Recaps

After learning that Teng Hao was not the person they sought, Meng Tianyue left the matter to Meng Chentian, who threatened the Qi-Reading Adepts and ordered them to find the real target. The chapter ended with the badly beaten Teng Guangyuan regaining consciousness beside his wife and son outside Cloudtop Pavilion.

• Meng Tianyue told Ning Suifeng that Teng Hao was not their target, then left and assigned the matter to Meng Chentian.
• Meng Chentian ordered Master Feng and the other Qi-Reading Adepts to find the unknown person within one day or face death along with their families.
• When a Qi-Reading Adept protested, Meng Chentian killed him by tearing off his head, frightening the others into searching.
• People from Cloudtop Pavilion threw Teng Guangyuan, his wife, and his son outside, gravely injured.
• Teng Guangyuan regained consciousness and saw that his wife and son were still alive.

Teng Guangyuan survived Meng Tianyue’s humiliation and, furious, vowed revenge before calling for help. At the Second High School cafeteria, Wan Lixiu and her friends ordered huge amounts of food, while Zuo Xiaoduo tried to grab their buns and Li Chenglong suggested he use his fortune-telling fame to get meals instead.

• Teng Guangyuan called for help after leaving Meng Tianyue’s gathering alive, privately swearing that he would retaliate against Meng Tianyue and the Meng Group.
• Wan Lixiu and Long Yusheng, Li Changming, Li Chenglong, and Yu Moyan ordered enormous quantities of food at the cafeteria.
• Wan Lixiu spat on the buns to stop Zuo Xiaoduo from stealing them, and he angrily threatened her and Long Yusheng.
• Long Yusheng said he did not mind eating buns his wife had spat on, leaving Zuo Xiaoduo and the others exasperated.
• Li Chenglong pointed out that Zuo Xiaoduo could get food from people seeking fortunes, and Zuo Xiaoduo decided to consider the idea after lunch.

Wan Lixiu invited Zuo Xiaoduo and their classmates to celebrate her birthday and asked those who would not bring presents to perform. Zuo Xiaoduo agreed to sing or dance to avoid spending money, but Li Chenglong warned him the performance would not be easy.

• Wan Lixiu invited Zuo Xiaoduo and the others to her birthday celebration, and Zuo Xiaoduo refused to promise her a present.
• Wan Lixiu told the group they could perform instead of bringing gifts, and Long Yusheng, Yu Moyan, Li Changming, and Li Chenglong said they would prepare presents.
• Zuo Xiaoduo chose to perform rather than spend money and privately congratulated himself on saving a large sum.
• Wan Lixiu made Zuo Xiaoduo promise to sing or dance instead of performing martial arts, and he sealed the agreement with a high five.
• Li Chenglong warned Zuo Xiaoduo that the performance would not be easy to pull off.

Zuo Xiaoduo learned that Wan Lixiu expected a million-value birthday gift and a public performance, then agreed to perform rather than pay more. Furious after discovering his friends had plotted against him, he dragged Li Chenglong and the others into a spar, leaving them caught as they tried to flee.

• Li Chenglong told Zuo Xiaoduo that Wan Lixiu's father planned a large celebration with a stage, and Wan Lixiu demanded a gift worth at least a million.
• The others affirmed that they could afford million-value gifts with the wealth they had gained from the Trial, and Zuo Xiaoduo reluctantly agreed to perform.
• Zuo Xiaoduo worried that Zuo Xiaonian would find out how much he had spent, then challenged Li Chenglong to spar.
• Li Chenglong confessed that he, Long Yusheng, Li Changming, and Yu Moyan had plotted to make Zuo Xiaoduo give Wan Lixiu a birthday gift.
• Long Yusheng fled through a window, while Zuo Xiaoduo grabbed Yu Moyan and then caught Long Yusheng as the others tried to escape.

