Recaps

Sun Mao completed the Autumn Cry Merchant Alliance’s first circuit, earning the Sun Household a substantial profit and establishing its own trade route. Before returning home, he visited Sun Yao at White Cloud Temple, gave her clan resources, and received her wish for a safe journey.

• Sun Mao finished business in Ningshui, Jing'an, and Dong'an Counties, using the alliance's accounts to silence a Rogue Cultivator leader who criticized the Sun Clan.
• Sun Mao opened the Autumn Cry shops in White Cloud Market, and they drew crowds with genuine goods priced below their competitors.
• Sun Mao reported that the first circuit had earned more than 4,300 low-grade Spirit Stones, or 4,800 including an agreed purchase, and Sun Bo'an judged the result sufficient.
• Sun Mao met Sun Yao at Clear Moon Pavilion, reassured her about the Sun Household, and gave her Spirit Stones, a cultivation formation diagram, and pills.
• As Sun Mao prepared to return home with the Dark Gold Ape bone fragments and Thunder Essence Fruit Tree, a White Cloud Temple disciple delivered Sun Yao's note wishing him a safe journey.

Sun Mao established a medicine garden to cultivate the Thunder Essence Fruit Tree and gave Shi Mo a Dark Gold Ape bone fragment. Shi Mo transformed and showed affection toward Sun Mao, leaving him hopeful that they would protect the Lineage together.

• Sun Mao entrusted Sun Caiya with cultivating the Thunder Essence Fruit Tree and approved the substantial costs of a dedicated medicine garden.
• Sun Caiya spent half a month preparing the western slope, then predicted the tree would resume fruiting within three years and eventually double its yield.
• Sun Mao brought the Dark Gold Ape bone fragment to Shi Mo, who swallowed it and gained a dark-gold patch of fur and sharper claws.
• Shi Mo approached Sun Mao and lowered his head to him, and Sun Mao patted him and spoke of protecting the Lineage together.

Over five years, Hongtian City and the Sun Clan grew rapidly, and Sun Bo'an formalized the clan’s generations as he reviewed its rising strength. The chapter left Sun Mao arriving with news from the back mountain, while Sun Bo'an feared it concerned the secluded ancestor, Shi Jian.

• Hongtian City expanded, its mortal population rose above eight hundred thousand, and the Sun Clan’s marriage alliances produced thirteen third-generation cultivation seedlings.
• Sun Bo'an established generation characters and entered the thirteen new seedlings into the genealogy as the Cheng generation, bringing the clan’s cultivating line to thirty-eight members.
• Sun Kezheng reported that all eighteen second-generation disciples had reached Qi Refining Fourth Layer, Sun Yao might achieve Foundation Establishment within three years, and Shi Mo had grown powerful enough to pulverize spiritual granite.
• Sun Kezheng said Shi Jian had remained in seclusion for nearly six or seven years, and Sun Bo'an ordered the clan to keep delivering annual offerings and wait.
• Sun Mao rushed into the ancestral hall with news from the back mountain, and Sun Bo'an anxiously asked what had happened.

After seven years in seclusion, Shi Jian emerged at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage and learned how the Sun Clan had developed. He examined Shi Mo’s Dark Gold Ape bloodline mutation and recognized both his potential and the difficulties ahead.

• Shi Jian broke through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage, emerged from his cave, and surveyed the transformed Hongtian City.
• Sun Bo'an and the clan members congratulated Shi Jian, who dismissed everyone except Sun Bo'an to hear his report on the past seven years.
• Sun Bo'an told Shi Jian that the Autumn Cry Merchant Alliance was thriving, the clan had thirteen cultivation seedlings, and Shi Mo had received a Dark Gold Ape bone fragment.
• Shi Jian summoned Shi Mo and saw the dark-gold fur and metal spirit Qi that marked his bloodline mutation.
• Shi Jian praised Shi Mo’s progress but warned that, although Foundation Establishment was within reach, advancing further would be difficult.

