Recaps

Qin Lu, a reborn physician who had built a modest life in Bayi Town, bought an unusually valuable wild ginseng from a mountain man for ten liang of silver. He expected the news to attract the town’s wealthy families, leaving him to prepare for their interest and the risks that came with the treasure.

• Qin Lu finished his morning practice, opened the Qin Clan Medical Hall, and reflected on how his medical knowledge from the Azure Wood Scripture had helped him establish himself.
• A mountain man offered Qin Lu a wild ginseng more than twenty years old, and Qin Lu bought it for ten liang of silver after bargaining.
• Qin Lu watched people trail the mountain man and considered how the sudden wealth might bring either opportunity or danger to the old man’s family.
• After the midday rush ended, Qin Lu took the ginseng into his back courtyard and anticipated visits from the Wei and Han families, whose elderly patriarchs needed nourishing medicine.

Qin Lu refined Wood Essence Pills from the precious ginseng and used them to break through into the True Martial Realm as a First Realm Warrior. When the town’s six factions gathered at his clinic to negotiate for the pills, Wei Cheng recognized Qin Lu’s new strength.

• Qin Lu decided to refine the ginseng into Wood Essence Pills so he could divide them among the town’s clans and keep some for himself.
• Qin Lu completed eighteen Wood Essence Pills after several days of careful preparation.
• Qin Lu discovered that the pills worked with the Azure Wood Scripture and broke through after consuming five, becoming a First Realm Warrior.
• Qin Lu cleansed himself after the breakthrough and reopened his clinic, drawing notice for his changed appearance and powerful aura.
• Wei Cheng recognized Qin Lu as a First Realm Warrior while the six factions gathered at the clinic, and Qin Lu confirmed his breakthrough was due to luck.

Qin Lu presented his Wood Essence Pills to Bayi Town’s households and sold all ten through a bidding contest. The households departed with the pills, while Qin Lu expected their new strength to secure his own position and reshape the town’s balance of power.

• Qi Heng reflected that Bayi Town’s households were mostly neutral toward Qin Lu, whose medical skill had benefited their clansmen.
• Qin Lu announced that he had refined spirit ginseng into Wood Essence Pills that strengthened Qi and Blood and could help Warriors break through.
• Wei Cheng tested a pill, confirmed its efficacy, and offered one hundred taels for all the remaining pills.
• Chu He invoked Qin Lu’s highest-bidder rule, bought two pills for the Chu Household, and prompted the other households to bid against one another.
• The households divided all ten pills, with even the Qi Household paying dearly for two.
• Qin Lu let the households leave with the pills, expecting their gains to produce new Warriors and make him harder to threaten.

Qin Lu used his growing wealth and reputation to establish Muxuan Mountain as his base and secure marriage alliances with the Zhao and Chu households. Meanwhile, the Han family fractured over which branch should receive its single Wood Essence Pill.

• Qin Lu counted his savings and decided to establish an estate before seeking a wife and concubines.
• Qin Lu built a residence and farming settlement on Muxuan Mountain, attracting tenant farmers and earning their loyalty.
• Qin Lu allied with the Zhao and Chu households through marriage, accepting their land, silver, and other dowries.
• Qin Lu planned to use his new resources to refine pills and gradually undermine the Wei and Han families.
• Han Zhen's role in purchasing the Han family's only Wood Essence Pill sparked a dispute between the main and second branches.

The Han Ancestor ended the dispute over the Precious Pill, but Han Xuan grew determined to strengthen the second branch and eventually take over the Han Family. As Qin Lu prepared for his marriages to the Zhao and Chu families, he refined a true batch of Wood Essence Pills and distributed them as gifts and payment.

• The Han Ancestor swallowed the Precious Pill, revealed that Han Zhen had acted on his orders, and ordered the family branches to end their quarrel.
• Han Xuan blamed Han Zhen for blocking Han Qing's chance to advance and resolved to win Qin Lu's support and take control of the Han Family.
• Qin Lu's upcoming marriages to the Zhao and Chu families became town gossip, while their families' branches competed to marry their daughters to him.
• Qin Lu refined nine true Wood Essence Pills by guiding purple qi into the pill embryos.
• Qin Lu kept four pills, delivered three to Han Xuan, and sent one each to the Zhao and Chu families as betrothal gifts.

