Recaps

Bai Xuanling visited Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge to see Xie Lingyu and Qinghe, then left for the Heavenly Derivation Sect with Chu Xingchen after giving him a message talisman. Qinghe and Xie Lingyu worried about Bai Xuanling’s urge to kill and wondered how Qinghe had come into her care.

• Bai Xuanling reminisced with Xie Lingyu about raising her and accepted Xie Lingyu’s sincere praise of her as a master.
• Bai Xuanling teased Qinghe by calling her a pet, then explained that Qinghe had been entrusted to her as an old friend’s daughter.
• Bai Xuanling gave Chu Xingchen a message talisman and let him escort her back to the Heavenly Derivation Sect.
• Qinghe and Xie Lingyu watched Bai Xuanling leave and agreed to ask the Sect Leader about her condition later.
• Qinghe asked whether she had been fished out or entrusted to Bai Xuanling, and Xie Lingyu joked that she might have been too stupid for other Flood Dragons to tolerate.

Chu Xingchen reflected on the years since Yuankong left to search for answers and on how his disciples’ cultivation had progressed. He urged Cui Hao to take pills to catch up with his peers, just as a tremendous surge of blood qi stained the sky above Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge.

• Yuankong left Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge with supplies from Chu Xingchen and set off for the Southern Jambu Continent to visit his senior brother before continuing his search.
• Chu Xingchen noted that Li Xingtian was preparing to break through to Golden Core, Lin Luoyu was nearing Foundation Establishment perfection, and Green Snake had reached Foundation Establishment and mastered the basics of her divine ability.
• Chu Xingchen teased Cui Hao about missing Third Senior Sister’s tea and challenged him to compare his cultivation progress with Lin Luoyu’s.
• Chu Xingchen encouraged Cui Hao to take pills like Li Xingtian, and Cui Hao reluctantly agreed to try one a day.
• A powerful surge of blood qi rose from Ten Thousand Flowers Ridge and turned the sky scarlet.

Li Xingtian broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, gaining formidable blood-manipulation abilities that made him worry his righteous reputation was slipping away. As Chu Xingchen praised him, Chen Baiqing returned to the sect.

• Qinghe and Cui Hao discussed the blood qi surrounding Li Xingtian’s breakthrough, while Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu talked about how fate had brought them together.
• Li Xingtian emerged from seclusion as a Nascent Soul cultivator and realized he could manipulate blood qi and other people’s blood with ease.
• Chu Xingchen inspected Li Xingtian’s traits, praised his progress, and put an arm around him.
• Chu Xingchen noticed a purple light approaching the sect, and Chen Baiqing arrived and greeted him as her master.

Chen Baiqing returned to the sect and reunited with Chu Xingchen and her fellow disciples, bringing gifts prepared with Li Yingling. She gave Li Xingtian a special outfit that could make his red energy appear white, leaving him stunned.

• Chen Baiqing returned to the sect, and Chu Xingchen welcomed her while she explained that Li Yingling would arrive later.
• Chu Xingchen brought Chen Baiqing to the pool, where the disciples gathered to celebrate Li Xingtian’s breakthrough and welcome her home.
• Chen Baiqing brewed tea for everyone and distributed gifts she and Li Yingling had prepared for the sect.
• Chen Baiqing gave Sandong a pure black stone rich in lunar essence, which he happily hugged.
• Chen Baiqing gave Li Xingtian a white martial outfit with an illusion design that could disguise his energy, and he was astonished that it could make his red light appear white.

Chen Baiqing gave her fellow disciples and Chu Xingchen carefully chosen gifts at a tea gathering, then Chu Xingchen summoned Li Xingtian to discuss upgrading his constitution. The chapter ended with Li Xingtian learning the change might make cultivation easier but could also turn him into an even more formidable demon.