Shi Jian arranged an equal contract between Shi Mo and Sun Mao so the bear demon could accompany the Sun Clan leader and grow alongside the clan. After hearing Lord Rat’s report, he learned that a powerful family from Fenghe Commandery had begun acquiring resources in White Cloud Commandery, a possible sign of renewed trouble.

• Shi Jian told Shi Mo to leave Beast Valley and assigned him to accompany Sun Mao under an equal contract.
• Shi Mo sealed the contract with Sun Mao, and the two left to learn to work together.
• Shi Jian explained that he planned to integrate bear demons into the Sun Clan until the clan depended on them.
• Lord Rat reported on Sun Mao’s leadership, the Autumn Cry Merchant Alliance, White Cloud Temple, and a great clan’s acquisitions in White Cloud Commandery.
• Shi Jian suspected the acquisitions might be connected to Yan Qiu’s earlier scheme and ordered Lord Rat to expand his intelligence network and report anything unusual.

Shi Jian consumed a Thunder Essence Fruit and discovered that it had infused his Yao Essence with a trace of lightning power, offering hope of transforming his bloodline and breaking through its limits. Lord Rat then reported a storm-struck stone forest in the Clear Wind Mountain Range, and Shi Jian summoned Sun Bo'an to prepare for an important assignment.

• Shi Jian ate a Thunder Essence Fruit and suppressed its savage spiritual power with his Yao Essence.
• Shi Jian tested his changed Yao Qi and found that it carried a faint trace of lightning.
• Shi Jian realized that repeated use of Thunder Essence Fruits might transform his bloodline, but their scarcity meant he needed other sources of lightning power.
• Lord Rat reported that storms drew lightning to a strange, exceptionally hard stone forest in the Clear Wind Mountain Range.
• Shi Jian decided the stone forest might help him cultivate thunder power and ordered Lord Rat to summon Sun Bo'an.

Shi Jian set out from Hongtian City and took Sun Lin with him on a discreet journey toward the Clear Wind Mountain Range. Along the way, he recognized Sun Lin’s talent for talisman-making and began instructing him, leaving Sun Lin newly encouraged and Shi Jian considering how to make use of him.

• Shi Jian told Sun Bo'an he would be away for several months, gave him instructions about clan affairs and the infiltration in Fenghe Commandery, and ordered him to send Sun Lin along.
• Sun Lin met Shi Jian at Hongtian City’s north gate before dawn and followed him and Lord Rat into the wilderness.
• The group traveled by wilderness trails toward the Clear Wind Mountain Range, resting by day and moving at night; Sun Lin endured the exhausting journey without complaint.
• During a rest, Sun Lin drew Aura-Concealing Talismans and explained how he planned to combine them with other talismans to hide Shi Jian’s Yao Qi.
• Shi Jian corrected Sun Lin’s brush grip, helping him produce a brighter talisman, and Sun Lin thanked him for the guidance.

Shi Jian reached the lightning-saturated stone forest in the Clear Wind Mountain Range and challenged its Level 4 Thunder Leopard. He killed the leopard with a lightning-infused blow, while Sun Lin remained concealed at the forest’s edge.

• Shi Jian and Sun Lin arrived at a barren stone forest where lightning had charged the iron-blue pillars.
• Lord Rat sensed demons in the stone forest, and Shi Jian identified a Level 4 Demon Beast in its depths.
• Shi Jian ordered Sun Lin to hide under breath-concealing talismans, then entered the stone forest and challenged the Thunder Leopard.
• The Thunder Leopard attacked with lightning and its bloodline ability, but Shi Jian endured its blows and drew the lightning into his body.
• Shi Jian struck the Thunder Leopard with a lightning-infused blow, smashing it through three pillars and killing it.

Shi Jian absorbed the Thunder Leopard’s Level 4 Demon Core, then claimed the thunder-rich stone forest and made its surviving beasts serve as sentries. He established a cave abode and searched the forest with Lord Rat, finding Spirit Plants to bring to Sun Caiya and mysterious white lightning crystals.

