Recaps

The three sect leaders learned that Gu Chenfeng had seized control of Black Iron City and rebuilt its operations, so they chose to investigate him before attacking. In the city, Gu Chenfeng heard that funding remained a problem and began considering whether to make money by refining pills.

• The leaders of Profound Yin Valley and two other sects learned that Liu Youfang had fallen and that Gu Chenfeng had restored Black Iron City's mines, spirit fields, and defenses.
• The three leaders decided to report Gu Chenfeng's success and investigate his background before making another move.
• Gu Chenfeng assigned Tongtong, Yin Hongluan, Ji Qianqiu, and Ming Nine Netherworlds responsibility for Black Iron City's affairs and its surrounding resources.
• Yin Hongluan reported that city repairs and recruitment were progressing, but Black Iron City still lacked funds.
• After learning that alchemists were highly valued in the Eternal Heaven Realm, Gu Chenfeng considered refining pills himself.

Gu Chenfeng tested whether his Lower Realm alchemy skills would work in the Eternal Heaven Realm and successfully refined several batches of spirit pills. He left the hall eager to try a top-grade spirit pill formula.

• Yin Hongluan brought Gu Chenfeng spirit medicines and pill formulas from Liu Youfang's storeroom and doubted he could refine spirit pills.
• Gu Chenfeng used the Guixu Cauldron to refine eleven Origin Restoration Pills, proving himself a Pill Craftsman-level alchemist.
• Gu Chenfeng refined another batch of ten spirit pills, and Yin Hongluan offered him a more difficult Spirit-Gathering Pill formula.
• Gu Chenfeng successfully refined ten Spirit-Gathering Pills and asked for a top-grade spirit pill formula to try.

Gu Chenfeng left Black Iron City for Azure Cloud Market to buy rare materials needed to forge the Feathered Flying Swords and strengthen his defenses against the Three Sects and their allies. As he traveled, he reflected on his complicated feelings for Leng Xingye, then turned to cultivation while awaiting a response from her.

• Gu Chenfeng surveyed Black Iron City's recovery and resolved to build up its industries and defenses before the Three Sects could retaliate.
• Gu Chenfeng reviewed his progress gathering materials for the Feathered Myriad Sword Formation and planned to use his pill-refining earnings and two valuable Profound Pills to buy what remained.
• Gu Chenfeng flew northeast toward Azure Cloud Market, hoping to purchase all the missing materials in one trip.
• Gu Chenfeng thought of Leng Xingye and his growing feelings for her, but received no response when he had tried contacting her in the Divine Ruins Space.
• Gu Chenfeng set aside his thoughts and began cultivating on the Enlightenment Platform.

Gu Chenfeng entered Azure Cloud Market to buy materials for refining flying swords, but Azure Cloud Pavilion lacked two of the three main materials and the purchase depleted nearly all his spirit stones. He planned to seek the missing materials at the evening Trading Gathering, but a woman collided with him and cried out over her family's Ancestral Jade.

• Gu Chenfeng paid the entrance fee and explored Azure Cloud Market, where he sensed several hidden Saint Warrior experts.
• Gu Chenfeng went to Azure Cloud Pavilion and gave an attendant his list of artifact-refining materials.
• Gu Chenfeng bought the available supplementary materials and Nine Netherworlds silkworm silk, then sold spirit pills to cover the high cost.
• Gu Chenfeng planned to use his two remaining Profound Pills to trade for the two missing main materials at the Trading Gathering.
• A woman rushed around a corner and fell after Gu Chenfeng dodged her, and she cried out that her family's Ancestral Jade had broken.

Gu Chenfeng was targeted by a trio of swindlers in the Azure Cloud Market, but a young woman in yellow exposed their scheme before he could leave with them. After thanking her and Elder Zhong, Gu Chenfeng departed, while Elder Zhong questioned whether the woman had truly helped him.

