Recaps

Liu Zhijian protected the Rogue Cultivators and defeated the gray-horned whale monster by using the Old Man by the Stream to seize his thoughts. Heba Yansi recognized Liu Zhijian as the opportunity he needed for Foundation Establishment and prepared to fight him.

• The gray-horned whale monster led the monsters in attacking the Rogue Cultivators, who fled behind Liu Zhijian for protection.
• Liu Zhijian hooked the whale monster with his fishing line, while Heba Yansi tried to join the fight and Xue Yang blocked him.
• Liu Zhijian sensed the whale monster's thoughts through the line and used pain to disrupt his struggles.
• Liu Zhijian drew the whale monster to shore and killed him with the Golden Bamboo Thunder Sword, prompting the Rogue Cultivators and Immortal Alliance cultivators to counterattack.
• Heba Yansi drove Xue Yang back and decided that killing Liu Zhijian and seizing his fortune would let him achieve Foundation Establishment.

Liu Zhijian fought Heba Yansi at Mirror Moon Lake, where Heba’s Sha Qi techniques left him badly wounded. A sudden True Fire awakened in Liu Zhijian’s fishing rod, allowing him to defeat Heba and gather the destiny needed for Foundation Establishment.

• Heba Yansi mocked Liu Zhijian’s ignorance of Supreme Mystery Mountain’s inheritance, then used his Sha Qi body to survive Liu’s hook and restore himself.
• Heba Yansi linked their Qi signatures and used the [Punishment and Prison's Hundred Crimes and Thousand Tortures Method] on himself, making wounds appear on Liu Zhijian.
• As Heba gained the upper hand, sparks from Liu Zhijian’s fishing rod ignited into [True Fire], which burned away Sha Qi and prevented Heba from healing.
• Liu Zhijian struck Heba Yansi with the flaming rod until Heba’s body dispersed into Sha Qi, then sensed destiny gathering and realized Foundation Establishment was near.
• Three figures above the coastal sea celebrated Liu Zhijian’s impending breakthrough and said their strand of [Kan Water] had matured.

The dragon prince and two Devil Cultivators celebrated their plot against Supreme Mystery Mountain, expecting Liu Zhijian’s Sha-taint to bring the sect down. At Mirror Moon Lake, High Person Shouyan arrived and invited Liu Zhijian and Hu Yueqiu to Flame Mountain to overcome their coming tribulations.

• The dragon prince, Daoist Blood, and the Heba family head discussed the deaths of their subordinates and their plan to bring Supreme Mystery Mountain to ruin.
• The dragon prince said Liu Zhijian’s Sha-taint would help destroy the sect, while Daoist Blood warned that Li Chengxuan and the mountain’s deep foundations might thwart them.
• The dragon prince spotted a blaze heading toward Mirror Moon Lake, and Daoist Blood recognized it as High Person Shouyan of Flame Mountain.
• High Person Shouyan arrived at Mirror Moon Lake and questioned Liu Zhijian about declining the opportunity to establish his Foundation.
• High Person Shouyan warned Liu Zhijian and Hu Yueqiu that Sha and blood would obstruct their Dao, then invited them to Flame Mountain to slay demons and turn tribulation into merit.

Li Chengxuan heard Liu Zhijian and Hu Yueqiu’s reports from Mirror Moon Lake, advised them to avoid the dangerous Flame Mountain mission, and promised to send them to the Grotto-Heaven to clear their lingering Blood Qi and Sha Qi. Hu Yueqiu spent the evening with Jiang Xiaoyu and Li Qingyun, while a tiny blue snail emerged from the pond to absorb moonlight.

• Li Chengxuan explained the True Fire Dao lineage’s history and why High Person Shouyan had invited Liu Zhijian and Hu Yueqiu to help defend Flame Mountain from demon kingdoms, but advised them to stay and cultivate.
• Hu Yueqiu reported the spoils and dangers at Mirror Moon Lake, including the Confluence Water orb, the jade osmanthus tree, Daoist Lightless, and the conch shell she left submerged; Li Chengxuan approved her choices and warned them about the Yin World and divine Dao.
• Liu Zhijian admitted that Sha Qi clung to him and vowed to avoid trouble, while Li Chengxuan said he would send both disciples to the Grotto-Heaven to cleanse their Qi.
• Jiang Xiaoyu worried that Liu Zhijian was going to have a baby as he entered secluded cultivation, then happily showed Hu Yueqiu Li Qingyun and received a jade box of live fish, shells, and aquatic plants from Mirror Moon Lake.
• Hu Yueqiu helped Jiang Xiaoyu make a pond for the fish, and the girl imagined her master fishing there; later, a tiny blue snail crawled out and breathed in the moonlight.