Zuo Xiaoduo worried that he could no longer suppress his impending breakthrough and feared he could not match Nian Nian Cat’s past achievements. Qin Fangyang tried to reassure him, then examined his dantian and was stunned by its capacity and his meridians.

• Zuo Xiaoduo entered the fifty-times Gravity Room and felt his cultivation surge toward another breakthrough as his power converted into Flame Sun True Scripture energy.
• Worried he could not hold back his breakthrough, Zuo Xiaoduo left the Gravity Room early and told Qin Fangyang he felt miserable about progressing too soon.
• Qin Fangyang reassured Zuo Xiaoduo that his strength and progress had already exceeded expectations, but kept his true assessment to himself.
• Zuo Xiaoduo said Nian Nian Cat had suppressed her breakthrough more than fifty times, shocking Qin Fangyang, who believed the claim was impossible.
• Qin Fangyang examined Zuo Xiaoduo’s dantian and meridians with his True Qi and was overwhelmed by their extraordinary capacity and flexibility.

Zuo Xiaoduo tried to compress his meridians again after Qin Fangyang encouraged him, then went home with his earnings. Mo Xuanyi arrived in Phoenix City with her martial uncle and senior brother, sensed a deep danger and a strange call there, and remained despite wanting to leave as she continued searching for her parents.

• Zuo Xiaoduo insisted on trying to compress his meridians once more, and Qin Fangyang reluctantly let him continue.
• After earning over a hundred thousand from reading fortunes, Zuo Xiaoduo headed home.
• Mo Xuanyi entered Phoenix City with her martial uncle and senior brother and felt both impending danger and an intense sense of longing.
• Mo Xuanyi asked to leave after a few days, but her martial uncle told her not to rush away.
• Mo Xuanyi explained that she still hoped to find her parents, and her martial uncle warned that her attachment could hinder her cultivation.
• Mo Xuanyi's martial uncle decided they would first find their own people and assess the situation instead of reporting to the envoy.

Uncle-Master Fang explained the Greedy Wolf faction’s diminished share in the Phoenix Vein affair and warned Mo Xuanyi and Yun Jueying to survive by embracing cowardice. Mo Xuanyi and Yun Jueying dismissed his lesson, while Fang feared they would understand it only when it was too late.

• Uncle-Master Fang said the Greedy Wolf faction had suffered heavy losses and its share of the Phoenix Vein undertaking had fallen from fifty percent to five percent.
• Fang said he had come mainly to accompany Mo Xuanyi and would avoid exposing himself, though he would try to save their third senior sister if necessary.
• Fang warned Mo Xuanyi and Yun Jueying not to circulate anything connected to the Greedy Wolf Heart Method.
• Fang declared that cowardice was the key to surviving, since staying alive preserved the chance to recover everything else.
• Mo Xuanyi and Yun Jueying doubted Fang’s advice, and Fang lamented that they might understand it only when it was too late.

Wo Fangyinuo recalled how surviving the massacre of the Seventeen Sects’ chosen disciples had taught him to value submission and escape above pride. After bringing his companions to Phoenix City, he let the driver head back alone and told Yun Jueying and Xuanyi to rest and learn the city before searching for Third Junior Sister.

• Wo Fangyinuo remembered surviving a massacre by kowtowing to his enemy, then watching the dead prodigies’ heads rot and concluding that staying alive mattered most.
• Wo Fangyinuo paid the driver ten times the fare and sent him back toward Ningji City, but the driver stopped on the road and died at the wheel.
• Wo Fangyinuo checked into a hotel with Yun Jueying and Xuanyi and suggested they explore Phoenix City while acting like ordinary people.
• Wo Fangyinuo told Yun Jueying to study each city’s layout, local customs, and escape routes before taking action.

Mo Xuanyi learned that Master Zuo was a young fortune-teller at Second High School and suspected he was the person she sought. At home, Zuo Xiaoduo’s cultivation neared a breakthrough, and Zuo Xiaonian’s touch unexpectedly calmed his surging spiritual energy.

