Recaps

The sects and imperial clans received Xiushui City's trade lists, placed orders, and signed shop rental contracts. Venerable Xunfang proposed that they divide their shops into distinct specialties to avoid competing against one another, and Luo Goddess Mountain offered to focus on talismans.

• Li Zhouxuan gave the Crimson Firmament Sect its lists, and the waiting factions quickly followed its example to receive their own lists and shop vouchers.
• The factions cautiously placed orders, while the three great sects and the Li Imperial Clan bought large quantities of resources and materials.
• The factions drew lots and signed contracts for shops in Xiushui City's commercial district.
• Venerable Xunfang suggested that each shop adopt a distinct main line of business to prevent destructive competition.
• A representative of Luo Goddess Mountain said its members specialized in talisman-making and proposed making talismans the group's main business.

The sect leaders and imperial clans discussed supporting Lingxian Sect’s Xiushui City commercial district, and Han Shangyi proposed hiring Rogue Cultivators for menial work. Bai Yu’s remark that the Mortal Realm was already a pool of stagnant water silenced the room and left its leaders confronting how their own outlooks had changed over time.

• Bai Yu declared Luo Goddess Mountain’s position, prompting the other sects and imperial clans to plan support for the commercial district and discuss spreading the word about it.
• Han Shangyi received a voice transmission from Han Weishu and proposed hiring Rogue Cultivators to work in sects and Xiushui City.
• Han Shangyi argued that wages would give Rogue Cultivators resources to pursue cultivation and free sect members to focus on more important work.
• A Golden Mandarin Duck Kingdom cultivator questioned the benefit of paying Rogue Cultivators for work their own disciples could do.
• Bai Yu said the Mortal Realm was already a pool of stagnant water, and the room fell silent as its leaders reflected on how their youthful hopes had faded.

The Lingxian Sect persuaded the sects and imperial clans in Xiushui City to hire Rogue Cultivators, spreading resources and opportunities throughout the Mortal Realm. After the merchants received their shop plaques and returned home, the Lingxian Sect opened a small general store stocked with affordable, ordinary goods made by its disciples.

• Bai Yu supported the Clear River Sect's proposal to hire Rogue Cultivators, and the other sects and imperial clans agreed.
• Liu Yunan explained to Han Weishu that employing Rogue Cultivators would help spread the commercial district's influence throughout the Mortal Realm.
• Li Zhouxuan finalized shipping and receiving orders, and Trade Center disciples gave each household five jade plaques for its shops.
• The sect and imperial clan representatives returned home without opening their shops, since they lacked goods and customers were scarce.
• The Lingxian Sect opened a small general store on No. 1 Street, selling affordable basic items made by disciples of its four arts halls.

Faction leaders visited Xiushui City's agricultural district and discovered that the Lingxian Sect had opened extensive markets for seeds, produce, customized farming tools, and specialized cultivation supplies. They left astonished by the sect's expertise and the range of goods available.

• The faction leaders visited Street One and saw shops selling Spirit Plant seeds and stalls offering fresh spirit grain, rice, fruits, and vegetables, but they resisted buying to save Spirit Stones.
• On Street Two, they discovered farming tools of different grades that could be customized to customers' requirements, including tools comparable to high-grade Law Artifacts.
• The leaders went to Street Three and found numbered spirit fertilizers matched to particular plants and soils, along with pest-control formation disks and pills for fields and Spirit Plants.
• At the end of Street Three, the leaders found insects sold for their benefits to spirit fields, including a species that pollinated crops, ate pests and rotting plants, and produced useful fertilizer.

News of Xiushui City drew Rogue Cultivators from across the Pusi Kingdom, and Wen Xiangzhi moved there with his extended family. As they traveled, his sons questioned the move without knowing that their father had once cultivated at the Shangyang Sect and hoped one of his descendants might have a Spirit Root.

