Recaps

At Wan Lixiu’s birthday banquet, Zuo Xiaoduo’s friends secretly gave him high-proof liquor and prepared to make him perform. As the banquet continued, Li Changming and Li Chenglong tricked Yu Moyan into toasting Zuo Xiaoduo repeatedly, leaving the group’s scheme still in motion.

• Wan Lixiu blew out the candles on her seventeen-tier birthday cake as the guests celebrated.
• Li Chenglong handed Zuo Xiaoduo a bottle of liquor secretly filled with nearly seventy-percent-alcohol Plum Blossom Old Baigan.
• Zuo Xiaoduo drank a full cup, became woozy, and Li Chenglong urged him to drink water so he would not pass out too soon.
• Li Changming and Li Chenglong teamed up to trick Yu Moyan into giving toasts to Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Yu Moyan drank five large cups while praising Zuo Xiaoduo, and his head began to swim.

At Wan Lixiu’s birthday gathering, Zuo Xiaoduo drank heavily to avoid performing, but his friends cornered him into going onstage. He agreed to play and sing an original song, leaving his friends eager to see what he would do.

• Zuo Xiaoduo drank with Li Chenglong, Li Changming, and the others, hoping to get drunk enough to escape his promised performance.
• Wan Lixiu and Long Yusheng arrived and asked Zuo Xiaoduo to perform after most guests had left.
• Wan Lixiu accused Zuo Xiaoduo of trying to welsh on his promise, and he drunkenly insisted he would perform.
• Li Chenglong and the others teased Zuo Xiaoduo until he staggered onto the stage, while Yu Moyan slept unconscious under the table.
• Zuo Xiaoduo called for a guitar and announced that he would play and sing a song no one had heard before, just for Wan Lixiu’s birthday.

Zuo Xiaoduo performed a suggestive song and dance while Zuo Xiaonian, Mu Yanyan, and Gu Luoyan secretly watched. After the performance, Gu Luoyan sent Wan Lixiu a message, and Wan Lixiu brought Zuo Xiaoduo a cup of wine.

• Zuo Xiaonian, Mu Yanyan, and Gu Luoyan watched from behind a curtain as Zuo Xiaoduo prepared to perform.
• Zuo Xiaoduo played guitar and sang a sultry song while writhing and dancing, drawing whistles and laughter from the audience.
• Zuo Xiaonian was mortified and tried to stop Zuo Xiaoduo, but Gu Luoyan held her back and praised his musical skill.
• Gu Luoyan sent Wan Lixiu a quick voice transmission, then sent her another message when Wan Lixiu hesitated.
• Wan Lixiu brought Zuo Xiaoduo a cup of wine after he finished, and he drained it in one gulp.

Wan Lixiu prompted Zuo Xiaoduo to sing a song for soldiers departing for Sun Moon Pass, and his performance deeply moved Gu Luoyan and the others. Gu Luoyan resolved to bring the song to the front lines, while Zuo Xiaoduo woke the next morning suffering from a severe hangover.

• Wan Lixiu asked Zuo Xiaoduo to imagine saying goodbye to his family before going to war, and he sang a stirring song about fallen soldiers and the Yanwu Kingdom.
• Gu Luoyan listened in the adjoining room, was deeply shaken by the song, and secretly took the recording to work on a fuller arrangement called "Blood-Stained Elegance."
• Long Yusheng and Wan Lixiu kept giving Zuo Xiaoduo drinks, and Zuo Xiaonian carried him home after the group passed out drunk.
• Zuo Xiaonian watched over Zuo Xiaoduo and concluded that he had done everything he could to prepare for her Phoenix Vein Tribulation.
• Gu Luoyan decided to take the song to Sun Moon Pass and wondered whether Zuo Xiaoduo would sell her the rights.
• Zuo Xiaoduo woke with a pounding headache and vomited after drinking water.

After getting disastrously drunk, Zuo Xiaoduo recovered at home and endured teasing from Zuo Xiaonian and his parents. An anonymous poetic message then drew him into a cryptic exchange with Fang Yinuo, who agreed to meet him at the gate of Second High School.

