Recaps

Qin Chen, Qin Yu’s gifted elder twin brother, used his cultivation and Tenfold Return System to help support Qin Yu, whose leaking dantian forced him onto the difficult path of external arts. After reassuring Qin Yu that external cultivation could reach the Innate realm, Qin Chen produced a fragrant red sandalwood box, leaving its contents unrevealed.

• Qin Yu completed a thousand weighted one-finger push-ups and collapsed from exhaustion.
• Qin Chen used his true qi to soothe Qin Yu’s battered body and warned him against training without proper nourishment.
• Qin Yu confessed that he wanted to help Qin De and earn his father’s regard despite being unable to cultivate internal energy.
• Qin Chen encouraged Qin Yu, telling him external arts could reach the Innate realm and promising to help him endure the training.
• Qin Chen took out a red sandalwood box whose medicinal fragrance revived Qin Yu, and Qin Yu asked what it was.

Qin Chen gave Qin Yu a three-hundred-year-old Scarlet Blood Ginseng, triggering a tenfold return that gave him a three-thousand-year-old Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng. After consuming a small piece, Qin Chen broke through to late Xiantian and transformed his body.

• Qin Chen gave Qin Yu the Scarlet Blood Ginseng and instructed him to use it carefully with his training.
• Qin Yu accepted the ginseng, triggering the system’s tenfold return and granting Qin Chen a Dragon Blood Purple Gold Ginseng.
• Qin Chen withdrew the returned ginseng in his cultivation chamber and swallowed a small piece.
• Qin Chen used the Ancestral Dragon Art to refine its medicinal power, advancing from late Houtian to Houtian Paragon and then breaking into Xiantian.
• Qin Chen absorbed the remaining power, reached late Xiantian, and felt his body strengthened by the ginseng.

Six months after Qin Chen broke through to Late Xiantian, he found Qin Yu’s physical cultivation flourishing and went into the mountains behind Cloudmist Manor to find the newly hatched Xiao Hei. Qin Chen reached a cliffside nest where a black eaglet cried, while another demonic beast’s greedy aura drew near.

• Qin Yu trained by smashing refined-steel posts, and Qin Chen praised his growing control and advised him to gain experience through actual combat.
• Qin Yu said Zhao Yunxing planned to take him into the mountains to hunt low-level demonic beasts, and Qin Chen decided to find Xiao Hei first and give him to Qin Yu.
• Qin Chen told Qin Yu he was going into the mountains, then vanished before Qin Yu could join him.
• Qin Chen searched the mountains, killed several Houtian demonic beasts with Xiantian Sword Qi, and sensed a life pulse and a greedy beast aura near a cliff.
• Qin Chen reached the cliff and spotted a black-down eaglet crying in a nest on a rock below.

Qin Chen rescued a black eaglet from a Jade-Scaled Poison Python and brought it to Qin Yu as a companion. Qin Yu accepted the eaglet and named it Little Black, triggering a mysterious mechanical voice in Qin Chen's mind.

• The Jade-Scaled Poison Python attacked the eaglet, and Qin Chen killed it with a single sword strike.
• Qin Chen soothed the eaglet with his Xiantian True Essence and recognized it as a descendant of the Dark Lightning Roc King.
• Qin Chen carried the eaglet to Qin Yu's Detached Courtyard at Cloudmist Manor and offered it to him as a gift.
• Little Black hopped onto the tub's rim, nuzzled Qin Yu, and accepted the name he gave it.
• A mechanical voice sounded in Qin Chen's mind as Qin Yu formally accepted Little Black and named it.

After gifting Xiaohei to Qin Yu, Qin Chen received a Void Beast from the system and named it Xiaobai. He later gave Qin Yu a modified cultivation art, triggering a return that led Qin Chen to begin cultivating the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art.

• Qin Chen summoned the infant Void Beast from a spatial rift, tested its ability to devour black iron essence, and named it Xiaobai.
• Xiaobai merged into the void and settled on Qin Chen's shoulder.
• A month later, Qin Yu told Qin Chen that his External Cultivation had reached a bottleneck because he could not cultivate true qi.
• Qin Chen gave Qin Yu a modified Ancestral Dragon Art that did not require dantian energy, triggering the system to grant him the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art.
• Qin Chen entered seclusion and began circulating his late Xiantian true essence according to the new art.