• Chen Baiqing gave Li Xingtian a garment that could change the color of his Spiritual Power, and he said he liked it.
• Chen Baiqing gave Xie Lingyu a mutton-fat jade bracelet and relayed Eldest Senior Sister's message that her own gift for Chu Xingchen would arrive later.
• Chen Baiqing gave Chu Xingchen a separate gift, which he put away without opening despite Qinghe's curiosity.
• After the tea gathering ended, Chu Xingchen called Li Xingtian to the Sect's Main Hall and told him his constitution could be upgraded.
• Chu Xingchen warned Li Xingtian that the upgrade's exact result was uncertain, though it would make cultivation easier and might turn him into an invincible ultimate Great Demon.

Chu Xingchen used a medicinal bath and a Divine Pill of Rebirth to upgrade Li Xingtian’s cultivation physique, while jokingly adding Sichuan pepper and ginger to remove the “gamey smell.” The upgrade succeeded, granting Li Xingtian the orange-grade Origin Blood True Body, though Chu Xingchen worried that his blood qi would remain difficult to conceal.

• Chu Xingchen put Li Xingtian in a boiling medicinal bath and added Sichuan pepper, explaining that he hoped the root-bone upgrade would let Li Xingtian leave blood qi methods behind.
• Chu Xingchen added ginger, and Li Xingtian asked him not to add any more unnecessary ingredients.
• Chu Xingchen gave Li Xingtian a Divine Pill of Rebirth, and Li Xingtian swallowed it after asking whether the spices would affect his body.
• As the pill’s effects took hold, Chu Xingchen upgraded Li Xingtian’s Blood-Bone True Body to the orange-grade Origin Blood True Body.
• Chu Xingchen saw that Li Xingtian’s new trait still appeared to involve blood qi and worried whether Xiaobaiqing’s Dharma Treasure garments could conceal it.

Li Xingtian emerged from two days of treatment with improved aptitude but unchanged blood qi, and joined Cui Hao at the Water Pool, where Chen Baiqing welcomed him back with candied fruit and tea. At the pavilion, Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu shared a quiet exchange, and Chu Xingchen planned to speak with her after Li Xingtian left to temper himself.

• Li Xingtian found that his aptitude had improved, though his master's attempt to remove his blood qi had failed.
• Cui Hao met Li Xingtian on the way to the Water Pool and praised his new white clothes.
• Chen Baiqing offered Li Xingtian candied fruit, and he felt reassured that she was still his familiar Third Junior Sister.
• Chen Baiqing prepared tea for Li Xingtian, Cui Hao, and Qinghe, while Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu watched from the pavilion.
• Chu Xingchen told Xie Lingyu he would speak with her after Li Xingtian left to temper himself.

Li Yingling visited the Myriad Treasures Pavilion in Central Province and used several powerful connections to gain access to its fourth floor. The shopkeeper offered her a steep discount, leaving her ready to shop.

• The Myriad Treasures Pavilion shopkeeper personally escorted Li Yingling through the third floor, drawing the attention of the Nascent Soul cultivators there.
• A Spirit Transformation cultivator initially refused to let Li Yingling onto the fourth floor because her cultivation was insufficient.
• Li Yingling showed Yuyang Daozi’s friendship token and the Profound Clarity Heavenly Sect Token, then revealed a Heavenly Derivation Sect Token.
• The Spirit Transformation cultivator recognized Li Yingling’s backing and welcomed her upstairs.
• Li Yingling asked the shopkeeper whether her tokens could earn her a discount, and he offered to sell everything at ninety percent off.

Li Yingling searched the Myriad Treasures Pavilion for a gift that would delight her master and asked to see a Dream-Hanging Bell. Meanwhile, Chu Xingchen examined a contaminated imitation of the Heavenly Dao’s rules, learning that unknown forces may have advanced their research for thousands of years.

