Recaps

Fang Yinuo could neither release nor kill Zuo Xiaoduo without risking his own survival, leaving them trapped in a stalemate. Zuo Xiaoduo exploited Fang Yinuo’s fear of death to demand food, while Fang Yinuo rejected his offer to let him go.

• Fang Yinuo agonized over whether to release, kill, or consult Zuo Xiaoduo, but distrusted every option.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Fang Yinuo paced and complained as neither found a way out of their stalemate.
• Fang Yinuo suggested handing Zuo Xiaoduo over to the Witch Alliance’s local overseer, but Zuo Xiaoduo warned that doing so could get them both killed.
• Zuo Xiaoduo threatened to kill himself unless Fang Yinuo bought him steamed buns, then specified the filling and ingredients he wanted.
• Zuo Xiaoduo offered to leave and buy the buns himself if Fang Yinuo let him go, but Fang Yinuo refused.

Fang Yinuo realized that Zuo Xiaoduo’s disappearance had drawn a massive search through Phoenix City, while Zuo tried to escape by attacking him with the Dragon Blood Flying Knife. Fang Yinuo recognized the knife and was horrified by what its origins could mean.

• Fang Yinuo refused to release Zuo Xiaoduo as powerful cultivators searched Phoenix City, including a Cloud Transformation master from the Witch Alliance.
• Zuo Xiaoduo secretly stabbed Fang Yinuo with the Dragon Blood Flying Knife, but Fang pinned him down and demanded to know what weapon he had used.
• Zuo Xiaoduo warned Fang Yinuo that an important person would come after him if he took the knife.
• Fang Yinuo examined the Dragon Blood Flying Knife, recognized it as resembling a weapon belonging to a powerful figure, and was left terrified.

Fang Yinuo recognized Zuo Xiaoduo’s Dragon Blood Flying Knife and was terrified after it drained a rat dry. He realized Zuo Xiaoduo was Uncle Nan’s nephew and feared the consequences of the promises tying him to Uncle Nan.

• Fang Yinuo tested the Dragon Blood Flying Knife on a rat, and the blade drained the rat’s flesh and blood until its corpse crumbled.
• Zuo Xiaoduo accused Fang Yinuo of insulting the knife, and Fang Yinuo hurriedly returned it and begged him to take it back.
• Fang Yinuo admitted he knew the knife well, while Zuo Xiaoduo asked whether he also knew Uncle Nan.
• Fang Yinuo recognized Zuo Xiaoduo as Uncle Nan’s nephew and lamented that fate had brought him into their hands again.
• Zuo Xiaoduo praised Fang Yinuo’s name as a promise worth a thousand gold, and Fang Yinuo took the words as a warning to keep his oath.

Zuo Xiaoduo pressured Fang Yinuo into helping protect the Spirit Thought Heavenly Maiden during the Final Operation and promised to guide him through his crisis. Fang Yinuo agreed to gather information, then used a small boiler-like object to seal off the outside world.

• Zuo Xiaoduo learned that Fang Yinuo had come to Phoenix City for the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact and that Fang was an advanced Cloud Transformation cultivator.
• Zuo Xiaoduo recruited Fang Yinuo to help ensure the Spirit Thought Heavenly Maiden stayed safe and completed her breakthrough during the Final Operation.
• Fang Yinuo explained that he had not yet contacted the local leaders or learned the operation’s plans, and Zuo Xiaoduo gave him time to gather details.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Fang Yinuo exchanged phone numbers, and Zuo promised to help Fang escape a life-and-death crisis and find a prosperous future.
• Fang Yinuo grabbed a small boiler-like object that sealed off the outside world, and Zuo Xiaoduo noticed its effect.

After Zuo Xiaoduo returned safely from his mysterious disappearance, he gave the gathered experts a misleading account of what happened and was sent off to train. Qin Fangyang then assembled allies and warned Mu Yanyan to keep away from the Meng Group as its building was about to collapse.

