Recaps

Zuo Xiaoduo’s throwing knife interrupted a powerful enemy’s attack and saved Li Changjiang and Qin Fangyang, though no one understood why the expert fled in terror. After the attackers escaped, Zuo Xiaoduo revealed that he had thrown the knife, leaving Li Changjiang and Qin Fangyang shocked by its mysterious effect.

• A red throwing knife pierced the gray-clad man’s palm and disrupted his attack, giving Li Changjiang a chance to block the lethal saber strike.
• The gray-clad man panicked after seeing the knife and retreated, then ordered his group to flee with their fallen comrade.
• Li Changjiang knocked the five students unconscious and joined Qin Fangyang as they wondered who had thrown the knife.
• Zuo Xiaoduo arrived, picked up the throwing knife, and casually admitted that he had thrown it.
• Li Changjiang and Qin Fangyang realized the knife had driven off their powerful attackers, but neither understood why.

Li Changjiang and Qin Fangyang survived an assassination attempt and uncovered evidence of a vast conspiracy involving bewitched students and a suspected traitor at Second High School. As officials rushed to investigate, Zuo Xiaoduo returned home to find his father and Uncle Nan ready to celebrate.

• Qin Fangyang removed the Ox-Hair Needles from Li Changjiang, and the two agreed the students had been bewitched.
• Li Changjiang and Qin Fangyang left with five students, while Qin warned Li not to reveal anything about Zuo Xiaoduo's throwing knife.
• Qin Fangyang headed for Crystal Pass as Li Changjiang went to detain Mu Yunfeng and report the incident.
• Governor Wan Pingyuan requested reinforcements, then ordered all available experts to surround Second High School and arrest everyone there.
• Zuo Xiaoduo returned to the shop, where Zuo Changlu and Uncle Nan closed up and invited him to buy food and liquor for a drink at home.

Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian hurried home after learning that Zuo Changlu was bringing Uncle Nan over for a family meal. When Zuo Changlu introduced Zuo Xiaonian to Uncle Nan, he was struck by how fortunate Zuo Changlu was to have such children.

• Zuo Xiaoduo called Zuo Xiaonian and told her to come home for a family feast with a guest.
• Wu Yuting put Zuo Xiaoduo to work preparing vegetables, garlic, wine, and water while Zuo Xiaonian teased him.
• Wu Yuting warned Zuo Xiaonian to stop bullying her brother, and Zuo Xiaonian pretended her foot hurt to escape chores.
• Zuo Changlu and Uncle Nan arrived, and Zuo Changlu introduced Zuo Xiaonian to Uncle Nan.
• Uncle Nan admired Zuo Changlu's children and said he envied him.

Uncle Nan visited the Zuo family, where Zuo Xiaonian received a Youth-Preserving Pearl but chose to save it until she reached her most beautiful years. During dinner, Wu Yuting revealed that she and Zuo Changlu worried about their children’s cultivation methods, and Uncle Nan offered to help.

• Uncle Nan praised Zuo Changlu’s children, then gave Zuo Xiaonian a Youth-Preserving Pearl as a gift.
• Zuo Xiaonian considered swallowing the pearl but put it away to take when she was older.
• Wu Yuting greeted Uncle Nan, and the family sat down to a meal together.
• Wu Yuting said she and Zuo Changlu lacked the knowledge to guide their children’s cultivation, and Uncle Nan offered to provide suitable methods.

Uncle Nan gave Zuo Xiaonian and Zuo Xiaoduo the Moon Soul True Scripture and Flame Sun True Scripture and promised to leave them Thousand Illusions Gold. Wu Yuting and Zuo Changlu pressured him into agreeing to provide fifteen tons, leaving him horrified but unable to refuse.

