Recaps

Wang Zhiwen, Yuan Yi, and Lin Xian directed research across Bureau 749’s workshops, advancing experiments on soul bodies and spirit rice while shifting cultivation-method research toward two techniques Lu Li had sent back. The chapter ended as the other three experimental workshops began their first joint research project.

• Wang Zhiwen guessed the Soul-Nurturing Secret Method might erase soul bodies’ original biological consciousness and imprint new signals, then ordered preparations for virtual experiments and new mouse samples.
• Yuan Yi oversaw the planting of all 6,212 grains of spirit rice in soil from 10,000 regions, including lunar and Martian samples, and agreed to help the stalled medicinal pill bio-extraction workshop.
• Lin Xian learned that simulations of Five Elements Instruction 4.0 were progressing slowly and ordered researchers to continue that work while prioritizing two techniques Lu Li had sent back.
• The other three experimental workshops began their first joint research project.

At Bureau 749, three workshop heads proposed combining cultivation inscriptions with modern remote sensing to build a Spirit Vein detection Law Artifact. Meanwhile, Lu Li reached Clear River Commandery to investigate signs of a possible Spirit Vein, where a frightened boy warned him to stay indoors.

• Zhou Zhenhua, Su Qing, and Li Mingyuan agreed that finding Spirit Veins was their most urgent research challenge and planned a joint detection project.
• Su Qing proposed combining sensitive talisman inscriptions with artifact and formation techniques, while Li Mingyuan and Zhou Zhenhua outlined a Spirit Qi detection array.
• Su Qing suggested integrating the inscriptions with radar and satellite remote sensing, and Zhou Zhenhua requested that national experts join the workshop.
• Lu Li arrived in Clear River Commandery and learned that an earth demon appeared intermittently near a barren mountain, matching the signs of a newly formed Spirit Vein described in the Record of Earth Veins.
• Lu Li paused to take in the city's bustle, then a ragged boy collided with him and warned him to stay indoors for the next few days.

Lu Li followed Gousheng after the youth seemed to predict danger, then discovered that Gousheng and his younger brother Goudan suffered from strange illnesses. After learning enough to recognize their unusual potential, Lu Li took the brothers away to become his disciples and left a letter, money, and grain for their godmother.

• Lu Li watched Gousheng avoid tattooed ruffians before they appeared at an alley, convincing him the youth might truly foresee events.
• Lu Li followed Gousheng to his dilapidated home, where Gousheng collapsed during an attack and Goudan and their godmother cared for him.
• Lu Li examined Gousheng and sensed that his five senses were sealed while his vitality slowly drained away.
• Goudan asked Lu Li to hear what he knew about the brothers' illnesses, and Lu Li took both youths somewhere private.
• Lu Li returned without the brothers and told their godmother that they had chosen to become his disciples, leaving her a letter, money, and grain.

Lu Li reunited with Goudan and began treating his older brother, Gousheng, after Goudan accepted him as Master. Learning that Goudan’s fortune-seeking brought calamity while Gousheng’s danger-sensing left him debilitated, Lu Li suspected Gousheng’s ability also drained his fortune and asked about its effects.

• Lu Li returned to the deserted courtyard, where Goudan accepted him as Master and received food.
• Lu Li used Spiritual Power to free Gousheng’s stiff body and reassured him that he could choose whether to become a disciple.
• Goudan explained that he and Gousheng had gained their abilities at ten: he sensed good fortune but suffered misfortune when pursuing it, while Gousheng sensed danger but grew weaker after using his ability.
• Lu Li suspected that Goudan’s ability attracted calamity and Gousheng’s ability took away fortune, and reasoned that cultivation might help them bear the side effects.
• Gousheng recovered enough to accept Lu Li as Master, and Lu Li tested both brothers’ Spirit Roots and asked Gousheng about further effects of his ability.

