Recaps

Yue Venerable and Star Venerable captured four men who had intercepted Vice Principal Liu, while Zuo Xiaoduo fled to the ruined Snake Valley and found Hanging Ghost and Drowning Ghost there. The two ghosts recognized him and, delighted by the encounter, prepared to seize their unexpected prize.

• Yue Venerable defeated four men and captured them, while Star Venerable stopped the one who tried to escape and kill himself.
• Yue Venerable and Star Venerable discussed their captured targets and learned that Ri had pursued the fleeing Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Zuo Xiaoduo reached the devastated Snake Valley and noticed that his chest pain and internal injuries had mostly healed.
• Hanging Ghost and Drowning Ghost met Zuo Xiaoduo after plundering Snake Valley, and Hanging Ghost recognized him with delight.

Zuo Xiaoduo fled from the Two Ghosts of Yellow Springs, but the Sun Venerable intervened and captured both cultivators. The Sun Venerable began treating Drowning Ghost, though he sensed something was wrong.

• Zuo Xiaoduo tried to escape the Two Ghosts of Yellow Springs, and Drowning Ghost lunged to seize him.
• The Sun Venerable appeared, pierced Drowning Ghost’s hand with the Sun Wheel, shattered his meridians, and dislocated his jaw.
• The Sun Venerable fought Hanging Ghost, severed both his legs, and shattered his cultivation while keeping him alive.
• Hanging Ghost recalled the brothers’ oath and the people they had killed, then gave up hope.
• The Sun Venerable hauled Drowning Ghost over and sensed that something was not quite right.

Zuo Xiaoduo kept collecting Space Rings while relying on his five bodyguards, but a difficult fight with an Infant Transformation cultivator showed him that powerful opponents could match his unusual cultivation. Meanwhile, Tian Wujiang finally spotted Zuo Xiaoduo after searching for him relentlessly.

• Zuo Xiaoduo stole Drowning Ghost's Space Ring and celebrated having collected 488 rings.
• Zuo Xiaoduo planned to have Li Chenglong organize the rings and grew bolder because his bodyguards could protect him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo struggled against an Infant Transformation cultivator whose compressed True Essence made him far stronger than expected, and won only after using his swordsmanship, divine weapon, and hidden weapons.
• Tian Wujiang traveled in secrecy, distrusting everyone he encountered while searching for Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Tian Wujiang spotted Zuo Xiaoduo's bald head and rejoiced at finally finding him.

Tian Wujiang ambushed Zuo Xiaoduo, but the Sun Venerable intervened and left him alive. Zuo Xiaoduo took Tian Wujiang’s Space Ring, while the Sun Venerable began to suspect Zuo Xiaoduo was connected to a legendary figure.

• Little Dragon warned Zuo Xiaoduo that an expert was hiding ahead, and the Sun Venerable used his Divine Sense to identify Tian Wujiang in ambush.
• Tian Wujiang charged at Zuo Xiaoduo, but the Sun Venerable struck him into a cliff and decided to spare his life for Gu Qianfan’s students.
• Zuo Xiaoduo took Tian Wujiang’s Space Ring and left him unconscious, despite Tian Wujiang’s silent protests.
• The Sun Venerable studied Zuo Xiaoduo and suspected he resembled the descendant of a legendary figure, but he dared not ask about his identity.
• After Zuo Xiaoduo and the Sun Venerable left, Tian Wujiang woke and guessed that Gu Qianfan was why the Sun Venerable had spared him.

Hidden Dragon High Martial and Shuicheng First High School searched the Star Radiance Mountain Range for Zuo Xiaoduo while he stayed out of their reach, and Qin Fangyang fought his way into the mountains. The search party then mistook movement beneath a rubble mound for a Heavenly Material or Earthly Treasure emerging.

• Sun Moon Star and the others kept Zuo Xiaoduo away from the search party so he could continue making a fortune with his bodyguards.
• Qin Fangyang entered the Star Radiance Mountain Range and killed several groups of Bounty Hunters as he headed toward the Three Demon Kings' valleys.
• Ye Changqing and the others failed to find Zuo Xiaoduo, and they suspected he was deliberately hiding from them.
• Wen Xingtian and the search party noticed the ground heaving beneath rubble and formed a circle around it.
• Wen Xingtian told everyone the disturbance might mean a Heavenly Material or Earthly Treasure was breaking free underground, and the mound rose higher as they watched.

The Four Swords of the Kingly Way recovered from the Centipede King’s poison underground and struggled to dig their way out. They learned that the fourth brother had failed to retrieve the Space Rings, leaving them injured, empty-handed, and still trapped.

