Recaps

The Annihilation Immortal's clone escaped Cloud Gathering City after killing more than a hundred thousand people, then struck at Lin Xiao, whose emergency defense saved him but could not save Jiang Qu. The Void Return cultivators tried to track the clone, but disagreed over whether sending people to investigate its shifting locations was too dangerous.

• The Annihilation Immortal's clone absorbed Execution Qi and life force, mocked the thirty-two Void Return cultivators, and escaped before their Law Treasures could trap him.
• The clone sent a strand of Execution Qi at Lin Xiao, but his system activated an emergency defense and deducted ten thousand Spirit Stones.
• Jiang Qu gave Lin Xiao a Jade Slip pointing him toward his hometown, then died in Lin Xiao's arms.
• The battle left Cloud Gathering City completely destroyed, and Yun Qianxin used the Cloud Water Sect's secret technique to trace the clone's intermittent, shifting signal.
• Lu Xunfeng proposed investigating the locations where the clone appeared, while Gongsun Jingge and others warned that sending people could expose them to danger or a trap.

Lu Xunfeng persuaded the spiritual cultivators to investigate the Annihilation Immortal themselves, and Yun Qianxin assigned them locations. After Duan Weixue arrived at the ruined Cloud Gathering City, he demanded to know what had happened.

• Lu Xunfeng proposed that the cultivators investigate in person, and Yun Qianxin supported him until the group agreed.
• Yun Qianxin gave the cultivators target locations, and they set off while Lu Xunfeng, Yun Qianxin, and Gongsun Jingge waited outside Cloud Gathering City.
• Duan Weixue arrived and wailed over the destruction of Cloud Gathering City and its protective grand formation.
• Yun Qianxin struggled to explain the destruction, while Lu Xunfeng avoided answering.
• Duan Weixue turned to Gongsun Jingge and asked him to tell the truth.

After learning why Gongsun Jingge and the others broke Cloud Gathering City's defensive formation, Duan Weixue accepted that they had done so to save people from Annihilation Immortal and set out to gather the dead. He found Lin Xiao beside Jiang Qu's body and offered to bury him in a Ten Thousand Souls Mound.

• Duan Weixue became furious when Gongsun Jingge revealed that they had broken Cloud Gathering City's defensive formation, but let the others hold him back and explain what had happened.
• After hearing that Annihilation Immortal had used the Cloud Burst and Execution Qi to trap and hunt the city's cultivators, Duan Weixue asked whether he could avenge the victims and learned he had no chance.
• Duan Weixue went to the crashed rescue spirit ships, gathered the bodies, and noticed Lin Xiao sitting beside Jiang Qu's corpse beyond the hundred-li radius.
• Duan Weixue urged Lin Xiao to leave before the Cloud Burst and comforted him, then asked whether he wanted Jiang Qu buried in the Ten Thousand Souls Mound he planned to build.

After Cloud Gathering City was destroyed, Lin Xiao vowed to cultivate so he could stop the Annihilation Fiend, which Duan Weixue revealed was truly an immortal. As the Cloud Burst began, Lin Xiao stayed behind to endure it and investigate the coordinates Jiang Qu had left him, but the merging clouds suddenly unleashed vastly stronger lightning.

• Lin Xiao carried Jiang Qu toward Cloud Gathering City and told Duan Weixue he wanted to stop the Annihilation Fiend because its attacks caused needless deaths.
• Duan Weixue urged Lin Xiao to cultivate and revealed that the Annihilation Immortal was truly an immortal.
• Duan Weixue buried the dead at the Ten Thousand Souls Mound, while Gongsun Jingge and Lu Xunfeng left to search for the Annihilation Immortal and Yun Qianxin departed after lighting incense.
• Duan Weixue left Lin Xiao to endure the Cloud Burst, and Lin Xiao examined Jiang Qu's Jade Slip and found coordinates he planned to follow afterward.
• Lin Xiao took shelter in a cave as the clouds merged, causing the lightning currents to surge into enormous thunderstorms.