Qin Lu married into alliances with the Zhao and Chu households and discovered that the Azure Wood Scripture had advanced him to the Second Layer of the Martial Realm. After learning about cultivation aptitude and the realms beyond True Martial, he was left with a Test Spirit Stone and a book that opened a path toward deeper cooperation with the Chu household.

• Qin Lu presented precious pills to the Zhao and Chu households, and the two wedding processions joined at Muxuan Mountain before he married their daughters.
• After spending the night with his brides, Qin Lu awoke drained and realized he had advanced to the Second Layer of the Martial Realm.
• Qin Lu reflected on the Azure Wood Scripture's methods of drawing strength from heaven, earth, and humanity, and resolved to use people as medicine sparingly.
• Chu'er gave Qin Lu a book, a Test Spirit Stone, and a letter from Chu Shan proposing that their households divide Bayi after Qin Lu helped him advance through the True Martial Three Realms.
• Qin Lu learned from the book that his nine points of spiritual light marked him as a Pseudo-Immortal Seedling, and read about the cultivation realms from Qi Condensation to Golden Core.

Qin Lu learned about the Great Zhou State’s hierarchy and lamented that his nine-tenths spiritual light might keep him from the Immortal Dao. He refined new pills and, three years later, the Qin family celebrated two sons with spiritual aptitude while maintaining a low profile.

• Qin Lu learned that the Great Zhou State was ruled by the Qingxuan Zhou Clan and was divided among powerful immortal factions and mortal officials.
• Qin Lu resolved to keep cultivating despite his limited spiritual light and spent the following months refining pills while his wives became pregnant.
• Qin Lu developed the Muxuan Pill, recorded his formula, and decided to send old Wood Essence Pills to the Zhao family and Chu Shan.
• The Qin family kept to itself for three years, easing the other six families’ suspicion.
• Qin Lu’s sons Qin Xiao and Qin Hui were found to possess eight-tenths and seven-tenths spiritual light, respectively.

Qin Lu accepted Han Xuan’s request to help the dying Han Ancestor, then secretly drew the Zhao and Chu families into the conflict. Three days later, Old Man Zhao and Qin Lu attacked the Han Family, where Han Ancestor emerged after breaking through to the True Martial Fourth Realm and the battle turned against his household.

• Qin Lu waited to teach his young sons cultivation until they were six, then praised Qin Xiao and Qin Hui as they explained their harsh ideas about ruling servants.
• A messenger delivered Han Xuan’s offer of three-tenths of the Han Family’s foundation in exchange for Qin Lu’s help with Han Ancestor’s desperate attempt to extend his life.
• Qin Lu wrote secret letters to the Zhao and Chu families, choosing to stir up conflict around the Han Family.
• Three days later, Old Man Zhao, Qin Lu, and Chu Shan entered the Han Residence, poisoned or killed its guards, and attacked the sleeping household.
• Han Ancestor emerged from his secret chamber with the strength of the True Martial Fourth Realm and clashed with Old Man Zhao while Qin Lu and Chu Shan kept two Han warriors from joining the fight.
• A newcomer attacked the eldest branch warrior from behind and accused Han Ancestor of having brought the disaster upon himself by favoring the eldest branch.

Qin Lu survived the Han Family’s desperate explosion and looted its ancestral hall while the fighting continued. Han Qing then joined forces with Liu Yujing to kill the wounded Old Man Zhao, leaving the Zhao Family’s fate uncertain.

• Qin Lu killed a Han Family warrior, and Han Ancestor furiously attacked Old Man Zhao as Qin Lu, Chu Shan, and Han Qing moved to finish the last great branch warrior.
• The great branch warrior crushed a purple bead, triggering an explosion that devastated the battlefield and left Qin Lu badly injured.
• Qin Lu recovered, sneaked into the Han Family’s ancestral hall, found a trapped passage to a secret chamber, and stole gold, cultivation methods, books, and portable treasures.
• Old Man Zhao defeated Han Ancestor and boasted that the Zhao Family would absorb the other households, but Han Qing emerged with an Immortal Talisman.
• Liu Yujing joined Han Qing against Old Man Zhao, wounded him further, and finally beheaded him.

