Recaps

At the Waterwood Dharma Assembly, Yaoqin and the other guests grew suspicious when Yuankong began chanting a Buddhist Heart Sutra rather than a funeral scripture. The abbot Yuanjing and two monks seized Yuankong during the chant, but Yuanjing covered the boy’s eyes and promised to teach him spells.

• Yuankong led the monks in chanting at the ceremony while sitting before the spirit tablets and his senior brother Yuanjing.
• Yaoqin recognized the chant as a secret Buddhist art and warned the guests, but Li Xingtian judged it to be the Buddhist Heart Sutra.
• Chu Xingchen suggested striking first, though Yaoqin persuaded everyone to wait and observe.
• Chu Xingchen inspected Yuanjing’s traits and saw that the abbot was kindhearted and near the end of his life.
• Yuanjing shouted that their Buddha was merciful, and the two white-bearded monks seized Yuankong’s arms as golden light shone around them.
• Yuanjing covered Yuankong’s eyes and told him that his senior brother would teach him spells.

Five-year-old Yuankong, a born Buddhist Child who could not cultivate, collapsed from the cold while washing clothes, prompting Yuanjing to summon an Arhat for help. The Arhat left after attending to Yuankong, who remained unconscious as Yuanjing sat silently beside him.

• Yuankong complained that Yuanjing would not teach him to cultivate, then went outside to wash clothes after wiping his nose on his sleeve.
• Yuanjing reflected that Yuankong was a born Buddhist Child who rejected all cultivation energy, and that the Heart Sutra had produced no reaction in him.
• A monk reported that Yuankong had fainted while washing clothes, and Yuanjing found him cold to the touch despite his pulse seeming healthy.
• Yuanjing crushed a golden Śarīra to summon an Arhat, then sent the other monks away and wiped Yuankong down himself.
• The Arhat arrived, questioned Yuanjing about using the Śarīra, and left after Yuanjing asked him to help Yuankong.

At the Waterwood Dharma Assembly, Yuanjing used the Wish Power accumulated through years of secretly helping others to break the Arhat’s seal and save Yuankong. As Yuankong absorbed the power, Yuanjing finally challenged the claim that his fate was predestined.

• After Yuankong fell ill, Yuanjing began taking jobs and organizing the Waterwood Dharma Assembly, secretly giving away the earnings to help people.
• Yuanjing and the monks revealed scenes of his and their great-grandmaster-uncle’s good deeds, which had gathered Wish Power in the Jade Purifying Bottle and the Eight-Treasure Canopy.
• Yuanjing chanted Buddhist scriptures as the Wish Power flowed into Yuankong and broke the Arhat’s seal.
• Yuankong absorbed the remaining Wish Power, while Yuanjing recalled the Arhat’s prediction that Yuankong could not be saved.
• Yuanjing quietly asked why anyone should practice Buddhism if everything was predestined.

Yuanjing used Chanwood Temple’s wish power to save Yuankong, whose cultivation remained limited and dependent on wish power. He then publicly expelled Yuankong to sever the temple’s ties to him, but Yuankong understood that Yuanjing still meant to care for him.

• Chu Xingchen scanned Yuankong and found that his cultivation-impaired trait had changed to wish power cultivation, while he remained in the late Qi Refining stage.
• Yuanjing announced that the Chanlin Temple Fair would be held for the last time and that the temple’s income would be donated.
• Yuanjing told the invited guests that he had saved Yuankong, who had been suffering from a strange ailment and could only cultivate with wish power from then on.
• Yuanjing declared that Yuankong was expelled from Chanwood Temple and that the temple had no further connection to him, separating him from the Central Province Buddhist sects.
• Yuanjing returned to Yuankong and offered him a choice between staying with him or returning to his room, and Yuankong realized the expulsion was not genuine abandonment.

Li Yingling studied while Chu Xingchen went to the Brothel, where he learned that crowds had flocked to Chanwood Temple after the abbot’s charitable donations were revealed. Zhao Wanqing found Chu Xingchen and brought him to treat her gravely injured brother, Zhao Zhengyang, whose alarming reaction to the medicine left everyone wondering whether he was truly unconscious.