• Shi Jian crushed the Thunder Leopard’s head, swallowed its Demon Core, and spent two hours refining its thunder spirit power.
• Shi Jian claimed the stone forest and ordered the surviving Demon Beasts to guard its perimeter.
• Shi Jian found a sheltered cave abode in the northeastern corner, where thunder spirit Qi was especially strong.
• Shi Jian and Lord Rat searched the stone forest and dug up Thunder Radiance Grass, Purple Lightning Moss, and Thunder-Patterned Fungus to give to Sun Caiya.
• Shi Jian tested the white crystals scattered across the stone pillars and found that they contained a small amount of pure lightning-attribute spiritual power.

Shi Jian and Sun Lin prepared for a recurring heavenly lightning storm in the stone forest, hoping Shi Jian could use it to refine his body. When the storm arrived, Shi Jian faced the gathering lightning and prepared to test its power.

• Shi Jian had Sun Lin scrape crystalline powder from the stone pillars, filling six Storage Bags over three days.
• Sun Lin mapped the lightning scorch marks and concluded that storms struck every two to three months, with lightning converging toward the stone forest’s center.
• Shi Jian spent the following weeks cultivating and studying the remnant lightning spirit Qi while Sun Lin documented the forest and set up warning talismans; Lord Rat organized patrols.
• Two months and seventeen days later, dark clouds gathered, and Sun Lin told Shi Jian that the heavenly lightning had arrived.
• Shi Jian stood at the center of the stone forest and challenged the coming storm, hoping its lightning would advance his Heavenly Lightning Body Refinement.

Shi Jian endured Heavenly Lightning Body Refinement to draw lightning power into his body and transform his yao core. He survived the storm with a faint ring of silver lightning in his core, a seed of power he had successfully cultivated.

• Shi Jian sent Sun Lin, Lord Rat, and the lesser yao away before preparing to face the heavenly lightning alone.
• As the storm gathered, Shi Jian waited for the stone pillars to guide the lightning toward the center of the stone forest.
• Shi Jian drew the lightning into himself and endured repeated bolts as he forced wisps of lightning source into his yao core.
• The storm subsided, leaving Shi Jian gravely injured but alive, with his yao core intact and a faint ring of silver electricity circling it.
• Shi Jian recognized the silver lightning as a seed of power and rejoiced that his dangerous method had succeeded.

Shi Jian recovered from his injuries in seclusion while studying the new lightning origin in his Demon Core. Sun Lin used the stone forest’s lightning patterns to refine his talisman arts and advanced in cultivation; after emerging, Shi Jian decided the valuable site needed a gatekeeper.

• Shi Jian ordered Sun Lin to place Spirit Stones and crystalline powder around him, then began healing and studying the lightning origin in his Demon Core.
• While Shi Jian remained in seclusion, Sun Lin studied the heavenly lightning marks and incorporated their patterns into his talisman-drawing technique.
• After more than a month of repeated practice, Sun Lin developed a distinctive talisman method and advanced from the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining to the sixth.
• Two months and nine days after entering seclusion, Shi Jian emerged with his injuries mostly healed and learned to guide the lightning power through his body.
• Shi Jian decided to keep using the stone forest as a place to cultivate but recognized that he needed a gatekeeper there.

Shi Jian used Enlightenment to raise a One-Horned Grey Badger’s intelligence and made him a loyal subordinate named Lei Huan. After entrusting him with guarding the stone forest, Shi Jian prepared to leave for his nest with Sun Lin.

• Shi Jian chose a diligent One-Horned Grey Badger to serve as the stone forest’s gatekeeper.
• Shi Jian spent all five uses of Enlightenment to greatly strengthen the badger’s soul and intelligence.
• Shi Jian corrected the badger’s form of address, gave him Thunder Leopard bones, and taught him a Demon Cultivator technique.
• Shi Jian ordered the badger to gather unaffiliated demons and guard the stone forest, then named him Lei Huan.
• Shi Jian left the stone forest and met Sun Lin, who was ready to travel to the nest.

Shi Jian and Sun Lin discovered a Blood Sha Sect group refining a Blood Pearl from thousands of victims, then killed the seven Devil Cultivators and took their spoils. After consuming the pearl, Shi Jian examined a Jade Slip that made his pupils contract, leaving its contents unknown.