Qin Lu used poison to eliminate Liu Yujing and Han Qing, then helped the Chu Household while the Han Family collapsed and the Zhao Household declined. After recovering, he examined his spoils, learned of a method that might help him reach Qi Condensation, and claimed Liu Yujing’s sword as Tai'e.

• Qin Lu poisoned Liu Yujing and Han Qing, killed them, and found Chu Shan barely alive in the ruins.
• Qin Lu decided to support the Chu Household against the other rival Households, and the Han Family gave its fortune to the five Households before scattering.
• The Zhao Household steadily declined, while Chu Shan reached the True Martial Three Realms and the Chu Household grew stronger.
• Qin Lu examined the two Cultivation Methods he had acquired and resolved to find Han Xuan’s daughter, whose spiritual light might help him break through to Qi Condensation.
• Qin Lu inventoried his other spoils, including martial techniques, books, treasures, and Liu Yujing’s First-Tier Law Artifact sword, which he named Tai'e.

Wei Cheng ordered the Wei Family to exploit the Zhao Family’s decline while seeking allies and maintaining ties with the Qin Family. Three years later, Qin Lu’s household had grown stronger, but a pack of demonic wolves attacked near Muxuan Mountain, and Qin Lu rushed to confront them.

• Wei Cheng ordered the Wei Family to encroach more openly on Zhao business, pressure Zhao Zhen and Zhao Tian, seek allies in Yan and Qi, and trade with the Qin Family instead of provoking it over Qin Lu’s alchemy.
• The Wei Family took over more of the Zhao Family’s medicinal-herb trade, leaving Zhao Zhen unable to retaliate without risking his family’s survival.
• Qin Lu’s people found Han Xuan’s surviving daughter and brought her to Muxuan Mountain, where Qin Lu kept her under house arrest while considering using her as medicine or raising her as a concubine.
• Three years later, Qin Xiao and Qin Hui entered the first realm of True Martial, while Qin Lu advanced to the peak of the fourth True Martial realm through alchemy and trade with the Wei Family.
• A servant reported that demonic wolves had attacked people near the mountain and killed a member of the Wang Family, so Qin Lu rushed toward the northern foot of Muxuan Mountain to face them.

Qin Lu rescued Wang Chou'er’s village by killing a pack of wolves, then recruited the surviving youth as a guardian for the Qin Family. After studying the wolves’ remains and using Bone-Strengthening Powder, Qin Lu broke through to the fifth realm of the True Martial Realm.

• Wang Chou'er fought off the wolves until Qin Lu arrived and challenged the black wolf.
• Qin Lu killed the black wolf with Toxic Dust Sword Qi, and the poison spread through the pack, leaving only pelts and bones.
• Qin Lu tested Wang Chou'er with a Test Spirit Stone, found he had nine parts spiritual light, and offered to teach him cultivation in exchange for guarding the mountain.
• Wang Chou'er pledged himself to the Qin Family, and Qin Lu granted him the name Wang Jian.
• Qin Lu studied the wolf remains, recorded their uses in his notebook, and refined Bone-Strengthening Powder.
• Qin Lu bathed with the powder and broke through to the fifth realm of the True Martial Realm.

After the Zhao Household’s elders agreed to seek refuge, Zhao Zhen submitted the lineage to Qin Lu in exchange for protection and a place to settle. The Zhao clansmen moved to Muxuan Mountain and began preparing medicinal fields for the Qin Family.

• Zhao Zhen proposed moving the Zhao Household away and seeking the Qin Family’s protection after Zhao Tian was killed and the lineage’s fortunes collapsed.
• Seventy-eight Zhao clansmen migrated to Muxuan Mountain, where Zhao Zhen met Qin Lu and accepted that the weakened household had little leverage.
• Zhao Zhen formally made the Zhao Household a vassal lineage, offering its inherited cultivation methods, books, and wealth to the Qin Family.
• Qin Lu granted the Zhao Household land in East Village and asked Zhao Zhen to send experienced herb farmers to cultivate medicinal plants on Muxuan Mountain.
• The Zhao clansmen prepared fields on the mountain’s eastern side to grow medicinal herbs, especially ginseng varieties, in successive harvests.

