Recaps

After the master-acknowledgment ceremony, Chen Mu learned that new disciples could choose an elder within a month and that earning a personal or inner disciple status brought greater access to their master and the Pavilion’s facilities. He recalled An Ruhai’s offer to take him as a personal disciple, leaving him to consider his choice of master.

• An Ruhai praised Chen Mu’s array talent and invited him to join Array Hall as his personal disciple after the ceremony.
• Chen Mu and the other new students bathed, changed into disciple robes, and endured the scorn of students who looked down on their Wilderness origins.
• Mo Fei led the new students in a solemn ceremony honoring Heaven-Questioning Pavilion’s founding patriarch, Yang Wentian.
• Huang Tianjiao, a former first-place winner, escorted Chen Mu, A Huo, Mingye, and Chen Duo to choose residences and explained the rules for choosing a master.
• Huang Tianjiao explained that assigned masters gave nominal-disciple status, while disciples chosen by an elder could become inner disciples, and personal disciples received the closest support.

Chen Mu and his companions settled into their assigned homes on Treasure Arrival Peak, learned the basics of life at the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion, and increased their Spiritual Power with Spirit Augmenting Pills. Meanwhile, Tuoba Ziying learned that Mingye had joined the pavilion with Chen Mu and reacted with anger and suspicion.

• Huang Tianjiao explained the pavilion’s seven halls and led the new disciples to choose houses and courtyards on Treasure Arrival Peak.
• A Huo and Mingye chose second-grade courtyards, while Chen Mu selected the largest third-grade courtyard and learned its spirit veins must not be damaged.
• Chen Mu, Chen Duo, A Huo, and Mingye cleaned their courtyards, and Chen Mu set up simple defensive and Spirit Gathering Arrays for A Huo and Mingye.
• The four disciples received their supplies and identity nameplates, read the new disciple’s handbook, and took their Spirit Augmenting Pills; Mingye began to sense the barrier to the next realm.
• A messenger told Tuoba Ziying that Mingye had joined the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion with people from Chen Village, led by the array master Chen Mu, and Tuoba Ziying broke his writing brush in anger.

Tuoba Ziying sent a Spirit-Locking Clasp to a friend at the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion to capture Mingye. Meanwhile, Chen Mu explored the library tower and reached the fourth floor to choose a profound-grade divine soul secret technique.

• Tuoba Ziying gave a subordinate the Spirit-Locking Clasp and ordered him to deliver it to Tuoba Ziying's friend at the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion.
• Chen Mu went to the library tower and learned its contribution-point fees from Qingying.
• Chen Mu spent most of the day reading cultivation books on the first floor to improve his knowledge.
• Chen Mu asked Qingying to exchange his jade token for a divine soul secret technique, and she led him to the fourth floor.
• Elder Yun granted Chen Mu entry, and Qingying showed him the profound-grade divine soul secret techniques he could choose from.

Chen Mu chose the difficult Heart-Burning Flame soul technique and discovered that the Karmic Fire Cushion helped him cultivate it. The next morning, he attended a Talisman Rune Hall lecture, eager to deepen his knowledge of talisman theory.

• Chen Mu selected Heart-Burning Flame despite Qingying's warning that disciples had struggled for years to master it.
• Chen Mu practiced Heart-Burning Flame with the Karmic Fire Cushion and produced a brief flame, confirming that the cushion accelerated his progress.
• Chen Mu encouraged Chen Duo to visit more halls before choosing an elder to follow.
• Chen Mu attended a Talisman Rune Hall lesson and recorded the elder's teachings on advanced talisman principles.

Chen Mu sought Elder Ming’s help with his questions about runes, but had to face a Chinese chess endgame to gain access to him. After losing and retreating to study the position, Chen Mu began building a device to calculate its solution.

• Chen Mu asked Elder Fang detailed questions about runes, and Elder Fang referred him to Elder Ming while offering to take him as a personal disciple.
• Chen Mu traveled to Elder Ming’s courtyard and found a Chinese chess endgame blocking the gates.
• Chen Mu played against the board for more than two hours, lost, and left after saying he would return in a few days.
• Chen Mu bought materials with his contribution points and built a Chess Position Solver designed to calculate the endgame.

Mingye was ambushed by Zhu Dou, who used a chained case to seal her Spiritual Power and attacked her. Chen Mu arrived and wounded Zhu Dou with a Rune Gun, but Zhu Dou recovered and chased Chen Mu and Mingye, leaving them in immediate danger.

