Recaps

Lu Li used Great Xia’s technology to repair and optimize a damaged flying sword, earning eighty contribution points. Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian realized the sword was stronger than before and began searching for the mysterious artifact-refining grandmaster, while Lu Li remained unaware that they were looking for him.

• Lu Li studied alchemy and formation arts, then took a task to repair a Tier 1 high-grade flying sword for eighty contribution points.
• Finding the sword’s inscriptions too damaged to identify, Lu Li asked Great Xia to scan and analyze it.
• Great Xia identified the inscriptions and recommended an optimized replacement, which Lu Li used to repair the sword successfully.
• Lu Li turned in the repaired sword and received his contribution points.
• Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian noticed the sword’s power had increased and concluded that its repairer might be a Tier 1 artifact-refining grandmaster.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to find the repairer and befriend him, while Lu Li sneezed outside the Azure Pool Sect and wondered who was thinking about him.

Xu Xiong left the Azure Pool Sect to complete several missions and tested Lu Li’s mysterious Spirit Fire Grenades against three bandit cultivators. Meanwhile, Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian learned that the disciple who accepted the mission they were investigating might be Lu Li.

• Xu Xiong traveled to the Flying Feather Sect, exchanged artifact-refining materials, and continued toward the Hundred Kingdoms Plain to patrol the Zhou Kingdom.
• Three Late Qi Refining bandit cultivators ambushed Xu Xiong, and he threw two Spirit Fire Grenades Lu Li had given him.
• The grenades killed all three bandits, leaving Xu Xiong shocked by their devastating power; he collected their Storage Bags and continued onward.
• Ye Chenfeng bribed the disciple on duty to identify who had accepted the mission, and the disciple recalled someone who preferred easy missions that did not require leaving the sect.
• Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian both suspected that the disciple was Lu Li.

Ye Chenfeng visited Lu Li with a damaged flying sword and offered him a Foundation Establishment Pill to repair it. Lu Li accepted the reward but suspected the request was a dangerous side quest, so he contacted Great Xia and reported the situation to Li Yuanchao and the strategy team.

• Elder Jian told Ye Chenfeng that Lu Li was no ordinary person and advised him to ask Lu Li directly to repair a sword.
• Ye Chenfeng went to Lu Li’s cave abode and asked whether he had repaired his flying sword and whether he was a grandmaster artifact refiner.
• Lu Li explained that he was only an artifact craftsman who could attempt first-tier mid-grade Law Artifacts and had repaired the sword by studying its inscriptions.
• Ye Chenfeng offered Lu Li a Foundation Establishment Pill to repair a damaged second-tier top-grade sword, then left the pill with him.
• Lu Li suspected the sword repair could lead to trouble and contacted Great Xia for help analyzing the situation.
• Lu Li told Li Yuanchao and the assembled teams that he seemed to have triggered a side quest.

Su Mu and Bureau 749 analyzed Ye Chenfeng’s request that Lu Li repair a damaged flying sword, suspecting it was tied to a mysterious presence within Ye Chenfeng. They advised Lu Li to accept the Foundation Establishment Pill, repair the sword without getting involved, and avoid Ye Chenfeng afterward, especially by staying out of the same quest area or major event.

• Lu Li told Bureau 749 that Ye Chenfeng had offered him a Foundation Establishment Pill to repair a damaged second-tier flying sword.
• Su Mu analyzed Ye Chenfeng’s words and behavior, concluding that repairing the sword might serve a larger objective connected to the mysterious presence within him.
• Bureau 749’s teams updated Ye Chenfeng’s character model and assessed his apparent risk as grade C and his potential risk as grade S.
• Li Yuanchao relayed the organization’s recommendation that Lu Li keep the pill, repair the sword, then sever ties with Ye Chenfeng and avoid sharing the same map or major event.

Lu Li reviewed his cultivation plans after receiving a Foundation Establishment Pill, then focused on artifact refining with Great Xia’s technological support. He became an artifact craftsman, accepted several commissions, and began considering how to make magical armor capable of attacking as well as defending.

• Lu Li reviewed Ye Chenfeng’s character model and his own, then decided to delay Foundation Establishment and keep his distance from Ye Chenfeng after repairing his flying sword.
• Lu Li used holographic projections, computer simulations, and Great Xia’s research to study artifact refining over several months.
• Lu Li completed a first-tier intermediate-grade law artifact, became an artifact craftsman, and earned forty contribution points for the commission.
• Lu Li accepted three intermediate-grade law artifact orders at the Artifact Hall, including a commission for magical armor.
• Lu Li wondered why magical armor had to be defensive and imagined a suit of steel armor that could let mortal strength rival the gods.