• Uncle Nan gave Zuo Xiaonian the Moon Soul True Scripture and Zuo Xiaoduo the Flame Sun True Scripture, promising to teach them the arts directly.
• Wu Yuting said her children needed materials for future weapons, and Uncle Nan offered them Thousand Illusions Gold.
• Wu Yuting pretended to mistake his offer for ten tons, and Zuo Changlu raised the request to fifteen tons while acting as though he was defending Uncle Nan.
• Uncle Nan turned pale and reluctantly insisted that the fifteen tons of Thousand Illusions Gold would be no trouble.

Uncle Nan tried to leave after giving Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting rare materials, but Wu Yuting accepted the gifts and pressed him to stay. He agreed to teach Zuo Xiaonian and Zuo Xiaoduo that night before departing the next morning.

• Uncle Nan offered eight tons of thousand illusions gold, then added eight tons of heavenly shaman copper and Star Soul Jade to the gifts.
• Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting accepted the materials, and Zuo Xiaonian and Zuo Xiaoduo toasted Uncle Nan in thanks.
• Uncle Nan said he had to leave the next morning, but Zuo Xiaoduo urged him to stay because he wanted to ask for his help with Nian Nian Cat's problem.
• Wu Yuting cited the unpaid Star Soul Stone shipment as a reason for Uncle Nan to stay, and he agreed to settle the account on a future delivery.
• Uncle Nan said he would leave for the Witch Clan Continent in July and might be away for years, then agreed to teach Zuo Xiaonian and Zuo Xiaoduo that night.

Uncle Nan forcibly transferred the Flame Sun True Scripture to Zuo Xiaoduo and Moon Soul teachings to Zuo Xiaonian before fleeing Phoenix City in the night. The next morning, Zuo Xiaoduo woke with a painful head, asked about Uncle Nan, and learned that his parents had no cultivation of their own.

• Uncle Nan completed the knowledge transfers to Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian, then left in the middle of the night carrying his heavy truck through the sky.
• Phoenix City authorities discovered that the Azure Dragon Gang’s leader, senior members, and more than four hundred gang members had been killed.
• Zuo Xiaoduo woke with a distending headache from receiving the Flame Sun True Scripture and rushed outside to look for Uncle Nan.
• Wu Yuting told Zuo Xiaoduo that she and Zuo Changlu had met Uncle Nan while traveling and saved his life, but neither of them had cultivation.
• Zuo Xiaoduo comforted Wu Yuting and promised that he and Zuo Xiaonian would take good care of their parents.

Zuo Xiaoduo studied the Flame Sun True Scripture and discovered its unusual effects, then learned that Uncle Nan’s infusion had helped him enter the first stage. Zuo Xiaonian demonstrated the Moon Soul True Scripture and invited him to test his progress against it.

• While brushing his teeth, Zuo Xiaoduo read the Flame Sun True Scripture’s annotations, which included baffling accounts from past practitioners.
• Zuo Xiaoduo examined his cultivation and found that the scripture had changed his spiritual-energy circulation, strengthening the Star Soul Flame in his dantian.
• Zuo Xiaoduo channeled spiritual power into his palm and felt heat rise through his body, concluding that he had reached the scripture’s entry stage.
• Zuo Xiaonian explained that Uncle Nan’s infusion had helped them get started, then Zuo Xiaoduo bragged that he would soon defeat her.
• Zuo Xiaonian released a thread of power from the Moon Soul True Scripture and asked Zuo Xiaoduo to attack it with his Flame Sun True Scripture.

Zuo Xiaoduo considered what weapon he might use and chose hammers as a possibility, while Zuo Xiaonian left urgently after receiving a message. At school, Zuo Xiaoduo discovered that the men who had blocked him were chained up and being interrogated amid heavy security.

• Wu Yuting asked Zuo Xiaoduo and Zuo Xiaonian to consider what weapons they wanted, and Zuo Xiaonian said she wanted a longsword.
• Zuo Xiaoduo tentatively suggested using two hammers, but Zuo Xiaonian urged him to think it over.
• After receiving a phone message, Zuo Xiaonian changed clothes and flew away without eating breakfast.
• Zuo Xiaoduo checked his phone and worried that the Azure Dragon Gang might come after him.
• Zuo Xiaoduo arrived at Second High School, where soldiers and experts guarded the school and ten men who had blocked him were chained to trees and interrogated.
• Zuo Xiaoduo left the interrogation area when ordered to and found Li Chenglong watching from a distance.