• Qin Fangyang and the other experts found Zuo Xiaoduo unharmed and brought him back to Second High School.
• Zuo Xiaoduo claimed an unknown expert had abducted him but let him go after feeling inferior to his handsome face.
• Qin Fangyang kicked Zuo Xiaoduo out of his office and sent him to make up his training in the Gravity Room.
• Qin Fangyang told Qiu Yunshang that he needed help with a task that might require Sun Baijiang as well.
• Qin Fangyang warned Mu Yanyan to keep away from the Meng Group because its building was likely to collapse within two days.
• Han Song returned from the Star Shield Bureau and asked Qin Fangyang whether they were going to make a move.

Qin Fangyang recruited Sun Baijiang to help with another dangerous operation while Phoenix City's leaders discussed building the Heavenly Fire Altar. Meanwhile, Mu Yanyan led Zuo Xiaonian and Gu Luoyan on a guarded tour of the city, and the chapter left the leaders surveying the proposed altar site from the sky.

• Wan Pingyuan gathered Phoenix City's leaders and experts to discuss the construction of the Heavenly Fire Altar and had them survey the city from above.
• Qin Fangyang intercepted Sun Baijiang as he prepared to return to his unit and recruited him for another operation.
• Sun Baijiang agreed to help, warning Qin Fangyang that he would leave as soon as the job was done.
• Mu Yanyan took Zuo Xiaonian and Gu Luoyan sightseeing while Gu Luoyan's bodyguards heightened their security.
• Mu Yanyan pointed out the damaged Meng Group building and wondered whether Meng Chenyu still had anything to say.
• Gao Wencheng and Wang Shiyu confidently described the terrain to the group gathered above the clouds.

A sword strike toppled the Meng Group Headquarters building, and a Witch Alliance attacker used the resulting flood to kill Wang Shiyu and Gao Wencheng. A second, far more powerful sword wielder destroyed their bodies and escaped, while the Star Shield Bureau and City Guards Army faced a sweeping water-based attack.

• A mountain of sword light struck the Meng Group Headquarters building, bringing it down and sending a massive flood through Phoenix City.
• A saber wielder emerged from the curtain of water and killed Wang Shiyu and Gao Wencheng before retreating into the flood.
• A second sword wielder annihilated Wang Shiyu's and Gao Wencheng's bodies and primordial spirits, then vanished after invoking the stars.
• Han Song ordered the others to retreat while the Star Shield Bureau experts pursued the first attacker into the ruins.
• An overwhelming force drove water currents shaped like swords and sabers toward the pursuing experts.

Fang Yinuo met with the Witch Alliance Envoy to discuss the Greedy Wolf Sect’s arrival and the Kill Break Wolf Formation. As the Meng Group Headquarters building collapsed, the Envoy watched the chaos while Fang Yinuo mocked the wealthy.

• The Witch Alliance attackers killed Gao Wencheng and Wang Shiyu, prompting Wan Pingyuan to order a citywide martial law and search for the killers.
• Sun Baijiang said farewell to Qin Fangyang and the others and flew away.
• Qin Fangyang and Qiu Yunshang criticized Director Jiang for failing to see Sun Baijiang off, then continued on their way.
• Fang Yinuo told the Envoy that the Greedy Wolf Sect had sent three people: one Cloud Transformation, one Infant Transformation, and one Core Origin expert.
• The Envoy said the Kill Break Wolf Formation’s next stages depended on the Phoenix Vein.
• The Meng Group Headquarters building collapsed, and Fang Yinuo gloated while the Envoy watched the destruction.

Fang Yinuo challenged the Envoy over the operation’s forces and Greedy Wolf’s share of the profits, but the Envoy ordered him out. In Phoenix City, floodwaters from the Meng Group Headquarters collapse receded to reveal that the Ning Clan’s old residence had also fallen.