• The Four Swords of the Kingly Way spent days purging the Centipede King’s venom and slowly recovering underground.
• The four brothers began digging upward, taking turns because their strength was nearly spent.
• The third brother asked the fourth brother to search the Space Rings for healing supplies, but the fourth brother admitted he had grabbed only dirt.
• The fourth brother explained that the ground collapsed when he reached for the rings, and the venom struck while he was distracted.
• The four brothers lamented their failed mission, then traded dirty jokes and resumed digging with renewed energy.

Ye Changqing and the others watched as four exhausted men emerged from underground, only to discover they were the Four Swords of the Kingly Way, Ye Changqing’s mortal enemies. The two sides recognized each other, leaving the Four Swords trapped face-to-face with the man they had ambushed.

• The Four Swords of the Kingly Way struggled toward the surface, eager to escape and recover from their injuries.
• Wen Xingtian and the others noticed voices coming from beneath the bulging ground as a wounded hand reached out.
• Ye Changqing lifted away the stones and helped all four men climb out.
• The Four Swords thanked their rescuers before recognizing Ye Changqing’s voice and realizing who had saved them.
• Ye Changqing recognized the Four Swords of the Kingly Way as the men who had ambushed him, and both sides froze in shock.

Ye Changqing recognized the Four Swords of the Kingly Way as the men who had attacked him decades earlier, and Wen Xingtian captured them. The chapter explained how the Hidden Dragon Ascension Plan had been designed to expose the Witch Alliance’s spies and corrupt officials, leaving Hidden Dragon High Martial as bait.

• Wen Xingtian recognized the Four Swords of the Kingly Way as the four men who had gravely injured Ye Changqing decades earlier.
• Ye Changqing confronted the Four Swords of the Kingly Way and revealed that he knew they were the Golden Dragon Four Baleful Fiends.
• Wen Xingtian crippled the four men, treated their wounds, and ordered them taken to join the other prisoners.
• Ye Changqing reflected that the Hidden Dragon Ascension Plan had reached its moment of reckoning and wished Yun Feng were still alive.
• The chapter explained that Minister Ding and Minister Nan had begun the Hidden Dragon Ascension Plan after the Cloud High Martial spy scandal failed to seriously damage the Witch Alliance.
• Ye Changqing had left Hidden Dragon High Martial vulnerable so corrupt Star Soul officials and Witch Alliance agents would be drawn in and exposed.

The higher-ups prepared to end the Hidden Dragon Ascension Plan before the Royal Family’s affairs could destroy Hidden Dragon High Martial. As Zuo Xiaoduo fought off bounty hunters, the Gao Lineage of Fenghai arrived claiming they had come to protect him, leaving him unsure whether to trust them.

• The chapter recounted how Zuo Xiaoduo’s involvement had exposed hidden schemes and transformed the Hidden Dragon Ascension Plan, prompting the higher-ups to bring it to an end.
• Zuo Xiaoduo fought a group of Jianghu people who had spotted him, while Sun Moon Star and the others let him handle the attackers himself.
• Eight people from the Gao Lineage of Fenghai rushed in and announced that they had been sent to protect Zuo Xiaoduo.
• Zuo Xiaoduo recalled his past with Gao Qiao’er and Gao Chengxiang and wondered whether the Gao Lineage truly meant to help him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and the Gao Lineage fighters killed the attackers, then each group collected its own spoils.

Zuo Xiaoduo fought alongside the Fenghai Gao Lineage while remaining wary of their intentions, and the Sun Venerable advised him not to trust them. When the Gao Lineage leader revealed that their attackers belonged to the Upper Capital Gao Lineage, the Sun Venerable launched a sudden assault.

• The Fenghai Gao Lineage leader warned Zuo Xiaoduo to watch out for the Wu Lineage before his group moved ahead to scout.
• The Sun Venerable learned that Zuo Xiaoduo had killed two Gao Lineage twins and urged him to remain cautious.
• The Fenghai Gao Lineage helped Zuo Xiaoduo through two battles, suffering one death and three severe injuries.
• When more than a dozen enemies overwhelmed the group, Zuo Xiaoduo refused to leave the Gao Lineage behind.
• The Gao Lineage leader identified the attackers as members of the Upper Capital Gao Lineage, and the Sun Venerable sent more than twenty clones to strike them.

Yue Venerable subdued the attackers, and the Gao Lineage group showed goodwill toward Zuo Xiaoduo before leaving. Over the following seven days, Zuo Xiaoduo gathered more than nine hundred Space Rings and listened to Sun Venerable’s advice on trust, friendship, and strength.