• Zuo Xiaoduo swore off drinking after vomiting, then drank Wu Yuting’s rice soup and listened to Zuo Changlu’s advice on avoiding drunkenness.
• Zuo Xiaonian confronted Zuo Xiaoduo about his drunken singing and dancing, but he placated her by acting like a dog.
• Wu Yuting teased Zuo Xiaoduo about being both her son and son-in-law, making Zuo Xiaonian blush.
• Zuo Xiaoduo received an unfamiliar poetic message and hurried out to school.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Fang Yinuo traded cryptic poems by text, and Fang Yinuo agreed to meet him near the gate of Second High School.

Zuo Xiaoduo met with Fang Yinuo to learn about the Witch Alliance’s planned operation in Phoenix City and considered how to ensure its fighters were eliminated. After Fang Yinuo promised to provide more intelligence, Zuo Xiaoduo checked that he had twenty-three Fortune Points and headed to school late for the first time.

• Fang Yinuo told Zuo Xiaoduo that the Witch Alliance had tentatively assembled two Cloud Transformation cultivators, eleven Infant Transformation cultivators, and twenty Core Origin cultivators for the operation.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked about the concealed Star Envoy, and Fang Yinuo explained that Star Envoys coordinated missions but rarely fought directly.
• Fang Yinuo asked Zuo Xiaoduo to ensure that every Witch Alliance fighter except himself was killed so his betrayal would not be exposed.
• Zuo Xiaoduo agreed to try and told Fang Yinuo to send detailed intelligence as soon as the operation’s final personnel were confirmed.
• After Fang Yinuo left, Zuo Xiaoduo checked his Fortune Points, found he had twenty-three, and went to school late while weighing his plan.

Meng Chenyu met Zuo Xiaoduo in a desperate attempt to save her life, confessing her knowledge of the Meng and Ning Families’ schemes and offering the Meng Group’s assets and herself in exchange. Zuo Xiaoduo listened as she revealed that she knew about the Primordial Yin Soul Transfer and proposed using it to complete Zuo Xiaonian’s Star Soul.

• Meng Chenyu stopped Zuo Xiaoduo and asked him to speak with her privately.
• Meng Chenyu said her father had been arrested and her brother had abandoned her, then begged Zuo Xiaoduo to save her.
• Zuo Xiaoduo kicked Meng Chenyu away when she clung to his leg, but stopped when she offered to tell him everything she knew.
• Meng Chenyu confessed that she knew about the Meng and Ning Families’ plots against He Yuanyue and Zuo Xiaonian, as well as the construction of the tower and ancestral graves.
• Meng Chenyu revealed that black spots had appeared on her body and offered Zuo Xiaoduo the Meng Group’s remaining assets and herself if he saved her.
• Meng Chenyu said she knew about the Primordial Yin Soul Transfer and offered to use it to turn Zuo Xiaonian’s Ninety-Nine Star Soul into a complete Star Soul body.

Zuo Xiaoduo rejected Meng Chenyu’s plea for help after exposing her plan to use Primordial Yin Soul Transfer to kill him and seize Xiao Nian’s power. He killed her with his hammer and burned away the remains, leaving the scene alone.

• Meng Chenyu begged Zuo Xiaoduo to save her from Death Doom and promised to obey him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo accused Meng Chenyu of planning to exploit Primordial Yin Soul Transfer to kill him and take Xiao Nian’s power.
• Zuo Xiaoduo struck Meng Chenyu with his massive hammer, killing her.
• Zuo Xiaoduo changed his clothes and burned Meng Chenyu’s remains with Great Sun Flame Sun.

Zuo Xiaoduo left after remembering Qin Fangyang’s teaching, while He Yuanyue entrusted Hu Ruoyun with her collected teaching materials and revealed a wedding photograph linking her past to Qin Fangyang. He Yuanyue hoped to live long enough to witness the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact, and Gu Luoyan continued pressing Zuo Xiaonian for a song.

