’s safe zone had grown self-sufficient by using the Fire Mulberry Tree’s inscribed leaves to strengthen its defenses and cultivate life.
• A Golden Core Cultivator showed Wang Quan the Fire Tree Whip, a weapon refined from the tree’s branches that could destroy evil beings.
• Wang Quan agreed that the cultivators could feed the Fire Mulberry Tree essence, qi, and spirit, but warned them not to create unjust laws to extract it.
• Wang Quan discovered that a worship scripture drew a small share of worshippers’ essence, qi, and spirit to the tree while granting them some of its power.
• Wang Quan considered promoting Totem School methods after Heaven’s Collapse, then learned from the Golden Core Cultivator that the Dao Court had already spread its own worship scripture and sent stone statues for veneration.

Wang Quan learned how the Dao Court’s stone people could serve as powerful totems and arranged for them to be worshiped across several settlements. In the Third-Layer World, he discovered an immense, battered metal giant, and Ruo Jinghong hurried him toward its head without explaining why.

• Wang Quan examined eighteen stone people and found their fading True Spirit Halos showed they were dying elders who could be used as totems.
• Wang Quan told a Golden Core cultivator to distribute and worship the statues, warning that each lineage or town should take only one.
• The cultivators divided the statues among themselves, while Wang Quan arranged for Officiant to place Stone City’s statues and learned Qian Xiuyue and Senior Sister Round Face were already worshiping theirs.
• Wang Quan entered the Third-Layer World and found cultivators repairing a gigantic, scarred metal figure that had been excavated.
• Ruo Jinghong flew down from the giant, wrapped Wang Quan in colorful smoke, and rushed him toward its head without answering his questions.

Wang Quan read Ghost Emperor Heart’s letter and learned that the damaged giant was the Mechanical Heavenly Emperor, a powerful treasure sent as compensation for taking his safe zone. With its control method in hand, Wang Quan set off with Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and Tongtong the Yellow Steed to inspect the control room.

• Ruo Jinghong brought Wang Quan inside the giant, where he saw cultivators and mechanical figures slowly repairing its mechanisms.
• Ruo Jinghong and Mei Niang wrestled over Tongtong the Yellow Steed until Wang Quan interrupted them and asked about the giant.
• Mei Niang explained that Ghost Emperor Heart had delivered the giant six months earlier and left Wang Quan a letter.
• Wang Quan read that Ghost Emperor Heart had sent him the Mechanical Heavenly Emperor and included instructions for controlling it.
• Wang Quan recognized similarities between the giant’s machinery and the Mechanical Brain taught by the Taboo Emperor, then headed to the control room with the others.

Wang Quan explored the Mechanical Emperor's head and discovered the ancient giant was a living emperor whose consciousness was sealed. He told the others he could not control it, though he had secretly gained control and lied after sensing something.

• Wang Quan searched the mechanical head with Clear Wind Slips into Dreams and concluded that its true control center was elsewhere.
• Ruo Jinghong, Mei Niang, and the others failed to track Wang Quan after he vanished, then watched the Mechanical Emperor begin to revive.
• Wang Quan explained that the giant was a living Mechanical Emperor, an ancient emperor gravely wounded in war whose consciousness would not awaken for eight or ten thousand years.
• Wang Quan proposed building an even more terrifying Mechanical Emperor and said the group would head to the Fourth Layer in a few days.
• Wang Quan stayed deep in the Mechanical Emperor's head and concealed that he could control it, having sensed something that made him lie.

Wang Quan secretly gained partial control of Mechanical Emperor: Winter and learned fragments of its memories about the Abyss and the Great Unification Era. After discovering that repairing it would take ten thousand years, he prepared to leave for the Fourth-Layer World, but a battle among groups of Evil interrupted the departure.

• Wang Quan concealed his ability to control Mechanical Emperor: Winter and questioned its confused consciousness about the Abyss and its past.
• Mechanical Emperor: Winter described the Abyss as a prison created by a taboo being and recalled a war that shattered it.
• Wang Quan calculated that repairing Mechanical Emperor: Winter would take at least ten thousand years, during which its former consciousness would continue to collapse.
• Wang Quan decided to keep the devastating weapon in the Third-Layer World and use it only in a moment of crisis.
• Ruo Jinghong told Wang Quan that the Fourth-Layer World expedition was ready and that resources and over ten thousand lanterns had arrived.
• Wang Quan went to meet the Dao Seal Golden Cores, but saw groups of Evil charging into battle outside the safe zone.