Zuo Xiaoduo learned that the Azure Dragon Gang had been wiped out and was summoned to the principal’s office, where Director Jiang of the Star Shield Bureau questioned him. The chapter left Zuo Xiaoduo presenting himself as an innocent, polite student while concealing what he knew about the previous day.

• Li Chenglong told Zuo Xiaoduo that the principal had been targeted, investigators suspected Witch Alliance spies at the school, and the Azure Dragon Gang had been wiped out.
• Li Chenglong explained that Zheng Deyi was the gang’s young leader and that the surviving gang members had been at school when the massacre occurred.
• Qin Fangyang warned Zuo Xiaoduo to remember that he had taken no action the previous day and knew nothing.
• Qin Fangyang brought Zuo Xiaoduo to the principal’s office, where Director Jiang of the Star Shield Bureau and several officials were waiting.
• Zuo Xiaoduo greeted the officials politely and flattered Director Jiang when he asked whether Zuo Xiaoduo feared him.

Director Jiang interrogated Zuo Xiaoduo about his attacks on Class One, but the Clear Heart Mirror confirmed that Zuo had told the truth and knew nothing suspicious. The officials then revealed that Mu Yunfeng had disappeared and all fifty students in Class One had been affected by the Broken Army Soul Confusion Lure, while Director Jiang blamed the Martial Education Bureau.

• Director Jiang frightened Zuo Xiaoduo with an abrupt interrogation about why he had repeatedly attacked Class One.
• Zuo Xiaoduo said he was avenging a classmate and kept attacking the students because he found them irritating, while denying that he had talked back to Teacher Mu.
• Director Jiang dismissed Zuo Xiaoduo, and another official confirmed that the Clear Heart Mirror showed he had been truthful.
• Li Changjiang recalled Zuo Xiaoduo's unusual resistance to illusions but concealed his thoughts because he feared the school might be compromised.
• Director Jiang announced that Mu Yunfeng had disappeared and all fifty students in Class One had been affected by the Broken Army Soul Confusion Lure.
• Director Jiang reprimanded Director Sun for the Martial Education Bureau's failure and warned that the incident would cause a public uproar.

Director Jiang ordered a sweeping investigation into Mu Yunfeng’s former students and associates, while Qin Fangyang asked Zuo Xiaoduo to read his romantic fate. Zuo Xiaoduo confirmed Qin had been separated from his beloved for eighty-two years and was left to answer whether they could reunite.

• Director Jiang ordered Mu Yunfeng’s nine graduating classes, his students, and Vice Principal Gao Yi’s recommended associates investigated and tested, while the fifty students were isolated.
• Li Changjiang warned Director Jiang that the investigation could implicate tens of thousands, but Director Jiang insisted he would bear no risks; Gao Yi was brought in.
• Qin Fangyang took Zuo Xiaoduo to his office and asked him to read his marriage fate.
• Zuo Xiaoduo read Qin Fangyang’s face and said his relationship had been marked by separation, longing, and a poor bond of fate.
• Qin Fangyang revealed that he and his beloved had been apart for eighty-two years and four months, then asked whether he could still find her.

Zuo Xiaoduo read the character 芊 and warned Qin Fangyang that the woman he sought might already be near him, but forcing their reunion could lead to her death. Qin Fangyang recalled how Lü Qianqian had vanished after sacrificing her martial path to save him, and he was left contemplating the cost of continuing his search.

