Recaps

Lu Dahai taught cultivation techniques and combat practice to Great Xia’s cultivators, then traveled to the Cultivation Administration to teach its nationwide elite members. The chapter ended as he greeted the assembled guards and prepared to begin.

• Lu Dahai demonstrated how to conserve Spiritual Power while maintaining the Fireball Technique’s strength.
• Lu Dahai sparred with Old Five and Maozi, showing how to redirect their attacks and defeat their coordinated assault.
• Lu Dahai showed the cultivators teaching footage from the Dao Academy and held two days of lessons and discussion.
• Xu Mu waited for Lu Dahai at the Cultivation Administration and welcomed him to its cultivation hall.
• Thousands of Cultivation Administration members greeted Lu Dahai, who returned their greeting as a fellow Daoist.

Lu Dahai completed a day of cultivation lectures for the Cultivation Administration, then prepared for a television interview and the opening ceremony of Dragon Abyss Academy. During the live broadcast, he explained Foundation Establishment and demonstrated spiritual power to viewers in Great Xia and around the world.

• Lu Dahai finished explaining cultivation and Lu Li’s lecture videos to the Cultivation Administration, and Xu Mu thanked him as he departed.
• Lu Dahai learned that he would appear on Great Xia Central Broadcasting Station’s morning program and attend Dragon Abyss Academy’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
• Lu Dahai reflected on the hundreds of thousands of Qi sensitives Great Xia expected to guide and the establishment of Dragon Abyss Academy.
• Lu Dahai appeared live on Morning Outlook, where Lan An asked him to explain Foundation Establishment.
• Lu Dahai described Foundation Establishment as the beginning of shedding mortality and formed pale blue-green spiritual Qi at his fingertip, drawing gasps from viewers and studio guests.

As Lu Dahai’s cultivation achievements stunned world leaders, officials abroad grew desperate for access to Great Xia’s cultivation methods. Meanwhile, Qi-senser Li Qingshan left his village for Dragon Abyss Academy, where a flying-sword arrival showed him that his university was far from ordinary.

• The president of Beautiful Country watched Lu Dahai demonstrate Foundation Establishment and decided he would do anything to cultivate, even become a citizen of Great Xia.
• Officials and intelligence agencies around the world sought Great Xia citizenship or cultivation methods after learning that immortality and supernatural power were real.
• Li Qingshan left his village for Dragon Abyss Academy after being admitted as a Qi-senser.
• Li Qingshan arrived at the academy, completed his dormitory registration, and heard that True Person Lu would attend its ribbon-cutting.
• A middle-aged cultivator descended into the academy on a flying sword, and Li Qingshan realized his university was unusual.

Lu Dahai learned how Dragon Abyss Academy would train cultivators, while Liu Yingjun chose to remain at Goose Factory and prepare for a Spirit Realm Project meeting. In Shen City, Zhao Dezhu taught three young Qi sensers his dangerous, improvised cultivation method, and one boy began to suffer from it.

• Zhang Xuanqing explained Dragon Abyss Academy’s cultivation and hundred arts curriculum, faculty, admissions, and plans to send graduates into national research work.
• Liu Yingjun reflected on his rise at Goose Factory and decided against joining the authorities, then went to a meeting about the Spirit Realm Project.
• Zhao Dezhu told three young Qi sensers that his self-taught method could help them reach the First Layer of Qi Refinement.
• One boy followed Zhao Dezhu’s breathing instructions, turned red, and said his stomach felt as if it would explode.

Qi Hao’s patrol stopped Zhao Dezhu from privately teaching children a cultivation method and saved a boy whose Qi was about to run wild. After reporting the arrests and missed Qi-sensitive residents, Qi Hao returned to an unsolved spirit-rice theft case that might involve a demon beast.

