Recaps

Xiluo gave Li Boyang the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination, the only lead to dispersing the black fog around Black Cloud Marsh and resolving the danger of his curse. With Big Girl’s help, Li Boyang learned that the scroll’s twelve mysterious maxims were essential to mastering its other chapters, but he still had a long way to go.

• Xiluo explained that her elder sister, the witch of the Huai River, had recorded knowledge in the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination that could help Li Boyang disperse the black fog and investigate his curse.
• Li Boyang discovered that neither he nor Xiluo could read the scroll, and Xiluo vanished after angrily insisting that she had done her part.
• Big Girl revealed that she could read because her father had once taught her, and she helped Li Boyang roughly decipher the scroll.
• Li Boyang learned that the scroll divided the world into nine categories, with the Chapter on Myriad Phenomena serving as their foundation.
• Li Boyang learned that twelve power-infused maxims on the chapter’s final page had to be understood before he could truly study the other eight chapters.

Li Boyang recognized the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination as a method for interpreting patterns and making predictions, and realized Xiluo’s sister had left behind something beyond the book. Xiluo warned him that accepting her sister’s other legacy would bring responsibility and a mission, then asked whether he was ready.

• Li Boyang reasoned that the Witch of the Huai River had used her Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability and observations of myriad phenomena to compile the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination.
• Li Boyang compared the book’s divination methods to big-data analysis and wondered whether the Witch of the Huai River had left beginners a way to judge how reliable their predictions were.
• Li Boyang inferred from Xiluo’s explanation that her sister had left behind something besides the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination.
• Xiluo was shocked that Li Boyang had understood the book and confirmed that he had grasped its contents.
• Xiluo warned Li Boyang that accepting her sister’s other legacy would give him a different responsibility and mission, then asked if he was ready.

Xiluo gave Li Boyang the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron, which could reveal answers and guide its user in divination, and he realized it could help resolve the crisis in Black Cloud Marsh. There, the old man had regained his reason and was using the Pill Furnace to refine the Ox-Head yin deity into a Ghost God Egg, while plotting to take Li Boyang’s body.

• Xiluo revealed that the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron was made from her sister’s thoracic vertebrae and could lend its user her Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability.
• Big Girl tested the bone plastron by asking whether she and Li Boyang had arrived at Flying Peak in the morning or at noon, and it landed facedown, confirming they had come at noon.
• Xiluo gave Li Boyang the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron and explained that mastering the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination would unlock its deeper power.
• Li Boyang realized the bone plastron could help him resolve the crisis in Black Cloud Marsh.
• In Black Cloud Marsh, the old man used the Earth Sha Fire and corrupted beasts to refine the Ox-Head yin deity into a Ghost God Egg, then planned to use Li Boyang’s body to return to the living.

Li Boyang secretly learned to read by watching a shamaness teach children in Gao Village Town, while realizing the old script in the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination might differ from the writing he knew. The language barrier left him unsure how accurately he could understand the manual.

• Li Boyang discovered that Chen Yun could read a few characters and learned that a shamaness in a nearby town taught children for a little grain.
• Li Boyang secretly watched the shamaness teach, using the movements of her mouth to infer the characters' pronunciations.
• The shamaness repeated basic characters and taught them clearly, leading Li Boyang to suspect she might have noticed him watching.
• Li Boyang compared the shamaness's lessons with the characters in the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination and considered that regional writing differences might explain the apparent errors.
• Li Boyang realized that the script might be an old regional form, making it harder for him to read the manual correctly.

Li Boyang used his Sha Qi-tainted Life Primordial Qi to raise aggressive Sleepy Bugs and planned to selectively breed a strain that could adapt to Sha Qi. Xiluo dismissed his proposed names and brought him to the valley he had requested, where they prepared to continue their more urgent business.

• Li Boyang explained that he had let Sleepy Bugs feed on his Sha Qi-tainted Life Primordial Qi, turning them red and making them more aggressive.
• Xiluo sensed that the bugs' lives had been shortened to less than a week, but Li Boyang said that was enough time for them to reproduce.
• Li Boyang proposed breeding successive generations of mutant Sleepy Bugs that could adapt to Sha Qi.
• Li Boyang suggested several names for his breeding project, and Xiluo criticized them before redirecting his attention to their serious business.
• Xiluo arrived at the valley Li Boyang had specified and asked what they should do next.

Li Boyang devised a way to keep the black mist of Black Cloud Marsh from spreading by heating a valley pass, and Xiluo used her fire-controlling abilities to create an updraft that pushed the mist back. Nearby gods and spirits steered clear of the commotion, expecting trouble wherever Xiluo and Li Boyang appeared.

