Recaps

Lu Li returned to his sect determined to form his Golden Core so he could exploit the injured toad demon, while Great Xia mobilized Bureau 749 to develop a way to control a Nascent Soul spirit. Lu Yao proposed building an artificial spirit energy entity for experiments, but the energy required proved nearly unimaginable.

• Lu Li learned that the toad demon was badly injured, hurried back to his sect to pursue Core Formation, and sent the news to Great Xia.
• Li Yuanchao redirected Bureau 749's personnel and resources to the Soul Information and Consciousness Workshop to research controlling a Nascent Soul spirit.
• Lu Yao and her colleagues launched large-scale experiments using white mouse souls, but Wang Zhiwen warned that their models could not represent a Nascent Soul demon soul.
• Lu Yao proposed constructing a spirit energy entity hundreds of millions of times stronger than their current Divine Sense for real-time control experiments.
• An energy scientist calculated that Lu Yao's proposal would require nearly half the energy of the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, and exclaimed that it was impossible.

Lu Yao’s proposal to build a controllable Nascent Soul-level energy body gained support after experts recalculated the energy required and judged it feasible with nuclear power. As Bureau 749 mobilized for the experiment, workers across Great Xia were called back to factories, and Old Wang left his family’s New Year preparations to answer the urgent assignment.

• Professor Jiang argued that the energy needed to harm a Nascent Soul great demon might be far lower than first assumed, prompting Wang Zhiwen to support Lu Yao’s proposal.
• Wang Zhiwen suggested controlled nuclear fusion and spiritual nuclear power as possible sources for a Nascent Soul-level energy body.
• Bureau 749 began refining the experiment’s theory, while teams across Great Xia mobilized the vast supplies and industrial production it required.
• Old Wang received an urgent call recalling him to the factory for a national assignment as factories across the industry returned to work.
• Old Wang told his wife he had to leave their New Year preparations and reported for duty.

As Great Xia rushed components to an experimental site, Lu Dahai and Lu Yao returned home for New Year after Liu Xiulan called them. Lu Dahai tried to copy Lu Yao’s tactic for avoiding work, but Liu Xiulan told him he could simply quit his job.

• Truck driver Zhang Weimin told his apprentice Xiao Chen that delivering important cargo was worth delaying their New Year’s Eve dinner.
• Liu Xiulan saw a giant component pass and thought with worry and pride about her son Lu Li, who was away working on an important project.
• Liu Xiulan called Lu Dahai and demanded to know why he was still working instead of coming home for New Year.
• Lu Dahai and Lu Yao asked Li Yuanchao for leave and hurried home, where Lu Yao persuaded Liu Xiulan to let her return to duty after the holiday.
• Lu Dahai imitated Lu Yao by claiming he wanted to quit, but Liu Xiulan agreed that he should resign and cook at home.

Lu Yao and Lu Dahai heard the news announce a new self-cultivation administration hotline, while Li Ming realized he might have sensed Qi after following his university’s exercise document. He called the hotline to ask what to do next.

• Liu Xiulan served the family lesser spirit rice, which nourished Lu Dahai and helped keep her looking youthful.
• Lu Yao and Lu Dahai froze when the news announced the Great Xia Self-Cultivation Affairs Administration and its hotline.
• Lu Yao returned to her room, while Lu Dahai made an excuse to leave and take a walk.
• Li Ming sensed hot, restless Qi in his lower abdomen after practicing Qi Introduction from the university document.
• Li Ming called the administration hotline and asked what to do after drawing in Qi.

Li Yuanchao outlined Great Xia’s plan to guide the spread of cultivation without disrupting students’ lives, while Lu Li read about experiments to create a Nascent Soul-level soul and resumed secluded cultivation. At the Azure Pool Sect, Lu Changming delivered supplies to Xu Xiong and asked about Ye Chenfeng, who Xu believed would no longer have ties to Lu Li.