Lu Li took Gousheng and Goudan as disciples, named them Lu Changming and Lu Changye, and agreed to help their godmother settle in the city. Lu Changming warned that black Qi above Lu Li signaled danger, while Lu Changye sensed something good waiting to the northwest.

• Gousheng explained that his warnings of danger often coincided with promised food, clothes, or coal falling through, while Goudan's good fortune seemed to bring bad luck instead.
• Lu Li decided to nurture the brothers and bestowed on them the names Lu Changming and Lu Changye, telling them to support each other on the path of cultivation.
• Lu Changming asked to bring their godmother, and Lu Li offered to establish a household for her in the commandery city to keep her safe from cultivation's dangers.
• Lu Changming told Lu Li that he saw black Qi above him and advised him to stay home for the next few days because danger was coming.
• Lu Changye announced that something good for Lu Li lay to the northwest.

Lu Li took Lu Changming and Lu Changye as disciples after learning that their abilities pointed to danger and a possible opportunity northwest of the city. He reported their powers to Li Yuanchao, while the workshop heads introduced a newly designed Spirit Vein Detection Law Artifact.

• Lu Changye’s fortune-seeking ability pointed northwest, but roof tiles nearly killed him before Lu Li knocked them away and suspected the danger came from revealing a cultivator’s opportunity.
• Lu Li brought Lu Changming and Lu Changye to an inn, then used magic and a holographic projector to convince the local headman that their godmother was a celestial being who needed care.
• Lu Li left the headman a pouch of gold and silver with a spiritual trigger, then returned to the inn and found his newly cleaned-up disciples resting.
• Lu Li contacted Li Yuanchao through the jade pendant and reported taking the two boys as disciples, along with their abilities, side effects, and warnings about his danger and opportunity.
• Strategists began analyzing the disciples’ abilities, while Zhou Zhenhua, Su Qing, and Li Mingyuan told Lu Li their workshops had designed a Spirit Vein Detection Law Artifact with help from satellite radar experts.

Lu Li reviewed a proposed Spirit Vein detection Law Artifact and sent the organization suggestions for improving its design. He then read a strategic report on Lu Changming and Lu Changye, concluding that their abilities could help him and the Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan, perhaps by leading him to a Spirit Vein.

• Zhou Zhenhua and Su Qing explained that the organization wanted Lu Li's input on a Spirit Vein detection Law Artifact, while Li Mingyuan proposed expanding it into a device for detecting resources and enemies and eventually integrating detection, attack, and defense.
• Lu Li examined the projected blueprint and suggested adding a distance-breaching inscription and earth-attribute formation inscriptions.
• Lu Li wrote up his ideas about detection Law Artifacts and sent them to the organization.
• Li Yuanchao sent Lu Li a strategic report assessing Lu Changming and Lu Changye as worthy of careful nurturing, while warning him to consider the karma linked to their abilities.
• Lu Li concluded that the brothers' karma had arisen through him and thought their abilities might help him bring back a Spirit Vein.

Ye Chenfeng left the Azure Pool Sect to hunt rogue cultivators while Lu Li stayed in Clear River Commandery, developing a Spirit Vein detection Law Artifact and teaching Changming and Changye. The boys then reported that Lu Li’s misfortune had vanished and that greater good fortune lay to the northwest, leaving him wondering what awaited there besides a Spirit Vein.

• Ye Chenfeng accepted a mission to eliminate four Qi Refining Ninth Layer rogue cultivators in Clear River Commandery and left the sect.
• Lu Li collaborated with Zhou Zhenhua, Su Qing, and Li Mingyuan to refine the design of a Spirit Vein detection Law Artifact.
• Lu Li checked on Changming and Changye, who said they had both sensed Qi and expected to draw it into their bodies soon.
• Lu Li reminded the boys to cultivate cautiously and avoid recklessness.
• Changming said Lu Li’s misfortune seemed gone, while Changye sensed increased good fortune to the northwest.
• Lu Li wondered whether the good fortune pointed to something beyond a Spirit Vein.