Lin Xiao endured the first stage of Cloud Burst in a cave and resumed cultivating after recovering from his exhaustion. Across Chongxiao Domain, cultivators fled aboard evacuation ships as the disaster intensified, while Lin Xiao remained unaware that a much more dangerous third stage awaited.

• Lightning and exploding clouds stripped away Lin Xiao’s disguise and destroyed his market-bought robes, so he changed into his sect robes.
• Lin Xiao realized the ground-level clouds had taken Chongxiao Domain’s plants underground, and he resumed meditating after considering what to do with the Execution Qi in his private vault.
• Remembering Senior Duan’s warning, Lin Xiao focused on cultivation without knowing Cloud Burst had three increasingly powerful stages.
• Evacuation ships carried refugees away from Chongxiao Domain, and some extended boarding ladders to people fleeing without ships.
• Cloud Burst entered its second stage, and the lightning eventually merged across every layer of Chongxiao Domain.
• When Lin Xiao opened his eyes again, the cave was gone.

Lin Xiao encountered the third stage of the Cloud Burst, where immense thundercloud pillars raced across the sky. After saving a damaged relocation ship from the pillars, he was caught in their collision and pulled through a spatial rift.

• Lin Xiao abandoned cultivation and fled from approaching thundercloud pillars.
• Lin Xiao found a damaged relocation ship carrying several thousand people and pushed it clear of two oncoming pillars.
• The pillars caught Lin Xiao, whose Origin Qi shield struggled against their violent currents and explosions.
• The colliding pillars burst apart, and spatial power tore open a rift that sucked Lin Xiao inside.
• Lin Xiao kept his Spiritual Power supply connected to the Lock Ring as he entered the rift.

After Lin Xiao was swallowed by a spatial rift and lost consciousness, the Lingxian Sect’s summer camp team watched the Southern Spirit Domain’s sect recruitment gathering in Yuanling City. The chapter leaves them chatting about Mo Yuanjiao’s past and Mo Que’s absence while the recruitment tests continued.

• Lin Xiao was swept into a spatial rift along with the energy from colliding thundercloud currents, and the rift closed after he fell unconscious.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue scheduled the Lingxian Sect team’s secret-realm explorations so they could attend Yuanling City’s recruitment gathering without delaying their assignment.
• The eight Lingxian Sect members watched children undergo Spirit Root tests from a reserved teahouse room as sect disciples announced their results.
• Han Weishu remarked that competition was fierce after a child with Four Spirit Roots was rejected, and she praised their own sect.
• Mo Yuanjiao told the group that an elder of the Shangyang Sect had tried to direct him to that sect, but he had instead found the Lingxian Sect.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue teased Mo Yuanjiao about his childhood and Mo Que’s absence, prompting him to insist that Mo Que had stayed behind to cultivate.

Xuanyuan Haoyue and Mo Yuanjiao challenged each other to a cultivation contest while their companions watched and discussed their group assignments. As the group observed a sect recruitment assembly, Yuan Jinsheng explained his family history, and Xuanyuan Haoyue prepared a trial order for the Lingxian Sect’s new products after learning the Yuan Household had agreed to sell them.

• Xuanyuan Haoyue and Mo Yuanjiao bickered and agreed to compete, with Haoyue vowing to catch up to him within five years.
• Han Weishu explained to Tong Jialiang that she had invited Xuanyuan Haoyue into Mo Yuanjiao’s group because she enjoyed watching the pair bicker; the group had been divided into two teams of four.
• Yuan Jinsheng told Bai Zhu that most sects recruited disciples by testing Spirit Roots, unlike the Lingxian Sect, and explained why he had attended a selection without intending to join a sect.
• Yuan Jinsheng told Gu Yuxiao that Shen Yingzi had taken his mother’s surname because she could not cultivate and he expected to live for centuries.
• Ling Hui told Xuanyuan Haoyue that the Yuan Household had agreed to try selling the Lingxian Sect’s new products, and Haoyue prepared a list of goods for a trial run.

