Recaps

After beginning Qi Refining, Li Xingkong prepared to sell his farm and return to the Divine Land, but first decided to settle old scores on Prisoner Continent. He learned that Ellie had left the hotel and gone to a strip club, then headed there by taxi to take revenge.

• Li Xingkong continued cultivating, tempering his bones and strengthening his waist while arranging to sell his farm and ship his belongings home.
• After his farm sold, Li Xingkong returned to the hotel to find the clerk who had nearly trapped him in a honey trap, but learned she had been replaced by a new clerk.
• The new clerk told Li Xingkong that the former clerk, Ellie, had quit after becoming involved with gangsters and was rumored to work at a strip club.
• Li Xingkong checked into the hotel, waited until evening, and took a taxi to the strip club called Beautiful Lady.

Li Xingkong went to Beautiful Lady to find Ellie, but learned she had left the club and was living in a slum on Tree-lined Street. He ran there to test his abilities and arrived as the surroundings began to worsen.

• Li Xingkong entered Beautiful Lady and asked a club worker where Ellie was.
• The woman told Li Xingkong that Ellie no longer worked at the club and offered to reveal where she lived in exchange for money.
• Li Xingkong paid her, and she directed him to a slum on Tree-lined Street, telling him to say someone from Beautiful Lady was looking for Ellie.
• Li Xingkong left the club and ran toward Tree-lined Street, estimating his speed at about twenty kilometers per hour.
• Li Xingkong reached Tree-lined Street and saw that the area was far worse than the neighborhood around the club.

Li Xingkong went to the slums to find Ellie, the woman who had scammed him at a hotel, but the encounter turned into a fight when she mistook him for an enemy. After confronting her about their past, he left her shaken after pointing her own gun at her and pulling the trigger on an empty chamber.

• Li Xingkong entered Bonfire Gang territory looking for Ellie and fought off the thugs who attacked him.
• Ellie shot at Li Xingkong, but he distracted her, leaped over a wall, and tackled her before taking her gun.
• Li Xingkong recognized Ellie as the former hotel receptionist who had scammed him, and she offered to settle their past encounter.
• Seeing how destitute Ellie had become, Li Xingkong chose not to demand compensation and instead pointed her gun at her head.
• Li Xingkong pulled the trigger, but the gun clicked without firing, and Ellie collapsed in shock.

After reflecting on his revenge against Ellie, Li Xingkong realized he disliked using strength to bully the weak and decided to go after the mastermind behind her scheme instead. Ellie named Nature City Councilor Luke Morgan, and Li Xingkong hurried off to confront him.

• Li Xingkong explained to the system that he had disabled Ellie's gun and believed her actions did not deserve death.
• The system helped Li Xingkong recognize that his unease came from using his strength against someone weaker, as the powerful did throughout Prisoner Continent.
• Li Xingkong decided to bypass the hotel gang's lackeys and confront the mastermind behind Ellie's honey trap.
• Li Xingkong returned to the slums, where Ellie warned him against going after the man he had asked about.
• Li Xingkong challenged Ellie to consider why she feared her enemies despite having a gun, and she revealed the man was Nature City Councilor Luke Morgan.
• Ellie warned Li Xingkong not to die, and he hurried off toward Luke Morgan.

Li Xingkong infiltrated the Nature City council building by following a chaotic employee nicknamed Zombie inside. He was assigned to assist Luke Morgan, giving him a chance to get close to the man he wanted revenge on.

• Li Xingkong learned that Luke Morgan controlled much of Nature City’s business and planned to stake him out at the council building.
• Li Xingkong disguised himself and entered the council building by following Zombie, who treated him as a coworker.
• A fat council employee ordered Li Xingkong to assist Luke Morgan when he arrived and gave him a work badge.
• Li Xingkong headed for Luke Morgan’s office while the fat employee admitted he had assigned the job to avoid dealing with Luke himself.