• Zuo Xiaoduo left after ensuring he had left no traces and recalled Qin Fangyang’s lesson to treat friends wholeheartedly and show enemies no mercy.
• He Yuanyue guided Hu Ruoyun in sorting her teaching materials and urged her to teach students to become good people before anything else.
• Hu Ruoyun opened a small box and found a wedding photograph of a young He Yuanyue and a man who resembled Qin Fangyang.
• He Yuanyue asked Hu Ruoyun to keep the box hidden and have it buried with her, then recalled that she had once been called the Northwest’s Number One Beauty.
• He Yuanyue said she needed to live six more days to witness the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact, and Hu Ruoyun promised she would.
• Gu Luoyan kept pestering Zuo Xiaonian to help her obtain a song.

Gu Luoyan tried to persuade Zuo Xiaonian to let Zuo Xiaoduo perform her song, but Zuo Xiaonian refused to interfere in his choices. The conversation left Gu Luoyan frustrated and Zuo Xiaonian flustered by the suggestion that she might marry her brother.

• Gu Luoyan asked Zuo Xiaonian to help convince Zuo Xiaoduo to sing her song, while Zuo Xiaonian insisted that he must decide for himself.
• Zuo Xiaonian realized that Zuo Xiaoduo had been guiding many of her own decisions, yet she felt comforted rather than angry.
• Gu Luoyan asked Zuo Xiaonian to accompany her to speak with Zuo Xiaoduo, but Zuo Xiaonian refused to risk influencing his judgment.
• Gu Luoyan called Zuo Xiaonian a brother-supporting demon and complained that no one would marry her, while Zuo Xiaonian blushed and denied interest in marriage.

Zuo Xiaoduo met Gu Luoyan, who had come with Mu Yanyan to buy the song he sang the previous night, “Blood-Stained Elegance.” After learning the song could earn him money, he asked Gu Luoyan to make the first offer.

• Gu Luoyan asked Zuo Xiaonian what her little brother liked, and Zuo Xiaonian said he liked money.
• Zuo Xiaoduo left school exhausted after spending the afternoon training with a sledgehammer.
• Mu Yanyan brought Zuo Xiaoduo to meet Gu Luoyan, who asked whether he had heard her songs.
• Gu Luoyan revealed that she had witnessed Zuo Xiaoduo singing “Blood-Stained Elegance” the previous night and wanted to buy it to sing for the officers and soldiers.
• Zuo Xiaoduo realized the song might be valuable and asked Gu Luoyan to name her price first.

Zuo Xiaoduo offered Gu Luoyan ownership of his song in exchange for two Divine Shadow members guarding Zuo Xiaonian during her breakthrough. Gu Luoyan agreed, but then realized her concert schedule conflicted with the plan and chose to prioritize the concert.

• Zuo Xiaoduo offered Gu Luoyan the song’s ownership if she lent him her two Divine Shadow members to protect Zuo Xiaonian during her breakthrough.
• Gu Luoyan agreed to guard Zuo Xiaonian and promised to stay until the breakthrough was over, while Zuo Xiaoduo privately counted on their agreement to keep her from leaving.
• Wei Chong reminded Gu Luoyan that her concert in South Ji City was scheduled in four days, leaving her shocked that she had forgotten it.
• Zuo Xiaoduo challenged Gu Luoyan’s promise, and after weighing the consequences, she decided the concert was too important to cancel.

Zuo Xiaoduo used a song to persuade Gu Luoyan to postpone her South Ji City concert and arrange a tribute to military families, then held back the complete score until Zuo Xiaonian’s breakthrough. After Gu Luoyan left, he told Mu Yanyan that he had killed Meng Chenyu, and she reluctantly said it might be for the best.

• Zuo Xiaoduo sang Gu Luoyan a stirring song that moved her to delay her South Ji City concert for several days.
• Gu Luoyan offered a thousand first-class tickets to military families, families of fallen soldiers, and disabled soldiers and Martial Warriors, while Zuo Xiaoduo suggested South Ji City make the gesture part of a public tribute to its heroes.
• Gu Luoyan asked Zuo Xiaoduo to help finish refining Blood-Stained Elegance, and he agreed to work on it after school while making clear he would not complete it before Zuo Xiaonian’s breakthrough.
• After Gu Luoyan left, Zuo Xiaoduo told Mu Yanyan that he had killed Meng Chenyu so completely that no trace of her body or soul remained.
• Mu Yanyan turned pale and, after hesitating, murmured that perhaps Meng Chenyu’s death was for the best.