• Qin Fangyang wrote 芊 for Zuo Xiaoduo, who interpreted it as a sign that Lü Qianqian did not want to be found and might already be close by.
• Zuo Xiaoduo warned Qin Fangyang that if he forced the bond and found her, Lü Qianqian might die at that moment.
• Qin Fangyang remembered how two companions had ambushed him and Lü Qianqian while they gathered Star Spirit Grass.
• Lü Qianqian took a sword meant for Qin Fangyang, leaving her dantian shattered, and the Star Spirit Grass helped save her life but could not restore her martial path.
• After Qin Fangyang left to seek a physician in Dragon Head City, Lü Qianqian disappeared, leaving him a poem; he searched for her for two years without finding her.

Qin Fangyang’s memories traced his decades-long search for Lü Qianqian, from his years of vengeance and military service to settling as a teacher in Phoenix City. After a recent injury and renewed fear that he would lose her forever, he urgently sought Zuo Xiaoduo’s help.

• Qin Fangyang avenged Lü Qianqian by killing one of the two ambushers, while the other escaped, then searched for her for twenty-eight years.
• Remembering Lü Qianqian’s fondness for phoenix legends, Qin Fangyang traveled through cities with phoenix in their names and found peace near Second High School in Phoenix City.
• Qin Fangyang became a teacher at Second High School, where he spent decades training students to defend their land against the Witch Alliance.
• Lately, Qin Fangyang’s heart had grown troubled, and he feared his intuition meant Lü Qianqian was nearing the end of her life.
• After a recent injury and the appearance of the Witch Alliance’s Broken Army, Qin Fangyang sought Zuo Xiaoduo’s help, seeing him as his last hope.

Zuo Xiaoduo’s face reading helped Qin Fangyang understand why Qianqian had left, but Qin chose not to search for her, believing that finding her would only bring more pain. Qin then asked why Zuo had kept attacking Class One, and Zuo admitted he had used their bad luck as an excuse to keep beating them.

• Zuo Xiaoduo explained that Qianqian had left because their lifespans and aging would diverge, and Qin Fangyang realized she was nearby but decided not to pursue her.
• Qin Fangyang told Zuo Xiaoduo not to read people’s faces lightly in the future.
• Qin Fangyang asked why Zuo had repeatedly troubled Class One, and Zuo said he had noticed their bad-luck energy and claimed his beatings helped dispel it.
• Qin Fangyang realized Zuo had planned to keep making the students suffer until he intervened, then told Zuo to have everyone remain in class and cultivate while they awaited the principal’s word.

Zuo Xiaoduo returned to Class Nine, where his cultivation released the spiritual energy he had stored from Meng Chenyu’s Healing Pod and triggered a class-wide cultivation surge. As the mist cleared, students began breaking through, while the chapter left Li Chenglong’s breakthrough attempt underway.

• Zuo Xiaoduo returned to Class Nine and repeated Qin Fangyang’s scolding as a call for the students to cultivate.
• Zuo Xiaoduo circulated the Flame Sun True Scripture, releasing vast quantities of high-quality spiritual energy into the classroom.
• Long Yusheng, Wan Lixiu, Li Changming, and the other students absorbed the dense spiritual energy and cultivated despite the heat.
• Li Chenglong absorbed the energy and drove his spiritual energy against the Martial Warrior barrier.
• The spiritual mist dispersed, and a student exclaimed that they had broken through.

Class Nine’s students made remarkable progress, and five—including Li Chenglong—broke through to the Martial Master tier after Zuo Xiaoduo’s cultivation released stored energy. Qin Fangyang sent the six newly advanced students to temper their foundations in actual combat and planned a second touch test in the Star Soul Tower after the coming incident.

• Long Yusheng, Wan Lixiu, Yu Moyan, and Li Changming broke through to the Martial Master tier, while the rest of Class Nine also grew stronger.
• Li Chenglong unexpectedly broke through and celebrated tearfully, leaving Zuo Xiaoduo heartbroken that his cultivation had benefited the others.
• Qin Fangyang arrived, learned that five students had broken through, and questioned the class about what had happened, but no one answered.
• Zuo Xiaoduo realized the Flame Sun True Scripture had released some of his stored spiritual energy and resolved to make the students who benefited compensate him.
• Qin Fangyang ordered the six newly advanced students to begin actual combat training and said he would send them to the Star Soul Tower for a second touch test after the incident.