• Li Yuanchao told the Cultivation Administration not to contact or disturb newly cultivating university students, and said its focus should remain on constructing a soul powered by a spiritual core.
• Lu Li read Great Xia’s progress report on creating a Nascent Soul-level soul, resolved to support the plan, and returned to secluded cultivation to pursue Golden Core and refine his jade pendant.
• Lu Changming delivered pills and enchanted armor to Xu Xiong while Lu Li remained in seclusion.
• Lu Changming asked Xu Xiong whether Ye Chenfeng was close to Lu Li, and Xu said Ye had visited before but probably would no longer have anything to do with Lu Li.

At Hanging Blade Pass, Wu Qiya learned that his lord sensed something connected to him inside the pass and was ordered to investigate. Meanwhile, Ye Chenfeng and Zong Qing hunted a demon tiger and returned with a five-colored lotus, unaware that a crow was watching them.

• Formation cultivators repaired Hanging Blade Pass as they discussed the Demon Beasts’ increasingly frequent probing and recent attacks.
• Wu Qiya reported that he had found nothing unusual at the pass, but his lord ordered him to investigate again and threatened to eat his clansmen if he delayed.
• Ye Chenfeng and Zong Qing worked together to bind and kill a demon tiger in the forest.
• Ye Chenfeng collected a five-colored lotus and gave Zong Qing a Jade Slip containing the agreed Method Formula.
• Ye Chenfeng and Zong Qing headed back to the pass while a black-feathered crow watched them from a tree.

Wu Qiya attacked Ye Chenfeng and Zong Qing outside Hanging Blade Pass after his lord’s scale reacted to them. A Divine Lord’s strike shattered his true form, but the scale carried Zong Qing away into the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture.

• Wu Qiya decided to abduct Ye Chenfeng and Zong Qing, then attacked them with ribbons of Demon Power.
• Ye Chenfeng destroyed one ribbon with his sword, while Zong Qing dispersed the other and struck Wu Qiya with white light.
• Wu Qiya revealed his enormous black-crow form, and the cultivators at Hanging Blade Pass activated their defenses against the Nascent Soul greater demon.
• Wu Qiya used the earthen-yellow scale to leave Zong Qing dazed, then swept her and Ye Chenfeng into his body and fled toward the Yao Prefecture.
• A woman at Hanging Blade Pass struck Wu Qiya with a powerful sword slash, breaking his true form, but the scale wrapped around Zong Qing and carried her away.

Ling Shuangyu killed Wu Qiya at Hanging Blade Pass, but Zong Qing was swept away into the Yao Prefecture, prompting the pass to prepare for battle. Zongzheng Lie sent Jingfeng and Canyue into the Yao Prefecture to search for his daughter, disrupt the old flood dragon, and assess the enemy’s strength, while Ling Shuangyu set out alone to find Zong Qing.

• An earthen-yellow scale carried Zong Qing away, and Ling Shuangyu killed Wu Qiya with a sword strike outside Hanging Blade Pass.
• Ling Shuangyu appeared before Ye Chenfeng and ordered everyone at Hanging Blade Pass to prepare for battle.
• Zongzheng Lie heard Ling Shuangyu’s demand to search for their missing daughter, but explained he could not risk the prefecture’s forces recklessly.
• Zongzheng Lie dispatched the Void Return cultivators Jingfeng and Canyue to search the Yao Prefecture, distract the old flood dragon, and gauge its strength.
• Zongzheng Lie asked Jingfeng and Canyue to watch over Ling Shuangyu as she charged into the Yao Prefecture alone.

After a mysterious scale brought Zong Qing to the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture, Xu Xiong rescued her and brought her to the Azure Pool Sect. She learned that the local cultivators did not recognize Hanging Blade Pass, while the Yao Patriarchs’ battle intensified overhead and the scale appeared on her jade bracelet.