• Zhao Dezhu panicked when a boy began to suffer from unstable Qi and considered killing him and the other children.
• Qi Hao and other Cultivation Administration guards arrived by helicopter, pinned Zhao Dezhu down, and Qi Hao stabilized the boy’s Qi.
• Qi Hao arrested Zhao Dezhu for illegally transmitting cultivation methods and ordered the children’s identities checked and the area searched for other people with a sense of Qi.
• Qi Hao reported the incident to Hundred Guard Liu Junqi, who ordered a thorough investigation and reminded him to inspect private Spirit Machinery laboratories.
• Qi Hao reviewed the unresolved theft of nearly a hundred jin of spirit rice and wondered whether a demon beast had stolen it.

Qi Hao returned home and resolved to pursue greater cultivation so he could remain with his non-cultivating wife, while Lu Li secluded himself to refine the monkey wine. In Lu Li’s absence, Yuanhao imposed ideological lessons and sweeping reforms on the Golden Ape Blessed Land, determined to serve his headmaster faithfully.

• Qi Hao came home to Li Wei, worried that she would age and die before him because she could not cultivate.
• A news report about uploading consciousness gave Qi Hao hope that advanced technology might let him remain with Li Wei, and he vowed to raise his cultivation.
• Lu Li entered seclusion after returning from the Golden Ape Blessed Land, aiming to refine three vats of ten-thousand-year-old monkey wine and reach Golden Core Great Perfection.
• Jin Jue questioned Yuanhao about requiring the tribes to attend lessons, but Yuanhao said the patriarch had ordered them and insisted everyone comply.
• Yuanhao wrote story-based ideological lessons portraying Lu Li as a virtuous headmaster and planned to spread hundreds of versions throughout the blessed land.

Lu Li continued refining ten-thousand-year monkey wine while worrying about his missing disciples, and Xu Xiong established a Commerce Hall to recruit talented inner academy disciples. Qian Dabao eagerly declared his intention to join, claiming his family had been merchants for generations.

• Nether Toad returned from the Heavenly Wolf Blessed Land with two fourth-tier spirit medicines, and Lu Li told him to keep them for his injuries before he flew back to guard the outer academy.
• Lu Li drank ten-thousand-year monkey wine in seclusion and worried that Lu Changming had ventured out and might not return safely.
• Xu Xiong bought nearly seventy percent of the Golden Ape Blessed Land's golden thread grass with Golden Ape and Yuanhao, then decided to recruit a team skilled in commerce.
• After receiving Lu Li's approval, Xu Xiong announced the establishment of a Commerce Hall to oversee trade, resources, market analysis, and investments.
• Dong Qing dismissed the Dao of Commerce and remained committed to her Battle Hall training and sword cultivation.
• Qian Dabao wept with excitement over the announcement and rushed into the General Affairs Hall, demanding to see Xu Xiong because his family had been merchants for generations.

Xu Xiong began the Commerce Hall’s duty disciple assessment with three business problems, and Qian Dabao swiftly solved all of them with practical strategies. Impressed by Qian Dabao’s merchant background, Xu Xiong found a promising recruit ready to help the Commerce Hall prosper.

• Xu Xiong introduced the Commerce Hall assessment and presented problems about raising the value of a poultry shop, repurposing unsold flying swords, and selling Water-Repelling Talismans.
• The disciples struggled to understand the questions, while Xu Xiong waited for someone to answer.
• Qian Dabao volunteered and proposed selling eggs to buy more chickens, then circulating the resulting sales to grow the poultry shop’s assets.
• Qian Dabao suggested dismantling the flying swords and selling their components, and bundling the talismans with useful supplies and a survival booklet to create demand.
• Xu Xiong praised Qian Dabao, who explained that his ancestors had been merchants and vowed to carry the Commerce Hall to greater glory.

Lu Li broke through to late Golden Core and entrusted Xu Xiong with expanding the Commerce Hall, giving him a book on oversight. Far away, Lu Changming sneezed and then found a strange black-and-red mark burning between his brows.