Li Xingkong was assigned to hold an umbrella for Luke Morgan during an outdoor speech, a council gesture that displayed its diminished authority. He waited until Luke arrived and took his place beside him, ready to hear what he would say before acting.

• Li Xingkong entered Luke Morgan's office building, where the strict butler criticized his appearance and ordered him to practice umbrella-holding etiquette.
• A staff member explained that Li Xingkong would represent the council by holding an umbrella over Luke Morgan during his outdoor speech and warned him to leave the city afterward.
• Li Xingkong selected an umbrella and waited for hours as reporters filled the venue.
• Luke Morgan arrived with a crowd of council members, and Li Xingkong opened the umbrella and held it over him.
• Li Xingkong chose to listen to Luke Morgan's speech before making his move.

Li Xingkong interrupted Luke Morgan’s speech and punched him for failing to control his subordinates. He escaped into the crowd in disguise, while the system warned him that leaving the venue would not erase the trouble he had caused.

• Luke Morgan gave a speech blaming Freedom City’s administration and announced that he would take part in council affairs.
• Li Xingkong asked Luke whether bosses were responsible for their subordinates’ mistakes and whether mistakes deserved punishment.
• After Luke agreed, Li Xingkong punched and badly injured his shoulder.
• Li Xingkong fled into the crowd as security tried to contain the venue, and Luke said the matter would be referred to the police.
• Li Xingkong changed his appearance while moving through the crowd, and the system warned him that his escape from the venue would not solve the larger problem.

Li Xingkong tried to leave Freedom City after angering Morgan, but the city was locked down and checkpoints blocked the main roads. He decided to abandon his car and slip out on foot, hoping to avoid being identified through surveillance footage.

• Li Xingkong learned that Freedom City was under lockdown, with police officers and gang members searching for him after his clash with Morgan.
• Li Xingkong drove toward the outskirts and paid gang members at a roadblock to let him pass.
• Li Xingkong reached the city limits and found security forces had set up checkpoints on every road out.
• Li Xingkong explained to the system that surveillance footage and other details could expose his disguise, so he chose to leave the city on foot.
• Li Xingkong gathered food and a sleeping bag and prepared to abandon his car.

Li Xingkong ran from Freedom City toward Nature City, stopping at a remote inn to rest and replenish himself. While eating and drinking, he began tempering the bones near his qi sea using the system’s advanced cultivation knowledge.

• Li Xingkong left Freedom City and ran through the wilderness toward Nature City's airport, checking his phone for directions until he reached a road.
• Li Xingkong stopped at a roadside inn because his legs were exhausted and he needed food and energy.
• Li Xingkong ordered beef and beer from the scarred bald innkeeper, then sat by the window and regulated his body.
• Li Xingkong used Spiritual Qi to begin tempering his spine and bones near his qi sea.
• Li Xingkong relied on the system’s knowledge of cultivation civilizations to guide his bone tempering beyond the methods available to earlier civilizations.

Li Xingkong considered his cultivation and ate with the bald innkeeper while discussing his journey across Prisoner Continent. The meal was interrupted by three thugs searching for him on Lord Morgan’s orders, and they revealed a bounty for his capture.

• Li Xingkong reflected on tempering his spine, his Qi Refining foundation, and the practical techniques he wanted to learn next.
• Li Xingkong shared a meal with the bald innkeeper and said he was hiking across Prisoner Continent from Freedom City.
• Three thugs barged into the inn and intimidated the owner, who confronted them with a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun.
• The lead thug showed the owner a photo of Li Xingkong and said Lord Morgan had offered 200,000 for information about him.

Li Xingkong escaped the inn and continued toward Nature City, but bounty hunters cornered him on the road. He fought back with overwhelming strength, wrecking their vehicles, then searched for his belongings and the cowboy he had pulled from an SUV.