Lu Li worked with Great Xia to design and forge a suit of full-body combat armor powered by Spirit Stones, then began engraving its inscriptions. Meanwhile, Ye Chenfeng learned that retrieving Elder Jian’s broken sword could damage the Azure Pool Sect’s Spirit Vein, but Elder Jian still urged him to take it.

• Lu Li proposed using Spirit Stones to power combat armor, and Great Xia’s research team confirmed that compressed Spirit Stone energy could fire a lethal ray at Qi Refinement cultivators.
• Lu Li refined the armor’s components from spiritual materials and began engraving inscriptions after recovering his Spiritual Power.
• Ye Chenfeng stayed in the sect while waiting for Lu Li to reach Foundation Establishment so he could retrieve Elder Jian’s broken sword.
• Elder Jian told Ye Chenfeng that the sword was planted in the Azure Pool Sect’s Spirit Vein nexus and that retrieving it might split the vein.
• Ye Chenfeng hesitated, but Elder Jian insisted he retrieve the sword and warned him about what lay beyond their world.

Ye Chenfeng visited Lu Li and discovered that he had refined a flying suit of enchanted armor. When Ye Chenfeng agreed to test its protection, Lu Li caught his flying sword barehanded in the armor, leaving him stunned.

• Ye Chenfeng questioned Elder Jian about Lu Li’s cautious ways, and Elder Jian urged him to build a close friendship with the talented cultivator.
• Ye Chenfeng saw a black, flame-propelled figure fly out of Lu Li’s cave abode and realized it was Lu Li wearing enchanted armor.
• Lu Li explained that he had recently refined the armor and agreed to let Ye Chenfeng test its protection.
• Ye Chenfeng launched his flying sword at Lu Li, who closed the armor’s faceplate and caught the blade in his hand.

Lu Li tested his armor by catching Ye Chenfeng’s flying sword and firing its built-in weapon, convincing Ye Chenfeng to buy a suit for two hundred Spirit Stones. Lu Li returned to his cave abode, planning to send Spirit Stones back to the nation for research.

• Lu Li caught Ye Chenfeng’s flying sword in his armor’s gauntlet and assessed its defensive strength.
• Lu Li fired the armor’s built-in weapon at Ye Chenfeng, who dodged as the beam pierced his spell shield and robe.
• Ye Chenfeng praised Lu Li’s talent and asked to buy the armor.
• Lu Li agreed to sell the suit for two hundred Spirit Stones, and Ye Chenfeng paid before leaving.
• Lu Li returned to his cave abode and planned to send Spirit Stones back so the nation could test the spirit-testing stone.

Lu Li sent Bureau 749 combat-armor test data and thirty Spirit Stones, giving its researchers new resources to study. Li Yuanchao approved ten candidates for the first Spirit Root tests, leaving Bureau 749 preparing a secret census.

• Wang Zhiwen directed researchers to handle the rare azure-gold slag cautiously and required simulation results and senior approval before experiments.
• Lu Li reported his fight with Ye Chenfeng and transmitted footage and combat data showing the armor stopping a flying sword and firing a powerful beam.
• Lu Li sent thirty Spirit Stones to Blue Star, and Wang Zhiwen said they would let researchers resume stalled experiments.
• Li Yuanchao convened an emergency meeting to choose ten candidates for Spirit Root testing.
• A statistician proposed testing Lu Li's parents and Lu Yao, three elite soldiers, three Taoist practitioners, and Li Yuanchao; Li Yuanchao approved the plan and ordered the candidates brought to the base in secret.

After winning a military competition, Xu Mu signed up for a top-secret plan to investigate immortal cultivation and supernatural abilities. Nearly two years later, his family was taken to a suspiciously elaborate medical checkup, and Lu Yao realized it was not a routine examination.

• Xu Mu won first place in the Western Theater Command competition and was secretly taken to a hidden base with Wang Lei and Li Zhuang.
• An officer explained the Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan and asked the three soldiers to choose whether to participate.
• Xu Mu signed the agreement without hesitation, volunteering for the unprecedented exploration.
• In Jing City, Lu Yao asked her parents about her brother Lu Li's long absence, and they told her not to question his classified work.
• A subdistrict worker collected Lu Dahai, Liu Xiulan, and Lu Yao for a free medical checkup at an internal hospital.
• Lu Yao noticed the unusual equipment and empty corridors, then questioned the doctor and concluded the examination was more than routine.