• Li Boyang explained that Black Cloud Marsh's black mist could be contained by blocking thirty-two critical points around its perimeter.
• Xiluo could not move a mountain, grow vegetation, summon rain from a clear sky, or produce strong winds, so Li Boyang suggested raising the temperature at the valley pass.
• Xiluo transformed into a red leopard and heated the pass, creating an updraft that lifted the black mist and pushed it back toward Black Cloud Marsh.
• Nearby mountain gods, water gods, river gods, and spirits saw the commotion and kept their distance, expecting a battle with corrupted beasts.

Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to uncover that his Sword Pill could destroy Black Baleful Intent and its black mist. As he drove the monster into a desperate attack, the Sword Pill cut down its manifested beast souls, with the battle still underway.

• Black Baleful Intent emerged from the black mist in Black Cloud Marsh, and Li Boyang’s golden flying sword cut through its newly formed body.
• Li Boyang divined the monster’s weakness from Li Household Village and found that his Sword Pill could purify the black mist and prevent it from reforming.
• Li Boyang recognized that the Sword Pill countered Black Baleful Intent and decided to end the fight quickly.
• Black Baleful Intent abandoned its attempt to form a body and unleashed the souls of the beasts that had died in the mist.
• Li Boyang’s golden flying sword swept through the beast souls and killed more than half of them within moments.

As the ghost king of Black Cloud Marsh triggered a beast tide, Li Boyang confronted the Heart Demon in his shadow while Chen Yun protected him. Outside Li Household Village, Li Yu and the villagers realized the beasts were avoiding their entrance and considered checking on nearby villages.

• The Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron stopped spinning, and the strange old man unleashed a beast tide across Black Cloud Marsh.
• Li Yu gathered the village's able-bodied adults to guard against the approaching beasts, while Chen Yun rushed to Li Boyang's cradle.
• Chen Yun attacked the blue-faced ghost emerging from Li Boyang's shadow, and Li Boyang revealed it was his Heart Demon before erasing its consciousness.
• Li Chengfeng and Li Yu realized the beasts were avoiding Li Household Village's entrance, possibly because Big Girl and Non-Crying Child had buried something there.
• Li Yu proposed waiting to see how the beast tide developed and then sending people to check on the other villages.

Panhu left his mother to answer the villagers’ plea for help while Xiluo and Li Boyang attacked the ghost king in Black Cloud Marsh. The ghost king revealed malign baleful intent that countered their abilities, and Li Boyang recognized the creatures as an exceptionally rare calamity.

• Panhu’s blind mother scolded the villagers for seeking her son only when they needed help, but let Panhu go after he explained that he owed someone a kindness.
• Xiluo rushed into the black mist to attack the ghost king, revealing a sudden surge of power, and Li Boyang followed with his flying sword.
• The ghost king struck back and sent a ghost-faced leopard to fight Xiluo.
• A four-winged eagle emerged from the mist and clashed with Li Boyang’s flying sword.
• Li Boyang recognized the ghost creatures as malign baleful intent, a rare man-made calamity born from the resentment of the dead.

Panhu joined Xiluo and Li Boyang’s fight against the Ghost King’s evil fiends and revealed that pure yang blood and righteous conviction could harm them. While his mother slept, Li Boyang confronted the hidden old man in Li Household Village and accused him of exposing himself because he feared Xiluo, the Divine Firmament Sword, and Li Boyang.

• Panhu drove the beast tide away from the mountain villages, then reached Black Cloud Marsh and joined Xiluo and the flying sword against the evil fiends.
• Panhu discovered that the fiends could re-form after being cut apart and warned that pure yang blood or righteous conviction could disperse them.
• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to confirm Panhu’s warning and put Chen Yun into a deep sleep with a red sleepy bug.
• Li Boyang spotted the faint evil fiend in the village and called out the old man who had once refined his soul into the Sword Pill.
• The old man mocked Li Boyang for treating Chen Yun as his mother, but Li Boyang accused him of fearing Xiluo, the Divine Firmament Sword, and Li Boyang himself.
• The old man angrily denied being afraid and claimed he had already pinned down Xiluo and the Divine Firmament Sword.

Li Boyang deduced that the old man had become an evil baleful entity by refining trapped souls, then learned he had been a Guifang high priest who planned to possess Li Boyang. The old man entered Li Boyang’s body, but the child’s Primordial Qi and Sha Qi began rejecting and assimilating him.