• Mingye chose the Spirit Martial Hall as the hall that suited her best, but she delayed choosing a master while waiting for her Spiritual Power to break through.
• Zhu Dou broke into Mingye's courtyard, immobilized her with a chained case, and struck her after revealing he had been hired by Tuoba Ziying.
• Chen Mu sensed the courtyard's warning rune, rushed to Mingye, and shot Zhu Dou with Rune Gun No. 2, badly wounding him.
• Chen Mu tried to flee with Mingye, but Zhu Dou struck him with a surge of Spiritual Power and forced him to retreat with her.
• Zhu Dou pursued Chen Mu and Mingye, caught up, and slashed at them with a great saber.

Chen Mu used talismans and a stream to escape Zhu Dou with the powerless Mingye, then hid with her in a concealed stone chamber. After discovering the Spirit-Locking Clasp sealing Mingye’s Spiritual Power, Chen Mu offered to study the Demonic Pattern and remove it.

• Chen Mu refused to abandon Mingye and fled Zhu Dou’s pursuit, using Instant Movement Talismans to reach a stream and travel downstream.
• Chen Mu found a small cave in the rocks and concealed himself and Mingye inside it.
• Mingye spotted a mechanism in the cave wall, and Chen Mu opened a stone door that led to a hidden chamber.
• Chen Mu lit a candle and discovered a skeleton on the stone bed in the chamber.
• Chen Mu noticed the chains embedded in Mingye’s back and learned that the Spirit-Locking Clasp sealed her Spiritual Power.
• Chen Mu asked to examine Mingye’s Demonic Pattern, saying he might be able to undo the seal, and Mingye agreed.

Chen Mu altered Mingye’s sealing Demonic Pattern into a recovery pattern and removed the Spirit-Locking Clasps. After Mingye changed into his spare robes, she noticed the female skeleton in the chamber and bowed to it in gratitude.

• Chen Mu cleaned Mingye’s wounds, altered the Demonic Pattern on her back, and pulled out the Spirit-Locking Clasps.
• The changed pattern repaired Mingye’s wounds, and Chen Mu explained that it would heal her when activated with Spiritual Power.
• Mingye asked Chen Mu for spare clothes, and he handed her a set of male disciple robes.
• Chen Mu accidentally saw Mingye’s silhouette in the candlelight and suffered another nosebleed before she finished changing.
• Mingye examined the female skeleton and bowed to thank it for the stone chamber that had saved them.

Mingye touched a celadon bottle and experienced Yan Xue’s memories of her love for Yang Wentian, her exile, and her final years at the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion. She obtained the Seven-Colored Heavenly Art and left Yan Xue’s tomb with Chen Mu, then reunited with A Huo and Chen Duo.

• Mingye touched the bottle in Yan Xue’s skeletal hand and witnessed Yan Xue and Yang Wentian’s history, from Yan Xue’s exile to their battle against the Heavenly Court and her death in the stone chamber.
• Mingye learned that the bottle contained the Seven-Colored Heavenly Art and told Chen Mu about Yan Xue and Yang Wentian.
• Mingye decided to leave Yan Xue’s remains undisturbed in the stone chamber, and she and Chen Mu went outside.
• Chen Mu checked on A Huo and Chen Duo and learned that Elder Mo and the Law Enforcement Hall had searched Treasure Arrival Peak but failed to catch the suspicious person.

After Zhu Dou attacked Chen Mu and his companions, Chen Mu strengthened their defenses, gathered information, and prepared them for revenge. That night, the group went to Zhu Dou’s courtyard, where Chen Mu secretly slipped inside under an Invisibility Talisman.

• Chen Mu brought A Huo, Mingye, and Chen Duo to his courtyard, strengthened its defensive array, and went to buy materials and learn about their attacker.
• Chen Mu discovered that the attacker was Zhu Dou of the Spirit Martial Hall, who lived on Treasure Spirit Peak, and bought communication jade tokens for the group.
• Three days later, Mingye broke through to the True Spirit Realm, and Chen Mu upgraded everyone’s equipment and made talismans for their planned attack.
• Chen Mu and the others agreed to kill Zhu Dou, with Chen Mu tasked with breaking the defensive array and Mingye prepared to fight him directly.
• Zhu Dou treated his wound and planned to capture Chen Mu’s hidden weapon before killing him, unaware that Chen Mu had entered his courtyard under an Invisibility Talisman.