Xuanyuan Haoyue explained why the Lingxian Sect’s tools for low-level cultivators and mortals could help workers at the bottom, but warned that selling them widely would be difficult. The group understood that the products needed trusted buyers and access to large organizations’ supply channels, while Su’s General Store could not move them in sufficient volume.

• Xuanyuan Haoyue described how workers often had to use unsuitable tools supplied by employers and could not afford to research or replace better ones.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue explained that the Lingxian Sect’s products could address those needs but would first have to earn the trust of buyers.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue warned that large-scale sales to sects and Aristocratic Clans would challenge established supply chains and the interests tied to them.
• Bai Zhu, Yuan Jinsheng, and Mo Yuanjiao discussed why the Yuan Household and Heavenly Profound Sect might not be able to easily secure broad sales channels.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue revealed that Boss Su had struggled to sell the products because they were basic, low-priced goods unsuited to black-market distribution.

Mo Yuanjiao proposed that the group open shops and establish a temporary sect base in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, recruiting suitable Rogue Cultivators while they awaited the sect master's plans. When none of them could reach the sect master through their Lock Rings, they agreed to wait three days before alerting Elder Liao.

• Mo Yuanjiao suggested opening their own shops in the Immortal Cultivation Realm, and the others discussed their shortage of staff.
• Mo Yuanjiao proposed recruiting Rogue Cultivators for a pseudo-base, then seeking the sect master's approval afterward.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue and the others tried contacting the sect master with their Lock Rings, but none received a response.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue confirmed that the Lock Rings showed the sect master's life was not in danger, and Yuan Jinsheng advised them not to act rashly.
• Mo Yuanjiao agreed to wait three days and said he would notify Senior Liao if the sect master remained unreachable.

After Liao Pantu confirmed that Lin Xiao was alive but too far away to answer, Mo Yuanjiao and the others began building a convincing fake sect base. They chose a secluded mountain and started with the sect’s standard thatched shelter, though they lacked the peach blossom trees that usually accompanied it.

• Liao Pantu contacted Lin Xiao’s Lock Ring, heard only faint noise, and concluded that Lin Xiao was likely beyond Chongxiao Domain or isolated by spatial barriers.
• Liao Pantu reassured Mo Yuanjiao and the others that Lin Xiao was not in danger and promised to try contacting him again after recovering his Law Power.
• The group agreed to build a fake sect base, and Mo Yuanjiao brought out his low-end Heart-Questioning Road, made using heart-questioning stone.
• They chose a secluded, scenic barren mountain fifty li from Elder Liao’s cave abode as the base’s location.
• The eight cut timber a hundred li away, cleared a path, and built a thatched shelter at the mountain path’s end.
• Han Weishu wondered how they could match the sect’s peach blossom trees, and Tong Jialiang suggested postponing that part until they could obtain some.

The group built a fake Lingxian Sect base, using Ling Hui’s peach blossom trees and Mo Yuanjiao’s formations to furnish the mountain. After splitting up to shop and finish preparations, Mo Yuanjiao realized the base still needed a Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation and searched for one.

• Ling Hui revealed ten peach blossom trees he had brought along, and the group planted nine around the base.
• Mo Yuanjiao set up a Spirit Gathering Formation after Han Weishu asked about the lack of a Spirit Vein.
• The eight cultivators built the sect’s main buildings and gathered basic supplies, then decided to buy Pill Furnaces and herbs in Yuanling City.
• The group split up, with Yuan Jinsheng taking Bai Zhu, Ling Hui, and Gu Yuxiao to shop while Mo Yuanjiao and three others stayed behind.
• After setting up several formations, Mo Yuanjiao remembered the base lacked a Mountain-Protecting Grand Formation and searched his Lock Ring for one.

Xuanyuan Haoyue and the others outfitted their fake sect base while Yuan Jinsheng’s group shopped in Yuanling City and gained support from Liu Chun and the Yuan Household. The group returned with supplies and Yuan Zhiyun’s offer to help recruit disciples.