Mu Yanyan learned that Meng Chenyu had tried to use Primordial Yin Soul Transfer to kill Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian, then took Zuo Xiaoduo home and agreed to keep Gu Luoyan’s Divine Shadow guards secret. At home, the family discussed Zuo Xiaonian’s extraordinary cultivation foundation, while Zuo Xiaoduo lamented that he might never catch up to her.

• Zuo Xiaoduo told Mu Yanyan that Meng Chenyu had planned to reverse Primordial Yin Soul Transfer and use it against him and Zuo Xiaonian, and Mu Yanyan accepted that Meng Chenyu deserved to die.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked Mu Yanyan to keep Gu Luoyan’s Divine Shadow guards protecting Zuo Xiaonian’s breakthrough a secret, and Mu Yanyan agreed.
• Mu Yanyan took Zuo Xiaoduo home and left, and Zuo Xiaoduo told Zuo Xiaonian about the guards.
• Zuo Xiaonian revealed that she had suppressed her cultivation about forty times, possibly fifty, and expected one more suppression before her breakthrough.
• Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting marveled at Zuo Xiaonian’s accumulated foundation, while Zuo Xiaoduo worried that he would never surpass her.
• Zuo Xiaonian said her divine sense had nearly doubled, and Zuo Xiaoduo said his had grown by roughly one and a half to two times before complaining that her many suppressions were nothing to brag about.

Zuo Xiaoduo trained under Zuo Xiaonian’s strict tests, losing money in fines while hoping to earn it back. The next morning, Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting announced they were leaving for a trip lasting one or two months, leaving the siblings at home.

• Zuo Changlu told Zuo Xiaoduo that Zuo Xiaonian’s stronger spiritual sense made his recent increase insignificant.
• Zuo Xiaonian took Zuo Xiaoduo out to train and fined him for failing her tests, though she also rewarded him for meeting some standards.
• Zuo Xiaoduo trained until the early morning, paid more than six hundred thousand in fines, and fell asleep exhausted while imagining he would eventually win Zuo Xiaonian’s money.
• Zuo Changlu told Zuo Xiaonian and Zuo Xiaoduo that he and Wu Yuting would leave the next morning for a trip lasting up to two months.
• Wu Yuting explained that she and Zuo Changlu were leaving because Zuo Xiaonian was close to a breakthrough and their presence might hinder her.

As Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian prepared for their parents to leave, Zuo Xiaoduo trained intensely while news spread that the Ning and Meng families had fallen. The chapter ended with Phoenix City facing the task of managing the Meng Family’s vast businesses and preventing mass unemployment.

• Wu Yuting asked Zuo Xiaonian and Zuo Xiaoduo to look after each other while she and Zuo Changlu prepared to leave.
• Zuo Xiaoduo read fortunes at the school gate, then trained for four hours in the Fiftyfold Gravity Room with heavy weights.
• A teacher warned Li Changjiang that Zuo Xiaoduo’s use was overloading the Fiftyfold Gravity Room, and Li Changjiang said the school would pay for repairs.
• Wan Lixiu told Zuo Xiaoduo and their classmates that Ning Suifeng and the Ning Family Ancestor had died, while Meng Tianyue had been killed during questioning.
• The students discussed how the Meng Family’s businesses could be nationalized or transferred to other consortiums to protect millions of jobs.

Zuo Xiaoduo asked Qin Fangyang to arrange his third Three Touches, Five Evaluations after reaching the Innate Realm. Qin Fangyang agreed to speak with the Principal, while warning Zuo Xiaoduo that his earlier evaluations had revealed an unusual disposition.