• Visitors saw signs for aquatic products and poultry and livestock districts as they left Xiushui City.
• After the Li Clan spread news of the city, Rogue Cultivators decided to settle there for safety and access to cultivation resources.
• Wen Xiangzhi left his former life as a Shangyang Sect cultivator behind and built a wealthy household in the mortal world, raising thirty-three children.
• Wen Xiangzhi brought more than fifty family members toward Xiushui City while leaving his old residence and farmland in the care of a steward.
• Wen Xiangzhi's second son complained about the journey, while his eldest son said the family should trust their father's decision.
• Wen Xiangzhi secretly assessed his descendants for signs of Spirit Roots and believed most of them lacked one.

Wen Xiangzhi moved his family to Xiushui City, hoping his unusual eldest grandson, Wen Liyun, would one day cultivate immortality. As the family arrived, Wen Xiangzhi reminded the eight-year-old to focus on his studies once they settled.

• Wen Xiangzhi recalled sensing unusual Spiritual Qi when Wen Liyun was born and began teaching him from a mysterious book when he was two.
• Wen Xiangzhi worried that the Lingxian Sect had not announced another recruitment assembly and decided to move the Wen Household to Xiushui City.
• The Wen Household joined a growing stream of travelers, and constables escorted them through Hufang Province toward Xiushui City.
• Wen Liyun spotted the city gate and excitedly asked Wen Xiangzhi whether Xiushui City was fun.
• Wen Xiangzhi told Wen Liyun to quiet down and resume his lessons after they settled in.

Wen Xiangzhi brought his family to settle in Xiushui City, where the gate attendant directed them to the brokers who helped newcomers find homes. Broker Hu Defu began searching for a suitable house, and Wen Xiangzhi was astonished that the city issued Storage Bags to its brokers.

• Wen Xiangzhi told Wen Liyun that Xiushui City would be their new home as the family approached the city gates.
• Wen Xiangzhi presented the family's registration documents and travel permits, and the gate attendant directed them to the left gate and explained the settlement rules.
• Broker Hu Defu greeted the Wen family, served them tea, and asked about their housing needs.
• Wen Xiangzhi requested a house large enough for fifteen or sixteen rooms, preferably to buy but otherwise to rent.
• Hu Defu took out a booklet from his Storage Bag, and Wen Xiangzhi learned that the City Lord's Manor issued specially made bags to its brokers.

The Wen Household toured house listings with Hu Defu and learned that Xiushui City provided free tea to arriving travelers. As they set out to view houses in the west of the city, Hu Defu pointed out that they could take a bus.

• Hu Defu showed Wen Xiangzhi house prices and recommended options outside the expensive central district.
• Wen the Eldest offered coins for the tea, but Hu Defu and the waiter explained that the city lord's residence paid for the stall and its supplies.
• The Wen Household followed Hu Defu away from the city gate to view houses in the west of the city.
• Hu Defu told Wen Xiangzhi that the carriage was slow and pointed out an approaching bus at South City Gate Station, which cost one copper coin per passenger.

After arriving in Xiushui City, Wen Xiangzhi marveled at its bus and learned that Lingxian Academy would expand enrollment so every child could attend, including older students through an Evening Academy. He decided to send all the Wen family children, while news of the academy and the city’s modern conveniences spread widely.

• Hu Defu paid for Wen Xiangzhi and several of his sons to board a bus, while the rest of the Wen family traveled by horse carriage.
• Wen Xiangzhi watched the city race past the bus windows and felt reassured that moving his family to Xiushui City had been the right decision.
• Second Wen returned home with news that Lingxian Academy would accept every child in the city and open an Evening Academy for working adults.
• Wen Xiangzhi and Second Wen agreed to send all the family’s children to Lingxian Academy.
• Residents across Xiushui City discussed the academy’s expanded enrollment, the city’s unusual facilities, and the growing reputation of the Lingxian Sect.