Chen Mu secretly disabled the courtyard’s defensive formation, allowing Mingye, A Huo, and Duoduo to ambush Zhu Dou. They killed Zhu Dou, but an elderly voice then rebuked them for killing someone in the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion.

• Chen Mu planted Formation-Breaking Flags until the courtyard’s defensive formation stopped working, while Mingye, A Huo, and Duoduo prepared their positions.
• Mingye attacked Zhu Dou in his room, and Chen Mu struck him when he fled through the window.
• Zhu Dou fought back and tried to escape, but Mingye and Chen Mu pursued him while Duoduo shot him with a rune bullet.
• Duoduo’s sword strike pierced Zhu Dou’s chest, and Mingye cut off his head after Chen Mu signaled her.
• An aged voice from a distance rebuked them for killing someone in the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion.

After Zhu Dou’s death, Cao Lingxiao brought Chen Mu and the others to the Law Enforcement Hall, where an investigation confirmed their account. Cao Lingxiao took A Huo as his disciple, and Chen Mu secured his friends’ courtyards before preparing to visit Elder Ming again.

• Cao Lingxiao brought Chen Mu, A Huo, Mingye, and Chen Duo to the Law Enforcement Hall to investigate Zhu Dou’s death.
• Wang Jun investigated the incident, and Cao Lingxiao told the group they were free to go after confirming their account.
• Cao Lingxiao recognized A Huo’s sword chant and offered to take him as his personal disciple; A Huo accepted.
• Chen Mu arranged powerful talisman formations to protect A Huo’s and Mingye’s courtyards.
• Chen Mu optimized the Chess Position Solver after it solved the endgame and prepared to visit Elder Ming the next day.

Chen Mu solved Elder Ming’s game and sought his guidance on the Dao of Talismans, then asked him to become his master. Elder Ming worried he could not provide enough resources, but Chen Mu insisted that his knowledge was what mattered.

• Tuoba Rong slapped Tuoba Ziying for causing trouble in Chen Village and decided to wait until the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion’s disciples descended the mountain next year before dealing with Mingye.
• Chen Mu solved Elder Ming’s unfinished game and was invited into his home.
• Chen Mu asked Elder Ming about the relationship between the five elements and space, and Elder Ming explained the principles as they discussed talismans through the morning.
• Chen Mu shared beggar’s chicken with Elder Ming, who praised his cooking.
• Chen Mu asked Elder Ming to take him as a disciple, and, despite Elder Ming’s concerns about limited resources, insisted he wanted his guidance on talismans.

Chen Mu became Elder Ming’s personal disciple and accepted a yearlong contest against He Xiao’s disciple, Ge Yu. Chen Duo and Chen Mu’s other companions also found masters, and the four settled into cultivation at Heaven-Questioning Pavilion.

• Elder Ming formally took Chen Mu as his personal disciple and registered him at the Talisman Master Hall, where He Xiao mocked them.
• He Xiao challenged Elder Ming to compete through their disciples’ results on the sect’s training expedition a year later, wagering his Purple Lightning Heaven-Piercing Brush against Elder Ming’s Nine Heavens Blazing Sun Brush.
• Chen Mu accepted the contest and said he was confident, so Elder Ming agreed to the wager.
• Chen Duo told Chen Mu that Qiu Zhen, master of the Overlord Body Hall, wanted her as his personal disciple, and Chen Mu urged her to accept.
• Qiu Zhen accepted Chen Duo as his disciple, and A Huo and Mingye also took masters before the four devoted themselves to cultivation and study.

Chen Mu searched for ways to earn contribution points and discovered that Floating Light and Fleeting Shadow Discs played three-dimensional recorded illusions. Intrigued by their rune technology, he bought a Flowing Shadow Rune Box and several discs and began studying how they were made.

• Chen Mu, having spent his contribution points on rune research and workshop facilities, went to the exchange center looking for a way to earn more.
• Chen Mu entered an antique shop hoping to find valuable ancient runes, then became curious when a female disciple bought three Floating Light and Fleeting Shadow Discs.
• Chen Mu bought a cheap Fleeting Shadow Disc and watched the shopkeeper project its blurry three-dimensional story with a Flowing Shadow Rune Box.
• Chen Mu purchased a Flowing Shadow Rune Box and several more discs, then brought them to his courtyard to study.
• Chen Mu learned from the Floating Light and Fleeting Shadow Technique that Floating Light Glazed Glass could seal illusions and sound and be used to reproduce illusion segments.