• A woman accused Gu Chenfeng of breaking her family’s jade, and two True Saints and the crowd backed her demand for thirty thousand low-grade spirit stones.
• Gu Chenfeng recognized the accusation as a con but pretended to agree to pay, and the two men secretly planned to kill him outside the market and take his treasures.
• A woman in yellow confronted the trio, identifying them as wanted swindlers from another market, while Elder Zhong drove off the two men with his Saint Warrior aura.
• The woman chased after the fleeing swindlers, and the crowd realized they had witnessed a scam.
• Gu Chenfeng thanked the woman and Elder Zhong before leaving; Elder Zhong warned the woman that Gu Chenfeng might have been involved with the swindlers.

Gu Chenfeng attended Azure Cloud Market’s trading gathering and learned that the eerie Withered Glory Old Freak would preside over it. The gathering began under the old tree spirit’s strict warning, and the first round was about to start.

• Gu Chenfeng paid the admission fee and entered the trading hall, where he sensed a powerful Saint Warrior expert in the rear hall.
• The yellow-skirted girl and the green-robed elder arrived, and the elder exchanged a nod with Gu Chenfeng while the girl ignored him.
• More than thirty Sub-Saints, over ten True Saints, and three Saint Warrior experts gathered as the hall filled.
• Withered Glory Old Freak appeared on the central platform, and the attendees recognized him as a notorious late-stage Saint Warrior who had once been an ancient tree.
• Withered Glory Old Freak explained the three-round trading rules, warned against disrupting the gathering, and announced that trading would begin.

At Azure Cloud Market’s trading session, Gu Chenfeng waited for the rare materials needed to refine the Feather Ascension Flying Sword. He offered a Three-Turn Profound Spirit Pill for Obsidian Gold and Star-Sinking Sand, and a cultivator offered Star-Sinking Sand but lacked the Obsidian Gold.

• A young cultivator’s offer of Azure Origin Pills and a Sub-Saint’s offer of talismans both failed to attract suitable trades.
• A True Saint traded a Red Dragon Blood Vine for a top-grade third-level Spirit-Gathering Formation from the man in the bamboo hat.
• The trading session grew lively as cultivators exchanged rare treasures, and the man in the bamboo hat made several valuable trades, including swapping a Youth-Retaining Pill for the girl in yellow’s Nine Palace Trapping and Killing Formation.
• Gu Chenfeng offered a Three-Turn Profound Spirit Pill for Obsidian Gold and Star-Sinking Sand, drawing interested looks from the hall.
• A late-stage True Saint woman offered Star-Sinking Sand and asked to add other materials or Spirit Stones for Gu Chenfeng’s pill; Gu Chenfeng agreed to trade.

Gu Chenfeng traded a damaged defensive sacred armament for a broken Golden Radiance Evil-Breaking Talisman that others considered nearly worthless. After returning to his seat, he sensed that the talisman contained chaos qi.

• Gu Chenfeng kept his second Three-Turn Profound Spirit Pill hidden while waiting for someone to offer obsidian gold.
• A young female cultivator offered her damaged Golden Radiance Evil-Breaking Talisman for a defensive sacred armament.
• The person in the bamboo hat and a Saint Warrior-level woman explained that the talisman was an ancient, nearly powerless relic.
• Gu Chenfeng offered the young cultivator a damaged shield, and she agreed to trade it for the talisman.
• Gu Chenfeng returned to his seat and sensed the aura of chaos qi within the talisman.

Gu Chenfeng left the Trading Gathering after confirming that the damaged Golden Radiance Evil-Breaking Talisman contained a trace of Chaos Qi. In the mountains beyond Azure Cloud Market, he confronted the two cultivators who had secretly followed him using a tracking restriction hidden in the Star-Sinking Sand.

• Gu Chenfeng found no Obsidian Gold during the trading rounds and decided to investigate the talisman’s Chaos Qi after returning to Black Iron City.
• Withered Glory Old Freak asked Gu Chenfeng to trade for more pills, but Gu Chenfeng claimed he had none and quickly left the gathering.
• Elder Zhong persuaded the girl in yellow to leave the Trading Gathering, while hidden observers began following departing participants.
• Withered Glory Old Freak noticed the suspicious activity but chose not to rob the gathering’s participants to protect Azure Cloud Market’s reputation.
• Gu Chenfeng sensed that two cultivators were pursuing him, led them into a forest, and exposed the tracking restriction hidden in the Star-Sinking Sand.
• Gu Chenfeng recognized the alluring woman as the cultivator who had traded for his Profound Pill and asked her and her Mid-Stage True Saint Realm companion why they had followed him.