News that the Lingxian Sect had a Spirit Transformation cultivator spread throughout the Mortal Realm, while other sects prepared orders connected to Xiushui City. The Lingxian Sect resumed classes and production after its holiday, and Lin Xiao chose not to borrow Spirit Stones from Senior Liao to settle the sect’s debt.

• Rumors from sects and royal families that attended the Lingxian Sect’s gathering spread until people believed the Lingxian Sect had a Spirit Transformation cultivator.
• At the Azure Lotus Sect, Junior Brother Fang told Senior Brother Wan about talisman-making rewards and the cultivator supplies sold in Xiushui City, then suggested visiting it together.
• Sects and royal families that had attended the Xiushui City auction kept some details quiet while their disciples discussed the city and its possible trade deal.
• After three days off, the Lingxian Sect resumed classes and began producing higher-grade goods to fulfill its orders and pay its hundred-thousand-Spirit-Stone debt.
• Lin Xiao decided not to ask Senior Liao for Spirit Stones, despite knowing that the elder could easily provide them.

Lin Xiao, Qin Jianghe, and Liu Chun secured a partnership with Su Yaoguang’s Su Household, giving the Lingxian Sect another sales channel in the Immortal Cultivation Realm. Meanwhile, the sect’s members stayed busy producing goods, while Xiaoluan managed the beast garden and studied spirit beasts that might awaken intelligence.

• Lin Xiao and Qin Jianghe discussed expanding the Lingxian Sect’s sales channels, and Lin Xiao approached Su’s General Store about working together.
• Lin Xiao, Qin Jianghe, and Liu Chun negotiated with Su Yaoguang, offering the Su Household exclusive Intermediate-Grade Spirit Gathering Formations in exchange for expanding sales and secretly handling rare goods.
• The partnership gave the Lingxian Sect three distribution channels capable of carrying far more goods than the sect and its partners currently produced.
• Xiaoluan carefully controlled the spirit beasts’ breeding and set aside several showing signs of intelligence for separate observation and comparative experiments.
• Xiaoluan limited the beast garden’s meat output to the sect’s needs and what she chose to sell to the Yuan Household, while Big Peach helped keep the records.

Lin Xiao gave Xiaoluan the Mystic Ultimate Azure Flame after discovering the chicken could form a functional hand with Spiritual Power. Xiaoluan eagerly began refining the flame but insisted Lin Xiao still owed it the promised peachwood sword.

• Lin Xiao found Xiaoluan waiting outside the Artifact Refining Hall and asking for the peachwood sword he had promised.
• Xiaoluan formed a functional little hand from its wing, and Lin Xiao praised its ability to develop a new Law Technique.
• Lin Xiao gave Xiaoluan the Mystic Ultimate Azure Flame and explained that its outer flame could be eaten while its inner flame needed to be refined.
• Xiaoluan tasted the azure smoke, loved it, and learned that the flame could provide food indefinitely after being fully refined.
• Xiaoluan demanded its peachwood sword, and Lin Xiao admitted there was none left and offered to make an iron sword instead.

Lin Xiao used the Item Synthesizer to make Xiaoluan a peachwood sword, while an unexplained voice beneath the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree called Lin Xiao a bad guy and Xiaoluan a fool. He Yi then contacted Lin Xiao to discuss the reasons behind the Mortal Realm’s stagnation and its control by Immortal Cultivation Realm organizations.

• Xiaoluan demanded a peachwood sword, and Lin Xiao hurriedly took an old branch from the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree instead of the branch Xiaoluan had chosen.
• After Lin Xiao left, Xiaoluan heard a mysterious voice call Lin Xiao a bad guy and Xiaoluan a fool, but could find no one beneath the tree.
• Lin Xiao synthesized a Myriad Realms Unified Peachwood Sword and gave it to Xiaoluan, who happily accepted it and left with the sword.
• He Yi contacted Lin Xiao and asked whether the sect planned to promote itself widely and draw people to the Trade Center in Xiushui City.
• He Yi asked whether Lin Xiao knew why no one in the Mortal Realm had reached Spirit Transformation for years and why organizations from the Immortal Cultivation Realm controlled its supply channels.