• Yun Jueying and Mo Xuanyi left after their martial uncle advised them to study Phoenix City and its escape routes.
• Mo Xuanyi asked a steamed bun seller about Master Zuo and learned he read faces at Second High School three times a day.
• Zuo Xiaoduo struggled to suppress his spiritual energy and worried that he could not hold back as long as Zuo Xiaonian had.
• Zuo Xiaonian told Zuo Xiaoduo to accept his breakthrough, then touched his forehead and sent icy and scorching forces through their meridians.
• Zuo Xiaoduo felt his spiritual energy settle and recognized the cool sensation from an earlier encounter with Zuo Xiaonian.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian’s energies harmonized during cultivation, helping Zuo Xiaoduo break through the Ren and Du Meridians and complete a cycle of circulation. He expelled blood and impurities, then emerged feeling lighter, sharper, and more in control of his True Qi.

• Zuo Xiaoduo asked Zuo Xiaonian to place her hand on his forehead and use her Moon Soul True Scripture to cool his surging energy.
• Zuo Xiaonian’s energy flowed into Zuo Xiaoduo automatically, while energy from his Dragon Blood Flying Knife added to the growing pressure in his dantian.
• Zuo Xiaonian’s hand was forced away as Zuo Xiaoduo broke through and opened his Ren and Du Meridians.
• Zuo Xiaoduo’s joined forces circulated through his body for eighty-one cycles before he rushed to the bathroom and spat out blood and black impurities.
• Zuo Xiaoduo felt lighter and more agile, with sharper senses and True Qi that answered his will more readily.

Zuo Xiaoduo formed his Innate divine sense and completed his breakthrough, while Zuo Xiaonian realized her help had added many rounds of suppression to his cultivation. Afterward, he celebrated with his family, surprised that his appetite had shrunk, and Zuo Xiaonian struggled to explain the breakthrough to her parents.

• Zuo Xiaoduo formed his Innate divine sense, accidentally punching a hole in the wall with his True Qi.
• Zuo Xiaoduo washed away the impurities expelled by his body after advancing to Innate, then asked Zuo Xiaonian for clean clothes.
• Zuo Xiaonian realized that her assistance had helped Zuo Xiaoduo suppress his breakthrough repeatedly and wondered how far he might advance.
• Zuo Xiaoduo came out in pajamas, celebrated his breakthrough, and was surprised when three steamed buns filled him up.
• Zuo Xiaonian tried to explain to Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting that she had only been helping Zuo Xiaoduo cultivate, but Wu Yuting cut her off.

Zuo Xiaoduo stabilized his foundations after breaking through to Innate and discovered he could use divine sense to open Blind Hong's ring. He delighted in testing its storage ability while Zuo Xiaonian guarded him outside.

• Zuo Xiaonian fled after Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting teased her and Zuo Xiaoduo about their relationship.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Wu Yuting he was full because his breakthrough meant he no longer needed to eat as much.
• Zuo Xiaoduo cultivated with the Dragon Blood Flying Knife and middle-grade star soul jade, but found it difficult to fill his dantian with Innate power.
• Zuo Xiaonian kept watch outside Zuo Xiaoduo's window while he cultivated.
• Zuo Xiaoduo used his divine sense to open Blind Hong's ring and tested it by putting objects inside and taking them back out.

Zuo Xiaoduo explored the Space Ring Blind Hong left him and discovered it was vastly larger than expected and contained over ten thousand pieces of Top-Grade Star Soul Jade. Zuo Changlu ordered him to give half the jade to Zuo Xiaonian, who refused.