After Zhao submitted to Qin, the Yan and Qi families withdrew from public affairs while Wei Cheng dismissed the threat posed by Qin, Chu, and Zhao. Qin Lu focused on strengthening his descendants and the villages, leaving the families poised to watch or prepare for a coming conflict.

• The Yan Family Head rejected the Wei Family’s overture, kept Qin Lu’s alchemy secret, and decided to let Qin and Wei fight while his family benefited.
• The Qi Household closed its doors to outsiders, and the Yan Family later did the same.
• Wei Cheng tore up the Yan Family’s letter, dismissed Qin Lu’s forces as weak, and vowed to destroy Yan after breaking through to the Fourth Realm.
• Qin Lu focused on training his descendants; Qin Xiao reached the True Martial Second Realm, while Qin Hui remained in the First Realm and could not make precious pills.
• Wang Jian reached the True Martial First Realm, became North Village’s manager, and organized a mountain-patrolling team.
• East Village grew under Zhao Zhen, reaching more than forty households and nearly two hundred residents.

Qin Lu concluded that conflict between the Qin and Wei families was unavoidable as Bayi’s resources dwindled, and he resolved to act first. On the Laba Festival, he killed Wei Cheng and launched a poisoning attack on the Wei Family, leaving Weizhenghua to organize the poisoned clansmen.

• Qin Lu considered how competition for scarce resources would force the Qin and Wei families into a battle, and told Qin Xiao he was willing to become the villain for his family’s sake.
• Qin Xiao praised Qin Lu and promised to strengthen the Qin Family through cultivation.
• Qin Lu ambushed Wei Cheng in his room and killed him before he could alert the Wei Family.
• Qin Lu cut Wei Cheng’s corpse into pieces and noted that a Warrior’s flesh could serve as fertilizer.
• At the Wei Family Ancestral Residence, Weizhenghua rallied the clansmen after more than a hundred were struck by suspected poison and ordered people to seek the Household Head and Old Ancestor.

Chu Shan joined forces with Zhao Zhen and the Qin side to destroy the Wei Family, while Qin Lu confronted Ancestor Wei at the family residence. The chapter ended after Qin Lu deflected Ancestor Wei’s golden-sword talisman and the weapon and talisman dissipated.

• Chu Shan rejected Weizhenghua’s offer to ally against Qin Lu and led Zhao Zhen and the Chu elders into battle against the Wei Family.
• Wang Jian led thirty foot soldiers in an assault on the Wei Family’s noncombatants, drawing Weizhenghua away from the battle.
• Wang Jian killed Weizhenghua’s young son, and Weizhenghua was then killed by Chu Shan and two others.
• The Chu and Qin fighters overwhelmed the two Wei elders and killed them.
• Ancestor Wei knelt before Qin Lu and offered to relocate his family, but then activated a golden talisman and summoned a sword to attack him.
• Qin Lu struck the golden sword with the Tai’e Sword; the attack weakened and deviated, and the sword and talisman dissipated.

Qin Lu killed Ancestor Wei and led the Qin forces to destroy the Wei Family, then forced the Yan Family to surrender and join his campaign against the Qi Household. As Qin Lu’s forces approached, the Qi Household’s elders urged Bai Ling’er to flee with their inheritance and preserve the Cangnong Qi Clan.

• Qin Lu killed Ancestor Wei with a single sword stroke, ending the Wei Family’s resistance.
• Qin Xiao killed Wei Fang, while Chu Shan and the Qin forces finished wiping out the Wei Family.
• Qin Lu ordered Zhao Zhen to hunt for Wei Fang and led the rest of his forces toward Yan Manor to take the Yan and Qi families.
• Yan Quan saw Ancestor Wei’s severed head, surrendered the Yan Family to Qin Lu, and agreed to bring its Warriors to attack the Qi Household.
• The four Qi Household Warriors urged Bai Ling’er to take the clan’s inheritance and flee before Qin Lu arrived.