Ye Chenfeng changed course toward Clearwater Commandery after receiving a sect mission update, while Lu Li took his disciples to a barren mountain to investigate an earth demon and wait for a rumored opportunity. After a day and night of waiting, Lu Li contacted Zhou Zhenhua and learned that a prototype Spirit Vein detection Law Artifact had been developed.

• Ye Chenfeng received a mission update that a rogue cultivator had fled to Clearwater Commandery and turned his flying sword toward it.
• Lu Changming confirmed that Lu Li’s omen of disaster had dispersed, and Lu Li took Lu Changming and Lu Changye out of Clear River Commandery.
• Lu Li brought the boys to a barren mountain and waited for the earth demon to appear, while Lu Changye sensed that Lu Li’s good fortune was nearby but not yet due.
• After spending a day and night on the mountain without seeing anything unusual, Lu Li concealed himself with a Trace-Obscuring Talisman and used his jade pendant to contact the nation.
• Zhou Zhenhua told Lu Li that his team had successfully developed a functional prototype Spirit Vein detection Law Artifact.

Lu Li received the nation’s first Spirit Vein Detection Law Artifact and used it to confirm that a growing spirit vein lay beneath the barren hill. Its display also revealed a strange formation beside the vein, which the Record of Earth Veins identified as a spirit stone mine.

• Zhou Zhenhua told Lu Li that the crude Spirit Detection Version 1.0 prototype had been delivered and could detect spirit veins.
• Lu Li transferred the enormous Law Artifact through his jade pendant and set it down on the barren hill, waking Changming and Changye.
• Lu Li activated the artifact, and its jade slip displayed a growing spirit vein less than a hundred meters long beneath the ground.
• Lu Li spotted a short, block-shaped formation beside the spirit vein and searched the Record of Earth Veins for an explanation.
• Lu Li found that the accompanying formation was a spiritual mine—a vein of crystallized Spiritual Qi, or a spirit stone mine.

Lu Li discovered that the spirit vein came with a forming spirit stone mine and celebrated by cooking spirit rice for Lu Changming and Lu Changye. The meal helped both disciples begin drawing Qi into their bodies and gave Lu Li the chance to break through to the Qi Refinement Eighth Layer.

• Lu Li read the Record of Earth Veins and realized he had found a spirit vein with a spirit stone mine, an immense fortune he planned to leave in place until it matured.
• Lu Li cooked spirit rice for Lu Changming and Lu Changye, explaining that they could only eat a little before drawing Qi into their bodies.
• After eating, Lu Changming and Lu Changye began circulating the Five Elements Instruction 3.0 as they started to draw Qi into their bodies.
• Lu Li felt the spirit rice's power surge through his meridians and sat down to attempt a breakthrough to the Qi Refinement Eighth Layer.

Lu Li reached the eighth layer of Qi Refinement, helped Changming and Changye advance to Qi Refinement, and began hiding the Spirit Vein with a formation. When he realized the formation might not deter a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he decided to add a frightening holographic projection and contacted the nation for help.

• Lu Li broke through to the eighth layer of Qi Refinement, while Changming and Changye also advanced and received techniques to study.
• Lu Li chose the Sand and Stone Concealment Formation to hide the Spirit Vein and began teaching his disciples how to lay it.
• After working through the night, Lu Li realized the formation could not stop a Foundation Establishment cultivator who landed on the mountain.
• Lu Changming asked to visit his godmother, and Lu Li promised to take him after leaving Clear River Commandery.
• Lu Li decided to use a holographic projection to frighten intruders, then contacted Director Li to request help making an intimidating video.

Lu Li reviewed Great Xia’s frightening holographic footage and its long-term plan to help him establish a sect around the growing Spirit Vein. After several days of work on the concealment formation, Lu Changming sensed that his master was about to disappear.