• Zong Qing awoke injured beneath a starry sky, unable to use her Law Power, and fainted after asking a passing cultivator where she was.
• Xu Xiong carried Zong Qing back to the Azure Pool Sect, where Lu Changming and Lu Changye helped him bring her to his cave abode.
• Lu Changming and Lu Changye told Xu Xiong that Lu Li had reached Foundation Establishment Great Perfection and sent them to seek formation materials to increase the sect’s Spiritual Qi.
• After Zong Qing woke, Xu Xiong identified the sect and offered her a place there, but he did not recognize the name Hanging Blade Pass.
• A thunderous clash sounded overhead, and Zong Qing noticed that the scale had appeared on her jade bracelet as its spiritual vitality faded; Xu Xiong then heard the Nether Toad Patriarch cry out to the Golden Ape.

Lu Li learned that the Prefecture-Breaking War might begin early and planned to advance his Golden Core breakthrough and take over Azure Pool Blessed Land sooner. When he visited Xu Xiong, Zong Qing’s bracelet scale reacted to Lu Li’s jade pendant, which floated toward her and left him wondering whether she was a great yao.

• Nether Toad Patriarch learned that he had been ordered to oversee nearby territories against human cultivators, while Golden Ape Patriarch said the Prefecture-Breaking War might begin early.
• Lu Li realized the early war could benefit his plans, but he needed to reach Golden Core and refine the jade pendant before taking over Azure Pool Blessed Land.
• Lu Li brought Xu Xiong the last batch of pills and Law Artifacts and met Zong Qing, a new sect cultivator.
• Zong Qing’s jade bracelet and its embedded scale suddenly glowed red and burned her, though Xu Xiong and Lu Li could not see the scale.
• Lu Li’s fish-shaped jade pendant floated out and approached Zong Qing, making him suspect that she might be a great yao.

Lu Li's fish-shaped jade pendant absorbed the scale on Zong Qing's bracelet and released a sharp presence that alerted the Nether Toad Demon Patriarch. As the Patriarch searched Azure Pool Sect, Lu Li called for a nuclear bomb, and Bureau 749 launched its prepared missile.

• Lu Li watched the fish-shaped jade pendant emerge from his body and drain the red-lit scale from Zong Qing's bracelet.
• After absorbing the scale, the pendant remained beside Lu Li and suddenly released a sharp presence.
• The Nether Toad Demon Patriarch sensed the presence, concealed Azure Pool, and swept Azure Pool Sect with his Nascent Soul Divine Sense.
• Lu Li used his Divine Sense to send a message to the command hall, calling for Director Li to launch a nuclear bomb.
• Li Yuanchao activated the contingency plan, raised a Dongfeng 9C missile, and told Lu Li, "Comrade Lu Li, see you at the martyrs' cemetery!"

Nether Toad Patriarch mistook Zong Qing’s revived jade bracelet for the treasure and targeted her, but she used the Prefecture Lord’s Mountains and Rivers Seal to break the formation and expose the conflict across Yao Prefecture. Jingfeng and Canyue arrived to rescue her as two Void Return cultivators appeared, and a powerful voice challenged their intrusion.

• Nether Toad Patriarch searched the Azure Pool Sect with its Divine Sense while Lu Li prepared to use the weapon hidden in his jade pendant if the toad discovered it.
• Zong Qing’s jade bracelet regained its spiritual vitality after the scale disappeared, and she walked out of the cave despite Nether Toad Patriarch’s pressure.
• Nether Toad Patriarch mistook the light from Zong Qing’s bracelet for the treasure and demanded that she surrender it.
• Zong Qing invoked the Prefecture Lord’s Mountains and Rivers Seal, which pierced the formation and revealed the starry sky to observers across Yao Prefecture.
• Jingfeng and Canyue emerged from the void to take Zong Qing away, while one of them struck toward Nether Toad Patriarch and another voice challenged the intruders.

A bloodline Law Treasure helped Zong Qing and the two human Void Return cultivators escape the jade-crowned demon, while their battle devastated Azure Pool. Lu Li emerged from the ruins to find Nether Toad Patriarch apparently unconscious but alive, and began considering taking over its account.