• Zuo Xiaoduo teased his classmates about their appetites, prompting Long Yusheng and Li Chenglong to grapple while the others watched.
• Gu Luoyan sent Zuo Xiaoduo her revised song, and he pointed out a few remaining flaws for her to correct.
• Qin Fangyang remained patient with his students despite his increasingly unstable emotions and fear that he might lose control.
• Zuo Xiaoduo asked Qin Fangyang when he could take the third evaluation after breaking through to the Innate Realm.
• Zuo Xiaoduo chose to take the evaluation alone so he would not affect his classmates, and Qin Fangyang agreed to arrange it with the Principal.
• Qin Fangyang warned Zuo Xiaoduo that his first two evaluations had shown an unusual disposition, but Zuo Xiaoduo boasted about his kindness and promised to be more composed.

Zuo Xiaoduo offered Qin Fangyang a faint, unverified hope that a fortune-bearing coin might help the Former Principal be reborn after death. Qin accepted the coin and resolved to believe that she would return, even as Zuo warned that any future person would be someone entirely new.

• Zuo Xiaoduo told Qin Fangyang that he had a possible method to give him hope, though he could not promise it would work.
• Zuo explained that he believed the Former Principal’s lifelong service had earned her immense fortune and that Heaven might repay her.
• Zuo gave Qin a coin from the Ling Nian Feng Shui Grand Formation and asked him to have the Former Principal wear it, then place it with her when she died so it could be cremated with her.
• Zuo admitted the chance of success was below five percent and warned that any person who returned would not be the Former Principal or Lü Qianqian, but someone else.
• Qin took the coin and said he would believe that the person who returned was her, and that her mere existence would make him want to remain in the world.

Zuo Xiaoduo arranged for Qin Fangyang to give He Yuanyue a fortune-linked coin, hoping the belief that she might return in another life would keep Qin from giving up after her death. Qin Fangyang took heart from the plan and went to see He Yuanyue, while Hu Ruoyun recognized his identity and relationship with the Former Principal.

• Zuo Xiaoduo explained that He Yuanyue had to willingly wear the coin for it to link to her fortune.
• Qin Fangyang joked that he would reveal his identity and make He Yuanyue wear it, but Zuo Xiaoduo warned him not to disclose the truth behind the coin.
• Qin Fangyang gained hope from the possibility of He Yuanyue returning in another life and resolved to live longer.
• Qin Fangyang hurried to the top floor to find a reason to ask He Yuanyue to wear the coin.
• Hu Ruoyun encountered Qin Fangyang, offered to tell He Yuanyue he was there, and looked at him with pity after recognizing who he was.

Qin Fangyang visited He Yuanyue and gave her a coin pendant, which she accepted while privately preparing to leave him behind. Relieved and delighted, Qin Fangyang returned to the Gravity Room and celebrated by scolding the students and repeatedly kicking Zuo Xiaoduo into the air.

• Hu Ruoyun announced Qin Fangyang to He Yuanyue and then left them alone.
• Qin Fangyang struggled to remember what he wanted to say before giving He Yuanyue a coin said to benefit the soul.
• He Yuanyue made the coin into a pendant and wore it, while privately resolving that Qin Fangyang would never see her again.
• Qin Fangyang returned to full health and scolded Wan Lixiu, Long Yusheng, Li Changming, Li Chenglong, and Zuo Xiaoduo outside the Gravity Room.
• Qin Fangyang kicked Zuo Xiaoduo into the air a hundred times, then did it another hundred times after Zuo Xiaoduo confirmed He Yuanyue had accepted the pendant.

After Qin Fangyang sent Zuo Xiaoduo flying into a trash can, Zuo escaped and read fortunes for a frail young man named Ji Weiran. Zuo’s reading helped Ji Weiran realize he wanted to pursue weapons research, and Ji left with a clear direction for his future.

• Qin Fangyang kicked Zuo Xiaoduo into a trash can while Wan Lixiu and the others cheered, then dismissed the students for the evening.
• Zuo Xiaoduo thanked Qin Fangyang before hurrying away and reading fortunes at the school gates to earn money for his fines.
• Zuo used a Fortune Point to examine Ji Weiran and learned that he had no cultivation aptitude but was destined to become a leading researcher of lethal individual weapons.
• Ji Weiran asked Zuo to help him choose between the Biochemical Academy and Qingzhou University, and Zuo gave him a slip pointing toward weapons research.
• After reading Zuo’s message at home, Ji Weiran resolved to develop weapons for Martial Artists fighting on the front lines.