The Qi Patriarch sent Qi Bailing away through a secret passage before the elders died defending the clan, while Qin Lu’s forces destroyed the Qi Household. On the road to Muxuan Mountain, Qi Bailing attacked Zhao Zhen and was defeated by Qin Lu, but their clash revealed that they had both been poisoned.

• The Qi Patriarch gave Qi Bailing an ancient codex and provisions, then sent her through a secret passage as the elders burned the ancestral hall and stayed behind to die.
• Qin Lu’s Warriors killed the three Qi elders, and Wang Jian reported that all fifty-six members of the Qi Household had been executed.
• Qin Lu ordered Wang Jian to handle the aftermath and take a share of the loot, while requiring the Yan and Chu households to surrender their inheritance records.
• Qin Xiao left the Wei Household with Zhao Zhen, and the two encountered Qi Bailing near the road to Muxuan Mountain.
• Qi Bailing attacked after Zhao Zhen recognized her Qi Household garments, badly injuring him before Qin Lu arrived and fought her.
• Qin Lu defeated and restrained Qi Bailing, but both recognized signs of poisoning and named the other’s technique as they struggled to suppress the toxins.

While hiding and recovering, Qin Lu uncovered the Bayi Town Qi Household’s connection to the exterminated Cangnong Qi Clan and pieced together its cultivation heritage. He drained Qi Bailing’s spiritual aptitude, cultivation, and life force to advance to True Martial Seven Realms and gain the potential to reach Qi Condensation.

• Qin Lu hid in the mountains to refine poisons and recover, keeping Qi Bailing near him while his subordinates stayed cautious on Muxuan Mountain.
• Qin Lu read the Qi Household booklet and deduced that the Azure Wood Scripture he had found came from the Cangnong Qi Clan’s hidden lineage.
• Qin Lu combined the Azure Mysterious Scripture with the Azure Wood Scripture and examined the Qi Household’s beast-taming heritage and sealed Qiankun Pouch.
• Qin Lu tested Qi Bailing’s spiritual aptitude, then used her cultivation and life force to strengthen himself while she remained unable to resist.
• Qin Lu advanced to the completion of True Martial Seven Realms, gained the potential to break through Qi Condensation, and acquired a deadly new poison.

Qin Lu consolidated control over Bayi Town, expanded the Qin Family’s holdings, and oversaw the growth of the surrounding villages and industries. A year after the reforms, his allies reported the population, income, and resources now under his rule.

• Qin Lu returned to the mountain after destroying the Wei and Qi lineages and forcing the Zhao, Chu, and Yan households to submit; the Han lineage collapsed.
• Qin Lu took a granddaughter of Yan Quan as a concubine, while the Han woman was forced to cultivate and kept under solitary house arrest as a cultivation cauldron.
• Qin Lu’s Qin Family took control of Bayi Town’s land and businesses, while the Chu, Zhao, Wang, and Han households settled in villages around Muxuan Mountain.
• Wang Jian formed a township army of about two hundred men to maintain order and clear out dangerous beasts as the population and settlements grew.
• Yan Quan reported that the jurisdiction had more than 2,300 households and had brought 517 liang of silver into the treasury during the year.
• Zhao Zhen, Chu Shan, and Han Fei reported progress in medicinal fields, mountain deer husbandry, and tea gardens to Qin Lu.

Qin Lu ordered the clans to prepare a fleet and expand the Qin Family’s commerce downstream, then examined unusual blood-colored tea trees and assigned them to Qin Hui. Qin Hui accepted that he lacked talent for the Four Immortal Arts and resolved to find another way to serve the family.

• Qin Lu heard that several tea trees had developed unusual blood-colored leaves and ordered Han Fei to keep them under special care.
• Qin Lu showed the clans a sandbox map of Yingchuan County and ordered them to build a fleet to trade along the Ba and Ying Rivers, offering them a share of the profits.
• The clans began recruiting craftsmen and building shipyards, wharves, and waterways to support the fleet and create work for the population.
• Qin Lu tasted a leaf from a mutated tea tree and found that it helped clear his mind, though it barely affected his True Essence circulation.
• Qin Lu placed Qin Hui in charge of the special tea trees and medicinal garden, and Qin Hui resolved to study other immortal arts after accepting his limited cultivation talent.