• Mo Yuanjiao and Tong Jialiang set up formations as Xuanyuan Haoyue and Han Weishu prepared fake sect robes, carved identity tokens, and established spirit farmland.
• Yuan Jinsheng and the others bought supplies for two secret realms, then went to the Yuan Household for robes, Pill Furnaces, herbs, and other base necessities.
• Liu Chun questioned their plan to build a fake sect base, then gave Yuan Jinsheng ten thousand Spirit Stones to pay future disciple stipends.
• Yuan Jinsheng and the others told Yuan Zhiyun that the Lingxian Sect was building a small base near Yuanling City, and Yuan Bi assigned her to assist them.
• Yuan Zhiyun provided further supplies and offered to help recruit disciples, an offer Xuanyuan Haoyue gladly accepted.

The Lingxian Sect team prepared a replica of their sect as a recruitment base in Yuanling City and planned to recruit without age or Spirit Root restrictions. Yuan Zhiyun agreed to help distribute their flyers but questioned whether their unusually broad offer was legitimate.

• Yuan Zhiyun and the Lingxian Sect team exchanged their Lock Ring communication patterns.
• Xuanyuan Haoyue adjusted the secret realm schedule so the team could spend more time recruiting.
• Mo Yuanjiao and the others showed the returning team their replica of the Lingxian Sect gates and main peak.
• The team decided to advertise their recruitment by handing out flyers, after Xuanyuan Haoyue explained that small local sects were recruiting too.
• Yuan Zhiyun agreed to find people to distribute the flyers but questioned the lack of age and Spirit Root restrictions.
• Yuan Jinsheng assured her that the Lingxian Sect was reputable and taught people without distinction.

Yuan Zhiyun helped the Lingxian Sect arrange recruitment across Yuanling City, while local cultivators weighed the benefits and risks of joining. The sect’s eight-person team then set off for secret realms, with Yuan Jinsheng and Mo Yuanjiao escorting the Foundation Establishment cultivators to their entrance.

• Yuan Zhiyun agreed to help the Lingxian Sect establish its base, and the Yuan Household distributed recruitment flyers across Yuanling City.
• Two Rogue Cultivators discussed the flyer and decided to gather friends and visit Ten-Li Pavilion in six days to learn more.
• Mo Yuanjiao and the others chose to enter the Green Jade Secret Realm, and all eight members of the team agreed to explore secret realms instead of waiting outside.
• The team set the recruitment date for six days later, when they expected to emerge from the secret realms.
• Yuan Jinsheng and Mo Yuanjiao insisted on escorting the six Foundation Establishment cultivators to their secret realm entrance, despite Han Weishu saying it was unnecessary.

Mo Yuanjiao and Yuan Jinsheng entered the Green Jade Secret Realm, where Mo Yuanjiao found himself falling over volcanic terrain. Lin Xiao woke in a place called Great Wind Valley, where he discovered only Origin Qi and began to suspect he had crossed into an unfamiliar realm.

• Mo Yuanjiao and Yuan Jinsheng joined the orderly queue of cultivators entering the Green Jade Secret Realm.
• Mo Yuanjiao appeared in midair above lava and volcanic terrain, steadied himself on his peachwood sword, and contacted Yuan Jinsheng through the Lock Ring.
• Lin Xiao woke in a patch of grass beside a little girl, who told him they were in Great Wind Valley.
• Lin Xiao asked about the Chongxiao Domain, but the girl did not recognize the name and went to fetch her father.
• Lin Xiao sensed that Great Wind Valley contained Origin Qi instead of Spiritual Qi and wondered whether he had arrived in another realm.

Lin Xiao learned that Great Wind Valley was an isolated place where outsiders were almost unheard of and leaving was difficult. After showing Dong Que that he could use a Law Technique, Lin Xiao followed him and his daughter Dong Li into East Village.