• Li Boyang explained that the old man had released Ruifu and refined living creatures’ souls into baleful ghosts designed to counter Xiluo and the flying sword.
• The old man claimed Li Boyang’s inner demon revealed his true form as an otherworldly heavenly demon and identified his own technique as the Guifang Secret Method.
• The old man revealed that he had been a high priest of the Guifang Kingdom and attacked Li Boyang, hoping to possess his body and regain control of the Divine Firmament Sword.
• The old man entered Li Boyang’s body as a Heart-Seizing Baleful Intent, which Li Boyang recognized as a six-legged Ranyi Fish.
• Li Boyang’s body erupted with Sha Qi flames, and he jumped from the cradle to keep them away from Chen Yun and the surrounding furniture.
• Li Boyang stood up as his Primordial Qi and Sha Qi rejected the old man and began plundering his power.

Li Boyang used a talisman and his blood to free the beast spirits trapped inside him, including the Ranyi Fish, and the backlash exposed the Ghost King's vulnerability. Li Boyang pursued the old man's true body while Xiluo and Panhu held off the Ghost King, but their battle remained deadlocked.

• Li Boyang drew a soul-related talisman on his chest with his blood, causing the Heart-Seizing Baleful Intent to melt away and releasing the spirits within his body.
• The freed Ranyi Fish left its final trace of spiritual awareness with Li Boyang before departing for another dimension.
• The Ghost King suffered a backlash, losing control of the baleful ghosts; the spirits turned against him and rushed into Black Cloud Marsh, revealing the route to the old man's true body.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo and Panhu to hold off the Ghost King as he followed the spirits into the marsh, and Panhu transformed into a five-colored dragon hound to help.
• Xiluo and Panhu fought the Ghost King with their full strength, but Panhu's pure Yang flames and the Ghost King's power kept the battle in a stalemate.

Li Boyang pursued the Malign Baleful Intent to the Pill Furnace, where You Xiao tried to consume them and rebirth himself as a ghost god. You Xiao emerged as a powerful four-armed ghost god, and after Panhu helped Li Boyang wound him, the Sword Pill flew at him again.

• Li Boyang followed the Malign Baleful Intent to the Pill Furnace as You Xiao tried to devour them and reclaim his power.
• Li Boyang struck the furnace with the Sword Pill, toppling it and freeing the Malign Baleful Intent, while You Xiao emerged inside a black egg.
• You Xiao transformed into a four-armed ghost god, and Li Boyang recognized that his new form could withstand the Sword Pill.
• Panhu arrived and hit You Xiao, letting Li Boyang's Sword Pill drill through the ghost god's palm and fly toward his head.
• You Xiao kicked Panhu away and braced himself against the returning Sword Pill, while Panhu passed out.

While Xiluo fought the Ghost King, Li Boyang manifested a new spiritual body from the earth’s Sha Qi and faced You Xiao. He remained lucid and wielded the Divine Firmament Sword, naming his mysterious state a Primordial Spirit.

• Xiluo watched Panhu pass out but stayed locked in an exhausting battle with the Ghost King, whose body could only be destroyed by eliminating every beast soul within it.
• Li Boyang and You Xiao continued their physical clash, as You Xiao boasted that his ghost-god form could not be defeated.
• Li Boyang gathered Sha Qi from beneath Black Cloud Marsh, prompting You Xiao to recognize the Guifang Secret Method and question how Li Boyang knew it.
• Li Boyang explained that he was not using the Guifang Secret Method and revealed a spiritual body reconstructed through the body’s nine palaces, trigrams, and acupoints.
• Li Boyang recognized that his independent spirituality kept him rational and distinct from a baleful ghost, then named his new state a Primordial Spirit.

After unifying his consciousness through an awakened Primordial Spirit, Li Boyang formed a giant spiritual body from earth-vein Sha Qi and fought You Xiao’s four-armed ghost god. Though You Xiao initially overwhelmed him with speed and close-combat skill, Li Boyang adapted quickly and began counterattacking.

• Li Boyang unified his Sword Pill and main-body consciousness after a hidden spirituality awakened within his soul.
• Li Boyang considered whether his state was a manifestation of the Primordial Spirit and raised a giant spiritual body using Sha Qi.
• You Xiao charged and blasted apart nearly half of Li Boyang’s airborne body, then battered him with a series of punches.
• Li Boyang learned You Xiao’s fighting rhythm, adapted his swordsmanship, and began dodging and counterattacking.

Li Boyang discovered that his Primordial Spirit mastered fanciful sword techniques instantly and used his Sha Qi to unleash a swarm of flying swords against You Xiao. The attack reduced You Xiao to a motionless skeleton, while Xiluo defeated the ghost king and recognized Li Boyang by the Divine Firmament Sword.