Chen Mu turned his research into Floating Light and Fleeting Shadow Discs into a plan to earn contribution points, creating the first installment of Legend of the Immortal Sword and Gallant Heroes. He met Hou Tian to discuss selling it and left him preparing to watch the finished disc.

• Chen Mu showed Chen Duo a vivid illusion and explained that he planned to make money by producing Floating Light and Fleeting Shadow Discs.
• Chen Mu told Chen Duo the opening of Legend of the Immortal Sword and Gallant Heroes, and her eager reaction convinced him the story would succeed.
• Chen Mu used Rune Core No. 2 to help create dynamic images and spent a month completing a half-hour disc.
• Chen Mu contacted Hou Sailei, who arranged a meeting with his cousin Hou Tian to discuss a collaboration.
• Chen Mu presented the disc to Hou Tian, who darkened the room and prepared to play it.

Chen Mu turned Legend of the Immortal Sword and Gallant Heroes into a profitable business in the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion while advancing his cultivation. A year later, he prepared to descend the mountain with his companions for a month of training, with his divine soul’s next breakthrough still requiring a Yang Tribulation.

• Chen Mu and Hou Tian agreed to sell the first episode of Legend of the Immortal Sword and Gallant Heroes, signing a contract that gave Chen Mu eighty percent of the proceeds.
• After the first thirty copies sold well, Hou Tian ordered more discs, and Chen Mu earned around thirteen thousand contribution points from sales.
• Over the following seven months, two more episodes came out, the story captivated disciples, and Hou Tian ordered a thousand copies of the fourth episode and paid Chen Mu a fifty-thousand-contribution-point deposit.
• Chen Mu used his earnings to buy equipment and cultivation resources for Mingye, Chen Duo, and A Huo, who all made substantial progress.
• Chen Mu advanced his Spiritual Power to the Late Qi Nourishing Realm and began cultivating his divine soul with the second layer of the Karmic Fire Cushion, but reaching the Solid Realm would require a Yang Tribulation.

Chen Mu’s master, Elder Ming, took him to an erupting volcano to harvest Fire Essence Crystals that could strengthen Chen Mu’s Five Elements Chaos Talisman. After preparing a specialized flying ship and waiting for the eruption to end, they entered the crater to search for the crystals.

• Chen Mu considered the risks of the Yang Tribulation and continued tempering his soul with Karmic Fire as he prepared for a future breakthrough.
• Elder Ming summoned Chen Mu to Lava Peak and revealed that he planned to retrieve a Fire Essence Crystal for Chen Mu’s Five Elements Chaos Talisman.
• Elder Ming explained that Fire Essence Crystals vanished within moments of leaving the lava, so Chen Mu would need to absorb any he found immediately.
• After the eruption slowed and stopped, Elder Ming piloted the flying ship into the crater.

Chen Mu absorbed a mysterious pale blue flame at the volcanic crater and began his breakthrough to the Solid Realm. He survived purple Yang Fire with the blue spirit’s help, and his divine soul became solid.

• Chen Mu spotted a pale blue flame figure at the lava lake and drew it into his body, sensing it would help him break through.
• Elder Ming flew Chen Mu away from the volcano, where the Five Elements Chaos Talisman merged with the blue current and triggered the Yang Tribulation.
• Chen Mu asked Elder Ming to strengthen his Yang Fire, enduring it as it rose from pale red through gold.
• The Yang Fire turned purple, and a pale blue figure burst from Chen Mu’s Life-Bound Talisman and collided with it, extinguishing both.
• Chen Mu’s divine soul transformed from illusory to solid, and a miniature version of him appeared above his head.

After surviving his perilous breakthrough to the Solid Realm, Chen Mu joined his fellow Heaven-Questioning Pavilion disciples on a training mission to hunt otherworldly demons along the Haotian Empire’s western border. The group set off by flying ship, bound to help defend the frontier by clearing out demons that slipped past the border pass.

• Chen Mu tested his newly solidified divine soul and recalled that the fire essence spirit had sacrificed itself to save him from purple Yang Fire.
• Half a month later, An Ruhai briefed more than a thousand disciples on their dangerous training mission before they boarded the flying ships.
• Chen Mu and Chen Duo joined Mingye and A Huo aboard their ship and chose a room together.
• The disciples traveled toward the western border, where they were expected to form units and hunt scattered otherworldly demons that raided Haotian Empire territory.