• Lin Xiao concluded that Great Wind Valley was likely outside the domains he knew because it used Origin Qi instead of Spiritual Qi.
• Dong Que and Dong Li found Lin Xiao, and he told them he had arrived from the Chongxiao Domain after a Cloud Burst.
• Dong Li explained that Lin Xiao was the first outsider she had ever met, and Dong Que revealed he was the chief of East Village while Xi Si led West Village.
• Dong Que asked whether Lin Xiao could escape the valley, and Lin Xiao said he had ideas that would require time to prepare.
• Lin Xiao cast a minor rain technique to prove he was a cultivator, then followed Dong Que and Dong Li into East Village.

Lin Xiao entered East Village with Dong Que, who explained Great Wind Valley’s inherited warnings about Execution Cultivators and agreed to show him the valley’s records. The villagers and Dong Que’s family were astonished to learn Lin Xiao came from outside the valley, and Dong Que offered him a room in his home.

• Dong Que explained that he had tested Lin Xiao with a minor spell to make sure he was not an Execution Cultivator, then agreed to take him to the valley library the next day.
• Lin Xiao claimed to have reached Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, surprising Dong Que.
• Dong Que introduced Lin Xiao to East Village as an outsider, drawing astonished attention from the villagers by the stream.
• Dong Que brought Lin Xiao home, where Yingniang and Dong Li reacted with surprise and emotion to meeting someone from outside the valley.
• Dong Que offered Lin Xiao his younger brother’s old room, and Lin Xiao stopped him from fetching a broom to clean it himself.

Lin Xiao discovered that Great Wind Valley lacked basic cleaning techniques and Storage Bags, and learned that its Origin Qi cultivators had struggled to reach the Golden Core Stage. He discussed the outside world and the valley’s cultivation history with Dong Que, who agreed to take him to the book pavilion the next morning, before they sat down to eat.

• Lin Xiao used a Dust Removal Technique to clean the room, and Dong Que revealed that Great Wind Valley had no such technique and cleaned by hand.
• Dong Que was fascinated by Lin Xiao’s Storage Bag, so Lin Xiao gave him a spare and explained that cultivators outside commonly owned them.
• Dong Que told Lin Xiao that no one in Great Wind Valley had reached the Golden Core Stage in the past century and that few had reached Nascent Soul in recent centuries.
• Lin Xiao asked whether Dong Que knew of Spiritual Qi, then explained how Spiritual Qi cultivation differed from the valley’s Origin Qi cultivation.
• Dong Que agreed to take Lin Xiao to the book pavilion the next morning, and then he and Yingniang served Lin Xiao a meal.

After Lin Xiao arrived in Great Wind Valley, Dong Que asked how he planned to escape, and Lin Xiao described four possible methods. The villagers listened with hope and doubt as he revealed that his final fallback was to contact Senior Liao.

• Dong Li finished her meal and asked for more as villagers gathered outside the Dong family's courtyard to watch Lin Xiao.
• Dong Que asked Lin Xiao how he planned to get out of Great Wind Valley, and Lin Xiao said he had four methods to test.
• Lin Xiao named making a teleportation array and using his once-a-month World Bamboo as his first two methods.
• Lin Xiao proposed reaching Spirit Transformation to tear open the void, explaining that a rift in the void had brought him to the valley.
• Dong Que pressed Lin Xiao for his fourth method, and Lin Xiao said he would contact Senior Liao and ask them to tear open the void to retrieve him.

Lin Xiao told the people of East Village that a powerful elder could rescue him, reviving hope among the Leave-the-Valley Faction. After Dong Que warned him about the opposing faction, Lin Xiao began testing whether he could contact his sect or teleport out of Great Wind Valley.