After refining his Primordial Dragon Essence, Qin Chen demonstrated overwhelming strength to his brothers at Cloudmist Manor. His talent prompted Qin De to summon his sons to Yanjing City, where he revealed the Qin Family’s six-century-old grudge against the Xiang Family and announced a plan to reclaim the throne.

• Qin Chen completed three days of cultivation, strengthening his Primordial Dragon Essence while remaining at Late Xiantian.
• Qin Feng and Qin Zheng reunited with Qin Yu and Qin Chen at Cloudmist Manor, where Qin Chen defeated Qin Feng’s attack with one finger.
• Qin Feng secretly reported Qin Chen’s strength to Qin De, who summoned his sons to Yanjing City.
• Qin De told Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, and Qin Chen that the Xiang Family had betrayed their ancestor and seized the realm six hundred years earlier.
• Qin De declared that the Qin Family would reclaim what it had lost and named the plan “Flying Eagle.”

Qin Chen gave the Qin Family the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art, a cultivation method far superior to their inherited Ancestral Dragon Art, and claimed an immortal had bestowed it in a dream. Qin De and the others accepted the art as heaven’s blessing and began practicing it in the secret chamber.

• Qin Chen decided to strengthen the Qin Family rather than reveal that Xiang Yang was a Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Qin Chen presented Qin De with the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art, and Qin De and Xu Yuan were astonished by its power.
• Qin Chen claimed a white-bearded immortal had given him the art in a dream and explained his rapid cultivation.
• Qin De, Xu Yuan, Qin Feng, and Qin Zheng knelt and praised their ancestors for the divine gift.
• Qin De gathered the others to sit cross-legged and began circulating true qi according to the new art.

After Qin De and his family rapidly improved by cultivating the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art, Qin Chen asked his father to find him masters of pill refining and artifact refining, arguing that the Qin Family needed its own logistical support for the Flying Eagle Plan. Two days later, Feng Yuzi arrived at Cloudmist Manor, skeptical about teaching artifact refining to a child who was not yet ten.

• Qin De, Qin Feng, and Qin Zheng cultivated the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art and felt their strength increase dramatically.
• Qin Chen asked Qin De to find him teachers skilled in pill refining and artifact refining.
• Qin Chen claimed an immortal had foretold his talent for both crafts and argued that the Qin Family needed to produce its own pills and weapons for the Flying Eagle Plan.
• Qin De agreed to support Qin Chen's request and summoned Feng Yuzi.
• Feng Yuzi arrived at Cloudmist Manor and questioned why Qin De wanted him to teach artifact refining to his young son.

Feng Yuzi accepted Qin Chen as his disciple and began teaching him artifact refining. Qin Chen mastered the process after watching it once, leaving Feng Yuzi convinced his disciple would soon surpass him.

• Feng Yuzi examined Qin Chen and discovered that the ten-year-old had reached Late Xiantian, then agreed to take him as his sole personal disciple.
• Qin Chen performed the apprenticeship ceremony, and Feng Yuzi showed him how to purify ore, shape molten metal, and inscribe a formation.
• Qin Chen purified red copper with exceptional precision and shaped it into a throwing knife using his soul power.
• Qin Chen copied Feng Yuzi's Sharpness Formation and created a Supreme Lower-Grade Magical Artifact nearly equal to a mid-grade artifact.
• Feng Yuzi marveled at Qin Chen's talent and predicted he would surpass him and become a Grandmaster of Artifact Refining.

Qin Chen mastered artifact-refining techniques so quickly that Feng Yuzi became his assistant, then stunned Mu Qing with his fire control and produced three supreme Blood Lotus Pills on his first attempt. Mu Qing claimed Qin Chen as his direct disciple, setting off a new argument with Feng Yuzi over which art should guide him.

• Qin Chen used Feng Yuzi's lessons to improve array engraving and craft a mid-grade magical blade, leaving Feng Yuzi to record his innovations.
• Feng Yuzi stopped teaching Qin Chen specific artifact-refining methods and became his fire-tender and materials porter.
• Qin De brought Mu Qing to Cloudmist Manor to teach Qin Chen pill refinement, and Mu Qing challenged Qin Chen's knowledge of extracting medicinal properties.
• Qin Chen used dark-gold true fire to extract the full medicinal potency from blood jade ginseng and refined three supreme Blood Lotus Pills without a furnace.
• Mu Qing declared Qin Chen his direct disciple and ordered Feng Yuzi out of the way, while Feng Yuzi insisted Qin Chen was an unmatched artifact-refining prodigy.

Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing argued over whether Qin Chen should study artifact refining or pill refining, but Qin Chen persuaded them that he could learn both. They agreed on a daily schedule, and after returning to his room, Qin Chen was greeted by Xiaobai emerging from the void.

• Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing clashed over which art Qin Chen should study, while Qin De quietly delighted in their competition for his son.
• Qin Chen calmed the two masters and argued that artifact refining and pill refining shared the same underlying principles, so he could learn both.
• Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing agreed to teach Qin Chen both arts, with artifact refining in the morning, pill refining in the afternoon, and cultivation protected in the evening.
• Qin Chen returned alone to his room in the Detached Courtyard, where Xiaobai poked its head out of the void.

Qin Chen gave Qin Yu Supreme Blood Lotus Pills and gained the Dragon-Tiger Pill formula through a critical return, then continued his intensive artifact-refining work with Feng Yuzi. He planned to ask Qin De for the formula’s ingredients and went to his study after finishing the morning’s work.

• Qin Chen fed Xiaobai three Supreme Blood Lotus Pills, then cultivated through the night.
• Qin Chen gave Qin Yu pills to heal the injuries from his External Cultivation training, triggering a tenfold return that granted him the Dragon-Tiger Pill formula.
• Qin Chen learned that Dragon-Tiger Pills could strengthen ordinary soldiers to Houtian-level physical strength and decided to ask Qin De for Dragon Blood Grass and Tiger Bone Vine.
• Qin Chen refined ten Armor-Piercing Blades simultaneously and improved their true qi conductivity by about 15 percent, leaving Feng Yuzi stunned.
• Qin Chen washed and changed, then went to his study instead of resting.

Qin Chen sent Qin De the Dragon-Tiger Pill formula, prompting a secret campaign to gather its ingredients, while he spent three years studying and cultivating at Cloudmist Manor. As Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing prepared to leave, Qin Chen asked them to guard him as he attempted to break through to the Golden Core Realm, shocking them with how soon he planned to advance.

• Qin Chen sent Qin De a secret letter explaining the Dragon-Tiger Pill and urging him to stockpile dragon blood grass and tiger bone vine.
• Qin De ordered the Heavenly Web's four divisions to secretly purchase the ingredients across the Qianlong Continent while avoiding the Xiang Family's notice.
• Qin Chen spent three years cultivating and learning pill refining and artifact crafting from Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing.
• Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing prepared to leave Cloudmist Manor for the capital and planned to enter seclusion.
• Qin Chen asked Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing to stay and guard him while he attempted to break through to the Golden Core Realm.
• Feng Yuzi checked Qin Chen's true qi and rebuked him for attempting the breakthrough only a year after reaching Xiantian Paragon.

After Qin Chen demonstrated his overwhelming true essence, Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing agreed to stay and witness his attempt to form a Golden Core. Qin De received word of the planned tribulation and arranged to secure the Black Wind Grand Canyon, where Qin Chen prepared to travel with an unexpected companion.

• Qin Chen revealed a powerful surge of dark-gold true essence, convincing Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing to remain with him.
• Qin De learned that thirteen-year-old Qin Chen intended to form a Golden Core and face the lightning tribulation.
• Qin De chose the Black Wind Grand Canyon as a secluded site for the tribulation and ordered troops, spies, and supplies deployed to secure it.
• Qin De decided not to leave Yanjing City, fearing his movements would draw attention to Qin Chen.
• Qin Chen received Qin De's reply and prepared to leave for the Black Wind Grand Canyon, when a sturdy youth asked to accompany him.

Qin Chen set out for Black Wind Grand Canyon to attempt his breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm, bringing Qin Yu along to witness the tribulation. He reunited with Qin Feng and Qin Zheng at the canyon, where the Fierce Tiger Battalion had sealed off the area, and the group headed deeper inside.

• Qin Yu asked to accompany Qin Chen into seclusion, and Qin Chen agreed, urging him to reach Houtian Peak in exchange for a future surprise.
• Qin Chen persuaded Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing to bring Qin Yu along, and they flew toward Black Wind Grand Canyon on their flying swords.
• Qin Yu marveled at the flight and silently vowed to one day soar through the sky by his own strength.
• The group reached Black Wind Grand Canyon, where Qin Yu reunited with Qin Feng and Qin Zheng.
• Qin Zheng explained that Qin Feng and he had brought the Fierce Tiger Battalion to secure a hundred-li perimeter, and the brothers led Qin Chen deeper into the canyon.