Wang Quan and the Dao Seal Golden Core cultivators entered the Fourth-Layer World to establish a safe zone, but found Stone City destroyed and powerful evil creatures hunting its inhabitants. They took shelter in Mei Niang's underground cultivation grounds, where a survivor explained that the Great Terrors were powerful beings who had fallen from battles in the sky.

• Wang Quan and the others prepared an altar, sacrificed to the Fourth-Layer World, and entered it with the Dao Seal Golden Core cultivators riding on his Dharma Form of Heaven and Earth.
• Wang Quan and the cultivators found Stone City in ruins, where mountain-like evil creatures devoured other creatures.
• Ruo Jinghong led the group through the ruins and into Mei Niang's underground passage, where they decided to build a safe zone and investigate what had happened aboveground.
• The group reached a palace full of frightened evil creatures, which scattered and called them the Great Terror.
• Wang Quan tested a lantern on one creature, which endured its light for three breaths before turning to ash.
• A second evil creature told Wang Quan that powerful beings had fought in the sky, destroyed cities, and fallen into the area, where they preyed on others to recover their strength.

Wang Quan and the cultivators learned that Fourth Layer natives and the [Madmen] organization had left powerful evil beings alive, then cleared the underground palace and began building a safe zone. Their small safe zone failed to connect with the others, so they tried to expand it as cloud pillars burrowed toward them.

• Wang Quan and the others learned from the evil beings that Fourth Layer natives and [Madmen] had fought, leaving surviving evil beings scattered across the ruins.
• Wang Quan offered the remaining evil beings a chance to live as plants in exchange for submission, but they attacked and the Golden Core Cultivators exterminated them.
• Wang Quan and the cultivators hung lanterns and carved scriptures to create a one-foot-square safe zone in the underground palace.
• When the new safe zone failed to connect with the others and cloud pillars burrowed toward them, Ruo Jinghong urged everyone to keep expanding it.
• The cultivators used lanterns, scriptures, rites, and cleansing treasures to enlarge the safe zone, but their expressions grew ugly as it expanded.

Wang Quan discovered that the safe zone’s expansion was birthing powerful Evil creatures from the Abyss, so he traveled to the Taboo Emperor to ask how to stop them. He challenged the Emperor to a fight, but his defenses, combat abilities, and cultivation vanished before the youth asked him to repeat himself.

• A newly born Evil creature emerged from the safe zone’s dark earth, boasted of its power, and was destroyed, leaving behind a diary that Wang Quan gave to a black-cloaked Golden Core cultivator to refine.
• Mei Niang read the Evil creature’s diary aloud, and Ruo Jinghong urged her to focus as more Abyss-born Evil creatures attacked the safe zone.
• Wang Quan left the others his Evil-cleansing items and used [Shifting Stars] to travel to the source of the Fury River.
• Wang Quan reached the Taboo Emperor’s Era Fragment and entered the Glazed Glass River scene after covering himself with defensive and close-combat Divine Abilities.
• Wang Quan challenged the youth to fight, but his Divine Abilities and cultivation collapsed, leaving him at Qi Refining-level Nature Cultivation as the youth asked what he had said.

Wang Quan questioned the youth about the Abyss and received a scripture for subduing its creatures, then returned to the mortal world and expounded scripture before traveling back to the Fourth Layer of the Underworld. He asked Ruo Jinghong to bring him an evil creature so he could test the youth’s method.

• Wang Quan told the youth about the evil creature’s diary, the palace fragment, and the maid in the Historical Fragment, prompting the youth to attack him and reflect on his past and loneliness.
• The youth explained that the Abyss had shattered in an ancient war and could not have produced the evil creatures, then taught Wang Quan a scripture to subdue them if they were native to the Abyss.
• The youth told Wang Quan to grow stronger and return to the source of the Glazed Glass River to claim what she had left behind, and Wang Quan left the Era Fragment.
• Wang Quan expounded scripture to cultivators gathered beneath the Glazed Glass River, then used the [Shifting Stars] divine ability to return to the Fourth Layer of the Underworld.
• Wang Quan asked for an evil creature to test his new method, and Ruo Jinghong pulled one out and tossed it in front of him.

Wang Quan tested the Taboo Emperor’s scripture on evil creatures and discovered it could soothe them to sleep. As the safe zone continued expanding, he used the scripture to calm a giant evil creature, prompting the other hulking creatures to demand to know why it could sleep.