• Li Yingling insisted on studying after Chu Xingchen teased her, and he left the Courtyard House for the Brothel.
• At the nearly empty Brothel, Wanyun told Chu Xingchen that people had gone to Chanwood Temple after learning the abbot had secretly aided Yuzhou City and nearby cities.
• Zhao Wanqing arrived at the Courtyard House seeking Chu Xingchen because Zhao Zhengyang’s condition had worsened, and Li Yingling sent her to the Brothel while searching outside the city herself.
• Zhao Wanqing found Chu Xingchen at the Brothel and offered him a hundred Spirit Stones to come treat her brother, so he immediately went with her.
• At the Demon-Suppression Bureau, Chu Xingchen refined medicine in a clay pot and gave it to the unconscious Zhao Zhengyang, while Li Yingling and A Nian watched.
• Zhao Zhengyang grimaced, began trembling, and clawed at his throat, prompting Chu Xingchen to question whether he was really unconscious.

A Nian and Zhao Zhengyang both suffered through Chu Xingchen’s effective but dreadful-tasting medicine, while Chu Xingchen teased Li Yingling about making her taste his future pills. Yaoqin then revealed she had purified a Blood Qi Spirit Stone with Wish Power, leaving Chu Xingchen worried about how much Wish Power the process required.

• Zhao Wanqing held Zhao Zhengyang down while A Nian confirmed Chu Xingchen’s medicine was healing his injuries.
• After Chu Xingchen and Li Yingling left, A Nian tasted the medicinal dregs and howled in distress.
• Chu Xingchen threatened to make Li Yingling taste every pill he brewed after she praised his medicine sarcastically.
• Yaoqin showed Chu Xingchen a Blood Qi Spirit Stone she had purified using Wish Power.
• Yaoqin told Chu Xingchen that purifying one Spirit Stone consumed nearly an equal amount of Wish Power.

Yaoqin agreed to study Chu Xingchen’s Blood Qi Spirit Stone without relying on Wish Power, then received orders from her sect to deal with the Evil Cultivators in Central Province. After mobilizing the Bamboo Jade Court, she returned to Chu Xingchen and asked him to help catch the Evil Cultivators.

• Chu Xingchen showed Yaoqin his large stock of Blood Qi Spirit Stones, and she agreed to investigate whether they could be purified without Wish Power.
• Yaoqin returned to the Bamboo Jade Court and read a letter from Bai Xuanling, who authorized her to handle the Evil Cultivators and promised her punishment would end after the mission.
• Yaoqin ordered the Bamboo Jade Court closed and directed its cultivators to search nearby villages, avoid fighting Evil Cultivators, and work with the Demon-Suppression Bureau.
• Yaoqin arrived at Chu Xingchen’s home in martial clothes and asked him to help her catch the Evil Cultivators.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin went to the Demon-Suppression Bureau to investigate the Evil Cultivators and learned that their plan involved an Immortal Seed. After reviewing the sect intelligence, Yaoqin chose to investigate the Clearwind Sect and left Zhao Wanqing behind to receive reports.

• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin recalled the verses that inspired Yaoqin and agreed they would meet again ninety thousand miles above.
• At the infirmary, Chu Xingchen found A Nian suffering after tasting his pills while Zhao Zhengyang recovered from their effects.
• Zhao Zhengyang revealed that the Evil Cultivators bought Grand Mystery Stone at the black-market wharf and sought an objective called the Immortal Seed.
• Yaoqin reviewed the sect intelligence and identified the Clearwind Sect as a likely target, though not the only one.
• Yaoqin told Zhao Wanqing to stay at the Demon-Suppression Bureau and receive incoming intelligence while she and Chu Xingchen went to probe the Clearwind Sect, whose supreme elder was a Nascent Soul.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin arrived at the Clearwind Sect to investigate and demand the sect’s cooperation. When the sect leader and elders appeared, Chu Xingchen recognized Shangguan Hong, who feared the visitors had come to settle a score with him.