Zhang Xuanqing and two eminent Daoists agreed to help the nation investigate whether Daoist texts pointed toward an ultimate goal of cultivation. At Bureau 749’s underground base, Li Yuanchao began phase one of the Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan: the Spirit Root census.

• Zhang Xuanqing was collected by soldiers from White Cloud Temple and taken to a secret underground base.
• Zhang Xuanqing met the elders from the Celestial Master's Mansion and Louguan Terrace, and the officer asked them to help verify a hypothesis about civilization’s direction.
• Zhang Xuanqing and the two elders agreed to serve the nation and explore the Dao.
• Li Yuanchao received reports on the civilian, soldier, and Daoist test groups and ordered the Spirit Root census to begin.

A covert spirit-root test at 749 Base found one person with spirit roots in each of three groups, while Lu Yao and several others showed no response. After learning the apparent success rate was thirty percent, Li Yuanchao called an emergency meeting.

• Lu Yao and Liu Xiulan showed no spirit-root response during the disguised medical check, but Lu Dahai revealed a three-color spirit root; Lu Yao remained suspicious of the examination.
• Wang Lei and Li Zhuang showed no response, while Xu Mu displayed a four-color spirit root.
• Zhang Zhiqing and Li Jingxiu showed no response, but Zhang Xuanqing displayed a five-color spirit root and wondered whether cultivation novels had been based on truth.
• Li Yuanchao tested negative, reviewed the results showing one person with spirit roots in each group, and ordered core personnel to gather for an emergency meeting.

Li Yuanchao's team learned that three of ten people had spirit roots and debated who should attempt cultivation with their limited resources. They decided to let Lu Li choose between his father Lu Dahai and soldier Xu Mu, while making the search for a spirit vein their next highest priority.

• Li Yuanchao presented screening results showing that Lu Dahai had three spirit roots, Xu Mu had four, and Zhang Xuanqing had five, while the two elderly Daoist masters had none.
• Researchers debated whether the small sample could indicate how common spirit roots were across Great Xia, and agreed that more screening was needed before drawing conclusions.
• The team debated whether Lu Dahai or Xu Mu should make the first cultivation attempt, then decided to ask Lu Li to choose during their next communication.
• A strategic analyst recommended making the search for a spirit vein to bring back to Blue Star the highest-priority objective of the next phase.

Lu Li tested a Law Artifact and devised a way to form a Spiritual Power blade for close combat, then learned that his father had a Three Spirit Root. He chose soldier Xu Mu for Blue Star’s first cultivation trial and reviewed a strategic report highlighting the potential value of a Spirit Vein.

• Lu Li experimented with a cylindrical Law Artifact and developed an idea for armor that could form a Spiritual Power blade.
• Wang Zhiwen told Lu Li that Spirit Root tests had identified Lu Dahai with a Three Spirit Root, along with Xu Mu and Zhang Xuanqing.
• Lu Li rejected Lu Dahai as a trial subject because he could not keep the secret and chose Xu Mu instead.
• Li Yuanchao shared a strategic report describing how a Spirit Vein could accelerate research and production, prompting Lu Li to watch for news of one.
• Wang Zhiwen prepared Xu Mu to cultivate and arranged for Zhang Xuanqing to observe; Xu Mu nervously greeted Lu Li.

Lu Li guided Xu Mu through his first attempt to draw Spiritual Qi into his body using a Spirit Stone and the Five Elements Instruction. Xu Mu sensed and absorbed Spiritual Power, leaving the researchers in the command hall convinced that cultivation could work on Blue Star.

• Wang Zhiwen explained that Xu Mu would address Lu Li as Senior to bridge the distance between them.
• Lu Li taught Xu Mu the precautions for drawing Qi and instructed him to visualize the five elements before beginning.
• Xu Mu entered a monitored glass chamber, and the researchers began a countdown to his cultivation attempt.
• Following Lu Li's guidance, Xu Mu held a Spirit Stone and sensed Spiritual Power flowing toward his Dantian.
• Xu Mu felt pain and released the Spirit Stone, while Lu Li reassured him that repeated attempts would help him adapt.
• The researchers celebrated the energy cycle detected in Xu Mu, and Wang Zhiwen told Li Yuanchao that the path could work.