• Xu Xiong reported the Commerce Hall’s progress and plans to make stockpiling Yellow Sprout Pills its year-end assessment.
• Lu Li broke through to late Golden Core, gaining an enormous increase in his Spiritual Power and Divine Sense.
• Lu Li gave Xu Xiong the Wealth-Mirroring and Heart-Illuminating Book and advised him to consult Changye while speculating on Yellow Sprout Pills.
• After Xu Xiong left, Lu Li thought of Changming and wondered where he was.
• Lu Changming sneezed while traveling in the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture, then felt the space between his brows burn and saw it turn black and red.

After Hanging Blade Pass fell, Ye Chenfeng decided to infiltrate the Demon Manor’s heartland to rescue Lu Changming. Meanwhile, Lu Changming fled a disastrous omen and discovered a ruin, where he entered wearing Lord-grade magical armor and ordered its assistant to search ahead.

• Ye Chenfeng saw Hanging Blade Pass in ruins and concluded that the Prefecture-Breaking War had reached the stage where the pass had been breached.
• Ye Chenfeng resolved to return to the Demon Manor’s heartland to rescue Junior Brother Lu, while Elder Jian gave up trying to dissuade him.
• Lu Changming saw a terrible black-and-red omen, judged that danger lay to the east, and fled west to avoid it.
• After several dozen days of retreating, Lu Changming found a ruined cave abode in Market Tower Valley and decided to explore it.
• Lu Changming equipped Lord-grade individual combat magical armor and instructed the Heart of Primordial Beginning to search the cave abode ruins.

Lu Changming used Sovereign-Grade Spirit Machinery Law Armor 3.0 to scan a cave abode and found a sealed chamber that interfered with his equipment and Divine Sense. At the same time, Ye Chenfeng entered the same ruins and became intent on opening the chamber, leaving both men poised to break through its door.

• Lu Changming activated the armor’s detection systems, which mapped the valley and recommended that he maintain spiritual Gang protection while investigating.
• Lu Changming deposited a hundred Spirit Stones into the armor, followed the map to the sealed chamber, and found that its stone door blocked his Divine Sense and caused his display to distort.
• Ye Chenfeng reached the Demon Manor heartland, noticed an unusual presence drawing him toward the cave abode, and decided to investigate before continuing to Azure Pool Blessed Land.
• Ye Chenfeng explored the ruined cave abode and found only a sealed chamber, whose door his Divine Sense could not penetrate.
• Lu Changming and Ye Chenfeng each raised a hand to blast open the sealed chamber, independently deciding to see what lay inside.

Lu Changming and Ye Chenfeng fell into the Mirage Soul Pearl’s illusions after opening the secret chamber, while its master tried to drain them. As they fought desperately to save their loved ones, Lu Changming’s Dharma Armor began an automatic takeover and an awakened presence stirred within Ye Chenfeng.

• Lu Changming and Ye Chenfeng struck the stone door, triggering an illusion that showed Lu Changming his master in danger and Ye Chenfeng Lu Li pinned beneath a great toad demon.
• The stone door opened to reveal a gray pearl beside a skeleton, and the pearl’s master gloated over trapping the two cultivators as nourishment.
• Lu Changming burned his spiritual power to protect his master, while Ye Chenfeng tried to rescue Lu Li and mobilized the sword pellet in his Dantian.
• The pearl’s master strengthened the illusions, but the Dharma Armor detected abnormal Divine Sense fluctuations and began a takeover countdown.
• A vast presence awakened within Ye Chenfeng and asked what was happening before reacting with alarm.

Elder Jian awakened to find Ye Chenfeng and Lu Changming trapped by a Soul Dao cultivator, and the Spirit Machinery Law Armor’s autonomous attack disrupted the threat. After control returned to Lu Changming, Ye Chenfeng recognized the armor as Lu Changming’s work, while Lu Changming recognized him as Martial Uncle Ye from Azure Pool.