• Li Yingling considered her master’s tastes and asked the shopkeeper to show her the Dream-Hanging Bell.
• Chu Xingchen explained that Li Xingtian had begun feeling restless after his breakthrough and had urged him to travel and hone himself.
• Yan Yun brought out a heavily sealed box for Chu Xingchen while Bai Xuanling joined the meeting despite still appearing unwell.
• Yan Yun opened the box, revealing a blackened Rhombic Crystal that Chu Xingchen identified as an imitation of twisted, contaminated rules.
• Yan Yun warned that the research might be intended to contaminate principles and trigger a collapse, and said the discovery in Dongsheng Shenzhou could point to a far wider threat.

Chu Xingchen learned that demonic forces might possess fragments of rules and agreed to investigate a lead in Dongsheng Shenzhou using the Heavenly Derivation Sect’s covert network. He departed for Yuhua Ravine, while Bai Xuanling urged Yan Yun to work harder toward becoming sect leader.

• Chu Xingchen used Myriad Forms to test the crystal and concluded that some rules might have fallen into demonic hands.
• Bai Xuanling explained that investigations in Dongsheng Shenzhou had linked various evil cultivators to the crystal, though they knew nothing about its true nature.
• Yan Yun asked Chu Xingchen to investigate a new lead through the Heavenly Derivation Sect’s informants, and he agreed to go to Yuhua Ravine under the code name Jiuxuan.
• Chu Xingchen gave Bai Xuanling medicine and reminded him that the Grand Elder position was still being kept for him.
• After Chu Xingchen left, Bai Xuanling reassured Yan Yun about his arrangements and urged her to become sect leader sooner.

Chu Xingchen invited Yuyang Daozi to drink Spring Warmth while traveling with Xie Lingyu, then used Yan Yun’s jade stone to summon a host of unseen allies. The chapter ended as they answered his call.

• Chu Xingchen told Xie Lingyu that Dongsheng Shenzhou was dangerous, but she said she had come to clear her head, not to accompany him.
• Chu Xingchen teased Xie Lingyu by claiming Yuyang Daozi was nearby; Yuyang revealed himself from the riverbank, and Xie Lingyu retreated beneath the canopy.
• Chu Xingchen warned Yuyang not to provoke Xie Lingyu, then offered him Spring Warmth, and Yuyang agreed to help him.
• Chu Xingchen stopped Yuyang from drinking and scattered wine over the river, then used Yan Yun’s jade stone to summon everyone.
• Countless voices answered Chu Xingchen’s invitation, saying, “As you command!”

Chu Xingchen met deputy commissioner Gu Sanyang and persuaded Yuyang Daozi to help investigate the demons’ return. After Gu Sanyang explained his plan to lure out the hidden masterminds with a new band of evil cultivators, Chu Xingchen asked if he needed more powerful ones.

• Gu Sanyang introduced himself to Chu Xingchen and joined him on the bamboo raft to discuss the investigation.
• Chu Xingchen privately told Yuyang Daozi that demons had risen again and showed him a Rules Crystal as evidence.
• Yuyang Daozi agreed to help investigate, and Chu Xingchen stressed that they should speak openly to protect their friendship.
• Chu Xingchen asked Gu Sanyang to report his intelligence and plans in front of Yuyang Daozi.
• Gu Sanyang explained that he had arranged for a new band of evil cultivators to draw out the demons’ masterminds, but the available recruits were weak and cautious.
• Chu Xingchen asked whether Gu Sanyang needed powerful evil cultivators.

Li Xingtian arrived at Yaoguang Immortal City after Chu Xingchen summoned him, expecting an important mission. Chu Xingchen assigned him command of an elite force, and Gu Sanyang agreed to provide two aides for the task.

• Li Xingtian hurried from Central Province to Yaoguang Immortal City after receiving Chu Xingchen's message.
• Li Xingtian entered the Heaven-Class A Room at Yaoguang Immortal Pavilion and found Chu Xingchen, Yuyang Daozi, Xie Lingyu, and others discussing a mission.
• Chu Xingchen welcomed Li Xingtian, then told him he had an important task and would command an elite force.
• Chu Xingchen instructed Gu Sanyang to entrust the gathered cultivators to Li Xingtian and send two mission followers to assist him.
• Gu Sanyang agreed and judged that Li Xingtian's righteous appearance would ensure the evil cultivators understood orthodoxy.