• The inn owner warned Li Xingkong that Luke Morgan had influence across Prisoner Continent and urged him to flee quickly.
• Li Xingkong left for Nature City the next morning and noticed several convoys passing, likely searching for him.
• A group of young bounty hunters circled Li Xingkong, and a cowboy tried to lasso him for the 200,000 bounty.
• Li Xingkong yanked the cowboy through the SUV’s sunroof, then smashed into another vehicle and shattered its windows, leaving its occupants’ fate unclear.
• The remaining SUV fled, but its driver fainted as Li Xingkong chased it, and the passengers jumped out and tumbled onto the road.
• Li Xingkong returned to collect his belongings and wondered where the cowboy had gone.

After wiping out a convoy, Li Xingkong realized that fleeing toward Nature City would not keep him safe in an age of internet searches, and his broken hand made him seek spells he could use without relying on strength. He learned about the Shotgun Spell and asked the system to find him a simpler defensive spell.

• Li Xingkong left the wrecked convoy behind and decided not to pursue the escaped cowboy.
• Li Xingkong concluded that running toward Nature City would not evade pursuit and recognized that his injured hand and vulnerability to bullets limited him.
• Li Xingkong asked the system for a quickly learned ranged attack spell with low mana consumption and a wide area.
• The system recommended the Shotgun Spell, which let Li Xingkong project a handful of pebbles across a broad area with shotgun-like force.
• Li Xingkong asked about defensive magic, and the system explained that maintaining full-body protection would drain too much mana at his current level.
• Li Xingkong requested a stronger protective spell that covered only a small area.

Li Xingkong learned the Shotgun Spell and began constructing Explosive Reactive Armor as a defense against further attacks. After testing the Shotgun Spell in an abandoned building, he found it powerful, efficient, and ready for repeated use.

• The system found Li Xingkong the Explosive Reactive Armor spell, which he planned to shape into a small shield on his arm.
• Li Xingkong left the attack site, found an abandoned roadside building, and began learning the Shotgun Spell.
• Li Xingkong spent nearly two days extending a mana route from the back of his neck to his right hand.
• Li Xingkong completed a working Shotgun Spell structure in his palm and tested it on the abandoned building's furniture and fireplace.
• Li Xingkong found that the spell could hit targets twenty meters away and estimated he could fire it about thirty times before exhausting his mana.

Li Xingkong learned that the Bloody Hand Gang had supplied his location to Luke Morgan’s attackers and was offering a twenty-million bounty for his body. With the system shielding information about his cultivation for half a month, he set off for Freedom City to confront the gang.

• Li Xingkong disabled a convoy of armed attackers, then learned over the walkie-talkie that the Bloody Hand Gang had provided his location and that Luke Morgan wanted him captured or killed.
• The attacker said the Bloody Hand Gang’s core members stayed in Freedom City and that a twenty-million bounty had been placed on Li Xingkong.
• The system explained how conflicts could escalate and cast a spell that limited how information about Li Xingkong’s cultivation could be passed on for half a month.
• Li Xingkong searched the wrecked car, took body armor and a helmet, and started toward Freedom City at high speed.
• After encountering another attack halfway there, Li Xingkong left the car intact and drove for the rest of the journey to conserve his strength.

Li Xingkong staked out the Bloody Hand Gang headquarters while planning a way to make his Shotgun Spell more effective indoors. After using the idea of bouncing rubber bullets to seize a gang member, he demanded to know who led the gang and which floor he was on.

• Li Xingkong found the Bloody Hand Gang headquarters in downtown Freedom City and watched it from a café across the street.
• After a child’s bouncy ball gave him an idea, Li Xingkong decided rubber bullets fired with his Shotgun Spell could ricochet through a room and disable its occupants.
• Li Xingkong spotted a hurried man leaving the headquarters and followed him into a slum.
• Li Xingkong rammed the man’s car, grabbed him by the neck, and carried him to an abandoned construction site.
• Li Xingkong demanded that the man identify the Bloody Hand Gang’s leader and reveal which floor he occupied.

