Recaps

Chu Xingchen organized a recruitment trial and brought Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu into the sect, while Li Xingtian’s expedition brought him into conflict with the Skyglow Sect. Chu Xingchen rescued his disciple, then forced the Skyglow Sect’s leaders to accept punishment before leaving with compensation.

• Chu Xingchen returned to the sect, planned recruitment with Li Yingling, and negotiated with Yuanjing to publicize the recruitment conference in exchange for the Jialan Śarīra.
• Li Yingling’s trials tested applicants through an illusion village, where Cui Hao passed despite getting every case wrong, and Lin Luoyu also earned a second-trial token.
• Chu Xingchen recruited Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu after Cui Hao impressed him with his answer about how prosperous mortal markets could support cultivation sects.
• Li Xingtian reached Sunset Valley, prepared for an expedition, and later fled there with secret-realm treasures after the Skyglow Sect attacked him.
• Chu Xingchen rushed to Li Xingtian’s aid, killed the Skyglow Sect cultivators surrounding him, and learned that Li Zi had tried to warn Li Xingtian rather than betray him.
• Li Xingtian chose to continue his journey, and Chu Xingchen escorted him east before confronting the Skyglow Sect at its mountain-protecting formation.
• The Skyglow Sect Leader explained that the sect had pursued Li Xingtian over a pill they believed could cure poison, and Chu Xingchen demanded compensation and punishment.
• Lin Wei accepted Chu Xingchen’s terms and stabbed the Sect Leader and elders to demonstrate the demanded injuries, while Chu Xingchen collected Spatial Rings and left.

Chu Xingchen’s sect grew with Bai Xuanling’s help while Li Yingling led its disciples into the Black Tortoise Kingdom’s conflict with the demons. As the alliance prepared to attack Desolate Ridge, Tiger Seven and Broken Abacus considered escape, and a letter from Central Province left Chu Xingchen sighing.

• Chu Xingchen took Yuankong into the sect to treat Li Zi, then tried to find a cultivation method for Cui Hao and taught him the Heaven-Burning Li-Jin Great Dao Heart Method.
• Bai Xuanling visited the sect, examined Chu Xingchen’s pills, strengthened the mountain-guarding formation, refined Cui Hao’s method, and helped establish a Medicine Field before giving Chu Xingchen a Heavenly Derivation Token.
• Xie Lingyu learned that Bai Xuanling had trapped the Sect Leader in a Sword Formation and fed him Perfect Tonic Pills without restoring his Source Qi.
• When a tiger spirit rallied demons at Origin Mountain, Chu Xingchen sent Li Yingling, Cui Hao, and Lin Luoyu to gain experience, and Li Yingling found evidence that demons had taken humans to eat.
• At Yunzhou City, Chu Xingchen examined the captured demons, used the Wild Ox Demon’s repeating dream to gather intelligence, and left Li Yingling to direct the coming operations.
• Li Yingling presented Chu Xingchen’s Heavenly Derivation Token at the alliance meeting, persuading the assembled sects to cooperate as Zhao Chun assigned their tasks and set the campaign to begin in seven days.
• Tiger Seven and Broken Abacus discussed fleeing Desolate Ridge and considered using the Human Book’s Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell stratagem, while Chu Xingchen received a letter from Central Province and sighed.

Li Yingling’s covert campaign against the demons exposed a betrayal, while Li Xingtian returned to the sect and Chu Xingchen helped him confront a poison. When floods struck Chizhou, Chu Xingchen’s group traced the disaster to a scheme involving water veins and began investigating the Black Tortoise’s connection to the Southern Candle Kingdom.

• Li Yingling infiltrated the Great Wu Demon King’s camp with Cui Hao and Lin Luoyu, where the old fox offered cooperation, but Bai Xuanling later exposed the informants and killed several Demon Kings.
• Bai Xuanling returned to Yunzhou City with Li Yingling and Cui Hao, and Chu Xingchen resumed refining pills while Li Yingling reviewed the operation.
• Li Xingtian brought the poisoned Zhang Yuanshan to the sect, where Bai Xuanling treated him and Chu Xingchen invited him to stay until he recovered.
• Chu Xingchen arranged a gathering for the sect and traded pills with Bai Xuanling for a Heavenly Derivation Sect token for Li Xingtian.
• After continuous rain caused deadly flooding in Chizhou, Chu Xingchen traveled with Li Xingtian and Yuankong to help victims and investigate river demons.
• Chu Xingchen found demons dismantling dams to expose a Water Vein, while Li Xingtian located Yuanjing and evacuated villagers downstream.
• Chu Xingchen asked Li Yingling to teach Li Xingtian to survey water veins, and the two mapped Chizhou’s rivers before returning to Yunze City.
• Li Yingling suggested the Southern Candle Kingdom’s coastline might offer a route to the sea, and Chu Xingchen questioned why the Black Tortoise had guarded the kingdom for nearly four hundred years.

Chu Xingchen and his companions uncovered the Black Tortoise Cult’s role in the rebellions and prepared to counter its plans as the kingdom’s fortune came under attack. The Imperial Jade Seal flew toward Cangzhou, where Baxia disrupted the Water Vein and Qinghe rushed to confront it.

• Li Yingling traced Zhao Taizu’s retreat and Black Tortoise’s appearances, leading Chu Xingchen to investigate Cangzhou’s Water Vein and the kingdom’s unrest.
• Qinghe was captured by Chu Xingchen’s group while probing the river, then joined their investigation after Xie Lingyu recognized Chu Xingchen’s token.
• Chu Xingchen traveled with Li Yingling to the Black Tortoise Kingdom, met Zhao Xuan, and learned that the kingdom’s people and national fortune constrained how cultivators could intervene.
• As Yu Zhu prepared an assault on Jinshui City, Chu Xingchen sent Li Xingtian to Chizhou, where he infiltrated the Black Tortoise Cult by posing as an Evil Spirit Cult member.
• Li Xingtian learned that the Black Tortoise Cult planned to cause trouble in Chizhou, while Chu Xingchen’s group discovered that a black-robed demon had encouraged the rebellions.
• Qinghe touched the Founding Imperial Jade Seal’s map, causing the clouds over Bingzhou to consume Xuanhuang Qi, and the damaged seal then flew toward Cangzhou.
• Chu Xingchen stayed behind to stop an approaching cultivator as Qinghe headed for Cangzhou, while Li Xingtian and Xie Lingyu fought demon soldiers and prepared the formation bases.
• Baxia disrupted Cangzhou’s Water Vein and drew pale-gold fortune from the river into a Wordless Stele, and Qinghe rushed toward the giant turtle.