Gu Chenfeng killed the demon cultivator who tried to rob him and learned that he and the beautiful woman belonged to Blood-Seeking Hall, whose members had been using the Trading Gathering to lure and track wealthy targets. He confronted the woman over her attempted robbery and lunged for her Storage Ring.

• The burly demon cultivator attacked Gu Chenfeng, but Gu Chenfeng crushed his shoulder, shattered his arm, killed him with a punch, and destroyed his Primordial Spirit.
• Gu Chenfeng took the demon cultivator's Storage Ring and turned his attention to the terrified beautiful woman.
• The woman revealed that she belonged to Blood-Seeking Hall and explained that the gang had used the Trading Gathering to identify wealthy targets and mark treasures with Tracking Restrictions.
• Gu Chenfeng realized the supposed wealthy buyers at the gathering had been Blood-Seeking Hall members baiting other cultivators into being tracked and robbed.
• The woman offered to return the Profound Pill and share her treasures, but Gu Chenfeng lunged at her to inspect her Storage Ring himself.

After killing two Blood-Seeking Hall members, Gu Chenfeng tried to return to Black Iron City but hid when he sensed powerful pursuers. He recognized the pursuer and his prey as people from the Trading Gathering, then watched the chase turn into an ambush.

• Gu Chenfeng killed the alluring woman, took the treasures from her storage ring, and set off toward Black Iron City after checking for tracking restrictions.
• Gu Chenfeng sensed two Saint Warrior-level auras approaching, concealed himself in a valley, and discovered they were pursuing one another.
• Gu Chenfeng recognized the fleeing green-robed elder and the girl in yellow, as well as the bamboo-hatted man pursuing them, whom he suspected belonged to the Blood-Seeking Hall.
• The green-robed elder landed in the valley and urged the girl to escape through the forest while he held off the bamboo-hatted man.
• The bamboo-hatted man revealed four black-robed men blocking the girl's escape and used a dharma seal to awaken them as Sub-Saint-level puppets.

Gu Chenfeng watched as the bamboo-hatted puppeteer attacked the green-robed elder and the girl in the yellow dress with an army of powerful puppets. After the elder identified him as Mo Qianji, the two Saint Warrior experts prepared for a decisive fight while Gu Chenfeng continued observing from the shadows.

• Gu Chenfeng recognized the bamboo-hatted man's humanlike puppets and recalled the puppet arts and materials he had encountered before.
• The bamboo-hatted man sent four puppets after the girl in the yellow dress while using chain blades and other puppets to hinder the green-robed elder.
• The green-robed elder fought through the puppets' combined assault but was wounded by a chain blade and suffered the effects of the man's poisonous Power of Profound Meaning.
• The green-robed elder identified the bamboo-hatted man as Mo Qianji, the Third Boss of the Blood-Seeking Hall, and declared that he would not be defeated so easily.
• Mo Qianji and the green-robed elder readied themselves for a decisive battle as an unusual light flickered in Gu Chenfeng's eyes from the shadows.

Gu Chenfeng watched Mo Qianji and the Green-Robed Elder battle, as the elder tried to overcome Mo Qianji’s Puppet legion. The elder wounded Mo Qianji with a concealed strike, but Mo Qianji counterattacked and blasted him to the ground.

• Gu Chenfeng watched Mo Qianji use twelve Sub-Saint Puppets and two True Saint Puppets against the Green-Robed Elder.
• The Green-Robed Elder charged through the Puppets’ attacks, but Mo Qianji’s coordinated defense kept him from getting close and left him injured.
• The elder used Seven Luminaries Splitting Light Sword to conceal his true body among seven illusory figures and attack Mo Qianji from behind.
• A giant True Saint Puppet intercepted the elder’s sword, but the strike pierced through it and wounded Mo Qianji’s shoulder.
• Mo Qianji and his Puppets struck back, hitting the Green-Robed Elder with a pillar of light and a Chain Blade and sending him crashing to the ground.