Li Xingkong discovered the Bloody Hand Gang had gathered detailed information on him and planned to capture him, so he attacked their headquarters and escaped. He left the gang’s leadership dead or incapacitated, with their plans disrupted and the gang likely needing to reorganize.

• Li Xingkong learned from a Bloody Hand Gang member that Old Mark was in charge and that the gang’s leaders were on the eleventh and twelfth floors.
• Li Xingkong found documents detailing the gang’s surveillance of him and its seizure of some of his assets, then killed the informant and burned the documents.
• Li Xingkong bought rubber bullets, climbed the headquarters’ outer wall, and attacked the meeting on the twelfth floor through a hole in the glass.
• Li Xingkong found eight people motionless after the attack and discovered documents describing the gang’s plans to capture him.
• Li Xingkong took the documents and several phones, escaped down the building’s exterior, and left the Bloody Hand Gang in disarray.

After attacking the Bloody Hand Gang, Li Xingkong hid in a hotel and waited for a call while resuming Qi Refining. Luke Morgan called to taunt him and lure him to Freedom City Prison with the news that Mike was missing, then sent a drone armed with rockets to attack him.

• Security officers sealed off the Bloody Hand Gang's headquarters as reporters gathered, and Li Xingkong left to hide in a hotel.
• Li Xingkong waited for a call while practicing Qi Refining and reflecting on his failure to plan carefully.
• Luke Morgan called Li Xingkong, admitted he had underestimated him, and claimed that Li Xingkong had destroyed the Bloody Hand Gang.
• Luke Morgan said Mike was missing and challenged Li Xingkong to come to Freedom City Prison.
• Li Xingkong decided to go to the prison, both to find Luke Morgan and to rescue Mike, and threatened Luke over the phone.
• Luke Morgan promised to send Li Xingkong a gift, and Li Xingkong spotted a rocket-armed drone outside and dove for cover while activating Explosive Reactive Armor.

Li Xingkong intercepted two rockets fired by a drone and escaped the ruined building. He concluded that Morgan’s people had tracked him through his phone and decided to locate Morgan before approaching the prison.

• Li Xingkong used his Shotgun Spell to intercept two rockets before they struck his room, then hid in the bedroom as they exploded.
• Li Xingkong escaped through the opposite window while smoke covered his retreat, abandoning his belongings as the drone watched the blasted room.
• Li Xingkong fled through the chaotic block and realized the phone he had used likely exposed his location to Luke Morgan’s nearby people.
• Li Xingkong judged that charging into the prison would play into Morgan’s hands and decided to seek Morgan’s whereabouts first, while considering how Shotgun Spell could intercept attacks.

Li Xingkong searched Luke Morgan’s home, where the butler confirmed Morgan was waiting at Freedom City’s prison. After recovering and preparing water-filled projectiles, Li Xingkong attacked the prison’s defenses and reached the top of its wall.

• Li Xingkong broke into Luke Morgan’s home and restrained the butler, who explained Morgan’s trophy collection and said Morgan was waiting at the prison.
• Li Xingkong spared the butler and left after confirming Morgan’s location, then restored his strength and prepared sample tubes filled with water.
• Li Xingkong approached Freedom City’s prison on foot after noticing signs of landmines around its exposed perimeter.
• Li Xingkong destroyed the attacking drones with a Shotgun Spell and used a water shield to block the prison’s heavy drone fire.
• Li Xingkong climbed the prison wall and searched for a place to enter.

Li Xingkong cleared the prison’s wall defenses and triggered a breakdown in morale among the mercenaries inside. As the defenders began to flee, he left the unarmed men alone and let the prison descend into chaos.

• Li Xingkong landed on the prison wall and used Shotgun Spell to wipe out the nearby defenders.
• Li Xingkong advanced along the barricades, using a gun and his armor to clear the firing positions around the wall.
• Li Xingkong finished clearing the wall in under five minutes, leaving the defenders inside terrified.
• Several squads abandoned their posts and tried to escape, prompting Luke Morgan’s core subordinates to confront them.
• Li Xingkong attacked the core subordinates with Shotgun Spell, worsening the chaos and driving more mercenaries to flee.
• Li Xingkong let the fleeing men go once they threw down their weapons.