Qin Chen began his Golden Core tribulation in Black Wind Grand Canyon, drawing clouds far larger than a normal Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation. He charged into the first bolt and split it with a sword of true qi, only to be swallowed by the resulting ocean of lightning.

• Qin Chen released his suppressed true qi in the canyon, drawing fifty li of tribulation clouds overhead.
• Feng Yuzi recognized the clouds as nearly comparable to a Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, while Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, and Qin Yu feared for Qin Chen.
• Qin Chen welcomed the powerful tribulation and prepared to use the reserves he had kept in his Storage Ring.
• A bucket-thick bolt of purple lightning struck, and Qin Chen charged toward it without using his defensive formations or treasures.
• Qin Chen formed a sword of true qi and cleaved the bolt in two, but the shattered lightning transformed into an ocean that swallowed him.

Qin Chen absorbed the first tribulation bolt to temper his body, inspiring Qin Yu to believe external cultivation could reach incredible heights. When the heavens unleashed Crimson Blood Baleful Thunder, Qin Chen charged straight toward the twin bolts to forge his martial foundation.

• Qin Chen bathed in the first purple lightning bolt, using it to transform and strengthen his body.
• Feng Yuzi, Mu Qing, and the Qin brothers watched in shock as Qin Chen endured the lightning, while Qin Yu gained new ambition to pursue external cultivation.
• After absorbing the bolt, Qin Chen taunted the tribulation clouds and called for another strike.
• Feng Yuzi recognized the forming Crimson Blood Baleful Thunder and carried Mu Qing and the Qin brothers ten li away.
• Two crimson bolts struck toward Qin Chen, who charged into the air and unleashed the Great Wilderness Heaven-Breaking Fist.

Qin Chen endured the Crimson Blood Baleful Thunder and faced the merged Nine Heavens Annihilation Black Thunder with the Abyssal Shadow Sword. He split the final bolt but was blasted into a crater, leaving his family rushing to find out whether he survived.

• Qin Chen stopped the second and third Crimson Blood Baleful Thunder bolts with his fists and absorbed their lightning to temper his body.
• The tribulation clouds condensed into a hundred-zhang thundercloud containing Nine Heavens Annihilation Black Thunder.
• Qin Chen drew the Abyssal Shadow Sword and met the final bolt with his Heaven-Breaking Sword Art-One Sword Shatters the Stars.
• Qin Chen fed essence blood to the Abyssal Shadow Sword and cleaved the black lightning in two, but its remaining power struck him into a deep crater.
• Qin Yu rushed toward the crater, followed by Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Feng Yuzi, and Mu Qing.

Qin Chen survived the Nine Heavens Annihilation Black Thunder, formed a Purple-Gold Lightning Core, and took command of the Heavenly Web to hunt down Zhen Xu and find two items. The chapter ended with Qin Chen confronting Zhen Xu at Blood Plum Manor while Zhen Xu examined a mysterious iron plate.

• Qin Chen emerged from the tribulation with a new body and formed a Purple-Gold Lightning Core, reaching the Golden Core stage.
• Qin Chen reunited with Qin Yu, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Feng Yuzi, and Mu Qing, then returned to the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence.
• Qin Chen told Qin De he needed the Heavenly Web's authority, and Qin De gave him the Dark Emperor Token.
• Qin Chen ordered the Heavenly Web to locate Zhen Xu, and its commander reported that he was hiding at Blood Plum Manor outside Ying City.
• Qin Chen arrived at Blood Plum Manor as Zhen Xu studied a dark-gold iron plate carved with thirty-six illustrations, and an indifferent voice called him useless.

Qin Chen killed Zhen Xu and gave Qin Yu the Tongtian Diagram, earning the Heavenly Cycle Star Body cultivation method from the system. He returned to his secret chamber and prepared to begin cultivating it with the resources he had gathered.

• Qin Chen entered Zhen Xu's secret chamber, killed him, and took the Tongtian Diagram.
• Qin Chen returned to Cloudmist Manor and gave Qin Yu the complete set of Tongtian Diagrams, which could cultivate the body without a dantian.
• Qin Yu accepted the diagrams, triggering the system to grant Qin Chen the Heavenly Cycle Star Body cultivation method.
• Qin Chen studied the method, which aimed to transform each cell into a miniature star and forge the body into an inner universe.
• Qin Chen sealed himself in the secret chamber and laid out his accumulated medicinal ingredients, pills, and spirit herbs to prepare for cultivation.

