Recaps

Zhang Qingyuan brought ten students to the Bright Moon Sect, where Ma Shou narrowly defeated an experienced outer disciple and Zhang discussed the academy’s teaching approach with Di Yunjie and Ning Jixiang. Ning Jixiang praised the academy and offered the Bright Moon Sect’s public support in Yu Province, while Zhang immediately proposed an exclusive interview.

• Zhang Qingyuan and the students buried the bodies from their encounter with Han Yumo’s group, then continued their journey and reached the Bright Moon Sect.
• Di Yunjie welcomed Zhang Qingyuan and led the group up the mountain, where they observed the sect’s outer and inner disciples training.
• Di Yunjie arranged a sparring match, and Ma Shou narrowly defeated Xu Kun after more than thirty exchanges.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained the martial dao academy’s teaching methods to Di Yunjie and argued that traditional sects and the academy developed students in different ways.
• Ning Jixiang praised Zhang Qingyuan’s newspaper and academy, then offered the Bright Moon Sect’s public support if Zhang faced difficulties in Yu Province.
• Zhang Qingyuan thanked Ning Jixiang and proposed an exclusive interview for the next day’s paper, which Ning said was possible.

Bright Moon Sect outer disciples arranged a chief-versus-chief spar between Li Qinglong and Xiao Yan, whom they mistakenly believed was Tianyang Martial Dao Academy's second-year chief. After Li Qinglong's powerful strike sent Xiao Yan over a cliff, the stunned students rushed to seek help.

• Xu Kun and the Bright Moon Sect outer disciples decided to challenge Tianyang Martial Dao Academy's chief to restore their sect's standing.
• Li Qinglong and Xu Kun confronted Liu Sidao's group in the Ice Pine Forest and named Xiao Yan as their opponent.
• Liu Sidao accepted the challenge, and Xiao Yan agreed to fight despite his companions' doubts about the mistaken choice.
• Li Qinglong dominated the match, while Xiao Yan evaded and defended himself through more than thirty moves.
• Li Qinglong unleashed Moon Falls and Stars Sink, and the strike sent Xiao Yan flying over a cliff into the clouds.
• The disciples rushed to the cliff, Li Qinglong realized he had not meant to knock Xiao Yan off, and the others called for the headmaster and Master.

After Xiao Yan fell from the cliff, an underground river carried him into a cave where he discovered the corpse of Old Man Heavenly Fire and a sealed heavenly fire. The fire entered Xiao Yan’s dantian and began consuming his energy, so Xiao Yan jumped into the cold pool to stop it.

• Zhang Qingyuan and Di Yunjie led their people to search for Xiao Yan, while Li Qinglong apologized and promised to repay him if he had died.
• Xiao Yan woke in a cave beneath the pool and found Old Man Heavenly Fire’s corpse and a message about a heavenly fire sealed in its dantian.
• Xiao Yan hesitated to remove the fire, then began cultivating and felt his internal energy surge uncontrollably.
• Xiao Yan discovered the heavenly fire had entered his dantian, and it admitted it planned to feed on his energy.
• Xiao Yan ran to the cold pool and jumped in with the heavenly fire, declaring they would die together.

Zhang Qingyuan kept searching the deep pool for Xiao Yan after the boy disappeared, convinced that his completed mission meant Xiao Yan was still alive. His refusal to abandon anyone moved the academy students and Bright Moon Sect members, uniting them around him as he plunged into the water again.

• Di Yunjie explained that Xiao Yan might have been swept into a deadly underground river, but Zhang Qingyuan insisted they continue searching.
• Zhang Qingyuan saw that the system had completed the mission for a disciple reaching the seventh-rank realm and concluded that Xiao Yan had survived his fall.
• Zhang Qingyuan repeatedly dived into the icy pool, impressing the Bright Moon Sect members with his determination to find even an ordinary student.
• Liu Sidao, Ma Shou, Zhang Xiaohua, and the other students offered to search with Zhang Qingyuan and vowed not to leave without Xiao Yan.
• Zhang Qingyuan hid his hope of discovering Xiao Yan's opportunity and plunged into the pool again as the others felt newly united and loyal to him.

Xiao Yan discovered that the heavenly fire was actually Old Man Heavenly Fire’s remnant soul, resisted its attempt to possess him, and absorbed its cultivation after destroying it. Exhausted but alive, he collapsed just as Zhang Qingyuan reached him.