Zuo Xiaonian visited Grandma He and told her that the Greedy Wolf, Seven Killings, and Broken Army sects had converged on Phoenix City, forming the Kill Break Wolf Calamity Formation. Grandma He recognized the danger and implied that an old threat had finally arrived.

• Zuo Xiaonian visited Grandma He and brought her Dragon Soul Liquid, though Grandma He said it could no longer help her.
• Zuo Xiaonian asked Grandma He about Phoenix City's hidden secret on behalf of her master.
• Zuo Xiaonian reported that she had intercepted a Greedy Wolf's Heart and that Seven Killings forces had ambushed people outside the city.
• Zuo Xiaonian told Grandma He that Qin Fangyang and Li Changjiang had been severely injured in an ambush involving Broken Army-affiliated forces and a peak Infant Transformation expert.
• Zuo Xiaonian explained that Phoenix City had been sealed off for an investigation and that the three sects' gathering had formed the Kill Break Wolf Calamity Formation.
• Grandma He said she had thought these events would not happen in her lifetime, but that what must come had come.

Grandma He explained to Zuo Xiaonian that Phoenix City’s terrain formed the shape of a crouching phoenix and connected an ancient stele’s prophecy to a surge of gifted female Martial Artists. She revealed that Hu Ruoyun and other unusually talented women had died before reaching maturity, and that she had hidden the identities of Zuo Xiaonian, Meng Chenyu, and Ning Xiaoyue, now known as Ning Qingcheng.

• Grandma He described Phoenix City’s terrain and surrounding mountains as forming a phoenix looking back over the city.
• Grandma He recalled a forty-thousand-year-old stone stele and recited its prophecy about the phoenix, bloodshed, and forty-three thousand years.
• Grandma He said Phoenix City’s female Martial Artists had shown extraordinary talents since roughly forty years earlier, but none of the gifted women had survived to maturity.
• Grandma He cited Hu Ruoyun’s destroyed dantian as one case of a gifted woman meeting an unnatural end.
• Grandma He revealed that she had concealed the identities of Zuo Xiaonian, Meng Chenyu, and Ning Xiaoyue, whose name had been changed to Ning Qingcheng.

Grandma He explained that the Witch Alliance’s Kill Break Wolf forces were targeting Phoenix City’s Phoenix Vein and its accumulated qi, which could not be destroyed without sacrificing a rare chance to produce a supreme expert. She warned Zuo Xiaonian that she, Meng Chenyu, and Ning Qingcheng were the Phoenix Vein’s three destined vessels and would become targets if exposed.

• Grandma He explained that she had hidden Zuo Xiaonian’s background and arranged for her, Meng Chenyu, and Ning Qingcheng to become disciples to keep their unusual destinies secret.
• Grandma He said Phoenix City’s long-gathered momentum might cause a Phoenix Vein soul impact, but she could not explain why the city had produced so few male cultivation geniuses.
• Grandma He concluded that Kill Break Wolf was targeting the Phoenix Vein’s qi, and Zuo Xiaonian asked how to stop the Witch Alliance from taking it.
• Grandma He said the Phoenix Vein could not be destroyed because doing so would sacrifice the city’s accumulated fortune and its chance to produce a supreme expert.
• Grandma He recounted how officials had repeatedly dismissed her warnings, then told Zuo Xiaonian that she, Meng Chenyu, and Ning Qingcheng were the only suitable vessels and would be targeted once discovered.

Grandma He warned Zuo Xiaonian that Kill Break Wolf and the coming Phoenix Vein Soul Impact could target her during her breakthrough, leaving her unable to advance early. After learning that even more powerful forces might intervene, Zuo Xiaonian flew above Phoenix City and longed to see Zuo Xiaoduo.