• Yue Venerable knocked down and carried away the attackers while Zuo Xiaoduo gave the wounded Gao Lineage members medicine.
• The Gao Lineage leader explained that their lineage head had ordered them to protect Zuo Xiaoduo, and the seven injured members departed.
• Sun Venerable warned Zuo Xiaoduo to remain cautious and not accept the Gao Lineage until their sincerity was proven.
• Over seven days of fighting and probing, Zuo Xiaoduo’s collection of Space Rings grew past nine hundred, mostly from enemies Sun Venerable had killed.
• Sun Venerable told Zuo Xiaoduo to value sincere brothers while building his own strength, and Zuo Xiaoduo promised to remember his lessons.

Zuo Xiaoduo and the people from Hidden Dragon High Martial survived the fighting in the Star Radiance Mountain Range, while the Sun Venerable and his allies oversaw the capture of several implicated lineages. The group returned safely to Fenghai City, and the Sun Venerable’s companions wondered why his attitude toward Zuo Xiaoduo had changed.

• The Wu Lineage’s people held their positions as Zuo Xiaoduo disappeared, while the Sun Venerable reported that the Wu, Wei, Gao, and Lü Lineages and others had been captured.
• The Sun Venerable let Zuo Xiaoduo reunite with Hidden Dragon High Martial, whose people had escaped the fighting without injuries and gained plentiful spoils.
• Ye Changqing and the others beat and scolded Zuo Xiaoduo before leading him and the group out of the Star Radiance Mountain Range.
• Three days later, Hidden Dragon High Martial and Zuo Xiaoduo left the range, and four days after that they returned to Fenghai City.
• The Sun Venerable’s group watched everyone enter Hidden Dragon High Martial, then divided up, with some returning to report and the others placing the mountain range under military control.
• The Yue Venerable asked the Sun Venerable why his attitude had changed, and the Sun Venerable teased him instead of explaining.

Upper Capital faced a sweeping crackdown after the city’s network went down and signs pointed to an imminent battle. Minister Nan and the Crown Prince ordered arrests across the Flame Martial Empire as they pursued the conspirators behind the Hidden Dragon Ascension Plan and Xiu’er’s blood debt.

• Minister Nan ordered the arrest of the Gao Lineage, Wu Lineage, Wei Family, and Lü Lineage, demanding that they be taken alive where possible and their communications investigated.
• The Crown Prince personally stamped arrest warrants with the imperial jade seal and vowed to avenge Xiu’er by finding the mastermind behind the Hidden Dragon Ascension Plan.
• Minister Nan placed Upper Capital under special-grade lockdown and ordered military control and arrests throughout the Flame Martial Empire.
• Minister Nan threatened soldiers who let suspects escape with punishment for their entire families, while spies’ relatives were added to the Nine Heavens Pavilion’s kill list.

The Gao Lineage faced imminent arrest after its escape tunnels were destroyed, while the Wei Family gathered in its ancestral hall and relied on its ancestors’ wartime sacrifices for a chance at leniency. Soldiers preparing to arrest the Wei Family saluted its martyrs and declared that they would carry out their orders without disrespecting the dead.

• The Gao patriarch realized Master Bai’s walnut divination had warned him that the Gao Lineage could not withstand the coming crackdown.
• Soldiers stormed the Gao ancestral residence, and officials connected to the Gao faction were taken into custody across the country.
• Arresting forces found the Wei Family kneeling together in its ancestral hall among statues honoring generations of fallen warriors.
• The soldiers hesitated before the ancestral hall, moved by the sight of the Wei Family’s martyrs.
• Military officers ordered the soldiers to salute the ancestors and explained that they had come to arrest the Wei Family descendants under orders.

Minister Nan oversaw the arrest of several prominent lineages in Upper Capital and spent the night paying tribute to his fallen comrades. The next day, an urgent report from Hidden Dragon High Martial revealed that suspects in two old crimes had been caught, prompting the Crown Prince to react in shock.

• Soldiers arrested every member of the Wei Family, the Wu Lineage, the Lü Lineage, and other prominent lineages, while leaving their ancestors' honored belongings untouched.
• Minister Nan ordered the arrested lineages held in the Ministry of Finance courtyard and spent the night drinking and mourning with the heroic spirits in their ancestral halls.
• After network communications were restored, the Crown Prince met with Minister Nan on the emperor's behalf.
• An adjutant reported that Hidden Dragon High Martial had caught the murderer who brutalized Vice Principal Cheng's granddaughters and the four culprits who ambushed Principal Ye Changqing.
• The Crown Prince sprang to his feet, bloodshot-eyed, and exclaimed in shock.