• Yaoqin and Chu Xingchen decided to visit the Clearwind Sect first and assess whether the whole sect or only certain people were involved.
• The pair reached the Clearwind Sect’s mountain gate and announced that they were from Central Province.
• Zheng Xiaofeng greeted them and became deferential after Chu Xingchen showed him the Heavenly Derivation Sect token.
• Zheng Xiaofeng led Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin into the main hall and summoned the sect leader and elders.
• The sect leader arrived with three elders, and Chu Xingchen fixed his attention on Shangguan Hong, who suspected Chu Xingchen had come to settle a score.

Chu Xingchen challenged Shangguan Hong’s doubts about his Heavenly Derivation Sect identity, and Yaoqin proved it by unleashing the sect’s Divine Ability and destroying the hall. When Chu Xingchen prepared to demonstrate it himself, the Clearwind Sect master stopped him and ordered Shangguan Hong to apologize, leaving the guests’ response unsettled.

• Zheng Xiaofeng introduced Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin as disciples from the Heavenly Derivation Sect, and Chu Xingchen confronted Shangguan Hong over their past encounter.
• Shangguan Hong questioned Chu Xingchen’s identity and agreed to verify it, suspecting he might have been involved in the mine attack.
• Yaoqin used the Heavenly Derivation Sect’s Primordial Spirit Supreme Clarity Sword, splitting the hall apart and shearing the mountain peak behind it.
• Chu Xingchen picked up Yaoqin’s sword and began to prepare his own demonstration, but the Clearwind Sect master stopped him and ordered Shangguan Hong to apologize.
• Zheng Xiaofeng felt relieved that he was no longer being blamed, while Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin’s reaction to the apology order remained unknown.

Chu Xingchen forced the Clearwind Sect to punish Shangguan Hong and assist his investigation into evil cultivators. After leading Zheng Xiaofeng out of the sect, Chu Xingchen revealed his suspicions about Shangguan Hong and asked Zheng whether he liked the Heavenly Derivation Sect.

• Shangguan Hong apologized after Yaoqin's sword strike convinced him that Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin were powerful guests.
• Chu Xingchen asked the Clearwind Sect to search for evil cultivators, then ordered Shangguan Hong confined to the Disciplinary Chamber for questioning the Heavenly Derivation Sect's standing.
• The sect leader agreed to send search parties and assigned Zheng Xiaofeng to assist Chu Xingchen.
• Chu Xingchen left the Clearwind Sect with Yaoqin and Zheng Xiaofeng, explaining that Shangguan Hong's new Acquired Demon Body trait suggested he had joined the evil cultivators.
• Chu Xingchen told Zheng Xiaofeng there was a better path for him and asked whether he liked the Heavenly Derivation Sect.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin toured the Clearwind Sect’s surroundings while Zheng Xiaofeng obeyed Chu Xingchen’s increasingly ridiculous requests. After arranging guest rooms for them, Zheng Xiaofeng faced the sect leader’s expectant gaze and realized he would have to explain himself.

• Chu Xingchen offered Zheng Xiaofeng a Blood Qi Spirit Stone, then took it back after Zheng Xiaofeng agreed that he liked the Heavenly Derivation Sect, suggesting the sect no longer wanted him.
• Chu Xingchen asked Zheng Xiaofeng for food and scenic spots, then made him lead Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin to a nearby stream.
• Chu Xingchen soaked his feet, had Zheng Xiaofeng catch two rabbits, and then ordered him to release them and carry out a string of trivial errands throughout the afternoon.
• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin returned to the Clearwind Sect, where Zheng Xiaofeng arranged their guest rooms and was told to meet them at the sect entrance the next morning.
• After Zheng Xiaofeng left Chu Xingchen’s room, he saw the sect leader waiting with a look that demanded an explanation.

Zheng Xiaofeng concealed the Blood Qi Spirit Stone and endured questioning from the Clearwind Sect leader and Elder Li, then spent another day carrying out Chu Xingchen’s and Yaoqin’s orders. Chu Xingchen finally confronted him about the pressure he faced and warned that he had to struggle to save himself, leaving Zheng with a choice among three sides.