• Fang Yinuo pressed the Envoy for details about the participating sects and how the operation’s proceeds would be divided.
• The Envoy received word that two Qi-Reading Adepts accompanying Gu Luoyan had been killed, and he blamed their deaths on their own rash actions.
• The Envoy disclosed the forces joining the operation, including six Infant Transformation cultivators and eleven Dan Origin cultivators from Broken Army, and two Infant Transformation cultivators from Left Assistant.
• Fang Yinuo argued that Greedy Wolf deserved more than five percent of the profits, but the Envoy refused and ordered him to leave before summoning him to the meeting that night.
• After the Meng Group Headquarters collapse flooded part of Phoenix City, the Ning Lineage discovered that the old residence on its estate had also collapsed.

The Ning and Meng Families faced catastrophic collapses, widespread deaths, and a mysterious illness affecting their bloodlines. Meng Tianyue learned that the same disaster had struck his relatives elsewhere, leaving both families convinced they were finished.

• Ning Suifeng learned that a fast-spreading, untreatable disease was killing Ning Family members at estates outside the city.
• A Ning Family survivor developed black spots, and Ning Suifeng realized the survivors could also be infected.
• Meng Tianyue received reports that the Meng Group's branches had suffered trouble, more than forty family members had died, and others had developed the black spots.
• Meng Tianyue discovered a black spot on his own hand and told himself the Meng Family was finished.
• Meng Tianyue's Third Uncle reported the same disease and collapsing ancestral grounds among the Meng Family's collateral branches, and Meng Tianyue confirmed their family was suffering the same disaster.

Meng Tianyue told Meng Chenyu that the Meng Family’s black-spot curse was likely retribution and offered her two possible ways to survive. Meanwhile, Zuo Xiaonian accompanied Gu Luoyan after Gao Wencheng and Wang Shiyu were killed, while Divine Shadow guards quietly suspected the circumstances were suspicious.

• Meng Tianyue learned that his Third Uncle had developed a black spot too and heard that the Meng Family might have to accept its fate.
• Meng Tianyue told Meng Chenyu that Meng Chentian was not a member of the Meng Family and suggested she marry Meng Chentian or Zuo Xiaoduo to survive the curse.
• Meng Chenyu said she would visit her Master and left without taking her sports car.
• Zuo Xiaonian stayed with Gu Luoyan after they learned Gao Wencheng and Wang Shiyu had been killed by the Witch Alliance and sent people to collect the bodies.
• The Divine Shadow guards watched Zuo Xiaonian and Mu Yanyan, suspecting the deaths and the group’s absence from the scene were connected.

Meng Chenyu sought a private conversation with Mu Yanyan about her family’s plans involving Zuo Xiaonian and the Primordial Yin Soul Transfer. Mu Yanyan reacted coldly and began reminding Meng Chenyu how generously Zuo Xiaonian had treated her.

• Meng Chenyu interrupted Mu Yanyan and asked to speak with her privately, while Zuo Xiaonian accompanied Gu Luoyan along the river.
• Gu Luoyan asked about Meng Chenyu and Mu Yanyan’s invitation, and Zuo Xiaonian answered without drawing conclusions about her questions.
• Meng Chenyu asked why Mu Yanyan had become cold toward her, and Mu Yanyan challenged her to explain what she wanted.
• Meng Chenyu revealed that she meant the Phoenix Vein, the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact, and the Primordial Yin Soul Transfer.
• Mu Yanyan asked how Zuo Xiaonian had treated Meng Chenyu, and Meng Chenyu admitted that her senior sister had treated her like family.
• Mu Yanyan recalled that Zuo Xiaonian had sacrificed her rest to help improve Meng Chenyu’s meridians and cultivation.

Mu Yanyan rejected Meng Chenyu’s tearful plea for help after condemning her for plotting to steal her senior sister’s opportunities through the Primordial Yin Soul Transfer. She expelled Meng Chenyu from the Kunlun Dao Sect and her tutelage, then paused in midair as Meng Chenyu appealed to their years as master and disciple.