• Mei Niang stuffed dudou into Evil’s mouth while Wang Quan recited the Taboo Emperor’s scripture, calming Evil and two other creatures until they fell asleep.
• Wang Quan confirmed the creatures were not from the Abyss, and Ruo Jinghong explained that safe zones had spread through the Second-Layer Worlds and reached the Third and Fourth Layers in some places.
• Wang Quan and the cultivators continued expanding their safe zone despite growing dangers and the weakening of their protective resources.
• When mountain-sized evil creatures began digging near the safe zone, Wang Quan went outside to confront one and found that smaller creatures eating its fur made it grow weaker.
• Wang Quan recited the Taboo Emperor’s scripture until the agitated giant creature fell asleep, and another hulking creature slapped it and demanded to know why it got to sleep.

Wang Quan and the cultivators put the great Evils to sleep by reciting scripture, while Wang Quan disguised himself as an Evil to learn why they were converging on Stone City. He discovered they planned to destroy a Land of Evil and heard that doing so could make an Evil become an Evil God, then asked for an explanation of dimensional ascension.

• Wang Quan recited scripture beside the great Evils, putting them to sleep, and taught the cultivators how to do the same.
• An External Path Golden Core cultivator used his stored corpses and Dharma Power to have others recite scripture and recover energy while he returned to work on the safe zone.
• Wang Quan surveyed Stone City, transformed into an Evil, and slapped one of the approaching Evils to question him.
• The Evil said he had come from the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss to destroy the Land of Evil in Stone City's ruins and become a true Evil God.
• Wang Quan asked what an Evil God was, and the Evil began explaining dimensional ascension to the gathered Evils.

Wang Quan persuaded a group of evil beings to recruit others for cross-border work, promising hardship, mining, and Green Fly Coins. He arranged for the ghost god to contact Black Hand, warning that he would involve the Dao Court if he could not find him.

• Wang Quan told the evil beings that enduring hardship could lead to dimensional ascension and promised to take them across the border to work for money.
• Wang Quan explained that recruiting more evil beings would bring better treatment, and the excited beings scattered to recruit others.
• Wang Quan chained one evil being to a banner pole and ordered him to guard the gathering place.
• Wang Quan contacted Ruo Jinghong and the other cultivators, who agreed to help spread word of his plan.
• Wang Quan visited the Third-Layer World and the Second-Layer World to make arrangements, then asked the ghost god to contact Black Hand.
• Wang Quan told the ghost god he would find Black Hand himself or have the Dao Court act, prompting the ghost god to contact him immediately.

Black Hand was summoned by the Ghost Gods and carried a ring to Wang Quan, who asked him to find a route from the Fourth-Layer World so its evil beings could be brought to work in the Underworld. The ring’s owner, the Tenth Reincarnation King, witnessed Wang Quan’s shameless request as Wang Quan prepared to send Black Hand to the Fourth-Layer World.

• Black Hand enjoyed the wealth he earned by bringing evil beings to work, then accepted a message asking him to visit the Ghost Gods in City No. 95.
• The Ghost Gods gave Black Hand a ring and told him to deliver its owner’s message to Flower-Scatter Daoist Wang Quan.
• Black Hand traveled for three days and nights to Wang Quan’s enormous refining project, where the ring’s vertical eye watched him.
• Wang Quan asked Black Hand to find a route from the Fourth-Layer World and bring its evil beings to work in the Underworld.
• Black Hand admitted he did not know where the Fourth-Layer World was, and Wang Quan offered to send him there so he could search for a route.

Black Hand reluctantly left its home to carry out Wang Quan’s errand in the Fourth-Layer World. Wang Quan negotiated with the Tenth Reincarnation King, agreeing to accept his Reincarnation Divine Ability in exchange for a future favor, while insisting he could be trusted.

• Black Hand’s concubines packed its luggage, and it left its mountain of Green Fly Coins for the Fourth-Layer World.
• The Tenth Reincarnation King told Wang Quan he had hidden his thoughts in the ring to evade the True Reincarnation King and asked him to help fight that enemy.
• The Tenth Reincarnation King described his Reincarnation Divine Ability, which could summon past and future selves, and Wang Quan became interested.
• Wang Quan agreed to take the Divine Ability if the Tenth Reincarnation King owed him a future favor, and promised he would not send him to his death.
• The Tenth Reincarnation King doubted Wang Quan’s claim that he was kindhearted, and Wang Quan called that quality one of his fine traits not worth mentioning.