• Zheng Xiaofeng told the sect leader that Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin had only ordered him around, hiding what he knew about the Blood Qi Spirit Stone.
• Elder Li questioned Zheng Xiaofeng about the Heavenly Derivation Sect disciples, and Zheng again claimed they had done nothing but torment him.
• Zheng Xiaofeng waited at the Clearwind Sect’s gate, then accompanied Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin to the stream and carried out Chu’s strange orders all day.
• Chu Xingchen scanned Zheng Xiaofeng, noticed his unsettled state, and asked whether he understood that the torment had been deliberate.
• Chu Xingchen told Zheng Xiaofeng that none of the involved sides would trust him and urged him to struggle for a chance to survive.

Chu Xingchen persuaded Zheng Xiaofeng to defect to the Heavenly Derivation Sect by promising him a gate-sweeping position. At the Clearwind Sect, Zheng Xiaofeng boldly claimed his new affiliation while Chu Xingchen accused the sect of involvement in the Evil Cultivator affair.

• Chu Xingchen offered Zheng Xiaofeng a place as an externally hired Heavenly Derivation Sect gate sweeper, and Zheng agreed to defect in exchange for that promise.
• Chu Xingchen told Zheng Xiaofeng to repeat whatever he transmitted and act overbearing when they returned to the Clearwind Sect.
• Chu Xingchen demanded the sect leader come to the meeting hall and accused the Clearwind Sect of having someone involved in the Evil Cultivator affair.
• When the sect leader asked to see Central Province's intelligence, Zheng Xiaofeng challenged him and declared that he had joined the Heavenly Derivation Sect as its gate sweeper.

Chu Xingchen accused the Clearwind Sect of colluding with evil cultivators, appointed Zheng Xiaofeng to oversee an internal investigation, and left with Yaoqin to intercept messengers heading to the mine. The chapter left Zheng confronting the Clearwind Sect leader while Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin prepared to investigate the sect’s routes.

• Zheng Xiaofeng confronted the Clearwind Sect leader and declared that he still belonged to the Heavenly Derivation Sect, while Chu Xingchen confirmed he had come willingly.
• Chu Xingchen accused the Clearwind Sect of colluding with evil cultivators and presented a Blood Qi Spirit Stone as evidence, directing the leader to investigate Elder Shangguan.
• Chu Xingchen appointed Zheng Xiaofeng to oversee the Clearwind Sect’s internal investigation and warned the leader not to let him disappear during the three days he and Yaoqin would be away.
• After Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin left, Zheng Xiaofeng boldly ordered the Clearwind Sect leader to take him to the Disciplinary Chamber, and the leader restrained his anger and complied.
• Outside the Clearwind Sect, Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin split up to block the eastern and southern routes to the mine and intercept anyone carrying messages.

Elder Li headed for the Clearwind Sect mine but was intercepted and captured by Yaoqin. Chu Xingchen began interrogating him with a bitter Flour Pill, and Elder Li quickly begged to confess.

• Elder Li left the Clearwind Sect and used earth evasion to travel toward the mine, unaware that someone was tracking him.
• Yaoqin ambushed Elder Li, destroyed his lifebound flying sword, and captured him after he tried to flee.
• Yaoqin told Chu Xingchen that Elder Li had refused to answer questions, and Chu Xingchen prepared a Flour Pill for the interrogation.
• Chu Xingchen forced the bitter pill into Elder Li's mouth, and Elder Li began writhing and pleading to confess.

After Elder Li revealed the Evil Spirit Cult’s plans, Yaoqin’s memories and anger drove her to attack the Clearwind Sect mine with Chu Xingchen. They wiped out the mine’s defenders, and the chapter ended with Yaoqin returning Chu Xingchen’s teasing two-finger gesture.

• Elder Li confessed the Evil Spirit Cult’s plan to create a Holy Mother, and Chu Xingchen sealed his mouth when he demanded an antidote.
• Yaoqin revealed her hatred of the evil cultivators and beheaded Elder Li, then insisted she would confront them alone.
• Chu Xingchen told Yaoqin he would stand beside her, and they set off to wipe out the evil cultivators at the Clearwind Sect mine.
• Yaoqin’s flying sword killed the mine’s guards while Chu Xingchen destroyed a Golden Core cultivator and the warehouse with his Three Thousand Weak Waters Sword divine ability.
• Yaoqin finished off the remaining Clearwind Sect disciples and returned Chu Xingchen’s two-finger gesture, declaring that he was weak too.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin interrogated captured evil cultivators at the Clearwind Sect mine and learned that the Wind Sword Sect served the evil cult. Chu Xingchen proposed infiltrating it by pretending to be evil cultivators, then reluctantly used his Blood Qi Spirit Stones to prepare for the scheme.

• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin freed the miners and kept two black-robed evil cultivators alive for questioning.
• Chu Xingchen killed one captive and frightened Liu Yang into revealing that the Wind Sword Sect gathered resources for the Holy Mother.
• Yaoqin took a token from Liu Yang and warned that the Wind Sword Sect had a nascent soul-stage sect master and several golden core elders.
• Chu Xingchen told Yaoqin to change their approach and suggested that they pose as evil cultivators.
• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin approached the Wind Sword Sect, where Chu Xingchen reluctantly dumped out his Blood Qi Spirit Stones and asked Yaoqin to recover them later.

Chu Xingchen tricked the Wind Sword Sect leader into accepting Blood Qi Spirit Stones and leading him to the hidden site where the Holy Mother was taking form. After following the group to its concealed entrance, Chu Xingchen stopped Yaoqin and prepared to get them inside by another means.

• Chu Xingchen gave Yaoqin the Blood Qi Spirit Stones and took the token to pose as an Evil Cultivator delivering them to the Wind Sword Sect.
• Chu Xingchen convinced the Wind Sword Sect disciples and sect leader that he served the Evil Spirit Cult by displaying his power over their blood qi.
• The Wind Sword Sect leader gathered three Golden Core elders and carried the Spirit Stones toward the Holy Mother’s hidden location.
• The Wind Sword Sect leader opened a concealed mountain entrance with blood qi and led the elders inside as Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin watched from nearby.
• Yaoqin warned Chu Xingchen that entering required an Evil Cultivator’s cultivation art, but Chu Xingchen stopped her and claimed he could handle it.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin entered the Evil Spirit Cult’s cave and found the Holy Mother overseeing a ritual to transform a Sacred Fetus, fueled by Blood Qi Spirit Stones. When she attacked them, Yaoqin and Chu Xingchen fought back, but the Holy Mother drew on the ritual array and six cauldrons to strengthen her blood qi.

• Chu Xingchen subdued the blood qi sealing the cave entrance and tore it away, then entered with Yaoqin.
• Yaoqin led the way through the bloody cave until they overheard the Holy Mother berating the Wind Sword Sect’s sect master over a failed Sacred Fetus and delayed Spirit Stones.
• Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin saw the Holy Mother conducting a ritual as the sect master and his companions filled six cauldrons with Blood Qi Spirit Stones.
• After the sect master and the other Golden Core cultivators left, Chu Xingchen mistook Yaoqin’s signal to retreat for a signal to attack and drew his spirit sword.
• The Holy Mother detected them and attacked; Chu Xingchen split her blood qi while Yaoqin struck with the Heavenly Derivation Supreme Clarity Sword.
• The Holy Mother summoned a blood lotus and used the ritual array and six cauldrons to intensify her power as she challenged the two Golden Core cultivators.

Yaoqin fought the woman in red while Chu Xingchen stood motionless, and the woman nearly defeated Yaoqin. Chu Xingchen then seized control of the blood qi, turning the battle against the woman and leaving the Wind Sword Sect unsure whom to attack.

• Yaoqin battled the woman in red, whose bell and blood qi blasted Yaoqin into a rock wall.
• The woman in red moved to attack Yaoqin again while Chu Xingchen remained still, and Yaoqin threw him a Thousand-Mile Teleportation Talisman and urged him to run.
• Chu Xingchen revealed that he had been checking passwords with the blood qi and took control of it, directing it to attack the woman in red.
• The Wind Sword Sect members returned to the cave and saw the blood qi attacking the woman they knew as the Holy Mother.
• The woman in red ordered the Wind Sword Sect to kill Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin, but Chu Xingchen called her an impostor and urged them to judge her by who controlled the blood qi.
• The Wind Sword Sect's sect master twice hesitated to draw his sword as Chu Xingchen's claim made him question the woman's identity.