• Mu Yanyan confronted Meng Chenyu with the ways her senior sister had cared for her and condemned her plan to ruin her senior sister through the Primordial Yin Soul Transfer.
• Meng Chenyu admitted she had done wrong but argued the plan had not been carried out and begged Mu Yanyan to save her from the Meng Family’s downfall.
• Mu Yanyan asked Meng Chenyu who Meng Chentian really was, and Meng Chenyu said she knew only that he was not her biological brother.
• Mu Yanyan refused to help Meng Chenyu and formally expelled her from the Kunlun Dao Sect lineage and her tutelage, while sparing her martial arts.
• Meng Chenyu clung to Mu Yanyan’s leg and begged her to honor their bond, and Mu Yanyan sent her away before pausing in midair, stricken by memories of their years together.

Mu Yanyan ended her bond with Meng Chenyu after confirming her betrayal, while Zuo Xiaoduo struggled with the weight of his newly forged hammers. Meanwhile, Mo Xuanyi searched a poor district for her parents and continued looking as noon arrived.

• Mu Yanyan told Meng Chenyu that their master-disciple bond was over, then hid among the clouds to grieve before emerging with only disgust and disappointment.
• Zuo Xiaoduo trained with heavy Star Iron blocks and realized he could not yet wield the nearly ten-thousand-jin hammers he had ordered.
• Zuo Xiaoduo's father called to say the hammers were finished, and Zuo Xiaoduo resolved to collect them that afternoon despite fearing embarrassment.
• Mo Xuanyi searched the poor district where Zuo Xiaoduo had directed her, feeling close to its ordinary residents as she looked for her parents.
• Mo Xuanyi kept searching the district from early morning until half past eleven, inspecting one home after another.

Mo Xuanyi learned that Master Zuo’s prediction pointed to Old Wood and his wife, who lived on the back street, as her long-lost parents. She changed out of her disguise and prepared to go meet them.

• Mo Xuanyi asked the proprietress whether local families had lost children, and explained that Master Zuo had told her that her parents lived in the eastern district.
• The proprietress encouraged Mo Xuanyi to keep searching, and the proprietor recalled that Old Wood and his wife had recently been told their daughter might return.
• Mo Xuanyi asked where Old Wood lived, and the proprietress offered to take her there.
• Mo Xuanyi borrowed the couple’s room and changed from her plain disguise into her striking appearance.

Mo Xuanyi reunited with the poor old couple who had lost their daughter decades earlier and discovered that the old woman was her birth mother. The family welcomed her home, and Old Wood returned, eager and anxious to meet their daughter.

• Auntie Ma brought Mo Xuanyi to the dilapidated home of Old Wood and his wife.
• The old woman recognized Mo Xuanyi’s resemblance to her younger self and described the identifying marks on her missing daughter.
• Mo Xuanyi showed her mother one of the marks, and the two embraced and wept after realizing they had reunited.
• The old woman welcomed Mo Xuanyi inside and treated her with careful affection, while Mo Xuanyi repeatedly called her Mom.
• Old Wood returned with food and wine, a bruise on his forehead, and asked whether they had a guest.

After Mo Xuanyi reunited with her birth parents, Mu Congjun told her how he and Liu Yanbo had become trapped in a formation in Tiger Roar Forest and raised her there. He ended his account as they escaped the formation and faced a new nightmare.

• Mo Xuanyi prepared a meal for her reunited parents, and the family ate together happily.
• Mo Xuanyi confirmed she was a cultivator, and Mu Congjun recognized that she belonged to the Greedy Wolf Sect of the Witch Alliance.
• Mu Congjun explained that he and Liu Yanbo had been cultivators from families who fought the Witch Alliance, and that they met while training in Tiger Roar Forest.
• Mu Congjun recounted how he and Liu Yanbo became trapped in a hidden formation, married, and had Mo Xuanyi during their six years inside.
• After ten years in the formation, Mu Congjun and Liu Yanbo used the aftermath of a battle between experts to break out with Mo Xuanyi, but a nightmare began as they escaped.

Mu Congjun and Liu Yanbo told Mo Xuanyi how Grandmother Greedy Wolf had captured and tortured them, destroyed their cultivation, and taken their young daughter away. They revealed that former fellow students had robbed them on their journey back to Phoenix City, but Liu Yanbo stopped Mo Xuanyi from learning the robbers’ names.