Lu Li learned about spirit veins and suspected that a calamity in Clearwater Commandery marked a newly forming one, so he accepted a mission to investigate. After leaving the General Affairs Hall, he ran into Bai Sheng, who revealed that he had arranged for Lu Li to marry into the Bai Household.

• Lu Li studied the Record of Earth Veins, learned how rare spirit veins were, and redeemed the Mountain-Moving Method.
• Lu Li spotted a mission about surging Earth Qi in Clearwater Commandery and recognized that the symptoms matched those of a newborn spirit vein.
• Lu Li accepted the mission before another disciple could claim it, despite the risks of leaving the sect.
• Bai Sheng greeted Lu Li outside the General Affairs Hall and said he had been following his progress as an artifact craftsman.
• Bai Sheng told Lu Li that he had asked the Bai Household to let Lu Li marry into the clan.

Lu Li refused Bai Sheng’s demand that he marry into the Bai Household and planned to delay him while improving his artifact-refining skills to qualify for Supreme Refinement Peak. Bai Sheng returned to his cave abode and revealed his bitterness over the main branch’s control of the Lineage, then told his grandfather he might leave the sect soon.

• Bai Sheng threatened Lu Li with the dangers faced by Azure Pool menial disciples and urged him to marry into the Bai Household and raise children.
• Lu Li decided to seek entry to Supreme Refinement Peak by becoming a first-tier artifact-refining grandmaster, and planned to use an outside-sect mission to buy time and practice.
• Bai Sheng learned from his grandfather that the Lineage stipend would be delayed and that the main branch wanted thirty percent of his sect stipend.
• Bai Sheng rejected his grandfather’s advice to wait for the main branch, complained that the collateral branches had fewer prospects since the ancestor attained Golden Core, and said he would make his own plans.
• Bai Sheng told his grandfather that he might leave the sect in a few days and asked him to take care of himself.

Bureau 749 warned Lu Li that Bai Sheng might be trying to force him out of the sect, and Li Yuanchao advised him to prepare for the worst. Lu Li received the country’s backing: crates of weapons and a towering Spiritual Power mech.

• Bureau 749's strategy team concluded that Bai Sheng's marriage demand might be a ploy to drive Lu Li from the sect, and recommended that he prepare to leave.
• Li Yuanchao told Lu Li not to gamble on Bai Sheng's intentions and promised the country would provide supplies to protect him.
• Lu Li poured nearly all his Spiritual Power into the jade pendant to receive the supplies, draining several Spirit Stones in the process.
• Lu Li found crates of military weapons and a massive black Spiritual Power mech inside the pendant's space.
• Li Yuanchao urged Lu Li to maneuver around Bai Sheng if he followed the rules, and to use the country's firepower if he did not.

Lu Li learned that Great Xia had built a Spirit Machinery mech capable of theoretically matching Foundation Establishment and began studying its controls as a possible trump card. Meanwhile, Bai Sheng prepared to confront him, convinced that Lu Li’s good fortune was about to end.

• Li Yuanchao and the researchers explained to Lu Li that Great Xia had converted a Chengying mech into a Spirit Machinery mech powered by Spirit Stones and operated through a cultivation Jade Slip.
• The researchers estimated that the mech could rival Foundation Establishment if it had enough Spirit Stones, and Lu Li requested its weapons information and operating manual.
• Lu Li resolved to search for a Spirit Vein, improve his skills, and avoid Bai Sheng while he studied the mech’s manuals.
• Bai Sheng checked his Law Artifacts and talismans, then reviewed his covert report on Lu Li’s rise from menial disciple to artifact craftsman.
• Bai Sheng envied Lu Li’s success and concluded that his luck would end.

Bai Sheng followed Lu Li out of the sect, hoping to seize his resources and secure a chance at Foundation Establishment. When Bai Sheng confronted him in a secluded valley, Lu Li revealed a towering steel colossus, leaving Bai Sheng stunned.

• Bai Sheng secretly tailed Lu Li, believing the artifact refiner had accumulated valuable Spirit Stones and could help him reach Foundation Establishment.
• Bai Sheng reflected on how the Bai Household favored its main-line heirs and resolved to claim his own opportunity by attacking Lu Li.
• Lu Li changed course toward a secluded valley and used a thermal imager and fish-shaped jade pendant to detect Bai Sheng following him.
• Bai Sheng confronted Lu Li and admitted that his claim about marrying into the Bai Household had been fabricated.
• Lu Li vanished and reappeared in a steel colossus over ten meters tall, leaving Bai Sheng staring up at it in shock.