Mo Qianji and Zhong Huai were both badly wounded after their clash, but Mo Qianji surrounded Zhong Huai and Lu Qiling and attacked them. Just as Mo Qianji shattered Lu Qiling’s last protective barrier and prepared to kill them, an attacker struck from behind with a powerful axe.

• Mo Qianji and Zhong Huai suffered severe injuries, and Mo Qianji’s True Saint puppet and two Sub-Saint puppets were damaged or destroyed.
• Lu Qiling rescued Zhong Huai from a puppet’s attack, then refused to abandon him as Mo Qianji’s puppets surrounded them.
• Zhong Huai revealed a Xilin Commandery Prefectural City Token and warned that reinforcements were coming, but Mo Qianji chose to attack anyway.
• Lu Qiling used multiple powerful talismans to shield herself and Zhong Huai, while Mo Qianji and his puppets gradually shattered the barriers.
• Mo Qianji broke the final barrier and sent his chain blades toward Lu Qiling and Zhong Huai, but an axe shadow suddenly attacked him from behind.

Gu Chenfeng ambushed Mo Qianji to rescue Lu Qiling and Zhong Huai, but Mo Qianji’s Saint Warrior-level cultivation soon put him in a deadly trap. Gu Chenfeng unleashed two divine sense arts and struck Mo Qianji with Limitless Slash, leaving the wounded puppet master flying backward.

• Gu Chenfeng attacked Mo Qianji with his battle axe, and Mo Qianji recognized him as the man he had ordered his subordinates to rob and kill.
• Mo Qianji overpowered Gu Chenfeng with his chain blades while Lu Qiling and Zhong Huai remained under siege from spirit puppets.
• Zhong Huai prepared to break the encirclement so Lu Qiling could escape, but Mo Qianji instead redirected the puppets to attack Gu Chenfeng.
• Gu Chenfeng unleashed Azure Dragon's Eye and Starfall Soul Tribulation, stunning Mo Qianji and interrupting the spirit puppets.
• Gu Chenfeng opened his profound apertures and used Limitless Slash to break Mo Qianji's defenses and strike his chest, sending him flying backward.

Gu Chenfeng nearly killed Mo Qianji, who used a puppet and a talisman to escape before Zhong Huai’s surprise attack let Gu Chenfeng finish destroying his body. The chapter ended with Gu Chenfeng suppressing Mo Qianji’s fleeing primordial spirit beneath a five-colored lightning mountain.

• Gu Chenfeng revealed his hidden strength, badly wounded Mo Qianji, and pursued him with the Star Escape Secret Art.
• Mo Qianji struggled against Gu Chenfeng’s attacks and divine sense techniques, then used a substitute puppet to survive a seemingly fatal axe strike.
• Mo Qianji used a Blood Thunder Escape Shadow Talisman to flee and retrieve his spirit puppets, but Zhong Huai struck him and interrupted the talisman.
• Gu Chenfeng caught up and destroyed Mo Qianji’s physical body with a barrage of axe strikes.
• Mo Qianji’s primordial spirit fled, and Gu Chenfeng pinned it beneath a mountain flashing with five-colored lightning.

Gu Chenfeng killed Mo Qianji, refused a reward from Zhong Huai and Lu Qiling, and left without giving his name. He discovered that Mo Qianji’s hoard included military supplies for Black Iron City and the obsidian gold he needed to craft the Feathered Flying Swords.

• Gu Chenfeng collected Mo Qianji’s remains and belongings after defeating him, then declined Zhong Huai’s offered Storage Ring and departed without revealing his name.
• Zhong Huai praised Gu Chenfeng’s strength, while Lu Qiling wondered whether she would ever meet him again and secretly treasured him in her heart.
• Gu Chenfeng examined Mo Qianji’s Storage Ring and found numerous puppets, treasures, and military supplies that he believed had been plundered from a caravan.
• Gu Chenfeng identified the defensive puppet’s horn as high-purity obsidian gold, the last primary material he needed for the Feathered Flying Swords.
• Gu Chenfeng judged that he could fight early-stage Saint Warrior experts but should avoid confronting them until he mastered the Feathered Myriad Sword Formation, and planned to use his gains to strengthen Black Iron City.