Qin Lu celebrated the births of four more sons, bringing his total to six, while worrying about the cost of raising them and ordering servants to collect fish bladders. In Yingchuan City, county officials and representatives of the Zhang, Li, Wang, and Chen lineages debated how to respond to the Qin lineage’s arrival and its plans for water commerce.

• Qin Lu recalled that Qin Wu had nine-tenths spiritual light, Qin Wen had five-tenths, Qin Zhao had seven-tenths, and Qin Zhuang had nine-tenths, and considered sending Qin Wen to study governance under Yan Quan.
• Qin Lu played with his six sons until they cried, then decided not to have more children and ordered servants to collect fish bladders as backup.
• County Magistrate Zhang urged the other lineages to avoid public conflict with the Qin lineage as he prepared to leave Yingchuan for a post in the commandery government.
• County Assistant Li proposed treating the Qin lineage courteously if it proved capable, but threatening to destroy it if it tried to take the established lineages’ profits.
• Master of Records Chen and County Wei Wang challenged Li to specify what profits his own lineage would surrender, arguing that the Qin lineage’s water commerce would primarily affect Li’s trade.
• County Assistant Li insisted that the Qin lineage would affect every lineage, but Wang rejected the claim, saying his lineage’s grain and clothing businesses were unrelated.

Qin Lu received Gongsun Zhe, an examiner from the Hundred Arts Office, and prepared for an assessment of his alchemy. Gongsun Zhe watched Qin Lu refine Muxuan Pills and confirmed that he was a genuine alchemist.

• County Defender Wang and Chief Clerk Chen left County Magistrate Zhang’s hall, refusing to help the Li Family oppose the Qin Family.
• County Magistrate Zhang withdrew, leaving County Vice Magistrate Li alone to face the Li Family’s impending losses.
• The Hundred Arts Office dispatched Gongsun Zhe to assess Qin Lu’s skill and arrange his classification.
• Qin Lu welcomed Gongsun Zhe aboard his boat and hosted him with food, wine, and entertainment.
• At Muxuan Mountain, Qin Lu refined a batch of Muxuan Pills while Gongsun Zhe observed and recorded the process.
• Gongsun Zhe judged Qin Lu’s techniques and pill fragrance sufficient to establish that he was an alchemist.

Qin Lu completed seven Muxuan Pills, and Gongsun Zhe explained how cultivators exploit Pseudo-Immortal Seedlings and mortal Warriors for resources. Gongsun Zhe left Qin Lu a Yang-Strengthening Pill formula and a Hundred Arts Office token, while Qin Lu resolved to use the system to benefit his family.

• Qin Lu refined seven Muxuan Pills, and Gongsun Zhe tested one and rated it a First-Tier Mid-Grade elixir.
• Gongsun Zhe explained that immortal factions restrict access to cultivation resources and use inferior pills to drive mortal Warriors into service.
• Gongsun Zhe took the Muxuan Pills for his grandsons and left Qin Lu the Yang-Strengthening Pill formula and an Attendant token.
• Qin Lu learned that his token made him the thirteenth Yellow-grade Alchemist Attendant in Longchuan Prefecture, with an annual stipend of ten Spirit Stones.
• Qin Lu regarded his new position as secure backing and considered how the Yang-Strengthening Pill formula could serve his family.

After mastering Blood-Strengthening Pills, Qin Lu launched a fleet to trade along the Ba River and arrived at the county seat to negotiate with its leading households. They agreed to hold an auction in seven days, giving Qin Lu a chance to trade pills for resources and build support for his clan.

• Qin Lu completed three months of practice and prepared Blood-Strengthening Pills and Muxuan Pills to trade for Spirit Stones.
• Qin Lu sent five sand ships down the Ba River, carrying cargo and a force of Black-Armored Soldiers commanded by Wang Jian.
• County Magistrate Zhang welcomed Qin Lu at the docks, where the gathered households recognized his status as an alchemist.
• Qin Lu and the county's representatives shared a banquet and a foot-massage session before discussing his plans.
• The households agreed to sacrifice the Li Household's interests and arrange Yan Quan's promotion as part of their negotiations.
• The county's households decided to hold an auction seven days later.