Chen Mu and the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion disciples arrived in Absolute Sword City for a training mission to hunt otherworldly demons. After settling into an inn and reconnecting with Zheng Fengdao, Chen Mu planned to explore the city’s shops for research materials.

• Bai Jinglong welcomed Elder Qing Xue and the disciples, then arranged rooms for them at an inn.
• Elder Qing Xue told the disciples to rest before setting out to sweep through the otherworldly demons the next day.
• Chen Mu reunited with Zheng Fengdao, who said he was nervous about the mission and asked Chen Mu to look after him.
• Chen Mu settled into his room beside Mingye, A Huo, and Chen Duo, then decided to visit the city’s commercial street for materials.
• Chen Duo tried to join Chen Mu’s shopping trip, but he warned her he could not pay for her, so she went back to her room.

Chen Mu and his companions traveled from Absolute Sword City to remote Hengshan Village to hunt alien demons. After proving they were disciples of the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion, they were welcomed by the village guard.

• Chen Mu bought materials in Absolute Sword City and learned that an alien demon had been spotted north of the city.
• Elder Qing Xue told the disciples to form teams for the border cleanup, and Chen Mu chose Chen Duo, Mingye, and A Huo as his teammates.
• Chen Mu selected a remote village as their destination and used his repaired folding flying boat to carry the group there.
• Chen Mu and his companions reached Hengshan Village, where a burly guard challenged them at the gate.
• Chen Mu showed the guard his Heaven-Questioning Pavilion nameplate, and the guard smiled in recognition.

Chen Mu and his companions tracked an otherworldly demon through the Black Swamp Forest and let the wounded Mo Zha escape so they could follow him. Mo Zha reached a meeting place where Lu Ruo was hiding, unaware the humans might be on their trail.

• Village chief Di Wei told Chen Mu that otherworldly demons had been seen in the Black Swamp Forest, but Chen Mu declined his offered spirit stones and set out with his companions.
• Chen Mu led Chen Duo, A Huo, and Mingye into the forest, where his expanded divine-soul detection helped them avoid a demonic beast and locate a humanoid demon.
• Chen Duo wounded the Advanced Demon Soldier Mo Zha in a brief fight, and Chen Mu stopped her from pursuing him.
• Mo Zha fled toward the agreed meeting place, hoping to reach the powerful Junior Demon General Gandi and escape the human cultivators.
• Mo Zha warned Lu Ruo that he had encountered humans, and Lu Ruo struck him before hiding with another demon near their meeting place to await Gandi.

Chen Mu and his companions ambushed and killed the Otherworldly Demons, though Mingye had to kill the last survivor after Chen Mu let him flee under oath. The survivor’s claim that a Demon King met a human expert at Chaotic Stone Peak left Chen Mu uncertain, so the group headed back to Absolute Sword City to report it to Elder Qing.

• Chen Mu waited until dusk for the Otherworldly Demons to gather, then attacked with A Huo and Chen Duo while Mingye stayed hidden as backup.
• Chen Mu used Heart-Burning Flame to weaken the demons, and A Huo and Chen Duo killed several of them.
• The last Demon General offered a secret in exchange for his life, and Chen Mu swore by Pan Emperor not to hunt him if the secret was worthwhile.
• The Demon General revealed that he had seen a Demon King meet a human expert at Chaotic Stone Peak, then fled and was killed by Mingye.
• Chen Mu and the others collected the demon cores and ears, and decided to return to Absolute Sword City to report the claim to Elder Qing.

After learning that Wind Sea Pass had fallen and spies were operating in Absolute Sword City, Chen Mu considered fleeing before the city conscripted its cultivators. When Bai Jinglong warned him not to leave, Chen Mu gathered Mingye and the others to plan for the coming attack and revealed a weapon he had been developing.

• Chen Mu told Elder Qing Xue and Bai Jinglong that a demon general had revealed the otherworldly demons had spies in the city.
• Bai Jinglong said Wind Sea Pass had fallen, the empire had ordered them to defend Absolute Sword City, and reinforcements led by the sixth prince might not arrive until the city had suffered heavy losses.
• Chen Mu realized the cultivators might be forcibly conscripted and considered escaping, but Bai Jinglong warned that any Heaven-Questioning Pavilion disciple who fled would be reported as a deserter.
• Chen Mu gathered Mingye and the others, estimated they had more than ten days to prepare, and discussed how the demon army might threaten the city.
• Chen Mu revealed a mechanical puppet covered in gun barrels and said his talisman-device research could change the outcome of a local battle.