Lin Xiao learned from He Yi that Myriad Connections had helped keep the Mortal Realm stagnant and that its informants and nine powerful cultivators from the Immortal Cultivation Realm could complicate the Lingxian Sect’s plans. After asking about long-distance communication, Lin Xiao hinted that he had a way to handle the newcomers, while He Yi continued his undercover visits to Xiushui City and observed its unusual harmony between mortals and cultivators.

• Lin Xiao asked He Yi why the Immortal Cultivation Realm had failed to compete for the Mortal Realm’s market, and He Yi explained that Myriad Connections controlled the Mortal Realm and deliberately maintained its stagnation.
• He Yi warned Lin Xiao that Myriad Connections had informants in the Mortal Realm and that nine other cultivators from major Immortal Cultivation Realm sects had come with him.
• Lin Xiao asked whether the Immortal Cultivation Realm had a communication method that could reach across the Spiritless Land, and He Yi said its voice-transmission items were range-limited while soul lamps only showed a person’s general condition.
• Lin Xiao told He Yi he had an idea for dealing with the situation, and He Yi returned to his assignment in Xiushui City.
• He Yi observed that Xiushui City’s mortals and cultivators mingled comfortably, and he saw mortal farmers hire Rogue Cultivators to work fields protected by the city.

He Yi inspected Xiushui City as part of his sect assignment, observing the new livelihood policies and gaining a deeper understanding of the Lingxian Sect’s approach. He continued making talismans and cultivating, while Liu Chun remained in charge of the talisman-making room.

• The Lingxian Sect supplied villagers with spirit seeds, fertilizer, and formation plates, arranging to buy their spirit grain with Spirit Stones and deduct the cost of supplies.
• Xiushui City protected residents’ land from private sale and offered ways to exchange deeds or household assets for silver and loans.
• He Yi inspected the city’s facilities and watched for trouble, gradually understanding the reasoning behind the sect’s policies.
• He Yi made talismans for the sect’s orders and still had time to cultivate after his daily inspections.
• Liu Chun considered giving He Yi control of the talisman-making room, but He Yi told him he was unsuited to management, so Liu Chun dropped the idea.

Lin Xiao visited Liao Pantu to discuss the threat posed by Myriad Connections and the sects investigating the Mortal Realm. He proposed capturing their people to buy the sect time to grow, and Liao Pantu questioned whether the plan could avoid provoking stronger forces.

• Lin Xiao helped Hu Liang and the Artifact Refining Hall prepare most of the month's high-grade goods, while Hu Liang continued to work hard with support from the sect.
• Lin Xiao visited Liao Pantu in the medicinal garden, where Liao chided him for having lower cultivation than the sect's Spirit Transformation elder.
• Lin Xiao told Liao about Myriad Connections' reach into the Mortal Realm and proposed capturing its informants and the cultivators sent by major sects.
• Liao warned that missing investigators could prompt Myriad Connections and the major sects to send stronger people, and asked how Lin Xiao would respond.
• Lin Xiao argued that Myriad Connections likely communicated with the Mortal Realm infrequently because of the long journey through the Spiritless Land.

Lin Xiao and Liao Pantu tentatively planned to capture Myriad Connections' informants and keep them confined in Xiushui City, where they could work clearing land. Lin Xiao gathered intelligence from Mortal Realm sects and royal families and asked Li Zhanying to map the informants across the entire Mortal Realm.

• Lin Xiao proposed using He Yi's ties to the Talisman Sect to delay the major sects, then suggested housing captured informants in Xiushui City and having them clear farmland.
• Liao Pantu approved the preliminary plan and offered to capture the informants who would be difficult to catch once Lin Xiao finalized the details.
• Lin Xiao contacted familiar sects and royal families, who shared what they knew about the informants' identities, numbers, and cultivation realms.
• Lin Xiao traveled to the Pusi Kingdom's capital and gave Li Zhanying ten Jade Slips, asking him to record the informants' locations and cultivation realms throughout the Mortal Realm.