• Bureau 749 delivered Lu Li a holographic projector and a strategic report proposing that he eventually establish a sect around the Spirit Vein.
• Li Yuanchao explained that a sect could improve Lu Li’s safety, gather resources, train disciples, and support the Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan, but recommended waiting until Lu Li reached Golden Core or could counter one.
• Lu Li watched the footage of blood-red vengeful souls and a towering black figure, then continued building the Sand and Stone Concealment Formation.
• After several more days, Lu Li brought the formation to near completion while his two disciples cultivated.
• Lu Changming opened his eyes, trembled, and told Lu Li that he felt his master was about to be gone.

Ye Chenfeng pursued the Rogue Cultivator brothers across Clearwater and Clear River Commanderies after they fled with something valuable. Meanwhile, Lu Li rushed to complete his formation after Lu Changming saw a worsening omen of disaster, then fled with the boys and encountered two approaching figures, one of whom looked familiar.

• Ye Chenfeng killed two Rogue Cultivators and chased the surviving brothers, using magical armor refined by Lu Changming to catch up with them.
• The younger Rogue Cultivator turned back to delay Ye Chenfeng, leaving Li Xian to escape with the item and protect their lineage.
• Lu Changming saw black tinged with red above Lu Li and feared that his master's deadly omen had returned, prompting Lu Li to hurry and finish his formation.
• Lu Li completed the formation in under four hours, then grabbed Lu Changming and Lu Changye and flew away without checking it.
• Lu Li's flying sword stopped when he saw two figures approaching, and he recognized the trailing figure's white magical robe as familiar.

Li Xian unleashed a Foundation Establishment-level technique and attacked Lu Li, who was trying to leave the confrontation. Lu Li shielded his disciples with a giant magical armor and struck Li Xian, while Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to win Lu Li over.

• Li Xian, cornered by Ye Chenfeng and Lu Li, burned his spiritual power and broke into Foundation Establishment-level strength.
• Lu Li recognized Ye Chenfeng and tried to leave, but Li Xian chased after him and slashed at him with a golden saber.
• Lu Li's giant magical armor blocked the saber and protected Changming and Lu Changye.
• Lu Li charged Li Xian in the armor and crushed his protective spiritual force with a powerful impact.
• Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian were shocked by the armor, and Elder Jian told Ye Chenfeng to win Lu Li over at any cost.

Lu Li installed twelve Spirit Stones in the Chengying mech and prepared to unleash its powerful shipborne laser against Li Xian. As the cannon charged, Elder Jian sensed a terrifying presence like lightning punishment from a heavenly tribulation.

• Li Xian battered the Chengying mech with his Foundation Establishment power, cracking its armor and forcing Lu Li to retreat.
• Ye Chenfeng arrived to help Lu Li, then held Li Xian back with his sword formation against Li Xian's flood-serpent spell.
• Lu Li replaced the mech's depleted Spirit Stones with twelve fresh ones and activated its shipborne laser cannon.
• The Chengying mech opened its chest cannon and began absorbing the Spirit Stones as spiritual power and electricity gathered.
• Elder Jian sensed the charged cannon and exclaimed that it felt like lightning punishment from a heavenly tribulation.

Lu Li killed Li Xian with the Chengying Mecha’s Spiritual Power Laser Cannon, then collected the items left behind and learned about the Spirit Soil. The chapter ended with Ye Chenfeng explaining the soil’s many uses.

• Elder Jian warned Ye Chenfeng and Li Xian of the laser cannon’s deadly power, but Ye Chenfeng fled while Li Xian remained trapped in the sword formation.
• Lu Li fired the Chengying Mecha’s Spiritual Power Laser Cannon and annihilated Li Xian, leaving only his burst Storage Bag behind.
• Elder Jian examined the attack’s strange lightning-like power, while Lu Li recorded the cannon’s results and noted its high cost and long windup.
• Lu Li reassured Lu Changming and Lu Changye, then gathered the items scattered from Li Xian’s Storage Bag.
• Ye Chenfeng let Lu Li keep the spoils and explained that Spirit Soil could enrich fields, nurture herbs, support cultivation, and aid refining medicine and artifacts.