• Zuo Xiaonian warned Zuo Xiaoduo to stop repeatedly entering and leaving his Space Ring before he exhausted or damaged his spiritual sense.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Zuo Xiaonian that Blind Hong's ring seemed to hold twenty or thirty thousand cubic meters, far more than her own ring.
• Zuo Xiaoduo took out a piece of black Star Soul Jade, and Zuo Xiaonian recognized it as Top-Grade Star Soul Jade and urged him to put it away.
• Zuo Xiaoduo found that Blind Hong's ring contained over ten thousand pieces of Top-Grade Star Soul Jade.
• Zuo Changlu entered, learned what the ring contained, and ordered Zuo Xiaoduo to give half the jade to Zuo Xiaonian, who refused.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian sorted through the treasures in Zuo Xiaoduo’s ring while Zuo Changlu warned them about dangerous items and examined an ancient token and jade slips. Zuo Changlu discovered several sword and hammer techniques belonging to Blind Hong and reacted angrily to their plain names.

• Zuo Xiaonian transferred her belongings into the larger ring from Uncle Nan, and Zuo Xiaoduo took her old ring as a decoy for his invisible one.
• Zuo Xiaoduo poured out half the Top-Grade Star Soul Jade for Zuo Xiaonian to store, then briefly revealed dangerous items that Zuo Changlu warned him not to touch.
• Zuo Xiaoduo found an ancient token marked “Flood” and “Water,” and Zuo Changlu told him never to take it out.
• Zuo Xiaoduo brought out more than ten technique-transmission jade slips, and Zuo Changlu searched among the ring’s contents for a pair of hammers.
• Zuo Changlu identified sets of sword and hammer techniques among the jade slips and cursed Blind Hong over their names.

Zuo Xiaonian tested a technique-transmission jade slip and learned the exquisite Silk Rain Sword Technique. Zuo Changlu warned the siblings to conceal their inherited techniques and divine swords, leaving them to consider the deadly consequences of drawing their weapons.

• Zuo Changlu assigned the rain-named sword techniques to Zuo Xiaonian and the other techniques to Zuo Xiaoduo, and told them to rename the moves.
• Zuo Xiaonian used the Silk Rain Sword jade slip and received the technique in her spiritual sense.
• Zuo Xiaonian praised the sword technique's depth and discovered that the jade slip could not be reused without being recharged by its creator.
• Zuo Changlu told Zuo Xiaonian to keep the technique secret and use it only with the Moon Soul True Scripture, warning that its creator had many enemies.
• Zuo Changlu warned both siblings not to draw their divine swords lightly and said they must leave no survivors if forced to use them.

Zuo Changlu taught Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian that martial arts in troubled times meant protecting humanity and defeating enemies without mercy. He left them with a stern warning to remember their purpose and abandon softheartedness on the battlefield.

• Zuo Changlu told Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian that their inherited swordsmanship was meant for lethal combat, not sparring.
• Zuo Changlu condemned sword styles that spared enemies and recounted how a swordsman’s mercy toward a talented boy led to his own death and the destruction of his family.
• Zuo Changlu argued that martial artists who served only their own sects and made friends through sparring failed to protect their people and nation.
• Zuo Changlu insisted that martial arts and cultivation served a greater purpose of protection during troubled times.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian listened solemnly and committed Zuo Changlu’s guidance to memory.

Zuo Changlu gave Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian instructions and techniques to help them develop their swordsmanship, hammer arts, and movement skills, then spoke with Wu Yuting about their son’s strength and their plans to travel. The chapter ended with the injured Teng Guangyuan waking in the hospital, overwhelmed with shame as he recalled the day’s events.

• Zuo Changlu warned Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian to cultivate their inherited techniques gradually, rename their sword arts, and reserve the Thousand Souls Hammer’s final move for life-or-death fights.
• Zuo Changlu gave Zuo Xiaoduo a pair of five-thousand-jin practice hammers and handed Zuo Xiaonian a sword art, along with footwork and flight techniques that she would later teach Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Zuo Changlu cautioned Zuo Xiaoduo not to get carried away after his breakthrough, and Zuo Xiaonian laughed at his reaction.
• Zuo Changlu told Wu Yuting that Zuo Xiaoduo’s foundation was far stronger than expected and that he had given the siblings their techniques; they agreed to travel once the great hammers were forged.
• Teng Guangyuan woke in the hospital with severe injuries, learned that his wife and son were still unconscious, and wept with shame over the day’s upheavals.