• The jade-crowned demon trapped Jingfeng and Canyue with void powers and sent chains toward Zong Qing.
• Zong Qing activated her jade bracelet, and Canyue used the opening to break through the void and strike the jade-crowned demon with the Mountains and Rivers Diagram.
• The jade-crowned demon retaliated, causing destruction across Azure Pool, before Jingfeng, Canyue, and Zong Qing escaped and he pursued them.
• Lu Li and Xu Xiong crawled out of Xu Xiong's ruined cave abode after the battle subsided.
• Lu Li saw Nether Toad Patriarch lying amid the ruins, realized it was still alive, and considered taking over its account.

After the Nether Toad Patriarch fell unconscious, Lu Li seized the chance to attempt Core Formation and take over his account. Great Xia’s command hall, which had believed Lu Li had died, learned he was alive and began preparing a soul-control experiment to support him.

• Lu Li asked Changming and Changye to divine his fortune, and Changye sensed great good fortune within the sect.
• Lu Li returned to his ruined cave abode, set up a protective formation, and began his Core Formation breakthrough.
• Lu Li contacted Great Xia and told them the Nether Toad Patriarch was unconscious and that he planned to take over his account.
• The fish-shaped jade pendant lit up in the command hall, and Lu Li’s voice reassured everyone that he was alive.
• Li Yuanchao ordered preparations for the Nascent Soul-level Soul Dao experiment, and the Soul Information and Consciousness Workshop requested authorization to overwrite the demon patriarch’s consciousness.

Lu Li endured the pain of refining the Nether Toad Dao Fruit as he attempted to form his core, while Great Xia prepared its first spiritual energy nuclear fusion experiment to support him. The chapter ended as one hundred Qi Refinement cultivators injected Spiritual Power into the fusion device.

• Lu Li began refining the Dao Fruit with Law Power, determined to form his core for the sake of Great Xia.
• At the Bureau 749 valley base, Wang Zhiwen and the scientists prepared a nuclear-level facility to combine Spiritual Power with nuclear fusion.
• A scientist concluded that the experiment needed at least one hundred Qi Refinement cultivators and large quantities of Spirit Stones to stabilize the soul's theoretical structure.
• Led by Lu Dahai, one hundred cultivators took their places around the Heart of Fusion and prepared to supply Spiritual Power.
• Li Yuanchao gave the command, and all one hundred meditation cushions lit up as beams of Spiritual Power struck the artificial sun.

Lu Li survived the dangerous Core Formation process when his blood-red jade pendant helped him refine the Dao Fruit’s remaining essence, allowing him to form a Golden Core. He awakened as a True Lord with a newly born Sea of Consciousness, while the fusion experiment succeeded and Azure Pool’s survivors began rebuilding under Yuanhao’s cover story.

• Wang Zhiwen and the Qi Refinement cultivators successfully infused Spiritual Power into the fusion reactor and stabilized its plasma, though they found no additional effects.
• True Lord Yuanhao concealed the unconscious Nether Toad Patriarch and told Azure Pool’s surviving disciples that villainous cultivators had attacked the sect.
• Lu Li’s consciousness faded as the Dao Fruit’s essence ravaged his body, but his jade pendant released pure Qi and Blood that helped him refine the remaining essence.
• A Sea of Consciousness formed in Lu Li’s mind, and the spiritual liquid in his Dantian condensed into a flawless Golden Core.
• Lu Li’s injuries healed, his jade pendant moved above his Dantian to be tempered by the Golden Core’s fire, and he awakened as a True Lord.

Lu Li successfully formed a Golden Core and discovered that his fish-shaped jade pendant had gained immense killing power, including the ability to cut through stone with a slash of void-like sharpness. He emerged from seclusion to confront the Nether Toad Patriarch, while Azure Pool’s disciples celebrated his advancement and Yuanhao questioned his haste.