• Lin Xiao confirmed that an elder in his family had reached the Spirit Transformation Realm, astonishing the East Village villagers.
• The villagers discussed Lin Xiao's news with their families, and the Leave-the-Valley Faction regained hope of escaping Great Wind Valley.
• Dong Que warned Lin Xiao that members of the Stay-in-the-Valley Faction might harm him and offered to accompany him outside.
• Lin Xiao agreed to call Dong Que before going out and understood why the village chief was cautious around him.
• That evening, Lin Xiao took out the Heaven and Earth Shift Disc to test whether it worked in Great Wind Valley.

Lin Xiao tested whether his Heaven and Earth Shift Disc could teleport him out of Great Wind Valley, then contacted Liao Pantu to discuss the valley’s isolation. He remained trapped there as Liao Pantu considered how it might have been hidden and reacted to Lin Xiao’s request for help.

• Lin Xiao used three Spirit Stones to test the Heaven and Earth Shift Disc, but the teleportation failed and consumed two and a half stones.
• Lin Xiao chose not to use the World Bamboo yet and began cultivating in the valley’s abundant Origin Qi.
• Lin Xiao wondered why no outsiders had entered Great Wind Valley and suspected its founder had concealed it with a barrier or Technique.
• Lin Xiao contacted Liao Pantu through their Lock Rings and explained his situation, including the failed teleportation and the valley’s peaceful isolation.
• Liao Pantu proposed that Great Wind Valley had been concealed without being completely sealed off, then coldly teased Lin Xiao after he asked to be rescued.

Lin Xiao settled into Great Wind Valley after arranging for Liao Pantu to rescue him if necessary, then discovered that cultivation there was far faster than in a Spiritual Qi environment. After breakfast, Dong Que took him toward the book pavilion, while the villagers passed by without noticing him because of his Concealment Technique.

• Lin Xiao convinced Liao Pantu to come get him if he needed to leave Great Wind Valley, then began cultivating there.
• After a night of cultivation, Lin Xiao found that his progress had been more than ten times faster and the surrounding Origin Qi had not diminished.
• Lin Xiao sent Mo Yuanjiao a message through the Lock Ring, which could still transmit information despite Great Wind Valley's restrictions on teleportation formations.
• Dong Que invited Lin Xiao to breakfast, and Dong Li asked to wash her face after seeing Lin Xiao use a wet towel.
• Dong Que took Lin Xiao toward the book pavilion through the villages and main road, where the villagers greeted Dong Que but overlooked Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao visited the Great Wind Valley library with Dong Que and learned that it had been neglected for years. As Dong Que searched for old records, he recalled that the valley had once been a single village before upheavals and disputes divided it into East and West Villages.

• Dong Que warned Lin Xiao that the Stay-in-the-Valley Faction might harm him if they discovered he was an outsider.
• Lin Xiao saw that the library guard was secretly at the Late Golden Core stage, though he concealed his cultivation as Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
• Dong Que explained that the library was rarely used because valley residents had memorized its books and copied them elsewhere.
• Lin Xiao asked about the valley’s history and learned that few records had been kept beyond its original inheritance.
• Dong Que searched the bookcases and recalled that old records described Great Wind Valley’s division from one village into East and West Villages after upheavals and disputes.

Lin Xiao and Dong Que searched the library and learned that Great Wind Valley had been created in High Antiquity to preserve the Origin Cultivators during their war with the Execution Cultivators. After discovering the valley held many high-grade cultivation methods, Lin Xiao was confused to learn that its people believed low-grade methods cultivated faster, so he asked to examine them.

• Lin Xiao and Dong Que found the books about Great Wind Valley and its inherited teachings in the library.
• Lin Xiao learned that mighty cultivators had created the sealed valley over ten thousand years earlier to protect Origin Cultivators and preserve humanity during the war with Execution Cultivators.
• Lin Xiao discovered that the valley's library contained a catalog of fifty ancient cultivation methods, including several Heaven Rank methods.
• Lin Xiao asked Dong Que why the valley's strongest cultivators only reached Foundation Establishment despite its abundant Origin Qi and high-grade methods.
• Dong Que told Lin Xiao that people in the valley found low-grade methods faster to cultivate, then helped him gather the methods for inspection.