Lu Li tested Chengying, his spirit-mechanical mecha, against Bai Sheng and found its shield and armor could easily withstand powerful attacks. He pursued Bai Sheng to test the mecha’s flight speed, cutting off his escape in the valley.

• Lu Li attacked Bai Sheng with Chengying’s chainsword, then assessed the mecha’s speed and power after Bai Sheng dodged.
• Bai Sheng summoned his Yin Soul Banner and sent resentful souls at Lu Li, but Chengying’s Spirit Magnetic Shield destroyed them with electricity.
• Bai Sheng fled after his strongest law artifact failed, and Lu Li pursued him through exploding talismans that could not damage Chengying’s armor.
• Lu Li fired all six thrusters to test Chengying’s flight speed and blocked Bai Sheng’s path before he could escape the valley.

Lu Li killed Bai Sheng in a fierce battle, then continued toward Clear River Commandery to investigate a possible Spirit Vein. While sorting through Bai Sheng’s belongings, he found spirit rice and a letter that revealed the Lineage’s plans for him and Upper White Peak.

• Lu Li fired Chengying’s eight Spiritual Power cannons, killing Bai Sheng and destroying his flying sword.
• Lu Li gathered Bai Sheng’s scattered belongings, reflected on his opponent’s resolve, and flew onward to carry out the mission in Clear River Commandery.
• Lu Li found a bag of spirit rice among Bai Sheng’s possessions and imagined how valuable the crop could be to his homeland.
• Lu Li read Bai Sheng’s letter home and discovered that Bai Sheng had hoped to reach Foundation Establishment and represent the Lineage in the four peaks’ “Hastening the Seedlings to Immortal Ascension.”

After killing Bai Sheng, Lu Li contacted Great Xia, reported his survival, and sent spirit rice and Spirit Machinery combat data back for research. When Xu Mu announced that he had entered Qi Refinement, Lu Li asked him to help the country with its cultivation research.

• Lu Li decided to pursue Supreme Refinement Peak, improve his artifact-refining skills, investigate the Spirit Vein, and send information to Great Xia.
• At midnight, Lu Li contacted Bureau 749, and Li Yuanchao and the strategy team celebrated that he was safe.
• Lu Li reported that Bai Sheng was dead and recounted the day's events to the Great Xia team.
• Lu Li sent half a bag of spirit rice and the Spirit Machinery mech's combat data to Great Xia for study.
• Xu Mu told Lu Li that he had drawn Qi into his body, and Lu Li summoned the Yin Soul Banner and asked him to help the country research cultivation.

Lu Li sent Bai Sheng’s Yin Soul Banner to Great Xia, prompting Bureau 749 to launch the Auspicious Grain spirit-rice project and the tightly controlled Netherworld soul-research project. The chapter ended with Great Xia mobilizing researchers and resources nationwide, including an urgent order for one hundred thousand laboratory mice.

• Lu Li sent Bai Sheng’s Yin Soul Banner to Xu Mu and explained how to refine and use it.
• Wang Zhiwen proposed a special project exploring the connection between soul control and consciousness-based brain-computer interfaces.
• Li Yuanchao approved the Auspicious Grain workshop, and Academician Yuan began analyzing spirit rice and searching for suitable growing conditions.
• Li Yuanchao established the Netherworld workshop to study the Yin Soul Banner under strict safety and ethical restrictions.
• Great Xia dispatched teams to collect soil samples from around the world and placed an urgent order for one hundred thousand laboratory mice.

Bureau 749 researchers studied the soul body released from Lu Li’s Yin Soul Banner, using Xu Mu to test how it responded to commands. Wang Zhiwen found that its fluctuations resonated with a brainwave monitor, suggesting soul bodies and Law Artifacts might function as biological signal receivers.

• A soldier reported to Li Yuanchao that Bureau 749’s seven research workshops were operating, and Li asked for a progress report and an update on Xu Mu’s mastery of the Law Artifact.
• The soldier went to the soul consciousness information workshop, where Wang Zhiwen asked Xu Mu to activate Lu Li’s Yin Soul Banner for observation.
• Xu Mu used Spiritual Power to release a soul body and controlled it through movement commands while researchers recorded its behavior and instrument readings.
• Xu Mu exhausted his Spiritual Power and stopped channeling, leaving researchers to analyze the soul body’s translucent, apparently unconscious state.
• Wang Zhiwen noticed that the soul body’s fluctuations resonated with a brainwave monitor and wondered whether soul bodies and Law Artifacts were biological signal receivers.