Teng Guangyuan reported himself to Director Jiang and vowed to damage the Meng Group after Meng Tianyue humiliated him. Meanwhile, Mo Xuanyi felt an inexplicable pull toward Phoenix City and intervened when she found a man assaulting a young woman.

• Teng Guangyuan called Director Jiang, filed a report under his real name, and said he would wait at the hospital because he feared retaliation.
• Teng Guangyuan vowed to make the Meng Group suffer for the humiliation Meng Tianyue had inflicted on his family.
• Mo Xuanyi wandered Phoenix City, feeling a growing sense of familiarity, longing, and unease.
• Mo Xuanyi heard cries for help and discovered a man assaulting an unconscious young woman while her parents lay beaten nearby.
• Mo Xuanyi entered through the window with her sword drawn and ordered the lecher to stop.

Mo Xuanyi confronted Ning Family Sixth Young Master while he was assaulting a woman, but his bodyguards and reinforcements turned the fight into a citywide pursuit. She fled while hiding her Greedy Wolf identity and considered drawing her pursuers outside Phoenix City before striking back.

• Mo Xuanyi attacked the lecher after he revealed he belonged to the Ning Family, and he summoned four guards, including a Dan Origin Realm expert.
• Sixth Young Master Ning joined the fight and declared that he wanted to capture Mo Xuanyi, while she used ordinary sword techniques to avoid exposing herself as Greedy Wolf.
• Mo Xuanyi fled through a window and tried to lure her pursuers beyond the city before unleashing her full strength.
• Sixth Young Master Ning called for more people, and Ning Family members emerged across the roads to intercept Mo Xuanyi as she escaped.

Yun Jueying rescued Mo Xuanyi from Ning Family attackers, then Qin Fangyang, Sister Lan, and Qiu Yunshang arrived and punished the clan for preying on women. The Ning Family faced a threat of destruction if its prohibition remained lifted and its members continued targeting innocents.

• Yun Jueying arrived and used his sword to kill several attackers before reaching Mo Xuanyi.
• Mo Xuanyi told Yun Jueying how Sixth Young Master Ning had pursued her and summoned Ning Family members to attack her.
• Yun Jueying fought through the Ning Family reinforcements and took Mo Xuanyi away.
• Qin Fangyang appeared before the Ning Family Fourth Uncle and dropped more than thirty heads, while Sister Lan added more and threatened to wipe out the clan if Ning Suifeng kept the prohibition lifted.
• Qiu Yunshang arrived and warned the Ning Family not to target ordinary women and children again.

Qin Fangyang and Sister Lan killed dozens of Ning Family members after the family lifted its ban, leaving Ning Suifeng too weakened to retaliate against them or Qiu Yunshang. He ordered his people to find the two unfamiliar outsiders who had provoked the family, and they soon located them at the Cloudglow Hotel.

• Qin Fangyang revealed his identity and vanished, while Sister Lan killed Sixth Young Master Ning before leaving.
• Fourth Uncle Ning saw the Ning Family’s losses and realized powerful enemies had been waiting for the family to act.
• Ning Suifeng learned that sixty-five descendants had died, rejected retaliation against Qin Fangyang and Sister Lan, and noted that Qiu Yunshang had sided against the family.
• Ning Suifeng ordered an investigation into the black-clad woman and her senior brother, then demanded that the two be brought back to him.
• The Ning Family found the senior brother and junior sister at the Cloudglow Hotel, where they had checked in that day with a middle-aged man.

Ning Suifeng revealed to Ning Qingcheng how he and Meng Tianyue had obstructed He Yuanyue’s efforts to help the Phoenix Vein, believing their selfishness had brought the Ning Family to ruin. He explained that the ancestral graves’ collapse convinced him the family was finished, and that he had lifted the prohibition in hopes of preserving its bloodline.