• Elder Jian recognized the gray bead as a Soul Dao cultivator’s life-bound treasure and startled its owner with his powerful Divine Sense.
• The Spirit Machinery Law Armor detected danger and unleashed a powerful attack, blasting Ye Chenfeng and the gray bead into the cave walls.
• Ye Chenfeng and Lu Changming recovered from the illusion, and Lu Changming ordered Primordial Beginning to end default control and switch to manual control.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to seize the gray bead, but Ye Chenfeng instead examined the law armor and realized it was Lu Changming’s work.
• Lu Changming recognized Ye Chenfeng and asked whether he was Martial Uncle Ye from Azure Pool.

Ye Chenfeng rescued Lu Changming and killed Huijinzi, a weakened Nascent Soul soul cultivator, learning secrets that could help them escape the Demon Manor. Lu Changming left to continue tempering himself, while Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to study Huijinzi’s soul-cultivation method and considered switching to the Soul Dao.

• Lu Changming recognized Ye Chenfeng as his martial uncle and explained that Huijinzi was the villain who had attacked them.
• Ye Chenfeng used his sword techniques to shatter Huijinzi’s Mirage Soul Pearl, capture his Divine Soul, and search and refine it for information.
• Ye Chenfeng learned Huijinzi had faked his death, cultivated the Soul Dao, and only recently become a Nascent Soul cultivator before meeting them while depleted.
• Lu Changming gave Ye Chenfeng the pearl and departed to continue his training, wary of staying near him.
• Ye Chenfeng remembered Lu Li and felt that meeting Lu Changming meant he might soon see his old friend again.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to inspect the pearl’s contents, then considered cultivating the Soul Dao himself.

Ye Chenfeng set out to rescue Junior Brother Lu after acquiring a soul treasure, while Lu Li felt an unexplained sense of foreboding and left seclusion to inspect the Battle Hall. The chapter ended with Lu Li arriving as its disciples studied the strategy of prolonged warfare.

• Elder Jian asked Ye Chenfeng to share the Soul Dao art and resources, and Ye Chenfeng gave them to him.
• Ye Chenfeng kept the soul bead to give to Junior Brother Lu and continued toward the blessed land, hoping to help him escape the Demon Manor.
• Lu Li sneezed during his cultivation, grew uneasy, and considered whether the Prefecture-Breaking War or the Dao Academy's weak combat forces were behind his warning.
• Lu Li ended his seclusion and flew to inspect the inner academy's Battle Hall.
• Lu Li heard eight Battle Hall disciples studying a lesson titled "On protracted war: the strategic essentials of high-intensity cultivation warfare!"

Lu Li observed the Battle Hall disciples studying Great Xia’s military courses and undertaking a campaign simulation to seize the Three Tiger Blessed Lands. As they developed plans to defeat the three Nascent Soul demon progenitors, Lu Li wondered whether the diligent Dong Qing had an unusual identity.

• Lu Li reflected on the Battle Hall’s five courses, which trained disciples in combat, Spirit Machinery, joint operations, and strategic planning.
• A Jade Slip projection presented an assessment requiring the disciples to seize the Three Tiger Blessed Lands within 72 two-hour periods while limiting casualties and defeating at least two Nascent Soul demon progenitors.
• The eight Battle Hall disciples began drafting plans, discussing ways to divide the three demon progenitors, use Spirit Machinery, and manage their limited supplies.
• Lu Li watched without interrupting and felt reassured by the disciples’ diligence and loyalty.
• Lu Li noticed Dong Qing, a promising short-haired female cultivator, and wondered whether she was no ordinary person.

Lu Li inspected the Artifact Hall and found that its four long-term disciples used the Heart of Primordial Beginning to improve their artifact refinement, though one had also used it to read storybooks. He confronted them and singled out Li Nanci, leaving the disciple to answer for his idling.