Hu Shihao visited Li Jiabao at the Supreme Mystery Sub-Courtyard and told him about a fugitive who had killed the Zhao Household in revenge for his parents. Li Jiabao ordered Hu Shihao to find out where the fugitive was, leaving Hu Shihao convinced the courtyard was a terrorist organization’s base.

• Hu Shihao hurried through the Supreme Mystery Sub-Courtyard and was terrified by the fisherman and Sword Immortal Junior Sister.
• Hu Shihao saw Duanmu Ren speak with Li Jiabao and noticed Duanmu Ren treated Li Jiabao with respect.
• Li Jiabao asked Hu Shihao about recent news in the county, and Hu Shihao described the Zhao Household massacre.
• Hu Shihao explained that the killer was a former army scout who might still be hiding in Stone Ridge or have gone to Frontier Province.
• Li Jiabao ordered Hu Shihao to ask around for the fugitive’s whereabouts, and Hu Shihao concluded that the Supreme Mystery Sub-Courtyard was a terrorist organization’s base.

Li Jiabao drove to a remote town to find a young man hiding after his parents’ deaths, then recruited him as a day laborer and brought him back with other workers. At a highway checkpoint, police began checking the crowded van’s passengers.

• Li Jiabao offered to donate five hundred thousand yuan to the county bureau and drove through its overloading checkpoint without an inspection.
• A veteran officer explained that Li Jiabao had stopped handing out money after people exploited his charity and officials called him in for talks.
• Li Jiabao searched an abandoned middle school where the young man had once stayed and found him hiding in the teachers’ dormitory.
• Li Jiabao invited the young man to join his day-labor crew, then gathered other workers and drove them back toward the county.
• At the checkpoint, the veteran officer praised Li Jiabao’s haul, but a young officer insisted that the passengers get out for identity checks.

At the Supreme Mystery Sub-Courtyard, Li Chengxuan interviewed Fang Qi and used the Qi Observation Technique to assess his Manifestation. He declared that Fang Qi’s experiences and nature corresponded to the true virtue of metal.

• An older police officer explained to a young officer why he had let Boss Li’s van pass, arguing that the young officer’s principles depended on who he was dealing with.
• Li Jiabao assigned the new arrivals jobs around the Sub-Courtyard and led Fang Qi to the great hall for an interview.
• Liu Zhijian asked Fang Qi whether he could fish, then complained that the Sha Qi had ruined his fishing.
• Hu Yueqiu asked Fang Qi whether he knew swordsmanship, and Fang Qi said that he did not.
• Li Chengxuan arrived, examined Fang Qi’s Manifestation, and said it embodied the true virtue of metal.

Fang Qi joined Supreme Mystery Mountain as a Registered Disciple after Li Chengxuan rescued him and recognized his Dui Metal Manifestation. Li Chengxuan entrusted Duanmu Ren with teaching Fang Qi to cultivate before entering seclusion to address the chaos in the Southern Reach.

• Li Chengxuan invited Fang Qi to join Supreme Mystery Mountain, and Fang Qi accepted, paid respects to the Ancestral Master, and became a Registered Disciple.
• Li Chengxuan saw that the Ancestral Master’s portrait had gained a golden-white light, which signaled approval of Fang Qi’s Dui Metal Manifestation.
• Li Chengxuan met Duanmu Ren on Earth, praised his role in bringing Fang Qi to the sect, and asked him to guide Fang Qi into Qi Ingestion while he went into seclusion.
• Li Chengxuan gave Duanmu Ren a Grand Mysterious Token that allowed him to travel between the Grotto-Heaven and the sect five times.
• Duanmu Ren met Fang Qi at the Administrative Hall, heard his understanding of cultivation and Dui Metal, and began explaining the metal virtue and Dao tradition.

Duanmu Ren taught Fang Qi the five aspects of Metal and the principles of the [Dui Metal] Dao lineage, then explained how the sect’s disciples chose their paths toward Foundation Establishment. Fang Qi chose a dangerous method to open his meridians and began it by drawing sharp Metal Qi through his wounded palm, enduring the pain as he remembered his parents’ deaths.

• Duanmu Ren explained the five aspects of Metal and taught Fang Qi that [Dui Metal] required impartial judgment, restraint, and discernment.
• Duanmu Ren reassured Fang Qi that his revenge was a necessary supplement to a law that had failed to protect him, then described the Dao paths of several senior disciples and his own.
• At the library, Fang Qi chose the lethal [Geng White Sharp and Fierce Meridian Charging Method] despite Duanmu Ren’s attempts to dissuade him.
• Fang Qi used a broken steel longsword and his blood to draw out sharp Metal Qi, forcing it through his hand greater yin lung meridian and opening four acupoints.
• Fang Qi laughed through the pain and recalled the years of heartache caused by watching his parents be beaten to death and being powerless to save them.