Li Xingtian followed Zuo Wen and Yu Jing to a hidden base in Stillbone Forest, where he learned he had been made Cult Master of a group posing as the Evil Spirit Cult. He rallied the group with a fierce speech and threats, leaving the Evil Cultivators unsure whether to fear him or the righteous path more.

• Zuo Wen and Yu Jing led Li Xingtian through Stillbone Forest to a concealed base inside a mountain.
• Zuo Wen introduced himself as deputy cult master, named Yu Jing as head of the Execution Hall, and explained that the group would use the name Evil Spirit Cult.
• Li Xingtian saw roughly forty black-robed cultivators and watched them rise and bow when Yu Jing ordered them to greet their new Cult Master.
• Li Xingtian unleashed his powerful blood Qi and urged the Evil Cultivators to advance rather than accept a mediocre fate.
• Li Xingtian ordered that cowards be offered as blood sacrifices and those who disobeyed be made into sky lanterns.
• Yu Jing, Zuo Wen, and the Evil Cultivators shouted their allegiance, though many feared Li Xingtian's blood Qi more than the righteous path.

Li Xingtian rejected the idea of building the New Evil Spirit Cult by harming mortals and ordered his followers to target nearby Evil Cultivators instead. The next day, he led the assault on their stronghold while Yu Jing and Wen Zuo watched his overwhelming Blood Qi and questioned how he could claim not to be an Evil Cultivator.

• Li Xingtian refused to sit in the bone chair and told Yu Jing and Wen Zuo that limits were not something to discuss with Evil Cultivators.
• Wen Zuo showed Li Xingtian a map of nearby settlements, but Li Xingtian insisted they should recruit Evil Cultivators by defeating existing groups rather than turning ordinary people into Evil Cultivators.
• Li Xingtian ordered his forces to attack a nearby group with two Golden Core cultivators and possibly a Nascent Soul cultivator, take in those who submitted, and execute any of his own followers who harmed innocent mortals.
• The next day, Wen Zuo and Yu Jing waited above the valley as Li Xingtian unleashed towering Blood Qi against the Evil Cultivators.
• Yu Jing suggested that Li Xingtian might simply think his Ghost-Head Broadsword looked cool.

At Wandering Cloud Bay, a woman and her companions debated how to handle a newly emerged Nascent Soul Realm Evil Cultivator who hunted other Evil Cultivators. Despite suspecting a trap, the woman decided to investigate him herself while her allies prepared for either recruitment or a fight.

• The woman confronted a young man over his past mistake and discussed how the Evil Cultivator’s attacks had delayed their mission.
• The boy argued that the group should try to recruit the Evil Cultivator, citing evidence of a powerful blood qi cultivation legacy and the pressure of their deadline.
• The woman remained suspicious, and the boy told her the decision was hers while reminding her that time was short.
• The woman ordered the young man to make the usual preparations and told the boy to prepare a fallback for either killing or recruiting the target.
• The woman left the house and went to investigate the Evil Cultivator herself.

Li Xingtian sent his followers to attack a hidden evil cultivator gang while a woman prepared a girl to infiltrate his ranks and learn his background. Li Xingtian killed the gang’s Golden Core leader on arrival and ordered his followers to kill the rest.

• Li Xingtian learned that his Divine Cult had gained around a hundred and twenty followers, then ordered Yu Jing to lead an attack on a newly located gang and put their captive recruits at the front.
• A woman instructed a girl to approach Li Xingtian by any means and uncover his background, then left the evil cultivators in the cave to awaken.
• Li Xingtian announced that the Central Province's Evil Spirit Cult had come to recruit believers, and the gang's Golden Core leader recognized his warning phrase.
• The Golden Core evil cultivator tried to surrender, but Li Xingtian punched his head apart and ordered his followers to kill a batch of the remaining evil cultivators.