• Li Boyang realized his Primordial Spirit could learn and perfect unconventional sword moves at a glance, and he fought You Xiao with growing skill.
• Li Boyang took to the air, taunted You Xiao, and summoned nearly a hundred Sha Qi flying swords with his Innate Divine Ability.
• Li Boyang's flying swords carved You Xiao down to a motionless skeleton despite his regenerative powers.
• You Xiao's pain disrupted the ghost king fighting Xiluo, allowing her to burn him away.
• Xiluo saw Li Boyang floating above the battlefield and recognized him by the Divine Firmament Sword.

Li Boyang watched You Xiao’s ruined body transform into the Yin Deity Ox-Head, who explained how the Guifang Kingdom’s Imprisoned Soul Cauldron had captured him and nearly refined him into a ghost god. After You Xiao’s defeat, Ox-Head gave the cauldron to Li Boyang to safeguard and warned him not to use it to disrupt the balance of yin and yang.

• Li Boyang held back from attacking as You Xiao’s skeleton transformed, and he asked whether the emerging figure was the Yin Deity Xiluo had mentioned.
• Ox-Head recovered his body and admitted that You Xiao had captured him with the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron, a ritual treasure wielded by the Guifang Kingdom’s high priests.
• Ox-Head explained that the cauldron could refine ghost gods and recounted how the Guifang Kingdom had once used it to destroy the Tufang Kingdom and turn its people into a ghost god.
• Ox-Head summoned the cauldron, shrank it, and gathered the scattered pill flames back into the Pill Furnace.
• Ox-Head entrusted the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron to Li Boyang and warned that he would show no mercy if Li Boyang used it to overturn the balance of yin and yang.

In Cliff Settlement City, high priest candidate Xuan Hui ordered more human sacrifices to regain the favor of the Gods of the Five Directions after the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron was lost. Deception Rabbit was appalled by the slaughter but secured Xuan Hui’s agreement to provide books and metal ingots.

• Cliff Settlement City held a vast sacrifice in which priests killed animals, slaves, and prisoners with iron implements blessed by the Gods of the Five Directions.
• Deception Rabbit condemned the slaughter, and Xuan Hui explained that the Guifang Kingdom needed more sacrifices because the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron had been lost.
• Xuan Hui dismissed mountain villagers as two-legged sheep whose deaths would honor the gods, reflecting the Guifang Kingdom’s contempt for them.
• Deception Rabbit asked Xuan Hui for books on medicine and herbs, along with ores or bronze and iron ingots.
• Xuan Hui agreed to fulfill Deception Rabbit’s request.

Li Boyang discussed the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron with Xiluo, worrying that the dangerous treasure could bring disaster to Flying Peak. As he tried to learn about the Guifang Kingdom, Xiluo revealed that her knowledge dated back a thousand years, when it had still been a small tribe.

• Li Boyang explained that the Imprisoned Soul Cauldron seemed to possess a spirit and might bring misfortune to anyone who used it without its recognition.
• Li Boyang said he had brought the cauldron to Flying Peak because it was a supreme national treasure of the Guifang Kingdom and could attract dangerous figures if left behind.
• Li Boyang recalled that You Xiao had appeared panicked when he killed him, and suspected that You Xiao had been a traitor to the Guifang Kingdom.
• Li Boyang asked Xiluo about the Guifang Kingdom, and she said that a thousand years earlier it had been a small tribe devoted to worshipping the Roaring Heaven Clan.

Three years after the battle between ghosts and gods, Li Boyang watched Big Girl train on Ghosts and Gods Cliff and explained how his Seventh Edition, Exercise-Type Life Primordial Qi Regulation Breathing Method strengthened her body. He described his research into Primordial Qi and how breathing, along with food and healthy habits, affected the reserves that sustained life.

• Big Girl climbed the sheer cliffs at Flying Peak as part of her daily training, while Xiluo complained that Li Boyang's tasks had become absurd.
• Li Boyang threatened to make Big Girl meditate at a waterfall, causing her to climb faster when she overheard him.
• Xiluo asked how the latest breathing method had transformed Big Girl, and Li Boyang explained that circulating Life Primordial Qi during exercise could greatly strengthen the body.
• Li Boyang said spirits like Xiluo already circulated Primordial Qi through their innate abilities, without realizing it.
• Li Boyang recalled that he had spent three years studying Life Primordial Qi and developing breathing methods to improve Big Girl's physique.
• Li Boyang explained that food and healthy routines affected Life Primordial Qi, but maintaining the right breathing rhythm had the greatest cumulative effect.