• Lord Rat reported a blood-filled valley ahead, where seven Devil Cultivators were operating a blood sacrifice formation among countless corpses.
• Shi Jian and Sun Lin watched as the formation finished condensing a Blood Pearl, and Shi Jian waited until the leader collected it.
• Shi Jian attacked the seven cultivators, killing them with his paws and Yao Qi while Lord Rat blocked the valley exit.
• Sun Lin searched the bodies and found a Blood Sha Sect token, letters, a Jade Slip, and three more Blood Pearls.
• Shi Jian swallowed the Blood Pearl and felt its vitality nourish his Qi and Blood before reading the Jade Slip and reacting with interest.

Shi Jian learned that the Blood Sha Sect's surviving disciples were seeking out hidden infiltrators in the Wei Kingdom, including a Golden Core ancestor, and decided to keep the intelligence secret for future use. After returning home, he distributed the spoils, praised Sun Lin, and entered seclusion to recover and cultivate his growing Lightning Origin.

• Shi Jian read the Blood Sha Sect elder's journal, discovered its network of infiltrators and a hidden Golden Core ancestor, and chose not to report or pursue them yet.
• Shi Jian and Sun Lin collected the cultivators' belongings, consumed the Blood Pearls, and burned the bodies and their hideout before returning home.
• Shi Jian gave Sun Bo'an lightning-attribute Spirit Plants and heavenly lightning crystals, and told him to provide Sun Lin with more resources for talisman and formation study.
• Shi Jian told Sun Bo'an he had dealt with several Devil Cultivators from the Jin Kingdom but concealed the journal's intelligence, then entered seclusion to heal.
• Shi Jian reviewed his progress and cultivated the faint Lightning Origin taking root in his Demon Core as he considered the long road to Golden Core.

Sun Mao supplied Sun Yao with the resources she needed to attempt Foundation Establishment, and she succeeded at White Cloud Temple. True Person Yun Du made her his personal disciple and gave her a powerful role in the temple, securing the Sun Clan a place in its inner circle.

• Sun Mao bought Foundation Establishment resources for Sun Yao and delivered them to her at White Cloud Temple, where she said True Person Yun Du had promised her a Foundation Establishment Pill if she consolidated her foundation.
• Sun Bo'an learned that Yun Du would grant Sun Yao a pill and chose not to disturb the old ancestor, who was recovering from his injuries in seclusion.
• Half a year later, Sun Yao swallowed the Foundation Establishment Pill and combined its effects with the spiritual items her clan had prepared for her.
• Sun Yao succeeded in reaching Foundation Establishment, drawing a surge of Spiritual Qi to White Cloud Temple.
• True Person Yun Du accepted Sun Yao as his personal disciple, bestowed the title Qingyao, appointed her an administrative elder, awarded her a supreme-grade Law Artifact, and placed her in charge of spiritual tax collection across nine counties.

After Sun Yao became a White Cloud Temple executive elder, the Sun Clan celebrated her rise and sent Shi Pan to serve as her companion. The clan then spent heavily on Foundation Establishment preparations and lightning resources to support Shi Jian’s cultivation.

• Sun Bo'an welcomed the news of Sun Yao’s appointments, and the Sun Clan hosted a celebration in Hongtian City that Sun Yao could not attend.
• Sun Mao declared that the Sun Clan’s business rules would remain unchanged, and Shi Jian approved sending Shi Pan to protect Sun Yao at White Cloud Temple.
• Sun Yao formed an equal contract with Shi Pan, who noticed hostile spiritual fluctuations among three onlookers and memorized them.
• Sun Bo'an began preparing for Sun Mao’s Foundation Establishment and approved a costly expansion of the Thunder Essence Fruit orchard and its lightning array.
• Sun Yao found a discounted second-tier Lightning-Guiding Clan-Protecting Grand Array, and Sun Bo'an approved the purchase despite its price of twelve thousand Spirit Stones.