• Grandma He explained that the Phoenix Vein Soul Impact was expected within months and that Zuo Xiaonian was the likeliest target of Kill Break Wolf.
• Zuo Xiaonian connected the danger to her predicted Death Calamity, while Grandma He told her she could not break through early and would have to survive the trial.
• Grandma He urged Zuo Xiaonian to push through the deadly hurdle and warned her to beware of both the Northern Dipper Nine and Southern Dipper Six, as well as possible Star Lord intervention.
• Zuo Xiaonian flew high above Phoenix City, saw its terrain resemble a phoenix unable to rise, and wished she could be beside Zuo Xiaoduo.

Zuo Xiaonian returned home, fearing her Phoenix Vein breakthrough would be a deadly trap and finding comfort in Zuo Xiaoduo’s room. There she discovered his countdown notebook and notes showing how closely he had been investigating the forces threatening her.

• Zuo Xiaonian hurried home after realizing her breakthrough was a deadly tribulation that would leave her unable to defend herself from the Witch Alliance’s plotting.
• Zuo Xiaonian sat in Zuo Xiaoduo’s room and took comfort in his familiar belongings, believing only he had recognized the danger to her.
• Zuo Xiaonian found Zuo Xiaoduo’s hidden notebook beside his secret savings and read his countdown to her breakthrough.
• Zuo Xiaonian read Zuo Xiaoduo’s notes linking Greedy Wolf, Seven Killings, and Broken Army to suspicious events at school and threats to her life.

Zuo Xiaonian read Zuo Xiaoduo’s notes and learned that he had exposed the conspiracy at Second High School to attract the higher-ups’ attention and help protect her. Meanwhile, Zuo Xiaoduo questioned Li Chenglong about the Witch Alliance and Kill Break Wolf as authorities continued detaining school staff and students.

• Zuo Xiaonian read Zuo Xiaoduo’s disordered notes and realized he had exposed the Broken Army vortex at Second High School while seeking help for her.
• Zuo Xiaonian worried that Zuo Xiaoduo had endangered himself, then felt reassured that he was trying to support her.
• Zuo Xiaoduo called Li Chenglong “Swelly” and asked him to explain the Witch Alliance, especially Kill Break Wolf.
• Several teachers and the vice principal were taken away, and all fifty students of Class One were transported without being placed in criminal detention.
• Authorities also took away cafeteria cooks, political education teachers, and dozens of students from different year groups.

As officials removed nearly three hundred people from Second High School over suspected Witch Alliance infiltration, an elderly woman arrived to confront them. She forced Director Jiang to release the Political Education Office teachers and the Martial Disciple children, but warned him against harming the remaining students.

• Troops and bureau officials withdrew from Second High School after taking nearly three hundred people, leaving the Martial Education Bureau and Star Shield Bureau behind.
• An elderly woman in a wheelchair blocked the convoy at the school gates, and Qin Fangyang recognized her with shock.
• Director Jiang and the other officials greeted the old woman respectfully, and she ordered him to release the three Political Education Office teachers.
• The old woman also demanded the release of the Martial Disciple teacher's children and warned Director Jiang not to injure any Second High School students.
• Director Jiang agreed to release the teachers and children but insisted that spies had been found among the students and that he could not protect them all.

Qin Fangyang rushed toward the old woman after Director Jiang agreed to investigate no more than five suspected brainwashed students. The others protected her, and the chapter revealed her identity as He Yuanyue, the beloved founder of Second High School whom Director Jiang had stayed in Phoenix City to care for.

• The old woman warned Director Jiang that no more than five students could have been completely brainwashed if the Witch Alliance was responsible.
• Director Jiang promised to avoid wrongly accusing students, then agreed to the old woman's limit and prepared to take her back.
• Qin Fangyang stepped forward and urgently asked the old woman who she was.
• Director Jiang, Director Sun, Li Changjiang, and others shielded the old woman from Qin Fangyang.
• The chapter described how He Yuanyue founded Second High School, supported generations of students, and inspired Director Jiang to remain in Phoenix City.