• Ning Suifeng sent all four of the Ning Family’s Infant Transformation experts and more than thirty Core Origin Realm cultivators to capture their enemies.
• Ning Suifeng led Ning Qingcheng into a hidden study beneath his own and told her the Ning Family was facing disaster.
• Ning Suifeng confessed that he and Meng Tianyue had secretly prevented He Yuanyue from spreading news about the Phoenix Vein and had helped suppress the Phoenix’s rise.
• Ning Suifeng admitted that he had sought to secure the Phoenix Vein for his own Lineage, and warned Ning Qingcheng that an apparent opportunity could be a trap.
• Ning Suifeng told Ning Qingcheng that the ancestral graves’ collapse had convinced him the Ning Family was finished, and that he had lifted the prohibition to try to leave behind an heir.

Ning Suifeng explained that the Ning Family’s feng shui protections had collapsed and that their plan to kill the Spirit Thought Heavenly Maiden was doomed. He revealed that he had sent the family’s forces on a near-suicidal mission to distract their enemies and give him and Ning Qingcheng a chance to talk.

• Ning Suifeng told Ning Qingcheng that the Ning Family’s ancestral graveyard had pinned down the Phoenix Vein’s left foot, but its collapse had freed it.
• Ning Suifeng said the Meng Group’s coming collapse would free the Phoenix Vein’s right foot, while Blind Hong’s death left them unable to repair the formation.
• Ning Suifeng warned that Mu Yanyan, Qin Fangyang, the Kunlun Dao Sect, and Witch Alliance experts made attacking the Spirit Thought Heavenly Maiden a deadly trap.
• Ning Suifeng suspected Meng Chentian was the real power behind Meng Tianyue and was tied to the Witch Alliance.
• Ning Suifeng concluded that the Ning Family’s forces were unlikely to return after confronting a powerful sect, whose elder was probably at least in the early stage of Cloud Transformation.
• Ning Suifeng explained that he had sent the family’s core fighters to distract everyone watching the Ning residence, creating an opportunity for him and Ning Qingcheng to speak.

Ning Suifeng revealed that Ning Qingcheng was not his biological daughter and urged her to escape the doomed Ning Family. She fled through his secret passage with money and supplies, while he prepared to destroy the route behind her.

• Ning Suifeng told Ning Qingcheng that her mother, Yu Danqing, had been pregnant when he took her in, and that he had murdered her to keep Ning Qingcheng, whose star soul was exceptionally strong.
• Ning Suifeng explained that Ning Qingcheng was not part of the Ning Family and gave her money, treasures, a new identity, and directions to escape through secret passages.
• Ning Qingcheng refused to leave, so Ning Suifeng stabbed himself and threatened to die unless she went immediately.
• Ning Qingcheng took the card and Space Rings, kowtowed to Ning Suifeng, and escaped through the opening behind the bookcase.
• Ning Suifeng watched her go and said he would activate the mechanism to blow up the passage's middle section in ten minutes.

Ning Qingcheng escaped the Ning Family as Ning Suifeng sealed the passage and accepted the family’s defeat. In Phoenix City, a mysterious Cloud Transformation expert rescued two fighters from the Ning Family, then evaded pursuit, leaving Jiang Changbin worried that the newcomers were after the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact.

• Ning Qingcheng left the Ning Family residence, and Ning Suifeng sealed the passage behind her before pulling the sword from his chest.
• The Ning Family attacked a man and a woman at the Cloudglow Hotel, but the battle destroyed the hotel and left thirty-nine of the family’s fifty elite fighters dead.
• A middle-aged Cloud Transformation expert joined the battle, rescued the man and woman, and fled with them on his sword.
• Han Song and another Cloud Transformation expert pursued the middle-aged man but lost his trail after only a few turns.
• Jiang Changbin suspected the newcomers had come for the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact and decided to investigate their origins.