The Cheng Lineage prepared a thunder fruit orchard by planting Lightning-Guiding Spirit Wood, forging Thunder-Storing Pillars, and laying out a second-tier Lightning-Attracting Grand Formation. Sun Chengyue showed promise as a Spirit Plant cultivator, while Sun Lin advanced in cultivation as he devoted himself to the formation.

• Sun Caiya taught the Cheng juniors to plant Lightning-Guiding Spirit Wood, and Sun Chengyue demonstrated a talent for choosing the roots’ orientation and planting them carefully.
• Half a month later, Sun Caiya found that the Spirit Wood planted by Sun Chengyue’s group had a twenty percent higher survival rate and began sharing the Spirit Plant care journal with her.
• Sun Tieshan refined Thunder-Storing Pillars to store and gradually release lightning, completing his twelfth of the thirty-six needed for the main peak.
• Sun Lin studied the formation diagram and planned how the grand formation would draw in lightning and channel purified thunder Spiritual Qi to the herb garden.
• Sun Lin spent half a year laying out the formation, broke through from the Qi Refining Sixth Layer to the Seventh Layer, and discovered that he was deeply suited to formations.

Sun Lin’s Lightning-Attracting Grand Formation created a lightning pool that strengthened the Sun Clan’s lightning plants and cultivation environment, prompting the clan to gather Lightning Dao inheritances. The chapter ended with Sun Bo’an learning that the White Cloud Temple wanted Shi Jian to take one of its places in the Kunyuan Secret Realm, which would open in three months.

• Sun Lin activated the Lightning-Attracting Grand Formation, channeling heavenly lightning into the lightning plants and the stone pool, where it condensed into Lightning Spirit Liquid.
• Shi Jian sensed the influx of lightning spirit Qi, and the silver electrical arcs around his Demon Core began circulating nearly twenty percent faster.
• Sun Caiya tended the medicinal garden while Sun Chengyue learned from her, and the Thunder Essence Fruit Tree’s fruiting cycle shortened from five years to three.
• Sun Bo’an organized a search for Lightning Dao inheritances, and Sun Mao bought an incomplete lightning talisman inheritance for Sun Wanqing to study.
• Sun Yao sent Sun Bo’an a secret letter saying the Kunyuan Secret Realm would open in three months and asking Shi Jian to enter on the White Cloud Temple’s behalf.
• Sun Bo’an considered the secret realm’s history and the temple’s shortage of Foundation Establishment cultivators, then went up the mountain.

Shi Jian agreed to enter the Kunyuan Secret Realm and spent three months strengthening his lightning abilities and body. The Sun Clan commissioned a powerful suit of armor for him, which was completed as the Thunder-Shrouding Mystic Armor.

• Shi Jian read the account of the Kunyuan Secret Realm and agreed to go, despite Sun Bo'an's concerns about the dangers.
• Shi Jian learned that Sun Yao and the sword cultivator Yun Che would also enter the secret realm.
• Shi Jian consumed Thunder Essence Fruits and Lightning Spirit Liquid, refining his lightning power and toughening his body.
• Sun Mao gathered rare lightning-attribute ores while Sun Yao persuaded the White Cloud Temple's Artifact Forging Hall head to craft armor.
• A month later, Shi Jian received the completed Thunder-Shrouding Mystic Armor, a supreme-grade Law Artifact built to suit his bear form.

True Person Yun Du brought Sun Yao, Yun Che, Shi Pan, and Shi Jian to the Kunyuan Mountain Range aboard the Silver Plume Boat for the secret realm opening. Shi Jian spotted two Devil Cultivators with Blood Qi linked to the Blood Sha Sect, and the chapter ended as the Kunyuan Secret Realm opened.