Li Xingtian led his Evil Cultivators to wipe out a stronghold and found a beautiful captive who claimed he looked like a good person. Suspecting she was a trap, he exposed her lie and stabbed her in the abdomen.

• Li Xingtian killed the Golden Core Evil Cultivator, and his followers defeated the remaining enemies under orders to leave none alive.
• Wen Zuo searched the stronghold for valuables and brought the surviving mortals out to be handed over to the Great Dao Sect.
• A captive girl called Li Xingtian her benefactor, so he sent the other mortals away and questioned her about who had sent her.
• The girl insisted that no one had sent her and said she thought Li Xingtian looked like a good person.
• Li Xingtian helped the girl up with a smile, then stabbed her in the abdomen and told her she did not look like a good person.

Li Xingtian incapacitated a suspicious girl and sent her to his master for questioning while Chu Xingchen investigated the [Demon] in Qu Lin with Xie Lingyu. The investigation continued with Yuyang Daozi coordinating intelligence, though Xie Lingyu worried he would cut ties with Chu Xingchen afterward.

• Li Xingtian questioned the girl, judged her denial suspicious, and rendered her unconscious while sealing her meridians and blocking communication and detection.
• Li Xingtian ordered Wen Zuo and Hall Master Yu to escort the girl to his master and prioritize finding out whether she was an enemy.
• Chu Xingchen traveled to Qu Lin with Xie Lingyu to investigate the [Demon] through a separate line of inquiry.
• Yuyang Daozi coordinated investigations along seven lines using the Great Dao Sect's intelligence network, and Chu Xingchen assigned him the incoming reports.
• Xie Lingyu asked whether things would be all right with Yuyang Daozi, and Chu Xingchen said Yan Yun would handle the Heavenly Derivation Sect's covert agents.
• Xie Lingyu said she felt Yuyang Daozi would cut ties with Chu Xingchen once the matter was over.

Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu investigated a suspected Evil Cultivator connection near Fuyao Immortal City and devised a way to draw out people with information without alerting other investigators. Chu Xingchen began buying people’s supposed immortal fate at a market stall, and the chapter ended with him giving gold to a man who hoped to help his mother.

• Xie Lingyu explained that a rapidly advancing Evil Cultivator leader came from Qu Lin, and that Yuyang suspected the Demon had secretly supported selected Evil Cultivators.
• Chu Xingchen proposed using a public stall to attract people rather than visiting their homes, and Xie Lingyu agreed to assist him.
• Disguised as a middle-aged Daoist, Chu Xingchen set up a stall in Qu Lin and announced that he would buy immortal fate for three days.
• Xie Lingyu held a banner beside Chu Xingchen as he evaluated sellers and offered them gold for their supposed immortal fate.
• Chu Xingchen gave a frail middle-aged man two taels of gold, and the man left hoping to save his mother.

Chu Xingchen continued buying fated connections, drawing the attention of a youth and a farmer who suspected his stall might be bait. When the farmer finally approached, Chu Xingchen recognized him as a dangerous figure and tried to negotiate his way out.

• A youth and the farmer Corn watched Chu Xingchen’s crowded stall and discussed whether it was a trap.
• The youth decided they should investigate rather than let a possible threat approach their home base, and sent Corn to join the queue.
• Chu Xingchen appeared to notice the youth, who mistook his glance at a sesame flatbread for interest in the Daoist.
• Xie Lingyu noticed Chu Xingchen had seemingly hooked someone but stayed silent and kept holding the banner.
• As Corn reached the stall at dusk, Chu Xingchen sent Xie Lingyu to buy flatbread and examined the farmer’s immortal destiny.
• After touching Corn and sensing his danger, Chu Xingchen quietly admitted he was only there to earn food and asked to leave once his business was done.