Ji Weiran chose to pursue weapon development at the Martial Research Institute, while Zuo Xiaoduo prepared for Zuo Xiaonian’s imminent breakthrough and reconsidered the forces targeting the Phoenix Vein. He suspected Meng Chentian was a Witch Alliance plant, though he still questioned why Meng Chentian had treated his plan involving Meng Chenyu as a fallback.

• Ji Weiran decided to join the Martial Research Institute after Master Zuo helped him settle on a career.
• Zuo Xiaoduo returned home early, and Zuo Xiaonian teased him about Gu Luoyan’s repeated requests for a song.
• Zuo Xiaoduo joked that Gu Luoyan might be pursuing him, prompting Wu Yuting and Zuo Xiaonian to spray soup across his face.
• Zuo Xiaoduo paid a five-hundred-thousand fine after cultivation and counted four days until Zuo Xiaonian’s breakthrough.
• Zuo Xiaoduo reassessed his odds of protecting the Phoenix Vein and reasoned that Meng Chentian might be a Witch Alliance member planted in the Meng Family.

Zuo Xiaoduo suspected Meng Chentian was the Witch Alliance’s Star Envoy and asked Qin Fangyang to investigate him. After investigators found a corpse that was not Meng Chentian, Phoenix City’s leaders prepared for the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact, and the city entered a state of emergency.

• Zuo Xiaoduo judged that Meng Chentian was likely the Witch Alliance’s Star Envoy and asked Qin Fangyang to investigate his whereabouts.
• Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting left for their trip, while Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian celebrated their freedom and sparred at home.
• Qin Fangyang, Han Song, and Jiang Changbin investigated Meng Chentian and found his apparent corpse alongside the bodies of the Qi-Reading Adepts.
• Jiang Changbin confirmed that the corpse was not Meng Chentian and issued a warrant throughout the Central Plains Region.
• Jiang Changbin requested increased protection for the Spirit Thought Heavenly Maiden, and Phoenix City’s authorities canceled leave and placed the city on emergency alert as fierce winds rose.

As the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact approached, Phoenix City mobilized to protect Zuo Xiaonian, while Zuo Xiaoduo received a detailed Witch Alliance attack plan and learned the Star Envoy might have hidden contingencies. Zuo Xiaonian read the plan and was shocked by its detail.

• Hu Ruoyun told He Yuanyue that Phoenix City’s experts were on standby and that the regional martial arts tournament would be held in South Ji City.
• He Yuanyue chose Zuo Xiaoduo and five others to represent Second High School, then asked Hu Ruoyun to tell her when the school’s students made a name for themselves.
• Zuo Xiaoduo watched Zuo Xiaonian train through the gale and reflected that Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting had left Phoenix City but were likely watching from nearby.
• Fang Yinuo sent Zuo Xiaoduo a detailed Witch Alliance attack plan and warned that the Star Envoy might have hidden reserves and a lethal opening move.
• Zuo Xiaoduo showed the plan to Zuo Xiaonian, who questioned whether it was real because it was so detailed.

Zuo Xiaoduo told Zuo Xiaonian that the Witch Alliance planned to attack during her breakthrough and urged her to keep to her routine while he prepared a counterplan. As a fierce storm swept Phoenix City and the phoenix wandered free, Fang Yinuo replaced the missing Mo Xuanyi in the plan.

• Zuo Xiaoduo revealed that he had obtained the Witch Alliance's contingency strategy and reassured Zuo Xiaonian that he would make arrangements with Teacher Qin.
• Zuo Xiaoduo explained that Zuo Xiaonian still had to face the dangers of her breakthrough herself, and warned her not to tell Master Mu about the plan.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told Zuo Xiaonian to maintain her normal routine so the Witch Alliance would stick to its planned timing, and said everything would be settled the following night.
• The wind intensified and temperatures fell below freezing as the phoenix wandered freely after the Phoenix's Foot came loose.
• Fang Yinuo, unable to contact the missing Mo Xuanyi, removed her from the plan and assigned Pan Yusheng to take her place.