• True Person Yun Du took the group aboard the Silver Plume Boat and flew for three days to the Kunyuan Mountain Range.
• Shi Jian sensed the immense spiritual pressure of the mountain range and saw thousands of cultivators gathered in the basin.
• True Person Yun Du went to meet the Supreme Purity Sect's sect master, leaving Sun Yao, Yun Che, Shi Pan, and Shi Jian in the camp.
• A cultivator from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion mocked White Cloud Temple and Shi Jian, while Sun Yao answered that the secret realm would reveal who was useful.
• Shi Jian searched the Jin Kingdom's Devil Cultivator camp, found two people whose Blood Qi matched that of the Blood Sha Sect cultivators, and memorized their faces and positions.
• A golden streak struck Kunyuan Mountain's main peak, and an aged voice announced that the Kunyuan Secret Realm had opened.

Before the secret realm opened, Yun Du gave Sun Yao, Yun Che, and Shi Jian sensing discs and maps, then warned them about its dangers and rules. Shi Jian learned that Heaven and Earth Qi might help him break through to the Golden Core, and the three were transported into the realm as Yun Du worried whether they would return alive.

• Yun Du gave Sun Yao, Yun Che, and Shi Jian sensing discs that could locate one another and maps marking resources and dangerous areas.
• Yun Du warned them that flying was forbidden, powerful Demon Beasts inhabited the realm, and Heaven and Earth Qi was their primary objective.
• Shi Jian realized that obtaining lightning-attribute Heaven and Earth Qi could help him break through to the Golden Core and overcome his bloodline's shackles.
• Yun Du told them the secret realm would remain open for three months and that anyone who failed to leave in time would be trapped for a hundred years.
• Sun Yao placed Shi Pan in her spirit beast pouch, and Yun Du transported the three into the secret realm.
• Yun Du watched them disappear into the vortex and hoped they would return alive.

Shi Jian entered the secret realm, found a Thunder-Infused Orchid guarded by a level 3 Demon Beast, and decided to attack the demon lizard protecting it. He launched himself forward in a burst of lightning.

• Shi Jian woke in a Spiritual Qi-rich secret realm and found that Sun Yao and Yun Che had landed far away from him.
• Shi Jian used his map to locate a nearby Starlight Stone Mine and a Thunder-Infused Orchid, then set off toward the orchid.
• Shi Jian detected the scent of blood nearby but ignored it and traveled swiftly across the grassland.
• Shi Jian found the Thunder-Infused Orchid growing beside a fire-filled den occupied by a level 3 demon lizard with a trace of dragon blood.
• Shi Jian chose to risk exposing his strength, charged at the demon lizard, and gathered lightning around his paws.

Shi Jian defeated the dragon-blooded Demon Lizard, collected the Thunder-Infused Orchid and its Demon Core, then was ambushed by two Heavenly Secret Pavilion disciples. He killed one attacker in a burst of fury as the other fled.

• Shi Jian fought the Demon Lizard and killed it by piercing its head with a lightning-charged paw.
• Shi Jian dug up the Thunder-Infused Orchid and swallowed the Demon Lizard's Demon Core to replenish his Spiritual Qi.
• Two Heavenly Secret Pavilion disciples ambushed Shi Jian with a poisoned flying needle and a restraining electric net.
• Shi Jian broke free of the net and crushed the cultivator holding the formation plate with one blow.
• The other cultivator froze, then turned and fled.

Shi Jian killed and devoured two Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivators, collected valuable materials from a demon lizard, and set off toward Sun Yao. Three hundred li away, Sun Yao and the wounded Shi Pan were surrounded by five Devil Cultivators, who launched an attack as she prepared to detonate her Law Artifact.

• A cultivator fled from Shi Jian but was crushed by the secret realm’s rules when he tried to fly, then killed and devoured by Shi Jian.
• Shi Jian devoured the other Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator and refined the toxin in his injured paw with the resulting Qi and Blood.
• Shi Jian harvested valuable parts from the demon lizard, stored them in two Storage Bags, and checked the sensing disk.
• Shi Jian saw Sun Yao’s signal moving three hundred li to the southeast and raced toward her, while Yun Che’s signal had vanished beyond the disk’s range.
• Five Devil Cultivators surrounded Sun Yao and the badly wounded Shi Pan in a jagged-rock forest, then attacked them together.
• Sun Yao drew on her last spiritual power and prepared to detonate her Law Artifact rather than surrender.