• Mu Congjun recounted how he and Liu Yanbo refused to reveal the cave abode’s location despite three days and nights of torture by Grandmother Greedy Wolf.
• Mu Congjun explained that Grandmother Greedy Wolf took three-year-old Mo Xuanyi from them, and Liu Yanbo recalled the exact time that had passed since their separation.
• Mu Congjun described how Marshal Dongfang’s prophecy gave them hope of reuniting with their daughter and led them to return to Phoenix City.
• Mu Congjun said four fellow students robbed them on the way, leaving them to beg their way home with only hidden money.
• Mo Xuanyi demanded the robbers’ names, but Liu Yanbo pleaded with her not to pursue them until she was strong enough.

Mo Xuanyi struggled with her parents’ plea to abandon revenge, while Zuo Xiaoduo eagerly waited for Wu Tiejiang to finish his Nine-Nine Kitty Hammers. The chapter left Mo Xuanyi weeping over her choice and Wu Tiejiang nervously asking Zuo Xiaoduo to inspect the completed weapons.

• Mo Xuanyi’s parents urged her to live safely and leave revenge behind, while Mu Congjun let her choose her own path.
• Mo Xuanyi remembered her master’s words, compared them with her parents’ love, and broke down sobbing.
• Several hours earlier, Zuo Xiaoduo rushed to the Changlu Star Soul Stone Shop to ask Zuo Changlu about his hammers.
• Wu Tiejiang finished attaching the chains and adjusting the Nine-Nine Kitty Hammers while Zuo Changlu delayed joining him.
• Zuo Changlu brought Zuo Xiaoduo to see the hammers, then encouraged him to inspect them as Wu Tiejiang anxiously asked whether anything needed improvement.

Zuo Xiaoduo tested the two pairs of enormous hammers Wu Tiejiang had made and learned about their concealed weapons and chains. Wu Tiejiang explained how to use and replenish their ammunition, leaving Zuo Xiaoduo equipped with a large supply of spares.

• Zuo Xiaoduo tested the lighter hammers and planned to switch between them and the heavier pair for surprise attacks.
• Zuo Xiaoduo lifted the heavier hammers, and his arm joint cracked as Zuo Changlu and Wu Tiejiang watched.
• Wu Tiejiang explained that the hammer faces concealed Awl Needles and flame-iron awls, which could be fired through built-in mechanisms.
• Wu Tiejiang described the hammers' chains and warned Zuo Xiaoduo to refill their hidden weapons after every use.
• Wu Tiejiang gave Zuo Xiaoduo tens of thousands of high-quality needles and awls, along with more than a million lower-quality spares.

Zuo Xiaoduo received a pair of divine hammers from Wu Tiejiang, who taught him how to use their hidden weapons and revealed their naturally formed patterns. Zuo Xiaoduo prepared to name the hammers and bind them to himself, but Zuo Changlu and Wu Tiejiang stopped him before he could choose an absurd name.

• Zuo Xiaoduo thanked Wu Tiejiang for the hammers and other gifts, and Zuo Changlu admonished him to remember Wu Tiejiang's kindness.
• Wu Tiejiang explained that the hammers' patterns, Sun Illuminates Rivers and Mountains and Moon Illuminates Rivers and Mountains, had formed on their own when the weapons gained spiritual essence.
• Zuo Changlu recognized the hammers as divine artifacts, while Zuo Xiaoduo delighted in the little cat engravings on their handles.
• Wu Tiejiang told Zuo Xiaoduo to name the hammers and use his true-spirit blood essence to make them recognize him as their master.
• Zuo Xiaoduo started to call them the Nine-Nine Kitty Hammers, but Zuo Changlu and Wu Tiejiang interrupted him with coughing.

After naming the divine hammers the Heaven and Earth Sun and Moon Nine-Nine Kitty Hammers, Zuo Xiaoduo eagerly studied them while Zuo Changlu and Wu Tiejiang recovered from the shock. Wu Tiejiang prepared to leave, but first gave Zuo Xiaoduo weighted arm guards and cautioned him about using the deadly needles he had forged.