Minister Nan restrained the Crown Prince from rushing to Hidden Dragon after he learned the Central Plains King was involved, then discussed Gao Zhiyun’s future with Ye Changqing. He agreed to spare Gao Zhiyun but transferred him and his family away from the Capital City, while Zuo Xiaoduo continued getting beaten in training.

• The Crown Prince learned about the Central Plains King and nearly acted rashly, but Nan Zhengqian warned him of the danger and escorted him back to the imperial palace.
• Nan Zhengqian spoke privately with the emperor, then ordered Ye Changqing to keep the prisoner’s situation secret.
• Ye Changqing vouched for Gao Zhiyun, citing his repentance and his wife’s ties to the Ximen Lineage.
• Nan Zhengqian agreed to give Gao Zhiyun a chance but ordered him to become vice principal at Shuicheng First High School and barred his family from returning to the Capital City for a hundred years.
• Ye Changqing told Nan Zhengqian that Zuo Xiaoduo was getting beaten by his instructor, making Nan Zhengqian laugh.

Upper Capital City’s agencies struggled to process the many arrests while Minister Nan faced calls from old comrades serving across the armies. They never asked him to spare the accused, but Nan Zhengqian understood that their stories and banter were pleas for compassion on behalf of fallen brothers’ families.

• Upper Capital City’s law enforcement agencies, joined by disciplinary, military, and martial education departments, began trying the many cases at once.
• Generals across the armies called Nan Zhengqian, using old nicknames and memories to reconnect with him.
• Nan Zhengqian answered the calls for several days, unable to refuse his former comrades even as the work exhausted him.
• The veterans avoided asking for leniency, but Nan Zhengqian recognized that they hoped he would remember their bonds with the accused men’s fallen relatives.

Nan Zhengqian reassured hundreds of old generals that guilty members of the meritorious Lineages would be punished, while innocent descendants would be spared and allowed to atone through border service. Meanwhile, Zuo Xiaoduo was beaten by the rescuers who had searched for him after learning he had knowingly kept them waiting in the Star Radiance Mountain Range.

• Nan Zhengqian took calls from old generals pleading for leniency toward the descendants of their former comrades.
• Nan Zhengqian formed a group chat and promised severe punishment for the guilty, while sparing less-corrupted descendants from extermination and giving them a chance to earn merit at the border.
• Nan Zhengqian reflected that he would have spared innocent members of the Lineages even without the generals' pleas, but would execute the chief culprits.
• Ye Changqing, Wen Xingtian, Grandma Shi, Xiang Kuangren, Zhan Xiaofei, and the other rescuers repeatedly beat Zuo Xiaoduo for staying hidden while they worried about him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo protested that he had been used as bait and that powerful bodyguards had prevented him from meeting the rescuers.

After Zuo Xiaoduo endured Grandma Shi’s furious beatings, he contacted his family and admitted he had lied about going on a trial. He reassured his parents that he had made a huge haul and promised to bring them gifts when he returned home.

• Grandma Shi repeatedly chased and whipped Zuo Xiaoduo for worrying her while he was away.
• Zuo Xiaoduo messaged his family and tried to claim school had just let out, but Empress Mother called out his lie about Star Radiance Mountain Range.
• Zuo Xiaoduo confessed, apologized, and blamed Nian Nian Cat for teaching him to lie.
• Zuo Xiaoduo told his parents that his trial had yielded mountains of treasure and promised to bring them gifts when he came home.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Nian Nian Cat arranged a cultivation challenge, with the loser facing an embarrassing forfeit.
• Empress Mother told them to stop bickering and asked them to give her notice before coming home so she could make chive pancakes.

Zuo Xiaoduo brought Li Chenglong into the Annihilation Sky Pagoda to help sort his spoils, but the Blazing Sun Heart’s intense heat left Li Chenglong bald and naked. The pagoda’s interior eventually cooled to a comfortable temperature as Zuo Xiaoduo absorbed the heat.

• Zuo Xiaoduo celebrated with Nian Nian Cat after his return and called Li Chenglong upstairs to help handle his spoils.
• Zuo Xiaoduo brought out the Annihilation Sky Pagoda and dragged Li Chenglong inside.
• Li Chenglong was overwhelmed by the heat from the Blazing Sun Heart and screamed as his hair and clothes burned away.
• Zuo Xiaoduo waited before using the Flame Sun True Scripture to absorb the heat while Li Chenglong endured the furnace-like interior.
• After about twenty minutes, the pagoda became comfortably warm, but Li Chenglong had been left bald and completely naked.