Qin Chen cultivated the Heavenly Cycle Star Body, consuming three years’ worth of resources to ignite one microscopic speck of stardust and greatly strengthen his body. After assessing the danger posed by the Xiang Family’s Nascent Soul ancestor, he decided to keep his new power hidden while continuing to build his strength.

• Qin Chen activated the Heavenly Cycle Star Body and endured seven days of painful cultivation as it consumed all the resources in his secluded chamber.
• Qin Chen ignited a microscopic speck of stardust in a cell at his Shanzhong acupoint, reaching the method’s introductory stage.
• Qin Chen discovered that his physical strength and resilience had grown enough for him to fight Golden Core cultivators without relying on his true qi.
• Qin Chen considered the Nascent Soul ancestor’s powers and decided not to reveal his Golden Core cultivation or star body until he could defeat that enemy with certainty.

Qin Chen refined ten thousand Dragon-Tiger Pills for the Fierce Tiger Army, triggering a system reward of ten thousand Dragon Power Pills. He returned to Cloudmist Manor and began consuming them to strengthen his Star Body, leaving his cultivation underway.

• Qin Chen used his purple-gold core flame to refine Dragon-Tiger Pills from medicinal ingredients secretly delivered by Qin De.
• Over a month, Qin Chen refined ten thousand Dragon-Tiger Pills and brought them to Qin De for the Fierce Tiger Army’s elite soldiers.
• Qin De accepted the pills, and the system rewarded Qin Chen with ten thousand supreme-grade Dragon Power Pills.
• Qin Chen realized the Dragon Power Pills could help strengthen his Star Body and nurture a second speck of stardust.
• Qin Chen returned to Cloudmist Manor, swallowed a Dragon Power Pill, and watched his stardust absorb its energy before taking another.

Qin Chen broke through to a second stardust particle and spent a year refining Dragon-Tiger Pills to strengthen the Qin Family’s army. When Qin De prepared to pursue a Golden Core breakthrough, Xiang Guang learned of it and appealed to Court Elders Wu De and Wu Xing to stop him.

• Qin Chen consumed ten thousand Dragon Power Pills and ignited a second stardust particle, doubling his physical strength.
• Qin De told Qin Chen that he had gathered ingredients for thirty thousand Dragon-Tiger Pills, and Qin Chen began refining them.
• Over the next year, Qin Chen supplied Dragon-Tiger Pills that transformed fifty thousand Fierce Tiger Army soldiers into peak Houtian fighters.
• Qin De chose the Gale Mountains as the secluded site for his Golden Core tribulation.
• Xiang Guang learned of Qin De’s planned breakthrough, went to the imperial ancestral mausoleum, and asked Court Elders Wu De and Wu Xing to kill him.

Wu De and Wu Xing tried to kill Qin De while he prepared to undergo his tribulation, but Qin Chen intercepted them and killed both with his overwhelming physical strength. Qin De's tribulation continued, with Qin Chen having eliminated the attackers who threatened to interfere.

• Wu De and Wu Xing set out from the ancestral tomb to attack Qin De during his tribulation.
• Qin Chen blocked the brothers near the Gale Mountains and survived Wu De's sword strike without injury.
• Qin Chen crushed Wu Xing's flying sword and punched through Wu De's chest, destroying his Golden Core.
• Wu Xing fled using the Blood Escape Technique, but Qin Chen caught him and kicked him into the ground, killing him.

Qin De survived his Golden Core tribulation while Qin Chen revealed that he had killed the Wu brothers in a planned ambush. After learning the brothers were dead, Xiang Guang put Chu State on alert and summoned Xiang Yang from seclusion.

• Qin De met the tribulation lightning with the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art and successfully formed a Golden Core.
• Qin Chen told Qin De that he had killed Wu De and Wu Xing, two Golden Core mid-stage cultivators, and explained their deaths were part of a trap meant to weaken the Xiang Family.
• Xiang Guang learned that the Wu brothers' soul tablets had shattered and that investigators found mangled flesh and fragments of magic treasures at the Gale Mountains.
• Xiang Guang ordered martial law, put the armies on the highest combat readiness, and sent for Xiang Yang to emerge from seclusion.