Chu Xingchen and Yaoqin fought the woman in red and the Wind Sword Sect during the Holy Religion’s final ritual, while the Sacred Fetus neared completion. They killed the woman in red, but the child remained suspended in the ritual as the Wind Sword Sect’s fighters fled.

• The woman in red attacked the blood-qi sphere, while the Wind Sword Sect leader recognized her as the real Holy Mother and sent his elders after Chu Xingchen.
• Chu Xingchen empowered Yaoqin with blood qi, and she used it to hold off the Wind Sword Sect’s four Golden Core cultivators.
• Chu Xingchen broke through the blood lotus and contested control of the sphere, forcing the woman in red to use a petal to drive him back.
• The blood qi sphere dispersed, revealing a fragile child being refined into the Sacred Fetus, and Chu Xingchen redirected blood qi to help Yaoqin.
• Chu Xingchen feinted at the Sacred Fetus, allowing Yaoqin to stab the woman in red from behind before he cut her in half.
• The Wind Sword Sect’s four fighters saw the Holy Mother dead and fled without attempting to continue the fight.

After rescuing a gravely injured girl from the Evil Spirit Cult’s ritual, Chu Xingchen brought her to Yuzhou City and recruited her as his disciple, Chen Baiqing. Her life was saved, and Chu Xingchen realized her unknown traits could be cultivated.

• The Wind Sword Sect’s four Golden Core cultivators fled, and Chu Xingchen noticed the injured girl’s system panel showed traits generating and future disciple recruitment conditions.
• Chu Xingchen stopped Yaoqin from killing the girl, and the two flew with her to their rented courtyard in Yuzhou City.
• Li Xingtian treated the girl’s blood qi with his spiritual power, removing her life-threatening traits and waking her.
• Chu Xingchen named the girl Chen Baiqing, and the system identified her previously unknown traits as potentially cultivable.
• Chen Baiqing called Li Yingling her eldest senior sister and Chu Xingchen her master, completing her recruitment as his disciple.

After advancing to the Nascent Soul Realm, Chu Xingchen welcomed Chen Baiqing as his new disciple and tried to reassure her that she had found a home rather than been bought as a servant. Chen Baiqing cautiously accepted his kindness and joined him to cook, while he sent Li Yingling and Xingtian to get her clothes, shoes, and sweets.

• Chu Xingchen broke through from Golden Core Perfection to the Nascent Soul Realm as the system issued new tasks to build the True Martial Hall and recruit four disciples.
• Chen Baiqing remembered that Chu Xingchen had saved her and that she had been sold because her family needed to survive.
• Chu Xingchen told Chen Baiqing that being his disciple meant she had found a new home, but she mistook him for the lord who had bought her.
• Chu Xingchen told Chen Baiqing to eat, sleep, and spend time with her senior sister, then said he would cook to celebrate her arrival.
• Chen Baiqing offered to cook because she feared she needed to work, and Chu Xingchen invited her to help while sending Li Yingling to buy clothes and shoes and Xingtian to buy sweets and candied fruit.
• Chen Baiqing took the hand Chu Xingchen held out to her.

Chu Xingchen welcomed Chen Baiqing into his household, where his disciples helped her settle in and she tasted candied fruit for the first time. The next morning, a messenger delivered a letter from Xie Lingyu and a storage ring full of Spirit Stones.

• Chu Xingchen gave Chen Baiqing the task of tending the kitchen fire while he cooked, and Li Xingtian offered her candied fruit.
• Chen Baiqing tasted the candied fruit and told Chu Xingchen it was sweet; Li Yingling then dressed her in new clothes.
• Yaoqin arrived for dinner, confirmed Chu Xingchen’s arrangements were in order, and learned that Chen Baiqing was his third disciple.
• Chu Xingchen reminded Li Xingtian to practice his Divine Ability before Chen Baiqing and Li Yingling went to bed.
• The next morning, a veiled messenger delivered Chu Xingchen a letter signed by Xie Lingyu and a storage ring containing at least a thousand Spirit Stones.