• Lu Li inspected his new Golden Core and found that the fish-shaped jade pendant had evolved after helping him form it.
• Lu Li tested the pendant’s power and discovered that it could cleave through spiritual currents and carve a deep, smooth cut into the cave wall.
• Lu Li left his cave abode and walked through the air toward the Nether Toad Patriarch in Azure Pool’s sect grounds.
• Azure Pool’s disciples recognized Lu Li as a newly ascended Golden Core True Lord and congratulated him; Xu Xiong, Changming, and Changye also reacted with surprise.
• Yuanhao blocked Lu Li’s path and questioned why he had formed his core so quickly despite the danger from the Patriarch.
• Lu Li told Yuanhao to move aside as he fixed his gaze on the great toad demon.

Lu Li used the jade pendant to extract the Nether Toad Patriarch’s Divine Soul and sent it to Blue Star, while Yuanhao and the disciples mistook his actions for torture. The Divine Soul arrived at Bureau 749’s testing grounds, where Lu Li announced the delivery to Director Li.

• Yuanhao urged Lu Li to wait for the Patriarch to awaken and present his methods, but Lu Li went to the unconscious Nether Toad instead.
• Lu Li launched the jade pendant into Nether Toad’s forehead, piercing its body and provoking its Divine Soul to emerge.
• Lu Li seized the Patriarch’s Divine Soul and poured in Law Power and Spiritual Power, using pills and Spirit Stones to sustain the effort.
• Yuanhao and the watching disciples believed Lu Li was torturing the Patriarch’s Divine Soul and feared his power.
• The jade pendant activated and sent Nether Toad’s Divine Soul to Blue Star, where Lu Li told Director Li that the goods had arrived.

Lu Li sent the soul of the Nether Toad Patriarch to Great Xia, where Wang Zhiwen’s team began an attempt to overwrite its consciousness with Lu Yao’s mind. While Lu Li recovered his Spiritual Power, Yuanhao chose to stay and help protect him.

• Lu Li transmitted the unconscious Nether Toad soul to the testing grounds, and Wang Zhiwen ordered the team to begin deciphering it.
• The Heart of Cataclysm powered an energy confrontation as the programming team prepared to overwrite the soul’s consciousness.
• A staff member warned Lu Yao that using her mental power for the overwrite could erase her consciousness, but she agreed to proceed.
• Lu Li rested to recover his Spiritual Power while Yuanhao weighed whether to flee or remain with him.
• Yuanhao gave Lu Li Supreme Spirit Recovery Pills, then ordered the disciples to protect the supreme elder.

At Bureau 749’s soul testing grounds, Lu Yao successfully rewrote Nether Toad’s memories to make him believe he was a Blue Star native and Lu Li’s loyal companion. As Nether Toad’s soul awakened, he thought he had returned home to Blue Star.

• After Nether Toad’s soul defenses were breached, Lu Yao entered his soul core through the brainwave instrument and began rewriting his memories.
• Nether Toad’s memories portrayed him as a toad from the capital’s outskirts who had met Lu Li, cultivated with him, and later transmigrated into a thousand-year-old yao.
• Lu Yao completed the memory modifications, and the staff confirmed that the new memories connected smoothly to Nether Toad’s original ones.
• Lu Yao withdrew from the procedure exhausted, while Wang Zhiwen and the others applauded her success.
• Nether Toad’s soul awakened, and he exclaimed that he was home on Blue Star.

Nether Toad awoke on Blue Star with implanted memories that made him fiercely loyal to Lu Li, and Great Xia confirmed that their account takeover had succeeded. Lu Li summoned Nether Toad’s Divine Soul back to Azure Pool, where it returned to the toad’s demonic body just as Yuanhao was insulting Nether Toad Patriarch.

• Nether Toad awoke in Great Xia’s facility, recalled his bond with Lu Li, and vowed to return to his master.
• Li Yuanchao told Nether Toad that his injuries were treated and instructed him to help Lu Li complete his mission.
• Lu Li and Li Yuanchao confirmed the memory modification had succeeded and agreed to discuss Great Xia’s development plans later.
• Lu Li used his Spiritual Power and Yuanhao’s pills to summon Nether Toad’s Divine Soul back to Azure Pool.
• Yuanhao praised Lu Li and insulted Nether Toad Patriarch, but stopped when Nether Toad’s Divine Soul entered its demonic body and its eyes opened toward him.