Lu Li learned about spirit soil and departed with his disciples and Ye Chenfeng, while Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to cultivate a closer bond with him. The group headed back to Azure Pool Sect as Ye Chenfeng resolved to pursue the plan, though he wondered if it felt like a mortal stage romance.

• Ye Chenfeng explained that spirit soil could support cultivation for a limited time, and Lu Li decided he needed to send some back to Great Xia.
• Ye Chenfeng asked to buy a Spirit Machinery Mech, then gave Lu Changming and Lu Changye magical swords as welcoming gifts.
• Lu Li left for Azure Pool Sect with his disciples, and Ye Chenfeng caught up and joined them on the way.
• Elder Jian told Ye Chenfeng that Lu Li's talents could help him reach Supreme and advised him to build their bond instead of repairing his sword.
• Ye Chenfeng agreed to seek Foundation Establishment and support Lu Li from his position as an inner disciple, but wondered why the plan seemed like a mortal stage romance.

Lu Li returned to the Azure Pool Sect with his two disciples and settled them in his cave abode while preparing to send spirit soil to the country. Meanwhile, Bureau 749 reported its research progress, including a successful experiment that kept a laboratory mouse’s soul in a robotic mouse for three minutes and seventeen seconds.

• Lu Li returned to the Azure Pool Sect with Lu Changye and Lu Changming, reflecting on the sect’s ruthless hunting of rogue cultivators and planning to grow stronger before eventually returning to help the country.
• Lu Li registered his two disciples as menial disciples under his name and brought them to live and cultivate in his cave abode.
• Lu Li entered a side chamber and examined the fish-shaped jade pendant as light began to shine from it.
• At Bureau 749, Yuan Yi reported that global soil samples had not yielded a viable basis for spiritual crop cultivation, while his team explored grafting Blue Star crops.
• Wang Zhiwen announced that the Soul and Consciousness Information Workshop had successfully kept a laboratory mouse’s soul inside a robotic mouse for three minutes and seventeen seconds.

Wang Zhiwen reported that soul-transfer experiments had succeeded but produced souls without consciousness, while Lu Li sent Great Xia cultivation materials, combat recordings, and Spirit Soil. The Spirit Soil generated a Spiritual Qi response, and Xu Mu reacted as if he had heard a profound revelation.

• Wang Zhiwen told the department heads that transferred souls lacked consciousness and warned that they could not yet be used in industrial research.
• Lu Li sent Great Xia cultivation resources, a damaged Chengying Mecha, and recordings of cultivators fighting, including Ye Chenfeng.
• Lu Li explained that Spirit Soil could generate Spiritual Qi and support spirit fields and medicinal plants, then sent some to Blue Star.
• The Spirit Soil appeared in the command hall and triggered instruments that detected faint Spiritual Qi particles.
• Xu Mu stared into the void, wept, and murmured that the azure soil had revealed a crack in the cage.

Xu Mu fainted after murmuring cryptic words, prompting Lu Li to suspect that returning Spirit Soil had changed Blue Star’s laws and could herald a Spiritual Qi revival. Bureau 749 prepared to investigate, while Xu Mu dreamed of an azure light descending toward Jing City.

• Xu Mu collapsed in the command hall, and the medical team determined that he had fainted and would likely wake soon.
• Wang Zhiwen told Lu Li that Xu Mu had spoken archaically about heaven and earth, a covenant, and a crack in a cage.
• Lu Li recalled ancient accounts of heaven’s will affecting cultivators and suspected that the Spirit Soil he had sent back had changed Blue Star.
• Li Yuanchao ordered Bureau 749’s research teams to develop Spiritual Qi detectors and prepare for a possible revival.
• While unconscious, Xu Mu dreamed that a white sleeve released an azure speck of light that fell toward Jing City.