Li Boyang developed a cultivation method for Big Girl, helping her clear her meridians and complete hundred-day foundation establishment. He then explained how she could actively use life primordial Qi to strengthen her body and protect herself.

• Li Boyang found that his own abundant life primordial Qi made him an unsuitable model, so he guided Big Girl using her weak Qi and adjusted her diet and routine.
• After nearly a year of tailored training and treatment, Big Girl cleared her meridians enough to circulate life primordial Qi into her dantian.
• Big Girl grew rapidly stronger and became a formidable Qi refiner, able to range through the mountains and overpower wild beasts.
• Xiluo realized Big Girl's physique had surpassed that of ordinary spirit creatures, and Li Boyang explained that the seventh version of his breathing method taught her to use life primordial Qi actively.
• Li Boyang described how Big Girl could circulate life primordial Qi through her flesh to boost strength and healing and form a protective layer around her body.

Li Boyang explained that Xiluo could strengthen herself by cultivating her Primordial Spirit, then gave her a guide to sensing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Xiluo wanted to keep the guide but could not read it, and Li Boyang left her to deal with that problem.

• Xiluo realized that the Breathing Method was unnecessary for her because Life Primordial Qi already flowed through her flesh instinctively.
• Li Boyang suggested replacing Xiluo’s body with steel, but she refused and said she was happy with her current body.
• Li Boyang explained that Primordial Qi could strengthen the mind and soul, and described cultivating a Primordial Spirit as Refining Qi, Spirit Transformation.
• Li Boyang gave Xiluo a hide titled “Third Edition · Resting Type · Method for Sensing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and Advancing,” which explained quiet meditation and suppressing distracting thoughts.
• Xiluo asked why Li Boyang still meditated beneath a waterfall, and he said he wanted to cultivate without relying on shortcuts such as his divine eye or Ruifu’s curse.
• Xiluo pinned the hide with her claw but admitted she could not read its words, and Li Boyang walked away, saying her illiteracy was not his concern.

Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to check for danger before entering a cave on Flying Peak, where a chained black dog helped him select rice seeds. The chapter left him checking whether the latest batch of carefully chosen seeds was suitable for planting.

• Li Boyang divined the cave’s dangers and terrain with the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron before entering.
• Xiluo watched Li Boyang enter, worried because a terrifying being was imprisoned inside the cave.
• Li Boyang passed solemn ghost-and-god statues and reached a chained black dog beside a rock pool.
• Li Boyang lit the cave with his flaming hair and asked the black dog whether his selected rice seeds were any good.
• Li Boyang’s efforts had helped Li Household Village nearly double the farmland cultivated per person, and he was selecting plump seeds to improve future harvests.

Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron and the Big Black Dog’s help to cultivate high-yield seeds, while the villagers increasingly believed his family’s seed was blessed by the Mountain God. In the Ghost God Cave, Li Boyang revealed an uncontrolled power that turned his shadow into a dangerous Ominous Deity and warned the Big Black Dog not to betray him.

• Li Boyang’s family lent seed to villagers, whose borrowed crops yielded more grain and fueled rumors that Li Boyang was the Mountain God’s child.
• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron to select and improve seeds, then discovered that Divine Abilities and Law Techniques could accelerate their growth.
• Li Boyang and the Big Black Dog discussed the improved seeds’ limits, including their need for fertile soil and their tendency to lose their gains after a few generations.
• The Big Black Dog complained that Li Boyang used him as a test subject while sharing the results with Xiluo, and threatened to tell her about Li Boyang’s secret research.
• Li Boyang’s shadow became a three-eyed, red-haired evil ghost, and he warned the Big Black Dog that he could use the power to kill him.

Li Boyang discussed his ghost-god cultivation and the danger of the big black dog becoming a living natural phenomenon if Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi overwhelmed his own power. At the Mountain God Temple, Big Girl searched for Li Boyang and reflected on the ingenious tools he had made and the limits holding back his larger designs.

• Li Boyang admitted he had used his shadow to bear Ruifu's curse and cultivated a genuine ghost god with help from the ghost god and the Nine Chapters on the Secrets of Divination.
• The big black dog tried to draw Li Boyang into revealing how the woman had died, but Li Boyang warned that he would kill the dog if it ever escaped.
• The big black dog explained that Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi kept flowing into his meridians and Dantian alongside his Life Primordial Qi.
• Li Boyang suggested Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi might suit the big black dog better, but the dog insisted he was a living being who controlled that power.
• The big black dog feared that surrendering his own Primordial Qi would turn him into a bodiless living natural phenomenon.
• Big Girl reached the Mountain God Temple, found Li Boyang absent, and went to the courtyard where his tools and experiments were kept.