• Lu Li considered whether Dong Qing might be a Heavenly Mandate Bearer, then decided her ordinary behavior meant he had worried unnecessarily.
• Lu Li left the Battle Hall assessment grading to the Heart of Primordial Beginning and traveled to the Artifact Hall.
• Lu Li saw that the Artifact Hall's four disciples had access to the Heart of Primordial Beginning and heard one ask it to play storybooks.
• The disciples recognized Lu Li as the Headmaster and greeted him respectfully.
• Lu Li questioned the disciples about their artifact-refinement progress and asked Li Nanci why he had used the Heart of Primordial Beginning for storybooks again.

Li Nanci asked Lu Li about the Heart of Primordial Beginning to understand how it worked, then revealed his own first-tier auxiliary Law Artifact, the Heart of Second Primordial. Lu Li praised its craftsmanship and suggested ways to improve it, including making it expandable and using it to organize the Artifact Hall’s daily affairs.

• Li Nanci asked Lu Li how the Heart of Primordial Beginning produced sound, understood people’s needs, and offered assistance.
• Lu Li explained that artifact inscriptions, vibration components, and recorded knowledge allowed the Heart of Primordial Beginning to function.
• Li Nanci revealed that he had refined the Heart of Second Primordial and asked Lu Li how it could be optimized.
• Lu Li examined the small Law Artifact and noted its limited functions, then questioned Li Nanci about its name and size.
• Li Nanci explained that he wanted the artifact small enough to carry or place inside his spiritual platform and activate with Divine Sense.
• Lu Li suggested adding transformation inscriptions and integrating the Artifact Hall’s daily affairs into the artifact.

Lu Li visited the outer court to inspect its talent pool and prepare for next year’s inner court recruitment, while studying Great Xia’s proposed aerospace law warship. He arrived at the outer court still dreaming of building the Void Breaking-class vessel, though its most ambitious technologies remained out of reach.

• Lu Li answered Li Nanci’s questions about Artifact Refinement, then assigned him a month of clearing slag from the Artifact Hall’s furnaces as punishment for wasting computing power.
• Lu Li inspected the inner court halls, gave instructions to supervisory elders, and set off for the outer court to look for promising disciples.
• During the journey, Lu Li examined law boat models and admired Great Xia’s projected design for a Void Breaking-class aerospace law warship.
• Lu Li reviewed the warship’s specifications and concluded that its fifth-tier armor and spatial-jump technology were major obstacles to building it.
• Lu Li reached the outer court, where disciples welcomed him.

Lu Li visited the outer academy and overheard Dao Society president Jiang Wuxie preparing to seek advancement to the inner academy again. Suspecting that Jiang's repeated rejections stemmed from his character assessment, Lu Li asked Primordial Beginning to show him Jiang's past assessments.

• Lu Li arrived at the outer academy and saw disciples speculating that he would choose candidates for the inner academy.
• Lu Li entered the Dao Society hall in secret and listened as Jiang Wuxie discussed submitting candidates for advancement.
• Jiang Wuxie said he would try for the inner academy again despite having been rejected for several years.
• Lu Li suspected Jiang Wuxie's character assessment had caused the rejections and asked Primordial Beginning to retrieve his past assessment replays.

Lu Li reviewed Jiang Wuxie's past character assessments and discovered that the talented disciple repeatedly chose ruthless options that caused him to fail. After the Heart of Primordial Beginning inferred that Jiang Wuxie intended to refine souls to gain power for revenge, Lu Li decided to let Elder Yuanhao guide him.

• Lu Li watched Jiang Wuxie's previous assessment, in which Jiang Wuxie took his senior brother's Divine Soul but let a plague-stricken city perish and gathered its people's souls.
• The Heart of Primordial Beginning explained that Jiang Wuxie had chosen neither standard solution and had failed the assessment.
• The Heart of Primordial Beginning inferred that Jiang Wuxie likely planned to refine the souls to advance his cultivation and avenge his senior brother and the city's people.
• Lu Li watched Jiang Wuxie's other past assessments, saw that they had all ended in failure, and decided Elder Yuanhao should pay closer attention to him.