Gu Chenfeng rejected the Three Sects’ demands and ordered them to return Black Iron City’s seized resources or face annihilation, while preparing to strengthen the city’s defenses. After Liu Youfang mistook Gu Chenfeng’s supplies and power for signs of a powerful backer, Gu Chenfeng began forging Feathered Flying Swords to prepare for the coming conflict.

• Liu Youfang advised Gu Chenfeng to yield to the Three Sects, but changed his position after Gu Chenfeng suggested making him the scapegoat.
• Gu Chenfeng ordered Yin Hongluan to demand the return of the Three Sects’ seized mines, fields, wealth, and people, plus compensation and submission within one month.
• Gu Chenfeng gave Liu Youfang a storage ring of city-defense supplies and assigned him to arm Black Iron City, prompting Liu to swear loyalty and suspect Gu had powerful backing.
• Gu Chenfeng returned to his cultivation chamber and began refining obsidian gold in the Guixu Cauldron to forge Feathered Flying Swords.

The Three Sects marched on Black Iron City after confirming Gu Chenfeng had no powerful backing, expecting to seize the city easily. At the gates, Liu Youfang defied them and declared his loyalty to Gu Chenfeng, leaving the impending battle unresolved.

• After the Blood-Seeking Hall was devastated by a commandery army, Black Iron City faced a new threat as the Three Sects advanced with six True Saints and several thousand cultivators.
• Fan Chengji, Chen Xiaochuan, and Xie Ying confirmed Gu Chenfeng had come from the Seven Star Continent without influential backing, then agreed to attack Black Iron City.
• The Three Sects approached the city and found its protective formation active, with Liu Youfang overseeing the defenses in armor.
• Fan Chengji demanded that Liu Youfang open the gates, but Liu Youfang rebuked him and accused the Three Sects of invading and rebelling.
• Xie Ying offered to spare Liu Youfang if he opened the gates and helped kill Gu Chenfeng, but Liu Youfang rejected her offer and threatened the attackers.

Liu Youfang openly defended Black Iron City as the Three Sects’ allied army attacked its Nine Palace Trapping and Killing Formation. After the Scarlet Fire Heavy Crossbows made the barrier appear to recede, Liu ordered the city’s concealed weapons to fire, and fire serpents raced toward the advancing army.

• Liu Youfang declared that the Three Sects would have to step over his corpse to enter Black Iron City, and Xie Ying ordered an attack without mercy.
• The allied army’s first assault was swallowed, reflected, and redirected by the Nine Palace Trapping and Killing Formation, while some cultivators were swept inside and killed.
• Xie Ying recognized the formation as a top-tier fourth-level Grand Formation and ordered the troops to retreat half a li.
• Fan Chengji ordered the Iron Halberd Gate’s disciples to bombard the formation with Scarlet Fire Heavy Crossbows, and the barrier eventually flickered and appeared to recede.
• As the allied army advanced, mechanisms on Black Iron City’s gate tower revealed twenty black muzzles, and Liu Youfang ordered them to fire fire serpents into the enemy ranks.

The allied forces of the Three Sects attacked Black Iron City but were driven back by its formidable defenses. The sect leaders then committed their elites and launched an all-out assault, determined to kill Gu Chenfeng.

• Liu Youfang used Thunderfire Divine Mechanism Crossbows to repel the Three Sects' first charge, killing or wounding several hundred cultivators.
• The Three Sects attacked the Nine Palace Trapping and Killing Formation with Yin Crow Talismans and aerial beasts, but Black Iron City's Thunderclap Drums destroyed the crows and Heaven-Mending Nets captured the flying force.
• Chen Xiaochuan and Fan Chengji questioned how Black Iron City had obtained so many powerful defenses, while Xie Ying insisted they could not retreat because they had orders to kill Gu Chenfeng.
• Xie Ying, Fan Chengji, and Chen Xiaochuan led six True Saints, more than twenty Sub-Saints from each sect, and the rest of their forces in an all-out assault on Black Iron City.