Li Zhanying gathered information on the Immortal Cultivation Realm’s spies from kingdoms and sects around the Pusi Kingdom and recorded it for Lin Xiao. Meanwhile, Venerable Guijia learned that Venerable Zhiyu was preparing to break through to Spirit Transformation and ordered an urgent report and the return of eight spies.

• Li Zhanying sent Sound Transmission Talismans to kingdoms and sects, prompting them to share information about spies from the Immortal Cultivation Realm.
• Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators carried the information to the Pusi Kingdom’s capital, where Li Zhanying recorded it in Lin Xiao’s Jade Slip.
• A subordinate told Venerable Guijia that contact with Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four had been lost and that Venerable Zhiyu had reached Nascent Soul Great Perfection and was preparing to break through.
• Venerable Guijia ordered the news sent to headquarters and insisted the Spirit Venerables read it themselves.
• Venerable Guijia sent Eleven through Eighteen back from the Mortal Realm, though their journey across the Spiritless Land would take most of a year.

Liao Pantu ambushed Venerable Guijia and his subordinate, trapping them inside the Spirit-Binding Cage that Lin Xiao had made from Execution Stone. He confirmed that the cage could suppress cultivators without harming ordinary people.

• Venerable Guijia ordered his subordinate to report urgent news to headquarters, but an unfamiliar barrier sealed the secret chamber.
• Liao Pantu silently sealed the Golden Core subordinate’s Spiritual Power and recorded his cultivation on a Jade Slip.
• Venerable Guijia emerged and Liao Pantu recognized him as a Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivator, then pulled him into the Spirit-Binding Cage.
• The subordinate tried to flee but struck the barrier, and Liao Pantu yanked him into the cage beside Venerable Guijia.
• Venerable Guijia and his subordinate attacked the cage with Law Techniques and a Law Artifact, but none of their attacks worked.
• Liao Pantu recalled that Lin Xiao had made the cage from Execution Stone so it devoured Spiritual Power only while activated and did not harm ordinary people.

Liao Pantu captured Venerable Guijia and his subordinate with the Spirit-Binding Cage, then forced the subordinate to reveal his Myriad Connections identity and location. After Lin Xiao informed Li Zhanying that their leader had been captured, the Li Clan urged sects and royal families across the Mortal Realm to seize the remaining informants.

• Venerable Guijia failed to escape the Spirit-Binding Cage, and he and his subordinate exhausted their Spiritual Power trying to break it.
• Liao Pantu carried the cage toward Xiushui City and used his Spirit Transformation pressure to make the subordinate reveal his Myriad Connections code name and station.
• Liao Pantu marked the subordinate's location as captured on his Jade Slip, while Venerable Guijia remained imprisoned.
• Lin Xiao informed Li Zhanying that Venerable Guijia, Myriad Connections' leader in the Mortal Realm, had been captured.
• The Li Clan called on sects and royal families across the Mortal Realm to capture the remaining Myriad Connections informants, and most of them took action.

The Mortal Realm's sects and kingdoms joined forces to capture Myriad Connections' informants, while Venerable Zhiyu's careful preparations let the Heavenly Heart Sect conceal his imminent breakthrough. The captives were gathered in Xiushui City, where the Lingxian Sect eagerly anticipated putting them to work clearing land.

• The Mortal Realm's sects and kingdoms launched a coordinated sweep that uprooted Myriad Connections' informant network.
• Venerable Zhiyu and the Heavenly Heart Sect captured their informants, having used the Heaven and Earth Clasp to conceal his advancement to Nascent Soul Great Perfection.
• Venerable Zhiyu delivered the Tuiyi Kingdom's captives to Pusi Kingdom and returned to enter seclusion to attempt a breakthrough to Spirit Transformation.
• The informants were gathered in Xiushui City, where they numbered fourteen thousand eight hundred, including one Nascent Soul Cultivator and a thousand Golden Core cultivators.
• The Lingxian Sect welcomed the captives as laborers who could clear the wilderness behind North Mountain for cultivation.