Lu Li approved reserving Jiang Wuxie a chance to enter the inner court and toured the Litian Grand Market, where he sensed a concealed Golden Core cultivator. When they finally met, Lu Li recognized the newcomer as Ye Chenfeng.

• Lu Li reviewed Jiang Wuxie's past assessments, judged his unusual methods correctable, and instructed the Heart of Primordial Beginning to reserve him a place next year pending another assessment.
• Lu Li visited the Litian Grand Market and observed its busy trade, law enforcement patrols, and mixture of cultivators and mortals.
• Lu Li sensed a hidden Golden Core cultivator in the market and headed toward him, while the stranger also approached after detecting Lu Li's powerful presence.
• Lu Li and the passing cultivator came face to face, recognized each other, and Ye Chenfeng greeted him as Senior Brother Lu.

Lu Li unexpectedly reunited with Ye Chenfeng, who returned to rescue him from what he believed was a demon’s den. After hearing Ye Chenfeng’s offer to help him escape, Lu Li began revealing that he was safe and that Azure Pool had become Litian Blessed Land.

• Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian were shocked to discover that Lu Li had reached Late Golden Core.
• Lu Li recognized Ye Chenfeng, invited him to the outer court’s main hall, and shared spirit tea with him.
• Ye Chenfeng recounted fleeing Azure Pool, joining Hanging Blade Pass, and returning after it fell.
• Ye Chenfeng offered Lu Li a fourth-tier soul treasure and proposed taking him back to Jingxi Prefecture when the Prefecture-Breaking War began.
• Lu Li told Ye Chenfeng that no one was forcing him to do anything and that the place was now called Litian Blessed Land.

Elder Jian inferred that Lu Li was a reincarnated mighty cultivator who secretly controlled Azure Pool, then revealed himself to Lu Li and treated him as a fellow Daoist. Lu Li cautiously greeted him and asked Great Xia how to answer Elder Jian’s question about whether he came from the Central Continent.

• Elder Jian pieced together Lu Li’s rapid rise and suspected he was either host to an ancient existence or a reincarnated mighty cultivator.
• Elder Jian emerged from Ye Chenfeng’s Dantian and introduced himself to Lu Li as Jian Canglan.
• Lu Li was stunned by Elder Jian’s appearance and reported the situation to Great Xia through his jade pendant.
• Li Yuanchao told Lu Li to remain calm, avoid agreeing to anything, and greet Elder Jian cautiously.
• Elder Jian apologized for not greeting Lu Li sooner, concluded that Lu Li was a reincarnated mighty cultivator, and asked whether he came from the Central Continent.
• Lu Li asked Great Xia’s leader how he should answer Elder Jian.

Lu Li reassured Ye Chenfeng about his rise to headmaster of Beyond Heaven Dao Academy while concealing Great Xia’s role, and Elder Jian mistook him for a powerful reincarnated cultivator. Ye Chenfeng chose to remain at the academy and gave Lu Li a soul treasure and Soul Dao knowledge, leaving Lu Li with hope for Great Xia’s Spirit World project.

• Elder Jian questioned Lu Li about his origins, and Lu Li gave a vague answer that convinced Elder Jian he was a reincarnated great cultivator.
• Lu Li explained his recent history to Ye Chenfeng and advised him to return to Jingxi Prefecture, but Ye Chenfeng decided to stay at the Dao Academy.
• Lu Li agreed to let Ye Chenfeng remain in the outer court, provided he followed the academy’s rules.
• Ye Chenfeng gave Lu Li a fourth-tier soul treasure bead and shared the Soul Dao lore he had learned from Elder Jian.
• Lu Li recognized the bead and knowledge as valuable to Great Xia’s Soul Dao research and left Ye Chenfeng to cultivate in peace.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to maintain his relationship with Lu Li, and Ye Chenfeng replied that he had never been wrong about Senior Brother Lu.