Zuo Xiaoduo revealed a thousand Space Rings and recruited Li Chenglong to help sort them, while the two argued over his pay. The chapter ended with Zuo Xiaoduo raising his offer to two hundred pieces of middle-grade Star Soul Jade.

• Zuo Xiaoduo mocked Li Chenglong for being naked after protecting his body but not his clothes.
• Zuo Xiaoduo laid out a thousand Space Rings and asked Li Chenglong to help sort through them.
• Li Chenglong demanded the two best rings and one percent of the proceeds as payment.
• Zuo Xiaoduo rejected Li Chenglong’s demand and offered him a hundred pieces of middle-grade Star Soul Jade.
• Li Chenglong called the offer inadequate, and Zuo Xiaoduo raised it to two hundred pieces.

Zuo Xiaoduo put Li Chenglong to work opening and sorting a thousand Space Rings, paying him five thousand upper-grade pieces and sending Little Dragon to haul earth veins. After fifty rings yielded mountains of supplies and many more sealed rings, Li Chenglong was exhausted and warned Zuo Xiaoduo that the space might not be large enough for everything.

• Li Chenglong bargained with Zuo Xiaoduo for payment, accepted five thousand upper-grade pieces, and began unlocking the Space Rings.
• Zuo Xiaoduo sent Little Dragon to haul earth veins, promising one droplet for each vein.
• Li Chenglong unlocked and sorted the first fifty rings, discovering that some held additional sealed Space Rings.
• The rings yielded vast amounts of star soul jade, medicinal pills, treasures, manuals, weapons, and miscellaneous goods, including a mountain of worn women's underwear.
• Li Chenglong, exhausted by the expanding workload and piles of supplies, asked Zuo Xiaoduo to deal with them before the space ran out of room.

Zuo Xiaoduo finished sorting his vast haul, gave Li Chenglong demon beast meat to cultivate with inside the Annihilation Sky Pagoda, and went out to arrange the sale of surplus goods and collect accumulated star soul jade powder. He left Boss Sun delighted with a generous reward and his business affairs settled.

• Zuo Xiaoduo offered Li Chenglong assorted goods from the loot, then gave him two jin of high-grade demon beast meat and told him to cultivate without rushing through the Dan Origin Realm barrier.
• Zuo Xiaoduo called Fang Yinuo, who eagerly agreed to handle the surplus merchandise, including the mountain of women's underwear.
• Zuo Xiaoduo visited Boss Sun and collected the star soul jade powder that had filled a nearly hundred-mu sports ground to a height of over fifty meters.
• Zuo Xiaoduo settled the bill and rewarded Boss Sun with premium cigarettes, liquor, sweets, and tea, leaving Boss Sun grateful and determined to serve him well.

Li Chenglong ate the centipede meat raw and triggered a huge surge of spiritual qi, forcing him to compress his cultivation a second time. He survived the breakthrough and was left with his dantian nearly half full again, grateful to Zuo Xiaoduo for giving him the rare spirit meat.

• Li Chenglong reasoned that the centipede meat might need to be eaten raw to preserve its spiritual qi, then chewed and swallowed one mouthful.
• Li Chenglong felt spiritual qi erupt through his body and hurriedly circulated his cultivation to absorb it.
• Li Chenglong began compressing his true essence when his dantian neared its limit, enduring two hours of pain and screaming.
• Li Chenglong completed his second compression, and the remaining spiritual qi filled his dantian almost halfway again.
• Li Chenglong examined the meat, decided to wait before eating more, and felt deep gratitude toward Zuo Xiaoduo for giving it to him.

Li Chenglong advanced through his second True Qi compression after eating a bite of Zuo Xiaoduo’s Star Beast Demon King meat, then rested and went to school. Zuo Xiaoduo considered how to distribute the vast remainder and decided to discuss it with Wen Xingtian.

• Li Chenglong thanked Zuo Xiaoduo for the meat and said one raw bite had completed his second compression and replenished much of his True Qi.
• Zuo Xiaoduo and Li Chenglong discovered that Li had eaten the meat raw while Zuo Xiaoduo had cooked his portion, and they joked and tussled over it.
• Li Chenglong left the Annihilation Sky Pagoda, slept, and went to school, where he noticed his phone’s time was wrong before entering the Gravity Room to cultivate.
• Zuo Xiaoduo considered how little meat his friends and family would need and worried that selling the rest could let the wrong people benefit.
• Zuo Xiaoduo decided to talk with Wen Xingtian about the meat and wished Qin Fangyang were there.