Li Xingkong entered the prison’s main building and found Mike trapped in a box filling with cement. After rushing in to free him, Li Xingkong discovered the entrance had sealed shut, leaving them trapped as Luke Morgan appeared outside the glass.

• Li Xingkong descended into the deserted prison yard and cautiously entered the main building.
• He found Mike bound and hooded inside a box, while Luke Morgan taunted him over a speaker and threatened to fill it with cement.
• Li Xingkong destroyed the nearby cameras, then charged into the box when cement began pouring in.
• Li Xingkong removed Mike’s hood and freed him from the chair, but the entrance sealed behind them.
• Li Xingkong’s Shotgun Spell failed to break the wall as the cement rose to their chests, and Luke Morgan appeared beyond the glass.

Luke Morgan came to torment Li Xingkong, who was trapped with Mike inside a glass enclosure filling with cement. Li Xingkong deliberately detonated Explosive Reactive Armor to blast open the curtain wall, escaping the enclosure as the explosion injured people outside.

• Luke Morgan arrived and threatened to keep Li Xingkong and Mike as decorations in his home, with Li Xingkong's head left above the cement.
• Li Xingkong struggled to escape the glass enclosure while the cement increasingly restricted him, and Mike remained bound and unsteady.
• After the system reminded him how Explosive Reactive Armor worked, Li Xingkong realized he could deliberately detonate it against the curtain wall.
• Li Xingkong concentrated most of his mana into the armor on his right arm and triggered an explosion that shattered the glass and drove cement outward.
• Li Xingkong and Mike survived the blast as a person-sized hole opened in the wall, while several people outside were injured and stunned.

Li Xingkong escaped the prison building with Mike and killed Luke Morgan, ending the immediate pursuit. He began recovering in the sunlight, using his Qi Refining Technique and Spiritual Qi to repair his injuries.

• An explosion blasted Li Xingkong and Mike through the building wall, leaving Mike unconscious and Li Xingkong badly injured.
• Li Xingkong kicked Luke Morgan, took his handgun, and shot him dead.
• Li Xingkong dragged Mike out of the prison building as others were left to deal with the aftermath.
• In the sunlight, Li Xingkong's Qi Refining Technique absorbed energy and his Spiritual Qi began repairing his body.

Li Xingkong used his Spiritual Qi to stop his bleeding and make a rough repair of his damaged arm while recovering enough to move. He dragged Mike out of the prison and found his car, with the fleeing soldiers’ tracks offering a safe route out of the minefield.

• Li Xingkong used Spiritual Qi and mana to plug and patch the bleeding arteries throughout his body.
• After nearly five minutes of repairs, Li Xingkong stopped the worst bleeding and began piecing together the major bones in his shattered right hand and arm.
• Li Xingkong continued treating himself as he tied Mike to his waist and dragged him out of the prison.
• Li Xingkong found that the soldiers had fled and left his car untouched outside.
• Li Xingkong followed the soldiers’ tracks to escape the minefield safely.

Li Xingkong returned to Freedom City after escaping the prison and treated his severe injuries at Mike’s house. After two days of recovery, he had repaired the bones throughout his body, while Mike had awakened and stayed quiet.

• Li Xingkong drove away from the prison with the unconscious Mike and returned to Freedom City to rest.
• Li Xingkong bought food and supplies, then took Mike to his house and confirmed that Mike had only minor injuries.
• Li Xingkong used Spiritual Qi to draw pooled blood from his body through his skin and rinsed away the blood in the shower.
• Li Xingkong ate food and calcium tablets while using Spiritual Qi to repair his broken bones.
• Li Xingkong finished repairing his bones after about two days, and Mike had woken up without making a fuss.