Chu Xingchen prepared for a dangerous meeting with the Evil Spirit Cult while instructing his allies to keep supporting Winter Melon if he failed to return. In Yaoguang Immortal City, Yuyang Daozi's night of work was interrupted when Zuo Wen and Yu Jing brought him an injured woman for Chu Xingchen to interrogate.

• The young man learned from the farmer that the Evil Spirit Cult was using money to gain people's trust before taking sacrifices, and he planned to question one of its members the next day.
• The young man told the farmer to treat his possible death as final, withdraw everyone from Qulin City, and keep supporting Winter Melon regardless of later orders.
• Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu spent the night admiring the moon and agreed to track down the group the following day.
• Yuyang Daozi finished reviewing intelligence reports and tried to rest, but an urgent message summoned him back to work.
• Zuo Wen and Yu Jing brought Yuyang Daozi a rigid but living, wounded woman, saying the cult leader had sent her for Chu Xingchen to interrogate.

A young man from another faction confronted Chu Xingchen and Xie Lingyu while they sold affinities in Qulin City, but Xie Lingyu used the Buddhist Sect’s pursuit of the Evil Spirit Cult to pressure him into yielding. After he presented a Black Crow Blood Jade, Xie Lingyu claimed his people had been requisitioned for the cult’s secret mission, leaving him torn between obeying and investigating what Cult Leader Dark Crow possessed.

• The young man challenged Chu Xingchen, who refused to buy his affinity, and threatened to ruin the operation.
• Xie Lingyu blocked the young man’s pressure and warned that she would make the Great Dao Sect suspect he had ties to the Evil Spirit Cult’s secret.
• The young man placed a Black Crow Blood Jade on the table, and Xie Lingyu recognized him as at least a deputy hall master of the Evil Spirit Cult.
• Xie Lingyu declared that the young man and his people were requisitioned for a highly classified mission at headquarters.
• The young man considered whether to follow the order, hoping the mission might reveal what Cult Leader Dark Crow had that drew the Buddhist Sect’s pursuit.

Chu Xingchen learned that the Buddhist Sect likely knew little about the demons within the Evil Spirit Cult and planned to use a forged Black Crow Direct Order Token to investigate further. After discovering Li Xingtian had sent a suspected demon for interrogation, Chu Xingchen treated the captive with his pills, leaving everyone wondering why she seemed to suffer even more.

• Chu Xingchen concluded that the hidden demon groups had little contact and decided to have the Great Dao Sect reproduce a Black Crow Direct Order Token.
• Chu Xingchen entered his guest room and found Yuyang Daozi interrogating a girl suspended with a dagger in her abdomen.
• Chu Xingchen identified the girl’s [Demon Heart] trait and joked that someone had tried to tempt Li Xingtian with a woman.
• Chu Xingchen lowered the girl and gave a staff member improved Perfect Tonic Pills to administer while he asked Yuyang Daozi to forge the token.
• The girl began violently slamming her head against the floor, and Yuyang Daozi questioned what pills Chu Xingchen had given her.

Winter Melon decided to recruit Li Xingtian rather than kill him, but prepared to attack if negotiations failed. When she arrived at the Evil Cultivators’ base, Li Xingtian struck first and declared that unannounced visitors could only be enemies.

• Winter Melon judged Li Xingtian to be a ruthless, capable Evil Cultivator and decided to negotiate with him personally.
• Winter Melon ordered her people to prepare for negotiations and to kill Li Xingtian and eliminate witnesses if she failed.
• At Stillbone Forest, Li Xingtian urged Wen Zuo and Yu Jing to send out their Evil Cultivators to find new targets.
• Li Xingtian sensed Winter Melon outside the Discussion Hall and immediately raised his weapon.
• Winter Melon deflected Li Xingtian’s strike with her Soft-Bone Long Sword as he warned her that those who came unannounced could only be enemies.