Lu Li became Azure Pool’s sect master after Nether Toad credited him with saving his life, then began stabilizing the sect and preparing to learn about the approaching Prefecture-Breaking War. The chapter ended as Nether Toad began explaining the war’s benefits and the Western Continent’s factions.

• Nether Toad named Lu Li sect master, demoted Yuanhao to elder, and withdrew to recover in Lu Li’s cave abode.
• Xu Xiong, Changming, and Changye celebrated Lu Li’s appointment, and Lu Li assigned them and Yuanhao tasks to stabilize Azure Pool.
• Lu Li returned to his ruined cave abode and met Nether Toad in human form.
• Lu Li asked Nether Toad to explain the Prefecture-Breaking War and the Western Continent’s factions, and Nether Toad began describing the war’s benefits.

Lu Li learned that the Prefecture-Breaking War would soon throw the Western Continent into chaos and leave the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture largely undefended. He sent the intelligence to Great Xia, where Li Yuanchao prepared a new hundred-year strategic plan.

• Nether Toad told Lu Li that the Prefecture-Breaking War happened once every thousand years and the next one was only decades away.
• Lu Li learned that after the defensive passes were breached, greater demons would invade Jingxi Prefecture while the Demon Manor's territory was left hollow.
• Lu Li transmitted the war's stages and his ideas for exploiting the chaos to Great Xia.
• Lu Li proposed that Great Xia use the war to develop, seize resources, and search the Demon Manor's abandoned territory for supplies.
• Li Yuanchao received a revised strategic report and announced that Lu Li's next hundred-year development plan had reached a preliminary final draft.

Lu Li received Great Xia’s hundred-year Hibernating Dragon Startles the Abyss plan, which called for decades of concealed development in Azure Pool Blessed Land followed by expansion amid the Prefecture-Breaking War. The chapter left Lu Li with Great Xia’s pledge of support as they prepared to build power and seize an opportunity to change the Western Continent’s balance.

• Li Yuanchao sent Lu Li a detailed electronic report and explained that the plan’s ultimate goal was to make him a major force in the Western Continent.
• Lu Li asked Nether Toad to leave a Jade Slip detailing the Western Continent’s powerful cultivators, then sent him away to recover.
• Li Yuanchao outlined plans to strengthen Lu Li’s control of Azure Pool Blessed Land, reform the sect, cultivate loyal disciples, and develop Spirit Machinery and spiritual armaments.
• Great Xia planned to stockpile resources and advance Divine Soul research while Lu Li’s forces stayed concealed and avoided the early fighting of the Prefecture-Breaking War.
• Once the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture’s main forces advanced into Jingxi Prefecture, Lu Li would lead hidden elites to raid their rear holdings and build a larger independent force.
• Li Yuanchao and the strategy team pledged Great Xia’s support for the plan, calling for fifty years of concealed stability followed by fifty years of risky growth.

Lu Li studied Great Xia’s hundred-year development plan and Nether Toad’s intelligence on the Western Continent’s rival powers. He learned that Jingxi Prefecture appeared to have many Void Return cultivators despite the Demon Manor having only two, leaving him baffled that humanity was still losing ground.

• Lu Li read Great Xia’s hundred-year plan for developing Spirit Machinery and strengthening his position in the Western Continent.
• Lu Li examined Nether Toad’s jade pendant and learned about the Heaven-Pacifying Yao Prefecture’s Demon Manor, led by Ao Qing and Ningzheng.
• Lu Li wondered about the similarities between Blue Star and the Imprisoned Dragon Realm, including their shared knowledge of Suanni.
• Lu Li learned that Jingxi Prefecture relied on the Pacify the West Prince’s Palace, three border passes, and numerous cultivators to defend humanity.
• Lu Li noticed Jingxi Prefecture seemed to have far more Void Return cultivators than the Demon Manor and questioned why it was still being defeated.