Lin Xiao had the captured spy cultivators housed in an isolated area of Xiushui City and left their management to Liao Pantu. After their escape attempt failed and they settled into cultivation, the Spiritual Qi around the fifty buildings suddenly vanished.

• Lin Xiao entrusted Liao Pantu with managing the spy cultivators, who were confined to an isolated area of Xiushui City with access only to farmland and nearby mountains.
• Venerable Guijia gathered the spy cultivators and led an attempt to break the barrier, but their attacks were neutralized and retaliatory lightning injured them.
• The spy cultivators searched for a way to break the array but found nothing and gradually gave up on escaping.
• The spy cultivators cultivated in the area for nearly ten days, encouraged by its abundant Spiritual Qi and the lack of chores.
• Less than half a month after their arrival, the spy cultivators discovered that the Spiritual Qi around them had suddenly disappeared.

After Spiritual Qi vanished in Xiushui City, Myriad Connections' captured informants realized they might be trapped for at least six years with dwindling resources. On the tenth day, Venerable Guijia and the Golden Core cultivators ordered lower-level cultivators to surrender their supplies, prompting quiet resistance.

• The informants calculated that headquarters might not be able to rescue them for at least six years because the reporting team had already left the Mortal Realm.
• The cultivators spent the first days after Spiritual Qi vanished meditating, pacing, and using their remaining resources to cultivate.
• Venerable Guijia and a thousand Golden Core cultivators ordered Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators to hand over all their Cultivation Resources for centralized allocation.
• The lower-level cultivators recognized the order as an attempt by higher-level cultivators to seize their supplies and resented it.
• One lower-level cultivator quietly stirred discontent, pointing out that no one could use means of attack there.

The Myriad Connections cultivators defied Venerable Guijia’s orders as their organization in the Mortal Realm collapsed amid growing internal conflict. At the Cage Compound, Yuan Jinsheng offered the imprisoned spies paid work clearing wasteland, with Spiritual Qi available to those who worked.

• The low-level cultivators refused to hand over their resources, and most ignored the high-level cultivators’ summons to the square.
• The growing defiance left Myriad Connections’ organization in the Mortal Realm nearly collapsed, with conflicts worsening over the following month.
• Liao Pantu sent his disciple Yuan Jinsheng to manage the Cage Compound, where the Spiritual Qi had been reduced to zero.
• Yuan Jinsheng set up a hiring stall and explained that the spies’ access to Spiritual Qi had been cut off because they were outsiders using the Mortal Realm’s scarce resources.
• Yuan Jinsheng offered one Spirit Stone for every ten mu of top-grade farmland cleared and told the spies that workers would have access to Spiritual Qi.

Yuan Jinsheng recruited cultivators imprisoned in the Cage Compound to clear land, offering them access to Spiritual Qi while they worked. Venerable Guijia refused to join, but a Golden Core elder warned him that their captors might be connected to the formidable Immortal Ascension Domain.

• Yuan Jinsheng received applications from many imprisoned cultivators, including Golden Core cultivators, eager to work in an environment with Spiritual Qi.
• Yuan Jinsheng considered how the Lingxian Sect could hire workers without taking on the costs and responsibilities of training more disciples.
• A Golden Core elder asked Venerable Guijia whether he would sign up after Gui Shisan and others did.
• Venerable Guijia objected to clearing land for the Mortal Realm cultivators who had captured them.
• The Golden Core elder suggested the Cage Compound's ability to cut off Spiritual Qi might indicate intervention from the Immortal Ascension Domain and warned that their captors were beyond their ability to oppose.