Bureau 749 developed and mass-produced Spiritual Qi detectors based on the Yinghuo artifact inscription, and their first test confirmed that Lu Li’s spirit soil was releasing Spiritual Qi inside the base. The detectors were sent out in a secret convoy to investigate whether Spiritual Qi was appearing elsewhere on Blue Star.

• Zhou Zhenhua, Su Qing, and Li Mingyuan designed a mass-producible Spiritual Qi detector using the Yinghuo inscription and materials native to Blue Star.
• Li Yuanchao approved the design and ordered production lines transferred from two state-owned factories to Bureau 749.
• The production lines produced a detector that glowed, while Su Qing’s instruments showed that Spiritual Qi levels in the base were rising because of Lu Li’s spirit soil.
• Bureau 749 ordered mass production and prepared to compare readings from spirit-soil areas with ordinary locations across the country.
• Wang Tiezhu drove a convoy of sealed detector cases from the concealed base, wondering whether the cargo was alien technology.

Zhang Xuanqing began cultivating the Five Elements Instruction in the only spirit field on Blue Star while researchers monitored him. After his first session, he noticed Spiritual Power was far thinner outside the cultivation room, and agricultural researchers arrived to study the field.

• Wang Zhiwen brought Zhang Xuanqing to the secured cultivation room and explained that spirit soil sent back by Lu Li had created Blue Star’s only spirit field.
• Zhang Xuanqing followed the Five Elements Instruction 3.0 as researchers monitored his first cultivation attempt.
• Zhang Xuanqing reported feeling lighter but said he had not yet drawn Qi into his body, then described his experience for the researchers.
• After leaving the room, Zhang Xuanqing sensed that Spiritual Power outside was much thinner and decided to keep studying cultivation.
• Yuan Yi arrived with his agricultural research team, who celebrated having a spirit field for their crop cultivation workshop.

Yuan Yi organized spirit rice planting and grafting research at Bureau 749, while foreign intelligence agencies grew suspicious of Great Xia’s secret activities. Mark and Jenny arrived in Jing City as tourists, but Great Xia National Security detained them after their taxi took them to a repair-yard compound.

• Yuan Yi ordered researchers to plant 80% of Lu Li’s spirit rice in the spirit field and reserve the rest for grafting experiments with the best available crop samples.
• Yuan Yi explained that grafting could allow spirit crops to grow in ordinary fields and help improve ordinary people’s physiques.
• Thomson reviewed unusual material transfers and soil-gathering expeditions by Great Xia, then ordered increased surveillance and shared his suspicions with the Five Eyes Alliance.
• Mark and Jenny arrived in Jing City and hired a taxi, saying they wanted to visit Emerald Cloud Mountain.
• The taxi driver diverted Mark and Jenny to an auto-repair courtyard, where Great Xia National Security agents surrounded them and ordered them to come along.

After foreign espionage increased around Jing City, Li Yuanchao proposed a joint military exercise to deter outside interference and divert attention from the area. Great Xia announced the upcoming “Raging Waves” nuclear strike force exercise in the Pacific, shocking foreign officials and reporters.

• A clerical soldier reported to Li Yuanchao that espionage cases linked to the Five Eyes Alliance had risen and foreign teams were probing areas near Jing City.
• Li Yuanchao decided Great Xia should respond with a show of military strength and recommended a joint blue-water exercise to the Supreme Conference.
• The Supreme Conference approved the top-secret “Raging Waves” plan, ordering the exercise to display Great Xia’s strength and divert attention from Jing City’s outskirts.
• Zhang Lijian announced that Great Xia would conduct a blue-water nuclear strike force exercise in international Pacific waters on the fifteenth of the month.
• Foreign officials and reporters reacted with alarm as Zhang Lijian said the exercise would include a maritime exclusion zone and reaffirmed Great Xia’s no-first-use policy.