• Zuo Xiaoduo named the hammers the Heaven and Earth Sun and Moon Nine-Nine Kitty Hammers, despite Zuo Changlu and Wu Tiejiang’s hints.
• Zuo Xiaoduo spent the afternoon examining his new hammers while Zuo Changlu and Wu Tiejiang sat drained by the name.
• Wu Tiejiang gave Zuo Changlu weighted arm guards for Zuo Xiaoduo’s strength training and told him to return the thirty-thousand-jin set after Zuo Xiaoduo adapted to it.
• Wu Tiejiang warned Zuo Changlu that Zuo Xiaoduo should avoid using the powerful needles he had forged until he reached Infant Transformation.

Wu Tiejiang advised Zuo Changlu to let the younger generation face their own trials, then departed after promising to bring Little Surplus the complete hammer technique. Zuo Changlu watched Zuo Xiaoduo leave for a birthday party and silently wished he would never endure the losses of war that had marked his own life.

• Wu Tiejiang told Zuo Changlu that Xiao Nian still had to comprehend the Ice Phoenix soul in her sword herself and warned him not to remove all the danger from her tribulation.
• Zuo Changlu and Wu Tiejiang agreed that parents could not protect their children forever, and Zuo Changlu said he and his wife planned to leave before the children faced their tribulations.
• Wu Tiejiang departed, promising to bring the complete hammer technique for Little Surplus and renewing his pledge with Zuo Changlu to share a drunken night before the pass.
• Zuo Xiaoduo put away the hammers and left for a classmate's birthday party, while Zuo Changlu watched him go and wished he would never suffer the loneliness and losses of war.

He Yuanyue, gravely ill, arranged for Second High School’s students to pursue their own paths and hoped to witness their success at the admissions tournament. The chapter left her future uncertain as she prepared to speak privately with Qin Fangyang.

• Zuo Xiaoduo counted down the seven days until Nian Nian Cat’s breakthrough as his Divine Weapon took shape.
• Mo Xuanyi found her parents, Wu Tiejiang left Phoenix City, and Mu Yanyan expelled Meng Chenyu from her tutelage.
• Many members of the Ning Clan and Meng Lineage died, while the Star Shield Bureau summoned Meng Tianyue for questioning.
• He Yuanyue woke after collapsing and told Li Changjiang, Hu Ruoyun, and Qin Fangyang that she might not live until the admissions tournament.
• He Yuanyue urged them to send Zuo Xiaoduo, Long Yusheng, Wan Lixiu, Yu Moyan, Li Changming, and Li Chenglong to different martial schools so each could become the protagonist of their own story.
• He Yuanyue called Qin Fangyang by name and began addressing him directly.

He Yuanyue sent Qin Fangyang to the Upper Capital to protect Zuo Xiaoduo when he journeyed to the Ancestral Dragon Land, while preparing for the phoenix vein soul impact. That night, Zuo Xiaoduo and his friends arrived at Wan Lixiu’s birthday banquet, where he realized he might have to perform onstage.

• He Yuanyue told Qin Fangyang that Zuo Xiaoduo’s fate would lead him to the Ancestral Dragon Land, where powerful enemies would threaten him, and asked Qin to prepare in the Upper Capital to protect him.
• Qin Fangyang told He Yuanyue he had killed Gao Wencheng and Wang Shiyu, and He Yuanyue said she wanted to stand atop Phoenix Looking Back during the phoenix vein soul impact in seven days.
• Fang Yinuo slipped away to attend the Witch Alliance Meeting while Zuo Xiaoduo, Li Changming, Li Chenglong, and Yu Moyan went to the Governor’s Residence for Wan Lixiu’s birthday banquet.
• Zuo Xiaoduo saw the banquet hall’s elaborate stage and learned from Li Changming, Li Chenglong, and Yu Moyan that he was expected to perform.
• Zuo Xiaoduo noticed Long Yusheng seated with the Long Family and saw that Gu Luoyan’s guards occupied two tables.