• Xiao Yan questioned the heavenly fire in the pool and noticed its story and his unexplained growth in True Qi did not add up.
• Xiao Yan tricked the heavenly fire into panicking, surfaced, and accused it of being Old Man Heavenly Fire’s remnant soul seeking to possess him.
• Old Man Heavenly Fire admitted the truth and attacked Xiao Yan’s consciousness, while Xiao Yan defended himself with his will and Nine Yang True Qi.
• Xiao Yan destroyed Old Man Heavenly Fire’s remnant soul and absorbed its cultivation, flame knowledge, and martial arts insights.
• Xiao Yan bowed to the dried corpse, then collapsed from exhaustion as Zhang Qingyuan arrived at the pool.

After waking at the Bright Moon Sect, Xiao Yan explained that he had defeated Old Man Heavenly Fire’s consciousness in a cave and gained his Fourth-Rank Realm True Qi. The sect leaders accepted his account, and Zhang Qingyuan left with Di Yunjie to inspect the cave and its dried-out corpse.

• Xiao Yan woke briefly, then fell asleep again from mental exhaustion as Di Yunjie found his body healthy and his True Qi unusually powerful.
• Zhang Qingyuan arrived, and Xiao Yan learned that the headmaster had repeatedly searched the cold pool to rescue him.
• Di Yunjie asked Xiao Yan about the opportunity in the cave, and Zhang Qingyuan encouraged him to tell the truth.
• Xiao Yan described Old Man Heavenly Fire’s attempted possession and how he obtained the old cultivator’s True Qi; Di Yunjie examined his dantian and confirmed the vast reserve.
• The Bright Moon Sect members accepted Xiao Yan’s explanation, while his companions congratulated him on reaching the Fourth-Rank Realm.
• Di Yunjie asked Zhang Qingyuan to take him to the cave, and Zhang Qingyuan agreed that they could find the dried-out corpse there.

Zhang Qingyuan led Di Yunjie and Bright Moon Sect members to Old Man Heavenly Fire’s cave, where they found his remains and debated whether to bury or study them. Di Yunjie agreed to take the corpse back for secret research, while Zhang Qingyuan insisted on sharing any cultivation technique they might uncover.

• Zhang Qingyuan bypassed the underground river by breaking open the cave’s hidden air vent, and the Bright Moon Sect party followed him inside.
• Di Yunjie and the others examined Old Man Heavenly Fire’s dried corpse and found that its dantian still held a trace of True Qi.
• Di Yunjie proposed burying the remains, but Zhang Qingyuan suggested studying the intact meridians to deduce the dead martial artist’s Qi circulation route and technique.
• Di Yunjie agreed to take the corpse back for secret research, and Zhang Qingyuan demanded a share of any result before Di Yunjie stopped his speech.

Zhang Qingyuan brought his students to Supreme Purity Palace and persuaded its head, Xuanchengzi, to support a Daoist department at Tianyang Martial Dao Academy. Xuanchengzi agreed in principle after reading the Nine Yin Manual, leaving the two sides to discuss the details of their cooperation.

• After Xiao Yan recovered, Zhang Qingyuan departed Bright Moon Sect with the students and continued his journey to Supreme Purity Palace in Qi Prefecture.
• At the snow-covered Supreme Purity Mountain, Xuanchengzi personally welcomed Zhang Qingyuan and his students into the palace.
• Zhang Qingyuan explained that he wanted to establish a Daoist department at Tianyang Martial Dao Academy so ordinary students could study Daoist principles alongside martial arts.
• Zhang Qingyuan presented the Nine Yin Manual, and Xuanchengzi was impressed by its Daoist insights and the academy’s willingness to share it.
• Xuanchengzi agreed in principle to send disciples to teach Daoist classics and help establish the department, and Zhang Qingyuan prepared to negotiate the practical arrangements.

After returning from a month-long tour that secured Daoist support for Tianyang Martial Dao Academy, Zhang Qingyuan set the academy’s new classes and business plans in motion. He also told Zheng Jianxin that the young martial artist from their bet had reached Fourth Rank, prompting Zheng to rush to claim him as a disciple.

• Zhang Qingyuan visited Cloud Crane Temple, where Xuanxinzi warmly hosted his group and agreed to teach in the academy’s Daoist Arts Department.
• Zhang Qingyuan returned to the academy, where Fifth Brother reported that teachers and equipment were in place for the new vocational classes.
• Zhang Qingyuan gave Bian Zhenxuan a soap-making formula and asked him to organize a business venture with merchants, the Bian family, and the sect.
• Yun Qingqiu reported that 1,850 people had cultivated True Qi, and Zhang Qingyuan asked her to guide those with little martial talent toward other skills.
• Zhang Qingyuan told Zheng Jianxin that the young martial artist from their bet had advanced to Fourth Rank, and Zheng agreed to take him as a disciple.