The Three Sects battered Black Iron City's protective formation, and Liu Youfang feared the city would fall before Gu Chenfeng finally arrived. Gu Chenfeng confronted the three sect leaders while ten masked reinforcements appeared, leaving Liu Youfang confident enough to lead a counterattack.

• The Three Sects' six True Saints and their forces attacked the Nine Palace Trapping and Killing Formation, while Liu Youfang and Black Iron City's defenders tried to hold them back.
• The Three Sects' numerical advantage strained the formation, and Liu Youfang feared the City Lord had abandoned them as the barrier weakened.
• Gu Chenfeng appeared on the gate tower, then left the formation to confront Xie Ying, Fan Chengji, and Chen Xiaochuan himself.
• Ten masked cultivators appeared on the gate tower, including two True Saints and eight Sub-Saints.
• Liu Youfang assumed the masked reinforcements were the City Lord's powerful backers and ordered his forces to charge out and help Gu Chenfeng.

Liu Youfang and Black Iron City’s forces fought the Three Sects’ army while Gu Chenfeng overwhelmed their leaders. After killing two sect masters and gravely wounding Xie Ying, Gu Chenfeng turned to intercept a hidden Saint Warrior’s lethal attack.

• Liu Youfang, Tongtong, the Three Kings, the City Patrol Guards, and ten Black-Clad Powerhouses charged out to battle the Three Sects’ elites, while the city’s weapons pinned down the enemy’s main force.
• Liu Youfang fought a True Saint elder and felt his long-stalled cultivation nearing a breakthrough as his side gained the advantage.
• Gu Chenfeng killed Fan Chengji and Chen Xiaochuan with one axe strike, suppressed their Primordial Spirits in an Azure Giant Cauldron, and took their Storage Rings.
• Xie Ying attacked Gu Chenfeng with her White Bone Long Whip, but his Heaven’s Mandate Nine Strikes shattered it and left her gravely wounded.
• As Gu Chenfeng prepared a third strike against Xie Ying, he sensed a hidden attacker and turned to strike at a Saint Warrior’s concealed, lethal blow.

Gu Chenfeng exposed the Black-Clad Youth’s assassination attempts and fought him evenly despite the youth’s Saint Warrior cultivation, rallying Black Iron City’s forces. The youth then unleashed his Shadow-Killing Art inside a Darkness Domain, attacking Gu Chenfeng from every direction.

• Gu Chenfeng blocked the Black-Clad Youth’s surprise attack and learned that a hired Saint Warrior had come to kill him.
• Gu Chenfeng exposed a second hidden blade, then met the Black-Clad Youth’s spear attacks with his battle axe and eighteen Profound Apertures.
• Gu Chenfeng used his techniques and Spiritual Power to counter the Black-Clad Youth’s varied attacks, leaving the two fighters evenly matched.
• Liu Youfang and the defenders of Black Iron City gained confidence and fought more fiercely against the Three Sects.
• The Black-Clad Youth expanded a Darkness Domain and used Shadow-Killing Art to launch spear attacks at Gu Chenfeng from dozens of directions.

Gu Chenfeng turned the tide against the Black-Clad Youth by using the Azure Dragon's Eye to break his opponent's attack, then trapping him in the Feathered Myriad Sword Formation. The youth was killed, but his primordial spirit self-destructed before Gu Chenfeng could capture it.

• Gu Chenfeng and the Black-Clad Youth fought fiercely, and Gu Chenfeng was wounded as his limited stamina left him increasingly on the defensive.
• Gu Chenfeng unleashed the Azure Dragon's Eye, disrupting the youth's domain and spear shadows, then struck him with the Limitless Strike and inflicted serious injuries.
• Gu Chenfeng activated the Feathered Myriad Sword Formation with seven concealed flying swords and trapped the Black-Clad Youth inside it.
• The sword formation overwhelmed the youth and shredded his body, forcing his primordial spirit to flee.
• The youth's primordial spirit exploded under a strange restriction before Gu Chenfeng could suppress it.